Some Fascinating facts about Animals! (Miscellaneous) 70

• Sloth is a strange animal which spends its entire life hanging upside down from the branches of the trees.
• Cheetah is the fastest running animal.
• The eyes of a giant squid are very strange. They measure 40 cm across. These creatures live in dark and gloomy conditions, that is why, they have big eyes to see clearly in poor visible conditions.
• Sea horse has strange eyes, by which it can focus in two different directions at the same time.
• Whale shark measures 18 metre. It is the world's biggest fish.
• Porpoise is so intelligent sea animal that it can copy many actions of humans. It can imitate the voice of a man and even laugh.
• Musk is obtained from the gland of an animal called musk deer.
• Cuttle fish has three hearts.
• Cow has four stomachs.
• Lemmings are strange animals. When their number in an area increases beyond a certain limit, they jump into the sea and commit suicide.
• Kangaroo rat can survive over its life without drinking water. It meets its requirements of water by eating the roots of some desert plants.
• Gastric frog of Australia gives birth to its young ones through its mouth.
• A butterfly has 12,000 eyes.
• Botfly can fly at the speed of 818 miles per hour, faster than a jet plane.
• Dolphines sleep with one of its eyes open.
• If gold fish is left in a dark room for a long time, it turns white.
• An earthworm can pull ten times its own weight.
• A silkworm has eleven brains.
• The colour of milk of Himalayan yak is pink.
• Snails can sleep for 3 to 4 year's continuously.
• Some insects can live about a year after their heads have been separated.
• A small porcupine can kill a grown up lion.
• When a hippopotamus gets excited, its sweat becomes red.
• Pearl is made by a sea creature called oyster inside its body.
• A lizard can escape after leaving its tail behind. After sometime, the tail regenerates.
• The queen of the black garden ant feeds partly on its own wing muscles.
• Insect blood has no colour. If any insects has red blood, it will be the blood of another animal on which it is feeding.
• In a sandstorm a camel can close its nose.
• Electric eel can produce electricity, which is sufficient to light up ten bulbs. Its surface potential can measure up to 500 volts (D.C.) and is sufficient to kill any swimmer who touches it.

GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHY

FRBM ACT, 2003

WHAT IS THE FRBM ACT?
The FRBM Act was enacted by Parliament in 2003 to bring in fiscal discipline. It received the President’s assent in August the same year. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had notified the FRBM Rules in July 2004.
As Parliament is the supreme legislative body, these will bind the present finance minister P Chidambaram, and also future finance ministers and governments.
HOW WILL IT HELP IN REDEEMING THE FISCAL SITUATION?
The FRBM Rules impose limits on fiscal and revenue deficit. Hence, it will be the duty of the Union government to stick to the deficit targets.
As per the target, revenue deficit, which is revenue expenditure minus revenue receipts, have to be reduced to nil in five years beginning 2004-05. Each year, the government is required to reduce the revenue deficit by 0.5% of the GDP.
The fiscal deficit is required to be reduced to 3% of the GDP by 2008-09.It would mean reduction of fiscal deficit by 0.3 % of GDP every year.
HOW ARE THESE TARGETS MONITORED?
The Rules have mid-year targets for fiscal and revenue deficits. The Rules required the government to restrict fiscal and revenue deficit to 45% of budget estimates at the end of September (first half of the financial year).
In case of a breach of either of the two limits, the FM will be required to explain to Parliament the reasons for the breach, the corrective steps, as well as the proposals for funding the additional deficit.
WHAT IS FISCAL DEFICIT?
Every government raises resources for funding its expenditure. The major sources for funds are taxes and borrowings. Borrowings could be from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), from the public by floating bonds, financial institutions, banks and even foreign institutions. These borrowings constitute public debt and fiscal deficit is a measure of borrowings by the government in a financial year.
In budgetary arithmetic, it is total expenditure minus the sum of revenue receipts, recoveries of loans and other receipts such as proceeds...

Civil Lines

ANUPREETA DAS checks out the lonely planet of IAS aspirants

At 27, Nayan Mohapatra doesn’t have to explain why he doesn’t hold a job and has never earned a single rupee. ‘‘I’m studying for the IAS,’’ is his stock reply to anyone who wonders what he’s been doing in Delhi for the past three years. Not that the ‘what-are-you-doing’ question comes Nayan’s way very often, given that he allows nothing — no morsels of leisure, walks to the market, hair cuts — to distract him from realising his goal.

Nayan, who’s surviving in this mad city of 12 million on the strength of his ambition, and a lot of generosity and goodwill from his Rourkela-based parents, has cleared the Preliminary civil services exam twice, but hasn’t made it past the Mains yet. ‘‘I’m not leaving any room for doubt this time,’’ says Nayan, who lives on a paltry Rs 1,500 a month, which comes to him through a money order (postmarked Rourkela) every 30 days.

