The Competition Master

RAPID GK SERIES 12

RAPID GK SERIES 12

1. The CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2009 is 2. Indiaâ€™s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) dedicated to the aerospace industry has been launc...

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UN and Iraq sign pact to relocate Iranian exiles from Camp Ashraf

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"> The United Nations and the Iraqi Government signed an agreement to relocate Iranian exiles living in a camp in northeastern Iraq. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The U.N.'s office in Baghdad made an announcement to this effect yesterday. The Iraqi government has been insisting to close the camp by the end of this month. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Camp Ashraf has been the base of dissident Iranians led by the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The group moved to Camp Ashraf during the regime of Saddam Hussein and sided with Iraq in the war against Iran in the 1980s. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The camp, now home to 3400 dissident Iranians will be shifted to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad International Airport. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Under the agreement, UN High Commission for Refugees will monitor the relocation while Iraqi Government will be responsible for their security. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> UNHCR would decide the refugee status for the residents of Ashraf here. This is considered to be the first step toward resettlement to the third countries other than the native or the host countries. 
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UN and Iraq sign pact to relocate Iranian exiles from Camp Ashraf

The United Nations and the Iraqi Government signed an agreement to relocate Iranian exiles living in a camp in northeastern Iraq. Th...

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PM declares 2012 as “National Mathematical Year”

PM declares 2012 as “National Mathematical Year”

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has announced that the December 22, the birthday of Mathematical Genius Srinivas Ramanujan, will be...

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National Weight Lifting: Odisha’s Tikina Gopal wins three golds

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="5266" style="display: block;"> <ul><li style="text-align: justify;"> In the National Weight Lifting Championship at Brahmapur in Odisha, Tikina Gopal of Odisha won three golds in the 53 kg women category. She lifted the golds in snatch, clean and jerk and overall category.  
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Minati Sethy of Railways also achieved the same feet clinching three golds in the 58 kg category for women. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> In 62 kg category for men, Tirumrugam of karnataka won gold in snatch, Ramesh Kumar of Services own gold in clean and jerk and Rustam sarang of Chhatisgarh won gold in total. Rustam also won gold in the same category in the inter-state competition. 
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National Weight Lifting: Odisha’s Tikina Gopal wins three golds

In the National Weight Lifting Championship at Brahmapur in Odisha, Tikina Gopal of Odisha won ...

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Cabinet approves mandatory procurement from micro and small enterprises

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"> The government gave its nod to a procurement policy under which 20 percent of goods purchased by central ministries and public sector undertakings would be from micro and small enterprises (MSEs).  
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The  policy would become mandatory three years from now.  
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Government departments not conforming to the mandatory procurement would be required to provide reasons to a review committee set up for the purpose. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> MSEs include the khadi, village and coir industries; they constitute a major part of the sector that contributes significantly to GDP, manufacturing output and exports. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Under the policy, every central ministry and PSU will set an annual goal for procurement from the MSE sector at the beginning of the year with the objective of achieving overall procurement goal of minimum 20 percent of the total purchases of products and services from the MSEs.  
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Of the 20 percent target, a sub-target of four percent -- that is 20 percent of the 20 percent -- would be earmarked for procurement from the MSEs owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs 
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</ul></div>

Cabinet approves mandatory procurement from micro and small enterprises

The government gave its nod to a procurement policy under which 20 percent of goods purchased by central ministries and public sector und...

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Lok Sabha approves bill to raise capital of Exim Bank to Rs 10,000 cr

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="5275" style="display: block;"> <ul><li style="text-align: justify;"> The Lok Sabha today approved a bill to increase the authorised capital of Export Import Bankof India (Exim Bank) from Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.  
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The amendments to the Exim Bank Act 1981, also authorises the government to raise the authorised capital of the Bank in future through a notification. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> "The amendment will help the Exim Bank to promote its objective of raising exports...providing more letters of credit (LoCs) to exporters. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The Bank, set up in 1981, has a net worth of Rs 5,230 crore and Non-Performing Assets of 0.02 per cent, which is lowest in the financial sector, 
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</ul></div></div>

Lok Sabha approves bill to raise capital of Exim Bank to Rs 10,000 cr

The Lok Sabha today approved a bill to increase the authorised capital of Export Import Bankof ...

