Current Affairs - India & World: July 2011

Objective Type Questions on Indian Polity | Constitution - 5

National Symbols of India

National Flag

The National Flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three.
In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel which represents the Ashoka Chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.
The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July 1947. The flag is based on the Swaraj flag, a flag of the Indian National Congress designed by Pingali Venkayya.

Lokayukta: Setup and Functions

Lokayukta is an anti-corruption ombudsman organised at the state-level.The Administrative Reforms Commission(ARC) headed by Morarji Desai submitted a special interim report on "Problems of Redressal of Citizen's Grievances' in 1966. In this report, the ARC recommended the setting up of two special authorities designated as 'Lokpal' and 'Lokayukta' for the redressal of citizens' grievances.

Appointments of Lokayukta

Lokayukta shall be appointed by the Governor of the state in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.

Qualifications of Lokayukta

Chief Justice (retired) of any high court in India, or a judge of a high court for seven years. Lokayukta shall not be a member of Parliament or a member of the Legislative of any state or Union Territory and shall not hold any other office of profit and shall not be connected with any political party or be carrying on any business or practice any profession. The office has a term of five years.

Powers:

The LokAyukta helps people bring corruption to the fore mainly amongst the politicians and officers in the government service. It is to be noted that the LokAyukta conducts raids. But surprisingly, it does not have binding powers to punish anyone but only recommend punishment. Reduction in rank, compulsory retirement, removal from office, stoppage of annual increments and censure are some of the frequently seen recommendations given by the Lokayukta to the government. The state can either accept the recommendations or modify them. The public servant concerned can challenge the decision in the state high courts or specialised tribunals.

Procedures

Written complaints are required from complainants by the Lokayukta office for investigation. If the complaint takes the form of an allegation, the office insists on the filing of an affidavit. Most of the complainants received turned out to be “anonymous, pseudonymous, and trivial in nature or not made on prescribed forms or were submitted without affidavits. “Many did not pursue their allegations when asked to file them in an affidavit format. Lokayuktas can either investigate the complaints using their suo motu powers under the state Act concerned or forward them to the heads of the departments under the scanner for action or act as a mediator between the citizen and the government servant against whom the complaint is made.

Major shortcomings of Lokayukthas:

Its a one man army with limited resources and powers, and the success of the entire mechanism depends solely on the personal qualities of the individual Lokayukta
Non uniformity of Acts in states
Many areas of administration are outside the jurisdiction of Lokayukta
Some states have prescribed fee for lodging complaints, for example Madhya Pradesh is one of them.
Non-cooperative attitude of authorities and lack of independent investigating authority
Orissa was the first state to pass the Ombudsman legislation in 1970 and also the first to abolish it in 1993.

Future of Lokayukta

An amendment to the Constitution has been proposed to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian States. The proposed changes will make the institution of Lokayukta uniform across the country as a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice and comprise the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members.

Latest News on Lokayukta

28-July-2011 : Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde submits illegal mining report

Planning Commission of India : Setup and Functions

Planning Commission of India was set up on 15 March 1950, with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the chairman. Planning Commission is a non statutory as well extra constitutional body and has been brought by an executive order.
With the Prime Minister as the ex-officio Chairman, the committee has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who is given the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is presently the Deputy Chairman of the Commission.
Cabinet Ministers with certain important portfolios act as part-time members of the Commission, while the full-time members are experts of various fields like Economics, Industry, Science and General Administration.

Writs in Indian Constitution - Definitions and Examples

We might have a thought of how our Fundamental Rights are protected and what are the safe guarding measures granted by our Constitution for the proper enforcement of Fundamental Rights.Here comes the importance of Writs,more precisely Prerogative writs. Indian Constitution has adopted 5 Prerogative writs. Article 13 clearly states that Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights are void.The Supreme Court (Under Article 32) and the High Courts (Under Article 226) are empowered to issue writs for the enforcement of fundamental rights against any authority of the State.

