Civil Services' Surgicals

(Arranged chronologically) 1. Aircel Chennai Open Singles - Milos Raonic beats Janko Tipsarevic Doubles - Leander Paes & Janko Tipsarevic beats Jonathan Erlich & Andy Ram 2. Qatar Exxonmobil Open Singles - Jo-Wilfred Tsonga  beat Gael Monfilis Doubles - Filip Polasek & Lukas Rosol  beat Christopher Kas & Philipp Kohlschreiber 3. Australia Open Singles - Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal Doubles - Leander Paes & Radek Stepanek  beat Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan

(Article originally posted on BookAdda blog  ) And The Winner Is…! By  RIDHI MALHOTRA  |  Published:  OCTOBER 22, 2012 This literary award season was officially launched with the declaring of Chinese author Mo Yan as the winner of Nobel Prize for Literature. At BOOKADDA, we’ve reviewed the literary award winners of 2012. The creative works have been judged the best of their kind. What is your take on their win? Tell us in the comments! 1. The 2012 Man Booker Prize The winner of the Man Booker Prize is chosen from a shortlist of six books authored by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. Each of the six shortlisted writers is awarded £2,500 and a specially commissioned beautifully hand-bound edition of his/her book. The winner receives £50,000. The judges took nine months to come to a conclusion. This definitely wasn’t easy. The scrutiny involved hard work, reading and re-reading of books at least three times by the judges and waiting...

In an  endeavor  to create a roadmap for the next five years for innovative technologies and policies for biofuels  development in India, the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India along with The Energy and Resources Institute(TERI) launched a two day International Summit on ‘ Bioenergy : Algae  Biofuel  & Synthetic Biology 2012’ here yesterday.  Shri   Jaipal  Reddy, Minister of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences inaugurated the Summit.

The first ever National Conference on Ageing was held by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment here today. Inaugurating the two day conference the Minister, Kumari Selja said “It gives me immense pleasure to be here at the National Conference on Ageing. During the course of this Conference, we will deliberate on important issues relating to senior citizens for further strengthening our efforts to strive for an inclusive society - a society that embraces all ages. Our Government believes that the interface between the State and the Social Institutions in the care of the elderly forms an important area of intervention and needs to be addressed comprehensively. 

Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai shuts door on women Edited by Ashish Mukherjee | Updated: November 06, 2012 08:32 IST Mumbai: Trustees of Mumbai’s Haji Ali dargah, the iconic Sufi shrine visited by thousands every year and immortalised in the movies, has shut the door on women. The Haji Ali Dargah Trust says it’s “un-Islamic under the Sharia” for women to visit graves and its decision is final.

Eram toilets A new kind of  portable toilet  has been created by Eram Scientific Solutions Ltd based in Thiruvananthapuram.  It is already in use in Kerala, and could serve as a model for such toilets all over the country.  What are its features? Built with stainless steel/fibre to withstand corrosion, it can be programmed to accept either Re 1, Rs 2 or Rs 5 denominations. After payment, the door of the unit unlocks and the light and exhaust fan are switched on automatically. After the user enters it, the closet is doused with 100 ml of water. In case it isn’t flushed after use, the system automatically does the cleaning. This is an intelligent toilet too. If the usage is for less than three minutes, the system flushes with 1.5 litres of water. If used for more, it flushes four litres. “There are plans to reduce this to less than three litres,” says Varghese. Normal toilets consume seven litres for a single flush. The water tank can store up to 500 litres o...

It seems UFOs (Unidnetified Flying Objects) are  being sighted  by the Indian Army units near the China border. An ITBP unit based in Thakung, close to the Pangong Tso Lake, reported over 100 sightings of luminous objects between August 1 and October 15 this year. In reports sent to their Delhi headquarters in September, and to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), they described sighting ”Unidentified Luminous Objects” at day and by night. The yellowish spheres appear to lift off from the horizon on the Chinese side and slowly traverse the sky for three to five hours before disappearing. Image courtesy  Indian Today Some thought that they might be drones from China, which btw are very common. The Army has reported 99 sightings of Chinese drones between January and August this year: 62 sightings were reported in the western sector, the Ladakh region, and 37 in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh. Three of these drones intruded into territory c...

In a  major win  for Indian drug companies which manufacture generic drugs for major ailments, the India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board revoked Swiss giant Roche’s patent for a hepatitis C drugs.  This means that the patent that could have prevented the Indian companies from copying this formula have a free hand.

Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar is to inaugurate a world-class institution in food processing sector – called NIFTEM - at kundli, Haryana, day after tomorrow (7th November). Haryana Chief Minister Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda and a number of Union and State Ministers will be present at the inaugural function. NIFTEM or the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management has been conferred Deemed University status. The institute has begun its first academic session this summer. It will confer B. Tech. (Food Technology and Management), M. Tech. and Ph. D. in the area of Food Technology and Management. 

