Iasguru's blog

Uttarakhand PSC : Question Paper of Assistant Geologist (Scientific Branch) Exam - 2013

Uttarakhand Public Service Commission

Question Paper of Assistant Geologist (Scientific Branch) Exam-2013

Exam : Assistant Geologist (Scientific Branch) Exam-2013

Booklet : Set A

File Size : 265 kb

Publish Date: 20-02-2014

Click Here To Download Paper

RPSC - Marks of R.A.S. (Mains) Exam - 2012

Rajasthan Public Service Commission

Marks of R.A.S.(Mains) Exam -2012

 

The Gist of Press Information Bureau (PIB): February 2014

The Gist of Press Information Bureau: February 2014

INDIA AND VIETNAM SIGN TREATY ON TRANSFER OF SENTENCED PRISONERS

The Union Home Minister Shri Sushil kumar Shinde and Minister of Public Security of Vietnam Mr. Tran Dai Quang signed here today a treaty on transfer of sentenced prisoners. The Treaty will help the Indian prisoners imprisoned in Vietnamor viceversa to be near their families for serving remaining part of their sentence. This would facilitate the process of their social rehabilitation.

The Government of India has so far signed such Agreements with the Governments of U.K., Mauritius, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Bangladesh, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sri Lanka, UAE, Maldives, Thailand, Turkey, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel and  Russia. Negotiations have also been concluded with the Government of Canada, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Spain. These treaties have helped in repatriation of 43 Indian prisoners from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and UK. Similarly 7 prisoners of UK and France where repatriated to their respective countries.

The Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention ofCrime and the TreatmentofOffenders adopted the Model Agreement on the Transfer of Foreign Prisoners in 1985 and since then many countries have arrived at bilateral and multilateral treaties. The Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003 was enacted for achieving the above purpose. For achieving the objectives of the Act, a treaty is required to be signed with countries having mutual interest on this matter.

In addition to the above, the two Ministers also heldbilateral talks onsecuritymatters, issues of training, capacity building, cyber security, cyber crime, trans-national crime, terrorism and disaster management. They reiterated the resolve of both the countriesofworking together ondifferent issues ofmutual interest.

Selected Articles from Various News Paper: Civil Services Mentor Magazine February 2014

SELECTED ARTICLES FROM VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS & JOURNALS

(February 2014)

The challenge of 5 per cent growth

India’s GDP grew at 4.8 per cent for the second quarter of the current year, July-September 2013. The data, released by the Central Statistics Office on Friday, are entirely in line with expectations. Together with the 4.4 per cent clocked in the first quarter, which marked a four-year low, economic growth during the first half of the year has been a meagre 4.6 per cent. Policymakers are banking on much higher growth rates — in the vicinity of 5.5 per cent — during each of the remaining quarters to pull the economy out of the sub-5 per cent growth trajectory. In 2012-13, the economy grew by 5 per cent, the lowest annual rate of growth in a decade. Companies shelved their investment plans in an uncertain and often adverse policy environment, while consumers cut back on spending in the face of high borrowing costs. The challenge has been to revive investment demand and spur consumer spending. There are no easy answers. Great significance is attached to the clearance of stalled and new projects by a special cabinet committee. However, it is too early to measure outcomes. Persistently high inflation and well-entrenched inflation expectations have dragged consumption down.

A more optimistic view is that the economy has seen its worst, and from now on a recovery is quite possible. Supporting this view is the mild upturn in industry and a sharp pick-up in agriculture. Industry rose by 2.4 per cent in the second quarter from a meagre 0.2 per cent in the previous quarter, on the back of improvement in the core sectors of mining, utilities and construction. The revival in exports has certainly helped in achieving a turnaround in manufacturing. It grew by 1 per cent in the second quarter compared to a decline by an identical margin in the first. Yet, too much should not be read at this stage into the improvement in this critical sector. However, agricultural growth — at 4.6 per cent compared to 2.7 per cent in the April-June quarter — might well be sustained and in fact spearhead overall recovery in the latter part of the year. The biggest dampener, however, is likely to be in one important sub-sector of services — community, social and personal services. Often considered to be a proxy for government spending, its growth rate has slumped to 4.2 per cent from 9.4 per cent in the first quarter. The government has the unenviable task of reining in fiscal deficits to within 4.8 per cent without drastically cutting down on essential government spending. Without this, a growth rate of 5 per cent or more will be unattainable.

