FIZZLE’ CLAIM FOR THERMONUCLEAR TEST REFUTED

POKHARAN-II

Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states. On 18 May 1974 India exploded its first nuclear device code named Smiling Buddha. After about a quarter century, on Buddha Jayanti, 11 May 1998, Operation Shakti was carried out. Shakti was the codename for Pokhran-II.

The government strongly refuted claims that the 1998 test of a thermonuclear device had been a failure, with Principal Scientific Adviser R. Chidambaram telling that those questioning the tests yield had an obligation to back up their charge with scientific evidence.

He was responding to the recent statement by a former defence scientist, K. Santhanam, that “the yield in the thermonuclear device test was much lower than what was claimed.” Mr. Santhanam, who cited only unspecified “seismic measurements and expert opinion from world over,” went on to say that this was the reason India should not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The stated success of the second generation nuclear device tested on May 11, 1998, was questioned at the time by a number of Western seismologists who said the seismic signatures detected by them were at variance with the claimed yield of 45 kilotons. Although the controversy subsided somewhat once scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre — which designed the weapon — published their scientific evidence, it is likely to be reignited once again since Mr. Santhanam represented the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) team at the Pokhran-II tests and is the first member of that group to echo the arguments of those who say the thermonuclear device failed to work properly.

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines science and engineering in order to design and build ("synthesize") novel biological functions and systems.

Key enabling technologies

The key concepts include standardization of biological parts and hierarchical abstraction to permit using those parts in increasingly complex synthetic systems. Achieving this is greatly aided by basic technologies of reading and writing of DNA (sequencing and fabrication), which are improving in price/performance exponentially.Measurements under a variety of conditions are needed for accurate modeling and computer-aided-design (CAD).

INS ARIHANT - INDIGENOUS NUCLEAR SUBMARINE GOES ON TRIAL

The top-secret ‘Advanced Technology Vessel’ (ATV) project will re-induct India into the exclusive club of five countries that operate nuclear submarines, called silent killers for their extensive ability to remain under water because of nuclear-powered engines unlike the diesel electric versions that have to come up to recharge their batteries and thus stand a greater chance of being spotted.India briefly used a nuclear submarine leased by Russia from 1988 to 1991.

Countries with nuclear submarine

U.S., Russia, China, France and the U.K.,

It has signed an agreement for the transfer of a couple of nuclear-powered Russian Akula class submarines, one of which is likely to be inducted by the Indian Navy this year itself.

INS Arihant (destroyer of enemies). the nuclear submarine will give India a credible three-leg nuclear deterrent. India has ground based missiles and aircraft that can deliver nuclear warheads but needed a nuclear submarine that can slip under water and emerge to strike at a time and place of its choosing.

CHANDRAYAAN FALTERS AS ‘STAR SENSORS’ FAIL

 Less than nine months after India’s first lunar satellite Chandrayaan-I was launched in the glare of media flash bulbs, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation announced that the satellite’s ‘star sensors’ – vital in determining the orientation – had failed.

 The sensors cannot be recovered at this stage and the remaining part of the two-year mission would be completed in the “gyro mode “The life *of the spacecraft+ is not dependent on this instrument. This instrument is used only for orientation of the spacecraft.” A large number of other factors including fuel and telemetry would also contribute to a successful mission,

 “90 to 95 per cent” of the objectives of the lunar mission had been accomplished, including reaching the satellite to a 3.84 lakh km orbit around the moon; capturing images of its terrain and ascertaining its mineral content; and placing the Indian tri-colour on its surface.

 Chandrayaan was launched on October 22 carrying 11 payloads (scientific experiments), including the moon impact probe that crash-landed on a designated location near the moon’s South Pole in November. Five payloads were developed by international space agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency.

FACEBOOK Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves

National Dairy Research Institute Clones World's Second Buffalo Calf

 The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) at Karnal in Haryana has successfully cloned a buffalo calf for the second time in the world.

 It is worth mentioning that the first buffalo calf was also cloned by the scientists of the same institute at Haryana.

 the second buffalo calf named Garima

Handsets without IMEI are a security threat and cannot be tracked down

 Security agencies have been demanding the ban on mobile phones without the 15-digit IMEI number in view of the increased threat perception. For, it is difficult to track down such handsets. It was revealed that terrorists behind attacks were using mobile phones without IMEI numbers.

