Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Civil Services Mentor February 2014
Civil Services Mentor February 2014
2014
AUGUST,
Chief Editor:
Sachchida Nand Jha
Editor:
Yagya Nand Jha
Index
PAGE NO.
Disclaimer:
Editor and Publisher are not responsible
for any view, data, figure etc. expressed
in the articles by the author(s). Maps are
notational .
All Disputes are subject to the exclusive
jurisdiction of competent courts and
fourms in Delhi/New Delhi only.
7
WTO Bali Package: An Analytical Review
Editorial Office:
A 13/A 3rd Floor,
Gali No-1, Hardev Nagar
Jharoda Majra
New Delhi84
Designed by:
Chandan Kumar Raja
PAGE NO.
12
Thailand in Crisis
CURRENT AFFAIRS
National Issues
International Issues
India & the World
Economy
Science and Technology
Sports
Awards & Prizes
In the News
15
33
47
52
66
77
90
95
PAGE NO.
112
128
Towards Double-Digit Inclusive Growth
PAGE NO.
132
14th Finance Commission : Gender Issues
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Brief outline
Devyani Khobragade was arrested by US law enforcement agencies on Dec 12th, 2013 under charges
of visa fraud and providing false statements to US authorities about the
terms of employment of an Indian
national to help her gain entry into
the US as a domestic help. Devyani is
an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1999 batch who was working
as a Deputy Consul General at the
Indian Consulate General in New
York. The manner of her arrest and
the treatment meted out to her thereafter has generated much outrage in
the Indian media, public and government.
Regarding the manner of her
arrest, it has been alleged that she
was publicly arrested just after she
dropped off her daughters at their
school in the morning at around
9:30am. According to Indian media,
she was handcuffed and subjected
to strip search and cavity search in
the US law enforcement agencys
custody. She was also allegedly kept
in prison along with drug criminals.
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Defence by Devyani
Khobragade
She has claimed that she has not
violated any law of USA as regards
the wages she was paying to
Sangeeta Richards. On the first
charge regarding visa fraud, she says
that the complaint makes a wrong
charge that she had mentioned
4500$ as the salary to be paid to
Sangeeta in the visa form. Actually,
the visa form had asked the salary of
Sangeetas employer (Devyani)
which was mentioned as 4500$. On
the second charge regarding payment of less than minimum wages to
Sangeeta, she dismisses this as a lie.
According to Devyani, she paid
Sangeeta the required minimum
wage of 9.75$ per hour for a 40 hour
work week, every month from Nov 22,
2012 to June 22, 2013 after which
Sangeeta went missing. This roughly
translated to 1560$ or Rs. 93000 per
month.
However, this was not paid entirely to Sangeetas account in New
York. Out of the 1560$, 560$ (Rs.
30000) were paid to Sangeetas account in India as decided by them in
the contract signed earlier in India in
November 2012. This was because
Sangeeta herself had asked Devyani
to transfer Rs. 30000 to her India account every month as her husband
was unemployed at that time. Out of
the remaining 1000$, about 375$
were deducted monthly from her salary to pay for her chargeable utilities,
her cable TV, her non work related
expenses, etc. The remaining 625$
were paid to Sangeeta in cash and
the receipts of these cash payments
were kept by Devyani. These receipts
would be produced in court by
Devyani as a part of her defence to
prove her innocence.
Defence of US authorities
against the objections raised
by Indian government
(1) On the objection of Indian gov-
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consular officer, the proceedings against him shall be instituted with the minimum of delay.
Article 43 Immunity from
Jurisdiction
1. Consular officers and consular
employees shall not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the
judicial or administrative authorities of the receiving State
in respect of acts performed in
the exercise of consular functions.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1
of this article shall not, however,
apply in respect of a civil action either:
(a) Arising out of a contract
concluded by a consular
officer or a consular employee in which he did
not contract expressly or
impliedly as an agent of
the sending State
(b) By a third party for damage arising from an accident in the receiving
State caused by a vehicle,
vessel or aircraft
Effect of the case on IndiaUSA relations
The huge publicity given to the
case by media was a factor in the Indian government taking numerous
steps against US missions in India,
possibly going overboard in removing security barricades around US
embassy. A side-effect of this case
will be that in the short term at least,
India-USA diplomatic relations will
be far from conducive.
However, top leaders from both
the countries have emphasised that
this one-off incident should not be
allowed to derail the friendly relations
between them. In this context, it
would be appropriate to say that this
incident would have negligible effect
on the trade, defence, or security relationship between the two countries.
At the most, US diplomats in India
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Indo-US ties. The bilateral trade between India and the US has risen to
USD 61.35 billion in 2012-13 from
USD 58.19 billion in 2011-12. India
has received foreign direct investment worth USD 11.62 billion from
America between April 2000 and
September 2013, which is 6 per cent
of the countrys total foreign inflows
during that period. In this global
world scenario, souring of ties over
such issues can seriously hamper the
growth prospects of each nation.
Reciprocity remains the key word if
the relationship between India and
the United States has to progress and
both the countries need to work together to resolve the serious issue of
mistreatment of diplomat, Devyani
Khobragade and other such matters,
amicably.
Steps to be taken to prevent
future occurrence of such an
incident
Even though it cannot be said
with full conviction whether Devyani
had paid less than minimum wages
to Sangeeta Richards, it is not the first
time that such a case involving an In-
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Each and every topic will be given point wise , making it easier to grasp.
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Planning Commission
Ministry of External Affairs
National Portal of India
National
International
Economy
India And The World
Sports
In The News
Science and Technology
Burning Issues (Editorials From Different Newspapers)
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the
WTOs
subsidy
and
countervailing measures agreement.
Meanwhile, at Bali the director general quietly began pursuing negotiations on the TF text with a small group
of members on special issues such as
expedited shipments, transit,
consularisation, and penalty disciplines. Even though India raised
strong reservations on expedited
shipments which is basically a market access issue for the US courier
companies and penalty disciplines,
Azevdo did not invite the Indian
minister or his ofcials for any discussion on the TF issue at Bali.
In the face of growing opposition from several countries who made
strong statements about the need to
ensure a balance at the plenary session, the director general along with
the Indonesian chair of the conference, Gita Wirjawan, held a heads of
delegations meeting on 4 December.
The 50 countries who took part at the
meeting stuck to different narratives.
The so-called Friends of the System
gave the director general carte
blanche to do anything he deemed
appropriate for concluding the Bali
package.
However, several developing
countries such as India, South Africa,
Namibia, Kenya, Argentina and Cuba
made it known that the draft texts
were not ready for concluding the
Bali package. Cuba said that the WTO
chief had said that there would not
be any negotiations at the ministerial
conference itself while efforts were
being made at Bali to negotiate on
issues in trade facilitation and agriculture. Public Stockholding Deal
Along with the Indonesian chair,
Azevdo held a series of meetings
with the Indian minister on the possible language that could satisfy New
Delhi. It was basically a negotiation
between Azevdo and Anand
Sharma who was assisted by a senior
Indian ofcial. After initial discussions
on the linkage between the interim
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10
mechanism and the road map to negotiate the nal solution for public
stockholding programmes, India gave
three alternative formulations with
language about the interim solution
leading to a nal solution for food
security. In response, the director
general informed the Indian minister
that the language in the interim
mechanism would be close to what
India had proposed.
However, the Indian delegation
was not given any language. In the
face what seemed like a cat-andmouse act, the nal compromise offered to India failed to satisfy New
Delhi. When things were drifting, India gave its nal alternative in the
early hours of Friday, 6 December.
Apparently, the US created a
ruckus on the Indian proposal and
was not ready to accept it. That is
when India told the director general
that if the Indian proposal was not
acceptable to the US, New Delhi
would reject the Bali package. Finally,
there was a face-to-face negotiation
between the US, India, and the director general in which the United
States Trade Representative accepted the language in the interim,
until a permanent solution is found
for members to refrain from challenging the public stockholding
programmes for traditional staple
food crops. But, in return, the US,
however, inserted strong language on
notication requirements as well as
safeguard requirements.
The Indian minister, who had
mentioned New Delhis outstanding
concerns in the TF text during the
rst three days of the meeting generously conceded to his American
counterpart that New Delhi would
remove the square brackets on its
sensitive issues in the TF text. These
issues require India to carry out legislative amendments as well as create
new infrastructure. Perhaps, the
Manmohan Singh government
seemed more eager to satisfy Wash-
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Thailand in Crisis
THAILAND IN CRISIS
The proximate cause for the latest wave of protests which has swept
through Bangkok since October was
the ruling partys attempt to ram
through legislative changes that
would have benefited the former
prime minister and deeply polarising
figure of Thaksin Shinawatra. However, the demonstrations reflact a
deep divide in Thai society according to class, region and ideology, a
divide which has developed over the
past half century as growth has
centred on Bangkok while the rural
north and east have been left behind.
What started the protests?
Demonstrations kicked off in
November after Thailands lower
house passed a controversial amnesty
bill, which critics said could allow
former leader Thaksin Shinawatra to
return without serving time in jail. Mr
Thaksin, one of the most polarising
characters in Thai politics, was ousted
in a military coup in 2006. He now
lives in self-imposed exile overseas,
but remains popular with many rural
voters.
The amnesty bill, which was
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Thailand in Crisis
and the protesters have being trying
to disrupt electoral registration. They
have pledged to occupy and shut
down parts of Bangkok from 13 January.
On 8 January, meanwhile,
Thailands anti-corruption body said
it would charge more than 300 politicians - mostly from the ruling party over an attempt to change the constitution and make the Senate fully
elected. This move could ultimately
lead to the lawmakers being banned
from politics.
What impact will the protests
have?
Ms Yingluck early on warned
that further protests could cause the
economy to deteriorate. Protests in
2008 and 2010 hit Thailands
economy hard, especially the business and tourism sectors. This time,
several countries have issued travel
warnings for Thailand.
Thailands troubles
Sept 2006: Army overthrows
government of Thaksin Shinawatra,
rewrites constitution
Dec 2007: Pro-Thaksin People
Power Party wins most votes in election
Aug 2008: Mr Thaksin flees
into self-imposed exile before end
of corruption trial
Dec 2008: Mass yellow-shirt
protests paralyse Bangkok; Constitutional Court bans People Power Party;
Abhisit Vejjajiva comes to power
Mar-May 2010: Thousands of
pro-Thaksin red shirts occupy parts
of Bangkok; eventually cleared by
army; dozens killed
July
2011:
Yingluck
Shinawatra leads Pheu Thai party to
general election win
Thailand: Reds and Yellows
The two bitterly divided camps
that have for years driven sporadic
protests in Thailand - The Red-shirts
and The Yellow-shirts.
