INDIA & WORLD
10th
Participants
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (right) and
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (whose country heads the European Union)
Decisions Taken
· EU and
· The two sides also signed a pact to promote joint research in nuclear fusion. It would offer
1. an experimental reactor that will reproduce the physical reaction — fusion — that occurs in the sun and stars.
2. The EU, Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, India and the U.S. would be the participants of one of the largest international scientific projects ever.
HISTORY
Sir Arthur Cotton
Sir Cotton is remembered by the people in the Godavari delta in Andhra Pradesh and in parts of Tamil Nadu and
· As a British officer, Sir Cotton made relentless efforts to harness rivers for the benefit of people. He had the first-ever structure built across the
· Serving over 10 lakh acres, the canal system converted the State into a rice granary much before the Nagarjuna Sagar project came into existence.
Bankimchandra Chatterji
· Bankimchandra Chatterji is credited with the first novel in an Indian language. He wrote Durgesh Nandini in Bengali in 1865.
· His literary career was closely watched by no less a person than Rabindranath Tagore, who said that the day a Bankimchandra chapter appeared, the whole of
· His ‘social' novels were the better and more challenging ones, but in his final phase he switched back to period novels. Anand Math, Debi Chaudhurani, and Sitaram form a trilogy, propounding his interpretation of the Bhagvad Gita to men, women and the society.
· The translation by Julius Lipner, who had won the A.K. Ramanujan award for his translation of Anand Math, is such as to sustain the reader's interest.
UN Initiatives
Iccrom (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property)
· Iccrom was established with Unesco’s assistance in 1959.
· The inter-governmental organisation with 126 member states Main concern conservation of Heritage sites.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
UNIFEM executive director Ines Alberdi
PURPOSE The UNIFEM promotes women’s empowerment and gender equality by focussing on strengthening women’s economic security and rights, ending violence against women, including trafficking, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls, and achieving gender equality in democratic governance.
Programs
· The global safe city programme, already being implemented in some cities of Latin America and Africa also in
· UNIFEM, also signed an agreement with the Norwegian government for promoting and strengthening women’s participation in local governance and political leadership. The $ 9 million agreement will be implemented in
UNCTAD’s just-released “World Investment Report 2009: Transnational Corporations, Agricultural Production and Development” reveals some fascinating shifts in the global agricultural sector.
Most striking: twelve of the world’s 25 leading agricultural production (plantation) firms are from developing countries.
· Sime Darby of
· As striking, it is much larger than Nos. 2 and 3 — the Dole Food Company and Fresh Del Monte Produce of the
·
Developing country firms are also becoming significant M&A players in agricultural production.
The world’s 25 top agricultural suppliers and privately-owned agri-food businesses are all from developed economies. Further, the leading firms in these verticals are gigantic.
· Walmart, the world’s largest food retail TNC
· It is followed by Nestle, the world’s largest food & beverages TNC,.
Inward FDI Flow :
· In
· Multinationals account for 100 per cent of
.
Outward FDI Flow :
·
International
Goldstone report
The report authored by South African jurist Richard Goldstone
Purpose
the Goldstone report focuses mainly on alleged Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was mandated by United Nations
Awards
The chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, M.S. Swaminathan, was awarded a honoris causa by the
· In his remarks, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Hernan Paillan hailed Dr. Swaminathan’s contribution to the breeding research programmes of three key products worldwide — wheat, rice and potato.
· The university also awarded the presidential medal to Dr. Swaminatha
Jean Mayer Award for journalist
· Eminent journalist Sanjoy Hazarika has been awarded the Dr. Jean Mayer Award for Global Citizenship by the U.S.-based
· The award is given annually to scholars and practitioners who make significant contributions to improving the lives of people in their areas of work and impacting both research and policy.
· The previous awardees include Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Desmond Tutu.
UNEP awards for two institutions (Sasakawa Prize )
UNEP's Executive Director and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations Achim Steiner
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) awarded an appreciation to two institutions that managed to produce environmental-friendly products while at the same time having capability to improve livelihood for poor people.