He doesn’t cook because it’s ‘‘a waste of time,’’ hasn’t been home in three years because there’s no one to pay his train fare. Sixteen-hour days, beginning at an unearthly 4.30 am, have run into monochrome months, even years. His ‘residence’? One corner of a room that measures no more than six feet by eight feet, which he shares with fellow IAS aspirant Sreenivas: 24, Bihar-born, first-timer. A wood plank framed in metal serves as a bed (blanket, sheet and no pillow). Stacked in two neat columns beneath the bed is evidence (a) of his progress, which is the number of study books he has mastered, and (b) of the task ahead, which is the number of books he still has to go through.

No, Nayan’s not a freak case whose HI (human interest, human interest) story you can despatch to your newspaper for a congratulatory note from the editor. If anything, he’s the prototype of a sub-species — the IAS aspirant (person with a ‘mission’), usually from small-town India, who has shifted base to Delhi, chasing the power dream, sitting in on coaching classes — who has an existence on the borderlines of city life.

Basket Case Studies What would you do if you didn’t make it to the civil services? Take inspiration from these real-life instances: A certain journalist, formerly with The Asian Age spent the better part of his 20s studying for the IAS. Upon failing to make it past the interview stage for the third time, he gave up hopes of joining the bureaucracy and settled for a career in journalism instead. Himanshu Kotwal’s coaching classes ‘‘to crack the IAS exams’’ get aspirants signing up by the droves, but he himself is an IAS flunkie. Four attempts, but he has never cleared the exams. ‘‘I know what it’s all about, though,’’ he reasons. A science student at JNU, who sat in on classes for the Indian Political System only to improve his IAS info fund, lay down on one of the campus roads, liqour bottle in hand, crying brokenly for nearly six hours, when his name wasn’t on the IAS list.

The IAS aspirant lives like an ascetic, but aspires for a life flush with comfort. So if Nayan hasn’t been to a movie theatre ‘‘since Hum Aapke Hain Kaun,’’ it’s because movies remind him of ‘‘how far I have to go.’’ And while James Lotha, an Economics graduate from Nagaland, cherishes the ideal of a Hum Do, Hamare Do family, ‘‘I can’t think of marrying or even having a girlfriend until I clear the exams.’’ The only distraction Lotha allows in his study area is a scribbled-on poster of Hollywood hottie Alicia Silverstone.

You’ll never bump into the IAS aspirant on a regular day. If you want to seek him out, remember the following must-check-out places. In Delhi University’s North Campus, they peer at you from youth hostels and anonymous one-room shacks, mostly dazed, at times revelling in their cubbyhole existence. In N-41, Mukherji Nagar — a three-storeyed building in the University area — for example, each austere floor is home to four IAS aspirants (that makes a total of 12 men), all in their 20s, all in different stages of preparation.

Srinivas Kolli, a 27-year-old MBA graduate from Vishakhapatnam, gave up his marketing job with Videocon International, and landed in Delhi to prepare for the IAS. ‘‘I lived in a hostel in Vizag where everyone was preparing for the civil service exams, and before I knew it, I was hooked,’’ he grins. An addiction? So it would seem. Srinivas’ college mate Vijay Babu is a veteran at the IAS exam. Next year, the qualified mechanical engineer will sit for the Mains (chosen subjects: History and Geography) for the third time. What if he doesn’t clear the exam? ‘‘I’ll try again and again till I do,’’ answers Babu, chagrined at the very thought. While rules are relaxed for SC/ST and OBC candidates, who command 50 per cent of all bureaucratic posts every year, regular candidates can take the civil services exam up to four times. The upper age limit for regular candidates has also been extended from 28 to 30 years. But while the number of exam takers hovers between one and one-and-a-half lakh every year, barely 400 make it into the services.

In the opposite direction from Delhi University is another nerve centre for the IAS aspirant, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where a section of the library has been named Dholpur House, after the UPSC headquarters. Dholpur House is almost always deathly still, but that’s not because there’s no human presence. Every table is host to a row of bent heads, busy cramming the brain with book-loads of information, or taking practice tests.

‘‘They take the IAS exam as a mission and fight till the end,’’ says A. K. Mishra, Director, Chanakya IAS Academy, of these young men (and some women). Coaching classes at the Chanakya Academy, conducted by 96 faculty members, run into six hours every day, six days a week. Of the present batch of 300 students, says Mishra, a majority are from Bihar, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. ‘‘The craze to enter the civil services is strongest among the youth from these states,’’ he observes. In the 10 years of the Academy’s existence, 40 per cent of all candidates have been from Bihar.

7.00 - 7.30: Taking bath 7.30 - 8.00: Taking breakfast (food) 8.00 - 11.00: Geography (optional) 11.00 - 11.30: Rest 11.30 - 12.30: News + Magazines 12.30 - 1.00: Lunch (food) 1.00 - 3.00: General Studies (Polity, History, Science. + Technology, Statistics) 3.00 - 3.30: Rest 3.30 - 5.30: Economics (Optional) 5.30 - 6.00: Preparation for the class 6.00 - 9.00: Class (or General Studies on Thursdays and Sundays) 9.00 - 9.30: Dinner (food) 9.30 - 12.00: Economics (General Studies on Thursdays and Sundays. Revision of class lectures) 12.00 - 7.00: Sleeping ------------------------------------------------ This is a copy of a timetable pinned above the study table of an IAS aspirant

