WTO discussions deadlocked

India has said that an instrument similar to SSM is already available to a select few countries (mostly the developed countries) for over two decades, and therefore, the demand for SSM was reasonable and pragmatic.

India has sought an SSM without it being conditional on market access, as the tool was to counter hugely subsidised farm goods from rich countries. India also wanted the rich nations to drastically reduce their 'trade distorting' farm subsidies.

According to the draft text, work on a SSM shall be pursued taking account of proposals by the WTO Member countries and in the “broader context of agricultural market access.” The text also says that the WTO's General Council (the highest decision making body at the global trade body's headquarters in Geneva) shall regularly review progress on SSM negotiations.

Food security

Regarding a permanent solution for the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes, the draft declaration has not mentioned a short deadline (of December 2015 or latest by December 2017) as demanded by the developing countries including India.

The draft has taken note that the 'peace clause' -- as agreed during the 2013 Bali Ministerial Declaration and later made clear by the WTO General Council decision in November 2014 -- shall remain in force until a permanent solution in this regard is agreed and adopted. Thanks to the indefinite peace clause, the WTO member countries cannot challenge the agriculture subsidies given by nations saying they violate the provisions of the WTO norms.

However, instead of giving any deadline to arrive at a permanent solution, the text only mentions that the negotiations on the issue shall continue to be pursued as a priority in the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session, in dedicated sessions and in an accelerated time-frame.

Source:- The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

India-Palestine group to perform in 11 cities

Safdar Hashmi of Jana Natya Manch (Janam) was killed in 1989 while performing the famous street play Halla Bol . Juliano Mer-Khamis of The Freedom Theatre (TFT) in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank was gunned down in 2011 by a masked man outside the theatre.

The two groups share a similarity not just in the way their dynamic theatre-activist leaders died, but also in their broad understanding of the role of culture and theatre as potent weapons to bring about social and political change. Now, in a first-ever India-Palestine theatrical collaboration, the two groups are presenting a joint production in 11 cities across India, starting in Lucknow on Thursday.

The festival, titled ‘Freedom Jatha’ will travel between December 18 and January 25, and present shows in Bhopal, Delhi, Mumbai, Talassery, Mallapuram, Kozhikode, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Patna.

The programme will include the JNM-TFT play on the theme of occupation and resistance, a puppet performance on Palestine by internationally acclaimed puppeteer Anurupa Roy and her team Kat-katha, a photo exhibition on Palestine, the traditional Palestinian Dapke dance and poetry, songs and short performances by local artistes.

Janam describes this collaboration a result of “a direct, people-to-people contacts, unmediated by funding agencies or governments” at a point in time when the Indian government is more pro-Israel than ever before.

Mala Hashmi, a leading organiser of Janam, says the two groups have been in touch ever since the slaying of Juliano Mer-Khamis, who believed that oppression can be fought with plays, music, cinema.

Source: The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

Watching horror films can actually curdle your blood

Love watching horror movies? Well, the fear or horror can curdle your blood for real, preparing the body for blood loss during life-threatening situations.

The results suggest that using the term “bloodcurdling” to describe feeling extreme fear while watching horror films is justified, say researchers, adding that scary movies result in an increase in the clotting protein — blood coagulant factor VIII.

Researchers in the Netherlands set out to assess whether acute fear can curdle blood. The study involved 24 healthy volunteers aged 30 years or younger recruited from Leiden University Medical Centre. Fourteen were assigned to watch a frightening (horror) movie followed by a non-threatening (educational) movie and 10 to watch the movies in reverse order. Before and after each movie (within 15 minutes), blood samples were taken and analysed for markers or “fear factors” of clotting activity.

The horror movie was perceived to be more frightening than the educational movie, with a 5.4 mean difference in fear rating scores. The difference in coagulant factor VIII levels before and after watching the movies was higher for the horror movie than for the educational movie.

“Levels increased in 12 (57 per cent) participants during the horror movie, but only in three (14 per cent) during the educational movie,” the authors noted.

Levels decreased in 18 (86 per cent) participants during the educational movie, but only in nine (43 per cent) during the horror movie.

However, the researchers found no effect of either movie on levels of other clot-forming proteins, suggesting that although coagulation is triggered by acute fear, this does not lead to actual clot formation. “Watching bloodcurdling movies is associated with an increase in blood coagulant factor VIII without actual thrombin formation,” the authors concluded in the journal The BMJ . — IANS

Source :- The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

An app to detox you from smartphone addiction

Tired of WhatsApp messages and e-mail pings during a key client meet? Well, here comes an app that will lock the smartphone altogether and keep you from using it while engaged in activities such as meetings, conferences and discussions.