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2011: Year of satisfactory space missions

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"> During 2011, the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) launched eight satellites using its own rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and one communication satellite GSAT-8 through Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> However, the launch of Indo-French satellite Megha Tropiques to study the tropical weather system made India only the second nation in the world to launch such a space mission. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> India's most successful rocket, the PSLV, exceeded a half century of satellite launches when it slung four satellites into orbit in October. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The PSLV rocket has now launched successfully 52 satellites out of 53 it carried- majorly remote sensing/earth observation satellites both Indian and foreign- and has been a major revenue earner for ISRO. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The one failure happened in 1993 when the satellite was not able to reach its orbit. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> During the year, ISRO also decided on a detailed relook of its heavier rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) to carry communication satellites. This followed the loss of two rockets and the satellites in 2010. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> n order to augment the transponder capacity of Indian National Satellite (Insat) system, ISRO launched two communication satellites in 2011 - GSAT-8 and GSAT-12. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> With these two launches, ISRO-owned transponder capacity went up to 187, while it has leased 86 transponders. It is estimated there is an unmet demand for 170 transponders. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> , ISRO commissioned at Rs.14 crore country's fastest and its second supercomputer at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The new machine will be used by Indian space scientists for solving complex problems and studying computational fluid dynamics of ISRO rockets. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The year also saw the first batch of graduates from ISRO's own Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology inducted into service. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Outside of ISRO but in the space sector, 2011 saw students of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K), Anna University of Chennai and SRM University located near here winning the US space agency NASA's student competition in the foreign category, the Environmentally Responsible (Green) Aviation College Student Challenge. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Additionally, IIT-K and SRM University launched their small satellites-Jugnu and SRMSAT using the PSLV rocket during the year. City-based Anna University is the first Indian university to have fabricated a satellite,  Anusat, in 2009. 
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</ul></div>

2011: Year of satisfactory space missions

During 2011, the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) launched eight satellites using its own rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehi...

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India, Pak meeting on nuclear and conventional CBMs begins

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li> Senior Indian and Pakistani officials began two-day talks on nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures here as part of the peace process between the two countries. 
 
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<li> This is the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on nuclear and conventional CBMs since October 2007 though other officials, including the two foreign secretaries, have discussed these issues in recent meetings in Islamabad and New Delhi 
 
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<li> Among the issues that are expected to be discussed are CBMs related to Jammu and Kashmir and missile tests and steps to boost cross-LoC trade and travel 
 
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<li> In an apparent bid to strengthen its case for access to civil nuclear technology, Pakistan has been pressing the issue of civil nuclear cooperation with India, including a proposal to discuss measures to cope with a Fukushima-like situation. 
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<li> 
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<li> The 10-member Indian delegation includes diplomats who handle issues related to Pakistan and disarmament. D Bala Verma, Director General (disarmament and international security affairs) is leading the group on nuclear CBMs while Yashwant K Sinha, Joint Secretary (Pakistan,Afghanistan and Iran) heads the group on conventional CBMs. The Pakistani side is led by Additional Secretary Munawar Saeed Bhatti. 
 
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<li> This is the fifth round of expert-level talks on conventional CBMs and the sixth round on nuclear CBMs. The decision to re-convene the two groups was made when the two foreign secretaries met here in June this year. 
 
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<li> India and Pakistan resumed their dialogue process early this year after a gap of over two years in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. 
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</ul></div>

India, Pak meeting on nuclear and conventional CBMs begins

Senior Indian and Pakistani officials began two-day talks on nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures here as part of the pe...

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Civil nuclear co-op on agenda during Japanese PM's India visit

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="5283" style="display: block;"> <ul><li style="text-align: justify;"> India and Japan are expected to discuss civil nuclear cooperation during Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's two-day visit to India 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> Mr. Noda will arrive in New Delhi to participate in the Sixth Annual Summit between the two countries during which he will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> During their talks on Wednesday, the two leaders will discuss steps to enhance the India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> An official release from the Ministry of External Affairs said that the two Prime Ministers are expected to discuss the civil nuclear deal, negotiations over which are on for a long time, and review economic ties between the two countries. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;"> The discussions would also focus on the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan. 
 
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<li style="text-align: justify;">This is the first visit to India by the top Japanese leadership after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in March this year. India and Japan started negotiations on a civil nuclear deal in June, 2010 </li>
</ul></div></div>

Civil nuclear co-op on agenda during Japanese PM's India visit

India and Japan are expected to discuss civil nuclear cooperation during Japanese Prime Ministe...

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Manipur Legislative Assembly passes Lokayukta Bill

Manipur Legislative Assembly passes Lokayukta Bill

The Manipur Legislative Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Manipur Lokayukta Bill, 2011. The Bill seeks to establish the institu...

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