Infosys’s Gopalakrishnan to head govt’s cloud computing panel

The government has set up committee to recommend framework for cloud computing services under the chairmanship of Infosys’ executive Co-Chairman S Gopalakrishnan (Kris).

The committee has been set up following instructions from IT and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal.

“Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan is chairing the committee.

It will suggest a framework to promote cloud computing service in and from the country,” Indian Computer Emergency Response Team’s Director Gulshan Rai, also member of the committee, said.

In cloud computing, end users are not required to buy software or devices as they are provided by service providers on a rental basis.

When contacted, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said, “Cloud computing is the way forward to bring affordable services in areas like healthcare, education, e-governance and banking to masses.”

Cloud computing is one of the thrust areas of the proposed National IT Policy that envisages to increase revenues of IT and ITES Industry from USD 100 billion at present to USD 300 billion by 2020. This policy likely to to be placed before Cabinet within a week for its approval, sources said.

Sibal has also asked Department of Electronics and Information Technology Secretary, J Sathyanarayana to discuss cloud computing issues with the industry after National IT Policy (NIP) is approved.

The members of the committee include representatives from Department of Information Technology, National Informatics Centres, NASSCOM, industry chambers CII, FICCI and others.

While appreciating the benefits of cloud computing, RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha recently pointed out that it being a new technology, data integrity and confidentiality seem to be a major concern at this stage.

“Further, if too many participants rely on a single service provider, it may lead to a risk of over—concentration inasmuch as the failure of the service provider will be catastrophic,” he said at Hyderabad.

Amid increasing use by small and medium businesses (SMB), the public cloud market in the country is expected to reach USD 685 million by 2014, according to a study by research firm Zinnov.

In case of public cloud, services (either free or offered on a pay—per—use model) are made available to customers by providers like Microsoft and Google who own and operate the infrastructure and offer them through internet.

“Public cloud market is expected to grow at 55 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in the near future and will become a default choice for new IT investments, especially in the SMB segment,” Zinnov Management Consulting Director—Market Expansion Praveen Bhadada said in a statement.

Western Ghats: Challenges of Sustainable Development

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee inscribed the Western Ghats of India as a world heritage site on July 1. The tag came at the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in St Petersburg in Russia. Altogether 39 sites that dot the Western Ghats landscape will be part of the region that has been designated as World Heritage Site. Kerala leads with 20 sites being inscribed in the heritage list followed by Karnataka with ten, Tamil Nadu five and Maharashtra four.  

List of Western Ghats World Heritage clusters in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and TN

MAHARASHTRA
Kaas Plateau	Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary	Chandoli National Park
Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary
KARNATAKA
Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary	Talacauvery Wildlife Sanctuary	Padinalknad Reserved Forest
Kerti Reserved Forest	Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary	Kudremukh National Park
Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary	Someshwara Reserved Forest	Agumbe Reserved Forest
Balahalli Reserved Forest
KERALA - TAMILNADU
Kalakad- Tiger Reserve,	Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary,	Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary,
Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary	Kulathupuzha Range,	Palode Range
Periyar Tiger Reserve	Ranni Forest Division	Konni Forest Division
Achankovil Forest Division	Srivilliputtur Wildlife	Tirunelveli North Forest Division
Eravikulam National Park	Grass Hills National Park	Karian Shola National Park
Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary,	Mankulam Range,	Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary
Mannavan Shola	Silent Valley National Park	New Amarambalam Reserve Forest
Mukurti National Park	Kalikavu Range	Attapadi Reserved Forest
Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary

While environmentalists are rejoicing that constant international scrutiny will curb amassment of forest wealth by vested interests, the state governments have given a guarded reaction. Skeptics are of the view that the tag will make little difference to many ecologicaly destructive projects that have been implemented or are proposed in the Western Ghats. 

