The World Polio day,Global Polio Eradication Iniciative

The world polio day is observed in 24 oct to creat awareness about the hazards of the cripping Polio disease.
The day was established by Rotary Internation to commemorate birth of Jonas Salk who had led the first team of researchers which had developed a vaccine against poliomylitis (polio virus). This development had led to widespread use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and susequently use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin. It also had led to establishment of Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988 which has helped to reduce polio worldwide by 99 %.


Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)

GPEI launched in 1988 has played pivotal role in eradication of world poliovirus..

When it was launched wild poliovirus existed in 125 countries. Now it exists in two countries Pakistan and Afganistan. Till 2012 Nigeria, Africa's most populous country was reservoir of more than half of the Polio cases in the world. but in 2015, it was removed from list of Polio endemic countries by World Heath Organization.(WHO).

Poliovirus

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious viral diseases, which mainly affects young children ..

IPPB Bank to Become operational in 650 districts by April 2018

IPPB is Indian Post payment bank:


IPPB has been set up as a PUblic Limited Company under Department of Post with 100% Gonerment of India (GOI) equity.

It leverages Dop's vnetwork, resources and reach to make low-cost, quality and simple financial services easily accessible to customersin the country.

Its purpose is to further cause of financial inclusion by providing basic banking, remmitance services easily accessible to customer in the country.

Its purpose is to further causes of financial inclusion by providing basic banking remittance .

RBI eases FEMA norms to spur investment from ovedrseas

The reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has simplified Foreign Exchange Management ( Transfer or issue of Security by a Person Resident outside india. Regulations to make it easier for foreign investment .
It was done by putting all 93 amendments under one notification. The new regulation combines earlier two regulations on foreign investments. They are FEMA 20 (Investment in Indain company or partnership or in a limited liabilities partnership) or FEMA 24 .
It also introduces late submission fee that could allow investment to regularise any contravention due to non-reporting, by paying the fee.

Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) was passed by Parliament in 1999 and so far was amended 93 times. It had replaced FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulations Act), 1973 which had become incompatible after economic reforms and pro-liberalization policies of Government.

It aims at facilitating external trade and payments and for promoting the orderly development and maintanace of foreign exchange market in India. It makes offense related to foreign exchange civil offences. It enable new foreign exchange management regime consistent with emerging framework of World TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO).

National association for software services Companies NASSCOM

NASSCOM is global non-profit trade association (organisation) of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. It facilitates business and trade in software and services and encourages the advancement of research in software technolgy.

It is registered under the Indian Societies Act, 1860.
Its headquarters are in New delhi.It has regional offices in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Thirubantapuram.




The global trade body has over 2000 members, of which over 250 are comanies from the China, EU, and UK. NASSCOM'S MEMBER companies are in the business of software development software services,software, products, IT-enabled/BPO services and e-commerce.

Cabinet approves protocol amending DTAA between India and Kyrgyz

India and Kyrgys for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to take on income.

DTAA Double taxation Avoidance Agreement aims to update Article 26 (Exchange of Information) of  DTAA to international standards.

Why DTAA:-

The updated Article 26 of DTAA provides for exchange of information to widest possible extent. The new paragraphs 4 and 5 have been inserted into Article 26 to make mandatory for State to provide information which is requested.

Such information cannot be denied on ground that it has no dormestic tax. The Protocol further empowers India to use information received under DTAA for other law enforcement purposes on supplying state authorizing such use.

The existing DTAA between India and Kyrgyz Republic was noticed in February 2001. The Protocol amending DTAA for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income has been agreed to be signed between two countries.

Under pressure: on Gurugram's Ryan School murder case

Why police investigators should not jump to conclusions, influenced by public outrage.

The  poor quality of police investigation in the country has once again come under focus. The twist in the probe into the murder of a seven-year-old boy at a school in Gurugram, Haryana, in September exposes how unreliable the police can be when it comes to investigating grave crimes amidst a public outcry and close media scrutiny. The Central Bureau of Investigation now claims that it was a 16-year-old student who murdered Pradyuman Thakur at the Ryan International School, and not the bus conductor arrested earlier for the offence by the local police. If the latest account is true, the police must explain why it made the sensational claim that Ashok Kumar, the conductor of the school bus, had committed the murder in the school’s washroom on September 8, and that he had “confessed” to it. The motive, the police had claimed, was that the child had resisted his attempt to sexually assault him. The CBI says that in fact a Class XI student had killed his junior school mate in a bid to get examinations postponed and a parent-teacher meeting called off. Closed-circuit television footage is cited as a crucial piece of evidence against the senior student, who is now under arrest, although the CBI says the role of Ashok Kumar remains under investigation. In their eagerness to show results and demonstrate their efficiency, the Gurugram police announced the bus conductor’s arrest on the very night of the murder. Reports that the school’s bus driver was under pressure to identify the knife allegedly used in the murder to be part of the bus toolkit add to the suspicion that the police were trying to frame the conductor.

