2 Civil Services Mentor

JULY, 2014
AUGUST,
2012
Index
PAGE NO.
Editorial Office:
A 13/A 3rd Floor,
Gali No-1, Hardev Nagar
Jharoda Majra
New Delhi84
3
Dynamics of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
PAGE NO.
8
Transgender Community recognized
as Third Gender
PAGE NO.
17
Designed by:
Praveen Kumar
CURRENT AFFAIRS
For Advertisement Contact at :

+91-9958790414, 011-45151781
Join us at Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/iasexamportal
Follow us at Twitter:
http://twitter.com/iasexamportal
Disclaimer:
Editor and Publisher are not responsible
for any view, data, figure etc. expressed
in the articles by the author(s). Maps are
notational .
All Disputes are subject to the exclusive
jurisdiction of competent courts and
fourms in Delhi/New Delhi only.
National Issues
International Issues
India & the World
Economy
Science and Technology
Sports
Awards & Prizes
In the News
Essay and Promo
PAGE NO.
IRNSS 1B
31
42
55
59
72
72
86
88
103
106
Fiscal Deficit: Underlying reasons and
Road ahead for India
PAGE NO.
108
UN-IOC Accord for Sport for Peace
Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses
DYNAMICS OF MUSLIM
BR
OTHERHOOD IN EGYPT
BRO
Introduction
Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni
Islamist religious, political and social
movement. Until now, it was
considered as the largest, bestorganized political force in Egypt, with
wide following. Despite a number of
setbacks, in the form of state
suppression, the group has survived.
It was founded in Egypt by
Hassan al-Banna, in March 1928. AlBanna was an Egyptian schoolteacher,
who preached implementing
traditional Islamic Sharia law in all
aspects of life. He was inspired by
Islamic reformers- Muhammad Abduh
and Rashid Rida. Hassan believed that
Islam had lost its social dominance to
corrupt western influences and British
rule.
Thus, the genesis of Muslim
Brotherhood can be traced- partly from
fundamentalism, and partly as a
reaction to western inventions.
However, the group was deeply
affected by the forces of the Arab
Spring, wherein, during the Egyptian
Revolution, in 2011, it faced many ups
http://iasexamportal.com
and downs. Muslim Brotherhood

witnessed an early string of success,
during the Egyptian Revolution. But
soon the fate reversed and led to the
doom of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Background and Evolution

In its early years, the
Brotherhood focused on education
and charitable work. However, it did
not take long to become a major
political force in Egypt. The
Brotherhood established its base
among the poor Muslims, and played
a prominent role in the Egyptian
nationalist movement, fighting the
British.
Gradually the Brotherhood
expanded its sphere of activities, and
started organizing activities of
espionage and sabotage in British
Mandate of Palestine.
Some groups also claim that the
Muslim Brotherhood, during the
World War II, went on to have some
association with the German Nazis,
and propagated an anti-west agenda.
Over the years the Brotherhood
spread to other Muslim countries,
3
including Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and

many others. In November 1948, after
several cases of bombing and
assassination
attempts,
the
government arrested 32 leaders of the
Brotherhood and banned the
organization itself. In December 1948,
Egypt's Prime Minister was
assassinated by Brotherhood member.
Later, in retaliation, Al-Banna himself
was assassinated.
The image of Muslim
Brotherhood was further maligned in
1952, when the members of the Muslim
Brotherhood were accused of taking
part in an arson fire, that destroyed
about 750+ buildings in Cairo. Most
of these buildings were nightclubs,
theatres, hotels and restaurants often
visited by Britishers and other
foreigners.
In 1952, the monarchy was
overthrown by the nationalist military
officers, of the Free Officers
Movement. The Brotherhood
supported the coup. But, it
aggressively opposed the secularist
constitution that the coup leaders tried
to implement. Soon, in 1954,
http://www.civilservicesmentor.com
Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/magazine


Brotherhood was again banned for
attempting to assassinate the Egyptian
PM- Gamal Abdel Nasser.
After Hosni Mubarak became
the President of Egypt, Brotherhood
leaders were freed from prison.
Mubarak adopted a dual approach of
dealing strictly with the radical
sections, while offering peace to the
moderate sections of the Brotherhood.
As a result of this dual-policy,
Brotherhood endorsed Mubarak's
candidacy for President in 1987.
In 2000, Brotherhood won 17
Parliamentary seats, which increased
to 88 seats in 2005. Thus, by 2005,
Muslim Brotherhood made the largest
opposition bloc. However, in the 2010
elections, when most of the
brotherhood leaders were behind the
bars, Muslim Brotherhood could only
claim one seat. This was due to the
reason that- under Egypt's emergency
law, the Brotherhood leaders could
contest the elections as independents
only. The slogan of the Brotherhood
leaders, for the election, was- 'Islam is
the Solution'.
Muslim Brotherhood
Organizational Structure
Muhib- ("lover" or
"follower"). The lowest
level of the Brotherhood is
the muhib. A muhib is part
of an usra ("family") which
closely monitors the
muhib's
piety
and
ideological commitment,
working to "improve the
morals" of the muhib. An
usras meets at least once a
week and "spends much of
its time discussing
members' personal lives
and activities." The usra
usually has four or five

members and is headed by
a naqib ("captain").
Muayyad- ("supporter").
A muhib graduates to
muayyad
after
confirmation that the
muhib prays regularly and
possesses
basic
knowledge of major Islamic
texts. A muayyad is a nonvoting member of the
brotherhood. Their duties
include carrying out tasks
such as preaching,
recruiting, teaching in
mosques assigned to them
by superiors. They also
follow a "rigorous
curriculum of study",
memorizing sections of the
Quran and studying the
teachings of Hasan Al
Banna, the founder of the
Brotherhood.
Muntasib- ("affiliated").
This process lasts a year
and is the first step toward
full membership. As one
Brother put it, a muntasib
"is a member, but his name
is written in pencil." A
muntasib continues to
study Islam (hadith and
Tafsir) and now tithes the
brotherhood, (typically
giving 5% to 8% of their
earning).
Ach'amal- ("working
brother"). This final level
is reached after the subject
loyalty is "closely probed."
An ach'amal can vote in all
internal
elections,
participate in all of the
Brotherhood's working
bodies, and compete for
4
higher office within the

group's hierarchy."
Murshid- ("Supreme
Guide"). Head of the
Brotherhood.
Maktab
al-Irshad("Guidance Office").
Maktab al-Irshad consists
of approximately 15
longtime Muslim Brothers
including the Murshid,
who heads the office. Each
member of the office
oversees a portfolio on an
issue such as university
recruitment, education,
politics, etc. The office
execute decisions made by
the Majlis al-Shura and
passes down orders
through a chain of
command, consisting of
"its deputies in each
regional sector, who call
their deputies in each
subsidiary area, who call
their deputies in each
subsidiary populace, who
call the heads of each local
usra, who then transmit
the order to their
members."
Majlis al-Shura- ("Consultative Council"). This
consists of approximately
100 Muslim Brothers.
Debates and votes on
important decisions, such
as whether to participate in
national elections. Elects
members of the Maktab alIrshad.
Ideological Stand
One of the principal ideas of the
Organization, that has surfaced, time
and again, is that the Muslim society



has been corrupted by the western
influences and the non-islamic
elements. And that, there is a need to
overthrow such elements and
revitalize the ideal of islamic
universalism.
During the 1970's, most of the
leaders were freed, and allowed to run
their reform movements peacefully.
During this phase, the Brotherhood
published a magazine- Da'wa.
The social base of the Muslim
Brotherhood came mainly from
professional and student associations
of Egypt, due to its network of social
services. However, there always
existed an unease between the
government and the Brotherhood,
over the latter's influence over the
masses, which led to several repressive
measures.
After the 2005 elections, the
Brotherhood changed its strategy and
started to propagate its responsibility
to lead reform and change in Egypt.
The Brotherhood also revived the
'Coptic Issue', insinuating that the
Brotherhood would do away with
Egypt's decades-old church buildingpermit system, which the Coptic
Christians felt was discriminatory.
To extend it's reach, the
Brotherhood launched an Englishlanguage website and started an
initiative to 're-introduce the
Brotherhood to the west'.
The Brotherhood describes the
principles of the Muslim Brotherhood
as- the introduction of the Islamic
Shari'ah, as the basis controlling the
affairs of state and society; and
secondly, work to unify Islamic
countries and states, mainly among
the Arab states, and liberating them
from foreign imperialism.
It denounces the terms and
phrases like- 'fundamentalist' and
'political Islam', used by the many

sections, which it claims are used by
the 'western media' to pigeonhole the
group.
In 2007, Muslim Brotherhood
issued a detailed political platform,
where is called for a Board of Muslim
Clerics to oversee the government,
and for limiting the office of the
presidency to Muslim men. It also
declared that woman was not suited
to be president because the post's

religious and military duties conflicts
with her nature, social, and other
humanitarian roles. The document
warned against burdening women
with duties against their nature or role
in the family.
On March 13, 2013, the Muslim
Brotherhood released a statement
opposing the UN Declaration 'End
Violence against Women' on the
grounds that it would undermine
Islamic ethics and destroy the family,
and would lead to complete
disintegration of society.
Political Activities
The Muslim Brotherhood
started as a religious social
organization; preaching Islam,
teaching the illiterate, setting up
hospitals and even launching
commercial enterprises. As its
influence grew, it began to oppose
British rule in Egypt, starting in 1936.
5
After the Arab defeat in the First

Arab-Israeli war, the Egyptian
government dissolved the organization
and arrested its members. The Muslim
Brotherhood supported the Egyptian
Revolution of 1952, but after being
implicated in an attempted
assassination of Egypt's president it
was once again banned and repressed.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been
suppressed in other countries as well,
most notably in Syria in 1982 during
the Hama massacre.
To counter the growing influence
of the Brotherhood, the Egyptian
government amended the constitution,
by removing the reference to Islam as
the religion of the state, while also
allowing women and Christians to run
for Presidency. Brotherhood protested
against this reform. As a consequence,
there started a struggle between the
government and the Brotherhood.
While the government made every
possible effort to make it impossible
for the Muslim Brotherhood to field
candidates in the elections, the Muslim
Brotherhood also decided to boycott
such elections. The period of 2006-2008
witnessed, arrest and military trials of
thousands of brotherhood members.
Muslim Sisterhood
The Muslim Sisterhood is the
female division of the Muslim
Brotherhood. The members of the
Muslim Sisterhood have been
traditionally more involved in charitable
activities than other members of
Muslim Brotherhood. They are credited
with keeping the Brotherhood together
during the dark days of 1950s and
1960s when many male members were
intentionally dispersed across Egypt's
prisons in order to cripple the
apparatus, but the sisters "acted as an
informal prison support network,



carrying ideas and messages from
prison to prison to sustain the
Brotherhood, and were vital to their
rebirth".
The work of the Muslim
Sisterhood has help to attract new
members to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Many of these members come from
university campuses, mosques and
trade unions. During the Egyptian
revolution of 2011, members of the
Muslim Sisterhood have become more
politically active, and they participated
in the founding of the Freedom and
Justice Party by the Muslim
Brotherhood in April 2011. Not an
auxiliary group, they intend to play an
equal role in the government.
Brotherhood in Post-Arab
Spring Era
The Arab Spring at first brought
considerable success for the
Brotherhood, but as of 2013 it has
suffered severe reversals. After some
six decades of illegal status, the
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was
legalized in 2011 when the regime of
Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. As
the country's strongest political
organization, the Brotherhood won
several elections, including the 2012
presidential election when its
candidate Mohamed Morsi became
Egypt's first democratically elected
President.
But soon, the Supreme Court of
the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved
the Parliament, that was dominated by
Brotherhood and other Islamists. But,
serious public opposition developed
to President Morsi, when in November
2012, Morsi temporarily granted
himself the power to legislate without
judicial oversight or review of his acts.
He also planned to move a draft
constitution to a referendum that
opponents complained as an 'Islamic

coup'.
These measures, added with
prosecution of journalists, unleashing
of pro-Brotherhood gangs on nonviolent demonstrators; continuation of
military trials; and long detention
without judicial review, brought a large
number of protestors to the streets, in
November 2012.
By April 2013, Egypt had become
increasingly divided betweenPresident Morsi and Islamist allies;
and an Opposition of Moderate
Muslims, Christians and liberals. The
Opponents accused Morsi and
Brotherhood of seeking to monopolize
power, while Morsi supporters argue
that the opposition is trying to
destabilize the country.
More than 33 million Egyptian
protesters have been demonstrating
across Egypt urging Morsi to step
down. By June 29, the Tamarod
movement announced that it had
collected more than 22 million
signatures calling for Morsi to step
down.
On July 3, 2013, the head of the
Egyptian Armed forces, General Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi, announced that
President Mohammed Morsi's removal
by the 2013 Egyptian coup-d'etat,
suspension of the constitution.
Brotherhood supporters staged
protests and strikes throughout the
country.
However, on August 14, military
declared a month-long state of
emergency and commenced raids to
remove the camps of the Brotherhood
supporters. In retaliation, brotherhood
members also looted and burned police
stations and churches. The event was
violent, resulting in the death of about
638 people. Most of the leaders of the
Brotherhood were arrested, along with
its Supreme leader- Mohammed Badie.

On September 23, 2013, a court
ordered the group outlawed and the
assets seized. The office of the
Freedom and Justice Party was seized.
Thus, Morsi was himself
overthrown by the military as a
response of civil unrest across the
country. Millions of Egyptians
demonstrated across Egypt varying
from general anger over poor economic
conditions, protests against the
government's move to grant Morsi
more power, to demanding the
resignation of Mohammed Morsi.
Currently the organization is once
again suffering a severe crackdown.
On 25 December 2013 the interim
Egyptian government declared the
Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group
as a response to an attack on a police
headquarters in Mansoura on 23
December 2013. The same day
however, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, a Sinaibased group, declared responsibility
for the bombing.
Conclusion
Many scholars have questioned
whether the repressive measures
would be effective in curbing the
growth of the Muslim Brotherhood.
However, it must be realized that,
today the Brotherhood has expanded
its scope to vast areas, and made an
international presence. In such
context, it might be difficult to curb
the growth of the Brotherhood.
However, it is also a fact that the
public opinion has witnessed a sea
change, and is not ready to accept
such fundamentalist organizations.
After the latest repressive
movement, the Brotherhood has lost
much, that it might be difficult for it to
rise again. Muslim Brotherhood
appears to have lost its name even



among the religious sects, due to the
challenges posed by the Salafi
movement.
Muslim Brotherhood has
already been declared as a Terrorist
group, after the 2013 Mansoura
bombing incident. On March 24, 2014,
an Egyptian court sentenced 529
members of the Brotherhood to death.
The court has also banned the current
and former members of the Muslim
Brotherhood from running in the
Presidential and Parliamentary
elections.
Here are some of the

movement's key figures:
Mohammed
Badie:
Mohammed Badie is the Muslim
Brotherhood's General Guide and
in theory its leading figure.He was
born in al-Mahalla al-Kubra, north
of Cairo, in 1943, and is a veterinary
pathologist by training. He has
taught in several Egyptian
universities. He held a number of
administrative roles in the
Brotherhood and served lengthy
jail terms for his political activities,
before assuming the leadership in
2010.
In the early stages of the
protests, he appeared on the main
stage of the Brotherhood's sit-in
in Cairo. His remark in late July that
"overthrowing Morsi was more
criminal than carrying an axe and
demolishing the Kaaba in Mecca"
stirred controversy.
His arrest was ordered on 10
July on charges of inciting the
killing of anti-Morsi protesters, and
a travel ban was put in place. He
went on the run but was arrested

on 20 August, days after his son,
Ammar, was killed in the Cairo
unrest.
On 28 April, a judge
recommended that Mr Badie
should face the death penalty
alongside the 682 other Muslim
Brotherhood supporters he was
on trial with.
Mahmoud Ezzat: A leading
figure in the Brotherhood since the
1960s, Mahmoud Ezzat has been
described as "the gatekeeper" of
the group's finances and secrets.
He joined the Brotherhood when
he was 18 years old and rose
through the ranks to become
deputy guide in 2010. Described
by Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram
as a "hardliner" within the
organisation, he has been
imprisoned several times and
served time alongside other
members, including Mr Badie and
Khairat al-Shatir.
He was made temporary
leader of the Brotherhood
following the arrest of Mr Badie in
August. Despite his leading role,
he has kept a low profile and in
December 2012 was singled out as
the organisation's "most
dangerous man" by academic Sa'd
al-Din Ibrahim, who described him
as a "big enigma".
Khairat al-Shatir: The
engineer, businessman and
Islamist political activist has been
seen as one of the group's most
influential figures.
Imprisoned under former
President Hosni Mubarak, he was
the Brotherhood's initial candidate

in last year's presidential elections
before being disqualified by the
election commission. He is the
deputy General Guide and thought
to be a main financier of the group.
Mr Shatir was arrested on 5 July
2013, after Mohammed Morsi was
ousted, and his assets frozen.
Mohammed al-Beltagi: The
secretary-general
of
the
Brotherhood's Freedom and
Justice Party (FJP) and former MP
was an activist on board the ship
the Mavi
Marmara during
the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid.
On 10 July, prosecutors
ordered Mr Beltagi's arrest, and
four days later they ordered that
his financial assets be frozen.
Despite the arrest order, Mr Beltagi
appeared on an almost daily basis
at the Rabaa al-Adawiyah sit-in,
delivering fiery speeches on the
stage. He was eventually detained
in a suburb of Giza on 29 August.
Criticism of the Muslim
Brotherhood in the Egyptian media
has focused on Mr Beltagi, who
has been accused of being behind
acts of violence allegedly
perpetrated by Brotherhood
members.
Abd-al-Rahman al-Barr:
Often described as the "Muslim
Brotherhood's Mufti", Mr Barr is
the organisation's most senior
religious figure and a member of
the Brotherhood's Guidance
Bureau. He has not been detained
and has often led prayers at proMorsi sit-ins.
Nikhil Gupta

Medium: English
Price: Rs. 600 Rs. 449
No. of Booklets: 12 (1 Year)
Publisher: UPSCPORTAL.COM
File Type: PDF File Only (No Hard Copy)
Gist of The Hindu
Gist of Yojana
Gist of Kurukshetra
Gist of Press Information Bureau
Gist of Science Reporter
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/order-form/the-gist-subscription

TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY RECOGNIZED

AS THIRD GENDER
Introduction
There is a significant number of
transgender population in India, since
ancient times. Indian scriptures have
mentioned the role and presence of the
transgender community in the Indian
society. In times of joy and sorrow,
transgender community has been an
integral part of the Indian social
framework. However, there has been a
severe discrimination and neglect
towards the Transgender community.
For many decades, the
transgender community has lived in
darkness and slumber, due to the harsh
treatment and stereotypical behavior
towards them.
Apart from the socio-cultural
discrimination with the transgender
community, they have long been
subjected to a political discrimination,
in the form of non-recognition as a
third gender category. This amounts
to great confusion and embarrassment
to the transgender community, as it
amounts to a total exclusion from the
social-political life.
For many years, there has been

a somewhat passive movement to get
the transgender community their
political rights and recognition. After
years of struggle, the community has
finally been able to attain formal
recognition as a third gender category.
The Problems of Transgender

One of the main reasons, as to
why the transgender community has
not been able to mobilise and
articulate its demands, is that the
community is not a cohesive, and wellcommunicated group, in the sense the
caste and religious groups are. The
members of the transgender
community are not only scattered, but
also belong to different ethnic groups,
which prevent them from creating a
coherent group.
Secondly, the transgender
community has always been a subject
of ridicule. The majority, not only
marks this minority group as deviant
and abnormal, but also make it a
subject of ridicule. The transgender
community has been stereotyped in
all the spheres of the society. Not only

are the homosexuals considered as
incapable and weak, but they are also
seen as suffering from some genetic
disorders. Being identified as mentally
ill meant that they could be stripped
off their civil and human rights which
the heterosexual population enjoyed.
This stereotyped behaviour does not
limit itself to behavioural aspects
alone, but transcends to the workspace and the public sphere as well.
This stereotyped and biased
attitude is also found on the part of
the state, and state-laws. Most of laws
of the state are made with an
assumption of a Male-female division
in the society. The existing family laws
are an excellent example of this kind of
discrimination by the state. A
conventional definition of family that
covers only the traditional family can
also be considered Heterosexist. The
state, by not considering the case of
the transgender communities, in the
family laws, rule-out the possibility, for
such people, of entering into families,
by their choice. Thus, such people are


Transgender Community recognized as Third gender

often forced, by the societal pressure,
to suppress their feelings.
The Story of the Struggle

It is not that the transgender
community is universally despised.
The transgender groups form an
important part of the social structure
of the various cultures. Traditionally,
the transgender community has been
involved in various socio-cultural
functions of the society. In various
forms, the role and functions of the
transgender community has always
been a passively accepted part of the
society.
The Transgender community
has been referred to by different
stereotyped names like- Hijra, kinnar,
koti etc. The community was given a
legal voting right, as a third sex, in 1994.
However, due to the fear of social
embarrassment, many of the
transgenders did not show up to vote.
Due to their socio-economic
seclusion, Indian transgenders also do
not have the access to safe medical
facilities and other basic requirements
of the life.
While the struggle to attain their
rights and entitlements have been
going since years, the early
breakthroughs were in the form of
efforts to break the bondage and
coming out in the open.
After the Transgenders were
granted the voting right in 1994,
Shabnam Mausi, became the first
transgender Indian, to be elected to a
public office. She was an elected
member of the Madhya Pradesh State
Legislative Assembly from 1998 to
2003. In 2000, Shabnam Mausi became
India's first eunuch MP. Interestingly,
in 2003, the hijra community in Madhya
Pradesh announced establishment of
their own political party called- Jeeti

Jitayi Politics (JJP).
Similarly, Kalki Subramaniam, a
transgender rights activist, writer and
an actor, announced, in March 2014,
her decision to contest the election
from Villupuram (Tamil Nadu).
At the Kashish Mumbai Queer
International Film Festival, 2010, the
theme of the festival- 'Kashish'conveyed a deep longing for a space,
of equality, of acceptance, of a cinema
that reflects their lived experiences
faithfully. The intention of the festival
was twofold- to build solidarity,
through film, between the Indian and
global LGBT communities, and for
people from outside the community to
understand their struggles and joys.
The Election Commission had
already allowed the enrollment of
transgenders under the 'others'
category in electoral rolls. However,
not much success has been achieved
due to socio-cultural stereotypes
associated with the transgender
identity.
NLSA V. Union of India Case

The National Legal Services
Authority (NLSA), under the Supreme
Court, filed a Public Interest Litigation
(PIL), in 2012, on the problems faced
by the transgender community. It
argued that the transgender persons
were deprived of the fundamental
rights available to the other two sexesmale and female.
The PIL asserted that transgender are all persons whose own
sense of gender does not match with
the gender assigned to them at birth.
Thus, unable to adjust in the society,
they are tagged with a variety of
stereotypical names, like- kinnars,
hijras, aravaniss, jogtas etc.
The litigation argued that the
9
gender identity is one of the most

fundamental aspects of life, which refer
to a person's intrinsic sense of being
male, female or transsexual.
The National Legal Services
Authority (NLSA) vs. Union of India
Case was able to make an impact at
the macro-level. The NLSA judgement
is significant, for it affirmed that there
is no place in the Constitution for a
hierarchy of super-humans, lesser
humans and non-humans. The
judgement restored the faith of the
masses in the court's ability to
recognize gross injustice in the
system.
The Bench hearing the case
consisted of- Justices K. S.
Radhakrishnan and A. K. Sikri. The
decision has added new heights of
judicial activism and pro-justice
stance.
The Court's decision has been
particularly welcomed after the
Supreme Court, in Suresh Kumar
Kaushal v. Naz Foundation case, ruled
in December 2013, and re-criminalized
gays and lesbians, and overruled the
2009 Delhi High Court's decision
relating to the Section 377 of IPC.
In a crucial breakthrough, the
judiciary embedded the rights of the
transgender community primarily
within the right to equality in the
Indian Constitution. Many activists
have viewed this case as a
development to the dynamic decision
of the Delhi High Court regarding
Section 377, which was largely based
on the right to privacy.
In a landmark decision, the
Supreme Court held that nonrecognition of gender identity violates
the rights to equality and life, and that
transgendered persons should not be
compelled to declare themselves as
either male or female. It was


acknowledged by the Court that the

lack of recognition of their gender
identity curtails their access to
education, health care and public
places, and thus results in
discrimination in the exercise of their
right to vote and secure employment
and other documentation, which
requires an individual to explicitly
declare his/her credentials.
In its judgement the court has
also relied on a number of international
conventions and protocols, besides
the fundamental rights given in the
Part-III of the Indian Constitution. The
judgement specifically drew from the
2006 Yogyakarta principles on the
Application of International Human
Rights Law in relation to Sexual
Orientation and Gender Identity. The
Yogyakarta Principles specifically
recognize the human rights of the
sexual minorities.
During the course of the case,
the Court admitted a number of foreign
judgements relating to the rights of the
transgendered persons.
The Court's Opinion:

The Judgement of the Supreme
Court accepted the broad definition of
transgender as including persons
whose gender identity, gender
expression or
behavior did
not conform to
their biological
sex, and more
i m p o r t a n t l y,
those who did
not identify
with the sex
assigned to
them at birth.
The judiciary
a l s o
acknowledged
the various dimensions of the
transgendered persons, and admitted
that it is not necessarily related to the
biologically determined traits of an
individual.
Gender identity is about selfidentification. Interestingly, Justice
Sikri argued that- 'even gay, lesbian,
bisexual are included in the description
'transgender' and that it is an umbrella
term'.
The NLSA decision thus
recognized the social construction of
not only gender but also of sex, as
something that is performed rather
than biologically determined. The
observers have hailed this decision as
progressive and feminist.
The Court also admitted that sex
discrimination in the Indian
Constitutional law includes
discrimination on the grounds of
gender identity, and rejected the view
that it was limited to biological sex. It
accepted the fact that a binary
understanding of gender denied the
hijra and transgendered persons equal
protection of law, and constituted the
basis for widespread discrimination.
The Court has clearly
articulated that the transgendered
persons should no longer be treated
with cruelty, pity or charity. It
10
emphasized the need for a paradigm

shift towards a rights-based approach.
Justice Sikri asserted that, it is only
with this recognition that many rights
attached to sexual recognition as 'third
gender' would be available to this
community more meaningfully.
The Bench admitted that social
justice does not mean equality before
law onpaper, but translating the spirit
of the Constitution, enshrined in the
Preamble, the Fundamental Rights and
the Directive Principles of State Policy,
into action.
The Bench gave a series of
direction for enforcement. It upheld
the right to decide their self-identified
gender, while directing the Center and
state government to grant legal
recognition of their gender identity.
The Bench directed the Center and
State governments to operate separate
HIV Sero-surviellance Centers as
transgenders faced several sexual
health issues.
The Court directed that the
Center and state governments should
seriously address the problems being
faced by the transgender community
such as fear, shame, gender dysphoria,
social pressure, depression, suicidal
tendencies, social stigma and
stereotypes. The Court also held that
any insistence on Sex Reassignment
Surgery (SRS) for declaring one's
gender is immoral and illegal.
The Court has also mentioned
that the government has formed an
expert committee to make an in-depth
study of the problems faced by the
transgender community and suggest
measures that can be taken by the
government to ameliorate their
problems and to submit its report with
recommendations within three months
of its constitution.



International Responses
The Way Ahead:
The ruling of the Supreme Court

has been hailed, at the international
level, as a landmark step towards true
democracy. The United Nations
termed the judgement as 'historic',
which would pave the way for reforms
that will help the community get access
to employment and public services.
Similarly, the office of the High
Commissioner of Human Rights has
also welcomed the ruling.
Welcoming the verdict,
Amnesty International India said:
"A million lives would improve
thanks to the Supreme Court's
recognition of transgender people's
human rights. This ruling has the
potential to significantly alter the lives
of people who have suffered
oppression for years."
The Supreme Court, on April 15,

2014, declared transgender people as
a socially and economically backward
class entitled to reservations in
Education and Job, and also directed
the Union and state governments to
frame welfare schemes for them.
In a major breakthrough, the
National Commission for Backward
Classes (NCBC) has also
recommended their inclusion in the
Central list of the OBCs. The matter is
now forwarded to the Union
government to approve the
recommendations to enable the 'Third
Gender' to avail itself of the benefits.
The LGBT organizations are
welcoming the verdict as a step
towards the acceptance of the LGBT
community into the mainstream
11
society. A South Asian LGBT group

said:
"We hope that the Court will use
precisely the reasoning it endorsed
today to reverse its recent ruling and
finally strike down the Indian Penal
Code's Section 377, which criminalizes
homosexual sex and has been used to
persecute transgender Indians and
other sexual minorities for over a
century."
Thus, the verdict has become a
silver lightening for the advocates of
the sexual minorities. Nevertheless,
the judgement of the Supreme Court
has opened new channels of
participative democracy in India,
which is bound to enhance the stature
of the world's largest democracy.
Nikhil Gupta

Online Coaching for IAS PRE GS 2015

What candidate will get:
1. All the relevant and required materials of subjects mention in the GS syllabus like:
100% IAS Exam Syllabus Covered with MCQs.

History of India and Indian National Movement.
Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights
Issues, etc.
Economic and Social Development -Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics,
Social Sector initiatives, etc.
General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require
subject specialisation
General Science.
Current Affairs.
2. Home assignment: where Multiple Choice Questions of the learned chapters will be
given for self evaluation.
3. Important current affairs materials for civil services preliminary examination will be
provided
4. Online Tests will be conducted after the end of each subject.
5. At the end of your course, five comprehensive test will be conducted to evaluate your
performance.
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-pre/csat-paper-1

GETTING ST
AR
TED WITH CIVIL SER
VICES
STAR
ARTED
SERVICES
Detailed R
oadma
p ffor
or GS (Pr
e.)
Roadma
oadmap
(Pre
UPSCPORTAl present the

Getting Started for Civil Services
Series, where, we provide you with
articles related to the different aspects
of the IAS exam, and the strategy to
deal with it. Each volume of the
Magazine would contain a detailed
analysis on a particular topic, to help
and guide the candidates.
This volume presents a detailed
analysis and guideline to the General
Studies Paper of IAS (Prelims).
What not to do for Civil

Services Prelims!!
All IAS aspirants face a
challenge of studying a whole lot of
disciplines and other issues. Many of
us find this a challenging task, as not
everyone is comfortable with the
different subjects. Therefore we have
started a drive to guide the new
aspirants on their journey through the
UPSC. As discussed in our earlier
articles, the aspirant must start by
gaining a knowledge of the different
topics and subjects that are asked in
the exam. Also, it is important to keep
track of the latest developments and
their connections to what you have to
read. As for what to read, and what
not to read, let us take each part
separately:
In the 2013 IAS Prelims examination,
the questions asked from different
topics are as follows:
Topicwise Question Breakup of
2013 prelims
The GS (Pre) paper broadly

consists of several topics.
History
Studying History is an
quintessential requirement from the
exam perspective. Since an IAS or IPS
is expected to administer the country,
it is very essential to have an
understanding of the social milieu, in
which an aspirant is supposed to play.
Thus, the history portion is very
important, both for the exam as well as
your competency for the post.
Coming to the syllabus of History for
the Prelims, it is important to, first,
know the different topics and issues.
The UPSC notification on Civil
Services Examination mentions the
history portion for Prelims as- History
of India and Indian National
Movement. Though the scope is topic
is not very clear from this, but from
the analysis of the previous papers, it
can be derived that the History
portion includes all- the Ancient,
Medieval and Modern History.
A candidate should handle the
different parts of history. However,
many-a-times, one finds it difficult to
cover all the aspects of a subject.
Therefore, it is advisable to make a
simple reading for the parts that one
finds very difficult. However, it is also
important that you do make a few
attempts at reading all the portions, as
leaving a subject, as important as
history, could prove risky.
For a comprehensive reading in
History, you might choose to readBipin Chandra, UPSCPORTAL Study
kit and NCERT books.
UPSCPORTAL recommends that
a candidate should give special
emphasis on understanding and
12
knowing about the modern history,

which includes the Indian national
movement, as it has a great bearing
from both- the exam point of view as
well as in gaining an understanding of
the other topics. If the ancient history
part is giving a great trouble to you,
you might choose to move ahead after
a basic reading. However, such an
extreme step should only be taken in
extreme case.
More details on analysis of IAS

Prelims.
In 2013, there were 15 questions
asked from History portion, in which
only 2 were from the ancient and
medieval history; 8 from Indian culture;
and 5 from modern history.
Express Points1. History is one of the most

important subject from all
point of view. So dont take
chances with history.
2. Since the questions, under
History, are proportionally
divided into the Ancient,
Medieval and Modern history,
it is advisable to devote an
adequate amount of time for
each of the sections.
3. if you are choosing to skip a
section of history, make sure


Get Started with Civil Services Detailed Roadmaps for GS (Pre)

that the other parts are
reinforced so as to
Compensate for the loss made
at the other section.
Geography
Geography is important as a
candidate should be aware of the
different physiological conditions of
the country. Since an IAS, IPS could
be posted in any part of the country, it
is expected that the person would be
acquaint with the general topographical and climatic features of the
country.
The UPSC notification says that
the geography syllabus for Prelims
would include- Indian and World
Geography- physical, social, economic
geography of India and the world.
Again, this seems a vague description
of the vast syllabus that a subject like
geography is capable of. Therefore,
our analysis of the relevant parts of
geography is based on the past
examinations.
The recent trends in the
questions from geography shows that
the UPSC has been moving away from
asking direct questions on theories
and feature. Rather, questions have
been asked, more frequently, from
sections like- Environmental ecology,
biodiversity and climate. Since the
relevance of these topics is more apt
than the more traditional subjects, an
aspirant should focus on such
concept.
Thus, instead of going deep into
the traditional topographical
knowledge of different areas, or
mugging up the census reports, it is
more rational to understand and know
about the applicability of different
concepts, from a contemporary
perspective.
asked very often.

In 2013, 14 questions were
asked from Geography portion. Out of
this, 6 questions were asked from
Indian Geography as well as Physical
features/theoretical geography. Only
2 questions were asked from World
Geography. Thus, it is more rational to
focus on the Indian geography and
physical features and concepts.
Topics asked from Geography in
IAS (Pre) GS Paper 2013
Express Points
1. UPSC papers have been
moving away from the
traditional theoretical
questions. Therefore,
instead of spending an
enormous amount of time
in learning the theories and
technicalities, understand
the application of things
that affect our world.
2. Do not waste your time in
mugging up the names of
different places, animals
and other facts. Rather, try
to establish the links
between
various
geopraphical concepts.
This would ease your task
greatly.
3. focus on the contemporary
and new developments
relating to environment
and climate, as it has been
13
Indian Polity and Governance

The UPSC notification mentions
the syllabus for this part asConstitution, Political system,
Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights
Issues etc....
The syllabus might appear to be
too wide to study, but a rational
approach can help you to cover each
part adequately. You might choose to
ignore going deep into the study of
constitution, and instead choose to
study only the important and relevant
parts. For instance, while the structural
and working provisions might be
important for the preparations, the
technical aspects of the constitution
might be ignored. This would save
your time, which can be dedicated for
other more important topics.
Secondly, as mentioned in our
earlier articles, it is useless to devote
a substantial amount of your time in
reading about the dynamics of the
party politics in the country. Instead,
read about the policy decisions and
major agreements by the government.
The recent trend of the UPSC has
been to avoid asking the direct
theoretical question. Instead, there are
more analytical questions, which
require your comprehensive
understanding of different events and
provisions.
Topics like Panchayati Raj
institutions are also very important,
from the exam point of view. If you are
able to develop a proper newspaper
reading habit, you would be able to
fetch good marks for the polity
questions. Also, polity is important for
the further stage of examination. Thus,
it is advisable to prepare this part of
the exam well.
In the 2013 GS (Pre) exam, out of


a total of 18 questions from Polity,

about 12 were from the constitutional
provisions, relating to legislature,
executive and amendments.
Remaining 6 questions were asked
from non-constitutional bodies and
issues related to certain rights.
Therefore, You should study the
constitution carefully, as a good
number of questions are asked from it.
inclusion, demographics, social sector

initiatives, etc. Thus, the scope of this
part of the syllabus is fairly vast.
instance, instead of reading about the

theory of Human Development Index,
one must read about the recent trends
in the sphere.
The role of functions of the
World Bank, IMF, WTO, Asian
Development Bank, UNO etc, should
be given a special focus, as these
topics have gained prominence in the
recent years.
In IAS Prelims of 2013, out of
the 18 questions asked from Economy
and Social Development, 7 came from
the topic- Banking and allied topics; 5
from GDP and related concepts; and 3
each from Inflation and Foreign Trade.
Express Points
1. You might choose to
ignore going deep into the
study of constitution, and
instead choose to study
only the important and
relevant parts.
2. while the structural and
working provisions might
be important for the
preparations, the technical
aspects of the constitution
might be ignored.
3. read about the policy
decisions and major
agreements by the
government.
Economic and Social

Development
This part includes issues fromsustainable development, poverty,
However, the nature of the

topics in this portion is not hard to
understand. Thus, you should study
about these topics.
However, some of the aspirants
find it difficult to study about the
complex economic concepts.
Therefore, a rational approach is to
avoid getting involved excessively in
the conceptual part of economics.
Instead, a candidate should focus on
the application and impact of the
economic decisions on the society,
particularly in the context of India. For
14
Express Points
1. Do not fall deep into the
Trench of Facts and Data.
Your understanding and
conceptual clarity matters
more than your date
retention capacity.
2. Before going into the
complex issues, read the
NCERT books to gain a
basic understanding of
economic concepts.