Objective Type Questions on Indian Polity | Constitution

Objective Type Questions on Indian Polity | Constitution

Current Affairs Quiz - July 28

Indian Current Affairs - July 28

Amendment coming for 50% panchayat quota for women

An official amendment will be moved to the Constitution (110th Amendment) Bill 2009 for enhancing reservation for women in panchayats in all tiers from 33 to 50 per cent to ensure better demographic representation to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

‘Prahaar' missile successfully test-fired

India's new surface-to-surface missile called “Prahaar” was successfully test-fired for the first time from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Orissa. The missile traversed its entire range of 150 km in 250 seconds before impacting on the targeted area in the Bay of Bengal with an accuracy of few metres. It is specifically designed to bridge the gap in the range between the unguided Pinaka rocket, which has a range of 45 km, and the guided Prithvi missile variants, that can take out targets 250 km to 350 km away.

Lokpal Bill ready

The Lokpal Bill is ready to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning on August 1. It will be presented to the Cabinet next week.

Polity : Emergency Provisions in the Constitution of India

Part 18 (352 - 360) of Indian constitution deals with various emergency provisions. Three types of emergencies are envisaged in the Constitution of India

National Emergency

Under Article 352, President of India can make proclamation of emergency in case the security of India or any part of the territory is threatened by war, external aggression or armed rebellion. The President has the power to declare an emergency even if there is a chance (before the actual occurrence) for any of the above mentioned cases.
A Proclamation issued may be revoked by a subsequent proclamation by the President.
The President shall not issue a Proclamation without the written permission of the Union Cabinet ( Council consisting of the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Cabinet rank under Article 75) .

Polity : Election Commission of India

The Constitution of India has vested in the Election Commission of India the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and Legislature of every State and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India.
Election Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body. The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950. Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. It currently consists of Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. For the first time two additional Commissioners were appointed on 16th October 1989 but they had a very short tenure till 1st January 1990. Later, on 1st October 1993 two additional Election Commissioners were appointed. The concept of multi-member Commission has been in operation since then, with decision making power by majority vote.

Polity : Elections and Voting system in India

Indian Elections are conducted according to the constitutional provisions, supplemented by laws made by Parliament. The major laws are Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals, in detail, with all aspects of conduct of elections and post election disputes.
The Supreme Court of India has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provision to deal with a given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner.
Ge neral Elections in India is considered as the largest management event in the world.

Polity : National Commision for Minorities

Minorities Commission of India was established in 1978 under the Ministry of Home Affairs and in 1984 it was detached from there and placed under the newly created Ministry of Welfare.
With the enactment of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, the Minorities Commission became a statutory body and renamed as National Commission for Minorities. The first Statutory National Commission was set up on 17th May 1993. Five religious communities viz; the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were notified as minority communities. As per the 2001 Census, these five religious minority communities constitute 18.42% of the country’s population.
Though the Constitution of India does not define the word ‘Minority’ and only refers to ‘Minorities’ and speaks of those ‘based on religion or language’, the rights of the minorities have been spelt out in the Constitution in detail. The Constitution provides two sets of rights of minorities which can be placed in ‘common domain’ and ‘separate domain’.

Polity : Multiple winner voting system

Multiple winner voting system

I will explain this with an example. Assume that a state has 100 legislative seats and party A got 55 seats,party B got 25 and party C got the remaining 20. That is the first part of the election and in the second part proportionality comes into picture.Lets consider that Party A got 45% of total votes,Party B got 40% and party C got the remaining. Then the most popular 45, 40 and 5 members of part A, part B and part C go to assembly respectively.
Participants in a multiple winner election are more concerned with the overall composition of the legislature than exactly which candidates get elected. For this reason, many multiple-winner systems aim for proportional representation, which means that if a given party (or any other political grouping) gets X% of the vote, it should also get approximately X% of the seats in the legislature. Not all multiple-winner voting systems are proportional.Most of the Western countries excluding US and UK, use the multiple-winner method of proportional vote.

