Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2014 conferred

Veteran Film Actor and Producer Shri Shashi Kapoor has been conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2014. He is the 46th Dada Saheb Phalke Award Winner. The award is conferred by the Government of India for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl. The award is given on the basis of recommendations of a Committee of eminent persons set up by the Government for this purpose. This year, a five member jury consisting of eminent film personalities, after due deliberations, unanimously recommended Shri Shashi Kapoor for the prestigious award.

Born in 1938, Shri Shashi Kapoor is a well-known actor and producer from the famous Kapoor family, a film dynasty in Bollywood cinema. Shri Shashi Kapoor is the third person to receive the prestigious award from the same family after Late Shri Raj Kapoor.

Shashi Kapoor is the younger brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. From the age of four, Shashi Kapoor acted in plays directed and produced by his father Prithviraj Kapoor, while travelling with Prithvi Theatres. He started acting in films as a child in the late 1940s. His best known performances as child artist were in Aag (1948) and Awaara (1951), where he played the younger version of the character played by his elder brother Raj Kapoor. Shri Shashi Kapoor also worked as Assistant Director in the 1950s.

Shashi Kapoor made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film Dharmputra and went on to appear in more than 100 Hindi films. He was a very popular actor in Bollywood during the 60s, 70s and until the mid 80s.

Shashi Kapoor was one of India’s first actors to go international. He is known internationally for starring in many British and American films, notably Merchant Ivory Proudctions run by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, such as The Householder (1963), Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Bombay Talkie (1970) and Heat and Dust (1982). He also starred in other British and American films such as Siddhartha (1972) and Muhafiz (1994).

In 1978, Shri Shashi Kapoor set up his production house Film Valas which produced critically acclaimed films such as Junoon (1978), Kalyug (1981), 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), Vijeta (1982) and Utsav (1984). He also produced and directed a fantasy film titled Ajooba which had Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor in the lead role.

In 2011, Shri Shashi Kapoor was honoured with Padma Bhushan Award by the Government of India. He is also a recipient of three National Film Awards.

Ecologist Madhav Gadgil wins Tyler Prize

Renowned ecologist Madhav Gadgil has been chosen for the prestigious 2015 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

The prize, instituted in 1973, is awarded by the international Tyler Prize Executive Committee with the administrative support of the University of Southern California.

Prof. Gadgil, who was Chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), will share the $200,000 cash prize with noted American marine ecologist Dr. Jane Lubchenco for their work in changing policy and specifically for their “leadership and engagement in the development of conservation and sustainability policies in the United States, India and internationally”, said a release issued by the University of Southern California on Monday.

Both winners will receive the prize and a gold medallion at a private ceremony in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles on April 24. The day before, Dr. Lubchenco and Dr. Gadgil will deliver public lectures on their work at The Forum at the University of Southern California.

“Both of these laureates have bridged science with cultural and economic realities - like the impact on indigenous peoples in India or fishing communities in the United States - to advance the best possible conservation policies,” said the release.

Prof. Gadgil’s landmark report on the preservation of the unique ecosystem of the Western Ghats and the inclusion of local committees was especially noted as the reason behind his award that recognised his engagement with the public and other academic fields to “position him as a leading voice on environmental issues in India.”

Also noted were Dr. Gadgil’s contributions behind the crafting of India’s National Biodiversity Act, 2002.

Dr. Lubchenco, who was recently named first-ever U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean by the United States Department of State, gets the award for her dedication to raising awareness of the importance of the ocean and the need to protect ocean ecosystems, notably during her tenure from 2009 to 2013 as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The award commended her drive and passion in restoring fisheries and improving ocean health, which culminated in the unique “catch share” model – an alternative rights-based approach to fisheries attempting to change the economic incentives for fishermen that has been adopted by a number of regional fishery management councils in Alaska, along the Pacific Coast, the Gulf of Mexico and other regions across the American seaboard.

AIIB & BRICS Bank

On 25 January 2008, more than seven years ago, an article of mine titled "How about an Asian Investment Bank?" was carried in this newspaper (available on Business Standard's website). The central suggestion in that article was that India should take the initiative, in cooperation with China, to set up an Asian Investment Bank to fund infrastructure projects in member countries. This thought was shared with the ministry of finance but was not heard of thereafter.

At China's initiative an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB) was set up on 24 October 2014. On that date, 21 Asian countries became founder members and participated in a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony in Beijing. China's president chaired the event and most participating countries were represented by their finance ministers. India was represented by a joint secretary in the ministry of finance. The decision to send a joint secretary was preceded by a turf battle between the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and the ministry of finance (MOF). MEA pushed for an official from the Indian Embassy in Beijing to represent the government. MOF staked its claim as the nodal ministry for multilateral development banks and won that tussle. AIIBcould provide long-term funds for India's infrastructure needs and going forward India should pay considered attention to this institution.

In the past one week, first the UK and then France, Germany and Italy have confirmed that they will become founding members of AIIB. As per media reports, South Korea and Australia may also decide to become AIIB members. The US tried to dissuade its Western friends from joining AIIB but even its closest ally the UK decided to break ranks with it. This is the first time that three out of five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, UK and France) and four out of seven G7 members (UK, France, Germany and Italy) have defied the US in the setting up a new multilateral development bank. It is curious that Indian print media has barely covered this novel development.