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The red-shirts began as supporters of deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was
ousted by a military coup in September 2006. This support has transferred to Thailands ruling Pheu Thai
party led by his sister, Yingluck
Shinawatra. The yellow-shirts represent those opposed to Mr Thaksin and
they were the force behind the street
protests that led to the 2006 coup.
THE RED-SHIRTS
The red-shirts are formally
known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD).
The focus of many red-shirts campaigning zeal is former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.Members are
mainly rural workers from outside
Bangkok. But the red-shirt ranks also
include students, left-wing activists
and some business people who see
attempts by the urban and military
elite to control Thai politics as a threat
to democracy.
The source of the red-shirts discontent goes back several years. They
began as supporters of Mr Thaksin,
the prime minister ousted by the military in a September 2006 coup.By
then Mr Thaksin - a telecommunications magnate - had governed Thailand for five years. He was very popular among the rural farmers and urban
working class because he initiated
policies that benefited them, such as
funding for health-care and education. When elections were held 18
months after the military coup, this
rural support had not changed, even
though Mr Thaksin was in overseas
exile. Voters from Thailands north
and north-east returned his allies to
power, only to see the government
fall after a series of opposition protests and court rulings. So the redshirts began protesting.
Their first major protest began
in March 2009 with a series of sit-ins
outside government offices, but
quickly escalated. In April 2009 they
13
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Thailand in Crisis
of royalists, ultra-nationalists and the
urban middle class also known as the
Peoples Alliance for Democracy
(PAD), the yellow-shirts utterly opposed Mr Thaksin. They were behind
the huge street protests that led up
to the military coup of September
2006 and the ones two years later
which led to Mr Thaksins allies being
forced from power. Led by media
mogul Sondhi Limthongkul,
Chamlong Srimuang, who is a former
general with close ties to the kings
most senior adviser, the yellow-shirts
accused Mr Shinawatra of corruption
and abuse of power.
They also accused him of inadequate loyalty to the monarchy - and
wear yellow because it is the kings
colour.Street protests in Bangkok in
2006 attracted tens of thousands of
people, shutting the capital down.
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NATIONAL ISSUES
National Issues
Lokpal and
Lokayukta Bill, 2013 Passed
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National Issues
5. Eminent jurist to be nominated by the President of India on the basis of recommendations of the four members of the Selection Committee.
All ministers including Prime
Minister with some safeguards
and senior public servants are
covered by the ombudsman,
excluding the public servants
under Army, Navy and Coastal
guard.
All entities receiving donations
from foreign source in the
context of the Foreign
Contribution Regulation Act
(FCRA) in excess of 10 lakh
rupees per year are brought
under the jurisdiction of
Lokpal.
Provides adequate protection
for honest and upright Public
Servants..
Lokpal will have power of
superintendence
and
direction over any investigation
agency including CBI for cases
referred to them by Lokpal.
A high powered Committee
chaired by the Prime Minister
will recommend selection of
the Director, CBI.
Directorate of Prosecution
headed by a Director of
Prosecution under the overall
control of Director
The appointment of the
Director of Prosecution, CBI will
be
made
on
the
recommendation of the Central
Vigilance Commission.
Transfer of officers of CBI
investigating cases referred by
Lokpal with the approval of
Lokpal.
The Bill also incorporates
provisions for attachment and
confiscation of property
acquired by corrupt means,
even while prosecution is
pending.
The Bill lays down clear time
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16
Seats won
39
49
1
1
Madhya Pradesh
Party
Seats won
58
161
4
3
Rajasthan
Party
Seats won
21
162
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National Issues
NPP
Others
(Independent party)
4
12
Delhi
Party
Seats won
8
32
28
2
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National Issues
established under the Food Safety
and Standards Act, 2006. It
consolidates various acts and orders
that have hitherto handled food
related issues in various Ministries and
Departments. FSSAI has been
created for laying down science
based standards for articles of food
and to regulate their manufacture,
storage, distribution, sale and import
to ensure availability of safe and
wholesome food for human
consumption. Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare, Government of India
is the Administrative Ministry for the
implementation of FSSAI.
Definition of Adulteration
Adulterant means any material
which is or could be employed for
making the food unsafe or substandard or mis-branded or
containing extraneous matter.
CBIs Legal wing now under
control of agencys Director
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National Issues
24 percent of slums have
benefited from welfare
schemes such as JNNURM and
Rajiv Awas Yojana.
95.3 percent people living in
urban areas felt significant
improvement in water supply.
About 76 percent improved
their access to some sort of
garbage disposal system in
cities and towns.
According to the Urban
Development Ministrys data, among
539 projects sanctioned between
2005 and 2012, at least 217 projects
are completed and 322 are in a stage
of completion. Out of 806 UIDSSM
projects 413 projects are completed.
About JNNURM
Jawaharlal Nehru National
Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)
was officially inaugurated on 3
December 2005 to improve the
quality of life and infrastructure in the
cities.
The JNNURM has two major
schemes:
Urban Infrastructure and
Governance (UIG): The main
focus of UIG is on infrastructure
projects relating to water supply,
sanitation, sewerage, solid waste
management, road network and
urban transport. It also focuses on
redevelopment of old city areas,
shifting industrial and commercial
establishments to confirming areas.
Urban
Infrastructure
Development for Small and
Medium Towns (UIDSSMT):
UIDSSMT focus is integrated
development of slums and achieved
through various projects for shelter,
basic services and other related civic
amenities which provide utilities to
the urban poor.
150 stretches of river
identified as polluted by
CPCB
The Central Pollution Control
Board has identified 150 polluted
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It is an apex organization in
country in the field of pollution
control and works as the technical
wing of MoEF.
Quadricycle added as new
Vehicle category
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National Issues
metre for passenger version
and 3.7 metre for goods
version.
Quadricycles can carry a
maximum of four passengers
and goods vehicles can carry
500 kg which excluded the
weight of battery from total
vehicle weight.
As per the Ministry the final
notification will be released in less
than a month and these vehicles will
be allowed to ply after six months of
the notification. Inclusion of battery
operated four-wheelers as
quadricycle will bring more players
in competition including Mahindras,
Bajaj Auto, TVS, Tata Motors, Maruti.
The Prevention of Communal
Violence Bill 2013 approved
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National Issues
contracting, project management
and
medical
equipment
procurement, installations and the
commissioning of the institute.
Cancer is emerging as a major public
health concern in India where eleven
lakh new cases are diagnosed every
year and the mortality rate is 5.5 lakh
per year. The National Cancer Control
Programme was launched in 1975-76
with the objectives of primary
prevention, early detection,
treatment and rehabilitation.
AAP recognised as
State Party in Delhi
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National Issues
Rehabilitation Act 2013 came into
force on 6 December 2013 across
India except Jammu and Kashmir.
The law prohibits the employment of
manual scavengers, the manual
cleaning of sewers and septic tanks
without protective equipment and
the construction of insanitary latrines.
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
Level
Chairperson
Vigilance
District
Sub-Division
Committees
District Magistrate
Sub Divisional
Magistrate
Committees
Chief Minister
Minister of Social
Justice and
Employment
Monitoring
State
Centre
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National Issues
education and training scenario. It
would help alignment of Indian
qualifications to international
qualifications. The NSQF will allow
people to move between education,
vocational training and work at
different stages in lives and help
them in credit accumulation and
transfer system as per the needs and
convenience.
The National Skill Development
Agency (NSDA), an autonomous
body attached to the Ministry of
Finance will anchor and
operationalise the framework. NSDA
is mandated to coordinate and
harmonize skill development efforts
of the Government of India and the
private sector. National Skills
Qualifications Framework is a
nationally integrated education and
competency based skill framework
which will provide multiple pathways,
horizontal as well as vertical, both
within vocational education and
vocational training and among
vocational education, vocational
training, general education and
technical education, thus linking one
level of learning to another higher
level. There are 10 levels in the
framework, with the entry level being
1, and the highest level being 10. This
will enable a person to acquire
desired competency levels, transit to
the job market and, at an opportune
time, return for acquiring additional
skills to further upgrade
competencies.
Three Proposals to utilise
Nirbhaya Fund approved
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National Issues
passengers and Call Centre
Agents.
Upgradability/compatibility for
SMS service.
To start with, the proposed call
centre will support English and
Hindi as languages of
communication. However the
system is flexible to be
upgraded to a distributed
mode wherein calls from a
centralized call centre can be
transferred to regional call
centers.
Rolling out of the scheme on All
India basis would require an
estimated amount of 25.17 crore
rupees.
Besides the above three
schemes, Ministry of Women and
Child Development (WCD) have
reported that they are formulating a
scheme for vulnerability mapping,
opening of response centres and
creating awareness for enhancement
of safety and security of women in
the selected 32 towns.
About Nirbhaya Incident
The 23-year old para-medical
student (also known as Damini or
Nirbhaya) was gang raped in New
Delhi on 16 December 2012. She
passed away in Mount Elizabeth
Hospital in Singapore on 29
December 2012. She was raped in
the moving bus by six men, one of
which included a minor. The 16
December gang rape led to massive
protests across the country.
Government of India also promised
strict punishment to the criminals of
the crime, new rules for safety and
security of women in the country. so
that Government announced the
Nirbhaya Fund for women safety.
Continuation of NSWF
approved in the 12th Plan
The Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 26
December 2013 approved the
central sector scheme National
11th Pl an
Co st of c onstructi on of
hous e
Co st of c onstructi on of
Tube wel l
12th Plan
30000 rupees
Territori es
for
all
States
and
Co st of c onstructi on of
Co mmuni ty Hall
1800 rupees ( 600 rup ees p er mo nth fo r three 2700 rup ees (900 rupees p er mon th for
months ban peri od)
three months ban peri od)
Co mp ensati on
und er
Group Accid ent Person al
In surance
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Ai d
to
24
N o Change
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National Issues
Union Cabinet approved
Telangana draft Bill
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National Issues
Dabhol-Bangalore Natural Gas
Pipeline dedicated to Nation
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National Issues
About the Parcel Services
Express Parcel is a premium
parcel service for retail as well as bulk
customers. It offered time bound, safe
and secure home delivery of parcels.
To have minimal transit time these
parcels will be given airlift wherever
needed. Bulk customers would also
have an economical option of surface
transported Business Parcel. These
two new parcel services aim to
promote the e-commerce market in
India by offering reliable and cost
efficient delivery solutions. Whereas
Express Parcel is an air mail service
providing guaranteed time bound
delivery of parcels, Business Parcel
will provide fast, secure and cost
efficient transmission of parcels
through surface. These services will
have Cash on Delivery facility which
has become a pre-requisite today for
e-commerce parcels. Though
Business Parcels will have a
nationwide coverage, the Express
Parcel service will initially be
available between 20 identified
cities:
Agra,
Banglore,
Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi
(NCR), Patna, Guwahati, Hyderabad,
Indoor, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata,
Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune,
Parwanoo, Shillong, Surat and
Thiruvanthapuram. This service will be
expanded nationwide in phased
manner.
