Currentliner

April. 2013

VOL : I ISSUE : XI

an informative bedrock of success C

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Who is a Juvenile?

Article 262 and Inter-State Water Disputes.

Focus CSAT-2013

Justice JS Verma Committee Recommendations.

National Food Security Bill.

REVISION-I June 2012- Nov.2012

Crisis in Mali.

North Korea conducts third nuclear test.

START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty).

Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA).

News with probable GS facts and nuggets

GDP growth for 2011-12 lowered to 6.2 per cent.

National Investment Fund (NIF).

Bio-watch.

Russia to launch lunar mission in 2015.

ISRO lines up SARAL for February, restored GSLV for April.

Chandrayaan-2: India to go it alone.

Home-grown GPS 'Gagan' likely by 2014.

Eco-sensitive zones.

Green Energy Corridors Report.

Green India Mission (GIM).

Union budget 2013-2014 Delhi Declaration on Traditional Medicine for the South-East Asian Countries

April. 2013

Vol. I Issue XI

Chief Editor : Dhananjay Kumar E-mail : dhananjaykumar@currentliner.com

1. INDIA THIS MONTH .................................................................. 1-11 Who is a Juvenile? ........................................................................... pg2 Justice JS Verma Committee Recommendations ............................ Pg 4 Padma Awards ................................................................................. pg 5 Article 262 and Inter-State Water Disputes ..................................... pg 6 Administrative Tribunals .................................................................. pg 10 National Food Security Bill ............................................................... pg 11

Honorary Editor : Er. Saurabh Agrawal E-mail : agrawals_1008@rediffmail.com Associate Editor : Apurva Kumar E-mail : kumarapurva@currentliner.com

2. INTERNATION ......................................................................... 12-19 Crisis in Mali ................................................................................... pg 12 North Korea conducts third nuclear test ......................................... Pg 17 START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ) ....................................... pg 18

Assistant Editor : Dr. Pawan Kumar E-mail : supernobapawan290@gmail.com

3. ECO GLANCE .......................................................................... 20-36 National Investment Fund (NIF) ..................................................... pg 21 Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA) ....................... pg 24 GDP growth for 2011-12 lowered to 6.2 per cent .......................... Pg 27 Union budget 2013-2014 ............................................................... pg 30

Editorial Board: Samjad A.G. E-mail : samjadgafoor@gmail.com Shemim H. Savyasachi Singh

4. TECHNO SCIENCE .................................................................... 37-51 Russia to launch lunar mission in 2015 .......................................... Pg 37 ISRO lines up SARAL for February, restored GSLV for April ............. pg 38 Chandrayaan-2: India to go it alone ................................................ Pg 39 Home-grown GPS 'Gagan' likely by 2014 ........................................ Pg 41 Bio-watch (ANIMAL-NUTRITION-II)........................................................... pg 44 Delhi Declaration on Traditional Medicine for the South-East Asian Countries ........................................................................................ pg 49

Printed By : Gyan Press, 495, Shahzada Bagh, Delhi-35 Phone : +91-11-23658736, 23657715 E-mail : info@gyanpress.com Design & Layout : Ajeet Kumar E-mail : ajeet.kumar@currentliner.com Mob. 9716944783

6. ENVIRON ................................................................................ 52-58 Eco-sensitive zones ......................................................................... Pg 52 Green Energy Corridors Report ...................................................... pg 53 Green India Mission (GIM) ............................................................. Pg 57

Publisher : Gestalt Publications Web Site : www.currentliner.com

7. CULTURATI ............................................................................. 59-62

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8. PERSONA GRATA .................................................................... 63-66 9. TID BITS ............................................................................... 67-68 10. IN-VOGUE ......................................................................... 79-70

REVISION-1 ..................................................................... 71-130 Gestalt Publications 71, (Basement), Mall Road, Kingsway Camp, Delhi-110009 Mob. : 08010726860 We welcome all unsolicited material but do not take responsibility for the same. Letters, are also welcome but are subject to editing. All right reserved. Nothing may be printed in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher. The editors and publishers of this magazine do their best to verify the information published but do not take responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the information. Reader's are advised to make appropriate thorough enquiries before acting upon any advertisement published in this magazine. Currentliner does not vouch or subscribe to the claims and representations made by advertisers. All disputes subject to Delhi Jurisdiction only.

CURRENTLINER April, 2013

EDITOR’S NICHE “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.�

---- ---Napoleon Hill

This is not something very novel as quoted above. Since long, every great and prudent soul has underlined the significance of persistent effort and endeavor.

For the present, the above quote has been mentioned in the wake of imminent examination of Civil Services which holds high stake in the lives of many. From the very inception, this test has aroused curiosity in everyone as this is oft- called the mother of all examinations. There is a unique aura and culture associated with this examination. Always, there is an atmosphere of electrifying charge and spark among people connected with this test-directly and indirectly. The ambience gets more heated up as this exam approaches aspirants' doorstep. Many gets nervous, some becomes full of anticipation and some, after lots of preparation, reports a 'total black out' just before examination.

Nonetheless, a few stands erect in the midst of this howling outcry of tensions and hyper-tensions.

Only, they claim the eventual success. The nervousness and anxiety might be caused by the sheer volume of the syllabus and the over-mounting expectations from the self. There is a need to strike a balance between the both. A confident coverage of the syllabus and moderation of the expectations to a rational level would not let the apprehension surface and would help the aspirants the most. Effort should not cease until you have shown your performance. Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. And, this potential will make things easy in the examination hall.

Recently, news and rumors about imminent pattern change sent the entire civil's market into tizzy.

Many sources broadcasted many facts-one contradicting another and each a purported truth. But nobody assured the aspirants that nothing is going to happen to the preliminary test and the changes, if at all, are being mooted at the level of mains. These change if becomes a reality will provide a level playing field to all and would be same for everybody. The entire benchmark will be set afresh and everybody has to undergo the same difficulties in the preparation and the performances shall depend upon that. So, why discouraged with the fact! People will excel still now and interviews of toppers will still be there in the newspapers. Hence, don't get dissuaded from the effective preparation of the test and don't let your effort cease until you succeed.

This month is not like others before. This is a composite issue comprising the monthly as regular and a round-up of six months from June 2012 to November 2012. Our team has not focused only on the compilation of the news of those months in the round-up, but many nuggets of important facts have been supplemented as have been deemed fit to suit the purpose of approaching prelims. The monthly issue has almost been kept unmodified sans the main essay. 'Specifics' has become less elaborated and fewer in number and at some places this has been replaced by small notes appended at the bottom of news.

We are working constantly to be instrumental in your knowledge and success. Hope we live adequately up to your expectations. Suggestions and feedbacks are sincerely invited.

Dhananjay Kumar.

(Editor). (dhananjaykumar@currentliner.com)

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1

GJM to renew its demand for Gorkhaland State.

Specifics:

TN moves apex court for 12 tmcft from Karnataka

Tamil Nadu on January 17 moved the Supreme Court seeking a directive to Karnataka to release forthwith 12 tmcft of water so that it could save at least a portion of the standing crops in the Cauvery Delta and meet its drinking water requirements. At its 32nd meeting on January 10, the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) declined to grant any relief to Tamil Nadu. The case comes up for hearing on February 4.

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The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) is preparing to renew its demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills, the party's general secretary Roshan Giri announced on January 16. Mr. Giri said since the Centre was contemplating creation of a separate State of Telangana again, it could not afford to ignore the long-standing demand of those who wanted a separate State of Gorkhaland.

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3.

Court terms income limit for RTE quota 'irrational and atrocious’

Observing that fixing of Rs. 3.5 lakh a year as the upper income limit for admission of students from economically backward families to private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act is “irrational” and “atrocious”, the Karnataka High Court on January 17 suggested to the State government to fix “reasonable and rational” income limit. A Division Bench made these observations orally during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by K. Nagesh and two students hailing from BPL families in Mysore. The Bench observed that only middle and upper middle class [children] are being allowed to get seats under the 25 per cent quota of the RTE. It was pointed out in the petition that the upper income limit for a family to be considered as below the poverty line was Rs. 30,000 a year (or Rs. 2,500 a month) and that being so, how could students from these poor families compete with those falling under the income limit of Rs. 3.5 lakh a year.

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The Demand for Gorkhaland: Gorkhaland is the name of the proposed state in India demanded by the majority people of Darjeeling hills and the people of Gorkha ethnic origin in Dooars in northern West Bengal. The movement for Gorkhaland has gained momentum in the line of ethno-linguistic-cultural sentiment of the people who desire to identify themselves as Gorkha.

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The demand for a separate administrative unit in this region has existed since 1907, when the Hillmen's Association of Darjeeling submitted a memorandum to Minto-Morley Reforms demanding a separate administrative setup.

In Independent India, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) was the first political party from the region to demand greater identity for the Gorkha ethnic group and economic freedom for the community. In 1980, the Pranta Parishad of Darjeeling wrote to the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, with the need to form a state for the Gorkhas of India.

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The movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland gained serious momentum during the 1980s, when a violent agitation was carried out by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led

by Subhash Ghising. The agitation ultimately led to the establishment of a semiautonomous body in 1988 called the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) to govern certain areas of Darjeeling district. However, in 2008, a new party called the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) raised the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland once again. On 18 April 2011, GJM signed an agreement with the state and central governments for the formation of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), a semiautonomous body that would replace the DGHC in the Darjeeling hills.

April 2013

4.

Atrocities against tribals: panel for strict action.

Taking note of recent attacks on tribals for worshipping Jesus Christ in Palghar tehsil in Thane district of Maharashtra, the State Minority Commission on January 18 asked the police authorities to take strict action against the guilty. It was reported on January 11 (Tribals beaten up for worshipping Jesus Christ) about the atrocities.

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5.

Notice to Centre on plea to amend Juvenile Justice Act.

As a fallout of the Delhi gang rape incident, in which one of the accused is a juvenile, the Supreme Court on January 18 issued notice to the Union government on a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to amend the Juvenile Justice Act. The petition called for amending the Act to insert a provision whereby an exception is mentioned regarding the non-applicability of the Act, qua juvenility, depending upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case, irrespective of the age of the accused i.e. below 18 years.

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra also issued notice to the Delhi government on the petition filed by advocate Salil Bali. It also issued notice on another petition filed by novelist and computer engineer Shilpa Arora Sharma that sought the appointment of a criminal psychologist to determine through clinical and medical examination if the juvenile accused in the case would be a threat to society and women if allowed to walk free.

Specifics: Who is a Juvenile?

A “juvenile” means a person who has not completed eighteen years of age. A boy or girl under eighteen years of age is a “juvenile” according to the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA), 2000.

Earlier, according to the JJA, 1986, the age of boys and girls were different, but however, the JJA 2000 which repealed the JJA, 1986, brought the age of male juveniles at par with the female juveniles. Another reason for increasing the age of male juveniles by the JJA 2000 is to bring the Indian juvenile legislation into conformity with the 'United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)'. Article 1 of CRC states for the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. Therefore, both the boys and girls below the age of eighteen years enjoy the protection of juvenile legislation.

The term 'children in conflict with the law' as stated by the United Nation's Children Fund refers to anyone under 18 who comes into contact with the justice system as a result of being suspected or accused of committing an offence. In India, the JJA, 2000 defines “juvenile in conflict with law” as a juvenile who is alleged to have committed an offence and has not completed eighteenth year of age as on the date of commission of such offence.

April 2013

6.

President's rule imposed in Jharkhand.

President Pranab Mukherjee on January 18 imposed President's rule in Jharkhand, following its approval by the Union Cabinet on January 17. 'The former Union Home Secretary, Madhukar Gupta, and the former Central Reserve Police Force Director General, K. Vijay Kumar, have been appointed advisers to Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed. Jharkhand has been placed under President's rule as the Arjun Munda government fell after being reduced to a minority following the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's withdrawal of support.

Note: The state was brought under the President's rule for the third time on January 18 since its formation 12 years ago. The state was placed under President's Rule in 2009 and 2010.

7.

3.5 crore MGNREGA post office accounts can now be used for cash transfers.

With a single stroke, the government has made over 3.5 crore existing post office accounts ready for its new Aadhaarlinked cash transfer scheme. The accounts, which belong to MGNREGA workers over the country, were originally to be used only for receiving wages under the rural employment guarantee scheme. However, the government has now woken up to the potential of using the ready-made network of accounts to directly transfer benefits such as pensions, scholarships and social welfare payments. Under the new cash or direct benefit transfer initiative, the Aadhaar number will be used to authenticate the identities of beneficiaries, who will then receive their government benefits directly into their accounts. This requires all beneficiaries to open bank or post office accounts, which will then have to be seeded with their Aadhaar numbers. With MGNREGA already launching its own initiative to link its payments with Aadhaar, it would speed up the process and prevent duplication of work to allow the existing accounts to be used for the cash transfer scheme as well.

Of the 8.26 crore MGNREGA accounts in the country, 43 per cent — or 3.5 crore — are post office accounts, while the remainder are bank accounts. States like Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra have an especially high percentage of MGNREGA workers using post office accounts, and are likely to benefit from this move once the cash transfer scheme comes into full swing.

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Note: Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the Government of India This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India (as defined by UIDAI on its websites). However, recently, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, declared that this is only a number not an identity card to quell the controversy whether Adhaar is a number or an id card. The government has recently constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the issue.

8.

In Chhattisgarh, activists oppose plan to outsource diagnostic services.

The Chhattisgarh government's move to outsource diagnostic services in public health facilities has evoked a sharp reaction from health activists, who fear that it will destroy laboratory services. The government has issued a request for proposals for private partnership in radiology and laboratory services in 379 public health facilities. Three categories of facilities have been identified for setting up diagnostic centres in the public-private partnership mode. These include 100-bed hospitals (Category A); the newly established district hospitals, the first referral unit-community health centres and civil hospitals (Category B); and the non-first referral unit- community health centres and 24x7 primary health centres (Category C).

9.

SC bans tourists in Jarawa land.

The Supreme Court on January 21banned tourists from taking the Andaman Nicobar Trunk Road that passes through the area where the Jarawas live. The road is used to reach the Limestone Cave. The court has already banned all commercial and tourism activities within a five-km radius of the Jarawa Tribal Reserve on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Note: The Jarawa are one of the adivasi indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands in India. Their present numbers are estimated at between 250-400 individuals. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood.

The Jarawa hunt pig and monitor lizard, fish with bows and arrows, and gather seeds, berries and honey. They are nomadic, living in bands of 40-50 people. Their name means "foreigners" or "hostile people" in Aka-Bea. Jarawas are threatened due to invasive tourism and poaching.

April 2013

10.

Tripura Assembly poll notified.

The Election Commission announced the poll for the 60member Tripura Assembly on February 14 with State Governor D.Y. Patil issuing the notification. The Election Commission has done all preparatory works for smooth conduct of the poll for which January 28 is the last date for filing nominations.

11.

Changes planned to quickly resolve water disputes.

The Centre has proposed crucial changes in the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 to quickly resolve water sharing disputes between basin States and to give a tribunal's award the force of an order/decree of the Supreme Court.

It has proposed to appoint an agency to maintain a data bank at the national level for each river basin. For the first time on January 21, the Union Water Resources Ministry unfolded its draft amendments to the Act that provides for a single tribunal in place of multiple tribunals to adjudicate on interState water disputes in a fixed time-frame of two years, which may be extended by one year.

12.

First-ever talks on nuclear partnership with Australia soon.

With Australia and India realising that they cannot have a full-fledged strategic partnership without enhanced cooperation in critical sectors, both sides have decided to hold the first-ever talks on a civil nuclear partnership agreement in New Delhi on March 19. . External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid held talks with his Australian counterpart Bob Carr.

While India has expressed its readiness to negotiate a civil nuclear agreement, it has made clear its unwillingness to go beyond the formats of previous pacts signed with countries such as the U.S., Russia and France. The immediate focus is on sourcing uranium from the world's largest producer, but officials said the cooperation agreement will have a broad scope, covering all areas of civil nuclear cooperation including issues relating to global non-proliferation.

Wide-ranging talks that also include disarmament and non-proliferation, it is hoped, will lead to the positive 3

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consideration of India's membership of the Australia Group, one of the four major export control bodies for dual use items.

Despite its best efforts, India has been unable to join the Australia Group as well as the other three — the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, the Wasenaar Arrangement and the Missile Technology Control Regime.

Note: A Multilateral Export Control Regime (MECR) is an international body that states use to organize their national export control systems. There are currently four such regimes: ?

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Con-

ventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. ?

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), for the control of

nuclear related technology. ?

The Australia Group (AG) for control of chemical and bio-

logical technology that could be weaponized. ?

The Missile Technology Control Regime for the control of

rockets and other aerial vehicles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.

13.

State's organic farming policy criticised.

By adopting a policy decision to switch over to organic farming, Kerala could be chasing a delusion, according to S.Ganesan, chairman, International Treaties Expert Committee, Indian Chemical Council.

Dr. Ganesan said the amount of money spent on promoting organic farming in India was quite disproportionate to the returns. He observed that organic farm products had contributed very little to the country's exports. “Since 2007, the Government of India has spent close to Rs.3000 crore on organic farming. Yet, of the total agricultural exports of $36.96 bn from India, organic products account for only $0.36 bn, a share of just 1 per cent. Only 87,676 metric tonnes of organic products were exported in 2011- 12”.

14.

Justice JS Verma Committee Recommendations.

A three-member commission assigned to review laws for sexual crimes submitted its report to the government on January 23. The commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice JS Verma, has identified "failure of governance" as the root cause for sexual crime. It criticised the government, the police and even the public for April 2013

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its apathy, and recommended dramatic changes.

1. Punishment for Rape: The panel has not recommended the death penalty for rapists. It suggests that the punishment for rape should be rigorous imprisonment or RI for seven years to life.

It recommends that punishment for causing death or a "persistent vegetative state" should be RI for a term not be less than 20 years, but may be for life also, which shall mean the rest of the person's life. Gang-rape, it suggests should entail punishment of not less than 20 years, which may also extend to life and gang-rape followed by death, should be punished with life imprisonment.

2. Punishment for other sexual offences: The panel recognised the need to curb all forms of sexual offences and recommended - Voyeurism be punished with upto seven years in jail; stalking or attempts to contact a person repeatedly through any means by up to three years. Acid attacks would be punished by up to seven years if imprisonment; trafficking will be punished with RI for seven to ten years.

3. Registering complaints and medical examination: Every complaint of rape must be registered by the police and civil society should perform its duty to report any case of rape coming to its knowledge. "Any officer, who fails to register a case of rape reported to him, or attempts to abort its investigation, commits an offence which shall be punishable as prescribed," the report says. The protocols for medical examination of victims of sexual assault have also been suggested. The panel said, "Such protocol based, professional medical examination is imperative for uniform practice and implementation.”

4. Marriages to be registered: As a primary recommendation, all marriages in India (irrespective of the per-sonal laws under which such marriages are solemnised) should mandatorily be registered in the presence of a magistrate,. The magistrate will ensure that the marriage has been solemnised without any demand for dowry having been made and that it has taken place with the full and free consent of both partners.

5. Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure: The panel observed, "The manner in which the rights of women can 4

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be recognised can only be manifested when they have full access to justice and when the rule of law can be upheld in their favour." The proposed Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2012, should be modified, suggests the panel. "Since the possibility of sexual assault on men, as well as homosexual, transgender and transsexual rape, is a reality the provisions have to be cognizant of the same," it says. A special procedure for protecting persons with disabilities from rape, and requisite procedures for access to justice for such persons, the panel said was an "urgent need."

6. Bill of Rights for women: A separate Bill of Rights for women that entitles a woman a life of dignity and security and will ensure that a woman shall have the right to have complete sexual autonomy including with respect to her relationships.

7. Review of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act: The panel has observed that the "impunity of systematic sexual violence is being legitimised by the armed forces special powers act." It has said there is an imminent need to review the continuance of AFSPA in areas as soon as possible. It has also recommended posting special commi-ssioners for women's safety in conflict areas.

8. Police reforms: To inspire public confidence, the panel said, "police officers with reputations of outstanding ability and character must be placed at the higher levels of the police force." All existing appointments need to be reviewed to ensure that the police force has the requisite moral vision. The panel strongly recommended that "law enforcement agencies do not become tools at the hands of political masters." It said, "Every member of the police force must understand their accountability is only to the law and to none else in the discharge of their duty.�

9. Role of the judiciary: The judiciary has the primary responsibility of enforcing fundamental rights, through constitutional remedies. The judiciary can take suo motu cognizance of such issues being deeply concerned with them both in the Supreme Court and the High Court. An all India strategy to deal with this issue would be advisable. The Chief Justice of India could be approached to com-mence appropriate proceedings on the judicial side. The Chief Justice may consider making appropriate orders relating to the issue of missing children to curb the illegal trade of their trafficking etc.

10. Political Reforms: The Justice Verma committee observed that reforms are needed to deal with crimina-lisation of politics. The panel has suggest that, in the event cognizance has been taken by a magistrate of an criminal offence, the April 2013

candidate ought to be disqualified from participating in the electoral process. Any candidate who fails to disclose a charge should be disqualified sub-sequently. It suggested lawmakers facing criminal charges, who have already been elected to Parliament and state legislatures, should voluntarily vacate their seats.

15.

Immediate priority to poll reforms, says new Law Commission chief Jain.

Justice D.K. Jain, retired judge of the Supreme Court, took charge as Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India at a brief ceremony on January 25. Justice Jain had been a judge of the Supreme Court from April 2006 and during the over sixyear tenure he had delivered several landmark judgments and he endeared himself to the members of the Bar. As Law Commission Chairman, he said his immediate priority would be to look into electoral reforms, which, the government had asked him to do. In particular, the Commission would look into state funding of elections and preventing criminalisation of politics etc. There were many outdated laws and the Commission, in consultation with other members, would see whether these could be taken out of the statute or amended or repealed.

Justice Jain, heading a three-member Bench, mo-nitored the Special Investigation Team probe into the Godhra and postGodhra cases in Gujarat and the Gulberg Society case in which the court directed the Ahmedabad magistrate to decide on the closure report. Justice Jain was heading the Benches on sensitive Mullaperiyar and Cauvery disputes cases.

16.

Padma Awards .

Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra, Art, Orissa; S. Haider Raza, Art, Delhi; Prof. Yash Pal, Science and Engineering, Uttar Pradesh; Prof.

Roddam Narasimha, Science and Engineering, Karnataka.

Padma Bhushan Dr. Ramanaidu Daggubati, Art, Andhra Pradesh; Sreeramamurthy Janaki, Art, Tamil Nadu; Dr. (Smt.) Kanak Rele,

Art, Maharashtra; Sharmila Tagore, Art, Delhi; Dr. (Smt) Saroja Vaidyanathan, Art, Delhi; Abdul Rashid Khan, Art, West Bengal; Late Rajesh Khanna, Art, Maharashtra; Late 5

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Jaspal Singh Bhatti, Art, Punjab; Shivajirao Girdhar Patil, Public Affairs, Maharashtra; Dr. Apathukatha Sivathanu Pillai, Science, Engineering Delhi; Dr. Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Science and Engineering, Delhi; Dr. Ashoke Sen Science and Engineering Uttar Pradesh; N. Suresh, Science and Engineering, Karnataka; Prof. Satya N. Atluri, Science and Engineering, USA; Prof. Jogesh Chandra Pati, Science and Engineering, USA.

17.

Debate on Article 19(2) needed, says journalist.

Is “freedom of expression” a muddled notion? Is there a need to define more clearly where freedom of expression ends and deliberate incitement begins? Does freedom of expression allow something that has the potential to incite violence and discrimination? During a session titled “Freedom of speech and expression” at the Jaipur Literature Festival, journalist and managing editor of Tehelka Shoma Chaudhury said Article 19(2) of the Constitution, which imposes reasonable restrictions on fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, needed to be debated.

18.

Centre urged to invoke Article 262 (2): panel.

The co-ordination committee of various farmers' associations, which met in Tiruchi on January 27, has urged the State government to pass a unanimous resolution in the Legislative Assembly, requesting the Centre to invoke Article 262 (2) to settle the Cauvery issue.

“This provision empowers Parliament to come out with a law that bars jurisdiction of courts including the Supreme Court over matters concerning inter-State river water disputes,” a resolution passed at the meeting explained.

It also contended that not only would this initiative help resolve the issue and establish the riparian rights of Tamil Nadu but also protect the integrity of the nation “which is being sabotaged by the Karnataka government's recalcitrance” (in implementing the directions of the Monitoring Committee of the Cauvery River Authority).

Specifics: Article 262 and Inter-State Water Disputes: In case of disputes relating to waters, Article 262 provides: (1). Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or April 2013

control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.

(2). Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may, by law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as is referred to in Clause (1).

The Interstate River Water Disputes Act – 1956 (IRWD Act) was first enacted on 28 August 1956 by the Indian parliament under Article 262 on the eve of reorganization of states on linguistic basis to resolve the water disputes that would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river or river valley. Article 262 of the Indian Constitution provides a role for the Central government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding inter-state rivers that arise among the states/ regional governments. This Act further has undergone amendments subsequently and its most recent amendment took place in the year 2002.

River waters use / harnessing is included in states jurisdiction (entry 17 of state list, Schedule 7of Indian Constitution).

19.

G-20 and RCEP will redefine the contours of the global economy, says Ansari.

Batting for advanced and emerging economies working in tandem to prepare a road map for global recovery, VicePresident Hamid Ansari on January 24 said partnerships would redefine the contours of the Indian economy. Delivering the inaugural address at the Global Partnership Summit-2013 in Agra, organised by the CII, Mr. Ansari said the emerging economies leveraged each other's strengths and comparative advantages to create a new economic world order.

“Partnerships, such as the G-20, whose member countries account for two-thirds of the world's population, 90 per cent of world's GDP and 80 per cent of world trade; and the recently launched Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — a group of 16 countries comprising ASEAN memberstates and six countries with which they have free trade agreements — will redefine the contours of the global economy,” he said. The audience comprised trade ministers, diplomats and CEOs who descended here for the annual summit.

Specifics: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP): The RCEP is an ASEAN-led trade agreement linking the economies 6

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of 16 Asia-Pacific countries. The RCEP aims to be the largest free-trade bloc in the world, comprising all 10 ASEAN nations and the 6 other countries with which the group has free-trade agreements (FTAs)—China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The grouping includes more than 3 billion people, has a combined GDP of about $17 trillion, and accounts for about 40 percent of world trade. Negotiations are slated to begin in early 2013 and are expected to conclude by the end of 2015.

The idea of the RCEP was first introduced in November 2011 at the ASEAN Leaders Summit in Bali, as officials attempted to reconcile two existing regional trade architectures.

China supported the East Asia Free Trade Agreement, which restricted the grouping to ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea. Japan, on the other hand, favored the Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia, which added three countries: India, Australia, and New Zealand.

20.

Despite drawbacks, MGNREGS tops in job creation.

Divergence of views prevails over the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Of all the Centrally-funded schemes, this one stands out simply for two reasons: its economic impact on the rural populace, and the endless debate on its pros and cons.

It is said to have brought about perceptible changes in the economic profile of rural India as it has lifted lakhs of families out of the poverty line; paved the way for economic empowerment of women as they outnumber men on its roll; arrested migration of labour and above all created assets.

On the other hand, critics view the scheme as a bane because the MGNREGS has adversely affected agriculture by making labour force to go scarce; lack of monitoring mechanism has led to recklessness among the beneficiaries and a fertile ground for corruption; no worthwhile assets created; the promised wages and number days of works to be offered remain only on paper.

The issue that is persistently dogging the MGNREGS is the payment hassle, as direct money transfer to the accounts of the beneficiaries is yet to fully come into practice. Yet, the scheme happens to be the leading job-providing mechanism.

21.

India, Bangladesh sign extradition treaty.

April 2013

India and Bangladesh on January 28 signed two landmark agreements to extradite criminals and terrorists and liberalise the visa regime. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his Bangladesh counterpart, Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, signed the agreements on the first of the two-day Home Ministers' meeting in Dhaka.

However, refusal provisions have been built into the extradition treaty, which India waited for long. If extradition of someone poses a threat to national security, either country may refuse the deportation request. No political detainee will be brought within the purview of the treaty. If a controversy arose during an extradition process, officials explained, the matter would be settled as per the laws of the country concerned. The other agreement provides for a friendlier visa regime for Bangladeshis.

22.

Leprosy continues to haunt India, social stigma remains.

While India celebrates its near victory over polio, another dreaded disease, leprosy, that was overpowered in 2005 continues to haunt the government. Those affected by the disease continue to face social stigma and discrimination. In addition to the 12,305 child cases detected during the past year, 16 States and Union Territories have also shown an increase in the number of cases.

Though in 2005 leprosy was eliminated (having less than 1 patient per 10,000 population), now it has the world's highest burden of disease, accounting for close to 58 per cent of the cases in the world. A total of 1.27 lakh new cases were detected in 2011-12 which gives an Annual New Case Detection Rate (ANCDR) of 10.35 per 100,000 population, which is marginally less than that of 10.48 in 2010-11.

Note: Leprosy: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae . It usually affects the skin and peripheral nerves, but has a wide range of clinical manifestations.

The disease is characterised by long incubation period generally 5-7 years and is classified as paucibacillary or multibacillary, depending on the bacillary load. Leprosy is a leading cause of permanent physical disability. Timely diagnosis and treatment of cases, before nerve damage occurred, is the most effective way of preventing disability due to leprosy.

23.

India invites Dhaka's stake in dams on common rivers.

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In contrast to China's unilateral move to construct dams on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra, India has taken a different route with respect to dams on rivers it shares with Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh have identified several projects including the controversial Tipaimukh hydel project in which Dhaka could have equity participation. Over time, some portion of the electricity generated by projects on common rivers could accrue to Bangladesh, said official sources.

Bangladesh has now shown interest in jointly developing nine hydroelectric projects in the North East and Sikkim. Of them, three are under construction — Subansiri (2000 MW), Myntdu (84 MW) and Teesta-III (1200 MW). Dhaka is also interested in six other projects that are at the planning stage including Jadukata (345 MW), Tipaimukh (1500 MW) and Teesta-IV (495MW).

The offer of a joint stake in Tipaimukh, which is located in India on the Manipur-Mizoram border but on a river common to Bangladesh, will be the first move to test the waters in terms of various wrinkles that are likely to appear in a joint hydel project with a huge capital outlay. The project had led to agitations in Bangladesh where people feared that the dam would lead to floods during monsoons and lean flows during the rest of the year.

24.

Delhi asks Dhaka to allow small ships between Chittagong and Vizag to reduce trade cost.

Seeking to expand trade and economic engagement, India has asked Bangladesh to allow smaller ships to operate between Chittagong and Visakhapatnam to help in faster movement of goods and thus reduce transhipment cost. For, much of the sea trade between the two countries now happens via Singapore, inflating cost. The issue came up during talks between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Ghulam Mohammad Quader, in Agra on January 29. India wanted to give a new impetus to Bangladeshi exports and bring down the massive trade imbalance, which was in favour of India.

25.

Committee on minority varsities to submit its report by February 15.

Former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Sukhadeo Thorat-headed expert committee constituted April 2013

by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs to go into various aspects of the five minority universities proposed to be set up by the Centre will submit its report by February 15. The proposed Tipu Sultan University at Sriranga patna is one of five minority universities the Centre plans to set up.

The committee will look into the legalities — whether the Central varsities should be established by an Act of Parliament or as institutions of national importance — besides their affiliating character, the academic programmes, quality assessment and the location of the universities, he said.

26.

Assembly elections in Meghalaya and Nagaland notified.

The Governors of Meghalaya and Nagaland on January 30 notified the February 23 elections to the Legislative Assemblies of the two States. The counting of votes for elections and byelections in the 10 States (including Tripura, which will have elections on February 14) will be taken up on February 28.

The Assemblies of Meghalaya and Nagaland have 60 members each. While Meghalaya has an electoral strength of 14.81 lakh voters, it is 11.81 lakh in Nagaland. The Election Commission has set up 2,485 polling stations in Meghalaya and 2,023 in Nagaland.

27.

Clearance for linear projects will not need gram sabha consent.

Gram sabhas in forest areas have been stripped of their power to approve or reject proposals for the diversion of their forest lands for building roads, transmission lines, canals or other linear projects. In a move that activists have slammed as being a dilution of the rights of tribal people and other forest dwellers, the Environment Ministry on February 5 amended its critical August 2009 circular dealing with the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. “Projects like construction of roads, canals, laying of pipelines/optical fibres and transmission lines etc., [which involve] linear diversion of forest land in several villages — unless recognised rights of PTG/PAC are being affected — are exempted from the requirement of obtaining consent of the concerned gram sabha(s) as stipulated [in the 2009 circular],” said Assistant Inspector General of Forests H.C. Chaudhary in a fresh circular.

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This amendment follows the agreement reached at a meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo and Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on February 1. Both Ministers had earlier vowed to stand against any dilution of tribal rights; however, both Ministers agreed to amend the circular.

28.

Use RKVY funds to empower livestock, fisheries, Pawar tells States.

Over the under-utilisation of funds in the livestock and fisheries sector, Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar on February 6 called upon States to allocate at least 25 per cent of the resources available under the “flexible” Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna for this crucial sector.

In eleven States, the share of the livestock and fisheries sector in the Centrally-funded RKVY was only 15 per cent, the Minister observed, while addressing the Conference of State Ministers of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. In the current fiscal, the projects, amounting to Rs. 1,165 crore, have been sanctioned under the scheme for animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries sector.

Note: Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna: The National Development Council (NDC), in its meeting held on 29th May, 2007 resolved that a special Additional Central Assistance Scheme (RKVY) be launched. The NDC resolved that agricultural development strategies must be reoriented to meet the needs of farmers and called upon the Central and State governments to evolve a strategy to rejuvenate agriculture. The NDC reaffirmed its commitment to achieve 4 per cent annual growth in the agricultural sector during the 11th plan.

29.

46 per cent of the country's children in the age group of below six years are malnourished: “It was hoped that the Standing Committee would seize the opportunity of drafting the NFSB to remedy the bane of malnourishment in the country. Instead, even the entitlements provided for children in the NFSB were dropped.”

30.

'One-stop crisis' centres for women from April.

The Central government will bring into operation from April 'one stop crisis centres for women' at government hospitals in one hundred districts across the country to protect women against violence at home and workplaces. Informing this at the southern regional consultation to formulate the national policy for improving child sex ratio (CSR) in Hyderabad on February 8, Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath asked the State government to act quickly in identifying the number and location of the centres that it wanted to set up.

She also wanted the State resource centre for women to be strengthened to take the initiative forward. This is the first consultation taken up by the Centre in a bid to improve the CSR following its decline from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011 against 1,000 boys in the age group of 0 to 6. The delegates comprised women and child welfare officers from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep.

Ms. Tirath said the one stop crisis centres will be headed by senior doctors at the hospitals and comprise eight to ten others, including counsellors, police officers, lawyers, psychiatrists, nurses and support staff. Her Ministry was also in the process of initiating a mass movement through 'ahimsa messengers' to discourage violence against women, she added.

Dropped from the agenda.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) claims to have been “stunned to see that its submissions to the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (2012-14) on critical issues of children's food and nutritional security have not found place in the Committee's 27th Report — The National Food Security Bill, 2011 (NFSB) which guarantees some legal entitlements to the population at large”.

The NCPCR has noted that it is widely acknowledged that April 2013

31.

India, Pakistan bracing for Kishenganga dispute order.

India and Pakistan are bracing themselves up for the final order of the Court of Arbitration at The Hague in their dispute over the construction of the Rs. 3,600 crore Kishenganga hydro-electric project in North Kashmir. The Court, chaired by Stephen M. Schwebel, has asked the ambassadors of both the countries to be present when it hands out its judgement on February 18.

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The 330 MW run-of-the-river power project is under construction by the National Hydro Power Corporation in the Kashmir valley. Pakistan had sought a stay on the project while the dispute was being heard. However, the Court had restrained India from certain activities of a permanent nature but did not impose any stay. The project is under construction on Kishenganga (called Neelam in Pakistan), a tributary of the Jhelum river, by diverting waters from a dam site to Bonar Madmati Nallah, another tributary of Jhelum.

Specifics: Kishenganga dispute: Construction of the Kishanganga project started in 2007 and is expected to complete by 2016. It is located on the river Kishanganga, a tributary of river Jhelum, in Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir. Almost a year later, Pakistan started constructing the Neelum Jhelum project on the Neelum River, located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, with a capacity of 969 MW and presumed annual benefits of Rs 45 billion. Both follow similar principle of design and operation i.e. to divert a portion of the water to the power station before it is discharged back into the river. Pakistan fears that the Kishanganga Project will divert a portion of the Kishanganga (Neelum River in Pakistan) which will reduce power generation at the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Plant. Therefore, in 2010, it appealed to the International Court of Justice for resolution of the conflict under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

In September 2011, Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) issued an interim order to India for suspending the construction of any permanent head works on the Kishanganga project.

32.

Job on compassionate grounds not a right.

The Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras Bench, has ruled that appointment on compassionate grounds is not a right that can be claimed at any time in future. The Bench observed, “It is simply not a method of recruitment. The scheme is meant to provide immediate help to the indigent family due to the sudden demise of a bread winner.� This observation was made by the Bench while dismissing an application filed by H. Gopala krishnan, whose father died in harness nearly two decades ago.

Specifics: Administrative Tribunals: Part XIV-A which consists of two Articles 323A and 323B deals with administrative Tribunals.

This part was added by Forty-second Amendment of the April 2013

Constitution (1976).

Art.323A provides that the Parliament may by law establish tribunals for adjudication of disputes concerning recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public service under Central, State or local or other authority, or a corporation owned and controlled by the Government.

The law made by Parliament for the purpose may specify the jurisdiction and procedure of these tribunals.

Art 323B empowers legislature to establish tribunals in respect of matters such as taxation, foreign exchange, industrial and labor disputes, land reforms, ceiling on urban property, elections to Parliament or State Legislature etc.

The idea underlying these provisions is to lighten the work load on the Courts. For example, at present, a large number of service cases come before the High Courts through writ petitions. Also establishment of these tribunals will make for an effective enforcement of some of the laws for the tribunals can decide cases much more quickly than the courts. However these tribunals do not bar the jurisdiction of the High Courts under Art 226/227 and of Supreme Court under Art.32.

In pursuance of Article 323A of the Constitutional and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, the parliament enacted the administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 to provide for the adjudication or trial by Administrative Tribunals of disputes and complains with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts. Under this act, Central Administrative Tribunal and Administrative Tribunals for State were set up.

The provisions of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 do not, however, apply to members of paramilitary forces, armed forces of the Union, officers or employees of the Supreme Court, or to persons appointed to the Secretariat Staff of either House of Parliament or the Secretariat staff of State/Union Territory Legislatures.

The Central Administrative Tribunal has been established for adjudication of disputes with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or other local authorities within the territory of India or under the control of Government of India and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Today, there are 17 Benches of the Tribunal located throughout the country wherever the seat of a High Court is located, with 33 Division Benches.

33.

Many States express reservations over Food Security Bill.

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Even as the Centre hopes to introduce and pass the National Food Security Bill in the coming Budget session of Parliament, several States have expressed reservations on the Bill. At a consultation meeting of State Food Ministers in New Delhi to evolve a consensus on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to which the government Bill was referred, many States differed on crucial provisions, particularly the ones relating to identification of beneficiaries, sustained availability of grains, proposed cut in individual entitlement and additional expenses to be borne by them.

According to Union Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas, the Bill will be revised.

Major points of concerns raised by various states: ?

Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and

Madhya Pradesh sought a universal public distribution system. ?

Saying there was “no procedural clarity,” Tamil Nadu

sought to be completely exempted from the purview of the Bill. ?

A majority of the States categorically opposed cash

transfers in lieu of grains. Some of them cautioned the Centre against rushing through the Bill without adequate level of preparedness and availability of grains. Several consuming States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu expressed the apprehension that their share of food grains allocation would decline under the new dispensation. ?

The States said they were utterly confused about how to

identify the beneficiaries so that they could fit into the UPA's eligibility criteria for 67 per cent of the population. ?

Moreover, with the socio-economic caste census (SECC)

which will determine the eligibility and entitlement of rural households for different programmes and schemes -still not complete, the States pointed out that the government was “hurrying through” the process. ?

Seeking a “credible road map,” Gujarat cautioned about

the “level of preparedness” and sought careful evaluation of resources. ?

Odisha said there was “utter confusion” about identi-

fication of beneficiaries. It asked the Centre to bear the additional cost of setting up a State food commission, grievance redress mechanism and operating the system. ?

Seeking a revised Bill, Bihar bemoaned that while the

Centre exercised its power for fixing the number of beneficiaries, criteria for eligibility and the schemes, it April 2013

“unilaterally” put all financial burden on the States.

The subsidy bill for mandatory distribution of 5 kg of rice, wheat and coarse cereals at Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Re. 1 a kg respectively under the TPDS for 67 per cent of the population is estimated at Rs. 1.17 lakh crore.

The government Bill proposed a coverage of up to 75 per cent rural population with at least 46 per cent as “priority” (BPL) and up to 50 per cent of the urban population with at least 28 per cent as “priority.” It suggested monthly entitlement of 7 kg a person.

Specifics: National Food Security Bill: The National Food Security Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December, 2011 and thereafter was examined in detail by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. ?

It seeks to cover about 67.5% of India's 1.2 billion people,

expanding an existing food subsidy scheme thatcovers about 180 million of India's poorest people who receive about 4 million tonnes of grain every month through licensed "fair price shops". ?

The beneficiaries are divided into "general" and "priority"

households with the latter recognised as the more vulnerable group. The bill identifies 46% of the rural beneficiaries and 28% of urban beneficiaries as "priority" households. About 40% of India's population live below $1.25 a day. ?

Proposed entitlement in the bill is 7 kg. of food grains per person, per month, for priority household at an issue price of Rs. 3/2/1 per kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains respectively. For general households it is 3 Kg at an issue price not exceeding 50% of Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat and coarse grains and derived MSP of rice. ?

Other provisions include legal right to take home ration

/meal to women, children, special groups including destitute & homeless, emergency & disaster affected persons, persons living in starvation, a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism at District, State and National levels and transparency and accountability.

The Bill, to provide food security for all in a rights based manner, is being finalised in the light of recommendations of Parliamentary Standing Committee. The Government intends to present the revised National Food Security Bill in the Parliament during Budget Session for consideration and passage, so that the people are ensured of its benefits at the earliest.

Continued on the page 58 .............

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MOROCCO

France begins ground offensive in Mali.

LIBYA ALGERIA WESTERN SAHARA

A week after French aircraft rushed to the aid of a defeated and demoralised Malian army, French ground forces have begun fighting alongside the Malian army in Diabaly, a town 350 km north of capital Bamako. Since last year, northern Mali has been overrun by Islamist rebels organised under the banners of the Ansar Dine, the Movement for Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

On January 11, France sent in jets, helicopter gunships, and special forces to Central Mali as Islamist rebels advanced till 50 km from a major military base in Sevare, and captured the town of Konna. Since then, France has deployed 2,500 troops in its former colony and bombed targets as far north as Gao and Timbuktu, even as analysts warned of a prolonged and difficult mission. The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has promised about 3,000 troops.

Specifics: Crisis in Mali: Once an apparent pillar of democracy in West Africa, Mali has drastically deteriorated in 2012, with a coup bringing down the elected government in March and a combination of armed groups taking over vast areas of the desert north soon thereafter. March 2012 coup d'état that overthrew Mali's democratically elected government and led the military chain of command to collapse. The insurgents include Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, along with at least two loosely allied groups. In the capital, Bamako, located in the south, the interim government formed in the wake of the coup has suffered from internal divisions and military interference, and must contend with an economic recession and revenue shortages. Insecurity in northern Mali has displaced over 350,000 people and exacerbated regional food insecurity and poor humanitarian conditions.

On January 11, 2013, France launched military operations against insurgent targets in northern Mali, following a request from the Malian government for help in repelling insurgent advances toward the south. French operations mark a sudden and major shift in international responses to the situation in Mali. Previously, international efforts had focused on a French backed proposal for a West African-led military intervention, April 2013

MAURITANIA

MALI NIGER CHAD Bamako BURKINA FASO

NIGERIA

negotiations with some armed groups in the north, and prospects for elections aimed at a more legitimate, effective government in Bamako. The planned regional intervention, termed the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), was authorized by the U.N. Security Council in December 2012. However, AFISMA was widely seen as requiring many months to prepare. During the planning for AFISMA, serious questions have also been raised concerning Malian and regional troops' military capacity and will, as well as the potential cost and humanitarian consequences of regional deployments.

The United States may provide logistical support to ongoing French operations, as France has requested. The Obama Administration may also provide support to regional troop contributors as France and regional leaders attempt to accelerate African deployments under AFISMA. Prior to the French intervention, U.S. policymakers had reportedly debated the potential for unilateral action against terrorist actors in Mali. The Obama Administration has also called for Mali to organize national elections, and has supported regional efforts to mediate a way out of Mali's political standoff and contain violent extremism from spreading more widely in the region.

2.

Parchin visit only after political deal, IAEA told.

Iran has virtually denied a high-level delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to its Parchin military complex, saying it would open up the facility for inspections once a deal on its “nuclear rights” is achieved. Iran said it would allay concerns about the Parchin site if global powers recognised its right to peaceful nuclear technology.

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The IAEA suspects, based on satellite imagery, that the facility may have been used for testing explosives used to trigger a nuclear explosion. Iran continues to deny that Parchin has been used for any nuclear related activity. Nevertheless, Iran was ready to remove the agency's concerns, provided Iran's “nuclear rights” were fully recognised.

3.

Myanmar drops anti-dissident law.

Myanmar has repealed a law that was used to jail critics of the former junta. Reformist President Thein Sein on January 15 revoked legislation which banned protests against the “peaceful handover of power”. The law, which came into force in 1996, also banned protests against “the successful holding of the national convention” the body which drafted Myanmar's controversial constitution in 2007.

4.

'New chapter' in China's ties with India, says CPC.

Describing the last year as among the least problematic in the history of India-China relations, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) official newspaper has said in an editorial that ties with India had now turned the corner with “new features” emerging in the relationship, marked by a shift in focus from the boundary question to trade.

The unsigned editorial in the People's Daily , which reflects the views of the top leadership, called for both countries to “grasp each other's strategic intent” to ensure that their “growing international influence” was mutually “reinforcing,” rather than a source of rivalry. Unsigned editorials in the newspaper are widely seen as being endorsed by the CPC's top leadership and as the most authoritative reflections of the party's views.

5.

5.

South Atlantic nations call for Falklands talks.

More than 20 countries of the South Atlantic region called for talks to settle the Falkland Islands dispute between Britain and Argentina. The appeal came at a meeting of the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, which was created by the United Nations in 1986. A statement issued after a ministerial-level conference called for a rapid and unconditional end to all forms of “colonialism,” and for talks April 2013

between London and Buenos Aires on the British-controlled Falklands, which Argentina refers to as the Malvinas.

Argentina invaded them in 1982, prompting Britain to send a naval task force to reclaim the islands at the cost of the lives of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers. In March, the islands' 3,000 residents will vote on their future. Britain expects an overwhelming vote for the islands to remain British.

6.

Myanmar parliament calls for Kachin conflict truce.

Myanmar's parliament on January 18 approved a motion calling for a halt to fighting between the military and rebels in the northern State of Kachin which has marred optimism about the country's political reforms. The conflict between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) -the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) -- has escalated recently.

The proposal to halt the clashes and resume ceasefire talks, submitted by Kachin MP Doibu of the Unity and Democracy Party, was passed by a voice vote in the lower chamber, house speaker Shwe Mann announced.

7.

India committed to implementing TAPI Project by 2017.

President Pranab Mukherjee said India is fully committed to implementing the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-PakistanIndia (TAPI) Project by August 2017. During his interaction with 13

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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on January 21, Mr. Mukherjee said India is deficient in energy resources, whereas Turkmenistan is rich in hydrocarbon resources. Welcoming Mr. Meredov, Mr. Mukherjee said India highly values its warm, friendly and historically close ties with Turkmenistan. He said the visit of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to India in May 2010 has given a strong impetus to the strengthening of bilateral ties and since that visit, the TAPI gas line Project has made significant progress.

Specifics: Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Project: The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (also known as Turkmenistan– Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline, TAP or TAPI) is a proposed natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank. The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The abbreviation comes from the first letters of those countries. Proponents of the project see it as a modern continuation of the Silk Road. The Afghan government is expected to receive 8% of the project's revenue.

GAIL India may become a part of TAPI project.

Based on an 'in-principle' approval of the Cabinet on 18th May, 2006, India joined the Turkmenistan-AfghanistanPakistan (TAP) Project in April, 2008 and thereafter, the name of the project stood amended to Turkmenistan-AfghanistanPakistan-India (TAPl) Gas Pipeline Project.

Indian Cabinet allowed state-run gas-firm GAIL to sign the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with TürkmenGaz, Turkmenistan's national oil company.

The 1,735 kilometres (1,078 mi) pipeline will run from the Turkmenistan gas fields to Afghanistan. Most of sources reports that the pipeline will start from the Dauletabad gas field while some other sources say that it will start from the Iolotan gas field. In Afghanistan, the TAPI will be constructed alongside the highway running from Herat to Kandahar, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan. The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between Pakistan and India.

8.

Alarm in China over high gender imbalance.

The gender imbalance in China has remained at an alarmingly high ratio of 117 newborn boys for 100 girls in 2012.

This has prompted renewed promises from the government to crack down on illegal selective abortions, while also triggering strong calls for China to discard its unpopular family planning restrictions.

The National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) said the ratio declined slightly — by 0.08 — last year. It described the figure as “still higher than the warning level”.

“The report said China's gender imbalance had widened after ultrasound examinations were widely available in the 1980s.

The ratio reached a record 120.56 in 2008, the report added.

Turkmenistan DAULETABAD GAS FIELD

Tehran IRAN IRAQ

Proposed TurkmenistanAfghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (TAPI)

Herat

Afghanistan Islamabad

Proposed IranPakistan-India Pipeline (IPI)

Assiuyeh

Bandar-E Abbas

Pakistan

Kandahar

Iranshahr

Quetta

Sui Khuzdar

Karachi

Multan

Fazilka

New Delhi

INDIA

The intergovernmental agreement on the pipeline was signed on 11 December 2010 in Ashgabat. However, in April 2012, India and Afghanistan have failed to agree on transit fee for gas passing through Afghan territory. Consequently, Islamabad and New Delhi too could not agree on the transit fee for the segment of the pipeline passing through Pakistan, which has linked its fee structure to any India-Afghanistan agreement. On 16 May 2012, Meshrano Jirga, an upper house of parliament of Afghanistan, approved the agreement on a gas pipeline and the day after, the

April 2013

Enforced in the early 1980s, and known widely as the 'onechild policy' although the rules are more complex, the measures have been seen as a major reason behind the fastwidening gender imbalance.

9.

9.

N. Korea vows nuclear test.

North Korea vowed on January 24 to launch more longrange rockets and conduct its third nuclear test, ratcheting-up tensions following the U.N. Security Council's decision to tighten sanctions against the country for launching a rocket last month.

In a statement issued through its state-run media, the National Defence Commission, the North's highest governing agency, headed by its young leader Kim Jong-un, said that “a variety of satellites and long-range rockets which will be 14

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launched by the DPRK one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out by it in the upcoming allout action” will be aimed at deterring the hostile policy of “the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people”.

10.

11.

S. Korea rocket puts satellite into orbit.

China moves ahead with three new Brahmaputra dams.

China has given the go-ahead for the construction of three new hydropower dams on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river, ending a two-year halt in approving new projects on the river amid concerns from India and environmental groups. The three new dams have been approved by the State Council, or Cabinet, under a new energy development plan for 2015 that was released on January 23.

China has, so far, only begun construction on one major hydropower dam on the main stream of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra or Yarlung Zangbo as it is known in China – a 510 MW project in Zangmu in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which began to be built in 2010. One of the three approved new dams is bigger than the Zangmu project.

WATER POWER 1. DAGU 2. JIEXU 3. ZANGMU 4. JIACHA 640 MW 510 MW 320 MW TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION

2

CHINA

4

South Korea succeeded on January 30 in its third attempt to put a satellite into orbit, in a high-stakes test of national pride after arch-rival North Korea got there first with a rocket launch last month. The 140-tonne Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-I) blasted off at 4:00 pm (0700 GMT) from the Naro Space Center on the south coast, reaching its target altitude nine minutes later and deploying its payload satellite. A positive outcome after successive failures in 2009 and 2010 was critical to ensuring the future of South Korea's launch programme and realising its ambition of joining an elite global space club. Scientists and officials at the space centre cheered, applauded and hugged each other as the satellite was released.

