PJ Kurien was unanimously elected the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh moved the motion for the election of
Kurien.
Kurien has been the member of national parliament for the last three
decades representing Idukki, and Mavelikkara Lok Sabha constituencies.
Since 2005 he is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
The Deputy Chairman is elected in the meeting of the Rajya Sabha as
decided by Chairman of the Rajya Sabha from amongst the members of the
Rajya Sabha. He is supposed to resign from his original party because as
a Deputy Speaker, he has to remain impartial.
Deputy Chaiman of Rajya Sabha acts as the Presiding Officer in case
of leave or absence of the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, the Vice-President
of India.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
PERSONS IN NEWS 2012 (International)
(Useful for UPSC Civil Services Mains)
Alana Seebarran
Alana
Seebarran of Guyana has been crowned as the Miss India Worldwide 2012
in the 23rd edition of the pageant held in Suriname capital of
Paramaribo.
Alberto Contador
Spanish
cyclist Alberto Contador on February 6, 2012 Received a two-year ban
for doping during the 2010 Tour de France and was stripped of his
victory in the race. Contador tested positive for the banned anabolic
agent clenuterol.
Bosusco Paolo
Italian
tour operator Bosusco Paolo was finally released by te Odisha State
Organising Committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist)
in Kandhamal district on April 12, 2012
Chandra Bahadur Dangi
Nepal's
Chandra Bahadur Dangi was declared the world's shortest living man at a
ceremony in Kathmandu on February 26, 2012 Dangi, who measured at just
21.5 inches (54.6 centimetres), snatched the title from Junrey Balawing
of the Philippines.
Christian Wulff
Germany's
President Christian Wulff resigned on February 17, 2012 in a scandal
over favours he allegedly received before becoming head of state,
creating a major domestic distraction for Chancellor Angela Merkel as
she grapples with Europe's debt crisis.
Charles Taylor
A
U.N. –backed war crimes court sentenced the former President of
Liberin, Charles Taylor, to 50 years in jail on May 30, 2012 for arming
rebels in Sierra Leone in return for "blood diamonds" Taylor, 64 was
earlier convicted of all 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against
humanity for aiding and abetting Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United
Front during the country's brutal 1991-2001 civil war.
SUMMITS & CONFERENCES
(Useful for UPSC Civil Services Mains)
OPEC Meet
The
160th Meeting of the Conference of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) convened in Vienna, Austria, on 14 December
2011, under the Chairmanship of its President, HE Eng Rostam Ghasemi,
Minister of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Conference
reviewed recent oil market devel-opments, as presented by the Secretary
General, in particular supply/ demand projections, as well as the
outlook for 2012. The Conference noted, further, that, although world
oil demand is forecast to increase slightly during the year 2012, this
rise is expected to be partially offset by a projected increase in
non-OPEC supply. The Conference decided that its next Ordinary Meeting
will convene in Vienna, Austria, on 14 June 2012.
International Conference on climate change, Sustainable agriculture and Public leaderhsip
A two-day
International Conference on Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture and
Public Leadership was held in New Delhi. The main objective of this
conference was to bring scientists, teachers, researchers, economists,
managers and policy makers from around the w orld on a single platform
to discuss various aspects of climate change, sustainable agriculture
and public leadership and develop a consensus containing a set of
valuable recommendations, as a way forward for addressing the issues
related to the future climate scenario, Indian agriculture and food
security.
First Interpol Global Programme on Anti-Corruption and Asset Recovery
The first Global Programme on Anti-Corruption and Asset licovery for Investigators and Prosecutors (13-18 February,-2012)
hosted by the CBI, was at-tended by 39 police officers, Birvestigators
and prosecutors from various INTERPOL member countries from across the
world, including Australia, Afghanistan, China, Hongkong, Sri Lanka,
United Kingdom, jfcrcenesia, Fiji, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore,
Philippines and facia
The
main purpose of the Global Programme was to enhance knowledge and
skills of investigators and prosecutors in nc icing assets of mass
corruption, and making effective use rf 1 egal assistance in
international and trans-border investigations. Of India Dr. Manmohan
Singh, UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, and former Governor of
California Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
NEWSMAKERS 2011-12
(Useful for Civil Services Mains Exam)
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Venkatraman
Ramakrishnan, the renowned Indian-American scientist whose pioneering
work in Molecular Biology won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has
been knighted in the New Year Honours List 2012. He has been conferred
knighthood “for services to Molecular Biology”. Ramakrishnan, a US
citizen, is based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2010.
