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The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, was held from 28 November - 11 December 2011. The conference involved a series of events, including the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 7). In support of these two main bodies, four other bodies convened: the resumed 14th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA); the resumed 16th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP); and the 35th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

The Conference drew over 12,480 participants, including over 5400 government officials, 5800 representatives of UN bodies and agencies, intergovernmental

organizations and civil society organizations, and more than 1200 members of the media. The meetings resulted in the adoption of 19 COP decisions and 17 CMP decisions and the approval of a number of conclusions by the subsidiary bodies. These outcomes cover a wide range of topics, notably the establishment of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, a decision on long-term cooperative action under the Convention, the launch of a new process towards an agreed outcome with legal force applicable to all parties to the Convention, and the operationalization of the Green Climate Fund.

The negotiations were driven by a series of interdependent linkages—some constructed to drive the negotiations forward, some integral to the field of climate change politics, and some based decisively on an understanding that 21st century global challenges need global solutions. This brief analysis examines some of the defining interdependencies that help tell the story of the Durban Climate Change Conference and the launch of a new phase of climate change negotiations. At the outset, expectations

were modest with many countries feeling that “operationalizing” the Cancun agreements was all that could be achieved. Others wanted a balanced and interdependent package within a year that resolved the Kyoto Protocol question, moved to a new legally-binding treaty and operationalized the Green Climate Fund.

In Durban early informal consultations helped to clarify the technicalities of the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, especially the two-stage approach that defers the definition of quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives (QELROs) and their adoption as amendments to Annex B to the eighth session of the Kyoto Protocol Meeting of the Parties, proved very useful in keeping prospective participants on board.This core demand drew legitimacy from Bali and helped frame the Durban negotiations. Indeed it is arguable that the EU drafted the script for the central plot in Durban by setting out their stall early in the process and offering to do the heavy lifting to save the Kyoto Protocol within the context of a roadmap that put up a



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challenge to other parties—developed and developing.

The package agreed comprises four main elements: a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, the design of a Green Climate Fund and a mandate to get all countries in 2015 to sign a deal that would force them to cut emissions no later than 2020, as well as a workplan for 2012. Progress on each element of the Durban Platform unlocked other elements. For example early in the second week, delegates made headway on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention; a fund expected to mobilize US$100 billion a year by 2020. Reports of early progress on the GCF—a priority deliverable for the South African hosts and the region, proved to be a major contributor in raising the stakes. A fragile sense of possibility emerged as Ministers arrived, although there were increasing concerns about the diplomatic management of the process by the South African Presidency.

IndIA And ChInA: ROLe RedefIned

The intensity of the negotiations was highlighted by an impassioned speech by India's Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan that capped the finale of the UN climate summit which concluded with a Durban Package, after she warned that India "will never be intimidated by any threat or pressure". "Natarajan's speech ensured that India's main concern – the inclusion of the concept of equity in the fight against climate change – became part of the package,". The COP17 plenary session came to a halt following row between Natarajan and European Union (EU) Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard after

objection over agreements reached behind closed doors. India had wanted a "legal outcome" as the third option, but Hedegaard said this would put countries' sincerity in doubt. That set off Natarajan, who roared: "We have shown more flexibility than virtually any other country. But equity is the centrepiece, it cannot be shifted. This is not about India. Xie Zhenhua, the vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, who headed the Chinese delegation, pointed out that the developing countries like India and China were "already doing much more than developed countries" against global warming. "U.S. and Chinese chief negotiators joined the huddle too. More frenzied applause indicated an agreement had finally been reached. When the session reconvened, Natarajan announced that India had agreed to a change of wording in the third option 'in a spirit of flexibility and

accommodation'. Hedegaard thanked India." Commenting, the Chinese delegation said the conference had produced "progressive and balanced outcome." Xie Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation, told Xinhua that the outcome is fully in accordance with the mandate of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Roadmap.

The outcome, he added, is also in line with the two-track negotiation process and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. "The conference made decisions on the arrangement of the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, which is the most concerned issue of developing countries," Xie noted. "Also, there is an important progress on the finance issue, the establishment of the Green Climate Fund," he added. However, Xie said, the Durban conference did not accomplish the completion of negotiations under the Bali Roadmap. "The implementation



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of the Cancun Agreements and the Durban Outcome will not be achieved in a short run," Xie said. "A heavy load of work ahead on the post-2020 arrangement needs to be done in order to enhance the implementation of the Convention." Xie also cautioned that some developed countries are reluctant to reduce emissions and support developing countries with financial and technical aid. "The lack of political will is a main element that hinders cooperation on addressing climate change in the international community," he said. "We expect political sincerity from developed countries next year in Qatar." Xie stressed that China will make further contributions to the global cause of tackling climate change by taking stronger domestic actions and continuing to play an active role in relevant international talks.

Critically, in a deeply complex mix of issues, with essential and constructed linkages across the package there was an onus on the Presidency to draw on all available talent and experience to line up the interdependent chain of deliverables with clarity and dexterity. Even as late as Thursday evening, anxiety was rising and, in the wee hours of Friday morning, a relatively closed high-level Indaba of 26 parties representing the major negotiating groups began to hammer out the final terms of a deal. This was also helped by a parallel set of ministerial-led facilitations and bilateral meetings to seek common ground.

It was deemed essential that the EU assure China and India that they would simply be expected to turn their Cancun pledges into new legal arrangements. As one observer noted, the 2020 timeframe for any future instrument under the Convention was a source of some reassurance to

BASIC countries that their Cancun pledges and their timeframes would be acceptable. The Presidency and the EU were able to lock in the relatively constructive role of countries such as Brazil. While China seemed content to allow India to do BASIC’s heavy lifting and profile the “equity” issue, an issue—alongside common but differentiated responsibilities—that has helped define the contest over contemporary rights to development and the debate over mitigation commitments.

Equity will come to the fore in the negotiation of a new instrument as the distribution and pace of mitigation responsibilities increasingly mirrors a debate on access to ecological space, driven by an ethical demand from the least developed and most vulnerable that the world must overcome a form of “atmospheric apartheid” wherein the glittering prizes of development have—to date—been heavily concentrated in the hands of the few. It’s a demand that also finds an echo in popular protests in response to the crisis-prone global financial system. An intriguing decision recognizing loss and damage also points to the future prominence of the equity debate.

Although there was enough political ground to secure a deal, it was not until the final moments on the floor of the plenary that the ultimate deal fell into place. Described as a “defining moment,” a last-minute “huddle” on the plenary floor—perhaps the most authentic of all the Indabas—in the early hours of Sunday morning enabled the EU to reach a compromise with India on an option to describe the new UNFCCC instrument in acceptable legal terms. At the eleventh hour, they agreed to launch a process to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or

an “agreed outcome with legal force” under the Convention applicable to all Parties. It is an issue that could come back to haunt the Europeans who might well discover with the passage of time just how big a compromise they made to India, if other countries choose to construct an “escape hatch” around the legal terminology that falls short of a new protocol.

Bye Bye KyOTO

It would be easy to look at the greenhouse gas-constraining Kyoto Protocol as a failure, particularly after all the desultory wrangling that oversaw its demise in all but name in Durban on the weekend. But that might be to see Kyoto through too much of a Canadian-orchestrated prism. In 1997, the industrialized world — save for Bill Clinton's America — promised to roll back climate-changing, GHG emissions to pre-1990 levels by 2012, and these countries have pretty much met that goal. Indeed, according to detailed study in September by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, the 37 main Kyoto nations plus the U.S. (which has still never ratified the treaty) have emitted 7.5 per cent less CO2 into the atmosphere in 2010 than in 1990. What's more, as a group, they are poised to meet the collective Kyoto target of 5.2 per cent less than 1990 by 2012, when the agreement was to kick over to a more stringent second stage, which is what the Durban conference was supposed to be about.

Today that second stage is something of a mirage. Kyoto now looks like it will live on essentially as a reporting mechanism to keep the statistics flowing and the 195 or so countries



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under the UN umbrella still talking. The goal now is to try to come up with some sort of replacement "framework" that may or may not bind all GHG-emitting countries to the same degree by somewhere around 2020. A handful of Kyoto signatories — Japan, Russia and, notably, Canada — stated pretty explicitly at Durban that they won't be bound by any second-stage Kyoto commitments. (Not that the pre-2012 version carried any real penalties for non-compliance). And they are already setting their markers down for whatever will come next. Essentially what Durban did was change the discussion from talking about specific commitments to talking about timetables and, probably, categories of polluters.

As climate change negotiators in Durban marked the 14th birthday of the Kyoto Protocol, the air in the conference rooms was thick with a sense of both the troubled history of climate politics and a historic opportunity for inter-generational change and redefined responsibilities. Veteran negotiators who invoked personal memories of their formative days negotiating the original

Convention and/or Protocol knew that their audience reached far outside the room to a virtual global society wanting meaningful and immediate action. Combined with the South African Presidency’s commitment to the Indaba format—designed to encourage a true participatory and open process of deliberation, the transparency of Durban had a number of unexpected consequences. Not least was the effect of depriving some ALBA negotiators of an opportunity to repeat—with credibility—complaints about exclusion. In contrast, Ministers, negotiators and youth delegates found themselves sometimes competing for the same seat in the Indaba room.

South Africa certainly understood the virtual social media huddle could render swift judgments to the champions of ambition and ridicule for those who did not measure up to the ambitions of the global environmental community. At one point the President convened a meeting at a critical endpoint in the negotiations with, apparently, little other purpose than to ensure that global civil society’s

expectations were raised and primed to maintain pressure on Ministers and their negotiators. Dozens of traditional and new media practitioners were on hand to produce an iconic image of the Greenpeace activist as he co-opted the trappings of the UN for a well-executed piece of agitprop and was led away by UN guards to be expelled from the ICC. This was a supreme example of the way in which climate politics have been transformed by the professional politics of media spectacle—on this occasion drawing on a deep tradition of South African activism twinned now with a new technological capacity that brings climate politics to every screen.

A new eRA In CLIMATe neGOTIATIOnS

While 21st century global challenges certainly need global solutions, it is important not to forget that climate change has very local impacts. One such story loomed over the Conference. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled a tragic encounter with a child in Kiribati who could not sleep soundly for fear that he would be stolen away in the night by a rising ocean. This story captures the urgency of the dilemma confronting negotiators—the call to respond to the most vulnerable states and their peoples facing the impacts of climate change. The story also speaks of an impatient generation of young people who care passionately about the issue because they will “live their lives in the future.” This is a future of networked interdependence that stands in stark contrast with the geopolitics of dependency that marked most of the 20th century and the era that gave rise to the Berlin Mandate and Kyoto Protocol. These are the voices calling across generations for urgency and increased ambition on targets to ensure that temperatures will not rise more than



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1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. And these are the voices that recognize that the only bridge that will span the current gap in ambition is a global ethic of inclusion and fairness built on foundations of transparency and accountability. These are the voices bearing witness in the corridors, engaging with delegations, disseminating every twist and turn in the negotiations in the unforgiving virtual public commons of the internet where negotiators are held to account in real time. These are the voices that have judged the Durban Platform harshly.

Negotiators, however, who embody the incremental expectations of the institutions they serve, judge themselves with more modest benchmarks. From their point of view, after the trauma of Copenhagen and the struggle to rescue the multilateral climate regime in Cancun, negotiators in Durban turned a corner and not only resuscitated the Kyoto Protocol but, in doing so, leaped to a decision that will see negotiations on a more inclusive 21st century climate regime with something approaching symmetrical reporting systems for country efforts on mitigation. The variable but symmetrical architecture of any new instrument will be important for countries such as the United States in convincing skeptical domestic publics that a truly universal effort is now in prospect. To paraphrase one US negotiator commenting at the conclusion of negotiations, the sales job just went from impossible to very hard.

There was a strong sense that elements of the Cancun-Durban packages, guided by a need to fulfill

long overdue commitments from Bali, restored sufficient momentum for new negotiations that will need to be shaped by moving beyond the traditional lines dividing the developed and developing world. This transcendence was first signaled in Bali but only came into full view after Copenhagen. A fluid new set of coalitions is now taking shape, defined by shifting interests. However, those who look first to science to measure success were the least enthusiastic about the Durban Platform, for they know that—once again—the endemic incrementalism that has

haunted climate negotiations since 1992 continues to force compromise on sufficient commitments on mitigation. The prospects for something different this time remain to be seen.

After the frustrations at the Copenhagen conference and the struggle to rescue the multilateral climate regime in Cancun, negotiators in Durban turned a corner and not only

resuscitated the Kyoto Protocol but, in doing so, adopted a decision that will lead to negotiations on a more inclusive 21st century climate regime. There was a strong sense that elements of the Durban package, guided by a need to fulfill long overdue commitments that go back to the Bali Roadmap, restored sufficient momentum for a new negotiation process, one that will continue to witness a series of differentiated interests across and within the traditional lines of division between developed and developing countries. Many welcomed the adoption decisions

including on the Green Climate Fund, and the Durban Platform, as well as the process to launch an agreement with legal force, while others continued to insist on the urgent need to significantly scale up the level of ambition to address the gap between existing mitigation pledges and the needed emission reductions recommended by science.



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COUP IN PAKISTAN : QUITE A POSSIBL ITYCOUP IN PAKISTAN : QUITE A POSSIBIL ITY

Amid near-open conflict between Pakistan's civilian and military leadership, the Pentagon has neither sought nor received assurances that the Pakistani army won't stage a coup, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday."This is a matter for Pakistani officials -- their government leaders, military and civilian -- to work out," the spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, told reporters. It also is a matter of grave concern in light of Pakistan's status as a nuclear power and the risk that its arsenal -- said to be well protected now -- could fall into the wrong hands in the event of civil conflict. The Pentagon disclosed that Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talked by phone on Tuesday with his Pakistani counterpart, Army Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Dempsey's office declined to provide details of the conversation but said it was their first contact since Dec. 21. Dempsey has an unusually close connection with Kayani. He has known the Pakistani general since 1988, when both attended

the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Pakistan's prime minister fired the defense secretary yesterday in a dispute over a memo sent to Washington that enraged the army. The army has warned darkly of "grievous consequences" as a result of the standoff. Relations between President Asif Ali Zardari and the generals have never been good but have soured dramatically in recent months. The unsigned memo sent to Washington asked for its help in reining in the military in exchange for favorable security policies. It was masterminded by Pakistan's envoy to Washington, who has denied the accusation but resigned in a failed attempt to stem fallout from the crisis. Pakistan's new ambassador to Washington, Sherry Rehman, met yesterday at the State Department with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the meeting a chance to talk about "getting our relationship back on track in all of its elements in the new

year." Asked about Pakistan's political instability, Nuland said U.S. diplomats in Islamabad were monitoring the situation but insisted that these were internal matters for Pakistan to solve on its own.

Since coming to power in 2008, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has enjoyed a relatively good relationship with the country’s powerful Army. Analysts say the Army had been content to rehabilitate its image after nine years of unpopular direct military-rule under General Pervez Musharraf, winning key victories against the Taliban in Pakistan’s restive northwest and Tribal Areas. That changed when a US businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, brought to a light a secret memo sent by unknown persons to the US government, requesting help in curtailing the Army in exchange for a set of pro-US policies. The secret memo, which was allegedly drafted in the aftermath of the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011 because the government feared a coup, created a major scandal in the country known as ‘Memo-gate’



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that cost former Pakistani Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani his job, and ratcheted tensions and drove a stake between the civilian government and the military. President Zardari has denied any involvement with the memo.

Though the Army has ruled Pakistan directly for half of the country’s 64 year history, analysts say it’s increasingly unlikely that the Army will forcibly oust the civilian government this time, because it just wouldn’t be popular with the media, Supreme Court, or the general public. If the government is to be dismissed before elections, it’s more likely to come “legally” via a Supreme Court ruling. Right now, Pakistan is closely watching two high profile cases just for that reason. The Supreme Court is investigating the Memo-gate scandal, pitting the Army and civilian government against each other in court. On Jan. 16, the Supreme Court charged Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani with contempt for failing to re-open corruption cases dating back to the 1990s against President Asif Ali Zardari. If Mr. Gilani is found guilty, his jailing and dismissal from office could create a power vacuum that could be used to help the Army install a pro-military interim government. Adding further interest, Mansoor Ijaz is due to appear before the court on Jan. 25, and has promised to unleash what he describes as damning revelations – that could send Pakistan’s hyperactive media into overdrive and further damage the government’s fragile reputation.

The government says he does, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a political amnesty signed by former leader Pervez Musharraf and the late Benazir Bhutto, Zardari’s husband, is not valid – casting a legal shadow on

Zardari’s presidency and uncertainty on what would happen to him if the court rules he’s guilty of past crimes. Prime Minister Gilani, on the other hand, does not enjoy immunity, and if he is found guilty of contempt of court for not reopening corruption cases against Zardari, faces dismissal, jail time, and a bar from public office. On Monday, Mr. Gilani, who finds himself at the center of the clash between the institutions, received a welcome boost when parliament passed a pro-democracy resolution calling for the military and Supreme Court to remain within their constitutional limits.Still, the government’s position is precarious and many expect snap elections before the government’s five-year tenure is up in February 2013. While on the other hand military coup seems quite distinct in Pakistan in the present scenario, as the army desired democracy and stability in the country. After the Memo Gate scandal broke out, there were speculations that a military coup will take place in the country. Earlier, the Pakistan military had rubbished reports of a coup amid the recent tension over the Memo Gate scandal. The alleged confrontation between the military and the government became more apparent following the military taking on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over the sacking of the Defence Secretary, and the appointment of a new commander of the 111 Brigade. However, the military brass expressed surprise and concern over the repeated reports of a possible military coup and decided to hold briefings from the platforms of parliamentary committees of the National Assembly, the Senate and special panels, which deal with national security and defence-related matters, to address the misgivings of the elected

leadership. Earlier, the US had also rejected such speculations, with many analysts saying that a military coup in Pakistan was 'unlikely' at this point in time.

A head-on collision between an elected civilian government in Pakistan and the Pakistan Army is usually expected to culminate with the Army chief of the day announcing a takeover by the military on national television with the words: “Merey aziz humwatanon …” In the history of Pakistan's troubled civilian-military relations, the military has always wielded the upper hand, the bigger stick. But the rapidly heating stand-off between the Pakistan People's Party government and the Pakistan Army, which threatened to boil over on Wednesday as a war of words erupted between Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and the military, may yet escape the traditional ending. Prime Minister Gilani's remarks to the Chinese People's Daily , that the responses of the Army Chief and the ISI head to the Supreme Court on the infamous memo affair were “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” were extraordinary. The sub-text of the Prime Minister's remarks was that the government could sack both General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lt. Gen Shuja Pasha — both officers are serving on extension, and the ISI chief 's extended term is ending in March 2012 — for their conduct. This reinforced the view that he was upping the ante against the Army, almost daring it to take on the government. The military's response, that the Prime Minister's words had “serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences” carried an all-too-familiar and ominous ring. Mr. Gilani's decision to immediately hit back by sacking the Defence Secretary, Naeem Khlaid Lodhi, a retired general



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who is seen as close to the Army chief, and his replacement with a career civil servant, also served to heighten the coup fears. Reinforcing these fears, a new commander took charge of the infamous 111 Brigade stationed in Rawalpindi, also known as the coup-making brigade because its soldiers have been used to occupy important buildings and installations during a military takeover.

Still there is hope that this stand-off may not end in the seemingly inevitable. That Prime Minister Gilani made his provocative comments to a Chinese newspaper itself was unusual. More unusual was the timing — as noted by the military in its statement, General Kayani was at that precise time on an official tour of China. It seemed almost as if the Prime Minister was trying to draw Pakistan's biggest ally into the government's battle for survival. The Army has also learnt that in the long

run, coups usually do not work to its advantage. The example of General Pervez Musharraf and his downward spiral is fresh in its institutional memory. The job of running a country, one as difficult as Pakistan, especially at the moment, means getting elbow-deep into the muck, most of which sticks on the uniform, and hurts the military's long-term interest of retaining its pre-eminent national position.

There is no popular appetite for military rule, even going by the commentary in Pakistan's traditionally pro-military media. The explosion of the media — traditional and new media, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter — also means that it is difficult for the Army to control the narrative to justify coups. On Wednesday, “Pakistan Prime Minister” was trending on Twitter, and was by itself a cause of much pride amongst Pakistani tweeters. The Court's confrontation has added

the pressure on the PPP government. Some Pakistani analysts are of the view that Prime Minister Gilani's aggressive stand with the military, practically provoking it to carry out a coup, may be a ploy to “go down as shaheed ”, martyred by the military — the PPP takes pride in its troubled history with the Pakistan Army — instead of being hauled into court to answer corruption charges.But the stand-off cannot continue indefinitely, and it is clear that one or more actors will have to quit the stage in order to end the uncertainty, or at least this phase of it. Pakistani analysts are not ruling out that it could be Generals Kayani and Pasha. A more likely scenario is that the Army, though reluctant to carry out an outright coup, might not be as averse to effecting a change of government, which means the present dispensation gets replaced with another political formation, or perhaps a fresh election is called a year before it is due in 2013.

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RUdRASAGAR deveLOPMenT SCheMe

Planning commission od India on 19 January 2012 approved investment clearance for the scheme – Rudrasagar Drainage Development Scheme, Tripura. The scheme is an estimated to cost of Rs. 14.8978 Crore (Rs Fourteen crore, Eighty Nine Lakhs and Seventy Eight Thousand Only). The project is to be completed by the financial year 2012-13 and Plan account would be closed by 31st March 2013.

The implementation of the scheme will restrict water spread area of the lake during monsoon and maintain water level of 13 m during winter and maintain water level of 11 m for boosting the

ecology of the area. An area of 2200 ha with a population of 1000 will benefit from the scheme.

fAMILy PLAnnInG ACCePTORS InCReASed In

IndIA

As per the latest official data, the total number of family planning acceptors in India increased by 3.5 per cent between 2010 and 2011. The data revealed that condom is the most preferred method of family planning while sterilisations the least adopted means. The comparative figures between April and September 2010 and 2011 put the number of couples adopting some

method for family planning, including spacing methods was found to be close

to 24 million, with at least 15 million preferring condoms to any other means. Condom use was followed by oral pill user — though the number in this case came down to just over 5 million in 2011. IUD (intrauterine device) insertions by women was also another significant birth control measure adopted.

STATe-wISe STUdy

Bihar showed a jump of 92 per cent between 2010 and 2011 in sterilisations, 61 per cent in IUD users, 49 per cent in condom users and 71 per cent in oral pill users. Jharkhand on the other hand showed an overall decline in all methods used for family planning.Karnataka too showed all-round decline as also TamilNadu, except sterilisations, which showed a 6 per cent increase. Densely populated Uttar Pradesh indicated a 3.7 per cent increase in sterilisation figures, 12.7 per cent jump in IUD insertions, 17 and 18 per cent hike in condom use and oral pill use respectively. In terms of sterilisations per 10000 unsterilised couples exposed to higher order of birth (3 and above), Tamil Nadu showed the best performance at 1834 sterilisations

NATIONAL ISSUES



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followed by Karnataka (1197), Kerala (1101), Maharashtra (857), Gujarat (510), Punjab (501), Haryana (4170) and Madhya Pradesh (342). The achievement in all States is lower than the all India average of 315 sterilisations per 10000 unsterilised couples.

dOPPLeR RAdAR SySTeM In new deLhI

Indian Meteorological Department on its 137th foundation day (15 January 2012), installed C-Band Polarimetric Doppler Radar system at Mausam Bhawan, New Delhi. This system uses advanced data to give information in severe weather condition like rain, hailstorms and dust storms. With the installation of this radar, IMD will be able to cover the entire NCR more accurately to give to the residence of Delhi more accurate information about rainfall, about wind, about heat, about dust storms about hail storms. This will impact the traffic movement in the city, it would avoid traffic jams, people will know exactly what is going to be happening into the course of between 15 minutes to 2 hrs. The data transmitted through this advanced radar system is more accurate than the conventional radar, and avoids the need to monitor radar parameters, and its fine tuning. It also detects difficult aviation hazards such as bird flocks, aircraft and icing conditions. This facility will be installed in other 8 cities in due course of time.

AnTI-dOwRy LAw ShOULd Be LeSS STRInGenT

The Law Commission of India on 18 January 2012 recommended the dilution of Anti-Dowry law to make it less stringent. The Commission, headed by Justice P V Reddi, recommended the Government to make Section 498-A

of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with harassment for dowry and cruelty to a woman in her matrimonial home, a compoundable offence. Compoundable offences are those which can be compromised by the parties to the dispute. The permission of the court is not necessary. This means that those who would be booked in cases under this section would find it easier to get bail. The recommendation would allow the woman, involved in the case, to withdraw it with the permission of the court, provided she is not under any pressure. The Nineteenth and the current Law Commission was established on 1 September 2009 under the Chairmanship of Justice P.Venkatarama Reddy. Its tenure was fixed till 31 August 2012.

GRIevAnCe RedReSSAL MeChAnISM In

hIGheR edUCATIOnAL InSTITUTIOnS

Union Ministry for Human Resource Development on 18 January 2012 announced that there would be a Grievance Redressal mechanisms in higher educational institutions. UGC, AICTE and NCTE would be requiring all Central Educational Institutions, institutions deemed to be universities, technical and management institutions under AICTE and teacher education institutions under NCTE to establish a Grievance Redressal Mechanism for Students and applicants for admission before the commencement of the admission this academic year. Every institution would be required to constitute an Ombudsman; person with judicial or legal experience to be appointed from a panel suggested by the affiliating university for technical and management institutions, by the

Central Government for deemed universities and by the regulator for non-degree granting institutions. The concerned regulators would issue the detailed instructions to the educational institutions shortly.

42% Of ChILdRen In IndIA UPTO 5 yRS. ARe

UndeRweIGhT

The Hunger and Malnutrition Survey monitored over 100000 children in 112 districts across nine states in the country from October 2010 to February 2011. The Hunger and Malnutrition Survey report was released by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 10 January 2012. The survey stated that forty-two percent of children in India younger than 5 are underweight and nearly 60 percent are stunted. India, with a population of 1.2 billion people, has the largest number of children in the world. It was found that though India's economy boomed, with growth over the last few years averaging about 8 percent, the country's development indicators continue to be abysmal.

The fIndInGS Of RePORT

The report found that of the stunted children, about half were severely stunted and about half of all children were underweight or stunted by the time they are two years. However, the number of underweight children was to have decreased from 53 to 42 per cent in the past seven years. The last study on the subject was done in 2004. The survey however noted that positive change for child nutrition in India was happening, including in the 100 Focussed Districts. The 100 Focus Districts are located across Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – states which perform the



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worst on child nutrition. The prevalence of malnutrition is significantly higher among children from low-income families. It found that children from Muslim or SC/ST households generally had worse nutrition indicators.

According to the report, birth weight is an important risk-factor for child malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight in children born with a weight below 2.5 kg is 50 per cent, while that among children born with a weight above 2.5 kg is 34 per cent. Awareness among mothers about nutrition was found to below. 92 per cent mothers had never heard the word malnutrition.

Also, the report stated that a negligent appraoch was shown towards girl children even in their early childhood. The nutrition advantage girls have over boys in the first months of life gets reversed over time as they grow older. According to the survey, the mothers' education level also determines children's nutrition.

nORMS ARe TO Be TIGhTened

The Union government of India on 14 January 2012 directed all the states to tighten norms in granting licenses to open new medical institutes, and ensure fire safety provisions mandatory, for launching any such new ventures. The Home Ministry order came weeks after a devastating fire at the Kolkata hospital, which claimed more than 90 lives.The states were directed to ensure that hospital building bylaws provide for mandatory fire safety provisions and without such provisions, no Licence should be given to anyone for setting up any hospitals. The state governments were asked to ensure that all hospitals and nursing homes equip their institutions with the required freighting

gadgets, to avoid any untoward incident. The Home Ministry also directed that mock drills should be conducted in some of these hospitals and nursing homes, to see how doctors and nursing staff respond in case of an emergency, and their patient evacuation plans.

‘SURyA nAMASKAR' SPARKS ROw

The yogic exercise of “Surya Namaskar” in government schools in Madhya Pradesh has become controversial with the city Qazi issuing a “fatwa” against the practice and the State government gearing to ensure maximum participation of students in order to set a “world record.”While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has made it clear that the exercise was not mandatory for all students, minority groups and the Congress-led Opposition have accused the government of attempting to saffronise school education and divide students along communal lines. The School Education Department has put in place arrangements to ensure maximum participation in the exercise in the coming days to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. However, the city Qazi has issued a decree against the practice by terming it synonymous with idol worship.

nATIOnAL POLICy On ndPS APPROved

The Union Cabinet of India on 12 January 2012 approved the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) policy, with the objective of checking illicit production of psychotropic substances, curb drug abuse and stop trafficking of such items. The new policy will help in controlling the proliferation of black money. The

Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The NDPS policy will lead to reduction in crime and improvement in public health. It aims at social re-integration of victims of drug abuse.

The salient features of the policy are as follows: (i) The policy recommends

production of Concentrate of Poppy Straw (CPS) in India by a company or body corporate. This would enable India to retain its status of a traditional supplier of Opiate Raw Material (ORM) to the rest of world, while remaining competitive.

(ii) The consumption of poppy straw by addicts will be gradually reduced and finally stopped in a time frame decided by the States.

(iii) On the illicit cultivation of poppy and cannabis, the policy emphasizes use of satellite imageries for detection of illicit crop and its subsequent eradication and development of alternate means of livelihood in respect of cultivators in pockets of traditional illicit cultivation.

(iv) The private sector may be allowed production of alkaloids from opium. At present alkaloids from opium are produced only in Government Opium and Alkaloid Factories (GOAFs).

(v) Non-intrusive methods of regulating the manufacture, trade and use of such psychotropic substances will be introduced,



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(vi) Emphasis will be laid on adequate access to morphine and other opioids necessary for palliative care, a strategy to address street peddlers of drugs, periodic surveys of drug abuse to gauge the extent, pattern and nature of drug abuse in the country, recognition of de-addiction centers,

(vii) There will be a time bound plan of action, detailing the steps to be taken by different Ministries/

The NDPS Policy will serve as a guide to various Ministries and organizations and re-assert India`s commitment to combat the drug menace in a holistic manner.Only 1 % of the education Budget is spent on Improving the Quality of education

PAISA, a non-government group conducted a survey of elementary education funds of seven States for 2009-2010. In its report, it pointed out that. The focus of the study was to track the flow of funds from their point of origin to their final point of expenditure: the district or the school. This required analysis at the levels of the Centre and the State, district and school. The survey was jointly conducted by Accountability Initiative and Centre for Policy Research. The study covered the districts of Medak (Andhra Pradesh), Nalanda and Purnea (Bihar), Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), Satara (Maharashtra), Jaipur and Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Jalpaiguri (West Bengal).

The RePORT

The survey showed that the largest investment, 78 per cent of the education budget in India is invested in teachers and management costs while

the next largest spending, 14 per cent of the fund is invested inn creating school infrastructure. Only 1 per cent is spent on improving the quality of education. Substantial finances were provided to expand the elementary schooling system. Between 2007-08 and 2009-10, the elementary education budget increased from Rs. 68,10 crore to Rs. 97255 crore. in 2008-09, the government invested Rs. 6314 per child. However, the per child investment in each of these States for 2009-10 ranged from Rs. 3982 in West Bengal to Rs. 19111 in Himachal Pradesh indicating inter-State disparity in investments. The survey revealed serious delays and gaps in fund flows across all levels of government. The delays had a knock-on effect on expenditures, resulting in the prioritisation of recurring expenditures like salaries, at the expense of other key learning-related activities like training and quality. These problems are aggrevated by the fact that little time and fact was spent in developing the capacities of school and local officials to exercise discretion whereever necessary.

It advocates for greater transparency and efficient fund flow management, which the survey discovered was critical to ensure that the recommended move away from the current system of tied time-lined budgets to a system that focuses on children and school, works.

new MISSIOn COnTROL CenTRe AT ShAR

President Pratibha Patil visited the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR) at Sriharikota on 2 January 2012 and inaugurated the new Mission Control Centre. Following the inauguration, she witnessed a simulation of the launch

of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at the Mission Control Centre. The new centre has been developed with state-of-the-art facilities to meet the requirements for the launch

of the Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III and future missions of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Mission Control Centre, situated six km away from the launch complex, will monitor and conduct launch operations during the precountdown and countdown phases until the injection of the satellite into orbit. The launch preparations on the vehicle will be monitored using a multichannel closed circuit television system. The President on this occasion also presented ISRO awards for the year 2008 and 2009. The lifetime achievement award for contribution to the Indian space programme was conferred on former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan.

nMdC SIGnS PACT wITh SePC

The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) signed a contract with a consortium led by Shriram EPC Limited (SEPC) on Tuesday for By-Product Plant (BPP) package for



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the upcoming three million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in Chattisgarh. According to a release, the total cost of the package is Rs.509 crore. The contract was signed by ED (NISP) G. Viswakarma on behalf of NMDC and V-P of A.B.Paul for SEPC.

SeTTInG UP Of nCTC APPROved

The Cabinet Committee on Security on 12 January 2012 approved the setting

up of a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to counter terrorism effectively. The NCTC was proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It will be a single window organisation that will gather and disseminate intelligence to central and state security organisations. A notification for the appointment of Directors and other members of core team of the NCTC will be issued soon. The NCTC was created in the wake of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. It will work under the Union Home Ministry. A senior IPS officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police and above will head the elite counter-terror body. The NCTC will also coordinate with relevant probe and intelligence agencies to ensure

that the perpetrators of terror are brought to justice besides maintaining a comprehensive data base of terrorists, their associates and supporters.

nCPCR ASKed fOR ShIKShA SAMvAd

National Commission for Protection of Child Right (NCPCR) on 9 January 2012 directed the state governments

to propose a system called Shiksha Samvad for holding regular dialogues between government officials and civil society on the implementation of the Right to Education Act. In a letter, the commission, which is monitoring the Act, asked the state governments to institutionalize the system for regular reviews of the act. This will enable the local administration to keep a close watch on how the implementation of the Act is proceeding at the ground level. It will also allow the people to seek speedy redressal by raising the issues directly with the government officials.

