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Best Employer Award

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:42:45 +0000

ITC Hotels has been honoured with “Best Employer” National Award for empowerment of persons with disabilities. The award is given by the Union Ministry of Social Justice.

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India and its Corruption Perception Index

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:35:00 +0000

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

World’s first hybrid sharks found in Australia

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:55:04 +0000

Researchers have discovered the world’s first hybrid sharks in Australian waters, indicating that animals are adapting to climate change for survival.

Leading researchers in marine biology have come across 57 animals along a 2,000-km stretch from Queensland to New South Wales which they believe are the result of cross-breeding between the common blacktip shark and Australian blacktip shark, two related but genetically distinct species.

The inter-breeding between the two species shows that the animals are adapting to climate change and the hybridisation can make the fishes stronger, the scientists said.

“Hybridisation can enable sharks to adapt to ecological change as the smaller Australian blacktip currently favours tropical waters in the north while the larger common blacktip is more abundant in sub-tropical and temperate waters along the south-eastern Australian coastline,” Jennifer Ovenden of Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

“Wild hybrids are usually hard to find, so detecting them and their offspring is extraordinary. To find 57 hybrids along 2000-km of coastline is unprecedented,” she said.

Another researcher at the University of Queensland researcher, Jess Morgan, said it was unusual for sharks to breed in such a way.

She said as sharks physically mate, it makes sure they do not hybridise with the wrong species.

The find was made during cataloguing work off Australia’s east coast when genetic testing showed certain sharks to be one species when physically they looked to be another.

Colin Simpfendorfer of James Cook University’s Fishing and Fisheries Research Centre, said the results of this research show that we still have a lot to learn about these important ocean predators.

Current Affairs India

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:43:04 +0000

India marks one year polio-free milestone

India is about to hit a milestone in its battle to eradicate the polio virus with no new cases reported in the past year, the country’s health minister said Thursday, a dramatic drop from being the country worst affected by the crippling disease.

The last case was detected on January 13 in a two-year-old girl in the country’s east. A full year without any new cases means India will no longer be classed as “polio-endemic” by the World Health Organization, leaving only Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

“We are excited and hopeful, at the same time, vigilant and alert,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad in a statement, cautioning it was still important to remain vigilant.

“This giant leap toward polio containment in a short span of two years is an endorsement of India’s tireless and persistent efforts.”

Just two years ago 741 Indians fell sick with polio, nearly half the world’s cases that year. Until the 1950s the disease crippled thousands every year in rich nations. It attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.

It often spreads in areas with poor sanitation — a factor that helped it keep a grip on India for many decades — and children under five are the most vulnerable. But it can be stopped with comprehensive, population-wide vaccination.

The Polio Eradication Program in India aims to immunize every child under five years of age with the oral polio vaccine.

The massive program has seen millions of health workers fan out across the country, going door-to-door, village-to-village immunizing more than 170 million children every year with oral doses of the polio vaccine.

The number of polio cases dropped to 42 in 2010 compared with 741 the previous year. The last case in 2011 was reported from the state of West Bengal.

Health experts welcomed the India’s milestone, but added caution.

“India must maintain sensitive surveillance and high childhood immunity against wild polio virus to guard against any importation of polio until eradication is achieved globally,” said the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in a statement.

“In 2011, Pakistan and Afghanistan have both seen alarming increases in polio cases, and polio virus from Pakistan re-infected China … as long as polio exists anywhere, it remains a threat everywhere.”

India and Japan agreed to enhance their Cooperation in the Infrastructure Sector

India and Japan agreed to enhance their cooperation in the infrastructure sector. The decision was taken at a meeting between Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi and his Japnese counterpart Takeshi Maeda in New Delhi on 12 January 2012.

The two countries are in the concluding phase of finalising a Memorandum of Cooperation to exchange technical knowledge and expertise in the Road Transportation and Highways sector including capacity building and advanced technology for road transport management system as well as intelligent transport system.

PMRDF-The Rural Development Fellows Scheme

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:27:46 +0000

The Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDF) scheme has been launched to reach out to talented young professionals willing to be part of a larger change. After selection, these professionals will work in districts where the Central government is implementing Integrated Action Plan to deal with left wing extremists. They will support the district administration in providing socio-economic situation analysis, identifying critical gaps in development programmes.