Given the media glare that accompanies such tragedies, the police must learn not to succumb to the temptation to wrap up probes under public pressure. That the police had to extract a false confession is downright disgraceful, but it is not an isolated case in a country known for its primitive investigative methods. Studies on police reforms have highlighted the need to make the investigation process more scientific and more rooted in forensic analysis, but custodial torture and extracted confessions continue to be reported. The muddle in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case probe is a telling example of how both the local police and the CBI can botch up the investigation and lead to unfair incarceration. When two narratives emerge from different police agencies for a heinous murder, a sense of disquiet among the public is inevitable. The onus is now on the CBI to avoid such pitfalls and show that the initial narrative was false and its subsequent account is closer to the truth. Another notable feature of the case is that there is a likelihood of the 16-year-old suspect being tried as an adult under provisions introduced in juvenile law in 2016. It would be unfortunate if these provisions were to be reflexively invoked.

আপনাকে অনেক অনেক ধন্যবাদ। .

Slippery oil rally: on the oil-price rise

The price of oil has risen sharply in recent weeks leading to renewed forecasts of a sustained bull market in the price of the commodity. The price of Brent crude, which breached the $60 mark late last month, is currently trading at about $64 per barrel, a two-year high. In fact, in the last one month alone, oil has gained well over 12%. The oil rally has been even sharper from its June low of a little below $45, from where the commodity has rallied more than 40% to reach its current price, with some experts saying the ongoing rally could portend even higher prices in the coming months. The upsurge this week has been driven primarily by political uncertainty in Saudi Arabia, the world’s second largest producer of oil, and the tightening of supply by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is expected to extend its supply-cut agreement beyond March. Whether the price gains would sustain and continue over an extended period of time still remains a big question for various reasons, however. Shale oil production is the biggest among them. In the past, North American producers of shale brought a multi-year bull market in oil to an abrupt end. Since then, OPEC has struggled to maintain control over oil prices except for brief spells. The American shale industry has been let free to increase production in response to higher prices, thus imposing a cap on the price of oil. There are no signs yet of a structural change in the oil market to suggest that it could be any different this time.

Shale producers have continued to pump more oil into the market as crude prices have crossed the $50 mark. According to the Energy Information Administration, a body under the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. shale production is likely to increase by about 81,000 barrels per day in the current month. In addition, in its World Oil Outlook report released this week, OPEC said it expects shale output to grow much faster than it had previously estimated. The cartel’s new estimate is, in fact, more than 50% higher than its projection last year. It also noted that shale output from North America has increased by about 25% over the past one year. All this suggests that shale is likely to remain OPEC’s nemesis for a long time. India has derived huge benefits from lower oil prices since 2014, with the government’s fiscal management and inflation-targeting being rendered a lot easier. There is bound to be some economic unease now as the price of oil fluctuates in what looks likely to be a range-bound market. A repeat of the huge damage caused by the last oil bull market, however, seems unlikely. Nonetheless, policymakers in Delhi will surely take a cautious stance given the extensive impact that oil prices have on the Indian economy.

Capital crisis on Delhi ,deteriorating air quality and degrade air quality level

Delhi's air quality deteriorates with unfailing regularity at this time of the year, with large swathes of north India in the grip of a suffocating smog, but the State governments that can make it easier for millions to breathe do not act with any sense of urgency. That it has turned into a public health emergency in the capital, with the air quality index touching extremely hazardous levels in some parts, necessitating the closure of primary schools, has further lowered its standing. It is unconscionable for governments, through indifference and inaction, to subject citizens to such toxic air, and cause extreme suffering especially among people with respiratory ailments and impaired lung function. The smog that envelops the region is exacerbated by the burning of biomass in Punjab and Haryana, and the winter atmosphere is marked by weak ventilation. An analysis of local sources by IIT Kanpur last year pointed to construction dust, vehicular pollution, and domestic and industrial emissions as other major factors. Clearly the burden of such chronic problems has outweighed the benifits confeterred by measure such as the ban on Deepawali crackers, and in the past, the shift to compressed natural gas for commercial vehicles and restricting car use to odd and even number plates on alternate days. A comprehensive solution demands that the  Govt of Delhi, Punjab, haryana and Uttar Pradesh, assisted by the Centre, address farm residue burning and constuction dust .

