2011 Current Affairs at a Glance

JANUARY
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, UPA’s flagship aam admi scheme, turned five on February 2, 2011. On January 14, the Ministry of Rural Development issued a notification revising the wage rates under the MNREGA from Rs 100 per day to between Rs 117 and Rs 181 (17-30 % hike) in different States. The revision under Section 6(1) of the 2005 Act, coming in wake of inflationary pressures on the poor, adjusts the wages by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index of Agricultural Laborers (CPIAL).

The Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee report was made public on January 6, 2011. It strongly advocated maintaining united Andhra Pradesh along with creation of statutory Telangana Regional Council to address the core socio-economic concerns of the backward region. On bifurcation, which has been the single point agenda of Telangana protagonists, the Committee said it was the “second best option” but could be recommended “only in case it is unavoidable and if this decision can be reached amicably among all three regions.”

History met geography when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took the salute as the Chief Guest at India’s 62nd Republic Day parade on January 26, 2011. President Soekarno, whose close friends Jawaharlal Nehru and Biju Patnaik helped defy the Dutch colonial embargoes of the late 1940s that enabled Indonesia gain independence, was the Chief Guest at the founding of the Indian republic, in 1950. India and Indonesia signed nearly 30 agreements, including an extradition treaty and a mutual legal assistance treaty, and pledged to achieve a bilateral trade target of $ 25 billion by 2015, from about $ 11 billion in 2009-10.

In January 2011, the US removed nine Indian space and defence 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. The US decision meets a long pending Indian demand and is the first step to implement the export control policy initiative announced by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 8, 2010, after their summit talks in New Delhi. The nine entities are Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), four remaining subsidiaries of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the US sanction list and another four of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The one-man committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Shivraj V. Patil, who was appointed by the Telecom Ministry to look into the lapses in the allocation of the 2G Spectrum, submitted its report on January 31, 2011. After former Telecom Minister A. Raja resigned, the panel was set up on December 13 2010 to look into the Spectrum allocation procedures and policies from 2001 to 2009. The period also included the issuing of telecom licences during the NDA regime. The panel nailed A. Raja for procedural lapses. The report also named seven other officials in the Department of Telecom (DoT), including former DoT Secretary Siddharth Behura and R.K. Chandolia, a former lieutenant of Raja.

On January 1, 2011, Dilma Rousseff became the Brazil's first female President. The former Marxist guerrilla, has evolved over the years into a pragmatic civil servant with a professed obsession for reducing poverty.

On January 31, 2011, Marouf Bakhit was appointed as the Prime Minister of Jordan by King Abdullah. The move came following protests inspired by mass demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, but the opposition dismissed the move as insufficient.

On January 15, 2011, the UN ended its peace mission in Nepal as the government and the main Opposition Maoists inked a crucial eleventh-hour deal to monitor fragile peace process. The UN mission was tasked to supervise the arms and the army of the former rebels and the military.

The assassination of former Governor of Punjab province of Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, on January 4, 2011, once again drew attention to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws, which have been at the center of debate of late. Religious parties have been able to force Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to step back from the government's earlier stance of changing these laws.

South Sudan overwhelmingly voted to split from the north in a referendum intended to end decades of civil war, as per the result declared on January 30, 2011.

President Hu Jintao of China visited USA in second week of January 2011 to narrow rifts between the world’s top two economies. This was the first visit of a Chinese President to USA in 13 years.

Per capita income of Indians grew by 14.5 per cent to Rs 46,492 in 2009-10, from Rs 40,605 in 2008-09. The new per capita income figure estimates on current market prices is over Rs 2,000 more than the previous estimate of Rs 44,345 calculated by the Central Statistical Organisation. Per capita income means earnings of each Indian if the national income is evenly divided among the country's population at 117 crore (1.17 billion). Per capita income (at 2004-05 prices) stood at Rs 33,731 in FY10 against Rs 31,801 in the previous year.

The size of the economy at current prices rose to Rs 61,33,230 crore (Rs 61,332.30 billion) in 2009-10, up 16.1 per cent over Rs 52,82,086 crore (Rs 52,820.86 billion) in FY'09. Based on 2004-05 prices, the Indian economy expanded by 8 per cent during the fiscal ended March 2010. This is higher than 6.8 per cent growth in fiscal 2008-09.

The 98th Indian Science Congress was held at SRM University near Chennai.

While 2010 was observed as the International Year of Biodiversity, from 2011 started the Decade of Biodiversity. During the decade, a UN body, much like the IPCC for Climate Change, pushed for action on biodiversity front.

The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge in China is the world’s longest sea bridge. It is 42.48 km long, 8.04 km further than the distance between Dover and Calais, as also longer than a marathon. The bridge links the main urban area of Qingdao city in east China’s Shandong province with Huangdao district.

January 14, 2011 marked the 250th anniversary of the third battle of Panipat. The defeat of the Marathas by the army of Ahmad Shah Abdali prepared the ground for the gradual take-over of India by the East India company.

Army Day is observed in India on January 15.

On January 17, 2011, Indian Navy commissioned a squadron of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), named INAS 343, at Porbander, Gujarat, to enhance coastal surveillance capabilities. The UAVs have been nick-named “Frontier Formidables”.

RBI has decided to circulate Rs 5 coins to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President.

Anti-Leprosy Day is observed in India on January 30.

FEBRUARY
The Economic Survey 2011 placed Bihar on top in terms of performance on growth, with the State posting a whopping 16.59 per cent growth in 2008-2009, the latest year for which the data is available. But Gujarat pips Bihar (which is followed by Orissa, Haryana and Uttrakhand) to the lead spot when the growth performance is measured from 2002-2003 onwards to 2009.

The Economic Survey 2011 revealed that though Rajasthan, followed by Andhra Pradesh, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, provided maximum employment under MNREGA in 2009-2010, it was Punjab which employed the maximum Scheduled Castes under the programme (Punjab also reports the lowest number of people below poverty line in India) while Madhya Pradesh employed the maximum STs, followed by Jharkhand, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

On February 16, 2011, India and Japan signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) to open markets and reduce barriers on goods, services and movement of people between the two countries.

On February 18, 2011, India and Malaysia signed a comprehensive market opening pact that throws up myriad trade opportunities for both sides and give a boost to India's Look-East Policy and the prospects for its economic integration with South-East Asia.

After three decades of armed conflict that cost thousands of lives in Assam, the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam( ULFA) finally decided to sit for “unconditional” talks with the Government of India. On February 5, 2011, leaders of the outfit informed that ULFA had been invited by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram for a preliminary round of talks in New Delhi, as a prelude to formal negotiations that would materialize once ULFA submitted its charter of demands.

On February 22, 2011, thirty one persons were convicted and 63 others, including the main accused Maulvi Umarji, were acquitted by a special court in the 2002 Godhra train burning incident that left 59 persons dead and triggered violence in Gujarat that claimed the lives of over 1200 people.

On February 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's President, handing over to the army and ending three decades of autocratic rule, bowing to escalating pressure from the military and protesters demanding that he go. A military council would run the affairs of the Arab world's most populous nation, till a free and fair presidential election is held.

Ending a seven-month-long standoff over the Prime Ministerial election, Nepal's Parliament, on February 3, 2011, elected veteran communist leader and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) Jhalanath Khanal as the new Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Nepal.

On February 5, 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a landmark nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia, a showpiece of Washington’s “reset” of ties with its former Cold War enemy. The new START officially came into force when Clinton and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov exchanged ratification documents at a security conference in the German city of Munich. The pact slashes existing warhead ceilings by 30 per cent over the next 10 years and limits each side to 700 deployed long-range missiles and heavy bombers. The original 1991 pact expired at the end of 2009 amid stark differences over how the two sides planned to proceed.

India’s first inland fish processing unit has been set up in the village of Bhutana in Karnal district of Haryana.

The National Science Day is observed on February 28 to mark the discovery of Raman Effect by Sir C.V. Raman in 1928, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize.

To reduce the burden of small tax-payers, a new, simplified income tax return form, Sugam, has been introduced.

The Union Budget 2011 has increased the Defence budget by 11 per cent. Additional Rs 17,071 crore have been allotted over 2010 Budget figure of Rs 1,47,344 crore. About Rs 69,199 crore has been earmarked for capital expenses like weapons, planes, ships, special classified projects etc.

The Union Budget 2011 has earmarked Rs 52,000 crore for education, out of which Rs 21,000 crore will be spent on Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Rs 6,213 crore on secondary education and Rs 2,200 crore on higher education.

The Hyderabad international airport has bagged the first rank in its category in the latest Airport Service Quality (ASQ) rankings of the Airports Council International (ACI).

The theme song of Cricket World Cup, 2011 was “De Ghuma Ke”. It was composed by the trio of Shankar, Ehasan and Loy India received foreign direct investment (FDI) worth $21 billion 9Rs 96,104 crore) in the calendar year 2010, a decline of 22 per cent over 2009.

The SAARC Foreign Ministers’ meet was held in Thimpu, Bhutan on February 8, 2011.

The NASSCOM India Leadership Forum (NILF) was held in Mumbai in February 2011.

Mahatma Gandhi and the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have been listed by the Time magazine as the world’s top 25 political icons.

India has agreed to temporarily lend fragments of Buddha’s bones, famously known as Kapilavastu relics, to Sri Lanka for an exposition to celebrate his 2600th year of enlightenment in 2011.

China has emerged as the world’s largest economy, surpassing Japan, which had held on to the position for over four decades. At the end of 2010, Japanese economy was estimated to be worth about $5.5 trillion and that of China $5.8 trillion. USA continues to be the largest economy of the world with the economy worth $14.6 trillion.

MARCH
The Supreme Court of India rejected the petition for mercy killing of Aruna Shanbaug, who has been in a “persistent vegetative state” for the past 37 years. There is no law to allow it. However, the apex court permitted passive euthanasia under certain, supervised by a High Court. Euthanasia, also called assisted suicide, has been debated worldwide.

The Union Cabinet has given its nod to the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to increase the voting rights of foreign investors in private sector banks.

Paving the way for setting up of a regulator for the insurance sector, the Union government, on March 24, 2011, introduced the long-awaited Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill in the Lok Sabha. The move aims at providing social security to millions of employees through efficient intermediation of long-term household savings.

India's most backward and populous States slowed down their rate of population growth, helping the country register its sharpest decline in population growth since Independence. India's population grew to 1.21 billion, according to provisional results of the decadal headcount declared by Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli on March 30, 2011. The absolute addition of about 181 million people is slightly less than the population of Brazil—the world fifth most populous country—but the slower decadal growth rate of 17.64% has offered hope to policy makers.

India accounts for a meagre 2.4% of the world surface area of 135 million sq km and supports 17.5% of the world’s population. In contrast, the US accounts for 7.2% of the surface area with only 4.5% of the population.

India’s total population, as per the 2011 Census is 12102.2 million. Out of this 586.5 are females and 623.7 are males.

Literacy rate of India, as per Census 2011 has gone up to 74.04% from 64.83% a decade ago. 82.4% is male literacy and 65.46 is female literacy.

At 11,297 people for every sq km, Delhi tops the list of States and Union Territories in terms of density. Chandigarh comes next, with 9,252 people. Among Andaman and Nicobar and Arunachal Pradesh are the least densely populated territories, with 46 and 17 people, respectively, in every sq km. Dibang valley of Arunachal has only one person in a sq km, while Samba in J&K has two. Nagaland is the only State that has statistically demonstrated a negative growth rate and a marginal decline in density.

More Indian women gained literacy over the past decade than men, according to the 2011 census. A total of 110 million additional women have become literate since 2001, as opposed to 107 million men over the same period. Never before have women outdone men in numbers gaining literacy over any decade.

The Union government has approved a three-step strategy to create a foolproof system for transferring fertilizer subsidy directly to farmers. In the first step, the government plans to track the movement of fertilizers from factories to farmers via retailers. This is expected to be over by December. After this, based on the collected data, it would start paying retailers. The revised estimates put the subsidy bill—food, kerosene and fertilizers—at Rs 1,64,153 crore for 2010-11. The subsidy bill for food, petroleum and fertilizers is estimated at Rs 1,34,210 crore for 2011-12.

Relaxing the rules for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country, the Union government, on March 31, 2011, decided to permit the issuance of equity to overseas firms against imported capital goods and machinery. Furthermore, the norms for overseas investment in production and developments of seeds have been liberalised.

Much against the opinion of his own Cabinet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Pakistani leaders—both Prime Minister and President—to witness the cricket World Cup semi-final match at Mohali, played between the teams of the two nations on April 29, 2011. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani accepted the invitation to take forward the peace initiative taken by the Indian Prime Minister.

On March 3, 2011, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the appointment of P.J. Thomas “was in contravention of the provisions” of the CVC Act, 2003, and hence “it is declared” that the September 3, 2010, recommendations of the HPC “is non-est in law” and consequently his appointment “is quashed”. The verdict was given by a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia.

On March 26, 2011, Canada's Governor-General dissolved the Parliament after a vote of no-confidence in Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, setting up a May 2 election, the fourth in seven years.

On March 30, 2011, Myanmar’s military handed power to a nominally civilian government after almost half a century of army rule, as the junta was disbanded and a new President appointed. Former PM Thein Sein, a key Than Shwe ally, was sworn in as President. He is among a slew of generals who shed their army uniforms to contest the elections and are now civilian members of Parliament, which also has a quarter of its seats kept aside for the military.

On March 10, 2011, the Dalai Lama announced his retirement plan on the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day. Announcing that he would step down as political head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, the Dalai Lama in his speech said he would hand over his “formal authority” to a “freely-elected” leader.

Starting March 19, 2011, Western forces launched a series of air and missile strikes against forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to force him to stop war on opposition forces in Libya. Earlier, on March 18, a UNSC resolution had imposed a no-fly zone over Libya. India stayed away from voting. India, along with four other countries, wanted the UNSC to wait for the report of the special envoy of the Secretary-General. India also made it clear that it was very important to fully respect sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Libya.

Child sex ratio of India, as per Census 2011, is 914 females against 1000 males. This is lowest since independence. The overall sex ratio has risen by 7 points to 940 females per 1000 males.

India Post has launched online portal ‘e-post office’ to provide postal transactions and tracking service online. This portal will provide electronic money order (eMO), instant money order (iMO), sale of philatelic stamps, postal information, tracking of express and international shipments, PIN code search and registration of feedback and complaints online. Through this portal, DoP will also sell products, handicrafts and other products made by small-scale industries. The content of the portal is in English. The next version of the portal is expected to be launched in Bangla and Kannada language.

