About Amur Falcons:

Thousands of Amur falcons, small birds of prey that undertake one of the longest migrations have started arriving in Wokha district in Nagaland and Tamenglong district of Manipur. Wokha district is a declared second home of the Amur falcons.

 About Amur Falcons:

• Amur falcons are the longest travelling raptors in the world. They weigh just 150 grams.
• Males are mostly grey in colour and the females have dark-streaked cream or orange underparts.
• The species flies non-stop from Mongolia to northeast India covering 5,600 km in five days and nights, a small part of its 22,000 km circular migratory journey.
• The birds halt briefly in Myanmar. After a month or so, they reach central and western India en route to South Africa.
• Until recently, Naga tribesmen used to hunt thousands of Amur falcons for meat. But, after a vigorous campaign by wildlife activists, they have pledged to protect the bird and since then, not a single bird has been hunted in the area.

Noble prize 2016 in sciences

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos
The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 has been awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts to end his country's 50-year civil war.

Mr Santos negotiated a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group but the peace deal was rejected by a narrow majority of Colombians when it was put to referendum.
“The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace, and to all the parties who have contributed to the peace process,” said a statement by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
”Thank you from the bottom of my heart and in the name of all the Colombians, especially the victims.” President Santos said on being awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
On hearing the news, President Santos immediately emphasised that he received the award on behalf of his fellow citizens. We reached him straight after he had received the call from the Norwegian Nobel Committee: ”It’s simply a matter of believing in a cause and there is no better cause for any society, for any country, than living in Peace.”
One of the five prizes instituted by Alfred Nobel, the Peace Prize is awarded to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Last year’s Peace Prize went to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.”

Physics Nobel awarded to three
They get the award "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter."
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2016 has been divided, one half awarded to David J. Thouless, the other half jointly to F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter."

Announcing the Prize on Tuesday in Stockholm, a statement by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that “This year’s Laureates opened the door on an unknown world where matter can assume strange states. They have used advanced mathematical methods to study unusual phases, or states, of matter, such as superconductors, superfluids or thin magnetic films. Thanks to their pioneering work, the hunt is now on for new and exotic phases of matter.”
Last year, Physics Nobel was awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. MacDonald for their work with neutrinos.

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Why the Nobel Prize winning discovery of autophagy matters
Disruption of autophagy processes of the cell has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes.
Nobel laureate Yoshinori Ohsumi’s work on mechanisms underlying autophagy — a fundamental process of degrading and recycling cellular components — has generated much interest in the science behind the biological process. In this article, we will aim to explain the significance of this discovery and the earlier work in this area.
What is autophagy?
The word autophagy originates from Greek words auto, meaning “self”, and phagein, meaning “to eat”, according to the release put up on the Nobel Prize website. The concept emerged during the 1960s, when researchers first observed that the cell could destroy its own contents by enclosing it in membranes – autophagosomes - for degradation.
Scientists discovered during the 1950s that the cell contained specialised compartments, with enzymes that digest proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. These compartments also helped with degradation of cellular constituents. During the 1970s and 1980s, researchers explained the working of a system used to degrade proteins.
Experiments on autophagy
Professor Ohsumi started working on protein degradation in the vacuole (the fluid-filled pocket found in the cell) in 1988. At that time scientists used yeast cells as a model for human cells. But he faced a major challenge; yeast cells are small and their inner structures are not easily distinguished under the microscope and thus he was uncertain whether autophagy even existed in this organism.
But he reasoned that if he could disrupt the degradation process in the vacuole while the process of autophagy was active, then autophagosomes should accumulate within the vacuole and become visible under the microscope. He cultured mutated yeast lacking vacuolar degradation enzymes and simultaneously stimulated autophagy by starving the cells. Within hours, the vacuoles were filled with small vesicles that had not been degraded. His experiment proved that authophagy existed in yeast cells. He had also figured out the method to identify and characterise key genes involved in this process. This was a major breakthrough.
Within a year of his discovery of autophagy in yeast, Professor Ohsumi had identified the first genes essential for autophagy. He studied thousands of yeast mutants and identified 15 genes that are essential for autophagy. Subsequently, he characterised the proteins encoded by these genes according to their function. The results showed that autophagy is controlled by a cascade of proteins and protein complexes, each regulating a distinct stage of autophagosome initiation and formation.
Professor Ohsumi studied the function of the proteins encoded by key autophagy genes. He outlined how stress signals initiated autophagy and the mechanism by which proteins and protein complexes promoted distinct stages of autophagosome formation.
Physiological functions
Autophagy can rapidly provide fuel for energy and building blocks for renewal of cellular components, and is, therefore, essential for the cellular response to starvation and other types of stress. After infection, autophagy can eliminate invading intracellular bacteria and viruses. Autophagy contributes to embryo development and cell differentiation. Cells also use autophagy to eliminate damaged proteins and organelles, a quality control mechanism that is critical for counteracting the negative consequences of aging.
Disruption of the autophagy processes of the cell has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes and other disorders that appear in the elderly. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause genetic disease. Disturbances in the autophagic machinery have also been linked to cancer. Efforts are on to develop drugs that can target autophagy in various diseases.
If not for ProfessorOhsumi’s research in the 1990s, the world would not have known the fundamental importance of autophagy in physiology and medicine.
Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi smiles as he answers a reporter's question after learning that he won this year's Nobel Prize in medicine at the Tokyo Institute of Technology campus in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Monday.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to builders of molecular machines