· The companies, named Trees, Water and People (TWP) (Stuart Conway, co-founder and International Director of TWP) .TWP is an organisation that collaborates with local non- governmental organisations in distributing fuel-efficient cook stoves to communities in Honduras, Guatemala, El Savador, Nicaragua and Haiti.
· Nuru Design changed the lives of thousands of school children, housewives and villagers across Latin America, Africa and
Energy related issues
NPCIL to start building two PHWRs
NPCIL Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL)
Chairman S.K. Jain.
· The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of two indigenous nuclear reactors of 700 MWe capacity will take place by next month end at Kakrapar in
· This is the first time the NPCIL will be building the two Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 MWe. So far, it has built only PHWRs of 220 MWe or 540 MWe capacity.
· The indigenous PHWRs use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both the coolant and moderator.
Big push to R&D in renewable energy
To promote generation of energy from renewable sources, the Central Government has decided to invest Rs. 500 crore on its research, development and technology demonstration during the XI Plan.
· These projects( in total 77 ) include development of high efficiency solar cells, hydrogen and fuel cells; solar photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation; high-rate bio-methanation; and medium and large capacity biogas plants for energy and power generation
· Rs.303 crore had been released to States and
·
· Two more plants of 2 MW capacity each have been set up in Karnataka’s Kolar and
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar
· Under the mission, three major steps are proposed —
1. create volumes which will allow domestic manufacture;
2. support R&D to reduce material consumption and improve efficiency;
3. and announce long-term policy to purchase power.
· The first phase target of the
DEFENCE
Agni-II
The Agni-II is an intermediate range ballistic missile built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
· It has two stages, both powered by solid propellants.
· It can reach targets 2,500 km away and carry nuclear warheads.
· The missile is 20 metre long and weighs 17 tonnes. It can carry payloads weighing one tonne.
AGNI - III
o It is surface-to-surface ballistic missile which can carry nuclear warheads It is two stage ,powered by solid propellants.
o It is 17-metre long, has a diameter of two metres and launch weight of 50 tonnes & can carry payload of 1.5 tonnes The missile re-enters the atmosphere with a high velocity at a temperature of more than 2,500 degrees Celsius.
o The nuclear warhead is protected by a heat-shield made of carbon-carbon composites.
o Agni-III, , can carry nuclear warheads weighing 1.5 tonnes. It can fly over 3,500 km (the longest range in
o The missile was equipped with a sophisticated computer system, navigated with an advanced system and guided by an innovative scheme.
o The ASL (Advance System Laboratry Hyderabad ) designs and develops the Agni variants.
o While the first Agni-III launch on July 9, 2006 failed, the second and third launches on April 12, 2007, and May 7, 2008, witnessed copy-book flights.
o Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have raised the bar: they will now busy themselves with realising Agni-V, which will have a range of 5,000 km.
K-15 missile
· K-15 missile from a submerged pontoon off the coast of
· (Range) After the K-15 missile clears the water medium, it climbs 20 km into the air and can destroy targets 700 km away.
· The missile forms part of the DRDO’s Sagarika project.
Shourya, which is the land-version of the underwater-launched K-15 missile, will have its second flight around June from the
Dhanush and Prithvi-II
Dhanush(350 km),
· a naval variant of Prithvi(290 km),
· the 11-metre long Dhanush is a ship-to-surface and ship-to-ship system.
· single-stage, liquid propelled missiles and capable of carrying a 500-kg payload.
Prithvi-II(295 km)
· While the 8.5-metre-tall Prithvi-II is a surface-to-surface missile,
· Single-stage, liquid propelled missiles and capable of carrying a 500-kg payload.
ECONOMY
Foreign Exchange Reserves of RBI
· The foreign exchange reserves with the RBI amounted to $285 billion and they were held in foreign currency assets, gold, and Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the IMF.