Polity : Single-winner voting system

Single-winner voting system

A voting system in which a constituency elects a single person to some office. Mainly there are three types of single-winner voting system. 1. One vote system, 2. Preferential or ranked systems, and 3. Rated systems

One vote systems - One vote at a time

In first-past-the-post (same as winner-takes-all, simple plurality, relative/simple majority) voting system the single winner is the person with the most votes; there is no requirement that the winner gain an absolute majority of votes.
Two-round (runoff) systems -If any candidate in the first round gains a majority of votes, then there is no second round; otherwise, the two highest-voted candidates of the first round compete in a two-candidate second round or all candidates above a certain threshold in the first round compete in a two-, three- or four-candidate second round.

World Current Affairs - July 23

Norway shocked by terrorist attacks

Almost 100 people died by terrorist attacks in two places in Norway - one at Norwegian island and other at its national capital Oslo.
It is the second least densely populated country in Europe and one of the scandinavian countries.
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region with common heritage and language in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea and it is famous for its fjords (a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity).
Well known for its highest human development index ranking in the world

Indian Current Affairs - July 23

US wants changes in Indian Liability Bill to protect US Nuclear supplying companies.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India to fully conform with international Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for Nuclear Damage.
To fully conform with CSC we need amendments in Indian Nuclear Liability Bill,2010

GoM nod for Rs. 1,200 crore to Air India

Group of Ministers approved in principle an additional equity infusion of Rs. 1,200 crore to debt ridden Air India Air India is struggling with adebt burden of around Rs. 67,000 crore.
It is the oldest and the largest airline of India and part of the Indian government-owned Air India Limited (AIL).
Air India was founded by J. R. D. Tata in July 1932 as Tata Airlines, a division of Tata Sons Ltd.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 or Nuclear Liability Bill is a bill to provide for civil liability for nuclear damage, appointment of Claims Commissioner, establishment of Nuclear Damage Claims Commission and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto
Although there is no international obligation for such a bill, in order to attract the US companies involved in nuclear commerce such as General Electric and Westinghouse, it is necessary to introduce a liability bill which would help these private companies in getting insurance cover in their home state. Thus, the bill helps in the realization of the Indo-U.S. Nuclear deal.
The bill required amendments in the Atomic Energy Act 1962 allowing private investment in the Indian nuclear power program.

Multilateral export control regimes on weapon trading

Multilateral export control regimes consists of four major international groups, all aim at controlling various types of weapon trading.

1. Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
2. The Australia Group is an informal group of countries to help member countries to identify those of their exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons . It came into existence after the use of chemical weapons in Iraq in 1984.
3. The Wassenaar Arrangement focus primarily on the transparency of national export control regimes and not granting veto power to individual members over organizational decisions.Every six months member countries exchange information on deliveries of conventional arms to non wassenaar members that fall under eight broad weapons categories - battle tanks, armored combat vehicles (ACVs), large-caliber artillery, military aircraft/unmanned aerial vehicles, military and attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems, and small arms and light weapons.

Indian Current Affairs | Current Affairs India - July 2011

Key Programmes of Earth Sciences Show Positive Achievements

Under the modernization scheme to install Doppler Weather Radars (DPRs) in the country, new five DPRs have been installed during May, 2011. With this, total number of DPRs in the country reaches 10.In the field of climate research, observation of Cosmic Rays showed some results. An overview of Cosmic Ray Effects on terrestrial process and the effects of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) on human health showed that Cosmic Ray control short term and long term variations in Climate. The first observational result of aerosol characteristics over Pune, using Sun Sky Radiometer showed that the aerosol loading undergoes strong seasonal variations.

Indian Current Affairs - July 19

New ambassador to the United States

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will be India's next ambassador to the United States.She is expected to take up the assignment shortly, replacing Meera Shankar.

Indian military's biggest ever tender is on the way.

Four European nations — the U.K, Germany, Spain and Italy — bidding jointly for 126 fighter planes,mostly Eurofighter Typhoon. It has superior turnaround time, bombing capabilities and the four-nation consortium has offered open door technology transfer.

Country needs a second green revolution : PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday the priority of the 12th Five-Year Plan would be to accelerate agricultural growth rate by at least two per cent to ensure food and nutritional security and eliminate hunger.