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says molecular machines "will most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems".

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2016 has been awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for developing molecular machines.

Announcing the Prize on Wednesday in Stockholm, a statement from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said,"The development of computing demonstrates how the miniaturisation of technology can lead to a revolution. The 2016 Nobel laureates in Chemistry have miniaturised machines and taken chemistry to a new dimension."

They have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added... Molecular machines will most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems," it said. 

 

UKPSC-2016 NOTIFICATION IS OUT.

UKPSC-2016 NOTIFICATION IS OUT.
New batch for UKPCS -2016 : 18th & 25th October
सम्मिलित राज्य सिविल/प्रवर अधीनस्थ सेवा परीक्षा-2016 हेतु विज्ञापन, पाठ्यक्रम एवं ऑन लाईन आवेदन पत्र
http://www.ukpsc.gov.in/files/PCS_-2016__Advt..pdf

 

Salient features of the National policy for women empowerment:

The Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development Maneka Gandhi has unveiled a draft of National Policy for Women, 2016, which will replace the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001. The draft has been unveiled for comments and consultation. Apart from the safety issues, the draft also seeks to address the emerging challenges confronting Indian women.
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Salient features of the National policy for women empowerment:
To create a society with women working as equal partners in all spheres of life
To develop a framework to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women
To make cyber space a safe place for women and to address "redistribution of gender roles, for reducing unpaid care work, review of personal and customary laws in accordance with the Constitutional provisions and many more."
It also seeks to review the criminalisation of marital rape keeping women's rights in mind
Health and education of women have been kept a priority in the proposed draft
The draft has proposed to "improve access to pre-primary education, enrolment and retention of adolescent girls."
To carry out skill development and provide equal employment opportunities
To provide suitable benefits related to maternity and child care services
The draft plans to increase women's participation in the political, administration, civil services and corporate boardrooms arena
To address all forms of violence against women
To improve child sex ratio (CSR)
To prevent trafficking at source, transit and destination areas for effective monitoring of the networks
Operational strategies
To enable safety and security of women with the help of "One Stop Centres, Women Helpline, Mahila Police Volunteers, Reservation of women in police force, Panic buttons in mobiles, Surveillance mechanisms in public places."
To create eco-systems to encourage entrepreneurship amongst women. This has been proposed to be done through podiums like Mahila E-Haat etc
Aiding women in workplace through "flexi timings, increased maternity leave, provision of child care/creches at workplace, life cycle health care facilities."

