APPSC MATERIAL

Friday, September 24, 2010

HUMAN BODY FACTS

Body Facts

In one day, a human sheds 10 billion skin flakes. This amounts to approximately two kilograms in a year.
Every square inch of the human body has about 19,000,000 skin cells.
Approximately 25% of all scald burns to children are from hot tap water and is associated with more deaths than with any other liquid.
Forty-one percent of women apply body and hand moisturizer at least three times a day.
Every hour one billion cells in the body must be replaced.
The world record for the number of body piercing on one individual is 702, which is held by Canadian Brent Moffat.
The small intestine in the human body is about 2 inches around, and 22 feet long.
The human body makes anywhere from 1 to 3 pints of saliva every 24 hours.
The human body has approximately 37,000 miles of capillaries.
The aorta, which is largest artery located in the body, is about the diameter of a garden hose.
The adult human body requires about 88 pounds of oxygen daily.
It is very common for babies in New Zealand to sleep on sheepskins. This is to help them gain weight faster, and retain their body heat.
An average women has 17 square feet of skin. When a women is in her ninth month of pregnancy she has 18.5 square feet of skin.
The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body.
41% of women apply body or hand moisturizer a minimum three times a day.
A human's small intestine is 6 meters long.
There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. You don't see all of them because most are too fine and light to be noticed.
Every hour one billion cells in the body must be replaced.
Dead cells in the body ultimately go to the kidneys for excretion.
By walking an extra 20 minutes every day, an average person will burn off seven pounds of body fat in an year.
The human body is 75% water.

Heart Facts

Women hearts beat faster than men.
Three years after a person quits smoking, there chance of having a heart attack is the same as someone who has never smoked before.
The human heart weighs less than a pound.
The human heart can create enough pressure that it could squirt blood at a distance of thirty feet.
The first open heart surgery was performed by Dr. Daniel Hall Williams in 1893.
Scientists have discovered that the longer the ring finger is in boys the less chance they have of having a heart attack.
The right lung of a human is larger than the left one. This is because of the space and placement of the heart.
The human heart beast roughly 35 million times a year.
Olive oil can help in lowering cholesterol levels and decreasing the risk of heart complications.
In a lifetime, the heart pumps about one million barrels of blood.
In 1967, the first successful heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa.
People that suffer from gum disease are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack.
Most heart attacks occur between the hours of 8 and 9 AM.
The human heart beast roughly 35 million times a year.
At one time it was thought that the heart controlled a person's emotions.

Brain Facts

Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States.
The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.
From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain.
People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.
Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced.
It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.
A women from Berlin Germany has had 3,110 gallstones taken out of her gall bladder.
In America, the most common mental illness is Anxiety Disorders.
Your brain is 80% water.
Your brain is move active and thinks more at night than during the day.

Bones Facts

The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes bone which is located in the ear.
There are 54 bones in your hands including the wrists.
The only bone fully grown at birth is located in the ear.
The human face is made up of 14 bones.
The chances of getting a cavity is higher if candy is eaten slowly throughout the day compared to eating it all at once and then brushing your teeth.
If an identical twin grows up without having a certain tooth, the other twin will most likely also grow up with that tooth missing.
Humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.
Gardening is said to be one of the best exercises for maintaining healthy bones.
Enamel is hardest substance in the human body.
Although the outsides of a bone are hard, they are generally light and soft inside. They are about 75% water.
Adult human bones account for 14% of the body's total weight.
In 2000 babies are born with a tooth that is already visible.
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!
Your thigh bone is stronger than concrete.
The strongest bone in your body is the femur (thighbone), and it's hollow!

Blood Facts

Two million red blood cells die every second.
There are approximately 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.
Seven percent of a humans body weight is made up of blood.
In the early nineteenth century some advertisements claimed that riding the carousel was good for the circulation of blood.
Each day 400 gallons of recycled blood are pumped through the kidneys.
By donating just one pint of blood, four lives can be saved.
Blood is such a good stain that Native Americans used it for paint.
The kidneys filter over 400 gallons of blood each day.
The average life span of a single red blood cell is 120 days.
Blood accounts for about 8% of a human's body weight.
A woman has approximately 4.5 liters of blood in her body, while men have 5.6 liters.
Your blood takes a very long trip through your body. If you could stretch out all of a human's blood vessels, they would be about 60,000 miles long. That's enough to go around the world twice.
Half your body’s red blood cells are replaced every seven days.
If all the blood vessels in your body were laid end to end, they would reach about 60,000 miles.

Eyes Facts

We should never put anything in or near our eyes, unless we have a reason to use eye drops. We would only do that if our doctor or parent told us to use them.
Blinking helps to wash tears over our eyeballs. That keeps them clean and moist. Also, if something is about to hit our eye, we will blink automatically.
Our body has some natural protection for our eyes. Our eyelashes help to keep dirt out of our eyes. Our eyebrows are made to keep sweat from running into our eyes.
Our eyes are very important to us, and we must protect them. We don't want dirt, sand, splinters or even fingers to get in our eyes. We don't want our eyes to get scratched or poked. That could damage our sight!
The study of the iris of the eye is called iridology.
The shark cornea has been used in eye surgery, since its cornea is similar to a human cornea.
The number one cause of blindness in adults in the United States is diabetes.
The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.
The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.
The cornea is the only living tissue in the human body that does not contain any blood vessels.
The conjunctiva is a membrane that covers the human eye.
Sailors once thought that wearing a gold earring would improve their eyesight.
Research has indicated that a tie that is on too tight cam increase the risk of glaucoma in men.
People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.
Men are able to read fine print better than women can.
In the United States, approximately 25,000 eye injuries occur that result in the person becoming totally blind.
All babies are colour blind when they are born.
A human eyeball weighs an ounce.
If the lens in our eye doesn't work quite right, we can get glasses to help us see. Glasses have lenses in them that work with our eye's own lens to help us see better.
Babies' eyes do not produce tears until the baby is approximately six to eight weeks old.
The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.
The most common injury caused by cosmetics is to the eye by a mascara wand.
Some people start to sneeze if they are exposed to sunlight or have a light shined into their eye.
The highest recorded speed of a sneeze is 165 km per hour.
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
The space between your eyebrows is called the Glabella.
Inside our eye, at the back, is a part called the "retina." On the retina are cells called "rods" and "cones." These rods and cones help us to see colors and light.
Just behind the pupil is a lens. It is round and flat. It is thicker toward the middle.
Over the front of our eye is a clear covering called the "conjunctiva."
The white part of our eye is called the "sclera." At the front, the sclera becomes clear and is called the "cornea."
Around the pupil is a colored muscle called the "iris." Our eyes may be BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, GRAY OR BLACK, because that is the color of the iris.
Our eyes have many parts. The black part on the front of our eye is called the "pupil." It is really a little hole that opens into the back part of our eyes.
Your eyes blinks over 10,000,000 times a year!

Mouth Facts

In a month, a fingernail grows an eighth of an inch.
People whose mouth has a narrow roof are more likely to snore. This is because they have less oxygen going through their nose.
While sleeping, one man in eight snores, and one in ten grinds his teeth.
It takes food seven seconds to go from the mouth to the stomach via the esophagus.

Tongue Facts

Close to fifty percent of the bacteria in the mouth lives on the surface of our tongue.
There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.
Your tongue has 3,000 taste buds.
85% of the population can curl their tongue into a tube.

Hair Facts

On average, a man spends about five months of his life shaving.
On average, a hair strand's life span is five and a half years.
On average redheads have 90,000 hairs. People with black hair have about 110,000 hairs.
Next to bone marrow, hair is the fastest growing tissue in the human body.
In a lifetime, an average man will shave 20,000 times.
Humans have about the same number of hair follicles as a chimpanzee has.
Hair will fall out faster on a person that is on a crash diet.
The average human head weighs about eight pounds.
The reason why some people get a cowlick is because the growth of their hair is in a spiral pattern, which causes the hair to either stand straight up, or goes to a certain angle.
The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing "melanin" which gives the hair colour.
The big toe is the foot reflexology pressure point for the head.
The loss of eyelashes is referred to as madarosis.
The longest human beard on record is 17.5 feet, held by Hans N. Langseth who was born in Norway in 1846.
The fastest growing tissue in the human body is hair.
The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs.
Hair and fingernails are made from the same substance, keratin.
Hair is made from the same substance as fingernails.
Eyebrow hair lasts between 3-5 months before it sheds.
The first hair dryer was a vacuum cleaner that was used for drying hair.
A Russian man who wore a beard during the time of Peter the Great had to pay a special tax.
Everyday approximately 35 meters of hair fiber is produced on the scalp of an adult.
Brylcreem, which was created in 1929, was the first man's hair product.
Ancient Egyptians used to think having facial hair was an indication of personal neglect.
A survey done by Clairol 10 years ago came up with 46% of men stating that it was okay to color their hair. Now 66% of men admit to coloring their hair.
A lifespan of an eyelash is approximately 150 days.

