31 May 2014

In a major development in the field of aviation safety CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bangalore and India Meteorological Department (IMD) inked a partnership pact for joint production of Drishti System; a sophisticated instrument for assessment of Runway visual range, which is a vital parameter for safe landing and takeoff of aircraft in poor visibility.

The joint agreement between two government sector entities will lead to indigenization of a technology which so far was the exclusive domain of few developed countries. The indigenous production of this advanced instrument will not only result in considerable saving of foreign exchange but will also make the country self-reliant in the field of front-end technology.

Drishti Transmissometer (Drishti System)

A visibility measuring system indigenously designed and developed by CSIR-NAL to cover the wide span of lowest to highest visibility (< 25 to > 2000 meters) assisting pilots for safe landing and take-off. This cost-effective product is a mandatory system required at all airports as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). At present, Seven Drishti systems are functioning in three international airports, viz., Choudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Five systems are working in country’s most stringent CAT IIIB airport, viz., Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, for the last 2 years. Other important features of this system include web enabled health monitoring and remote control of the system from any location in the country for accessing the data and for maintenance.

“Drishti” has also won several awards during 2013-14 from National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), India, and Indian Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) as the most innovative, meritorious product of the year.
Lithuania’s incumbent President Dalia Grybauskaite (58) has been declared the winner in the country’s run-off Presidential elections. She got 58% votes whereas her Social Democrat rival Zigmantas Balcytis only 42% votes. The election was held amid rising concerns in the region after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

धरोहर संरक्षण : वैज्ञानिक कार्यप्रणाली की भूमिका

 
यह कहा जाता है ‘’किसी व्‍यक्ति का अपनी धरोहर से संबंध उसी प्रकार का है, जैसे एक बच्‍चे का अपनी मां से संबंध होता है। हमारी धरोहर हमारा गौरव है और इसे भविष्‍य में आने वाली पीढि़यों के लिए बचाना तथा इसका संरक्षण करना हम सबकी जिम्‍मेदारी है। भारतीय संविधान के अनुच्‍छेद 51ए(एफ) में स्‍पष्‍ट कहा गया है कि अपनी समग्र संस्‍कृति की समृद्ध धरोहर का सम्‍मान करना और इसे संरक्षित रखना प्रत्‍येक भारतीय नागरिक का कर्तव्‍य है।

भारतीय पुरातात्विक सर्वेक्षण (एएसआई) इस कार्य में काफी महती भूमिका निभाता रहा है और इसकी विभिन्‍न शाखाओं को विभिन्‍न क्षेत्रों तकनीकी महारत हासिल है तथा ये सभी पूर्ण समन्‍वय के साथ इस विलक्षण कार्य को अंजाम दे रही है। एएसआई की सबसे पुरानी शाखाओं में वैज्ञानिक शाखा भी है और इसकी स्‍थापना 1917 में की गई थी। इसका मकसद देश के ऐतिहासिक स्‍मारकों की वैज्ञानिक पद्धति से संरक्षण प्रक्रिया की जिम्‍मेदारी को साझा करना है, जिसमें संरक्षण की उपलब्‍ध बेहतर पारंपरिक तथा आधुनिक विधाओं का इस्‍तेमाल किया जाता है। ऐतिहासिक स्‍मारकों को वैज्ञानिक तरीके से संरक्षित करने का मुख्‍य उद्देश्‍य उनके सौन्‍दर्यात्‍मक आकर्षण में सुधार लाना हानिकारक तत्‍वों तथा मलबे को हटाना, खतरनाक अपशिष्‍टों को निष्‍प्रभावी करना और इसे अंतिम संरक्षणात्‍मक उपचार के लिए तैयार करना हैा

ऐसे बहुत से प्राकृतिक और मानवजनित कारक है, जिन्‍हें विभिन्‍न संरक्षण समस्‍याओं के लिए आमतौर पर जिम्‍मेदार माना जाता है और ये किसी भी स्‍मारक की निर्माण सामग्री को नुकसान पहुचाते है। चट्टानों की उत्‍पति के दौरान विभिन्‍न भूवैज्ञानिक एवं धातु संबंधी त्रुटियां विभिन्‍न संरक्षणात्‍मक समस्‍याओं के लिए जिम्‍मेदार हो सकती है और अंतत: स्‍मारकों को नुकसान पहुंचाती है। यह निर्माण सामग्री की स्‍वाभाविक कमजोरी के कारण होता है।

स्‍मारकों को नुकसान पहुंचाने वाले कारकों में कुछ वैज्ञानिक कारक भी है, जिनमें स्‍मारकों पर कोई शैवाल, लाईकेन, कवक और अन्‍य उच्‍चकुल के पौधों की वृद्धि शामिल है। ये न केवल स्‍मारकों को भद्दा बनाते है, बल्कि उसकी निर्माण सामग्री को भौतिक तथा रासायनिक नुकसान पहुंचाते है।

चट्टानी पत्‍थरों पर उत्‍कृष्‍ट कार्यों तथा चित्रकारी को चमगादड़ तथा पक्षियों का विष्‍ठा बहुत नुकसान पहुंचाता है। अजंता की गुफाओं में शैल कलाकृतिों पर चमगादड़ के मलमूत्र के जमने से इनको काफी रासायनिक नुकसान पहुंचा है।

हवा में तैरते सूक्ष्‍म प्रदूषक कण (एसपीएम) और अन्‍य रासायनिक सक्रिय प्रदूषक तत्‍व धूल के साथ मिलकर स्‍मारकों को कुरूप बनाते है। इसी तरह जलवायु की दशाए, नमी और तेज सौर विकिरण भी विशिष्‍ट स्‍मारकों के क्षरण के लिए जिम्‍मेदार है।

विभिन्‍न भौगोलिक क्षेत्रों के लिए संरक्षणात्‍मक समस्‍याएं भी अलग-अलग होती है। उदाहरण के तौर पर लेह और लद्दाख जैसे क्षेत्रों में अधिक ऊँचाई पर स्थित बौद्ध मठों की संरक्षण समस्‍याए, मिट्टी आधारित स्‍मारकों से अलग होती है। इसी तरह तटीय क्षेत्रों में स्थित स्‍मारकों को लवण की मार को झेलना पड़ता है। चट्टानी कलाकृति, प्‍लास्‍टर और मोर्टार के सांचे में घुलनशील लवण के क्रिस्‍टल बन जाने से इन्‍हें गंभीर नुकसान पहुंचता है। इसे चट्टानी कलाकृति की छिद्र आकृतियां बाधित होती है और धीरे-धीरे उसकी निर्माण सामग्री को नुसान पहुंचता है, जिसकी मरम्‍मत बाद में बहुत मुश्किल होती है। मंदिरों में पूजा के दौरान विभिन्‍न प्रकार के तेल और तेल लैंपों के इस्‍तेमाल से इन स्‍मारकों को बहुत नुकसान होता है।

