Environment

EnvironmEnt at a glancE Environment is a vital and very important section at all the levels of UPSC examination and other competitive examination. If we track last two years preliminary examination paper then, in 2010 paper only UPSC asked 24 questions directly from the environment section and same was in the case of Mains examination. Now, when UPSC has explicitly mentioned Environment as the separate section in the PT syllabus, the significance of the section is immense. Here we are analyzing some questions

related to environmental issues: Q.1 Consider the following: 1. Oxides of Hydrogen 2. Oxides of Nitrogen 3. Oxides of Sulphur Which of the above causes/cause acid rain ? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 3 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Ans: (c)

Q.2 . Given below are the names of four energy crops. Which one of them can be cultivated for ethanol? (a) Jatropha (b) Maize (c) Pongania (d) Sunflower Ans: (b) Q.3. Due to their extensive rice cultivation, some regions may be contributing to global warming. To what possible reason / reasons is this attributable?

1. The anaerobic conditions associated with rice cultivation cause the emission of Methane.

2. When nitrogen based fertilizers are used, nitrous oxide is emitted from the Cultivated soil.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) neither 1 nor 2 Ans: (c) Q.4 Sustainable development is described as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this perspective, inherently the oncept of sustainable development is intertwined with which of the following concepts? (a) Social justice and empowerments (b) Inclusive Growth (c) Globalization (d) Carrying capacity Ans: (d) Q.5 Consider the following pairs: Protected Area Well Known for 1. Bhiterkanika, Orissa — Salt Water Crocodile 2. Desert National Park, Rajasthan — Great Indian Bustard 3. Eravikulam, Kerala — Hootak Gibbon Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 2 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Ans: ( b) Q.6 some species of plants are insectivorous. Why? (a) Their growth in shady and dark places does not allow them to undertake sufficient photosynthesis and thus they depend on insects for nutrition. (b) They are adapted to grow in nitrogen deficient soils and thus depend on insects for sufficient nitrogenous nutrition. (c) They can not synthesize certain vitamins themselves and depend on the insects digested by them. (d) They have remained in that particular stage of evolution as living fossils, a link between autotrophs and heterotrophs.

Ans: (b) Q.7 Consider the following statements: 1. On the planet Earth, the fresh water available for use amounts to about less than 1% of the water found.

2. Of the total fresh water found on the planet Earth 95% is bound up in polar ice caps and glaciers.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

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(a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Ans: (b) Q.8 Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce one of the following as “exhaust”. (a) NH3 (b) CH4 (c) H2O (d) H2O2 Ans: (c) Q.9 An objective of the National Food Security Mission is to increase the production of certain crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified districts of the country. What are those crops? (a) Rice and Wheat only. (b) Rice, wheat and pulses only. (c) Rice, wheat, pulses and oil seeds only. (d) Rice, wheat, pulses, oil seeds and vegetables. Ans: (b) Q.10 The United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty drawn at : (a) United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972. (b) UN conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992. (c) World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002. (d) UN Climate Change Conference Copenhagen, 2009.

Ans: (b) (Refer Parakram February 2nd issue) Q.11 Which bacterial strain, developed from natural isolates by genetic manipulations, can be used for treating oil spills? (a) Agrobacterium (b) Clostridium (c) Nitrosomonas (d) Pseudomonas Ans: (d) Q.12 Which features of some species of blue – green algae helps promote them as bio – fertilizers? (a) They convert atmospheric methane into ammonia which the crop plants can absorb readily. (b) They induce the crop plants to produce the enzymes which help convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates. (c) They have the mechanism to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that the crop plants can absorb readily. (d) They induce the roots of the crop plants to absorb the soil nitrates in larger quantities. Ans: (c) Q.13 India is a party to the Ramsar Convention and has declared many areas as Ramsar Sites.

Which of the following statements best describes as to how we should maintain these sites in the context of this Convention? (a) Keep all the sites completely inaccessible to man so that they will not be exploited. (b) Conserve all the sites through ecosystem approach and permit tourism and recreation only. (c) Conserve all the sites through ecosystem approach for a period without any exploitation, with specific criteria and specific period for each site, and then allow sustainable use of them by future generations. (d) Conserve all the sites through ecosystem approach and allow their simultaneous sustainable use.

Ans: (c) Q.14 a Jatropha curcas, why is Pongamia pinnata also considered a good option for the production of bio – diesel in India?

1. Pongamia Pinnata grows naturally in most of the arid regions of India.

2. The seeds of Pongamia pinnata are rich in lipid content of which nearly half is oleic acid.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Ans: (c) Q.15 A new type of El Nino called El Nino Modoki appeared in the news, In this context, consider the following statements: 1. Normal El Nino forms in the Central Pacific ocean whereas El Nino Modoki forms in Eastern Pacific ocean.

2. Normal El Nino results in diminished hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean but El Nino Modoki results in a greater number of hurricanes with greater frequency.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) neither 1 nor 2 Ans: (b) Q.16 Mon 863 is a variety of maize. It was in the news for the following reason: (a) It is a genetically modified dwarf variety which is resistant to drought. (b) It is a genetically modified variety which is past resistant. (c) It is a genetically modified variety with ten times higher protein content than regular maize crop. (d) It is a genetically modified variety used exclusively for bio – fuel production. Ans: (b)

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Q.17 Genetically modified “golden rice” has been engineered to meet human nutritional requirements. Which one of the following statements best qualifies golden rice? (a) The grains have been fortified with genes to provide three times higher grain yield per acre than other high yielding varieties. (b) Its grains contain pro – vitamin A which upon ingestion is converted to vitamin A in the human body. (c) Its modified genes cause the synthesis of all the nine essential amino acids. (d) Its modified genes cause the fortifications of its grains with vitamin D. Ans: (b) Q.18 Consider the following statements: 1. Biodiversity hotspots are located only in tropical regions.

2. India has four bio-diversity hotspots i.e. Eastern Himalayas, Western Himalayas, Western Ghats and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) neither 1 nor 2 Ans: (d) Q.19 Consider the following statements: 1. The boundaries of a National Park are defined by legislation.

2. A Biosphere Reserve is declared to conserve a few specific species of flora and fauna.

3. In a Wildlife Sanctuary, limited biotic interference is permitted.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Ans: (c) Q.20 A pesticide which is a chlorinated hydrocarbon is sprayed on a food crop. The food chain is: Food crop – Rat – Snake – Hawk. In this food chain, the highest concentration of the pesticide would accumulate in which one of the following? (a) Food crop (b) Rat (c) Snake (d) Hawk Ans: (d) Q.21 With reference to the soil conservation, consider the following practices: 1. Crop relation 2. Sand fences. 3. Terracing 4. Wind breaks Which of the above are considered appropriate methods for soil conservation in India? (a) 1, 2 and 3 only (b) 2 and 4 only (c) 1, 3 and 4 only (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4 Ans: (c) Q.22 Excessive release of the pollutant carbon monoxide (CO), into the air may produce a condition in which oxygen supply in the human body decreases. What causes this condition? (a) When inhaled into the human body, CO is converted into CO2. (b) The inhaled CO has much higher affinity for haemoglobin as compared to oxygen. (c) The inhaled CO destroys the chemical structure of haemoglobin. (d) The inhaled CO adversely affects the respiratory centre in the brain. Ans: (b) Q.23 What are the possible limitations of India in mitigating the global warming at present and in the immediate future?

1. Appropriate alternate technologies are not sufficiently available.

2. India can not invest huge funds in research and development.

3. Many developed countries have already set up their polluting industries in India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Ans: (b) Q.24 King Cobra is the only snake that makes its own nest. Why does it make its nest? (a) It is a snake – eater and the nest helps attract other snakes. (b) It is a viviparous snake and needs a nest to give birth to its offspring. (c) It is an oviparous snake and lays its eggs in the nest and guards the nest until they are hatched. (d) It is a large, cold blooded animal and needs a nest to hibernate in the cold season. Ans: (c)

2009 Q.30 In India, which one of the following States has the largest inland saline wetland? (a) Gujarat (b) Haryana(c) Madhya Pradesh (d) Rajasthan

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ANSWER (D) Q.31 In the middle of the year 2008 the Parliament of which one of the following countries became the first in the world to enact a Climate Act by passing "The Climate Change Accountability Bill"? (a) Australia (b) Canada(c) Germany (d) Japan ANSWER (B) Q.32 The concept of carbon credit originated from which one of the following? (a) Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro(b) Kyoto Protocol(c) Montreal Protocol(d) G-8 Summit, Hciligendamm ANSWER (B) (Please refer Parakram 2nd issue).

Q.33 In the context of C02 emission and Global Warming, what is the name of a market driven device under the UNFCC that allows developing countries to get funds/incentives from the developed countries to adopt, better technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions? (a) Carbon Footprint (b) Carbon Credit Rating (c) Clean Development Mechanism (d) Emission Reduction Norm ANSWER (C) (Please refer Parakram 2nd issue).

Q.34 Which one of the following Union Ministries implements the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety? (a) Ministry of Science and Technology (b) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (c) Ministry of Environment and Forests (d) Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers ANSWER (C) Q.35 The Panda belongs to the same family as that of (a) Bear (b) Cat (c) Dog (d) Rabbit ANSWER (A) Q.36 With reference to the evolution of living organisms, which one of the following sequences, is correct? (a) Octopus – Dolphin – Shark (b) Pangolin — Tortoise — Hawk (c) Salamander – Python — Kangaroo (d) Frog – Crab – Prawn ANSWER (C) Q.37 Consider the following regions: 1. Eastern Himalayas 2. Eastern Mediterranean region 3. North-western Australia Which of the above is/are Biodiversity Hotspot(s)? (a) 1 only(b) 1 and 2 only(c) 2 and 3 only(d) 1, 2 and 3 ANSWER (B) Q.38 In the context of alternative sources of energy, ethanol as a viable bio-fuel can be obtained from: (a) Potato (b) Rice(c) Sugarcane (d) Wheat ANSWER (C) Q.39 Where is the headquarters of Animal Welfare Board of India located? (a) Ahmadabad (b) Chennai(c) Hyderabad (d) Kolkata ANSWER (B) Q.40 which one of the following brings out the publication called "Energy Statistics" from time to time? (a) Central Power Research Institute (b) Planning Commission (c) Power Finance Corporation Ltd. (d) Central Statistical Organization

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ANSWER (D) Q.41 The marine animal called dugong which is vulnerable to extinction is a/an: (a) Amphibian (b) Bony fish(c) Shark (d) Mammal ANSWER (D) Q.42 In the context of Indian wild life, the flying fox is a (a) Bat (b) Kite(c) Stork (d) Vulture ANSWER (A) In the last issue we have discussed about UNFCC, Kyoto Protocol, CMD, Annex I & II Countries and COP. In this issue we are continuing with the topic and discussing important COP, Endangered species, WWF and 50 years of WWF and Acid Rain.

Conference of parties (COP) Since the UNFCCC came into force, the parties have been meeting annually in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change, beginning in the mid-1990s. Here we are discussing some of the crucial COP’s which are paving the path of future world in solving out the crises in the form of Climate Change.

1997, COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change (Already discussed in Parakram Feb. II issue) 2005 – COP 11/MOP 1(Montreal Action Plan) Montreal, Canada.

Canada hosted the first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Montreal in conjunction with the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention.

The conference was an historic event. The Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met for the 11th time, while marking the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. At Montreal, the first ever Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (CMP) ran parallel to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP). The United Nations Climate Change Conference was the largest intergovernmental climate conference since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997. Some 10,000 participants attended.

The conference attracted unprecedented business interest as a result of two operation trading systems: the pan-European emissions trading scheme and the Clean Development Mechanism, a tool to promote sustainable development and combat climate change.

Key Impacts The Montréal Action Plan is an agreement hammered out at the end of the conference to "extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol beyond its 2012 expiration date" and negotiate deeper cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions. It was the first Meeting of the Parties (MOP-1) to the Kyoto Protocol since their initial meeting in Kyoto in 1997. It was therefore, one of the largest intergovernmental conferences on climate change ever.

More than forty decisions were adopted in this plan that will strengthen global efforts to fight climate change. Reflecting on the success of Montreal 2005, the Conference President, and Canadian Environment Minister Stephan Dion said: “Key decisions have been made in several areas. The Kyoto Protocol has been switched on, a dialogue about the future action has begun, and parties have moved forward work on adaptation and advanced the implementation of the regular work programme of the Convention and of the Protocol.”

2007 – COP 13/MOP 3, Bali, Indonesia (Bali Road Map) After the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference on the island Bali in Indonesia in December, 2007 the participating nations adopted the Bali Road Map as a two-year process to finalizing a binding agreement in 2009 in Copenhagen. The Bali Road Map includes the Bali Action Plan (BAP) that was adopted by Decision 1/CP 13 of the COP-13. It also includes the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) negotiations and their 2009 deadline, the launch of the Adaptation Fund, the scope and content of the Article 9 review of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as decisions on technology transfer and on reducing emissions from deforestation.

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The Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia, took place at the Bali International Convention Centre and brought together more than 10,000 participants, including representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and the media. The two week period included the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. A ministerial segment in the second week concluded the Conference.

The conference culminated in the adoption of the Bali Road Map, which consists of a number of forward-looking decisions that represent the various tracks that are essential to reaching a secure climate future. The Bali Road Map includes the Bali Action Plan, which charts the course for a new negotiating process designed to tackle climate change, with the aim of completing this by 2009. It also includes the AWG-KP negotiations and their 2009 deadline, the launch of the Adaptation Fund, the scope and content of the Article 9 review of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as decisions on technology transfer and on reducing emissions from deforestation.

Pillars of Bali Action Plan The Conference of Parties decided to launch a comprehensive process to enable the implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012, by addressing: (the called pillars or building blocks) 1. A shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions.

2. Enhanced national/international action on mitigation of climate change.

3. Enhanced action on adaptation.

4. Enhanced action on technology development and transfer to support action on mitigation and adaptation.

5. Enhanced action on the provision of financial resources and investment to support action on mitigation and adaptation and technology cooperation.

Cutting emissions The nations acknowledge that evidence for global warming is unequivocal and that humans must reduce emissions to reduce the risks of "severe climate change impacts" and emphasized the urgency to address climate change. There was a strong consensus for updated changes for both developed and developing countries. Although there were not specific numbers agreed upon in order to cut emissions, the decision recognized that there was a need for "deep cuts in global emissions" (plural countries propose 100% reduction in 2050) and that "developed country emissions must fall 10-40% by 2020".

2009 – COP 15/MOP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen 2009, was hosted by the Government of Denmark. It comprised of the following sessions: 1. Fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) 2. Fifth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 5) 3. Thirty-first session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 31) 4. Thirty-first session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 31) 5. Tenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 10) 6. Eighth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 8) December last year world leaders met at The Bella Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark for the UNFCCCs 15th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP15) and the 5th meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP 5). According to the Bali Road Map, framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 was to be agreed there.

The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, and judged a "meaningful agreement" by the United States government.

It was "taken note of", but not "adopted", in a debate of all the participating countries the next day, and was not passed unanimously. Released on December 19, 2009, the Copenhagen Accord is a three page political declaration that is intended to frame future UN climate change negotiations.

What the Accord says?

As per the Accord, Appendix 1 is intended for "economy-wide emissions targets" for 2020 for Annex-I (rich countries) while, Appendix 2 is for "mitigation actions" by non-Annex I (developing) countries. These commitments can become operational immediately.

Key elements of the Accord include:

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1.

Recognition that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the present day and that actions should be taken to keep any temperature increase to below 2째C. 2. The increased potential for US and Chinese involvement in a global climate change regime.

3. It has been said that without the US and China making commitments, a post-Kyoto global climate deal would be pointless, given the extent of their emissions.

4. Larger pledges of financial support for developing countries.

5. "Developed countries commit to a goal of mobilising jointly US$100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries". This represents a major boost from the current US$10 billion being offered.

6. Recognition that Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD -Plus) and increasing forests (AFOLU) are crucial to reducing climate change and that a mechanism to mobilise financial resources from developed nations to this end is required.

7. Annex I countries are to voluntarily "commit to implement individually or jointly report on quantified economy-wide emissions targets for 2020" by 31 January, 2010 for compilation in an informal document.

8. Countries can choose their own base year and their own reduction targets. Their responses are recorded on the UNFCCC website i.e. unfccc.int 9. Non Annex 1 countries (developing nations) were to submit nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) by 31 January, 2010.

10. Under the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries (non-Annex 1 countries) including significant emitters like Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, were exempt from reporting their GHG inventories and mitigation actions.

The Copenhagen Accord for the first time encapsulates a UN agreement that developing countries should report their mitigation actions and national GHG inventory reports. Crucially, this includes China's emissions which will be subject to a moderate level of international verification.

11. Establishment of the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund. This fund will be an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, including but not limited to the distribution of the US$100 billion fund for developing nations.

What was missing?

1. A lack of a deadline to negotiate a successor Treaty to the Kyoto Protocol.

2. "The main challenge is that an agreement by 29 countries needs to be converted into one by 194 countries," 3. The Bali Action Plan, agreed in December 2007, set COP15 in December 2009 as the deadline to negotiate a successor Treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. Not only did the Copenhagen negotiations not agree on a new Treaty, the declaration did not even set a future deadline to agree a Treaty. This calls into question what may happen to the Kyoto mechanisms beyond 2012 and may result in a lack of continuity in UN-level climate policy in 2013.

4. No internationally agreed binding GHG emission reduction targets.

5. While all countries have posted voluntary emission reduction targets, many of these are quantified with "I will if they will" quantifications.

6. No coverage of aviation and maritime emissions.

7. Aviation and maritime emissions require international governance due to the nature of the industries. Without international accord the EU will struggle to implement their cap on emissions from aviation in EU airspace, scheduled for 2013.

8. And no reform of the Clean Development Mechanism market.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a critical mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, but there are major issues with processing validation applications for CDM projects. Further, the inclusion of LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry) in the CDM needs to be discussed.

Major achievements 1. Canada, along with Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Maldives, is among the first countries to officially notify the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of its intention to sign on to the Copenhagen pact on climate change.

2. The accord, which was accepted by 29 countries, must pledge to keep the increase in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius, and developed countries must commit USD100 billion by 2020 to the developing world to help emerging economies deal with their emissions. It does not include any caps on carbon emissions.

3. India on its part has a National Action Plan, commitment to reduce emission intensity by 20-25% from 2005 levels, and setting up of an expert group to look at low-carbon growth strategies to submit under the Accord.

4. Formation of BASIC group.

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BASIC Countries The BASIC countries (BASIC or G4) are a bloc of four large developing countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – formed by an agreement on 28 November, 2009. The four committed to act jointly at the Copenhagen climate summit, including a possible united walk-out if their common minimum position was not met by the developed nations.

Brazil, South Africa, India and China, the four BASIC countries, announced their support to the Copenhagen Accord to combat climate change and initiated what could be the start of a climate fund to help poor countries with technology to address global warming. They also called for an early flow of the $10 billion pledged by developed countries for this in 2010. The ministers who represented their governments agreed to meet every three months.

This emerging geopolitical alliance, initiated and led by China, then brokered the final Copenhagen Accord with the United States. Subsequently, the grouping is working to define a common position on emission reductions and climate aid money, and to try to convince other countries to sign up to the Copenhagen Accord. However, in January 2010, the grouping described the Accord as merely a political agreement and not legally binding, as is argued by the US and Europe.

The second meeting of Ministers of the four BASIC Group countries took place in New Delhi on January 24th, 2010. South Africa will host the next meeting, in Cape Town in April, 2010.

Individual commitments by some of the important countries out of 29 countries: Australia To cut carbon emissions by 25% below 2000 levels by 2020 if the world agrees to an ambitious global deal to stabilize levels of Co2 emissions to 450 ppm or lower. To cut carbon emissions by 5% below 2000 levels by 2020 unconditionally.

Brazil To cut emissions by 38–42% below projected 2020 levels (if no action was taken) by the year 2020.

Canada In 2009 the goal was to cut carbon emissions by 20% below 2006 levels by 2020; an equivalent of 3% below 1990 levels by 2020.

The goal was later changed in early 2010 to 17% of 2005 levels by 2020; an equivalent of 2.5% above 1990 levels.

People's Republic of China To cut Co2 emissions intensity by 40–45% below 2005 levels by 2020.

European Union To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% (including LULUCF) below 1990 levels by 2020 if an international agreement is reached committing other developed countries and the more advanced developing nations to comparable emission reductions. To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% (excluding LULUCF) below 1990 levels by 2020 unconditionally.

Member country Germany has offered to reduce its Co2 emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

India To cut carbon emissions intensity by 20–25% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Japan To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.

Indonesia To reduce carbon emissions by 26% by 2020, based on business-as-usual levels. With enhanced international assistance, President of Indonesia Dr. Yudhoyono offered an increased reduction of 41% by 2020, based on business-as-usual levels.

Maldives To become carbon neutral by 2019.

Russia Prior to the meeting, Russia pledged to reduce emissions between 20% to 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 if a global agreement is reached committing other countries to comparable emission reductions. This target had not been announced to the UNFCCC Secretariat before the COP 15 meeting. In the COP 15 negotiations, Russia only pledged to make a 10% to 15% reduction below 1990 levels by 2020 as part of a commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, but said that it would reduce emissions by 20% to 25% as part of an agreement on long-term cooperative action.

South Africa To cut emissions by 34% below current expected levels by 2020. This is equivalent to an absolute emissions cut of about 18% below 1990 levels by 2020.

South Korea To reduce emissions unilaterally by 4% below 2005 levels by 2020.

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United States of America To cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, 42% by 2030 and 83% by 2050.

2010 – COP 16/MOP 6, Cancun, Mexico.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference took place in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. It encompassed the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP), as well as the thirty-third sessions of both the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), and the fifteenth session of the AWG-KP and thirteenth session of the AWG-LCA. An achievement of Cancun is consensus on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund, a financing system for poorer countries to tap in order to decrease their use of pollution-intensive energy sources, and adapt and respond to climate-change related natural hardships. Richer countries will contribute $100 billion annually to the fund by 2020.

Other initiatives outlined in the agreement including: a financial framework to protect tropical forests and prevent clear-cutting, and the establishment of a Technology Executive Committee, a group that will oversee the process of transferring clean energy technologies to poor nations.

The Cancun summit brought into focus the “the scene of a battle” when additional emissions reductions targets laid out in the Kyoto Protocol are to be discussed at next year’s Conference of the Parties (COP17) scheduled for Nov. 28 – Dec. 11, 2011, in South Africa.

Governments in Cancun, Mexico, have chosen hope over fear and put the building blocks back in place for a global deal to combat climate change. For the first time in years, governments put aside some major differences and compromised to reach a climate agreement. However, with large compromise also comes disappointment. The UN climate conference in Cancun may have saved the multilateral process after last year's abject failure in Copenhagen but we have not yet been saved from climate change.

Governments not only acknowledged the gap between their current weak pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and where they need to get to, they actually stated that cuts needed to be in line with the science – 25 to 40 percent cuts by 2020 – and that they need to keep global temperature rise below two degrees.

Fact sheet: UNFCCC terminology The Conference of the Parties (COP): the “supreme body” of the Convention, that is, it’s the highest decision-making authority.

It is an association of all the countries that are Parties to the Convention.

The meeting of the Parties (CMP): the Conference of the Parties serves as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). The CMP meets during the same period as the COP. Parties to the Convention that are not Parties to the Protocol are able to participate in the CMP as observers, but without the right to take decisions. The functions of the CMP relating to the Protocol are similar to those carried out by the COP for the Convention.

The Convention established two permanent subsidiary bodies: the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). These bodies give advice to the COP and each has a specific mandate.

As its name suggests, the SBSTA’s task is to provide the COP with advice on scientific, technological and methodological matters.

The SBI gives advice to the COP on all matters concerning the implementation of the Convention.

Ad-hoc Working Group on further commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP): at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2005, Parties to the Kyoto Protocol initiated a process to consider further commitments

by Annex I Parties for the period beyond 2012. The resulting decision established an open-ended ad hoc working group of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol to conduct that process and report to each session of the CMP on the status of this process.

Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA): the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2007 culminated in the adoption of the Bali Road Map which consists of a number of forward-looking decisions that represent the various tracks that are essential to strengthening international action on climate change. Central to the Bali Road Map is the establishment of a two-year process to enable full and effective implementation of the Convention.

This is taking place in a new negotiating group called the AWG-LCA, which is to reach an agreed outcome by 2010.

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Acid rain Scientists first discovered acid rain in 1852, when the English chemist Robert Agnus invented the term. Acid rain describes any form of precipitation with high levels of nitric and sulphuric acids. It can also occur in the form of snow, fog and tiny bits of dry material that settle to Earth.

"Acid rain" is a broad term referring to a mixture of wet and dry deposition (deposited material) from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of nitric and sulphuric acids. The precursors, or chemical forerunners, of acid rain formation result from both natural sources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and man-made sources, primarily emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) resulting from fossil fuel combustion. In the United States, roughly 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOx come from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels, like coal. Acid rain occurs when these gases react in the atmosphere with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds.

The result is a mild solution of sulphuric acid and nitric acid. When sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released from power plants and other sources, prevailing winds blow these compounds across state and national borders, sometimes over hundreds of miles.

Wet Deposition : Wet deposition refers to acidic rain, fog and snow. If the acid chemicals in the air are blown into areas where the weather is wet, the acids can fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow, fog or mist. As this acidic water flows over and through the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals. The strength of the effects depends on several factors, including how acidic the water is; the chemistry and buffering capacity of the soils involved; and the types of fish, trees and other living things that rely on the water.

Dry Deposition : In areas where the weather is dry, the acid chemicals may become incorporated into dust or smoke and fall to the ground through dry deposition, sticking to the ground, buildings, homes, cars, and trees. Dry deposited gases and particles can be washed from these surfaces by rainstorms, leading to increased runoff. This runoff water makes the resulting mixture more acidic. About half of the acidity in the atmosphere falls back to the earth through dry deposition.

Rotting vegetation and erupting volcanoes release some chemicals that can cause acid rain, but most acid rains fall because of human activities. The biggest culprit is the burning of fossil fuels by coal-burning power plants, factories and automobiles.

What causes acid rain?

Acid rain is mainly caused by these substances directly or indirectly that are being released into the air: 1. Carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is released by burning coal, oil and natural gas. If you inhale carbon dioxide then, since it is toxic, it can cause you to breathe more than usual; unconsciousness and other serious health problems.

2. Carbon monoxide: Carbon monoxide is released by burning gasoline, oil, and wood. When carbon monoxide enters your body, it goes into the bloodstream. When this happens, it will slow down the delivery of oxygen to the rest of the body, causing dizziness, headaches, and fatigue.

3. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): CFCs are the chemicals that are used in industry, refrigeration, air conditioning systems, and consumer products. Whenever CFCs are released into the air, they reduce the stratospheric ozone layer. The stratospheric ozone layer protects Earth’s surface from the harmful rays of the sun.

4. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPS): HAPS are released into the air by sources such as chemical plants, dry cleaners, printing plants and motor vehicles (cars, trucks, buses and planes). HAPS can cause serious health problems like cancer, birth defects, nervous system problems and deaths that are all due to people accidentally letting them go into the air.

5. Lead: Lead is released by house and car paint as well as the manufacturing of lead batteries, fishing lures, certain parts of bullets, some ceramic ware, water pipes, and fixtures. In young children, lead can cause nervous system damage and learning problems.

6. Nitrogen oxides: Nitrogen Oxides are released into the air by burning fuels such as gasoline and coal. When nitrogen oxides combine with VOCs, they can cause breathing difficulty in people who have asthma, coughs in children and general illness in respiratory system.

7. Ozone: Ozone is released by motor vehicles, industries, burning coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels and in the chemicals that are in hairspray and paints. When ozone is close to the ground (ground level ozone) it can cause chest pain, irritated respiratory tract or persistent cough, inability to take deep breaths and can make you more likely to get lung infections.

8. Particulate matter (PM): PM, little particles of pollution, is released by cars, trucks and buses that are burning diesel fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, road construction, steel making, mining and turning on fire places and wood stoves. When PMs mix with air particles and get breathed in by something, they get stuck in the lung tissue. There they can cause increased respiratory disease and lung damage.

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9.

Sulphur dioxides: Sulphur dioxides are released by burning coal, paper production and melting metal. Sulphur dioxide can harm vegetation, harm metals and cause lung problems, which include breathing problems and permanent lung damage.

10. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): VOCs are released into the air by burning gasoline, wood, coal, or natural gas, solvents, paints, glues and other products that are used at work or at home.

There are a lot of similarities in all of these pollutants. Most of the pollutants are from automobiles. Automobiles release harmful smoke into the air, which causes acid rain. Coal, oil and gasoline are also some of the most common causes of all of the pollutants. If people reduce the amount of these things that they release into the air, then there will be less pollutants. Some of the most common health problems are breathing problems, nervous system problems and lung problems. The biggest air pollutant that mobile sources contribute to acid rain is carbon monoxide. Of all of the carbon monoxide releases that contribute to acid rain, 81% of them come from mobile sources. The biggest other source is particulate matter, little particles of pollution that are released into the air by cars, trucks and buses that are burning diesel fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, road construction, steel making, mining and turning on fire places and wood stoves. 73% of the non-mobile sources that contribute to acid rain are caused by the release of particulate matter.

Effects: Acid rain has many ecological effects, but none is greater than its impact on lakes, streams, wetlands and other aquatic environments. Acid rain makes water acidic and causes them to absorb aluminum that makes its way from the soil into lakes and streams. This combination makes water toxic to crayfish, clams, fish and other aquatic animals. Some species can tolerate acidic water better than others. However, in an interconnected ecosystem, what impacts some species eventually impacts many more throughout the food chain—including non-aquatic species such as birds. Acid rain also damages forests, especially those at higher elevations. It robs the soil of essential nutrients and releases aluminum in the soil, which makes it hard for trees to take up water. Trees' leaves and needles are also harmed by acids. The effects of acid rain, combined with other environmental stressors, leave trees and plants less able to withstand cold temperatures, insects and disease. The pollutants may also inhibit trees' ability to reproduce. Some soils are better able to neutralize acids than others. In areas where the soil's "buffering capacity" is low, the harmful effects of acid rain are much greater.

What effect does acid rain have on sea life?

Acid rain is very harmful to the environment. Acid rain damages everything over a period of time because it makes the living things in the environment die. Acid rain affects the life in the water as well as on land. It is almost worse in water than on land because the fishes that are in the water need water to breathe. When the water gets polluted, fishes get sick and end up dying.

All rainwater contains some level of acidity. Acidity is measured by pH, which stands for potential of hydrogen. The pH scale measures the amount of acid in a substance. PH is measured on a scale from 0-14, with 7 being neutral. The lower the number is on the pH scale, the more acidic that substance is. Normal rainwater has a pH of 5.6. When the pH level of rainwater goes below 5.6, it is considered acid rain. All of the sea life will die when the water that they swim in gets too acidic. For example, all fishes

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will die when the water goes below a pH of 4.5. Most of the frogs and insects that live around the water will also die when the water reaches a pH of 4.5. With a pH of 5.5, all of the bottom-dwelling bacterial decomposers, animals that eat the remains of the food that other animal don’t want, will begin to die. When these decomposers die, they leave the un-decomposed food on the bottom of the water. This pollutes the water by making the water dirty for all of the fish to swim in. All fresh water shrimp die when there gets to be a pH of 6.0. Aquatic plants will grow the best when the water is a pH between 7.0 and 9.2. If acid rain gets to be more of a problem then, all of the sea life will eventually be gone. Some of the lakes that were once acidic are recovering, but many more still need to be recovered. Of the 202 lakes that were chosen to be studied in the early 1980s; only 33% of them have become less acidic.

What effect does acid rain have on the forests of the world?

Trees are also harmed by acid rain. In Germany, the forests are believed to be dying because acid rain is harming them.

Scientists say that acid rain damages the waxy outer coating that protects the leaves. When this happens, it allows the acid to seep into the tree. Instead of water changing from liquid to gas inside the leaves, gas is taking the place of the water. This prevents the plant from taking in carbon dioxide to perform photosynthesis, and the plant will eventually die.

Acid rain, acid fog and acid vapor also damage forests by damaging the surface of the leaves and needles. This makes it harder for the trees to withstand the cold and will cause the tree to die. Acid rain also harms the soil that the trees are growing in by taking most of the valuable nutrients away from the soil. Acid rain also leaves a lot of aluminum in the soil, which can be harmful to the trees that grow there. The atmosphere deposits a lot of toxic metals into the forests because acid rain contains metal.

Some of these metals are lead, zinc, copper, chromium, and aluminum. When there is acid rain, the rain releases these metals.

This is believed to stunt the growth of many trees and plants. This also stunts the growth of mosses, algae, nitrogen-fixing bacteria and fungi that are needed to help the forest grow. Forests need these because they eat the harmful things that will kill the trees, such as bad bacteria.

What effect does acid rain have on the air, on us and our health?

Acid rain affects us in many different ways. One major way is our health. Breathing and lung problems in children and adults who have asthma and in children have been linked to acid air pollution. Everything that we eat, drink and breathe comes in contact with acid deposits at some point or the other. This could threaten our health by making us sick. The following health problems occur each year in the U.S. and Canada due to acid rain: 1. 550 premature deaths.

2. 1,520 emergency room visits.

3. 210,070 asthma symptom days.

What can acid rain do to non-living things?

Acid rain can also damage non-living things, such as buildings and statues. It can decay building materials and paints. Worst of all, it can damage non-replaceable buildings, statues and sculptures that are part of our nation’s memories that we want to last for a very long time.

In India The phenomenon of acid rain is well known but in India, acid rain is very rarely reported and in high industrial region as Chembur in Mumbai and Taj Mahal in Agra. Efforts to control it included passing of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,

1981 (Amended in 1987).

Global Efforts Acid rain emerged as a concern in the 1960s with the observations of dying lakes and forest damage in Northern Europe, the United States and Canada. It was one of the first environmental issues to demonstrate a large-scale regional scope . The chief pollutants—oxides of sulphur (SOx) and nitrogen (NOx) from combustion of fossil fuels—can be carried hundreds of miles away by winds before being washed out of the atmosphere in rain, fog and snow.

As evidence grew of the links between air pollution and environmental damage, legislation to curb emissions was put in place.

The 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and its subsequent amendments set targets for reductions of sulphur and nitrogen emissions in Europe that have largely been achieved. The 1970 and 1990 Clean Air Acts have led to similar improvements in the United States.

The only way to fight acid rain is by curbing the release of the pollutants that cause it. This means burning fewer fossil fuels.

Many governments have tried to curb emissions by cleaning up industry smokestacks and promoting alternative fuel sources.

These efforts have met with mixed results. But even if acid rain could be stopped today, it would still take many years for its harmful effects to disappear. Individuals can also help prevent acid rain by conserving energy. The less electricity people use in

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their homes, the fewer chemicals power plants will emit. Vehicles are also major fossil fuel users, so drivers can reduce emissions by using public transportation, carpooling, biking, or simply walking wherever possible.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and Endangered species On April 29, 1961, the Morges Manifesto was signed and called attention to the alarming decline in species. Its straightforward, concise language built the groundwork for the need for an organization like WWF. On September 11, 1961, World Wildlife Fund was legally formed and set up its office at the IUCN Headquarters in Morges, Switzerland. H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands became the first president. WWF was the first international organization that pledged to save endangered wildlife worldwide. World Wildlife Fund celebrates the year 2011 as its 50th anniversary. Started in 1961, WWF has worked toward the protection of endangered species. Mission: is to use the best conservation science available and work with people to find solutions to save the marvelous array of life on our planet.

Celebrating 50 Years and Looking to the Future Fifty years ago, a small group of concerned scientists, naturalists and business and political leaders joined together to save our Earth’s wildlife from extinction. The organization they founded—World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have since grown into the world’s most trusted and longest-running conservation organization. Today, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe and has more than 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million members worldwide.

Evolution of the Panda Logo In 1961, Chi-Chi, the first giant panda to live in the West, was a sensation at the London Zoo. Chi-Chi brought people together in discovering and caring about the amazing species of the world. From that inspiration, Gerald Watterson, an environmentalist and artist, created a number of panda sketches that WWF founder Sir Peter Scott developed into the first version of the logo known worldwide today. Just as WWF’s work has evolved from the initial vision of funding species conservation to a complex global effort that protects species, places and the people who share them, that first panda sketch has evolved into an international symbol for conservation—both for today and for generations to come.

Destructive human activities have led to the current rate of species extinction, which is at least 100–1,000 times higher than the expected natural rate. This has impacts far beyond the potential cultural loss of iconic species such as tigers, rhinos and whales.

Species and the ecosystems they are part of provide essential goods and services that make human life possible and contribute enormously to our health and well-being — breathable air, clean water, food, fibers, building materials, medicines, energy, fertile soils, climate regulation, transport and recreational and spiritual values. Conservation efforts are directed towards flagship species, iconic animals that provide a focus for raising awareness and stimulating action and funding for broader conservation efforts in our priority places; and footprint-impacted species whose population is primarily threatened because of unsustainable hunting, logging or fishing.

Flagship species A flagship specie is a specie from the plant or animal kingdom that is used to represent a certain environmental issue or cause.

There are a number of types of issues that can be represented by a flagship specie. For example, the polar bear has been used as a specie to raise awareness about what global warming is doing to the planet. Very often a flagship specie will be chosen because of its attractiveness or because it has unique features. Sometimes flagship species will be used as the representative of an environmental disaster. For example, a photograph of a brown pelican drenched in oil soared through the media and via online news sources and quickly became the face of the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that was a result of the BP oil spill. Not only was this one of the first available pictures of an animal drenched in oil, but the brown pelican served as the perfect flagship species for this event because it also happens to be the state bird of Louisiana.

Examples of flagship species include the Asiatic Lion and the Bengal Tiger of India, the giant Panda of China, the Golden Lion Tamarin of Brazil, the African Elephant, the Mountain Gorilla of Central Africa and the Orangutan of Southeast Asia.

Footprint-impacted species Species whose populations are primarily threatened because of unsustainable hunting, logging or fishing. Examples: Tigers, Whales and Dolphins, Asian Elephant and so on.

Keystone species A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its biomass. Such species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community. The role that a keystone species plays in its ecosystem is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of the

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stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. A classic keystone specie is a small predator that prevents a particular herbivorous specie from eliminating dominant plant species. Keystone species are the "engineers" of an ecosystem. Ex: Beavers.

Indicator species An indicator species is an organism whose presence, absence or abundance reflects a specific environmental condition.

Indicator species can signal a change in the biological condition of a particular ecosystem, and thus may be used as a proxy to diagnose the health of an ecosystem. For example, plants or lichens sensitive to heavy metals or acids in precipitation may be indicators of air pollution. Indicator species can also reflect a unique set of environmental qualities or characteristics found in a specific place, such as a unique microclimate. However, care must be exercised in using indicator species. Judging an ecosystem based on the response of a single indicator specie might be like taking a pulse on a patient and immediately prescribing a treatment without a) further examination, b) other indicators such as blood pressure, or c) knowledge of the patient’s past medical history.

Examples of indicator species : Indicator species are an appealing research and monitoring tool. A conservation practitioner can use an indicator species as a surrogate for overall biodiversity, monitoring the outcomes of management practices by measuring the rise or fall of the population of the indicator species. One example of the use of indicator species is the spotted owl as an indicator of old growth habitat. However, this owl was at the heart of the timber industry v. environmentalist controversy over old growth forests in Oregon and Washington, USA. At the time it was believed that spotted owl habitat was limited to the big, tall trees and standing dead wood found only in very old and mature forests (though now it is clear that spotted owl habitat is much more widely distributed). River otters have been used as indicators of healthy, clean river systems. In the humid mountain forests of Mexico, many peaks harbour distinct specie of arboreal lizard. The health of these unique tree-dwelling lizard populations is used an indicator of the health and biodiversity of the natural communities in the region. Similarly, maidenhair ferns are known to grow in rich northern hardwoods throughout New England, but a subspecies of maidenhairs that are found only in sites with serpentine mineral soil is an indicator of a specific substrate.

Foundation species In ecology, a foundation specie is a dominant primary producer in an ecosystem both in terms of abundance and influence.

Examples include kelp in kelp forests and corals in coral reefs.

Umbrella species When conservation recommendations and laws are made, umbrella species are used in order to create generalized decisions.

Umbrella species are a wide range of animal and plant species that have similar requirements to many other species in the same habitat. In ensuring the protection of these organisms, other plant and animal species in the same area are usually protected as well. The use of umbrella species is designed to make the conservation and environmental decision-making process easier. With so many millions of diverse forms of wildlife requiring monitoring and protection, it can be difficult to assess the individual needs of every single species. Also known as keystone species or flagship species, umbrella species help leaders and scientists determine which locations will make the best land reserves and ensure the protection of the most abundant species.

Examples: Northern spotted owls and old growth forest: ex. Mollusks and Salamanders are within the protective boundaries of the northern spotted owl. Bay checker spot butterfly and grasslands Tigers in India and elsewhere. Project Tiger was launched to save the tiger and thereby its habitat and other species within it.

Facts and milestone by WWF 1.

2.

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In 1988, WWF changed its name to World Wide Fund for Nature, except in Canada and the United States, where the organization continues to be known as World Wildlife Fund.

In 1986, WWF reintroduced captive-bred Golden Lion Tamarins to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, which contributed to the increase of the population and protection of forests in their range. WWF continues to save species from extinction by strengthening antipoaching efforts and reducing impacts on fragile habitats.

In 1999, WWF convened the YaoundĂŠ Forest Summit in Cameroon where six African heads of state came together and announced plans to create 12 million acres of cross-border forest protected areas in the Congo Basin.

In 1972, WWF launched one of its most popular international campaigns, "Operation Tiger." The Indian prime minister at the time, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was one of the first international leaders to join the fight to save endangered species.

Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy, WWF's first scientist, was hired in 1973 as a project administrator. Lovejoy coined the term "biological diversity" and developed the concept of debt-for-nature swaps, a major financial mechanism for conservation funding.

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6.

WWF changed direction in 1980 from concentrating on wildlife and habitats to also conserving the world's natural resources. Now central to WWF's work, the concept of sustainable development, using only what nature can replenish, was introduced.

7. In 2002, WWF and partners launched the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) program—the world's largest tropical forest conservation program. ARPA is an ambitious multi-year effort to ensure comprehensive protection of the Brazilian Amazon.

8. In 2002, the Brazilian government created Tumucumaque National Park, the largest tropical park in the world, covering 9.4 million acres, and WWF committed $1 million for its management. The following year, after three years of intensive work by WWF, the 1.7 million acre Chandless State Park was created in the Brazilian Amazon.

9. In 2004, a census revealed that WWF efforts to protect African rhinos are increasing its population. Records showed 3600 black rhinos—a substantial increase from the 2,400 left in the 1990s and 11,000 white rhinos, up from fewer than 100 in 1904.

10. In 1975, WWF helped create Corcovado National Park, a tropical forest on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. Today WWF works worldwide to end destructive and illegal logging to preserve species’ homes and support the lives of people who depend on forests for survival.

Top 10 most endangered species of the world (WWF) The tiger has topped the World Wide Fund for Nature's list of species most at the threat of extinction.

1. Tiger: New studies indicate that there may be as few as 3,200 tigers (Panthera Tigris) left in the wild. Tigers occupy less than seven per cent of their original range, which has decreased by 40 percent over the past ten years. Continuing deforestation and rampant poaching could push some tiger populations to the same fate as its now-extinct Javan and Balinese relatives in other parts of Asia. Tigers are poached for their body parts, which are used in traditional Asian medicine, while the skin is also highly prized. Additionally, sea level rise, due to climate change, threatens the mangrove habitat of a key tiger population in Bangladesh’s and India’s Sundarbans. The Chinese Year of the Tiger, starting in February 2010, will mark an important year for conservation efforts to save wild tigers, with WWF continuing to play a vital role in implementing bold new strategies to save this magnificent Asian big cat.

2. Polar Bear: The Arctic’s polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have become the iconic symbol of early victims of climate-induced habitat loss. Designated a threatened species for protection by the Endangered Species Act in the US, polar bear population will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century if warming trends in the Arctic continue at the current pace. WWF is supporting field research to better understand how climate change will affect polar bears and to develop adaptation strategies.

WWF also works to protect critical polar bear habitat by working with governments and industry to reduce threats from shipping and oil and gas development in the region and with local communities to reduce human-bear conflict in areas where bears are already stranded on land for longer periods of time due to lack of ice.

3. Pacific Walrus: The Arctic’s Bering and Chukchi Seas are home to the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), one of the latest victims of climate change. In September this year, up to 200 dead walruses were spotted on the shore of the Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast. These animals use floating ice for resting, birthing and nursing calves, and protection from predators. With Arctic ice melting, the Pacific walrus is experiencing habitat loss to the extent that in September 2009, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that adding the Walrus to the Endangered Species Act may be warranted.

4. Magellanic Penguin: Once threatened primarily by oil spills, Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), and now face a larger threat as fishes are displaced by warming ocean currents, forcing the birds to swim farther to find food. Last year hundreds of Magellanic Penguins were washed up on beaches around Rio de Janeiro, many emaciated or dead. Scientists have speculated that changes in ocean currents or temperatures, which may be related to climate change, could have been responsible for their movement more than a thousand miles north of their traditional nesting area in the southern tip of Argentina. Twelve out of the 17 penguin species are currently experiencing rapid population decline.

5. Leatherback Turtle: The largest marine turtle and one of the largest living reptiles, the leatherback turtle, (Dermochelys coriaceathe) has survived for more than a hundred million years, but is now facing extinction. Recent estimates of numbers show that this species is declining, particularly in the Pacific where as few as 2,300 adult females now remain; making the Pacific leatherback the world's most endangered marine turtle population. Atlantic turtle populations are more stable but scientists predict a decline due to the large numbers of adults being caught as bycatch and killed accidentally by fishing fleets.

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Additionally, rising sea levels and higher temperatures on Atlantic beaches pose a new threat to turtles and their offsprings. Nest temperature strongly determines the sex of offspring, and a nest warming trend is reducing the number of male turtles. WWF aims to conserve leatherback turtle migratory pathways - by working with fisheries to decrease bycatch, by protecting critical nesting beaches, and by raising awareness so that local communities will protect turtles and their nests.

6. Bluefin Tuna: The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a large migratory fish found in the Western and Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Bluefin Tuna is the source of highest grade sushi. Bluefin Tuna fisheries are near collapse and the species are at serious risk of extinction if unsustainable fishing practices in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean are not stopped. A temporary ban on the global trade of Bluefin Tuna would allow the overexploited species to recover. WWF is encouraging restaurants, chefs, retailers and consumers to stop serving; buying, selling and eating endangered Bluefin Tuna until this amazing species shows signs of recovery.

7. Mountain Gorilla: Scientists consider mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) to be a critically endangered gorilla subspecies, with about 720 surviving in the wild. More than 200 live in the Virunga National Park, located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Rwanda and Uganda. War has been waged in areas around the park, with gorillas subject to related threats such as poaching and loss of habitat. Conservation efforts have led to an increase in the Virunga population by 14 per cent in the last 12 years, while the mountain gorillas other home, the Bwindi impenetrable Forest in Uganda has experienced population increase of 12 per cent over the past decade. Despite this success, the mountain gorilla’s status remains fragile and WWF is working to save the great ape’s forest habitat in the mountains of the heart of Africa.

8. Monarch Butterfly: Every year millions of delicate monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) migrate from North America to their winter habitat in Mexico. A well conserved and protected high-altitude pine and fir forest in Mexico is essential for the survival of the overwintering of monarchs, which has been recognized as an endangered biological phenomenon. The protection of its reproductive habitats in the United States and Canada is also crucial to saving this species migration, one of the most remarkable natural phenomena on the planet. WWF, in collaboration with the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, has designed an innovative conservation strategy to protect and restore the Monarch butterflies wintering habitat in Mexico, so butterflies are protected from extremes weather and other threats. WWF is also supporting local communities to establish trees nurseries that are reintroduced to the monarch butterfly reserve, creating at the same time new sources of income for the owners of the monarch forests.

9. Javan Rhinoceros: Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (2009), the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is considered to be one of the most endangered large mammals in the world with only two populations existing in the wild, for a total number of less than 60 animals. Highly prized as a commodity in traditional Asian medicine, Javan rhinos have also been brought to the verge of extinction by the conversion of forest habitat to farmland. WWF has been involved in protection and conservation of the Javan rhino since 1998, supporting forest rangers to undertake increased patrolling and protection activities, conducting surveys of the rhino population, raising awareness of the importance of the rhinos to local communities, and supporting park management. Last month, highly trained sniffer dogs were used to search for traces of the extremely rare and endangered Vietnamese Javan Rhinoceros, of which no more than a dozen are thought to exist. These samples will be analyzed to better understand the gender mix and whether this small population has a chance of survival.

10. Giant Panda: An international symbol of conservation since WWF’s founding in 1961, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) which numbers around 1,600 in the wild, faces an uncertain future. Its forest habitat in the mountainous areas of southwest China has become fragmented, creating a number of small and isolated populations. WWF has been active in giant panda conservation for nearly three decades by working with the Chinese government to protect habitats through the creation of reserves and to help local communities become less dependent on forest resources. Over half of the habitat where pandas live is now protected and corridors are being established to connect key panda populations. But the 1,600 remaining wild pandas are still living in over 20 geographically separate areas and infrastructure development is on the increase, so there’s still much more to be done.

What is Endangered Species?

Endangered species are animals or plants that are soon to die out. This means that once they become extinct, they will never be seen on Earth again. Many animals and plants become endangered or extinct each year. Recently, however, their rate of dying

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out increased dramatically. It is estimated that 27,000 species become extinct each year, about 3 an hour. Since 1996, scientists calculated that 124 types of amphibians, 1,108 types of birds, 734 types of fish, 1,096 types of mammals and 253 types of reptiles became endangered.

There are many reasons that can cause a species of animals or plants to become endangered or even extinct. First of all, the human population has exploded since the last few decades. To accommodate the oversized human population more and more lands are taken away from these animals or plants. The natural habitats are snatched away from these species, leaving them only a small portion of the land, where they once roamed freely. With the little amount of land these animals or plants have, the food source become scarce. They have to fight among themselves in order to remain alive. They also don't have enough room to live. Sometimes animals or plants don't adapt to the limited space they now have, and die.

Animals and plants also become endangered because of the chemicals people use. When people use pesticides to kill off insects and other pests, they are also endangering the lives of other species around them. These chemicals may get into the river or other water sources. Fish live in the water. They consume it. Then when birds come along and prey on them, these birds are also contaminated with the dangerous chemicals. The eagle, our national symbol, also experienced this deadly scenario. DDT, a type of pesticide, caused the eggshells to become fragile. When the female tries to incubate, sit on them, the shells just collapse. The population of eagles had gone down rapidly with the use of DDT. When scientists and environmentalists learn of this danger, they quickly ban the use of DDT. Now the eagle population is rebuilding.

Hunting and trading are other reasons that threaten the lives of many innocent living creatures on Earth. Thousands of years, people kill animals or plants just for the fun of it, or for trading. Many of them do it illegally, or poaching. People kill animals for their fur, oil, body parts and many other things in order to fatten their wallet. These things then are turned into fur coat, cosmetics, perfume, oil for lamps and traditional medicines. The tiger has been overly hunted for its bone because some people think that the bone has some magical healing power. Now the worldwide population of tiger is not doing so well. Some exotic birds are dying out because of trading. They get shipped around the world. While they are being sent, some die. Others which don't adjust to the new environment also die. An example of people hunting animals just for sport and excitement was the American bison. There were more than 60 million bison living in North America a few hundred years ago. However, when the new settlers came over they hunted them for food and clothing. Later the bison was just killed for the enjoyment of the hunters.

Millions of them die in just a short time. Now, there are only handfuls of them remaining.

Lastly, pollution is another huge factor causing these animals or plants to become endangered. By dirtying our environment, we don't only hurt ourselves, but other living creatures around us. They too need a clean habitat to survive. By innocently eating our garbage they might get poisoned or choked to death. Many incidences have been reported where birds got choked or entangled in six-packs bottle holders. Fish and birds get entangled in our fishing lines and die. Toxic waste in the water system also has caused a large number of fish to die out. By polluting our planet, other innocent creatures also suffer.

What we can do?

We can help to keep these creatures alive and protect them from being endangered. First of all, try not to waste natural resources. Recycle, if you can, your garbage. By recycling, you're helping to save many trees from being cut down for paper.

These trees then can remain homes for many animals and plants in the wild. Don't pollute the environment. Keep your neighborhood clean. This can prevent any accidental death of animals or plants. Don't buy anything like leather belt, fur coat, or any other products that come from animals. By buying these products you are supporting the hunters, manufacturers and the idea of killing animals so you can look pretty. If you can, contribute to organizations that help to protect wildlife. This is very important. With your contributions conservationists can get the necessary equipment and things to help save these animals and plants. Last, and the most important, is to learn about these creatures. Get to know them better and create an interest in them because they are so wonderful. Not only get to know them, but get involved to save them. With your help, these creatures don't have to become endangered, or even extinct.

ENDANGERED SPECIES (Important for Exams perspective) Amphibians 1.

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Cape Platanna Chinese Giant Salamander Desert Slender Salamander Houston Toad Japanese Giant Salamander Mallorcan Midwife Toad Santa Cruz Long-Toed Salamander

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8. Southern Gastric Brooding Frog 9. Texas Blind Salamander 10. Wyoming Toad

Birds 1.

