Haryana Public Service Commission

Haryana Public Commission is going to conduct the Preliminary Examination 2014 on dated 03.08.2014 for Haryana Civil Service & other other allied services

It is hereby announced for the general information of the candidates who have applied for the posts of HCS (Ex. Br.) & Other Allied Services Exam – 2014 against Advt. No. 8 published on 20.02.2014 in various newspapers that the Commission is going to conduct the HCS (Ex. Br.) & Other Allied Services Preliminary Examination – 2014 on 03.08.2014  (Sunday) in two sessions i.e. from 10.00 AM to 12.00 Noon and 03.00 PM to 05.00 PM at Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ambala.

Ministry of Environment and Forests
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ANIMAL SPECIES OF INDIA

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)is the world’s oldest global environmental organization, it includes both Nations and NGOs. IUCN releases red list in which animals are categories in various groups on the basis of their vulnerability. IUCN provides a methodology on the basis of which governments found out about the scale of vulnerability of particular plant or animal species. This classification contains total 9 groups.

Union Public Service Commission

Interview Schedule For Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Exam 2014

Exam Name: Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Exam 2014

Year: 2014

Union Public Service Commission

E-Admit Card: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2014

Amid uncertainty over the change in pattern of civil services examination, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)  started issuing admit cards to the aspirants for the civil services preliminary exam scheduled to be held on August 24. The UPSC has put up a link on its website for students to download e-admit cards for the prelims.

No change of Date or exam pattern has been mentioned in the link provided on the UPSC website.

A three-member government appointed Verma committee, which is looking into the demands of protesting students, has still not given it's opinion. There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the preliminary examination, these papers are also known as CSAT I and CSAT II. Aspirants have been protesting against the CSAT paper II, claiming it is unfair to rural and local language background students.

Angry with admit cards being issued for the Civil Service examinations without resolving some of their long-standing issues, a large number of aspirants residing around Delhi University North Campus on Friday allegedly resorted to violence, causing injuries to seven persons. The protesters allegedly set fire to a police vehicle and resorted to stone pelting. The police lobbed tear gas shells and made a lathicharge to disperse the crowd.

Exam Name: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2014

Year: 2014

Issue Date: 24-07-2014

End Date: 24-08-2014

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 July 2014

India, U.S., Japan joint naval exercise in Pacific

• India, the United States and Japan are embarking on joint naval manoeuvres in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday as part of the Malabar series of exercises. The exercise, in which 800 personnel from the Navy will participate, follows the U.S.’s strategic pivot to Asia — a doctrine that will result in the shifting of a bulk of American naval assets in the Asia-Pacific over the next decade.

• The shift in the U.S. military posture is seen as part of a new initiative to contain China. However, Indian officials say that India will exercise its “strategic autonomy” but will not participate in a U.S. led counter-China policy with Japan and Australia as partners.

• The Navy is fielding a frigate, a destroyer, and a supply vessel in the week-long exercise meant to focus on anti-piracy and anti-terrorism operations. The three countries earlier participated in joint exercises in 2009, and Singapore and Australia were also part of the manoeuvres in 2007. This exercise follows the Indra-14 drills that India and Russia held in the Sea of Japan.

World needs India to succeed: WB president

• The world was closely watching the new government in India and needed India to succeed in order to end extreme poverty by 2020, According to Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group.

• He also mentioned, If the ranking of India in Doing Business Report(DBR) was based just on Gujarat, [the country] would improve 50 places. So our hope is that what Mr. Modi did in Gujarat in improving the business environment is scaled to all of India, if that does happen, India will rise very quickly in the DBR rankings.

• WB will provide financial support to India worth $15-18 billion over the next three years.

• He added, “The world needs India to succeed. If India reaches its economic goals, several million people will be lifted out of poverty in a generation’s tim. This represents an historic opportunity [which is] critical not only for India but for the world if we are to end extreme poverty by 2020.”

West Asia: dialogue only viable option, says India

• India expressed “deep concern” over the escalation of conflict between Israel and Palestine. India also reiterated its joint stand — with IBSA and BRICS partners — to promote dialogue and understanding in Palestine and Israel.