Current Affairs Quiz - July 20

Polity : Electronic Voting machines in India

The EVMs were devised and designed by Election Commission of India in collaboration with two Public Sector undertakings - Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore and Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad.
EVMs were first used in 1982 in the by-election to Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala for a limited number of polling stations (50 polling stations).
EVMs can record a maximum of 3840 votes. As normally the total number of electors in a polling station will not exceed 1500, the capacity of EVMs is more than sufficient.

General Knowledge Questions : Elections in India - Part 2

1. Election Commission of India conduct elections for which all government bodies?
2. Which authority conducts elections to Corporations, Municipalities and other Local Bodies ?
3. What is the present composition of the Election Commission?
4. What is the status Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners in terms of salaries and allowances etc.?

General Knowledge Questions : Elections in India - Part 1

1. Who demarcates the boundaries of the 543 Parliamentary constituencies in India?
2. The main basis for allocation of seats to various States in the Lok Sabha?
3. Out of the 7 Union Territories in India,only 2 have Legislative Assembly. Which are they?
4. The decision of Delimitation Commission can be challenged by Supreme Court. True or False?

Daily Current Affairs Quiz - July 16

1. Indian Siddis, a tribal population in Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, are in news this week.Why?

2. The new born country,South Sudan is best known for which natural resource?

3. In India, Mobile banking is more popular than net banking. True or False?

4. The biggest component of the foreign exchange reserves of India?

5. The author of Harry Potter series?

Weekly News Wrap : Indian Current Affairs

Neptune celebrated its birthday

The eighth planet of the solar system, Neptune celebrated its birthday on July 13. It completed first revolution this year since discovery.

India set to become most populous by 2025

Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken said India is on the path of becoming the most populous nation by 2025 surpassing China."The average age in India would be 29 years by 2020, while in China it would be 37 years and in Japan 48 years. This would help young India convert this challenge into an opportunity",he added at a National Workshop on ‘Youth for Population Stabilisation in NewDelhi.

Indian Current Affairs | Current Affairs India - July 2011

Highest solar thermal cooling system technology

World’s highest efficiency solar thermal cooling system is inagurated at the Solar Energy Centre in Gurgaon in Haryana. The new 100 kw Solar Air-Conditioning System works at 30% higher efficiency than the current available systems and has several unique features. It is based on the new triple effect absorption cooling technology. The system has indigenously built medium temperature high efficiency parabolic troughs for collection of solar energy and effective solar thermal energy storage in the form of Phase Change Materials.

GATT and WTO | WTO and India

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) came into existence during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment in 1947. GATT held a total of 8 rounds in between 1947 and 1986; and most of its achievements were related in the reduction of tariff in international trades. Uruguay Round was the 8th round of Multilateral trade negotiations conducted within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986-1994 and embracing 123 countries as “contracting parties”. Uruguay Round transformed the GATT into the World Trade Organization. It allowed full access for textiles and clothing from developing countries, and an extension of intellectual property rights.

Organisations: World Bank

World Bank is an international organization that aims to reduce poverty and improve people's life by promoting foreign investment, international trade and facilitating capital investment.
It is basically a financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.

National Rural Livelihoods Mission | NRLM for Indian Rural Livelihoods

Swarnajayanti Grameen Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), one of the flagship programs of the RD Ministry with the focus on self-employment by reaching out to Self Help Groups, launched in the year 1999 is being restructured as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), to be implemented in a mission mode across the country. The restructuring comes in the backdrop of the fact that out of the estimated 7 crore rural BPL households, 4.5 Crore households still need to be organized into SHGs. The mission aims to reach out to all the rural poor families (BPL families) and link them to sustainable livelihoods opportunities.