· Like most other central banks, the RBI has kept the bulk of its reserves in
· The RBI is set to become one of the largest holders of gold reserves among central banks.
Duranto’
· Projected to be the fastest train in the country A non-stop air-conditioned ‘Duranto’ trains that would connect metropolitan cities within the shortest possible time
· The first Duranto Express between Sealdah and
Banks to lend at base rate
· Commercial banks will be made to extend loans at base rates from next fiscal yearie from April onward , which is expected to benefit consumers and borrowers.
· Current practice Loans to customers are given at benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) (not a transparent system) .Under the BPLR arrangement, banks used their negotiating power for extending loans and based on that the rates for lending were decided which meant that for different consumers banks charged different interest rates.
SPORTS
CHESS
Soumya Swaminathan(seeded nine) become the girls’ champion in the World junior chess championship at
· Soumya the third Indian girl, and second in succession, to win the coveted crown. K. Humpy (2001) and D. Harika (2008) were the other winners.
· The Pune-based Soumya entered the competition by virtue of winning the National junior girls’ title in) 2008.
The open title went to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (
BOXING
Suranjoy Singh
Asian champion Suranjoy Singh became the first Indian boxer to clinch a gold medal in the inter-continental President’s Cup after out-punching Frenchman Nordine Oubaali 8-1 in the flyweight (51kg) final here on Friday.
The 22-year-old Manipur boxer’s triumph also fetched him a $3,000 cash prize at the prestigious season-ending event, where confederations from Asia,
Representing Asia One, Suranjoy didn’t allow his rival from the Europe Two team to land a single scoring punch in the first two rounds.
HOCKEY
HOCKEY WORLD CUP
The idea was floated in 1969 and became a reality on October 15, 1971 at
· The indefatigable Dutchman, Ties Kruize, remains the only player to have figured six editions from 1971 to 1986.
· The amalgam of aesthetics and athleticism brought displayed
· The Dutch had three cup victories — 1973, 1990 and 1998 —
- It is the second on Indian soil — after the
- Poignantly,
GOLF
Asian Tour International in
Gaganjeet Bhullar of
This was Bhullar’s second Asian Tour title, following his breakthrough win in last year’s Indonesian President Invitational tournament.
Two par shots later, he reeled off a birdie hat-trick and nailed a birdie on the ninth hole as well to lie six-under at the turn.
GEOGRAPHY
Northeast monsoon rainfall
Director of the Indian Meteorological Department(PUNE) Medha Khole
AREA that receives rainfall are coastal Tamil Nadu, other parts of the peninsula such as Kerala, south Andhra Pradesh, south Karnataka and
Date of Onset The northeast monsoon arrived in
Intensity
· The enhanced rainfall would be the result of an easterly wave, which is a region of low atmospheric pressure.
· Research showed that the northeast monsoon to be normal or above normal during the El Nino years.
1. El Nino causes a shift in ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific that disrupts weather across the globe.
The average rainfall during the monsoon for the five peninsular subdivisions — coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalseema, south-interior Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu — was 330 mm.
The northeast monsoon is crucial for Tamil Nadu, as it receives 48 per cent of its annual rainfall during this period.
PERSONALITIES
M. Madan Babu (29)
· The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has announced this year’s selection of 17 of
· M. Madan Babu (29) of
MILITTARY OPERATIONS
Operations to check piracy on African coast
Foreseeing an upsurge in pirate attacks in the coming months, the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation patrolling the
· The NATO forces will operate in tandem with the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) and the U.S.-led counter piracy Task Forces 150 and 151.
· Besides
· The Indian Navy’s missile frigate
Operation
The European Union, on its part, extended deployment of 12 naval ships under Operation
Meanwhile, EUNAVFOR has developed a tool, Mercury, using a Web application by which all navies in the region can have real-time communication with one another. The Indian Navy is also using it.
