IMPORTANT AWARDS 2012

IMPORTANT AWARDS 2012

• Israeli Scientist Daniel Hillel has won World Food Prize 2012 .
• ITC conferred world business & development award 2012.
• Life Time Achievement Award for Ratan Tata by Rockefeller Foundation
• Vijay Kumar conferred Himachal Gaurav award
• Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Puraskar for DR Mehra,
• Ashoke Sen wins Yuri Milner Prize.
• Sachin Tendulkar was presented the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award.
• Ondaatje Prize 2012 for Rahul Bhattacharya.
• Sudarshan Pattnaik won the Copenhagen Sand Art Championship-2012.
• Binayak Sen and Bulu Imam honored with the International Peace Award by the Gandhi Foundation at the House of Lords.
• Shalini Singh won Prem Bhatia award
• Kulandei Francis won Magsaysay award.
• Miss China Wenxia Yu won the title of Miss World 2012
• Mamta Kalia gets Sita puraskar.
• Shiv Bhatia gets Rashtriya Ekta Puraskar.
• Mr. Baba Kalyani was conferred an honorary ‘Doctor of Science’ (honoris causa) by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at the 58th Annual Convocation of IIT Kharagpur.
• Paraguay’s Highest Civilisation Award ‘National Order of Merito de Comuneros’ for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
• Lifetime achievement award for Waheeda Rehman at Mumbai Film Festival.
• Bangladesh honours Jagjivan Ram as 1971 war hero.
• Hilary Mantel wins Booker Prize for 2012.
• Gulzar gets Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 2012.
• C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Sunil Gavaskar.
• Sharmila Tagore was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the Edinburgh Napier University.
• Member of Order of Australia – Sachin Tendulkar
• IT giant Infosys founder, N.R. Narayan Murthy honoured with Hoover Medal for promoting science at Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Washington.
• Aishwarya Rai was honoured with French Civilian Award
• Dr Madhav Chavan has won the WISE Prize, which has been likened to a “Nobel prize for education”.
• Urdu Scholar Gopi Chand Narang Awarded Moortidevi Award for 2010
• Chinese movie ‘11 Flowers’, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai has won the prestigious NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) award at the 18th Kolkata International Film festival (KIFF).
• President of the Republic of Liberia Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf got the Indira Gandhi peace prize for 2012 for her Excellency, Peace,Disarmament and Development.
• “Andhey Ghorey Da Daan” a Punjabi film directed by Gurvinder Singh and produced by National Film Development Cooperation was bagged the Golden Peacock award of the International Film Festival of India, IFFI.

ICC Awards 2012

• Emerging Player of the Year – Sunil Narine
• LG People’s Choice Award – Kumar Sangakkara
• ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – Virat Kohli
• ICC Test Cricketer of the Year -Kumar Sangakkara
• ICC Cricketer of the Year – Kumar Sangakkara

IIFA Awards 2012

13th IIFA Awards 2012 schedule from 7th Jun to 9th Jun, 2012 as held in the beautiful city of Singapore . The list of winners has just been announced and as expected, Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan have once again won the Best Actor and Best Actress award respectively. The Best movie and director too have been predictable this year, as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which swept the IIFA 2012 technical awards, has won in both categories.
Winners of IIFA Awards 2012
Best Actor – Ranbir Kapoor (Rockstar)
Best Actress – Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture)
Best Movie – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Director – Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Story – Zoya Akhtar and Reema Katgi (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Music – A R Rahman ( Rockstar)

84th Academy Awards

The 84th Academy Awards Ceremony/ Oscars was hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science ( AMPAS). The ceremony which took place at the Hollywood Highland center in Hollywood, California on 26 Feb 2012 honoured the best film and performances of 2011. The ceremony was hosted by Billy Cristal who hosted this ceremony for the ninth time. Best Motion Picture: The Artist ,Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist Best Actor : Jean Dujardin, The Artist ,Foreign Language Film : A separation , Original Screenplay: Woody Allen Best Actress : Meryl Streep, Iron Lady , Adapted screenplay:Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash Best Supporting Actor :Christopher Plummer, Beginners, Cinematography : Hugo. Art direction: Hugo Best Supporting Actress :Octavia Spencer, The Help .Original Score : The Artist. Visual Effects: Hugo Film Editing: The girl with the dragon tattoo. Sound mixing:Hugo. Sound Editing: Hugo. Costume Design:The Artist Original Song: Man or Muppet, from Muppets. Make Up: The Iron Lady . Live Action Short Film:The Shore Animated Feature Film: Rango. Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Documentary Features: Undefeated. Documentary Short: Saving Face.

Nobel Prize 2012 Winners

• Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 – Serge Haroche and David Wineland
  
• Nobel Peace Prize for 2012: European Union
  
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012: Robert J Lefkowitz and Brian K Kobilka
• Nobel Prize in Literature 2012: Chinese author Mo Yan
• Nobel Prize in Economy 2012: Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley
• Nobel Prize in Medicine 2012: John Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka

SUMMITS HELD ON 2012 - 13

SUMMITS HELD ON 2012 - 13

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summits

• 4th BRICS Summit 2012 – New Delhi, India
• 5th BRICS Summit 2013 – Durban, South Africa

G-8 Annual Summits
Group of Eight (G8) Countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Russia.

• 37th G8 Meeting 2011 – Deauville, France
• 38th G8 Meeting 2012 – David camp, USA
• 39th G8 Summit 2013 – County Fermanagh, UK
• 40th G8 Summit 2014 – Russia

G-20 Summits

• 7th G 20 Meeting 2012 – Los Cabos, Mexico
• 8th G 20 Meeting 2013 – Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 9th G 20 Meeting 2014 – Brisbane, Australia

SAARC Summits
SAARC – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

• 17th SAARC Summit 2011– Addu, Maldives
• 18th SAARC Summit 2013 – Kathmandu,Nepal

ASEAN Summits
ASEAN – Association of South East Asian Nation

• 19th ASEAN Summit 2011 (November) – Bali, Indonesia
• 20th ASEAN Summit 2012 (April) – Phnom penh, Cambodia
• 21th ASEAN Summit 2012 (November)– Phnom penh, Cambodia

ASEAN-India Summit

• 9th ASEAN-India Summit 2011 – Bali, Indonesia
• 10th ASEAN-India Summit 2012 – Phnom penh, Cambodia

East Asia Summit (EAS)
EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings.