Yarlung Zangbo River

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China sees Gwadar move as purely commercial, not strategic

ver

a Ri

utr map

h

Bra

A 640 MW dam will be built in Dagu, which lies 18 km upstream of Zangmu. Another 320 MW dam will be built at Jiacha, also on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputura downstream of Zangmu. A third dam will be built at Jiexu, 11 km upstream of Zangmu. The capacity of the Jiexu dam is, as yet, unconfirmed. The three projects were listed in the State Council's energy plan for the Twelfth Five While they are run-of-the-river projects, they will be required to store large volumes of water for generating power. Their construction is likely to trigger fresh concerns in India on how the flows of the Brahmaputra downstream will be impacted.

April 2013

Official media and strategic analysts played down the strategic significance of a Chinese company taking over management of Pakistan's deep-sea Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea, stressing that Beijing's interests were purely commercial.

Islamabad earlier this week agreed to transfer control of the port project, which has struggled to take off, from a Singaporean firm to the Chinese Overseas Port Holdings company.

Chinese analysts have sought to play down the strategic significance of the deal. Pakistani officials were quoted as saying by local media last year that they wanted China to build a naval base at Gwadar.

A commentary in the Global Times on February 1 also sought to address any anxieties in India over China's involvement in port projects in the neighbourhood – Beijing is also 15

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comparing with other important countries.”

1

Pa kis ta n

China

India

3 4

Arabian Sea

Bay of Bengal

5 2

‘This String Pearls’: Ports and bases developed by China

1

Gwadar, Pakistan

4

Indian Ocean

2

Hambantota, Sri Lanka

Sittwe-Yangon, Myanmar

5

3

Chittagong, Bangladesh

Coco Islands, Myanmar

involved in port construction in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar. If observers interpret China's every move on the premise that China's rise will definitely challenge the current international order, all China's overseas moves would be seen as having a military purpose,” the commentary said. “In fact,” it continued, “China is not so powerful, nor is India so weak, so as to make it possible that the transfer of a mere civil project can 'encircle' India.”

Note: The String of Pearls refers to the Chinese sea lines of communication which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan. The sea lines run through several major choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz and the Lombok Strait, as well as other strategic maritime centers in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Somalia. Ports in Marao, Maldives; Gwadar, Pakistan; Chittagong, Bangladesh; Sittwe, Myanmar; Lamu, Kenya; and Hambantota, Sri Lanka constitute the 'String of pearls' in the Indian Ocean. India perceives a strategic overtone in this development meant to encircle the country, whereas China denies the charges.

13.

ICJ supports the impeachment of former Sri Lankan Chief Justice.

The International Council of Jurists has expressed solidarity with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the recent impeachment of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake by the Sri Lankan Government. In a letter sent to the Sri Lankan President, ICJ president Adish Aggarwala said: “In this issue, the questions are whether the Constitutional requirements of impeachment have been followed by Sri Lankan Government and whether the Sri Lankan Constitutional requirements of impeachment are appropriate when April 2013

In the case of Chief J u s t i c e Bandaranayak e, she faced an 11-member parliamentary committee in November 2012, which investigated 14 charges of financial and official misconducts against her. She was found guilty of professional misconduct the following month.

Charges against the Chief Justice include improper conduct, amassing wealth and property, and non-declaration of assets.

As the constitution puts it, 'misconduct' is grounds for impeachment. The requirement under the Sri Lankan Constitution has been fulfilled and supplemented by a report of the Parliamentary Committee. Thus it is clear that the constitutional process of impeachment has been followed in Sri Lanka.”

14.

Iran develops fighter jet.

Futuristic: Iran's Qaher (Conqueror) F-313 fighter jet unveiled in Tehran.

Unveiling it on February 2, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a futuristic-looking fighter jet he said ranks among the most sophisticated aircraft, media reports said.

Code-named the Qaher (Conqueror) F-313 and shaped similar to stealth bombers, the grey warplane was designed and built domestically, Mr. Ahmadinejad told an audience of Defence Ministry brass.

The unveiling comes as Iran marks the 34th anniversary of the 1979 revolution, which replaced the U.S.-backed Shah with an Islamic regime. On January 28, Iran said it sent a monkey 16

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into space to an altitude of 120 km for a sub-orbital flight, challenging UNSC sanctions against development of its ballistic programme.

15.

Ahmadinejad on historic Egypt visit.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became on February 5 the first Iranian head of state since the 1979 revolution to pay an official visit to Egypt — a step which could become a game changer in defining the region's power hierarchy. Mr. Ahmadinejad was participating in the OIC meeting as the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) — a grouping of more than hundred countries.

Significantly, the Iranian President is slated to meet the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb. Analysts view this meeting as part of an effort by Iran and Egypt to heal the rift between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, exacerbated by the crises in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

Tehran is willing to hold consultations with Cairo for reaching a political settlement of the Syrian crisis. Egypt had earlier initiated the formation of a regional contact group on Syria that included Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to find a political solution the Syrian crisis. Mr.Mohamed Morsy has also vowed to support more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in every possible way till the time they can return home “with dignity”.

16.

Architect of 'ping pong diplomacy' is dead.

One of China's most famed Table Tennis champions, who played a key role in the 'Ping Pong diplomacy' that paved the way for normalising relations with the U.S., died on February 10. He was 72. Zhuang Zedong was a sportsman famed in China in the 1960s for his unmatched skill on the Ping Pong table Mr. Zhuang, a multiple world Table Tennis champion in the April 2013

INTER-NATION

1960s, had a chance meeting with American player Glenn Cowan at the World Table Tennis championship in Nagoya, Japan in 1971 that would eventually pave the way for taking ties between the countries out of the deep freeze. When Cowan missed his team's bus and ended up with the Chinese players, Mr. Zhuang reportedly went against the advice of his team mates by greeting the American at a time of hostility in ties.

News of their meeting made headlines in China and went back to Mao Zedong, leading to an invitation for nine American players to visit China that same year — the first official visit in decades. The following year, President Richard Nixon visited China, with ties eventually normalised in 1979.

17.

North Korea conducts third nuclear test.

North Korea Conducts Third Nuclear Test Number of nuclear tests since 1945

United States

1,032 715

USSR/Russea

210

France

45

UK

45

China North Korea

3

India

3

Pakista

2 200

400

600

800

1,000 1,200

North Korea on February 12 said it had conducted a “successful” underground nuclear test, a move that brought condemnation from its neighbours and threatened to heighten regional tensions. The state-run Korean Central News Agency said a “miniaturised” nuclear device had been detonated successfully… “in a safe and perfect manner.” It said the test — the third conducted by the country since 2006 and the first under the new leader Kim Jong-un — was a response to “outrageous” American hostility and the sanctions imposed on the country for a rocket launch in December.

The test was reported to have taken place at a site in the North Hamgyeong province, where the Punggye-ri nuclear complex that conducted tests in 2006 and 2009 is located. The 2009 test brought tighter sanctions from the United Nations Security Council. The February 12 test brought quick condemnation. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was “a clear and grave violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions.” South Korea said it represented an “unacceptable threat,” while U.S. President Barack Obama described it as “a highly provocative act”.

The U.N. Security Council was holding an emergency 17

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meeting February 12 morning on North Korea's nuclear test.

South Korea's U.N. Mission informed reporters that the closeddoor meeting would begin at 1400 GMT. Russia condemned North Korea's nuclear test but did it in distinctly milder terms than either the United States or China.

INTER-NATION

oldest ruler and is eyeing re-election in July polls that should end an uneasy unity government with his rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

Note: North Korea Nuke Tests: On October 9, 2006, the North Korean government issued an announcement that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test for the first time. On May 25, 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, which is believed to have been the cause of a magnitude 4.7 seismic event. On February 11, 2013, the USGS detected a magnitude 5.1 seismic disturbance, reported to be a third underground nuclear test. North Korea has officially reported it as a successful nuclear test with a lighter warhead, and yet delivers more force than before without mentioning the exact yield.

In June 2008, he was re-elected to a sixth term after entering a p re s i d e nt i a l r u n o ff u n c o n t e s t e d . M r.

Tsvangirai withdrew from the race citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters, including torture and killings. The two later formed an uneasy power-sharing government.

18.

20.

Crisis brewing in Tunisia.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki's secular party said on February 11 it would stay in the ruling coalition reversing a previous threat, but maintained its call for key Islamist ministers to resign. The widow of the leftist opposition leader whose assassination last week sparked the political crisis meanwhile called on the government to resign.

The centre-left Congress for the Republic (CPR) had previosly threatened to pull out of the Islamist-led government, which would have plunged the country deeper into political crisis. The CPR wants the resignation of the justice and foreign ministers from Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's Islamist party Ennahda, amid soaring political tension after the killing leftist opposition figure Chokri Belaid.

19.

Zimbabwe referendum in March.

Veteran strongman Robert Mugabe once said, apparently in jest, that he would rule Zimbabwe until he turned 100. If Zimbabweans vote for a new constitution on March 16, he will not get the chance, but he may yet come very close.

February 13 unveiling of dates for a constitutional referendum and July elections set Mr. Mugabe up for another decade in power. The new basic law would allow Zimbabwe's President to run for the office again, and at two terms of five years each he could stay on as President until 2023, when he would be 99. Mr. Mugabe, who turns 89 this month, is Africa's April 2013

No arms cut till new START: Russia

Russia has poured cold water on U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge to pursue new cuts in the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals even as it voiced its readiness to study American proposals. Moscow made it clear that it would say 'no' to Washington's proposal to slash nuclear weapons by 60 per cent, from the current goal of 1,550 deployed warheads by 2018 — outlined in the New START the two countries signed in 2010.

After Mr. Obama announced in his State of the Union Address on February 12 that the U.S. would “engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals”, White House officials said they were looking to cut deployed nuclear weapons to “just above 1,000”.

However, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow to will not agree to further nuclear arms reductions with the U.S. until the two countries have “fully implemented” the New START and unless Washington shifts its stance on missile defence, nuclear tests, weaponisation of outer space, and conventional arms in Europe.

Specifics: START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ): Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), arms control negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union (and, later, Russia) that were aimed at reducing those two countries' arsenals of nuclear warheads and of the missiles and bombers capable of delivering such weapons. The talks, which began in 1982, spanned a period of three eventful decades that saw the 18

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collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the major crises of the early 21st century. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) may refer to: ?

START I: signed on July 31, 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994. The treaty barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 percent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence. Proposed by United States President Ronald Reagan, it was renamed START I after negotiations began on the second START treaty.

The START I treaty expired 5 December 2009. On 8 April 2010, the replacement New START treaty was signed in Prague

by U.S. President Obama and Russian President Medvedev.

Following ratification by the U.S. Senate and the Federal Assembly of Russia, it went into force on 26 January 2011. ?

START II: It was signed by United States President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin on 3 January 1993, banning the use of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Hence, it is often cited as the De-MIRV-ing Agreement. It is not currently in effect. On 14 June 2002, Russia withdrew from the treaty in response to U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Instead, SORT came into effect, reducing strategic warheads count per country to 1,700 - 2,200. ?

START III, never signed. ?

New START: New START (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) (Russian: ÑÍÂ-III, SNV-III) is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. It is expected to last at least until 2021.

New START replaced the Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012. In terms of name, it is a follow-up to the START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, the proposed START II treaty, which never entered into force, and the START III treaty, for which negotiations were never concluded.

Under terms of the treaty, the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. A new inspection and verification regime will be established, replacing the SORT mechanism. It does not limit the number of operationally April 2013

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inactive stockpiled nuclear warheads, that remain in the high thousands in both the Russian and American inventories.

Note: START must not be confused with Strategic Arms Limitation Talks or Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.

21.

Iran nuclear talks fail again: IAEA.

The chief UN atomic inspector said on February 14 that talks with Iran had failed again to reach a deal on enhanced inspections of Tehran's nuclear programme, two weeks before a major meeting with world powers. The meeting was the latest in a string of attempts by the IAEA to press Iran to grant access to sites, scientists and documents that the agency believes may have been part of a covert nuclear weapons drive.

Iran says that the IAEA's allegations are based on flawed Western and Israeli intelligence - which it has not been allowed to see - and says it has never sought to develop the bomb.

This latest failure comes less than two weeks before talks between Iran and six world powers - the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany - in Kazakhstan on February 26. These talks follow three rounds in 2012, the last in Moscow in June, at which the six, known as the P5+1, pressed Iran to scale back key areas of its nuclear programme. Iran however walked away because the P5+1 stopped short of offering Tehran relief from UN Security Council and unilateral Western sanctions that last year began to cause major economic problems for the Persian Gulf country.

Specifics: Iran's Nuclear Ambition: Iran's nuclear program is one of the most polarizing issues in one of the world's most volatile regions. While American and European officials believe Tehran is planning to build nuclear weapons, Iran's leadership says that its goal in developing a nuclear program is to generate electricity without dipping into the oil supply it prefers to sell abroad, and to provide fuel for medical reactors.

Iran and the West have been at odds over its nuclear program for years. But the dispute has picked up steam since November 2011, with new findings by international inspectors, tougher sanctions by the United States and Europe against Iran's oil exports, threats by Iran to shut the Strait of Hormuz and threats from Israel signaling increasing readiness to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Continued on the page 66 .............

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3

?

Even though RBI has broad resolution authority, “stronger

IMF says RBI's multiples roles are conflicting.

2.

Panel against cash transfers for now.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food has recommended a mandatory coverage of 67 per cent of the country's population for subsidised rice, wheat and millets under the National Food Security Bill with a reduced and uniform monthly entitlement of 5 kg per person. As opposed to an overwhelming demand from States and civil society groups for universal public distribution system to ensure “food and nutrition security,” the UPA government's ambitious Bill proposes coverage of 75 per cent rural and 50 per cent urban population at 2011 census figures.

LIN

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that despite recent successes in developing a stable financial system, India's financial sector still confronts long-standing impediments to its ability to support growth as well as new challenges to stability. This report is part of IMF's Financial Stability Assessment Programme (FSAP) for members with systemically important financial sectors.

powers to conduct carve-outs and more attention to crisis preparedness would be desirable”. Resolution powers and contingency planning for insurance companies and the payment system also need strengthening.

ER

1.

1.

?

The assessment recognises that the Indian financial system remained largely stable on account of a sound regulatory and supervisory regime. However, the assessment identifies some gaps, including some limits on the de jure independence of the regulators (RBI and IRDA).

RR E

NT

?

As demonstrated by the current turbulence in international markets, there is a risk of reversal of capital flows and a repeat of the liquidity pressures experienced in 2008. Stress tests suggest, however, that banks' substantial buffers of high quality assets (cash and holdings of government paper) should enable them to deal with such pressures, including through recourse to central bank facilities. ?

The IMF also is concerned with the multiple roles of RBI

which create the potential for conflicting goals. IMF indicated the following points creating conflicts in the RBI'S roles: ?

RBI officers are nominated as directors on the boards of

CU

public sector banks while, at the same time, RBI serves as the prudential supervisor of these banks. It would be preferable for the government to focus on policies that ensure the app-ointment of well qualified, independent board members that are not from the RBI.

?

And while there may be some synergies, RBI's role as

monetary authority, bank regulator, and government debt ma-nager may have led it to require banks to hold larger holdings of government debt than might be needed on prudential grounds.

?

Using the banking system rather than government pro-

grammes in meeting the needs of priority sectors — agriculture, small and micro credit, education, health — and underserved areas may conflict with RBI's supervisory role, IMF opined.

April 2013

Submitting its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on January 17, the panel said: “The beneficiaries should get rice, wheat and millets at Rs. 3, 2 and Rs. 1 per kg, respectively.”' Significantly, the panel has opposed cash transfers in lieu of foodgrains till such time that all areas, including rural, remote, hilly, difficult and isolated ones, have banking infrastructure and accessibility to banks.

At present, a below poverty line (BPL) beneficiary gets 7 kg of wheat at Rs. 4.15 or rice at Rs 5.65 per kg per month, while an above poverty line candidate gets 3 kg per month at half of the minimum support price of the grain. The committee has taken into account average foodgrains procurement level of 60.2 million tonnes in the last five years to reach the conclusion that it would not be feasible to maintain a distribution level of 7 kg per person in priority category and 3 kg per person in the general category as provided in the government Bill. “However, foodgrains requirement at 5 kg per person per month for all the covered population will be manageable,'' the report said drawing a sharp reaction from the Right to Food Campaign that rejected the reduced entitlements as “unacceptable.”

3.

Companies can't trade in ESOS, ESPS shares: SEBI. 20

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has amended its Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOS) and Employee Stock Purchase Scheme (ESPS) Guidelines, 1999, by prohibiting companies from dealing in their own shares in the secondary market under these schemes, with immediate effect. “No ESOS / ESPS shall involve acquisition of securities from the secondary market,” said the capital market regulator while adding a new clause in the guidelines. They were also asked to align any existing employee benefit schemes with SEBI (ESOS and ESPS) Guidelines on or before June 30, 2013.

Specifics: Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOS): “Employee Stock Option” means the option given to the whole-time Directors, Officers or employees of a company which gives such Directors, Officers or employees, the benefit or right to purchase or subscribe at a future date, the securities offered by the company at a predetermined price. “Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOS)” means a scheme under which a company grants employee stock option.

"Employee Stock Purchase Scheme (ESPS)" means a scheme under which the company offers shares to employees as part of a public issue or otherwise.

ESOs carry the right, but not the obligation, to buy a certain amount of shares in the company at a predetermined price. An employee stock option is slightly different from a regular exchange-traded option because it is not generally traded on an exchange, and there is no put component. Furthermore, employees typically must wait a specified vesting period before being allowed to exercise the option.

4.

National Investment Fund gets nod to buy PSU shares.

Aimed at taking the disinvestment exercise forward at a faster clip, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), on January 17, authorised the National Investment Fund (NIF) to buy shares of public sector undertakings (PSUs), including banks and insurance companies.

As per the string of approvals given by the CCEA at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to align the NIF operation to enhance the disinvestment policy: ?

The NIF will also be used to recapitalise public sector banks

(PSBs) and state-owned insurance companies. ?

The disinvestment proceeds with effect from the fiscal

April 2013

year 2013-14 will be credited to the existing 'public account' under the head National Investment Fund (NIF), and they would remain there until withdrawn/invested for the approved purposes. ?

The NIF will be used for “subscribing to the shares being

issued by the Central public sector enterprise (CPSE) including public sector banks (PSBs) and public sector insurance companies, on a rights basis so as to ensure that 51 per cent ownership of the government is not diluted. ?

Alongside, the Fund will also be utilised for issuing “pre-

ferential allotment of shares of the CPSE to promoters as per the Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009, so that government shareholding does not go down below 51 per cent, in all cases where the CPSE is going to raise fresh equity to meet its capital expenditure programme.” ?

Fund managers now managing the NIF will stand

discharged of their responsibility from the date the funds and the interest income are transferred to the NIF. Set up in 2005, the NIF is being hitherto managed by three fund managers — UTI Asset Management Company, SBI Funds Management Company and LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Company.

Essentially, while about 75 per cent of the income from NIF is being used to fund select social sector programmes, the balance amount is utilised to meet the capital investment requirements of profitable PSUs and revival of sick state-owned units. However, following the global meltdown and its impact on the domestic economy, the government, in November, 2009, decided to utilise the disinvestment proceeds only for social sector spending.

Specifics: National Investment Fund (NIF): On 27 January 2005, the Government had decided to constitute a 'National Investment Fund' (NIF) into which the realization from sale of minority shareholding of the Government in profitable CPSEs would be channelised. The National Investment Fund (NIF) was launched on 6 October 2007 at a small function which was presided over by the Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram. The Fund would be maintained outside the Consolidated Fund of India. The income from the Fund would be used for the following broad investment objectives:(a) Investment in social sector projects which promote education, health care and employment; 21

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(b) Capital investment in selected profitable and revivable Public Sector Enterprises that yield adequate returns in order to enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/ diversification.

Salient features of NIF: (I) The proceeds from disinvestment of CPSEs will be channelised into the National Investment Fund which is to be maintained outside the Consolidated Fund of India. (ii) The corpus of the National Investment Fund will be of a permanent nature. (iii) The Fund will be professionally managed to provide sustainable returns to the Government, without depleting the corpus. Selected Public Sector Mutual Funds will be entrusted with the management of the corpus of the Fund. (iv) 75% of the annual income of the Fund will be used to finance selected social sector schemes, which promote education, health and employment. The residual 25% of the annual income of the Fund will be used to meet the capital investment requirements of profitable and revivable CPSEs that yield adequate returns, in order to enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/ diversification.

5.

UN report projects 6.1 % growth for India.

Amidst a string of varying growth numbers being projected by multilateral institutions, a report by the United Nations has estimated the Indian economy to grow by 6.1 per cent in 2013, marking a recovery from the decade-old slowest pace of 5.5 per cent in 2012. The UN, in its report titled 'World economic situation and prospects 2013' (WESP), released here on January 17, said: “GDP growth in India will accelerate to 6.1 per cent in 2013 and 6.5 per cent in 2014 as a result of stronger growth of exports and capital investment demand is expected to respond to a more accommodative monetary policy stance and slightly improved business confidence.”

The WESP noted that India's economy, representing almost three quarters of the South Asian region's GDP (gross domestic product), slowed markedly in the past years with annual growth declining from more than 9 per cent in 2010 to 5.5 per cent in 2012, the slowest pace in 10 years.

6.

April 2013

China's economy shows signs of recovery.

ECO-GLANCE

China's economy has shown signs of a rebound by registering 7.9 per cent growth in the last quarter of the year, suggesting the worst of the downturn was over for the world's second-largest economy. China's overall 7.8 per cent growth in 2012 was, however, the lowest recorded by the country in 13 years, and the first instance of growth staying below 8 per cent in this time. China's economy grew 10.4 per cent in 2010 and 9.3 per cent in 2011.

Last year's figures, analysts in Beijing said, are likely to herald the start of a new phase of slower growth for the Chinese economy. The government has set an annual 7.5 per cent target in the next five years, with officials stressing that rebalancing the economy with more sustainable, consumption-driven growth, rather than merely achieving a high growth rate, was now the priority.

Figures released on January 18 also underscored the challenge the Chinese government faces in tackling income inequality. China's Gini coefficient — an index that reflects the rich-poor gap — was 0.474 in 2012. A Gini coefficient of 0.4 is widely seen as a warning level.

Note: Gini coefficient (also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio): Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income or consumption expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household.

The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.

7.

Diesel price hike for bulk consumers to push up rail, road fares, cement costs.

A hike of nearly Rs. 10 a litre for the bulk diesel consumers that includes the railways, transport undertakings and the defence, cement, mines and power sectors will trigger an allround hike in public road transport costs, rail fares, costs of cement and other infrastructure related activity across the country.

The oil marketing companies (OMCs) have also quietly raised the price of the domestic non-subsidised LPG cylinder by Rs. 46.50, a move that is likely to impact those who consume more than nine cylinders a year.

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Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) announced that for the bulk diesel consumers taking supplies directly from the installations of the OMCs, no subsidy shall be available and the price shall be non-subsidised market determined price. Accordingly, the price for these consumers shall stand increased by Rs.9.25 a litre. This is likely to result in an annual subsidy saving of Rs. 12,907 crore for the OMCs.

8.

The government's retreat on GAAR.

In postponing the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) of taxation to April 2016 and reducing its rigour, the United Progressive Alliance government has accepted most of the Parthasarathi Shome Committee's recommendations. Since GAAR has been incorporated in the Finance Act 2012, its deferment can be formalised only during the forthcoming budget. To justify the postponement, the Committee had cited, among other reasons, the need to train tax officials in the finer aspects of international taxation.

Some finer points of the dilution of earlier proposed GAAR: ?

A significant change is to have a multi-member panel comprising just one senior tax official to determine the applicability of GAAR to specific transactions. The expectation is that the inclusion of a judicial and an academic member will ease concerns over possible high-handed behaviour by the tax authorities in their desire to maximise tax revenue. However, only the tax official in the GAAR panel will be accountable to the income tax department and the government. ?

In another important clarification, it has been decided that

GAAR will cover only those transactions whose main purpose — as opposed to one of the main purposes — is to get a tax benefit. As a result of this change, the onus of proof on the tax authorities rises exponentially. ?

The status of double taxation avoidance agreements in a post-GAAR regime is still a matter of conjecture. Perhaps the most controversial decision is to exclude offshore derivative instruments, the so-called participatory notes or PN, from GAAR. This is a retreat from the government's stated position of wanting to know the identity of PN holders, and is a serious setback to anti-money laundering efforts. Once again, as so often in recent times, the government has opted for shortterm expediency to support the external sector.

Specifics: General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR): Internationally, tax avoidance has been recognized as an area of concern and April 2013

several countries have expressed concern over tax evasion and avoidance. This is also evident from the fact that either nations are legislating the doctrine of General Anti-Avoidance Regulations in their tax code or strengthening their existing code. In India, the proposed Direct Tax Code 2010 (DTC 2010 or Code) seeks to address the issues relating to tax avoidance and evasion by bringing in General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in addition to various transaction-specific Special Anti-Avoidance provisions.

The General Anti Avoidance Rule (GAAR)- proposed by the then Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee during the annual budget 2012-13- is anti-tax avoidance rule, drafted by the Union Government of India, which prevents tax evaders, from routing investments through tax havens like Mauritius, Luxemburg, Switzerland.

It empowers officials to deny the tax benefits on transactions or arrangements which do not have any commercial substance or consideration other than achieving tax benefit. It contains a provision allowing the government to retroactively tax overseas deals involving local assets (like Vodafone). It could also be used by the government to target participatory notes (P-Notes).

GAAR could give powers to the tax department to deny double taxation treaty benefits to foreign funds based out of tax-havens like Mauritius. India has a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Mauritius. Overseas portfolio investors, routing their investments via countries like Mauritius, currently do not pay any tax on short-term capital gains.

9.

BIPA talks put on hold.

The Union Government has ordered a freeze of all Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA) negotiations till a review of the model text is carried out and completed. This comes after a spate of show-cause notices were received by the Government, served by foreign companies seeking to recover their investments under the BIPA. The issue has figured in summit meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin having raised the issue in his annual meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in December 2012.

The spate of notices under BIPA began with the Vodafone case but the Supreme Court's cancellation of the 2 G licences led to more companies following suit with firm backing from their respective Governments. This adverse experience with BIPA, with an estimated $5 billion hanging in balance, could 23

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dampen the Foreign Office's enthusiasm for inking the pact with a large number of countries.

telecom giant Sistema, Norwegian telecom company Telenor and UAE-based Etislat.

Fearing the Government could be flooded with more notices in future, the Ministries of Finance and Commerce & Industry felt it was time India carried out a review of the BIPA model text, and, therefore, decided to put on hold all negotiations pertaining to BIPA till a thorough review is carried out.

Among the companies that have served notices under BIPA are: Devas Employees Mauritius [BIPA with Mauritius]; Sistema Joint Stock Financial Corporation [Russia]; Telenor Asia [Singapore]; Capital Global Limited and Kaif Investment Limited [both Mauritius based-investors in Loop Telecom Limited under BIPA with Mauritius]; Vodafone International [the Netherlands]; and, the Children's Investment Fund Management [the U.K. and Cyprus].

Specifics: Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA): As part of the Economic Reforms Programme initiated in 1991, the foreign investment policy of the Government of India was liberalised and negotiations undertaken with a number of countries to enter into Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Agreement (BIPAs) in order to promote and protect on reciprocal basis investment of the investors. Till date, India has signed BIPAs with 82 countries. Out of which, 72 treaties have been enforced. The first BIPA was signed in 1994 with the U.K. Besides, India has signed 17 Free Trade Agreements, Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). In addition, agreements have also been finalised and/ or being negotiated with a number of other countries.

The objective of Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement is to promote and protect the interests of investors of either country in the territory of other country.

Such Agreements increase the comfort level of the investors by assuring a minimum standard of treatment in all matters and provides for justifiability of disputes with the host country.

Recently, the Department of Economic Affairs has said that the government has decided to review the text of BIPA in the light of arbitration notices received under different BIPAs. Therefore, pending review of the model text, all BIPA negotiations have been kept on hold. The government will proceed to negotiate BIPA agreements expeditiously once the review is complete. Several global telecom firms, which had lost their 2G licences following a Supreme Court judgement, have slapped notices on the government citing breach of bilateral investment protection pacts.

Vodafone was first off the block with a notice to the Government, stating that it was covered under BIPA as an investor defined under Article 1(d) of the treaty. Its Dutch subsidiary, Vodafone International Holdings BV, served the notice. This was soon followed by another round of notices issued in the aftermath of Supreme Court cancelling 122 telecom licences, including that of companies such as Russian April 2013

Following outcry by foreign investors and a show-cause notice issued by Vodafone on the issue, the Government had, last year, constituted an inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) to look into the issue. The IMG had concluded that international taxation issues did not come under BIPA. The IMG had also concluded that in the Vodafone case, the issue was not covered under the India and the Netherlands BIPA. In fact, the feedback to the IMG from all the Ministries had indicated that taxation issues were not covered under BIPA.

10.

Banking outlook negative on higher NPAs: Moody's.

Global ratings agency Moody's, on January 21, said it had a 'negative' outlook on the Indian banking system due to concerns over asset quality and the high interest rates. “In India, impaired loans are yet to peak among public sector banks,” Moody's said in its Asia-Pacific banking outlook.

The agency further said that though the government was “likely to remain supportive”, options for the Reserve Bank of India to slash lending rates were limited due to high inflation and the “modest fiscal capacity.'' The RBI has not given into the growing pressures to ease its elevated interest rate, which is one of the highest in the world and the highest among BRIC countries, citing high inflation.

11.

Inter-Ministerial Group to study problems of textile sector.

The Central Government, on January 22, announced that an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) would soon be set up to take a look at the problems faced by the textiles sector, including high customs duty on synthetic fabric and labour-related issues.

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IMG would take a holistic look at difficulties which had been expressed by the industry, and recommend suggestions to address them. The group, which is likely to be set up after the Union Budget next month, is likely to hold a meeting every three months to review the sector's issues and progress.

There have been demands related to higher import duty on synthetic fabrics, other taxes and labour issues. Exporters have been pressing for import of synthetic/blended fabrics at a lower duty of 5 per cent. At present, the import duty on synthetic fabrics is about 21 per cent. Besides, the sector has asked for allowing workers to do work beyond 60 hours a week for which they would be given overtime payment.

12.

Tea producing nations form forum.

Major tea producing countries have decided to get together on a global platform, called the International Tea Producers' Forum (ITPF). It will be headquartered at Colombo for now. The participation of China is uncertain as of now. One of the main aims of the new body would be research on issues such as impact of climate change on tea production and to promote tea as a preferred beverage across the globe. The decision to form a global body was taken at a ministerial-level meeting in Colombo on January 21.

Countries which participated at the meeting include Kenya, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malawi, Rwanda and China.

However, enquiries with senior tea industry representatives present at the meeting revealed that China had not sent a minister but only a representative to the meeting, and the official seal of approval to the country's participation is not clear until now.

13.

GoM set up to review urea pricing policy.

The Centre has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM), which will look into the modified new pricing scheme (NPS) III for urea as well as consider earlier proposals for de-regulating the sector.

The GoM is likely to be headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Urea is the only fertilizer that remains under full price control. Its current retail price is Rs.5,360 a tonne. The proposal to hike urea prices was made to redress imbalanced use of soil nutrients and reduce government's subsidy burden.

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14.

Reserve Bank eases rules for FII investment in debt.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on January 24, notified the enhanced limit of investing in government securities (GSecs) by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and long-term investors by $5 billion to $25 billion from $20 billion. It also hiked the investment limit in corporate bonds by these entities by $5 billion $50 billion from $45 billion.

Long-term investors include SEBI-registered sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), multilateral agencies, endowment funds, insurance funds, pension funds and foreign central banks.

15.

RBI in a fix as growth concerns rise.

While inflation and inflationary pressures are major concerns of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), bankers and the market expect a rate cut of 25 basis points to balance growth and inflation as envisaged by the government. The RBI had asked the government to cut subsidies and help fiscal consolidation but coalition politics made the decision-making difficult for the government for some time. Now a determined government, since the change of guard at the Finance Ministry, has taken some bold decisions. The government expects that the measures announced by it and the central bank will stimulate the economy and reduce fiscal and current account deficits (CAD).

The recent statement of the RBI Governor D. Subbarao that “inflation remained too high� hit the hopes of a sharp cut of 50 basis points in policy rate, after nine months. The RBI's last rate cut was in April 2012 when it reduced the repo rate by 50 basis points from 8.5 per cent to 8 per cent. Meanwhile, the RBI had brought down the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from a high of 6 per cent to 4.25 per cent pumping liquidity to the banking system.

16.

Indo-Japan SME meet in Chennai.

The Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IJCCI) is organising a two-day conference on SME (small and medium enterprise) in Chennai. The conference will begin on February 18. The two-day meet is being organised with the support of Indian Embassy in Tokyo, and Consulate-General in 25

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Osaka. The conference will be followed by a Golf tournament on February 20.The objective of the conference is to bring together the SMEs of Japan and India under a common platform, and facilitate co-operation between businessmen of the two countries.

The conference is being held at a time when the SMEs in both the countries are going through a tough phase. According to a rough estimate, India has around 50 million SMEs. Japan, however, reportedly has twice that number.

17.

Anand Sharma warns of double-dip recession.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on January 27 warned that global economic growth remained extremely fragile and faced a heightened risk of going into double-dip recession. Speaking at the CII Global Partnership Summit in Agra, Mr. Sharma said latest projections indicated that this year the global economic growth would be around 3.5 per cent, almost at the same level as last year (3.2 per cent).

The most worrisome is the slowdown in growth of developing economies, which grew at 5.1 per cent last year, registering perhaps the slowest growth in the last decade. The situation in Eurozone remains grim, even though there have been interventions by the European Central Bank. The U.S. is staring at a 'fiscal cliff' and the BRICS economies, which had emerged as pillars of stability and engines of economic growth even at the peak of the crisis, are now experiencing a slowdown. China has slowed down to 7.8 per cent in 2012 while India last year grew by 5.5 per cent. Brazil has dropped from a peak of 5.7 per cent in 2010 to just 1 per cent in 2012.

Note: Double-dip recession: Recession shapes are used by economists to describe different types of recessions. There is no specific academic theory or classification system for recession shapes; rather the terminology is used as an informal shorthand to characterize recessions and their recoveries. The most commonly used terms are V-shaped, U-shaped, Wshaped, and L-shaped recessions. The shapes take their names from the approximate shape economic data make in graphs during recessions. The letters can also be applied referring to the recoveries (ie "V-shaped recovery"). In a W-shaped recession, (also known as a double-dip recession), the economy falls into recession, recovers with a short period of growth, then falls back into recession before finally recovering, giving a "down up down up" pattern resembling the letter W.

18.

MCX-SX to commence operations from Feb 11.

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The new stock exchange, MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX), will become operational from February 11. The equity and equity derivative segment of MCX-SX will be inaugurated on February 9 by the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram.

Live trading in this segment will commence from February 11,” said MCX-SX in a release.

Note: MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX): Promoted by Jignesh Shah, who is also the promoter of Multi-Commodity Exchange and Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, MCX-SX is India's third national stock exchange after the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. The Exchange is recognised by SEBI under Section 4 of Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956. MCX-SX started trading in the shares of 1,116 listed companies compared to 1,665 firms on the National Stock Exchange and 5,191 companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The MCX-SX benchmark index - christened SX40 - is equivalent to the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty. The SX-40 index is designed to measure the economic performance with better representation of various industries and sectors based on ICB, a leading global classification from Britain's FTSE-100.

19.

R&D to get major boost in 12th Plan.

Planning Commission member K. Kasturirangan has said that the country's Science and Technology Department has formulated ambitious plans in the 12th Five-Year Plan (20122017) and “the country is going to have an envelope of a variety of projects”.

The aim during the 12th Plan is to take India's position from ninth to sixth in terms of the number of publication of scientific papers, and increase the number of full-time research workers from 1.5 lakh to 2.5 lakh, Dr. Kasturirangan told.

The government's intention is to increase its expenditure on research and development in science and technology to up to 1 per cent of the GDP and get the corporate sector to invest an additional 1 per cent by extending substantial support to high-risk projects, including prototype-building.

20.

Development plan to benefit 1.3 crore farmers.

Aimed at benefiting over 1.3 crore agriculturists, land development activities for farming will be taken up shortly on lands belonging to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes besides small and marginal farmers. As a prelude to this step, 26

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gram sabhas in 12,524 village panchayats met on Republic Day and approved the lists of the farmers identified by Rural Development and Agriculture Departments of the State governments. Assessment of requirements of the farmers is under way. Once this exercise is completed, activities such as land levelling and soil conservation will be taken up, according to officials.

This initiative of the government, when implemented across the State, will cover 1.34 crore persons, of whom marginal farmers [owning up to 2.5 acres of dry land or 1.25 acres of wet land] account for 1.18 crore; small farmers [five acres of dry land or 2.5 acres of wet land] – 12.33 lakh; SCs – 9.1 lakh and STs – 62,114.

The move will seek to address effectively the issue of labour shortage being experienced by small and marginal farmers or SC/ST farmers. One oft-repeated criticism is that it is because of the MGNREGS the farm sector is experiencing labour shortage. By permitting the MGNREGS works on lands of SC/STs and small and marginal farmers, a solution is sought to be found.

21.

GDP growth for 2011-12 lowered to 6.2 per cent.

The government, on January 31, announced a downward revision in GDP (gross domestic product) growth to 6.2 per cent for fiscal year 201112 from the earlier provisional estimate of 6.5 per cent.

Alongside, however, the GDP growth for 2010-11 fiscal stands revised upwards to 9.3 per cent from 8.4 per cent, as per the first revised estimates of 'National income, consumption expenditure, saving and capital formation', released by the Central S tat i st i c s O f f i c e (CSO) for 2011-12 along with second April 2013

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revised estimates for 2010-11 and the third revised estimates for 2009-10.

Other indicators in the CSO report: ?

GDP at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices in 2011-12

is estimated at Rs.52.43 lakh crore as against Rs.49.37 lakh crore in 2010-11, registering a growth of 6.2 per cent during the year as against a growth of 9.3 per cent in the year 2010-11. ?

The GDP in 2011-12 at current prices is estimated at

Rs.83.53 lakh crore as against Rs.72.67 lakh crore in 201011, marking an increase of 15 per cent as against an increase of 19 per cent in the previous fiscal year. ?

The per capita income in real terms (at 2004-05 prices) is

estimated at Rs.38,037 for 2011-12 as against Rs.36,342 in 2010-11, which works out to an increase of 4.7 per cent during the fiscal as against an increase of 7.2 per cent in the previous year. ?

However, the per capita income at current prices is

estimated at Rs.61,564 in 2011-12 as against Rs.54,151 in the previous fiscal to mark a lower growth of 13.7 per cent as compared to an increase of 17.1 per cent posted in 2010-11. ?

As a measure to assess the standard of living, the per

capita income on a monthly basis works out to Rs.5,130 during the fiscal as compared to Rs.4,513 in 2010-11. ?

The expansion in GDP during 2011-12 was mainly on

account of growth in sectors such as financing, insurance, real estate and business services by11.7 per cent, transport, storage and communication (8.4 per cent), electricity, gas and water supply (6.5 per cent) and trade, hotels and restaurants (6.2 per cent). ?

The gross national income at constant (2004-05) prices

and at factor cost in 2011-12 is estimated at Rs.51.97 lakh crore as compared to Rs.48.82 lakh crore in 2010-11, which works out to an increase of 6.4 per cent during the year and marks a decline from the previous year's growth figure of 8.8 per cent. ?

The GNI at current prices in 2011-12 is estimated at

Rs.82.77 lakh crore as compared to Rs.71.85 lakh crore in 2010-11, an increase of 15.2 per cent which is lower than the 18.4 per cent growth achieved in the previous year.

22.

ADB optimistic on India's economic recovery.

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on February 1 stated the government's fiscal consolidation road map would help in getting back to a high growth trajectory of 8-9 per cent in the years ahead. ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda, however, pointed out that while no strong signs of recovery had appeared as yet, the ADB was “reasonably sure” that the Indian economy would be recovering soon. Incidentally, the Manilabased lending agency is slated to come out with its latest projection on India's GDP growth during the first week of April.

While the country's economy is likely to slide to a 10-year low of about 5.70-5.80 per cent from a revised estimate of 6.2 per cent in 2011-12, a recovery is expected in 2013-14 following the various reform measures in place and in the pipeline and with investments picking up.

23.

Diesel to go up by 40-50 paise monthly.

Diesel prices will be hiked by 40-50 paise per litre every month till losses on the nation's most used fuel are completely wiped out, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said on February 1.

The government had on January 17 decided to move towards deregulating or freeing diesel prices from state control and gave powers to state-owned oil firms to raise prices in small measures every month till all of their losses are wiped out.

Diesel is currently sold at a loss of over Rs 10.80 per litre.

On January 17, oil firms hiked diesel price.

24.

Foolproof fraud detection model soon, says Pilot.

Ponzi schemes and other such fraudulent monetary practices ensnare gullible citizens while businessmen and stock brokers make a fast buck by hoodwinking authorities or manipulating the stock market. In a bid to preclude such shady transactions, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is looking to develop a 'fraud prediction model' that will forewarn law enforcement agencies about any suspicious movement of money in the market and strengthen its Market Research and Analysis Unit (MRAU).

By the end of March 31, 2013, the MRAU would have three important capabilities — a foolproof fraud prediction model; the capacity to carry out forensic audit; and a forensic lab for effective handling of cyber crimes. The MCA has also decided to collaborate with the Ministry of Home Affairs, various April 2013

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intelligence agencies and financial intelligence units, regulatory bodies such as the SEBI and the RBI and cyber agencies, besides international bodies, to evolve a system wherein a financial fraud is detected at a nascent stage.

25.

GDP growth will slide to 5 %: CSO.

Dashing even the cautious optimism in recent days over a gradual recovery setting in, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on February 7 projected a slide in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth to a decade low of five per cent in 201213, which marks a sharp drop from the 6.2 per cent expansion witnessed in the previous fiscal year.

The CSO's advance estimates — the first official growth estimate for the entire 2012-13 — released show that so poor was the performance of sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture, coupled with the decelerated growth in services during a major part of the fiscal year, that the five per cent growth estimated by the statistical wing of the government is way lower than even the scaled-down projections by the Reserve Bank of India, the Finance Ministry and international lending agencies.

26.

For sustainable taxation.

The Union Budget for 2013-14 provides the government an opportunity to reorient tax policies towards greater revenue mobilisation and pursuing a more inclusive development path, as is aimed for in the 12th Five-Year Plan. Several civil society organisations have impressed upon the Union Finance Ministry to address the lack of progressivity in the country's tax system and raise the much needed additional resources for financing education, healthcare and food security.

India currently raises only 15.5 per cent of its GDP as tax revenues, making it one of the lowest taxes of all G20 countries. By comparison, the average tax to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio in OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries is almost 10 percentage points higher at 24.6 per cent. Not just the developed countries, even other developing countries like Brazil, China, South Africa, Argentina and Turkey have a higher tax-GDP ratio than India.

Furthermore, other countries rely more on direct taxation, which raises greater revenues from those who can afford to 28

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pay more, and therefore have a more progressive structure of taxation than India. It is imperative that India's tax revenue mobilisation is stepped up and we rely more on direct taxes instead of indirect taxes, which are regressive because they affect the rich and poor alike.

Therefore, with the introduction of property taxes, which would largely fall on the wealthy, India could double public expenditure on health care and begin to make a dent in the very high rates of infant, child, and maternal mortality.

27.

FM for simpler KYC norms to attract small investors.

Union Minister P. Chidambaram, on February 9, asked the regulators to simplify procedures, especially the integration of KYC (know your customer) norms, to attract more people to invest in financial products rather than gold and real estate.

Launching the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) in Mumbai, Mr. Chidambaram said, “There are too many regulations. KYC under single regulator must converge in the first phase and, thereafter, there should be convergence of KYC under different regulators in the market.”

He promised that the government would make the RGESS scheme, announced in the Bueget 2012-13, more attractive for small investors. Mr. Chidambaram admitted that initially the RGESS was considered a complex instrument. He conceded that the tax incentive on investment up to Rs.50,000 was not adequate.

There are already 11 mutual fund schemes conforming to RGESS. Five new mutual fund RGESS schemes — SBI Mutual, LIC Noumura, IDBI, UTI and DSP Blackrock — were launched on February 9.

Note: Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS): The Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) has been officially notified and launched by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The government introduced the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS), 2012, to encourage retail participation in the capital market. Under the scheme, new investors with annual income up to Rs.10 lakh can invest up to Rs.50,000 to be eligible for a tax break . SEBI has asked stock exchanges and assets management companies to list the eligible stocks, exchangetraded funds and schemes on their website. The Scheme not only encourages the flow of savings and improves the depth of domestic capital markets, but also aims to promote an 'equity culture' in India. This is also expected to widen the retail investor base in the Indian securities markets.

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28.

Stock exchanges undergoing a metamorphosis.

Stock exchanges are witnessing changes in their landscape in the last few days. The Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSEL) exited stock trading business, and a new nation-wide entrant, MCX-SX, started trading in equity and equity derivatives segment.

There are at present 25 stock exchanges across the country most of which are regional in nature and non-operational.

Only five have trading platforms, which includes National Stock Exchange (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX), United Stock Exchange (USE) and Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE). Among them, USE is a currency trading platform.

The CSE, in the meanwhile, has made a proposal to other regional stock exchanges to consolidate with it. The entry of MCX-SX will help in the long run diluting the dominance of one exchange in the market place. The NSE has a market share of 83 per cent in the cash segment and 79 per cent in derivatives.

Over the years, its products such as Nifty and Gold ETF's have become popular among investors. At the same time, products such as Bank Nifty and stock options have also seen good growth.

29.

Centre urged to pay GST compensation to States through independent mechanism.

Commercial Taxes and Registration Minister B.V. Ramanaa on February 14 pressed for payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation for every year for a period of not less than five years through an independent mechanism, citing unpleasant experience in the past.

Addressing a meeting convened by the Finance Minister and Chairman of the Empowered Committee, P. Chidambaram, in New Delhi, to seek approval of State Finance Ministers on design of GST, he said Tamil Nadu's experience was not so pleasant when it came to claiming its legitimate compensation due to it from the Centre, be it Value Added Tax compensation or Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation.

Mentioning that loss to the States due to reduction in CST rate was unacceptable, he said “For 2011-12 and 2012-13, 100 per cent compensation should be paid. It is unlikely that GST would be rolled out soon. Hence, we propose that from the year 2013-14 onwards also either 100 per cent compensation should be sanctioned to the States or the CST rate should be restored to 4 per cent.”

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UNION BUDGET 2013-2014 THE ECONOMY AND THE CHALLENGES: ?

Getting back to potential growth rate of 8 percent is the challenge facing the country. ?

Slowdown in Indian economy has to be seen in the context

of slowing global economic growth from 3.9 per cent in 2011 to 3.2 per cent in 2012. ?

However, no reason for gloom or pessimism. Of the large countries of the world only China and Indonesia growing faster than India in 2012-13. In 2013-14, only China projected to grow faster than India. ?

Between 2004 and 2008, and again in 2009-10 and 2010-

11 the growth rate was over 8 per cent and crossed 9 per cent in four of those six years. ?

11th Plan period had average growth rate of 8 percent, highest during any Plan period, entirely under the UPA Government. ?

High growth rate can again be achieved through coo-

peration. ?

'Higher growth leading to inclusive and sustainable development' to be the mool mantra. ?

Government believes in inclusive development with

emphasis on improving human development indicators specially of women, the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, the minorities and some backward classes. This Budget to be a testimony to that commitment.

Fiscal Deficit, Current Account Deficit and Inflation ?

The purpose of Budget to create economic space and find resources to achieve the objective of inclusive development. ?

Dr Vijay Kelkar Committee made its recommendations to Government in September 2012. A new fiscal consolidation path with fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent of GDP this year and 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2013-14 announced by the Government. ?

Foreign investment in an imperative in view of the high current account deficit (CAD). FII, FDI and ECB three main source of CAD Financing. Foreign investment that is consistant with our economic objectives to be encouraged. ?

Development must be economically and ecologically sustainable and democratically legitimate. ?

Battle against inflation must be fought on all fronts. Efforts in the past few months have brought down headline WPI inflation to about 7 per cent and core inflation to about 4.2 percent. ?

Food inflation is worrying but all possible steps to be taken

April 2013

to augment the supply side to meet the growing demand for food items. ?

Government expenditure has both good and bad con-

sequences and trick is to find the correct level of Government expenditure. ?

Faced with huge fiscal deficit, Government expenditure rationalised in 2012-13. Some economic space retrieved. Space to be used to further Government's socioeconomic objectives.

THE PLAN AND BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS ?

Revised Estimates (RE) of the expenditure in 2012-13 at 96 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) due to slowdown and austerity measures. ?

During 2013-14, BE of total expenditure of ` 16,65,297 crore and of Plan Expenditure at ` 5,55,322 crore. ?

Plan Expenditure in 2013-14 to grow at 29.4 per cent over Revised Estimates for the current year. ?

All flagship programmes fully and adequately funded and sufficient funds provided to each Ministry or Department consistent with their capacity to spend funds. ?

Budget for 2013-14 to have one overarching goal of cre-

ating opportunities for our youth to acquire education and skills that will get them decent jobs or selfemployment.

SC, ST, Women and Children ?

Allocations for Scheduled Caste Sub Plan and Tribal Sub

Plan increased substantially over the allocations of the current year. Funds allocated to these Sub Plans cannot be diverted. ? `97,134 crore allocated for programmes relating to women and ` 77,236 crore allocated for programmes relating to children. ?

Ministry of Women and Child Development to design schemes that will address the concerns of women belonging to the most vulnerable groups, including single women and widows. An additional sum of ` 200 crore proposed to be provided to the Ministry to begin work.

Minorities ?

An increase of 12 per cent over the BE and 60 per cent over the RE of 2012-13 to Ministry of Minority Affairs. ?

Allocation of ` 160 crore to the corpus of Maulana Azad Education Foundation to raise its corpus to ` 1,500 crore during 12th Plan period.

Disabled Persons ?

A sum of ` 110 crore to the Department of Disablity Affairs for ADIP scheme in 2013-14 against RE 2012-13 of ` 75 crore.

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Health and Education

Development marking an increase of 46% over RE 2012-13.

?

Health for all and education to all remains priority.

?

Proposal to carve out PMGSY-II and allocate a portion of the funds to the new programme that will benefit States such as Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan.

? ` 37,330 crore allocated to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. ?

New National Health Mission will get an allocation of ` 21,239 crore.

JNNURM

Health Care of Elderly.

? ` 14,873 crore for JNNURM in BE 13-14 as against RE of ` 7,383 crore. Out of this, a significant portion will be used to support the purchase of upto 10,000 buses, especially by the hill States.

?

Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy are being

AGRICULTURE

? ` 4,727 crore for medical education, training and research. ? ` 150 crore provided for National Programme for the

mainstreamed. Allocation of ` 1,069 crore to Department of AYUSH. ? ` 1,650 crore allocated for six AIIMS-like institutions.

?

Average annual growth rate of agriculture and allied sector was 3.6% during XI Plan against 2.5% and 2.4% in IX and X plans respectively.

?

Allocation of ` 65,867 crore to the Ministry of Human Re-

?

In 2012-13, total food-grain production will be over 250

source Development, an increase of 17 perent over the RE of the current year.

million tonnes. Minimum support price for every agricultural produce has increased significantly under the UPA Government.

? ` 27,258 crore provided for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA).

? ` 27,049 crore allocated to Ministry of Agriculture, an

?

An increase of 25.6 per cent over RE of the current year for

increase of 22 per cent over the RE of current year.

investments in Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

?

Agricultural research provided ` 3,415 crore.

? ` 5,284 crore allocated to Ministries/Departments in 2013-

Agricultural Credit

14 for scholarships to students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, Minorities and girl children. ?

Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDM) to be provided ` 13,215

crore. ?

Government committed to the creation of Nalanda Uni-

versity as a centre of educational excellence.

ICDS ? ` 17,700 crore allocated for ICDS in 2013-14 representing

an increase of 11.7 per cent over 2012-13. ?

Allocation of ` 300 crore in 2013-14 for a multi-sectoral

programme aimed at overcoming maternal and child malnutrition. Programme to be implemented in 100 districts during 2013-14 to be scaled to cover 200 districts the year after.