Called “Lock n’ LoL” (Lock Your Smartphone and Laugh Out Loud) and developed by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea, the app helps people restrain themselves from using smartphones during meetings or social gatherings.

It allows users to create a new room or join an existing room. The users then invite meeting participants or friends to the room and share its ID with them to enact the Group Limit (lock) mode. When phones are in the lock mode, all alarms and notifications are automatically muted and users must ask permission to unlock their phones.

However, in an emergency, users can access their phones for five minutes in a temporary “unlimit” mode. “We conducted the ‘Lock n’ LoL’ campaign throughout the campus for one month this year with 1,000 students participating. We discovered that students accumulated more than 10,000 free hours from using the app on their smartphones,” said lead researcher professor Uichin Lee.

The students were able to focus more on their group activities.

“In an age of the ‘Internet of Things’, we expect that the adverse effects of mobile distractions and addictions will emerge as a social concern, and our Lock n’ LoL is a key effort to address this issue,” he noted.

In addition, the app’s “Co-location Reminder” detects and lists nearby users to encourage app users to limit their phone use.

The “Lock n’ LoL” also displays important statistics to monitor users’ behaviour such as the current week’s total limit time, the weekly average usage time, top friends ranked by time spent together and top activities in which the users participated.

“This app will certainly help family members to interact more with each other during the holiday season,” Prof. Lee added.

The “Lock n’ LoL” is available for free download on the App Store and Google Play

Brazilians shocked

Meanwhile, millions of Brazilians woke up shocked and cranky on Thursday after WhatsApp was shut down for two days on a judge’s order. The service is wildly popular in Brazil.

The measure, which is to last until midnight Friday, was roundly denounced by parent company Facebook.

It was ordered by a judge after WhatsApp failed to disclose information requested for a criminal investigation.

WhatsApp is causing headaches for Brazil’s telecoms companies because it offers a free alternative to the country’s high cell phone rates. — IANS, AFP

Source:- The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

King Tutankhamun’s gold mask restored

Egypt put the restored gold mask of Tutankhamun back on display Wednesday after German experts removed glue applied in a botched repair when the priceless artefact’s beard fell off.

The restored mask — now back in its display case at the museum — was shown to journalists after more than two months’ work by a team.

“It is done,” Christian Eckmann, a German specialist in restoration work on antiquities in glass and metal, told reporters at a press conference.

Beard falls off

The beard fell off the boy pharaoh’s funerary mask in August 2014 at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and employees tried to reattach it with glue. The accident happened when the mask was removed from its display case to repair the lighting.

In a hurried attempt to fix it, museum workers applied too much epoxy glue, leaving a visible crust.

The restoration included a 3D scan of the mask and removing the beard once more.

“The most challenging process was to remove the beard. We did it by mechanical means... using wooden tools,” Mr. Eckmann said. The process included warming the mask to enable the adhesive to be removed.

Top attraction

The boy king’s death mask is a top attraction at the museum, which has hundreds of items from the tomb found in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter along with the pharaoh’s mummy in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

When Carter discovered the treasure, the ceremonial beard was already loose and he himself removed it for the first time, Mr. Eckmann said.

“Ninety years after Carter accomplished the first restoration of the mask in December 1925, we have the pleasure to present the mask in its original form,” he said.

Tutankhamun died aged 19 in 1324 BC after reigning for nine years. His 11-kg (24.2-pound) solid gold funerary mask is encrusted with lapis lazuli and semi-precious stones. — AFP

The artefact was back on display after a botched repair that took 8 weeks to rectify

Source :- The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

Technology to the rescue

A wearable device that aims at automatically providing relief and summoning medical help for victims who are left unattended after serious automobile accidents has been developed by a student in Uttar Pradesh.

Seventeen-year-old Akshat Prakash, who studies in Class 12 in Delhi Public School, Indirapuram, on the outskirts of Delhi, has named his invention ‘HelixSafe’ and presented it at the Taiwan International Science Fair, 2015. The device uses heartbeat variance as the key indicator to auto-detect grave injury during automobile accidents and auto- injects medicine to prolong the victim’s survival while informing the nearest medical facility for help. It provides life-prolonging support to accident victims as they wait for help to reach them, he explained.

Akshat filed a patent in 2013 in India for ‘HelixSafe’ and the patent has been published in the Official Patent Journal , 2015.

“I am deeply interested in pursuing a life-long research career in Computer Science. I aspire to create a cleaner, healthier and safer society by applying Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Devices and Big Data Analytics to real-world solutions,” he said. The prototype has been created with Arduino Development Environment, Heart Rate Sensor and accessories and programmed in Embedded C and Visual Basic.