Diseases Facts

People that use mobile phones are 2.5 time more likely to develop cancer in areas of the brain that are adjacent to the ear they use to talk on the mobile phone.
Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress.
Over 436,000 U.S. Troops were exposed to depleted uranium during the first Gulf war.
On average, 90% of the people that have the disease Lupus are female.
Many cancer patients that are treated with chemotherapy lose their hair. For some when the hair grows back, it can grow back a different colour, or be curly or straight.
Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for about 180,000 deaths per year.
Chances of a women getting breast cancer are increased by excessive use of alcohol.
A popular superstition is that if you put a piece of bread in a baby's crib, it will keep away diseases.
A person that is struck by lightning has a greater chance of developing motor neurons disease.
Every year in the U.S., there are 178,000 new cases of lung cancer.
Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.
Asthma affects one in fifteen children under the age of eighteen.
Every eleven minutes in the U.S., a woman dies of breast cancer.
Due to eating habits in the USA, one in three children born in the year 2000 have a chance of getting type II diabetes.
The oldest known disease in the world is leprosy.
The number one cause of rabies in the United States are bats.
Coughing can cause air to move through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound — over a thousand feet per second!
A headache and inflammatory pain can be reduced by eating 20 tart cherries.
The incidents of immune system diseases has increased over 200% in the last five years.
The flu pandemic of 1918 killed over 20 million people.
Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity.
Every three days a human stomach gets a new lining.
The first owner of the Marlboro Company, Wayne McLaren, died of lung cancer.
Soldiers disease is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a disease caused by ticks.
A person afflicted with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands and feet.
A study indicates that smokers are likely to die on average six and a half years earlier than non-smokers.
A person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day will on average lose two teeth every ten years.
Lady Peseshet is known to be the world's first known female physician. She practiced during the time of the pyramids, which was the fourth dynasty.
The DNA of humans is closer to a rat than a cat.
Teenage suicide is the second cause of death in the state of Wisconsin.
Teenage cosmetic surgeries nearly doubled in the USA between 1996 and 1998.
Studies indicate that weightlifters working out in blue gyms can handle heavier weights.
Studies indicate that listening to music is good for digestion.
Studies indicate that epileptic patients that listen to Mozart's Piano Sonata can dramatically decrease their chance of a seizure.
Lack of sleep can affect your immune system and reduce your ability to fight infections.
It takes about three hours for food to be broken down in the human stomach.
Over 40 million Americans have chronic bad breath.
Carbon monoxide can kill a person in less than 15 minutes.
Fourteen people die each day from asthma in the United States.
Every day the human stomach produces about 2 liters of hydrochloric acid.
Nearly half of all Americans suffer from symptoms of burnout.In humans, the epidermal layer of skin, which consists of many layers of skin regenerates every 27 days.
Native Americans used to use pumpkin seeds for medicine.
In ancient Egypt, doctors used jolts from the electric catfish to reduce the pain of arthritis.
The lining of the a person's stomach is replaced every 36 hours.
The purpose of tonsils is to destroy foreign substances that are swallowed or breathed in.
In the United States, poisoning is the fourth leading cause of death among children.
The risk of cardiovascular disease is twice as high in women that snore regularly compared to women who do not snore.
The stomach of an adult can hold 1.5 liters of material.
The stomach can break down goat's milk faster than the milk of a cow.
The smoke that is produced by a fire kills more people than a burn does because of carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases.
It has been medically been proven that laughter is an effective pain killer.
Influenza caused over twenty-one million deaths in 1918.
In a year, there are 60,000 trampoline injuries that occur in the U.S.
Even if you eat food standing on your head, the food will still end up in your stomach.
A person infected with the SARS virus, has a 95-98% chance of recovery.
3000 children die every day in Africa because of malaria.

Pregnancy Facts

The world's first test tube twins are Stephen and Amanda Mays born June 5, 1981.
Some people drink the urine of pregnant women to build up their immune system.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
Every day, over 1,300 babies are born prematurely in the USA.
During pregnancy, the average woman's uterus expands up to five hundred times its normal size.
Changing a cat's litter box can be dangerous to pregnant women, as cat feces sometimes carry a parasite that can cause harm to the developing baby.
A pregnant woman's dental health can affect her unborn child.
May babies are on avearge 200 grams heavier than babies born in other months.
When a women is pregnant, her senses are all heightened.
Studies show that couples that smoke during the time of conception have a higher chance of having a girl compared to couples that do not smoke.

Sex Facts

There are approximately 100 million acts of sexual intercourse each day.
The sperm count of an average American male compared to thirty years ago is down thirty percent.
An adult esophagus can range from 10 to 14 inches in length and is one inch in diameter.
Men sweat more than women. This is because women can better regulate the amount of water they lose.
The average amount of time spent kissing for a person in a lifetime is 20,160 minutes.
The average adult has approximately six pounds of skin.
Infants spend more time dreaming than adults do.
In one day, adult lungs move about 10,000 liters of air.
The condom made originally of linen was invented in the early 1500's. Casanova, the womanizer, used linen condoms.
Sex burns about 70-120 calories for a 130 pound woman, and 77 to 155 calories for a 170 pound man every hour.
Impotence is grounds for divorce in 26 U.S. states.
There are approximately 45 billion fat cells in an average adult.
Kissing can aid in reducing tooth decay. This is because the extra saliva helps in keeping the mouth clean.
During the female orgasm, endorphines are released, which are powerful painkillers. So headaches are in fact a bad excuse not to have sex.
During World War II, condoms were used to cover rifle barrels from being damaged by salt water as the soldiers swam to shore.
According to psychologists, the shoe and the foot are the most common sources of sexual fetishism in Western society.
A kiss for one minute can burn 26.

Other Human Body Facts

The Gastric Flu can cause projectile vomiting.
The Dutch people are known to be the tallest people in Europe.
Studies have shown that the scent of Rosemary can help in better mental performance and make individuals feel more alert.
Some brands of toothpaste contain glycerin or glycerol, which is also an ingredient in antifreeze.
Soaking beans for twelve hours in water before they are cooked can reduce flatulence caused by beans.
Scientists say that babies that are breastfed are more likely to be slimmer as adults than those that are not breastfed.
Scientists have determined that having guilty feelings may actually damage your immune system
Research has indicated that approximately eleven minutes are cut off the life of an average male smoker from each cigarette smoked.
People have the tendency to chew the food on the side that they most often use their hand.
Over 600,000 people died as a result of the Spanish influenza epidemic.
Only one out of every three people wash their hands when leaving a public bathroom.
One ragweed plant can release as many as a million grains of pollen in one day.
One out of 20 people have an extra rib.
One average, men spend 60 hours a year shaving.
On average, falling asleep while driving results in 550 accidents per day in the United States.
On average, a person has two million sweat glands.
On average, Americans spend 33% of their life sleeping.
On average a person passes gas 14 times a day.
On average 1,668 gallons of water are used by each person in the United States daily.
Nerve impulses for muscle position travel at a speed of up to 390 feet per second.
Nerve cells can travel as fast as 120 meters per second.
Mummy powder was once thought to be a cure for all remedies. English men used to carry the powder with them in a tiny bag wherever they went.
Men in their early twenties shave an average of four times a week.
Medical research has found substances in mistletoe that can slow down tumor growth.
Medical reports show that about 18% of the population are prone to sleepwalking.
Manicuring the nails has been done by people for more than 4,000 years.
Left-handed people are better at sports that require good spatial judgment and fast reaction, compared to right-handed individuals.
Ironically, when doctors in Los Angeles, California went on strike in 1976, the daily number of deaths in the city dropped 18%.
In the United States, 8.5 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were done in the year 2001.
People with darker skin will not wrinkle as fast as people with lighter skin.
People with allergies can lower allergy reactions by laughing.
People who meet their calcium need reduce their risk of developing kidney stones.
People that smoke have 10 times as many wrinkles as a person that does not smoke.
People still cut the cheese shortly after death.
People over the age of fifty will start to lose their dislike for foods that taste bitter.
People of Ancient China believed that swinging your arms could cure a headache.
The average weight of a newborn baby is 7 lbs. 6 oz. For a triplet baby it is 3 lbs. 12 oz.
The average person spends two weeks of their life kissing.
The average person falls asleep in about 12 to 14 minutes.
There are approximately one hundred million people in the United States that have a chronic illness.
There are approximately 60 muscles in the face.
There are 50% more males that are left handed compared to females.
There are 400 species of bacteria in the human colon.
There are 10 million bacteria at the place where you rest your hands at a desk.
In a lifetime, an average human produces 10,000 gallons of saliva.
In a lifetime, an average driver will release approximately 912 pints of wind inside a car.
In Canada, men are three times more likely than women to have seen a doctor in the last year.
In 1832, in Paisley, Scotland the first municipal water filtration works was opened.
Humans breathe in and out approximately one litre of air in ten seconds.
Girls have more tastebud than boys.
From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size.
Flu shots only work about 70% of the time.
Gases that build up in your large intestine cause flatulence. It usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes for these gases to pass through your system.
Fat is important for the development of children and normal growth.
Every day, the average person swallows about a quart of snot.
Eighty percent of 10 year old girls in the USA go on a diet.
Air is passed through the nose at a speed of 100 miles per hour when a person sneezes.
About twenty-five percent of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light.
A yawn usually lasts for approximately six seconds.
Children who are breast fed tend to have an IQ seven points higher than children who are not.
Children grow faster in the springtime than any other season during the year.
Eating chocolate three times a month helps people live longer as opposed to people who overeat chocolate or do not eat chocolate at all.
Constipation is caused when too much water is absorbed in the large intestine and poops become dry.
A ear trumpet was used before the hearing aid was invented by people who had difficulty hearing.
The average human dream lasts only 2 to 3 seconds.
The average person has at least seven dreams a night.
Bile produced by the liver is responsible for making your feces a brownish, green colour.
It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.
By the time you are 70 you will have easily drunk over 12,000 gallons of water.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for approximately sixty-nine years.
The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime.
The average person laughs about 15 times a day.
The vocabulary of the average person consists of 5,000 to 6,000 words.
About 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

1. The Committee which has recomended one year mandatory rural service for medicos is headed by—
(A) C. Rangrajan
(B) V. Moily
(C) Y. K. Alagh
(D) Sambasiv Rao