An economic agenda for India 2020

Setting a 2020 Perspective Economic Agenda for India requires clarity about the framework within which economic policy choices have to be made. There is a wide global consensus today that democracy and competitive market economy provide that framework. Democracy is a system of governance by consent of the people. Democracy has become the trend, the accepted system of government globally, and it is spreading worldwide. Furthermore, devolved democracies better manage contradictions and conflicts arising out of a heterogeneous society and provide effective feedback through an independent press to enable corrective action by the government. It empowers people to question the authorities and make them accountable in an election.

Moreover, the comparative economic results in East and West Germany, North and South Korea, China before reform and China now, have conclu-sively proved that a competitive market system driven by incentives is superior to a coercive, state-controlled system, and that transparent democracy is a better system of governance than a closed dictatorship.

With the disintegration of the USSR into 16 countries in 1991, the comparative economic development theory has changed its focus from a study of alternative systems to alternative governance models of democracy, market system and globalisation, that is, change of focus from dictatorship vs. democracy, and state ownership vs. competitive market, to harmonising freedom and choice, with regulation, and how much public sector and how much private, and how the emancipating and enabling power of democracy is to be balanced with the development of a profit-driven and competitive efficient market — what regulatory democratic institutions must do to promote the efficient allocation of resources with good, transparent and accountable governance.

(Syllabus) Punjab PSC Prelim Examination (Chemistry)

Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC)

Preliminary Examination Syllabus - Chemistry

Section - A (Inorganic Chemistry)

1.1 Atomic structure.—Schrodinger wave equation, significance of Y1 and Y2, quantum numbers and their significance, radial and angular probability, shapes of orbitals, relative energies of atomic orbitals as a function of atomic number. Electronic configurations of elements; Aufbau principle, Hund’s multiplicity rule, Pauli exclusion principle.

1.2 Chemical periodicity.—Periodic classification of elements, salient characteristics of s, p, d and f block elements. Periodic trends of atomic radii, ionic radii, ionisation potential, electron affinity and electronegativity in the periodic table.

1.3 Chemical bonding.—Types of bonding, overlap of atomic orbitals, sigma and pi bonds, hydrogen and metallic bonds. Shapes of molecules, bond order, bond length, V.S.E.P.R. theory and bond angles. The concept of hybridization and shapes of molecules and ions.

1.4 Oxidation states and oxidation number.—Oxidation and reduction, oxidation numbers, common redox reactions, ionic equations. Balancing of equations for oxidation and reduction reactions.

1.5 Acids and bases.—Bronsted and Lewis theories of acids and bases. Hard and soft acids and bases. HSAB principle, relative strengths of acids and bases and the effect of substituents and solvents on their strength.

1.6 Chemistry of elements :

(Syllabus) Punjab PSC Prelim Examination (Botany)

Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC)

Preliminary Examination Syllabus - Botany

1. Cell Biology.—Structure and function of cell wall (extra cellular matrix or ECM), cell membrane and cell organelles. Nucleus, nucleolus, nuclear pore complex (NPC), chromosome and nucleosome. Mitosis, meiosis, molecular control involving checkpoints in cell division cycle. Differentiation, cellular senescence.

2. Genetics, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.—Laws of inheritance. Concept of gene and allelomorph. Linkage, crossing over and gene mapping. Structural and numerical changes in chromosomes and gene mutations. Sex determination and differentiation. Structure and synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins. Genetic code. Regulation of gene expression. Genetic engineering and crop improvement. Protoplast, cell, tissue and organ cultures. Somatic hybridization. Biofertilizers and biopesticides. Biotechnology in agrihorticulture, medicine and industry.