Akshat has won ‘India’s First Whiz Kid’ award for Best Innovation, 2013, for the device. The award is given by Nurture Talent & Computer Society of India.

“I presented HelixSafe at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and IIT-Mumbai,” a beaming Akshat said, adding that people from all walks of life have evinced an interest in his device wherever he has displayed it. — PTI

The wearable device provides life-prolonging support to fatal automobile accident victims as they wait for help to reach them

The wearable device provides life-prolonging support to automobile accident victims as they wait for help to reach them

Source :- The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

Permission no longer needed to buy farm land

In a major move to boost industrial growth, the Maharashtra government on Thursday approved an amendment to the Rent Act, allowing non-farmers to buy agricultural land for industrial activities without government permission.

As per the amendment, permission to buy agricultural land that is shown as ‘not under farming’ in plans can be removed. But the buyer will have to use the land for the pre-stated purpose in five years (which can be increased to 10 years by paying an annual fee); failing to do so will result in the land being deposited back with the government with the intent of returning it to the original farmer. Buyers wanting to resell the land for other purposes will have to pay a 25 per cent transfer fee.

It is no longer necessary to seek permission from the Industry Commissioner to buy agriculture land more than 10 hectares for industrial use. “This decision will ensure industrial growth. However, while the process is being smoothened, strict implementation of all the amendments will have to be ensured,” said Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse .

Source:- The Hindu, 18-Dec-2015

Sugar fix, some children need it in dollops

Children love sweets, but have you ever wondered why some of them want more sugary food? It could be because they need more sugar to get that same sweet taste that others get in less quantities, suggests new research.

“Some children are 20 times better at detecting sugar than others,” said study author Danielle Reed from Monell Chemical Senses Centre, a non-profit independent scientific institute in the U.S.

“As sugar becomes more restricted and even regulated in children’s diets, the less sugar-sensitive children may get less of a ‘sweet signal’ and, therefore, have a harder time dealing with sugar reduction,” Reed said.

In the study, the researchers determined the sweet taste threshold, defined as the lowest detectable level of sucrose, of 216 healthy children between the ages seven and 14. Each child was given two cups, one containing distilled water and the other containing a sugar solution and asked to indicate which contained a taste.

The most sensitive child required only 0.005 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in a cup of water to detect sweetness, whereas the least sensitive needed three teaspoons to get the same sensation.

Genotype analyses revealed that sucrose thresholds and sensitivity were related to variation in the bitter receptor gene, but not in the two sweet receptor genes.

Dietary records revealed that children having this same bitter-sensitive gene variant consumed a higher percentage of their daily calories as added sugar.

“We were surprised to find that sweet taste sensitivity and sugar consumption were related to a bitter receptor gene,” Reed noted.

The researchers also found that increased body fat was associated with greater sensitivity to sweet taste.

The study was published online in the journal Nursing Research . — IANS

Source :- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

Drones to map high-altitude glaciers

About five-km high in the Peruvian Andes, drones are helping scientists map glaciers and wetlands with 10-cm precision and gauge how climate change will affect the people who rely on those glaciers for water supply.

The strategy provides a ground for research teams that are investigating water security in other areas of the world with much larger populations, including India and China.

In the Cordillera Blanca mountain area, glacier melt provides up to 50 percent of the water during the dry season and people use it for farms, hydroelectricity and to drink.

One early finding is that the Cordillera Blanca has a healthy groundwater system.

“We know the glaciers are disappearing, so there will be less water available for the dry season in the future. But what my colleagues and I have found is that the groundwater system is storing some of the glacier melt as well as precipitation,” said Oliver Wigmore, doctoral student in geography at the Ohio State University.

“There will still be a significant drop in water supply eventually, but there may be some potential for the groundwater to buffer it,” he added. With the help from data gathered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Mr. Wigmore also recorded measurements that suggest a key glacier in the region’s Llaca Valley is changing rapidly.

“UAVs offer some of the best technology available today for gathering data on a scale to inform local water management decisions,” Mr. Wigmore said. The drone technology overcomes clouds, rough terrain and thin air that prevent easy access to ice on the Cordillera Blanca.

In the Cordillera Blanca, clouds block satellite views for all but a few weeks a year, and the terrain is too irregular to take reliable ice surface measurements by hand.

10-cm resolution

The Ohio State UAVs have a 10-cm resolution, work despite frequently cloudy conditions in the mountains of Peru and cost a few thousand dollars each.

In contrast, satellites provide a half-meter resolution at best, work only during the two months a year when the region is relatively cloud-free and cost millions of dollars.

Mr. Wigmore equipped the large, lightweight drones with high-speed motors and extra long propellers to carry them through the thin air.