 The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a number unique to every GSM and WCDMA and iDEN mobile phone, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone. The IMEI number prevents the use of stolen handsets for making calls.

 To help those subscribers having handsets without the IMEI number, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing GSM operators, has developed software that will provide unique numbers for all such handsets.

NAG MAY JOIN ARMY SOON

 With the third generation anti-tank Nag missile proving its lethality in the final user trials being conducted in the deserts of Rajasthan, With the all-weather system proving its capability in the latest round of trials, its production and induction would begin by the year-end.

 Nag is a third generation "Fire-and-forget" anti-tank missile developed in India. It is one of five missile systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). Operational range Land version- 4 to 6 km (7 km to 8 km Air launched).

FUTURE PROJECTS OF ISRO

 Chandrayaan-2 launch by 2013

 ISRO will be able to land the rover on the moon by 2013

 Aditya-1- India’s first space-based solar coronagraph.

 A manned mission on an orbit around the earth by 2015.

CHANDRAYAAN-1 MISSION TERMINATED

The spacecraft was launched on October 22

 The Chandrayaan-1 moon mission has been formally called off, as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has lost radio contact with the craft. There was no possibility of retrieving it, ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said.

 A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) of ISRO put Chandrayaan-1 in its initial orbit. The spacecraft carried 11 instruments on board. One of them named the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) “impacted” on the lunar surface on November 14, 2008, signalling India’s success in reaching the moon.

 However, the Chandrayaan-II mission would be on the track as per schedule (2012\13), albeit with “valuable lessons learnt in the Chandrayaan-1 expedition,” Due to very high radiation in the atmosphere, power-supply units controlling both the computer systems on board failed, snapping the communication connectivity. Some devices were more susceptible to radiation and temperature fluctuations, which resulted in the computer power supply being cut. The kind of radiation problem faced was not anticipated,

 Mr. Nair considered the moon mission a success; 95 per cent of its objective was met. “We could collect a large volume of data, including more than 70,000 images of the moon. In that sense, 95 per cent of the objective was completed.”

 India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, the country’s first effort at deep space exploration, has come to a premature end. Radio contact with the lunar probe was lost 312 days after it travelled into space aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), data were received from the probe till shortly after midnight on August 29. About an hour later, all communications ceased abruptly.

INDIA TO TAP NAMIBIAN URANIUM RESERVES

 India and Namibia will sign an agreement on mineral resources during the five-day visit of Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba.Under the pact, India will be able to access the African country’s abundant uranium reserves.

 Through this agreement, India will also be looking at Namibia’s healthy reserves of diamond, copper, gold and zinc. The cooperation over uranium will be covered under an umbrella framework for development of mineral resources and promote investments in geology and mines in both countries.

 Namibia is south African region’s biggest producer of uranium and the sixth largest in the world. India has already signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the civilian uclear sector with Russia, France and the US. It is negotiating similar pacts with Kazakhstan and Canada.

3G

3G or 3rd Generation, is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union, which includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Compared to 2G and 2.5G services, 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates. Thus, 3G networks enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency.

EDGE

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also known as Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC)) is a backward-compatible digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates, as an extension on top of standard GSM. EDGE is considered a 3G radio technology and is part of ITU's 3G definition.

AMINO ACID ‘DISCOVERED’ ON A COMET

 NASA Astronomers claim to have found an amino acid on a comet. The discovery confirms that some of life’s building blocks were delivered to the early earth from space.

 A team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has analysed the samples from the agency’s Stardust mission and traced the amino acid called glycine to an icy comet for the first time.

STARDUST

Stardust is an American interplanetary mission of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose primary purpose was to investigate the makeup of the comet Wild 2 and its coma. It was launched on February 7, 1999 by NASA, travelled nearly 3 billion miles (5·109 km), and returned to Earth on January 15, 2006 to release a sample material capsule. It is the first sample return mission to collect cosmic dust and return the sample to Earth. On July 3, 2007 a second mission was approved to revisit the comet Tempel 1.

BAR-CODING PLANTS

 The Plant Working Group of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) recently reached a consensus on the portions of the genes that would be used as the plant DNA bar-code. This came after four years of work by 52 scientists from 10 countries. It may soon be possible to classify a majority of the more than 400,000 species of land plants in the world on the basis of genetic variability.

 The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is an international initiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding as a global standard for the identification of biological species.