Jordan Romero
Jordan
Romero, a US teenager became the youngest person to successfully climb
to the summit of the seven tallest mountains on Earth’s seven
continents. He beat the record previously held by British climber George
Atkinson, who completed the ascents at age 16.
Neha Shekhawat
Flight
Lieutenant Sneha Shekhawat is the first woman pilot to lead an Air
Force contingent at the 63rd Republic Day parade. She was assisted by
three other women Flying Officers Heena Pore, Anupam Chaudhary and Pooja
Negi. Shekhawat, from Sikar in Rajasthan, is at present posted with the
IAF squadron at Hindon in Ghaziabad air base.
Sebastian Edathy
Indian-origin
MP in Germany Sebastian Edathy will head 11- member parliamentary
inquiry committee that will investigate the racist-motivated murders
across the country by a neo-Nazi cell evading detection for more than a
decade. It will be the highest assignment in the political career of
Edathy, who became a Social Democratic Party (SPD) member of Bundestag
in 1998.
Mae Jemison
Mae
Jemison, the first African-American woman to go into space in 1992, has
been chosen to head the 100-year Starship project. Jemison's project
will explore what it would take for a multi-generational mission beyond
the solar system.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Miss China crowned Miss World 2012
China's Yu Wenxia has been crowned the 2012 Miss World.
This is the second time Miss China has been awarded the title. The last time was in 2007 when Zhang Zilin took the honor.
The first runner-up is Sophie Elizabeth Moulds of Wales and the second runner-up is Jessica Michelle Kahawaty of Australia.
The 23-year-old Yu is a music student who says she wants to become a music teacher.
This is the first time for the Inner Mongolian city of Ordos to host the international beauty pageant.
The city is one of the richest regions in China thanks to its abundant natural resources. It hopes the world event will raise its profile for economic development and tourism.
Sanya, another Chinese city, has hosted the contest several times.
India's Vanya Mishra made it to the top seven spot but failed to progress further. She, however, did bag the titles of Miss Social Media and Miss Beauty with a Purpose.
In the semi-finals, the contestants were asked to perform on the music of their country and Vanya chose to dance on "Dil cheez kya hai" from 1981 film "Umrao Jaan", which landed her a spot in the top seven finalists.
Rita Faria was the first Indian to bag the title in 1966, followed by Aishwarya Rai (1994), Diana Hayden (1997), Yukta Mookhey (1999) and Priyanka Chopra (2000). China has already hosted the competition five times.
Miss World contest has several preliminary rounds, the winners of these major rounds of the pageant are:
1. Beach Fashion: Miss Wales
2. Talent Champion: Miss China
3. Top Model: Miss Sudan
4. Beauty with a Purpose: Miss India
5. Social Media Award: Miss India
Friday, August 17, 2012
Welfare Schemes for Women
Many welfare schemes for women are implemented by
Government of India, State Governments and Union Territory
Administrations. The details of major schemes under implementation by
Ministry of Women and Child Development for the welfare of women are as
under :
i. RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL CRECHE SCHEME FOR THE CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS (RGNCS) provides day care facilities to the children in the age group 0-6 years from families with monthly income of less than 12000/-. In addition to being a safe space for the children, the crèches provide services such as supplementary nutrition, pre-school education and emergency health care, etc.
ii. CENTRAL SOCIAL WELFARE BOARD: The main women welfare related schemes and programmes being implemented by CSWB are family counselling centres, awareness generation programme and condensed courses of education for women.
iii. NATIONAL MISSION FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (NMEW) is an initiative of the Government of India for empowering women holistically. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme sanctioned in April 2011 and acts as an umbrella Mission with a mandate to strengthen inter-sectoral convergence.