Recognition Comes After Rejection

The world heritage tag for the Western Ghats has come after many glitches. The proposal for including 39 sites in the Western Ghats as world heritage was rejected by the World Heritage Committee in its 35th meeting last year. When the proposal for it was re-submitted for consideration this year, it was once again on the verge of getting rejected.  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) suggested that India should review and refine the proposal to redefine the boundaries of the proposed sites to maintain the contiguity of the forests. The Indian delegation in St Petersburg, however, managed to convince the world heritage committee on the merits of India’s proposal and also discussed the issue with 21 members of the committee. The intense lobbying paid off, as the Russian delegation moved a proposal which was backed by several Asian and African nations. 

Importance of Western Ghats

Older than the Himalayas, the Western Ghats are the treasure trove of bio-diversity. In fact they are recognized as one of the 8 global hot-spots harbouring a wealth of flora, fauna. The Western Ghats which begin at the Dangs in Gujarat, run through the western parts of Maharashtra, the tiny state of Goa, the Malnad region of Karnataka and the highlands of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, before ending near Kanyakumari.

The Ghats are currently known to have more than 5,000 plant and 140 mammal species, 16 of which are endemic, i.e. species found in that area alone. Notably among these being the lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri tahr. Out of 179 species of amphibians found in the Western Ghats, 138 are endemic to the region.  It has 508 bird species, 16 of which are endemic, including the Nilgiri flycatcher and the Malabar parakeet.

The Western Ghats are considered ecologically sensitive region with nearly 52 species moving one step closer to extinction. Habitat change, over-exploitation, pollution and climate change are the principle pressures causing bio-diversity loss.

The need to protect the ecology of the Western Ghats can hardly be over-emphasized.

The UNESCO Mandate

The UNESCO has noted with appreciation India’s ongoing commitment to conserving high bio-diversity values of the Western Ghats, but has clearly underlined that more needs to be done. The World Heritage Committee has suggested to the Indian Government to take into account the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel. It has also asked the government to strengthen buffer zones to provide increased protection within the nominated sites. The UN body also wants to promote participatory governance approaches through community participation to ensure equitable sharing of benefits. The panel has said that no industrial activity should be allowed without the consent of the locals.

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, was constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests in February 2010 under the chairmanship of noted environmental expert Prof. Madhav Gadgil. The panel has identified several eco-sensitive zones in the region and recommended that they should be declared no-go areas. Among its recommendations, the panel has also called for scrapping of Karnataka's Gundia and Kerala's Athirapally hydro-projects, and gradual phasing out of mining activities in ecologically highly-sensitive areas of Goa by 2016.  It has also suggested setting up of a Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), as a statutory authority appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, with the powers under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.  The 24-member body is to have ecologists, scientists, representatives of civil society, as well as tribal groups, officials from the Union Environment Ministry, Planning Commission, National Biodiversity Authority, Central Pollution Control Board, and representatives of the state government as its members.

Both the Karnataka and Kerala state governments have been opposed to the recommendation to scrap the hydro projects in their respective regions. The Karnataka Government had also been opposing the World Heritage tag citing regulatory hurdles in the development of places falling under these regions. Goa's lackadaisical attitude in conserving the Western Ghats has resulted in the state not getting any site in the list of 39.  Maharashtra Government has welcomed the World Heritage Status to Western Ghats, but that is unlikely to change the state’s present stance of not imposing a complete ban on mining and industries, except in the core areas. The state, nevertheless is encouraging green fuel movement in the villages of Western Ghats by way of up to 75% subsidy on biogas and 50% subsidy on shift to low yielding cattle, which rely on domestic fodder instead of open grazing.

Impact of UNESCO World Heritage Site

The World Heritage status could have implications on development in and around these sites as UNESCO prescribes creation of additional buffer zones around the natural world heritage sites and putting in place an overarching management authority for conservation of the selected 39 serial sites.  Conservationists also fear a mad-rush to these sensitive areas in the guise of eco-tourism. “This might trigger commercial activities in the Western Ghats, followed by construction activities like building roads, structures, power lines and other infrastructure, which will defeat the purpose of protecting the green cover and habitat protection,” says an activist associated with the Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation in Karnataka.

The Western Ghats expert Dr. Madhav Gadgil has welcomed the UNESCO gesture and said “It will hopefully strengthen the Acts like Biological Diversity Act of 2002, which empowers the local bodies like panchayats to take appropriate steps for conservation.”  The participation of locals is going to be crucial in determining the success of conservation efforts and promising sustainable development.