NLU-Delhi, NALSAR-Hyderabad, NLSIU-Bangalore, NUJS-Kolkata and RGSOIPL-IIT Kharagpur have come together to set up the Legal Information Institute of India. The online portal provides for 300,000 decisions from 37 courts and tribunals, 800 bilateral treaties, 500 law journal articles and much more.

The 11th Info-Poverty World Conference was held in March 2011 at the United Nations.

The biennial Wind Power India conference was held in Chennai.

The three-day world Sufi music festival was held on March 11-13, 2011 in New Delhi.

World House Sparrow day is observed on March 20.

World Water Day is observed on March 22.

APRIL
On April 15, 2011, the Supreme Court granted bail to civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen, holding that possessing Naxal literature or visiting jailed Maoists did not amount to sedition.

On April 16, 2011, during the official visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Kazakhstan, India and Kazakhstan signed seven key accords, including one on cooperation in the civil nuclear energy field and another for joint exploration in the oil and gas sector, and condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and those who supported the menace.

On April 5, 2011, India and Thailand agreed to intensify their cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, education, tourism and culture and to aim towards doubling of their trade by 2014. The decisions were taken during the visit of Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of Thailand.

On April 25, 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Suresh Kalmadi, Member of Parliament and former chairman of the Organising Committee (OC) of the Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG). The CBI has charged him with criminal conspiracy to buy timing, scoring and result (TSR) system from a Swiss company at an inflated cost of R141 crore.

On April 25, 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi as a co-accused in the supplementary charge-sheet filed by it before the special CBI court in the 2G Spectrum case. Kanimozhi has been charged under Section 7 and 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), which relates to acceptance of alleged gratification.

On April 24, 2011, Yemen's embattled President agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. A coalition of seven opposition parties said they also accepted the deal but with reservations.

BRIC, the grouping of the four countries thought to radiate the largest lessons in developing an economy–Brazil, Russia, India and China–has decided to transform itself to BRICS, with the much-awaited induction of South Africa into the cohort, making it more representative. Started in year 2009, the 2011 summit, held in Sanya on south China's tropical island of Hainan on April 13-15, was the first one for South Africa.

India’s exports for 2010-11 have clocked $245.9 billion registering a growth of 37.5 per cent. This is the first time exports have crossed $200 billion.

World Heritage Day, also known as the international day for monuments, is observed on April 18.

World Health Day is observed on April 7.

World Haemophilia Day is observed on April 17. Haemophilia is a genetic blood disorder in which blood does not clot properly.

Civil Services Day is observed on April 21.

MAY
More than 40 years after it was mooted, the Union Cabinet, on May 13, 2010, gave its approval to set up the nation’s first defence university at Binola, around 20 km from Gurgaon. It would aim at imparting education on strategic challenges to armed forces officials, bureaucrats, academicians, parliamentarians and trainees at military academies.

In a verdict expected to weaken cases against terrorists, other dreaded criminals and high-profile offenders, the Supreme Court has cited “mental privacy” to rule that police and other prosecuting agencies cannot forcibly conduct lie detector tests—narco-analysis, polygraph or brain electrical activation profile (BEAP, popularly known as brain mapping)—on accused, suspects or witnesses.

The Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change has approved the National Water Mission, focusing on making water conservation a peoples' movement in the country.

Indian President Pratibha Patil visited Beijing from May 27, 2010. She is the first Indian Head of State to visit China in a decade. She had been invited by her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and her trip coincided with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China. During her visit, Patil inaugurated China’s first Indian-style Buddhist temple in Luoyang city in Henan province.

The bidding frenzy for third generation (3-G) spectrum came to an end on May 19, 2010, with leading operators Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Aircel winning licences for 13 circles each. This was the 34th day of the auction and it saw the price of a pan-India, or nationwide, licence touching Rs 16,828 crore, nearly five times its base price. No single operator could garner enough cash to win bids for all the 22 circles that went under the hammer.

On May 3, 2010, a Mumbai court found 22-year-old Pakistani national, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, guilty of mass murder and waging war against India, while acquitting two other accused, Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed for want of evidence, in the November 26, 2008 attacks on the city. Kasab is the lone surviving gunman from the attacks that killed 166 people. He has been given the death sentence.

In a significant development, Pakistan, on May 30, 2010, withdrew its objection to construction of Uri-II and Chutak hydel power projects in Jammu and Kashmir. At the Indus Water Commissioner-level talks in New Delhi, the Pakistani side said it had no objection to the designs of the two power projects after the Indian side provided details of these.

On May 7, 2010, Britain woke up to a hung Parliament, an election outcome that this country last experienced in 1974 when the then Prime Minister Edward Heath tried and failed to persuade the Liberal Party to join him in a coalition. The Conservatives under David Cameron emerged as the single largest party with 306 seats in the 650-member House of Commons, while Labour bagged 258 and Lib Dems 57.

On May 24, 2010, South Korea announced steps to tighten the vice on the North’s already stumbling economy in punishment for sinking one of its navy ships, with both sides stepping up their war-like rhetoric.

India is ranked 73 in the list of 77 nations rated for the “best place to be a mother”, according to a report by child rights organisation Save the Children. What is more shocking in the “State of the World's Mothers 2010” report is that India is rated much lower than a host of conflict-ridden African countries like Kenya and Congo. China is at 18th place, Sri Lanka at 40, while Pakistan lags behind India at 75th place. Bangladesh, featured in the list of 40 least developed countries, is ranked 14. The report analysed a total of 166 countries, among which Sweden is placed at the top while Afghanistan is at the bottom.

A survey of slums in cities and towns with a population of over one lakh as per the 2001 Census, says there are 189 cities and towns in India with big slums. Andhra tops the list—it has 36 cities and towns with a slum population of 50,000 and above. It is followed by Maharashtra with 26, Uttar Pradesh (25), West Bengal (21) and Madhya Pradesh (15).

The world's first gold vending machine has been set-up in a hotel in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The 'Gold To Go' machine gives out 1, 5 and 10 gram gold bars as well as gold coins.

National Technology Day is observed on May 8.

In a rating of 423 cities, done by the Union Urban Development Ministry—to check their access to proper sanitation facilities, how the solid waste is managed and quality of drinking water—Chandigarh has been ranked on the top of the list, followed by Mysore, Surat, New Delhi, Tiruchirrapalli and Jamshedpur. Charu (Rajasthan), Lakhimpur (UP), Pilibhit (UP) and Srinagar (J&K) were listed among the bottom ten.

Vienna has retained its ranking as the place offering the best quality of living in the world in an annual survey which was dominated by European cities. Bengaluru remains the best placed among Indian cities in the global list at 140th rank. New Delhi climbed to 143 rank from 145th slot in 2009. Mumbai moved up four places to 144th rank.

Sahara India has won the sponsorship rights of Indian cricket team till 2013.

The 11th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards were held in Sri Lanka.

India observed May 21 as Anti-Terror Day to mark former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination on May 21, 1991.

The Reserve Bank of India has decided to increase the cash withdrawal limit for ATMs to Rs one lakh in a single day.

JUNE
On June 5, 2010, the Union government made it mandatory for all listed companies to have a minimum public float of 25 per cent. Those below this level will have to get there by an annual addition of at least 5 per cent to public holding. The move is expected to result in equity dilution of about Rs 1,60,000 crore by 179 listed companies. These include Reliance Power, Wipro, Indian Oil Corporation, DLF and Tata Communications.

On June 7, 2010, nearly 26 years after the world's worst industrial disaster left more than 15,000 dead in the Bhopal gas tragedy, former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and seven others were convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment. The 89-year-old Warren Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the United States, appears to have gone scot free for the present as he is still an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. There was no word about him in the judgement.

The Union government has given national oil companies, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), freedom to price any additional natural gas produced from blocks given to them on nomination basis at market rates. So far, all gas—current and future—produced from blocks given to ONGC and OIL was priced at government-controlled rates, called administered price mechanism (APM).

On June 25, 2010, the Union government announced that prices of petrol and diesel would become market-driven, in line with the recommendations of a panel headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh.

On June 1, 2001, Jharkhand came under Central rule with President Pratibha Patil accepting a recommendation of the Union Cabinet after the Congress and the BJP gave up efforts to form an alternative government following resignation of Chief Minister Shibu Soren.

On June 28, 2001, India and Canada signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. The pact was signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Canada. The deal, the ninth signed by New Delhi, significantly alters Canada’s stance towards India. The North American nation had led the world in pushing for nuclear isolation after the 1974 tests in Pokhran. The US, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Namibia and Britain are the eight countries that have already signed similar pacts with India.

On his maiden visit to an Asian country as the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma was given a rousing reception by the Indian leadership on June 4, 2010, as the two countries signed three key pacts, including one on air services, and agreed to support each other’s candidature for the non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2011-2012 term.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited New Delhi on June 9, 2010. During his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he sought to cool down tempers in India over the plight of Tamils in his island nation by promising to quickly resettle displaced Tamils and expedite a political solution to the ethnic issue.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who ended five decades of single-party rule when he swept to power in August 2009, but stumbled when he confronted a long-time ally, the United States, resigned on June 2, 2010. Hatoyama quit at a meeting of leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan in Tokyo, becoming the fourth straight Japanese leader to leave after a year or less in office. Mr Naoto Kan succeeded Hatoyama as the new Prime Minister.

Nepal’s Prime Minister announced his resignation on June 31, 2010, bowing to pressure from opposition Maoists who had been demanding his ouster in Parliament and on the streets. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said in a televised speech that he decided to resign to end political deadlock and shore up the peace process.

On July 1, 2010, the US House of Representatives approved a landmark overhaul of financial regulations. The Bill would impose tighter regulations on financial firms and reduce their profits. It would boost consumer protections, force banks to reduce risky trading and investing activities and set up a new government process for liquidating troubled financial firms.

Russia sent hundreds of paratroopers to Kyrgyzstan on June 13, 2010 to protect its military facilities as ethnic clashes spread in the Central Asian State, bringing the death toll from days of fighting to 97. Ethnic Uzbeks in a besieged neighbourhood of Kyrgyzstan’s second city Osh said gangs, aided by the military, were carrying out genocide, burning residents out of their homes and shooting them as they fled. Witnesses saw bodies lying on the streets.

A Summit meeting of Leaders from the Group of 20 economic powers was held in Toronto, Canada on June 28, 2010. The leaders agreed to halve deficits by 2013 and stabilise or reduce the government debt-to-GDP ratio by 2016. At the same time, the bloc left it to individual countries to decide on levying taxes on banks or adopting other means to fund future bailouts.

Equity markets across the world made handsome gains on June 21, 2010, after China announced plans to make its currency, the yuan, more flexible against the dollar. India’s benchmark equity index, the Sensex, and the broad-based Nifty today touched their highest levels in more than two months.

On June 9, 2010, the UN Security Council slapped sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, targeting the powerful Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles, and nuclear-related investments, despite opposition from Brazil and Turkey. In the 15-member Council, 12 countries, including the US and Britain, voted in favour of the resolution, with Lebanon abstaining and Brazil and Turkey voting against.

Members of SAARC have pledged to step up coordinated action against the common menace of terrorism, including steps to apprehend or extradite persons connected with acts of terrorism and facilitate real-time intelligence sharing. The meeting of the Interior Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, held on June 27, 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan, also resolved to step up cooperation in real time intelligence-sharing and to consider Pakistan’s proposal for creation of SAARCPOL, an institution on the lines of Interpol.

On June 25, 2010, US President Barack Obama declared he had succeeded in “resetting” the US-Russia relationship, which he said had reached its lowest point since the Cold War at the end of George W. Bush’s term in office. Obama was speaking to reporters in the East Room of the White House following meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev, meanwhile, agreed to allow a resumption of US poultry exports to his country which Russia had banned earlier in 201, claiming that a chemical used in the US violated its food safety rules.

A long-awaited inquiry into the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing, which killed 329 persons, mostly of Indian origin, has blamed the Canadian government for its failure to prevent the tragedy and recommended the appointment of a powerful security czar to resolve disputes between conflicting interests among security agencies. Years of criminal investigation have yielded just one conviction, for manslaughter, against a British Columbia mechanic Inderjit Singh Reyat, who assembled bomb components.

On June 27, 2010, G-8 leaders met in Totonto, Canada for their annual Summit meeting. The leaders decided to drop a commitment to complete the troubled Doha trade round in 2010 and vowed to push forward on bilateral and regional trade talks until a global deal could be done.

Indian consumers are the greenest in the world, according to a global survey of 17 countries. Brazil is ranked number 2, while US consumers are ranked last, just below Canada.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has become the first municipal body of India to cash in on cutting down carbon emissions warming the planet. A municipal compost plant in south Delhi, run by the private sector ILFS group, generated a first modest cheque of Rs 5 lakh in carbon emission reduction (CER) credits for its plan to keep more than 9,000 tonnes of carbon over the next 10 years by stopping methane leaks from garbage.

World Environment Day is celebrated on June 5.

World Day against Child Labour is observed on June 12.

World Blood Donor Day is observed on June 14.

Vaxiflu-S is India’s first indigenous vaccine to counter influenza-A H1N1, also known as swine flu.

India is ranked a lowly 128 on 2010 Global Peace Index. Pakistan (145) is placed among the five countries that were least peaceful. India had ranked 122 in 2009. New Zealand was ranked the most peaceful, followed by Iceland and Japan.

In June 2010, the Union government approved infusing of Rs 6,211 crore into five public sector banks—Union Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank and Central Bank of India.

JULY
The Reserve Bank India (RBI) has announced linking new branch licensing to the number of rural branches that banks open.

With financial inclusion being a key agenda of both RBI and the government, the central bank has decided to give private banks a push to go rural. RBI, in its circular, said that “banks should allocate at least 25% of the total number of branches proposed to be opened during a year in un-banked rural (tier 5 and tier 6) centres.” An un-banked rural centre would mean a rural (tier 5 and tier 6) centre that does not have a brick-and-mortar structure of any scheduled commercial bank for customer- based banking transactions. Earlier banks were expected to reach most of the un-banked customers through the use of business correspondents. The new circular shifts the emphasis to a physical branch.

On July 28, 2011, the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced that an entity buying 25 per cent stake in a listed firm will have to mandatorily make an offer to buy additional 26 per cent from public shareholders. This is seen as an attempt to lure investment after mergers and acquisitions fell 37 per cent.

Ending two decades of uncertainty in the Darjeeling hills, a historic tripartite agreement for a new council with more powers was signed on July 18, 2011, even as the West Bengal government ruled out any division of the State. The new autonomous, 50-member elected hill council will have more administrative and financial powers to independently run the three hill sub-divisions of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling, as compared to its former avatar, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, formed in the late 1980s. While 45 members will be elected, the remaining five will be nominated by the government.

