Civil Services' Surgicals

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Water Recources Ministry today held its meeting under the chairmanship of Union Water Resources Minster Shri Harish Rawat. The meeting was centred on the National Water Mission established under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.  In his address the minister said water is essential for sustaining life & environment and is an important component for almost all developmental plans. He said various programmes for development of water resources for beneficial use of the society have been taken up since the time immemorial. There is a considerable progress in respect of water resources development in India after independence through various Plans. Total created irrigation potential at pre-Plan period was about 22.6 million hectares (Mha) which now has increased to 108.2 Mha with almost five fold increase. There has also been appreciable development in the areas of drinking water supply and other uses. However, growing population,...

Youth of North-East India: Demographics and Readership (Highlights) Union Human Resource Development Minister Dr M  M   Pallam   Raju ,  will release a report  Youth of North-East India: Demographics and Readership  in New Delhi tomorrow,  20 th  November, 2012. Ministers of State for HRD,  Sh   Jitin   Prasada  and Dr  Shashi   Tharoor  would also be present on the occasion. This focused Report attempts to give an analytical and detailed account of the reading habits of the literate youth in the north-eastern states and their exposure to different forms of media, and how diverse socio-economic and motivational factors impact their reading habit. The reading of ‘leisure or non-text books’ among the literate youth is the special focus of the study. The Report is a follow-up study of the  National Youth Readership Survey  (2009-10) assigned to National Council of Applied Economic Resea...

FEATURE IFFI Pic courtesy : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ IFFI-2012 is an ideal opportunity for filmmakers and film lovers to watch, appreciate and learn the art of film making in sylvan surroundings and a relaxed creative environment of Panaji, Goa. The Festival also provides a platform for networking with some of the best film industry professionals from India and abroad. This year IFFI-2012 will be inaugurated by Cinestar, Shri Akshay Kumar in the presence of Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari, the Minister of Culture for Republic of Poland and Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Manohar Parrikar. Started in 1952, the International Film Festival of India has evolved into a major forum for Cinema from across the world. From Satyajit Ray to Akira Kurosawa, from Marcello Mastrioni to Roman Polanski and Gurinder Chadha to Mira Nair, the International Film Festival of India has become a landmark destination for established and ...

Pride of Bharat - Dr.Samit Sharma, IAS : जनता का कलक्टर Wednesday, 05 Jan 2011 10:27:59 hrs IST राजस्थान के युवा आईएएस अघिकारी डा. समित शर्मा ने यह साबित कर दिखाया है कि प्रशासनिक...

In The 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook (by The International Energy Agency) was released on 12 November 2012 and there were a lot of lessons for India in it. Drawing on the latest data and policy developments the report presents analytical insights into trends in energy markets and what they mean for energy security, environmental protection and economic development. It sets out updated projections of energy demand, production, trade, investment and carbon-dioxide emissions, broken down by country. According to the report, taking all new developments and policies in to account, the world is still failing to put the global energy system onto a more sustainable path. Global energy demand grows by more than one-third over the period to 2035. Despite the growth in low-carbon sources of energy, fossil fuels remain dominant in the global energy mix, supported by subsidies. Emissions in the New Policies Scenario correspond to a long-term average global temperature increase of 3...

Pic Courtesy: sciencedirect.com The Indian Diabetes Consortium (INDICO), a Pan-India initiative led by CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) with AIIMS as a principal clinical partner, has recently brought to light an entirely novel candidate gene, TMEM163 implicated in Type 2 Diabetes.  TMEM163 encodes a probable vesicular transporter in nerve terminals; and the study established a plausible mechanism of action for TMEM163 through impaired insulin secretion. This lends an unprecedented ‘neural angle’ to diabetes that needs to be explored further and holds immense potential in understanding new pathogenetic mechanisms involved in diabetes causation  The study currently accepted for publication in the ‘DIABETES’ (American Diabetes Association’s flagship journal), authored by 37 researchers, is the first and the largest ‘Genome Wide Association Study’ (GWAS) conducted for any complex disorder conceived and executed entirely in the developing world....

