IUCN Red List

Least Concern <  Near Threatened < Endangered < Critically 

Endangered < Extinct in the World < Extinct 

 

Least Concern

Near Threatened

Endangered

Critically Endangered

• Great Indian Bustard
• Pink-headed Duck
• Jerdon’s Courser
• Siberian Crane
• Forest Owlet(Maharashtra)

Extinct in the World

Extinct 

MoU between India and Hungary

1. India-Hungary joint commission on economic co-operation on Tuesday signed an agreement between the two countries in the field of traditional medicine.

News : 15-22 Oct 2013

Appointments :

1. The Madhya Pradesh government  constituted a judicial commission headed by Rakesh Saxena to probe the stampede at Ratangarh in Datia district on October 13.
2. New Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), S. K. Roy.

Resignations/Retirements

Obituaries

Awards

Sports

Books

1. RICHARD DAWKINS : An Appetite for Wonder

International

1. India has moved from 65 to 63 in the Global Hunger Index, making a marginal improvement since 2012, but continues to languish far behind other emerging economies. The score for the country improved slightly from 22.9 in 2012 to 21.3 this year. As has been the trend, within SAARC countries too, India continued to trail behind Pakistan and Bangladesh on the index.The index is prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute along with Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.
2. Pre-COP (Conference of Parties), is organised to firm up the agenda for the meeting, where all member-countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change gather held at POLAND.
3. Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of 140 kilometre per hour (km/hr), is moving towards north Tokyo where the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant lies
4. German defence firm Atlas Elektronik, a leading manufacturer of high-tech maritime and naval systems, is in the process of finalising a deal with India for supplying low-frequency sonar systems for Navy’s warships that will help them detect enemy submarines, warships and torpedoes from a long distance.
5. India-Hungary joint commission on economic co-operation on Tuesday signed an agreement between the two countries in the field of traditional medicine.

National

1. “My Stamp”, an innovation of India Post, gives individuals the opportunity to get a postage stamp with their photos on it.To get personalised “My Stamp”, the customers will have to fill in the form indicating choice of stamps from available stamp sheets and deposit Rs.300 along with his or her colour photo (with white background) or provide the same in soft copy.
2. The Indian Navy inducted into service its largest offshore patrol vessel (OPV), INS Sunayna.
3. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of Karnataka  instructed the Law Department to draft legislation in Kannada and then translate them into English.
4. First batch of members of the Bnei Menashe tribe may arrive in Jewish state by year-end.899 Indian Jews from Manipur and Mizoram, all members of the “lost” Bnei Menashe tribe, to immigrate to Israel.The Bnei Menashe (literally meaning sons of Menashe) tribe trace their roots to one of the 10 “lost tribes” of Jews exiled by the Assyrian regime over 2,700 years ago.Hundreds of Bnei Menashe are already living in Israel, having made aliyah (immigration) with the help of NGO Shavei Israel, which is dedicated to bringing “lost Jews” around the world to Israel.
5. Two Ukraine nationals – crew of the detained US ship Seaman Guard Ohio – were arrested by Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ Branch police.
6. Centre wants liquor and petroleum products to come under the GST, states are keen to retain their power to tax these items as they are major sources of revenue.

Polity

1. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has joined government and PSU oil firms against the Supreme Court order making Aadhaar card not mandatory for availing social benefits
2. Co-operative societies do not fall within the ambit of Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court has said.
3. Convicted Congress leader Rashid Masood  became the first MP to lose his seat after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.

Economics

1. Economics Nobel Prize : Shared by Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen. Their work ranges from the foundations of modern finance (Fama) to defects in the mainstream models (Fama and Shiller) and improvements in statistical methodology (Fama and Hansen). More
2. London-based HSBC, on Thursday, said it would exit its retail broking business in India, the latest global bank to scale back operations in the country.
3. China’s economy grew by 7.8 per cent in the third quarter, the fastest growth recorded this year so far.
4. Google’s stock surpassed the $1,000 mark for the first time
5. The World Bank has lowered its forecast for India’s economic growth in the current fiscal year to 4.7 per cent from 6.1 per cent it had projected in April.The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook, slashed India’s growth forecast to 4.25 per cent for the current fiscal.