 DNA bar-coding, a technique proposed by the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, uses a short genetic sequence from a standard part of the genome to quickly identify different plant species. To become usable the chosen genetic sequences of the bar-code must vary with species but must also be conserved enough in plants for identifying most of them. Bar-coding has been used since 2003 to identify animal species, and a bar-code library of nearly 60,000 animal species has been created.

WIKIPEDIA

 Wikipedia web-based and collaborative multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

 Wikipedia's 13 million articles (3 million in English) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone who can access the Wikipedia website.

 Launched in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it is currently the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet.

 within the next week or so to hit the mark of three million articles in English.

STEM CELLS

Stem cells are cells found in most, if not all, multi-cellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Till in the 1960s.The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues.

ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA

The Astronautical Society of India (ASI) was set up in 1990 to foster the development of astronautics in the country. ASI is engaged in the dissemination of technical and other information related to astronautics by conducting technical meetings, bringing out technical publications and organising exhibitions. The society is also playing an active role to promote the interests of other developing countries in the field of astronautics through the International Astronautical Federation, Paris, in which the ASI is a voting member.

ISRO LAUNCHED BHUVAN - A WEB BASED 3D MAPPING TOOL

 ‘Bhuvan,’ the new web-based 3D mapping tool uses images taken over a year ago by ISRO’s seven remote sensing satellites, including Cartosat-1 and Cartosat-2. The satellites can capture images of objects as small as a car on a road. This would provide a sharper picture of Indian terrain barring sensitive locations such as military and nuclear installations.

 The degree of resolution showcased is based on the level of popularity of a place or an area. Most of the terrain is covered up to a resolution of at least six metres. The least spatial resolution is 55 metres.

 Like Google Earth, the geo-portal, http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in, allows users to view cities and other places of interest looking perpendicularly down or at an oblique angle, with different perspectives. The site, among other things, offers tools to measure horizontal, vertical and aerial distances.

METEOROID

A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere is called a meteor. If a meteoroid reaches the ground, it is then called a meteorite. Many meteors are part of a meteor shower. The root word meteor comes from the Greek meteōros, meaning "high in the air." It is also commonly although erroneously called a shooting star.

CELESTIAL TREAT FOR STAR-GAZERS

 A celestial treat is in store for star-gazers who can look forward to fireworks in the skies in the form of Perseids meteor shower between August 8 and 14. Perseids, a prolific meteor shower is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, said Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Director C.B. Devgun.

 The earth is expected to pass through a denser-than-usual filament of dust from Perseid’s parent comet Swift-Tuttle.Perseids, better known as earth gazers at its peak, is visible from mid-July each year, with the greatest activity in the second week of August. During the peak period, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour.The meteor is named Perseids because the point it appears to come from, lies in the constellation Perseus.

 The meteors can be seen all across the sky, but because of the path of Swift-Tuttle’s orbit, Perseids is primarily visible in the northern hemisphere.

SOLAR ECLIPSE

LONGEST TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 21ST CENTURY SWEEPS ACROSS HALF THE GLOBE

The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century cut through the world’s most populous nations, India and China, as it travelled half the globe(on JULLY 22). It was visible along a roughly 250 km-wide corridor, In Hindu-majority Nepal, the government declared a public holiday and thousands headed for water. next will be July 13-2132.The dark shadow of the moon — the conical shaped umbra —made its landfall in Gujarat at 6.30 a.m. and raced across the country within a span of a few minutes spreading darkness in the path of totality.

TAREGNA VILLAGE, BIHAR

The Total Solar Eclipse, Surya Grahan, taking place on July 22, 2009 will be visible for 3 minutes and 38 seconds in the morning from Taregna Village in Bihar in India. Thousands of scientists and Astro tourists are expected to arrive in the village to watch the eclipse as it is the epicenter of the 22 July Total Solar Eclipse. Interestingly, ‘Taregna’ means counting stars. Aryabhatta, the famous astronomer of ancient India, is believed to have studied stars and planets from Taregna. He is said to have had his observatory at Taregna Math.

INCOIS TO ISSUE INDIAN OCEAN CURRENT FORECASTS

 In a first initiative of its kind in the country, scientists would start issuing forecasts for surface currents of the Indian Ocean from next year.The government has identified the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), which runs the tsunami warning system, for the purpose. A knowledge of surface ocean currents is essential for shipping, fishery and related sectors, and accurate information could help reduce fuel costs.