The Code of Conduct for
Ministers revised
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National Issues
Appointments Commission Bill 2013.
It was introduced with a separate
constitutional amendment bill in Rajya
Sabha in August 2013. The decision
to make Judicial Appointments
Commission was taken to do away the
Collegiums System of Appointment
of Judges that allows Judges to make
their own appointments. As per the
proposed Bill inclusion of two
eminent persons in the six-member
Judicial Appointments Commission is
to happen instead of the two jurists.
The decision was made to create a
balance and avoid the extra
weightage to judiciary in the body.
As per the new proposal the six
members Judicial Appointments
Commission would comprise of the
Chief Justice of India, two Supreme
Court judges, Union Law Minister and
two eminent persons, instead of two
jurists. To appoint the two eminent
persons for the appointments
commission would be done by the
collegium that will include the Prime
Minister of India, the Leader of
Opposition and the Chief Justice of
India. The secretary of the Law
Ministry will act as the convenor of
the
Judicial
Appointment
Commissions but not the member of
the commission.
Main Points of the Judicial
Appointments
Commission
(JAC) Bill 2013 are
The JAC on creation will do
away the collegium system of
appointments to the High
Courts and Supreme Courts
The Article 124 (2) of the
Constitution of India will be
amended to give power to the
President of India to appoint
the
Judges
on
the
recommendation of the JAC
The JAC will be determined by
an ordinary law as per the
Constitution
(120th
Amendment) Bill 2013
introduced in the Parliament by
UPA government
Constitutional Amendment in
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National Issues
National Sample Survey Office
(NSSO) under the Ministry of
Statistics
and
Programme
Implementation.
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National Issues
G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya
set aside the Delhi High Courts
verdict which had in 2009
decriminalised gay sex among
consenting adults in private.
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Medium: English
Publisher: UPSCPORTAL.COM
Gist of Yojana
Gist of Kurukshetra
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INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
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National Issues
UN to Reduce its
Staffs and cut Budget
United Nations on 27
December 2013 ordered to cut staff
and budget under the pressure from
United States and other austeritystricken industrialized powers. This
is the first time, since 1945 United
Nations has taken the decision to cut
the staff and budget. The decision
was taken because the governments
of members suffer from financial crisis.
After protracted negotiations, the
193-nation Assembly agreed to cut
221 staff or 2 percent at the UN
headquarters and ordered a one-year
pay freeze for the more than 10000
workers in New York. A two-year
freeze on benefits allowance was also
mentioned. The staff cut is part of the
2014-2015 UN budgets. The
members of UN have also voted to
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International Issues
smoking in public places which covers
offices, hotels, restaurants, hospitals,
college campuses, bars and discos
with effect from 2 October 2008. In
Asia, India, Hong Kong and China
have banned smoking in public
places.
UK to be Europes largest
economy by 2030
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International Issues
The construction of industrial
zones will have a two fold benefit
Firstly, it will lead to industrial
transfer boosting industries
such
as
processing,
manufacturing and commerce
logistics.
Secondly, as labor costs rise in
China,
labor-intensive
industries such as textile and
agro-processing will eventually
be shifted out of China. These
industries will need to be
transferred to new regions with
lower labor costs.
EU granted
GSP-Plus status to Pakistan
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International Issues
Piera.The General elections were
held in Chile on 17 November 2013
for the president post. The term of
the president is for four years.
About Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet, candidate
for a centre-left coalition of
parties known as Nueva
Mayoria: 61-year old Bachelet
served as Chiles president
between 2006 and 2010.
She is the daughter of a highranking air force officer who
died from the effects of torture
while a prisoner of the military
junta led by Gen Augusto
Pinochet.
Michelle Bachelet was herself
tortured and spent some years
in exile before being allowed
to return and finish her medical
studies. Bachelet held the post
of health minister in Ricardo
Lagos government and was
Chiles first female defence
minister.
She became Chiles first female
president in 2006, and she had
a stunning 84 per cent approval
rating when she left office in
2010. In 2010, she was
appointed the first director of
the newly-created agency UN
Women.
About Chile
Chile officially the Republic of
Chile is a South American country
occupying a long, narrow strip of land
between the Andes mountains to the
east and the Pacific Ocean to the
west. Chile stretches over 4300 km
(2670 miles) north to south, but only
350 km (217 miles) at its widest point
east to west. It is bounded on the
north by Peru and Bolivia, on its long
eastern border by Argentina, and on
the west by the Pacific Ocean. The
capital of Chile is Santiago.
Foreign companies can drill
for Oil and Gas in Mexico
Enrique Pena Nieto, the
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International Issues
signed a historic water-sharing
initiative at the World Bank in
Washington that could protect the
Dead Sea from rising demand for
water in the region. The agreement
was signed by Israeli Energy Minister
Silvan Shalom, Shaddad Attili, head
of the Palestinian water authority, and
Hazim el-Naser, head of the Jordanian
water ministry.
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International Issues
Army and their local collaborators,
during the Bangladesh Liberation
War. During the 2008 general
election, the Awami League (AL)
when won the election with more
than two-thirds majority in Parliament
set up the tribunal. The first
indictment was issued in 2010.
First Country to Legalize
Marijuana Trade
Defence spending to be
increased by Japan
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International Issues
a 10-year defence guideline.
According to the plan, there is a need
for stronger air and maritime
surveillance capabilities. It also
improved ability to defend far-flung
islands through setting up a marine
unit, buying unarmed surveillance
drones and putting a unit of E-2C
early-warning aircraft on Okinawa
Islands in the south.
Japans 10-year guidelines also
mark a shift from its Cold War posture
of defending against a Russian attack
from the north, toward a potential
conflict with China to the west and
south.
The defence plan cuts Japans
tanks by 400 to 300 over 10 years,
while adding some faster, more
maneuverable combat vehicles that
could be flown in, say, to retake
islands. The new policy outline also
calls for Japan to beef up its ability to
defend against ballistic missile
attacks, such as from unpredictable
neighbor North Korea.
An Analysis
The new defence plan of Japan
is an update of the defence posture
that was last reviewed in 2010 under
the Yoshihiko Noda government.
Until 2010, past governments had
stretched the limits of a post-war
Pacifist Constitution that renounced
war and said Japan will never have
an army or navy.
Pacifist Constitution of Japan put
a limit on the participation of Japan
in defence related matters. Under the
current interpretation of Japans
pacifist constitution, Japans armed
forces are not permitted to fight on
behalf of friends or allies unless the
Japanese themselves come under
direct attack.
Prime Minister Shizo Abe wants
to change this policy which
constraints Japan from involving in
collective self-defence. The change
in the stance of Japan should be seen
in the light of Chinas increasing
military strength and assertiveness in
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On 8 December2013 South
Korea expanded its defense zone in
39
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International Issues
New sanctuary to be build to
save Worlds rarest Javan
Rhinos
Indonesian
Government
announced to build a new sanctuary
to save Worlds rarest Javan rhinos.
The new sanctuary will be carved out
of the Ujung Kulon National Park.
Ujung Kulon National Park, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, is
situated on the western tip of
Indonesias main island of Java.
It will encompass 12,600 acres
of lush rainforest, freshwater streams
and mud holes in the park. In
Indonesia Javan rhinos are locally
termed as Abah Gede or the Great
Father.
As per the latest report of the
International Union For Conservation
of Nature (IUCN), decline in the
strength of rhinos had reached to the
level of extinction.
There are thought to be only
around 50 of the rhinos in existence.
Poaching in particular represents a
severe threat, with rhino horns used
in traditional Asian medicine. It
fetches higher prices in the black
market despite a lack of scientific
evidence showing horn has any
medicinal value.
Recently, Asia has stepped up
efforts to save the regions dwindling
rhino populations. There was a
conference held in October 2013
with representatives from several
countries on the issue in the western
Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Countries including Indonesia, Nepal
and India, pledged to take steps to
increase their rhino populations by
three percent annually.
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International Issues
policy of the country. The resolution
was passed by the standing
committee of the National Peoples
Congress (NPC).
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on new
in Egypt
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International Issues
System (GPS) and Russian GLONASS.
GPS has been active since the 1970s
and has satellites in orbit. The
satellites have been operating for
more than two decades.
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International Issues
Egypts leaders were in conflict with
the movement since July 2013, when
the military deposed Mohamed Morsi
as a President.
About Marijuana
Marijuana is a plant containing a
psychoactive
chemical,
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in its
leaves, buds and flowers. Cannabis is
also major type of psychoactive
chemical, THC. Marijuana is the most
commonly used illicit drug by
American adults. Marijuanas effect is
less harmful than those of most drugs
like alcohol and tobacco. US
marijuana policy is unique among
American criminal laws in being
enforced so widely and harshly.
China s unmanned Lunar
Probe- Change-3
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International Issues
Union have soft-landed on the Moon.
Indias Chandrayaan-1, w h i c h
was credited to have discovered
water in the lunar surface made a hard
landing on the Moon.
Two year cross-party budget
Bill Signed in US
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48
Pakistan
(UNMOGIP)
was
established. It was established under
the resolution passed by the world
bodys council to supervise ceasefire
along the LoC.
INDIA & UAE
India and United Arab Emirates
on 12 December 2013 signed a
Bilateral Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement (BIPPA) that
would accelerate fresh capital
investments of UAE in India. The
BIPPA agreement was signed by
Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, the Minister
of State for Financial Affairs of UAE
and Namo Narain Meena, the Minister
of State for Finance of India. At
present the Foreign Minister of UAE,
Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan is on a visit
to India.
The BIPPA has been worked on
as an exception to the norm of India
to freeze all BIPPA agreements until
a new template is in place. UAE wants
to explore major infrastructure
projects in India but was waiting till
the signature of the BIPPA. India and
UAE are the largest trading partners
of each other with the total bilateral
trade of 75 billion dollars. At present,
the UAE invests in India about 3
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S.N .
Ti tle
S ig na tory
I ndia n side
from Signatory
from
Le ag ue side
Ara b De ta ils
1.
Memora ndum
of Sal ma n Khurshi d, N abil El ara by, Sec reta ry
Coope ration
Ex te rnal
Affa irs G ene ral of the L eag ue of
betwe en the Le ague of Mi nister
Arab Sta te s
Arab Sta te s a nd the
Republi c of Indi a
2.
