Retd Paramilitary staff gets ex-servicemen status

Government has given its approval for granting retired paramilitary personnel from forces like CRPF, CISF, BSF, ITBP and SSB the status of ex-servicemen which will enable them to avail welfare benefits.

What will be the benefits of this status?

Obama wins a second term as US President

Barack Obama has won a second 4-year Presidential term in the US. He defeated his main challenger Republican Mitt Romney. Mr. Obama, America’s first African-American President, bagged more than the 270 electoral votes required for victory.

China invites Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to teach at Peking University

China has invited Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to teach at the prestigious Peking University. The varsity also offered him a lab of his choice to work with the students. The invitation was made on Kalam’s first visit to China at the invitation of the reputed Beijing Forum, a Chinese government backed intellectual body. In reply to this invitation Dr Kalam expressed willingness to share his knowledge.

Persons in News: T. Samuel

Cartoonist T. Samuel passed away

The pioneer of pocket cartoons in India, T. Samuel (86) passed away. Samuel belonged to Kollam in Kerala. He began his career as a cartoonist with the Civil and Military Gazette published from Lahore before independence. He came to Delhi during partition as a refugee and joined the famous Shankar’s Weekly, contributing the Silent Strip Cartoon "Kalu and Meena".

Samuel became famous as a creator of the Pocket Cartoon "Babuji" and strip cartoon "Garib".

 

“1000 Genomes Project”: Global genomes decoded to trace disease roots

What is the “1000 Genomes Project”?

§  Scientists working for The 1,000 Genomes Project have decoded the genomes of more than 1,000 people from 14 ethnic global groups. It is the largest and most detailed compilation of human DNA variations, to track origin of rare and common diseases.

§  Launched in January 2008

§  An international research effort to establish by far the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation.

§  The project has generated raw information to the tune of 180 terabytes. All of the information is freely available on internet.

§  The sequencing of 1092 genomes was announced in a Nature publication in October 2012.

How would this project help?

Free generic drugs via public hospitals; Three fold increase in the allocation to health sector in the 12th Plan

The allotment for the health sector during the 12^th Plan had been enhanced three times over the previous Plan allocation to handle complex challenges.

The outlay in the 12th Plan had been fixed at Rs. 3-lakh crore, which was 1.95 % of the GDP. During the last Plan period, the sector had got Rs. 89,265 crore.

Free generic drugs would be provided through public hospitals to help “reduce out-of-pocket expenditure of the poor” on health.

The plan will emphasize on nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation, housing and education, particularly education of the girl child, as they were increasingly being underlined as social determinants of health.

What is a Generic Drug?

Need to establish South Asian power trading market: CERC

India’s power sector regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has suggested establishing a South Asian power trading market to help alleviate acute electricity deficits faced by many nations in the region.
It recommended that a SAARC sub regional power trading market will be beneficial to member nations. It will enhance benefits of competition and efficiency through trading on power exchanges.
Such a market would assist in trading electricity b/w India and other countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, Pakistan.
Energy demand in the SAARC region is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5%.
India has power transmission links with Bhutan and Nepal while negotiations are on for similar lines with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. 

 

Apex court refuses to interfere with policy on FDI in retail

Asserting that Policy making is exclusive right of the executive, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the policy on FDI in retail.

The Centre informed the court that Reserve Bank of India had notified the amendments to the regulations permitting foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.

U.K. to slash aid to India

Britain  is planning to slash its  £280 million a year aid to India from 2015 following increasing domestic pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to halt funding emerging economies such as India, China and Brazil at a time when Britain itself faces a serious economic crisis.

The funds, however, will still be diverted to aid projects abroad, rather than helping to ease the deficit or fund public services in the country.

 

 

Persons in News: Ruchir Sharma

Ruchir Sharma bags Tata Literature First Book Award.

Author Ruchir Sharma was honored with the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for his book Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles.

The book gives a clear picture of the shifting balance of global economic power and how it will play out for emerging nations and the West.

 

US approves missile-defense system to UAE, Qatar

The US DSCA (Defense Security Cooperation Agency) has given approval to the possible sales of Lockheed Martin Corp missile-defense system to UAE and Qatar. The deal has come against the backdrop of heightened tensions with Iran. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have requested the sale of up to $7.6 billion in Lockheed Martin Corp missile-defense systems. UAE and some members in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had shown interest in the Lockheed’s THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) weapon systems.

What is GCC?

Bhupathi, Bopanna clinch ATP World Tour Masters 1000

The duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna  lifted their first  ATP World Tour Masters 1000  title by vanquishing Pakistan’s Aisam- Ul- Haq Qureshi and Netherlands’ Jean- Julien Rojer in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters.

Limit for concessional SMS at 100 per day per SIM: TRAI

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has set the limit for concessional SMS at 100 per day per SIM. This will be implemented in 15 days.

As per the directives:

§  There is no maximum limit for SMS, but consumers will be charged not less than 50 paisa per SMS once it crosses 100 a day.

§  To curb unregistered telemarketers sending bulk promotional SMSs using machines, access providers have been asked to work out a solution within the next three months, which will ensure that no commercial SMSs are sent containing same or similar characters or strings or variants from any source or number.

§  Mobile operators will have to set-up a web-based complaint registering system and a dedicated e-mail address to receive such complaints  on spam messages and calls.