Env & Ecology

Science & Tech

1. The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended scale-up of the pentavalent vaccine across the country, along with activities to monitor potential adverse effects.The pentavalent vaccine simultaneously provides protection against the five life threatening diseases — Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Hib (Haemophilus influenza type b). DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) and Hepatitis B are already part of the national routine immunisation programme. Protection against Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib), which causes severe pneumonia, meningitis and other life-threatening conditions in children less than five years of age, is a new addition.The pentavalent vaccine, which is being used in 188 countries, is an important tool to reduce under-five mortality in India. Its rollout in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Vietnam was briefly suspended to investigate concerns over a few deaths, but has since been re-introduced in all of these countries.
2. The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Dr. James E. Rothman, Dr. Randy W. Schekman and Dr. Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells

Nobel Prize 2013

Economics :

Economics Nobel Prize : Shared by Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen. Their work ranges from the foundations of modern finance (Fama) to defects in the mainstream models (Fama and Shiller) and improvements in statistical methodology (Fama and Hansen).

Economics Nobel Prize 2013

Medicine

• The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Dr. James E. Rothman, Dr. Randy W. Schekman and Dr. Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.

Economics – Oct 2013

1. Economics Nobel Prize : Shared by Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen. Their work ranges from the foundations of modern finance (Fama) to defects in the mainstream models (Fama and Shiller) and improvements in statistical methodology (Fama and Hansen).
   

   Economics Nobel Prize 2013

News : 1-7 Oct 2013

Appointments :

Resignations/Retirements

Obituaries

1. Tom Clancy, whose high-tech, cold war thrillers such as The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games made him the most widely read and influential military novelist of his time, has died.

Awards

Sports

International

1. A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal  awarded death penalty to Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a top ranking opposition leader, for murder and genocide during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
2. The Democratic-led Senate rejected the latest House Republican effort to negotiate on a spending bill stalled by conservative efforts to derail the health care overhaul.In a 54-46 party-line vote, the Senate turned aside a House request to name negotiators to a conference to resolve differences.
3. President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize by a Russian advocacy group for his key role in preventing a US missile strike on Syria and initiatives to dismantle Damascus’ chemical weapons.
4. Malaysian lawmakers approved changes to a crime-prevention law which could be abused by authorities to hold people without trial for years and negate the prime minister Najib Razak’s pledge to protect human rights.PM is criticized for introducing the changes less than two years after abolishing laws that had occasionally been used in past decades to hold political dissenters without charge. Legislators in Parliament’s lower house passed the changes to the Prevention of Crime Act after a heated debate. The changes must be endorsed by Parliament’s upper house and the country’s constitutional monarch before they can take effect, but they are unlikely to encounter resistance at those stages.

National

1. India and Sri Lanka will  ink an agreement for the execution of the 500 MW thermal power project at Sampur in Trincomalee at a cost of Rs. 4,000 crore.
2. India’s commercial export of power to Bangladesh commenced on Saturday with the inauguration of the Bangladesh-India Power Transmission Centre at western Bherampura, adjacent to West Bengal.India will export 500 megawatts of electricity a day to Bangladesh over a period of 35 years. A 125-kilometre transmission line, 40 km of it in Bangladesh, connects the two substations.
3. Inter-company LPG portability comes into force in 24 cities.
4.  SMS complaint cell at Thanjavur municipal office is the first such facility in the whole of Tamil Nadu .
5. A recommendation of the Election Commission (EC) for a “cooling off period” to bar top bureaucrats from joining politics or contesting polls immediately on exit from service has been rejected by the government which feels such a step will not be in harmony with the constitutional provisions.

Polity

Economics

1. Private insurer SBI Life Insurance on Thursday launched ‘Smart Power Insurance’ plan, which is designed to care for investor’s twin needs of insurance and investment.
2. The Yashwant Sinha-led Standing Committee on Finance has argued strongly against grant of banking licences to corporate houses . Stating that industrial houses may not be geared to achieve the national objectives of financial inclusion, it has recommended that banking and industry be kept separate.

Env & Ecology

1. A huge cluster of jellyfish forced one of the world’s largest nuclear reactors of Oskarshamn nuclear plant in southeastern Sweden to shut down by producing waves.

Science & Tech

1. Twitter revealed plans  to raise 1 billion dollars in an initial public offering, setting the stage for the most eagerly-awaited tech offering since Facebook’s over-hyped public launch in May 2012.
2. In a top-level reshuffle, software services major Wipro,, appointed Soumitro Ghosh as head of Wipro Infotech replacing Senior Vice-President and Business Head of Global Infrastructure Services Anand Sankaran, who quit the company hours before the rejig was announced.
3. Indigenously manufactured vaccine to prevent the deadly Japanese encephalitis.The vaccine being used at present is imported from China and the government often had problems with its procurement, but the domestically prepared vaccine would be readily available, both in the government-run immunisation programme and in the open market.Vaccination is part of the government’s National Programme for Prevention and Control of JE/AES.he new vaccine, JENVAC, available in single and double dose, has been manufactured by Genome Valley-based Bharat Biotech.