5-Mw SOLAR eneRGy PLAnT AT PhLOdI

InAUGRATed

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on 11 January 2012 inaugurated a 5-MW solar energy plant by SunEdison. SunEdiso is the leading solar energy services provider, at Phalodi in Jodhpur district. The plant was set up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National

Solar Mission (JNNSM). The 5-MW solar energy plant is situated over a sprawling 44 acres in the Thar desert. It will use thin-film PV technology to generate 8000000 KWh of electricity in its first year of operation. It is expected to offset carbon emissions up to 3000 metric tonnes every year. Connected to the national grid on 31 December 2011, the plant is expected to supply electricity to NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), the nodal agency for augmenting purchase and sale of power generated from solar energy under the JNNSM mission. SunEdison also has put in place a 33 KV transmission line from the project site to the station situated at Bap.

GOveRnMenT LOweRS MeP Of OnIOn

Bowing to the demand of traders and farmers, the Commerce Ministry on Wednesday notified that it was lowering the minimum export price of onions by $100 a tonne to $150 per tonne to boost exports that have

witnessed a decline in the recent times. According to a notification issued here by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), “The minimum export price (MEP) of all varieties of onions, except Bangalore Rose onions and Krishnapuram onions, will be $150 per tonne.'' The export price of Bangalore Rose and Krishnapuram onions have



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also been reduced marginally to $250 a tonne from the previous rate of $300/tonne, the notification added. Onion growers and traders have been demanding a slash in the export prices to keep the commodity competitive in the international market. Onion exports from India declined by nearly 23 per cent in the first nine months of the current financial year as compared to the previous year's, mainly due to high rate of shipment at $250 per tonne.

China and Egypt are dominating the international market by selling bulb at less than $200 a tonne. After lifting the ban on onion exports in October last year, the government had kept its MEP initially at a high $450 a tonne. It was first reduced to $350 a tonne and then to $250 a tonne in November, 2011, to make it competitive in the international market. But, lowering of onion export prices to $250 a tonne failed to perk up its outbound shipment as the kitchen staple from China and Egypt are selling at less than $200 a tonne.

CJI nOT COMPLeTeLy exeMPT fROM dISCLOSURe

The Central Information Commission (CIS) held in the first week of January 2012 that all information in possession of the office of the Chief Justice of India is not completely exempt from disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) act. The CIC observed this while directing the Supreme Court to disclose communication exchange between Chief Justice of India and the Law Ministry on the question of proposed changes in appointment procedure for Judges. Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra ruled that, the procedure of appointment of judges or any proposal for modifying that procedure should necessarily be available in the public domain so

that citizens know what is transpiring among the major stake holders. The order came on an appeal by RTI activist Subhash Agrawal on this issue.

nATIOnAL MISSIOn On MOnSOOn PRedICTIOn

The Union Cabinet is likely to give its final approval for a national mission to try and improve the accuracy of monsoon forecasts by this month-end. This was stated by Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences Shailesh Nayak here on Wednesday. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing 99th session of the Indian Science Congress. Mr.

Nayak said the Expenditure Finance Committee recently gave its approval for the proposal and it was now under the consideration of the relevant Ministries and departments. The mission, estimated to cost Rs. 350 crore, is designed to improve the current generation of dynamic numerical models for prediction through better insight of the highly complex phenomenon of monsoon.

At present, India Meteorological Department makes its forecasts based on the system of a statistical model, which makes the prediction on the basis of several predictors. The statistical system has several fundamental and inherent shortcomings. The dynamic

numerical models, on the other hand, are expected to come out with better forecasts. India does not have a dynamic numerical model of it own. The goal now is to develop a model that would be India-specific within five years.

deTenTIOn UndeR nSA wIThOUT vALId ReASOnS

IS InvALId

The Supreme Court of India in the first week of January 2012 ruled that a person cannot be detained under the preventive detention law like National Security Act (NSA) without justifiable reasons. If it happens, it would impinge upon the individuals Constitutional right of personal liberty. The apex court observed that the State authorities have been granted the power to curb such rights under criminal laws as also under the laws of preventive detention. These laws are required to be exercised with due caution as well as upon a proper appreciation of the facts as to whether such acts are in any way prejudicial to the interest and the security of the State and its citizens, or seek to disturb public law and order, warranting the issuance of such an order.

IMPORTAnT InfORMATIOn

Article 21 in the Constitution of India states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. Article 22 in the Constitution of India has provision for protection against arrest and detention in certain cases. This article consists of two parts. Clauses(1) and (2) apply to persons arrested or detained under a law otherwise than a preventive detention law while clauses (4) to (7) apply to persons arrested or detained under a preventive detention law.



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IndIA IS fRee fROM BIRd fLU, h5n1

India became free from bird flu, H5N1. The government made a declaration to this effect on 4 January

2012. The states were advised to have strict surveillance, especially in the vulnerable areas bordering the infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 is also known as bird flu , A(H5N1) or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus .It can cause illness in humans and many other animal species.

fRenCh AdvAnCed MISSILe SySTeMS fOR

IndIA

India on 4 January 2012 approved 6600 crore rupees acquisition of 490 French advanced missile systems to arm the Mirage-2000 fighter jets. The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the contract for the fire and forget MICA with French armament company MBDA. MICA are interception and aerial combat missiles. The MICA systems will be fitted on IAF’s 51 Mirage-2000s. Fren ch company Dassault Aviation will help in the upgradation of IAF’s 51 Mirage-2000s. The Mirage upgrade project will cost around 20000 crore rupees. The project

will be completed in 10 years. In fact, India plans to induct stealth FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) from 2020 onwards with cooperation from Russia. This defence project is considered to be the biggest-ever defence project and it will cost approximately 35 billion US dollars.

heALThy fOOd AvAILABLe In SChOOL CAnTeenS

The Delhi High Court on 11 January 2012 directed Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to hold deliberations with the experts and frame necessary guidelines to make healthy food available in school canteens. The court sought a complaince report from FSAAI, along with the guidelines to be submitted on 25 July 2012. During the hearing on 11 January, the ministry, through its affidavit, submitted that FSSAI has set up eight scientific panels and a committee to prescribe standards of various items of

food, including those containing trans-fat acid residues, poisonous metals and microbiological parameters.

The Food Safety Act does not empower the authorities to ban any particular category of food, and its implementation rests with the state governments. The decision to ban the sale of junk food in educational

institutions is therefore to be an administrative decision, to be taken by the authorities in charge of running such institutions. According to experts, most junk food have high quantity of trans-fat acids and are low in minerals, vitamins and other essential food nutrients. They are also cited as a reason behind obesity among children. The Delhi High Court’s direction was issued in the backdrop of a PIL filed by social group Uday Foundation, seeking a complete ban on sale of junk food and aerated drinks in schools and other educational institutions.

POLITICISATIOn Of IndIAn JOBLeSS yOUTh IS

MATTeR Of STUdy

Oxford University has announced a major new study on how unemployment in India is politicising young people who often turn to “violent struggle” for a more equal society. The focus would be on North India where, it said, unemployment was more acute and causing social tensions.“Young people have invested time and money in their education and yet find there are very few salaried jobs for them. This has left them feeling short-changed and frustrated. Educational levels have risen rapidly but there is a big gap between their aspirations and the reality of the current jobs market,” said Dr. Craig Jeffrey who has worked extensively in India and will lead the study. Scholars know “surprisingly little” about the extent to which unemployment was pushing educated young people towards “political actions”. This had resulted in “media stereotypes” of youth. The study would strive to move beyond these stereotypes.

“These questions have been largely the subject of journalistic conjecture.



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We want to find out from our survey whether they feel globalisation is changing their lives for the better; find out whether their political views change when they leave school; and ask them why their protest groups are not longer lasting. We will move beyond media stereotypes of youth — for example, as ‘heroes' or ‘villains' — and publicise the varied and changing roles played by educated unemployed young people,” he said. The study is part of a bigger project in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and the Economic and Social Research Council on the impact of unemployment on youth in South Asia. Besides India, it would study trends in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

“North India, Nepal and Sri Lanka were chosen because they each have major problems in providing work that suits the skills and qualifications of their unemployed. They also have a ‘youth-bulge' in their population of mainly young men. While the jobs market in the public sector has shrunk in these countries, the private sector has not filled the gap in providing secure, salaried job opportunities. There are political differences too between the three countries: India is a democracy where people are free to protest; Sri Lanka has a history of more authoritarian forms of government; while Nepal only broke from monarchic rule recently, in 2006,” Dr. Jeffrey said.

ex-IM BAnK Of IndIA AMendMenT BILL, 2011

PASSed

Rajya Sabha approved the Export-Import Bank of India Amendment Bill, 2011, on 27 December 2011. It aims at promoting international trade by raising the capital funds of overseas trading from two thousand crore rupees to ten

thousand crore rupees. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier.

ReGULATIOn Of fACTOR (ASSIGnMenTS

ReCeIvABLe) BILL APPROved

Rajya Sabha approved the Regulation of Factor (Assignments Receivable Bill, 2011) on 27 December 2011 to help micro, small and medium enterprises.The bill aims at regulating assignment of receivables by making provision for registration of the rights and obligations of parties to contract. It applies to all types of industry whether it is small, medium or big. It will help mitigate the payment problem of the MSME units. Factors will be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. The Lok Sabha had already passed the bill.

TeLeCOM AUThORITy ReMOveS CAP On SMS

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday removed the 200 SMS per SIM cap on text messages that are generated by automated machines or sent to it, a move that would provide relief to various service providers. “The TRAI has received representations from the stakeholders that in view of the limit of 200 SMS per day per SIM, they are not able to send machine-to-machine and

person-to-machine SMS which are sent by them to initiate process or application for their operational requirements. The TRAI has duly considered such representations and has excluded all machine-to-machine and person-to-machine messages from the limit of 200 SMS per day per SIM,” the telecom sector regulator said in a statement. “Such services include providing details of driver or taxi on booking of radio taxi, tentative date of delivery of goods, tentative date of attending complaint, contact details of person attending the complaint etc,” it added.

10Th PRAvSI BhARTIyA dIvAS heLd In JAIPUR

The 10th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) was held on 7-9 January, 2012 at Birla Auditorium, Jaipur. Highlights of the 10th PBD are as following: • The Prime Minister of Trinidad

and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar was the Chief Guest of the event.

• The PrimeMinister,ManmohanSingh inaugurated the event.

• Over 1900 delegates from about60 countries were participated this year’s PBD.

• The Global Indian: InclusiveGrowth was the theme of the event and the focus was on India’s Social Development and the Overseas Indian community.

• PrimeMinisterannouncedanewPension and Life Insurance Fund for overseas Indian workers. The scheme will encourage, enable and assist overseas workers to voluntarily save for their return and resettlement and old age. It will also provide a low-cost life insurance cover against natural death.



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• Prime Minister also announced that pursuant to the law that was enacted to enable non-resident Indians to vote in national elections, the Government has issued notifications for registration of overseas Indians under the Representation of People Act, 1950. This constitutes the first major step to enable Indians resident abroad to

participate in election processes. • Minister of Overseas Indian

Affairs announced that next Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas-2012 will be held in Dubai for the Gulf region.

• A Protector of Emigrants (POE)office was inaugurated in Jaipur during the event to facilitate overseas Indians and emigrating workers of this region.

• TheChiefMinister of Rajasthanannounced a new scheme, Know Rajasthan for NRI’s. Under this scheme 50 NRIs from 18-28 years of age annually would come on tour to the state. 90% expenditure of their Air Fare will be borne by the state Government. The expenditure on internal transport and residence will also be borne by the State Government.

CLICK BeLOw LInK fOR deTAILS:http://upscportal.com/civilservices/online-course/study-kit-for-ias-pre-gs-paper-1-2012

CLICK BeLOw LInK fOR deTAILS:http://upscportal.com/civilservices/online-course/study-kit-for-ias-pre-gs-paper-2-2012



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2 MORe MOnThS TO The JUdICIAL COMMISSIOn In

PAKISTAn

Pakistan's Supreme Court on 30 January 2012 granted two more months to the judicial commission probing the memo issue to complete its investigation. The apex court said the panel would decide on American

businessman Mansoor Ijaz's request to record his statement outside the country. A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also lifted a foreign travel ban on Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, who had resigned after the scandal became public. The Supreme Court had formed the commission on December 30 and given it four weeks to

complete its investigation. The term of the commission would have ended on 30 January 2012.

PARTIAL LIfTInG Of eMeRGenCy In eGyPT

In Egypt, the military rulers declared partial lifting of emergency in the country. The move comes into effect from 25 January 2012- the first anniversary of the 25th January revolution which saw the overthrowing of the decades long Mubarak regime in the country a year ago. The emergency laws gave sweeping powers to the police to arrest and prosecute anyone on charges of Thuggery. The opposition and the activists who led 25th January uprisings in 2011 in Egypt have been campaigning for the total removal of emergency laws and release of all civilians in military jails. The ruling military Council announced a series of measures on the first anniversary celebrations of the revolution. The 25th January is now a national holiday. The Armed forces will hold celebrations

from the 25th to the 28th of January 2012 in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

new ARAB LeAGUe PLAn ReJeCTed By SyRIA

Syria on 23 January 2012 rejected the Arab League plan for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over the power to the Vice President. The Arab League in its meeting on 22 January 2012 in Cairo came out with a plan under which President Assad hands over the power to the Vice President and a national unity government is formed within two months. It called upon the Syrian Government to start a dialogue with the opposition in two weeks. The Unity

INTERNATIONALISSUES



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and still lives on the street where much of the violence took place, were so upset by the judgment that they declined to speak to reporters. “This is an assault on the blood of Iraqis,” lamented Khalid Salman, a Haditha city councillor and lawyer for the victims.

ORTeGA STARTS ThIRd TeRM In nICARAGUA

Nicaraguan ex-rebel Daniel Ortega, joined by allies from Iran and Venezuela, started his third mandate as President on Tuesday with a legislative super majority that has provoked fears of authoritarianism. Mr. Ortega, who has long since traded guerilla garb for white shirts and messages of peace, returned to office in an evening ceremony in Managua's Revolution Square, decorated with thousands of flowers. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is on a tour of Latin American allies, and Mr. Ortega's key financial backer Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were among more than 8,000 guests. Mr. Ortega gave a military salute to Mr. Chavez before hugging his wife and the Iranian President. Mr. Ahmadinejad greeted his “revolutionary brother Ortega” on arriving in Nicaragua and said the two nations were “fighting to establish solidarity and justice”.

A PLAnned COUP TO TOPPLe The GOveRnMenT

fOILed

The Bangladesh army foiled a planned coup in December 2011 attempt to topple the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Some officers in military service were involved in the conspiracy to topple the system of democratic governance. Two former army officers were arrested and a manhunt was launched for the

Government should elect a council in three months to write a constitution. It should also prepare for parliamentary and Presidential elections. The Arab League Foreign Ministers also asked the U.N. Security Council to support the plan to resolve the crisis in Syria. The proposal was on the lines of the GCC mediated power transfer deal in Yemen. Lebanon opposed the move while Algeria objected to taking the plan to the Security Council. The Arab Foreign Ministers had earlier decided to extend the term of Observer’s mission by another month. Their numbers would be doubled and they would be trained by UN experts. Saudi Arabia announced it will pull out its observers since Syria has not delivered on its promises.

TURKey'S BId TO fAST-TRACK IRAn n-TALKS

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday commenced a crucial visit to Iran to pursue a crowded agenda that includes revival of nuclear talks between Tehran and the global powers as well as ways to align perceptions of the two countries in their regional backyard. Ahead of the visit, a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Mr. Davutoglu and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi would discuss the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West, the unrest in Syria and developments in Iraq. Turkey and Iran share their borders with Iraq, while Syria, Iran's key ally, which has recently fallen out with Ankara, is Turkey's next door neighbour. Turkey is heavily dependent on Iranian oil, and is therefore uncomfortable with the new U.S. law, which can target foreign companies routing their payments for oil imports from Iran through the Iranian Central Bank. The Turkish

Foreign Minister is visiting Iran exactly a year after the six global powers and Iran failed to achieve a breakthrough during their nuclear talks that Turkey had hosted in Istanbul.

But days ahead of Mr. Davutoglu's visit, Iran disclosed that it was awaiting the response to its proposal of holding another round of talks with the global powers, represented by the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Analysts point out that prospects of talks have brightened after Iran held naval drills — a show of military power near the Strait of Hormuz, the international channel for oil supplies. On its part, the U.S. has threatened to throttle Iran's oil exports — a move that seeks to convey to its domestic audience, that if it does begins talks with Tehran, it would do so from a position of strength. While Iran had openly welcomed Turkey's mediation on the nuclear issue, it might not sound as enthusiastic in endorsing the use of Ankara's good offices as it did in the past. New irritants have recently developed between the two countries — each with significant regional ambitions — clouding their one-time rosy relationship.

hAdIThA veRdICT IS A ShOCKeR fOR IRAQ

Haditha residents and relatives of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed in 2005 in the town by U.S. troops voiced disgust and shock over the light sentence meted out to a soldier involved in the massacre. A lawyer for the victims and the Iraqi government vowed to continue pursuing the case, while a doctor at the town's hospital insisted that residents would never forget the killings. Some residents, including one woman who lost relatives at the time



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fugitive officer while some 16 others were kept under strict military vigil. Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971 and has a history of coups since then. The country’s first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanwas assassinated during a bloody coup in 1975. Bangaldesh was ruled by the military dictator again from 1982 to 1990. Democracy was restored in 1991.

COnTeMPT Of COURT nOTICe TO GILAnI

Pakistan's Supreme Court on 16 January 2012 issued a contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for failing to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The Apex Court also asked the Pakistan Prime Minister to appear before it on 19 January 2012. The order was issued by a seven-judge bench led by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, that began hearing the case related to the apex court's orders against Zardari and over 8000 others. The bench directed Gilani to personally appear in court to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for deliberately disregarding the court's orders. A Supreme Court-appointed panel is also probing the memo case. The Supreme Court had issued the order against the premier after the government's top law officer informed it that he had received no instructions regarding the order to reopen the corruption cases.

IAeA RePORT On URAnIUM enRIChMenT In IRAn

The UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA on 12 January 2012 confirmed that Iran started enriching uranium to 20 percent. The production is taking place at Fordo, a nuclear facility 160 kilometers south-west of Tehran. The

Uranium enrichment to the level of 20 percent means it can be upgraded more quickly for use in nuclear weapons than the Iran’s main enriched stockpile at Natanz plant.The level is much higher than the 3.5 percent at Iran's main enrichment plant in Natanz and can be turned into fissile warhead material faster.

ChInA'S RAIL neTwORK TO TOUCh IndIA'S BORdeR

China has announced it will accelerate plans to expand a railway network in Tibet to reach two towns near the border with India and will also consider building a railway line to Nepal, officials said this week.New

railway lines from Lhasa to Xigaze (Shigatse in Tibetan) and the town of Nyingchi, which lies in a prefecture bordering Arunachal Pradesh, will be built as key projects under a five-year development plan (2011-15) for the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which was announced on Wednesday.Separately, the State-run Xinhua news agency carried a report indicating that the construction of a railway line from Tibet to Nepal was discussed during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit last week to Kathmandu.“The railway which will join Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China will further strengthen ties between the two countries,” Xinhua quoted Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav as saying.

SCALe BACK SAnCTIOnS By AUSTRALIA AGAInST

MyAnMAR

Australia on 9 January 2012 announced that it would scale back sanctions against Myanmar. Australia took this decision in recognition of steps taken by Myanmar’s military regime towards democracy and greater regional engagement. Myanmar’s military junta held elections in 2010 and transferred power to civilians. However, Myanmar has failed to meet expectations on the release of political prisoners. In Australia, there is a blanket arms embargo to Myanmar.

Ban of Import of Iranian Crude Oil by EU

The member states of European Union(EU) on 4 January 2012, agreed in principle to ban import of Iranian crude oil to put pressure on Iran for its nuclear programme. However, the time-frame to implement this was not decided. The United States, which recently imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, has welcomed the news. Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed the threat of new sanctions and denies Western claims that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapons programme. Western powers accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian energy programme. The EU is one of Iran’s biggest markets for oil. This generates most of the Iranian government’s revenue. China is the top buyer of Iranian oil.The EU is a political and economical union of 27 member states.

MALdIveS LIfTed BAn On SPAS

Maldives on 4 January 2012 lifted ban on spas in the upmarket tourist destination following its verification



23



that these spas were not being used for prostitution. Earlier, it was alleged that these spas were the hub of prostitution. Following this, the tourism ministry ordered all massage centres to close six days ago. The tourism industry is an important foreign exchange earner and employer in the Maldives and the ban on spas could harm the industry. Maldives in 2011 received more than 850000 tourists.

nO BReAKThROUGh In ISRAeL-PALeS TIne TALKS

The Israel-Palestine talks ended in the first week of January 2012 with the international mediators from Quartet (the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia) and Jordan ended without any breakthrough in Amman, capital of Jordan. The talks and the outcome were positive and the two sides agreed to carry forward the discussions. The Amman round of peace talks may not have yielded a breakthrough, yet it has broken the ice between the Israeli and Palestinian sides to discuss resumption of the stalled peace

talks. Israel charged the Palestinians with raging propaganda campaigns and unilateral diplomatic initiatives against it while Palestine asked Israel to stop settlement construction and accept the 1967 borders.

USA And SAUdI ARABIA AGReeMenT

In one of their biggest arms deal, the US and Saudi Arabia on 28 December 2011 inked an agreement worth 29.4 billion US dollars for the sale of 80 new F-15SA combat jets and modernisation of another 70. These F-15SA aircraft,

manufactured by The Boeing Company,

are among the most sophisticated and capable aircraft in the world.

ChInA ISSUed A whITe PAPeR On ITS SPACe

ACTIvITIeS

China on 29 December 2011 issued a white paper entitled China’s Space Activities in 2011. The white paper is on the development of space industry since 2006 and the major tasks for the next five years. It was the third white paper on China’s space activities. The white paper was issued by the State Council Information Office. China has made the space industry an important part of the nation’s overall development strategy with the objective of exploring and utilizing outer space for peaceful purposes. The Major tasks , which were listed in the white paper for the next five years include space transportation system, Earth satellites, human spaceflights and deep-space exploration. The white paper stated that China would work together with the international community to promote world peace and development.

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/order-books



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eCOnOMIC GROwTh RATe fOR 2010-2011 TO 8.4 %

The Union government on 31 January 2012 revised the economic growth rate for 2010-2011 financial year to 8.4 percent in comparison to the previous estimate of 8.5 percent. The Indian economy grew 8.4% in 2010-11, lower than the previous estimate of 8.5%, on the back of strong farm sector and services sector growth. The Indian economy, Asia’s third-largest slowed in recent quarters due to the impact of the global slowdown, high inflation and high interest rates. Policymakers estimated growth in 2011-12 to be close to 7%. 8.4% expansion in the gross domestic product (GDP) during 2010-11 was achieved due to high growth in transport, storage and communication (14.7%), financing, insurance, real estate and business services (10.4%), trade, hotels and restaurants (9%) and construction (8%). At constant prices, the primary sector- agriculture, forestry and fishing, showed a high growth of 7% during 2010-11 as against 1% during

the year 2009-10. The growth rate of secondary sector stood at 7.2% and that of the service sector is 9.3% during 2010-11.

GROSS dOMeSTIC PROdUCT (GdP)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices in 2010-11 was estimated at Rs. 4885954 crore as against Rs. 4507637 crore in 2009-10 registering a growth of 8.4 per cent during the year which is same as in the year 2009-10. At current prices, GDP in 2010-11 was estimated at Rs. 7157412 crore as against Rs. 6091485 crore in 2009-10, showing an increase of 17.5 per cent during the year.

GROSS nATIOnAL InCOMe

The Gross National Income registered a growth of 7.9 per cent in 2010-11 over 2009-10. India's per capita income grew by 15.6 per cent to Rs.53331 in 2010-11, crossing the Rs.50000-mark for the first time. In real terms based on 2004-05 prices,

the per capita income grew by a slower 6.4 per cent to Rs.35993 in 2010-11 as compared to Rs.33843 in 2009-10.

In Terms of Foreign Fund flows January 2012 is the Best Month since November 2010

As per data published by the market regulator SEBI on 27 January 2012, net FII buying crossed the $2-billion mark in January 2012 making January the best month in terms of foreign fund flows since November 2010. FIIs had recorded a net outflow of $358 million in 2011. Inflows in January 2012 is in sharp contrast to over $1 billion outflow in January 2011. The surge in inflows also helped strengthen the Indian rupee which closed above the 49-level after nearly 10 weeks. January’s inflow figure, however was less than a third of the monthly inflow record set in October 2010, when $6.4 billion was pumped in by foreign fund managers. In October 2010 the figures were further pumped through the hugely successful Coal India IPO. SEBI’s data showed a net FII inflow of $1779 million. Institutional



25



trading data on the BSE showed net inflow figure on 27 january at Rs 1240 crore, which translates to $252 million. The aggregate of the two is slightly over the $2 billion mark.

MOBILe PhOne COMPAnIeS TO ShARe 2G

SPeCTRUM OnLy

The apex decision-making body of the communications ministry, the Telecom Commission decided to allow mobile phone companies to share spectrum. The Commission has however limited this facility to 2G airwaves alone.

Second generation (2G) spectrum is largely used for offering vanilla voice services. The telecommnication companies cannot therefore share 3G spectrums. Incumbents such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Idea Cellular took the government to court, after the telecom department asked these companies to terminate their 3G roaming deals. These companies had hoped the Commission’s policy changes had hoped that policy changes permitting the sharing of airwaves, would put an end to this controversy. The companies had signed up 3G customers across the country riding on bilateral roaming agreements that allow these firms to use each other’s airwaves

and offer high-end data services even in regions where they do not have 3G spectrum. The Commission also decided to introduce slew of riders to govern spectrum sharing.

The riders are as follows: • Only those operators that have

airwaves in a particular region can share it. Spectrum can be shared only between two spectrum holders. A non-licensee or licensee who has not been assigned spectrum as yet cannot be party to spectrum trading.

• Two companies can share airwaves only if their combined holdings do not exceed the limits prescribed in the M&A norms. The Telecom Commission had recently approved sector regulator TRAI’s recommendation that during mergers, the combined entity be allowed to have up to 25% of the total airwaves in the region.

• Spectrum sharingdealswill alsohave to be renewed every five years.

• Whenoperators share spectrum, both companies will have to pay usage charges on the total airwaves held jointly. Currently, operators share between 2% and 6% of their annual revenues based on the quantity of airwaves they hold.

• The telcos sharing spectrummust pay the government the commercial value of the airwaves it is using. It essentially means, an operator that has 4.4 MHz of airwaves, and is sharing radio frequencies with another telco that has the same amount, must pay current prices for additional 4.4 units of spectrum it is using.

GROwTh RATe Of eIGhT CORe IndUSTRIeS feLL

TO 3.1% In deCeMBeR 2011 fROM 6.3% In deCeMBeR

2010

According to the data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on 30 January 2012, the growth rate of eight core industries slowed down to 3.1 per cent in December 2011 from 6.3 per cent in December 2010. These eight sectors had recorded a 6.8 per cent growth in November 2011. The decline in core sector activity was due to a fall in the production of crude oil and natural gas. The eight core sectors have a combined weight of 37.9 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The sectors that showed poor performance in December 2011 due to a fall in output include crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products and steel, while those which fared better include coal, fertiliser, cement and electricity. The growth of these eight sectors during April-December 2011 was 4.4 per cent against 5.7 per cent during the corresponding period in 2010.

C R SUndARAMURTI COMMITTee

ReCOMMendATIOn

Government-appointed C R Sundaramurti Committee submitted its report to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The report suggested a complete overhaul of government accounting norms in order to enforce transparency and better monitor public spending. The proposed accounting classification structure will provide a foundation for a more robust public financial management which could be used for enforcing more transparency and effectiveness of Public delivery



26



channels of the government. The accounting classification of receipts and disbursements is prescribed under the Constitution and is maintained by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA)on the advice of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

ReCOMMendATIOnS

The committee in its report recommended rationalisation and reorganisation of the existing account classification of list of major and minor heads of accounts (LMMHA) of centre and states. The panel also proposed a multidimensional classification framework which has seven mutually exclusive segments with their own individual hierarchical structures.

The revised accounting classification codes which are being perceived as a milestone in the area of accounting reforms were proposed to be implemented with effect from financial year 2013-2014. The proposed classification structure provides for capturing expenditure on special thrust area of government policy objectives such as development of women, schedule castes, schedule tribes, below poverty line population.

The Committee is of the opinion that the recommendations/suggestions framed by it would help in the effective management tools. It would help national and sub-national governments for better planning, allocation and application of resources, and more effective monitoring of public spending.

The panel has also carried out standardisation of coding of all such entities which are recipient of public fund, as channels of public delivery. The measure is likely to facilitate tracking of flow of funds under a government

programme or scheme from one level of governance to another level of administrative entities.

PfRdA ChAnGed The InCenTIve STRUCTURe TO

BOOST nPS

The poor performance of National Pension System, or NPS led the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to change the incentive structure for the distributors from a fixed sum to a percentage of the investment amount. So far the points of presence or the distributors used to get a flat Rs 20 as initial subscription charge and Rs 20 for any subsequent investment. PFRDA’s measure is poised to serve two purpose- bringing about a more equitable incentive structure and incentivizing the distributors to push NPS.The regulator proposed to lay down criteria for pension fund managers and grant licences to anyone who qualifies. The NPS has seven fund managers overseeing assets of Rs 10000 crore.

NPS was primarily targeted at the unorganized sector, which does not have any form of social security. However, so far only about 1 million people out of a workforce of about 400 million in the unorganized sector have joined NPS. Floated for civil servants in 2004, the NPS was opened to all citizens in May 2009 to provide a pension option to 360 million informal sector workers bereft of any old-age income security.

G.n. BAJPAI COMMITTee ReCOMMendATIOn

The pension regulator on the basis of the recommendation of the G.N. Bajpai committee constituted by PFRDA to review NPS, fixed the incentive at 0.25% of the subscription amount. The

committee had suggested 0.50% of the investment, subject to a minimum of Rs 20 and maximum of Rs 50000. As per PFRDA’s measures announceds, a distributor will get a flat Rs 100 on initial subscription and 0.25% of the initial subscription amount. Every year on subsequent investments, the point of presence will be entitled to 0.25% of that amount. The minimum that a point of presence can charge is Rs 20 and the maximum Rs 25000. Bajpai committee had observed that the earlier structure of the pension system was amounting to the poor subsidizing the rich—a person investing Rs 6000 and a person investing Rs 1 lakh were both paying Rs 20. Also the fixed sum was acting as a deterrent to sell NPS amid better commissions-yielding products such as insurance policies.

CRR deCReASed TO 5.5 PeR CenT

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 24 January 2012 cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points from 6 per cent to 5.5 per cent with effect from 28 January 2012. RBI thus released Rs 32000 crore to banks through a half percentage point cut in the cash reserve ratio. Home loans and other loans to individuals and businesses will become cheaper with the cut in CRR.The RBI also kept the repo rate unchanged at 8.50 per cent for the second consecutive time after raising it 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011. It lowered its growth forecast to 7% from 7.6% earlier. The cut marked RBI’s first reduction in CRR since January 2009 when it had released funds to stimulate demand in the wake of the Lehman Brothers crisis. As a consequence, for the first time in over two months, the rupee touched the 49-mark against the



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dollar in intra-day trade. The central bank decided to reverse a two-year policy of interest rate hikes because of decelerating growth although inflation continued to remain a concern. RBI was prompted to ease liquidity because of a structural shortfall which was forcing banks to borrow anywhere between Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh from RBI in January. The RBI's action is seen as an attempt to strike a balance between risks to growth and inflation.

GeMS & JeweLLeRy exPORTS dIPPed 15%

According to the report by Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) released in January 2012, gems and jewellery exports fell into the negative zone - down 15% year-on-year to $3 billion in December 2011. The sharp fall wa attributed to poor

d e m a n d from Europe and the US. The major export markets include the UAE & Hong Kong. The exports had stood at $3.5 billion in the December 2010. the overseas shipments in May 2011 had logged in 33% growth,

touching the peak in 2011-12 fiscal. During the April-December period of 2011-12, gems and jewellery exports grew 11.65 per cent to $32.1 billion, compared to the the April-December period of 2010-11.

However, despite the drop in December, the country’s gem and jewelry exports still grew in the second half, reaching $32.1 billion – 11.65% higher than in the corresponding half of 2010. To reduce dependence on traditional markets, the exporters are exploring new markets like Latin America, Africa and Russia. India mainly imports gold and rough diamonds in large quantities and re-exports value-added items like jewellery.

CenTRe fOR MOnITORInG IndIAn eCOnOMy’S

RevIew

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) estimated

Corporate India’s sales to grow 21.6% in 2011-12.

However, profits are expected to fall by 7.2% in the financial year 2011-12. Excluding petroleum product companies, India Inc is expected to see a

19% growth in sales in March 2012 quarter.

As per the review, sales of the manufacturing

sector are expected to have expanded by 20.7% and that of

the non-financial services sector by 18.2. Income of the financial service have grown by a strong 32% due to high interest rates and healthy credit growth. CMIE however expects corporate sales to drop to 16.8% in the March 2012 quarter due to a sharp drop in expansion

of petroleum products. Profits fell 13.2% in the first half of 2011-12 due to steep rise in raw material and fuel prices, high interest rates and delay in payment of cash subsidy to the oil marketing companies (OMCs) by the government. Also, a sharp depreciation in rupee since September 2011 brought mark-to-market (MTM) losses to firms and thus further pulled down profits.

In a situation where high input costs and interest rates continue to haunt Indian companies, the corporate affairs ministry provided some relief by allowing capitalisation of MTM losses on long-term loans taken for the acquisition of fixed asset till March 2020. The exemption was earlier available only till March 2012 and only to companies which had opted for it in 2008-09. In spite of this, corporate India is expected to report substantial amount of forex losses in the December 2011 quarter since major chunk of the forex liabilities of corporate India are short-term, CMIE noted. Forex, however, expected to rise by 9.9% in the January-March quarter riding on the back of robust 40.2% rise in net profits of the banking industry. The net profits in the banking industry was attributed to lower provisions and low base.

