University of Hyderabad wins visitor’s award for ‘Best University’

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will present Visitor’s Awards for Central Universities in the categories of ‘Best University’, ‘Innovation’ and ‘Research’ for the year 2015 at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on February 4, 2015. This function will coincide with the third Conference of Vice Chancellors of Central Universities scheduled to be held from February 4-5, 2015. The Visitor’s Award for the ‘Best University’ will be awarded to University of Hyderabad. Visitor’s Award for ‘Innovation’ will be given to Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary and Dr. Amita Gupta of University of Delhi who have invented ‘TB Confirm’, a rapid diagnostic test for Tuberculosis. The Visitor’s Award for ‘Research’ will be presented to Cosmology and Astrophysics Research Group, Centre for Theoretical Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia for path breaking research carried out in the field of Astrophysics and Cosmology. The ‘Best University’ will receive a Citation and Trophy while winners of Visitors’ Award for ‘Innovation’ and ‘Research’ will receive a Citation and cash award of Rs. one lakh. The President had announced institution of these awards at the Vice Chancellors’ Conference last year with the aim of promoting healthy competition amongst Central Universities and motivating them to adopt best practices from across the world. For selecting the winners, online applications were invited from all Central Universities for each category. A Selection Committee comprising of Smt. Omita Paul, Secretary to the President as Chairperson and Secretary, Department of Higher Education, MHRD; Secretary, Department of Science & Technology; Chairman, UGC; Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons of National Innovation Foundation; Director-General, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Director IIT Delhi as members chose the winners of the Awards.

Make in India - Defence Sector

Achieving self-reliance and reducing dependence on foreign countries in defence is a necessity today rather than a choice, both for strategic and economic reasons.  The Government in the past has created production capabilities in defence in form of Ordnance Factories and Public Sector Undertakings to cater to the requirements of our Armed Forces. However, there is a need to enlarge the role of Indian private sector as well to develop capabilities and capacities for production of various defence equipments. 

            Our Prime Minister has taken a very important initiative in form of ‘Make in India’ to promote and encourage domestic manufacturing of various items.  The requirement for domestic production of defence equipment is more than for any other sector because it will not only save precious foreign exchange but will also address the national security concerns.

            Government being the only consumer, ‘Make in India’ in defence sector will be driven by our procurement policy.  The Government policy of promoting domestic defence industry is adequately reflected in the Defence Procurement Policy, wherein preferential treatment is given to ‘Buy (Indian)’ and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ categories of acquisition over ‘Buy (Global)’.  In the days to come, import is going to be the rarest of the rare option and first opportunity would be given to the Indian Industry to develop and manufacture the required systems.  As Indian companies presently may not have adequate capabilities in terms of technology, they are encouraged to partner with foreign companies for joint ventures, technology transfer arrangements and tie-ups.

            If we look at the profile of Acceptance of Necessity (AONs) granted by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in the last couple of months after the new Government has come to power, proposals worth more than Rs.65,000 crores have been categorized under ‘Buy (Indian)’ and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’. The process of further orienting the Defence Procurement Procedure towards procurement from domestic industry will continue in future as well.  The procurement process would be made more efficient, time bound and predictable so that the industry can plan its investment and R & D well in advance to meet the requirement of our armed forces.

            Till now, there were many entry barriers for the domestic industry to enter into defence sector in terms of licensing, FDI policy restrictions etc.  In the last six months, the Government has taken several policy initiatives to ease the process of entry into defence manufacturing.  The most important is the liberalization of the FDI policy regime for Defence sector to encourage foreign investment in the sector.  FDI up to 49% is allowed through Government route (with FIPB approval).  FDI above 49% is also allowed on a case-to-case basis with the approval of Cabinet Committee on Security wherever the proposal is likely to result in access to modern and state-of-the-art technology in the country. Restrictions in earlier policy related to Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) and majority shareholding to be held by single Indian shareholder have been removed.

            Even though private sector industry was allowed to enter in defence manufacturing since 2001, after obtaining industrial licence under IDR Act, the process of obtaining industrial licence was very cumbersome and used to act as a major road block for the industry, particularly small and medium industry, who were in the business of making part, components, sub systems and sub-assemblies.  The Government liberalized the licensing policy and now most of the components, parts, raw materials, testing equipments, production machinery, castings, forgings etc. have been taken out from the purview of licensing. The companies desirous of manufacturing such items no longer require industrial licence and will also not be subjected to FDI ceiling of 49%.  A comprehensive Security Manual indicating the security architecture to be followed by various class of industries has been put in public domain, so that companies could easily access the same and follow it accordingly. The initial validity of industrial licence has been increased from two to three years.

