The Competition Master

Growing child labour cause of concern

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="5828" style="display: block;">                                          <ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Pointing to a rise in child labour in  domestic units, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights  (NCPCR) is seeking to bring households under the ambit of labour laws.  India is estimated to have at least 13 million child labourers.  </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The problem of child labour poses a serious challenge to the  government. Despite several initiatives, the magnitude of the  socio-economic problem has come in the way of its eradication.  </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Many poor children in India work at the cost of their education,  spending their lives in poverty and dejection. But according to NCPCR,  most cases go unreported.  </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li style="text-align: justify;">NCPCR Chief Shanta Sinha says child  labour in any form has to be totally banned as it contradicts the spirit  of the Right to Education Act.  </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="text-align: justify;">As per 2001 Census figures, there are an estimated 13 million child labourers in the age-group of 5-14 years. </span></li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="text-align: justify;">Employers favour child labourers  as they come cheap and can be easily coerced to work extra hours. They  are in huge demand, specially in the diamond industry, fireworks  industry and the domestic sector which includes household units,  restaurants, dhabas and brick kilns. </span></li>
</ul><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Though  the central government has broadened the coverage of child labour laws  by banning children's services as domestic workers and as workers in  restaurants, dhabas, hotels, yet a lot of children across the country  continue to work in such units. </span></li>
</ul></div><a href="http://www.tippani.in/blog/xbusiness.php?submit=showComments&id=5828">                                             </a></div>

Growing child labour cause of concern

Pointing to a rise in child labour in domestic units, the National Commission for Protection of C...

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Djokovic wins Australian Open Men's Singles title

Djokovic wins Australian Open Men's Singles title

Serbia's World Number One Novak Djokovic bagged his second consecutive Australian Open Men...

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IAEA visit starts new round of engagement with Iran

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">A team of inspectors from the  International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has arrived in Tehran on  Sunday to start a new round of nuclear engagement with Iran which could  lead to talks involving the six global powers. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was optimistic about the  outcome of the visit by the IAEA team, led by Deputy Director General  Herman Nackaerts and the agency's number two Rafael Grossi. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>During his interaction with the media in Addis Ababa on Saturday,  Mr. Salehi also spoke about the prospects of progress in a possible  big-ticket dialogue between Iran and the six global powers — United  States, Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany.  </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Analysts say the visit by the IAEA team was more in the nature of a  preparatory dialogue for a full-fledged round of talks between Iran and  the P5+1 countries. Nevertheless, in the public domain, the inspectors  were combative in saying they would ask questions of Iran about the  possible military dimension of its nuclear programme. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Iranians, on their part, sought to focus on the covert war that had  been unleashed by their foes against their country, which had recently  spiked with the horrific killing of Ahmadi-Roshan, a young Iranian  nuclear scientist.</li>
</ul></div>

IAEA visit starts new round of engagement with Iran

A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has arrived in Tehran on Sunday to start a new round of nuclear en...

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The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant had received funds to the tune of over Rs. 55 crore

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">A special Home Ministry team has found that some organisations <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD8">involved</span> in the <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD6">protests</span> against the<strong>Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant</strong> had received funds to the tune of over Rs. 55 crore from “foreign sources,” Union<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD9">Minister</span> V. Narayanasamy . </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>“The special team from the <strong>Union Home Ministry</strong> visited the areas around Kudankulam and checked <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD10">the accounts</span> of some organisations, which were involved in the Kudankulam protests. It found that <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD3">money</span> to the tune of Rs. 54 crore for two oganisations and Rs 1.5 crore for another organisation have been received,” he told. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>“Some of the NGOs received the money from foreign sources,” the Minister of State in the<strong>PMO</strong>, said without elaborating. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Protests by locals raising concerns over the safety of the plant have delayed the commissioning work of unit 1 of the <strong>Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant</strong>, which was scheduled for December last.</li>
</ul></div>

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant had received funds to the tune of over Rs. 55 crore

A special Home Ministry team has found that some organisations involved in the protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant had ...

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Sachin Tendulkar wins Sir Garfield Sobers Award

Sachin Tendulkar wins Sir Garfield Sobers Award

Sachin Tendulkar capped a fine year with the most coveted cricketing reward in recent times ˜The Sir Garfield Sobers Cricketer of the Year’...

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India, Bangladesh Sign Power Plant Deal

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">India and Bangladesh signed an agreement for constructing a 1,320 MW power plant in Bangladesh. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Bangladesh's Power Development Board (PDB) signed the deal with  India's state-owned NTPC for the construction of the power plant in  Bagerhat, around 180 km from Dhaka. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The plant will be constructed by 2015, Xinhua reported. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>PDB chairman A.S.M. Alamgir Kabir signed the agreement with NTPC chairman Arup Roy Chowdhury.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Both countries will have an equal partnership in the plant.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The partnership deal comes as part of the Bangladesh government's  efforts to boost power generation to 15,000 megawatts by 2016 to improve  the country's nagging electricty situation.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">The Asian Development Bank last year  said Bangladesh was facing a large gap between electricity supply and  demand, estimated at over 1,200 megawatts a day.</li>
</ul></div>

India, Bangladesh Sign Power Plant Deal

India and Bangladesh signed an agreement for constructing a 1,320 MW power plant in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's Power Development Board (P...