There are two reasons for this: a low rate of private sector investment in these states means that the government is still the largest employer. ‘‘In a scenario where private sector jobs, if available, leave much room for insecurity, getting a government job means you’re made for life,’’ says JNU professor Anuradha Chenoy. The clout that a Deputy Commissioner or Superintendent of Police wields is very visible in small towns and villages. Truly, they are the maibaap, the personification of the power and perquisites that come with a bureaucratic post. No wonder then, the civil services aspirant will not hesitate to tell you that he only wants to ‘‘become an IAS’’ because of the ensuing power and prestige. ‘‘Your idealism does get compromised, but if you’re an idealist, you’ll be frustrated in the bureaucracy,’’ admits Kolli, adding that it’s hard to think of the intangible ‘‘good’’ when everyone else around you (dotcommer, financial consultant, IIT engineer...) is making money.

Chenoy recalls an incident: a student of hers eloped with another (Scheduled Tribe, Northeast) a few years ago. The upper caste, north Indian parents of the girl came knocking furiously on Chenoy’s door, demanding an explanation, vociferous in their condemnation of the ‘‘good-for-nothing-boy-from-a-lower-caste’’. Two months later, Chenoy received a wedding invitation from the parents. The boy had ingratiated himself with them, because he cleared the civil service exams. ‘‘That’s how powerful the myth of the IAS is,’’ says Chenoy.

Mishra makes a second observation about the social background of the IAS aspirant, which is directly related to how deeply entrenched the caste system is in a particular state. From the days of the pre-independence Indian Civil Services till the mandatory reservation for the ‘underprivileged’ happened, those recruited to the Indian bureaucracy belonged to the Western-educated, upper sections of society. While the social base of the administration has now broadened — it’s a behemoth, size eight million — its elitist sheen, instead of dimming, continues to be reinforced by the power myth. ‘‘It’s the shortest route to the highest level of power,’’ says Mishra of the bureaucracy.

Academics offer an interesting take on the socio-economic profile of the Indian bureaucracy. In a process called ‘Sanskritisation’, it is argued that there is a tendency among the lower castes to adopt the traits and mannerisms of the upper castes upon gaining access to the bureaucracy, to alter their historical social position. It’s a theory that the IAS aspirant often proves correct. ‘‘See, a civil servant will get respect and enjoy privileges whether he is from an SC/ST or otherwise. I want that respect from my people,’’ reasons 24-year-old Imkong Ao. This Nagaland youth hopes his ST status, which he wears like a badge, will make his maiden entry attempt into the IAS club ‘‘less competitive.’’ But a scribble on his wall, which says ‘‘Do or Die — Work Hard for the IAS’’ gives a clue to Imkong’s determination.

AND what happens when the aspirant becomes the bureaucrat? ‘‘My father’s wishes will be fulfilled, and everyone in my town will have regard for me,’’ is what Shivendru Kumar believes. The 27-year-old from Bihar lived through a ‘‘traumatic phase’’ when he failed his first attempt, after which he shelled out Rs 12,500 to join an IAS study circle in Delhi. The fact that he has never earned a single rupee so far doesn’t bother him: ‘‘I’ll get into the IAS, and then we’ll see.’’

Obviously, clearing the civil services exam is an end in itself. Stories of drunk, I-made-it men, sprawled on the ground, chanting ‘‘meri life ban gayee’’ have been elevated to the status of IAS lore. The IAS aspirant is not an idealist, and either does not want to, or think it possible to introduce changes in the swollen and festering system. A few years of absolute penury and relentless studying, obviously, are not a big deal, when the power-perquisite package deal swirls so seductively in your dreams.

But beneath the determination, contingencies abound (what if you don’t make it, ever?). The state civil services are the second option for most, while others, like Mizoram’s Khawlsiamthanga Khawlaring, 24, have ‘‘reserved’’ a teaching post in their hometown universities. Santosh, a qualified mechanical engineer from Madhya Pradesh, says he’s taken up studying for the IAS exams ‘‘as a challenge’’ — a job with Bharat Petroleum is still waiting. ‘‘At least I’ll be personally enriched, if nothing else,’’ reasons Santosh, who hasn’t had a haircut in nine months — ‘‘too much trouble.’’

Of course, the IAS aspirant now has another forum to exhibit the information overkill in his brain: Kaun Banega Crorepati, where the now-famous Harshvardhan Nawathe recently made his first crore.

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HARSH MANDER, a former teacher at the Mussoorie Academy, questions the basis for selection of bureaucrats

I have just returned from a visit to a remote tribal district that straddles the hills in the fertile Imphal valley of Manipur. Amidst rich green paddy fields and forests, the people find themselves trapped helplessly in the unending cross-fire of the underground and the security forces. The district is located within the life-line of the thriving trade in trafficking of drug and arms. As despairing youths destroy their lives by getting hooked to drugs, clans kill each other in pursuit of mindless, ancient vendetta. Forests are depleted, and a bloated and corrupt state apparatus criminalises shifting cultivation. In such a bleak terrain, people have pinned their hopes on an unlikely figure, the Deputy Commissioner, Sajjad Hassan, a young man, who in a few months has won the hearts of the ravaged people who live within the district of his jurisdiction.