Drinking Water ? ` 15,260 crore allocated to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. ? ` 1,400 crore provided for setting-up of water purification plants in 2000 arsenic and 12000 fluoride-affected rural habitations.

Rural Development ?

Allocation of ` 80,194 crore in 2013-14 for Ministry of Rural

April 2013

?

For 2013-14, target of agricultural credit kept at ` 7 lakh crore. ?

Interest subvention scheme for short-term crop loans to be continued scheme extended for crop loans borrowed from private sector scheduled commercial banks.

Green Revolution ?

Bringing green revolution to eastern India a remarkable success. ` 1,000 crore allocated in 2013-14. ? ` 500 crore allocated to start a programme of crop diversification that would promote technological innovation and encourage farmers to choose crop alternatives. ?

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and National Food Security Mission provided ` 9,954 crore and ` 2,250 crore respectively. ?

Allocation for integrated watershed programme increased from ` 3,050 crore in 2012-13 (BE) to ` 5,387 crore. ?

Allocation made for pilots programme on Nutri-Farms for introducing new crop varieties that are rich in micro-nutrients. ?

National Institute of Biotic Stress Management for addressing plant protection issues will be established at Raipur, Chhattisgarh. ?

The Indian Institute of Agricultural Bio-technology will be established at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

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Pilot scheme to replant and rejuvenate coconut gardens implemented in some districts of Kerala and the Andaman & Nicobar extended to entire State of Kerala.

Farmer Producer Organizations ?

Matching equity grants to registered Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) upto a maximum of ` 10 lakhs per FPO to enable them to leverage working capital from financial institutons. ?

Credit Guarantee Fund to be created in the Small Farmers' Agri Business Corporation with an initial corpus of ` 100 crore.

National Livestock Mission ?

National Livestock Mission to be set up. ?

A provision of ` 307 crore made for the Mission.

Food Security ?

Additional provision of Rs. 10,000 crore for National Food

Security Act. INVESTMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND INDUSTRY ?

Communication with investors to be improved to remove

any apprehension or distrust, including fears about undue regulatory burden. ?

Need of new and innovative instruments to mobilise funds

for investment in infrastructure sector. Measures such as: *

Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDF) to be encourged,

*

IIFCL to offer credit enhancement.

*

Infrastructure tax-free bond of ` 50,000 crore in 2013-14,

*

Build roads in North eastern states and connect them to Myanmar with assistance from WB & ADB,

*

Raising corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to ` 20,000 crore and

*

` 5,000 crore to NABARD to finance construction for warehousing. Window to Panchayats to finance construction of godowns.

Road Construction ?

A regulatory authority for road sector. ?

3000 kms of road projects in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will be awarded in the first six months of 2013-14.

Cabinet Committee on Investment ?

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) has been set up. Decisions have been taken in respect of a number of gas, power and coal projects.

April 2013

ECO-GLANCE

New Investment ?

Companies investing ` 100 crore or more in plant and machinery during the period 1.4.2013 to 31.3.2015 will be entitled to deduct an investment allowance of 15 per cent of the investment. ?

Incentives to semiconductor wafer fab manufacturing

facilities, including zero customs duty for plant and machinery.

Savings ?

Need to incentivise greater savings by household sector in financial instrumnets. Following measures proposed: ?

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme to be liberalised. ?

Additional deduction of interest upto ` 1 lakh for a person taking first home loan upto ` 25 lakh during period 1.4.2013 to 31.3.2014. ?

In consultation with RBI, instruments protecting savings from inflation to be introduced.

Industrial Corridors ?

Plans for seven new cities have been finalised and work on two new smart industrial cities at Dholera, Gujarat and Shendra Bidkin, Maharashtra will start duing 2013-14 ?

Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) to be provided additional funds during 2013-14 within the share of the Government of India in the overall outlay, if required. ?

Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor to be developed. ?

Preparatory work has started for Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor.

Leh-Kargil Transmission Line ?

Government to construct a transmission system from Srinagar to Leh at a cost of ` 1,840 crore.

Ports ?

Two new major ports will be established in Sagar, West Bengal and in Andhra Pradesh to add 100 million tonnes of capacity. ?

A new outer harbour to be developed in the VOC port at Thoothukkudi, Tamil Nadu through PPP at an estimated cost of ` 7,500 crore.

National Waterways ?

A bill to declare the Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of river Barak in Assam as the sixth national waterway to be moved in Parliament. ?

Preparatory work underway to build a grid connecting waterways, roads and ports.

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Oil and Gas

ECO-GLANCE ?

Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) extended to 800 clusters during the 12th Plan.

?

A policy to encourage exploration and production of shale gas will be announced.

Foreign Trade

?

The 5 MMTPA LNG terminal in Dabhol, Maharashtra will be fully operational in 2013-14.

?

Support to measures to be taken to boost exports of goods and services.

Coal

FINANCIAL SECTOR

?

In the medium to long term need to reduce our dependence on imported coal. One way forward is to devise a PPP policy framework with Coal India Limited as one of the partners.

?

A standing Council of Experts to be constituted in the Ministry of Finance to analyse the international competitiveness of the Indian financial sector.

?

Ministry of Coal to announce Government's policies in due course.

Banking

Power ?

Guidelines regarding financial restructuring of DISCOMS have been announced. State Government urged to prepare the financial restructuring plan, quickly sign MoU and take advantage of the scheme.

?

Compliance of public sector banks with Basel III regulations to be ensured. ` 14,000 crore provided in BE 2013-14 for infusing capital. ?

All branches of public sector banks to have ATM by 31.3.2014.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

?

Proposal to set up India's first Women's Bank as a public sector bank. Provision of ` 1,000 crore as initial capital.

?

Benefits or preferences enjoyed by MSME to continue

? ` 6,000 crore to Rural Housing Fund in 2013-14.

upto three years after they grow out of this category.

?

National Housing Bank to set up Urban Housing Fund. ` 2,000 crore to be provided to the fund in 2013-14.

?

Refinancing capacity of SIDBI raised to ` 10,000 crore. ?

Another sum of ` 100 crore provided to India Microfinance Equity Fund. ?

A corpus of ` 500 crore to SIDBI to set up a Credit Gua-

rantee Fund for factoring. ?

A sum of ` 2,200 crore during the 12th Plan period to set up

15 additional Tool Rooms and Technology Development Centres with World Bank assistance. ?

Ministry of Corporate Affairs to notify that funds provided to technology incubators located within academic Institutions and approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology or Ministry of MSME will qualify as CSR expenditure.

Textiles ?

Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) to continue in 12th Plan with an investment target of ` 1,51,000 crore. ?

Allocation of ` 50 crore to Ministry of Textile to incentivise

setting up Apparel Parks within the SITPs to house apparel manufacturing units. ?

A new scheme called the Integrated Processing Deve-

Insurance ?

A multi-pronged approach to increase the penetration of insurance, both life and general, in the country. ?

Number of proposals finalised, in consultation with IRDA such as empowering insurance companies to open branches in Tier-II cities and below without prior approval of IRDA, KYC of banks to be sufficient to acquire insurance policies, banks to be permitted to act as insurance brokers, banking correspondent allowed to sell micro-insurance products and achieving the goal of having an office of LIC and an office of at least one public sector general insurance company in towns with population of 10,000 or more. ?

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to be extended to other categories such as rickshaw, auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, sanitation workers, rag pickers and mine workers. ?

A comprehensive social security package to be evolved for unorganised sector by facilitating convergence among different schemes.

Capital Market

lopment Scheme will be implemented in the 12th Plan to address the environmental concerns of the textile industry.

?

Proposal to amend the SEBI Act, to strengthen the regulator, under consideration.

?

Working capital and term loans at a concessional interest of 6 per cent to handloom sector.

?

Number of proposal finalised in consultation with SEBI.

April 2013

?

Designatged depository participants, authorised by SEBI,

33

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may register different classes of portfolio investors, subject to compliance with KYC guidelines. ?

SEBI will simplify the procedures and prescribe uniform

registration and other norms for entry for foreign portfolio investors. ?

Rule that, where an investor has a stake of 10 per cent or

less in a company, it will be treated as FII and, where an investor has a stake of more than 10 per cent, it will be treated as FDI will be laid. ?

FIIs will be permitted to participate in the exchange traded currency derivative segment to the extent of their Indian rupee exposure in India. ?

FIIs will also be permitted to use their investment in

corporate bonds and Government securities as collateral to meet their margin requirements. ?

SEBI to prescribed requirement for angel investor pools by

ECO-GLANCE

Science and Technology ?

Despite constraints substantial enhancements given to Science and Technology, Space and Atomic Energy. ? ` 200 crore to be set apart to fund organisations that will scale up S&T innovations and make these products available to the people.

Institutions of Excellence ?

A grant of ` 100 crore each made to 4 institution of excellence.

Sports ?

National Institute of Sports Coaching to be set up at Patiala at a cost of ` 250 crore over a period of three years.

Broadcasting ?

All cities having a population of more than 1,00,000 will be

covered by private FM radio services.

which they can be recognised as Category I AIF venture capital funds.

Panchayati Raj

?

Small and medium enterprises, to be permitted to list on the SME exchange without being required to make an initial public offer (IPO).

?

Augmentation in the Budget allocation of Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) to ` 455 crore in 2013-14. An additional ` 200 crore proposed to be provided.

?

Stock exchanges to be allowed to introduce a dedicated debt segment on the exchange.

Post Offices

ENVIRONMENT ?

Support to municipalities that will implement waste-toenergy projects. ?

Government to provide low interest bearing fund from the

National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) to IREDA to on-lend to viable renewable energy projects. ?

'Generation-based incentive' reintroduced for wind energy projects and ` 800 crore allocated for this purpose.

OTHER PROPOSALS Backward Regions Grant Fund

?

An ambitious IT driven project to modernise the postal network at a cost of Rs. 4,909 crore. Post offices to become part of the core banking solution and offer real time banking services.

Ghadar Memorial ?

Government to fund the conversion of the Ghadar

Memorial in San Francisco into a museum and library.

Central Schemes ?

Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and Additional Central Assistance (ACA) Schemes to be restructured into 70 schemes.

Central fund for the schemes to be given to the States as part of central plan assistance.

?

New criteria for determining backwardness to be evolved and reflect them in future planning and devolution of funds.

Three promises

Skill Development

?

Promises made to woman, youth and poor.

?

Target of skilling 50 million people in the 12th Plan period,

?

We stand in solidarity with our girl children and women.

And we pledge to do everything possible to empower them and to keep them safe and secure. A fund - “Nirbhaya Fund� - to be setup with Government contribution of ` 1,000 crore.

including 9 million in 2013-14.

Defence ?

Allocation for Defence increased to ` 2,03,672 crore including ` 86,741 crore for capital expenditure. ?

Constraints not to come in the way of providing any addition requirement for the security of nation.

April 2013

?

Youth to be motivated to voluntarily join skill development programmes. National Skill Development Corporation to set the curriculum and standards for training in different skills. ` 1000 crore set apart for this scheme.

34

CURRENTLINER ?

To the poor of India direct benefit transfer scheme will be rolled out throughout the country during the term of the UPA Government with the motive “Äapka paisa aapke haath”.

Budget Estimates ?

Plan expenditure is placed at ` 5,55,322 crore. ?

Non Plan Expenditure is estimated at ` 11,09,975 crore. ?

Fiscal deficit for the current year contained at 5.2 per cent and for the year 2013-14 at 4.8 per cent. ?

Revenue deficit for the current year at 3.9 per cent and for the year 2013-14 at 3.3 per cent. ?

By 2016-17 fiscal deficit to be brought down to 3 per cent, revenue deficit to 1.5 per cent and effective revenue deficit to zero per cent.

PART B — TAX PROPOSALS ?

Clarity in tax laws, a stable tax regime, a non-adversarial

tax administration, a fair mechanism for dispute resolution and independent judiciary for greater assurance is underlying theme of tax proposals. ?

Tax Administration Reforms Commission to be set up. ?

In short term need to reclaim peak of 11.9 per cent of tax

GDP ratio achieved in 2007-08.

DIRECT TAXES ?

Little room to give away tax revenues or raise tax rates in a constrained economy. ?

No case to revise either the slabs or the rates of Personal Income Tax. Even a moderate increase in the threshold exemption will put hundreds of thousands of Tax Payers outside Tax Net. ?

However, relief for Tax Payers in the first bracket of `2 lakhs to ` 5 lakhs. A tax credit of ` 2000 to every person with total income upto `5 lakhs. ?

Surcharge of 10 percent on persons (other than companies) whose taxable income exceed ` 1 crore to augment revenues. ?

Increase surcharge from 5 to 10 percent on domestic companies whose taxable income exceed ` 10 crore. ?

In case of foreign companies who pay a higher rate of cor-

porate tax, surcharge to increase from 2 to 5 percent, if the taxabale income exceeds ` 10 crore. ?

In all other cases such as dividend distribution tax or tax on

ECO-GLANCE ?

Education cess to continue at 3 percent. ?

Permissible premium rate increased from 10 percent to 15 percent of the sum assured by relaxing eligibility conditions of life insurance policies for persons suffering from disability and certain ailments. ?

Contributions made to schemes of Central and State Governments similar to Central Government Health Scheme, eligible for section 80D of the Income tax Act. ?

Donations made to National Children Fund eligible for 100 percent deduction. ?

Investment allowance at the rate of 15 percent to manufacturing companies that invest more than ` 100 crore in plant and machinery during the period 1.4.2013 to 31.3.2015. ?

'Eligible date' for projects in the power sector to avail benefit under Section 80-IA extended from 31.3.2013 to 31.3.2014. ?

Concessional rate of tax of 15 percent on dividend received by an Indian company from its foreign subsidiary proposed to continue for one more year. ?

Securitisation Trust to be exempted from Income Tax. Tax

to be levied at specified rates only at the time of distribution of income for companies, individual or HUF etc. No further tax on income received by investors from the Trust. ?

Investor Protection Fund of depositories exempt from Income-tax in some cases. ?

Parity in taxation between IDF-Mutual Fund and IDFNBFC. ?

A Category I AIF set up as Venture capital fund allowed pass through status under Income-tax Act. ?

TDS at the rate of 1 percent on the value of the transfer of immovable properties where consideration exceeds ` 50 lakhs.

Agricultural land to be exempted. ?

A final withholding tax at the rate of 20 percent on profits distributed by unlisted companies to shareholders through buyback of shares. ?

Proposal to increase the rate of tax on payments by way of royalty and fees for technical services to non-residents from 10 percent to 25 percent. ?

Reductions made in rates of Securities Transaction Tax in respect of certain transaction. ?

Proposal to introduce Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) in

a limited way. Agricultural commodities will be exempted.

distributed income, current surcharge increased from 5 to 10 percent.

?

Modified provisions of GAAR will come into effect from 1.4.2016.

?

Additional surcharges to be in force for only one year.

?

Rules on Safe Harbour will be issued after examing the

April 2013

35

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ECO-GLANCE

reports of the Rangachary Committee appointed to look int otax matters relating to Development Centres & IT Sector and Safe Harbour rules for a number of sectors.

?

To provide relief to ship building industry, ships and vessels exempted from excise duty. No CVD on imported ships and vessels.

?

Fifth large tax payer unit to open at Kolkata shortly.

?

Specific excise duty on cigarettes increased by about 18

?

A number of administrative measures such as extension of

refund banker system to refund more than ` 50,000, technology based processing, extension of e-payment through more banks and expansion in the scope of annual information returns by Income-tax Department.

Indirect Taxes ?

No change in the normal rates of 12 percent for excise duty

and service tax. ?

No change in the peak rate of basic customs duty of 10

perent for non-agricultural products.

Customs ?

Period of concession available for specified part of electric

percent. Similar increase on cigars, cheroots and cigarillos. ?

Excise duty on SUVs increased from 27 to 30 percent. Not applicable for SUVs registered as taxies. ?

Excise duty on marble increased from `30 per square meter to ` 60 per square meter. ?

Proposals to levy 4 percent excise duty on silver manufactured from smelting zinc or lead. ?

Duty on mobile phones priced at more than `2000 raised to 6 percent. ?

MRP based assessment in respect of branded medicaments of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and biochemic systems of medicine to reduce valuation disputes.

and hybrid vehicles extended upto 31 March 2015.

Service Tax

?

Duty on specified machinery for manufacture of leather and leather goods including footwear reduced from 7.5 to 5 percent.

?

Maintain stability in tax regime.

?

Duty on pre-forms precious and semi-precious stones reduced from 10 to 2 perent. ?

Export duty on de-oiled rice bran oil cake withdrawn. ?

Duty of 10 percent on export of unprocessed ilmenite and 5 percent on export on ungraded ilmenite. ?

Concessions to air craft maintenaince, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry. ?

Duty on Set Top Boxes increased from 5 to10 percent. ?

Duty on raw silk increased from 5 to 15 percent. ?

Duties on Steam Coal and Bituminous Coal equalised and 2 percent custom duty and 2 percent CVD levied on both kinds coal. ?

Duty on imported luxury goods such as high end motor vehicles, motor cycles, yachts and similar vessels increased. ?

Duty free gold limit increased to ` 50,000 in case of male passenger and `1,00,000 in case of a female passenger subject to conditions.

Excise duty ?

Relief to readymade garment industry. In case of cotton,

?

Vocational courses offered by institutes affiliated to the State Council of Vocational Training and testing activities in relation to agricultural produce also included in the negative list for service tax. ?

Exemption of Service Tax on copyright on cinematography limited to films exhibited in cinema halls. ?

Proposals to levy Service Tax on all air conditioned restaurant. ?

For homes and flats with a carpet area of 2,000 sq.ft. or more or of a value of `1 crore or more, which are high-end constructions, where the component of services is greater, rate of abatement reduced from from 75 to 70 percent. ?

Out of nearly 17 lakh registered assesses under Service Tax only 7 lakhs file returns regularly. Need to motivate them to file returns and pay tax dues. A onetime scheme called 'Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme' proposed to be introduced. Defaulter may avail of the scheme on condition that he files truthful declaration of Service Tax dues since 1st October 2007. ?

Tax proposals on Direct Taxes side estimated to yield to `13,300 crore and on the Indirect Tax side `4,700 crore.

Good and Services Tax ?

A sum of ` 9,000 crore towards the first instalment of the

zero excise duty at fibre stage also. In case of spun yarn made of man made fibre, duty of 12 percent at the fibre stage.

balance of CST compensation provided in the budget.

?

Handmade carpets and textile floor coverings of coir and

?

Work on draft GST Constitutional amendment bill and GST

jute totally exempted from excise duty.

law expected to be taken forward.

April 2013

36

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TECHNO-SCIENCE

4

1.

1.

TECHNO SCIENCE

Antioxidants for a healthy life.

Consuming enough antioxidants in the form of solid food or food supplements, especially when a person is on such goalspecific diet plans, is a must to ensure good health. According to scientists, our body reacts with oxygen as we breathe or exercise. Owing to such activity, highly reactive molecules known as free radicals are released, which might damage cell membranes and genes. Such 'oxidative damage' might lead to diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. It might also affect the body's natural ageing process. Factors such as pollution, stress and tobacco might trigger the production of free radicals.

Excessive body weight and poor dietary practices might prolong their ill-effects for longer duration.

Researchers said that the test subjects who consumed protein-rich meal with carbohydrate and fat without enough antioxidants had very low blood antioxidant capacity (AOC).

Higher levels of blood AOC translates into stronger immune system.

Specifics: Antioxidants: Antioxidants are substances that may protect our cells against the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules produced when your body breaks down food, or by environmental exposures like tobacco smoke and radiation.

Free radicals can damage cells, and may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

Antioxidant substances include : ?

Beta-carotene. ?

Lutein. ?

Lycopene. ?

Selenium.

After nearly a century of debate on whether heart muscle cells are generated after birth or they simply grow larger, researchers now say children and adolescents too generate these cells. The first ever finding refutes the long-held belief that the human heart grows only after birth and exclusively because existing cells grow larger. This opens the way to growing new cells to repair injured hearts.

Beginning in 2009, Bernhard Kuhn and his team looked at specimens from healthy human hearts, aged between 0 to 59 years. Using several lab essays, they documented that cells in these hearts were still dividing after birth, significantly expanding the heart cell numbers.

The cells regenerated at their highest rates during infancy.

Regeneration declined after infancy, rose during the adolescent growth spurt, and continued up until around age 20. The findings offer the strongest evidence to date that proliferation of cardiomyocytes (cells making up heart muscle) contributes to growth in healthy young human hearts.

3.

Japanese scientists breed salmon from surrogates.

Japanese scientists have successfully bred a type of salmon using surrogate parents of a different species, in a breakthrough that could help preserve endangered creatures.

Researchers froze the testes of the yamame salmon, a fish indigenous to Japan that lives its entire life in rivers, before extracting primordial germ cells and implanting them into otherwise sterile rainbow trout hatchlings. These primordial cells, called spermatogonia, were used by the fish's growing body to develop fully functional sperm in males and viable eggs in females, said Goro Yoshizaki at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. The eggs and sperm can be fused in vitro to produce a healthy yamame salmon.

?

Vitamin A. ?

Vitamin C. ?

Vitamin E.

Antioxidants are found in many foods. These include fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, and some meats, poultry and fish.

2.

New heart cells keep forming in kids too.

April 2013

4.

Russia to launch lunar mission in 2015.

Russia will launch a robotic lunar station in 2015, a top official said January 15. Federal space agency Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said the Luna-Glob will lift off from the Vostochny space port in Russia's far east.

37

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5.

Coronal mass ejection affects space weather.

On January 13, at 2:24 a.m. EST, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME. CME is a solar phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and reach Earth one to three days later.

Note: Coronal Mass Ejection: A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, most notably solar flares, but a causal relationship has not been established. Most ejections originate from active regions on the Sun's surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. Near solar maxima the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima there is about one CME every five days.

6.

ISRO lines up SARAL for February, restored GSLV for April.

ISRO will herald the 8 to 10 missions, including satellites and launch vehicles, which ISRO has planned this year, ?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has slated its first launch of the year — ocean study spacecraft SARAL — between February 22 and 25. Along with the 450-kg IndoFrench SARAL, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will put into orbit six small experimental satellites built by western universities for a fee. The December launch was put off to complete a few tests and validations. ?

Around April this year, ISRO expects to resume flying the GSLV rocket. The GSLV-D5 will lift the communications satellite GSAT-14 into orbit. ISRO had put the GSLV programme on hold after it suffered two successive failures in April and December 2010. The lapses were analysed and corrections made. ?

May will see the first of the national navigational satellites

or navsats — the IRNSS-1 — which will fly on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. IRNSS or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System with its seven satellites is tipped to be India's own regional Global Positioning System.

TECHNO-SCIENCE

7.

3 youths develop software to help women in distress.

Against the backdrop of rising crime against women, three youths from Nashik have developed a software with the help of which women can raise an alarm and seek help in time of distress. Android software developer Gunwant Battashe (23), engineer Anup Unnikrishanan (24) and graphic designer Jayesh Bankar (23) told reporters that the 'Me against rape' software application developed by them can be downloaded on Android mobile handsets free of cost. The software has a one touch helpline facility, recording facility and to specify the current location of the person, they said.

8.

World's first bendable battery.

Scientists have developed world's first bendable lithiumion batteries, paving way for flexible mobile devices.

Researchers in South Korea developed imprintable, fluid-like polymer electrolytes that are used for lithium-ion batteries.

Conventional batteries use liquefied electrolytes and are put into square-shaped cases, which makes them inflexible with risks of explosion.

9.

India weather report app.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) launched a mobile application 'Indian-Weather' for android-based smart phones and tabs to provide latest weather information to users. The service was launched by Science and Technology Minister S. Jaipal Reddy on IMD's 138th Foundation Day. The application can be freely downloaded through Google play available on the home screen of android-based smart phones and tabs.

With this service, IMD's forecast of major cities of the country around four metros for next four days along with updated current weather observations would be available to the millions of mobile users across the country in the initial phase.

?

GSAT-7, a dedicated satellite for the Navy, is also set to be

launched around May on a European Ariane rocket. ?

Two other larger satellites, INSAT-3D and GSAT-10, will

also use 'procured' or foreign launches on separate Ariane vehicles in the second half of this year.

April 2013

10.

Measles deaths fell by 70% in last decade: WHO.

The global number of measles deaths dropped by 71 38

CURRENTLINER

TECHNO-SCIENCE

percent between 2000 and 2011 largely thanks to a boost in vaccination efforts, the UN World Health Organisation said.

The number of mortalities from measles over that period fell from 542,000 to 158,000, it said in a statement, while the number of new cases fell by 58 percent to 355,000 in 2011.

Measles spreads through droplet transmission from the nose, throat and mouth of those infected by the virus. The UN health agency recommends that all children receive two doses of measles vaccine to be protected from the highly contagious disease. But despite high-profile vaccination campaigns, the vaccine has yet to reach all those in need.

The WHO estimates that 20 million children worldwide failed to receive first dose of the vaccine in 2011. More than half live in India (6.7 million children), Nigeria (1.7 million), Ethiopia (one million), and Pakistan (900,000) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (800,000). In 2011, these five countries experienced large outbreaks of measles, while thousands of cases were also recorded in other countries including France, Italy and Spain. Most of these countries have committed to eradicating measles by 2015 or 2020.

Specifics: Measles: Measles is a highly contagious viral disease, which affects mostly children. It is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons. Initial symptoms, which usually appear 10–12 days after infection, include high fever, runny nose, bloodshot eyes, and tiny white spots on the inside of the mouth. Several days later, a rash develops, starting on the face and upper neck and gradually spreading downwards.

Measles is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family.

The measles virus normally grows in the cells that line the back of the throat and lungs. Measles is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.

There is no specific treatment for measles and most people recover within 2–3 weeks. However, particularly in malnourished children and people with reduced immunity, measles can cause serious complications, including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infection and pneumonia.

Measles can be prevented by immunization.

Unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of measles and its complications, including death. Unvaccinated pregnant women are also at risk. Any non-immune person (who has not been vaccinated or was vaccinated but did not develop immunity) can become infected.

Key facts: April 2013

?

Measles is one of the leading causes of death among

young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available. ?

In 2011, there were 158 000 measles deaths globally –

about 430 deaths every day or 18 deaths every hour. ?

More than 95% of measles deaths occur in low-income

countries with weak health infrastructures. ?

Measles vaccination resulted in a 71% drop in measles

deaths between 2000 and 2011 worldwide. ?

In 2011, about 84% of the world's children received one

dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday through routine health services – up from 72% in 2000.

11.

Chandrayaan-2: India to go it alone.

India has decided to go it alone in its second lunar mission, the Chandrayaan-2, which was originally proposed as an IndoRussian venture. According to an agreement signed on November 12, 2007 between ISRO and Roskosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, ISRO had the primary responsibility to provide both the orbiter and the rover, while Roskosmos was to design and build the lander for this combined orbiter-roverlander mission. However, following the failure in December 2011 of Roskosmos' Phobos-Grunt mission, there was a delay in the construction of the Russian lander.

The mission had a lander to return soil sample from the Martian satellite Phobos. This resulted in a complete review of technical aspects connected with the Phobos-Grunt mission, which were also used in the lunar projects such as the lander for Chandrayaan-2. Due to this, as well as financial problems, the Russian agency apparently expressed its inability provide the lander to meet even the revised time frame of 2015 for the Chandrayaan-2 launch.

Chandrayaan-2 will have five primary payloads on the orbiter, two of which will be improvements on instruments that were onboard Chandrayaan-1. In addition, the rover too will carry two additional instruments. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched by a GSLV powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine.

12.

Proton therapy centre for cancer treatment on anvil.

Apollo Hospitals on January 21 announced its proposal to 39

CURRENTLINER

establish a proton therapy centre for cancer treatment in Chennai. The hospital will purchase the equipment, IBA Proteus PLUS, from Ion Beam Applications, a Belgium-based company. The facility will come up on two acres in the hospital on Old Mahabalipuram Road and will be set up at a cost of Rs. 400 crore.

TECHNO-SCIENCE

services such as polishing of the mirror segments.

The telescope is being constructed in Pasadena, California, by a consortium consisting of the United States, China, Japan, Canada and India. India is making a contribution of 10 per cent — 70 per cent of it in kind and the rest in cash.

Note: Proton therapy is a kind of radiation that uses specialised particles – protons, to kill cancer cells. The proton therapy equipment destroys the DNA of cancer cells, in what is considered a treatment that improves the survival rate of the patients. Proton therapy uses high-energy proton beams and the doses are delivered directly to the tumour.

13.

Anti-radiation missile by DRDO to be ready in 35 years.

A new state-of-the art, anti-radiation missile that can target enemy radars and communication facilities is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). At present there is no such missile in India's arsenal, while some advanced countries, including the US, Israel and Russia, have such a weapon. The government recently gave the go-ahead for the project, and the design work has already begun at one of the key DRDO laboratories here.

The new air-to-surface 100-km range tactical missile picks up radiation or signals emitted by radars and communication systems, homes on to the target and destroys the network. The missile's front-end comprises a sensor to pick up various radio frequencies. The missile is expected to be ready in the next three to five years. After a series of developmental trials, it will be integrated with fighter aircraft, including Sukhoi and Light Combat Aircraft.

14.

Indian firms to supply parts for billion-dollar telescope.

Several Indian companies are gearing up to play a major role in the construction of the $1.2-billion Thirty-Meter Telescope, which will be the world's most advanced groundbased observatory and operate in optical and mid-infrared wavelengths. The Indian companies will be supplying high-end components such as edge sensors, actuators, segment support assemblies, software to control the operations of the telescope, the mirror, and telescope dome, and provide April 2013

India presently holds the status of an observer and is in the process of becoming a permanent member. A note for approval by the Union Cabinet in this regard is currently under preparation.

Indian funding will be done through the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Atomic Energy.

15.

'Fireflies' and 'Dragonflies' to mine asteroids.

A U.S. company plans to mine asteroids for metals, useful ores and minerals as they hurtle past the Earth using the first rock-prospecting spacecraft by 2015. Deep Space Industries says it wants to start sending miniature scout probes, dubbed “Fireflies,” on one-way missions to near-Earth asteroids as soon as 2015. Company CEO David Gump said larger probes, “Dragonflies”, which will bring back 50 to 100-pound samples from prospective targets could be on their way by 2016. The goal is to extract metals, water and compounds that can be used to make spacecraft fuel from the chunks of rock that float within about 50 million kilometres of Earth.

16.

Auroras occur outside our solar system too.

University of Leicester planetary scientists have found new evidence suggesting auroras — similar to Earth's Aurora Borealis — occur on bodies outside our solar system, providing a way of observing the new objects.

Note: Aurora are colorful lights in the night time sky primarily appearing in Earth's polar regions. But what causes them? The culprit behind aurora is our own Sun and the solar plasma that is ejected during a magnetic event like a flare or a coronal mass 40

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ejection. This plasma travels outward along with the solar wind and when it encounters Earth's magnetic field, it travels down the field lines that connect at the poles. Atoms in the plasma interacts with atoms in Earth's upper atmosphere. This reaction produces the colorful lights we call aurora. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has almost identical features to the aurora borealis and changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone.

17.

India nears nuke triad with undersea launch.

Moving a step closer to completing its nuclear triad, India on January 27 successfully test fired a ballistic missile, with a strike range of around 1500 kilometres, from an underwater platform in Bay of Bengal. The medium range K-5 ballistic missile was test fired successfully January 28 from an underwater pontoon and all parameters of the test firing were met. The development phase of the K-5 missile, which is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), was over and it was now ready for deployment on various platforms including the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant which is under development.

Note: The nuclear triad refers to the ability to fire nucleartipped missiles from land, air and sea.

18.

Home-grown GPS 'Gagan' likely by 2014.

India will launch this year the first of its series of navigation satellites required to provide regional navigation service, independent of the U.S.-controlled GPS (Global Positioning System). Now we relied on the GPS for the navigation service.

Europe, Russia and China were either having or evolving their own navigation services independent of the GPS. The Indian Space Research Organisation too was planning to evolve indigenous navigation service to provide enhanced and more precise navigation. To provide this service, to be christened 'Gagan,' India needed to launch a number of satellites and the first of this series, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), would be launched by the PSLV C-22 rocket, probably in the second half of this year. After all the required satellites were launched, India would be in a April 2013

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position to provide navigation service through 'Gagan' probably in 2014.

Note: Gagan: The GPS aided geo augmented navigation or GPS and geo-augmented navigation system (GAGAN) is a planned implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) by the Indian government. It is a system to improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver by providing reference signals. The AAI's efforts towards implementation of operational SBAS can be viewed as the first step towards introduction of modern communication, navigation, surveillance/Air Traffic Management system over Indian airspace.

The project involves establishment of 15 Indian Reference Stations, three Indian Navigation Land Uplink Stations, three Indian Mission Control Centers and installation of all associated software and communication links. GAGAN is planned to get into operation by the year 2014. It will be able to help pilots to navigate in the Indian airspace by an accuracy of 3 m. This will be helpful for landing aircraft in tough weather and terrain like Mangalore airport and Leh.

19.

Human brain mapping, graphene study, receive billion-euro funding.

Two science projects — one to map the human brain, the other to explore the extraordinary properties of the carbonbased material graphene — were declared the winners of an European Union (EU) technologies contest and will receive up to €1 billion ($1.35 billion) each over the next 10 years. The projects were selected from four finalists that been chosen from 26 proposals.

20.

A bad case of the flu.

Nearly a quarter of ethnic Chinese have a tiny genetic variant that boosts six fold their risk of falling gravely ill when infected with flu, a study said. Researchers in China and Britain looked at Chinese hospital data from the 2009-2010 pandemic of H1N1 influenza. Patients who had the minute variant were six times likelier to be treated for severe infection compared with patients who had a different genetic type, they found.

The variation focuses on just a single change in the code of a key gene in the immune system. The IFITM3 gene — for “interferon-induced transmembrane protein-3” -- determines how cells fight the influenza virus. The single code change is 41

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called rs12252, and it comes in three variants, also called genotypes: CC, CT and TT.

21.

Robotic radiotherapy to minimise side-effects.

the tumors in the body in order to treat it with limited but highly precise treatment fields. SBRT involves the delivery of a single high dose radiation treatment or a few fractionated radiation treatments (usually up to 5 treatments). A high potent biological dose of radiation is delivered to the tumor, improving the cure rates for the tumor, in a manner previously not achievable by standard conventional radiation therapy.

Similarly, because this specialized form of radiation involves the use of multiple radiation beam angles, expert Radiation Oncologists specialized in this technique are able to safely deliver high doses of radiation, with very sharp dose gradient outside the tumor and into the surrounding normal tissue.

22 The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is an advanced method of robotic delivery of high-precision radiotherapy for treatment of tumours anywhere in the body. This is another form of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT). Through this technique, we can give high-dose radiation at specified locations and spare the normal tissues.

The technology delivers high doses of radiation with great accuracy in one to five sessions, unlike 30 to 40 sessions for conventional radiotherapy. There are minimal or no sideeffects as compared to traditional radiotherapy procedures.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of adult deaths worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths (around 13 percent of all deaths) in 2008. A Lancet study published in 2012 showed that cancer killed nearly 556,400 people across India in 2010. In India, among men, oral cancer is the most common cancer, followed by lung cancer, while in women cervical cancer is the most common. This is followed by breast cancer.

Specifics: Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT): Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) is a treatment procedure similar to central nervous system (CNS) stereotactic radiosurgery, except that it deals with tumors outside of the CNS. A stereotactic radiation treatment for the body means that a specially designed coordinate-system is used for the exact localization of

April 2013

Wankel engine cleared to power UAVs.

The Rs. 2,000-crore Kaveri engine may have eluded our own light fighter plane, the LCA. Now there is the smaller Wankel engine, though, to give some cheer for another reason.

The 55-hp Wankel engine, developed by three national research agencies, has passed muster to power the unmanned aerial vehicles used by the Army and the Air Force. It has been certified to be the engine for all future UAV programmes.

Wankel is a major achievement for the defence research establishment. This will be used to power the home-grown UAVs Nishant, Lakshya and Rustom-1 and 2 versions used to observe and survey border areas. The engine has been developed at a cost of Rs. 20 crore by the National Aerospace Labs and the Aeronautical Development Establishment, both based in Bangalore, and the Vehicle Research and Development Establishment, Ahmednagar.

23.

Vaccine to replace BCG fails to deliver.

The most promising vaccine to replace the world's 91year-old tuberculosis jab does not protect against the disease, according to results released on February 4 of large-scale trials conducted among infants in South Africa. Doctors have had high hopes for the formula, known as MVA85A, as the existing Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine does not protect against pulmonary TB, the most common form of the disease among adults and adolescents. MVA85A was found to be safe and had no side effects, but “did not provide statistically significant protection� against the TB microbe, the researchers 42

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announced. It is the first TB vaccine candidate to reach this stage since BCG, which was licensed for humans in 1921. The trial, launched in 2009, saw the drug tested on 2,800 infants in South Africa's Western Cape province who did not have TB or the AIDS virus.

Specifics: Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG): Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) is the current vaccine for tuberculosis. It was first used in 1921.

BCG is the only vaccine available today for protection against tuberculosis. It is most effective in protecting children from the disease.

Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) containes a live attenuated (weakened) strain of Mycobacterium bovis. It was originally isolated from a cow with tuberculosis by Calmette and Guren who worked in Paris at the Institute Pasteur. This strain was carefully subcultured every three weeks for many years. After about thirteen years the strain was seen to be less virulent for animals such as cows and guinea pigs. During these thirteen years many undefined genetic changes occurred to change the original stain of M. bovis. This altered organism was called BCG. In addition to the loss of virulence, other changes to BCG were noted. These included a pronounced change in the appearance of colonies grown in the laboratory. Colonies of M. bovis have a rough granular appearance whereas colonies of BCG are moist and smooth.

BCG was first used as a vaccine to protect humans against tuberculosis in 1921. At first, cultures of BCG were maintained in Paris. Later, it was subcultured and distributed to several laboratories throughout the world where the vaccine strain called BCG continued to be maintained by continuous subculture. After many years it became clear that the various strains maintained in different laboratories were no longer identical to each other. Indeed, it was likely that all the various strains maintained by continuous subculture continued to undergo undefined genetic changes. Indeed, the "original" strain of BCG maintained at in Paris had continued to change during the subcultures needed to maintain the viability of the culture. To limit these continuing changes the procedures needed to maintain the strain were modified. Today, the organism is maintained in several laboratories using a "seed lot" production technique to limit further genetic variation using freeze-dried (also called lyophilized) cells so that each batch starts with the same cells.

24.

How the world's saltiest pond gets its salty water.

April 2013

The Don Juan Pond in Antarctica's frigid McMurdo Dry Valley is the world's saltiest and unlikeliest water body on the planet. A research team from Brown University has discovered how the Don Juan Pond gets the salty water it needs to exist and keep it from freezing. Using time lapse photography and other data, researchers show that water sucked out of the atmosphere by parched, salty soil is the source of the saltwater brine that keeps the pond from freezing.

With a salinity level of over 40%, Don Juan Pond is so salty that it remains liquid even at temperatures as low as -53 C. This is because the salts interfere with the bonding of water molecules.

25.

Mark-2 to be powered by GE F-414 engine.

The LCA Navy programme would go it alone in the development of its Mark-2 version with a GE F-414 engine. It will be a lighter aircraft with better manoeuvrability, whose concept design, done over nine to 12 months, will kick off in March. EADS Cassidian will be the consultant.

The global standard of building and equipping an aircraft is 36 months from the time its design is frozen. In all, it would take eight years from now for the first flight of LCA Navy Mark-2, which will come equipped with an anti-ship missile, an addition on the Mark-1 variant. The Mark1, currently being developed, will be optimised for an air defence role with the same weapons as on its Air Force counterpart.

26.

Supervolcano forming under the Pacific.

Life on Earth could be facing threat from a catastrophic “supervolcano” which seismologists believe is due to erupt in 200 million years' time. At least two “piles” of rock the size of continents are crashing together as they shift at the bottom of Earth's mantle, 2,900 km beneath the Pacific Ocean, researchers say. The new study, published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters , said the activity is creating a Floridasized zone of partly molten rock that may be the root of either of two kinds of massive eruptions far in the future.

Hotspot plume supervolcano eruptions have caused huge landforms. Gargantuan flood basalt eruptions that created “large igneous provinces” like the Pacific Northwest's Columbia River basalts 17 million to 15 million years ago, India's Deccan Traps some 65 million years ago and the Pacific's huge Ontong Java Plateau basalts, which buried an Alaskasized area 125-199 million years ago.

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BIO-WATCH ANIMAL-NUTRITION-II COMPOUND STOMACH IN RUMINANTS : Mammals which chew the cud (incompletely digested food ) are called Ruminants. Ex- cattle, sheep, goat, deer and camels etc. They have a compound stomach formed of 4 chambers – Rumen, reticulum, omassum and Abomassum performing different functions. Rumen and reticulum harboiurs bacteria which secrete enzyme for the digestion of cellulose ( a plant polysaccharide which humans can not digest ).

The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called "ruminating.” The semi liquid food is reswallowed in the omasum where water and bicarbonates are absorbed. Finally, food enters the abomassum which is the true stomach where complete digestion takes place. Abomassum is the largest chamber. Camels and deer have no omassum.

Rabbits show coprophagy i.e. eating their own faeces to absorb the simplified cellulose present in them. Symbiotic digestion of cellulose is found in termites where the symbiotic animal living inside its intestine “ Trichonympha” secrete enzyme for digestion of cellulose into sugars.

(Note- Symbiotic association is the mutually beneficial relationship between two organisms. The most common example is Lichens. It is the asociation of algae and fungus where algae prepares food and in turn seeks shelter from fungus.)

BALANCED DIET : A balanced diet is very essential for a good health. Balanced diet is defined as a food containing all the nutrients such as Carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, water and roughage in appropriate amount.

Unbalanced diet i.e. lacking in any nutrient leads to deficiency diseases in humans. The following tables depicts this for vitamin, minerals and protein deficiency.

VITAMIN ( with daily intake )

FUNCTIONS

SOURCES

DEFICIENCY SYMPTOMS

FAT SOLUBLE 1. VIT. A (RETINOL) ( 2 mg )

Body growth, help in secretion from glands and night vision.

Fish liver oil, liver, eggs, green vegetables.

Formed in the skin in presence of UV rays, fish liver oil and animal source

2. VIT.D (CALCIFEROL) 0.01mg

Maintains calcium/ phosphorous balance in body fluids

3. VIT. E ( TOCOPHEROL) 15 mg

Prevents oxidative break Green vegetables and -down of vitamins, required vegetable oils for normal functioning of reproductive organs.

4. VIT. K ( PHYLLOQUINONE) 0.07-0.14 mg

Prothrombin formation in liver which is essential for blood clotting

Green leafy vegetables, intestinal bacteria

Xeropthalmia (dry eyes), nioght blindness, keratomalaia (dry and scaly skin), retarded growth.

Rickets in children, osteomalacia in pregnant women

Cause sterility.

Vit.E is also called anti sterilitc factor or beauty vitamin

Haemorrhage ( dlayed blood clotting and excess bleeding )

WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS 1. VIT. C (ASCORBIC ACID) 50mg

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Development of teeth and gums, maintains capillary walls, healing of wounds

Citrus fruits like amla, lemon, orange and green leafy vegetable, green peppers

Causes Scurvy characterized by bleeding gums, loosening and falling of teeth, pain in muscle and joints, poor wound healing, loss of weight.

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TECHNO-SCIENCE 2. VIT. B complex Essential for normal growth, actively involved in carbohydrate metabolism.

Grain, meat, yeast, eggs, green vegetables

Causes Beri-Beri characterized by heart enlargement, ndigestion, nervous disorder

Essential for normal growth as ii) VIT.B2 involved in carbohydrate, ( RIBOFLAVIN ) 1.4mg protein and fat metabolism

Milk, meat, green vegetables

Cheilosis –cracking of skin at corners of mouth and base of nose.

Involved in all metabolic iii) VIT.B5 ( NIACIN ) 13-18 mg pathways

Milk,yeast,meat, green leafy vegetables

Pellagra ,also called 4-D syndrome characterized by dermatitis (inflammation of skin), dementia (memory disorder), diarrhoea and death

iv) VIT.B3 (PANTOTHENIC ACID) Essential for oxidative metabolism 5-10 mg

Liver, milk, egg, green leafy vegetables

Early ageing and graying of hair. Also called “ burning feet syndrome “

Acts as coenzyme in synthesis v) VIT. B6 (PYRIDOXINE ) 2mg of amino acids and glycogen

Liver, kidney, eggs, cereals, Causes convulsions in children green vegetables

vi) FOLIC ACID 0.5 mg

Formation and maturation of RBC's

Green leafy vegetables, intestinal bacteria

Macrocytic Anaemia-enlargement of RBC's but reduction in number and size.

vii) VIT.H ( BIOTIN )

Iinvolved in carboxylation and decarboxylation

Liver, milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables

Dermatitis, muscular pain, growth failure

I) VIT.B1 (THIAMINE) 1.2-1.4 mg

viii) INOSITOL

ix) CHOLINE

x) VIT.B12 (CYNOCOBALAMINE) 1-2 mg

Limit on cholesterol level in blood

Liver, kidney, muscle, brain, Haemorrhage in kidneys vegetable, yeast

Lipotrophic factor which prevents excessive development of fatty Egg yolk, liver, kidney, liver, involved in conduction of nerve leafy vegetables, cereals impulse, helps in formation of neurotransmitter “Acetylcholine”

Formation and maturation of RBC's

Liver, egg, kidney, fish, milk etc.

Cirrhosis in liver

Perinicious anaemia- enlarged size but reduced number of RBC's

Vitamins are organic compounds required in trace amounts. The term “vitamin” was first coined by C.FUNK who discovered Vit. B1.

MINERALS (daily intake )

FUNCTION

SOURCES

DEFICIENCY DISEASES

Component of bones and teeth, helps inblood clotting, muscle contraction and conduction of nerve impulses.

Cereals, meat, vegetables, fruit

Defective bones and teeth, tetany (prolonged neuro-muscular excitation), rickets

2. PHOSPHOROUS 1200 mg

Formation of bones and teeth, component of nucleic acids and enzymes

Milk, cereal, eggs, fishes etc.

Fatigue, weak bones and teeth

3. SODIUM About 1 g

Maintains ion and water balance, muscle contraction, conduction of nerve impulse

Table salt, vegetables

Improper muscle contraction, nervous depression, dehydration

4. POTASSIUM 1g

Osmotic balance, muscle contraction, nerve impulse conduction

Vegetable, molasses, dates, banana etc.

Nervous disorder, poor muscle control leading to paralysis

1. CALCIUM 1200mg

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5. IRON 18mg

Formation of haemoglobin and transport of oxygen

Liver, eggs, molasses ,pulses, leafy vegetables, apple, guavava.

Anaemia

6. IODINE 0.14 mg

Normal functioning of thyroid

Sea food, iodised salt, Water, leafy vegetables

Goiter (enlargement of thyroid ) and cretinism in children

PROTEIN ENERGY MALNUTRITION ( PEM ) : It is caused due to dietary deficiency of proteins and total food calories.

Two very commonly occurring disease of infant and children due to PEM usually in underdeveloped countries are :

CHARACTERS 1. CAUSE 2. PERIOD OF OCCURANCE 3. SYMPTOMS

4. LIMBS

KWASHIORKAR Severe protein deficiency

MARASMUS Deficiency of protein and food calories both 1-3 years age group children Infants ( below 1 year ) Stunted growth, anaemia, Bony physique, ribs bulging eyes, protruded belly, prominent, skin dry and repeated diarrhoea, loose fold wrinkled , stunted growth, of muscles repeated diarrhoea,.

Oedema of hands, feet and Extreme thinning of limbs. face

Glossary: Abdomen- the part of the body that contains the digestive organs. In human beings, this is between the diaphragm and the pelvis.

Alimentary canal - the passage through which food passes, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, and anus.

Anus - the opening at the end of the digestive system from which feces (waste) exits the body.

Appendix - a small sac located on the cecum.

Ascending colon - the part of the large intestine that run upwards; it is located after the cecum.

Bile - a digestive chemical that is produced in the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and secreted into the small intestine.

Cecum - the first part of the large intestine; the appendix is connected to the cecum.

Chyme - food in the stomach that is partly digested and mixed with stomach acids. Chyme goes on to the small intestine for further digestion.

Descending colon - the part of the large intestine that run downwards after the transverse colon and before the sigmoid colon.

Digestive system - (also called the gastrointestinal tract or GI tract) the system of the body that processes food and gets rid of waste.

Duodenum - the first part of the small intestine; it is C-shaped and runs from the stomach to the jejunum.

Epiglottis - the flap at the back of the tongue that keeps chewed food from going down the windpipe to the lungs. When you swallow, the epiglottis automatically closes. When you breathe, the epiglottis opens so that air can go in and out of the windpipe.

Esophagus - the long tube between the mouth and the stomach. It uses rhythmic muscle movements (called peristalsis) to force food from the throat into the stomach.

Gall bladder - a small, sac-like organ located by the duodenum. It stores and releases bile (a digestive chemical which is produced in the liver) into the small intestine. Gastrointestinal tract - (also called the GI tract or digestive system) the system of the body that processes food and gets rid of waste.

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Ileum - the last part of the small intestine before the large intestine begins.

Intestines - the part of the alimentary canal located between the stomach and the anus.

Jejunum - the long, coiled mid-section of the small intestine; it is between the duodenum and the ileum.

Liver - a large organ located above and in front of the stomach. It filters toxins from the blood, and makes bile (which breaks down fats) and some blood proteins.

Mouth - the first part of the digestive system, where food enters the body. Chewing and salivary enzymes in the mouth are the beginning of the digestive process (breaking down the food).

Pancreas - an enzyme-producing gland located below the stomach and above the intestines. Enzymes from the pancreas help in the digestion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in the small intestine.

Peristalsis - rhythmic muscle movements that force food in the esophagus from the throat into the stomach. Peristalsis is involuntary - you cannot control it. It is also what allows you to eat and drink while upside-down.

Rectum - the lower part of the large intestine, where feces are stored before they are excreted.

Salivary glands - glands located in the mouth that produce saliva. Saliva contains enzymes that break down carbohydrates (starch) into smaller molecules.

Sigmoid colon - the part of the large intestine between the descending colon and the rectum.

Stomach - a sack-like, muscular organ that is attached to the esophagus. Both chemical and mechanical digestion takes place in the stomach. When food enters the stomach, it is churned in a bath of acids and enzymes.

Transverse colon - the part of the large intestine that runs horizontally across the abdomen.

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Delhi Declaration on Traditional Medicine for the South-East Asian Countries The Delhi Declaration is as follows: A. We, the Health Ministers of South-East Asian countries, representing the Governments of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Minister of Indigenous Medicine, Sri Lanka, and Vice Minister of Health, Timor-Leste, and the representatives of DPR Korea, Indonesia, Myanmar, Maldives and Thailand, met in New Delhi during the “International Conference on Traditional Medicine for South-East Asian Countries�, and we – 1) Recalled the importance given at the International Con-ference on Primary Health Care at Alma Ata in 1978 for inc-lusion of access to Traditional Medicine in the planning and implementation of health care; 2) Noted the progress of Traditional Medicine in the countries of South East Asia Region, specifically after the World Health Organization (WHO) brought out the strategy for Traditional Medicine 20022005; 3) Considered the importance of various resolutions of the World Health Assembly (WHA) and of the South East Asia Regional Committee for promoting Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants, specifically WHA56.31, WHA62.13 and SEA/ RC56/R6; 4) Appreciated the diversity and richness of Traditional Medical Systems, their courses of study, status of research & development, regulatory frameworks and medicinal flora in the South-East Asian countries; 5) Recognized that Traditional Medicine and Traditional Medicine Practitioners have substantial potential to contribute for improving health outcomes in various countries of the world; 6) Acknowledged the fact that traditional medicine is culturally acceptable, generally available, affordable and widely used in various countries for the treatment of diseases; 7) Noted the fact that for millions of people often living in rural areas in different countries, traditional medicine is a significant source of health care; 8) Recognized the potential of traditional medicine in providing primary health care, and 9) expressed the need for sharing of experience and knowledge for securing reliance on Traditional Medicine for public health benefits.

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Traditional medicine Traditional medicine is the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) The terms "complementary medicine" or "alternative medicine" are used inter-changeably with traditional medicine in some countries. They refer to a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country's own tradition and are not integrated into the dominant health care system.

Herbal medicines Herbal medicines include herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products, that contain as active ingredients parts of plants, or other plant materials, or combinations. ?