विभिन्‍न कालों में ऐतिहासिक स्‍मारकों पर की गई मानव वर्बरता से भी संरक्षण संबंधी समस्‍याएं पैदा होती है। ‘ऐतिहासिक स्‍मारक एवं पुरातात्विक स्‍थल एवं अवशेष कानून-2010’ में प्राचीन एवं ऐतिहासिक स्‍मारकों, पुरातात्विक स्‍थलों, राष्‍ट्रीय महत्‍व के अवशेषों के संरक्षण तथा इन्‍हे नुकसान पहुंचाने वालों के खिलाफ दंड का प्रावधान है।

एएसआई की विज्ञान शाखा चट्टान, चट्टानी कलाकृति, प्‍लास्‍टर तथा अन्‍य निर्माण सामग्री के भौतिक एवं रासायनिक गुणों का अध्‍ययन करती है। संरक्षण संबंधी विभिन्‍न समस्‍याओं का पूरी तरह पता लगाकर विशेषज्ञ पुरातात्विक रसायनविद की मदद से एक उपयुक्‍त कार्य पद्धति विकसित की जाती है, जिसमें उपयुक्‍त रसायनों, विलयको और सामग्री का इस्‍तेमाल किया जाता है।

ऐतिहासिक स्‍मारकों को सुरक्षित और संरक्षित रखने के लिए विभिन्‍न संरक्षणात्‍मक उपायों की योजना बनाकर, बेहतर नतीजे हासिल करने के लिए व्‍यवस्थित तरीके से क्रि‍यान्‍वि‍त कि‍या जाता है। इनमें स्‍मारकों की सामान्‍य साफ सफाई, मड पैक क्‍लीनि‍ग, कैल्‍शि‍यम अपशिष्टों तथा मलबे को हटाना, जैवि‍क उपचार और जल नि‍रोधक उपचारात्‍मक उपाय शामि‍ल है।

स्‍मारकों पर जमे मलबे और पौधों की जैवि‍क वृद्धि‍ को साफ करने के लि‍ए अमोनि‍या के बहुत ही पतले घोल एवं गैर आयन डि‍टरजेंट का हल्‍के ब्रश के साथ इस्‍तेमाल कि‍या जाता है।

चूना प्‍लास्‍टर वाले स्‍मारकों की बाहरी सतह से सूक्ष्‍म पौधों को हटाने के लि‍ए जलीय माध्यम में ब्‍लीचिंग पावडर का इस्‍तेमाल कि‍या जाता है। मड पैक क्‍लीनिंग प्रक्रि‍या का इस्‍तेमाल उन समतल एवं सजावटी संगमरमरी बाहरी हि‍स्‍सो के लि‍ए कि‍या जाता है जहां सामान्य सफाई संभव नहीं है। इस पैक को बेनटोनाइट मि‍ट्टी में नि‍श्‍चि‍त अनुपात में कुछ रसायनो के साथ मि‍लाकर तैयार कि‍या जाता है और यह अधि‍शोषण के सि‍द्धांत पर आधारि‍त है। इस प्रक्रि‍या का इस्‍तेमाल ताजमहल और अन्‍य संगमरमरी ढांचों के संरक्षण के लि‍ए सफलतापूर्वक कि‍या जा रहा है। स्‍मारकों पर कैल्‍शि‍यम नि‍क्षेपों के अलावा, कबि‍न ब्‍लैक/कालि‍ख की मोटी परत, तेल के धब्‍बों, रेड ओकर और रंगो को हटाने के लि‍ए वि‍भि‍न्‍न रसायनों को जरूरत के अनुसार मि‍लाया जाता है।

स्‍मारकों पर जैवि‍क वृद्धि‍ को रोकने अथवा इसे कम करने के लि‍ए बायोसाइड उपचार की मदद ली जाती हैं। इसमें सफाई के पश्‍चात सोडि‍यम पेन्‍टा क्‍लोरो फीनेट के दो से तीन प्रति‍शत जलीय घोल का इस्‍तेमाल कि‍या जाता है। इस उपचार की प्रभावि‍ता में जल नि‍रोधक उपचार से सुधार कि‍या जाता हैं जि‍से सूखी सतह पर बायो साइड उपचार के बाद कि‍या जाता है।

देहरादून स्‍थि‍त एएसआई की वि‍ज्ञान शाखा प्रयोगशाला वि‍भि‍न्‍न वि‍शेषज्ञ वैज्ञानि‍क संस्‍थानो के साथ समन्‍वय से कार्य करती है ताकि‍ उपयुक्‍त बायोसाइड उपचार का मूल्यांकन कर स्‍मारकों के लि‍ए वि‍शि‍ष्‍ट उपचार प्रणाली को वि‍कसि‍त कि‍या जा सके।

ताजमहल, कुतुब मीनार, अजंता की गुफाएं, मीनाक्षी मंदि‍र, भीमभेटका चट्टानी आश्रय, खजुराहो के मंदि‍र, चन्‍देरी में बादल गेट, सांची का महान स्‍तूप, मांडू का जहाज महल और अन्‍य वि‍रासती इमारतें हमारी प्रभावी समग्र संस्‍कृति‍ को दर्शाती है

ऐति‍हासि‍क एवं सामाजि‍क महत्‍व के इन स्‍मारकों के लि‍ए वैज्ञानि‍क उपचार उपलब्‍ध कराने के अलावा हमारी धरोहर की सुरक्षा के लि‍ए बेहतर संरक्षण प्रक्रि‍याओं को अपनाए जाने की आवश्‍यकता है।

eagles fall prey to diclofenac


Vultures already threatened after feeding on carcasses of animals given the drug

After pushing vultures to the verge of extinction in the country, the veterinary painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac, is turning out to be a serious threat to eagles as well.

A research paper published in Bird Conservation International, a Cambridge University journal, says other raptor species such as hawks, kites and harriers that feed on carcasses of animals, will possibly fall prey to the drug too.

Scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), the U.K.-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh conducted the study. Diclofenac residue was detected in the tissues of two steppe eagles (Aquila nipalensis) found dead in a cattle carcass dump in Rajasthan in February 2012.

“We conducted several tests on the bird carcasses that showed the same clinical signs of kidney failure as seen in vultures after they had ingested diclofenac,” Vibhu Prakash, co-author of the paper, told The Hindu.

The research paper says this is the first instance of diclofenac-related mortality in species outside the Gyps genus of vultures. Dr. Prakash says the drug should be banned, and suggests more studies.

PMO to have Foreign Policy Adviser


Prime Minister Narendra Modi is firming up plans to appoint a Foreign Policy Adviser to guide his office’s handling of critical national security and geo-strategic issues, highly placed government sources told The Hindu on Friday.

The appointment is likely to take place within days, the sources said. The sources said Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, an Indian Foreign Service officer who currently serves as India’s Ambassador to the U.S., was among the leading contenders for the position.

The former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Kumar Doval was appointed National Security Adviser on Friday.