• 6th East Asia Summit 2011 – Bali, Indonesia
• 7th East Asia Summit 2012 – Phnom penh, Cambodia

IBSA Summits
IBSA Dialogue Forum - India, Brazil, South Africa.

• 5th IBSA Summit 2011 – Pretoria, South Africa
• 6th IBSA Summit 2013 – India

APEC Summits
APEC – Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

• 23rd APEC summit 2011 – Honolulu, USA
• 24th APEC Summit 2012 – Vladivostok,Russia
• 25th APEC Summit 2013 – Medan/Jakarta, Indonesia
• 26th APEC Summit 2014 – China
• 27th APEC Summit 2015 – Philippines
• 28th APEC Summit 2016 – Lima, Peru

OPEC Seminars
OPEC – Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

• 4th OPEC International Seminar 2009 – Vienna, Austria
• 5th OPEC International Seminar 2012 – Vienna, Austria

NAM Summits
NAM – Non-aligned Movement

• 16th NAM Summit 2012 – Tehran, Iran
• 17th NAM Summit 2015 – Caracas,Venezuela

SCO Meetings
SCO – Shanghai Cooperation Organization

• SCO Meeting 2011 – Astana, Kazakhstan
• SCO Meeting 2012 – Beijing, China
• SCO Meeting 2013 – Kyrgyzstan

NATO (North Atlantic treaty organization) international conference on Afghanistan will be held in Chicago (USA)

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meetings
Annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held every year.

• ADB Annual Meeting 2012 – Manila, Philippines
• ADB Annual Meeting 2013 – New Delhi, India

WTO Ministerial Conferences

• 8th WTO Ministerial Conferences 2011 – Geneva, Switzerland
• 9th WTO Ministerial Conferences 2013 (Expected) -Bali, Indonesia

Other Important Summits

• United Nations framework convention on Climate, 2011 – Durban, South Africa
• 10th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change – New Delhi, India
• Arab summit 2012 – Baghdad, Iraq
• Nuclear security summit 2012 – Seoul, South Korea
• 12th Annual summit of European Union and India – New Delhi, India
• G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting – Mexico City, Mexico
• Friends of Syria Meeting – Istanbul,Turkey
• 5th Ministerial level India-UK Economic Financial Dialogue – New Delhi
• United Nation Conference on Sustainable Development 2012 – Rio de janeiro,Brazil
• 17th National youth Festival – Mangalore, Karnataka
• World Economic Forum – Davos, Switzerland
• World Polio Summit 2012 – New Delhi, India
• India, Russia Inter-Governmental Commission meet 2012 – New Delhi, India
• The sixth conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians held in Islamabad on 4th November 2012.
• E-9 countries review meeting held in New Delhi on 9th and 10th November 2012.The E-9 countries are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria and Mexico.
• The 8th meeting of the India-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) on counter terrorism was held on 20 November 2012 in New Delhi.
• The 3rd Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit organized by East West Institute, a New York based think-and-do tank, kick-started in the New Delhi on 30th October 2012.
• South Korea will host the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2014.
• The XI Conference of Parties (CoP-11) on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being hosted by India at Hyderabad starts on 1st October 2012.
• The 9th World Hindi Conference to be held in Johannesburg ,South Africa from 22-24 September 2012.The first world Hindi Conference was held in Nagapur from 10-12 January 1975.
• The APEC Russia 2012 Summit is the 24th annual gathering of APEC leaders of 21 countries.Leaders from the member economics are currently meeting on Russky Island off the Coast of Vladivostok, Russia from September 2-9 ,2012 .
• The world’s largest meeting on HIV/AIDS opened on 22nd July in Washington.
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Summit held in HICC, Novotel Hyderabad. The summit was held between 22 August 2012 to 25 August 2012.
• 7th ASEAN education Ministers meeting on July 4 with the 1st Asean plus three education Minister Meeting and the 1st East Asia Summit Education Minister meeting from July4-5 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• A One day International conference in Kabul took place on June 14,2012 to discuss ways to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan and boost regional cooperation.
• 101 st session of International Labour Conference organized by International Labour Organization(ILO), concluded on June 14 ,2012 in Geneva.
• The Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments took place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012
• India To Host Alternative International AIDS conference
• World Agriculture Congress mega event will be hosted by the Hyderabad city for the first time in the country.
• The 6th Summit of the Americas was held At Cartagena, Colombia on 14 and 15 April 2012.
• The Russia, India and China (RIC) trilateral conference was held in Mascow on 13 April 2012.
• The seventh meeting of the India-Russia Joint Working Group was held in New Delhi on 11 April 2012.
• Two-days national agricultural conference held at New Delhi.
• The international exhibition-cum conference ” Indian Aviation 2012 held at Hyderabad from 14-18 March 2012.
• The 23rd Arab summit was held on 29 March 2012 Baghdad, half of the Arab world’s 22 heads of states had to meet for the summit in former president Saddam Hussain’s palace, but only few leaders gathered.
• India, the independence accreditation agency organized its 1st world summit on Accreditation from 25 -28 March 2012 in New Delhi.
• The I’st World summit on Accreditation is going to be held in March 2012 at New Delhi.
• A seven days Turkey World Trade Bridge International Business Summit is going to be organized by the confederation of Businessman and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) and the Indo-Turkish Business Association (ITBA) from 3 June to 10 June 2012 in Istanbul.
• AIMA’s second Knowledge summit was held in Bangalore on 7March 2012.
• The 9th three day International conference & exhibition was hosted by the society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG),which was inaugurated on 16 feb 2012 in Hyderabad.
• The 44Th session of Indian Labour conference was held on 14 and 15 Feb 2012, under the chairmanship of Shri Mallikajun Kharge, Union minister of Labour and Employment.
• The Association of South East Nations (Asean ) summit had held in New Delhi on 12 Feb 2012 with the theme of India and Asean partners for peace, progress and stability.
• The 12th India – EU summit was held in New Delhi on 10 Feb 2012.
• The 4th ” International Conference on Luminescence and its Application’s” (ICLA) 2012 conference had been organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies on 8 Feb2012 in Hyderabad.
• The 15th National conference on e-Governance conference had been inaugurated by the chief minister of Odisha M.Naveen Patnaik on 8 Feb 2012
• The 10th International Kimberlite conference meeting was held from 6 to 11 Feb 2012 at Bangalore (GSI).
• The 58th annual meeting of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS) was held from 8 to 12 Feb 2012 in Kolkata
• The national conference on Governance’ was held on 29 Jan 2012 at the NCUI auditorium in New Delhi.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated 15th Global Sanskrit Meetings in New Delhi on 4 January 2012.
• 99th Science Congress Conferences were inaugarated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bhuvaneswar, Odisha on 3 January 2012.