The Exe cutiv e Program Sal ma n Khurshi d, N abil El ara by, Sec reta ry
of the Ara b-Indian Ex te rnal
Affa irs G ene ral of the L eag ue of
Coope ration
Forum Mi nister
Arab Sta te s
betwe en the Le ague of
Arab Sta te s a nd the
Republi c of India for
20 14 -20 15
The Exe cutiv e Prog ra mme i s muc h more spe cific in te rms of
the c oope ration envi sage d in diverse are as like tra de &
inve stme nt, energy, sma ll and me di um ente rprise s, c ulture ,
c apaci ty bui lding , etc . and attempts to spec ify the moda lity
for ea ch ma jor ac tiv ity . As per the EP, the Lea gue of Arab
States Mission in New Del hi and the Indian Embassy in
Cai ro ha ve bee n desig na te d as the noda l points for
c oordi na tion.
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51
FUNDACENAF ( Foundation
National Center of Photography
in Venezuela), will organize an
event and invite one
photographer and /or specialist
in photography for the purpose
to participate in the event
In the field of Stage and
Music Arts, both the countries
undertake to
Participation of a Venezuelan
theatre company in the New
Delhis Festival to diffuse the
Venezuelan theatre in India
Exchange of six specialists belonging to a Kathakali theatre
group for the purpose of organizing workshops and presentations in the Venezuela for one
week
Participation of one dancer or
couple of dancers from India
at the International Dance Festivals Solos y Duetos (Solos &
Duets)
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Planning Commission
Ministry of External Affairs
National Portal of India
National
International
Economy
India And The World
Sports
In The News
Science and Technology
Burning Issues (Editorials From Different Newspapers)
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ECONOMY
RBI in Mid-Quarter
Monetary Policy Review
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Economy
Repo rate:
rate Repo rate is the
policy rate and is part of RBIs
Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF).
It is the rate at which commercial
banks borrow from the RBI by selling
their securities or financial assets to
the RBI for a short-period of time. It
comes with an agreement that the
sold securities will be repurchased
by the commercial banks from the RBI
at a future date at predetermined
price. The repo rate is used by the
central bank to increase liquidity in
the system.
Reverse repo rate
rate: Reverse
Repo Rate is also a part of LAF. It is
the rate of interest at which the
central bank borrows funds from
other banks for a short duration. The
banks deposit their short term excess
funds with the central bank and earn
interest on it. This rate is used by the
central bank to absorb liquidity from
the economy. Generally it is one
percentage less than the Repo rate.
Bank rate:
rate The only way the
bank rate is different from the repo
rate is that the bank rate is the rate at
which banks borrow money from the
central bank without any sale of
securities. It is generally for a longer
period of time.
Cash reserve ratio:
ratio CRR is the
minimum percentage of cash
deposits that banks must keep with
the central bank. The current rate is
4%, which means for a cash deposit
of Rs. 100, the bank has to park 4
rupee with the central bank.
Marginal Standing Facility
Facility:
The Reserve Bank of India in its
monetary policy for 2011-12
introduced the marginal standing
facility under which banks could
borrow funds from RBI when there is
a considerable shortfall of liquidity.
This measure has been introduced by
RBI to regulate short-term asset
liability mismatches more effectively.
Under this facility, banks can borrow
up to 1% of their net demand.
Liquidity
Adjustment
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Facility
Facility: Under this facility, banks
borrow from the central bank by
pledging government securities.
Statutory Liquidity Ratio
Ratio:
This is the percentage of deposits that
banks must mandatorily hold in the
form of government bonds. SLR
bonds are liquid assets that can be
sold at a short notice to meet any
unexpected
demand
from
depositors.
PPPAC appraised
five Port Projects
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Economy
to sell multiple companies
products.
Recently Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) released the guidelines
for banks to become brokers
with
stringent
capital
requirements
Banks with large bad loans, low
capital and losses may not
qualify to start insurance
broking firms.
The Insurance Regulator and
Development Authority (IRDA) on
August 2013 released the final
guidelines of bancassurance that the
companies must not have more than
a 50% exposure to any one client. For
the life insurance sector, the
bancassurance (corporate agencybank) channel accounts for 30% of
total new business premium
collection.
About Bancassurance:
Bancassurance is the bank
insurance model (BIM).
Banacassurance is the
partnership between a bank
and an insurance company.
Financial sector regulators
asked to implement FSLRC
proposals
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Economy
2013. The Agreement of Trade in
Services and Agreement was signed
under the Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation (CECA) between and
the ASEAN. The CECA between
India and ASEAN was signed in
2003. The Cabinet approved the
Agreement on Trade Goods under
the CECA with the ASEAN in 2009.
The agreement will help to boost the
movement of Indian professionals in
the ASEAN region and also facilitate
more investments in the services
sector. In 2011, the implementation
of the free trade pact in goods, made
both sides engaged in widening the
base of the pact by including services
and investment sectors. Trade
between India and ASEAN countries
was of about 76 billion dollar in 201213. Both the sides aim to increase it
to 100 billion by 2015.
About ASEAN
The Association of South East
Asian
(ASEAN)
was
established in 1967 in Bangkok,
Thailand.
The member of ASEAN
countries
are
Brunei
Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Philippines,
Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Business Confidence Index
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Economy
exchange. Currency swap maturities
are negotiable for at least 10 years,
making them a very flexible method
of foreign exchange.
Fiscal deficit to touch 5.2%
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Economy
It asks the contractor to pay royalty at
a flat rate of 10% ad valorem as is
applicable to natural gas. These
amounts will accrue to the State
Governments concerned.
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Economy
conditions of the bailout policy for
the road developer who were pulling
out of road projects due to the
premium burdens.
The six-member panel is
headed by the Prime Ministers
Economic Advisory Council Chairman
C Rangarajan.
The other members of the panel
include Secretary Planning
Commission Sindhushree Khullar,
Expenditure Secretary R.S. Gujral,
Secretary, Economic Advisory
Council Alok Sheel, Roads Secretary
Vijay Chhibber, Joint Secretary Road
Transport and Highways Rohit Kumar
Singh and Chairman National
Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
R.P. Singh. Earlier in October 2013,
the Cabinet note, which included
suggestions of the finance ministry,
planning commission and law
ministry, had suggested that
developers pay a discount rate of 12%
on the premium payment and also
pay a penalty of up to 0.5% of the
total project cost in case default was
on their part.
The proposal says if toll
revenues turn out to be more than
projected, the money left after
servicing debt and other necessary
costs would go to NHAI as advance
payment.
Further the concessionaire
cannot claim return to equity till
premium equals or exceeds what was
originally quoted for that particular
year. The highways sector has seen a
drastic reversal of fortune since 201213 with developers and financiers
steering clear of the sector even while
multiple projects have failed to takeoff.
The National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) managed
to award only 479-km till now as
against target of 3000 kms by
September 2013. In the previous
financial year, only 1,116-km was
awarded against the target of 9,500km.
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Economy
on a stock exchange. Its shares are
therefore not available for trade to
the general public.
Listed company
company: a company
whose shares are bought and sold on
a particular stock market. The share
price of a listed company is quoted
and traded on a stock exchange.
Justice Sodhi Committee
submitted report
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Economy
Companies would be entitled
to
require
third-party
connected persons who are
not employees to disclose their
trading and holdings in
securities of the company.
Merger and Acquisition
Guidelines for Telecom
Sector approved
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Economy
has been asked to provide bank
guarantees that would be in force till
an international court of arbitration
gives its final ruling on whether RIL
has willfully violated contractual
obligations on 80 per cent of
committed gas output or resorted to
hoarding.
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Economy
general taxation rates are lower than
compared to India. This means India
gets to lose tax revenue as DTAA
ensures that these investments are
taxed at much lower rates than
investments of the same quantity but
not routed through Mauritius or any
other nation with which India has a
DTAA. This is called Round
tripping
tripping.
This also leads to conditions
conducive
to
money
laundering. Money laundering i s
when the sources of money are not
known. So it may be money earned
through corrupt means and money
meant for funding terrorist activities.
Such money is called dirty money.
Direct transfer of Cash
subsidy soon on kerosene
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62
Impact on government
The new system is expected to
reduce this cost and subsidy
bill through better targeting
In the Union Budget 2012-13,
target is to keep 2012-13
subsidies under 2 percent of
GDP and under 1.75 percent
of GDP in the next 3 years .
Companies Foreign Funding
Norms for Infra Projects eased
The Reserve Bank of India on 3
December 2013 eased norms for
companies raising foreign funds for
infrastructure projects. The new
norms will help Companies to raise
funds through the External
Commercial Borrowing (ECB) route
for their infrastructure projects
through their holding firms or core
investment firms. This will enable
them to arrange finances for their
projects faster and strengthen the
flow of resources in the sector. The
RBI also stated that such funds should
be used in special purpose vehicles
(SPVs) for a specific project.
Presently, the SPVs are allowed to
bring in ECB funds for infrastructure
projects, while there were
restrictions for parent firms in doing
so. The Reserve bank, however, has
listed a series of conditions to avail
this facility.
What is External Commercial
Borrowing?
External Commercial Borrowing
is an instrument used in India to
facilitate the access to foreign money
by Indian corporations and PSUs.
External Commercial Borrowings
(ECB) refers to commercial loans in
the form of bank loans, buyers credit,
suppliers credit, securitized
instruments (e.g. floating rate notes
and fixed rate bonds, nonconvertible, optionally convertible or
partially convertible preference
shares) availed of from non-resident
lenders with a minimum average
maturity of 3 years.
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Economy
Union Cabinet approved
Reserve price for Spectrum
Auction
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KALINJAR PUBLICATIONS
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First telecommunication
Satellite of Bolivia launched
Telecommunications satellite
Satellite telecommunication is
the most mature of space
applications. Starting 50 years ago
with the launch of Telstar in 1962 and
Syncom in 1963, satcom has
continued to grow ever since. At first,
satellite performance was very
limited. The use of satellites was
limited to long distance telephony
and to the transport of television
signals between studios.
Use of Telecommunication
satellites
While listening to the radio and
watching T.V. the signals, we
receive is distributed from the
satellite
Most news agencies use satellites to distribute text, audio
and video to their affiliates
Access to the Internet is possible only by satellite communication
Satellites are being used for
tele-education, telemedicine
or videoconference systems
Internet service providers often link their servers to the core
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This
annual
list
of
groundbreaking
scientific
achievements, selected by and its
international nonprofit publisher,
AAAS, also includes major
breakthroughs in solar cell
technologies, genome-editing
techniques and vaccine design
strategies, to name a few. This year
there was no mistaking the immense
promise of cancer immunotherapy,
Tim Appenzeller, chief news editor
of the journal said in a press release
by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS).