Source :- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

Physicists find hint of mysterious new particle

Does the Higgs boson have a cousin? Two teams of physicists working independently at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, reported on Tuesday that they had seen traces of what could be a new fundamental particle of nature.

One possibility, out of a gaggle(A cluster or group) of wild and not-so-wild ideas springing to life as the day went on, is that the particle — assuming it is real — is a heavier version of the Higgs boson, a particle that explains why other particles have mass.

Another is that it is a graviton, the supposed quantum carrier of gravity, whose discovery could imply the existence of extra dimensions of space-time.

At the end of a long chain of “ifs” could be a revolution, the first clues to a theory of nature that goes beyond the so-called Standard Model, which has ruled physics for the last quarter-century.

It is, however, far too soon to shout “whale ahoy,” physicists both inside and outside CERN said, noting that the history of particle physics is rife with statistical flukes and anomalies that disappeared when more data was compiled.

A coincidence is the most probable explanation for the surprising bumps in data from the collider, physicists from the experiments cautioned. They added that a lot more data was needed and would in fact soon be available. — New York Times News Service

It could be a heavier version of the Higgs boson or quantum carrier called graviton

Data that may be helpful:
Important Points:-

• The Higgs boson (or Higgs particle) is a particle that gives mass to other particles. Peter Higgs was the first person to think of it, and the particle was found in March 2013. It is part of the Standard Model in physics, which means it is found everywhere.
• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, the largest, most complex experimental facility ever built, and the largest single machine in the world. 

Source :- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015 

NHRC notice on leak from uranium mine

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance(knowledge or awareness) of reports about a study highlighting the leakage of radioactive and toxic waste from the country’s oldest and most important uranium mine at Jaduguda in East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, amid the alleged government apathy.

The study, conducted by a U.S.-based news organisation, stated that the leakage was affecting people, livestock, rivers, forests and agricultural produce in the area.

Adequate measures have not been taken to prevent toxic leaks from the site by the country’s nuclear establishment, which has systematically overlooked evidence that points to a radiation hazard, according to the study.

NHRC Member Justice D. Murugesan has observed that the contents of the reports, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of the right to health of the workers and local residents, besides damage to the environment, flora and fauna.

The Commission has issued notices to the Union government’s Department of Atomic Energy Secretary, Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) chairperson and Jharkhand Chief Secretary, calling for their reports within two weeks. The State-owned UCIL was reportedly extracting about 1,000 tonnes of uranium ore a day since 1967.

The study, authored by a journalist, relies on accounts of locals and activists, studies which had come out since 1990s and claims filed in the courts to say that mining has exposed workers and villagers to radiation, heavy metals and other carcinogens, including arsenic.

Data that may be helpful:
Meanings:-

• cognisance :- knowledge or awareness
• Suo motu, meaning "on its own motion," is a Latin legal term, approximately equivalent to the term sua sponte.A court takes suo moto action, meaning it starts a legal process on its own. 

Important Points:-

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous public body constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28 September 1993. It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (TPHRA)

 

Source:- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

‘Temple worship focusses on Agamas, not idols’

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, while insisting that restrictions in the “Agama sastras” did not violate the right to equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, made it clear that appointment of priests should conform to the Agama practices prevalent in a particular temple, even if it meant that archakas (priests) were appointed from a given “denomination, sect or a group” in the State.

The Tamil Nadu government had, in 2002, announced that temple priests would be appointed from people belonging to all castes, and had even launched Agama training schools in several temples, to impart the required training and qualifications to become archakas in Hindu temples.

The bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi has clearly said that the appointment of archakas in temples should follow the Ágama sastras followed in individual temples.

Agamas in Sanskrit mean “that which has come to us.” There are two kinds of Agama texts, Agama and Tantra, the former practised in Saivite and Vaishnavite temples, and the latter in Sakthi temples.

Agamas expound a variety of subjects and they are really the stylebook, on which Hindu rituals are based.

While some Saivite temples practise Tamil Agamas too, rituals in Vaishnavite temples are based on Vaikhanasa Agamas and the Pancharathra Agamas, or the Five Nights. Pancharathra Agamas, considered an esoteric subject, is believed to have been taught by Lord Vishnu himself to the sages over five nights.

The total number of works, generally called the samhitas, exceeds 200, according to lists available in several works, though only a few are available in print.

Mr. Parthasarathy, head priest of Sri Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane, Chennai, welcomed the verdict.

While anybody could become priests, priests practising Vaikhanasa Agamas got the right by birth and anybody who did not wish for material wealth, and sacrificed his life for the purpose of the Agamas could be a priest, he said. A.M. Rajagopalan, astrologer, said the focus of any temple worship was on the agamas, not the idols.

