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Kasanagottu Nageshwar
Floriculture industry to cross Rs 8K crore mark by 2015
- February 13, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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Rose demand spikes by 25% ahead of V day; single stem to cost over Rs 60 Growing at a compounded annual growth rate of about 30 per cent, India’s floriculture industry is likely to cross Rs 8,000 crore mark by 2015. Currently, the floriculture industry in India is poised at about Rs 3,700 crore with a share of a [...]
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)’s Initiative in Social Responsbility – Naginder Singh Kishor
- February 13, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is the largest steel maker of India and amongst the top public sector enterprises in terms of turnover with the prestigious status of ‘Maharatna’. With this comes the responsibility of being a catalyst for positive change. Apart from the business of manufacturing steel, the objective of the company is to conduct business in ways that [...]
Tripura Agriculture Plan Bears Fruit – Subhasis K. Chanda
- February 12, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
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Kumud Behari, a Tripuri hill man, is a traditional jhuming farmer. He is happy this year as he yielded double crop. A similar record was set by Mohammed Abdul Gafar who adopted the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and increased the yield to 3.3 tons per hectare from 2.3 tons per hectare produced earlier by traditional methods. These inspiring instances, in [...]
Road Accidents on National Highways in Hilly States
- February 12, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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The number of road accidents on National Highways particularly in Hilly States throughout the country decreased marginally for the years 2007 and 2008 but again increased during the year 2009. However, the number of road accidents in Himachal Pradesh has shown decreasing trend during the same period. Road accident data is compiled in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways [...]
National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances- Shamima Siddiqui
- February 12, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances have several medical and scientific uses. However, they can be and are also abused and trafficked. India’s approach towards Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is enshrined in Article 47 of the Constitution of India which mandates that the ‘State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption, except for medicinal purposes, of intoxicating drinks and [...]
The health-care challenges posed by population ageing
- February 9, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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Shrinking fertility rates and longer lives are changing the demographic landscape of countries worldwide, challenging not only the way we think about how to fund care for older people, but attitudes to ageing itself. Gary Humphreys reports. The population of Thailand is getting old. According to Viroj Tangcharoensathien, senior adviser of Thailand’s International Health Policy Programme, at the present time, [...]
Journey into History of Bank of the Bankers – Sameer Pushp
- February 9, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not become the ‘Bank of the Bankers’ in a day. It’s been a long and tough journey of evolution, consolidation, policy changes and reforms that shaped it to be an institution with a difference. Legislation to set up the RBI was first introduced in January 1927, and after seven years in March 1934, the [...]
Who’ll lead Congress in UP? Not Rahul Gandhi, says party
- February 9, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
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The Congress has not projected any chief minister in the hotly contested Uttar Pradesh elections that began Wednesday and “youth icon” Rahul Gandhi is not a candidate, says a senior leader. “Our focus is on the campaign now. When it comes to selecting a legislature party leader, we will cross the bridge when we come to it,” Mohan Prakash, chief [...]
BJP’s moral halo is fading rapidly – V.S. Karnic
- February 9, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must be ruing coming to power in Karnataka and holding up the state as a gateway to rule south India. In the last four years, the party has been facing a series of scandals centred around money, land and sex. Worse is the shallow stand taken by the state and central BJP leaders when their [...]
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Kasanagottu Nageshwar
Eurozone crisis an opportunity for Indian IT: Expert – Ranvir Nayar
- February 14, 2012
India’s Information Technology sector is well placed to take advantage of the current Eurozone crisis as an increasing number of companies will look at “offshoring” as a way to cut their costs, says an expert with a leading consultancy. For that, Indian companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Mahindra Satyam, would have to come out of the current “low-hanging [...]
”Are you single or married?”, “What’s your phone number, sweetie”, “Main tumse shadi karna chahta hoon”… are some of the pesky calls that female cops handling Delhi Police’s women’s helpline have to contend with daily. Over 40 percent of the female cops who handle the women’s helpline receive abusive or obscene calls. The callers are not even deterred by the [...]
Diamonds may be woman’s best friend, but due to high prices this year their Valentines may not buy them the rock as gift despite shoppers’ preferred shift away from gold jewellery. The jewellery industry feels that Valentine’s Day sales of diamond this year would be of the same volume (carat) or even lower than last year’s. “Sales of diamond jewelleries [...]