All along the Western Ghats in five states, there are lakhs of tribal people who have made their homes in the ghats. The Thodas of Nilgiris, Soligas of BR Hills, Malekudiyas of Belthangady, Halakki Vokkals of Uttara Kannada, the Sidhis of Kumta, Paniyas of Waynad, Kattunayakans of Malabar and many others in Goa and Maharashtra are some of them. The Perspective Plan for Protection of Biodiversity 2001-16 states that “tribal communities are part of the biodiversity and the state governments should not take them out of their natural surroundings, but empower them democratically and let the government facilities go to them.”

The ground situation for people’s participation in development is conducive in most parts of the Western Ghats. The region has some of the highest levels of literacy in the country, and a high level of environmental awareness. The democratic institutions are well entrenched, and Kerala leads the country in capacity building and empowering of Panchayat Raj Institutions. Goa has recently concluded a very interesting exercise, Regional Plan 2021, of taking inputs from Gram Sabhas in deciding on the land use policies. Evidently, Western Ghats are an appropriate region of the country to attempt to make the transition towards an inclusive, caring and environment friendly mode of development.

 The Western Ghats - Some Facts

         The Western Ghats, is a mountain range that runs along the western side of India.

·         It runs, about 1600 kms, North to South, along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau.

·         It is one of the eight hottest hotspots of biological diversity in the world.

·         It originates near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and runs through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, finally ending at Kanyakumari.

·         These hills cover a total area of 160,000 square kms.

·         The average elevation is about 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

·         The region is home to over 5000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species and 179 amphibian species.

·         It is also reported that the Western Ghats is home to at least 84 amphibian species, 16 bird species, seven mammals, and 1,600 flowering plants which are not found elsewhere in the world.

·         There are numerous protected areas designated by the Government of India in the Western Ghats. They include two bio reserves and thirteen National Parks.

·         The Nilagiri Biosphere Reserve that comprises 5500 square kms of evergreen and deciduous forests forms an important part of the Western Ghats.

·         The Silent Valley National Park in Kerala, which forms part of the Western Ghats, is one among the last tracts of virgin tropical evergreen forest in India.

·         In August, 2011, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) designated the entire Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). The panel also assigned three levels of ecological sensitivity to its different regions.

·         In 2012, thirty nine places in the Western Ghats region have been declared as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO.

Satyendranath Bose: Higgs-Boson’s Forgotten Hero

The world is celebrating the discovery of the sub-atomic particle at CERN, Geneva, which many believe could well be the long sought after Higgs-Boson. This particle is also called the ‘God Particle’ because its existence is fundamental to the creation of the universe.

School physics teaches us that everything is made up of atoms, and inside atoms are electrons, protons and neutrons. They, in turn, are made of quarks and other subatomic particles. Scientists have long puzzled over how these minute building blocks of the universe acquire mass. Without mass, particles wouldn't hold together and there would be no matter.

Higgs-Boson

One theory proposed by British physicist Peter Higgs and teams in Belgium and the United States in the 1960s is that a new particle must be creating a "sticky" field that acts as a drag on other particles. The atom-smashing experiments at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, have now captured a glimpse of what appears to be just such a Higgs Boson like particle.

British Physicist Peter Higgs of the ‘Higgs-Boson’ is a familiar name in the world of science. However, it is not well known that the term Boson, owes its name to the pioneering work of the late Indian physicist, Satyendra Nath Bose. He is a forgotten hero, even in India, even though he won a world wide fame for his association with the great Albert Einstein in developing a theory of the particle-like qualities of light.  His pioneering work on the quantum theory of light provided the foundation for Bose-Einstein Condensates, a new state of matter in which thousands of atoms condense into a single giant atom that behaves like a wave. Particles that follow Bose’s statistics have been named bosons in his honour.

Who was Satyendranath Bose?

Satyendranath Bose was born on January 1, 1894 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His father Surendranath Bose was employed in the Engineering Department of the East India Railway.