On July 30, 2011, India and Bangladesh inked a key agreement aimed at enhancing quality of border management and ensuring cross-frontier security through measures like joint vigils to deal with human trafficking and smuggling of drugs and weapons. India and Bangladesh share 4,096 km border, of which 6.1 km is still un-demarcated.

On July 25, 2011, Britain and India confirmed trade deals worth billions of dollars between the two countries at talks in London. Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and his Indian counterpart, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, met in London for discussions on boosting economic ties between the G-20 partners.

On July 27, 2011, at the talks between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his young Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, New Delhi extracted an assurance from Islamabad to fight and eliminate the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Refraining from rhetoric with a clear intent to keep the dialogue process on track, India and Pakistan also announced additional cross-LoC travel and trade confidence-building measures (CBMs) and resolved to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue by narrowing down differences and building convergences.

On July 25, 2011, India signed a “historic” civil nuclear cooperation agreement with South Korea, paving the way for the possibility of Seoul exporting its atomic power plants. South Korea has now become the ninth country which had signed nuclear agreement with India after it got the waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) in 2008. The other countries are the US, France, Russia, Canada, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Namibia.

The India-US strategic dialogue was held in New Delhi on July 18, 2011, during the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A joint statement issued after the strategic dialogue said the two sides covered a wide range of bilateral issues as well as global developments during the four-hour talks. The two countries also signed a MoU to promote closer cooperation and the timely exchange of information between the organisations of their respective governments responsible for cyber security.

In a far-reaching order to deal with the “massive” problem of “astronomical levels” of black money stashed in secret overseas bank accounts, the Supreme Court, on July 4, 2011, directed the government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by former SC judges B.P. Jeevan Reddy and M.B. Shah, and disclose the names of such bank account holders against whom show-cause notices have been issued.

Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde’s report on illegal mining, submitted to the State government on July 27, 2011, accused Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa of corruption and asked the Governor to take action against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The report also names the two Reddy brothers, Janardhana and Karunakara, both Cabinet ministers in Karnataka, V. Somanna, also a member of the Yeddyurappa-led Cabinet, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Congress MP Anil Lad.

The Central Board of Trustees of Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) has appointed Reliance Capital Asset Management, along with HSBC Bank, ICICI Securities and State Bank of India to manage its corpus of Rs 3.5 trillion, for a period of three years.

Punjab, Kerala and Karnataka are now among the most urbanized States in India, having more than 35 per cent of their population living in urban areas. Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of its people living in rural areas; 55.5 crore people in UP live in rural areas. Mumbai tops the list of places having maximum number of people in urban area at 5 crore.

Punjab has become the first State in India to start an integrated solid waste management programme in the entire State.

World Population Day is celebrated every year on July 11.

“News of the World”, 168-year-old newspaper of Britain, was closed down in July 2011, in a breathtaking response to a phone-hacking scandal engulfing the media empire of Rupert Murdoch.

The Union Cabinet has cleared a massive hike of Rs 3 crore per MP in the annual allocation of MPLAD fund that enables every MP to recommend development works in his/her constituency. The allocation has been hiked from Rs 2 crore per MP to Rs 5 crore per MP and will cost the exchequer an additional Rs 2,370 crore annually.

Juba is the capital of the new nation of South Sudan which declared independence on July 9, 2011.

Mumbai and Delhi are among the five cheapest places in the world, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living survey. The five cheapest cities are: Karachi (Pakistan), Tunis (Tunisia), Mumbai (India), Tehran (Iran) and New Delhi (India), in that order. The five costliest places are: Tokyo (Japan), Oslo (Norway), Osaka Kobe (Japan), Paris (France), Zurich (Switzerland).

According to the UN Millennium Development Goals Report, as many as 320 million people in India and China are expected to come out of extreme poverty by 2015, while India’s poverty rate is projected to drop to 22%, from 55% in 1990. Those living on less than $1.25 a day are considered extremely poor.

The four-day fifth conference of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians was held in New Delhi from July 9, 2011.

On July 8, 2011, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched a new set of coins and Rs 10 notes bearing the rupee symbol. With this India became the second country after England to have its currency symbol printed on its notes.

National Green Tribunal (NGT) is a judicial body constituted to try all matters related to environmental issues. The Tribunal is headed by Justice L.S. Panta. The first sitting of NGT was held on July 4, 2011.

AUGUST
On August 1, 2011, India assumed the monthly Presidency of the UN Security Council after a gap of 19 years.

On August 29, 2011, the Reserve Bank of India released its much-awaited draft guidelines for new banking licences, with the basic message that it is looking for companies with diversified ownership and less exposure to risky business such as broking and real estate. The RBI has suggested a 49% limit on foreign shareholding and a two-year deadline to list shares for new banks. According to the draft, new banks’ total exposure to their founding groups should be limited to 20%, with the exposure to a single entity capped at 10%. The last time India issued a banking license was in 2004, to Yes Bank Ltd.

Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana rank among the top 10 States in a report titled Sustainable Competitiveness Report 2011 for Indian States, released by Marcus Potter, executive director, developing markets, RICS. The report shows the ranking of Indian States in terms of the sustainability of their growth story.

On August 27, 2011, the extraordinary 12th day of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption fast, the Parliament responded with extraordinary grace to show what it could do to honour a crusader’s urge. After over eight hours of debate around the structure of the Lokpal Bill, the Government and the Opposition in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha came together to agree “in-principle” to the three major demands the activist had raised in his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a condition to end his protest. In doing so, the Parliament paved the way for the Gandhian to end his fast.

On August 20, 2011, Bangladesh and India inked strip maps to demarcate over 4,000-kilometre international border between the two neighbours, in a bid to settle the long-standing frontier-related discord. This signing of the strip maps containing the Bangladesh-India International border boundary line coordination point will end an outstanding issue which remained unresolved since 1947.

Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai was sworn in as Nepal’s new Prime Minister on August 29, 2011. After taking over as the Prime Minister he said that he would work to complete the fragile peace process within six months and form a national unity government to bring political stability in the nascent republic.

London picked itself up on August 7, 2011, from some of the worst violence seen in the British capital in years, which politicians and police blamed on criminal thugs but residents attributed to local tensions and anger over rising financial hardship. The riots erupted after a street protest over the fatal shooting of a man by armed officers and came amid deepening gloom in Britain with the economy struggling to grow amid deep public spending cuts and tax rises brought into help eliminate a budget deficit, which peaked at more than 10 per cent of the GDP.

On August 1, 2011, for the first time, China blamed Uyghur “militants” trained in Pakistan for the deadly violence in its restive Xinjiang province which left at least 20 persons dead in two days. While, it was no secret that China has been pressing Pakistan to crackdown on ETIM militants for a long time, but perhaps this was the first time that it chose to openly point finger at it, when Islamabad is reeling under pressure being exhorted by the US to carry out operations against Al-Qaida and Taliban.

The Parliament has permitted the government to mint coins of Rs 1,000 denomination. The Coinage Bill, 2009, passed by Rajya Sabha in August 2011, limits payment through coins up to Rs 1,000. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill without discussion in March.

It has been proposed to change the name of West Bengal to Paschimbanga. The name change will become official after it is cleared by the Parliament.

The Reserve Bank of India’s gross income for 2010-11 rose by 12.73 per cent to Rs 37,070.12 crore, from Rs 32,884.14 crore a year ago, due to increase in earnings from domestic assets.

India and South Africa have decided to increase two-way trade between both the countries to $15 billion by 2014, from $10.64 billion now. The decision was taken at the India-South Africa CEOs Forum, held in New Delhi in August 2011.

SEPTEMBER
The Union Government has introduced in the Lok Sabha an amended version of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011, deleting from it the previously proposed provision to impose a blanket-ban on the acquisition of multi-cropped, irrigated land. The new Bill, which, as and when it is passed, will replace the 117-year old Act of 1894 and will allow acquisition of multi-cropped irrigated land as a “last resort”. The Bill also provides that any land, not used within 10 years for the purpose for which it was acquired, will be transferred to the States' land bank and upon every such transfer, 20 per cent of its appreciated value will be shared with the original land owner. The Bill, for the first time, ensures a comprehensive compensation package for land owners and livelihood losers. It proposes that market value calculated for the land will be multiplied by a factor of two in the rural areas.

On September 6, 2011, India and Bangladesh signed a slew of agreements and resolved their long-standing boundary dispute, but failed to ink any water-sharing deal. Upset at India backing out of the Teesta water-sharing treaty at the eleventh hour, following West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to endorse the accord, Bangladesh retaliated by holding back the big-ticket transit treaty that would have given the North-Eastern States in India easier and faster access to the rest of the country. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived at Dhaka on a two-day visit, sought to calm down tempers in Bangladesh over the Teesta controversy by telling Sheikh Hasina that the two sides would continue discussions on water-sharing accords to reach a mutually acceptable, fair and amicable arrangement for the sharing of Teesta and Feni river waters.

India and 25 other countries including the US, China, Russia and Brazil, have opposed the European Union’s plan to include aviation under its emission trading scheme (ETS) and impose emission charges on airlines flying into the region starting 2012. The EU-ETS, also known as the European Union Emissions Trading System, is the largest multi-national emissions trading scheme in the world. Under the EU-ETS, large emitters of carbon dioxide, including airlines, within the EU must monitor and annually report their carbon dioxide emissions. They are obliged every year to return an amount of emission allowances to the government that is equivalent to their carbon dioxide emissions in that year.

World Heart Day is celebrated on September 29.

TRAI has renamed the National Do Not Call list as the National Consumer Preference Registry.

SLINEX-II was the joint Indo-Lankan naval exercise held at the Trincomalee navy base, 275 km east of Colombo, in September 2011.

Jammu & Kashmir has become the first State of India to get “MY Stamp” by which people will get personalised stamps with their photographs on these.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the regulatory body which makes rules for food safety, has recommended the use of Stevia, a natural sweetener, for use in carbonated water, soft drink concentrates, chewing-gums and table-top sweeteners.

India and China launched their first economic dialogue in end-September. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of Planning Commission, led the strategic dialogue from Indian side, with an aim to increasing Indian investment in China and addressing the burgeoning trade deficit.

International Literacy Day is celebrated on September 8.

Former atomic energy commission chairman Anil Kakodkar has been made head of the high-level committee to review railway safety.

The Union government has decided to reduce the lock-in period of investment by FIIs in long-term infra bonds to one year.

OCTOBER
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has freed interest rates on savings deposits. As per a rough estimate, about Rs 13 lakh crore of funds are parked in savings bank. The interest on these accounts had been fixed at 4% even as inflation was two-and-a-half times that level. Now savings rate deregulation gives people an opportunity to shift to banks that come up with better deals.

A new study on learning and teaching outcomes in government schools of rural India has thrown up significant challenges for the Right to Education Act. It has found that in language and Maths, children are at least two grades behind where they should be. Besides, though the RTE Act stresses teacher qualifications immensely, neither higher educational qualifications nor teacher training are associated with better student learning. It is the teachers’ ability to teach that matters. Conducted by NGO Pratham, which comes out with the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), the study tracked 30,000 children in Standard 2 and Standard 4 in 900 schools spread over Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan.

Widening the scope of human rights, the Supreme Court has ruled that people’s right to own property fell very much within the domain of human rights. Pointing out that human rights were “gaining a multi-faceted dimension,” a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma observed that these rights had already covered the “individual rights such as right to health, right to livelihood, right to shelter and employment etc.”

On October 25, 2011, the UPA government cleared its ambitious national manufacturing policy (NMP) that seeks to create a massive 100 million additional jobs in the manufacturing sector by 2025, as well as create large sized industrial zones with easier compliance and labour laws. The new policy seeks to boost the stagnating manufacturing sector to contribute at least 25 per cent of the national GDP by 2025.

On October 21, 2011, the Planning Commission released the second India Human Development Report (HDR) 2011, which records controversial claims and a few surprises on income, education, health, literacy and sanitation. The last India-specific report had come out in 2000. The report claims that poverty, unemployment and child labour are declining, inter-State disparities are getting narrower and that the improved Human Development Index has been driven by strides made in education. It does concede, however, that the absolute number of the poor (27 per cent according to the report) stood at 302 million, compared to 320 million in 1973. Sixty per cent of the poor are still concentrated in Bihar, it holds. Prepared by the Institute of Applied Manpower Research of the Commission, the report claims that between 2000 and 2007, the Human Development Index rose by 21 per cent, higher than 17 per cent recorded by China during the same period and the 18 per cent estimated by the Global Human Development Report, 2010. The top five slots, states the report, were occupied by Kerala, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Punjab (same as in the last India HDR 2000). Haryana slipped two places from 7 to 9 while Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand improved a notch to finish 9th and 14th, respectively. For the six lowest HDI states—Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Assam—HDI improvement has been considerably above the national average.

On October 3, 2011, the Union government unveiled the draft National Policy on Electronics, 2011, which aims at $400 billion turnover in 2020 by the domestic industry and focuses on reducing imports. It envisions creating a globally competitive electronics systems design and manufacturing (ESDM) industry, including nano-electronics, to meet the country's needs and serve the international market. It is aimed at making India the hub of electronic manufacturing. The policy proposes setting up of over 200 electronic manufacturing clusters.

The draft national policy on information and communications technology, 2011, was unveiled by Telecom & IT Minister Kapil Sibal on October 7, 2011. It aims at increasing the revenues of the information technology and IT enabled services (ITES) industry to US $300 billion by 2020. The focus of the IT policy is on deployment of ICT in all sectors of the economy and providing IT solutions to the world.

Disillusioned by Pakistan’s attitude and its hobnobbing with the Haqqani network, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai focused on strengthening ties with India during his visit to New Delhi on October 4, 2011. India and Afghanistan entered into a strategic partnership under which India will, among other things, assist the war-ravaged nation in training, equipping and capacity building programmes for Afghan National Security Forces. The two countries also concluded a MoU on cooperation in the field of development of hydrocarbons and another on cooperation in the field of mineral resource development.

Rolling out the red carpet for Myanmar President U Thein Sein, India, on October 14, 2011, exhorted him to strengthen democratic transition in his country in an “inclusive and broad-based” manner. During talks with the visiting leader, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the extension of a new concessional facility of $500 million line of credit (LoC) for specific projects in the South-east Asian country. This is in addition to $300 million line of credit already extended by India for the development of railways, transport, power transmission lines and oil refinery there. Myanmar is crucial for India as it shares nearly 1,600-km border with the north-eastern States. It has helped India immensely in tackling north-eastern insurgent groups. It also shares more than 2000-km-long border with China. Traditionally considered any ally of Beijing, Myanmar recently suspended a $3.6 billion China-backed dam project in Yangon.

Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai arrived in New Delhi on October 20, 2011—a visit aimed at mending fences with India and removing any misunderstandings, particularly over Kathmandu’s increasing tilt towards China. India extended a 250 million Line of Credit (LoC) to Nepal and signed a key bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA).

India and Switzerland will start exchanging information on tax related matters from 2012-13 after the new tax information exchange treaty is ratified by the Swiss Parliament, paving way for obtaining data on black money stashed there. The move comes at a time when the issue of black money stashed in Swiss banks has become a major concern in India, with political parties and civil society taking up the matter. The protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Switzerland was concluded in New Delhi on August 30 2011. The revised treaty would allow India to access tax related information from the Swiss authorities with a prospective effect.

President of Vietnam, Mr Truong Tan Sang, visited New Delhi on October 11, 2011 to further strengthen the ties between the two countries. Un-fazed by Chinese threats, he said India and other foreign nations were welcome to explore hydrocarbons in areas within his country's jurisdiction, as he sought to deepen strategic and defence ties with New Delhi.

Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal unveiled the draft National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2011 on October 10, 2011. The policy not only seeks to give the consumer the right to free roaming within the country but also seeks to increase the country’s tele-density to 100 per cent by 2020 and bring about transparency in spectrum allocation. The new policy also proposes to introduce a stronger customer grievance redressal mechanism and recognise telecom as an infrastructure sector, which will help ease credit flow to companies for funding roll-out plans or expansion activities.

On October 20, 2011, Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years was killed by fighters who overran his home-town and final bastion Sirte. His bloodied body was stripped and displayed around the world from a cellphone video. The dictator was captured cowering in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth. Fiercely anti-western and inspired by Egypt's President Nasser, he governed according to his unique political philosophy—set out in his Green Book—based on a combination of socialism and Arab nationalism.

The 2012 Commonwealth Summit concluded in Perth, Australia on October 30, 2011. The group collectively pledged to fight terrorism by preventing the use of their territories for terrorist acts or financing and also vowed to accelerate efforts to combat piracy and strengthening maritime security in the Indian Ocean. The 54-nation bloc also committed to “unequivocally preventing the use of their territories for the support, incitement to violence or commission of terrorist acts”. They also agreed to work towards implementing the necessary legal framework for the suppression of terrorist financing, and preventing the raising and use of funds by terrorists, their front organisations, and transnational terrorist organisations. The 2013 CHOGM meet will be hosted by Sri Lanka.

The 5th IBSA Summit, which was held in Pretoria on October 18, 2011, came out with a declaration on major global issues with focus on reforms of multilateral organisations, including the UN Security Council, the IMF and the World Bank, to give greater voice to emerging countries like India. On global governance reform, the three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to increase the participation of developing countries in the decision-making bodies of multilateral institutions.

On October 31, 2011, Palestine won full admission into UNESCO, the United Nations science, education and cultural heritage organization, in a closely watched vote in Paris. Global diplomacy hands view the 107-14 vote as a benchmark carrying larger implications for the Palestinians’ bid for State recognition before the UN Security Council. Both the United States and Israel have strongly opposed both initiatives. The United States, Israel, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Australia were among the 14 nations voting against the Palestinians’ UNESCO bid, while 107 countries—including France, Spain, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, India, Russia, China, South Africa and Indonesia—voted in favour. Fourteen nations—including the United Kingdom and Italy—abstained.

National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is celebrated on October 1.

International Day of Older Persons is celebrated on October 1.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has renamed the Lakhanpur-Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 1-A as the Lakhanpur-Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 44. It is the lone surface link between the Kashmir valley and rest of the country.

The Union government has planned to float seven mega zones to boost manufacturing. These will be: Ahmedabad-Dholera (Gujarat), Shendra-Bidkin (Maharashtra), Manesar-Bawal (Haryana), Khushkhera-Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Dighi Port Area (Maharashtra), Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow (Madhya Pradesh).

World Polio Day is observed on October 24.

Global Iodine Deficiency Disorders Prevention Day is observed on October 21.

The Union government has announced setting up of National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine (NISSM) at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. The institute will aim at fostering the disciplines of physiology, psychology, nutrition, biochemistry, biomedical, anthropometry and sports medicine.

President Pratibha Patil unveiled a bust of Rabindranath Tagore at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland on October 4, 2011, as part of the Nobel laureate’s ongoing 150th birth anniversary.

“Sudarshan Shakti” was the massive joint exercise held by Indian Army, with Air Force and Navy.

The World Food Day is observed every year on October 16. It was on this day in 1945 that the Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations came into being. The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness on the scarcity of food and strengthen movement against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

Jugnu, a nano-satellite built by IIT, Kanpur, is India’s first indigenously designed nano-satellite to be successfully placed into its orbit. It was launched on October 12, 2011 by PSLV-C18.

NOVEMBER
On November 24, 2011, the Union Cabinet approved the Companies Bill, 2011, which aims to update corporate laws in the country and introduce modern concepts like mandatory CSR and class action suits. Intended to replace the existing half-a-century-old Companies Act, the Bill has undergone several modifications in view of the Rs 14,000-crore Satyam accounting fraud. Besides strengthening the provisions to check fraud, the Bill has introduced ideas like mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR), class action suits and a fixed term for independent directors.

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, which seeks to establish an authority that will develop, promote and regulate old-age income security. The Bill doesn't mention the extent of foreign ownership to be allowed in Indian pension funds and in a central record-keeping agency. But in August 2011, the Finance Ministry had proposed to cap foreign investment in the pension sector at 26%, a suggestion accepted by a Parliamentary panel that was examining the Bill.

Close on the heels of the world population crossing the 7 billion-mark, the new Human Development Report of UNDP has revealed a major reason behind India’s growing numbers. While we are worrying about high total fertility rates (TFRs) of 2.6, new data points out that our adolescent fertility rates (AFR) are even more shocking at 86.3. One of the main drivers of high gender inequality in India, which has the poorest (129th) Gender Inequality Index rank in South Asia (leaving aside Afghanistan which is poorer at 141), high adolescent fertility rate reflects that our child marriage prevention laws have simply not worked and our contraception prevalence rate remains poor at 54%. Even Sri Lanka has a higher contraception prevalence rate at 68%.

India is ranked 134th among the 187 countries assessed for their performance in three key areas of human development—education, health and income. The UNDP Global Human Development Index (HDI) 2011 places Norway, Australia and The Netherlands on top of the charts, while Congo, Niger and Burundi fare the worst in the annual rankings. India’s place remains unchanged because the index includes 18 new countries this time as against just 169 in 2010, when India stood at rank 119. This year, though, India is placed behind all its partners in BRICS, where Russia is the leader at number 66, followed by Brazil at 84; China at 101 and South Africa at 123.

During his visit to Male, on November 12, 2011, viewing the Indian Ocean region as part of India's “extended neighbourhood”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spelt out initiatives spanning student scholarships, banking and finance credit lines worth $100 million, infrastructure projects and security and climate change cooperation in his address to People’sMajlis, the Maldivian Parliament. Making clear India’s interests in this strategic chain of islands straddling key shipping and trade routes, Prime Minister Singh told People’s Majlis that “The President and I have signed a historic framework agreement on cooperation for development”.

On November 22, 2011, Tunisia entered a new era of democracy with the inaugural session of its democratically elected Constituent Assembly, ten months after a popular uprising ended years of dictatorship. The 217-member Assembly is the first elected body produced by the Arab Spring. At the inauguration, the lawmakers, who will be tasked with drafting a new constitution and paving the way to fresh elections, sang the national anthem as the session got under way in the Bardo palace.

On November 30, 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Myanmar on the first top-level US visit for half a century, seeking to encourage a “movement for change” in the military-dominated nation. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has surprised observers with a series of reformist moves in the past year, including releasing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and nominally ending decades of military rule.

India beat China fair and square in a rare direct fight for a key post in the UN, signalling that for all the display of Chinese hard power, India retains a fair bit of international clout. India will now serve a five-year term in the Joint Inspection Unit, the UN’s only external oversight body. India’s candidate A. Gopinathan, envoy to the UN in Geneva, convincingly defeated the Chinese candidate, Zhang Yan, China’s envoy to New Delhi, winning 106 votes against Zhang’s 77. China has held the post for the past 10 years. India will get the post after 35 years.

Myanmar has won approval of ASEAN to chair Southeast Asia’s regional bloc in 2014, in a reward for hints of reform from its new government after decades of military rule. Despite warnings from the US that the move was pre-mature, leaders of ASEAN handed Myanmar the diplomatic prize at their summit held on the Indonesian island of Bali. Along with the ASEAN chairmanship, the decision means Myanmar will host the East Asia Summit in 2014, which brings ASEAN members together with US, China and Russia, among others.

On November 17, 2011, China has warned Australia that it may be “caught in the crossfire” if the US uses new Australia-based military forces to threaten its interests, a day after Canberra and Washington renewed a defence pact. US President Barack Obama, on his first official visit to Australia, had met Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and unveiled plans to station 2,500 US marines in the Northern Territory within five years.

A decade after the Taliban government was ousted from power, regional leaders, on November 2, 2011, pledged to find ways to improve security and economic development in Afghanistan as international combat forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014. The one-day conference in Istanbul followed the September assassination of an Afghan peace envoy and other high-profile assaults in Afghanistan that have diminished prospects for a negotiated settlement and intensified suspicion of Pakistani support for the insurgency, an allegation that the Pakistan’s government denies. Demanding an end to external interference in Afghan internal affairs, India stressed on the need to eliminate safe havens and sanctuaries, a stand that was reflected in the outcome document.

The 17th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held at the Addu atoll in Maldives. In its 26th year, SAARC has finally taken the shape of a cohesive grouping of nations willing to cooperate in key areas to boost their economic clout. The Addu Declaration that the leaders agreed upon focused on the theme of “Building Bridges.” The leaders committed to work towards a huge boost in intra-SAARC trade, improving air, rail, motor and water transport connectivity between member countries and putting their heads together to solve common developmental concerns. Four agreements were also signed that included a rapid response mechanism to deal with natural disasters, an agreement to establish a SAARC Seed Bank and two agreements on harmonising regional standards for goods and products.

The island nation of Kirabati has become the first to declare that its territory has become uninhabitable due to global warming. They have asked for help to evacuate the population.

Buddhist sites in Sanchi have become the first blind-friendly world heritage monuments of India. Special tactical walk-ways, signages in Braille, beepers and Braile map will make the monuments, including the Stupa, come alive for the visually-challenged, who will also be allowed to “feel” the grandeur in every sense.

National Integration Day is observed on November 19.

Vivek Express is the new weekly train that covers India’s longest rail route from Dibrugarh in Assam to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, covering the distance of 4,286 km in approximately 83 hours. The train was flagged-off on November 19, 2011.

The Union Finance Ministry has increased the investment limit for Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) in government securities (G-secs) and corporate bonds by $5 billion each, a move that will enhance capital flows and increase the availability of resources for Indian corporate. FIIs can now invest up to $15 billion in G-secs and $20 billion in corporate bonds.

Queensland’s Gold Coast in Australia has been named as 2018 Commonwealth Games host.

Interest rate on post office savings has been hiked to 4%. PPF will now fetch 8.6% return and investment limit has also been increased to Rs one lakh per year.

National Education Day is observed on November 11, birthday of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

November 7 is observed as the National Cancer Awareness Day.

From April 1, 2012, the Reserve Bank of India has cut the validity of Cheques and bank drafts to three months instead of the six months earlier.

The Union Cabinet has cleared a new public procurement policy under which central government departments and public sector undertakings will give preference to small scale enterprises, including those belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. The policy has set an annual target of 20% procurement from micro, small and medium enterprises.

DECEMBER
In order to strengthen risk management mechanism, the Reserve Bank has issued draft guideline envisaging that the equity capital of a bank should not be less than 5.5% of risk-weighted loans. Besides, it also recommends Tier 1 capital comprising pure equity and statutory and capital reserves must be at least 7% and total capital must be at least 9% of RWAs. RBI has also suggested setting up of the capital conservation buffer in the form of Common Equity of 2.5% of RWAs. It is proposed that the implementation period of minimum capital requirements and deductions from Common Equity will begin from January 1, 2013 and be fully implemented as on March 31, 2017.

Eleven hours after an often stormy debate, the Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal & Lokayukta Bill, 2011 on December 27, 2011, after incorporating several amendments. But the UPA suffered a setback, and a major embarrassment, when the government failed to muster two-thirds majority of the Members present and voting in the House, which turned down the proposal to confer Constitutional status to the Lokpal. On December 29, however, the Parliament lost the historic opportunity to enact the Lok Pal law when an embarrassed government was forced to beat a hasty retreat in the Rajya Sabha, lacking the numbers to push through the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill. A total of 185 amendments were moved by different parties and what weighed in the minds of UPA managers was that if the amendments were carried the legislation then would have to go back to the Lok Sabha. If the Lower House was to reject the amendments, it would have necessitated a joint session of the Parliament.

On December 27, 2011, Lok Sabha passed the Whistleblowers’ Protection Bill which seeks to provide for setting up a regular mechanism to encourage persons to disclose information on corruption or wilful misuse of power by public servants, including ministers. The Bill also seeks to provide “adequate protection to persons reporting corruption or wilful misuse of discretion that causes demonstrable loss to the government or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant”. While the measure sets out the procedure to inquire into the disclosures and provides adequate safeguards against victimisation of whistleblowers, it also seeks to provide punishment for false or frivolous complaints.

The Citizens’ Charter Bill, called the “Right of Citizens for Time-bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011”, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 20, 2011. It envisages the Right to Service under which every individual citizen shall have the right to time-bound delivery of goods and provision of services and redress of grievances.

Brushing aside fears of food scarcity and inflation, the Union Cabinet, on December 18, 2011, cleared the much-awaited National Food Security Bill, taking the Manmohan Singh government a step closer to fulfilling the promise made to the “Aam Admi” in the Congress manifesto for the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Under the proposed landmark law, the government would provide rice at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg to all people living below the poverty line (BPL) across the country. The law is aimed at providing access to food to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban households by subsidising foodgrains sold to them.

Child survival strategies are beginning to pay dividends with India, for the first time ever, reporting a consecutive drop of three points in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) for the second year in a row. The country’s latest IMR is 47 as against 50 in 2009, indicating a reduced mortality of three infants per 1000 live births. If this rate of drop is sustained, India could achieve the target of bringing down infant deaths to 30 by 2015, as planned.

Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda visited India on December 28, 2011. He held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on bilateral issues as well as international developments. In a significant departure from its long-standing policy, Japan today said it was not insisting on India signing the CTBT as a prerequisite for nuclear cooperation between the two countries and indicated it was open to hold talks with New Delhi on exporting military technology to India.

