current affairs 32 pages english august

8/22/2019 Current Affairs 32 Pages English August

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CONTENTS

Disclaimer : All Readers of this book undertake responsibility for the relevance and accuracy of its content. The Publisher cannot Guarantee the

accuracy and Reliability of Content.

Honours & Awards - 2

News Makers - 4

Committees - 5

Schemes - 8

Sports - 9

Science Snippets - 10

Space Science - 12

Defence - 13

Economic Scenario - 14

NationalRound-Up - 17

International Round-Up - 21

Banking Awareness - 26

Current MCQ Capsules - 28


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Current News & Events 2

LatestCurrentAffairsHonours & Awards

Habiba Sarabi,

Afghanistan's First

Female Governor Wins

Ramon Magsaysay

Award

The Ramon MagsaysayAward Foundation on 24 July 2013announcedthe RamonMagsaysay

Awards fo r

the year 2013to three individuals and twoorganizationsfor changing their societies for thebetter. Afghanistan's first womangovernor Habiba Sarabi and aMyanmar civil society organiserLahpai Seng Raw, who both helpedfamilies displaced by conflict in theirhome nations, are among fivewinners of Asia's equivalent of theNobel Prize for the year 2013.

The awards, named after apopular Philippine president whodied in a 1957 plane crash, honorpeople and groups who changetheir societies for the better.

British Firm called Real

VNC was presented the

MacRobert Award

The British firm Real VNCwas presented MacRobert Award bythe Princess Royal for engineeringinnovation on 17 July 2013. The

Zubin Mehta named for Tagore Award for Cultural

Harmony 2013

Zubin Mehta, an Indian-Parsi mestro of western classical musicon 10 July 2013 was named for the second edition of Tagore Award forCultural Harmony for the year 2013. He was named for the awardbecause of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony. His namewas selected by a high level four-member Jurythat was led by Prime Minister of India, Dr.Manmohan Singh and it comprised the ChiefJustice of India Altamas Kabir, Leader ofOpposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj andPublic Intellectual Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Thefirst Tagore Award was conferred on Pt. RaviShankar, the Indian Sitar Maestro in 2012

technology will enable IT workers tosolve problems on other computers

without leaving their desks and it willallow MRI scanners to be repairedremotely. The award carries a cashprize of 50000 ponds.

Real VNC is a softwarecompany based in Cambridge. Itwas set up by some of the inventorsof remote computer accesssoftware. It has collaborated withglobal technology giants such asGoogle, Apple, Intel and Sony andits technology is now said to be usedin more than a billion devices acrossthe globe. The MacRobert gold

medal was presented at the RoyalAcademy of Engineering's awardsdinner.

Four Indian Americans

won Simons Investigators

Awards 2013

Four Indian-AmericanProfessors Kannan Soundararajan,

Rajeev Alur, Salil P Vadhan and

Senthil Todadri in fourth week of July

2013 won Simons Investigators

Awards 2013. Apart from these, 9

other mathematicians, theoretical

physicists and theoretical computer

scientists were also selected for the

Simons Investigators Awards for

their cutting edge research.

The 2013 awards were

announced by the New York-based

Simons Foundation, which is a non-

profit organisation. Its mission is to

advance the lines of research inmathematics and basic sciences.

The Simons Investigators program

provides a stable base of support

for outstanding scientists, enabling

them to undertake long-term study

of fundamental questions. The

foundation was incorporated in

1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons.


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Britain honoured

Krishna Menon by

placing Blue plaque on

his First Home in London

The British Government on17 July 2013 honoured V.K. KrishnaMenon, Indias first highcommissioner in London and formerDefence Minister by placing a BluePlaque at the house, where he livedwhen he moved to the city for thefirst time. The blue plaque will beplaced plaque at 30 Langdon ParkRoad in Highgate, North London,where Menon stayed from 1929 to1931. Menon, during his stay inLondon, after Indian independenceas independent Indias first HighCommissioner to the U.K played anactive role in the socio-political lifeof the city.

The plaque was unveiled byTony Benn, veteran leader of theLeft-Wing Labour. Tony Benn is theson of William Wedgwood Benn,was secretary of state for India from1929 to 1931, when Menon wascampaigning for Indianindependence in Britain.

UK commemorates sites ofhistorical and cultural importance inthe country with blue plaques witha purpose of drawing attention ofpeople.

Bono Honoured With

Highest Cultural Award

of France

Paul Hewson, popularlyknown as Bono, the frontman of therock band U2 as well as the anti-poverty activist was awarded withthe Commander of the Order of Artsand Letters, the highest culturalaward of France on 17 July 2013for the contribution to music.

He was also praised forutilizing his popularity for the sakeof humanitarian causes. TheCommander of the Order of Arts andLetters was awarded to Bono by theFrench Culture Minister AurelieFilippetti in Paris. The Commanderof the Order of Arts and Letters wasearlier also awarded to Shakira,

Vidya Balan got the Best Actress Award at IIFA

2013

Vidya Balan on 6 July 2013 got the Best Actress award at 14thIIFA (International Indian Film Academy) awards2013 held in Macau for her portrayal of a pregnantwoman in search of her husband in Kahaani whileRanbir Kapoor was named Best Actor for Barfi.

Barfi also bagged the award for best film. Infact, it won 9 awards in technical category- Best Cin-ematography (Ravi Varman I.S.C.), Best BackgroundScore (Pritam), Best Screenplay (Anurag Basu andTani Basu), Best Production Design (Rajat Poddar),Best Song Recording (Eric Pillai), Best Sound De-sign (Shajith Koyeri), Best Sound Mixing (Debajit Changmai), Best Cos-tume Designing (Aki Narula and Shefalina) and Best Make-Up (UdaySerali). Barfi is a romantic comedy about a mute and deaf man and his

relationship with two women.Ranbir, who played a deaf-mute boy in Barfi was not present at

the ceremony and the award was accepted on his behalf by the film'sdirector Anurag Basu.

David Bowie, Roger Moore, BruceWillis, Bob Dylan and SeanConnery. The Commander of theOrder of Arts and Letters Awardstarted for the first time in the year1957.

Paradip Port Conferred

With the Major Port ofthe Year Award

Paradip Port was conferredwith the Major Port of the Year awardfor its excellent performance in theyear 2012-13. The award wasreceived by SS Mishra, Chairman,Paradip Port Trust, at the SCOPEInternational Conference &Exhibition 2013 held in Chennai.

Paradip Port Trust (PPT)handled 56.55 million tonnes oftraffic in the year 2012-13. There is

an increase from 54.25 milliontonnes of traffic in 2011-12. During2012-13, the port also added 22million tonnes of capacity, thusbringing the total to 102 milliontonnes.

It is important to note that theParadip Port was also adjudged asthe Major Port of the Year during2009-10 at the Annual IndianMaritime Gateway Awards 2010ceremony organised by GatewayMedia Private Ltd.

Edward Snowden

awarded with German

Whistleblower Prize

Edward Snowden, theformer NSA contractor who exposedthe widest US global surveillanceoperations, was on 25 July 2013awarded German WhistleblowerPrize 2013 worth 3900 Dollars inabsentia. Snowden has exposedthe substantial and unsuspectingmonitoring and storage ofcommunication data by US andother western intelligence agencies,which cannot be accepted indemocratic societies.

It was the top secret NationalSecurity Agency documents thatwere leaked by Snowden since thebeginning of June 2013 which in

turn made it possible andunavoidable intensiveinvestigations to establish whetherthe operations of domestic andforeign intelligence services haveviolated the existing rules applicableto them. Snowden has undertakengreat personal risks in leaking thedocuments on the operations of theUS and other western intelligenceagencies, aware of the currentcriminal prosecution ofwhistleblowers in security areas.


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Bastian Schweinsteiger

Won Journalists' Player

of the Year Award by

Kicker Magazine

Bastian Schweinsteiger, theGerman midfielder defeated histeammates Thomas Mueller andFranck Ribery to grab theJournalists' Player of the Year Awardannounced by the Kicker magazineon 28 July 2013. BastianSchweinsteiger won 92 out of 527votes. Franck Ribery won 87 votes,while Thomas Mueller won 85 votes.

Sreedharan chosen for

Lokmanya Tilak award

"Metro Man" E Sreedharanhas been selected for theprestigious Lokmanya Tilak awardfor 2013 for his outstandingcontribution to society. The name ofSreedharan, considered as thearchitect of the ambitious Delhimetro project, was announced byDeepak Tilak who heads theLokmanya Tilak Trust.

Amjad Ali Khan to get 21st

Rajiv Gandhi NationalSadhbhavna Award

Sarod maestro Amjad AliKhan was chosen for the 21st RajivGandhi National Sadhbhavna

Award for his contribution towardspromotion of communal harmonyand peace. It will be conferred on

Amjad Ali Khan on 20 August 2013,the birth anniversary of formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi National

Sadbhavana Award (Rajiv GandhiNational Communal Harmony

Award) is an award gi ve n fo routstanding contribution towardspromotion of communal harmony,national integration and peace. Theaward was instituted by All IndiaCongress Committee of the IndianNational Congress Party (INC), in1992 to commemorate the lastingcontribution made by the formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Theaward carries a citation and a cashaward of five lakh rupees.