IBPS CLERK 2 MORNING GA QUESTIONS 15/12/2012

General awareness questions
1. Minister of STATE FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
2.Women's T20 Winner?
3.Who Wrote the book "DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM"?
4.U-19 cricket world cup winner?
5.which is the highest policy making authority in IT and Communication sector ?
6.If your in Need of cash in ODD hours ,what among these is fastest mode of withdrawal of Money ?
A. Net banking B . Mobile banking c. ATM
7.you are aware that your SB A/C balance was 10000 after depositing 2000 as your last transaction but it incorrectly shows 15000 as your balance. What is the maximum amount you can withdraw legally ?
A. 10000 B. 15000 C 2000 D . Cant withdraw as the amount shown is incorrect
8.if You Deposit RS.5000over the counter, what does the person sitting in the counter do ?
A. credit your account with RS .5000 without any debiting account
B. Debit cash account and credit your account with Rs. 5000
C. cant say
9.which is indian dance form - ans kathakali(keral a) 2.who is the policy maker for telecom - options: Dot, telecom ministry,etc.
10.In terms of size of its economy wat is india's rank among usa,russia, china, japan,india- options: rank 1, rank 2 , etc
11. operating hour of bank locker- options: business hour, anytime, as mentioned while filling application, etc.
12. national fruit of india- ans: mango
13.miss world 2012- ans:Wen Xia Yu,china
14.Latest indian foreign policy duration. options: 2009-12, 2011-13, etc.
15.what is india's rank regarding world power consumption- options: rank
This page will update as soon as with questions …….stay with us

Bollywood Actress Hema Malini Selected for Bharat Muni Samman

Famous Bollywood actress and Bharatanatyam exponent Hema Malini had been selected for the prestigious Bharat Muni Samman of year 2012 for her outstanding contribution to the field of art and culture.

Bharat Muni Samman is named after the author of Natyashastra Bharat Muni and has been instituted by Bhubaneswar-based organisation Kalingayana Touryatrikam.

The award is going to be presented to Hema Malini on 18 December 2012 for her outstanding contribution towards promotion of Indian arts and entertainment which is also marked by the concluding day of the three-day Bharat Muni Festival scheduled to be held in Bhubaneshwar.

Hema Malini is 64 years old and she would be the fifth recipient of the award. The earlier recipients are Thankamani Kutty, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Jasraj and Ratan Thiyam.

Hema Malini was also awarded with Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award in year 2000.

Assam Government Announced Special Health Scheme for People in Riverine Area

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on 12 December 2012 announced that 50 riverine public health centres would be set up in the state under the National Rural Health Mission.

The public health centres would be located primarily in the districts of Barpeta, Dhubri, Goalpara and Darrang.

The government was in Process to implement several schemes under the health department such as 15 boats with process theatre facilities, including five boat ambulances under the 108 emergency schemes.

The state government has approached the North East Council for setting up of floating hospitals, and had asserted that the pilot project of that would be prepared by 2013.

Infosys Shares started Trading on New York Stock Exchange

Infosys Ltd, India’s second-largest IT services provider on 12 December 2012 announced that its American Depositary Shares (ADS) have started trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol INFY.
The company is also in the process of listing its ADS on the Paris and London exchanges of NYSE Euronext.

Earlier in the month of December the company had announced transfer of its NASDAQ-listed ADS to NYSE, which basically aimed to give its European investors better access to its stock.

At the end of September quarter, Infosys had 6.67 crore ADS representing 11.62 per cent of its total number of shares, according to BSE data.

An American Depositary Shares (ADS) is a US dollar-denominated equity share of a foreign-based company available for purchase on an American stock exchange.

Retail Inflation Increased to 9.90 Percent in November 2012

Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on 12 December 2012 showed that the retail inflation increased for the second successive month to 9.90 percent in November 2012 mainly because of the increase in price of food products like edible oil, sugar, vegetables as well as clothing. In October 2012, the retail inflation was 9.75 percent and in September 2012, it was 9.73 percent.

Maximum increase in the price in the month of November 2012 was in oil as well as fats segment, amounting to the annual inflation of 17.67 percent. Apart from oil, the price of sugar also increased by 16.97 percent and pulses on the other hand because costlier by 14.19 percent on yearly basis.

The prices of vegetables increased by 14.74 percent in November 2012, while the price of egg, fish and meat increased by 11.33 percent. Also, there was an increase in the price of footwear and clothing at 11.08 percent in November 2012.

In the urban areas, retail inflation increased to 9.69 percent in November 2012 in comparison to 9.46 percent in October 2012. However, in rural areas there was a very slight decrease in inflation to 9.97 percent in November 2012 from 9.98 percent in October 2012.

The rural, urban and combined All India provisional General (all groups) CPI numbers for the month of November 2012 are 126.9, 123.4 and 125.4, respectively.

It is important to note that the Reserve Bank will keep an increase in retail inflation in mind while taking review about the mid-quarter policy in the third week of December 2012. In October 2012, raising concerns over rising inflation, Reserve Bank had kept the standard interest rates unchanged.

Vinod Rai re-elected as chair of UN auditors panel The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has appreciated the panel and the yeoman service rendered by the external auditors in improving governance in the United Nations system.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai has been re-elected as chairman of United Nations Panel of External Auditors for 2013.

"CAG Vinod Rai has been re-elected Chair of the (UN) Panel for the year 2013, while the CAG of the United Kingdom, Amyas Morse, has been re-elected the vice-chair of the Panel".

