India signs pact for the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT)--in Hawaii (US)

                       

Objective Points:

1. Pact signed for the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT)--in Hawaii (US)
2. Master Partnership Agreement (MPA) for the construction of the $1.5-billion Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT).
3. That would be the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope.
4. Pact was signed by the five partner countries — Canada, China, India, Japan and the U.S. — in Hawaii, the site for the proposed telescope. 
5. India is a 10 per cent partner in the project => financial commitment of about Rs. 1,000 crore.
6. Much of India’s contribution will be in-kind.
7. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) will jointly fund the Indian component. 
8. At present, India has three 2 m class optical-IR telescopes and a 3.6 m telescope waiting to be commissioned. 
9. Will be made out of 492 hexagonal segments.
10. Will have observational windows from UV to mid-IR wavelengths.
11. Since it is a Ground-based telescope, it  is limited in spatial resolution by the atmospheric turbulence.
12. Will resolve images better than Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant gets FAC by AERB

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has given its nod for controlled fission process or “First Approach to Criticality” (FAC) for the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.

• The FAC is an important step towards the beginning of power production. 

• Clearance for the FAC, however, does not mean the stage is set for the commissioning of the plant soon.

• The AERB would review the results of the tests before giving clearance for the next stage of commissioning, which would entail a phased increase in the power level of the reactor. 

• Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, AERB clearance, controlled nuclear fission process, First Approach to Criticality

India looks forward to the Bali Ministerial Conference

The ninth WTO Ministerial Conference would be held in Bali from December 3 to December 6. The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the 158-member multi-lateral Organisation, which meets at least once every two years.

• For further progress of the WTO Doha round trade negotiations
• International pressure on India to limit food security.
• India risks stalling the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) progress.

Under the TFA, a proposal of developed countries, WTO members are negotiating ways to facilitate trade, simplify and harmonise customs rules and reduce transactions cost => reduce trade friction.

About G-33:

• The G33 is a group of developing countries that coordinate on trade and economic issues. It was created in order to help a group of countries that were all facing similar problems.
• The G33 has proposed special rules for developing countries at WTO negotiations, like allowing them to continue to restrict access to their agricultural markets.
• Despite the name, there are currently 46 member nations.

BMW launched electric car i3 in 3 continents

German luxury car maker BMW Group launched the first production series of its all-electric ‘i3’ city car simultaneously in three continents — Asia, Europe and the US. The BMW created a separate ‘i’ sub-brand to market electric vehicle.

ISRO replaces Thaicomm in CCTNS project

What is CCTNS Project?

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) aims at creation of a nation-wide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled sophisticated tracking system around 'investigation of crime and detection of criminals' formally launched by the GOI in Jan 2013. It will share data of crimes and criminals among 14,000 police stations across the country.

The Rs 2,000 crore project, approved in 2009, spans across all the 35 states and Union Territories.

Fully sponsored by the Government of India under the national e-Governance Programme. 

So basically,

Aim of CCTNS = efficient, effective and  transparent policing through e-governance. 

Okay, so now what happened?

1. The CCTNS is a group of some 820 VSATs (two-way ground satellite systems) that will be networked by a satellite.
2. BSNL was the original agency in charge.
3. BSNL had only some 400 VSATs.
4. For remaining (820-400=420! Oops, lucky number :D), BSNL ordered IPSTARs (that are VSATs by Thaicomm- a Thai communication company, which is also providing services in almost a dozen nations, including Pakistan and China)

Our Intelligence agency did some homework and said that "CCTNS data is going to be highly sensitive. Using a foreign satellite to relay this data = ramifications on the national security environment"

Now, GOI, has decided that ISRO is going to provide the remaining number of VSATs.

--End of News--

Sources: Press Information Bureau , The Hindu

Ford joins Greenhouse Gas reporting programme

• American multinational automaker Ford on Tuesday became the first automaker to join a voluntary greenhouse gas reporting programme recently established in India. 

• The company already participates in similar programs in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

• Voluntary reporting provides overall transparency regarding the company's CO2 emissions.

• Ford has a goal of reducing CO2 emissions at its global facilities, including two in Chennai, by 30% per vehicle by 2025.

• Ford's India manufacturing plant produces the Ford Figo, Ford Fiesta, Ford Classic, Ford Endeavour and Ford EcoSport. The company's engine plant produces 17 variants of gasoline and diesel engines.

• The facilities are equipped to reuse 100% of wastewater generated, have reduced water use 30% per vehicle produced in the last three years, and reduced energy consumption 10% per vehicle.

Jhumpa Lahiri on Man Booker longlist

My Apologies, could not help stealing this picture from her facebook profile. I found it extremely difficult to digest that such a gorgeous woman is a brilliant author at the same time! XD

• Jhumpa Lahiri has been nominated for the Man Booker Prize for her much-anticipated new novel 'The Lowland'.

• The extract of 'The Lowland' tells the story of Subhash and Udayan, two brothers who look identical, but different in ideology, as it is essentially tory of a young man's encounter with the Naxalite movement at the cost of his family, set in Kolkata.

• Jhumpa had won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with her debut short story collection 'Interpreter of Maladies' (1999) 

• Her first novel, 'The Namesake' (2003), was adapted into a popular film of the same name. 

• Quote: "While it may not change the way the world looks at the Naxalbari movement, it will help refocus attention on it," she adds, pointing out that Nobel laureate V S Naipaul, too, touched upon the Leftwing rebellion in Andhra Pradesh in 'Half A Life'.