So far, this strategy of harnessing the
immune system to attack tumours
works only for some cancers and a
few patients, so its important not to
overstate the immediate benefits. But
many cancer specialists are
convinced that they are seeing the
birth of an important new paradigm
for cancer treatment.
Many of todays advances in
cancer immunotherapy revolve
around CTLA-4 (cytotoxic Tlymphocyte antigen 4) a receptor
on T cells that was discovered in 1987.
The early steps were taken by French
cancer immunologist James Allison,
now at the University of Texas, MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
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Scientists
discovered
Phosphorus for the first time in the
cosmic leftovers from the supernova
- Cassiopeia A explosion. The study
was published in a science journal
on 13 December 2013. The discovery
of Phosphorus confirmed that
massive exploding stars are crucibles
in which the element is created.
Phosphorus is 100 times more
abundant in the remains of a
supernova than elsewhere in the
galaxy. Abundance of carbon,
nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur has
been measured in supernova
remnants before. Now supernova
remnant Cassiopeia A revealed the
first measurement of the relatively
scarce phosphorus. These five
elements are essential to life and can
only be created in massive stars. They
are scattered throughout our galaxy
when the star explodes and become
part of other stars, planets and
humans. The observations of the
object were made with a
69
spectrograph mounted on a
telescope at Palomar Observatory at
the California Institute of Technology.
Scientist said that Cassiopeia A
exploded 300 years ago.
About Phosphorus:
Phosphorus is an essential component of living systems and it
is found in nervous tissue,
bones and cell protoplasm.
Phosphorus used in the manufacture of safety matches, pyrotechnics, incendiary shells,
smoke bombs.
Phosphorus used in pesticides
and also in the production of
special glasses.
Na3PO4 is important as a cleaning agent, water softener and
for preventing boiler scale and
corrosion of pipes and boiler
tubes
Phosphorus found in food items
are pumpkin, soya foods,
cheese, nuts like badam and
fish.
Gaia satellite launched by
Europe
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However, strains of P.
falciparum that are resistant to
artemisinin have been detected in
Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and
Vietnam, raising fears that these drugresistant forms could spread to other
parts of the world and put at risk the
advances that have been made in
combating malaria. An international
team of scientists have identified a
parasite gene whose mutations are
associated with artemisinin
resistance. Such mutations could be
a useful molecular marker for
tracking the emergence and spread
of resistance, noted Frdric Ariey
of the Institut Pasteur in France and
his colleagues in a paper published
last week in Nature .
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OF
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Sperm-based biobots
created in Germany
N EW ,
N EW
F O U ND
STEM C EL LS
Perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA)
a novel chemical lurking in the
atmosphere, is the most radiatively
efficient chemical found to date,
breaking all other chemical
records for its potential to impact
climate.
E ARTH
2012
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U NCERTAINTY IN FO RESTS
CARB ON SINK
INHERITS LEARNED
SE NSITIVI TY TO SME LL
LAKE BED ON
M ARS
WAS
ROLE AS
K I WI
PROB AB LY ORIGINATE D IN
A US T R AL I A
New Zealands iconic kiwi bird
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TO
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SPORTS
CRICKET
India - South Africa test
Series
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South Africa on 11 December 2013 won the three one day match cricket
77
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series 2-0 against India. The third
match played on Centurion was
washed away due to rain, after South
Africa scored 301 runs for 8 in 50
overs. Q de Kock of South Africa was
selected as the Player of the series.
The previous two one day
international matches were won by
South Africa. In the second match
South Africa defeated India by 134
runs at Kingsmead, Durban and in the
first match India was defeated by 141
runs at New Wanderers Stadium,
Johannesburg, while chasing massive
score on 358.
ICC Annual Awards
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rankings table with 120 points, which Dhawan was placed at tenth position
is followed by Australia with 114 in the rankings chart. In the bowlers
rating points. The latest ICC ranking rankings, Indian bowler Ravindra
was released in Dubai. Even after, Jadeja was pushed on the seventh
the dismal performance against South place in the ranking chart. Saeed
Africa, the Indian team was able to Ajmal, the Pakistan spinner was
stick on the number one position placed at number 1 and is followed
because of the games played by it by the South African pace man, Dale
on the home ground. Apart from this, Steyn. In the category of All
in the player rankings released A.B. Rounders, Shakib Al Hasan of
Devilliers of South Africa moved Bangladesh retained his number one
ahead of Virat Kohli as the Worlds position and was followed by Shane
number one Batsman. The Indian Watson of Australia. Ravindra Jadeja
Cricket captain, M.S. Dhoni was of India was placed at fifth position
placed at number six and the Shikhar in the rankings.
ICC O NE DAY
I NTE RNATI ONAL TE AM R ANK INGS
Ra nk
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Te am
India
Australia
England
Sri Lanka
South Africa
Pakistan
West Indies
New Zealand
Bangladesh
Zimbabwe
M at c he s
58
42
42
51
44
53
44
34
26
26
Point s Ra ti ng
69 67
12 0
48 08
11 4
46 71
11 1
56 05
11 0
48 25
11 0
52 79
10 0
39 58
90
28 99
85
21 65
83
14 39
55
Te am
M at c he s
Sri Lanka
20
India
15
South Africa
23
Pakistan
30
West Indies
17
England
21
Australia
20
New Zealand
21
Ireland
9
Bangladesh
11
Ra t.
87 2
85 9
83 9
83 5
83 0
78 9
76 6
75 4
72 2
71 7
Name
A.B. de Villiers
V. Kohli
H.M. Amla
G.J. Bailey
K.C. Sangakkara
M.S. Dhoni
T.M. Dilshan
I.J.L. Trott
Misbah-ul-Haq
S Dhawan
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Qf y M a tc h e s
24
19
29
40
22
28
26
27
14
15
Point s
25 70
18 43
28 18
36 38
20 41
23 57
20 47
21 39
78 3
79 1
Ra ti ng
12 9
12 3
12 3
12 1
12 0
11 2
10 2
10 2
87
72
Ra t.
76 3
74 2
73 0
70 8
69 6
69 5
69 2
67 4
67 3
67 0
Name
Saeed Ajmal
D.W. Steyn
S.P. Narine
S.T. Finn
J.M. Anderson
H.M.R.K.B. Herath
R.A. Jadeja
L.L. Tsotsobe
M. Morkel
M.G. Johnson
79
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Series on 22 December 2013. The
surprise announcement came days
after England lost the coveted Ashes
in the third Test in Perth to fall 3-0
behind in the five-test series.Swann
had long been Australias Ashes
tormentor.
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him rocket 16 places to a best-ever
28th position. Of the other two
century-makers in the Test, numberone ranked AB de Villiers and Indias
Cheteshwar Pujara have consolidated
their number-one and number-seven
spots, respectively. The ICC Player
Rankings are a widely followed system
of rankings for international cricketers
based on their recent performances.
Team Rankings :
Ra nk
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10 .
Te am
South Africa
India
England
Pakistan
Australia
Sri Lanka
West Indies
New Zealand
Zimbabwe
Bangladesh
Ra ti ng
13 1
11 9
11 6
10 2
10 1
88
87
82
34
18
Top 1 0 Ba ts m e n in T e st
ID
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Ra t.
90 9
89 8
86 8
86 6
85 4
83 5
80 1
78 3
77 1
76 9
Name
A.B. de Villiers
H.M. Amla
M.J. Clarke
K.C.Sangakkara
S. Chanderpaul
R.L. Taylor
C.A. Pujara
Misbah-ul-Haq
G.C. Smith
Younus Khan
Top 1 0 Bow l e rs in T e st
ID
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Ra t.
91 2
89 0
83 1
82 4
80 8
79 6
78 6
75 6
74 5
71 9
Name
V.D.Philander
D.W.Steyn
H.M.R.K.B.Herath
Saeed Ajmal
R. Ashwin
R.J. Harris
P.M. Siddle
P.P. Ojha
S.C.J. Broad
T.A. Boult
TENNIS
Stefan Edberg to join Roger
Federers coaching team
Roger Federer on 28 December
2013 announced that Stefan Edberg,
the former Swedish tennis player will
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childhood hero. Federer, who is the
17 times major winner ranks at sixth
position at present.
Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg was born
on 19 January 1966
He is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player in both
singles and doubles from Sweden
From 1985 to 1996, Edberg
had won six grand slam singles
title and three grand slams in
double titles, which includes
HOCKEY
Mens Junior Hockey World
Cup 2013
Player
of
the
Tournament: Christopher Rhr
(Germany)
Goal-keeper
of
the
Tournament: E d gar Reynaud
(France)
Top Scorer: C hri s top her
Rhr (Germany), 9 goals
Goal of the Tournament: JeanLaurent
K i effer
(France),
Argenti na vs . France, 3rd
French goal (48th minute)
The Junior Hockey world Cup
2013 was held in New Delhi, India
from 6-15 December 2013. A total of
16 teams were participated in this
tournament.
About Mens Junior Hockey
World Cup
The Mens Junior Hockey
World Cup also known as the Roger
Danet Trophy is an international field
hockey competition organised by the
International Hockey Federation
(FIH). The tournament was first held
at France in 1979. Since 1985 it has
been held every four years.
Competitors must be under the age
of 21 as of December 31 in the year
before the tournament is held.
FOOTBALL
Under-17 FIFA World Cup
2017 in India
India was chosen as the host
country for Under-17 FIFA World
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country, India will take part in the 24nation tournament for the first time in
its history. This will be the biggest
ever football tournament in the
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country as this is the first FIFA event
in the countrys history. The
tournament comprises 24 teams and
it will be held in six cities across India
Including New Delhi.
BADMINTON
National Badminton
Championship
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Punnappa. Jwala and Punnappa
regained the womens doubles
crown for the first time, since
2009. Defending mixed doubles
champions Aparna Balan and Arun
Vishnu retained their title by
defeating Tarun Kona and Ashwini
Ponnappa 21-10 21-17. The second
seeded pair of Jwala and Ashwini
prevailed over top seeds Pradnya
Gadre and Siki Reddy N 21-17 2116. 78th Senior National Badminton
Championship-2013 was held from
16 December 2013 to 23 December
2013 in New Delhi. It held five types
of events namely Mens Singles,
Mens Doubles, Womens Single,
Womens Doubles and Mixed
Doubles.
About Badminton Association
of India (BAI)
Badminton Association of India
(BAI) is the governing body for
Sindhu has bagged yet another TierIII title this season, after her triumph
at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix in
May 2013.
