The Civil Service Times: 05/11/11

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Absolute emission cuts not possible now: Jairam

India will have to depend mainly on coal, hydel and nuclear power for the next two-three decades to fulfil its growing energy demand, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said here on Wednesday.“We have to depend largely on coal, hydel and nuclear power for the next two-three decades,” he said.“We simply cannot afford absolute cuts in emission levels at this juncture of our development and given the huge unmet demand for electricity in particular,” Mr. Ramesh said in his address on the occasion of convocation function of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) here.

Grandmaster P. Harikrishna and double GM norm holder D Harika have won the Gold in the Asian Individual Chess Championships in Mashhad in Iran. P Harikrishna won the coveted yellow metal in the open's section while D Harika claimed the honor in the women's section. With this feat, both Harika and Harikrishna have also made it to the next world championship cycle. Harikrishna defeated Zhao Jun of China in the last round to emerge as the champion. Harika too won her last round game against Chinese Tan Zhongyi to end as a winner. Apart from Harika, Eesha Karavade also came up with an inspired performance to win the bronze medal in the women's section.

Courtesy : AIR

Approval for FDI in Limited Liability Partnership firms

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the proposal to amend the policy on allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) firms. The FDI in LLPs will be implemented in a calibrated manner, beginning with the ‘open’ sectors where monitoring is not required, subject to the following conditions:

A meeting was held under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (Justice) to review the utilization of 13th Finance Commission grants, E-courts project, Gram Nyayalayas, infrastructure support for the subordinate judiciary, undertrial prisoners, family courts and others.The meeting was attended by the State Finance Secretaries, Home/Law Secretaries of States, Registrar Generals, E-Committee members of Supreme Court, NIC, Member Secretary National Legal Service Authority (NLSA) and concerned Government of India officials from Department of Expenditure and Ministry of Law & Justice.

Amendment to the Administrators-General Act, 1963

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal to amend the Administrators-General Act, 1963 to raise the monetary limit from Rs. two lakh to Rs. ten lakh by introducing the Administrators-General (Amendment) Bill, 2011 in the ensuing session of Parliament.

The Workshop on “Disaster Scenario of the North East” began at Guwahati today. Shri M. Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) stressed upon the need for preparedness and mitigation activities in the region to face the challenges of natural disasters in the region in general, and flood and earthquake in particular. Unique geo-environmental setting of the North East Region vis-à-vis the Eastern Himalayas, weak geological formations, very high seismicity and heavy annual precipitation makes the region one of the most disaster prone regions in the country, he said.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that there are three major challenges before us today. The Finance Minister said that the first major challenge is how to bring entire society especially the poor and vulnerable section of society in the ambit of development process so that everyone shares fruits of benefit of growth and development. Shri Mukherjee said that the second major challenge is to achieve sustained GDP growth at the rate of 9 to 10 percent with fiscal prudence and moderate inflation. Third major challenge is how to develop flexibility in our economic system so that we are not adversely affected or affected to minimum extent due to global economic developments and external shocks. Shri Mukherjee was addressing the probationers of the Indian Economic Service((IES), here today.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that Indian diplomacy has to acquire a decisive economic perspective to its thinking and strategic approach. Elaborating the same, the Union Finance Minister said while anchoring our foreign policy primarily in the promotion of our national self-interest, we need to engage with our partners in a manner that we create strong mutual stakes in each other’s development process, in general, and economies in particular. He said that we have to ensure that our interests and security are safeguarded and promoted. The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee was addressing the senior officials of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) here today. He said that as a stakeholder in the international system, we need to manage the changes that are underway so that our political and economic interests are not compromised. Shri Mukherjee said that we have to prepare ourselves strategically and with the help of requisite expertise address the issues before the international community and contribute in shaping a more equitable, secure and progressive world order. The Finance Minister said that this necessitates an open mind and willing hands to bring about the change and the required momentum in our thinking and in our skills to address these challenges.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set up a seven-member Group of Ministers to project the government's point of view effectively on various events on daily basis.The Group, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, includes Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, I and B Minister Ambika Soni, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Water Resources Minister Salman Khursheed and MoS in PMO V Narayanasamy.

Iran said it has formally agreed to resume talks on its controversial nuclear programme with six major powers which have been stalled since January. According to Iranian Press TV, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili has replied to a letter by the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in this regard. Jalili said in his letter that respecting the nation's rights and refraining from pressure are the two main pillars of cooperation.Iran and the P5+1 nations had held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December 2010 and in the Turkish city of Istanbul last January.