• In a statement made at the 21st special session of the UNHRC — on the human rights situation in occupied Palestinian territory — India urged for an immediate ceasefire and called on both sides to resume dialogue.

• The solution to the “Palestine issue,” India said, should be based on relevant U.N. resolutions, the Arab Peace Plan and the Quartet Roadmap resulting in a “sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine within secure and recognised borders side-by-side at peace with Israel and with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Free Digital Magazine: Civil Services Mentor, July 2014

Issue : July 2014
Size: 3.31 MB
File Type: Zipped PDF
Publisher : UPSCPORTAL.COM 

Table of Contents:

Articles:

• Dynamics of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
• Transgender Community recognized as Third Gender
• IRNSS 1B
• Fiscal Deficit: Underlying reasons and Road ahead for India
• UN-IOC Accord for Sport for Peace
• Essay and Promo

Current Affairs:

• National Issues
• International Issues
• Economy
• India & The World
• Science & Technology
• Sports
• Awards & Prizes
• Persons in News

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 July 2014

'Force-feeding' by Shiv Sena MP's rocks Parliament

• Parliament was rocked over reports of 11 Shiv Sena MPs, incensed at not being served Maharashtrian food, forcing a Muslim catering supervisor to break his Ramzan fast at the New Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi.
• Opposition MPs protested in both Houses of Parliament, even as Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu dismissed the allegations as “unsubstantiated”.

Whistleblowers to get security from govt

• Whistleblowers or people exposing corruption can get security from the government, The government has authorised Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) of ministries or departments of the Central Government as designated authority to receive any written complaint or disclosure on any allegation of corruption or misuse of office in respect of any employee working under them.

• If the designated authority in the ministries or departments, either on the application of the complainant, or on the basis of the information gathered, is of the opinion that the complainant needs protection, the designated authority shall take up the matter with the Central Vigilance Commission for issuing appropriate directions to the authorities concerned.

• The Commission, after receipt of such reference from the designated authority, takes up the matter with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the nodal agency, to undertake the responsibility of providing security cover to the genuine whistleblowers.

Fewer girls-only families now, says report

• In the context of falling sex ratios in India, a United Nations report points to a new level of ‘daughter aversion,’ most starkly visible in the negligible number of girls-only families in some parts of the country.

• The report,“Sex Ratios and Gender Based Sex Selection, History Debates and Future Directions”, which reviews existing studies, says it’s time to look at girls-only families, which are starting to disappear — they are only two per cent in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

• Contemporary India is witnessing a highly gendered version of fertility decline in northwest India.

• Families are planning to have at least one son and at most one daughter. It points to institutions and personnel directly mediating sex ratios at birth, for example clinics and medical practitioners, as an important area for research.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 July 2014

We won’t bow our heads on border issue: Defence Minister

• There have been as few as 19 ceasefire violations from the Pakistani side between May 26 and July 17.
• Amongst all the years from 2004 onwards, the number of violations was [highest] in 2013. This year, compared to 2013, they are slightly less.
• Mr. Jaitley said the government’s policy had been to take action proportionate to the extent of ceasefire violation; Where retaliations are required, retaliations are done; where preventive actions are required, preventive actions are done; where the tensions can be diluted by dialogue between the DGMOs, which is done on a weekly basis, it is done on that basis.

Govt may consider reducing age of juveniles

• The government may consider the suggestion of reducing the age of juvenile and requested Ministry of Women and Child Welfare to look into it.
• Juvenile’s age comes under the ambit of Women and Child Welfare Ministry.
• Debates have been going on in different fora whether to reduce the age of juvenile from 18 years as there were reports of crime against women in the past where juveniles were found to be involved.

New national policy for senior citizens under finalisation: Govt

• Government has informed the loksabha that The new National Policy for Senior Citizens is under finalisation.

• Keeping in view the changing demographic pattern, socio-economic needs of the senior citizens, social value system and advancement in the field of science and technology over the last decade, the National Policy on Older Persons, 1999 has been reviewed and the new National Policy for Senior Citizens in under finalisation.