As of now, there is no similar interest among developed Western countries in becoming members of the New Development Bank (NDB) or the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) to be set up by the five BRICS nations. China appears to be more focussed on getting AIIB up and running. The $50 billion AIIB will be headquartered in Shanghai like the NDB but China will be the dominant share-holder with 49 per cent equity unlike the $10 billion NDB in which the five founder countries have 20 per cent stakes each.

India's relations with China are complicated by sensitive bilateral and wider strategic issues. And, there is not much that India can do if China goes slow in making NDB operational since it is China's economic size and hard currency reserves which could enable NDB to be a major lender. China may prefer to begin with AIIB lending to countries in central Asia and perhaps later use NDB to lend to African or Latin American nations. However, the resulting loan portfolios would raise the exposure of these two institutions to high concentrations of country creditworthiness risk. India could keep its interactions with AIIB and NDB tied closely to its obvious strength as the potentially largest creditworthy borrower.

The World Bank and the ADB have flourished so long because they targeted their cost plus IBRD type lending initially to larger creditworthy borrowers such as India and subsequently China. The poorest countries have mostly received concessional IDA loans which are funded out of grants from developed countries. Borrowers usually baulk at defaulting to Bretton-Woods institutions as even short-term credit from Western commercial sources would not be rolled over, if they did.

China, with a one-party totalitarian communist system, has shown remarkable flexibility and competence in becoming the world's largest economy in purchasing power parity terms (China GDP: $17.6 trillion; US GDP: $17.4 trillion in 2014. Source: IMF). Although China's economic weight continues to grow its clout in Asia is tempered by its territorial and other differences with several neighbouring nations. A counterpoint is that most Asian countries have higher volumes of trade with China than the US.

The immediately relevant issue for the US is an erosion in the dominance of the IMF, World Bank and ADB if the CRA, AIIB and NDB grow in size over time. After former IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn left in disgrace in mid-2011, it was apparent that there were several non-G7 country candidates who were well qualified to replace him. However, yet another European (French) national was appointed. Since then, the US Congress has persistently stood in the way of IMF quota reforms. The principal shareholders of these multilateral institutions refuse to acknowledge that Asian nations are appalled by the lack of transparency in appointments at senior levels and the way these institutions are managed at times. For instance, the World Bank violated its Articles of Agreement in denying India fresh loans after India tested nuclear weapons in May 1998. As per its Articles, political issues should not influence the World Bank's lending policies.

The US has suggested that the AIIB will not follow the high lending standards of existing multilaterals. The World Bank's lending policies were covered in full page advertisements in Washington DC based newspapers about 15 years back when the bank felt it was under unfavourable scrutiny of the US Congress. These advertisements stressed that IBRD loans are used by borrower countries for imports from the US. As for the IMF, it has announced loans to Ukraine and earlier to EU countries somewhat hurriedly. Irrespective of whether these lending decisions were justified or not the IMF should follow the same procedures as it did for Asian nations in the late 1990s.

The World Bank has moved far away from when it used to proactively fund long gestation infrastructure projects. Consequently, AIIB would try to step into that role. The World Bank and ADB now seem to be too driven by the sensibilities of NGOs in developed countries on sustainable development issues. This is not to suggest that such considerations should be ignored. However, should multilateral development banks unilaterally refuse to fund projects in the hydroelectricity-irrigation, thermal and nuclear power sectors? To conclude, any initiative taken by AIIB or NDB to be open-minded about loans for projects in such sectors, in consultation with borrower countries, is likely to be welcomed.

Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan to head Royal Society

Nobel Laureate Sir #VenkatramanRamakrishnan has been confirmed as President Elect of the #RoyalSociety.

His appointment was confirmed by the society’s council met on 19 March 2015 and will assume the charge on 1 December 2015.

He will succeed eminent geneticist Sir Paul Nurse who had taken on the role in 2010 and will step down after the customary 5-year term.

About Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

• Famously known as Venki. He was born in Chidambaram in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.
• He holds B.Sc. degree in physics from Baroda University and Ph.D. from Ohio University, United States.
• In 2003, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
• Ramakrishnan was knighted for services to Molecular Biology in 2012.
• Awards- In 2009, Ramakrishnan was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the precise structure of ribosomes i.e. the molecular machines that manufacture proteins inside all living cells. He shared this Prize with Tom Steitz and Ada Yonath.
• Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2007) and Padma Vibhushan (2010).

About Royal Society

• It is a self-governing fellowship society of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, medicine and engineering.
• Established: 1660.
• Purpose: To support excellence in science, and to encourage its use for the benefit of humanity.

The position President of the Royal Society is most important in British science and existed since 1660. The President of society is a key advocate for science in the UK and the world.

the queue to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (#AIIB) has lengthened with

Germany, France and Italy expressing readiness to join the China-led initiative, overriding objections from the United States, which has been accused by Beijing of adopting a “hypocritical” stance.