Herbs: crude plant material such as leaves, flowers, fruit, seed, stems, wood, bark, roots, rhizomes or other plant parts, which may be entire, fragmented or powdered. ?

Herbal materials: in addition to herbs, fresh juices, gums, fixed oils, essential oils, resins and dry powders of herbs. In some countries, these materials may be processed by various local procedures, such as steaming, roasting, or stir-baking with honey, alcoholic beverages or other materials. ?

Herbal preparations: the basis for finished herbal products and

may include comminuted or powdered herbal materials, or extracts, tinctures and fatty oils of herbal materials. They are produced by extraction, fractionation, purification, concentration, or other physical or biological processes. They also include preparations made by steeping or heating herbal materials in alcoholic beverages and/or honey, or in other materials. ?

Finished herbal products: herbal preparations made from one or more herbs. If more than one herb is used, the term mixture herbal product can also be used. Finished herbal products and mixture herbal products may contain excipients in addition to the active ingredients. However, finished products or mixture products to which chemically defined active substances have been added, including synthetic compounds and/or isolated constituents from herbal materials, are not considered to be herbal.

Key facts ?

In some Asian and African countries, 80% of the population

depend on traditional medicine for primary health care.

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B. DECLARATION In the light of the above, we hereby agree for cooperation, collaboration and mutual support amongst the South-East Asian Countries in all spheres of Traditional Medicine in accordance with national priorities, legislations and circumstances, and specifically agree to make collaborative efforts aiming at the following: I. To promote National policies, strategies and interventions for equitable development and appropriate use of traditional medicine in the health care delivery system; ii. To develop institutionalized mechanism for exchange of information, expertise and knowledge with active cooperation with WHO on traditional medicine through workshops, symposia, visit of experts, exchange of literature etc.; iii. To pursue harmonized approach for the education, practice, research, documentation and regulation of traditional medicine and involvement of traditional medicine practitioners in health services; iv. To explore the possibility of promoting mutual recognition of educational qualifications awarded by recognized Universities, pharmacopoeias, monographs and relevant databases of traditional medicine; v. To encourage development of common reference documents of traditional medicine for South East Asian countries; vi. To develop regional cooperation for training and capacity building of traditional medicine experts; vii. To encourage sustainable development and resource augmentation of medicinal plants in the South East Asian regional countries; viii. To establish regional centers as required for capacity building and networking in the areas of traditional medicine and medicinal plants and

TECHNO-SCIENCE ?

Herbal medicines are the most lucrative form of

traditional medicine, generating billions of dollars in revenue. ?

Traditional medicine can treat various infectious and

chronic conditions: new antimalarial drugs were developed from the discovery and isolation of artemisinin from Artemisia annua L., a plant used in China for almost 2000 years. ?

Counterfeit, poor quality, or adulterated herbal products in

international markets are serious patient safety threats. ?

More than 100 countries have regulations for herbal

medicines.

Traditional use of herbal medicines Traditional use of herbal medicines refers to the long historical use of these medicines. Their use is well established and widely acknowledged to be safe and effective, and may be accepted by national authorities.

Therapeutic activity Therapeutic activity refers to the successful prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental illnesses; improvement of symptoms of illnesses; as well as beneficial alteration or regulation of the physical and mental status of the body.

Active ingredient Active ingredients refer to ingredients of herbal medicines with therapeutic activity. In herbal medicines where the active ingredients have been identified, the preparation of these medicines should be standardized to contain a defined amount of the active ingredients, if adequate analytical methods are available. In cases where it is not possible to identify the active ingredients, the whole herbal medicine may be considered as one active ingredient.

Who uses traditional medicine?

In some Asian and African countries, 80% of the population depend on traditional medicine for primary health care.

ix. To exchange views, experiences and experts for integration of traditional medicine into national health systems in accordance with national policies and regulations.

In many developed countries, 70% to 80% of the population has used some form of alternative or complementary medicine (e.g. acupuncture).

Situation in India

Herbal treatments are the most popular form of traditional medicine, and are highly lucrative in the international marketplace.

Annual revenues in Western Europe reached US$ 5 billion in 20032004. In China sales of products totalled US$ 14 billion in 2005.

Herbal medicine revenue in Brazil was US$ 160 million in 2007.

Medicine systems like ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy (AYUSH) have long enjoyed acceptance among Indian communities. However, owing to inadequate scientific April 2013

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validation, they had not received due recognition in the past.

These Indian systems of medicine and homeopathy received a major boost about a decade ago when they were given an independent identity under the health and family welfare ministry. In 2003, the department was renamed AYUSH. The current market for AYUSH is estimated at Rs 11,500 crore and it is expected to reach Rs 16,200 crore by 2014, growing at 20 per cent annually. The various segments that constitute the market are drugs, over-the-counter (OTC) and wellness products, wellness/spa treatments and herbal extracts.

Of these various segments, OTC products (like digestives, health food, pain balms and so on) make up for 75 per cent of the market. However, wellness/spa is the fastest growing segment, and is expected to contribute to one-third of the AYUSH market by 2014. The hospital business has historically grown at 12 per cent a year and is expected to grow faster in future.

Challenges Traditional medicine has been used in some communities for thousands of years. As traditional medicine practices are adopted by new populations there are challenges.

International diversity: Traditional medicine practices have been adopted in different cultures and regions without the parallel advance of international standards and methods for evaluation.

National policy and regulation: Not many countries have national policies for traditional medicine. Regulating traditional medicine products, practices and practitioners is difficult due to variations in definitions and categorizations of traditional medicine therapies.

A single herbal product could be defined as either a food, a dietary supplement or an herbal medicine, depending on the country.

This disparity in regulations at the national level has implications for international access and distribution of products.

Safety, effectiveness and quality: Scientific evidence from tests done to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of traditional medicine products and practices is limited. While evidence shows that acupuncture, some herbal medicines and some manual therapies (e.g. massage) are effective for specific conditions, further study of products and practices is needed. Requirements and methods for research and evaluation are complex. For example, it can be difficult to assess the quality of finished herbal products.

The safety, effectiveness and quality of finished herbal medicine products depend on the quality of their source materials (which can include hundreds of natural constituents), and how elements are handled through production processes.

Knowledge and sustainability: Herbal materials for products are collected from wild plant populations and cultivated medicinal plants. The expanding herbal product market could drive over-harvesting of plants and threaten biodiversity. Poorly managed collection and cultivation practices could lead to the extinction of endangered plant species and the destruction of natural resources.

Efforts to preserve both plant populations and knowledge on how to use them for medicinal purposes is needed to sustain traditional medicine.

Patient safety and use: Many people believe that because medicines are herbal (natural) or traditional they are safe (or carry no risk for harm). However, traditional medicines and practices can cause harmful, adverse reactions if the product or therapy is of poor quality, or it is taken inappropriately or in conjunction with other medicines. Increased patient awareness about safe usage is important, as well as more training, collaboration and communication among providers of traditional and other medicines.

WHO response Responses WHO and its Member States cooperate to promote the use of traditional medicine for health care.

The collaboration aims to: ?

Support and integrate traditional medicine into national health systems in combination with national policy and regulation for

products, practices and providers to ensure safety and quality; ?

Ensure the use of safe, effective and quality products and practices, based on available evidence; ?

Acknowledge traditional medicine as part of primary health care, to increase access to care and preserve knowledge and

resources; and ?

Ensure patient safety by upgrading the skills and knowledge of traditional medicine providers.

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5 Saiga antelopes the most endangered in Russia.

identified as per Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act as well as Rules 5 (1) of Environment Protection Rules. The MoEF had said that if the States did not submit site-specific proposals by February 15, it would declare 10-km area around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks of a State as ecosensitive zones.

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A letter from the MoEF Secretary has also been issued to Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories in this regard. In case, the State/Union Territory governments fail to submit the proposals within the deadline, the activities that have been prohibited as per the MoEF guidelines would stand prohibited within 10 km of the boundary of National Parks and Sanctuaries, the MoEF secretary cautioned.

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As per the guidelines, commercial mining, setting up of industries causing pollution, commercial use of firewood, establishment of all hydroelectric projects, use or production of any hazardous substances, tourism activities like flying over the national park area by any aircraft or hot-air balloons and discharge of effluents and solid waste in natural water bodies or terrestrial area are prohibited.

Eco-sensitive zones.

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Though the brunt of the conservation effort in Russia is focused on tigers and leopards, it is the steppe antelope saiga that qualifies for the country's most endangered big animal.

The saiga population in Russia has been estimated at 5,000 to 7,000, compared to 815,000 in 1958. There is also a substantial population in the neighbouring Kazakhstan, estimated by the local authorities last year at 137,000. The saiga's most distinctive feature is its snout, but it is the horns, used in Chinese traditional medicine, that make it subject to rampant poaching.

A decade after the National Board for Wildlife envisaged declaring areas within 10 km of the boundary of national parks and sanctuaries as eco-sensitive zones, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has given one last opportunity to all the States to submit site-specific proposals by February 15.

Eco sensitive zones would be

April 2013

3.

140 countries agree on treaty to limit mercury use Minamata Convention.

Delegations from some 140 countries agreed on January 19 to adopt a ground-breaking treaty limiting the use and emission of health-hazardous mercury, the U.N. said, though environmental activists lamented it did not go far enough. The world's first legally binding treaty on mercury, reached after a week of thorny talks, will aim to reduce global emission levels of the toxic heavy metal, also known as quicksilver, which poses risks to human health and the environment.

The treaty has been named the Minamata Convention on Mercury, in honour of the Japanese town where inhabitants for decades have suffered the consequences of serious mercury contamination. The text will be signed in Minamata in October and will take effect once it has been ratified by 50 countries — something organisers expect will take three to four years.

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fillings and even facial creams. Large amounts of the heavy metal are released from small-scale gold mining, coal-burning power plants, metal smelters and cement production.

4.

Financing green energy.

In a pre-budget exercise, the Climate Parliament group of Members of Parliament asked the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram to incorporate a series of financial measures for renewable energy in the Budget 2013-14, so that the targets set in the National Action Plan of Climate Change (NAPCC) and in the draft 12th Plan document, presented recently to the National Development Council, are met fully.

The MPs emphasised that sufficient budget allocation is crucial for a time bound development of transmission network and grid infrastructure for renewable energy absorption and supply, in tandem with the renewable energy capacity addition plans in the country.

The MPs also asked the Finance Minister to implement the assurances given by the Prime Minister in the coming Budget.

The letter submitted to the Finance Minister stated that the actual budget allocated to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in 2012-13 was only 50 per cent of the budget suggested by the Planning Commission and 25 per cent of the budget proposed by the MNRE. Thus, some of the key programmes of the Ministry under the first phase of the National Solar Mission have faced serious setbacks due to the lack of adequate budget. According to the Climate Parliament, the achievement of 15 per cent renewable energy in the total electricity mix of the country by 2020 under the NAPCC and the target of achieving 30,000 MW by 2017 (more than the double of the capacity addition targeted in the last five year plan) are challenging ones.

Thus, in the forthcoming Budget, there must be an adequate allocation to the Ministry of Power, specifically for strengthening the transmission network for renewable energy in light of the report “Green Corridors” carried out by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited where it estimates a requirement of Rs. 42,000 crore for establishing the intra and inter-state transmission for renewable energy.

Specifics: Green Energy Corridors Report: POWERGRID Corporation of India Limited on the advice of Forum of Regulators (FOR)/ Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has evolved transmission April 2013

infrastructure requirement and other related services for integration of large scale envisaged renewable capacity in 12th Plan into the grid. The report on “Green Energy Corridors” was released on September 14, 2012.

Presently the total installed electricity generation capacity in India is about 200 GW (as on 31.03.12). Out of this about 12 % (24915 MW) is through renewable generation mainly wind (17353 MW) and balance is in the form of small hydro (3396 MW), Biomass (3225 MW) and solar (941 MW).

The report covers various studies on transmission infrastructure requirement and other related services for integration of large scale envisaged renewable capacity in 12th Plan. The report also covers Intra/Inter State transmission system strengthening, other facilities like flexible generation, establishment of Renewable Energy Management Centre (REMC), forecasting etc. to address intermittency and variability aspects as well as grid integration issues of large scale Renewable Energy generation.

This report is the first of its kind in our country which will provide an impetus to large scale integration of Renewable paving the way for clean development. Estimated investment requirement for development of above infrastructure would be about Rs. 43,000 Crore.

National Action Plan on Climate Change: The National Action Plan advocates a strategy that promotes, firstly, the adaptation to climate change and secondly, further enhancement of the ecological sustainability of India's development path. The eight missions under the PM's Council on Climate Change are the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission, the National Missions on Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, and Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change, and the National Missions for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, a Green India and Sustainable Agriculture.

5.

The rhino: South Africa's newsmaker.

The rhino has been named South Africa's newsmaker for 2012, based on the extensive media coverage around the slaughter of the creature for its horn. It is the first time that such recognition has gone to an animal, as poaching figures reach all-time highs. Poachers are increasingly targeting South Africa's rhinos, and last year killed a record 668 of them in parks across the country.

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mineworkers by police during a strike at Lonmin platinum mine in August, and a h o s t o f prominent political news.

South Africa is home to about three-quarters of Africa's 20,000 or so white rhinos and 4,800 critically endangered black rhinos. Rhinos are victims of a surging demand for their horns, which some people in Asia think have medicinal properties. The claim is widely discredited.

6.

Himalaya dams serious threat to flora and fauna.

Unprecedented dam building activity in the Indian Himalayas poses a serious threat to human lives and livelihood and could even result in extinction of several flora and fauna species, according to a new study. Around 300 dams and related hydro-power infrastructure on the Himalayan rivers — Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra — were investigated by researchers from the University Scholars Programme at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of Delhi and the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Using field data and modelling, the researchers discovered that almost 90 per cent of the Himalayan valleys would be affected by dam building and that 27 per cent of these dams would affect dense forests with unique biodiversity. The team projected that dam-related activities will submerge and destroy about 170,000 hectares of forests. Researchers also predicted that the dam density would result in deforestation and the extinction of 22 flowering plants and 7 vertebrate species.

7.

Sea cucumber recommended for 'mostendangered' status.

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has strongly recommended that sea cucumber, a marine organism found in the coral reef areas, be retained in Schedule I Category of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Schedule I contains the list of April 2013

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most endangered species and gives them highest level of protection. The recommendation follows a recent proposal from the Union government to delist a few species of animals, which included the sea cucumber, from the Act. In order to estimate the sea cucumber's status in the wild, the Union government had entrusted the work of a detailed study to the ZSI. However, the proposed exclusion of the sea cucumber does not find favour with marine researchers and the scientific community. They strongly feel that the species should remain under the protected category.

Nearly 200 species of sea cucumbers are found in the coral reef colonies in India, of which 20 species were found in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay regions in the State. Out of the 20, two were over-exploited and were exported in large number to Singapore from where they were distributed to Taiwan, China and Japan, where they are considered delicacies. Normally, the sea cucumbers are found in inter-tidal regions of the coast, along the sea grass and coral reef colonies.

The young ones were found in the waters close to the shore while adult ones were found in deep waters. Sea cucumbers played a vital role in the marine ecological system, as they eat nutrients from the sea bed and bring it to the surface, thus helping in availability of the nutrients to other organisms.

8.

Wonder plant for microbial diseases.

A medicinal plant endemic to the southern Western Ghats region could soon become a potent weapon in the fight against microbial diseases. Researchers at University College here have proved that Tricopus zeylanicus , locally known as Arogyapacha, is effective against a range of bacterial strains. The p l a n t i s a l re a d y known for its anti-stress, l i v e r p ro te c t i ve , anti-oxidant, a n d aphrodisiac properties.

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forest, Arogyapacha has been hailed as a miracle plant for its medicinal properties. The institute later formulated a herbal drug based on the plant and marketed it across the world. The JNTBGRI also got global attention for the decision to share the commercial returns from the project with the Kani tribals who imparted knowledge about the plant. The researchers at the Department of Botany, University College, have now come up with further evidence about the therapeutic properties of the plan.

9.

'Ring of fire' quake triggers small tsunami.

A major 8.0 magnitude earthquake jolted the Solomon Islands on February 6 with small tsunami waves buffeting Pacific coasts, leaving at least five people dead and dozens of homes damaged or destroyed. A quake-generated wave of just under one metre reached parts of the Solomons, and Vanuatu and New Caledonia also reported rising sea levels, before a region-wide tsunami alert was lifted.

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to meet only the workers of political parties including the local MP of Congress, has come under fire from environment activists and organisations.

The working group was formed to examine the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report prepared by the committee headed by eminent scientist Dr. Madhav Gadgil.

The report was opposed by major political parties, including the Congress, claiming it will halt the region's development.

Industries Minister Narayan Rane has been highly critical of the report from the start and even organised a rally against its implementation.The locals claimed they were not even informed about the visit and were purposely kept out from giving their submission to the group.

12.

Recovery plan for endangered birds.

The Solomons are part of the 'Ring of Fire', a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a catastrophic tsunami that killed 226,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

10.

Cabinet nod to Rs.900 crore wetlands development plan.

Aiming at the holistic conservation and restoration of lakes and wetlands to enhance water quality and improve biodiversity, the Union Cabinet on February 7 approved a Rs.900 crore scheme for a new integrated National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal for the merger of National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) and National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP) into the NPCA.

11.

Activists accuse panel examining Western Ghats report of not listening to locals.

A visit by K. Kasturirangan, the head of the Ministry of Environment and Forests' High Level Working Group (HLWG), to the Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, where the HLWG chose April 2013

In a bid to ensure a secure future for two of the most critically endangered birds—Great Indian bustard and Jerdon's Courser - the Forest Department is launching 'Special Recovery Plans' from April this year. While the Rs.10-crore programme for Jerdon's Courser is all set to begin soon, a similar proposal has been submitted to the Ministry for Environment and Forests for its approval for the Great Indian Bustard, according to A.V. Joseph, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife).

Jerdon's Courser, which is endemic to Andhra Pradesh, was believed to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1986 near Reddipalli village, Kadapa district. It is categorised as “critically endangered” in the IUCN Red List, indicating that species is closest to extinction. There might be around 25 birds of this species and are found only in the Sri Lankamalleswara Wildlife Sanctuary (located in the same district) in the world.

The Great Indian Bustard, which was found widely in the grasslands of India and Pakistan in the past, is now scattered to the grasslands of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Mr. Joseph said only around 25 birds might be there in AP at Rollapadu, Banaganapalli (Kurnool), Shamshahbad ( Ranga Reddy) and 55

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Mudinayanapalli (Anantapur).

13.

National Environment Assessment and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA).

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project. The NBAP draws upon the main principal in the NEP that human beings are at the centre of concerns of sustainable development and they are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. The NBAP was approved by the Cabinet on 6th Nov, 2008.

The salient features of the NBAP are as follows :-

As a part of the larger agenda of environmental regulatory reforms and to improve the environmental governance in the country, particularly in the fields of environment impact assessment and coastal zone management, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has initiated a proposal to establish a National Environment Assessment and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA). The Authority will act an autonomous body. It is proposed that NEAMA shall be operating through its Head Office situated at National Capital region supplemented by a network of six Regional Offices. The Cabinet Note for establishment of NEAMA has been circulated for inter-ministerial consultations on 28 June, 2011. The preparation of EFC Memo is currently in progress.

a) The strengthening and integration of in situ, on-farm and ex situ conservation; b) The augmentation of natural resource base and its sustainable utilization : ensuring inter and intra- generational equity; c)

d) Assessment of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and desertification; e) integration of biodiversity concerns in economic and social development; f)

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National Biodiversity Action Plan.

India is an identified mega-diverse country, rich in biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge. The country also has a tradition of conservation and sustainable use of its biodiversity, which has now come under pressure on account of various factors including development imperatives, habitat fragmentation, and introduction of invasive alien species. This global concern about loss of biodiversity is sought to be addressed in the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which India is a Party.

In pursuance to Article 6 of the CBD, India within five years of ratifying the Convention, had developed a National Policy and Macro level Action Strategy on Biodiversity in 1999. Thereafter, an externally-aided project on National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was also implemented in the country during 2000-2004, adopting a highly participatory process involving various stakeholders. Meanwhile, India also enacted the Biological Diversity Act in 2002, Section 36 of which empowers the Central Govt. to develop national biodiversity action plan.

After approval of the National Environment Policy (NEP) in 2006, preparation of National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) was taken up by revising and updating the document prepared in 1999, and by using the final technical report of NBSAP April 2013

Regulation of the introduction of invasive alien species and their management;

Pollution impacts;

g) Development and integration of biodiversity databases; h) Strengthening implementation of policy, legislative and administrative measures for biodiversity conservation and management; I)

Building of national capacities for biodiversity conservation and appropriate use of new technologies;

j)

Valuation of goods and services provided by biodiversity, and in this context, the use of economic instruments in decision making processes; and

k) International cooperation.

15.

Mission Clean Ganga.

Ganga Action Plan (GAP) Phase-I was initiated in the year 1985 and was completed in March, 2000. Phase-II of the programme was approved in stages from 1993 onwards and is under implementation. Pollution abatement works taken up under the Plan include interception, diversion and treatment of sewage; low cost sanitation works; electric/improved wood crematoria, etc. An expenditure of Rs.1045 crore has been incurred towards implementation of various pollution abatement works in towns along river Ganga and sewage treatment capacity of 1091 million litres per day has been created so far under the Plan.

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The Central Government has constituted the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) in February, 2009 as an empowered authority for conservation of the river Ganga by adopting a holistic approach. The Authority has decided that under 'Mission Clean Ganga' it will be ensured that by the year 2020 no untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluents flow into the river.

Projects amounting to Rs. 2589 crore have been sanctioned so far under the NGRBA programme. This includes a pollution abatement project for river Ganga at Varanasi sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs. 496.90 crore, with loan assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency. The project comprises of schemes pertaining to sewerage, pumping stations, construction of 140 million litres per day (mld) sewage treatment plant, community toilet complexes, construction of dhobi ghats, improvement of bathing ghats, public awareness & participation and institutional development & capacity building of the local body.

16.

and the associated livelihoods of people. Green India Mission (GIM) proposes to increased forest/tree cover on 5 m ha lands and improved quality of forest cover on another 5 m ha over a period of 10 years. Improved ecosystem services,increased forest based livelihoods and enhanced carbon sequestration are also the likely outcomes of the Mission. The cost of the Mission is placed at Rs. 46000 crore over a period of ten years (coinciding with the 12th and the 13th Five Year Plans). An allocation of Rs.50.00 crore has been made in 2011-12 from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) to undertake preliminary activities of the Mission.

Note: The actual implementation period of the Mission would spread over 10 years, coinciding with the 12th and 13thfive year plan period. The Action Plan for the year 2011-12 is the preparatory year of the Mission.

18.

National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board.

National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has been established on 18.10.2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues. The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice. The Tribunal has commenced its hearing from July, 2011. Five places of sitting have been notified for NGT (New Delhi, Bhopal, Pune, Chennai, & Kolkata) with New Delhi as the principal place of sitting. The Regional Benches would be operationalized in 2012-13.

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Green India Mission (GIM).

Green India Mission (GIM) as one of the eight Missions under the NAPCC. The Mission recognizes that climate change phenomena may seriously affect and alter the distribution, type, and quality of natural biological resources of the country April 2013

The National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) has been set up in the Ministry of Environment and Forests for promoting afforestation, tree planting, ecological restoration and eco-development activities in the country.

NAEB is implementing an afforestation scheme namely National Afforestation Programme (NAP) since 2000-01 under which a total of 18.88 lakh hectares has been approved so far for treatment with a total investment of Rs.2933.50 crores.

19.

National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan.

The Ministry for Environment and Forests released the National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan. India is home to four of the e i g h t species of b e a r s found worldwid e – making it one of the only t w o 57

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The Indian bears include the sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos) and the Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus). Sloth bears are endemic to the Indian subcontinent and have gone extinct fairly recently from Pakistan and Bangladesh, underscoring the threats to the species of habitat loss and increasing human interface. The black bears and brown bears inhabit the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions, while the sun bears are found in very small numbers along the northeast Indian border. The bears have an almost pan-India distribution, being found in 26 of the 28 Indian states.

The national plan summarises the threats faced by bears in India, and outlines management actions to be undertaken by the bear range states for their conservation and welfare. It was an outcome of over a year of collaborative work by the MoEF, WII, state Forest Departments and NGOs including WTI, WSPA and IFAW.

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are empowered to permit hunting of problematic animals under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

6). Programmes are launched to sensitize people and create awareness about the Do`s and Don'ts in case of wild animals scare and attacks.

7). Eco-development activities are undertaken in villages around Protected Areas to elicit the cooperation of communities in management of the Protected Areas, which includes actions to address the grievances of people regarding humanwildlife conflicts.

8). Training programmes are conducted for forest and police staff to address the problems of human-wildlife conflict.

9). Involvement of the research and academic institutions and leading voluntary organizations having expertise in managing human-wildlife conflict situations.

Steps Taken by the Government to Mitigate Man-Animal Conflict

Increase in human population coupled with shrinkage in wildlife habitats has led to a conflict situation. Forests and wildlife management strategy inter alia includes taking up of long term as well as short term measures through the State Governments in consultation with NGOs for mitigation of mananimal conflict. The Central Government has taken following steps to mitigate the man-animal conflict: 1). In the Centrally Sponsored Schemes, viz., 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats', 'Project Tiger' and 'Project Elephant' financial assistance is provided to the State Governments for improvement of forest and wildlife areas like the national parks and sanctuaries to augment food and water availability in forests which can reduce migration of animals from forests to the habitations.

2). Construction of barriers like boundary walls and solarpowered electric fences around the sensitive areas to prevent the wild animal attacks.

3). Payment of ex-gratia relief to the victims of wild animal attacks and depredation.

4). Development of necessary infrastructure and support facilities for immobilization of the identified problematic animals through tranquilization, and their relocation to the natural habitat or rehabilitation in rescue centers.

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Dhaka, New Delhi to consolidate ties.

India and Bangladesh are set to review and consolidate their relations by holding the high-level second meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission in Dhaka on February 15.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni will lead the respective sides in the high-level exchanges that are expected to contribute to the deepening and strengthening of bilateral relations, said diplomatic sources. Mr. Khurshid will visit Bangladesh for two days from February 16, at the invitation of Dipu Moni to attend the meeting of the commission — established under the landmark Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development signed by the two Prime Ministers in September 2011.

5). The Chief Wildlife Wardens of the States/Union Territories April 2013

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Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of people for a religious purpose in the world. Millions of people gather on different places for this auspicious occasion. Kumbha is a Sanskrit word for Pitcher, sometimes referred to as the Kalasha, it is also a zodiac sign in Indian astrology for Aquarius, the sign under which the festival is celebrated, while Mela means 'a gathering' or 'a meet', or simply a fair.

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It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayag), Nasik and Ujjain. Thus the Kumbh Mela is held at each of these four places every twelfth year. Ardh ("Half") Kumbh Mela is held at only two places, Haridwar and Allahabad, every sixth year. The rivers at these four places are: the Ganges(Ganga) at Haridwar, the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad, the Godawari at Nasik, and the Shipra at Ujjain.

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Kumbh means a pitcher and Mela means fair in Hindi. The pilgrimage is held for about one and a half months at each of these four places where it is believed in Hinduism that drops of nectar fell from the Kumbh carried by gods after the sea was churned. The festival is billed as the "world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims". There is no scientific method of ascertaining the number of pilgrims even approximately and the estimates of the number of pilgrims bathing on the most auspicious day may vary widely, from 2 to 8 million depending upon the team(s) of persons making the estimate and the rough method of making the estimate.

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Mauni Amavasya traditionally attracted the largest crowds at the mela, held here every 12 years. The day marked the second and the biggest Shahi Snan (royal bath) of this event, with 13 akharas taking to the Sangam. This was the biggest bathing day, 10 Feb 2013 at the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela and probably the largest human gathering on a single day. Over 30 million devotees and ascetics took holy dip on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya. The current Kumbh Mela was held on 14 February 2013 at Allahabad.

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Kumbh Mela takes place every twelve years at one of four places: Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. The Mela in its different forms alternates between Prayag, Nashik, Ujjain and Haridwar every third year. The Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at only two places, Haridwar and Prayag.

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Kumbha Mela: Held at all four places.

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Ardha Kumbha Mela: Held at Haridwar and Prayag, every 6 years.

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Purna Kumbha Mela: Held only at Prayag every 12 years.

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Maha Kumbha Mela: Held only at Prayag, every 144 years.

Upcoming Kumbh Mela festivals: ?

The next Kumbh Mela will be held at Nashik on the bank of the river Godavari in 2015 (15 August to 13 September). The Kumbh

at Ujjain is also called "Simhastha" (as Guru will be in Singh Rashi). ?

Ujjain Purna Kumbh Mela 2016.

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CULTURATI 2. THANJAVUR VEENA

The Thanjavur Veena - one of the most ancient and revered musical instruments of South India - is all set to receive the Geographical Indication tag (GI).

The veena, in general, has been described as a complete instrument. The four playing strings and the three drone strings of the veena together provide all the basic components of classical music – sruti and laya – all in a single instrument. There is no other instrument with this quality.

Uniqueness of Veena

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Constructions of Veena

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The variety of wood used to make the Thanjavur Veena is from a particular strain of matured Jackwood tree, which is unique to Thanjavur area. The craftsmanship and the skill in making the functional resonator (Kudam) of the veena is also unique to the Thanjavur Veena. The noble prize winning physicist Sir C.V. Raman has described the veena as having a unique construction.

The Thanjavur Veena is about four feet in length. It has a large, round body with a thick, wide neck, the end of which is carved into the head of a dragon. A small resonator is attached to the underside of the neck. Thanjavur Veena has 24 fixed frets (mettu), so that all ragas could be played.

Advantages of Unique Construction

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These 24 metal frets are embedded with hardened bees-wax, mixed with charcoal powder. The string terminations at both ends are curved and not sharp. The frets have much more curvature than any other instrument.

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Unlike in guitar, the string does not have to be pushed down to the very base of the neck and thus the possibility of generating a rattling sound is completely avoided. This design enables a continuous control over the string tension, which produces more harmonics than any other instrument.

There are two types of Thanjavur Veena - Ekantha Veena and Sada Veena. Ekantha Veena is carved from a single block of wood, while Sada Veena has joints. Both the types of veenas are beautifully painted and carved and this makes them unmistakably distinct and elegant from other veenas.

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Some famous Veena Artists of Modern India

One of the most famous artists of the Carnatic style of the early 20th century is exclusively known for her particularly captivating style of veena playing. She was so synonymous with veena that she was called Veena Dhanammal. The department of Posts had brought out a stamp in honor of her prowess in 2012. The Karaikkudi brothers – one of whom used to play the veena placing it in the vertical position – were well known veena players of the yester years. Emani Sankara Shastri, Doraiswami Iyengar, the mercurial genius Balachander, M K Kalyanakrishna Bhangavather, K Venkataraman and M Unnikrishnan from Kerala were all well known veena players of the 20th century. The art of veena playing is held aloft in the 21st century too through such gifted artists like Prince Rama Varma (of the Travancore royal family), Gayatri, Ananthapadmananbhan, Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh and a host of others.

3. THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN INDIA .

The origin of the Indian system of medicine goes back to several centuries before the birth of Christ. From time immemorial religious and other teachings and philosophy of life propounded by the ancients of the Indian sub-continent are contained in the earliest sacred books of unknown antiquity, called the Vedas. The Vedas are four in number, viz. Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. They were handed down by teachers to pupils by word of mouth throughout the ages. The teachers were enlightened April 2013

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sages called Rishis and their teachings are believed to be words of God expressed through these Rishis. The Indian system of medicine is said to have roots in the Vedas.

The term Ayurveda was given to the ancient Indian system of medical sciences, which literally means knowledge of life.

Ayurveda is strictly not a Veda like the four Vedas. The origin of Ayurveda is also uncertain. This is believed to have a divine origin, and there are different versions as to how they were divinely revealed to the ancient sages. The Ayurveda is considered to be a branch of the fourth Veda, the Atharvaveda. This would thus give it divine authority.

The Ayurvedic system of medicine was based on the system of 'Tridosha' -the three doshas-kapha, vaata and pitta, existing in a balanced proportion in health. A disturbance in this balance resulted in disease with its attendant ailments. This fundamental concept finds different interpretations of symptomatology.

The teachings of Ayurvedic medicine have been pieced together from the ancient religious books and other literature, but mostly from the writings of Charaka the Physician, and Sushruta the Surgeon. They are believed to have lived about 300 A. D. Two monumental treatises called Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, written by these medical men, form the basic treatises even to this day, for practitioners of the Ayurvedic system of medicine in India.

Madhava nidhana and Ashtanga hridaya are two other important works on Ayurvedic medicine, published at a later period.

Vaghbhata I and Vaghbhata II are other authors of the time frequently quoted. The Navanitikam was another medical work on recipies, formula and prescriptions. Palkapya was the author of Hastayurveda, a treatise on veterinary science dealing with the diseases of elephants.

In medieval India, However, some important treatises on Ayurveda like the Sarangdhara Samhita and Chikitsasamgraha by Vangasena, the Yagaratbajara and the Bhavaprakasa of Bhavamisra were compiled. The Sarangdhara Samhita, written in the thirteenth century, includes use of opium in its material medica and urine examination for diagnostic purpose. The drugs mentioned include metallic preparation of the rasachikitsa system and even imported drugs.

The Rasachikitsa system, dealt principally with a host of mineral medicines, both mercurial and non-mercurial. The Siddha system mostly prevalent in Tamil Nadu was attributed to the reputed Siddhas, who were supposed to have evolved many life-prolonging compositions, rich in mineral medicines.

The surgical and allied branches in the Ayurvedic system of medicine, became highly specialized. Over 121 instruments and ap-pliances of various sorts were accurately described. These included knives, scissors, syringes, hooks, forceps, trocars, needles, etc.

Medical education became institutionalized and provision was made for the study of natural sciences and basic sciences in addition to the study of different aspects of medicine itself. Charaka has described, in great detail, the organization of hospitals. The two well-known centres of medical education in ancient India were the residential universities of Takshashila and Nalanda in north India. These universities provided for well-organized institutional type of training in all aspects of medicine both theoretical and practical.

In the 700s AD, a doctor called Madhav wrote about inoculation. Madhav knew that you could keep people from catching smallpox by scraping a little pus or scabs from someone who had smallpox, letting it sit around for a while, and then giving a small amount as an inoculation, either by sticking it into their skin on a needle, or by blowing the powder up their nose.

It is difficult to understand how a system of medicine and of treatment which had reached such heights on the surgical as well as the medical side could, in the course of centuries, have faded away into baser forms. To what extent the Brahmanical ritual was April 2013

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responsible for such a decline it is difficult to say. With the coming of the Muslim conquerors in the sub-continent, the decline became more rapid. The Unani medicine system came to India along with the Muslims by about the eleventh century and soon found patronage for its growth. As an alternative form of medicine in India, Unani medicine got deep roots and royal patronage during medieval times. It progressed during Indian sultanate and mughal periods. Unani medicine is very close to Ayurveda. Both are based on theory of the presence of the elements (in Unani, they are considered to be fire, water, earth and air) in the human body. According to followers of Unani medicine, these elements are present in different fluids and their balance leads to health and their imbalance leads to illness.

The Unani Tibb system of medicine flourished in India during the medieval period. Ali-bin Rabban summarized the whole system of Greek medicine as well as the Indian medical knowledge in the book, Firdausu-Hikmat. Hakim Diya Muhammad compiled a book, Majiny-e-Diyae, incorporating the Arabic, Persian and Ayurvedic medical knowledge. Firoz Shah Tughalaq wrote a book, Tibbe Firozshahi. The Tibbi Aurangzebi, dedicated to Aurangzeb, is based on Ayurvedic sources. The Musalajati-Darshikohi of Nuruddin Muhammad, dedicated to Darashikoh, deals with Greek medicine and contains, at the end, almost the whole of Ayurvedic material medical.

Then finally with the advent of the European conquerors and their doctors, the flame of Indian medicine had almost faded out.

In spite of all these setbacks, however, Ayurvedic medicine, and to some extent Unani medicine, have persisted in India throughout the centuries, in spite of many of the practitioners of these ancient arts being unqualified men and even quacks, thus bringing disrepute to these systems.

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PERSONA-GRATA

7

formally induct Prof. Rao into its membership and Hall of Fame at a ceremony to be held in Washington D.C.

Marathi writer passes away.

President unveils statues of freedom fighters.

India, Pakistan flavour to Man Booker shortlist.

Two of the biggest names in literature from India and Pakistan — Kannada writer U.R. Ananthamurthy and Urdu novelist Intizar Husain — are among the 10 writers from around the world shortlisted for this year's £60,000 Man Booker International Prize. It is awarded every two years to a living author in recognition of his or her achievement in fiction.

Mr. Ananthamurthy, a Jnanpith awardee and regarded as one of the most important voices of the “new movement” in Kannada, is also in the running for the $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature to be announced at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

NT

2.

4.

LIN

Noted Marathi writer Jyotsna Deodhar died in Pune on January 17 due to old age related ailments. She was 86.

She penned over 40 books which included novels and short stories that won her critical acclaim.

ER

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3.

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Mr. Mukherjee unveiled the statues of Ajoy Mukherjee, Satish Chandra Samanta and Sushil Kumar Dhara at Tamluk, in the State's Purba Medinipur district. These three freedom fighters were behind the foundation in 1942 of the independent Tamralipta government. The independent governments at Tamralipta (now Tamluk in West Bengal), Satara (in Mahrashtra) and Balia (in Uttar Pradesh) made significant contributions to our freedom struggle.

U.R. Rao to join Satellite Hall of Fame.

Padma Vibhushan for Yash Pal, Roddam.

CU

Prof. U.R. Rao, who presided over the country's space programme as Secretary, Department of Space, and Chairman of the Space Commission for 10 years from 1984, will join some 40 space celebrities who include Arthur Clarke. He is now the chairman of the governing council of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. Prof. Rao is former chairman of ISRO. The U.S.based Society of Satellite Professionals International will

5.

April 2013

Noted physicist Yash Pal and space scientist Roddam Narasimha were chosen for this year's Padma Vibhushan while yesteryear film actors late Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Rahul Dravid were selected for Padma Bhushan.

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Renowned sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra and painter S. Haider Raza were chosen for Padma Vibhushan as the government came out with a list of 108 Padma awardees that included actors Sridevi, Nana Patekar and Malayalam star Madhu of Chemmeen fame and Olympians Mary Kom, Yogeshwar Dutt and Vijay Kumar. Nobody was named for Bharat Ratna for this year too. The last awardee was late Bhimsen Joshi in 2008.

6.

Janaki rejects Padma award, says she deserves Bharat Ratna.

Well-known playback singer S. Janaki rejected the Padma Bhushan award, for which she has been chosen, describing it “too late to come to her.” She said she had rendered thousands of songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi. There were appreciations from a large number of people, including Keralites.

Considering this achievement, “I should have been given the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna if the gov-ernment wanted to recognise my work. I am not interested in any other awards like the Padma awards.”

7.

Milos Zeman is first directly elected Czech President.

A former left-leaning Prime Minister Milos Zeman staged a big return to power by winning the Czech Republic's first directly elected presidential vote. With all the votes counted, Milos Zeman won 54.8 per cent of the vote for the largely ceremonial post.

His opponent, conservative Foreign Minister K a r e l Schwarzenberg, had 45.2 per cent.

Voters seemed to p u n i s h M r.

Schwarzenberg April 2013

for the government's unpopular austerity cuts that aimed to reduce the budget deficit.

8.

Kerry confirmed as Secretary of State.

John Kerry, Democratic Senator from Massachusetts and former presidential candidate, has been confirmed as U.S. President Barack Obama's next Secretary of State and incumbent Hillary Clinton will step down.

Mr. Kerry, who lost out to G e o r g e W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election, won unanimous support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate voted 943 in his favour. Three Republicans Senators — John Cornyn, Ted Cruz and James Inhofe — voted no. He has been serving in the Senate since 1984.

9.

Vasudeva Rao is new IGCAR Director.

P.R. Vasudeva Rao took over as Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam from S.C Chetal, who has retired. Dr. Rao, who was e a r l i e r D i r e c t o r, Chemistry Group in IGCAR, is a specialist in actinide chemistry and, in particular in the area of chemistry of nuclear fuel cycle. He has led many r e s e a r c h a n d d e v e l o p m e n t programmes of IGCAR related to chemistry.

Under his guidance, its Chemistry Group is pursuing R and D in the chemistry aspects of fast reactor fuels, coolants and control rod mechanisms. IGCAR specialises in designing and developing breeder reactors.

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various High Courts and the Supreme Court.

Solicitor-General Rohinton Nariman resigns.

Solicitor-General of India Rohinton Nariman resigned from his post. His resignation, said highly placed sources, came after difference of opinion between him and Union Law Minister Ashawani Kumar on certain issues. Mr. N a r i m a n wa s appointed as the second most senior law official of the country on July 23, 2011 following the resignation of Gopal Subramanium on July 14, 2011.

11.

Rahul Cherian passes away.

Rahul Cherian, an expert and policy activist in disability law, intellectual property (IP) law and technology law passed away on February 7. He was 39.

12.

Mohan Parasaran is new SG.

Mohan Parasaran, the senior-most Additional SolicitorGeneral, is being appointed Solicitor-General, to succeed Rohinton Nariman, who resigned recently. Mr. Mohan Parasaran, 51, was initially appointed the Additional Solicitor-General on July 29, 2004, for three years, and reappointed for two more years in July 2007. In 2009, when t h e U n i t e d Progressive Alliance formed the government, he got a second term for another five years, till 2014.He has wide practice in constitutional law, commercial law, service law, taxation and intellectual property rights and appeared in April 2013

13.

Banmali Agrawala to head GE India.

General Electric (GE) appointed Banmali Agrawala as President and Chief Executive of its business operations in India, a key market for the American corporate giant. Mr. Agrawala, whose appointment will be effective April 1, will succeed John Flannery, who will move to the U.S.to take the role of Senior Vice-President for business development.

Before joining GE, Mr. Banmali was with Tata Power Company, where he was Executive Director for strategy and business development.

14.

Remains of poet Pablo Neruda to be exhumed.

A Chilean judge has ordered the remains of poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda exhumed as part of an investigation into his death, the foundation that manages his literary legacy said on February 8.

The leftist poet, who died 12 days after the 1973 military coup that ousted the socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer. But officials in 2011 started looking into the possibility he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime, as claimed by Neruda's driver. No date for the exhumation has been set.

Note: Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda. In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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15.

Ping-pong diplomacy initiator dies.

China's table tennis legend Zhuang Zedong, who played a key role in initiating the famous ping-pong diplomacy with the U.S. leading to the then President, Richard Nixon's ice-breaking visit to Beijing in 1972, died of cancer in Beijing on February 10.

16.

Recognition for short stories means a lot to Anjum Hasan.

This is Anjum Hasan 's second time on the shortlist of The Hindu Literary Prize, and this time, her book, Difficult Pleasures , is the only collection of short stories to have made it to the five book-strong list.

Hasan won several accolades for her first two novels, Lunatic in My Head and Neti Neti , and Difficult Pleasures was also nominated for the 2012 Frank O' Connor International Short Story Award.

In this interview, Hasan shares with her readers the importance and role of the short story in literary fiction, and talks about her latest project.

17.

New Chairman for Lalit Kala Akademi.

K. K. Chakravarty, a retired bureaucrat who had steered the National Museum and other cultural institutions in the past, was named the new Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi.

President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the appointment of the 1970 batch IAS officer.

18.

In late August 2012, international nuclear inspectors reported that Iran had already installed three-quarters of the nuclear centrifuges it needs to complete a deep-underground site for the production of nuclear fuel.

Former CBI Director appointed UPSC member.

Former CBI Director Amar Pratap Singh has been appointed a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by UPSC chairman D.P. Agrawal on February 13.

April 2013

Through the fall of 2012, new reports emerged of the deep impact that current sanctions are having on the Iranian economy, as Iran's currency sunk sharply. On Oct. 15, 2012, the European Union toughened its sanctions on Iran, banning trade in sectors like finance, metals and natural gas, and making business transactions in many other areas far more cumbersome.

Iran's first nuclear program began in the 1960s under the shah. It made little progress, and was abandoned after the 1979 revolution, which brought to power the hard-line Islamic regime. In the mid-1990s, a new effort began, raising suspicions in Washington and elsewhere. Iran insisted that it was living up to its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but in 2002, an exile group obtained documents revealing a clandestine program. Faced with the likelihood of international sanctions, the government of Mohammad Khatami agreed in 2003 to suspend work on uranium enrichment and allow a stepped-up level of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency while continuing negotiations with Britain, France and Germany.

In August 2005, Mr. Khatami, a relative moderate, was succeeded as president by Mr. Ahmadinejad, a hard-line conservative. The following January, Iran announced that it would resume enrichment work, leading the three European nations to break off their long-running talks. Under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium, but the atomic energy association called for the program to be halted until questions about the earlier, secret program were resolved.

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1.

Autism conference.

South Asian countries, including India, will adopt an official charter of the South Asian Autism Network (SAAN) at a conference to be organised in Delhi on February 11. SAAN was conceptualised in Dhaka in 2011 to combat autism, which is now emerging as a public health crisis. It will identify common challenges each country is facing and form a partnership to develop a solution in a collaborative and coordinated fashion.

2.

FPS dealers' ire mars 'Mana Biyyam' launch.

The formal launch of 'Mana Biyyam' scheme by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to give good quality raw rice to white cardholders at Rs.1 a kg ended with the government getting brickbats from fair price shop (FPS) dealers for its failure to announce promised sops.

3.

France set to say 'Bonjour India'.

It is time for India to show off the French connection as France will say “Bonjour India” through January, February and March. The second edition of the Indo-French cultural exchange extravaganza, beginning at the end of this month, will span across 15 cities, and have 300 artistes performing in 150 events. 'Bonjour India' is organised by the Embassy of France, the Institut Francais en Inde, Alliance Francaise India network and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

4.

India to have a common emergency number now.

Finally, India seems to have woken up to the urgency of having a single emergency response number on the lines of America's 911. This number may be called for any emergency — police, fire or ambulance. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is planning to bring a consultation paper in this connection soon to kick-start the process of having a single April 2013

TID BITS emergency helpline where a call centre will receive all distress calls and then accordingly alert departments or agencies concerned depending upon the type of emergency.

5.

Toto Awards announced.

Eight awards were given away under four categories at the 9th annual Toto Awards held in Bangalore on January 19. The awards have been instituted by Toto Funds the Arts (TFA), a non-profit organisation, set up in memory of Angirus 'Toto' Vellani, who was intensely passionate about music, literature and film. In the music category, Chennai-based Adam and the Fish-Eyed Poets received the award.

6.

Boeing delivers first of C-17 to IAF.

Boeing on January 23 had delivered on schedule the first of 10 C-17 Globemaster III airlifters to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

India's first C-17 will now enter a U.S. Air Force flight test programme at Edwards Air Force Base in Palmdale, California.

Boeing is on track to deliver four more C-17s to the IAF this year and five in 2014, the company said in a statement issued here.

7.

U.S. legislation in Malala name.

Two top American Senators have introduced a legislation in the name of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani peace activist who was shot by the Taliban, to provide scholarship to girls from Pakistan. Introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer and Mary Landrieu, the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act is designed to expand scholarship opportunities for disadvantaged young women in Pakistan.

8.

Internet hit a speed bump in 2012.

Global Internet connection speeds around the world slowed in late 2012, according to a survey that suggested a temporary stall in broadband gains. The global average 67

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connection speed decreased by some seven percent between the second and third quarters of 2012 to 2.8 megabytes per second (Mbps). But that appeared to be a temporary decline, since average connection speeds were up 11 percent year over year. South Korea continued to have the highest average connection speed at 14.7 Mbps, followed by Japan (10.7 Mbps) and Hong Kong (8.9 Mbps).

9.

TID-BITS

12.

Agni-VI all set to take shape.

Now a common samadhi in Delhi for leaders?.

The Union Urban Development Ministry, the nodal agency for land allotment and maintenance of memorial sites, has proposed that the common site that would be known as “Rashtriya Smriti Sthal” come up on the banks of the Yamuna, in between the existing samadhis of Jawaharlal Nehru (Shanti Van) and Lal Bahadur Shastri (Vijay Ghat).

10.

India slides down in press freedom index.

India has dropped nine places to 140 in the list of 179 countries in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index, which its authors, Reporters Without Borders, said was the lowest for the “world's biggest democracy” since 2002.

11.

What makes spider silk so strong?.

Scientists have decoded the secret of spider silk's strength and what makes the fibre at least five times as tough as piano wire. Spider silk is an exceptional biological polymer, related to collagen, the stuff of skin and bones, but much more complex in its structure. Spider silk has a unique combination of mechanical strength and elasticity that make it one of the toughest materials we know: ?

It may

seem fragile, but spider silk actually has a tensile strength that is much greater than that of steel!

?

Some

spider silks can stretch up to five times their relaxed length without breaking.

?

Finer than the human hair, it can keep its strength below -

Agni-VI with multiple nuclear warheads, which can reach targets 6,000 km away, is all set to be developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Only in April last, it carried out the maiden launch of Agni-V, which has a range of more than 5,000 km. So far, all the strategic missiles developed by the DRDO — Agni-I, II, III, IV and V, and the submarine-launched K-15 and its land-based version Shourya — can carry only single nuclear warhead. The DRDO's tactical missiles and supersonic cruise missile BrahMos can carry one conventional warhead each.

Both Agni-V and Agni-VI have three stages, all powered by solid propellants, and their diameter is two metres. And the comparison ends there. While Agni-V weighs 50 tonnes and is 17.5 metres long, Agni-VI belongs to the 65-70-tonne class and will be 20 metres long.

13.

Asia biggest air show takes off.

Warplanes thundered and helicopters waltzed in the skies as they brought the curtain up on Aero India 2013 in Bangalore on February 6. Considered Asia's biggest air extravaganza, the air show in the national aerospace heartland was a display of the country's military strike power.

40°C. ?

Darwin's

bark spider produces the toughest known biomaterial; its silk is more than twice as tough than any previously described silk.

April 2013

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IN-VOGUE

INVOGUE

9 1. Bar Code: A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data relating to the object to which it is attached. Originally barcodes systematically represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or one-dimensional (1D). Later they evolved into rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns in two dimensions (2D). Although 2D systems use a variety of symbols, they are generally referred to as barcodes as well. Barcodes originally were scanned by special optical

scanners called barcode readers; later, scanners and interpretive software became available on devices including desktop printers and smartphones.

The first use of barcodes was to label railroad cars, but they were not commercially successful until they were used to automate supermarket checkout systems, a task for which they have become almost universal. Their use has spread to many other tasks that are generically referred to as automatic identification and data capture (AIDC). The very first scanning of the now ubiquitous Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company chewing gum in June 1974.

Other systems have made inroads in the AIDC market, but the simplicity, universality and low cost of barcodes has limited the role of these other systems until the 2000s (decade), over 40 years after the introduction of the commercial barcode, with the introduction of technologies such as radio frequency identification, or RFID. 2. Smart City: Urban performance currently depends not only on the city's endowment of hard infrastructure ('physical capital'), but also, and increasingly so, on the availability and quality of knowledge communication and social infrastructure ('intellectual capital and social capital'). The latter form of capital is decisive for urban competitiveness. It is against this background that the concept of the smart city has been introduced as a strategic device to encompass modern urban production factors in a common framework and to highlight the growing importance of Information and Communication April 2013

Technologies (ICTs), social and environmental capital in profiling the competitiveness of cities. The significance of these two assets - social and environmental capital - itself goes a long way to distinguish smart cities from their more technologyladen counterparts, drawing a clear line between them and what goes under the name of either digital or intelligent cities.

Smart(er) cities have also been used as a marketing concept by companies and by cities.

Recently, India and Australia tied up to build two Smart Cities in each of the state with host of modern features like intelligent transport and carbon neutral status in all states in the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission initially.

3. Union Budget: The Union Budget, which is a yearly affair, is a comprehensive display of the Government's finances. It is the most significant economic and financial event in India. The Finance Minister puts down a report that contains Government of India's revenue and expenditure for one fiscal year.

The Union budget is preceded by an Economic Survey which outlines the broad direction of the budget and the economic performance of the country. The Budget is the most extensive account of the Government`s finances, in which revenues from all sources and expenses of all activities undertaken are aggregated. It comprises the revenue budget and the capital budget. It also contains estimates for the next fiscal year called budgeted estimates.

The Budget documents presented to Parliament comprise, besides the Finance Minister's Budget Speech, of the following: A. Annual Financial Statement (AFS) B. Demand for Grants (DG) C. Appropriation Bill D. Finance Bill E.

