Josh Magazine Current Affairs PDF Magazine February 2013 1

Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 1
WWW.JAGRANJOSH.COM
CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF FEBRUARY 2013
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 1
Page 2
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Pick of the Month ......................................................................................................................... 10 Union Budget 2013-14: Projected Expenditure Rs 16.65 Trillion ......................................... 10 Railway Budget 2013-14: Passenger Amenities, Main Priority ............................................ 12 Economic Survey of India 2012-13: An Overview and Highlights ......................................... 13 Nicos Anastasiades Won Cyprus Presidential Elections ....................................................... 14 India Got a Go Ahead on Kishanganga Project ..................................................................... 15 First India-Japan Maritime Affairs Dialogue was held .......................................................... 17 Ahmadinejad is first Iranian President to visit Egypt since 1979 .......................................... 18 Presidents Assent to Criminal Law (AMDT.) Ordinance, 2013 ............................................ 18 SC: Seize operations of Unsuccessful Bidders of 2G Spectrum ............................................ 20 ISRO's PSLV-C20 Rocket successfully launched SARAL ......................................................... 21 Afzal Guru, the Convict of Parliament Attack 2001 Hanged ................................................. 22 Zhuang Zedong, Three-Time World Table Tennis Champion Died ....................................... 23 Giuseppe held on Bribe Charges in Defence Helicopter Deal .............................................. 23 Australia clinched ICC Womens World Cup Trophy............................................................. 24 First Complete Bionic Man of the World Unveiled ............................................................... 26 Worlds First Mercury Treaty adopted by 140 Countries ..................................................... 26 International ................................................................................................................................. 28 Hamadi Jebali, Resigned from Post of Prime Minister of Tunisia ......................................... 28 Prime Minister of Bulgaria Resigned Because of Protests.................................................... 28 Trade Deficit of Japan Hit Record in January 2013 ............................................................... 29 India & Sri Lanka Signed Agreement On Combating Terrorism............................................ 30 India and UAE agreed improve their Trade Relations .......................................................... 30 India-US Joint Working Group held its 10th Meet ................................................................ 30 www.jagranjosh.com
Page 2
Page 3
India and France agreed to Cooperate on Counter Terrorism ............................................. 31 Pakistan approved Deal to Hand over Gwadar Port to China .............................................. 32 India and Austria signed a Social Security Pact..................................................................... 32 United States of America filed a Civil Lawsuit against S&P .................................................. 33 Jackie Chan Selected As Member of Chinese Parliament..................................................... 33 India at 140th Position in Latest World Press Freedom Index ............................................. 33 International Quizzes ............................................................................................................ 34 World Dairy ................................................................................................................................... 38 National ......................................................................................................................................... 40 Panel to Examine issues of Cinematograph Act 1952 .......................................................... 40 SC: Govt. to notify Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal Award ............................................... 41 Committee to Review Functioning of Prasar Bharti ............................................................. 41 Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram launched in Thane ........................................................ 43 My India Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme ............................................................. 43 First Ever Live Twitter Conference arranged by Ministry of I&B .......................................... 44 PSL to Minorities Crossed 15 Percent Mark in 2012-2013 ................................................... 44 New 15 Point Programme for Welfare of Minorities ........................................................... 45 CBI Registered Case against Airtel and Tata Communications ............................................. 45 Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill approved ................................................. 46 NACO signed MoU with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare .......................................... 46 National Quizzes ................................................................................................................... 47 India Dairy ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Economy........................................................................................................................................ 53 BHEL & GAIL Granted Maharatna Status by Union Government ......................................... 53 ED Slapped 98.5 Crore Rupees Penalty on Rajasthan Royals ............................................... 53 CCEA gave its nod to Price Pooling Mechanism on Coal ...................................................... 54
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 3
Page 4
Economic Growth of India Estimated to Fall To 5 Percent ................................................... 54 TRAI: Teledensity declined by 25.97 Million to 895.51 Million ............................................ 55 CCEA approved Increase of MSP of Copra for 2013 Season ................................................. 55 Railway Revenue Earnings increased by 20.38 Per Cent ...................................................... 56 Exports of India Increased By 0.8 Per Cent in January 2013 ................................................ 56 Comfort Letter issued by Finance Ministry........................................................................... 57 SEBI ordered to Freeze Accounts of Two Companies of Sahara .......................................... 58 Inflation went Down to Three Years Low to 6.62 percent s ................................................. 59 Uttar Pradesh Budget 2013-14: 221201.19 crore rupees Budget ........................................ 59 RBI issued Guidelines for Licensing of New Private Banks ................................................... 60 Economy Current Affairs Quizzes ......................................................................................... 62 Corporate ...................................................................................................................................... 65 Zovi, the Online Fashion Retailer Acquired Rival Inkfruit ..................................................... 65 Bharti Airtel Launched Emergency Alert Service for Women............................................... 65 Thirty Software Companies Separated From NASSCOM ...................................................... 66 ICICI Partnered With Aircel to Launch Mobile Banking Service............................................ 67 Makemytrip Launched Application Called Routeplanner ..................................................... 67 Flightsafety International Entered India ............................................................................... 67 Times Television Network Tied Up With MSM Discovery Pvt. Ltd. ...................................... 68 SC asked SEBI to Freeze Accounts of Two Companies of Sahara ......................................... 68 GAIL (India) Signed MOU with EDF Trading .......................................................................... 69 Parle-G is 1st Indian FMCG Brand to Cross Rs 5000 Crore Mark .......................................... 70 MCX-SX, Third National Stock Exchange Made Debut in India ............................................. 70 M&M Acquired Stake of Navistar International Corporation .............................................. 73 Twitter launched Pay-By-Tweet Services.............................................................................. 73 Telecom Operator Uninor closed its Operations in Mumbai ............................................... 73
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 4
Page 5
AMR Sealed 11 Billion US Dollars Merger with US Airways ................................................. 73 Pre-Consultation Paper on Mobile Number Portability Issued ............................................ 74 NTPC Signed 250 Million US $ Loan Agreement with Banks ................................................ 74 Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) Merged With BHEL ............................................ 75 Corporate Current Affair Quizzes ......................................................................................... 75 State .............................................................................................................................................. 78 Medical Treatment to be given to Criminal Offence Victims ............................................... 78 ADB Gave 100 Million US Dollar Loan to Uttarakhand ......................................................... 78 India & World Bank signed a Deal for KWDP II ..................................................................... 79 HC ordered Gujarat to Implement Scholarship Scheme ...................................................... 80 CCI approved proposal for NKSTPP, Jharkhand .................................................................... 81 Kerala Raised Age Limit to Buy and Sell Liquor from 18 to 21 ............................................. 81 Assam, First Indian State to produce over 500 million kg Tea ............................................. 81 Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Projects Receive a Nod ............................................ 81 Sports ............................................................................................................................................ 84 MS Dhoni Named as the Vice-President of India Cements .................................................. 84 Glenn McGrath Joined Australian Cricket Hall of Fame ....................................................... 84 Marussia F1 Team Unveiled Their New Formula 1 Car, MR02 ............................................. 85 India won 46 Medals in 2013 Pyeongchang Special Olympics ............................................. 85 CCI Slapped a Penalty of 52.24 crore on BCCI ...................................................................... 86 Ranchi Rhinos won Inaugural Hockey India League ............................................................. 87 Sachin Tendulkar equaled Sunil Gavaskars record .............................................................. 88 Lydia Ko is Youngest Winner Of European Tour Golf Event ................................................. 88 Horacio Zeballos Won VTR OPEN 2013 ................................................................................ 88 A. Mathews appointed Captain of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team .......................................... 89 S. Williams Became World Number One Womens Tennis Player ....................................... 89
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 5
Page 6
FIFA confirmed use of Goal-Line Technology at 2014 World Cup ........................................ 90 Marina Erakovic Won Her First WTA Title ............................................................................ 90 Sports Current Affairs Quizzes .............................................................................................. 91 Environment Ecology .................................................................................................................... 93 First Wildlife Skywalk of India to Come Up in Sikkim ........................................................... 93 Various Indian Reptiles Face Severe Extinction Threat: Study ............................................. 93 NASA Study Revealed Alarming Loss of Water in Middle East ............................................. 93 Committee to Examine Cover on Elephant Habitats Constituted ........................................ 95 Hydro Projects worth 2500 MW accorded Clearance .......................................................... 96 Nepal Started Census of Endangered Species Tigers ............................................................ 96 Shells of Snails Provide Information about Ancient Climate ................................................ 97 Science & Technology ................................................................................................................... 98 NASA Marks 10th Anni. of Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster ............................................... 98 NASA Scientists Discovered a 10-M-Year Old Star ............................................................... 98 Scientists Created Worlds First Digital Atlas of Brain .......................................................... 99 Japanese Scientists Filmed Thoughts of a Fish for First Time............................................... 99 NASAs Mars Rover, Curiosity Drilled into First Martian Rock ............................................ 100 NASA Satellite Data Found Freshwater Losses in Middle East ........................................... 100 Researchers Discovered Water on the Oldest Rocks of Moon ........................................... 101 Researchers Discovered Water on the Oldest Rocks of Moon ........................................... 102 Science and Technology Quizzes ........................................................................................ 102 One Liners ................................................................................................................................... 105 News Capsule .............................................................................................................................. 108 P.R. Vasudeva Rao Appointed As Director of IGCAR .......................................................... 108 NASA launched a New Communication Satellite called TDRS ............................................ 108 First Direct Presidential Election was held in Czech Republic ............................................ 109
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 6
Page 7
Sir Issac Newtons 300-Year-Old Textbooks Discovered .................................................... 109 Report: India accounts to 86 % Oral Cancer Figure ............................................................ 109 R. Nariman Solicitor-General of India resigned from his Office ......................................... 110 Earthquake of magnitude 8.0 struck the Solomon Islands ................................................. 110 Union Cabinet approved DRDO for developing AWACS for IAF ......................................... 111 Obama Nominated Sally Jewell as U.S. Interior Secretary ................................................. 111 Worlds Largest Prime Number Discovered........................................................................ 112 Union Government of India approved setting up of NPCA ................................................ 112 Pt. R. Shankar Honoured With Grammy Award ................................................................. 113 Pope Benedict XVI announced his Resignation .................................................................. 113 Delhi Declaration of SAAN concluded ................................................................................. 114 Allahabad Stampede during Mauni Amavasya ................................................................... 115 Mohan Parasaran Appointed As the Solicitor General of India .......................................... 115 Seventeenth Convocation of the NIMHANS held in Bangalore .......................................... 116 Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Pass through Earth Poses No Threat ............................................. 117 Int. Con. on Traditional Medicine for SE Asian Countries................................................... 117 One Billion Rising Campaign launched ............................................................................... 118 Meteorite exploded over the Skies of Russia ..................................................................... 119 Twenty-Seventh edition of Surajkund Mela ended ............................................................ 119 Ecuadors President Rafael Correa Re-elected for a Third Term ........................................ 120 Ela Bhatt Conferred 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize .................................................................... 120 Judicial Probe in Kumbh Railway Station Stampede ordered ............................................ 121 NASA Re-Established Contact with ISS after 3 Hours ......................................................... 121 Black Money Generated In India Would Exceed 10 % of GDP ........................................... 121 T. Livni entered into Coalition Deal with Benjamin Netanyahu ......................................... 122 Ratan Tata Awarded with Life Time Achievement Award 2012 ......................................... 123
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 7
Page 8
Two Blasts in Hyderabad claimed 14 Lives and left 119 Injured ........................................ 123 NASA Scientists spotted Youngest Black Hole in Milky Way .............................................. 124 Silk Route Car Rally from Kolkata to Kunming .................................................................... 124 Usha Mehra Commission Submitted its Report to Government........................................ 125 Questions of the Month.............................................................................................................. 126
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 8
Page 9
PREFACE
The Current Affairs PDF Magazine February 2013 includes the happenings of February Month. Current Affairs makes you aware of the latest happenings of the world in almost every section like Economy, Corporate, National, International, Science And Technology as well as Environment and Ecology, Sports happenings and Issues of different States of the country. Hence, it is a helpful guide for candidates of different levels of competitive examination. The magazine that we provide has been drafted to meet the requirements of different level of exams including IAS|PCS, SSC, Banking, MBA as well as Board Exams of CBSE and State Boards. An expert team work hard to analyse the importance of every event in accordance to their occurrence and try to provide you with an accurate data in all formats, so that your way ahead to competitive exams becomes easier. Before being included in the magazine, the events have been evaluated using genuine methods and represented in a way that it meets the requirements of the readers in the best way. The Current Affairs PDF magazine provided by us is reliable and one to depend on it for their preparation in terms of current affairs. The PDF is planned to help you remember the events with a better perception. The perception of the stories allows a candidate to apply the theories behind the making of the event and face the challenges during the exams everywhere.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 9
Page 10
PICK OF THE MONTH

UNION BUDGET 2013-14: PROJECTED EXPENDITURE RS 16.65 TRILLION
The Union Budget 2013-14 estimated a total expenditure of 16.65 trillion rupees and displayed concerns towards fiscal deficit, slow growth and high inflation.
UNION BUDGET 2013:14: HIGHLIGHTS

Total budget expenditure was Estimated at 16.65 trillion rupees in 2013-14 India's 2013-14 plan expenditure seen at 5.55 trillion rupees To allocate 801.94 billion rupees to rural development in 2013-14 Plan to allocate 270.49 billion rupees for agriculture in 2013-14 RBI expected GDP growth of 5.5% for Financial Year 2013-14 80194 crore rupees allocation have been made for rural development schemes including MGNAREGA, PMGSY, and INDIRA AWAS YOYANA. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission will to continue during the 12th plan period. 3511 crore allocation to minorities which is 12 per cent hike over budget estimates, 110 crore rupees allotted for welfare of disabled. 65867 crore rupees have been allocated to the Ministry of Human resources development which is 17 per cent hike over the revised estimates. 500 Crore rupees have been earmarked for high tech crop diversification program. Allocations also include 13215 crore rupees for mid day meal programme. 27,049 crore rupees for agricultural ministry and additional 200 crore to women and child Welfare Ministry. 14000 crore Rupees will be provided for PSB recapitalization. He will constitute a panel on transaction costs, and financial policies. Education gets 65867 crore rupees, an increase of 17 percent over RE for 2012-13. ICDS gets 17700 crore rupees. This is 11.7 percent more than the current year. Drinking water and sanitation will receive 15260 crore rupees. 1,400 crore was provided for setting up water purification plants to cover arsenic and fluoride affected rural areas. Health and Family Welfare Ministry had been allotted 37330 crore rupees.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 10

Page 11
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Refinance Fund doubled to an amount of 10000 crore rupees. Plans of Government are to encourage PPP projects along with Coal India. P Chidambaram announced setting up of a new all-women's bank. 1000 crore Rupees initial capital for a new women's bank which will be another public sector bank. The Bank will be set up by October 2013. An amount of additional 10000 crore rupees allotted for Food Security Bill in FY14. 3000 km of road projects will be awarded in first six months of FY14. Finance ministry approved 50000 crore Rupees tax-free bonds in FY14. The government expects to raise 25000 crore rupees via tax-free bonds in FY13. Refinancing capacity of SIDBI rose to Rs. 10,000 crore. Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) for textile to continue in 12th Plan with an investment target of 151000 crore Rupees. 14000 crore Rupees will be provided to public sector banks for capital infusion in 201314. A grant of 100 crore each has been made to 4 institutions of excellence including Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural. Heritage (INTACH). New taxes to yield 18000 crore Rupees. A surcharge of 10 percent on persons (other than companies) whose taxable income exceeds Rs.1 crore has been levied. Tobacco products, SUVs and Mobile Phones to cost more. Relief of Rs. 2000 for the tax payers in the first bracket of 2 to 5 lakhs. Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme launched for recovering service tax dues. 9000 crore Rupees earmarked as the first installment of balance of CST compensations to different States/UTs.
Union Budget 2013-14: List of Commodities on which Taxes Increased or Decreased Union Budget 2013-2014: New Plans and Schemes Introduced and Proposed Union Budget 2013-14: Allocation of Funds to the Social Sector
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 11

Union Budget 2013-14: Allocation of Funds to Industrial Sector
Page 12
Union Budget 2013-14: Allocation to Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security
RAILWAY BUDGET 2013-14: PASSENGER AMENITIES, MAIN PRIORITY

The Thrust of this year Railway Budget was on Safety, Consolidation, Passenger Amenities and Fiscal Discipline and 106 new trains (67 Express trains, 26 passenger services, 8 DEMU and 5 MEMU) are to be launched on different routes.
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE

Deployment of new generation energy efficient electric locomotives and EMUs. Five Percent Increase in freight to push Inflation. Elimination of 10797 level crossings during the 12th Plan and no addition of new LCs to the IR system henceforth. Introduction of Train Protection Warning System on Automatic Signaling Systems. Rigorous trials of the indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System. Four companies of women RPF personnel set up and another 8 to be set up to strengthen the security of rail passengers, especially women passengers Recruitment to RPF with 10% vacancies reserved for women. No increase in passenger fares 500-km new lines to be completed in 2013-14 Diesel price hike added 3300 crore rupees to fuel bill of Railways Railways hopes to end 2013-14 with a balance of 12506 crore rupees Concessional fare for sportspersons Five fellowships to be announced to motivate students Seek to fill 1.52 lakh vacancies in railways this year. 47000 vacancies for weaker sections and physically challenged to be filled up soon Target of 4000 crore rupees for railway production units in 2014 Induction of e-ticketing through mobile phones, SMS alerts to passengers Free Wi-Fi facilities in select trains. 60 more 'Adarsh' stations
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 12

Page 13
The number of passenger trains has increased from 8000 in 2001 to over 12000 in 2012 - yet losses continue to mount. It is estimated to be Rs. 24000 crore in 2012-13 Proposal for setting up of Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority formulated and at interministerial consultation stage. Supplementary charges for super fast trains, reservation fee, clerkage charge, cancellation charge and tatkal charge marginally increased. Complimentary card passes to Olympic medalist and Dronacharya Awardees for Rajdhani Shatabdi Trains. Announcement Facility and Electronic display boards in train.
Railway Budget 2013-14: 67 New Express Trains Announced Railway budget 2013-14: New Initiatives Railway Budget 2013-14: New Plans and Schemes
ECONOMIC SURVEY OF INDIA 2012-13: AN OVERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS

High rates as well as policy constraints adversely impacted investment and thus the growth of GDP and other macro aggregates achieved was 5.0 percent in the economic survey 2012-13, which was 1.2 percent less than that of 2011-12.
THE MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ECONOMIC SURVEY 2012-13 ARE

GDP growth seen at 6.1-6.7 percent in 2013/14 Government target for fiscal deficit is 4.8 pct of GDP in 2013/14 Government target for fiscal deficit is 3 pct of GDP in 2016/17 Headline WPI inflation may decline to 6.2-6.6 pct by March2013 Focus on curbing imports, making oil prices more market determined to reign in current account deficit Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) flows need to be targeted towards long-term rupee instruments Prioritisation of expenditure seen as key ingredient of credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan Raising tax to GDP ratio to more than 11 percent seen as critical for sustaining fiscal consolidation
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 13

Room for accommodative monetary policy with expected fiscal consolidation
Page 14
India likely to meet fiscal deficit target of 5.3 pct of GDP in 2012/13, despite significant shortfall in revenues Recommends curbing gold imports to reign in current account deficit Room to increase exports in the short run limited Industrial output seen growing around 3 pct in 2012/13 Government priority to fight inflation by reducing fiscal impetus to demand as well as by focusing on incentivizing food production More jobs in low productivity construction sector Balance of Payments under pressure with net exports decline Service sector has shown more resilience despite global slowdown Pitches for hike in price of diesel and LPG to cut subsidy burden Railway freight grows by 5.1 per cent in 2012-13 Foreign Exchange reserves remains steady at USD 295.6 Billion at December 2012 end
NICOS ANASTASIADES WON CYPRUS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Nicos Anastasiades, the centre-right DISY (the Democratic Rally) party leader won the presidential elections of Cyprus on 24 February 2013 with 57.5 percent votes. The term of his office starts from 28 February 2013. Nicos Anastasiades had a very easy-going victory over Communist-backed Stavros Malas who secured 42.5 percent votes in the election.
MAJOR CHALLENGES TO BE FACED BY NICOS ANASTASIADES

The major challenge that would be faced by Nicos Anastasiades is that Cyprus is standing on the verge of bankruptcy because of knock-on effect of the economic despair of Greece. Nicos Anastasiades after winning therefore declared that his first priority would be to reinstate the credibility of Cyprus. For this, he would favour deals with the foreign lenders. The economy of Cyprus is in recession. Back in July 2012, Cyprus had also asked European Union for bailout in order to shore up the banks. As a result of the bailout deal for Greece as well as restructuring of debts, private bondholders had to suffer losses, resulting in Cypruss banks losing 75 percent of the investments.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 14
Page 15
New president Nicos Anastasiades would be required to finalise the deal with 16 countries which use Euro as the currency as well as with International Monetary Fund (IMF). The aim of the newly elected president would also be to exploit the immense natural gas, which in turn would bring energy as well as income.
ABOUT NICOS ANASTASIADES

Nicos Anastasiades is a 66-year old lawyer and a member of the Cypruss parliament since 1981. He is the leader of centre-right DISY (the Democratic Rally) party since 1997. Nicos Anastasiades would be replacing the former President of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias who served the office from 28 February 2008 and will remain into the designation till the end of his term on 28 February 2013. Dimitris Christofias belonged to the Progressive Party of Working People.
IMPORTANT FACTS
Presidential elections took place in the Republic of Cyprus on 17 February 2013. None of the candidates received 50 percent of the overall votes from first round. Eventually, a runoff took place on 24 February 2013 where Nicos Anastasiades emerged as the winner. The President of the Republic of Cyprus is also known as the head of the state as well as the head of the government of Cyprus. The office of the President of Cyprus was formed in 1960 after the country achieved its freedom from the UK.
INDIA GOT A GO AHEAD ON KISHANGANGA PROJECT

The Court of Arbitration at The Hague on 18 February 2013 allowed India to go ahead with the Construction of the Kishanganga hydro-electric project in Gurez valley near Bandipura in North Kashmir, the court rejected the plea of Pakistan that the construction was a violation of 1960 Indus Water Treaty. The Court of Arbitration, chaired by Stephen M. Schwebel in its orders stated that India can move ahead with the diversion of water plans of Kishanganga that is a tributary of Jhelum, for generation of hydro-electric power. But it restrained India from adoption of the drawdown technique of flushing for clearing the sedimentation of the run-of-the river project that had been designed and asked it to adopt a different technique for generation of 330 MW power facilities. The Court had also demanded the environmental flows statistics of the project.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 15
Page 16
Bhaswati Mukherjee, Indian Ambassador and her Pakistani counterpart Fauzia Mazhar Sana received the Judgment of the Court at The Hague. Pakistan initiated the arbitration against India with a charge that India violated the provisions of the Water Treaty between the two countries. But India denied the charges forced on to it by explain that the country reserved its rights to divert the water from one of the tributaries of Jhelum to another.
ISSUES FOR PAKISTAN FROM ITS PERSPECTIVE

Pakistan on 17 May 2010 raised objections on the making of the Kishanganga Hydro-power project for which it demanded setting up of the Court of Arbitration.
ISSUES RAISED BY PAKISTAN IN THE COURT OF ARBITRATION

The project is being developed at the downstream of Kishanganga River that is known by the name Neelam in Pakistan and is a tributary of Jhelum. India is diverting the waters of the river from the dam site to Bonar Madmati Nallah that is another tributary of Jhelum. India planned to use modern drawdown flushing technique for sedimentation management in the dam. The technique requires waters to be brought below the dead storage level (as per the treaty the water can be reduced below the dead storage level only in cases of unforeseen emergency) and was this plan was accepted by the neutral expert during the Bahlihar dispute with Pakistan.
In June 2011, the members from the Court of Arbitration, The Hague visited India as well as Pakistan for inspection of the site.
BRIEF PROVISIONS OF INDUS WATERS TREATY 1960

i. The Indus system of rivers comprises three Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and their tributaries) and threes Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab and their tributaries). ii. The Indus Waters Treaty 1960 was signed on 19.09.1960 between India and Pakistan. It is however effective from 01.04.1960. iii. Under the Treaty, the waters of Eastern Rivers are allocated to India. India is under obligation to let flow the waters of the Western Rivers except for the following uses: (a) Domestic Use (b) Non-consumptive use (c) Agricultural use as specified
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 16

(d) Generation of hydro-electric power as specified
Page 17
ix. The Commissioners of the Indus Waters may discuss the questions arising under the Treaty under Article IX of the Treaty related to Settlement of Differences and Disputes and in the case of non-resolution, take further action under this Article for resolution through a Neutral Expert, negotiators or Court of Arbitration.
ARTICLES UNDER CONSIDERATION