2. Recently, the National Convention of Chairpersons and Intermediate Panchayats was held in New Delhi to mark the………anniversary of Panchayati Raj system.
(A) 13th
(B) 14th
(C) 15th
(D) 16th

3. INS Kesari has been commissioned at the naval base at Vishakhapatnam. It is the—
(A) Second indigenously built Landing Ship Tank (Large)
(B) Fifth indigenously built Landing Ship Tank (Large)
(C) Fourth indigenously built Landing Ship Tank
(D) Sixth indigenously built Landing Ship Tank (Large)

4. President Pratibha Patil recently visited Chile, Brazil and Mexico. During her trip, with which of the following countries did India sign an extradition treaty—
(A) Brazil
(B) Chile
(C) Mexico
(D) None of these

5. In its thirteenth flight PSLV-C9 successfully launched ten satellites with a total weight of 820 kg. Which of the following satellites launched by PSLV-C9 is not a nano satellite ?
(A) NLS-4
(B) NLS-5
(C) RUBIN-8A
(D) IMS-1

6. Apart from ISRO, three other agencies/institutions were also involved in the execution of PSLV-C9. Which of the following was not involved ?
(A) DRDO
(B) Antrix Corporation
(C) Cosmos International Germany
(D) University of Toronto, Canada

7. The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, slated to begin in 2009 was conceptualised first in—
(A) 1991
(B) 1989
(C) 1985
(D) 1993

8. In addition to Kolkata and Delhi, the Union Government plans to start Metro rail service in four more cities. Which of the following is not included in the plan ?
(A) Kochi
(B) Hyderabad
(C) Pune
(D) Chennai

9. Which of the following is not a member of the NATO ?
(A) Austria
(B) Poland
(C) Hungary
(D) Spain

10. Who became Britain’s first Asian woman Lord Mayor ?
(A) Rekha Rani
(B) Anjula Sood
(C) Reshma Shah
(D) Kavita Sahni

11. The newly elected President of Paragury is—
(A) Fernando De Silva
(B) Fernando Lugo
(C) Fernando Silvio
(D) Fernando Dominique

12. Silvio Berlusconi was recently elected to the post of Prime Ministership of Italy. He belongs to—
(A) Italian Nationalist Party
(B) The Patriotic Alliance
(C) People’s Party of Italy
(D) People of Freedom Party

13. PLA stands for—
(A) Party of Leninist Association
(B) People’s Liberation Army
(C) People for Liberal Alliance
(D) People for Left Alliance

14. The number of African countries which attended the recently concluded India-Africa Forum Summit is—
(A) 14
(B) 15
(C) 16
(D) 17

15. According to a recent survey which of India’s states has topped in rural electrification ?
(A) Maharashtra
(B) Tamil Nadu
(C) Rajasthan
(D) Karnataka

16. Simran Kaur Mundi has been chosen—
(A) Miss India Earth 2008
(B) Miss India Universe 2008
(C) Miss India World 2008
(D) None of the above

17. Which one of the following won Pulitzer prize in Music category ?
(A) The Little Match Girl Passion
(B) Time and Materials
(C) The Years of Extermination
(D) The Eden’s Outcasts

18. The book ‘Superstar India : From Incredible to Unstoppable’ is written by—
(A) P. M. Nayyar
(B) Jhumpi Lahiri
(C) Shobha De
(D) None of these

19. The 2008 Edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack–Crickets major annual reference work has named “The Leading Cricketer of the World for 2007”—
(A) Mc Grath
(B) Jacques Kallis
(C) Ricky Ponting
(D) Sachin Tendulkar

20. India ranks …………… in foreign exchange forex reserve.
(A) Third
(B) Second
(C) Fifth
(D) Fourth

21. Raghuram Rajan Committee is related to—
(A) Austerity in government expenditure
(B) Study of causes of rising prices
(C) Financial sector reforms
(D) Export-import balance

22. The International Monetary Fund has estimated India’s contribution to World Gross Domestic Product in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms for 2007 to—
(A) 4·6%
(B) 6·4%
(C) 7·1%
(D) 3·9%

23. According to data released by the Ministry of Finance, currently the per capita debt on each of the roughly 110 crore Indians stands at—
(A) Rs. 71502
(B) Rs. 7218
(C) Rs. 10550
(D) Rs. 6103

24. Which one of the three single cross improved hybrids of maize has not been developed and recommended for an All India level use by Chaudhry Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University ?
(A) HPM–6
(B) HM–8
(C) HM 10
(D) HQPM-7

25. US has decided to remove ………from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.
(A) Cuba
(B) Iraq
(C) North Korea
(D) Libya

26. In the year 2006-07 India received Foreign Direct Investment Worth—
(A) $ 25 billion
(B) $ 24·5 billion
(C) $ 26·25 billion
(D) 20·5 billion

27. For the first time, the T.V. Cameras and print cameramen were allowed to record proceedings of the Lok Adalats dispensing justice on—
(A) May 3, 2008
(B) May 5, 2008
(C) May 7, 2008
(D) May 4, 2008

28. As a part of the partial solution to the world’s energy crisis, the scientists of which of the following countries are building a nuclear fusion laboratory designed to recreate the temperatures and pressure of an exploding star ?
(A) U.K.
(B) U.S.A.
(C) Australia
(D) France

29. Recently, a fatal disease broke out in China infecting thousands of children and causing death of some of them. The disease was—
(A) Bird flu
(B) Filariasis
(C) Hand, mouth and foot disease
(D) Chicken pox

30. Two Indian doctors from Kolhapur have achieved a path breaking success in the research of—
(A) Genetics
(B) Stem cell
(C) New protein structure
(D) Habit pattern of different people

31. The tennis player who announced retirement recently is—
(A) Roger Federer
(B) Justine Henin
(C) Rafael Nadal
(D) Mahesh Bhupati

32. Entero virus 71 (EV 71) is responsible for—
(A) Japanese encephalitis
(B) The new form of bird flue
(C) Skin infection
(D) Hand-foot-mouth disease

33. According to a latest report, since 1990, India has cut its overall child mortality rate by—
(A) 34%
(B) 30%
(C) 32%
(D) 36%

34. India test fired Nuclear Capable Agni III on May 7, 2008 for—
(A) Fourth time
(B) Second time
(C) Third time
(D) Fifth time

35. Tenth century coins have been found from the city of—
(A) Guwahati
(B) Bareily
(C) Khandwa
(D) Ranchi

Answers
1. (D) 2. (C) 3. (C) 4. (A) 5. (D) 6. (A) 7. (B) 8. (C) 9. (A) 10. (B)
11. (B) 12. (D) 13. (B) 14. (A) 15. (C) 16. (B) 17. (A) 18. (C) 19. (B) 20. (D)
21. (C) 22. (A) 23. (B) 24. (A) 25. (C) 26. (B) 27. (A) 28. (A) 29. (C) 30. (B)
31. (B) 32. (D) 33. (A) 34. (C) 35. (C)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Financial Action Task Force

Indian has become a full-fledged member of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body, responsible for setting global standards on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). Earlier, India had become Observer at FATF in the year 2006. Since then, India has been working towards full-fledged Membership of FATF. FATF membership is very important for India in its quest to become a major player in the international finance. It will help India to build the capacity to fight terrorism and trace terrorist money and to successfully investigate and prosecute money laundering and terrorist financing offences. India will benefit in securing a more transparent and stable financial system by ensuring that financial institutions are not vulnerable to infiltration or abuse by organized crime groups. The FATF process will also help us in coordination of AML/CFT efforts at the international level.

ICAT
International Centre for Automotive Technology, Manesar has now launched Online Certification System (OCS) to speed up certification and homologation, related processes. Online Certification System will help
enhance transparency and efficiency in all the critical steps of certification system. Reduced use of paper and less requirement of physical presence of customer will be major USPs of this system. In line with best global practices, OCS would also mean that manufacturers around the world can access their data 24x7x365. All processes such as Type Approval, Conformity of Production (COP), Research & Development projects related to vehicles, engines, generator sets and automotive components are supported by the system. Multi-user and multi-disciplinary options will ensure uniform access to all employees within a particular knowledge domain. Appropriate checks and systems built into OCS will ensure strict control and confidentiality at all times. Another benefit of this system is that clients can track the status of their projects anytime using the system. A single window will give updates on specifications, timelines and costs. iCAT is India’s premier automotive test agency, equipped for full homologation of automobiles as well as components. iCAT’s strengths also lie in its core capabilities in R&D jointly with manufacturers and automotive developers, besides certification and research work, a lot of which is also funded by the Government of India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries. iCAT is one of the most advanced testing and certifying agencies in the world and has a strong IT backbone to support all its activities.

India’s Foreign Policy

Talleyrand, Foreign Minister of Napoleon and the Bourbons, is remembered as a shrewd foreign policy maker. He advocated pragmatism and Western nations have always pursued pragmatic foreign policies. He also advised eschewing excessive fervour while pronouncing foreign policy.

“The art of diplomacy, as that of water colours, has suffered much from the fascination which it exercises on the amateur”, said Harold Nicholson. This observation aptly applies to India’s diplomacy post-independence in 1947. Indians, somehow, have been extravagantly demonstrative, persistently delusive and high sounding while pronouncing their foreign policy.

The cold war era provided a near-perfect setting for spewing idealism at an ideologically divided world that was gracelessly recovering from the holocaust of a catastrophic world war. Those times also saw the end of colonialism and dawn of freedom for India. It gave a larger than life world stage to a Universalist Nehru who illumined it with the light of idealism and, like an angel, befittingly fluttered his wings over it ineffectually, while the Victors of World War Two—USA, UK, France, Russia and China—grabbed the world stage as leaders of peace!