Memorandum Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill, 2010

F.

Macro-economic framework for the relevant financial year

G. Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement for the financial year H. Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement I.

Expenditure Budget Volume -1 69

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J.

Expenditure Budget Volume -2

IN-VOGUE ..................... Continued from the page 68.

K. Receipts Budget L.

Budget at a glance

M. Highlights of Budget N. Status of implementation of Announcements made in Finance Minister's Budget Speech of the previous financial year.

The documents shown from Serial A, B, C and D are mandated

by Art. 112, 113, 114(3) and 110(a) of the Constitution of India respectively while the documents at Serial F, G and H are presented as per the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2003.

Annual Financial Statement (AFS), the core budget document, shows estimated receipts and disbursements by the Government of India for 2010-11 in relation to estimates for 2009-10 as also expenditure for the year 2008-09. The receipts and disbursements are shown under the three parts, in which Government Accounts are kept viz.,(i) Consolidated Fund, (ii) Contingency Fund and (iii) Public Account. Under the Constitution, Annual Financial Statement distinguishes expenditure on revenue account from other expenditure. Government Budget, therefore, comprises Revenue Budget and Capital Budget. The estimates of expenditure included in the Annual Financial Statement are for the net expenditure, i.e., after taking into account the recoveries, as will be reflected in the accounts.

4. 9th World Hindi Conference: The three day long 9th World Hindi Conference concluded in Johannesburg city of South Africa. Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur felicitated several Hindi scholars, writers and laureates, who had gathered from different parts of the world for their contribution towards the language. The conference was jointly inaugurated on September 22 by Kaur and the Finance Minister of South Africa, Pravin Gordhan. While addressing the conference, Kaur expressed gratitude for the huge success of the conference. Kaur also highlighted on the need to promote Hindi across the globe.

April 2013

14.

Ravi Shankar wins best music album award.

Sitar legend Ravi Shankar was on February 10 posthumously awarded the best world music album trophy at the 55th Grammys, beating his daughter Anoushka Shankar, a day after being honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award

by The Recording Academy. Pandit Shankar's album 'The Living Room Sessions Part 1' saw off competition from Ms. Anoushka Shankar's 'Traveller'; Amadou & Mariam's 'Folila'; Daneil Ho's 'On A Gentle Island Breeze'; and Hugh Masekela's 'Jabulani'.

15.

No wrestling in 2020 Olympics.

Wrestling, an Olympic sport since the first Games in ancient Greece, looks set to be dropped, after the IOC on February 12 voted to remove it from the programme for 2020.

The decision, taken by the 15 members of the IOC executive board in Lausanne, Switzerland, leaves the sport grappling against seven other disciplines for inclusion at the Games.

16.

Technovation Awards.

The India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) announced the winners of this year's Technovation Awards at its annual Vision Summit in Bangalore on February 14. In the academics category, the 'Technovisionary' award was given to Scientific Secretary, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, while Pallab Dasgupta, professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, was awarded the TechnoMentor award.

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REVISION-I June 2012-November 2012 News with probable GS facts and nuggets

Revision-I

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INDIA

1 1.

Cabinet approves proposal to place 12th Plan Document before National Development Council :

The Union Cabinet, on October 4, approved the XII Plan (201217) document aimed at achieving annual average economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent, down from 9 per cent envisaged earlier. The document had already been approved by the full Planning Commission headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 15. The approved Plan do-cument will now be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the apex decision making body, for final approval.

Key features of the cabinet approved 12th plan document: i). It emphasizes that the growth must be both inclusive and sustainable, and to achieve these objectives it proposes a comprehensive game plan in terms of policies and programmes. ii). Besides other things, the XII Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent agriculture sector growth.

Plan period. viii). The Plan emphasizes a broad definition of inclusiveness, which encompasses a spread of benefits to the weaker sections, including especially the SC/STs, OBCs and Minorities, and also regional balance in development. ix). The plan emphasizes the need to speed up the pace of implementation of infrastructure projects, which is critical for removing supply bottlenecks which constrain growth in other sectors, and also for boosting investor sentiment to raise the overall rate of investment. x). The Plan contains ambitious programmes in health, education, water resource management, infrastructure development, and a number of programmes aimed at inclusiveness, most notably the National Health Mission (NHM), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). Considerable resources are being allocated for these programmes. It proposes that beneficiary payments across a large number of schemes, which have experienced leakages in the delivery system, may be carried out through the use of the Aadhaar (UID) platform.

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iii). The growth target for the manufacturing sector has been pegged at 10 per cent.

iv). The estimates show resource availability for the Twelfth Plan at Rs.80,50,123 crore in current prices for the Centre and States taken together. This implies the public sector resources for the Twelfth Plan (2012-2017) would be 11.8 per cent of GDP as against 1096 per cent realized during the Eleventh Plan (2007-2012). v). To achieve the targeted growth rate, the fixed investment rate should increase to 35 per cent of GDP (at constant prices) by the end of the Twelfth Plan, yielding an average fixed investment rate of 34 per cent of GDP (at constant prices) for the Twelfth Plan period as a whole. vi). The projected average rate of gross domestic capital formation in the Twelfth Plan is 37 per cent of GDP, the projected gross domestic savings rate is 34.2 per cent of GDP and the net external financing needed for macro-economic balance would average around 2.9 per cent of GDP. vii). In a first attempt at presenting scenario analysis, the plan emphasizes that the policy agenda outlined must be substantially implemented for all the virtuous cycles to come into play that will lead to Scenario One called the “Strong Inclusive Growth�. This would also imply we can achieve inclusive and sustainable growth averaging 8.2 per cent over the Twelfth April 2013

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The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission and Suggested Reforms: The Finance

Minister announced the formation of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) during his Budget speech of 2011-2012 to rewrite and harmonize financial sector legislations, rules and regulations. This had become necessary as the institutional framework governing India's financial sector was built over a century. The Resolution notifying the FSLRC was issued by the Government on 24 March 2011. The FSLRC was required to submit its findings within a period of 24 months. The FSLRC is chaired by former Judge of the Supreme Court of India Justice B.N. Srikrishna.

Apart from the Chairman, the FSLRC consists of 9 other members and a Secretary. The Commission, as per its mandate, would draft a body of law, which would ensure ensure establishing sound financial regulatory agencies.

There are over 60 Acts and multiple Rules/ Regulations in the financial sector and many of them date back decades when the financial landscape was very different from what is 71

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obtaining today. Large number of amendments made in these Acts over time has increased the ambiguity and complexity of the system. The Commission was tasked to comprehensively review them and rewrite them for a modern financial sector in tune with the aspirations of the resurgent Indian economy.

In pursuance of the above task, the commission has put out its first approach paper which spelt far reaching reforms in the existing financial sector structure that may alter the regulatory landscape unrecognizably. Below are the focal points of the suggested reorganization: i). Under the existing architecture, the financial sector is regulated by eight agencies: the RBI, SEBI, the IRDA, the PFRDA, the FMC, SAT, deposit insurance agency DICGC and the Financial Sector Development Council (FSDC). As per the proposal, there would be five new agencies besides the RBI and the FSDC. The new ones would be UFA, FSAT, FRA, DMO and Resolution Corporation. ii). RBI remains as the monetary authority and the banking regulator. iii). An FSDC should be made that will concentrate on over all financial stability and an independent debt office that will manage government debt, now being done by RBI.

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viii). A financial redressal authority that will be like a parallel court structure available in every district for consumer complaints. ix). The commission's broad thrust is that instead of sector specific regulators and rules like for securities, insurance, pension, there should be common rules governing all financial institutions and instruments. Hence, consumer protection rules, prudential rules like capital adequacy and provisioning, should be written in broad terms with regulators applying them to their specific sector.

RBI= the Reserve Bank of India SEBI= Securities Exchange Board of India IRDA= Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority o PFRDA= Pension fund Regulatory and Development Authority FMC= Forward Market Commission SAT= Securities Appellate Tribunal DICGC= The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation

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iv). SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA to be rolled into one financial regulatory authority namely Unified Financial Agency (UFA) .The unification of regulation and supervision of financial firms such as mutual funds, insurance companies, and a diverse array of firms which are not banks or payment providers, will yield consistent treatment in consumer protection and microprudential regulation across all of them. At present, while the stock market is regulated by SEBI, the activities in the commodities market are looked after by the FMC. The insurance sector is regulated by the IRDA, while the PFRDA is responsible for managing the pension sector. The UFA, it said, would deal with all financial firms other than banking and payments. It would also yield benefits in terms of economies of scale in the financial system. v). The Paper says there is a need for separating the adjudication function from the mainstream activities of a regulator, so as to achieve a greater separation of powers. It further says that the laws for the financial sector need to enshrine regulatory independence. vi). A resolution corporation be set up that will swiftly takeover financial firms that are slipping into insolvency. vii). A common Appellate Tribunal should be formed that will hear complaints from all regulators - banking, securities, insurance and pension.

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FSDC= Financial Sector Development Council

UFA= Unified Financial Agency

FSAT= Financial Sector Appellate Tribunal (FSAT)

FRA= Financial Redressal Agency (FRA)

DMO= Debt Management Office

National Knowledge Network project : The Government's decision to set up National Knowledge Network was announced in the Budget Speech, 2008-09. An initial amount of Rs. 100 crore for FY 2008-09 was allocated to the Department for establishing the National Knowledge Network. A High Level Committee (HLC) was set up under the Chairmanship of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India to coordinate and monitor the establishment of the National Knowledge Network. Government has approved the project on Establishment of National Knowledge Network in March, 2010 with an outlay of Rs. 5990 Cr. over a period of 10 years. National Informatics Centre (NIC) is the implementing agency.

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Objective: The objective of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) is to interconnect all institutions of higher learning and research with a high speed data communication network to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaborative research. It will bridge the existing knowledge gap in the country. It will help the country evolve as a Knowledge Society and spur economic activities in the Knowledge domain. Under this Network, it is proposed that the core and associated links to around 1500 72

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institutions shall be established in 2-3 years time.

Application Areas: The application areas envisaged under the National Knowledge Network cover.

Agriculture

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Education

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Health

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e-governance

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Grid Computing (High Performance Computing)

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Current Status: As on 31st March, 2012, Around 681 institutions (This includes 200 links to Institutions under NMEICT, MHRD which have been migrated to NKN) of higher learning and advanced research have been connected to the network and 52 virtual classrooms have been set up.

The government on October 25th approved a Rs. 3,150-crore package for the development of backward regions in Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), which was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Rs. 1,500 crore will provided to Bihar as Special Plan Assistance. Similarly Additional Central Assistance of Rs. 1,400 crore will be provided for drought mitigation strategies in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, an official statement said here.The CCEA also approved Rs. 250 crore for Special Plan for development of Kalahandi-BolangirKoraput (KBK) districts of Odisha.

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The panel also suggested raising prices of natural gas. The committee was set up in November 2010 under the chairmanship of Rakesh Mohan, former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India. The government appointed eminent banker Deepak Parekh as the new Chairman of the high-level committee on Financing Infrastructure in July 2012. The committee was mandated to review existing policies and suggest necessary changes in the investment framework in the high-priority infrastructure sector.

These recommendations are aimed at attracting Rs.51.46 lakh crore for funding the infrastructure sector during the XII Plan (2012-17), according to the report, which was presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 4. The share of private sector in infrastructure funding was 37.53 per cent during the XI Plan, the report says, adding that the contribution of public sector is estimated to decline to 53.32 per cent during the XII Plan from 62.47 per cent in the previous Plan.

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National Mission to Give Boost to Food Processing: The National Mission on Food Processing has started functioning for preparatory activities, from 1.4.2012. The National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) is a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme for giving of greater role to State/UTs; decentralized administration, better outreach and effective supervision and monitoring. The NMFP would also provide flexibility to States / UTs in the selection of beneficiaries, location of projects etc. for the development of food processing sector. This initiative of the Ministry would give an impetus to food processing industries in the country. NMFP Scheme provides for sharing of the cost between Government of India (75%) and States (25%) for all States except North Eastern States, where, it is at 90:10 pattern. All Union Territories would be provided funds on 100% basis.

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Taking note of the National Human Rights Commission report that 2,780 cases involving about one lakh bonded labourers have been registered, the Supreme Court has ordered a fresh survey by the States to find out the total number of such people still to be rescued from employers.

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The Bonded Labour System has been abolished by law throughout the country with effect from 25th October, 1975 under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance which was replaced by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. The responsibility for rehabilitating the freed bonded labourers lies with the respective State Governments. In order to assist the State Governments in the task of rehabilitation of identified and released bonded labourers, a Centrally Sponsored Plan Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour is in operation since May, 1978. Under the scheme, rehabilitation assistance @ Rs. 20,000/- per bonded labour is provided which is equally shared by the Central and State Government.

The high-level committee on financing of infrastructure, which is headed by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, pitched for 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector. The limit at present is 74 per cent.

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The BioDIVA project, jointly undertaken by German and Indian researchers, is seeking to promote agrobiodiversity, enabling small and marginal communities to preserve their traditional knowledge, make a living, and protect the environment in Kerala's Wayanad district. The main partner in Wayanad district is the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) based in Chennai.

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Aadhaar-enabled service delivery system launched : The Union Government launched a new

Aadhaar-enabled service delivery system in Dudu (Jaipur) on October 21 with a promise of eliminating fraud, blackmarketing, pilferage in schemes and bribery through a reliable mechanism of direct cash transfer to beneficiaries in a transparent manner.

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Don't undermine office of CAG, says Supreme Court : The Supreme Court on October 1st, declined to

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performance audit relating to allocation of coal blocks and other issues. A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and Anil R. Dave dismissed the petition filed by Arvind Gupta, who sought a declaration that the CAG had no power and authority under Article 149 of the Constitution and under the CAG's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Services) Act, 1971 to conduct performance audit of the schemes and policy of the Government of India.

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CAG might become a multimember body : The government is considering a proposal to make the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) a multimember body, a move that has come under sharp criticism from the Opposition and civil society. Former CAG, V.K. Shunglu, had suggested that CAG be made a three-member body which would ensure greater transparency in CAG's operation. One member should possess professional accounting qualifications — a chartered accountant or its equivalent.

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Himachal Pradesh went to the polls in a single phase on November 4 while Gujarat followed suit with two phases on December 13 and 17. Counting of votes for both States was held on December 20.

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poverty and look into the criteria of pegging the poverty line, will be submitting its report in a year's time in 2013. The fivemember group headed by Dr. Rangarajan has also been mandated to recommend how estimates of poverty should be linked to eligibility and entitlements for government schemes and pro-grammes.

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Ashok Chawla Committee Recommendations on Allocation of Natural Resources : The Expert

Committee on Allocation of Natural Resources (CANR), headed by former Finance Secretary, Shri Ashok Chawla, was constituted by Government on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers on corruption in January, 2011, to recommend measures required for enhancing trans-parency, effectiveness and sustainability in utilisation of natural resources, had submitted its report on 31st May, 2011. The Expert Committee was mandated to (a) Identify key natural resources being allocated by Government; (b) Examine the efficacy and suitability of existing legal and regulatory framework and rules rules being employed in the allocative processes; and

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Taking up the cause of persons with mental illness, their families and care-givers, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has asked State governments to explore the possibility of identifying employment opportunities under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that are particularly suitable for such people. Citing a recent government order of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department of Tamil Nadu, through which guidelines have been laid down for employment guarantee schemes for disabled persons, the Health Ministry has said States can conduct studies specifically for tasks to be undertaken by persons with mental illnesses.

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Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana : The

Government has launched a scheme called 'Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana' (MGPSY) for Indian workers holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports and a valid work permit in an ECR country. This scheme encourages and enables Overseas Indian Workers to save for their return and resettlement and to save for their old age by providing a cocontribution from the Government. This also provides a free Life Insurance Cover against natural death during the period of coverage, under this scheme. However, there is no proposal to introduce a special package for Indian workers returning to India from conflict-ridden countries. There is also no plan to start a “Pravasi Bank” for Overseas Indians by the Ministry.

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The expert group set up under the chairmanship of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) chief, C. Rangarajan, to review the methodology of measuring April 2013

(c) Recommend measures for enhancing their sustain ability and improving transparency and effectiveness of the allocative processes.

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Professor P.N. Tandon, Department of Neurosurgery AIIMS, who chaired the Tandon Committee on deemed uni-versities, is also member of the new committee that will review the UGC guidelines of 2010 as also are Goverdhan Mehta, National Research Professor; M. Anandakrishan Chairman, IIT Kanpur and MrinalMiri former chairman Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

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HRD makes ombudsman mandatory in technical institutions. Every technical institution in the country, approved or recognised by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), will have to provide for an ombudsman, as part of its grievance redressal mechanism. The grievance could include those related with the standards of education, irregularity in the admission process adopted by the institute, refusing admission in accordance with the declared admission policy, withholding or refusing to return any document, and demanding money in excess of that specified in the declared admission policy.

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Academic and chairman of the National Curriculum Framework (2005) review committee Yash Pal has rejected the S.K. Thorat panel recommendations for deletion of cartoons on politicians and bureaucrats from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks.

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Mukta Vidya Vani, a pioneering initiative of the 74

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National Institute of Open Schooling, (NIOS) for using Streaming Audio for educational purposes, was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Sh. Kapil Sibal , on the occasion of the 22nd General Body Meeting of the NOS Society held recently. Mukta Vidya Vani on the World Wide Web is a modern interactive, participatory and cost effective programme, involving an academic perspective along with the technical responsibilities of production of audio and video programmes, which are one of the most important components of the multi channel package offered by the NIOS. This will enable a two way communication with any audience having access to an internet connection, from the NIOS studio situated at its Headquarters in Noida.

Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP): To improve the present status of women in Agriculture, and to enhance the opportunities for her empowerment, Government of India announced “Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana” (MKSP), as a sub component of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and decided to provide support to the tune of Rs. 100 crore during 2010-11 budget.

Objectives of MKSP:

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Gross Domestic Product. During the last Plan period, the sector had got Rs. 89,265 crore. Free generic drugs would be made available through public hospitals to help “reduce out-ofpocket expenditure of the poor” on health.

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Schemes to Save the Girl Child : The Government has undertaken a number of measures to improve survival and status of girl children in the country. While programmes for improvement of nutrition benefit all children including girl children, like the Integrated Child Development Scheme, National Rural Health Mission, Mid-day meal scheme etc., specific interventions for girl children include implementing the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Pro-hibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, pilot cash transfer scheme of 'Dhan lakshmi', setting up a Sectoral Innovation Council for improving child sex ratio and acting upon its recommendations, and the pilot scheme 'Sabla' for a comprehensive Intervention for adolescent girls in the age group of 11-18, with a focus on out of school girls in select 200 districts of the country. Of these, 'Dhanlakshmi' provides conditional cash incentive, and the scheme does not discriminate on the basis of caste and economic status of parents. It is a pilot scheme being implemented in 11 blocks in seven States of the country.

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The primary objective of the MKSP is to empower women in agriculture by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity, as also create and sustain agriculture based livelihoods of rural women. By establishing efficient local resource based agriculture, wherein women in agriculture gain more control over the production resources and manage the support systems, the scheme seeks to enable them to gain better access to the inputs and services provided by the government and other agencies. Once the production capacities of women in agriculture improve, food security ensues for their families and communities.

Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana During the XI Plan period, a new scheme was proposed by the Government of India called Rashtriya Gram SwarajY ojana [RGSY] to cater to the capacity development needs of the ERs and officials in a more comprehensive and result oriented manner. The overall objective of the scheme is to assist states/ UTs in carrying out actual training activities for the ERs and officials to meet their capacity requirements. The scheme also supports infrastructure development such as Panchayat Ghars at Gram Panchayat levels and establishment of training/ resource centres at the regional/block levels.

Allocation for health sector trebled : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on November 3rd that the allocation for the health sector during the 12th Plan had been increased three times over the previous Plan allotment to address complex challenges. The outlay in the 12th Plan had been fixed at Rs. 3-lakh crore, which was 1.95 per cent of the

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Unspent funds declared by several State governments across the country released under the Central Government's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Schemes has now prompted the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to consider sanctioning funds directly to non-government organisations working in the States.

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A Bill to create a DNA data centre to profile people accused of serious crimes and unknown deceased is in the works. The proposal was originally mooted in 2007 but was dropped to factor in ethical, moral and legal issues on the sensitive matter. The Human DNA Profiling Bill seeks to establish a DNA Profiling Board that will lay down the standards for laboratories, collection of human body substances and custody trail from collection to reporting. It also has a provision for setting up a National DNA Data Bank.

The High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Universal Health Coverage (UHC): It was constituted by the Planning Commission of India in October 2010, with the mandate of developing a framework for providing easily accessible and affordable health care to all Indians. The recommendations of the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Universal Health Coverage encompass the area of health financing, health services norms, human resources for health, community participation and citizen engagement, access to medicines, vaccines and technology and management and institutional reforms. The recommendations of the HLEG, inter-alia, include:

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(I). Increase public expenditure on health to at least 2.5 75

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percent of GDP by the end of the 12th Plan and to at least 3% of GDP by 2022. (ii). Ensure availability of free essential medicines by increasing public spending on drug procurement. (iii). Purchase of all health care services under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) system should be undertaken either directly by the Central and state governments through their Departments of Health or by quasi-governmental autonomous agencies established for the purpose. (iv). All government funded insurance schemes should, over time, be integrated with the UHC system. All health insurance cards should, in due course, be replaced by National Health Entitlement Cards. The technical and other capacities developed by the Ministry of Labour for the RSBY should be leveraged as the core of UHC operations – and transferred to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers have been trained as provider of the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course). They help the Programme by identifying and referring patients with history of cough for more than two weeks to the nearest Designated Microscopy Centre for sputum examination. They also keep a track and ensure that the patient takes medicines and completes the treatment. In addition, they also spread awareness about the TB and the services available under the RNTCP. ASHAs are paid an incentive of Rs. 250/- per case after completion of treatment.

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secondary levels in rural areas. The new National Urban Health Mission would improve the health parameters of people in urban areas. The proposal would address all health issues of the urban populace. Subsequently the government would be able to launch a unified National Health Mission.

65thWorld Health Assembly: The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO member-states and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.

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The Ministry of Railways has decided to grant 50 per cent concession in train fares to patients suffering from aplastic anaemia and sickle cell anaemia. They can avail themselves of the concession in train fares for their.

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Two leaks have been reported within a month at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) at Rawatbhata near Kota, exposing workers to tritium radiation, and causing concern among the country's nuclear energy watchers.

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Tritium: Tritium (H-3) is a weakly radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen that occurs both naturally and during the operation of nuclear power plants. Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years and emits a weak form of radiation, a low-energy beta particle similar to an electron. The tritium radiation doesn't travel very far in air, and cannot penetrate the skin. The most common form of tritium is in water, since tritium and normal hydrogen react with oxygen in the same way to form water. Tritium replaces one of the stable hydrogens in the water molecule, H2O, and creates tritiated water, which is colorless and odorless. Tritium can be found in selfluminescent devices, such as exit signs in buildings, aircraft dials, gauges, luminous paints, and wristwatches. It is also used in life science research and in studies investigating the safety of potential new drugs.

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Under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a Labour Welfare Scheme launched by the Union Ministry of Labour& Employment so far more than 3.04 crore smart cards have been issued. RSBY is presently being implemented in 25 States / Union Territories, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Chandigarh Administration.

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“Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana” (RSBY): A flagship scheme provides for smart card based cashless health Insurance cover for BPL families (Unit of 5) was launched on 1st October 2007 and became operational with effect from 1st April 2008.

A new National Urban Health Mission, which will address serious health challenges faced by people residing in towns and cities, is being planned on the lines of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The NRHM, launched seven years ago, helped improve overall health indicators with concerted focus on public health systems at primary and

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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has launched “Project Lakshya” to reduce waiting time for delivery of LPG cylinders and track duplicate connections, by enrolling the assistance of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) through a new software.

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Power from renewable sources could emerge as a mainstream source of energy if backed by right policies and initiatives, leaders of the wind energy sector said while announcing details of the 'Wind Power India 2012' international conference and exhibition from November 28th in Chennai.

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The high incidence of cancer and other diseases in Punjab's Malwa belt has been highlighted over the last decade. Now, union ministry of Rural Development has confirmed the presence of uranium and other heavy metals in

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groundwater in the State, particularly the Malwa region, and serious efforts are afoot to control the damage. Samples had tested positive for the presence of uranium and arsenic.

United Nations report says that while there is an improvement from maternal death in every six minutes in 2010 to 10 minutes now, the MDG target in this respect is unlikely to be met. At present, the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of India is 212 per one lakh live births, whereas the country's target is 109 per one lakh live births by 2015.

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India has slipped by 12 ranks in the global grading on the child development index, which denotes health, education and nutrition, between 1995 and 2010. Japan is the best place in the world to be a child, while Somalia is the worst, a latest report has suggested. The Child Development Index report released by NGO Save the Children makes an aggregate analysis of the Child Development Index in three time periods — 1995-1999, 2000-2004 and 2005-2010 — of 141 countries across the globe. India's CDI ranking fell by three notches (100 to 103) between 1995 and 1999 and by another nine ranks (103 to 112) between 2005 and 2010. Of the 141 countries ranked, India is among the 14 whose rank has dropped. Some of these include Trinidad and Tobago, Madagascar, and Guatemala.

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makes these available through a network of community owned agencies. These institutional feeding programs include school feeding programs, shelter homes, Old age homes substance abuse clinics, after-school programs and cater to various needs.

Every year, millions of tonnes of foodgrains and pulses are lost to pests in warehouses across the country. But that situation may soon be a thing of the past. Scientists at the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI) here have developed a biofumigant from cassava leaves that is effective against storage pests.

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Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar inaugurated the Srinimega food park at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. This is the first mega food park in the country. From seed to shelf, Srini Food Park facilitates endto-end food processing with beneficial forward and backward linkages.

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Union Rural Development Ministry announced that it would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Defence for installation of biotoilets in 1000 grampanchayats across the country. It would go a long way in improving sanitation in rural. DRDO scientists developed the bio-toilets, which are based upon bio-digester technology. The bio-toilets could be named 'Bapu', as the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had always stressed on sanitation in rural areas of the country.

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Punjab has replaced Kerala as the best in the composite Educational Development Index (EDI), to be among the top three States. It is now ranked third, with Puducherry and Lakshadweep occupying the first two slots.

The study, 'Elementary Education in India: Progress towards Universal Elementary Education,' is based on the data received from 1.36 million schools in 637 districts. At the bottom are Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

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The EDI is based on the broad parameters of access, infrastructure, teacher-related indicators and outcomes. It also factors in the availability of schools, the average student-child ratio, the availability of drinking water facilities, and separate toilets for girls and boys.

India Food Banking Network (IFBN): India Food Banking Network is a system that will move food from donors to the people who need it the most and engage all sectors of society towards this effort. This food banking system will feed millions of people each year, and become a vehicle for building public awareness about hunger and nutrition, and serve as a powerful voice that drives policy decisions and initiatives that impact the food security of individuals and communities. It is an idea originally put forth by Sam Pitroda.

A food bank is a nonprofit distribution enterprise that serves the community through institutional feeding programs.

This acquires donated food in the form of grains, pulses, oil, spices etc sourced on the basis of community food habits and April 2013

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, in an extraordinary gazette notification, has made an amendment to make labelling of every package containing genetically modified food mandatory from January 1, 2013.The move will impact the imported GM foods that are flooding the markets. Consumers in India can now make “informed choice” on whether they want to buy packaged food products that are genetically modified or contain genetically modified ingredients.

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The Union Shipping Ministry will set up major new ports in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh as part of a maritime agenda that includes a ramp up of port infrastructure by 2020. Ministry's 'Maritime Agenda 2010-20' was the capacity addition of about 3,200 million tones —from the current levels of about 1,000 million tones — to handle an expected traffic increase of 2,500 million tonnes by 2020.

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Apart from going in for the open acreage system for auction of the shale gas blocks in various parts of the country, the Central Government is likely to allow 100 per cent participation of foreign companies when it puts up its first auction in early 2013.Under the proposed new shale gas policy, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry will hold consultations with the Law and Justice, Finance, Environment and some other ministries before finalising a model contract.

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The contractor will be exempted from payment of cess on shale oil and no cost recovery will be initiated.

CBM (coal bed methane): Coal bed methane (CBM) is simply methane found in coal seams. Or, methane recovery from unmined coal seams is often referred to as Coal Bed Methane (CBM). This includes the recovery of methane prior to mining taking place. Virgin Coal Bed Methane (VCBM) describes the recovery of methane from seams in which the coal will remain unmined. The primary energy source of natural gas is a substance called methane (CH4). CBM is sold and used the same as traditional natural gas, its production is very different.

Methane is recovered from un-mined coal seams for two primary reasons: It may be necessary to drain the seam of as much methane as possible before mining takes place. This reduces the risk of explosion and mitigates methane emissions to the atmosphere once the process of extracting the coal begins

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The methane may be recovered for its energy production potential, regardless of whether the coal will actually be extracted.

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UCIL and Uranium Mining in India: Uranium Corporation of India Limited was incorporated on 4th October 1967. Uranium Corporation of India Limited is a Public Sector Enter-prise under the Department of Atomic Energy.

UCIL is at the forefront of the Nuclear Power cycle. Fulfilling the requirement of Uranium for the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, UCIL plays a very significant role in Indias nuclear power generation programme. It had an annual turnover of about Rs 304 Crores in the financial year 2007-08.

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The Company is having its mining operations at Bagjata, Jaduguda, Bhatin, Narwapahar, Turamdih underground mines and Banduhurang opencast mines. UCIL has new upcoming mining projects at Mohuldih in East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand and at Tummalapalle mining project in Andhra Pradesh and Gogi mining project at Karnataka. It has two processing plants at Jaduguda and Turamdih and an upcoming milling project at Tummalepalle in Andra Pradesh.

KPM opencast mining and milling project at Meghalaya is in the pipeline.

India and Australia on October 16 decided to begin talks on a nuclear agreement that would facilitate the supply of uranium to nuclear plants being set up. While the opening of negotiations for a civil nuclear agreement seeks to remove political mistrust, India is not yet ready to respond to feelers from the Canberra-Washington axis to resume the quadrilateral security architecture, in which the fourth corner is Japan. The concept was shelved following political opposition in India and unhappiness expressed by China.

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The potential for future mining operations is largely dependent on the accessibility of the coal seams. Coal found at extremely deep depths is often not considered feasible for extraction because of practical, safety and economic considerations. In such cases, methane recovery activity is purely for the purpose of energy generation and does not have safety or climate change benefits (as the methane would not have been emitted).

In line with the energy conservation and efficiency policies of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Ministry of Power the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme was launched under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE).

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The government had, for the first time, agreed to allow an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team to conduct a safety review of two atomic power plants in Rajasthan. IAEA's Operational Safety Review Team [OSART] was to visit Rajasthan in November. India will study its report and take on board suggestions. The government's position is that more needs to be done on safety aspects. India had announced the Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) and Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) mission as part of measures to instill public confidence in nuclear energy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident. In OSART, the team checks the safety standards of a power plant technically while IRRS is designed to test the strength of regulatory framework of nuclear power and plant related matters including safety regulations.

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India's Nuclear Pact with Various Nations: USA (2008), Russia (2008), France (2008), Mongolia (2009), Namibia (2009), Argentina (2009), Canada (2010), Kazakhstan ( 2011), South Korea (2011).

With the Kudankulam nuclear project which was likely to be commissioned in August , Russia has agreed to extend a $3.4-billion credit for setting up two more 1,000MW atomic power plants at the same site in Tamil Nadu. The two nations signed a protocol on 17 July, 2012 in Moscow for financing units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam project, under which the Russian Federation will extend export credit amounting up to $3.4 billion for 85 per cent of the value of works, supplies and services provided by the Russian organisations for the two units.

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India's second school of mines is being set up in the country's northeast in collaboration with the government of Queensland, Australia to provide skilled manpower for the growing needs of the mining industry. The only school of mines in India now is the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad in Jharkhand, which was established in 1926 by the then British colonial government.

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Uranium — like oil and coal — is a finite resource. A

50. recently released report by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency underscores this fact and states that much of the 'secondary' uranium sources required to power the world's existing nuclear plants are in danger of declining after 2013.

Primary and Secondary Uranium: Secondary sources may be defined as all sources other than primary production (sometimes also named “already mined uranium” or AMU).

Conversely, primary sources correspond to “freshly mined uranium”.

Secondary sources include: 1.

Non-government inventories

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Government inventories of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium

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Re-enriched tails

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Recycling of spent nuclear fuel

NABARD has launched its 'anchor NGO' scheme to initiate bank-SHG linkage for women. The Government of India initiative, conceived for the most backward districts of the country, was launched on a pilot basis. Nagapattinam is the only district identified in the State under the scheme, and among 113 districts in the country. The novelty of the concept hinged on 'incentivising' the anchor NGO which will coordinate with its sub-NGOs to provide sustainable capacity building for nascent self-help groups and make them credit-worthy.

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contribution to rural development. The project was developed by the State office of the National Informatics Centre. NICRajasthan team members received the “public choice award” at the E-World Forum-2012 organised in New Delhi over the weekend. United Nations Development Programme country director Caitlin Wiesen and Former Delhi Chief Secretary S. Raghunathan were present at the function.

The Government of India, the Government of Bihar and the World Bank signed an agreement for US$ 100 million additional credit to scale-up the ongoing Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, named Jeevika (or `livelihood' in Hindi).

The Project is aimed at enhancing the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in Bihar.

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The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure today approved the inclusion of "Sarayu Nahar Pariyojana" of Uttar Pradesh in the scheme of National projects. Under the scheme of National Projects, this project would become eligible for 90% funding from the Central Government. The Sarayu Nahar Pariyojana has been under execution by the State Government of Uttar Pradesh since 1977-78 but could not be completed because of lack of funds with the State Government. Once completed, it would provide an ultimate irrigation potential benefit to 14.04 lakh hectare in the districts of Bahraich, Shrawasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti, SantKabirnagar, Siddharth Nagar & Gorakhpur. The amount required for completion of the project is Rs, 3238 crore out of which Rs. 2915 crore would be provided by the Central Government. The project is sche-duled to be completed by March 2016.

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Gulab Sagar Irrigation would be Completed by 2013-14 : The Planning Commission has agreed to grant

extension of time for completion of Mahan (GulabSagar) Irrigation project (Revised Major) of Madhya Pradesh. The Government of Madhya Pradesh has requested for extension of one year time period without any increase in the cost of the project for which investment clearance was accorded.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone for a University of Buddhist and Indic Studies at Sanchi on September 21, 2012.

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The Madhya Pradesh government claims to have launched the country's first ever river-lake linking project in the water-scarce Bundelkhand region. The Harpura irrigation and river-lake link project, launched in the Tikamgarh district, will be implemented under the Centre's Rs.7266 crore Bundelkhand package. It will link the perennial Jamni river to the nearby lakes and water bodies built during the Chandel era.

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A land record computerisation project titled Apna Khata (our account) launched in Rajasthan has bagged an international award in recognition of its significant

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Agni-IV : Wednesday's triumph caps a series of successful flights of Agni-V, Agni-I, Agni-II and Prithvi-II missiles, beginning from April this year. Agni-III would be flighttested on September 21, he said.

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Prithvi Missile: It is a Surface-to-Surface Battle field Missile.

Prithvi is is a tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) developed by DRDO of India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program.

Prithvi I (SS-150) - Army Version (150 km range with a payload of 1,000 kg).

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Prithvi II (SS-250) - Air Force Version (250 km range with a payload of 500 kg).

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Prithvi III (SS-350) - Codenamed Dhanush meaning BowNaval Version (350 km range with a payload of 500 kg).

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Surface-to-air Akash missiles were test-fired in quick succession from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off the Odisha coast on may 28, 2012 with one of them failing to hit the target and falling into the sea.

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'Rajendra' radar : The Rajendra Multi-Function Phased Array radar system, designed at the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), part of DRDO, is currently in production at Bharat Electronics Limited. This is named after India's First president Dr. Rajendra Prasad. It is a multifunction radar, capable of surveillance, tracking and engaging low radar cross section targets. It is the heart of the Akash Surface-to-air missile system and is the primary fire control sensor for an Akash battery.

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61. Proposals worth over Rs. 8,000 crore for procuring around 10,000 'Invar' missiles from Russia for the Army's T-90 tanks and over 200 air-launched versions of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles for the IAF were cleared on October 18th by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

India and Russia are scouting for another site for a nuclear electricity park after the West Bengal government decided to cancel the allotment of a site in Haripur.

This was to be the second nuclear park allotted to Russia, after Kudankulam. Both were supposed to have six reactors each.

Haripur was to come up after all the six reactors at Kudankulam became operational.

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trials. The refitted aircraft carrier could not reach "full speed" due to malfunctioning boilers. "Some of the 44,500-ton war ship's eight boilers malfunctioned during the strenuous fullsteam trials". The Indian Navy had planned on commissioning the Vikramaditya on December 4, 2012, "Navy Day". Because of the failed sea trials, the warship must undergo repairs and modifications that will delay its commissioning for about 11 months, until October 2013.

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INS Sudarshini was launched on a nine-nation ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) voyage as India's goodwill ambassador at sea to cement its ties with these nations. For the newly inducted Sudarshini — Indian Navy's second sail training ship after INS Tarangini, which is currently under refit — its maiden voyage couldn't have been better.

India's third indigenous stealth frigate to be inducted: INS Sahyadri The first two ships in the class are INS Shivalik and INS Satpura, which are now on active naval duty.

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The Project 17(Shivalik class)frigares: The Shivalik class frigates or Project 17 class frigates are multi-role frigates with stealth features being built for the Indian Navy.

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63. BrahMos Aerospace on November 7th firmed up a contract worth Rs. 6,515 crore with the Indian Air Force for manufacturing the air version of the supersonic cruise missile, a product of Indo-Russian collaboration. The missile, with a take-off mass of 2,500 kg and a stand-off range of 290 km, is already in operation with the Army and the Navy. The air version, though, will be lighter and a tad shorter than the existing missile so that it can be gravity-dropped from the aircraft and fired. It will still be the heaviest of all missiles carried by the Russian-origin aircraft.

Admiral Gorshkov: Admiral Gorshkov was a modified Kiev class aircraft carrier of the Russian Navy, originally named Baku. On January 20, 2004, Russia agreed to sell the Admiral Gorshkov to India, though payment details are still being worked out. The original price was $947 million. The upgrade would be undertaken by Russia's major shipyard, Sevmash Enterprise. As of 2009, Russia is upgrading the ship by stripping all the weaponry from the ship's foredeck to make way for a Short Take-Off. But Arrested Recovery configuration, with a ski-jump on the bow. The carrier will be named INS Vikramaditya in Indian Navy service. Russia would also change the boilers to diesel fuel.

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On December 17, 2009, it was reported that India and Russia ended the stalemate over Gorshkov price deal by agreeing on a price of USD 2.3-billion.

On September 17, 2012, the Indian Navy revealed the Gorshkov (still to be named INS Vikramaditya) had failed its sea April 2013

INS Baaz is the southernmost naval air station at Campbell Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With this, the country acquired increased ability to mount vigil on the vital maritime channel — the Strait of Malacca. One of its primary functions would be to provide information, based on 'airborne' maritime surveillance. The new base, about 300 nautical miles from Port Blair, will also include an upgraded air base. The country already operates naval bases at Port Blair and Car Nicobar in the island chain, which also houses the unique Tri-Services Command .The government recently sanctioned numerous steps to fortify infrastructure in the islands, with forward operating bases in Kamorta (Nicobar Islands) and Diglipur (Andaman) as well.

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Indian Naval Air Stations (on land): INS Garuda (1953), INS Hansa (1961), INS Shikra (1964), INS Utkrosh (1985), INS Dega (1991), INS Rajali (1992), INS Parundu (2009), INS Baaz (2012).

Russia-built multirole stealth frigate INS Tarkash commissioned into Navy on November 9. Tarkash belongs to the second batch of three modified Krivak-III (Talwar) class frigates India ordered from Russia in 2006 under a $1.6-billion contract. The first frigate of the batch, INS Teg, was delivered in April and the third one, INS Trikand, is undergoing dock trials and is expected to be handed over next summer after completing sea trials in the Baltic Sea.

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The first batch comprised INS Talwar (May 2002), INS Trishul (November 2002) and INS Tabar (May 2003).

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The INS Sindhurakshak submarine got modernised marking the completion of a mid-life refit programme for 80

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the Indian Navy's Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines in Russia. During a two-year in-depth modernisation the torpedo -firing INS Sindhurakshak, built in 1997, has been equipped with the tube-launched Club-S cruise missiles effective against surface vessels and submarines at a range of about 200 km.

Ships of the Kilo-class: INS Sindhughosh, INS Sindhudhvaj, INS Sindhuraj, INS Sindhuvir, INS Sindhuratna, INS Sindhukesari, INS Sindhukirti, INS Sindhuvijay, INS Sindhurakshak, INS Shindhushastra. The INS Sindhurakshak is the seventh and the last of the 10 Kilo-class submarines that India bought from Russia between 1986 and 2000.

India is planning to set up two more missile testing ranges with a number of missions coming up in the next few years. Top Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said that with the present Integrated Test Range off the coast of Odisha getting “overloaded,” plans were on to establish similar facilities along the East Coast.

Besides the two ranges along the East Coast, the DRDO was also planning to establish a Floating Test Range, which would include radars and launch facilities on a ship.

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HAL signs design contract for Multirole Transport Aircraft : The $600-million Indo-Russian military

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The purchase deal for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) fighter planes should be signed by April 2013. The MMRCA deal, estimated at around Rs 50,000 crore, is considered this decade's largest military purchase. The Indian Air Force is seeking to replace its ageing MiG-21s with a modern fighter. After a gruelling contest involving six aircraft manufacturers, the IAF picked the French entry, Rafale fourth-generation fighter plane, in February 2012. A multi-ministry negotiations committee is currently in talks with its manufacturer, Dassault Systemes. Eighteen of the 126 planes are to be purchased directly from Dassault, while HAL will manufacture the other 108 under a licence at an upcoming facility in Bangalore.

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South Korea has sought permission a nuclear park.

But New Delhi would like Seoul to first set up a technology demonstrator or a small civil nuclear plant. Seoul came into the re-ckoning after it beat the French company Areva in a $20billion United Arab Emirates tender for civil nuclear plants.

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The Centre has approved establishment of an autonomous research centre on Cryptology and Security– R. C. Bose Centre for Cryptology & Security at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, announced this.

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transport aircraft project, the Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA), moved a significant step forward, with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and its two partners signing the initial design phase contract in New Delhi on October 12. The Bangalore-based HAL inked the contract with the United Aircraft Corporation-Transport Aircraft (UAC-TA) of Russia, and their 50:50 joint venture partner, Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd (MTAL). The three signed the earlier general contract in May this year.

The Union Cabinet cleared the Indian Space Research Organisation's mission to Mars in 2013. The project, which comes on the heels of the Chandrayaan mission to the moon, envisages putting a spacecraft in the red planet's orbit to study its atmosphere, with the help of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The launch is slated for November in 2013 from Sriharikota. The Space Commission gave its clearance in December last. The spacecraft will have a scientific payload of 25 kg and is proposed to be placed in an orbit of 500x80,000 km around the planet.

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Earth summit, 1992: The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.172 governments participated, with 108 sending their heads of state or government.

Two important legally binding agreements were opened for signature: Convention on Biological Diversity.

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Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

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The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents: Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.

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Agenda 21.

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Forest Principles.

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The Earth Summit also put forth the following Follow-up mechanisms: Commission on Sustainable Development;

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Sources in the ISRO said November was chosen, as the planet would be closest to the earth that time. The next such opportunity will come only in the summer of 2018. The mission is estimated to cost about Rs.450 crore. An initial provision of Rs.125 crore was made in this year's budget to kick-start the work. India joins the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and China in undertaking such an effort. NASA is also said to be working on a Mars mission for November next year.

April 2013

Inter-agency Committee on Sustainable Development;

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High-level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.

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Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): The Convention was opened for signature on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Rio "Earth Summit"). It remained open for signature until 4 June 1993, by which time it had received 168 signatures. The Convention 81

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entered into force on 29 December 1993, which was 90 days after the 30th ratification. The first session of the Conference of the Parties was scheduled for 28 November – 9 December 1994 in the Bahamas. It has 3 main objectives: 1.

The conservation of biological diversity.

2.

The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity.

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The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

Two Convention (CBD) Protocols: Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

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Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing.

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Cartagena Protocol: On 29 January 2000, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a supplementary agreement to the Convention known as the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety. The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. It establishes an advance informed agreement (AIA) procedure for ensuring that countries are provided with the information necessary to make informed decisions before agreeing to the import of such organisms into their territory. The Protocol contains reference to a precautionary approach and reaffirms the precaution language in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The Protocol also establishes a Bio-safety Clearing-House to facilitate the exchange of information on living modified organisms and to assist countries in the implementation of the Protocol.

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into force 90 days after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification. The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources is one of the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee decided to add the Western Ghats to the prestigious list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. With the inclusion of Western Ghats, the number of World Heritage Sites in India recognised

by UNESCO has gone up to 29. These are places of cultural or natural heritage importance as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention established in 1972. India signed the convention on November 14, 1977. The country's first two sites inscribed on the World Heritage Sites list in 1983 were the Agra Fort and the Ajanta Caves. Of the 29 sites recognised so far, 23 are cultural locations and six are natural places.

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Indian Sites in World Heritage List (29): Cultural Agra Fort (1983)

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The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing: The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding, thereby contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components. It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

It was adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its tenth meeting on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. The Nagoya Protocol will enter April 2013

Ajanta Caves (1983)

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Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi (1989)

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Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park (2004)

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ChhatrapatiShivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) (2004)

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Churches and Convents of Goa (1986)

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Elephanta Caves (1987)

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Ellora Caves (1983)

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FatehpurSikri (1986)

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Great Living Chola Temples (1987)

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Group of Monuments at Hampi (1986)

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Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram (1984)

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Group of Monuments at Pattadakal (1987)

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Humayun's Tomb, Delhi (1993)

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Khajuraho Group of Monuments (1986)

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Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya (2002)

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Mountain Railways of India (1999)

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Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi (1993)

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Red Fort Complex (2007)

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Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (2003)

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Sun Temple, Konârak (1984)

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TajMahal (1983)

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The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur (2010)

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Natural Kaziranga National Park (1985)

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The International Finance Corporation(IFC) provides loans, equity and technical assistance to stimulate private sector investment in developing countries.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) povides guarantees against losses caused by non-commercial risks to investors in developing countries.

Manas Wildlife Sanctuary (1985)

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) provides international facilities for conciliation and arbitration of investment disputes.

Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks (1988)

World Bank Group President: Jim Yong Kim

Sundarbans National Park (1987)

Cyclonic Storm Nilam was worst tropical cyclone to directly affect south India since Cyclone Jal in 2010.

Originating from an area of low pressure over the Bay of Bengal on October 28, the system began as a weak depression 550 km (340 mi) east-northeast of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Over the following few days, the depression gradually intensified into a deep depression, and subsequently a Cyclonic Storm by October 30. It made landfall near Mahabalipuram /Mamallapuram on October 31 as a strong Cyclonic Storm with peak winds of 45 knots (85 km/h). In Chennai's Marina Beach, strong winds pushed piles of sand ashore and seawater reached nearly a 100 meters inland. Schools and Colleges in the city remained closed for more than three days.

Keoladeo National Park (1985)

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Western Ghats (2012)

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Karnataka, which ranks third in the country in ethanol production, has set a target of making it to the second spot by the end of the year. Presently Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were ahead of the State in the total quantity of ethanol production.

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Ethanol: Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, ETOH) is a clear, colorless liquid with a characteristic, agreeable odor. Ethanol melts at -114.1°C, boils at 78.5°C, and has a density of 0.789 g/mL at 20°C. Its low freezing point has made it useful as the fluid in thermometers for temperatures below -40°C, the freezing point of mercury, and for other low-temperature purposes, such as for antifreeze in automobile radiators.

Ethanol has been made since ancient times by the fermentation of sugars. All beverage ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is still made by this process. Simple sugars are the raw material. Zymase, an enzyme from yeast, changes the simple sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide.

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ETHANOL AS A FUEL: Ethanol is used as an automotive fuel by itself and can be mixed with gasoline to form what has been called "gasohol" FUEL ETHANOL- the most common blends contain 10% ethanol and 85% ethanol mixed with gasoline.

Barely four people, the oldest among them a 70-yearold tribal, speak a language which is on the brink of extinction. Spoken in a tiny village in Tripura, 'Saimar' has been identified as a “severely” endangered language.

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The World Bank Group: The World Bank Group consists of five organizations: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) lends to govern-ments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries.

The International Development Association (IDA) provides interest-free loans—called credits— and grants to governments of the poorest countries.

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WORLD

2 Hugo Chavez supporters poured into the streets of Caracas, cheering, dancing and setting off fireworks after their socialist hero won a new term as president. Thousands of people massed in front for the Miraflores presidential palace following the results of October 7, 2012 election which gave Chavez a clear victory after almost 14 years in power.

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing religious bloc will have an easy victory in the snap polls to be held early next year, opinion polls said.

According to a poll by Israeli daily Ha'aretz , Mr. Netanyahu's coalition is set to increase its share in the 120-member Knesset (Israeli Parliament) garnering 68 seats compared to a centristleft coalition which will manage only 52. The right-wing bloc, backed by five members of the centrist Atzmaut party, has 66 seats in Knesset.

2.

A billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose opposition coalition scored a surprising victory in Georgia's parliamentary election on October 1st over President Mikhail Saakashvili's ruling party, has promised to normalise relations with Russia. With just over a third of the returns counted, the Georgian Dream coalition led by Bidzina Ivanishvili was leading with more than 53 per cent of the votes, as against less than 42 per cent for Mr. Saakashvili's United National Party.

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The British and Scottish governments on October 15 signed a historic deal that will to allow Scotland to hold a referendum in 2014 on whether it wants to remain part of the United Kingdom or secede from the 300-year-old political union. Under the terms of the agreement signed by Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland's First Minister and the leader of the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) Alex Salmond in Edinburgh, voters will be asked to say “yes” or “no” to a single question: whether they want an independent Scotland?

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Formation of River Basin Organisations (RBOs) between basin neighbouring countries is at the heart of an international conference in Chiang Rai (Thailand) on HydroDiplomacy: A Tool for Sharing Waters Across Waters. More than 120 delegates from 26 countries are gathered here at this picturesque river island to test the waters, as it were, on how far hydro-diplomacy can work. International river basins are said to be home to 40 per cent of the global population.

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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has set out plans for a constitutional referendum in November 2012 and March 2013 elections, a move that could herald a new step in the country's troubled political life. In a High Court filing, seen on September 27, Mugabe sets out his most concrete time-table to date for two votes that are key to a bipartisan deal designed to stop Zimbabwe descending further into political violence.

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Afghanistan's presidential election will be held on April 5, 2014, months ahead of the final withdrawal of Nato combat troops from the insurgency-plagued nation, a poll official said on October 30. President Hamid Karzai, who is ser-ving his second term, is constitutionally barred from running in the election and has been under pressure from opposition groups to announce the date. Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission said in a statement that the date for the vote was set and would be officially announced at a press con-ference on October 31.

April 2013

The World Health Organization (WHO) has put in place a mechanism to define counterfeit medical products. The set of definitions of substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified and counterfeit products will be globally accepted and help to bring about uniformity in identifying such drugs, without interrupting worldwide supplies. In the past, countries making generic drugs, especially India and China, have run into serious problems in pushing consignments across the European borders for want of uniform quality standards. At present, there is no uniformity on what constitutes a substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified and counterfeit drug. Every country has its own quality standards, which differ vastly from the developed and developing countries.

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India is listed among the top five countries across the world which lose a majority of the two million children worldwide who die each year to easily preventable diseases -pneumonia and diarrhoea – states the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report released. The report adds that nearly 90 per cent of all these deaths are due to unsafe water and poor hygiene.

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Tokyo regains ranking as world's most expensive city : Tokyo has regained the unenviable title of the

world's most expensive city for expatriates, while the eurozone crisis has made many European cities cheaper according to a survey. At the other end of the scale, the survey by the Mercer 84

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group named the Pakistani port Karachi as the least expensive city, with living costs around three times cheaper than in the Japanese capital.

Around a third of young children in southern Afghanistan are acutely malnourished, according to a UN-backed government survey. The figures show that there has been little improvement in tackling malnutrition, despite the billions of dollars of aid money pumped into the war-torn country since a 2001 U.S.-led invasion brought down the Taliban. According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 18 percent of children—about one million — suffer from malnutrition across the country.