Article III (2): Let flow all waters of the Western Rivers and not permit any interference with the water Article IV (6): Both the countries require use of the best endeavors at each others end for maintenance of natural channels of the rivers and should avoid all the steps that may obstruct the flow of these rivers creating a material damage at the end of any of the two parties.
As per Pakistan, the diversion of the water of Kishanganga as well as implementation of the drawdown flushing technique at Kishanganga project as well as other hydro-electric plants were the violation of the Treat signed in 1960, named Indus Water Treaty.
KISHANGANGA PROJECT
Kishanganga hydro-electric power project is a 330 MW project under its construction phase on the Kishanganga River and is developed by the National Power Corporation in Gurez Valley, near Bandipura in North Kashmir. The work on the project started in the year 1992. The Kishanganga hydro-electric project is a 3600 crore project. Kishanganga is called Neelam in Pakistan.
PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) was established during the First Hague Peace Conference 1899 by a treaty. It is an intergovernmental organization (IGO) that provides a variety of dispute resolution services to the international community. It provides resolution to the disputes related to intergovernmental organizations, states, state entities and private parties. PCA is located in The Hague, Netherland. PCA provides services for the resolution of disputes involving various combinations of states, state entities, intergovernmental organisations, and private parties. The PCA can assist in the selection of arbitrators, and may be called upon to designate or act as appointing authority.
FIRST INDIA-JAPAN MARITIME AFFAIRS DIALOGUE WAS HELD

The first India-Japan Maritime Affairs Dialogue was held in New Delhi on 29 January 2013. Issues of mutual interest were discussed, inter alia, maritime security including non-traditional www.jagranjosh.com
Page 17
Page 18
threats, cooperation in shipping, marine sciences and technology, marine biodiversity and cooperation at various multilateral forums. The Indian delegation was led by DB Venkatesh Varma, Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs), in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Japanese delegation by Mr. Kazuyuki Yamazaki, Deputy Director General (Ambassador), Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
AHMADINEJAD IS FIRST IRANIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT EGYPT SINCE 1979

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran on 5 February 2013 became the first Iranian leader to visit Egypt after Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution. He flew into the Egyptian capital city Cairo for attending the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that started on 6 Feb 2013. Ahmadinejads visit to Egypt was scheduled to improve the ties between the two countries. During this historic visit to Egypt, Ahmadinejad received a red carpet welcome by the President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi. The Presidents of the two nations discussed on the ways to improve relations between them and to resolve the Syrian crisis without resorting to military intervention. During his visit to the al-Azhar, an ancient mosque, a shoe was thrown on Ahmadinejad by a Syrian protestor after which he managed to flee from there.
TEHRAN'S 1979 ISLAMIC REVOLUTION

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 was the series of events that took place for overthrowing the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which was then replaced by the Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution.
REASON FOR TENSIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND EGYPT

The relations between the two countries went sour since late 1970s, when Anwar Sadat (Egypt), the predecessor of Hosni Mubarak concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 to became an ally with the Western Powers, namely Europe and United States. This was the time, when Iran stood against the influence of Western Power in the Middle East. The other reason for the tension is naming of a street in Tehran by the name of the Islamist, who was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981.
PRESIDENT S ASSENT TO CRIMINAL LAW (AMDT.) ORDINANCE, 2013

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 3 February 2013 agreed to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 for sharpening the laws against sexual assault. The President
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 18
Page 19
mandated harsher punishment such as death penalty for the offenders in such cases where the victim either dies or lands into the vegetative state. The amended law would come into force almost immediately.
FEATURES OF THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE, 2013

This Ordinance may be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013. It shall come into force at once. Insertion of new section 166A to the Indian Penal Code: Public servant disobeying direction under law. Insertion of new sections 326A and 326B to the Indian Penal Code: Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid. Insertion of new sections 354A, 354B, 354C and 354D to the Indian Penal Code: Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment, Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe, voyeurism, stalking. Substitution of new sections 370 and 370A for section 370 to the Indian Penal Code: Trafficking of person, employing of a trafficked person. Substitution of new sections for sections 375, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C and 376D to the Indian Penal Code: Sexual assault, punishment for sexual assault, punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of the victim, sexual assault by husband upon his wife during separation, sexual intercourse by a person in authority, sexual assault by gang and punishment for repeat offenders. Insertion of new section 198B of the Code of Criminal Procedure: Cognizance of offence Insertion of new section 53A of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872: Evidence of character or previous sexual experience not relevant in certain cases. Substitution of new section for section 114A of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872: Presumption as to absence of consent in certain prosecution for sexual assault. Substitution of new section for section 119 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 : Witness unable to communicate verbally.
WHAT DOES THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE, 2013 INCLUDE?
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 19
Page 20
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was given assent by the President and it includes stalking, voyeurism, acid attacks as well as disrobing of women. These crimes were given the status of specific offences under the Indian Penal Code. The ordinance was approved by Union Cabinet of India on 1 February 2013. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 comprises of various recommendations from the JS Verma committee as well. The ordinance is an impact of the Delhi gangrape which took place on 16 December 2012 in a moving bus. The ordinance brought changes to the clauses of already-existing criminal law by making amendments in Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Evidence Act.
Part V the Union CHAPTER III of the Constitution of India grants legislative powers to the president to pass the ordinance. Article 123 includes power of president to promulgate ordinances during recess of parliament.
ARTICLE 123 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

(1) If at any time, except when both Houses of Parliament are in session, the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinances as the circumstances appear to him to require. (2) An Ordinance promulgated under this article shall have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament, but every such Ordinance(a) shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of Parliament, or, if before the expiration of that period resolutions disapproving it are passed by both Houses, upon the passing of the second of those resolutions; and (b) May be withdrawn at any time by the President. Explanation - Where the Houses of Parliament are summoned to reassemble on different dates, the period of six weeks shall be reckoned from the later of those dates for the purposes of this clause. (3) If and so far as an Ordinance under this article makes any provision which Parliament would not under this Constitution be competent to enact, it shall be void.
DURATION OF THE ORDINANCE

An ordinance once passed by the President of India remains into force for a time period of six months. Within this period, the Parliament needs to pass the ordinance.
SC: SEIZE OPERATIONS OF UNSUCCESSFUL BIDDERS OF 2G SPECTRUM
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 20
Page 21
The Supreme Court (SC) of India on 15 February 2013 directed the telecom companies that failed to win bidding in the fresh 2G Spectrum Auction or didnt participated into it to cease their operations immediately. The fresh auction took place after the licenses issued earlier were scrapped by the Court. The Supreme Court also cleared that the Court would soon order the companies, which were successful in winning their biddings in the actions those were held on 12 November and 14 November 2012 to start operations in their respective circles immediately. The Supreme Court bench of two Judges that comprised justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan directed the telecom companies whose licenses were scrapped on 2 February 2012 but allowed to function were supposed to pay back the reserved price fixed for the licenses during the first round of November 2012 auction. The Court in its declaration cleared that the Judgment pronounced in February 2012 was not applicable for the telecom companies that holds spectrum in 900 MHz band as the orders of February 2012 helds no bearing on litigations related to 900 MHz band. The Court also ordered to put on immediate and fresh auction the entire 2G Spectrum, whose licenses were cancelled by it.
ISRO'S PSLV-C20 ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED SARAL

Six foreign micro and mini spacecrafts as well as the Indo-French oceanographic study satellite, SARAL (Satellite for Argos-3 and Altika) were launched successfully by ISRO's PSLV-C20 rocket on 25 February 2013 from the spaceport at Sriharikota. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) of Indian Space Research Organizations (ISRO) flew from first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre and was successfully put into the orbit. The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee witnessed this launch from mission control centre at Sriharikota.
SATELLITES LAUNCHED BY PSLV-C20 ROCKET

410-kg SARAL with payloads - Argos and Altika Two micro-satellites UniBRITE and BRITE from Austria AAUSAT3 from Denmark Strand from United Kingdom Micro-satellite (NEOSSat) Mini-satellite (SAPPHIRE) from Canada
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 21
Page 22
These seven satellites were launched successfully by PSLV which depicted its versatility and recorded 22nd successful flight consecutive. ISRO also has plans to launch the Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle that has indigenous cryogenic engine, along with the Indias mission to Mars, both of which are scheduled for 2013.
SARAL, THE UNIQUE SATELLITE

SARAL is said to be a very unique satellite which serves the research community. This satellite will assist the researchers in oceanographic studies. SARAL will study the sea surface heights and ocean currents. ARGOS-2 will help in collecting the data, while Altikameter will be responsible for measuring the height of sea surface. SARAL will also assist researchers in studying about the climatic developments. Its practical applications include study of migration of the marine animals, continental ice studies, protection of biodiversity and coastal erosion.
AFZAL GURU, THE CONVICT OF PARLIAMENT ATTACK 2001 HANGED

Mohamammed Afzal Guru, the convict of 2001 Parliament attack was hanged on 9 February 2013 at 8 AM in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. The Supreme Court of India pronounced the death Sentence for Afzal Guru in 2004 for masterminding the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001. The decision of hanging him came after the mercy petition filed was cancelled by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 23 January 2013.
THE 2001 PARLIAMENT ATTACK

The terrorist of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad managed to attack on the Parliament of India, leading to the death of about a dozen of people including the security persons as well as civilians.
AFZAL GURUS SECRET HANGING WAS CALLED OPERATION THREE STAR

Operation Three Star: Code name given to secret plan for executing Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail on 9 February 2013. Operation Three Star started on 4 February 2013, just a day after the President of India Pranab Mukherjee rejected mercy plea of Afzal Guru. A few top officials of Home Ministry were aware about secret Operation Three Star.
MORE MERCY PLEAS RE JECTED BY THE PRESIDENT, PRANAB MUKHERJEE
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 22
Page 23
Before rejection of Afzal Gurus mercy plea, two more mercy pleas were rejected by the President in the recent past and they include the mercy pleas of 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks convict, Ajmal Kasab and Saibanna Ningappa Natikar, the person convicted for murdering his daughter and wife and was sentenced to death. Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist caught during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, was hanged in a Yerwada Jail, Pune in a top-secret operation on 21 November 2012. Saibanna Ningappa Natikar currently lodged in the Central Prison at Hindalga, Belgaum, Karnataka and his plea was rejected by the President on 4 January 2013. Hanging of Mumbai terror attack militant Ajmal Kasab was called Operation X. he was hanged at Yerwada Central Jail on 21 November 2012.
ZHUANG ZEDONG, THREE-TIME WORLD TABLE TENNIS CHAMPION DIED

Zhuang Zedong, the table tennis legend died in Beijing on 10 February 2013 following lengthy fight with cancer. He was aged 72 years. Zhuang Zedong is a three-time world table tennis champion. He won a range of events in 1960s. He was renowned for chance meeting with Glenn Cowan, the US table tennis player during 31st World Table Tennis Championships in 1971.
ZHUANG ZEDONG DIPLOMACY
AND
PING-PONG
Zhuang Zedong remained a crucial figure in pingpong diplomacy of 1971 and is popularly also called the Architect of Ping-Pong Diplomacy. Ping-pong diplomacy means exchange of the table tennis (pingpong) players between China and US. This was done to normalise relations between these two countries.
GIUSEPPE HELD ON BRIBE CHARGES IN DEFENCE HELICOPTER DEAL

Giuseppe Orsi, head of an Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica was arrested in Milan on 11 February 2013 on the charges of his alleged involvement in the bribery activity to secure an Indian defence helicopter deal of 3600 crore rupees. He was arrested in relation to the probe of the international corruption.
THE DEAL
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 23
Page 24
The contract signed with Italian defence giant Finmeccanica in February 2010 involved supply of 12 VVIP three-engine AW-101 choppers from AgustaWestland for the Indian Air Forces elite Communication Sqadron. By now, three choppers have already been delivered to India. As per the reports on the bribe scam, its expected that about 362 crore rupees that is equivalent to about 10 percent of the final deal was given back to help the Italian firm in winning the contract.
ABOUT FINMECCANICA
The Finmeccanica is an Italian defence Giant company that entered into a deal to supply 12 three-engine AW-101 helicopters to India in February 2010. Giuseppe Orsi, now the CEO of Finmeccanica and the then head of its Helicopter Unit was arrested on the charges of the bribe scandal that surfaced.
AGUSTAWESTLAND
AgustaWestland is an Anglo-Italian helicopter company that is owned by Italys Finmeccanica. The company is a total capability provider in the vertical lift market.
AUSTRALIA CLINCHED I CC WOMENS WORLD CUP TROPHY

Australia won the ICC Womens World Cup Trophy after defeating West -Indies by 114-runs on 17 February 2013 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Australia clinched the title for the sixth time in the history of womens cricket World Cup it last won t he title in 2005. Australia scored 259 runs (this is the highest score in Womens World Cup Final) at the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs and West Indies lost all its wickets at the score of 145.
CAPTAINS
Australian Captain: Jodie Fields West Indies Captain: Merissa Aguilleira
SCORECARD OF FINALS
Australia: 7/259
i. J Cameron scored 75runs in the finals ii. R Haynes scored 52 runs in the finals iii. S Quintyne took 3 wickets for 27 runs
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 24

West Indies 10/145
Page 25
i. KA Knight scored 21* in the finals ii. MR Aguilleria scored 23 runs in the finals iii. E Perry took 3 wickets for 19 runs
TOURNAMENT REPORT
Player of the tournament - New Zealands Suzie Bates for scoring 407 runs with three half-centuries and a ton at an average of 67.83 in the series.
The Australian, all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar announced her retirement from International cricket after the Australian womens cricket team won the world cup title 2013. She made her debut in the international cricket in 2001 in an ODI match against England till her retirement she managed to play 125 one day internationals, 8 tests and 54 women T20 international matches.
WOMEN'S WORLD CUP HISTORY

First World Cup was played in the year 1973 at England, the final was played between England and Australia and England won the match by 92 runs Second World Cup was played in India in the year 1978 India, England and Australia were the teams in the final, Australia won the match by 8 wickets Third World Cup was played in 1982 at New Zealand. England and Australia were the team in the final match; Australia won it by 3 wickets In 1988 venue for the fourth World Cup was played in Australia. The final was played between Australia and England; Australia won it by 3 wickets The sixth World Cup was played in England in the year 1993. The final was played between New Zealand and England; England won it by 67 runs The seventh World Cup was played in 1997 in India, Australia and New Zealand were the two teams in the final; Australia won it by 5 wickets Eighth World Cup was played at New Zealand in the year 2000. The final was played between, Australia and New Zealand; New Zealand won it by 4 runs The ninth World Cup was held in South Africa in the year 2005, Australia and India were the two teams in final; Australia won it by 98 runs The tenth World Cup was held in Australia and the final was played between England and New Zealand, England won it by 4 wickets
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 25
Page 26
2013 the tournament was played in India, West Indies and Australia were the two teams in final; Australia won the match with 114 runs
Captain of England Womens Cricket team, Charlotte Edwards became the first women to pass 5000 runs in one-day international after hitting 121 runs of 106 balls in the semi-final match against New Zealand. India failed to make its path into the quarterfinals and had never won any world cup trophy till date.
FIRST COMPLETE BIONIC MAN OF THE WORLD UNVEILED

First bionic man of the world called Rex was unveiled on 7 February 2013 at London's Science Museum. The bionic man was created using 1 million US dollar limbs as well as organs. Prosthetic legs and ankle came from MIT, synthetic blood from Sheffield University, spleens, pancreas and artificial kidneys from University College London, retinas from Oxford University and artificial lungs came from Swansea. Rex has a human face with brown eyes and a height of 6.5 feet. It was designed jointly with assistance from 18 universities and companies. Rex gave a hope that it was possible to replace the body parts with the artificial alternatives, for the very first time. The internal organs of Rex such as artificial lungs, bladder and pancreas were in line of development. It is important to note that it is not possible for certain technology to function without the help of human input. For example bionic hands require signals from brain and muscles to work properly. Other parts however, such as pancreas and heart can be designed to work automatically. Rex would remain in display at London's Science Museum from 7 February 201 to 11 March 2013.
WORLDS FIRST MERCURY TREATY ADOPTED BY 140 COUNTRIES

An international treaty that legally binds the nation to limit the use of health hazardous mercury was adopted by 140 nations in the third week of January 2013 at Geneva. The treaty would be signed in Minamata, Japan, in October 2013 to honour the inhabitants of town who have suffered the consequences of serious mercury contamination for decades Aims of the Treaty Reduction of global emission levels of the toxic heavy metal or the quick silver Reduce the production and the use of mercury in industrial processes and product production To cut mercury pollution from utility plants, mining, a host of products and industrial processes, and set enforceable limits as well as to encourage alternatives where mercury in not used or released
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 26

MAKING OF THE TREATY
Page 27
Switzerland and Norway pushed forward for making of an international treaty to limit the emission of Mercury in the atmosphere. The two nations came up with the plans of reducing the emission of mercury decades ago and it was finalized after a long conference in Geneva held in February 2013.
IMPACT OF MERCURY ON HUMAN BEING

The natural element Mercury cannot be created or destroyed, but is released in air, water and land from different activities like coal powder plants, gold mining activities as well as electrical goods and other consumer products. Mercury enters the food-chain via fish and poses a threat to the living being more likely to pregnant women and children. As per the data released by the World Health Organisation intake of mercury or any of its compounds to any limit is not safe and it may lead to memory loss, language impairment and kidney damage.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 27
Page 28
INTERNATIONAL
HAMADI JEBALI, RESIGNED FROM POST OF PRIME MINISTER OF TUNISIA
Hamadi Jebali resigned from the office of the Prime Minister of Tunisia on 19 February 2013 after his attempt to end a political standoff by formation of a Government of Technocrats failed. Hamadi Jebali was trying to create coalition because of the political crisis which took birth by killing of Chokri Belaid, the opposition leader. A cabinet of apolitical technocrats was proposed by Jebali to suppress the disorder created after the assassination of the secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on 6 February 2013. Belaid, an outspoken critic of the government and a leaning lawyer was shot dead and his death created a situation of mass protests across the nation. Assassination of Chokri Belaid on 6 February 2013 led to mass protests as well as resignations from the coalition government of Tunisia.
ABOUT HAMADI JEBALI

Hamadi Jebali is the Tunisian Islamist politician, who remained in office as the PM from December 2011 to 19 February 2013. He was also the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Movement which is the Islamist party in Tunisia. He belonged to the Ennahda Movement political party of Tunisia. He is a member of the Islamist Ennahda party.
PRIME MINISTER OF BULGARIA RESIGNED BECAUSE OF PROTESTS

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria resigned from the office on 20 February 2013 on grounds of protests in the nation against the high electricity prices. The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boiko Borisov earlier tried to bring peace by sacking the finance minister and assured cutting the power prices as well as punishing the foreign-owned companies.
CAUSE OF RESIGNATION GOVERNMENT
OF
BULGARIAS
Bulgarians held protests in the country because of concerns over higher energy costs, lower living standards, power monopolies as well as corruption. The Boiko Borisov on 20 February 2013 announced his resignation. While announcing his resignation, Boiko
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 28
Page 29
Borisov did not mention anything about the parliamentary elections which are scheduled for July 2013.
IMPORTANT FACTS
Bulgaria is located in Southeastern Europe. It is the 14th largest country of Europe. Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boiko Borisov belonged to the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, which is abbreviated as GERB (Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya). It is the center-right political party of Bulgaria which was established in 2006. It has remained a ruling party in Bulgaria since 2009, headed by Boiko Borisov.
TRADE DEFICIT OF JAPAN HIT RECORD IN JANUARY 2013

The monthly trade deficit of Japan hit record in January 2013 after the aggressive monetary policy weakened Yen, its currency considerably. The exports increased in January, which was the first increase in 8 months time. Exports of Japan increased because the goods became affordable for the foreign buyers. However, because of the weakened Yen, the import bill also increased which eventually led to a monthly trade deficit of 1.6tn yen or 17.1 billion US dollars. This was the 10 percent increase from 2012. The deficit of Japan was also affected because of an increase in the fuel imports. Japan is the third largest economy of the world and there was an increase in the fuel imports because most of the nuclear reactors of the country remained shut down. The imports of the country increased 7.3 percent in January 2013 from January 2012. The highest jump was in import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which increased over 28 percent. In the meanwhile, exports also increased 6.4 percent. The exports were driven considerably by shipment of the manufactured goods.
FACTORS AFFECTING JA PANS EXPORT

The exports of Japan are crucial factors that drive its economic growth. Exports of Japan were affected because of various factors.
THESE FACTORS ARE AS FOLLOWS

Demand from the biggest markets of Japan, Eurozone, was hurt because of ongoing debt crisis of the region. Territorial dispute with the biggest trading partner of Japan, i.e., China hit the sales of goods produced by Japan over the duration of past certain months.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 29

The exports also declined to the European Union during January 2013.
Page 30
INDIA & SRI LANKA SIGNED AGREEMENT ON COMBATING TERRORISM

India and Sri Lanka on 22 January 2013 signed two agreements for fighting against international terrorism as well as avoiding double taxation. The agreements were signed after 8th India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting which was held in New Delhi. Discussions held during 8th India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting The agreements were signed after discussions on cooperation on various areas such as civil nuclear energy and many more. External Affairs Minister led the Indian side in the meeting, while the Sri Lankan side was led by G L Peiris. Issue of the fishermen as well as rehabilitation process of the Tamils in Sri Lanka was also discussed during the meeting. Apart from this, 13th Amendment of the Lankan constitution which provides autonomy to the provinces was also discussed.
It is important to note that India and Sri Lanka are the largest trade partners of each other in South Asia. After the meeting, it was agreed that a dialogue between the Commerce Secretary of India and Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of Sri Lanka would be initiated to progress the framework for special economic partnership between these two nations.
INDIA AND UAE AGREED IMPROVE THEIR TRADE RELATIONS

India and the UAE agreed to improve their trade and investment relations during the first meeting of India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investment in Abu Dhabi on 18 February 2013. UAE decided to invest 2 billion dollars in Infrastructure sector projects in India and the two countries decided to work for and support Strategic Oil Reserve in India. The meeting was cochaired by the Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma and Sheikh Hamid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court. As a part of the bilateral agreement, Five high level sub committees will be set up to promote investment in infrastructure and energy, trade and investment, manufacturing and technology, Information and communications technology and aviation sectors. India and UAE also decided to work together for third country projects, including Africa aimed at collaborating in the infrastructure sector and oil and gas exploration. The two countries also agreed to put in place Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA).
INDIA-US JOINT WORKING GROUP HELD ITS 10TH MEET

www.jagranjosh.com
Page 30
Page 31
The India-U.S. Joint Working Group on UN Peacekeeping held its 10th meeting in Washington on 13 February 2013. At the meeting, India and the United States advanced a number of goals laid out in the Declaration of Principles the Joint Working Group agreed upon in 2011. The Joint Working Group also continued indepth consultations on UN peacekeeping issues, and explored an agreement on a set of Principles of India-U.S. Cooperation in the Area of Training UN Peacekeepers and institutional arrangements between their peacekeeping institutions. India and USA welcomed the open and comprehensive nature of the discussions, and agreed the talks helped advance their shared commitment to supporting and strengthening United Nations peacekeeping operations, and their mutual interest in assuring the success of UN peacekeeping missions. Both nations agreed that the 11th meeting of the Working Group will be held in New Delhi in 2014.
INDIA AND FRANCE AGREED TO COOPERATE ON COUNTER TERRORISM

India and France on 14 February 2013 agreed to strengthen counter terrorism and intelligence cooperation between the two countries during the visit of French President Francois Holllande to India. Both nations exchanged views on a number of bi-lateral, regional and multilateral issues. India and France also reviewed progress on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project and reiterated our commitment to its early implementation as soon as the commercial and technical negotiations, which have made good progress, are completed. Both the nations also concluded negotiations on the short range surface to Air missile to be coproduced in India. They also agreed on the need to reinvigorate economic engagement between the two countries. Moreover, they had in-depth discussion on the defence cooperation issue including submarines and missiles.
OTHER IMPORTANT INDIA-FRANCE AGREEMENTS

Both the nations agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of the modernisation of the railway, high speed corridors and network upgradation of railway stations. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and France's CNES under the space cooperation programme, jointly identified the means to pursue further cooperation. A pact was changed to increase exchanges between the sportspersons, artists, architects, researchers, teachers, students to improve people-to-people contacts.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 31

Page 32
The cooperation between various Indian and French educational institutions was finalised. MoU was signed between Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and France's CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) CFA(Credit Facility Agreement) was signed for the Bangalore Metro Rail Project, Phase-1 between Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the French Development Agency(AFD)
PAKISTAN APPROVED DEAL TO HAND OVER GWADAR PORT TO CHINA

Pakistan in the last week of January 2013 approved the deal which transferred operational control of Gwadar port from Singapores PSA International to Chinese Overseas Port Holdings Ltd. Gwadar port is situated at a strategic location of the Arabian Sea and the mouth of the Persian Gulf. It is only 400 kilometres away from the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil supply route. Pakistan decision to hand over Gwadar port to China is a serious concern for India. It can be an attempt by China to encircle India. In addition to funding ports in Sri Lanka, China has also plans to build a port in Bangladesh.
INDIA AND AUSTRIA SIGNED A SOCIAL SECURITY PACT

India and Austria on 5 February 2013 inked a social security pact at Vienna, under which the Indian professionals working in Austria would be exempted from paying the social security contribution of the country, if such payments are already made in India. Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Austrian Minister for Labour and Social Security, Rudoulf Hundstorfer signed the pact. The pact of social security between the two countries would also boost cooperation of the labour market expansion in Austria, the country that is a home for more than 17000 Indian professionals.
PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT

Indians working in the country on short-term contracts of up to five years are exempted from making social security contribution in Austria if they continue making the payments in India. If any Indian worker is sent to Austria by an Indian company from a third country then also he can avail the relief.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 32
Page 33
Export of the benefits of social security would be offered to the Indian worker, who relocates to India once his/her service term in Austria ends. The self employed Indians can also carry on the same benefits on relocation to India
India already have inked similar types of agreements with countries like Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Denmark, South Korea, Finland, Canada, Norway and Japan. As per the Indian Labour Law, every employer and employee who falls under the umbrella of Employees Provident Fund Act 1952 needs to make contribution towards provident fund. Similarly the mandatory contribution fund in Austria is known as Social Security. Before signing of these agreements, the Indian professionals posted in foreign countries paid social security tax in the countries of their stay although they contributed there part in India.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FILED A CIVIL LAWSUIT AGAINST S&P

The United States of America on 5 February 2013 filed a civil lawsuit against Standard and Poor's (S&P) the credit rating agency alleging that the agency lied about the nations objectivity and independence by the way it rated the mortgage bonds. The lawsuit have claimed that as a result of the ratings issued by the S&P, which misrepresented the securities true credit risks the investors, even those who were federally insured financial institution lost billions of dollars on collateralized Debt Obligations.
JACKIE CHAN SELECTED AS MEMBER OF CHINESE PARLIAMENT

Mo Yan, the winner of Nobel Prize for literature, 2012 and Jackie Chan, the movie star were given a political role in China by being selected as members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, one of the houses of Chinese parliament. Mo Yan and Jackie Chan were among 2237 people selected by China's new leaders led by Xi Jinping as the members of CPPCC National Committee. Out of 2237 people, 399 are women. Xi Jinping is the new general secretary of the Communist Party. He will become the President of China after two Houses of Parliament have meeting in March 2013. Apart from Mo Yan and Jackie Chan, other known face to be given a seat in this political party includes former NBA star and popular basket ball player Yao Ming. CPPCC comprises of the members from different fields and they were selected without any election process. The party includes 893 members of the Communist Party. The chosen officials include members of non-Communist parties, military officers, officials, representatives from environmental, social, cultural, political and economic fields.
INDIA AT 140TH POSITION IN LATEST WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 33
Page 34
India dropped nine places to 140th rank in the list of 179 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index 2013, which is the lowest since 2002. India got this lowly rank because of increasing impunity for violence against journalists and internet censorship. Netherlands, Norway and Finland topped the list. The Press Freedom Index was released by world Press Freedom index for the year 2013. China got 173rd rank. Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea were placed at the bottom of the list as has been in the last three years. As per the Press index report, there has been a decline in freedom of information in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent among Asia witnessed the sharpest deterioration in providing freedom and security for those involved in news reporting in 2012. In India considered as the world's biggest democracy, the authorities insist on censoring the Web and impose numerous kinds of restrictions, while violence against journalists was not punished and the regions like Kashmir and Chhattisgarh are getting increasingly isolated. The Maldives crashed to 103rd place (-30) because of violence and threats against journalists in state television and private media regarded as Nasheed supporters by the coup leaders. Bangladesh more or less faces the same situation. Its journalists are targets of police violence frequently. They are not protected by authorities in case they face violence against them. Pakistan that was ranked at 159th position is one of the worlds most dangerous nations for Reporters. Nepal was ranked at 118th position. Reporters without Borders also published an annual global indicator of worldwide media freedom which coincided with the release of its 2013 Press Freedom Index. This new analytic tool is helpful in measuring the overall level of freedom of information in the world and the performance of the world's governments in their response to Press freedom. To Read More International Stories
INTERNATIONAL QUIZZES
1. Name the book on Netaji Subhash Chndra Bose that was presented to the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in February 2013 by Professor Anita B. Pfaff. a) Disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose b) Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Germany c) Subahsh Chandra Bose and The National struggle of independence d) Netaji and Azad Hind Fouz
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 34

Answer. (b) Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Germany
Page 35
2. India and Bangladesh signed MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) on Health in New Delhi in February 2013. Which of the below mentioned statements in relation to the MoU is True? i. Fostering cooperation for the development of culturally sensitive and effective public and professional awareness campaign including clinical practices and best practices guidelines for healthcare providers and caretakers to benefit individuals and families touched by Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities Exchange of scientific materials and information as well as joint collaboration in the area of research in medical science. Participation of specialists / professionals in seminars, workshops, conferences and meetings to be organized by both the parties Development of human resources, but no exchange of doctors and health care professionals between the two nations
ii.
iii.
iv.
a) Statement i, ii and iii are true b) Statement i, iii and iv are true c) Statement ii, iii and iv are true d) All the four statements are true Answer. (a) Statement i, ii and iii are true 3. India and France on 14 February 2013 agreed to strengthen counter terrorism and intelligence cooperation between the two countries during the visit of French President Francois Holllande to India. Which of the below mentioned statements about the agreement made between the two countries are true? i. Both the nations agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of the modernisation of the railway, high speed corridors and network upgradation of railway stations. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and France's CNES under the space cooperation programme jointly identified the means to pursue further cooperation. MoU was signed between Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and France's CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
ii.
iii.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 35

iv.
Page 36
CFA (Credit Facility Agreement) was signed for the Bangalore Metro Rail Project, Phase1 between Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the French Development Agency(AFD)
a) Statement i, ii and iii are true b) Statement i, iii and iv are true c) Statement ii, iii and iv are true d) All the four statements are true Answer. (d) All the four statements are true 4. Name the court that ordered India to go ahead with the development of Kishanganga hydro-electric project in Gurez valley near Bandipura in North Kashmir? a) Court of Arbitration at The Hague b) Permanent Court of International Justice c) Permanent Court of International Justice d) Special Court for Sierra Leone Answer. (a) Court of Arbitration at The Hague 5. Which of the following statements related to Kishanganga hydro-electric Project true? i. The Court of Arbitration restrained India from adoption of the drawdown technique of flushing for clearing the sedimentation of the run-of-the river project that had been designed and asked it to adopt a different technique for generation of 330 MW power facilities Pakistan initiated the arbitration against India with a charge that India violated the provisions of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty between the two countries. The project is being developed at the upstream of Kishanganga River that is known by the name Neelam in Pakistan and is a tributary of Jhelum. India is diverting the waters of the river from the dam site to Bonar Madmati Nallah that is another tributary of Jhelum The Indus system of rivers comprises three Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and their tributaries) and threes Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab and their tributaries)
ii.
iii.
iv.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 36

a) Statement i, ii and iii are true b) Statement i, ii and iv are true c) Statement ii, iii and iv are true d) All the four statements are true Answer. (b) Statement i, ii and iv are true For More International Quizzes
Page 37
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 37
Page 38
WORLD DAIRY
28 January 2013 China successfully carried out interceptor missile test. Milos Zeman won the Czech Republic Presidential Election 2013. 29 January 2013 India and Bangladesh signed Agreements on Extradition and Visa Regime. 30 January 2013 India and Australia agreed to concentrate on Energy and Food Security. 31 January 2013 India Pledged humanitarian assistance of 2.5 million US Dollars to Syria. India and USA inaugurated the first triangular India-US-Africa Partnership at Hyderabad. 1 February 2013 India dropped to 140th Rank in the latest World Press Freedom Index. 2 February 2013 Japanese scientists filmed the thoughts of a fish for the first time. 3 February 2013s Sir Issac Newtons 300-year-old textbooks discovered in UK School. 4 February 2013 Mo Yan and Jackie Chan selected as members of Chinese parliament. 5 February 2013 Allan Border Medal 2013: Michael Clarke won the medal fourth time. World Cancer Day observed across the world. 6 February 2013 United States of America filed a civil lawsuit against Standard and Poor's. India and Austria signed a Social Security Pact. 7 February 2013 Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian President to visit Egypt since 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pakistan approved the deal which handed over Gwadar Port to China. 8 February 2013 Presidential Election in Maldives scheduled in September 2013. Worlds largest prime number discovered; contains 17 million digits. 9 February 2013 Shaukat Ullah took oath as Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 10 February 2013 Tunisian president's party withdrew from coalition. 11 February 2013 Seventeen Indian prisoners on death row in Sharjah Jail released. 12 February 2013 India and Bangladesh signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on health. Iran called on for destruction and end of the Nuclear Weapons of the World. 13 February 2013 India and Japan held talks to strengthen cooperation in tourism sector. www.jagranjosh.com
Page 38
Page 39
14 February 2013 North Korea conducted its third nuclear test and defied UN Regulations for world peace. 15 February 2013 India and France agreed to strengthen cooperation on counter terrorism. 16 February 2013 First India-Japan maritime affairs dialogue was held in New Delhi. 17 February 2013 India and Bangladesh held joint consultative commission meeting in Dhaka. 18 February 2013 India-US joint working group held its 10th meeting in Washington. 19 February 2013 Court of Arbitration, The Hague gave a go ahead to India on Kishanganga Project. India and the UAE agreed to take their trade relations to another Level. Afghan Government not in favour of taking air support from international forces. 20 February 2013 India and Sri Lanka signed agreements on combating terrorism and avoiding doubletaxation. Worlds First Mercury Treaty adopted by 140 Countries at Geneva. 21 February 2013 Trade deficit of Japan hit record in January 2013 as Yen weakened. Government of Bulgaria resigned because of protest against high electricity prices. 22 February 2013 Hamadi Jebali, resigned from the post of Prime Minister of Tunisia. 23 February 2013 UK Scientists discovered the deepest hydrothermal vents in the world. 24 February 2013 African leaders signed UN-Brokered accord in DR Congo.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 39
Page 40
NATIONAL
PANEL TO EXAMINE ISSUES OF CINEMATOGRAPH ACT 1952
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 4 February 2013 constituted a panel for examining the issues of certification under Cinematographer Act 1952. Mukul Mudgal, the retired Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court was appointed the Chairman of the Panel.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PANEL

I) The Panel would be responsible for reviewing the mandate and functioning of CBFC and recommend measures that includes constitutional changes for enabling CBFC to deal with contemporary requirements of certification with increased transparency/efficiency. The issues, inter alia, may include: a) The process of certification under the Act and Rules, including the mechanism followed by Examining and Revising Committees b) Categories of certification, existing and proposed, under the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2013 c) Requirement of special categories of certification for the purposes of broadcasting on television channels and radio stations II) It will be responsible for reviewing the mandate and functioning of Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) in order to make it a more efficacious appellate body III) It will be responsible towards examining the role of Central Government regarding sanctioning of cinematograph films for exhibition under Entry 60, List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India with reference to Entry 33, List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India IV) The Panel will also be responsible for suggesting measures for carrying on more effective legal remedies and penal provisions in the Act, particularly with reference to making of the unlawful copies, cam-cording in cinema halls, interpolation/insertion of clips after certification and such similar issues V) It will be responsible for the issues that the Panel may find fit to deliberate upon
MEMBERS OF THE PANEL CONSTITUTED TO EXAMINE ISSUES

Mukul Mudgal is appointed as the chairperson of the panel. He is the retired chief justice of high court of Punjab and Haryana
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 40

Lalit Bhasin, at present is the Chairperson of FCAT Sharmila Tagore, she was the former Chairperson of CBFC Janab Javed Akhtar, renowned music composer, writer and lyricist Leela Samson, she is the Chairperson of CBFC
Page 41
L Suresh, he is the Secretary of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and former President of Film Federation of India Rameeza Hakim, is the Advocate in Supreme Court of India Raghvendra Singh, he is the Joint Secretary (Films) and I&B-Member and Convenor
The constituted Panel is responsible for submission of report within two months period from the day of its constitution.
SC: GOVT. TO NOTIFY CAUVERY WATER DISPUTES TRIBUNAL AWARD

The Supreme Court of India on 4 February 2013 directed the Union Government of India to notify the six-year-old final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal by 20 February 2013. A bench headed by Justice RM Lodha expressed displeasure over the government not notifying the award even after the warring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had agreed before it on 4 January 2013 that they had no objection if the award was notified. The Centre had earlier assured the apex court that it would notify the tribunals award by 31 December 2013. The apex court also directed Karnataka to release 2 Thousand Million Cubic feet, of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and directed the Central Water Commission to file a report on the water requirement of the two states. It asked the Commission to form a three-member expert body which will visit the states and directed it to file report within two days. The court posted the matter for further hearing on 7 February 2013. The court was hearing Tamil Nadu's petition seeking the immediate release of 12 TMC of water.
COMMITTEE TO REVIEW FUNCTIONING OF PRASAR BHARTI

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on 29 January 2013 constituted an Expert Committee to review the institutional frame work of Prasar Bharati as well as its relationship with Government, its role in continuance as a public broadcaster and the measures that needs to be taken to ensure technical upgradation of the organization. Sam Pitroda is the Chairperson of the committee.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMITTEE

www.jagranjosh.com
Page 41
Page 42
To suggest measures to sustain, strengthen and amplify Prasar Bharati`s role as a Public Broadcaster with special reference to its relationship with Government in the emerging context. The committee is responsible for reviewing the status of implementation of the recommendations, which were made by different committees after undertaking the study of Prasar Bharati, mainly, the Sengupta committee, the Bakshi Committee and the Narayanamurthy committee. It is also responsible to suggest a road map ahead to enhance the reach and potential of Prasar Bharati. The committee is responsible for identifying the ways for digitization of the archived material available with Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), which includes digitization of the materials of the Independence Movement. As well suggest the measures for development of infrastructure data centre, digitalization system and networks The committee is responsible to find the ways offer suggestions to use the new media for delivering digital content; both in broadcast mode (DTH) and in a demand-based mode (Free on social media like You-Tube and on payment through IPTV). Identify the ways and develop strategy to create a network of domestic and overseas business partners to ensure wider reach to a worldwide audience that includes creation of an exclusive overseas service. Any other statutory issue that the Committee may like to consider.
MEMBERS APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN THE EXPERT COMMITTEE

Sam Pitroda is appointed as the Chairperson of the committee. At present he is the advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations Asha Swaroop (member of the committee), he is a retired IAS and former Secretary to the Govt. of India Dr. B.K. Gairola (member of the committee), he is the Mission Director of e-Governance Shekhar Kapur (member of the committee), he is the Member of the National Innovation Council Prof. M.P. Gupta(member of the committee), he is from IIT Delhi - Member Jitendra Shankar Mathur (member of the committee), he is the Additional Secretary and nominated member on Prasar Bharati Board
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 42
Page 43
Shri Jawhar Sircar (Convenor member of the committee), at present he is the Chief Executive of Prasar Bharati.
RASHTRIYA BAL SWASTHYA KARYAKRAM LAUNCHED IN THANE

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on 6 February 2013 launched a new health initiative called Rashtriya Bal Sawsthya Karyakram at Palghar town in Thane district of Maharashtra. The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, is a part of the National Rural Health Mission of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
FEATURES OF RASHTRIYA BAL SWASTHYA KARYAKRAM

The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram is aimed at improving overall quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases and deficiencies, which are among key factors for child mortality. The new initiative would assure a package of health services for all children up to 18 years of The programme will also prove economical for and marginalized. age. poor
The services will be provided through dedicated mobile health teams placed in every block. The scheme, which will be implemented in a phased manner, is expected to benefit approximately 27 crore children across the country.
Birth defects account for 9.6 per cent of all new-born deaths and 4 per cent of under-five mortality. According to the programme, a set of thirty common conditions have been identified for screening and further management of child health. National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is an Indian health program for improving health care delivery across rural India. It was launched on 12 April 2005 for a period of 7 years.
MY INDIA INITIATIVE-A DIGITAL VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tewari on 7 February 2013 launched the MyIndia Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme to reach out the people in the social media space. The initiative from the I&B Ministry is aimed towards disseminating and delivering the messages of development to the citizens by registering them as volunteers them on the social media platforms. The initiative is an effort to make the citizen contribute positively towards nation building and this would initiate a principle of participative governance across the nation. The I&B Ministry on 8 February 2013 also tried to reach out the citizens for the first time via Live Twitter Conference on the eve of 3rd Community Radio Conference. This was the first ever
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 43
Page 44
conference of such type by any of the Ministrys of Government of India. Community Radio: Road Travelled & way forward was the topic for community radio conference and it lasted for a period of 30 minutes from 4 pm to 4:30 pm.
FIRST EVER LIVE TWITTER CONFERENCE ARRANGED BY MINISTRY OF I&B

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 8 February 2013 arranged the first of its kind Live Twitter Conference based on the theme- Community Radio: Road Travelled & Way Forward. The first ever Live Twitter Conference was chaired by the Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Uday Kumar Varma. Other senior officials of the I&B were present as well. The Live Twitter Conference was scheduled for half an hour but continued for around more than 1 hour. During the Live Twitter Conference, over 200 questions were asked on various topics of Community Radio programme. The Secretary of Ministry of I&B gave answers to around 45 questions. These questions were associated to topics such as sustainability, licensing, waiver and spectrum fee of Community Radio Model as well as career prospects. I&B announced that the first Live Twitter Conference enabled it to understand the mindset of people in terms of social media space. The intervention, in the meanwhile, also provided a good platform to the citizens for making them aware about the important policies as well as programmes of the Government of India. It was also ensured that awareness in terms of key policy interventions like Community Radio reached people in a way that it was understood by them.
PSL TO MINORITIES CROSSED 15 PERCENT MARK IN 2012-2013

Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to Minorities increased considerably from 10.60 percent of total PSL in 2007-2008 to 15.01 percent in 2012-2013. Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to minorities belongs to one of the schemes which are covered under the Prime Ministers New 15 Point Programme for Welfare of Minorities. An increase was observed because of lending of 171960.71crore Rupees as on September 2012 to the minorities. Self-employment initiatives were created and sustained because of bank credit. The increase was observed because of sustained efforts of government of India. In order to increase credit flow to the minorities, various steps were undertaken by the Government.
THESE INCLUDED
Reserve Bank of India issued directions on Priority Sector Lending in order to improve credit facilities to the minorities.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 44

Page 45
From 2007-2008 to 2011-2012, 5954 branches of bank were opened in those areas where there was substantial minority population. Regular monitoring of Public Sector Banks was done for checking disposal of loan applications for the minorities. 14244 awareness campaigns were organised by Public Sector Banks in 15466 towns and blocks which covered minority population.
Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to Minorities in the absolute terms increased from 58662.67 crore Rupees in 2007-2008 to 171960.71crore Rupees as of September 2012.
NEW 15 POINT PROGRAMME FOR WELFARE OF MINORITIES

The President on 25 February 2005 announced that Government of India would recast the 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities for including certain programme specific interventions.
OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROGRAMME

Enhancing opportunities for education. Ensuring an equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment, through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for self-employment, and recruitment to State and Central Government jobs. Improving the conditions of living of minorities by ensuring an appropriate share for them in infrastructure development schemes. Prevention and control of communal disharmony and violence.
CBI REGISTERED CASE AGAINST AIRTEL AND TATA COMMUNICATIONS

The Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case on 22 February 2013 against Bharti Airtel Ltd and Tata Communications Ltd, the giant telecom companies for having link up with the Singapore Telecom for the purpose of international calls, thereby violating norms of Department of Telecom (DoT). CBI on 24 February 2013 announced that the two companies were charged for causing a loss of around 48 crore Rupees to the Union Government of India since 2004 because of illegal arrangement. CBI filed an FIR in the local court in Delhi after complaints of Communications and IT Ministry. CBI accused these operators on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy. Actually, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Tata Communications Ltd had entered into an agreement with the Singapore
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 45
Page 46
Telecom for the purpose of international calls, which violates the norms that are laid down by the Department of Telecommunications.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE BILL APPROVED

Rajya Sabha on 25 February 2013 approved the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill. The bill seeks protection for women in all type of organised, unorganized as well as Private Sectors, including the sexual harassment of domestic help as well as agricultural workers. The bill had made it mandatory for every organization with 10 or more employees to form an internal complaint committee to deal with the complaints of sexual offences. The committees should be disposed of within 90 days and organizations that fails to follow the guidelines, would be penalized with 50000 rupees. Organisations that repeatedly violate the provisions of the bill would be penalized to a greater level and the offence may lead to the cancellation of the licenses or registration of the business conduct. Under its list of offences, the bill covers sexual remarks, sexual favour demands, any act of unwelcome touch and physical advance and showing pornography. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament in September 2012.
NACO SIGNED MOU WITH MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed the first MoU with the Ministry of Shipping on 14 February 2013 as a part of its efforts to highlight issues relating to HIV/AIDS. According to the MoU, NACO will provide HIV/AIDS/STI preventive, care support and treatment services to port workers as well as community around major ports including fishermen, seafarers, truckers, single male migrants and other vulnerable population etc. It also aims to provide stigma free environment and promote greater involvement of people living with HIV in all major port areas.
UNDER MOU, MINISTRY OF SHIPPING COMMITS ITSELF TO FOLLOWING POINTS

Make available health infrastructure and human resources for prevention and management of HIV/AIDS/STI. Designate responsibility to personnel at suitable level to plan, implement and monitor HIV/AIDS/STI services. Ensure identified health personnel from the facilities are provided capacity building by State AIDS Control Societies.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 46

Page 47
Promote safe sexual practices among vulnerable population in port setting with necessary support from State AIDS Control Societies. Ensure dissemination/display of IEC material pertaining to HIV/AIDS/STI at ports/health facilities and outreach activities. Ensure ICTC/PPTCT/ and STI services and ensure availability of rapid HIV diagnostic kits (3 different antigens/principles) as per NACO guidelines and specifications. Set up designated STI/ICTC Clinics at major ports for vulnerable population including truckers and transport workers and ensure availability of STI drug kits as per NACO guidelines and specifications. Coordinate and strengthen referral linkages with State AIDS Control societies and implementing partners like targeted interventions TI NGOs/drop in centre/community care centres and network of HIV Positive persons. Ensure record keeping and reporting to SACS as per prescribed format. Commit resource (Manpower, material and money) for HIV/AIDS/STI in budgets/or CSR component for sustainability to his endeavor. The NACO commits itself to the following points Share nationally approved treatment protocols, guidelines and standards pertaining to STI/HIV/AIDS. Providing technical support and build capacity of ports health personnel to facilitate integration of HIVIAIDS in the Health Services. Providing training to major port health personnel (Doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians on syndromic case management of ST1, which could be direct training or training of trainers as per the number of personnel. Providing training to major port health personnel (Doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians) on integrated counseling and testing services for HIV, which could be direct training or training of trainers as per the number of personnel. Provide technical support for implementation of IEC and awareness activities around major ports with support of ports authorities. Sharing reporting formats and monitoring mechanisms. NACO/SACS will coordinate and provide necessary technical support to Ministry of Shipping /major ports to integrate STI/HIV/AIDS services. To Read More National Stories
NATIONAL QUIZZES
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 47
Page 48
1. Six Indian NGOs or non-governmental organisations working towards upliftment of poor, Dalits as well as women were approved by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations for consultative status with the UN. Name the committee that approved the status of the six NGOs? a) Economic and Social Council of the United Nations b) Committee on Conferences c) Committee on the Administration of Justice at the United Nations d) Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities Answer. (a) Economic and Social Council of the United Nations 2. Which of the following statements in context of upliftment of Indian NGOs to the consultative status true? i. ii. iii. iv. The consultative status was given during the annual ongoing session of the world body panel in the week dated 21 January 2013 to 27 January 2013. The NGOs which enjoy general and special status are eligible for attending the meetings of the Council as well as issuing statements. The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, has as of now, accorded this special status to over 13500 NGOs from the world. The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations includes 70 members, all of which are chosen on the grounds of equitable geographical representation.
a) Statements i, ii, and iii are true b) Statements ii, iii and iv are true c) All statements are true d) Statements i and ii are only true Answer. (d) Statements i and ii are only true 3. The President of India mandated harsher punishment such as death penalty for the offenders of Sexual Assaults in cases where the victim either dies or lands into the vegetative state. To make the punishment harsher, the president assented an ordinance, what is the name of the ordinance? a) Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 b) Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2012
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 48

c) Prevention of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 d) Prevention of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2012 Answer. (a) Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013
Page 49
4. Which of the following statements in context of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 true? i. ii. iii. iv. Insertion of new sections 326A and 326B to the Indian Penal Code: Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid. Omission of new section 166A to the Indian Penal Code: Public servant disobeying direction under law. Substitution of new sections 370 and 370A for section 370 to the Indian Penal Code: Trafficking of person, employing of a trafficked person. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was given assent by the President and it includes stalking, voyeurism, acid attacks as well as disrobing of women.
a) Statements i, ii, and iii are true b) Statement, i and ii are true c) Statements ii and iii are true d) Statements i, iii and iv are true Answer. (d) Statements i, ii and iv are true 5. A Tamil movie in January 2013 faced the heats of protests leading to ban of its release. Below is the name of some movies that faced the heat of protests at the time of their release. Match the name of the movies with the year of their release. i. ii. iii. iv. i D D D Vishwaroopam Bandit Queen Aandhi Fire ii C A B iii B B A (A) 1994 (B) 1975 (C) 1998 (D) 2013 iv A C C
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 49