 A high computing system is being installed at INCOIS to enable scientists to process data from various earth observation systems, INCOIS would start issuing ocean current forecasts for the entire Indian Ocean next year.

SWINE FLU

The 2009 flu pandemic is a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza virus, officially named the "new H1N1", first identified in April 2009, and commonly called "Swine flu." It is thought to be a mutation of four known strains of the influenza A virus, subtype H1N1: one endemic in (normally infecting) humans, one endemic in birds, and two endemic in pigs (swine). Experts assume the virus "most likely" emerged from pigs in Asia, and was carried to North America by infected persons.] There is also evidence that the new strain had been circulating among pigs on other continents for years before infecting humans. But transmission is human to human, with cooked pork products safe to eat as the virus cannot be transmitted by eating foods.

What is influenza – A(H1N1)

Influenza – A (H1N1) (earlier know as swine flu) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. First detected in Mexico in April, 2009, it has spread to many countries in the World. Swine flu is basically a misnomer. This was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to those found in pigs in North America. Further on, it has been found that this new virus has gene segments from the swine, avian and human flu virus genes. The scientists calls this a ‘quadruple reassortant” virus and hence this new (novel) virus is christened “influenza-A (H1N1) virus.”

Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak

It is causing an epidemic among humans in Mexico and it has spread to Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UK and USA.

Is it safe to take pork items?

Pigs have nothing to do with this disease. Pork products are absolutely safe if properly cooked. There is no need to cull pigs. Do not panic if some pigs die in the community due to natural disease.

Is this flu virus contagious?

Influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and spreading from human to human.

What are the signs and symptoms of influenza-A (H1N1) in people?

The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache,

SWINE INFLUENZA (ALSO CALLED H1N1 FLU, SWINE FLU, HOG FLU, AND PIG FLU)

Swine influenza (also called H1N1 flu, swine flu, hog flu, and pig flu) is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, the known SIV strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3.

Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always lead to human influenza, often resulting only in the production of antibodies in the blood. If transmission does cause human influenza, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection. The meat of an infected animal poses no risk of infection when properly cooked.

Symptoms of zoonotic swine flu in humans are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.

Classification

Of the three genera of influenza viruses that cause human flu, two also cause influenza in pigs, with influenza A being common in pigs and influenza C being rare. Influenza B has not been reported in pigs. Influenza C

Influenza C viruses infect both humans and pigs, but do not infect birds. Transmission between pigs and humans have occurred in the past.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Major AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents," John McCarthy,

who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."A facial recognition system is an example of artificial intelligence. A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial database.It is typically used in security systems and can be compared to other biometrics such as fingerprint or eye iris recognition systems.

SPIKE DISEASE IN SANDAL

Spike disease is the major disease of sandalwood, which caused by phytoplasma.The disease is noticed in all major sandal-growing states of India. Spike disease is characterized by extreme reduction in leaf size accompanied by stiffening and reduction of internode length. In advanced stage, the entire shoot gives the appearance of a spike inflorescence.

ARCTIC CARBON MAY WORSEN CLIMATE CHANGE

Potential hazard: The Arctic contains over 1.5 trillion tonnes of frozen carbon.

Vast amounts of carbon, about twice as much as contained in the atmosphere, are stored in the Arctic, according to a new study. The amount of carbon in the Arctic raises new concerns over the role of the northern regions as future sources of greenhouse gases.Carbon in permafrost is found largely in northern regions including Canada, Greenland, Mongolia, Russia, Scandinavia and the U.S.

Pep Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project at Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia, and study co-author says that the existence of these super-sized deposits of frozen carbon means that any thawing of permafrost due to global warming may lead to significant emissions of the greenhouse gases.

“Radioactive carbon dating shows that most of the carbon dioxide currently emitted by thawing soils in Alaska was formed and frozen thousands of years ago. The carbon dating demonstrates how easily carbon decomposes when soils thaw under warmer conditions,”

THE WORLD’S FIRST ‘SELF-WATERING’ PLANT

 The world’s first ‘self-watering’ plant has been discovered in Israel’s Negev desert – one of the driest regions on earth.

 The Desert Rhubarb can hold 16 times more water than its rivals and has developed a unique ability to effectively water itself in its barren habitat.