Idols were just the medium between the worshippers and the agamas.

Not all Brahmins could be priests or were allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum of temples, and only those who had mastered the Agamas could become archakas, he said.

 

 

Data that may be helpful:
Important Points:-

• Article 14 in The Constitution Of India 1949 :- Equality before law The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth

Source :- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

ISRO launches 6 Singapore satellites

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) never misses an opportunity. This time, even as it successfully launched six Singapore satellites on Wednesday, the national space agency also tested the fourth stage of its PSLV rocket.

The test to restart the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket would help the country in its future launches while attempting to launch multiple satellites in different orbits. According to ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar, “The four-second firing test is a success. This test will help us when we launch multiple satellites with a single rocket but want to place them in different orbits.”

At 6 p.m., ISRO’s PSLV C-29 rocket lifted off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here and in about 21 minutes, it placed all six Singapore satellites in the intended orbit before it commenced its ‘coasting’ to prepare for the test.

And some 50 minutes later, ISRO scientists at the Mission Control Centre here fired the fourth stage of the rocket for a few seconds as a test.

50 years of Singapore’s Independence

Call it coincidence or otherwise, the launch of six Singapore satellites came in the year when Singapore is celebrating its 50 years of Independence and 50 years of Indo-Singapore diplomatic ties.

“The very fact that Singapore has chosen PSLV for its maiden commercial launch shows the amount of trust they have in ISRO,” said Mission Director B. Jayakumar.

Though the sky was partially cloudy at dusk, most of the stage separation of the rocket was clearly visible to the naked eyes from the Media Centre here, even as the spacecraft was cruising towards the intended orbit, several kilometres away from the Earth’s surface.

“We have completed our major set of activities for this year and we look forward to 2016 for sending more communication, navigation and Earth observation satellites with greater vigour. We have lot more to achieve,” Mr. Kumar said, soon after the rocket placed all six satellites in orbit. Besides the primary payload 400-kg weighing TeLEOS-1 - Earth observation satellite, ISRO placed in orbit VELOX-CI (123 kg) micro-satellite, VELOX-II (13 kg) 6U-Cubesat technology demonstrator, Athenoxat-1 nano-satellite; Kent Ridge-1 (78 kg) micro-satellite and Galassia (3.4 kg) 2U-Cubesat. All the six Singapore satellites were put into orbit some 21 minutes after the lift-off at an altitude of 550 km.

In December last year, ISRO while testing the experimental flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, also tested the re-entry of its unmanned crew module on a suborbital trajectory.

Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh, informed the Lok Sabha that Wednesday’s launch earned India 26 million euros.

ISRO has launched 17 foreign and four Indian satellites this year, including its GSAT-15 which was launched from French Guiana in November. With the latest, India has launched a total of 57 foreign satellites for 20 countries.

 Source :- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

Ensure funds are used only for relief work: HC

Recording various materials placed before the Madras High Court by the Central and the State governments to show that there was no lack of coordination in the flood relief work as alleged, the First Bench of the court said, “We are of the view that it must be ensured that the funds which are specifically coming for this purpose are utilised to rehabilitate the affected persons.”

Responding to a suo motu proceeding initiated by the Madras High Court directing the State government to inform the court about the coordination taking place in respect of the relief measures in flood-affected areas, the government on Wednesday filed a detailed reply enunciating how it coordinated the relief work with other agencies.

Explaining the works , the State’s Revenue Secretary, R. Venkatesan, said, “As part of the pre-monsoon preparedness, senior IAS officers were designated as monitoring officers for each district and the officers were already in their designated stations on receipt of the weather forecast from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).”

Source :- The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

Pichai pitches Project Loon for connectivity

Chennai-born Google CEO, 43-year old Sundar Pichai, had some anxious moments during the recent floods in the city as he was unable to reach his family members.

While Mr. Pichai’s relatives are now confirmed to be safe, he said that amid natural disasters — like the one in Chennai where people get cut off from the grid — Google’s Project Loon that uses helium-filled balloons to provide data connectivity in remote areas could be of great help.

“When a natural disaster hits, people often get no network coverage, as it happened in Chennai as well. Project Loon is focussed on providing connectivity in rural areas, and we can use software to position these balloons to areas where there’s no coverage or network capacity is less,” Mr. Pichai said, in a meeting with editors here on Wednesday.

“People are figuring out the right model for providing aerial data connectivity without towers and optic fibre cables,” he said.

Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area of about 40 km, says Google

Source :-  The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

Money Lending Bill to be tabled in Assembly

The government will present a Money Lending Bill during the Assembly session, which will commence on Thursday. A decision to this effect was taken during a Cabinet meeting held here on Wednesday.

