2G Auction/high reserve fee

Issue: 

Telecom giants complaint before auction started that the reserve fee too high

What is reserve fee??

The reserve fee is simply the starting point of bidding. No bidding can be made below this price. If bidding doesn’t push the price up then the item is sold at the reserve price. However if the bidding intensity is high then the final price could go much higher than the reserve price

Advantage of low reserve price:

Lower the reserve price --> more and more bidders participation in the auction --> more extensive participation --> more comprehensive price discovery of the resource --> more successful auction

Agricultural waste management and vermi-technology

Issue:
Harvesting the residue left in the field poses a major problem as removing it requires manpower and money

What farmer does??
In some places simply burn the dried leaves, stalk in the field itself as it is an easy option.
advantage of this:

• free manure, 
• increased water holding capacity

The Prohibition of Unfair Practice in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and University Bill

NEED:
"India's demographic dividend(major population age) in coming years by 2020  is around 29 years that means a population with an average age of 29" (Ref here TheHindu)
Whats interesting here is that the same for 

• China is 37 years
• US is  38 years

 This means around 2020 we will have maximum population as young Indians.
So its important that young Indians are meaningfully participated in the economy and contribute to growth.

Old age,elderly,senior citizen problems

Who are aged??

60 years + are called aged.

Characteristics of old aged people: 

characteristic of old aged,senior citizen, elderly people

Indo-US Relation: similarities, importance, clashes

Our similarities:

1. Big Democracies
2. Enemy of enemy are friends , guess who ;) you will find it soon :)
3. Our countries are multi-ethnic even though filled with strong patriotism
4. Federation of states. [ Refer constitutional borrowings from US ]

Genetically Modified Crops (GM Crops) and current Issue

Created for human or animal consumption using latest molecular biology techniques.

Specific change introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques.

Census 2011

 Our Census Our Future!!

 
Total Population of India
2011 1.21bn
2001 1.02bn

"we are the second most populous country just after China who is at 1.35bn"

We are closing on them very fast and soon we will take them down :-) !!

Comptroller and Auditor General of India

• Art 148 provides for independent office of CAG of India.
• Head of Indian Audit and Accounts Dept.
• Guardian of the Public purse.

appointed By the President of India

A liability for our nuclear plans [Editorials]

Tough provisions in the 2010 law are making it difficult to move ahead even with projects designed and built by India
 

In the context of the ongoing debate on Kudankulam, the question of nuclear liability has come to the fore again. As a person who engaged with this question almost 50 years ago, I would like to throw some light on the subject. As a lead member of the Indian team negotiating the Tarapur contract with the Americans, it fell to my remit to address this matter. General Electric and Westinghouse, who were the serious bidders, explained to us the practice in the United States whereby the owner-operator of the plant assumed the nuclear liability risk. The operator indemnified suppliers of equipment because the financial risk of a nuclear accident, though very remote, could not be reasonably factored in by the chain of suppliers involved in a nuclear project, in their contracts. The owner-operators of nuclear power plant, who were mostly investor-owned utilities, were asked to take

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill

Features of the Bill are:

1.  Appropriate compensation for land losers and labourers dependent on the land proposed to be acquired for living.
2.  The definition of public purpose has been elaborated to avoid confusion. It defines public purpose as land use for strategic purposes, infrastructure and industry. 

Track Child

What it is??

• A child tracking system for maintaining real time data of all children availing rehabilitation services under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme.
• Implemented by the Union Women & Child Development Ministry

Citizen Science

What it is??

• Public participation in scientific research 
• Scientific research conducted by crowdsourcing, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists 
• Citizen Science is when people make their own voluntary contributions to the progress of science from home. 

The Rakhine-Rohingya Conflict

Rakhine state(highlighted)

What is Rakhine??

It is a state in Myanmar.

Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest

What is Rohingya??

The Rohingya are a Muslim people who are descendent of Bengali people and currently living in the state of Rakhine (Arakan).

According to the UN, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

U.S. presidential Election

Basics

• For the post of President and Vice-President every 4 years
• Candidate must be at least 35yrs of age
• They must be native-born citizens of United States and a resident of at least 14 years

Himayat

• Himayat is a training-cum-placement programme

The Bharat Broadband Project

• The government's largest-ever Rs. 20,000 crore investment in building a National Optic Fibre  Network (NOFN)

Antarchakshu

• Launched by The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

National Policy on Electronics 2012

• to develop the Electronic System and Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector to meet our domestic demand as well as to use the capabilities so created to successfully export ESDM products from the country.

Lance Armstrong

• U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)  accused him of leading a massive doping programme on his teams.
• stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by the governing body of cycling, International Cycling Union (UCI)
• Armstrong has denied doping

TCAS

Train Collision Avoidance System
Based on a combination of GPS and Radio Frequency enabled technology, applies brakes without the intervention of the loco (train) pilots once it detects another locomotive on the move or stationary on the same track and avoids collision.
Jointly developed by RDSO of the Railways and Hyderabad-based private firm HBL Power Systems Ltd.

Toto community

One of the country’s oldest tribes, and which is facing extinction.
The Totos are one of the oldest Indo-Bhutanese tribes.
In West Bengal.
in news:
The West Bengal government has decided to provide free foodgrains to members of the Toto community

Order of Australia

what it is:
to recognize Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service.
why in news :
Oct 2012, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that Sachin Tendulkar will be conferred the membership of the Order of Australia, an honour “rarely” awarded to non-Australians.
Other Indian awarded:
 Soli Sorabjee former Attorney General-for service to Australia-India bilateral legal relations” in 2006
Other non-Australian awarded:
Brian Lara,Clive Lloyd

Mental Health Care Bill,2011

1. Humanizing the treatment of mental illnesses
2. To ban electro convulsive treatment (ECT) (electric shocks)
3. Grant of medical insurance
4. To broaden the definition of mental illness and recommends decriminalization of suicide
5. To bring Mental Health Review Commissions at district, state and national levels.
6. Treatment of mental illnesses would have to be mandatory in all government-run and funded institutions and those below poverty line will get free treatment.

Water dispute

Meaning
any dispute or difference between two or more State Governments with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley
Interstate River Water Disputes Act – 1956 (IRWD Act) enacted on 28 August 1956 by the Indian parliament under Article 262 on the eve of reorganization of states on linguistic basis to resolve the water disputes that would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river or river valley.
Amendment 2002: This amendment specifically does not permit altering the

Cauvery River dispute [Editorials]

Amid the grandstanding by political leaders, it is the Basin farmers who must take the lead in removing misperceptions about the Tribunal’s award

The Cauvery dispute has taken a turn for the worse. Confrontationism prevails, and we seem to be witnessing a return to the spirit of 1992, though not to violence of that order. What has gone wrong? This article is an analysis and an appeal.

Let us go back to 2007 and imagine that on the announcement of the Final Order of the Cauvery Tribunal, the disputant States did not file Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) before the Supreme Court but only submitted clarificatory petitions to the Tribunal. Alternatively, let us imagine that the States did file SLPs before the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court refused to admit the SLPs on the ground that there was a bar on the jurisdiction of the courts. In either case, the Tribunal would have proceeded to deal with the clarificatory petitions and might have given a Further Report in about six to eight months or perhaps a year, i.e., by early 2008.

Personality

John Dunlop

•  Important role in convincing UN that a woman's right to say No to sex was an essential human rights.
• Died at the age of 78 of lung cancer

Jawahar Thakur

•  1979-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service officer, Appointed new Controller General of Accounts (CGA)