• In order to improve the living standard of senior citizens, different ministries and departments of the Government of India, along with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment are implementing various welfare schemes.

India home to one in every three child brides in world: UN

• According to a United Nations report, India has the sixth highest prevalence of child marriages in the world, with one in every three child bride living in India.
• Child marriage among girls is most common in South Asia and sub—Saharan Africa and India is among the top 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage.
• Worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children or before their 18th birthday.
• In India, about 27 per cent of women aged 20 to 49 years were married before age 15. About 31 per cent of women in that age group were married after age 15 but before they turned 18.
• The report added that in India, the median age at first marriage is 19.7 years for women in the richest quintile compared to 15.4 for the poorest women.

Union Public Service Commission

Combined Defence Services Examination (II) (CDS) - 2014

Name of the Course and Approximate No. of Vacancies

Educational Qualifications:

Union Public Service Commission

Combined Defence Services Examination (II) (CDS)

:: Important Dates ::

Union Public Service Commission<

Union Public Service Commission

Combined Defence Services Examination (II) (CDS)

:: Exam Centre ::

Union Public Service Commission<

Union Public Service Commission<

Union Public Service Commission

Combined Defence Services Examination (II) (CDS)

:: Eligibility Conditions  ::

Educational Qualifications:

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 July 2014

No change in stand on Palestine: Govt.

• The Government on Monday asserted in the Rajya Sabha that India’s policy on the Palestine issue remains unchanged but stonewalled demands for a unanimous resolution on the Gaza conflict.
• Replying to a short duration discussion in Rajya Sabha on Monday, External Affairs Minister rebutted the Opposition’s call for suspension of all military purchases from Israel and raising the issue at the United Nations.
• She said “We fully support the Palestinian cause while maintaining good relations with Israel,”.
• Discussion took place under rule 176 under which no resolution can be taken.
• Stating the Government’s position on the conflict in Gaza, Ms. Swaraj said peace would have been restored by now had Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal from Egypt.
• Israel’s assistance to India during the Kargil war was very helpful, when it supplied much needed artillery shells at short notice.

Central government officials to declare assets under new Lokpal rules

• The Union government has notified rules on declaration of assets and liabilities of its employees under the Lokpal Act.

• Though system of declaration of assets and liabilities has been in vogue, the Lokpal Act seeks to systematise it with additional information.

• As per the new rules notified by the government, its employees have to file returns with details on cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advance given to a person or any entity, among others.

• The returns should give information about spouses as well. The employees’ need to declare motor vehicles, aircraft, yachts or ships, gold and silver jewellery and bullion possessed by them, their spouses and dependent children, according to the form.

• The employees also to have to give details of their immovable properties along with statement of debts and other liabilities on first appointment or as on March 31 of every financial year.

Government promises broadband facility in every village

• The Centre on Monday promised to extend broadband facility to every village in the country with the active cooperation of State governments.
• More than 1.34 lakh internet enabled centres have been set up in rural areas to promote and develop information technology in rural areas of the country.
• Problem of unavailability of bandwidth and regional language barrier have impeded thee-governance initiatives in India, government said availability of bandwidth to important places will be done on priority basis.
• Mobile web in regional languages also has many challenges such as character encoding, bandwidth cost, presentation issues, device limitations, lack of standardisation, fonts, backward compatibility with legacy devices, rendering issues, lack of availability for all characters, issue of multiple scripts, standardization of glyph support, syllable composition and logic dependency on implementation level of handset manufacturer.

Storm over Katju’s exposé

• Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju’s wrote in an newspaper that pressure from an alliance partner of the United Progressive Alliance forced three successive ex-Chief Justices of the apex court to give extensions to an additional judge of the Madras High Court.
• He has an adverse Intelligence Bureau (IB) report against him, kicked up a political storm on Monday with disruptions in Parliament.
• The Congress steered clear of the controversy despite the charge that the party gave in to an ally’s demands to save its government.

