Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who recently received an award from the United Nations on behalf of the

Chief Ministers office, was actually n0minated for the award by his own government. Its previous recipients include the Aarogyam scheme of a District Health Society of Uttar Pradesh, a drinking water supply programme of the Government of Gujarat, e-Procurement project of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and projects in Nagaland, and Delhi. The awards for these States were received by programme heads and not the Chief Ministers.

E-procurement (electronic procurement, sometimes also known as supplier exchange) is the business-to-business or business-toconsumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work, and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning. E-procurement is done with a software application that includes features for supplier management and complex auctions. The new generation of e-Procurement is now on-demand or a software-as-a-service (SaaS). The e-procurement value chain consists of indent management, eTendering, eAuctioning, vendor management, catalogue management, Purchase Order Integration, Order Status, Ship Notice, eInvoicing, ePayment, and contract management

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe.[12][13] The EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states.[14][15] Institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, the Court of Auditors, and the European Parliament. The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens. The EU's de facto capital is Brussels.[16] The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by the Inner Six countries in 1951 and 1958 respectively. In the intervening years the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993.[17] The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force in 2009. The EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area (which includes 22 EU and 4 non-EU states) passport controls have been abolished.[18] EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital,[19] enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade,[20] agriculture,[21] fisheries and regional development.[22] A monetary union, the eurozone, was established in 1999 and is composed of 17 member states. Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. Permanent diplomatic missions have been established around the world. The EU is represented at the United Nations, the WTO, the G8 and the G-20. With a combined population of over 500 million inhabitants,[23] or 7.3% of the world population,[24] the EU, in 2012, generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of 16.584 trillion US dollars, representing approximately 20% of the global GDP when measured in terms of purchasing power parity, and represents the largest nominal GDP and GDP PPP in the world.[25] The EU was the recipient of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.[26]

The European Union comprises 28 sovereign member states.[55] Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland

France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.[3]

For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down."[4] After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the breakup of Yugoslavia, and conducted its first military interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999. The 11 September attacks of 2001 signaled the only occasion in NATO's history that Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty has been invoked as an attack on all NATO members.[5] After the attack, troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF, and the organization continues to operate in a range of roles, including sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations[6] and most recently in 2011

enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya PRISM is a clandestine national security electronic surveillance program operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) since 2007. The program is operated under the supervision of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act(FISA).[citation needed] Its existence was leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who claimed the extent of mass data collection was far greater than the public knew, and included "dangerous" and "criminal" activities in law.[10] The disclosures were published by The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 6, 2013. A document included in the leak indicated that PRISM was "the number one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports."[11] The leaked information came to light one day after the revelation that the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had been requiring the telecommunications company Verizon to turn over to the NSA logs tracking all of its customers' telephone calls on an ongoing daily basis.[12][13] U.S. government officials have disputed some aspects of the Guardian and Washington Post stories and have defended the program by asserting it cannot be used on domestic targets without a warrant, and that the program receives independent oversight from the executive, judicial, and legislative branches.[14][15] According to NSA Director General Keith B. Alexander, communications surveillance helped prevent more than 50 potential terrorist attacks worldwide (at least 10 of them in the United States) between 2001 and 2013, and the PRISM web traffic surveillance program contributed in over 90 percent of those cases.[16][17][18] On June 19, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Germany, stated that "this is not a situation in which we are rifling through, you know, the ordinary emails of German citizens or American citizens or French citizens or anybody else" and that the NSA's data gathering practices constitute "a circumscribed, narrow system directed at us being able to protect our people". ULFA and RVA? Dengue? Veteran fighter pilot Air Marshal Arup Raha will take over as Vice-Chief of the Air Staff on Monday, succeeding Air Marshal D.C. Kumaria, who retired on Sunday. Raha, a front runner for Air Chief after Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne retires in December, is commanding the IAFs sword-arm Western Air Command.