The government also decided to institute a judicial probe into the call money racket. Director-General of Police J.V. Ramudu and City Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang briefed the Cabinet about the racket.

“Post-bifurcation, the State lacked a Money Lending Act, while the neighbouring Telangana and Tamil Nadu have such Acts, but they are not effective. The Cabinet has, in principle, agreed to come up with an Act, and it will be tabled during the Assembly session,” Finance Minister Yenamala Ramakrishnudu said here on Wednesday.

“A draft policy has already been prepared, and the Law Department is studying the guidelines of the Act implemented in other States. The department will also check for loopholes before preparing a comprehensive policy. Once the policy is ready, a bill will be presented during the Assembly session,” he added. The Minister also advised victims of the call money racket to lodge complaints without any fear, adding that they do not have to make payments to lenders. He said the government was committed to taking stern action against those involved in the racket, irrespective of their affiliations to any political party.

The Minister said a judicial commission, headed by a retired High Court judge, would be appointed to investigate the call money racket. “The commission will suggest measures to be taken to curb such unlawful activities in future. This will be in addition to the police investigation,” he added.

80 people arrested so far

Information and Public Relations Minister Palle Raghunath Reddy said as many as 80 people had been arrested till date across the State in connection with the call money scandal. Of these, 27 have affiliation with the YSRC, six with the TDP and three with Left parties.

“The YSRC and the Congress have no right to question the government’s commitment to curb such irregularities. It is ironic that the YSRC and its president Jaganmohan Reddy, who are known for their involvement in various scams, are criticising the TDP,” Mr. Reddy said.

Source: The Hindu, 17-Dec-2015

Farmers urge Centre to implement Forest Rights Act

Hundreds of landless farmers, agricultural workers and labourers from across 20 States assembled at Jantar Mantar here on Tuesday under a joint platform ‘Bhumi Adhikar Andolan’ (Land Rights Movement) and observed December 15 (Forest Rights Day) as ‘Chetavni Divas’ — day of challenge and warning.

Addressing a gathering, social activist Medha Patkar said the Forest Rights Act (FRA) was enacted in 2006, but successive governments have never taken efforts to implement the Act. “Rather things are moving in opposite direction. The NDA government has introduced two dangerous moves by declaring a cut-off date for claiming of rights and also to involve corporates in plantation activities in degraded forest areas,” said Ms. Patkar, adding that both these steps were against the rules and provisions of the FRA and would endanger the rights of communities.

Social activists who participated in the event pointed out that attempts were being made to dilute the Environment Law (Amendment) Bill 2015. “Environment impact assessment and public hearing form the only basis for communities to participate in the development process and now this very right is being taken away from them,” said Jarjum, a farmer leader.

Several other leaders pointed out that Schedule Tribe and other Forest Dwellers, Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006 and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 which were meant to transfer the rights of resources back to people have not been implemented. It was important to note that the comprehensive report of high level committee (HLC) on the status of Adivasis submitted in 2014 says that the implementation of these Acts have been weak despite the promising provisions, they said.

“The NDA government is keen to alter the spirit and basic features of these Acts. The fate of altered Land Acquisition Act, 2013 is hanging in legislature and the basic tenets of Forest Rights Act, 2006 are being diluted through executive orders to avoid being answerable to the people of the country,” Ms. Patkar said.

The members of the movement submitted a memorandum to the Centre asking implementation of Forest Rights Act to ensure collective rights of communities.

Source: The Hindu, 15-Dec-2015

Dalits in U.P. can now sell their land to non-Dalits

Dalits in Uttar Pradesh would soon be able to sell their land to non-Dalits without the approval of the administration.

This comes into being after Governor Ram Naik on Tuesday gave his consent to the Revenue Code (Amendment) Ordinance proposed by the Samajwadi government. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s Cabinet had passed the ordinance last month but the Governor had withheld approval.

The ordinance would bring radical changes in prevailing revenue laws dating to the British era, speeding up disposal of litigations in rural areas over land ownership. It also contains a contentious clause regarding Dalits, which has led to the BSP gunning for the SP.

The ordinance will allow Dalits to sell their land to non-Dalits even if their remaining holding is less than 3.5 acres. To safeguard land ownership of Dalits and protect them from being forced to sell their land to upper caste persons, the existing land revenue laws did not allow them to sell their land to OBCs and Upper Castes if their remaining land was less than 3.5 acres.

In 2006, the Mulayam Singh government proposed a similar amendment but it could not be implemented.

The Mayawati government, which came to power in 2007, opposed the move.

When the SP came back to power in 2012 it got the President’s assent, as the ordinance involved the repealing of more than 30 Acts, including Central Acts.