The Panel headed by Vinod Rai discussed the major business transformations currently underway in the United Nations with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Some of the major issues that came up for discussion during the meeting include the requirement for optimising the process of deriving benefits from the business transformations currently underway.

The need to put in place a mechanism to govern voluntary contributions which form a major portion of funding that the UN receives and the need for strengthening coordination between the panel and the UN secretariat were other issues discussed during the meet.

The panel of external auditors plays an important role in promoting accountability and strengthening governance mechanisms in the UN organisations.

The panel meets annually to discuss emergent issues in the audit of UN organisations. At present, the panel comprises Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Pakistan, Philippines, Switzerland, Tanzania and the UK.

India, U.S. collaborate on solar energy

India and the United States have started an initiative to develop solar energy through photovoltaic (PV) projects and concentrated solar power (CSP), also known as solar thermal.

This comes four months after India experienced one of the world’s biggest blackouts, which affected more than 680 million people.

Titled ‘SERIIUS’ (Solar Energy Research Initiative of India and the United States), the $50 million project would be conducted by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science and the Washington-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

India Bags three World Travel Awards

India has bagged three prestigious awards from World Travel Awards(WTA). These are: World’s Leading Destination- India, World’s Leading Tourist Board- Incredible India and World’s Leading Tourist Attraction- Taj Mahal. Union Tourism Minister Sh. K. Chiranjeevi received these awards on December 13.

Established 19 years ago, WTA is committed to raising the standards of customer service and overall business performance throughout the international tourism industry. This was for the first time that WTA ceremony was held in Asia.

Tourist Park in the Country with Private Partners

Ministry of Tourism has appointed a National Level Consultant (NLC) to develop action plans for setting up of Tourism Parks including their locations and integrated development of tourist destinations/circuits in consultation with States/UTs.

Assistance from Ministry of Tourism to State Governments/U.T. Administrations in these activities may include services of consultants and financial assistance under its Plan Schemes as per the scheme guidelines, inter-se priority and subject to availability of funds. The projects to be funded by the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) are decided in the prioritization meeting with the States/UTs.

Development and promotion of tourism including the identification of new tourism destinations and setting up of Mega Tourism Parks for holding the tourists for a longer period as well as adopting public – private partnership model for their development are primarily the responsibility of the State Governments/Union Territories (U.T) Administrations.

Direct Transfer of Cash for Subsidies

The process for implementing the direct transfer of cash subsidy on PDS Kerosene has been initiated in 11 identified states/UTs. The Department of Food and Public Distribution proposes to implement direct transfer of food subsidy to the Targeted Public Distribution System beneficiaries in 6 Union Territories on a pilot basis. With regard to fertilizers, the Government has not asked the State Governments to prepare for direct transfer of cash for fertilizer subsidy to the poor through banks by 01.01.2013.

The concerned Central Ministries have set up Implementation Committees on Direct Cash Transfer for sorting out the issues of hassle free transfer of cash to the beneficiaries with due consultation with State Governments.

Zero Balance Account for Beneficiaries of Government Programmes

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) on 10.8.2012 to offer a ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ and also convert existing basic banking ‘no-frills’ accounts’ to ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’. Such accounts do not have the requirement of any minimum balance and comes with the facility of ATM Card or ATM-cum-Debit Card. However, the holders of such accounts are not eligible to open any other savings bank deposit account in that bank. Under Financial Inclusion, banks have already opened 3.16 crore accounts by March 31, 2012.

India lifts World T20 for blind

India on December 13 triumphed in the inaugural Blind Cricket Twenty20 World Cup after defeating Pakistan by 29 runs in the title clash in Bangalore. After Ketan Bhai Patel guided India to 258 with a hurricane knock of 98, the hosts restricted the visitors to 229 for nine in the allotted 20 overs.

Batting first, Prakash Jayaramaiah made useful 42 while vice-captain Ajay Kumar Reddy contributed 25, helping India to post a competitive total. For Pakistan, Mohammed Jameel scored a quickfire 47, Ali Murthaza struck 38 while Mohammed Akram helped himself to 32 runs.

Having won eight matches on the trot in the group stage, Pakistan could not maintain the winning streak when it mattered most.

India had only lost to Pakistan in the group stage and thrashed Sri Lanka in the semifinal.

Pakistan had spanked England by nine wickets in the semifinals.

The victory is India’s first in a World Cup final after they lost to Pakistan in 2006.

Defiant North Korea launches long-range rocket

North Korea defied international warnings and fired a long-range rocket on December 12, the second launch under its new leader and a clear sign Pyongyang is pushing forward with its quest to develop the technology needed to deliver a nuclear warhead.

Pyongyang’s state media quickly claimed that the country had successfully put a peaceful satellite into orbit with its long-range Unha-3 rocket the North’s stated goal of the launch. But South Korea and Japan said they couldn’t immediately confirm that. The launch was something of a surprise, as North Korea had indicated technical problems with the rocket and recently extended its launch window to December 29.

A rocket expert said North Korea’s rocket appeared to have improved on an April launch, which broke apart shortly after liftoff, but that it might be a day before U.S. officials could determine whether a North Korean satellite was circling the Earth.

The United Nations, Washington, Seoul and others see the launch as a cover for a test of technology for missiles that could be used to strike the United States.

Agni-1 successfully test-fired

India on December 12 successfully test-fired nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Agni-1 ballistic missile for its full range of 700 km from the Wheeler Island, off Odisha.

The single-stage, solid-propelled missile was launched by the personnel of the Strategic Forces Command at 8.15 a.m. from a road mobile launcher. The entire operation was supervised by Defence Research and Development Organisation's missile technologists, who described the mission as a success and said that all the objectives were met.

Soon after its launch, the home-grown missile splashed down near the pre-designated target area in the Bay of Bengal with a high degree of accuracy as the radars along the coast and naval ship located down range tracked its flight path and recorded the terminal event.

The 15-metre-tall missile was picked up from the production lot for conducting the test-firing as part of regular exercise for the SFC personnel. Agni-1 weighs 12 tonnes and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead of one tonne. The missile was developed following the Kargil conflict after the defence services perceived the need for such a version and has already been inducted into the Army.