A selection committee chaired by M.S. Swaminathan awarding the World Food Prize for 2013 to three scientists o The honour and cash prize of $250,000 is shared by Robert T. Fraley, Monsantos executive vice-president and chief technology officer, Marc Van Montagu, founder of Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach in Belgium, and Mary-Dell Chilton, Founder and Fellow of Syngenta Biotechnology. o The World Food Prize Foundation said the work of the three scientists in biotechnological research (involving insertion of foreign genes into plants) had led to the development of a host of high yielding and pest-resistant GM crops.

Appeal to suspend project o Prepared by the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) of the New York University School of Law and International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net), the report made an impassioned appeal to the Government of India and the South Korean steel giant, Posco, to suspend the project and end abuses before they become even more catastrophic in scale. Not only rights abuses, illegal acquisition of land, which threatens to forcibly displace 22,000 people, should be halted. o The $12 billion project, involving the single largest FDI in India and acquisition of 12,000 acres, including 4,000 acres for an integrated steel plant and captive port is coming up in an area that is home to forest dwelling communities and a vibrant and sustainable local economy centred around betel leaf cultivation, the report said.

India and United Kingdom have decided to join hands to develop the signature Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC) project in close association with private companies from Britain. o o This move to expand India-UK bilateral cooperation follows closely on the heels of the recent uproar over UKs plans to make select persons from India deposit a cash bond while applying for a British visa. The decision to implement the project, outlined both by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and British Prime Minister David Cameron , was taken during the recent meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma UKs Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skill, Vince Cable, and UKs Minister for Government Policy in Cabinet office, Oliver Letwin during Mr. Sharmas recent visit to London.

In a big relief for technology companies, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced the withdrawal of the circular on adoption of the Profit Split Method (PSM), which leads to higher taxes, as a preferred mode for computing tax liability. o o o Additionally, the CBDT has said another circular relating to Research and Development (R&D) centres, which are critical in software development, would be modified suitably. As per the PSM, part of the parent companys profit is taken into account while computing the tax liability of its centres. One of several methods employed by the IRS to determine the proper allocation of income and deductions among parties to an intercompany transaction where one party is comprised of controlled taxpayers and another consists of uncontrolled taxpayers. The profit split method is used to evaluate controlled transactions to determine if the allocation of profits and losses between the related parties were conducted at arm's length based on the relative value of their contributions to the profit or loss.

As the deadline for expatriates without valid work permits or employment in Saudi Arabia is set to end on July 3 under the Nitaqat (naturalisation) labour law, the Indian government has made elaborate arrangements for their smooth exit as they have to leave the Kingdom before the expiry of the deadline. Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi that the process was being carried out by the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and its consulate in Jeddah and so far he had not received any complaint. There is no way except to obeying the Saudi Arabian law, he said, adding that he had no information about the possibility of the King extending the deadline.

10 per cent quota As per the law, every firm in the Kingdom, both private and government, has to reserve 10 per cent of jobs for Saudi nationals. This would apply to everyone, including small shops and other commercial establishments. Those expatriates, who are found without work permit or valid documents, could be arrested and heavily penalised by the law enforcers. The Indian Embassy in the Kingdom is giving Emergency Certificates to such expatriates (around 75,000) who have registered themselves with the embassy authorities, and has asked them to get their final exit visa from the Saudi government to leave the country. Indias first commercial fast breeder reactor the 500 MW e-Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is in an advanced stage of completion at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, R.K. Sinha said. All the major equipment of the PFBR have been erected and the loading of the dummy fuels in peripheral locations is in progress, he told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century at St. Petersburg, Russia on last Friday. Indigenously developed mixed-oxide type fuel pins for the PFBRs first core were under manufacture and delivery. When contacted, Prabhat Kumar, chairman and managing director, Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) said 95 per cent of the PFBR construction had been completed. We are now heading towards the final erection, integration and commissioning of the reactor. The reactor will go critical by September 2014, he said. The Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, is manufacturing the reactors fuel bundles and they are being assembled in a workshop at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam. The Centre had sanctioned Rs. 5,677 crore for building the PFBR and we will definitely build the reactor within that amount Mr. Kumar asserted. The original cost of the project was Rs. 3,492 crore and it was revised to Rs. 5,677 crore. Electricity generated from the PFBR would be sold to the State Electricity Boards at Rs. 4.44 a unit. BHAVINI builds the breeder reactors in India. The reactor will go critical by September 2014: Kumar Electricity generated from PFBR to be sold to State Electricity Boards

Croatia began the countdown on Sunday to its entry into the European Union (EU) as the blocs 28th member ex-communist federation in the 1990s.