According to Lord Carrington, “Foreign and defence policy essentially has to be about the obtaining and management of influence.” Foreign Policy demands astute sense of timing and shrewdly worked out strategies. Morality is certainly not a weakness of the major world powers. International diplomacy and relations have always been and remain amoral. In the prevailing international dispensation, bargaining, national interest and cool calculation determine relations among nations. India has yet to master the art of diplomatic negotiations and striking accurate equation with important world powers.

In 1947, India emerged as the largest democracy in the world. It, however, lacked the matching military and economic power. Since then it has fully participated in international politics, adhering to the letter and spirit of international treaties, conventions and protocols. India substituted word power for effective power to vie with the world powers. The tactic worked, at times poorly, when popular and maximum leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were the Prime Ministers. Under their rule, India’s foreign policy was more for internal consumption than for impacting on the international order. They could afford to make errors and yet have their way. But costs were heavy for the nation. India had to bear dire consequences for some of their foreign policy errors of judgement, because they placed trust not in India’s friends, but in its antagonists.

High-sounding principles of Panchsheel led to a shocking betrayal by China from which India has yet to recover. “Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away?” Sardar Patel is known to have asked Nehru. Patel warned him in 1949 that the Chinese Communists would annex Tibet, the historical buffer between India and China. Nehru, however, cajoled China and went to the UN on Kashmir against Patel’s wish. Nehru’s “Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai” turned out to be a bitter shibboleth and Kashmir became the source and fount of terrorism and remains an unhealed, self-inflicted wound.

According to observers, Jawaharlal, the architect of India’s Non-alignment Policy, died of the Chinese treachery. Atal Behari Vajpayee, a man of sterling qualities yet imitated Nehru, and his diplomatic “bus to Lahore got hijacked to Kargil”. Earlier, in 1972, though a better strategist and negotiator “Indira Gandhi slipped up at Simla by trusting Zulfikar Bhutto’s word on Kashmir”.

Currently, India is militarily and economically a stronger country, though it has weaker and minimum leaders. But happily, and perhaps compulsively, our Foreign Policy under Dr Manmohan Singh’s rule is more pragmatic and in tune with the times and practices of the so-called international community.

The disintegration of the Warsaw Pact or Soviet Union in 1990 is regarded as the verge of a new era in international polity. USA emerged as the sole, unrivalled super-power with global reach. By force of its military presence in Central Asia, the Gulf region, the Afghan-Pak area, the Indian Ocean, South-East Asia, the China Sea and North-east Asia, it also became a next-door neighbour to India, China and Russia. Its interests and stakes in Asia are extensive and appear to be long-term, even permanent. It has obviously become an “Asian power”.

The Yankee stranglehold can be felt from Egypt to Pakistan in West Asia and from Philippines to Thailand in East Asia. Uncle Sam no longer attaches very great importance to its client States, such as Japan and Australia. On the other hand, it is seriously engaged in developing new political equations, and if need be, alliances with more and hitherto adversarial countries, including India. The US security interests and concerns fall together with India’s security arc at this time.

China’s rise as the Super-Asian military and economic power and India’s own increasing military and economic power are equally important developments of recent years. “The US, China and India, along with Japan and Russia, constitute the pentagonal power complex of the 21st century; all of them are acknowledged nuclear weapon powers.

Europe is no longer the focus of international power politics, as it was in the twentieth century. At the very onset of the twenty-first century, it has shifted to Asia and promises to stay there in the foreseeable future. Europe is comparatively free of conflict and threat to its peace. It is going through a period of political transition and is occupied with the challenges of its political unification and economic integration. The world’s peace and security now onwards depend on what kind of conditions will prevail in Asia. The World and Asian powers, at this juncture, feel compelled to work out new equations among themselves, to meet the challenge of emerging Asian realities.

The world has radically changed. Of necessity, the five World Powers and other nation-States are recasting their foreign policies to encounter new developments. The shift in Washington’s India policy is a part of this ongoing international process. It is a response to and recognition of the reality of a changed world. India, too, is called upon to break out of its musty mould and redesign it’s foreign, economic and security policies. It has to, like other big countries and nations, safeguard its interests internationally.

The USA has recognized India as a responsible nuclear weapon power. It is in USA’s long-term interests to see India as a strong and stabilizing power in its region. Therefore, it feels persuaded to assist India in enlarging its global role. Can or should India shun Washington’s overtures? During the last half-a-century of diplomatic experience, India is expected to have gained enough diplomatic maturity to understand that there are no “free lunches” in international relations. Reciprocity has to be on a “give-and-take” basis. It is no use saying that India abhors being a US-client State like Japan, Australia or Pakistan. International exigency is compelling India to decide its course of action and pay the price for the choice or choices it makes.

India’s changed stature does not permit it to blame others for its own diplomatic errors or justify them on moral grounds. It has itself to decide how far, fast or slow, it wishes to develop its relations with USA and other countries, and on what terms. China, only three decades ago, was a sworn enemy of USA, but now it is USA’s most dynamic trade partner. China, in fact, has become a world economic, and consequently a world military power, with the American support. Yet, China, by no means, is a client State of USA. Contrarily, it is a pain in the US neck. On the currency issue and revaluation of Yuan, it has not yielded to pressures and warnings from USA. India, too, is free and independent and big enough to look after itself. If it chooses to abjure the present opportunity, its inaction could prove too costly. Evading the foreign policy challenge will mean evading the future itself.

India must know and practice the maxim that there are no “permanent friends or foes” for reshaping its foreign policy competently. Ideological forces have disappeared from the international scene. Pragmatism is in the ascendant. India must recognize and evaluate its national needs and interests, because national interest alone is the all-encompassing coordinate that accurately structures a country’s foreign policy.

No country is self-sufficient in all respects. Interdependence and exchange of goods and services form the basis of abiding relationship among nation-States. India today is well placed to seek diplomatic accords and agreements for mutual benefits. It has to assess its needs and the extent to which foreign resources are required to satisfy them. For example, India needs enormous measure of nuclear energy and state of the art technologies for its industry and agriculture. India also needs speedier expansion of trade and investments, an infrastructure conforming to international standards and to modernize its military. Can a vast underdeveloped democracy find or raise internal resources to satisfy these needs?

If the answer is “No”, then, India has no alternative but to find friends and partners from amongst other nations to provide the necessary resources. At the same time, it must calculate coolly what it has to part with as a price. India has to remember that even the so-called international assistance from the Soviet or Western bloc in the cold war days had price tags. Assistance and cooperation were not free then and they will certainly not be free now. In fact, India today has sufficient bargaining power and should go into the international “diplomatic market” as a confident diplomatic bargainer.

India’s immediate goal in international power politics was to become an equal member of the nuclear suppliers group. That has now been achieved with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) accepting India as a responsible nuclear power, of course, with help of USA. As a reciprocal gesture, it is absolutely in our national interest to oppose nuclear proliferation, especially within and near our regional boundaries, as it affects our security. Whether it is Pakistan or Iran, possession of nuclear weapons of mass destruction by them poses danger to us. Our opposition to Iran’s nuclear stand is dictated by our own national interest. It is not surrender to USA.

India's voting for the IAEA resolution, critical of Iran, has been interpreted in some quarters as kowtowing to USA. But former foreign secretary Shyam Saran’s forthright arguments favouring a new global non-proliferation order show that the vote wasn’t a one-off, ad hoc reflex—rather, it was backed by an articulated and coherent sense of India’s foreign policy priorities.

India’s proclivities are independent of both US and Iran. They put Indian interests first. India has objected to American double standards in upbraiding Iran, but indulging Pakistan whose nuclear advisor A.Q. Khan set up a nuclear Wal-Mart.
It must be noted here that western countries and major world powers, too, cannot escape the charge of proliferation. China has been extending nuclear know-how to North Korea and Pakistan. Israel’s nuclear capabilities have been gained with West’s connivance. Pakistan’s nuclear scientists have smuggled sensitive data from western countries. Moreover, India cannot be expected to fight for other countries’ interests at the cost of its own interests. Therefore, India has to continue to oppose Iran in IAEA voting, irrespective the hue and cry by the Left parties.

Sentimentality, romantic attachment to the Non-alignment will only blur our foreign policy focus. Has Iran done any extraordinary favour to India? Do other NAM countries consult India while exercising their international options? Should we consult Cuba or Venezuela before voting at the international forums? Do our actions at international meets need certification from any quarters to prove that our voting is or is not pro-American? A section of the media and the Left political parties appear to believe so. If this is their idea of India’s standing, role and place in global politics, then they have only a squinted view of India’s heightening status in world politics.

Non-Alignment Movement got launched in mid-twentieth century when most of the Afro-Asian countries were gaining their Independence and cold war was furiously raging. NAM’s assumed plank of neutrality between the Soviet and Capitalist blocs in the context of decolonization, anti-apartheid campaign and nuclear disarmament, placed the poor and week nations in positions of advantage. The two blocs vied with each other to enlist their support and offered inducements for it. They corrupted their leaders and weakened these Afro-Asian countries. NAM is now a relic and NAM-like neutrality or non-alignment a passé. The buoyant movement of the cold war times is now a conglomeration of diverse and in-cohesive nations with conflicting political and economic interests. India is the only country among its founding members to have gained in stature. Indonesia, Ghana and Egypt have declined; Yugoslavia has disintegrated and disappeared.

Yet, India has not abandoned NAM. It has been trying to revive the movement with a new agenda of economic and development cooperation. India’s leadership at the WTO has been strident as it successfully launched the G-22. NAM can adopt the G-22 agenda if it wishes to resurrect itself.