3. Read about the major
events and agreements of
the recent years.
Environment, Bio-Diversity,
Climate Change & General
Science
Another topic that often
overlaps with the issues of social
development, is Environment,
Biodiversity and Climate Change.
This issue has gained
prominence lately. Since the concerns
towards the environmental issues

have become visible in the global
discourses, UPSC expects the
aspirants to have an understanding of
the various issues related to the
environment and biodiversity.
15
In the recent past, questions

have been asked on various
international conventions on climate
change and biodiversity. Since Indian
government has been taking a keen
interest in the climate issue, there are
many developments in the field. Thus,
a candidate must understand the
various developmental aspects and
the major initiatives.
It is important to make an
intelligent study of these topics. Since
there is a lot of information available
on these topics, you must first analyze
what is to be read.
In Chemistry, important minerals
and their ores, are important.
Questions are generally asked about
the economically significant ores.
Similarly, Biology has some
important segments from which
atleast one question is asked every
year. You will find one or two
questions relating to the distribution
of flora and fauna, in India or the world.
Thus, you might read the respective
topics carefully. However, if you really
find it difficult to read and remember
about the trivial details of some topics,
you might choose to skip them, but
only if you have made a better grip on
other topics.
Another important segment of
the science and technology relates to
the developments in the field of IT,
Space, Defense, Nuclear Power,
Biotechnology etc. However, a
candidate should focus on the
application of these topics, instead of
mugging up about the theory
associated. It is in this context that
aspirants from every background are
placed on an equal footing.
If we look at the IAS (Pre.) GS
2013, there were 13 questions from the
Science section. Interestingly, a
majority of these 13 questions were



asked from Biology section. Thus, the
candidates should focus on Biology
section more, while putting less effort
for the traditional theories of physics
and chemistry.
judiciously, so as to save ones time

and effort.
The recent analysis of the IAS
Prelims have suggested that- a lesser
number of questions are being asked
from the current affairs section, as
compared to the previous years
question papers. There has been a
change in the approach of the UPSC.
Express Points
1. Prepare the Science and
Environment section from
the point of view of the
IAS (Pre) Exam. Do not
attempt to attain advanced
study for the topics,
otherwise you might end
up wasting a lot of time.
2. Keep an eye on the current
affairs in the world of
science and technology. It
is the main center from
where questions are being
asked.
Biology, Environment and
Climate are the areas to focus.
CurrentAffairs
There is a lot of hue and cry
about the significance of the current
affairs in the IAS (Pre) GS exam.
However, it is important to note that
the study of current affairs and general
knowledge should be done
Now, the issues of current affairs

are being asked in the context of the
theoretical issues. Thus, it becomes
important to know about the concept
first. Many-a-times, one is able to
answer a question on current affairs,
even if one is not aware of the event
itself. This is only due to your
conceptual clarity, which helps you in
logically deducing the answer.
However, quite recently, the UPSC has
been asking questions based on the
application of the theory and
concepts. Thus, it has become
important to know about the current
affairs.
Example:
Q. Which one of the following
statements is correct? (GS Pre. 2013)
(i) In India, the same person
cannot be appointed as
Governor for two or more
states at the same time.
(ii) The judges of the High Court
of the states in India are
16
appointed by the Governor of

the states just as the judges
of the Supreme Court are
appointed by the President.
(iii) No procedure has been laid in
the constitution of india for
the removal of the Governor
from his/her post.
(iv) In the case of a Union
Territory having a legislative
setup, the Chief Minister is
appointed by the Lt. Governor
on the basis of majority
support.
[Ans. (iii)]
Thus, remember to study the
current affairs, as it is very important
from an exam point of view. However,
you must link the study of current
affairs with the basics. It is hard to mug
up everything available in the dailies
and internet, till the exam. Thus, linking
the different topics to the things you
study helps in remembering the
concepts and current events both.
To save your effort and time, you
might choose to read The GIST, which
provides you with the important
articles and events from the Hindu,
Kurukshetra, Yojana, Science Reporter
and PIB. You may also choose to read
the Weekly Current Affairs to keep
yourself up-to-date with the current
affairs of India and the World. But, if
you have sufficient time with you, it
is best to read the original sources.
This concludes our analysis of the GS
paper of the IAS (Pre).
We wish the candidates, All the
Best!!
Team UPSCPORTAL
UPSCPORTAL.COM


IRNSS 1B
Introduction
In the 67 years of India's
independence, there has been a
significant development in the field of
Science and Technology. In this
context, India has always tried to
create an indigenous platform for its
space and satellite mission. While
there has been a dependence on the
advanced nations, in terms of the
scientific know-how, India has always
made ingenious efforts towards
capacity building.
It is in this context that the
development of the Indian indigenous
Navigation system was made a priority.
As of now, there is a dependence on
the American system of Global
Positioning System (GPS) for
navigation and communication. In
order to become self-sufficient in this
technology, it is an urgent task before
the Indian scientists to develop the
Indian satellite system, to provide for
an indigenous navigation technology.
The vision of the Indian
navigation system has been
materialized in the form of the Indian
Regional Navigation Satellite System
(IRNSS) Programme, which seek to
develop the capacity, which is at par
with the US GPS.
After years of efforts and
research, Indian scientists have been
able to make remarkable progress in

the field.
IRNSS Satellites
The IRNSS project was
approved in 2006.
Each IRNSS satellite has two
payloads: a navigation payload and
CDMA ranging payload, in addition
with a laser retro-reflector. The design
of the payload makes the IRNSS
system inter-operable and compatible
with the GPS and Galileo. The satellite
is powered by two solar arrays, which
generate power upto 1,660 watts, and
has a life-time of a decade.
The IRNSS constellation of
satellites is currently under
construction and will consist of 7
spacecraft in Geostationary and
Geosynchronous Orbits when
complete. Once operational, the IRNSS
will give India an independent access
to navigation data without relying on
foreign programmes, like- GPS or
Glonass.
After the launch of the first
satellite (IRNSS-1A) of the seven
IRNSS, India launched the IRNSS-1B.
The IRNSS constellation of satellites
is slated to be launched to provide
navigational services to the region.
The IRNSS-1B was successfully
placed in the geosynchronous orbit
on April 4, 2014.
17
IRNSS-1B is expected to help

augmenting the satellite based
navigation system of India, which is
currently under development. The
proposed navigation system would
target the South Asian region. It has
been designed to provide navigation,
tracking and mapping services.
IRNSS-1A
IRNSS-1A was launched on July
1, 2013, from Satish Dhawan Space
Center, Sriharikota. It is the first
navigational satellite in the Indian
Regional Navigational Satellite System
(IRNSS) series of satellite. It has
already been placed in the
geosynchronous
orbit.
The
development of the satellite itself was
an ambitious project, that cost around
Rs. 125 crore.
Scientists from the German
Aerospace Center (DLR)'s Institute of
Communication and Navigation have
successfully received signals from
IRNSS-1A.
IRNSS-1A will provide IRNSS
services to the Indian public, which
would be similar to the GPS, but only
for India and the region around.
IRNSS-1B
IRNSS-1B was launched on April
4, 2014, aboard the PSLV-C24 rocket
from the Satish Dhawan Space Center,


IRNSS 1B
Sriharikota. It weights around 1,432
Kg.
IRNSS-1B carries two payloads:
1. A navigation payload- to
transmit navigation signals
to the users. It also contains
the laser retro-reflector. The
satellite also features a
highly accurate Rubidium
atomic clock, as a part of its
navigation payload; and,
2. CDMA ranging payload. It
consists of a C-Band
transponder
which
facilitates
accurate
determination of the range
of the satellite. IRNSS-1B
also features Corner Cube
Retro Reflectors for laser
ranging.
The payload generates
navigation signals at L5 and S-band.
The design of the payload makes the
IRNSS system interoperable and
compatible with Global Positioning
System (GPS) and Galileo.
The Satellite is powered by two
solar arrays, which generate power
upto 1,660 watts, and has a life-time of
ten years.
It's configuration is similar to
that of the IRNSS-1A. The satellite was
realized in less than 7 months, after
the launch of its predecessor, which is
a significant achievement in itself.
The IRNSS-1B satellite has been
designed and developed by the Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO).
It is based on the I-1K Satellite Bus.
The Spacecraft Bus is 1.58 x 1.5 d 1.5
meters in size with a dry mass of 614
Kg.
The main propulsion system for
large orbit adjustments and apogee
maneuvers consists of a Liquid
Apogee Motor (LAM). It provides a
thrust of 440 Newtons and uses Mixed

Oxides of Nitrogen as fuel and
Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine as
oxidizer. The engine operates at a
mixture ratio (O/F) of 1.65 and has a
nozzle ratio of 160. The engine's
injector is a co-axial swirl element made
of titanium while the thrust chamber is
constructed of Columbium alloy that
is radiatively cooled. The engine is
certified for long firings of up to 3,000
seconds. The Propellants are stored
in spherical tanks that are pressurized
with Helium.
The Spacecraft will

support
Standard
Positioning Service that is
open to all users as well as
Restrictive Service, with high
accuracy that is only
provided to authorized
users. The system will
provide an accuracy of 10 to
20 meters.
After its launch, the
satellite control was taken
over by the Mission Control
Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka.
The MCF will manage the satellite's
orbit infrastructure for controlling,
tracking and other facilities.
Recent Developments
On April 23, 2014, the IRNSS-1B
was successfully placed at 55 degrees
East longitude, collocated with IRNSS1A and GSAT-8 satellites.
This was the 25th successive
successful flight of the PSLC, and
marked a glory to the Indian space
programme. India has secured it's place
Here are a few Technical specifications of IRNSS-1B:

Lift-off Mass
Physical Dimensions
Orbit
Power
Propulsion
Control System
Mission Life
Launch date
Launch site
Launch vehicle
18
1432 kg
1.58 metre x 1.50 metre x 1.50 metre
Geosynchronous, at 55 deg East longitude with
29 deg inclination
Two solar panels generating 1660 W, one lithiumion battery of 90 Ampere-Hour capacity
440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor, twelve 22
Newton Thrusters
Zero momentum system, orientation input from
Sun & star Sensors and Gyroscopes; Reaction
Wheels, Magnetic Torquers and 22 Newton
thrusters as actuators
10 years
Apr 04, 2014
SDSC SHAR Centre, Sriharikota, India
PSLV - C24


IRNSS 1B
among the global powers in the field
of Space technology.
ISRO plans to launch the next
two navigational satellites- IRNSS-1C
and IRNSS-1D, by 2014, and the last
three IRNSS series of satellites by
2015. Thus, India might have all the
navigational satellites in space by late
2015.
John P. Zachariah, Director, R&D
wing of the Vikram Sarabhai Space
Centre, of the ISRO said:
"The successful launch of
India's second navigation satellite
using its flagship launch vehicle PSLV
could be beneficial not only to the
country but to its neighbouring
nations as well. On completion, the
system would provide accurate
position information service to users
in India as well as the region extending
up to 1,500 km from its boundary, both
on the eastern and western sides. That
way, this would revolutionise the
location finding and visual navigation
business across the entire region"
He further informed that:
"The constellation of seven

satellites, the launch
of
which
is
scheduled for completion in 2015, is
due for a trail run
from the beginning
of 2016 and will
begin full-scale
operation a couple
of months later.
Along with that, there will be a sudden
rise in wide-spread use of the
application, in turn, leading to the
commercial production of receiver
equipment".
Future of IRNSS Project

The IRNSS Navigation System
will serve a number of applications. It
will be used for terrestrial, aerial and
marine navigation, precise timing,
mapping an geodetic data acquisition,
disaster management and vehicle
tracking and fleet management.
The full-fledged IRNSS system

would greatly enhance the capacity of
the Indian administration in multiple
dimensions. From disaster management to resource mapping, the
application of IRNSS have a great
potential for a country like India, with
full of diversity and scope for
development.
However , it will also be a
challenging task to maintain the flow
of the project, along with the fiscal
challenges faced by the economy.
Nikhil Gupta
19


INDIAN HISTORY
CHRONOLOGY OF THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT
Personalities in Modern
India
Ajit Singh (died 15 August
1947). He was an uncle of Bhagat
Singh, the well known revolutionary.
He was a very close associate of Lala
Lajpat Rai, along with whom he was
arrested and deported to Mandlay.
After his release he started a paper
Peshwa and founded the revolutionary
Bharat Mata Society. In 1908 he
escaped from India and from 1908 to
1947 he lived in various countries and
worked with the Ghadar Party. On
August 15, 1947 soon after his return
home, he died.
Ambedkar Dr. B.R (18911956). He was an untouchable and
throughout his life worked for the moral
and material progress of the
untouchables. He was a great scholar
who did M.Sc. and DSc. from London.
He was a great jurist by profession and
equally a great social worker, politician,
writer and educationist. In 1924 he
founded the Depressed ClassInstitute and in 1927, the Samaj Samata
Sangha, to propagate the gospel of
social equality among untouchables
and caste Hindus. He launched a
number of movements of securing
equal status for the lower castes. He
was appointed the Law Minister in the
interim government and also Chairman
of the Constituent Assemblys
Drafting Committee.
Azad, Abul Kalam (1888-1958).
He was born in Mecca. His father was
a great mystic and- a scholar of
eminence and his Arab mother was the
daughter of the Mufti of Madina. He
had traditional education and was a

great scholar of Arabic, Persian, Urdu
and Islamic theology and adopted the
pen-name of Azad at the age of 16. In
1909 he took to journalism and
published a number of papers such as
Al-Nadwah, The Vakil, Al-Hilal, AlSalagh. He was elected President of
the INC when only 35, the youngest
to hold that office. In 1940, he was
elected a second time and continued
to hold that position until June 1946.
After independence and until his death
on 22 February, 1958, Azad. was
Education Minister in Nehrus
Cabinet.
Azads
famous
autobiographical narrative India Wins
Freedom is very famous as well as
controversial work to his credit.
Azad, Chandra Shekhar (19061931). One of the most famous
revolutionaries from present Uttar
Pradesh. He was arrested during the
non-cooperation - movement, but was
flogged for ridiculing the court during
trial for telling his name as Azad his
fathers Swatantra and his home as
Prison. From then he became
famous as Azad. He was actively
associated with the Hindustan
Socialist Republican Army and
involved in a number of revolutionary
and terrorist cases such as Kakori
Conspiracy, Lahore Conspiracy etc. At
Alfred Park, Allahabad, while fighting
alone with the police, it is said that he
shot himself dead with the last bullet
he had in his pistol, after-exhausting
all his ammunition against the police,
which surprised him at the Park.
Bardoli, Gopi Nath (18911946). Prominent nationalist leader, he
actively participated in the first Civil
20
Disobedience Movement and was

sentenced to one year s imprisonment. He held many high offices,
connected with the municipal,
educational and Congress activities of
the provinces. From 1942 to 1944 he
was kept in detention as a security
prisoner under the Defence of India
Rules.
Banerjee, Surendra Nath
(1848-1925). He was a well known
nationalist leader, a popular journalist
and a dedicated educationalist. He
successfully complete for the India
Civil Services in 1869, but on technical
grounds he was disqualified. However,
after a court judgement in his favour,
he was inducted into the civil services,
but was-soon dismissed on flimsy
grounds: After his dismissal, he
plunged into the role of public agitator
fighting to redress the grievances of
all those who had suffered. He mooted
the idea of holding National
Conference of representatives from
political associations all over the
country. He was one of the founders
of the I.N.C. After the emergence of
Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian
political scene, he walked out of the
Congress in 1918.
Besant, Annie (1846-1933).
Irish by birth, she was a staunch
supporter of Indias struggle for
freedom. She founded the Home Rule
League in Madras in Theosophical
Society of India. She was the President
of the Indian National Congress for
one term.
Bharati, Subramania (18821921). Eminent poet of Tamil
renaissance; the title of the Bharati


Chronology of the National Movement

was conferred on him by Raja of
Ettayapuram (Tamil Nadu) when he
was only eleven (Bharati is a popular
name of Saraswati, goddess- of
learning); associated with the
extremists in the Congress; wrote
songs in praise of gods and notable
personalities including Gandhiji and
Guru Gobind Singh.
Bhave, Acharya Vinoba. A close
associate of Mahatma Gandhi, he was
the leader of Sarvodaya and the
Bhoodan Movements. He was also a
staunch advocate of cow protection.
He was awarded Bharat Ratna
Posthumously.
Bismil, Ram Prasad (18971927). A martyr, he was born at
Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He
actively participated in the terrorist
movement as a member of Hindustan
Socialist Republican Association
Army, was arrested and sentenced to
death for participating in the Kakori
Train dacoity on August 9, 1925.
Composed the famous revolutionary
songs sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab
hamare dil mein hai dekhana hai zore
kitana bazu-e-katil mein hai.
Bose, Rash Behari (18861945). He was one of the great
revolutionaries of the early 20th
century. He came to limelight when he
threw a bomb on the Viceroys
procession in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.
After throwing the bomb, he managed
to escape from India and went to
Japan. He played an important role in
organising the Indian National Army
in Japan.
Banerjee, Woomesh Chandra
(1844-1906). He was a successful
lawyer, the first President of Indian
National Congress and the first Indian
to contest election to the British House
of Commons. He was twice elected
President (1885 and 1892) of the INC
and was a moderate in politics.

Bose, Anand Mohan (18471906). A pioneering educationalist;
social reformer and nationalist of
Bengal, he greatly strove to popularize
the spread of education among
women. In 1883, he founded a national
conference in Calcutta and launched
agitation to protest against the
Vernacular Press Act and the Ilbert Bill.
He was President of the Madras
Session of the INC (1898). During the
last year of his life he protested against
the partition of Bengal.
Bose, Subhas Chandra (18971945). He was born at Cuttack (Orissa)
and had his higher education in
Calcutta and at Cambridge. In 1920 he
appeared in the ICS exam in England
and secured 4th position in order of
merit. But much against the wishes of
his parents, he resigned from the ICS
and returned home in July 1921. Soon
after reaching India, he joined the
national movement and was detained
during the Civil Disobedience
movement. He was elected President
of the INC at Haripur (1938) session
and at Tripuri he following year, in the
teeth of opposition of Gandhiji. In April
1939, he left the Congress and
organized the Forward Bloc and the
Kisan Sabha. In 1941, he escaped from
India and in November, 1941, surfaced
in Berlin, where he met Hitler. He was
of the view that our enemys enemy
is our friend. Subsequently, he
organised Azad Hind Fauj or the
Indian National Army (with the help
of his Japanese allies) for the freedom
of India-of-which he was the Supreme
Commander. But his dream of seeing
India free and independent turned to
ashes with his death in an air-crash.
Chapekar, Balkrishna (18731899). A martyr, participated in the
21
plot to kill Mr. Rand, British Plague

Commissioner of Poona, against whom
there was great resentment; was
arrested tried and sentenced to death.
Died on the gallows in Yervada Jail,
Poona on May 12, 1899.
Cama, Madame Bhikaji
(1861.1936). The most well known
revolution women leader who joined
V.D. Savarkar, Sadar Singh Rana etc.
and organised Indian. Youth outside
India. To propagate the revolutionary
ideas, she founded the Free India
Society and published Bande
Mataram.
Das Chitaranjan (Deshbandhu
C.R.Ls) (1870-1925). He was a
renowned nationalist from Bengal and
was a co-worker of Bipin Chandra Pal
and Aurobindd Ghosh. In 1918, he
was elected President of the INC.
During the non-cooperation
movement he left his lucrative legal
practice. His followers gave him the
title of Desh Bandhu. He was one of
the founders of the Swaraj Party.
Das, Jatindra Nath (19041929). One 5of the greatest
revolutionaries, he was arrested on
June 14, 1929, for complicit in the
Lahore Conspiracy Case. Died in
Lahore jail on September 13, 1929 after
observing fast for 63 days.
Dayanand Saraswai (18241899): A leading social reformer, he
founded the Arya Samaj. In his book
Satyartha Prakash he critically
examined various ritualistic practices
of the Hindu religion. He fought for
removal of untouchability, widow
remarriage and abolition of other evils
of the Hindu Society.
Derozio, Henry Lous Vivian
(1809-31). A talented Eurasian (his
father was Portuguese and his mother
an Indian) and one of the pioneers of



the renaissance in Bengal. He was a
poet and a lecturer of Literature and
History of Hindu College, Calcutta.
Derozio and his followers popularly
known as Derozions or Young Bengal
were the early harbingers of radical
thought and practice which seriously
alarmed the aristocratic sections of the
community. His critical approach had
the effect of liberating the minds of
his young pupils and inculcating the
nationalist sentiments in them.
Desai, Mahadeva (1892-1942).
Secretary to Mahatma Gandhiji, was a
great non-violent fighter of Indias
struggle for independence Actively
participated in the non-cooperation
disobedience movement (1930)
individual satyagraha (1941) and Quit
India Movement (1942).
Dutt, Romesh Chandra (18481909). He was a great indologist,
economist and nationalist. He
presided over the Lucknow session of
the INC in 1899 and was the author of
the Economic History of British India,
Indian in the Victorian Age, History of
Civilization in Ancient India etc. His
work in the economic field would
probably stand out as his most
outstanding contribution which deeply
influenced the future course of
nationalist movement.
Ghaffar, Khan Abdul {Frontier
Gandhi} (1890-1988). He was born in
a villa1ge of Peshaar district (now in
Pakistan) of the erstwhile NWFP
Province of British India. Whilezslill
in his teens, he joined the national
movement and inculcated the ideas of
an nationalism into the minds of the
Pathans. He plunged into the agitation
against the Rowlatt laws, the. Khilafat,
non- cooperation and Civil
Disobedience Movements. More
specifically, he took a leading part in
all the political movements launched
by the Congress during 1930-47 and

spent about 14 of these years in jail. In
1929 he founded the Khudai
Khidmatgar (literally, gods servants)
a peace corps of dedicated workers
who gave him his little Fakhr-eAfghan (i.e. pride of theAfghan). The
aim of the new fraternity was to
inculcate among its followers the idea
of service and the desire to serve their
country and their people in the name
of God. Re never saw eye to eye with
the fanatical ideology of the Muslim
League and was committed to
secularism. He was vehemently
opposed to the partition of India. After
partition, he started an active campaign
for the creation of Pakhtoonistan and
was jailed a number of times by the
successive Pakistani regimes. He was
popularly known as Frontier Gandhi,
Badshah Khan, Fakher-e-Afghan, etc.
He was awarded Sharat Ratna in 1987.
Ghosh, Aurobindo (18721950). He was a leading Bengal
revolutionary later turned yogi. For
nearly 13 years he was in England,
including at Cambridge, for his
education. He remained active inihe
political field for about ten years, 190110, particularly during the partition of
Bengal, and was one of the
propounders of the programme of
Swadesh and Boycott. He expressed
the view that the political freedom was
the life and breath of nation and
cubed colonial self-government as
apolitical monstrosity. In 1908-09 the
government involved him in the
Maniktala bomb conspiracy case and
imprisoned him for a year, but was
eventually, acquitted. In 1910, he
retired to Pondicherry, where he spent
his life in meditation and spiritual
pursuits:
Ghosh, Ras Behari (18451921). An eminent lawyer, education
22
philanthropist and a leading moderate

leader of INC from Bengal, who ca the
extremist as pestilential demagogues
and irresponsible agitators had a
professed faith in the British sense of
justice and their civilizing mission.
Har Dayal, Lala (1884-1939).
He was a great revolutionary and one
of founder of the Ghadar Party, he was
author of several books, the most v
known being Hints for Self Culture,
Twelve Religions and Modern Li He
died in March 1939, while on a lecture
tour in the USA.
Hume, Allan Octavian {A.O:
Hume} (1821912). He Was a British
Civil Servant in India, who after his
retirement from service in 1882 worked
Indias political claims and is known
as the Father and founder of the INC
Hume was the guiding spirit during the
formative years of the INC. He had
studied medicine and surgery and was
a great naturalist and botanist.
Hussain, Dr. Zakir (18971969). Formulated Wardha Scheme of
Education formerly Vice-Chancellor of
Jamia Millia (1926-53) and later Vice
Chancell.
Muslim University Aligarh.
Governor of Bihar (1957-62), VicePresident India (1962-67), he was
elected as President of India in 1967.
Lajpat Rai, Lala (1865-1929).
A well known freedom fighter from the
Punjab, made important contribution
to national movement and social
reforms.
While
leading
a
demonstration against the Simon
Commission at Lahore, he lathicharged and mortally wounded. He
was one of the pillars of extremism in
India.
Malaviya, Madan Mohan
(18611946). A leading nationalist and
patriot initially a school teacher and



subsequently an Advocate by
profession, he withdrew from legal
practice in 1909, and kept up an abiding
interest in journalism. F pub1iiied a
number of weekly and dailies in Hindi
and English such Hindustan, the
Indian Union, Abhyudaya (weeklies)
Mardyada and Kisan (monthly) and
the daily, Leader in English. He was a
member of the INC since 1886. He was
elected to the Imperial Council in 1921
and, was E ardent critic to the British
policies. He was a devout Hindu and a
founder member of Hindu Mahasabha.
He founded the Banaras Hindu
University 1916and remained its ViceChancellor from 1919 to 1938.
Mehta, Ferozeshah (18451915). A pioneering nationalist,
popularly known as the uncrowned
king of Bombay, belonging to a middle
class Parsi family. He was one of the
founders of the Bombay Presidency
Association and the INC. He was a
typical moderate and loyalist but a true
nationalist.
Meera Behn (1892-1982). Born
as Medelience Slade in England, she
was named Meera Behn by Mahatma
Gandhi whose disciple and associate
she was. She was awarded Padma
Vibhushan in 1982.
Munshi, K.M. (1887-1971). He
played an active role in Indias freedom
struggle and held important public
offices after independence. He was a
great writer and educationalist. He was
the founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan
a trust for running educational
institution and publication of books
on Indology.
Naidu, Mrs. Sarojini (18791948). A follower of Mahatma Gandhi,
she took active part in Indias freedom
struggle. She was once elected
President of the Indian National
Congress. She was a gifted poet of the
English language and was popularly

known as the Nightingale of India.
After independence she became the
first women Governor of an Indian
State (U.P.).
Nehru, Motilal (1861-1931).
Father of Jawaharlal Nehru, he was
himself a great patriot and freedom
fighter. He was also an eminent lawyer.
He was one of the founder leaders of
the Swarajist Party.
Naoroji, Dadabhai (1825-1917).
He came of a priestly Pasri family and
rose to become the grand old man of
India. During his stay in England he
was looked upon as India unofficial
ambassador fighting for the cause of
his country. In 1865 he founded the
London India Society in collaboration
with W.C. Banerjee with the objective
to publicize Indian grievances. He was
the first Indian to be elected to the
British House of Commons in- 1892 on
a Liberal Party ticket. He took leading
part in founding the INC and thrice
1886, 1893 and 1906 was elected to be
its President. He vividly highlighted
the economic implications of imperial
rule in India and was the high priest of
the Drain Theory. He expressed his
views in his long paper poverty and
Un- British Rule in India.
Nehru, Jawaharlal (18891964). World famous politician and
statesman, a fluent speaker, a staunch
believer in secularism and an apostle
of peace. Took active part in the
political movement of India. Prime
Minister of India from 1947-64, author
of doctrine of Panchsheel, strongly
oppose to regional pacts, believer in.
the policy of non-alignment. Author
of International fame, his works
include The Discovery of India,
Glimpses of World of History and A
Bunch of Old letters.
Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi (1900).
23
Sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, a

prominent national leader, was
imprisoned thrice in connection with
the Civil Disobedience Movement in
1932, 1941 and 1942. She played an
important role as Indias representative
in San Rancisco during the first
meeting of the UN where she
challenged the might of the British.
Pandit, Subha Rao Freedom
fighter of social reformer he was the
Chairman of the reception committee
of the Madras session of the INC in
1B98 and the General Secretary of the
Congress from 1913 to 1917. He was
also one of the prime builders of
modern Andhra. He was also one of
the four-founders.
Pal, Bipin Chandra (18581932). One of the famous trio Lal,
Bal and Pal, B.C. Pal is popularly known
as the father of revolutionary thought
in India. He started his political career
by joining the INC in 1886 and
simultaneously published Paridasak,
a weekly, and later worked as assistant
editor of Bengal Public Opinion and
the Tribune. Pal was a great exponent
of Indian Swaraj outside British
empire. He was opposed to caste
system and other rigid rules
concerning inter-dining and intermixing. He was a noted writer and a
powerful speaker. His most famous
work being Memories of My Life and
Times in two volumes.
PantGovind Ballabh (18.871961). Born at Almora (U.P.) was a
lawyer by profession. He actively
participated in the freedom struggle
and was badly injured in Lathi charge
that followed while leading
demonstration against Simon
Commission (1927). He became Chief
Minister of UP in 1946 and introduced
a number of agrarian and other reforms.
Subsequently he was called to the



Central Government as Minister of
Home Affairs.
Patel, Sardar Vallabhbhai
(1875-1950). He was a brilliant
Gujarati barrister of his time in 1918,
he entered politics with his
participation in the Kheda Satyagraha
launched to secure exemption for the
cultivators from payment of land tax
for the crops that had failed. In 1922
he launched another peasant
movement in Bardoli taluka of Gujarat
popularly known as the Bardoli
Satyagraha. In re-cognition of his great
success in organising the later
movement, Mahatma Gandhi called
him Sardar. He actively participated
in all the movements launched under
the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
With Independence (August 1947)
Sardar Patel became independent
Indias Dy. Prime Minister, his
portfolios included Home, the Indian
States and Information and
Broadcasting, the crowning
achievement of his political career was
the integration of some 562 princely
states and domains into the Indian
Union.
Prasad, Dr. Rajendra (18841963). A famous Congress leader of
from Bihar, he was the Chairman of the
Constituent Assembly. After the
promulgation of the Constitution he
became the first President of India.
Raja, Mahendra Pratap (18761938). A nationalist who strenuously
worked for the freedom of his country
against heavy odds during the first
World War and ultimately worked for
the establishment of world peace for
more than two decades.
Rajagopalachari, C. (18781972). Shrewd political leader and a
political thinker, Chief Minister of
Madras (1937-39), Minister Union
Government (1947); Governor of West

Bengal (1947-48); the first and the last
Indian Governor General of India
(1948-50); was opposed to the
introduction of decimal coinage; was
opposed to the introduction of Hindi
language in the south. He started a
new political party The Swantantra
Party.
Sarla Behn (1900-1932). Born
Katherine Mary Heilaman, she was
named Sarla Behn by Mahatma Gandhi
whose disciple she was. A Social
worker, she set up an Ashram at
Kausani in the Kumaon in the Kumaon
Hills of U.P. she has written a book
entitled Reviving our Dying Planet.
Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar
(1883-1966). One of the Indias
earliest revolutionaries and Hindu
Mahasabha leader; sent to England
and arrested there in the Nasik
Conspiracy case; author of Indian War
of Independence; awarded the
honorary degree of literature by the
Poona University.
Shri Narayan Guru (18451928). He was a great socio-religious
reformer of Kerala, who relentlessly
fought against the Brahmin
domination and greatly worked for the
spread of education in Kerala. In spite
of belonging to a lower casfe4ie
installed the Shiva Idol at Aravippuram
in 1888. The Aravippuram Pratistha
was a unique event of historical
importance because a person of the
lower caste, forbidden from entering
the temple had himself consecrated the
Shiva image in a temple. On the wall of
the temple he inscribed the following
words Devoid of dividing walls of
caste of race, or hatred of rival-faith,
we all live here in Brotherhood. Shree
Narayan Guru soon became the famous
saint, seer philosopher, poet and social
reformer for millions of people.
24
Education and organisation were

amongst his many slogans for freedom
and strength. He held that the essence
of all religions is one and the same,
and advocated the comparative study
of all faiths.
Satyamurthi, S. (1887-1943).
One of the best known nationalist
leaders popularly known as
Farebrand of South India. He
actively participated in the Civil
Disobedience and Quit India
Movement. While in detention in
connection with the Quit India
Movement, he died in prison.
Singh, Bhagat (1907-1931).
Belonged to a Jat Sikh family of
undivided Punjab and was one of the
leading figures of the Hindustan
Socialist Republican Army. In 1928, to
avenge the lathi charge on Lala Lajpat
Rai, he shot dead the English Assistant
Superintendent of Police Mr. Saunders.
He was the main accused in the Lahore
Conspiracy Case and was arrested
after exploding bombs in the Central
Legislative Assembly. He executed in
March 1931.
Tilak, Bal Gangadhar (18561920). A great patriot and a pioneering
radical nationalist from Maharashtra,
Tilak had an active political life of
about forty years (1880-1920). His ideas
found expression in two popular
journals Kesari in marathi (started
in 1881) and its English counterpart
Mahratta. To arouse the people, he
organised Ganapati and Shivaji (his
coronation) festivals. He was an
unsparing critic or the moderates and
an uncompromising Champion of
Swaraj from 1908, he was arrested and
tried for his seditious writings in
Kesari and was sentenced to six years
depuration in Mandlay. On .his release
he founded the Home Rule League. He
aroused the masses to seek freedom



by declaring Swaraj is my birth right
and I will have it. He was a scholar
and a thinker. His commentary on the
Gita the Gita Rahasya, will be
monumental work.
Singh, Udham (1899-1940). A
great revolutionary leader from Punjab
who to take revenge for the Jallian
Wala Bagh massacre, went to London,
where he murdered Sir Michael ODyer
on March 13, 1940. For his crime he
was given the death sentence and
executed in London.
Tagore, Rahindranath (18611941). One of the greatest lyric poets
of the world; writer of short stories
novels, plays, won Noble Prize for
literature in 1913, founded the
international University Shantiniketan
(Bolepur) in Bengal.
Vidyasagar, Ishwar Chandra
(1820-98). He was an important social
reformer and educationist from Bengal.
He is known for his pioneering work
in the fields of promotion of education
and widow remarriage. He is regarded
as the father of modern Bengali prose.
Waddekar, Preeti Lata (19111932). She was one of the bravest and
greatest women revolutionaries in the
history of Indias freedom movement.
On September 24, 1932, she led an
attack on the Pahartali European Club
at Chittagong after which she
organised safe escape for the
comrades while she herself took
potassium cyanide and died on
September 24, 1932.
Landmarks of The Indian

National Movement
Year
Event
1857-58
1858
The Revolt of 1857

Queens (Victoria)
Proclamation India
1861
1872
1875
1883-84
1885
1896
1905
1905
1906
1907
1907
1908,
April 30
1908,
July 22
1909,
May 21
1911
under the British.

Crown
Indian Councils Act
The Kuka Revolt in the
Punjab
The
Theosophical
Society founded by
Bllavatsky and Olcott.
Arya Samaj founded by
Swami Dayanand.
Ilbert Bill contro-versy.
First Session of the
Indian
National
Congress (INC) held on
December 28 in Bombay.
Ramakrishna Mission
founded
by
Vivekananda.
The Servants of India
Society founded.
Partition of Bengal
announced to come in
force from October 15,
1905.
Muslim League founded
at Dhaka (December 31).
The Surat Split.
Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit
Singh deported to
Mandalay.
Khudiram Bose
executed.
Tilak sentenced to six
years transportation on
charges of sedition.
Minto-Morley Reforms
or Indian Councils Act,
1909.
The coronation or the
Second Delhi Durbar
held at Delhi after which
the partition of Bengal
25
1912
1912,
Dec.23
1913,
Nov. 1
1914,
June 16
1914,
Aug. 4
1914,
Sept. 29
1915
January
1915,
Feb. 19
1916,
April 28
1916,
Sept. 25
1916
1917,
April
was annulled.
Delhi becomes the new
capital of India.
Bomb thrown on Lord
Hardinge on his state
entry into Delhi.
Ghadar party formed at
San Francisco to
organise a rebellion in
India to overthrow the
British rule.
B.G. Tilak released from
jail
after
long
imprisonment.
Outbreak of the First
World War.
Kamagata Maw ship
reaches Budge Budge,
Calcutta and firing on
the passengers of the
ship.
Gandhiji arrives in India.
Death of Gopal Krishna
Gokhale.
B.G. Tilak founds Indian
Home Rule League with
its headquarters at
Poona
Another Home Rule
League launched by
Ms.Annie Besant.
Foundation of Banaras
Hindu University by Pt.
Madan
Mohan
Malaviya.
Mahatma Gandhi
launches the Champaran campaign in Bihar to
focus attention on the
grievances of indigo
planters.