iv. WORKING WOMEN’S HOSTEL (WWH) Scheme envisages provision of safe and affordable hostel accommodation to working women, single working women, women working at places away from their home-towns and for women being trained for employment.
v. SUPPORT TO TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMME (STEP) for Women was launched as a Central Sector Scheme during 1986-87. It aims at making a significant impact on women by upgrading skills for self and wage employment. The target group includes the marginalized assetless rural women and urban poor.
vi. RASHTRIYA MAHILA KOSH (RMK) with a corpus of Rs.100 crore extends micro-finance services to bring about the socio-economic upliftment of poor women.
vii. INDIRA GANDHI MATRITVA SAHYOG YOJANA (IGMSY) is a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating (P&L) women introduced in the October 2010 to contribute to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing mothers.
viii. SWADHAR SCHEME: The Ministry of Women and Child Development had been administering Swadhar scheme since 2001 for Women in difficult circumstances. Under the Scheme, temporary accommodation, maintenance and rehabilitative services are provided to women and girls rendered homeless due to family discord, crime, violence, mental stress, social ostracism. Another scheme with similar objectives/target groups namely Short Stay Home (SSH) is being implemented by Central Social Welfare Board.
ix. UJJAWALA is a comprehensive scheme for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
i. RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL CRECHE SCHEME FOR THE CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS (RGNCS) provides day care facilities to the children in the age group 0-6 years from families with monthly income of less than 12000/-. In addition to being a safe space for the children, the crèches provide services such as supplementary nutrition, pre-school education and emergency health care, etc.
ii. CENTRAL SOCIAL WELFARE BOARD: The main women welfare related schemes and programmes being implemented by CSWB are family counselling centres, awareness generation programme and condensed courses of education for women.
iii. NATIONAL MISSION FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (NMEW) is an initiative of the Government of India for empowering women holistically. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme sanctioned in April 2011 and acts as an umbrella Mission with a mandate to strengthen inter-sectoral convergence.
iv. WORKING WOMEN’S HOSTEL (WWH) Scheme envisages provision of safe and affordable hostel accommodation to working women, single working women, women working at places away from their home-towns and for women being trained for employment.
v. SUPPORT TO TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMME (STEP) for Women was launched as a Central Sector Scheme during 1986-87. It aims at making a significant impact on women by upgrading skills for self and wage employment. The target group includes the marginalized assetless rural women and urban poor.
vi. RASHTRIYA MAHILA KOSH (RMK) with a corpus of Rs.100 crore extends micro-finance services to bring about the socio-economic upliftment of poor women.
vii. INDIRA GANDHI MATRITVA SAHYOG YOJANA (IGMSY) is a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating (P&L) women introduced in the October 2010 to contribute to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing mothers.
viii. SWADHAR SCHEME: The Ministry of Women and Child Development had been administering Swadhar scheme since 2001 for Women in difficult circumstances. Under the Scheme, temporary accommodation, maintenance and rehabilitative services are provided to women and girls rendered homeless due to family discord, crime, violence, mental stress, social ostracism. Another scheme with similar objectives/target groups namely Short Stay Home (SSH) is being implemented by Central Social Welfare Board.
ix. UJJAWALA is a comprehensive scheme for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 HIGHLIGHTS
On August 12, 2012, London bade a flamboyant and madcap farewell to the
Olympic Games with a romp through British pop and fashion, bringing the
curtain down on more than two weeks of action that ended with USA
topping the sporting world with 46 gold medals.
During a special eight-minute segment, the stadium was bathed in the colours and sounds of Brazil, as the Olympics looked ahead to 2016 when Rio de Janeiro is the host city.
The Olympic flag was handed to Eduardo Paes, Rio’s Mayor, before International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge described the London Games as “happy and glorious” and declared them closed—the words taken from Britain’s national anthem to the queen.
The main stadium was the setting for some of the most spectacular moments of the Games, including Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt defending the 100, 200 and 4x100 metres titles he won in Beijing, the latter in a world-beating time.