As a student of the Hindu High School, Bose once was awarded 110 marks out of 100 in mathematics because he had solved some problems in the exam paper by more than one method. He made a name for himself in school due to his love for science.Later he attended the Presidency College also in Calcutta, where another noted scientist Meghnad Saha was his fellow student.  Bose came in contact with teachers like Jagdish Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Ray, who provided inspiration to aim high in life.

In 1924, while working as Reader in the Physics Department of University of Dacca, Bose wrote a paper on novel way of counting states with identical particles. This paper was seminal in creating the very important field of quantum statistics. His paper was not accepted for publication at once.

  Not losing heart, Satyendranath Bose sent the article directly to Albert Einstein in Germany with a request to help it get published in the leading German language science journal Zeitschrift fur Physik. In his covering letter to Einstein, Bose wrote “though a complete stranger to you, I do not feel any hesitation in making such a request. Because we are all your pupils though profiting only by your teachings  through your writings.”

Einstein, recognizing the importance of the paper, translated it into German and submitted it for publication on Bose’s behalf. The publication changed the life of Satyendra Nath Bose. The Dacca University now opened its eyes and agreed to fund his tour to Europe, even though he had only possessed a Master’s degree and no further qualifications.

Bose first visited Paris in 1924, where he stayed for a year. He conducted research in the Madame Curie Laboratory, which had special facilities. The next year, he left Paris for Berlin to join Einstein and work with him. There he came into close contact with noted scientists like Schroedinger and Heisenberg. He participated in all the meetings and discussions held there.

While Bose was in Berlin, the post of a Professor fell vacant in Dacca University. Bose’s friends persuaded him to apply but he was hesitant, as he had not got his doctorate yet. A recommendation by Einstein could have fixed the matter. With great hesitation, Bose approached Einstein for help. Einstein was surprised. He said “you are so proficient in your subject. Is their need for any other certificate?”  He wrote a letter to the authorities in the Dacca University, which had a desired effect. In 1926, Satyendranath Bose was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Physics. 

Bose served in Dacca University for nearly 25 years. As a teacher he was admired by his students who held him in high esteem. In 1944, when he was the Head of the Science Section in Dacca University, Bose was chosen as the General President of the 31st  session of the Indian Science Congress.

Bose, who worked with Albert Einstein to bring out the Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of Bose-Einstein Condensate in the 1920s, was a natural candidate for a Nobel Prize which he never got.  Yet, at least ten scientists have been awarded the Nobel for their research in the field of particle physics based on concepts like the Bose-Einstein Condensate or the Boson.

'Indians are incapable of achieving anything great in science. At best, they are experts in subjects like philosophy “ was the view most held in the West during those years. Satyendranath Bose dispelled that impression and did yeoman service in the fields of science, with some pioneering contributions in the fields of quantum physics.

Satyendranath Bose was a self-taught scholar who had a wide range of interests in varied fields including physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, mineralogy, arts, literature and music.

Back home, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his only book on science – Vishwa Parichay to him. The Government of India conferred the Padma Vibhushan award on Satyendranath Bose in 1954. At the age of 80, Bose suffered an unexpected and a severe heart attack and breathed his last on the 4th of February 1974. 

The CERN experiment has once again brought focus on Satyendranath Bose. For India God Particle is as much Boson as Higgs.

Spain beat Italy 4-0 to win UEFA Euro Cup Football Championship 2012

Spain beat Italy 4-0 in the final to win UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Euro Cup Football Championship 2012 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, on 1 July 2012. Spain which had earlier defeated Germany 1-0 in 2008 Euro Cup not only defended the title but also created a record by becoming the first team to claim two consecutive titles in tournament’s 52-year long history. Spain and Italy had defeated Portugal and Germany respectively in their semi final matches.
Iker Casillas was the captain of Spanish side, while the Italian side was led by Gianluigi Buffon.The four goals hit by David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata led the Spanish side to a remarkable victory, which virtually started a debate among the football followers whether this Spanish side is the best national side ever? Spain midfielder Andrés Iniesta of Spain was declared the man of the match given his match winning performance, while Fernando Torres was given the Golden Boot as he scored three goals in the Spain’s title winning campaign. Torres  also became the first ever player in the history of the tournament to score in two separate European Championship finals.
Spain and Italy were placed in group C along with Croatia and Republic of Ireland.

