Current Affairs (19 June-25 June 2011)

	Important Points
Salaried people, with an annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh from a single source, will not have to file income tax returns for the 2011-12 assessment year. This will benefit about 85 lakh taxpayers, or about 20% of the total income tax assessees in the country. The Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman, Prakash Chandra, announced the launch of the scheme on Thursday, though it was announced in budget 2011-12 in February. This scheme, however, will not be applicable to those who have received salaries from more than one employer in a financial year by changing jobs.The scheme will also not cover those who have refund claims or have income from sources other than salary and savings account interests.Chandra said in such cases, the tax payer must report PAN and the entire income from interests to their employers, pay the tax as deduction at source and obtain a certificate of tax deduction in Form No 16.	·         Central Board of Direct Taxes --chairman, Prakash Chandra ·         PAN Card--  A PAN card is a valuable means of photo identification accepted by all government and non-government institutions in the country-- Presence in All parts of India
Four days after the mysterious death of Dr Sachan in an Uttar Pradesh jail, the police is no where close to cracking the case. The post mortem report suggested that he was murdered, but the Uttar Pradesh government has been insisting it was a suicide. What is even more confusing is the contradictory versions that the government and the police have been giving on the CMO's viscera.Its believed that a scam in NRHM funds is behind this alleged killing,	CMO – Chief Medical Officer NRHM - National Rural Health Mission..Launched in 2005.In 18 states of India..
BANGALORE: the arrest of six members of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) in connection with the kidnap and murder of two BBM students from Hunsur, the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the KDF should be banned immediately in the interest of country's security.	KFD-- Karnataka Forum for Dignity, also known as KFD, is a socio-cultural organization in Karnataka, India, working on issues related to minorities and backward communities in Karnataka, and was formed in the year 2001.
NAC clears drafts of Food Security, Communal Violence Bills At the end of its first year, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) on Wednesday cleared the drafts of two landmark laws — one that promises food security to 90 per cent of rural households and 50 per cent of urban households, and the other that will ensure justice for minorities of all categories when they become victims of targeted, mass violence. The two drafts will now be sent to the government.	NAC -- The National Advisory Council (NAC) of India is an advisory body set up to monitor the implementation of the UPA government's manifesto, the Common Minimum Programme(CMP). It is a brainchild of Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi. It is also informally called as UPA's Planning Commission for social agenda. On 23 March 2006, Sonia gandhi had resigned from the post of chairmanship of the NAC after Office of profit controversy. On 29 March 2010, she was back as the chairperson of NAC. The NAC comprises distinguished professionals drawn from diverse fields of development activity who serve in their individual capacities. Through the NAC, the Government has access not only to their expertise and experience but also to a larger network of Research Organizations, NGOs and Social Action and Advocacy Groups.
Union Cabinet approved extension of the RSBY Scheme to all RegisteredDomestic Workers Union Cabinet on 23 June 2011 approved extension of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to all the registered domestic workers. The scheme will likely cover approximately 47.50 lakh domestic workers in the country. The RSBY will provide for smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs.30000 per annum to BPL workers (a unit of five) in unorganised sector in any empanelled hospital anywhere in India. More than 2.34 crore smart cards were issued on 31 May 2011.	What is RSBY? RSBY has been launched by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization. Government has even fixed the package rates for the hospitals for a large number of interventions. Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the head of household, spouse and up to three dependents. Beneficiaries need to pay only Rs. 30/- as registration fee while Central and State Government pays the premium to the insurer selected by the State Government on the basis of a competitive bidding. About Domestic Workers Domestic work forms one of the largest sectors of female employment in the urban areas.  Domestic workers are unorganized and the sector remains unregulated and unprotected by labour laws.  These workers come from vulnerable communities and backward areas.  Most of these are poor, vulnerable, illiterate, unskilled and do not understand the urban labour market.
Finally, India card Rupay to replace Visa, MasterCard After almost two years of planning, the National Payments Corporation has at last finalised the proposed unique India Card which once commercially launched would be an domestic alternative to the global real-time payment processing firms like Visa and MasterCard. "We have finalised name of the proposed card as Rupay at our board meeting here today. We have also finalised the logo for the same," a senior official of the RBI-set up National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), told PTI this evening. The official sought not to be named.	NPCI –National Payments Corporation of India NPCI is a non-for-profit company set up in 2009 as an umbrella institution at the behest of the RBI for managing all the retail payment systems in the country. It has 10 shareholders — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and HSBC  Chairman—Narayan Murthy
Orissa halts land takeover for $12 bln POSCO plant Local protests have forced Orissa to halt acquiring land for a proposed $12 billion steel plant to be built by South Korea's POSCO, further delaying the biggest foreign direct investment in Asia's third largest economy.	POSCO – third largest steel industry in the world. Anti-POSCO movement leader Abhaya Sahoo