1917,
June
1917,
Aug. 20
1918
1918,
March 23
1918,
April
1919,
April 6
1919,
April 13
1919,
Dec. 5
1920
1920
Madras government
interns Mrs. Annie
Besant.
The Secretary State for
India,
Montagu,
declares that the goal of
the British government
in India is the
introduction
of
Responsible Government.
Beginning of Trade
Union Movement in
India.
The first All-India
Depressed Classes
Conference held.
Rowlatt (Sedition)
Committee submits its
report, Rowlatt Bill
introduced on February
16, 1919.
All India hartal over
Rowlatt Bills.
Gen. Dyer passes the
curlew
orders,
Jallianwala
Bagh
tragedy and-the great
Amritsar massacre.
The House of Commons
passes the MontaguChelmsford Reforms or
the Government of India
Act, 1919. The new
reforms under this Act
came into operation in
1921.
First meeting of the All
India Trade Union
Congress.
Foundation of the
Aligarh
Muslim
University.
1920, Dec.
1920-22
19211922
August
1922,
March 13
1922,
May
1923,
Jan. 1
1924
1925,
June 16
1925,
August
1926,
Dec. 23
1927,
Nov. 8
The Indian National

Congress (INC) adopts
the NonCooperation
Resolution.
Non-Cooperation
Movement, suspended
on February 11-12, 1922
after the violent
incidents at Cauri
Chaura on February 5,
1922.
Second Moplah rebellion on the
Malabar coast.
Mahatma Gandhi
arrested.
Vishva Bharti University
started by Rabindranath
Tagore.
Swarajist party formed
by Motilal Nehru and
others.
The Communist party of
India starts its activities
first at Kanpur.
Death of Deshbandhu
Chittarnjan
Das.
Looting of train near
Kakori railway station
Kakori Conspiracy case.
The great leader of the
Arya Samaj,
Swami Sraddhanand,
Murdered.
The British Prime
Minister announces the
appointment of the.
Simon Commission to
suggest the future
constitutional reforms in
India. The INC at its
26
1928
1928,
Nov. 17
1929
1929,
March 9
1929,
April 8
1929,
Sept. 13
1929,
Oct. 31
1929,
Oct. 31
session in Madras Dec

1927) decides to boycott
the commission as it had
no Indian member.
Simon Commission
arrives in Bombay on
February 3, 1928 and allIndia hartal. Lala Lajpat
Rai assaulted by police
at Lahore.
Nehru Report recommends principles for the
new constitution of
India.
All-Parties Conference
considers the Nehru
Report, August 28-31,
1928.
Death of Lal Lajpat Rai.
Sarda Act passed
prohibiting marriage of
girls below 14 and boys
below 18 years of age
with effect from 1930.
All-Parties Muslim
Conference formulates
the Fourteen Points
under the leadership of
Jinnah.
Bhagat Singh and
Batukeshwar Dutt drop
bombs in the Central
Legislative Assembly.
Jatin Das dies in jail after
64 days of fast.
Lord Irwins announcement that thegoal of
British policy in India
was the grant of
Dominion status.
Lord Irwins announcement that thegoal of
British policy in India



1930,
Jan. 1
1930,
Jan. 1
1930,
Jan. 26
1930,
Feb. 14
1930,
March 12
1930,
Nov. 12
1931,
March 5
1931,
March 23
was the grant of the

Dominion status.
The Lahore session of
the INC adopts the goal
of complete independence (poorna swarajya) for India.
Jawaharlal Nehru hoists
the tricolour of Indian
independence on the
banks of the Ravi at
Lahore.
First Independence Day
observed.
The Working Committee
of the INC meets at
Sabarmati and passes
the Civil Disobedience
resolution.
Mahatma Gandhi
launches the Civil Disobedience movement
with his epic Dandi
March (March 12 to
April 5) to manufacture
salt against the law. First
phase of the Civil
Disobedience movement. March 12 1930 to
March 5, 19.31.
First Round Table
Conference begins in
London to consider the
report of the Simon
Commission for the
future constitutional
set-up in India.
Gandhi-Irwin pact
signed. Civil Disobedience
movement
suspended.
Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev
and Rajguru executed.
Second Round Table
Conference begins.
1931,
Dec. 28
1932,
Jan. 4
1932,
August 16
1932,
Sept. 20
1932,
Nov. 17
1933,
May 9
1934
1935,
Mahatma Gandhi arrives

in London (Sept. 12) to
attend it.
Gandhiji returns from
London after the deadlocked Second Round
Table Conference. The
British govern-ment
launches repressive
measures against the
INC and its leaders. The
INC declared illegal.
Gandhiji arrested and
imprisoned without trial.
British Prime Minister
Ramsay Macdonald
announces
the
infamous Communal
Award giving separate
electorate to Harijans.
Gandhiji in jail, begins
his epic fact unto
death against the
Communal Award and
ends the fast on Sept. 26
after the Poona Pact by
which the Hrijans get
reserved seats in place
of separate electorate.
The Third Round Table
Conference begins in
London (Nov. 17 to Dec.
24)
Gandhiji released from
prison as he begins fast
for self-purification. INC
suspends Civil Disobedience Movement
but authorises satyagraha by individuals.
Gandhiji withdraws from
active politics and
devotes himself to constructive programmes
(1934-39).
The Government of
27
August 4
1937
1938,
Feb. 19-20
1939,
Mar.10-12
1939,
April
1939,
Sept-3
1939, Oct.
27-Nov. 5
1939,
Dec. 22
1940,
March
1940,
May 10
1940,
Aug. 10
1940,
Aug 18-22
India Act (1935) passed.

Elections held in India
under the Govt. of India
Act of 1935 (February
1937). The INC contests
election, and forms
ministries in seven
provinces (July 1937).
Haripura Session of the
INC. Subhas Chandra
Bose elected Congress
President.
Tripuri Session of the
INC.
Subhas Chandra Bose
resigns the Presidentship of the INC.
Second World War
(September 1). Great
Britain declares war on.
Germany; the Viceroy
declares that India too is
at war.
The Congress ministries
in the provinces resign
in protest against the
war policy of the British
government.
The Muslim League
observes the resignation of the Congress
ministries as the
Deliverance Day.
Lahore Session of the
Muslim League passes
the Pakistan Resolution.
Winston Churchill
becomes the Prime
Minister of England.
Viceroy Linlithgow
announces the British
policy towards India
August Offer.
Cogress Working
Committee rejects the
August Offer.



1940,
Oct. 17
1941
1941,
Jan. 17
1942,
March 11
1942,
Aug. 7-8
1942,
Aug. 9
1942,
Aug.10-11
1942,
Sept. 1
1943,
Congress launches
Individual satyagraha
movement.
Dealth of Rabindranath
Tagore.
Subhas Chandra Bose
escapes from India;
arrives in Berlin (March
28).
Churchill announces
the Cripps Mission; Sir
Stafford Cripps arrives
in Delhi (March 23); INC
rejects Cripps proposals
and breakdown of the
Cripps negotiation
(April 10).
The INC meets in
Bombay; adopts Quit
India resolution,
Gandhiji and other
Congress
leaders
arrested.
Quit India movement
begins; the Great
August Uprising.
Subhas Chandra Bose
establishes the Indian
National Army (Azad
Hind Fauj).
Subhas Chandra Bose
Oct. 21
1943, Dec.
1944
1944,
June 25
1946,
Feb. 18
1946,
March 15
1946,
July 6
1946,
proclaims the formation

of the Provisional
Government of Free
India.
Karachi session of the
Muslim League adopts
the slogan Divide and
Quit.
Lord
Wavell
as
Government-General
and Viceroy (1944-47)
Wavell calls Simla
Conference in a bid to
form the Executive
Council of Indian
political leader
Mutiny of the Indian
naval ratings in Bombay.
Attlee
announces
Cabinet Mission to
propose new solution to
the Indian deadlock
Cabinet Mission arrives
in New Delhi (March 24);
issues
proposals
(May16).
Jawaharlal Nehru takes
over as Congress
president.
WavelI invites Nehru to
Aug. 6
form an interim government; interim Government takes office (Sept.

2).
1946,
First session of the
Dec.
Constituent Assembly
of India starts; boycotted by Muslim League.
1947,
Feb. 20
Attlee declares that the
British government
would leave India not
later than June1948.
1947;
Lord Mountbatten, the
March 24
last British Viceroy and
Governor General of
India, sworn in (March
24, 1947 to June 21,
1948).
1947,
Mountbatten Plan for
June 3
the partition of India
and the announcement
(June 4) that transfer of
power will take place on
August 15.
1947,
Indian Independence
July 4
Bill introduced in the
House of (Commons and
passed by the British
Parliament (July 15).
1947, Aug.15 India wins freedom.
The Venues and Presidents of the Annual Sessions of the

Indian National Congress, 1885-1948
Year
Dec. 28, 1885
Dec. 28, 1886
Dec. 27-28, 1887
Dec. 28-29, 1888
Dec. 27-28, 1889
Dec. 28-29, 1890
Dec. 26-27, 1891
Dec. 28-29, 1892
Place
Bombay
Calcutta
Madras
Allahabad
Bombay
Calcutta
Nagpur
Allahabad
Session
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh
Eighth
28
President
W.C. Bonnerji
Dadabhai Nauroji
Badr-ud-din Tayyabji
George Yule
William Wedderburn
Pheroze Shah Mehta
P. Anand Charlu
W.C. Bonnerji



Year
Dec. 27-28, 1893
Dec. 27-28, 1894
Place
Lahore
Madras
Session
Ninth
Tenth
President
Dadabhai Nauroji
Mr. Webb - 1
Dec. 28-29, 1895

Dec. 27-28, 1896
Poona
Calcutta
Eleventh
Seventeenth
Surendranath Banerjee
Dinshaw E. Wacha
Dec. 23-26, 1902

Dec. 28-30, 1903
Dec. 26-28, 1904
Ahmedabad
Madras
Bombay
Eighteenth
Nineenth
Twentieth
Surendranath Banerjee
Lal Mohan Ghose
Sir Henry Cotton
Dec. 27-30, 1905

Dec. 26-29, 1906
Varanasi
Calcutta
Twenth-first
Twenty-second
Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Dadabhai Nauroji
Dec. 26-27, 1907

Dec. 29-30, 1908
Dec. 27-29. 1909
Surat
Madras
Lahore
Twenty-third
Twenty-third
Twenty-fourth
Ras Behari Ghosh

Madan Mohan Malaviya
Dec. 28-29, 1910

Dec. 26-28, 1911
Allahabad
Calcutta
Twenty-fifth
Twenty-sixth
Sir William Wedderburn

Bishan Narayan Dhar
Dec. 27-28, 1912

Dec. 26-28, 1913
Dec. 28-30, 1914
Bankipur
Karachi
Madras
Twenty-seventh
Twenty-eight
Twenty-ninth
R.N. Nudhokar
Nawab Syed Mohammad
Bhupendranath Basu
Dec. 27-30, 1915

Dec. 26-30, 1916
Bombay
Lucknow
Thirtieth
Thirty-first
S.P. Sinha
Ambika Charan Mazumder
Dec. 28-29, 1917

Dec. 26-31, 1918
Dec. 27-28, 1919
Calcutta
Delhi
Amritsar
Thirty-second
Thirty-third
Thirty-fourth
Mrs. Annie Besant

Motilal Nehru
Sept. 4-8, 1920

Dec. 26-31, 1920
Calcutta
Nagpur
Special Session
Thirty-fifth
Lala Lajpat Rai

C. Vijayaraghavachariar
Dec. 27-28, 1921
Ahmedabad
Thirty-six
Dec. 26-31, 1922

Dec. 28-31, 1923
Gaya
Kakinada
Thirty-seventh
Thirty-eighth
C.R. Das in Prison,

And therefore, Hakim Ajmal Khan,
served as President
C.R. Das
Maulana Mohammad Ali
Dec. 26-27, 1924

Dec. 26-28, 1925
Belgaum
Kanpur
Thirth-ninth
Fortieth
Mahatma Gandhi
Sarojini Naidu
Dec. 26-28, 1926

Dec. 26-27, 1927
Dec. 28-31, 1928
Guwahati
Madras
Calcutta
Forty-first
Forty-second
Forty-third
S. Srinivasa Iyengar
M.A. Ansari
Motilal Nehru
Dec. 29-31, 1929

March 29, 1931
Lahore
Karachi
Forty-fourth
Forty-fifth
Jawaharlal Nehru
Vallabhai Patel
29



Year
April 24, 1932
April 1, 1933
Place
Delhi
Calcutta
Session
Forty-sixth
Forth-seventh
President
Amrit Ranchhoddas Seth
Mrs. Nellie Sengupta
Oct. 26-28, 1934

April 12-14, 1936
Bombay
Lucknow
Forty-eighth
Forty-ninth
Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Jawaharlal Nehru
Dec. 27-28, 1936

Feb. 19-21, 1938
March 10, 1939
Faizpur
Haripura
Tripuri
Fiftieth
Fifty-first
Fifty-second
Jawaharlal Nehru
Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose
March 17-19, 1940

1941-45
Ramgarh
Fifty-third
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

No Sessions
November 23, 1946

Dec. 18-19, 1948
Meerut
Jaipur
Fifty-fourth
Fifth-fifth
Acharya J.B. Kripalani

Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
1. Mr. Webb was an Irish

Member of the British
parliament.
2. The Surat Session of the
Congress 1907, having been
disturbed on account of
serious differences between
the Moderates and the
Extremists was again called at
Madras, as the continuation

of the same session.
3. On account of the Civil
Disobedience Movement, no
Congress session could be
held in 1930.
4. The Annual Sessions of the
Congress could not be held for
five years 1941-45, on account
30
of the launching of the Quit

India Movement, when the
Congrers was declared as an
illegal organisation and all
Congress leaders were put
behind the bars. During these
six years Abul Kalam Azad
remained the President of the
Congress.

You will be provided current affairs on various important topics on a weekly basis.
Important national and international news from various sources at a single platform for your
convenience.
Each and every topic will be given point wise , making it easier to grasp.
Very handy when it comes to various competitive exams..
Planning Commission
Ministry of External Affairs
National Portal of India
National
International
Economy
India And The World
Sports
In The News
Science and Technology
Burning Issues (Editorials From Different Newspapers)
You will get (52 Issues) PDF Only no Hard Copy
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs/weekly-update

New PM Appointed
Narendra Modi who steered

the BJP-led NDA to a stunning
victory will be sworn in as Prime
Minister on May 26 at
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Mr. Modi was appointed as the
Prime Minister by the President
and was asked to advise the
names of others to be
appointed Members of the
Council of Ministers.
Stepping out after his meeting
with the President, he
addressed the media briefly

and held-up the formal letter of
appointment as Prime Minister.
Mr Modis call on the President
came after he was unanimously
elected leader of the BJP
Parliamentary Party and later at
a combined meeting of the BJP
and its allies constituting the
NDA as leader of the coalition.
Later, a Rashtrapati Bhawan
communique said as Mr Modi
has been elected leader of the
31
BJP Parliamentary Party and

BJP has majority support in the
House of the People, the
President appointed him the
Prime Minister of India and
requested him to advise the
names of members of the
council of ministers.
Todays scene was vastly
different from the summer of
1996 when the then President
Shankar Dayal Sharma
appointed Atal Bihari Vajpayee
as Prime Minister of a minority
government that fell in 13 days.
Later, after the 1998 and 1999
elections Mr Vajpayee was
again called to form governments only after the then
President K R Narayanan was
satisfied with letters of support
from parties backing the NDA
coalition on the numbers.
Modis Council of Ministers

The following is the list of council of
ministers in Prime Minister Narendra
Modis Cabinet:


National Issues
Cabinet Ministers
Rajnath Singh: Home Minister
Sushma Swaraj: External Affairs &
Overseas Indian Affairs
Arun Jaitley: Finance Corporate
Affairs & Defence
M. Venkaiah Naidu: Urban
Development Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation & Parliamentary
Affairs
Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Road
Transport and Highways Shipping
D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Railways
Uma Bharati: Water Resources, River
Development
and
Ganga
Rejuvenation
Dr. Najma A. Heptulla: Minority
Affairs
Gopinathrao Munde: Rural
Development, Panchayati Raj &
Drinking Water and Sanitation
Ramvilas Paswan: Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution
Kalraj Mishra: Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises
Maneka Gandhi: Women and Child
Development
Ananthkumar: Chemicals and
Fertilizers
Ravi Shankar Prasad: Communications and Information Technology
& Law and Justice
Ashok Gajapathi Raju: Civil Aviation
Anant Geete: Heavy Industries and
Public Enterprises
Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Food
Processing Industries
Narendra Singh Tomar: Mines &
Steel Labour and Employment
Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs
Radha Mohan Singh: Agriculture
Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Social Justice
and Empowerment
Smriti Zubin Irani: Human Resource

Development
Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Health and
Family Welfare
report and other points would

be prepared before the NGT
holds its next hearing in New
Delhi on May 19.
Super City
In line with the principles of
sustainable development
advocated in the Medellin
Declaration, Gravity 2.0
Research
Foundation
recommended that a capital
city region be considered rather
than a single urban
agglomeration for the location
of a new capital for the State of
Andhra
Pradesh
post
bifurcation.
In a representation sub-mitted
to the Expert Committee on
identification of location of new
capital for the State of Andhra
Pradesh, the Gravity 2.0
Research
Foundation,
suggested that the new capital
be
located
in
the
Visakhapatnam-RajahmundryVijayawada Super City
ensuring inclusive growth.
They also suggested that
coastal shipping be promoted
and the National Waterway 4
be extended to Visakhapatnam.
Mining Ban issue
The Meghalaya Government

has constituted a one-man
Committee to guide the State
Government prepare the
compliance report to be
submitted to the National
Green Tribunal (NGT) on rathole mining ban in Meghalaya.
The Committee would be
headed by additional chief
secretary KS Kropha and the
32
The Tribunal, on April 17, in its

interim order banned rat-hole
mining and transportation of
coal in Meghalaya in the
interest of people working in
the mines as well as for
protection of the environment.
The order was passed after the
Assam-based All Dimasa
Students Union and Dima
Hasao District Committee filed
a petition stating that the illegal
rat-hole mining in Jaintia Hills
is polluting Kopili river by
turning its water acidic. They
also placed before the Tribunal
two survey reports of 2006 and
2010 in which pH level of the
water in Kopili river showed
considerable difference.
Constitutional Validity of
RTE Act
The Supreme Court has upheld

the constitutional validity of
Articles 15(5) and 21-A of the
Constitution in so far as it
relates to unaided educational
institutions to provide
compulsory education for
children in the age group of 6
to 14 years.


National Issues
A five-judge Constitution
Bench comprising Chief
Justice R.M. Lodha and
Justices A.K. Patnaik, Dipak
Misra, S.J. Mukhopadhaya and
Ibrahim Kalifulla also upheld
the provisions of the Right of
Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act,
2009, and the Right of Children
to Free and Compulsory
Education Rules, 2010.
The Constitution 93rd
Amendment Act, 2005,
inserting clause (5) in Article
15 enables the State to make
special provisions for members
of the SCs, STs and socially
and educationally backward
classes, for admission to all
educational institutions,
including private unaided
institutions, but except minority
institutions. The right to
education law was enacted by
Parliament in 2009 by inserting
Article 21A to provide free and
compulsory education to
children between 6 and 14
years.
It imposed obligations on the
schools, which included
privately-managed unaided
educational institutions to
admit at least 25% students
from weaker sections. A threejudge Bench upheld the
constitutional validity of this
Act by a majority of 2:1. On a
reference that the matter ought
to have been decided by a
Constitution Bench, it was
heard by a five-judge Bench.
Writing the judgment, Justice
Patnaik, however, said the
minority unaided educational
institutions could not be
compelled to provide free and

compulsory education to
children belonging to weaker
sections. To this extent the
Bench overruled the three
judges decision upholding the
RTE law.
The Bench held that the 93rd
Constitution Amendment
inserting clause 5 in Article 15
to provide for reservation to
weaker sections in admission
to unaided private educational
institutions did not violate the
basic structure of the
Constitution.
INS Vikrants another

lifeline
Indias first aircraft carrier INS

Vikrant, which was headed for
the scrap yard, got another
breather from the Supreme
Court as it blocked the vessels
journey to ignominy.
The ship was due at the
scrapyard on May 17 after it
was sold for Rs.60 crore
through an e-auction to the
Mumbai-based IB Commercials
Pvt Ltd.
Through the Save Vikrant
Committee, Mr. Paigankar and
33
other activists last month

moved the apex court in a bid
to save the vessel which saw
action in the 1971 IndiaPakistan war.
The
imposing
vessel,
commissioned in the Indian
Navy
in
1961,
was
decommissioned in 1997 and
has been kept anchored at the
Naval Dockyard in Mumbai.
During the hearing of Mr.
Paigankars public interest
litigation in January, the Central
government informed the
Bombay High Court that the
15,000-tonne ship had
completed its operational life.
The Maharashtra government
expressed its inability to
preserve it as a floating
museum owing to financial
constraints, following which
the Bombay High Court
dismissed Mr. Paigankars PIL.
The 70-year-old vessel,
purchased as HMS Hercules
from Britain in 1957 and
rechristened as INS Vikrant,
helped enforce a naval
blockade of East Pakistan
now Bangladesh during the
1971 war.


National Issues
government order specifying
mother tongue Kannada as the
medium of instruction at the
Mother tongue in primary

schools
The Supreme Court recently

held that the government
cannot impose mother tongue
on linguistic minority for
imparting primary education.
The bench, also comprising
justices A.K. Patnaik, S.J.
Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra
and F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, was
hearing the issue which had
come before the apex court as
two Karnataka government
orders of 1994 making mother
tongue or regional language
compulsory for imparting
education from class I to IV,
had come under challenge.
In July 2013, a two-judge bench
of the apex court had said its
Constitution Bench will
examine whether government
can impose mother tongue or
regional language as the
medium of instruction at the
primary education stage as it
has a far-reaching significance
on the development of
children.
The court, which was of the
opinion that it was a fit case
for consideration by a larger
bench, had said that the issue
involved in this case concerns
the fundamental rights of not
only the present generation but
also the generations yet to be
born.
It had said that the issue had
to be referred to a larger bench
as a two-judge bench of the
court in 1993 had refused to
interfere with a Karnataka
primary school level and

making it mandatory for every
child.
Saradha Chit Fund Scam
In a setback for the West

Bengal government, the
Supreme court has handed
over investigation into Saradha
chit fund scam to the CBI.
The court also asked the CBI
to investigate ponzi scheme
scams in Odisha, Assam and
Tripura.
The West Bengal government,
all through the hearing of the
matter, had strongly resisted
the plea for handing over the
investigation to the CBI.
The apex court asked the West
Bengal government to hand
over all Saradha chit fund scam
cases to CBI.
It also said that the CBI will
investigate all cases against 44
chit fund companies in Odisha.
The SC said the state police
34
have not yet been able to trace

the money trails that clearly
had an inter-state as well as
possible international links.
The SC also asked the
Enforcement Directorate to join
CBI in finding the money trail.
The ED is already conducting
a probe into the scam.
The apex court said it wanted
the chit fund scam in these
states to be probed by an
independent agency like CBI
because of involvement of
politicians and influential
persons in the cases.
Saradha Group chairman
Sudipta Sen was arrested from
Sonmarg in Kashmir on April
23,2013 along with two close
associates.


National Issues
Togadias hate speech
A first information report (FIR)

has been registered against
VHP leader Pravin Togadia for
inciting communal passions
after he allegedly asked locals
of a society to forcibly occupy
a house purchased by a
Muslim man in Hindu majority
area.
An FIR has been filed against
him under sections 153(A),
153(B) and under 188 for
violating notification of the
Election Commission.
Section 153(A) of the IPC deals
with intention to cause
disorder, promoting enmity
between religious groups and
incite people to violence,
Section 153 (B) of the IPC deals
with those who assert,
propagate or publish that any
class of persons by reasons of
their being members of any
religious, racial, language or
regional group or caste or
community be denied, or
deprived of their rights as
citizens of India.
Section 188 deals with
disobedience to order duly
promulgated by the Election

Commission by way of its
notification of elections.
The poll panel had asked the
district administration to take
action against Mr. Togadia
over his hate speech and also
directed it to submit actiontaken report as soon as
possible.
Mr. Togadia had allegedly
asked his supporters to get
vacated the house a Muslim
man had purchased in the
Hindu-majority locality near
Meghani Circle area of
Bhavnagar city.
Course for Safe Roads
Indian roads have proved to be

giant killers demanding
immediate attention and
remedial action, the Supreme
Court observed recently and
appointed a panel to suggest
measures to prevent road
accidents and to ensure
accountability.
Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan,
who retires as Supreme Court
judge soon will be part of this
panel along with S. Sundar,
Former Transport Secretary
and Dr. Nishi Mittal, formerly
HoD, Traffic Engineering and
Safety (TES).
A Bench of Chief Justice P.
Sathasivam and Justices
Ranjan Gogoi and N.V.
Ramana, gave this direction
acting on a public interest writ
petition (PIL) filed by
renowned orthopaedician Dr.
S. Rajasekaran.
The bench quoted figures
furnished by the Ministry of
35
Road Transport and Highways

(MoRTH) in the volume Road
Accidents in India 2010
highlighting the extent of
increase of road accidents and
fatal cases between 1970-2010.
It is reported that road traffic
accidents in 2010 numbered
4,30,654 resulting in 1,26,896
deaths and serious injuries
4,66,600 that includes
amputation of limbs. One
serious road accident in the
country occurs every minute;
and one person dies in a road
traffic accident every 4
minutes.
In his judgment Justice Gogoi
said: Road traffic accidents
have the potential of being one
of the largest challenges to
orderly human existence
necessitating immediate and
urgent intervention.
The Bench asked the threemember panel to submit a report
to the apex court after receipt
of reports from Centre and
States on the status of
implementation
and
enforcement of various road
safety laws.
Below Normal Monsoon
The Indian economy could be

in for more trouble in the
coming days, with weather
experts predicting below
normal rainfall this year during
the south-west monsoon
across the country barring the
north-east and the eastern
parts.
The outlook came at the end of
a two-day brain storming
session, attended by a panel


National Issues
of national and international

experts, organised under the
aegis
of
the
World
Meteorological Organisation.
Called the South Asian Climate
Outlook Forum [SASCOM],
the panel included experts from
the USs National Centers for
Environmental Prediction,
UKs Met Office, the Japan
Meteorological Agency, and
the International Research
Institute for Climate and
Society, apart from the WMO
and the meteorological
agencies of various south
Asian countries.
The India Meteorological
Department hosted the event.
A map released along with the
consensus statement shows
that there is a 45 per cent
possibility of rainfall being
below normal for peninsular
India and 40 per cent for central
and north-west India.
The experts have come to their
conclusion
based
on
indications that there was a
strong possibility of the
development of El Nino
phenomenon this year.
The El Nino condition, which
is known to weaken the south
Asian monsoon circulation
and adversely impact rainfall
over the region, develops when
the waters in the equatorial
pacific region becomes warmer
than normal.
Stay on release of Rajiv

Gandhi murder convicts
In a major setback to the Tamil

Nadu government the Supreme
Court has extended the stay of
an order passed on February

19 directing the release of
seven life convicts in the Rajiv
Gandhi assassination case.
On February 20, the court had
directed the Tamil Nadu
government to maintain status
quo in its decision to release
the three convicts Sriharan
alies Murugan, T.Suthendraraja alia Santhan and A.G.
Perarivalan allias Arivu, whose
death sentence was commuted
to life term on February 18 as
well as in the release of four
other convicts Nalini, Robert
Pious, Jayakumar and Ravichandran. On Friday the court
said the interim order of staying
the release would continue till
the final decision was rendered
by the five-judge constitution
Bench.
A bench of Chief Justice P.
Sathasivam and Justices
Ranjan Gogoi and N.V.
Ramana, while extending the
stay, referred to a Constitution
Bench the issues raised by the
Centre on the powers of the
State government to release
the convicts after the same had
been rejected by the President
or the Governor in exercise of
their clemency powers. The
Bench gave this verdict on the
writ petition filed by the Centre
challenging the Tamil nadu
governments decision to
release the seven convicts in
the Rajiv Gandhi assassination
case.
The Bench framed seven
questions to be considered by
the Constitution Bench,
including whether the State
could exercise its remission
36
powers to release a life convict

after the same had been
exercised by the President or
the Governor or by the apex
court by commuting the death
sentence into life term.; what
was the meaning of
consultation contemplated in
Section 432 Cr.P.C. and whether
it would mean concurrence
with the Central government;
whether imprisonment for life
would mean imprisonment for
the rest of life without
remission; whether the court
could evolve a special category
of sentence in certain cases
and substitute death sentence
into life sentence for rest of life
and make such an order
beyond the power of remission
and which was the appropriate
government, either the State or
the Centre or there could be
two parallel government which
could exercise the power of
remission.
New Interceptor Missile
India successfully test fired a

new interceptor missile
capable of neutralising any
incoming long-range missile at
higher altitude.
The interceptor, positioned at
launch pad-IV of Integrated


National Issues
Test Range at Wheeler Island,

about 100 km from Balasore,
Odisha, roared into the sky at
about 9.10 a.m. to hit its target.
Earlier DRDO, which is the
premier agency to develop
such
a
sophisticated
interceptor, had successfully
tested six interceptor missiles
developed by it, both in endoatmosphere (within 30 km
altitude above sea level and
exo-atmosphere stage (above
30 km altitude).
The Prithvi Air Defence
interceptor missile has already
demonstrated its killing
capability at an altitude of 50
km and 80 km while the
Advanced Air Defence
interceptor missile has
smashed the target missile at
an altitude of 15 km to 30 km.
Now the target is to achieve the
interception at an altitude of
above 100 km of a long range
missile.
Akash Missile
The sophisticated Akash

missile was test fired twice in
quick succession from launch
complex-3 of .
Each missile targeted a toe
body supported by Pilot Less
Ta rget Aircraft (PTA)
Lakshya.
Akash is a medium range
surface-to-air anti-aircraft
defence system developed by
the Defence Research and
Development Organisation
(DRDO) as part of the
Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme.
The missile has a strike range
of 25 km and can carry a
warhead of 60 kg. It has the
capability to target aircraft up
to 30 km away and is packed
with a battery that can track
and attack several targets
simultaneously.
With the capability to
neutralise aerial targets like
fighter jets, cruise missiles and
air-to-surface missiles, defence
experts compare Akash to the
MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air
missile system .
1984 riots case
Death penalty of LeT man
India has successfully

conducted two rounds of trials
of its indigenously developed
surface-to-air Akash missile as
part of a user trial by the air
force from the Integrated Test
Range (ITR) at Chandipur near
Balasore in Odisha.
The Supreme Court has stayed

the execution of the death
sentence of Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT) terrorist Mohd Arif alias
Ashfaq in the attack on the
Red Fort in 2000 during which
three people, including two
Army soldiers, were killed.
A bench headed by Chief
Justice R.M. Lodha also issued
notice to the Centre on Arifs
plea seeking its direction for his
release on the ground that he
37
has already spent over 13 years

behind bars and he should not
be hanged after such a long
period.
He submitted that execution of
his death sentence would
amount to punishing him twice
for the crime as he has already
spent over 13 years, which is
nearly equivalent to life
imprisonment.
If it failed to find cause for cheer

in Indias ongoing general
elections, the Indian National
Congress was certainly
buoyed by the decision of a
federal judge in New York to
dismiss and close a lingering
case against the party for its
alleged role in the 1984 riots that
claimed the lives several
thousands members of the Sikh
community.
Judge Robert Sweet granted
the partys motion to dismiss
the lawsuit brought against it
by the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ)
advocacy group, which sought
damages stemming from the
Congress
alleged
responsibility for the riots that
engulfed New Delhi and other
parts of the nation in violence
following the assassination of
erstwhile Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi.
In his opinion, Judge Sweet
ruled against the SFJs claim to
be legal representatives and
thus plaintiffs in this case filed
under the Alien Tort Statute
(ATS) of the U.S., as this
required the group and the
individual complainants to be


National Issues
aliens, which they were not,

given their U.S. residential
status.
Second, the judge found in
favour of the argument that the
ATS did not extend to
corporate defendants such as
the Congress Party and that
the SFJs claim constituted an

impermissible extraterritorial
application of the ATS.
Pending cases remain against
Congress President Sonia
Gandhi and Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh.
Blast at Chennai Central Railway Station
IIT Guwahati is the only Indian

educational institute in the 2014
league table of 100 Under 50
institutions released by the
Times Higher Education
magazine.
The IIT shares the 87th rank
on the list with Portugals New
University of Lisbon and
Australias University of
Western Sydney.
The annual evaluation of the
worlds top 100 universities
under 50 years of age had a
distinct Eastern stance with
South Koreas Pohang
University of Science and
Technology topping the list for
the third consecutive year.
Indian missile Astra
Two explosions on a train killed

a 24-year-old woman and
wounded nine people, two of
them critically, at the Chennai
Central Railway Station .
The blasts took place at around
7:15 am in two sleeper coaches
of the Guwahati-Bangalore
Express, which had just pulled
into platform 9 of the station
for a 10-minute stop.
One of the bombs exploded
under the seat of a woman,
Swati, who was killed instantly.
A National Investigation
Agency team is going to
Chennai to join the
investigations. There has been
tight security across India as
it nears the end of staggered
voting for the national election.
The station was cordoned off

after the blasts and scores of
police personnel, along with
sniffer dogs, checked the
platforms and coaches.
The state government has
announced compensation of
one lakh for the family of the
woman who died, Rs. 55,000 for
those who are critical and Rs.
5,000 for the others who were
injured.
Top 100 Global Varsities
The prestigious Indian

Institute of Technology,
Guwahati has taken India into
the worlds top 100 university
rankings for the first time with
an entry at No. 87.
38
Marking an important
milestone, for the first time an
Indian missile, Astra, was
successfully test-fired from a
fighter aircraft the Sukhoi30 MKI from a naval range
in the Western Sector .
The test-firing met all the
mission objectives and the airlaunch was captured by side


National Issues
and forward looking highspeed cameras and the

separation was exactly as per
simulation, according to a press
release from the Defence
Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO).
Astra is Indias first Beyond
Visual Range Air-to-Air missile
and has been designed and
developed indigenously by
the DRDO. The 60-km plus
range missile possesses high
Single Shot Kill Probability
(SSKP) making it highly
reliable.
Astra is an all-weather missile
with active radar terminal
guidance, excellent ECCM
(electronic counter-counter
measures) features, smokeless
propulsion and process
improved effectiveness in
multi-target scenario, making it
a highly advanced state-of-theart missile.
People can now read comics on

personalities such as Akbar,
Chanakya, Jawaharlal Nehru
and JRD Tata on smartphones
and tablets, as Amar Chitra
Katha has made the digital
debut.
Amar Chitra Katha has
launched ACK Comics, its
official digital store app for
across platforms Windows
8, iOS and Android giving
users access to over 300 of its
titles.
The app has been developed
by App9 Digital Studio, the
Bhagat Singhs name not

mentioned in FIR
Amar Chitra Kathas

Digital Debut
digital division of Ninestars

Information Technologies.
Users will also get 10 comics
to download for free including
Chanakya, Ashoka, Akbar,
Jawaharlal Nehru and
Babasaheb Ambedkar, Birbal,
JRD Tata, Subbulakshmi,
Ganesha and the special title
on DhyanChand.
Bhagat Singhs name was not

mentioned in the FIR for the
murder of a British police
officer here in 1928, the Lahore
police have found, in a major
boost to prove the legendary
freedom fighters innocence in
the case 83 years after his
execution.
Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi,
chairman of the Bhagat Singh
Memorial Foundation, had filed
a petition seeking an attested
copy of the First Information
Report (FIR) registered against
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and
Rajguru for allegedly killing the
then SSP John P Saunders.
Bhagat Singh was awarded the
death sentence for killing
Saunders and was hanged at
Shadman Chowk in Lahore in
1931, aged just 23.
The High Court has referred
the case to the Chief Justice for
constitution of a larger Bench
to hear the case.
Interceptor Missile test
India for the first time tested a

state-of-the-art interceptor
missile at supersonic speed
39
that sought, to engage and

destroy an incoming target
missile at a very high altitude
of 120-140 km over the Bay of
Bengal.
Entirely new interceptor and
target missiles have been
developed by scientists of the
Defence Research and
Development Organisation
(DRDO) for the upcoming
engagement, to be conducted
in exo-atmosphere (altitude
above 40-50 km) on April 27 or
28. The test was originally
planned to be conducted in
November, 2013 but had been
delayed since then.
Describing it as a big
challenge, they said the
interceptors kill vehicle,
equipped with a dual seeker,
would attack the payload
(warhead portion) as it
descends towards its intended
target. The advantage of
intercepting an incoming
missile at such a high altitude
was that the debris would not
fall on the ground and there
would be no collateral damage.
After some more trials, India
plans to deploy a two-tiered
Ballistic Missile Defence
(BMD) system to protect
important cities from external
threats. In the first phase,
incoming enemy missiles of
2,000-km range are envisaged
to be waylaid and destroyed,
while those with about 5,000km range would be tackled by
the interceptors in the second
phase.
So far, six of the seven
interceptor missile tests,
carried out by the DRDO, have


National Issues
been successful. While two
interceptions were conducted
in exo-atmopshere (altitudes
between 47 and 80 km) the rest

were in endo-atmosphere
(below 40 km altitude).
Transgenders as third gender
The Supreme Court has

recognised transgenders or
eunuchs as third category of
gender and directed Centre and
States to grant them all
facilities, including voters ID,
passport and driving licence.
The Centre and States were
also directed to take steps for
bringing the community into
the mainstream by providing
adequate
health
care,
education and employment.
A bench of Justices K.S.
Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri
directed the government to
take steps for granting
recognition to transgenders as
a separate third category of
gender after male and female.
The bench also said they are
the citizens of the country and
have equal rights to education,
healthcare and employment
opportunities like other people
belonging to male and female

gender.
The apex court expressed
concern over transgenders
being
harassed
and
discriminated in the society
and passed a slew of directions
for their social welfare.
Scientific methods in
crime detection
The Supreme Court has asked

investigating agencies to
adopt scientific methods in
crime detection to save the
judicial system from low
conviction rates.
The criminal judicial system in
this country is at a crossroads.
Reliable, trustworthy, credible
witnesses to the crime seldom
come forward to depose before
the court and even hardened
criminals get away from the
40
clutches of the law. Even

reliable witnesses for the
prosecution turn hostile due to
intimidation, fear and a host of
other reasons. Investigating
agency has, therefore, to look
for other ways and means to
improve the quality of
investigation, which can only
be through the collection of
scientific evidence.
Writing the judgment, Justice
Radhakrishnan said there was
a need to strengthen forensic
science for crime detection. The
judiciary needed to be
equipped to understand and
deal with such scientific
materials.
The Bench gave this ruling
while modifying the death
sentence awarded to Dharam
Deo Yadav, who murdered
Diana Clare Routley, a 22-yearold girl from New Zealand who
visited Varanasi in 1997. The
trial court had awarded death
sentence and it was confirmed
by the Allahabad High Court.
Dying declaration of Dec.