Important Facts related to UEFA Euro 2012
•    Poland-Ukraine jointly hosted the sporting event
•    Euro Cup 2012 began on 8 June 2012 and concluded on 1 July 2012
•    The winning team received the prize money 7.5 million euro, while the runner-up team got 4.5 million euro as the prize money. Teams which made to semi-finals and quarter-finals received 3 million euro and 2 million euro respectively as prize money.

•    The Euro Cup 2016 will take place in France
•    A total of 16 countries namely, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Russia, Portugal, England, Germany, Netherland, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Republic of Ireland  participated in Euro Cup 2012
•    The sixteen teams were divided into four groups, A, B, C & D
  
•    Eight cities were selected by UEFA as host venues

•    A total of 31 matches were played during Euro 2012, with Ukraine hosting 16 of them and Poland 15
•    There were 10 global sponsors of the Euro Cup 2012. The list includes, Adidas, Canon, Castrol, Continental, Orange and Telekomunikacja, PolskaHyundai-Kia Carlsberg, McDonald's, SHARP

Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development concluded in Rio de Janeiro

Rio+20 the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20 to 22 June 2012. The two-day conference was held with an objective to renew political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and address new and emerging challenges. Heads of 172 States and Government marked their presence at the conference.
The themes for Rio+20 Conference were: (1) Green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication
 (2) Institutional framework for sustainable development.
The representatives discussed eight core issues in the course of summit, which comprises decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.
The various stake holders of Rio+20 conference, agreed on seven specific committments. The committments made by the global stake holders in the summit include;
1. Planting 100 million trees by 2017
2. Greening 10000 square km of desert
3. Saving 1 Megawatt-hour of electricity per day
4. Empowering 5000 women entrepreneurs in green economy businesses in Africa
5. Establishing a Masters programme on sustainable development practice
6. Developing an Environmental Purchasing Policy 
7. Waste Minimization & Management strategy
8. Recycling 800000 tons per year of PVC by 2020

Background of the Rio+20 Conference

The conference marked the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro (Since the conference marked 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), it was named Rio+20). The conference also marked 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg and four decades of the 1972 Stockholm Conference or the UN Conference on Human Environment.
The global event on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) was organized in accordance with the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236). The UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang was appointed the UN Secretary-General for the Rio+20 Conference.
The summit provided global leaders with a chance to develop a collective framework to meet their poverty eradication goals while not letting the environment get destructed. The summit, which came after the failure of number of conferences such as Kyoto Summit, Copenhagen Summit, widely focused on the need of sustainable development and green economy by addressing environmental degradation and building a bridge to the future.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Global Food Security
The United Nations Environment Programme released its food security report Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food Systems during Rio+20 conference. The report noted that food security must be at the top of the priority list of country’s policy if the world has to provide food to its seven billion population - a number expected to cross nine billion mark by 2050.

Seventh G20 Summit held in Los Cabos, Mexico

The seventh G20 summit took place on 18,19 June 2012.Mexico chaired the summit.The summit took place in the city of Los Cabos in Mexico. It is a twenty member brigade, the  summit includes countries, South Africa, Canada, India, Mexico, United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia.The objectives and highlights of the summit is as follows :
THE G 20 DECLARATION
•    The leaders of the world's largest economies will help in boosting growth and job creation to repair the wounded global economy because of  the European financial crisis.
•    The statement also included the importance of easing the Spanish Crisis.
•    The Summit declaration also included investment in infrastructure in the developing countries, this decision would help in achieving global growth which was hauled due to the  falling state of the world economy and the Eurozone crisis.
•    All the Euro members of the G 20 will indulge in necessary policy measures to not only safe guard the integrity, but also stabilize the whole area. This would be done only by breaking the feedback loop between the sovereigns and the banks.
•    The summit has also recognized the progress made by China in market-determined exchanged rates.
•    The summit has singled out Saudi Arabia, by bringing in a Saudi pledge to keep the oil prices at bay and low. This is a step to ensure global economic well being.
•    European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy asked markets to focus on a European summit at the end of the month. It would eventually help the continent move deeper and help the economic and political integration to match its single currency.
•    The 14-page statement emphasized the need for growth because this is the only way they will solve the debt problem of the Eurozone.
•    The non-European members of the G20 have sent a message to Europe that it has to find a way that the Eurozone’s finances can be supervised by a triumvirate comprising the European Central Bank, the IMF and the EU.