Courtesy : AIR

The burden of debt - Opinion

In its recent monetary policy statement the RBI has met analyst expectations by raising the repo rate by half a percentage point (or 50 basis points) from 6.75 to 7.25 per cent. As a result, the repo rate today is two percentage points higher than the 5.25 per cent it was set at a year back, on April 24, 2010. The central bank is clear about the intent of its manoeuvre. Its statement issued on May 3 notes: “Over the long run, high inflation is inimical to sustained growth as it harms investment by creating uncertainty. Current elevated rates of inflation pose significant risks to future growth. Bringing them down, therefore, even at the cost of some growth in the short-run, should take precedence.”

India has, so far, failed to get any assurance from the European Union to reconsider its ban on Indian herbal medicines even though the issue was raised at the EU through the official channel several times.The ban has come into effect from May 1, 2011, following a new EU regulatory procedure that was approved seven years back.

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Anand Sharma has stressed India’s interest in building long-term relationships with Australia, especially in areas of mutual interest such as mineral resources, agriculture and clean energy. The Minister who is on a three day visit to Australia, met with and had substantive discussions with Mr. Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Joe Ludwig, Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries; Mr. Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism; Mr. Stephen Smith, Minister for Defence; and Mr. Simon Crean, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government.

The Civil Services Examination is the most important and prestigious examination amongst various examinations conducted by the UPSC. It attracts largest number of candidates from the entire length and breadth of the country. The selected candidates are appointed to the higher Civil Services of the country. Following are the important highlights of the Civil Services Examination, 2010, for which final result has been declared today:

Environmentally Sensitive Zones are areas with identified environmental resources having “Incomparable Values” which require special attention for their conservation. Ecological sensitivity is defined as the imminent possibility of permanent and irreparable loss of extant life forms from the world, or significant damage to the natural processes of evolution and speciation. This means loss of bio-diversity needs to be measured not only against some measure of the current stock, but also in terms of the potential that must be preserved for future generations. After degradation and loss of natural resources, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has identified eco-sensitive areas in the Eastern Ghats and is also taking initiatives to protect biodiversity. In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (v) and clause (xiv) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) and sub-rule (3) of rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, the Central Government can notify any area as the Eco-sensitive Zone.

A key US lawmaker has introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to stop American aid to Pakistan, saying the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad has made it clear that Islamabad concealed, protected and enabled him for many years."We can no longer afford this foolishness," Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said after introducing the 'Defund United States Assistance to Pakistan Act of 2011' in the House of Representative."The time has come for us to stop subsidizing those who actively oppose us. Pakistan has shown itself not to be America's ally," he said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted its gag order on the media restraining it from broadcasting and publishing contents of the taped conversations of former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh with top politicians and Bollywood stars.A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly dismissed Singh's petition and vacated its interim order passed on February 27, 2006 restraining the media from making contents of the conversation public.

The government on Monday said it will soon set up of an expert group to evaluate impact of economic growth on environment as part of its efforts to bring in institutional reforms and improve environmental governance."Planning Commission and Environment Ministry are very soon going to set up a high-level expert group under the chairmanship of (environmental economist) Partha Dasgupta of Cambridge University," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters in New Delhi.

The six Gulf monarchies have responded to Arab uprisings by agreeing to expand their regional grouping to include pro-Western Jordan and Morocco and urged a quick political deal in Yemen.The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) welcomed bids by the two Arab kingdoms to join the six-nation grouping of Gulf monarchies, its secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani said."Leaders of the GCC welcomed the request of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to join the council and instructed the foreign ministers to enter into negotiations to complete the procedures," Zayani told reporters on Tuesday.He said the same procedure would be followed with Morocco.

In an apparent setback to the campaign for those seeking stringent punishment for the accused in the Bhopal gas disaster, the Supreme Court dismissed CBI's curative petition against an earlier apex court judgement that diluted charges against the accused.A five-judge constitutional bench, headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, however, left a window of opportunity open saying the pending proceedings before the Sessions court against the Chief Judicial Magistrate's judgement awarding two years sentence to the accused, including Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra will not be influenced by any order passed by it.

India and Pakistan began a four-day talks in Islamabad on Wednesday on the Wullar barrage-Tulbul navigation project as part of the bilateral dialogue process that was revived earlier this year after a two-year gap in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.The Indian side is being led by Water Resources Secretary Dhruv Vijai Singh while Water and Power Secretary Javed Iqbal heads the Pakistani team.Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal met Secretary Iqbal on Tuesday ahead of the parleys.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation's Gold Medal for "exceptional courage in the pursuit of human rights".According to a Foundation statement today, veteran Australian broadcaster Mary Kostakidis praised WikLeaks as an "ingenious and heroic website that has shifted the power balance between citizen and the state by exposing what governments really get up to in out name".Acknowledging that "exposing secrets can be dangerous business", Kostakidis thanked Assange for his "heroic courage" as a whistleblower to take "great risks for our benefit".