PS: Here's her facebook page, in case you're wondering. Follow her, like I did ;)

Albert II announced abdication, Philippe takes over as Monarch of Belgium

Belgium's King Albert II announced abdication after completing 20 years of monarchy. The decision came on the National Day of Belgium, ie, 21st of July. His 53 years old son Prince Philippe took the charge as the new monarch.

The monarchy has been more than a symbol of unity in this complex country, where divisions run deep between the Dutch-speaking majority and French speakers who make up 40 percent of the population’s 10 million people.

Philippe, 53, studied at Oxford and Stanford universities and served as fighter pilot and paratroop commander in the Belgian military. He was being groomed to take the throne when his childless uncle King Baudouin died suddenly from a heart attack in 1993, but his father was crowned instead because Philippe was judged unready.

Lesser known facts about the capital city (Brussels): 

• It’s the third-richest region in the European Union — behind London and Luxembourg — according to data released in March by the EU's statistics office. At 17.4 percent, however, its unemployment rate is among the highest in Europe outside crisis-wracked Spain and Greece.

• A large part of Brussels' wealth comes from the presence of the European Union and NATO headquarters, which have brought thousands of well-paid expat officials to the city and attracted legions of lobbyists, journalists and business executives.

• The high unemployment can be put down largely to the complex and contentious relations between Belgium's divided linguistic communities. Most jobs in the capital require candidates to be fluent in both French and Dutch. Many also demand English.

• Meanwhile an estimated 300,000 people commute into the city to work every day.The commuters’ taxes go to regional governments that leaves the capital starved of revenues and forced to rely on the generosity of its reluctant neighbors. 

                          

Courtesy: Global Post

Image Courtesy : Guardian

IOC warns Russia after anti-gay law

June 29, 2013- A gay rights activist is seen after clashes with anti-gay demonstrators during a gay pride event in St. Petersburg. Russian police arrested dozens of people on Saturday after clashes erupted in the city of Saint Petersburg between pro- and anti-gay demonstrators.

In response to pleas from human rights groups, the International Olympic Committee released a statement acknowledging the passage of anti-gay laws in Russia and calling for the acceptance of all athletes.

"The International Olympic Committee is clear that sport is a human right and should be available to all regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation," the statement said. "The Games themselves should be open to all, free of discrimination, and that applies to spectators, officials, media and of course athletes. We would oppose in the strongest terms any move that would jeopardize this principle.”

The winter Olympic games, which are set to take place in Sochi, Russia in 2014, has been the topic of much contention since the Kremlin passed a law last month prohibiting the distribution of “homosexual propaganda” to minors.

It is now illegal to even admit homosexuality in public. It is also illegal to equate the value of homosexual relationships with that of heterosexual relationships, and punishment does not apply solely to Russians.

Foreigners can be arrested and detained for up to 15 days, fined and deported.

Human rights and LGBT groups are now calling for a boycott of the Winter Olympics, set to take place in February.

Source: Global Post

MSP of Minor Forest Produce

Government will introduce a mechanism, including fixing of minimum support price, to provide fair returns to nearly 100 million forest dwellers who depend on minor forest produce for their livelihood.

• This will ensure reasonable income to the poor gatherers mostly living in Maoist-affected areas where they face difficulties to bargain for fair prices for 13 types of minor forest produce (MFP)

• State government will be free to fix a price higher than the benchmark. Prices will be revised every three years. The states will no longer have monopoly in procuring these products.

• According to the proposal, Minimum Support Price (MSP) would be determined based on the baseline survey of price for each of the MFP, its cost of collection, cost of clearing and primary processing, packaging and transportation cost for each state. 

• A Pricing Cell constituted in the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) would be assigned this task. 

• Thirteen forest produces namely "tendu, bamboo, mahuwa flower, mahuwa seed, sal leaf, sal seed, lac, chironjee, wild honey, myrobalan, tamarind, gums (gums karaya) and karanj" were recommended by T Haque committee constituted for studying the minimum support price issue. 

• However, mahua flower would be kept out of MSP regime as it is a source of food for members of Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwelling communities.

Background: THE Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA) was the first to assert the rights of panchayats over minor forest produce (MFP). However, hardly any state implemented the provisions of this act seriously, and the Left and other organisations fighting for tribal rights continuously demanded that forest produce gatherers must be given ownership rights and minimum support prices (MSP) in order to enable them to have a decent living.

Read Hindu article on atrocities faced by Tribal people on collecting Forest Produce

SC curbs acid sale

According to the Central Government guidelines, no one will be able to purchase acid without submitting a photo ID. Also, shopkeepers who sell acid will have to obtain a licence to do the same.

The guidelines come after the Supreme Court hauled up the government for not having done enough to check the sale and purchase of acid to curb the incidents of acid attacks.

The court was hearing a PIL filed in 2006 by an acid attack victim Laxmi. She sought a total ban on the sale of acid and compensation. She had also sought an amendment to the existing criminal laws or framing of a new law to deal with such offence.

"German Whistleblower Award"-2013

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who exposed the most extensive US global surveillance operations, was on Thursday awarded this year's German "Whistleblower Prize" worth USD 3,900 in absentia.

The whistleblower prize is awarded once in two years to honour persons, who "expose in public interest grave social injustices and dangerous developments for individuals and the society, democracy, peace and environment".

As an insider, Snowden "exposed the massive and unsuspecting surveillance and storage of e-mails, IP addresses as well as telephone and other communication data by US and western intelligence agencies."

Paradip wins ‘Major Port of the Year’ award

• Paradip port has been conferred the ‘Major Port of the Year’ award in recognition of its excellent performance in 2012-13. 

• Also it handled a total of 56.55 million tonnes of traffic, up from 54.25 mt in 2011-12.

Wiki Lookup for Paradip