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Andean Condor Bald Eagle Black Winged Stilt Black Palm Cockatoo Greater Flamingo Great Indian Hornbill Helmeted Curassow Ostrich Red Crown Crane Snowy Owl

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Atlantic Salmon Chinook Salmon Coho Salmon Cutthroat Trout Gulf Sturgeon Sockeye Salmon

Fish

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Belkin's Dune Tabanid Fly Corsican Swallowtail False Ringlet Butterfly Homerus Swallowtail Luzon Peacock

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Arabian Oryx Asian Elephant Bisons Black Rhino Cheetah Giant Panda Gray Wolf Grevy Zebra Grizzly Bear Humpback Whale Malayan Tapir Manatee Okapi Polar Bear Red Panda Tiger

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Green Turtle Hawksbill Turtle Kemp's Ridley Turtle Leatherback Turtle Loggerhead Turtle Olive Ridley Turtle

PLANTS 1.

Marsupella profunda

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2. Ochyraea tatrensis 3. Sphaeropteris crinita 4. Spruceanthus theobromae (Note: In the next issue we will discuss about endangered species by IUCN, biodiversity and ecology)

News paper 20Days (15th February to 6th March) News analyses ranging from national to international to art and culture to sports and environment.

1. 5years of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural employment guarantee act (MGNREGA).

Achievements: 1. In 2010-11 employment was provided to 4.1 crore households up to December 2010.

2. Participation of women and SC/ST has increased up to 47%.

3. A total of rupees 112861 crore has been released by the UPA government since inception, out of which rupees 74677 crore has been distributed in the form of wages. Over 10 crore banks/post office accounts opened making MGNREGA the world’s largest financial inclusion initiative.

4. Wages under the scheme have been hiked by 17-30 per cent this year and the transparency and accountability in payment of wages would be ensured by the help of modern ICT-enabled techniques like Biometric hand held devices.

5. A total of 880 crore person days work has been generated of which 52 per cent beneficiaries are from SC/ST category while 47 per cent are women.

6. A lifeline of the rural people which has not only been a source of empowerment for them but also a means of social security.

7. Wages under the programme have risen from about Rs. 65 per person day in 2006 to about Rs 100 per person day.

8. Wage rates for MGNREGA workers have recently been linked to increases in the Consumer Price Index for agricultural laborers, resulting in an immediate 17% to 30% increase of wage rates.

9. The average person days of employment per household under MNREGA in the last financial year were 54 days.

10. The implementation of MGNREGA is also giving a thrust to governance reform in rural India. Gram Panchayats have been designated as the most important implementing agency under the programme.

11. Efforts are being made to chalk out Micro-Plans at rural level by involving the local people. These plans will decide the category and place of works to be done under MGNREGA besides involving rural masses in the implementation, monitoring and social auditing.

12. MGNREGA is a vision of BHARAT NIRMAN a glimpse of progress.

2. The opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G scam (1998-2004) Difference between JPC (Joint Parliamentary committee) and PAC (public account committee) Joint parliamentary committee (JPC) Mandated to inquire into a specific subject, a JPC is constituted either through a motion adopted by one House and concurred by the other, or through communication between the presiding officers of the two Houses. The members are either elected by the Houses or nominated by the presiding officers. As in the case of other parliamentary committees, they are drawn from different groups. The strength of a JPC may vary. For instance, one JPC comprised 15 members, while two others had 30 members each. The Lok Sabha’s share is double than that of the Rajya Sabha’s.

Power of JPC A JPC can obtain evidence of experts, public bodies, associations, individuals or interested parties suo motu or on requests made by them. If a witness fails to appear before a JPC in response to summons, his conduct constitutes contempt of the House.

The JPC can take oral and written evidence or call for documents in connection with a matter under its consideration. The proceedings of parliamentary committees are confidential, but in the case of the joint committee which went into "Irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions", the committee decided that considering the widespread public interest in the matter, the chairman should brief the press about deliberations of the committees.

Ministers are not generally called by the committees to give evidence. However, in case of the Irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions probe again, an exception was made, with the JPC, with the permission of the Speaker, seeking

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information on certain points from ministers and calling Ministers of Finance and Health and Family Welfare. The government may withhold or decline to produce a document if it is considered prejudicial to the safety or interest of State. The Speaker has the final word on any dispute over calling for evidence against a person or production of a document. ** The first JPC was instituted to inquire into the Bofors contract on a motion moved by then Defence Minister K C Pant in the Lok Sabha on August 6, 1987. **P.C. Chacko, chairperson of fifth JPC formed on 2G scam.

How many JPCs so far There have been only four investigative JPCs so far.

The first was instituted to inquire into the Bofors contract on a motion moved by then Defence Minister K C Pant in the Lok Sabha on August 6, 1987. The Rajya Sabha endorsed it a week later. The committee, headed by B Shankaranand, held 50 sittings and gave its report on April 26, 1988. Opposition parties boycotted the committee on the ground that it was packed with Congress members. The JPC report was tabled in Parliament, but it was rejected by the Opposition.

The second investigative JPC, headed by former Union minister and senior Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha, was set up to probe Irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions in the aftermath of the Harshad Mehta scandal. The motion was moved by then Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Lok Sabha on August 6, 1992. The Rajya Sabha concurred with it the next day. The recommendations of the JPC were neither accepted in full nor implemented.

The third investigative JPC was assigned to probe the market scam. Then parliamentary affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan piloted a motion in the Lok Sabha on April 26, 2001, to put it in place. Senior BJP member Lt Gen Prakash Mani Tripathi (retd) was named the chairman. The committee held 105 sittings and gave its report on December 19, 2002. The committee recommended sweeping changes in stock market regulations. However, many of these recommendations were diluted later.

The last JPC was set up in August 2003 to look into pesticide residues in soft drinks, fruit juice and other beverages and to set safety standards. The committee, headed by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, held 17 sittings and submitted its report to Parliament on February 4, 2004. The report confirmed that soft drinks did have pesticide residues and recommended stringent norms for drinking water.

Why does the Opposition want a JPC? The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament is supposed to conduct a detailed examination of the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), scrutinizing the yearly accounts of the Government. Having 15 members of the Lok Sabha and seven members of the Rajya Sabha, the chairmanship of the PAC conventionally goes to a nominee of the main opposition party. The PAC calls upon ministries to explain cases of financial irregularities. The Opposition argument is that the 2G spectrum scam goes far beyond accounting. A JPC can spread its net wider and go into the larger gamut of allocation and look into the role of various players. More, once a JPC gets going, it would help the Opposition keep the heat on the government through consistent reporting of proceedings. The moot point is that PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi is already waiting in the wings to go into the CAG report. In case the government accepts the demand for a JPC, in effect, it may mean both a JPC and PAC. The opposition is of the view that the PAC has a limited jurisdiction and that won't be enough to dig deep into the irregularities believed to have been committed in the allocation of second-generation telephony spectrum, a finite national resource. The government, not giving in to the opposition's JPC demand, says a multi-pronged probe by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax and the PAC was enough to investigate the charges.

PAC (Public Account Committee) This Committee consists of 15 members elected by the Lok Sabha and 7 members of the Rajya Sabha are associated with it. A Minister is not eligible for election to this Committee. The term of the Committee is one year.

The main duty of the Committee is to ascertain whether the money granted by Parliament has been spent by Government "within the scope of the Demand". The Appropriation Accounts of the Government of India and the Audit Reports presented by the Comptroller and Auditor General mainly form the basis for the examination of the Committee. Cases involving losses, nugatory expenditure and financial irregularities come in for severe criticism by the Committee. The Committee is not concerned with questions of policy. It is concerned only with the execution of the policy laid down by Parliament and its results.

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It is an independent body whose head is usually a member of the opposition. The primary function of this body is to assess the financial irregularities in the functioning of the government organizations. The powers of this committee are up to such an extent that it can question even the Prime Minister, if the need arises.

The PAC is constituted every year to scrutinize how the money sanctioned by parliament has been spent by the government. It takes references only from the government auditor report, which limits its role.

The PAC expresses no opinion on points of general government policy, but it is within its jurisdiction to point out whether there has been a financial loss to the exchequer in carrying out that policy.

3. Udyanotsav no longer just an exhibition of flora The annual opening of the Mughal Garden at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here has been rechristened the Udyanotsav (garden fest) with the most aesthetically designed gardens and colorful rows of blooms on display with newer elements thrown in. Visitors will be shown an audio-visual presentation on the environmental initiative — the Roshni Programme. The programme has been instrumental in turning the Estate into a green zone where waste is segregated and put to use. This year's attractions include a “Vertical Garden” which is a new concept of developing a green, floral wall and a “Bonsai Garden.” “The Bonsai Garden has a variety of styles, with about 200 such plants. A cactus corner has also been created,”

4. On the lines of the 750-MW Bawana power project that has already become partly functional, the Delhi Cabinet has now approved setting up of a gas-based 750-MW Pragati-II project at Bamnauli by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. The Cabinet has also decided “in principle” to close the Raj Ghat power plant and restructuring Indraprastha Gas Corporation Limited. The Raj Ghat plant was set up in 1989 as a coal-based plant and is generating around 130 MW at present. In view of air-pollution concerns, it has become imperative to close it. herefore, in accordance with an earlier decision of switching over from coalbased to gas-based and renewable power generation, the Cabinet has decided that Raj Ghat power plant will continue to generate power till the generation of Bawana project touches the 750 MW mark.

5. The advance estimate of GDP growth for 2010-11: 1. Released by the CSO. The economy is expected to end the year with a growth of 8.6 per cent, which is closer to the

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upper end of the Finance Minister's forecast of 8.4-8.75 per cent but above the Reserve Bank of India's estimate of 8.5 per cent.

Among individual sectors, agriculture, along with forestry and fishing, is expected to rebound sharply, growing by 5.40 per cent from just 0.40 per cent a year ago. Manufacturing is set to expand at 8.8 per cent, the same as last fiscal, while services will post a 9.6 per cent growth, which is in line with the sector's recent trends.

Agricultural recovery, if sustained, will have a beneficial impact on rural employment and domestic consumption Manufacturing growth continues to be impressive but the estimated 8.8 per cent growth implies a moderation in the remaining months of the year, compared with the 13 per cent and 9.8 per cent growth during the first two quarters.

The optimism on the manufacturing front remains, despite the low industrial output recorded in December 2010.

Fiscal consolidation remains critical and although one-time receipts from disinvestment and the 3G auctions have helped, it is clear that the high economic growth of recent years needs to be sustained if the fiscal situation is not to deteriorate.

6. UNSC (United Nations Security Council) reform Since the initial establishment of the Security Council, however, innumerable changes have occurred in the state of affairs in the world. A number of nations have risen to great heights in terms of development, growth, and stability, demonstrating that they are worthy of greater leadership roles in the post-WWII era. Furthermore, with the conception and perpetuation of globalization, many feel that the current status of the permanent members do not reflect the ubiquitous presence of globalism.

The countries currently vying for a permanent seat on the Security Council are Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, who are collectively called the G-4.

China doesn't favors G4 call on UNSC reforms While China was not in favors of a move by the G4 group of nations — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — to push for a concrete outcome on United Nations Security Council reforms in the current General Assembly session. The G4 members called for “a concrete outcome” before the end of the current session in September, saying they would take steps “to achieve at the earliest an expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent membership categories of the Security Council.” While China is the only one of five permanent members (P5) of the UNSC yet to endorse India's bid, analysts and officials here say China is unlikely

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to vote against India — and isolate itself among the P5 — when the process eventually comes to a vote. China is, however, in favors of delaying the reforms process, as well as likely to oppose the candidature of another member of the G4 group — Japan.

7. Nuclear pact with South Korea India will soon sign its ninth civil nuclear agreement with its negotiators having finalized the text with South Korea. “This freezing of the text adds another dimension to the possibilities for India to access civil nuclear technology from another country,” The countries with which India has signed similar pacts are Russia, the United States, France, Mongolia, Argentina, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Some are pure fuel supplies pact while others include all aspects of the relationship such as fuel supply, R&D and setting up of civil nuclear plants. The pact with South Korea will focus on the last two aspects.

South Korea recently joined the ranks of civil nuclear power exporters when it bagged $20 billion worth of orders from the United Arab Emirates beating stiff competition from the French company Areva for building four nuclear plants.

The civil nuclear pact was a result of the all-round comprehensive relationship being forged by India with East Asian and South East Asian countries. India has signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CEPA) with South Korea which, in the first full year of operation in 2010, led to a 46 per cent growth in trade.

With the civil nuclear agreement in the bag and CEPA showing good results, India is all set to sign a similar agreement with Japan following the arrival of Commerce & Industries Minister Anand Sharma in Tokyo. He will call on Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday to discuss ongoing cooperation in infrastructure projects.

8. Nilekani to head task force on direct subsidies In a move aimed at a focussed targeting of subsidies for the country's poor, the government announced the setting up of an inter-ministerial task force under Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman Nandan Nilekani.

It will work out a suitable mechanism to provide direct subsidies on kerosene, cooking gas (LPG) and fertilizers for the intended beneficiaries.

9. Japan loses No. 2 economy spot to China Japan's gross domestic product fell an annualized 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter in 2010, marking the first decline in five quarters due to a drop in exports, diminishing government stimulus programmes and weak consumer consumption. According to the data, Japan has now relinquished its position as the world's second largest economy to China.

Japan's nominal GDP, before adjustments for prices, totaled $5.47 trillion in 2010, lower than China's figure of nearly $5.8 trillion. Japan has held the title of world's second largest economy for 42 years.

10. Ponnambalamedu to be part of Periyar Tiger Reserve (Environment news) Ponnambalamedu and surrounding forest areas under the Goodrickal range of the Ranni Forest Division will be annexed to the Periyar Tiger Reserve soon. The forest area has a vast expanse of biodiversity-rich shola forests, where there is abundance of moisture.

Shola forests: Experts say ‘sholas' are ‘Tropical Montane Forests' interspersed with rolling grasslands in mountain tracts 1,500 metres above mean sea level and are the continuation of the west coast tropical wet evergreen forests. Shola forests have high ecological significance in protecting the head waters of rivers.

They have the capability of holding up water received by precipitation like a sponge, preventing rapid runoff. There were criticisms from environmental groups against permitting eucalyptus plantations by the Hindustan Newsprint Limited in the Pachakkanam-Gavi areas.

11. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards ceremony The King's Speech, received seven trophies across various categories, including the original music title, leaving behind Indian composer A R Rahman's work in 127 Hours. The British royal drama, which is about a stammering monarch, took away the awards for best film, outstanding British film, original screenplay, best actor (Colin Firth), best supporting actor (Geoffrey Rush), best supporting actress (Helena Bonham Carter), and best original music (Alexandre Desplat).

Christopher Nolan's Inception and David Fincher's The Social Network had a tie with three awards each. While Inception got the gong for best visual effects, best sound and best production design, The Social Network bagged trophies in the best director, best adapted screenplay and best editing categories. The best actress award was claimed by Natalie Portman for Black Swan.

Toy Story 3 took away the award for the best animated film, beating Despicable Me and How To Train Your Dragon.

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12. 'Pyaasa' among Time's top romantic movies.

Indian director Guru Dutt's fifties' classic musical-drama "Pyaasa" has been listed fifth among Time magazine's Valentine's Day list of top Romantic Movies.

13. Cave deposits throw light on monsoon pattern (S&T) It was found out by scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) by studying oxygen isotopes of the white or light brownish structures (stalagmites) found in different shapes and sizes in caves. Stalagmites are made of calcium carbonate accumulated over eons.

Led by Syed Masood Ahmad, head of paleo-climatology wing, the scientists examined the monsoon pattern for 1,000 years from 14,700 years to 15,700 years Before Present (BP). By studying oxygen isotopes of stalagmites from Valmiki caves, Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, they found that there were periods of intense monsoon and droughts in a cyclical fashion. The monsoon became more intense every 50, 80 and 200 years because of ocean atmospheric changes, Dr. Ahmad told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

Explaining the process, he said initially the age of stalagmite was established through Thorium 230 dating. This was followed by oxygen isotopic measurements of the samples at every millimetre interval. The study also showed that there was a good correlation between Indian monsoon and East Asian Monsoon of China.

Corals at risk In a related study, it was also found that the coral growth rate in Lakshadweep Islands had decreased by 15 per cent to 20 per cent in genus Porites since 1995 due to temperature stress and ocean acidification. The calcium carbonate deposition was declining implying that “we may not have corals in the long run.” He said coral reefs were vital to the marine eco-system and protection of the island from devastating effects of calamities such as tsunami.

14. New US envoy to Afghanistan, Pakistan.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has chosen retired diplomat Marc Grossman to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior administration official.

15. Japan to take part in India-U.S. naval exercises again.

The Japanese Navy will take part, for the second year running, in the joint naval exercises by India and the United States. The Malabar series will be held in April off the Okinawa coast.

India had stopped involving more countries in the Indo-U.S. exercises after China, in 2007, sent demarches to all the participants of a five-nation naval exercise held in the Bay of Bengal. With last year's Japanese participation raising no political storm, India was once again agreeable to the idea of allowing the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force to participate.

Japanese interest in developing a robust defence cooperative arrangement with India comes even as a National Defence Programme Guidelines, released recently, mentions three countries as rising powers. Japan has a tense relationship with China and is still negotiating a peace treaty with Russia. India is the only country with which it does not have security issues.

According to the U.S. Navy, the aim of the exercise is to “strengthen the stability of the Pacific Region,” but India denies this, deeming it simply as a learning exercise for the Indian Navy. The Navy will concentrate on aspects such as anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, air defence, live-fire gunnery training, and visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations, maintain the sources.

16. Health and HRD Ministries agree on medical education jurisdiction.

The expert group of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the task force of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on Tuesday broadly agreed to settle their turf war over the jurisdiction of medical education.

The National Commission for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) will get to lay down the minimum standards of medical education, while all health-related research will come under the purview of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), promoted by the HRD Ministry. However, universities will also be free to have more exacting higher standards for which they will deal with the NCHER. The NCHRH and the NCHER draft Bills — proposed as regulatory bodies — have been pending for the past several months as the two ministries were involved in a tussle over the jurisdiction of medical education.

17. India, Japan to ink free trade pact.

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India signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Japan, setting the stage for free bilateral trade of goods and services. The pact will be India's third major market-opening pact within a year and will be initialed by Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Seiji Maehara, in Tokyo. It is expected that this agreement will promote liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment between the two countries and will further vitalize both economies by strengthening reciprocal economic ties in wide-ranging fields�. The agreement with Japan will about double trade between India and Japan to $25 billion by 2015.

As per the pact, both countries would reduce Customs duty on merchandise trade from April, and will eventually eliminate it in the coming 10 years. Around 90 per cent of the $12-billion trade would be covered under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In services, restrictions on movement of professionals such as chefs, accountants, English teachers, doctors and nurses would be eased.

Pharmaceuticals, one of the ticklish areas in the FTA negotiations, has been resolved with Japan agreeing to provide market access to Indian pharma companies in the highly- regulated market. Certain sectors like automobile and agri products have been kept out of the pact by India, to protect its domestic manufacturers and farmers from the impact of cheap imports. The CEPA with Japan was finalised last October, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo. The Commerce Ministry is pursuing similar pact with the European Union which is expected to be signed within 2011.

India earlier has entered into FTA with Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea. India's trade only in merchandise goods, with ASEAN, Japan and South Korea is about $85 billion - 16 per cent of the country's total global commerce. In the absence of progress in the Doha Round of negotiations for a multi-lateral trade-opening deal, countries around the world are entering into the region and signing bilateral agreements for liberalizing trade(PTI).

18. Malaysia and India ink free trade pact India and Malaysia signed a free trade agreement. The economic partnership agreement came just two days after India sealed a similar pact with Japan and will pave the way for trade between Malaysia and India to reach US$15 billion by 2015.Under the pact, the two countries will allow up to 100 percent foreign shareholding in more than 80 areas in health care, telecommunications, retail, environmental services and other areas.

It will also make it easier for engineers, accountants, technology experts and other professionals from both countries to gain temporary entry for contract work. The agreement will slash tariffs for 90 percent of Indian goods and 92 percent of Malaysian products.

19. Taiwan and India begin exploring feasibility of a free trade agreement.

India and Taiwan have begun work on a feasibility study to pave the way for the opening of formal talks on a free trade agreement (FTA). India and Taiwan have already signed an investment promotion and protection agreement and are expected to seal three more deals on double taxation avoidance, temporary duty-free admission of goods, and customs cooperation within the next two to three months.

20. Japanese company announces breakthrough in carbon fiber technology (S&T) A Japanese company Teijin Limited said it has developed a process to make lightweight car frames at mass production speeds, a process that could make vehicles more efficient and save energy. The company said it has developed an electric vehicle to show the advantages of its new carbon fiber composite. The frame of the vehicle weighs only 47 kilograms (103 pounds), a fifth of what a metal counterpart would weigh.

Carbon Fiber Carbon fiber is a polymer which is a form of graphite. Graphite is a form of pure carbon. In graphite the carbon atoms are arranged into big sheets of hexagonal aromatic rings. The sheets look like chicken wire. Carbon fiber is a form of graphite in which these sheets are long and thin. You might think of them as ribbons of graphite. Bunches of these ribbons like to pack together to form fibers, hence the name carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is known alternatively as carbon fiber reinforced plastic or carbon fiber composite. The plastic typically used is epoxy.

Carbon fiber is very expensive, but has a fantastic weight-to-strength ratio. Attempts to put it into mass production have so far failed, due to inadequate demand, the customized nature of most carbon fiber parts, and a lack of skilled craftsmen. The material is employed in high-quality cars, boats, bicycles, and planes, including popular Formula One racecars.

21. 'Elephant Trunks' in Space: WISE Captures Image of Star-Forming Cloud of Dust and Gas (S&T).

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NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured this image of a star-forming cloud of dust and gas, called Sh2284, located in the constellation of Monoceros. Lining up along the edges of a cosmic hole are several "elephant trunks" -- or monstrous pillars of dense gas and dust.

The most famous examples of elephant trunks are the "Pillars of Creation" found in an iconic image of the Eagle nebula from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. In this WISE image, the trunks are seen as small columns of gas stretching toward the center of the void in Sh2-284, the most notable one can be seen on the right side at about the 3 o'clock position. It appears as a closed hand with a finger pointing toward the center of the void. That elephant trunk is about 7 light-years long.

22. Cassini Finds Saturn's Moon Enceladus Is a Powerhouse (S&T) Heat output from the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus is much greater than was previously thought possible, according to a new analysis of data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer of Enceladus' south polar terrain, which is marked by linear fissures, indicate that the internal heat-generated power is about 15.8 gigawatts, approximately 2.6 times the power output of all the hot springs in the Yellowstone region, or comparable to 20 coal-fueled power stations.

23. Next-Generation Electronic Devices: Conduction, Surface States in Topological Insulator Nanoribbons Controlled. (S&T) In recent years, topological insulators have become one of the hottest topics in physics. These new materials act as both insulators and conductors, with their interior preventing the flow of electrical currents while their edges or surfaces allow the movement of a charge. Perhaps most importantly, the surfaces of topological insulators enable the transport of spin-polarized electrons while preventing the "scattering" typically associated with power consumption, in which electrons deviate from their trajectory, resulting in dissipation. Because of such characteristics, these materials hold great potential for use in future transistors, memory devices and magnetic sensors that are highly energy efficient and require less power.

Topological insulator A topological insulator is a material that behaves as an insulator in its interior while permitting the movement of charges on its boundary. In the bulk of a topological insulator the electronic band structure resembles an ordinary insulator, with the Fermi level falling between the conduction and valence bands. On the surface of a topological insulator there are special states which fall within the bulk energy gap and allow conduction. Carriers in these states have their spin locked at a right-angle to their momentum. At a given energy the only other available electronic states have opposite spin, so scattering is strongly suppressed and conduction on the surface is nearly dissipation less.

24. Earth's Magnetic Field Ramps Up Speedy Space Particles (S&T) A flotilla of NASA probes has tracked the origin of speedy particles in Earth's atmosphere and confirmed that, after they are spawned by "substorms" in Earth's magnetic field, they gain energy as they rocket toward Earth. Substorms are powerful energy bursts that give rise to many electrons, which themselves supercharge the northern lights, or aurora borealis. Observations by NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft, designed to study substorms, showed that these particles get ramped up by the changing magnetic fields they cross following the initial burst.

ABOUT THEMIS Spacecraft Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission (THEMIS), comprised of a fleet of five spacecraft. THEMIS is a mission to investigate what causes auroras in the Earth's atmosphere to dramatically change from slowly shimmering waves of light to wildly shifting streaks of color. Discovering what causes auroras to change will provide scientists with important details on how the planet's magnetosphere works and the important Sun-Earth connection.

ARTEMIS ARTEMIS stands for “Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun”.

The ARTEMIS mission uses two of the five in-orbit spacecraft from another NASA Heliophysics constellation of satellites (THEMIS) that were launched in 2007 and successfully completed their mission earlier in 2010. The ARTEMIS mission allowed NASA to repurpose two in-orbit spacecraft to extend their useful science mission, saving tens of millions of taxpayer dollars instead of building and launching new spacecraft.

25. Government to release Rs. 150 coin soon.

With the Income Tax Department celebrating 150 years of taxation in the country the government will issue coins of Rs. 150 in denomination. The special coins which also include Rs 5 denomination would be released by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee ahead of his budget speech. The Rs 150 coin is prepared from an alloy of copper, nickel, silver and zinc. ‘Sathyameva

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Jayathe’ and ‘India’ would be engraved on the front side of the coin while the back side will feature a portrait of portrait of 'Chanakya and lotus with honeybee'. The Rs 5 coins will also be minted in a similar fashion. This is a special occasion with the IT department having completed 150 years of taxation from 1860 to 2010.

26. HC upholds Death Penalty for Kasab.

The Bombay High Court on Feb 21 confirmed the death penalty to 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab and termed the case being the rarest of rare and held that there was "no scope of reform" of the convict. This comes nine months after the lone 26/11 terrorist who was captured alive was ordered to be sent to the gallows by the trial court on May 6, 2010. Kasab, an LeT operative was captured alive at Girgaum Chowpatty in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 while none other operatives who has come with him were gunned down by the security forces at the terror sites. Justice Ranjana Desai told Kasab through video conferencing "Aapko saza-e-maut yeh adalat barkarar karti hai. Aap Supreme Court mein appeal zari kar sakte hain.

27. Cricket World Cup 2011 Officially Opened.

The 10th edition of the ICC cricket World Cup, was officially launched on 17th Feb with a grand opening ceremony being held in Dhaka, Bangaldesh. Shankar Ehsaan Loy and other popular artists performed at the venue with the show stopper being Bryan Adams.

28. National Games (Jharkhand) ended successfully.

The games were held from 12th February 2011 to 26th February 2011. Services (SSCB) has won in the first place in the medal tally of 34th National Games with 70 gold medals, 50 silver medals and 42 bronze medals.