Sharad Kumar is new NIA chief

Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar was appointed as the new chiefof the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The post of the DirectorGeneral (DG) of the agency was lying vacant for about last two monthsfollowing the retirement of incumbent S C Sinha.

Sinha was later appointed as a memberof National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).Kumar is a 1979-batch Haryana cadre officerand he takes over the top post of the probeagency at a time when it is investigatingimportant cases like Hyderabad blasts and therecent Bodh Gaya blasts in Bihar.

News Makers

Big B named greatest

Bollywood star in UKpoll

Amitabh Bachch an hasbeen crowned as the greatestBollywood star in a poll conductedin UK. According to British Asianweekly newspaper, the 70-year-oldactor, who has won a number ofawards at national as well asinternational film festivals, baggedmajor share of votes from critics,fans and the film fraternity in the

survey '100 Greatest BollywoodStars' .With a career spanning morethan four decades, Bachchan gaveblockbusters like ' Sholay' and'Deewar' and hosted popular TVgame show 'Kaun BanegaCrorepati.' Bachchan, who was thefirst Bollywood star to be honouredwith a statue at Madame Tussauds,recently represented India as theOlympic torch-bearer at the London2012 Games.

Bachchan was followed byhis own choice and yesteryears

acting legend Dilip Kumar, whileactor Shah Rukh Khan bagged thethird spot. Madhuri Dixit was placedfourth in the overall list, but shetopped the poll among Bollywood'sfemale actresses.

The actors in the top 10 listare: 1.Amitabh Bachchan 2. DilipKumar 3. Shah Rukh Khan 4.Madhuri Dixit 5. Raj Kapoor 6.Nargis 7. Dev Anand 8. WaheedaRehman 9. Rajesh Khanna 10.Sridevi.

Barack Obama Nominates

Indian-American Vince

Girdhari Chhabria To

Judiciary Post

On 26 July Indian-Americanlegal luminary Vince GirdhariChhabria has been nominated byUS President Barack Obama to akey judiciary post inCalifornia..Chhabria, nominated tobe US district judge for the NorthernDistrict of California, is currentlydeputy city attorney for governmentlitigation and the co-chief ofappellate litigation at the SanFrancisco city attorneysoffice.Obama announced hisnomination along with five other

judicial posts, all of which requiresSenate confirmation.

Indian-American Nisha

Desai Biswal given key

post in Obama

Administration

US President BarackObama has nominated anaccomplished Indian-Americanwoman administrator as America'snew point person for South Asia tosucceed Robert Blake. Subject toconfirmation by the Senate, NishaDesai Biswal, who is currently the

Assistant Administrator for Asia atthe US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID), will replaceincumbent Blake to head the South

As ia bu reau in the US StateDepartment.

Desai is expected to becomethe first person of Indian-origin to


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head the bureau, which overseesUS foreign policy and relations withIndia, Pakistan, Bangladesh,

Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal ,

Maldives and Bhutan. Biswal, whoreceived a BA degree from theUniversity of Virginia, has been the

Assistant Administrator for Asia atthe USAID, since September 2010.

Shriniwas Dadasaheb

Patil appointed new

Governor of Sikkim

Dadasaheb Patil hasrepresented Maharashtra's Satarain the Lok Sabha as an MP. He isalso a former IAS officer, and will

replace presently serving governorof Sikkim BP Singh. 73,years oldDadasaheb Patil was elected to the13th and 14th Lok Sabha from theKarad constituency in Maharashtraon the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP ticket).

Sujatha Singh to be next

Foreign Secretary

Sujatha Singh, currentlyIndia's envoy to Germany, will be thenext Foreign Secretary following an

approval of her appointment byPrime Minister Manmohan Singh,ending months of speculation onwho will head the foreign services.

59-year-old Ms Singh, a1976 batch IFS officer, was a closecontender for the top job along withIndia's Ambassador to China, S.Jaishankar, who is a batch junior toher. Jaishankar's name was doingthe rounds for the post because ofhis excellent service record,particularly as envoy to China.

Due to retire in July nextyear, Ms Singh will now have a two-year extension and will succeedRanjan Mathai who is set to retireon July 31. Ms Singh, the thirdwoman to head the services afterChokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao, isthe daughter of TV Rajeshwar, theformer Intelligence Bureau Chiefknown to be close to the top brassof the Congress.

Ms Singh is the wife offormer Secretary (East) SanjaySingh, who retired in April this year.

P. Sathasivam appointed

Chief Justice of India

P. Sathasivam appointed asthe newChief Justice of India afterhe justified the Collegiums Systemof appointment of Judges. The 64year old Sathasivam will succeedthe incumbent Chief Justice of India,

Al tamas Kabi r, wh o wi llsuperannuate on 18 July 2013 fromhis office. Sathasivam will be the40th Chief Justice of India (CJI) andhis appointment to the post hasbeen approved by PranabMukherjee, the President of India.

Najeeb Jung appointedas new Lieutenant

Governor of Delhi

Najeeb Jung, the vicechancellor of Jamia Millia IslamiaUniversity on 1 July 2013 appointedas the 20th Lt Governor of Delhi.

Njaeeb Jung has replacedTejendra Khanna, who was the1961 batch Indian AdministrativeService officer and the last LtGovernor of Delhi.

India-born Mamnoon Hussain elected as Pakistan's

12th Prez

India-born Mamnoon Hussain, a close aide of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, on Tuesday was elected asthe 12th President of Pakistan and willreplace incumbent Asif Ali Zardari inSeptember.

Hussain emerged as a clear winnerin the one-sided contest with ex-judgeWajihuddin Ahmad of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party, state media reported. PakistanPeople's Party withdrew its candidate Raza Rabbani and boycotted theelection in protest to the date of polls being changed.

Born in the historic city of Agra, Hussain, who belongs to anUrdu-speaking ethnic group that migrated from India during partition in1947, was the candidate of ruling PML-N government. Over 1,000

members of the national parliament and four provincial assemblies casttheir ballots to elect largely ceremonial head of the state.

The office of the president is ceremonial in Pakistan but he is stillthe constitutional chief of the armed forces but cannot order deployments.He also appoints the services chiefs at the recommendation of the primeminister. Pakistan so far had 11 presidents, out of which five were militarygenerals. Four of them seized powers through coups, whereas firstpresident Major Sikandar Mirza was elected in 1956 after the firstconstitution was adopted.

Committees

Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Finance

finalised GST Report

The Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Finance on 20 July2013 finalised its GST (Goods andServices Tax) report. The reportwould be tabled in the parliamentduring its Monsoon season that isscheduled to begin from 5 August2013.

The GST Bill was introducedin the Parliament in 2010 and sincethen was being examined by theStanding Committee on Finance.The proposed GST aims towardsbringing in a common tax regime forgoods and services by includingmost of the indirect taxes and wouldbe beneficial in increasing therevenue collection.

Earlier, several deadlineswere missed-out by the standingcommittee in submission of thereport due to the differencesbetween the central and the state


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governments. The governments atthe two levels had issues of centralsales tax, compensation to statesand design of GST structure.

SC appointed Panel

Recommended an

Indefinite Suspension on

Genetically Modified Crops

A Techn ic al Expe rtCommittee (TEC) appointed by theSupreme Court of Indiarecommended an indefinitesuspension on open field trials ofgenetically-modified (GM) crops tillthe deficiencies in the regulatory

and safety systems are effectivelyaddressed.

In the final report submittedto the court on 3 July 2013, thepanel did not mention 10-yearsuspension on field trials assuggested in the interim report inOctober 2012. Instead, it imposedfour conditions for meaningfulconsideration for allowing trials.

Government constituted

a Committee to revise

NewspaperAdvertisement Rates

The Union ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting on 23June 2013 constituted a committeeheaded by JS Mathur to review therate revision of the newspaperadvertisements. The committee willalso look into different parameterson the basis of which advertise-ments are issued. JS Mathur is the

Additional Secretary in the Ministryof Information and Broadcasting.

Judicial Commission

appointed by SC on AFSPA

highlighted misuse of the

Act in Manipur

The Judicial Commission onArmed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) appointed by the SupremeCourt of India submitted a 100 pagereport to the Court in the third weekof July 2013. The report hashighlighted the rampant misuse of

the Armed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA) in Manipur. The judicialcommission also noted that the Acthas failed in tackling the

insurgencies and the armed forceswere indulged in gross violation ofHuman Rights.

The Commission in itsfindings has also noted that the Actwas abused widely and severalencounters under the blanket of the

Act, carried out in the North-Easternstates, were fake. The reportsubmitted by the commission alsomentioned that the activities of theforces appear as if they believed apriori that the suspects involved inthe encounters had to be eliminated

and the forces acted accordingly.The Commission investi-gated on six sample cases ofencounters and didnt found themgenuine and maximum force wasused to kill people. The commissionin its findings stated that the Actprovided sweeping powers to thesecurity forces even to the extent ofkilling the suspected person withprotection against prosecution butthe Act failed to provide protectionto the citizens against the possiblemisuse. The commission also noted

that in general cases, the greaterthe power, the greater the restraintand stricter the mechanism toprevent its misuse or abuse. But incase of the AFSPA in Manipur thisprinciple appears to have beenreversed.

