Civil Services' Surgicals

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari  presented “International Gandhi Award-2011” to Dr. Caire Velut and Dr. J.D.Samant at a function organized by Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation, Wardha (Maharashtra) here today. Addressing on the occasion, Shri Ansari said that as a disease, leprosy has affected humans for over 2000 years. Social stigma associated with leprosy had imputed moral and social overtones to a medical condition leading to ostracism. Mahatma Gandhi understood the social dimension of leprosy. He worked to end the social stigma associated with the disease and sought to bring about the reintegration of leprosy patients in the mainstream of society.

The Minister of Minority Affairs, Shri  Salman   Khurshid , here today dwelt extensively upon the achievements of his Ministry while addressing a Press Conference. He highlighted the fact that not only his Ministry but various other Ministries of the Government of India are engaged in the welfare of the Minorities, especially under the Prime Minister’s  New  15-Point Programme for the welfare of Minorities. Following are the highlights of the Financial and Physical achievements of the Ministry of Minority Affairs during 11 th  Five Year Plan and FY 2011-12 that Shri  Khurshid  spoke about:

     Ministry of Earth Sciences has landmark achievements to its credit in last one year. Following are a few of them.      Desalination Technology-Seawater into Potable Water:  A totally indigenous and environmental friendly technology, for conversion of seawater into potable drinking water has been developed, demonstrated and commissioned at select island territories and coastal power plants. During the year 2011, two more desalination plants of 1 lakh litre capacity were established one each in Minicoy and Agatti, in March, 2011 and August 2011, respectively. These plants have been contributing significantly to the drinking water needs of the local population of these islands.

Vice Admiral Pradeep K Chatterjee, AVSM, NM, today took over as the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff at the Integrated Headquarters Ministry of Defence (Navy). Commissioned on 01 January 1977,the Flag Officer specialised as a submariner, and went on to command the Shishumar class (Type 1500) submarines, INS Shankush and INS Shankul, the latter of which he commissioned. His ship commands include the training Ship INS Krishna, and Guided Missile Destroyer, INS Rajput. Vice Admiral Pradeep K Chatterjee has held various senior Staff appointments such as Commodore Commanding Submarine (West), COMCOS(W) at Mumbai; Principle Director Submarine Operation (PDSMO) and Principal Director Submarine Acquisition (PDSMAQ) at Naval Headquarters, New Delhi. In the Flag rank he has held the posts of Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM) at Visakhapatnam, Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat naval Area (FOMAG) at Mumbai, and Inspector General Nuclear Safety (IGNS) at Naval Headquarters, New Delhi. In his long

Prime Minister of India (Dr. Manmohan Singh): Ladies and gentlemen, I have had a very productive and fruitful two-day visit to Myanmar. I had the opportunity of fairly detailed discussions with President Thein Sein. I also had the privilege of having a fairly long conversation with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Our relations with Myanmar have taken a new turn after the visit of the President of Myanmar to India in October, and what we have discussed and agreed upon yesterday has further strengthened our multifaceted relationship with a friendly neighbour that Myanmar is. 

The Central Government has taken a no. of measures for strengthening S&T and Innovation Infrastructure in the country. The Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research Bill, 2011 was passed by both Houses of the Parliament during the winter session and received assent of the President of India on 6th February, 2012. The Academy will focus on research and training in areas not ordinarily provided by the existing universities in the country. The curricula, pedagogy and evaluation will be innovative and directed towards creating highest quality personnel in trans-disciplinary areas. 

The Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India today claimed to have made a significant stride in the field of improving public health with biotech researches. Speaking to Press he said that a revelation of a recent study by DBT will help in saving the new born children provided its outcome is put into proper application. He said treating young children with suspected serious bacterial infection with zinc in addition to standard antibiotics significantly reduces the likelihood of treatment failure (measured as the need for secondary antibiotic treatment within 7 days, need for intensive care, or death within 21 days), according to new research published  Online First  in The Lancet. In 2010, worldwide, infections were responsible for nearly two-thirds of deaths in children under 5, with around two-fifths of deaths occurring within the first month of life. Of the 1 million neonatal deaths that occur in India every year, more than a quarter are attributed to seriou

The Union Cabinet today approved the National Telecom Policy -2012 (NTP - 2012). The Cabinet also approved introduction of Unified Licence and authorised the Department of Telecommunications to finalise the new Unified Licensing regime with the approval of Minister of Communications & IT. The salient features of the National Telecom Policy-2012 are as follows:

In view of the considerable experience gained in awarding concessions for oil and gas exploration and production over the last 15 years under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), there is a need to look into how the policy design has impacted oil and gas exploration and production. At the request of the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Prime Minister has approved the constitution of a Committee to review Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) in Hydrocarbon exploration. The composition of the Committee is: 

India  is recognised as one of the megadiverse countries, rich in biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge. With just 2.4% of the land area,  India  accounts for nearly 7% of the recorded species even while supporting almost 18% of human population.  India  has a long history of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and is a party to many international environmental conventions including UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The current decade (2011-2020) has been declared as the  United Nations Decade on Biodiversity  and United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification .

Air Marshal Arup Raha AVSM VM graduated from the National Defence Academy, Pune with the President’s Gold Medal in 1973. He was commissioned in the Flying Branch in Dec 1974. He has to his credit nearly 3400 hours of flying mainly on fighter aircraft.

     FEATURE  Environment   A. N. Khan* This year the World Environment Day theme is " Green Economy ". The Green Economy is defined as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities (UNEP). A green economy is one whose growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

 INFO-NUGGETS - UPA Labour & Employment Sudhir Tiwari*              The broad mandate of the Ministry of Labour & Employment is to protect and safeguard the interests of workers who constitute the poor, deprived and disadvantaged sections of the society.   Legislative Initiatives Amendments in the following Acts have been carried out during last three years:

In order to address the issue of major investment projects being delayed for a variety of reasons, the Prime Minister has approved the setting up of an Investment Tracking System to ensure speedy implementation of such projects. This issue had come up in the last meeting of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry held in December in which the Prime Minister had stated that major projects will be specially tracked to take them forward on a fast track in order to provide a fresh impetus to the economy. This was in the context of delays faced by projects on multiple fronts – security clearances, environmental clearances, other clearances, land related matters, etc. While existing rules and laws have to be followed, it was widely felt that a lot of the delay is avoidable if only there is a will to resolve matters.  2. In pursuance of this, an  Investment Tracking System  has been put in place whereby –