Sivan K named new ISRO chairman

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, will visit Bihar tomorrow (January 11, 2018) to inaugurate the 4th International Conference on Dharma-Dhamma at Rajgir.

The Conference is being organised by Nalanda University in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Religion and Society, India Foundation, and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, with an aim to provide an opportunity to academics and policy makers from India and abroad to share ideas and build collaboration for a better world.

Sivan K named new ISRO chairman
The government appoints renowned scientist Sivan K as the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to replace of A.S. Kiran Kumar
The announcement comes two days ahead of the proposed historic launch of the ISRO's 100th satellite along with 30 others in a single mission from Sriharikota.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Sivan's appointment as secretary, Department of Space and chairman of Space Commission for a tenure of three years, an order issued by the personnel ministry said.

Sivan, at present Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, will succeed Kumar who took over as ISRO chairman on 12 January 2015.

Sivan graduated from Madras Institute of Technology in aeronautical engineering in 1980 and completed Master of Engineering in Aerospace engineering from IISc, Bangalore in 1982, according to his biodata. Subsequently, he completed his PhD in Aerospace engineering from IIT, Bombay in 2006.

Sivan joined the ISRO in 1982 in Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project and has contributed immensely towards end to end mission planning, mission design, mission integration and analysis. He held various responsibilities during his stint in ISRO.

Sivan has numerous publications in various journals and is a fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, Aeronautical Society of India and Systems Society of India. He has received various awards throughout his career which includes Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Sathyabama University, Chennai in April 2014 and Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr Vikram Sarabhai Research award for 1999.

Manali Girl Aanchal Thakur Brings Home India's First Skiing Medal

Manali Girl Aanchal Thakur Brings Home India's First Skiing Medal
Aanchal Thakur created history when she became the first Indian to win an international medal in skiing after winning Bronze at the prestigious Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup.

FDI policy further liberalized in key sectors

FDI policy further liberalized in key sectors

Cabinet approves amendments in FDI policy
100% FDI under automatic route for Single Brand Retail Trading
100% FDI under automatic route in Construction Development
Foreign airlines allowed to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India
FIIs/FPIs allowed to invest in Power Exchanges through primary market
Definition of ‘medical devices’ amended in the FDI Policy

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to a number of amendments in the FDI Policy. These are intended to liberalise and simplify the FDI policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country. In turn, it will lead to larger FDI inflows contributing to growth of investment, income and employment.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a major driver of economic growth and a source of non-debt finance for the economic development of the country. Government has put in place an investor friendly policy on FDI, under which FDI up to 100%, is permitted on the automatic route in most sectors/ activities. In the recent past, the Government has brought FDI policy reforms in a number of sectors viz. Defence, Construction Development, Insurance, Pension, Other Financial Services, Asset reconstruction Companies, Broadcasting, Civil Aviation, Pharmaceuticals, Trading etc.

Measures undertaken by the Government have resulted in increased FDI inflows in to the country. During the year 2014-15, total FDI inflows received were US $ 45.15 billion as against US $ 36.05 billion in 2013-14. During 2015-16, country received total FDI of US $ 55.46 billion. In the financial year 2016-17, total FDI of US $ 60.08 billion has been received, which is an all-time high.

It has been felt that the country has potential to attract far more foreign investment which can be achieved by further liberalizing and simplifying the FDI regime. Accordingly, the Government has decided to introduce a number of amendments in the FDI Policy.

Details:

Government approval no longer required for FDI in Single Brand Retail Trading (SBRT)

(i) Extant FDI policy on SBRT allows 49% FDI under automatic route, and FDI beyond 49% and up to 100% through Government approval route. It has now been decided to permit 100% FDI under automatic route for SBRT.