Culture

1. A monolithic stone idol of Lord Buddha belonging to the 6th A.D. was unearthed by a team of epigraphists at Kavinadu tank, the largest in the district

Higher Education

Introduction

India has a huge pool of potential young population as compared to other countries of the world but still on a sad demise its been a fact that only every seventh children went to college.Also nation has both crippling quality as well as quantity in terms of higher education.

For instance :

• In QS World University Ranking 2013, Indian university is not able to make its place in top most 200 colleges / universities of the world.
• India is at second position in terms of enrollment in higher education institutions (25 million in 2011-12)but still  has poor Gross Enrollment Ratio(GER) .In 2011-12 it is just 17.9 % as compared to average 30% across the world.US,Russia,Australia to name a few has GER as high as 85%.Highest being the Finland having around 95%.For this India’s Human Resources and Development Ministry has set a target to achieve GER to 30% by 2020.

Classification of HE

1. Form of presence (Universities,colleges,diploma granting institutions).
2. Field of study (General courses , Professional Courses)
3. Mode of Delivery (Classroom edu , Distance Learning).
4. Level of Study (UG ,PG , PhD , Diploma)

Challenge

• Expansion :
  • India has around 144 million population in the age group of 15-24.Of this around 25.9 enrolled in 2011-12 which is around 17.9 % GER.For achieving target of 30% enrollment should be around 45 million.
  • For today to accommodate around 25.9 million students there are in total 659 universities having 28% contribution of private institutions.Around 33 thousand colleges having 60% contribution by private players.
  • For achieving the target we need around 508 universities , 25 thousand colleges/institutions .
• Excellence : 
  • Faculty shortage
  • Less Accredited Institutions
• Equity 
  • There is wide disparity in the GER of higher education across states and the GER in urban and rural areas, and gender- and community-wise.

Cause of Deterioration condition

• Lack of private participation and lack of interest shown from government side is the root cause of this problem.
• Only 3% increase in percentage of pvt institutions in India between  2007-2012.

Achievements

• The private sector has played an instrumental role in this growth, with private institutions now accounting for 64% of the total
  number of institutions and 59% of enrollment in the country, as compared to 43% and 33%, respectively, a decade ago.
• The Government has planned expenditure of INR 1,107 billion on higher education during the Twelfth Five
  Year plan, 1.3 times higher than the planned expenditure in Eleventh plan.

Achievements in 11th Five Year Plan

In the Eleventh Plan, the planned expenditure on higher education was pegged at INR849.43 billion, a nine- fold increase over the Tenth Plan outlay of INR96 billion. However, actual expenditure on higher education was 45.6% (INR396.47 billion) of the planned expenditure

Access

1. Increase in GER
2. Increase in number of institutions
3. Increase in pvt institution

Equity :

1. Additional opportunities for minorities / low-income families
2. Support for backward areas

Quality

1. Overcoming some faculty shortages
2. Infrastructure development
3. Strengthening research and development activity.

Bills :

1. Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011 : The Bill aims to consolidate multiple regulations and improve transparency by the creation of a single super regulator, the National Commission for Higher Education and Research, in the place of existing regulators such as the UGC and AICTE.
2. The National Academic Depository Bill, 2011:The Bill seeks to establish a national database of academic awards in electronic format through an identified and registered depository.
3. The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010 : The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill aims to make accreditation and rating of all higher education institutions mandatory in India.
4. The Educational Tribunal Bill, 2010 : The Educational Tribunal Bill aims to expedite and enable more effective litigation involving students, teachers, employees and the management of institutions.
5. Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, 2010 : The Foreign Education Institutions Bill aims to regulate the entry and operation of foreign institutes in India. The Bill is a key legislation to encourage private sector participation in India, given the absence of any regulatory framework for FEIs.
   

12th Year Plans 

Excellence :

1. The Twelfth Plan emphasizes on leveraging technology for inter-institutional collaboration,innovation and faculty development to address challenges relating to infrastructure and faculty in India’s higher education system
2. A dynamic and international approach will be adopted by redesigning curricula, focusing on technical knowledge, initiating employability programmes, and aligning Indian education with international standards
3. Promotion and enhancement of research and innovation is a key focus area of the Twelfth Plan, to align research with the national development agenda and better serve the needs of industry and society.