16 Gangrape Victim
The Supreme Court has

directed the Delhi Police to
place before it the dying
declaration of the December 16
gangrape victim along with
other trial court records of the
case in which four convicts
were awarded death sentence.
Besides Mukesh (27) and
Pawan (20), the Delhi High
Court had also upheld the
conviction and death penalty
of Akshay Thakur (29) and
Vinay Sharma (21).


National Issues
defaulted in submitting the
records to EC by an average of
one-five months while one
party (RMJP) did it within the
time limit but the poll body
found some discrepancies in
their records and hence
referred it to the CBDT.
The Curious case of

Transsexual in TN
While dismissing their appeals,

the High Court had termed the
offence as extremely fiendish
and unparallelled in the
history
of
criminal
jurisprudence and said the
exemplary punishment was
the need of the hour.
The 23-year-old paramedic, on
the night of December 16, 2012,
was brutally assaulted and
gangraped by six persons in a
moving bus in South Delhi and
thrown out of the vehicle with
her male friend. She died in a
Singapore hospital on
December 29, 2012.
The prime accused in the case
Ram Singh was found dead in
Tihar Jail in March last year and
the trial against him was
abated.
The sixth accused, a juvenile,
was on August 31, 2013,
convicted and sentenced to a
maximum of three years in a
reformation home by the
Juvenile Justice Board.
Cancellation of Tax
Benefits to ten Political
Parties
The Election Commission (EC)

has sought withdrawal of tax
exemption benefits to ten

political parties from the
Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) on the grounds that
they failed to submit their
mandatory
expenditure
contribution reports on time to
the poll body.
The EC, in its latest communication, has asked the CBDT to
take action against the
defaulting parties under
provisions of Section 29C
(Declaration of donation
received by the political
parties) of the Representation
of the People Act in
consonance with I-T laws
The EC has identified the ten
parties as Nagrik Ekta Party,
Dharamrajya Paksh, Socialist
Unity Centre of India
(Communist),
Yuvajana
Sramika Rythu Congress Party,
Sunder Samaj Party, Loktantrik
Manavtawadi Party, Rastriya
Mahila Janshakti Party (RMJP)
and the Indian People Green
Party as the defaulters in filing
their contribution and donation
receipt reports for the financial
year 2012-13.
The stipulated time limit for
this exercise was September 30,
2013 but all these parties
41
A woman, who was terminated

from the Tamil Nadu police
service last year after a medical
examination report declared her
a transsexual, is set to get the
job back, thanks to a Madras
High Court order .
Allowing a petition challenging
the termination, the court
declared the petitioner as a
female for all purposes. She has
right to retain such sexual/
gender identity.
Setting aside the termination
order, Justice S. Nagamuthu
directed the police to issue the
consequential order within six
weeks permitting her to join
duty as a Grade II Police
Constable (woman) with
continuity of service.
She had the liberty to choose a
different
sexual/gender
identity as a third gender in
future based on the medical
declaration, if a law was put in
place recognising female to
males (FTMs) as a third gender.

Online Course for Civil Services Preliminary Examination

v Online Coaching for CSAT Paper - 1 (GS)
v Online Coaching for CSAT Paper - 2 (CSAT)
v ( 1)
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-pre/csat-paper-1-hindi
v (CSAT) ( - 2)
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-pre/csat-paper-2-hindi
Online Course for Civil Services Mains Examination

v General Studies Mains (NEW PATTERN - Paper 2,3,4,5)
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-mains-gs
v Public Administration for Mains
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-mains-pub-ad
Online Course for One Day Examination

v Online Coaching for SSC CGL (Tier-1) Exam
http://sscportal.in/community/courses/ssc-cgl-tier-1
v SSC Online Coaching
http://sscportal.in/community/courses/ssc-cgl-tier-1-hindi
For Full Information about Online Coaching Click below Link:


Abuse of Power Case
Thailand's Prime Minister

Yingluck Shinawatra defended
herself against abuse of power
allegations in a crucial court
case that is one of several legal
challenges, which could
remove her from office.
Ms. Yingluck is accused of
abusing her authority by
transferring her National
Security Council chief in 2011
to another position. Critics say
the transfer was to benefit her
ruling party and violated the
Constitution.
The case was lodged by antigovernment senators, who won

an initial victory in February
when another court ruled that
the official, Thawil Pliensri,
must be restored to his job.
If Ms. Yingluck is found guilty
of interfering in state affairs for
her personal benefit or that of
her political party, she would
have to step down as Prime
Minister.
First 'Born Free' election
South Africans voted in the

first "Born Free" election ,
although polls suggest the
allure of the ruling African
National Congress as the
conqueror of apartheid will
42
prevail even among those with

no memory of white-minority
rule.
Opinion polls suggest there is
no doubt about the overall
result, with ANC support
estimated at around 65 percent,
only a shade lower than the 65.9
percent it won in the 2009
election that brought President
Jacob Zuma to power.
The resilience of ANC support
has surprised analysts who a
year ago were saying it could
struggle at the polls as its
glorious past recedes into
history and voters focus
instead on the sluggish
economic growth and slew of
scandals that have typified
Zuma's first term.
Africa's most sophisticated
economy has struggled to
recover from a 2009 recession its first since the 1994 demise
of apartheid - and the ANC's
efforts to stimulate growth and


tackle 25 percent unemployment have been hampered by

powerful unions.
South Africa's top anti-graft
agency accused Zuma this year
of "benefiting unduly" from a
$23 million state-funded
security upgrade to his private
home at Nkandla in rural
KwaZulu-Natal province that
included a swimming pool and
chicken run.
Ceasefire in South Sudan
Ethnically targeted violence in

the world's youngest country
broke out in December, killing
thousands of people and
forcing more than 1.3 million to
flee their homes. The U.N.
Security Council has expressed
"horror" at recent killings of
civilians.
U.S. National Security Adviser
Susan Rice welcomed the peace
agreement in a statement,
saying it "holds the promise of
bringing the crisis to an end".
South Sudan's President has

reached a ceasefire agreement
with a rebel leader, an African
regional bloc said , after a
vicious cycle of revenge
killings drew international
alarm.
The deal means "an immediate
cessation of hostilities within
24 hours of the signing" and
"unhindered humanitarian
access" to all people affected
by the months-long conflict,
said a statement by the political
bloc known as IGAD, which is
mediating the conflict.
South Sudan is a largely

Christian nation that broke off
from the Muslim-dominated
Sudan after a 2011 referendum.
The
fighting
is
an
embarrassment to the U.S.,
which has provided hundreds
of millions of dollars in aid and
has been its strongest
international champion.
Rockets fired in southern

Israel
Three rockets from Gaza were

fired into Israel recently.
43
The
projectile
struck
uninhabited areas in the Sha'ar
Hanegev Regional Council and
set off sirens.
Few days back, Israel Air Force
jets struck five terror targets in
the Gaza Strip, following rocket
attacks on southern Israel the
previous night. The IAF hit
sites in northern and central
Gaza, including two Hamas
posts. .
Also last week, a rocket siren
went off in the Sha'ar Hanegev
region, but an army
spokeswoman later said no
projectiles were detected in
Israeli territory.
Last month, the air force stuck
29 targets across the Gaza Strip
in response to Islamic Jihad
rocket attack on the South.
More than 30 rockets - fired in
simultaneous barrages from
northern and southern Gaza exploded in Israeli territory. The
Iron Dome anti-rocket battery
stationed in Sderot shot down
three projectiles over the town.
The bombardment of the
western Negev in March
marked the largest flare-up of
Gazan terrorism since 2012.


New sanctions against

Russia
The United States and other

nations in the Group of Seven
agreed to "move swiftly" to
impose additional economic
sanctions on Russia in
response to its actions in
Ukraine.
In a joint statement released by
the White House, the G-7
nations said they will act
urgently to intensify "targeted
sanctions." The statement said
the G-7 will also continue to
prepare broader sanctions on
key Russian economic sectors
if Moscow takes more
aggressive action.
The announcement came as
top Ukrainians spoke of
imminent invasion and
Moscow said that pro-Russian
separatists would not lay down
their arms in eastern Ukraine
until activists relinquish control
over key sites in Kiev.
The G-7 nations said they were
moving forward on the targeted
sanctions now because of the
urgency of securing plans for
Ukraine to hold presidential
elections in May.
The penalties are expected to

target wealthy Russian
individuals who are close to
President Vladimir Putin, as well
as entities they run. However,
the U.S. will continue to hold
off on targeting broad swaths
of the Russian economy,
though the president has said
he is willing to take that step if
Putin launches a military
incursion in eastern Ukraine.
Tensions were heightened on
the ground, with Russian
fighter jets reported crossing
into Ukrainian airspace and a
team of unarmed foreign
military observers detained by
pro-Russian
forces
in
Slovyansk, the heart of the
separatist movement in the east.
Hatf-III
Pakistan
conducted
a
successful training launch of
short range surface to surface
ballistic missile Hatf III
(Ghaznavi) recently.
Code Of Conduct On
Communication
The missile can carry nuclear

and conventional warheads to
a range of 290 kilometres.
The successful launch
concluded the field training
exercise of strategic missile
44
group of Army Strategic Forces

Command.
As per the statement released
by Inter-Services Public
Relations (ISPR), the training
launch was witnessed by
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee General Rashad
Mahmood, Director General
Strategic Plans Division
Lieutenant General Zubair
Mahmood Hayat, Commander
Army Strategic Forces
Command Lieutenant General
Obaid Ullah Khan, Chairman
NESCOM Muhammad Irfan
Burney and other senior
military officials and scientists.
Naval chiefs from US and AsianPacific nations including

Vietnam adopted a code of
conduct aimed at improving
communication at sea to reduce
the possibility of conflict.
Citing Australian media reports,
VNA said that the Code for
Unplanned Encounters at Sea
was approved by countries
including the US, China, Japan,
the Philippines, Malaysia and
Vietnam at the Western Pacific
Naval Symposium in China's
eastern coastal city of Qingdao.
The pact outlines how naval
ships should communicate and
manoeuvre when they unexpectedly come into contact in
sea lanes surrounding China,
Japan and Southeast Asia.
Although not legally binding,
the code of conduct is said to
help establish international
standards in relation to the use
of sea lanes.


FATA demand
The clamour for holding local

government elections in the
Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA) is growing in a
region where a governance
system is non-existent at a local
or provincial level.
A new research study by the
FATA Research Centre (FRC)
titled 'Local Government in
FATA, Past failures, Current
challenges and Future
prospects' highlights the
century old political vacuum in
the region coupled with bad
governance and corruption
which has resulted in a gap
between the state and society
in this volatile tribal belt.
The growing exclusion of
people from the political
process has created a sense of
deprivation and frustration
among the masses, the report
says and this disconnect was
the reason that Taliban were

able to consolidate their
position in FATA by cutting
away at the existing political
system and killing the tribal
elders and maliks.
The Frontier Crimes Regulation
(FCR) is a draconian law which
still operates there and power
is wielded by the all powerful
political agent even today. Lt
Gen (retd.) Abdul Qadir Baloch,
the minister for States and
Frontier Regions said there are
no two opinions that local
government elections should
be held in FATA and he said
the driver of reforms must be
the people themselves.
Senator Farhatullah Babar said
the FATA region which was a
buffer zone earlier to press the
strategic depth policy was now
a strategic threat.
Pope Francis declaration
Chemical weapons
destroyed in Syria
Pope Francis declared his two

45
predecessors John XXIII and

John Paul II saints on before
hundreds of thousands of
people in St. Peter's Square, an
unprecedented ceremony made
even more historic by the
presence of retired Pope
Benedict XVI.
Never before has a reigning and
retired pope celebrated Mass
together in public, much less at
an event honouring two of their
most famous predecessors.
Pope Benedict's presence was
a reflection of the balancing act
that Pope Francis envisioned
when he decided to canonize
Pope John and Pope John Paul
together, showing the unity of
the Catholic Church by
honouring popes beloved to
conservatives and progressives alike.
Poep Francis took a deep breath
and paused for a moment
before reciting the saint-making
formula in Latin, as if moved by
the history he was about to
make.
The head of an international

mission to Syria charged with
destroying the country's


chemical weapons called on

President Bashar Assad's
government to ensure it meets
a deadline to destroy all its toxic
chemicals amid a raging civil
war.
Sigrid Kaag of the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) told
reporters in Damascus that 92.5
percent of Syria's chemical
materials had been removed
from the country and
destroyed. She called it
"significant
progress,"
although she called on Syria's
government to ensure
remaining materials would be
eradicated by the end of April.
Syria missed an April 13
deadline to destroy all its
chemical weapons in accessible
locations. International experts
say that could impact on
reaching a June 30 deadline to
remove all Syria's chemical
weapons.
Another 12 chemical weapons
production facilities are still
being reviewed by the OPCW
to see how they will be
destroyed.
Assad regime
firm proof that Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad's regime is still
using chemical weapons,
according to President
Francois Hollande .
There are conflicting accounts
about one attack that
happened in the town of Kafr
Zita in the central Hama
province earlier in April, with
both the government and the
opposition accusing each other
of being responsible.
Activists in the area accused
the regime of using chlorine
gas, saying it caused 'more than
100 cases of suffocation'.
Throughout Syria's conflict, the
Assad regime has sought to
portray itself as the protector
of the country's religious
minorities against a revolt it
says is led by foreign-backed
extremists.
The Syrian opposition
dismisses such claims as part
of a divide-and-rule strategy
which is also aimed at deterring
the West from providing
greater support to the rebels.
Syria's uprising began in March
2011 as a peaceful revolt
against the Assad family's fourdecade rule but escalated into
an insurgency and then a civil
war when the regime launched
a brutal crackdown.
As the war has intensified,
claiming an estimated 150,000
lives, it has also grown more
sectarian, with jihadists
flocking to the ranks of the
Sunni-led rebellion and
Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah
movement fighting alongside
the regime.
France has 'information' but no
46
Internet 'Bill of Rights' to

protect online privacy
Brazil's president signed into

law on a "Bill of Rights" for the
digital age that aims to protect
online privacy and promote the
Internet as a public utility by
barring telecommunications
companies from charging for
preferential access to their
networks.
The law signed by President
Dilma Rousseff at a global
conference on the future of
Internet governance puts Brazil
in the vanguard of online
consumer protection and what
is known as "net neutrality,"
whose promoters consider it
profoundly democratic in part
because it keeps financial
barriers for innovators low.
The new law promotes privacy
by limiting the data that online
companies can collect on
Internet users in this nation of
200 million people, deeming
communications over the
Internet "inviolable and secret."
Service providers must develop
protocols to ensure email can
be read only by senders and
their intended recipients.
Violators are subject to
penalties including fines and
suspension.
The law obliges Internet
companies, however, to hold on
to user data for six months and
hand it over to law enforcement
under court order.
World's Tallest Building
Kingdom Tower will be 568 feet

taller than Khalifa Tower, the


give Kejriwal a run for his
money.
TIME Magazine's
Online Poll
Rape in Conflict
current Guinness World

Record holder in neighboring
Dubai, once it is completed. The
tower is the first phase of
Jeddah Economic Company's
approximately $20 billion, 17
million-square-foot Kingdom
City project, of which it will be
the focal point. Saudi Arabia's
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud, a nephew
of Saudi King Abdullah, is
chairman of the Kingdom
Holding Company, a partner in
JEC.
Foundation work for the $1.2
billion skyscraper began in
December, and above-ground
work will start April 27. The 200floor tower will be located in
Jeddah, a culturally significant
city near the Red Sea that is
known as the gateway to
Mecca.
Kingdom Tower will house a
Four Seasons hotel, luxury
condominiums, office space
and an observatory.
Indian politician Arvind

Kejriwal has won the readers'
poll for the 2014 TIME 100,
TIME's annual list of people
who influenced the world this
past year for better or worse.
As the world's largest
democracy votes in the
ongoing elections, the key
candidates obviously have
made an impact internationally.
Narendra Modi, who is already
being hailed as the leader at the
helm of affairs by Goldman
Sachs and other agencies, was
expected to be the top
candidate from India on TIME
magazine's list. But Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) leader Arvind
Kejriwal has managed to edge
past the BJP's prime ministerial
candidate by a small margin.
Kejriwal has edged past
international icons such as
Malala Yousafzai, Katy Perry,
Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Vladimir
Putin, Janet Yellen, and Michael
Bloomberg among others.
Narendra Modi, who has
gained much prominence of
late, has secured the third post.
According to TIME, Modi may
clamour past pop star Katy
Perry to the second spot and
47
A new UN report names 21

countries where rape and other
sexual violence has been
committed in current and recent
conflicts - from Afghanistan
and Central African Republic to
Myanmar and Syria.
Secretary-General Ban Kimoon's report, says there is
now unprecedented political
momentum globally to end
conflict-related sexual violence
but more action is needed
regionally and nationally to
respond to these crimes.
Covering 21 countries of
concern in Europe, Asia, Africa,
South America and the Middle
East, the report shows that
sexual violence in conflict is
truly is a global crime.
The report identifies 34 armed
groups - including militias, rebel
groups and government
security forces - suspected of
rape and sexual violence in
conflict situations.
North Korean Nuclear

Threats
Dismissing North Korea's

nuclear threats, US President
Barack Obama has reportedly
warned the country of tougher
sanctions if it were to go ahead
with its fourth nuclear test.
Obama said at a joint press
conference with South Korean
President Park Geun-Hye that
threats will get North Korea
nothing, other than greater
isolation.


South Korea's satellite images

revealed the North could be
preparing for another test,
Obama
stressed
that
Washington and Seoul stood
"shoulder to shoulder" in their
refusal to accept a nuclear North
Korea.
Obama also said that China is
beginning to recognise that
North Korea is not just a
nuisance but a significant
problem for their own security.
Dealing a blow to many visa

aspirants especially students,
British authorities have said
global testing giant ETS will no
longer offer TOEFL and TOEIC
tests for U.K. visa-granting
purposes, in the wake of a
recent controversy.
As per the U.K. Council for
International Student Affairs'
official website, "ETS is no
longer providing TOEIC and
TOEFL tests for people who
want to use them in support of
U.K. immigration applications.
This is because of allegations
of fraud."
Following the broadcast of a
BBC Panorama programme in
February
2014
which
highlighted an organised
element seeking to circumvent
the U.K.'s visa-granting
process, ETS has made the
decision not to extend our
Secure English-language
Testing (SELT) licence with the
Home Office. As a result, TOEIC
and TOEFL iBT testing will no
Afghan landslide
No TOEFL and TOEIC

tests by ETS
longer be offered for U.K. visagranting purposes.

The TOEFL test remains the
most widely respected Englishlanguage test in the world
recognised by more than 9,000
institutions in more than 130
countries.
Afghan officials gave up hope

of finding any survivors from a
landslide in the remote
northeast, putting the death toll
at more than 2,100, as the aid
effort focused on the more than
4,000 people displaced.
on the more than 4,000 people

displaced, either directly as a
result of Friday's landslide or
as a precautionary measure
from villages assessed to be at
risk.
Their main needs were water,
medical support, counselling
support, food and emergency
shelter, said Ari Gaitanis, a
spokesman from the United
Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan.
The impoverished area, dotted
with villages of mud-brick
homes nestled in valleys beside
bare slopes, has been hit by
several landslides in recent
years.
Tunisia's New Law on

Elections
Officials expressed concern the

unstable hillside above the site
of the disaster may cave in
again, threatening the
thousands of homeless and
hundreds of rescue workers
who have arrived in
Badakhshan
province,
bordering Tajikistan.
Villagers and a few dozen
police, equipped with only
basic digging tools, resumed
their search when daylight
broke but it soon became clear
there was no hope of finding
survivors buried in up to 100
meters of mud.
The United Nations mission in
Afghanistan said the focus was
48
Tunisian lawmakers have

adopted a sweeping new
electoral law that paves the way
for general elections later this
year and is a milestone in this
country's new democracy.
The law requires party lists for
legislative elections to be half
women and half men. It also
allows members of the
authoritarian regime ousted in
2011 to run for office.
The members of the National
Constituent
Assembly
approved the law after weeks
of heated debate over its 270
articles. The overall law was
approved 132-11 with nine
abstentions.
Tunisia's path to democracy
has been rocky but is seen as a
model for other countries, after
street protests overthrew a
dictator and unleashed


uprisings across the region
known as the Arab Spring.
Obama's wage bill
Senate Republicans deployed

a filibuster to block a White
House proposal to increase the
U.S. minimum wage by $2.85 to
$10.10 per hour, thereby
denying President Barack
Obama an important electionyear policy achievement.
With mid-term elections
scheduled for November 2014,
the defeat of the Bill on the floor
of the Senate, by a vote of 54
'ayes' and 42 'nays' - short of
the 60 votes required for
passage - could spell trouble
for Democrats.
Although polls have shown
that more than 60 per cent of
Americans support raising the
minimum wage, a measure that
Mr. Obama promised in his
state-of-the-union address in
January, all Senate Republicans
but one, Robert Corker of
Tennessee, voted against
holding a debate on the Bill and
getting it passed.
While he appeared frustrated
with the proceedings on Capitol
Hill and slammed Republicans
for preventing "a raise for 28

million hardworking Americans," he emphasised that
several U.S. States had taken
the matter into their hands and
raised the minimum wage
through State Legislatures.
For the Democrats the Bill
represented a key component
of its broader 'Fair Shot for All'
midterm campaign, a platform
that aimed to project the party
as a supporter of the common
man, in opposition to
Republican pandering to
special interests.
Anti-Qaeda offensive
Yemeni forces have launched

an operation to drive Al-Qaeda
fighters out of southern towns,
where blistering air strikes
killed nearly 60 militants
recently. military officials.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula jihadists established
strongholds in towns and
rugged zones in Abyan and
Shabwa provinces after
security forces chased them
from major cities in Abyan in
2012.
Yemeni and US drone strikes
targeted bases of AQAP,
considered by Washington as
the most dangerous affiliate of
the global jihadist network with
links to several failed terror
plots against the United States.
AQAP took advantage of the
weakening of the central
government in Sanaa after the
nationwide
uprising,
establishing strongholds in the
southern and eastern regions.
In June 2012, government
49
forces backed by the Popular

Committees drove militants out
of major cities in Abyan after
they had been in control for
around a year.
US drones frequently strike
suspected militants in the
country despite mounting
criticism from rights groups
concerned about civilian
casualties.
The United States has defended
its use of drones against AlQaeda, saying they allow it to
target jihadists without sending
soldiers into lawless areas
where local authorities have
little or no control.
US Security deal with

Philippines
Protesters have clashed in the

Philippines as a 10-year
agreement was signed ahead of
President Barack Obama's visit
which will beef up military
forces there.
The military will get greater
access to bases across the
region as an effort by
Washington to counter
Chinese aggression.
The presence of foreign troops
is a sensitive issue in the
Philippines, a former American
colony.


The Philippine Senate voted in

1991 to close down U.S. bases
at Subic and Clark, northwest
of Manila.
However, it ratified a pact with
the United States allowing
temporary visits by American
forces in 1999, four years after
China seized a reef the
Philippines contests.
Following the September 11,
2001, attacks in the United
States, hundreds of U.S. forces
descended in the southern
Philippines under that accord
to hold counter terrorism
exercises with Filipino troops
fighting Muslim militants.
However this time, the focus of
the Philippines and its
underfunded military has
increasingly turned to external
threats as territorial spats with
China in the potentially oil and
gas-rich South China Sea
heated up in recent years.
Tornadoes Strike Central,

Southern US
A tornado system ripped

through the central US and left
at least 12 dead in a violent start

to this year's storm season.
A tornado carved through
several Little Rock suburbs. A
separate tornado from the same
storm system killed one person
in Oklahoma.
The large tornado outside Little
Rock, Arkansas, stayed on the
ground as it moved
northeastward for at least 30
miles (48 kilometres).
Emergency workers and
volunteers went door-to-door
to look for victims. Law
enforcement officers checked
the damaged and toppled 18wheelers, cars and trucks on a
stretch of Interstate 40, a major
thoroughfare in and out of the
state's capital.
Tornadoes also touched down
in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri
and Kansas, where dozens of
homes in Baxter Springs were
destroyed. Twenty-five people
were injured and one person
died.
Forecasters had warned for
days that violent weather would
strike over the weekend.
Security for World

Economic Forum
The recent U.N. Security

Council meet
50
Nigeria has assured that it will

provide adequate security
arrangements during the World
Economic Forum on Africa,
which begins May 7 in Abuja.
The government would
provide adequate security for
participants.His remark came
after some countries expressed
concern over security issues,
following a blast in Abuja,
which left at least 19 people
dead.
The U.N. Security Council

recently metin emergency
session amid growing violence
in eastern Ukraine, with
Western powers and Russia
blaming each other for the
deepening crisis.
Russia called the meeting hours
after Ukrainian special forces
exchanged gunfire with a proRussia militia in an eastern city,
and at least one security officer
was killed and five others
wounded. Ukraine's president
accused its powerful neighbour
of fomenting unrest, and
announced that it would
deploy armed forces to quash
an increasingly bold proRussian insurgency.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin denied Western and
Ukrainian claims that Moscow
was behind the violence, and
told U.N. diplomats that Ukraine
has been using radical neo-Nazi


forces to destabilize its eastern

region.
Russia has tens of thousands
of troops massed along
Ukraine's eastern border, and
there are fears that Moscow
might use the violence in the
mainly Russian-speaking
region as a pretext for an
invasion, in a repeat of events
in Crimea earlier this year.
U.S. -Taiwan update
The United States has said it

will help Taiwan to build dieselelectric submarines on its own.
Asked at the committee hearing
whether a policy to build
submarines locally has been
finalized, Yen said Taiwan has
launched a plan to build
submarines domestically after
trying to buy U.S. submarines
without success for 13 years.
The Ministry of National
Defense (MND) confirmed that
it has begun preparations to
build submarines on its own
and that the chances for
success would grow if the U.S.
could help with project
management and technology
transfer or even engage in coproduction.
The MND said Washington
agreed to sell Taiwan
submarines in 2001, but no
progress has been made on the
deal.
Pressured by lawmakers across
party lines and the people of
the country, the MND has
decided to begin the preproduction phase of the
process to show its resolve to
defend itself.
The ministry said it has

exchanged views with the U.S.,
and Washington has expressed
its understanding of Taiwan's
determination to build its own
submarines.
It will also seek support from
U.S. policymakers to help
Taiwan with its plans through
bilateral military exchanges.
Military operation to
crush anti-government
protests in Ukraine
Ukraine has launched a military

operation to crush antigovernment protests in the
Russian-speaking eastern part
of the country, deploying
thousands of troops, armour
and aircraft to Donetsk region
where protesters seized
government buildings in a
dozen cities and towns.
The military, in armoured
personnel carriers backed by
aircraft, stormed a small airfield
near Kramatorsk. Unconfirmed
reports said between four and
11 protesters had been killed in
the attack.
Following the attack, hundreds
of unarmed Kramatorsk
residents drove to the airfield
51
to protest against the killing of

civilians.
The Russian TV channel
Rossiya-24, which has several
reporters in eastern Ukraine,
said about 500 government
troops and 20 armoured
personnel carriers entered the
city of Slaviansk, not far from
Kramatorsk.
A militia commander in
Slaviansk, which is under full
control of the protesters, told
Russia's Itar-Tass news agency
that the city had been
surrounded by Ukrainian tanks
and armoured vehicles.
In Kiev, two presidential
candidates
representing
eastern Ukraine were attacked
by armed far right radicals. Oleg
Tsarev, an independent, was
severely beaten after appearing
in a TV show called "Freedom
of Speech." The mob
demanded that he and the other
candidate, Mikhail Dobkin,
withdraw from the elections
scheduled for May 25.
Ukrainian authorities confirmed
that a battalion of newly formed
"National Guard" made up of
"Maidan activists" had been
deployed for action against
pro-Russian protesters in the
east.
Germany's new initiatives
Germany, one of the three mostvisited places in Europe for

Indian, plans to grow this traffic
of travellers by about 10 per
cent this year with a focus on
its heritage sites.
The
German
tourism
department has budgeted 5 lakh


euros for promotional activities

in this respect.
Germany is known not only for
its excellent cars and high tech,
but even more for its heritage a vibrant, reunified Berlin,
modern
designs
and
magnificent monuments that
have stood the test of time, like
the castles in Potsdam and the
Cologne Cathedral.
There are 38 UNESCO world
heritage sites in Germany, 36 of
them cultural and two natural.
Among these are also the top
three heritage sites in Europe.
Last year, more than 615,000
Indians visited the country. The
plan is to increase that by 810% this year and towards this
it will spend an equivalent of
Rs4 crore. That might not be so
difficult after the 5% growth
they managed last year.
The constitutional reform

should
provide
for
"decentralization" of authority,
election of regional bodies of
power and guaranteeing the
language rights of Russianspeaker.
The monitoring mission of the
Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, which
has already been deployed in
Ukraine, must play "the lead
role" in assisting the Ukrainian
authorities to resolve the crisis.
The plan, at least on paper, has
incorporated Russia's main
demands for a settlement in
Ukraine.
Pakistani Madrassa's
Library in honour of
Osama Bin Laden
The tribute is an unusual first,

though there have been cases
in recent years of Pakistanis
naming their sons or even their
stores and places of business
after the terror network's slain
leader.
Bin Laden was killed in a May
2011 raid by U.S. Navy SEALs
in his hiding place in
Abbottabad, a garrison town
about 125 kilometres north of
Islamabad. The unilateral raid
at the time angered the
Pakistani government, which
said the United States had
violated the country's
sovereignty.
In the immediate aftermath of
bin Laden's death, Islamists
held small rallies across
Accord on Ukraine
Russia, the United States, the

European Union and Ukraine
have agreed on a plan to resolve
the crisis in Ukraine through a
constitutional reform that
would grant more powers to
Russian-speaking regions.
After eight-hour talks in
Geneva, the Foreign Ministers
of the four nations signed a
joint statement on deescalation of the Ukraine crisis.
Russia, the U.S. and the E.U.
have called on Ukraine to
launch a broad national
dialogue involving all political
forces and all regions with the
aim of undertaking a
constitutional reform.
A controversial Pakistani cleric

who runs an Islamic seminary
for girls in the capital of
Islamabad has named the
school's newly built library in
honour of Osama bin Laden.
52
Pakistan to denounce the

killing. The slain al-Qaeda chief
is still regarded as a hero by
most students at Islamic
schools, or madrassas.


Everest's Worst Tragedy
Iran has insisted that the United

States has no right to dictate
whom it may choose to
represent it. Mr. Obama said the
Constitution gave him exclusive
discretion to receive or reject
ambassadors, and if a case
arose where the law would
interfere with his exercising
that discretion, he would treat
it as advisory.
Maritime Silk Road
An avalanche swept down a

slope of Mount Everest on
Friday killing 12 Nepali
mountaineering guides at the
beginning of the main climbing
season.
The avalanche, the deadliest in
eight years, hit the most
popular route to the mountain's
peak. Three Nepali guides were
injured and up to five people
were missing. It was the first
major avalanche on Mount
Everest this climbing season,
when hundreds of foreign and
Nepali climbers flock to the
mountain to attempt to reach its
8,850 metre peak.
More than 4,000 climbers have
scaled Everests summit since
it was first climbed by Sir
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing
Norgay Sherpa in 1953. The
route they took is the one hit
by the avalanche .Nearly 250
people have died on the
mountain.
Everest is on the border
between Nepal and the Chinese
region of Tibet and can be
climbed from both sides.
Nepal's Tourism Ministry has

issued permits to 334 foreign
climbers to scale Mount
Everest this season, up from
328 the whole of last year.
Nepal plans to cut fees to climb
the mountain despite concern
about overcrowding.
Bill That Bars Iran's

Envoy
President Obama signed a bill

into law recently that would
prohibit anyone who has
engaged in espionage or
terrorism against the United
States from obtaining a visa to
enter the country as a
representative to the United
Nations.
Congress passed the bill last
week after Iran named Hamid
Aboutalebi as its ambassador
to the United Nations; Mr.
Aboutalebi was an interpreter
for the militant student group
that stormed the American
Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and
held Americans hostage for 444
days.
53
China has for the first time

released details of its recently
announced "maritime Silk
Road" plan, announcing that
the Indian Ocean-focused
initiative will prioritise building
ports
and
improving
infrastructure in littoral
countries like Bangladesh and
Sri Lanka.
China is also planning to
establish free trade zones in
Indian Ocean countries as part
of the plan - a move that will
reinforce China's deepening
economic presence in the Indian
Ocean Region and in India's
neighbourhood.
The maritime Silk Road plan was
unveiled in October last year
when President Xi Jinping
travelled to Southeast Asia.
Since then, Chinese officials
have highlighted the initiative
as a key diplomatic priority for
Mr. Xi's government.
Nations from Malaysia and
Singapore to India, Sri Lanka
and the Gulf countries have all
been sounded out about the
plan. It had, however, remained
unclear what the plan would
actually entail.


The plan is expected to focus

on infrastructure construction
of countries along the route,
including ports of Pakistan, Sri
Lanka and Bangladesh. China
is already involved in port
projects in the three countries,
in Gwadar, Hambantota and
Chittagong.
China hopes to "coordinate
customs, quality supervision,
e-commerce and other agencies
to facilitate the scheme", as well
as set up free trade zones.
Manila forum
Hundreds of government,
business and academic leaders
gathered in the Philippines to

discuss East Asia's economic
prospects amid tensions in the
South China Sea and political
instability in some countries in
the region.
The 23rd World Economic
Forum on East Asia was being
held for the first time in Manila,
allowing the Philippines to
showcase its recent economic
turnaround.
The meetings would discuss
how to address rising
inequality amid the region's
robust growth.
The income gap in the
Philippines is larger than in
54
other regional economies, such

as Indonesia and Thailand,
with the top 10 per cent of the
population earning about 20
times as much as the poorest
10 per cent.
Another "notable danger for
the region" is political
instability both within and
between countries.
The meeting was being held
amid increasing tensions over
territorial disputes in the South
China Sea between Vietnam, the
Philippines and China, as well
as concerns over the impact of
anti-Chinese protests and
martial law in Thailand.

Getting Started with IAS Exam Preparations - FAQ

for New Aspirants
Civil Services is the dream of many students. No wonder, there is a great competition for this examination,
given the prestige and power linked to the profile of a civil servant. However, a large majority of students
are struggling without any proper guidance. Thus, at IASEXAMPortal we have come up with an initiative
to guide the aspirants, in their journey through the IAS, IPS exam.
We have started with a series called- Getting Started with Civil Services Examinations, to guide you in your
preparations. Every other day, we would come up with motivational and informative articles, discussing the
various aspects of the civil services examination, and the possible strategies, that a candidate might choose
to get success.
The Vision
Our aim is to guide the candidate, in making different decisions while facing the UPSC. We welcome the
aspirants to discuss, with us, their problems and confusions, anytime. Any aspirant may subscribe to the
Getting Started Series, and enjoy our support free of cost. You may, later, take our other products and
services, if you so like.
We wish the candidates All the Best for the their preparations!!
Civil Services Exam: What, Why and How ?
How to Read A Newspaper for IAS Exam
Two more attempts in UPSC Exams: all boon and no bane!!
How to Study? The Ultimate Dilemma
Preparing for Civil Services without Coaching
IAS Preparation for Rural/Remote Areas Students
Why do Online Test Series?
NCERT and NIOS Books for IAS Preparations
Strategy for IAS Exam for Working Professionals
For More Important Articles Click below Link

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/getting-started

SAARC leaders invited for Modi's swearing-in
Prime Minister-elect Narendra

Modi has invited the heads of
the governments of all South
Asian states to attend his
swearing-in in a gesture, which
diplomats and experts said was
without precedent. Though
foreign envoys stationed in
New Delhi have attended past
swearings-in, Ministry of
External Affairs sources said, no

world leader has been invited
to attend what has traditionally
been seen as a domestic event.
The move startled regional
diplomats-but also caused
surprise in the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh, which
was not consulted on the
decision, Bharatiya Janata
Party sources said.
55
Foreign Secretary Sujatha

Singh, the Ministry of External
Affairs said, despatched formal
invitations afternoon to the
Presidents or Prime Ministers
of Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Hamid
Karzai, Afghanistan's President, has accepted the
invitation but there was no
immediate word on which other
leaders would attend.
Mr. Modi's surprise outreach
was intended to allay regional
fears that his rise to power
would herald a new
hawkishness in Indian foreign
policy. The Prime Minister-elect
had ruffled feathers in
Bangladesh by threatening to
expel migrants from India's
north-east, while Sri Lanka was
concerned over the influence
ethnic nationalists in Tamil
Nadu might have over his
foreign policy.


