PM calls for a ‘tricolour revolution’
Mr. Modi fleshed out his campaign theme of what he calls a “tricolour revolution,” referring to a second green revolution focusing on growing protein-rich pulses, of a white revolution focusing on the care of cattle and livestock, a saffron ‘energy’ revolution looking at solar energy, and a blue revolution on clean water, and the welfare of fishermen. Blue is the colour of the Ashok Chakra.
Sushma, Wang talk trade
$100 billion target
India and China have set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade a year by 2015, a goal which the two Ministers spoke about in their meetings. India’s concerns over the vast trade deficit of $ 31 billion out of bilateral trade of $ 65 billion last year came up, as Ms. Swaraj is also learnt to have spoken of more investment from China into Indian infrastructure, particularly in the Railway sector.
CRPF-police ‘distrust’ hobbles anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh
Distrust between the CRPF and the Chhattisgarh Police may be coming in the way of anti-Maoist operations in the State. Force faces problems at various levels from sharing of intelligence to execution of operations.
Problems:
- Sharing of intelligence inputs
- Distrust: CRPF troops believes that in some rare instances their movements were leaked from the police stations.
- Lack of co-operation: Both CRPF and State police are reluctant on joint operations. One accuses the other of non co-operation.
- CRPF has superiority complex as they are better trained and well equipped.
Fixing problems of workers overseas is priority: Sushma
Ms. Swaraj says she is particularly concerned about Indians working in the Gulf region and other countries that they frequent. More than six million Indians live and work in the Gulf region, of which a large number come from the southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala
While India ranks first in global remittances at about $63.5 billion, many tales of misery accompany that money being sent home. On an average, say activists, two Indians commit suicide every week in the Gulf region. Others face stress and health issues given the poor working conditions and unfavourable laws in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. Reports say about 400 bodies were returned to Hyderabad airport in 2012 alone, and even the procedure of repatriating the bodies is a long and arduous one for the families.
Jaitley caught in Defence-Finance crossfire
Whats the issue?
The three service chiefs want govt to increase the defence budget to close to 2%of the GDP.
The bureaucrats at the Finance Ministry say that the money simply cannot be found for the increase without politically controversial subsidy cuts.
Current Budget allocation
Interim budget for 2013-14 presented by the outgoing government envisaged an outlay of 1.74 per cent of the anticipated GDP for defence, an historical low. The service chiefs are concerned that this will choke modernisation plans that defence experts believe are necessary given growing Chinese military power, the sources said.
Procurements already account for 90 per cent of the defence capital expenditure in the interim Budget which accounts for just 40 per cent of the overall defence budget, the rest going on expenditure such as salaries and pensions.
What the Government can do?
Mr. Jaitley said that government will follow a balanced approach.
India can neither afford an arms race with China but we can’t ignore military developments in our neighbourhood. Restructuring subsidies and Monetising the assets owned by 67 insolvent PSUs are possible options to fund defence procurement.
A need for defence bureaucracy reforms
The Naresh Chandra committee on defence reforms recommended that:
- civil service bureaucrats be obliged to serve terms at the military service headquarters before being assigned to the Defence Ministry in New Delhi.
- A course in the College of Defence Management in Secunderabad be made mandatory for civilian bureaucrats involved in defence administration.
- amendments to anti-corruption laws to protect officials making good-faith defence procurement decisions against prosecution.
- The armed forces should assign officers to the headquarters of each other to encourage the development of the joint services culture integral to modern warfare.
No decision was made on the committee’s recommendations.
“The current system is disastrous as there are bureaucrats who don’t know the difference between a frigate and a destroyer making critical procurement decisions.”
NOTE: Refer to:
Gold prices likely to drop further
Gold prices are likely to drop further in the coming weeks, Bullion experts feel the fall may be precipitated by a number of factors:
- Internationally, signs of a stronger U.S. economy have diminished the gold’s ‘safe haven’ status, and money is being diverted to investments such as equities.
- The booming equity market and stronger rupee point to a lower fancy for gold in India.
- RBI has eased some controls over import of gold by trading houses.
Gold in the domestic markets has traded at a high premium over international markets ever since the RBI introduced restrictions on import to combat the high CAD in July, 2013.
The new government might cut the import duty from current 10 per cent levels in the coming weeks and a cut of 2-3 per cent in duty could lead to another sharp correction in domestic gold prices.
Kudankulam Unit 1 at full tilt
The first unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) reached its full power generation capacity of 1,000 MWe at 1.20 p.m. on Saturday
The 21st nuclear power reactor in the country has become the single-largest power generating unit in the country.
The KKNPP consists of two Russian LW reactors, each with a capacity of 1,000 MWe, using enriched uranium as fuel, and light water as coolant and moderator. Russia has agreed to supply enriched uranium fuel for both the reactors for their life time.
The second unit is expected to reach criticality by the end of this year.
Gyaan:
What is Criticality in a Nuclear Power Plant?
Criticality means that a reactor is controlling a sustained fission chain reaction where each fission event releases a sufficient number of neutrons to maintain an ongoing series of reactions.
In the balanced state of criticality, fuel rods inside a nuclear reactor are producing and losing a constant number of neutrons, and the nuclear energy system is stable.
At start-up, the reactor is briefly put into a state that produces more neutrons than are lost. This condition is called “supercritical” state, which allows the neutron population to increase and more power to be produced. When the desired power production is reached, adjustments are made to place the reactor into critical state that sustains neutron balance and power production. At times, such as for maintenance shutdown or refuelling, reactors are placed in a “subcritical” state so that neutron and power production decrease.
Source: About.com
NASA beams video from space via laser
NASA on Friday said it had successfully beamed a high-definition video from the International Space Station to Earth using a new laser communications instrument, a technology demonstration that could help fundamentally change the communication process in future deep-space missions.
The transmission of the 175-megabit video titled “Hello, World” took only 3.5 seconds, which corresponds to a data transmission rate of 50 megabits per second and would have taken more than 10 minutes using traditional downlink methods.
NASA said the technology demonstration — Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) — which focussed laser energy reached data rates between 10 and 1,000 times higher than current space communications, which rely on radio waves.
“Because the space station orbits Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, transmitting data from the space station to Earth requires extremely precise targeting,” the agency said in a statement. “The process can be equated to a person aiming a laser pointer at the end of a human hair 30 feet away and keeping it there while walking.”
A ‘Beast’ to fly by earth today
A 1,000-feet wide “beast” travelling at a speed of 50,400 km-per-hour — enough momentum to wipe out an entire city — will pass by earth on Sunday.
The asteroid will safely pass earth at a distance of 1.25 million km — more than three times the distance from earth to the moon. Nicknamed the “Beast,” the mighty rock would have caused an explosion measured in megatons and wiped out a city if it had hit earth, NASA scientists said.
Designated “2014 HQ124”, the asteroid was discovered April 23, 2014, by NASA’s NEOWISE mission, a space telescope adapted for scouting the skies for asteroids and comets.
“2014 HQ124” is designated a “potentially hazardous asteroid” (PHA) by NASA. This refers to those asteroids 460 feet in size or larger that pass within 4.6 million miles of Earth’s orbit around the sun. There are currently 1,484 known PHAs but none pose a significant near-term risk of impacting earth.
Astronomers say their main concern is that the Beast was only detected in April before its nearest approach to the Earth despite space surveillance systems scanning outer space for asteroids and other threats.
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