SHADE
To coordinate patrolling by individual navies and combined forces as also increase their situational awareness, an initiative, Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE), was kick-started under the aegis of the United States’ Combined Maritime Force (CMF),
SCIENCE & TECH
Findings of Chandrayan 1
Chandrayaan-1’s X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS)
How it works
· The miniature C1XS instrument investigated the lunar surface using an effect whereby X-ray illumination from the sun causes rocks to fluoresce, emitting light at a different wavelength.
· This re-emitted light contains spectral peaks that are characteristic of elements contained in the rock, revealing its composition.
· It added that the spectral resolution of 50 km was much better than previous missions.
What it Detected
· In its 10-month orbit around the moon, Chandrayaan-1’s X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) has detected titanium, confirmed the presence of calcium, and gathered the most accurate measurements yet of magnesium, aluminium and iron on the lunar surface.
· While C1XS detected magnesium, aluminium and silicon during normal conditions, the instrument could detect calcium, iron, titanium, sodium and potassium in key areas in the southern hemisphere and on the far side of the Moon during the solar flares
· Previous lunar probes detected some of these minerals on the lunar surface, but none as accurately as the C1XS X-ray spectrometer,
J.N. Goswami, director of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and principal scientist for Chandrayaan-1,.
Contribution of Dr Borlaug
Gene pyramiding, gene deployment and shuttle breeding strategies to increase yield and develop leaf rust-resistant varieties were among Dr. Borlaug’s revolutionary contributions.
The man who devoted a lifetime fighting hunger was as concerned at the threat to agriculture from the virulent stem rust Ug99 as the challenge of enlarging the food basket by introducing new nutritious crops.
ISSUES RELATED TO BIO DIVERSITY
Hogs to be reintroduced in forest
· West Bengal’s Forest Department has decided to reintroduce the critically endangered pygmy hog in north
· After the successful release of the hunched, barely two-feet long, furry hogs into the wild at the Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary and Nameri National Park in Assam in 2008, the Forest Department wants to replicate the experiment in the forests of north Bengal, since it falls in the region that is the original home of the wild suids (pigs),
· Earlier, they were easily located in
DISASTERS
Search continues for
FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands (
POLICY
Mgnregs
· Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC), the governing body for the Mgnregs,
· Sub Group a six-member sub-group under department secretary B.K. Sinha. The other members are Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy, Mihir Shah, Madhusudan Mistry and Ashwini Kumar.
1. The sub-group will decide on issues such as the setting up of an executive committee for effective functioning of the council, wage policy, social auditing and accountability, monitoring and evaluating the scheme as a whole.
· Provision for constructing the Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra at the panchayat and block levels
Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) degree,
· The proposal envisages that persons belonging to rural areas be put through a three-year course on basic anatomy and diagnosis and treatment of basic ailments. They would work in 1.45 lakh sub-centres, or at the most, primary health centres.
· The emphasis on training would be on conducting normal deliveries, pre-and anti-natal care, handling diarrhoea, pneumonia, vaccination, providing tuberculosis treatment and treatment of fevers and skin infections which generally do not require much expertise.
·
POLITY
o The Inter-State Waters Dispute Act, 1956 bars any court, including the Supreme Court, from having or exercising jurisdiction “in respect of any water dispute which may be referred to a Tribunal under this Act.”
o A 2002 amendment to the Act provides further that “the decision of the Tribunal, after its publication in the Official Gazette by the Central Government...shall have the same force as an order or decree of the Supreme Court.”
Professor Suresh Tendulkar Committee
Early practice of poverty line estimations :
o They are based on a consumption basket (Rs.20 per person per day, NCEUS report) that derives from a 1973-74 consumer survey,
o and are intended to ensure 2100 calories per person per day in urban areas and 2400 calories per person per day in rural areas.
o Not include expenditure on health, education and other basic needs.
The Report of the Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty (chaired by Professor Suresh Tendulkar) was submitted to the Planning Commission.