The post- monsoon -- as opposed to pre-monsoon-- burning of rice and wheat residue releases maximum aerosols that contribute to the volume of PM 2.5 ,which gets embedded in the lungs. Automation of farm operations leaves root-bound crop waste after machine harvesting, running to millions of tonnes, requiring a solution of scale.
Sustainable residue removal cannot be achieved by the farmerss alone, and require s help from the state machinery. Here Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should be commended for his initiative to discuss the modalities of joint action with the Punjab and Haryana Govt. The national capital needs a major greening effort.
There is every reason to think that even the Ministry of Environment's orders issued in 2015 under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to comprehensively green Delhi's road margins and open spaces were not pursued seriously. Shifting more of the city's travel to comfort .

Unpaved surfaces raise dust levels as in all Indian Cities, but civic agencies ignore the problem. There is every reason to think that even the Ministry Of Environment's orders issued to think that even the Ministry of Environment orders issued in 2015 under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) act 1981.
Shifting more of the city's travel to cofort.

Light interferometer gravitational- wave observatory

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory(LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool.^[1]Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laserinterferometry. These can detect a change in the 4 km mirror spacing of less than a ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton, equivalent to measuring the distance to Proxima Centauri with an accuracy smaller than the width of a human hair.^[2]

The initial LIGO observatories were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT.^[3][4] They collected data from 2002 to 2010 but no gravitational waves were detected.

The Advanced LIGO Project to enhance the original LIGO detectors began in 2008 and continues to be supported by the NSF, with important contributions from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Max Planck Society of Germany, and the Australian Research Council.^[5][6] The improved detectors began operation in 2015. The detection of gravitational waves was reported in 2016 by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration with the international participation of scientists from several universities and research institutions. Scientists involved in the project and the analysis of the data for gravitational-wave astronomy are organized by the LSC, which includes more than 1000 scientists worldwide,^[7][8][9] as well as 440,000 active Einstein@Home users as of December 2016.^[10]

LIGO is the largest and most ambitious project ever funded by the NSF.^[11][12]

As of August 2017, LIGO has made five detections of gravitational waves, the first four of which were colliding black hole pairs. The fifth detected event, on August 17, 2017, was the first detection of a collision of two neutron stars, which simultaneously produced optical signals detectable by conventional telescopes

Gravitational Wave in according to Albert Einstein

Gravitational wave is  ripple in the curvature iof spacetime that are generated in certain gravitation intersections and propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light Predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein on the basis of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves transport energy as grvitational radiation a form of radiant energy similar to electromagnetic radiation. Newton's law of universal gravitation, part of classical mechanics, does not provide for their existance, since that law is predicted on the assumtion that physical intractions propagate at infinite speed -- showing one of the ways the methods of classicasl physics are unable to explain phenomenon associate with relativity.

Gravitational- wave astronomy id s brsnch of observational astronomy tahat uuses gravitational constant .

On NTPC boiler blast: Unsafe boilers

The boiler  boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant in Rae Bareli underscores the importance of inspections and protocols for hazardous industrial operations. It has cost at least 32 lives and caused severe injuries to scores of personnel. High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are strictly regulated with special laws. In fact, the basic objective of the Indian Boilers Act, 1923 is to ensure the safety of life and protection of property by mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these units. That the Uttar Pradesh government failed miserably in meeting this objective is evident from the accident at the public sector facility. Quite clearly, the accident was entirely preventable because boilers are designed to provide warnings as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic inspections to ensure that all these features are working and intact. At the Unchahar plant, the blocking of an outlet for waste gases by ash, unusual in a fairly new boiler, calls for an inquiry into the quality of the equipment and the fuel used. Ideally, these aspects should be investigated by an external agency and not the NTPC.

Industrial regulation has, unfortunately, come to be viewed as a barrier to ease of doing business in India. This is a result of inefficiency and corruption and the typical response of governments has been to relax crucial safety checks. Self-certification and third-party certification of facilities has received support from policymakers even in the case of boilers. Soon after assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened maintenance of boilers to that of a privately owned car, where owners should be trusted to do their best because they understand the need for safety in its operation. But the two are not comparable. The Unchahar accident shows it is in everyone’s interest to have a transparent regulatory mechanism for hazardous industrial activity. The safety and welfare of workers and the public at large cannot be compromised. A rigorous approach to accident reporting must become part of the process if the weak spots in regulation are to be addressed. National Crime Records Bureau data provide insights into casualties caused by industrial boiler and gas cylinder explosions — there were 61 deaths in 2015 — and the rise in the number of accidents over the previous year points to the need for strict enforcement of safety protocols. The loss suffered by families of workers due to an accident that could have been averted cannot be compensated just financially. It must be the Centre’s endeavour to see that measures taken to make it easy to do business do not translate into lack of regulation, and putting lives at risk. Administrative reform can eliminate the corruption of inspector raj and achieve transparent regulation, while keeping the workplace safe