30 May 2014

IAS-2014 NOTIFICATION

Good news :there is 1291 vacancy in 2014.do hard work to secure your seat in prelims.samveg ias is always with you for any kind of guidance.take advantage of this guidance came out with flying colours.here is detail

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who toppled Egypt's first freely elected leader, swept to victory in a presidential election, provisional results showed on Thursday, joining a long line of leaders drawn from the military.

But a lower than expected turnout figure raised questions about Sisi's credibility after his supporters had idolised him as a hero who can deliver political and economic stability.

Sisi captured 92.2 percent of votes cast in more than 50 percent of polling stations, judicial sources said. His only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3.8 percent while 4.2 percent of votes were declared void.

Fireworks erupted in Cairo when Sisi's results began to emerge. His supporters waved Egyptian flags and sounded car horns on the crowded streets of the capital.

About 1,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and raised hopes of a democracy free of influence from the military. Sisi supporters honked car horns and waved flags.

Dancing dolls dressed in army fatigues quickly went on sale in Tahrir, a reminder of the army's wide influence in Egypt.

Sisi is the latest in a line of Egyptian rulers from the military that was only briefly broken during Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's year in office.

Sisi, who ousted Mursi last year after mass protests against his rule, is seen by supporters as a strong figure who can end the turmoil that has convulsed Egypt since the revolution that ended Mubarak's 30 years in power.

But critics fear he will become another autocrat who will preserve the army's interests, and quash hopes of democracy and reform aroused by the protests that swept Mubarak.

Sisi enjoys the backing of the powerful armed forces and the Interior Ministry, as well many politicians and former Mubarak officials now making a comeback.

Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus form Eurasian Union


Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterparts from Kazakhstan and Belarus on Thursday signed a deal forming an Eurasian Union between the three states.

Kazakh president Nursultan Nazerbayev presented the deal live on television after the signing in Astana.

Commencing in January 2015, the Eurasian Union is supposed to become the successor to the Customs Union between the three countries.

Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have said that they want to join the Union later this year.

Tata Steel bags best Indian steel company award


Tata Steel has bagged the award for the best Indian steel company by US-based research firm Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

The award was given by D&B post inclusion of Tata Steel in their publication ‘India’s Top 500 Companies 2014′ and on the basis of excelling on various business and social parameters, Tata Steel said in a statement here.
Pinaka rockets successfully test-fired (30 May 2014)
Balasore (Odisha): Indigenously developed Pinaka rockets, capable of destroying enemy positions at 40 kms-range with rapid salvos, were today successfully test- fired thrice from a multi-barrel launcher at an armament base in Chandipur-on-sea, near here.

The rockets, which have undergone several tough tests since 1995, have been already inducted into the armed forces and the present trials were conducted with some improvements in the weapon system, defence sources said, adding some more tests are likely to be held.

“Three rounds of Pinaka rockets were successfully tested from the proof and experimental establishment (PXE) today at Chandipur,” about 15 km from here, they said.

The unguided rocket system is meant to neutralise large areas with rapid salvos. With a battery of six launchers, the system can fire a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds and neutralise a target area of 3.9 sq km.

The rockets, which act as force-multiplier, were developed to supplement artillery guns, the sources said.

The quick reaction time and high rate of fire of the system give an edge to the army during a low-intensity conflict situation, they said.

The system’s capability to incorporate several types of warheads makes it deadly for the enemy as the rockets could even destroy solid structures and bunkers.

In July last year, an advanced, second generation Pinaka Mark II Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher System had undergone successful trials at Chandhan area in Pokhran field firing ranges in western Rajasthan and is in development stage, the sources said.

The development and trials of the advanced system will continue and it is expected to enter service very soon, they said.

scientists map proteins produced in human body


Thirteen years after the human genome was sequenced, two research groups have independently mapped the extent to which cells in various organs in the body turn many thousands of genes into proteins.

From bacteria to humans, genes are made up of units of DNA, called base pairs. The sequence of base pairs in genes tell a cell's molecular machinery what proteins to produce. Ultimately, it is the proteins that carry out a myriad processes essential for life.

Once the over three billion base pairs that make up the human genome were sequenced, analysis of that data indicated that there are about 20,000 protein-coding genes.

In a paper just published in Nature, an international team of scientists led by Akhilesh Pandey of the Johns Hopkins University in the U.S and Harsha Gowda at the Institute of Bioinformatics in Bangalore has drawn up a draft map of proteins produced from 17,294 genes.

There was evidence for proteins coming from 18,097 human genes, reported Bernhard Kuster of Technische Universitaet Muenchen in Germany and his colleagues in a separate paper published in the same issue of the journal.

The two papers marked a “major advance”, providing comprehensive data about proteins expressed in different human tissues, commented R. Nagaraj of the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, who was not involved in either study.

Dr. Pandey and his colleagues examined proteins produced by normal cells in 30 tissue samples, adult and foetal as well as those found in blood. They found 'housekeeping proteins' from 2,350 genes that were produced in all tissues. On the other hand, proteins from 1,537 genes turned up in only one of the tissues. A number of proteins were expressed only during foetal development.

“The driving impetus for our work was to develop a reference of what is normal for human organs and cells,” said Dr. Pandey in an email. This information could provide clues to biologists seeking to elucidate the function of individual proteins. In addition, knowledge about organ-specific proteins could be used for detection of diseases arising in those organs.

“The day may not be too far when people have their protein profiles mapped, much like [personal] genome sequencing we have today. This could help us diagnose more diseases and diagnose diseases better too,” said Dr. Satish Chandra, Director of NIMHANS and a coauthor of the paper at a press conference in Bangalore.

In their paper, the researchers reported detecting proteins from 193 regions in the human genome that generally would not be expected to produce any, including genes considered dysfunctional. This suggested that “we do not yet have a thorough understanding of how our own genome works,” remarked Dr. Pandey.

Although proteins from about 84 per cent of all human genes had been found, those from the remaining genes may have eluded detection, remarked Dr. Gowda, a Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Fellow. This could have occurred if the proteins were expressed in tissues or organs that had not been sampled. Alternatively, they might be expressed at very low levels, requiring special techniques to track down.

A large number of scientists at the Institute of Bioinformatics, a non-profit research organisation founded and headed by Dr. Pandey, contributed to the study. Researchers at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research in Chandigarh, the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bangalore also participated.

In the other Nature paper, Dr. Kuster and his colleagues catalogued the proteins found in various human tissues, cell lines and body fluids. They found that approximately 10,000-12,000 proteins were ubiquitously expressed.

Hundreds of genes described in the human genome “apparently do not code for protein any more,” observed Dr. Kuster. One example was a family of proteins, involving some 800 genes, that are important for sensing smell and taste. But proteins could not be found from more than half of those genes.

“Our interpretation of that is that perhaps modern humans don't rely so much on their sense of smell and taste as we used to a long time ago. Therefore, evolution essentially gets rid of those surplus genes at some point,” he told this correspondent.