K AB ADDI
Kabaddi World Cup 2013
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ARCHERY/SHOOTING
34th National Archery
Championship
GO LF
Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Team
Titles
India won the boys and girls
team titles in the Asia-Pacific junior
golf championship at the Royal
Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). It was
Indias first ever victory in the Asia
Pacific Junior Golf Championship. In
the boys category, the team of Viraj
Madappa and Manu Gandas took
India A to win the team title. On the
other hand, in the girls category, the
team of Aditi and Ridhima Dilawari
fashioned India B to win the team
title. In the individual category, Aditi
Ashok lifted the individual title in the
girls category after a thrilling play-off
with second-placed Min-Jou Chen of
Chinese Taipei.
Results
Team Boys
1. India A (Manu Gandas, Viraj
Madappa)
2. Thailand B (Ekthumrong
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Luanganuruk,
Suradit
Yongcharoenchai)
3. Chinese Taipei A (Sung I Yu,
Chun An Yu)
Team Girls
1. India B (Ridhima Dilawari,
Aditi Ashok)
2. Chinese Taipei A (Yu-Hsin
Chang, Min-Jou Chen)
3. Chinese Taipei B (Hsin-En
Tsai, Cih-Hui Chen)
Indonesia Open Golf
Tournament 2013
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Perez joined McLaren for the
2013 season by replacing Lewis
Hamilton
VARI OUS
Naypyitaw South East Asian
Games
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Indian Judokas in second week
of December 2013 won silver and
four bronze medals in the Asian Youth
and Junior Championships, which
concluded in Hainan, China. The
junior Indian team comprised of
seven boys and seven girls. The youth
team also comprised of seven girls
and boys. The championship was
held from 11 to 13 December 2013.
The Indian youth team won Silver and
two bronze medals and the junior
team won two bronze medal. Obaid
Al-Anzi, the President Judo Union of
Asia (JUA) opened the 7th Asian
Youth & 14th Asian Junior Judo
Championships 2013 at Hainan,
China.
7th Asian Youth Judo
Championships 2013
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POSITION
1.
2.
3.
Prakash Nanjappa
Kapil Kumar
Gurpal Singh
JUNIORS
1.
2.
3.
Sukhwinder Singh
Kapil Kumar
Prashant Malik
1.
2.
3.
Malaika Goel
Harveen Srao
Shreya Gawande
1.
2.
3.
Malaika Goel
Nayani Bhardwaj
Shreya Gawande
1.
2.
3.
Malaika Goel
Nayani Bhardwaj
Gauri Sheoran
MEN
WOMEN JUNIORS
YOUTH
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STATE
EVENT
RECORD
Swapan Burman
West Bengal
1.71 M
Gayathri Shivakumar
Kerala
1.55 M
Chandan Bauri
West Bengal
Sahil Mahabali
Haryana
7.27 M
Mahashri Baloda
Delhi
11.63 M
Athira Suchendran
Kerala
12.86 M
Chandan Bauri
West Bengal
22.11 sec
48.24 sec
First
Country
Second
Country
Third
Country
Mens
fullmarathon(42km)
Belachew
Endale
Abayneh
Ethopia
Ezekiel Cherop
Kenya
Ethiopia
Mens
halfmarathon(21km)
Habtamu Arga
Wegi
Ethopia
Kenya
Melaku Belachew
Bizuneh
Ethiopia
Womens halfmarathon
Aberu Zewude
Tesema
Ethopia
Mestawot Tradesse
Shankutie
Ethopia
Romeha
AleneWoldu
Ethiopia
Man Singh
India
Arjun Pradhan
India
Ankit Malik
India
Nilam Rajput
India
Kavit Raut
India
Lalita Babar
India
Mens 10km
Womens 10km
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Author
Bengali
Bodo
Subodh Sarkar
Dogri
English
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Maithili
Malayalam
Manipuri
Marathi
Nepali
Odia
Punjabi
Rajasthani
Sanskrit
Santali
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu
Anil Boro
Sitaram Sapolia
Temsula Ao
Mridula Garg
C.N. Ramachandran
Mohi-ud-Din Reshi
Tukaram Rama Shet
Sureshwar Jha
M.N. Paloor
Makhonmani Mongsaba
Satish Kalasekar
Man Bahadur Pradhan
Bijoy Misra
Manmohan
Ambika Dutt
Radhakant Thakur
Arjun Charan Hembram
Namdev Tarachandani
R.N. Joe D Cruz
Katyayani Vidmahe
Javed Akhtar
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated by the Government of
India on 12 March 1954. As a national organization it is responsible to work
for the development of Indian letters and to set the literary standards in all
the Indian languages. It functions as an autonomous organization. It was
registered as a society on 7 January 1956, under the Societies Registration
Act, 1860.
eASIA Award 2013
Directorate General of Foreign Trades e-BRC project has won the 2013
eASIA Award under Trade Facilitation category. The award was announced
by Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT)
in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on 29 November 2013.
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ET Lifetime Achievement
Award 2013
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji,
68, won the Economic Times Lifetime
Achievement Award 2013 for his role
in creating Indias third-largest soft-
ware exporter and also for the impressive scale of his philanthropy. The
2013 ET Awards for Corporate Excellence were given in Mumbai on 9
December 2013.
What is PAA?
Pan Asian eCommerce Alliance
(PAA) is the Association member of
the AFACT and the member
countries are:
Afghanistan
Australia
China
Chinese Taipei
Cambodia
India
Indonesia
R. Iran
Japan
Malaysia
Mongolia
Pakistan
Philippines
Korea
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Saudi Arabia Thailand
Vietnam
US Presidential
Early Career Award
Two Indian Americans are
among 102 scientists who received
the Presidential Early Career Awards
for Scientists and Engineers. The
awards were given by President
Barack Obama on 23 December
2013. The Indian American who
received the award are Dr. Karunesh
Ganguly of San Francisco and Dr.
Hardeep Singh of Houston. They will
receive their awards at a Washington,
DC, ceremony in the coming year.
The award is categorized as the highest US honour for young profession-
NAME
CATEGORY
CONTRIBUTION
P Chidambram
Vinod Khosla
Sachin Bansal
Azim Premji
Bookmyshow
Sun Pharma
Chairman of the 40 billion dollar commodities-to-telecom Aditya Birla Group was chosen
for his feat in transforming a traditional Indian family enterprise - which he inherited in
1995 after the sudden death of his father - into a globalised conglomerate, with 51% of
its revenues coming from abroad.
Finance Minister of India was chosen for his Herculean efforts in turning around the
fortunes of the economy.
A storied venture capitalist, Khosla was one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, where
he pioneered open systems. He then went on an equally stellar career in venture capital
at Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), which he joined in 1986. In 2004, he set up
Khosla ventures, which has a bent for startups in the clean energy space and microfinance.
The founder of Flipkart, was picked for creating an e-commerce company valued at over
$1 billion that showed the appetite for risk-taking by Bansal.
Chairman of Wipro was recognised by the jury not only for his role in creating Indias
third-largest software exporter but also for the impressive scale of his philanthropy.
A M Naik led L & T got the award for its contribution to public good through commitment
to critical social causes that influence the lives of thousands of needy Indians.
Ashish Hemrajani led Bookmyshow is the Indias most popular ticketing website and the
jury recognized it for its potential to rapidly establish itself as an innovative and financially
successful company
The jury recognised Dilip Shangavi led Sun Pharma for its considerable achievements:
the number one Indian pharma company by sales, net profit and market capitalisation.
The latter was an eye-popping Rs 1.18 lakh crore at the Wednesday close, up 54% in
2013.
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IN THE NEWS
APPOINTED
M. Veerappa Moily
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Vinod Kumar Duggal
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elections, Congress swept 34 seats
of the 40 seats and the main
opposition parties, Mizo National
Front (MNF) was able to secure only
five seats and Mizoram Peoples
Conference (MPC) secured only one
berth.
S.B. Nayar
S.B. Nayar was appointed as
chairman and managing director
(CMD) of India Infrastructure Finance
Co. Ltd (IIFCL). IIFCL is a stateowned firm that funds infrastructure
projects. Nayar will have a term of
three years. He presently works as
head of Industrial Finance
Corporation of India Limited (IFCIL),
another state-owned financier.
About IIFCL:
India Infrastructure Finance
Corporation Ltd (IIFCL) was incorporated in 2006 as a wholly-owned Government of India company. It was
set up as a special purpose vehicle
(SPV) to provide long term finance
to viable infrastructure projects. A
SPV is a legal entity formed to direct
the resources for a single, well defined and narrow purpose. In India,
the genesis of SPV is found in the
Union Budget 2005-06.
Ranjan Mathai
Ranjan Mathai, the former Foreign Secretary of India on 9 December 2013 took over as the Indias High
Commissioner to the UK. He has succeeded Jaimini Bhagwati, who retired recently from the post.
Ashraf Jehan
Ashraf Jehan a female judge on
30 December 2013 sworn-in at
Pakistans national sharia court which
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2013. He is a 1978 batch IPS officer
of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
J.N.Chaudhary got his name clear from
the Union Home Ministry.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
became the Ambassador of US in
December 2013. He is the successor
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CVR Rajendran
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Pradeep Kumar
P Pradeep Kumar on 29
December 2013 was appointed as
the Managing Director (Corporate
Banking) of State Bank of India (SBI),
the biggest lender of the country. As
one of the four managing Directors,
he will look after the corporate
banking portfolio of the bank. As per
a Government of Indias notification
P Pradeep Kumar will be the
Usha Sangwan
DEATH
Nelson Mandela
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Award for merit in the field of
human rights
Politically an African nationalist
and democratic socialist, he served
as the President of the African
National Congress (ANC) from 1991
to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was
the Secretary General of the NonAligned Movement from 1998 to
1999. Mandela served 27 years in
prison, initially on Robben
Island, and later in Pollsmoor
P r i s o n a n d Victor
Verster
Prison. Mandela published his
autobiography Long Walk to
Freedom and opened negotiations
with President F.W. de Klerk to
abolish apartheid and establish
multiracial elections in 1994, in which
he led the ANC to victory. As South
Africas first black President
Mandela formed a Government
of National Unity in an attempt to
defuse racial tension. He
a
new
a l s o promulgated
constitution and created the
Truth
and
Reconciliation
Commission to investigate past
human rights abuses. Continuing the
former governments liberal
economic policy, his administration
introduced measures to encourage
land reform, combat poverty, and
expand healthcare services.
Internationally, he acted as mediator
between Libya and the United
Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103
bombing trial, and oversaw military
intervention in Lesotho. He declined
to run for a second term, and
w a s succeeded by his deputy,
Thabo
Mbeki
Mbeki.
Mandela
subsequently became an elder
statesman, focusing on charitable
work in combating poverty and HIV/
AIDS through the Nelson Mandela
Foundation. Awarded the U S
Presidential Medal of Freedom,
and the Order of Canada he was
the first living person to be made an
honorary Canadian citizen. The last
recipient
of
the
Soviet
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designed the AK47 (Avtomat
Kalashnikov), which was officially
accepted by the Soviet in 1947.