Croatia will become only the second former Yugoslav republic to join the bloc, after Slovenia, following the bloody breakup of the Indian govt socialises costs and privatises profits. Today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the first of seven satellites that will provide the country with an independent navigation satellite capability. A navigation satellite system uses a cluster of spacecraft that regularly transmit signals. Suitably equipped receivers can then use that data to work out their exact position. Satellite-based navigation has, over the years, become indispensable, with a multitude of both civilian and military uses. Vehicles, big and small, as well as aircraft and ships increasingly find their way using such navigation devices. People these days turn to map and location-based services on their mobile devices. The best known and currently the most widely used navigation satellite system is the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), which became operational two decades ago. Russia too offers global coverage with its Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Europe is establishing its own global system, Galileo. Although the full constellation will be ready only by 2019, it plans to begin some services with a reduced number of satellites by the end of next year. Last December, China announced operational services from its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System over that country and surrounding areas. It intends to launch more satellites and expand the system for global coverage by 2020. Japan has already launched the first of three satellites for its regional system that will augment GPS services.

With seven satellites, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) will broadcast its signals primarily over India and to about 1,500 km beyond its borders. ISRO planned to put the full constellation of satellites into orbit by the financial year 2014-15, according to the space agencys chairman, K. Radhakrishnan. If necessary, the coverage area around India could be enhanced by adding four more satellites. As to why India needed its own satellite navigation system, he responded: It is essentially to ensure that you have an assured service when you want it. If you are dependent on a foreign navigation signal and then you are in dire need, there could be a situation [it may] not be available to you.That sort of concern has also been voiced in Europe, which, although a close ally of the U.S., still felt the need to have its own navigation satellites. Much to Americas annoyance, European institutions began moves in the late 1990s to establish the Galileo system. Defence, prime factor The European Commission noted that Galileo would ensure Europes independence in a sector that had become critical for its economy and the well-being of its citizens. We have become so dependent on services provided by satellite navigation in our daily lives that should a service be reduced or switched off, the potential disruption to business, banking, transport, aviation, communication, etc to name but a few, would be very costly. Military operations rely heavily on satellite navigation, and Indias defence requirements appear to have played an important part in the decision to establish an independent system. The operator of a foreign system can choose to deliberately degrade the accuracy of its signals, as the U.S. reportedly did with the freely accessible GPS signals when invading Iraq. Apart from signals that anyone can utilise free of cost, satellite navigation systems, including the Indian one, provide an encrypted service that is restricted to those authorised to receive it.