The foregoing observations on Indian Foreign Policy provide a perspective for understating India’s relations with major world powers, immediate region, a large number of other countries and the UN.

India’s greatest foreign policy frustration has been its unwholesome relations with its immediate neighbours. The major SAARC countries are culturally so close but politically so averse to neighbourly feelings with India. A ramification of the US presence in Afghanistan and Iraq is its closer watch on Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. All these countries have terrorists of various hues operating against India, with the State connivance and even State backing. Major western powers that were callously indifferent, after 9/11 Terrorist Attack on USA have become alive to the terrorist threat emanating from these countries. These countries are infested with Osama or Maoist (link between the two is more than suspected) elements and bases. The entire western world is in a state of scare of the terrorist threat, especially the Islamic terrorism. They also know that Pakistan and Bangladesh are harbouring dangerous terrorists. Uncle Sam’s overseeing these countries is a minor relief to India, as it is no longer alone while countering the nefarious terrorist designs.

India has been tolerant and accommodative toward its immediate neighbours, keeping them in productive engagement.

Relations with ASEAN and Singapore are the cornerstones of our “Look East” policy. “India-ASEAN Partnership for Peace, Progress, and Shared Prosperity” lays out a short to medium term road map of India-ASEAN cooperation in various sectors, such as economic, science and technology, information and communication technology, agriculture, health, pharmaceuticals and people to people contacts. India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreements are a continuing process.

Russia remains India’s biggest supplier of defence equipment and has given assurance on the supply of spares and made new offers on equipment. India, too, is supporting Russia in its accession to the WTO and its being treated as a market economy in anti-dumping investigations.

Lastly, we must remember that “in the world beyond parliaments, the press and think tanks, ideologies are being jettisoned to survive. Only the fittest will act internationally and manage change”. Will India change and choose a foreign policy befitting the challenge of times? Nation States are interdependent and foreign policy is now a central part of a nation’s political programme. War and Terrorism are everybody’s nightmare.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - august

China overtakes Japan as second-largest economy
After three decades of spectacular growth, China has passed Japan in the second quarter of 2010 to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China’s ascendancy is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.

The recognition came on August 16, 2010, when Tokyo said that Japan’s economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion in the second quarter, slightly below China’s $1.33 trillion. Japan’s economy grew 0.4 percent in the quarter, substantially less than forecast. That weakness suggests that China’s economy will race past Japan’s for the full year.

Experts say unseating Japan—and in recent years passing Germany, France and Great Britain—underscores China’s growing clout and bolsters forecasts that China will pass the United States as the world’s biggest economy as early as 2030.

For Japan, whose economy has been stagnating for more than a decade, the figures reflect a decline in economic and political power. Japan has had the world’s second-largest economy for much of the last four decades, according to the World Bank. And during the 1980s, there was even talk about Japan’s economy someday overtaking that of the United States. But, while Japan’s economy is mature and its population quickly aging, China is in the throes of urbanization and is far from developed, meaning it has a much lower standard of living, as well as a lot more room to grow.

China is already a major driver of global growth. The country’s leaders have grown more confident on the international stage and have begun to assert greater influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with things like special trade agreements and multi-billion dollar resource deals. Beijing is also beginning to shape global dialogues on a range of issues; for instance, in 2009 it asserted that the dollar must be phased out as the world’s primary reserve currency.

While the United States and the European Union are struggling to grow in the wake of the worst economic crisis in decades, China has continued to climb up the economic league tables by investing heavily in infrastructure and backing a $586 billion stimulus plan.

There are huge challenges ahead, though. Economists say that China’s economy is too heavily dependent on exports and investment and that it needs to encourage greater domestic consumption—something China has struggled to do. The country’s largely state-run banks have recently been criticized for lending far too aggressively in 2009, while shifting some loans off their balance sheet to disguise lending and evade rules meant to curtail lending growth.

China is also locked in a fierce debate over its currency policy, with the United States, European Union and others accusing Beijing of keeping the Chinese currency, the renminbi, artificially low to bolster exports—leading to huge trade surpluses for China but major bilateral trade deficits for the United States and the European Union. China says that its currency is not substantially undervalued and that it is moving ahead with currency reform.

Regardless, China’s rapid growth suggests that it will continue to compete fiercely with the United States and Europe for natural resources but also offer big opportunities for companies eager to tap its market.

US ends combat mission in Iraq
On August 31, 2010, US President Barack Obama announced an end to the US combat mission in Iraq, not with a declaration of victory but rather a sombre admission that the US had paid a “huge price.”

Announcing an end to Operation Iraqi Freedom in a nationally televised speech from the White House, the President said the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.

But as US troops roll out of Iraq, the country continues to be locked in a political stalemate with disagreement over who will lead it, after elections failed to throw up a clear winner.

Obama urged Iraq’s leaders to “move forward with a sense of urgency to form an inclusive government that is just, representative, and accountable to the Iraqi people.” “And when that government is in place, there should be no doubt: The Iraqi people will have a strong partner in the United States. Our combat mission is ending, but our commitment to Iraq’s future is not,” he added.

Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said while US troops may have withdrawn, the Iraq war is not over, it is not “won,” and any form of stable end state in Iraq is probably impossible before 2020.

A transitional US force will remain in Iraq with a mission of advising and assisting Iraq’s security forces, supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counter-terrorism missions, and protecting US civilians.

Mid-East Summit
US President Barack Obama waded into a new round of Middle East diplomacy September 1, 2010, seeking momentum for revived peace talks clouded by a flare-up of West Bank violence and a deadlock over Jewish settlements.

Obama met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he launched a series of one-on-one meetings with Middle East leaders attending a US-led peace summit that culminated with the first direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in 20 months.

With Obama's peace bid facing broad skepticism and the clock ticking toward the September 26, 2010 expiration of an Israeli settlement construction freeze, Israel's defence minister sounded a conciliatory note about the prospects for sharing Jerusalem, an issue at the heart of the decades-old conflict. But big obstacles remain to Obama's quest for a peace deal that eluded so many of his predecessors.

Hamas militants declared war on the talks even before they began, killing four Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, vowing more attacks and underscoring the threat hard-liners pose to the fragile peace process.

The summit marked Obama's riskiest plunge into Middle East diplomacy, not least because he wants the two sides to forge a deal within 12 months, a target many analysts call a long shot.

Cricket shamed again
Yet another match-fixing scandal rocked Pakistan cricket on August 29, 2010, engulfing its captain Salman Butt, brilliant pace duo of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and four other players, leading to the arrest of a bookie in London and questioning of the players by the Scotland Yard after a tabloid sting.

The ‘News of the World’ tabloid alleged that a Pakistani man Mazhar Majeed had paid bribes to the players to bowl no-balls in the series and the Lord’s Test. The video evidence that the tabloid has presented also shows Majeed talking about his links with Indian bookies.

The two Pakistanis who bowled no-balls allegedly on directions from Majeed were Asif and Aamir. Both bowlers delivered three no-balls during the Lord’s Test.

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - AUGUST

Foreign Contribution Regulation Bill
Organisations of political nature and those involved in religious conversions will henceforth be barred from accepting foreign funds. Also, persons holding political positions like MPs and MLAs can no longer enjoy foreign hospitality and must intimate the government of their visits abroad, personal or official.

After letting private organisations bring in unaccounted foreign remittances for 34 years, the government has brought to the Lok Sabha the Foreign Contribution Regulation Bill, 2010, to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution of hospitality by certain individuals or associations and to prohibit such acceptances for activities detrimental to national interest. The Lower House passed the Bill, which the Rajya Sabha had already cleared.

At the root of the law is the concern that out of 40,173 NGOs (in 1993 there were just 1,500) accepting foreign funding, only 18,796 have submitted their audited accounts. For the rest, the government doesn’t know the source of funding.

So far, Rs 12,000 crore has “officially” come through the foreign route, of which 60 per cent has come from religious organisations, some from countries as small in population as Canada, Mauritius and Luxembourg.

The government’s data shows that in 2005 and 2006, there were over 32,144 organisations taking foreign funds in India. Only 18,000 declared their funding. In 2005-2006, of the Rs 7,000 crore that came from foreign sources, Rs 3,075 crore came for religious organisations. This explains why the new law (which replaces the 1976 legislation) bans foreign funds for conversion purposes.

Significant amounts (to the tune of Rs 7,229 crore) have also come in for education, with no monitoring. In the run-up to the new FCR Bill 2010, the government banned 41 outfits from taking foreign remittances; sealed accounts of 11 and asked 45 to take permission first.

With the new law, the government has also capped administrative expenses at 50 per cent of all inflows to NGOs (India has about 20 lakh).

Nuclear Liability Bill
On August 25, 2001, the UPA government successfully shepherded the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, through the Lok Sabha, with active support from the BJP and strategic absence of some fence-sitters such as the Samajwadi Party.

Quashing opposition from the Left Bloc and other critics, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh denied that the Bill was railroaded through the House to serve US interests. “This Bill is a completion of a journey to end the nuclear apartheid, which the world had imposed on India in the year 1974,” he said.”

The government managed to bring the BJP on board in return for accepting amendments to the controversial Clause 17(b) and dropping the word “intent”. The new formulation of 17(b), now states that suppliers would be liable where “the accident has resulted as a consequence of an act of a supplier or his employees, done to cause nuclear damage, and such act includes supply of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services”.

While his government achieved what appeared even a few months ago to be an impossible task—getting the Lok Sabha to pass the Bill— Manmohan Singh announced that the government would give safety issues top priority. “Concern about nuclear safety is one, which I fully share. I assure (you) we will do everything to strengthen the Nuclear Regulatory Board to ensure that safety concerns receive the attention that they must, if we are to use nuclear power as a major source for generating and meeting India’s need for energy,” he said.