TOURISM SeCTOR COMMITTee TO exTend

vISA-On-ARRIvAL fACILITy

Inter-ministerial coordination committee for tourism sector Headed by Principal Secretary to the PM Pulok Chatterjee in its meeting on 19 January 2012 decided to extend Visa-on-Arrival facility to Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bangaluru airports to help double the foreign tourist arrivals. Currently, Visa-on-Arrival is extended to 11 countries including Japan, Philippines, Singapore,



28



New Zealand, Vietnam and Finland.The Visa-on-Arrival facility is now available at four international airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. There were 6.29 million foreign tourists in 2011, out of whom 12761 had availed the scheme. Upgraded road connectivity to all major tourist circuits, including Gangtok and Leh, eco tourism and reaching out to schools to promote tourism related vocational schools were amongst the decisions taken by the committee.

It was also decided that a sub-committee consisting of Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Culture Secretary, Secretary (Environment and Forests), Secretary (Rural Development) and Secretary(Tourism) will identify the potential of tourism in rural, eco and cultural sectors in the country and submit its report within four weeks. It was observed that tourism ought to be seen as development, should be pro-poor and focus on employment creation. Emphasis was on the need to give tourism a major fillip during the 12th Plan so as to more than double the number of foreign tourists arriving in India and further encourage domestic tourism. A co-ordination committee consisting of Joint Secretaries of MHA, MEA and Tourism Ministry was constituted to resolve day-to-day visa related complaints. The Ministry of Environment and Forest were asked to finalise its eco-tourism policy at the earliest possible after analysing the feedback it received from different quarters. In order to facilitate connectivity, which is crucial for tourism, it was decided that Ministry of Defence (Border Road Organisation) will expedite ongoing work at Gangtok and Leh roads which are tentatively

scheduled to be completed by 2014 and 2015 respectively.

hIGhLIGhTS Of The MeeTInG

• extend Visa-on-Arrival facilityto Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bangaluru airports

• sub-committee to identify thepotential of tourism in rural, eco and cultural sectors in the country

• co-ordination committeeconsisting of Joint Secretaries of MHA, MEA and Tourism Ministry constituted to resolve day-to-day visa related complaints

• Ministry of Environment andForest asked to finalise its eco-tourism policy

• CultureMinistry asked to adopta pro-active tourism policy which should promote museums, cultural and heritage sites

• Ministry of Defence (BorderRoad Organisation) will expedite ongoing work at Gangtok and Leh roads

TRAI ORdeRed TO BLOCK BULK InTeRnATIOnAL SMS

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on 20 January 2012 asked telecom companies to block bulk international SMS. TRAI’s move is aimed at giving mobile subscribers further relief from pesky messages. The new regulations on unsolicited telemarketing calls and SMS were not being properly followed, the TRAI stated that there were several incidences of promotional SMS being routed through the servers located at international destinations and delivered to customers registered for not receiving telemarketing calls. TRAI observed that

generally such SMSes originated from locations within Germany, Sweden, Nauru, Fiji, Cambodia, Bosnia, Albania, Grenada, the United Kingdom, Jersey, Sint Maarten, Tonga, Vanuatu, Namibia, Panama, and Antigua and Barbuda. These SMSes contain the headers which are alphanumeric or starting with +91 or numbers with international codes. The regulator thus oredered all telecom companies to ensure that no international SMS containing an alphabet header or alphanumeric header or +91 as the originating country code is delivered through their networks. Also, if any source or number from outside the country generates more than 200 SMSes an hour with a similar signature, these could not be delivered through the network.

RBI PeRMITTed BAnKS TO ALLOw hedGInG In

COMMOdITIeS

The Reserve Bank of India in January 2012 allowed banks to grant permission to listed and unlisted companies to hedge price risk in commodities other than precious metals in international exchanges. The move is aimed at helping the companies limit losses from volatility. Currently, banks need RBI’s approval to give permission to companies to hedge.The banks were asked to submit an annual report to the RBI as on 31 March every year giving the names of the corporates to whom they have granted permission for commodity hedging and the name of the commodity hedged. Before permitting the corporates to undertake hedge transactions, the companies are required to submit a brief description of the hedging strategy proposed, including, instruments proposed to be used for hedging, the names of the



29



commodity exchanges and brokers through whom the risk is proposed to be hedged and the credit lines proposed to be availed. The name and address of the regulatory authority in the country concerned may also be given. Size/average tenure of exposure and/or total turnover in a year, together with expected peak positions thereof and the basis of calculation can also be included.

IndIAn RUPee ROSe By 6.6%

The Indian rupee rose to a two-month high and shares climbed on 18 January 2012 as a result of revival of US dollar flows and also because of the undervalued shares which lost more than 35% in US dollar terms in 2011. The currency rose 1.2% to close at 50.70 to the dollar. It is up 6% in 2012 and 6.6% from its life low of 54.30 touched on 15 December 2011. There have been inflows from FIIs, both debt & equity. Also, emerging markets are currently poised to cut interest rates after China’s 8.9% economic growth in the fourth quarter, the slowest in 10 quarters.The rupee could gain further since demand for dollars may subside following the doubling of duty on precious metals imports.

The Indian rupee, which was the worst performer in Asia in 2011, is presently turning out to be the best in 2012 due to measures by the Reserve Bank of India. The Indian rupee is found to be doing well despite imports still outstripping exports which many say could return to haunt the currency. The benchmark Sensex rose 1.7%, the least among major markets with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Korea and Singapore gaining more. It has risen 6% since January 2, making it the best-performing index in Asia.

COnSUMeR PRICe Index dOwn By 0.44 %

As per data released by the government on 18 January 2012, cheaper food items, including fruit and vegetables, pulled down the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by 0.44 per cent month-on-month in December 2011. The consumer indices include five major groups-food, beverages and tobacco; fuel and light; housing; clothing, bedding and footwear; and miscellaneous items.The fall was attributed to cheaper vegetables which saw a dip of 15.01 per cent month-on-month to 98.5 points. The fruit index also fell by 3.78 per cent to 122.2 points. The CPI, based on retail prices, stood at 113.9 points in December compared to 114.4 points in November. At the all-India level, the CPI for food, beverages and tobacco declined by 1.31 per cent to 112.8 points in December from 114.3 points in November.

The index for condiments and spices went down by 0.64 per cent to 123.9 points. Indices for cereals and pulses on the other hand remained stable at 107.2 points and 102.5 points. However, CPI for clothing, bedding and footwear stood higher at 122.2 points on an all-India basis, against 121.5 points in November. Prices in the 'fuel and light' segment also rose by 0.33 per cent in December vis-a-vis the previous month, with the index inching up to 120 points from 119.6 points in November.

RS.20 CRORe fOR A nATIOnAL-LeveL UnIfIed

LICenCe

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 16 January 2012 proposed a fee of Rs.20 crore for a national-level unified licence under

the new regime, which suggests that there will be only four types of licence in future as against many currently available across the communication sector.

TeLeCOM ReGULATOR'S dRAfT GUIdeLIneS

fOR The new UnIfIed LICenSInG

The draft guidelines proposed three levels of unified licence — at national level, service area level and district level. The entry fee for different types of unified licence is to be Rs.20 crore for national level, Rs.2 crore for each Metro and Acategory, Rs.1 crore for each B category, Rs.50 lakh for each C category service areas levels and Rs.15 lakh for each district level unified licence.

Telecom service providers at present hold Unified Access Service Licence (UASL), which authorises them to provide mobile, fixed line, Internet and long-distance calls and other telcom services.

The UASL is given to companies with 4.4 Mhz spectrum bundled with it. TRAI however, recommended that the new licence regime will not have spectrum bundled with it and the operators will have to bid for the spectrum separately.

The regulator also proposed to have no restriction on the number of players in a service area. Licence shall be issued on non exclusive basis, without any restriction on the number of entrants in a licence area.

TRAI proposed that the applicant company will have to pay one time non-refundable entry fee before signing the license agreement.

The Department of Telecommunic-ations (DoT) also issued standalone



30



licences separately, like the one for offering Internet services that are generally known by the nature of the service being offered.

IMPORT dUTy On GOLd & SILveR

The Union government nearly doubled the import duty on gold and silver by changing the customs and excise duty structure on precious metals. The measure was adopted by the government to arrest the widening current account deficit. The Finance Ministry by adopting this stand has moved to a model where customs and excise will be charged on the value of the metal instead of a flat charge, and will vary with varying prices of the metal in the market. Following the government’s decision, gold will now attract an import duty on 2 per cent of its value on each day as against the earlier flat levy of Rs 300 per 10 grams. Silver will be charged 6 per cent of its value on each day from the earlier Rs 1,500 per kilogram. Excise on gold will be charged at 1.5 per cent of its value on each day as against Rs 200 per 10 grams, and for silver it will be 4 per cent as against Rs 1000 per kg. Platinum and diamond would also cost more.

IndIA'S exPORTS ReCORded A GROwTh Of

6.7 %

India's exports recorded a subdued growth of 6.7 per cent year-on-year in December 2011 on account of poor demand in Europe and the US. The growth in exports in December 2011 though not robust was higher than November 2011. Overseas shipments in Novemeber 2011 had grown by just 3.8 per cent. Though growth during the month under review was not robust,

it was higher than in November, when overseas shipments grew by just 3.8 per cent. Imports on the other hand grew at a faster pace of 19.8 per cent year-on-year to $37.8 billion in December 2011 thereby translating into a trade deficit of $12.8 billion. During the April-December period of 2011, exports aggregated to $217.6 billion, a year-on-year growth of 25.8 per cent as a result of the export growth witnessed in the early months of 2011. From a peak of 82 per cent in July, export growth slipped to 44.25 per cent in August, 36.36 per cent in September and 10.8 per cent in October 2011.

RULeS TO dIReCT InveSTMenT In STOCKS By

fOReIGn InveSTORS

Market regulator SEBI on 13 January 2012 unveiled rules for direct investment in stocks by foreign investors, including individuals. SEBI's guideline was issued seeking to put curbs on opaque structures to prevent routing of funds by resident Indians. The Union government on 1 January 2012 decided to allow foreign resident investors to invest directly in the Indian equities market, in a move aimed at boosting capital inflows, reducing market volatility and deepening the markets. SEBI’s guidelines were issued following this announcement by the government.

SEBI noted that qualified foreign investor (QFIs) can buy up to 5% of the paid-up capital of a company, with the overall limit capped at 10% in a company. Entities having opaque structures, where details of the ultimate beneficiary are not accessible or where the beneficial owners are ring fenced from each other, will not be allowed to open demat account as qualified

foreign investor, or QFI. The regulator mentioned that the investors will need to take delivery of shares they purchase on the local bourses. Sebi specified that QFI’s will have to invest in demat form through Sebi-registered depository participants (DPs) who will have to fulfill the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. QFIs were barred from issuing offshore derivatives instruments or participatory notes and will also have to give a declaration to this effect to the DP. The Sebi circular however does not mention whether these investors can trade in India’s futures and options segment. DPs will have to ensure that the same set of end beneficial owners is not allowed to open more than one demat account as QFI. Also, Foreign investors, who wish to invest directly in Indian shares, will also have to obtain a separate permanent account number or PAN.

The QFI shall transact in Indian equity shares only on the basis of taking and giving delivery of shares purchased or sold and it shall not issue offshore derivatives instruments/ participatory notes. The DP will have to provide on a daily basis, QFI wise, ISIN wise and company wise buy/ sell information and any other transaction or any related information to their respective depositories on the day of transaction. The stock exchanges shall provide the details of paid up equity capital of all the listed companies to the depositories once in six months, periodically and also provide information regarding change in paid up equity capital in any listed company immediately.

RBI ISSUed GUIdeLIneS On COMPenSATIOn In PRIvATe

& fOReIGn BAnKS

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 January 2012 issued guidelines on



31



compensation of wholetime directors, chief executive officers and other risk takers in private and foreign banks. The central bank’s directions are aimed at preventing greed from destabilising the institution. The guiderlines include provisions to clawback pay if transactions fail years after origination.The guidelines based on the recommendations of the International Financial Stability Board did not prescribe any quantitative limit on absolute pay. The guidelines however deal with the structure of pay which in the past favoured excessive risk-taking. guaranteed bonus has been banned. Risk management staff will have more of fixed component than the rest.

The RBI GUIdeLIneS

The norms provided also include capping the variable component of the compensation at 70% of the fixed pay in a year. The compensation practices, especially of large financial institutions, were one of the important factors which contributed to the recent global financial crisis. It was observed that employees were too often rewarded for increasing the short-term profit without adequate recognition of the risks and long-term consequences that their activities posed to the organisations.As per the guidelines issued, banks are permitted to exclude the Employees Stock Option Plan from variable pay. The variable pay would have to be deferred over a period of three years. Compensation payable under deferral arrangements should vest no faster than on a pro-rata basis. In the event of negative contributions, bank board would have the option to clawback this deferred compensation.

Banks will now be permitted to offer joining bonus only in case of new hires and will be limited to first year. They will not be allowed to grant severance

pay other than accrued benefits like gratuity and pension, except in cases where it is mandatory by any statute. Foreign banks operating in India will be required to submit a declaration to RBI annually from their head offices to the effect that their compensation structure in India, including that of CEO’s, is in conformity with the FSB principles and standards. Private sector and foreign banks are also required to obtain regulatory approvals for remuneration of CEOs and wholetime directors.

IndUSTRIAL PROdUCTIOn BOUnCed BACK wITh A

GROwTh Of 5.9 PeR CenT In nOveMBeR 2011

As per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, industrial production bounced back with a growth of 5.9 per cent in November 2011, marking a five-month high in

a reversal from the negative trend witnessed in October 2011. The Index

of Industrial Production in 2011 was noted to be very volatile. With this, the IIP growth during the April-November period of 201112 stood at 3.8 per cent as compared to 8.4 per cent in the same period of 2010-11. The industrial production had registered a 6.4% expansion in November 2010. Output had grown 7.8 percent in the 2010/11 fiscal year that ended in March, slower than 10.5 percent clocked in the 2009-10 fiscal. Growth in the manufacturing sector, constituting over 75 per cent of the index, went up by 6.6 per cent in November as compared to of 6.5 per cent in November 2010. Electricity also saw a robust growth of 14.6 per cent during the month under review as compared to 4.6 per cent in November 2011. Production of consumer goods witnessed a healthy 13.1 per cent increase as compared to a mere 0.7 per cent growth in November 2010. Infrastructure sector output, which contributes nearly 38 percent to

industrial production, grew 6.8 percent in November 2011.



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PMO dIReCTed CASh-RICh PSUS TO InveST AROUnd

`.1.76 LAKh CRORe fOR STIMULUS

The Prime Minister's Office on 11 January 2012 directed cash-rich public sector undertakings (PSUs) to invest around Rs.1.76 lakh crore, including Rs.1.41 lakh crore domestically to act as a stimulus in the next fiscal (2012-13). At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee, 17 companies with cash and bank balances in excess of Rs.1000 crore were identified to undertake these investments primarily in the infrastructure sector. The PSUs will invest Rs.1.41 lakh crore domestically in 2012-13 and Rs.35009 crore overseas. The Principal Secretary observed that the PSU investment could provide stimulus to the economy and asked the companies to draw up credible investment programmes and implement those with an objective to achieve the maximum benefit for the companies themselves as well as the national economy. Among the companies, ONGC is projected to invest the maximum amount of Rs.53526 crore- Rs.33,065 crore in the domestic market and Rs.20,461 crore overseas. NTPC will invest Rs.20,995 crore domestically and Power Grid Corporation of India is to invest Rs.20000 crore.

dePARTMenT Of IndUSTRIAL POLICy And

PROMOTIOn nOTIfIed 100% fdI In SInGLe-BRAnd

ReTAIL

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) ON 10 January 2012 notified the rules allowing 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail. Currently 51% FDI

is permitted in this segment of retailing which was opened to foreign players almost six years ago.

Removal of the investment cap will help global fashion brands, especially from Italy and France, to venture alone in the growing Indian market. Shares of retail giants Kishore Biyani-led Future Group firm Pantaloon Retail (India) surged by 10% to an early high of Rs 161.40, while Provogue (India) zoomed up by 14.22% to Rs 28.10 on the BSE following the announcement by the government. In a similar fashion, Koutons Retail gained 12.52%, Shopper's Stop rose by 9.38%, Tata Group retail venture Trent Ltd advanced by 5.50% and Vishal Retail jumped by 4.98%. The decision to increase FDI in single-brand retail was taken by Cabinet on 24 November 2011 along with the decision to open the gates for overseas investment in multi-brand retail. The government was however forced to put FDI in multi-brand retail on hold in the face of opposition by several political parties, including UPA ally Trinamool Congress.

In respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51%, the mandatory sourcing of at least 30% would have to be done from the domestic small and cottage industries which have a maximum investment in plant and machinery of USD 1 million (about Rs 5 crore).

MOOdy’S UPGRAded ShORT-TeRM COUnTRy

CeILInG On fOReIGn CURRenCy BAnK dePOSIT

fROM nP TO PRIMe

The Finance Ministry announced on 10 January 2012 that rating agency Moody’s Investor Services upgrade the short-term country ceiling on foreign

currency bank deposit increasing from NP (not prime) to Prime (P-3). Upgradation suggested acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations. Prime falls under the investment grade, while not prime is a speculative grade. The upgradation will improve flows from foreign institutional investors and flows from non-resident Indians will also accelerate. In December 2011, Moody’s upgraded the credit rating of Indian government’s bonds from speculative to investment grade. The rating agency had also upgraded the long-term government bond denominated in domestic currency from Ba1 to Baa3. The long-term country ceiling on foreign currency bank deposit was also upgraded from Ba1 to Baa3. The move was expected to encourage FIIs to increase their exposure in gilts and help companies raise funds from abroad at competitive rates.

fdI InTO IndIA wenT UP By 56%

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India went up by 56% to $2.53 billion in November 2011, indicating an improvement in investor sentiment. In September and October 2011, the inflows were down by 16.5% and 50% year-on-year respectively.During the April-November period, the FDI was up by 62.81% from $14.02 billion in 2010. Cumulative flows for the April-November period stood at of $22.83 billion, surpassing $19.43 billion achieved in the full financial year 2010-11. The country had received $1.62 billion overseas investment in November 2010. In 2010-11, FDI into equity had dipped 25% to $19.43 billion, from $25.6 billion in 2009-10. In 2008-09, FDI stood at $27.3 billion. Analysts opined that if the upward



33



trend in FDI continued, the FDI in the current financial year 2011-12 will cross $30 billion. The develoment is to have a positive effect on rupee in the foreign exchange market. The selling pressures in the stock market from the foreign institutional investors and rising trade deficit had led the rupee to decline by about 15% since August 2011. Sectors which attracted the maximum funds include services, construction activities, power,computers and hardware, telecom and housing and real estate. Mauritius, Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and the UAE are major sources of FDI for India. The Moody's upgraded India's short-term foreign currency rating from speculative to investment grade.

UnIOn GOveRnMenT TO InCenTIvISe UnLISTed

PSUS TO heLP TheM COMe UP wITh InITIAL ShARe

OffeRInGS

The Union government decided to incentivise the unlisted PSUs to help them come up with initial share offerings in the stock market in 2012-13. Currently, there are about 50 PSUs which are listed and their shares are actively traded in the stock market. There are about 50 more of such government-owned firms which are eligible but unlisted for various reasons. The government already decided that unlisted PSUs with no accumulated losses and having earned net profit in three preceding years should come out with initial public offerings (IPOs) even as the state holding would not come below 51%. One of the options to incentivise the PSUs for IPOs is to put this task in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) which an individual enterprise signs with its

administrative ministry. Under the MoU system, annual targets are set for the PSUs and CEOs get personal appraisal points if the tasks are achieved.

While about 50 PSUs including Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd which can be listed on stock exchanges did not opt for the same.The government had set a target of raising Rs 40,000 crore through stake sale in PSUs in the current fiscal. In the three remaining months befor the fiscal year 2011-12 comes to end, the Finance Ministry is working on several methods including share buyback by cash-rich PSUs. The Ministry has been able to receive Rs 1145 crore through disinvestment in Power Finance Corporation.

21 COMMOdITy exChAnGeS In IndIA ROSe

66%

As per the Forward Markets Commission data released on 9 January 2012 that the turnover of the 21 commodity exchanges in India increased by 66% to Rs 137.22 lakh crore till December 2011 in the current fiscal (2011-12). The turnover of these exchanges had stood at Rs 82.70 lakh crore in December 2010. The maximum trade was seen in gold, silver, guar seed, crude oil, soya oil and chana. According to FMC data, the turnover in the bullion segment rose more than two-fold to Rs 80.36 lakh crore during the April-December period of the 2011-12 fiscal from Rs 37.54 lakh crore in the corresponding period in 2010. The maximum turnover of . 12,40,500 crore was posted by MCX inDecember 2011 followed by NCDEX (Rs 179490 crore), NMCE (Rs 27826 crore), ICEX (Rs 23,655 crore) and ACE (. 12,713 crore).

AdB LOAn TO fInAnCe ROAd PROJeCTS In nAxAL-

hIT AReAS CLeARed

The Union government in January 2012 cleared an external loan to finance part of the programme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in left wing extremism-affected villages. The clearance is for a loan of $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to speed up construction of rural roads. Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) issued directions for negotiating and early signing of the loan, which his Ministry to gather resources to give thrust to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The ADB, which has already extended a loan of $800 million was petitioned with a fresh proposal for rural connectivity investment programme to construct or upgrade 7000 km of roads connecting eligible habitations in Maoist-affected States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, besides Assam where too the PMGSY has progressed with little to cheer.

The demand for the loan was made in the backdrop of the MoRD's multi-winged programmes in the left wing extremism-affected areas, under which Central forces assist execution of welfare and development schemes to wean the local people from the path of naxalism. The MoRD has been providing incentives and assistance to the local people, particularly tribals, to reduce poverty and ensure economic growth of the region. Rural connectivity is considered pivotal to the success of this stratagem. As per the programme proposed by the MoRD, the Union government will supplement with a contribution of $127.6 million, in addition to the $5000 million to finance the project



34



that includes setting up of training and research centres pertaining to rural roads. The programmewas supposed to have covered all habitations with a population of 500 people (250 people in the case of tribal and hilly areas) by 2007. Provision of rural connectivity to habitations of 500 people in general areas and 250 people in tribal areas need to be worked upon on pririty basis.

IRdA InTROdUCed UnIfORM ASSeT-LIABILITy MAnAGeMenT nORMS fOR

InSUReRS

Insurance regulator IRDA on 4 January 2012 introduced uniform asset-liability management norms for market players to ensure their solvency. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) announced a broadly-defined uniform framework for reporting asset liability management activities adopted by life and non-life insurance companies. The regulator also asked firms to undertake stress tests to ascertain their ability to meet financial obligations in the event of a crisis. IRDA has issued these guidelines to bring about uniformity in the ALM norms being followed by both life and non-life insurance companies.

IRdA GUIdeLIneS

The IRDA guidelines require the ALM (asset liability management) policy to be approved by the board of the insurer. Such board-approved policy is to be submitted to the IRDA within 90 days. While approving the ALM policy, the board is to take into account the asset-liability relationships, the insurer's overall risk tolerance, risk and return needs, solvency positions and liquidity requirements. The guidelines also make it mandatory for the board

to frequently review the ALM policy of the insurer. Any change in the policy must be reported to the regulator.

Under the uniform framework, insurers have to put in place an effective mechanism to monitor and manage their asset-liability positions. The objective is to ensure that their investment activities and assets positions are in sync with their liabilities, risk profiles and solvency positions.

The guidelines, which would come into effect from 1 April 2012, make it mandatory for insurance companies to prepare an ALM policy as well as get it approved by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) by end of March 2012.

The insurers are also required to develop and implement controls and reporting systems for the ALM policies that are appropriate for their businesses and to the risk to which they are exposed. They would have to put in place effective procedures for monitoring and managing their asset-liability positions to ensure that their investment activities and asset positions are appropriate to their liability, risk profiles and solvency positions.

BenefITS Of ALM POLICy

The Asset-Liability Management (ALM) norms are critical for the sound management of the finances of the insurers that invest to meet their future cash flow needs and capital requirements. The ALM policy will enable the insurers to understand the risks they are exposed to and develop ALM policies to manage them effectively. The ALM can be used to measure the interest rate risk faced by insurers.

nO fLOATInG InTeReST RATeS On SMALL SAvInGS

SCheMeS

The Finace Ministry on 4 January 2012 clarified that the rates applicable on small savings instruments schemes would be announced on April 1 each year and the rate would remain valid till the maturity of the scheme. The Ministry stated that barring the Public Provident Fund (PPF), the rates of interest on all small savings schemes will remain fixed throughout the tenure of investment. To clear the confusion over the returns on investment in small savings schemes, the Finance Ministry pointed out that the rate prevailing at the time of investments will remain fixed and unchanged till the maturity of the investment. Any revisions in interest rates in the subsequent years would only be applicable to the investments made in the relevant period. However, the rate of interest for the 15-year PPF scheme would not remain fixed for the entire period as the interest accruals in the PPF account each year would vary, depending on the interest rate announced for that particular year. For PPF, the interest rate fixed every year will be applicable to all PPF accounts.

The government had hiked the interest rates on small savings deposits schemes of various maturities with effect from 1 December 2011 to chanel the outflow of funds from small savings schemes administered by the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) in view of the investor preference for bank term deposits. The clarification from the Finance Ministry came in the face of fears that the revision of interest rates on small savings schemes from 1 December 2011, are floating rates and that the rates will undergo change



35



in sync with fluctuations in yields on government securities. It had also hiked the interest rates on PPF deposits from 8 per cent to 8.6 per cent while raising the ceiling on annual contributions to the fund to Rs.1 lakh from Rs.70000. Interest rates on Post Office Savings Accounts rose to 4 per cent from 3.5 per cent. Similarly, interest rates on deposits of various maturities of one year, two years and five years too were raised from December. The sale of Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) has been discontinued from November 30, 2011. The maturity period of Monthly Investment Schemes (MIS) and National Savings Certificates (NSCs) been reduced from six years to five years.

RBI deCIded TO eASe LIQUIdITy By BUyInG

BACK GILTS

The Reserve Bank of India on 3 January 2011 decided to conduct an open market operation (OMO) to inject more liquidity into the system. The RBI will buy up to Rs 12000 crore of government bonds via open market operations on 6 January 2012, including the 10-year paper which till recently was the benchmark paper. The central bank has decided to ease liquidity by buying back gilts for an amount of R10,000 crore in the backdrop of banks accessing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s borrowing window for more than R1 lakh crore each day. RBI announced an auction for R10,000 crore worth of bonds, otherwise known as open market operation (OMO). The OMO announcement came after the market trading hours. the Reserve Bank of India decided to conduct open market operations consistent with the stance of the monetary policy and based on the current assessment of prevailing and evolving liquidity conditions.

Banks have been borrowing in excess of R 1 lakh crore a day from the RBI's liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) or repo window. The liquidity deficit in the system in recent weeks has been way beyond the limit of 1% of the net liabilities of the system, or around Rs 55000 crore.

SeBI ALLOwed AUCTIOnInG Of

SeCURITIeS

The capital market regulator SEBI on 3 January 2012 allowed auctioning of securities through stock exchanges and introduced a new method for institutional placement of stocks. The move was directed to kick-start government's divesment programme as well as help promoters of companies to sell a part of their holdings. As per the auctioning route, a special window can be used by promoter stakeholders to sell at least 1% of the paid-up capital of a company. It is similar to the block-deal mechanism for secondary stock market transactions, but with lesser restrictions. The auction method can be only used by promoters of top 100 companies based on average market capitalisation for sale of their stakes.

InSTITUTIOnAL PLACeMenT PROGRAMMe

(IPP)

Under the institutional placement programme (IPP), shares can be sold only to qualified institutional buyers.

Exchanges will provide a separate window for the offer for sale of shares which will co-exist with the normal trading hours. promoter or promoter group of companies however will not be allowed to bid for the shares. Allotment will be done either on price priority or clearing price basis proportionately and

would be overseen by the exchanges.SEBI’s measure is considered to be

very progressive step towards creating an organised and effective mechanism that will not only facilitate fund raising but also assist companies to comply with the listing norms in a non-disruptive manner.

There shall be at least 10 allottees in every IPP issuance. No single investor shall receive allotment for more than 25% of the offer size.

For the purpose of compliance with public holding norms, SEBI had earlier directed all such promoter shareholders to dilute their equity stake to 75% or below by June 2013 through public offering of shares. The companies’ were also barred from using the qualified institutional placement ( QIP) route for diluting promoters' shares. However, the new institutional placement route can be used for either fresh issue of shares or dilution by the promoters through an offer for sale.

The IPP method can be used to increase public holding by 10% and could be offered to only qualified institutional buyers with 25% being reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies.

Under the IPP, companies will have to announce the ratio of buy-back, as is done in the case of rights issues and fix a record date for determination of entitlements as per shareholding on record date. Besides improving efficiency, the revised buy-back process is expected to give a fair deal to all shareholders.

RePORT On BILL TO AMend fORwARd COnTRACTS ReGULATIOn ACT 1952

The Parliamentary Standing Committee submitted its report on a



36



bill to amend the Forward Contracts Regulation Act 1952. Parliamentary Standing Committee on consumer affairs, food and public distribution, chaired by Congress MP Vilas Baburao Muttemwar, submitted its report on the FCRA (Amendment) Bill 2010 to Parliament on 22 December 2011.The current department-related standing committee (DRSC), set up in 2009, was asked by the Lok Sabha speaker in December 2010 to prepare a report on the bill and submit it to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. The committee in its report recommended a doubling of the maximum penalty for trading rule violations to Rs 50 lakh. The standing committee report suggested raising the upper limit on penalties for offences like insider trading to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh stipulated in the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) Amendment Bill 2010. Insider trading involves using unpublished price sensitive information for personal gain. The bill seeks to empower commodity futures market regulator Forward Markets Commission on par with its securities markets counterpart. It is seen as the single-most important reform in the eight-year-old commodity exchange market.

The RePORT

The report recommended that options be introduced for the benefit of stakeholders. The inclusion of the clause was one of the reasons why the bill in its earlier avatar during the UPA I regime faced resistance. Those who had opposed the bill then especially the Left parties argued that options would increase speculation in commodities. The report suggested that options will actually make it easier for farmers and smaller users to participate in the

derivatives market as trading lot sizes will be lower than in futures contracts, where the minimum traded quantity for most farm products is 10 tonne.

investing in an option also tends to minimise losses as only the premium to buy (call option) or sell (put option) is forgone in the event of prices moving adversely. a futures position taken by a trader is on the other hand marked to market daily. Marking to market involves daily settlement of the difference between the prior agreed price and the daily futures price. It can thus lead to huge losses alongside supernormal profits.

IMPLeMenTATIOn Of Levy On RAILwAy fReIGhT

SeRvICe defeRRed

The implementation of levy on railway freight service was put off once again in the backdrop of high inflation. The levy is now likely to come into force from 1 April instead of 1 January as announced earlier. The levy on transport of goods by rail was deferred for the sixth time. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the 2010-11 Union Budget had brought transport of goods by railway under the service tax net from 1 April 2010. However, the proposal was vehemently opposed by Railway Ministry fearing adverse impact on goods movement, forcing the government to defer it repeatedly. Railway Ministry is of the opinion that any levy on freight service would adversely impact the industry. Movement of coal and cement among others goods would become costlier with the imposition of service tax.

GOveRnMenT APPROved RIL’S $1.529 BILLIOn InveSTMenT PLAn

The Union government on 3 January 2012 approved Reliance Industries'

(RIL) $1.529 billion investment plan for developing four satellite fields in the flagging KG-D6 block. RIL’s investment plan will boost falling output in the Krishna-Godavari Basin KG-D6 block.The investment proposal was signed by the three partners in the block- RIL, UK's BP Plc and Niko Resources of Canada and the representative of DGH. The KG-D6 block oversight committee, which includes officials from the Oil Ministry and its technical arm, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), met for the third time in three months on 3 January to finally approve the proposal. The MC approval, which is the final approval an operator needs before beginning work, put a cap on the cost of developing the four fields that surround the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D-1 & D-3) fields in the KG-D6 block. The cost cannot vary by more than 15%. The MC had at its two previous meetings in November and December 2011 refused to approve the field development plan (FDP) for the Dhirubhai-2, 6, 19 and 22 (D-2, D-6, D-19 and D-22) fields after the government representative raised certain objections. RIL agreed to cap spending on the four fields at $1.529 billion, plus or minus 15%.

exPORT dUTy RAISed On IROn ORe exPORTS TO 30 %

The Union government raised the ad valorem duty (export duty) on iron ore exports to 30 per cent from 20 per cent. The decision is expected to step up finances of cash-strapped government by around Rs 8500-9000 crore. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, the apex body of miners however complained that Indian ore would no longer be competitive internationally. The increase in export tax could lower



37



the profit margin of Sesa Goa Ltd., India's largest iron-ore exporter by volume. Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh always wanted more restrictions on exports. Based on his ministry’s inputs, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had earlier imposed a 20 per cent duty on exporting the domestically mined mineral.

Shipments from the South Asian country decreased 28% between April and November to 40 million tons, according to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries. Volumes were hit by a mining ban in the southern state of Karnataka, a freeze on sale of old stocks in western Goa state and transport bottlenecks in the eastern state of Orissa. India exported 97.64 million tons iron ore in 2012. Prior to the export tax change, industry officials had estimated exports in 2011-12 to be between 60 million and 65 million tons because of mining-related issues. As a result of high export tax and railway freight, India's iron-ore exports is not likely to exceed 50 million tons in 2011-12. The Supreme Court had in early 2011 banned mining in the major iron-ore producing districts of Karnataka to prevent illegal mining and environmental damage. In Goa, moves to reduce environmental impact and illegal mining affected production. The two states account for around 70% of India's iron-ore exports.

CIL APPROved The SwITChInG OveR

TO GROSS CALORIC vALUe-BASed PRICInG

MeChAnISM

State-owned Coal India (CIL) announced on 2 January 2012 that its board approved in a meeting held on 30 December 2011 the switching

over to internationally-accepted Gross Caloric Value-based pricing mechanism. The new system is based on the recommendations of the Integrated Energy Policy Committee and the Expert Committee on Road Map for coal sector reforms. The board approved switching over of non-coking coal pricing from Useful Heat Value based grading system to Gross Caloric Value (GCV) based classification with effect from 1 January 2012. GCV measures the amount of heat released by carbon and hydrogen in coal when it is heated and is an internationally accepted pricing mechanism. the UHV mechanism was followed in India Howeverbecause of the high-ash content in Indian coal. The UHV took into account the heat trapped in ash. In Indian coal, GCV is 25% higher than UHV. The Coal Ministry mentioned that the pricing of coal on GCV-based mechanism was not likely to lead to any significant change in pricing. The new system will incentivise improvement in quality, resulting in better quality of coal to consumers and commensurate revenue realisation for coal firms.