INDIA'S CONTRIBUTION
•    Owing to the debt loaded 17 nation Euro zone, India on 19 June 2012 announced a $10 Billion contribution to the already existing IMF’s $430 Billion financial money.
•    The announcement was made by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India in the Seventh Summit, G 20 , Mexico.
•    The amount was contributed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the bailout fund, that would help them ease off a little burden from the debt scenario.

Seventh G 20 and G 20’s history
•    The seventh G 20 take took place in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos. The seventh summit was headed by  Mexico’s President, Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa.
•    The G 20 comprises the heads of the State or the Government.
•    The G 20 was first proposed by former Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin.
•    The next G20 Summit is scheduled in 2013 with Russia as the new chair.

The Group of Twenty, or G20, is the premier forum for international cooperation on the most important aspects of the international economic and financial agenda. It brings together the world’s major advanced and emerging economies.The G20 includes 19 country members and the European Union, which together represent around 90% of global GDP, 80% of global trade and two-thirds of the world’s population.The G 20 started in the year 1999, but it has been regular only since 2008.

UNESCO inscribed Western Ghats Mountain Chain on the List of World Heritage Sites

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the science and cultural body of UN, inscribed India's 1600-km long Western Ghats mountain chain on the list of its world heritage sites on 1 July 2012. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee included 39 sites scattered across Ghats in the coveted list of world heritage sites. Kerala with 20 sites got maximum number of sites included in the heritage list followed by Karnataka with ten. Five sites from Tamil Nadu and four from Maharashtra got the world heritage tag. The Kas plateau, the Koyna wildlife sanctuary, the Chandoli national park and the Radhanagari Wildlife sanctuary in Maharashtra received the designation of world heritage site.
The Western Ghats mountain chain is globally renowned for its enormous biological diversity. The mountain’s chain, which are older than the Himalaya, are widely responsible for the Indian monsoon weather pattern. The Western Ghats are also considered to be one of the world's eight hottest hotspots of biological diversity.
The 1600-km long ghats, begins at the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra and passes through as many as 5 states including Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu marks the ending point of the ghats.
The decision to include Western Ghats in the World Heritage list came after a meeting held in Russia on 1 July 2012. Committee of UNESCO holds its meeting once every year, where it looks into the implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which defines the kind of natural or cultural sites which can be considered for inclusion on the World Heritage List. Presently five natural sites and 23 cultural sites from India have been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List.
India had nominated the Western Ghats for the inclusion in world heritage site at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Paris, in February 2010. The Union Environment Ministry in 2010 had constituted an Ecology Expert Panel headed by noted environmentalist Madhav Gadgil to suggest ways to protect the ghats.

Farm suicides rise in Maharashtra, State still leads the list

With a figure of at least 14,027 in 2011, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the total number of farm suicides since 1995 has touched 2,70, 940. The State of Maharashtra shows a rise in numbers yet again, logging 3,337 against 3,141 farmers’ suicides the previous year (and 2,872 in 2009). This, despite heavy massaging of data at the State level for years now, even re-defining of the term “farmer” itself. And despite an orchestrated (and expensive) campaign in the media and other forums by governments and major seed corporations to show that their efforts had made things a lot better. Maharashtra remains the worst single State for farm suicides for over a decade now.

The total number of farmers who have taken their own lives in Maharashtra since 1995 is closing in on 54,000. Of these 33,752 have occurred in nine years since 2003, at an annual average of 3,750. The figure for 1995-2002 was 20,066 at an average of 2,508. Significantly, the rise is occurring even as the farm population is shrinking a fact broadly true across the country. And more so in Maharashtra which has been urbanising more rapidly than most. The rising-suicides-shrinking-population equation suggests a major intensification of the pressures on the community. A better understanding of that, though, awaits the new farm population figures of the 2011 Census — not expected for many months from now. At present both national and State-wise farm suicide ratios (the number of farmers committing suicide per 100,000 farmers) are based on very outdated 2001 Census numbers. 

