Civil service exam 2008

The Union Public Service Commission has notified a total of 671 vacancies for civil services examinations this year from past years.During the past few years, the total annual intake was around 500 with an average of 65 IAS posts up for grabs. The other vacancies were for Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service and a range of Group A and Group B jobs.But this time around, a total of 110 IAS jobs are available in civil services exam 2008. the total IAS vacancies for 2009 and 2010 are likely to be higher at 120 and 130 respectively.Over 3 lakh candidates apply for preliminary tests.

India, Brazil sign seven pacts

India and Brazil invigorated their bourgeoning strategic and economic ties by signing seven pacts in areas ranging from space, trade and energy to academic exchanges.The pacts were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the stately Hyderabad House here.The two leaders held talks on a wide spectrum of bilateral, regional and global issues including quadrupling their bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010, civilian nuclear energy cooperation, promotion of bio-fuels, UN reforms and cooperation in multilateral forums like the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

wireless power

A U.S. research team reports moving closer to wireless power transfer by lighting a 60-watt light bulb from a power source located seven feet away.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team called their accomplishment 'WiTricity.Although various methods of transmitting power wirelessly have long been known -- think of radio waves -- they are not feasible to use for power transmission.In contrast, WiTricity is based on using coupled resonant objects, in which two resonant objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with extraneous off-resonant objects.

free seats

Delhi High Court today directed all unaided, recognised and private schools to mandatorily slot minimum 10 per cent free seats for economically weak students and another five percent for children of its staffers, including those in teaching and non-teaching category, for the next academic session of 2008-2009. The court explained in its order that “financial viability” of the institution would suffer if an increased percentage of freeship was decided upon, even as it took note of submissions by the schools that they would have to substantially hike the fee of the “able-bodied” students to afford the free seats.

FDI

The union Cabinet has hinted that it is likely to consider a proposal to increase FDI cap in joint sector refinery projects to 74 per cent from the current 26 per cent.The government move will allow India-born billionaire Lakshmi Narayan Mittal to have 49 per cent in state-run HPCL's Bhatinda project.The Petroleum Ministry has moved a Cabinet note for raising the FDI limit. The proposal is likely to be considered at today's meeting of the Union Cabinet.The proposal has come after a cooperation agreement that Mittal signed with HPCL in January to acquire 49 per cent in the PSU's three billion dollar refinery project in Punjab.

top 10 expensive locations

As India witnesses a spurt in property prices, its financial capital Mumbai has been ranked as one of the world's top 10 expensive locations in terms of accommodation cost.Mumbai, which is ranked seventh, is followed by Shanghai, on whose lines the government is planning to develop the Indian financial hub.The list comprises Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Seoul, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Caracas (Venezuela) and Paris (in order of their position), according to a study by International Human Resource organisation ECA International.

IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast continued impressive growth in emerging markets and developing countries led by India and China in 2007, even with global growth slowing mildly to 4.9 percent. However, the United States may witness somewhat slower growth, while Europe and Japan would have continued solid growth, he said describing 2006 as "another robust year for the global economy.While the US economy has slowed, the rest of the world has remained on track. The euro area grew at its fastest pace in six years in 2006, and the economy's forward momentum looks solid. Turning to emerging market and developing countries IMF expects them to continue to grow strongly this year albeit at a somewhat less brisk pace than 2006, drawing continuous support from favourable financial conditions and in many cases from strong commodity prices. China and India continue to lead the way, he said. India's broad-based expansion gathered momentum in the course of last year, running at around 9 percent, but growth should moderate some in 2007. However, spare capacity in the Indian economy remains very low, and overheating remains a risk, despite monetary policy tightening.Elsewhere in emerging Asia, the near-term outlook remains very positive, partly reflecting intraregional trade linkages and China's strong economy as well as prudent macroeconomic managementIn China, growth moderated slightly in the second half of 2006 partly reflecting measures to cool fixed asset investment from its recent rapid pace. But nevertheless, the economy is expected to grow by around 10 percent in 2007, and IMF sees risks in China to be on the upside. In recent years, the combination of technological progress and increasingly open global trading and financial systems and more resilient macroeconomic policy frameworks have laid the foundation for superlative growth.