3. Tissue Systems.—Origin, development, structure and function of primary and secondary tissues.

14th Finance Commission: Gender Issues: Civil Services Mentor Magazine - February 2014

14TH FINANCE COMMISSION: GENDER ISSUES

Gender Budgeting is a powerful tool for achieving gender mainstreaming so as to ensure that benefits of development reach women as much as men. It is not an accounting exercise but an ongoing process of keeping a gender perspective in policy/ programme formulation, its implementation and review. GB entails dissection of the Government budgets to establish its gender differential impacts and to ensure that gender commitments are translated in to budgetary commitments.

The rationale for gender budgeting arises from recognition of the fact that national budgets impact men and women differently through the pattern of resource allocation. Women, constitute 48% of India’s population, but they lag behind men on many social indicators like health, education, economic opportunities, etc. Hence, they warrant special attention due to their vulnerability and lack of access to resources. The way Government budgets allocate resources, has the potential to transform these gender inequalities. In view of this, Gender Budgeting, as a tool for achieving gender mainstreaming, has been propagated.

UPSC : Indian Police Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules 2014

Indian Police Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules 2014

New Delhi, the 28th January 2014

G.S.R. 6$(E). In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the All India Services Act, 1951 (61 of 1951), the Central Government, in consultation with the Governments of States concerned, hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Indian Police Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954. namely :-

1.(I) These rules may be called the Indian Police Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules, 2014.

UPSC : Indian Forest Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules 2014

Indian Forest Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules 2014

New Delhi, the 28th January 2014

G.S.R. 69(E),—In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the All India Services Act, 1951 (61 of 1951), the Central Government, in consultation with the Governments of States concerned, hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Indian Forest Servicp (Cadre) Rules, 1966, namely :

1.(1) These rules may be called the Indian Forest Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules, 2014.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the Indian Forest Service (Cadre) Rules, 1966,-

(a) for rule.7, the following shall be substituted, namely:—

(Answer Key) UPSC CAPF (ACs) Examination, 2014

(Answer Key) UPSC CAPF (ACs) Examination, 2014

Exam Name: CAPF (ACs) Examination,

Year: 2014

Subject: General Ability & Intelligence

(Info) Rank Wise Service Allocation (CSE - 2012)

Rank Wise Service Allocation (CSE - 2012)

Total number of candidates selected = 911

(Nainital Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

(Nainital  Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

Name of Training Institution : Academy of Admin, Nainital

Name of the City : Nainital

Address : Uttaranchal Academy of Administration Adwell Camp Malital, Nainital

 

Go Back To Main Page

 

(Mussoorie Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

(Mussoorie  Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

Name of Training Institution : LBSNAA, Mussoorie

Name of the City : Mussoorie

Address : LBSNAA,Mussoorie-248179 (Uttaranchal)

 

Go Back To Main Page

 

(Ghaziabad Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

(Ghaziabad  Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

Name of Training Institution : Postal Staff College, Ghaziabad

Name of the City : Ghaziabad

Address : Postal Staff Collage CGO Complex, Gaziabad (UP).

 

Go Back To Main Page

 

(Lucknow Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

(Lucknow  Region) Government of India Training Institutes for IAS Officers and Civil Servants.

Name of Training Institution : U.P. Administration & Management Academy, Lucknow

Name of the City : Lucknow

Address : UP Administration and Management Academy Sector-D, Aliganj, Lucknow.

 

Go Back To Main Page

 

(Syllabus) Punjab PSC Prelim Examination (Agriculture)

Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC)

Preliminary Examination Syllabus - Agriculture

Agriculture, its importance in national economy. Factors determining agro-ecological zones and geographical distribution of crop plants.

Importance of crop plants, cultural practices for cereal, pulses, oilseed, fibre, sugar, tuber and fodder crops and scientific basis for these crop rotations, multiple and relay cropping, intercropping and mixed cropping.

(Syllabus) Punjab PSC Prelim Examination (General Studies)

Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC)

Preliminary Examination Syllabus - General Studies

The paper on General Studies will include questions covering the following fields of  knowledge.