Manipur is in the Second place with 48 gold medals , 37 silver medals and 33 bronze medals.

Haryana is in the 3rd place in 42 gold medals , 33 silver medals and 40 bronze medals. In 2012 the 35th National Games will be hosted by Kerala.

29. Viswanathan Anand regains No.1 Ranking Again.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand played against Magnus Carlsen of Norway to end the match in hard fought draw and finished second in the Bilbao Final Masters chess tournament. But the icing on the cake was when the Indian ace dethroned Carlsen from the number one ranking in Live rating list for the first time since January this year and ended up as the top player in ratings too.

30. New Zealand earthquake (Environment) Strikes Christchurch, killing at least 148 people. A massive earthquake on 22nd Feb has caused massive destruction in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake was the second in five months for the city and the death toll continues to increase with the police having confirmed 148 deaths with 200 still missing. The damage caused has been said to be much worse than the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4 September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities.

31. Libyan uprising Is a series of protests and confrontations occurring in the North African state of Libya against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year of rule. The protests began on 15 February 2011 and escalated into a widespread uprising by the end of February, with fighting verging at the brink of civil war as of 6 March 2011. Influenced by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, it is one of the largest anti government protests in the North African region.

Facts 1. Muammar Gaddafi has ruled Libya as de facto autocrat since overthrowing the monarchy in 1969. Following the retirement of Fidel Castro in 2008 and the death of Omar Bongo in 2009, Gaddafi is the world's longest-ruling non-royal head of state.

2. Anti-Gaddafi forces: National Transitional Council, NCLO, Libyan People's Army and Defecting Tribes (lead by, Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil) 3. Anti-Gaddafi forces control the oil rich west Libya and the major cities of Misurata, Benghazi and Berga (oil exporting terminal).

4. Gaddafi remains in control of Tripoli, Sirt, Zliten, and Sabha, as well as several other towns. Gaddafi controls the wellarmed Khamis Brigade.

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5.

The Arab League suspended Libya from taking part in council meetings and Moussa issued a statement condemning the “crimes against the current peaceful popular protests and demonstrations in several Libyan cities.

6. The United States has imposed sanctions on Gaddafi. The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution freezing the assets of Gaddafi and 10 members of his inner circle. The resolution also imposed a travel ban and referred Libya to the International Criminal Court for investigation. Interpol issued a security alert concerning the "possible movement of dangerous individuals and assets" based on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970, listing Gaddafi himself and 15 members of his clan or his regime.

7. The European Union's arms trafficking watchdog has stated that during the crisis Gaddafi has received military shipments from Belarus.

8. Gaddafi claims that he is not fighting an insurgency of Libya's own people, but instead "Islamist terrorism" led by AlQaeda and that Britain, France and the U.S.A. are conspiring to take control of Libya's oil.

9. Libya is the most censored country in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the Freedom of the Press Index.

10. Gaddafi's Revolutionary committees resemble similar systems in “real socialistic” countries and reportedly 10 to 20 percent of Libyans work in surveillance for these committees, a proportion of informants on par with Saddam Hussein's Iraq or Kim Jong-il's North Korea. The surveillance takes place in government, in factories, and in the education sector.

11. Libya is the 12th largest producer of oil and usually churns out about 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Now that the country is unstable, that has dropped to about 100,000 resulting in large jumps in oil and gas prices. The barrel of crude oil jumps to 120 dollars.

32. ASEAN Nod for Deploying Indonesian Observers in Both Cambodia and Thailand The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to deploy Indonesian observers in both Cambodia and Thailand to resolve the border dispute.

33. Cave Discovered on Moon Could Be Used for Future Human Expeditions (S&T) Chandrayan discovered a cave or the lava tube on the moon which could serve as the base station for human expeditions in future. The cave is 1.7-km. long and 120 meters wide and it is located in the Oceanus Procellarum area of the moon. It provides a safe environment from hazardous radiations, extreme temperatures, and dust storms. Chandrayaan, using Terrain mapping camera, captured the images of the lava tube.

34. India Finalizes National Mission For A Green Indian With People-Centric Forestry At Its Core (Environment).

The National Mission for a Green India has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. The Mission is one of eight missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change on 22 February 2011 approved 46000 crore rupees National Mission for Green India.

Mission Objective The Mission objective is to increase forest/tree cover on five million hac. Of forested and non- forested land, and improved quality of forest cover on another 5 million ha – a total of 10 million ha. The Mission will also focus on improvement of ecosystem services, including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration, and aim to increase forest-based livelihood incomes for 3 million forest dependent families. In terms of carbon sequestration, the mission aims to reach an annual CO2 sequestration of 50 to 60 million tones by 2020, which will increase the share of green house gas (GHG) emissions offset by India’s forest and tree cover to around 6 percent as compared to 4.5 percent that would have been offset in the absence of the Mission.

35. SAVE Was Launched to Conserve Vultures (Environment) As a part of the Vulture Conservation efforts in Nepal and India, a new association by the name SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction) was launched in Kathmandu, the Capital of Nepal, on 22 February 2011. SAVE will identify vulture safe zone across South Asia for the release of the vultures (captive-bred) into the wild over the time frame of 4-5 years. SAVE will urge for the removal of the killer-drug Diclofenac which affected the population of vultures adversely. Ian Newton is the Chairperson of SAVE. The SAVE association comprises Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Bird Conservation Nepal , UKbased Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Zoological Society of London and National Trust for Nature Conservation.

36. Environmental Clearance for JSPL’s Orissa Power Plant. (Environment) Parakram The strength of Knowledge

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The Union Environment Ministry decided to drop its reservations about the Rs 90000 crore integrated steel plant and captive power plant by Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL). The ministry gave a conditional green signal to the project coming up in Angul district of Orissa.

The ministry later imposed additional conditions on the project asking JSPL to earmark 2% of its net profit as CSR budget and adopt dry quenching in coke oven plant to conserve water. JSPL was also asked to use 100% fly ash generated for cement and brick manufacturing and back filling in the captive coal mine and abandoned coal mines. One of the conditions imposed is that the company will have to develop 33% of the area as a green belt, achieve particulate emissions below 50 mg/m3 and take rainwater harvesting measures.

37. Carbon Footprint Calculator Launched (Environment) Launched by UK-based Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) South East. To take advantage of the benefits associated with carbon footprint reporting. Using the calculator, manufacturing companies can measure their carbon footprint and start identifying ways to improve environmental performance going forward. Businesses reporting on its own their greenhouse gas emissions get benefits such as cost savings, improved green credentials, and better relations with customers and investors.

What is carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc. The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tones (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent.

38. Coastal Regulation Zone 2011 Notified in India (Environment) The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in India, notified the Coastal Regulation Zone notification 2011, replacing Coastal Regulation Zone 1991. According to the Coastal Regulation Zone notification 2011, the no development zone is to be reduced from 200 metres from the high-tide line to 100 metres. The ministry has taken this step to protect the livelihood of fishing families, to promote economic activity in the coastal region and to preserve coastal ecology. The new CZR has special provision for Kerala, Greater Mumbai, Goa and other vulnerable coastal areas like Kundapur in Karnataka, East Godavari and Krishna Delta, Coringa in Andhra Pradesh and Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu.

As per new CZR, for the first time, a separate draft island protection zone notification was issued to protect islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman& Nicobar. No development zone is an area near the sea coast where no economic activity including power plants, ports and industrial enterprises is allowed.

39. Panasonic India to Setup India’s First Eco Idea Factory at Dadri-toi in Haryana (Environment) Dadri-Toi village in Jhajjar district of Haryana was Chosen by the Panasonic India to set-up India’s first Eco Idea factory. The factory would start production within one year.

40. Yoweri Museveni Won the Presidential Election for the Fourth Time in Uganda.

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, of the ruling National Resistance Movement party won the Presidential election for the fourth time according to the election results declared on 20 February 2011. He defeated the opposition candidate Kizza Besigya.

Museveni is the President of Uganda for the last 25 years. He came to power in 1986 at the head of a guerrilla army. Musevni ranks as one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders along with Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

41. Nanoparticle Used as a Cure for Diseases Such as HIV and Malaria (S&T) MIT engineers designed a new type of Nanoparticle that could effectively deliver vaccines for diseases such as HIV and Malaria.

42. Union Budget 2011-12: Sector-wise Analysis Agriculture and Allied Activities Agriculture development is central to the growth strategy of India. Measures taken during the current year have started attracting private investment in agriculture and agro-processing activities. This process has to be deepened further. Under the current Budget, 14362 crore rupees was allotted for this sector in the financial year 2011-12.

Rural Development For rural development, 55438 crore was allocated by the budget for the year 2011-12.

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Infrastructure Infrastructure is critical for the development of India. For 2011-12, an allocation of over 214000 crore is being made for this sector, which is 23.3 per cent higher than 2010-11. This amounts to 48.5 per cent of the Gross Budgetary Support to plan expenditure.

Education Over 70 per cent of Indians will be of working age in 2025. In this context, universalizing access to secondary education, increasing the percentage of Indian scholars in higher education and providing skill training is necessary. For education, an allocation of 52057 crore, was proposed in the Current budget which is an increase of 24 per cent over 2010-11.

Health For health, the budget proposed to step up the plan allocations in 2011-12 by 20 percent to 26,760 crore.

(Full budget at Economy at a glance section)

43. Government announced Assembly Elections 2011: Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry.

Photo electoral rolls will be used during the forthcoming general elections in the four states. Photo electoral rolls won’t be used in Assam since only text rolls are ready.

The EC has decided to appoint of Expenditure Observers and Assistant Expenditure Observers who will exclusively monitor the election expenditure of the contesting candidates. For Greater transparency and for ease of monitoring of Election Expenses, Candidates would be required to open a bank account and incur their election expenses from that very account.

STATES Assam Kerala Puducherry Tamil Nadu West Bengal Total Seats 126 140 30 234 294

44. Veteran Character Actor Ravinder Kapoor Expired.

Veteran character actor Ravinder Kapoor, popularly known as Goga Kapoor died in Mumbai on 2 March 2011 after a prolonged illness. Ravinder Kapoor, born on 15 December 1940 got his first break in cinema with Jwala in 1971. Goga started his career by working in English plays. He acted in over 120 films. His most popular role was as Dinkar Rao in Agneepath. Kapoor had worked in more than 20 films with Amitabh Bachchan. He was one of the most popular villains of the silver screen and some of his films include Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Patthar ke Phool, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar.

45. SC’s scrapping of CVC Appointment led PJ Thomas to Resign.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia on 3 March 2011 cancelled PJ Thomas' appointment as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). Following the court’s verdict PJ Thomas resigned six months after his appointment as the Central Vigilance Commissioner for his alleged involvement in a corruption case. Scrapping the appointment of PJ Thomas, the apex court mentioned that the appointment made by a high-powered committee, consisting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and opposition leader Sushma Swaraj, did not exist in law.

The Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and retired bureaucrats and police officials, including former chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh had filed a petition in the court challenging Thomas’ appointment. According to the petition, Thomas was facing a criminal chargesheet in a case related to palm oil import in Kerala and he therefore was not an outstanding civil servant of impeccable integrity. Thomas was Kerala’s civil supplies secretary in 1992 when the palm oil scam allegedly involving him took place. The palm oil case was registered in 1999, accusing Thomas and others of a criminal conspiracy and causing a loss of Rs.2.32 crore to the state exchequer.

46. Karan Rastogi won Gold in 34th National Games Tennis Competition.

Indian Davis Cupper and top seed Karan Rastogi of Maharashtra defeated Mithun Murali of Tamil Nadu 6-3, 6-2 in the men's singles final of the 34th National Games' tennis competition

47. Commerce & Industry Ministry Released Draft Strategy for Doubling Exports.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry released a draft strategy paper for doubling exports to $450 billion by 2014. The release of the draft paper marked a move towards managing the widening trade deficit that currently stands around $115 billion as per the estimates. The government aims to bring the dis-balance in trade to below 10 per cent or 9 per cent of the GDP. To be noted here is that India's exports in the 2009-10 fiscal were $178.6 billion, a decline of 3.6 per cent over the previous fiscal.

According to the draft paper the trade deficit is likely to increase from 7.2 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 to nearly 13 per cent of GDP in 2013-14 though the proportion of merchandise trade to GDP will increase to nearly 48 per cent in 2013-14 from the

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present 35 per cent. Therefore it was pointed out that India as no option but to focus on higher export growth and devise a strategy for rapidly increasing merchandise exports to ensure that the balance of trade (BoT) and current account deficit remain within manageable limits.

It was also highlighted in the draft that exports would be required to grow by 26 per cent per annum to achieve the target.

Even with the achievement of the export target in 2014, trade deficit will remain over 9 per cent of GDP. India will also need to upgrade technology and indulge actively in research and development activities, especially in pharmaceutical, electronics and automobile sector. The draft emphasised on the importance of building Brand India. Building Brand India will require strengthening of quality enforcement regime through BIS, Export Inspection Council and building of brand strategy by export promotion councils.

The draft mentioned that market diversification strategy is important because demand in the traditional markets, including developed world is likely to be sluggish because of slowing output expansion in these economies. India therefore needs to focus on markets in Asia, including Asean, Africa and Latin America.

48. India unveils Operation Safe Homecoming.

Unveiling Operation Safe Homecoming, India Sunday announced additional arrangements for bringing back thousands of Indians from violence-torn Libya even as 530 have already been flown in from the North African country.

New Delhi has decided to press INS Jalashwa into service to evacuate Indians from Libya. Three more ships will also be used to ferry Indians from Tripoli and Benghazi to Alexandria in Egypt.

About INS Jalashwa The INS Jalashwa is the third-largest warship of the Indian Navy, behind INS Viraat aircraft carrier and the newly inducted INS Deepak tanker, and is basically an amphibious assault platform designed to transport and land troops in enemy territory. It is lightly armed and has six medium lift helicopters.

49. HIV vaccine design program launched in India. (S&T) The Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous institute of the Government's Department of Biotechnology, and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has jointly announced an agreement to operate and fund an HIV vaccine design program in India.

The program, which will cost Rs. 50 crore over five years, will include the establishment of a new laboratory in THSTI campus in New Delhi. The program will primarily focus on one of the greatest scientific challenges of AIDS vaccine design and development: the elicitation of antibodies capable of neutralizing a broad spectrum of circulating HIV variants, a problem that stems in large part from the almost unparalleled mutability of HIV. "With 7,100 people newly infected with HIV every day, effective tools to prevent infection are indispensable to the fight against HIV and AIDS,"

50. Maharashtra's first Doppler radar installed in Nagpur. (Environment) A Doppler Weather Radar (DWR), the first in Maharashtra, has been installed here for accurate predictions of monsoons, cyclones and other weather-related phenomena. The DWR was installed on Sunday near the Babasaheb Ambedkar International airport in the city. It is the third such radar in the country.

The state-of-the-art S-Band doppler radar here has been provided by a Chinese company and is capable of weather surveillance up to 500 kms. It will cover the entire Vidarbha region, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh It provides imageries derived from volume scan depicting location of clouds, expected rainfall from these clouds, horizontal winds and wind shear. The imageries are very good for weather analysis and forecasting.

The DWR provides round-the-clock automatic observation of cloud mass and rain patches with updates every 10 minutes and will prove to be a boon for farmers who will not have to look to the sky for rains and clouds and henceforth will receive bulletins on their mobiles.

51. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) Released Data on Food Inflation. (Read Economy at a glance section for WPI) According to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data released on 24 February 2011 the index of food articles group declined by 0.3 per cent due to lower prices of fruits and vegetables which fell by 5 per cent. Fish-marine and condiments and spices price fell by 2 per cent each whereas the prices of bajra, moong and maize dropped by 1 per cent. The food inflation had dropped to 11.05 per cent in the first week of February 2011 from 13.07 in the previous week which has also seen a decline from the numbers for week ended 22 January 2011.

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52. India Took Over as Co-chair of Asia Pacific FATF. India, along with Macau, took over as the Co-chair of Asia Pacific Regional Review Group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) from Australia. Asia Pacific FATF is an inter-governmental policy-making body which sets global standards to deal with terrorist financing and money-laundering. It consists of more than30 countries.

The Asia Pacific Regional Review Group is one of the four international cooperation review groups of the FATF. The other three regional review groups are America, Middle-East, Europe-Asia and Africa.

53. India Protested against UK Visa Rules.

India, on 23 February 2011, protested against the new UK student visa regime which would debar tens of thousands of Indian students from gaining admission to British Universities. The proposed new student visa regime bars students except for courses offering a higher degree than already obtained by the student. The new visa regime also makes it mandatory for foreign students to leave the UK after obtaining one degree before they can apply for another. A third new rule in UK student visa regime will student visa applicants through a tougher language test than at present which is discriminatory against students relatively weak in English.

54. The 83rd Academy Awards (2011 Oscars) ceremony.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway were the presenters of the award ceremony. The King's Speech swept the top honors at the 83rd Academy Awards with four trophies (Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor in a Lead Role). Directed by Tom Hooper the King’s Speech revolves around the story of King George VI of Britain who reluctantly ascended to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it. The other top winners of the evening were Inception with 4 trophies (Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Sound Mixing, Achievement in Sound Editing and Achievement in Visual Effects), The Social Network with 3 trophies (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Achievement in Film Editing). Two times Academy Award winner AR Rahman was nominated for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. He however lost out on both the trophies.

55. As per IATA Estimates the Year 2010 was the Safest for Global Commercial Aviation.

IATA (International Air Transport Association) announced on 23 February 2011 that the year 2010 was the safest one in terms of global commercial aviation. IATA put the estimate of the global aviation accident rate at 0.61 in 2010, which was the lowest in aviation history. IATA is Geneva-based Agency, which represents 95 percent of network airlines around the world.

56. Europe India Gateway Cable System launched by Telecos.

The Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system was launched by leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel along with 16 other global telecommunication companies. The Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system will enhance diversity and capacity between Europe and India.

The 15000-km-long cable project that has a capacity to transmit 3.84 terabits per second had received investment of around $700 million. The EIG stretches from Mumbai to London, with landing points in UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Monaco, Marseilles, Gibraltar, Portugal and UK.

57. Nalco Chairman Abhay Kumar Srivastava Arrested by CBI for Accepting Bribes.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Abhay Kumar Srivastava , chairman and managing director of Nalco, his wife and two others on 25 February 2011 on charges of accepting bribes from an unidentified person. Bhushan Lal Bajaj and his wife Anita have also been arrested. The CBI raided the residences of Srivastava in Delhi and Bhubaneswar and seized unaccounted cash from lockers allegedly operated by him.

58. RBI Issued Guidelines to Develop Indian Corporate Bond Market.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in draft guidelines limited foreign institution investors’ (FIIs) role only to hedging the credit risk and also suggested that FIIs be included as users. The RBI aims to develop the Indian corporate investors’ (FIIs) role only to bond market and is in favor of allowing foreign funds in the market when credit default swaps (CDS) for corporate bonds are launched. CDS allows creditors to insure against the possibility of default by a borrower.

The entry of FIIs into CDS will enable more money to be parked in the Indian bond market. At present, FIIs in government securities and corporate bonds is $30 billion (around R 135000 crore).

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59. Jamia Millia granted minority institution status.

Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University was today granted "minority institution" status by National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), giving the institution right to reserve up to 50 percent of its seats for Muslims, annulling all other reservations. Observing that the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) is a minority education institution founded by the Muslims for the benefit of community, the commission said there was no reason for not giving it a minority institution status.

"Government was trying to impose reservation on Jamia. Article 15 (5) of Indian constitution says that there cannot be any reservation in minority institutions. And Jamia is a minority institution as defined by the Article 30 which gives minorities right to establish minority institutions”.

59. India deploys Dornier to Seychelles.

The Indian Navy has deployed a Dornier maritime patrol aircraft to Seychelles for anti-piracy patrols and surveillance of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The aircraft has been stationed at Victoria and will be operated by an Indian aircrew. It’s been sent as a stop-gap arrangement on the Seychelles government’s request till a new Dornier under manufacture at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is handed over.

60. The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations will come into force on March 11th, following the deposit of its ninth instrument of ratification, by the Uruguayan government.

The Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations was signed on May 23, 2008 during the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Brasília, Brazil. It officially established the Union of South American Nations, a supranational continental union of twelve South American nations.

61. The 2012 Summer Olympics timetable is released.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, are scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

62. Japan officially suspends its whaling program for the season due to interference by the Sea Shepherd conservation organisation. (Environment)

63. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi wins three awards, including the Golden Bear, for his film Nader and Simin, A Separation as the 61st Berlin International Film Festival ends.

64. Direct cash subsidy on fuel, fertilizers by 2012.

Seeking to address the issue of subsidies not reaching the targeted groups, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday proposed to provide a direct cash subsidy on fuel and fertilizers to the poor from March, 2012.

“To ensure greater cost efficiency and better delivery of kerosene and fertilizers, the government will move toward direct transfer of cash subsidy for people below poverty line (BPL) in a phased manner,” Mr. Mukherjee said during the presentation of the budget. The system would be in place by March, 2012, he added.

A task force headed by the former chief of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, who is now Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman, is working out the modalities for the proposed system, he said. It comprises Secretaries from the Ministries of Finance, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Agriculture, Food, Petroleum and Rural Development.

65. Chacko said JPC report before monsoon session The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) set up to probe the 2G spectrum scam would submit its report before the commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament, its Chairman P.C. Chacko said. (It is a fifth (5 th) JPC till now).

66. Libya heading for civil war Fighting in Libya appears to be descending into a protracted civil war with the opposition making significant gains in the oil enclaves in the east but falling well short of securing towns close to the capital. Opposition fighters combating forces loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi are now in control of the oil port of Ras Lanuf.

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The fighting has also taken its toll on oil exports from Libya. Oil production in the world's twelfth largest oil producer has been substantially reduced. Opposition forces have taken away around 300 vehicles from an oil company compound in Ras Lanuf, an agency report said. Fear of looting has led the Libyan Emirates Oil Refining Company to barricade its compound with concrete barriers. Contrary to the situation in the east, there has been a bloodbath in Zawiya, an oil town only 50 km west of Tripoli.

Elements of the elite Khamis brigade using tanks and heavy weapons have since Friday launched an offensive to recover the town from the opposition. The conflict in Libya has continued to generate a humanitarian crisis, mainly along Libya's border with Tunisia. An estimated 40,000 Bangladeshi migrants have crossed into Tunisia.

67. Thailand wants closer security ties with India Foreign Minister of Thailand Kasit Piromya has advocated a closer security relationship with India — intelligence-sharing in particular — to check money-laundering and drug-trafficking. India and Thailand also must cooperate in tackling piracy off the Somalia coast.

Thailand advocate for greater connectivity between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Leaders touched upon the missing links and what could be done to ensure seamless air, land and sea connections.

In the security area, leaders felt the first priority should be intelligence-networking in order to check money laundering, crossborder drugs and human trafficking. On the military side, besides joint exercises, leaders advocated joint work on Research & Development in military support equipment and main military hardware.

68. All India Bar Examination The All India Bar Examination (AIBE), intended to test an advocate's ability to practice legal profession, will be held across the country. This is the first time such an entry level examination is being conducted to assess a candidate's capabilities as a lawyer.

It will set a minimum standard for admission to the practice of law. Over 22,000 candidates are expected to take this examination, which will assess analytical abilities and basic knowledge of law.

In 11 languages. According to the Bar Council of India (BCI), the AIBE is mandatory for all law students who have graduated from 2009-2010.

The AIBE will have 100 multiple-choice questions spread across 20 subjects, taken from the syllabi prescribed by the BCI for the three-year and five-year LL.B. programmes.

Open-book exam. The AIBE will be ‘open book.' This means advocates may bring reading material or study aids such as the preparatory material provided for the test, textbooks and treatises, and even handwritten notes. But laptops and mobile phones are not allowed.

69. Maharashtra village fights climate change Jayant Patil is trying to make a difference in Maharashtra. Mr. Patil, now Rural Development Minister, has embarked on an ambitious programme of tree plantation and rural sanitation, combined with planned development of villages for the first time. He aims to complete nearly 120 public meetings to promote the Eco village programme, which could cost the State Rs. 450 crores. While no fresh doles are being handed out to people, they have to qualify with certain minimum criteria to be eligible for funds under the programme, launched on October 2, 2010.

To qualify under the eco village programme, each village has to achieve the target of “one person one tree,” at least 60 per cent of the families have to build toilets and avoid open defecation, and tax collection should be around 60 per cent. About 14,000 gram panchayats are set to qualify for the eco village programme and funds will be allotted to them for further development, depending on the size of their population. The motivation to qualify is the extra funds. The formula is simple “think globally, act locally”.

Accordingly, gram panchayats with a population of less than 1000 will be eligible for Rs. two lakhs every year. Those with more than 1000 population will get Rs. three lakh every year. Larger gram panchayats will be entitled to 30 lakhs.

70. PSLV to be launched around April 10 After a two-month delay, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C16) will be launched around April 10 to put Resourcesat-2 and two other satellites into orbit. The PSLV-C16 was to have lifted off from Sriharikota in the first week of February, but the failure of the Geo-stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) on December 25, 2010, and the S-band spectrum scam that hit the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) this year have cast a long shadow over it. The PSLV-C16 will put into orbit three satellites: the ISRO's 1,200-kg Resourcesat-2; the 93-kg Youthsat, with a payload from Russia and two payloads from India; and the 103-kg X-Sat from Nangyang Technological University of Singapore. Resourcesat-2 is a continuation of Resourcesat-1,

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which was put into orbit on October 17, 2003. Resourcesat-1 is going strong, though it has lasted more than its mission life of five years. The images of the Resourcesat-2 will help in monitoring the health of crops, estimating crop yield, keeping a tab on deforestation and locating the groundwater. Youthsat is meant for studying the effects of the sun on the earth's upper atmosphere.

intErnational organization It is one of the important sections in the competitive examination especially in UPSC, in the last issue we had discussed about U.N and its main organs, in this 3 rd issue we are continuing with United Nations (UN) various agencies, programmes and funds and their functions, in the changing trend of the examination these agencies and their objectives will produce great number of question. In last year preliminary examination UPSC asked analytical type of question from these organization and agencies like: Q. With reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, consider the following: 1. The Right to Development. 2. The Right to Expression. 3. The Right to Recreation.

Which of the above is/are the Rights of the child? (a) 1 only (b) 1 and 3 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Ans: (d) Q. The International Development Association, a lending agency, is administered by the (a) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (b) International Fund for Agricultural Development. (c) United Nations Development Programme. (d) United Nations Industrialized Development Organization.

Ans: (a) Knowing all sort of essential information about these organizations is the need of the examination and our aim is to provide all sort of necessary information before the June 12 th examination. In this issue we are dealing with U.N Humanitarian affairs and in subsequent issues we will deal with other national and international organizations which are of great importance.