Hindu Editorial – ‘Friends for ever’ pts.

Hindu Editorial – ‘Friends for ever’ pts.

Basically the editorial talks about the relationship between Pakistan and US. The editorial underlines the various recent progress nd happenings in  between the two nations. The US Defence Secy says abt regional stability nd calls the behavior of Pak towards arresting der spies (CIA) as pure business nd doesn’t consider it to affect der relations…
1. Osama was killed on May 2 ,2011
2. Militants attacked the Mehran Base—May 22
3. Pak claims arresting a Army Major
4. Pak Ambassador to US-- Husain Haqqani
5. Another is a Haqqani group which is a insurgent group in North Waziristan closely related with Taliban
6. U.S. counter-terrorism  scale (1-10)…Pak cooperation rated 3
7. US Defence Secretary – Robert Gates
8. Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani  viewed as pro-American by New York Times
9. A term ‘mensis horribilis’ is used which means a general discussion.

Nuclear power stations and reactors operational around the world: listed and mapped

The Games Nations Play.......India -Pak --- Games of Diplomacy

Census 2011 out !!!

The population of the country as per the provisional figures of Census 2011 is 1210.19 million of which 63.72 million (51.54%) are males and 586.46 million (48.46%) are females. 

The provisional figures of Census 2011 were released in New Delhi on Thursday by Union home secretary Shri G.K.Pillai and RGI Shri C Chandramouli.

The major highlights of the Census 2011 (Provisional figures) are as under:

*The population of India has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011.

*Percentage growth in 2001-2011 is 17.64; males 17.19 and females 18.12.

*2001-2011 is the first decade (with the exception of 1911-1921) which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade.

*Uttar Pradesh (199.5 million) is the most populous State in the country followed by Maharashtra with 112 million.

*The percentage decadal growth rates of the six most populous States have declined during 2001-2011 compared to 1991-2001:

-Uttar Pradesh (25.85% to 20.09%)
-Maharashtra (22.73% to 15.99%)
-Bihar (28.62% to 25.07%)
-West Bengal (17.77 % to 13.93%)
-Andhra Pradesh (14.59% to 11.10%)
-Madhya Pradesh (24.26% to 20.30%)

*During 2001-2011, as many as 25 States/UTs with a share of about 85% of the country's population registered an annual growth rate of less than 2% as compared to, 15 States/UTs with a share of about 42% during the period 1991-2001.

*15 States/UTs have grown by less than 1.5 per cent per annum during 2001-2011, while the number of such States/UTs was only 4 during the previous decade.

*The total number of children in the age-group 0-6 is 158.8 million (-5 million since 2001)

*Twenty States and Union Territories now have over one million children in the age group 0-6 years. On the other extreme, there are five States and Union Territories in the country that are yet to reach the one hundred thousand mark.

*Uttar Pradesh (29.7 million), Bihar (18.6 million), Maharashtra (12.8 million), Madhya Pradesh (10.5 million) and Rajasthan (10.5 million) constitute 52% children in the age group of 0-6 years.

*Population (0-6 years) 2001-2011 registered minus (-)3.08 percent growth with minus (-)2.42 for males and -3.80 for females.

*The proportion of Child Population in the age group of 0-6 years to total population is 13.1 percent while the corresponding figure in 2001 was 15.9 percent. The decline has been to the extent of 2.8 points.

*Overall sex ratio at the national level has increased by 7 points to reach 940 at Census 2011 as against 933 in Census 2001. This is the highest sex ratio recorded since Census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961. Increase in sex ratio is observed in 29 States/UTs.