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RBI to Reintroduce Second LAF

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">With liquidity deficit being way above  its comfort level, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it  will reintroduce a second LAF window to inject cash into the system. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The RBI operates Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) to help banks  manage their liquidity position. The central bank said it will have a  second LAF repo every Friday between 16:30 and 17:00 hours. At present,  RBI operates the repo (injection) and reverse repo (absorption) auctions  twice a day at 09:30-10:30 hours and 16:30-17:00 hours, respectively. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The second LAF repo has been reintroduced in response to suggestions  from market participants and provide flexibility to market participants  in their liquidity management, the RBI notification addressed to all  commercial banks said. It will be operated on <strong>every Friday evening starting February 10</strong> and in case of a holiday, it will be held on a working day preceding the set day, it said.</li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The system was in place earlier by middle of 2010 but was  discontinued after liquidity position improved. Banks have been  borrowing over <img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.siliconindia.com/images/rupeesymbols/rs.small.jpg" />1.2  lakh crore through the LAF window for the past one month, while RBI has  said that it was comfortable with overnight borrowing in the region of <img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.siliconindia.com/images/rupeesymbols/rs.small.jpg" />60,000 crore.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Alarmed over the liquidity deficit in  the system, it had slashed Cash Reserve Ratio or the percentage of  deposits banks have to park with the RBI, by 0.50 percent to 5.5 percent  which will inject additional <img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.siliconindia.com/images/rupeesymbols/rs.small.jpg" />32,000 crore into the system. </li>
</ul></div>

RBI to Reintroduce Second LAF

With liquidity deficit being way above its comfort level, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it will reintroduce a second LAF ...

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Protein Key to Storing Long-Term Memories

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Some billions of synapses connect our  nerve cells and keep our memories intact and alive for decades with the  help of self-copying clusters or oligomers of a synapse protein, a study  has revealed. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The finding is based on a study on fruit flies conducted by  neuroscientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas  University. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>It supports a surprising new theory about memory and may have a  profound impact on explaining other oligomer-linked functions and  diseases in the brain, including Alzheimer's disease and prion diseases,  the journal Cell reported.</li>
</ul><ul><li>"Self-sustaining populations of oligomers located at synapses may be  the key to the long-term synaptic changes that underlie memory," said  Kausik Si, associate investigator at the Stowers Institute. </li>
</ul><ul><li>In the new study, Kausik and his colleagues examined a Drosophila  fruit fly CPEB protein known as Orb2. Like its counterpart in Aplysia,  it forms oligomers within neurons (nerve cells). </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>"We found that these Orb2 oligomers become more numerous in neurons  whose synapses are stimulated, and that this increase in oligomers  happens near synapses," said Amitabha Majumdar, postdoctoral researcher  in Si's lab, who led the study.</li>
</ul></div>

Protein Key to Storing Long-Term Memories

Some billions of synapses connect our nerve cells and keep our memories intact and alive for decades with the help of self-copying cluster...

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India to grant $1.5 million for Vivekananda Chair

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="5836" style="display: block;">                                          <ul><li style="text-align: justify;">India will provide a grant of $1.5  million to the University of Chicago to establish a Vivekananda Chair  for Indian studies, as part of the initiatives to mark the 150th birth  anniversary of the 19th century luminary, Swami Vivekananda, and  polymath Rabindranath Tagore. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in this regard between Dean  of University of Chicago (UOC) Martha Roth and Joint Secretary in the  Ministry of Culture Sanjiv Mittal, in the presence of Finance Minister  Pranab Mukherjee. </li>
</ul><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Mr. Mukherjee on Sunday dedicated a plaque of Swami Vivekananda at  the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and inaugurated a Tagore art  exhibition here, to mark the 150th birth anniversaries of Swami  Vivekananda and Tagore. The grant is meant to honour Swami Vivekananda's  life and legacy and facilitate exchange of research scholars from/to  India.</li>
</ul></div></div>

India to grant $1.5 million for Vivekananda Chair

India will provide a grant of $1.5 million to the University of Chicago to establish a Vivekanand...

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RAPID GK SERIES 38

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">1. In India, the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India can be appointed by<br />
2. The Second Summit of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) was organized in April 2010 in<br />
3. Microwave Oven consumes less power due to<br />
4. The Compound formed by the Combination of Potassium Iodide and Common Salt is<br />
5. Chilka Lake is situated in<br />
6. Bagalihar Project lies on this river<br />
7. This National Leader founded the Political Party called œForward Bloc<br />
8. The abbreviation of UNCTAD is<br />
9. This is the Largest Fresh Water Lake in India<br />
10. In this Indian State, the Tribal Group Kolam is presented<br />
<br />
<i><strong>ANSWERS</strong></i><br />
<br />
1. The President of India<br />
2. Brasilia<br />
3. Shortwave Length of Radiation<br />
4. Iodized Salt<br />
5. Orissa<br />
6. Chenab River<br />
7. Subash Chandra Bose<br />
8. United Nations Conference on Trade & Development<br />
9. Wular Lake (Jammu & Kashmir)<br />
10. Andhra Pradesh</div>

RAPID GK SERIES 38

1. In India, the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India can be appointed by 2. The Second Summit of BRIC (Brazil, Rus...

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