Kalashnikov was decorated with
numerous honors including the Hero
of Socialist Labour and Order of Lenin
and Stalin Prize.
About AK47
The AK first used in East Berlin
riots in 1953 and the Hungarian
Revolution of 1956. AK47 is the
worlds most popular firearm favored
by guerrillas, terrorists and the
soldiers of many armies. The weapon
was simple, easy to use and maintain.
It was reliable in any extreme
conditions (hot, cold, wet or sandy).
Sis Ram Ola
The Union Labour Minister, Sis
Ram Ola died on 15 December 2013
after a prolonged illness in Medanta
Hospital in Gurgaon, Haryana. He was
of 83 years in age. He took over as the
Labour Minister in June 2013 after
Mallikarjun Kharge was shifted to
Railways. Under the UPA 1
Government under Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, he served as the as
Labour Minister and Union Cabinet
Minister of Mines. In the 11th Lok
Sabha in 1996, he was elected and
served as an Union Minister of State
for Chemicals and Fertilizers
(Independent Charge) from 1996 to
1997. From 1997 to 1998, he served
as a Union Minister of State for Water
Resources (Independent Charge). In
1968, he became a recipient of
Padma Shri award for social work
Shivarudrappa
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had keen interest is fashion designing
and was a regular at fashion shows.
He used to design for his own brand
of silk sarees Royal
Silk.
Maharaja
Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar
Bahadur was the last link with the
Mysore citys royal past. He played a
key role in conducting the ten-day
Dasara celebrations each year in
Mysore city. Every year the famous
M y s o r e Dasara festival d r a w s
lakhs of tourists from across the world.
Pran Chopra
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ACCUSED/RESIGNED/CONTROVERSY
Jayanthi Natarajan
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Ali Osman Taha
HONOUR
Pope Francis
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Miss Venezuela Alyz Henrich on
7 December 2013 was crowned with
the pageant of Miss Earth 2013 at the
Versailles Palace, Philippines. She was
crowned with the pageant of Miss
World by Tereza Fajksova, the Miss
Earth 2012 from Czech Republic. This
was the 13th edition of the annual
Miss Earth. With this winning, Alyz
Henrich has joined the roster of
beauty queens and will be an
ambassador for environmental
preservation.
BOOKS/AUTHORS
Nirbhaya: Ek Atmachintan
Mumbai University on 16
December 2013 launched a book
t i t l e d Nirbhaya:
Ek
Atmachintan to mark a year since
the brutal gangrape of a Delhi
paramedic student. The books
prologue is written by Justice
Chandrashekhar Dharamadhikari and
is edited by the vice-chancellor of
the Mumbai University, Rajan Welukar.
Several notable writers and thinkers,
such as, Nirja Dhulekar, Kumar Ketkar,
Asha Bage, Vijaya Wad, Judge
Mrudula Bhatkar, etc have
contributed to the book. The topics
that these writers have covered
include women empowerment in the
fields of economic, social and
political spheres, the rights which are
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VARIOUS
Kisan Diwas
Sashi Tharoor
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Getting to Zero
HIV/AIDS remains a major global issue, having claimed more
than 36 million lives so far since
the discovery of the virus more
than 20 years ago.
According to the World Health
Organisation, there were approximately 35.3 million
people living with HIV in 2012.
Since the inception of World
AIDS Day in 1988, it has been
observed on 1st December
every year with different
themes.
The theme for this year is Getting to Zero- means zero new
infections, zero discrimination
and zero AIDS-related deaths.
The theme will be repeated
until 2015, focusing on Zero
AIDS Related Deaths as well
as pushing towards better access to treatment for all.
World AIDS Day is celebrated
around the world on December 1st
each year. It has become one of the
most recognized international health
days and a key opportunity to raise
awareness, commemorate those who
have passed on, and celebrate
victories, such as increased access to
treatment and prevention services.
Prithvi -2 Missile
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surface ballistic missile Prithvi-ll from
Chandipur in the Balesore district of
Odisha. The test which is a part of
the user training exercise of the
Indian Army and it was conducted
from lunch complex 3 of the ITR in
Chandipur along the Odisha coast.
The last user trial of Prithvi-II was
successfully carried out from the
same base on 7 October 2013.
Prithvi-II Missile features
1. Inducted into Indias Strategic
Forces Command in 2003, the
Prithvi II missile is the first missile to be developed by DRDO
under Indias Integrated
Guided Missile Development
Programme.
2. It is capable of carrying 1000
kg of warheads and thrusted by
liquid propulsion twine engines, uses advanced inertial
guidance system with
manoeuvring trajectory.
3. The nine meter long Prithvi-II
missile is equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system and guided by an
innovative guidance scheme.
4. The improved Circular Error
Probability (CEP) achieved by
the missile is a testimony to
specify the efficacy of this missile system.
5. Prithvi uses an advanced inertial guidance system with
manoeuvring capabilities and
comes within metres of its target.
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Kilometers and contain 200 to 600
cubic kilometer of molten rock. The
findings were presented at the
American Geophysical Union Fall
Meeting in San Francisco. In case the
Yellowstone Super Volcano is blown
now than it would bring in
catastrophic consequences.
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Tyler Armstrong on 27 December 2013 became the youngest person to reach the summit of
Aconcagua, the highest mountain of
America. The nine year old boy of
United States climbed the mountain
in the Argentine Andes with his father and Tibetan Sherpa, Lhawang
Dhondup. In 2012, he climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro - Africas highest peak.
More than 100 people have died attempting to conquer Aconcagua,
which rises 6962 metres above the
sea level. Before Tyler, Matthew Moniz
from the United States was the youngest person to climb the mountain at
the age of 10 in the year 2008.
Procurement of Israeli Barak-I
missile approved by DAC
Defence Acquisition Council
(DAC) headed by the Defence
Minister, A K Antony, lifted
109
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in Hoquiam, a small town of US on 10
April 2014. Nirvana Day will be
celebrated as the bands Nirvana was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame the same day. This is the first
time that the day will be celebrated
by Hoquiam. The day will be
celebrated to pay a tribute to the
bands late frontman, Kurt Cobain. He
was born and raised just four miles
away from Hoquiam in Aberdeen and
he lived in Hoquiam, Washington for
a very short time. As per Jack
Durney, the Mayor of the city, Nirvana
will bring great honour to the entire
community of the town. Nirvana
was a band formed by Cobain and
Krist Novoselic in 1987 and a
drummer Dave Grohl joined it in 1990.
The debut album of Nirvana band
was each was launched in 1989.
Cobain committed suicide at the age
of 27.
Vijay Diwas
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Pinaka
is capable
to incorporate
several
types
of warheads, which make the
weapon deadly for the enemy
as it can even destroy solid
structures and bunkers.
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day was observed across the world on 10 December 2013 to bring to light the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. 2013 Theme of the day is 20
Years Working for Your Rights. NHRC
in India organized a programme in
New Delhi on this Day.
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Planning Commission
Ministry of External Affairs
National Portal of India
National
International
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India And The World
Sports
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Science and Technology
Burning Issues (Editorials From Different Newspapers)
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The challenge of
5 per cent growth
Indias GDP grew at 4.8 per cent
for the second quarter of the current
year, July-September 2013. The data,
released by the Central Statistics Office
on Friday, are entirely in line with expectations. Together with the 4.4 per
cent clocked in the first quarter, which
marked a four-year low, economic
growth during the first half of the year
has been a meagre 4.6 per cent.
Policymakers are banking on much
higher growth rates in the vicinity of
5.5 per cent during each of the remaining quarters to pull the economy
out of the sub-5 per cent growth trajectory. In 2012-13, the economy grew by
5 per cent, the lowest annual rate of
growth in a decade. Companies shelved
their investment plans in an uncertain
and often adverse policy environment,
while consumers cut back on spending
in the face of high borrowing costs. The
challenge has been to revive investment
demand and spur consumer spending.
There are no easy answers. Great significance is attached to the clearance
of stalled and new projects by a special
cabinet committee. However, it is too
early to measure outcomes. Persistently
high inflation and well-entrenched infla-
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Convenience vs water
security
The court pointed out that while it
might be convenient for India to build
low gates and practise sediment flushing, this was not the only way to man-
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Issue of underpayment
Those voices raising the issues of
labour and exploitation in the Devyani
case have found very limited space in
the media. Unions and activists speaking for domestic workers have had
things to say, but they mostly go unheard. To date India has not ratified the
ILOs Domestic Workers Convention
2011 (189).
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Divisive issue
What is clear is that Maos legacy
continues to be a divisive issue in China.
For those on the conservative Left,
Maos political authoritarianism is often framed as a platform to oppose
economic and political reforms, which
they view as a fundamental threat to
the partys future. Those on the liberal
Right, who favour market reforms and
political loosening, see his persisting
political legacy as an obstacle.
The Party under Mr. Xi finds itself
caught in the middle, the respected
economist Mao Yushi told The
Hindu in an interview. Today, he said,
the party is facing many contradictions.
Mao Zedongs path, and the CPCs path,
are different. Mao Zedong believed in
the need to establish an equal society.
Now we have an unequal society. Mao
believed in Communism. Today, the
party follows Capitalism. So there is a
contradiction.
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Going forward
Professor Mao sees the partys
new leader, Mr. Xi Jinping, who has now
been in office for a little over a year, as
appearing confused about plotting a
course forward, leaving both liberals
and Maoists disappointed. On Thursday, December 26, Mr. Xi seemed to
attempt a careful balancing act in a
speech at a symposium to mark Maos
anniversary held at the Great Hall of the
People in Beijing just about the only
official event to commemorate the occasion. While he defended Maos legacy
by describing him as a great figure who
changed the face of the nation and led
the Chinese people to a new destiny,
he also said revolutionary leaders are
not gods, but human beings.
In the year he has been in office,
Mr. Xi has made clear he plans to go
forward with economic reforms that
include boosting the role of the market
and trimming the power of the influential state-run sector, according to an
ambitious blueprint unveiled at the Central Committees third plenum in November. Mr. Xi has himself sought to
invoke comparisons with former leader
Deng Xiaoping, who unveiled Chinas
reforms at another third plenum meeting, in 1978. At the same time, he also
hit out at those questioning Mao
Zedongs legacy and seeking to negate
the results of the first 30 years of the
CPCs history a turbulent time that
saw the Great Leap Forward (1958) that
resulted in famine and tens of millions
of deaths, and the Cultural Revolution
(1966-76) where Maos Red Guards persecuted millions.
