Current Affairs:

(A) >> Periyar tiger reserve won NTCA award.

>> Jan Dhan Yojana featured in Guinness Book of World Records with 11.5 cr bank
accounts.
>> TCS ends RIL's 23-year run as most profitable firm.
>> Twitter acquired Indian startup ZipDial.
>> European Union lifted ban on import of mangoes from India.
>> India's tiger population increased by 30% in past three years.
>> India ranked 78th globally in Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI).>> World
Toilet Summit held in New Delhi.
(B) Increase of the number of tigers in India:
% has shot up to 30 since 2010
Disappearance of tigers from Rajasthans Sariska Tiger Reserve caused alarm and
panic leading to preservation initiatives that now bore fruit
Creating a special Tiger Protection force, special protection for orphaned tiger cubs,
renewed efforts to control poaching, attractive initiatives to voluntary village
relocation schemes in critical tiger areas (National Tiger Conservation Authority)
Numbers have gone up from 1076 in 2010 to 2226 in 2014
Four states along with Western ghats, the number almost doubled from 402 to 776
Four states in Shivalik Gangetic plains, it went up from 207 to 485
North eastern hills and Brahmaputra plains, it shoot up from 100 to 201
70% of the worlds tigers are now in India
Six major tiger reserves provide economic benefits with Rs. 8000 crore/year
Americas Canine corps:
K 9 unit of Us Secret Services was established in 1977 , funded by Federal
government
Core Competency: A team of 75 highly trained dogs, n unit on standby always;
Specialist in explosives detection; dogs can sniff out old traces of explosives
ammonium nitrate; RDX and IEDs
(d) Yemen Prez may agree to power sharing with rebels:
Houthis, an insurgent group based in NW Yemen have been fighting against the
government since 2004, when the country was still led by President, Ali Abdullah
Saleh
The Houthis belong to a Shia offshoot known as Zaydism
After the US led invasion of Iraq, Hussain AL Houthi capitalized on popular anger
against Saleh, himself a Zaydi. After the death of Hussain (2004) the baton of the
rebellion has been passed on to his father, and then his brother.
Saleh has overthrown in 2012 after the popular Arab Spring revolt, and replaced by
his popular Vice President, Abdur ABbu Mansar Houdi

Since then , Houthis have grown into a broad political movement promising radical
changes
September, Houdis seized control of Sanaa, But foced Hadi to install a new
government,
Slogan of the group: Death to America, Death to Israel, is modeled on Irans
revolutionary motto
Many Yemenis draws parallel between Houthis and Lebanons Hezbollah
The Houthis are also battling Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, facing almost daily
retaliatory attacks.
(E) Centre is finally ready to release religion based data of Census 2011
Was fixed by the UPA government to be released the data, but somehow they
delayed it spublication
Estimated significant growth of Muslim populations in certain border areas of the
nation
Publication desirable for both academic and political endeavors
Provide some essential numbers required for the government to formulate some
policies, reservations to financial schemes
Without hard data for example the Hindutva fringe may easily whip up hysteria
about Indias Muslim population overtaking that of Hindus
Also certain caste groups may claim reservation previledges although they might
belong to the Creamy Layer
Academia will beunable to gauge Indias socio economic realities
(F) Reports of the Second ARC
Constituted on 31 st August 2005
Objectives:To prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping the Public Administration System
The Commission will inter-alia considers the following:1. Organisational structure of the Govt. of India
2. Ethics in Governance
3. Refurbishing of personnel Administration
4. Strengthening of Financial Management Systems
5. Steps to ensure effective administration at the state level
6. Steps to ensure effective district Administration
7. Local self-Government / Panchayati Raj Institutions
8. Social Capital, Trust and participative service delivery
9. Citizen Centric Administration
10.Promoting e-governance
11.Issues of Federal Polity
12.Crisis Management
13.Public Order
(G) First successful organ donation from newborn takes place in UK

Doctors from United Kingdom (UK) have carried out the first successful organ donation
from a newborn baby.
It is considered as a milestone in neonatal care after donors kidneys and liver were used
to save the lives of two patients.
Successful organ donation involved:
Kidneys: which were transplanted into a patient with renal failure.
Liver cells (hepatocytes), which were transfused into a further recipient.
The donor was six-day-old baby girl who had died after she was born in extremely poor
health. After donors death, her parents had given their consent for organ donation in order
to benefit of other sick patients.
Implication: In future organ donation from newborns will play significant role in saving the
lives sick newborns dying due to organ failure.