D A C B
Page 50
Answer. (b) D, A, B, C For More National Quizzes
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 50
Page 51
INDIA DAIRY
28 January India celebrated its 64th Republic Day; Showcased Military Prowess and Cultural Heritage Sreeramamurthy Janaki Refused to Accept Padma Bhushan on R-Day Shah Rukh Khan Ranked First in Inaugural Forbes India Celebrity 100 List 29 January The Centre resolved the Issue of CST Compensation with the States 30 January Shah Rukh Khan Attempted to End Controversy over His Article on Being a Muslim in India Expert committee under Sam Pitroda Constituted to review Working of Prasar Bharti 31 January Madras High Court Upheld Ban on Vishwaroopam in Tamil Nadu 1 February P.R. Vasudeva Rao Appointed As the Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research 2 February Report: India accounts to 86 percent Oral Cancer Figure across the World 3 February Kamal Haasans Film Vishwaroopam Cleared by Madras High Court 4 February President of India Pranab Mukherjee Gave Assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 5 February Panel to Examine issues of Certification under Cinematograph Act 1952 Constituted SC directed Government to notify Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal Award 6 February I&B Ministry Constituted Expert Committee to Review Functioning of Prasar Bharti 7 February Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram launched in Thane, Maharashtra 8 February Union Cabinet of India gave its nod to decrease head counts in areas covered under PMGSY Supreme Court of India Directed Karnataka to Release 2.44 tmc Cauvery Water to TN 9 February I&B Ministry launched MyIndia Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme to reach Citizens 10 February Ministry of Civil Aviation launched Monthly Bi-lingual Shubh Yatra Magazine
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 51
Page 52
Finance Minister P Chidambaram launched Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme in Mumbai 11 February First Ever Live Twitter Conference Arranged By Ministry of I&B on Community Radio The Union Government directed all States to Review Cases of Under-Trial 12 February Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to Minorities Crossed 15 Percent Mark in 2012-2013 Allahabad Stampede: Several Injured and Killed at Allahabad Railway Station 13 February Afzal Gurus Secret Hanging Was Called Operation Three Star 2G Prosecutor removed for his alleged involvement in leaking Agency's Trial Strategy World Radio Day was observed to raise Awareness about the Importance of Radio 14 February Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty Appointed As the Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi Mohan Parasaran Appointed As the Solicitor General of India One Billion Rising Campaign launched to end the Violence against Women 15 February Aero India 2013 ended after displaying magnificent Aerobatic Skills Seventeenth Convocation of the NIMHANS held in Bangalore 16 February SC ordered Seizure of operations of Unsuccessful Bidders of Auction of 2G Spectrum Human Resource Development Ministry Launched Sanskrit Caravan 17 February NACO signed MoU with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to Highlight Issues related to AIDS 18 February Devanoor's Collection of Articles Edege Bidda Akshara released 19 February Ela Bhatt Conferred 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development Award 20 February Retd. Justice Bhatt to Conduct Judicial Probe in Allahabad Railway Station Stampede Black Money Generated In India Would Exceed 10 Percent of GDP: NIPFP 21 February T. S. Vijayan, the Former LIC Chief Took Over as the Chairman of IRDA 22 February Two Blasts in Hyderabad claimed 14 Lives and left 119 Injured Ratan Tata Awarded the Life Time Achievement Award 2012 by Ernst & Young 23 February Silk Route Car Rally from Kolkata to Kunming organised by CII Flagged Off 24 February CBI Registered Case against Airtel and Tata Communications for Violating DoT Norms
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 52
Page 53
ECONOMY
BHEL & GAIL GRANTED MAHARATNA STATUS BY UNION GOVERNMENT
The Union Government of India gave the Maharatna status to two PSUs- BHEL and GAIL on 1 February 2013. Granting Maharatna status to BHEL and GAIL will provide them with better functional and financial freedom and will also guarantee them with better valuation of the shares. Ideally any Maharatna firm has a capacity to take investment decision of around 5000 crore Rupees without taking assistance from the government. On the other hand, forms with Navratna status have the capability of 1000 crore Rupees. However, both BHEL and GAIL do not have enough non-official directors on the board, which is why they cannot exercise their Maharatna powers. Even though all other conditions of Maharatna status were met by both these PSUs but their boards do not have requisite number of board members. While GAIL is short of 4 independent directors, BHEL, on the other hand is short of 6 non-official directors. In terms of turnover, net worth as well as net profit, both these companies meet all the eligibility criterions.
ELIGIBILITY OF A COMPANY TO GET A MAHARATNA STATUS

For any company to qualify for Maharatna status, the annual turnover should be over 25000 crore Rupees in past three years, as per the guidelines issued by Department of Public Enterprises. The net worth of the PSU should be more than 15000 crore Rupees in past three years. The net profit should be over 5000 crore Rupees during past three years.
At present, there are seven Maharatna companies, after inclusion of BHEL and GAIL and these companies are - ONGC, Indian Oil, SAIL, NTPC and CIL. Also, there are 14 Navratna companies, including Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited and NMDC.
ED SLAPPED 98.5 CRORE RUPEES PENALTY ON RAJASTHAN ROYALS

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) slapped the IPL team Rajasthan Royals with a penalty notice of around 100 crore Rupees for violating the Forex laws. ED issued this penalty notice after investigating the matter for 2 years under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Three notices in all were sent across to the IPL franchise which totaled to 98.5 crore Rupees.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 53
Page 54
The Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited (JIPL) as well as its directors was sent a penalty notice of 50 crore Rupees. Apart from this, 34 crore Rupees penalty notice was issued against EM Sporting Holding, Mauritius and its directors for evading the Forex duties. A notice of 14.5 crore Rupees was also issued additionally against the Ms ND Investments, United Kingdom and its directors. All these three parties are free to appeal against the penalty order in appellate authority of FEMA. According to the order, IPL team needs to make the payment in 45 days. This is said to be the first biggest order against any team issued by the ED. According to the penalty order, it was found that the foreign investment in JIPL was conducted in flagrant contravention of FEMA. The first penalty order was issued by ED against the Rajasthan Royals in mid-2011. Now, it issued the final orders after it moved to FEMA Adjudicating Authority in Delhi in order to examine investigations in the case.
CCEA GAVE ITS NOD TO PRICE POOLING MECHANISM ON COAL

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 5 February 2013 gave its principle approval for the price pooling mechanism of coal. The mechanism includes cost blending of the domestic coal with the imported one to counterbalance price hike. Basic principles and parameters of the price pooling mechanism have been identified and a specific data on the same would be created by the Power and Coal Ministries. The mechanism has been created before government decided to put on sale the 9.5 percent stake of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) from its present holding of 84.50 percent. The sale of the stake was approved by the Empowered Group of Ministers on disinvestment chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on 5 February 2013. This disinvestment of NTPC would fetch about 12000 crore rupees for the exchequer.
ECONOMIC GROWTH OF INDIA ESTIMATED TO FALL TO 5 PERCENT

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 7 February 2013 revealed that the economic growth of India is estimated to fall to 5 percent in 2012-2013 financial year, which is the lowest figure in 10 years. A fall in the economic growth is because of the poor performance of the services, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) in its advance forecast of the national income chopped off the gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate to 5 percent for financial year which will end on 31 March 2013. This is much less than the GDP of 6.2 percent in 2011-2012 financial year. This is said to be the worst performance of economy of India since 2002-2003 when the economic growth was 4 percent.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 54
Page 55
The major share of Indias GDP comes from the services sector. The services sector is estimated to record a growth of 5.2 percent in 2012-2013 fiscal year against 7 percent of 2011-2012 fiscal year. As far as the industry sector is concerned, it is expected that the growth would decrease to 1.9 percent in 2012-2013 FY. The farm sector growth will fall down to 1.8 percent. It is important to note that the official projection of the economic growth of India is much lower than budgetary estimate as well as projections of the central bank of India and other organisations. In the union budget for financial year 2012-2013 which was presented in March 2012, the government pegged Indias economic growth at 7.6 percent. Also in the quarterly monetary policy review which took place in the first week of February 2013, the Reserve Bank of India projected the growth of 5.5 percent for 2012-2013 financial year. In the meanwhile, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had projected the economic growth of 5.7 percent. In first half of 2012-2013 FY, the economy of India grew by 5.4 percent. However, as per the latest estimate, the growth would be around 4.6 percent in second half of 2012-2013. Industry bodies in the meanwhile asked the government to press for the reform process in order to revive the economic growth.
TRAI: TELEDENSITY DECLINED BY 25.97 MILLION TO 895.51 MILLION

As cellphone operators continued disconnecting inactive SIM cards, India's total telecom subscriber base declined by 25.97 million to 895.51 million in December. In November, the country had 921.47 million telecom subscribers. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) stated that total wireless subscriber base decreased from 890.60 million in November 2012 to 864.72 million at the end of December 2012. TRAI reasoned that this decline is majorly due to large scale disconnections of inactive SIMs by some of the service providers. With this, the overall teledensity in India decreased to 73.34 per cent at the end of December, 2012 from 75.55 per cent in the previous month.
CCEA APPROVED INCREASE OF MSP OF COPRA FOR 2013 SEASON

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 6 February 2013 approved increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 2013 season of both Milling and Ball Copra by 150 rupees per quintal over the MSP that was regulated in 2012. The MSP for the Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of Milling Copra is fixed at 5250 rupees per quintal, and for the Ball Copra it is 5500 rupees per quintal. The decision from government of India may ignite the interests of the farmers to invest in cultivation of coconut to increase its productivity. Government also cleared that National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) is the body that will act as the nodal agency for undertaking the price support operation at the minimum support prices in the coconut growing states.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 55
Current Affairs PDF February 2013 RAILWAY REVENUE EARNINGS INCREASED BY 20.38 PER CENT
Page 56
The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1 April 2012 to 31 January 2013 were 101223.95 crore rupees compared to 84083.74 crore rupees during the same period last year, registering an increase of 20.38 per cent, as per the data released by Ministry of Railways. The total goods earnings have gone up from 56163.30 crore rupees during 1 April 2011 31st January 2012 to 70067.36 crore rupees during 1 April 2012 31 January 2013, registering an increase of 24.76 per cent. The total passenger revenue earnings during 1 April 2012 31 January 2013 were 25924.29 crore rupees compared to 23344.42 crore rupees during the same period last year, registering an increase of 11.05 per cent. The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to 2617.19 crore rupees during April 2012 - January 2013 compared to 2353.54 crore rupees during the same period last year, an increase of 11.20 per cent. The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during 1st April 2012 31st January 2013 were 7150.60 million compared to 6910.00 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 3.48 per cent. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the numbers of passengers booked during April 2012 -January 2013 were 3753.32 million and 3397.28 million compared to 3651.70 million and 3258.30 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 2.78 per cent 3.48 per cent respectively.
EXPORTS OF INDIA INCREASED BY 0.8 PER CENT IN JANUARY 2013

The Exports of India increased by 0.8 percent in the month of January 2013 to 25.58 billion US dollars. Comparatively, exports in January 2012 were 25.37 billion US dollars. Imports on the other hand, increased by 6.12 percent to 45.5 billion US dollars. During April to January 2012-2013, the overseas shipments of India dropped by 4.86 percent to 239.6 billion US dollars. The main concern for the country is however to widen the trade deficit. As a cumulative result, the exports depicted an arrest in decreasing exports. Now, the result is 4.9 percent. Import of crude oil was growing at a faster pace. Oil imports in January 2013 increased by 6.91 percent to 15.89 billion US dollars in comparison to 14.87 billion US dollars in January 2012.
INDIA'S TRADE DEFICIT FOR APRIL - JANUARY, 2012-13 WAS ESTIMATED AT 167168.12 MILLION US DOLLARS
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 56
Page 57
As per the data released by Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 13 February 2013, Indias performance in export and import are as following:
EXPORTS
Exports during January, 2013 were valued at 25587.24 million US dollars. (138981.70 crore rupees) which was 0.82 per cent higher in Dollar terms (6.67 per cent higher in Rupee terms) than the level of 25379.05 million US dollars (130294.02 crore rupees) during January 2012. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-January 2012 -13 was 239687.01 million US dollars (1305420.39 rupees) as against 251930.14 million US dollars (1196962.33 crore rupees) registering a negative growth of 4.86 per cent in Dollar terms and growth of 9.06 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period 2011-12.
IMPORTS
Imports during January, 2013 were valued at 45583.25 million US dollars (247593.63 crore rupees) representing a growth of 6.12 per cent in Dollar terms and 12.28 per cent in Rupee terms over the level of imports valued at 42952.47 million US Dollars ( 220514.54 crore rupees) in January 2012. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-January 2012-13 was 406855.13 million US dollars (2215115.46 crore rupees) as against 406820.28 million US dollars (1934946.96 crore rupees) registering a positive growth of 0.01 per cent in Dollar terms and growth of 14.48 per cent in Rupee terms over the same period 2011-12.
CRUDE OIL AND NON-OIL IMPORTS

Oil imports during January, 2013 were valued at 15899.3 million US dollars which was 6.91 per cent higher than oil imports valued at 14871.2 million US Dollars in the corresponding period last year. Oil imports during April-January, 2012-13 were valued at 140420.1 million US dollars which was 11.56 per cent higher than the oil imports of 125874.2 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during January 2013 were estimated at 29684.0 million US dollars which was 5.71 per cent higher than non-oil imports of US 28081.3 million in January 2012. Non-oil imports during April January 2012-13 were valued at 266435.0 million US dollars which was 5.17 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at 280946.1 million US dollars in April - January 2011-12.
TRADE BALANCE
The trade deficit for April - January 2012-13 was estimated at 167168.12 million US dollars which was higher than the deficit of 154890.14 million US dollars during April -January 2011-12.
COMFORT LETTER ISSUED BY FINANCE MINISTRY
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 57

The Union Finance Ministry in second week of February 2013 decided to pay an additional cash subsidy of 25000 crore rupees for the state owned fuel retailers. The subsidy package is being given to help the retailers in making up of the revenue that they lost while selling cooking and auto fuel below cost in the current fiscal year of April to December 2012.
Page 58
A comfort letter was issued on 7 February 2013 by the Union Finance Ministry to the Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) that sanctioned sanctioning 25,000 crore rupees as the part of the revenue lost by them on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost or at subsidized cost. The sanctioned subsidy meets about 44 percent of the revenue lost by the three firms of 124854 crore rupees together on the Sale of cooking and auto fuels in a period of April to December in 2012. As per the latest sanctions reveled IOC, BPCL and HPCL would get 13474.56 crore rupees, 5987.25 crore rupees and 5538.19 crore rupees respectively.
SEBI ORDERED TO FREEZE ACCOUNTS OF TWO COMPANIES OF SAHARA

Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) the stock market regulator of India on 13 February 2013 ordered freezing of bank accounts and attachment of properties of two Sahara group firms Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd., and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. and its Chairman Subrata Roy as well as top executives Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shanker Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary after it failed to refund more than 24,000 crore rupees to investors. The decision from the market regulator came after the Supreme Court of India granted it the freedom to freeze the accounts of the two companies and attach the properties of the defaulting groups. The market regulator gave 21 days time to Sahara Firms to submit the details of the investments done and not listed in an order. SEBIs orders restricts the Sahara India Estate Corporation from operating its demat accounts and redeeming the mutual fund units held by it as well as from transferring the shares controlled by it to any other body or company. Sahara Housing was asked to furnish details related to the development rights along with the special puprpose vehicles as well as stakes. The orders to submit the details of movable and
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 58
Page 59
immovable properties to Subrata Roy and the three executives have restrained them from alienating, disposing or encumbering the properties on their names.
INFLATION WENT DOWN TO THREE YEARS LOW TO 6.62 PERCENT S

The inflation rate of India dropped down to the three year low in the chart to 6.62 percent in January 2013 from the 7.18 percent, measured in December 2012. The inflation was measured based upon monthly Wholesale Price Index. The official Wholesale Price Index for All Commodities (Base: 2004-05 = 100) in January, 2013 rose by 0.4 percent to 169.2 (Provisional) from 168.6 (Provisional) for the previous month. Slowing exports and decline in investments and low demand in the domestic market have been a major factor in slipping down the growth rate of India. The two factors have affected the manufacturing as well as service sectors of India. The growth forecast for the running fiscal year that would end on 31 March 2013 was lowered by the Indias Statistical Office to 5 percent. The Reserve Bank of India also changed its forecast from 5.8 percent to 5.5 percent. To revive a fresh air in the slowing down economic conditions of India, the Reserve Bank took a major step of lowering the key interest rate from 8 percent to 7.75 percent; this was the first step in nine months. The Policy makers have also taken afresh steps to revive the slowing economic conditions of the nation.
UTTAR PRADESH BUDGET 2013-14: 221201.19 CRORE RUPEES BUDGET

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on 19 February 2013 presented a budget of 221201.19 crore rupees for the fiscal year 2013-2014 in the Vidhan Sabha. The budget presented for the upcoming fiscal year is 10.5 percent more than the budget presented in the 2012-13 fiscal year. The budget has not presented any new tax. The state finance ministry of Uttar Pradesh is led by the Chief Minister of the State Akhilesh Yadav himself. The new budget had levied no new taxes but estimated a deficit of 2.94 percent in the new financial year.
IMPORTANT POINTS OF THE STATE BUDGET 2013-14

People with annual income less than 36000 rupees will be provided free houses in the state Free education for girls in degree colleges, both in government and government aided colleges
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 59

750 crore rupees was allocated for a loan waiver for farmers.
Page 60
BUDGETARY ALLOCATION OF MONEY

32886 crore rupees for Education 20292 crore rupees for Social Welfare Schemes 10,654 crore rupees for Health 26,641 crore rupees for developing Infrastructure and Value-Addition on Bridges, Roads, Flyovers, Expressways, this is 25 percent more than the allocation made in 2012-13 budget 17,774 crore rupees for Agriculture 1,200 crore rupees for unemployment allowance 100 crore rupees for the development of Poorvanchal The state Government have allotted a sum of 350 crore rupees for its scheme Hamari Beti Ushka Kal 20292.92 crore rupees have been allocated for uplifting of SCs, STs, OBCs, physically handicapped, Minority groups as well as BPL families of general category
The budget has displayed a revenue loss of 3 percent (24000 crore rupees) in the GDP. The budget has assured construction of 313 junior schools and 1200 primary schools in the 2013-14 fiscal year.
RBI ISSUED GUIDELINES FOR LICENSING OF NEW PRIVATE BANKS

The Reserve Bank of India on 22 February 2013 released the Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector. The guidelines issued by the Apex Bank have opened gates for private players as well as the finance firms to enter into the strictly regulated banking sector of India.
KEY FEATURES OF THE ISSUED GUIDELINES

(i) Eligible Promoters: Entities / groups in the private sector, entities in public sector and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) shall be eligible to set up a bank through a whollyowned Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC). (ii) Fit and Proper criteria: Entities / groups should have a past record of sound credentials and integrity, be financially sound
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 60
Page 61
with a successful track record of 10 years. For this purpose, RBI may seek feedback from other regulators and enforcement and investigative agencies. (iii) Corporate Structure of the NOFHC: The NOFHC shall be wholly owned by the Promoter / Promoter Group. The NOFHC shall hold the bank as well as all the other financial services entities of the group. (iv) Minimum Voting Equity Capital requirements for banks and shareholding by NOFHC: The initial minimum paid-up voting equity capital for a bank shall be `5 billion. The NOFHC shall initially hold a minimum of 40 per cent of the paid-up voting equity capital of the bank which shall be locked in for a period of five years and which shall be brought down to 15 per cent within 12 years. The bank shall get its shares listed on the stock exchanges within three years of the commencement of business by the bank. (v) Regulatory Framework: The bank will be governed by the provisions of the relevant Acts, relevant Statutes and the Directives, Prudential regulations and other Guidelines/Instructions issued by RBI and other regulators. The NOFHC shall be registered as a non-banking finance company (NBFC) with the RBI and will be governed by a separate set of directions issued by RBI. (vi) Foreign shareholding in the Bank: The aggregate non-resident shareholding in the new bank shall not exceed 49% for the first 5 years after which it will be as per the extant policy. (vii) Corporate governance of NOFHC: At least 50% of the Directors of the NOFHC should be independent directors. The corporate structure should not impede effective supervision of the bank and the NOFHC on a consolidated basis by RBI. (viii) Prudential norms for the NOFHC: The prudential norms will be applied to NOFHC both on stand-alone as well as on a consolidated basis and the norms would be on similar lines as that of the bank. (ix) Exposure Norms: The NOFHC and the bank shall not have any exposure to the Promoter Group. The bank shall not invest in the equity / debt capital instruments of any financial entities held by the NOFHC. (x) Business Plan for the Bank: The business plan should be realistic and viable and should address how the bank proposes to achieve financial inclusion. (xi) Other conditions for the Bank: The Board of the bank should have a majority of independent Directors. The bank shall open at least 25 per cent of its branches in unbanked rural centres (population up to 9,999 as per the latest census) The bank shall comply with the priority sector lending targets and sub-targets as applicable to the existing domestic banks.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 61
Page 62
Banks promoted by groups having 40 per cent or more assets/income from nonfinancial business will require RBIs prior approval for raising paid -up voting equity capital beyond 10 billion for every block of 5 billion. Any non-compliance of terms and conditions will attract penal measures including cancellation of license of the bank.
(xii) Additional conditions for NBFCs promoting/converting into a Bank: Existing NBFCs, if considered eligible, may be permitted to promote a new bank or convert themselves into banks.
BACKGROUND
The guidelines for the Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector were finalized after amending the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in December 2012. To Read More Stories
ECONOMY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZZES

1. Name the two PSUs, which were granted the Maharatna status by the Union Government of India in February 2013? a) ONGC and Gail b) NTPC and BHEL c) BHEL and GAIL d) ONGC and NTPC Answer. (c) BHEL and GAIL 2. Match the following PSUs with the status granted to them? i. ii. iii. iv. Coal India Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited RITES Limited A. Navratna B. Miniratna Category I C. Miniratna Category I D. Maharatana
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 62

i D C D A ii A A B D iii B B A C iv C D C B
Page 63
Answer. (a) D, A, B, C 3. Rajasthan Royals was penalized with a fine amount of around 100 crore Rupees for violating the Forex laws in February 2013. Name the body that slapped the fine on the IPL team? a) BCCI b) Competition Commission of India c) Enforcement Directorate d) None of these Answer. (c) Enforcement Directorate 4. Which of the following statements mentioned below are true? i. The Union Government of India gave the Maharatna status to three PSUs- BHEL, AAI and GAIL on 1 February 2013. Granting Maharatna status to BHEL, AAI and GAIL will provide them with better functional and financial freedom and will also guarantee them with better valuation of the shares. Enforcement Directorate issued a penalty notice to IPL team Rajasthan Royals for violation of Forex Laws. The penalty notice was issued after investigating the matter for 2 years under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Maharatna firm has a capacity to take investment decision of around 10000 crore Rupees without taking assistance from the government. On the other hand, forms with Navratna status have this capability of 5000 crore Rupees. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in February 2013 gave its principle approval for the price pooling mechanism of coal. The mechanism includes cost blending of the domestic coal with the imported one to counterbalance price hike.
ii.
iii.
iv.
a) Statements ii, iii and iv are true
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 63

b) Statements ii and iv are true c) Statements i and iii are true d) Statement ii is only true Answer. (b) Statements ii and iv are true
Page 64
5. The Reserve Bank of India on 29 January 2013 slashed its key interest rates by 0.25 per cent and released 18000 crore rupees additional liquidity into the system to perk up growth through reduced cost of borrowing. Which of the following statements in context of the same is true? i. ii. iii. RBI in its third quarter monetary policy review surprised the market by cutting shortterm lending rate called repo, by 0.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent The Cash Reserve Ratio was slashed to 4 percent The repo rate cut will increase the cost of borrowing for individuals and corporate, whereas the reduction in CRR, which is the portion of deposits that banks have to park with RBI, would improve the availability of funds. the stance of monetary policy in this review is intended to provide an appropriate interest rate environment to support growth as inflation risks moderate
iv.
a) All the four statements are true b) Statements i, ii and iv are true c) Statements ii and iii are true d) Only statement iii is true Answer. (b) Statements i, ii and iv are true For More Quizzes on Economy
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 64
Page 65
CORPORATE
ZOVI, THE ONLINE FASHION RETAILER ACQUIRED RIVAL INKFRUIT
Zovi, the Bangalore-based online fashion retailer acquired its rival company Inkfruit in the last week of January 2013. Inkfruit is struggling as of now to raise its fresh funds. SAIF Partners and Tiger Global, the global investors triggered latest e-commerce M&A. These two investors pumped in 10 million US dollar in Zovi after merger. After the third round of investment, the overall funding which was raised by Zovi came to 25 million US dollar. Inkfruit is the community-based customized fashion and accessories retailer. Zovi, after acquisition will offer products to a wider age group ranging from 16 years to 45 years. There has been an increased interest in the Indian e-commerce since 2012. In 2012, there was three times increase in the e-commerce M&A deals because small players did not attract enough funds and were therefore acquired at the discounted rates.
BHARTI AIRTEL LAUNCHED EMERGENCY ALERT SERVICE FOR WOMEN

Bharti Airtel launched an emergency alert service for the subscribers in Odisha, Bengal and Kolkata on 1 February 2013. The service is directed towards the women primarily and allows them to dial the Airtel helpline number known as 55100 as well as send the messages when there is an emergency. As soon as the number is dialed, an alert SMS will be sent across along with the recorded voice message to the already loaded 10 numbers. The message will in turn allow these 10 pre-loaded numbers to track the location of a sender along with the time. Messages and recorded voice message will be sent across simultaneously to these ten recipients. Also, these alert messages will repeat three times within just 30 minutes. According to Airtel, the service primarily focuses women subscribers. For first 30 days, this service will be available free of cost but then it would cost 30 Rupees per month. At present, there are 20 million subscribers of Airtel across Kolkata, Bengal and Odisha and one-third out of these are women. Airtel expects that around 10 percent of these women subscribers will opt for this service. According to the Airtel, the company was also having negotiations with the local police in order to make sure that one single number should be introduced for the purpose of emergency calls. The alerts could be generated through this single number such as 100 to all local police stations as well. www.jagranjosh.com
Page 65
Current Affairs PDF February 2013 THIRTY SOFTWARE COMPANIES SEPARATED FROM NASSCOM
Page 66
Thirty Indian software product companies joined hands to form their own new association, marking a break-up with the IT industry body NASSCOM. Thirty founder members who were led by Bharat Goenka, co-founder of Tally Solutions, Vishnu Dusad, founder of Nucleus Software, Sharad Sharma, former head of Yahoo India R&D, startup mentor and founder of Brand Sigma and Naveen Tewari, founder of InMobi, will meet on 4 February 2013 to formalize this newly formed association and also for developing further action plans. The new association is called Indian Software Product Industry Round Table or iSpirt.
VISION OF INDIAN SOFTWARE PRODUCT INDUSTRY ROUND TABLE OR ISPIRT