Top DRDO scientists and Army officials were present to witness the mission. The SFC personnel carried out a successful launch of the same missile in July this year.

India has around 7 cr unemployed or under-employed

Around seven crore people in the country are either unemployed or under-employed, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has said in its latest report.

"As per results of the latest survey conducted by NSSO during 2009-10, the number of unemployed or under-employed persons on usual status basis in the country was 95 lakhs and about six crore respectively," Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

The government has been making continuous efforts by focusing on creation of productive employment at a faster pace in order to raise incomes of masses with the aim of bringing about a general improvement in their living conditions, he said.

"The job opportunities are created on account of growth in Gross Domestic Product ( GDP), investment in infrastructure development, growth in exports, etc," Kharge said.

Replying to a supplementary, the Minister said though there was a system of involving industry in drafting course curricula and their revision, possibility of mismatch between demand and supply in the labour market still remains.

"No demand surveys are conducted by the Government. However, National Skill Development Corporation conducted a study for 21 high growth sectors which has estimated, skilled manpower requirement of 34.7 crore up to 2022," he said.

UN conference on climate change has agreed to extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol

The UN conference on climate change has agreed to extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol, which controls the greenhouse gas emissions of rich countries, through 2020. The historic pact, which was agreed to by countries in 1997, expires this yearend. However, the new agreement only covers developed nations whose share of world greenhouse gas emissions is less than 15 percent. The protocol locks in only nations, excluding major developing polluters such as China and India, as well as the US which refuses to ratify it. The Protocol got extension with the EU, Australia, Switzerland and eight other industrialised nations signing up for binding emission cuts by 2020.

Punjab is No. 1 in fish farming in the country

Punjab is set to cross 1 lakh tonnes of fish production in the current year 2012-13, which would be record production in the country and more than 8,000 tonnes from the fixed target of 93,000 tonnes. More than 50,000 farmers were earning their livelihood directly or indirectly through fish farming. By producing 6,560 kilograms of fish per acre, Punjab has become number one state in fish farming besides playing a significant role in agriculture diversification.

New Dinosaur with Gigantic Nose Discovered in Mexico

Scientists in northern Mexico discovered a new dinosaur with a large prominent nose which lived about 73 million years ago.

The duck-billed dinosaur, which was named Latirhinus uitstlani lived during the Late Cretaceous period and its wide nasal cavity might have given it incredible smell-detecting ability.

As per researchers the giant nose of Dinosaur supported and provided enhanced space for a soft tissue structure, sort of like an inflatable bladder, for display, recognition and communication purposes in general.

The dinosaur also possessed sturdy hind limbs ending in three toes, and relatively smaller and thinner forelimbs ending in 4 digits — meaning this animal was thumb-less.

These dinosaurs were herbivores with a few thousand teeth closely packed together to form a grinding surface to chew the vegetation they fed upon.

As per the report it was concluded that the environment that Latirhinus inhabited was likely warmer and more humid than it is today’s time, with lakes and bays nearby.

First 100 Percent Ultrasound Toothbrush of the World Developed

British scientists claimed that they developed in the first week of December 2012, the first toothbrush of the world called Emmident toothbrush which makes use of the ultrasound waves for cleaning teeth, which means that there is no need of abrasive brushing.

Even though the manual toothbrushes have been replaced long back with whizzyelectric versions of the brushes which have super-fast vibrations along with costly whitening heads, but the high-tech toothbrushes launched in UK in first week of December 2012 is the first 100 percent ultrasound toothbrush of the world.

Ultrasound technology was also included in electric designs earlier but this time it is the first of its kind toothbrush which has independent ultrasound technology and it does not require movement of brush.

About the new Emmident toothbrush

Emmident toothbrush makes 86 million sound waves in a minute and these waves in turn are used for cleaning the teeth.  The cost of this product is 79.95 pounds. Manufacturers of this product claimed that ultrasound waves which are emitted from this toothbrush create tiny bubbles from special 3.99 pounds toothpaste which should be used with this.

These bubbles can get between teeth as well as the gums which in turn help in killing bacteria as well as dislodging tarter. The bacteria which are left on brush head are also killed.

British Dental Association however admitted that proper tests should be done in order to prove efficiency of this toothbrush.

Indian Economy Would Dominate the Economy of the World by 2030: US Intelligence Community Report

US intelligence community in its report called Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds which was released on 10 December 2012 declared that India would straddle international commerce and will also dominate the economy of the whole world by 2030. This would happen with decelerating Chinese economy as well as declining West.

Key points of the report:

•India’s chance of powering would begin only after 2015 as China’s fortunes would start diminishing.
•By the year 2030, Asia (mainly India) would return back to its position of being the powerhouse of the world, like it was before 1500.
•Pakistan might not exist at all.
•India will rush forward after 2020 as China would begin decelerating, primarily on certain demographic trends.
•China is indeed ahead of India, but the gap between India and China would start zeroing in by 2030. The economic growth rate of India will surge while that of China will slow down.
•In 2030, India might be rising as the economic powerhouse just like China is today. The current economic growth rate of China, 8-10 percent would become just a memory for the country.
•Overall size of the working-age population in China would increase in 2016 and decrease from 994 million to 961 million in 2030. Contrarily, working age population of India would most probably rise until around 2050.
•The demographic opportunities of India will rise between 2015 to 2050. China’s opportunities’ window is from 1990 to 2025. Contrarily, US’s opportunity was best between 1970 to 2015.
•Median age of India which is at present 26 will increase to 32 by 2030, which would still be the least among top 10 economies of world.
•The report also mentioned that anytime after 2030, India instead of China would be having the largest middle-class consumption, which would be even larger than US and Europe combined. However, India might face trapping in the status of middle-income group in case the resources constraint, especially food, water and energy are not resolved. More investment would be required in science and technology sector in order to keep the pace of economy in the value chain.

It was however made clear that the journey of economic development of both India as well as China will not be smooth. But if the difficulties were handled well, India as well as China would be dominating the world in 2030.

About Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds

The latest National Intelligence Council's (NIC) Global Trends Report was released on 10 December 2012 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. This report is called Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds. Global Trends project offers expertise beyond government on certain factors like demography, environment, globalisation. The documents are prepared by Global Trends to assist the makers of policies in long-term planning on major issues which hold worldwide importance.

First Global Trends Report was released back in 1997. New global trends report is being published after every four years after the U.S. presidential elections. For the production of Global Trends 2030, a range of analytical tools, in-depth research as well as detailed modeling was employed.

FDI ISSUES

FDI  GROW BY 56% IN NOVEMBER 2012 IN INDIA

FDI IN MULTI RETAIL BRAND 51%

FDI IN SINGLE  RETAIL BRAND 100%

FDI IN AVIATION SECTOR  49%

FDI IN DEFENCE  SECTOR  26%

FDI IN BROADCASTING SECTOR 74%

Haryana to buy 2000 MW Hydel Power from Bhutan

The Government of Haryana approached Bhutan to provide hydel-power to resolve the power crisis in the state.

The Haryana Government is supposed to purchase 2000 MW power from the country for which they have alreday finalised modalities regarding the purchase at the administrative level.

The Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda is going to lead a high-level delegation to Bhutan from 14 December 2012 to 16 December 2012 calling for a significant step to make the state free of any power shortage in the coming days.Senior officers of power utilities department would be part of this high-level delegation to Bhutan.

Hydel-power is available at cheaper rates as compared to coal-based power plants.
However, Haryana has already started working in this direction as senior officers of power utilities department had visited Bhutan and interacted with their officials .The rates of the power would be as per the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) that would be signed between the two countries.

Four coal-based thermal power stations are already operating at full capacity in the state of Haryana. Also, a nuclear power plant of 2800 MW was being set up at Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district. The government is also planning to start a new scheme, under which, 22-hour power supply will be given to consumers who pay their bills on time.

If the MoU is successfully signed then it would help to ensure uninterrupted power supply of 14 to 20 hours to the rural consumers in the state.

Besides, Haryana government is also exploring the possibilities of purchasing hydel-power from Arunachal Pradesh in the future.

Yahoo and NBC Sports came Together to Provide Sports Content

Yahoo! Inc and NBC Sports Group decided to promote each other’s sports content on the Internet as well as on television in a move that would help both the companies represent on their individual strengths across both mediums.

The collaboration will increase NBC's digital presence as well as shore up its college and fantasy game coverage, while Yahoo will gain access NBC's video content, live sports coverage and big name television personalities.

The execution plan is that  two companies is going to maintain separate websites and independent newsrooms, but will be collaborating on big sports news stories as well as events coverage both online and on the air.

Yahoo is already looking to increase its involvement with television content; it announced a major content sharing deal for financial news with CNBC in June 2012.

Made-for-web video programs will be developed by the sports news provider which is going to appear on both Yahoo Sports and NBCSports.com.

The alliance will include, Yahoo Sports, the Rivals Network, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports Regional Networks, Golf Channel.com, Rotoworld.com and Allisports.com. NBCSports.com will continue to provide sports content for NBCNews.com.

NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network and is part of NBC Universal Media, a unit of Comcast Corp.

Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar passes away

 

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar passed in San Diego on December 11. He was 92.

The legendary musician and composer was India's musical ambassador and a unique phenomenon in the classical music worlds of East and West. He was well known for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. He was active as a professional musician till the end and was one of the contenders for the next Grammys.

India ranks 94 in list of corrupt nations

India was ranked 94 out of 176 countries surveyed in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2012, with a score of 36 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), the Transparency International India (TII) said.

Last year India ranked 95 out of 183 countries. However, due to an update in the methodology, CPI scores of 2011 cannot be compared with this years' score, S.K. Agarwal, vice-chairman of TII told IANS. He added that India had the same score of 36 in 2011 as well.

"The 2012 index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption and assigns scores of between one (highly corrupt) and 100 (clean).

While Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan were the most corrupt countries with a score of eight,  Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tied for the first place of the least corrupt with a score of 90.

China had a CPI score of 39, which is better than India, while Pakistan's was 27.

CPI scores and ranks countries based on how corrupt a country's public sector is perceived to be. It is a combination of surveys and assessments of corruption collected by a variety of reputable institutions.

Eleventh Meeting of India-Canada JWG on Counter Terrorism held in New Delhi

The 11th meeting of the India-Canada Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter Terrorism was held in New Delhi on 29 November 2012. The meeting took place within the framework of the enhanced interaction in bilateral relations between India and Canada, and in keeping with the desire of the governments of India and Canada towards greater cooperation in counter terrorism matters.

India and Canada shared their respective threat assessments and informed each other of the measures taken by them to strengthen counter terrorism policy and structure. Both nations also discussed the follow-up of the Mumbai terror attack of 26 November 2008. India and Canada also exchanged views on international developments, coordination in international fora and their bilateral cooperation in the area.

The next and the 12th meeting of the Joint Working Group will be held in Canada in 2013 on mutually convenient dates. The meeting was co-chaired by Asoke Kumar Mukerji, Special Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, India and Artur Wilczynski, Director General for International Relations, Canada.

Palestine wins de facto UN recognition of sovereign state

The 193-nation UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine. The vote will upgrade its status to non-member observer state at the world body. The UN victory for the Palestinians was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only a handful of countries in voting against the move to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations to "non-member state" from "entity," like the Vatican. India was among the 138 nations in the 193-member body that voted in favour while nine countries opposed the resolution that sought upgrading the status of Palestinian Authority from 'entity' to 'non-member observer state. Forty-one countries abstained from the voting. The vote could enable Palestine to access bodies like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and major human rights violations. Now Palestine could use access to the ICC to complain about Israel. In the resolution, the Assembly also voiced the hope that the Security Council will "consider favourably" the application submitted in September 2011 by Palestine for full UN membership. The vote comes on the same day that the UN observed the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Established in 1977, the Day marks the date in 1947 when the Assembly adopted a resolution partitioning then-mandated Palestine into two States, one Jewish and one Arab.

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck passes away

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck has died at the age of 91. Dave Brubeck sometimes struggled to find acceptance among his peers, who thought his music didn't swing. But his album Time Out, packed with unusual time signatures and unorthodox rhythms, found a huge audience. Brubeck died one day shy of his 92nd birthday.

Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM) to open a representative office in Myanmar

In order to increase the bilateral trade between the Northeast India and Myanmar, Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM) will open a representative office in Myanmar.
Exim bank has 10 offices across the country and seven offices across the world. Northeast India accounts for Rs 1000 Crore export out of which agriculture account for less than 5 percent.

Forbes magazine top 20 most powerful persons in the world

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have been named among the top 20 most powerful persons in the world by Forbes magazine in its annual power rankings which placed US President Barack Obama as number one for a second year in a row.

India's richest businessman Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also feature in the list that comprises 71 mighty heads of state, CEOs, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who "truly run and shape the world of 7.1 billion people."

Gandhi dropped a notch from last year's list and ranks at number 12 this year ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang and French President Francois Hollande.

Forbes said the 65-year-old leader of India's ruling political party has the reins of the world's second-most-populous country and tenth-largest economy.

Coming in at the 20th spot is Singh, the Oxford and Cambridge-educated economist who is the architect of India's economic reforms.

Singh had ranked 19th in the list last year. "But Singh's quiet intellectualism is increasingly seen as timid and soft," Forbes added.

Ambani, owner of the world's most expensive private residence, ranks 37th in the list. Forbes said the petrochemical billionaire is India's richest and Reliance Industries is the nation's most valuable company.

It however described Ambani's support for disgraced former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta as a "low point" for him in 2012.


Mittal, ranked 47th in the most powerful people list, has a net worth of USD 16 billion but also has "lots of headaches, including S&P and Moody downgrades of his company's debt to junk status." A highlight for Mittal during the past year was carrying the Olympic flame in the 2012 Torch Relay.

Forbes said 51-year-old Obama emerged "unanimously" as the world's most powerful person for the second year running.

The decisive winner of the 2012 US presidential election, Obama now has four more years to push his agenda even as he faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East.

The second most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman, German chancellor 58-year-old Angela Merkel. She jumped up from the number four position last year to take the runner-up spot on the 2012 list.

Forbes termed Merkel as the backbone of the 27-member European Union, one who carries the fate of the Euro on her shoulders.

The list also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin at number three, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (4), General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping (9), Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (20), Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei (21) UN chief Ban Ki-moon (30), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (44) and former US President Bill Clinton (50).

Forbes dropped US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the list this year. Clinton, who had ranked 16th last year, does not feature in 2012 rankings as she is not expected to return to her powerful post for Obama's second term.

It is for the same reason that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also does not feature in this year's list.

Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is ranked 28th in the list.

Oldest Person of the World, Besse Cooper Died At 116

Besse Cooper, the woman listed as the oldest person of the world died on 4 December 2012 in Georgia nursing home at 116 years of age. Besse Cooper had died peacefully in Monroe. Besse was recently taken ill with the stomach virus.

Besse Cooper was declared as the oldest person of the world in January 2011 by the Guinness World Records.
She was also the first Georgian who had world record with her. The birth place of Besse was Tennessee and she had moved during the First World War to Georgia.

Guinness World Records declared that as of now, merely 8 people have reached the age of 116. Besse Cooper held this title of oldest person of the world since 2011. She explained her secret of living for such a long time, to Guinness World Records. She explained that she didn’t eat junk food.

Who is the world’s oldest person now?

After the death of Besse Cooper, the title of oldest person of the world now goes to Dina Manfredini of Johnston who is aged 115 years of age.

Oldest known person of all times

Jeanne Calment, the French woman is the oldest known person till now. She was aged 122 when she died in 1997.

India's domestic air traffic growth to be world's 2nd highest

India's domestic air travel market would be among the top five globally, experiencing the second highest growth rate in domestic passenger traffic after Kazakhstan but before China, IATA said.

Global airlines' body International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its Airline Industry Forecast 2012-2016, saying only Kazakhstan, India and China would experience double-digit growth in domestic passenger traffic during the period, recording 22.5, 13.1 and 10.1 per cent growth respectively, adding a total of 49.3 million new passengers.
"No other country is expected to experience double-digit growth rates over the forecast period," the IATA study said.
By 2016, the five largest markets for domestic passengers would be the United States (710.2 million), China (415 million), Brazil (118.9 million), India (107.2 million) and Japan (93.2 million).
Globally, the IATA industry traffic forecast showed that the airlines were expected to fly some 3.6 billion passengers in 2016, which is about 800 million more than the 2.8 billion carried by them in 2011.
In terms of air cargo carriage too, India would be among five fastest growing international freight markets over the 2011-2016 period.
The compound annual growth rate of the air cargo sector would be the highest for Sri Lanka at 8.7 per cent, followed by Vietnam (7.4 per cent), Brazil (6.3), India (6.0) and Egypt(5.9), the IATA said.

Maintaining that aviation globally supported some 57 million jobs and USD 2.2 trillion in economic activity, IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler said governments would have to "recognise aviation's value with policies that do not stifle innovation, tax regimes that do not punish success and investments to enable infrastructure to keep up with growth."

7th Public Procurement Summit

7^th Public Procurement Summit held on on 6^th December 2012 at  Hotel Le-Meridien, New Delhi.
The primary objective of the conference is to bring together various professionals involved in public procurement from different Government Departments, PSUs, State Govts, Private organizations to share the best practices and to discuss the critical issues of today and the future. The aim of this forum is to provide a common platform for all stakeholders to have a wider discussion on various aspects relating to public procurement.

11th National Convention on Sustainable Housing for Masses

11th National Convention on Sustainable Housing for Masses held on 7 & 8 December 2012 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Two days Convention is expected to attract nearly 400 delegates from across the country. Representatives of Central and State Governments, State Development Authorities and Housing Boards besides real estate promoters, developers and builders, banking and housing finance companies, private equity players, town planners, architects, real estate consultants and other associated industries are expected to participate. The convention also offers unique opportunity for networking with various stake holders of real estate industry. 