On the other hand, there were parts of the genome that had not been associated with protein-coding potential but for which proteins turned up. “So this could be a new playing ground, if you like, where nature tries out new proteins and we don't necessarily know what they do yet,” he remarked.

Badminton: China beats Japan to win Uber Cup


Defending champion China defeated Japan to win its 13th Uber Cup women’s badminton title. The victory comes after China’s recent loss to Japan in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup tournament. China ensured there was no surprise in store after its men’s team unexpectedly lost to Japan in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup tournament earlier this month.

29 May 2014

The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck.”
I have often heard people talk about luck and how it favors a few people in the exam and how it works against others. Don’t worry, I am not pointing fingers, I have done that constantly too . But I guess there is something of a slight importance here when you are in the preparation phase for the exam.

I would not want to debate how relevant luck is in the process and how much of a difference it makes. But I would certainly like to say something – IT IS NOT IN YOUR CONTROL. And just because there is a slight something if at all there is which can affect your life, your chances in the exam, that doesn’t make you want to achieve your dream any lesser. You have that dream in you and that is why you started in the first place. Luck is one of the factors you came across in the process and you are not even sure how certain you can be about it. But there are a lot of other things you can be certain about! I do agree that it is very tempting for us to try and debate how much luck can influence the exam. For that, I would like to ask one counter question – Does it really matter? You know what you are doing, you know why you are doing and for all we know, the only good luck we need is the determination to overcome the bad one!

the overseas subsidiary of the state-owned explorer ONGC- ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), has struck a deal with Russia’s largest oil and gas producer Rosneft to jointly explore hydrocarbons in the offshore Arctic. The agreement will facilitate the OVL’s cooperation in subsurface surveys, exploration and appraisal activities and hydrocarbons production in Russia’s offshore Arctic. Rosneft is also considering supplying crude oil to Indian refineries.

India does not have a firm contract to import crude oil from Russia. It receives small volumes occasionally from OVL’s Sakhalin-1 project in Far East Russia. OVL has a 20% stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in the Russian Pacific Ocean.

Mukul Rohatgi appointed AG


One of the highest paid lawyers in the Supreme Court, Mukul Rohatgi, will be the 14th Attorney-General of India to succeed Gulam Vahanvati.

Mr. Rohatgi said his top priority as AG would be to “streamline litigation in the Supreme Court.”

“I will see that the superior courts are not flooded with frivolous and petty litigation,” he said. He would make all efforts to see that the government did not involve itself in inter-ministerial litigation.

Mr. Rohatgi has represented the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court in many cases on the 2002 Gujarat riots and fake encounter. These include the Best Bakery and Zahira Sheikh cases.

Former TRAI chief made Modi's Principal Secretary

Former TRAI chief made Modi's Principal Secretary
Former TRAI Chairman Nripendra Misra was Wednesday appointed Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the government promulgated an Ordinance to amend a law that could have prevented him from getting the key post.

Misra is a 1967—batch retired IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and his appointment will be co-terminus with the termof the Prime Minister or till further orders, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel.

69—year—old Misra, who has served in various capacities in the government, retired as the Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 2009.

The TRAI Act prohibits its Chairman and members from taking up any other job in the Central or State Governments after demitting office.

“The Chairperson or any other member ceasing to hold office as such, shall —— (a) be ineligible for further employment under the Central Government or any State Government or (b) not accept any commercial employment, for a period of two years from the date he ceases to hold such office,” says the TRAI Act of 1997 available on the Law Ministry’s website.

To circumvent this section which would have barred Misra from taking up the assignment of Principal Secretary to PM, the Modi Government promulgated an Ordinance amending it.

The Ordinance amends this section to read as : “The Chairperson and the whole—time members shall not, for a period of two years from the date on which they cease to hold office as such, except with the previous approval of the Central government, accept ——

“(a) any employment either under the Central Government or under any State Government; or “(b) any appointment in any company in the business of telecommunication service.”

28 May 2014

Understanding Article 370

Understanding Article 370
Article 370 was and is about providing space, in matters of governance, to the people of a State who felt deeply vulnerable about their identity and insecure about the future.

At the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent Lalkar rally in Jammu, its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, called for a debate on Article 370. This is encouraging and suggests that the BJP may be willing to review its absolutist stance on the Article that defines the provisions of the Constitution of India with respect to Jammu and Kashmir. Any meaningful debate on Article 370 must, however, separate myth from reality and fact from fiction. My purpose here is to respond to the five main questions that have already been raised in the incipient debate.

Why it was incorporated
First, why was Article 370 inserted in the Constitution? Or as the great poet and thinker, Maulana Hasrat Mohini, asked in the Constituent Assembly on October 17, 1949: “Why this discrimination please?” The answer was given by Nehru’s confidant, the wise but misunderstood Thanjavur Brahmin, Gopalaswami Ayyangar (Minister without portfolio in the first Union Cabinet, a former Diwan to Maharajah Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, and the principal drafter of Article 370). Ayyangar argued that for a variety of reasons Kashmir, unlike other princely states, was not yet ripe for integration. India had been at war with Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir and while there was a ceasefire, the conditions were still “unusual and abnormal.” Part of the State’s territory was in the hands of “rebels and enemies.”

The involvement of the United Nations brought an international dimension to this conflict, an “entanglement” which would end only when the “Kashmir problem is satisfactorily resolved.” Finally, Ayyangar argued that the “will of the people through the instrument of the [J&K] Constituent Assembly will determine the constitution of the State as well as the sphere of Union jurisdiction over the State.” In sum, there was hope that J&K would one day integrate like other States of the Union (hence the use of the term “temporary provisions” in the title of the Article), but this could happen only when there was real peace and only when the people of the State acquiesced to such an arrangement.

Second, did Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel oppose Article 370? To reduce the Nehru-Patel relationship to Manichean terms is to caricature history, and this is equally true of their attitude towards Jammu and Kashmir. Nehru was undoubtedly idealistic and romantic about Kashmir. He wrote: “Like some supremely beautiful woman, whose beauty is almost impersonal and above human desire, such was Kashmir in all its feminine beauty of river and valley...” Patel had a much more earthy and pragmatic view and — as his masterly integration of princely states demonstrated — little time for capricious state leaders or their separatist tendencies.

But while Ayyangar negotiated — with Nehru’s backing — the substance and scope of Article 370 with Sheikh Abdullah and other members from J&K in the Constituent Assembly (including Mirza Afzal Beg and Maulana Masoodi), Patel was very much in the loop. And while Patel was deeply sceptical of a “state becoming part of India” and not “recognising ... [India’s] fundamental rights and directive principles of State policy,” he was aware of, and a party to, the final outcome on Article 370.