Space Tourist

A Russian spacecraft carrying two crew and billionaire space tourist Charles Simonyi has docked with the International Space Station (ISS).The three men transferred to the ISS after a two-day flight from Earth. Mr Simonyi, 58, paid $25m (£12.7m) for the trip. He is the fifth space tourist and will spend 10 days aboard the ISS. The Hungarian-born US software engineer is the 450th person to enter orbit.

Aral sea

The Kazakhstan government has secured a multi-million dollar loan from the World Bank to help save the Aral Sea. The money will be used to implement the second stage of a project aimed at saving the northern part of the sea. The United Nations has said the disappearance of the Aral is the worst man-made environmental disaster. this new project could mean that at least part of the Aral - once the world's fourth largest inland body of water - will be saved.

Solomons Islands (GEOGRAPHY)

The archipelago comprises six main islands and more than 950 smaller ones, an area of around 27,500 square kilometres (11,600 square miles) of generally rugged mountain terrain but also some low-lying coral atolls.Its population of a little over 500,000 is overwhelmingly Christian and ethnic Melanesian. English is the official language, but most people speak one of the more than 100 local dialectsIts main island Guadalcanal was a strategic military prize, notably because of its airstrip, and after months of bitter combat US and allied troops drove off the Japanese forces.The Solomons Islands gained independence in 1978. Although Britain's Queen Elizabeth II remains its head of state the country is run by a prime minister who is elected by parliament.Recent years have seen bloody ethnic strife however. Fighting broke out in 1998 and led to a coup two years later. The unrest continued despite a peace agreement and has crippled the country economically.In mid-2003 Australia led in an armed intervention force that has restored some stability. It is still involved although Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has been seeking to reduce Canberra's leading role.Most people rely on agriculture, fishing and forestry for their livelihoods, although there are undeveloped mineral resources such as lead, zinc, nickel and gold. The major exports are timber, fish and palm oil.
China is the Solomons' biggest export market while Australia and Singapore supply much of its imports. In 2005, economic growth was 4.7 per cent and gross domestic product per person was just $600.The Solomons' early history indicates hunter-gatherers living on the large islands as early as 1,000 BC. Some islanders are descendants of peoples who migrated from Southeast Asia.The European discoverer of the islands was a Spanish explorer in the 16th century .

DNA fingerprint

A bill providing for creation of a database of DNA fingerprints of criminals is likely to be tabled in parliament soon.The Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Nalsar) have together drafted the bill.The bill facilitates creation of a database of DNA fingerprints of convicts and provides for quality control and quality assurance in DNA fingerprinting and diagnostics

NSSO survey

The number of usually employed males aged 15 years and above has declined in class I cities like Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata in 2004-05 according to the 61st round National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey. The number of employed males per 1000 persons for the three metros in 1999-2000 was 743, 764 and 780 respectively. Women employment has, however, increased in Kolkata from 187 to 190 during the period. The number of usually employed women declined in Chennai and Delhi from 260 in 1999-2000 to 168 in 2004-05 and from 147 to 112 during the same period. Male employment has, however, increased in other class I cities like Mumbai, Surat, Hyderabad and Bangalore in 2004-05.