UPSC unlikely to cancel CSAT Test, Verma Panel views awaited

Even as the government awaits the Arvind Verma panel's views on the syllabus/pattern of the civil services examination, senior officials see little scope for a recommendation favouring scrapping of the contentious Civil Services Aptitude Test-II or a postponement of the August 24 preliminary examination. Government sources conceded that a more likely option to resolve the CSAT tangle is to reduce the weightage of questions relating to English comprehension in General Studies Paper II, which carries 200 marks in all.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 July 2014

Parliament to discuss Gaza violence today

• Rajya Sabha will have a short-duration discussion on violence in Gaza, where hundreds of people have lost their lives.
• The government was placed in a tight spot over its reluctance to hold a discussion on the issue even after the motion was admitted by the presiding officer.
• The discussion in Rajya Sabha will see the participation of Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jairam Ramesh, JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi and CPI(M)’s P. Rajeev among others.

IMD says monsoon deficit has come down to 31%

• The monsoon deficit has come down to 31 per cent with rains picking up in July across the country, giving relief to farmers.
• Central and northwestern India have been receiving deficient rainfall, but even in these parts the monsoon has been making progress.
• The monsoon is expected to remain good for the next two weeks in north, central, southern peninsula and eastern India.
• However, parts of northwestern India, which includes western Rajasthan and Kutch region, may still receive weak rainfall.
• In the next 24 to 48 hours, the weather system will bring in widespread good monsoon rains over Telangana, Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha. The rain belt will gradually shift to bring rest of Madhya Pradesh and adjoining Maharashtra under its purview. By July 22-23, a fresh weather system will bring rains over Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

Most rape victims in 2013 knew culprits: NCRB

• The report titled “Crime In India 2013” says that a total of 33,707 cases of rape were registered under Section 376 of the IPC in the year and in 31,807 cases (94.4 per cent) the culprits were known to their victims.
• According to the report, the cases of “incest rapes” too are on rise with 536 cases being registered in 2013 compared to 392 in 2012. Shockingly, most of the victims are in the age group of 10-18 years.
• This situation cannot be dealt with merely by enacting laws. Society has to take strong initiatives to deal with this situation.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 July 2014

An emotional outpouring on Bangalore streets

• Emotions ran high as hundreds of people, including college students and members of several organisations, parents and grandparents took part in a rally, demanding justice for the six-year-old who was sexually assaulted in a school in Marathahalli earlier this month.
• The parents have urged the police to ensure that the evidence is not tampered with. They have also sought speedy trial of the accused in fast-track courts. The 10 demands also include police seeking answers from the management over the punishment meted out to the six-year-old, by keeping her in a dark room where the alleged crime is said to have taken place.

Modi government to go with UPA policy on FDI in retail

• The Narendra Modi Government is unlikely to rescind the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for multi-brand retail that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had notified.
• The decision to continue with the UPA Government’s policy has been taken as the Centre does not want to deny the freedom of choice that the notified FDI rules gives to States for choosing whether or not to let foreign retailers set up shop.
• The Modi Government also decided to carry on with the UPA Government’s initiative of Aadhaar card for targetted schemesbut new Government will issue Aadhaar numbers to Indian citizens only.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 July 2014

Special court to hear coal scam cases: SC

• The Supreme Court decided to set up a special court to try cases arising from the coal block allocation scam and also appoint a special public prosecutor to lead the cases there.
• The petitioner NGO common cause and CBI both accepted the name of Gopal Subramanium as the special prosecutor.
• Court on Friday issued notice to seven private and public sector companies on central government’s plea seeking transfer, to apex court of all cases, challenging the cancellation of coal blocks allocated to them, pending before various high courts.

GEAC clears field trials for GM crops

• The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has given the green signal for field trials of genetically modified (GM) rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and brinjal.
• While the GEAC has approved the commercial release of Bt brinjal it has been stayed by the Ministry of Environment and Mr. Pande said the government would have to take a decision on this.
• The only genetically modified crop approved for release in India is cotton.
• Three companies - Bayer Bio Sciences, Monsanto and BASF have been allowed to import the Soyabean oil, which is genetically modified. The last time Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), gave a clean chit to imported samples.