(ii) It has been decided to permit single brand retail trading entity to set off its incremental sourcing of goods from India for global operations during initial 5 years, beginning 1st April of the year of the opening of first store against the mandatory sourcing requirement of 30% of purchases from India. For this purpose, incremental sourcing will mean the increase in terms of value of such global sourcing from India for that single brand (in INR terms) in a particular financial year over the preceding financial year, by the non-resident entities undertaking single brand retail trading entity, either directly or through their group companies. After completion of this 5 year period, the SBRT entity shall be required to meet the 30% sourcing norms directly towards its India’s operation, on an annual basis.

(iii) A non-resident entity or entities, whether owner of the brand or otherwise, is permitted to undertake ‘single brand’ product retail trading in the country for the specific brand, either directly by the brand owner or through a legally tenable agreement executed between the Indian entity undertaking single brand retail trading and the brand owner.

Civil Aviation

As per the extant policy, foreign airlines are allowed to invest under Government approval route in the capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital. However, this provision was presently not applicable to Air India, thereby implying that foreign airlines could not invest in Air India. It has now been decided to do away with this restriction and allow foreign airlines to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India subject to the conditions that:

Foreign investment(s) in Air India including that of foreign Airline(s) shall not exceed 49% either directly or indirectly
Substantial ownership and effective control of Air India shall continue to be vested in Indian National.
Construction Development: Townships, Housing, Built-up Infrastructure and Real Estate Broking Services

It has been decided to clarify that real-estate broking service does not amount to real estate business and is therefore, eligible for 100% FDI under automatic route.

Power Exchanges

Extant policy provides for 49% FDI under automatic route in Power Exchanges registered under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power Market) Regulations, 2010. However, FII/FPI purchases were restricted to secondary market only. It has now been decided to do away with this provision, thereby allowing FIIs/FPIs to invest in Power Exchanges through primary market as well.

Other Approval Requirements under FDI Policy:

(i) As per the extant FDI policy, issue of equity shares against non-cash considerations like pre-incorporation expenses, import of machinery etc. is permitted under Government approval route. It has now been decided that issue of shares against non-cash considerations like pre-incorporation expenses, import of machinery etc. shall be permitted under automatic route in case of sectors under automatic route.

(ii) Foreign investment into an Indian company, engaged only in the activity of investing in the capital of other Indian company/ies/ LLP and in the Core Investing Companies is presently allowed upto 100% with prior Government approval. It has now been decided to align FDI policy on these sectors with FDI policy provisions on Other Financial Services. Thus, if the above activities are regulated by any financial sector regulator, then foreign investment upto 100% under automatic route shall be allowed; and, if they are not regulated by any Financial Sector Regulator or where only part is regulated or where there is doubt regarding the regulatory oversight, foreign investment up to 100% will be allowed under Government approval route, subject to conditions including minimum capitalization requirement, as may be decided by the Government.

Competent Authority for examining FDI proposals from countries of concern

As per the existing procedures, FDI applications involving investments from Countries of Concern, requiring security clearance as per the extant FEMA 20, FDI Policy and security guidelines, amended from time to time, are to be processed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for investments falling under automatic route sectors/activities, while cases pertaining to government approval route sectors/activities requiring security clearance are to be processed by the respective Administrative Ministries/Departments, as the case may be. It has now been decided that for investments in automatic route sectors, requiring approval only on the matter of investment being from country of concern, FDI applications would be processed by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) for Government approval. Cases under the government approval route, also requiring security clearance with respect to countries of concern, will continue to be processed by concerned Administrative Department/Ministry.

Pharmaceuticals:

FDI policy on Pharmaceuticals sector inter-alia provides that definition of medical device as contained in the FDI Policy would be subject to amendment in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. As the definition as contained in the policy is complete in itself, it has been decided to drop the reference to Drugs and Cosmetics Act from FDI policy. Further, it has also been decided to amend the definition of ‘medical devices’ as contained in the FDI Policy.

Prohibition of restrictive conditions regarding audit firms:

The extant FDI policy does not have any provisions in respect of specification of auditors that can be appointed by the Indian investee companies receiving foreign investments. It has been decided to provide in the FDI policy that wherever the foreign investor wishes to specify a particular auditor/audit firm having international network for the Indian investee company, then audit of such investee companies should be carried out as joint audit wherein one of the auditors should not be part of the same network.