Negotiations
Indeed, the synergy that Patel and Nehru brought to governing India is evident in the negotiations over Article 370. Consider this. In October 1949, there was a tense standoff between Sheikh Abdullah and Ayyangar over parts of Article 370 (or Article 306A as it was known during the drafting stage). Nehru was in the United States, where — addressing members of the U.S. Congress — he said: “Where freedom is menaced or justice threatened or where aggression takes place, we cannot be and shall not be neutral.” Meanwhile, Ayyangar was struggling with the Sheikh, and later even threatened to resign from the Constituent Assembly. “You have left me even more distressed than I have been since I received your last letter … I feel weighted with the responsibility of finding a solution for the difficulties that, after Panditji left for America ... have been created … without adequate excuse,” he wrote to the Sheikh on October 15. And who did Ayyangar turn to, in this crisis with the Sheikh, while Nehru was abroad? None other than the Sardar himself. Patel, of course, was not enamoured by the Sheikh, who he thought kept changing course. He wrote to Ayyangar: “Whenever Sheikh Sahib wishes to back out, he always confronts us with his duty to the people.” But it was Patel finally who managed the crisis and navigated most of the amendments sought of the Sheikh through the Congress party and the Constituent Assembly to ensure that Article 370 became part of the Indian Constitution.

Third, is Article 370 still intact in its original form? One of the biggest myths is the belief that the “autonomy” as envisaged in the Constituent Assembly is intact. A series of Presidential Orders has eroded Article 370 substantially. While the 1950 Presidential Order and the Delhi Agreement of 1952 defined the scope and substance of the relationship between the Centre and the State with the support of the Sheikh, the subsequent series of Presidential Orders have made most Union laws applicable to the State. In fact today the autonomy enjoyed by the State is a shadow of its former self, and there is virtually no institution of the Republic of India that does not include J&K within its scope and jurisdiction. The only substantial differences from many other States relate to permanent residents and their rights; the non-applicability of Emergency provisions on the grounds of “internal disturbance” without the concurrence of the State; and the name and boundaries of the State, which cannot be altered without the consent of its legislature. Remember J&K is not unique; there are special provisions for several States which are listed in Article 371 and Articles 371-A to 371-I.

Fourth, can Article 370 be revoked unilaterally? Clause 3 of Article 370 is clear. The President may, by public notification, declare that this Article shall cease to be operative but only on the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State. In other words, Article 370 can be revoked only if a new Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir is convened and is willing to recommend its revocation. Of course, Parliament has the power to amend the Constitution to change this provision. But this could be subject to a judicial review which may find that this clause is a basic feature of the relationship between the State and the Centre and cannot, therefore, be amended.

Gender bias?
Fifth, is Article 370 a source of gender bias in disqualifying women from the State of property rights? Article 370 itself is gender neutral, but the definition of Permanent Residents in the State Constitution — based on the notifications issued in April 1927 and June 1932 during the Maharajah’s rule — was thought to be discriminatory. The 1927 notification included an explanatory note which said: “The wife or a widow of the State Subject … shall acquire the status of her husband as State Subject of the same Class as her Husband, so long as she resides in the State and does not leave the State for permanent residence outside the State.” This was widely interpreted as suggesting also that a woman from the State who marries outside the State would lose her status as a State subject. However, in a landmark judgement, in October 2002, the full bench of J&K High Court, with one judge dissenting, held that the daughter of a permanent resident of the State will not lose her permanent resident status on marrying a person who is not a permanent resident, and will enjoy all rights, including property rights.

Finally, has Article 370 strengthened separatist tendencies in J&K? Article 370 was and is about providing space, in matters of governance, to the people of a State who felt deeply vulnerable about their identity and insecure about the future. It was about empowering people, making people feel that they belong, and about increasing the accountability of public institutions and services. Article 370 is synonymous with decentralisation and devolution of power, phrases that have been on the charter of virtually every political party in India. There is no contradiction between wanting J&K to be part of the national mainstream and the State’s desire for self-governance as envisioned in the Article.

Separatism grows when people feel disconnected from the structures of power and the process of policy formulation; in contrast, devolution ensures popular participation in the running of the polity. It can be reasonably argued that it is the erosion of Article 370 and not its creation which has aggravated separatist tendencies in the State. Not surprisingly, at the opposition conclave in Srinagar in 1982, leaders of virtually all national parties, including past and present allies of the BJP, declared that the “special constitutional status of J&K under Article 370 should be preserved and protected in letter and spirit.” A review of its policy on Article 370, through an informed debate, would align today’s BJP with the considered and reflective approach on J&K articulated by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Only then would the slogans of Jhumuriyat, Kashmiriyat and Insaniyat make real sense

Civil aspirants never let failure deter them

Civil aspirants never let failure deter them
When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Almost everyone agrees that it is one of the toughest exams in the world to crack; normally a person dedicates four or five years of his life to crack the exam so that he/she can become an IAS or IPS officer. Many aspirants with dream in their eyes usually head to the Capital, known for its coaching centres and the “right environment,” for this vocation.

But staying motivated till the time they actually crack the Civil Services exams remains a tough task for most of the aspirants. And the challenge grows tougher with every passing year and with every failed attempt.

“When you get older you start to mistrust yourself, you cannot concentrate for as many hours as you could earlier. All of your friends would have moved on. All the people I grew up with have successful careers. One best friend is an army Captain on his way to becoming a Major, another good friend is in Germany making money. My father is retired and still partially supports me... however, I really want to be a civil servant, so I intend to keep studying despite the fatigue...,” said 30-year-old Sunil Kumar Singh, who is left with two more attempts.

Raman Patel’s best friend, whom he sometimes helped aced the exams about two years ago and is currently a successful bureaucrat in U.P. but 32-year old Raman is still living in the same house and has given five attempts. “When the exam dates are announced, I start studying for 20 hours a day but at other times, the hours are restricted to five. I make it a point at this time to enjoy myself, go for movies, catch up with friends and have lots of fun. The fun is a must. If I don’t do this, then it will be difficult for me to survive the rigour. And, I am not yet ready to give up,” he said.

Incidentally, Raman had almost cleared the mains once and lost out in one subject. “It was Philosophy and that year was especially tough,” he says.

Abhishek Kumar cleared the preliminary exam in his first attempt and was confident of achieving his goals. Now, six years later after many more preliminaries and mains, he is not so sure anymore. “The answer sheets are not available, they don’t give you any feedback, so you never know the reason why you fail again and again. I do the things most other people in my position do, change my books, change my coaching centre, try to study differently, more hours sometimes, less hours sometimes. However, you never know where you are going wrong. I am 29 years old and still financially supported by my father whereas all my friends who entered academics have been independent for several years now,” he said.

Vikas Kumar from Bihar has it tough as well. His father, a farmer, has been supporting him all these years and he has only one attempt left to crack it. “It is difficult for me to accept defeat,” said the 32-year-old.

“Ever since I have been in the grind for a year, I have been studying for about 15 hours. I am very motivated but I don’t think I will be able to do this for many years,” is how Abhas Jha describes his zeal.

His four friends say they were once like him, they were topping exams their whole lives and were not used to failure. However, now they are not too sure but still hope for the best.