State enterprises
Mao Yushi, however, believes that
enabling the Chinese people to have a
true understanding of Mao Zedongs
legacy is crucial for the countrys political future. In 2011, he penned an article
arguing for the restoration of Mao
Zedong as a man, highlighting his direct responsibility for the famine and
the Cultural Revolution, events which
find no mention in our textbooks. He
said the first 30 years of new China were
a misery, while the backstage boss
who destroyed the country still has his
portrait on Tiananmen Square. His article triggered a storm of controversy,
angering Party mouthpieces, conservatives and the Left, but winning praise
from historians and progressives. Although he faced death threats and calls
from neo-Maoists for his arrest, the Chinese government did not take any action.
The government tries to cover
Maos crimes, he said. In textbooks,
there is nothing about Maos crimes. It
never talks about the three years great
famine, how many people died. The
young generation does not know the
past history. The history they study is
fabricated history, so it gets peoples
ideas very confused about the need for
political reforms and democratisation.
The future of change in China on the
political side, he added, depends on
how big is the force of the pro-Mao
people. Economic change depends on
how strong vested interest groups are.
He sees state-owned Enterprises
(SOEs), which still control vast swathes
of the economy, as the biggest interest
group. The SOEs sector railways,
energy, communication is very
strong. The price they set, whether the
interest rate, or power price, is by themselves. So they earn a big profit, not
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Fraying Conventions
For years now, the Vienna Conventions on diplomatic immunity have been
fraying at the edges largely driven by
public outrage over cases like that of
Mr. Aryee. It was not too long ago that
the shoe was on Indias foot. Earlier this
year, the Supreme Court restrained Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini from
leaving India, saying he had failed to
honour commitments that two Italian
marines charged with the murder of fishermen off Kerala would stand trial.
Indias actions were a flat-out violation of Article 31 of the 1961 Vienna
Convention on Diplomatic Relations
which says diplomats shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of
the receiving State. He shall also enjoy
immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction. European diplomats
protested, rightly, against what they ar-
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U.S. law
It has been argued that Dr.
Khobragades alleged crime was a felony
under U.S. law, a category that the country uses to distinguish serious offences
from misdemeanours. Thus, the argument goes, her alleged offence met the
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120
Unlearning undemocratic
values
The brutal sexual attack on a young
woman in Delhi, in 2012, and a savage
attack on a girl student of Jawaharlal
Nehru University (JNU) on its campus
this year are just two examples of extreme violence that have shocked the
nation. Acts of sexual violence are common despite public outrage and the fear
of legal action. Equally disturbing was
the mass exodus of citizens of northeastern States from Bangalore in 2012.
Instances of caste discrimination and
violence occur at regular intervals to
which we have become quite immune.
Occurrences of discrimination based on
caste, gender, race and religion are not
disparate but a reflection of the ways in
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121
level, and 54 per cent from the highincome bracket. About 21 per cent are
from public schools, and the rest from
other schools. Besides, they come from
26 States and 235 universities/colleges,
representing different language and cultural backgrounds.
In this widening diversity, students
from low castes, the poor, women and
those from different religious, regional,
rural and language backgrounds live in
the company of high caste, urban and
better off males who dominated the
higher education campus scene for
long. With greater diversity, students
bring with them ideologies, values and
differing ways of dealing with others.
While diversity provides a unique opportunity for students to experience its
richness under one roof, it also poses
challenges of living in a socially inclusive way. It tends to induce social and
peer groups around identities and develop a divide in social relations that
are along caste, ethnic, class, linguistic,
regional and religious lines. Exclusionary behaviour also brings on discrimination, psychological and physical violence for the low castes and women.
Thus, the nations long-standing legacies
of caste, gender and class antagonism
are replicated on campuses. As higher
education moves forward, it does so
on social platforms of caste, gender,
and class cleavages.
A study by Prof. Mary Thornton
and others of five higher educational
institutions in India and the United Kingdom, in 2010, observed that separation of groups on the higher education
campuses studied is pervasive and ubiquitous. While some such separation may
be for supportive reasons, convenience
or inertia, at other times it is due to overt
discrimination on the grounds of race,
region, nationality, caste, class, religion,
age or gender. In 2013, Samson
Ovichegan, in a study on the experience
of Dalits in an elite university in India,
observed that this university is yet another arena in which the practice of
caste division continues to exist. The
university environment reinforces and
maintains a divide between Dalit and
non-Dalit. Dalit students do, indeed,
experience overt and covert discrimination based on caste at this premier
university.
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Initiatives
JNU and Delhi University have
been pushed to strengthening the
mechanism to deal with gender violence
and sexism. While these are good steps,
the direction needs to be well thought
of. Of the two ways of dealing with gender and caste discrimination legal
safeguards and gender sensitisation and
learning the focus so far has been on
the former. Though essential, legal safeguards need to be supplemented and
supported by a strong component of
civic learning and engagement. The measures have their limitations in reforming
undemocratic behaviour. Laws discourage wrongdoing but do not necessarily
correct sources of undemocratic
behaviour. Laws do not strengthen
peoples knowledge and social and cognitive skills for democratic practice. The
Anti-Untouchability Act of 1955 and
other such acts related to gender have
been in operation for about half-a-century. Yet, untouchability is still prevalent just as gender discrimination and
Transformational politics
The Aam Aadmi Partys journey
from mass movement to political office in just one year is without a parallel
in Indian electoral history, reflecting as
it does a popular yearning for change
from the models of governance on offer today. A disenchanted electorate is
clearly behind the resounding mandate
to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party which
made an ambitious leap from the anticorruption movement of Anna Hazare.
Yet, history has been made and the AAP
is now poised to form a government in
Delhi with Mr. Kejriwal as Chief Minister. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which
was ahead of the AAP by three seats,
wisely decided not to form a government through horse-trading and the Congress did not have the numbers. Given
the high moral ground on which the AAP
had placed the game of government
formation, the BJP could not afford to
be seen as any less righteous than the
AAP. Yet, the AAP itself was caught in a
quandary having declared in the electoral run-up that it would not seek or
offer support to the Congress and the
BJP. But going back to the voters for a
fresh mandate was not an option because that would have been a betrayal
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122
Dangerous disengagement
By putting off bilateral dialogue,
India is missing the opportunity to engage with the changing reality of
Pakistans power structure
The most alarming part about the
exchange of words between Indian and
Pakistani leaders this month was, perhaps, the lack of alarm bells ringing.
After all, to have both Prime Ministers
speaking of war in their statements
should itself have been a matter of concern. Yet, even as Nawaz Sharif was
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124
An abuse of immunity?
The arrest of Indian Deputy Consul-General Devyani Khobragade in New
York and the alleged mistreatment she
faced have resulted in a diplomatic row
between India and the United States. The
Indian stance, after initial assertions that
she enjoyed diplomatic status and that
she should not have been arrested, now
appears to focus on the manner of her
arrest and her subsequent treatment. The
U.S. has sought to justify the arrest on
the grounds that the proceedings do not
relate to Ms. Khobragades official acts,
and has asserted that it followed the
standard procedure in relation to her
treatment. On the diplomatic front, India is reported to have initiated some
tough measures, including the removal
of security barriers around the U.S. Embassy in Delhi.
Question of immunity
At the outset, it is important to
draw a distinction between diplomatic
agents of states and consular staff.
While the 1961 Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations covers the privileges and immunities of diplomatic
agents, the treatment that consular staff
are entitled to is laid down in the 1963
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. As the Deputy Consul-General at
the Indian Consulate in New York, Ms.
Khobragade was, at the time of her arrest, a member of consular staff, and
not a diplomat.
Unlike the 1961 Convention, which
vests diplomatic agents with absolute
immunity from arrest, the 1963 Convention states that Consular officers shall
not be liable to arrest or detention
pending trial, except in the case of a
grave crime and pursuant to a decision
by the competent judicial authority
(Article 41(1)). Article 43 of the Convention goes on to vest consular officers with immunity from jurisdiction of
the receiving State in respect of official
acts.
It is evident that the allegations
against Ms. Khobragade relate to her
personal and not to her official acts. This
means that she is not immune from the
jurisdiction of U.S. courts in relation to
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Retaliatory measures
India has reportedly taken the following retaliatory measures: (i) removal
of security barricades around the U.S.
Embassy in New Delhi, (ii) withdrawal
of airport passes and import privileges
(iii) identity cards issued to U.S. diplomats to be turned in and (iv) refusal by
several leaders including the Speaker of
the Lok Sabha and the National Security
Adviser to meet a visiting U.S. Congressional delegation. Some politicians have
also suggested prosecution of same-sex
partners of U.S. diplomats.
While some of these measures
such as refusal to meet the delegation
or withdrawing discretionary privileges
are merely political in nature and are
best left to the discretion of such politicians, other steps like reducing security
measures at diplomatic premises and
embassies may violate international
law, specifically Article 22(2) of the 1961
Convention that imposes a special duty
upon the host State (i.e., India) to take
all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against intrusion
or damage, or disturbance of peace or
impairment of its dignity.
Even presuming that the U.S. government is in breach of its international
law obligations, it does not warrant retaliation by India, by means which
breach international law. International
law allows countermeasures (breach of
international obligations in response to
a breach by the targeted country) only
as a last resort and in very narrowly defined circumstances. The only options
available, that are viable in international
law, are a withdrawal of discretionary
privileges, declaration of certain members of the U.S. diplomatic and consular staff as persona non grata (which may
be considered too drastic a step) or recalling of Indian consular staff and diplomatic agents posted in the U.S.
In terms of international dispute
settlement, India has few, if any, legal
options. Recourse to the International
Court of Justice (ICJ), the only possible
option, is not available in this case (unless the U.S. consents to the same), since
the U.S. has not accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ.
While the two countries attempt
to iron out their differences through dip-
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Arbitrary distinctions
The court followed a shameful
line of precedents in this area that have
used a separate but equal standard to
justify slavery, apartheid, and the persecution of religious minorities, all on
the grounds that the classification was
reasonable and hence the difference in
treatment valid. Equality should be
about redressing historical disadvantage, not about upholding arbitrary distinctions under the guise of reasonable
classifications.
The criminal law is being used to
target sexual activities and sexual groups
that we do not like. It is for this reason
that non-consensual heterosexual conduct such as marital rape continues to
be exempted from its purview, while
consensual homosexual sexual relations
are not. Womens rights, together with
those of sexual minorities, are being
sucked into the vortex of a punitive
sexual security apparatus. The battle is
in targeting the ill-advised urge to address issues of sex through the criminal
law and ensure that it remains firmly,
and without compromise, an issue of
fundamental rights and human dignity.
Courtesy-The Hindu
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