As part of Indias modernisation of its armed forces, a satellite system of its own gave the country redundancy and reduced dependence on outside agencies for a key technology, observed Wing Commander Ajey Lele, a space and national security analyst at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in Delhi. Moreover, satellite navigation had huge civilian applications, he pointed out. With India developing both economically and technologically, this factor too would have influenced the decision to establish the IRNSS. The applications of global navigation satellite systems are potentially enormous, according to the consultancy firm, Frost & Sullivan. The industry view is that it is a massive market waiting to take shape and what we see of its present use can be considered a tip of the iceberg. The global applications market would grow from 65 billion in 2012 to about 134 billion in 2021, it estimated in a report issued some months back. Indias IRNSS, along with GAGAN, is set to serve a potentially huge market across the sub-continent, the report noted. (GAGAN, an abbreviation for GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation, is a satellite-based system implemented jointly by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India to improve GPS accuracy over the country as an aid for aviation. (For more details, see GAGAN making GPS more accurate, Science & Technology page, The Hindu , June 2, 2011.) Interoperability The worlds navigation satellite operators increasingly find it beneficial to make their systems work together. Interoperability, which allows receivers to take signals from more than one system, is catching on. Especially in situations where signals from one constellation of satellites might not be readily available, such as when those signals are obstructed by tall buildings in an urban setting or in mountainous terrain, a receiver that is able to utilise multiple systems can function better and more accurately. A combination of Galileo and GPS receivers would allow far more accurate position determination, noted a 2011 review of the European system. The same would be true if the BeiDou and GPS systems were used together, noted a presentation made at a conference held in Shanghai, China, two years back. Ensuring interoperability among navigation satellite constellations and integrating their services was going to be the primary challenge for realising their full potential, according to the Frost & Sullivan report. ISRO was working with industry to develop receivers that worked with the Indian system, said the space agencys chairman. Some of those receivers would be designed to take signals from IRNSS as well as another constellation. Today, the country takes the first step to launching its own navigation satellite set-up to tap civilian and military applications that the system can offer Justice P. Sathasivam , takes over as the next Chief Justice of India on July 19 What will your priorities be? [With] more awareness among our citizens, various fresh legislation like Domestic Violence Act, Dowry Prohibition Act, Juvenile Justice Act, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, Section 138 cases (under the Negotiable Instruments Act), more cases are being filed and more litigations are bound to come before Courts. There is much criticism about the procedure for appointment of judges. There is no transparency in the collegium system. The Union Law & Justice Minister, Kapil Sibal, recently said this procedure should be changed to give more say to the Executive. Do you subscribe to this view? Will the setting up of a National Judicial Commission solve the problem? According to me, the present collegium system works well. The current Judicial Appointment mechanism, [being followed] since 1993, is based on two Constitutional rulings of the Supreme Court,viz. 1993 and 1998. The appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts is made by the President and is, therefore, ultimately an executive act. The judiciarys role is limited to making recommendations. The power to make recommendations is not absolute. It is always open to the Government to seek reconsideration of the recommendation made by the Collegium, for strong reasons or adverse material in their possession. In fact, in the recent past, the Government has exercised its power to keep a check and prevent the appointment of persons considered to be unsuitable. In view of [this], it cannot be claimed that the government (State and Central) has no role in the appointment of judges and the setting up of a National Judicial Commission will not solve the problem. On the other hand, if the time schedule is strictly followed by all the authorities, according to me, the present system will solve the problem. Do you feel there is need for creating Supreme Court Benches in four regions and a Constitutional Court in the capital?