India will host the 8th BRICS Summit, in Goa on 15-16 October 2016

India will host the 8th BRICS Summit, in Goa on 15-16 October 2016 during its Chairmanship of BRICS, which it assumed on 15 February 2016.
As the precursor the same, the 4th BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Ministerial Meeting was convened on 8 October, 2016 at Jaipur to further strengthen the collaboration amongst the BRICS countries in the areas of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). The meeting was chaired by the Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil, Mr. Álvaro Toubes Prata; Deputy Minister of Federation of Russia, Mr. Alexey Lopatia; Vice Minister of S&T of Peoples Republic of China, H.E.Mr. Jiang Hua; Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa H.E. Madam Naledi Pandor led their respective country delegations.
While welcoming the BRICS country Ministerial delegates, Dr Harshvardhan elucidated; “During our Chairmanship we are adopting a five-pronged approach, viz. Institution Building, Implementation, Integration, Innovation and Continuity. Our emphasis is on institution building, implementation of previous commitments, tapping synergies of the existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms, exploring some new areas of cooperation and maintaining continuity in the existing areas.”
In alignment with the theme of India’s Chairmanship - Building, Responsive Inclusive and Collective Solutions, the Jaipur Declaration was unanimously adopted by all the BRICS countries. The member countries resolved to intensify, diversify and institutionalize STI cooperation through the BRICS research & innovation initiative.
During India’s Chairmanship, significant progress have been achieved in joint knowledge creation in the areas of Photonics; Material Science & Nanotechnology; Biotechnology & Biomedical Sciences; Energy; Geospatial Technology; Astronomy; Prevention & Mitigation of Natural Disaster, Water and Solid State Lighting.
In fulfillment of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi’s special attention on engagement of youth, who comprises 65% of workforce of BRICS countries together, India hosted the 1st BRICS Young Scientists Conclave at Bengaluru and Hampi last week. More than 40 young scientists from BRICS countries participated in the event and discussed some exciting ideas in the field of affordable healthcare, energy solutions and computational intelligence. In order to stimulate and encourage young minds, BRICS Innovative Idea Prize for Young Scientists has been instituted.
In order to harness the innovativeness of the youth, India’s proposal to establish a BRICS Science and Technology driven Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnership Programme was agreed by all the member countries.