Lip augmentation, nose job, eyebrow lift…As women try to put their best ‘face’ forward for Valentine’s Day, partners are busy gifting them cosmetic session packages. “A huge range of non-surgical beautification treatments like lip augmentation, eyebrow-lift, cheek augmentation, liposuction and nose job are being offered and girls go for them to look glamorous and sensual,” says Mumbai-based cosmetologist Jamuna Pai, [...]
viSparsh: Helping the blind through touch – Nikhil Walia
- February 14, 2012
Mohammed Wasim is a young helpline operator at India’s National Association for the Blind (NAB) who could only perceive brightness and lights, but the lack of ability to discern shapes meant living in a shapeless world where every small obstacle could prove a barrier. However, viSparsh, a belt-based sensor system (sparsh literally means touch) created by a young team of [...]
The Syrian crisis continues even though the attempt to have a Libyan-style solution through the Security Council failed with Russia and China vetoing this move. The US, other western powers along with the Arab monarchies – Saudi Arabia, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Qatar — this time unfortunately with India also in tow, essentially wanted what amounts to a regime change . The [...]
Bent on laptops, spondylitis afflicting India’s young – Shikha Nehra
- February 14, 2012
Shweta Arya was 29 years old when she first had a back problem. Ignored initially, her pain spread upwards and aggravated to a level where she was not even able to move her neck. “Employed with an infrastructure consultancy, I used to work on a laptop with a bent neck. The back pain went on increasing and finally my situation [...]
Kasanagottu Nageshwar
Motivation To Exercise Can Fluctuate
- February 15, 2012
The motivation to exercise fluctuates from week to week, which can tell whether people will be physically active or not, suggests a report. “Many of us set New Year resolutions; to be more physically active, and we expect these resolutions to be stable throughout the year,” said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology at Penn State University. Conroy and his colleagues [...]
Living ever after, virtually – Azera Rahman
- February 15, 2012
Like most people on social networking sites, 27-year-old Aditya Yadav’s profile is an active one, with a regular flow of messages and photographs. The only difference is he is no more in this world. For his family and friends though, this is a desperate attempt to keep his memories ‘alive’. Psychologists say beyond three to six months, such a practice [...]
Final Push Needed To Address Leprosy In Western Pacific
- February 15, 2012
WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office today urged its Member States to make a final push to address leprosy in the Region. In 1991, WHO launched a global campaign to eliminate leprosy as a public health threat and set a leprosy elimination target of less than one case per 10 000 of population. In that same year, the Western Pacific Region [...]
‘INSPIRE’ – Motivating Students to Study Science
- February 15, 2012
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is a national programme implemented by the Ministry of Science & Technology for attraction of talent amongst the students to study Science and pursue career with research. The programme has 3 components:- Scheme for early attraction of talents for Science (SEATS), which has two sub-components – INSPIRE Award of Rs. 5000/- and [...]
The Indian Council of Overseas Employment (ICOE) is a ‘not for profit’ society established by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in 2008 to serve as a think tank on all matters relating to ‘International Migration’. The ICOE undertakes empirical, analytical and policy related research, implements pilot projects to document good practices and assists in capacity building of stakeholders [...]
Rohtang tunnel engineers ready for geological adventure – Vishal Gulati
- February 15, 2012
Indian and European engineers overseeing the progress of an ambitious project to dig a tunnel below the 3,978-metre Rohtang Pass in the Himalayas are bracing for a geological “adventure” – the torrential flow of the Seri river that could deluge the tunnel. The 8.8-km Rohtang tunnel, an engineering marvel that is India’s most strategically important infrastructure project, will ensure all-weather [...]
Getting the measure of MRI
- February 15, 2012
A method for imaging the brain that has largely been confined to neuroscience labs may now find its place as a proper tool for medical diagnosis. Oxford University scientists have come up with a new approach that turns functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from something that produces pictures of changes in brain activity into a full numerical measure of how [...]
- February 14, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
The money is tainted; it is a drain of wealth from the country, being located in secretive Swiss banks; and the sums involved are large. Not surprisingly, the issue of monies stashed away by India’s rich and powerful in numbered accounts in Swiss and similar banks is periodically raised, provokes controversy and then enters a period of hibernation. This periodic [...]
- February 14, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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High school students seem to do better in studies when they have seven hours of sleep, rather than nine recommended by federal guidelines, a study reveals. “We’re not talking about sleep deprivation, the data simply says that seven hours is optimal at that age,” said study co-author Eric Eide from Brigham Young University (BYU). The new study, led by Eide [...]