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China loaned two endangered baby pandas to Malaysia for 10 years to commemorate strong diplomatic ties between the two Asian countries. The Malaysian government received a pair of pandas following an agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association according to the Natural Resources and Environment ministry. This agreement shows Malaysia's commitment towards China's efforts in increasing the number of endangered giant pandas, which is estimated at about 1,600 only. The environment ministry said the presence of the pandas in Malaysia would promote awareness of panda conservation in China. China is famed for its "panda diplomacy", using the bears as diplomatic gifts to other countries.

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President Barroso welcomed the award as a “great honour” for all Europeans.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was named as the winner of this year's Seoul Peace Prize, the prize foundation said. Ban KiMooon was chosen for promoting the rights of women and children, efforts to eliminate poverty in developing nations, and contributing to the democratisation of Middle Eastern countries, the foundation said. Ban Ki Moon is the first South Korean to receive the prize which is awarded every two years . It was established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 1988 Seoul summer. Olympics.

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It was recognition of the importance of efficient water use in agricultural practices that undergirded the announcement of this year's winner of World Food Prize (WFP), Israeli scientist Daniel Hillel. Dr. Hillel was given the prestigious award, established in 1987 by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Green Revolution champion Norman Borlaug, for pioneering a “radically innovative way of bringing water to crops in arid and dry-land regions.”

Bangladesh has honoured foreign friends who contributed to achieve the nation's independence from Pakistan in 1971. Of the 61 recipients of the award in the third phase, 52 are from India and the rest are from Nepal, the United States, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, and Italy.

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Pakistan and China in are taking forward plans to build a railway line from western China through Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). The planned railway line runs from Kashgar, the old Silk Road town in China's far-western Xinjiang region, through the Khunjerab pass in PoK and on to Havelian, where it will join Pakistan's railway network. In June last year, passenger service began on the first segment of the line which runs from Kashgar to Hotan, in southern Xinjiang. Work has not yet started on the line onwards from Hotan.

14.

China is set to complete a strategically significant 253km rail link from Lhasa to Shigatse, near its border with Nepal, by 2014 — a year ahead of schedule. Railway authorities say the rail link, which is an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, will be completed in two years' time and will have an annual freight capacity of 8.3 million tonnes, as reported by state-run Xinhua news agency.

The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering peace on a continent ravaged by war, yet the Norwegian prize jury warned on October 12 that the financial crisis challenging the bloc's unity could lead to a return to “extremism and nationalism”. European Commission

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18.

The former Indian Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, received the Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sammanana. Bangladesh conferred the “Swadhinata Sammanona” on the late Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, the only person to get the coveted honour in July last year.

Australia introduced a controversial carbon tax in a bid to tackle climate change. Prime Minister Julia Gillard hailed the move amid opposition warnings that it will choke industries. The tax on corporate pollution, which led to demonstrations across the vast nation, will force about 350 major polluters to pay Aus$23 (US$23.5) for every tonne of carbon they produce.

19.

The Chengjiang Fossil, located in Yunnan province, was declared a World Heritage site at the 36th World Heritage Conference. So far, 43 sites in China have been included in the list. Discovered in 1984, the site covers 512 hectares, and the fossil remains date back to 530 million years ago. Chengjiang throws light on the marine life of Cambrian period.

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Russia will build a string of naval bases along its 85

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northern coast as it prepares to claim a vast swath of the energy-rich Arctic. A list of naval infrastructure hubs along the Northern Sea Route has been drawn up to serve as resupply bases for Russian warships and border guard vessels. Also, a set of tax cuts proposals designed to boost business activities in Russia's Arctic zone had been handed over to the government and laws regulating commercial navigation along the Northern Sea Route had been amended.

Greenpeace has signalled its determination to try to halt the Russia's march into the Arctic with activists led by its executive director boarding an oil platform belonging to state-owned Gazprom. It is the first time that the green group has taken “direct action” against the Russian drilling and comes amid alarming new evidence about the speed with which Arctic sea ice is melting.

22.

Commemorating the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) held in September, host Russia un-veiled the world's longest cable-stayed bridge. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev opened the 1,104-metre link from Vladivostok to Russky Island.

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Myanmar to support its reform drive, resuming assistance for the former pariah nation after a 25 years absence. The focus will be on the "most urgent development needs" like education, health, infrastructure and the private sector to boost job creation. The World Bank closed its Yangon office in 1987 and ceased new lending after the then-ruling junta stopped making payments on debts worth hundreds of millions of dollars left from previous programmes. A hurdle for the resumption of aid has been how to deal with the unpaid money, including arrears of almost $400 million owed to the World Bank.

28.

G4 pushes for UNSC reforms : G4 i.e. India and its

three partners — Brazil, Germany and Japan —is pushing for permanent seats for themselves in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In a meeting on the sidelines of the ongoing 67th United Nations General Assembly session, Foreign Ministers of the four countries came out with a joint statement expressing their determination to inject greater political momentum into the reform process which could include a high-level meeting on Security Council reform. The last major political push came about five years back when a meeting of world leaders agreed that UNSC's composition must be reformed.

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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is engaged in advanced talks with the Ministry of External Affairs to open an India office. The possibility of India joining it is also on the cards, though that could be the long-term outcome of an ongoing dialogue.

24.

The OECD, with headquarters in Paris, is one of the world's largest forums for nations to work together to promote policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people. India is among five countries, others being Brazil, China, South Africa and Indonesia, where the OECD has established a process of “an enhanced engagement” with the possibility of membership, based on an OECD Ministerial Council mandate.

Mali was readmitted into the African Union (A.U.) 25. after a meeting of the A.U. Peace and Security Council [AUPSC] on October 24. The A.U. had suspended the West African nation after a coup in March 2012 saw a military junta seize power even as two thirds of Mali slipped into the control of a coalition of armed groups and organised gangs. The soldiers behind the coup had claimed that the existing dispensation was unable to tackle the insurgents in the north.

Advocating deeper economic ties in the Indian Ocean 26. region and emphasis on maritime security, India on November 2 at the ministerial meeting of Indian Ocean RimAssociation for Regional Cooperation in Gurgaon, pitched for more robust “cooperative regionalism” and said the geostrategic importance of the area cannot be underestimated.

27.

The World Bank has approved an $80 million grant for

April 2013

A coalition, including the United States, the European Union and the Arab League, met on September 20 to plot new ways of isolating the regime of Syria's President Bashar AlAssad, and a Syrian opposition leader warned that sanctions alone won't bring the regime down. The group, called Friends of the Syrian People, was set up in February 2012 after the U.N. Security Council was unable to reach agreement on a resolution condemning Syria's government, due to opposition from Russia and China.

29.

The uprising against the Syrian government began in March 2011 as part of Arab Spring protests and intensified after Mr. Assad's government used the military in an attempt to end the unrest. The United Nations estimates that at least 18,000 people have been killed as a result of the fighting, most of them civilians. More than 1.5 million people have been displaced, many fleeing as refugees to neighbouring countries such as Turkey and Jordan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his country's pivot to the East, vowing to expand trade with Pacific Rim countries and to focus on developing resource-rich Far East. The development of regional economic integration is Russia's strategic choice as per Mr. Putin who was winding up a two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vladivostok on September 9. The 2013 APEC summit will be held in Bali, Indonesia.

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31.

16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement :

The 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held from 26 to 31 August 2012 in Tehran, Iran. The summit was attended by leaders of 120 countries, including 24 presidents, 3 kings, 8 prime ministers and 50 foreign ministers.

The summit's frame-work was the "Final Document" adopted during the Mini-sterial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau which was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 7 to 10 May. BRICS Bank: The 2012 BRICS summit was the fourth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The summit was held in New Delhi, India on 29 March 2012.

The main agenda for the summit was the creation of a new development bank. The idea for setting up such a bank was put forward by India, as a sign of firming the power of the group and increasing its influence in global decision-making. The aims of the bank would include: funding development and infrastructure projects in developing and least developed countries; lending, in the long term, during global financial crises such as the Eurozone crisis; and issuing convertible debt, which could be bought by the central banks of all the member states and hence act as a vessel for risk-sharing.

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Meetings.

Five Mekong Ganga Cooperation ministerial meetings has held so far, In Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Rebuplic on November 10, 2000; In Hanoi, Vietnam on July 28, 2001; In Phnom Penh, Cambodia June 20, 2003; In Cebu, Philippines on January 12, 2007 and in Manila, Philippines on August 1, 2007.

The U.S. expects better trade and economic ties between India and the Central and Southeast Asia by developing a New Silk Road. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has recently highlighted that the U.S. looks forward towards the setting up of the New Silk Road, where the northeast India plays an important role as the region connects India with neighbours in the east.

33.

India and Mauritius have decided to fast-track the negotiations for sealing a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). The Joint Working Group of India and Mauritius met on July 23 in New Delhi to explore co-operation in textiles, clothing industry, technology transfer and fashion industry.

Both sides felt that it was time to put the PTA negotiations on fast-track as this would lead to enhanced trade and result in both sides reducing duties on a certain category of products.

Huge opportunities exist for co-operation in sectors such as agroprocessing, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, seafood, automobile parts, tourism and IT. Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $1.39 billion in 2011. Mauritius is the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India. The FDI inflows from Mauritius stood at 464.80 billion. Indian investment in Mauritius amount to about $14.332 billion.

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In the Delhi Declaration at the end of the summit, the BRICS announced the setting up of the bank, described as a "BRICS-led South-South development bank." The finance ministers of the member states were directed to conduct feasibility studies of the initiative and to submit their reports at the next BRICS summit.

Mekong–Ganga sixth Cooperation meeting was held in New Delhi on 3-4 September 2012.Senior officials meeting was held on September 3 whereas the Foreign Ministers meet was held on September 4 2012.

32.

The Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) was established on November 10, 2000 in Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic with a purpose of cooperation amongst India and the five Mekong region countries - Cambodia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

It was basically established to emphasize on four areas of cooperation, which are tourism, culture, education, and transportation linkage, in order to build strong foundation for future trade and investment cooperation among the region.

This is the first time that the Mekong Ganga Cooperation meeting was hosted by India. India had earlier chaired the 5th MGC Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India April 2013

India and Bahrain announced the signing of a Tax Information Exchange Agreement to promote economic cooperation and joint investment between the two countries aimed at boosting bilateral trade that stands at $1.7 billion.

35.

The Government of the Republic of India signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income on 27th July, 2012 at Hyderabad House, New Delhi.

36.

Government of India and Government of Principality of Monaco have signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) 0n 31st July 2012 . This is the ninth TIEA being signed by India.

37.

India and Sri Lanka will work towards not only enhancing economic co-operation by doubling bilateral trade to $9 billion by 2017, but also for the early conclusion of

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the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma was in Colombo for three days from August 3. He met his counterpart Rishad Bathiudeen to discuss ways to widen the free trade agreement in goods and expanding it to include services and investments.

India and Israel recently entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for launching a programme that would promote collaborative research across a wide range of disciplines from medical and information technology to social sciences, humanities and arts. The programme, which will run for five years, will provide support up to $1,00,000 a research project for three years.

39.

India will construct a four—lane bridge on the river Feni in Tripura's South district to connect Chittagong division of Bangladesh to boost bilateral trade between the two countries. Approximately, Rs 73 crore would be spent to construct the bridge, 150m long, which would be bourn by the Tripura government.

40.

Bangladesh is optimistic about a Teesta water— sharing treaty with India taking shape despite opposition from West Bengal. Erstwhile UPA ally Trinamool Congress has vehemently opposed the treaty, arguing that it will harm West Bengal's interests and formed an expert committee to evaluate the issue.

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agriculture potential today.

Angel Gurria: The head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Jose Grazianoda Silva: Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) head.

The Obama administration declared Afghanistan the United States' newest “major non-NATO ally”, an action designed to facilitate close defence cooperation after U.S. combat troops withdraw from the country in 2014 and as a political statement of support for Afghanistan's long-term stability. The designation allows for streamlined defence cooperation, including expedited purchasing ability of American equipment and easier export control regulations.

Afghanistan's military, which is heavily dependent on American and foreign assistance, already enjoys many of these benefits. The non-NATO ally status guarantees it will continue to do so. Afghanistan becomes the 15th such country the U.S. has declared a major non-NATO ally. Afghanistan's neighbour Pakistan was the last nation to gain the status in 2004.

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Bangladesh has evinced interest in joining the multibillion dollar TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-PakistanIndia) gas pipeline project. The four countries had invited firms that could become the consortium leaders for executing the 1,680-km cross-country project. The pipeline length would be increased if the project was extended to Bangladesh.

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43.

The long-pending visa agreement to ease travel between India and Pakistan was inked on September 9 in Islamabad. The new visa regime — the first major overhaul since 1974 — in particular eases travel restrictions for businessmen and introduces a new category of group tourism.

Besides, persons aged above 65 will be issued visa on arrival.

44.

44.

World farm production must rise 60 per cent by 2050 to meet the needs of a growing population but this has to happen in a “more sustainable way”, the U.N. food agency FAO and the OECD announced recently. The two organisations said growth in production will come mainly from developing countries but would be less vigorous than in recent years. The increase in production has happened primarily in developing countries. It has been led by Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa — the two regions with the greater April 2013

China has dispatched two patrol ships to "assert its sovereignty" over islands at the centre of a row with Japan on September 11, as Tokyo completed its purchase of the dis-puted territory. The two marine surveillance ships had reached the waters around the Diaoyu islands — known in Japan as the Senkaku islands — and would "take actions pending the development of the situation.

46.

Japan lodged a formal protest with China, summoning its Ambassador in Tokyo, after three Chinese patrol boats were spotted in waters off disputed islands in the East China Sea, over which both countries claim sovereignty. The boats left the area after a warning from the coast guard. China reaffirmed its principle position and stressed that the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets have always been China's territory since ancient times, over which China has indisputable sovereignty.

47.

48.

Japan, S. Korea face off over disputed island :

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak paid a surprise visit on 10th Augustto islands at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute with Japan, which recalled its ambassador from Seoul in protest. The South has a coastguard detachment since 1954 on the islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became the first woman to be elected as the head of the African Union (A.U.) Commission.

Ms. Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's Home Affairs Minister, beat 88

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the incumbent, Jean Ping of Gabon, in a close election.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. and Arab League envoy on Syria, on October 21 appealed to both sides in Syria's conflict to cease fire for the Muslim holiday this week after meeting President Bashar al-Assad, even as a deadly blast rocked Damascus. He told reporters that the ceasefire call was his “personal initiative, not a blueprint for peace”.

49.

Russia's Upper House of Parliament has ratified the agreement to join the World Trade Organisation despite wide-spread opposition inside the country. The Federation Council voted 144 to four on 18th July to approve the protocol on WTO entry. Russia will become a WTO member 30 days after the bill is signed by the President. After 18 years of negotiation, Russia, on August 22, entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), which restricts import duties and subsidies in an attempt to create a level-playing field for international trade.

Russia is one of the last major global economies to enter the group, which has long included other developing nations such as China.

50.

Russia and China on July 19 vetoed a new U.N. Security Council resolution that would have slapped new sanctions against President Bashar Al Assad's regime in Syria, while India was among the 11 countries that voted in favour.

The resolution had sought to put sanctions against the Syrian regime if Mr. Assad did not stop using heavy weapons against civilians. Pakistan and South Africa abstained.

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Hurricane Sandy was a hurricane that devastated portions of the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic and North-eastern United States, with lesser impacts in the Southeastern and Midwestern states and Eastern Canada, in late October 2012.

Sandy, the eighteenth named storm and tenth hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, was a Category 2 storm at its peak intensity. While it was a Category 1 storm off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record (as measured by diameter with winds spanning 1,100 miles (1,800 km)). Preliminary estimates of losses that include business interruption surpass $50 billion (2012 USD), which would make it the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane behind only Hurricane Katrina. At least 209 people were killed along the path of the storm in seven countries.

Local authorities in eastern Congo say that lack of information on Ebola among citizens and the traditional practice of washing corpses before funerals are helping the epidemic to spread. Fifteen people died in the Ebola outbreak, which started in mid-August.

56.

Russia has declassified a huge deposit of unique super hard diamonds that supersedes the global reserves of the precious stone and can meet the worldwide demand for another 3,000 years. The deposit, located in an asteroid crater, Popigai crater in Eastern Siberia, 120 km in diameter, has been kept under wraps for nearly 40 decades as the Soviet Union mined enough diamonds elsewhere and also produced synthetic diamonds.

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South Korea said on 30th July that it has won the exclusive right to exploit a deep-sea mine in the Indian Ocean that could produce more than $300 million worth of minerals a year. The 10,000-square kilometre site contains hydrothermal vents that could yield metals including gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead.

52.

One of the most powerful typhoons in decades hit Japan's Okinawa on August 26, with meteorologists warning it could bring record rain and wind to the southern region and waves of up to 13 metres (43 feet). Typhoon Bolaven, packing winds of up to 252 kilometres (157 miles) per hour, was some 90 kilometres east of Okinawa's capital Naha, slowly moving north-northwest.

53.

A 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the sea, at a depth of 33 km, near the Philippines on August 31st. A tsunami warning was issued for the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan, but was cancelled later.

54.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica on 6thseptember. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

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However, the so-called impact diamonds have no value as jewellery. But they are “twice as hard” as usual technical diamonds, which makes them ideal for industrial use.

The U.S. assertion that Durand Line is the international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has triggered a fresh war of words between the two neighbours, who already share a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship.

Afghanistan's contention is that the Durand Line Agreement — signed by the erstwhile governments of Afghanistan and India (under the British) to demarcate their respective territories — was valid only for 100 years and the land that was made part of the British holdings should return to the Afghans. Even among the Pashtuns in Pakistan, a section advocates this position, primarily because of ethnic loyalties and general demand for a Pashtunistan.

58.

Pakistan rejects the 100-year time frame of the agreement and maintains that binding bilateral agreements are passed on to successor states, making the Durand Line the official Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In fact, Pakistan is prickly about the border with Afghanistan being called the Durand Line.

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A list of important boundary lines: Durand Line : Between Pakistan and Afghanistan, demarcated by Sir Mortimer Durand in 1896.

Hindenberg Line : The line to which the Germans retreated in 1917 during the First World War, defines the boundary between Germany and Poland.

Line of Control : It divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Maginot Line : Boundary between France and Germany.

Mannerheim Line : Drawn by General Mannerheim; fortification on the Russia an Finland border.

McMahon Line :

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The military hopes to fly such planes capable of moving at 20 times the speed of sound by 2016. The vehicle would be “recoverable”. The hypersonic bomber codenamed the X—Plane will travel at Mach 20 (roughly 20,900 kmph) and the project is being carried out by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Europe's second polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, Metop-B, was successfully placed into orbit on Sept. 17 by a Soyuz rocket operating from Russia's Baikonur Cos-modrome in Kazakhstan. The 4,082-kilogram satellite, carrying 11 observing instruments from Europe, the United States, Canada and France, will operate in an 820-kilometer polar low Earth orbit. After six months of in-orbit tests, it will monitor weather conditions in tandem with the nearly identical Metop-A launched in October 2006.

60.

Russia has successfully test-fired a new inter-continental ballistic missile capable of piercing defence systems being developed by the U.S. It was the second launch of what is believed to be a deeply modernized Yars missile named Avangard. The first test failed last September when the missile crashed a few kilometres from the launch site.

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The boundary between India and China as demarcated by Sir Henry McMahon in 1914. China does not recognise this line.

Oder Niesse Line :

Boundary between Germany and Poland.

Radcliffe Line :

Drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe in 1947 as demarcation between India and Pakistan.

Seigfrid Line :

Line of fortification drawn by Germany on its border with France.

17th Parallel : The line which defined the boundary between North Vietnam and South Vietnam before the two were united.

24th Parallel : The line which Pakistan claims should be the demarcation between India and Pakistan.

38th Parallel : Boundary between North Korea and South Korea.

49th Parallel : Boundary between USA and Canada.

59.

Russia will set up licensed production of tank and rocket artillery ammunitions in India. Work has begun on establishing a joint venture in India to manufacture projectiles for Smerch multi-barrel mobile rocket launchers. Smerch (Tornado) fires 300-mm rockets powered by solid fuel engines to distances in the 20-90-km range. The rockets are 7.6 metres long and weigh 800 kg, including a 100-kg warhead. India has 42 Smerch launchers.

62.

Pakistan successfully test fired the nuclear-capable Babur cruise missile with a range of 700 km that could hit targets deep inside India. The Babur or Hatf – VII is a multitube cruise missile with a range of 700 km. It is a low flying, terrain-hugging missile that can be used against targets at land and sea.

63.

Pakistan successfully tested the nuclear-capable Hatf VII cruise missile with a range of 700 km. This is the fifth missile test done by Pakistan since late last month.

64.

In a reflection of China's increasing maritime ambitions, the country commissioned its first aircraft carrier, 300 metre-long Liaoning, on 25th. The unveiling of the refurbished and upgraded version of the Soviet carrier Varyag which China purchased from Ukraine, came after years of sea trials and tests to fit the carrier with weapons and engines.

65.

U.S. is close to developing a hypersonic bomber able to reach any target on the globe in under an hour.

April 2013

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ECONOMY

3 The government on May 24, 2012 set up an expert technical group headed by Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and overhaul the norms in keeping with the present-day prices.

The five-member group is expected to submit its report in 7-9 months.

1.

As a follow-up to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent initiative on monitoring mega projects entailing an investment of Rs.1,000 crore and above, the Finance Ministry recently announced that it is putting in place an 'Investment Tracking System' to ensure speedy implementation of major infrastructure projects in the private sector.

2.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up yet another panel to bring about clarity on taxation matters pertaining to development centres and the IT sector. A four-member panel headed by former CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) Chairman N. Rangachary would hold consultations with stakeholders and government departments concerned to finalise the approach to taxation of 'Development Centres' and suggest appropriate measures.

3.

round of big ticket reforms, raising the foreign direct investment cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent, opening up the pension sector to foreign investment and clearing the Companies Bill, 2011. It also approved amend-ments to the Competition Act, 2002, and the Foreign Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2010.

Prime Minister had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister to look into all the issues relating to the deregulation of the sugar sector. The committee has completed its task, after several rounds of deliberations, consultations with stakeholders, and discussion with Chief Ministers of major sugar-producing states. The report was submitted to the Prime Minster on 10-10-2012.

The government committee has favoured complete decontrol of the sugar industry, dispensing immediately with the levy sugar obligation and administrative control on non-levy sugar.

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The Manmohan Singh government, on September 20, notified 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail and 49 per cent FDI each in the civil aviation and power sectors, putting an end to speculation about a possible roll back of its decisions. This comes with the enabling clause asserting that State governments/Union Territories (UTs) would be free to take their own decisions in regard to implementation of the policy. A minimum of $100 million will be required to be invested by the foreign investor.

4.

5.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) favoured a hike in the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 49 per cent in the sector from the present 26 per cent. The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill has been pending before Parliament for about four years as there has been no consensus among political parties on the issue of raising the FDI limit to 49 per cent.

6.

UPA-II: The Second Round of Big-bang Reforms :

Undeterred by the opposition to the 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, the United Progressive Alliance government on October 4 kick-started the second April 2013

The Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram approved a new tax saving scheme called “Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme“ (RGESS), exclusively for the first time retail investors in Securities Market. This Scheme would give tax benefits to new investors who invest up to Rs. 50,000 and whose annual income is below Rs. 10 lakh. The Scheme not only encourages the flow of savings and improves the depth of domestic capital markets, but also aims to promote an 'equity culture' in India. This is also expected to widen the retail investor base in the Indian securities markets.

8.

As part of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's mission mode exercise to boost investment in various sectors of the economy to revert to the high growth track, the government on August 22 decided to permit Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) as an eligible borrower for external commercial borrowings (ECB) for on-lending to the MSME (micro small and medium enterprise) sector.

9.

External Commercial Borrowing (ECB): External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) refer to commercial loans in the form of bank loans, buyers' credit, suppliers' credit, securitized instruments (e.g. floating rate notes and fixed rate bonds, non-convertible, optionally convertible or partially convertible preference shares) availed of from non-resident lenders with a minimum average maturity of 3 years. An external commercial borrowing (ECB) is an instrument used in India to facilitate the access to foreign money by Indian corporations and PSUs (public sector 91

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undertakings).

In India, External Commercial Borrowings are being permitted by the Government for providing an additional source of funds to Indian corporates and PSUs for financing expansion of existing capacity and as well as for fresh investment, to augment there sources available domestically.

ECBs can be used for any purpose (rupee-related expenditure, re-payment of rupee debt as well as imports) except for investment in stock market and speculation in real estate.

The department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India with support of Reserve Bank of India, monitors and regulates Indian firms access to global capital markets. From time to time, they announce guidelines on policies and procedures for ECB and Euro-issues.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on September 15 pitched for the setting up of a National Investment Board (NIB) headed by the Prime Minister for according speedy approvals to mega project proposals to facilitate expeditious implementation. Finance minister said that the NIB's authority should extend to proposals/projects where the investment is above a certain threshold, say Rs. 1,000 crore. Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan expressed “very serious concern” at the setting up of a National Investment Board to fast-track clearances of major infrastructure projects, saying the “concept is unacceptable.

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after it passed the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act. This enabled the government to pursue fiscal reforms aimed at committing to a pre-decided level of deficit.

Though its efforts went off well in the initial years, government finances slipped in the last two years as it was forced to provide fiscal sops initially to tackle high inflation and then to contain the impact of the global financial crisis of 200809 that hit the real economy hard. As a result, through its fiscal stimulus package, it had to announce several fiscal concessions and also increase expenditure on account of some sops. This ended in a further worsening of the country's finances.

Although the government does not borrow overseas, it cannot ignore the fisc as it is now a part of the global economy.

The cost of borrowing for private corporates which raise money overseas, depends a lot on its home country's sovereign ratings . It is expected that finance ministry will roll out a road map for fiscal consolidation during the Union Budget, which includes unwinding of the fiscal stimulus.

In August 2012, the Finance Minister constituted a three-member committee headed by the former Finance Secretary and 13th Finance Commission Chairman, Vijay L. Kelkar, to outline a roadmap for fiscal consolidation. The committee was asked to recommend mid-term corrections for the current fiscal year (2012-13) and reforms for medium term fiscal consolidation.

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A day ahead of the second quarter monetary policy review by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on October 29, unveiled a five-year roadmap for fiscal consolidation in keeping with the Kelkar Committee recommendations to contain the twin deficits and high inflation, spur investments and put the economy back on a higher growth track.

11.

Fiscal Consolidation: A conscious policy effort is needed by the government to live within its means and thereby bring down the fiscal deficit and public debt. It includes, among other things, efforts to raise revenues and bring down wasteful expenditure such as subsidies . As a larger mandate, it also involves the participation by state governments in the process.

But the whole initiative is planned as a long-term exercise by the government through a road map for fiscal reform rather than through a single Budget announcement. This is particularly true for a country like India where the government's expenditure is way beyond its revenues, forcing it to borrow.

For many years, India ranked low on fiscal consolidation.

However, from 2003 onwards , the government made conscious efforts to bring down its fiscal deficit and public debt April 2013

Firm on a quick and efficient revenue mop-up, the government has decided to embark on a phased disinvestment of shares in key government-owned Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The government is considering divesting 2 per cent equity in identified PSEs, which are 100 per cent government-owned, through an open auction on the 15th of every month for the next five months. The government believes divestment of up to 25 per cent in this manner will unlock serious value in terms of mission-critical revenue without conceding any private sector control over Board decisions.

13.

The sale of minority stakes in five PSEs — Hindustan Copper (9.59%), Oil India (10%), RITES (10%), MMTC (9.33%) and Nalco (12.15%) — has recently been approved by the Cabinet with a target revenue mop-up of Rs. 15,000 crore.

National Investment Fund On 27 January 2005, the Government had decided to constitute a 'National Investment Fund' (NIF) into which the realization from sale of minority shareholding of the Government in profitable CPSEs would be channelised. The Fund would be maintained outside the Consolidated Fund of 92

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India. The income from the Fund would be used for the following broad investment objectives:(a) Investment in social sector projects which promote education, health care and employment; (b) Capital investment in selected profitable and revivable Public Sector Enterprises that yield adequate returns in order to enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/ diversification.

Salient features of NIF: (i) The proceeds from disinvestment of CPSEs will be channelised into the National Investment Fund which is to be maintained outside the Consolidated Fund of India. (ii) The corpus of the National Investment Fund will be of a permanent nature. (iii) The Fund will be professionally managed to provide sustainable returns to the Government, without depleting the corpus. Selected Public Sector Mutual Funds will be entrusted with the management of the corpus of the Fund.

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Consumer Affairs. The Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act provides for regulation of futures markets in India and establishment of the Forward Markets Commission. The Bill was meant to give more teeth to the regulator and also benefit farmers.

Commodity Futures Market: A commodity futures market (or exchange) is, in simple terms, nothing more or less than a public marketplace where commodities are contracted for purchase or sale at an agreed price for delivery at a specified date. These purchases and sales, which must be made through a broker who is a member of an organized exchange, are made under the terms and conditions of a standardized futures contract.

The primary distinction between a futures market and a market in which actual commodities are bought and sold, either for immediate or later delivery, is that in the futures market one deals in standardized contractual agreements only.

These agreements (more formally called futures contracts) provide for delivery of a specified amount of a particular commodity during a specified future month, but involve no immediate transfer of ownership of the commodity involved.

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(iv) 75% of the annual income of the Fund will be used to finance selected social sector schemes, which promote education, health and employment. The residual 25% of the annual income of the Fund will be used to meet the capital investment requirements of profitable and revivable CPSEs that yield adequate returns, in order to enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/ diversification.

The Union Cabinet, October 4th, granted approval for increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector from the present 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

Alongside, it also cleared amendments aimed at attracting investments and bringing transparency in the working of the insurance companies.

14.

The Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, on September 27, gave its approval to the final pharma pricing policy, bringing 348 essential drugs under the government's price control regime.

The GoM, at its last meeting, had agreed to study how emerging countries such as Mexico, South Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka fixed the prices of essential medicines, before finalising the drug pricing policy in India.

15.

In a reforms boost to the commodity futures market, the Union Cabinet, on October 4, cleared amendments to the Forward Contract (Regulation) Act (FCRA) Amendment Bill, 2010, which provides for autonomy and power to the regulator. The amendments are based on the recommendations of the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Food and

16.

April 2013

The Union Cabinet on October 4th approved the amendments to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011 opening up the pension sector to foreign investment.

17.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), on October 25, cleared a 10 per cent stake sale of the Centre's equity holding in NMDC through the 'offer for sale' route. The transaction is likely to fetch about Rs.7,000 crore.

18.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), on November 8, gave its nod to a proposal for disinvestment of 10 per cent of the Centre's equity in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The IPO, however, would be issued only in the next fiscal year.

19.

As per the Cabinet decision on the Planning Commission's proposal, the institutional mechanism for monitoring of PPP projects will have a two-tier scanning structure by way of a 'Projects monitoring unit' (PMU) and a 'Performance review unit' (PRU) in view of the fact that a number of infrastructural development projects are likely to be routed through the partnership mode for implementation.

20.

In a bid to bring 'greater clarity' on GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rules) and prepare its implementation road-map by September 30, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cons-tituted an expert committee to prepare and finalise guidelines for the hitherto controversial tax provision.

21.

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The four-member committee headed by ICRIER chief and taxation expert Parthasarathi Shome has been asked to vet the norms on the basis of feedback from stakeholders.

Parthasarathi Shome to address the concerns of foreign and domestic investors, has recommended postponement of the controversial tax provision by three years and abolition of capital gains tax on transfer of securities.

In order to contain disputes relating to transfer pricing, the government will soon implement the Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) mechanism, which would allow companies seek guidance on pricing of goods and services in advance. The APA is to be implemented from July 1.

22.

APA: The Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) Program is designed to resolve actual or potential transfer pricing disputes in a principled, cooperative manner. An APA is a contract, usually for multiple years, between a taxpayer and at least one tax authority specifying the pricing method that the taxpayer will apply to its related-company transactions. These programmes are designed to help taxpayers voluntarily resolve actual or potential transfer pricing disputes in a proactive, cooperative manner, as an alternative to the traditional examination process.

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on residents is imposed on the "total world income" i.e. income earned anywhere in the world. Whereas a tax payer's own country (referred to as home country/country of residence) has a sovereign right to tax him, the source of income may be in some other country (referred to as host country/source country) which also claims a right to tax the income arising in that country. The result is that income arising to a resident out of India is subjected to tax in India as it is part of total world income and, also in host country which provides the source for that income. The purpose of double tax avoidance agreement is to avoid such double taxation to the extent agreed upon.

India has comprehensive Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA ) with 83 countries. This means that there are agreed rates of tax and jurisdiction on specified types of income arising in a country to a tax resident of another country.

Under the Income Tax Act 1961 of India, there are two provisions, Section 90 and Section 91, which provide specific relief to taxpayers to save them from double taxation. Section 90 is for taxpayers who have paid the tax to a country with which India has signed DTAA, while Section 91 provides relief to tax payers who have paid tax to a country with which India has not signed a DTAA. Thus, India gives relief to both kinds of taxpayers.

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A new service tax regime, based on a negative list of exempted services, will come into effect on July 1. With this, all services — except the 38 activities put on the negative list — will come under the tax at the increased rate of 12 per cent, as announced in the Union budget.

23.

As of now, service tax is being levied on 119 services based on a positive list. The switch-over to a negative list-based approach is aimed at aligning the indirect taxation system to the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which is sought to be introduced to unify the levies of the Centre and the States into a composite system.

24.

With the States firm on seeking a settlement on the Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation issue before moving ahead with rollout of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on November 8 announced that two committees would be constituted to address the contentious issues and move ahead on implementation of the indirect tax regime. One committee would deal with the CST compensation issue, the other would deliberate on the design of the GST framework. The committees will submit their reports by December 31.

DTAA/DTAC: Consistent with the practice adopted in most of the countries in the world that have taken to levy tax on income / capital, India has adopted the system under which Income Tax April 2013

In its continuing drive to check tax evasion and proliferation of black money, India has signed a protocol with the U.K. for amending the convention between the two countries for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains.

25.

Providing a welcome relief to the software industry, the government freed the information technology sector from the complex multi-level system of TDS (tax deduction at source) with effect from July 1.

26.

Under the existing taxation structure, a 10 per cent TDS is levied at each level of the software distribution chain — right from the master distributor end to the retailer and on to the final consumer.

Stagflation: In economics, stagflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high, the economic growth rate slows down, and unemployment remains steadily high. It raises a dilemma for economic policy since actions designed to lower inflation may exacerbate unemployment, and vice versa.

Stagflation is caused by circumstances similar to those that create hyperinflation. Both extreme situations have only occurred when expansive fiscal or monetary policy artificially boosted the money supply at the same time when supply was 94

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constrained. Fiscal policy can print more currency, while monetary policy creates more credit. If supply is limited or shut down, then companies can't produce more to meet the demand created by the extra money supply.

Non-Performing Asset(NPA): An asset becomes NPA when it ceases to generate income for the bank. This would mean that interest, which is debited to borrower's account, has to be realised by the bank. An account has to be classified as NPA on the basis of record of recovery rather than security charged in favour of the bank in respect of such account. Thus, an account of a borrower may be-come NPA if interest charged to that particular borrower is not realised despite the ac-count being fully secured.

Identification Of Account As NPA: RBI has laid down various criteria for classification of various types of advances as NPA which are as under: Term Loan: Interest and /orinstallment of principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days.

Overdraft/Cash Credit: If an account remains out of order, it would become NPA. For this purpose an account would be treated as 'out of order' if:

Revision-I

to the creditors and other stakeholders through an orderly and coordinated restructuring programme.

In keeping with the growing clout of China and India among the Asian economies, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) decided to start supporting deals denominated in their local currencies under its Trade Finance Programme (TFP) as intra-regional trade transactions using the renminbi and the rupee.

27.

The World Bank has approved a $106-million credit, representing the first part of a two-phase loan to support India's efforts to improve the nutritional outcome for children under six, with particular focus on 0-3-year-olds.

28.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has called for creating a system of multiple reserve currencies to strengthen global financial stability and reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar. He slammed the position of the U.S. dollar as the single reserve currency of the world. He further added that if there is only one global reserve currency, the issuing country will always be tempted to use it in its selfish interests, which in the long run harms the issuer and violates the fundamental principles of the functioning of the world financial system. Mr. Putin said all this at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vladivostok recently.

29.

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I) The outstanding balance remains continuously in excess of the sanctioned limit/drawing power for 90 days or more, or

ii) Even if the outstanding in the account is less than the sanctioned limit/drawing power, there are no credits in the account continuously for 90 days as on the date of the Balance sheet, or iii) Credits in the account are not sufficient to cover interest debited during the same period. Thus, as on 31st March2006, if any of the above criteria is satisfied, the account would be classified as NPA. There may be a situation where say for example drawing power of an account is Rs.10 lacs, balance is Rs.8 lacs and there are no credits in the account for 90 days.

Such account would be classified as NPA.

CDR Mechanism: There are occasions when cor-porates find themselves in financial difficulties because of factors beyond their control and also due to certain internal reasons. For the revival of such corporates as well as for the safety of the money lent by the banks and financial institutions, timely support through restructuring of genuine cases is called for. A Corporate Debt Restructuring System was evolved and detailed guidelines were issued by Reserve bank of India on August 23, 2001 for implementation by financial institutions and banks which aims at preserving viable corporates that are affected by certain internal and external factors and minimize the losses April 2013

Mauritius is prepared to revise the tax treaty with India to check evasion, but wants the agreement to prevail over domestic laws. Mauritius seems amenable to India's proposal for including a term, 'Limitation of Benefit,' in the proposed Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) to ensure that shell companies were not used to route investments into the country from Mauritius to escape tax.

India has been asking Mauritius to revise the DTAA for the past six years to plug a loophole through which companies and foreign financial institutions registered in the country avoid paying taxes in India.

30.

India has set a target of $40 billion trade turnover with the West African nations from the present $20 billion.

India had also set a target of $90 billion trade with Africa by 2015. The total trade between India and Africa was around $50 billion till last year.

31.

In a conscious bid to shore up the inflow of foreign funds and, thereby, stem the steady depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, the government threw open the stock markets to direct investment by all residents of the Gulf and EU nations. Alongside, it also opened the doors to individual overseas investors — better known as QFIs (qualified foreign investors) — to bring up to $1 billion in the country's debt and corporate bond market.

32.

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QFIs: The QFIs shall include individuals, groups or associations, resident in a foreign country which is compliant with FATF and that is a signatory to IOSCO's (INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF SECURITIES COMMISSIONS) multilateral MoU. QFIs do not include FII/sub-accounts.

In the present arrangement relating to foreign port-folio investments, only FIIs/sub-accounts and NRIs are allowed to directly invest in Indian equity market. In this arrangement, a large number of Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs), in particular, a large set of diversified individual foreign nationals who are desirous of investing in Indian equity market do not have direct access to Indian equity market. In the absence of availability of direct route, many QFIs find difficulties in investing in Indian equity market.

As a first step in this direction, QFIs have been per-mitted direct access to Indian Mutual Funds schemes pursuant to the Budget announcement 2011-12. As a next logical step, it has now been decided to allow QFIs to directly invest in Indian equity market in order to widen the class of investors, attract more foreign funds, and reduce market volatility and to deepen the Indian capital market.

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fundamental criteria for selection of items is that it should account for at least Rs 80 crore of gross value of output at the item level and Rs 20 crore of gross value added at the ultimate digit level. Another essential feature was that monthly production data for the items needed to be available on a sustained basis. It also included attempts at representing the small scale and unorganised manufacturing sector. While the items which are taken into consideration are classified into item groups under the three heads of mining, manufacturing and electricity, they have also been classified under use-based categories like basic goods, capital goods, intermediate goods, consumer durables and consumer non-durables.

Note: The base year has been changed to 2004-2005 form 1993-94.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao proposed a Producer Price Index (PPI), which would measure the average change over time in the sale prices of domestic goods and services. In its present structure, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) does not capture the price movement of services.

33.

Producer Price Index: The Producer Price Index (PPI) program measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output. The prices included in the PPI are from the first commercial transaction for many products and some services.

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Index of Industrial Production (IIP): The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) conveys the status of production in the industrial sector of an economy in a given period of time, in comparison with a fixed reference point in the past. The IIP numbers, released every month in India, for instance, use 2004-05 as the base year for comparison. The IIP figures are generally seen as an important but short-term indicator of whether industrial activity in a country has risen or dipped, till more detailed studies or surveys are available.

The IIP estimate for a given month is always released within six weeks from that month. The data for the IIP estimate is supplied by 15 source agencies which include Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Indian Bureau of Mines, Central Statistical Organisation and Central Electricity Authority, among others. However, given the fact that all the data regarding production may not be available at the time the index for a particular month is being created, a provisional index is first created and released, which is then updated twice in the subsequent months.

The IIP was first compiled and released using 1937 as the base year and included 15 industries. Subsequently, it has been updated at least seven times, both with regards to the base year as well as the nature of items included, to keep the data relevant. In the latest norms outlined by the ministry of statistics with 1993-94 as the base year, one of the April 2013

Even when we have a revised WPI, we would still not have a Producer Price Index (PPI). The PPI covers price changes faced by the producers on primary, intermediate and finished goods and services ready for the market. The primary difference between the WPI and the PPI is, in addition to the coverage, that the WPI reflects changes in the average cost of production including mark-ups and taxes, while the PPI measures price changes of transacted goods at the gate excluding taxes. The purpose of the PPI is to provide a measure of prices received by producers of commodities. The PPI usually covers the industrial (manufacturing) sector as well as public utilities (electricity, gas and communications). Some countries also include agriculture, mining, transportation, and business services.

Most of the countries replaced WPIs with PPIs in the 1970s and 1980s. For analytical purposes, it would be desirable to initiate the process of compilation of PPI for India.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on October 30, kept the indicative policy rates unchanged even while reducing the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) — the portion of deposits that banks keep with the central bank — by 25 basis points from 4.5 per cent to 4.25 per cent. This is expected to release liquidity to the tune of around Rs. 17,500 crore into the banking system. This reduction will be with effect from November 3.

34.

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CRR and Interest Rates (Source: RBI) (% per annum Key rates

Jul 31st

Sep 17th

Oct 30th

CRR

4.75

4.5

4.25

Repo Rate

8.00

8.00

8.00

Reverse Repo

7.00

7.00

7.00

Note: Bank rate, repo/reverse repo rate are, sometimes, referred as policy rates of RBI. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued final guidelines on setting up 'White label automated teller machines' (WLAs) under three schemes and stipulated that entities should have a minimum net worth of Rs.100 crore as per the latest financial year's audited balance sheet. White Label ATMs are ATMs set up, owned and operated by non-bank entities incorporated in India under the Companies Act, 1956.Till now, only banks were permitted to set up automated teller machines (ATMs) as extended delivery channels.

35.

Market Infrastructure Institutions: Three institutions viz. stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations are systemically important for the country's financial development and serve as the infrastructure necessary for the securities market. These institutions are collectively referred to as Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs).

or a bank loan in that the accounts receivable and the responsibility for their collection are actually sold rather than merely offered as loan collateral. Factoring is employed especially by highly seasonal industries to shift the functions of credit and collection to a specialized agency.

If a firm is not confident in its ability to collect on its credit sales, it may sell the right to receive payment to the factor at a discount. The factor then assumes the credit risk associated with the accounts receivable. This allows the firm access to working capital immediately, which is important especially if the firm might otherwise have a cash flow problem. The price of accounts receivable financing is determined by the creditworthiness of the firm's customer, not of the firm itself.

38.

RBI to buy bonds if liquidity deficit stays above comfort level : The RBI will buy bonds through its open

market operation (OMO) if liquidity deficit persistently stays above the comfort level, H.R. Khan, a deputy governor at the RBI said on September 5.The liquidity condition in the banking system is likely to tighten after companies pay their advance tax later this month, and traders expect an OMO around that time.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a new category of NBFCs, Non-Banking Financial CompanyFactors and stipulated that every company seeking registration as NBFC-Factors would have a minimum net-owned fund (NOF) of Rs.5 crore. An NBFC-Factor would ensure that its financial assets in the factoring business constitute at least 75 per cent of its total assets and its income derived from factoring business is not less than 75 per cent of its gross income.

36.

In a bid to give a big boost to trade and bilateral relations and enhance economic cooperation, the Union government on 1st August 2012 notified a law permitting investments by Pakistan citizens and companies in India, under the government route, in sectors/activities other than defense, space and atomic energy notified the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

37.

Factoring: Factoring, in finance, is the selling of accounts receivable (i.e. bills or invoices) on a contract basis by the business holding them to an agency known as a factor at discounted price in order to obtain cash payment of the accounts before their actual due date. The factor then assumes full responsibility for credit analysis of new accounts, payments collection, and credit losses. Factoring differs from borrowing April 2013

Open Market Operations: OMOs are the market operations conducted by the Reserve Bank of India by way of sale/ purchase of Government securities to/ from the market with an objective to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis. When the RBI feels there is excess liquidity in the market, it resorts to sale of securities thereby sucking out the rupee liquidity. Similarly, when the liquidity conditions are tight, the RBI will buy securities from the market, thereby releasing liquidity into the market.

A Government security is a tradable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments. It acknowledges the Government's debt obligation. Such securities are short term (usually called treasury bills, with original maturities of less than one year) or long term (usually called Government bonds or dated securities with original maturity of one year or more). In India, the Central Government issues both, treasury bills and bonds or dated securities while the State Governments issue only bonds or dated securities, which are called the State Development Loans (SDLs). Government securities carry practically no risk of default and, hence, are called risk-free gilt-edged instruments. Government of India also issues savings instruments (Savings Bonds, National Saving Certificates (NSCs), etc.) or special securities (oil bonds, Food Corporation of India bonds, fertiliser bonds, power bonds, etc.). They are, usually not fully tradable and are, therefore, not eligible to be SLR securities.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that foreign banks having 20 or more branches in the country will be brought on par with domestic banks for priority sector targets in a phased manner over a maximum period of five years starting April 1, 2013. Foreign banks with less than 20 branches will have no sub-targets within the overall priority sector lending target of 32 per cent. The overall target under priority sector lending is retained at 40 per cent as suggested by the Nair Committee.

39.

Nair Committee on Priority Sector Lending: The Reserve Bank had constituted the Committee under the chairmanship of Shri. M. V. Nair on August 25, 2011 pursuant to the announcement made in the Monetary Policy Statement 2011-12. The Committee was to re-examine the existing classification and suggest revised guidelines with regard to priority sector lending and related issues. The Committee had 10 Members from diverse fields and Dr. Deepali Pant Joshi, CGM-in-Charge, Rural Planning and Credit Department, Reserve Bank of India was its Member Secretary. The Committee was given a broadbased terms of reference.

Revision of Priority Sector Lending By RBI: The target of priority sector lending, before revision, was 40% for domestic banks and 32% for foreign banks. Foreign banks having 20 or more branches have been given the revised target of 40%, banks with less than 20 branches will retain the old target of 32%. The overall priority sector lending is retained at 40% as suggested by the Nair Committee, everything else is as per the established and accepted structure. However, lets take a brief glance over the present priority sector lending after revision:

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existed in India for a long time. A shortage of supply of rural credit was prevalent in India. To meet the demand for short and long term rural credit the Co-operative Credit Structure (CCS) was set up. While short term credit is supplied by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB) and Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), long term credit is supplied by the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDB).

Rural Credit Cooperatives were initiated in India long back, some of them, even before India's Independence in 1947. Postindependence the rural credit cooperative system was developed further. Moreover rural banks were set up. However in spite of such initiatives credit needs of the rural Indian people have not been met effectively. Supply of credit for agriculture too has not matched up to the demand levels. The resultant effect has been widespread discontent and despair among the rural poor, sometimes leading to extreme actions like suicides by farmers. Measures were undertaken by the Indian government in 2004, to increase credit supply for agriculture by commercial banks. Moreover banks were also asked to reorganize repayment schedules of farmers who were affected by floods, droughts, etc.

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What does constitute the Priority Sector? : Categories under priority sector. (i) Agriculture. (ii) Micro and Small Enterprises. (iii) Education. (iv) Housing. (v) Export Credit. (vi) Others.

The Reserve Bank of India constituted a committee to suggest ways to strengthen the rural co-operative credit structure. The 7-member panel, headed by NABARD Chairman Prakash Bakshi, will review the existing short-term cooperative credit structure (STCCS), focussing on structural constraints in the rural credit delivery system. It will also explore ways to strengthen the rural co-operative credit.

40.

Rural Credit Co-operatives: Rural Credit Cooperatives have April 2013

The Co-operative Credit Structure (CCS) of India was set up to serve the needs of both short term and long term rural credit in India. Short term credit in rural India is supplied by three tier Short Term Co-operative Credit Structure(STCCS):

?

State Cooperative Banks (SCB).

?

District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB).

?

Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) ?

Long term credit is supplied by the Primary Cooperative

Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDB).

Aluminium producer NALCO, ,in consortium with steel major SAIL and Hindustan Copper, will submit a bid for developing gold and copper deposits in Afghanistan this month. Two private Indian firms — Monnet Ispat & Energy and Jindal Steel & Power — have also been shortlisted by the Afghan Government for the copper and gold mines. The two firms had been invited to join the consortium of state-owned entities, so that a single Indian bid could be put up.

41.

The National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC), a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises is setting up incubation centers in ten African Countries including Gaborone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Libya, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Mozambique. The funding of Incubation project is

42.

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done by MEA under the discussions held during the India African forum summit held in 2008.

Incubation Centers: One of the objectives of National Small Industries Corporation(NSIC) is to promote entrepreneurship development in the country. This objective can be achieved by way of providing handholding support to the first generation entrepreneurs by helping them to set up their own micro & small enterprises. There is also an urgent need in the country to inculcate entrepreneurial skills to the youth by way of skill development through which they become employable as well as create their own enterprise. In this context, NSIC has already initiated setting up of Incubators/incubation centers which aim to impart training in the manufacturing as well as services sector, thus contributing to entrepreneurial skill development.

West Bengal has emerged as the leading state for generating employment in the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector, with over 43,000 jobs during April 2011 and February 15, 2012, says an Assocham study.

43.

Andhra Pradesh ranks fourth in the country in total outstanding private sector investment, both domestic and foreign, as of June 2012, apex industry body Assocham said on October 26. It accounts for an investment of 8.4 per cent.

Gujarat (12.5 per cent), Odisha (10.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (8.9 per cent) are the three States ahead of Andhra Pradesh in this regard.

44.

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ability to pay back bondholders the guarantee it was intended to be. Although these five were seen as being the countries in immediate danger of a possible default, the crisis has farreaching consequences that extend beyond their borders to the world as a whole. In fact, the head of the Bank of England referred to it as “the most serious financial crisis at least since the 1930s, if not ever,” in October 2011. This is one of most important problems facing the world economy, but it is also one of the hardest to understand.

The beginning of the crisis: The global economy has experienced slow growth since the U.S. financial crisis of 20082009, which has exposed the unsustainable fiscal policies of countries in Europe and around the globe. Greece, which spent heartily for years and failed to undertake fiscal reforms, was one of the first to feel the pinch of weaker growth. When growth slows, so do tax revenues – making high budget deficits unsustainable. The result was that the new Prime Minister George Papandreou, in late 2009, was forced to announce that previous governments had failed to reveal the size of the nation's deficits. In truth, Greece's debts were so large that they actually exceed the size of the nation's entire economy, and the country could no longer hide the problem.

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Asserting that it was the government of the day which suggested that the coal allocation policy was opaque and not transparent, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) stood by the Rs. 1.86 lakh crore loss figure in coal blocks allotments. Making a presentation before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on September 21 and answering questions raised by various members, CAG Vinod Rai explained how the gov-ernment watchdog ( CAG) had arrived at the loss figures and the reasoning and procedures it adopted.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will not provide financial contributions to a rescue package for Spanish banks that could reach €100 billion ($125 billion). In a state-ment, the Eurogroup confirmed that “up to €100 billion in total” would be made available to Spain, in order to cover (banks') estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin.

46.

Eurozone Crisis: The European debt crisis is the shorthand term for Europe's struggle to pay the debts it has built up in recent decades. Five of the region's countries – Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain – have, to varying degrees, failed to generate enough economic growth to make their April 2013

Investors responded by demanding higher yields on Greece's bonds, which raised the cost of the country's debt burden and necessitated a series of bailouts by the European Union and European Central Bank (ECB). The markets also began driving up bond yields in the other heavily indebted countries in the region, anticipating problems similar to what occurred in Greece.

