18-06-2013

- Rifampicin and Isoniazid, the first line drugs used to treat TB
- Sale and usage of ammonium nitrate falls in the special category under Explosive Substances Act.
- Three nations- India, the United States and Australia have come together to collaborate on developing new climate-resilient varieties of rice and wheat, two of the “big three” primary crops essential to feed the world. Big Three crops are:
1.     Rice
2.     Wheat
3.     Maize
- As per the Better Life Index released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Australia was ranked as the world’s happiest nation among developed economies for the third consecutive year. The index ranked over 30 nations on criteria like income levels, health, safety and housing. 
Top Ranking Nations:
Australia
Sweden
Canada
Norway
Switzerland
- ‘Gods Own Country’ Kerala, which receives some 3,000 mm of rainfall on an average, but faces one of the most peculiar crisis: that of potable water. 
The World Bank-supported Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, also known as Jalanidhi, is demonstrating a community-driven decentralized model of development in that the water supply schemes are being planned, operated and managed by the villagers themselves. So far, over 3 lakh rural households have already benefitted. 

09-03-2013

The Yaksha and the Yakshini represent mythical beings attendant on Kuber the God of Wealth. They are alluded to as guardians of wealth in literature. The sculptures flank the entrance of the New Delhi Office of the Reserve Bank. The sculptures were executed by Ramkinkar Baij of Vishva-Bharati, Shantiniketan. The figure of the 'Yaksha' is derived from the statue of Parkham Yaksha in the Mathura Museum and that of the Yakshini from the Bisnagar Yakshini in the Calcutta Museum.

“End of LTTE by Sri Lankan Army is a strategic loss to India”. Critically examine.

The involvement of the Indian government in the Sri Lankan Civil War was based on several concerns, including its desire to project India as the regional power in the area, and worries about India's own Tamils seeking independence. The latter was particularly strong in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where ethnic kinship led to strong support for independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. Throughout the conflict, the Indian central and state governments have supported both sides in different ways

Although Sri Lanka was a key member of Non-Aligned Movement in its initial stages, the Government of Sri Lanka's policies became pro-western as J. R. Jayewardene was elected prime minister with his landslide victory in 1977 parliamentary election. Subsequently he introduced a new constitution and Open economy to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the first South-Asian country to adopt Liberal open economy. Together with these developments, India was also concerned about

• United States raising the strength of broadcasting facilities belonging to the Voice of America (VOA) in Sri Lanka, which could pose a threat to India's defense communication systems
• Frequent high-profile visits of US defense officials to Sri Lanka including US Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger and Lieutenant General Vernon A. Walters
• Sri Lankan government granting the tenders to expand the oil storage complex at China Bay, Trincomalee to Singapore companies
• Establishment of an Israeli Interests Section in the American Embassy in Colombo
• Sri Lanka government's purchase of European and Chinese military hardware
• Sri Lanka government hiring Keenie Meenie Services (which includes ex-Special Air Service troops), a Channel Island-based British mercenary company, to train the Sri Lankan Special Task Force, a unit under the command of Ravi Jayewardene, the son of J. R Jayawardene
• Presence of Israeli Shin Bet intelligence operatives to train Sri Lankan troops on intelligence operations, Pakistani Special Services Group led by Brigadier Tariq Mohommad to assist Sri Lankan commandos, and South African mercenaries to train Sri Lanka Air Force pilots in low contour flying, in Colombo, etc.^[3]

Moreover, President J. R. Jayawardene did not enjoy the same warm relationship with Indian Premier Indira Gandhi that he had enjoyed with her father, Premier Jawaharlal Nehru.^[1] Thus, with the outbreak of Black July ethnic riots, the Indian government decided to support the insurgent groups operating in Northern Sri Lanka.

24-7-2012

24 July 2012

Captain Lakshmi Sahgal (1914 - 2012) - A life of struggle

Nag series trials for 18 days from Tuesday

Rites of passage for a Rashtrapati of the times

Chris Hoy Britain's flagbearer at Olympics

Azarenka leads unchanged women’s rankings

Every five days, India’s public sector mines see a death

IT spending in India to grow at 16.3% to $43 bn: IDC

Stephen Hawking launches supercomputer

'Silly label, God particle'

Sagar Irrigation Project Get one Year Extension

Two Year Extension for Sindh River Project

Eminent Persons Advisory Group Meeting held in CCI. Corporate Affairs Minister releases the first news letter of CCI.

Fund Utilization under the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs Crosses 75 % Mark

Higgs Boson - God Particle

'Silly label, God particle'

The Higgs boson is the last missing link in the highly successful quantum theory of particles, called the Standard Model. It is also highly unstable, very elusive. To detect it, one has to observe many, many high energy collisions of protons and build up the statistics. In the LHC, particles are accelerated through a tunnel, brought together at speeds close to the speed of light, producing showers of particles, with high energies, capable of generating the Higgs particle. It exists for only a tiny fraction of a second before breaking up into many other particles, and can be detected only indirectly by identifying the results of its immediate decay and analysing them to show they were probably produced from a Higgs boson.