Punjab’s Economy and People ; its Social, Economic and Cultural Institution ; its Language, its History, its Geography and Current Events.

General Science.

Towards Double-Digit Inclusive Growth: Civil Services Mentor Magazine - February 2014

TOWARDS DOUBLE-DIGIT INCLUSIVE GROWTH

India’s economy is headed in a new direction – striving to touch double-digit annual growth rates, and a sustainable, equitable and inclusive growth, taking into account the needs of all sections of society. Despite the current slowdown, the rapid economic growth attained over 2004-09 has raised high hopes that the Indian economy can grow at a double-digit rate. Here we explore the role of agricultural development in inclusive double-digit growth. What role will agricultural development play if the Indian economy is to grow in an inclusive and sustainable way at a double digit rate for three decades as China’s economy has done? Continued population growth and double-digit economic growth that is inclusive will drive up food demand rapidly and change its composition. Supply will have to increase and it will have a different composition.

Agricultural output can increase only through expansion of irrigation, investment, intensiûcation of input use, and by way of technical progress. Since intensiûcation of input use will run into diminishing returns, and since water availability is limited, technical progress will be the ultimate source of agricultural growth. What rate of total factor productivity growth (TFPG) in agriculture will be needed to sustain agricultural and economic growth? In an open economy, rising food demand can be met by imports, but natural and political economy constraints limit the proportion of food that can be imported without putting the food security of the huge population of India at risk.

Indian agriculture is also considered to be vulnerable to the threat of climate change, which is expected to lead to global price increases and make reliance on imports less acceptable.

Will accelerating productivity growth and sustained expansion of irrigation supportthe higher agricultural growth needed? Will domestic agriculture be able to provide the required food in the long term, say over the next three decades? Or will limits to agriculture growth impose limits to economy-wide consumption and/or income growth? What will be the role of imports? These are the speciû c questions we address here.

The Approach

We explore these questions using a multisectoral, inter-temporal programming model that has the needed structure and features for addressing these issues. It has 28 sectors, of which 15 are agricultural (for details, see Parikh et al 2011). Crop production from irrigated and unirrigated land is distinguished so that there are 40 production activities. Land allocation to different crops is done within the constraint of 140 mha of net cultivated area and the available irrigation capacity. The model covers the whole economy and captures macro feedback and ensures macro balances.

It has 20 consumption classes, 10 rural and 10 urban. Of these, ûve classes in each sector are at much higher consumption levels than observed today and will be the ones into which the population will move as its income increases. Each class has its own expenditure system. Income distribution is determined for every period endogenously, depending on the level of aggregate consumption and prescribed parameters of the log normal income distributions for rural and urban consumption. Rural people migrate to urban areas depending on the relative gross domestic product (GDP) from agriculture and non-agriculture. A particularly important feature of the model is a demand system that can predict the consumption behaviour of classes at much higher income levels where income elasticities of demand for food will be much lower than today.

The possibilities of imports and exports provide some û exibility in sectoral composition. The scenario will be affected by whether consumption or GDP is maximised.The model in most scenarios maximises the present discounted value (PDV) of private consumption over 10 time points four years apart. If growth is to be inclusive, we should maximise private consumption. The base year is 2007 and the last year is 2039. We develop various scenarios that provide alternative possible futures for the economy and its agriculture. They are not predictions, but tools to explore the economic consequences of alternative assumptions.

The Results

The Reference Scenario In the reference scenario (RS), we take trend values of critical variables. An important concern is how fast technical progress increases productivity. Technical progress is widely recognised as an important driver of economic growth. Output can be increased by investing more capital, employing more labour, cultivating more land, or by using more inputs. TFPG measures the increase in the productivity of factors such as land, labour, and capital. It indicates that output will increase by TFPG with the same levels of factors. In the model, TFPG is incorporated as the rate at which capital/ output ratio goes down and the rate at which yield per hectare increases for the same levels of inputs.