British supporters will also cherish memories of the venue, where Somali-born runner Mo Farah won the 5,000 and 10,000 double to deafening roars and was celebrated as a symbol of the capital’s multi-culturalism.
The hosts won 29 golds to take third place in the rankings, their best result for 104 years, helping lift a nation beset by severe spending cuts and worried about social stability a year after violent riots swept parts of the capital.
Many will remember London 2012 for the record-breaking exploits of American swimmer Michael Phelps, who took his life-time medal haul to 22 including 18 golds, making him the most decorated Olympian in history. His tally helped the United States to the top of the Olympic table with 46 golds to second-placed China’s 38, reversing the order of the Beijing Games in 2008.
Opening Ceremony
On July 27, 2012, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth declared the London Olympics open after playing a cameo role in a dizzying ceremony designed to highlight the grandeur and eccentricities of the nation that invented modern sport.
Children’s voices, intertwining from the four corners of her United Kingdom, ushered in an exuberant historical pageant of meadows, smokestacks and digital wizardry before an audience of 60,000 in the Olympic Stadium, and a probable billion television viewers around the globe.
Many of them gasped at the sight of the 86-year-old queen, marking her Diamond Jubilee this year, putting aside royal reserve in a video where she stepped onto a helicopter with James Bond actor Daniel Craig to be carried aloft from Buckingham Palace.
A film clip showed doubles of her and Bond skydiving towards the stadium and, moments later, she made her entrance in person.
More than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries competed in 26 sports over 17 days of competition in the only city to have staged the modern Games three times.
Most of them were there for the traditional alphabetical parade of the national teams, not least the athletes from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen competing in their first Olympics since their peoples overthrew autocrats in Arab Spring revolutions.
Brunei and Qatar were led in by their countries’ first ever female Olympians and so, along with Saudi Arabia, ended their status as the only countries to exclude women from their teams.
At the end of a three-hour extravaganza, David Beckham, the English soccer icon who had helped convince the IOC to grant London the Games, stepped off a speedboat carrying the Olympic flame at the end of a torch relay that inspired many ordinary people around Britain.
Past Olympic heroes including Muhammad Ali, who lit the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and British rower Steve Redgrave, the only person to win gold at five successive games, welcomed the flame into the stadium.
Yet it was not a celebrity but seven teenage athletes who lit a spectacular arrangement of over 200 copper ‘petals’ representing the participating countries, which rose up in the centre of the stadium to converge into a single cauldron.
India’s Performance
India’s tally of two silver and 4 bronze medals was its best tally in Olympics. 81 athletes from India had competed in 13 sports.
Sushil Kumar became the first Indian to get back-to-back Olympic medals. He won silver medal in 66kg Freestyle Wrestling. He had won a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics.
Subedar Vijay Kumar Sharma of 16 Dogra Regiment bagged silver medal in 25m rapid fire pistol event.
Yogeshwar Dutt, 2010 CWG gold winner, won India its fourth Bronze medal in 60kg freestyle Wrestling.
Five-time world champion MC Mary Kom won a bronze medal in women’s boxing (51 kg) event. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2009), Arjuna Award (2003) and Padamshree (2006) awardee, Mary Kom is the first Indian women boxer to qualify for Olympics. The 29-year-old boxer from Manipur came back from a two-year sabbatical after the birth of her twins to clinch her fourth successive world title in 2008, a feat that got her the sobriquet ‘Magnificent Mary’.
Ace marksman Gagan Narang opened India’s account in London Olympics by clinching a bronze medal in the men's 10 meter air. The burly Indian, who narrowly missed the final in Beijing, raised his gun above his head as his many compatriots in the crowd cheered loudly at the country's first medal of the Games.
Beijing Games gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, however, could not defend his title and crashed out of the event.
Saina Nehwal won women’s singles bronze in badminton when her opponent Wang Xin of China broke down with a knee injury after taking the opening game. Nehwal, ranked fifth in the world, became only the second Indian woman to win a medal in an individual Olympic sport.