The key points of the Bill are:
—Controversial Clause 17(b) amended by dropping the word ‘intent’.
—Compensation cap to be paid by the operator at Rs 1500 crore provided in the Bill is not the ‘limit’.
—Compensation will be decided by the Claims Commissioner and the operator will have to pay.
—Government assumes full liability for even a plant not operated by it.
—The Bill is necessary for full implementation of civil nuclear deal signed with the USA in 2006.

Bill to provide women equal guardianship rights
A Bill paving way for the women to get equal rights in guardianship and adoption of children has been passed by the Rajya Sabha.

The Personal Laws Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. It also seeks to allow the mother, along with the father, to be appointed as a guardian, making the process gender-neutral.

Besides, it aims at removing hurdles in the way of a married woman to adopt. She can give a son or daughter for adoption.

For adoption and guardianship, under the existing Act, only the father is considered to be the natural guardian of the child in a Hindu family and only unmarried, divorced women and widows are allowed to adopt a child. Women separated from their husbands and engaged in lengthy divorce battles cannot adopt a child.

Annual Supplement to Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14
The government has extended sops worth Rs 1,052 crore to exporters, particularly for the labour-intensive textile, handicrafts and leather sectors, to help them see through the fragile economic recovery globally. The revenue implication of these measures would be Rs 1,052 crore. The government also made it clear that the popular Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme, which has been in vogue for over a decade, is being extended for the last time.

Experts said drawing the curtains on the DEPB scheme was inevitable as it was considered incompatible with the global trade rules under WTO.

A number of additional products from sectors like engineering, leather, textiles and jute have also been added to the existing two per cent interest subvention scheme. Handloom, handicrafts, carpet and the SMEs have been getting this facility, which will now be available till March 31, 2011.

The government also extended the zero-duty Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme by one year to March 31, 2012. The scheme, which was announced in August 2009, was to expire on March 31, 2011. Steps to reduce transaction cost of exports too were announced in the policy.

India-Japan Strategic Dialogue
On August 21, 2010, visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada held the fourth round of strategic dialogue with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. The two sides discussed the nuclear pact, comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), other bilateral and international issues, including UN reforms and the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, the focus was clearly on the nuke deal, the discussions on which the two countries propose to conclude as quickly as possible without setting any time-line.

Addressing a joint press conference with Krishna after the three-hour talks between the two sides, Okada candidly admitted that initiating negotiations with India on the nuclear pact was the toughest decision he had taken during his stewardship of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, given the fact that India was not a signatory to the NPT. He also acknowledged that the proposal for a nuclear agreement with India was facing sharp criticism back home, since Japan is the only country to have experienced a nuclear attack.

He also told the Indian side that the philosophy of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation must be incorporated in the proposed accord on nuclear cooperation.

Asked if Japan had advised India against detonating another nuclear device, Okada said: “I don’t think we can suggest to India to refrain from conducting a test…but if such a thing were to happen, we shall have no option but to suspend our cooperation with India (in the field).”

The two countries will continue and enhance consultations within the G-4 process for reforms of the UN, including the Security Council. They also welcomed the inclusion of the US and Russia in the East Asia Summit (EAS).

National Innovation Council
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the setting up of a National Innovation Council to prepare a road map for the 'Decade of Innovation 2011-2020'. Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister on public information infrastructure and innovations, will head the National Innovation Council.

The Council has been given the mandate to evolve an Indian model of innovation focussing on inclusive growth and creating an appropriate eco-system conducive to fostering inclusive innovation.

It will delineate appropriate policy initiatives within the government required to spur innovation. It will also promote the setting up of sectoral innovation councils and state innovation councils.

While encouraging all important sectors of the economy to innovate, the NIC will take special efforts to facilitate innovation by micro, small and medium enterprises.

Innovation in public services delivery and encouraging multi-disciplinary and globally competitive approaches for innovations would be focused on by the council.

“A Journey” is a memoir written by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The N.C. Saxena Committee was set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. It details the manner in which laws were flagrantly flouted to facilitate the Vedanta Alumina Ltd project in Orissa. The project is aggressively opposed by the local tribal groups.

India remained the largest recipient of World Bank loans in 2009-10. The World Bank, through its lending arms IBRD and IDA, committed $9.3 billion in financial assistance to India in 2009-10, more than the aid committed by the US and European Union. Next in line were South Africa ($3.8 billion), Brazil ($3.7 billion) and Turkey ($3.0 billion).

The Indian Parliament has hiked the salary of Members of Parliament to Rs 50,000 per month. Two key allowances (constituency and office expenses) have also been increased to Rs 45,000 each.

Airtel has bagged the title sponsorship rights for the India cricket team’s home games for two-and-half years, at a cost of Rs 3.33 crore per match.

Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas is observed on August 24.

The 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities has ranked Harvard University as the top University of the world for the eighth year in the annual ranking. Harvard is followed by University of Cambridge, Yale University, University College London (UCL), Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University of Chicago, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and California Institute of Technology (CALTECH).

“Oh yaaron, India ne bula liya”, composed by A.R. Rahman, is the theme song of Commonwealth Games, 2010. It has been directed by Shyam Benegal and produced by Bharat Bala.

With his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2010—the seventh—Manmohan Singh edged past Atal Behari Vajpayee to become the Prime Minister of India who has addressed the nation on Independence Day the third-highest number of times. Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation 17 times and Mrs Indira Gandhi 16 times.

On September 1, 2010, South-East Asia’s first Sports Injury Centre was opened on the campus of Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, in partnership between the government and six private players.

An elephant, named Stumpy, is the official mascot of the 2010 Cricket World Cup.

UNESCO has granted the World Heritage status to Jantar Mantar in Jaipur which is a celebrated astronomical observatory built in 18th century. This is India’s 28th and Rajasthan’s second site (after Keoladev National Park) to be given the World Heritage status.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

APPSC Group 1 preliminary Exam Cut off marks Analysis

Andhra pradesh public service commission (APPSC) conducted Group-1 preliminary examination on 05/09/2010.This appsc group -I paper contains 150 questions of objectice multiple type questions.These questions has to be answered in 150 minutes that is two and half an hour time.Each questions carry 1 mark. That means this exam is for 150 marks.Total 1,89,000 candidates applied for this exam. Out of this number only 47.5% attended the preliminary exam.

This is only a screening test which means these marks are considered only to select candidates to main exam in the ratio of 1:50. As there is 199 posts generally 10,000 aspirants are going to permitted to take main exam.Out of which 1:2 ratio is going to be called for interview / personality test.Final selection depends on Mains and Interview marks.There is no reservation or quota in selecting candidates for main exam from preliminary examination. Here is the key for group 1 preliminary / screening examination 2010.

As per the experts opinion question paper
is relatively not easy or more than average.

The cutoff marks estimation vary from expert to expert.

Generally it is expected to between 80 to 85 marks.

Those candidates who got more than 85 marks they may Start preparation for Group-I main exams from today onwards.

Monday, September 13, 2010

APPSC GROUP-1 PRELIMINARY EXAM

Method of Making Notes to Prepare GROUP-1 Main Examination

There are different methods of making notes and one should decide which method suits you the best. There are two types of making notes, one is the LINEAR NOTES and the other PATTERN NOTES.

LINEAR NOTES:
Let us start with Linear notes first, it is a method in which you condense the material you have read using headings and sub headings and jotting down the most important points. This method works best when making notes from a book where the material is already properly organised. But one disadvantage of this method is that you end up copying a lot of material from the book which defeats the very purpose of condensing.

The right way to use this method is to use loose sheets of paper instead of an exercise book since it is easier to keep adding information. It is a good idea to leave space on each sheet of paper for additional information. Another way to make your notes more interesting is to use colors, block letters, making boxes and highlighting as and when necessary. All this will immediately draw our attention to the actual contents of our notes and make it more clear and comprehensible.

PATTERN NOTES:
We now come to Pattern Notes. For this we have to begin the topic at the centre of the page. Each line radiating from it represents a branch of the main idea. Each point is written as briefly as possible using a key word or a phrase. It is a better method to adopt because it is more flexible than making Linear notes. One can add extra information to it at any point without any problem. Second advantage is that we can see the whole pattern at one go without actually turning the pages. Thirdly we can indicate the links between different topics more easily than we can do in a linear method. Another advantage of pattern notes is that it is exceptionally useful when making notes from memory for revision as you keep jotting down points as and when they occur to you. This makes it easier to revise for exams and writing out essays as only brief key words are used. Lastly, it is easier to remember as notes is made in a shape format.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Nuclear Power in India

Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and renewable sources of electricity. As of 2010, India has 19 nuclear power plants in operation generating 4,560
MW while 4 other are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW. India
is also involved in the development of fusion reactors through its participation in the ITER project.

Since early 1990s, Russia has been a major source of nuclear fuel to India. Due to dwindling domestic
uranium reserves, electricity generation from nuclear power in India declined by 12.83% from
2006 to 2008. Following a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in September 2008 which allowed it to commence international nuclear trade, India has signed nuclear deals with several other countries including France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Namibia, Mongolia, Argentina, Kazakhstan In February 2009, India also signed a $700 million deal with Russia for the supply of 2000 tons nuclear fuel.