RBI STUdy SOUGhT CAP On BORROwInGS By nBfC’S fROM BAnKS

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised red flags over the high dependability of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) on the banking system because the apex bank feels that the higher dependence would mean systemic vulnerability in the context that NBFCs are involved in higher risk activities vis-à-vis the banking system. The higher borrowings of NBFCs from the banking system tend to raise concerns about their liquidity position. More so, if such reliance happens to

increase further. The banking system’s exposure to NBFCs-D (deposit taking) was observed to have considerably increased over the years. The concerns to be further accentuated in case the banks’ own liquidity position becomes tight at the time of crisis or even at crisis like situation. The consolidated balance sheets of NBFCs (both the categories i.e. deposit taking and non-deposit taking and systemically important companies) revealed that more than 68 per cent of the consolidated balance sheet constitutes borrowings. 30 per cent resources of the total 68% are borrowed from banks and financial institutions as at the end of March 2011. Borrowings by way of debentures issued by the NBFCs constituted around 33 per cent and of which a sizeable portion is subscribed by the banking system.

IndIA’S exPORTS ReCORded SLOweST In

TwO yeARS As per the to Commerce Ministry

data released on 2 January 2012, India’s exports recorded their slowest pace of growth in 1two years at 3.8 per cent in November 2011 as a result of the global slowdown. Moderation in demand in developed markets also impacted export. The growth rate was the lowest since October 2009, when exported had contracted by 6.6 per cent. The commerce ministry had overestimated exports by over $9 billion due to software upgrade and punching errors that prompted a revision of data revision for the previous eight months. The data on engineering exports was inflated by around $15 billion, while export of gems and jewellery and petroleum products was underestimated by $12 billion.

exPORT

Exports grew 3.87% to $22.3 billion in November, 2011, compared to $21.49 billion in November 2010. exports



38



for the current fiscal is expected to be around $280 billion, below the $300 billion target for 2011-12 due to global economic slowdown. The country's overseas shipments had amounted to $21.48 billion in November 2010. According to export body Fieo Director General Ajay Sahai, further decine in export will push export growth ina negetive zone. From 82 per cent in July, export growth slipped to 44.25 per cent in August, 36.36 per cent in September and 10.8 per cent in October. In the eight-month April-November period, exports aggregated to $192.69 billion, a year-on-year growth of 24.55 per cent. Experts opined that the country's exports growth during the entire fiscal would stand at about 20 per cent.

IMPORT

Imports were up 24.5% at $35.92 billion in November 2011. In November, 2010, imports aggregated $28.84 billion. Oil imports grew by 32.28 per cent to USD 10.3 billion in November 2011 while non-oil imports rose by 21.69 per cent to $25.6 billion vis-a-vis the year-ago period. Between April and November oil imports stood at $94.1billion, an increase of 42.67% compared to $65.97 billion in November 2011. Non-oil imports, a key gauge of economic activity, rose 25.46%

to $ 215.41 billion during the April-November period.

TRAde defICIT

Imports grew at a faster rate of 24.5 per cent year-on-year to $35.9 billion in November 2011 which in the process translated into a trade deficit of $13.6 billion. Between April-November exports grew 33.2% to $192.7 billion while imports also rose 30.2% to $ 309.53 billion. The trade deficit during the eight months of the fiscal year therefore stood at $116.8 billion.

PMI ReLeASed By hSBC

The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index ( PMI) - a headline index designed to measure the overall performance of the manufacturing sector - registered 54.2 in December, up from 51.0 in November. The PMI was released by the banking major HSBC on 2 January 2012. The index indicated the strongest improvement in business conditions since June 2011. New orders from overseas clients also grew at a faster pace than November 2011, the second consecutive expansion after shrinking for four months. India’s manufacturing activity was at a a six-month high in December 2011 on account of an increase in factory output and new orders from domestic and

international firms. The HSBC Markit India Manufacturing PMI jumped to 54.2 from 51.0 in November, its biggest monthly rise since April, 2009.

The index stayed above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction for 33 months now. The PMI or Purchasing Managers’ Index dipped to 50.4 in September 2011.

Data released by the government had showed a 5.1 per cent contraction in the IIP numbers in October 2011, its slowest since March, 2009. The successive rate hikes by the RBI and weak macroeconomic conditions domestically and globally were blamed for the contraction. The official industrial output data showed factory output plunged 5.1% in October, raising worries about the health of the manufacturing sector. This was the first fall in industrial output in nearly two years. Manufacturing sector employment also increased slightly during December 2011, ending a period of job losses that had set in during August 2011. Costs went up on higher prices of raw materials and fuel on the input front, adding with higher demand. The demand from clients allowed manufacturing companies to increase output prices at an accelerated pace to pass on the costs.



39



IndIA - PAKISTAn

India and Pakistan on 25 January 2012 agreed in New Delhi to transit fee formula for Tapi(Tajikistan, Pakistan and India) gas pipeline project. On the Transit Fee, India and Pakistan agreed that the negotiations would be conducted in a transparent manner keeping in mind the overall economics of the Project, keeping in mind the landed cost of gas, and in accordance with the relevant i n t e r n a t i o n a l practices. Since there is a need to expedite the signing of the Gas Sale Purchase Agreement (GSPA), both sides agreed to settle the Transit Fee issue at the earliest. Pakistan agreed in-principle that whatever fee formula is eventually settled between India and Afghanistan would also be acceptable

to Pakistan subject to approval of their competent authority. The two Ministers also discussed other issues of bilateral interest such as trade in petroleum products. Jaipal Reddy offered export

of Petrol, Diesel, Aviation Turbine Fuel and Fuel Oil besides Sulphur,

Polyethylene and Polypropylene since Pakistan is importing these products currently. It was pointed out that the main advantage for Pakistan will be the savings in freight cost since several refineries in India are located close to the India-Pak border.

The Indian side offered to export refined petroleum and

petrochemical products by road, rail and by sea.

It was also mentioned that Indian refineries would be willing to look at the feasibility of constructing product pipelines to Pakistan provided

long-term guarantees for product offtake can

be given by Pakistan. Both sides noted that

India-Pakistan Joint Working Group (JWG) on Petroleum &

Petrochemical Products has been constituted recently to go into the specific details of facilitating trade in this sector, including infrastructure

India&

World



40



upgradation and augmentation in respect of railways, customs facilitation, setting up of banking channels, etc. Both Ministers agreed to advise their respective officials to hold the 1st meeting of the JWG at the earliest. Apart from G2G efforts, both sides agreed on the need to activate industry and business associations in the petroleum sector for confidence building. Jaipal Reddy informed Hussain that India’s oil companies would be participating in the India Show at Lahore on 11-13 February, 2012 being organized by the Govt of India and FICCI to showcase the strength of India’s petroleum refining sector and what India’s oil companies can offer to Pakistan.Sixth Round of Talks Between India and Pakistan

India and Pakistan concluded their Sixth Round of Expert Level Talks on Nuclear Confidence Building Measures in Islamabad on 27 December 2011. In this meeting, both the nations agreed to recommend to their foreign secretaries to extend the validity of the agreement on reducing the risk from accidents relating to nuclear weapons. Pakistan suggested to India that heavy artillery should be removed from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.India and Pakistan also reviewed the implementation and strengthening of CBMs in the framework of Lahore MoU. The nations also agreed to explore possibilities for mutually acceptable additional CBMs. India and Pakistan discussed a proposal seeking a cooperative mechanism to deal with a crisis like Fukushima.

IndIA - SRI LAnKA

India on 18 January 2012 announced a substantial increase in educational assistance, being given to Sri Lanka.

The funding amounting to 2.5 billion Srilankan Rupees will mark a threefold

increase in the scholarships and self-financing slots for undergraduate, masters and doctorate-level courses. The new initiative was undertaken as part of New Delhi’s commitment under the India-Sri Lanka Knowledge Initiative launched by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Two new scholarship programmes called theMaulana Azad and Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship Scheme were added to the existing list.

IndIA - ChInA

Ahead of border talks with India, China's Special Representative and State Councillor Dai Bingguo has called for both countries to settle their disputes “wisely, calmly and properly” to prevent them from becoming barriers to an expanding relationship. Mr. Dai, who is expected to travel to New Delhi next week for the 15th round of talks on the boundary dispute, said both countries needed to “deepen political trust.” He was speaking to Indian officials at a function held here on Wednesday to inaugurate India's new embassy building. Mr. Dai is China's top diplomat and seniormost official on foreign policy matters. He laid out a four-pronged approach to improve ties with India in a detailed address, acknowledging

that gaps in understanding persisted between the neighbours. He said both countries needed to expand “practical cooperation” in economy, trade, finance — particularly highlighting information technology — and strengthen people-to-people exchanges to “encourage our people to meet each other more often” and improve “mutual understanding.” He also called for stepping up dialogue and communication to improve political trust, and for expanding cooperation in international affairs.

“We should think and act in the interest of the overall China-India relationship,” he said. “We need to handle issues between the two countries wisely, calmly and properly and prevent them from becoming barriers between the two countries and obstacles to bilateral relations.” He highlighted the rise of China, India and other emerging countries as the most important development in a global environment that was going through “profound” changes. “We must follow the call of our times for peace and development,” he said, calling for both countries to “open up new prospects for a strategic and cooperative partnership” and “forever be good neighbours, good friends and good partners.” Foreign Ministry



41



spokesperson Liu Weimin said at a briefing both countries were still “in close communication over dates” for the boundary talks. “China values its relations with India and attaches great importance to resolving the boundary issue,” he said. “China believes this issue should be solved through equal consultation and negotiations. The boundary issue has been there for a long time, and should be solved through dialogue.” Indian Ambassador S. Jaishankar said the previous year, which also saw the launching of a Strategic Economic Dialogue and a rise in trade to a record $70 billion, reflected “the strategic direction of our ties, of what is possible between the two neighbours.” He, however, warned that both countries needed to “remain continuously sensitive to mutual concerns.”

IndIAn dIAMOnd TRAdeRS deTAIned In

ChInA

Twelve of the 22 Indian diamond traders, detained in China for nearly 2 years on charges of smuggling, reached India on 5 January 2012 after they were let off following deportation

orders by a Chinese court. Twenty-two traders, hailing mostly from Gujarat and Mumbai, were arrested in southern China's Shenzhen city in 2010 and were charged with smuggling

diamonds worth 50 million yuan or 7.3 million US Dollars. They were accused of sourcing diamonds illegally from Hong Kong for sale in the Chinese market. On 7 December 2011, the Shenzen Intermediate People's Court which heard the traders' case, found 12 of them innocent and ordered their deportation. The rest of the traders have been awarded varied prison terms ranging from six years to three and half years.

IndIA, fRAnCe And GeRMAny

India signed a multi-lateral tax treaty with economic powers like France and Germany to check both tax evasion and avoidance. It was signed under the aegis of theOrganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a top global financial body, at its headquarters in Paris.The agreement, convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters, is a multilateral agreement of 31 other nations, which promotes international co-operation while respecting the rights of taxpayers. The members under OECD are Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. The multilateral tax treaty is the single legal basis for multi-country cooperation, as against other treaties including the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, which are bilateral.OECD was earlier available only for members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the

Council of Europe. It was amended in 2010 and thrown open to all countries from June 2011.

The convention not only facilitates the exchange of information, but also provides for assistance in the recovery of taxes. This will give a fillip to the efforts of the government in bringing money illegally stashed abroad. By signing the convention, India and the other 31 signatories send a strong signal that countries are acting together to ensure that individuals and multinational enterprises pay the right amount of tax, at the right time and in the right place. Many more countries are expected to sign the convention in future. The convention allows tax officials to enter into the territory of the other country to interview individuals and examine records. The information received under the convention can also be used for other purposes besides those related to tax co-operation, including the countering of money laundering with the approval of the supplying state. Out of the 31 signatories, 12 have ratified the convention so far. The signatories to the convention include Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Turkey, the UK and the US. For AIR News, this is Manikant Thakur from Delhi.

IndIA And wORLd BAnK SIGned An AGReeMenT

The Government of India and the World Bank on 20 January 2012 signed an IDA credit of 130 million US dollars to finance the project called NERLP (North East Rural Livelihoods Project), to empower rural communities in the growth-deficient North East (NE) region to improve their livelihood opportunities. The North East Rural Livelihoods Project (NERLP) will



42



enhance the livelihoods of the rural poor, especially women, unemployed youth and the severely disadvantaged in eight districts of the four participating states- Aizawl and Lunglei in Mizoram; Peren and Tuensang in Nagaland; South, West and 15 Panchayat wards of East District in Sikkim; and West and North Districts in Tripura.

The Project seeks to develop an institutional platform for the communities, which will help them link up with the private sector, public sector, and civil society and to acquire the institutional, technical, and financial capacity needed for improving their livelihoods. Global development experience shows that absolute poverty can be overcome by equipping a member of the household (especially a youth) with employable skills. A separate activity for skills development and job placement has thus been included in the project to ensure that such opportunities are available to the rural poor. Some livelihood opportunities envisaged under the Project include natural resource management activities such as forest management, non-timber forest produce storage and processing, horticulture, preservation of riverine fishes, water harvesting and recharging of ground/surface water in the villages; community-based infrastructure activities like upgrading of small agricultural link roads, micro hydro-power schemes, wind-cum-solar mills, to name a few.

The Project comprises four main components (i) Social Empowerment; (ii) Economic Empowerment; (iii) Partnership Development and (iv) Project Management. The first component seeks to help rural communities to create sustainable institutions so that they can

manage common activities around microfinance, livelihoods and natural resource management. The second component will provide funds to the community institutions to undertake various livelihood activities, as well as provide self-entrepreneurship opportunities to unemployed youth. To enable this, the Project with help develop partnerships with various formal financial intermediaries - such as microfinance institutions, commercial banks, development financial institutions such as National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and specialized funding agencies such as North East Development Finance Institution (NEDFI) – and with the private sector and civil society to allow rural communities to access technical and marketing support. The project management component facilitates the implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, learning and quality enhancement efforts of the project.

IndIA - JAPAn

India and Japan agreed to enhance their cooperation in the infrastructure sector. The decision was taken at a meeting between Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi and his Japnese c o u n t e r p a r t Takeshi Maeda in New Delhi on 12 January 2012.

The two countries are in the concluding phase of finalising a

Memorandum of Cooperation to exchange technical knowledge and expertise in the Road Transportation and Highways sector including capacity building and advanced technology for road transport management system as well as intelligent transport system.

TAPI PROJeCT A STeP fORwARd

In a breakthrough that will take forward the ambitious $7.6-billion TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan) pipeline project, India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to have a uniform transit fee to ferry natural gas from Turkmenistan. This was decided at a meeting between Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy and visiting Pakistan Energy Minister Asim Hussain here. Under the in-principle agreement, India will pay transit fee to Pakistan and Afghanistan to get its share of 38 million standard cubic metres a day of gas through the pipeline, while Islamabad will pay ferrying charges to Afghanistan. “Pakistan agreed in principle that whatever transit fee formula is eventually settled between India and Afghanistan will also be acceptable to it and is subject to the

approval of the competent authorities,” a statement

issued by India after the meeting said.

Later, at a joint press conference, Mr. Reddy said: “There can't be one transit fee for India and Afghanistan and

another for Pakistan and Afghanistan. It

should be the same in-principle.” His sentiments

were echoed by Mr.



43



Hussain. He said it was among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to agree to a uniform tariff. It was subject to the approval of the competent authorities of both the governments. The formula to fix the transit fee had not yet been arrived at. The 1,735-km-long pipeline will run from Turkmenistan's Yoloten-Osman gas field to Herat and Kandahar province of Afghanistan, before entering Pakistan. In Pakistan, it will reach Multan via Quetta before ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India. The project envisages a total throughput of 90 million standard cubic metres a day (MSCMD) of gas, of which India is expected to receive 38 MSCMD. Fixing the transit fee that is to be paid to Afghanistan was one of the major issues. “The transit fee should be reasonable and there should be an element of predictability in it,” Petroleum Ministry Additional Secretary Sudhir Bhargava said. Referring to the security concerns pertaining to the pipeline, Mr. Reddy said, “It is only through development of common economic stakes, we can reduce tensions and suspicions. As time goes by, we are confident about dealing with security issues as the government of Afghanistan and their people are keen on this.”

IndIA - ASeAnIndia signed MoU with ASEAN

(Association of Southeast Asian Nations) at Manado, Indonesia on 12 January 2012.

The main objectives of the MoU are to: • Cooperate in facilitating travel

and tourist visits. • Further strengthen the tourism

partnership. • Enhance mutual assistance and

human resource development for tourism sector

• Takenecessarystepsforexploringavenues of cooperation and sharing of information.

• Exchangeinformationpertainingto statistics and development strategies, investment opportunities and economic data in tourism, travel and hospitality sectors relevant to each other.

• Jointly organize seminars,workshops and face-to-face meetings wherever possible, with a view to exploring and discussing new opportunities and avenues for the development and promotion of tourism and

• Anyotherareaofactivityaimingat tourism cooperation.

Prime Minister of India had announced during the 9th ASEAN Summit held at Bali on 19 November, 2011 that a Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening tourism cooperation between India and ASEAN would be signed preferably at the Meeting of ASEAN-India Tourism

Minister in early 2012. Consequent to the announcement made by the Prime Minister the MoU has been signed between India and ASEAN on strengthening tourism cooperation.

IndIA - SOUTh AfRICA

India and South Africa on 8 January 2012 agreed to speed up talks

to conclude a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement in view of the increased trade between the two countries. Both nations reviewed

commercial and economic relations in Bloemfontein, South Africa. India and South Africa expressed satisfaction on the continued growth in two-way investments and trade.

IndIA - BAnGLAdeSh

India's National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC), on 29 January 2012 signed an agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board(BPDP) for setting up a joint venture 1320 MW thermal power plant. The joint venture coal-based power plant will comprise of two units of 660 MW each and will be set up at Rampal in Khulna Division of Bangladesh. The project is the first joint venture power plant in Bangladesh. The project will be completed by 2016. The joint venture thermal power plant is one of the projects, which is part of Bangladesh's efforts to diversify its energy production process.



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new method for viewing muscle activation

A new signal processing method uses ultrasound imaging, 3-D motion-capture technology and proprietary data-processing software to scan and capture 3-D maps of muscle structure — in just 90 seconds.Oldest evidence of dog domestication

A 33,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in a Siberian mountain cave presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication.Improved ergonomics for wheelchair Users

Engineers have developed an ergonomic seat for electric wheelchairs which enables the user to move around frequently. It enhances the freedom of movement of wheelchair users with a range of disabilities.Brain Adjustment to Injured Arm in Sling

Using a sling or cast after injuring an arm may cause your brain to shift

quickly to adjust. The size of brain areas compensating for the injured side increase, and those areas that are not being used due to the cast or sling decrease.Atmospheric carbon dioxide hits marine life

Results of the broadest worldwide study of ocean acidification to date say that one-third of atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed by the world's oceans, making them more acidic and affecting marine life.More physical activity, better school grades

A systematic review of previous studies suggests that there may be a positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance of kids, according to a report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine .new way to clean up spent nuclear fuel

Researchers have used metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to capture

and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel.

Airborne radar to study current active volcano

A one-week NASA airborne radar campaign will help scientists better understand processes occurring under Earth's surface at Kilauea, Hawaii's current most active volcano.

Saving snow leopard using stem-like cells

The production of embryonic stem-like cells from the tissue of an adult snow leopard may lead to cryopreservation of genetic material for cloning and other assisted reproduction techniques.

Less carotene protects from parasitic plants

Grain crops that produce less carotene can produce more food, especially in Africa, as they are less affected by parasitic plants. Rice plants that produce less carotene than usual are less infected by the Striga parasite.

Science&Technology



45



new wireless device to detect the Presence of Termites

Scientists developed a new wireless device to detect the presence of termites by hearing them chew through timber. Once the new device detects the presence of termites, it will immediately send an SMS or email to a pest control firm. This device is made of a tiny sensor, smaller than a fingernail. The tiny sensor is attached to a piece of wood and kept around the house to detect termite stations.factors that may trigger glaucoma

When it comes to whether or not you will develop exfoliation syndrome, an eye condition that is a leading cause of secondary open-angle glaucoma, age, gender and where you live do matter.human settlements and Galapagos reptiles

Land and marine reptiles living close to human settlements in the Galápagos Islands were more likely to harbour antibiotic-resistant bacteria than those living in more remote or protected sites on the islands, says a study.Coral reef evolution from ancient time

200 million years ago fish with jaws capable of feeding on corals emerged, but the real explosion in reef diversity did not occur till about 50 million years ago when fishes like today's specialist coral feeders emerged.how do igloos protect eskimos from the severe cold?

The Igloo is a domed snow house often associated with the Inuit (also known as Eskimos), the native inhabitants of the Canadian Arctic. Igloos are relatively easy to construct,

made from materials found in abundance: snow and ice. The igloo is an ingenious invention, very effective in keeping people warm. These aremeans to reduce heat loss by wind convection and by moisture from precipitation. Hypothetically, if it is -40°C outside, the igloo has the potential to warm up to 0°C. The major factors that enable to keep Eskimos warm inside the igloos are: 1. Snow and ice work as insulators

to trap body heat inside the igloo. Thus, the occupants of an igloo double as a furnace of sorts.

2. The walls block the wind, which is often so bitter that it can make freezing temperatures feel many degrees colder.

3. Insulation capabilities actually increase a few days after construction. Body heat and sun exposure cause the inside of the igloo to melt ever so slightly.

When the igloo is unoccupied during hunting expeditions, the melted snow freezes over, turning into ice. Several days of gradual thawing and refreezing turns the entire structure to solid ice, making it not only super strong, but also warmer than ever.Moon-walk mineral discovered in Australia

Tranquillityite — the last mineral thought to have been unique to the Moon has been discovered in the remote Pilbara region of Australia. It is named after the Apollo-11 landing site.Key malaria parasite protein decoded

The structure and function of a protein that plays a key role in the life of a parasite that killed 655,000 people in 2010, has been cracked.

Brain fluid levels and Alzheimer's onset

Cerebrospinal levels of brain fluid appear to be decreased at least 5 to 10 years before some patients with mild cognitive impairment develop Alzheimer's disease. Other spinal fluid levels are later markers of disease.how bat brains parse sounds for multitasking

Bats use echoes to navigate and to hunt while flying. Neural circuits within the two brain halves allow a bat to navigate or ‘see' its surroundings and at the same time carry on a conversation with other bats.Amplifier helps diamond spy on atoms

An ‘amplifier' molecule placed on the tip of a diamond could help scientists locate and identify individual atoms.

Restored wetlands not equal to original ones

Once a wetland is degraded, it does not recover its normal assemblage of plants or its rich stores of organic soil carbon, which both affect natural cycles of water and nutrients, for many years.

Ice age findings forecast problemsChanges in the oxygenation of

oceans at the end of the last Ice Age have implications for oceans' future under global warming.

Climate change affects elk, plants and birds

Reduced snowfall in mountains is causing powerful, cascading shifts in mountainous plant and bird communities through the increased ability of elk to stay at high elevations over winter and consume plants.



46



Great apes make sophisticated decisions

Chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos make more sophisticated decisions than was previously thought.enzyme's protective role in brain stroke

A key enzyme of sugar metabolism is activated in the brain's nerve cells after a lack of oxygen due to a stroke which results in insufficient oxygen and nutrient supplies in the brain. The enzyme plays a protective role.Reaching new frontiers of space's dark matter

New findings by astronomers mapping the universe on the largest scale ever reveal a universe comprising an intricate cosmic web of dark matter and galaxies spanning more than one billion light years.UK Scientists identified new Maze Gene, called Meg1

The UK scientists on 16 January 2012 discovered a new gene in maize plants, called Meg 1. The gene regulates the transfer of nutrients from the plant to the seed. It could increase the crop yields and improve food security. The Scientists from the University of Warwick and Oxford University identified the gene.new technique may boost Ivf success rates

A new technique successfully used in mice to identify embryos likely to result in a successful pregnancy could be used in humans, potentially boosting IVF success rates and reducing the number of multiple births.young stem cells prolong life in mice

After a shot of stem/progenitor cells, mice bred to age too quickly

improved their health and lived two to three times longer than expected. The progenitor cells were derived from the muscle of young, healthy animals.how Gulf of Mexico returned to normalcy

An innovative computer model has demonstrated the respective roles of underwater topography, currents and bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico in cleaning up the deepwater methane plumes after the 2011 oil spill.Saturn–like ring system around a star spotted

Saturn has a ring system. Now a team has discovered a ring system around a sun in the constellation Centaurus similar to Saturn's. Data from the SuperWASP and All Sky Automated Survey projects was used.Pythons, people take turns as hunters, prey

More than a quarter of a Filipino hunter-gatherer group have been attacked by giant pythons. The same hunter-gatherers target the pythons as food, besides competing with them for the same prey — deer, pigs and monkeys.

Graphene Use to Boost electronic Shelf Life

Graphene conducts heat about 20 times faster than silicon. By understanding how heat transfers through a two-dimensional graphene system, its use in semiconductor devices could prolong their life.

Ink for small, high-performance electronics

A new reactive silver ink prints high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates.

Scientists found Cells that can help prevent Spread of Cancer

A team of scientists in the second week of January 2012 identified a group of cancer cells that play a main role in preventing the development of the disease. This scientific finding could lead to re-evaluation of common cancer treatment for patients.It pointed out that anti-angiogenic therapies that target those tumour cells- called pericytes- inadvertently make tumours more aggressive. The study was published in the journal Cancer Cell. It underscores the need of more research on tumour-cell composition to bring out more effective therapies. For the study, the team of scientists created genetically modified mice to support drug-induced depletion of pericytes in growing tumours. They then deleted pericytes in their cancer tumours, decreasing pericyte numbers by 60 percent.Intercropping: when rice breeds fish breeds rice

A notable announcement would have been made yesterday at this year's Indian Science Congress at Bhubaneswar, Orissa. The rural, tribal belt of Koraput, Orissa which is rich in floral and faunal diversity would have been formally declared as the eleventh “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System” (GIAHS) by the FAO-UNDP-GEF group. Each GIAHS is a remarkable land use system or a landscape, rich in globally significant biological diversity. It ranges from the Andean mountain agriculture of Peru, the Ifugao rice Terraces of the Philippines, the Rice-Fish intercropping or co-culture system of inland central China to the Maghrab landscape of Algeria/Tunisia. And, while Koraput is recognized now, the Seppina Bettas system of the use of foliage and leaf-



47



litter system of the Western Ghats in India is waiting to join the GIAHS family. The key feature in each GIAHS is the people living there. The community has, over the centuries understood, appreciated, respected and preserved the surrounding biodiversity of plants and animals. The gentle wisdom that the people, “the tribals,” have gathered over the centuries can be captured in the motto “everything depends on everything else.” How is what they do better than current practice of monoculture of the same plant over tens or hundreds of hectares, where yields are pushed to high levels through the use of fertilizers, pesticides and weed killer chemicals? Is it the scale of the thing? Each tribal person farms over a couple of hectares at best, while agriculture companies do so over hundreds.Salcaded duck arrived for the first Time at Pong dam Lake

In Himachal Pradesh, more than 1.20 lakh migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asian countries descended on Maharana Pratap Sagar, popularly known as Pong Dam Lake, in Kangra district. Although, 415 species of migratory birds had landed at different places of the Pong Dam over the past 10 years, it is for the first time that 'salcaded duck' has arrived in this wetland. The migratory birds from trans-Himalayan regions had started reaching the Pong Dam wildlife sanctuary in October

2011. Besides a maximum of 25000 bar-headed geese, various other species landed in good numbers, including common pochard, ruddy shell ducks, Eurasion wigeon and pintail. The Wildlife department, in collaboration with the Bombay National History Society, put 15 collar bands and seven transmitters on 22 migratory birds with an objective to get their location details, flying path and breeding grounds to understand their migration routes.vents reveal unknown creatures

The ocean's deepest volcanic vents, kilometres below the surface, are teeming with life forms never before seen that thrive near super-hot underwater geysers, according to a new study. Eyeless shrimps and white-tentacled anemones were photographed bunched around cracks in the ocean floor spewing mineral-rich water that may top 450 degrees Celsius , researchers reported recently. The vents, called baptised the Beebe Vent Field, were discovered on the Caribbean

seafloor in the Cayman Trough. Some

five kilometres below the surface, the trench is home to the world's deepest known ‘black smoker' vents, so-called for the cloudy fluid that gushes from them. During an expedition in 2010, a team lead by marine geochemist Doug Connelly of Britain's National Oceanography Centre and University of Southampton biologist Jon Copley used a deep-diving robot submarine to explore the trough.

The researchers also found previously unknown vents on the upper slopes of nearby Mount Dent. This rises some three kilometres from the sea floor. Cameras on the submarine captured startling images of a new species of ghostly-pale shrimp — dubbed Rimicaris hybisae — that had gathered in clusters of up to 2,000 specimens per square metre. Lacking normal eyes, the shrimp have a light-sensing organ on their backs, presumably to help them navigate in the faint glow of the deep-sea vents, said the study that was published in Nature Communication . A related species, Rimicaris exoculata

, has been found living at the edge of another deep-sea vent

4,000 kilometres away on the

Mid-Atlantic R i d g e .

Elsewhere at the

Beebe Vent Field, the scientists

saw hundreds of white anemones lining the cracks where

warm, copper-rich water seeps from the



48



sea bed. The vents on Mount Dent also thronged with the new shrimp, along with a snake-like fish, an unknown species of snail and a flea-like crustacean called an amphipod.why do we feel hungry very frequently during winter?

The main purpose of intake of food is to supply energy for physical needs. The body maintains a balance between energy expenditure and calorie intake which helps in proper maintenance of body weight. The food we eat is utilized by the body by a process called metabolism (the various chemical reactions occurring in the body's cells to break down food to give us energy and heat), and this works best at normal body temperature (37ºC). When the ambient temperature drops below certain value, the body generates heat by increasing its basal metabolic rate in order to keep up the body temperature. There are two ways by which this metabolic feat is achieved – one, by increasing the breakdown of body's stored fat, and two, by providing the body more fuel to burn in the form of food. Alternately, you can consume more food to meet the increased metabolic demands of the body. A part of our brain, called hypothalamus, controls this automatic regulation. The hypothalamus functions as a thermostat, and it has two discrete centers for regulating the food intake – a ‘feeding centre' and a ‘satiety centre', both of them together maintain a judicious balance of feeding behavior. The chief factors which influence these centres are — the body weight, the amount of food present in the gut, the amount glucose in the blood and finally the body temperature. Thus in cold weather the feeding centre is stimulated so that food intake is increased. It is worth noting here that warm weather

decreases the appetite to some extent. However, ambient temperature is not a major player in regulating the food intake in human beings, whereas body weight plays a significant role.African leaping lizards inspire robot design

University of California, Berkeley, Scientists and students studied how lizards manage to leap successfully even when they slip and stumble, and found that swinging the tail upward is the key to preventing a forward pitch that could send them head-over-heels into a tree. The study is published in Nature today (Jan 5). The scientists subsequently added a tail to a robotic car they named Tailbot and discovered that it's not as simple as throwing your tail in the air. Robots and lizards have to adjust the angle of their tail just right to counteract the effect of the stumble. Given an actively controlled tail, even robots can make a leap and remain upright, according to a University of California, Berkeley press release. “We showed for the first time that lizards swing their tail up or down to counteract the rotation of their body, keeping them stable,” said team leader Robert J. Full, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology. “Inspiration from lizard tails will likely lead to far more agile search-and-rescue robots, as well as ones having greater capability to more rapidly detect chemical, biological or nuclear hazards.” Full and his team used high-speed videography and motion capture to record how a red-headed African Agama lizard handled leaps from a platform with different degrees of traction, from slippery to easily gripped sandpaper. They coaxed

the lizards to run down a track, vault off an obstacle and land on a vertical surface with a shelter on top. When the friction on the obstacle was reduced, lizards slipped, potentially causing their body to spin out of control. When the researchers saw how the lizard used its tail to counteract the spin, they created a mathematical model as well as Tailbot to better understand the animal's skills. With a tail but no feedback from sensors about body position, Tailbot took a nose dive when driven off a ramp, which mimicked a lizard's take-off. Tailbot was able to stabilize its body in midairwhen body attitude was sensed and fed back to the tail motor sent. The actively controlled tail redirected the angular momentum of the body into the swing of the tail, just as with leaping lizards, Full said.Scientists found the extinct Monkey, the Miller’s Grizzled Langur in Indonesia

Scientists rediscovered a large grey monkey-the Miller’s grizzled langur- in the dense jungles of Indonesia. The monkey was believed to be extinct. The monkey has black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar. It

has hooded e y e s

a n d a pinkish

nose and lips. The animal one roamed the north-eastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Java and Sumatra and the Thai-Malay peninsula.



49



The area once the habitat of these monkeys had been destroyed by human encroachment, conversion of land for agriculture and mining and fires.‘Stay clear of stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury'

“Stay clear of stem cell treatment for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI),” warned Professor Alan Mackay-Sim , Director of National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research in Australia. He visited the Mary Verghese Institute of Rehabilitation

attached to Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore in early December 2011. He is one of the world's foremost authorities on this subject and the first to try olfactory ensheathing cells on humans with SCI. The accepted path for translating from animal experiments to humans is staged clinical trials, which involve three stages. A Phase I trial is a test of safety, the first step in moving from animals into humans. Phase I trials do not prove anything more, but

are a must. We have a Phase I trial of autologous transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells in persons with chronic SCI. Autologous transplantation means transplanting a patient's own cells; this helps avoid rejection by the immune system, which can occur when foreign cells such as embryonic stem cells are transplanted. There has been a Phase I trial of autologous transplantation of bone marrow stem cells. A Phase I trial using embryonic stem cells

was recently discontinued by Geron Corp after transplantation in four patients. We must all understand that research on using stem cells for SCI is proceeding only in ‘baby steps'. This is likely to be the trend in the years ahead, too. The spinal cord is an extremely sensitive part and that is an added factor in the measured pace of work.It is important to understand the risk of a new treatment and balance that against a hoped-for benefit. In SCI, risks such

as losing function, gaining new pain and new/enhanced spasticity must be balanced against benefits that are proven in animals, but may not apply to humans. This involved six persons with complete, chronic injury of the thoracic spinal cord. We took small pieces of tissue from inside their nose and using them, we grew their olfactory ensheathing cells in the lab. To track whether there were any changes for good or bad, we assessed the six every three months for three years. There were no significant changes in any of the six. All we can say is that the procedure for transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cell is safe. We cannot set out a number, but cell transplantations have restored nerve connections between the brain and the lower spinal cord and improved walking, breathing and other functions in paraplegic rats. There are no stem cell treatments in the world today that have been fully tested in all stages of clinical trials. Part of the process of clinical trials is to report the outcomes and open them to public scrutiny for others to judge. Persons with SCI must not go in for treatment using stem cell or olfactory ensheathing cells in any part of the world, as there is a long way to go to have a scientifically proven approach that also works. The money that is or could be spent on stem cell treatment must be used to improve the quality of life in other ways and not wasted in this treatment now.while landing, the rear wheels of an airplane touch the ground first. why?