            For the first time, a Defence Export Strategy has been formulated and has been put in public domain. The strategy outlines specific initiatives to be taken by the Government for encouraging the export of defence items. It is aimed at making the domestic industry more sustainable in the long run as the industry cannot sustain purely on domestic demand. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for issue of NOC for export of military stores has been finalised and has also been put in public domain. Requirement of End User Certificate (EUC) to be signed and stamped by Government authorities has been dispensed with for most of the defence items, particularly parts, components, sub-systems and sub-assemblies. This will largely ease out the export by the domestic industry. A web-based online system to receive applications for NOC for export of military stores has been developed and has been put in place.

            There is a big opportunity in the defence sector for both domestic and foreign investors. We have the third largest armed force in the world with an annual budget of about US$ 38 billion and 40% of this is used for capital acquisition. In the next 7-8 years, we would be investing more than US$ 130 billion in modernization of our armed forces and with the present policy of MAKE IN INDIA, the onus is now on the industry to make best use of this opportunity for the benefit of both the business as well as the nation. Besides, under offset more than Rs. 25000 crore obligations are to be discharged in next 7-8 years.

            While on the one hand, Government is making necessary policy changes with regard to procurement, investment including FDI, licensing, export etc., the industry also needs to come up and accept the challenge of up-gradation in terms of technology and required investments. Defence is the sector which requires huge investments and technology and is driven by innovation. The industry, therefore, has also to change its mindset and think for long term rather than temporary gains. We need to focus more on Research and Development and state of the art manufacturing capabilities. The Government is fully committed to create an eco-system for the domestic industry to rise and to provide a level-playing field to all sectors of industry, both public and private.

Notification for UPPCS-2015 PRE IS OUT,samveg ias

Last date :28-02-15
pre exam date : 29-03-15
Mains exam date : 17-06-15
No of vacancies : 450

Note : no change in mains pattern.still two optional in mains.dear candidate before UPSC ,IT IS GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAR AND PRACTICE IN UPPCS.

http://uppsc.up.nic.in/View_Enclosure.aspx?ID=103&flag=E&FID=334

Building a molecular lego to fight malaria and TB

Tuberculosis and malaria are the most prevalent diseases that kill mankind today. Currently available methods and drugs are unable to stem the tide. This is why governments, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and others are investing large sums to find ways to stop or reduce their prevalence and to help develop new methods and molecules as drugs.

The battle between these pathogens and people is a colossal one. We need newer methods and drugs to kill these pathogens mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) andplasmodium falciparum (and p. vivax). And the battle is literally mind over mutations. The human mind has continuously attempted to devise novel molecules as drugs such as the fluoroquinolones, rifampicin, and artemisinin. On the other side, even though large numbers are killed by these drugs, an occasional outlier bug which does not succumb to the drug, thanks to a random “error” in its genetic sequence (mutation), survives and reproduces more of itself. Pretty soon, this drug-resistant mutant propagates to become the main strain, and the thoughtfully crafted drug is no longer effective.

It is also a battle of time scale. While we take years to create effective drugs and distribute them for everyday use, microbes take just hours and days to reproduce and propagate to billions in months. While the TB strains of just a few years ago could not survive rifampicin (which blocks the bug’s RNA making machinery, thus stopping its growth), today’s strains have evolved to find alternate paths to carry on. Similarly, with malaria, while artemisinin (the wonder drug of yesteryears) acts on the blood ingested by the parasite, “burns” it through oxidative stress and thus kills the pathogen, today’splasmodium strains have evolved with a mechanism to detoxify this oxidative stress and become artemisinin-resistant. We are thus facing hosts of multi-drug-resistant pathogens infecting us.

It is against this background that some new ideas have come about which could hopefully side-step this resistance issue. Note that the earlier drugs act on the pathogen after it enters the target cells in the body — be it blood, liver or elsewhere — and use the host machinery to grow and multiply. What if we stop the entry itself? Would that would stop the pathogen on its track and thus stop the infection?

Some minds have been thinking such a thought and carried out research towards this idea. The most recent one, published two weeks ago (on Pongal Day, 14-1-2015) in the journal Nature Communicationsis by Drs. Anand Ranganathan, Pawan Malhotra and their colleagues at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, both in New Delhi, India (6:6049/DOI:10.1038/ncomms7049/www.nature.com/naurecommunications).