India & The World
Spouses of H-1B visaholders to work
A U.S government website that

is currently inviting public
comments on whether to allow
the spouses of H-1B visaholders to work has provided a
glimpse at the trials and
tribulations of Indians who go
abroad to work 'onsite' at
various IT firms.
The Department of Homeland
Security, a U.S government
body, had, a few months ago,
decided to allow spouses of H1B visa-holders, who are
seeking green cards, to get
work authorisation.
The U.S government is,
therefore, interested in
collecting comments through
its 'Regulations.gov' comment
board, which allows feedback
to rise and fall on its own merit.
Statue of Gandhiji in Texas
A life-size bronze statue of

Mahatma Gandhi would be
installed in Irving in Texas,
fulfilling a long-cherished
dream of Indian-Americans
living in the city. A 7-foot tall
and 30-inch wide bronze statue
of Gandhiji, cast in Andhra
Pradesh, will be installed on a
6-foot tall pedestal.
It will have a granite wall as a

backdrop, inscribed with
Gandhiji's memorable words, as
well as those from Martin
Luther King Jr., Nelson
Mandela and Albert Einstein,
Barack Obama and others.
The endorsement of the

'Declaration on Automatic
Exchange of Information in Tax
Matters' by 47 countries under
the aegis of OECD will come as
a boost for India, which is
stepping up pressure on
Switzerland to share details on
alleged illicit funds stashed
away by Indians there.
The Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development
(OECD), the global body that
frames economic policies and
conventions against tax frauds,
said the latest declaration
commits countries to implement
a new single global standard on
automatic exchange of
information.
Switzerland, long perceived as
a safe haven for stashing away
untaxed money, is an OECD
member.
Such a protocol was required
between the countries as tax
crimes rob countries of their
genuine revenues.
Border Defence
Cooperation Agreement
India and China recently held

their first-ever Director General
of Military Operations-level
meeting, which discussed ways
to implement the Border
Tax Data Exchange
In another step towards

shedding banking secrecy
practices, 47 nations including
Switzerland and India, have
agreed upon automatic
exchange of information on tax
matters.
56


India & The World
Defence
Cooperation
Agreement (BDCA) signed
during Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's visit to
Beijing in October.
And it was an eight-member
delegation led by People's
Liberation Army(PLA)Deputy
Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Qi
Jiangua, which represented the
Communist nation at the
DGMO-level dialogue.
The two sides exchanged
views on various issues of
mutual interest such as
maintenance of peace and
tranquility along the LAC and
enhancing mutual cooperation
and understanding between
the Armies of India and China.
Measures for implementation of
existing bilateral agreements
were also discussed.
The take-away from the new
BDCA, which has drawn
heavily from the earlier bilateral
agreements of 1993, 1996, 2005
and 2012 on border Confidence
Building Mechanisms, were
proposals for opening a hotline
between their military
headquarters, non-tailing
eachother's patrols along the
LAC, holding meetings of
border personnel in all the
sectors, apart from organising
small-scale tactical exercises
involving the two armed forces
along the LAC.
Bilateral trade between India

and US in goods and services
increased from almost $29
billion in 2004 to more than $95
billion in 2013 -- an average
growth rate of nearly 15 per cent
India, which has contributed

1.7 lakh peacekeepers to U.N.
missions, has told the U.N.
Security Council that it wants
crucial reforms of security
institutions to facilitate peacebuilding in the conflict-hit
nations.
India's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador
Asoke Mukerji said in a U.N.
Security Council debate on
'Security Sector Reform (SSR):
Challenges and Opportunities'
that security sector reform is an
"important element of postconflict peace-building" and
should be part of the internal
political process of a nation
emerging from conflict.
India has experience relevant to
reform of a country's security
sector, having played an active
role in 43 U.N. peacekeeping
missions in which almost
170,000 Indian peacekeepers
have participated so far.
57
Six peacekeeping operations

and eight Special Political
Missions have been mandated
to do SSR.
Outlining a few principles that
must guide security sector
reform, he said the most
sustainable way for effective
reforms is by ensuring national
ownership of the process.
The focus has to be on what is
do-able and not on an agenda
driven by priorities of donor
countries.
Claim on stolen Idol
The National Gallery of

Australia has surrendered to
the Indian claim that a Cholaera Nataraja that it acquired for
(A) $5.6 million had indeed
been stolen from a village
temple in Tamil Nadu, paving
the way for an early return of
the idol to India.
The NGA, Australia's foremost

art institution located in the
national capital of Canberra,
had 30 days to claim its
India's Crucial Reforms of

Security Institutions
Indo-US Bilateral Trade
per year. Trade during 2013,

however, grew at a slow pace
of 2.5 per cent.
Over the 10-year period from
2004-2013, U.S. exports to India
grew about 15 per cent annually
and are currently at about $35
billion. This created an
estimated 120,000 new U.S.
jobs.
The top U.S. exports to India
were: manufactured goods,
transportation equipment, and
chemicals, along with
education services, which
totalled nearly $15 billion
during 2013.


India & The World
ownership of the imposing

bronze Nataraja after receiving
a notice from the Australian
Attorney General's Department
under the Protection of
Movable Cultural Heritage Act
1986. That deadline expired on
April 26.
The 1,000-year-old Dancing
Shiva is central to the
investigations
against
antiquities dealer Subhash
Kapoor who was arrested in
2012 and is being tried in Tamil
Nadu for conspiring to smuggle
the idol and several others out
of India. The return of the idol
is expected to strengthen the
case against him.
The NGA initially defended its
purchase of the idol from
Kapoor, but with its reputation
scorched by the international
controversy that erupted over
the provenance of the Nataraja,
the Gallery seems to have
decided not to pursue any claim
over the idol. Similarly,
Sydney's Art Gallery of New
South Wales has not contested
the notice it received at the
same time as the NGA on an
Ardhanareeshwara it bought
from Kapoor, who was
operating principally out of the
United States.
This idol too is a subject of
Tamil Nadu police investigations against the dealer, and

the Indian government had
demanded its return along with
the Nataraja.
The Idol Wing unravelled the
role of an international network
in the theft of 18 ancient bronze
sculptures from two temples in
Suthamali and Sripuranthan.
Indian developmental
assistance in Afghanistan
The US Pentagon, in a report

to the Congress has praised the
Indian contribution in the
peaceful development of
Afghanistan.
India continues to support
Kabul believing a secure and
stable Afghanistan will benefit
58
the region and facilitate

economic corridors into Central
Asia.
India and Afghanistan signed
a strategic partnership
declaration in 2011, which
formalised cooperation on
governance,
economics,
commerce, education, public
administration, and security/
law enforcement.
In its report, the Pentagon also
praised the Afghan national
security forces for their
conduct in the recent
presidential elections.
According to the Pentagon, the
Taliban-led insurgency failed to
achieve its stated operational
objectives over the reporting
period.


Top 10 Global Markets for

Australia
India has figured among the top

10 markets for the international
business community as per
Australia's International
Business Survey.
India has also emerged as the
most challenging of the top 10
countries to do business with.
AIBS 2014, a comprehensive
study of Australian companies
involved in international
business, was released
recently.
It found that India ranked as
ninth important market
currently. The country was also
seen as the third important
future market, with respondents
saying they were planning on
doing business in/within the
next two years.
The survey captured data from
more than 1,600 Australian
businesses, reflecting the
opinions of a wide range of

firms from diverse industries
operating in over 120 markets.
The United States (chosen by
about 15 per cent), India (six per
cent) and the United Kingdom
and Indonesia (five per cent
each) make up the remainder of
the top five most important
future target markets.
The survey found that the most
important
market
for
international business for the
participants varied by the
industry.
Education and Training
industry stood as the most
important market for Australian
international
business
community when it came to
India.
On the list of top most
important overseas markets in
terms of international revenue,
India stood at the ninth
position, while US and China
took the first and second rank
respectively.
59
On rating the ease of doing

business in their most important
markets as compared to
Australia, only 9 per cent of
businesses perceived India as
an easier or much easier market
than Australia, with 81 per cent
regarding it as more or much
more difficult.
Sino-Russia strategy
Russia is intensifying its shift

towards China as Russia's
relations with the West have
sunk to their post-Cold War low
over the Ukraine crisis.


Economy
China has refused to condemn

Russia's takeover of Ukraine's
Crimea and has adopted what
experts called "positive
neutrality" over the conflict.
The two countries are expected
to sign a "fantastic package"
of more than 40 agreements
when President Vladimir Putin
travelled to Shanghai recently
for a two-day state visit and
participation in a regional
security summit.
Mr. Putin and his Chinese
counterpart, Xi Jinping, will
oversee the start of joint war
games in a sign of closer
defence ties between the two
countries. At least 16 Russian
and Chinese warships will train
together in the East China Sea,
where China is locked in a bitter
territorial dispute with Japan.
Russia and China will undertake
eight "strategic projects" in
space, rocket engines, aviation
and infrastructure.
E-auction of Iron ore
The Goa Mines and Geology

Department will hold its third
e-auction of iron ore on May
12, wherein six lakh tonnes of
ore, lying at jetties and the
Mormugao Port Trust (MPT)
would be e-auctioned.
The State, through MSTC Ltd.,
has auctioned 1.62 million
tonnes of iron ore through two

e-auctions in February and
March, realising around Rs.260
crore, which would go to the
State treasury.
These e-auctions are held
under the supervision of a
Supreme Court-appointed
monitoring committee, headed
by U. V. Singh.
The Supreme Court, partially
relaxing its October 5 ban on
iron ore activities in the State,
in December last had permitted
the Goa Mines Department to
auction about 15 million tonnes
of iron ore lying at jetties,
mining
leases,
plots,
beneficiary plants and port, all
under the supervision of its
committee.
However, on April 21, the apex
court lifted its ban on mining
activities, but putting a cap of
20 million tonnes for annual
production and ruling that since
the renewal of all the deemed
mining leases in the State had
expired on November, 2007, and
the operations carried out,
thereafter, have been termed
illegal, the mining lessees will
not be entitled to the sale value
of the ore sold in e-auction but
to the approximate cost (not
actual cost) of the extraction of
the ore.
Making government the
custodian of the money
collected through e-auction,
the court directed the State to
pay 50 per cent of wages of all
the workers who were laid off
or were not paid salaries since
the time the mining operations
were suspended.
60
World's top Brand
Google has knocked Apple off

the perch as the world's top
brand in terms of value in the
latest rankings released by
global market research agency
Millward Brown.
The internet search giant may
occasionally tick off the public
and regulators across the globe
with regards to its data
collection activities but it hasn't
dented its brand value,
according to Millward Brown's
2014 100 Top BrandZ report.
Google's brand value shot up
40 per cent in a year to
$US158.84 billion ($A171.86bn),
while Apple has seen its brand
value drop by 20 per cent to
$160bn.
As the report highlights,
Samsung, HP and Sony -- all
product-dominated companies
-- have put in a far less
impressive performance than
the likes of Tencent, Facebook
and Baidu.
The latter are up 97 per cent, 68
per cent and 46 per cent
respectively, while the former
have moved up 21 per cent, 19
per cent and, in Sony's case, a
drop of 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, Twitter and
LinkedIn are the latest entrants
into the top 20 list, with brand
values of $14bn and $12bn
respectively.
Metro AG
German retailer Metro AG plans

to have 50 wholesale stores in
India by 2020 and make the
country one of its 'focus


Economy
expansion' markets alongside

Russia, China and Turkey.
India has always been an
important future growth market
of Metro .
The
Dusseldorf-based
company was the first global
player to enter the cashandcarry wholesale segment in
India, back in India. It currently
operates 16 outlets in the
country.
Prepayment fee on
floating rate term loans
trade to boost their economic

development.
Russia has advanced beyond
the level of economic
development and competitiveness for GSP eligibility. As
such, Russia should no longer
qualify to receive GSP benefits.
'Global 2000'
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance

Industries leads the pack of 54
Indian companies in Forbes'
annual list of the world's 2000
No Special trade benefits

for Russia
The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) said that banks cannot
levy charges on individual
customers if they choose to
close their floating rate loans.
Some banks charge a fee if an
individual borrower chooses to
close his or her loan. This fee
varies from bank to bank, and
is mostly in the range of 1-3%.
In its first bi-monthly monetary

policy review on 1 April, RBI
had indicated that in the
interest of their consumers,
banks should consider allowing
their borrowers the possibility
of prepaying floating rate term
loans without any penalty.
Accordingly, it is advised that
banks will not be permitted to
charge foreclosure charges/
pre-payment penalties on all
floating rate term loans
sanctioned to individual
borrowers.
U.S. President Barack Obama

intends to withdraw special
privileges granted to Russia
because the country is too
economically advanced to need
preferential treatment reserved
for less developed countries.
Mr. Obama notified Congress
that he intends to remove
Russia from the Generalised
System of Preferences (GSP)
programme as Moscow is
"sufficiently advanced" to
warrant any preferential
treatment.
Once Russia's eligibility is
withdrawn, which would be
effected via a presidential
proclamation, U.S. imports of
GSP-eligible goods from Russia
will be subject to normal, nonpreferential rates of duty.
The purpose of the programme,
which allowed $19.9 billion in
imports to enter the U.S. dutyfree in 2012, is to assist
developing countries to use
61
largest and most powerful

public companies, with Chinese
companies occupying the top
three slots on the list.
The Forbes 'Global 2000' is a
comprehensive list of the
world's largest, most powerful
public companies, as measured
by revenues, profits, assets and
market value.
China is home to the world's top
three biggest public companies
and five of the top 10.
The US retains its dominance
as the country with the most
Global 2000 companies at 564.
Japan trails the US with 225
companies in aggregate.
India is home to 54 of the
world's biggest companies.
Reliance Industries is ranked
135 on the list with a market
value of 50.9 billion dollars and
72.8 billion dollars in sales as
on May 2014.


Economy
Reliance is followed by State

Bank of India which is ranked
155 and has a 23.6 billion dollars
market value.
The other Indian companies on
the list are Oil and Natural Gas
ranked 176, ICICI Bank (304),
Tata Motors (332), Indian Oil
(416), HDFC Bank (422), Coal
India (428), Larsen & Toubro
(500), Tata Consultancy
Services (543), Bharti Airtel
(625), Axis Bank (630), Infosys
(727), Bank of Baroda (801),
Mahindra & Mahindra (803),
ITC (830), Wipro (849), Bharat
Heavy Electricals (873), GAIL
India (955), Tata Steel (983) and
Power Grid of India (1011).
Also making the list are Bharat
Petroleum (1045), HCL
Technologies
(1153),
Hindustan Petroleum (1211),
Adani Enterprises (1233), Kotak
Mahindra Bank (1255), Sun
Pharma Industries (1294), Steel
Authority of India (1329), Bajaj
Auto (1499), Hero Motocorp
(1912), Jindal Steel & Power
(1955), Grasim Industries (1981)
and JSW Steel (1990).
Issue of Natural Gas

Export
A bi-partisan group of 22
American senators have
expressed reservation on the

export of natural gas to Asian
countries such as India and
China, arguing that such a move
by Obama Administration
would result in an increase in
cost for consumers and
businesses at home.
They said the "large-scale
exports of natural gas to Asia
could also jeopardize America's
goal of achieving energy
independence, a goal made
more achievable by the recent
increase in domestic gas
production".
The senators urged Mr. Obama
to consider the impacts on
American manufacturing and
families that rely on natural gas.
The recent approval for export
of liquefied natural gas from a
sixth export facility has meant
that the total approved exports
now exceeds the amount of gas
currently being used in every
single American home and
commercial business.
The exports well exceeds the
high export scenario referenced
by a Department of Energy
study in 2012 that indicated
prices could increase by up to
54 per cent and it would
translate into more than $60
billion a year in higher energy
costs for American consumers
and businesses.
Automatic tax information
U.K. rich list
India-born Hinduja brothers

have emerged as Britain's
richest, valued at 11.9 billion,
in the Sunday Times' annual list
of the super rich.
Gopichand and Srichand
Hinduja run the multinational
62
Hinduja Group with interests

across automotive, real estate
and oil.
Arsenal shareholder and
Russian tycoon Alisher
Usmanov fell to second place
after his estimated fortune
dropped to 10.65 billion. He is
followed by Laskshmi Mittal
with 10.25 billion, registering
a growth of 250 million.
London now has the most
billionaires for any city with 72.
The total number for U.K. has
crossed 100 for the first time to
reach 104 billionaires with a
combined wealth of over 301
billion. The next most
prosperous city in the world is
Moscow with 48 billionaires,
just ahead of New York and San
Francisco.
The Duke of Westminster is the
richest Briton with around 8.5
billion and is ranked 10th.
As they continue their efforts

to clamp down on the menace
of black money, India and other
countries will have to wait at
least till 2017 before the new
global standard for automatic
exchange of tax information
comes into effect.
India, Switzerland and 45 other
nations had agreed upon


Economy
automatic exchange of tax

information, which is seen as a
major step forward in global
efforts against banking secrecy
practices.
Paris-based Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) sets the
global tax standards and frames
conventions against tax frauds,
among others.
The new standard, expected to
be finalised in September this
year, provides for exchange of
information on bank account
balances, interests, dividends,
other financial income and sales
proceeds to compute possible
capital gains.
By becoming part of the
declaration, these countries
have committed to implementing automatic exchange of tax
information. The declaration
also comes as a boost for India,
which is making efforts to get
details from Switzerland on
alleged illicit funds stashed
away by Indians there.
Automatic exchange of
information would allow for
"collecting all bank information
on non-resident to pass this
information on to the countries
of residence of these taxpayers
so that they can no longer hide
money on offshore accounts.
The standard was developed at
the OECD and endorsed by the
G20 Finance Ministers.
Agreement between TCS

and Mitsubishi
India's largest software services

firm Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS) has signed an agreement
with Japanese major Mitsubishi

Corporation to form a single IT
services unit.
The merger, in which TCS will
hold 51 per cent stake and
Mitsubishi 49 per cent, will
create a new IT services
company of significant scale in
the Japanese market with
annual turnover of over $600
million.
ITF brings its long-standing
relationships with Japanese
corporations, talented workforce and competencies in
industries like retail, distribution and trading.
This will complement TCS' deep
domain knowledge, technology
expertise and strong execution
track record.
TCS' Global Network Delivery
Model (GNDMTM) capabilities
will also enable the Japanese
corporations' globalisation
ambitions.
The company will provide
tremendous additional value to
clients in Japan, while
employees will secure the
advantages of building their
careers in a global organisation.
Novartis to buy Glaxo's

cancer drugs
Cadbury India is now

Mondelez India Foods Ltd
Cadbury India, a subsidiary of

Mondelez International, today
63
changed its name to Mondelez

India Foods Limited.
The change in name of Cadbury
is in line with the gradual
changeover of the name of all
subsidiaries of Mondelez
International globally, the
company said in a statement.
However, the company said
change in name of the company
will have no impact on the
names or packaging of its
products like Cadbury Dairy
Milk, 5 Star, Gems, Bournville,
Perk, Celebrations, Choclairs,
Halls, Bournvita, Tang and
Oreo, which will continue to be
sold under the same brand
names as before.
From now onwards, the new
name of the company will
appear on the back of the
products.
Novartis AG agreed to buy

GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (GSK's)
cancer-drug business for as
much as $16 billion, form a
consumer-health venture with
GSK and sell its animal-health
operations to Eli Lilly and Co.
for $5.4 billion in an overhaul
of the Swiss drug maker.
Novartis also will sell its
vaccines business, excluding


Economy
the flu operations, to GSK for

$7.1 billion, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said in a
statement on Tuesday. That
includes royalties and as much
as $1.8 billion payments based
on the achievement of certain
business goals.
The transactions culminate a
process that began last year
when Novartis chief executive
officer Joe Jimenez began
reviewing the company's
smaller businesses for possible
sale.
GSK and Novartis's consumerhealth venture will have about
6.5 billion ($10.9 billion) in
revenue, GSK said. GSK will
have majority control, with an
equity interest of 63.5%.
The venture brings together
brands including Novartis's
Excedrin painkiller and GSK's
Sensodyne toothpaste. GSK's
vaccines purchase will add
Bexsero for meningitis to its
Cervarix
for
human
papillomavirus.
TCS amongst top 10

global IT services
companies
In a positive note to Indian IT

industry, India's largest IT
services provider, Tata

Consultancy Services (TCS),
has broken into the league of
top 10 global IT services
companies, moving from the
13th position in 2012 to the 10th
spot in 2013.
Twelve years ago, when TCS'
revenues were about $1 billion,
then CEO S Ramadorai had laid
out a vision to be among the
top 10 by 2010.
According to experts, It's taken
a little longer, partly because of
the global financial slump of
2008-09, but the company has
now got there, and considering
the pace at which it is growing
compared to its global
counterparts, the ranking could
get better fairly quickly in the
years to come.
TCS is estimated to have IT
services revenues of $10.1
billion (out of its total revenues
of about $12.5 billion). IBM
($54.4 billion), Fujitsu ($32.1
billion), Hewlett-Packard ($29.2
billion) and Accenture ($25.4
billion) lead the list.
The research compares IT
services, and excludes other
areas such as BPO, R&D
services and software/
hardware products. And it uses
figures for the four quarters of
calendar year 2013. TCS rose to
the 10th spot displacing
Montreal-based IT services firm
CGI.
India-based
companies
Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro and
HCL are at the 15th, 18th, 20th
and 25th positions, respectively, all of them rising by one
to three spots compared to
64
2012. HfS Research believes

that Cognizant could be in the
top 10 in the next 2-3 years, may
be at the expense of US IT
company CSC. CSC's revenues
last year had dropped
compared to the year before.
Centralised bill payment

system
An RBI panel made a case for

centralised bill payment system
catering to different financial
instruments, like cheques, debit
cards and mobile banking.
In order to ensure uniform and
efficient implementation of
operations of the bill payments
system in the country,
standards have to be set for
process standards, business
standards for establishing the
relationship between all
entities, and information
exchange standards for transactions as well as settlements.
The RBI has sought comments
on the Report of the GIRO
Advisory Group till May 25.
This centralised bill payments
system, it said will provide
accessible services across all
parts of the country through a
strong network of operational
units/agents who will ensure in
making this service accessible
in urban as well as rural areas.
The report further said the
standard setting role/ function
has to be distinct from the
operational aspects of the bill
payments system.
Currently, the payment system
in the country offers a variety
of payment instruments to the


Economy
public, like cheques and various
e-payment modes in the form
of credit cards, debit cards, prepaid payment instruments
(including mobile wallets)
issued by both banks and
authorized non-bank entities.
Russia's new credit rating
The Standard & Poor's credit

agency has recently cut
Russia's credit rating for the
first time in more than five
years, citing the capital flight
and risk to investment in the
wake of the Ukraine crisis.
Russia's economic growth
slowed to 0.8 percent in the first
quarter - sharply worse than
earlier forecast - while spooked
investors pulled about $70
billion out of the country in
2013. However, the cut in
Russia's rating from BBB to
BBB- is the most tangible
economic result of Russia's
policies toward Ukraine so far.
BBB- is just a step above a
speculative or non-investment
grade.
S&P said in a statement that
they revised Russia's rating
because the tense situation
"could
see
additional
significant outflows of both
domestic and foreign capital
from the Russian economy."
Rating agencies had not cut
Russia's sovereign rating since
December 2008.
FII inflows for 2014
Amid hopes of a stable and

reform oriented government
after general elections, net
investments by foreign
institutional investors into

India so far this year has
reached $10 billion level, while
their cumulative total inflows
into the country is nearing $200
billion mark.
According to the latest data
compiled by capital markets
regulator SEBI, the net
investments by FIIs into Indian
equity markets since the
beginning of 2014 have crossed
$ 5 billion (over Rs. 30,000
crore), while the same for debt
markets also stands near $5
billion (about Rs. 29,000 crore)
- taking the total to close to Rs.
60,000 crore.
This includes net investments
of about Rs. 1,500 crore so far
in April. This is despite a net
outflow of about Rs. 7,000 crore
from debt markets, as equity
markets have seen a net inflow
of over Rs. 8,500 crore this
month till April 25, the latest
trading session.
According to market analysts,
FIIs are bullish on India and
they are expecting a stable
government emerging postelections.
65
FIIs, the main driver of the

equity market, have helped
pushed up the benchmark BSE
Sensex by over 7 per cent so
far in 2014 and is now being
seen as moving closer to 23,000
mark.
Samsung infringed patents

of Apple?
A California jury awarded Apple

$119 million far less than it
demanded in a patent battle
with Samsung over alleged
copying of smartphone
features, and the jury made the
victory even smaller by finding
that Apple illegally used one of
Samsung's patents.


Economy
The verdict was a far cry from

the $2.2 billion Apple sought
and the $930 million it won in a
separate 2012 trial making
similar patent infringement
claims against older Samsung
products, most of which are no
longer for sale in the United
States.
The jury found that Apple had
infringed one of Samsung's
patents in creating the iPhone
4 and 5. Jurors awarded
Samsung $158,400, trimming
that amount from the original
$119.62 million verdict.
Samsung had sought $6 million.
Unlike the first trial in San Jose
federal court in 2012, Samsung
lawyers made Google a central
focus of their defence. Google
makes the Android software
that Samsung and other
smartphone manufacturers use
as their operating systems.
Samsung argued that Google
was Apple's real target.
More than 70 percent of
smartphones run on Android,
a mobile operating system that
Google Inc. has given out for
free to Samsung and other
phone makers
The verdict marked the latest
intellectual property battle
between the world's top two
smartphone makers. Apple and
Samsung have sued each other
in courts and trade offices
around the world.
Apple and Samsung are locked
in a bitter struggle for
dominance of the $330 billion
worldwide smartphone market.
Samsung has become the
leader of the sector with a 31
percent share after being an

also-ran with just 5 per cent in
2007. Apple, meanwhile, has
seen its market share slip to
about 15 per cent from a high
of 27 per cent three years ago.
Japan's jobless rate
Japan's unemployment rate was

flat at 3.6 per cent in March.
The number of jobless declined
in March for the 46th
consecutive month, falling by
340,000 from a year earlier to
2.46 million people,according to
the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications .
Manufacturers added 190,000
jobs to reach 10.61 million on
payrolls, and medical and
welfare services saw an
increase of 210,000 employees
to 7.48 million, while transport
and mailing industries
eliminated 110,000 positions to
3.32 million.
Pressure on Switzerland
to disclose bank info
IPR laws defended by

India
Stressing that its IPR regime

complies with international
laws, India bluntly said it will
not take part in any unilateral
investigation by the US on its
intellectual property rights.
A day after the US Trade
Representative
(USTR)
released its Special 301 report,
which kept India out of the
Priority Foreign Country list,
Commerce Secretary Rajeev
Kher said all issues between the
two countries, including those
related to IPR, should be
discussed at the Trade Policy
Forum. The US-India Trade
66
Policy Forum is the principal

platform for dialogue between
the countries, with focus
groups on agriculture,
investment, IPR, services and
tariff and non-tariff barriers.
India has clearly conveyed to
the US that the government of
India will not subject itself to
the investigations. The
secretary said India has
addressed all concerns of US
pharma companies with regard
to compulsory licenses (CL),
ever-greening of patents, data
exclusivity and patent linkage.
The US industry had raised the
matter of India's rejection of
patents for Bristol-Myers
Squibb's Sprycel and Novartis
AG's Glivec.
India has strongly objected to

Switzerland's denial of
information about account
details of certain Indians at
HSBC's Swiss bank branches,
in whose cases "incriminating
evidence of tax evasion" have
been found .
In a strongly-worded letter to
his Swiss counterpart, Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram has
also warned that an effective
exchange of tax-related
information was "extremely
important" for economic cooperation between the two
countries and Switzerland must
honour its "rights and duties"
agreed to in their bilateral Direct
Tax Avoidance Convention
(DTAC).


Economy
Mr. Chidambaram also said that

the interpretation made by
Switzerland that it can not
share information as per India's
request was not in accordance
with international standards.
Under global pressure,
Switzerland has agreed to ease
its banking secrecy laws in
recent years and it also signed
a revised tax treaty with India
in 2011 to facilitate greater flow
of information about alleged
black money.
However, it has refused to
share information with India
about the accounts mentioned
in the so-called 'HSBC list'
which India had received from
France through a bilateral
treaty.
Exim Bank's PDC in

Africa
Export-Import Bank of India

(Exim Bank) plans to set up a
project development company
(PDC) in Africa, with the
participation of State Bank of
India (SBI), IL&FS and African
Development Bank.
The new company will
essentially look to bring
infrastructure projects in Africa
to a bankable stage and
facilitate exports from India to
Africa. This is the first time Exim
Bank is looking to set up a PDC
and also the first time in Africa.
Third largest economy
Meanwhile,
the
bank
announced a net profit of Rs.
710 crore during the financial
year 2013-14. The bank
restructured assets worth Rs.
1,400 crore in 2013-14 and it said
that it has assets worth Rs. 400
crore in the restructuring
pipeline.
189 LOCs, covering 75
countries in Africa, Asia, CIS,
Europe and Latin America, with
credit commitments aggregating $ 10.33 billion are
currently available for
utilisation, while a number of
prospective LOCs are at
various stages of negotiation.
In a matter of six years, India

emerged as the world's thirdlargest economy in 2011 from
being the tenth largest in 2005,
moving ahead of Japan, while
the US remained the largest
economy closely followed by
China.
According to the major
findings of the ICP, six of the
world's 12 largest economies
were in the middle-income
Nigeria account for about half
of the African economy.At 27
per cent, Ccategory (based on
the World Bank's definition).
67
When combined, the 12 largest

economies accounted for twothirds of the world economy
and 59 per cent of the
population.
The purchasing power parities
(PPPs)-based world GDP
amounted to USD 90,647 billion,
compared with USD 70,294
billion measured by exchange
rates, adding that the share of
middle-income economies in
global GDP is 48 per cent when
using PPPs and 32 per cent
when using exchange rates.
The six largest middle-income
economies - China, India,
Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and
Mexico - account for 32.3 per
cent of world GDP, whereas the
six largest high-income
economies - US, Japan,
Germany, France, UK and Italy
- account for 32.9 per cent.
China and India make up twothirds of the Asia and the
Pacific economy, excluding
Japan and South Korea, which
are part of the OECD comparison. Russia accounts for
more than 70 per cent of the CIS,
and Brazil for 56 per cent of
Latin America. South Africa,
Egypt, and hina has the largest
share of the world's expenditure
for investment (gross fixed
capital formation) followed by
the US at 13 per cent.
China and India account for
about 80 per cent of investment
expenditure in the Asia and the
Pacific region.
The five economies with the
highest GDP per capita are
Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg,
Kuwait and Brunei.


Economy
Eleven economies have more

than USD 50,000 per capita,
while they collectively account
for less than 0.6 per cent of the
world's population. The US has
the 12th-highest GDP per
capita.
The five economies with
highest actual individual
consumption per capita are
Bermuda, US, Cayman Islands,
Hong Kong and Luxembourg.
Court order in 2011 to make

public the names of account
holders in LGT bank received
by it in 2009 from German tax
authorities, Centre has not
done so, drawing the ire of the
apex court.
Export of Gems &

jewellery
Black Money case
After resisting for more than

three years, the Centre has
revealed names of 18 persons
in the Supreme Court who
allegedly stashed black money
with LST bank in Liechtenstein
and against whom prosecution
have been launched by the
Income Tax department.
The names, listed in Centre's
affidavit, include Mohan Manoj
Dhupelia, Ambrish Manoj
Dhupelia, Bhavya Manoj
Dhupelia, Manoj Dhupelia and
Rupal
Dhupelia
from
Ambrunova Trust and Marline
Management.
Centre said that IT department
also found evidence against
against four members of
Manichi Trust - Hasmuk
Ishwarlal Gandhi, Chintan
Hasmukh Gandhi, Madhu
Hasmukh Gandhi and Late
Mirav Hasmukh Gandhi. It said
that prosecution has been
initiated against Chandrakant
Ishwarlal Gandhi, Rajest
Chandrakant Gandhi, Viraj
Chandrakant Gandhi and
Dhanalaxmi Chandrakant
Gandhi from Ruvisha Trust.
Notwithstanding the Supreme
India's gems and jewellery

exports dropped 11% in the last
fiscal from a year before to
$34.74 billion, mainly because
outbound shipments of gold
jewellery and medallions
tumbled due to curbs on raw
material supplies.
last fiscal, a drop in gems and

jewellery exports can be
counter-productive, especially
for the jewellery manufacturing
sector.
To control the CAD, the
government raised the import
duty on the precious metal three
times last year to 10% from 4%
and the RBI mandated that at
least one-fifth of the imported
gold be kept aside for reexports. The RBI also directed
that no fresh tranche of imports
by a trader would be allowed
until 20% of the previous
imported volume is exported
after value addition, also aimed
at promoting exports.
Shares fall over Ukraine

Crisis
Importantly, the annual exports

of gems and jewellery dropped
at an even faster pace in March,
by 28.1% to $4.37 billion, the
data revealed. Gold jewellery
and medallion exports crashed
39.5% in the last fiscal to
$11,045.92 million from a year
earlier.
Jewellers and industry
executives said high premiums,
10% customs duty and
restrictions on gold supplies
have raised raw material costs
for domestic jewellers, driving
down exports. While a 40%
plunge in gold and silver
imports helped reduce the CAD
68
Shares fell in Asia as investors

remained wary of mounting
violence in Ukraine, while
awaiting a raft of financial
indicators due later in the week.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225
stock index fell 1.2 percent to
14,257.37, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng Index was 0.4
percent lower at 22,142.16.
Shares in New Zealand, Taiwan,
China, India and Singapore also
fell, though South Korea's
Kospi added 0.2 percent to
1,975.68 and Australia's S&P
ASX 200 gained 0.1 percent to
5,534.30.
The U.S. was preparing to levy
fresh sanctions against Russia
for Moscow's failure to uphold
terms of an agreement with the
U.S., the European Union and
Ukraine that calls for Moscow
to withdraw Russian forces


Economy
from the border with Ukraine

and encourage pro-Russian
militia to turn over buildings
they're occupying in eastern
Ukraine.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian
gunmen turned to kidnapping,
taking dozens hostage,
including journalists, proUkraine activists and European
military observers.
Worried investors have been
shifting from riskier assets into
traditional havens like bonds,
gold and mainstay equities like
utilities, sapping markets of
their earlier upward momentum.
Global Trade to increase
Global trade is expected to

increase by 4.7 per cent in 2014,
better than the average of 2.2
per cent in the past two years,
on the back of projected
improvements in the developed
economies, according to the
World Trade Organisation
(WTO).
The world trade growth is
projected to accelerate to 5.3
per cent in 2015.
Although the 2014 forecast of
4.7 per cent is more than double
the 2.1 per cent increase of last
year, it remains below the 20year average of 5.3 per cent. For
the past two years, growth has
averaged only 2.2 per cent.
The sluggish pace of trade
growth in 2013 was due to a
combination of flat import
demand
in
developed
economies (0.2 per cent) and
moderate import growth in
developing economies (4.4 per
cent).
On the export side, both

developed and developing
economies only managed to
record small, positive increases
(1.5 per cent for developed
economies and 3.3 per cent for
developing economies).
In 2013, the dollar value of
world merchandise exports rose
2.1 per cent to $18.8 trillion,
while the value of world
commercial services exports
rose 5.5 per cent to $4.6 trillion.
The trade forecast for 2014 is
premised on an assumption of
3 percent growth in world GDP
growth at market exchange
rates, while the forecast for
2015 assumes output growth of
3.1 percent.
March Inflation at 5.7 per

cent
Snapping the declining trend,

the inflation rose to a three
month high of 5.7 per cent in
March mainly due to spurt in
prices of food items like potato,
onion and fruits.
The inflation in the food items,
based on the wholesale price
index (WPI), shot up by 9.9 per
cent in March as against 8.12
per cent in the previous month.
The overall WPI inflation,
which was on decline since
December, had dropped to a
nine-month low of 4.68 per cent
in February.
The government further said
the build up of inflation rate in
the 2013-14 financial year was
5.70 compared to a build up rate
of 5.65 per cent in the earlier
fiscal.
69
The data further revealed that

prices of sugar, pulses, cereals,
cement and minerals eased in
March compared to the
previous month.
Inflation in the fuel and power
category (LPG, petrol and
diesel) rose to 11.22 per cent
versus 8.75 per cent in
February.
Pact between Green Trend

and Bharatiya Mahila
Bank
Trends in Vogue, Cavinkare's

arm that manages unisex hair
salon network Green Trends,
and Bharatiya Mahila Bank
(BMB) have entered into a pact
that seeks to make the
entrepreneurial plunge easier
for women.
Budding women entrepreneurs

who take up a franchisee of
Green Trends (GT) can get twothirds of their total investment
(Rs.40-50 lakh) financed by
BMB without any collateral.
Collateral security is the key in

getting loans from banks for
entrepreneurs. This agreement
will help all prospective
franchisees, especially women,


Economy
across the country to get

collateral-free loans.
The company helps franchisees choose right location,
get good realty deal and select
right vendors for supplying
equipment and systems. It has
lined up a string of vendors who
could do the works in salons at
a competitive rate than others.
El- Nino and it's impact

on Indian economy
Recently, private forecaster

Skymet predicted a sub-normal
monsoon in India, courtesy El
Nino that's threatening a widespread devastation globally.
Given the fears of an imminent
drought, the next government
has a tall task ahead of it
The Skymet CEO feels an
equitable distribution of rains
can be a silver lining in this
situation. According to him,
there is a 40% chance that
rainfall in June-September
would be less than average, a
25% chance of a drought and
zero percent chance of excess
rains.
The impact of El Nino need not
be source of concern for
staples. Its impact on food
prices is expected to be minimal
as India has sufficient stock of
cereals. Most fruits track 30%
import duty, if that is brought
down, it can be controlled too.

