Queen Elizabeth confers Knighthood upon Indian-origin physicist Prof. Tejinder Virdee

Professor Tejinder Virdee, a noted Indian-origin physicist known for his work for the Large Hadron Collider, was conferred an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition to his contribution to the field of science.

Prof. Virdee of Imperial College London was named a Knight Bachelor for his services to science in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Professor Virdee contribution in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment is considered his most remarkable service to science. The CMS experiment, at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, Geneva, has delivered significant results in particle physics, including the landmark discovery of the Higgs Boson, or the God particle, a particle that renders mass to other particles.

Delhi becomes first kerosene-free city in India

"With the successful implementation of 'Delhi: A Kerosene-Free City Scheme, 2012', no subsidised kerosene is being issued in the national capital and the country can save upto Rs. 200 crores every year," said SS Yadav, Commissioner, Food Supply and Weights and Measures.

The scheme was launched in 2012 in collaboration with three Oil Marketing Companies and Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for which Delhi Government had incurred an expenditure of Rs. 62 crores.

Delhi was earlier getting about 53,000 Kilolitre of kerosene oil every year from the Centre, which was issued to eligible households at a subsidised rate. At the present market rate of the oil, it would have cost the government about Rs. 200 crores per year as subsidy, Yadav said.

"Under the scheme, free gas connections along with LPG filled cylinders, two burner gas stove, regulator and suraksha pipe were issued to the Jhuggi Ration Card (JRC), Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antodaya Ann Yojana (AAY) ration card holders who were using kerosene oil for cooking," Yadav said.

A total 3.56 lakhs such ration card holders could benefit from the scheme but those families which already had an LPG connection were not eligible under it.

Yadav said the department received 2,14,149 applications for free gas connection under the scheme, of which 20,732 were rejected.

"Remaining families did not come forward to take benefit of the scheme because either they already had an LPG connection or they were not interested in the scheme either due to migration or other reasons," he said.

This step would help in environment conservation as no toxic fumes would emanate from burning the oil, lesser possibility of adulteration in petrol, beneficial impact on air pollution and improvement in the quality of life of people benefited under the scheme besides lesser fire accidents and burn injuries, Yadav said.

Proposed Deendayal E-Rikshaws Scheme

The minister for Road transport, Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has said the Shri Narendra Modi’s Government is committed to removing poverty through employment generation and make India an empowered nation. 

Addressing a rally of electric rikshaw pullers in New Delhi today the minister announced some important policy decisions including removing the rickshaws which run with power below .65 watts from the preview of the Motor Vehicles Act.

He said the drivers of these rickshaws should be their owners and they should be able to register their vehicles with the Municipal corporation with a fee of Rs.100/- and get an Identity Card.

Shri Gadkari said that he has proposed to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister that the scheme may be called “Deendayal e-Riksha”.

Loans for these vehicles may be given at an interest rate of 3% per annum. The minister said the objective of the scheme was to remove the practice of man pulling a man and luggage through manual rikshaw.

The minister said that four people may be allowed to travel in these rikshaws along with two pieces of luggage of 25 kgs each.

Shri Nitin Gadkari said amidst uproar of rikshaw pullers and others who attended the rally that this first decision of the ministry after his takeover is aimed at benefitting two crore rikshaw pullers of the country. He said the poor in the country cannot be distinguished on religious or caste ground. Shri Gadkari also advised all rikshaw pullers to buy only quality rikshaw for the safety of the people.

Kalraj Mishra inaugurates the Centre of Excellence in Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus, Bengaluru

Shri. Kalraj Mishra, the Union Minister for MSMEs, inaugurated the “Centre of Excellence” located in Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus, Bengaluru today. The Centre of Excellence is a joint initiative of Ministry of MSME and IISc, Bengaluru under an MOU signed between them. With its vast repository of knowledge of researchers, professors, and intellectuals, IISc would contribute to innovation, competitiveness and growth in MSME sector through this centre.

The Centre will act as a platform for process & product design and development by identifying and providing comprehensive solutions for indigenization and value engineering to industries. The concept was initiated after detailed deliberations, and eight departments within IISc were identified for the purpose. These are Computer Science and automation, Electrical Engineering, Electrical Communication Engineering, Electronic Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Material Engineering.

While congratulating the efforts made by the Ministry and IISc in taking this initiative forward, where government and academia jointly extending the services through a dedicated Centre of Excellence, the minister added that this will take manufacturing sector particularly MSMEs to greater heights.

An unsafe world

India has voted itself a stable government which will last the full term of five years. The Prime Minister has made a good beginning by inviting the Subcontinental neighbours to his swearing-in, making a bid for peaceful relations. Yet elsewhere, ever since May 16, the world has been getting more unstable. The financial markets are registering one of the lowest reading for the volatility index, Vix. But that may be, as we used to say, a lagging indicator or one which looks only at stock markets.

Events in Iraq confirm what has been shaping up for the last five years at least. There is a massive and prolonged civil war going on between the Shi’a and Sunni Muslims in the territory of the old Ottoman Empire. The Western powers, at the end of the First World War, drew arbitrary borders and demarcated Syria, Iraq, Jordan, etc. The centre of the Empire became Turkey which has tried to maintain its position as a secular Republic. Yet the reality is that we have Shi’a, Sunni and Kurds co-habiting uneasily within that vast territory.