Google is building a car without a steering wheel.


Sergey Brin, co-founder of the technology titan, told a Southern California technology conference on Tuesday evening that Google will make 100 prototype cars that drive themselves and therefore do not need a wheel. Or brake and gas pedals.
Instead, there are buttons for go and stop.
A combination of sensors and computing power takes the driving from there.
To date, Google has driven hundreds of thousands of miles on public roads with Lexus SUVs and Toyota Priuses outfitted with the special equipment.
This prototype is the first Google will have built for itself.
It won’t be for sale, and Google is unlikely to go deeply into auto manufacturing. In a blog post, the company emphasised partnering with other firms.

Focus on South Asia


The decision by new Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite members of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) for the swearing-in ceremony of the new government has been a great beginning, underscoring the resolve of the new government to embed India firmly within the South Asian regional matrix.

The fact that all of India’s neighbours in South Asia and the wider Asian region have reached out to Modi also augurs well for the new government. Pakistan will remain a major challenge for the new government. The civil-military divide continues to be a significant factor in shaping of Islamabad’s foreign policy and in particular its approach towards India. New Delhi remains far from convinced that the Nawaz Sharif government is either willing and/or able to make a decisive positive move towards India. The decision to grant India the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status remains stuck while the rhetoric on Kashmir has become shrill in recent months.

Pakistan has for some time recognised the futility of engaging with the lame duck Manmohan Singh government in Delhi and has been waiting for the new government to take over. Many in Pakistan have been suggesting that a strong Modi government would provide an opportunity to achieve a long lasting settlement with India. After Modi’s election, the Pakistan government has been quick to put the ball back in the new Indian government’s court suggesting that it is up to the new government to make the first move.

The BJP has indicated that high-level talks with Pakistan would proceed only if some basic conditions are met, especially those pertaining to bringing the masterminds behind the Mumbai terror attacks and terror emanating from Paksitani soil. How this rhetoric gets operationalised into actual policy remains to be seen but by inviting the Pakistan prime minister to his swearing-in ceremony, Modi managed to successfully regain the initiative. Bangladesh has also welcomed the arrival of the Modi-led BJP government to the helm of the Indian polity.

Bangaldesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in her congratulatory message to Modi suggested that he should make Dhaka his first destination abroad. There is considerable merit in the suggestion. Hasina has been a valuable partner for India over the last few years but the UPA under pressure from Mamta Banerjee was not able to deliver on some key issues which Dhaka feels strongly about. Dhaka is seeking expeditious Indian response to its demand for the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers on Bangladeshi products.

There has also been little movement on the boundary issue and on transit rights. India has failed to reciprocate fully to Hasina’s overtures. Modi government will have an opportunity to start with a clean slate and deliver on Indian promises to Bangladesh, thereby generating some trust in the relationship. A stable, moderate Bangladesh as a partner is in India’s long-term interest. Constructive Indo-Bangladesh ties can be a major stabilising factor for the South Asian region as a whole.

Difficult country

Sri Lanka remains a difficult country for India. Colombo matters because Indian Ocean matters. The ‘great game’ of this century will be played on the waters of the Indian Ocean. Though India’s location gives it great operational advantages in the Indian Ocean, it is by no means certain that New Delhi is in a position to hold on to its geographic advantages.

China is rapidly catching up and its ties with Sri Lanka are aimed at expanding its profile in this crucial part of the world. Indian policy makers need to shape up soon or else they are in the danger of losing this ‘game’ for good. There is a new hope in Colombo that with Jayalalitha’s AIADMK not part of the new coalition governing in Delhi, India will have an opportunity to stabilise its sputtering ties with Sri Lanka.

Nepal continues to make its tentative journey towards democratic stability. With political and economic instability causing more uncertainty in recent years, India is viewed as part of the problem too involved in the domestic politics of the country. The political uncertainty in Nepal has flamed anti-India feelings and allowed China to enlarge its presence.

The Himalayan kingdom is going through a crisis and India is being blamed for pulling strings from behind the scenes. It is this insecurity that Beijing is exploiting in Nepal to serve its own interests. Nepalese polity, cutting across party lines, has welcomed the assumption of power by Modi, with most expressing hope that Nepal would be a beneficiary of Modi’s developmental agenda. Afghanistan stands at a critical juncture in its political transition and it is also making it expectations known to India.

The debate on what sort of security footprint India should have in Afghanistan have been going on for years in New Delhi and there has been no urgency in coming up with a coherent response. The bitter truth is that all the developmental investment that India has made will come to naught once the western forces leave Afghanistan if India doesn’t make it unequivocally clear that it intends to strongly protect and enhance its security interests even in the absence of western presence.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been hitting on the same theme during his recent India visits and indeed presented a “wishlist” to India on the sort of defence support he is seeking from New Delhi. For all the pretensions of being a global power, India has been steadily losing its profile as a credible South Asian state. It is now time to keep the focus firmly on South Asia and to manage the multiple crises in the region. Because if New Delhi would seem disinterested, others will fill the vacuum and that would not always be to India’s advantage.

Mauritius for automatic exchange of tax info with India


Seeking to allay apprehensions about Mauritius being used for money laundering activities, its Indian-origin Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam on Tuesday said the island nation has decided to provide automatic exchange of tax related information with India.

Ramgoolam, who was here to attend BJP leader Narendra Modi’s swearing—in as Prime Minister on Monday, also said that Mauritius would not allow anybody to abuse or misuse its jurisdiction for any illicit activities.

Speaking to reporters after a bilateral meeting with Modi on Tuesday morning, Ramgoolam said he has also invited the Indian Prime Minister to visit Mauritius.

On the contentious issue of revision of a tax treaty between the two countries, the Mauritius Prime Minister said that “there must be a quick resolution to resolve all issues related to the direct tax avoidance agreement between the two countries“.

“We both agreed that there must be quick resolution (on the issues) for certainty, clarity and predictability,” he said.

A proposed revision of the tax treaty has been hanging in the balance for a long time and there have been reports that Mauritius was not agreeable to certain suggestions made by India, which has been seeking to make the agreement stronger to check any possible round tripping of Indian funds through the Indian Ocean island nation.

The people of Indian descent account for a vast majority (about 70 per cent) of Mauritius population. The current Prime Minister’s father, late Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (also referred as Chacha Ramgoolam) was a leader in Mauritian independence movement and also served as the first Chief Minister and Prime Minister of Mauritius.

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is also known as ‘Father of Nation’ of Mauritius and for leading the Labour Party for the rights of labourers and getting Mauritius independence from the United Kingdom in 1968.

Centre forms SIT on black money


In its first decision after forming the government, the union cabinet Tuesday announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

 In the first decision after assuming office, the Narendra Modi government today constituted a special investigative team (SIT) to unearth black money.