An aircraft is equipped with tricycle under carriage type landing gear — front or nose wheels and the rear ones. It is a safer practice to tilt the plane with nose upward just before the touch down so as to bring the rear or main landing



50



gears in contact with the ground first and then lower the nose slowly a little after. There are various reasons of following this practice. Centre of gravity of the plane lies somewhere in the middle of the fuselage which is close to the rear wheels. It is therefore desirable to bring the rear wheels to the ground first for better controllability of the plane immediately after the touch down. Otherwise, if the plane lands on nose wheels, it would have a tendency to wobble and swing around wildly. The second reason is that the nose wheels/ gears are not that strong so as to absorb the landing impact. Another reason and very important reason is that as soon as the rear wheels touch the runway, a resistive force distributed on both sides equally starts working on the plane. Because of two wheels located apart at adequate distance, it is much easier to control skidding/ going off the runway of the plane just in case there are unequal forces on two sides.

MUSCLeS' GROwTh when wORKed MAKeS TheM

UnIQUe

Now, researchers have identified a key ingredient needed for that bulking up to take place. A factor produced in working muscle fibers apparently tells surrounding muscle stem cell “higher ups” that it's time to multiply and join in, according to a study in the January Cell Metabolism , a Cell Press journal. In other words, that so-called

serum response factor (Srf ) translates the mechanical signal of work into a chemical one. “This signal from the muscle fibre controls stem cell behaviour and participation in muscle growth,” says Athanassia Sotiropoulos of Inserm in France. “It is unexpected and quite interesting.” It might also lead to new ways to combat muscle atrophy. Sotiropoulos' team became interested in Srf 's role in muscle in part because their earlier studies in mice and humans showed that Srf concentrations decline with age. That led them to think Srf might be a culprit in the muscle atrophy so common in aging. The new findings support that view, but Srf doesn't work in the way the researchers had anticipated. Srf was known to control many other genes within muscle fibers. That Srf also influences the activities of the satellite stem cells came as a surprise. Mice with muscle fibers lacking Srf are no longer able to grow when they are experimentally overloaded, the new research shows. That's because satellite cells don't get the message to proliferate and fuse with those pre-existing myofibers. Srf works through a network of genes, including one known as Cox2.

That raises the intriguing possibility that

c o m m o n l y used Cox2

inhibitors—think ibuprofen—

might work against muscle growth or recovery, Sotiropoulos notes. Treatments designed to tweak this network of factors might be used to wake muscle stem cells up and enhance muscle growth in circumstances such as aging or following long periods of bed rest, she says. Most likely, such therapies would be more successfully directed not at Srf itself, which has varied roles, but at its targets. “It may be difficult to find a beneficial amount of Srf,” Sotiropoulos says. “Its targets, interleukins and prostaglandins, may be easier to manipulate.”

SCIenTISTS CLAIMed ThAT ALCOhOL CAn Be USed TO

TReAT TReMORS

Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health claimed that alcohol could be used to treat tremors, a brain disorder that triggers exaggerated shaking and occurs during movement. The octanol (a form of alcohol and a colourless ingredient in perfume) can help treat tremor.The tremor can affect people of all ages. For their experiment, the scientists gave patients a single dose of one milligramme of octanol for each kilogramme of their weight, and found it significantly decreased tremor for up to 90 minutes. In their second experiment, people who had octanol had fewer symptoms of tremor after five hours than those were given a placebo. Tremor occurs during movement, but not at rest. It affects not only the arms and hands but also the head, face and feet. In at least half of cases there is a family history as well. Other causes of similar tremor symptoms include an over-active thyroid, anti-epileptic medication and drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders. In fact, tremor is caused by spontaneous activity in



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nerve cells in the areas of the brain that control movement. One theory is that alcohol may help dampen this activity. It is known that alcohol has some effect on this kind of movement because as well as reducing tremor. It can also cause it if drunk excessively.

enhAnCe SCIenTIST-RyOTS InTeRACTIOn TO

SOLve PROBLeMS

The thought that farmers could turn innovators to solve their problems somehow did not seem to appeal to the common man or government. In reality a farmer's job extends beyond more than just growing and selling. “In fact in today's scenario agricultural innovation by farmers is the key to addressing growing challenges as there is a growing perception that the emerging demand of the farmers for technological and institutional support is not adequately addressed,” says Dr. S. Ayyapan, Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research (DARE). ICAR for the first time since its inception under the stewardship of Dr. Ayyapan, instituted a separate committee named National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) to validate, document and help farm innovations. The Initiatives of NAIP extended the efforts towards improving rural livelihood of farmers living in less favoured, marginal or more complex environments. Another newly proposed project — ‘Farmer First' aims to move beyond production and productivity and to recognise the complex, diverse and risk prone realities of majority of the farmers and enhance farmers-scientists contact with multi stake holders participation. “Farmer First aims at enriching farmers-scientists

interface for technology development and application. It will be achieved with focus on innovations; feedback; multiple stakeholders participation, multi method approaches, vulnerability, and livelihood interventions,” explains Dr. Ayyappan. “Highly qualified scientists, even if they are committed, are often unaware of the actual needs and problems of poor and marginalised farmers. “A huge gap exists in the quality of research output required at the farm level and that being developed in the labs,” he says. In contrast to other areas like medicine, agricultural researchers mostly work in isolation from each other and most of their research findings are academic rather than practical. According to him research system should play a pro-active role in reaching out to farmers for getting first hand information, farmers' perceptions, feed back on generated technologies, and develop new and more appropriate processes, methodologies and technologies for diverse farm environment. Indian agriculture embraces diverse actors in its endeavour to feed 1.21 billion people. Small and marginal farmers may be uneducated, but one cannot question the fact that they do possess a deep knowledge about farming and understanding of the complexity of nature and its impact on cultivation, resulting from years of practising agriculture.

SCIenTISTS fOR The fIRST TIMe PROdUCed MIxed

eMBRyO MOnKeyS

Scientists for the first time produced monkeys composed of cells taken from separate embryos. They combined cells from different embryos and implanted them into female monkeys. The cells never fuse, but they stay together and

work together to form tissues and organs. The animals, which contain genetically distinct groups of cells from more than one organism, are termed as chimeras. The three rhesus monkeys born are named Chimero, Roku and Hex. These monkeys have tissues made up of a mixture of cells, which represent as many as six separate embryos. Although Chimeras are essential for studying embryonic development, research has largely been restricted to mice. Initial efforts by the scientists to produce living monkey chimeras by introducing cultured embryonic stem cells into monkey embryos failed.

ReSeARCheRS dISCOveRed A new SPeCIeS Of

eARThwORM CALLed MOnILIGASTeR IvAnIOSI

The researchers identified a new species of earthworm in Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar islands. The species was named Moniligaster ivaniosi, after the name of the college. The new species has unique features, which includes three pairs of genital apertures and a black line running along the middle region. The unique morphological features of the worm, especially the reproductive structures were attributed to the geographical isolation of Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean. Moreover, the new species shows distinct differences from the nearest related species, M. ophidioides M. grandis and M. sapphirinaoide. The specimen of the new species was deposited at the Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode.

new SPeCIeS fOUnd On AnTARCTIC SeA fLOOR

British scientists have discovered what they claim is a “lost world” of



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unknown species nearly 8,000 feet deep on the sea floor off the coast of Antarctica — kept alive by undersea volcanoes. A team from Oxford and Southampton universities and the British Antarctic Survey was exploring off the coast of Antarctica and found colonies of marine life, including crabs,

an octopus and starfish very new to science, living in the murky depths. The reason their existence is remarkable is that they were found on top of undersea volcanoes called hydrothermal vents, which pump out plumes of black smoke causing temperatures to rise to 380 degrees C — hot enough to melt lead. With no sunshine there, they live in complete darkness but the creatures get their energy from breaking down highly toxic chemicals found in the smoke, the Daily Mail reported. The most numerous of the two dozen new species found is a type of “yeti crab” around 16cm long, which was piled in huge heaps of up to 600 animals near the vents. Unlike other crabs it has a dense mat of hair on its chest which it is thought to use to grow bacteria to eat. For the first time researchers, using a Remotely Operated Vehicle, have been able to explore the East Scotia Ridge deep beneath the Southern Ocean. “Hydrothermal vents are home to animals found nowhere else on the planet that get their energy from breaking down chemicals,” said Professor Alex Rogers of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, who led the research.

UK SCIenTISTS fOUnd The hOff CRAB On The

SOUTheRn OCeAn fLOOR

UK scientists discovered new crab species on the Southern Ocean floor. The new crab species was named the Hoff because of its hairy chest. The Hoff lives around volcanic vents off South Georgia. The animal has yet to be formally classified. It is, however, a type of yeti crab.Yeti crabs were first identified in the southern Pacific and are recognised for their hairs, or setae, along their claws and limbs that they use to cultivate the bacteria which they then eat. However, the new species found around the vents that fill the East Scotia Ridge are slightly different in their appearance. The novel types of starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and an octopus are also found in the region. There were as many as 600 animals found per square metre. The UKrobotic submersible, Isis, was employed to investigate the ridge near Antarctica.The region is dotted with hydrothermal vents (cracks in the volcanic rock where mineral-rich, hot waters flow from below the seabed to sustain an extraordinary array of organisms). Vent systems in other parts of the world are occupied by animals like tubeworms, mussels, other types of crab, and shrimps. These animals were not found in the East Scotia Ridge.

PeRILS Of MOBILe PRedICTIve TexTInG

Predictive text, a marvel of mobile phones that has made it quicker and easier to communicate with people, has been blamed for errors that can sabotage relationships by leaving users fuming. Predictive texting is a facility that makes SMSing faster especially for phones with non-qwerty

keyboard. The latest submissions to the DamnYouAutoCorrect website show how the simple predictive text misspelling of the words ‘at Pam's' resulted in a very awkward conversation between a woman and her boyfriend. Instead of typing ‘We need to spend some time at Pam's' user ‘Jenni' mistakenly texted: ‘We need to spent some time apart', prompting a furious reply from her partner, according to the Daily Mail . Modern mobile phones come with a built-in dictionary which enables them to predict what word a user wants from only a few key presses. Phones can often predict a completely random word — often with hilarious results. For example, it is easy to end up asking a friend out for a quick riot (pint) or telling them about being stuck in a Steve (queue). A study in 2009 found predictive text messaging changes the way children's brains work and makes them more likely to make mistakes generally. Scientists said the system trains young people to be fast but inaccurate. Previous research has shown that predictive texting makes people sloppy when it comes to spelling, with many flummoxed by words such as questionnaire, accommodate and definitely.

TwO MORe PLAneTS ORBITInG BInARy STARS

dISCOveRed

More than 700 planets orbiting a star (extrasolar planets) have been discovered till date. But a planet orbiting two stars was more in the realms of science fiction till recently. Astronomers surprised everybody last September when they reported the first ever discovery of such a planet orbiting two stars (Kepler-16 system). Such a body is called a circumbinary planet. In



53



the case of exoplanets orbiting a star or Earth orbiting the Sun, only the planets are in orbit around the star. But in the case of circumbinary planets, all the three bodies (a planet and binary stars) are in motion. While the planet orbits the binary stars, the gravitationally bound pair of stars (binaries) orbit around each other. If this discovery last year was considered as a rare find, scientists report today (January 12) the discovery of two more c i r c u m b i n a r y planets — Kelper-34 b and Kepler-35 b. The results are published in Nature . Both the planets orbiting their r e s p e c t i v e binary stars are “low-density gas-giants.”

KeLPeR-34 B

The Kelper-34 b planet has 22 per cent of the mass of Jupiter and 76 per cent of the radius of Jupiter. The planet takes 289 days to complete one orbit around the binary stars. The two stars (A and B) orbiting each other have an orbital period of 28 days. Star A is brighter and more massive than star B, and hence called a primary star. Three transits were detected in all by the scientists. Of the three, two were made by the primary star A moving across star B, and one by the secondary star B moving across star A.

KePLeR 35 B

In the case of Kepler 35 b, the transiting planet has 13 per cent of the mass of Jupiter and 73 per cent of radius of Jupiter. The planet takes just 131 days to complete one orbit around

the binary stars. The stars (A and B) have an orbital

period of 21 days. Four transits

by the two stars were

detected. Of the four,

three were made by the

primary star moving across the secondary star, and

one transit made by the secondary star moving across the primary star.

TOO hOT fOR LIfeWhile Kepler-16 b, which was

discovered last year is slightly too cold to support life, both Kepler-34 b and Kepler-35 b are too hot, notes a news item published in the same issue of Nature . The planets orbiting the binary stars experience extreme seasons due

to the orbital motion of the two stars. This is because the “the light received from their parent stars changes not only during the stars' orbital periods (tens of days) and the planetary orbital period (hundreds of days), but also on much longer timescales through precession [slow changes in the rotational or orbital parameters] of the orbits due to three-body effects.” The average amount of stellar energy received by the Kepler-34 b planet is 2.4 times the Earth's insolation, with a variation of 250 per cent. Similarly, in the case of Kepler-35 b, the insolation is 3.6 times the Earth's, with a variation of 160 per cent. It must also be noted that unlike planets in the Solar System, these bodies do not follow the same path on successive orbits. This is due to the gravitational effects between the three bodies.

SCIenTISTS PROdUCed ARTIfICIAL hUMAn SeMen

TO heLP InfeRTILe Men

Scientists claimed to find a way to produce artificial human semen that could help infertile men father their own children. The scientists for the first time grew mouse sperm in a laboratory. For this, they used few germ cells in a laboratory dish. These cells produce semen in testicles. In fact, the scientists grew the sperm by enveloping the germ cells in a special compound called agar jelly to create a similar environment to that found in testicles. The sperm produced thus were healthy and not genetically damaged. The findings of the scientists are published in the latest edition of the Asian Journal of Andrology. how does coconut water form in a coconut?

Coconut water is the endosperm part of the coconut plant. It is the



54



nutritive tissue for the development of embryos in angiosperms and develops as post-fertilisation structure from the primary endosperm nucleus. Three types of endosperm have been recognised: nuclear, cellular, helobial. The coconut endosperm is a nuclear type. In very young coconut fruit, the endosperm is found as a clear fluid in which float numerous nuclei of various sizes. This fluid compactly fills the embryo sac in which the embryo is developing. At a later stage, the suspension shows, in addition to free nuclei, several cells enclosing variable number of nuclei. Gradually these cells and free nuclei start settling at the periphery of the cavity and layers of cellular endosperm start appearing. This forms the coconut meat. This meat is very tender enclosing the fluid content called coconut water. At this stage the nut is called tender coconut. The quantity of the cellular endosperm increases further by the divisions of the cells. In mature coconut the liquid endosperm becomes milky enclosed by the cellular part called kernel and it does not contain free nuclei or cells. The percentages of ariginine, alanine, cystine and serine in the protein are higher than those in cow's milk. At the stage in which the coconut water is consumed as a beverage the concentration of sugar is at its maximum and total solids is less when compared with the water found in nut with kernel. The principal constituent is the Potash, the concentration of which is markedly influenced by potash manuring. The concentration of ascorbic acid ranges from 2.2 to 3.7 mg/100cc. The concentration is high in the water of green nut with soft pulp and gradually diminishes as the nut ripens.

MAnAGInG RhInOCeROS BeeTLe In COCOnUT

Rhinoceros beetle is mainly a pest of coconut and oil palms. Adults damage

palms by boring into the centre of the crown, where they injure the young, growing tissues and feed on the exuded sap. Eggs are laid in manure pits or other organic matter and hatch in 8-12 days. Larvae takes another 82-207 days before entering an 8-13 day non feeding prepupal stage. Pupal stage lasts for 17-28 days. Adults remain in the pupal cell for 17-22 days before emerging and flying to palm crowns to feed. The beetles are active at night and hide in feeding or breeding sites during the day. Mostly mating takes place at the breeding sites. Adults may live for 4-9 months and each female lays 50-100 eggs during her lifetime. Chop and burn decaying logs or break them up and destroy any adult beetles developing inside. Cut stumps as close to the soil surface as possible. A hooked wire can be used to extract and destroy rhinoceros beetle adults feeding in coconut trees. Fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae can be applied in manure pits @ 4 kg/tonnes to control the grubs that feed on the decaying matter Apply mixture of neem seed kernel powder + sand (1:2) @150 g per palm in the base of the 3 inner most leaves in the crown Place phorate 10 G 5 gms mixed with

sand in two inner most leaf axils for 2 times at 6 months intervals. Place three napthalene balls at leaf axil at the top of the crown. Treat the longitudinally split tender coconut stem and green petiole of fronds with fresh toddy and keep them in the garden to attract and trap the beetles. Use pheromone traps with rhinolure at 12/ha for trapping the adults and destroy them Apply 50 kg of FYM or compost or green manure, 1.3 kg urea (560 g N), 2.0 kg super phosphate (320 g ) and 2.0 kg muriate of potash (1,200) g ms in two equal splits. During 2nd, 3rd and 4th year. For nut bearing coconut, root feed with TNAU coconut tonic at 200ml/palm, once in six months. Apply 200 g of borax/palm/year in two splits.

hORned SnAKe dISCOveRed

For the first time, researchers have discovered a new colourful snake which sports horns just above its eyes.The 2.1-feet-long horned snake having a body coloured in striking black and yellow was found in a remote part of Tanzania, East Africa. It's named Matilda's horned viper, or Atheris matildae , after the



55



daughter of Tim Davenport, the Wildlife Conservation Society's Director of Tanzania, DiscoveryNews reported. The researchers, who detailed their finding in journal Zootaxa , said they have no idea why the snake has horns. However, they believe the horns could be helping them protect their eyes, or they might be used in visual displays to attract potential mates. Perhaps they serve a variety of other functions too, the researchers said. Davenport and his colleagues anticipate that the species will be classified as critically endangered and have already established a small captive breeding colony for it.

GeneTICALLy MOdIfIed SILKwORMS CAn SPIn STROnGeR SILK ThAn

SPIdeRS

Scientists in America claimed to have genetically modified silkworms to spin the much stronger silk that spiders produce.Their work could lead to new material for medicine and engineering. Their eventual aim is to produce silk from worms that has the toughness of spider silk.In weight-for-weight terms, spider silk is stronger than steel. The scientists have been trying to reproduce such silk for decades.

hUMAn STeM CeLLS SURvIve In MOnKeyS

wITh PARKInSOn'S

In a major step forward in treating Parkinson's, a Japanese medical team has claimed that dopamine-generating human stem cells survived for six months in a monkey brain affected by the disease. A Japanese medical team yesterday confirmed that dopamine-generating cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) survived for six months in a monkey

brain affected by Parkinson's disease, the Kyodo news agency reported. The first-ever such confirmation for a primate brain marks a step forward in regenerative medicine using iPSCs to treat humans, said the research team including members from the Kyoto University Centre for iPS Cell Research and Application. The team also found the time the monkey spends on making movement increased 10 per cent. People plagued with Parkinson's disease develop such symptoms as shaking, rigidity and slowness of movement as their dopaminergic neurons decline. In the absence of measures to prevent the decline of the dopamine-generating cells, iPSC treatment is expected to be useful against the disease. The team derived dopaminergic neurons from human iPSCs, transplanted them into a monkey brain and confirmed that they survived while generating dopamine in the monkey brain for six months. Mars meteorite found in Morocco

Scientists have claimed that chunks of a meteorite which fell in Morocco last July were from Mars — a rare event which happened for the first time in 50 years. It is the fifth time that such Martian meteorite fall has been reported, an event which has occurred every 50 years. The first was in 1815 in France, second in 1865 in India, then Egypt in 1911 and Nigeria in 1962. The latest fall of the fragments of the Martian meteorite took place

near Foumzgit in Morocco, following a meteorite shower which is believed to have occurred in July 2011. But, the rock was not found on the ground until December, when collectors began speculating it had come from the red planet. Now, a panel of international experts has confirmed that their suspicion is true. In fact, astronomers believe that millions of years ago something large collided with Mars, spraying rock into space. The rocks then began gliding through the solar system until a piece entered Earth's atmosphere, The Daily Telegraph reported. The piece fragmented as it descended and one large piece reached the ground where it broke up into smaller pieces. The event will provide planetary scientists with valuable samples from Mars that no space mission has ever been able to bring back to Earth, say experts.

OUR BRAIn CAn TeLL ReAL fACe fROM IMITATIOnS

Both the right and the left sides of the brain work together to tell a real

face from a facial imitation, says a study co-authored

by an Indian-born scientist. Objects

that resemble faces are

everywhere, but our brains are adept at l o c a t i n g i m a g e s

that look like faces.

However, the normal human

brain is almost never fooled into thinking

such objects actually are



56



human faces. “You can tell that it has some ‘faceness' to it, but on the other hand, you're not misled into believing that it is a genuine face,” says Pawan Sinha, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). On the left side of the brain, the fusiform gyrus, an area long tied with face recognition, calculates how ‘facelike' an image is. The right fusiform gyrus then appears to use that information to make a quick, categorical decision of whether the object is, indeed, a face, the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B reports.

yeAST evOLveS TO MULTICeLLULAR vARIeTy

In 60 dAyS In The LAB

The origin of multicellular life is one of the most important milestones in earth's history. And despite it happening independently nearly two dozen times in the past, very little is known about the way the initial evolution from unicellular to multicellular life had taken place. This is because these transitions occurred some 200 million years ago. Contrary to the general perception that this important transition was challenging, and took a long time to happen, scientists have experimentally proved the ease with which this can take place. They achieved the transition in a yeast species in very short span of time — 60 days. The multicellular yeast showed many key characteristics of a truly many-celled organism. “The first crucial steps in the transition [can take place] remarkably quickly under an appropriate selective condition,” the scientists write in their paper published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Organisms, both unicellular and

multicellular, have to adapt to changing conditions like temperature, pressure, nutrient supply, oxygen content etc to survive. For instance, failure to adapt to changing climatic conditions resulted in the extinction of dinosaurs. In this case, the scientists used gravity as a selection pressure as it was easy to observe, study and replicate in a lab using test tubes. Such a selection pressure is however not seen in nature. They used gravity to select for primitive multicellularity by allowing clusters of unicellular yeast to settle at the bottom. Clustering yeast settles faster than single cells, and bigger clusters settle faster than smaller clusters.

The proof that the clusters were formed by the division of individual cells came through 16 hours of microscopic examination for growth. Cells taken from the clusters proved their hallmark characteristic — each cell giving “rise to a new snowflake-like cluster [cell].” Cells did not divide at random. While cells in the juvenile stage grew rapidly to multiple cells, and hence helped in increasing the size of the cluster, the fully-grown adult stage was marked by division of the matured cells into daughter cells. The presence of both juvenile and adult stages is a mark of true multicellularity. The scientists also investigated the most vital and crucial question that has been dogging science — transition from unicellular to multicellular life. The most important difference between unicellular and multicellular life lies in the size of the daughter cells. While unicellular yeast divides into two daughter cells of similar size as the parent cell, the daughter cells of multicellular yeast “were consistently half the size of their parental clusters [cells].” Apoptosis or programmed cell death (where old cells die after a

point of time) was witnessed. Though apoptosis is seen even in single-celled yeast and other species, the end purpose of apoptosis witnessed in snowflakes was quite different. It was in response to selective pressure — apoptotic cells breaking off from the snowflakes and allowing the rest of the flake to produce greater number of cells within a given time. Bigger clusters settle faster at the bottom and hence become eligible for repeated studies.

heALTh AUThORITIeS In AUSTRALIA deTeCTed

deAdLy dISeASe, MURRAy vALLey enCePhALITIS

Health authorities in Australia are bracing against a possible outbreak of a potentially deadly disease, Murray Valley Encephalitis. The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and was recently found in chicken in Australia's most populous state, New South Wales. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain, usually caused by a viral infection. Although rare, it is potentially life-threatening, and may lead to permanent brain damage or death. Symptoms may include a high fever and headache, accompanied by a stiff neck, vomiting, light sensitivity, and convulsions. It can also infect humans.

dInOSAUR ARChAeOPTeRyx hAd

BLACK feATheRS

Archaeopteryx, a winged dinosaur long believed to be the world's first bird, had black feathers, according to a scientific feat reported on Tuesday. The colour of skin and feathers is one of the big unknowns about dinosaurs, and it is left to the imagination of artists, rather than scientists, to depict how these enigmatic creatures looked. Researchers



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in the United States and Europe pored over a remarkably preserved wing feather in an Archaeopteryx fossil unearthed in a German limestone quarry in 1861. The shape of the feather indicated that it was a ‘covert,' the term for a feather that covers the primary and secondary wing plumage which birds use in flight. Their next goal was to hunt for fossilised melanosomes, or pigment-producing parts of a cell. Two attempts to image the tiny, sausage-shaped components — measuring just a millionth of a metre long and 250 billionths of a metre wide — failed. The breakthrough came with a scanning electron microscope at the Carl Zeiss laboratory in Germany, which revealed hundreds of the structures encased in patches in the feather. “The third time was the charm, and we finally found the keys to unlocking the feather's original colour, hidden in the rock for the past 150 million years,” said Ryan Carney, an evolutionary biologist at Brown University, in the northeastern U.S. state of Rhode Island. statistically matched against the melanosomes of 87 species of living birds, Archaeopteryx's plumed treasure was estimated to be black, with a 95-percent certainty, the scientists say.

Black could have been useful as camouflage, for display or to regulate the body temperature. The alignment of the melanosomes, and tiny overlapping appendages called barbules, are evidence that the wing feather was rigid and durable, rather like the feathers of modern birds. “If Archaeopteryx was flapping or gliding, the presence of melanosomes would have given the feathers additional structural support,” Carney said. “This would have been advantageous during this early evolutionary stage of dinosaur

flight.” The paper is published by the journal Nature Communications . Archaeopteryx has a hallowed place in palaeontology. A fossil of the creature, discovered 150 years ago, inspired the belief that this was the forerunner of all birds. The raven-sized creature had feathered wings and a wishbone as well as the reptilian features of teeth, clawed fingers and a bony tail. The cherished theory was knocked back last July when Chinese fossil-hunter Xing Xu determined that Archaeopteryx was only one of numerous proto-birds, or feathery dinosaurs, which lived around 150 million years ago.

wORLd'S fIRST MAGneTIC SOAP PROdUCed

In a pioneering research, scientists claim to have produced the world's first magnetic soap that is composed of iron-rich salts dissolved in water. A team at

Bristol University says that its soap, which responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution, would calm all concerns over the use of surfactants in oil-spill clean-ups and revolutionise industrial cleaning products. For long,

researchers have been searching for a way to control soaps (or surfactants as they are known in industry) once they are in solution to increase the ability to dissolve oils in water and then remove them from a system.

The Bristol University team produced the magnetic soap by dissolving iron in a range of inert surfactant materials composed of chloride and bromide ions, very similar to those found in everyday mouthwash or fabric conditioner. The addition of the iron creates metallic centres within the soap particles, say the scientists led by Julian Eastoe. To test its properties, the team introduced a magnet to a test tube containing their new soap lying beneath a less dense organic solution, the Angewandte Chemie journal reported. When the magnet was introduced the iron-rich soap overcame both gravity and surface tension between the

water and oil, to levitate through the organic solvent and reach the source of magnetic energy, proving its magnetic properties. Once the surfactant was developed and shown to be magnetic, the scientists took it to Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), the world's flagship centre for neutron science, to investigate the science behind its remarkable property. When surfactants are added to water they are known to form tiny clumps (particles

called micelles). At ILL, the scientists used a technique called “small angle neutron scattering (SANS)” to confirm that it was this clumping of the iron-rich surfactant that brought about its magnetic properties.



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CRICKeT

Ranji TrophyRajasthan coached by R R Jadeja

won its second consecutive Ranji Trophy title by defeating Tamil Nadu at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Tamil Nadu on 23 January 2012. Rajasthan won the 78th Ranji Trophy on the basis of its mammoth 326-run lead in the first innings. Rajasthan declared its second innings at 204 for five at tea on the fifth day. Robin Bist of Rajasthan notched up 92 (185b, 13x4) becoming the only batsman in the Ranji season to cross 1000 runs. The short right-hander became the first man in three seasons to breach the 1000-run

barrier in a Ranji season, joining an elite club that now has 12 members. Bist became the first Rajasthan batsman to aggregate 1,000 runs in a Ranji season. The previous was Hanumant Singh's 869 runs in 1966-67. V A Saxena of Rajasthan was judged Man of the

Match in the 78th Ranji Trophy final. The Rajasthan Cricket Association announced a cash award of Rs 1.31 crore for its triumphant State team. The BCCI also announced a cash prize of Rs 2 crore for the team.Cricketers who scored 1000-plus runs in a Ranji season:

1415 – VVS Laxman (Hyderabad), �1999-2000

1280 - Vijay Bharadwaj (Karnataka), �1998-99

1260 - Wasim Jaffer (Mumbai), �2008-09

1089 – Ajinkya Rahane (Mumbai), �2008-09

1075 - Sridharan Sriram (Tamil �Nadu), 1999-00

1066 – Dheeraj Jadhav (Mahar- �ashtra), 2003-04

1037 – Jacob Martin (Baroda), �1998-99

1034 - Raman Lamba (Delhi), �1996-97



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1034 – Robin Bist (Rajasthan), �2011-12

1033 – Ajay Sharma (Delhi), 1996- �97

1018 - WV Raman (Tamil Nadu), �1988-89

1008 - Rusi Modi (Bombay), 1944-45 �

TennIS

Australian Open The 2012 Australian Open tennis

tournament was played in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia from 16 January to 29 January 2012. 2012 marked the 100th edition of The Australian Open which is the first Grand Slam event of the year. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. The host broadcaster of the event was the Seven Network.Australian Open Men’s final winner: novak djokovic

The 2012 men’s final went past the 2008 Wimbledon final time record, finishing after 5 hours and 53 minutes of play. It was the longest match in the history of the Australian Open, and in fact, the longest ever singles final in the Open Era in Grand Slam history.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was the defending champion in the Auatralian Open and won in the final 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 7–5 against Rafael Nadal of Spani. He thus started the 2012 season as reigning World No. 1 for the first time of his career. It marked the 5th grand slam of his career and his 3rd Australian Open. It also marked the first time that he had defended a grand slam title.Australian Open women’s final winner: victoria Azarenka

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova of Russia to

win first Grand Slam title. She over took Caroline Wozniacki as the number one ranked player on the WTA Tour. She became the latest World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association from 30 January 2012. It was Azarenka's 2nd title of the year and 10th of her career.

Australian Open Men’s doubles winners: Leander Paes (India) and Radek Štěpánek (Czech Republic)

Paes won his first mens doubles title at the Australian Open and in the process completed a long-awaited career Grand Slam in the doubles.

Australian Open women’s doubles winners: Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva (both from Russia)

Australian Open Mixed doubles winners: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) and Horia Tecău (Romania)Chennai Open

Canadian Milos Raonic won the ATP Chennai Open by defeating world number nine Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 7-6 7-6 in the final on 8 January 2012. Milos Raonic was named the best newcomer in 2011 after he rose from 156 to 31 in the rankings. Raonic slammed 35 aces on the way to his second career title in

a rousing clash that lasted three hours and 13 minutes. Tipsarevic had won the opening set it was the first time in the tournament Raonic. Neither player was however able to gain a service break in the entire match, with all three tie-breaks ending 7-4. Raonic wasted two of the four match points he earned in the tie-breaker of the final set before converting the third when Tipsarevic netted a forehand return. Raonic`s biggest weapon was his booming serve. The victory fetched Raonic his second tour title on three final appearances

after the triumph in San Jose. The singles final match

also turned out to be the longest final

in the history of the Chennai Open.

Leander Paes lifted the Chennai

Open doubles title on 8

January 2012. Paes partnered with Janko

Tipsarevic to defeat Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy

Ram 6-4, 6-4 to claim his sixth trophy in the Nungabakkkam Stadium. Paes had won the Chennai Open doubles title in 2011 with his now-estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi. Paes-Tipsarevic split the winners’ prize-money of $21800 besides earning 125 ATP points while Erlich-Ram took home $11480 and 75 points.

fOOTBALL

world's Outstanding footballer Argentina’s Lionel Messi was

awarded the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or on 9 january 2012 in Zurich. He won the award for the third consecutive year



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for the world's outstanding footballer. Messi who plays for club Barcelona won 47.88 per cent votes and finished ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (21.6)%) and Xavi (9.23%). Messi becomes only the second player, after current UEFA president Michel Platini, to win the award for three consecutive years. He joined Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten as the only men to have won the prize thrice. Japanese midfielder Homare Sawa claimed the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or in the women’s category. Japan’s women’s team, known as the Nadeshiko had memorably claimed their maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup with a thrilling performance by defeating the USA on penalties after extra time. Barcelona’s coach Pep Guardiola was named FIFA Coach of the Year. Pep Guardiola was former midfielder of Spain

The winners in other categories are as follows: Coach of the Year (women): Norio Sasaki (Jpn); FIFA Puskas Award: Neymar (Bra); FIFA Presidential Award: Sir Alex Ferguson (Sco); FIFPro XI: Iker Casillas; Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Nemanja Vidic; Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Xavi; Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney.fIfA Award

The FIFA Ballon d’Or was awarded for the second time in January 2012. The award was formed when the Ballon d'Or merged with the FIFA World Player-of-the-Year award in 2010 and is voted for by national team coaches and

captains, as well as a panel of football journalists selected by France

Football magazine. These awards were decided

after a poll in which the captains and head

coaches of the men’s (for the two men’s football awards) and women’s (for the two women’s football awards) national

teams, as well as international media

r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s selected by French

football magazine France Football, voted

for candidates in each of the four categories. Each group’s votes represented one third of the final result.

