Civil Services' Surgicals

FEATURE Home Ravinder Singh*     The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), in the year 2006, approved ‘in principle’ the setting up of Integrated Check Posts at 13 locations and Land Ports Authority of India as a statutory body. Integrated Check Posts are being constructed as a Plan scheme with an initial outlay of Rs. 635 crore during the 11 th   Five Year Plan. In the initial phase, 13 Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) were envisaged at major designated entry/exit points along   India ’s international land border. Of these, 7 ICPs are to be constructed in Phase I and 6 ICPs in Phase II. ICP Attari is the first to be completed. The other six ICPs planned in the first phase are, Raxaul and Jogbani in     Bihar, Agartala (Tripura), Petrapole ( West Bengal ), Dawki (Meghalya) and Moreh (Manipur). Need for ICPs Existing designated entry and exit points on the international borders are characterized by unplanned growth leading to delays and...

FEATURE Science & Technology Kalpana   Palkhiwala * Nano Technology is acknowledge-intensive and ‘enabling technology’ which will influence a wide range of products and processes. It will have far-reaching implications for national economy and development. The Department of Science and Technology (DST)  launched many initiatives over the period of time and Nano was one of them. DST launched a modest programme called Nano Science and Technology Initiative (NIST) in 2001 in Nano  Sciences.  The Nano Mission is successor of this programme. The Government approved this as Nano Mission in 2007 with an allocation of Rs 1000/- crore for 5 years. The Nano Mission has been structured in a manner to achieve synergy between the national research efforts of various agencies in this field and launch new programmes in a concerted fashion. Today India has emerged 6 th  worldwide in terms of scientific publications. An active research community of abou...