Powerful youth groups swear by him, village people have been touched by his humanism and courage. He refuses to move around with security, despite threats from persons in high places with close links to the underground.

Such men and women are rare in the Indian civil and police services. But they exist. And it is the unsung, unacknowledged heroism of officers such as this DC in distant Manipur, that sometimes provides temporary succour to people who have learned to live mostly without hope. The legal and regulatory regime that has invaded the lives of ordinary people in the furthest corners of the country, has ensured the utter and continuing dependence of people on state officials for daily survival. And yet, people mostly encounter only corrupt, arrogant and arbitrary exercise of state power as they valiantly struggle to survive.

Despite this, the elaborate system of recruitment that we have inherited from our colonial predecessors, finds no place to assess qualities of character in selecting people into the civil services. What is measured, and that too imperfectly, is the sharpness of mental abilities and the stamina to work through a long, arduous and in most ways pointless examination. What is relevant to the real job in the civil services, is only above-average intellectual abilities, not academic brilliance. What is most required instead is steadfast courage of convictions, compassion, empathy, respect for people and democratic traditions, and unshakeable integrity. The fact that these qualities are unusual in the civil services, is partly because these are never actually sought in those who are chosen to join the ranks of the still elite government service. And if they are found in new recruits, by some happy accident, there is nothing that is done by the government to nurture these qualities of heart and character. Instead, battered by frequent transfers, marginal postings, peer pressure, and regular manifestations of ministerial displeasure, the system does all it can to wear down these qualities, and to fit the officer into the mediocrity of character and convictions, that are so characteristic of the mainstream. All but the most resilient and maverick survive over the years.

What is the solution to all of this?
People have debated over new systems of recruitment to select people of character rather than intellectual skills for the civil services, but nothing has actually changed. There are many who believe that tests of character are impossible, and instead it is training and nurturing of people of moral fibre once they are recruited, which is the answer. Yet others believe that training of men and women who are already past their mid-twenties is futile, even more so in today’s cynical age. In my own years of service on the faculty of India’s training institute for fresh senior civil servants, in Mussoorie, my experience was that young people entering the civil service are very often searching for meaning and value in their work. I found a great many that I could believe in, and love, and trust. And as I now travel across the length and breadth of the country, I find deep satisfaction in the fact that there are many like the DC in Manipur who continue to cling steadfastly to justice and probity in very hard circumstances. However, such people remain exceptions, and their tenuous place within the vastly overgrown and wasteful system of governance, renders them in the last analysis, utterly ineffective and marginal to larger social processes of oppression and marginalisation.

In the end, the hope for people living in poverty lies not so much in finding better civil servants, although this search should never end, but instead in dismantling the huge and parasitical superstructure of negative powers of the state over their lives. It is the hands of ordinary people themselves that need to be strengthened, to make government more accountable, transparent and responsive to them. The age of the overarching state must come to an end, and there will be few tears shed at its demise.

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Magistrates in INDIA

There are four categories of magistrates in India. This classification is given in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. It stipulates that in each sessions district, there shall be

• A Chief Judicial Magistrate
• Judicial Magistrates First Class;
• Judicial Magistrates Second Class; and
• Executive Magistrates

"Chief Judicial Magistrate" includes Additional Chief Judicial magistrates also. There is a Sub Divisional Judicial magistrate in every Sub Division (SDJM) although he is technically only a Judicial Mgistrate First Class (JMFC). Judicial Magistrates can try criminal cases. 

A judicial magistrate first class can sentence a person to jail for up to three years and impose a fine of up to Rs 5,000.

A judicial magistrate second class can sentence a person to jail for up to one year and impose a fine of up to Rs 3,000.

An Executive Magistrate is an officer of the Executive branch (as opposed to the Judicial branch) who is invested with specific powers under both the CrPC and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). These powers are conferred in the main by the following sections of the CrPC: sections 107-110 and the relevant provisions; sec 133 and sec 144 and the relevant provisions, sec 145& 147 and the relevant provisions.  

• These officers cannot try any accused nor pass verdicts.

• A person arrested on the orders of a court located outside the local jurisdiction should be produced before an Executive Magistrate who can also set the bail amount for the arrested individual to avoid police custody, depending on the terms of the warrant. 

The Executive Magistrate also can pass orders restraining persons from committing a particular act or preventing persons from entering an area (Sec 144 CrPC). There is no specific provision to order a "curfew" The Executive Magistrates alone are authorized to use force against people. In plain language, they alone can disperse an "unlawful assembly"; technically, the police is to assist the Executive Magistrate. They can direct the police about the manner of force (baton charge/ tear gas/blank fire/ firing) and also how much force should be used. They can also take the assistance of the Armed Forces to quell a riot.

There are, in each Revenue District (as opposed to a Sessions District) the following kinds of Executive Magistrates:

• one District Magistrate (DM)
• one or more Additional District Magistrates (ADM)
• one or more Subdivisional District Magistrates (SDM)and
• Executive Magistrates

All the Executive Magistrates of the district, except the ADM, are under the control of the DM; for magisterial duties, the ADM reports directly to the government and not to the DM.