India and Russia signed a slew of agreements in the fields of military, energy and trade during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s three-day visit to Moscow from December 15, 2011. His visit came in the midst of a political unrest in Russia over allegations of rigging in the recent Parliamentary elections. The Russian leadership was keen to go ahead with the visit for the annual India-Russia Summit lest its postponement sends wrong signals to the world.

On December 19, 2011, North Korea announced the death of supreme leader Kim Jong Il and asked its people to rally behind his young son and heir-apparent, while the world watched for signs of instability in a nation pursuing nuclear weapons. South Korea launched a high alert for its military as it faces the North’s 1.2 million-strong armed forces, while President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to closely monitor the events and cooperate.

On December 12, 2011, Canada became the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow to the already troubled global treaty. Canada, a major energy producer which critics complain is becoming a climate renegade, has long complained Kyoto is unworkable precisely because it excludes so many significant emitters.

On December 11, 2011, UN climate negotiators, who had gathered in Durban, South Africa, struck a compromise deal on a roadmap for an accord that will, for the first time, legally force all major carbon emitters to cut greenhouse gas emissions, ending days of wrangling between India and the EU over the fate of the Kyoto protocol. While the new pact to be finalised till 2015, will, for the first time, bring India and China under the ambit of a legal mechanism guiding emission cuts, the accord will come into effect only from 2020. The pact on tackling climate change must be completed by 2015, and talks on the new legal deal covering all countries will begin next year, when Kyoto Protocol expires.

On December 5, 2011, the United States and other nations vowed to keep supporting Afghanistan after most foreign forces leave the country in 2014, as the nation faces an enduring Taliban-led insurgency and possible financial collapse. The international community has “much to lose if the country again becomes a source of terrorism and instability,” US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. The Bonn conference was focused on the transfer of security responsibilities from international forces to Afghan security forces during the next three years, long-term prospects for international aid and a possible political settlement with the Taliban to ensure the country’s viability beyond 2014.

Delhi celebrated 100 years of re-emergence as the capital of India on December 12, 2011. It had been proclaimed as capital of British Raj on December 12, 1911, shifting from Kolkata, by then Emperor of India George V.

India’s ranking in transparency international’s corruption perception index has slipped to a low 95 among 183 countries.

India’s refining capacity, which is 194 million tonnes per annum now, is set to increase to 238 million tonnes by 2013. India currently has surplus oil refining capacity, with fuel demand pegged at 141.785 million tonnes in 2010-11.

World Aids Day is observed on December 1.

What do you understand by NREGS? What are its main features?

With a view to augment the meagre income sources of the rural households in the country and also to provide assured employment for some part of the year to every needy rural household, the government of India came out with a very novel scheme a couple of years ago, called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Conceptually, this Scheme aimed at providing assured employment for at least 100 days to every rural household, whose members were willing to do the work of manual labour within their own Panchayat areas. With a view to ensure that this guarantee scheme actually guaranteed the said number of assured employment to the rural families, the government introduced this scheme along with a central legislation called ‘National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’ (NREGA).

 

Primarily aimed at reducing the incidence of poverty by supplementing the incomes of the rural and poor households by providing at least 100 days employment, the NREGS is the first scheme of its kind to be implemented with the support of law of the land. Main features of the scheme are: a person or his household is required to be registered with the Block/Panchayat Development Officer of his area, who upon the registration would issue a NREGS Card to the said household. After having registered, the said person or the household must be offered at least 100 days manual work within their own Panchayat area, for which he or other members of his family would get wages as per the minimum wages fixed by the government from time to time.

 

The Panchayats are required to choose a few works out of an array of permissible works under the Scheme. The Panchayats are further required to execute those works which have at least 60 per cent labour component, so that maximum number of people are provided with employment. It is also provided in the NREGA that in case after registration, someone is not invited to work on any of the works being executed in his Panchayat area, the said person or the household is entitled to get the wages for 100 days even without working. 

 

NREGS is a landmark scheme of the government of India. More than just the rural employment generation, it gives a clear signal that the government is committed to the resolve of assisting the people in the rural areas to overcome the handicap of poverty. At the same time, the rural areas would get some assets created that would result in improvement of the quality of life in villages.

APPSC NOTIFICATION

Indonesia became the 157th Country to adopt the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)

Indonesia became the 157th country to adopt the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Indonesia formalised ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty on 6 February 2012 at the United Nations. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) completed its talks on the regional weapons free zone in 2011 and the 10 member states are now completing ratification of that treaty. The Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone treaty commits ASEAN's 10 member states not to develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or have control over atomic weapons.

NASA Kepler mission finds 11 Planetary Systems with 26 Planets

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets, nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet.
The discovery of planetary systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form. The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter. Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size.
Further observations will be required to determine which are rocky like Earth and which have thick gaseous atmospheres like Neptune. The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun.
“Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky,” said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits.”
Kepler identifies planet candidates by repeatedly measuring the change in brightness of more than 150,000 stars to detect when a planet passes in front of the star. That passage casts a small shadow toward Earth and the Kepler spacecraft.
Each of the new confirmed planetary systems contains two to five closely spaced transiting planets. In tightly packed planetary systems, the gravitational pull of the planets on each other causes some planets to accelerate and some to decelerate along their orbits. The acceleration causes the orbital period of each planet to change. Kepler detects this effect by measuring the changes, or so-called Transit Timing Variations (TTVs
Planetary systems with TTVs can be verified without requiring extensive ground-based observations, accelerating confirmation of planet candidates. The TTV detection technique also increases Kepler’s ability to confirm planetary systems around fainter and more distant stars.
Five of the systems (Kepler-25, Kepler-27, Kepler-30, Kepler-31 and Kepler-33) contain a pair of planets where the inner planet orbits the star twice during each orbit of the outer planet. Four of the systems (Kepler-23, Kepler-24, Kepler-28 and Kepler-32) contain a pairing where the outer planet circles the star twice for every three times the inner planet orbits its star.
“These configurations help to amplify the gravitational interactions between the planets, similar to how my sons kick their legs on a swing at the right time to go higher,” said Jason Steffen, the Brinson postdoctoral fellow at Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics in Batavia, Ill., and lead author of a paper confirming four of the systems.
Kepler-33, a star that is older and more massive than our sun, had the most planets. The system hosts five planets, ranging in size from 1.5 to 5 times that of Earth. All of the planets are located closer to their star than any planet is to our sun.
The properties of a star provide clues for planet detection. The decrease in the star’s brightness and duration of a planet transit, combined with the properties of its host star, present a recognizable signature. When astronomers detect planet candidates that exhibit similar signatures around the same star, the likelihood of any of these planet candidates being a false positive is very low.
“The approach used to verify the Kepler-33 planets shows the overall reliability is quite high,” said Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the paper on Kepler-33. “This is a validation by multiplicity.”
These discoveries are published in four different papers in the Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Ames manages Kepler’s ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., managed the Kepler mission’s development.