The vision of Indian Software Product Industry Round Table or iSpirt is to transform India in terms of IT and also deliver the invaluable IT solutions at the international level. The objective of iSpirt is to share experiences and expertise of these industries in order to create the awareness in government as well as society about the importance of IT. These 30 Indian software product companies that formed their new association believed that it was not possible for them to grow under larger umbrella of NASSCOM.
NO CONFLICT WITH NASSCOM

One of the founder members of the new association, Bharat Goenka made it clear that there were negotiations about new association formation since past six months. NASSCOM had in return promised support and that there were no conflicts with the IT body. Also, it was explained that the new association would work with everyone including NASSCOM.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF ISPIRT

A founder member Sharad Sharma described that the new association iSpirt will not have a president or similar nomenclature. Instead, there will be a governing council that will consist of these four founding members- Sharma, Goenka, Tewari and Dusad. There will be a flat structure of the association. Volunteer model will be adopted.
ABOUT NASSCOM
NASSCOM is expanded as National Association of Software and Services Companies. It is a trade association of the BPO and IT industry. It was established in 1988 and is a nonprofit organisation. It is a global trade organisation with more than 1200 members out of which there are 250 global companies as well from China, Japan, Europe, UK and US. The member companies of NASSCOM have businesses such as software services, software development, BPO, IT and e-commerce. Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 66
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 67
NASSCOM was established to facilitate trade and business in services and software in order to encourage advanced research in the software technology. It is registered under Indian Societies Act, 1860. At present, the headquarters of NASSCOM is in New Delhi.
ICICI PARTNERED WITH AIRCEL TO LAUNCH MOBILE BANKING SERVICE

ICICI Bank, the largest private sector bank of India partnered with Aircel to announce the launch of their mobile banking service called Mobile Money. The service allows the unbanked population of ICICI and Aircel to transfer money instantly and safely through the mobiles without even connecting to data services. Initially, ICICI bank had launched the Mobile Money with Tata Docomo and Vodafone. Mobile Money is aimed at those users who wish to transfer money but are devoid of services such as lack of branches or the ATMs. Mobile Money allows such users to go for financial services such as cash withdrawals, cash deposits, self-reload of prepaid mobile credit, money transfer to the third-parties as well as utility bills transfer. At first the service will be available in Tamil Nadu and will especially cater to migrant working population from the area of Tirunelveli that now lives in Chennai. Rollout of this service to other parts of Tamil Nadu as well as the rest of India will occur over 2013. The Mobile Money platform will be provided and managed through VISA, the global payments technology company.
MAKEMYTRIP LAUNCHED APPLICATION CALLED ROUTEPLANNER

MakeMyTrip, one of the largest tourism-related online portals in India on 5 February 2013 launched the RoutePlanner, an innovative application which makes peoples traveling easier and faster. RoutePlanner actually combines the availability of various services such as trains, cabs, buses and flights and displays exact connectivity options that lie between two destinations in India. RoutePlanner also allows the users to check various routes for destination pair. It allows a person to plan the trip between any two diverse destinations in India by putting together various modes of transport across 4300 cities, 2300 flight routes, 65000 bus routes and 970000 train routes. MakeMyTrip announced that it made use of the technology as well as innovation for empowering the travelers.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL ENTERED INDIA
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 67
Page 68
FlightSafety International, which is said to be one of the biggest aviation training companies promoted by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, entered India through licensing and consultancy agreement with the Bangalore-based Aviators India. FlightSafety International is a 60-year old company based in New York and it offers more than million hours of flight training to the aviation professionals, pilots, cabin attendants and technicians every year. It also additionally supplies visual systems, flight simulators and displays to the military, commercial and governmental organisations across the length and breadth of the world. India operations of FlightSafety will start by June 2013. In its early stage, FlightSafety would start with the training of cabin attendant for corporate and commercial flight operators. FlightSafety will address two main kinds of market training in India and these are initial market and recurrence market training. Bangalore-based Aviators India announced that there will be more than 10000 flight attendants in India for corporate and commercial operators. Also, in next five to seven years, there would be a growth of 100 percent in this vertical. Aviators India has remained in business of aircraft charter services as well as sales of corporate jets to Indians for around 20 years.
TIMES TELEVISION NETWORK TIED UP WITH MSM DISCOVERY PVT. LTD.

Times Television Network (TTN) tied up with one of the leading distribution companies MSM Discovery Pvt Ltd. (MSMD) in the second week of February 2013 in order to collect subscription revenue of its channels. MSMD is known as TheOneAlliance and is actually a joint venture of Sony's Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd as well as Discovery Communications. After the tie-up, all the entertainment and news channels of TTN i.e., Movies Now, Zoom, Times Now and ET Now will be distributed across the country for collecting subscription of revenue over HITS, Cable (Digital and Analogue), DTH and IPTV platforms as the part of TheOneAlliance. However, the channel penetration and marketing will be done independently by the TTN. There has been a business relationship between Multi Screen Media and Times Group since long which spreads over Filmfare Awards, movie licensing deal with the Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as the international advertising sales partnership for US. TTN channels have more than 100 million viewers in 30 million households in India. Multi Screen Media India announced that TheOneAlliance offers entertainment to its viewers and addition of the TTN channels will help in strengthening the company even more.
SC ASKED SEBI TO FREEZE ACCOUNTS OF TWO COMPANIES OF SAHARA

The Supreme Court of India on 6 February 2013 gave its ruling against Sahara Group setting the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) free for seizing the properties and freezing the accounts of the two companies of Sahara Group for disobeying the Apex Courts orders of refunding 24000 crore rupees of investors. The Supreme Court also issued a notice against
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 68
Page 69
Sahara Group seeking response within four weeks that why the contempt proceedings should not be initiated against the group. The Supreme Court bench of two Judges, Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and J.S. Khehar also pulled up SEBI for not taking action against the Sahara group companies namely Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHIC) after it defied the Court orders as per the 31 August 2012 orders. The Supreme Court bench also cleared that SEBI was free to take its actions against Sahara Group companies and the contempt plea would not come on the way of proceedings initiated by it.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

Supreme Court on 31 August 2012 ordered the two companies Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHIC) to refund the amount of around 24000 crore rupees to the investors with 15 percent interest per annum within three months as the two companies raised the amount from the investors after violating the rules and regulations.
REGION FOR THE SUPRE ME COURTS DECISION

The two companies of the Sahara namely the Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC) and the Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHIC) defied the orders of the Court and failed to pay back the amount of 24000 crore rupees to the investors.
SERIES OF DEVELOPMENTS ON THE ISSUE

31 August 2012 Supreme Court ordered two Sahara Companies to refund 24000 crore rupees to investors. December 2012 Sahara group rapped by Supreme Court for not refunding the amount to investors and gave a weeks deadline 5 December 2012 Sahara group got two months time to pay the amount to investors in three different installments January 2013 SEBI informed that all paper in case of Sahara was not received by them 6 February 2013 Supreme Court passed its ruling and set SEBI free to freeze the accounts and seize the properties of the two companies of Sahara.
GAIL (INDIA) SIGNED MOU WITH EDF TRADING
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 69
Page 70
GAIL (India) Ltd and EDF Trading on 7 February 2013 announced that they signed a MoU to jointly get hold of the oil and gas assets in North America. The MoU will also help in development of these assets. Both these companies will additionally be the partner in trading as well as optimization of LNG and US gas. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between GAIL (India) Ltd and EDF Trading on 2 February 2013. EDF Trading is leading participants of LNG market in the world and it facilitates its users with services such as supply and delivery, re-gasification as well as nomination in networks as well as terminal operations. Apart from GAIL (India) Ltd, it is also in agreements with some of the leading participants of the market as well as long-term supply contracts in West Asia and Asia.
It is important to note that GAIL (India) has its footprint in US already through the 20 percent stake in Eagle Shale gas assets in Texas by Carrizo Oil.
PARLE-G IS 1ST INDIAN FMCG BRAND TO CROSS RS 5000 CRORE MARK

Parle-G in February 2013 became the first Indian FMCG brand that crossed 5000 crore Rupees mark in terms of retail sales in one year. Parle Products were launched in 1939 when the British ruled India. Factually, Parle Products in 2012 sold 5010 crore rupees worth glucose biscuits at the retail price, surpassing the domestic sales of Godrej products and Dabur, while at the same time also selling thrice more products than Maggi. This means that Parle Products sold over 100 crore packets of the glucose biscuits every month, or 14600 crore biscuits in 2012. Parle-G that has less than 1 billion dollar sales in a year, but even then it has good lead over its rivals such as Hindustan Unilever's Wheel and Ghari Detergent. Parle-Gs share increased from 67 percent in 2002 to 79 percent in 2012. Comparatively, shares of Britannia's Tiger and ITC's Sunfeast brand fell down.
MCX-SX, THIRD NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE MADE DEBUT IN INDIA

MCX-SX, the third bourse on the equities and equity derivatives trading block debuted on 11 February 2013. It is the third national stock exchange of India after Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. MCX-SX started its trading in shared of 1116 listed companies against 1665 companies in National Stock Exchange and 5191 companies in Bombay Stock Exchange.
MCX-SX INDEX
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 70
Page 71
MCX-SX Index is called SX40. This is like Sensex of BSE and Nifty of NSE. SX40 is formulated for measuring the economic performance through polished presentation of different industries as well as sectors based on ICB, which is a leading international classification from FTSE-100 of Britain.
SX40 CONSTITUENTS
SX40 constituents are as follows ACC Ambuja Cements Asian Paints Bajaj Auto BPCL Bharti Airtel BHEL Cairn India Cipla Coal India Dr Reddy's Gail (India) HCL Tech HDFC Bank HDFC Hero MotoCorp Hindalco HUL ICICI Bank Infosys ITC
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 71

JP Associates JSPL L&T Lupin M&M Maruti Suzuki NTPC ONGC Power Grid Corp RIL Sun Pharma TCS Tata Motors Tata Power Tata Steel Titan Industries United Spirits Wipro Zee Entertainment
Page 72
WHAT IS SX40?
SX40 is the free-float based index, which means that the shares are available at any time for trading. It is an index of 40 large-cap as well as liquid stocks. SX40 includes those companies which have minimum free float of 10 per cent. These companies are included within top 100 liquid companies. In terms of international indexes, Britain's FTSE includes 25 percent free float criteria and US S&P 500 includes 50 percent free float criteria. MCX-SXs competition
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 72

The direct competition of MCX-SX is with NSE and BSE.
Page 73
M&M ACQUIRED STAKE OF NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) acquired stake of Navistar International Corporation in two joint ventures Mahindra Navistar Engines Pvt. Ltd. (MNEPL) and Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd (MNAL) on 12 February 2013. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) announced that it took over complete ownership to sell products of MNAL and MNEPL. Navistar however decided that it would source the components from India. M&M would forward its engineering services to Navistar, which in turn would facilitate support to it through the license agreements. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has further plans of introducing refrigerated trucks in the market.
TWITTER LAUNCHED PAY-BY-TWEET SERVICES

11 February 2013 launched its first pay-by-tweet service in partnership with the American Express. The service is designed to allow the cardholders to purchase products by tweeting #hashtags. Twitter and Amex have came together to create an integrated e-commerce payment mechanism in twitter and Amex cardholders would have an access to the offers made on the website by the merchants. Cardholders of Amex willing to purchase a product by pay-by-tweet service needs to link their cards with their twitter account through the financial service application of the firm. The cardholder will also have to confirm the messages that come as a follow-up from Amex to complete the transaction.
TELECOM OPERATOR UNINOR CLOSED ITS OPERATIONS IN MUMBAI

Telecom operator Uninor closed its operations in Mumbai on 17 February 2013 following a Supreme Court order. The apex court had ordered immediate closure of the company after it cancelled 22 licences of Uninor in February 2012. Temporary licenses, too, have not been permitted by the Supreme Court. The majority stakeholder of the company, Telenor participated in the November 2012 auction through new entity Telewings Communications and won spectrum in six circles. Telenor is now in the process of transferring business of Uninor in Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, UP East, UP West, Bihar and Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh service areas, to Telewings Communications. According to Uninor statement, its operations in these service areas will continue as fresh spectrum for 20 years has already been secured.
AMR SEALED 11 BILLION US DOLLARS MERGER WITH US AIRWAYS

www.jagranjosh.com
Page 73
Page 74
AMR Corporation, parent company of American Airlines as well as US Airways on 14 February 2013 confirmed about their merger plans in a deal which would result in creation of second largest airline of the world in terms of revenue. The merger will take place after Sean Lane; the judge that is overseeing the bankruptcy of AMR will clear the plan. The merger between the two companies will happen just after clearance from US Bankruptcy Court. The combined company will have an equity value of approximately 11 billion US dollars. The net combined debt of these companies would be somewhere around 15 billion US dollars. The deal was approved by the board of two companies. The deal came 15 months after the AMR Corporation sought for protection in November 2011. The US Airways chief executive, Doug Parker would be the chief executive of this new company. Tom Horton, AMRs chief executive on the other hand will be the temporary non-executive chairman. The two companies announced that they would continue to operate in their present hubs as well as serve everywhere they served as of now. However, US Airways announced that merger would result in cost savings because of combined systems, maintenance facilities and single team for management.
PRE-CONSULTATION PAPER ON MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY ISSUED

Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) started the pre-consultation process for the country-wide mobile number portability services which will enable the users to have the same number even if they change their service area. As of now, mobile number portability (MNP) services were available in one service area only. But with the help of country-wide MNP services, the users would be able to have same number even if they change their location state-wise. TRAI announced that it would seek views from the stakeholders on certain issues through the pre-consultation paper. TRAI asked the stakeholders to offer their views by 7 March 2013 on methods or techniques that needed to be used for implementation of full MNP, number portability from one service area to another as well as amendments needed in the existing regulation. At present, TRAI announced, that there were two MNP service providers which catered to 22 service areas. Implementing complete MNP service would have issues associated with processing of these porting requests, charging, routing, testing as well as much more. Also, there would be a need to ensure connectivity between the MNP service providers. As per the present MNP regulations, the time required for completing porting for North East, J&K as well as Assam is 15 working days. In other service areas, this time is 7 working days.
NTPC SIGNED 250 MILLION US $ LOAN AGREEMENT WITH BANKS
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 74

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) tied up a term loan facility of 250 million US dollars with the State Bank of India, New York Branch as well as Singapore Branch of Mizuho Corporate Bank Limited.
Page 75
The agreement for the loan was signed in New York. The loan will empower NTPC for making use of the proceeds of loan towards capital expenditure for procurement of goods and services for new as well as ongoing projects. It will also help NTPC in modernization as well as renovation of stations of this corporation. The loan signed by NTPC will carry a floating rate of interest associated to LIBOR. It also has door to door maturity of 7 years. With execution of this term loan facility, NTPC raised a total of 750 million US Dollars in 20122013 fiscal year, which is the maximum amount allowed under the Automatic Route of the ECB guidelines issued by the Central Bank of India - RBI.
BHARAT HEAVY PLATE & VESSELS LTD. (BHPV) MERGED WITH BHEL
The Union Cabinet of India approved merger of Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) Vishakhapatnam with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) on 21 February 2013. After the merger, BHVP will be a unit of BHEL. Post-merger, BHVP will be able to participate in the tenders as well as obtain the orders.
BHARAT HEAVY PLATE & VESSELS LTD. (BHPV)

Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd. (BHPV) is the engineering and heavy fabrication company which was established back in 1966 in Andhra Pradesh. The company had suffered immense loss because of various reasons.
BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED (BHEL)

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) acquired BHPV in 2008 as 100 percent subsidiary. However, because BHVP was a separate company, therefore it was not able to derive complete benefits. For More Corporate Stories
CORPORATE CURRENT AFFAIR QUIZZES

1. Which leading car manufacturer acclaimed the title of top selling automaker of the world in 2012, recording the highest sales and beating its arch rivals Volkswagen and General Motors? a) Nissan Motors
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 75

b) Honda Motors c) Toyota Motor d) Chevrolet Answer: (c) Toyota Motor
Page 76
2. Which bank was appointed as the depository bank for Global Depository Receipt (GDR) of Indiabulls Infrastructure and Power Limited (IIPL)? a) JPMorgan Chase Bank b) Deutsche Bank c) ERSTE Group Bank d) Citi Bank Answer: (b) Deutsche Bank 3. Which mobile company on 28 January 2013 launched a product called One Nation, One Rate which offers users one rate for voice, SMS and data in home circles and on roaming? a) Airtel b) Vodafone c) Idea d) Aircel Answer: (d) Aircel 4. Name the only Indian private airline to launch its flights to Guangzhou, China. The flights were launched in the first week of February 2013. a) SpiceJet b) Jet Airways c) Kingfisher d) None of these Answer: (a) SpiceJet
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 76
Page 77
5. Which electronics company sold the audio and video business to Funai Electric of Japan in the deal which exited it from consumer electronics completely in India? a) Bajaj Electronics b) Philips Electronics c) Sony Electronics d) Samsung Electronics Answer: (b) Philips Electronics For More Corporate Quizzes
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 77
Page 78
STATE
MEDICAL TREATMENT TO BE GIVEN TO CRIMINAL OFFENCE VICTIMS
The Delhi High Court on 31 January 2013 ordered the Government of Delhi to issue guidelines to all hospitals, including the private hospitals in the capital not to refuse treatment to the victims of criminal offences, mainly those of road accidents and rapes. A bench which was headed by Chief Justice D Murugesan ordered the Delhi government that victims of gangrape and other crimes, including road accidents should immediately be given first aid treatment, as per the condition of the victim. The directions of Delhi High Court were a result of the Delhi gangrape which took place on 16 December 2012 in a moving bus. The court also said that Police Commissioner of Delhi will issue directions with immediate effect after the order is passed by the Government of Delhi to abide by the orders of the Delhi High Court.
ADB GAVE 100 MILLION US DOLLAR LOAN TO UTTARAKHAND

The Union Government of India on 31 January 2013 signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 100 million US dollar loan as second tranche of urban sector development investment programme of Uttarakhand. The loan will provide support in terms of rehabilitation as well as expansion of the basic urban infrastructure in five main urban towns of Uttarakhand. The loan will also guarantee sustainable municipal service delivery. The loan will help the urban infrastructure programme which was already started under first tranche in Nanital, Haridwar and Dehra Dun. Apart from this, the loan will also be extended to include the towns like Ramnagar, Roorkee and Haldwani. This will help primarily in improving water supply infrastructure which will provide benefit to around 800000 residents. The agreement was signed by Department of Economic Affairs Joint Secretary Anup Wadhawan who acted on behalf of the Union Government, as well as Uttarakhands Urban Development Secretary M.H. Khan. In the second tranche of loan from ADB, there is a 25 year term which also includes the grace period of 5 years along with the commitment charges of 0.15 per cent. It also additionally carries interest rate which will be determined along with the Manila-based multilateral agencys LIBOR-based lending facility.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 78
Page 79
Apart from this, the complementary funds of 42.86 million US dollar will be provided by the Centre for the total second tranche project investment cost amounting to 142.86 million US dollar.
INDIA & WORLD BANK SIGNED A DEAL FOR KWDP II

The Government of India and the World Bank on 11 February 2013 signed a 60 million US dollars credit agreement for the Karnataka Watershed Development Project II (KWDP II) to further improve watershed planning and management in project areas. The Project will improve government watershed operations in 930 micro-watersheds covering 465000 ha across 7 districts of Karnataka. This project builds on the successful experience of earlier Bank-supported Karnataka Watershed Development Project I, also known as Sujala, which helped improve the lives of 230000 farmers by increasing crop yields by about 25 percent, and raising household incomes of small and marginal farmers by 40 percent. KWDP II will focus on improving the performance and results of IWMP by introducing new tools and approaches for integrated watershed planning, incorporating more information about water resources into the planning process, facilitating better convergence of IWMP with other government programs such as NREGS, and helping farmers increase agricultural productivity. The project will cover about 465000 ha and 160000 farmer households in 7 districts. Consequently, a primary focus of the project is on supporting the implementation of IWMP in the 7-selected districts of Karnataka through better planning, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, and post-harvest value addition. Focus will also be on understanding local needs, like locationspecific soilcropwater interactions; expanding the scope of rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, by partly converging the NREGS with the IWMP and developing agroclimatic zone specific technology to enable rural communities to better adapt to the effects of climate change. Among the other components of the project, horticulture is expected to play a major role in raising income of farmers even in dry tracks. The Project will support activities for promoting dry land production for annual and perennial crops; crop diversification; help farmers in carrying out soil, water and leaf analysis to identify nutrient deficiencies; create facilities for testing, training and demonstrations; facilitate farmers in availing quality seed and planting material; and support farmers to improve post-harvest handling and marketing of the produce among others. Karnatakas dry regions are among the states poorest, have low agricultural productivity, and are susceptible to drought and deepening environmental stress and degradation. The project area has 39400 landless families. Annual normal rainfall varies from 600 to 800 mm with 43 rainy days in a year. Rain fed agriculture in 278000 ha of project area, experiences at least two
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 79
Page 80
water deficit years in a five year cycle due to prolonged dry spells during crop season and/or delayed onset of monsoon rains.The project will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) the World Banks concessionary lending arm which provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years. The Closing Date of the Project is 31 December 2018.
HC ORDERED GUJARAT TO IMPLEMENT SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

The High Court of Gujarat on 15 February 2013 ordered the state Government to implement the Centre's Prematriculation Scholarship Scheme for students of minority community in the state. The court rejected the contention of Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the state of in implementation of the Centre's pre-matriculation scholarship scheme by stating it discriminatory. From the High Court Bench of five judges, three namely Justices V M Sahai, D H Vaghela and Akil Kureshi supported the implementation of the scheme upholding its constitutional validity and declared that equating it with any particular type of reservation was not possible, whereas two judges namely Justice R R Tripathi and J B Pardiwala ruled against the scheme. The orders of the court came after hearing of the PILs launched against the Sta te Governments decision to hold on the implementation of the Centre's pre-matriculation scholarship scheme since 2008, when the scheme was launched across the country. The Court in its majority verdict established that the scheme doesnt violate the provisions mentioned in the Article 15 (1) of the Constitution of India. Whereas the minority verdict identified that the scheme violated the provisions of the section.
PRE-MATRICULATION SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME FOR MINORITY COMMUNITIES

The Centre's pre-matriculation scholarship scheme is a scheme run by the Central Government of India and it covers students, who belong to five religious minorities including Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and Parsi with annual income below 1 lakh rupees. Under the provisions of the scheme, the central government provides 75 percent scholarship to students covered under the scheme and the rest 25 percent is the responsibility of the State Government. The Scholarship is provided to students from minority community up to tenth class, who are studying in private as well as Government schools. The main objective of the scholarship is to empower the country through education and create a potential of upliftment of the socio economic conditions of minority community
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 80
Page 81
Monetary benefits are also provided to the deserving candidates to help the families of these students and to encourage other families of the minority community to send their children to schools
CCI APPROVED PROPOSAL FOR NKSTPP, JHARKHAND

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) on 20 February 2013 cleared the proposal of the Power Ministry to set up the North Karanpura Super Thermal Power Plant (NKSTPP) (3 x 660 MW) near Tandwa town in Chatra district of Jharkhand by the National Thermal Power Corporation, NTPC. The CCI also agreed for restoring the original coal linkage for the project and declared that the project will be based on environment friendly super-critical technology. This supply will be made available in the 13th Five Year Plan. The safeguards of the project was recommended by the Chaturvedi Committee were accepted by the Group of Ministers that was chaired by the Finance Minister of Indian Union. The power project is being developed for generation of 1980 MW power. The Plant is expected to generate electricity for a period of about 35 years.
KERALA RAISED AGE LIMIT TO BUY AND SELL LIQUOR FROM 18 TO 21

The State Government of Kerala on 20 February 2013 approved Kerala Abkari Act Amendment Ordinance 2013 that envisaged raising age limit for buying or selling liquor from 18 years to 21 years. The new policy was announced in 2012, according to which Congress had committed to raise liquor buying and selling age from 18 to 21 years. This was aimed at bringing down the consumption of liquor in Kerala. Apart from this, the Kerala Abkari Act Amendment Ordinance 2013 would obligate showing statutory warnings for movies and television, against the consumption of liquor.
ASSAM, FIRST INDIAN STATE TO PRODUCE OVER 500 MILLION KG TEA