The SIT will be headed by former Supreme Court judge M B Shah and will include Revenue Secretary, CBI and IB directors, Enforcement Directorate official, CBDT Chairman and RBI deputy governor. Former Supreme Court judge Arijit Pasayat will be the vice-chairman of the panel.

The Supreme Court had last week granted the government one week to constitute the SIT for monitoring of all black money cases.

"In the first Cabinet of the new government...in the light of the directions of the SC, we have constituted an SIT for unearthing black money... This was an important issue for us," Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after a one-and-a-half-hour long Cabinet meeting.

Prasad said setting up of the SIT "indicates the commitment of the new government to pursue the issue of black money."

He said that earlier, the Supreme Court had given certain orders, but there were some delays.

"Tomorrow is the last date (for setting up of SIT), therefore the very first agenda in accordance with its policy commitment was to have this very high-profile SIT."

According to a press release, other members of the SIT are Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Director General of Revenue Intelligence, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Director of the Research and Analysis Wing and a Joint Secretary in the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

It stated that the SIT has been charged with the responsibility and duties of investigation, initiation of proceedings and prosecution in cases of Hasan Ali and other matters involving unaccounted money.

The panel will have jurisdiction in cases where investigations have commenced, are pending, are awaiting to be initiated or have been completed.

The SIT will prepare a comprehensive action plan, including creation of an institutional structure that could enable the country to fight the battle against unaccounted money. It should report on the status of its work to the court from time to time, the statement added.
About 5.5 million babies (around 3 million neonates + 2.6 million stil-births) die every year globally. Every day, about 8,000 neonates die and about 7, 000 are stillbirths. Stillbirths occur at about 28 weeks of gestation and also during labor. Nearly half of all stillbirths are those who die during labour- just 5 minutes before birth.
Five countries account for half of all the newborn mortality across the world. These are:
  1. India (highest): 7,79,000 deaths
  2. Nigeria: 2,76,000
  3. Pakistan: 2,02,400
  4. China: 1,57,000
  5. Democratic Republic of Congo: 1,18,000
While significant achievement has been made in reducing the number of deaths in children aged under-five by half, the progress in bringing down the number of newborn deaths has been slower.
The progress is even worse in the case of stillbirths. Stillbirths are not counted in the Millennium Development Goals.
What is shocking is that most of the 2.6 million stillbirths every year across the globe go unrecorded as in most countries stillbirths do not get birth or death certificates, which makes these births and deaths “invisible”.

How will climate change affect livelihoods in South Asia?


How does a warming environment affect rainfall, cropping patterns, livelihoods? What could be the alternatives that people whose livelihoods are hit by the effects of climate change do to cope? An initiative by Britain and Canada seeks to study and tackle the effects of climate change in South Asia, in tandem with TERI and Jadavpur University in India and similar institutes in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) have launched a research programme to "take a fresh approach to understanding climate change and find ways to adapt" in some of the hot spots.

The programme, named Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), a seven-year Canadian dollar 70 million research initiative, seeks to study the effects of climate change in three hot spots — semi-arid regions, river deltas and Himalayan river basins.

K S Murali, senior programme officer with IDRC, told IANS: "We try to understand what are the different scenarios that can happen with one degree rise in temperature, with a two-degree rise in temperature."

In semi-arid regions, for example in Madhya Pradesh, where there is relatively high temperature and the rainfall hovers between 300-700 mm a year, rise in temperature can badly hit cropping patterns, said the researcher.

Semi-arid areas are dominated generally by dry land and agriculture is rain fed, or dependent on rainfall. "If the rain becomes erratic, or the area receives less rain, or it is not distributed equally, the cropping pattern is affected badly and cultivation is hit. Not just the summer temperature, the winter temperature too gets affected, and there is high rate of evaporation," he said.

The effects of climate change on river deltas, where the river meets the sea, and coastal estuaries are also to be studied. This includes the Sundarbans mangrove forest shared between India and Bangladesh.

Estuaries have very high productivity in the form of marine life and support the ecosystem.

"There is fear that climate change will lead to rise in sea temperature and in sea levels, which could lead to submergence of small islands over time. This could affect the Sundarbans too," he added.

Climate change would also affect another hot spot - the Himalayan river basins.

The Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers would be affected by snow melting. High temperatures will make the glacier snow melt faster. This will lead to more water flowing down the river, leading to flooding. The faster disappearance of glaciers is also of concern," he added.

"We try to understand how a degree rise in temperature can affect the hydrology of mountain rivers, the flow of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. This will help predict river flow, how it will affect cropping and productivity and what alternatives can be offered to the locals," he said.

According to Murali, IDRC and DFID along with the partner organizations in the area try to address the climate change issues in tandem with the local people, the local communities, NGOs and policy makers. "Our aim is to benefit the people in solving the situation."

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India is involved in the study of climate change in Himalayan river basins. The Jadavpur University is involved in the study of deltas, while the Indian Institute for Human Settlements is working in the field of semi-arid areas. These institutes are working in partnership with institutes in Bangladesh and Pakistan to address the issues of climate change.

Does corruption influence voter choice?


There is overwhelming consensus that the Congress-led UPA has performed poorly in this election owing to charges of massive corruption at the highest level, besides lack of leadership and the government’s inability to control price rise. Political commentators and the BJP-led NDA made repeated references during election campaigns to the coal scam, the 2G spectrum allocation scam, the commonwealth games (CWG) scam and the Adarsh Housing scam among others. But the BJP too faced its own share of trouble — among other accusations, Narendra Modi’s government in Gujarat was alleged to be favouring the Adani business group and Nitin Gadkari was alleged to be involved with the Purti group. Notwithstanding the campaign rhetoric, however, the issue of corruption does not matter in the way commentators and political parties think it does.

Knowledge of scams
This is not to say that voters in India do not care about corruption. There is a crucial difference in how voters think about corruption and how political parties and leaders represent this issue in their campaigns. Voters care more about the corruption they encounter on an everyday basis, whereas parties make the issue a spectacle.

In our view, big-ticket corruption does not determine electoral outcomes in India for two important reasons. First, a large proportion of the electorate has never heard of the corruption scams that occupy newspaper headlines and prime-time television space. In July 2013 (tracker I poll), Lokniti-CSDS contacted more than 18,000 citizens and found that awareness among the general public on scams such as 2G and coalgate was quite low. Only half of the sampled respondents said that they had heard of the coal scam; 40 per cent knew of the 2G scam. For all other scams, less than a third of the citizens reported that they had heard of them. Not surprisingly, the awareness of all of these scams is much lower among women, the poor and respondents residing in rural areas.

Second, did knowledge of a scam influence which party a citizen preferred? The 2013 tracker poll had asked respondents whom they would vote for in the elections. We estimated a statistical model that would asses whether a respondent’s knowledge of the scams would influence which party he/she preferred, after controlling his/her demographic characteristics (age, gender, caste, religion, economic class and locality of the respondent, and his/her exposure to the media.) We found that there was no statistically significant influence of the knowledge of scams on the respondent’s preference for the the two main parties — the Congress and the BJP.