 But they found the plant’s large leaves are the key to its success, because they are covered in microscopic streams through which water can be channelled. Scientists claim ridges in the leaves act like mountain valleys, funnelling the water slowly and directly into the plant while stopping it evaporating.

 Results of analysis of the plant’s growth — in an area with an average annual rainfall of 75mm — showed that the desert rhubarb is able to harvest quantities of water that are closer to that of Mediterranean plants, reaching up to 426mm per year.

APOLLO 11 MOON MISSION COMPLETED 40 YEARS

 The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon.

 It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon or Moon orbit.

 Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene Aldrin

 On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

 The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s,

FIJI’S ROADMAP TO DEMOCRACY

Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama will attend the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting in Vanuatu this week to present his roadmap towards returning the country to democratic rule

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Preferential Trade Agreement is a trade treaty governing the four melanesian states of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and recently, Fiji

GREEN DAM INITIATIVE

 Green Dam Youth Escort also dubbed as the Filtering Bully is content-control software developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC). it is mandatory to have the software, on all new personal computers sold in Mainland China, including those imported from abroad

 The software is specifically aimed at restricting online pornography but could be used for other purposes. Green Dam Youth Escort automatically downloads the latest updates of a list of prohibited sites from an online database, and also collects private user data

 The government had announced in May that all computers sold in the country after July 1 would have to carry a software programme called the Green Dam Youth Escort which would block access to a range of websites.

U.N. DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: AUGUST 9.

THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OBSERVED EVERY YEAR ON 9 AUGUST

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly during its 62nd session at UN Headquarters in New York City on 13 September 2007.

While as a General Assembly Declaration it is not a legally binding instrument under international law, according to a UN press release, it does "represent the dynamic development of international legal norms and it reflects the commitment of the UN's member states to move in certain directions"; the UN describes it as setting "an important standard for the treatment of indigenous peoples that will undoubtedly be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations against the planet's 370 million indigenous people and assisting them in combating discrimination and marginalisation."

On December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World's Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year during the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. The date marks the day of the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The UN General Assembly had proclaimed 1993 the International Year of the World's Indigenous People, and the same year, the Assembly proclaimed the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, starting on 10 December 1994 (resolution 48/163). The goal of the First International Decade was to strengthen international cooperation for solving problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as human rights, the environment, development, education and health.The Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People began in 2005.
INDIA, CHINA TO SET UP HOTLINE


 India and China have decided to set up a hotline between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao as a confidence building measure. The decision was taken during the 13th Round of India-China Special Representatives talks on the boundary question which concluded in a “cordial and friendly atmosphere.”

 At the ministerial level, India now has a hotline only with Russia, while China has a functional hotline with the United States.

WHAT IS HOTLINE?

Hotline is a system that allows direct communication between the leaders of two countries. It was originally designed by Harris Corporation for communication between the United States and the Soviet Union. Also known as the "red telephone", it linked the White House via the National Military Command Center with the Kremlin during the Cold War.
“TRACK 2” AND BACKCHANNEL DIPLOMACY


 Track II diplomacy is a specific kind of informal diplomacy, in which non-officials (academic scholars, retired civil and military officials, public figures, and social activists) engage in dialogue, with the aim of conflict resolution, or confidence-building. This sort of diplomacy is especially useful after events which can be interpreted in a number of different ways, both parties recognize this fact, and neither side wants to escalate or involve third parties for fear of the situation spiraling out of control.

 A back channel in the language of diplomacy is an unofficial channel of communication between states or other political entities, used to supplement official channels, often for the purposes of discussing highly sensitive policy issues

MI6 & MI5

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), colloquially known as MI6 is the United Kingdom's external intelligence agency, part of the country's intelligence community. Under the direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), it works alongside the Security Service (MI5),Headquarters Vauxhall Cross, London, United Kingdom

The Security Service commonly known as MI5 .MI5 (Military Intelligence, Section 5),is the United Kingdom's counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of the intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6). Headquarters Thames House, London, United Kingdom

INDIA, ASEAN SIGN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

 The accord will take effect from January 1, 2010

 The regional bloc is the fourth largest trading partner

 Bulk trade includes textiles, steel and plantation crops
 BOOSTING TRADE: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Thailand Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai signed the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (TIG) in Bangkok.


 India and the Association of South East Asian Nations signed a Free Trade Agreement, which took nearly six years to negotiate. The FTA, relating only to goods, was signed by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his ASEAN counterparts at a ceremony in Bangkok after the two sides held annual consultations.