Background:
Census 2011 reveals that India's urban population increased from 285 million in 2001 to 377 million in 2011 (32 percent). The number of towns increased from 5161 to 7935 during the same period. The reason for rapid growth in urbanization is attributed to migration from rural to urban areas for jobs in manufacturing and services sectors consequent to growth post economic liberalization. With 64 percent of 1.2 billion population looking for jobs and agriculture sector having no absorption capacity, rapid industrialisation and urbanization are only natural. Some estimates suggest that India's urban population will reach a level of 600 million in next two decades.

Urban housing shortage estimated is 18.78 million with 95 percent in LIG and EWS categories. This, as per experts, may go upto 38 million by 2030 if the rate of supply remains what it is today. The reasons for abnormal housing shortage in LIG and EWS categories have been assigned to urban planning being centric to HIG and MIG categories in the past. Tenant Centric Rent Control Act has prevented development of rental housing, essentially
       
required for low income groups. Colonial Land Acquisition Act, spiraling land cost, archaic building bye laws, stringent licensing, project approval and banking policies have made low cost housing uneconomical for private developers and prevented low income households, especially in unorganized sector, from availing home loans.

The Governments (Central and State) have now recognized the need for urban renewal, inclusive growth and reforms in urban development policies and banking norms. It has also been recognized that Central and State Governments can't meet the challenges on their own and active participation of private sector is necessary. It has further been recognized that urban sector development has major linkages with the growth of the economy.

In the above backdrop, National Real Estate Development Council, the apex body of real estate industry, under the aegis of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India, has decided to make "Sustainable Housing for Masses: Introspection & Way Forward" as the main theme of its 11th National Convention and deliberate on strategies and action plans that will make affordable housing development, specially for masses, together with physical and social infrastructure possible with the participation of all stake holders.

64th Annual Conference of Cardiological Society of India & SAARC Cardiac Congress

64th Annual Conference of Cardiological Society of India & SAARC Cardiac Congress held on 6th December at New Delhi.

The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari has  Inaugurates and  said that recent studies have shown that heart diseases have emerged as the number one killer in both urban and rural areas of the country. The diseases affect men and women alike. If all age groups are included, heart diseases account for about 19 per cent of all deaths in the country.

World Breastfeeding Conference 2012 – ‘Babies Need Mom-Made Not Man-Made’

The World Breastfeeding Conference 2012, was inaugurated at New Delhi on 6th December.. The Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in partnership with International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) organized this Conference. The theme of the three day conference is ‘Babies need Mom-Made not Man-made’.

Addressing the gathering Smt. Krishna Tirath, the Minister for State, Independent Charge, Women and Child Development said, “The benefits of a simple practice cannot be ignored and adequate breastfeeding support for mothers and families should be provided. She mentioned “Taking stock of policies and programmes the theme for World Breastfeeding week this year was apt and timely preceding this World Conference. It is time for all of us to act and look back and set the stage for change of behavior, mindsets and make an honest attempt to improve the unacceptable levels of breastfeeding .”

The Minister also mentioned that The ICDS programme currently reaches out to about 80 million children under six years of age and 20 million pregnant and lactating mothers through a network of 1.3 million child development centres called ‘Anganwadi centres’.

Committee on Direct Cash Transfers

Government has constituted National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers chaired by the Prime Minister as a mechanism to coordinate action for introduction of direct cash transfers to individuals under various Government schemes and programmes.

The National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers is mandated to engage in following tasks:

a) Provide an overarching vision and direction to enable direct cash transfers of benefits under various government schemes and programmes to individuals, leveraging the investments being made in the Aadhaar Project, financial inclusion and other initiatives of the Government, with the objective of enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability.

b) Determine broad policy objectives and strategies for direct cash transfers.

c) Identify Government programmes and schemes for which direct cash transfers to individuals can be adopted and suggest the extent and scope of direct cash transfers in each case.

d) Coordinate the activities of various Ministries/Departments/Agencies involved in enabling direct cash transfers and ensure timely, coordinated action to ensure speedy rollout of direct cash transfers across the country.

e) Specify timelines for the rollout of direct cash transfers.

f) Review the progress of implementation of direct cash transfers and provide guidance for mid-course corrections.

g) Any other related matter.

Utilisation of Power of Gram Panchayats in UP

As per Article 243G of the Constitution, the Legislature of a State may, by law, endow Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them function as institutions of self-government and for preparation of  plans and implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice including 29 matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. As per Article 243A, a Gram Sabha may exercise such power and perform such functions as the legislature of a State may, by law, provide.  States vary in the extent to which they have devolved powers to the Panchayats and Gram Sabhas.   The status of devolution of funds, functions and functionaries to Panchayats by States is at Annexure.  Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has continuously urged all States, including Government of Uttar Pradesh, to devolve powers to the Panchayats in accordance with the constitutional stipulation. 

Standing Committee of Inter-State Council Reconstituted

The Prime Minister has approved the reconstitution of the Standing Committee of the Inter-Sate Council under the Chairmanship of Shri Sushilkumar S. Shinde, Home Minister.

2. Union Cabinet Ministers  Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture & Food Processing Industries, P.Chidambaram, Minister of Finance, M.Veerappa Moily, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways, M.K. Alagiri, Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and  Ashwani Kumar, Minister of Law & Justice are Members of the Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council.

3.  Lal Thanhawla, Chief Minister, Mizoram, Ms. J.Jayalalitha, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu,  Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab,  Manik Sarkar, Chief Minister, Tripura,  Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha, Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat,  Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister, Rajasthan,  Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister, Kerala and Akhilsesh Yadav, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh are also Members of the Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council.

13th Mutual Fund Summit

13th Mutual Fund Summit held on December 12, 2012 at New Delhi. Its theme is  Multiply Your Wealth with Investors’ Protection. The Summit would provide an ideal forum for expert discussion, information sharing and an excellent platform for business networking.

NSPCL Rourkela receives CII (Odisha) Award

NTPC-SAIL Power Company Pvt Limited (NSPCL), Rourkela has won First prize in CII (Odisha) Award for ‘Best Practices in Safety, Health & Environment’. The Award was received by CEO, NSPCL, Vishwaroop and GM & Business Unit Head of NSPCL Rourkela unit, Debasis Sarkar from Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik during the 17^th ‘Enterprise Odisha’, the largest Trade Fair of the state, jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Eastern Region and Govt of Odisha.