Civil Services' Surgicals

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...