While the SP has contended that the ordinance would safeguard Dalit interest and protect them from “distress selling,” the BSP has accused the party of conspiring to make poor Dalits landless and further push them towards the periphery.

Major issue during polls

The issue could heat up during the 2007 Assembly election. Ms. Mayawati is hoping for a strong consolidation of her traditional voters, the Dalits, to regain power.

Data that may be helpful:
Important Points:-
• It allows Dalits to sell their land to non-Dalist even if their remaining holding is less than 3.5 acres. The non-amended land revenue law didn’t allowed Dalits to sell their land to OBCs and Upper Castes, if their remaining land was less than 3.5 acres.
• It would bring changes in prevailing revenue laws dating to the British era, speeding up disposal of litigations in rural areas over land ownership
• The first provision will ensure that owners lease out their land for share-cropping without the fear of losing it after 12 years.
• The second one will protect those who actually do the farming against calamities
• It empowers rural women, as the new provisions ensure that wife gets equal rights on the gram samaj land given out on a lease. Earlier, women didn’t have their name on such lease.
• It paves way for setting up of a new judicial cadre to look after land revenue disputes.
• It seeks to end disputes in cases of partnership






 
Source :- The Hindu, 15-Dec-2015 

Nobel laureate bats for GM crops

The developing world, including India, should adopt genetically modified (GM) crops, Nobel laureate Richard John Roberts said here on Tuesday. Rallying behind GM crops, Mr. Roberts said he is not alone in GM advocacy as he has garnered the support of 75 other Nobel laureates for it.

Dig at Greenpeace

“Environmental organisations such as Greenpeace oppose GMO for political ends. There is no truth in their claim as there is no scientific proof that GM crops are harmful,” Mr. Roberts emphasised in a media interaction that followed his lecture organised by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Telangana Academy of Science.

Standing by his pro-GM stand, he said millions of people in the third world would die of starvation unless GM crops were introduced.

“We have been breeding crops for long naturally. I would call GM precision plant breeding. Greenpeace is in the business of scaring people when it comes to GM crops,” he said.

The Nobel laureate was in the city to deliver the CCMB’s distinguished lecture series. Mr. Roberts who won the prestigious prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993 asked: “If technology can support starvation crisis, why not use it?”

Mr. Roberts, however, said private investment in medical research should not be supported.

“In the West, the drug manufacturers are not interested in cure as they want to keep people dependent on drugs. Countries in the developing world should not follow this model of capitalism,” Mr. Roberts said.

‘Chase your passion’

In the distinguished lecture, Mr. Roberts asked scientists to follow their passion.

“I wanted to be a detective when I was a child, but later developed an interest in science as my parents gifted me a chemistry kit,” said Mr. Roberts, who developed his taste in research at a very young age.

“My first experiments were to make fire crackers,” he said. Someone who still likes jazz music and caving, Mr. Roberts had shared the Nobel Prize with Phil Sharp. A British citizen, he was knighted in 2008.

 Data that may be helpful:

 Important Points:-

• Sir Richard John Roberts is an English biochemist and molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing.  

Source :- The Hindu, 15-Dec-2015

Buddhist population down by 75 per cent in Karnataka

The Dalai Lama is currently on a month-long visit to Karnataka, but a glance at census figures may have him worried.

The religion-wise enumeration in the 2011 census for Karnataka throws up a startling fact: the State, which had the second highest number of Buddhists in the country, has seen a staggering 75 per cent decline in the population.

This remains an oddity in a nation where the Buddhist population is growing by 0.7 per cent; while, neighbouring Maharashtra, which houses the largest number of Buddhists, has added nearly 6 lakh in number.

Arid districts of North Karnataka, which saw a “dramatic rise” of Buddhists in 90’s through conversion of Scheduled Castes, have now recorded the largest drops.

Bidar and Kalaburagi districts — where 2.75 lakh persons or 70 per cent of the state’s Buddhist population — now have just 48,000 self-professed followers.

“It truly is surprising. By the increasing number of programmes or congregations, it would seem like the population is rising… unfortunately, there is a larger number of ‘paper Buddhists’ who have declared otherwise in the census,” says Ananda Bante, general secretary, Maha Bodhi Society in Bengaluru.

Dalit movement and Buddhists

The numerical fate of the religion remains intricately tied to the dissipating Dalit movement in these regions, says Vaijanath Suryavanshi, a Bidar-based Dalit leader. In the 90s, a strong social movement had seen a rise in those converting to Buddhism, an event coinciding with Bahujan Samaj Party securing its first South India assembly seat in Bidar in 1994.

“By 2004, the movement was divided. The party faltered, and the oppressed castes were appropriated by all parties. When misinformation spread of neo-Buddhists being denied caste-reservation, there was no movement strong enough to counter this, unlike in Maharashtra,” he says.