Why This Kolaveri Di-Written and sung by actor Dhanush

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:44:07 +0000

Why This Kolaveri Di (Tamil: வொய் திஸ் கொலவெறி டி, Voy Tis Kolaveṟi Ṭi ^?; English: Why This Murderous Rage, Girl? is an Indian song from the soundtrack of the upcoming Tamil film 3, which is due to be released in 2012. Written and sung by actor Dhanush, the song was composed by music director Anirudh Ravichander.

A downtempo dance gaana-ballad song, “Why This Kolaveri Di” has been described as “genre bending” by critics, built around an ancient South Indian folk rhythm. Its instrumentation consists of nadaswaram, shehnai, saxophone, urumee and thavil drums, acoustic guitar and keyboards mixed with electronic synths and scratches. The vocals utilize the singing style of Tamil folk culture. Lyrically, the song revolves around the film’s main protagonist being dumped by his girlfriend; the song is sung by the character in a drunken state, with many of the lines nonsensical.

The song was officially released on 16 November 2011, and it instantly became viral on social networking sites for its quirky “Tanglish” (portmanteau word of Tamil and English) lyrics. Soon, the song became the most searched YouTube video in India and an internet phenomenon across Asia.Within a few weeks, YouTube honored the video with a Recently Most Popular Gold Medal Award for receiving a large number of hits in a short time

Business Current Affairs

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:49:53 +0000

Jaxtr Inc., founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Yogesh Patel, has announced the launch of JaxtrSMS, a cross-platform, open-texting application to send SMSs to anyone in the world for free.

Reserve Bank of India deregulated non-resident external (NRE) deposits on 16 December 2011 allowing banks to offer higher interest rates to dollar-denominated accounts. Reserve Bank freed the rates on non-resident external accounts, offering interest as high as 9.6% per annum.

Following RBI’s deregulation five Indian banks, including HDFC Bank and Yes Bank on 23 December 2011 raised their interest rates on such deposits in order to lure foreign money.
The Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges have agreed to merge in 2013 to create the world’s third-biggest bourse with listed stocks worth around $3.6 trillion. The combined value of stocks listed on exchanges would trail only NYSE Euronext at $12 trillion and NASDAQ OMX Group Inc at nearly $4 trillion.

Ravi Ruia decided to step down as Chairman of the London-listed Essar Energy

Ravi Ruia decided on 21 December 2011 to step down as chairman of the London-listed Essar Energy after a trial court admitted a criminal chargesheet filed by the investigating agency. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheeted three Essar Group honchos, including Ravi Ruia, alleging violation of telecom industry guidelines.

Prashant Ruia, presently the vice chairman, will take over as interim chairman while Ravi Ruia will continue as a director of Essar Energy.

Adidas, the German sportswear and equipment maker, is set to launch a shoe costing one dollar a pair in India. The shoe will be sold in villages through a distribution network.

British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, James Murdoch re-elected as Chairman of the Group

British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC chairman James Murdoch was re-elected on 29 November 2011 in the company’s annual general meeting. He was re-elected to the position of chairman though he faced a powerful protest vote from the satellite-TV company’s independent shareholders. News Corp., run by James’s father, Rupert Murdoch, owns 39.1% of BSkyB.

British Sky Broadcasting Group comprises film and television production as well as newspaper publishing and other activities.
California-based mobile video service provider, Vuclip, has launched India’s first independent mobile movie portal — Starlight Cinema. This would offer users the options of watching shortened feature films, movie clips, songs, reviews and trailers.

Cyrus Mistry-the new Chairman of the Tata group

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:10:19 +0000

Cyrus Mistry, the younger son of construction tycoon Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, has been chosen to succeed Rattan Tata as the Chairman of the Tata group. He will take over in December 2012. He will be the sixth and youngest chairman of the Tata group, and only the second non-Tata after Sir Nowroji Saklatvala to head the group.

2018 Commonwealth Games

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:23:18 +0000

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

Current Affairs India

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:00:21 +0000

Prasar Bharati Amendment Bill 2011 passed 20 Dec 2011

Lok Sabha today passed the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Bill 2011, pertaining to the service conditions of employees in All India Radio and Doordarshan in Prasar Bharati.With the passage of the Bill, it now stands enacted.

India beat Turkey in World Women Team Chess Championship

In the World Women Team Chess Championship going on in Mardin Turkey, the Indian women’s team led by Koneru Humpy defeated Turkey by 3.5-0.5.With this India jumped to fourth spot after the end of the second round.