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project

The proposed Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project in Ludhiana-Delhi-Mughal Sarai railway route will reduce the congestion of the route and decrease travel-time for passenger trains.The corridor will add additional rail transport capacity, improve service quality and create higher freight capacity.
This is part of India’s first Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) initiative – being built on two main routes – the Western and the Eastern Corridors. These corridors will help India make a quantum leap in increasing the railways’ transportation capacity along the “Golden Quadrilateral” – the four rail routes that connect Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. Currently, these routes account for just 16 percent of the railway network’s length, but carry more than 60 percent of India’s total rail freight.
The Eastern Corridor, starting from Ludhiana in Punjab will pass through the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal.
The programme will be carried out by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India with the financial aid from World Bank.

Latest News on Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project

28 Oct 2011 : World Bank Signs Loan Agreement with India The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project- I. The World Bank signed a US$ 975 million loan agreement with Government of India, and the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL) to set-up the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor-I (a freight-only rail line) that will help faster and more efficient movement of raw materials and finished goods between the Northern and Eastern parts of India. The corridor will also allow Indian Railways to free up capacity and better-serve the large passenger market in this densely populated region. This is part of India’s first Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) initiative – being built on two main routes – the Western and the Eastern Corridors.

The Indian Railways urgently needs to add freight routes to meet the growing freight traffic in India, which is projected to increase more than 7 percent annually. Dedicated freight corridors will not only meet this growing freight demand, but also decongest the already saturated rail network and promote the shifting of freight transport from road to more efficient rail transport. Augmenting its transport systems is a crucial element of India’s trillion-dollar infrastructure agenda for the next Five-Year Plan (XIIth Plan) which starts in 2012. Since the 1990s, road transport has advanced more rapidly than the railways, and now accounts for about 65 percent of the freight market and 90 percent of the passenger market in India, and those shares are growing. The project also has significant contribution in reducing GHGs and the Government of India is committed to increasing the share of rail transport in this mix.

News Wrap : National Ganga River Basin Project

The Ganga is India's most important river. Its sprawling basin accounts for one-fourth of the country's water resources and is home to more than 400 million Indians.
As India's holiest river, the Ganga has a cultural and spiritual significance also. It is worshipped as a living goddess, and since time immemorial, people from across the country have come to the many historic temple towns on its banks to pray and bathe in its waters.

News Wrap : Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project

The proposed Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project is to be developed by the THDC India Ltd (THDC) on the Alaknanda River in Uttarakhand with the world bank assistance of US$648 million.
The project is expected to generate an estimated 1,665 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year to help relieve North India’s chronic power shortage.

Current Affairs Quiz - July 13

1. India's first international passenger ferry service chartered by Flemingo Liners?
2. Who is the newly appointed chairman of Public Health Foundation of India?.
3. Name of Indian Navy's ninth fast attack craft, commissioned this week.
4. The only Indian car in premium hatchback segment to sell over 1-lakh units a year for the last three consecutive years.

Interesting Quotes and Comments

Marc Faber's comment on US economy.."If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part."

Daily Current Affairs Quiz

1. Jews from north-east India are commonly referred as
2. World Bank as approved $1billion for which central government programme that seeks to improve the livelihood prospects of our rural economy?
3. Cloud seeding research programme for the rain shadow regions in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are carried out by which Indian institute?

Weekly News Wrap

Service Animals for Disabled persons:

According to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill,2011,persons with disablilties can use service animals on roads,building, transport systems etc.
Service animal training facilities will be opened for the training of animals.The bill will also replace the existing practice of plenary guardianship with limited guardianship.
A limited guardianship is a system of joint decision-making, which operates on mutual understanding and trust between the guardian and the person with disability.
But in plenary guardianship the guardian takes all the decisions on the presumption that a disabled person is incapable to taking a decision.

Famous Indian Women : Anitha Desai

Anitha Desai is a world famous Indian novelist and Professor of Humanities at the MIT.
She was born in 1935 to a German mother and a Bengali father.
She was shortlisted three times for Booker prize and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novel - Fire on the Mountain.
Booker Prize-winning novelist Kiran Desai is the daughter of Anitha Desai.
Her famous books are In Custody, Clear Light of Day and Fasting, Feasting etc.