(H) Twitter Buys Indias Start up ZipDial

Leading social networking website Twitter has bought Indian mobile marketing start-up
ZipDial. It will be first Indian technology product startup to be bought by Twitter.
This deal is expected to cost Twitter around $34-35 million (Rs 215 crore).
About ZipDial: It is Bengaluru based startup, founded in 2011. It is co-founded by Valerie
Wagoner, an American origin entrepreneur
ZipDials mobile marketing platform gives information about businesses to users when
they place a missed call.
This interaction information is useful in areas where people arent always connected to
the Internet or can access data only through intermittent Wi-Fi networks
(I) India ranks 78th globally in Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2014
India ranked 78th globally in Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2014 list of 93
countries in terms of talent competitiveness of its human capital.
This GTCI list was compiled by INSEAD business school in partnership with Adecco
and Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI).
GTCI measures a nations competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can produce
attract and retain.
Key facts of Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2014 list:
Top twenty scoring countries in the GTCI 2014 are all high-income countries. While, the
top rankings were dominated by European countries, with only six non-European
countries in the top 20 which included Singapore (2nd), the United States (4th), Canada
(5th), Australia (9th), New-Zealand (16th) and Japan (20th).
Rich countries were able to top in the list, since they tend to have better universities
and a greater ability to attract foreign talents through higher quality of life and
remuneration, making them more talent competitive.
Top 10 in GTCI list: Switzerland (1st), Singapore (2nd), Luxembourg (3rd), United States
(4th) and Canada (5th), Sweden (6th), United Kingdom (7th), Denmark (8th), Australia
(9th) and Ireland (10th).

Indias lower position indicates acute shortage of skilled workforce. It also ranks at last
among BRICS members.
Indias neighbors in GTCI list: China (41th), Sri Lanka (76th), Pakistan (89th),
Bangladesh (90th).

(J)

IISc: Repurposing existing drugs to fight TB

Researchers in IISc have discovered two small molecules that can work as anti-TB
drugs
Molecules which were earlier used as anti depressants were found to working
effectively on Topoisomerase I enzyme of TB bacteria
It controls the inhibition of TB bacteria and help in controlling its effect
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Save girl child, educate her, pleads Modi

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Launching the****** Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao****** scheme in Haryana, he said we must
fight female foeticide and celebrate the birth of a girl child.
The Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao scheme, which seeks to address gender imbalance and
discrimination against the girl child, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at
Panipat in Haryana on Thursday.
This is the fourth major scheme of his government after Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan and Make in India campaign.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Modi begged the people with open hands to save the lives
of the girl child and also administered them an oath to fight female foeticide, celebrate the
birth of a girl and educate them.
He lamented that we all feel that daughters are paraya dhan or that they would go away
after marriage and are also not fed on par with the sons.
People say in old age sons come in handy. Had that been true, so many old age homes
would not have opened. Sons have cars and bungalows and yet, many times, parents
remain in old age homes. On the other hand, there are innumerable daughters who work
hard to keep their parents happy. If girls get the chance, they perform better than boys.
Societal pressure
The Prime Minister said it is our responsibility to wake up the society and to realise our
responsibility. It is due to family and societal pressure that girls are killed in the womb. He
also pointed out how, in some places, girl child was drowned at times in milk. This used to
happen after their birth and after they had seen the face of their mother. But we are
worse, we kill girls in the womb.
Mr. Modi also asked doctors if female foeticide was the only way to earn money and will
such money do them any good. You have been taught to save the lives of people, not to
kill innocent girls.