Assam became the first state in India to produce over 500 million kilogram tea for two years in a row. Assam produced five hundred 88 million kilogram of tea in 2012, which is 53 percent of the countrys total tea production. Earlier in 2011, 5 hundred 89 million kilogram tea was produced in the state. According to an estimate, over seven thousand five hundred crore rupee turn-over was recorded in Assam tea sector in 2012. It may be recalled that around seven lakh workers are engaged in the tea sector. Fifty percent of them are women.
TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) PROJECTS RECEIVE A NOD
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 81
Page 82
The UTTIPEC (Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure Planning and Engineering Centre) on 21 February 2013 started efforts for developing vision as well as strategy for successful implementation of the plans for mass-rapid transport system in Delhi. Already, pilot projects along the four metro corridors as well as Karkardooma have got in-principal approval for first phase of transit-oriented development (TOD). UTTIPEC is the division of Delhi Development Authority. It has plans for conducting around 25 workshops in coming months which would focus on metro corridors between Chattarpur to Arjangarh and Peeragarhi to Teekri Kalan. The aim of these workshops is to create awareness about TOD policy. Also, the workshops will include concerns raised by stakeholders such as NGOs, RWAs, DTC, DMRC, private transporters, DTC as well as other experts. UTTIPEC planners on 21 February 2013 emphasised on the fact that TOD system would help in making the transport system friendly to women, cyclists and walkers.
AIM OF TOD
The aim of TOD is building mass-rapid transport hubs which will have inner zone of 300 metres radius that would be called intense-zone. This intense-zone will give preference to nonmotorised transport, pedestrians as well as high-density mixed use development. Two other concentric zones of 800 metres and 2 km will be built with equal road-space distribution and high-density street network.
NINE THEMES
The workshops would create strategies as well as plans which would have nine themes Visualising of the TOD-based development Economic feasibility and market testing Strategy for sustainable infrastructure Transferring development rights as well as its implementation Strategy for incentivising redevelopment Strategy for sustainable transport infrastructure Strategy for effective parking Strategy for rolling out the TOD
In order to select the models for retrofitting, green-field development and redevelopment, design competitions will be held. To Read More State Stories
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 82
Page 83
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 83
Page 84
SPORTS
MS DHONI NAMED AS THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF INDIA CEMENTS
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of the Indian cricket team was appointed as the vice-president of India Cements on 1 February 2013. India Cements is headed by BCCI President N Srinivasan. It is important to note that Dhoni resigned from Air India team recently and now is expected to play for India Cements in the BCCI Corporate Trophy which started on 1 February 2013. India Cements owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, the captaincy of which lies in the hands of Dhoni since 2008. The Managing Director-cum-vice-chairman of India Cements is Srinivasan. Including MS Dhonis name in the India Cements team for Corporate Trophy starting from 1 February 2013 to 8 February 2013 was actually a surprise, especially because the captain had declared to take rest for some time. Earlier, Dhoni played in the Corporate Trophy for the team of Air India, but later he resigned. The Corporate Trophy will be taking place in four main citiesNagpur, Raipur, Indore and Pune.s
GLENN MCGRATH JOINED AUSTRALIAN CRICKET HALL OF FAME

Glenn McGrath and Charlie Turner, the renowned fast bowlers were unanimously chosen to be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame on 3 February 2013. Hall of fame chairman David Crow declared that these two pace bowlers were inducted officially at Allan Border Medal ceremonies on 4 February 2013. McGrath has a test career spanning 14 years over 124 matches. The highest tally of McGrath is 563 wickets at 21.64. This is the fourth highest tally of all times. McGrath was also the winner of Allan Border Medal in 2000. He was inducted in ICC Hall of Fame in December 2012. Charlie Turner, on the other hand, took 6-15 on test debut at Sydney in 1887. He died in 1944. Turner took 101 wickets at 16.53 in 17 test matches between the time period of 1887 and 1895.
OTHER HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

The other Hall of Fame inductees include Keith Miller, Arthur Morris, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Ponsford, Bob Simpson, Warwick Armstrong, Richie Benaud, Lindsay Hassett, Ian Healy, Hugh Trumble, Victor Trumper, Bill Woodfull, Rod Marsh, Stan McCabe, Allan Border, Sir Donald Bradman, John Blackham, Charles Macartney, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Doug Walters, Glenn McGrath,
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 84
Page 85
Graham McKenzie, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Neil Harvey, Clem Hill, Ray Lindwall, Fred Spofforth, Mark Taylor, Alan Davidson, George Giffen, Dennis Lillee, Clarrie Grimmett, Monty Noble and Bill Lawry.
MARUSSIA F1 TEAM UNVEILED THEIR NEW FORMULA 1 CAR, MR02

Marussia F1 team unveiled their new Formula 1 car called MR02 on 5 February 2013. The specialty of this car is that it equips the KERS (the kinetic energy recovery system) power-boost system which is not found in any other existing teams. KERS was legalised since 2011. The benefit of KERS is that enables 0.3 seconds per lap. New driver of the Marussia F1 team, Max Chilton drove this car on first day of the F1 preseason testing at Jerez in Spain ON 5 February 2013. Marussia F1 team described this car as an all-inclusive evolution of older 2012 model. MR02 is first of its kind car that is designed using the technique of CFD complementing wind tunnel. Rebecca Adlington, Olympic Gold Medalist Announced Retirement from Competitive Swimming Britain-based Rebecca Adlington, the Olympic champion announced retirement from all forms of competitive swimming on 4 February 2013. Adlington, 23 is from Mansfield.
REBECCA ADLINGTONS MEDALS ARE AS FOLLOWS

2008 - Olympic Games 400m gold 2008 - Olympic Games 800m gold 2009 - World Championship 400m bronze 2010 - European Championship 400m gold 2010 - Commonwealth Games 400m gold 2010 - Commonwealth Games 800m gold 2011 - World Championship 400m silver 2011 - World Championship 800m gold 2012 - Olympic Games 400m bronze 2012 - Olympic Games 800m bronze
INDIA WON 46 MEDALS IN 2013 PYEONGCHANG SPECIAL OLYMPICS
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 85
Page 86
The 2013 Pyeongchang Special Olympics World Winter Games finished on 5 February 2013 after a week of competition among differently-abled athletes. The games took place from 29 January 2013 to 5 February 2013. Almost 200000 spectators witnessed the games in venues- Pyeongchang and Gangneung. India returned with 46 medals in 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games at Pyeong Chang, South Korea. The differently-abled athletes of India won 46 medals in all- 13 gold, 17 silver and 16 bronze from mentally-challenged 2200 athletes participating from more than 120 nations in the games. The medal tally of India doubled from World Winter Games 2009. These games were completed in eight categories of sports- alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, figure skating, short track speed skating, floor hockey and floorball. Various celebrities participated in the games to support these athletes. Some of the popular faces were former NBA All-Star Yao Ming and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. In its closing ceremony, figure skating superstars Kim Yu-na and Michelle Kwan were also present.
CCI SLAPPED A PENALTY OF 52.24 CRORE ON BCCI

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 8 February 2013 was slapped a penalty of 52.24 crore rupees by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for being indulged in anticompetitive practices. The CCI ordered BCCI to deposit the penalty within 90 days from the date of issue of orders. The CCI in its verdict claimed that BCCI abused its dominant position and directed it to cease its all practices of denying market access to the potential competitors. The regulator also stated that the stance of BCCI was of serious concern and quantum of penalty which should be levied that is proportional to the seriousness of violation. A complaint was filed by Surinder Singh Barmi in November 2010 against BCCI and his allegations were based on issues related to a Professional League Tournament and Indian Premier League (IPL) conducted by the BCCI. The issues were related to irregularities in granting the rights of franchise of the team ownership and award of sponsorship rights as well as media rights of the league. This complaint against BCCI was sent to the CCIs Director General in December 2010 for hearing. The CCI in its statement noted that BCCI have a huge economic power helped it in keeping away other competitors from the market by using its position as a de facto regulatory body, as a result of it many players which would have opted for other competitions were not successful in doing so. The BCCI had a strategy of monopoly over the market as a result of which it didnt allow any other competitor to emerge in the market.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 86
Page 87
The Director General finally concluded that BCCI was a non-profit making organization and was registered as a society, but the activities performed by it like IPL earned it huge revenues and profits from the market via activities like grant of media rights, franchise rights, sponsorship rights and many more.
RANCHI RHINOS WON INAUGURAL HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE

Ranchi Rhinos beat Delhi Waveriders 2-1 to win the inaugural Hockey India League (HIL) in the match at Astroturf Hockey Stadium on 10 February 2013. Apart from winning the trophy, Ranchi Rhinos took away 2.5 crore Rupees. Runners-up Delhi Waveriders on the other hand, pocketed 1.25 crore Rupees. Uttar Pradesh Wizards that completed in the third place took away 75 lakh Rupees. Uttar Pradesh Wizards defeated Punjab Warriors 4-3 to claim third position. Mumbai Magicians player Sandeep Singh hit maximum goals (11) in the tournament.
THE AWARDS GIVEN AWAY IN THE HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE (HIL)

Hero Goal of the Day: Manpreet Singh Man-ofthe-Match: Mauritz Furtse Winners (Prize Money Rs. 25000000): Ranchi Rhinos Runners-Up (Prize Money: Rs. 12500000): Delhi Waveriders Third Place (Prize Money: Rs. 7500000): Uttar Pradesh Wizards Fair-Play Award: Ranchi Rhinos Hero Player of the Tournament (Rs. 2500000): Sardar Singh Ponty Chadha Trophy for Upcoming Player of the Tournament (Rs. 2000000): Mandeep Singh Airtel Award for Most Goals in the Tournament (Rs. 1000000): Delhi Waveriders
ABOUT HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE (HIL)

Hockey India League (HIL) was played from 14 January 2013 to 10 February 2013 in which 5 teams Delhi Waveriders, Jaypee Punjab Riders, Sahara India Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Dabur Mumbai Magicians and Patel-Union Ranchi Rhinos participated. The tournament was played at 5 places- Delhi, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Mumbai and Ranchi. Renowned hockey players of the world participated in the Hockey India League (HIL). 34 matches in all were played during the tournament. Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 87
www.jagranjosh.com
Current Affairs PDF February 2013 SACHIN TENDULKAR EQU ALED SUNIL GAVASKAR S RECORD
Page 88
Sachin Tendulkar on 8 February 2013 equaled the record of Sunil Gavaskar of 81 first class hundreds in first class cricket at Mumbai. He managed to equal Gavaskars record after scoring an unbeaten 140 runs in Irani Trophy against Rest of India in the first innings of the tournament of Mumbai team.
CENTURIES OF SACHIN IN FIRST CLASS CRICKET

51 in Test matches 18 in Ranji Trophy 2 in Irani Cup 3 in Duleep Trophy 1 in county cricket for Yorkshire 6 in other games
LYDIA KO IS YOUNGEST WINNER OF EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF EVENT

Lydia Ko, the teenager became youngest winner of a women's European Tour golf event by winning at New Zealand Women's Open in Christchurch on 10 February 2013. This is her third victory of the professional title. She is aged just 15 years, eight months and 17 days. Lydia Ko in the meanwhile, also became the third amateur, who won on women's European Tour. First and second amateurs were Gillian Stewart and Yang respectively. Ko at present is at number 38 on professional rankings of the world. She will go for Australian Open in Canberra that would kick off on 14 February 2013. Her first victory was in pro tour event which took place at ALPG's Bing Lee Samsung Women's NSW Open in early 2012 when Lydia Ko was just 14 years of age. Her second victory came at 2012s Canadian Women's Open.
HORACIO ZEBALLOS WON VTR OPEN 2013

World No. 73 Horacio Zeballos defeated Rafael Nadal 6-7 (2) 7-6 (6) 6-4 to win his first ATP World Tour trophy in VTR OPEN 2013 on 10 February 2013 in Vina del Mar, Chile in Mens Singles. Horacio Zeballos became the second first-time winner in ATP World Tour 2013. The first one was Australian Bernard Tomic who won at Apia International Sydney. 27-year-old Horacio
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 88
Page 89
Zeballos knocked all the four seeded opponents to grab the title. Apart from Nadal, he defeated fourth seed Pablo Andujar, fifth seed Albert Ramos and eighth seed Carlos Berlocq. Rafael Nadal, additionally also lost in Mens Doubles after he and Juan Monaco of Argentina lost to Italians Paolo Lorenzi and Potito Starace (6-2, 6-4).
ABOUT VTR OPEN 2013

VTR OPEN 2013 was played on the clay courts. It is a tennis tournament. This was the 20th edition of VTR OPEN and also a part of ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2013 ATP World Tour. VTR OPEN 2013 took place in Via del Mar, Chile. It took place from 2 February 2013 to 10 February 2013.
A. MATHEWS APPOINTED CAPTAIN OF THE SRI LANKAN CRICKET TEAM

Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lankan all-rounder cricketer was appointed the Captain of the test and one-day cricket team of Sri Lanka on 14 February 2013 for a period of one year. Mathews replaced Mahela Jayawardene, who announced to quit captaincy after Sri Lankas tour of Australia. Dinesh Chandimal, the wicket-keeper batsman was appointed as the vice-captain in the test and one-day format of the game and will lead the country as a captain in the T20 format of the game. Lasith Malinga was appointed as the vice-captain for the T20 team.
ANGELO MATHEWS
Angelo Mathews is a Sri Lankan all-rounder cricketer, who made his debut in the international cricket in a One Day International match against Zimbabwe in November 2008. In 31 test matches Mathews have scored 1668 runs since making his debut in 2009 and recorded his first and only test century against Australia
S. WILLIAMS BECAME WORLD NUMBER ONE WOMENS TENNIS PLAYE R

Serena Williams became the new World number one womens tennis player. Serena Williams who is aged 31 years thrashed Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and reached Semifinals of Qatar Open Tennis Championship in Doha. On entering the semi-finals, she achieved the top position after a period of two and a half years. Serena Williams will compete against Maria Sharapova in the Semifinals on 16 February 2013. Maria Sharapova reached semifinals after defeating Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 89
Page 90
Serena Williams (31 years, 4 months, 24 days) is now the oldest woman tennis player to hold number 1 ranking. She broke the record of Chris Evert (30 years, 11 months, 3 days) of USA.
FIFA CONFIRMED USE OF GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY AT 2014 WORLD CUP

Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on 19 February 2013 confirmed the use of goal-line technology during the 2014 FIFA World Cup to be organised in Brazil. It also stated that the technology could be introduced in the next seasons Premier league. FIFA had invited tenders from more service providers of the technology to conduct an official bidding ahead of the Confederations Cup to be held in June 2013. Introduction of the technology in football is being insisted to provide a high-tech aid to the World Cup referees to rule on the disputed incidents. IFAB, the rule making panel of FIFA in July 2012 decided to approve the goal-line technology for the competitive matches after it passed an extensive test conducted by the body. The decision by FIFA was expected once its rule-making panel, known as IFAB, decided last July to approve goal-line technology at competitive matches after two systems passed extensive tests.
GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY (GLT)

Goal-line Technology is a technology that is used to determine the fact that has the ball passed the goal-line or not with the support of an electronic-device to help the referee decided to take a call that either it was a goal or not.
MARINA ERAKOVIC WON HER FIRST WTA TITLE

Marina Erakovic won her first Women's Tennis Association title, US National Indoor Tennis Championship 2013 after beating Germany's Sabine Lisicki in Memphis on 23 February 2013. The match merely took place for one set with Marina Erakovic winning 6-1 and Sabine Lisicki unable to begin due to illness. About Marina Erakovic With this victory, Erakovic became the first women from New Zealand to win WTA Title since Belinda Cordwell in Singapore in 1989. This is her first career victory.
To Read More Stories on Sports
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 90
Current Affairs PDF February 2013 SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZZES
Page 91
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian Cricket team was recently appointed as the Vice-President of a corporate house. Name the corporate house that appointed Dhoni as its Vice-President? a) b) c) d) Cement India Limited India Cements Indian Cements Bharat Cements
Answer. (b) India Cement 2. Name the two Cricketers, who recently in February 2013 joined the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. a) Glenn McGrath and Charlie Turner b) Glenn McGrath and Matthew Hayden c) Charlie Turner and Charles Bannerman d) Charles Bannerman and Adam Gilchrist Answer. (a) Glenn McGrath and Charlie Turner 3. i. ii. iii. iv. a) b) c) d) Which of the following statements mentioned below about the Marussia F1 Team true? Marussia F1 Team is based in Banbury in the United Kingdom Marussia F1 team unveiled their new Formula 1 car called MR02 in February 2013 Formula 1 car MR02 of Marussia F1 team is equipped with the KERS (the kinetic energy recovery system) power-boost system which is not found in any other existing teams Use of KERS technology in the F1 races was legalised in 2008 Statement i, ii and iv are true All the four statements are true Statements ii, iii and iv are true Statement i, ii and iii are true
Answer. (d) Statement i, ii and iii are true 4. Name the Olympic Gold Medalist, who announced retirement from all forms of Competitive Swimming? a) Rebecca Adlington b) Cameron van der Burgh c) Matt Biondi d) Nathan Adrian Answer. (a) Rebecca Adlington
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 91
Page 92
5. International Cricket Council, ICC rankings for test cricket was released on 4 February 2013 in Dubai. Which of the following statements in context of the rankings true? i. South Africa was ranked at first position in the list ii. India was placed at third position in the list iii. Hasim Amla was placed at first position in the list of best batsman category iv. Pragyan Ojha was choosen as the best bowler in the rankings a) Statement i and iii are true b) Statement ii and iii are true c) Statement ii is only true d) Statement i, ii and iii are true Answer. (a) Statement i and ii are true For More Sports Quizzes
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 92
Page 93
ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY
FIRST WILDLIFE SKYWALK OF INDIA TO COME UP IN SIKKIM
The first wildlife skywalk of India will be coming up in Maenam wildlife sanctuary, Sikkim. The State Government of Sikkim proposed to construct 22 km rope-way from Maenam sanctuary to skywalk which would be built on edge of Bhalleydhunga steep face. This will also have rain shelter as well as public conveniences. Maenam wildlife sanctuary in Sikkim is 65 km south from Gangtok, the capital of the state. It is a popular tourist destination as well. The environment ministry too has approved the proposal of Sikkim government for the first wildlife skywalk of India proposal that would cost 500 crore Rupees. This skywalk would be like the one in Grand Canyon in North America. The skywalk in Grand Canyon in North America gets more than 300000 visitors every year, inspite of opposition from the wild-lifers.
VARIOUS INDIAN REPTILES FACE SEVERE EXTINCTION THREAT: STUDY

Zoological Society of London along with IUCN species survival commission in their largest-ever analysis found out that 19 percent of turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodiles and other reptiles were facing severe threat of extinction. One out of every five out of 10000 species of reptiles in the world, many of which are from India, is facing a threat of extinction. Out of the endangered species are the King cobra, Indian crocodile (mugger), South Andaman krait and four kinds of turtles namely, Red-crowned Roofed Turtle, Bengal Roof Turtle, Jaggedshelled turtle and Hawksbill turtle. These species were identified to be extinct forever. The conversationalists worry about the fact that at present, there is no information about conservation status of around one in every three reptiles in India. The study conducted found out that 30 percent of the freshwater reptiles were almost close to extinction. The figure increases to 50 percent when just the freshwater turtles are considered. These reptiles are affected by international as well as national trade. Also, 15 percent reptiles in Indo-Malayan region were threatened. Our of 1500 species samples in the study, it was found that 112 were from India. Out of these 1500 species, 12.2 percent had threat of extinction.
NASA STUDY REVEALED ALARMING LOSS OF WATER IN MIDDLE EAST

A recent NASA study revealed that Middle East lost quantity of freshwater which is almost the size of Dead Sea because of
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 93
Page 94
poor management, increasing demand of groundwater as well as the after-effects of 2007 drought. The NASA study researched on the data over a time period of seven years since 2003 with the help of gravity-measuring satellites, which are a part of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment or GRACE. Researchers discovered that freshwater reserves in areas in countries like Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran along Euphrates and Tigris river basins lost 117 million acre feet or 144 cubic kilometers of total stored freshwater, which is said to be the second-fastest loss.
CAUSE OF LOSS OF WATER

60 percent of loss was a result of pumping of underground reservoirs for ground water. 1000 wells in Iraq were pumped for groundwater. One-fifth loss occurred because of impacts of drought which included decreasing snow packs as well as drying up of soil. Another one-fifth loss happened because of loss of surface water from reservoirs and lakes. The rate at which water loss occurred is the largest liquid freshwater loss on the continents.
WORSENING WATER-CRISIS IN MIDDLE EAST

The latest NASA study revealed about the worsening of water crisis in Middle East. The demand for water in Middle East is increasing because of increasing population, war as well as climatic changes. It also depicts that certain countries would face acute shortage of water in near future. When the report was released during U.N. climate talks in Qatar, World Bank had concluded that water shortage was one among the critical problems in North Africa and Middle East. This region particularly had lowest quantity of freshwater in the entire world. Climatic changes would result in more droughts in these regions with extreme situations. Water runoff would decrease 10 percent by 2050 and the demand for water would increase 60 percent by 2045. Fulfilling the increasing demand of water is the biggest challenge for improving the water conservation in Tigris and Euphrates river basins.
NEED FOR COORDINATED WATER MANAGEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY, SYRIA & IRAQ
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 94
Page 95
Tigris and Euphrates headwaters are controlled by Turkey. Also the reservoirs and the infrastructure of Turkey's Greater Anatolia Project which dictates the quantity of downstream of water flow into Iraq and Syria are controlled by Turkey. There is a need for coordinated water management, which at present does not exist among Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Also, the tensions intensified since the drought of 2007 because Turkey diverts water to irrigate farmland. As a result, decline in the stream flow puts pressure on northern Iraq. UN as well as anecdotal reports from area residents made it clear in the report that because of a decline in the stream flow, the northern Iraq had to turn up to groundwater.
COMMITTEE TO CONSTITUTED
EXAMINE
COVER
ON
ELEPHANT
HABITATS
The Environment Ministry in the third week of February 2013 constituted a committee that will review better legal protection to elephant reserves as well as the corridors in India under the green laws which are already present. The committee was constituted after National Board for Wildlife raised concerns about absence of any legal cover for the elephant corridors and reserves. The central government has already identified two-third elephant reserves which cover 69582 sq km of area. The size of these reserves varies from 450-6724 sq km. These reserves not just include the forest patches of various kinds but also the tea plantations, revenue land, agricultural land, villages and townships. As of now, these elephant reserves are identified as the programme of the environment ministry for facilitating more funds under Project Elephant central scheme. However, it does not facilitate better legal protection against the changes to demarcated landscape like that is case of tiger reserves. The government does not face many difficulties in safeguarding the tiger reserves, national parks and sanctuaries, but in case of elephant reserves, there are certain difficulties faced by the government. This is so because the elephants travel hundreds of kilometer in a year and they run through the forest and, cities and villages as well.
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

The committee which was set up by the environment ministry will be headed over by retired senior forest officer, Vinod Rishi. The director of Project Tiger will be the member convener of the committee. Other members will include Member of National Board for Wildlife M D Madhusudan, elephant conservation expert Ajay Desai, chief wildlife warden of Odisha J D Sharma and Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Upadhayaya.
PURPOSE OF THE COMMITTEE
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 95
Page 96
The committee will have a one year time for examining the existing networks of elephant corridors and reserves. The committee will inspect whether these reserves and corridors sufficiently cover the habitat of elephants and that what other legal cover can be provided to these reserves and corridors under the green laws recommended by Elephant Task Force. The committee will also assess impact of wildlife protection regulations on the population that lives on or uses the land that falls inside elephant corridors and reserves.
HYDRO PROJECTS WORTH 2500 MW ACCORDED CLEARANCE

The Hydro Projects worth 2500 MW across various states were accorded clearance by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) on 5 February 2013. The projects include Tawang-II H.E. Project (800 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh, Teesta-IV H.E. Project (520 MW) in Sikkim to be executed by NHPC Limited and Luhri H.E. Project (775 MW) in Himachal Pradesh to be executed by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited. The National Board for Wild Life (NBWL) has accorded wild life clearance to Vishnugad Pipalkoti H.E. Project (444 MW) in Uttarakhand to be executed by THDC India Limited subject to clearance by the State Board of Wild Life. The clearances were pending for a long time. The way is straight clear in tapping the hydro potential of the country to meet the countrys power needs. Separately, the MoEF has recently granted Stage-I forest clearance to eight transmission projects and Stage-II forest clearance to two transmission projects of the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. The MoEF, through an order exempted certain linear projects including transmission lines from the requirement of obtaining consent of the concerned Gram Sabha(s) unless recognised rights of Primitive Tribal Groups/Pre-Agricultural Communities are being affected. However, all other conditions as prescribed in the MoEF`s earlier order would apply. This would help transmission projects obtain clearances faster.
NEPAL STARTED CENSUS OF ENDANGERED SPECIES TIGERS

Nepal started a three-month-long census of the tigers on 4 February 2013. Tigers were declared as the endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2010. The census includes five main conservation areas in Nepal which include two wildlife reserves namely, Parsa and Shuklaphanta as well as three national parks namely Bardiya, Banke and Chitwan. All the conservation areas where census began lie in the Terai plains of the country. First counting of the tigers started in Shuklaphanta reserve which is situated in far-west region. The census was jointly started by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the National Trust for Nature Conservation. 50 cameras were installed in Shuklaphanta reserve for counting the number of tigers.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 96
Page 97
Nepal is said to be the abode of Royal Bengal Tiger that primarily dwells in dense forests of the Terai plains. Royal Bengal Tiger was declared as the endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2010. As per the initial census, there were a total of 200 tigers in Nepal. However, poaching remains a threat to tigers in Nepal.
SHELLS OF SNAILS PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT ANCIENT CLIMATE