These magistracies are normally conferred on the officers of the Revenue Department, although an officer can be appointed exclusively as an Executive Magistrate. Normally, the Collector of the district is appointed as the DM. Similarly, the Sub-Collectors are appointed as the SDMs. Tahsildars and Deputy/Additional Tahsildars are appointed as Executive Magistrates.

Under the old CrPC, there was no distinction between the Executive and Judicial Magistrates; some states still follow the old CrPC, eg. Nagaland; there, the Collector is also the head of the judicial branch of the district and can pass sentences, including capital punishment, under IPC.

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Various Development and Employment Programmes in India

ECONOMIC: GLOSSARY

Accession Tax: tax levied on gifts and inherited property. It is levied on recipients and is related to his economic circumstances
Active Stock: the companies, shares of which are more frequently dealt in the stock exchange market are called active stock.
Ad Valorem Tax: a tax proportional to the price of the object being taxed in contrast with a specific tax at a rate per unit of quantity.
Authorised Capital: also called nominal capital, it is the maximum amount that promoters of a joint stock company can raise through public subscription.
Balance Of Payments: a description showing all the payments made by a country to the world and the receipts of that country from the world.
Balanced Budget: equality between total government receipts and expenditure. There is thus no need to borrow and thereby increase the government debt.
Blue Box: recognised by the WTO, it is a credit accredited to a country towards providing R & D activities in agriculture and related fields.
Blue Chip: a first class equity share, the purchase of which entails little risk.
Call Money: money lent in the money market, repayable at a very short notice. This is a liquid asset.
Couple Protection Ratio: it is the percentage of eligible couple effectively protected against pregnancy by various methods of contraception.
CRISIL: it stands for Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited. It provides credit rating services by assessing the comparative risk of investment in the listed securities of different companies.
Dear Money: high interest rates which make it expensive to borrow. This policy is used to reduce aggregate demand in the economy.
Debt Service: the payments due under debt contracts. This includes payments of interest as it becomes due and redemption payments.
Dependency Ratio: it is the ratio of adults and children vis-s-vis the working group in a population.
Eg.India- 46%
Effective Exchange Rate: a country’s exchange rate, taking a weighted average of its bilateral nominal exchange rates against other currencies.
ELSS: Equity Linked Saving Scheme offered by mutual funds. Investment in these schemes are eligible for tax benefits under section 80-c of IT act.
Enterpot: a place where goods are imported and re-exported without processing.
Financial Inclusion Fund: budget 2007-08 announced to establish the fund with NABARD for meeting the cost of development and promotional interventions aimed at ensuring that vulnerable groups get access to adequate credit and financial services at an affordable cost.
Fiscal Policy: the use of taxation and government spending to influence the economy to encourage or discourage particular forms of activity.
Fiscal Stance: the tendency of the tax and spending policies embodied in a government’s budget to expend or contract the economy.
FMC (Forward Markets’ Commission): Regulator of forward markets, it deals with the registration and regulation of commodity futures brokers, warehouses and commodity agents. It was set up in 1953 to regulate the commodity futures market. FMC is one of the oldest regulators in the country. FMC monitors market activities on real time basis and takes preventive and pro-active measures to prevent any manipulation.
Frictional Unemployment: the unemployment that would exist because as people change jobs because some sectors of the economy grow and others contract.
Fringe Benefit Tax: introduced in the budget 2005-06, a tax targeted at those benefits enjoyed collectively by the employees and not attributable to individual employees, which are to be taxed in hands of employer.
Futures Market: a market organization through which futures contracts are traded. These contracts commit both parties to buy and sell commodities, shares or currencies on future date at a price fixed when the contract is made.
Gender Budgeting: Union Budget 2005-06 has institutionalized Gender Budgeting, perceived as a powerful tool, not only for tracking allocation of resources for women but also covers implementation Issues and outcomes.
Guilt Edged Security: securities which have lowest risk , e.g. Government securities
Merit Goods: those public goods where a social benefit is more than individual benefit.
E.g. primary health, education etc.
Minimum Alternative Tax: A minimum amount of tax, which a company has to pay despite its accounts book profits. It was brought to tax those companies, which avoid paying tax by showing zero profit.
Minimum Support Prices: these prices are generally announced before the start of the sowing season and are fixed for major agriculture commodities. This is form of commitment made by the government to the farmers.
Monetized Deficit: It refers to the net addition of RBI credit to the government by way of printing fresh currency by the RBI.
MoU: it stands for Memorandum of Understanding. It is written expression of intension of the signatories of the MoU to carry out their shares of tasks in furtherance of their joint intent.
Mutual Fund: Funds set up on the principle of pooled risk and pooled resources of large number of small industries with the purpose of giving them the benefit of the share market.
NASDAQ: National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation, located in USA and mainly the It related companies are listed in it.
One Time Settlement: Introduced by the RBI to identify the defaulter of Banks, sit across the table, negotiate and settle the debt once and for all.
Open General License: Items can be imported without quotas or restrictions. It is only subject to industrial licensing.
Opportunity Cost: it is a measure of the economic cost of using a resource to produce one particular good or service in terms of the alternatives thereby foregone.