Pic Courtesy : indiainfoline.com The Government gives very high priority to agriculture and specially to the prosperity of farmers. It is implementing a number of large schemes and providing funds to State governments for taking new initiatives for increasing farmers’ incomes. Some of the major actions taken in the recent past are given below:  • Government has raised MSP in recent years by huge margin. MSP for wheat and rice has been more than doubled in last 8 years. MSP for some pulse crops has gone up three times.  • Government has doubled the sugarcane support price in four years. It stands at Rs. 170 per quintal now.  • Record foodgrain production of 257 million tonnes last year, supported by massive increase in MSP to farmers. It is more than thrice of foodgrain production 45 years back.  • Government subsidises farm loans considerably. Crop loans upto Rs. 3 lakh are available at 4% interest. Other farm loans too are available at a subsidised rate of 7%....

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, has been passed by the Lok Sabha today, 22 nd  May, 2012. The Bill was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha on 10 th  May, 2012. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 has been drafted to strengthen the legal provisions for the protection of children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For the first time, a special law has been passed to address the issue of sexual offences against children. Sexual offences are currently covered under different sections of IPC. The IPC does not provide for all types of sexual offences against children and, more importantly, does not distinguish between adult and child victims. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and provides protection to all children under the age of 18 years from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. These offences have been clearl...

Pic Courtesy: shaktivahini.org Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) chaired the meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Parliament here today.  Speaking at the occasion, Smt. Tirath said that the increased number of sexual offences against children in the country necessitated an Act which would address this issue. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012, which came into force on 14 November 2012 with notification of its rules, has been able to address most of the issues. Addressing the members, she said that the existing laws such as the IPC were insufficient and deficient to deal with the specific requirements regarding children as they do not distinguish between an adult and a child victim. Moreover, these laws are not gender neutral and the definition of ‘rape’ is also restrictive. The new Act, she said, is gender neutral and covers all persons below the age of 18 years of age. Cl...

Pic Courtesy: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOTVJmDDOR42jyho-ZD_OJsqOX2NOEL8YYskO_4tGx64Tt6lrgnucZN1UTt4F9shjjozuFVop2wKpd6ZpceKWsGnqyP62OnbuVmF0RZWAyffu3lbMU4S4tY8ZdS3V-lvjJFGgpjVN2D83/s1600/narang.jpg The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari  presented the  “Moortidevi Award for 2010”  to eminent Urdu scholar Prof. Gopi Chand Narang for his outstanding work ‘Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehan wa Tehzeeb” at a function organized by Bhartiya Jnanpith here today. He congratulated Prof. Narang for receiving this award which he so rightly deserves. He also lauded the Selection Board which has chosen a litterateur whose work fully reflects the purpose and objectives for which the award was instituted.  Shri Ansari said that Prof. Narang revived Urdu language in our country through his writings and he is one of the foremost theorist, literary critic and Urdu scholar of our country. His perceptive writings have helped Urdu cr...

  FEATURE SJE A demographic revolution is taking place throughout the world indicating a phenomenal rise in the population of the elderly. According to a UN estimate, the population of the people aged 60 years and above is expected to grow to 1.2 billion by 2025 and to 2 billion by 2050. Today, about two thirds of all the older people are living in the developing world. As per the Census 2001, in India, there were 77 million persons above 60 years constituting 7.5% of the total population of the country. This number is projected to go up to  12.4% of the population in 2026.  Such an increase obviously will throw up numerous challenges in designing old age specific programmes and schemes and addressing their issues in a comprehensive manner.   The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment  announced a National Policy for Older Persons in January, 1999. This policy reaffirmed the commitment of the Gove...

    FEATURE Tourism Dr. K. Parameswaran * The International Ecotourism Society has defined Ecotourism as the "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people". The Australian Commission on National Ecotourism Strategy defines ecotourism as "nature-based tourism that involves education and interpretation of the natural environment and is managed to be ecologically sustainable". In modern times, eco tourism has been expected to help in achieving the following also: involve travel to natural destinations, minimize impact on natural resources, build up environmental awareness, provide impetus and financial support for conservation, financially benefit and empower local people and inculcate respect for local culture. A travel enthusiast from Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu and an avid practitioner of eco tourism guidelines,  R N Kesavaperumal  says that "ecotourism, to be worthy of i...