Researchers from the University of York in the last week of January 2013 revealed that the snails could help in predicting the weather conditions which existed thousands of years ago. The researchers described that a lot of information could be extracted about weather conditions that were there 1000s of years ago, through the snails. In their study, the researchers studied the chemistry behind shells of snail which dated back to 9000 to 2500 years ago, which were recovered from the Mediterranean caves. The study was conducted by looking at the different phases in past. A team of researchers which was led by Andre Carlo Colonese from York's department of Archaeology believed that the land snails held plethora of information about not just the palaeoclimatic conditions but also the human behaviour. Andre Carlo Colonese described that when the research on snails was put together from various sites such as Italy and Spain, a large scale regional picture of the weather conditions that existed over western Mediterranean area could be produced. To Read More Environment and Ecology Stories
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 97
Page 98
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA MARKS 10TH ANNI. OF SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA DISASTER
NASA on 1 February 2013 marks 10th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia that perished into the atmosphere of the Earth upon its re-entry. Seven astronauts were aboard Columbia which disintegrated across southern United States. The debris of Columbia spread across 200mile stretch from Texas to Louisiana. NASA decided to mark the anniversary in just the low-key ceremonies in Texas as well as Florida in order to honour the crew members of Columbia along with those who died in the Challenger shuttle explosion on 28 January 1986. Participants of the ceremony include family members of the crew who waited at Kennedy on 1 February 2003 when Columbia was about to land. The seven crew members on-board included Commander Rick Husband; co-pilot William McCool, specialists Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, David Brown and Ilan Ramon an Israeli fighter pilot. Columbia broke into pieces on re-entering the atmosphere of the Earth. The cause for its explosion was attributed towards the piece of foam which dropped from external rocket tank on launch, which eventually created a hole in the shuttle wing.
NASA SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED A 10-M-YEAR OLD STAR

Scientists from NASA in the last week of January 2013 discovered an old star called TW Hydrae, which they believe could create new planets even now. TW Hydrae is 176 light years away from the Earth. NASA announced that the disk of material which surrounds TW Hydrae could be huge enough for creating the planets in a number which could be larger than our solar system. The findings were created using the Herschel Space Telescope of European Space Agency, in the mission where NASA is also a participant. TW Hydrae is around 10 million years old and 176 light years away from Earth, which means that it is relatively closer to the Earth as per the astronomical standards. Relatively this star is young theoretically but it has already crossed the age at which it can create the giant planets. The scientists explained that the stars of this age usually have cleared the surrounding material, but this particular star had mass which could create as many as 50 Jupiters. Apart from describing the state of this star, the findings of NASA also demonstrated a precise and new method for measuring the weight of the planet-forming disks. This new method can help in directly investigating the gas which is typically used for making the new planets.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 98
Current Affairs PDF February 2013 SCIENTISTS CREATED W ORLDS FIRST DIGITAL ATLAS OF BRAIN
Page 99
Scientists at the Berkeley Lab in their first major breakthrough made possible to get the close view of how a brain develops as well as functions. The scientists would also be able to find out which part of brain is an absentee during the neurological disorders such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia. In their major breakthrough, the scientists created the first of its kind genome-wide digital atlas of gene enhancers that are found in the brain. Genomes, as described by the scientists are the switches which help a gene in getting information about when and where they should be switched on or off. The worlds first atlas o f this kind documents the cerebrum, motor functions as well as emotion identifies and also find out various gene-regulating elements that form the basic causes of neurological disorders. A geneticist with Berkeley Lab's genomics division, Axel Visel described that the most challenging tasks of the contemporary science is to understand the functioning or malfunctioning of the brain. Therefore, they created the digital atlas of gene enhancers in the human brain. This atlas enabled the scientists to get a detailed study about how the individual genes can be regulated during the development of a brain and also how the genetic mutations can create an impact on the human neurological disorders. The gene enhancers in reality are the short pieces of DNA in human genome, rather than the actual genes. Therefore these enhancers do not give rise to the proteins. Actually, they are the switches which are used to inform actual genes when they should become active and create a protein. Every cell type of human body composes of different sets of enhancers which are switched on or off. Together, these can help in coordination of activities of 20000 genes in every single cell.
JAPANESE SCIENTISTS FILMED THOUGHTS OF A FISH FOR FIRST TIME

The Japanese scientists from the Saitama University in the first week of February 2013 filmed for the first time, the thoughts of a fish while it tracks the prey, revealing about the precision of the brain activity that governs its hunting behaviour. The study is a first of its kind and it led to real-time recording of the precise brain processes in the animal. In the similar studies conducted earlier, the patterns of the brain activities while making use of MRI scans were studied. These MRI scans were used to find out when the different regions of a brain switched on and off. However, this new study used a very different approach for recording which individual cells were being used at a particular moment. The filmed thoughts are very important because this technology can be used for understanding the thought process of the animals as well as the humans. Also, it could be used for learning about the abnormalities which lead to increase in diseases of a brain. In the study, the scientists demonstrated the map in a brain of the Zebra fish. This map was also present in human brain. This could greatly help in interpreting the behaviour of an animal which includes understanding their anger, joy, memory, learning and much more. www.jagranjosh.com
Page 99
Page 100
In their study, the scientists modified the larvae of the Zebra Fish genetically so that the neurons in their optic tectum emitted a fluorescent green light when being used. The larvae of Zebra Fish have transparent bodies which meant that the activities of brain cells could be easily filmed in a real-time with the help of a microscope and a high-resolution camera.
NASAS MARS ROVER, C URIOSITY DRILLED INTO FIRST MARTIAN ROCK

NASA on 9 February 2013 announced that its Mars rover Curiosity drilled into the surface of the planet for first time. The drilling was a part of endeavor to learn whether the Martian surface, which has solar system like that of Earth, supports microbial life or not. The drilling into Martian surface took place for the first time on 8 February 2013. As an outcome of the drilling, the pictures were sent by Curiosity which depicted a hole of around 0.63 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep in the finegrained sedimentary bedrock. The drilling fetched out small heap of powder which will be fed in onboard laboratory instruments so that the chemical makeup of the rock can be determined. Earlier in the second week of February 2013, engineers spent a few days in order to make use of the Curiositys drill which also included boring practice holes. The first drill target of Curi osity was a Martian rock which was laced with the veins which appeared like water-deposited minerals. Curiosity is on a two-year mission on Mars for finding out the chemical and geologic conditions on Mars which are required for supporting as well as preserving the microbial life. Engineers are not clear yet whether the powder was produced in what quantity but it is enough for laboratory analysis. NASA announced that using drill was the biggest achievement for the team of Curiosity ever since the rover landed on Mars in August 2012. The final target of Curiosity is 3-mile- (5-km) high mound of layered sediment which rises from floor of Gale Crater landing site.
NASA SATELLITE DATA FOUND FRESHWATER LOSSES IN MIDDLE EAST

A new study using data from a pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites found on 12 February 2013 that large parts of the arid Middle East region lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade. Scientists at the University of California at Irvine found that during a seven-year period beginning in 2003, parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of its total stored freshwater. That is almost the amount of water in the Dead Sea. The researchers attribute about 60 percent of the loss to pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs. Since obtaining ground-based data in the area is difficult, satellite data, such as that from NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, are essential. GRACE is providing a global picture of water storage trends and is invaluable when hydrologic observations are not routinely collected or shared beyond political boundaries. www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 100
Page 101
GRACE is like having a giant scale in the sky. Within a given region, rising or falling water reserves alter Earth's mass, influencing how strong the local gravitational attraction is. By periodically measuring gravity regionally, GRACE tells us how much each region's water storage changes over time. The team calculated about one-fifth of the observed water losses resulted from soil drying up and snowpack shrinking, partly in response to the 2007 drought. Loss of surface water from lakes and reservoirs accounted for about another fifth of the losses. The majority of the water lost approximately 73 million acre feet (90 cubic kilometers) was due to reductions in groundwater. When a drought reduces an available surface water supply, irrigators and other water users turn to groundwater supplies. For example, the Iraqi government drilled about 1000 wells in response to the 2007 drought, a number that does not include the numerous private wells landowners also very likely drilled. Water management is a complex issue in the Middle East, an area that already is dealing with limited water resources and competing stakeholders said Kate Voss, lead author of the study and a water policy fellow with the University of California's Center for Hydrological Modeling in Irvine, which Famiglietti directs. GRACE is a joint mission with the German Aerospace Center and the German Research Center for Geosciences, in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin.
RESEARCHERS DISCOVERED WATER ON THE OLDEST ROCKS OF MOON

Researchers in the third week of February 2013 detected water traces inside the crystalline structure of one of the oldest lunar rocks which were obtained through Apollo missions on Moon. As per the study conducted by University of Michigan, the lunar highlands represent original crust which is actually crystallised from Magma Ocean that was found mainly on the molten early Moon. Researchers made use of the Infrared spectroscopy for analysing water content in a part of plagioclase feldspar from lunar anorthosites. Plagioclase feldspar from lunar anorthosites is basically the lunar rocks which are formed of over 90 percent plagioclase. It is believed that these bright-coloured highlands rocks formed early in the history of the moon when plagioclase crystallised from the magma ocean and came up to the surface. The infrared spectroscopy work found out about the presence of 6 parts per million of water in lunar anorthosites. The water content that was measured is not actually liquid water but hydroxyl groups which were distributed in mineral grain. These hydroxyl groups that were detected are evident that the interior of the Moon contained water during the early molten state of it. Later the crust was solidified and played a crucial role in lunar basalts developments.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 101
Page 102
Because there are some oldest rocks from the Moon, therefore it is believed that water would have been there in the Moon when it was formed. Earlier theories revealed that Moon was formed when the Mars-sized body bumped into the young Earth. Eventually the debris broke off and combined into new body. It was believed that a lot of water would have been evaporated in the space, leaving Moon arid.
RESEARCHERS DISCOVERED WATER ON THE OLDEST ROCKS OF MOON

Researchers in the third week of February 2013 detected water traces inside the crystalline structure of one of the oldest lunar rocks which were obtained through Apollo missions on Moon. As per the study conducted by University of Michigan, the lunar highlands represent original crust which is actually crystallised from Magma Ocean that was found mainly on the molten early Moon. Researchers made use of the Infrared spectroscopy for analysing water content in a part of plagioclase feldspar from lunar anorthosites. Plagioclase feldspar from lunar anorthosites are basically the lunar rocks which are formed of over 90 percent plagioclase. It is believed that these bright-coloured highlands rocks formed early in the history of the moon when plagioclase crystallised from the magma ocean and came up to the surface. The infrared spectroscopy work found out about the presence of 6 parts per million of water in lunar anorthosites. The water content that was measured is not actually liquid water but hydroxyl groups which were distributed in mineral grain. These hydroxyl groups that were detected are evident that the interior of the Moon contained water during the early molten state of it. Later the crust was solidified and played a crucial role in lunar basalts developments. Because there are some oldest rocks from the Moon, therefore it is believed that water would have been there in the Moon when it was formed. Earlier theories revealed that Moon was formed when the Mars-sized body bumped into the young Earth. Eventually the debris broke off and combined into new body. It was believed that a lot of water would have been evaporated in the space, leaving Moon arid. To Read More Science and Technology Stories
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY QUIZZES

1. The space telescope of NASA discovered astonishing magnetic braids of super-hot matter in outer atmosphere of the Sun. Which of the following statements is true in context with this statement? a) The scientists claimed that this discovery could help in explaining the mysterious hot centre of the Sun.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 102
Page 103
b) The NASAs telescope captured 1000 photographs depicting astonishing details. c) It was found out that the Suns surface was almost up to 6125 degrees Celsiu s. d) The scientists also discovered that the powerful magnetic waves which rippled from within the surface of the Sun. Answer: (c) It was found out that the Suns surface was almost up to 6125 degrees Celsius. 2. Iran on 28 January 2013 announced that it had successfully sent into space a primate. Which primate did it send into space? a) Worms b) Monkey c) Turtle d) Mouse Answer: (b) Monkey 3. NASA on 1 February 2013 marked 10th anniversary of which Space Shuttle? a) Columbia b) Challenger c) Both of these d) None of these Answer: (a) Columbia 4. Scientists from NASA in the last week of January 2013 discovered an old star called TW Hydrae which they believe could create new planets even now. How old is this star? a) 100 million years old b) 50 million years old c) 20 million years old d) 10 million years old Answer: (d) 10 million years old
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 103
Page 104
5. The Japanese scientists from the Saitama University in the first week of February 2013 filmed for the first time, the thoughts of which animal while it was tracking its prey? a) A fish b) A zebra c) An elephant d) A snail Answer: (a) A fish For More Science and Tech Quizzes
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 104
Page 105
ONE LINERS
The new communication satellite launched by NASA on 31 January 2013 to stay in touch with its space station astronauts- TDRS(Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) The person who emerged as winner to the first direct Presidential elections held in Czech Republic on 25 January 2013-Milos Zeman The renowned painter of Bengal School died on 1 February 2013 following a brief illness at Kolkata hospital- Shanu Lahiri The prominent Pakistani journalist died on 2 February 2013 in New York following 4year long fight with cancer- Ayesha Haroon World cancer day was observed on - 4 February 2013 Solicitor-General of India, who resigned from his office on 4 February 2013- Rohinton F Nariman The Australian cricket captain who won the fourth Allan Border Medal in Melbourne on 4 February 2013- Michael Clarke President of Republic of Mauritius who visited India from 3 Jan 2013 to 10 Jan 2013 and was honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award- Rajkeswur Purryag The King of Bhutan who visited India from 23 to 30 January 2013 and was the Chief Guest for the Republic Day Celebration- Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck The fourth largest private sector Bank of India which was awarded the Financial Institutions Syndicated Deal of the Year 2012 in its Asia Pacific Region- YES Bank The Parliament Attack Convict, who was hanged on 9 Feb 2013 at Tihar Jail after his mercy petition was cancelled by the President of India- Afzal Guru The Advocate-General of West Bengal who resigned from his office on 8 Feb 2013Anindya Kumar Mitra The 72 years old table tennis legend who died in Beijing on 10 February 2013 following lengthy fight with cancer- Zhuang Zedong The sitar legend was honoured with the posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy award ON 9 February 2013- Pandit Ravi Shankar US Marine General who took over the command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan- Joseph Dunford
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 105

Page 106
Conference for South Asian Autism Network (SAAN) for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) was concluded on -11 Feb 2013 Code name given to secret plan for executing Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail on 9 February 2013 -Operation Three Star The short range surface-to-surface missile launched by Pakistan on 11 February 2013 Hatf IX (NASR) The Person appointed as the chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi on 12 February 2013Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty Prime Minister of the Himalayan Kingdom Bhutan was on an official visit to India from 7 Feb. to 9 Feb. 2013- Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley World Radio Day was observed on which day to raise awareness about the importance of radio- 12 February 2013 The former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, who sworn in as the Lokayukta on 14 February 2013- Y Bhaskar Rao The theme of 27nd edition of Surajkund mela that was ended on 15 February 2013 was Karnataka The person who was appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations on 13 February 2013- Asoke Kumar Mukerji The Country which banned the Japanese cartoon Doraemon in the third week of February 2013 because of the fears of Hindi invasion- Bangladesh The Ecuador's President who was re-elected for a third term with more than 50 percent of the vote- Rafael Correa The Person who was conferred with Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development Award 2011 by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 18 Feb 2013 Ela Ramesh Bhatt The former Union Minister and three times MP for Rajya Sabha, who died at the age of 68 on 19 February 2013- Radhakishan Malviya The former LIC chief who took over as the Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on 21 February 2013- T. S. Vijayan The former head of Tata Group who was awarded the life time achievement award 2012 by Ernst & Young on 21 February 2013- Ratan Tata The Car Rally that was flagged off from the Helipad Ground in Salt Lake Stadium, West Bengal on 22 February 2013- Silk Route Car Rally Current Affairs PDF February 2013
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 106

Page 107
The playbook which won four awards at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on 24 February 2013- Silver Linings Playbook The Person who had sworn -in as the first woman President of South Korea on 25 February 2013- Park Geun-hye
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 107
Page 108
NEWS CAPSULE
P.R. VASUDEVA RAO APPOINTED AS DIRECTOR OF IGCAR
P.R. Vasudeva Rao became the Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam on 31 January 2013. He succeeded S.C Chetal, who has now retired. Dr. Rao was earlier the Director, Chemistry Group in IGCAR and is also a specialist in the field of actinide chemistry as well as a few areas of chemistry of nuclear fuel cycle. In IGCAR, Dr. Rao led various R&D programmes related to the field of chemistry.
ABOUT DR. RAO

Dr. Rao did graduation from Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai in 1972. He later became a part of the Department of Atomic Energy after he graduated from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School, Trombay. He got his Ph.D. degree in actinide chemistry from Bombay University. In 1978, after resigning from BARC, he joined IGCAR. He played a crucial role in establishing Radiochemistry Laboratory in IGCAR. Various awards were bagged by him, which also include Indian Nuclear Society award in 2007. Dr. Raos specialty is designing and developing breeder reactors.
NASA LAUNCHED A NEW COMMUNICATION SATELLITE CALLED TDRS

NASA on 31 January 2013 launched a new communication satellite to stay in touch with its space station astronauts and relay more Hubble telescope images. An unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into the starry night sky carrying the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) from Cape Canaveral. This is the 11th TDRS satellite to be launched by NASA. The space agency uses the orbiting network to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space Station. The first TDRS spacecraft flew in 1983. This newest third-generation TDRS carries the letter K designation. Once it begins working, it will become TDRS-11. It will take two weeks for the satellite to reach its intended 22300-mile-
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 108
Page 109
high orbit. Testing will last a few months. NASA estimates the satellite costs between 350 and 400 million US Dollars. Another TDRS spacecraft, L in the series, will be launched in 2014.
FIRST DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS HELD IN CZECH REPUBLIC

Czech Republic: It is a landlocked country in Central Europe The result of first direct Presidential elections held in Czech Republic was declared on 25 January 2013. Milos Zeman emerged as winner. He won 55 percent as compared with 45 percent of Karel Schwarzenberg. Milos Zeman is the former Prime Minister of Czech Republic and head of the Party of Civic Rights-Zemanovci (SPOZ) while Karel Schwarzenberg is foreign minister in the present centre-right coalition government. Zeman succeeded Vaclav Klaus as the President of Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is a land-locked country in central Europe. Until 2012, the Parliament elected the President for a five-year term. After a long discussion, fueled by allegations of corruption in the voting process, the constitution was amended in 2012 to provide for direct Presidential elections.
SIR IS SAC NEWTONS 300 -YEAR-OLD TEXTBOOKS DISCOVERED

A box of books said to be that of Sir Isaac Newton, in the school physics laboratory of Newcastle-under-Lyme School, Staffordshire in UK were discovered in the first week of February 2013. The textbooks are over 300 years old and contain works of Sir Issac Newton, who is credited with discovery of gravity. The auctioneers estimated that the discovery could be worth thousands of pounds. The books were discovered by the sixth-form physics student Will Garside while working on the artefacts from the school site. The books contained Newtons Laws of Motion as well as the account of principles of gravity spread across over 1000 pages. The discovered books are a set of three volumes and are said to be the property of first headmaster, Francis Elliot Kitchener, who was a keen scientist. The three books are known as Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica, meaning mathematical principles of natural philosophy. They were first published on 5 July 1687. The work of Sir Issac Newton was translated in English in 1728. Sir Newton was leading scientist in subjects such as alchemy, theology, natural philosophy and astronomy. He was born in 1642 and died in 1727.
REPORT: INDIA ACCOUNTS TO 86 % ORAL CANCER FIGURE

Experts of National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW) in first week of February released a report on the harmful effects of gutka. It reported that 86 percent of the total oral
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 109
Page 110
cancer figure across the world accounted to India. A total of 75000 to 80000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in India itself. In case of India the maximum number of cancer was a result of tobacco chewing, because Indians chew tobacco more than smoking. India consists of 14 percent smoking tobacco users and 26 percent chewing tobacco users. As per the report tobacco is responsible for creating 1.5 lakh cancer patients, 4.2 million heart diseases and 3.7 million lung diseases in India every year, making India an oral cancer capital. The statistics released by the Health Ministry 65 percent cancers in India are caused due to the use of tobacco. Other data released reveled that a third of the annual 5.6 million cancer deaths in India occurs due to the excessive use of tobacco. The rate of oral cancer reported in India is about twice the global average. In 2008 cancer was the cause of 7.6 million deaths worldwide. In case of men from South-East Asia Region, oral and lung cancers are the most prevalent ones and breast and cervical cancers are mainly found in women. The Government of India invests a sum of 300 billion rupees per year approximately on treatment of tobacco related illness via both private and public spending. It accounts to onefourth of the total spending on health issues in the country. About 2500 persons die every day in India due to diseases related to tobacco.
R. NARIMAN SOLICITOR-GENERAL OF INDIA RESIGNED FROM HIS OFFICE

Rohinton F Nariman, the Solicitor-General of India resigned from his office on 4 February 2013. He was appointed at the second highest law official of India on 23 July 2011 after Gopal Subramanium resigned from his office on 14 July 2011 following the issues with Government in context to the 2G Spectrum Allocation Scam. Nariman was designated as a senior advocate at the age of 37, when M.N. Venkatachaliah, the Chief Justice of India amended the rules and reduced the age from 45 years for designating a lawyer as a senior advocate. In the history of last four decades, only three Solicitor Generals have been successful in completing his five year term in the office and they are - L N Sinha from 1972-77, Dipankar Gupta from 1992-97 and G E Vahanvati from 2004-09.
EARTHQUAKE OF MAGNITUDE 8.0 STRUCK THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 8.0 has struck off the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean on 6 February 2013 and generated a potentially destructive tsunami. The earthquake struck the Santa Cruz Islands a part of the Solomon Islands Nation at 01:12 GMT as per the reports from the US Geological Survey. The quake struck 81 kilometres west of Lata, at a depth of 5.8 kilometres. The Tsunami warning was raised for Papua New Guinea, www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 110
Page 111
Solomon Islands, Nauru, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Tuvalu, Fiji, Kosrae, and Wallis and Futuna and Kiribati islands. King of Bhutan visited India as Republic Day function Chief Guest The King and Queen of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Jetsun Pema respectively visited India from 23 January to 30 January 2013. King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was invited by the Indian President to be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day Celebrations of India. The visit of the King of Bhutan and his acceptance to be the chief guest for the Republic Day celebration would contribute to further strengthening and expansion of the bilateral relation and ties between Bhutan and India. During his visit, the King of Bhutan met with President of India, the Vice-President, Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson, Leader of Opposition in Lok sabha, Foreign Secretary, National Security Advisor.
UNION CABINET APPROVED DRDO FOR DEVELOPING AWACS FOR IAF

The Union Cabinet of India on 6 February 2013 gave approval to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for developing an indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) for IAF. AWACS allows IAF to keep a close watch on the enemy territory. The government granted an in-principal approval to the proposal for developing an indigenous AWACS. The approval was granted in the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security. DRDO officials announced that DRDO would work for finalisation of further details of the programmes as well as the number of aircrafts that IAF would need for giving overall coverage to Indias boundaries. At present, India has a fleet of three AWACS aircraft.
OBAMA NOMINATED SALLY JEWELL AS U.S. INTERIOR SECRETARY

US President Barack Obama nominated Sally Jewell, a retail executive and outdoor enthusiast on 6 February 2013 as the U.S. interior secretary for looking after the huge energy reserves as well as the national parks. Obama while nominating Jewell described her as an expert on climate issues and energy issues. It is important to note that Jewell is the first woman who is nominated to join second term of Obama.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 111

ABOUT SALLY JEWELL

Page 112
Jewell who is 56 years of age has remained a leader in land conservation in the Pacific Northwest. She has also worked in banking and energy sector in early days of her career.
ROLE OF THE U.S. INTERIOR SECRETARY

Apart from managing the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. interior secretary also looks after one fifth of the land mass of the country as well as offshore oil fields. The interior secretary also strongly voices out the opinions in rules which govern the hydraulic fracturing or fracking on the public lands and drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic.
WORLDS L ARGEST PRIME NUMBER DISCOVERED

Researchers from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg in the second week of February 2013 discovered the largest prime number of the world, beating an earlier record of largest prime number by more than 4 million digits. The findings of the researchers were a part of Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). GIMPS is a distributed computing project which was specifically formulated for finding out a certain kind of prime number which was first identified in 17th century. All the prime numbers in the world can be divided by themselves and 1 only. However there are certain rare kinds of prime numbers called Mersenne primes which have the form 2 multiplied by itself p times minus 1, where p denotes a prime number. The new number now shot to 2 multiplied by itself 57885161 times minus 1 and this broke the record of finding the new and even larger primes. The new largest prime number discovered by the researchers has more than 17 million digits and is an only 48th Mersenne prime found so far. It is the 14th discovery by GIMPS. The earlier record of 2 multiplied by itself 43112609 times minus 1 was also discovered by GIMPS back in 2008 and it had just a few less than 13 million digits. GIMPS discovered all the top ten largest Mersenne primes. There are infinite numbers of primes and there is not any specific formula for generating the primes like these. Therefore discovering numbers like these involves intensive computation. The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) software functions on almost 1000 university computers. One of the computers out of these spent 39 days in proving that number discovered was actually prime and later it was verified by other researchers as well.
UNION GOVERNMENT OF INDIA APPROVED SETTING UP OF NPCA

www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 112

NPCA: National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems
Page 113
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 7 February 2013 approved the proposal for the merger of National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) and National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP) to develop a new scheme named National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA). The estimated cost to bring this plan into operations during the 12th Plan Period is 900 crore rupees. The Government of India and the State Governments would be sharing the costs in a ratio of 70:30 and in case of the North-Eastern states the ratio is 90:10.
NATIONAL PLAN FOR CONSERVATION OF AQUATIC ECO-SYSTEMS (NPCA)