Parallel Economy: it implies the functioning of illegal and subterranean economic activities that run parallel, but in contradiction, with the avowed social objectives.
Planning By Direction: In this type of planning, the government gives directions/commands to producers and they have to comply with in it. Government directly regulates economic activities.
Planning By Inducement: Type of democratic planning by manipulation of market by indirect states actions like subsidies and tax benefits.
Prime Lending Rate: The rate at which the banks lend to their prime customers or high ranging companies/ blue chip companies.
Procurement Prices: The prices at which government buys surpluses from the farmers coming in the market. The minimum support price and procurement price may be the same. Since 1971 onwards, they have been made equal in India.
Producer Price Index: Measures price changes (inflation) from producers perspective. In PPI, only basic prices are used for compilation, while taxes, trade margins and transport costs are excluded.
Pump Pricing: Process of increasing the government expenditure particularly at a time when the economy is under recession so that private sector investment does not take place.
Purchasing Power Parity: It implies that with a unit of currency one can buy the same basket of goods and services at home and abroad.
Rationing of Credit: the process under which the central bank directs the commercial banks to give credit to various sectors according to the priorities of the economy.
Repo Rate: It is the rate at which RBI repurchases the government securities from commercial banks.
S &P: one of the mains US credit rating agency, which produces the S&P 500 stock price index.
Stock Security Transaction Tax: A tax imposed on sale and purchase of securities of the stock market, effective from October 2004.
Social Overhead Capital: Capital invested in making social infrastructure like schools for the benefit of community at large.
Special Drawing Rights (SDR): An International reserve currency system under IMF, which provides for new type of currency to serve the agreement of the nations as the first legal tender money.
Special Economic Zones: An SEZ is a designated duty free area to be treated as foreign territory for trade operations and tariff. It can be used for manufacturing, trading and services.
Stagnation: A situation in which there is no change in techniques or income levels.
Sterilization: The method by which central bank prevents balance of payment surpluses or deficits from affecting the domestic money supply.
Stock Option: A right to buy share in a company on some future date at a pre-arranged price.
Structural Inflation: Inflation that arises as a result of supply in elasticity and structural rigidities in the industrial sectors of economy.
Structural Unemployment: Unemployment due to lack of capital equipment, which unemployed workers could use, or lack among unemployed workers could use, or lack among unemployed workers of the skills necessary to produce anything for which there is market.
Subsidy: Transfer payment to household or business by government to enable them to produce or consume a commodity at a cheaper price is called subsidy.
Sukur Bonds: The Islamic Bonds used in Islamic Banking.
Sunrise Industries: Industries in the forefront of development, which have immense future potential
E.g. IT industry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals etc.
Syndicate Loan: A loan provided by a syndicate of banks or others lending institutions.
Tangible Assets: Assets that can be touched. This should literally include only physical objects like plant and equipment but also used to include leases and company shares, as these are mainly titles to tangible assets.
Tax Gap: The difference between potential revenue and the actual collection is called tax gap.
Technological Unemployment: unemployment due to technical progress. This applies to particular types of workers whose skill is made redundant because of change of methods of production.
Trade Barriers: Laws, institutions or practices which make trade between countries more difficult or expensive than trade within countries.
Trading Currency: A currency used to invoice international trade transaction. The currency of either the buyer or the seller or of a third country may be used.
Trading Off: Something sacrificing in order to get more of something else, e.g. sacrificing consumption now for later by devoting the present resources to investment.
Transfer Payment: Payment made by one sector of the economy to another without any returns,
E.g. unemployment and social security payments.
Transfer Pricing: An accounting policy to lower down the total taxes paid by the MNCs by showing intra corporate sale and purchase of goods thereby showing low profits to lower the payable tax.
Venture Capital: Private equity to help new companies grow. A valuable alternative source of finance for entrepreneurs who might otherwise have to rely on a loan from a probably risk averse bank manager.
Voluntary Unemployment: Unemployment through opting not to work, even though there are jobs available. This is the joblessness that remains when there is otherwise full employment. It includes frictional unemployment as a result of people changing jobs, people not working while they undertake job search and people who just do not want to work.
Wage Drift: The difference between basic pay and total earnings. Wage drift consists of things such as overtime payments, bonuses, profit share and performance- related pay. It usually increases during periods of strong growth and declines during an economic downturn.
Zero-Based Budget: zero based budgets means every expenditure, whether on a new scheme or an ongoing activity, in the budget has been freshly justified.

Cricket World Cups

Man of the tournament

Year	Player	Stats
1992	Martin Crowe	456 runs
1996	Sanath Jayasuriya	221 runs and 7 wickets
1999	Lance Klusener	281 runs and 17 wickets
2003	Sachin Tendulkar	673 runs and 2 wickets
2007	Glenn McGrath	26 wickets

Man of the match

Year	Player	Stats
1975	Clive Lloyd	102 runs
1979	Viv Richards	138*
1983	Mohinder Amarnath	3/12 and 26
1987	David Boon	75 runs
1992	Wasim Akram	33 and 3/49
1996	Aravinda de Silva	107* and 3/42
1999	Shane Warne	4/33
2003	Ricky Ponting	140*
2007	Adam Gilchrist	149

11-digit mobile numbers soon?