Why the 2016 economics Nobel for contract theory really matters

Why the 2016 economics Nobel for contract theory really matters
Contracts design defines our incentives in various situations in the real world. The works of Nobel laureates Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom provide valuable insights
The decision to award the Nobel Prize in economics this year to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom for their work in contract theory is further proof that some of the best work in economics is being done to understand the rules of the game—and the contracts that determine our actions in the real world.
Most of us sign contracts. Why do we do so? Take the contracts we enter into with our employers, for example. There are two main reasons.
First, a contract helps the two sides of the deal work together over a long period of time. Think of what would happen if each company would have to search for new employees at the start of every day, or vice versa.
Second, the contract creates rules that allow agents with different interests to cooperate to achieve some goal. No market economy can work without such cooperation premised on trust but also backed by the law. How contracts are designed defines our incentives in various situations in the real world.
There are various nuances in our contracts. They could be formal or informal, depending on whether they are enforced by law or social norms. They could be complete or incomplete, which is based on whether they take into account all possibilities that lay in the future.
One side of a contract may know more than the other because of information asymmetry, so insurance companies, for example, may end up covering people with health problems rather than the healthy, through what is called adverse selection.
There are also agency problems—as when managers who are under contract with shareholders actually try to maximize their own earnings rather than those of their shareholders.
Contract theory helps us understand these problems. And helps us solve them through better contract design. Take a simple informal contract. A harried mother has to leave the house for a couple of hours. She is worried her two children will bring the house down by fighting over a large piece of cake in the refrigerator.
The mother leaves a simple instruction—the elder child will cut the cake while the younger one will choose which piece to eat. Now, the elder child cannot cheat. The mother has aligned their interests—or achieved incentive compatibility—through an informal contract.
Contract theory is not just about such parlour games. In two landmark papers written in 1979 and 1991, Holmstrom provided the principles that can help companies draw up contracts to ensure that managers do not sacrifice the long-term health of the firm in pursuit of bonuses linked to short-term performance.
This was precisely the problem in Wall Street before the 2008 financial crisis — investment bankers took excess risks to earn their annual bonuses while those very risky bets almost destroyed the financial system.
Hart has similarly written seminal papers on using contract theory in mergers, acquisitions, corporate ownership and vertical integration. One of his most cited papers was written with Sandy Grossman in 1986. Once again, think of the recent controversy over the non-compete clause for Analjit Singh in the merger between HDFC Life and Max Life. There is contract theory at work again here.
It is with good reason that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has said on the official Nobel website: “The contributions by the laureates have helped us understand many of the contracts we observe in real life. They have also given us new ways of thinking about how contracts should be designed, both in private markets and in the realm of public policy.” The use of contract theory in public policy is something that the Indian government needs to learn, be it the design of telecom auctions or the public distribution system.
The fact that the 2016 Nobel Prize in economics has gone to two giants of contract theory tells us something else as well. Most of the public attention is lavished on macroeconomics and the related dark art of forecasting. This is where the crisis of economics is the deepest.
Since 1991, 22 economists have been awarded Nobel Prizes for their work in the overlapping fields of new institutional economics, game theory, industrial organization, contract theory and information asymmetry. Let us start counting: Ronald Coase, Douglass North, John Harsanyi, John Nash, Reinhard Selten, James Mirrlees, William Vickrey, George Akerlof, Michael Spence, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Aumann, Thomas Schelling, Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, Roger Myerson, Elinor Ostrom, Oliver Williamson, Alvin Roth, Lloyd Shapley, Jean Tirole—and now Hart and Holmstrom.
Their combined work helps us understand our interactions with others—and design better rules so that social outcomes are better than before.

current affairs 10th october -upsc/ukpcs

1--------------------Nasa has developed a new high-tech material that uses electricity to significantly promote healing of injured wounds.
The material, called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has numerous possible applications, including wound healing

2---------------India’s first international arbitration centre

The Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA), India’s first international arbitration centre, was recently inaugurated in Mumbai.

This is being seen as a major step towards making Mumbai an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and providing an arbitration platform for Indian business houses to negotiate commercial disputes.

Key facts:
The MCIA will be an independent, not-for-profit organisation governed by a council comprising eminent national and international legal luminaries.
It can resolve disputes between different companies or individual.
It will have a 12-month timeline to complete arbitration seated in India and a prescribed fee structure as per the size of the disputed contract amount, which will enable both parties to know the cost of arbitral proceedings before they approach MCIA.
3---------------
Construction of world’s tallest building begins in Dubai
The tower, which will be the world’s tallest building by 2020, is part of the 6 sq-km Dubai Creek Harbour real estate project
Construction on what will be the world’s tallest building by 2020 has officially started in Dubai, home to Burj Khalifa, currently world’s tallest man-made structure.

Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, laid the foundation stone on 10 October for the Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour, according to a statement by the Dubai government’s media office.
“Years ago, we launched Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world,” Sheikh Mohammed said in the statement. “Today, we are celebrating the foundation of a new structure that represents another phase in our journey to be at the forefront of growth in various sectors.”
The project comes even as economic growth in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, is expected to be the slowest since 2010 after crude oil prices fell by more than half. Home prices may drop by 10% in 2017 after a decline of about 7% this year, according to Jesse Downs, managing director at real estate consultant Phidar Advisory.
The tower is part of the 6 square-kilometer (3.7 square-miles) Dubai Creek Harbour real estate project, a joint venture between Emaar Properties PJSC and Dubai Holding LLC. It is designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed New York City’s new transportation hub at the World Trade Center.
The tower will be “a notch taller” than the 828-meter Burj Khalifa, also developed by Emaar, the company’s chairman Mohamed Alabbar, said when the project was first announced in April. Bloomberg