United Nations HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

1. UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund).

UNICEF is a Fund established under U.N General Assembly has always worked in emergencies, both natural and man-made.

Originally called the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Dec 1946), the organization was created to provide humanitarian assistance to children living in a world shattered by the Second World War. Much has changed since then, but UNICEF’s fundamental mission has not. Though emergencies grow increasingly complex, their impacts ever more devastating, UNICEF remains dedicated to providing life-saving assistance to children affected by disasters, and to protecting their rights in any circumstances, no matter how difficult. In health and nutrition, water and sanitation, protection, education and HIV/AIDS, UNICEF’s Core Corporate Commitments to Children in Emergencies are more than a mission statement – they are a humanitarian imperative.

Guiding principles International law and principles that guide UNICEF's action in emergencies 1. Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) (Last year Pt2010 question asked from this section) Parakram The strength of Knowledge

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This convention bans discrimination against children and provides for special protection and rights appropriate to minors. The preamble recalls the basic principles of the United Nations and specific provisions of certain relevant human rights treaties and proclamations. It reaffirms the fact that children, because of their vulnerability, need special care and protection, and it places special emphasis on the primary caring and protective responsibility of the family. It also reaffirms the need for legal and other protection of the child before and after birth, the importance of respect for cultural values of the child's community, and the vital role of international cooperation in securing children's rights.

2. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000) The protocol sets 18 as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities, for recruitment into armed groups, and for compulsory recruitment by governments. States may accept volunteers from the age of 16 but must deposit a binding declaration at the time of ratification or accession, setting out their minimum voluntary recruitment age and outlining certain safeguards for such recruitment.

3. Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNICEF, 1998) Under each article of the Convention, this fully revised edition of the Handbook records and analyses the interpretation by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the internationally elected body of independent experts established to monitor progress worldwide. The Handbook adds analysis of relevant provisions in other international instruments, comments from other UN bodies and global conferences, as well as illustrative examples.

4. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

5. The Geneva Conventions (1949) and their Additional Protocols (1977, 2005) The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols are international treaties that contain the most important rules limiting the barbarity of war. They protect people who do not take part in the fighting (civilians, medics, aid workers) and those who can no longer fight (wounded, sick and shipwrecked troops, prisoners of war).

6. Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (UNICEF, 2010) The Core Commitments for Children (CCCs) in Humanitarian Action are a global framework for humanitarian action for children undertaken by UNICEF and its partners. The updated CCCs reflect recent humanitarian developments, including humanitarian reform. The CCCs provide guidance for each sector in both rapid-onset and protracted humanitarian situations. The sectoral interventions are results-based, and preparedness and early recovery are now explicit commitments.

7. Growing the Sheltering Tree - Protecting Rights through Humanitarian Action (IASC, 2002) The aim of this book is to share the unique, often ingenious methods that humanitarian workers have developed to help people under threat survive, for instance, civilians living in zones of conflict or under oppressive regimes. It will be especially useful for field practitioners as it describes practical methods developed to promote respect for fundamental rights and human dignity. It is intended to provide a way to exchange, test and create new information on the promotion and protection of rights through humanitarian work.

Humanitarian policy and action The international community, including UNICEF, is faced with increasingly complex humanitarian crises brought about as a result of chronic conflict, sudden and large-scale natural disasters such as earthquakes and droughts as well as existing and potential new pandemics (e.g. HIV/AIDS and Avian influenza).

The overall aim of UNICEF’s humanitarian response is to save lives, alleviate suffering and protect the rights of children.

UNICEF’s humanitarian response builds on international and national capacities, is collaborative and is based on best practice.

Changes in the scale, nature and complexity of humanitarian crises - as well as a growing recognition that the collective

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humanitarian response to these crises has often been inadequate - has resulted in a broad number of inter-agency, UN and UNICEF policy developments. These can be described through three areas including international law and related rights approaches, humanitarian reform and policy issues directly related crisis contexts.

Grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols, as well the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), UNICEF’s humanitarian response is based upon internationally recognized normative frameworks including the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and humanity. Therefore, UNICEF strives to ensure that all children’s rights in all situations, including emergencies, are fulfilled.

Humanitarian Reform

Areas of work: Humanitarian access, Children and armed conflict, displaced children, Adolescents in emergencies, Gender in emergencies, Gender-based violence, Sexual exploitation and abuse, Landmines, Small arms and Peace and security agenda.

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)

2. UNDP (United Nation Development Programme) UNDP is the UN's global development network established in 1965, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. Have the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.

World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP's network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals. Our focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of: 1. Democratic Governance 2. Poverty Reduction 3. Crisis Prevention and Recovery 4. Environment and Energy 5. HIV/AIDS UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.

The annual Human Development Report, commissioned by UNDP, focuses the global debate on key development issues, providing new measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals. The global Report's analytical framework and inclusive approach carry over into regional, national and local Human Development Reports, also supported by UNDP. In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions.

The MDGs also provide a framework for the entire international community to work together towards a common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy.

The eight (8) MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

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Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability.

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development.

The 2010 MDG Summit A decade after the Millennium Declaration, we can point to undeniable progress on some MDGs in many countries. There have been noticeable reductions in poverty globally, significant improvements in enrolment and gender parity in schools, reductions in child and maternal mortality and increasing HIV treatments. Steps have been taken towards ensuring environmental sustainability and developing countries are incorporating the MDGs into their development strategies.

While the share of poor people is declining, the absolute number of the poor in South Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing. Rapid reductions in poverty are not necessarily addressing gender equality and environmental sustainability. Lack of progress in reducing HIV is curtailing improvements in both maternal and child mortality. The expansion of health and education services is not being matched by quality.

MDG progress is also threatened by the combination of high food prices and the impact of the international financial and economic crisis. Sustained poverty and hunger reduction is at risk because of vulnerability to climate change, particularly in the area of agricultural production. Weak institutional capacity in conflict and post-conflict countries also slows MDG progress, and rapid urbanization is putting pressure on social services.

The 2010 MDG Review Summit was an opportunity to recognize the vital role of the UN in supporting governments to achieve the MDGs. Focusing on the pragmatic steps that can be taken in the next five years; UNDP has developed an MDG Acceleration Framework drawing on the past decade's evidence base.

The framework provides a systematic way for countries to develop their own action plan based on existing processes to pursue their MDG priorities. It also helps governments to focus on disparities and inequalities, two of the major causes of uneven progress, by particularly responding to the needs of the vulnerable.

This framework lies at the heart of UNDP's strategy that puts the entire organization and its existing resources behind the UN effort to accelerate MDG progress.

The 2010 MDG Summit Outcome The MDG Summit reaffirmed that consensus across member states can be reached on issues of global importance. This is crucial as the current phase of globalization proceeds and the world realizes that it needs a strong multilateral system more than ever.

The Summit's outcome document recognized the many interlink ages between the MDGs and set out a number of cross-cutting interventions that drive progress across all the Goals: in particular, investing in expanded opportunities for women and girls and improving access to energy.

It also recommitted all actors - governments, businesses and NGOs, UN agencies and donors - to accelerate MDG progress in the last five years of the MDG political framework.

UNDP in India UNDP is committed to help India achieve the global Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the national objectives articulated in consecutive Five-Year Plans. The goal of the organization is to help improve the lives of the poorest women and men, the marginalized and the disadvantaged in India. UNDP works in the following areas: Democratic Governance, Poverty Reduction, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Environment and Energy, and HIV and Development.

Environment & Energy: UNDP in India is committed to protect the environment and to meet the challenges posed by climate change. UNDP works with the Government of India to strengthen policy, legislative and regulatory mechanisms on biodiversity conservation, while addressing land degradation, promoting clean and renewable sources of energy, and phasing out ozonedepleting substances. The programme lays emphasis on actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts and on enhancing awareness among marginalized communities for them to manage and reduce disaster and environment related risks.

The biodiversity conservation initiatives support communities so they are able to administer their resources in a sustainable manner. This happens through value-addition and marketing of products based on natural resources and through the documentation as well as the sharing of benefits that arise from traditional knowledge. The programme furthermore supports efforts towards strategic management of chemicals, which contribute to pollution and the depletion of ozone layer.

In the Gulf of Mannar and Sunderbans Biosphere Reserves, the introduction of alternative livelihoods and the generation of awareness among local communities have led to prudent use of natural resources. The coral cover in Gulf of Mannar increased by 4.5 percent in the years 2006 to 2008. In the Sundarbans an irrigation canal that was built with the help of UNDP and lead to more diverse livelihood options, which reduced the dependence of people on fishing as a sole means of livelihood. In SaraikelllaKharsawan district of Jharkhand, 110 biogas plants were set up. This helped to conserve 240,900 kgs of fuel thereby reducing

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CO2 emissions by about 385,440 kgs each year. Communities in Tumkur district of Karnataka have demonstrated that biomass production and power generation is sustainable and successful when the local government, the public and the private sector work together.

Facts on Environment & Energy 1. Nearly 3 in 4 rural households rely almost completely on traditional sources of energy – fuel wood, animal dung and crop residues – for cooking and heating 2. Health costs of environmental degradation in India have been estimated at US $7 billion a year 3. India is home to 8 percent of the world’s species of animals and plants, including many rare and endangered species, but the country’s biodiversity faces serious threats 4. Rates of efficiency of household energy consumption are very low 5. More than 56 percent of households do not have electricity connections 6. India is signatory to many Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) such as The Montreal Protocol on Substances. That Deplete the Ozone Layer; Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Poverty Reduction: UNDP works to improve the effectiveness of national poverty reduction and livelihood promotion programmes in partnership with central and state governments with a focus on disadvantaged groups and regions. It promotes the design and use of poverty reduction strategies that involve the poor, women and men from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes groups, migrants, minorities and the displaced. UNDP fosters partnerships including the private sector to enable disadvantaged households to improve their skills, diversify to non-farm activities and increase access to credit, financial services and markets. It assists organizations of the poor to develop livelihood plans in areas such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, land resource development, rural tourism and handicrafts. Furthermore UNDP also advocates for increased participation of the poor in design and implementation of poverty reduction programmes and policies.

UNDP has supported more than 100,000 poor women to organize themselves into self-help groups, federations, cooperatives or producer companies to setup and manage a range of micro-enterprises. It has provided technical support to municipal governments in 13 cities to design and implement poverty reduction strategies focusing especially on vulnerable groups. Similar support at the state level, for example to the Rajasthan Mission on Livelihoods, has successfully demonstrated the impact of improved design and delivery of livelihood promotion services on the lives of poor under the ongoing government programmes and schemes. UNDP’s support to the formulation of a comprehensive national strategy for urban poverty reduction and capacity building of national research and training institutions has helped to bring urban poverty into the national and local development agenda and underscore the rural-urban linkages.

Key Facts on Poverty Reduction 1. 27.5 percent of Indians live below the national income poverty line 2. More than 60 percent of women are chronically poor, as are 43 percent of Scheduled Tribes and 36 percent of Scheduled Caste groups 3. More than 90 percent of the overall workforce is employed in the informal economy; 96 percent of women are in the informal economy 4. 48.6 percent of farmer households are in debt, and only 27 percent have access formal credit 5. 296 million people are illiterate and 233 million are undernourished 6. 254 per 100,000 live births is the maternal mortality rate and is an indicator not only of the quality of maternal health care services but also of the level of empowerment of women

Democratic Governance: UNDP supports the Government of India to strengthen systems, institutions and mechanisms enabling local elected representatives, officials and communities to perform their functions effectively, including planning, implementation and monitoring of decentralized development programmes. While doing so, it makes human development an integral part of planning and policy-making, and promotes formulation of State and District Human Development Reports as well as gender-responsive budgeting. UNDP pays special attention to the needs of disadvantaged groups, especially women and girls, and encourages them to participate in public decision making. It enhances citizens' monitoring capacities, through the use of public disclosure tools such as social audit, governance 'report cards', the Right to Information Act, and ICT-based systems.

Further, UNDP supports national programmes, like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), which foster governance reform and accountability while providing work opportunities to people in rural areas. In partnership with Government, UNDP strengthens delivery mechanisms of justice and empowers communities and

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disadvantaged groups to demand justice. UNDP also supports initiatives to improve delivery of public services in urban local bodies in select cities through improved planning, accounting and property-tax reforms.

Key Facts on Democratic Governance in India 1. There are 240,000 elected Panchayat Institutions in the country, comprising 2.8 million representatives 1.03 million of these 2.8 million representatives are women 2. The Right to Information Act of 2005 gives citizens of India the right to demand disclosure of public records 3. The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA guaranteeing 100 days of mandated employment per year to any rural household that demands it, has been is implemented in all 614 districts of India 4. Legal Services Authority Act provides legal services to vulnerable groups in all states

Crisis Prevention & Recovery: UNDP has been supporting various social and economic development goals of the Central and State Government in India over a decade enabling them to minimize losses due to development gains and reduce vulnerabilities to natural disasters. The coverage of the programme includes more than 30% of the population in India. UNDP works with the Government in nearly 200 of the most hazard-prone districts of the country through a multi stakeholder approach. It provides training, expertise and knowledge to help state and district institutions and community members, especially women, prepare for disasters building their resilience against risk bridging the gap between emergency relief and long-term development.

The programme so far focused on preparedness and on building the capacity of people to respond to emergencies. Gender sensitive disaster management plans were drawn up and in around 140,000 villages local volunteers were trained on skills required to perform various response functions. The culture of preparedness was enhanced among members of youth organizations such as National Service Scheme (NSS) and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS). A web-enabled database called India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) established under the project helps the district authorities identifying availability and location of resources such as equipments and skilled human resources, which are required in emergency activities. The India Knowledge Network (IDKN), another web-based portal, is developed to share information and knowledge and to promote networking among various institutions and departments involved in Disaster Management Facts on Crisis and Recovery 1. 27 states in India are prone to natural disasters 2. 59 percent of the country’s area is in high-risk zones for earthquakes; 38 cities with populations of at least 500,000 are at high to medium risk for earthquakes 3. 40 million hectares of river basins are prone to floods 4. Nearly 12 percent of Government revenue from 1996 to 2001 was spent for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities

HIV and Development: UNDP works with the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) to respond to HIV and AIDS in India and reduce its impact. UNDP supports the national efforts by offering knowledge, resources and technical expertise to effectively implement the National AIDS Control Programme. For the next five years, UNDP will be working to ensure that HIV becomes part of India’s development response across districts vulnerable to HIV in nine states across India. In partnership with NACO and other UN agencies, UNDP is also designing a national programme to make migration safer. Since it is the agency mandated to work on human rights and gender, UNDP will work with sexual minorities, such as men having sex with men, to address their most urgent needs and to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. UNDP has helped the National AIDS Control Organization to develop national policies for gender and HIV and for greater involvement of people living with HIV. Almost 15.6 million people across India were provided with information, training and services to improve their capacities to deal with HIV. 9,000 people living with HIV as well as trafficking survivors received livelihood training to expand their employment opportunities and skills. UNDP has also conducted pioneering research on the social dimensions of HIV. The first large-scale study of the socio-economic impact of HIV on households drew national and international attention from the media and policy makers.

Facts on HIV and Development 1. In India, 58 percent of HIV infections are in rural areas 2. About 4 out of 10 people living with HIV are women 3. 87.4 percent of transmission happens through unprotected sex 4. 34 districts with a high prevalence of HIV are in low-prevalence states 5. Networks of people living with HIV are functional in 221 districts of 22 states

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The Resident Coordinator heads the UN System in India and is the Resident Representative for UNDP in India. UNDP has appointed a Country Director who is responsible for the day-to-day work of UNDP India. Our Country Director is assisted by two Deputies, one for Programme and one for Operations.

UNDP in India works closely with the Government of India through its designated nodal department, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance. All activities falling within the Country Programme Action Plan are nationally owned. Implementation of the programme activities are being carried out by Implementing Partners, i.e. Government Ministries, State Governments, District Authorities, Civil Society Organization, NGOs, and UN agencies including UNDP as appropriate, under the overall oversight by DEA. The present country programme document for India (2008-2012) was formulated in partnership with the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, building on the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 20082012. The programme is in harmony with the eleventh five-year plan of the Government of India and has benefited from wideranging stakeholder consultations, including within the United Nations system, and a comprehensive review of lessons from past cooperation.

Human Development Report 2010 —20th Anniversary Edi tion,” The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development” The first Human Development Report in 1990 opened with the simply stated premise that has guided all subsequent Reports: “People are the real wealth of a nation.” By backing up this assertion with an abundance of empirical data and a new way of thinking about and measuring development, the Human Development Report has had a profound impact on development policies around the world.

This 20th anniversary edition features introductory reflections by the Nobel Prize–winning economist Amartya Sen, who worked with series, founder Mahbub ul Haq on the conception of the first Human Development Report and contributed to and inspired many successive volumes.

The 2010 Report continues the tradition of pushing the frontiers of development thinking. For the first time since 1990, the Report looks back rigorously at the past several decades and identifies often surprising trends and patterns with important lessons for the future. These varied pathways to human development show that there is no single formula for sustainable progress—and that impressive long-term gains can and have been achieved even without consistent economic growth.

Looking beyond 2010, this Report surveys critical aspects of human development, from political freedoms and empowerment to sustainability and human security, and outlines a broader agenda for research and policies to respond to these challenges.

As Amartya Sen writes: “Twenty years after the appearance of the first Human Development Report, there is much to celebrate in what has been achieved. But we also have to be alive to ways of improving the assessment of old adversities and of recognizing—and responding to—new threats that endanger human well-being and freedom. “ The 20th anniversary edition is a response to that human development imperative. The past 20 years have seen substantial progress in many aspects of human development. Most people today are healthier, live longer, are more educated and have more access to goods and services. Even in countries facing adverse economic conditions, people’s health and education have greatly improved. And there has been progress not only in improving health and education and raising income, but also in expanding people’s power to select leaders, influence public decisions and share knowledge.

Yet not all sides of the story are positive. These years have also seen increasing inequality— both within and across countries— as well as production and consumption patterns that have increasingly been revealed as unsustainable. Progress has varied, and people in some regions—such as Southern Africa and the former Soviet Union—have experienced periods of regress, especially in health. New vulnerabilities require innovative public policies to confront risk and inequalities while harnessing dynamic market forces for the benefit of all.

Addressing these issues requires new tools. In this Report we introduce three measures to the Report family of indices—the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index. These state-of-the-art measures incorporate recent advances in theory and measurement and support the centrality of inequality and poverty in the human development framework. We introduce these experimental series with the intention of stimulating reasoned public debate beyond the traditional focus on aggregates.

Today’s challenges also require a new policy outlook. While there are no silver bullets or magic potions for human development, some policy implications are clear. First, we cannot assume that future development will mimic past advances: opportunities today and in the future are greater in many respects. Second, varied experiences and specific contexts preclude overarching policy prescriptions and point towards more general principles and guidelines. Third, major new challenges must be addressed— most prominently, climate change.

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Many challenges lie ahead. Some are related to policy: development policies must be based on the local context and sound overarching principles; numerous problems go beyond the capacity of individual states and require democratically accountable global institutions. There are also implications for research: deeper analysis of the surprisingly weak relationship between economic growth and improvements in health and education and careful consideration of how the multidimensionality of development objectives affects development thinking are just two examples.

Human Development Index (HDI) - 2010 Rankings Very High Human Development 1. Norway 2. Australia 3. New Zealand 4. United States 5. Ireland High Human Development 43. Bahamas 44. Lithuania 45. Chile 46 Argentina 47. Kuwait 73. Brazil Medium Human Development 86. Fiji 87. Turkmenistan 88. Dominican Republic 89. China 91. Sri lanka 101. Egypt 107. Maldives 108. Indonesia 110. South Africa 119. India 125. Pakistan.

Low Human Development 129. Bangladesh 132. Myanmar 138. Nepal 155. Afghanistan 165. Mozambique 166. Burundi 167. Niger 168. Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 169. Zimbabwe

Origins of the Human Development Approach The Human Development approach arose in part as a result of growing criticism to the leading development approach of the 1980s, which presumed a close link between national economic growth and the expansion of individual human choices. Many, such as Dr. Mahbub ul Haq, the Pakistani economist who played a key role in formulating the human development paradigm, came to recognize the need for an alternative development model due to many factors, including: 1. Growing evidence that did not support the then prevailing belief in the “trickle down� power of market forces to spread economic benefits and end poverty; 2. The human costs of Structural Adjustment Programmes became more apparent; 3. Social ills (crime, weakening of social fabric, HIV/AIDS, pollution, etc.) were still spreading even in cases of strong and consistent economic growth;

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4. A wave of democratization in the early 90’s raised hopes for people-centered models.

Many of its key principles, however, can be found in the writings of scholars and philosophers from past eras and across many societies.

As of 1990, the human development concept was applied to a systematic study of global themes, as published in the yearly global Human Development Reports under the auspice of the UNDP. The work of Amartya Sen and others provided the conceptual foundation for an alternative and broader human development approach defined as a process of enlarging people’s choices and enhancing human capabilities (the range of things people can be and do) and freedoms, enabling them to: live a long and healthy life, have access to knowledge and a decent standard of living, and participate in the life of their community and decisions affecting their lives.

Human development has always been flexible and “open-ended” with respect to more specific definitions. There can be as many human development dimensions as there are ways of enlarging people’s choices. The key or priority parameters of human development can evolve over time and vary both across and within countries.

Some of the issues and themes currently considered most central to human development include: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Social progress - greater access to knowledge, better nutrition and health services.

Economics – the importance of economic growth as a means to reduce inequality and improve levels of human development.

Efficiency - in terms of resource use and availability. human development is pro-growth and productivity as long as such growth directly benefits the poor, women and other marginalized groups.

Equity - in terms of economic growth and other human development parameters.

Participation and freedom - particularly empowerment, democratic governance, gender equality, civil and political rights, and cultural liberty, particularly for marginalized groups defined by urban-rural, sex, age, religion, ethnicity, physical/mental parameters, etc.

Sustainability - for future generations in ecological, economic and social terms.

Human security - security in daily life against such chronic threats as hunger and abrupt disruptions including joblessness, famine, conflict, etc.

3. WFP (World Food Programme): Fighting hunger world wide “Rising food prices are a reality for the whole world, but they have the biggest impact on the poorest and most vulnerable populations. We are on red alert and we are continually assessing needs and reassessing plans and stand ready to assist”.

Is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger world wide under united nations humanitarian programme established in 1960 ,with headquarter at Rome, Italy. Headed by Josette Sheeran, WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children. The WFP was first established at the 1960 Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Conference, when George McGovern, director of the US Food for Peace Programmes, proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme. WFP was formally established in 1963 by the FAO and the United Nations General Assembly on a threeyear experimental basis. In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

Objectives: WFP's strategic plan lays out five objectives and all our work is geared towards achieving them. They are: 1. Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies 2. Prepare for emergencies 3. Restore and rebuild lives after emergencies 4. Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere 5. Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger

Work As the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against hunger, WFP is continually responding to emergencies. We save lives by getting food to the hungry fast. But WFP also works to help prevent hunger in the future. We do this through programmes that use food as a means to build assets, spread knowledge and nurture stronger, more dynamic communities. This helps communities become more food secure. WFP has developed expertise in a range of areas including Food Security Analysis, Nutrition, Food Procurement and Logistics to ensure the best solutions for the world's hungry.

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In 2011, WFP aims to bring food assistance to more than 90 million people in 73 countries.

Operations WFP has 4 major types of operations: 1. Emergency operations (EMOPs) provide immediate assistance 2. Relief and rehabilitation operations (PRROs) rebuild after an emergency 3. Development operations (DEVs) improve food security for communities 4. Special operations (SOs) create the specific infrastructure needed for EMOPs

India Despite significant economic progress in the past decade, India is home to about 25 percent of the world's hungry poor .

Although the country grows enough food for its people, pockets of hunger remain. According to government figures, around 43 per cent of children under the age of five years are malnourished and more than half of all pregnancy women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from anemia. Stark inter-state disparities exist with some states better off on all social indicators than the others. The states that suffer from hunger and malnutrition the most include Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The objectives of WFP's Country Programme in India are to: Combat malnutrition and invest in human resources; Help improve immediate food security for selected target groups; Maximize the active participation of women in projects; Advocate joint forest management; Help strengthen distribution channels for locally-produced food grains; Increase agricultural production and create employment.

Specific beneficiaries include poor women (especially mothers), at-risk children, and poor forest-dependent populations.

Programme in India The country programme for India (2008–2012) is consistent with WFP’s Strategic Plan (2006–2009), the priorities of India’s 11th Five Year Plan and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2008–2012). It takes into account lessons learned from previous interventions and the recommendations of the mid-term evaluation of the 2003–2007 country programme.

Strong economic growth continues in India, resulting in a substantial reduction in poverty; but food and nutrition insecurity remain high. India is home to 40 percent of the world’s undernourished children and prevalence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies is among the highest in the world – yet India has some of the world’s largest food-based welfare schemes.

WFP’s assistance in India has shifted from food delivery towards capacity-development to support India’s own schemes to reach its nutritional objectives and the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of underweight children by 2015.

The programme will concentrate on improving the effectiveness of India’s schemes to reach the hungry poor and ensuring that better quality food is provided. A minimal amount of food will be resourced for the purpose of introducing innovative models with defined lifespans in a cost-sharing scheme with the Government.

WFP will continue its advocacy to place food and nutrition awareness at the centre of national development policy. Renewed emphasis will be placed on expanding partnerships and making new ones with a view to integrating food and nutrition security into the context of health and sanitation. Programme components will as far as possible be targeted to coincide in priority districts where the United Nations Children’s Fund and other United Nations partners are present.

Food Security The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Commonly, the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people's dietary needs as well as their food preferences. In many countries, health problems related to dietary excess are an ever increasing threat, In fact, malnutrion and food borne diarrhea are become double burden.

Food security is built on three pillars: 1. Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.

2. Food access: having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.

3. Food use: appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation.

Food security is a complex sustainable development issue, linked to health through malnutrition, but also to sustainable economic development, environment, and trade. There is a great deal of debate around food security with some arguing that: 1. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone adequately; the problem is distribution.

2. Future food needs can - or cannot - be met by current levels of production.

3. National food security is paramount - or no longer necessary because of global trade.

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4. Globalization may - or may not - lead to the persistence of food insecurity and poverty in rural communities.

Issues such as whether households get enough food, how it is distributed within the household and whether that food fulfils the nutrition needs of all members of the household show that food security is clearly linked to health. Agriculture remains the largest employment sector in most developing countries and international agriculture agreements are crucial to a country's food security. Some critics argue that trade liberalization may reduce a country's food security by reducing agricultural employment levels. Concern about this has led a group of World Trade Organization (WTO) member states to recommend that current negotiations on agricultural agreements allow developing countries to re-evaluate and raise tariffs on key products to protect national food security and employment. They argue that WTO agreements, by pushing for the liberalization of crucial markets, are threatening the food security of whole communities.