 The accord, India’s first with a trade bloc, will cover 11 countries with a combined Gross Domestic Product of over $2 trillion. The combined population is of the order of 1.6 billion.

 Under the trade pact, India has included 489 items from agriculture, textiles and chemicals in the negative list, meaning these products will be kept out of the duty reduction.

REAGANOMICS

Reaganomics refers to the economic policies promoted by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to:

1. Reduce government spending,

INDIA-CHINA BORDER TALKS BEGIN

 National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan with Dai Bingguo, State Councillor and Special Representative on the boundary issue of the People’s Republic of China, before the India-China delegation-level talks at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. The Special Representatives of India and China, M.K. Narayanan and Dai Bingguo, began the 13th round of talks on the boundary issue with a wider ambit..
 Besides continuing with the “second stage” of boundary talks, they are also discussing bilateral and regional issues ahead of several bilateral high-level exchanges, including President Pratibha Patil’s visit to Beijing and a “top” Chinese leader’s arrival here later this year.


 The Special Representatives would also interact on issues of “mutual interest” such as the global economic meltdown, climate change and trade cooperation.

 Both were involved in the “second stage” of talks since their launch in 2005. Mr. Narayanan this time is being assisted by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who was previously the Indian envoy in Beijing. Informed sources said the immediate aim of the border talks was to agree on an outline for a final package. Once this consensus is reached, they will start negotiating the demarcation and delineation of the border.

DELHI MEET ON DOHA PROCESS (WTO)

DOHA ROUND

The Doha Development Round started in 2001 and continues till today. The WTO launched the current round of negotiations, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) or Doha Round, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. The Doha round was to be an ambitious effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the world's poor, particularly by slashing barriers and subsidies in farming. The initial agenda comprised both further trade liberalization and new rule-making, underpinned by commitments to strengthen substantial assistance to developing countries.The negotiations have been highly contentious and agreement has not been reached, despite the intense negotiations at several ministerial conferences and at other sessions. Disagreements still continue over several key areas including agriculture subsidies.

India to host an “informal ministerial” in the Doha process in early September, India says the political “platform can help us in working out a path forward.” The negotiators in Geneva, from diverse economies, can then have “a clearer course of action” for framing “a rule-based global trade order,”

COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (CEPA)

 The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a free trade agreement between India and South Korea. The agreement was signed on August 7, 2009. The signing ceremony took place in Seoul and the agreement was signed by Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and South Korean Commerce Minister Kim Jong-Hoon. The negotiations took three-and-a-half years, with the first session in February 2006. The agreement still needs to pass the South Korean parliament. It passed the Indian parliament. Once passed, the agreement will come into effect sixty days later. The South Korean government expects the agreement to pass in the fall of 2009. It is equivalent to a free trade agreement.

 The agreement, once passed, will cut South Korean tariffs on 90% of goods from India. India will cut 85% of total tariffs. The agreement will provide better access for the Indian service industry in South Korea.. Services include Information technology, engineering, finance, and the legal field. South Korean car manufactures will see large tariffs cuts to below 1%.

 The agreement will ease restrictions on foreign direct investments. Companies can own up to 65% of a company in the other country. Both countries avoided issues over agriculture, fisheries,
and mining and choose not to decrease tariffs in those areas. This was due to the very sensitive nature of these sections in the respective countries.


 Trade between India and South Korea was $15.6 billion in 2008. This is a major increase from 2002, which had a total trade amount of $2.6 billion. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy believes the agreement will increase trade between the two countries by $3.3 billion.

 The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which he and his South Korean counterpart signed in Seoul, reflected “an expression against any protectionism,” Mr. Sharma said. For India, the economic pact was the first of its kind with any “major OECD economy.”

BRIC

BRICs is an acronym that refers to the fast-growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The acronym was first coined and prominently used by Goldman Sachs in 2001The four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world's land area and more than 40% of the world's population.

PAKISTAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSES 18TH AMENDMENT BILL

 The National Assembly passed the 18th Amendment Bill that seeks to bring back the 1973 Constitution by removing the distortions that had shorn it of its democratic components over the past 37 years.

 The Bill — which proposes 102 amendments to the Constitution — was passed by a two-thirds majority after the House rejected the amendments moved by some members on the abolition of the concurrent list, renaming the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and removal of the provision for intra-party elections.