[Contribution] Some news articles from other papers - 24th and 25th

Confirmation of Higgs boson’s presence

Researchers at CERN have found the first evidence for the direct decay of the Higgs boson into fermions — a strong indication that the particle discovered in 2012 is the Higgs boson.

“This is an enormous breakthrough which let know that particles like electrons get their mass by coupling to the Higgs field, which is really exciting,”

In July 2012 researchers from the ATLAS and Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiments at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), said they had observed a new particle in the mass region of 125 to 126 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).

To determine whether the particles could decay into fermions, the researchers fired protons at each other in a 6-metre-diameter solenoid and used specialised detectors to determine which particles were produced in the resulting collisions.

GYAAN

HIGGS BOSON= The Higgs boson (or Higgs particle) is a particle that gives mass to other particles. Bosons are particles responsible for all physical forces except gravity. Other bosons are the photon, the W and Z bosons, and the gluon. It is very difficult to detect the Higgs boson with the equipment and technology we have now. These particles are believed to exist for less than a septillionth of a second. Because the Higgs boson has so much mass (compared to other particles), it takes a lot of energy to create one.

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the equipment scientists used to find it

Higgs bosons obey the conservation of energy law, which states that no energy is created or destroyed, but instead it is transferred

IMPORTANCE

The Higgs boson is the last missing piece of our current understanding of the most fundamental nature of the universe,Essentially because it proves that our understanding of the basic workings of the universe is correct. If the Higgs boson didn’t exist, the Standard Model would be proved incorrect. Its importance led to the “God Particle” nickname

STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS= The model explains the way 17 subatomic particles are bound together to create atoms and then matter by three the four fundamental forces of nature: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force and electromagnetism. It excludes the fourth force: gravity.

The particles fit into two categories: bosons, which transmit forces, and fermions, which make up matter.

We’re writing to the Swiss for black money list: Jaitley

ONLY GYAAN HERE

BLACK MONEY = Black money is the money which is unaccounted and is circulated AND it is a big cause of loss of tax revenue for the government.

The impact of black money on Indian economy

1. There is a huge loss to the income tax revenue for the Government.

2. It is not possible to make correct analysis of our economic system and formulate right policies due to circulation of black money. For example it is not possible to exactly calculate saving-income ratio, or income of various sectors etc. So most of these estimates are only a guess work.

3. Black money does not contribute for any productive activities in the country

4. This black money can be used for financing illegal activities, corruption etc.

Himachal park is now a World Heritage Site

The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh was accorded the Unesco World Heritage Site status on Monday.

The Unesco World Heritage Site Committee at Doha in Qatar granted the status to the park under the criteria of “exceptional natural beauty and conservation of biological diversity.”

The GHNP has now come in the league of Indian World Heritage Sites (WHS) such as the Taj Mahal, Ellora, Kaziranga National Park, Keoladeo National Park, Manas National Park, Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve and the Sunderbans.

This would help in boosting ecotourism in the hill State

The GHNP was declared a National Park under the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1972, by the Himachal Pradesh government in 1999. A total of 832 plant species, representing 128 families and 427 genera, which cover 26 per cent of the total flora of Himachal Pradesh, have been recorded in the GHNP.

It supports self-sustaining populations of near-threatened, vulnerable and endangered species like leopard, Himalayan Black Bear, Royle’s Vole, Himalayan tahr, Himalayan serow, Himalayan goral, Himalayan musk deer, western tragopan and cheer pheasant.

The endangered snow leopard and the critically endangered Red-headed vulture are also present.

the park has been inscribed under category 10 of the World Heritage Convention

GYAAN = Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas

Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures 

Promoting 'swadeshi' in defence (editorial )

Editor says that  The policy framework for going swadeshi already exists. Ironically, it was created by the defence ministry under A K Antony, which then lacked the political courage to implement its own policies. The Defence Procurement Procedure of 2013 explicitly states that indigenous development and manufacture is the default option.

There is a Defence Production Policy to encourage manufacture. More policy initiatives are needed - especially in reducing duties and tariffs for the domestic industry that, incredibly, pays higher taxes for building weaponry in India than foreign vendors pay for importing it fully built.

The domestic industry must be protected against variation in foreign exchange rates; export of defence equipment must be not just permitted, but actively encouraged; and foreign direct investment in defence must be automatically allowed up to 49 per cent. 

GYAAN = Salient Features of Defence Procurement Procedure- 2013 

The first major change that has been brought in relates to the introduction of the ‘preferred categorization’ in the following order; Buy (Indian), Buy & Make (Indian), Make (Indian), Buy & Make, Buy(Global). While seeking the approval for Áccord of Necessity (AoN) in a particular category, say, Buy (Global), it will now be necessary to give justification for not considering the other higher preference categories. This is expected to give a stronger impetus to indigenization. 

Besides this, the requirement of the prescribed indigenous content, e.g. 30% in the Buy (Indian) category is to be achieved on the overall cost basis,  the basic equipment must also have minimum 30% indigenous content at all stages including the one offered at the trial stage

India slips in FDI rankings

India drew $28 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2013 against $24 billion in the previous year, shows a report for 2014 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. However, its ranking in terms of most-favoured FDI destination slipped by a notch compared to the one given in the report for 2013.

The World Investment Report, 2014 showed that policy uncertainty on allowing international supermarket chains kept investors on tenterhooks. Though in terms of its ranking in drawing FDI inflows improved a notch to 14th in 2013 compared to 2012, its position in terms of the most-favoured FDI destination took a beating to the fourth in the report for 2014 against third in the 2013 report.

 An Unctad report shows a survey of companies ranking countries in terms of most-favoured FDI destination for three years. As such, the report for 2014 shows the ranking for 2014-16 and the one for 2013 shows the ranking for 2013-15. The survey in the 2014 report was based on the responses of 164 companies. India used to be the second most attractive FDI destination till 2008-10 after China (the 2008 report), but its ranking slipped since then.

IT IS MAINLY due to policy uncertainty and slowing down of economy that are taking a toll on India's most- favoured investment destination ranking

Although India drew slightly more FDI in 2013 than in the previous year, "foreign investment continues to flow into single-brand retail, no new investment projects have been recorded in multi-brand retail and, in fact, divestment have taken place", the report added.

Major multinational corporations that entered India after the first round of liberalisation have taken steps to get out of the market. For instance, Walmart abandoned its plan to open full-scale retail outlets in India and dissolved its partnership with Bharti.

The report suggested that a different approach could be considered for foreign investment in the Indian retail industry, in terms of mode of entry, franchising and other non-equity forms of multinational participation .