Thailand in Crisis: Civil Services Mentor Magazine - February 2014

THAILAND IN CRISIS

The proximate cause for the latest wave of protests which has swept through Bangkok since October was the ruling party’s attempt to ram through legislative changes that would have benefited the former prime minister and deeply polarising figure of Thaksin Shinawatra. However, the demonstrations reflact a deep divide in Thai society according to class, region and ideology, a divide which has developed over the past half century as growth has centred on Bangkok while the rural north and east have been left behind.

What started the protests?

Demonstrations kicked off in November after Thailand’s lower house passed a controversial amnesty bill, which critics said could allow former leader Thaksin Shinawatra to return without serving time in jail. Mr Thaksin, one of the most polarising characters in Thai politics, was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He now lives in self-imposed exile overseas, but remains popular with many rural voters. The amnesty bill, which was proposed by his sister Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party, was eventually rejected by the Senate. However, anti-government protests have continued.

Who are the protesters?

The protesters are united by their opposition to Mr Thaksin, and their belief that he is still controlling the current Pheu Thai government. The demonstrations are being led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former Thai deputy prime minister who resigned from the opposition Democrat Party to lead the rallies. The protesters tend to be urban and middle class voters. Around 100,000 rallied in Bangkok on 24 November, although turnout then dropped. The protests were largely peaceful for the first week but turned deadly when violence broke out near a pro-government red-shirt rally on 30 November. At least eight people have been killed since. There was a pause in the protests to mark the 86th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Protesters, however, vowed to continue their demonstrations after the royal celebration and later returned to the streets, albeit in smaller numbers.

The Gist of Kurukshetra: February 2014

The Gist of Kurukshetra: February 2014

SUPPLY-SIDE CHALLENGES OF THE NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY BILL

Removal of malnutrition and hunger from the country is not only socially desirable but also necessary for improving overall economic development, as healthy people contribute more to the economy with their relatively higher level of productivity and efficiency. Hunger andmalnutrition put enormous cost burden on the society. A World Bank Report states that malnutrition brings down three percent of country’s GDP annually. Various survey reports indicate that in spite of relatively higher GDP growth achieved during the neo-liberal policy regime, hunger and malnutrition among a majority of Indianpopulation still persists.National Family Health Survey (2005-06) reveals that the percentage of aneamic ever-married women in the age group 15-49 has increased from 53.9 in 1998- 99 to 58.2 in 2005-06 in rural areas and from 45.7 to 51.5 in urban area.

Similarly, percentage of aneamic children has also increased from 75.3 to 81.2 in rural areas and 70.8 to 72.7 in urban area between the same periods. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) report on hunger ranks India at 67 out of 81 countries, slightly above Bangladesh and below all other South Asian countries. In Global Food Security Index, India ranks 66 out of 105 countries. It is inthis context that theNational Food Security Bill (NFSB) assumes significance as it gives legal right tosubsidised food grain to67% of India’s population (75% of rural and 50% of urban households) and alsomakes provision for nutritious meal to pregnant and lactating mothers and children. Assuming no leakages in the distribution system, we can argue that the demand-side constraints in the food accessibility of the intended beneficiaries would largely be removed after the execution of the NFSB. However, supply-side constraints may have serious implications for maintaining the food security.This paper, therefore, focuses onthe supply-side challenges of the NFSB.

An Overview of NFSB

In recent years, the Government of India has taken several initiatives towards ensuring rights and entitlements of citizens of the country. The

NFSB is one of them. Its objective is “to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity”. It provides legal guarantee to 75%of rural and 50% of the urban population to get five kg food grains per month at Rs.3, Rs.2, Re1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains, respectively. The poorest of the poor continue to be covered under Antyodaya Anna Yajana (AAY) and get 35 kgs food grains per month. It also makes provision for pregnant women and lactating mothers to get nutritious meals and maternity benefit of at least Rs.6000for sixmonths. As per theNSSOsurvey 2009-10,monthly per capita consumption of cerealswas about 11.35 kgs in rural and 9.37 kgs in urban areas. Thus, the NFSB meets approximately 50 percent of cereal requirement of eligible households. ‘

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Iasguru's blog