New paradigm shift in India’s welfare programmes

The government will focus on welfare measures in a broader perspective than before, said a statement from the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The paradigm shift in its approach to social sector issues, which were earlier only welfare oriented, will now look at holistic empowerment, especially of the marginalized.  The emphasis continues to be on empowerment and development of women, adolescent girls and children in all spheres of life.
Here is a list of all the welfare programmes at a glance and the new approach:
ICDS, Malnutrition & Early Childhood Care & Education
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme: This was launched in 1975 for holistic development of children below 6 years of age and for proper nutrition and health education of pregnant and lactating mothers with 33 projects and 4891 anganwadi centres (AWCs).  It has been continuously expended to uncovered areas and has now been universalized with the Government of India cumulatively approving 7076 projects and 14 lakh AWCs including 20,000 anganwadis ‘on-demand’.
To fulfill the commitment of the Government to universalize the ICDS Scheme, it has been expanded in three phases in the years 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2008-09. Government of India has sanctioned 7015 ICDS Projects and 13.67 lakh AWCs out of which 6771 ICDS Projects and 12.95 lakh AWCs are operational as on date. The services are currently being provided to 959.22 lakh beneficiaries.  Number of AWCs and Projects increased by 53, 248 and 52 respectively during the year.
Multi-sectoral programme to address maternal and child malnutrition in selected 200 high burden districts:
MWCD has prepared a draft framework of action for operationalization of multi-sectoral programmes in 200 high burden districts following four regional workshops. District level consultations have also been held in this regard in Warangal in Andhra Pradesh and Alwar in Rajasthan. The Scheme largely based on convergence and gap filling and district plan of action mode is likely to be rolled out by May, 2012 as per timelines. Detailed cost implication is likely to be Rs. 5 crore per district per annum. This programme could attempt to bring a comprehensive and collective action plan at state & district level in 200 high burden districts to combat the burden of Malnutrition in these districts.
2. A. Introducing a nationwide information, education and communication campaign against malnutrition
One of the four key decisions of Prime Minister’s Council on India’s Nutrition challenges is to launch a nationwide information, education and communication (IEC) campaign against malnutrition to address issues of status of women, care of pregnant mothers and children under two years of age, breastfeeding and the importance of balanced nutrition, health, hygiene and sanitation. The IEC campaign is being coordinated by Ministry of Women & Child Development, in consultation with Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Planning Commission.
B.        Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
A core committee of experts in early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) has been formed to formulate a national policy and curriculum framework on ECCE. After holding regional consultations and in depth discussions with other stakeholders, the committee has evolved a draft national policy on ECCE, national curriculum Framework and Quality Standards for ECCE. This would be operationalised through the ECCD Council, which is proposed. The Strengthened and restructured ICDS would reposition the AWC as the Early Childhood Development Centre, with the orientation of an enabling environment for promotion of early childhood development with focus on delivering quality ECCE. A separate and appropriate framework of action would be brought about in this regard.
C.        World Bank assisted “ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP)” :
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has formulated a specific project on ICDS titled, “ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project” for seeking financial assistance from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank. The project is proposed to be implemented in 162 districts having higher proportion of child under-nutrition across 8 States (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh). The project has been designed to strengthen the ICDS systems for effective programme implementation in selected States/districts through techno-managerial support and decentralized district based planning in ICDS. The project is one of the steps for the overall ICDS strengthening and restructuring proposal of the Ministry.
The Ministry is now in the process of expediting the approval of the project by the competent authority. It is expected that project will be made effective sometimes during the last quarter of 2011-12.
D.        Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY):
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana is a Centrally Sponsored Insurance Scheme with cost sharing pattern of 75:25 between the Government of India and the State Governments/UTs.
The proposal has been initiated on the recommendation of the National Social Security Board under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.  The Scheme of RSBY has been extended to many workers in the unorganized sector such as Domestic workers, Auto Rickshaw drivers, Rickshaw pullers, Safai Karamcharis and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Workers. The subject proposal is for the extension of RSBY to the Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme.
E.        Increased focus on issues relating to Malnutrition :
The problem of malnutrition is complex, multi-dimensional and inter-generational in nature and cannot be tackled by a single sector / programme alone. The determinants of malnutrition include household food insecurity; illiteracy especially in women; poor access to health services; lack of availability of safe drinking water; poor sanitation and environmental conditions and low purchasing power etc. The major thrust was given to issues pertaining to malnutrition with emphasis on a convergent and multi-sectoral approach involving all other line Ministries such as Drinking Water & Sanitation, MoRD, Panchayati Raj, MHRD, Agriculture etc.
II.        Rajiv Gandhi for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls’ (RGSEAG) – SABLA
The scheme is being implemented in 200 districts across the country on a pilot basis.  In the remaining districts, Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) continues to be operational as before.  However, SABLA has completely replaced Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) as all districts of NPAG are now part of the SABLA.
2.         Sabla is being implemented through the State Governments/UTs with 100 percent financial assistance from the Central Government for all inputs other than nutrition provision for which 50% Central assistance to States is provided.  Anganwadi Centre is the focal point for the delivery of the services.  Sabla aims at an all-round development of adolescent girls of 11-18 years by making them self reliant by facilitating access to learning, health and nutrition through various interventions such as health, education, vocational training etc.
III.       Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY)
IGMSY is a centrally Sponsored Scheme under which full grant-in-aid would be provided to State Governments/Union Territories. The Scheme envisages providing cash directly to P&L women in response to individual fulfilling specific conditions. The Scheme attempts to partly compensate for wage loss to P&L women both prior to and after delivery of the child. The Scheme will increase the demand for health services and promote recommended nutrition and health behaviours.
2.         A cash incentive of Rs. 4000/- is  provided under the Scheme to P&L women of 19 years of age and above, for the first two live births, subject to the woman fulfilling specific conditions relating to maternal child health and nutrition. All Government/PSUs (Central & State) employees are excluded from the Scheme as they are entitled for paid maternity leave. Cash incentive is provided in three installments, between the second trimesters of pregnancy till the infant completes 6 months of age through only bank/post office accounts.
3.         An incentive of Rs. 200/- per beneficiary for Anganwadi Workers and Rs. 100/- per beneficiary for Anganwadi Helpers is provided for in the Scheme so that they can be fully involved in motivating the women to participate in the Scheme.
IV.       Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011.
The main aim of the Bill is to address sexual abuse and exploitation of children, including child pornography.  It provides for establishment of special courts for trial of such offences.  The Bill defines offences, namely, penetrative sexual assault, aggravated penetrative sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual harassment and use of child for pornography.  The Bill provides for stringent punishment to offenders.  For speedy trail, the State Governments have been mandated to designate a Court of Session in each district, to be a Special Court to try offences under the Bill.  The other provisions of the Bill include child friendly court procedure, punishment for not reporting the offence to police or appropriate authority, and punishment for abetment and for making false complaint or false information.
V.        The Juvenile Justice (Care And Protection Of Children) Act, 2000
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (JJ Act). During the year 2011, the JJ Act has been amended through Gazette notification dated 8th September, 2011.  The following amendment has been carried out in the JJ Act to remove discriminatory references against children under the Act having diseases such as leprosy, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, etc.
(i)         In the JJ Act, in Section 48, sub-section (2) has been omitted.
(ii)        For Section 58 of the JJ Act, the following Sections has been substituted, namely:-
Where it appears to the competent authority that any juvenile or child kept in a Special Home or an Observation Home or a Children’s Home or a Shelter Home or in an institution in pursuance of this Act, is a mentally ill person or addicted to alcohol or other drugs which lead to behavioural changes in a person, the competent authority may order his removal to a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home in accordance with the provisions of the Mental Health Act, 1987 or the Rules made there under.
In case the juvenile or child had been removed to a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home under sub-section (1), the competent authority may, on the basis of the advice given in the certificate of discharge of the psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home, order to remove such juvenile or child to an Integrated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts or similar centers maintained by the State Government for the mentally ill persons (including the persons addicted to any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) and such removal shall be only for the period required for the in-patient treatment of such juvenile or child.
VI.       Integrated Child Protection Scheme (Icps)
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely, Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) from 2009-10 through State Governments/UT Administrations for the welfare and rehabilitation of children in conflict with law as well as children need of care and protection.
The objectives of the Scheme are (i) to provide safe and secure environment for children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection; (ii) to reduce vulnerabilities to situations and actions that lead to abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation; (iii) to bring focus on Non-institutional care; (iv) to develop a platform for partnership between Government & Civil Society; and (v) to establish convergence of services.
To bring a focus on child protection and create an environment conducive to their growth and development, ICPS envisages creation of a dedicated cadre of personnel in structure set up at State and district level.  So far 23 States have already set up State Child Protection Societies and District Children Protection Committees have been set up in 438 districts across 18 States.  ICPS has also given a fillip to establishment of Statutory structures under the JJ Act, namely Child Welfare Committees and  Juvenile Justice Boards, which have now been establishment in 548 and 561 districts respectively as against 211 and 240 before introduction of ICPS.  Approximately 1 lakh beneficiaries have been covered under ICPS in 2011.
VII.     Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers
Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers launched w.e.f. 1st January 2006 to provide day care facilities to children (age group of 0-6 years) of working mothers belonging to families whose monthly income is not more than Rs. 12,000/-.  The Scheme provides development services, i.e. supplementary nutrition, health care inputs like immunization, polio drops, basic health monitoring, and recreation to such children.
This scheme is presently being implemented through the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), New Delhi, and Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW), New Delhi.
A Committee had been set up by the Ministry to suggest changes in the scheme for improving its coverage and quality.  The Committee has suggested enhanced financial norms, stringent monitoring recommended fulfillment of certain preconditions before setting up of the crèches.  On recommendation of the Committee, 5 model crèches are being set up in Delhi on pilot basis with enhanced financial norms as per recommendations of the Committee for the remaining period of the current financial year with a view to see whether the revised norms are sufficient to provide better environment and facilities to the children in the crèches before new model is replicated or existing crèches are strengthened.
VIII.    National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW)
The National Mission for Empowerment of Women has been operationalized with the setting up of a Mission Directorate along with a National Resource Centre for Women (NRCW) under the Ministry of Women and Child Development at the National level. NRCW has technical experts in eight domains: economic empowerment, social empowerment, health and nutrition, gender budgeting, gender laws and rights, marginal and vulnerable women, media and communication and I.T services and provide technical support to operationalize activities of the mission.
NMEW has developed a multi- pronged strategy to achieve its objectives based on discussion with sectoral experts as well as recommendations from the three consultative workshops with various stakeholders including government, civil society organizations and PRI (Panchayat Raj Institutions) leaders in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. The strategy focuses on Intervention at the policy level by reviewing studies/evaluations/impact assessment of programs/schemes for gender equality, strengthening the implementation and delivery mechanism and empowering women to demand their entitlements
IX.       Scheme for Working Women Hostel
In order to promote greater mobility of women in the employment market and to provide suitable, safe and inexpensive accommodation to women residing away from their hometowns to be able to work, Government of India is implementing since 1972-73 Scheme of Working Women Hostel as a Central Sector Plan Scheme. So far, 891 hostels have been sanctioned under the Scheme since inception in 1972-73, with a sanctioned capacity of about 66,299 women and 8532 children in the attached 323 Day Care Centres.
The Scheme of working women hostel has been revised with the aim to increase coverage, proper monitoring and utilization of public money. The objective of the Scheme is to provide safe and secure accommodation to the working women at affordable rate. In the revised scheme, apart from the provision of extending financial assistance for the construction of hostel building on public land, new components of grants-in-aid for maintenance, furnishing of hostel and cost of rent of the hostels running in rented building have also been envisaged.
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) in collaboration with Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) has constructed a 500 bedded working women hostel with 176 living rooms along-with Kitchen, dining and common area at Jasola (Behind Apollo Hospital) to provide a safe and secure accommodation to women and girls of North Eastern Region.  The hostel has been inaugurated on 8th September, 2011 and handed over to YWCA.
X.  Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) Scheme
This is a centrally sponsored scheme and provides training for skill up-gradation to poor and assetless women in the traditional sectors of agriculture, animal husbandry, diary, fisheries, handlooms, handcrafts, khadi and village industries, sericulture, social forestry and waste land development.
XI.  Swadhar Greh
Swadhar Scheme and SSH are being implemented with similar objective and for same target group.  Now these two existing schemes i.e. Swadhar and Short Stay Home have been merged in to a new scheme ‘Swadhar Greh’ with revised financial norms in order to reach out to those women who are victims of unfortunate circumstances and are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity.  Under the new Scheme, sufficient financial assistance under each component of the scheme will be provided to the implementing agencies so that the day to day requirement of the intimates of the home could be fulfilled easily.  The envisaged coverage of the revised scheme is all 641 districts of the country.
XII. Gender Budgeting
Gender Budgeting (GB) is a tool for gender mainstreaming in all government policies, programmes and schemes. MWCD has been engaged in conducting a number of trainings, workshops, one to one interactions/discussions and development of resource material to take GB forward.  In the year 2011-12, till December end 2011, MWCD had organized 14 trainings/workshops for Central and State Government officers and other stakeholders.
An important tool of GB is the Gender Budget Statement which serves as a reporting mechanism and provides an indication of the funds flowing to women. The magnitude of GB allocations as a percentage of total budget as reflected in the GB Statement went up from 2.79 percent in 2005-06 to 6.22 percent in 2011-12.
Since Gender Audit is of utmost importance to identify the gaps in the Government policies, programmes, schemes and to assess the impact of gender budgeting interventions, a brainstorming workshop was organized by MWCD to develop gender audit guidelines. A working group has been formed to develop these guidelines.
XIII. National Girl Child Day, 2011
The National Girl Child Day is on 24th January and was celebrated on 21st January, 2011. The theme for the year was empowering of the Adolescent girls (AGs). The issues and challenges facing Adolescent girls were discussed in which eminent panelists having experts in health, nutrition, education and socio-legal empowerment made presentation which was followed up by an interactive session.
XIV.  UJJAWALA
The scheme was introduced in Dec. 2007 and is being implemented mainly through the Non-Government Organization. It comprises of five components: -
i)          Prevention, which consists of formation of community vigilance groups/adolescents groups, awareness and sensitization of important functionaries like police, community leaders and preparation of IEC material, holding workshops, etc.
ii)         Rescue, safe withdrawal of the victim from the place of exploitation.
iii)        Rehabilitation, which includes providing safe shelter for victims with basic inputs of food, clothing, counseling medical care, legal aid, vocational training and income generation activities etc.
iv)        Reintegration, which includes restoring the victim into the family/community (if she so desires) and the accompanying costs.
v)         Repatriation, to provide support to cross-border victims for their safe repatriation to their country of origin.
From January 2011 to first week of December 2011, 185 new projects of Ujjawala Scheme have been considered and 53 projects have been approved   by the Project Sanctioning Committee.
So for 162 projects including 81 Rehabilitation Homes have been sanctioned, spread over 17 States.
XV.     Dhanalakshmi – A Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme for Girl Child
A new pilot Scheme Dhanalakshmi   was launched on 03rd March, 2008
Objective of the Scheme
· Provide a set of staggered financial incentives for families to encourage them to retain the girl child and educate her.
· Change the attitudinal mindset of the family towards the girl, by looking upon the girl as an asset rather than a liability since her very existence has led to cash inflow to the family.
Cash transfers are made under the Scheme to the family of the girl child (preferably the mother) on fulfilling following conditions:
·         Birth registration of the girl child
·         Progress of immunization
·         Full immunization
·         Enrolment to school and retention in school.
“Dhanalakshmi” is being implemented in 11 Blocks across seven States on pilot basis:
The Scheme is being implemented by the State Government through District Authorities.
XVI.    Women Welfare
In order to address the problems faced for women, this Ministry has arranged two major conferences on issues and challenges for Development of Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes Women & Children on 18-19 January, 2011 (for SC Women & Children) and 30-31st May, 2011 (for ST Women & Children).  A synopsis of both the conferences are given hereunder:
(i) A two day conference `Issues & Challenges for Development of Scheduled Caste Women & Children was organized on 18-19 Jan., 2011 at Vigyan Bhavan. There was wide participation from various stakeholders including Central Government Ministries, State Governments, experts and representative of civil society organizations. The conference focused upon social empowerment of SC women and children by improving their access to health and nutrition, education, housing and living conditions; and economic empowerment by enhancing opportunities for development and livelihoods in agriculture and non-agriculture sector. Issues relating to manual scavenging and security & protection from atrocities were the other areas of focus. The Conference made a number of recommendations which were forwarded to Ministries concerned with the request to place them before the Working Group who may examine them for inclusion in the 12th Plan.
(ii)  A two day Conference on ‘Issues & Challenges for Development of Scheduled Tribe Women & Children’ was organized on 30-31st May 2011 at Vigyan Bhavan. There was wide participation from various stakeholders including Central Government Ministries, State Governments, experts and, NGOs. The Conference focused upon the various issues e.g Atrocities (physical, mental and Sexual Oppression); Exploitation; PESA, 1996 (State laws), Forest (issue of Patta, possession on of land etc.); Land alienation; land acquisition; Economic activities; Human Resource Development and Health and Nutrition etc. The Conference made a number of recommendations which were forwarded to Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Planning Commission with the request to consider these recommendations while formulating/finalizing 12th Plan Proposals.
(iii)  A Working Group on Women’s Agency & Empowerment for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) finalized its Report.  An amount of Rs. 7515.72 crores has been projected for various schemes/programme relating to Women to be implemented by the Ministry in the 12th Plan.
XVII.  Women Development
The Ministry sponsored the visit of a four member delegation to participate in the meeting of UN-Commission on Status of Women which commenced at New York from 22nd February 2011, the delegation comprised Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch and Smt. Sumitra Mahajan (Members of Parliament); Member Secretary, National Commission of Women and Director of the Ministry. The Indian delegation made important interventions at the various panel discussions in the meeting.
Celebration of International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day was celebrated on 8th March, 2011 at Vigyan Bhavan. This year, the theme of the event was Socio Economic Empowerment of Women: Way Forward. The focus was on issues relating to women in the informal sector, need for their financial inclusion besides providing access to them for skill development and marketing. The Panel discussion which was organized as a part of the celebrations was chaired by Mrs. Usha Thorat, former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Conferment of Stree Shakti Puraskar
Minister of State (I/C), Women and Child Development conferred Stree Shakti Puraskar for the year 2010 to four (4) eminent women who have done excellent work and demonstrated their commitment to the cause of women on the International Women’s Day.
The Ministry has also same delegation in difference national and international conferences relating to women’s issues.  These are:
(i)         ECOSOC meeting in Geneva
(ii)        Meeting of Co-Chairs of India-US Women’s Empowerment Dialogue (WED)
(iii)       Gender Mainstreaming Consultation for South Asian Countries organized by ADB at Manila.
(iv)       National Workshop on gender in development issues held in Goa
The other meeting of importance are as follows:
(i)         Meeting of IBSA is South Africa
Krishna Tirath, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Women & Child Development attended the Fourth IBSA Women’s Forum at Ministerial level on 13-14 October, 2011 at South Africa. The Forum discussed the issued related to impact of climate change on women and the challenges faced by young women for empowerment and employment generation.
(ii)        Visit of First Lady of Mozambique to India from 7-11 November, 2011
The First Lady of Mozambique,  Maria Da Luz Guebuza, along with her team, visited India from 7-11th November, 2011. National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) made a presentation on various issues relating to social, economic, political and legal empowerment of women. SEWA BHARAT, a prominent NGO working with women workers in informal economy, also made a presentation on protecting livelihoods of these workers through skill development and creating market linkages.
(iii)       Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
(a) Fifth Inter-Ministerial Committee Meeting
Based on the inputs provided by various Ministries, MWCD had prepared a revised draft Combined Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports of India on CEDAW. The fifth inter-ministerial committee meeting was organized on 17th November 2011 to discuss and finalize the draft report.
(b) National Consultation with Civil Society Organizations
The draft Combined Fourth and Fifth periodic reports of India to CEDAW prepared by MWCD was shared widely with the members of civil society through a National Consultation held on 25 November 2011 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi under the Chairpersonship  Shri D K Sikri. He highlighted progress made by women of India in the spheres of social, economic, legal and political empowerment over the years but emphasized that a lot remains to be achieved in future. Over 25 participants from different civil society organizations across the country deliberated on the draft Report and gave feedback.
Initiatives for Twelfth Plan and Meetings of Sub-Groups
The Working Groups for the 12th Plan Document have been established and meetings of the following Sub-Groups have been held.
·         Sub-group on “Women’s Agency and Empowerment”
·         Sub-group on ‘Girl Child’ for Working Group on Child rights.
·         Sub-group on Adolescents as part of Working Group on Child Rights
·         Sub-group on Nutrition
·         Sub group on Child Rights and Protection
XVIII. Vatsalya Mela, 2011
A composite outreach event, Vatsalya Mela, combining information in all schemes and services relating to the Ministry and various events was held at Delhi Haat for six days from 14-19th November, 2011.

India is free from Bird Flu: Ministry

India has declared itself free from bird flu (H5N1) as of Dec. 29, 2011 though it said the surveillance will continue, in the vulnerable areas bordering the infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds.
Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture has advised the States to maintain vigil against the disease.
Outbreak of bird flu was notified on Sept. 8, 2011 in village Bhamondanga, part- I, Agomoni Block in Dhubri district of Assam. This was followed by another outbreak in Betai Nanshatola and Putimari Christianpara in Tehetta Block of Nadia district of West Bengal, which was notified on Sept. 19, 2011. Thereafter, there has been no further outbreak.
The control measures adopted in the outbreaks were stamping out of entire poultry population including destruction of eggs, feed, litters and other infected materials in the radius of 3 kms. around each outbreak location, restriction on movement of poultry, poultry products to and from the area of outbreak, disinfection and cleaning up of infected premises. The final disinfection process was completed on Sept. 29, 2011.
Surveillance was carried out throughout the country. Surveillance around the area of outbreak since completion of the operation (including culling disinfection and clean up) and surveillance in rest of the country has shown no evidence of presence of bird flu (H5N1), said a statement.