The reason for rising bond yields is simple: if investors see higher risk associated with investing in a country's bonds, they will require a higher return to compensate them for that risk.

This begins a vicious cycle: the demand for higher yields equates to higher borrowing costs for the country in crisis, which leads to further fiscal strain, prompting investors to demand even higher yields, and so on. A general loss of investor confidence typically causes the selling to affect not just the country in question, but also other countries with similarly weak finances – an effect typically referred to as “contagion.”

Government's action to counter the crisis: The European Union has taken action, but it has moved slowly since it requires the consent of all 17 nations in the union. The primary course of action thus far has been a series of bailouts for Europe's troubled economies. In spring, 2010, when the European Union and International Monetary Fund disbursed 110 billion euros (the equivalent of $163 billion) to Greece.

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worth about $157 billion. On March 9, 2012, Greece and its creditors agreed to a debt restructuring that set the stage for another round of bailout funds. Ireland and Portugal also received bailouts, in November 2010 and May 2011, respectively. The Eurozone member states also created the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to provide emergency lending to countries in financial difficulty.

The European Central Bank also has become involved. The ECB announced a plan, in August 2011, to purchase government bonds if necessary in order to keep yields from spiraling to a level that countries such as Italy and Spain could no longer afford. In December 2011, the ECB made €489 ($639 billion) in credit available to the region's troubled banks at ultra-low rates, then followed with a second round in February 2012. The name for this program was the Long Term Refinancing Operation, or LTRO. Numerous financial instituions had debt coming due in 2012, causing them to hold on to their reserves rather than extend loans. Slower loan growth, in turn, could weigh on economic growth and make the crisis worse. As a result, the ECB sought to boost the banks' balance sheets to help forestall this potential issue.

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revenues and outlays – has led to public protests in Greece and Spain and in the removal of the party in power in both Italy and Portugal. On the national level, the crisis has led to tensions between the fiscally sound countries, such as Germany, and the higher-debt countries such as Greece. Germany pushed for Greece and other affected countries to reform the budgets as a condition of providing aid, leading to elevated tensions within the European Union. After a great deal of debate, Greece ultimately agreed to cut spending and raise taxes. However, an important obstacle has been Germany's unwillingness to agree to a region-wide solution – such as the issuance of bonds by all 17 countries in the Eurozone – since it would have to foot a disproportionate percentage of the bill.

The tension has created the possibility that one or more European countries would eventually abandon the euro (the region's common currency). On one hand, leaving the euro would allow a country to pursue its own independent policy rather than being subject to the common policy for the 17 nations using the currency. But on the other, it would be an event of unprecedented magnitude for the global economy and financial markets. This concern contributed to periodic weakness in the euro relative to other major global currencies during the crisis period.

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Although the actions by European policy makers usually helped stabilize the financial markets in the short term, they were widely criticized as merely “kicking the can down the road,” or postponing a true solution to a later date. In addition, a larger issue loomed: while smaller countries such as Greece are small enough to be rescued by the European Central Bank, Italy and Spain are too big to be saved. The perilous state of the countries' fiscal health was therefore a key issue for the markets at various points in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Effect on the financial market: The possibility of a contagion has made the European debt crisis a key focal point for the world financial markets in the 2010-2012 period. With the market turmoil of 2008 and 2009 in fairly recent memory, investors' reaction to any bad news out of Europe was swift: sell anything risky, and buy the government bonds of the largest, most financially sound countries. Typically, European bank stocks – and the European markets as a whole – performed much worse than their global counterparts during the times when the crisis was on center stage. The bond markets of the affected nations also performed poorly, as rising yields means that prices are falling. At the same time, yields on U.S. Treasuries fell to historically low levels in a reflection of investors' "flight to safety.”

Political implications: The political implications of the crisis are enormous. In the affected nations, the push toward austerity – or cutting expenses to reduce the gap between April 2013

India and China have set their sights on reaching a trade volume of $ 100 billion by 2015 with the bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries entering a vigorous new period. The bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries had graduated from pure trade to investment-led- trade, thus making the growing partnership more sustainable. The State would soon have an Export Promotion Policy besides sector-wise policies which would benefit the Indian business across.

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Headline Inflation: Headline inflation is a measure of the total inflation within an economy. This is a measurement of price inflation that takes into account all types of inflation that an economy can experience. Unlike core inflation, headline inflation also counts changes in the price of food and energy.

Because food and energy prices can rapidly increase while other types of inflation can remain low, headline inflation may not give an accurate picture of how an economy is behaving.

Core Inflation: A measure of inflation that excludes certain items that face volatile price movements. Core inflation eliminates products that can have temporary price shocks because these shocks can diverge from the overall trend of inflation and give a false measure of inflation.

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4 Type I, Type II and Type III diseases: The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH) distinguishes between three types of diseases.

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Type I: incident in rich and poor countries with large

vulnerable populations in both areas. These diseases attract sufficient R&D (both public and private) but poor country access to medicines may be restricted as they are often patented and expensive. ?

Type II: incident in rich and poor countries, but with a

much greater incidence in poor countries, such as HIV/AIDS and TB. R&D incentives exist in the rich countries, but the level of spending is very low compared to global disease burden. ?

Type III: incident almost exclusively in poor countries.

These are known as extremely neglected diseases, e.g. African sleeping sickness and river blindness. R&D in rich countries is almost non-existent and new treatment developments are usually fortuitous or accidental discoveries.

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SCI. & TECH. ?

Lymphatic filariasis ?

Onchocerciasis ?

Rabies ?

Schistosomiasis ?

Soil transmitted helminthiasis ?

Trachoma ?

Yaws

E. Coli: E. coli is the name of a germ, or bacterium, that lives in the digestive tracts of humans and animals. There are many types of E. coli, and most of them are harmless. But some can cause bloody diarrhea. These are called enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). One common type is called E. coli O157:H7. In some people, this type of E. coli may also cause severe anemia or kidney failure, which can lead to death. Other strains of E. coli can cause urinary tract infections or other infections. A healthy adult will usually make a full recovery from E. coli O157:H7 infection within 5 to 7 days. However, young children, elderly individuals and patients with weakened immune systems can develop potentially fatal HUS (hemolytic uremic syndrome), a type of kidney failure.

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Neglected tropical diseases: Neglected Tropical Diseases are one of the key areas of concern for our society. These communicable diseases affect an estimated one billion people, primarily poor populations living in tropical and subtropical climates, with children being the most vulnerable to infection.

WHO lists 17 diseases under the NTD group. They flourish in impoverished, tropical environments and, though medically diverse, tend to co-exist. Most are ancient diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries and have been largely wiped out in parts of the world with better living conditions and hygiene. The list NTDs is: ?

Buruli Ulcer ?

Chagasdisease (American trypanosomiasis) ?

Cysticercosis ?

Dengue/Severe dengue ?

Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease)

Malaria: Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites.

The parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, called "malaria vectors", which bite mainly between dusk and dawn. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells.

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Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become lifethreatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.

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Leishmaniasis

Key interventions to control malaria include: prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies; use of insecticidal nets by people at risk; and indoor residual spraying with insecticide to control the vector mosquitoes. There are four parasite species that cause malaria in humans:

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Leprosy

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Plasmodium falciparum

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Echinococcosis ?

Fascioliasis ?

Human African trypanosomiasis

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Plasmodium vivax

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Plasmodium ovale

bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.

Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the most common. Plasmodium falciparum is the most deadly. In recent years, some human cases of malaria have also occurred with Plasmodium knowlesi – a species that causes malaria among monkeys and occurs in certain forested areas of South-East Asia.

In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person's immune system acts to “wall off” the bacteria. The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats.

Tuberculosis is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.

Malaria is transmitted exclusively through the bites of Anopheles mosquitoes. The intensity of transmission depends on factors related to the parasite, the vector, the human host, and the environment. About 20 different Anopheles species are locally important around the world. All of the important vector species bite at night. Anopheles mosquitoes breed in water and each species has its own breeding preference; for example some prefer shallow collections of fresh water, such as puddles, rice fields, and hoof prints.

Key facts :

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Plasmodium malariae

Key facts :

Tuberculosis (TB) is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent.

In 2010, 8.8 million people fell ill with TB and 1.4 million died from TB. Over 95% of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and it is among the top three causes of death for women aged 15 to 44.

In 2009, there were about 10 million orphan children as a result of TB deaths among parents.

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Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.

In 2010, malaria caused an estimated 655 000 deaths (with an uncertainty range of 537 000 to 907 000), mostly among African children.

Malaria is preventable and curable.

Increased malaria prevention and control measures are dramatically reducing the malaria burden in many places.

Non-immune travellers from malaria-free areas are very vulnerable to the disease when they get infected.

According to the World malaria report 2011, there were about 216 million cases of malaria (with an uncertainty range of 149 million to 274 million) and an estimated 655 000 deaths in 2010 (with an uncertainty range of 537 000 to 907 000).

Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000, and by 33% in the WHO African Region. Most deaths occur among children living in Africa where a child dies every minute from malaria.

Scientists have found that vitamin D supplementation in tuberculosis patients who are on medication can clear the Mycobacterium tuberculosis — the bacterium that causes TB — quickly and hasten recovery.

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Pulmonary tuberculosis: Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious April 2013

TB is a leading killer of people living with HIV causing one quarter of all deaths.

Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is present in virtually all countries surveyed.

The estimated number of people falling ill with tuberculosis each year is declining, although very slowly, which means that the world is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to reverse the spread of TB by 2015.

The TB death rate dropped 40% between 1990 and 2010.

Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB): Multidrugresistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to, at least, isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful, first-line (or standard) antiTB drugs. The primary cause of MDR-TB is inappropriate treatment. Inappropriate or incorrect use of anti-TB drugs, or use of poor quality medicines, can all cause drug resistance.

India's TB control policy for 2012-2017 may mark a paradigm shift in the way TB is detected and treated if all the five major objectives listed in the draft version of the National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Control 2012-2017 are implemented in full earnest during the next five years. The National Strategic Plan sets the roadmap for RNTCP (Revised National TB Control Programme). The most radical departure listed in the draft is to “extend RNTCP services to patients

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diagnosed and treated in the private sector.”

Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES): AES is defined as the acute onset of fever and a change in mental status (including symptoms such as confusion, disorientation, coma, or inability to talk) and/or new onset of seizures (excluding simple febrile seizures) in a person of any age at any time of year. Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) including Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a group of clinically similar neurologic manifestation caused by several different viruses, bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochetes, chemical/ toxins etc. There is seasonal and geographical variation in the causative organism.

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AES i.e. suspected case should be classified in one of the following four ways: Laboratory-confirmed JE: A suspected case that has been laboratory-confirmed as JE. Probable JE: A suspected case that occurs in close geographic and temporal relationship to laboratory-confirmed case of JE, in the context of an outbreak.

Acute encephalitis syndrome (due to agent other than JE): A suspected case in which diagnostic testing is performed and an etiological agent other than JE virus is identified.

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Children suffer the highest attack rates because of lack of cumulative immunity due to natural infection.

Zoonotic Diseases: Any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans and vice-versa is classified as a zoonosis or zoonotic disease. Over 200 zoonoses have been described and they have been known for many centuries. They are caused by all types of agents: bacteria, parasites, fungi, viruses and unconventional agents.

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Some examples of zoonoses, classified according to the type of causative agent, are given hereafter.

Bacteria: Every year millions of people get sick because of food bornezoonoses such as Salmonellosis and Campylobacteriosis which cause fever, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, malaise and nausea. Other bacterial zoonoses are anthrax, brucellosis, infection by verotoxigenic Escherichia coli, leptospirosis, plague, Q fever, shigellosis and tularaemia.

Parasite: Cysticercosis/Taeniasis is caused by a parasite which infects swine and can cause seizures, headache and many other symptoms in humans. In Latin America for example, 100 out of 100 000 inhabitants suffer from this disease (estimation).

Other parasitic zoonoses are trematodosis, echinococcosis/ hydatidosis, toxoplasmosis and trichinellosis.

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Acute encephalitis syndrome (due to unknown agent ) A suspected case in which no diagnostic testing is performed or in which testing was performed but no etiological agent was identified or in which the test results were indeterminate.

In nutshell, JE virus may be one of the causes for AES, but it may result from various another pathogenic sources. It's detection is difficult and most of the time when JE is not identified as the reason for AES cases, AES unknown becomes quite a troublemaker in diagnosis and treatment.

Japanese Encephalitis (JE): Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito borne zoonotic viral disease is one of the causes under AES. It is a disease caused by a flavivirus that affects the membranes around the brain. The virus is maintained in animals and birds. Pigs and birds, particularly the birds belonging to Family Ardeidae (e.g. cattle egrets, pond herons, etc.) are the natural hosts. Pigs and wild birds are reservoir of infection and are often called as ìamplifierhostsî in the transmission cycle, while man and horse are ëdeadendí hosts.

Similarly other virus, fungus, parasite, spirochetes, toxin etc may cause similar illness.

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The disease affects the central nervous system and can cause severe complications, seizures and even death. The case fatality rate of this disease is very high and those who survive may suffer with various degrees of neurological sequelae.

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Viruses: Rabies is a disease of carnivores and bats mainly transmissible to humans by bites. Almost all persons infected by rabid animals will die if not treated. An estimated number of 55 000 persons, mainly children, die of this disease in the world every year. Dogs are responsible for most human deaths. Other viral zoonoses are avian influenza, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola and Rift Valley fever.

Fungi: Dermatophytoses are superficial mycoses that may be acquired from infected animals and affect the skin, hair and nails of humans, causing itching, redness, scaling and hair loss.

Another mycotic infection that can be zoonotic is sporotrichosis.

Unconventional agents: The agent of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is thought to be the cause of variant CreutzfeldtJakob Disease (vCJD) which is a degenerative neurological disease different from CJD, at present inevitably lethal in humans.

Zoonoses still represent significant public health threats, but many of them are neglected, i.e. they are not prioritized by health systems at national and international levels. They affect hundreds of thousands of people especially in developing countries, although most of them can be prevented.

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Arsenicosis: Drinking water rich in arsenic over a long period leads to arsenic poisoning or arsenicosis. Many waters contain some arsenic and excessive concentrations are known to naturally occur in some areas. The health effects are generally delayed and the most effective preventive measure is supply of drinking water low in arsenic concentration.

Arsenicosis is the effect of arsenic poisoning, usually over a long period such as from 5 to 20 years. Drinking arsenic-rich water over a long period results in various health effects including skin problems (such as colour changes on the skin, and hard patches on the palms and soles of the feet), skin cancer, cancers of the bladder, kidney and lung, and diseases of the blood vessels of the legs and feet, and possibly also diabetes, high blood pressure and reproductive disorders.

Vitamin B12 is vital for healthy functioning of our nervous system, but some people who suffer from its deficiency because of a rare genetic disorder, develop psychosis, stroke and dementia, says a study.

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B 12 Deficiency: Hypocobalaminemia : Vitamin B12 is crucial for the proper formation of red blood cells, as well as the health of nerve tissue. Vitamin B12 deficiency, or B12 deficiency, if left untreated can result in anemia, as well as irreversible nerve and brain damage.

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describing it as a major breakthrough for the visually impaired.

Bionic Vision Australia (BVA), a government-funded science consortium, said it had surgically installed an “early prototype” robotic eye in a woman with hereditary sight loss caused by degenerative retinitis pigmentosa.

Bionic Eyes or Visual Prosthesis: Visual prostheses including arti?cial retinal devices area novel and revolutionary approach to the treatment of profound visual loss. A visual prosthesis, often referred to as a bionic eye, is an experimental visual device intended to restore functional vision in those suffering from partial or total blindness. Many devices have been developed, usually modeled on the cochlear implant or bionic ear devices, a type of neural prosthesis in use since the mid 1980s. For more than three decades this technology based treatment for blindness has appeared imminent. Despite the concerted efforts of numerous physicians, scientists and engineers, the successful application of a useful visual prosthesis remains elusive.

HVEM: Herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM), also known as TNFRSF14, TR2 (TNF receptorlike molecule) and ATAR (another TRAF associated receptor), is a type I membrane protein belonging to the TNF/NGF receptor superfamily. HVEM expression has been detected in peripheral blood T cells, B cells, monocytes and in various tissues enriched in lymphoid cells. The extracellular domain of HVEM has been shown to interact directly with the herpes simplex virus envelope glycoprotein D (gD).

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A lack of vitamin B12 in the blood can lead to a blood disorder called pernicious anemia. Those with the disorder are unable to produce enough of a protein substance - IF (intrinsic factor) - in their stomach that allows their body to absorb vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is injected straight into the patient's blood, therefore bypassing the stomach which is unable to absorb it properly. Apart from creating red blood cells and keeping our nervous system healthy, we also need vitamin B12 in order to be able to absorb folic acid. Vitamin B12 also helps to release energy.

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What is “Good” and “Bad” cholesterol?

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Cholesterol is not soluble in blood. It travels to and from

cells via carriers called lipoproteins. ?

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is called "bad" cholesterol because it tends to get stuck on the inner walls of your arteries during circulation. If a clot forms and blocks a narrowed artery, heart attack or stroke can result. ?

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is called "good" cholesterol because high levels of HDL seem to protect against heart attack by resisting artery-thickening.

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Australian scientists said recently they had successfully implanted a “world first” bionic eye prototype,

April 2013

Probiotics when consumed regularly may be able to prevent many acute diarrhoea cases in children. In 2010, diarrhoea killed more than 210,000 children aged less than five years in India, The Lancet reported recently . The mortality figures were nearly 19,000 in neonates and 193,000 in children aged 1-59 months. The effectiveness of probiotics in preventing and even reducing the duration of diarrhoea has been reported in several studies.

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Probiotics: Probiotics are live microorganisms (in most cases, bacteria) that are similar to beneficial microorganisms found in the human gut. They are also called “friendly bacteria” or “good bacteria.” Probiotics are available to consumers mainly in the form of dietary supplements and foods. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria are the most common types of microbes used as probiotics; but certain yeasts and bacilli may also be used. Probiotics are commonly consumed as part of fermented foods with specially added active live cultures; such as in yogurt, soy yogurt, or as dietary supplements.

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infected patient.

The 25 to 35-feet-long gastrointestinal tract of an adult human has about 100 trillion bacteria — good, neutral and pathogenic microorganisms. This is approximately ten times the total number of cells in the human body. In all, the digestive tract has some 400 different types of bacteria that keep the harmful bacteria under check.

The intestinal epithelium by itself acts as a physical barrier to the pathogenic bacteria. However, when the number of good bacteria declines, pathogenic micro-organisms can destroy the integrity of the intestinal wall and cause many illnesses, diarrhoea included.

In what is considered a major step forward in biotechnology research, a group of 300 scientists from across the world, including India, have sequenced the genome of tomato. The achievement is expected to lower the costs and speed up efforts to improve tomato production, making it better equipped to combat pests and pathogens, and to tolerate droughts. The 'Tomato Genome Consortium' was established after a scientific conference organised in 2003 in the U.S. Its members were drawn from the U.S., the U.K., China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Israel, Spain, Argentina, and Belgium. Tomato belongs to a family of vegetables called 'Solanaceae,' which have a lot of global importance as they serve as sources of food, spices, medicines and ornamentals. The other members include potato, pepper and brinjal.

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effective treatment till now is a lifelong gluten-free diet. Within hours of consumption, they can have severe diarrhoea and vomiting that may last for several days. The disease is mostly genetic and up to 90 percent of those with the condition carry a specific gene, known as HLA-DQ2.

Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy is a medical term defined as the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response". Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies.

DNA sequencing: DNA sequencing is any process used to map out the sequence of the nucleotides that comprise a strand of DNA. DNA sequencing encompasses biochemical methods for determining the order of the nucleotide bases, adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine, in a DNA oligonucleotide. By generating a DNA sequence for a particular organism, you are determining the patterns that make up genetic traits and in some cases behaviors. In 1953, two researchers, namely James Watson and Francis Crick, discovered the basic structure of DNA. DNA is basically a long molecule that stores coded instructions for the cell.

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Daisy, a genetically-modified cow, that produces allergy-free milk. Scientists have engineered a genetically modified cow that produces milk that is less likely to cause allergic reactions. The modified cow produced milk lacks betalactoglobulin, which is a major whey protein of cow and sheep's milk. This is the component to which some people are allergic. The instructions for making the beta-lactoglobulin protein are contained in genes in the cow's DNA. The scientists' team from New Zealand added extra genetic material to disrupt the manufacturing process using a technique called RNA interference.

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The Coalition for GM Free India; Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad; and Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture have called upon the Union government to enact a comprehensive National Biosafety Protection Law to address the risks posed by genetic engineering.

WHAT IS COELIAC DISEASE? Patients adversely react to a particular gluten protein found in wheat. The only known April 2013

Genome sequencing projects, representing many different organisms, hold the promise of unprecedented advances in industry and medicine. Microbial genomes may encode enzymes that could help make industrial processes more efficient. Human genome sequences are helping us to better understand human metabolism and disease and may make it easier to treat genetic diseases or design better drugs in the future.

Scientists have decoded the genomes of more than 1,000 people from 14 ethnic global groups, in the largest and most detailed compilation yet of human DNA variations, to trace rare and common diseases to their very roots. The 1,000 Genomes Project involved some 200 scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions. Eventually, the initiative will involve 2,500 individuals from 26 populations.

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Scientists have discovered an elusive human gene that causes a devastating form of early-onset blindness, a step they say will help develop sight saving gene therapy for retinal degeneration. Researchers from different institutions in the U.S. have isolated an elusive human gene called NMNAT1 that causes a common form of blindness called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).

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important animal model to study modern biology and human diseases, was inaugurated at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) by Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The facility is jointly funded by CSIR and Department of Biotechnology under 'Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics' programme to use Zebrafish as a vertebrate model system to study basic biology and carry out applied research.

Zebrafish: The zebrafish, Daniorerio, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family (Cyprinidae) of order Cypriniformes. It is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio, and is an important vertebrate model organism in scientific research. It is particularly notable for its regenerative abilities. The fish has a dedicated online database of genetic, genomic, and developmental information, the Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN). D. rerio is also one of the few fish species to have been sent into space.

As a model biological system, the zebrafish possesses numerous advantages for scientists. Its genome has been fully sequenced, and it has well-understood, easily observable and testable developmental behaviors. Its embryonic development is very rapid, and its embryos are relatively large, robust, and transparent, and able to develop outside their mother. Furthermore, well-characterized mutant strains are readily available.

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By October 2011 there were 176 Parties to the Convention.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based. They possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the environment, they: remain intact for exceptionally long periods of time (many years); become widely distributed throughout the environment as a result of natural processes involving soil, water and, most notably, air; accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms including humans, and are found at higher concentrations at higher levels in the food chain; and are toxic to both humans and wildlife.

As a result of releases to the environment over the past several decades due especially to human activities, POPs are now widely distributed over large regions (including those where POPs have never been used) and, in some cases, they are found around the globe. This extensive contamination of environmental media and living organisms includes many foodstuffs and has resulted in the sustained exposure of many species, including humans, for periods of time that span generations, resulting in both acute and chronic toxic effects.

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Other advantages include the species' nearly constant size during early development, which facilitates simple staining techniques, and the fact that its two-celled embryo can be fused into a single cell to create a homozygous embryo. The zebrafish is also demonstrably similar to mammalian models and humans in toxicity testing, and exhibits a diurnal sleep cycle with similarities to mammalian sleep behavior.

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have adverse effects to human health or to the environment. In response to this global problem, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted at a Conference of Plenipotentiaries on 22 May 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden. The Convention entered into force on 17 May 2004. The Convention requires Parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.

The Convention is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Endosulfan: Endosulfan is an off-patent organochlorine insecticide and acaricide that is being phased out globally.

Endosulfan became a highly controversial agrichemicaldue to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and role as an endocrine disruptor. Because of its threats to human health and the environment, a global ban on the manufacture and use of endosulfan was negotiated under the Stockholm Convention in April 2011. The ban will take effect in mid 2012, with certain uses exempted for 5 additional years .More than 80 countries, including the European Union, Australia and New Zealand, several West African nations, the United States, Brazil and Canada had already banned it or announced phase outs by the time the Stockholm Convention ban was agreed upon. It is still used extensively in India, China, and few other countries. It is produced by Makhteshim Agan and several manufacturers in India and China.

Though, India, in April 2011, agreed to ban the pesticide but bought itself more time to phase out the use and production of Endosulphan over the next 10 years. A domestic campaign against the insecticide for its widespread toxic effects in Kerala has turned into a hot-button political issue.

The farm ministry, however, has blamed overuse of the substance and argues that a ban could push up food costs, as the next cheapest alternative costs up to 10 times more.

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could be used to scrape toxic metals and radioactive species from the environment, also played a similar and crucial role early in Earth's history. Research suggests for the first time that 'green rust' was likely widespread in ancient oceans and may have played a vital role in the creation of our early atmosphere.

Green Rust: Green Rust (GR) is an important tool in environmental remediation efforts to clean up groundwater impacted sites. Green rusts, mixed FeII/FeIII hydroxide minerals present in many anaerobic environments, have been shown to reduce a number of organic and inorganic contaminants. FeII can reduce a range of organic and inorganic contaminants, and FeII is one of the most abundant reductants typically present in aquatic and terrestrial environments under suboxic and anoxic conditions. GR, which is much less stable than the usual brown rust and is formed only under anaerobic conditions, plays an important role in the transport and reduction of many contaminants in suboxic soils and aquifers.

Only discovered last decade, green rust is a highly reactive iron mineral which experts hope could be used to clean up metal pollution and even radioactive waste and this latest discovery proved the effectiveness of green rust as an environmental cleaner.

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produce these exists and they can be and are produced widely now. The only issue is cost.

Second generation bio-fuels: But the smart money is now on second generation biofuels - where a much wider range of substances, including manure, food waste, wood, straw and sewage and algae, are broken down to create biofuels. Here the whole crop can be used so you get much more bang for your carbon buck - but experts say it will be five to ten years before they become commercially viable.

Also, the way forward is to convert the residue part of the crop into sugars which can then be used for fuels. Residue means the part of the crop which is not eaten - the stalks and husks, and also wood chippings. Many second generation biofuels are under development such as Cellulosic ethanol, Algae fuel ,biohydrogen, biomethanol, DMF, BioDME, FischerTropsch diesel, biohydrogen diesel, mixed alcohols and wood diesel.

Bio-hydrogen: Biohydrogen is defined as hydrogen produced biologically, most commonly by algae, bacteria and archaea. Biohydrogen is a potential biofuelobtainable from both cultivation and from waste organic materials.

Hydrogen is a valuable gas as a clean energy source and as feedstock for some industries. Hydrogen has several desirable characteristics: It has high conversion efficiency, it is recyclable and non-polluting, and yields only water after combustion.

These characteristics make hydrogen the fuel of the future.

Therefore, demand on hydrogen production has increased considerably in recent years. Electrolysis of water, steam reforming of hydrocarbons and auto-thermal processes are well-known methods for hydrogen gas production, but not cost-effective due to high energy requirements. Biological production of hydrogen gas has significant advantages over chemical methods.

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Because it is so reactive, green rust has hardly ever been found before in nature and never in a water system like Lake Matano, The discovery of green rust in Lake Matano, Indonesia, where experiments were carried out shows for the first time what a key role it played in our ancient oceans — scavenging dissolved nickel, a key micronutrient for methanogenesi.

Biofuels can be made from any organic source that can be rapidly replenished. The two big players in the market are biodiesel and bioethanol – liquid fuels made from living organisms, such as plants and animals, and their by-products. They are considered more renewable and sustainable sources than fossil fuels, and are one of the few technologies with the potential to displace oil for use in transport.

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First generation bio-fuels : Most biofuels currently used come from agricultural crops. Different countries specialise in certain types of biofuel, according to their climate. In Europe it's rapeseed, wheat and sugar beet, while the US primarily harvests corn and soybeans. Sugar cane tends to be grown in Brazil and a huge amount of palm oil comes from south-east Asia.40% of US corn stocks are currently being used to produce fuel corn ethanol. These are the examples are first generation bio-fuels First-generation' or conventional biofuels which are made from sugar, starch, and vegetable oil. The technology to April 2013

The major biological processes utilized for hydrogen gas production are bio-photolysis of water by algae, dark and photo-fermentation of organic materials, usually carbohydrates by bacteria. Sequential dark and photo-fermentation process is a rather new approach for bio-hydrogen production.

One of the major problems in dark and photo-fermentative hydrogen production is the raw material cost. Carbohydrate rich, nitrogen deficient solid wastes such as cellulose and starch containing agricultural and food industry wastes and some food industry wastewaters such as cheese whey, olive mill and bakers yeast industry wastewaters can be used for hydrogen production by using suitable bio-process technologies. Utilization of aforementioned wastes for hydrogen 107 76

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production provides inexpensive energy generation with simultaneous waste treatment.

24.

Carbon Sequestration: Carbon sequestration is the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and may refer specifically to : The process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in a reservoir. When carried out deliberately, this may also be referred to as carbon dioxide removal, which is a form of geoengineering.

The process of carbon capture and storage, where carbon dioxide is removed from flue gases, such as on power stations, before being stored in underground reservoirs.

Natural biogeochemical cycling of carbon between the atmosphere and reservoirs, such as by chemical weathering of rocks.

Carbon sequestration describes long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming and avoid dangerous climate change. It has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric and marine accumulation of greenhouse gases, which are released by burning fossil fuels.

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NuSTAR: The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array is an Explorer mission that will allow astronomers to study the universe in high energy X-rays. Launched in June 2012, NuSTAR is the first focusing hard X-ray telescope to orbit Earth and is expected to greatly exceed the performance of the largest ground-based observatories that have observed this region of the electromagnetic spectrum. NuSTAR also complements astrophysics missions that explore the cosmos in other regions of the spectrum.

Scientists are using the world's biggest telescope, buried deep under the South Pole, to try to unravel the mysteries of tiny particles known as neutrinos, hoping to shed light on how the universe was made. The megadetector, called Ice Cube, took 10 years to build 2,400 meters below the Antarctic ice. Designed to observe neutrinos, which are emitted by exploding stars and move close to the speed of light, the telescope is attracting new attention in the wake of last week's discovery of a particle that appears to be the Higgs boson — a basic building block of the universe.

29.

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer( AMS-02): The AMS02 experiment is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that is constructed, tested and operated by an international team composed of 56 institutes from 16 countries and organized under United States Department of Energy (DOE) sponsorship. The JSC AMS project office oversaw the overall payload integration activities and ensured that the payload is safe and ready for launch on the Space Shuttle and and continues to be safe since its deployment onto the ISS. The AMS Experiment uses the unique environment of space to advance knowledge of the universe and lead to the understanding of the universe's origin. AMS was launched on Space Shuttle Endeavour on May 16, 2011. Operations on the ISS began three days later, and AMS continues operations onboard the ISS today.

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A powerful solar telescope billed as the largest in Europe opened recently on Spain's Canary Islands.

Scientists say it will allow them to study the sun in unrecedented detail. With a mirror diameter of 1.5 metres, the Gregor telescope will be able to show structures on the sun on scales as small as 70 kilometres.

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The huge "Cherenkov" telescope, the size of two lawn tennis courts and the biggest of its kind, has started to capture cosmic rays from its base in Namibia, scientists have announced. The 600-tonne telescope structure with its 28metre (92-feet) mirror will be observing the most violent and extreme phenomena of the universe in very high energy gamma rays.

26.

Australia on October 5 unveiled a colossal radio telescope that will allow astronomers to detect distant galaxies and explore the depths of the universe with unprecedented precision. The Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope, at the remote Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Western Australian desert, is made up of 36 antennas, each 12 metres in diameter.

27.

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has successfully deployed its lengthy mast, giving it the ability to see the highest energy X-rays in our universe, a step closer in the hunt for black holes.

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April 2013

X-ray binary: Binary star systems contain two stars that orbit around their common center of mass. Many of the stars in our Galaxy are part of a binary system. A special class of binary stars is the X-ray binaries, so-called because they emit X-rays. X-ray binaries are made up of a normal star and a collapsed star (a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole).

These pairs of stars produce X-rays if the stars are close enough together that material is pulled off the normal star by the gravity of the dense, collapsed star. The X-rays come from the area around the collapsed star where the material that is falling toward it is heated to very high temperatures (over a million degree).

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Astronomers have discovered a planet two-thirds the size of earth and possibly the closest to our solar system, using Nasa's Spitzer Telescope. The potential exoplanet called UCF-1.01, is located 33 light-years away, with a diametre of 8,400 kilometers, making it possibly the nearest world to our solar system that is smaller than our home planet, NASA said.

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Exoplanets: An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of 777 such planets (in 623planetary systems, including 105 multiple planetary systems) have been identified as of July 15, 2012.Estimates of the frequency of systems strongly suggest that more than 50% of Sun-like stars harbor at least one planet.In a 2012 study, each star of the 100 billion or so in our Milky Way galaxy is estimated to host on average at least 1.6 planets. Accordingly, at least 160 billion star-bound planets may exist in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. Unbound free-floating planetary-mass bodies in the Milky Way may number in the trillions, with 100,000 objects larger than Pluto for every main-sequence star.

Super Earth: A super-Earth is an extrasolar planet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below the mass of the Solar System's smaller gas giants Uranus and Neptune, which are both more or less 15 Earth masses. The term super-Earth refers only to the mass of the planet, and does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability. The alternative term "gas dwarfs" may be more accurate for those at the higher end of the mass scale, as suggested by MIT professor Sara Seager, although in actual parlance, mini-Neptunes seems more common.

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The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5

million light-years from Earth in the Andromeda constellation.

It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224. ?

The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest spiral galaxy to Milky

Way. ?

It is named after the mythological princess Andromeda. ?

The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local

Group, which also contains our galaxy (Milky Way), the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. ?

M31 contains one trillion stars: at least twice the number

of stars in our own galaxy.

U.S. astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fifth and tiniest moon yet orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The mini-moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and between 10 km and 25 km across. It is visible as a speck of light in Hubble images, NASA said.

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Dwarf Planet: A dwarf planet hasn't "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit, which means it has not become gravitationally dominant and it shares its orbital space with other bodies of a similar size.

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Goldilocks Zone: Terrestrial planets are also more likely to lie in the Goldilocks zone. Also called the habitable zone or life zone, the Goldilocks region is an area of space in which a planet is just the right distance from its home star so that its surface is neither too hot nor too cold. Earth, of course, fills that bill, while Venus roasts in a runaway greenhouse effect and Mars exists as a frozen, arid world. In between, the conditions are just right so that liquid water remains on the surface of the planet without freezing or evaporating out into space. Now the search is on to find another planet in the Goldilocks zone of another solar system.

Astronomers have announced that the Andromeda galaxy will collide with the Milky Way about 4 billion years from now. Although the sun and other stars will remain intact, the titanic tumult is likely to shove the solar system to the outskirts of the merged galaxies.

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Andromeda: April 2013

The Dwarf Planet 'Pluto': Because it has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, Pluto is considered a dwarf planet. It orbits in a disc-like zone beyond the orbit of Neptune called the Kuiper belt, a distant region populated with frozen bodies left over from the solar system's formation. The dwarf planet is a whopping 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers) from the sun, and its average temperature hovers around -356 degrees Fahrenheit (-215 degrees Celsius).

Pluto was discovered by American Scientist Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. It was regarded as the ninth full-fledged planet in the Solar System but astronomers have since demoted it to a dwarf planet in 2006. Pluto was declassified as a planet due to a recognition that it is one of several large, icy objects that reside in the Kuiper Belt, a region just beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Pluto's largest moon, Charon, which is about 1,000 kilometres across, was discovered in 1978. Hubble observations in 2006 uncovered two additional small moons, Nix and Hydra.

Last year, Hubble had discovered another moon revolving around Pluto. A NASA spacecraft named New Horizons is currently en-route to Pluto and will reach there in 2015. New Horizons will return the first ever detailed images of the Pluto system, which is so small and distant that even Hubble can barely see the largest features on its surface.

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35.

Solar Flares:

?

A solar flare is a sudden brightening observed over the Sun's surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as a large energy release of up to 6 x 1025 joules of energy. ?

These are not visible from Earth's surface. ?

Solar flares strongly influence the local space weather in

the vicinity of the Earth. ?

They can produce streams of highly energetic particles in the solar wind, known as a solar proton event, or "coronal mass ejection" (CME). ?

These particles can impact the Earth's magnetosphere,

and present radiation hazards to spacecraft, astronauts, and cosmonauts. ?

The most powerful flare ever observed was in 1859. The

event is named the Solar storm of 1859, or the "Carrington event". The flare was visible to a naked-eye.

36.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who holds the record of the longest space flight (195 days) for a woman, has completed her fifth spacewalk lasting eight hours and 17 minutes. Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide set out from the international space station at 5:46 p.m. August 30st (India time) and returned at 2:03 a.m. August 31st, the US space agency NASA announced. The longest spacewalk of 8 hours and 56 minutes was undertaken by US astronauts Susan Helms and James Voss in 2001.

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The design for the Geo-Imaging Satellite or GISAT is taking shape at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. With a recent approval and Rs. 50-crore allocation this financial year for preliminary work, GISAT should be a reality in a couple of years. The sub-1,000-kg satellite will be put in space by a PSLV rocket. GISATwill be fixed in a geostationary orbit, always looking over the same region and synchronised to the Earth's 24-hour rotation. It will be like an eye far up in the sky that is constantly trained on the country and alerts authorities 36,000 km below of trouble spots, natural disasters, floods and forest fires.

40.

India's heaviest communication satellite GSAT–10 was successfully launched by an Ariane–5 rocket from Kourou launchpad in French Guiana on September 29th. The satellite would boost telecommunications, direct-to-home broad-casting and civil aviation programmes in the country.

41.

In 2013, India is to launch Astrosat, the country's first satellite dedicated to astronomy, which will gaze out at the universe in x-ray, ultraviolet and visible light bands. The data its instruments supply should help scientists to have better understanding of the ways of the cosmos, whether it is black holes, with their insatiable appetites, that lurk mysteriously at the centres of galaxies; the violent death throes of stars; or how one star of a duo, known as a 'x-ray binary,' cannibalises the other.

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With plans for 60 missions over the next five years, ISRO will develop a third launch pad at its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to meet the growing demand.

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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has built a dedicated satellite for the Navy which will be launched in a few months by an Ariane-5 rocket from the Kourou island in French Guiana. The GSAT series, built by the ISRO, are communication satellites which cannot be used for surveillance.

The Navy will use GSAT-7 to communicate with its submarines, frigates, destroyers and aircraft from its centres on the shore.

38.

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) blasted off from here on September 9 and placed two foreign satellites in orbit, accomplishing the Indian Space Research Organisation's 100th mission, a milestone in the country's space journey. It carried SPOT-6, a 712-kg French earth observation satellite (SPOT-6 built by ASTRIUM SAS) and injected it into an orbit of 655-km altitude, inclined at 98.23 degrees to the equator. Proiteres, a 15-kg Japanese microsatellite, was put into orbit as an additional payload.

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April 2013

Indian Mars orbiter mission: The Central government is all set to give the go-ahead for an ambitious mission to Mars, expected in November 2013. The project report for Indian Mars orbiter mission has been submitted for government approval. The mission envisages launching an orbiter around Mars using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV—XL).

The orbiter will be placed in an orbit of 500 x 80,000 km around MARS and will have a provision to carry nearly 25 kg of scientific payloads on—board. The tentative objective for the Mars mission will be to focus on life, climate, geology, origin, evolution and sustainability of life on the planet.

43.

The proposed payload of 25 kg consists of ten instruments, including: ?

Probe For Infrared Spectroscopy for Mars (Prism) ?

Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (Menca) ?

"TIS" instrument (thermal emissions) ?

Mars Color Camera (MCC) ?

Methane Sensor For Mars (MSM) ?

Mars Radiation Spectrometer (Maris) 110 79

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Plasma and Current Experiment (Pace)

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has handed over the basic satellite structure of the Mars Orbiter Mission to the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. HAL's Aerospace Division assembled the structure at its Bangalore facility. ISRO will build the other satellite sub-systems and scientific payload on to this structure. HAL also supplies key sub-systems for ISRO's launch vehicle programme. ISRO plans to launch the Mars mission in November 2013.

44.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States opened a new chapter in the history of interplanetary exploration on 6th of August when its $2.5 billion nuclear-powered robot, Curiosity, beamed back pictures from the surface of Mars .The one-tonne mobile lab is the largest rover ever sent to Mars, and its high-speed landing was the most daring to date, using a rocket-powered sky crane to lower the six-wheeled vehicle gently to the red planet's surface. The rover is set for a two-year mission to explore the planet, including a long climb up a mountain to analyse sediment layers that are up to a billion year-old.

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is Shenzhou 10, intended for launch in 2013. China hails space mission's success as crew returns to Earth on June 29 in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia. China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday June 29, ending a mission that put the country's first woman in space and completed a manned docking test critical to its goal of building a space station by 2020.

Tiangong-1: Tiangong (literally "Heavenly Palace 1") is China's first space station, an experimental testbed to demonstrate rendezvous and docking capabilities. Launched unmanned aboard a Long March 2F/G rocketon 29 September 2011,it is the first operational component of the Tiangong program, which aims to place a larger, modular station into orbit by 2020.Tiangong-1 will be de-orbited in 2013, and replaced over the following decade by the larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 modules.

Tiangong-1 will be visited by a series of Shenzhou spacecraft during its two-year operational lifetime. The first of these, the unmanned Shenzhou 8, successfully docked with the module in November 2011.The manned Shenzhou 9 mission docked wih Tiangong-1 in June 2012.

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The three major Asian space powers — China, Japan and India — are entering the next phase of their lunar exploration. The three nations have already successfully despatched lunar probes that photographed and studied Earth's natural satellite from space. Media reports have quoted Chinese space officials as saying that the Chang'e-3 could leave for the Moon in 2013. India's Chandrayaan-2 mission could be on its way in 2014. Japan's Selene-2 landing mission to Moon by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space involves sending a 700 kg-orbiter along with a lander weighing about 1,000 kg. It would also carry a 100 kg rover. The lander and rover were being designed for a mission lasting two weeks.

The orbiter could operate for about a year. Moreover, the Selene-3 launch could take place in the early 2020s. South Korea proposed an analytical instrument that could be carried on Japan's Selene-2 rover. The country also had aspirations of launching an orbiter-lander mission to the Moon around 2023.

46.

China's Manned Space Mission: Shenzhou 9 was a manned spacecraft flight of China's Shenzhou program, launched at 18:37:24 CST (10:37:24 UTC), 16 June 2012.

Shenzhou 9 was the second spacecraft and first manned spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong 1 space station, which took place on 18 June. The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft landed at 10:01:16 CST (02:01:16 UTC) on 29 June in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The mission's crew included the first Chinese female astronaut, Liu Yang. The next planned mission

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April 2013

Russia has started building a spacecraft for manned lunar missions with the first test scheduled for 2015, with the aim of creating the first base on the moon, the project developer said. Work has already started. The unmanned tests are scheduled in 2015, the first manned mission is planned in 2018. The spaceships would be designed to land on and lift off from the moon, work as space tug-boats as well as service modules for other space vehicles.

48.

SpaceX became the first commercial outfit to dock its own cargo capsule at the International Space Station, marking a new era for private spaceflight. The California-based SpaceX is owned by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk. With no humans on board, the capsule is delivering about a half tonne of supplies and science experiments for the ISS, and aims to return a slightly larger load of gear to the Earth on May 31.

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50.

A Russian computer firm has discovered a new computer virus with unprecedented destructive potential that chiefly targets Iran and could be used as a “cyberweapon” by the West and Israel. Kaspersky Lab, one of the world's biggest producers of anti-virus software, said its experts discovered the virus known as Flame during an investigation prompted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

51.

In a major step to easily manage large clusters of servers, IT giant Microsoft has unveiled Windows Server 111 80

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2012, the first of its kind version of operating system that can be controlled remotely. The launch of the cloud based operating system is the first major update to its existing operating system in vogue since 2009.

Windows 8 launched : Taking on competition from Apple and Google's Android, Microsoft on October 25 launched the latest version of its flagship operating system, Windows 8, which is designed to work across PCs, tablets and smartphones.

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Flipora gathering steam : Flipora, a web service that is attempting to rewrite the rules of engagement on the way we discover content on the web — moving away from the now standard “social graph” to an “interest graph” — has gained some critical momentum in recent months. It is founded by two Indian graduates from Stanford University. These are exciting times for Jonathan Siddharth and Vijay Krishnan, students from the class of 2007-08, who are seeing their Silicon Valley start-up gather steam.

The advanced version of low-cost tablet Aakash was launched in New Delhi on November 11 by President Pranab Mukherjee. Coming at a price tag of Rs. 1,130 for students, the new version 'Aakash 2' will be made available to students of engineering colleges and universities to begin with.

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solution to recover the uranium. They are then dunked in the water again in a process that can be repeated several times.

It was grand day at CERN in Geneva when the physicists announced the discovery of the by now famous particle known as the Higgs boson. Over time this has been come to be known as the God Particle. Like a search for God, this particle has been a very elusive customer – is that why perhaps it has been so called, and what in fact is the Higgs particle?

59.

LED: A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting.

Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962, early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.

60.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has finalised standards that promise to revolutionise television viewing with 'ultra high-definition' pictures of stupendous clarity and size in the coming years. Even as highdefinition (HD) TV has been gaining ground over the years, displacing, to some extent, the standard definition TV, the ITU has come up with the latest ultra high-definition TV (UHDTV) standards that will push picture resolution manifold.

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Milagrow Human Tech, a division of Milagrow, a player in tablet PC market, has introduced TabTop 7.4, a 6.5 mm thin tablet PC in Indian market. This 'ready to use' tablet is preloaded with 55 applications.

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India and Russia could be one of the first nations to test hypersonic missiles, which fly at five-seven times the speed of sound. The hypersonic version of the BrahMos cruise missile will be ready for testing in 2017.

56.

India's first commercial fast reactor is nearly ready and construction activities are expected to be completed by the year-end, said Srikumar Banerjee, eminent nuclear scientist and former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

57.

Oceans which are a rich source of uranium may soon hold the future of nuclear power as scientists are developing a cost-effective way to extract the precious metal from the water bodies through special mats. The standard extraction tech-nique, developed in Japan, uses mats of braided plastic fibres embedded with compounds that capture uranium atoms. Each mat is 50 to 100 yards long and suspended 100 to 200 yards under the water. After being brought back to the surface, the mats are rinsed with a mild acid

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April 2013

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD): Quantum dots are nanoscale semiconductors that capture light and convert it into an energy source. Because of their small scale, the dots can be sprayed on to flexible surfaces, including plastics. This enables the production of solar cells that are less expensive to produce and more durable than the more widely-known silicon-based version. A colloidal form of these quantum dots are called colloidal quantum dots in which quantum dots are homogeneously and evenly distributed.

What is polythene? : Polyethylene (abbreviated PE) or polythene is the most common plastic. The annual production is approximately 80 million metric tons. Its primary use is within packaging (plastic bag, plastic films, geomembranes, containers including bottles, etc.). Many kinds of polyethylene are known, but they almost always have the chemical formula (C2H4)nH2. Thus PE is usually a mixture of similar organic compounds that differ in terms of the value of n. It is made by a process called polymerization, this is where they take lots of monomers (in this case ethene) and combine them together using an addition reaction. This is only possible in monomer where there is a double bond as to add them the

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5 Ocean carbon cycle: The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. It is one of the most important cycles of the Earth and allows for carbon to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms. Oceans contain the most active carbon in the world and are second only to the lithosphere in the amount of carbon they store. The oceans' surface layer holds large amounts of dissolved organic carbon that is exchanged rapidly with the atmosphere. The deep layer has about 15% more dissolved organic carbon (DIC) than the surface layer and holds the DIC for much longer periods of time. Thermohaline circulation exchanges carbon between these two layers.

1.

Climate 'ocean fertilisation' experiment stores CO2 : German researchers had evidence that sowing the ocean with iron particles sucks up and stores carbon dioxide (CO2) preventing the gas from stoking dangerous climate change. But their work, touching on a fiercely controversial issue called geo-engineering, came under attack from other scientists and environmentalists. The paper is one of the biggest and most detailed probes into ocean fertilization.

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ENVIRONMENT The marine food chain is based on photosynthesis by marine phytoplankton which combine carbon with inorganic nutrients to produce organic matter. The production of organic matter is limited in general by the availability of nutrients, most commonly nitrogen or iron. Numerous experiments have been carried out demonstrating how iron fertilization can increase phytoplankton productivity. Nitrogen is a limiting nutrient over much of the ocean and can be supplied by from a number of sources including fixation by cyanobacteria. Carbon-to-iron ratios in phytoplankton are much larger than carbon-to-nitrogen or carbon-tophosphorus ratios, so iron has the highest potential for sequestration per unit mass added.

3.

Ocean fertilization offers the prospect of both reducing the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases with the aim of avoiding dangerous climate change and at the same time increasing the sustainable fish stocks. It promises to do this by increasing the ocean primary production.

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Critics, though, say geo-engineering schemes are riddled with unknowns, both in cost effectiveness and risks for the environment.It concluded that ocean fertilisation would not suck up that much CO2 and could be harmful to the marine biosphere.

Ocean Fertilisation: 'Ocean fertilization ocean nourishment is a type of geoengineering based on the purposeful introduction of nutrients to the upper ocean to increase marine food productionand to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Ocean fertilisation is banned under international law although scientific research into it is permitted. Its goal is to take CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in the deep sea so that it no longer adds to the greenhouse effect. This would be done by scattering the ocean surface with iron dust, a nutrient for microscope marine vegetation called phytoplankton. As the plants gorge on the iron, they also suck up atmospheric CO2 thanks to natural photosynthesis. In the next step, the phytoplankton die and sink to the deep ocean floor taking with them the CO2 which would lie in the sediment, possibly for centuries.

April 2013

Destruction of coastal habitats may saddle the atmosphere with an additional billion tonnes of carbon every year, 10 times higher than previously reported, according to a new study.

4.

Blue carbon: This carbon, stored in the sediment below mangroves, sea grasses and salt marshes, is called “blue carbon�. When these wetlands are drained and destroyed, the sediment layers below begin to oxidise. Once this soil, which can be many feet deep, is exposed to air or ocean water it releases carbon dioxide over days or years. Emissions are almost as much as the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the world's fifth-largest emitter, Japan. These coastal ecosystems are a tiny ribbon of land, only six percent of the land area covered by tropical forest, but the emissions from their destruction are nearly one-fifth of those attributed to deforestation worldwide.

Water Hyacinth: Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) ,is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America that flourishes in warm climates in Central America, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The hyacinth grows in thick rafts, deoxygenating the. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in height. Water hyacinth is a very aggressive

5.

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invader and can form thick mats. If these mats cover the entire surface of the pond they can cause oxygen depletions and fish kills. Water hyacinths should be controlled so they do not cover the entire pond.

Submerged portions of all aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. These invertebrates in turn are used as food by fish and other wildlife species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, ducks, etc.). After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food (called “detritus� for many aquatic invertebrates. Water hyacinth has no known direct food value to wildlife and is considered a pest speci.

Invasive species refers to flora and fauna that humans bring to new habitats, where they spread uncontrollably, endangering local wildlife and becoming major pests.

6.

?

Rat (Rattusrattus): Originally a native of Indian sub-

continent, the black rat, also called the ship rat or house rat, has spread almost everywhere, usually by hitching a ride on ships. Rats that crept aboard ocean-going canoes decimated island bird species as the Polynesians spread across the Pacific.

Plants and other small mammals are also victims.

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use truckloads of pesticides to control foreign weeds, while in central Europe, their counterparts are surrendering tracts of land to the giant hogweed, a toxic Asian shrub. ?

Asian tiger mosquito (Aedesalbopictus): Black-and-white striped carrier of West Nile virus, dengue, St. Louis encephalitis and a painful disease of the joints called chikungunya. Now a major worry in the United States, and a source of concern in Europe's Mediterranean rim. The insect is believed to have landed in shipments of old car tyres, which retained pockets of moisture enabling it to survive the sea trip from Asia.

PLANKTON Plankton: Plankton is made up of one-celled plants through almost every animal phylum on earth. Planktonic organisms that are plants are called phytoplankton and the animals are called zooplankton. All planktonic organisms are at the mercy of the currents. However, most planktonic organisms do have some locomotion, but it is minute compared to the force of the currents. Additionally, some plankton organisms have methods to move up and down the water column feeding near the surface at night and further down the water column during the day.

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?