The Judicial Commission onAFSPA was headed by SantoshHegde the former Judge ofSupreme Court and included J.M.Lyngdoh former Chief of ElectionCommission and A.K. Singh, retiredIPS officer as its members. The

Union Government constituted EGoM headed by P

Chidambaram

The Union government of India on 17 July 2013 constituted anempowered Group of Ministers, EGoM, under the Chairmanship ofFinance Minister P. Chidambaram, for timely implementation of majorprojects related to the North-Eastern region.

The EGoM will include Home Minister, Power Minister andMinister of DoNER(Development of North Eastern Region). The matterspertaining to the various projects, which cannot be resolved during themeeting of Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary,will be referred to the EGoM for further action.

commission was formed by theSupreme Court to probe into thealleged cases of extra judicial killingsin Manipur after receiving complaints

related to 1500 fake encounterdeaths that occurred in Manipur inlast 10 years in September 2012.The Extra Judicial Execution VictimFamilies Association (EEVFAM)along with Human Rights Alert (HRA)demanded investigations into thedeaths.

HRD Ministry

Constituted National

Testing Agency (NTA)

The HRD Ministry on 31 May

2013 decided to set up a sevenmember Task Force under theChairmanship of Sanjay Dhande. Itwill have the representatives fromCBSE, UGC, NCERT, AICTE andfrom the Ministry. It will prepare ablue print for creating a specialpurpose vehicle to take the conceptof National Testing Agency (NTA)forward. The rationale for settingup the NTA lies in ensuring thatmultiplicity of entrance examinationleading to stress on the students isaddressed in a comprehensive

manner by formulating a uniformentrance examination foradmissions in different branches ofhigher learning.

The decision for setting upthe National Testing Agency wastaken in the meeting of Central

Advi so ry Board fo r Educat ion(CABE) which was held on 2nd April2013. In the meeting it was decidedthat the proposal to set up NationalTesting Agency shall be takenforward in consultation with allstakeholders.


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Government constituted a Committee to revise

Newspaper Advertisement Rates

The Union ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 23 June2013 constituted a committee headed by JS Mathur to review the raterevision of the newspaper advertisements. The committee will also lookinto different parameters on the basis of which advertisements are is-sued. JS Mathur is the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Informa-tion and Broadcasting.

Panel to Examine

Indecent Representation

of Women in Media

Constituted

Union Ministry of Womenand Child Development on 19 June2013 constituted a committee toexamine aspects related indecentportrayal of women in mass media.The Additional Secretary andMission Director (National Missionfor Empowerment of Women) KRatnaprabha was appointed as thehead of the constituted committee.

The constituted committeewill have a check on all types ofindecent representation of womenin Mass Media. The decision ofconstituting a committee was takenafter the Ministry receivedcomplaints related to indecentportrayal of women in mass media.

The IndecentRepresentation of Women(Prohibition) ACT, 1986 (NO. 60 OF1986) An Act to prohibit indecentrepresentation of women throughadvertisements or in publications,writings, paintings, figures or in any

other manner and for mattersconnected therewith or incidentalthereto.

Be it enacted by Parliamentin the Thirty-seven Year of theRepublic of India as follows:-

1. Short title, extent and

commencement.

This Act may be called theIndecent Representation ofWomen (Prohibition) Act, 1986.

It extends to the whole of India,

except the State of Jammu andKashmir. It shall come into force on such

date as the CentralGovernment may, bynotification in the OfficialGazette, appoint.

2. Definitions:

In this Act, unless the contextotherwise requires,- advertisementincludes any notice, circular, label,

wrapper or other document and also

includes any visible representation

made by means of any light, sound,

smoke or gas.

Distribution includes

distribution by way of samples

whether free or otherwise.

Indecent representation of

women means the depiction in any

manner of the figure of a woman;

her form or body or any part thereof

in such way as to have the effect of

being indecent, or derogatory to, or

denigrating women, or is likely to

deprave, corrupt or injure the public

morality or morals.

Label means any written,

marked, stamped, printed or graphic

matter, affixed to, or appearing

upon, any package; package"

includes a box, a carton, tin or other

container.

Ministry of Minority

Affairs proposes a joint

committee for Skill

Development of

Minorities

K. Rahman Khan, the Union

Minister of Minority Affairs has

suggested to set up a Committeeof the three Business Chambers

and Ministry of Labour and

Employment to give impetus to the

efforts to promote Skill Development

and Employment Opportunities in

Public and Private Sectors for

minorities.

Minister asked to join hands

with the CII, FICCI and PHDCCI for

the entrepreneurship development

for minorities, as a part of their

Corporate Social Responsibility for

Skill Development.

Referring to Multi-sectoral

Development Programme (MsDP)

of the Ministry for creation of

infrastructure like ITIs, Polytechnics

etc. in minority concentration blocks

and towns, the Ministry desired thatthe three Chambers should weave

their efforts and partner to augment

the Ministrys initiatives. The

Minister also suggested launching

a sustained awareness campaign to

disseminate information on the

initiatives taken by the Ministry in

partnership with Private Sector.

The Minister urged that the

resources of private business

houses can be provided to MAEF

under the Corporate SocialResponsibility for the development

of minorities in the fields of

education, infrastructure

development, providing

scholarships, skill development and

entrepreneurial development.

Informing that Government intends

to give incentive to the institution

that promote diversity, the Minister

also wanted to know what else

Government can do for such

institutions.

Earlier, reviewing the

minorities status in employment in

Government and public sector, the

Minister directed the Department of

Personnel and Training to ensure

that all Selection Boards/

Committees for recruitment in

Government and Public Sector must

have a Member belonging to

minority community. He further

directed to sensitize all GovernmentDepartments in this regard and to

provide a status report.


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Schemes

Government approves

re-structuring ofcentrally sponsored

schemes

The Union Cabinet hasdecided to restructure the existingCentrally Sponsored Scheme(CSS)/ Additional Central

Assistance (ACA) schemes in theTwelfth Five Year Plan into 66schemes, including Flagshipprogrammes. This includes 17Flagship programmes with

significant outlays for majorinterventions required in health,education, irrigation, urbandevelopment, infrastructure,including rural infrastructure, skilldevelopment, etc.

A Gr oup of Mi ni st er s,headed by Agriculture MinisterSharad Pawar, had approvedmerging of 147 CSS into 70schemes. The ministerial panel hadapproved setting up of a flexi-fundssystem in each scheme, underwhich state governments can use10% of the Budget allocated forCSS within the broader frameworkof the flagship programme. Forbetter utilisation of funds underCSS, the panel of ministers hadapproved transferring of funds fromthe central government to the stateconsolidated funds and not directlyto the implementing agencies.

For each new CSS/ACA/Flagship scheme, at least 25 percent of funds may be contributed bythe General Category States and 10

percent of funds by the SpecialCategory States including J&K,Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand. The merger proposalwas in line with the recommen-dations of the Chaturvedicommittee, which had suggestedbringing down CSS to 59 from 147to avoid overlap.

These arrangements willcome into force for the remainingyears of the Twelfth Five Year Planand will help in optimum utilisationof resources for desired results.

Ministry of Rural

Development launched a

Scheme Roshni to train

youth in Naxal-hit areas

The Ministry of Rural

Development on 7 June 2013

launched a new skill development

scheme designed to offer

employment to tribal youth in 24

Naxal -affected districts.

The scheme, which is

named Roshni is supposed to

provide training and employment to

an anticipated 50000 youth in the

10-35 years age group, for a periodof three years. As per the Ministry

50 per cent of the beneficiaries of

the scheme will be women only.

The scheme is designed in

light of the Himayat project model,

which was launched in Jammu and

Kashmir has been implemented in

Sukma, Chhattisgarh, and West

Singhbhum, Jharkand, on a pilot

basis over the last 18 months.

Implementation of the

Scheme Roshni:

The Scheme Roshni which is a100-crore Rupees project that

will be mutually funded by the

Union and State Governments,

with the Centre providing 75 per

cent of the funding.

The scheme will be

implemented on a public-

private basis, with private

agencies providing job training

and employment.

It is worth mentioning here that

the scheme has achieved

success in the two districts

where it was implemented on a

pilot basis.

GOI launches schemes

for free generic drugs at

health centres

A pe rson 's medi ca lexpenditure is very high in India andpeople can often end up in povertywhile seeking treatment. Almost 33

per cent people suffer from poverty

due to their medical expenditures.

Thus Indian Health Ministry has

launched the ambitious schemes of

providing free generic drugs atgovernment health care centres.

The initiatives, called 'Free

Drug Service' and 'Free Diagnostics

Service' under the National Health

Mission, are aimed at sprucing up

health care facilities in the country.

Public can avail free drugs and free

diagnostics services at the

government health centres and

hospitals if the states initiate the

scheme. The states can access

funds from the central government

under the scheme by following

certain guidelines laid down by it.

The guidelines include:

a) It is mandatory for a state to

have a clearly notified policy of

providing free essential drugs

and diagnostics to all patients

coming to public sector facilities

at least up to district hospital

level.

b) The state should have a robust

procurement, logistics and

supply chain system that is

backed by Information

technology.

c) It must have differential facility-

wise Essential Drug list/

diagnostics list depending on

the nature of the facility and a

sound drug regulatory and

quality assurance system.

d) The state should have adopted

Standard Treatment Guidelines

and provide for prescription

audits to ensure rational use of

drugs and it should name the

initiative as 'National Health

Mission-Free Drug Service' or

'National Health Mission-Free

Diagnostic Service' or its

translation in Hindi or regional

language.