The group has capitalised on the idea that some molecules on the surface of cells, termed intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs, which are part of the immunoglobulin super-family) act as sentries, regulating the entry and adhesion of other cells, native or foreign. The molecule ICAM-1 is seen on various cell types, notably macrophages (a type of white blood cells that ingests foreign material). ICAM-4, on the other hand, is restricted to the surface of red blood cells. One can thus see that while ICAM-1 would regulate the entry and invasion by Mtb into macrophages, ICAM-4 would regulate malaria parasites likewise.

If only we could discover or invent a decoy molecule that sits at this gate, blocking the entry of Mtb, we could overcome infection by this deadly pathogen. Likewise, if we can block the entry and invasion byplasmodium into red blood cells, using a decoy molecule that binds to ICAM-4, we would have a drug against malaria. Note too that these decoys do not work after the event (like the drugs above do), but deny the unwelcome visitor the ‘visa’ to enter and do damage.

Molecular Lego pieces

To this end, the Delhi group decided to work on a novel idea that Dr Anand Ranganathan had come up with a decade ago, which he calls the “codon shuffling method” of making small protein molecules (see J. Biol. Chem. 280: 23605, 2005). This involves the use of a series of properly chosen “DNA Bricks”, each 6 bases long (two codons-long, for the cognosenti), linking them together to various lengths to produce a ‘library’ of peptide/protein molecules of various sizes and predictable shapes. This is an easy and crafty way, using these DNA bricks, to make a whole host of mini-proteins as potential drugs.

They next tested to see which members of the above library interact with ICAM-1 and with ICAM-4. Happily enough, a large peptide named M5 was found to bind strongly to both ICAM-1 and ICAM-4. They next challenged Mtb with macrophages in the presence of M5. While Mtb infects control samples efficiently, the rate dropped by 80 per cent in the M5-added samples. Likewise, when added to red blood cells, infection by the malaria parasite dropped by 80 per cent.

Actually, the codon-shuffling approach is more general and extendable to fight other pathogens too. And this approach is quite akin to Lego, the toy game with interlocking plastic bricks, which can be put together to make models of objects like buildings. While Lego is a game of pleasure, this molecular Lego opens the door for drug discovery.

The dynamics of inequality

Occupational and geographic mobility across the region are bridging income and consumption-related disparities, says the World Bank report, ‘Addressing Inequality in South Asia’. The findings accordingly underscore the role of urbanisation and private sector participation as being critical to mitigating socio-economic disadvantages. Inequality should be understood in terms of monetary and non-monetary dimensions of well-being, contends the report. The share of the poorest 40 per cent of households in total consumption shows that inequality in South Asia is moderate by international standards. The comparison is valid even though estimates elsewhere are based on income per capita. Significantly, but not surprisingly, economic mobility of the recent decades has proved beneficial to the population at large, cutting across traditional divides and challenging stereotypes. This finding, if anything, underscores the positive effects of legal safeguards for the protection of minorities. Indeed, monetary inequality of enormous significance is manifested in India’s highly disproportionate billionaire wealth, amounting to 12 per cent of gross domestic product in 2012. The ratio is considerably large even compared with other countries at a similar level of economic development, says the report.

Conversely, non-monetary indices of well-being pertain to opportunities available to people in the early years, outcomes during adulthood and support systems through the life-cycle. Thus, although it is not the poorest region, South Asia accounts for some of the worst human development outcomes in basic education and health care. Besides the highest rates of infant and child mortality that prevail in many parts of the region, more than 50 per cent of poor children below five years of age in Bangladesh and Nepal are stunted; the proportion for India is over 60 per cent. Pervasive tax avoidance and regressive fuel and electricity subsidies are primarily responsible for the inadequate provisioning of public services. Of no insignificant value is the non-dogmatic stance the report adopts on a fundamental moral question such as inequality. Drawing upon influential academic debates in economics and philosophy, the study argues that the rewards linked to hard work and entrepreneurship serve as incentives to give one’s best and enhance overall well-being. It would be fair to infer that non-monetary inequalities are arbitrary and potentially more detrimental to economic growth over the long term. To bring such ideas into the public and political mainstream would enhance the quality of the debate, and further consolidate contemporary competitive electoral democracies.

Jaishankar replaces Sujatha Singh as Foreign Secretary

In a surprise move, the government has appointed Dr. S. Jaishankar as the new Foreign Secretary, replacing Sujatha Singh about seven months before her tenure comes to an end. Sources say that Mr. Jaishankar was chosen for his role in rebuilding India-U.S. ties after the Devyani Khobragade incident, capped by the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to New Delhi this week.