Staple inflation is never a
problem, but soaring prices of
fruits, vegetables, pulses, fruits
etc are.
By June-July the monsoon
effects will begin to feed into
the households and market.
Statistically India has faced
drought every 4.4 years. All El
Nino years were not necessarily
drought years, though the
opposite is true. Since last
drought in India was in 2009,
this year can be a drought year.
There is a consensus among the
experts that if the next
government manages to keep
the lid on fiscal deficit, and if
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan
keeps his promise on rates,
India may avert El-Nino
devastations.
IFFCO to set up urea

Plant in Canada
Leading fertiliser cooperative

IFFCO said that its subsidiary
70
received permission from the

provincial government of
Quebec to set up a $ 1.6 billion
urea plant.
The proposed facility will have
a production capacity of up to
1.6 million tonnes of urea and
7,60,000 tonnes of diesel diesel
exhaust fluid (DEF.
The estimated project cost of $
1.6 billion is based on the most
recent feasibility study.
La Coop fr an agri-food
organisation in Quebec that is
one of the project shareholders,
has agreed to purchase some
5,00,000 tonnes of urea a year
for distribution across the
province, Canada and several
US states.
In January 2013, IFFCO's
Canadian subsidiary acquired
the land for the plant. The site
is at Bncour Port and Industrial
Park, which provides access via
land, rail and water to markets
across North America.
The deep-water port will also
facilitate exports, especially to


Economy
markets in Europe. Quebec
province, Canada's largest, is
located in the east-central
region of the country.
Universal numbers to be
allotted by EPFO
Retirement fund body EPFO will

provide permanent or universal
account numbers (UAN) on the

pattern of core banking
services to its over five crore
active subscribers by October
15 this year.
Under core banking services, a

customer can avail the bank
services in any of its branch

through his allotted unique
account number.
The UAN will facilitate
subscribers in avoiding filing of
PF transfer claims on changing
jobs.
UAN will be allotted to the
present active members by
October 15, 2014 and thereafter
the coverage of other members
will be taken up.
After getting UAN, a
subscriber would not be issued
new PF account number on
joining new firm. It is expected
to provide great relief to those
workers in organised sector
who frequently change jobs,
particularly, in construction
sector.
The UAN would be one
account number which would
be allotted to a subscriber for
various schemes run by the
EPFO for his entire service
period with different employers.
71
Introduction of minimum
wage in Switzerland
Swiss voters have rejected a

proposal to introduce a minimum wage of 3,000 Swiss francs
per month (4,500 dollars).
77 per cent of voters cast
ballots against the measure.
At 25 dollars an hour, it would
be the highest minimum wage
in the world.
The referendum was launched
by left-wing parties and trade
unions, which argued that such
a salary was necessary for
making a decent living in
Switzerland, where the cost of
living is among the highest in
Europe.
The government and employers associations had campaigned against the plan, warning
that companies would shift
operations to neighbouring
countries and Switzerland's
important tourism sector would
suffer.

The main features of the Essay course would be
Get articles on how to write a good essay, and how to improve your writing skills.
2 Essays per Month.
Each Essay topic would be communicated, along with a suggested framework, to help you to get
started.
Thorough Evaluation of each essay by an expert team, along with the Grade-sheet for your essay, to
let you know about the marks breakup.
Communication about the quality and other aspects of the essay through mail and phone.
Guidelines for each essay before you start writing.
Automatic registration in monthly open essay competition.
And, of course, attractive prizes for the top entries.
The cost of the course has been low so as to help every section of the student community. Buying
only a book costs you Rs. 300+, without any guidance and support. But the UPSCPORTAL gives
you the opportunity to prepare for the essay paper in just Rs.599 Rs. 399, with all guidance and
support, and prizes for the toppers.
The Best Performers of the Essay Course would be awarded with a Certificate of Appreciation from
UPSCPORTAL, to decorate your Resume.
For More Information Click below Link

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-mains-essay

4 gene, the main genetic risk

factor for Alzheimer's disease.
KLOTHO
People who have a variant of a

longevity gene have improved
brain skills such as thinking,
learning and memory. Researchers found that increasing
levels of the gene, called
KLOTHO, in mice made them
smarter, possibly by increasing
the strength of connections
between nerve cells in the brain.
The study was published in
Cell Reports. Those who have
one copy of a variant of the
KLOTHO gene, called KL-VS,
tend to live longer and have
lower chances of suffering a
stroke whereas those who have
two copies may live shorter
lives and have a higher risk of
stroke.
The study also found that
those with one copy performed
better on cognitive tests
regardless of age, sex or the
presence of the apolipoprotein
India's first cyber lab
The National Law School of

India University (NLSIU) on
May 6 will launch what is touted
to be the country's first cyber
lab in a legal academic
institution.
The lab, co-funded by the
Department of Electronics and
Information Technology
(DEITY), Ministry of
Communication and Infor-
72
mation Technology, will be

inaugurated by Shyamal
Ghosh, the former Telecom
Secretary, Government of India;
Gulshan Rai, Director-General,
Indian Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT-In) and
R. Venkata Rao, Vice-Chancellor, NLSIU.
A release from NLSIU's
Advanced Centre for Cyber
Law and Cyber Forensics, said
the centre also offers training
programmes for bank officials
and other professionals who


Science & Technology
want to gain knowledge of

cyber
technology
and
forensics crucial for detection
and investigation of cyber
crimes.
The centre launched its
Postgraduate Diploma in Cyber
Law and Cyber Forensics in
June 2013, which senior police
officers, IT security officers and
lawyers have enrolled for.
Implantable Device to
Control BP
Supermassive black holes
galaxies -- as opposed to active

galaxies -- are no longer actively
producing stars.
Black holes are much easier to
locate in newer active galaxies.
While black holes in active
galaxies are constantly eating
up gas clouds and star matter,
giving off detectable X-rays as
a result, similar activity is less
frequent and more sporadic in
normal galaxies.
Currently, the only way to find
Not being able to control blood

pressure even after gulping
pills would no longer be a
problem. Soon, an implantable
device will reduce blood
pressure by sending electrical
signals to the brain.
The device consists of 24

individual electrodes that are
integrated into a micromachined cuff. It is designed to
wrap around the vagus nerve,
which extends from the
brainstem to the thorax and
abdomen - supplying and
stimulating various major
organs including the heart and
major blood vessels.
In a first, German researchers

have successfully reduced the
blood pressure in rats by 40
percent with this device without
any major side effects.
This could offer hope for a
significant proportion of
patients worldwide who do not
respond to existing medical
treatment for the condition.
The implantable device uses an
intelligent circuit to record the
activity of the patient, for
instance when they are
exercising, and adjust the blood
pressure accordingly.
Luck for the average pedestrian

is happening upon a crisp dollar
bill tumbling down the sidewalk.
For European astronomers, it's
happening to be looking at the
right portion of sky at the exact
moment a star is ripped apart
by a giant black hole.
The auspicious discovery was
made by the European Space
Agency's orbiting X-ray
observatory XMM-Newton.
The cosmological providence
revealed not one black hole, but
two the first pair of
supermassive black holes
observed in a normal galaxy.
Normal galaxies, or quiescent
73
a normal black hole is by

happening upon a "tidal
disruption event," like the star
consumption witnessed by
ESA's XXM-Newton.
What makes the latest
discovery even more unusual
is that the two black holes were
found together, orbiting each
other -- the product of two
galaxies having merged.
Helix's twisted cousin
The helix is a complex shape

found in many natural settings.
It is commonly illustrated by
the shape of DNA molecules.


The roots of some plants also

burrow as helices, like
corkscrews winding downward
in search of richer soil. But
during an experiment at
Harvard University, mechanical
engineers were surprised when
a pair of rubber ribbons
expected to form a helix did not,
buckling into a shape rarely
observed in nature.
Every helix winds in a left or
right direction. The engineers
observed what they called a
hemihelix: a helix that changes
its direction midway. The
region along which it changes
its direction is called
aperversion. Charles Darwin
observed plant tendrils forming
hemihelices in 1888.
Starting with two strips of an
elastic polymer of different
lengths, the engineers
stretched the shorter one to be
the same length as the other.
Then, while maintaining the
stretching force, they joined the
strips side-by-side. As the
force was dwindled, the bi-strip
twisted and bent to create
either a helix or a hemihelix.
As energy due to stretching

flows through the strip, the strip
twists to reduce the load it
bears. However, imperfections
in the material could cause the
strip to buckle at certain places,
where perversions form and the
chirality reverses.
where it gets dehumidified. The

water is then removed from the
air and collected in a tank inside
the unit.
The company claims its water
generator is more energy
efficient than other such
companies as it uses the cooled
air created by the unit to chill
incoming air. The system can
produce 250-800 litres of
potable water a day depending
on temperature and humidity
conditions.
Orbit of the International

Space Station (ISS)
From thin air to drinking

water
An Israeli company has

developed a new and
inexpensive technology that
produces drinking water from
thin air, an advancement that
can address the problem of
water scarcity in developing
countries such as India.
Using the technology, a litre of
water can be produced for a
mere Rs. 1.5, as compared to Rs.
15 for a litre of bottled water,
the company claims. The
Atmospheric Water-Generation
Units created by Water-Gen
use a "GENius" heat exchanger
to chill air and condense water
vapour.
The clean air is passed through
the heat exchanger system
74
The orbit of the International

Space Station (ISS) will be
corrected by raising it by 2.15
kilometres.
The maneouver were carried
out using the thrusters of the
Progress M-21M cargo
spacecraft.
The station was raised to the
altitude of 415.2 kilometres and
the adjustment is made to
ensure better docking conditions of the Soyuz TMA-13M
spacecraft, which is scheduled
to blast off from the Baikonur
space centre in Kazakhstan on
May 28 to bring a new crew to
the ISS.


The Progress M-21M docked

with the orbital station on
November 30. The docking
operation was being carried out
by means of the new approach
system in an automatic mode.
Microbes could Colonize

Mars
In the race to colonise Mars,

microbes may end up beating
humans!
requirements for a maximum

allowable level of microbial life,
or bioburden.
These acceptable levels were
based on studies of how
various life forms survive
exposure to the rigours
associated with space travel,
researchers said.
Spore-forming bacteria are of
particular concern because
spores can withstand certain
The link between Tobacco

and Cancer in India
Hardy little micro-organisms

from Earth could hitch a ride on
a spacecraft and colonise the
surface of Mars and trick
scientists into thinking they are
aliens, a new study by NASA
scientists, including one of
Indian-origin, has found.
These bacteria could contaminate celestial bodies such as
Mars, making it difficult for
researchers to determine if a life
form actually originated on the
site, researchers said.
Currently, spacecraft landing
on Mars or other planets where
life might exist must meet
sterilisation procedures and

may best be able to survive the
harsh environments of outer
space or planetary surfaces.
Spores of Bacillus pumilus
SAFR-032 have shown
especially high resistance to
techniques used to clean
spacecraft, such as ultraviolet
(UV) radiation and peroxide
treatment.
When researchers exposed this
hardy organism to a simulated
Mars environment that kills
standard spores in 30 seconds,
it survived 30 minutes.
75
Every year nearly one million

new cancer cases are diagnosed in India, the prevalence
being 2.5 million. With mortalities of 6,00,000-7,00,000 a year,
cancer causes six per cent of all
adult deaths in the country.
The number of deaths per year
is projected to shoot up to 1.2
million by 2035, according to a
series of papers published in
the Lancet Oncology journal.
Currently, people in the 30-69
age group account for over
two-thirds of cancer deaths in
India, with less than a third of
the patients surviving more
than five years after diagnosis.
The most common, nearly half
of all, are cancers of the lung
and oral cavity in men, and of
the breast and cervix in women.
Tobacco use alone accounts for
about 40 per cent of all cancers
in India.
The geographical distribution
of cancers is quite varied across
the country. Based on the data
from Chennai, cervical cancer
was more prevalent (22.7 per
100,000) than breast cancer in
Tamil Nadu, while oral cancer
accounted for 243 per 100,000
men in Kerala.
With a rate of 215 per 100,000
women, Delhi had the highest
incidence of gall bladder cancer
in women in the world.
Plant Growth Chamber

for Space
Astronauts will now turn into

cosmic gardeners and grow


lettuce in space as United

States space agency National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) is all
set to send the largest ever
plant growth chamber to the
International Space Station
(ISS).
It will launch the Vegetable
Production System aboard
SpaceX's Dragon capsule.
The plant growth chamber will
grow lettuce inside prototype
flight pillows that will help the
plants withstand zero gravity,
The Verge reported. Red, blue,
and green light emitting diodes
(LEDs) will help sustain the
vegetables, and the plant
chamber itself can grow to 11.5
inches wide and 14.5 inches
deep.
This will be "the largest plant
growth chamber for space to
date.
The chamber may even be used
for more ambitious projects, like
providing food for the average
person back on Earth. After
extensive testing on weightless
horticulture, NASA is confident
the lack of gravity will not
impede growth.
However, space-borne microbes that may develop during
growth are a cause of concern.
Therefore, the lettuce will
undergo extensive testing
before astronauts chow down.
reservoir in Goa, which supplies drinking water to more

than half of the coastal State.
The government engineers
have however said that there
was "no reason" to worry.
The State Public Works
Department has started
monitoring the water content at
the South Goa reservoir.
The manganese level in the
water from the reservoir has
risen up from 0.1 to 0.8 mg per
litre.
The reservoir has an earth dam
with concrete spillway and is
on the Selaulim tributary of
Zuari river.
The reservoir has production
capacity of 214 MLD of water,
which is supplied to entire
South Goa and some parts of
north district.
LADEE
High manganese level has been

detected in the Selaulim
Earth-like Planet Spotted
NASA's robotic moon explorer,

LADEE, is no more.
Researchers believe LADEE
likely vaporized when it hit
because of its extreme orbiting
speed of 3,600 mph (5,800 kph),
possibly smacking into a
High Manganese level

Detected in the Selaulim
Reservoir
76
mountain or side of a crater. No

debris would have been left
behind.
LADEE - short for Lunar
Atmosphere
and
Dust
Environment Explorer - was
launched in September from
Virginia. From the outset,
NASA planned to crash the
spacecraft into the back side of
the moon, far from the Apollo
artifacts left behind during the
moonwalking days of 1969 to
1972.
Astronomers have discovered

what they say is the most Earthlike planet yet detected a
distant, rocky world that's
similar in size to our planet and
exists in the Goldilocks zone
where it's not too hot and not
too cold for life.
The planet was detected by
NASA's orbiting Kepler
telescope, which examines the
heavens for subtle changes in
brightness that indicate an
orbiting planet is crossing in
front of a star. From those
changes, scientists can
calculate a planet's size and
make certain inferences about
its makeup.
The newfound object, dubbed
Kepler-186f, circles a red dwarf
star 500 light years from Earth
in the constellation Cygnus. A
light year is about 9.5 trillion km.
The planet is about 10 per cent
larger than Earth and may very
well have liquid water a key
ingredient for life on its surface.
That is because it resides at the
outer edge of the habitable



temperature zone around its
star the sweet spot where lakes,
rivers or oceans may exist
without freezing solid or boiling
away.
World's Smallest, Fastest

Nanomotor
biochemicals and move

through liquids, which is
important for future applications.
With all its dimensions under 1
micrometer in size, the
nanomotor could fit inside a
human cell and is capable of
Researchers have built the

smallest, fastest and longestrunning tiny synthetic motor to
date.
The team's nanomotor is an
important step toward developing miniature machines that
could one day move through
the body to administer insulin
for diabetics when needed, or
target and treat cancer cells
without harming good cells.
With the goal of powering these
yet-to-be invented devices, UT
Austin engineers focused on
building a reliable, ultra-highspeed nanomotor that can
convert electrical energy into
mechanical motion on a scale
500 times smaller than a grain
of salt.
The team's three-part nanomotor can rapidly mix and pump
rotating for 15 continuous

hours at a speed of 18,000
RPMs, the speed of a motor in
a jet airplane engine. Comparable nanomotors run significantly more slowly, from 14
RPMs to 500 RPMs, and have
only rotated for a few seconds
up to a few minutes.
ENVIRONMENT
Indian Cities with
Minimum air Pollution
countries.
Of the 123 Indian cities that were
covered by the study, Hassan
ranked third in terms of least
concentration of dust particles
in air. The other two cities are
Kollam and Pathanamthitta in
Kerala.
The WHO conducted the study
and prepared a database of
ambient air quality, considering
the concentration of particulate
matter in air. Particulate matter
with a diameter of 10 micron
(PM10) and 2.5 micron (PM2.5)
were considered for the study.
The
collected
daily
measurements or data were
aggregated into annual mean
for the database.
As per the database, in Hassan,
the annual mean of PM10 was
recorded at 44 ?g/m3
(micrograms per cubic metre of
air) and PM2.5 at 19 ?g/m3.
In Kollam, it was 39 ?g/m3 and
17 ?g/m3 respectively and in
Pathanamthitta, it was 23 ?g/m3
and 10 ?g/m3 respectively.
The
concentration
of
particulate matter recorded in
Pathanamthitta is closer to the
recommended level.
New Species of Dancing

Frogs
Scientists have discovered 14

new species of so-called
Hassan city is among three

Indian cities with minimum air
pollution, according to the
latest World Health Organisation (WHO) study on
ambient air quality. The study
spanned over 1,600 cities in 91
77


dancing frogs in the Western

Ghats, just in time, they fear, to
watch them fade away.
Indian biologists say they
found the tiny acrobatic
amphibians, which earned their
name with the unusual kicks
they use to attract mates,
declining dramatically in
number during the 12 years in
which they chronicled the
species through morphological
descriptions and molecular
DNA markers. They breed after
the yearly monsoon in fastrushing streams, but their
habitat appears to be becoming
increasingly dry.
The study listing the new
species published in the Ceylon
Journal of Science brings the
number of known Indian
dancing frog species to 24.
Only the males dance: it's
actually a unique breeding
behavior called foot-flagging.
They stretch, extend and whip
their legs out to the side to draw
the attention of females who
might have trouble hearing
mating croaks over the sound
of water flowing through
perennial hill streams.
They bigger the frog, the more
they dance. These are tiny,
delicate frogs no bigger than a
walnut and can easily be swept
away in a gushing mountain
stream. So breeding happens
only once the level of a stream
drops to the point where the
water babbles over stones.
The 2014 version of the

Ambient Air Pollution (AAP)
database contains results of
Change in U.S. Climate
WHO Report on Pollution
monitoring of outdoor air

pollution from 1600 cities in 91
countries and it found that
Delhi has the highest
concentration of PM2.5 particulate matters less than 2.5
microns - form of air pollution.
According to WHO, this type
of concentration is dangerous
because it consists of tiny
particles that increase the risk
of respiratory diseases and
other health problems.
The Delhi air has PM2.5
concentrations of 153
micrograms and PM10
concentrations of 286
micrograms, which is much
more than the permissible limits.
Beijing, which was once
regarded by many as the most
polluted cities in the world, has
PM2.5 concentration of 56
micrograms and PM10
concentration of 121 micro
grammes.
The WHO study covers the
database from 2008 to 2013,
with the majority of values for
the years 2011 and 2012.
The effects of human-induced

climate change are being felt in
every corner of the United
States, with water growing
scarcer in dry regions, torrential
rains increasing in wet regions,
heat waves becoming more
common and more severe,
wildfires growing worse, and
forests dying under assault
from heat-loving insects.
Such sweeping changes have
been caused by an average
warming of less than 2 degrees
78
Fahrenheit over most land areas

of the country in the past
century, the scientists found. If
greenhouse gases like carbon
dioxide and methane continue
to escalate at a rapid pace, they
said, the warming could conceivably exceed 10 degrees by the
end of this century.
Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant
future, has moved firmly into
the present.
The report is the latest in a
series of dire warnings about
how the effects of global
warming that had been long
foreseen by climate scientists
are already affecting the planet.
Its region-by-region documentation of changes occurring in
the United States, and of future
risks, makes clear that few
places will be unscathed - and
some, like northerly areas, are
feeling the effects at a swifter
pace than had been expected.
Alaska in particular is hard hit.
Glaciers and frozen ground in
that state are melting, storms are
eating away at fragile coastlines
no longer protected by winter
sea ice, and entire communities
are having to flee inland - a
precursor of the large-scale
changes the report foresees for
the rest of the United States.
"Save Our Snow

Leopards"
The strikingly beautiful snow

leopards are in "real danger"
and there was need to observe,
study and develop ways to
conserve this rare and
endangered species as only


400-700 of the world's best

mountain climbers remain in
India, according to a leading
conservation organisation.
Launching a campaign "Save

Our Snow Leopards", WWFIndia said that poaching is the
major challenge for the
protection of this so magnificent species found high
altitude Himalayan region.
Snow leopards are poached for
their pelts while their bones and
other body parts are also in
demand for use in traditional
Asian medicines.
Snow leopards also face habitat
and prey loss with the increase
of human settlements and
developmental activities in their
territories.
The snow leopard is found
across almost 1,29,000 sq kms
in India, in the states of Jammu
and Kashmir, Uttarakhand,
Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and
Arunachal Pradesh.
The WWF-India said that the
snow leopard is at the apex of
the mountain eco-system and
is also an indicator species for
the high altitude mountain
ecosystem.
Happy Earth Day doodle
Google is celebrating Earth

Day"(April 22), which is marked
to raise awareness for our
planet's environment, through
animated doodles featuring six
creatures from the animal
planet.
Earth Day was first held in 1970
and is now observed in over 192
countries each year, with
activities being coordinated by
the nonprofit Earth Day
Network which is chaired by the
first Earth Day coordinator
Denis Hayes.
These are a few facts about
these animals:
The Rufous Hummingbird,
which is the first to appear, is
beautifully incorporated in the
doodle. A couple of blooming
flowers become the Os of
Google as the Rufous
hummingbird, which is known
to attack flowers relentlessly,
flaps its wings at the speed of
light while devouring the
nectar.
The Rufous Hummingbird
makes one of the longest
migratory journeys of any bird
in the world, as measured by
body size.
79
Next is a pair of sleeping

Japanese Macaques sticking to
each other for warmth in the
falling snow as they make the
Os of Google. They are also
knowns as "snow monkeys"
and inhabit three out of four
main islands of Japan.
Then there is the bloated,
rotating puffer fish which is
known for its ability transform
and enlarge its body in a split
of a second. It also makes one
of the Os of Google.
The puffer fish is one of the
most poisonous creatures on
Earth and is considered a major
delicacy in Japan. When
prepared correctly, the flesh of
the fish gives a tingling
sensation on the tongue
because of a non-lethal dose of
tetrodotoxin which is a potent
neurotoxin and has no antidote.
However, anyone eating a badly
made dish of puffer fish could
completely be paralysed and
die.
River policing
Batting to end all encroachments and to enforce a ban on

developmental activities on the
floodplains of River Yamuna,
the Union ministry of
Environment and Forests


(MoEF) said that a dedicated

'river policing' unit should be
set up to stop unauthorised
construction and maintain the
ecological integrity of the river.
It also said the entire 52-km
stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi
and UP should be declared a
'conservation zone' in order to
frame proper rules for
permitting/prohibiting human
activities.
The MoEF recommendations
came in the form of a report to
the National Green Tribunal
(NGT) for saving Yamuna.
Acting on a complaint by
environmentalist
Manoj
Mishra regarding "serious
degradation" of the river, NGT
last year asked MoEF to submit
a comprehensive report for
restoration, preservation and
beautification of the river, as
well as identify people who
should carry out the work.
It has also sought immediate
action for identifying "additional landfill sites, catering to
the next 25 years of requirement" as there is shortage of
landfill sites in Delhi.
The MoEF has recommended a
slew of measures like controlled
dredging, construction of
culverts, development of
wetlands and floodplain
vegetation having native
biodiversity, development of
green belt on both sides of the
embankments, controlling of
sewage pollution, etc for saving
the Yamuna. It also said
agricultural activity on
floodplains should be regulated
to totally prohibit the use of
pesticides and fertilisers.
The ministry has also called for

a separate programme for
promoting public awareness
on river conservation and
community participation in
restoration, management and
monitoring of the river.
15 Endangered Indian
Birds
Fifteen Indian bird species are

part of a list of avians which
are evolutionarily distinct and
globally endangered. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
and Yale University has come
out with a study of 100
Evolutionarily Distinct and
Globally Endangered (EDGE)
species worldwide.
forests. The survival of Spoonbilled Sandpiper, Siberian Crane

and White-bellied Heron
greatly depend on the existence
of their wetland habitat.
Forest Owlet's survival is
impossible if its habitat of
deciduous forests in central
India is destroyed, the study
said. Officials of the Bombay
Natural History Society
(BNHS), which works on the
conservation of 12 of these
threatened birds, said these
species were threatened by
human factors such as
uncontrolled urbanisation,
unsustainable industrialisation
and rampant use of chemicals
in agriculture.
Indian projects shortlisted

for Green Oscars
The study says Bengal

Florican, Lesser Florican, Great
Indian Bustard, Sociable
Lapwing and Jerdon's Courser
are birds that are under threat
due to the destruction of their
habitat of grasslands and scrub
80
IT giant Infosys leads five

Indian clean energy projects
that have been shortlisted for
the annual Ashden Awards,
referred to as the Green Oscars.
The awards recognise worldwide contributions towards
green energy initiatives and a
move away from fossil fuels.
Infosys has been nominated in
the 'Ashden Award for Sustainable Buildings' category for the
Bangalore-based company's
cutting edge design of new
buildings which helps keep
offices cooler and maximises
natural light.
The other finalists include two
projects from Maharashtra Sakhi Unique Rural Enterprise
(SURE) and Greenway Grameen
- which have been nominated
in the 'Ashden Clean Energy for


Women and Girls Award'

category.
Maharashtra that has selected,

trained and supported more
than 600 women microentrepreneurs to sell clean
energy products like solar
lanterns and cleaner cookstoves to other women.
Mumbai based Greenway
Grameen's mission is to provide
an affordable, desirable
cookstove to improve quality
of life for Indian women.
SURE is a not-for-profit social

enterprise
in
central
81


strongly winning the first two

sets to go 4-0 up.
2 Medals for Indian

Archers
tenure directives. The court's

directive will certainly make all
NSFs accountable and their
functioning transparent.
Validity of sports code

Indian men's recurve archers
went down fighting against
Korea in the final of the World
Cup Stage II at Medellin,
Columbia recently.
The Indian team of Atanu Das,

Thupuvoyi Swuro and Sanjay
Boro fought gallantly to go
down in the tiebreak and claim
the silver medal.
The Indian mixed team of Das
and Laishram Bombayla Devi
won the bronze medal by
beating their Mexican rivals.
The Korean side began
The Delhi high court has

directed all National Sports
Federations (NSF) to follow the
national sports code. This
simply means that the Union
sports ministry's guidelines on
age and tenure restriction have
attained legal sanctity.
The sports ministry has

repeatedly outlined that
recognition to any NSF would
rely on the current legal status
of the organisation, recognition
by the respective international
federation, the Asian federation
and the Indian Olympic
Association (IOA). The IOA
had also challenged the
government's authority, but the
latest directive from the court
has come as a jolt.
Richmond Open
This is a shot in the arm for the

ministry which suspended the
Indian Amateur Boxing
Federation (IABF) and Archery
Association of India (AAI) for
not implementing age and
82
Joshna Chinappa ended a

career-long losing run to
Australia's former world
champion Rachael Grinham
when she upset the top seed in
straight games to win the
inaugural $10,000 Richmond
Open.


Sports
achievement as a track and field

athlete.
World No.21 Chinappa beat her

16th-ranked opponent 11-9, 115, 11-8 for the first time in six
meetings to bag her ninth
Women's Squash Association
(WSA) tour title at the Country
Club of Virginia.
Badminton Asian
Championship
Ambassador of TCS World

10K 2014
Multiple Olympic champion

Carl Lewis was confirmed as the
event ambassador of the TCS
World 10K 2014 recently. The
event will be flagged off from
Bangalore`s Sree Kanteerava
Stadium on May 18.
In a career spanning from 1979
to 1996, Lewis won 10 Olympic
medals including nine golds in
disciplines as varied as 100m,
200m, 4X100m relay and Long
jump. Besides the Olympic
glory, he also won 10 World
Championships medals, setting
numerous records. The
International
Olympic
Committee honoured him with
the title, the Sportsman of the
Century for his unrivalled
For the first time after their

reunion, doubles duo of Jwala
Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa
made it to the quarterfinals of
an event outside India.
The pair stunned third seeds A
Duanganong and V Kunchala
21-11, 21-18 in the pre-quarters
of the Badminton Asian
Championship in Gimcheon,
South Korea.
PV Sindhu and RMV
Gurusaidutt joined the doubles
specialists in the quarterfinals.
While Sindhu defeated Eriko
Hirose for the first time in her
career 14-21, 21-13, 21-18, Guru
registered a hard-fought victory
over Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese
Taipei 17-21, 21-13, 21-19.
Asian Championship
in the Asian Badminton

Championship held at Korea.
The 18-year-old Sindhu fought
hard for one hour and 18
minutes before losing to the
two-time reigning All England
champion Shixian 21-15 20-22
12-21 in the women's singles
competition.
In women's doubles, Jwala and
Ashwini failed to breach the
defence of Luo Yu and Luo Ying,
and suffered a 12-21 7-21 loss
to the world number 10 Chinese
pair
Historic accord on Sport

for Peace
The United Nations (U.N.) and

the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) has signed a
historic agreement to use the
power of sports to promote
peace
and
economic
development, a move that
strengthens collaboration
between two of the world's
major organizations.
The U.N. and Olympic charters,
both call for international
cooperation to promote peace,
a better life for people around
the world and preserving
human dignity.
The
Memorandum
of
Understanding signed with the
IOC was "a logical and historic
step after years of ever closer
India's teen sensation P V

Sindhu and Commonwealth
Games gold medallist pair of
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini
Ponnappa had to settle for
bronze medals after losing their
respective semifinals matches
83


Sports
collaboration in using sport to

promote development and
peace."
The agreement calls for joint
sporting initiatives between the
IOC, national Olympic
committees, international
sports federations, organizing
committees and international
athletes and the 193 U.N.
member states, U.N. agencies,
envoys
and
goodwill
ambassadors.
The two organizations will be
promoting education for youth
through sport without
discrimination of any kind,
access to sport for all
communities especially the
most disadvantaged and
marginalized, healthy lifestyles
and peace-building and
community dialogue.
Indian tennis players and

top-100 bracket
The tall and big serving Saketh

Myneni though jumped seven
places to be 262.
In the doubles, Leander Paes
continued to be India's best
ranked player and the only one
in top-10 at number nine. Davis
Cupper Rohan Bopanna was
next best at number 14.
Mahesh Bhupathi, who will
retire this year and will be
playing only select events,
gained a place to be 46.
Real Madrid reached their first

Champions League final for 12
years with an historic 4-0 win
at Bayern Munich in semifinal,
second leg to knock the holders
out.
Having won last week's first leg
1-0 in Madrid, Real won the
semifinal 5-0 on aggregate as
Pep Guardiola's Bayern
suffered their heaviest home
defeat in European competition.

Bayern had previously never
lost at home by more than two
goals in Europe as the Bavarian
giants saw their dreams of
reaching a fourth Champions
League final in five years
crushed.
Top test rank for Australia
Real Madrid reach their

first Champions League
final
five consecutive tournaments

on the ATP tour.
Also sliding in the ATP ranking
ladder was India's second best
singles player, Yuki Bhambri,
who lost four spots to be 153.
Australia has reclaimed the

number one Test ranking for the
first time in five years.
They also remain the top-rated
one day international side in
the latest official rankings from
the International Cricket
Council (ICC).
It is the first time since
December 2008 that the country
has been ranked number one in
Tests and ODIs at the same
time. They last held the top Test
ranking in August 2009, when
they were displaced after losing
the Ashes 2-1 to England.
Reliance ICC T20I Team

Rankings
India has become the numberone ranked Twenty20 International (T20I) side after the
annual update of the Reliance
ICC T20I Team Rankings,
A struggling Somdev Devvarman dropped out of top-100

bracket in the singles rankings
as the Indian slipped to 102 with
the loss of two places.
Somdev has been struggling
since winning the Delhi Open
challenger title and failed to
cross the first round hurdle in
84


Sports
which was recently announced

.
India has swapped places with
ICC
World
Twenty20
Bangladesh 2014 champion Sri
Lanka.
In the past 12 months, India has
lost just one T20I (against Sri
Lanka in the recent ICC WT20
Final in Bangladesh), while Sri
Lanka has lost four matches.
The 2013-2014 results are
weighted at 100 per cent
whereas, the results in 20112012 and 2012-2013 are now
weighted at 50 per cent.
Therefore, Sri Lanka's strong
performances in those two
earlier years now count for less.
In the other major change, the
West Indies has slipped two
places. This drop has moved
Australia and New Zealand up
by one place each.
Texas Open squash final
Deepika Pallikal stumbled on

the final hurdle against
Egyptian teenager Nour El
Sherbini in the title clash of the
Women's Champion Fiberglass
Texas Open.
Eyeing maiden major title of her
career, world No 12 Deepika
faltered against the 18-year-old
qualifier 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 to lose
in 48 minutes.
The 22-year-old Deepika was
celebrating the biggest Tour
final of her career - while world
junior champion El Sherbini was
continuing the form of her life
which had seen the youngster

reach last month's WSA World
Championship final after
upsetting world No 1 Nicol
David.
Shotgun World Cup
Mohammed Asab missed the

double trap knock-out phase by
2014 South Asian Judo

Championship
one point in the Shotgun World

Cup in Tucson, US. Ankur
Mittal finished 19th with a 132
while Ronjan Sodhi placed 35th
with 120 in a field of 41.
Joshua Richmond of the US
who made the cut for the knockout, one point above Asab,
following a shoot-off on 138,
went on to bag the silver after
losing the shoot-off for gold
against compatriot Jeffrey
Holgun.
In women's skeet, Saniya Sheikh
shot 64 to be placed 25th among
31 shooters. National champion
Rashmee Rathore could muster
only 57 . Danka Bartekova of
Slovakia won the gold as she
beat Wei Weng of China, 1413.
85
Humera Ashique recently

became the first Pakistani
women to win a judo gold medal
in an international event in
Nepal.
The 24-year-old took the gold
at the 2014 South Asian Judo
Championship in Kathmandu
as she defeated a local athlete
to clinch the 48kg event.
Rome Masters
Serena Williams won her third

title of the season as she
delivered a crushing 6-3, 6-0
defeat to Sara Errani to win a
third trophy at the Rome
Masters .
The world number one now
heads to the French Open on
solid form after winning the
week in Rome after withdrawing
from a Madrid semi-final last
weekend with a thigh injury.
Williams becomes the first
player on the WTA to lift three
trophies this season after
beating Italy's Errani for the
seventh time with the loss of
just one set in that series.


Krishi Karman Awards
The awards were presented in

two categories. In the Total
food grain production category,
the awards were presented to
Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and
Manipur states.
In the excellence in the
Individual food grains crops
category, the awards were
presented to Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and
Bihar States. Uttar Pradesh,
West Bengal, Arunachal
Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram
and Tripura got commendation
prizes for total food grain
production.
Maharashtra got commendation prize for rice, Assam for

pulses and Punjab and Haryana
for rice and wheat. Krishi
Karman awards were instituted
in 2010-11 by the Government
of India, Ministry of
Agriculture. Krishi Karman
awards are given to States for
their effort and contribution
towards raising the country's
food grain production.
Documentary Film up to 60
minutes went to Germany's
Maria Stodtmeier's "In
Between: Isang Yun in North
and South Korea'. While, FTII
production 'Black Rock'
directed by Vikrant Janardhan
Pawar was adjudged the Best
Short Fiction film in
International Competition;
Kashmiri film 'Tamaash" won
the Golden Conch award for the
Best Short Fiction Film in the
National Competition.
Golden Conch Award :
Bangladesh's 'Are You

Listening' bags Golden Conch
Award for Best Documentary at
MIFF: Bangladesh's film maker
Kamar Ahmad Simon's 90minutes documentary, 'Are You
Listening', has bagged the
Golden Conch Award for the
Best Documentary Film at the
Mumbai International Film
Festival, for Documentary,
Short and Animation Films.
The Golden Conch for Best
86
Vyas Samman:
Vishwanath Tripathi, the

eminent Hindi writer has been
selected for the prestigious
Vyas Samman for the year 2013.
He has been chosen for his
memoir 'Vyomkesh Darvesh'
that is a biography of the noted
Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari
Prasad Dwivedi.


