National Overseas Scholarship

The National Overseas Scholarship scheme was initiated in the year 2002. Under the scheme financial assistance is provided to the selected candidates for pursuing Master level courses and PhD abroad in the specified fields of study in Engineering, Management, Pure Sciences, Agricultural Science, and Medicine. Thirty scholarships are awarded every year under the scheme. Twenty seven of them are for students belonging to scheduled castes, two for denotified, nomadic and semi nomadic tribes and one for landless agricultural labourers and traditional artisans.

China moves closer to space mission

China moved a step closer to the launch of its first manned space docking mission by moving the carrier rocket of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft into its “ready to launch” status and injecting it with propellant, State media reported on Thursday.The much anticipated launch, which could take place as early as this weekend, has been closely followed in China with one of the three crew members set to become the first Chinese woman in space.

The Right of Every Child: The Right to Education

Thirteen year old Sivakami is a pleasant, pony tailed girl whom I see every day. She is the culinary assistant and assistant waiter at the small mess where I have breakfast and meals on a regular basis. Besides being cheap, the food one gets in such messes that can be seen all over Tamilnadu is of excellent quality.However, the quality and low expense comes up with a specific price tag. The mess depends mainly upon labour of Sivakami as well as her elder brother Sivanesan, who is studying for his Plus 2. the only silver lining is that both Sivanesan as well as Sivakami have been allowed to continue with their studies.But this is not the case for many others. The Planning Commission’s report on Child labour says that according to the 2001 Census there are 1.26 crores economically active children in the age-group of 5-14 years. Among the states, Uttar Pradesh accounts for a larger share of close to one fourth of all child labour in India followed by Andhra Pradesh.

U.S. web giants lead charge for new internet names

American internet giants Amazon and Google were the top applicants on Wednesday for a broad range of new top level domain names that could dramatically change the functioning of the internet address system.ICANN, the non-profit organization that regulates the internet, announced the new name applications on Wednesday, saying the introduction of the new domains would “change the internet forever.” The new domains will mark the biggest ever expansion of internet addresses, with almost 2,000 applications posted for a total of 1,700 new top level domains that will supplement the current limited supply of suffixes such as .com, .biz, .org and other country-specific suffixes.Google appeared to be the top bidder. A registry company that applied for such names as .google, .gmail and .android made a total of 100 applications, including for such names as .lol, .baby and .blog.

India, US sign pact for installation of first American nuclear reactor in India

The US firm Westinghouse Electric and the Nuclear Power Company of India Ltd., NPCIL have signed a preliminary pact for an Early Works Agreement, EWA for the installation of the first 1,000 MW American nuclear reactor in India under the historic 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear deal.The signing of the MoU, coincides with the third Indo-US Strategic Dialogue headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.The MoU relates to negotiating an EWA supporting future construction of 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors at the Mithivirdi site in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat.

High-security number plates for motor vehicles soon

Transport Department is working on an initiative to bring in the much awaited high-security number plates for motor vehicles. To begin with, the same would be introduced in Chennai and Coimbatore Circles (Coimbatore, Tirupur and the Nilgiris districts) of the Transport Department in the first phase. As per the orders of the Supreme Court, the Union Surface Transport Ministry has embarked on an initiative to go in for high-security number plates. The proposed number plates would have many initiatives to maintain their exclusivity as well as security features

Amazon to launch iPad rival in October: Report

Online retail giant Amazon.com is all set to unveil a tablet computer by October, says a report. “Amazon plans to release a tablet computer by October,” The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source. The tablet will have a roughly nine-inch screen and will run on Google’s Android operating system. The device will allow customers to watch videos, read electronic books and listen to digital music they purchase or rent from the online retailer, the report noted.