Senior officials told The Hindu that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been particularly impressed by Mr. Jaishankar’s handling of his visit to the U.S. in September and had been keen to retain him. He was due to retire on January 31 this year, which pushed the timing of the decision.

Mr. Jaishankar is in Delhi for consultations after the Obama visit, and while confirming the news to The Hindu, made no comment.

According to the notification on the Department of Personnel and Training website (DoPT) that was posted late last night, the Appointments Committee “approved the curtailment of tenure” of the current Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh.

Ms. Singh had been given an extension which would have seen her tenure in normal course to August 31 this year. August 31st this year. Sources confirmed that after the notification, Ms. Singh has put in her papers and sought voluntary retirement. It is also unclear whether the sudden move will upset other officers in the Ministry of External Affairs, in the manner the surprise appointment of the foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon that had seen several officers resign in protest in 2006, did.

Diplomats who preferred not to be named said Mr. Jaishankar is respected for his achievements in the service. Prior to his assignment in Washington, Mr. Jaishankar had served as Ambassador to China, and was credited by former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh for his deft handling of tensions between New Delhi and Beijing over the LAC in 2013.

He was India’s longest serving Ambassador to China, and his appointment will be seen as a positive sign for India-China relations. Significantly, as Joint Secretary in charge of the Americas in the years 2004-2007, he was also one of the architects of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal that saw a “breakthrough” in progress during Mr. Obama’s visit.

Mr. Jaishankar was posted in Tokyo prior to 2000, where he met his wife Kiyoko. His father Dr. K. Subrahmanyam was India’s most prominent defence strategist, and advised several governments as the long-time Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Analysis.

Mr. Jaishankar’s replacement of Sujatha Singh is an interesting twist, given they were both in the running for foreign secretary when Ms. Singh won the post in 2013. Officials in the then PMO said that while Mr. Jaishankar was Dr. Singh’s choice, he was overruled at the time, primarily due to Ms. Singh’s seniority. “It is good that merit and experience rather than just seniority is being considered in high level appointments,” former media advisor and a close associate of Dr. Jaishankar, Sanjaya Baru toldThe Hindu.

Special Purpose Vehicle to be formed for setting up Sewerage Treatment Plants in Ganga cities

Senior Ministers discuss Namami Ganga Action Plans Schedule drawn up for stakeholder consultations

The Ministry of Urban Development has proposed to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for setting up and maintenance of Sewerage Treatment Plans (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the River Ganga in a time bound manner to check pollution of the river. The SPV will ensure that demand-supply gap in respect of sewerage treatment in urban areas will be met in line with timeframe for cleaning the River Ganga. This proposal was made at a review meeting on Namami Ganga today. The meeting held in Nirman Bhawan was attended by Minister of urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Ms.Uma Bharati, Minister of Drinking Water & Sanitation Shri Birendra Singh, Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar and Minister of Tourism & Culture Dr.Mahesh Sharma and Secretaries of respective ministries. The Ministers discussed Action Plans for treatment of sewerage with timelines, rehabilitation of dysfunctional and sub-optimal STPs, plans for bridging mismatch between existing treatment capacity and the demand, capacity building of urban local bodies, modernization of existing crematoria, adoption of innovative technologies developed by BARC and IITs etc. As against the sewerage treatment requirement of 3,847 million litres per day in all the 118 cities and towns in 2015 and the estimated demand of 4,773 MLD in 2030, the present available capacity is only 879 MLD while another 1,263 MLD capacity is under construction. The gap in demand and supply is 1,852 MLD at current demand and 2,664 MLD at 2030 demand. Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said that all the six state governments will be consulted and taken on board before going ahead with setting up of STPs as required to treat urban sewerage. To begin with, 56 cities and towns that accounts for about 80% of sewerage generation will be focused in the first phase. He further said that necessary action for setting up SPV will soon be taken. He said that STP capacity would be augmented to meet the 2030 demand. The Ministers have noted that the provisions of existing Environment Protection Act are not adequate to address the issue of industrial affluents being discharged into Ganga River and the same needs to be revisited. As a part of stakeholder consultations, a meeting of representatives of all 195 industrial units located alongside Ganga river will be held next month by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change followed by a meeting of Municipal Commissioners of all the 118 cities and towns on 17th February. State-wise consultations will be held in March, 2015. Today’s meeting was held in pursuance of the suggestion of the PMO to work out time bound action plans focusing on primary components of Ganga pollution viz., liquid waste from urban and rural areas and industrial effluent discharge.