Kasanagottu Nageshwar
Online Freedom and Offline Policies – Prof.Madabhushi Sridhar
- February 16, 2012
Abusing IT power to curb online political criticism Rising slogans like “down down” or burning effigies are no more acts of criminal defamation, though British imperialist colonial regime has incorporated penal provisions in Criminal law to punish such acts as crimes. Even though provisions remained same, the trend is that neither the state is complaining nor the courts are considering [...]
Maria (name changed) is 14 years old. One of three siblings, she lives with her grandparents, goes to a good private school and is popular with her friends. But there are times when she feels very lonely and depressed. That’s because Maria desperately misses her mother, who lives and works as a professional caregiver inSingapore. In fact, Maria gets to [...]
There is very little that distinguishes the hamlet of Madri from the innumerable others that dot southern Rajasthan. This is a region where the Aravallis make their presence felt in gnarled hillocks, where water is scarce and where the land yields its harvests grudgingly. People here, including toddlers, know well the edge of hunger. So when Ranjani Ashok, 54, who [...]
When the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) was passed by Parliament in 2005, it marked an important milestone in the country’s legislative history. Indira Jaising, executive director, Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative (LCWRI), which was involved with this piece of legislation from its very inception, termed that moment an “unforgettable one”. It took a year for the [...]
Whether film media has a contributory responsibility in killing of a teacher by a student? Killing of Uma Maheswari, a teacher in Chennai on 9th Feb 2012 reflects sad problem of severe academic pressure, bad influence of movies with theme of violence and worse reflection of failing teacher student relationship. It is common if a teacher gives ‘zero’ marking and [...]
- February 15, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday fed home-made nuclear fuel rods into the core of the Tehran research reactor as the country cut oil exports to six European nations, Press TV reported. The countries include the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal. The oil exports were cut in response to sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) against Iran’s energy [...]
Motivation To Exercise Can Fluctuate
- February 15, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
- no comments
The motivation to exercise fluctuates from week to week, which can tell whether people will be physically active or not, suggests a report. “Many of us set New Year resolutions; to be more physically active, and we expect these resolutions to be stable throughout the year,” said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology at Penn State University. Conroy and his colleagues [...]
Living ever after, virtually – Azera Rahman
- February 15, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
- no comments
Like most people on social networking sites, 27-year-old Aditya Yadav’s profile is an active one, with a regular flow of messages and photographs. The only difference is he is no more in this world. For his family and friends though, this is a desperate attempt to keep his memories ‘alive’. Psychologists say beyond three to six months, such a practice [...]
Kasanagottu Nageshwar
It is a paradox that people have no right to information about those who are going to preside over their information rights. Right to Information Act has several safeguards to secure itself from political onslaught. But they appear to be no deterrent to political executives or it seems no sane advice is available to them. Section 15.6 of the RTI [...]
Aranmula in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala is noted for its ancient temple dedicated to Lord Krishna (Parthasarathy), and the Snake Boat Regatta held in the holy river Pampa and for the metalic mirror (Aranmula Kannadi) .Aranmula is a major tourism centre of Kerala. The UNESCO has declared Aranmula as a global heritage village. But a unique object that has made the place world-famous and a [...]
Nature has provided ample resources for lives on earth to survive and grow. The quest of survival and growth enabled human beings to find and use new and renewable sources of energy. One such source is wind, which is a clean, renewable and sustainable form of energy. Wind is free and with modern technology can be captured efficiently for generating power. [...]
Women living with HIV or at high risk of HIV can safely continue to use hormonal contraceptives to prevent pregnancy WHO has concluded, on the advice of its Guidelines Review Committee, that women living with HIV or at high risk of HIV can safely continue to use hormonal contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. The recommendation follows a thorough review of evidence [...]
E-textbooks knocking at Indian classroom doors – Anjali Ojha
- February 17, 2012
For a generation that has learnt to articulate thoughts in 140 characters and knows its smartphones and tabs, e-textbooks are only the next step. But some infrastructure bottlenecks need to be taken care of before that education revolution takes place in India, experts say. Technology giant Apple recently launched an app for digital textbooks that saw an astronomical 350,000 downloads [...]
National Legal Services Authority : Performance – Cum – Achievements
- February 17, 2012
The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor and evaluate implementation of legal aid programmes and to lay down policies and principles for making legal services available under the Act. Actually, Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society [...]