ARCheRy/ShOOTInG

55th national Shooting Championships

Haryana’s Ajay Mittal won the gold medal at the 55th National Shooting Championships for shotgun on 1 February 2012 by defeating stalwarts like Sodhi and Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the final. Delhi’s Sangram Dahiya finished second, followed by Rathore and Sodhi. Ajay Mittal’s younger brother, Ankur Mittal finished fifth and another Delhi lad, Shayan Masood, sixth.

Ankur Mittal also won the juniors’ competition, with Masood second and Andhra Pradesh’s Asher Noria third.

Ajay Mittals’ father, Ashok, who combined with his sons to win the bronze medal in the team competition for Haryana too, behind winners Delhi and runners- up Punjab.

In the non- Olympic women’s double trap competition, Bihar’s Shreyasi Singh won the gold with a score of 92 out of 120, breaking her own national record of 90. Army shooters Seema and Varsha Tomar won the silver and bronze medals respectively.Shreyasi also pocketed the juniors’ gold ahead of Madhya Pradesh’s Varsha Varman and Uttar Pradesh’s Malika Wig.

SQUASh

SdAT-wSf Under-21 Squash world Cup

Egypt defeated India 2-1 in the final of the SDAT-WSF Under-21 Squash World Cup on 5 February 2012. Marwan El Shorbagy defeated Ravi Dixit 11-4, 1 1 - 7 , 7-11, 11-7 w h i l e K a r i m

A b d e l Gawad bt Ramit Tandon 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8. However Dipika Pallikal manged to



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score a point by defeating Nour El Sherbini 11-7, 4-11, 8-11, 14-12, 11-5. England defeated France 2-0 (Charles Sharpes bt Lucas Serme 14-12, 7-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6; Emily Whitlock bt Cyrielle Peltier 11-5, 11-7, 11-7) to finish third. After Ravi Dixit’s defeat, Dipika Pallikal fought hard to bring India back into contention by winning a five-game marathon against Nour el Sherbini. However, Ramit Tandon’s defeat dealt a blow to India. Tandon, who beat a much higher ranked opponent in the sefi final on 4 January had to do it all over again at the Express Avenue Mall against Gawad, who is placed close to 300 places above him in the world rankings. Gawad finally managed to close the game 11-8 to win the match and the inaugural U-21 World Cup for Egypt.

vOLLeyBALL

60th Senior national volleyball Championship

Kerala men defeated Uttarakhand 25-22, 25-22, 25-13 to win the National title for the fourth time, in the 60th senior National volleyball championship, at the Balbir Juneja Indoor Stadium, Raipur on 11 January 2012. Kerala had last won its men's title by beating Tamil Nadu in 2001 in Raipur. It repeated the feat a decade later after 72-minute final. Uttarakhand had first won the title in 2002. In 2012, lack of bench strength and ageing players led to Uttarakhand's defeat. Serices ranked third ahter defeating Tamil

Nadu. Tom Joseph was judged the Man of the Tournament while Terin Antony emerged Woman of the tournament. The Railway women extended their hegemony by winning the 27th title by defeating Kerala 25-12, 25-14, 25-16in a one-sided final in the women’s category. West Bengal defeated Andhra Pradesh 25-23, 25-13, 25-18 to finish third in the women’s category.

vARIOUS

Mcdonald's extended Sponsorship Agreement

US fast food chain McDonald's in January 2012 extended its global sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee until 2020. McDonald's signed up to sponsor the Olympics for a further eight years till 2020. It essentially means athletes and fans will be offered its burgers and fries in the official restaurants at Games venues until 2020. The value of the new deal is likely to be about $200 million based on what sponsors have paid in the past. McDonald's is the seventh

major company to agree to support the Games until 2020.

McDonald's has been the long-time and valued

Olympic Partner for more than 35 years. McDonald's, an Olympic sponsor since 1976, began its involvement at the 1968 Winter Games when it

flew hamburgers to U.S. athletes in

the French Alpine resort of Grenoble

after they reported being homesick for American

food. It plans to continue its ongoing

commitment not only to help fund the Olympic Games but also to support the Olympic Movement around the world and ultimately the athletes themselves.

The agreement was signed at the world youth Olympic Games in the Austrian city of Innsbruck. The move will help boost McDonald's brand in fast-growing economies, with the 2014 Winter Games to be held in the Russian city of Sochi and the 2016 summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 2018 Winter Games will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The deal is set to expire in 2020 because IOC plans to review its sponsorship programme beyond that date to take account of developments in technology. The IOC received revenues of $957 million from its 11 leading sponsors for the Winter Games in 2010 in Vancouver and the Olympics in London in 2011. Atos Origin, Panasonic and Samsung extended their partnerships until Rio while Coca-Cola, Visa, Omega, Dow, GE and Procter & Gamble signed deals until the 2020 Games. However Taiwan-based computer company Acer, the only leading sponsor that has not so far renewed its sponsorship. Under a long-standing contract, the USOC receives a 20 percent share of global sponsorship revenue and a 12.75 percent share of U.S. broadcast rights deals. Any new formula would go into effect after 2020.Award in Memory of G.v. Raja

According to the draft sports policy of the Kerala Government released on 11 January 2012, a special life-time achievement award, in memory of G.V. Raja, the founder-president of the Kerala State Sports Council is to be instituted. The award is to be instituted to recognise contributions towards the overall development of sport in the State. The current prize-money of Rs. 1 lakh



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given to winner the G.V. Raja award,the highest sporting honour of the State is to be enhanced. The scope of the cash awards now in vogue and given to medal winners of identified competitions at the National level would also be reviewed. A provision for disbursement of pocket

money on need basis to sportspersons attending National camps from the State would be examined. A State Sports Development Fund is to be set up to assist sportspersons nearing international medal winning standards by way of training abroad, engagement of

dedicated specialised coaches and other requirements. The Fund would also be utilised in the running of specialised training centres, academies, Centres for Excellence, the establishment of the proposed State Institute of Sports and identified infrastructure projects.



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GOLden GLOBeS AwARdS

69th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The award ceremony was hosted by British comedian, Ricky Gervais, who hosted the show for te second consecutive year. The Golden Globe Awards are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to recognise excellence in film, television both domestic and foreign. The Artist, the French-made black-and-white silent movie about Hollywood in the '20s, directed by Michel Hazanavicius won three awards at the 69th annual Golden Globes Awards including statues for best comedy or musical and best actor comedy or musical for Jean Dujardin. The Descendants directed by Alexander Payne won for best drama. George Clooney won the Golden Globe in the category of Best actor-drama for his performance in the film- The Descendants. Meryl Streep's turn as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady earned her the best actress drama award and her eighth Golden Globe.

Other acting winners were Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer, and Martin Scorsese earned the directing honor for Hugo. Michelle Williams won for actress in a musical or comedy as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, 52 years after Monroe's win for the same prize at the Globes for Some Like It Hot. Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin won for best animated film, and the Iranian tale A Separation was named the foreign-language winner.

List of Winners of the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards is as follows:

Best Picture: Drama: � The Descendants

Best Actor: Drama: � George Clooney (The Descendants)

� Best Actress: Drama- Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

� Best supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

� Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Screenplay: � Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)

Best Picture: � Comedy or Musical- The Artist

Best Actor: � Comedy or Musical- Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Actress: � Comedy or Musical- Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

Best Director: � Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Best Foreign Language Film: � A Separation (Iran)

Best Animated Film: � The Adventures of Tintin

Best Original Score: � Ludovic Bource, The Artist

PAdMA AwARdS fOR The yeAR 2012

The Padma awards for the year 2012 were announced on the eve of India’s 63rd Republic Day. The President approved 109 awards including one duo case (counted as one) and 14 in the category of Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs/ Posthumous. The Padma Awards 2012 comprise 5 Padma Vibhushan, 27 Padma Bhushan and 77 Padma Shri Awards. There are 19 ladies among

Awards&

Prizes



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the awardees. The late cartoonist Mario Miranda and the late musician Bhupen Hazarika were amongst the five people awarded the Padma Vibhushan. Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi were confirmed for Padma Bhushan along with 25 more awardees. India’s highest civilian awards, Padma Awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan

and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri for

distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. The awards are conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan around March/ April.

The list of winners for Padma Awards 2012 in the three different categories is as follows:

AwARdeeS Of PAdMA ShRI

name discipline State/ domicileShri Vanraj Bhatia Art - Music MaharashtraShri Zia Fariduddin Dagar Art - Music - vocal MaharashtraSmt. Nameirakpam Ibemni Devi Art - Music- Khongjom Parba ManipurShri Ramachandra Subraya Hegde Chittani

Art - Yakshagana dance drama Karnataka

Shri Moti Lal Kemmu Art - Playwright Jammu and KashmirShri Shahid Parvez Khan Art - Instrumental Music-Sitar MaharashtraShri Mohan Lal Kumhar Art - Terracotta RajasthanShri Sakar Khan Manganiar Art - Rajasthani Folk Music Rajasthan Smt. Joy Michael Art - Theatre DelhiDr. Minati Mishra Art - Indian Classical Dance- Odissi. OrissaShri Natesan Muthuswamy Art - Theatre. Tamil NaduSmt. R. Nagarathnamma Art - Theatre KarnatakaShri Kalamandalm Sivan Nambootiri Art - Indian Classical Dance-

KutiyattamKerala

Smt. Yamunabai Waikar Art - Indian Folk Music-Lavani. MaharashtraShri Satish Alekar Art - Playwright MaharashtraPandit Gopal Prasad Dubey Art - Chhau dance and choreography JharkhandShri Ramakant Gundecha #

Shri Umakant Gundecha #Art - Indian Classical Music- Vocal

Art - Indian Classical Music- Vocal

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh

Shri Anup Jalota Art-Indian Classical Music- Vocal Maharashtra

Shri Soman Nair Priyadarsan Art - Cinema- Direction KeralaShri Sunil Janah Art-Photography AssamMs. Laila Tyebji Art-Handicrafts DelhiShri Vijay Sharma Art-Painting Himachal PradeshSmt. Shamshad Begum Social Work ChattisgarhSmt. Reeta Devi Social Work DelhiDr. P.K. Gopal Social Work Tamil Nadu



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Smt. Phoolbasan Bai Yadav Social Work ChattisgarhDr. G. Muniratnam Social Work Andhra PradeshShri Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya Social Work MaharashtraDr. Uma Tuli Social Work DelhiShri Sat Paul Varma Social Work Jammu and KashmirSmt. Binny Yanga Social Work Arunachal Pradesh Shri Yezdi Hirji Malegam Public Affairs Maharashtra Shri Pravin H. Parekh Pubic Affairs Delhi Dr. V. Adimurthy Science and Engineering Kerala Dr. Krishna Lal Chadha Science and Engineering - Agriculture Delhi Prof. Virander Singh Chauhan Science and Engineering Delhi Prof. Rameshwar Nath Koul Bamezai Science and Engineering Jammu and Kashmir Dr. Vijaypal Singh Science and Engineering - Agricultural

ResearchUttar Pradesh

Dr. Lokesh Kumar Singhal Science and Engineering Punjab Dr. Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan Science and Engineering Karnataka Prof. Jagadish Shukla Science and Engineering USAMs. Priya Paul Trade and Industry Delhi Shri Shoji Shiba Trade and Industry Japan Shri Gopinath Pillai Trade and Industry Singapore Shri Arun Hastimal Firodia Trade and Industry Maharashtra Dr. Swati A. Piramal Trade and Industry Maharashtra Prof. Mahdi Hasan Medicine-Anatomy Uttar Pradesh Dr. Viswanathan Mohan Medicine - Diabetology Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Hareendran Nair Medicine - Ayurveda Kerala Dr. Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan

Medicine - Geriatrics Tamil Nadu

Dr. Jitendra Kumar Singh Medicine - Oncology Bihar Dr. Shrinivas S. Vaishya Medicine-Healthcare Daman and DiuDr. Nitya Anand Medicine - Drugs Research Uttar PradeshLate Dr. Jugal Kishore Medicine - Homoeopathy Delhi Dr. Mukesh Batra Medicine-Homeopathy MaharashtraDr. Eberhard Fischer Literature and Education SwitzerlandShri Kedar Gurung Literature and Education SikkimShri Surjit Singh Patar Literature and Education - Poetry PunjabShri Vijay Dutt Shridhar Literature and Education - Journalism Madhya PradeshShri Irwin Allan Sealy Literature and Education UttarakhandMs. Geeta Dharmarajan Literature and Education Delhi Prof. Sachchidanand Sahai Literature and Education Haryana Smt. Pepita Seth Literature and Education Kerala



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Dr. Ralte L. Thanmawia Literature and Education Mizoram Shri Ajeet Bajaj Sports - Skiing Delhi Smt. Jhulan Goswami Sports - Women's Cricket West Bengal Shri Zafar Iqbal Sports-Hockey Uttar Pradesh Shri Devendra Jhajrija Sports - Athletics- Paralympics Rajasthan Shri Limba Ram Sports - Archery Rajasthan Shri Syed Mohammed Arif Sports - Badminton Andhra Pradesh Prof. Ravi Chaturvedi Sports- Commentary Delhi Shri Prabhakar Vaidya Sports-Physical Education Maharashtra Shri T. Venkatapathi Reddiar Others-Horticulture Puducherry Dr. K. (Kota) Ullas Karanth Others-Wildlife Conservation and

Environment Protection Karnataka

Shri K Paddayya Others-Archaeology Maharashtra Shri Swapan Guha Others-Ceramics Rajasthan Dr. Kartikeya V. Sarabhai Others - Environmental Education Gujarat

AwARdeeS Of PAdMA BhUShAn

name discipline State/ domicileSmt. Shabana Azmi Art - Cinema MaharashtraShri Khaled Choudhury Art - Theatre West BengalShri Jatin Das Art - Painting DelhiPandit Buddhadev Das Gupta Art - Instrumental Music - Sarod West BengalShri Dharmendra Singh Deol alias Dharmendra

Art - Cinema Maharashtra

Dr. Trippunithwra Viswanathan Gopalkrishnan

Art - Classical vocal and instrumental music

Tamil Nadu

Ms. Mira Nair Art - Cinema DelhiShri M.S. Gopalakrishnan Art - Instrumental Music-Violin Tamil NaduShri Anish Kapoor Art - Sculpture UKShri Satya Narayan Goenka Social Work MaharashtraDr. (Judge) Patibandla Chandrasekhar Rao

Public Affairs Germany

Shri George Yong-Boon Yeo Public Affairs SingaporeProf. Shashikumar Chitre Science and Engineering MaharashtraDr. M S Raghunathan Science and Engineering MaharashtraShri Subbiah Murugappa Vellayan Trade and Industry Tamil NaduShri Balasubramanian Muthuraman Trade and Industry MaharashtraDr. Suresh H. Advani Medicine - Oncology MaharashtraDr. Noshir H Wadia Medicine-Neurology MaharashtraDr. Devi Prasad Shetty Medicine-Cardiology Karnataka



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Prof. (Dr.) Shantaram Balwant Mujumdar

Literature and Education Maharashtra

Prof. Vidya Dehejia Literature and Education USAProf. Arvind Panagariya Literature and Education USADr. Jose Pereira Literature and Education USADr. Homi K. Bhabha Literature and Education UK Shri N Vittal Civil Service KeralaShri Mata Prasad Civil Service Uttar PradeshShri Ronen Sen Civil Service West Bengal

AwARdeeS Of PAdMA vIBhUShAnname discipline State/ domicileShri K G Subramanyan Art-Painting & Sculpture West BengalLate Shri Mario De Miranda Art-Cartoonist GoaLate (Dr.)Bhupen Hazarika Art- Vocal Music AssamDr. Kantilal Hastimal Sancheti Medicine Orthopedic MaharashtraShri T V Rajeswar Civil Service Delhi

MALLIKARJUn MAnSUR AwARd

Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was presented the Mallikarjun Mansur award in recognition of his achievements on 3 January 2012. He has enthralled audience worldwide with his unique style of playing the instrument with his finger nails. Khan is the first north Indian artiste to have performed in honour of saint composer Thyagaraja at his birth place at Thiruvaiyur in Tamil Nadu. He is also a recipient of many awards like Sangeet Natak academy award, Tansen Award, UNESCO Award, UNICEF National Ambassadorship and International Music Forum Award. The award, instituted by the Karnataka government, carries a cash prize of Rs one lakh and a citation. Vocalist Kishori Amonkar, Pandit Jasraj and Dr Balamuralikrishna were the earlier recipients of the award.

AShOKA ChAKRA

President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil conferred the Ashoka

Chakra on Lt. Navdeep Singh (posthumous) on the occasion of the

63rd Republic Day Parade 2012 in New Delhi. Lt. Navdeep Singh was awarded the Ashoka Chakra for single-handedly eliminating four infiltrating terrorists on 20 August 20 2011. Lieutenant Navdeep Singh was Ghatak Platoon Commander of 15 Maratha Light Infantry deployed in the High Altitude Area near the Line of Control. On receiving information about the infiltration of a group of terrorists he laid an ambush at the appropriate spot. When the terrorists were spotted, the ambush was sprung by the officer himself. An exchange of intense fire ensued. the officer

eliminated three terrorists at close range. On seeing another terrorist approaching their position, he swiftly changed his firing position. While doing so, he got hit by a bullet on his head. Further, displaying utmost bravery and comradeship, he pulled an injured fellow-soldier to safety and kept firing till he became unconscious due to excessive blood loss.

OTheR GALLAnTRy AwARdS

Besides the President also approved the award of three Kirti Chakra. Lt. Col. Kamaldeep Singh (Rajputana Rifles / 18TH Battalion the Rashtriya Rifles), Capt. Ashutosh Kumar (5th Battalion the Rajputana Rifles) and Lt. Sushil Khajuria (Army Service Corps / 18th battalion The Grenadiers) were the three Kirti Chakra awardees. Of the three, Lt. Khajuria was conferred the award posthumously for his gallantry during an encounter with terrorists in the Kupwara region of Jammu and Kashmir.



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Sixteen persons were awarded the Shaurya Chakra, the nation’s third-highest gallantry award in peacetime. While most of the Shaurya Chakra awardees are Armymen, the awardees also include a Jammu and Kashmir Special Police Officer (SPO) Barket Ali, who was conferred the award posthumously.

President Pratibha Patil approved conferring of 368 gallantry awards, including 28 Param Vishisht Seva Medals and 45 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals. The Army’s additional director-general (public information) Maj. Gen. S.L. Narasimhan was awarded an Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for his leadership in relief and rescue efforts in the wake of the Sikkim earthquake in 2010.

AwARd fOR exCeLLenCe In IndIAn fOReIGn SeRvICe

D Bala Venkatesh Verma, Joint Secretary Disarmament in the Ministry of External Affairs was conferred with the first S K Singh Award for excellence in the Indian Foreign Service on 6 January 2012. The award was presented to him by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in recognition of his extradordinary efforts to strengthen India's position during the Indo-US nuclear deal. Senior Indian diplomat D. Bala Venkatesh Varma, a key member of the negotiating team that saw the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal through from the first agreement of July 2005 to the Additional Protocol in 2010. Varma, a 1988 batch officer of the foreign service, is an expert in nuclear matters and is currently posted as Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs) at the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi. Following the adoption of the NSG's decision in September 2008, Verma played a crucial role in ensuring that

the text of an Additional Protocol was finalised to India's satisfaction. Also, Varma's negotiating skills were applied in concluding the India-specific Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.

The award for excellence in the Indian Foreign Service is named after the former foreign secretary and Governor, Shailendra Kumar Singh, a diplomat widely respected within the IFS community for his acumen, professionalism and leadership. Varma was selected as the first recipient of the prestigious award by a top-drawer jury consisting of Vice President Hamid Ansari, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, Ms Gandhi and Congress M.P. Rahul Gandhi.

v. ShAnTARAM LIfe TIMe AChIeveMenT AwARd

Veteran environmental filmmaker Mike Pandey was honoured with the prestigious V. Shantaram Life Time Achievement Award at the Mumbai International Film Festival 2012 on 3 February 2012. The award was presented by Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan. He received the award for his documentaries on wildlife conservation and environment. Mike Pandey is one of India’s foremost wildlife and environmental filmmakers. He hasd won over 300 national and international awards. His list of films include Shores of Silence, The Last Migration, Broken Wings and The Timeless Traveller.

The award carries a citation, a trophy and a cash prize of Rs.5 lakh. It was instituted in 1996 in memory of the legendary filmmaker V. Shantaram. The award is given with an objective to recognise the multi-faceted contributions of an Indian for the documentary film movement.

RAMnATh GOenKA AwARdS fOR exCeLLenCe

In JOURnALISM

Ramnath Goenka Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2012 was held at Taj Palace, New Delhi on 16 January 2012. Vice President of India, Hamid ansari was the graced the occasion as Chief Guest. 30 awards in total were given away for outstanding work done in print and broadcast media in various categories. The Pioneer’s J Gopikrishnan and CNBC-TV18’s Udayan Mukherjee were adjudged Journalist of the Year at the 5th Ramnath Goenka Awards for Excellence in Journalism. At the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 2012, CNN-IBN bagged three prestigious awards in various categories. Journalists Anubha Bhonsle, Preeti Singh and Arijit Sen of CNN-IBN were honoured with the prominent award.

Anubha Bhonsle won the Best Political Reporter award for her show Paisa Power Politics exposing the relationship between those who fight elections and those who fund it. Preeti Singh won Best on the spot Reporter of the year for her coverage of the flood affected areas inside the Karnool district of Andhra Pradesh. Arijit Sen was awarded the Best reporter from North East for his reports on fake encounters in Manipur and the plight of people caught between militants and the state. The Prakash Kardaley Memorial Award for Civic Journalism went to Tripti Lahiri of Tehelka. The Indian Express’ Raghav Ohri bagged the Priya Chandrasekhar Memorial Award for Excellence in Editing, while Daksh Panwar of The Indian Express won the Sanjiv Sinha Memorial Award for Excellence in Editing.



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The award celebrates the values that stand for good journalism: excellence & enterprise, courage & fairness. The awards will cover the entire gamut of Indian media, Print & Broadcast, in English & Indian languages. The Ramnath Goenka foundation was set up in 1992 in the memory of late Ramnath Goenka, founder of The Indian Express, freedom fighter and doyen of Indian journalism, to encourage and propagate high-quality, objective journalism. The Awards aim to celebrate excellence in journalism, recognize courage and commitment and showcase outstanding contributions and individuals every year.

GReen GLOBe AwARd

Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan received a Green Globe for Outstanding Efforts by a Celebrity for his efforts toward a greener future at the fourth edition of the Panasonic Green Globe Foundation Awards on 2 february 2012. He received the award from Hollywood actor and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. The award is conferred to honour the efforts of organisations and individuals fighting climate change through their work in environment preservation and regeneration. The Terminator star, Schwarzenegger was the guest of honour at the event. This was the first time that Arnie, as fans fondly call him, visited India. During his visit Schwarzenegger also attended the day-long Delhi Sustainable Development Summit presided over by the Indian Prime Minister.

PRIde Of IndIA AwARd

Visiting union minister for labour and employment Mallikarjun Kharge was presented with Pride of India award

by the Indian-American community in Washington on 1 February 2012. He was honoured with the award for his over four decades of public service. The award was presented jointly by the Indian American Friendship Council (IAFC) and India Association of North Texas (IANT) at a reception hosted in honour of the visiting union minister, Kharge in Dallas. In his address, Kharge provided an update on various bilateral memoranda on items of mutual interest, such as mining safety, employment, social security and said that India's GDP is poised to grow at a faster pace than most of the nations.

dSC PRIze fOR SOUTh ASIA LITeRATURe

Singapore-based Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka was awarded the DSC Prize for South Asia Literature 2012, at the Jaipur Literature Festival in Rajasthan on 21 January 2012. Karunatilka won $50,000 for his book Chinaman. The novel explores cricket as a metaphor to uncover a lost life and a lost history. The title of the novel, published by Random House, refers to a left-arm unorthodox spinner in cricket, often described as the chinaman. The legend of a Sri Lankan bowler Pradeep Sivanathan Mathew and the sport of cricket form the crux of this book. The jury for the 2012 $ 50,000 prize included renowned literary figures Dr Alastair Niven, Dr Fakrul Alam, Faiza S Khan and Marie Brenner.

The prize was instituted in January 2010 to celebrate writing that highlights the South Asian region, its people, culture and diaspora. Envisioned as a unique and prestigious award, the award recognizes theliterary works of authors across the globe writing on South Asia. DSC Prize for South Asia Literature

2011 was to HM Naqvi for his debut novel Home Boy (HarperCollins India).

InfOSyS PRIze

Six researchers from five science streams were honoured with the Infosys Prize-2011 by the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Bangalore on 9 January 2012. The prize winners include Kalyanmoy Deb, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (engineering and computer science); Imran Siddiqi, scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (life sciences); Kannan Soundarajan, director, Mathematics Research Centre, Stanford University, U.S. (mathematical sciences); Sriram Ramaswamy, Professor, Centre for Condensed Matter Theory, Indian

Institute of Sciences–Bangalore (physical sciences); Raghuram G. Rajan, Charles M. Harper Faculty Fellow at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business (social sciences-economics); and Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi (social sciences-political science and international relations). President of the Board of Trustees of Infosys Science Foundation,



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T.V. Mohandas Pai, announced on the occasion that a new award category in humanities would be introduced from 2012. It would cover philosophy, history, archaeology, linguistics and literary sciences.

The Infosys Prize, into its third year, carries a cash component of Rs. 50 lakh, a gold medallion and a citation. The Infosys Prize is amongst the highest in terms of money given for any award in India.The noted scientists were selected by the Foundation trustees and the eminent jury panels comprising Nobel laureate Amartya Sen for Social Sciences, Shrinivas Kulkarni (physical sciences), Pradeep K. Khosla

(engineering and computer science), S.R. Varadhan (mathematical sciences) and Inder Verma (life sciences). The Foundation is funded by a corpus of Rs.100 crore (Rs.10 billion), contributed by the trustees and an annual grant from the global software major.

MAhATMA GAndhI InTeRnATIOnAL AwARd

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama was presented the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation on 4 January 2011, the fourth day of the ten-day Kalachakra initiations. The grand daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Ila Gandhi, presented

the award, instituted in 2003, to the Dalai Lama at the Kalachakra ground. Ila Gandhi, who is based in South Africa, is chairman of the Gandhi Development Trust that gives the award.

The Dalai Lama was supposed to have received the award in October 2011 as part of a much anticipated visit to South Africa. The visit however had to be called off following a five-week wait for a visa to be issued. Former recipients of the Mahatma Gandhi International Award include Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, South African leader Nelson Mandela and Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere.

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APPOInTed

Siddharth varadarajan N. Ram stepped down as Editor-

in-Chief and Publisher of The Hindu , Business Line , Frontline , and Sportstar. Siddharth Varadarajan succeeded Ram, with effect from 19 January 2012, as Editor of The Hindu responsible for the selection of news under the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act of 1867. D. Sampathkumar, Editor, Business Line; R. Vijaya Sankar, Editor, Frontline and Nirmal Shekar, Editor, Sportstar took over with effect from 19 January 2012, as Editors responsible for the selection of news under the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act of 1867 in these Group publications. K. Balaji, Managing Director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd., the public limited company that brings out The Hindu group of publications succeeded Mr. Ram as Publisher of all our publications.Ratnakar Baral

The Election Commission on 5 January 2012 decided to change the

DGP of Manipur, Y Joykumar Singh after the Commission reviewed election preparations in the state. Singh was then appointed as the Managing Director of Police Housing. The Assembly polls in Manipur are scheduled for 28 January 2012. Governor Gurbachan Singh Jagat following the Election Commission’s (EC) directive replaced DGP Y Joykumar Singh with Ratnakar Baral citing concerns that the top cop was in a position where he could misuse his office during elections. Baral is former ADGP (Intelligence) Manipur. Qureshi claimed that the EC had received intelligence inputs about Singh, who is believed to be extremely close to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi informed that the People’s Democratic Front, an anti-Congress alliance of five political parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had expressed concerns about Singh with the EC. Qureshi also maintained that the transfer was necessary to ensure free and fair elections.

Pankaj Pachauri Senior television journalist

Pankaj Pachauri as was appointed as Communication Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office on 19 January 2012. Pankaj Pachauri who has been given the rank of additional secretary will report to Pulok Chatterjee, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Following his appointment, Harish Khare resigned as media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Before being named as the Communication Advisor, Pachauri was Managing Editor of NDTV India. For the first time a journalist from the electronic media has been put in charge of the government's communications strategy, thereby indicating the increasing importance of 24x7 media. He is to advise the PMO on communications strategies on print, electronic and social media. He will advise on communicating the government’s programmes, policies and achievements to the media and the public at large, particularly using the electronic, print and new and social

In the News



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media. 48-year-old Pachauri had earlier had stints with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London and with India Today. Pachauri has straddled both the print and electronic media with ease.Rita Menon

Former Textiles Secretary, Rita Menon on 3 January 2011 took over as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which organises exhibitions and trade fairs. She succeeded Rajeev Kher, Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, who was officiating as the CMD of the organisation since August 2011. Rita Menon is a 1975 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who retired as Textiles Secretary on 31 December 2011. The government had approved the appointment of Rita Menon on 28 December 2011. She took over as CMD of ITPO for two years with effect from the date of assumption of charge (3 January 2012). ITPO, among other fairs, is known for its annual flagship event India International Trade Fair. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) also approved appointment of Chandra Bhushan Paliwal, another UP cadre IAS officer, as MD of National Cooperative Development Corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture. Paliwal will serve in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.Mahesh Rangarajan

Environmental historian and political commentator Mahesh Rangarajan was selected and appointed as director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, one of the country's top centres for research on modern Indian history. The Delhi High Court had earlier struck down his original appointment on the grounds

of an invalid selection process. Dr. Rangarajan's appointment had been challenged in court by a history professor from Rohtak. Government funded institution, NMML had invited applications rather than advertising the position. The court ruled that the process was in violation of the prescribed procedure and the law and had quashed Dr. Rangarajan's appointment. However while asking NMML to start the appointment process anew, the court stated that the institution was free to re-appoint Dr. Rangarajan to the post as per established procedure if he was found to be the best candidate for the post.vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan

The Union government on 5 January 2012 cleared two key military appointments. Vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan took charge as the 19th Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard. The position of Coast Guard Chief lay vacant since Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra was promoted as the Eastern Naval Command chief in October 2011. Lt-General Sanjeev Chachra was appointed the next Army military secretary. Prior to taking over as the Director-General, Vice Admiral Muralidharan was the Chief of Personnel at the Integrated Headquarters (IHQ), Ministry of Defence. Earlier he had served as the first Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned into the Navy in 1975. During the last three and half decades, he held several significant operational and staff appointments. The Admiral is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and was commissioned

into the Indian Navy on 1 Jan 1975. A Navigation and Direction Specialist, he is also a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Willington.

Lt-General Sanjeev ChachraLt-Gen Chachra is to take over as the

new military secretary when Lt-Gen G M Nair retires on 31 January 2012. The military secretary's post gained some prominence after a previous incumbent Avadhesh Prakash faced a court martial in the infamous Sukna land scam case as also due to the ongoing controversy over Army chief General V K Singh's actual date of birth.

Prof. Parvin Sinclair Noted mathematician and the Pro-

Vice Chancellor, IGNOU Prof. Parvin Sinclair was appointed the Director of National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) on 25 December 2011. Parvin will hold the post for five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. A Ph. .D in Mathematics from the University of Mumbai , Prof. Parvin Sinclair has worked in the field the Educational Research and Training since 1979. Parvin Sinclair is currently a Professor with the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Prof parvin Sinclair is known for her work in the field of mathematics and designing of course material to suit learners of the subject on the distance mode. With a MSc in Mathematics from IIT-Delhi, Sinclair worked with the TIFR, Mumbai, till 1987 after which she joined the IGNOU. She has been engaged in research work on ways of communicating mathematics to children of all age groups. Sinclair was also Chief Advisor, Mathematics Syllabus Design Committee, NCERT, in 2005 and 2006.