An agreement for loan of US$ 106 million (equivalent) for Phase-I of the World Bank assistance for the “ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP)” was signed at New Delhi today between Shri Prabodh Saxena (Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs) on behalf of Government of India and Mr. Onno Ruhl, Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank. Representatives from Ministry of Women and Child Development and officials from the World Bank, among others, were present.  The overarching Goal of the proposed two-phased Program is to improve nutritional outcomes of children in India. The Objective of the Phase-I is to support Government of India and participating states to:  Strengthen the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) policy framework, systems and capacities, and facilitate community engagement, to ensure greater focus on children under three years of age  Strengthen convergent actions for improved ...

Recently appointed Cabinet Minister Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch today assumed charge as Union Minister of Culture. Talking to newspersons after taking over, she said, it has been an honour for her to have been appointed Culture Minister of this great country which has a long legacy of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. She said, it is especially a privilege to be head of this Ministry in a period of increasing global engagement when we are entering into an era of cultural dialogue which is dictated by new developments and technologies. She said, the challenge before us is both to preserve our historical legacy while incorporating and fostering an environment for development of evolving cultural spaces. Culture is not only an abstract concept but also contributes to the daily lives of people both in terms of cultural and economic aspects.

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee called for concerted efforts by Government, private and voluntary sectors for the development of the weaker and vulnerable sections of our society. He pointed out that the Government of India, through its programmes and policies has engineered a major directional change in public policy by its focus on inclusive development. He expressed confidence that the organizations who have won awards will inspire hundreds of other organizations like themselves, located all over India - in rural as well as urban centres. 

R ed Bull's Sebastian Vettel won Indian Grand Prix 2012 title. Fernando Alonso managed to get the Second place and Mark Webber got the Third Place . By winning this title, mr Vettel made his four consecutive wins for the first time in a season in his Formula One career to strengthen his grip on securing a third successive world title. Vettel led the Indian Grand Prix from lights to chequered flag to open up a 13-point lead over Fernando Alonso with three races remaining as the Ferrari star was forced to settle for second, albeit his best finish since a win in Germany in July. Not since Jenson Button in 2009 has a driver chalked up four wins in a row, with Vettel's run to the championship finish line seemingly perfectly timed. Harika Dungala

I ndian Cabinet has been changed on October 28, 2012 . In this mega reshuffle, 22 Ministers , including seven of Cabinet rank, were inducted into the Manmohan Singh government in what is seen as the last such exercise by UPA-II before the 2014 general elections. Here is the Complete List of Cabinet ministers after the reshuffle :

The Union Cabinet today approved the Amendment to the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) { BOCW (RECS)} Act, 1996 and Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996 and the introduction of the Building and Other Construction Workers Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012 in Parliament in its ensuing session.  This amendment will streamline the process of the registration of the construction workers. The State Welfare Boards will be able to consolidate their finances and incur expenditure on administrative and other purpose for smooth functioning of the Board. The amendments will facilitate speedy implementation of these Acts by the Central and the State Governments.  The provisions in the Amendment are given below :  1. Empower the Central Government to specify the maximum cost of construction by notification, in place of the present limit of Rs.10 lakh, which shall fall within the definition of e...

The National Innovation Council ( NInC ), chaired by  Mr  Sam  Pitroda , Adviser to the Prime Minister, hosted the second Global Innovation Roundtable (GIR) on 1 st  and 2nd November 2012 in New Delhi, India. At the concluding session on ‘Collaboration on Innovation’, chaired by  Mr   Pitroda , numerous experiences, insights and ideas shared by the participants were  galvanised  and distilled and the collaboration opportunities in the following areas were discussed: ·           Open Government: The Platform already developed for this could be adopted by other countries, and  India  could help implement. ·           Crowdsourcing  Innovation Platform: The Open Source Drug Discovery Platform developed by  India  for tuberculosis drug discovery could be used as a template for crowd sourcing in new areas of drug discovery....

Lt Gen Naresh Chandra Marwah, has taken over as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) from Vice Admiral SPS Cheema. The General Officer in his career spanning over 39 years has held various coveted Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. The General Officer has a vast operational experience, stretching to almost two decades across the entire spectrum of conflict. 

I am delighted to receive the Second annual `Report to the People` of the National Innovation Council. The Council, with eminent personalities from diverse walks of life, was constituted to realise the vision of the Government of shaping the next decade as India`s `Decade of Innovation`. 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will confer Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh Awards for Women’s Development for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 at a function on November 5, 2012 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.  The Durgabai Deshmukh Award for women’s development was constituted in 1997 by Central Social Welfare Board, an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, to honour the memory of its founder chairperson Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh. Dr. Deshmukh was an active participant in the independence movement. She founded the Andhra Mahila Sabha and as Chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board, she imparted to the organisation her distinct flair for activism in the sphere of women’s welfare and development. She contributed greatly to developing the Board as a body which links the government and non-government sectors to ameliorate the status of women and children in the country. The award is presented to an organisation which has made outst...

I am happy to participate in the inaugural ceremony of the Eleventh All India Lokayuktas Conference which brings together Lokayuktas of different States to discuss ways and means of enhancing effectiveness of Lokayuktas. These All India Lokayukta Conferences, bring different stakeholders together so that views can be shared on the challenges and best practices. With such a wide range of experienced participants, I am sure the discussions will bring forth concrete suggestions and initiatives for strengthening Lokayuktas and making them more effective.