Related issues include: 1. What is the net impact of the further liberalization of food and agricultural trade, considering the widely differing situations in developing countries?

2. To what extent can domestic economic and social policies - and food, agricultural and rural development policies offset the diverse (and possibly negative) impacts of international policies, such as those relating to international trade?

3. How can the overall economic gains from trade benefit those who are most likely to be suffering from food insecurity?

4. Do gains “trickle down” to enhance economic access to food for the poor?

5. How can food and agricultural production and trade be restrained from the over-exploitation of natural resources that may jeopardize domestic food security in the long term?

6. How to ensure that imported food products are of acceptable quality and safe to eat?

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Poverty Uneven food distribution Natural disasters Deforestation Low education levels

Hunger Stats Every year, authors, journalists, teachers, researchers, schoolchildren and students ask us for statistics about hunger and malnutrition. To help answer these questions, we've compiled a database of useful facts and figures on world hunger.

GLOBAL HUNGER 1. 925 million people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union; (Source: FAO news release, 14 September 2010) 2. 98 percent of the world's hungry live in developing countries;(Source: FAO news release, 2010) 3. Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people;(Source: FAO news release, 2010) 4. Women make up a little over half of the world's population, but they account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry (Source: Strengthening efforts to eradicate hunger, ECOSOC, 2007) 5. 65 percent of the world's hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. (Source: FAO news release, 2010) CHILD HUNGER 1. More than 70 percent of the world's 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone; (Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006) 2. 10.9 million Children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths;(Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007) 3. The cost of under nutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum;(Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006) 4. One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight;(Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007) 5. Every year WFP feeds more than 20 million children in school feeding programmes in some 70 countries. In 2008, WFP fed a record 23 million children.(Source: WFP School Feeding Unit) MALNUTRITION

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It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc (Source: WFP Annual Report 2007) 2. Under nutrition contributes to 53 percent of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries. (Source: Under five deaths by cause, UNICEF, 2006) 3. Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year (Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, UNICEF) 4. Iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide; affecting an estimated 2 billion people.6 Eradicating iron deficiency can improve national productivity levels by as much as 20 percent. (Source: World Health Organization, WHO Global Database on Anemia) 5. Iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of 40-60 percent children in developing countries (Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, p2, UNICEF) 6. Vitamin A deficiency affects approximately 25 percent of the developing world’s pre-schoolers. It is associated with blindness, susceptibility to disease and higher mortality rates. It leads to the death of approximately 1-3 million children each year. (Source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. World Nutrition Situation 5th report. 2005) 7. Iodine deficiency is the greatest single cause of mental retardation and brain damage. Worldwide, 1.9 billion people are at risk of iodine deficiency, which can easily be prevented by adding iodine to salt (Source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. World Nutrition Situation 5th report. 2005) FOOD & HIV/AIDS 1. In the countries most heavily affected, HIV has reduced life expectancy by more than 20 years, slowed economic growth, and deepened household poverty. (Source: 2008 UNAIDS Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic) 2. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the epidemic has orphaned nearly 12 million children aged less than 18 years. (Source: 2008 UNAIDS Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic).

3. WFP and UNAIDS project that it will cost on average US $0.70 cents per day to nutritionally support an AIDS patient and his/her family. (Source: Cost of Nutritional Support for HIV/AIDS Projects, WFP, July 2008) 4. Assistance for orphans and vulnerable children is estimated at US$0.31 per day. (Source: Cost of Nutritional Support for HIV/AIDS Projects, WFP, July 2008)

What is Malnutrition?

A malnourished person finds that their body has difficulty doing normal things such as growing and resisting disease. Physical work becomes problematic and even learning abilities can be diminished. For women, pregnancy becomes risky and they cannot be sure of producing nourishing breast milk. When a person is not getting enough food or not getting the right sort of food, malnutrition is just around the corner. Disease is often a factor, either as a result or contributing cause. Even if people get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micronutrients vitamins and minerals - to meet daily nutritional requirements.

Malnutrition is the largest single contributor to disease, according to the UN's Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN).

Malnutrition at an early age leads to reduced physical and mental development during childhood. Stunting, for example, affects more than 147 million pre-schoolers in developing countries, according to SCN's World Nutrition Situation 5th report. Iodine deficiency, the same report shows, is the world's greatest single cause of mental retardation and brain damage. Undernutrition affects school performance and studies have shown it often leads to a lower income as an adult. It also causes women to give birth to low birth-weight babies.

Window of opportunity The first two years of life are the “window of opportunity” to prevent early childhood undernutrition that causes largely irreversible damage. WFP focuses on the earliest phase of life, i.e. from conception (-9 months) to 24 months of age, providing essential nutrients including vitamins and minerals.

Eliminating malnutrition involves sustaining the quality and quantity of food a person eats, as well as adequate health care and a healthy environment. WFP helps fight malnutrition by treating it -- giving malnourished people the food and nutrients they need -- but also by preventing it.

How WFP Fights Malnutrition WFP has an advantage when it comes to addressing malnutrition thanks to its deep-field presence in most of the world's food insecure regions. With food distribution structures in place in over 70 countries, WFP can tailor its responses to meet specific nutritional needs.

The need could be for a diet with more calories, more micronutrients in general or more of a specific vitamin or mineral. Under an agreement with UNICEF, WFP has the mandate to address moderate malnutrition. UNICEF focuses on severe malnutrition.

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WFP does its part by providing food through programmes which supplement the food households already have with nutritious products such as fortified Blended Foods or Ready-to-Use Foods. By treating moderate malnutrition, WFP tries to prevent children from slipping into severe malnutrition. In many emergency settings, for every child suffering from severe acute malnutrition, there are eight or ten suffering from moderate malnutrition.

WFP has a partnership with Dutch company DSM which, among other things, aims to develop cost-effective micronutrient products that will improve our general food basket and help ensure that the nutritional needs of all WFP beneficiaries are met.

In recent years, new ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) for severely malnourished children have been developed. The Progress in foods for severe malnutrition has worked as a catalyst for the development of special foods for other forms of malnutrition. In this context, WFP has been improving the quality and diversity of the food products it uses. WFP is working with partners in the private sector, universities, UN and NGOs to develop and assess the effectiveness of innovative products.

Treating micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiencies is an area of emphasis. Other new strategies include ready-to-use supplementary foods (RUSFs), for treating children with moderate acute malnutrition, and complementary food supplements, to complement the diet of young children (6-24 mo) with the highest nutritional needs.

WFP at Davos 2011,”Nourishing people invest in the next generation” WFP's message at Davos was that good nutrition is an investment. It’s an investment in the next generation of the world's inhabitants and it should begin in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. WFP went to Davos to talk with business and government leaders about innovative solutions to hunger.

4. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) FAO is a specialized agency established in 16th October 1945 and has a head quarter in Rome, Italy. ECOSOC is the parent organization of the FAO, headed by Jacques Diouf. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) helps countries prevent, mitigate, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

FAO focuses on: 1. strengthening capacity for disaster preparedness and ability to mitigate impact of emergencies affecting food security and productivity of rural populations 2. forecasting and providing early warning of adverse conditions in the food and agricultural sectors, and of impending food security emergencies 3. assessing needs and devising programmes which help transition from relief to reconstruction and development, and build on national and household resilience rather than external inputs 4. improving analysis of underlying causes of a crisis, emphasizing collection and use of information to design evidencebased food security policies 5. strengthening local capacities to cope with risks through agricultural practices, technologies and support services, to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience FAO works on sudden and slow-onset disasters, as well as protracted crises, including: 1. climate-related and geological hazards 2. transboundary pests and animal diseases 3. chemical hazards and radiological release 4. complex emergencies How FAO works: FAO, with other UN agencies, research and training institutions and governments, helps countries to prevent and prepare for disasters in the agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry sectors.

FAO technical units help these activities in areas such as: 1. crop and livestock production 2. animal and plant pests and diseases 3. agricultural management, marketing and finance 4. forest and coastal management, and safety at sea 5. food security information and early warning systems 6. food security and nutrition 7. climate change adaption 8. land and water management

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Relief and rehabilitation programmes are managed by FAO’s Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division, and an emergency coordination unit is often established to manage the Organization’s local response. A multidisciplinary approach, with emergency operations specialists and technical experts, ensures FAO’s expertise is used to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Programmes: 1. Early warning of food emergencies: FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning and Information System (GIEWS)

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monitors world food supply/demand and provides the international community with prompt information on crop prospects and the food security situation on a global, regional and country-by-country basis. In case of impending food emergencies, the system dispatches rapid crop and food supply assessment missions, often jointly with the World Food Programme, and sometimes as a precursor to further intervention and assistance.

Integrated pest management: During the 1990s, FAO took a leading role in the promotion of integrated pest management for rice production in Asia. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were trained using an approach known as the Farmer Field School (FFS).

International Plant Protection Convention: FAO created the International Plant Protection Convention or IPPC in 1952.

This international treaty organization works to prevent the international spread of pests and plant diseases. Among its functions is the maintenance of lists of plant pests, tracking of pest outbreaks, and coordination of technical assistance between member nations. As of July 2009, 173 governments had adopted the treaty.

Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building: The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) is a global partnership dedicated to increasing plant breeding capacity building. The mission of GIPB is to enhance the capacity of developing countries to improve crops for food security and sustainable development through better plant breeding and delivery systems. The ultimate goal is to ensure that a critical mass of plant breeders, leaders, managers and technicians, donors and partners are linked together through an effective global network. Increasing capacity building for plant breeding in developing countries is critical for the achievement of meaningful results in poverty and hunger reduction and to reverse the current worrisome trends.

Codex Alimentarius: FAO and the World Health Organization created the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1963 to develop food standards, guidelines and texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main aims of the programme are protecting consumer health, ensuring fair trade and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

International Alliance against Hunger: In June 2002, during the World Food Summit, world leaders reviewed progress made towards meeting the 1996 Summit goal of halving the number of the world's hungry by 2015; their final declaration called for the creation of an International Alliance against Hunger (IAAH) to join forces in efforts to eradicate hunger. Launched on World Food Day, 16 October 2003, the IAAH works to generate political will and concrete actions through partnerships between intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and national alliances. The IAAH is a voluntary association of international organizations, national alliances against hunger, civil society organizations, social and religious organizations and the private sector. The global activities of the IAAH focus on four major themes: advocacy, accountability, resource mobilization and coordination. The International Alliance is made up of the Rome-based UN food organizations – FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – and representatives of other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. Individuals cannot directly join the IAAH, though they can work with national alliances against hunger. In less than two years, 36 countries have established national alliances, some of them already very active like those in Brazil, Burkina Faso, France, India and the United States.

FAO–EU partnership: In May 2009, FAO and the European Union signed an initial aid package worth €125 million (US$170 million) to support small farmers in countries hit hard by rising food prices. The aid package falls under the EU’s €1 billion Food Facility, set up with the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis and FAO to focus on programmes that will have a quick but lasting impact on food security. FAO is receiving a total of around €200 million for work in 25 countries, of which €15.4 million goes to Zimbabwe.

Food security programmes: The Special Programme for Food Security is FAO's flagship initiative for reaching the goal of halving the number of hungry in the world by 2015 (currently estimated at close to 1 billion people), as part of its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Through projects in over 100 countries worldwide, the programme promotes effective, tangible solutions to the elimination of hunger, undernourishment and poverty. Currently 102 countries are engaged in the programme and of these approximately 30 have begun shifting from pilot to national

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programmes. To maximize the impact of its work, FAO strongly promotes national ownership and local empowerment in the countries in which it operates.

World Summit on Food Security Took place in Rome, Italy between 16 and 18 November 2009, World leaders convened at FAO Headquarters for the World Summit on Food Security unanimously adopted a declaration pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger from the face of the earth sustainably and at the earliest date. Countries also agreed to work to reverse the decline in domestic and international funding for agriculture and promote new investment in the sector, to improve governance of global food issues in partnership with relevant stakeholders from the public and private sector, and to proactively face the challenges of climate change to food security.

"Tragic achievement" Calling the over one billion hungry people in the world "our tragic achievement in these modern days", FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf stressed the need to produce food where the poor and hungry live and to boost agricultural investment in these regions.

An agenda for action Poor countries need the development, economic and policy tools required to boost their agricultural production and productivity. Investment in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome hunger and poverty and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth. The gravity of the current food crisis is the result of 20 years of under-investment in agriculture and neglect of the sector. Directly or indirectly, agriculture provides the livelihood for 70 percent of the world's poor.

Achievements The Summit adopted unanimously a declaration committing all the nations of the world to eradicate hunger at the earliest possible date. It pledged to substantially increase aid to agriculture in developing countries, so that the world’s 1 billion hungry can become more self-sufficient. The declaration confirmed the current target for reducing hunger by half by 2015. Countries agreed to work to reverse the decline in domestic and international funding for agriculture and promote new investment in the sector, to improve governance of global food issues in partnership with relevant stakeholders from the public and private sector, and to face the challenges of climate change to food security.

5. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency, headed by Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin (Nigeria), began operations in 1969 as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (the name was changed in 1987) under the administration of the United Nations Development Fund In 1971 it was placed under the authority of the United Nations General Assembly has it head quarter at New York City, it promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Meeting Development Goals UNFPA works in partnership with governments, as well as with other agencies and civil society broadly, to advance its mission.

Two frameworks serve to focus its efforts: The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development and the Millennium Development Goals, which the international development community committed, itself to six years later. Because the dates for achievement of these interconnected sets of goals and related targets are fast approaching, considerable work has been done in analyzing what has worked, and to galvanize support and a redoubling of efforts. On 12 October 2009 the United Nations General Assembly commemorated the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development. For UNFPA, the agency that was given the lead in carrying out the ICPD vision, the entire year offered opportunities to both look back and move forward toward commitments made in 1994 (and at the follow-up conference in 1999). Throughout 2009, partnerships were strengthened with the aim of expanding ownership of the ICPD Programme of Action, and using it as a foundation for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Three core areas of focus The three core areas of our work - reproductive health, gender equality and population and development strategies - are inextricably related. Population dynamics, including growth rates, age structure, fertility and mortality, migration and more,

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influence every aspect of human, social and economic development. Reproductive health and women's empowerment powerfully affect, and are affected by, population trends.

Role Its stated mission is to promote the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of "health and equal opportunity."

UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programs to "reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect."The agency’s main goals are: 1. Universal access to reproductive health services by 2015 2. Universal primary education and closing the gender gap in education by 2015 3. Reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015 4. Reducing infant mortality 5. Increasing life expectancy 6. Decreasing HIV infection rates Population and development strategies The fact that world population is edging toward 7 billion people (up from 2.5 billion in 1950), with almost all of the growth expected to occur in the cities of less developed countries, has profound implications for the development process.

Governments need to be able to gather adequate information about population dynamics and trends in order to create and manage sound policies and generate the political will to appropriately address both current and future needs. UNFPA assists countries in every aspect of this task, from developing capacity in data collection and analysis to participating in national, regional and global policy dialogue. Key areas of focus include migration, ageing, climate change and urbanization.

(Note: In next issue we will discussed about Specialized agencies under ECOSOC: ILO, FAO (discussed), UNESCO, WHO, ICAO. IMO, ITU, UPU, WMO, IFAD, UNIDO, UNWTO, WORLD BANK GROUP, IMF, WIPO.)

Economy at a glancE In the last two issue of Parakram we are discussing with 3rd generation reforms of Indian economy, in this issue too we are continuing with this next generation reforms and also cover up important highlights of economy survey, budget 2011 and railway budget.

3 rd generation reforms 1. WPI. 2. CPI.

WPI (Whole Sale Price Index) The Wholesale Price Index is the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods. The Wholesale Price Index focuses on the price of goods traded between corporations, rather than goods bought by consumers, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index. The purpose of the WPI is to monitor price movements that reflect supply and demand in industry, manufacturing and construction. This helps in analyzing both macroeconomic and microeconomic conditions. Some countries use the changes in this index to measure inflation in their economies, in particular India - The Indian WPI figure is released every 10 days and influences stock and fixed price markets. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) WPI first published in 1902, and was one of the more economic indicators available to policy makers until it was replaced by the Consumer Price Index in the 1970s.

Calculation of Wholesale Price Index The wholesale price index consists of over 2,400 commodities. The indicator tracks the price movement of each commodity individually. Based on this individual movement, the WPI is determined through the averaging principle. The following methods are used to compute the WPI:

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Laspeyres Formula (relative method): It is the weighted arithmetic mean based on the fixed value-based weights for the base period. Ten-Day Price Index: Under this method, 'sample prices' with high intra-month fluctuations are selected and surveyed every ten days through phone. Utilizing the data retrieved by this procedure and with the assumption that other non-surveyed "sample prices" remain unchanged, a "ten-day price index" is compiled and released.

Calculation Method: Monthly price indexes are compiled by calculating the simple arithmetic mean of three ten-day 'sample prices' in the month.

Composition of Wholesale Price Index The wholesale price index comprises of the following indices: 1. Domestic Wholesale Price Index (DWPI) 2. Export Price Index (EPI) 3. Import Price Index (IPI) 4. Overall Wholesale Price Index (OWPI) The WPI covers five commodity groups - agriculture; manufacturing; quarrying; import and export; and mining.

Features of Wholesale Price Index The features of the wholesale price index are: 1. It captures the price movement extensively and is, therefore, taken as an indicator of inflation.

2. The index is published weekly, with the shortest possible time gap of only two weeks.

3. WPI is used to analyze market activity and monetary conditions in an economy.

4. It focuses on the changing nature of the economy of different kinds of services, such as the railways, road transportation, telecommunications and banking.

These features highlight the utility of this index in monitoring ongoing changes in an economy in order to suggest the need for any adjustment.

New Series of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) The Government of India has announced the new series of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in Sep 2010. The new series has been prepared by shifting the base year from 1993-94 to 2004-05 and added that WPI for the month of August 2010 has been released with base year 2004-05. The change in base would improve the accuracy and be more representative of the wholesale price index.

1. The index now has 676 items, against 435 items under the previous series of 1993-94 and 447 items when the base year was 1981-82.

2. Ice-cream, microwave ovens, mineral water and dish antenna are among 241 new items in the basket of commodities making up the official wholesale price index in a bid to reflect changes in India's price line and consumption pattern better.

3. The new index that is used as the main indicator of India's underlying inflation, as also the rate of change in the wholesale prices of commodities.

4. "The new series will give a robust, truer picture of the Indian economy," "The new basket of items will help in monitoring the price scenario in a better way."

5. The new series is based on the recommendations of a working group that was set up under Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen, which in its technical report submitted in May 2008 recommended the change of the base year to 2004-05.

6. The new series for calculating the wholesale price index, India's annual rate of inflation for August was 8.51 per cent, over one percentage point below 9.78 per cent rise estimated for July.

7. The new series has also altered the weight attached to each commodity group. Manufactured items now have a higher weight of 64.972 as against 63.749 earlier. The weight for fuels has also increased to 14.910 against 14.226. But for primary articles, the weight is down at 20.118 against 22.025.

In a bid to reflect the actual consumption pattern, the new series drops as many as 200 items such as typewriters, video cassette recorders, to make a room for items like computers, refrigerators, televisions and video disc players. The concept of wholesale price index is to capture all transactions carried out in the domestic market. The concept has now been refined to capture the transactions only at the first point of bulk sale.

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A measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care. The CPI is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them; the goods are weighted according to their importance. Changes in CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living. Sometimes referred to as "headline inflation".

Consumer Price Index (CPI) in India comprises multiple series classified based on different economic groups. There are four series, via the CPI UNME (Urban Non-Manual Employee), CPI AL (Agricultural Laborer), CPI RL (Rural Laborer) and CPI IW (Industrial Worker). While the CPI UNME series is published by the Central Statistical Organization, the others are published by the Department of Labor.

(The Consumer Price Index for Urban Non-Manual Employees [CPI (UNME)] numbers on base 1984-85=100 in respect of 59 urban centers)

How it help?

The most common use of the CPI data is to asses the economic landscape and primarily inflation. The CPI also has large ramifications on consumer income. Social Security, Federal Pension benefits, Food Stamp benefits, and even Treasury Inflation Adjusted Bond securities (TIPS) are adjusted up or down using CPI as the guide. Thankfully, the consumer price index is assessed annually by the IRS to determine if changes need to be made to the tax brackets or even standard deductions.

India launches new consumer price index Even as it fights a desperate battle to reign in rampant inflation India launched a new consumer price index on 18Feb. 2011 which will measure the cost of living across rural and urban areas differently than earlier. To reflect the true picture of the price behavior in the country, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation launches new series of CPI. As the present CPI numbers do not encompass all the segments of the population, there is a need to compile a CPI which takes into account the consumption patterns of all segments of the population.

The new index, covers five major groups namely food, beverages and tobacco; fuel and light, housing, clothing, bedding and footwear, and miscellaneous items.

The combined CPI is newer – the base year is now 2010 (vs. 1986-87 and 2001 for the existing CPI indices). It is broader – coverage includes 1,182 villages for the rural segment and 310 towns for the urban segment; and has far more than the 360 items covered by the CPI-IW. It provides a state-wise break-up with different weights for each state. It includes services, such as education, recreation, transport and so on, but excludes Telecom Services.

Here is how the new weight age stacks up: 1. Food, beverages, tobacco – 50% 2. Fuel and light – 10% 3. Clothing, bedding, footwear – 5% 4. Housing – 10% 5. Miscellaneous – 25% The rural: urban ratio at an All-India level is 57: 43. Arunachal Pradesh has the highest rural weight while Delhi has the highest urban weight.

Dubbed the "common man's" index, it is not intended to replace India's main price index - the Wholesale Price Index - but it will provide the central bank another measure to assess rising costs that are now causing tempers to rise across the land. Existing consumer price indices do not "reflect the true picture of price behavior in the country" as they do not embrace all parts of the population, India's chief statistician TCA Anant said ahead of the index's launch. The new index estimated consumer price inflation at six per cent nationwide in January, more than two percentage points below the Wholesale Price Index, which measures a wider basket of goods such as machinery and basic metals.

Railway Budget 2011-12 Analyses Railway Budget 2011-12 was more of election budget as expected. Though planned outlay has been increase to all time high to Rs 57630 cr, clear roadmap to achieve the vision 2020 and to meet challenges of meeting requirement of emerging India were clearly missing. Worrying news is that in our view the 2011 Railway Budget missed an opportunity to raise passenger charges to pass on rising fuel costs when growth is strong.

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Rail Budget 2011-12 proposes to spend R 57630 cr during FY12 which is almost 39% higher than previous budget allocation of Rs 41426 cr. The plan is proposed to be financed through Gross budgetary support of R 20000cr, Diesel cess of Rs 1041 cr, internal resources of R 14219 cr and market borrowings of R 20594cr [Now Equity Analysts will start mentioning about the Railway Deficit in their Reports] Railway suffered heavily due to implementation of 6 th pay commission recommendation during FY10 and is yet to recover from it. Rather than taking concrete steps to control spiraling manpower cost, it has plans to hire additional 200000 employees in FY12 which will put additional burden on its sagging financials and will further put pressure to increase freight rate. It expects to raise freight rate by approx 6.5% in FY12.

No visible progress has been made till date on meeting the Wagons Deficit. We would like to conclude that the budget looks like typical pre election budget for Railway minister rather than future growth plan for Indian Railways.

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The Railway minister said that there will not be any increase in the fares.

Concession: The budget has incorporated a few concessions such as reducing the he eligibility age of senior women citizens from 60 to 58 years and the fare concession for men above 60 from 30 to 40 per cent . It also includes concession for physically handicapped and gallantry award winners for travel in the Shatabdi and Rajdhani express. The budget has also offered to increase the concession regarding travel for media persons from once to twice a year.

Income: The railway minister announced that the earnings for the year 2010-11 were to exceed Rs.1 lakh crore. She added saying that there are 85 PPP (Public-Private Partnership) proposals received so far and that they will be carried over by forming a single-window system. She also said that the government has decided to set up rail-based industries.

Additional Trains: The budget said that Rs.10,000 crore is to be raised through railway bonds and the Anti-collision device which has been doing well in North West Frontier Railway will be extended to three more zonal railways. The budget promised to form Rail linkage to Gujarat from Delhi- Mumbai freight corridor, introduction of three new EMU coaches for Mumbai suburban systems and the suburban system of Hyderabad is to be strengthened. The Integrated suburban network is to be set up in Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmadabad and other cities. The budget included the introduction of the New Durantos to be run on Allahabad-Mumbai, Pune-Ahmedabad, Sealdah-Puri, SecunderabadVisakhapatnam, Madurai-Chennai routes, amongst the other trains. There has been a central organization created for the implementation of the projects which will keep an account of the non performances. The up gradation of 442 stations will be completed by the end of March. Pilot project is to be commenced which aims at providing shelter to homeless people living along the tracks in Mumbai. The construction of freight corridors have been started in two places.

New Factories: The budget includes plans such as the Metro coach factory to be set up at Singur, West Bengal and a centre of excellence to be set up at Darjeeling. The budget has also promised to introduce the first train from Rae Bareli to roll out in the next three months and the work on wagon factory at Orissa to start immediately after the acquisition of the land. The railway minister said that the Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojna is to be launched and in addition to that an industrial park is to be set up at West Bengal. The Railways has also planned to set up a factory at Jammu and Kashmir. Funds are to be created for socially desirable projects. The budget has promised to show interest in the development of business oriented policies in order to support the growth of the industry. The estimation of the working expenditure during the time period 2011-2012 is at Rs.87,000 crore. Payout for the year 2011-12 will be Rs.57630crore which is supposed to be the highest investment in one year. There will be an addition of 180 km of rail lines laid in the year 2011-2012.

Working for the Railways: The Railway minister reported that the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission report has resulted in the increase in the expenditure for the year 2010-11 by 97%, a loss of Rs.3500 crore has been incurred in the year 2010-2011 otherwise. Regarding the jobs the railway minister said that 16000 ex-servicemen to be offered jobs in railways and the ten year accumulation of 1.75 lakh jobs in the railways will be addressed. She clearly stated that first priority will be given to safety and that the rate of accidents has come down comparatively. She added saying that an all India help line is to be set up shortly.

Some Things Unique: Multi-purpose smart cards are to be introduced for all India travel and the facility of airport like trolleys are to be provided in at more number of stations. An improvised class of air conditioned travel is to be introduced and modern technologies are to be adopted with the help of the centers of academic excellence.

The Manipur capital Imphal is to be connected to the railway network and a train to run to Bangladesh to exhibit the Indian culture.

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Increase in the frequency of five Duronto Express trains and 10 new types of Rajya Rani Express trains that would connect State capitals with important cities and towns in those States.

No announcement on extension or introduction of Garib Rath express trains.

To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, to be celebrated in 2013, a new service, called “Vivek Express,” would be launched. Initially four such services, covering various regions, would be operated. Likewise, four “Kavi Guru Express” train services, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore would be run.