The number was discovered using a computer software called GIMPS which looks for Mersenne prime numbers.

The number was discovered using a computer software called GIMPS which looks for Mersenne prime numbers.

Last week, a very big number — over 23 million digits long — became the “largest known prime number”.

The number 277,232,917-1, having 23,249,425 digits.(power of 2), was discovered using a software called GIMPS, which allows volunteers to search for Mersenne prime numbers (more on that below). Jonathan Pace, a volunteer from Tennessee, made the discovery on December 26, and it was further confirmed using four different programs on four different pieces of hardware.

In case you want to look at the 23-million-digit number, here is the link: http://www.mersenne.org/primes/digits/M77232917.zip

What are prime numbers and why are they important?
A prime number is a number that can only be divided by itself and by 1. For example: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and so on.

British mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, in his book The Music of the Primes, writes, “Prime numbers are the very atoms of arithmetic. The prime numbers 2, 3 and 5 are the hydrogen, helium and lithium in the mathematician's laboratory. Mastering these building blocks offers the...hope of discovering new ways...through the vast complexities of the mathematical world.”

Dr. Baskar Balasubramanyam, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics, IISER Pune, explained in detail about the new discovery in an e-mail to The Hindu:

Why is the new number called a Mersenne prime number?
Mersenne prime is a prime number of the form 2n-1. For example, 7 = 23-1 and is a prime, so it is a Mersenne prime.

One the other hand 11 is a prime, but it is not of the form 2n-1. So it is not a Mersenne prime. Not all numbers of the form 2n-1 are primes either. For example, 24-1 = 15 is not a prime.

The GIMPS project looks at such numbers to figure out which of them are going to be primes.

So, through this software can we find bigger prime numbers?
One of the oldest theorems in mathematics (the Euclid theorem) says that there are infinitely many primes. So we are going to find larger and larger primes.

For number theorists, it is also important to understand if there are infinitely many primes that fit a particular pattern. For example, are there infinitely many primes of the form 4n+1? The answer is yes.

We still don't know if there are infinitely many Mersenne primes. Another 'family' that is of much interest are the Twin Primes (primes that are separated by 2 like 11 and 13).

Can you tell me about the applications of prime numbers?
One of the major applications of primality testing (testing whether a number is prime) is in cryptography (Cryptography, which is derived from the Greek word for the study of secret messaging, involves sharing information via secret codes).

This is based on the following principle: multiplying two numbers is easy, factoring a number is hard. For cryptographic applications, we need a number N that is a product of two primes p and q (N = pq). The value of N is public information, but it is very difficult to find p and q just by knowing the value of N — there are lots of possibilities for p and q.

Our credit cards, cell phones, all depend on cryptography.

Cabinet approves continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme beyond 12th Plan

Cabinet approves continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme beyond 12th Plan
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to continuation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) till the term of the 14th Finance Commission i.e. 31.03.2020.

Details:

The Scheme would entail an annual allocation of Rs. 3,950 crore and a total outlay of Rs. 11,850 crores over the next three years with an additional annual allocation of Rs. 5 crore per year for monitoring through independent agency(ies) and for capacity building/training to State/District officials to be imparted by the Ministry.

The MPLADS funds are released to the nodal District Authorities on receipt of requisite documents and as per provisions of Guidelines on MPLADS.

Impact:

The entire population across the country stands to benefit through creation of durable assets of locally felt needs, namely drinking water, education, public health, sanitation and roads etc., under MPLAD Scheme.

The MPLAD Scheme has resulted into creation of various durable community assets which have impacted the social, cultural and economic life of the local communities in one way or the other.

Background:

The MPLAD Scheme is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme which was launched in 1993-94. Since the inception of the Scheme till August, 2017, a total number of 18,82,180 works for Rs. 44,929.17 crore have been sanctioned from MPLADS fund.

