India test-fires ICBM Agni-5 successfully

India performed a successful test-fire of its indigenously developed nuclear capable "Agni-V" ballistic missile from a test range off Odisha coast. The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Wheeler Island near Odisha coast.

What is the significance of this launch of Agni-V?

• Agni V is considered to be of the category of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).
• The long range missile with a strike range of over 5,000 km is capable of reaching deep into China and Europe.
• Only the U.N. Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have the  capability to operate an ICBM at present.
• The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile programme developed primarily with a possible threat from neighbouring China in mind.

Some features of Agni V:

• Strike range of over 5,000 km.
• The surface-to-surface missile.
• Height: 17.5 m
• Diameter: 2 m
• 3-stage solid propellant missile.
• Warhead: Can carry a nuclear warhead
• Payload: 1500 Kg
• Speed: 24 Mach
• Manufacturer:   Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)
• The Agni V is the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agni, or Fire, series, part of a programme that started in the 1960s. Earlier versions could reach old rival Pakistan and Western China.

Did this launch encounter criticism from other nations?

The launch attracted none of the criticism from the West as faced by hermit state North Korea for a failed bid to send up a similar rocket last week. BUT China noted the launch with disapproval.

China's Global Times newspaper published: "The West chooses to overlook India's disregard of

nuclear and missile control treaties".

Chinese Communist Party's main mouthpiece the People's Daily published: "India should not

overestimate its strength”

Billion Dollar Question (Economics)

 If dollar weakens, oil price appreciates How? Relation between dollar and oil prices

Lets say today 1$=50 Rs and price of one barrel of oil is 100$.
Means, if you sell 1 barrel of oil, you get 100$ (or 5000 Rs.)
so by selling 1 barrel, you can buy stuff worth 5000 Rs. from Indian market.

But next week, dollar weakens and it stands at 1$=40Rs.
If you still sell your one barrel @100$ then you can buy stuff worth
Rs.4000 only. So what should you do to keep your profit margin same?...Obviously
increase the price of 1 barrel of oil to 125$. (because $125*40=5000 Rs.)

In short, dollar has weakened, means its purchasing power has declined in the international market. Now you can buy less stuff from Chinese, European or Indian market using that 1 dollar compared to earlier times, when Dollar was stronger.

Since you're selling your barrel in the dollar currency, you must increase the price of your oil-barrel to maintain your profit margin and standard of living the same. (else you'll have to cut down on your expenses like the chauffeur for your limo or the number of workers in your oil-well.)

Economics Made Easy

SENSEX calculation

Before venturing into SENSEX calculation, lets refresh basic concepts of Index calculation,

Suppose Price of a Lifebouy soap was Rs.10 in 2001.

And now it has increased to Rs.12 per bar.

We take 2001 as our base year.

We take Rs. 10 as our base price.

Then our index for 2001,

= Price of soap in 2001 divided by price of soap in 2001

=(10/10) x 100= 100%

Our index for 2011

=Price of soap in 2011 divided by price of soap in 2001

=(12/10) x 100=120%

The formula is essentially, "new price divided by old price"

Now for SENSEX

Base year : 1978-79 [to be specific, the price on 1st April 1979]

First the concept of- 

Free Float market Capitalization

1.    Kingfisher: suppose has total 1 lakh shares: 30,000 held by
       Malya and rest 70 thousand held by general public.
2.    Value of each share in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on 11 January 2012 is Rs. 150.

Now we first calculate a thing called “Free float Market capitalization” for Kingfisher, 
which is nothing but 
= Number of shares held by general public multiplied with Value of Each share on 
the given date in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
= 70 thousand x 150
= 105 lakh rupees
So Kingfisher’s Free float Market cap (FFMC) for 11 January 2012= 105 lakh rupees.

Like this kingfisher, you pick up total 30 companies, calculate their FFMCs, add them 
together.This number becomes our  “Price of lifebuoy”, say it is 15 crore rupees. (NEW PRICE)

And total Free floating market cap of 30 companies, on that 1st april 1979 was say                                                                                                  10 lakh rupees. (OLD PRICE)

So as we saw earlier, INDEX= new price divided by old price (% value)

Now SENSEX = Total Free float market cap (FFMC) of 30 companies 
today divided by Total (FFMC) of 30 companies on 1st April 1979
=(15 crores / 10 lakh) x 100
=15000
This 15,000 my friends, is the today’s SENSEX.