IAS

Bureaucrats are eyeing the lure and lucre of the IT sector — not to help its further growth but to join it. A horde of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers are putting in their papers, only to take charge of assignments in IT companies or starting one of their own.BV Naidu of Karnataka has just quit his government job as the director of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in Bangalore, to head a semiconductor company. He is not the first and won’t be the last to board IT’s gravy train, say officials. “Many officers are waiting for a chance to make a move,” says Naidu, who will be the India Managing Director of SemiIndia Systems after some fifteen years of working closely with the IT industry. SimiIndia plans to invest $ 3 billion in India to make chips. Vivek Harinarayan, who was Tamil Nadu’s IT secretary till June last, has quit the IAS and will become an IT consultant next week. In Karnataka, it was Vivek Kulkarni and in Tamil Nadu it was D Prakash, who kicked off the trend many years ago, when the quit as IT secretaries and hitched onto the IT bandwagon. Kulkarni now heads a successful Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company.
from. ..DNA

Aryabhata award

Astronautical Society of India (ASI), Bangalore, has announced its annual awards for the year 2005, including the prestigious Aryabhata award to Dr P S Goel, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.ASI, set up in 1990, said in a statement it has instituted several awards to recognise talented Indian individuals who have made significant contributions to astronautics.The list of awardees for the year 2005 is:
Aryabhata Award 2005 - Dr P S Goel, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi; ASI Awards 2005 Rocket related technology - P Vardaraj, Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad; Space sciences and applications - Dr V K Agarwal, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, and Prof R Sridharan, Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram; Space systems management - S K Shivakumar, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking & Command Network, Bangalore.

ISRO

Satellite technology supplied by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will soon come in aid of nearly 600,000 fishermen in Kerala for identifying shoals of fish in nine fishing districts.satellites will identify the potential fishing zones (PFZ) and would pass on information to the fishermen in Kerala on a regular basis with the help of the fisheries department.In Kerala, there are 222 marine fishing villages with the capital district having a maximum of 42.Currently, the fisheries sector accounts for a mere 1.44 percent of the state's gross domestic product. The total production of fish in the country stands at 6.3 million tonnes, with Kerala accounting for 637,000 tonnes

World Cup

international hockey federation (FIH) is acknowledging that India is central to the the game. FIH executive board took a decision to approach the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC) to find out whether India can host the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi. The last time India hosted the World Cup was in 1982 in Mumbai .FIH board has allotted the 2010 women's World Cup to Argentina.

BlackBerry 8800

Research in Motion (RIM) today launched it's highly anticipated "BlackBerry 8800" smart phone in the country. At 14mm, the BlackBerry 8800 is the thinnest Blackberry handset yet. It is equipped with a highly tactile, full Qwerty keyboard; multimedia features; a microSD expandable memory; and trackball navigation system which was first introduced with BlackBerry Pearl. Moreover, it is the first smart phone from the company to feature built-in GPS

MiG-23MF

The MiG-23MF fighter aircraft, which played a key role in countering a possible threat from Pakistan's F-16s for the last 25 years in the western sector, bid adieu to the force with one last ceremonial flight.The Russian-made MiG-23s were phased out because heavy financial costs were being incurred on their maintenance. `It is too costly to maintain them because of non-availability of spare parts. Maintaining these aircraft was like maintaining vintage cars. Hence, the Air Force had to take the decision to phase these aircraft out.

Dearness Allowance

Announcing sops for the Central government employees, the government has announced a six per cent increase of Dearness Allowance. The government has also brought relief for pensioners entailing a total extra expenditure of Rs 3900.43 crore during financial year 2007-08.The decision was taken at a Union Cabinet held yesterday. The Cabinet has decided to hike the DA from the current 29 per cent to 35 per cent. The hike will come into effect retrospectively from January this year.The additional financial implications on account of increase in DA for employees will be Rs 2265.12 crore per annum. For 2007-08 the burden would be Rs 2642.64 crore because of arrears.
The extra outgo on account of Dearness Relief to pensioners will be Rs 1079.08 crore per annum. The extra expenditure for 2007-08 would be Rs 1275.78 crore.

PPSC

The Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) has proposed a new syllabus for Punjab Civil Services examination (PCS). As per the recommendations made by PPSC, the PCS executive exams will be on the pattern of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination held for Indian Administration Services (IAS). The said recommendations have already been sent to the government for final approval.