European wild rabbit (Oryctolaguscuniculus): Intro-

duced by Europeans to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and elsewhere as a food animal. Now a pest that causes billions of dollars in damages to crops and native plants. ?

Cane toad (Bufomarinus): Central American toad

introduced to Australia in the 1930s in the belief it would eradicate beetle pests, and instead became a pest in its own right. Weighing up to 1.3 kilos (three pounds), the toad has poisonous skin that can kill predators such as snakes and freshwater crocodiles.

?

Zebra mussel (Dreissenapolymorpha): Small stripey freshwater mollusc native to southern Russia and the Caspian which has spread to parts of North America, Britain, Ireland and Italy by hitchhiking a ride in the ballast water of ships.

Mussel infestations are a major cost for power stations as they clog coolant pipes. ?

Burmese python (Python molurus): First found in Florida's Everglades swamp in 1979, where it may have been abandoned by a pet owner, the Burmese python took only 21 years to become an established species there. In August, University of Florida scientists examined a record 5.36-metre (17 feet, seven-inch) specimen that had 87 eggs.

Invasive species have a huge impact worldwide. In some countries, the cost is astronomical. For instance, US farmers April 2013

Plankton is mostly found in the euphotic zone, the upper layer of water that receives enough light for photosynthesis to take place. The mostly one-celled phytoplankters receive their energy from the sun. This energy is transferred to multi-celled zooplankters as the phyto plankton is eaten, then to a little larger animal, etc. and the food chain is started. All life in the oceans (there is some diversion of this statement at deep-sea vents) is dependent on the phytoplankton populations in the top 100 meters of the ocean. Scientists who study plankton feel that the phytoplankton is the most essential ecological population on earth. Zooplankton can inhabit the water column on down to the abyssal zone, but they are found in less quantities below the euphotic zone.

Phytoplankton: These are the one-celled, chlorophyll-bearing organisms which form the base of the food chain in the oceans.

Examples are Diatoms, Green and Golden Algae and Cyanobacteria Golden algae live in lakes and oceans, while diatoms live in freshwater and saltwater.

Zooplankton: These are all the animal planktonic organisms that are at the mercy of the currents. Examples: Radiolarian, Copepod, Pteropod.

Holoplankton: These are the zooplankton organisms that spend all their lives in the plankton ecosystem. Examples: Polychaete worm, Arrow worm, Copepod.

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Meroplankton: These are the animals that spend part of their lives as a plankter, usually the larval stages, and then grow into the adult stages as nekton (swimming against the currents).

Examples: Decapod shrimp, Anemone, starfish, worm, mollusk.

Red Tide: Red tide is a common name for a phenomenon also known as an algal bloom (large concentrations of aquatic microorganisms), an event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column and results in discoloration of the surface water. It is usually found in coastal areas. These algae, known as phytoplankton, are single-celled protists, plant-like organisms that can form dense, visible patches near the water's surface.

Certain species of phytoplankton, dinoflagellates, contain photosynthetic pigments that vary in color from green to brown to red.

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When the algae are present in high concentrations, the water appears to be discolored or murky, varying in color from purple to almost pink, normally being red or green. Not all algal blooms are dense enough to cause water discoloration, and not all discolored waters associated with algal blooms are red.

Additionally, red tides are not typically associated with tidal movement of water, hence the preference among scientists to use the term algal bloom.

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tsunami warning systems. By 2025, all countries should set national targets to curb nutrients, marine debris and wastewater. The Compact calls for renewed efforts to curb illegal fishing, rebuild fish stocks and halt the spread of invasive alien species.

By 2020, it says, at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas should be subject to conservation measures.

Australia announced plans to create the world's largest network of marine parks to protect ocean life.

The country will place limits on fishing and oil and gas exploration off the coast. The new reserves would cover 3.1 million square kilometres, or more than one-third of Australian waters. They will cover significant breeding and feeding grounds. The network will boost the number of reserves from 27 to 60, expanding protection of creatures such as the blue whale, green turtle, critically endangered populations of grey nurse sharks, and dugongs.

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The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover in the last 27 years. The loss was due to storm damage (48 per cent), crown of thorns starfish (42 per cent), and bleaching (10 per cent), according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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The occurrence of red tides in some locations appear to be entirely natural (algal blooms are a seasonal occurrence resulting from coastal upwelling, a natural result of the movement of certain ocean currents) while in others they appear to be a result of increased nutrient loading from human activities.

The growth of marine phytoplankton is generally limited by the availability of nitrates and phosphates, which can be abundant in agricultural run-off as well as coastal upwelling zones.

Operation “Ocean Compact”: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the "Oceans Compact" initiative. This is intended to tackle the "precarious state" of the world's seas. Oceans are facing a "grave threat" from pollution, excessive fishing and global warming."Ocean acidification is eating into the very basis of our ocean life; and sea level rise threatens to re-draw the global map at the expense of hundreds of millions of the world's most vulnerable people," Ban said.

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Objectives : The Compact aims to protect the world's people from ocean degradation and natural hazards such as tsunamis, from over-fishing and from pollution by land and sea activities. It calls for countries most at risk from rising sea levels to develop plans to mitigate the threat, and for vulnerable regions to have April 2013

Satellite-tracked Pop-up Standard Archival Tags (PSAT): Pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) are used to track movements of (usually large, migratory) marine animals.

A PSAT is an archival tag (or data logger) that is equipped with a means to transmit the data via satellite. Though the data are physically stored on the PSAT, its major advantage is that it does not have to be physically retrieved like an archival tag for the data to be available. They have been used to track movements of ocean sunfish, marlin, blue sharks, bluefin tuna, swordfish and sea turtles.

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These tags log temperature, depth and light intensity. As with the archival tags, light can be used to calculate latitude and longitude. After a predetermined amount of time, the tag releases from the fish, floats to the surface and uploads its data to the satellite system. PSATS record such information as temperature, magnetics, acceleration, light level, and pressure at set intervals of a few seconds to several hours.

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters. Coral reefs are often called “rainforests of the sea” as they form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Despite occupying less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface, they provide a home for 25% of all marine species! Sadly, more than threequarters of the corals in the Caribbean Sea have been lost in the

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past 35 years and half the cover in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has died since 1960. A report released by them has stated that more than 85% of reefs in the “Coral Triangle” (covering Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, The Solomon Islands and East Timor) is under threat from pollution, sedimentation, overfishing and climate change. But there is one factor emerging as the biggest threat to the reefs, that is being called “climate change's equally evil twin.” This factor is the rising acid levels in oceans.

Cuban Ark: Namibian authorities have launched a large operation to trap African big game and take it to a national park near the Cuban capital of Havana later this year, provoking an angry response from conservationists. The plan is to catch a total of 148 elephants, lions, rhinos and other species in the Namibia's Waterberg National Park, quarantine them and fly them out to Cuba in a few months' time. The animals would thus leave their expansive home - measuring some 400 square kilometres — for the national zoo park to the north of Havana, just over 3 square kilometres in size. The intention is to create a kind of “Cuban Ark,” with male and female animals of each species to be flown across the Atlantic. The operation is also to involve antelopes, buffalos, hyenas, porcupines, jackals, foxes, ostriches, vultures and honey badgers. It is expected to be complete by the end of 2013. The two countries enjoy good relations, after the communist Caribbean island lent its support to Namibia's liberation movement in the 1970s.

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Global climate change, ?

Overexploitation.

The United Nations designated 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.

Biodiversity Hotspots: A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans. The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist” (1988) & 1990 revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in “Hotspots: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions”. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers 2000 edition of the hotspot-map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation. Around the world, 25 areas qualify under this definition, with nine others possible candidates.

These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a very high share of endemic species.

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Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions support fewer species. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. One estimate is that less than 1% of the species that have existed on Earth are extinct.

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The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction. Conversely, biodiversity impacts human health in a number of ways, both positively and negatively.

Major Threats to Biodiversity are: ?

Human population growth, ?

Habitat destruction, ?

Invasive species,

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The XIth Conference of the Parties (COP 11) - Convention on Biological Diversity was organised by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India from 8 October to 19 October 2012 in Hyderabad. The next round of the con-ference is scheduled to take place in Korea after 2 years. Finding out the commendable solution by discussions over the issues of the Earth's bio-diversity is the main agenda of the conference. The conference was attended by more than 5000 delegates from 180 countries. Enrollment of about 14,400 participants in the convention made it the largest biodiversity gathering of its time.

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Meetings of the Conference of the Parties COP 11 - Eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Hyderabad, India, 8 - 19 October 2012.

COP 10 - Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 18 - 29 October 2010.

COP 2 - Second Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Jakarta, Indonesia, 6 - 17 November 1995.

COP 1 - First Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Nassau, Bahamas, 28 November - 9 December 1994.

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The Union Cabinet on October 4 approved the ratification of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing by India. The Nagoya Protocol has been signed by 92 countries. Five countries have also ratified the Protocol. India signed the Nagoya Protocol on 11th May 2011. India is hosting the eleventh CoP to the CBD in October 2012 in Hyderabad.

This gives us an opportunity to consolidate, scale up and showcase our strengths and initiatives on bio-diversity before the world. As the incoming President of CoP-11, it is expected that India would ratify the protocol before CoP-11.

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a “Hyderabad Pledge� on 16th October, under which India will spend $50 million to strengthen institutional mechanisms for protection of biological diversity during its two-year presidency of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

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National Bio-diversity Authority: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established in 2003 to implement India's Biological Diversity Act (2002). The NBA is a Statutory, Autonomous Body and it performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory function for the Government of India on issues of conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources.

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Because seed (DNA) degrades with time, the seeds need to be periodically replanted and fresh seeds collected for another round of long-term storage.

The second Indian Bio-diversity Congress (IBC) scheduled was held in Bangalore in December proposed strategies for inclusive action in bio-diversity conservation.

One of the highlights of the event is a meet on 'Green politics' that will seek to orient the political system in India towards green ideologies to achieve conservation of nature and sustainable development.

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Kerala has become the first state in India to have completed the formation of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) in all local self-government institutions. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on October 10 formally declared the constitution of BMCs in all the 978 village panchayats, 60 municipalities, and five corporations in the state. The committees were constituted in accordance with the national Biological Diversity Act 2002, the Biological Diversity Rules 2004 and the Kerala State Biological Diversity Rules.

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GDP of the poor: The true economic importance of bio-diversity and ecosystems does not figure in GDP statistics, but indirectly its contribution to livelihood and wellbeing can be estimated and recognized. Conversely, the real costs of depletion or degradation of natural capital (water availability, water quality, forest biomass, soil fertility, topsoil, inclement micro-climates, etc) are felt at the micro-level but are not recorded or brought to the attention of policy makers. If one accounts for the agricultural, animal husbandry and forestry sectors properly, the significant losses of natural capital ob-served have huge impacts on the productivity and risks in these sectors. Collectively, we call these sectors (i.e. agriculture, animal husbandry, informal forestry) the "GDP of the poor" because it is from these sectors that much of the developing world's poor draw their livelihood and employment. Further-more, we find that the impact of ecosystem degradation and bio-diversity loss affects that proportion of GDP most which we term the "GDP of the poor".

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The Biological Diversity Act (2002) mandates implementation of the Act through decentralized system with the NBA focusing on advising the Central Government on matters relating to the conservation of bio-diversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources; and advising the State Governments in the selection of areas of bio-diversity importance to be notified under Sub-Section (1) of Section 37 as heritage sites and measures for the management of such heritage sites.

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Seed Bank: A seedbank stores seeds as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of gene bank. The seeds stored may be food crops, or those of rare species to protect biodiversity. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied. In the case of food crops, many useful plants that were developed over centuries are now no longer used for commercial agricultural production and are becoming rare. Storing seeds also guards against catastrophic events like natural disasters, outbreaks of disease, or war.

Unlike seed libraries or seed swaps that encourage frequent reuse and sharing of seeds, seedbanks are not typically open to the public. Seeds are dried to a moisture content of less than 5%. The seeds are then stored in freezers at -18°C or below.

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An e-Atlas of Marine-Important Bird Areas , was launched by the Bird Life International at 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The inventory, covering 3000 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) worldwide, was described as a major contribution to marine conservation and a vital resource for meeting the CBD target of protecting 10% of marine and coastal areas by 2020.

The e-Atlas will be available exclusively online. Like Google Map, it will be dynamically updated as new sites are identified

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and new data about them become available. It will be linked to other Bird Life data resources.

Captive breeding: Captive breeding is the process of breeding animals in human controlled environments with restricted settings, such as wildlife reserves, zoos and other conservation facilities; sometimes the process is construed to include release of individual organisms to the wild, when there is sufficient natural habitat to support new individuals or when the threat to the species in the wild is lessened. Captive breeding programs facilitate biodiversity and may save species from extinction. However, such programs may also reduce genetic diversity and species fitness.

25.

26. Coral Bleaching: Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality. Coral bleaching results when the symbiotic zooxanthellae (single-celled algae) are released from the original host coral organism due to stress. The corals that form the structure of the great reef ecosystems of tropical seas depend on these symbiotic photosynthesizing unicellular algae called "zooxanthellae" that live within their tissues. When the zooxantheallae are expelled, the coral loses its pigment, leading to a bleached or completely white appearance.

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been quantified. The marine life most affected by UV-B are protists (such as algae), corals, crustaceans and fish larvae and eggs, thereby affecting marine ecosystems from the bottom to the top of the food web, according to a statement. Since the 1970s, a continuous emission of fluorocarbon compounds (CFCs) has led to the depletion of ozone layer and consequent elevated levels of UV-B, particularly in the southern Hemisphere.

Ultraviolet radiation: ?

The sun emits different kinds of radiation, but mainly

ultra-violet (UV) rays, visible light and infrared (IR) rays. ?

IR radiation gives light its heating property. Visible light

helps us see. ?

UV rays however have much higher energy than the rest;

so much that they can split molecules and change their chemical structure. These changes are dangerous to living things. ?

UV rays can be subdivided into three types: UV-A, UV-B,

UV-C. UV-C is most energetic and most harmful; UV-A is least energetic and least harmful.

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A new report says this year's Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” an area of low oxygen that develops every spring and summer, is the fourth-smallest since measurements of the zones began in 1985.

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Dead Zone: When water has less oxygen dissolved in it, it is often referred to as hypoxic or a “dead zone”. Dead zones can occur naturally, but are enhanced by human activity, especially due to nutrient pollution. Excess nutrients that run off land end up as wastewater in water and stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which then sinks and decomposes in the water. The decomposition process consumes oxygen and depletes the supply available to healthy marine life. Under these conditions, most marine vegetation dies and mobile organisms like fish leave the area.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the latest threat to seas and oceans besides global warming and atmospheric carbon, is causing an alarming spike in deaths of marine animals and plants, according to an international research team. Until now, the role of Ultraviolet B radiation as a possible cause of the global decline in the health of marine ecosystems had not

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The ozone layer outside the Arctic and Antarctic regions will take 40 years to recover to its pre-1980 levels, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Over the past decade, stratospheric ozone in the Arctic and Antarctic regions as well as globally is no longer decreasing, but it has not yet started to recover either.

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Ozone layer: Ozone is a gas that occurs naturally in our atmosphere. Most of it is concentrated in the ozone layer, a region located in the stratosphere several miles above the surface of the Earth. Although ozone represents only a small fraction of the gas present in the atmosphere, it plays a vital role by shielding humans and other life from harmful ultraviolet light from the Sun. Human activities in the last several decades have produced chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have been released into the atmosphere and have contributed to the depletion of this important protective layer. When scientists realized the destructive effect these chemicals could have on the ozone layer, international agreements were put in place to limit such emissions. As a result, it is expected that the ozone layer will recover in the coming decades.

Ozone is also a greenhouse gas in the upper atmosphere and, therefore, plays a role in Earth's climate. The increases in primary greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, may affect how the ozone layer recovers in coming years. Understanding precisely how ozone abundances will change in a future with 118 52

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diminished chlorofluorocarbon emissions and increased emissions of greenhouse gases remains an important challenge for atmospheric scientists.

Emissions monitoring system launched in Shanxi province: A monitoring system for greenhouse gas concentrations has been launched in north China's coal-rich Shanxi province as local authorities hope to better deal with climate change by using first-hand emission data.

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It is the first such monitoring system that has been built among provincial-level regions in the country. The system can monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, oxynitride and particulate matter in the air and publish the data in a timely manner.

The monitoring system was jointly launched by the China Meteorological Administration, Shanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Shanxi Provincial Science and Technology Department and Shanxi Provincial Meteorological Administration.

It now operates a central monitoring station and three sub-stations in the cities of Taiyuan, Datong and Linyi.

However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from 280 ppm to 397 ppm, despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions through various natural "sinks" involved in the carbon cycle. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions (i.e., emissions produced by human activities) come from combustion of carbonaceous fuels, principally wood, coal, oil, and natural gas.

Although contributing to many other physical and chemical reactions, the major atmospheric constituents, nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and argon (Ar), are not greenhouse gases.

This is because molecules containing two atoms of the same element such as N2 and O2 and monatomic molecules such as Argon (Ar) have no net change in their dipole moment when they vibrate and hence are almost totally unaffected by infrared light.

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel: The Ministry of Environment and Forests in March 2010 announced the constitution of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel. This Panel was established to recommend measures and to assist the Government in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of this environmentally sensitive and ecoogically significant region. The 14 member panel was chaired

by Prof. Madhav Gadgil. Dr G V Subrahmanyam, Adviser in the Ministry was the Member-Secretary of this panel. The Panel submitted report to MoEF in August 2011.

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Shanxi's coal output accounts for about one-fourth of the country's total. It is meanwhile a large energy-consuming province with high carbon emissions. The Chinese government plans to cut 2020 greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 percent compared with 2005 levels.

Greenhouse gas: A greenhouse gas (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.

The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In the Solar System, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars, and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects.

Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present.

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When these gases are ranked by their direct contribution to the greenhouse effect, the most important are: Gas

Formula

Contribution (%)

Water vapor

H2O

36 – 72 %

Carbon dioxide

Co2

9 – 26 %

Methane

Ch4

4–9%

Ozone

O3

3–7%

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Few important recommendations:

?

The report of the panel has called for cancellation of

Karnataka's Gundia and Kerala's Athirapally hydroprojects, and gradual phasing out of mining activities in ecologically highly-sensitive areas of Goa by 2016. ?

The expert panel also suggests the constitution of a

Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), as a statutory authority appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, with the powers under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Western Ghats have been identified as an extensive region, spanning more than six states, 44 districts, and 142 talukas. ?

It had recommended restricting industrial development

in about 75% of the hilly terrain spread across six states.

The Western Ghats panel report was roundly criticized by the state governments and other infrastructure-related Central ministries. Then, the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan to review 119 53

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the controversial Western Ghats ecology experts panel report in August 2012.

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) has suggested setting up of a statutory authority to protect the Ghats. The report of the panel, headed by Madhav Gadgil, formerly with the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, has called for cancellation of Karnataka's Gundia and Kerala's Athirapally hydro-projects, and gradual phasing out of mining activities in ecologically highly-sensitive areas of Goa by 2016. The expert panel set up in 2010 suggests the constitution of a Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), as a statutory authority appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, with the powers under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Western Ghats have been identified as an extensive region, spanning more than six states, 44 districts, and 142 talukas.

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The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel's (WGEEP) report had a bearing on the World Heritage Committee's decision on heritage status for the Western Ghats, though the government is yet to accept the findings. The Committee recently deferred the decision following a report of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). India has been asked to consider the WGEEP recommendations “on land use and controls on development” in the region.

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Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have joined forces to adapt new measures to tackle the growing climate related risks and constraints that prevail in rural areas.

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT): The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit organization in India. It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organizations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP. Since its inception, India, the host country, has granted a special status to ICRISAT as a UN Organization operating in the Indian territory making it eligible for special immunities and tax privileges. The current Director General is William Dar (Philippines). The current chair of the Board is Nigel Poole (UK).

Rio +20: The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio +20, was organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution, and took place in Brazil on 13-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Deve-lopment (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. The idea for a Rio+2O Summit in 2012 was first proposed by President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2007.

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The Western Ghats has made it to the coveted list of World Heritage Sites. The World Heritage Committee, meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, decided to inscribe 39 serial sites of the Western Ghats on the World Heritage List.

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The Myristica swamps are tropical fresh water swamp forests with an abundance of Myristica trees, the most primitive of the flowering plants on earth. The evergreen, water-tolerant trees have dense stilt roots helping them stay erect in the thick, black, wet alluvial soil. The swamps are typically found in valleys, making them prone to inundation during monsoon rains. The trees form a fairly dense forest with a closed canopy. Studies have shown that the swamps, which would have occupied large swathes of the thickly- wooded Western Ghats in the past, are now restricted to less than 200 hectares in the country. As of now, the Myristica swamps of the Western Ghats are fragmented, with Kerala holding a major share of this habitat. Leaving aside a few more patches in Karnataka and Goa, this exceptional wetland has almost disappeared from the Indian subcontinent due to the climatic vicissitudes over the last 18,000 to 50,000 years, a period referred to as the Late Pleistocene period.

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The International Crops Research Institute for the

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The Rio+20 Conference is envisaged as a Conference at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government or other representatives. The Conference focused on two themes:

(a) A green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) The institutional framework for sustainable development.

The preparations for Rio+20 have highlighted seven areas which need priority attention; these include decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

India headed to the Rio+20 summit (June 20 to 22) in Brazil with a negotiating brief focussed on defending the prin-ciple of “common but differentiated responsibility” (CBDR) and preventing any attempt to pin down specific goals or targets regarding sustainable development. The meeting at the Brazilian city has been billed as the launch-site for a new set of post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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Principle of “common but differentiated responsibility”: The principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development. It has 120 54

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emerged as a principle of International Environmental Law and has been explicitly formulated in the context of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It finds its origins in equity considerations and equity principles in international law. It informs in particular the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol.

The CBDR has two matrices. The first is the common responsibility, which arises from the concept of common heritage and common concern of humankind, and reflects the duty of States of equally sharing the burden of environmental protection for common resources; the second is the differentiated responsibility, which addresses substantive equality: unequal material, social and economic situations across States; different historical contributions to global environmental problems; and financial, technological and structural capacity to tackle those global problems. In this sense the principle establishes a conceptual framework for an equitable allocation of the costs of global environmental protection.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Bank to improve the dialogue on sustainable development and con-servation between business, conservation stakeholders and decision-makers in policy. The new initiative to promote tiger and biodiversity conservation is called the India Wildlife Business Council (IWBC). This way it may be possible to achieve the target of doubling tiger population worldwide by 2022.

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Endangered, and the Long-tailed Duck to Vulnerable from Least Concerned. Four fish species from Kerala, including the Pookode Lake Barb and Nilgiri Mystus, are included in the Critically Endangered fishes of India.

Lion-tailed macaque taken off 'top 25' endangered list : The lion-tailed macaque, one of India's endangered mascot species, is no longer on 'The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates' list, after the international body compiling it determined that the State governments had acted positively to protect it. The list of 25 primates is put out by a group of specialist agencies — the Primate Specialist Group of the IUCN/Species Survival Commission; the International Primatological Society; Conservation International (CI); and the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation.

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The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is expecting 30 young vultures to be released from the breeding facilities and also marking of vulture safe zones at three places in India by 2014. As many as 30 young vultures have already been bred at the facilities and they will be released between 2014 and 2015. MoEF has set up three vulture breeding facilities at Rani, Guwahati (Assam), Pinjore (Haryana) and Buxa (West Bengal).

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In the year 2012, the World Conservation Congress was held in Korea in the quest to use nature for resolving the growing list of economic and social issues. Conducted by IUCN — International Union for Conservation of Nature, from September 1 to 15, its agenda was to find pragmatic solutions to environmental and developmental challenges in the world.

One of the major decisions taken in the congress was to prepare the Red List of Ecosystems that will harmonise the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and other IUCN knowledge products. When used together, ecosystem and species red lists will provide the most informative indicator of the status of biological diversity at national and global levels.

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The Red list of threatened species, prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has listed 132 species of plants and animals as Critically Endangered, the most threatened category, from India. Plants seemed to be the most threatened life form, with 60 species being listed as Critically Endangered, and 141 as Endangered.

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Compared to the previous year, the conservation status of Baer's Pochard had been uplisted to Critically Endangered from April 2013

Indian Forest cover: The India State of Forest Report 2011 is the twelfth report in the series. As per the present assessment, the Forest and Tree cover of the country is 78.29 million ha, which is 23.81% of the geographical area of the country. In comparison to the 2009 assessment, after taking into account the interpretational changes, there is a decrease of 367 square km in country's forest cover. 15 states have registered aggregate increase of 5000sqkm in their forest cover with Punjab leading with increase of 100sqkm. 12 states/ UTs (mainly the NE states) have shown decrease to the extent of 867sqkm. Decline of 281 sqkm in Forest cover of Andhra Pradesh is mainly attributed to harvesting of mature plantation of Eucalyptus & other species. Decline in Forest cover of NE is particularly due to prevailing practice of shifting cultivation in this region. The state of Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country at 77,700 square km followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 67, 410 square km. In terms of percentage of forest cover in relation to total geographical area, Mizoram tops with 90.68% followed by Lakshadweed with 84.56%. The total growing stock of India's forests and trees outside forests is estimated as 6047.15 million cu m i.e.

4498.73 million cu m inside the recorded forest area and 1548.42 million cu m outside the recorded forests.

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Tourism in core areas of tiger reserves banned : To 121 55

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protect tigers, the Supreme Court banned all tourism activities in the core areas of the tiger reserve forests.A Bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Ibrahim Kalifullah passed the order on a petition filed by conservationist Ajay Dubey that sought a directive to the States to notify the buffer and peripheral areas of the tiger reserves, under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, to prevent tourism in the core areas.

Wasim A. Qadri, counsel for the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which works under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, submitted the guidelines framed for ecotourism in and around the protected areas. Court will take up the guidelines for final hearing, so that the Centre can issue a notification for fixing the area and utilisation of the buffer and core area.

Core Area: The core area is considered a place where tigers live without human interference. But at various tiger reserves across the country, not just human, vehicle were also allowed in the core area for revenue generation.

In April this year, the Supreme Court had asked Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu Maharashtra and Karnataka to notify core areas and buffer areas in the reserves so that programmes for tiger conservation could be implemented accordingly. Only Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan have complied with the SC orders. A fine of Rs 10,000 was imposed on all other state that failed to comply with the order.

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Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, Sanjay National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Mudumalai National Park and Annamalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.

Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam was created in 1973 at the time of launch of the Project Tiger in India. The Reserve area falls in six districts, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup and Darrang. Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the buffer of the Reserve. Manas is located at the confluence of Indian, Ethiopean and Indo-Chinese realms resulting in the magnificient biodiversity.

It is situated on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra river. Manas Tiger Reserve have been chosen as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve' (NSTR): Nagarunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve is the largest Tiger reserve in India and the only Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh state. The reserve spreads over five districts, Nalgonda District, Mahbubnagar district, Kurnool District, Prakasam District and Guntur District. The total area of the tiger reserve is 3,568 km2 (1,378 sq mi). The core area of this reserve is 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi). The reservoirs and temples of Srisailam are major attraction for many tourists and pilgrims. city-based filmmaker, Devidas Manghnani, has now brought out a 35-minute documentary titled 'Jewel of Eastern Ghats’.

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The Project Tiger envisioned acore-buffer-corridor strategy. While the core area ofa tiger reserve is managed for wildlife conservation, the buffer is treated as a multiple use zoo.

Tiger Reserves in India: There are 42 tiger reserves in India (21-6-2011) which are governed by Project Tiger which is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. There were an additional six proposed and four approved in principle reserves that are not yet declared.

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The 2010 National Tiger Assessment estimated the total population of tigers in India as 1,706. From June, 2010 to July, 2011 the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in partnership with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) undertook an independent Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of all 39 tiger reserves in the country. The government of India has reserved 8 new tiger reserves in India. The new reserves are Kaziranga National Park in Assam, Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary and Udanti & Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhatisgarh, Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka, Parambikulam April 2013

The multipurpose reservoirs, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar, which are important sources of irrigation and power in the State are located in the Reserve. The reservoirs and temples of Srisailam are major attraction for a number of tourists and pilgrims from all over the country and abroad.

The government has approved creation of five new tiger reserves in the country, in a boost to conservation of the big cat. Approval has been given by the National Tiger Conservation Authority for creation of tiger reserves in Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), Ratapani (Madhya Pradesh), Sunabeda (Odisha) and Mukundara Hills (Rajasthan) and Satyamangalam (Tamil Nadu).

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The proposed Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve includes three wildlife sanctuaries including Darrah, Jawahar Sagar and Chambal. Final approval has also been accorded to Kudremukh (Karnataka) for declaring it as a Tiger Reserve. Fifth tiger reserve in the Chennai by combining the Grizzled Giant Squirrel Sanctuary in Srivilliputhur, the Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary and Varushanadu Valley in Theni district.

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Biodiversity awards. The award, instituted jointly by the government of India and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was presented at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held on October 17 in Hyderabad. The two reserves are competing for the prize under the Protected Area Category of the award, which carries a cash prize of Rs.50,000. The reserve is spread over an area of 925 sq.km.

NTCA: The National Tiger Conservation Authority was established in December 2005 following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by the Prime Minister of India for reorganized management of Project Tiger and the many Tiger Reserves in India. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 was amended to provide for constituting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority responsible for implementation of the Project Tiger plan to protect endangered tigers. The National Tiger Conservation Authority is set up under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Environment and Forests.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will soon create a national data base for tigers, the flagship species of India, and each one of the big cats will have a unique identification number and code. The UID will be one of the new initiatives of the NTCA taken up as part of better biomonitoring of tigers.

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United States established the first such one, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. According to the IUCN, there were 6,555 national parks worldwide in 2006 that meet its criteria.

In 1971 these criteria were further expanded by IUCN (earlier defined in1969) upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. These include: ?

Minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones in which

protection of nature takes precedence. ?

Statutory legal protection. ?

Budget and staff sufficient to provide sufficient effective

protection. ?

Prohibition of exploitation of natural resources (including

the development of dams) qualified by such activities as sport, fishing, the need for management, facilities, etc.

Elephant corridors: Elephant corridors are narrow strips of land that allow elephants to move from one habitat patch to another. The Wildlife Trust of India has identified 88 elephant corridors, which have been prioritised according to their conservation importance and feasibility of protection. WTI and the World Land Trust are working together to protect these corridors one by one.

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“E-eye� project: The project 'E-eye' (electronic eye), whose estimated cost is around Rs3.5crore, was started around six months ago when ten high-tech cameras having infrared and thermal imaging capabilities were installed on 1020 metres high towers. They were set up on Corbett's sensitive southern boundary bordering UP from where maximum poaching cases have been reported in the past. Of around 800 square kilometers of Crobett area, the cameras are covering around 350 square kilometers area to mainly check poaching.

The cameras detect anything weighing more than 20 kilograms.

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National Parks: A national park is a park, in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of wild nature for prosperity and as a symbol of national pride. Furthermore, an international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas. While ideas for this type of national park had been suggested previously, the

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April 2013

Indian Elephant Corridors Appeal: The Indian Elephant Corridor Appeal aims to a create a network of forest corridors that will enable Indian Elephants to move safely between protected areas, avoid human-elephant conflict and protect critical elephant habitat. Ensuring the survival of a 'flagship' species like the Asian elephant requires the protection of the entire habitat, which means that the initiative will also benefit other wildlife.

The WLT is funding the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to secure strategic areas within identified elephant migratory routes and create wildlife corridors. In a country with more than a billion people, it is vital that any conservation initiative involves the local communities and this project benefits not only the wildlife but also villagers by reducing human-animal conflict.

A three-day programme for a headcount of river dolphins in the Ganges river was carried out October 5-7 in and around Uttar Pradesh. The programme was also aimed at spreading awareness about the endangered mammal.

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“My Ganga, My Dolphin� is a joint effort between WWF-India and the Uttar Pradesh forest department. From 4,000-5,000 dolphins in 1982, there are less than 1,800 now.

The world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, is increasingly becoming vulnerable to rising sea levels and frequent natural disasters. The Sundarbans form an archipelago straddling India and Bangladesh, and are part of the delta of Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna basin. The Indian part of the delta comprises of 102 islands (of which only 54 islands are inhabited) in 19 blocks of West Bengal's North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts.

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Uttarakhand also tops the list of best-performing States and Union territories in terms of environmental well-being. Uttarakhand is followed by Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Sikkim, and Andhra Pradesh on the Planning Commission's Environmental Performance Index (EPI) list.

Environmental well-being is one of the considerations for devolution of funds to the States under the Gadgil formula.

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The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) will soon launch mobile applications to allow people access weather related information on their Android mobile phones.

The application would help disseminate locale specific observation data and weather forecast to people. Plans were afoot to introduce block level forecasting under the 12th Five Year Plan to provide location specific data. Now casting, a system through which weather could be predicted for the next few hours, would be available soon at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai.

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double bond has to break for there to be enough room on the carbon for the new monomer. This process is done millions of times and is finally makes polythene which is used to make bin liners and poly bags. The downside of plastics like polythene is their non-biodegradability.

Physics Nobel for quantum scientists : A FrenchAmerican duo shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics on October 9 for inventing methods to observe the bizarre properties of the quantum world — research that has led to the construction of extremely precise clocks and helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers.

Frenchman Serge Haroche and American David Wineland (both 68) opened the door to new experiments in quantum physics by showing how to observe individual quantum particles while preserving their quantum properties.

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American biochemists win chemistry Nobel : US chemists Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka won the Nobel Prize today for work on cell receptors, yielding vital insights into how the body works at the molecular level. The award is for chemistry but the big beneficiary should be medicine. The pair was honoured for describing a key component of cells called G-protein-coupled receptors. T hese stud the surface of cells, making them sensitive to molecules that respond to light, flavour, smells and body chemicals such as adrenaline, and help cells to communicate with each other.

Understanding these receptors has provided a big advance for medical research, the Nobel committee said.

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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 : The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 was awarded jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent. What the citation did not say was that this work also allows clones to be made from adult animals, potentially including people.

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April 2013

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AWARDS & PERSONS

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Mohamed Morsy was sworn in as Egypt's first elected President, a day after he announced at Cairo's Tahrir square that he drew his legitimacy not from the country's military junta but from the people who had already demonstrated their power by toppling former strongman Hosni Mubarak.

United Progressive Alliance nominee Hamid Ansari was re-elected Vice-President. He became the second Vice-President to get a second consecutive term after S. Radha krishnan, who enjoyed two terms from 1952 to 1962.

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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda stormed to victory in a party leadership poll on September 21, vowing to revamp his troubled ruling Democratic Party of Japan ahead of upcoming general elections.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became the first woman to take office as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) at the A.U. headquarters in Addis Ababa on 15th oct 2012.

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Slovenian heritage after Ronald M. Sega. She holds three records for female space travellers: longest spaceflight (195 days), number of space walks (four), and total time spent on space walks (29 hours and 17 minutes).

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee conferred on Smt. Tessy Thomas, the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management: 2012 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 1. The President congratulated Smt. Tessy Thomas and said that she had made the country proud by her achievements. In a career spanning over 24 years, Smt. Tessy Thomas has contributed in various fields such as Guidance, Control, Inertial Navigation, Trajectory Simulation and Mission Design. She is also the Associate Project Director (Mission) for Agni-I, II & III systems. She has been associated with the Agni Programme right from their developmental stages. Currently, she is the Project Director of Agni –IV, which is a major project with state of the art technologies. The Agni-IV was successfully flight tested on 15th November, 2011.

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Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda was sworn in as the International Criminal Court's new chief prosecutor, pledging she was ready to lead the fight against the world's worst war criminals.

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The 51-year-old Bensouda is the first woman and the first African to head the team of prosecutors at the Tribunal, which is investigating 15 cases in seven countries, all of them African.

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Neil Armstrong, the legendary US astronaut who, in 1969, became the first man to set foot on the moon, died at the age of 82. Mr. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. He was accom-panied by fellow astronaut Edwin Aldrin. “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” is how Armstrong had broken the historic news from the Earth's satellite when he radioed back.

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A minor planet that was discovered by Chinese astronomers, has been named after a well-known late Chinese scientist and educator Yan Jici.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams returned to the International Space Station, where she spent a record six months in 2006. On reaching the space station she took over as commander of Expedition 33. Williams is the second woman of Indian heritage to have been selected by

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April 2013

The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as its International Goodwill Ambassador. She will raise global awareness on protecting children from HIV infection and increasing access to antiretroviral treatment.

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be conferred the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) François Richier, Ambassador of France to India, on behalf of the French authorities. Earlier Indian recipients include Shahrukh Khan, Raghu Rai, Nandita Das, late Habib Tanvir, and Upamanyu Chatterjee.

11.

Environmental economist Pavan Sukhdev, who stresses eco-friendly agriculture, solar power and protection of bio-diversity and ecosystem services as free sources of income for the poor, is the new Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

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Shreyans Kumar Jain, former chairman and managing director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), has been unanimously elected to the post of Chairman of the Governing Board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators - Tokyo Centre (WANO-TC), Japan.

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Rakesh Mohan has assumed charge as Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In addition to India, Dr. Mohan will be representing Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan on the IMF Board for a threeyear term.

14.

Mr. Ashok Chawla , Chairperson , Competition Commission of India has been elected unanimously the chair of the 12th session of Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE) on Competition law and policy, UNCTAD in Geneva. His name was proposed by the Chairperson of Competition Commission of Pakistan.

15.

Mitra Dutta, an Indian-American engineer-physicist, who studied at Guwahati and Delhi universities, has been named vice chancellor for research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Well known investment banker Anshu Jain took over the reins of German banking giant Deutsche Bank as co-

CEO. The seniormost Supreme Court judge, AltamasKabir, become the 39th Chief Justice of India from September 29.The CJI, S.H. Kapadia, who retired on September 28, has formally recommended his name to the government.

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The Central Government had given approval for the appointment of Ramesh Abhishek, an IAS officer of 1982 Bihar cadre, as Chairman of commodity markets regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

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Sekhar Basu, Chief Executive, Nuclear Recycle Board of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, took over as Director of BARC from Ratan Kumar Sinha.

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Afghan human rights activist and former Minister Sima Samar (55) on September 27 won the Swedish Right Livelihood Award honouring those who work to improve the lives of others.

Ebrahim Alkazi, the grand old man of Indian theatre, has been conferred France's highest cultural award awarded Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters ( Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres ) for his contribution in nurturing and presenting modern theatre in India and preserving the treasures of photography and other art forms for posterity.

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Kulandei Francis, 65, whose pioneering community initiatives in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, empowered thousands of rural women to form micro enterprises and break out of poverty, is among this year's six winners of the Magsaysay Award.

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Vice-Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Western Naval Command, will be the next Chief of the Navy. Vice-Admiral Joshi succeeds Admiral Nirmal Verma, who retires on August 31.

19.

Senior-most Election Commissioner Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by President Pratibha Patil. He replaces S.Y. Quraishi, who demits office on June 10. H.S. Brahma is the other Election Commissioner.

20.

Former Civil Aviation Secretary Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi was appointed an Election Commissioner by President Pranab Mukherjee.

21.

The World Bank, named Kaushik Basu, a Cornell University professor and former Indian official, as the institution's new chief economist and Senior Vice-President.

Dr. Basu, most recently served as chief economic adviser of the India's Ministry of Finance while on leave from Cornell, where he was an economics professor and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies.

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Raghuram G. Rajan, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), assumed charge as the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) in the Ministry of Finance.

April 2013

Salman Rushdie's new book Joseph Anton has been longlisted for Britain's most prestigious non-fiction award, the £25,000 Samuel Johnson Prize, named after the great 18th century English writer and critic. The announcement of the longlist, which also includes Katherine Boo's widely acclaimed book on the slums of Mumbai — Behind the Beautiful Forevers.

29.

Jeet Thayil, noted Kerala-born poet and novelist, has been long-listed for the 2012 Man Booker Prize for his debut novel Narcopolis , built around the opium and heroin dens of Mumbai.

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Amitav Ghosh and Jeet Thayil are among the 16 writers on the longlist for the $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature announced in London on 16th oct. Ghosh has been selected for River of Smoke ; and Thayil for his debut novel Narcopolis .

31.

Indian human rights activists Binayak Sen and Bulu Imam will be honoured with the International Peace Award given by the Gandhi Foundation at the House of Lords.

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Gandhi Foundation: The Gandhi Foundation is a United Kingdom-based voluntary organisation which seeks to further the work of Mahatma Gandhi through a variety of educational events and activities. The Gandhi Foundation was inaugurated 126 65

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on 10 October 1983 at a launch in Friends House, London. The catalyst for the creation of the foundation was Richard Attenborough's movie Gandhi, which attracted large audiences around the world, due in part to the sensitive portrayal of Gandhi by Ben Kingsley.

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari presented “International Gandhi Award-2011” to Dr. Caire Velut and Dr. J.D.Samant at a function organized by Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation, Wardha (Maharashtra).

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In a rare honour, eminent Urdu litterateur Professor Gopi Chand Narang's name figures in the list of civilian honours announced by Pakistan on the eve of its Independence Day. Prof. Narang has been conferred Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence), the thi rd highest civilian honour bestowed by the nation.

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In the past, former Prime Minister Morarji Desai and matinee idol Dilip Kumar have been bestowed Pakistan's highest civilian honour, Nishan-i-Imtiaz .

Union Minister Veerappa Moily presented Rs. 7.5 lakh Saraswati Samman-2011 to Tamil writer Dr. A. A. Manavalan for his book on Ramayan in New Delhi in the presence of K. K. Birla Foundation president Shobhana Bhartia.

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Bhatnagar prize for three Bangalore scientists :

Three scientists, Ravishankar Narayanan, Associate Professor, Materials Research Centre, in the area of engineering sciences; Arindam Ghosh, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, in the field of physical sciences, and Govindsamy Mugesh, Associate Professor, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, in the field of chemical sciences. from Bangalore are among the 11 young scientists who have been selected for the 2012 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize the highest award given annually to scientists below 45 for outstanding contribution in the field of science and tech-nology in the country.

40.

N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of IT giant Infosys who has used his business success to “give back” to his native India, has been named recipient of the prestigious 2012 Hoover Medal. Murthy received the honour at the Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Seattle, Washington.

The Hoover Medal was established in 1930 to recognise great, unselfish, non-technical services by engineers to humanity. In 2008 APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India, was honoured with this medal.

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President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the Jnanpith Award on poet-writer Chandrashekar Kambar at a function organised under the auspices of the Bharatiya Jnanpith in Belgaum on October 11. The 46th Jnanpith award (for 2010) was the eighth for Karnataka. Apart from the Jnanpith award, the Bhartiya Jnanpith Trust also gives away Navalekhan Award and Moortidevi Award to honour literary creativity.

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Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and Santoor exponent Shivkumar Sharma were among the recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship and awards given to 47 eminent persons by President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on October 9. A total of 11 eminent persons in the field of music, dance and theatre were nominated for the Akademy fellowship for 2011, which included along with Khan and Sharma, flute legend Hariprasad Chaurasia, who could not make it to the function due to his prior engagements. Besides this, 36 eminent personalities and artists, including well-known film and television actor Vikram Gokhle, were conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademy Awards.

Dr. C.L.Laxmipathi Gowda, scientist of the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), received the 2012 International Crop Science award for his contribution to agriculture in the dry land areas of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

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April 2013

Industrialist Ratan Tata has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation here for innovation in philanthropy. The Foundation, celebrating 100 years of global innovation, honoured individuals and institutions with its second annual Innovation Awards in New York.

41.

Environmental activist Vandana Shiva has been chosen for the Fukuoka Prize 2012, a prestigious award bestowed by Japan on people who contribute to academics, arts, and culture in Asia. Shiva is the seventh Indian to receive the award after personalities including Pandit Ravi Shankar, Padma Subrahmanyam, Romila Thapar and Ashis Nandy.

42.

Ashoke Sen, a string theorist at Harish Chandra Research Institute in India, is one of the nine physicists chosen for the first Fundamental Physics Prize. This is a new award financed by a Russian billionaire. Each awardee will receive $3 million. The prize was created by Yuri Milner, a former physics student who earned billions on the internet. He said on his foundation's website that the awards were the beginning of a new venture.

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The 2012 Sastra Ramanujan Prize will be conferred on Professor Zhiwei Yun on December 22, the birth anniversary of mathematical genius Ramanujan, in New Delhi.

Established in 2005, the Sastra Ramanujan Prize is awarded annually to young mathematicians for their outstanding contributions to areas influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan.

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The award is given only to those below the age of 32, the same as Ramanujan's when he died. Prof. Zhiwei Yun has made fundamental contributions to several areas that lie at the interface of representation theory, algebraic geometry and number theory.

D. R. Mehta, the founder and chief patron of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, the organisation known the world over for the affordable artificial Jaipur Foot, has been selected for this year's Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Puraskar.

45.

Banker and New York based- author Ruchir Sharma was awarded the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for his Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles at the Mumbai Litfest.

46.

Renowned literary critic and educator Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Kyoto on 11 november. Instituted by the Inamori Foundation, the prize honours those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind.

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The Nobel Peace Prize European Union (EU) "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe” The Prize In Economic Sciences Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design” Iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is all set to become the first Indian sports person to be conferred with the Membership of the Order of Australia, an honour “rarely” bestowed on non-Australians.

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Irom Sharmila, the civil rights activist from Manipur who has been on a 12-year protest fast demanding that the AFSPA be repealed, will not accept any awards until she has succeeded in her mission, according to her brother Irom Singhajit . At a function organised in Kolkata, a trust had decided to confer the first Kovilan Smaraka Activist India National Award in the memory of Malayalam poet A.A. Ayyappan upon Ms. Sharmila.

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Waheeda Rehman was conferred with the life achievement award at the closing function of the 14th Mumbai Film Festival on 25th oct. Ms. Rehman has acted in 84 films in a career spanning six decades and has been awarded the Padma Bhushan.

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The National Commission for Scheduled Castes honored Star India CEO Uday Shankar and bollywood actor Aamir Khan for their efforts to create awareness against social discrimination through television show 'Satyamev Jayate'.

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Nobel Prize-2012 :

The Nobel Prize In Physics : Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and mani-pulation of individual quantum systems” The Nobel Prize In Chemistry Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka "for studies of Gprotein-coupled receptors” The Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent" The Nobel Prize In Literature Mo Yan "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary” April 2013

Sharmila Tagore was on 25th oct. awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the Edinburgh Napier University for her outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

As an active spokesperson for India children's charity Child Rights and you (CRY) Sharmila is also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, working for maternal health, literacy and AIDSrelated issues.

53.

Well-known economist Bibek Debroy is addressing a growing need among youngsters who are most comfortable in English: He is translating the Indian epic Mahabharata in 11 volumes into contemporary English.

54.

Joan Dunlop, a global leader in addressing women's issues who helped prod the U.N. to define a woman's right to say no to sex as an essential human right died. Ms. Dunlop devoted herself to expanding women's rights to control their own bodies. The right to say no to a request for sex was endorsed as a universal guideline by more than 180 nations at a conference in Beijing in 1995.

55.

A Special Function was organized by the Union Ministry of Culture in New Delhi on September 25th to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Motilal Nehru.

56.

The former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, was remembered on his birth anniversary on October 2 in Tashkent where he breathed his last on January 11, 1966, after signing the Tashkent Accord with Pakistan.

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The father of 'white revolution' Verghese Kurien, 128 67

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who transformed India from a milk-deficient country to the world's largest milk producer, passed away after a brief illness.

Founder Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Kurien led 'Operation Flood' to make India the biggest milk producing nation in the world, besides making Amul dairy a household name.

Professor Keith Campbell, 58, a British biologist who was a key member of the Ian Wilmut team that created Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, has died. Professor Campbell oversaw the scientific research that helped to create Dolly in 1996 at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute. Ian Wilmut was reported as saying that Prof. Campbell deserved two-thirds of the credit for the lamb's creation.

59.

E. Donnall Thomas, a physician who pioneered bone marrow transplants and later won the 1990 Nobel Prize in medicine, has died in Seattle at age 92. Thomas' groundbreaking work is among the greatest success stories in the treatment of leukaemia. Bone marrow transplantation and its sister therapy, blood stem cell transplantation, have improved the survival rates for some blood cancers to upward of 90 percent from almost zero.

60.

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G. Kasturi, former Editor of The Hindu and former Managing Director of Kasturi & Sons Limited, proprietors of The Hindu Group publications, died recently. He was 87.

66.

Noted littĂŠrateur and Sahitya Akademi president Sunil Gangopadhyay passed away in Kolkata in the early hours of 23rd oct 2012. He was 78.

67.

Konda Laxman, famed as Bapuji, died of cardiac arrest at his residence on September 21. He was 97. He is survived by a son and a daughter. Born in Wankhidi village in Adilabad district on September 27, 1915, Bapuji participated in 'Vandemataram' and Quit India movements and fought against the Nizam's rule for the liberation of Hyderabad State.

Later, he participated in the 'non-mulki' agitation in 1952 and gave up his Minister's post in support of the demand for statehood to Telangana in 1969.

68.

World champion Viswanathan Anand prevailed in a series of rapid chess games against challenger Boris Gelfand to retain his world title.

69.

Russia's Maria Sharapova became the 10th woman in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam titles when she defeated Sara Errani of Italy in the French Open final. The French Open title for Sharapova follows her Grand Slam triumphs at Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008 and it crowns her return from a serious shoulder injury that nearly wrecked her career.

70.

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Radha Vinod Raju, founding Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and key member of the special investigation team which probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, died in Kochi.

61.

Art expert and eminent painter Sumahendra passed away after a prolonged illness. Sumahendra, whose original name was Mahendra Kumar Sharma, was the director of visual art at Jawahar Kala Kendra here at the time of his death.

He was 69.

62.

Captain Lakshmi Sahgal died. Capt. Sahgal was not only the first Captain of the women's regiment (of the INA) but also one of the pioneering personalities who struggled to make the nation economically and socially strong in the post-Independence era.

63.

Renowned Kuchipudi exponent Vempati Chinna Satyam, who passed away in Chennai, is credited with not only popularising this intricate dance form across the world but also refining it. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1956.

He was also made a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademy.

64.

Brajesh Mishra, India's first National Security Adviser and the man who supervised the testing and incorporation of nuclear weapons as an integral part of the country's security strategy, died in New Delhi on September 28.

65.

April 2013

Serena Williams captured her 15th Grand Slam title and fourth career US Open crown with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory over World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka .In the first threeset final at the US Open since 1995, American fourth seed Serena joined her sister Venus and Steffi Graf as the only women to win Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open in the same year.

71.

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi of India won their second Grand Slam title and first French Open trophy together after crushing Klaudia JansIgnacik and Santiago Gonzalez in the mixed doubles final on 7th may.

72.

Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal served a warning to the formidable Chinese ahead of next month's Olympics as she clinched her third Indonesia Open Super Series title after beating world No. 3 Li Xuerui in a see-saw summit clash in Jakarta.

73.

Five-time boxing world champion M.C. Mary Kom is all set to become the first Indian woman and the fifth sports person overall to hold an honorary rank in the country's defence forces as she will be made a Lieutenant Colonel in the

74.

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Territorial Army. If conferred the rank, Mary Kom will join cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Olympic gold-medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra to be given honorary ranks by the country's defence forces.

Wrestler Sushil Kumar settled for a silver in the 66kg free style category after being outclassed by Japanese Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu 3-1 in the gold medal bout. Nevertheless, the Indian wrestler recorded his name in sports history annals of the country by becoming the first ever sports person to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals, having won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. It was India's fourth wrestling medal in Olympic history with K.D Jadhav (1952) and Yogeshwar Dutt (2012) being the other winners. With Sushil's silver, India ended its London Games campaign with six medals – its best ever show at the biggest sports extravaganza.

75.

Chandrika Tarafdar became the first Indian to win a medal in Youth World Weightlifting Championships after she bagged two bronze in the girls' 44kg category on the opening day at Kosice, Slovakia. This is the first time in the history of Youth World Weightlifting Championships that an Indian has won a medal.

78.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) erased 14 years of Lance Armstrong's career , including his record seven Tour de France titles, and banned him for life from the sport that made him the hero of millions of cancer survivors, after con-cluding he used banned substances.

79.

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Internationally-acclaimed sand artist from Odisha Sudarsan Pattnaik has been congratulated by President Pratibha Patil and a host of other dignitaries for winning the Copenhagen Sand Art Championship 2012.

80.

76.

The Sports Ministry named Olympic medallists Vijay Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and 25 others for the Arjuna Award.

77.

Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games after bagging a silver in the Men's High Jump F42 event.

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