The Scheme enables the Members of Parliament to recommend works for creation of durable community assets based on locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies in the area of national priorities namely drinking water, education, public health, sanitation, roads etc. The Scheme is governed by a set of guidelines, which have been last revised in June, 2016.

सरकारें judiciary के हस्तक्षेप का इंतजार क्यों करती हैं.

is UPSC JUST MATTER OF LUCK?CAN SOME BEAT IT BY HARD WORK WITHOUT LUCK??????

is UPSC JUST MATTER OF LUCK?CAN SOME BEAT IT BY HARD WORK WITHOUT LUCK??????
READ SOME THOUGHT SHARED BY FAILED ASPIRANTS ON FORUMIAS
ABSOLUTELY TRUE...........................

This game is more luck than one can ever imagine. People who clear it in their first attempt usually talk about their 'strategy' 'unconventional approach' 'unique method of studying' and what not. Bullshit I call it.
This is just Russian roulette.There is no pattern,no strategy, nothing. Hard work- yes. But not everyone who works hard is rewarded equally. Only those who are sufficiently lucky will get their hard work rewarded.
Yes I sound like the fox who said the grapes are sour. Because right now, i am that creature. Didn't the fox work hard though? Didn't it jump many times? But was it rewarded? NO!
And to the coaching people- please don't start over with your 'right guidance' with the right people speech. I was a student of MGP, followed almost every test with my mentors, worked upon the feedback- diagram, heading, underline etc, made diligent notes, did multiple revisions, kept a positive attitude, didn't waste my time with extra material or any vices, didn't hang out with people/friends who could waste my time, prayed daily, had good food as far as possible in Delhi. Put in even more hard work for optional since I had low marks in that in my first attempt.. Outcome- zilch. nada.

I only wish somebody could tell me with full certainty that all my effort would be rewarded.....
.......................................
The only truth about this exam is that there is no certainty, no guarantee, no method. Doing everything well, doing everything required and doing everything recommended still does not guarantee results.

The worse part is that 95% of those who make the cut start glorifying their methods, strategies, hardwork, focus, dedication, self belief and their brilliance. I agree it's just a bunch of junk - all this talk. Because for all that they did, there were probably 4 more people who did the same with the same dedication and hardwork and probably even more, but they lost out on luck. 90% hardwork and 10% luck? But it's a weighted average where it comes down to 50% hardwork+strategy etc and 50% luck.

I have spent 5 years (and counting) in the addiction of this exam and I know that nothing, absolutely nothing can take away this pain, this hurt. No words can help. I can't find an appropriate metaphor but it's probably like a bullet stuck inside ones chest. Can't take it out, can't live with the pain.

But I know one thing. I know it. I don't know if I believe in it or not, because when the time comes, I'm unable to practice this thought immediately to my own life. God/super power is not blind. This amount of hardwork, focus and dedication CANNOT go waste. One never knows where life might give happiness. And where this accumulated karma will shine. But it will. Mark these words. It will.

Mrunal today might be getting a ton more blessings and heartfelt wishes than an IAS officer. I don't know him. I don't know whether he's a happy person or not. But I know some rankers. With the best of cadres, and otherwise too, abundantly blessed materialistically in life - what all one aspires for. But they are not happy. I know that. I know them personally well enough to know this. I am still wearing glasses tinted with the colour of this exam. I am not able to let go. But once I will, I know I'll be able to choose which life is more rewarding and content. A life which has the elusive happiness.

But till the time one is in the pursuit, I personally believe the only goal one can strive for is understanding the true meaning of nishkaam karma. If God indeed said this shloka He meant - you have the right to work hard but not the right over the results thereof. And neither are you the reason for your success and nor should you become attached to inaction.

We're all in the same boat, to be honest. Take your time. Don't listen to any nonsense on how to write the exam. Listen to your heart. And believe that all will be well. That's how the cycle of life and karma completes itself. You can't see the dawn right now but it doesn't mean there won't be a sunrise. Have faith that something awesome will come out of all this hardwork