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deATh

Raj Kanwar Bollywood producer-director Raj

Kanwar passed away in Singapore on 3 February 2012 following kidney transplant complications. Raj Kanwar directed Bollywood films like Deewana, Laadla, Daag: The Fire, Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, Andaaz and many other films. The director had launched actors Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta. After dabbling with theatre in Delhi, Kanwar came to Mumbai to try his luck in Bollywood. He assisted Sunil Hingorani (Ram Avatar) and Raj Kumar Santoshi (Ghayal), and established a rapport with its stars Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor and Sridevi whom he later directed in his future films. He made his directorial debut with the Rishi Kapoor-Divya Bharati film Deewana (1992), which also marked Shah Rukh Khan's debut. The film went on to become a huge hit. His last directorial venture, Sadiyaan, which also launched Shatrughan Sinha's son Luv as an actor however did not do much business.nikhat Kazmi

Nikhat Kazmi, noted film critic died on 20 January 2012 at 53. She had been suffering from s breast cancer. Kazmi wrote for nearly 25years. She reviewed films for the newspaper Times of India. She had also written books on Bollywood - Ire in the Soul: Bollywood's Angry Years (1996) and The Dream Merchants of Bollywood (1998). She also spearheaded compilations like the Times Guide to Hollywood Blockbusters and Times Movie Guide (2007). She had also written a play called If Shakespeare was a gun. Speaking the language of the young, Kazmi made Hinglish (language that is a mix of two languages Hindi & English spoken by youngsters) the

preferred medium of communication in film reviews. Herlanguage made her an instant favourite of the youth andher insight was highly regarded by filmmakers. She was unsparing in her criticism but also never found wanting in a word of appreciation. She started the much-debated practice of giving stars to films. The last few films Nikhat reviewed were Sadda Adda, Chaalis Chauraasi, Ghost and Hollywood flick Blitz. Nikhat also had a blog called Pulp Friction on the TOI website.M O h farook

Kerala governor and former Puducherry chief minister and MP, M O H Farook died in Chennai on 26 January 2012. veteran Congress leader, Farook was born in Karaikal on 6 September 1937. He had participated in the struggle for liberation of Pondicherry as a student, during 1953-54 when Pondicherry was a French colony and served as a member of the Central Haj Committee in Mumbai from 1975 to 2000. Farook was a three-time chief minister of Puducherry. He served from 9 April 9 1967 to 6 March 1968; from 17 March 1969, to 3 January 1974 and from 1985 to 1990. He also served as the speaker of the Puducherry legislative assembly. He was thrice elected to the Lok Sabha from Puducherry in 1991, 1996 and 1999 and served as a Union minister of state for civil aviation and tourism between June 1991 and December 1992 in the P.V. Narasimha Rao Government. He was appointed as the Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in September 2004. He was appointed Jharkhand Governor in 2010. He was sworn in as the 19th Governor of Kerala in September 2011. Farook, a seasoned politician and a senior Congressman was an able administrator, who had the vision to develop Puducherry to

its full potential. He was the architect of modern Puducherry. Farook had the distinction of being the youngest Speaker of the Puducherry Assembly in the late 1960s.C. Jagannatha Rao

Senior congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh C. Jagannatha Rao died of a heart attack in Secunderabad on 23 January 2012. Jagannatha Rao served as deputy Chief Minister in the Cabinet of Bhavanam Venkatram in 1982. He was member of the Legislative Council for one term and represented Narsapur Assembly constituency in Medak district three times. He was Excise Minister earlier in the Cabinet of T. Anjaiah in 1980. He was also president of Narsapur samithi in 1961. Jagannatha Rao was in the forefront of separate Telangana agitation in 1969.Etta James

The influential 1950s rhythm-and-blues singer, Etta James, best known for her show-stopping hit At Last, died on 20 January 2012 from complications of leukemia. James died in her home town of Riverside, California, Los Angeles. Etta James was born as Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on 25 January 1938. By 1954, she recorded Roll With Me Henry with two other girls in a trio called The Peaches. The group was discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis, and later their song was renamed The Wallflower. The Wallflower topped R&B charts in 1955. In the 1960s, James signed with Chicago’s legendary Chess Records label and sang songs like At Last and Trust in Me that were backed by orchestras. James’ hit the R&B charts with 30 singles, and placed nine of those songs in pop music’s top 40. Among fellow rock icons, James’ career was legendary. With songs like The



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Wallflower and Good Rockin’ Daddy, the three-time Grammy winner was figure to reckon with in the early days of rock ‘n’ roll. Her signature song, the 1961 ballad At Last, proved her mastery of the blues.

Throughout her long career she diversified into mainstream blues, soul and R&B. James’ last album, The Dreamer, was released in 2011. The three time Grammy-award winning R&B singer struggled with obesity and heroin addiction, ran a hot-check scheme and had troubled relationships with men, including some gangstersShe kept gaining weight and in 2003 she underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost more than 200 pounds. James won her first Grammy in 1995 for her album, Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday. She also won Grammys in 2003 and 2005, as well as a lifetime achievement award in 2003 from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Grammys. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.A K damodaran

Freedom fighter and one of the doyens of Indian diplomacy, Ambassador A K Damodaran passed away in New Delhi on 31 January 2012. Born in Tripunithura, Kerala in 1921, Damodaran was an IFS officer of the 1953 batch. Damodaran had joined the foreign service in 1953 after playing an active role in the freedom struggle and a brief two-year stint at the Delhi University where he taught English. He practiced the diplomacy of realpolitik without surrendering national interests in the immediate years after Independence and was one of the last surviving diplomats of the Nehruvian era. He was one of the towering personalities of free India’s diplomatic

community. Damodaran held several key posts around the world. He was one of the architects of the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty. He also served in Sri Lanka and China, and was India’s envoy to Italy and Sweden. A committed Nehruvite, Damodaran was one of those Indian diplomats, who was trained alongside their Pakistani counterparts at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston before taking up full-fledged diplomatic postings.Sukumar Azhikode

Sukumar Azhikode, award-winning Malayalam writer, scholar and one of the most influential Gandhian intellectual in Kerala, died on 24 January 2012. As an intellectual giant, humanist, a cultural guru, a committed secularist, a champion of human rights and a sentinel of social values, he gave expression to his ideals through more than 35 books, thousands of articles and countless orations.Born in Azhikode village in Kannur district in 1926, he graduated in commerce and later did Masters in Malayalam literature. Well versed in Sanskrit and classical literature, Azhikode was also known for his deep understanding of Western philosophy and literature. His work ranged from Indian philosophy, Vedas and Upanishads to the subtly nuanced pure literary criticism. His writings on poetry was geared towards sociological and cultural criticism. Professor Azhikode's most noted work was Tatvamasi (1984). Tatvamasi is an intellectual exploration of the eternal wisdom of the Vedas and Upanishads. Azhikode’s major critical works like Asante SeethaKavyam, a detailed textual study of poet Kumaran Asan’s Chinthavishtayaya Seetha (Seetha immersed in thought) are considered as classics of modern Malayalam literature. He addressed

his concerns through progressive literature (Purogamanasahityavum Mattum), Gandhism (Mahatmavinte Margam), Kumaran Asan (Aasaante Seethaakavyam), the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru (Guruvinte Dukham) and literary aesthetics (Sankara Kurup Vimarshikkapedunnu).homai vyarawala

India’s first woman photo-journalist Homai Vyarawala died on 15 January 2012 in Vadodara, Gujarat. She was the only professional woman photojournalist between 1939 and 1970. Homai Vyarawalla was commonly known by her pseudonym Dalda 13.

Born at Navsari in south Gujarat in a Parsi family in December 1913, Vyarawala had her education in Mumbai and moved to Delhi in 1942. She had studied at the Mumbai University and the J J School of Arts. She shot to national fame as a woman photo-journalist who photographed events leading to Independence as an employee of the British Information Services. Vyarawala was in the profession for nearly four decades before retiring soon after her husband's death and settled down in Vadodara since 1973. Some of the most momentous political events in India were captured by her camera in Delhi during 1941-1970, which include unique image of the Dalai Lama crossing over into the Indian territory in 1959, captured by her lens, are of immense historical significance. She also captured the first flag-hoisting ceremony at the Red Fort on August 16 1947, the departure of Lord Mountbatten from India and the funerals of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri. The former Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of her favourite subjects. She was awarded Padma Vibhushan during the



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Republic day felicitations in 2011 in recognition of her contribution as a photo-journalist.Salma Mumtaz

Pakistani film actress Salma Mumtaz died in Lahore on22 January 2012 after battling diabetes for several years.

Mumtaz was born in Jallandhar in 1926. Her family moved to Pakistan after the Partition in 1947. She made her debut in films in the 1960s with the Urdu film Neelofar. An accomplished dancer, she worked in some 300 movies, mostly in Punjabi. Among her popular movies were Maan Puttar, Puttar Dai Piyar, Sheran Di Jori, Mauj Mela, Dacchi and Heer Ranjha. She also directed and produced number of movies.Anthony Prabhu Gonsalves

Anthony Prabhu Gonsalves, India's first music 'arranger died on 18 January 2012. Born in Majorda, in Goa, Anthony Gonsalves' love for music led him to merge Goan melody with Hindustani music. He found his first job in the group of the composer Naushad in 1943. His carrer began with the Bombay Talkies. He taught R.D. Burman and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma-( member of the Laxmikant Pyarelal team) and has worked with most of the legendary composers of the 1950s and 1960s. He worked alongside musicians which include Anil Bishwas, Gulam Haidar, Shyam Sundar, Naushad, Sachin Dev Burman, Ghulam Mohammed, Salil Chowdhary and Madan Mohan. He founded a 110-musician strong Indian Symphony Orchestra featuring Lata Mangueshkar and Manna Dey as soloists in 1958. The orchestra was successfully premiered in the quadrangle of St Xavier’s College in erstwhile south Bombay. His memorable

music arrangements in Indian movies include: Dholak (1950), Pehli Nazar (1945),Mahal (1949) In 1965, he quit the film industry and went to the United States and became a member of the American Society of Composers, Publishers and Authors. Upon his return to India he settled in his ancestral village of Majorda in Goa. The famous song My name is Anthony Gonsalves, from the film 'Amar Akbar Anthony' was Pyarelal's tribute to Gonsalves. During the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2010, a documentary titled Anthony Gonsalves: The Music Legend based on his life and works won the Special Jury Award.Mohd Akram

Former Delhi state footballer Mohd Akram passed away in New Delhi on 3 January 2012. He had started playing in the Delhi Senior Division league from leading City Football Club and was a prominent figure in Delhi league from 1960 to 1980. Akram was one was one of the finest defenders Delhi has ever produced. He had started his football career with walled - city famous Anglo Arabic School in 1955. He did his graduation from erstwhile Delhi College (now known as Dr.Zakir Hussain College) in 1958. He started playing in prestigious Delhi Senior Division league from leading City Football Club and was a prominent figure in Delhi League from 1960 to1980. He represented his club in Durand Cup, Rovers Cup, IFA Shield, Stafford Cup. He also represented Delhi State in the Senior National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy. He retired from his department Delhi Customs as Assistant Commissioner in 2001. His contemporaries include Sujat Ashraf, Mohd. Aslam, Manzoor Ahmed, Mohd. Yakub, Taffiq, Lufet Ali, Mohd. Mohammed, Aziz Qureshi,

Pran, Madan Abdul Aziz, Syed Nasir Ali etc.

ACCUSed/ReSIGned/COnTROveRSy

Santosh hegdeThe Karnataka High Court on

Wednesday ordered issue of notice to the former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde as well as editors, printers and publishers of 11 newspapers on an appeal filed by IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar. Mr. Nimbalkar had challenged the order of city civil court, which had dismissed his suit claiming damages from Mr. Hegde for giving “incorrect” statements to the media. Justice Anand Byrareddy passed the order. The VIII Additional City Civil Judge, in his order on June 28, 2010, had rejected Mr. Nimbalkar's suit while holding that it was frivolous and imposed costs of Rs. 3,000 on him.

In his suit, the officer had said that Mr. Hegde held a press conference on March 18, 2009, after the Lokayukta police conducted raids on the properties of Mr. Nimbalkar and other public servants, on allegations of possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. At the press conference, Mr. Hegde gave “incorrect” statement about Mr. Nimbalkar, it was claimed in the suit. The Lokayukta neither had jurisdiction over investigation taken up under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Lokayukta police, nor did he have the power to disclose information collected during the investigation, the officer said.

He claimed Re. 1 as damage from Mr. Hegde for making statements that affected the officer's reputation. However, the city civil court did not accept these contentions and came to the conclusion that Mr. Nimbalkar filed



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the suit to gain “cheap publicity” in an attempt to draw attention away from the serious allegations made in the criminal case against him after the raids.harish Khare

Harish Khare resigned as media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 January 2012 following the appointment of television journalist Pankaj Pachauri as Communication Advisor in the PMO. Pankaj Pachauri will report to Pulok Chatterjee, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Pachauri was given the rank of additional secretary while Khare enjoyed the rank of special secretary. Khare (65) had replaced Sanjaya Baru in June 2009 soon after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came to power for the second term. As media advisor, Khare held the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. Khare who completed his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in the United States was senior Associate Editor and Chief of Bureau with The Hindu in New Delhi before joining the PMO in 2009. He had also served as Resident Editor of Times of India in Ahmedabad.Ilker Basbug

Turkey's former Army chief Ilker Basbug was arrested on 6 January 2012 over an alleged attempt on part of the chief to topple the Islamist-rooted government in the country. Ilker Basbug, the 26th chief of staff of the Turkish republic was placed in preventive detention for setting up and leading a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government. General Basbug, who served as Army chief from 2008 to 2010, was sent to a prison at Istanbul's Silivri prison. Basbug is the first such high-ranking military commander to be arrested as a suspect

since a former chief of staff in the 1960s. General Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the senior most officer to be held in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network that is accused of plotting to topple Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Tensions between Turkey's fiercely secularist military and Erdogan's government have been building for years. Currently one-tenth of the Generals are in custody over the alleged coup plots. The military, which considers itself as the guardian of secularism in modern-day Turkey and currently boasts a force of 515000 troops, carried out three coups in the past- 1960, 1971 and 1980. The military had ousted a coalition government led by an Islamist Prime Minister in 1997.

hOnOUR

Ricky Ponting Senior Australian batsman Ricky

Ponting was honoured with Austrlia’s highest civil honour along with a host of sportspersons of international repute. The former skipper was appointed an officer (AO) in the general division of

the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the sport of cricket as a leading player, and to the community through the establishment of the Ponting Foundation. In ongoing test against India, struck a fluent double century against India on the second day of the fourth Test at Adelaide, Australia (January 2012).

Ponting scored two centuries in his past three Test matches against India. In 2008, Ponting and his wife Rianna formed the Ponting Foundation to help cancer patients. Rugby players Stirling Mortlock and George Smith, teenage sailor Jessica Watson and bowls great Steve Glasson were also appointed Officers of the Order of Australia for their services to the sport.Sheela Gowda

Bangalore artist Sheela Gowda, who uses unconventional materials like cow dung, ash and hair to make sculptures was shortlisted for UK’s biggest contemporary art prize, the 40000 pounds Artes Mundi. Gowda is among seven artists chosen from over 750 nominations from around 90 countries.

Gowda started as a painter, but began making sculpture in response to events like Bombay riots and inequalities in India’s growth story. One of Gowda’s most well-known works is an ash sculpture titled Collateral which was made by burning incense on mesh frames to produce a landscape that looks ravaged by war. A piece she created for the 2009 Venice Biennale was made with hair collected from Tirupati. Her sculptures and installations combines formal language of western sculptures with an exploration of how materials can make specific reference to social and cultural context of India.



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Laura dekker Dutch teenager Laura Dekker on 21

January 2012 became the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world.

The 16-year-old Dekker completed her solo round-the-world journey when she sailed into harbour on the Caribbean island of St Martin, which is shared by Netherlands and France. Dekker, who left the island on 20January 2011 surpassed the previous record by eight months. Dekker turns 17 on 20 September 20 and she had to complete her journey before September 16 to beat the record for the youngest sailor to make an unassisted world tour. Dekker had to fight the Dutch courts, who at first blocked plans when she was just 14. The court ordered her placed in the care of welfare officers on the grounds that she was too young to guarantee her safety at sea. She had then run away to St Martin, and police had to escort her back. She finally won her court battle with Dutch child welfare authorities in July 2010 and set sail, originally from Gibraltar on 21 August 21 2010 in her yacht Guppy. However, a change of her planned course led her to make the starting point from her trip St Martin instead. However, the 27,000-nautical mile feat will not be recognised by Guinness World Records because the youngest solo sailor category was scrapped after after a series of court cases brought by the Dutch authorities to try to prevent Dekker setting off at 13 and at 14.

The previous record holder was Australian Jessica Watson, who achieved the feat in May 2010, three days before she turned 17.hema Malini

Veteran Bollywood actress Hema Malini was named the person of the year

by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA named her the Person of the Year for raising her voice to oppose cruelty to animals and her staunch commitment to a vegetarian diet. The Dream Girl on behalf of PETA had recently appealed to the minister of Environment and Forests to take immediate steps to end the cruel tradition of jallikattu. Jallikattu is a sport event in Tamil Nadu in which terrified bulls are kicked, punched, jumped on, dragged to the ground and otherwise tormented. In response to her plea, the Ministry issued a notification in The Gazette of India stating that bulls could no longer be used as performing animals. Hemaji has the determination to effect positive social changes that PETA India stands for. She has used her prestige time and again to speak up for all the voiceless animals whose abuse and oppression might otherwise go unnoticed.

COMMITTee/COMMISSIOn/COnfeRenCe

Review Committee on the delhi School education Act and Rules 1973

The Review Committee on the Delhi School Education Act and Rules 1973 (DSEAR–73) submitted its report to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on 30 January 2012. The committee was chaired by former Delhi Chief Secretary Shailja Chandra. The other members of the committee were Abha Joshi and Manish Kumar Gaur, a legal expert. The committee consulted a wide range of stake holders and finalised its recommendations in three volumes after taking into account the views presented by a large number of persons associated with the field of school education in Delhi. The

committee’s report is aimed atbringing about purposeful amendments to the Act and related rules. The committee, constituted in April 2011 was mandated to examine all issues related to DSEAR-73. It had to study the difficulties being faced because of the new circumstances that emerged after implementation of the Delhi School Education Act nearly 40 years ago. It was entrusted with the responsibility to suggest a set of steps to protect the interests of parents and teachers and role of the school management. It suggested a new concept of conducting school inspections with the primary focus being on the learning outcomes of children.world future energy Summit held in Abu dhabi

The fifth edition of the World Future Energy Summit was held in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi from 16 to 19 January 2012. The four-day long summit brought together more than 60 top leaders from 50 countries to discuss global issues related to energy policies and the challenges. The theme of this year’s World Future Energy Summit was - Sustainable Energy for All. The summit underlined the need to harness the alternative sources like solar, wind , small hydro energy, tidal energy etc.GOPIO annual conference in Jaipur

The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) is scheduled to meet here this coming Friday on the eve of the commencement of the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2012 conclave. The event, which will have GOPIO Annual Conference and Community Service Awards (CSA) Banquet and its general council meetings, will be addressed by Rajasthan Governor Shivraj Patil and Chief



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Minister Ashok Gehlot. GOPIO annual conference coordinator Munish Gupta said seven persons will be felicitated with community service awards at the annual banquet. A special award would be conferred on Shipping and Transport Secretary and former Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs Secretary K. Mohandas for his services to the Indian diaspora. As the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs Secretary, Mr. Mohandas travelled to many countries with large Non-Resident Indians/People of Indian Origin population to reach out to the overseas Indian communities. During his term he initiated the opening of Overseas Indian Facilitation Center (OIFC), India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians and Global Indian Network of Knowledge (Global INK). “When MOIA initiated the Kolkata project on the request of GOPIO as a memorial for the PIOs who migrated one century ago from India, Mr. Mohandas helped us to get the concept cleared by his Ministry,” Mr. Gupta noted.

This year's award recipients are: Faisal Kottikollon (Bahrain), Raghunath Manet (France), Ved Prakash Nanda (United States), Rami Ranger (United Kingdom), Ajeet Singhvi (United States), Datuk A. Vaithilingam (Malaysia) and Hendry H. Wickramasinghe (Sri Lanka). Mr. Kottikollon is the founder president and CEO of Emirates Techno Casting Synergy. A visionary industrialist and philanthropist, he is a person widely respected for his business acumen and compassion for the underprivileged. He is the founder-chairman of UAE-based KEF Holdings.

Mr. Manet is a prominent Indian classic dancer and teacher with exemplary contribution to social and humanitarian activities that include active collaboration with UNESCO for

promotion of art and Indian culture worldwide. Prof. Nanda is the director of the International Legal Studies Program at the University of Denver and an internationally renowned jurist. He is the recipient of the 2004 Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award; the 1997 United Nations Association Human Rights Award; and the 1990 World Legal Scholar award. Dr. Ranger, is very successful businessman with recognition from the Queen five times — four times for business (Sun Mark Ltd) and once personally for community service. Dr. Singhvi, the immediate past president of American Association of Physicians of India Origin (AAPI), worked for over 30 years towards better understanding between people of Indian and United States. Mr. Vaithilingam is a dedicated national leader of NGOs for social service and community development in Malaysia. He is recognised as a righteous spokesperson for the advancement of inter-faith advocacy and its role in fostering harmony within the multi-religious communities of Malaysia. Mr. Wickramasinghe, the Secretary/Consultant at the Office of Praba Ganesan MP, participated in the peace process activities in Sri Lanka at the grass root level, representing Indian origin Tamils.15th world Sanskrit Conference

Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and International Asociation of Sanskrit Studies jointly organised the 15th World Sanskrit conference from 5 to 10 January 2012 at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. An announcement was made during the 14th World Sanskrit conference held in Kyoto, Japan tha the 15th conference would be held by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in new Delhi. The six-day event was attended by scholars and delegates from 32 countries.

There was deliberation on topics such as poetry, drama and aesthetics, scientific literature, Buddhist studies, Jain studies, Sanskrit and regional languages and literatures and Vedas. The 15 World Sanskrit Conference operated in 18 thematic sections (with six sessions running concurrently) chaired by the conveners specializing in their respective fields. The proceedings of the conference included reading of papers in Sanskrit Language under different heads ranging between the Vedas, linguistics, epics and puranas, poetry, drama and aesthetics, history of religion, Pundit Parishad etc.

World Sanskrit Conference is held every three years to promote the language that is one of the earliest known languages to the civilization. Sanskrit influenced several of other Indian languages and is a language that contains in its words most of the written history of India. The World Sanskrit Conference aims at promoting and revering the Sanskrit language and to familiarize Indians and the rest of the world with the beauty of the it. The aims of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies, through its regular series of World Sanskrit Conferences, are to gather together scholars in Sanskrit and related disciplines from all parts of the world and facilitate



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the establishment of closer contacts between specialists in classical Indian Studies.

The Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan is a Deemed University that functions under Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. It is an apex body for propagation and development of Sanskrit learning in the country through teaching, research, publications, collections and preservation of Sanskrit Manuscripts, development of curriculum for traditional Sanskrit teaching. Currently, Sansthan is the largest and the only multi campus Sanskrit University all over the world.first international grains conference

Aiming to open up new challenges and opportunities towards improving the quality, safety and nutritional value of grain-based foods, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has teamed up with the Vienna, Austria-based International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC) to conduct the first ever ICC India International Grains Conference. With the theme “Developments in grain science and technology to ensure high quality, safe and healthy grain-based foods,” the conference brought together grain scientists and technologists, breeders, millers, bakers, cereal and grain food processors, suppliers and traders to discuss the quality, safety and nutritional value of grain and foods made from cereals, with specific reference to the needs of India and the Indian subcontinent.

“The demand for grains is growing as a number of major global issues continue to impact the world's food security,” says ICRISAT Director

General William D Dar. He pointed out that grain science and technology has become vital in addressing major concerns such as minimizing grain post-harvest losses, providing people access to quality and safe food, fighting hunger and malnutrition, and improving livelihoods of resource-poor households in the semi-arid tropics. ICC Secretary General and CEO Mr. Roland E Poms, said that while focussing on the Indian context, the program is also globally relevant as it covers such areas as crop improvement, storage, and nutrition processing and analysis for all major cereal grains and products. The NutriPlus Knowledge (NPK) Program of the Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) of ICRISAT is coordinated the event. During the conference, renowned speakers from international and national research institutes, multinational and domestic food companies, entrepreneurs, and food research and consultancy organizations shared knowledge and information on grain and food quality. An expert panel discussion followed and a technical trade exhibition, and a poster paper program was also presented.

BOOKS

when Loss is Gain Writer/diplomat Pavan K. Varma's

new book, When Loss is Gain, set in contemporary India and in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, was launched in the New Delhi by Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, the Queen Mother of Bhutan in January 2012. After thelaunch, passages from the book was read by columnist Suhel Seth and theatre personality Lushin Dubey. The book also marked the launch of Rupa Publications’ new premium hardcover

imprint, Rain Tree.When Loss Is Gain, is a powerful

story dealing with life and death, loss and gain, happiness and fulfilment, the physical and the spiritual, the rational and the inexplicable. The book stresses on perennial dialogue between dukkha or sorrow, the key word in Buddhism, and ananda or joy, which animates most of Hindu philosophy. It is set in contemporary India and in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The protagonist Anand is wrongly diagnosed with cancer. He quits his high-power job and loses himself in a Bhutanese retreat. The protagonist of Varma’s novel Anand is determined to make most of his second chance after being diagnosed with cancer. He quits his high-profile job and deliberately loses himself in the myriad simple joys of life for which he never had the time. Varma’s other books include- Ghalib: The Man, The Times, Krishna: The Playful Divine,The Great Indian Middle Class.

He has also translated into English the poetry of Gulzar, Kaifi Azmi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.dream to destiny

TiE Chennai (The Indus Entrepreneurs) a non-profit organisation, dedicated to promote entrepreneurship in January 2012 launched a book Dream to destiny — the driving spirit of Chennai's entrepreneurs in January 2012 in Chennai. The book showcased 35 entrepreneurs of Chennai such as Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala-Rural Technology Business Incubator, IIT Madras, Saundarya Rajesh-Avatar, Ranjini Manian-Global Adjustments, Raghupathy BG-BGR Energy Systems, etc. The foreword of the book is written by Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman & Managing Director, TVS Capital



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Funds Ltd. The coffee table book was launched by G. Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director of United India Insurance.

The first copy of the book was presented to V. T. Bharadwaj, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital. The success stories of these entrepreneurs are an inspiration. The stories published in here will motivate entrepreneurs and professionals to embrace a positive attitude and entrepreneurial mindset to build a better nation. TiE Chennai is a global non-profit organization that helps budding entrepreneurs by enabling advice, guidance and assistance from successful and experienced entrepreneurs and professionals. Founded in Silicon Valley in 1992 by successful entrepreneurs and professionals with roots in the Indus region, TiE has 57 Chapters across 14 countries, spread across 5 continents.

The TiE ecosystem comprises 13000 members and over 2500 charter members, who are top entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, lawyers and management professionals who have excelled in their chosen field.

vARIOUS

Kamla Persad Bissessar visited India

Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago Kamla Persad Bissessar visited India from 5 January 2012 to 14 January 2012. She was the chief guest during the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas held in Jaipur on 7-9 January 2012. The visit was the first one by any Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister in nearly 15 years. The visit provided an opportunity to further consolidate and expand the mutually beneficial relations between the two friendly countries.

Resident Identity Cards at Porthrapur village

The first batch of RICs was launched here. The home ministry of India launched the first batch of RICs (Resident Identity Cards) at Porthrapur village in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on 21 January 2012. The RIC cards were distributed to all persons above the age of 18 residing in the nine maritime states and four union territories under the National Population Register (NPR) scheme. The NPR scheme is aimed to provide valid identity to all people in these areas to strengthen the security along the country's coastline.India Sixth most Innovative Country in Ge's Second Annual Global Innovation Barometer

India was ranked the sixth most innovative country in the world in multinational conglomerate GE's second Annual Global Innovation Barometer published on 18 January 2012. The report is based on a survey of 2800 senior business executives in 22 countries including Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan. US topped the list. The survey identified the top enablers for innovation in the country as talent (creative talent and people with technical expertise), financial support from public authorities and long-term support from investors. As per the survey, in terms of sectors, energy, followed by healthcare, telecommunication and FMCG, were the areas with the most innovation-driven growth potential. The report indicated a balanced' perception of the environment for innovation in the country. The respondents were observed to be more satisfied with private investment and government support for innovation. 36 per cent of the Indian respondents in

the survey expected large business to drive most of the innovation over the next decade compared to 27 per cent in an earlier survey. 35 per cent of the Indian respondents believed small and medium enterprises would be the most innovative.A resounding 83 per cent of the Indian respondents believed that innovation must meet local market requirements.5th Century A.d. Shiva Temple discovered

Amateur archaeologist discovered the remains of a Shiva temple supposed to have been built in the 5th Century A.D. during the Gupta period in dense forests 35 km away from Bundi district town in Rajasthan. The temple has a Shivalingam with the face of Lord Shiva engraved on it. The temple is believed to belong to the era when the concept of installing statues of deities in temples was introduced. The five-foot long and two-foot thick Shivalingam is reportedly the third of its kind from the Gupta era found in India so far. Similar statues were earlier discovered at Udaigiri in Vidisha and Bhumra in Satna district of neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. The Shivalingam is built of white sandstone, has embellishments like earrings and ornaments with Lord Shiva's face. The sanctum where it was installed is encircled with hundreds of undamaged and broken bricks. In the local parlance, this statue is called Mukhling. There are traces of a covered processional path in the temple for circumambulation, which formed part of the worship ritual. A methodical study of the Bhimtal temple could provide important clues to various dimensions of early Hindu architecture in ancient India. The temple, found near Bhimtal village include the remnants of a square sanctum and pillared porch. Built with bricks, the temple makes a



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significant addition to the handful of sites in the country where the remains of places of worship from the Gupta era have been unearthed.Un Resource Centre for the north-east was set up at Guwahati

United Nations Resource Centre was set up here. In Assam, a United Nations Resource Centre for the North-East was set up at Guwahati on 2 January 2012. The centre happens to be the first of its kind in the country and third in Asia region. The centre was formally inaugurated by the State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.Protests in Guatemala

The protests against domestic violence took place here. Guatemala is in Central America Around 12,000 Guatemalans on 22 January 2012 climbed an extinct volcano in a protest against domestic violence. The protests were dubbed Walk for Life. The activists formed the world's longest human chain all the way to the peak of the 12,352 feet Volcano de Agua known as Water Volcano. The protesters are hoping to inspire a change in attitude to violence in Guatemala. The Central American country has one of the highest murder rates in the world.India cautioned its Businessmen in dealing with Traders in yiwu

Major hub for commodities trading in Zhejiang province in China India on 3 January 2012 cautioned its businessmen in dealing with traders in Yiwu, a major hub for commodities trading in Zhejiang province in China. A trade advisory posted on the Indian Embassy website stated that all people who have business with Yiwu, are cautioned against doing business there and all people who do not have business

with Yiwu, are requested to be careful that they do not do business with Yiwu. The advisory asked the Indian businessmen to stay away from Yiwu. The advisory has been issued in the backdrop of illegal detention of two Indian businessmen in the locality and manhandling of an Indian Diplomat.Katra-Quazigund Railway Line Project

The Union government of India on 4 January 2012 approved an additional fund of 19 thousand crore rupees for completion of Katra - Quazigund Railway line project in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure in New Delhi. The railway line is to be completed by 2017. Priciest soap ever in India

Though Karnataka was once renowned for its sandalwood trees, with the reduced cultivation of the aromatic tree, it is forced to import sandalwood oil. With fewer farmers growing sandalwood trees and rampant smuggling in some parts of the State, Shivanand Naik, chairperson, Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, told presspersons during the unveiling of a new premium soap on Wednesday, “We're now getting sandalwood oil from Chennai and other States.” Launched at the function by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, with Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje, Environment Minister Krishna Palemar among others in tow, was Mysore Sandal Millennium. Touted as the Queen of Soaps, the soap is priced at a heady Rs. 720, making it the costliest indigenously produced soap (a big step up for the company considering that the previously costliest Mysore Sandal soap was Rs. 70). KS&DL said that unlike

other premium skincare products, the soap is completely ‘vegetarian', having vegetable oils instead of animal fats. The company hoped that the soap would attract demand from foreign markets. On what made the soap so expensive, the KS&DL chairperson said that 150 gram soap contains 3 per cent pure sandalwood oil.Sports field to be included in Bharat Ratna

Master balster Sachin Tendulkar’s name was not recommended for 2012 Bharat Ratna. the BCCI did not send across any names, including that of Sachin's. The Sports Ministry recommended the names of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand and mountaineer Tenzing Norgay for the India's highest civilian honour. The Bharat Ratna earlier did not include sportsmen and it was only in 2012 that this category was introduced. The various fields for which the Bharat Ratna was bestowed was restricted to literature, art and science. The last recipient of the coveted title was noted vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi in 2008.

Signature Tune of the Indian Customs launched

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on 11 January 2012 launched the signature tune of the Indian Customs, Pragati ki Dhadkan in New Delhi. The signature tune composed by noted music director Adesh Srivastava was launched to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Customs Act, 1962. Pragati Ki Dhadkan,a vibrant beat is evocative of this dynamic force and symbolises the march of progress. The signature tune is to be played alongside the tableau of the Central Board of Excise and Customs during the Republic Day Parade on



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Rajpath on 26 January 2012. For the first time the Central Board of Excise & Customs, on behalf of Ministry of Finance, will be participating in the Republic Day Parade 2012 through a tableau- Indian Customs - The Guardian of Our Economic Frontiers.

A tableau- Indian Customs - The Guardian of Our Economic Frontiers

showcases the myriad facets of Indian Customs and its vigil at all frontiers.forest fire broke out in the Torres del Paine national Park in Chile

A massive forest fire broke out in Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile on 2 January 2012. Four

of the six areas that caught fire were brought under control. About 230,000 hectares of forest were affected. Chile is a nation located in southern hemisphere. This hemisphere experiences high temperature in November, December and January, which often causes forest fire.

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S.S.C GRADUATE LEVELDATE: 26-06-2011

2ND SITTING

PART A

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE &REASONING

1. There are three baskets of fruits. Firstbasket has twice the number of fruits in the

2nd basket. Third basket has 34

th of the

fruits in the first. The average of the fruitsin all the baskets is 30. What is the numberof fruits in the first basket?(A) 20 (B) 30(C) 35 (D) 40

2. From my house I walked 5 km towardsNorth. I turned right and walked 3 km.Again I went one km to the south. How faram I from my house?(A) 7 km (B) 6 km(C) 4 km (D) 5 km

3. A and B are standing at a distance of 20 kmfrom each other on a straight East-Westroad. A and B start walking simultaneouslyeastwards and westwards respectively andboth cover a distance of 5 km. Then A turnsto his left and walks 10 km. B turns to hisright and walks 10 km at the same speed.Then both turn to their left and cover adistance of 5 km at the same speed. Whatwill be the distance between them?(A) 10 km (B) 30 km

(C) 20 km (D) 25 km4. From the given alternative words, select the

word which cannot be formed using theletters of the given word:REFORMATION(A) REFRAIN (B) MOTION(C) REFRACT (D) FORMAT

Directions: From the given alternative words, selectthe word which can be formed using the letters ofthe given word.

5. MANUFACTURE(A) FRACTURE (B) MANNER(C) MATTER (D) FACE

6. If in a certain language, PLAYER is coded asQNDCJX, the how SINGER will be coded inthe same language?(A) TKQKJX (B) TKJKQX(C) TKQKXJ (D) TKQXJK

7. If in a certain code, 95789 is written asEGKPT and 2436 is written as ALUR, thenhow will 24539 be written in the code?(A) ALEUT (B) ALGTU(C) ALGUT (D) ALGRT

8. A statement is given followed by fouralternative arguments. Select one which ismost appropriate.Statement: Which clothes are worm moreoften in summer because(A) they are thin and cool(B) they are bad absorbers of heat(C) they can be easily washed





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(D) they are easily available in summer

Directions: In question nos. 9 to 17, select therelated letters/word/number/figure from the givenalternatives.