The boiler  boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant in Rae Bareli underscores the importance of inspections and protocols for hazardous industrial operations. It has cost at least 32 lives and caused severe injuries to scores of personnel. High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are strictly regulated with special laws. In fact, the basic objective of the Indian Boilers Act, 1923 is to ensure the safety of life and protection of property by mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these units. That the Uttar Pradesh government failed miserably in meeting this objective is evident from the accident at the public sector facility. Quite clearly, the accident was entirely preventable because boilers are designed to provide warnings as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic inspections to ensure that all these features are working and intact. At the Unchahar plant, the blocking of an outlet for waste gases by ash, unusual in a fairly new boiler, calls for an inquiry into the quality of the equipment and the fuel used. Ideally, these aspects should be investigated by an external agency and not the NTPC.

Change, yet continuity: on Jerome Powell's nomination as US Fed Chief

President Donald Trump's decision to name Federal Reserve board Governor  Jerome Powell   as his pick to head the central bank signals that the businessman-turned-politician has plumped for continuity even as he ushers in change. For a President whose first nine months in office have been marked by a succession of signature appointments to key posts ranging from a Supreme Court Justice to heads of federal regulatory bodies, the investment banker suggests that Mr. trump's business instrict won.Mr Powell , who was appointed by instict won. Mr Powell, who was appointed by President barak Obama as Fed Governor in 2012 and worked alongside the incumbent Chair and worked alongside the incumbent Chair,janet Yellen, over the past five years,will represent the policy continuity in the monetary management of the world's largest economy.After all ,with the economic engine ticking over nicely and creationg jobs,and the markets buoyant, there was little reason for Mr. Trump to run the risk of choosing someone who may have altered the calibrated field approach the fed had adopted in overseeing the recovery from the global financial crisi.Two of the other short-listed probables -- Kevin Warsh and John Taylor -- had both been served in the Fed's actions.

That Mr. Powell had served in the Treasery administration means that he will ,in all likehoodf, receive bipartisan backing in the Senate.
Emerging markets ,including India,C

Central Government launched the Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana, an annual scholarship for students collecting stamps

4 November 2017 Current Affairs: The central government launched the Deen Dayal SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude and Research in Stamps as a Hobby) Yojana, an annual scholarship to promote philately, the hobby of collecting and studying postage stamps.

Only students of Class 6 to Class 9 will be eligible for the scholarship.

The amount of scholarship will be Rs 6,000 per annum.

The scholarship will be provided to 920 students who have a good academic record and pursue philately.

Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana launched to Promote Philately

06 November 2017 Current Affairs: Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha launched a Pan India scholarship program for school children called Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana to increase the reach of Philately.

Under the scheme of SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby), it is proposed to award annual scholarships to children of Standard VI to IX having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a hobby.

Telangana set to get 24x7 power supply to boost agriculture sector

06 November 2017 Current Affairs: Telangana set to provide 24x7 power supply in order to boost farm sector.

The state government decided to take this initiative by supplying 'quality' and 'uninterrupted' power on an experimental basis in the entire state to the agricultural sector. 

Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao did experimental basis 24-hour power supply would be given from Monday night for five or six days all over the state for the agriculture sector.

Transco, Genco and Discoms SPDCL and NPDCL have invested about Rs. 12,000 Crore to strengthen the distribution and supply systems. About 23 lakh pump sets are in use in the State farm sector.

Marooned once more: on Chennai's need for flood management

Chennai needs integrated flood management especially the revival of lakes and water tanks.

Chennai's date with a strong northeast monsoon ought to be a cause for all-round relief since the water fortunes of more than eight million residents of the metropolitan region depend on this weather system.Yet the terrential rains in the metrological sub -division,exceeding the normal by 93 % in the period of four days from November 1,left tens of thousands of citizens in state of despair.Flood water marooned them in the rapidly growing suburban housing clusters, with many having to flee to safter places fearing repeat of the deluge of 2015.While there have been efforts to alleviate immediate misery through the distribution of relief material in some places,the largest issue of how the city deals with flood and drought cycles remains unaddressed.Chennai is a lower elevation coastal city with global aspirations, and very high population density.Scientific management should have ensured the preservation of the many traditional lakes and canals that existed in the city's core a century ago to absorb the intense downpour of aairf.bout 1300 mm of rain,most of it in an annual window of a few weeks.Successive governments have allowed the mindless draining of wetlands and their convention into air.