He recalled how when some years ago a boy, Prince, fell into a tube well in a village in
Kurukshetra district of Haryana, people tracked his rescue for days and women prayed for
him across the country. But why dont we show same concern for numerous girls who are
killed in the womb? he asked.
Mr. Modi said today we are taking a very important responsibility on the soil of Panipat.
Till we are compassionate about this scheme and aware, we will not only be harming
ourselves but also our future generations. I am glad Ms. Gandhi chose Haryana for this
programme, but this message is for every family, village and State in the country.
Equal treatment
He said beta-beti ek samman (equal treatment of boys and girls) should be our motto.
Have we ever imagined that if present gender imbalance continued, then what would be
the repercussion? For every 1,000 boys, 1,000 girls should be born. See Mahendergarh and
Jhajjar districts where there are just about 775 girls for 1,000 boys and so about 225 boys
would remain unmarried. If daughters are not born, where will you get your daughters-inlaw from? We want educated daughters-in-law, but think so many times before educating
our daughters. Educating our daughters is also our responsibility, the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Modi said Panipat is also the birthplace of famous Urdu poet Altaf Husain Hali who had
spoken about women empowerment in the 19th century thus:
Ai maon, behnon, beityon duniya ki zeenat tumsay hai
Mulkon ki basti ho tumhin, qaumom ki izaat tumsay hai
(O Sisters, mothers, daughters U
You are the ornaments of the world
You are the life of the nations
The dignity of civilisations)
Low sex ratio
Mr. Modi had first spoken about this scheme during his Independence Day speech.
Subsequently, 100 districts with low sex ratio were identified across the country. Haryana
with a declining sex ratio had 12 of them and since Panipat was one of them, it was
chosen as the venue for the launch.
Though Mr. Modi was supposed to the come to the venue by a chopper, due to inclement
weather and rain in the morning, his travel plan was changed and he reached here by
road, which delayed the launch of the programme by over an hour.
Sharing the stage with Hindi film star Madhuri Dixit, who has been made the brand
ambassador of the scheme, and Union Ministers Maneka Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar
Prasad, J.P. Nadda, Krishan Pal Gujjar, Birender Singh and Rao Inderjit Singh and Haryana
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the Prime Minister flagged off 72 Jan Chetna
awareness vans which would visit all these districts and other parts of the country to raise
awareness about rising imbalance in sex ratio. Of these, 12 vans would visit the worst
affected districts of Haryana.
Mr. Modi also lauded Ms. Dixit for attending the programme to save the daughters of the
country despite her mother being in Intensive Care Unit.

Sukanya Samruddhi Account

He launched the Sukanya Samruddhi Account scheme under which accounts of girls
could be opened from the time of their birth till their attaining the age of 10 by presenting
passbooks to five girls. The account can be opened with an amount of Rs. 1000 and in a

financial year, a sum of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh can be deposited in it. Investments made under
the scheme will also be eligible for exemption under 80C of Income Tax Act, 1961.
Mr. Modi said interest income and withdrawal from the scheme has been exempted from
taxation.
At the function, a postage stamp was also released to commemorate the launch of the
Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao scheme.
Banners and posters for saving the girl child had been put up all around the venue and on
roads leading to it. One of them read: Tyag aur samarpan sikhati hai beti, naye naye
rishtay banati hai beti (Daughters teach sacrifice and commitment, help forge new
relations).
Toilets in schools
.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that for the girl child, the State would launch a
Haryana Kanya Kosh through which the State would provide Rs. 21,000 to all girls at birth
so that they have Rs. 1 lakh in their account at the age of 18. He also declared that toilets
will be constructed in all schools for the girl child.
In her address, Union Woman and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said now it
has become a matter of existence of women as the sex ratio has declined to 914 which
means that about 2,000 girls are killed everyday and this is a matter of shame for any
country or society.
In Haryana, the sex ratio in the districts ranges between 875 and 837 which means for
every 1,000 boys about 125 to 150 girls are being killed. She said doctors, parents and
society are equally to be blamed.
Ms. Gandhi said that to ensure success of the scheme, every child should be born in
private or government hospital so that their record is kept. People, she said, should also
see the details of the programme being shown on vans. She also demanded gudda-guddi
boards to be put up in all villages to see the sex ratio via the number of births of both
sexes.
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