Big five States

The 2011 total gets dicey with Chhattisgarh’s posting a figure of zero farm suicides. A zero figure should be great news. Except that Chhattisgarh had 7,777 farm suicides in the preceding five years, including 1,126 in 2010. It has been amongst the very worst States for such deaths for several years. The share of the worst (Big 5) states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh) as a percentage of total farm suicides, is now around 64 per cent. Even with Chhattisgarh showing a ‘zero’ figure, that is not much lower than the preceding five-year average for the Big 5 of close to 66 per cent. It could be that Chhattisgarh’s figures have simply not made it to the NCRB in time. Otherwise, it means that the State is in fact a late entrant to the numbers massage parlour. Others have been doing it for years. Maharashtra since 2007, following the Prime Minister’s visit to Vidarbha. Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar has strictly avoided using NCRB farm data in Parliament since 2008 because the data are unpleasant. (The union government however quotes the NCRB for all other categories). Now, governments are deep into fiddling the data that goes from the States to the NCRB.

With the Big 5 also staring drought in the face, what numbers the coming season will throw up is most worrying. Within Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada have already been under great stress (which in turn pushes officials to step up data fiddles). If the numbers are re-calculated using the annual average of Chhattisgarh in the past five years, the national total of farm suicides for 2011 would be 15,582. And the share of the Big 5 (at 10,524) would be nearly 68 per cent. That’s higher than the five-year average for those States, too. In 1995, the first time the NCRB tabulated farm suicide data, the Big 5 accounted for 56.04 per cent of all farm suicides.

In 2011, five States showed increases of over 50 farm suicides compared to 2010. These included Gujarat (55), Haryana (87), Madhya Pradesh (89), Tamil Nadu (82). Maharashtra alone showed a rise of 196. Nine States showed declines exceeding 50 farm suicides, of which Karnataka (485) and Andhra Pradesh (319) and West Bengal (186) claimed the biggest falls. That, of course, after Chhattisgarh, which claimed a decline of 1,126, with its zero farm suicides figure in 2011.

India-South Korea met for Second Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue in New Delhi

India and South Korea decided to cooperate in the areas of civil nuclear energy and space, including the launch of Korean satellites by India. Both of them met in New Delhi on 28 June 2012 during their second foreign policy and security dialogue.
The Indian delegation was led by Sanjay Singh, secretary (east) external affairs ministry, while the Korean side was led by Ahn Ho-young, first vice minister in the ministry of foreign affairs and trade.
Both the sides have decided to encourage enhanced engagement in civil nuclear energy cooperation apart from the launch of Korean satellites by India. The other discussion was a cluster of regional and global issues, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Both India and South Korea also agreed to accelerate work on upgrading their comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) to ensure that it reflected current realities.

The India-South Korea Bilateral trade and CEPA

The  Bilateral trade soared up by 70 percent to $20.5 billion in 2011 since the implementation of the CEPA since the last two years.
South Korea expressed interest in opening a new consulate general in Chennai while welcoming India's decision to open a new defence Office at its embassy in Seoul before the end of the year,2012.

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was established in March 1987 in the memory of Late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi. It is an Autonomous Body under Ministry of Culture with the following objectives and mandate:-

i. to serve as a major resource centre for the arts, especially primary material, written oral, auditory, audio-visual, pictorial, etc.;

ii. to undertake research and publication programmes of reference works, glossaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, fundamental texts in the arts, humanities and cultural heritage;

iii. to establish tribal and folk arts collection for undertaking, promoting and facilitating systematic scientific studies in this area;

iv. to provide a forum for creative and critical dialogue among the diverse arts ranging from architecture and literature to music, dance, theatre, sculpture, painting, photography, films, pottery, puppetry, weaving, embroidery, etc. through performances, exhibitions, multi-media projections, conferences, seminars, workshops;