The Union Government of India merged National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA) to develop a new program named National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA). The formation of the NPCA was done with the objective of conserving aquatic ecosystems (lakes and wetlands) by implementing sustainable conservation plans. To govern the implementation uniform policy and guidelines will be framed.
PT. R. SHANKAR HONOURED WITH GRAMMY AWARD

Pandit Ravi Shankar, the sitar legend was honoured with the posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy award. His daughter sitarist Anoushka Shankar accepted the award on his behalf on 9 February 2013 ahead of the Grammys show that took place in Los Angeles on 10 February 2013. Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones attended the preGrammy ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre for accepting the honour which was given to their deceased father. Pandit Ravi Shankar died on 11 December 2012 at 92 years of age. Pandit Ravi Shankar was in the list of seven other artistes named for Lifetime Achievement Award honourees and this also included Carole King and the Temptations. The Indian sitar legend also won best world music album Grammy for The Living Room Sessions Part 1. Pandit Ravi Shankars daughter Anoushka Shankar was also nominated in this category for album Traveller.
POPE BENEDICT XVI ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION

Pope Benedict XVI announced on 11 February 2013 that he would resign at the end of the month. He reasoned that he was too infirm to carry on. He is the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision set the stage for the election of a new Pope before the end of March 2013. Pope Benedict XVI is 85 years old. He had become the Pope in www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 113
Page 114
2005. The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who took this step in 1415 to put an end to the Great Western Split among competing papal claimants.
DELHI DECLARATION OF SAAN CONCLUDED

The Delhi Declaration of the first South Asian Autism Network (SAAN) for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) conference concluded in New Delhi on 11 February 2013.
THE DELHI DECLARATION IS AS FOLLOWS

The members of South Asian Autism Network (SAAN), during New Delhi Declaration took into consideration different facts. To reiterate the commitment of nations to the concept of all human beings being born free and equal in rights and dignity as enshrined in: a. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, b. The Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, c. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2007, d. The Declaration of 2nd April as World Autism Awareness Day by the United Nations General Assembly 2007 e. The Dhaka Declaration on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities of July 2011 They reiterated towards its commitment for safeguarding every citizen from discrimination and social exclusion ensuring their inclusion in all spheres of life They noted down their concerns related to the increased occurrence of autism and disorders related to it as well as the absence of population based mechanisms to detect the accessible interventions on time To develop a community based model for early detection, intervention and care for Autism which can surely improve the outcome and become a model for different types of developmental disabilities The concern for making the appropriate services accessible to children and their families, making it affordable, and increase the human and material costs for communities, families and nations because the scientific evidences for early intervention of the children with autism have increased at a large scale To consider the stigma, discrimination as well as social exclusion those children and their families can face on a daily basis
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 114

THE PARTICIPANT NATIONS UNDERTOOK
Page 115
A commitment to themselves to include ASD in all mainstream policies and programmes of their nations for addressing the issues related to early childhood development in all spheres of community life To develop measures for early detection and surveillance services at every level Evaluation and implementation of the efficacious and effective programs for addressing the life cycle needs of person with ASD The member countries agreed to undertake collaborative research on all aspects of autism To strive to improve Awareness, develop collaborative networks for Advocacy and Legislation/Policy changes if required, on ASD which will also provide a platform for the voices of persons with ASD and their families Implementation of the Dhaka Declaration on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities of 2011, in both letter and spirit
ALLAHABAD STAMPEDE DURING MAUNI AMAVASYA

Stampede took place at the Allahabad railway station on 10 February 2013. On 11 February 2013, the death toll reached to 36 people. The death toll is likely to increase. The injured were being treated at SRN hospital in Allahabad and railway hospitals. Victims included 9 men, 26 women and one child. Bodies of 20 deceased people were identified. The stampede took place at Platform number 5 and 6 where a number of passengers, most of which were Maha Kumbh devotees, were returning after they took dip in the Holy Sangam on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya. The government of Uttar Pradesh ordered inquiry into this matter. The government also asked Railways to sanction ex-gratia of 5 lakh Rupees to families of deceased.
AZAM KHAN RESIGNED AS IN-CHARGE OF KUMBH AFTER ALLAHABAD STAMPEDE

Following the stampede that tolled 36 lives, Mohammad Azam Khan, the UP minister resigned as an in-charge of ongoing Kumbh Mela, owing to the moral responsibility.
MOHAN PARASARAN APPOINTED AS THE SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 115

Mohan Parasaran, the Additional Solicitor General was on 13 February 2013 appointed as the Solicitor General of India after senior advocate Rohinton Nariman resigned from his designation.
Page 116
Mohan Parasaran will serve as the Solicitor General of India for a term of three years. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) cleared his name for Solicitor General of India. Rohinton Nariman resigned from his post in Early February 2013. Mohan Parasaran is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. He was appointed by first UPA Government as Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in July 2004.
SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA

The Solicitor General of India is the second highest law officer of India and a subordinate to the Attorney General for India, who is the Indian government's chief legal advisor.
SEVENTEENTH CONVOCATION OF THE NIMHANS HELD IN BANGALORE

Seventeenth Convocation of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) was held on 14 February 2013 in Bangalore. Chief Guest of the convocation was the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad.
INITIATIVES TAKEN DURING THE CONVOCATION

Ghulam Nabi Azad declared that address and telephone based Mother and Child Tracking System were available for reaching out to the pregnant women for appropriate care during pregnancy as well as for every child for vaccination. New initiative called Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram was launched on 6 February 2013 in Maharashtra for Universal Screening of Children for Disorders, Diseases, Deficiencies and Disabilities since birth to 18 years. This programme will include 270 million children in India. The Health Ministers of India and Bangladesh signed a MoU on Health in New Delhi on 12 February 2013. The MoU was signed so that the two nations can cooperate in terms of health sector. India and Bangladesh also facilitated setting up South Asian Autism Network (SAAN). The meeting between two nations was concluded on 11 February 2013 where both nations had Adoption of Delhi Declaration. National review in mental health was conducted in which it was observed that around one out of two patients needed to travel over 5 km for care and 40 percent patients had
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 116
Page 117
to travel over 10 km. National Mental Health Programmes in context with this, were restrategised for upgrading all Mental Hospitals in India. Apart from this, psychiatry wings of about 90 medical colleges were upgraded and District Hospitals were strengthened for facilitating medical care to patients who are mentally ill. It was decided that 18 Ambulance services would be started for transporting the patients to District Hospitals in case of emergency. The Health Ministry also drew plan for scaling up the programme to around 300 districts and eventually to all the districts in a properly phased manner during 12th Five Year Plan. The programme would be evaluated by NIMHANS. Also, NIMHANS would facilitate a blue print for expanding these mental health services in India.
ABOUT NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND NEURO SCIENCES (NIMHANS)

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) is a deemed university, designated as Institute of National Importance by an Act of Parliament. NIMHANS laid its foundation on 14 February 1974. Specialty of NIMHANS is in the discipline of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in India. NIMHANS in 2012 started free legal aid services called NIMHANS Centre for Well-Being with 15 high-tech laboratories.
ASTEROID 2012 DA14 TO PASS THROUGH EARTH POSES NO THREAT

The Asteroid 2012 DA14, a 150-foot asteroid would fly above the earth at a distance of about 17000 miles on 15 February 2013, inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. The asteroid would be visible across Asia including India and can be seen with the help of a binocular or telescope. This would be the first encounter of the scientists with an object so close to earth. This encounter will bring chances of studying the closet near earth object. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office that have predicted the path of the asteroid had cleared that there exist no chances of asteroid collision with earth.
INT. CON. ON TRADITIONAL MEDICINE FOR SE ASIAN COUNTRIES

The two-day International Conference on Traditional Medicine for South-East (SE) Asian Countries concluded with the Adoption of Delhi Declaration in New Delhi on 13 February 2013. www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 117
Page 118
The Delhi Declaration was made for fostering the development of Traditional Medicine of the region. Agendas of Delhi Declaration on Traditional Medicine for the South -East Asian Countries For appropriate use of traditional medicines in the health care delivery system impartial development and promotion of national policies, strategies and interventions Development of institutionalized mechanism for exchange of information, expertise and knowledge with active cooperation with WHO on traditional medicine through workshops, symposia, visit of experts, exchange of literature and more To pursue harmonized approach for the education, research, documentation, practice and regulation of traditional medicine along with the involvement of practitioners of health services of the traditional medicine Identification of the possible ways for promotion of mutual recognition of educational qualifications that is awarded by recognized Universities, monographs, pharmacopoeias and relevant databases of traditional medicine The declaration included development of a common document for reference on traditional medicines for the south East Asian nations To identify and develop the scopes of regional cooperation for training and capacity building of traditional medicine experts To encourage sustainable development and resource augmentation of medicinal plants in the South East Asian regional countries To establish regional centers as required for capacity building and networking in the areas of traditional medicine and medicinal plants To exchange views, experiences and experts for integration of traditional medicine into national health systems in accordance with national policies and regulations
The conference was attended by the representatives of South-East Asian countries namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Myanmar, Maldives and Thailand.
ONE BILLION RISING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

The entire world came together on one platform to raise the voice for the violence against women across the globe by participating in One Billion Rising Campaign. This is a global campaign to rise against violence and take a stand for the one billion women. Almost 200 hundred countries are taking part in this campaign.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 118
Page 119
UN in its message stated that by standing together the world can end the violence against women and girls and build a world where all live free from harassment and fear. In fact, the governments across the globe should make a concrete commitment of action to end the violence against women and girls.
METEORITE EXPLODED OVER THE SKIES OF RUSSIA

The meteorite that weighed around 10 tonnes entered the earths atmosphere over Siberia above the skies of Ural Mountains on 15 February 2013. The meteorite that travelled at a speed of 15 to 20 kilometer per second created a panic kind of situation and resulted into shockwaves that blasted windows and rocked buildings. Russian Emergency Situations Ministry declared that the shockwaves injured around 500 people out of which 84 were children. The meteorite exploded itself into small fragments at a distance of about 50 kilometers from earth surface. Fragments of the meteorite effected several regions of Siberia and Kazakhstan, with Chelyabinsk, the industrial city of Russia. Three areas that suffered effects of meteorite and among them one included a crater of six meters near Lake Chebarkul. The meteorite was preceded the Asteroid 2012 DA14 that crossed over the skies of Indonesia and other parts of Asia.
TWENTY-SEVENTH EDITION OF SURAJKUND MELA ENDED

The twenty seventh edition of the Surajkund International Crafts Mela ended on 15 February 2013 at Surajkund in Faridabad (Haryana). The mela lasted for fifteen days from 1 February to 15 February 2013, presented a kaleidoscopic perspective of the rich Indian culture.
FACTS RELATED TO THE 27TH EDITION OF THE MEAL ARE AS FOLLOWS

The 27th edition of the mela carried Karnataka as its main theme and the theme was selected after a gap of 18 years. Craftsmen from SAARC nations participated for the first time under one roof in the history of mela Craftsmen from Eurasian countries like Tajikistan, Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan also displayed their handicrafts and handicrafts during the mela
ABOUT SURAJKUND MELA

Surajkund Mela, for the first time was held in 1987 and since then the colorful traditional craft festival is held from 1 February to 15 February every year on the onset of spring season. The annual fair helps in showcasing the finest handlooms, handicrafts, authentic fragrances and flavours of rich Indian cuisines. State as well as National awardees artisans from every corner of India participate in the mela. www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 119
Page 120
Every year the mela is organised based on the theme of a particular state of India that is chosen as the state of the year. Complete mela carries the look of the selected state
SURAJKUND AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

The name Surajkund means Lake of the Sun and the area lies in the backdrop of Aravalli hills. The area was built by the ruler of Tomar Dynasty, Suraj Pal in tenth century. The place holds a historic sun temple of tenth century. Surajkund being a historical place is also included in the list of Haryana Tourism department.
ECUADORS PRESIDENT RAFAEL CORREA RE-ELECTED FOR A THIRD TERM

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa was re-elected for a third term with more than 50 percent of the vote according to the election results declared in the third week of February 2013. As per the results, Rafael Correa got 56.7 percent while his closest competitor Guillermo could secure only 23.3 percent. Correa is a socialist leader who was first elected in 2007. He is credited with bringing political stability to a nation that experienced several protests and coups. He is known for his citizen revolution which made him popular among people of Ecuador. He is 49 years old. During his six years in power, Correa provided access to education and healthcare and bettered thousands of miles of highways, leading to creation of jobs in the process. Moreover, Poverty rates declined significantly. To avoid a run-off, the President of Ecuador was required to win 50 percent of the total vote or 40 percent plus a 10-point margin over the second-placed candidate.
ELA BHATT CONFERRED 2011 INDIRA GANDHI PRIZE

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 18 February 2013 conferred 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development Award to Ela Ramesh Bhatt, a renowned Women social worker. The award was given away at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Ela Bhatt was given away the award for life time achievements in women empowerment, promotion of grassroot level entrepreneurship as well as contribution towards promotion of equitable development and peace. Ela Bhatt has her organisation SEWA (Self-Employed Womens Association). President Pranab Mukherjee while giving away the award announced that SEWA was a vehicle of self employment and self reliance for the Indian women, while at the same time being synonymous with the rural inclusiveness. www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 120

ELA BHATT
Ela Bhatt is the founder of more than 1 million SEWAs in India.
Page 121
Since years, Ela Bhatt has been working for women empowerment and bringing women out of poverty through promotion of Self Help Groups. SEWA has empowered women with freedom as well as financial self- reliance.
JUDICIAL PROBE IN KUMBH RAILWAY STATION STAMPEDE ORDERED

The State Government of Uttar Pradesh on 18 February 2013 appointed Onkareshwar Bhatt, the retired Justice of Allahabad High Court to conduct Judicial Probe into the Allahabad Railway Station Stampede that occurred during Kumbh Mela. The constituted committee that will probe into the matter is a one-man committee and was directed to submit its report in two months. The State Government ordered a Judicial Probe into the incident that occurred on the day of Mauni Amawasya 10 February 2013 at the Allahabad Railway Station during Kumbh Mela. Other Two Committees conducting Inquiry on the Case Earlier, the state Government appointed Jagan Mathuews, Chairman of the UP Board of Revenue to conduct an inquiry and submit its report within one month. Railways have also appointed an Inquiry Committee being headed by the Additional member traffic Railway Board, to look into the matter
An inquiry committee that was constituted by the Railways to look into the matter; the committee is being headed by the Additional member traffic Railway Board.
NASA RE-ESTABLISHED CONTACT WITH ISS AFTER 3 HOURS

The ground controllers of NASA re-established its contact with International Space Station in just less than 3 hours after the computer failure had blocked their communication. The flight controllers of Houston were updating the ISS software when the data relay system broke down. But ISS was able to irregularly contact NASA through the Russian stations. Usually, NASA communicates to ISS from Houston through three communication satellites. Interruptions like these have happened certain times in past. The main problem was that the primary computer that has the responsibility of controlling the critical functions of the ISS defaulted to the backup computer. But it did not allow the ISS to communicate with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites of NASA.
BLACK MONEY GENERATED IN INDIA WOULD EXCEED 10 % OF GDP
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 121
Page 122
A 1000 page report submitted by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) to the finance ministry estimated that unlawful wealth would exceed 10 percent or more of GDP, i.e., above 10 lakh crore Rupees as per the size of the economy. The study was commissioned by NIPFP in last week of December 2012 in order to quantify the black money that was generated in India. The study conducted by NIPFP was headed by the head of NIPFP's tax policy and research and also included former director general of income tax investigation. The report presented a sector-wise division of the scope of black money in India, for example, telecom sector, mining sector and real estate sector. A similar study like this was conducted last time by NIPFP in 1984 where it was estimated that black money generated in India was 19 percent to 21 percent of GDP, i.e., up to 36000 crore Rupees. The government, in order to combat this had also selected three thinking tanks in March 2011 in order to estimate the quantum of black money. These three thinking tanks were- National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCEAR) and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). Before this, NIPFP had also carried out the studies in 1976 and 1981 where it was estimated that black money in India was around 15-18 percent of GDP and 18-21 percent of GDP respectively.
PREVIOUS ESTIMATION OF BLACK MONEY GENERATED AS PER STUDY OF NIPFP

1975-76: 15-18 percent of GDP, i.e., 9958 to 11870 crore Rupees 1980-81: 18-21 percent of GDP, i.e., 20362 to 23678 crore Rupees 1983-84: 19-21 percent of GDP, i.e., 31584 to 36784 crore Rupees
ABOUT NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC FINANCE AND POLICY (NIPFP)

National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) is the centre for research in public finance and public policy. It was established in 1976. Primary aim of NIPFP is contributing to policy making in areas which are related to public economics. The annual grant-in-aid is received by NIPFP from Ministry of Finance, Government of India and from various State Governments.
T. LIVNI ENTERED INTO COALITION DEAL WITH BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 122
Page 123
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel on 19 February 2013 announced a coalition deal with the rival centrist Hatnua Party Chairwomen and the former Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, at Jerusalem. Under the deal agreement, Livni will serve as the new Justice Minister and will oversee the peace efforts with the Palestinians.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
Netanyahu is the Prime Minister of Israel and the leader of the Right Wing bloc of Israel. His party won the hard fought general elections on 23 January 2013 but felled shot of majority.
TZIPI LIVNI
Tzipi Livni is an Israeli Politician and the first women to be the leader of opposition in Israel. She is the leader of the new centrist party, Hatnuah. She served Israel as its Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2009.
RATAN TATA AWARDED WITH LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2012

Ratan Tata, the former head of Tata Group was awarded the life time achievement award 2012 by Ernst & Young on 21 February 2013. He was given away the award for displaying great role for the Indian businessmen on global business level. The entrepreneur of the year (2012) award was given away to Adi Godrej, Godrej Group Chairman. It is important to note that entrepreneur of the year award is an only business award which is based on self-nomination. Also, Ernst & Young announced names of successful entrepreneurs in various categories and these awards were given away to TT Jagannathan, Chairman, TTK Group; Francisco DSouza, Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant Technology Solutions; Cyrus S Poonawalla, Managing Director, Serum Institute of India and Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman and Managing Director, Apollo Tyres.
TWO BLASTS IN HYDERABAD CLAIMED 14 LIVES AND LEFT 119 INJURED

Two bomb blasts took place in Dilsukhnagar, the busy shopping area of Hyderabad, the Capital City of Andhra Pradesh on 21 February 2013. 14 people were reported dead and 119 were critically injured in the serial blasts that rocked the city around 6:50 pm. Investigations were ordered by both the Central Government and the State Government to find out the group involved in the blast. The State Government of www.jagranjosh.com Current Affairs PDF February 2013
Page 123
Page 124
Andhra Pradesh appointed a probe team into the matter. The blasts were triggered using the Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), which were placed on two different bicycles at a distance of 100 meters from each other near Konark and Venkatadri theatres. The area of blasts lie on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada National Highway within Cyberabad police limits.
DILSUKHNAGAR
Dilsukhnagar is a commercial and educational hub of Hyderabad. The market of Dilsukhnagar is packed with shops, restaurants, educational institutions, exam preparation centers and theaters.
BLASTS IN RECENT PAST IN HYDERABAD

A bomb blast occurred at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in May 2007 claiming lives of 9 people.
NASA SCIENTISTS SPOTTED YOUNGEST BLACK HOLE IN MILKY WAY

NASA scientists spotted the youngest black hole yet in the Milky Way galaxy called W49B, which is just 1000-years-old and only 26000 light-years away from Earth. New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory suggested a highly distorted supernova remnant may contain the most recent black holes formed in the Milky Way galaxy. NASA explained that W49B appears to be the product of a rare explosion in which matter is ejected at high speeds along the poles of a rotating star. Laura Lopez, who led the study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that W49B is the first of its kind to be discovered in the galaxy. Usually when a massive star runs out of fuel, the central region of the star collapses, triggering a chain of events that quickly culminate in a supernova explosion. Most of these explosions are generally symmetrical, with the stellar material blasting away more or less evenly in all directions. However, in the W49B supernova, material near the poles of the doomed rotating star was ejected at a much higher speed than material emanating from its equator. The remnant now glows brightly in X-rays and other wavelengths, offering the evidence for a peculiar explosion. By tracing the distribution and amounts of different elements in the stellar debris field, researchers were able to compare the Chandra data to theoretical models of how a star explodes. A careful search of the Chandra data revealed no evidence for a neutron star. The lack of such evidence implies a black hole may have formed.
SILK ROUTE CAR RALLY FROM KOLKATA TO KUNMING

The Silk Route Car rally from Kolkata to Kunming organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and supported by the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM) was flagged off on 22 February 2013 from Helipad Ground in Salt Lake Stadium, West Bengal.
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 124
Page 125
In its 3000 kilometer long journey the car rally will pass from North-East of India to Bangladesh than will enter back to North-East and then to Myanmar to head towards China. The rally will end on 5 March 2013 at Kunming, China. A total of eighty participants from India, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar in 20 SUVs will rally on the ancient trade route that have remained closed for more than six decades, post World War II. Success of the rally may help in redefining the ancient trade route and bring out the trade potential of the region.
USHA MEHRA COMMISSION SUBMITTED ITS REPORT TO GOVERNMENT

Justice Usha Mehra Commission on 22 February 2013 submitted its report to on the 16 December 2012 Delhi gang-rape incident to the Union Government of India. The report was received by the Union Minister of Law and Justice Ashwani Kumar and the Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh.
MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE USHA MEHRA COMMISSION

Lack of Coordination between the Police and the transport department Lack of cooperation between the police of National Capital Territory and National Capital Region plays a great role in escape of the criminals from one place to another Lack of PCR vans and public transport facility in Delhi
USHA MEHRA COMMISSION

The Usha Mehra Commission was constituted by the Union Government on 26 December 2012 to inquire into the different aspects of the brutal rape and assault incident of the girl on 16 December 2012 on the streets of Delhi. The commission was asked to submit the report within three months. Retired Delhi High Court Judge, Usha Mehra was the head of this commission. To Read More News Capsules
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 125
Page 126
QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH

Q.1) African leaders signed peace accord to normalise situation in DR Congo. Discuss the situation in DR Congo. How far this peace accord is going to normalise situation in DR Congo? Comment. Q.2) India and Sri Lanka signed agreements on terrorism and double taxation on 22 January 2013. Examine the recent developments in the bilateral relations of these two neighbours. Discuss how India and Sri Lanka can avail from each other economically and control terrorism together? Q.3) Sexual harassment bill passed by Rajya Sabha on 25 February 2013. Enlist the salient features of the bill. Critically discuss the state of women at workplace. Q.4) Gabon recently decided to suspend the sale of arms to stem elephant poaching. Describe elephant poaching in India and suggest measures to stem it. Q.5) Write short notes on the following; a) Deepest hydrothermal vents b) water on the oldest rocks of moon c) Youngest black hole in Milky way d) First digital atlas of Brain Q.6) write brief notes on the Following: a) Cyprus elections b) Sugata Mitra c) Anupam Kher d) Park Geu-Hye Q.7) Give a brief analysis on any one of the two topics? a) Union Budget 2013-14 b) Railway Budget 2013-14
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 126
Page 127
www.jagranjosh.com
Page 127

Josh Magazine Current Affairs PDF Magazine February 2013 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Josh Magazine Current Affairs PDF Magazine February 2013 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF FEBRUARY 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

PICK OF THE MONTH

UNION BUDGET 2013:14: HIGHLIGHTS

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

RAILWAY BUDGET 2013-14: PASSENGER AMENITIES, MAIN PRIORITY

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

ECONOMIC SURVEY OF INDIA 2012-13: AN OVERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS

THE MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ECONOMIC SURVEY 2012-13 ARE

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

NICOS ANASTASIADES WON CYPRUS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

MAJOR CHALLENGES TO BE FACED BY NICOS ANASTASIADES

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

ABOUT NICOS ANASTASIADES

INDIA GOT A GO AHEAD ON KISHANGANGA PROJECT

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

ISSUES FOR PAKISTAN FROM ITS PERSPECTIVE

ISSUES RAISED BY PAKISTAN IN THE COURT OF ARBITRATION

BRIEF PROVISIONS OF INDUS WATERS TREATY 1960

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

ARTICLES UNDER CONSIDERATION

PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION

FIRST INDIA-JAPAN MARITIME AFFAIRS DIALOGUE WAS HELD

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

AHMADINEJAD IS FIRST IRANIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT EGYPT SINCE 1979

TEHRAN'S 1979 ISLAMIC REVOLUTION

REASON FOR TENSIONS BETWEEN IRAN AND EGYPT

PRESIDENT S ASSENT TO CRIMINAL LAW (AMDT.) ORDINANCE, 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

FEATURES OF THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE, 2013

WHAT DOES THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE, 2013 INCLUDE?

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

Current Affairs PDF February 2013

ARTICLE 123 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

DURATION OF THE ORDINANCE