A combined competitive examination for recruitment to the Services/ posts mentioned in para 2 below will be held by the Union Public Service Commission at AGARTALA, AHMEDABAD, AIZAWL, ALIGARH, ALLAHABAD, BANGALORE, BAREILLY, BHOPAL, CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI, CUTTACK, DEHRADUN, DELHI, DHARWAD, DISPUR, GANGTOK, HYDERABAD, IMPHAL, ITANAGAR, JAIPUR, JAMMU, JORHAT, KOCHI (COCHIN), KOHIMA, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MADURAI, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PANAJI (GOA), PATNA, PORT BLAIR, RAIPUR, RANCHI, SAMBALPUR, SHILLONG, SHIMLA, SRINAGAR, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, TIRUPATI, UDAIPUR AND VISHAKHAPATNAM commencing on 14th May, 2011 in accordance with the Rules published by the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) in the Gazette of India Extra- ordinary dated the 8th January, 2011.

THE CENTRES AND THE DATE OF HOLDING THE EXAMINATION AS MENTIONED ABOVE ARE LIABLE TO BE CHANGED AT THE DISCRETION OF THE COMMISSION. WHILE EVERY EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO ALLOT THE CANDIDATES TO THE CENTRE OF THEIR CHOICE FOR EXAMINATION, THE COMMISSION MAY, AT THEIR DISCRETION ALLOT A DIFFERENT CENTRE TO A CANDIDATE WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES SO WARRANT. CANDIDATES ADMITTED TO THE EXAMINATION WILL BE INFORMED OF THE TIME TABLE AND PLACE OR PLACES OF EXAMINATION.

The 16th SAARC (South Asia association of Regional Cooperation) summit concluded in the capital of Bhutan. The theme of the summit was “Towards a green and happy south Asia”. South Asia is the home of 1.5 billion people, which comprise eight nations, namely India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. This is the silver jubilee year of SAARC. According to a World Bank report the 2/3rd people of south Asia live on less then 2 dollar per day. Certainly, it is far behind from the other regional organizations when compared about the progress and development of the region.

In the summit, the leaders of member countries rightly raised this issue. First, our Prime Minister, Man Mohan Singh called the 25-year long journey of SAARC, “a glass half empty” then Bhutan’s PM Jigmi Y Thinley said that SAARC is losing its focus from core issues, such as poverty, food security etc. In one sense these statements are true, as there are many bilateral issues between member countries which used to affect the multilateral efforts and initiatives of the developments, e.g. India-Pakistan relations have always overshadowed the SAARC summits and this time also the summit started with the huge speculations of Indo-Pak meets at the sidelines of the summit. Though, according to SAARC charter, bilateral issues cannot be raised on its forum, still the mere possibilities of Indo-Pak high level meet used to occupy a lot of space of the summit’s unofficial or official agenda. This fact is clear through the comment of Mohammad Nasheed, president of Maldives, he said, “the summit will lead to a greater dialogue between India and Pakistan”. The state heads of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan also expressed the similar views. President Nasheed also asked for the more focus on important issues which are related to SAARC nations and their problems which used to be overshadowed by the Indo-Pak stern relation.

One more issue, which has maintained gap between members, is the “India factor”. India has geographically, economically and politically a big brother image among the rest member countries of SAARC. All the nations of south Asia are connected geographically with India (Afghanistan through POK). Only Maldives, the island nation has no land connectivity with India. This big brother image has always raised negative thoughts and fears among the other members, the political parties have frequently used the anti- India card to raise the public emotions, e.g. in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and off course Pakistan. This insecurity has provided a suitable opportunity for big powers to intervene in south Asia. Besides, ethnic, language, border and water disputes between the members, it has also created set-backs among bilateral and multilateral relations.

Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC)

MPSC State Services Examination 2011
Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) is a Constitutional Body established Under Article 315 of Constitution of India which provides a smooth and efficient functioning of the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) by providing suitable candidates for various Government posts and advise them on various service matters like formulation of Recruitment Rules (RR), advise on promotions, transfers and disciplinary actions etc.

For the past decade as Indian industry went places, recording a hearty rate of growth, the story of Indian agriculture remained an also ran. Successive governments have put in plenty of effort but the results were still weak. This is surprising as in the same period except for 2008, the monsoon went through one of the longest periods of regular annual rainfall pattern. Despite this favourable initial condition, the rate of growth of the agriculture sector has been low.The one spoilsport in the agriculture story was of course the stagnant rate of public investment. The state, hamstrung by vastly competitive demands on its resources, initially and also by the realisation that public investments in irrigation and others were not yielding quick results, moved the money elsewhere.