22-year-old Irfan from Kerala did not win any medal but produced the best effort by an Indian in an Olympic walking event, finishing 10th in the 20km race, with a national record to boot.
In Hockey, India finished last in their group. This was the first time in Olympic history that India lost all their group matches.
History of India in Olympics
The first authentic Indian team took part at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games in athletics and wrestling. A National Olympic Committee was finally formed in 1927.
India's greatest successes at the Olympics have come in men’s hockey. They won every men’s title from 1928 to 1956. In 1960 they reached the final but lost to Pakistan to end the sequence. India were an ever present on the men’s hockey medal podium until 1976 and their last gold medal success in this sport came at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games.
Indian shooters have challenged for medals in the new millennium. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in the men’s double trap in Athens 2004. Shooter Abinav Bindra became India’s first individual gold medalist when he won the 10m air rifle at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, Norman Pritchard had won silver medals in the men’s 200m and the now discontinued 200m hurdles. He was the first medal winner born in India but confusion surrounds his nationality as India was then under British rule.
Mascot
Wenlock was the official mascot of the Games. The mascot was created and designed by iris, a London-based creative agency. Wenlock is an animation depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. It was named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games.
During a special eight-minute segment, the stadium was bathed in the colours and sounds of Brazil, as the Olympics looked ahead to 2016 when Rio de Janeiro is the host city.
The Olympic flag was handed to Eduardo Paes, Rio’s Mayor, before International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge described the London Games as “happy and glorious” and declared them closed—the words taken from Britain’s national anthem to the queen.
The main stadium was the setting for some of the most spectacular moments of the Games, including Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt defending the 100, 200 and 4x100 metres titles he won in Beijing, the latter in a world-beating time.
British supporters will also cherish memories of the venue, where Somali-born runner Mo Farah won the 5,000 and 10,000 double to deafening roars and was celebrated as a symbol of the capital’s multi-culturalism.
The hosts won 29 golds to take third place in the rankings, their best result for 104 years, helping lift a nation beset by severe spending cuts and worried about social stability a year after violent riots swept parts of the capital.
Many will remember London 2012 for the record-breaking exploits of American swimmer Michael Phelps, who took his life-time medal haul to 22 including 18 golds, making him the most decorated Olympian in history. His tally helped the United States to the top of the Olympic table with 46 golds to second-placed China’s 38, reversing the order of the Beijing Games in 2008.
Opening Ceremony
On July 27, 2012, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth declared the London Olympics open after playing a cameo role in a dizzying ceremony designed to highlight the grandeur and eccentricities of the nation that invented modern sport.
Children’s voices, intertwining from the four corners of her United Kingdom, ushered in an exuberant historical pageant of meadows, smokestacks and digital wizardry before an audience of 60,000 in the Olympic Stadium, and a probable billion television viewers around the globe.
Many of them gasped at the sight of the 86-year-old queen, marking her Diamond Jubilee this year, putting aside royal reserve in a video where she stepped onto a helicopter with James Bond actor Daniel Craig to be carried aloft from Buckingham Palace.
A film clip showed doubles of her and Bond skydiving towards the stadium and, moments later, she made her entrance in person.
More than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries competed in 26 sports over 17 days of competition in the only city to have staged the modern Games three times.
Most of them were there for the traditional alphabetical parade of the national teams, not least the athletes from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen competing in their first Olympics since their peoples overthrew autocrats in Arab Spring revolutions.
Brunei and Qatar were led in by their countries’ first ever female Olympians and so, along with Saudi Arabia, ended their status as the only countries to exclude women from their teams.
At the end of a three-hour extravaganza, David Beckham, the English soccer icon who had helped convince the IOC to grant London the Games, stepped off a speedboat carrying the Olympic flame at the end of a torch relay that inspired many ordinary people around Britain.
Past Olympic heroes including Muhammad Ali, who lit the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and British rower Steve Redgrave, the only person to win gold at five successive games, welcomed the flame into the stadium.
Yet it was not a celebrity but seven teenage athletes who lit a spectacular arrangement of over 200 copper ‘petals’ representing the participating countries, which rose up in the centre of the stadium to converge into a single cauldron.