Nuclear Power Growth in India:
Future Enery Source for Development India now envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 4.2% to 9% within 25 years. In 2010, India's installed nuclear power generation capacity will increase to 6,000 MW. As of 2009, India stands 9th in the world in terms of number of operational nuclear power reactors and is constructing 9 more, including two EPRs being constructed by France's Areva. Indigenous atomic reactors include
TAPS-3, and -4, both of which are 540 MW reactors. India's $717 million fast breeder reactor
project is expected to be operational by 2010. India, being a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty, has been subjected to a defacto nuclear embargo from members of the Nuclear
Suppliers Group (NSG) cartel. This has prevented India from obtaining commercial nuclear fuel,
nuclear power plant components and services from the international market, thereby forcing India to
develop its own fuel, components and services for nuclear power generation. The NSG embargo has
had both negative and positive consequences for India's Nuclear Industry.
On one hand, the NSG regime has constrained India from freely importing nuclear fuel at the volume
and cost levels it would like to support the country's goals of expanding its nuclear power generation capacity to at least 20,000 MW by 2020. Also, by precluding India from taking advantage of the
economies of scale and safety innovations of the global nuclear industry, the NSG regime has driven up the capital and operating costs and damaged the achievable safety potential of Indian nuclear power plants.
On the other hand, the NSG embargo has forced the Indian government and bureaucracy to support and actively fund the development of Indian nuclear technologies and industrial capacities in all key areas required to create and maintain a domestic nuclear industry. This has resulted in the creation of a large pool of nuclear scientists, engineers and technicians that have developed new and unique innovations in the areas of Fast Breeder Reactors, Thermal Breeder Reactors, the Thorium fuel cycle, nuclear fuel reprocessing and Tritium extraction & production.
Ironically, had the NSG sanctions not been in place, it would have been far more cost effective for India to import foreign nuclear power plants and nuclear fuels than to fund the development of Indian nuclear power generation technology, building of India's own nuclear reactors, and the development of domestic uranium mining, milling and refining capacity.
The Indian nuclear power industry is expected to undergo a significant expansion in the coming years
thanks in part to the passing of The Indo-US nuclear deal. This agreement will allow India to carry out trade of nuclear fuel and technologies with other countries and significantly enhance its power generation capacity. when the agreement goes through, India is expected to generate an additional 25,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, bringing total estimated nuclear power generation to 45,000 MW. India has already been using imported enriched uranium and are currently under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, but it has developed various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle to support its reactors. Development of select technologies has been strongly affected by limited imports. Use of heavy water reactors has been particularly attractive for the nation because it allows Uranium to be burnt with little to no enrichment capabilities.
India has also done a great amount of work in the development of a Thorium centered fuel cycle. While Uranium deposits in the nation are limited there are much greater reserves of Thorium and it could provide hundreds of times the energy with the same mass of fuel. The fact that Thorium can theoretically be utilized in heavy water reactors has tied the development of the two. A prototype reactor that would burn Uranium-Plutonium fuel while irradiating a Thorium blanket is under construction at the Madras/ Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station.
Uranium used for the weapons program has been separate from the power program, using Uranium from indigenous reserves. This domestic reserve of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium (approx 1% of global uranium reserves) is large enough to supply all of India's commercial and military reactors as well as supply all the needs of India's nuclear weapons arsenal. Currently, India's nuclear power reactors consume, at most, 478 metric tonnes of uranium per year. Even if India were quadruple its nuclear power output (and reactor base) to 20GW by 2020, nuclear power generation would only consume 2000 metric tonnes of uranium per annum.
Based on India's known commercially viable reserves of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium, this represents a 40 to 50 years uranium supply for India's nuclear power reactors (note with reprocessing and breeder reactor technology, this supply could be stretched out many times over). Furthermore, the uranium requirements of India's Nuclear Arsenal are only a fifteenth (1/15) of that required for power generation (approx. 32 tonnes), meaning that India's domestic fissile material supply is more than enough to meet all needs for it strategic nuclear arsenal. Therefore, India has sufficient uranium resources to meet its strategic and power requirements for the foreseeable future.

Atomic Energy Commission of India
The Atomic Energy Commission is a governing body functioning under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. The DAE is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The Indian Atomic Energy Commission was first set up in August 1948 in the then Department of Scientific Research, which was created a few months earlier in June 1948. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was set up on August 3, 1954 under the direct charge of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order. Subsequently, in accordance with a Government Resolution dated March 1, 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established in the Department of Atomic Energy. The then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also laid a copy of this Resolution on the table of the Lok Sabha on March 24, 1958. Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha was the first chairman of the commission.
According to the Resolution constituting the AEC, the Secretary to the Government of India in the
Department of Atomic Energy is ex-officio Chairman of the Commission. The other Members of
the AEC are appointed for each calendar year on the recommendation of the Chairman, AEC with
the approval of the Prime Minister.