Award & Prizes

The Amazing Indian Award was
instituted by Times Now
channel in September 2012.
New category of State

Award:
Union Ministry for Rural

Development has introduced a
new category of State Award
for Effective Initiatives under
MGNREGA. These are Sustainable livelihood through
Convergence, Social Inclusion
and the third one for
Transparency
and
Accountability.
Moorti Devi Award:
The 26th Moorti Devi Award

was given to Renowned Odia
poet and thinker Haraprasad
Das. The award is given every
year by the Bharatiya Jnanpith
consists of a Citation and a
cash prize of 4 Lakh rupees.
proteins and gene regulation.

With this award, he became the
first scientist of Laboratory of
Molecular Biology (LMB) to
win the award.
Highest Israeli civilian

award
International Gandhi
Award 2013:
For Merkel: German Chancellor

Angela Merkel has been
awarded Israel's highest civilian
honour, the "Medal of
Distinction" for her unwavering commitment to the country.
Protein Science Young

Investigator Award for
2014:
Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak

Dongreand Prof. Guocheng
Zhang won International
Gandhi Award 2013 for making
outstanding contributions in
the field of leprosy to eradicate
the disease through treatment,
training and research.
National Tourism Award:
Amazing Indian Award:
Arunima Sinha received

Amazing Indian Award for
scaling Mount Everest despite
being physically challenged.
Madan Babu, an Indian-born

scientist, won the Protein
Science Young Investigator
Award for 2014 at Cambridge,
UK. Madan received the award
for his contributions to the
understanding of the principles
of regulation in biological
systems, especially in the fields
of intrinsically disordered
87
Sikkim has been declared the

best state in the country in
implementation of Rural
Tourism Projects by Ministry of
Tourism, government of India.
for this the state was presented
the National Tourism Award
2012-13.


Juan Carlos Varela
Minister Jose Domingo Arias,

the preferred choice of Mr.
Martinelli. Juan Carlos
Navarro, a former mayor of the
capital, was in third in the
seven-candidate field with 27
per cent.
The incumbent party has still
never won re-election to
Panama's presidency since the
United States' 1989 overthrow
of military strongman Manuel
Noriega.
Lalit Modi
Vice-President Juan Carlos

Varela was declared the victor
of Panama's presidential
election , thwarting an attempt
by former ally President Ricardo
Martinelli to extend his grip on
power by electing a handpicked
successor.
With 60 per cent of ballots
counted, officials said Mr.
Varela led with 39 per cent of
the votes, compared to 32 per
cent for former Housing
88
Following the election of Lalit

Modi as president of Rajasthan
Cricket Association (RCA), the
Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) hits back by
'indefinitely' suspending the
association. The cricket board
also appointed an ad-hoc body
to run RCA's cricket affairs.
Modi was elected President of
RCA, setting the stage for yet
another round of legal tussle
between him and the Board,
which had threatened to ban
the state association in
anticipation of this result.
The RCA elections were held
in December last year but the
results were sealed following a
Supreme Court directive. And
it was opened recently by a
court-appointed observer with
the former Indian Premier
League
commissioner
defeating his opponent,
Rampal Sharma. Ouf of the 33
votes, Modi got 24, while
Sharma got five.


In the News
The BCCI had asked the RCA

to dissociate itself from Modi,
or face action after the latter was
banned for life for financial
irregularities in the IPL in
September 2013.
However, Modi - riding on the
Rajasthan Sports Act 2005,
contested the election for the
post of president. The former
Commissioner of the IPL was
seeking to return to cricket
administration.
answers to the questions of life

in his stories and tales.'
At the end, attendees tossed
up a flurry of yellow paper
butterflies, one of Garcia
Marquez's most famous literary
images from One Hundred
Years of Solitude, and his
favorite color.
ND Tiwari
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mr Garcia Marquez, widely

considered one of the greatest
Spanish-language authors of all
time was eulogized in the
dramatic art deco lobby by the
presidents of both Mexico and
Colombia, two countries linked
by the writer through his birth,
life, heritage and career.
'He will live on in his books and
writings. But more than
anything he will live forever in
the hopes of humanity'
according to his admirers.
Mexican President Enrique
Pena Nieto said the death was
'a great loss not only for
literature but for humanity.
Various generations found
After a six-year legal battle, the

Delhi High Court today
declared veteran Congress
leader ND Tiwari as the
biological father of Rohit
Shekhar.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also
injuncted Mr Tiwari from
denying in public that Mr
Shekhar is not his natural born
son.
The court passed the order
after taking into account
newspaper reports in which Mr
Tiwari had admitted that Mr
Shekhar is his natural born son.
Rohit Shekhar, in 2008, had filed
the paternity suit, claiming the
veteran Congress leader and
67-year-old Ujjwala Sharma
were his biological parents.
Earlier, the court had rejected
the plea of Mr Tiwari that he be
89
allowed to "explore" the

possibilities of an "amicable"
out-of-court settlement of the
2008 paternity suit, saying that
the other parties were not
agreeing to the proposal.
However, the counsel for Mr
Tiwari had reiterated that he
was still willing to go for
mediation.
The court had also closed the
right of Mr Tiwari to lead
evidence as he failed to appear
and testify in the case.
The court had on July 27, 2012
read out that the DNA report in
the case according to which Mr
Tiwari was shown as Rohit's
biological father.
Mr Tiwari had given blood
sample for the DNA test on
May 29 last year at his
residence in Dehradun
following the apex court's order
in the case, after repeatedly
contesting against undergoing
the test on various grounds.
Ahmed Matiq
Libya's Parliament has sworn in

a new Prime Minister despite a
disputed vote.
A Libyan television station and
lawmakers said the country's
interim Parliament swore in 42-


In the News
year-old businessman Ahmed

Matiq .
Initially, only 113 lawmakers
voted for Mr. Matiq, falling
short of the 120 votes
necessary to secure his win.
After the session was
adjourned, Al-Ahrar reported
that voting resumed and Mr.
Matiq secured eight new votes.
Jawahar Kaliani
An Indian-American has been

appointed to a key post in the
U.S. Department of Treasury.
Jawahar Kaliani has been

appointed as the Deputy Chief
Information Officer for
Application Services Delivery
(ASD) at the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency
(OCC), Department of Treasury.
Rajeev Suri
Mr. Kaliani will lead the

development and implementation of complex applications
to deliver secure business
solutions that meet organisational priorities and support the
agency's mission of ensuring
the safety and soundness of
national banks and federal
savings associations.
Yet another India-born business leader has climbed the

ranks. Finnish firm Nokia, which
recently sold its mobile unit to
Microsoft, has appointed
Rajeev Suri as the company's
new CEO and President.
Mr. Suri joined Nokia in 1995
and has held a wide range of
leadership positions in the
company. Since October of
2009, he has served as CEO of
NSN, the former joint venture
between Nokia and Siemens
that is now fully owned by
Nokia.
90
During his tenure as CEO, that

business went through a
radical transformation to
become one of the leaders in
the telecommunications infrastructure industry.
Risto Siilasmaa, who has been
serving as the interim CEO, will
now return to his role as
Chairman of Nokia's Board.
Nabam Tuki
Veteran Congress leader

Nabam Tuki was sworn in as
Chief Minister of Arunachal
Pradesh for the second
consecutive term at the Raj
Bhavan in Itanagar.
Governor Lt. Gen. (Retd)
Nirbhay Sharma administered
the oath of office and secrecy
to Mr. Tuki in an impressive
function held at Darbar Hall of
Raj Bhavan in Itanagar.

ASK YOUR QUERIES TO IAS EXPERTS

STUDENT QUERIES
ASK YOUR QUERIES TO IAS EXPERTS
Q1. Is competing under general
category be better than OBC Non
creamy? Will there any consideration be given for OBC candidates
while making the final rank list
rather than providing relaxation in
age and number of attempts only?
Rahul Ashok, via email
A. Dear Candidate, It does not matter
whether you take the exam in
general list or OBC list. The final
merit list is prepared for the
different categories on the basis
of the marks. Though the merit list
for OBC non-creamy layer
category has a lower score in
merit list, but the competition level
is great. you should take the exam
in the relevant category of your
choice. However, if you fill the
form with general category, you
will not be given any relaxation in
marks or eligibility criteria.
Team UPSCPORTAL
Q2. Sir, what is the writing strategy
for descriptive questions in
mains, what UPSC is expecting
when we write a descriptive
answer, how to convey our
answer logically and meaningfully with limited words, if a
candidate is appearing mains first
time how to treat question in what
style he has to grasp the entire
topic and what are the things to
remember while reading or writing
a descriptive answer. Please tell
me all about descriptive questions
answering strategy.
Srikanth, via UPSCPORTAL
Forum
A. Dear Candidate, As per the new
pattern, you have to write the
answer either in 200 words or in
100 words. Also, the paper contains 25 compulsory questions.

Thus, it is important to write the
answers in 'to-the-point' manner
and in the prescribed word limit.
Also, since the questions,
now, are more analytical and rarely
direct, it is necessary that you
work on your writing skills, to be
able to write analytical and brief
answers. In the present form of
examination, merely knowing the
content might not help you. You
should know how to write, what
you know.
Q3. I'm 19 years old doing my 3rd year
engineering. I'm really fascinated
by civil services and I really want
to get in to administrative
services. I'm ready to die hard for
that so I need your kind help and
guidance to move towards
success. I saw your website it was
simply adorable and awesome.
but I'm little bit confused about
the MAIN papers. Will you
please give me the overall view of
MAIN papers. I'll be very happy
if you help me out of this.
Kishor Murugan, via email
A. Dear Candidate, as per the new
syllabus, the Mains exam consist
of the following papers:
One paper of English
Language (Qualifying)
One paper of Indian Language
(Qualifying)
One Essay Paper (250 Marks)
Four General Studies Paper (250
Marks each)
Two Papers from one Optional
Subject (250 Marks)
The merit list is prepared for
the aggregate of compulsory
91
subjects. thus, each subject has

an equal weightage for the Mains
exam.
Q4. While reading NCERT books of
History and Geography, which
one should I refer, old NCERTs or
New NCERTs?
Rajesh Yadav, via
UPSCPORTAL forum
A. Dear Candidate, It does not matter
much, whether you read old
NCERT or new. The NCERT books
are a rich and easy-to-comprehend material for any IAS aspirant.
Thus, you should use them as a
tool to build your base. However,
you must not waste your time in
searching for any particular
edition of the NCERT books.
UPSCPORTAL Student
Queries Section
We encourage the civil services
aspirants to share and ask their
queries, confusions and problems
regarding the civil services
examination. Your questions would
be discussed by our Expert panel,
and will be answered adequately.
Your problems will be answered to
you via mail. Also, a selected
queries would be put in the CIVIL
SERVICES MENTOR Magazine
every month.
Thus, we invite the IAS
aspirants to ask their queries and
problems to our Expert team.
UPSCPORTAL is glad to help the
budding aspirants in their quest of
CIVILSERVICES.
You may send your queries and
questions at:
http://upscportal.com/
civilservices/contact


ONLINE TEST SERIES

PAPER 1 GS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Consider
the
following
statements
1. The people of Neolithic age
used tools of polished stone
2. Neolithic settlements in the
Indian subcontinent are not
older than 6000 BC.
3. The people of Neolithic age
knew fishing
4. Neolithic people cultivated
wheat and barley
Select the true statement given
above from codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2, and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) All the above
d
Which of the following were the
features of the Harappan houses?
1. Rectangular houses
2. Brick dried bathrooms and
wells
3. Outside stair cases
Select the answer from cods given
(a) All the above
(b) Only 1
(c) Only 3
(d) 2 and 3
Consider the fact regarding to
Pottery used by Harappans
people
1. They used glazed pottery
2. They used polychrome type
pottery
3. They used knobbed given
below
(a) Only 2
(b) Only 3
(c) All the above
(d) Both 2 and 3
Consider
the
following
statements
5.
6.
7.
(1) Jats Revolt against the

mughal authority started
from the time of Aurangzeb
(2) Churaman & Badan Singh
founded the Jat state of
Bharatpur
Which of the statements given
above is/are correct?
(a) Both 1 & 2
(c) only 1
(c) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) only 2
The Mangols under Chengez
Khan invaded India during the
reign of
(a) Balban
(b) Iltutmish
(c) Qutubuddin Aibek
(d) Firoze Tughlaq
Who was the first monarch in the
Delhi sultan at who insisted that
in doab, land revenue, should be
determined on the basis of
measuring the land under
cultivation?
(a) Alauddin Khilji
(b) Firuz Shah Tughlaq
(c) Muhammad Tughlaq
(d) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq
Consider
the
following
statements and mark the option
which is correct.
(i) Atharvaveda is related to
some Non-Aryan traditions
like magical charm & spell.
(ii) Somaveda is an elaborate
elucidation of Rituals.
(iii) Aitreya and Kausilaki
Brahmanas are related with
Rigveda.
(iv) Satpath Brahamana, related
with Yajurveda, describes
about Aryans extention in
Gangeticvalley.
92
(a) ii & iv
(b) ii only
(c) i, iii & iv (d) all of the above.
8. Which of the following is not
correct.
(i) Tenth Mandala describes
about the four varnas known
as Brahman, Kshtriya,
Vaishya & Sudra.
(ii) Mundaka
Upanishad
describes the story of Yama
& Nachiketa.
(iii) Atharva veda, Samveda and
Yajurveda are collectively
known as Trayee.
(iv) K r i s h n a - Y a j u r v e d a
comprises the description in
prose.
(a) ii & iii (b) i & iv
(c) i & iii (d) iii & iv
9. Which is the earliest Smriti?
(a) Yajnovalkya Smriti
(b) Manu Smriti
(c) Narad Smriti
(d) Parasar Smriti
10. In which Upanishad is mentioned
Satyamed Jayate?
(a) Chandogya Upanishad
(b) Prasana Upanishad
(c) Isa Upanishad
(d) Mundaka Upanishad
11. Consider
the
following
statements and mark the
whichever is correct.
(i) Garbadharna
is
the
ceremony
to
cause
inception.
(ii) Niskramana is the ceremony
of taking the child out of
house and showing the sun.
(iii) Diuksharaman ceremony
refers to learning of
Alphabet.


Online Test Series Paper 1 GS

(iv) Jatakarman ceremony is
performed for the new born
child.
(a) i, ii & iv
(b) none of the above
(c) all of the above
(c) iii only
12. Consider
the
following
which is correct.
(i) Kanishka introduced the
Saka era.
(ii) St. Thomas reached India
during the time of Pahalava
King Gondophernes.
(iii) The Junagarh / Girnar
Inscription of Rudraaman is
the first inscription in chaste
Sanskrit.
(a) i & ii (b) all of the above
(c) iii
(d) none of the above
13. Which of the following contains
the description of the King
Dushyant of Hastinapur?
(a) Mudra Rakshas
(b) Mrichchkatika
(c) Abhijanashakuntlam
(d) Hitopadesh
14. Consider
the
following
which is correct.
(i) Dhai-din Ka Jhopsa was
originally a sanskrit college
and temple built by the great
chauhan emperor Vigrahraja
Visaldeva.
(ii) Zakat was a religious tax,
paid by Muslims as a charity
for the Welfare of their
coreligiones.
(iii) Amir Khusros real name was
Abdul Hasan.
(a) All of the above
(b) i & ii
(c) iii only
15. Who introduced Du-Aspah &

Site-Aspah system?
(a) Shahjahan
(b) Aurangzeb
(c) Jehangir
(d) Akbar
16. Consider
the
following
which is true.
(i) Baji Rao I propounded
concept of Hindu Pad
Padshahi and was also the
real architect of Marath
Empire.
(ii) Moksha Mahal were the
Land grants given during the
time of Marathas.
(iii) During the reign of Baji Rao
I the Maratha Capital shifted
from Satara to Poona.
(a) all of the above
(b) i & ii
(c) ii & iii
17. Arrange the following according
to their charonological order
(i) Baji Rao I
(ii) Narayan Rao
(iii) Madhav Rao
(iv) Balaji Vishwanath
(a) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)
(b) (iv) (ii) (i) (iii)
(c) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)
(d) (ii) (iii) (iv) (I)
18. Consider
the
following
which is correct.
(i) Dadu Dayal was a devotee
of Nirankar Brahma &
Staumeh supporter of
Nirguna school of Bhakti
cult.
(ii) Guru Nanak started Langar
& has work was compiled in
the Adi Granth.
(iii) Chaitanya was the most
93
radical
disciple
of
Ramananda.
(a) ii & iii
(b) all
(c) 1 & 2
(d) none
19. Who among the following is also
known as Kabir of the Deccan
(a) Basava
(b) Nimbarkacharya
(c) Madhvacharya
(d) Tukaram
20. There are some views given by
Historians about the decline of
Mughal empire.
Match the following.
Historians
(1) Jadunath Sarkar
(2) Irfan Habib
(3) Athar Ali
(4)Satish Chandra
Region
a) Agrarian crisis
b) Peasand rebellion
c) Mansabdari crisis
d) Jagir system
(a) 1 - a 2 - b 3 - c 4 - d
(b) 1 - b 2 - c 3 - d 4 a
(c) 1 - b 2 - a 3 - d 4 - c
(d) 1 - d 2 - b 3 - c 4 - a
21. Consider
the
following
statements about Brahmo Samaj.
1) Tattvabodhini Patrika was
the mouth piece of Brahmo
Samaj.
2) In 1865 there ws asplit when
Keshav Chand Sen & his
followers broke away.
3) The role of the Brahmo Samaj
as the first intellectual
movement.
Which spread the ideas of
rational & enlightment in Modern
India.
(b) 1 & 2 only
(c) 2 & 3 only
(d) 1 & 3



22. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Mahima movement was
founded in Orissa.
2) Dev Samaj founded by
Keshav Chand Sen.
Which of the above statements
is / are true.
(a) 2 only
(b) 1 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
23. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Bhupendra Datta edited
Yugantar during National
movement.
2) Aurbindo Ghosh was related
to Yugantar.
3) Collector of Nasik Mr. Jackson
was assassinated in 1915.
is / are true.
(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 3 (d) All of the above
24. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The founder of the Indian
Communism was M.N. Roy.
2) M.N. Roy founded communist party of India in Kanpur.
is / are true.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
25. Of the 29, four revolutionaries
were sentenced to death in Kakori
case. Which is not in the list.
(a) Chandra Shekhar Azad
(b) Roshan Lal
(c) Rajender Lahiri
(d) Asfaqullah Khan
26. Consider
the
following
statements.
Communal award announced

on 10 August 1932.
2) The Award gave recognition
to the Harijans as a minority.
3) Award accepted the demand
of Muslims, Sikhs, Indian for
separate electorate.
is / are true.
(b) 1 & 2 only
(c) 2 & 3
(d) 1 & 3
27. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) A Shuddi campaign in the
Punjab & United province
started by Arya Samaj.
2) The Lahore session of the
League in 1940 proclaimed
muslims as a nation & talked
about independent states.
is / are true.
(a) 1 only (b) Both 1 & 2
(c) 2 only (d) Neither 1 nor 2
28. Match the following
Seas
i) Bering Sea
ii) Labrador Sea
iii) Caribbean Sea
iv) Beaufort Sea
Location
a) East of Labrador
b) East of Central America
(c) West of Alaska
d) North of Canada
(a) i-a, ii-b, iii-c, iv-d
(b) i-d, ii-c, iii-b, iv-a
(c) i-c, ii-d, ii-a, iv-b
(d) i-c, ii-a, iii-b, iv-d
29. The Smoke that thunders is the
name for
(a) Limpopo river
(b) Orange River
1)
94
30.
31.
32.
33.
(c) Niger River

(d) Zambezi River
Consider the following
i) Lake Chad is the largest
shallow fresh water lake of
Sahara
ii) An example of deflation
hollow formed due to wind
erosion
iii) Chad is a lake of inland
drainage where the Chari
river drains
Which of the above are correct?
(a) ii and iii
(b) ii only
(c) all of the above (d) i only
Consider the following, which are
correct?
i) The Malacca strait separates
the Malaya Peninsula and
Sumatra
ii) The Makassar separates the
Borneo and Celebes Islands.
iii) The Bering strait separates
Asia and North America
(a) i and iii (b) ii and iii
(c) All of the above (d) iii only
Consider the following, which of
the following are correct?
i) Europe and America are the
major Sugar beet producing
regions in the world and
contribute 85% of the world
production
ii) The worlds largest tobacco
producing countries are
China followed by USA and
India.
(a) i and ii (b) i only
(c) ii only
(d) None
Consider the following, which of
these are causes of movements
of Ocean currents?
i) The Coriolis force;
ii) Difference in temperature of
ocean waters between
equator and poles



iii) Shape and configuration of
the continent determines the
direction of the current.
(a) i and ii
(b) ii and iii
(c) All of the above
(d) None
Port
Country
i) Dublin
a) Ireland
ii) Hamburg b) Germany
iii) Lisbon c) Portugal
iv) Alexandria d) Egypt
(a) i-a, ii-d, iii-b, iv-c
(b) i-a, ii-c, iii-b, iv-d
(c) i-a, ii-b, iii-c, iv-d
(d) i-b, ii-c, iii-d, iv-a
35. Consider the following are
incorrect?
i) Vindhyan range is the
example of Relict mountain
ii) The Aravalli range is an
example of block mountain
iii) Guru Shikhar is the highest
peak on the Abu Hills
(a) i and ii (b) ii and iii
(c) i and iii (d) None
i) Wullar
a) Largest fresh
Lake
water lake of
Rajasthan
ii) Kolleru b) Site of hydroLake
electricity
power Generation
iii) Jaisamand c) Largest fresh
water lake of
India
iv) Lohktak d) Lagoon formed
due to enclosure of sand spit
now called Sriharikota Island
(a) i- b, ii-d, iii-a, iv-c
(b) i-c, ii-d, iii-a, iv-b
(c) i- d, ii-b, iii-a, iv-c
(d) i-c, ii-a, iii-b, iv-d

Soil Type
i) Alluvial Soil
ii) Black cotton soil
iii) Red soil
iv) Arid or desert soil
v) Peaty and Organic
Characteristics
a) Black in color due to
presence of Fe and Mg
b) Very fertile, rich in potash
and lime
c) Deficient in humus, rich in
phosphorous
d) Red due to presence of Fe
e) Dark, very strongly acidic
and saline
(a) i-b, ii-a, iii-d, iv-c, v-e
(b) i-c, ii-d, iii-b, iv-a, v-e
(c) i-a, ii-b, iii-c, iv-d, v-e
(d) i-a, ii-d, iii-c, iv-a, v-e
38. Ganga beyond Farakka when it
enters Bangladesh is known as
(a) Padma (b) Meghna
(c) Hoogly(d) Swarna Ganga
39. Which of these are correct?
i) Karnataka is one of the
major milk producers of India
ii) It has become the largest bio
cluster of India
iii) One state many Worlds is
the tag line use to promote
tourism by Karnataka
(a) ii and iii
(b) ii i
(c) all of the above (d) i and ii
40. Which of these are incorrect?
i) Madhya Pradesh is the
second largest Indian state
ii) It produces 21 types of
minerals
iii) The Bank note press is
located at Dewas Madhya
Pradesh
(a) ii and iii (b) none
(c) ii only
(d) all
95
41. Which of the following are

correct?
i) India has the third largest
coal reserves in the world
ii) India is the worlds third
largest consumer of coal
iii) Coal mining began at
Raniganj in 1774
(a) i and ii (b) ii and iii
(c) i and iii (d) none
42. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Socialism means ownership
of productive forces by the
government so that they
benefit people equitably.
2) Distributive Justice is a part
of the socialist societies.
3) Popular sovereignty means
that no law or rule is
legitimate unless it rests
directly / or indirectly on the
consent of the people.
4) The world people in the
preamble
means
representatives of the
people in the parliament &
thus implies parliamentary
sovereignty in an indirect
democracy like ours.
is / are Correct
(a) 1 & 4 only
(b) 1, 2 & 4 only
(c) All of the above
(d) None of the above
43. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Puducherry was a former
French Colony.
2) It consists of four regions Poducherry, Karaikal (Tamil
Nadu), Mahe (Kerala), &
Yanam (Andhra Pradesh).
3) After 36th Constitutional
Amendment Act in 1975,



Sikkim became the 22nd state
of the Indian Union.
4) In 1963 Puducherry became
a Union Territory.
is incorrect.
(a) 2 only (b) 3 only
(c) 4 only (d) None of the above
44. Consider
the
following
statements. The state reorganization commission (1953)
that included Fazal Ali, KM
Panikkar & HN Kunzru, laid down
some criteria for accepting the
demand by a region for the
formation of a state are:1) Formation of a new state
must strengthen preserve
national unity.
2) State are to be formed on the
basis of linguistice & cultural
unity.
3) Financial, Administrative &
economic viability must be
considered.
4) It should aid the process of
implementation of five years
plan.
is / are Correct.
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 & 4 only
(c) 1, 2 & 4 only
(d) All of the above
45. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) In 1928, a series of All Party
Conferences headed by
Motilal Nehru drafted a
constitutional scheme,
called the Nehru Report.
2) In 1931, the Indian National
Conference in its Karachi
Session committed it which
included social & economic
rights in favour of the lower
castes & for a living wage

for the workers.
is / are Incorrect.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
46. Which the following statements
is Incorrect
(a) The doctrine of Basic
Structure was introduced in
the Maneka Gandhi V/s
Union of India case
(b) The Supreme Court ruled
that the Basic Structure
cannot be amended by the
Parliament but there is scope
of enrichment & amplification.
(c) Under National Emergency
Art. 352, 358 & 359, however
constitution
permits
suspension of the operation
of all Fundamental Rights
except Article 20 & 21.
(d) Article 19 stated that
Fundamental Rights are
conditional & subject to
reasonable restrictions
47. Which of the following is not
included in the list of
Fundamental duties (Art 51 A) in
the constitution
(a) To safeguard public
property to abjure violence
(b) Secularism
(c) To uphold and protect the
sovereignty, unity and
integrity of India
(d) To abide by the constitution
and respect its ideals
48. Fundamental
duty
was
incorporated
on
the
recommendation of the
(a) Shah commission
96
(b) Administrative reforms

Commission
(c) Santhanam committee
(d) Swaran Singh committee
49. Which one of the following is an
incorrect Statement
(a) The Word socialist was
incorporated into the
preamble by the 42 nd
Amendment Act 1976
(b) The 73rd & 74th Amendment
Act in 1997 with Panchayat
and Nagarapalika bodies
being given constitutional
Status.
(c) 86th Amendment Act of 2002
changed the sumeet matter
of Article 45 made elementary
education of fundamental
right under Article 21
(d) To promote equal justice and
to provide free legal aid to
the poor (Article 39-A).
50. Consider the following statement.
1) 93rd Amendment Act 2006 to
provide reservation in
educational institutions for
SC, ST and OBC and other
minority.
2) 52nd Amendment Act 1982.
Anti Defection law and the
tenth schedule.
3) 14th Amendment Act 1962 by this Act, Pondicherry was
included in the First
Schedule as a Union
Territory.
above is / are correct.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 & 2 only
(d) 1, 2 & 3 only
51. Consider
the
following
statements on regards to
Presidential Power.



1)
President appoints the Prime

Minister and the other
Minister & they hold office
during his pleasure.
2) President can appoint an
inter-state council to
promote centre-state and
inter-state cooperation.
Which statements given above
is / are Correct.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
52. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Pocket Veto, that is, taking
action on the bill passed by
the legislature.
2) Suspective Veto, which can
be over riden by the
legislature with an ordinary
Majority.
3) Absolute Veto, that is,
withholding of assent to bill
passed by the legislature.
Select the correct answer from the
code given below
(a) 1, 3 only
(b) 1, 2 only
(c) 1, 2, 3 only
(d) 2, 3 only
53. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) No Money Bill imposing tax
shall be introduced in the
parliament expect on the
recommendation of the
President.
2) The Railway Budget ws
separated from the general
Budget in 1921 on the
recommendation of Acworth
Committee.
3) The Rajya Sabha should
refuse the Money Bill to the
Lok Sabha within fourteen

days.
Select the correct answer from the
code given below.
(a) 1 only (b) 2 only
(c) 2, 3 only (d) All of the above
54. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The Parliament is not
authorised to curtail the
jurisdiction and powers of
the Supreme Courts.
2) The retired judge of the
Supreme Court can be judge
of Criminal Court.
3) The pension of the judges
of the Supreme Court are not
charged on the consolidated
fund.
Which of the statement given
(a) 1, 2 only (b) 1 only
(c) 1, 3 only (d) 1, 2, 3 only
55. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The 52nd Amendment Act
1985 provided for the
disqualification of the
Member of Parliament.
2) An independent member can
be disqualified if He joins
any political party after
election.
3) If He nominated member
joins any political party after
six month from the date on
which he takes his seat in the
house then member will
disqualified.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 & 3 only
(c) 1 & 3 only
56. Consider
the
following
statements.
97
1)
A candidate should have

domicile of that state where
the contesting an election for
the Rajya Sabha.
2) A candidate sponsored by a
recognised political paryt
only one proposer is required
in election.
3) Rajya Sabha uses the open
ballot system.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 & 3 only
(c) 1 & 3 only
57. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Balwantray Mehta Committee was appointed in 1957.
2) Ashok Mehta Committee
submitted its report in 1977.
3) L.M. Singhvi Committee
4) G.V.K. Rao committee
(a) 1, 2 & 3
(b) 1, 2 & 4
(c) 1, 3 & 4 only
(d) 1 & 4
58. Which of the following are true
of the provisions of the 74th
Amendment
Act
on
Municipalities.
1) Ward Committees for wards
with population of two lakhs.
2) The state governor may
authorise them to levy
collect and appropriate
taxes.
3) The Municipal council for
smaller urban area.
4) The twelfth schedule
contains 20 functional items
for municipalities.



(a) 1, 3 & 4 (b) 1, 2 & 4
(c) 3 only (d) 3 & 4
59. A : Assertion : The UPSCs
function is not to decide but to
advice.
R : Reason : UPSC is a
constitutional body.
Select the correct code.
(a) Both A and R are true is the
correct explanation
(b) Both A and R true but R is
not a correct explanation of
A.
(c) A is true but R is false
(d) A is false but R is true
60. Which of the following Interstate water disputes tribunals is
not correct.
(a) Krishna Water Disputes
Tribunal (1969-1976).
(b) Narmada Water Disputes
Tribunal (1969-1979).
(c) Tung Bhadra Water Dispute
Tribunal (1979-1984).
(d) Cauvery Water Disputes
Tribunal (1990-2007).
61. Consider
the
following
statements about RTI Act 2005:
1) Only a citizen of India can
request for information.
2) No fees will be charged from
people living below the
poverty line for the
information.
3) Information should be
provided by the PIO within
a time limit of 45 days from
the date of application.
(a) 1 & 2 only
(b) 1 & 3 only
(c) 2 & 3 only
62. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Nominal GDP refers to the
current year production of
final goods & services
valued at current year.
2) Real GDP refers to the current
year production of goods &
service valued at base year
prices.
3) In estimating GDP, only final
marketable goods & services
are considered.
is / are true.
(a) 1 & 2 only
(b) 2 & 3 only
(c) 1 & 3 only
(d) 1, 2 & 3
63. Consider the following statement
about UN Human Development
index.
1) It was developed in 1990.
2) Pakistani
economist
Mahbub ul Haq developed
the HDI.
3) Life expectancy, literacy rate
& GDP at PPP in US Dollar
are the three basic
dimension of HDI.
is / are true
(a) 1, 2 & 3 (b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 2 (d) 1 & 3
64. Consider
the
following
statements about indicative
planning (in Indian Context).
1) It is characterised by an
economy where the private
sector is given a substantial
role.
2) Indicative plan was adopted
in 8th five year plan.
is / are true.
(a) 1 only
(b) Both 1 and 2
98
65.
66.
67.
68.
(c) Neither 1 nor 2

(d) 2 only
In 1944 leading businessmen &
industrialist (JRD Tata, GD Birla
etc.) put forward A plan of
Economic Development for India
in the name of
(a) Bombay Plan
(b) Janshree Plan
(c) Sarvoday Plan
(d) None of these
Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The money printed by the
RBI is called high powered
money or reserve money.
2) Australia was the first
country to enact a fiscal
responsibility Act in 1994.
3) FRBM Act (India) was
notified in 2004.
4) Fiscal deficits may causes
macro economic instability.
is / are true
(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2, 3, 4
(c) 1, 3 & 4 (d) 1, 2, 3 & 4
Consider
the
following
statements.
1) SLR & CRR, are not the part
of monetary policy.
2) CRR is adjusted to manage
liquidity & inflation.
3) A purchase of government
securities injects money in
the market.
Which of the options are
incorrect:
(a) 2 & 3 (b) 1, 2 & 3
(c)1 & 3 (d) 3 only
Consider
the
following
statements about Shariah index.
1) Shariah-based
equity
investments do not allow
investors to invest in heavily
indebted.