Special tourist trains, known as “Janam Bhoomi Gaurav,” connecting important historical and educational places, would be operated. Initially four such services would be on the move.

The nine new Duronto trains are Allahabad-Mumbai AC (bi-weekly), Pune-Ahmedabad AC (tri-weekly), Sealdah-Puri non-AC (tri-weekly), Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam AC (tri-weekly), Madurai-Chennai AC (bi-weekly), ChennaiThiruvananthapuram AC (bi-weekly), Mumbai Central-New Delhi AC (bi-weekly), Nizamuddin-Ajmer non-AC (bi-weekly) and Shalimar-Patna (tri-weekly).

The new Shatabdi Express routes are: Pune-Secunderabad, Jaipur-Agra and Ludhiana-Delhi; AC double-decker services are: Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai .

The new Vivek Expresses would run on the following routes: Dibrugarh-Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar, Dwarka-Tuticorin Express (weekly) via Wadi, Howrah-Mangalore Express (weekly) via Palghat and Bandra(T)-Jammu Tawi Express (weekly) via Marwar-Degana-Ratangarh -Jakhal-Ludhiana.

The Kavi Guru Expresses would be operated on the routes of Howrah-Azimganj (daily) via. Sagardighi, Guwahati-Jaipur Express (weekly) via. Kasganj-Faizabad-Gorakhpur-Kokrajhar, Howrah-Bolpur Express (daily) and Howrah-Porbandar Express (weekly).

Establishment of 1300 MW thermal power plant in AP. Establishment 1320 MW thermal power plant in Agra.

New coach factory to come up in Kolar via PPP or JV. Railway system to ensure more transparency.

Scholarship scheme for low income group.

Introduction of trolleys at railway stations.

Ticket booking charges reduced; Rs 10 for AC and Rs 5 for non AC. Railways introducing 16000 ex-servicemen from March 2011.

New passenger terminals in Kerala.

User friendly stations for physically challenged.

'Go India' smart card for buying long distance travel tickets on pilot basis.

Mamta: Green energy, green year, green environment with railways.

Railways to collaborate with major technology and IT institutes for new technology up gradation in railways.

Special package for states running problem free railways; provide 2 new trains for good performance.

Conferring Kolkata Metro as the newest and seventeenth (17 th) independent railway zone of Indian Railways (IR) at Metro Bhavan and also inaugurating the commencement of work for the proposed Joka-BBD Bag Metro Railway project's phase-I from Joka to Majherhat.

Union Budget 2011-12 Analyses The Indian economy showed remarkable resilience and gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown at 8.6 percent in 2011-12 in real terms. Food Inflation still remains a concern. FY11 Fiscal consolidation impressive. Service Sector continues to grow in double digit. Stronger fiscal consolidation needed. Need to ensure sustained private investment.

The Finance Minister stated in his budget speech that the major focus for 2011-12 would be to build infrastructure for the agriculture sector and approved 15 Mega Food Parks during 2011-12, besides sanctioning 24 new cold storage facilities and to increase storage capacity by 4 million tones. Another major focus of Budget 2011 was investment in infrastructure. Funds allocated to this sector amounted to Rs 214,000 crore (US$ 47.48 billion), which is an increase of 23.3 per cent over 2001-11 and amounts to around 49 per cent of the total plan allocation.

Other measures to enhance the flow of funds to the sector included increase in the foreign investment investor (FII) limits for investment in corporate bonds and provision of tax free status to infrastructure bonds. Tax rates applicable on interest paid on overseas borrowing in case of infrastructure debt funds were reduced to 5 per cent instead of the regular withholding tax rate

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of 20 per cent. This is in line with CII recommendations that have made it clear that infrastructure development is a prerequisite for manufacturing and agricultural sector growth.

Highlights 1.

FM says corruption is a problem; must fight it collectively. Need to improve the supply of agriculture to meet demand.

Current account deficit poses some concern. Economic growth seen at 8.75%-9.25% in FY12. GST rollout preparation in final stages will be tabled in the current session. Sees FY11 industrial growth at 8.1% and services growth at 9.6%.

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FIIs allowed investing in MF schemes. Divestment target at Rs 40,000 crore. FIIs investment in corporate bonds hiked to $40 billion. Infra sector FII cap for bonds with 5 year residual maturity. To bring bill to enable RBI to give more private baking licenses. To create 100 crore equity fund for microfinance companies.

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Interest subvention for Housing loan to continue. To give infra status to cold storage chains. Propose to introduce tax free bonds of Rs 30,000 crore for infra. To set up national mission for hybrid, electric vehicles.

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Education sector allocated Rs 52,057 cr in FY12. Allocation for farm development hiked to Rs 7860 crore. To set up institution for tracking black money. Allocated Rs 58,000 crore for social schemes (Bharat Nirman).

5. To roll out e-stamping in all states in three years. Special Economic Zone will attract Min Alternative Tax. 6.

Decrease in Fiscal Deficit announcement to 4.6% of GDP.

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Rollout of DTC (Direct tax code) effective April 1, 2012.

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General Category of Income Tax Exemption increased to Rs 180,000 from Rs 160,000.

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Senior Citizens now at Age of 60 for Tax Purposes. Exemption Limit increased to Rs 250,000.

10. Service Tax maintained at 10%. New Services brought under the umbrella are – Hotel Accommodation over Rs 1000, A/C Restaurants servicing Liquor, Hospitals with 25 and more beds with A/C, Diagnostic Test Centers, Air Travel – Rs 50 Domestic & Rs 250 on International, Some Legal Services rendered to Companies.

11. To keep the standard rate for Excise Duty at 10%. 1% excise duty on 130 new items. Cut customs duty on yarn to 5% from 7.5%.

Other Impact Analysis 1. Actively considering new Urea policy (Nutrient based subsidy).

2. Direct tax subsidy - good for rural based companies like ITC, Hero Honda.

3. FII investments in Infra bonds raised by US$5bn. FII's allowed to invest in bonds of unlisted infra-SPV's Positive for Infra companies.

4. PSU Banks to be recapitalized by government to the tune of Rs20175cr.. Positive for small PSU Banks.

5. PSU Banks to be recapitalized by government to the tune of Rs20175cr.. Positive for small PSU Banks.

6. Rs100cr equity fund for Micro finance companies - Positive for SKS Microfinance.

7. Direct investment in MF by foreigners with KYC, will help broaden investor base - Positive for Reliance Cap, HDFC, SBI. 8. New Companies Bill to be introduced in current session.

9. Credit growth to agriculture sector increased to Rs475000cr, up 27% yoy - Positive for PSU Banks Interest subvention for farmers repaying crop loans increased by additional 1% to 3%. NABARD authorized capital base increased to Rs5000cr. 3% interest subsidy to farmers in FY12. Fertilizer industry to be included under Infra space. To give Infra status to cold storage companies.

10. To create 20lakh metric tones of storage capacity - Positive as this will help reduce wastage. Positive for containing food inflation 11. Infra allocation increased by 23% yoy to Rs214000cr.

12. Amnesty scheme for Black Money will help increase non-tax revenue and lower fiscal deficit.

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To link NREGA wages to inflation Food security bill to be introduced in current year.

Education allocation expenses up 24% to Rs52000cr.

To provide rural broadband connectivity.

Health care spend to be increased by 20% in FY12 Rs21000cr allocation towards literacy programmes.

Fiscal deficit at 5.1% of GDP for FY11.

Fiscal deficit for FY12 estimated at 4.6%, 4% for FY13 and 3.5% for FY14 Increase basic personal income tax exemption limit to Rs180000 - sentimental positive FY11 revenue deficit seen at 2.3%. - Sentimentally Positive Surcharge for local companies reduced to 5% from existing 7.5% - Positive for domestic companies MAT raised to 18.5% from 18% currently - marginally negative SEZ to be charged MAT - Negative for IT companies Net market borrowing at Rs3.43tn in FY12 - Positive for Banks Central excise duty retained at 10% - Positive for Auto Peak custom duty retained Export duty on Iron ore increased to 20% - Negative for Sesa Goa Allowed duty free import of parts - Positive for ship owners Service Tax on hotel services increased - Negative for Hospitality sector Service Tax on Air travel increased - Negative for Aviation No excise duty on equipments for UMPP projects - Positive for Power generators and domestic equipment manufactures 34. To tax life insurance services providers - Negative for insurance companies 35. Revenue loss from direct tax receipts pegged at Rs11500cr, indirect tax revenue targeted at Rs11300cr 36. Tax sops of Rs20000 towards investment in Infra bonds retained - Positive for Infra financing companies.

Tax Tax payers get some sops in the current budget. The first gain is the increased threshold income tax exemption limit. Minimum Income Tax exemption limit is raised to Rs1.80 lakh from Rs 1.6 lakh for general tax payers for financial year 2011-12. This means, you can save Rs 2,000 next financial year on tax payment.

For women, minimum exemption limit remains unchanged at Rs 1.90 lakh. For senior citizens, minimum tax exemption limit increased to Rs 2.50 lakh from the present Rs 2.40 lakh. For senior citizens, qualifying age has been reduced to 60 years from 65 years. So, many more tax payers will benefit due to this proposal.

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Minimum exemption limit at Rs 1.80 lakh No change in women exemption limit Senior citizen: Exemption limit increased to Rs 2.5 lakh from Rs 2.50 lakh Qualifying age for senior citizen reduced to 60 years from 65 years Tax slabs remain unchanged

New category in tax slab: The budget also created new category called 'Very Senior Citizen'- the people above of the age of 80 years will fall into this category. The minimum exemption limit has been fixed at Rs 5 lakh.

Tax-saving infra-bond provision extended: Tax-free infra bond provision has been extended for next fiscal year. So, investor can avail tax exemption up to Rs 20,000 under 80CCF of Income Tax law, above Rs I lakh limit under 80 C of Income Tax Law in the financial year 2011-12. Now, you can subscribe tax-free infra bonds from public sector banks as they are allowed to float taxsaving bonds under budget proposals.

Simplification in tax returns filing: A new revised income tax return form 'Sugam' to be introduced for small tax papers.

Relaxation in e-filing norms for small tax payers have been proposed in the budget.

Smiles for low-cost home buyers: The government proposed in the Union Budget 2011-12 that low-cost housing loans up to Rs 15 lakh will be eligible for 1% interest subsidy. The existing interest rate subsidy is on loans of Rs 10 lakh where cost of house

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was Rs 20 lakh. Under budget proposal, norms for cost of house have been also raised to Rs 25 lakh. So, next year, home buyers will get 1% interest subsidy on loans up to Rs 15 lakh where cost of house was up to Rs 25 lakh.

1% interest sop loans up to Rs 15 lakh .

Priority sector lending: housing loan limit raised to Rs 25 lakh for vs. Rs 20 lakh .

Direct Tax Code (DTC): Direct Tax Code will be finalised in 2011. DTC will be effective from April 1, 2012.

ECONOMIC SURVEY 2010-2011 Highlights 1.

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The Economic Survey to review the economic performance in the current financial year and forecast the economy prospects for the coming year.

Indian economy to grow by 9 per cent in next fiscal year.

Gross fiscal deficit decreases to 4.8% of GDP. Inflation estimated to be higher by 1.5%.

The export stats; 29.5% in 2010 April-December and Import; 19%.

Trade gap minimizes to $82.01 billion.

Rose both saving and investment rate to 33.7% & 36.5% of GDP. Estimated food grains production at 232.10 million tones.

Forex reserves to reach $297.30 billion.

Importance given to telecommunication sector.

Policies supporting accounting, legal, tourism, education, financial and other services.

Taxation of goods and services to be revised.

Introduction of Financial Schemes to monitor unemployment.

Reformation necessary in the current education system by inviting more private participation.

India on way to become fastest growing economy in the world.

Calls for new 'Green Revolution' for agricultural sector with higher investment and introduction of latest technologies.

Government working on regulations to emphasize on capital market.

Increase influx of foreign capital by building close association with G-20 countries.

National Forest Land Bank to improvise the infrastructure projects.

Estimated economic growth at 8.75-9.25 per cent for fiscal year 2012.

Estimated agriculture sector growth at 5.4 per cent during this fiscal year.

Growth of Industrial output by 8.6% where, manufacturing sector registers 9.1%.

rural DEvElopmEnt programmEs (We already deal s with NREGA and NRHM in our previous issue, this issue deals with Bharat Nirman and in next issue Sarv siksha Abhyan)

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Bharat Nirman and its Components.

Bharat Nirman is the rural development programme with prime objective of creation of rural infrastructure which will further helpful in bridging the rural-urban divide exist in India. Bharat Nirman is a time-bound business plan for action in rural infrastructure, launched by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, on 16 Dec 2005. Under Bharat Nirman, action is proposed in the areas of irrigation, rural housing, rural water supply, rural electrification and rural telecommunication connectivity and proposed a `specific financing window' for the Rs 1,74,000-crore programme. "Most of the financing will come from the Government's development outlays. Government also proposed a specific financing window for the Bharat Nirman through NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) for funding selected components," Under this the Government plans to build 60 lakh houses to address rural homelessness and add 10 million hectares to irrigation capacity. Bharat Nirman, along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, National Rural Health Mission and Sarvashiksha Abhiyan, was aimed at giving a `New Deal to Rural India'.

Panchayat-privates sector partnership: The delivery model proposes to involve panchayats and the private sector as partners, the Planning Commission was working on ways to enhance the management of rural infrastructure programmes by panchayats.

"State Governments are key implementing agencies and panchayats would need to activate the demand side without which service delivery would not be effective," The four-year programme is aimed at achieving identified goals in six selected areas of rural infrastructure - irrigation, water supply, housing, roads, telephony and electrification.

The India-Bharat divide: The major challenge of the economic reform programme was that of balancing the growth process and bridging the various divides, particularly narrowing the gap between India and Bharat.The government used the term `Bharat' to signify rural areas and `India' to specify urban areas.

Targets: • • • • • • •

A time-bound plan for rural infrastructure by theGovernment of India in partnership with State Governments and Panchayat Raj Institutions, 2005-2009.

Every village to be provided electricity: remaining 1,25,000 villages to be covered by 2009 as well as connect 2.3 crore households.

Every village to be connected by telephone: remaining 66,822 villages to be covered by November 2007.

10 million hectares (100 lakhs) of additional irrigation capacity to be created by 2009.

60 lakh houses to be constructed for the rural poor by 2009.

Every habitation over 1000 population and above (500 in hilly and tribal areas) to be provided an all-weather road: remaining 66,802 habitations to be covered by 2009.

Every habitation to have a safe source of drinking water: 55,067 uncovered habitations to be covered by 2009. In addition all habitations which have slipped back from full coverage to partial coverage due to Failure of source and habitations which have water quality problems to be addressed.

New Targets • • • • • •

Provide safe drinking water to all uncovered habitation by 2012.

Target of 60 lakh additional houses for the poor achieved till 2009. New target of 1.2 crore houses by 2014 adopted.

Achieve 40% rural teledensity by the year 2014, ensure broad band coverage to all 2.5 lakh panchayats and set up Bharat Nirman Seva Kendras at Panchayat level by 2012.

Connect all villages that have a population of 1000 (or 500 in hilly/ tribal areas) with an all weather road by 2012.

Reach electricity to all villages and offers electricity connections to 1.75 crore people households by 2012.

Bring additional one crore hectare of land under assured irrigation by 2012.

I. ELECTRICITY Goal: Every village to be provided electricity: remaining 1,25,000villages to be covered by 2009.

The Ministry of Power has the responsibility of providing electricity to the remaining 1,25,000villages through the programme instrument of Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana. In addition it will also provide 23 million households with electricity. As per the Census of 2001,1,25,000 villages remained uncovered.

• Components of Infrastructure To be able to achieve this objective, Rural Electricity Distribution Backbone with at least a 33/11KV sub-station would be set up in each block, at least one Distribution Transformer in each habitation of every village or hamlet as Village Electrification

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Infrastructure, Stand-alone grid with generation where grid supply is not feasible. These Stand-alone grids would be set up in partnership with the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy also.

• Norms of village electrification A village will be deemed electrified if the following conditions are met.

- “basic infrastructure such as distribution transformer and distribution lines are provided in the inhabited locality as well as the dalit basti/hamlet where it exists. (For electrification through non-conventional energy sources a Distribution Transformer may not be necessary) - Electricity is provided to public places like schools, panchayat offices, health centers, dispensaries, Community centers, etc. and - Number of households electrified should be at least 10% of the total number of households in the Village”.

• Management Rural Electrification Corporation would be the agency for implementation. The Management of Rural Distribution will be franchisees that could be Users Associations, individual entrepreneurs, Cooperatives, Non-Governmental Organizations, Panchayat Institutions. Services of Central Services undertakings like National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), National Hydro Electric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) will be made available for the execution of rural electrification projects. These CPSUs have been allocated districts in each state wherein they will implement the rural electrification network.

• Finances 90% capital subsidy will be provided for overall cost of the projects under the scheme. The capital subsidy for eligible projects under the scheme will be through the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited, which will be the nodal agency. Electrification of unelectrified below-poverty-line households will be financed with 100% capital subsidy at Rs.1500 per connection in all rural habitations. Others will be paying for the connections at prescribed connection charges and no subsidy will be made available.

• Prioritisation For creation of village electrification infrastructure, first priority will be given to un-electrified villages. Preference for electrification will be given to Dalit Bastis, Tribal settlements and habitations of weaker sections.

Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana Ministry of Power has introduced the scheme Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidhyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) in April 2005, which aims at providing electricity in all villages and habitations in four years and provides access to electricity to all rural households. This programme has been brought under the ambit of Bharat Nirman. Under RGGVY, electricity distribution infrastructure is envisaged to establish Rural Electricity Distribution Backbone (REDB) with at least a 33/11KV sub-station, Village Electrification Infrastructure (VEI) with at least a Distribution Transformer in a village or hamlet, and standalone grids with generation where grid supply is not feasible.This infrastructure would cater to the requirements of agriculture and other activities in rural areas including irrigation pump sets, small and medium industries, khadi and village industries, cold chains, healthcare and education and IT. This would facilitate overall rural development, employment generation and poverty alleviation. Subsidy towards capital expenditure to the tune of 90% will be provided, through Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC), which is a nodal agency for implementation of the scheme. Electrification of un-electrified Below Poverty Line (BPL) households will be financed with 100% capital subsidy @ Rs.1500/- per connection in all rural habitations.

II. ROADS Goal: Every habitation over 1000 population and above (500 in hilly and tribal areas) to be provided an all-weather road: remaining 66,802 habitations to be covered by 2009.

The Ministry of Rural Development has the responsibility of ensuring that every habitation over 1000 population and every habitation with more than 500 in hilly and tribal areas is connected with an all-weather road by 2009. This is expected to generate multiplier effects in the rural economy of linking production to markets and services. This work which is being undertaken under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana since 2000, has been modified to address the above goals within the stipulated time-frame.

• Magnitude of the Task To achieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 1,46,185 Kms road length is proposed to be constructed by 2009. This will benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in the country. To ensure full farm-to-market connectivity, it is also proposed to upgrade 1,94,132 kms. of the existing Associated Through Routes.

• Management

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A district and rural roads plan has been prepared listing out complete network of all roads in the district that has village roads, major district roads, state roads and national highways. The concept of core network has been operationalised to focus on those set of roads, which are considered essential to provide connectivity to all habitations of the desired size. The Core Network is the basic instrumentality for prioritization of construction and allocation of funds for maintenance. Action has been initiated to develop GIS-based applications to further enhance the utility of the Core Network. The programme is implemented through a framework of consultation with public representatives ranging from the panchayat level up to Parliament. A Rural Roads Manual guides the implementation of the programme. A separate Book of Specification and a Standard Data Book have been prepared.

As per this, standard bidding documents are to be adopted by the states. For MIS there is a computerized Online Management and Monitoring Accounting System.

• Finances Approximately Rs.48,000 crores is proposed to be invested to achieve this objective. 100% of the funds of this programme are being provided by the Central Government.

• Work Done 27,059 road work covering 76,566 kms have been completed benefiting 36, 659 habitations so far.

An outlay of Rs.600.00 lakhs has been provided for R&D in 2007-08. Some of the ongoing major schemes are as follows: • Development of GIS based National Highways information system • Guidelines for soil nailing techniques in highway engineering • Pilot study on effect of overloading on road infrastructure • Investigation on field performance of bituminous mixes with modified binders • R&D Studies on performance evaluation of rigid pavements on high density traffic corridors using instrumentation supported by laboratory tests.

• In addition to the above, the proposal of IIT, Roorkee for establishment of the Ministry's Chair in it in the area of development of Highway System has also been sanctioned.

• Creation of complete range of independent testing facility at Central Road Research Institute (CRRI ), New Delhi.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY)- launched on 25 December 2000 as a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the authority of the Ministry of Rural Development. The primary objective of the PMGSY is to provide connectivity to all the eligible unconnected habitations of more than 500 persons in the rural areas (250 persons in the hilly and desert areas) by good quality all-weather roads. In order to implement this, an Online Management & Monitoring System or OMMS GIS system was developed to identify targets and monitor progress. It is developed by e-governance department of CDAC Pune and is one of the biggest databases in India.

Under Bharat Nirman, goal has been set to provide connectivity to all the habitations with population of more than 1000 in the plain areas and habitations with a population of 500 or more in hilly and tribal areas in a time-bound manner by 2009. The systematic upgradation of the existing rural road networks is also an integral component of the scheme. Accordingly, an Action Plan has been prepared for connecting 66,802 habitations with 1,46,185 km of all-weather roads.

III. DRINKING WATER Goal: Every habitation to have a safe source of drinking water: 55,067 uncovered habitations to be covered by 2009. In addition, all habitations which have slipped back from full coverage to partial coverage due to failure of source and habitations which have water quality problems to be addressed.

The Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Drinking Water Supply is responsible for meeting this goal in partnership with State Governments. The programme instrument of the Government of India is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme under implementation since 1972-73 which is funded on a 50% matching share basis between the Government of India and the State Government. Since 1972, over 37 lakh hand pumps and 1.5 lakh pipe water supply systems have been set up to provide safe water to over 15 lakh habitations in the country at a cost of over Rs 50,000 crore.

• Norms for coverage - 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) of safe drinking water for human beings - 30 lpcd additional for cattle in the Desert Development Programme Areas - One hand pump or stand post for every 250 persons - The water source should exist within 1.6 km in the plains and within 100 metres elevation in the hilly areas

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• Current Backlog The backlog for coverage is under estimation based on a habitation survey for the categories of uncovered villages, slipped- back villages and villages affected with a problem of water quality. 55,067 villages remain uncovered and are targeted for coverage as first priority. The category of slipped-back villages estimated by the Planning Commission at the beginning of the Tenth Plan as 2.8 lakh habitations. These are so on account of a number of factors like - Sources going dry or lowering of the ground water table - Sources becoming quality affected - Systems outliving their lives - Systems working below rated capacity due to poor operation and maintenance - Increase in population resulting in lower per capita availability - Emergence of new habitations According to the data received from State Governments based on a survey undertaken in 2000, 2,16,968 habitations are affected due to a variety of water quality problems with the following Break-up: excess fluoride: 31,306; excess arsenic: 5029; excess salinity:23,495; excess iron:1,18,088; excess nitrate: 13,958 and multiple quality problems: 25,092. The Government of India has decided that under Bharat Nirman names of habitations would have to be provided by State Governments for availing funds from Government of India. This would give maximum transparency to the programme. State Governments would be required to place the habitations proposed for coverage and covered on this site in course of time.

• Finances The scheme is funded on a 50% basis by the GoI and expenditure of Rs.4050 crores is expected forthe current year. The actual requirement will be worked out based on the names of habitationssupplied by the states and funded.

IV. TELEPHONE Goal: Every village to be connected by telephone: remaining66,822 villages to be covered by November 2007.

The Department of Telecom in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has the responsibility of providing telephone connectivity to the 66,822 villages that remain to be covered.

• Current Status A statement indicating the break up of the uncovered villages, number of Village Public Telephones (VPTs) to be provided on satellite and other technologies.

• Funds The resources for implementation of universal services obligation are raised through a Universal Service Levy which has presently been fixed at 5% of the adjusted gross revenue of all telecom service providers except the pure value added service providers like internet, voice mail, e-mail service providers. The rules also make a provision for the Central Government to give grants and loans to the Fund. The balance to the credit of the Fund does not lapse at the end of the financial year. USO Fund assigns the task of providing VPTs on the basis of bids through open tender and in this case the work has been assigned to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Out of the 66,822 villages identified, connectivity in 14,183 remote and far-flung villages will be provided through digital satellite phone terminals. From the USOF, assistance is provided for both capital expenditure as well as operational expenditure. It is estimated that a total sum of Rs.451 crore would be required to provide VPTs in these 66,822 villages and the entire sum will be met out of USOF and no separate allocation from Government would be required.

• Additional Incentives Telecom service providers are being assisted through the USOF to penetrate into the rural areas forthe following activities: - Maintenance of existing village public telephones (VPTs).

- Provision of an additional rural community phone in villages with a population of more than two thousand and where no public call office exists.

- Replacement of village public telephones installed on Multi Access Radio Relay (MARR) technology.

- Telephone lines installed in household in specified rural areas.

• Increasing Rural Teledensity Rural teledensity will be significiantly enhanced during the period of Bharat Nirman.

• Knowledge Connectivity The Government is committed to expanding rural connectivity through a slew of measures so that rural users can access information of value and transact business. This will include connecting block headquarters with fibre optic network, using wireless technology to achieve last mile connectivity and operating information kiosks through a partnership of citizens, panchayats, civil society organizations, the private sector and Government.

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V. IRRIGATION Goal: 10 million hectares (100 lakhs) of additional irrigation capacity to be created by 2009.

The Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with State Governments is responsible for creation of additional 10 million hectares of irrigation capacity by the year 2009 through major, medium and minor irrigation projects complemented by ground water development.