India’s Performance
India’s tally of two silver and 4 bronze medals was its best tally in Olympics. 81 athletes from India had competed in 13 sports.
Sushil Kumar became the first Indian to get back-to-back Olympic medals. He won silver medal in 66kg Freestyle Wrestling. He had won a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics.
Subedar Vijay Kumar Sharma of 16 Dogra Regiment bagged silver medal in 25m rapid fire pistol event.
Yogeshwar Dutt, 2010 CWG gold winner, won India its fourth Bronze medal in 60kg freestyle Wrestling.
Five-time world champion MC Mary Kom won a bronze medal in women’s boxing (51 kg) event. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2009), Arjuna Award (2003) and Padamshree (2006) awardee, Mary Kom is the first Indian women boxer to qualify for Olympics. The 29-year-old boxer from Manipur came back from a two-year sabbatical after the birth of her twins to clinch her fourth successive world title in 2008, a feat that got her the sobriquet ‘Magnificent Mary’.
Ace marksman Gagan Narang opened India’s account in London Olympics by clinching a bronze medal in the men's 10 meter air. The burly Indian, who narrowly missed the final in Beijing, raised his gun above his head as his many compatriots in the crowd cheered loudly at the country's first medal of the Games.
Beijing Games gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, however, could not defend his title and crashed out of the event.
Saina Nehwal won women’s singles bronze in badminton when her opponent Wang Xin of China broke down with a knee injury after taking the opening game. Nehwal, ranked fifth in the world, became only the second Indian woman to win a medal in an individual Olympic sport.
22-year-old Irfan from Kerala did not win any medal but produced the best effort by an Indian in an Olympic walking event, finishing 10th in the 20km race, with a national record to boot.
In Hockey, India finished last in their group. This was the first time in Olympic history that India lost all their group matches.
History of India in Olympics
The first authentic Indian team took part at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games in athletics and wrestling. A National Olympic Committee was finally formed in 1927.
India's greatest successes at the Olympics have come in men’s hockey. They won every men’s title from 1928 to 1956. In 1960 they reached the final but lost to Pakistan to end the sequence. India were an ever present on the men’s hockey medal podium until 1976 and their last gold medal success in this sport came at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games.
Indian shooters have challenged for medals in the new millennium. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in the men’s double trap in Athens 2004. Shooter Abinav Bindra became India’s first individual gold medalist when he won the 10m air rifle at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, Norman Pritchard had won silver medals in the men’s 200m and the now discontinued 200m hurdles. He was the first medal winner born in India but confusion surrounds his nationality as India was then under British rule.
Mascot
Wenlock was the official mascot of the Games. The mascot was created and designed by iris, a London-based creative agency. Wenlock is an animation depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. It was named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
36th International Geological Congress to be held in India in 2020
The 36th International Geological Congress will come
to India in 2020 after a period of 56 years. The last International
Geological Congress was held in India in 1964 in Delhi. Dr. Vishwapati
Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Mines today presented the bid before the
International Union of Geological Science (IUGS) Council consisting of
121 member countries and 128 votes were cast in favour of India against
51 votes to Canada, which had offered Vancouver as the venue of IGC
2020.
Schemes to Save the Girl Child
The Government recognizes that the problem of
declining child sex ratio in India is not an isolated phenomenon but must be
seen in the context of the low status of women and the girl child as a whole,
within the home and outside. While its immediate reasons can be traced to
increasing son-preference as well as advances in technology that has encouraged
sex selective abortions, concern of safety and security of the girl child along
with the practice of dowry are no less responsible for it.
Accordingly, the Government has
undertaken a number of measures to improve survival and status of girl children
in the country. While programmes for improvement of
nutrition benefit all children including girl children, like the Integrated
Child Development Scheme, National Rural Health Mission, Mid-day meal scheme
etc., specific interventions for girl children include implementing the
Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, pilot
cash transfer scheme of ‘Dhanlakshmi’, setting up a Sectoral Innovation
Council for improving child sex ratio and acting upon its recommendations, and
the pilot scheme ‘Sabla’ for a comprehensive
Intervention for adolescent girls in the age group of 11-18, with a focus on
out of school girls in select 200 districts of the country.