Frauds caused Rs 6,600 cr loss to Indian Economy

As per the first edition of Ernst & Young’s Fraud Indicators in India, different types of frauds may have caused Rs 6,600 crore loss to Indian economy in the last fiscal and banks were the most common victim in scamming cases.

BCCI awards 2011-12

BCCI will  honor Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli with Polly Umrigar Award at its Annual Awards ceremony to be held on November 21, 2013 in Mumbai.

Sachin will be honored for his 100^th century while Virat will awarded for being India’s top international cricketer of 2011-12.

Former India captain  Sunil  Gavaskar will be receiving the prestigious  Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters” French honor to Aishwarya Rai

the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans  l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). The coveted honor was given in recognition of her invaluable contribution to the world of cinema and the development of Indo-French cooperation in cinema, art, and culture.

Earlier Indian recipients include Shahrukh Khan, Raghu Rai, Nandita Das, late Habib Tanvir, and Upamanyu Chatterjee.

Gulzar honored with Indira Gandhi National Integration award

Famous lyricist, poet and film director, Gulzar has been conferred with the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award. The award was given to mark the 28^th death anniversary of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Apex court asks CMC to address issues raised by TN and Karnataka

The Supreme Court asked the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC)to examine all the issues b/w Tamil Nadu and Karnataka regardingCauvery water sharing dispute b/w the two states. Karnataka has assured that it will comply with the CMC’s recommendations.

Indian Women Cricket Team lifts ACC T20 Asia Cup 2012

The Indian women’s cricket team is the winner of first Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Twenty20 Asia Cup 2012.

§  They beat Pakistan in the final match held in Guangzhou city of People’s Republic of China.

§  Harmanpreet Kaur played the role of skipper in the absence of Mithali Raj. 

 

“European Golden Boot” to Lionel Messi

Star footballer of Barcelona, Lionel Messi, bagged  European Golden Boot Award. The award has been given to him in recognition to his record 50 goals scored in the Europe’s domestic football league.

§  It is the second Golden Boot award for Messi.

“Ocean-grabbing” a danger to world’s fisheries: UN

As per a UN expert on right to food, ‘Ocean-grabbing’ is as serious a threat as ‘land-grabbing’. 

What is “Ocean-grabbing”?

§  An aggressive industrial fishing by foreign fleets.

How and to whom is it threatening?

§  Ocean grabbing is mainly concerned with the interest of smaller fishermen, local communities and sustainable fishing.

§  It is a threat to food security in developing nations

§  Excessive and aggressive fishing threatens the fish ecosystem and makes this practice unsustainable.

§  It depletes the fishing zones at a faster rate.

Sistema issue: India hopes agreeable solution

In reply to Russia’s comment to take the cancellation of 2G license of Sistema for international arbitration if it is not resolved in Indian courts, India has said that the matter is commercial and all parties are free to take legal recourse that they deem appropriate to meet their commercial goal.

Australian schools to teach Hindi

Announcing that Asia’s rise is“unstoppable”, Australia brought out a challenging plan aimed at fortifying its links with India and other booming economies of the Asian region. The Australian plan includes teaching languages like Hindi and Mandarin in its schools. All Australian schools will engage with at least one school in Asia to support the teaching of a priority Asian language — Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese. Australia also released ‘Asian Century White Paper’ with an aim to extend and strengthen it links with Asia.

    For know more about ‘Asian Century White Paper’  click here

Superstorm Sandy

Superstorm Sandy batters New Jersey coast of US

§  Hurricane Sandy (also referred to as Superstorm Sandy) a tropical cyclone that severely affected portions of the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States in late October 2012.

Japan honors DMRC with 2012 JICA President Award

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)  President Award for 2012  was given to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the outstanding role it played in the development of human resources, society and economy of India and also for encouraging mutual understanding b/w India and Japan.

Persons in News:Joshna Chinappa

Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa won the IJM Land Penang Open title 2012 after vanquishing top most squash player Siti Munirah Jusoh of Malaysia. In 2003, Joshna became the first Indian girl to win British Squash Championship title in the under 19 category.

Persons in News: Silvio Berlusconi

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to 4 years in jail and suspended him from public service for 3 years for tax fraud.

What are the charges against Berlusconi?

Berlusconi and other people involved in the case were accused of buying US film rights at inflated prices via two offshore companies under his control. As per the prosecutors, that part of the money declared for the purchase of film rights was skimmed off to make illegal slush funds, cutting down tax liabilities for Berlusconi’s  Mediaset  group. Now all the convicts in the case must deposit into a fund as appeals which could take many years in proceedings.

 

Rail Radar

Railways launched online application provides exact geographical location of trains.

Railways launched online application Rail Radar, which can provide exact geographical location of about 9,700 trains on a Google map on real time basis.

§  There is a colour code method which highlights a train in Blue if it is running on time and Red if it running late or behind schedule.

§  The map shows the exact route of a train including all the stoppages and the current location of the train on the real time basis.

Rail Radar is developed by the collaborative efforts of Indian Railways Centre for Railways Information System (CRIS) and RailYatri.in.

 

Planning Commission's Environmental Performance Index released

Planning Commission's Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has placed the Uttarakhand as a best-performing States and Union territory in terms of environmental well-being.

Uttarakhand is followed by Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Sikkim, and Andhra Pradesh. Environmental well-being is one of the considerations for devolution of funds to the States under the Gadgil formula.