*Three major States (J&K, Bihar & Gujarat) have shown decline in sex ratio as compared to Census 2001.

*Kerala with 1084 has the highest sex ratio followed by Puducherry with 1038, Daman & Diu has the lowest sex ratio of 618.

*Child sex ratio (0-6 years) is 914. Increasing trend in the child sex ratio (0-6) seen in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and A&N Islands. In all remaining 27 States/UTs, the child sex ratio show decline over Census 2001.
*Mizoram has the highest child sex ratio (0-6 years) of 971 followed by Meghalaya with 970. Haryana is at the bottom with ratio of 830 followed by Punjab with 846.

*Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points.

*Percentage growth in literacy during 2001-2011 is 38.82; males : 31.98% & females : 49.10%.

*Literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent. 

Good News  The literacy rate has shot up to 74% from about 65% in the last count. More hearteningly new female literates outnumbered male literates during the past decade. Ten states and union terriorities achieved a literacy rate of above 85%. The quality of literacy may be uneven and debatable, but this is an achievement India can be proud of. The good news is that at 17.64%, the rate of growth between 2001-2011 represents the sharpest decline over a decade since Independence. The growth rate was at its lowest between 1941-1951 when it was 13.3%: that was a time of famine, religious killings, and the transfer of populations in the run-up to partition. The growth rate was more than 24% between 1961 and 1981. So a 17.64% growth rate points to a slowing down that will cheer those who are concerned about how India will bear the burden of its massive population.

Bad News The biggest shock in this census is the decline in the child gender ratio at 914 girls (up to six years) for every 1000 boys. This is the lowest since Independence and it looks like a precipitous drop from a high of 976 girls in the 1961 census.

 

The decennial census of India is the primary source of information about the demographic characteristics of the population of India.  The 2011 census will be one of the largest censuses in the history of mankind.  The first census in India in modern times was conducted in 1872. First regular census was started in 1881 by Lord Rippon. Since then, a population census has been carried out every 10 years.  The latest census commenced on 1 May 2010. It will create a National Population Register with photographs and fingerprints of every resident. All usual residents of India will also be provided with their Unique ID numbers and National Identity Cards. The census is carried out by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Delhi, an office in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, under the 1948 Census of India Act.  The act gives Central Government many powers like to notify a date for Census, power to ask for the services of any citizen for census work. The law makes it compulsory for every citizen to answer the census questions truthfully. The Act provides penalties for giving false answers or not giving answers at all to the census questionnaire. One of the most important provisions of law is the guarantee for the maintenance of secrecy of the information collected at the census of each individual. The census records are not open to inspection and also not admissible in evidence. The census is conducted in two phases: first, house listing and house numbering phase and second, the actual population enumeration phase.  Canvassing method The census is carried out by the canvassing method. In this method, each and every household is visited and the information is collected by specially trained enumerator. They collect data related to households e.g. number of members, water & electricity supply, ownership of land, vehicles, computers and other assets and services. In the second phase, total population is counted and statistics related to individuals are collected.

Current Affairs (Sci & Tech)

India successfully test-fires Dhanush, Prithvi-II missiles  In an exercise to further sharpen its missile teeth, India on Friday successfully test-fired two indigenously developed, nuclear capable ballistic missiles, both having a strike range of 350 kms, from separate locations off the Orissa coast. US Shuttle Discovery makes historic last landing The oldest and most travelled space shuttle, Discovery, on Wednesday landed back on Earth after its final space flight and will now end its days as a museum piece to delight the crowds. India successfully test-fires Interceptor missile India successfully test-fired indigenously developed interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile on Sunday from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island off Orissa coast. DRDO develops technology to detect life trapped under debris Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has developed a special technology to detect human beings trapped under the debris of buildings after earth quakes or land slides. India to have own satellite navigation system by 2015 India will launch seven satellites in the next four to six years to develop its own version of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for enhancing surveillance capabilities and improving accuracy of its weapon systems. US removes ISRO and DRDO from entities list The US has removed nine Indian space and defense related companies including those from ISRO and DRDO from its export control 'Entity List' in an attempt to expand high technology trade and strategic cooperation with India. Solar energy use in cell towers can reduce CO2 emission: Study Use of diesel generators in cellphone towers leads to a staggering five million tonnes of annual carbon emissions in India and there is a need to replace them with solar panels, says a new study. IAF inducts India's first Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' Inching closer to modernisation with self sufficiency, India's first homegrown supersonic fighter jet, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas', was handed over to the IAF by Defence minister, A K Antony after the Initial Operational Clearance.