The table shows that the likelihood of a voter preferring the Congress remained almost the same whether or not he/she had heard of the party’s involvement in scams. Those who had heard of the scams were a little more likely to vote for the BJP but the difference in the probability of a voter voting for the BJP after hearing about the scams is no more than 10 per cent (and that too only for the CWG scam) and does not pass the threshold of statistical significance. In layman’s terms, the difference in the probability of a voter voting for the BJP after hearing of a scam and one opting for the BJP without having any knowledge of a scam is zero.

Local-level corruption
Why do these scams have no bearing on vote choice? In our view, this is because it is the corruption of local-level institutions which matters more to voters. In the State of the Nation survey conducted in January 2009, respondents were asked if it was possible to get work done in a government office if the work was legitimate and if one had all the documents. Only one in every five respondents said yes. The others said that despite having all the documents, even for legitimate work one needed to either know someone important, pay a bribe, or both. Similarly, data from the State of the Nation survey (2011) show that people are much more concerned with the everyday corruption they face while interacting with local-level state institutions — the police, Block Development Officers etc. It is extremely difficult for a voter to use this local-level corruption as the basis for casting his/her vote. Since most local-level corruption cases are directly linked to state officials and are not directly linked to any particular party, corruption is not an issue on which voters discriminate while exercising their franchise.
Scientists have created a new material- ‘Triazine-based Graphitic Carbon Nitride‘ (TGCN) similar to Graphene, which has the potential to improve transistors used in electronic devices. Though TGCN was predicted theoretically in 1996, but this is the first time that it has been created.
Graphene is one atom thick, strong and conducts heat and electricity highly efficiently. The new TGCN material is also two-dimensional, but it has an electronic band gap, making it potentially suitable for use in transistors.
Normally, Transistors are made of costly silicon that produces heat when used in electronic devices. There has been a search for a material that is carbon-based and that has the electronic band gap needed for use as a semiconductor.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) began drilling its first-ever well in the Palar basin at Chinnapuliyur village near Gummidipoondi, about 55 km from Chennai, on Sunday.

The exploratory well is to be drilled to a depth of 2,000 metres in four months.

Addressing the ONGC employees at the site, Narendra K. Verma, Director (Exploration) said the ONGC had already “opened” (explored for hydrocarbons) six out of seven sedimentary basins in India. The Palar basin was the seventh.

The basin, covering an area of 1,800 sq.km., was sandwiched between the two petroleum-bearing Krishna-Godavari and Cauvery basins. There was no reason, therefore, why the Palar basin should be devoid of hydrocarbons, he said. “The seismic surveys have given us a new hope that there will be significant columns of hydrocarbons in the Palar basin.”

In Mr. Verma’s assessment, the ONGC was passing through an “exciting phase” but it faced a lot of challenges. Its production stood at 52 million tonnes of oil and gas a year “but it is not good enough.” Its production should double by 2030. So “hilly areas and frontier areas” would be tackled in the company’s quest to find oil and gas, he added.

B.S. Josyulu, Executive Director and Basin Manager, Cauvery, ONGC, said his team would complete drilling the Chinnapuliyur well and another well (seven km away) in six months. There were limitations on the seismic data because of “logistics” and a lot of industries were situated in the block. Dr. Josyulu was, however, confident that “we will reap a rich harvest from this exploratory well.”

The block called PR-ONN-2005/1, where Chinnapuliyur is located, was a joint venture with the ONGC and Tata Petrodyne Limited (TPL). Twenty per cent stake in the block belonged to the TPL, he said.
Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday became the first woman External Affairs Minister, in yet another first for the 62-year-old BJP leader.

Apart from having the distinction of becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Haryana government at the age of 25, Ms. Swaraj has also many other firsts such as being the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi and woman spokesperson for any political party in the country.

Ms. Swaraj has also been given the charge of Overseas Indian Affairs.

Ms. Swaraj is assuming the charge of the Foreign Ministry, one of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, at a time when India’s growing international influence gives it a prominent voice in global affairs even as issues in the region keep the largest democracy busy.

Ties with Pakistan and China are some of the perennial challenges for Indian foreign policy practitioners.

Incidentally, the MEA also has a woman Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh.

In 1977, at 25 years of age, Ms. Swaraj became the youngest-ever cabinet minister. She held the education portfolio in Haryana.

In 1979, she became the state president of the BJP in Haryana. She was also the first woman spokesperson for any political party in India and won the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award.

Ms. Swaraj, a law graduate who practised in the Supreme Court, has been elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.

She began her political career with RSS student wing ABVP in the 1970s. Member of the Haryana Assembly from 1977 to 1982 from Ambala Cantonment, she was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in the Devi Lal government.

She was Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting during the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government in 1996.

She resigned from the Cabinet in the next Vajpayee regime to take over as the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi in October 1998.

26 May 2014

The WHO’s Emergency Committee for MERS-CoV has raised concerns about the sharp surge in the number of ‘Middle East Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus’(MERS-CoV) cases since March 2014. The sharp increase has been seen particularly in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arabian Emirates. The Emergency Committee has advised a number of measures to be urgently taken, including better national policies for infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities.

Since the virus was first detected in humans 2 years back, a total of 152 people have now died and 495 have been confirmed to have contracted the virus in Saudi Arabia. Recently, cases have also been reported from Egypt, Greece, Malaysia, Philippines, and the U.S. in which infected individuals had travelled there from the Middle East.

Although it is known that the virus is widespread in camels in the Middle East and north-east Africa, it is yet to be ascertained how transmission from animals to humans takes place. As MERS-CoV causes mostly respiratory disease in humans, the common thinking is that such transmission takes place via a respiratory route.
President Pranab Mukherjee appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Mathur (64) as the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). Mathur succeeds Sushma Singh as the head of the transparency watchdog. His name was recommended by a three-member selection panel headed by outgoing PM Manmohan Singh. His term will be of just 3 months.

At present, there are seven Information Commissioners — Vijai Sharma, Basant Seth, Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharwal, Manjula Prasher, M A Khan Yusufi and Prof Madabhushanam Sridhar Acharyulu.

Andhra teen becomes youngest female climber to scale Mount Everest

Andhra teen becomes youngest female climber to scale Mount Everest
Purna was accompanied by Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar (16), a Class IX student from the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, and completed the feat on Sunday morning.

Anand and Purna are both students of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Educational Society.

"They climbed Everest at 6am today after a 52-day long expedition," he said.

"Purna created a record by becoming by youngest girl to climb the Everest," he said.

The duo were selected among about 150 children who were initially chosen for adventure sports as part of the society's initiative to promote excellence in the students of the society, he said.

Twenty of them were sent to a prestigious mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling for training and nine among them were sent on expedition to Indo-China border earlier.

The two students with a higher degree of toughness and endurance were sent to the Everest Expedition in April, he said.

The two students were now returning to the base camp, the official added.

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