Even in its lowest energy state, the Higgs field filling all vacuum has non-zero values everywhere. In fact, ripples or waves in the quantum Higgs field, create for fleeting moments the Higgs particles.The Higgs boson is itself very massive, and it must interact with itself. It itself mediates interactions with the Higgs field, and is itself an excitation of the Higgs field.

The full properties of the Higgs (or whatever was observed by the teams) are not yet known. In fact, the signature of what they observed, may be multiple Higgs bosons with the properties required by the next theory that the Standard Model would extend into supersymmetry.

Cosmologists seem to agree that all luminous matter in the universe makes up only four per cent of whatever there is in the universe.... The rest of it may be in the form of dark matter and dark energy. So if the 'Higgs-like' particle near-discovery at CERN turns out to be a more exotic form, it could help us understand at least dark energy. These possible future developments could get us closer to what particle physicists call the Theory of Everything, but the theory cannot say anything about life, evolution and the phenomena of mind and awareness.

It is not even clear how gravity, the last of the four forces of nature, will fit into the Standard Model, developing into supersymmetry and perhaps superstring theory. But it would be a start.

Some scientists see that the materialist view of the universe doesn't hold water because quantum theory demolished the solid, reassuring physical universe almost a century ago. Once it was discovered that matter is made up of invisible clouds of energy, once photons were found to behave like particles in one mode and energy waves in another, once the Uncertainty Principle turned actual existence into virtual existence, the blows to materialism became decisive. Quantum pioneers noted definitively, that all other fundamental particles, have no fixed physical attributes. Instead, particles are pure potential existing in a quantum force field, and they collapse into being a particle you can see and measure only when observed by the scientist who is measuring them.

'Why are we here?' is a universal question, and to answer it, you must ask, 'Why are we conscious? Where did mind come from?' In the alternative explanation, the entire universe is imbued with consciousness. Just as there are force fields, invisible but all-pervasive, a consciousness field can exist to uphold the activity we call 'mind'.

Infinite consciousness
The universe evolves, regulates itself, takes creative leaps, and exhibits exquisite mathematical rigour and beauty. The hallmarks of intelligence are there, waiting for the next paradigm shift. At the moment, the word 'intelligence' brings up the red herring of intelligent design, which no one except religious fundamentalists want to be associated with. 'Consciousness' gives us a less tainted word, and there is a growing community of theorists seriously thinking about a conscious universe.

If it exists, then you and I are embedded in the consciousness field. It is the source of our own consciousness, which means that we are not alone. As one physicist said, "The universe knew that we were coming." An infinite consciousness that spans all of creation sounds like a new definition of God; we are part of God's mind; that includes science.

Take your time, discover
The whole argument leads to a wild conclusion by most people's standards: it is God who is discovering the God particle. Infinite consciousness has created individual consciousness to go out into creation and look around. As it does, individual consciousness - meaning you and I - has been given free will and choice. We don't have to see our link to the infinite consciousness field. We can take our time discovering who we are and where we come from. Soon it might seem quite natural to say that the conscious universe saw us coming.

COSMOS Supercomputer

Stephen Hawking launches supercomputer

Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has launched the most powerful shared-memory supercomputer in Europe.


Hawking anticipates that the COSMOS supercomputer, manufactured by SGI and the first system of its kind, will open up new windows on the universe, a university release said.

"Cosmology is now a precision science, so we need machines like COSMOS to reach out and touch the real universe, to investigate whether our mathematical models are correct," he said.

The COSMOS supercomputer is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council DiRAC High Performance Computing facility, a national service for UK cosmologists, astronomers and particle physicists, as well as non-academic users.

Argentina honours Evita with 100-peso note

Argentina honours Evita with 100-peso note

As first lady, Evita swiftly took control of two pillars of her husband’s government — the relationship with unions and handing government aid to poor citizens, many of whom idolised her. While he focused on politics, she dominated the media with talk of improving living conditions for her “shirtless ones.”

“Evita gave form to today’s Argentina in terms of working-class consciousness, respect for workers no matter their rank, awareness that workers have rights and that they must be respected. Before, workers lacked any rights and there was hardly any social legislation,” said Mr. Pigna, whose book “Evita, Shreds of her Life” was just published. “This really set Argentina apart from the rest of Latin America.”

Some historians say that only now, 60 years after Gen. Juan Domingo Peron’s firebrand wife succumbed to cancer at the age of 33, are many beginning to consider how much her actions shaped the society they live in today.

Critics saw the young former dancer as a power-hungry tramp. Many were so furious at the way the foundation she created took from the rich and gave to the poor that they refused to mention her by name, calling her “that woman”.