This issue came up before the Full Court on seven occasions. It was also discussed twice in the All India Chief Justices Conference. On all these occasions, the Full Court of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices Conference did not favour the creation of regional Benches. Further, because of the development of Information Technology, computers, e-filing, online facilities, there is no difficulty in reaching the Supreme Court through these methods. Even among the regions, there may not be any acceptable place/State capital for location of the regional Benches. During your tenure did you ever feel that corruption is a major issue in the judiciary? If so, do you have any solution and how would you deal with it? I should fairly admit that the judiciary is not untouched by corruption. When we take the oath as judge, we swear to be fair and impartial in all our judicial functions. However, on some occasions in the past, few judges have willfully dishonoured the oath by adopting to corrupt practices. The solution for eliminating this disorder lies in the hands of the litigants. The litigants must take the responsibility for bringing into light such occurrence by making a grievance petition before the Chief Justice of respective High Courts and also to the Chief Justice of India. If a prima facie case is made out through the preliminary enquiry, then the judge should not feel hesitant to adopt the prescribed procedure under the mandate of Constitution. There is a provision in the Judicial Accountability Bill to prevent judges from making oral observations and the former Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia, had expressed certain reservations about it. Do you think the Executive is trying to curb the independence of the judiciary by incorporating such a provision in the Bill? Full details of the proposed Judicial Accountability Bill are not known. However, I strongly oppose the Bill. There cannot be any control in the administration of justice. In other words, the executive cannot curb the independence of judiciary by bringing any provision to interfere with court proceedings. No doubt, no court is expected to make unnecessary comments de hors to the issue before it. Your views on what is described as judicial activism or overreach? There are checks and balances and broad separation of powers under the Constitution. Each organ of the State, i.e. the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, must have respect for the others and not encroach into each others domain. However, the doctrine of separation of powers cannot curtail the power of judicial review conferred on the constitutional Courts especially in situations where the fundamental rights are sought to be abrogated or abridged under the garb of these doctrines. Violation of Fundamental Rights cannot be immunised from judicial scrutiny under Article 226 or under Article 32 of the Constitution on the touchstone of doctrine of separation of powers between the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used in radio communication technologies. CDMA uses spread spectrum technology with the use of different codes to separate between different stations or users rather than different frequencies of time slots as in the case of previous access technologies. The signal is transmitted in a channel, which is below noise level and the receiver uses a correlator to despread the wanted signal. CDMA is a military technology first used during World War II by English allies to foil German attempts at jamming transmissions. The first CDMA system was launched in September 1995 by Hutchison Telephone Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong. CDMA is used as the access method in many mobile phone standards such as cdmaOne, CDMA2000 and WCDMA. CDMA provides increased immunity to interference or jamming, and multiple user access. The use of the spreading codes which are independent for each user along with synchronous reception allow multiple users to access the same channel simultaneously. Disadvantage in CDMA is that the receivers need a complex and robust design to decode the signal. CDMA carriers cannot offer international roaming. 31. 32. The Securities and Exchange Board of India was established on April 12, 1992 in accordance with the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992. SEBI Headquarter is in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Regional Offices in New Delhi,

33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively. Its main objective is to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market and for matters connected therewith. Primary market is the market where shares are offered to investors by the issuer company to raise their capital. Secondary market is the market where stocks are traded after they are initially offered to the investor in primary market (IPO's etc.) and get listed to stock exchange. When an unlisted company makes either a fresh issue of securities or offers its existing securities for sale or both for the first time to the public, it is called an IPO. When an already listed company makes either a fresh issue of securities to the public or an offer for sale to the public, it is called a FPO. A bull market is when everything in the economy is great, people are finding jobs, gross domestic product (GDP) is growing, and stocks are rising. A bear market is when the economy is bad, recession is looming and stock prices are falling. Upendra Kumar Sinha was appointed as the chairman of SEBI replacing C. B. Bhave. Jute is known as the golden fibre which is sown between March and June and harvested is November-December. Jute requires humid climate with temperature fluctuating between 24 degree Celsius and 38 degree Celsius and minimum rainfall of 1000 mm. The best varieties of Jute are Bangla Tosha - Corchorus olitorius (Golden shine) & Bangla White - Corchorus capsularis (Whitish Shine). Jute is 100% bio-degradable & recyclable and thus environment friendly. Jute has high tensile strength, and low extensibility. Jute is one of the most versatile natural fibres with renewable resource having applications in packaging, textiles and non-textile sectors. Jute naturally protects perishable goods during storage, reducing product losses and prolonging storage life Geotextiles are made of environmentally friendly, degradable and renewable jute or coconut raw material. They distinguish themselves by high moisture absorption, flexibility and drainage characteristics. The production process in jute industry involves cultivation of raw jute, processing of jute fibres, spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing, finishing and marketing of both raw jute and its finished products. The jute textiles industry in India is one of the major industries in the eastern region, particularly in West Bengal. It supports nearly 4 million farm families.

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for inspirational, educative, cultural, and recreative purposes. Article 51 A (g), was inserted for making it the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures. Article 48-A states that the State shall Endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country India's first national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park. In 1972 the Wildlife Protection Act was enacted to safeguard the habitats of conservation reliant species. The Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park, Nanda Devi National Park, the Sundarbans National Park, Keoladeo National Park and Western Ghats have been declared as World Heritage Sites. Wildlife sanctuaries are reserved (set aside) by a governmental or private agency for the protection of particular species of animals during part or all of the year. The first wildlife sanctuary was the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary near Madras, set up in 1878. Dachigam Sanctuary in Jammu and Kashmir is famous for the Hangul, or the Kashmir Stag.

Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011 The Government has constituted a High Level Committee (HLC) in 2006, which suggested for evolving a mining code adapted to the best international practices, streamlining and simplifying procedures for grant of mineral concessions to reduce delays, etc. Based on the HLC recommendations, the Government had announced National Mineral Policy (NMP) in 2008. To give effect to the policy directions in NMP, the Government has now evolved a new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, after several rounds of consultations with the stakeholders including State Governments, concerned Ministries and Departments of Central Government, Industry and Civil Society. The new MMDR Bill, 2011, seeks to consolidate and amend the law relating to the scientific development and regulation of mines and minerals. The salient features of the Bill are: a) Reconnaissance, prospecting, exploration and mining activities can only be undertaken after obtaining a reconnaissance, exploration or prospecting license or mining lease. b) Gram Sabhas, District Councils or District Panchayats must be consulted before the notification of an area for mineral concessions. c) The central government may invite competitive offers for grant of mineral concession in case of coal minerals, and state governments may invite competitive offers in case of other minerals. State governments may give preference to a cooperative of Scheduled Tribes in the grant of mineral concession in a Scheduled or tribal area. d) Firms must prepare a mining plan in order to be allowed to carry out mining operations. The mining plan must include a corporate social responsibility document that contains a scheme for annual expenditure by the lessee on socio-economic for the benefit of the host population and for enabling self-employment opportunities. e) Every mining lease will have a Mine Closure Plan prepared in terms of a Sustainable Development Framework that includes details of closure, rehabilitation and restoration activities. f) The holder of a mining lease shall pay either a yearly dead rent or a royalty in respect of every mineral removed or consumed by him, whichever is higher. g) Compensation shall be paid to every person or family holding occupation or rights of the land surface for which a license is granted. The holder of a mining lease will pay a specified amount of money each year to the District Mineral Foundation, which will be used for the benefit of persons or families affected by mining related operations. This amount is equivalent to 26 percent of profit in the case of coal and lignite, and is equivalent to the royalty paid during the financial year in case of major minerals. h) Any gap in the minimum compensation to be paid to affected families by the DMF is to be covered by the state government. This could put pressure on state government finances. i) Mining companies shall allot at least one non-transferable share at par to each person of a family affected by mining related operations. The holder of a mining lease shall also be liable to provide employment in addition to other compensation payable to affected persons or families. j) The central government may levy and collect a cess on major minerals as (a) a customs duty in case of export, and (b) an excise duty in other cases. State governments may levy and collect a cess on major and minor minerals. k) The Bill provides for a new concession instrument for technology and investment intensive exploration exclusively for deep deposits called high-technology reconnaissance-cum-exploration license.

l) The central government shall develop a National Sustainable Development Framework containing guidelines for the formulation of project-level practices for scientifically, environmentally and socially sustainable mining. State governments shall develop State Sustainable Development Frameworks. m) The central government shall establish a National Mineral Fund. Each state government may establish a State Mineral Fund and District Mineral Foundations. The District Mineral Foundations will be non-profit bodies that shall work for the benefit of persons or families affected by mining related operations. n) The central government shall establish a National Mining Regulatory Authority and a National Mining Tribunal. States can establish State Mining Regulatory Authorities and State Mining Tribunals. o) The Bill defines various offences and their corresponding penalties. Exploration without license may be punished with imprisonment up to two years, and mining without license up to three years. Other offenses carry a penalty of imprisonment up to one year and fine. p) State governments may constitute Special Courts for providing speedy trials of offences as defined in the Bill.