“Unfortunately, the bank's launch is being obstructed by the United States - not only does the U.S. itself refuse to join the bank, it is doing its best to prevent some of its allies from becoming founder members as well,” says a commentary published in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Government.

The financial cracks within the post-war Atlantic Alliance, led by the U.S. became visible after Britain decided to participate in

negotiations for joining the AIIB. London’s move has reverberated from Europe to the Asia-Pacific. While core European Union (EU)members led by Germany, a pivotal industrial heavyweight, are shoring up one geographic flank, Australia has also signaled its intent to join AIIB.

South Korea is also emitting strong signals to join the lender, leaving Japan as the sole U.S ally, which shows no signs of changing its mind so far.

The People’s Daily article accused Washington of hypocrisy by not matching its words with deeds. “In recent years, the United States has been urging China to exercise leadership commensurate with its growing strength and to provide more resources to support international development and other constructive initiatives and global goals.

However, as soon as China tries to assume more responsibility, initiate the establishment of the AIIB, and make a greater

contribution to Asian and international development, the United States sticks a spoke in the wheel. Such conduct goes further than short-sightedness; it is blatantly hypocritical”.

According to the China’s stated perception, instead of being seen a rival, the AIIB will complement the Western-backed World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which can lend only 10 billion dollars per year . This is far short of ADB’s own prediction that development of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific requires an infusion of 8 trillion dollars following the decade after 2010.

“The AIIB will fill this huge gap in the field of infrastructure investment in the developing Asian countries,” the commentary said.

An article in the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post (SCMP) berated the U.S. for its “diplomatic debacle” following the revolt by the European countries to join the bank. “Its (Washington’s) clumsy arm-twisting of allies was intended to isolate China and prevent it from forming an alternative institution that could challenge the monopoly of global development policy by the US-led World Bank. Now it's Washington that looks isolated,” said that article.

The write up criticised the US for adopting a “moralistic stance” on the AIIB debate, masking “a naked power struggle” with Beijing, which was also reflected in Washington’s decision to exclude China from membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade deal among 12 countries in the Asia-pacific.
While speaking in favour of the proposed National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), the Centre said before the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the collegium system of appointing judges was illegal.

The government said that the collegium system that was put in place in 1993, wherein a panel of judges appointed other judges, was not mandated under the Constitution.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted before a three-judge bench, presided over by Justice A R Dave, that the new system as mandated under the NJAC is broad-based, which could be put to the test of Constitutional validity only after it comes into force.

“The government is of the view that collegium system is illegal but I would not like to go into it for now. Nowhere is such a system prevalent where judges appointed judges. Can the elected representatives of Parliament not have their say,” he asked. He said that according to the Constitution, only President appoints judges.

Defending the proposed six-member panel to appoint judges, which includes executive members, Rohatgi submitted that several other constitutional posts—like the Comptroller and Auditor General or heads of 25 tribunals that replace high courts—are selected through a system where the executive also plays a role. Rohatgi described a batch of petitions challenging the legality of the NJAC Act as “academic based on surmises and conjectures” since the notification for the proposed law was yet to be passed.

Speaking further on the pleas challenging the NJAC, Rohatgi said: “It is not somebody’s fundamental right to be appointed as judge. The petitioners cannot claim any injury caused to them through the proposed law.”

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Supreme Court Bar Association, contended that the matter could not be heard at present as no act had come in force. He submitted that the case relating to challenge the NJAC Act was also not to be referred to a five-judge bench. Dave claimed that it was a fallacy to claim that the new law would strike the basic structure of the Constitution, that is the independence of judiciary, since its impact and effect were yet to be seen.

#RatanTata to Head Railways #‘Kayakulp’ Council

#RatanTata to Head Railways #‘Kayakulp’ Council
 Taking immediate follow up action in implementing the Budget announcement, the Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has now constituted the ‘Kayakulp’ Council and has appointed Shri Ratan Tata to head this Council. The purpose of the Council is to recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of the Indian Railways.

This Council would be a standing body ad would interact with all stakeholders and other interested parties. This Council would initially also have Shiv Gopal Mishra, General Secretary, All Indian Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) and Dr. M. Raghavaiah, General Secretary, National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR), the two recognized federations representing the railway employees as members.
The other members of the Council would be announced in due course.
This setting up of the Council is yet another fulfillment of the promisemade in the Railway Budget Speech. The Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu while presenting the Railway Budget 2015-16 in Parliament on 26th February 2015 said –“Every dynamic and thriving organization needs to innovate and re-invent its practices. In accordance with the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister for Innovation, Technology Development and Manufacturing, the Indian Railways intend to set up an innovation council called “Kayakalp” for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovative in Railways.”

Former Lok Sabha #MeiraKumar’s book entitled #“Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy – Speaker’s Perspective” was released on 19 March 2015.

The book was released by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and its first copy was presented to the President Pranab Mukherjee at a function held in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

The book features an account of the parliamentary diplomacy and its role in furthering foreign policy and strengthening international relations.

uppcs-2015 pre admit card is out.samveg ias

‪#‎uppcs2015pre‬ ‪#‎admitcard‬

exam on :29-03-2015

http://uppsc.up.nic.in/AdmitCard.aspx