Famous Indian Women : Sonal Mansingh

Sonal Mansingh (born : 1944,Mumbai) is a prominent Indian classical dancer and choreographer of Odissi dancing.
She is a known social activist, thinker, researcher, orator, choreographer and teacher.
She is also proficient in other Indian classical dancing styles including Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, and Chhau.
Over the 40 years of her career, she travelled all around the world and brought many awards for her talence.
She is a recipient of Padma Bhushan (1992), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987,and the Padma Vibhushan in 2003

Famous Indian Women : Ela Bhatt

Ela Bhutt (born:1933,Ahmedabad) is a well known philanthropist and social worker of modern India.
She is the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) in 1972.
As a women's trade union SEWA has empowered more than 1.3 marginalized women of India.

Indian Women Freedom Fighters: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900 -1990) was the sister of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and a well known Indian diplomat and politician.
She was the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post. In 1937 she was elected to the provincial legislature of the United Provinces and was designated minister of local self-government and public health.
After Indian Independence she ntered the diplomatic service and became India's ambassador to the Soviet Union United States,Mexico Ireland and Spain.

Famous Indian Women : Karnam Malleswari

Malleswari was born in 1975 at Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh.
She is the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal,a bronze medal for weightlifting (69kg) in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney.
She is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award (1995-96), India's highest sporting honour and Padma Shri in 1999.

Indian Women Freedom Fighters: Usha Mehta

Usha (1920 - 2000) was a well known Gandhian and freedom fighter of India.
Usha was born in Saras village in Surat,Gujarat.
She started her freedom struggle at the age of eight by participating in a protest march against the Simon Commission in 1928.
She was most remembered for operating a secret radio channel for Congress called Congress Radio,which functioned during Quit India Movement of 1942.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz

1. Which European country's parliament has approved nuclear shutdown by 2022?
2. Yingluck Shinawatra emerged as the first woman Prime Minister of which country?
3. Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project is in news today.why?
4. The Wimbledon champion of 2011?

5. Karnadaka farmers along with Greenpeace are protesting against which company due to its open field experiments of Genetically Modified (GM) crops?

Why ENR technology is so important to India?.

The much highlighted NSG waiver for India became a line drawn in the water. For the transfer of ENR (enrichment and reprocessing) technologies, NSG needs India to adher to the NPT. Dr Anil Kakodkar, a key negotiator of the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal wrote his opinion about the need of ENR technology for India and related issues in The Hindu. Key points of his writings are
1. Through the reprocessing and recycling of used uranium we can produce several ten-folds of carbon-dioxide free energy which will address the challenge of sustainable global energy supply as well as mitigating the threat of climate change.

Weekly News Wrap

Mr. Pradeep Kumar elected as Central Vigilance Commissioner
Central Vigilance Commission was created on 1964 to address governmental corruption.It is an autonomous body and free of control from any executive authority.It is not an investigating agency,but monitor all vigilance activity under Central Government of India.Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, was the first Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India.The appointment is made by the President of India and selection is done by a committee

Daily Current Affairs Quiz

1. The new CVC of India?
2. India's new 150KM short range tactical missile?
3. Analogic Controls India Ltd is well known for ?
4. Who is the Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO)?
5. Indian student was awarded the Young Victorian of the year 2011 for his outstanding work in raising awareness on the issue of violence against the community members in Australia?

Daily Current Affairs Quiz

1. “Fools for forests” is an ongoing campaign launched by which NGO?
2. The inventory check of which South Indian temple unearthed a treasure trove of gold, diamonds and precious stones worth hundreds of cores of rupees?
3. Is Western Ghats declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site?
4. Google plans to create a three-dimensional panoramic view of which Indian city for its Street View service, offered on its Maps?

Indian Current Affairs | Current Affairs India - June 2011

India and Germany signed MoU on Biomedical Research

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Helmholtz Association (HGF), Germany signed a signed new Memorandum of Understanding on translational efforts in biomedical research for a period of next five years.Both the countries will be benefited in multiple areas pertaining to the biomedical research and public health in terms of joint collaborative research efforts and projects. The other areas identified under the MOU are Oncology and Biomedical research related to health.

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