Mavalli Shankar, State Secretary of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, concurs, believing that “fear” created among the lower castes had persisted. “The movement continues to work for social justice. But, when it comes to following Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s call for Buddhism, there is a deep schism. The fear of losing political space, or Hindu votes, is enough to scuttle the call,” he says.

The fear is spurred by rejections of caste certificates as the state — unlike Maharashtra — has not included neo-Buddists in their caste sheet, says Devendra Heggade, writer and Buddhist activist. “My own children have been denied caste certificates! This is akin to ensuring no more conversions,” he says.

While many factors come into play, P.L. Dharma, head of Buddhist Studies in Mangalore University, also believes the census methodology inherently excludes lower castes in areas where caste discrimination exists.

“Enumerators talk to gram panchayat members rather with those in SC or ST colonies. Caste of the family is equated as Hinduism, rather than Buddhism,” he says.

Source :- The Hindu, 15- Dec-2015

Fear sees Buddhist population drop in State

Fear of losing caste-based reservations and the political confusion created around it has seen the Buddhist population in Karnataka — home to some of the largest Buddhist monasteries in south India — decline by a startling(very surprising, astonishing, or remarkable) 3 lakh followers.

The trend revealed in the religion-wise census released recently, shows that the followers of Buddhism has declined to around 95,000, down from 3.93 lakh (or, second highest in the country) enumerated in 2001. The fall is even starker in north Karnataka, where Kalaburagi and Bidar have seen more than 2.5 lakh persons ‘leave’ the Buddhist fold.

On the contrary, the neighboring State of Maharashtra has seen a steady rise in population of followers.

Dalit activists, who were involved in the social movement that also saw a rise in conversions in the late 90s, say Karnataka remains among the few States not to extend caste-benefits to converted Dalits, which has led to a fear of declaring themselves Buddhists.

The steep decline has reverberated(have continuing and serious effects) through the community here, and numerous groups and Buddhist scholars have come together to form an umbrella organisation to pressure the government.

The steep decline has reverberated through the community here

in the State

Source: The Hindu, 15-Dec-2015

Karnataka has the highest stillbirth rate

Karnataka, which has been doing fairly well in managing and reducing other health indicators, has the dubious distinction of having the highest stillbirth rate — 12 deaths per 1,000 births — in the country, according to Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 2013. However, it’s worth noting that some States have zero stillbirths, which could indicate an absence of a proper reporting system. The State’s perinatal mortality rate stands at 30 per 1,000 live births. This, too, is higher than the country’s average of 26 per 1,000 births. Stillbirths and perinatal mortality are the only two health indicators where Karnataka fares badly. While this is a reflection of the poor perinatal care in rural areas, officials said stillbirths reported from bigger State-run maternity hospitals are on the higher side. “This is because most high-risk pregnancies are referred to these hospitals,” State Deputy Director (Child Health) M.V. Vijay Kumar said.

Source :-The Hindu, 15-Dec-2015

WTO chief calls for a Paris-style deal

The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) first Ministerial Conference in Africa began here on Tuesday with leaders from the continent and the WTO chief Roberto Azevedo exhorting(strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something) the 162 member countries to be inspired by 195 nations recently inking the ‘historic’ Paris agreement on measures to curb global warming, and reach a similarly ambitious pact in a few days to liberalise world trade for lifting millions of people out of poverty.

The ministerial conference (the WTO’s highest decision-making body) is taking place in the Kenyan capital at a time when the global trade body is celebrating its 20th anniversary, but in the backdrop of sluggish(slow-moving or inactive) world trade and tepid global economic growth.

However, persisting deep differences between the developed and the developing world on market opening commitments and their entrenched positions are expected to make the job of the Ministers difficult in reaching a consensus, especially to remove the distortions in world trade.

Developed countries, citing the slow progress of the ongoing Doha Round negotiations (which began in 2001), want the Round to be either brought to an end during this ministerial conference, or its ambit to be expanded by including ‘new’ issues of their interest and what they call are the latest challenges facing global trade. These include global value chains, e-commerce, labour, environment, competition policies, investment pacts and state-owned enterprises.

Data that may be helpful:

Meanings:

• exhorting: strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something
• sluggish : slow-moving or inactive 

Important Points:-

 

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The WTO deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments.
• Roberto Azevêdo,the current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo of Brazil, since 1 September 2013. 
• 10th WTO Ministerial Conference on 15–18 December 2015 in Kenya Nairobi, Kenya
• 9th WTO Ministerial Conference on 3–6 December 2013 in Indonesia Bali, Indonesia

Source:- The Hindu, 15-Dec-2015