Russia launched Glonass satellite Russia has successfully launched a next-generation navigation satellite for its Glonass global communication system. The Glonass-K satellite was hauled into orbit from the northern Plesetsk space centre by the upgraded Soyuz 2-1b launcher, featuring advanced digital avionics and a more powerful Fregat upper stage. The new satellite has a longer design life, more navigation channels and is smaller than previous Glonass-M spacecraft. Australia's biggest cyclone in a century named Yasi shattered entire towns, terrifying locals but causing no confirmed fatalities hit mainly in the Queensland State. China launches its first ocean economic zone To expand its resource base from the land to the bottom of the ocean, China has launched its first USD 38.6 billion ocean economic zone The Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone, (SPBEZ) is to be set up at coastal province of Shandong. The economic zone covers all the offshore waters of Shandong Province with an area of 159,500 square kilometers. The programs covered agricultural technology, new energy utilisation, international logistics, tourism and culture, said Fei Yunliang, head of the construction office of the economic zone. International Summit on Water A two-day International Summit on Water organised by Indian Water Works Association, Bangalore Centre, jointly with MECON Ltd., a Government of India enterprise, will commence here on February 11. MGNREGS to get biometric database The Centre proposes to create a biometric database of all workers covered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It will be used to authenticate work applications, work-site attendance and wage payments The First Urine Bank in India has started in a village Musiri near Tiruchi,Tamil Nadu. The Gigantic Industrial exhibition 'win-2011' organised at Istanbul from feb 3-6. India been named as "Partner Country" for the exhibition over 44,000 firms and 60 other countries took part in the show.

The King rules the Oscars (Hindu Editorial)

To no one's surprise, The King's Speech swept the major categories at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. Crafted with a faultless restraint, the emotionally compelling story about the battle of Prince Albert (later King George VI) to overcome a nervous stammer bagged Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Original Screenplay (David Seidler). The only major category the film did not win was the one for which it was not nominated — Best Actress. As the Duchess of York, Helena Bonham Carter plays at best a supporting turn. The other major acting role is played by Geoffrey Rush who, as the maverick speech therapist practising in Harley Street, strikes up an unlikely friendship with his royal patient as progress is made to control and eventually overcome the stammering. Rush failed to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor but his loopy, eccentric ways brings out the best in Colin Firth who, apart from maintaining a convincing stammer, expertly captures the inner turmoil of a man whose royalty imposes a suffocating weight of expectancy and decorum on a natural and tumultuous rage.

That the The King's Speech was the runaway favourite to sweep the Oscars was a tribute to a charming feel-good period drama supported by some truly fine acting. But it also reflects the Academy's continued preference for emotionally resonant stories over other genres. Did not Slumdog Millionaire sweep the 2009 Academy Awards, trumping The Reader in a contest perceived by some critics to be between populism and serious art? Oscar history is littered with such instances.

In 1976, the conventional boxing feature Rocky won over Roman Polanski's Taxi Driver, a film which all but redefined urban noir. Much earlier, the feel-good mining-town tearjerker How Green Was My Valley overcame Citizen Kane, which shaped cinematography as we know it today. This year's nominations for Best Picture had some serious challengers. There was The Social Network, the hip and emotionally detached biopic of the founder of Facebook. And there was the fabulous Black Swan, an edgy psychological thriller about a retiring ballerina — performed with extraordinary intensity by Natalie Portman (Best Actress) — who is haunted by hallucination and who rages at her repression. Edgy and challenging works of art rarely trump feel-good films at the Oscars. 

The King's Speech was by no means an undeserving winner. It's just that the Oscars may have been unkind to other deserving nominees, something that is perhaps unavoidable in a competition of this kind. Almost certainly, time will be kind — in fact, much kinder — to them.