Salient Milestones of Atomic Energy in India:
» March. 12, 1944 : Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha
writes to Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for starting Nuclear Research in India
» December 19, 1945 : Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research (TIFR) Mumbai is inaugurated.
» April 15, 1948 : Atomic Energy Act is passed
» August 10, 1948 : Atomic Energy Commission is constituted
» July 29,1949 : Rare Minerals Survey Unit brought under Atomic Energy Commission and
named as ‘Raw Materials Division’ (RMD), with Headquarters at New Delhi. In 1958, this unit becomes Atomic Minerals Division (AMD), and later in 1974, shifts to Hyderabad. It is renamed as Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) on July 29, 1998.
» August 18, 1950 : Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE), owned by the Government of India and Government of Travancore, Cochine, is set up for recovering minerals, processing of rare earths compounds and Thorium - Uranium concentrates. In 1963, IRE becomes a full-fledged government undertaking under DAE
» April 1951: Uranium Deposit at Jaduguda is discovered by AMD. Drilling operations commence
in December 1951.
» December 24, 1952 : Rare Earths Plant of IRE at Alwaye, Kerala, is dedicated to the nation and
production of Rare Earths & Thorium - Uranium concentrate commences.
» August 03, 1954 : Department of Atomic Energy is created.
» August 01, 1955 : Thorium Plant at Trombay goes into production. Thorium Plant at Trombay
is closed.
» 1956 : AMD discovers uranium mineralisation at Umra, Rajasthan.
» August 04, 1956 :APSARA - first research reactor in Asia, attains criticality at Trombay,
Mumbai.
» January 20, 1957 : Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) is inaugurated
» August 19, 1957 : AEET Training School starts functioning at Trombay.
» January 30, 1959 :Uranium Metal Plant at Trombay produces Uranium.
» February 19, 1960 : First lot of 10 Fuel Elements for CIRUS reactor, is fabricated at Trombay
» July 10, 1960 : CIRUS – the 40 MWt research reactor, attains criticality. After its successful refurbishment, the reactor was dedicated to the Nation on October 31, 2002.
» January 14, 1961 : Research Reactor ZERLINA attains criticality. (It is decommissioned in 1983).
» 1965: IRE takes over operation of Mineral Processing Unit at Manavalakurichi in Tamil Nadu and
at Chavara in Kerala.
» January 22, 1965 : Plutonium Plant is inaugurated at Trombay.
» January 22, 1967 : AEET is named as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
» April 11, 1967 : Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) is set up at Hyderabad for producing electronic systems, instruments and components.
» June 1, 1967 : Power Projects Engineering Division (PPED), Mumbai is formed. The Division is
subsequently converted to Nuclear Power Board on August 17, 1984.
» October 4, 1967: Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) is established with head quarters
at Jaduguda Mines in Jharkhand (then Bihar).
» May 1968: Uranium Mill at Jaduguda, with a capacity of 1,000 TPD, commences commercial
production of Magnesium diuranate (yellow cake). Jaduguda Mine Shaft is commissioned in November 1968.
» December 31, 1968 : Nuclear Fuel Complex is set up at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
» March 12, 1969 : Reactor Research Centre (RRC) starts at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. The Centre is
fully established in 1971. It is named as Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) on
December 18, 1985.
» May 01, 1969 : Heavy Water Projects is constituted at Mumbai. This later becomes Heavy Water
Board.
» October 02, 1969 : Tarapur Atomic Power Station starts commercial operation.
» 1970 : AMD hands over the Uranium Deposit at Narwapahar to UCIL.
» September 06, 1970 : Uranium-233 is separated from irradiated Thorium
» February 18, 1971 : Plutonium fuel for Research Reactor PURNIMA-I is fabricated at Trombay.
» 1972 : AMD hands over the beach sand heavy mineral deposits of Chhatrapur, Orissa and
Neendakara-Kayankulam, Kerala to IRE.
» February 3, 1972 : DAE Safety Review Committee is formed.
» May 18, 1972 : Research Reactor PURNIMA-I attains criticality.
» November 30, 1972 : Unit-1 of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station at Rawatbhatta, near Kota,
Rajasthan, begins commercial operation. Unit II goes commercial on November 1, 1980.
» 1974: By-product Recovery Plant of UCIL at Jaduguda is commissioned.
» May 18, 1974 : Peaceful underground Nuclear Experiment is conducted at Pokhran, Rajasthan.
» March 1975 : Commercial production of Uranium Mineral Concentrates from Copper plant tailings
at Surda, Hindustan Copper Limited commenced.
» May 1975 : Commercial production of by-products- Molybdenum and Copper concentrates starts.
» September 1975 : Surda Uranium Recovery Plant of UCIL is commissioned.
» June 16, 1977 : Variable Energy Cyclotron becomes operational at Kolkata.
» 1978 : High-sensitivity airborne spectrometric and magnetometric surveys started.
» 1979 : AMD hands over Bhatin and Turamdih (East) uranium deposits (now in Jharkhand State)
to UCIL.
» Nov 18, 1979 : Plutonium-Uranium Mixed Oxide (MoX) fuel is fabricated at Trombay.
» November 19, 1982 : BARC's Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant at Tarapur is commissioned.
» 1983 : Fbtr attains first criticality.
» February 1983 : Rakha Uranium Recovery Plant of UCIL is commissioned.
» November 15, 1983 : Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) in Mumbai is constituted.
» 1984 : Sandstone-type uranium deposit at Domiasiat, Meghalaya is discovered.
» January 27, 1984 : Madras Atomic Power Station - Unit I at Kalpakkam starts commercial operation. Unit II goes commercial on March 21, 1986.
» February 19, 1984 : Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) is inaugurated.
» March 08, 1984 : Plutonium - Uranium mixed Carbide Fuel for Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR)
is fabricated at Trombay.
» May 10, 1984 : Research Reactor PURNIMAII, a Uranium-233 fuelled homogenous reactor,
attains criticality.
» 1985 : AMD hands over the Bodal uranium deposit to UCIL.
» March 05, 1985 : Waste Immobilisation Plant (WIP) at Tarapur is commissioned.
August 08, 1985 : Research Reactor DHRUVA (100 MWt) attains criticality. It attains full power on
January 17, 1988. October 18, 1985 : FBTR at IGCAR attains criticality.
» 1986 : Dredge Mining, Mineral Separation and Synthetic Rutile Plant at OSCOM, Chhatrapur,
Orissa is commissioned by IRE. HERO Project at Alwaye, Kerala, is commissioned. Production is
started at OSCOM.
» October 1986 : Bhatin Mine is commissioned by UCIL and the ore is transported to Jaduguda
mill for processing.
» December 1986 : Mosaboni Uranium Recovery Plant of UCIL is commissioned.
» 1987 : AMD hands over Turamdih (West) uranium deposits to UCIL, and beach sand deposits in
Tamil Nadu to IRE.
» September 17, 1987 : Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is formed by converting
the erstwhile Nuclear Power Board.
» 1988 : AMD hands over the Kuttumangalam and Vettumadia sand deposits, Tamil Nadu to IRE.
» December 30, 1988 : 12 MV Pelletron Accelerator is inaugurated in Mumbai. The accelerator
is a joint endeavour of BARC & TIFR.
» 1989 : AMD Training School is inaugurated. Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT)
is constituted.
» January 3, 1989 : Regional Radiation Medicine Centre (RRMC) is inaugurated at Kolkata.
» March 12, 1989 : Narora Atomic Power Station Unit I attains criticality. Its Unit II attains criticality
on October 24, 1991.
» 1990 : Dolostone -hosted uranium mineralisation in the western margin of Cuddapah basin is discovered. Mineral Research Development Centre (MRDC) of IRE is launched at Kollam. HERO Plant is commissioned at Alwaye. Dredge & Wet Concentrator Plant at Chavara, Kerala, is commissioned.
» November 09, 1990 : Research Reactor PURNIMA-III, a Uranium-233 fuelled reactor, attains
criticality.
» 1991: AMD discovers uranium mineralisation at Lambapur, Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh
and produces upgraded xenotime concentrate at ‘Pre-concentrate Upgradation Plant’ (PUP) at
Kunkuri.
» May 16, 1991: First ECR heavy ion source of the country becomes operational at the Variable
Energy Cyclotron Centre.
» 1992 : First remotely operated radiography camera is launched. Significant heavy mineral concentration along the East Coast, Andhra Pradesh, is identified. New Thorium Plant at
OSCOM,Chhattrapur, Orissa is commissioned by IRE.
» September 03, 1992 : Kakrapar Atomic Power Station - Unit I attains criticality. Its Unit II attains
criticality on January 08, 1995
» 1993 : BARC supplies one millionth radioisotope consignment.
» 1995 : Research Irradiator Gamma Chamber 5000 is launched by BRIT.
» January 1995 : Narwapahar mine is inaugurated.
» 1996 : 30kWt Kamini Reactor attains criticality. The reactor is taken to full power in September,
1997.
» March 27, 1996 : Kalpakkam Reprocessing Plant (KARP) is cold commissioned. KARP is dedicated
to the nation on September 15,1998.
» October 20, 1996 : Kalpakkam Mini Reactor (KAMINI), with Uranium-233 fuel, attains criticality
at IGCAR, Tamilnadu.
» 1997 : AMD discovers of uranium mineralisation in brecciated limestone at Gogi, Gulbarga district,
Karnataka in the Bhima basin. Microzir Plant is commissioned in Chavra, Kerala.
» March. 31, 1997 : Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit-1 is re-commissioned.
» December 1997: Jaduguda Mill is expanded to treat 2,090 tonnes ore per day. PRYNCE (95%
Neodymium Oxide) Plant is commissioned at Rare Earths Division.
» May 11 & 13, 1998 : Five underground nuclear tests are conducted at Pokhran Range, Rajasthan.
» May 27, 1998 : Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit-2 is re-commissioned after enmasse replacement of coolant channels.
» August 10, 1998 : The 500 keV industrial electron accelerator developed indigenously by the
BARC is commissioned for its first phase of operation. Ammonium diuranate (ADU) production
commences at Rare Earths Division of IRE at Alwaye, Kerala.
» April 22, 1999 : 450 MeV Synchrotron Radiation Source Indus-1 achieves electron beam current
of 113 milli-ampere superceding the design value of 100 milli-ampere.
» July 1999 : Solid Storage and Surveillance Facility (S3F) is commissioned at Tarapur.
September 24, 1999 : Unit-2 of Kaiga Atomic Power Station attains criticality. It is synchronised to the
grid on December 02, 1999, and becomes commercial on March 16, 2000.
» December 24, 1999 : Unit-3 of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station attains criticality. It is synchronised
to the grid on March 10, 2000, and becomes commercial on June 2, 2000.
» January 1, 2000 : BRIT's Radiation Processing Plant at Vashi, Navi Mumbai is commissioned.
2000 : Boron Enrichment Plant is commissioned at IGCAR, Kalpakkam.
» March 8, 2000 : Tarapur Atomic Power Project 3&4 rises up.
» March, 2000 & May 2000 : First concrete pour of Unit-3 and Unit-4 of Tarapur Atomic Power
Project-3 & 4.
» April 21, 2000 : Folded Tandem Ion Accelerator (FOTIA) at Trombay delivers first beam on target.
» September 26, 2000 : Unit-1 of Kaiga Atomic Power station attains criticality. It synchronises to
the grid on October 12, 2000.
» November 03, 2000 : Unit-4 of Rajasthan Atomic Power station attains criticality. It creates
history by synchronising with the grid within a period of 14 days on November 17, 2000. The unit
becomes commercial on December 23, 2000.
» November 16, 2000 : Unit - 1 of Kaiga Atomic Power Station becomes commercial.
2001 : FBTR fuel reaches burn up of 100,000 MWd/T.
» March 18, 2001: Units 3 & 4 of Rajasthan Atomic Power Stations dedicated to the nation.
» February 12, 2002 : India signs the biggest contract with the Russian Federation for the Nuclear
Power Station at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. March
» 30 & May 10, 2002 : First pours of concrete respectively of Unit-3 and Unit-4 of Kaiga Atomic
Power Project 3 & 4.
» March 31, 2002 : First pour of concrete of Units 1&2 of Kudankulam Atomic Power Project.
» September 18, 2002 : First pour of concrete of Unit-5 of Rajasthan Atomic Power Project 5 & 6
» October 31, 2002 : Waste Immobilisation Plant and Uranium-Thorium Separation Plant at (both
at Trombay), and the Radiation Processing Plant Krushak at Lasalgaon, district Nasik, Maharashtra,
are dedicated to the Nation.
» November 2002 : UCIL's Turamdih Mine, Jharkhand is inaugurated and Technology Demonstration Pilot Plant becomes operational at
Jaduguda.
» 2003 : 1.7 MeV Tandetron Accelerator and the demo facility Lead Mini Cell (LMC), for reprocessing
of FBTR carbide fuel on lab scale, are commissioned at IGCAR.
» 06-March-2005 : India's first 540 MWe Nuclear Power Reactor Tarapur Unit 4 Attains Criticality.
» 04-June-2005 : TAPS 4 synchronised to the grid.

IAEA:
The IAEA is the world´s center of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world´s "Atoms
for Peace" organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The Agency works with
its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.

Organizational Profile:
The IAEA Secretariat is headquartered at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria.
Operational liaison and regional offices are located in Geneva, Switzerland; New York, USA; Toronto,
Canada; and Tokyo, Japan. The IAEA runs or supports research centers and scientific laboratories
in Vienna and Seibersdorf, Austria; Monaco; and Trieste, Italy.
The IAEA Secretariat is a team of 2200 multi-disciplinary professional and support staff from more
than 90 countries. The Agency is led by Director General Yukiya Amano and six Deputy Directors
General who head the major departments. IAEA programmes and budgets are set through
decisions of its policymaking bodies - the 35-member Board of Governors and the General Conference
of all Member States. Reports on IAEA activities are submitted periodically or as cases warrant
to the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly.
IAEA financial resources include the regular budget and voluntary contributions. The Regular Budget
for 2008 amounts to € 277 million. The target for voluntary contributions to the Technical Cooperation Fund for 2008 is $80 million. IAEA Mission And
Programmes:
The IAEA´s mission is guided by the interests and needs of Member States, strategic plans and the
vision embodied in the IAEA Statute. Three main pillars - or areas of work - underpin the IAEA´s
mission: Safety and Security; Science and Technology; and Safeguards and Verification.
Relationship with United Nations As an independent international organization related
to the United Nations system, the IAEA´s relationship with the UN is regulated by special
agreement. In terms of its Statute, the IAEA reports annually to the UN General Assembly and,
when appropriate, to the Security Council regarding non-compliance by States with their safeguards
obligations as well as on matters relating to international peace and security.