Findings of the Report are
o The poverty line that it has proposed is higher than the current poverty line for rural areas, and has resulted in a dramatic increase in the proportion of the rural poor in
1. At the all-India level, the Report estimates that 41.8 per cent of rural households were below the poverty line in 2004-05 (the current estimate is 28.3 per cent).
o (Basis) The poverty line that it proposes actually depends on reduced calorie consumption, and fails to provide for reasonable household expenditures on schooling and health.
o The Committee has actually lowered the calorie intake requirement from 2100 kcal per day for urban areas and 2400 kcal per day for rural areas to a single norm of 1800 kcal per day. (ie, on the basis of MDER)
1. MDER is defined as the amount of energy needed for light or sedentary activity.
o The new poverty line for rural and urban areas is simply the old poverty line for urban areas in 2004-05.
o The Report states that in 2004-05, 90 per cent of children aged 5 to 14 years belonging to households at the poverty line level in the urban areas were in school.
1. Secondly, it assumes that the median cost of sending a child to school, as reported in the National Sample Survey employment survey, sets a normative or desirable level of expenditure on a child in school.
2. Thirdly, according to the Report, the average expenditure on education per child among households in the poverty line expenditure class was higher than the median cost of schooling per child.
3. From these observations, it is concluded that actual expenditure is adequate to ensure that children are in school.
OTHER ESTIMATIONS REGARDING POVERTY LINE
At least THREE alternative figures are available:
o 28 per cent from the Planning Commission,
o 50 per cent from the N.C. Saxena Committee report, (based on BPL Census 2002 )and
o 80 per cent or so from the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS).
BPL CENSUS : The 2002 BPL Census was based on a rather convoluted scoring method, involving 13 different indicators (related for instance to land ownership, occupation and education) with a score of 0 to 4 for each indicator, so that the aggregate score ranged from 0 to 52.
o The Saxena Committee recently proposed an alternative BPL Census methodology, involving a simplified scoring system. Instead of 13 indicators, there are just five, with an aggregate score ranging from 0 to 10. This is a major improvement.
National Food Security Act.
o The EGoM suggested not only that the government's legal obligation to provide foodgrain under PDS should be restricted to 25 kg per month for BPL families,
o also that the Planning Commission's poverty figures should be used as a “ceiling” for the BPL list.
ENVIORMENT
Interesting facts
· India’s has the fifth largest annual emissions in the world in gross terms, when divided by the huge population and considered in per capita terms, it falls to the 120th ranking.
· The “flow of emissions” ie, in terms of present and future emissions, it is yet to be determined how the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility” must be applied
1. Those who have contributed most to the stock [that is, developed nations] are not those who will contribute most to the flow...that is,
The Kirit Parikh Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS
· The expert panel headed by Kirit Parikh on the pricing of petroleum products should recommend total decontrol of the retail prices of petrol and diesel while suggesting a more gradual approach in the case of kerosene and LPG.
1. In July-August 2008, the B.K. Chaturvedi committee had recommended a similar deregulation,
· The Parikh Committee has recommended a rise in the prices of petrol cars, together with a gradual increase in the rates of subsidised kerosene and LPG.
· The Kirit Parikh Committee proposal for imposing a flat tax of Rs. 81,000 on diesel cars (gas guzzlers & biggest polluter six times higher than petrol-run vehicles) including sedans and gas guzzlers SUVs and MUVs,
· The committee’s justification for lower taxes on diesel is that it is used in essential economic activities such as agriculture and freight transport.
· For the cooking fuels — kerosene and LPG — it calls an immediate price rise of about Rs.100 for an LPG cylinder and Rs.6 for a litre of kerosene sold through the public distribution system (PDS).
· Making out a case for the continuance of subsidy on kerosene in rural areas, the panel has recommended that the price should be revised every year in relation to the per capita agricultural GDP.
· Among its suggestions to narrow the gap due to “under recoveries” is the sharing of production revenue from nomination blocks of the upstream government-owned oil companies, the ONGC and Oil
· Even with these and other measures, subsidies would still be required but they will remain stable at a manageable Rs.20,000 crore.
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