v. to evolve models of research programmes and administration of arts more pertinent to the Indian ethos and reality;

vi. to promote awareness of and sensitivity to the historical and cultural interaction and interlinkages between India and other parts of the world in the evolution and manifestation of art and cultural traditions and through this endeavour to promote international goodwill and peace;

vii. to facilitate and promote systematic scientific understanding of the formative and dynamic factors in the complex web of cultural interaction between diverse communities, regions, social strata, etc., and to make through this endeavour a strong rational base for mutual understanding of the role of different cultures and traditions in promoting fundamental values of human welfare such as tolerance, cooperation, aesthetic enrichments, etc.;

viii. to make efforts to bridge the gap in the intellectual understanding between the modern sciences on the one hand and the arts, culture, traditional skills and knowledge on the other;

ix. to develop linkages with other national and international centres of arts and culture and to affiliate with universities and other academic organizations of higher learning within India or abroad for the conduct and recognition of research in art, humanities and cultural heritage.

Special Welfare Schemes for Coal Belts

The Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy (R&R Policy) & the Corporate Social Responsibility policy (CSR Policy) of Coal India Limited have been formed to provide employment, basic facilities and for development of affected families. The salient features of the R&R Policy of CIL are given as under:

Land compensation to land oustees is paid as per the provisions of the concerned Act or State Government notification. Solarium and Escalation are paid to land oustees as per provisions of the concerned Act or as imposed by the concerned State Govt.

Employment is provided to land oustees against every two acres of land. All the land losers who are not eligible for employment as above, are entitled to receive monetary compensation in lieu of employment at the rate of Rs.5,00,000/- (Five Lakhs) for each acre of land on pro-rata basis. One time lump sum payment of Rs.3,00,000/-(three lakhs), is paid in lieu of alternate House site, Assistance in designing Shifting Allowance, compensation for construction of cattle shed, Monetary compensation for construction of work shed etc. Each affected displaced family gets a subsistence allowance at the rate of 25 days (Minimum Agricultural Wage) per month for one year.

The coal companies assist the Project Affected People (PAPs) to establish non-farm self-employment through the provision of infrastructure, petty contracts or formation of cooperatives and encourage provisions of Jobs with contractors. Contractors are persuaded to give jobs to eligible PAPs on preferential basis.

Coal companies shift the tribal community as a unit and provide facilities to meet the specific needs of the tribal community that allow them to maintain their unique cultural identity. Tribal affected families are given one time financial assistance of 500 days for loss of customary right or usages of forest produce loss. Tribal affected families resettled out of the district shall be given 25% higher rehabilitation and resettlement benefit.

The coal companies provide at the resettlement site, a school, road with street light, pucca drain, pond dugwell and/or tube well for drinking water supply, community center, place of worship, dispensary, grazing land for cattle and play ground. Similar infrastructural facility, if necessary is extended to the host locality. The community facilities and services are available to all residents of the area, including PAPs and the host population. The approach for operation of community facilities is flexible and all efforts are made to involve the State and local self-Government/ Panchayat for operating the facilities. To achieve this, coal companies pursue with these agencies to ensure the same. The planning of the community facilities and their construction is undertaken in consultation with the affected community.

The salient features of CSR Policy of CIL:

The CSR Policy is operational within the radius of 15 Kms of the Project site and areas including headquarters. Further, Board of Directors of subsidiary companies can approve specific cases of CSR Projects beyond mining areas within the respective State. Coal India Limited. Can also execute CSR work which are beyond the jurisdiction of the subsidiary companies.

CSR Policy of CIL aims at sustainable development of the Society supplementing the role of the Govt. in enhancing welfare measures of the society based on the immediate and long term social and environmental consequences of their activities. The fund for the CSR is allocated based on 5% of the retained earnings of previous year subject to minimum of Rs.5/-per tonne of coal production of previous year. Scope of CSR activities includes Infrastructure support, water supply, Health Care, education, environment, Relief of victims and Natural Calamities like Earth Quake, Cyclone, Draught and Flood situation in any part of the country and other development works.