India State of Forest Report 2011

Twelve states/UTs have shown decrease in the forest cover to the extent of 867sqkm while AP’s decline of 281 sqkm is mainly attributed to harvesting of mature plantation of Eucalyptus and other species and in the norhte-east, it was mainly due to prevailing practice of shifting cultivation, said the India State of Forest Report 2011, released on February 07.
Published biannually by the Forest Survey of India since 1987, the report is recognized as the authoritative assessment of the country’s forest resources. Secretary in Ministry of Environment & Forests T. Chatterjee released India State of Forest Report 2011 in National Capital.
The India State of Forest Report 2011 is the 12th report in the series. It is based on interpretation of satellite data recorded during October 2008-March 2009 from the indigenous IRS-P6-LISS III sensor on a resolution of 23.5m with a minimum mappable area of one hectare. The assessment made on the basis of satellite imageries is backed by rigorous ground truthing carried out by the staff of FSI. The change matrices recorded in the present report refer to changes with respect to the satellite data recorded for the previous India State of Forest Report two years earlier. Special coverage is provided to forest cover in hill districts, tribal districts and the north-east keeping in mind the special symbiotic relationship of communities with forests in these regions.
As per the present assessment, the Forest and Tree cover of the country is 78.29 million ha, which is 23.81% of the geographical area of the country. In comparison to the 2009 assessment, after taking into account the interpretational changes, there is a decrease of 367 square km in country’s forest cover. 15 states have registered aggregate increase of 5000sqkm in their forest cover with Punjab leading with increase of 100sqkm. 12 states/UTs (mainly the NE states) have shown decrease to the extent of 867sqkm.
The state of Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country at 77,700 square km followed by Aruncachal Pradesh at 67, 410 square km. In terms of percentage of forest cover in relation to total geographical area, Mizoram tops with 90.68% followed by Lakshadweed with 84.56%. The total growing stock of India’s forests and trees outside forests is estimated as 6047.15 million cu m i.e. 4498.73 million cu m inside the recorded forest area and 1548.42 million cu m outside the recorded forests.
The India State of Forest Report 2011 contains the regular features like forest cover, tree cover, mangroves and growing stock both in forests and areas outside forests. However, it adds three new chapters that are of crucial importance in the present national and global worldview about forests. These are: a detailed assessment of bamboo resources, a production-consumption assessment of wood based on data stock in India’s forests reported under the NATCOM project.
Due to its significant impact on rural/tribal economy and their livelihood the Production and consumption Study is expected to fill the information gap in this arena. The study highlights the importance of trees outside forests is meeting the requirements of industrial wood, small timber and firewood. As for the assessment of carbon stock in India’s forests, in lies at the center of international dialogue on climate change.

UPSC CIVIL SERVICES NOTIFICATION 2012

India's top most exam, Civil Services Examination, is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) every year to select the best candidates into the top level administration of India. The dates of the Civil Services Examination-2012 have been announced  by the UPSC. 

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Date of Notification:-- 4th February, 2012
• Last Date for Applying:-- 5th March, 2012
• Date of Civil Services Preliminary Test, 2012:-- 20th May 2012; 1 Day
• Date of Civil Services Mains Test, 2012:-- From 5th October 2012; 21 Days

Notification-Civil Services Examination 2012

APPSC GEOLOGY EXAM PRACTICE MCQs

Q.1 : ln nature, the metallic ore deposits generally occur as :
(a) Oxides.
(b) Sulphides.
(c) Carbonates.
(d) Chlorides.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.2 : Mangampet Baryte deposllfin cuddapah district (A.P.) are found In
(a) Guacharo quantizes.
(b) Vempalle limestone.
(c) Nagri quantizes.
(d) Pullampet slate.
ANSWER:(c)
Q.3: Bauxite is a:
(a) Alternation product
(b) Replacement product.
(c) Metamorphic product.
(d) Magmatic product.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.4: Which metal is also known as white gold?
(a) Gold.
(b) Silver.
(c) Tungsten.
(d) Platinum.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.5: Match the following:
I ll
1. Bauxite deposits of central and Western India. i. Khondalites.
2. Bauxite deposits of Andhra Pradesh & Orissa. ii. Detrital origin.
3. Bauxite deposits of Tamil Nadu. iii. Deccan traps.
4. Bauxite deposits of Kati (M.P.). iv. Charnockites.
(a) 1-iii, 2-i, 3-ii, 4-iv.
(b) 1-iii,-2-iv, 3-ai, 4-i.
(c) 1-iii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-ii.
(d) 1-ii, 2-iv, 3-iii, 4-i
ANSWER: (c)
Q.6: Amarkantak deposits of M.P. are associated with:
(a) Iron.
(b) Bauxite.
(c) Copper.
(d) Manganese.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.7: Baryte deposits in Andhra Pradesh are:
(a) Mangampet deposits in the cuddapah district.
(b) Brahmanakutukuru deposits in the Kurnool district.
(c) Vinjamuru deposits in the Nellore district.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.8: The largest known deposits of bauxite in India are, located in:
(a) Amarkantak area of M.P.
(b) Bikaner Naive ridge of Karnataka.
(c) Lohardaga area of Bihar.
(d) None of these.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.9: Baryte may be used as:
(a) Drilling mud.
(b) Raw-material for the manufacture of lithopone.
(c) Preparation of chemicals.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.10 : Chromate is closely associated with :
(a) Acidic rocks.
(b) Basic rocks.
(C) Sub-basic rocks.
(d) Ultrabasic rocks.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.11: Graphite can be formed by:
(a) Organic matter trapped in the sediments.
(b) Precipitation from carbonic fluids derived by magmatic processes
(c) The decarbonation of carbonate rocks.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.12 : Which state is the Iargest producer of chromite :
(a) Maharashtra.
(b) Orissa.
(C) Andhra Pradesh.
(d) Bihar.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.13: In nuclear reaction, pure graphite ls used as:
(a) Catalyst.
(b) Insulating material.
(c) Moderator.
(d) Frothier.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.14: Chromite belongs to which mineral group:
(a) Olivine.
(b) Spinal.
(c) Pyroxene.
(d) Garnet.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.15 : Largest deposits of chromite in Jammu and Kashmir occurring in :
(a) Dunite intrusions.
(b) Norite rocks.
(C) Serpentines rocks.
(d) Gabbro rocks.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.16: Fibrous or silky variety of gypsum is known as:
(a) Syenite.
(b) Alabaster.
(c) Satin spar.
(d) Amosite.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.17 : Chromite deposits are product of segregation during :
(a) Early magmatic crystallisation
(b) Late magmatic crystallization.
(c) Residual liquid segregation.
(d) Contact metasomatism.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.18: What is the chemical formula of Chrysocolla?
ANSWER: (c)
Q.19 “Plaster of pairs” is formed of
(a) Calcite.
(b) Gypsum.
(c) Rock salt.
(d) Chalk.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.20: The mineralisation in Khelri copper belt has taken place in the:
(a) Granites and Gneisses rocks.
(b) Calcareous rocks.
(c) Shales and Sandstones rocks.
(d) Phyllite. Schists and slates rocks.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.21: Gypsum deposits in Tamil Nadu are associated with
(a) Calcareous rocks in Permian sequence.
(b) Sandstone in Jurassic sequence.
(c) Shales in cretaceous sequence.
(d) Slates in Triassic sequence.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.22 : Copper mineralisatpn in Khelri area belongs to :
(a) Ajabgarh series.
(b) Alwar series.
(c) Hallo series. .
(d) Kaimur series.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.23 : Zinnwaldite is a :
(a) Sodium mica.
(b) Iron mica.
(C) Lithium mica.
(d) Lithium iron mica.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.24 : When copper is alloyed with tin it is known as :
(a) Brass
(b) Bronze.
(c) Type-metal.
(d) Golden metal.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.25 : Mark the correct statement about Mosabani copper deposits :
(a) The sulphide assemblage of Mosabani situated within singhbhum shear zone
(b) Quartz-chlorite-Biotite Schist is the major host rock.
(c) Chalcopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite constitute the main ore mineral.
(d) All are correct.
ANSWER: (d)

APPSC GEOLOGY EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Q.1 : Mangantpet deposit in cuddapah district (A.P.) is associated with :
(a) Flu spar.
(b) Baryte.
(c) China clay.
(d) Bauxite.
ANSWER:(b)
Q.2 : Bauxite is an aggregate of :
(a) Gibbsite and Diaspora.
(b) Gibbsite and Bonhomie.
(c) Diaspora and Bonhomie.
(d) Gibbsite, Diaspora and Boehme.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.3: Chrysolite asbestos of cuddapah district (A.P.) is found in:
(a) Srisailam quartzites.
(b) Kolamnala shells.
(c) Contact of a bed of cuddapah limestones with a dolerite still.
(d) Tadpatri shales.
ANSWER:(c)
Q.4: ‘Bharat Ratna’ medal is made up of:
(a) Gold.
(b) Platinum.
(c) Silver.
(d) Diamond.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.5: Lithomarge is a:
(a) Black clay.
(b) White or yellowish clay interlaminated with yellow ochre’s.
(C) Yellow ochre formed by magmatic processes.
(d) Clay bed sand switched between two lava flows.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.6: In lndia most of the Baryte occurrences/deposits are of:
(q) Vein type.
(b) Stringer type.
(c) Fissure type.
(d) Bedded type.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.7: Claimed bauxite is mainly used for the production of:
(a) Aluminum metal.
(b) High alumina cement.
(c) High alumina refractory bricks.
(d) None of these.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.8: Baryte deposits of Vinjamuru area in the Nellore schist belt of Southern lndia is of:
(a) Bacteriogenic origin.
(b) Volcanogemc origin
(c) Evaporate origin.
(d) Hydrothermal origin.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.9 : Largest producer of Bauxite In India is :
(a) Madhya Pradesh.
(b) Bihar.
(c ) Karnataka.
(d) Maharashtra.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.10: Baryte deposits of Mangampet (A.P.) are of:
(a) Evaporate origin.
(b) Bacteriogenic origin.
(c) Volcanogenic origin.
(d) Magmatic origin.
ANSWER: (b)
Q. 11: Choose the correct statement about graphite:
(a) lt crystallises in a hexagonal system.
(b) lt has good conductivity of heat and electricity.
(c) It has a high refractoriness.
(d) All the above are correct
ANSWER: (d)
Q.12: The bauxite deposits occurring along the sea coast are mostly
(a) Gibbsite.
(b) Boehmite.
(c) Diaspora.
(d) Kaolinite.
ANSWER: (a)
Q. 13 : Crystallisation of graphite In a rock is related to the :
(a) Temperature.
(b) Temperature and pressure.
(c) Temperature, pressure and oxygen fugacity
(d) None of these.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.14 : Most of the graphite deposits In Orissa are found ln the
(a) Granitic rocks.
(b) Khondalites rocks.
(c) Gondite rocks.
(d) Charnockites rocks.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.15 : Sukinda chromite mine is situated in :
(a) Bihar.
(b) Maharashtra.
(c) Orissa.
(d) Karnataka.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.16: Which state ls the major source of graphite in India?
(a) Karnataka.
(b) Rajasthan.
(c) Bihar.
(d) Orissa.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.17: Mark the odd one, regarding occurrence of bauxite deposits:
(a) Peridolite rock.
(b) Dunite rock.
(c) Norite rock.
(d) Granite rock.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.18: Malachite and Azurite are:
(a) Sulphides.
(b) Carbonates.
(c) Oxides.
(d) Hydroxides.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.19: Which state ls the leading producer of gypsum?
(a) Rajasthan.
(b) Tamil Nadu.
(c) Gujrat.
(d) Uttar Pradesh.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.20: The copper deposits following stratigraphic beds are:
(a) Malanjakhand copper deposits.
(b) Khelri copper deposits.
(c) Rakha copper deposits.
(d) Mosabani copper deposits.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.21: Deposits of gypsum are of:
(a) Sedimentary origin.
(b) Marine evaporates origin.
(c) Hydrothermal origin.
(d) Both (a) and (b).
ANSWER: (d)
Q.22 :The singhbhum copper belt extends between :
(a) Duarapuram and Bah agora.
b) Duarapuram and Kharswan.
(c) Kharswan and seraikella.
(d) Flakha and Mosabani.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.23 : Match the following :
I II
1. Mifiscovite. i Sodium mica.
2. Paragonite. ii Magnesium mica.
3. Lepidolite. iii Potassium mica.
4. Phologopite. iv Lithium mica.
(a)1-ii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-iii.
(b)1-iii,2-i, 3-iv, 4-ii.
(c) 1-i, 2-ii, 3-iii, 4-iv.
(d)1-iv, 2-iii, 3-ii, 4-i.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.24 : ln India, mica occurs in :
(a) Bihar mica belt.
(b) Nellore mica belt.
(C) Rajasthan mica belt.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.25 : ln Malanjakhand the copper mineralization has taken place in :
(a) Fractured quartz reefs.
(b) Calcareous veins.
(c) Shear zones of pegmatite.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER: (a)