Expansion : 

1. Government’s initiatives will focus on strengthening the infrastructure of Central and state institutions and on establishing research-based institutions.
2.  Private sector participation in the higher education system will be encouraged to provide greater financial flexibility through the relaxation/introduction of laws and regulations. Furthermore, there would be a focus on expanding the realm of higher education through ODL and skill-based programmes

Equity :

1. The Twelfth Plan proposes schemes and initiatives targeted at disadvantaged groups to address equality-related issues. The Plan has a flexible approach to embrace diversity and learning in Indian languages.

Governance :

1. Institutional differentiation, greater autonomy to institutions, decentralization of responsibility, and enhanced transparency in higher education are the key tenets of governance in the Twelfth Five Year Plan

Financing ,Implementing and Monitoring

1. The Plan provides for more public funding, sustainable levels of tuition fees and a more conducive environment for institutes to tap alternative sources of revenue and endowments.
2. Evaluation and monitoring systems will be strengthened by the creation of new institutional mechanisms and national databases.

Books – Oct 2013

• Cooperatives and socialism : A view from CUBA  :   Camila Pineiro Harnecker
• Parliament – Powers, Functions and Privileges: A comparative constitutional perspective : Advocate K S Chauhan

US Shutdown

Reasons :

• On Oct 1 2013 ,the US government has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget.Under U.S. law ,a new bill to approve funding for the next financial year is required, which must have been approved by the House of Representatives, and the Senate, and the president
• The core problem is that the Republican party controls the lower house, or House of Representatives, while the Democrats control the Senate.The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying Democratic President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform – dubbed Obamacare – as a condition for passing a bill.The Democratic-led Senate twice rejected bills from House Republicans that would have funded the government only if funding for President Obama’s healthcare law was delayed for a year.ITS a DEADLOCK.
• More than 700,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
• It is the first shutdown in 17 years.The US government has not undergone a shutdown since 1995-96, when services were suspended for a record 21 days.

Who will be Impacted : 

•  State department will be able to operate for limited time
• Department of defence will continue military operations
• Department of education will still distribute $22bn (£13.6bn) to public schools, but staffing is expected to be severely hit
• Department of energy – 12,700 staff expected to be sent home, with 1,113 remaining to oversee nuclear arsenal
• Department of health and human services expected to send home more than half of staff
• The Federal Reserve, dept of homeland security, and justice dept will see little or no disruption
• US Postal Services continue as normal
• Smithsonian institutions, museums, zoos and many national parks will close
• Under the shutdown, national parks and Washington’s Smithsonian museums will close, pension and veterans’ benefit cheques will be delayed, and visa and passport applications will go unprocessed.

Why it doesn’t happen in other countries :

The shutdown situation is a product of the U.S. democratic system. The President is both head of state and head of the federal government, without a guaranteed majority in either of the legislative bodies where new laws are debated and voted upon (because Presidents, congressmen and women and senators are elected separately). The President can’t simply ram laws through Capitol Hill.

How does the US shutdown row tie in with the debt ceiling battle?

The shutdown battle is about approving future spending. The debt ceiling is another problem facing Washington — America has a legal limit on its borrowing of $16.7tn dollars, and it’s likely to hit that point in mid-October.(17 Oct 2013)

If a deal isn’t reached, then America would run out of borrowing room, meaning the world’s biggest economy would default on its debts. Both problems need solving — and a shutdown would eat into valuable time to fix the debt ceiling.

Why can’t they just raise the debt ceiling?

It’s up to the House of Representatives and the Senate.And both are unpredictable.

Impact on Stock market : 

Moody’s, the rating agency, calculates that a two—week shutdown would cut 0.3% off US GDP, while a month—long outage would knock a whole 1.4% off growth

Affordable Care Act

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare 

• United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
• The ACA aims to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance, lower the uninsured rate by expanding public and private insurance coverage, and reduce the costs of healthcare for individuals and the government.
•  The law also requires insurance companies to cover all applicants within new minimum standards and offer the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions or sex.
•  The Congressional Budget Office projected that the ACA will lower both future deficits and Medicare spending

Opposed :

• Prominent conservative advocacy groups, Congressional and many state Republicans, certain small business organizations, and the Tea Party movement groups.
• The law will lead to disruption of existing health plans, increased costs from new insurance standards, and an increase in the deficit.