Sachar Committee Report 1. The Prime Minister has constituted a High Level Committee, headed by Rajindar Sachar, to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India in 2005. The Committee's mandate was to: (a) Obtain relevant information and conduct a literature survey on the relative social, economic an educational status of Muslims in India at the state, regional and district levels; (b) determine the level of their socio-economic development; (c) determine the relative share in public and private sector employment; (d) determine the proportion of OBCs from Muslim community in the total OBC population in various states, (e) Determine access to education and health services, municipal infrastructure and bank credit provided by Government/ public sector entities. Major findings of the report: Literacy The literacy rate for Muslims in 2001 was, according to the Committees findings, far below the national average. The difference between the two rates was greater in urban areas than in rural areas. For women, too, the gap was greater in the urban areas. When compared to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the growth in literacy for Muslims was lower than for the former. The female urban enrolment in literacy ratio for the SCs/STs was 40 per cent in 1965 that rose to 83 per cent in 2001. The equivalent rate for Muslimsthat was considerably higher in 1965 (52 per cent)recorded a figure of 80 per cent, lower than the figure for the SCs / STs. According to the Sachar Committees findings, 25 per cent of Muslim children in the 6-14 age-

group either never went to school or else dropped out at some stage. The disparity in Graduate Attainment Rates between Muslims and other categories has been widening since the 1970s in urban and rural areas. According to the Sachar Committee only one out of 25 undergraduate students and one out of 50 post-graduate students in premier colleges are Muslims. An important cause for the low level of attainment of Muslims in education is the dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu and other subjects through the medium of Urdu (mother tongue) in lower classes. Employment Muslims have a considerably lower representation in jobs in the government including those in the Public Sector Undertakings compared to other SRCs. According to these findings, in no State of the country the level of Muslim employment is proportionate to their percentage in the population. The Sachar Committee observes that the low aggregate work participation ratios for Muslims are essentially due to the much lower participation in economic activity by the women of the community. Also, a large number of Muslim women who are engaged in work do so from their homes rather than in offices or factories. Population According to the 2001 Census, the Muslim population of India was 138 million (13.4 per cent of the total population). The period 1991-2001 showed a decline in the growth rate of Muslims in most States. According to the Committees findings, the Muslim population shows an increasingly better sex ratio compared to other Socio-Religious Categories. Infant mortality among Muslims is slightly lower than the average. Life expectancy in the community is slightly higher (by one year) than the average. Poverty The Committee has found that substantially large proportions of Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs 500 expenditure bracket. The Committee has observed that the inequality is higher in urban areas compared to rural areas in most States. Poverty leads to neglect, or the other way round: the Committee found a significant inverse association between the proportion of Muslim population and educational and other infrastructure in small villages. Areas of Muslim concentration are, somehow, not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus stops. Major recommendations of the Committee are: a) Set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprivedgroups like

minorities. b) Provide legal mechanism to address complaints of discrimination against minorities in matters of employment, housing, schooling and obtaining bank loans. c) Initiate and institutionalise a process of evaluating contents of textbooks to purge them of explicit and implicit material that may impart inappropriate social values, especially religious intolerance. d) Create a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various socio-religious categories are maintained. e) Set up an autonomous assessment and monitoring authority to evaluate the extent of development benefits. f) Encourage the University Grants Commission to evolve a system where part of allocation to colleges and universities is linked to diversity in student population. g) Facilitate admissions to the most backward amongst all socio-religious categories in regular universities and autonomous colleges and evolving alternate admission criteria h) Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth potential. i) Increase employment share of Muslims, particularly where there is great deal of public dealing. Working out mechanisms to link madarsas with higher secondary school board. j) Recognise degrees from madarsas for eligibility in defence, civil and banking examinations. k) Promote and enhancing access to Muslims in Priority Sector Advances. l) Include in teacher training components that introduce importance of diversity and plurality and sensitising teachers towards needs and aspirations of Muslims and other marginalised communities. m) Open high quality Urdu medium schools wherever they are in demand and ensuring high quality textbooks for students in the Urdu language. n) Improve participation and share of minorities, particularly Muslims, in business of regular commercial banks. o) Set up a national Wakf development corporation with a revolving corpus fund of Rs 500 crore and Create new cadre to deal with specific Wakf affairs.