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Sports

India bag gold in world

youth chess Olympiad

Fantastic performance byKolkata based Sayantan Das andDiptayan Ghosh enabled India toregain the gold medal at the WorldYouth Chess Olympiad, whichconcluded Monday at Chongqing,China. India thrashed Iran 3.5-0.5in the final round of the team eventto win gold, after having started theOlympiad as second seed,according to information receivedhere. This is Indias third gold in thisprestigious team event. India hadwon the event previously atSingapore in 2007 and in Turkey2008. Sayantan and Diptayan wongold in the fourth and silver in thethird board respectively.

Sayantan had a sparklingrun to win the yellow metal by getting7.5 points out of nine games in theten-round event. Diptayan secured8.5 points out of ten to win silver.Two other Indian representativesShardul Gagare (6/9) and Murali

Karthikeyan (6.5/10) won bronze inthe first and second boardrespectively.

India's K Jennitha Anto

won IPCA World Chess

Championship

India's K Jennitha Anto on 24July 2013 won the 13th IPCA WorldWomen's Individual ChessChampionship title. In the eventorganised by the InterntionalPhysically Disabled Chess

Association, at Velke Losiny in theCzech Republic, she competed ina combined group with men andbecame the highest scorer amongthe women players with four and ahalf points.

For Jennitha, who hails fromTamil Nadu, the win came along withthe Woman International Mastertitle. The WIM title would allow herdirect entry to many of the Nationalevents for women except thepremier.

The IPCA event attracted 49physically challenged players offifteen countries. Jennitha being awheel chair player participated inFide A category and almost all theplayers are international ratedplayers.

Brazil won the FIFAConfederations Cup

Brazil won the FIFAConfederations Cup Brazil 2013 on30th June against Spain in the finalmatch. Brazil won 3-0 against FIFAWorld Cup holders Spain. On theBrazilian side, two goals werescored by Fred and one was scoredby Neymar.

India won the ICC

Champions Trophy

India clinched the ICCChampions Trophy with a smashingfive-run victory over hosts Englandin a rain-hit final at Edgbaston in

India to host 2016 World T20 and 2023 World Cup

BCCI (Board of Control of Cricket in India) on 29 June 2013 wasawarded a chance to host two major events of International Cricket

namely World Twenty20 for the first time in 2016 and its fourth 50-overWorld Cup in 2023 by ICC (International Cricket Council).

BCCI also got the chance to host the second edition of ICC WorldTest Championship scheduled in February-March 2021. The inauguraledition of the Test Championship will be hosted by England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) June-July 2017. Apart from this, the ECB wasawarded a chance to host the 2019 World Cup and Cricket Australia(CA) got the hosting rights of the 2020 World Twenty20.

All the three events were awarded to India during the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) Annual Conference. Jagmohan Dalmiya the interimChief of BCCI and a former ICC president represented India in the event.During the International Cricket Council Annual Conference, ICC finalizedits global events to be held from 2015 to 2023. In its decision, ICC decided

that full members of International cricket will have to play a minimum of16 tests over a period of four years to retain its test status.

During the same conference, Afghanistan was confirmed as the37th Associate Member of the ICC and Romania was accepted as an

Affiliate Member.

Birmingham on June 23. Afterfrustrating showers reduced thecontest to 20 overs, India firstscored 129 for seven and thenrestricted England to 124 for eight.

Ravindra Jadeja, who tooktwo wickets and scored an unbeaten33 runs, was declered Man of the

Match as well as awarded theGolden ball for taking the mostnumber of wickets in the series.Sikhar Dhawan was adjudged Manof the Series, who dedicated hisaward to the flood victims ofUttarakhand. This was India'ssecond Champions Trophy titlehaving won the first one jointly withSri Lanka back in 2002. That Indiawon the championship two daysbefore the 30th anniversary ofmaiden World Cup triumph back onJune 25, 1983.

India topped International

Cricket Council's Latest

ODI Ranking

India continues to reign atthe top of the table in InternationalCricket Councils latest ODI rankingreleased on 25 July 2013. With 122rating points, India is the numberone team followed by Australia with114 and England with 112 points.The latest ODI rankings werereleased by the ICC in Dubai.


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Science Snippets

Ford Became First

Automaker to Participatein Greenhouse Gas

Reporting Programme in

India

Ford Motor Company joinedthe Voluntary India GreenhouseGas Reporting Programme in Indiaon 23 July 2013. Voluntary reportingenables a complete transparency interms of the carbon dioxideemissions. It is important to note

that Ford has the objective ofbringing down the carbon dioxideemissions at all the global facilities,two of which are in Chennai. Theobjective is to bring down theseemissions by 30 percent per vehicleby the year 2025.

Ford Motor Company alsoparticipates in such kinds ofprogrammes in other countries suchas Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,Canada, China and US. With this,Ford has become the firstautomaker to participate in the

Voluntary India Greenhouse GasReporting Programme.

Scientists created

Worlds Fastest Electrical

Switch

US department of energy's(DOE) SLAC National AcceleratorLaboratory invented the fastestelectrical switching in magnetite- anaturally magnetic mineral. Thisscientific finding will enable faster,

more powerful computing devices.Scientists used SLAC's LinacCoherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser to find that it takes only 1trillionth of a second to flip the on-off electrical switch in samples ofmagnetite, which is thousands oftimes faster than the electricalswitch used in transistors.

This scientific finding willthrow new light on the electronicproperties of magnetite. We alreadyknow the basic magnetic propertiesof magnetite. In fact, for the first time

ISRO, Tata Motors develop India s first fuel cell bus

For the first time in the country, a Hydrogen-powered automobilebus has been developed by Tata Motors and Indian Space ResearchOrganization (ISRO) after several years of research. The hydrogen fuel-fitted bus was demonstrated at Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, anISRO facility in Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. It's a CNG-typebus. Hydrogen in bottles at high pressure is stored at the top of the busand there would be zero pollution.

The hydrogen cells were a spin-off of the cryogenic technologythat ISRO had been developing for the last few years, the Bangalore-headquartered ISRO officials said. "That's not exactly the cryogenic tech-nology... (It's) liquid hydrogen handling and that's where ISRO has someexpertise," they said.

"This is a leap for automobile industry for future transportation.In this vehicle there will be zero pollution since the product of cold com-bustion is water. This is a result of great team work of Tata Motors andISRO specialists with contributions from DSIR and PESO," said honor-ary adviser of ISRO V Gnana Gandhi, who led the technical team in thisproject.

the speed limit for electricalswitching in magnetite was revealedby this scientific breakthrough.

Scientists hit magnetite with

a visiblelight laser, which resultedinto the fragmentation of thematerial's electronic structure at anatomic scale, rearranging it to formthe islands. The laser blast wasfollowed by an ultra bright, ultrashort X-ray pulse. It allowedresearchers to study the timing anddetails of changes in the sampleexcited by the initial laser strike.

After adjusting the interval ofthe X-ray pulses, the scientistsmeasured the time duration of thematerial to shift from a non-conducting to an electricallyconducting state and observed thestructural changes during thisswitch. The magnetite was neededto be cooled to minus 190 degreesCelsius to lock its electrical chargesin place.

World's first trip to Moon's

South Pole for installation

of a Permanent Telescope

in 2016

The World's first mission tosouth pole of the Moon forinstallation of a permanenttelescope on the lunar surface wasannounced in July 2013. Thisinstallation of telescope would aid

in the professional and amateurresearchers. The announcementwas made during the NASA LunarScience Institute conference at

NASA Ames Research Center inMountain View, California.

This is a private mission andhas been announced by theInternational Lunar Observatory

Association and Moon Express,jointly. The mission would be bothscientific and commercial and theyhave planned to deliver theInternational Lunar Observatory(ILO) aboard a Moon Expressrobotic lander.

The mission will be utilisedby the Moon Express to explore theSouth Pole of Moon for mineralresources and water. Earlier,evidences of mineral deposits inmoon's southern polar region havebeen reported during the lunarprobes.

Council of Scientific and

Industrial Research

(CSIR) set to launch its

Fastest Supercomputer

CSIR in month of July 2013

declared that, it is all set to launchits fastest supercomputer at Indiasfirst ever big data science institutein Bangalore.

The launch of SuperComputer by CSIR will mark its


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entry into the new field of data

intensive scientific discovery. The

supercomputer is supposed to have

a speed of 360 tera flops, which will

make it the fourth fastest country inthe country and will be housed in

by the CSIR Fourth Paradigm

Institute (CSIR-4PI).

With the launch of

Supercomputer, Council of

Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR) is deciding to re-position its

Bangalore-based Centre for

Mathematical Modelling and

Computer Simulation to deal with

data intensive scientific discovery,

which has came out as the fourth

paradigm of science.

The supercomputer situated

in the Bangalore-based 4PI will form

the backbone of the new venture

which will connect CSIR

laboratories located in Delhi,

Hyderabad, Pune, Srinagar,

Chennai, Chandigarh, and Nagpur.

The laboratories based at

these centers will have computing

facilities between 10 and 50 tera flop

capacity and is going to be linked

to the supercomputer using the

National Knowledge Network thus

connecting 200 scientists and over

1000 students in the identified

domain areas.