After the Internet, Google is now set to foray into the domain of household appliances - it will produce bulbs, thermostats and dishwashers, and integrate them with wireless technology, the search engine giant has said.According to Google, the new range of "almost anything electrical" household devices would be launched by the end of this year, and wireless technology will help these devices to communicate with tablets, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

A 1000-feet high rocky hill cluster at Chadayamangalam in south Kerala, believed to be connected with mythical character 'Jatayu' in epic Ramayana, will woo tourists as the country's first 'Rock Theme Park'.According to local tradition, the rock, 'Jatayupara' in Kollam district, is the place where the mythical bird 'Jatayu' fell after its wings were slain by the ten-headed Ravana by his lethal sword 'Chandrahasam'.As per the epic, Ravana, who ruled Lankapuri (Sri Lanka), chopped off one of the wings of the bird when it tried to block his airship 'Pushpaka Vimanam' in which he was forcibly taking away Rama's consort Sita.The project is a blend of ecological and epic tourism and the state government, through this public-private partnership venture, is building a high-tech theme park on the rocky terrain with a mammoth statue of 'Jatayu' as its core.

The government on Tuesday said it will divest equity in state-owned National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) in the second half of the current fiscal.The disinvestment in NBCC will be in addition to the equity sale of major PSUs like SAIL and ONGC, which are likely to hit the market in June and July, respectively.

Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users’ account details could have been “inadvertently” leaked to third parties, in particular advertisers, over the years, according to data security solutions provider Symantec.“Symantec has discovered that in certain cases, Facebook IFRAME applications inadvertently leaked access tokens to third parties like advertisers or analytic platforms,” Symantec Corp said in its official blog.

The Supreme Court will pronounce its order on Wednesday on the CBI's plea for prosecuting the Bhopal gas tragedy case accused, who have escaped with lighter punishment of two-year jail term, under the stringent penal provision attracting maximum 10 years of imprisonment.A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia reserved the order on April 27 on the petition seeking to recall the Supreme Court's 14-year-old judgement that had diluted the charges against the accused who were prosecuted just for the offence of being negligent.The Bench also comprised justices Altamas Kabir, R.V. Raveendran, B Sudershan Reddy and Aftab Alam.In its plea, the CBI has sought restoration of stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder instead of death caused due to negligence against the accused.

Courtesy : The Hindu

Registration for Amarnath pilgrimage begins

Registration for the annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir commenced on Tuesday.A spokesman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board said, “The registration process commenced at 149 bank branches across the country. The e-registration system has also started functioning. The registration has started for pilgrims visiting the shrine from both the Baltal and Chandanwari routes.”The yatra begins on June 29 and end on August 13.Registration counters have been set up at 121 designated branches of the J&K Bank, 24 of the YES Bank and four of the District Cooperative Banks, he said.The Board, at a meeting on February 18, decided to curtail the period of the pilgrimage by 15 days.

India reacted strongly to Pakistan terming New Delhi's demand for action against all those responsible in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks as outdated . Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the word outdated cannot apply as the country is consistent about the issue and Pakistan knows this. Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir had described as "outdated" India's demand for action against the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In a message posted in Twitter, Mrs. Rao said at the same time, there is no denying the need for sober and reasoned dialogue between India and Pakistan on all issues that complicate relations.

Within weeks of getting bail from the Supreme Court in connection with charges of sedition, human rights activist Binayak Sen has been made member of the Planning Commission's Steering Committee on Health, which will advise the panel on the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017).Binayak Sen, who was released on bail from the Raipur jail last month, will, based on his experience of having worked as a paediatrician in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt, provide his input on the health of tribal children. He will represent the Bilaspur-based healthcare organisation, Jan Swasthya Sahyog.

With polling for the Assembly elections to Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal over, all eyes in the Congress are now on May 13, the day the results will be out.Publicly, the party's spokespersons have been saying that they don't think that the outcome of this set of elections should be seen as a referendum on the United Progressive Alliance government's functioning. Privately, a senior party functionary said, “It is the Congress that has a major stake in these elections, not the Bharatiya Janata Party. So the results will have an impact on the party and politics in the country in the months to come.”

In Kerala, the CNN-IBN survey says the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is placed marginally ahead, but the verdict is too close to call, while Headlines Today gave the Congress-led UDF a clear majority.

Assam is likely to give the Congress a third term in power, according to CNN-IBN, while it could be a hung verdict in the prediction made by Headlines Today.

In West Bengal, according to CNN-IBN, the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance is set to sweep the elections, while it will be a mixed verdict in other States.

A CNN-IBN-CSDS survey has projected an edge for the AIADMK-led alliance in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, while Headlines Today predicted a close race between the AIADMK and DMK-led combinations.