Of these, ‘Dhanlakshmi’ provides conditional cash incentive, and the
scheme does not discriminate on the basis of caste and economic status of
parents. It is a pilot scheme being implemented in 11 blocks in seven States of
the country.
Welfare of Disabled Persons
To provide comprehensive services to the Persons with
Disabilities at the grass root level, the Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment facilitates creation of the infrastructure and capacity
building at district level for awareness generation, rehabilitation,
training/guiding of grassroots level functionaries, through setting up
District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRCs). The amount
sanctioned to these centres during the financial years 2009-10, 2010-11
and 2011-12 is Rs. 201.08 lakh, Rs. 590.77 lakh and Rs. 410.09 lakh
respectively.
A Central Sector Scheme namely “Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse” for Social Defence Services is being implemented for identification, counseling, treatment and rehabiliation of addicts through voluntary organizations, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Urban Local bodies and organizations/institutions fully funded or managed by State/Central Government are also eligible for financial assistance under the scheme.
A Central Sector Scheme namely “Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse” for Social Defence Services is being implemented for identification, counseling, treatment and rehabiliation of addicts through voluntary organizations, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Urban Local bodies and organizations/institutions fully funded or managed by State/Central Government are also eligible for financial assistance under the scheme.
Innovation Programme
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME) has taken initiative in consultation with National Innovation
Council (NIC) to set up a dedicated fund with an initial contribution of
Rs.100 crores in the name of “India Inclusive Innovation Fund” for
promoting grass root innovations. It is expected that promoting
innovation would also improve the competitiveness and efficiency of SMEs
(Small and Medium Enterprises). The scheme is at the stage of approval.
The amount allocated for “India Inclusive Innovation Fund” for the current year (2012-13) is Rs.100 Cr.
The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) is the nodal programme of the Government to develop global competitiveness among Indian MSMEs. An amount of Rs.500 crores approx as GOI Contribution had been allocated for NMCP during XIth Plan. NMCP targets at enhancing the entire value chain of the MSME sector through the following schemes:
• Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme for MSMEs;
• Promotion of Information & Communication Tools (ICT) in MSME sector;
• Technology and Quality Up gradation Support to MSMEs;
• Design Clinics scheme for MSMEs;
• Enabling Manufacturing Sector to be Competitive through Quality Management Standards (QMS) and Quality Technology Tools (QTT);
• Marketing Assistance and Technology Up gradation Scheme for MSMEs;
• Setting up of Mini Tool Room under PPP Mode;
• National campaign for building awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR);
• Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs through Incubators.
In addition, Government operates a number of schemes for the MSME sector which inter alia improve competitiveness. These schemes include Credit Guarantee Scheme, Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme, Performance and Credit Rating Scheme, Cluster Development Programme, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme.
The amount allocated for “India Inclusive Innovation Fund” for the current year (2012-13) is Rs.100 Cr.
The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) is the nodal programme of the Government to develop global competitiveness among Indian MSMEs. An amount of Rs.500 crores approx as GOI Contribution had been allocated for NMCP during XIth Plan. NMCP targets at enhancing the entire value chain of the MSME sector through the following schemes:
• Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme for MSMEs;
• Promotion of Information & Communication Tools (ICT) in MSME sector;
• Technology and Quality Up gradation Support to MSMEs;
• Design Clinics scheme for MSMEs;
• Enabling Manufacturing Sector to be Competitive through Quality Management Standards (QMS) and Quality Technology Tools (QTT);
• Marketing Assistance and Technology Up gradation Scheme for MSMEs;
• Setting up of Mini Tool Room under PPP Mode;
• National campaign for building awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR);
• Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs through Incubators.
In addition, Government operates a number of schemes for the MSME sector which inter alia improve competitiveness. These schemes include Credit Guarantee Scheme, Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme, Performance and Credit Rating Scheme, Cluster Development Programme, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme.
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