For years, the dream of Arab countries was to reunite the various separate regions. After the Second World War and the establishment of Israel, their desire was refuelled by the determination to drown Israel in the sea. Pan-Arab unity did not, however, deliver military victory. After three defeats in 1948, 1967 and 1973, the dream of a United Arab Republic collapsed. Since secular socialist regimes had been at the forefront of that promise, both the ideologies—secularism and socialism—lost hold on the peoples of the Middle East.

What we have had since is the rise of Muslim orthodoxy. The oil price rise of 1973 and 1979 enriched the Saudis and the Iranians and other Middle Eastern oil exporters. Saudis sponsored Wahabbism which was their own local sect. Iranians had their revolution which put the Ayatollahs in power and created a strong Shi’a state. During the 1980s, both the big Cold War powers got humbled in the region. The US backed Saddam Hussein in his ten-year-long war against Iran, but that proved to be a war with no victors. The Soviet Union went into Afghanistan and again withdrew after a humiliating defeat.

The stage was thus set for the rise of Islamism with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Few people who associate them with terrorism realise that the primary fight of these groups is against Muslim states. They want to purify Muslim states along orthodox lines before they engage with the infidel enemy. It was Osama bin-Laden’s anger with the Saudis that triggered his war with the US. The US fought the Al-Qaeda and at least got bin-Laden killed though the Al-Qaeda has survived. The Taliban has once again seen the US out of Afghanistan.

The real battle ground has now shifted to Syria and Iraq. Assad may have won temporarily but he does not control all his old territory. Syria is partitioned as between Assad, his West- supported liberal enemies and the Al-Qaeda. It is the Al-Qaeda who have now spilled over into Iraq and threaten to take it over. Iraq is the only country with a Shi’a majority among the Arabs and has been a sort of democracy for the last ten years. It faces annihilation at the hands of the Al-Qaeda. It remains to be seen if the USA will step in with armament assistance or if Iran will come to the rescue of its

Shi’a brethren. But there is also the resurgent. Kurdistan movement. Kurds spread across Iraq, Syria and Turkey and have long dreamt of their own nation-state. The chaos which is emerging may give them the best chance of combining bits of Syria and Iraq as the first instalment of Kurdistan. Turkey is stable enough to resist any incursion into its territory. Jordan and Lebanon are already caught up in the turmoil as they have Syrian refugees among them. The conflict could spill over into Israel and then there would be a total War.

The airport attacks in Karachi tell us that the entire region from Pakistan up to the western edge of Turkey is now at risk of unravelling under the attack of Islamist forces. This entire region, with India included, was where, until a century ago, the Sunni Muslims looked towards Istanbul as the seat of the Khilafat, offering in their Friday prayers their allegiance to the Ottoman Emperor who was also the Khalifa. This region is being unscrambled into a new shape.

India cannot remain passive to what is happening but nor can it do anything actively. For India, it is the stability and the survival of Pakistan which is the most vital issue. India needs a stable Pakistan ruled by sane politicians, inimical though they may be, rather than the fanatical Taliban with whom there is no negotiation except by arms.

The Reserve Bank of India will soon come up with India’s first payments bank, which will offer deposit and payment services but not provide loans. 

This idea is in line with the recommendations made by the Nachiket Morcommittee. The central bank sees huge potential for financial inclusion with focus on remittances by involving payment system product.

As per the RBI, while full-service banks require an entry capital of Rs.500 crore, payments banks can start operations with a capital of just Rs.50 crore since all their money will be invested in safe government securities.

They will be required to comply with all RBI guidelines for commercial banks.

According to the recommendations of Nachiket Mor committee:

• Permission should be given to existing banks to create subsidiaries to operate payments banks.
• Payments banks may be created by converting prepaid payment issuers (PPIs). These companies provide cards that customers can use to make payments with the money stored in them. There are 27 PPIs in the country, including Itz Cash Card Ltd, Oxigen Services (India) Pvt. Ltd and Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd.

A long wait for India ended when the country became a permanent member of theWashington Accord, an esteemed international treaty on engineering studies and mobility of engineers across signatory countries including the US, the UK and Australia. Permanent membership reflects on the country’s stature in the technical education space. Until now, India has been just a provisional member since 2007.

The meeting of the International Engineering Alliance of WA member nations met in Wellington, New Zealand and gave India the signatory status to join the select group of nations who are permanent signatories to the Washington Accord (WA). This will ensure highest quality assurance standards to be implemented in our technical and engineering programmes and provide global mobility to our engineering graduates​. It will significantly enhance their employment opportunities around the world.

The Washington Accord:

It is an international accreditation treaty for professional engineering academic degrees, between the bodies responsible for accreditation in its signatory nations. Initially when the Washington Accord came into force in 1989, only 6 developed countries were its members.

As of 2014, the signatories are: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Hong KongChina, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The accord acknowledges that there is significant uniformity of programs accredited by those signatories. Every signatory countries recognizes the graduates of accredited programs by every other signatory countries as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering. Recognition of accredited programs is not retroactive but takes effect only from the date of admission of the country to signatory status.

The treaty covers undergraduate engineering degrees under Outcome-based education approach. The accord doesn’t take into account engineering technology and postgraduate programs, although some engineering technology programs are covered under the Sydney Accord and the Dublin Accord. Only qualifications granted after the signatory country or region became part of the Washington Accord are recognized. The pact is not directly responsible for the licensing or registration of Professional Engineers and Chartered Engineers, but it does cover the academic prerequisites that are part of the licensing processes in countries party to the accord.