This year, higher secondary students of the State have scored maximum number of centums not only in maths, physics, chemistry and biology, but also in subjects such as economics and statistics. Examiners rarely give centums in economics and statistics, say teachers and students.In Chennai district, for instance, 17 students have scored centum in statistics . In 2010, no one achieved this. Only 3 centums were awarded in 2010 for economics, while 63 students scored full marks in this year's examination, whose results were declared on Monday. A student of Uthamapalayam has scored centum in History, while in languages such as French, Sanskrit, Hindi and Tamil, many have lost the centum only by two marks. Botany is, probably, the only subject where no student has got a centum. Last year, seven students got centum.Has the evaluation pattern changed? Or, is it the competition that has driven many students to achieve what was once difficult?

With the new provisions of service tax pertaining to air-conditioned restaurants with liquor licences coming into effect from May 1, the Centre on Tuesday came out with a host of clarifications on the applicability of the levy, ostensibly in view of the confusion and problems that the modified norms may have created.For one, to bring some cheer to corporates and travelling executives, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has clarified that food when served in hotel rooms from their air-conditioned restaurants with liquor licences would not be subject to service tax.“When the food is served in the room, service tax cannot be charged under the restaurant service as the service is not provided in the premises of the air-conditioned restaurant with a licence to serve liquor,” the CBEC said in its circular.

Idamalayar may not be a flagship forest reserve in Kerala. But the teeming wild elephant population in the Idamalayar forests is, it is stated, the result of the State's committed conservation efforts. One can spot more elephants along the banks of the Idamalayar than at Thekkady.The 35-km Idamalayar catchment area is not a tourist destination and is therefore undisturbed. Wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers are allowed to cruise the waterbody after obtaining permission from the Forest Department. The giant teak at Kappayam is another attraction.

Cyber activists, bloggers and legal experts are crying foul over the new rules and guidelines under the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, that lay additional focus on content regulation and information security, besides dealing with cyber terrorism and data protection.They have termed it an attempt to gag free speech by giving intermediaries like Internet Service Providers, web hosting companies, search engines and cyber cafes the right to control content. The new rules require hosts or owners of websites to take action against “objectionable content” that is considered “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.”

‘Daddy, you're so handsome,' this was the seal of approval for America's first recipient of a full face transplant, Dallas Wiens, from his 4-year-old daughter.“To her, I'm still Daddy. That in itself is an amazing thing,” Mr. Wiens, whose face got disfigured in a horrific electrical accident in 2008, told reporters here on Monday.

President Barack Obama insisted that the assault force hunting down Osama bin Laden last week be large enough to fight its way out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officers and troops, senior administration and military officials said on Monday.In revealing additional details about planning for the mission, senior officials said two teams of specialists were on standby: One to bury Osama if he was killed, and a second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in case he was captured alive. That team was set to meet aboard a Navy ship, mostly likely the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea.

The “sabre-rattling” from different quarters in the Indian civil and military hierarchy has reinforced the growing perception in Pakistan that a hawkish security mindset and establishment is determining the mainstream narrative in India vis-à-vis Pakistan and the well-meaning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not be able to stay the course of dialogue.

Few places in the world better symbolise the power and opportunities of globalisation than Dubai. Without large oil reserves, our future depends on our success as a trading hub and our strategic position in the world. We are an open society not just in economic terms but in the make-up of our population. More than 200 nationalities live and work in harmony within our borders.

Site of proposed Nirma plant a wetland, must move: MoEF

In a victory for the farmers of Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, the Environment Ministry has decided that the site of Nirma Industries' proposed cement plant there is a wetland and an environmentally sensitive area. The plant will have to be relocated, the Ministry told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.The Ministry accepted the report of an expert body of five scientists which visited the site and concluded that the land allotted to Nirma by the Gujarat government was a “wetland,” despite the revenue classification of the area as “wasteland.” It is a coastal saline natural ecosystem, which after the construction of a dyke or bandhara, has been converted into a freshwater ecosystem.

Responding to the concern expressed by the Supreme Court over malnutrition and starvation deaths, the Centre on Tuesday informed it of the decision to make an additional allocation of 50 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat to all States/Union Territories for distribution to Below the Poverty Line families at BPL prices in two weeks.Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran made this submission before a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, hearing a petition filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties on the streamlining of the public distribution system (PDS).The Bench recorded the undertaking and asked the government to take immediate steps to prevent malnutrition deaths.

Shaan, famous Bollywood singer, was on Tuesday announced as the ‘Tobacco Control Ambassador of India' by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. “Initiation into tobacco use happens in younger days. Considering the fan following for Shaan among children and youths, we are sure that he will help spread the anti-tobacco message effectively,” B.K. Prasad, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said at a function at the Tata Memorial Hospital here.The singer also launched his music video on tobacco-control, titled ‘Life se panga mat le yaar' (Don't mess with life, my friend) on the occasion.

Courtesy : The Hindu

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