Researchers Develop a

Computer Program to

Accurately Recognise

Wolf Howl

A team of researchers at theNottingham Trent University, UK

developed the computer programwhich is capable of analysing thelocal signatures or the howls ofeastern grey wolves. The studyconducted by the team revealedthat it was possible to recognise theindividual wild wolves by just thehowls and that too with 100 percentaccuracy.

The wolves roam around intheir home ranges, which makes itdifficult for the conservationists tokeep a track on them visually.However, the new technology

IICT Hyderabad developed Software tool to curb

Dengue and Malaria

A software tool that can control and reduce the outbreak ofMosquito-borne diseases by data mining (Knowledge Discovering) hasbeen developed by scientists of the CSIR-Indian Institute of ChemicalTechnology (IICT) Hyderabad. This IT tool has been validated by theCentral Government and taken up for implementation by healthauthorities in five States of States Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,

Assam and Mizoram in the initial phase which will be extended to allother States in a phased manner.

This technology has been developed by Dr. U.S.N. Murthy, ChiefScientist, Biology Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology(IICT) and his team by improvising and customising Self OrganisingMap (SOM), a cluster technique in data mining. SOM technology wouldenable health officials to prioritise control parameters in endemic zonesat village level and initiate measures to minimise morbidity and mortality,

caused by the onset of vector-borne diseases.SOM technology can help to alert health authorities to take up

larval and adult spraying before the transmission of parasite by themosquito. Mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, Japanese encephalitisand dengue are posing a serious public health problem in India andother South-East Asian Countries, with some of them were occurring inan epidemic form on a periodical basis.

The North East of India parts account for about 10.5 per cent ofmalaria cases and 20 per cent of the deaths.

developed by the team can help theexperts in monitoring the individualwolves by just their sound. Holly

Root-Gutteridge, the leadresearcher of the study explainedthat wolves do a lot of howling inthe wild. With the help of newly-developed technology, it waspossible to know which wolf exactlyhowled. Holly Root-Gutteridge alsoexplained that the wolves make useof their distinctive calls in order toprotect their territory from the rivals.These distinctive calls are also usedto call their pack members. This iscalled their group activity.

A Distinct New hornedDinosaur Species

discovered in Utah Desert

U.S. palaeontologists inmonth of July 2013 discovered thefossil of a previously unknowndinosaur a bizarre horned beastthat roamed on an island continent76 million years ago.

The new species has beennamed Nasutoceratops, whichmeans big-nosed horned face. The

giant creature discovered in theUtah desert was part of theceratopsid group, which consists of

plant-eating, rhinoceros-like dinos,including Triceratops.

World's 1st IVF baby

born using New Embryo

Screening Technique

Worlds 1st IVF baby is born

in US in June 2013 thus becoming

the world's first test tube baby to be

born using a new low cost "next-

generation sequencing" IVF

technique.

The method, through which

the baby was born, uses the latest

DNA sequencing a technique which

aims to increase in-vitro fertilisation

success rates while being more

reasonable for couples and

lowering the risk of miscarriages.

The birth of baby using IVF

sets an example to show next-

generation sequencing can be used

to pick the embryos created by IVF

that are most likely to lead to

successful pregnancies.


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Space Science

India's Advanced Weather Satellite INSAT-3DSuccessfully Launched

INSAT-3D, the advanced meteorological satellite of India waslaunched successfully by the European rocket, Arianespace's Ariane 5rocket, from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana on 26 July 2013.The satellite will give a push to the weather forecasting as well as helpin facilitating disaster warning services.

Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket of European space consortiumlaunched the Alphasat satellites as well as INSAT-3D. Alphasat is thelargest-ever telecommunication satellite of Europe. This satellite is theresult of large-scale public-private partnership between Inmarsat aswell as European Space Agency.

ISRO Successfully

Launches Indias First

Navigation Satellite

IRNSS-1A

ISROs Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle, PSLV-C22, hassuccessfully launched IRNSS-1A,the first satellite in the IndianRegional Navigation SatelliteSystem (IRNSS), in the earlymorning hours of today from SatishDhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.This is the twenty third consecutivelysuccessful mission of PSLV. TheXL configuration of PSLV was usedfor the mission. Previously, thesame configuration of the vehiclewas used thrice to launchChandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 andRISAT-1 satellites.

At the completion of thecountdown, PSLV-C22 lifted off fromthe First Launch Pad at 2341 hrsIST yesterday (July 1, 2013) with theignition of the first stage and fourstrap-on motors of the launchvehicle. The important flight events,namely, stage and strap-onignitions, heat-shield separation,stage and strap-on separations andsatellite injection took place exactlyas planned. After a flight of 20minutes 17 seconds, the IRNSS-1ASatellite, weighing 1425 kg, wasinjected to the intended ellipticalorbit of 282.46 km X 20,625.37 km.

After in ject ion, the so larpanels of IRNSS-1A were deployedautomatically. ISROs MasterControl Facility (at Hassan,Karnataka) assumed the control ofthe satellite. In the coming days, fiveorbit maneuvers will be conductedfrom Master Control Facility to

position the satellite in itsGeosynchronous Circular Orbit at55 deg East longitude.

IRNSS-1A is the first of the

seven satellites constituting thespace segment of the IndianRegional Navigation SatelliteSystem. IRNSS is an independentregional navigation satellite systemdesigned to provide positioninformation in the Indian region and1500 km around the Indianmainland. IRNSS would provide twotypes of services, namely, StandardPositioning Services (SPS) provided to all users andRestricted Services (RS) providedonly to authorised users.

World's first trip to

Moon's South Pole for

installation of a Perma-

nent Telescope in 2016

The World's first mission tosouth pole of the Moon forinstallation of a permanenttelescope on the lunar surface wasannounced in July 2013. Thisinstallation of telescope would aidin the professional and amateur

researchers. The announcementwas made during the NASA LunarScience Institute conference atNASA Ames Research Center inMountain View, California.

This is a private mission andhas been announced by theInternational Lunar Observatory

Association and Moon Express,jointly. The mission would be bothscientific and commercial and theyhave planned to deliver the

International Lunar Observatory(ILO) aboard a Moon Expressrobotic lander.

The mission will be utilised

by the Moon Express to explore theSouth Pole of Moon for mineralresources and water. Earlier,evidences of mineral deposits inmoon's southern polar region havebeen reported during the lunarprobes.

ISRO to improve

Transponder Allocation

Norms

The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) has planned to

revisit the SatCom Policy 2000 toimprove the guidelines related toallocation and pricing of satellitetransponders for public and non-government users. A revisit to theallocation norms has beenincreasingly felt in recent years asISROs user groups have faroutgrown, both in public and privatesector. By improving the guidelinesof SatCom Policy 2000, ISRO willbe able to allocate to different usersby percentages and charge, for

capacity on its INSAT/GSATsatellites in a much more rationalway than present procedure.

From the 2007 onwards, thespace agency was surprised by theincreased demand of commercialDTH, high-definition (HD) TVbroadcasters and VSAT operators.

ISRO is the sole provider oftransponders for broadcasters andother public and private users ofspace applications in the country.


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Defence Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher PINAKA success-fully test-fired

India's Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System , the PINAKA , hasundergone successful firing trials at Chandhan area in Pokhran fieldfiring ranges. This state-of-art weapon for destroying and neutralizingenemy troops, communication centres and air terminal complexes byfiring rockets with several warheads from launch vehicles has beendeveloped by DRDO. Pinaka can fire a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 secondsfrom a launcher with a strike range of 40 km.

IAF inducts its first

heavy-lift C-17Globemaster III

The first of the 10 US-madeBoeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraftlanded at the Hindon airbase on 18June 2013. The aircraft will enhancethe operational potential of the IAFwith its payload carriage andperformance capability. It would alsoaugment the strategic reach duringdisaster relief and similar missions.

The induction of C-17

(ordered for $4.1 billion) is a majormilestone in the modernisation ofthe IAF. Five C-17 aircraft will bedelivered in 2013, while theremaining five will come in 2014.With the completion of the order,India will become the largest C-17operator outside the US.

Each plane has a carryingcapacity of 74 tonne, which is morethan double the capacity of the IAFsexisting heavy-lift aircraft-Soviet-origin IL-76. The new acquisitionwill play a crucial role in any force

projection along the 4,057-km-longfrontier with China. The plane canland at small forward airbases onsemi-prepared runways, termed asadvanced landing grounds (ALGs)in the Indian Defence Ministrysparlance. Such ALGs exist inLadakh and Arunachal Pradesh.The aircraft can also land onunprepared sand runways with aclearance of 3,000 feet even whilecarrying its full load of 74 tonne.

The aircrafts real use will be

for carrying heavy equipment suchas tanks or helicopters. It has anendurance of 4,500 km, henceallowing India to dominate its areaof interest from the straits ofMalacca in east to the Persian Gulfin west.

IAF's C17s Maiden Flight

to Andaman & Nicobar

Islands

The IAFs latest acquisitionC-17 Globemaster-III made its

maiden flight to the Andaman &Nicobar Islands on 30 Jun 2013.Climbing an altitude of 28000 feetwith an unrefueled range of 2400nautical miles, the aircraft landed at

Port Blair to induct the rotationalInfantry Battalion into the Andaman& Nicobar Islands.