Online Freedom and Offline Policies – Prof.Madabhushi Sridhar
- February 16, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
- no comments
Abusing IT power to curb online political criticism Rising slogans like “down down” or burning effigies are no more acts of criminal defamation, though British imperialist colonial regime has incorporated penal provisions in Criminal law to punish such acts as crimes. Even though provisions remained same, the trend is that neither the state is complaining nor the courts are considering [...]
Philippines: Teen Troubles: Maria Needs Her Parents, Not Just Their Money – Kara Santos
- February 16, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
- no comments
Maria (name changed) is 14 years old. One of three siblings, she lives with her grandparents, goes to a good private school and is popular with her friends. But there are times when she feels very lonely and depressed. That’s because Maria desperately misses her mother, who lives and works as a professional caregiver inSingapore. In fact, Maria gets to [...]
India: Rural Women Entrepreneurs Produce Nutrition In A Bag – Pamela Philipose
- February 16, 2012
- By India Current Affairs
- Features/ Articles, Focus
- no comments
There is very little that distinguishes the hamlet of Madri from the innumerable others that dot southern Rajasthan. This is a region where the Aravallis make their presence felt in gnarled hillocks, where water is scarce and where the land yields its harvests grudgingly. People here, including toddlers, know well the edge of hunger. So when Ranjani Ashok, 54, who [...]
Kasanagottu Nageshwar
Microsoft redesigns Windows logo
- February 19, 2012
Microsoft Friday announced that it was redesigning the logo of Windows software, making a fundamental change to the iconic four-colour Windows logo users have been used to for 20 years. Meshing with the Metro design of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8, the new logo is a slightly-angled blue block with a thin white cross in the middle, making it look like [...]
Road accidents cost India $20 bn every year – Nikhil Walia
- February 19, 2012
India suffers a staggering hit of Rs.1 lakh crore ($20 billion) every year due to road accidents, according to the International Road Federation (IRF), which says the country lacks “political will” to tackle the menace. “The losses due to road accidents have crossed Rs.1 lakh crore annually. The sad part is the establishment knows it. These figures are present in [...]
When the Moroccan resolution on Syria failed at the UN Security Council because of the double veto (from the Russians and the Chinese), the US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice proclaimed that it was “disgusting and shameful.” Outside the chamber, Rice said that the Resolution would have “aligned the international community behind a process in which both sides had [...]
IN September 2002, the then NDA government decided to close down seven urea manufacturing plants, mostly in the eastern region of our country. These were the Barauni (Bihar), Haldia and Durgapur (both West Bengal) plants of the Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation (HFCL) and the Sindri (Jharkhand), Gorakhpur (UP), Talcher (Orissa) and Ramagundam (AP) plants of the Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI). A similar decision [...]
THE capital’s grapevine is buzzing. The Supreme Court has delivered a deadly blow to the credibility of the UPA-II government on the 2G spectrum scam. The fundamental significance of the judgment lies in the confirmation by the court that there indeed was a scam. The court found the whole process unconstitutional and implicitly mala fide. Obviously, this has led the court to order cancellation of [...]
Problems of Dalits and Tribals: SC/ST Sub-Plan and its Implementation
- February 18, 2012
EVEN after 64 years of independence, the condition of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes continues to be appalling, both socially and economically. They lag behind even the minimum parameters in all aspects. The discrimination both economic and social continues. Despite all the tall promises made and schemes announced, not much progress has been made and most of these promises have [...]
An IAS Officer Should Know To Say `No’ – Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan
- February 18, 2012
Today in India, there is a certain lynch mentality. We are willing to believe the worst about those in public office, be it politicians, bureaucrats or judges. That unless proved otherwise, the fellow is a thorough crook. This is not a very happy situation. We can understand why it has come about. People are vexed, there is a terrible crisis [...]
The Sundarbans – Unique Ecosystem for Wildlife – Kalpana Palkhiwala
- February 18, 2012
The Sundarbans is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. It is the estuarine phase of the Ganges as well as Brahmaputra river systems. It lies at the mouth of the Ganges and is spread across areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, forming the seaward fringe of the delta. The typical littoral forests of Sundarbans comprises of a host [...]
Marketing and Development of Tribal Products by TRIFED
- February 18, 2012
The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) came in to existence in1987 and got registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 1984 (now the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002). It started functioning in 1988 under the Administrative control of the Ministry of Welfare, Govt. of India, (presently the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India).The main objective of TRIFED [...]