• Current Status The ultimate irrigation potential for the country has been estimated as 139.88 million hectare (Mha), which include potential through Major and Medium irrigation projects (58.46 Mha), surface water based minor irrigation schemes (17.42 Mha) and ground water development (64.00 Mha). So far, the irrigation potential of 99.36 Mha has already been created. However, the created potential has not been fully utilized and the gap between created and utilized potential has been estimated to be of the order of 14 Mha. (a) Major and Medium Irrigation (MMI) Projects For the country as a whole, 66% of the ultimate irrigation potential of major and medium projects has been created. 388 Major and Medium irrigation projects which were taken up prior to or during the IX Plan are still ongoing which would result in creation of 12.1 Mha of additional irrigation potential. In addition, the States have proposed 204 Major and Medium projects during X Plan and the potential likely to be created is of the order of 4.99 Mha. So far, 173 major and medium, 4169 minor and 21 Extension, Renovation and Modernization (ERM) projects have been provided Central Loan Assistance under Accelerated Irrigation benefit Programme (AIBP). The potential creation through projects supported under AIBP has been found to be 0.35 Mha per year with about 0.47 Mha per year in the last two years. As per existing Plan, the projected creation of irrigation potential through AIBP is 0.50 Mha per year in the remaining period of X Five Year Plan. The average rate of creation of irrigation potential through Major and Medium projects from 1951 to 1997 has been found to be of the order of 0.51 Mha per year. During the year 1997 to 2005, the rate for creation has been found to be 0.92 Mah per year. The pace of creation of new irrigation potential through Major and Medium projects has increased in the recent past. This is probably due to fruition of projects started much earlier, which have been expedited due to increased support through AIBP. The projects for extension, renovation and modernization (ERM) of major and medium irrigation schemes are also being implemented with arrangement similar to that for completion of ongoing major and medium schemes. The implementation of ERM projects along with Command Area Development and Water Management (CAD and WM) help in sustaining the created facilities and in improving the utilization. (b) Minor Irrigation Schemes There is considerable variation in creation of irrigation potential through minor irrigation (both surface and ground water) schemes from State to State. While full potential through minor irrigation has been tapped in some of the States, it is relatively very low in others. Minor irrigation through surface water covers water sources (tanks and small reservoirs) with a culturable command area (CCA) of less than 2000 ha. About 70% of the ultimate potential through surface water based minor irrigation schemes has since been created. The Report of the National Commission for Integrated Water Resources Development points out that the carrying capacity of tanks has decreased over time for a variety of reasons and that the restoration and renovation of tanks and other local sources is a priority task. Since 2004-05, a pilot scheme for “repair, renovation and restoration of water bodies directly linked to agriculture” has been taken up by the Government as a state-sector scheme in the 16 districts of the country which is proposed to be expanded. (c) Ground Water Development From the surveys conducted for estimation of availability and status of ground water, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has identified areas that are over-exploited (where exploitation is more than natural recharge of ground water) and areas that are “critical or dark” (where draft is between 70% to 100% of the natural recharge of ground water). The recent survey indicates that out of 7414 identified units (blocks/talukas/watershed), 471 are “Overexploited” and 318 are “Critical or Dark” units. Thus less than 11% of the total units fall under the category of “over-exploited” and “critical”. The ultimate irrigation potential to be created is based on the assessed replenishable groundwater after duly accounting for the domestic and industrial uses (about 10%). It has been assessed that ground water is still available for utilization in many parts of the country, particularly in the eastern parts of the country, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and in specific pockets of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jammu & Kashmir. In Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, the rechargeable quantum of ground water has been exceeded and mining of static reserves has commenced. This reinforces the need to take urgent steps to increase recharge and conservation.

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VI. HOUSING Goal: 60 lakh houses to be constructed for the rural poor by 2009.

The Ministry of Rural Development through the Indira Awaas Yojana undertakes this activity as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme where the cost is shared between the Centre and States on 75:25 bases. • Task The 2001 Census places the rural housing shortage figure in India at around 149 lakhs. Construction of 60 lakh houses over the next four years across the country is envisaged, starting from 2005-06 to address a significant portion of this backlog. • Criteria The criteria adopted for allocation of financial resources between the States/UTs give greater emphasis to the states with higher incidence of shelterlessness. 75% weightage is given to housing shortage and 25% to the poverty ratios prescribed by the Planning Commission for State-level Allocations. For district-level allocations, 75% weightage is given again to housing shortage and 25% to SC/ST population of the districts concerned. Grant assistance is provided to the extent of Rs. 25,000 per house for normal areas and Rs. 27,500 for hilly areas. Funds are released to the DRDAs in two installments. • Prioritization Implementation guidelines of the scheme specifically target the rural below poverty line (BPL) households. The respective Gram Sabha does the selection of beneficiaries from the BPL list and no higher approval is required. The guidelines also clearly specify that the house allotment should be in the name of the female member of the family as a first priority. While seeking to empower the rural women, the scheme also provides priority to physically and mentally challenged persons, exservicemen, widows and freed bonded labourers. It is stipulated that at least 60% of the beneficiaries should belong to the SC/ST communities. The IAY scheme also lays emphasis on sanitation and health by incorporating the cost of a sanitary latrine and smokeless chulah into the per unit grant provided to the beneficiary for construction/upgradation of the dwelling unit. Housing is one of basic requirements for human survival. For a shelterless person, possession of a house brings about a profound social change in his existence, endowing him with an identity, thus integrating him with his immediate social milieu. The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) with a view to providing financial assistance to the rural poor living below poverty line for construction of pucca house.

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) The Government of India is implementing Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) since the year 1985-86 to provide financial assistance for construction / upgradation of dwelling units to the below poverty line (BPL) rural households belonging to the scheduled castes, scheduled Tribes and freed bonded labourers categories. From the year 1993-94, the scope of the scheme was extended to cover non-Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes rural BPL poor, subject to the condition that the benefits to non-SC/ST would not be more than 40% of the total IAY allocation. The benefits of the Scheme have also been extended to the families of exservicemen of the armed and paramilitary forces killed in action, 3% of the Houses are reserved for the rural Below Poverty Line physically and mentally challenged persons, from 2006-07 onward, funds and physical targets under IAY are also being earmarked for BPL minorities in each state.

Under the scheme, financial resources are shared between the centre and the states on a 75:25 basis. Since, reduction of shelterlessness is the primary objective, 75% weightage is given to housing shortage and 25% to the poverty ratios prescribed by Planning Commission for state level allocation. For district level allocation, 75% weightage is given again to housing shortage and 25% to SC/ST population of the concerned districts.

On the basis of allocations made and targets fixed, district Rural development Agency (DRDAs)/Zilla Parishada (ZPs) decide Panchayat-wise number of houses to be constructed under IAY and intimate the same to the concerned Gram Panchayat.

Thereafter, the Gram Sabha selects the beneficiaries, restricting its number to the target allotted, from the list of eligible households from the Permanent IAY Waitlists. No further approval of the higher authority is required.

While the agenda is not new, the effort here is to impart a sense of urgency to these goals, make the programme time-bound, transparent and accountable. These investments in rural infrastructure will unlock the growth potential of rural India.

(In next issue we will discuss about education sector in India and Sarv siksha Abhyan. This article is also important in comprehension section of paper II introduced by the UPSC)

CSAT Worksheet (Comprehension, english and math) Parakram The strength of Knowledge

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Direction (1-34): Read the following paragraph and answer: Passage I Edmunde Burke called the press the Fourth Estate of the realm. I think he did not use this title for the Press thoughtlessly as social ruling group or class. The three Estates or Realms (in England) Lords Spiritual (i.e., the Bishops in the House of Lords), the 'temporal, (i.e. other Lords) and Commons, i.e. (the common people). The Press has been rightly called the Fourth Estate as it also. Constitutes a ruling group or class like the Lords and Commons. It cannot be denied in a free country that the Press exercises good deal of influence in shaping public opinion and pointing out the weaknesses or defects of society or of Government, and 'in general bringing to light all those good or bad things in society which would have otherwise remained unnoticed. The power is not limited or put under any check. The Press, instead of, being controlled by anyone controls life and thought of a nation: Hence the Press constitutes an Estate by itself.

Obviously. thus power which the Press in an: country wields depends upon the number of newspaper readers. The opinions and comments of newspapers can influence. The life of a nation only when they are read, by People. Reading in turn, requires that the general mass of people should be educated. Thus, the spread of education determines the extent of the newspapers. Where readers are few; newspapers must necessarily be few. Their influence, in that case can extend only to a small minority of population. In a country like India, the percentage of literacy is very low and the standard of journalism is n9t very high. So Press has to play the role of a teacher here.

1. Edmunde Burke called the Press (a) Instrument of Public Opinion(b) Distributor of news(c) The Fourth Estate(d) Lord Temporal 2. The term Fourth Estate stands for (a) An area of land(b) Landed Property(c) Social ruling group or class(d) Instrument of Power 3. Out of the following the one which is not included in the Three Estates is(a) Lords Spiritual (b) Justices of Peace(c) Lord Temporal (d) Commons 4. The Free press docs not perform the function of(a) Shaping public opinion (b) Supporting at all times the official policy(c) Criticizing Government (d) Exposing social abuses 5. How much power does a Free Press Possess? (a) Only that much power which is allowed by the Government of the country (b) unlimited power without any check (c) Unlimited power subject to the maintenance of la wand order and public morality (d) No power at all 6. The secret of the Press is(a) The money which the newspaper owners can wield (b The number of newspaper readers (c) The extent to which it supports official policy (d) The patronage enjoyed by it of the Government 7. The number of newspaper readers is determined by (a) The low price of newspapers (b) The patronage extended to it by the moneyed people (c) Education of the general mass of people (d) The availability of newsprint.

8. The Press exercises power by (a) Enlisting the support of the people (b) Keeping watches over the acts of the Government (c) Controlling life and thought of a nation (d) because it is a great moneyed concern 9. The state of journalism in India (a) is up to the mark(b) is rather low(c) is in its infancy(d) is not very high 10. The Press has the greatest chances of flourishing in a-(a) Monarchy (b) Aristocracy(c) Democracy(d) Limited Dictatorship

Passage II A 23-year-old British woman was yesterday sentenced to six months in jail for leaving her two-year-old daughter home alone eight-hours-a-day, five days a week for a year while she went to work. The young mother from the central town of Warwick

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initially hired a babysitter, when she landed a job in a travel agency but eventually reached the point when she could no longer afford the facility, prosecutors said. The woman then started leaving the child home by herself, providing it with food and toys and removing all potentially dangerous objects from its reach. At first the mother came home at lunch time but had to stop because her daughter threw tantrums every time she left to go back to work. The mother, who was not identified, told the court, “If I had money I would not have done it. It was a case of that or not keeping my job and living on benefit”. The judge, Mr. Harrison Hall, however said “Having had a child, the absolute priority is to look after it. There must be an alternative to leaving a child alone all day, a thing you would not do even to a dog”.

11. The young mother had to work in the office (A) 40 hours a week (B) 8 hours a week (C) 48 hours a week (D) all the seven days a week 12. The word ‘Facility’ in sentence refers to (A) her job in the travel agency (B) living in a well furnished apartment (C) getting adequate salary (D) employing someone to look after the child

13- The mother stopped coming home for lunch because (A) her house was far away from the office (B) she was not able to control her angry baby (C) she had to work extra hours to earn more (D) she was not interested in looking after the baby 14. The sentence “If I had money, I would not have done it” means (A) I had money and so I did not leave the baby alone (B) I had money and so I left the baby alone (C) I had no money and so I left the baby alone (D) I had no money and so I did not leave the baby alone 15. Which one of the following statements about the judge Mr. Harrison Hall is correct?

(A) He can tolerate cruelty to children but not to animals (B) He can tolerate cruelty to animals but not to children (C) He can tolerate cruelty both to children and animals (D) He can tolerate cruelty neither to children nor to animals

Passage III For any activity, discipline is the key word. It should begin with the self, and then be extended to the family, neighbors, environment, workplace, society and the nation at large. It is from society that inspiration is drawn. Systems and institutions should provide the inspiration to society through performance which in turn will provide leaders, capable of rebuilding and restructuring society into a strong nation. The nationalists’ spirit then becomes infectious.

16. What is the key word for Activity according to the passage?

(A) Active Discipline (B) Key Discipline (C) Self Discipline (D) Discipline 17. According to the passage Discipline should begin (A) With the self (B) with the self, family and neighbors (C) With the self, family, neighbors and environment (D) with the self, family, workplace, society 18. According to the passage, where do we draw inspiration from?

(A) Society (B) Society and nation (C) Environment (D) Nothing in particular 19. According to the passage, a good leader should be capable of (A) Rebuilding a nation the way he/she likes (B) rebuilding and restructuring society into a strong nation (C) Building a national consensus (D) rebuilding and structuring a nation 20. What is the meaning of the word “infectious” in the passage?

(A) dangerous (B) spreading to everyone (C) spreading to everyone by germs (D) give disease

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Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the illustrious philosopher statesman of India, was one of-the greatest sons of our motherland. He cautioned the world against the domination of science in society. It is erroneous to claim that scientific knowledge would bring with it perpetual progress and a steady improvement in human relations. The recent period of great scientific achievements has also increased human misery 1 two world wars, concentration camps, and atomic destruction, and cold war, deadly wars in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and at many other places in the world. Growth in human wisdom has not been commensurate with the increase in scientific knowledge and power. The fear of universal destruction hangs over the world. There is a feeling of disenchantment, anxiety and even despair. Science has failed to liberate man from the tyranny of his own nature. Mankind is passing through a critical period and an education of the human spirit has become essential. In order to remake society, man has to remake himself. If humanity is to sanative, man must integrate his knowledge with a social responsibility.

21. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan has (a) Emphasized that science should be banished from the society (b) opposed the teaching of science in educational institutions (c) Favored scientific thinking in life (d) counseled that preponderance of science in life does not necessarily generate happiness 22. The recent past of tremendous scientific progress has (a) Made the world a very happy place (b) Led to global warming (c) Brought about internal transformation in men (d) Shown that human wisdom has not kept pace with galloping scientific knowledge 23. Man is despaired of science because (a) Science has given too much knowledge (b) science has brought him excessive material comforts (c) He has become a captive of science (d) he is confronted with the nightmare of total annihilation of the world 24. Man can save humanity only if he (a) Abandons science (b) brings about an internal transformation in him (c) Makes his life more comfortable with scientific gadgets (d) goes back to nature and primitive times 25. In this passage, the writer has tried to show that (a) Science is the only savior that shall lead humanity forward (b) Science can bring about an end to all the wars (c) Social change comes with the advancement of science (d) Human wisdom must grow proportionately with growth of knowledge to evolve a creative integration to help mankind

Passage V In Asia and much of the Third World, trees are still destroyed in the old—fashioned way: they are cut down for fuel and cropland. In Europe, there is new and potentially more deadly culprit; The Germans call it ‘Waldsterben’, the dying forest syndrome. But the disease is far more than a German phenomenon. Since it was first observed by German scientists in the autumn of 1980, the mysterious malady has raced across Europe, blighting woods in countries as far apart as Sweden and Italy.

Explanations for the epidemic range from a cyclic change in the environment to a baffling form of tree cancer. But the most Convincing evidence points to air pollution. Indeed, saving the rapidly deteriorating Forests of Europe will probably require a Two-pronged strategy: an offensive campaign that includes the breeding of pollution- immune trees and a defensive scheme that calls for reductions in toxic emissions. But both will require more money than is currently being spent on such measures, as well as total commitment to protecting the environment 26. According to this passage, which one of the following statements is correct’? (a) There is less damage in Asia than in Europe (b) More forests are dying in Germany than anywhere else in Europe (c) A cyclic change in the environment is responsible for deforestation (d) Air pollution is the main culprit of destroying European forests 27. Saving the trees of European forests (a) Should not be difficult because of the advances in experimental research

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(b) Appears to be a hopeless task and therefore pointless to undertake (c) Requires a much bigger budget (d) Demands vigilance and punitive measures against those who cut down the trees 28. The dying forest syndrome is a disease that (a) is peculiar to the forests of Asia (b) has spread rapidly over the forests of Europe (c) is confined to the forests of Germany (d) has affected forests all over me world 29. The writer suggests that (a) It is no longer possible to grow trees in industrialized areas (b) Pollution immune trees will absorb toxic emissions (c) All pollution-prone trees should be destroyed (d) It is not possible to grow trees that remain unaffected by pollution 30. The writer’s approach toward the problem of forest devastation is one of (a) tolerance (b) indifference (c) well thought—out strategy (d) despondency

Passage VI One of the major crises facing the country is the looming water shortage. A recent report of the UN has named India among the worst countries for poor quality of water. The report ranks 122 countries according to the quality of their water as well as their ability and communing to improve the situation. Belgium is considered the worst basically because of the quality of its ground water. Rains failed in most parts of India last year and the vast areas of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra and Orissa were in the grip of devastating drought. People without water turn desperate and violent. Villagers in Rajasthan last year attacked the Food Corporation go downs. Worse may be coming. With man refusing to control pollution (America, the world’s greatest polluter, refuses to cooperate with, other countries) the world is getting hotter. This means that the great ice shelves (weighing billions of tones) of the Antarctic are collapsing. We cannot even conceptualize the dangerous consequences. Last century, sea levels in Venice rose by one step of a staircase, This century they are expected to rise by five steps. An additional cause for Venice’s sinking is the draining of underground water table due to industrialization. The water tables in our cities have also Been going lower and lower. When ocean level rises, Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean will be the first to go under the waves. Citizens if that country are already migrating to New Zealand. Will citizens of Maldives crowd to Kerala? Will another mass migration from Bangladesh turn West Bengal upside down?

31. Citizens of Tuvalu are migrating to (a) Belgium (b) West Indies (c) Morocco (d) New Zealand 32. Belgium, is suffering acutely because (a) the sluggish pace of its economy (b). the discharge of industrial effluents (c) quality of its ground water (d) rising cost of living 33. Villagers in Rajasthan attacked Food Corporation godowns because of (a) Low prices offered to them for wheat (b) refusal of Food Corporation to buy wheat from the local farmers (c) No financial help from the government bodies (d) shortage of water 34. One of the reasons for Venice’s sinking (a) Industrialization (b) its proneness to earthquake (c) felling of trees. (d) Civil construction

Fill in the blanks: 35. She has Dot recovered fully---the shock of his failure. (a) off (b) of (c) from (d) against 36. The master dispensed---the services of his servant. (a) of (b) with (c) off (d) for

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37. I look---him as my close friend. (a) OD (b)'up (c) after (d) to 38. My friend is really very good--cricket. (a) on (b) at (c) in (d) over 39. He has great affection---me. (a) with (b) on (c) for (d) in 40. He always connives---with his superiors against his colleagues. (a) on (b) with (c) about (d) at 41. I have been informed that the two brothers have fallen---. (a) upon (bl through (c) in (d) out 42. Your friend has been convicted---the charge of murder. (a) upon (b) for (c) on (d) of

Directions :- Each question is followed by four alternatives. Pick the one which best describe the statement 43. Capable of being approached(a) Accessory (b) Easy (c) Accessible (d) Adaptable 44. One who is liked by people(a) Samaritan (b) Popular () Philanthropist (d) Misanthropepist 45. No longer in use(a) Impracticable (b) Obsolete (c) Absolute (d) Useless 46. A child born after the death of his father(a) Posthumous (b) Bastard (c) Kiddy (d) Stepson.

47. One who is presents everywhere(a) God (b) Omnipotent (c) Omnipresent (d) Visible 48. An office without salary(a) Honorary (b) Slavish (c) Sinecure (d) Voluntary 49. A document written by hand(a Script (b) Autobiography (c) Manuscript (d) Autography 50. Government by officials(a) Oligarchy (b) Bureaucracy (c) Autocracy (d) Democracy

General Studies 1. Recently, Union Minister for Earth Sciences laid the foundation Stone for India’s 3rd Research Base named “Bharti” at: a) Lloyd Hill b) Crater Hills c) Margaret Hills d) Larsemann Hills 2. According to the latest report published by National Aids Control Organization (NACO), which of the following states has highest HIV infection prevalence? a) Assam b) Tripura c) Manipur d) Mizoram 3. Who amongst the following is the recipient of the UNESCO peace prize for 2010?

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a) Lula da Silva b) King Juan Carlos c) Frederik W. De Kler d) Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo 4. At present, which of the following countries is India’s largest trading partner? a) China b) USA c) Malaysia d) United Arab Emirates 5. The government of India has taken a decision to withdraw “25 paisa” coin from Circulation from? a) June 30, 2011 b) April 10, 2012 c) April 30, 201 d) July 10, 2012 6. Who amongst the following has been appointed as chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the alleged scam in 2G spectrum allocation? a) Rajiv Takru b) P.C. Chacko c) Baldev Raj d) Vinayak Sen 7. Recently CeBIT 2011, the biggest tradeshow for digital industry was held in ______. a) Istanbul b) Sydney c) Hanover d) New Delhi 8. Mudiyettu, a ritual dance drama recently inscribed in the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Mudiyettu is performed annually in which of following states? a) Assam b) Odisha c) Kerala d) Karnataka 9. Recently, export of milk powder and casein banned by government in a bid to calm price pressures. Casein is a _______. a) Protein found in milk b) sugar found in milk c) vitamin found in milk d) vitamin found in pulses 10. How much percent share of food and drinks has fixed by government in newly launched Consumer Price Index (CPI) to indicate the inflation rate? a) 51.25 per cent b) 49.71 per cent c) 26.31 per cent d) 35.20 per cent 11. ______ anniversary of One Day International (ODI) was celebrated by ICC on 5th January 2011. a) 35th b) 40th c) 45th d) 50th 12. Who is the author of book “The Immortals”? a) Chetan Bhagat b) Amit Chaudhary c) Amitav Ghosh

d) Aravind Adiga

13. Which of the following is the name of the Act which governs the foreign exchange in India? a) FIR b) FIS c) FEMA d) NIFTI 14. A foreign bank willing to do business in India can open maximum how many branches in the country? a) 10 b) 12 c) 14 d) 16 15. Which of the following organizations provide credit history of the borrowers? a) RBI b) IBA c) SEBI d) CIBIL 16. A four-member team constituted by Union ministry of environment and forests (MOEF) to decide on clearance of construction of Iron Gate at Kutku dam under North Koel irrigation project. Where is Kutku dam situated? a) Bihar b) Punjab c) Rajasthan d) Uttar Pardesh 17. Recently on the eve of Republican Day 2011, Homai Vyarawalla received the second highest civilian award of the country ‘Padma Vibhushan’. She is _______. a) a well known art historian b) a premier female classical vocalist c) a famous social activist d) India’s first woman press photographer 18. US lifts ban on exports to which of following Indian space and defence-related companies to drive hi-tech trade and forge closer strategic ties with India?

1) ISRO 2) DRDO 3) Bharat Dynamics Limited

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a) Only (1) b) Only (2) c) Both (1) & (2) d) All (1), (2) & (3) 19. Recently, which of the following states has banned leather shoes in schools? a) Uttrakhand b) Chhattisgarh c) Himachal Pradesh d) Andhra Pradesh 20. Annual meeting 2011 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) was held recently in ____. a) Laos b) Malaysia c) Indonesia d) Switzerland 21. India is the largest _____ producer and exporter in the world. a) Aluminium b) Mica c) Iron d) Zinc 22. Kannoth Karunakaran who passed away recently was the former Chief Minister ofa) Kerla b) Orissa c) Manipur d) Tamilnadu 23. Which one among the followings is not a part of Tertiary Sector? a) Computer b) Banking c) Commerce d) Building construction 24. Kim Clijsters won the Australian Open women’s single title 2011 after defeating who amongst the following? a) Li Na b) Patty Schnyder c) Serena Williams d) Nathalie Dechy 25. UK Sinha has been appointed as the new SEBI chairman. He is the former: 1) Chairman of Association of Mutual Funds in India 2) CMD of UTI Asset Management Company 3) Joint Secretary in Finance Ministry of India a) Only (1) b) Only (2) c) Both (2) & (3) d) All (a), (b) & (c) 26. Many times we read in financial news paper about FII .What is the full form of FII? a) Final Investment in India b) Foreign Investment in India c) Financial Institutions Investment d) Foreign Institutional Investment 27. Which of the following countries has recently been launched its own online Encyclopedia as similar to Wikipedia? a) Cuba b) Peru c) Italy d) France 28. How many teams and total matches will play in 2011 Cricket World Cup? a) 14, 47 b) 14, 49 c) 16, 55 d) 16, 57 29. Which of the following types of Banks are allowed to operate foreign currency accounts?

1) Foreign Banks 2) Regional Rural Banks 3) Nationalized Banks a) Only (1) b) Only (2) c) Only (3) d) Both (2) & (3) 30. Who is the “Father of Taxonomy”? a) Karl Marx b) Adam Smith c) Eugene Fama

d) Carl Linnaeus

31. How many languages and dialects are spoken by people all over the world?

A) 6,000 b) 9,000 c) 4,000 d) 1,000 32. Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched? a) Kalinga Award - Popularization of Science b) Barlong Award - Agriculture c) David-Cohen Award - Literature d) Pulitzer Prize - Progress in Religion 33. Which of the following characters was not a part of Shakespearian plays? a) Julius b) Brutus c) Potter d) Ariel 34. Which of the following international organizations is dedicated to the cause of wildlife conservation?

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a) UNFPA b) UNDP

c) UNESCO d) WHO

35. Human Rights Day is observed on: a) 10 October b) 9 May c) 10 December d) 18 February 36. Railway coaches are made in the largest number at Integral coach factory, situated in: a) Kapurthala b) Perambur c) Varanasi d) Moradabad 37. Which of the following is not a necessary qualification for a state to become a member of United Nations Organization? It should: a) be a sovereign state b) be a peace loving state c) be a willing to discharge responsibilities under the UNO charter d) guarantee human rights and freedom to its citizens 38. The imaginary line on the earth’s surface which closely follows 180o meridian is called: a) International date time b) Tropic of Cancer c) Equator d) Prime Meridian 39. ‘Loti’ is the currency of: a) Burundi b) Libya c) Sudan d) Lesotho 40. Which type of rocks is mainly found in the Himalayan ranges? a) Sedimentary b) Metamorphic c) Igneous d) Granite 41. Commonwealth games in 2014 will be held in: a) Edinburgh, Scotland b) Ontario, Canada c) Glasgow, Scotland

d) Abuja, Nigeria

42. Who among the following has been elected as new president of Indian Hockey Federation (IHF)? a) K.P.S Gill b) Vidya Stokes c) R. K. Shetty d) P. J. Thomas 43. Which of the following countries has been elected as Vice-President of UNCTAD? a) China b) India c) Philippines d) Indonesia 44. Recently, the government has approved the establishment of India’s first National Centre for Molecular Materials (NCMM) in which of following states? a) Kerala b) Gujarat c) Rajasthan d) Maharashtra 45. Who among the following has been awarded for Global Vision Award 2010? a) Ratan Tata b) Anil Aggarwal c) Mukesh Ambani d) Pranab Mukherjee 46. The Kyoto Protocol will expire in which of the following year? a) 2011 b) 2012 c) 2013 d) 2014 47. Recently, which of the following committees has submitted its report on Telangana issue to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram? a) Kelkar Committee b) Shunglu Committee c) Achuthan Committee d) Srikrishna Committee 48. According to the World Migration Report, which country topped the list of countries of origin of migrant doctors in OECD countries? a) India b) China c) Guyana d) Germany 49. Alexander Lukashenka is newly elected president of _______. a) Ghana b) Brazil c) Ukraine d) Belarus 50. Recently, the government has been launched a scheme SABLA for empowerment of adolescent girls in the age group of a) 10 – 14 year b) 11- 15 year c) 15 – 18 year d) Both (b) & (c)

Parakram The strength of Knowledge

March (I) issue 2011

Note: Answers will be provided in the March II issue of the Parakram, as well on www.aspireias.com.

Parakram The strength of Knowledge

March (I) issue 2011