2)
BSE launched its Shariah

index in December 2010.
3) New Shariah index (BSE) will
known as BSE Tasis Shariah
- 50 index.
is / are true.
(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2 & 3
(c) 1, 2 & 3 (d) 2 only
69. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Constitution Amendment
115 is related to GST.
2) Octroi is a main source of
Income for most of the local
bodies in India.
(a) 1 & 2 (b) 1 only
70. Consider
the
following
statements about DTC Bill 2010.
1) The Bill will replace the
Income Tax Act 1961 & the
Wealth Tax Act 1957.
2) Companies will be taxed at
35% of business income.
3) Non profit organisations are
taxed at 25%.
4) The wealth tax exemption
limit is increased from 15 lack
to 1 crore.
is / are true
(a) 1, 2, 3 & 4
(b) 1 & 4
(c) 2 & 3
(d) 1 & 3
71. Consider
the
following
statements about national
investment fund (NIF).
1) NIF CEO will
be
administratively attached to
the PMO.
2) 75% of the annual income of
NIF will be used in finance
selected social sector
scheme.
is / are true.
(a) Both 1 & 2

(b) 2 only
(c) 1 only
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
72. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Actual contributed equity
plus retained earnings is
called Tier I capital.
2) NBFC (Non Banking
Financial Companies) are
largely referred to as shadow
banking.
3) Rate at which banks lend to
the best customers is called
SLR.
is / are true.
(a) 1, 2 & 3 (b) 1 & 2
(c) 1 & 3
(d) 2 & 3
73. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) SARFAESI (Securitization &
Reconstruction of Financial
Assets & enforcement of
Security Interest Act (2002)
has given unprecedented
powers to banks, financial
institutions & asset
reconstruction securitization
companies to take over
management control of a
loan defaulter or even
capture its assets.
2) GARR (General Anti
Avoidance rule) is related to
curb black money.
is / are true
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) Both 1 & 2
74. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The idea to create this Super
regulatory body was first
99
mooted by Raghu- Ram

Rajan & Deepak Parekh
Committee.
2) This body is seen as an
Indias initiative to be better
prepared to prevent
recession in future.
3) Union Finance Minister will
be the chairperson of this
body.
Above statements are related to
which body
(a) FRBM (b) GARR
(c) FSDC
(d) IRDA
75. Consider
the
following
statements about Multidimensional Poverty index.
1) The MPI was created for the
20th Anniversary edition of
the
UNDP
Human
Development Report & uses
different factors to determine
poverty beyond income
based estimation.
2) MPI has three dimension,
health, education & standard
of living.
3) According to MPI 55% of
Indians are poor.
is / are true.
(b) 1 only
(c) 1 & 2
(d) 2 & 3
76. Consider
the
following
statements about Global
innovation index.
1) Global innovation index is a
barometer of the countries,
wealth, knowledge &
competitiveness.
2) The methodology involves
rating the countries on 5
inputs.
3) European Institute for
Business Administration &



confederation of Indian
Industry
made
the
innovation index.
4) In the 2011 GII report, India
is ranked 62.
is / are true.
(a) 2 & 3 (b) 1 & 2
(c) 1 & 3 (d) All the above
77. Consider
the
following
statements about Global
Competitiveness Index 2011-12.
1) India is 104th in health &
primary education.
2) India has slipped to 65th
from the 51 st spot in the
Global Competitiveness
Index report.
3) GCI issued by UNCTAD.
4) Switzerland got top ranked
in this list.
is / are true.
(b) 2 & 3
(c) 1, 2 & 4
(d) 3 & 4
78. Consider
the
following
statements about SDR.
1) SDR is an international
reserve asset, created by
World Bank.
2) Its value is based on a
basket of four key
currencies.
3) Holders of SDRs can obtain
there currencies in exchange
for their SDRs.
is / are true.
(a) 2 & 3 (b) 3 only
(c) 1 & 3 (d) 1 & 2
79. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The
GAB
(General
Arrangements to Borrow) &
NBC (New arrangements to
Borrow)
are
credit
arrangements between the
IMF & a group of members.
2) IMF provide loans to
member countries experiencing balance of payment.
3) IMF does not land for
specific projects.
is / are true.
(a) 1 & 2 (b) 2 & 3
(c)1 & 3 (d) All of the above
80. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Amber & Blue Box are
related to WTO.
2) Special products (SP) are
agricultural products of
particular importance of
farming communities in
developing countries for
reasons of food security,
livelihood security & rural
development.
is / are true.
(a) Both 1 & 2
(b) 1 only
81. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) A community is first notices
by its physiognomy.
2) The transition zone between
two communities is known
as cyclotome.
3) The successive replacement
of communities in an area
over a time period is known
as ecological succession.
is / are true.
(b) 1 & 3 only
(c) 1 & 2 only
(d) 2 & 3
82. Consider
the
following
statements about WCU.
100
1)
The World Conservation

Union has recognised eight
Red List categories.
2) Red List the most
comprehensive inventory of
the global conservation.
3) The Red List also provides
information to international
agreements.
is / are true.
(a) 1 & 2
(b) 2 & 3
(c) All of the above (d) 1 & 3
83. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Two hot-spot regions
(western Ghats & eastern
Himalayas ( are located in
India.
2) Western Ghats region lies in
Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Tamilnadu & Kerala.
is / are true.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) Both 1 & 2
84. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Cryopreservation is the
storage of material at ultralow temperature.
2) Alfred Riggs developed the
hot spots concept.
3) The hot spots are the richest
& the most threatened
reservoirs of plant & animal
life on earth.
is / are true.
(a) All of the above (b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 2 (d) 1 only
85. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Biosequestration is the
capture & storage of the



atmospheric greenhouse gas
CO2
by
biological
processes.
2) Sulpher dioxide is the most
abundant
&
stable
greenhouse gas in the
atmosphere.
is / are true.
(a) Both 1 & 2
(b) 1 only
(c) 2 only
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
86. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Algae naturally capture
sunlight & use its energy to
split water into hydrogen,
oxygen & oil which can be
extracted.
2) The United Nations
Collaborative programme on
Reducing emissions from
Deforestation & forest
Degradation in Developing
countries is a collaboration
between UNDP & Asian
Development Bank (ADB).
is / are true.
(a) Both 1 & 2
(b) 2 only
(c) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) 1 only
87. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The non-legally binding
forest principles were
established in Rio de Janeiro
(1992).
2) India has the largest area of
tropical rain forest.
3) Charcoal created by
pyrolysis of biomass is
known as Biochar.
is / are true.
(a) 1 & 3 (b) All of the above
(c) 1 & 2 (d) 2 & 3
88. Consider
the
following
statements of Nagoya protocol.
1) Nagoya protocal was
adopted on October 2010.
2) Protocol provides a transparent legal framework for
the effective implementation
of one of the three objectives
of the CBD (conventional on
Biological diversity).
is / are true.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
89. Match the following.
Bird Sanctuary Place
(1) Kumarakam A) Karnataka
(2) Ranganthittu B) Kerala
(3) Venab thangal C) Andhra Pradesh
(4) Kaimdinya
D) Tamilnadu
(a) 1 - a 2 - b 3 - c 4 - d
(b) 1 - b 2 - c 3 - d 4 a
(c) 1 - b 2 - a 3 - d 4 - c
(d) 1 - c 2 - d 3 - a 4 b
90. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The
first
UNFCCC
conference of the parties held
in Berlin.
2) Most non-Annex-I parties
belonged in the higher
income group countries.
3)
Nusa Dua is
situated in Malyasia.
is / are true.
(b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 3
(d) 1 only
Conference of Parties (CoP)
Country
(1) COP 15
A) Qatar
101
(2) COP 16
B) Cancun
(3) COP 17
C) South Africa
(4) COP 18
D) Copenhasen
(a) 1 - d 2 - b 3 - c 4 - a
(b) 1 - c 2 - a 3 - b 4 d
(c) 1 - b 2 - c 3 - d 4 - a
(d) 1 - a 2 - d 3 - c 4 b
92. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Green Climate fund is to
distribute US$100 million per
year to help poor countries
adopt to climate inpacts.
2) Green peace foundation is an
part of United Nations.
is / are true.
(a) Both 1 & 2
(b) 2 only
(c) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) 1 only
93. Consider
the
following
statements about Alliance of
small island states (AOSIS).
1) AOSIS established in 1995.
2) Main purpose of the alliance
is to consolidate the voices
of small Island developing
states (SIDS).
3) The Alliance represents 28%
of the developing countries
& 20% of the UNs total
membership.
is / are true.
(b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 2 (d) 3 only
94. Consider
the
following
statements about International
tropical Timber Organization
(ITTO).
1) ITTO
is
an
intergovernmental body that
includes of tropical forests.
2) The ITTO has launched a
thematic programme on
Reducing emissions from



Deforestation & forest
Degradation (REDD) from
Norway.
is / are true.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
95. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) Bali action plans aims are
directed toward forest
conservation, sustainable
forest management & the
enhancement of carbon
stocks.
2) The man & the Biosphere
programme launched by
UNDP.
is / are true.
(a) Both 1 & 2
(b) Neither 1 nor 2
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 only
96. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The secretariat of Man &
Biosphere programme is
located in Nairobi.
2) Biosphere reserves are areas
that are supposed to develop
innovative approaches.
is / are true
(a) Both 1 & 2
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 only
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
97. Consider
the
following
statements.
1) The Indian Network on
Climate Change Assessment
was launched (INCCA) in
2009.
The INCCA will carry out

research on the effects of
climate change indifferent
regions.
is / are true.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Neither 1 nor 2
(d) Both 1 & 2
98. Consider
the
following
statements about The Energy
Conservation Building Code
(ECBC).
1) Launched on 2009.
2) Buildings with an electrical
connected load of 1000 kw
or more are covered by
ECBC.
3) ECBC was developed by an
expert committee set up by
Indias Bureau of energy
efficiency.
is / are true.
(a) All of the above (b) 1 & 2
(c) 1 only (d) 3 only
99. Consider
the
following
statements regarding vacuoles?
(A) It is a fluid filled space
enclosed by membranes.
(B) It stores excess water,
reveals, food substances
and waste products.
(C) It size is animal is big and
plants is small.
Which of the above are false?
(b) A and B only
(c) A and C only
(d) C only
100. Consider the following statement
regarding Ribosomes.
(A) It synthesizes protein & fats.
(B) Protein and fat help in build
cell membranes.
2)
102
(C) The process of building up

of cell membrane is called
membranes, biogenesis.
Which of the above are true?
(b) None of the above
(c) Only C
(d) Only A & B
Answer
1. (d)
5. (b)
9. (b)
13. (c)
17. (c)
21. (a)
25. (a)
29. (c)
33. (c)
37. (a)
41. (b)
45. (d)
49. (b)
53. (d)
57. (c)
61. (a)
65. (a)
69. (a)
73. (b)
77. (c)
81. (b)
85. (b)
89. (c)
93. (b)
97. (d)
2. (a)
6. (a)
10. (a)
14. (a)
18. (c)
22. (b)
26. (a)
30. (b)
34. (c)
38. (c)
42. (c)
46. (a)
50. (d)
54. (b)
58. (c)
62. (d)
66. (c)
70. (b)
74. (c)
78. (a)
82. (c)
86. (d)
90. (d)
94. (c)
98. (d)
3. (c)
4. (d)
7. (c)
8. (a)
11. (c) 12. (b)
15. (c) 16. (b)
19. (d) 20. (c)
23. (a) 24. (a)
27. (b) 28. (d)
31. (c) 32. (a)
35. (a) 36. (b)
39. (c) 40. (b)
43. (d) 44. (d)
47. (b) 48. (d)
51. (c) 52. (d)
55. (d) 56. (b)
59. (b) 60. (c)
63. (a) 64. (b)
67. (a) 68. (c)
71. (b) 72. (d)
75. (a) 76. (d)
79. (d) 80. (a)
83. (d) 84. (c)
87. (a) 88. (c)
91. (a) 92. (c)
95. (d) 96. (b)
99. (d) 100. (a)


ESSAY AND PROMO

Result for the March 2014 Open
Essay Competition. UPSC
PORTAL is proud to declare Ms.
Yuttika Singh, as the winner of the
Essay Competition. The essay by
Ms. Yuttika is as under:
India of My
Dreams
"There is only one thing that
makes a dream impossible to achieve:
the fear of failure."
-Paulo Coelho
When I think about my nation,
India, I feel the gush of various
emotions pacing up and down my mind
and heart. Some leave me with a big
smile and some leave me speechless
and hurt at the same time. The
relationship that we share with our
country is the same that we share with
our mothers. We are blessed with a
country so diverse; which in itself has
wrapped us in her arms and nurtures
us in the most beautiful way, right from
the time we are born. India has given
us so much selflessly- only to stand
by its expectations and echo its glory
in the world.
While some of us are fortunate

enough to have experienced the love
and care of our motherland, it is equally
true that some aren't. Looking at the
conditions prevailing in our country
today we can think of many solutions
and yes, we have seen some people
putting genuine efforts to improve the
conditions. But, the big picture, the
big question is with such a large
population, problems of illiteracy,
poverty, etc. is there any hope for a
remarkable improvement? In the race
of becoming 'successful', 'updated' and
'modern' do we really bother about the
unfortunate lot of the country? Even
if we do, what do we do to help them?
These questions seem really
easy to answer when framed and read,
but once you think about it, it seems
more like a vicious circle of questions
representing the plight of the poor and
illiterate people. The people we look
up to for defending our honour, for
keeping us safe, making us educated
are themselves no longer the epitomes
of kindness. We have witnessed many
cases where the media people,
bureaucrats, politicians, etc. are guilty
of offences harming our country's
reputation globally.
When I dream of India, I picture
it just the way a girl pictures her life. A
life full of beauty, happiness, success
and romance just how they manifest
its idea in Hollywood movies. It is very
obvious that India has achieved in
various fields post our independence.
There is no field where Indians haven't
imprinted their victory and names in
the hearts of people all around the
world. I feel very proud to have reading
newspapers where I see names like Mr
Satya Nadela, Ms Mary Kom, Ms
Barkha Dutt, and so many more. It
103
gives me a feeling of ineffable

happiness to know about the people
who are standing for themselves,
working for their country's name and
being a role model for the millions of
youth.
As I dream further I think about
those unprivileged people for whom
the govt. should provide more
facilities and assistance. We know that
the major part of India's population
resides in villages, what if our rural
become self - sufficient and
independent. Proper supply of water,
electricity and basic facilities like
sanitation, medicines, etc. should be
provided. Agriculture is the major
occupation of people in India. We
should use it as our strength for selfsufficiency, increase in exports,
surplus and providing job
opportunities.
When a woman, who is
responsible for the development of her
child and family, becomes educated it
is going to affect the society as a
whole. If women are encouraged to
study and most importantly to speak
up for themselves, India would be in a
far better position. Just the idea of
voting for your leader is not enough
for a drastic change that we seek to
take place. It is not only an issue of
rural areas but urban areas as well. Do
we see the equal ratio of girls and boys
in our schools, at public places, driving
cars, or as professionals? It is high time
that we provide women for what they
deserve and they stand by it. Mere
thought of fear from critics of the
society or their own family makes them
take a step back and bury their dreams
and wishes themselves. Men must
begin to encourage women and
supporting them rather than acting


Essay and Promo

likes judges and mere spectators. We
have to put a lot of efforts along with
determination to convert our
patriarchal society into a society
respectful for everyone.
As people age they lose the
hope of achieving anything in life.
These are the people who could not
become something on account of the
situations they had to face when they
were younger, who chose
responsibility over their dreams. Is
that the end of the world for them?
No, it is never too late to learn. The
government should help them pursue
some kind of occupation in which they
already are interested to boost their
self-confidence. Counselling centres
should be set up so that they do not
lose the battle of life even before
participating in it.
It is also important that we
bridge the gap between the rich and
poor. The poor keeps on becoming
poorer and is exploited for fulfilling his
basic needs. The disabled people are
judged even before they try to speak
up. The Govt. must facilitate them with
education and some kind of work too
so they find a meaning in their lives.
There should be an increase in
the number of institutions even in the
small cities so that the people who are
not very capable would not have to
feel helpless about their higher
education. The encouragement of just
any one sector of profession leads to
demotivation of the youth. Girls are
discouraged to opt for PhD as they
think it is a waste of her time and her
parents' resources. Why are we
discouraged from listening to our
hearts? Is this how God wanted us to
be? I do not agree when the creator
made no differences then why do we
discriminate among everybody and
belittle others? If there would be

options of institutes in various regions
people would be more serious about
their careers living with their parents
and for that matter, disciplined too.
This is not all, it would bring
about many opportunities in small
towns and cities too for the youth to
work and earn well. Just like the people
of the West, we also want to become
independent as soon as we finish our
studies so that we could help our
parents. It is important to note that
every now and then many people
migrate here and there in search of
better jobs and opportunities. The cutthroat competition and pressure of
better performance puts a lot of
pressure on the youth.
The Govt. has to make a number
of decisions in respect to the children
and youth. Along with free education
it should be kept in mind that India is a
place of budding writers, sportsmen,
dancers and so on. The Govt. must
provide them with more scholarships,
sponsors and facilities to create
detachable strings in their dreams to
become successful.
The Govt. that we depend solely
on so many things, should me much
more of a stronger institution. The wise
people do not wish to enter into the
'dirty' politics but if they do not, how
would there be a change? We look up
to our parents because we know they
are going to stand by us no matter
what and this is the same that we
expect from our govt. but, it has always
failed to show us its support in various
cases and times. We need young
people with broad minds and positive
attitudes, there should be a predecided retirement age, and conditions
to enter into politics. The institution
that runs the country has to be free of
104
corruption and people with puny

brains and mind-sets. Only then the
women, poor and others would be
respected in the country.
There are many people who use
their status in a way to exploit people
for example the many 'swamis' who get
caught time-to-time for fooling people.
Our country is blessed with great
knowledge of astrology and rituals but
it should not be done in a way to
increase corruption and superstition.
The knowledge must be respected as
a heritage of our fore-fathers and be
carried on with respect.
A check on control of liquor and
other available drugs which is the
cause of many accidents and deaths
is important. Even the top officials and
politicians promote its consumption
by distributing them for free to get
identity, votes, hassle-free work in
various regions. The police should be
paid well so that corruption including
bribes stops then and there. If paid
well the Indian citizens would not
choose working in western countries
over India, putting a halt to brain-drain.
As quoted by Erasmus, "The
main hope of a nation lies in the proper
education of its youth." Well if that is,
do we really realize our responsibility
as the youth of our nation? The
privileged and fortunate lot who get
to study in the top institutions are
often caught in cases of drugs,
molestation, sexual harassment and so
on. If education is the cure then why
even the creamy layer of students from
best schools and colleges are doing
things least expected from them and
ruining their parents' and country's
name ?
The answers to everything
wrong going on in our country is very
simple - Our prejudice, upbringing,


Essay and Promo

moral values, respect towards others,
mentality and attitude. Even today we
are judged by our caste, colour,
physical appearance, sexual
orientation, etc. no matter what peaks
of achievements we have touched.
Our characters solely judged on our
personal lives, weaknesses and
behaviour in the society. Have you
ever known the life of a little rural girl?
An innocent face with infinite hopes,
dreams, eyes craving for the sight of
toys, schools and lovely pink dresses.
Yes, her favourite colour is pink too,
that we forgot fulfilling our 'wants'.
While complaining the next time we
should for once think about that widow

who is cursed by the society on
account of her husband's death. The
little girl who was raped even before
she could realize she was turning into
a woman. The parents whose child got
killed in the 'city' trying to match the
standards of the people around him.
When the morning headlines fall
short of achievements; when no
woman , no poor dies of agony and
pain; when democracy really becomes
'for' the people; when the only time
tears roll down a mother's cheeks is
when she celebrates her child's victory.
When the little hands get tired of
writing instead of working in homes

of the rich; when women could stand
up for their rights without being afraid
of an acid-attack; when no suicides
are reported on account of poor
academic performances. Where we
learn from the Hindus and Muslims of
Pilkhua to live together in harmony;
when the youth discuss sense over
fashion; the creamy layer spend on
charities rather than on latest 'status
symbols'. It would be India of my
dreams. Where we could breathe our
last in peace and contentment.
Yuttika Singh
UPSCPORTAL Online Essay Course:

UPSCPORTAL started the Open Essay Competition, with an intention to help the student community
practice on their writing skills. After the huge participation in the Open Essay Competition from the student
community, and your positive feedback, UPSCPORTAL now presents the first-ever, online Essay course for IAS
mains.
The Mini-course is designed with an aim to save your time, money and effort. It has been designed like a
crash course, but with more guidance and support. While, you may freely enroll in the open essay competition, it
is more important to get an expert review on what you write. This online course gives you an opportunity to get
your writings thoroughly evaluated by a team of experts.
The main features of the Essay course would be Get articles on how to write a good essay, and how to improve your writing skills.
2 Essays per Month.
Thorough Evaluation of each essay by an expert team, along with the Grade-sheet for your
essay, to let you know about the marks breakup.
Guidelines for each essay before you start writing.
Articles on How to write a good essay, and other strategy.
attractive prizes for the top entries.
For More information on the Online Essay Course, Visit:
http://www.upscportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-mains-essay
Or Call our Customer Care Support at: 011-45151781
105


FISCAL DEFICIT: UNDERLYING REASONS

AND ROAD AHEAD FOR INDIA
'Fiscal Deficit' might be a word
many people today are using without
even realizing what it means or how
significant it is. 'Fiscal Deficit' is
actually when a government's total
expenditures exceed the revenue that
has been generated. The fiscal deficit,
was 4.9 per cent of GDP in the previous
financial year.
Fiscal deficit is possibly the most
crucial issue in the global financial
markets these days and one of the
most daunting tasks that Government
of few particular countries have to face
while taking care of it's economy. For
instance, the euro zone is under
constant threat of falling apart because
of large accumulated debt and high
fiscal deficit in a number of countries,
lawmakers in the US do not give any
consent on deficit reduction plan.
Indian scenario not very different;
however, things seem to be turning up
for better.
Fiscal Deficit: different

perspectives
Keynesian view, favors huge
expenditure by the government to
employ available resources to the
fullest. On the other hand , argument
of Ricardian is that it doesn't make a
difference as consumers cut
expenditure in anticipation of higher
taxes that will be levied later in order
to pay off the debt. Neo-classical
school of thought, on the other hand
has been a dominating view on the

subject and the neo-classical
economists argue that high
government expenditure and savings
have a negative co-relation and it
affects growth adversely.
The financing of budgets by
deficits implies postponement of
taxes. The deficit in any current period
is exactly equal to the present value of
future taxation that is required to pay
off the increment to debt resulting from
the deficit. In other words, government
spending must be paid for, whether
now or later, and the present value of
spending must be equal to the present
value of tax and non-tax revenues.
The Indian scenario

The ill effects of running high
deficit has always been far more visible
in India . There is a threat of ratings
downgrade, high fiscal deficit is the
source of most of the problems that
the Indian economy is facing today.
Fiscal deficit in India for 2013-14 fiscal
is most likely to be in the range of 5 5.1 per cent of the GDP. High levels of
fiscal deficit relative to GDP tend not
only to cause sharp increases in the
debt-GDP ratio, but also adversely
affect savings and investment, and
consequently growth.
In the interim budget it was
aimed that in 2013-14 fiscal deficit
would be contained at 4.6 per cent of
GDP. Mr. Chidambaram had drawn up
106
a financial consolidation road map to

lower the fiscal deficit to 4.8 per cent
of GDP in 2013-14, 4.2 per cent in 201415 and 3.6 per cent in 2015-16.
The surge of fiscal deficit in the
past couple of years can largely be
attributed to both slower revenue
growth and higher expenditure growth
in context of India.
World Scenario
As already mentioned before, a
deficit occurs when the outlays of a
government exceed the inlays and a
surplus is when revenues are higher
than expenditure. This ratio is usually
presented as a percent of gross
domestic product (GDP). Most
countries from OECD in the time period 1990 - 2006 have had deficits;
however by 2007 , they emerged from
it and started making surplus. Alas, as
a result of the Great Recession of 20072008, budget shortfalls were on the
loose again by 2009. Come 2012 and
the deficit of OCED grew to 5.5%. The
situation is now improving , thanks to
the dedicated efforts of fiscal
consolidation by governments across
Europe in particular. In fact, total deficit
in OECD countries is expected to
decrease to 3.6% by end of 2014.
In the Great recession (between
1932-1936) the United States operated
deficits averaging 4.8 percent of GDP.
The experience of the Great Recession
teaches us not how to bring recession


Fiscal Deficit: Underlying reasons and Road ahead for India

deficits under control but the need to
ensure that deficits are sufficiently
large to stimulate economic recovery
during a serious downturn. At a
ridiculously high 22.2 percent of GDP,
the World War II deficits of FY19421945 makes seem deficit of recent times
as nothing, but at that time, fiscal
recovery was also more rapid than is
possible in current circumstances.
Without proper reform and
enhancement of revenue , the United
States is staring into a fiscal void.
Adding to America's problems, it has
become increasingly dependent on
foreign central banks, especially
China's, in order to finance government
debt.
Rectification of fiscal
situation
Everyone who knows a little bit
of economics can say that the fiscal
deficit needs to be cut.But the
question is 'How'. There is a possibility
that reduction in the deficit can lead
to lower growth in the short run. IMF
in a report on India, looked at tricky
issues and came up with three
alternative paths to go about with the
problem. Each of the specified routes
were expected to reduce the deficit by
5% of the GDP however with different
approaches.
The first path is to cut
government expenditure by 2% of
GDP, lower subsidies by 2% of GDP
and increase tax collection by 1% of

GDP by implementing GST. The total
reduction in deficit thereby would be
5% of GDP.
The second path aims to boost
government investment by 2% of GDP
over the next five years . It will need
the government to cut consumption
expenditure by 3% of GDP and increase
tax collection by 2% of GDP. Subsidies
need to be cut by 2% of GDP as well.
The third path requires to cut
consumption expenditure by 3% of
GDP, cut in subsidies along with
increase in tax collection by 2% . The
government investment is to be
increased by 1% of GDP, while the
other 1% is to be transferred to a social
safety net .
Cut in spending and expenditure
to meet the fiscal deficit usually hurts
growth of an economy. However, a
fiscal deficit is regarded by some as a
positive economic event. For example,
economist John Maynard Keynes
believed that deficits help countries
climb out of economic recession. On
the other hand, conservatives say that
governments should avoid deficits in
favor of a balanced budget policy.
Way Forward
As the RBI governor Raghuram
Rajan said that a lower fiscal deficit is
crucial to curbing inflation and
boosting economic growth. Some time
back in January , 2014 citing price
107
pressures, the RBI raised the policy

rate to 8% from 7.75%.While the
government deserves credit for
meeting its fiscal deficit target, India
will need to implement GST and reduce
spending on subsidies to meet the goal
of reducing the budget gap to 3% of
GDP by 2017.
But right now various
assumptions for containing the fiscal
deficit in India are quite flawed.
Interestingly, the fiscal deficit has
come down because of expenditure
compression and high enough
realization from the 2G spectrum
auction.
Fiscal deficits are essential for
smoothening the impact of revenue
shocks or for meeting the requirements
of lumpy expenditures, the financing
of which through taxes may be spread
over a period of time. However, such
fiscal deficits have no impact on
aggregate demand when household
spending decisions are based on the
present value of their incomes that
takes into account the present value
of their future tax liabilities.
Alternatively, a decrease in current
government saving that is implied by
the fiscal deficit may be accompanied
by an offsetting increase in private
saving, leaving the national saving
and, therefore, investment unchanged.
- Gangotri Kaushik


UN-IOC ACCORD FOR SPORT

FOR PEACE
Introduction
Sports have always been
recognized as an important means of
resolving conflicts and maintaining
cordial and peaceful relations.
Sporting events have the potential to
bring together different communities
and nations, and act in a harmonious
way. The examples of various
international sporting events, like- The
Olympics, Commonwealth Games,
Asian Games etc, are evidence of the
fact that many countries have
successfully used such events to iron
out the differences.
It is in this regard that the United
Nations Organization (UNO) and the
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
has signed a historic agreement to use
the power of the sports to promote
peace and economic development,
with an aim to strengthen the
collaboration between the nations.
At an event, the IOC President
Thomas Bach said that the Olympic
principles are United Nations
principles. While bringing out a
comparison between the two
international organizations, Mr. Bach
mentioned that both- the UN and
Olympic charter- call for international
cooperation to promote peace, a better
life for people around the world and
preserving human dignity.
Adding to the commonality in

the goals and objectives of the two
organizations, UN Secretary-General
Mr. Ban-ki-Moon said that:
"the
Memorandum
of
Understanding (MoU) signed with the
IOC was a logical and historic step
after years of ever closer collaboration
in using sport to promote development
and peace."
The Accord for Sports for

Peace
The agreement calls for sporting
initiatives between the IOC, National
Olympic Committees, International
Sports Federations, Organizing
Committees and International Athletes
and the 193 UN member states, apart
from the various UN Agencies,
Envoys and goodwill ambassadors.
The Accord entails a plan
whereby, the two organizations will be
promoting education for youth
through sports without discrimination
of any kind, access to sport for all
communities, especially the most
disadvantaged and marginalized,
healthy lifestyles and peace-building
and community dialogue.
The Accord specifically
recognizes the role of sports in
reducing stigma and increasing the
social and economic integration of
marginalized people and in bridging
108
cultural, religious, ethnic and social

divides.
There is a need, in the
contemporary world, to promote the
values of teamwork, fairness and
respect for opponent and the rules of
the game. The universal law of sports
is based on global ethics, fair-play,
respect and friendship.
In the politically and ethnically
divided contemporary world, it is the
sports world that gives hope to be
politically neutral, while also not being
apolitical. UN Secretary-General also
announced the appointment of former
IOC President Jacques Rogge as his
Special Envoy on Youth, Refugees
and Sport. He will help promote sport
as an empowering tool for youth from
displaced and refugee communities
towards peace, reconciliation, security,
health, education, gender equality, and
a more inclusive society.
Mr. Ban particularly mentioned
the important role of sports in the
conflict-ridden areas, such as Syria, the
Central African Republic and South
Sudan, and in the neighbouring
countries which host millions of
refugees.
The President of the General
Assembly, John Ashe, also praised the
power of sport to help meet the
deadline for the eight anti-poverty



targets known as Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
On the same note, Mr. Ban
mentioned that Sport can also
motivate children to enroll and do well
in school, empower girls and women
by providing opportunities for
leadership and accomplishments, and
help reach many groups and
communities with important messages
on HIV/AIDS and other diseases, drug
abuse and environmental protection.
Features of the UN-IOC
Accord on Sports:
Joint sporting initiatives with
help of International Olympics
Committee and its allies vs.
UN, its member states,
Specialized agencies and
goodwill ambassadors (like
Suresh Kalmadi and Sheila
Dixit.)
Educate youth via sports:
learn while you play
Sports to increase interaction
of margined society with rest
of the world .
In conflict areas like Syria and
S.Sudan, Sports can help
restore some normalcy.
Sports can
motivate
children to enroll in schools.
Sports can empower girls,
give them leadership skills.
Even HIV, drug abuse and
environment protection messages can
be taught via sports
Other Initiatives:
Peace and Sport
Peace and Sport is a neutral and
apolitical international initiative based
in Monaco. It puts sports and its
values at the heart of local
development projects conducted
within communities in crisis around the
world.
Peace and Sport had its first

International Forum in 2012 outside the
Principality of Monaco. The Forum
allows Peace and Sport to deliver its
message around the world. It seek to
internationalize its goal and allow
peace through sport to reach new
ground at all levels. Peace and Sport
has also established a regional forum
at Dubai.
It make sports a vehicle for
tolerance, respect, sharing and
citizenship. The organization is
supported by governments, world
sport governing bodies, international
organizations, major international
private companies and international
sports champions.
Apart from organizing various
sporting events, the organization also
gives Peace and Sport Awards, to
reward individuals and initiatives
contributing to peace.
Sports Accord:
Launched in 2003, Sports Accord
is the umbrella organization for all
International sports federations as well
as organisers of multi-sports games
and sport-related international
associations. It has around 93 full
members and 16 associate members.
It offers the participants a
powerful opportunity to come
together on a global scale, in an
exclusive and authoritative
networking environment, to build
relationships, share knowledge and
develop ideas that will benefit the
entire community.
Over the years, SportAccord
International Convention has become
one of the key fixtures on the worldwide sporting calendar. It allows
associations as well as the
international sports federations to
increase efficiency by holding all their
annual meetings at the same time and
109
place, and serves also as a commercial

platform whereby the sports industry
can have 'one-stop-shop' access to the
world governing bodies of sport and
their key decision-makers.
It has thus emerged as an
organization with the key values of
neutrality, transparency and
accountability while promoting sport's
ability to contribute to positive change
in communities.
Development Prospects
under the Accord
The United Nations called on
global citizens to become part of its
team to harness the power of sports
to build a better world for all as it
marked the first ever International Day
of Sport for Development and Peace,
on April 6. The International Day of
Sport for Development and Peace will
highlight the potential of sport to
advance human rights, eliminate
barriers and promote global solidarity.
However, Mr. Ban stressed the
need to include the various elements
of the society- governments,
international organizations, sport
sector, civil society, and many others.
He also informed that, in the past,
sport has helped create exchanges
and friendly interactions between
groups caught up in violent conflicts.
It has provided opportunities for
youth to learn about moral values, fair
play, motivation, leadership, and
teamwork, while serving as a gateway
to education.
The UN Office on Sport for
Development and Peace (UNOSDP) is
promoting 5 key messages1. Power of sports to respect and
promote dialogue;
2. The power of sport to
enhance life skills of children
and youth;



3. The power of sports to
include everyone regardless
of abilities;
4. The power of sport to
advance gender equality; and,
5. the power of sport to improve
physical and mental health.
The Conclusion
The
UN
Development
Programme (UNDP) is using the day
Organization
FAO
to highlight the benefits of sports and

healthy lifestyles on broader social
development, citing its role in building
self-confidence, empowering youth,
promoting good health and helping to
achieve the anti-poverty target of
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs).
There has also been a
recognition of the convening power
Title
Goodwill Ambassador
UN Secretariat UN Messengers of Peace
Former UN Messengers
of Peace
UNAIDS
Goodwill Ambassadors
UNDP
Global Goodwill
Ambassadors
National Goodwill
Ambassadors
UNEP
UNESCO
Goodwill Ambassador
Champions for Sport
of sports as a tool of advocacy and

communication. It is for this positive
influence of the sports that, the UN
has appointed sporting personalities
as Goodwill Ambassadors with the
objective of creating public awareness
about development issue, while
promoting tolerance and peace.
Some Prominent Goodwill
Ambassadors from Sports:
Name
Beatrice Faumuina
Carl Lewis
Patrick Vieira
Ral Gonzles (Ral)
Roberto Baggio
Her Royal Highness
Princess Haya Bint Al
Hussein
Muhammad Ali
Country
New Zealand
United States
France
Spain
Italy
Sport Discipline
Athletics
Athletics
Football
Football
Football
Jordan
USA
Equestrian
Boxing
Vijay Amritraj
Hong Myung-Bo
Michael Ballack
Iker Casillas
India
Korea
Germany
Spain
Tennis
Football
Football
Football
Ronaldo
Maria Sharapova
Zindine Zidane
Nicol Ann David
Brazil
Russia
France
Malaysia
Football
Tennis
Football
Squash
Aisam ul Haq Qureshi

Sachin Tendulkar
Rabah Madjer
Michael Schumacher
Sergey Bubka
Veronica Campbell-Brown
scar Washington
Tabrez
Vitaliy & Wladimir
Klitschko
Pakistan
India
Algeria
Germany
Ukraine
Jamaica
Uruguay
Tennis
Cricket
Football
Formula 1
Pole Vault
Athletics
Football
Ukraine
Boxing
110



Organization
UNFPA
UNICEF
UNODC
WFP
Title
Name
Vyacheslav Fetisov
Goodwill Ambassador
Yuko Arimori
International Ambassadors Lionel Messi
David Beckham
Serena Williams
National Ambassadors
Manu Ginobilli
Zobera Rahman Linu
Ivan Zamorano
Paolo Maldini
Lee Chong Wei
Frank Fredericks
Pedro Couceiro
Novak Djokovic
Jelena Jankovic
Serbia
Ana Ivanovic
Serbia
Fernando Alonso
Spain
Pau Gasol
Spain
Pedro Delgado
Spain
Kajsa Bergqvist
Sweden
Matt Dawson
United Kingdom
Ryan Giggs
United Kingdom
Summer Sanders
USA
Goodwill Ambassador
Igor Cassina
National Goodwill
Shahid Afridi
Ambassador
Ambassadors Against
Kak
Hunger
Ronaldinho
Jessica Watson
Celebrity Partners
Stop TB
Ambassador
The move might prove an

effective tool in curbing the growing
problems of the world. The promotion
of a healthy culture of sports would
Country
Russia
Japan
Argentina
United Kingdom
USA
Argentina
Bangladesh
Chile
Italy
Malaysia
Namibia
Portugal
Serbia
Tennis
Tennis
Formula One
Basketball
Cycling
Athletics
Rugby
Football
Swimming
Italy
Pakistan
Sport Discipline
Ice Hockey
Marathon
Football
Football
Tennis
Basketball
Table Tennis
Football
Football
Badminton
Athletics
Car Racing
Tennis
Brazil
Football
Brazil
Australia
Football
Sailing /
Adventure
Olympic
Gymnast
Basketball
Cricket
Football
Li Ning
China
Dikembe Mutombo
Muttiah Muralitharan
Luis Figo
DRC
Sri Lanka
Portugal
promote the values of teamwork and

respect for rules and laws among the
people. Thus, it might be hoped that
the UN-IOC Accord would help the
111
Gymnastics
Cricket
world get rid of the ethnic and political

divisions and cooperate to make a
better world.

UPSC Examination Calender 2014

UPSC Examination Calender 2014
112

Study Kit for Preliminary Examinations:

v IAS (Pre) GS Paper 1
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-1
v IAS (Pre) GS Paper 2

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-2
v . . . ( )
2014 -1
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-1-hindi
v . . . (-)
2014 -2
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-2-hindi
Study Kit for Mains Examinations:

v Contemporary Issues
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/contemporary-issues-ias-mains
v Public Administration
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-public-adminstration
v Essay Writing
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/essay-mains
v English Grammar & Comprehension

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-english-compulsory
v History
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-history
v Philosophy
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-philosophy
v Sociology
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-sociology
v General Studies
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/gs-mains
Study Kit for UPSC Other Examinations:

v Armed Police Forces (CAPF)
http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/capf
Study Kit for Other One Day Examinations:

v SSC Combined Graduate Level (Tier - I)
http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl
v ( -1)
http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl/tier-1-hindi
v SSC Combined Graduate Level Examination (Tier - II)

http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl-tier-2
v SSC Combined Higher Secondary Level (10+2) Examination

http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/chsle
v IBPS Specialist Officer Study Kit

http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-specialist-officer
v IBPS Probationary Officer (PO) Study Kit

http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-po
v IBPS Clerk Study Kit

http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-clerk
For Full Information about Study Kits Click below Link:

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit

2 Civil Services Mentor

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

2 Civil Services Mentor

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

JULY, 2014

For Advertisement Contact at :

Essay and Promo

UN-IOC Accord for Sport for Peace

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

and downs. Muslim Brotherhood

Background and Evolution

including Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Dynamics of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

usually has four or five

higher office within the

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Dynamics of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

'political Islam', used by the many

to be president because the post's

After the Arab defeat in the First

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Dynamics of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

opponents complained as an 'Islamic

its Supreme leader- Mohammed Badie.

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Dynamics of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

Here are some of the

went on the run but was arrested

the Brotherhood's initial candidate

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Price: Rs. 600 Rs. 449

No. of Booklets: 12 (1 Year)

File Type: PDF File Only (No Hard Copy)

Gist of The Hindu

Gist of Press Information Bureau

Gist of Science Reporter

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY RECOGNIZED

For many years, there has been

The Problems of Transgender

all the spheres of the society. Not only

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Transgender Community recognized as Third gender

The Story of the Struggle

their own political party called- Jeeti

NLSA V. Union of India Case

gender identity is one of the most

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Transgender Community recognized as Third gender

acknowledged by the Court that the

The Court's Opinion:

emphasized the need for a paradigm

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Join Online Coaching For IAS Pre & Mains Exams

Transgender Community recognized as Third gender

The Way Ahead:

The ruling of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court, on April 15,

society. A South Asian LGBT group

Click Here to Subscribe PRINT COPY of Civil Services Mentor Magazine

Online Coaching for IAS PRE GS 2015