Image via Wikipedia

-M. Dinesh Varma

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Transition can be implemented by pre-fixing an additional digit for existing mobile numbers
India might have 1 billion connections by 2014

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CHENNAI: The unprecedented growth of cellular telephony in India has forced a rethink on the national mobile numbering plan much earlier than anticipated.
With a mobile user base of over 550 million connections — and with over 5 to 6 million net additions every month — the question looming before policy planners is whether to continue with the 10-digit mobile number for some more years or to ring in the 11-digit sequence (as some countries like China have already done) as a one-stop, long-term solution that would take care of future needs.
The National Numbering Plan (NNP) 2003 was formulated for a projected forecast of reaching the 50 per cent tele-density level by 2030.
While the fixed line connections showed a decline, the unprecedented growth of the mobile segment meant that the anticipated 450 million mobile connection milestone was achieved in 2009, and the figure is now poised to cross the 1 billion mark by the end of 2014.
Sensing the need to revisit the National Numbering Plan (NNP) 2003, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently issued a consultation paper seeking views from service providers on a better utilisation scheme of number resources.
The basic question raised by TRAI was whether the 10-digit mobile numbering scheme was sufficient for a few more years or whether the boom in the mobile user segment warranted an early migration to an 11-digit sequence.
However, there is no consensus yet among the major service providers on the issue.
The BSNL's argument is that the 10-digit scheme would hold fine for at least another 10 years. Migration to a 11-digit sequence would entail major changes, costs and inconvenience to users, it said.
Those in the industry supporting continuance of the scheme till 2014 or beyond, call for opening up more fixed line levels which remain grossly under-utilised.
Proponents of a migration to the 11-digit scheme say the transition can be easily implemented through pre-fixing an additional digit for all existing mobile numbers. According to TRAI, the level ‘9' for a 10-digit numbering system generates a maximum of 1,000 million numbers. Another 500 million are freed up against a few sub-levels of level 8.
However, while theoretically an estimated 1,500 million numbers should thus be available across mobile networks, in reality the number is much smaller due to various reasons.
Therefore, the practice is that the Department of Telecom allocates new blocks of numbers once a service provider demonstrates 60 per cent utilisation of the allotted numbers. Significantly, TRAI has observed that in many of the service areas, the utilisation of numbers by service providers is well below 60 per cent.
One of TRAI's suggestions is to introduce an integrated service-area based scheme where STD codes would be merged with the numbers to form a 10-digit number for fixed phones. The other alternative is to switch to 11 digits.
However, this would require modifying all fixed and mobile systems software, changing billing database, causing inconvenience to users in the form of dialling extra digits and updating of phone memory books, TRAI said.

Source--The Hindu

Did you know: T.E.R.L.S. stands for Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.

India ups the ante on China

Source--Asia Defence

A page from HIstorTY

Image via Wikipedia

Miyan Tansen

Born - 1506
Died - 1589

Achievements - Miyan Tansen, who was one of the nine jewels or navaratnas in the court of Emperor Akbar, is regarded as the greatest of all musicians India has ever produced till date. He has composed several ragas and is said to have played a pivotal role in crating the classical genre of north Indian music we know today.

Miyan Tansen, who was one of the nine jewels or navaratnas in the court of Emperor Akbar, is regarded as the greatest of all musicians India has ever produced till date. Normally referred to as just Tansen, he is said to have played a pivotal role in crating the classical genre of north Indian music we know today. Read on to know more about Tansen, who was born in a Hindu family at Behat near Gwalior in the Madhya Pradesh state.

Makarand Pande, the father of Tansen, was a poet and had originally named his son Ramtanu. Having an inclination towards music from childhood, this boy started taking a musical training under the legendary Swami Haridas from the Indian holy city of Brindavan and later became a singer in the court of King Ramchandra of Reva. From here, he was passed on to the court of Emperor Akbar as a gift. And it was here that the life history of Miyan Tansen changed forever.

The title Miyan was conferred upon Tansen by Emperor Akbar and he embraced Islam at the hands of the great Sufi mystic Shaykh Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior, who acted as both his teacher and spiritual guide. Apart from his own guru, Tansen is said to have no equal during his time. Infact his voice was so melodious that it's often said to have created miracles while Tansen was singing. For instance, Tansen could beckon the rains by Raga Megh Malhar and light up fires with Raga Deepak.

The legendary Miyan Tansen is said to have composed numerous ragas, which have continued to remain cornerstones in the Indian classical music repertoire ever since. Some of them are Miyan ka Bhairav known today as Bhairav, Darbari Todi, Darbari Kanada, Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar, Miyan ki Mand, Miyan ki Sarang and Rageshwari. Almost every gharana or school strives to trace its origin to him, though some try to go further back to poet Amir Khusrau.