Manufactured by MessrsBoeing of the United States, the C-17 Globemaster-III is a heavy-lifttransport military aircraft, developedfor the United States Air Force(USAF). India has become thelargest customer, of thissophisticated aircraft, after theUnited States. C-17 Globemaster-III is 174 feet in length, with a wingspan of 170 feet. The maximum all

up weight is 265350 kg, with an ultramodernized palletized cargohandling capability.

INS Trikand

commissioned

On 29 June 2013, in a boostto its naval prowess, India inducteda Russian-built guided missilewarship, INS Trikand, into the Navyat a shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia.

The commissioning of INSTrikand marked the culmination of

a three ship contract for Follow OnTalwar Class ships built in Russia.Her sister ships INS Teg and INSTarkash were commissioned in2012 and are now undertakingoperations as part of the WesternFleet. INS Trikand carries a state-of-the-art combat suite whichincludes the supersonic BRAHMOSmissile system, advanced surface-to-air missiles Shtil, upgraded A190medium range gun, electro-optical30 mm close-in weapon system,anti-submarine weapons such as

torpedoes and rockets and anadvanced electronic warfaresystem. The ship is powered by fourgas turbines and is capable ofspeeds in excess of 30 knots.

Union Defence Ministrylaunched a website on

NCC

Union Ministry of Defence on15 July 2013 launched website ofNCC (www.nccindia.nic.in). Thewebsite has been launched with anaim to provide an insight into theactivities of NCC. It will also provideinformation to motivate students to

join NCC from the online platformtoo. The website would also act asthe detailed data bank of the 15 lakhCadets of NCC, its logisticsmanagement and budget. It wouldalso monitor the training activitiesof NCC. The website was launchedby Jitendra Singh, Minister of Statefor Defence.

Indo-Russian INDRA

2013 military exercise

will take place in October

2013

Indo-Russian INDRA 2013

military exercise is scheduled totake place in October 2013 atMahajan field firing range ofRajasthan in India.

The joint Military exercise willinvolve over 250 servicemen fromthe Eastern Military District and thesame number of troops will beinvolved from the Indian armedforces. Around 250 Russianservicemen from the EasternMilitary District are already set to joinRusso-Indian joint ground and navaldrills at Indra-2013.


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Economic Scenario

NSE regains top slot as largest bourse for equity trades

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has regained its positionas the world's largest bourse in terms of volumes in equity trades, inJune, according to the latest data of World Federation of Exchanges(WFE). After maintaining its lead in the first three months of 2013, forequity trading volumes, NSE had slipped to the second slot in April andMay. Despite witnessing a fall of 9.7 per cent in its equity trades lastmonth, NSE registered a total of 11.2 crore trades on its platform, makingit the world's top exchange on this parameter among the 50 bourseslisted with WFE. Meanwhile, NSE was also ranked first in number ofequity trades for the first half of 2013 with a total of 71.18 crore trades.In June, NSE was followed by NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX at thesecond and the third positions. NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq recorded10.65 crore and 9.88 crore trades, respectively in their equity segments.China's Shenzhen SE, which emerged as the top bourse in May, hasslipped to the fourth place. The exchange recorded a total of 8.44 croretrades in June.

Another major Indian bourse, BSE, stood at the eighth placewith 2.44 crore trades on its platform. While the total number of listedcompanies is much larger in case of the BSE, the exchange lags behindNSE significantly in terms of volume and value of trades. Others amongthe top-ten for June included Korea Exchange (5th), Shanghai SE (6th),Japan Exchange Group - Tokyo (7th), Canada's TMX Group (9th) andBM&FBOVESPA (10th).

Approval of the Plan

scheme 'DevelopmentCommunication and

Information

Dissemination' for the

12th Five Year Plan

The Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs has approved theproposal of the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting forimplementing the Plan Scheme"Development Communication and

Information Dissemination" duringthe 12th Plan period with an outlayof Rs.630 crore.

The Plan scheme envisagesmaking the common person awareof the benefits envisaged in variousGovernment schemes so that thebenefit of these schemes is realizedto the maximum possible extent.The scheme will be implemented bythe media units of the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting,through various modes of

awareness generation such as;outdoor publicity, electronic andprint media, Public InformationCampaigns, press tours, conductedtours, people to people contact,special outreach programmes, liveart and culture shows, the newmedia etc.

The Government of Indiahas launched many welfare andemployment generation schemesfor the people in general and for thedisadvantaged sections in particularby creating entitlements backed by

legal guarantees for an individual`srights. The main objective of theGovernment under these schemesis all round development of thepeople. The success of allgovernment sponsored flagshipschemes depends largely onawareness about these schemesand the benefits likely to accrue totargeted beneficiaries.

India achieved a record

production of pulses

India achieved a recordproduction of 18.45 million tones ofpulses in the 2012-13 crop yearended June 2013. This augurs well

for the country which is dependenton imports to meet the shortfall ofaround 3 to 4 million tones. Highersupport price prompted farmers togrow pulses. According to the 4thadvance estimates released, overallfood grain production is projectedat 255.36 million tones, which islower than the record 259.29 milliontones achieved in the previous cropyear. In food grains category, riceproduction has been revisedupward to 104.4 million tones from104.22 million tones and coarsecereals to 40.06 million tones from39.52 million tones in the thirdestimates. However, wheat outputhas been revised downward to92.46 million tones from 93.62million tones.

Poverty Ratio of India

declined to 21.9 percent

in 2011-12: PCI Poverty

Estimates Report

Poverty Ratio in India

declined to 21.9 percent in 2011-12

from 37.2 percent measured in2004-05 on the basis of the increasein per capita consumption. ThePlanning Commission of India on 23

July 2013 released its report on thePoverty Estimates for 2011-12. Thereport was based on the LargeSample Surveys on HouseholdConsumer Expenditure conductedby the National Sample SurveyOffice (NSSO) of the Ministry ofStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation.

The National Poverty Lineestimated for rural areas during2011-12 was 816 rupees per capitaper month, whereas, for urban areasit was recorded at 1000 rupees per

capita per month. Thus, for a familyof five, the all India poverty line interms of consumption expenditurewould amount to about 4080 rupeesper month in rural areas and 5000rupees per month in urban areas.These poverty lines would vary fromState to State because of inter-stateprice differentials.

Poverty Estimates 2011-12

1. The all India poverty ratio isobtained as state-populationweighted average poverty ratio,

and the all India poverty line is


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the per capita per monthexpenditure that corresponds tothe all India poverty ratio.

2. The NSSO tabulates

expenditure of about 1.20 lakhhouseholds. Since thesehouseholds have differentnumber of members, the NSSOfor purpose of comparisondivided the householdexpenditure by the number ofmembers to arrive at per capitaconsumption expenditure permonth. This is called MonthlyPer Capita ConsumptionExpenditure (MPCE) and iscomputed on the basis of threedifferent concepts:

a) Uniform Reference Period(URP)

b) Mixed Reference Period (MRP)c) Modified Mixed Reference

Period (MMRP).3. The national level poverty ratio

based on comparablemethodology (TendulkarMethod) for 1993-94, 2004-05and 2011-12 estimated fromLarge Sample Survey ofHousehold ConsumerExpenditure data of 50th, 61st

and 68th round respectively aregiven in the image.

4. The percentage of personsbelow the Poverty Line in 2011-12 has been estimated as 25.7percent in rural areas, 13.7percent in urban areas and 21.9percent for the country as awhole. The respective ratios for

the rural and urban areas were41.8 percent and 25.7 percentand 37.2 percent for the countryas a whole in 2004-05. It was50.1 percent in rural areas, 31.8percent in urban areas and 45.3percent for the country as awhole in 1993-94. In 2011-12,India had 270 million personsbelow the Tendulkar PovertyLine as compared to 407 million

in 2004-05, that is a reductionof 137 million persons over theseven year period.

5. The decline in poverty flowsfrom the increase in real percapita consumption. The perannum increase in real MPCEfor each of the ten deciles. Theclear inferences are

a) The real MPCE increased by

much more in the second period

(2004-05 to 2011-12) as

compared to the first (1993-94

to 2004-05)

b) That the increase was fairly well

distributed across all deciles of

the population

c) The distribution was particularly

equitable in rural areas

The ratio is based on the

methodology that was suggested by

the Suresh Tendulkar Committee

that suggests the factors in money

spent on health and education

besides calorie intake to fix a

poverty line. As per Tendulkar

Methodology, the poverty line has

been expressed in terms of MPCE

based on Mixed Reference Period.

Since several representa-

tions were made suggesting that theTendulkar Poverty Line was too low,

the Planning Commission, in June

2012, constituted an Expert Group

under the Chairmanship of Dr. C.

Rangarajan to once again review

the methodology for the

measurement of poverty. The report

on the recommendation on poverty

line made by Tendulkar Committee

from the Rangarajan committee is

likely to be submitted by mid 2014.

India ranked 3rd in Global Consumer Confidence

Index

India has been ranked third in the Global Consumer ConfidenceIndex. The latest survey by the Nielsen reveals that in the second quarterof the current financial year, India slipped one point behind Indonesiaand Philippines in the overall consumer confidence levels. Indonesiaemerged as the most optimistic country with 124 points followed byPhilippines with 121 points and India came third with 121 points.