9. Procession : Route : : Earth : ?(A) Space (B) Sun(C) Orbit (D) Highway

10. FERTILIZER : CROPS : : ?(A) TEACHER : EDUCATION(B) CHLORINE : WATER(C) TONIC : BODY(D) PESTICIDE : RATS

11. LOCKER : KMNPBDJLDFQS : : LEFT : ?(A) KNCDSGSU (B) KMDFEGSU(C) KMDFEGUS (D) KMDEFGUS

12. YWUS : BDFH : : WUSQ : ?(A) DFHJ (B) FHJL(C) JLNP (D) RTVX

13. ADCB : KNML : : EHGF : ?(A) DGFE (B) RUST(C) QRST (D) ZYXW

14. BCDG : GHIK : : LMNP : ?(A) QRST (B) QRTS(C) QRSU (D) QRSV

15. IC : 6 : : DP : ?(A) 14 (B) 10(C) 12 (D) 16

16. ABCD : WXYZ : : EFGH : ?(A) STUV (B) ZYXW(C) VUTS (D) WXZY

17. 83: 25 : : 29 : ?(A) 44 (B) 49(C) 40 (D) 63

Directions: In question nos. 18 to 22, find the oddnumber/letters/figure/number pair from the givenalternatives.

18. (A) Ladder (B) Staircase(C) Bridge (D) Escalator

19. (A) Talking (B) Walking(C) Sleeping (D) Running

20. (A) DWHS (B) BYDW

(C) CWFS (D) EVJQ21. (A) DHLP (B) TXBF

(C) JNRV (D) YBEH22. (A) 1 (B) 65

(C) 8 (D) 6423. Find the number that does not belong to

the group of numbers for lack of commonproperty.(A) 945 (B) 625(C) 743 (D) 853

24. Find out the set of number amongst thefour sets of numbers given in thealternatives which is most like the set givenin the question?Given set: (8, 56, 72)(A) (7, 56, 63) (B) (3, 15, 24)(C) (6, 42, 54) (D) (5, 30, 35)

25. In the following question, number of lettersare skipped in between by a particular rule.Which of the following series observes therule?(A) AEJOTY (B) AFKPUZ(C) AFKPTY (D) AEINRV

26. Insert the correct missing number from thechoices given below:

2 cm 7 cm 9 cm 36 cm 72 cm

157 150 141 123 87

18 cm

?

(A) 36 (B) 15(C) 51 (D) 69

Directions: Arrange the following words as perorder in the dictionary.

27. 1. Noble 2. Nobilitary3. Nobility 4. Nobble

(A) 1, 4, 3, 2, 5 (B) 3, 4, 1, 2, 5(C) 5, 2, 4, 1, 3 (D) 2, 4, 3, 5, 1

28. Which of the set of letters whensequentially placed and the gaps in thegiven letters series shall complete it?An _ nn _ ana _ na _ nan _ a(A) annan (B) aanan

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(C) nanna (D) naana

Directions: In questions nos. 29 to 32, a serires isgiven with one/two term missing. Choose thecorrect alternative from the given ones that willcomplete the series?

29. MNOABCPQRDEFST ??(A) GK (B) UV(C) GH (D) UG

30. 5 9 ? = 848 6 4 = 567 3 7 = 70(A) 4 (B) 7(C) 5 (D) 6

31. 9, 8, 10, 16, 11, ?, 12, 64(A) 28 (B) 36(C) 25 (D) 32

32. 34, 18, 10, ?(A) 8 (B) 5(C) 7 (D) 6

33. Find the wrong number in the series.7, 28, 63, 124, 215, 342(A) 28 (B) 63(C) 124 (D) 342

34. In a class Rajan got the 11th rank and hewas 31st from the bottom of the list of Boyspassed. Three boys did not take theexamination and one failed. What is thetotal strength of the class?(A) 32 (B) 42(C) 45 (D) 46

35. In a family, mother’s age is twice that ofdaughter’s age. Father is 10 years olderthan mother. Brother is 20 years youngerthan his mother and 5 years older than hissister. What is the age of the father?(A) 62 years (B) 60 years(C) 58 years (D) 55 years

36. Rahul and Robin are brothers. Pramod isRobin’s father. Sheela is Pramod’s sister.Prema is Pramod’s niece. Sudha is Sheels’sgranddaughter. How is Rahul related toSubha?

(A) Brother (B) Cousin(C) Uncle (D) Nephew

37. In a survey of town, it was found that 65%of the people surveyed watch the news onT.V., 40% read a newspaper and 25% reada newspaper and watch the news on T.V.What per cent of the people surveyedneither watch the news on T.V. nor readnewspaper?(A) 5% (B) 10%(C) 20% (D) 15%

38. In the year 1996, the Republic day wascelebrated on Friday. On which day was theIndependence day celebrated in the year2000?(A) Tuesday (B) Monday(C) Friday (D) Saturday

39. Mr. and Mrs. Gopal have 3 daughters andeach daughter has one brother. How manypersons are there in the family?(A) 5 (B) 6(C) 7 (D) 8

40. In Ravi’s clock shop, two clock werebrought for repairs. On clock has the cuckoocoming out every sixteen minutes, while theother one has the cuckoo coming out everyeighteen minutes. Both cuckoos come outat 12.00 noon. When will they both comeout together again?(A) 2.06 Pm (B) 2.08 PM(C) 2.24 PM (D) 2.32 PM

Directions: In question nos. 41 and 42, select themissing number from the given responses.

41.

169 64 81 30

625 ? 49 50

1296 576 100 70

(A) 324 (B) 289(C) 441 (D) 361

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42.

1

4

7

27

2

5

8

38

3

6

9

?

(A) 49 (B) 50(C) 51 (D) 52

43. The number of road accidents in a city isincreasing month by month as given below.Find out the number of accidents in themonth of June.

Month

No. of accidents

Jan Feb March April May June

4 8 16 28 44 ?

(A) 64 (B) 48(C) 52 (D) 40

44. If ‘X’ means ‘addition’ ‘–‘ means ‘division’,‘÷’ means ‘subtraction’ and ‘+’ means‘multiplication’, then which of the followingequation is correct?(A) 16 + 5 – 10 × 4 ÷ 3 = 9(B) 16 – 5 × 10 ÷ 4 + 3 = 12(C) 16 + 5 ÷ 10 × 4 – 3 = 9(D) 16 × 5 ÷ 10 ÷ 4 – 3 = 19

45. A man starts from a point, walks 8 kmtowards North, turns right and walks 12km, turns left and walks 7 km, turns andwalks 24 km towards South, turns right andwalks 12 km. In which direction is he fromthe starting point?(A) North (B) South(C) West (D) East

46. Which diagram correctly represents therelationship between Human beings,Teachers graduates?

(A) (b)

(c) (D)

47. How many triangles are there in the givenfigure?

(A) 29 (B) 38(C) 40 (D) 35

Directions: Form the given answer figures, selectthe one in which the question figure is hidden/embedded.

48. Question figure

Answer figures

(A) (B) (D)(C)

Directions: If a mirror is placed on the line MN,then which of the answer figures is the right imageof the given figure?

49. Question figure

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N

M

Answer figures

Directions: A piece of paper is folded and cut asshown below in the question figures. From the givenanswer figures, indicate how it will appear whenopened.

50. Question figures

O

Answer figures

PART – B GENERAL AWARENESS

51. Lambert’s law is related to(A) Reflection (B) Refraction(C) Interference(D) Illumination

52. The coral reefs are the marinecounterparts of(A) Temperate forests(B) Tropical rain forests(C) Savannahs(D) Scrubland

53. The Refrigerant ‘FREON’ is(A) Calcium Tetra Fluoride

(B) Difluoro Dichloro Methane(C) Fluorspar and Felspar(D) Hydrofluosilicic Acid

54. In the budget speech on February 28, 2011,the Finance Minister has announced thatan international award with prize money ofRs. 1 crore is being instituted in thememory of Rabindranath Tagore forpromoting(A) international peace(B) emancipation of underprivileged(C) universal brotherhood(D) human rights

55. The strong earthquake-cum tsunami whichhas moved Japan’s main island Honshu by afew feet has also caused Earth’s axis towobble by about(A) 1 inch (B) 2 inches(C) 4 inches (D) 6 inches

56. WIKILEAKS, a whistleblowers website is aninternational organisation based in(A) U.S.A (B) U.K.(C) Sweden (D) Norway

57. ‘Nomadic Elephant’ was the joint militaryexercise held some time back in Indiabetween India and(A) China (B) U.S.A.(C) Russia (D) Mongolia

58. The maximum limit on poll expenditure forparliamentary constituencies has beenraised in February, 2011 to(A) 30 lakhs (B) 35 lakhs(C) 40 lakhs (D) 50 lakhs

59. Who received Sangeet Natak Akademi’sUstad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar forDance in 2009?(A) Omkar Shrikant Dabarkar(B) Ragini Chander Sarkar(C) Abanti Chakravorty and Sukracharya

Rabha(D) K. Nellai Mainkandan

60. Which of the following folk dances isassociated with Jammu and Kashmir?

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(A) Jhora (B) Veedhi(C) Rauf (D) Suisini

61. Which of the following books has beenwritten by Kamala Das?(A) Witness the Night(B) The Red Devil(C) Earth and Ashes(D) Tonight This Savage Rite

62. Who invented the Jet Engine?(A) Karl Menz (B) Sir Frank Whittle(C) Thomas Savery (D) Michael Faraday

63. South-South dialogue is associate with(A) Co-operation among developing nations(B) Arms conference(C) Summit meeting between developed

and developing countries(D) All the above

64. The reserve held by Commercial Banks overand above the statutory minimum, withthe RBI are called(A) Cash reserve (B) Deposit reserve(C) Excess reserve(D) Momentary reserve

65. Who is authorized to issue coins in India?(A) Reserve Bank of India(B) Ministry of Finance(C) State Bank of India(D) Indian Overseas Bank

66. Which four countries are called the AsianTigers?(A) Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea,

Taiwan(B) Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan,

China(C) Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, China(D) Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Taiwan

67. In the Budget estimates for 2011-12, anallocation of Rs. 300 crore has been madefor promoting output of pulses in 60,000villages in rainfed areas with a view toattaining self sufficiently in pulses in aperiod of(A) two years (B) three years

(C) four years (D) five years68. In the budget for 2011-12 presented by the

Finance Minister on 28-2-2011, the growthrate for the year 2010-11 was projected at(A) 7.6% (B) 8.0%(C) 8.6% (D) 9.0%

69. The ‘break-even’ point is where(A) marginal revenue equal marginal cost(B) average revenue equals average cost(C) total revenue equals total cost(D) none of the above

70. The method of Impeachment of thePresident of India is a adopted from(A) U.S.A. (B) U.K.(C) U.S.S.R. (D) France

71. In the Eight Schedule of the Constitution ofIndia, which languages were addedsubsequently?(A) English, Sindhi, Marathi, Sanskrit(B) Sanskrit, Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri(C) Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali(D) Marathi, Oriya, Konkani, Nepali

72. India Parliament Means(A) Rajya Sabha — Lok Sabha(B) Rajya Sabha – Lok Sabha – Prime

Minister(C) President of India – Rajya Sabha – Lok

Sabha(D) President of India – Vice-President of

India – Lok Sabha – Rajya Sabha73. Generally, the soil of the northern plains of

India has been formed by(A) degradation (B) aggradations(C) weathering in situ(D) erosion

74. Hiuen Tsang visited India during the reignof(A) Chandragupta I (B) Chandragupta II(C) Harshavardhana (D) Rudradaman

75. The Muslim adventurer who destroyed theNalanda University was(A) Alla-ud-din Khilji(B) Muhammad-bin-Tughlak

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(C) Muhammad-bin-Bhaktiyar(D) Muhammad-bin-Quasim

76. Painting reached its highest level ofdevelopment during the region of(A) Akbar (B) Aurangzeb(C) Jahangir (D) Shah Jahan

77. The communal electronic was introducedfor the first time in India in(A) 1919 (B) 1935(C) 1906 (D) 1909

78. The two states which had non-CongressMinister in 1937 were(A) Bengal and Punjab(B) Punjab and NWFP(C) Madras and Central Provinces(D) Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

79. Sea breeze is formed during(A) Day time (B) Night time(C) Both (D) Seasonal

80. What percentage of world’s freshwater isstored as glacial ice?(A) 50% (B) 10%(C) 70% (D) 30%

81. Which one of the following rivers of Indiadoes not make a delta?(A) Ganges (B) Godavari(C) Mahanandi (D) Tapti

82. Which of the following state has the longestcoastline?(A) Maharashtra (B) Tamil Nadu(C) Gujarat (D) Andhra Pradesh

83. The pass located in Himachal Pradesh is(A) Shipkila (B) Zojila(C) Nathula (D) Jelepla

84. Match the following and select the correctanswer from the codes given below:Crops Producing state

(a) Tea (1) Himachal Pradesh(b) Sugarcane (2) Assam(c) Groundnut (3) Uttar Pradesh(d) Apple (4) Gujarat

(A) a-2, b-4, c-1, d-3(B) a-2, b-3, c-4, d-1

(C) a-3, b-2, c-1, d-4(D) a-4, b-3, c-1, d-2

85. An example of false fruit is(A) Apple (B) Guava(C) Mango (D) Tomato

86. Normal fasting blood sugar level per 100ml. of blood in man is(A) 30 – 50 mg (B) 50 – 70 mg(C) 80 – 100 mg (D) 120 – 140 mg

87. Rate of interest is determined by(A) The rate of return on the capital

invested(B) Central government(C) Liquidity preference(D) Commercial Banks

88. The vector of disease sleeping sickness is(A) stand-fly (B) house-fly(C) fruit-fly (D) tse-tse fly

89. For how many years have the dinosaursbeen extinct?(A) About 25 million years(B) About 65 million years(C) About 100 million years(D) About 135 million years

90. A geostationary statellite revolves roundthe earth from(A) East to West (B) West to East(C) North to South (D) South to North

91. Among the following materials soundtravels fastest in(A) Steel (B) Air(C) Vacuum (D) Water

92. The rear side of the moon wasphotographed by(A) Viking I (B) Viking II(C) Luna III (D) Mariner IX

93. Which phenomenon do bats or dolphins useto find prey, predators or obstacles?(A) Refraction of sound(B) Formation of beats(C) Scattering or sound(D) Echo location

94. What did the first electronic digital

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computer contain?(A) Transistors (B) Valves(C) Core memory(D) Semiconductor memory

95. Microsoft Office’s personal informationmanager is(A) Outlook(B) Internet Explorer(C) Organizer (D) Access

96. Hard steel contains(A) 2 to 5 per cent carbon(B) 0.5 to 1.5 per cent carbon(C) 0.1 to 0.4 per cent carbon(D) 0.01 to 0.04 per cent carbon

97. Cement is formed by strongly heating amixture of(A) Limestone and graphite(B) Limestone and clay(C) Chalk and graphite(D) Clay and graphite

98. Glass is a(A) superheated solid(B) supercooled liquid(C) supercooled gas(D) superheated liquid

99. The temperature of oxy-acetylene flame isaround(A) 2800oC (B) 3200oC(C) 4000oC (D) 1500oC

100. Which is the most stable eco-system?(A) Desert (B) Ocean(C) Mountain (D) Forest

PART – C NUMERICAL APTITUDE

101. A reduction of 20% in the price of an appleenables a man to buy 10 apples more forRs. 54. The reduced price of apple perdozen is(A) Rs. 4.32 (B) Rs. 12.96(C) Rs. 10.80 (D) Rs. 14.40

102. Price of a commodity has increased by 60%.By what per cent must a consumer reducethe consumption of the commodity so as

not to increase the expenditure?(A) 37 (B) 37.5(C) 40.5 (D) 60

103. The cost of an apple is twice that of abanana is 25% less than that of a guava. Ifthe cost of each type of fruit increases by10%, then the percentage increase in costof 4 bananas, 2 apples and 3 guava is(A) 10% (B) 12%(C) 16% (D) 18%

104. Walking 67

th of this usual sped, a man is 12

minutes too late. The usual time taken byhim to cover that distance is(A) 1 hour(B) 1 hour 12 minutes(C) 1 hour 15 minutes(D) 1 hour 20 minutes

105. If in walk at 5 km/hour, I miss a train by 7minutes. If, however, I walk at 6 km/hour, Ireach the station 5 minutes before thedeparture of the train. The distance (in km)between my house and the station is(A) 6 (B) 5(C) 4 (D) 3

106. Rs. 800 becomes Rs. 956 in 3 years at acertain rate of simple interest. If the rateof interest is increased by 4%, what amountwill Rs. 800 becomes in 3 years?(A) Rs. 1020.80 (B) Rs. 1025(C) Rs. 1052. (D) Rs. 1050

107. Simple interest on a certain sum is 1625

of

the sum. The rate per cent if the rate percent and time (in years) are equal, is(A) 6% (B) 8%(C) 10% (D) 12%

108. If the difference between S.I. and C.I. for 2years on a sum of money lent at 5% is Rs.6, then the sum is(A) Rs. 2200 (B) Rs. 2400(C) Rs. 2600 (D) Rs. 2000

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109. A hemisphere as a cone have equal bases.If their heights are also equal, the ratio oftheir curved surfaces will be

(A) 1 : 2 (B) 2 : 1(C) 1 : 2 (D) 2 : 1

110. If x = 5 + 15 - 1

, then, the value of

5x2 – 5x – 1 is(A) 0 (B) 3(C) 4 (D) 5

111. When 233 is divided by 10, the remainderwill be(A) 2 (B) 3(C) 4 (D) 8

112. The value of

33+ 13+ 13+3

is

(A)4011

(B)4311

(C)4611

(D)4111

113. Find the unit digit in the product(4387)245 × (622)72

(A) 1 (B) 2(C) 5 (D) 7

114. If 2 = 1.4142 find the value of

1 12 2 + 2 + + 2 + 2 2 - 2

(A) 1.4144 (B) 2.8284(C) 28.284 (D) 2.4142

115. If X * Y = X2 + Y2 – XY then 11 * 13 is(A) 117 (B) 147(C) 290 (D) 433

116. The value of 3

2

(3.2) - 0.008(3.2) + 0.64 + 0.04 is

(A) 0 (B) 2.994

(C) 3.208 (D) 3

117. If 13a = 11, then the value of a2 – 331a is

(A) 1331331 (B) 1331000(C) 1334331 (D) 1330030

118. If x1 +

961 =

3231

, then the value of x is

(A) 63 (B) 61(C) 65 (D) 64

119. If a and b are odd number, then which ofthe following is even?(A) a + b + ab (B) a + b – 1(C) a + b + 1 (D) a + b + 2ab

120. 216 – 1 is divisible by(A) 11 (B) 13(C) 17 (D) 19

121. The HCF and LCM of two numbers are 12and 924 respectively. Then the number ofsuch pairs is(A) 0 (B) 1(C) 2 (D) 3

122. What is the last number which, whendivided by 5, 6, 7, 8 gives the reminder 3but is divided by 9?(A) 1463 (B) 1573(C) 1683 (D) 1793

123. The number are in the ratio 3 : 4 : 5. Thesum of the largest and smallest equals thesum of the second and 52. The smallestnumber is(A) 20(B) 27(C) 39(D) 52

124. If the radius of a circle is increased by 50%,its area is increased by(A) 125% (B) 100%(C) 75% (D) 50%

125. A and B working separately can do a pieceof work in 9 and 12 respectively. If theywork for a day alternately with A beginning,the work would be completed in

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(A)2103

days (B)1102

days

(C)1104

days (D)1103

days

126. A and B together can do a work in 10 days.B and C together can do the same work in6 days. A and C together can do the workin 12 days. Then A, B and C together cando the work in(A) 28 days (B) 14 days

(C)557

days (D)287

days

127. A does half as much work as B in three-fourth of the time. If together they take 18days to complete a work, how much timeshall B take to do it alone?(A) 30 days (B) 35 days(C) 40 days (D) 45 days

128. If a wire is bent into the shape of a square,then the area of the square so formed is 81cm2. When the wire is rebent into asemicircular shape, then the area (in cm2)

of the semicircle will be (Take 22π = 7

)

(A) 22(B) 44(C) 77(D) 154

129. Marbles of diameter 14 cm are droppedinto a cylindrical beaker containing somewater and are fully submerged. Thediameter of the beaker is 7 cm. Find howmany marbles have been dropped in it if thewater by 5.6 cm.(A) 50 (B) 150(C) 250 (D) 350

130. Water is following at the rate of 3 km/hrthrough a circular pipe of 20 cm internaldiameter into a circular cistern of diameter10 m and depth 2 m. In how much time willthe cistern be filled?

(A) 1 hr(B) 1 hr 40 mins(C) 1 hr 20 mins(D) 2 hrs 40 mins

131. A bicycle wheel makes 5000 revolutions inmoving 11 km. The diameter of the wheel,in cm, is(A) 35(B) 55(C) 65(D) 70

132. At each corner of a triangular field of sides26 m, 28 m and 30 m, a cow is tethered bya rope of length 7 m. The area (in m2)ungrazed by the cows is(A) 336(B) 259(C) 154(D) 77

133. A shopkeeper allows 23% commission on hisadvertised price and still makes a profit of10%. If he gains Rs. 56 on one item, hisadvertised price of the item, in Rs. is(A) 820(B) 780(C) 790(D) 800

134. The single discount equal to threeconsecutive discounts of 10%, 12% and 5%is(A) 26.27%(B) 24.76%(C) 9%(D) 11%

135. If x : y = 5 : 6, then (3x2 – 2y2) : (y2 – x2) is(A) 7 : 6 (B) 11 : 3(C) 3 : 11 (D) 6 : 7

136. An alloy contains copper, zinc and nickel inthe ratio of 5 : 3 : 2. The quantity of nickelin kg that must be added to 100 kg of thisalloy to have the new ratio 5 : 3 : 3, is(A) 8 (B) 10(C) 12(D) 15

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137. The ratio of the ages of Ram and Rahim 10years ago was 1 : 3. The ratio of their agesfive years hence will be 2 : 3. Then the ratioof their present ages is(A) 1 : 2 (B) 3 : 5(C) 3 : 4(D) 2 : 5

138. The incomes of A, B and C are in the ratio7 : 9 : 12 and their spending are in the ratio

8 : 9 : 15. If A saves 14

th of his income, then

the saving of A, B and C are in the ratio of(A) 69 : 56 : 48(B) 47 : 74 : 99(C) 37 : 72 : 49(D) 56 : 99 : 69

139. Out of 4 number, whose average is 60, thefirst one is one-fourth of the sum of the lastthree. The first number is(A) 15(B) 45(C) 48(D) 60

140. The average of 25 observations is 13. It waslater found that an observation 73 waswrongly entered as 48. The new average is(A) 12.6(B) 14(C) 15(D) 13.8

141. If the cost price of 10 articles is equal to theselling price of 8 article, then gain per centis(A) 10%(B) 8%(C) 50%(D) 25%

142. An article is marked 40% above the costprice and a discount of 30% is allowed.What is the gain or loss percentage?(A) 10% gain(B) 5% gain

(C) 2% loss(D) 12% loss

143. A man bought organs at the rate of 8 forRs. 34 and sold them at the rate of 12 forRs. 57. How many organs should be sold toearn a net profit of Rs. 45?(A) 90(B) 100(C) 135(D) 150

144. A man sells two articles for Rs. 5000 eachneither losing nor gaining in the deal. If hesold one of them at a gain of 25%, the otherarticle is sold at a loss of

(A)2153

%

(B)2163

%

(C)1173

%

(D)1183

%

145. By selling an article for Rs. 144, a persongained such that the percentage gainequals the cost price of the article. The costprice of the article is(A) Rs. 90(B) Rs. 80(C) Rs. 75(D) Rs. 60

146. The average age of 11 players of a cricketteam is increased by 2 months when twoof them aged 18 years and 20 years arereplaced by two new players. The averageage of the new players is(A) 19 years 1 month(B) 19 years 6 months(C) 19 years 11 months(D) 19 years 5 months

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The following graph shows the production of wheat flour (in 1000 tonnes) by three companies X, Y and Zover the years. Study the graph and answer Question Nos. 147 to 150.

500

400

300

200

100

Prod

uctio

n (in

100

0 to

nnes

)

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

X Y Z

147. What is the difference between theproduction of company Z in 2004 andcompany Y in 2000 (in thousand tonnes)?(A) 2000 (B) 200(C) 20 (D) 100

148. What is the ratio of the average productionof company X in the period 2000-204 to theaverage production of company Y in thesame period?

(A) 1 : 1 (B) 15 : 17(C) 23 : 25 (D) 27 : 29

149. What is the percentage increase in theproduction of company Y from 2002 to2003?

(A)2147

(B)6167

(C) 25 (D) 40

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150. The average production for five years wasmaximum for which company?(A) X and Z both(B) Y (C) Z(D) X and Y both

PART – DENGLISH LANGUAGE

Directions: In question nos. 151 to 155, out of thefour alternatives, choose the one which bestexpresses the meaning of the given word and markit in the Answer Sheet.

151. Poignant(A) showy (B) sad(C) silly (D) snobbish

152. Querulous(A) critical (B) curious(C) complaining (D) ambiguous

153. Audacious(A) brilliant (B) powerful(C) bold (D) frightening

154. Perilous(A) hazardous (B) rigorous(C) resilient (D) requisite

155. Reverie(A) determination (B) day-dream(C) reality (D) realization

Directions: In question nos. 156 to 160, choose theword opposite in meaning to the given word andmark it in the Answer Sheet.

156. Autonomous(A) self-government (B) dependent(C) defensive (D) neutral

157. Deceitful(A) sincere (B) useful(C) plain (D) honest

158. Exonerate(A) admit (B) release(C) convict (D) reject

159. Exaggerate

(A) underwrite (B) understate(C) ignore (D) condemn

160. Controversial(A) indisputable (B) restrained(C) controlled (D) appeasing

Directions: In question nos. 161 to 165, fouralternatives are given for the Idiom/phrase and bolditalicised in the sentence. Choose the alternativewhich best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase and mark it in the Answer Sheet.

161. To strain every nerve(A) to make utmost efforts(B) to feel weak and tired(C) to be a diligent worker(D) to be methodical in work

162. To flog a dead horse(A) to whip a dead horse(B) to attempt to do the impossible(C) waste one’s efforts(D) to take advantage of a weakness

163. To show a clean pair of heels(A) to hide (B) to escape(C) to pursue (D) to follow

164. To die in harness(A) premeditated murder(B) dying young in an accident(C) to die while in service(D) to be taken by surprise

165. To feather one’s nest(A) to make a residential house(B) something that lasts for a short time(C) to profit in a dishonest way(D) none of the above

Directions: In question nos. 166 to 170, a sentenceis given which may need improvement. Alternativesare given at (A), (B) and (C) below which may be abetter option. In case no improvement is needed,your answer is (D). Blacken the appropriaterectangle [ ] in the Answer Sheet.

166. A taller Sikh rushed forward than any of thiscomrades.

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(A) A Sikh, taller than any of his comrades,rushed forward

(B) A Sikh rushed forward taller than any ofhis comrades

(C) A Sikh rushed forward than any of hiscomrades taller

(D) No improvement167. An author in the reign of Queen Anne who

was famous lived in a cottage.(A) An author in the reign, who was famous,

of Queen Anne lived in a cottage(B) In the reign of Queen Anne, an author

lived in a cottage, who was famous(C) An author who was famous in the reign

of Queen Anne lived in a cottage(D) No improvement

168. In the absence of your support, he wouldhave lost the election.(A) Lacking your support, he would have lost

the election(B) But for your support, he would have lost

the election(C) He would have lost the election, if you

had not support him(D) No improvement

169. My uncle is enough rich to buy a car.(A) My uncle is rich enough to buy a car(B) My uncle is richer enough to buy a car(C) My uncle is enough richer to buy a car(D) No improvement

170. Walking along the road, an old man ranover the lorry.(A) Walking along the road, an old man ran

behind the lorry(B) Running along the road, the lorry ran

over an old man(C) The lorry ran over and old man walking

along the road(D) No improvement

Directions: In question nos. 171 to 175, groups offour words are given. In each group, one word iscorrectly spelt. Find the correctly spelt word andmark your answer in the Answer Sheet.

171. (A) persistence (B) thesaurus(C) conspicous (D) renaisance

172. (A) acoustic (B) norcoctic(C) pesimist (D) permenant

173. (A) impetous (B) ignoable(C) ignominious (D) idiosyncrasy

174. (A) Inconsistant (B) Repentant(C) Exponant (D) Excultent

175. (A) demagogue (B) deliverence(C) delinquancy (D) delibarative

Directions: In question nos. 176 to 180, out of thefour alternatives, choose the one which can besubstituted for the given words/sentence andindicate it by blackening the appropriate rectangle[ ] in the Answer Sheet.

176. A person who has no money to pay off hisdebts(A) Insolvent (B) Poor(C) Destitute (D) Pauper

177. Words uttered impiously about God(A) amoral (B) philosophy(C) logic (D) blasphemy

178. Quibble(A) Premeditate (B) Prenominate(C) Prevaricate (D) Preponderate

179. One who compiles a dictionary(A) geographer (B) lexicographer(C) lapidist (D) linguist

180. A test in which cells from diseased organsare removed and tested(A) Biopsy (B) Autopsy(C) Operation (D) Amputation

Directions: In the following passage (181 to 190),some of the words have been left out. First readthe passage over and try to understand what it isabout. Then fill in the blanks with the help of thealternatives given. Mark your answer in the AnswerSheet.

Passage (Question Nos. 181 to 190)A 181 becomes a flowing stream only 182 thereis continuity of 183 life in a society. In 184 words,

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a 185 culture comes into 186 when people 187a continuous way of life. Such 188 expresses itself189 various ways in common traditions and 190of conduct.181. (A) civilization (B) culture

(C) idea (D) philosophy182. (A) at (B) what

(C) when (D) as183. (A) individual (B) nature’s

(C) society’s (D) collective184. (A) different (B) difficult

(C) other (D) many185. (A) distinctive (B) unique

(C) clear (D) foggy186. (A) phase (B) existence

(C) action (D) thinking187. (A) develop (B) create

(C) follow (D) end188. (A) inconsistency (B) uniqueness

(C) greatness (D) continuity189. (A) in B) of

(C) with (D) at190. (A) rules (B) regulations

(C) norms (D) laws

Directions (191 – 195): In the following questions,some of the sentences have errors and some arecorrect. Find out which part of a sentence has anerror. The number of that part is your answer. If asentence is free from errors, then your answer is(d) i.e., No error.

191. If you had told me (a) / I would have helpedyou (b) / solve the problem. (c) / No error(d).

192. “The Arabian Nights” (a) / are indeed (b) /an interesting book. (c) / No error (d)

193. He (a) / loved her (b) / despite of himself(c) / No error (d)

194. Of all the models (a) / Jessica is (b) / themore good-looking one (c) / No error (d)

195. When I went there (a) / Charles is playing(b) / a game of chess. (c) / No error (d)

Directions (196 – 200): In the following question,sentences are given with blanks to be filled in withan appropriate words. For alternatives aresuggested for each question.

Choose the correct alternative out of the four.196. ____ your instructions, we have closed your

bank account.(A) In lieu of(B) With regard to(C) In accordance with(D) On account of

197. _____ she is clever, she often makesmistakes.(A) Despite (B) Since(C) Although (D) Yet

198. Do you prefer ______ or traditional artforms?(A) archaic (B) contemporary(C) foreign (D) simultaneous

199. The farmers ____ their farms, if they hadknown that a thunderstorm wasapproaching.(A) will leave (B) would leave(C) will have left (D) would have left

200. The Paralympics is a competition for the_____(A) disadvantaged(B) discouraged(C) disabled(D) despised

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ANSWERS1. (D) 2. (D) 3. (A) 4. (C) 5. (D) 6. (A) 7. (C) 8. (B) 9. (C) 10. (C)11. (B) 12. (A) 13. (A) 14. (C) 15. (C) 16. (A) 17. (B) 18. (C) 19. (C) 20. (C)21. (D) 22. (B) 23. (B) 24. (C) 25. (B) 26. (B) 27. (C) 28. (B) 29. (D) 30. (D)31. (D) 32. (D) 33. (A) 34. (C) 35. (B) 36. (C) 37. (C) 38. (A) 39. (D) 40. (C)41. (A) 42. (C) 43. (A) 44. (A) 45. (B) 46. (A) 47. (C) 48. (C) 49. (C) 50. (B)51. (D) 52. (B) 53. (B) 54. (C) 55. (C) 56. (C) 57. (D) 58. (C) 69. (C) 60. (C)61. (D) 62. (B) 63. (A) 44. (C) 65. (B) 66. (A) 67. (B) 68. (C) 79. (C) 70. (A)71. (C) 72. (C) 73. (B) 74. (C) 75. (C) 76. (C) 77. (D) 78. (A) 79. (B) 80. (C)81. (D) 82. (C) 83. (A) 84. (B) 85. (A) 86. (C) 87. (C) 88. (D) 89. (B) 90. (B)91. (A) 92. (C) 93. (D) 94. (B) 95. (A) 96. (B) 97. (B) 98. (B) 99. (B) 100. (A)

101. (B) 102. (B) 103. (A) 104. (B) 105. (A) 106. (C) 107. (B) 108. (B) 109. (B) 110. (C)111. (A) 112. (B) 113. (D) 114. (B) 115. (B) 116. (D) 117. (B) 118. (A) 119. (D) 120. (C)121. (C) 122. (C) 123. (C) 124. (C) 125. (C) 126. (C) 127. (A) 128. (C) 129. (B) 130. (B)131. (D) 132. (B) 133. (D) 134. (B) 135. (C) 136. (B) 137. (B) 138. (D) 139. (C) 140. (B)141. (D) 142. (C) 143. (A) 144. (B) 145. (B) 146. (C) 147. (D) 148. (C) 149. (A) 150. (A)151. (B) 151. (C) 153. (C) 154. (A) 155. (B) 156. (B) 157. (D) 158. (C) 159. (B) 160. (A)161. (A) 162. (B) 163. (B) 164. (C) 165. (C) 166. (A) 167. (C) 168. (C) 169. (A) 170. (C)171. (B) 172. (A) 173. (C) 174. (B) 175. (A) 176. (A) 177. (D) 178. (C) 179. (B) 180. (A)181. (B) 182. (C) 183. (B) 184. (C) 185. (A) 186. (B) 187. (C) 188. (D) 189. (A) 190. (C)191. (D) 192. (B) 193. (C) 194. (C) 195. (B) 196. (C) 197.(C) 198.(B) 199.(D) 200. (C)

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