List Caves in India

Andhra Pradesh

• Undavalli caves

 Bihar

• Barabar Caves Oldest Rockcut Cave of India
• Lomasrishi caves
• Sudama caves
• Colganj Rock Cut Temples

Himachal Pradesh

• Masrur Rock Cut Temple

 Karnataka

• Aihole
• Badami Cave Temples
• Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple
• Nellitheertha Cave Temple
• Hulimavu Shiva cave temple

Kashmir

• Amarnath

 Kerala

• Kaviyoor
• Trikkur Mahadeva Temple
• Vizhinjam
• Tuvarankad
• Bhutapandi
• Kottukal
• Airurpara
• Irunilamcode
• Bharatanpara

 Madhya Pradesh

• Bagh Caves
• Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka
• Udaygiri Caves

Maharashtra

• Ajanta Caves- Buddhist
• Aurangabad Caves- Buddhist
• Bedse Caves- Buddhist
• Bhaja Caves- Buddhist
• Elephanta Caves - Hindu: Shiva, Brahmanical
• Ellora Caves - Hindu, Buddhist, Jain
• Jogeshwari Caves- Buddhist
• Kanheri Caves- Buddhist
• Karla Caves- Buddhist
• Karli- Jain
• Kailash Temple
• Kondivita Caves- Buddhist
• Lenyadri - Buddhist, a cave converted into Hindu
• Mahakali Caves - Buddhist
• Mandapeshwar Caves - Hindu
• Pandavleni Caves- Buddhist
• Pataleshwar, Pune

 Orissa

• Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves

 Tamil Nadu

• Mahabalipuram
• Narthamalai
• Varaha Cave Temple
• Rockfort Ucchi Pillayar Temple
• Kazhugumalai Cave Temple
• Thirunadhikkara Cave Temple
• Sittanavasal
• Mandagapattu (Mahendra Pallava's)
• Dalavanur
• Mamandur (near Kanchi)
• Kuranganil Muttam
• Siyamangalam
• Mahendravadi (near Arakonam)
• Tirukazhukundram (on Hilltop)

Uttarakhand

• Patal Bhuvaneshwar

Source--Wikipedia

National Flowers by Country

National Flowers by Country

Check this most exhaustive list of National Flowers by Country! National emblem holds a lot of significance for the citizens of a country. And it is interesting to note how much we can learn a lot about the beliefs and traditions of a nation by knowing its National Flower.

Country	Flower
Australia	Golden Wattle
Argentina	Cattleya orchid
Austria	Edelweiss
Bangladesh	White Water Lily
Belgium	Azalea, Red or corn poppy
Bermuda	Blue-eyed grass
Bolivia	Inca magic flower
Brazil	Cattleya orchid
Bulgaria	Rose
Canada	Maple leaf, Rose as symbol of England, Fleur-de-lis for France
Ceylon	Wesak orchid
Chile	Copihue
China	Narcissus, Peony, Plum flower,
Colombia	Mayflower orchid (or Christmas orchid)
Costa Rica	Flor de San Sebastian
Cuba	Ginger lily
Czech Republic	Rose (traditional), Carnation (popular), Linden tree
Denmark	Red Clover
Ecuador	White nun orchid, Rose
Egypt	Lotus or Water Lily
England	Red tudor rose
Estonia	Blue Cornflower
Ethiopia	Calla
Finland	Lily of the valley
France	Lily
Germany	None
Greece	Guernsey lily
Holland	Tulip
Hong Kong	Bauhinia Blakeana
Hungary	Tulip
India	Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)
Indonesia	Melati jasmine, Moon orchid
Iran	Rose
Iraq	Rose
Ireland	Shamrock
Italy	Poppy or White Lily
Jamaica	Lignum Vitae (Guiacum officinale)
Japan	Chrysanthemum
Jordan	Black Iris
Korea	Rose of Sharon
Laos	Rice
Latvia	Oxeye Daisy
Libya	Pomegranate Blossom
Lithuania	Rue (Ruta)
Luxembourg	Rose
Malagasy Republic	Traveler's tree
Malaysia	Hibiscus
Maldives	Rose
Mexico	Dahlia
Monaco	Carnation
Nepal	Rhododendron
Netherlands	Calendula (official), Orange tulip (popular)
New Zealand	Kowhai
Nicaragua	Sacuanjoche or May Flower
Northern Ireland	Shamrock
Norway	Heather
Pakistan	Jasmine
Panama	Dove orchid (or Holy Ghost orchid)
Paraguay	Jasmine-of-the-Paraguay, Orange blossom
Persia	Rose
Peru	Inca magic flower
Philippines	Sampagita Jasmine
Poland	Cornflower
Portugal	Lavender
Russia	Chamomile, Daisy
Rumania	Dog rose
San Marino	Cyclamen
Scotland	Thistle
Singapore	Orchid: Vanda Miss Joaquim
Slovenia	Carnation
South Africa	King Protea
South Korea	Hibiscus
Spain	Red carnation, Pomegranate
Sweden	Twinflower
Switzerland	Edelweiss
Turkey	Rose (traditional), Tulip (popular)
Uruguay	Ceibo, Cockspur coral
Vatican City	Easter lily
Venezuela	Orchid
Wales	Leek and Daffodil
Yemen	Arabian coffee
Yugoslavia	Lily of the Valley
United States	Rose
Zimbabwe	Flame Lily