According to the survey, 72 percent Indians are optimistic abouttheir job prospects in the next 12 months. The job security is the majorconcern followed by the state of Indian economy. Analysts say that thepattern is a reflection of the concerns of the devaluation of the rupeeand the continuing inflation for urban Indians over the past six months.The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and SpendingIntentions measures is based on consumer confidence, major concerns,and spending intentions among more than 29,000 respondents with

Internet access in 58 countries.


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Revived New Bhopal

Textile Mills of National

Textile Corporation

Inaugurated

The Union Minister ofTextiles, K Sambasiva Rao on 22July 2013 inaugurated the NewBhopal Textile Mills of NationalTextile Corporation (NTC) in Bhopal.The mill was taken for the purposeof revival as well as modernisationalong with the BurhanpurTapti Millsin Burhanpur.

It is important to note thattextiles sector is the second biggest

employment generator in India afteragriculture. According to theapproved scheme of Board forIndustrial and FinancialReconstruction (BIFR), in the firstphase, National Textile CorporationLimited replaced 16848 spindlesand commissioned 25200 newspindles in the year 2008 at the costof 26.42 Crores Rupees. This ledto an increase in the monthlyproduction from 1800 kilograms perday to 5000 kilograms per day. Thismeant that despite providing

Modified Voluntary RetirementScheme (MVRS) to surplusworkers, around 380 workersstarted getting wages every day.

The National TextileCorporation Limited (New Delhi)also approved the second phase ofmodernisation for the New BhopalTextile Mill. In its second phase, theHead Office approved sanction of81 crore Rupees, which will help inmodernisation of the machines. Thiswould eventually help in increasing

the production from 5000 kilogramsper day to 14000 kilograms per day.This implies that from presentsustenance of 380 workers, the millwill be able to sustain the 650workers every day. The mill has alsoobtained ISO Certification.

Union Govt. approved

Proposal to give SEBI

more Powers

The Union government on17 July 2013 approved a proposal

to amend SEBI Act for providingmore powers to the market regulatorto crack down on Ponzi schemes.

As per the approval, SEBI

will be given powers to conductsearch and seizure operations andaccess call data records.

Amendments to the Sebi Act andother relevant regulations werefinalised after detailed consultationswith the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI).

CCEA approved

Disinvestment of government

stake in State Trading

Corporation and ITDC

The Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA) on 11 July2013 approved the disinvestment ofgovernment stake in State TradingCorporation (STC) and ITDC.

The disinvestment issupposed to bring around 30 croreRupees to the exchequer. Thedisinvestment is required throughCabinet nod to divest 5 per centstake in India Tourism DevelopmentCorporation (ITDC) and 1.02 percent in STC through the Offer for

Sale (OFS) route.The government is

expecting the sale of 5 per centstake or 42.88 crore shares in ITDCto fetch 23.58 crore Rupees. TheGovernment is also planning toacquire about 10 crore rupeesthrough disinvestment of 1.02 percent, or 6.13 crore shares, in STC.

It is important here to notethat the government currently holds92.11 per cent stake in ITDC and

CCEA approved Modified Industrial InfrastructureUpgradation Scheme

The government on 12 July 2013 approved the Modified IndustrialInfrastructure Upgradation Scheme (MIIUS) with an outlay of 1030 croreRupees during the 12th Five Year Plan period ending March 2017.

As per the Information and broadcasting Ministry, Out of thetotal outlay, a sum of 450 crore rupees will be utililized on committedliability and the remainder for taking up 14 to 16 new infrastructureupgradation projects in existing or greenfield industrial clusters.

The decision will help to develop better common infrastructureand common facilities, including skill development centres, at theselected industrial clusters. It will also certainly impact better employmentgeneration in the selected clusters.

91.02 per cent stake in STC. Thestake is meant to help both thecompanies meet the minimum 10per cent public holding norm of

market regulator SEBI.It is mandated for thegovernment to bring down its stakein STC and ITDC to 90 per cent by8 August2013. Shares of STC weretrading 5.75 per cent lower at Rs99.20 on the BSE in afternoon trade.

Government raised FDI

in Telecom Sector to 100

percent

The Union Government ofIndia on 16 July 2013 raised the FDI

limit in Telecom Sector from 74percent to 100 percent. Governmentalso cleared that the FDI in theInsurance and Telecom sectors willbe up to 49 per cent throughautomatic route.

The Union Government alsomentioned that FDI the single brandretail would be up to 49 percentthrough automatic route andremaining investments would bedirected through ForeignInvestment Promotion Board (FIPB)route. FDI in asset reconstructioncompanies will be up to 49 per centthrough automatic route. FDI inCredit Information Companies hasbeen raised to 74 per cent from 49per cent.

The Government alsoconfirmed that the FDI in DefenceProduction will continue to be 26percent. However, it will be directedthrough FIPB route for state of arttechnologies, and investmentbeyond that will go to CabinetCommittee on Security.


18/33


National

Round-Up

India topped in the

Chart of Sri Lankas

Foreign Visitors

Sri Lankan Tourism

Development Authority released a

data of tourists on 18 July 2013,

which claimed that India topped the

charts of foreign tourists to the

island nation. As per the report, over

83 thousand Indians visited, the Sri

Lanka in the first half of this year of

which 13000 Indian visitors in June

2013 alone. India was followed by

Britain and Germany with 55

thousand and 36 thousand visitors.

Sri Lanka has set a target of

attracting 1.25 million tourists to the

country un 2013, of which more than

half a million people visited the

nation by June 2013.

Maharashtra extended

Ban on Gutkha and Paan

MasalaMaharashtra state govern-

ment on 19 July 2013 announced a

ban extension on nicotine-laced

gutkha and paan masala for another

year considering health hazards of

these products.

In July 2012, the govern-

ment had banned the sale, storage

and consumption of nicotine-laced

gutkha and paan masala in any form

for a year, which was to end on 19

July 2013. The government move

was prompted by the incidence oforal diseases, including cancer due

to consumption of such gutkha and

paan masala.

Under the Food Safety &

Standards Act, sale of items

containing nicotine or tobacco (as

in gutkha or paan masala) has been

prohibited in the interest of public

health. As many as 26 Indian states

have so far banned gutkha and

paan masala, besides five unionterritories.

Government of Odisha

announced Rice for Olive

Ridley Conservationscheme for the year 2013

The Government of Odishain July 2013 announced Rice forOlive Ridley Conservation (ROrC)scheme for the year 2013 in orderto help the fishermen familiesaffected by seven-month ban onmarine fishing at Odisha coastalareas. The identification ofbeneficiaries under Rice for OliveRidley Conservation (ROrC)

Scheme was announced on 22 July2013. The main aim of the ROrC

scheme is to help the fishermenfamilies who are affected byseven-month ban on marinefishing as an Olive Ridley turtleprotection measure.

ROrC is a livelihood supportedpackage for poor fishermencommunities to ensure themfood security.

Under the scheme, each familywill be provided with 25 kg of

rice at subsidised rate of Re 1per kg every month.

The fishermen will be providedwith special eligibility cards toavail the subsidised rice. Thecards will entitle them to get therice from PDS retailers of FoodSupplies and ConsumerWelfare Department eachmonth.

Out of the 10133 identifiedbeneficiaries, 6255 families arefrom Kendrapara district. The

Delhi Government to launch Food Security Scheme

from 20 August 2013

Delhi government is all set to launch food security programmefrom 20 August 2013. Delhi will be the first state in India to launchUnion governments food security programme. The state governmenthas completed all preparations in this regard.

Over 32 lakh identified families will start getting benefit underthe scheme from the 1 September 2013.In the first phase, BPL and

APL families, Jhugi Jhopadi ration card holders and those underAntodaya ration yojana will be covered.

Rickshaw pullers, porters and rag-pickers would also be includedin the scheme to make Delhi hunger free.

rest of the targeted families arefrom Puri, Ganjam and Bhadrakdistricts.

Due to prohibition of fishingfrom 1 November to 31 May eachyear, the fishing communities areadversely affected with depletion ofincome sources.

The bulk of the affectedfamilies are from Kendrapara as thecoastal district is home to therestricted sea corridors ofGahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. Thecoast of Orissa in India is the largestmass nesting site for the Olive-ridleyturtle. The Central Empowered

Committee of the Supreme Courthad passed directions in April 2004for protection of endangered OliveRidley turtles.

Puducherry Government

listed wine as food item

to attract tourists

The Puducherry governmenton 17 July 2013 delinked wine fromthe Indian Made Foreign Liquor(IMFL) category and listed as a fooditem to attract more tourists to the

state. With the Governmentsdecision, wine will not flow freely intothe town as the ban on sale of winebottles in general stores willcontinue as usual and sale will beallowed only in licensed IMFLshops, and hotels.

The government alsoreduced excise duty on wine toincrease the volume of sale.

The decision was taken inaccordance with the expectation oftourists from neighbouring areas,


19/33


AP is top tourist destination in India

With Tirupati hill shrine attracting visitors in hordes, AndhraPradesh has become the top tourist destination in the country, recording206.8 million domestic tourists last year, the data available with Unionministry of tourism revealed on 23rd July.

Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh stood at second and third placesrespectively, with 184.1 million and 168.4 million domestic tourists. Builtin 10th century, the Lord Venkateswara temple, located in Tirumala, nearTirupati town, attracts more tourists than the domestic visitors to UttarPradesh and Maharashtra, which boast of Taj Mahal and Ajanta-Elloracaves respectively, a senior tourism ministry official said. The footfall atdomestic tourist destinations across the country witnessed a surgetouching 1,036 million compared to 865 million in 2011 -- an increase of19.87 per cent.

It was 748 million in 2010. Meanwhile, the number of foreign touristvisits (FTVs) to states/UTs registered a growth of 6.33 per cent duringthe same year. These states accounted for 84.5 per cent of the totalnumber of domestic tourists during 2012. The top 10 states in terms ofFTVs in 2012, remained the same as those in 2011 with Maharashtratopping the list.

who had stopped visiting the townin recent months because ofincrease in excise duty that took theprices of premium varieties almost

equivalent to Tamil Nadu.

Women officers to be

inducted in BSF for First

Time

The government of India forthe first time in Month of July 2013has given its nod for recruitment andcommissioning of women officers inBSF, the border guarding force.

As pe r the BSF, Youngwomen under and up to the age of25 years will be recruited as direct

entry officers in the rank of AssistantCommandants (ACs), and theseofficers are expected to be postedto lead their troops along the twomost crucial borders the BSFguards at present-- Pakistan andBangladesh.

To the present time womencould only get into the combatuniform in the officer cadre in twoother central security forces, theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) and the Central Industrial

Security Force (CISF) which aretasked to carry out a variety of dutiesin the internal security domain andnot along Indian frontiers as theseforces are not mandated for borderguarding duties.

It is important to mentionhere that, at a time when India hasso many women troops in theseforces there were no womencombat commanders. Though,having male officers was not aproblem but deputing women asleaders surely sends the message

that they are second to none andcan do any task given to them.

This first batch of womenofficers will be on ground by late2014 and their recruitment will becompleted by December 2013.

Two other border guardingforces, the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) and the SashastraSeema Bal (SSB) also do not havewomen officers in combat rolesalthough they have a good numberof women personnel in theirconstabulary.

National Tobacco

Control Campaign Called

Tears You Apart

Launched

Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare, Government of Indialaunched the nation-wide NationalTobacco Control Campaign knownas- Tears you apart. The aim of thecampaign is to raise the publicawareness regarding dangers ofsmokeless tobacco which isconsumed by millions of Indiansevery day.

President Pranab

Mukherjee launched

Kisaan Portal for Send-

ing SMS to Farmers

President Pranab Mukherjeeon 16 July 2013 launched a KisaanPortal for sending SMS throughmobile phones to the farmersacross the country.

The SMS initiative is aninstant and non-intruding mediumcommunication enabling thefarmers to take informed decisionrelating to different aspects offarming and weather forecasts.

The Kisaan Portal directlyaimed at spreading information,advisories and services through

SMS to more than 12 crore farmersacross the country. Farmers willneed to register for this service bycalling Kisaan Call Centre on the toll

free number 1800-180-1551 orthrough the web portal.

Land Rights to Women

National Land Reform

Policy Draft 2013

The Union Government ofIndia proposed land reforms foracknowledging the women rightsand giving the ownership to ruralpoor women, according to theNational Land Reform Policy Draft2013 formulated by Union Ministry

of Rural Development released on18 July 2013.

Union Cabinet of India

approved setting up of a

NAU

The Union Cabinet of Indiaon 11 July 2013 gave its approvalto the proposal for setting up of aNational Aviation University (NAU)in the name of Rajiv GandhiNational Aviation University at the

District of Rae Bareli in the State ofU.P. as a Central University.TheCabinet also approved the proposalto introduce the Rajiv GandhiNational Aviation University Bill,2013 in the Parliament; to create a


20/33


Himachal Pradesh becomes countrys first smoke-

free State

Himachal Pradesh has been declared the first smoke-free Statein the country in compliance with Section 4 of the Cigarettes and OtherTobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003. The State has achieved 85.45%compliance with the relevant parameters. The State government intendsto eliminate tobacco products and has hiked taxes on bidis and cigarettesfrom 11 and 18% to 22 and 36%, respectively in the 2013-14 Budget.

post of Vice Chancellor (with payscales on the pattern of CentralUniversities) by selection through aSearch and Selection Committee

headed by Cabinet Secretary withmembers representing Ministries ofCivil Aviation, Personnel & Trainingand Human Resource Developmentand for creation of a temporary postin the grade of Joint secretary toGovernment of India for the positionof Project Director which would befilled up on deputation basis.

The Rajiv Gandhi NationalAv ia ti on Un iv ersi ty wi ll beestablished as a Central Universityand as an autonomous body underthe administrative control of Ministryof Civil Aviation in Rae Bareli Districtof U.P. with an estimated CentralGovernment`s funding of 202 crorerupees in Phase-l (2013-14 to 2018-19) on the land available with IndiraGandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy(IGRUA), a Society set up as anautonomous body under Ministry ofCivil Aviation) in Rae Bareli Districtof U.P. About 26.35 acres of landavailable with IGRUA has beenidentified for setting up of NAU inits first phase.

Union Government

announced disbanding

of the three District

Rural Development

Agency (DRDA)

The Union government on10 July 2013 announced disbandingof the Rural Development Agency(DRDA), the body which looks afterimplementation of anti-povertyprogrammes of Rural Development

Ministry.The agency will now be

given a new function to perform itsrole under zila parishads, the localelected bodies at the district level.The decision to disband the DRDAwas taken on the recommendationof a committee represented underthe chairmanship of VRamchandran, Chairmen-Emeritus, Centre for ManagementDevelopment, Thiruvananthapuramwith the purpose of strengthening

and professionalising DRDA to meetthe challenge of rural developmentin the present context.

The District RuralDevelopment Agencies (DRDAs)were set up as independentsocieties in 1980 and since thenhave been principal organs at thedistrict level to oversee theimplementation of the ministry'santi-poverty programmes.

The DRDA is supposed tofunction now as professional units,professional cells, and professionaldivisions of the zila parishads andwill not have a separateindependent, autonomousexistence through the Society's Act.

The government in itsannouncement asserted that, as of

1 April 2014, the DRDAs asconstituted under the Society's Actwill not exist instead there would bestate rural development agencies todeal with the issues like staffing andfunctioning of the district ruraldevelopment planning units.

SC issued Notice to

Uttarakhand for Failure in

Implementing Disaster

Management Act

The Supreme Court of Indiaon 19 July 2013 issued notice toUttarakhand and six other states fortheir alleged failure in implementingDisaster Management Act in orderto handle natural catastrophe. Abench headed by Justice A KPatnaik sought response from theUnion government, the states andthe Union Territory of Andaman &Nicobar Islands on a PIL allegingthat governments have failed toimplement in true spirit the Act whichwas passed in 2005.

The six other states whichhave been issued notice are TamilNadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra, West Bengal andGujarat.

Parliament to Ratify

Indira-Mujib Pact of

1974

The Government of Indiainformed the Bangladesh regardingthe ratification of 1974 Indira-Mujibpact, during the home secretary-level talks on 19 July 2013.

Indian Government informedthat it wanted to ratify the 1974Indira-Mujib pact for demarcation ofboundaries and for exchange of 161adversely held enclaves with a

population of about 50000 people.For implementation of Indira-

Mujib pact, Indian Government willhave to introduce a Constitutional

Amen dmen t Bi ll in parl iamentaccording to Indian Constitution.

The Government of India isplanning to bring a constitutionalamendment Bill during theforthcoming monsoon session,beginning August 5 2013, forimplementation of the Indo-Banglaland boundary agreement.

Bangladesh Parliament hasalready approved the land boundarydeal, India needs to introduce aconstitutional amendment billbecause its implementation involvesterritory swap.

Indira-Mujib Pact 1974

In 1974, India and Bangladeshentered into an agreement onborders. Popularly known asIndira-Mujib Pact, the twosignatories of the pact were theIndian Prime Minister Indira


21/33


Government decided to set-up a new Marine

Training Academy at Tuticorin

The Union Government of India on 27 July 2013 announced thatit would set-up a Marine Training Academy at Tuticorin. The academywould be set-up through the Shipping Corporation of India in collaborationwith the VO Chidambaram Port Trust.

The announcement was made by Shipping Minister, GK Vasanat Chennai that the Ministry has already allocated 15 crore rupees forthe development of the infrastructure for the academy. The first batch ofthe academy would commence from September or October 2013, witha batch of 40 students.

Gandhi and the BangladeshPrime Minister Mujib-ur-Rehman.

This agreement sought to cover

the demarcation of the landboundary between the twocountries and other relatedissues.

Ar ticle 5 of the Agreementstipulated that: This agreementshall be subject to ratification bythe Governments of India andBangladesh and Instruments ofRatification shall be exchangedas early as possible.

The Agreement shall take effectfrom the date of the exchangeof the Instruments ofRatification.

On 28 November 1974Bangladesh Parliament hadpassed the Constitution (Third

Amendment) Act, 1974 ratifyingthe Indira Mujib Accord.

Department of Food

Launched System for

Electronic Transfer of

Funds

The Department of Food &

Public Distribution on 16 July 2013launched the system of electronictransfer of funds to

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