APPSC GEOLOGY EXAM PRACTICE MCQs

Q.1 :Oldest and deepest copper; mine In India is :
(a) Malanjakhand.
(b) Khelri.
(c) Mosabani.
(d) Agnigundala.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.2: Malachite and Azurite often indicate the:
(a) Presence of lron ore deposits below the surface.
(D) Presence of enriched sulphide below the surface.
(c) Presence of green and the blue-coloured rocks below the surface.
(d) Magmatic origin of the copper ores.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.3: Red and Yellow ochre in Jammu and Kashmir is associated with:
(a) Shale rock.
(b) Phyllite rock of Vaikrita system. .
(c) Toumaline-bearing gneiss rock.
(d) Black graphite-bearing slate occurs in the Salkhala system.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.4: Copper deposits of Andhra Pradesh are associated with:
(a) Quartzite.
(b) Dolomites.
(c) Calcareous quartzite.
(d) Calcareous shales.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.5: The auriferous lodes of koura gold field are contained in:
(a) Fractures of granitic rock.
(b) Shear zones in the area.
(c) Quartz reefs traversing the Dharwar rocks.
(d) Minor faults in Dharwarian rocks.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.6 : Bihar mica belt is …. Long and …. wide :
(a) 100 Kms and 25 Kms.
(b) 125 Kms and 10 Kms.
(c) 150 Kms and 32 Kms.
(d) 200 Km and 75 Kms.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.7: The origin of Kola gold deposits is:
(a) Hydrothermal.
(b) Early magmatic.
(c)Late magnetic.
(d) Metasomatism.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.8: Vermiculite mineralization in Baroda district, Gujarat, is associated with
(a) Pegmatite veins.
(b) Dolomite marble.
(c) lntrusivecalcite vein into granite.
(d) Intrusive quart-z tourmaline veins into Biotite schist of Archaean age.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.9: Purity of gold is expressed by:
(a) The ratio 1000 Au/Au + Ag.
(b) The ratio 100 Au/Au + Ag.
(C) The ratio 1 OO Au/Au.
(d) The ratio 1000 Au/Ag.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.10: Majhgawan Klmberlite pipe introduced into the:
(a) Bhander limestone.
(b) Rewa Sandstone.
(c) Kaimur sandstone.
(d) Semri shale.
ANSWER:(c)
Q.11: What is the total reef length in Kola-gold-bearing belt?
(a) 6 Km.
(b) 12 Km.
(c) 18 Km.
(d) 26 Km.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.12: Hot spot theory mainly supports the origin of the:
(a) Pegmatite.
(b) Coal.
(c) Petroleum.
(d) Kimberlite.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.13: Archaean is characterised by:
(a) Copper and manganese ore deposits.
(b) Uranium deposits.
(c) Simple ores of gold, chromium nickel and copper.
(d) Presence of gold, copper and coal.
ANSWER.(c)
Q.14: Limonite ls also known as:
(a) Red ore.
(b) Brown ore
(c) Black ore.
(d) Dust ore.
ANSWER.(b)
Q.15 : Diamond deposits are found in:
(a) Bester area.
(b) Singhbhum area.
(c) Kolar area.
(d) Panna area.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.16 Iron ore deposits or KudremuKh (kerala) are of:
(a) Sedimentary origin.
(b) Magmatic origin.
(C) Replacement origin.
(d) Residual origin
ANSWER.(d)
Q.17: Banded Iron Formation of KudremuKh (Kerala) belongs to:
(a) The sager Group.
(b) The Bababudan Group.
(c) The chitradurga group.
(d) The Ranibonnur group.
ANSWER:(b)
Q.18 : Blue coloured gem variety ot corundum is :
(a) Ruby.
(b) Sapphire.
(c) Opal.
(d) None of these.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.19: Donimalai Iron ore deposits are located in :
(a) Shimoga group.
(b) Chitradurga group.
(c) Ranibennur group.
(d) Sandur schist belt.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.20 : Mark the correct statement about the iron-ores of Karnataka :
(a) The primary source for the iron ores is the Banded Iron Formation (BIF).
(b) The BIF belongs to the Archaean.
(c) The BIF belongs to the Proterozoic.
(d) Both (a) and (b).
ANSWER:(d)
Q.21: Which state has the largest proved reserves of magnetic ore?
(a) Madhya Pradesh.
(b) Bihar.
(c) Karnataka.
(d) Andhra Pradesh.
ANSWER:(c)
Q.22: ln Karnataka BIF occurs in four district settings, the order of their appearance from
bottom upwards are :
(a) Sager, chitradurga, Bababudan and Ranibennur.
(b) Bababudan, Chitradurga, Sager and Ranibennur.
(c) Sager, Bababudan, chitradurg and Ranibennur.
(d) Sager, Ranibennur, Chitradurg and Bababudan.
ANSWER:(c)
Q.23 : Visvesvarayya Iron and steel plant is located at :
(a) Donimalai.
(b) KudremuKh
(c) Wayanagar.
(d) Bhadravati.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.24 :Scordite is :
(a) Hydrated Iron Arsenate.
(b) Iron silicate.
(c) Copper carbonate.
(d) Zinc carbonate.
ANSWER:(a)
Q.25. Deep emerald-green variety is known as:
(a) Jadeite.
(b) Sang-e-yeshm.
(c) Alexandrite.
(d) Aquamarine.
ANSWER: (c)

APPSC GEOLOGY EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Q.1: Which is the open cast copper mine in lndia :
(a) Khelri.
(b) Mosabani.
(C) Rakha.
(d) Malanjakhand.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.2: Which state is the largest producer ot block mica :
(a) Bihar.
(b) Orissa.
(c) Madhya Pradesh.
(d) Maharashtra.
ANSWER: (a)
Q.3: Choose the correct statement regarding various mica belts ln India;
(a) In Nellore mica belt, the host rocks are an Archaean schistose complex in which sheets, lenses
and masses of pegmatites are frequently present.
(b) ln Rajasthan mica belt the mica pegmatites occur as intrusive in the greases and schists.
(c) In Bihar mica belt, the mica is found in pegmatites which usually strike and dip parallel with the
enclosing schists and grease of Archaean age.
(d) All the above statement are correct.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.4: Vermiculite is an alteration product of:
(a) Felspars.
(0) Mica.
(c) Calcite.
(d) Kyanite.
ANSWER:(b)
Q5: Vermiculite generally occurs associated with:
(a) Volcanic rocks.
(b) Granitic rocks.
(c) Felsic rocks.
(d) Ultrabasic rocks.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.6: Gold is being produced in lndia mainly from:
(a) The gold deposits of Chittor district and Remarriage in Anantpur district of A.P.
(b) The gold-bearing belt of Wined goldfield in Gudalur talus of Niger distt. Of Tamil Nadu.
(c) The Diode deposits of greenstone belts of Kola, Hutt and Himgiri of Karnataka.
(d) The singhbhum and shear zone of Bihar.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.7 : Scott smith has classified the majhgawan diamond pipe rock as :
(a) Kimberlite.
(b) Lamproite.
(c) Diorite.
(d) Dunite.
ANSWER:(b)
Q.8: Recent absolute age of Majhgawan diamond pipe estimated is:
(a) 1044-1067 Ma.
(b) 1510-1600 Ma.
(C) 900-1000 Ma.
(d) 720-810 Ma.
ANSWER:(a)
Q.9: Kola Gold Fields (KGF) are in the:
(a) High grade terrain.
(b) Low grade terrain.
(c) Both high and low grades terrains.
(d) Sedimentary terrain.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.10: Who was discovered the Majhgawan diamond pipe:
(a) Scott smith (1850).
(b) B.Sahni (191 O).
(c) Capt. Franklin (1827).
(d) A.B.Wynne (1902).
ANSWER:(c)
Q.11: Kimberlites of south and central India occur in the:
(a) Archaean period only.
(b) Archaean and early Proterozoic period.
(c) Late Proterozoic period only.
(d) Permian period.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.12: All the known diamondiferous kimberlites in India are confined to the:
(a) Mobile areas.
(b) Carbonic areas.
(c) Mountain building areas.
(d) Both (a) and (b).
ANSWER:(b)
Q.13: Garage gold belt is situated in:
(a) Kerala.
(b) Bihar. .
(c) Madhya Pradesh.
(d) Karnataka.
ANSWER.(d)
Q.14 : Non-diamondiferous kimberlites are associated with :
(a) Carbonic areas.
(b) Stable plateform areas.
(c) Mobile areas.
(d) Both (a) and (b).
ANSWER:(c)
Q.15: Mark the correct statement regarding commercial name of siderite
(a) Spastic.
(b) Black band.
(c) Clay-ironstone.
(d)All the above are commercial name of siderite.
ANSWER.(d)
Q.16: Deobhog mine, Raipur (M.P.) is associated with:
(a) Gold.
(b) Copper ore.
(c) Iron ore.
(d) Diamond.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.17 : Garlband-Mainpur area of Raipur district (M.P
respect of possible occurrence of :
(a) Copper.
(b) Gold.
(c) Diamond.
(d) Coal.
ANSWER:(c)
Q.18: ‘Hogbomite’ is :
(a) An oxide of Fe and mg.
(B) An oxide of Fe, Mg, AI and n.
(c) A hydroxide of Fe and Ni.
(d) A carbonate of Fe, Ca, and AI.
ANSWER.(b)
Q.19: Diamond is a best gem stone because of it’s:
(a) High refractive index.
(b) Lusture.
(c) High hardness.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.20: In Panna diamond belt, diamond is recovered from:
(a) Kimberlite pipes.
(b) Conglomerate beds.
(c) Gravel deposits.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER:(d)
Q.21 : Walrakarur-Lattavaram belt (A.P.) is associated with
(a) Gold.
(b) Diamond.
(c) Copper.
(d) Manganese.
ANSWER: (b)
Q.22: Ruby and Sapphire are the gem variety of :
(a) Quartz
(b) Topaz.
(c) Corundum
(d) Diamond.
ANSWER: (c)
Q.23: The source of silica and iron oxide in Archaean time was mainly:
(a) Biogenic.
(b) Volcanogenic.
(c) Atmospheric.
(d) All the above.
ANSWER:(b)
Q.24 : Emerald is a green variety of :
(a) Corundum
(b) Topaz.
(c) Kyanite.
(d) Beryl.
ANSWER: (d)
Q.25: Chrysoberye is a:
(a) Compound of beryllium and aluminium oxides.
(b) Variety of Ruby.
(c) Compound of barium and aluminium silicates.
(d) Variety of corundum.
ANSWER: (a)

CSO releases Quick estimates of national income for the year 2010-11

 

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the Quick estimates of national income, consumption expenditure, saving and capital formation for the financial year 2010-11. The estimates of GDP and other aggregates for the previous years have been revised on account of using the new series of the Index of industrial production (IIP) with base 2004-05 and also subsequent revision in Wholesale price Index (WPI). The revision in estimates is also on account of use of latest available data on agricultural production, industrial production, government expenditure and also detailed and more comprehensive data available from various source agencies.

The following are the salient features of the estimates: 

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT AND GROSS NATIONAL INCOME

Gross domestic product (GDP) at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices in 2010-11 is estimated at Rs. 48,85,954 crore as against Rs. 45,07,637 crore in 2009-10 registering a growth of 8.4 per cent during the year which is same as in the year 2009-10. At current prices, GDP in 2010-11 is estimated at Rs. 71,57,412 crore as against Rs. 60,91,485 crore in 2009-10, showing an increase of 17.5 per cent during the year.

At constant (2004-05) prices the gross national income at factor cost in 2010-11 is estimated at Rs 48,33,178 crore as against Rs. 44,79,973 crore in 2009-10 showing a rise of 7.9 per cent during the year. At current prices, the gross national income in 2010-11 is estimated at Rs. 70,78,512 crore as compared to Rs 60,53,585 crore in 2009-10, showing a rise of 16.9 per cent during the year.

The growth rate of 8.4 per cent in the GDP during 2010-11 has been achieved due to high growth in transport, storage and communication (14.7%), financing, insurance, real estate & business services (10.4%), trade, hotels & restaurants (9.0%), and construction (8.0%). At constant prices, the primary sector i.e. agriculture, forestry & fishing has shown a high growth of 7.0 per cent during 2010-11 as against 1.0 per cent during the year 2009-10. The growth of secondary sector is 7.2 per cent and that of service sector is 9.3 per cent during 2010-11.

PER CAPITA NATIONAL INCOME

The per capita income (per capita net national income at factor cost) in real terms, i.e. at 2004-05 prices, is estimated at Rs. 35,993 for 2010-11 as against Rs. 33,843 in 2009-10, registering an increase of 6.4 per cent during the year. The per capita income at current prices is estimated at Rs. 53,331 in 2010-11 as against Rs. 46,117 for the previous year depicting a growth of 15.6 per cent.

CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE, SAVING AND CAPITAL FORMATION

In order to derive the GDP at market prices, the GDP at factor cost is adjusted by adding indirect taxes net of subsidies. Estimates of GDP at market prices for the year 2009-10 has been revised on account of receipt of data on actual collection of indirect taxes from central and state Governments as well as rectification of misclassification of revised estimates of central Government, used in QE 2009-10. As various components of expenditure on gross domestic product, namely, consumption expenditure and capital formation, are normally measured at market prices, the discussion in the following paragraphs is in terms of market prices.

PRIVATE FINAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE

Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) in the domestic market at current prices is estimated at Rs. 43,59,792 crore in 2010-11 as against Rs. 37,22,036 crore in 2009-10. At constant (2004-05) prices, the PFCE is estimated at Rs. 30,87,047 crore in 2010-11 as against Rs. 28,52,301 crore in 2009-10. In terms of GDP at market prices, the rates of PFCE at current and constant (2004-05) prices during 2010-11 are estimated at 56.8 per cent and 58.9 per cent, respectively, as against the corresponding rates of 57.6 per cent and 59.7 per cent, respectively in 2009-10.

The per capita PFCE in the domestic market in 2010-11 is estimated to be Rs. 36,760 at current prices and Rs. 26,029 at constant (2004-05) prices as against Rs. 31,812 and Rs. 24,379 respectively in 2009-10. 

DOMESTIC SAVING

Gross domestic saving (GDS) at current prices in 2010-11 is estimated at Rs. 24,81,931 crore as against Rs. 21,82,970 crore in 2009-10, constituting 32.3 per cent of GDP at market prices as against 33.8 per cent in the previous year. The decrease in the rate of GDS has mainly been due to the decrease in the rates of financial savings of household sector from 12.9% to 10.0% and private corporate sector from 8.2 per cent in 2009-10 to 7.9 per cent in 2010-11. However, the rate of savings of public sector increased from 0.2 per cent in 2009-10 to 1.7 per cent in 2010-11. In absolute terms, the saving of the household sector has increased from Rs. 16,39,038 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 17,49,311 crore in 2010-11, the saving of private corporate sector has gone up from Rs. 5,32,136 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 6,02,464 crore in 2010-11 and that of public sector has gone up from Rs. 11,796 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 1,30,155 crore in 2010-11. 

CAPITAL FORMATION

Gross Domestic Capital Formation has increased from Rs. 23,63,670 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 26,92,031 crore in 2010-11 at current prices and it increased from Rs. 18,38,870 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 19,74,172 crore in 2010-11 at constant (2004-05) prices. The rate of gross capital formation at current prices is 35.1 per cent in 2010-11 as against 36.6 per cent in 2009-10. The rate of gross capital formation at constant (2004-05) prices is 37.7 per cent in 2010-11 as against 38.5 per cent in 2009-10.

Within the gross capital formation at current prices, the gross fixed capital formation amounted to Rs. 23,31,382 crore in 2010-11 as against Rs. 20,41,758 crore in 2009-10. At current prices, the gross fixed capital formation of the public sector has increased from Rs. 5,43,337 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 6,19,923 crore in 2010-11, that of private corporate sector from Rs.6,97,451 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 7,61,107 crore in 2010-11, and the household sector from Rs. 8,00,971 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 9,50,352 crore in 2010-11.

The change in stocks of inventories, measured as additions to stocks increased at current prices, from Rs. 1,74,310 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 2,54,970 crore in 2010-11. The increase is observed due to increase in change in stocks of all the sectors.

The estimates of National Product, Consumption Expenditure, Saving and Capital Formation at aggregate and per capita levels for the years 2004-05 to 2010-11 are presented in Statement 1 and the detailed estimates at industry/item level in Statements 2 to 10.

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS INDIA REPORT 2011

FOR MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS INDIA REPORT 2011 CLICK HERE

ENVIRONMENT STATISTICS INDIA 2011

FOR ENVIRONMENT STATISTICS INDIA 2011 CLICK HERE