P.S. Actual formula not this linear.

Some points

• The 30 companies, in that list keeps changing. So 30 companies in today’s                                                                        SENSEX not necessarily included in 1979’s list. But we take their values.
• Actual SENSEX calculation involves minute technical-items such as

        “free float factor for each company” but it’s beyond the scope of

•  routine competitive exams. However curious souls can access it by clicking following http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/21bspec.htm
• Different companies have different 'weights' in the Index. 

          So calculation won't be directly new price by old price but weighted average,

          similar to how in WPI we assigned weights to different commodities.

• Total market capitalization =total number of shares of a company                                                                                                        (i.e. Malya+General public) multiplied with price of each share on given date.
• SENSEX from 1986 to 2003, was calculated on this Total market capitalization.                                                                                                    In 2003, they switched to Free Float Market Cap.
• The word SENSEX is  made by combining two words: Sensitive + Index.
• To find 30 companies check in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSE_SENSEX#Constituents

Dollex

• BSE’s dollar version of SENSEX.  [SENSEX is calculated on rupee values]

NIFTY

• SENSEX is calculated on 30 chosen companies. (Started in 1986)
• NIFTY is calculated on 50 chosen companies. (Started in 1995),                                                                                                   otherwise method is same.
• Similarly BSE 100= calculated on 100 companies, since 1989.
• PS: “years and dates” are not that important.

For more info can check out: mrunal-exam.blogspot.com

SC preserves constitutional validity of RTE Act 2009

Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009


What does RTE mandates?


By a majority view, a three-judge bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swantanter Kumar held that the RTE Act 2009 mandates 25% free seats to the poor in government and private unaided schools except unaided private minority schools uniformly in India (except the state of Jammu & Kashmir). RTE Act 2009 is NOT applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Upholding the provisions of the law, the Supreme Court held the impugned act should be construed as “child specific”.


Will Supreme Court’s ruling have a retrospective effect?


NO. The Supreme Court clarified that its judgement will come into force from April 12, 2012 and, thus it will not apply to admissions granted after the enactment of the legislation i.e. the judgement will only have a prospective affect and not retrospective affect.


What was the issue all about?

• Via introduction of Article 21(A) in the Constitution, the law was brought which held that the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children between 6 and 14 years in such a manner as the state may, by law, determine
• Thereafter, a lot of petitions were filed by private unaided institutions which had argued that the RTE Act violates the rights of private educational institutions under Article 19(1) (g) which provides autonomy to private managements to run their institutions without governmental intervention. The petitions had argued that the RTE Act was “unconstitutional” and “violative” of fundamental rights.
• To this the Centre defended the law, holding that it was directed at elating the socially and economically weaker sections of the society. The Centre had stressed the need to delink merit and talent from social and economic differences amongst various sections of society and held that, the Act calls for “moving towards composite classrooms with children from diverse backgrounds, rather than homogeneous and exclusivist schools”.

Billion Dollar Question (Geographics)

Earthquake hits Indonesia, Why No Tsunami?




A massive earthquake of 8.9 magnitude struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island on April 11, 2012. The focus of the quake was 29 km from the surface

Why tremors were experienced in several parts of India?

Types of Fault

Tremors were felt at faraway locations (India) because

Earthquake produces surface waves. These surface waves cause a lateral movement of the particles in the earth's medium. The earth behaves like an elastic medium when these seismic waves travel. Why unlike December 26, 2004 Earthquake, no Tsunami this time? First, Some basics on types of Faults: 1.Strike Slip Fault: Fault rupture of the ground generates vibrations-or waves-in the rock that we feel as ground shaking. Faults are weaknesses in the rock and therefore earthquakes tend to occur over and over along the same faults For strike-slip faults, the rupture is nearly vertical and during an earthquake one side slides past the other The fractured crust slides past each other laterally. 2. Normal Fault: This type of fault occurs when ground on one side moves down the dip of the fault relative to the adjacent ground. 3. Thrust Fault: In thrust fault ground on one side of the fault moves up and over adjacent ground. Now, why no Tsunami this time???? The basis why the 8.6-magnitude earthquake did not cause killer tsunami waves was the nature of the faulting. The December 26, 2004 earthquake was caused by a ‘Thrust Fault’. The April 11, 2012 earthquake was caused by a ‘Strike-Slip Fault’. In order to generate monster tsunami waves, there should be huge vertical displacement of the water column, which happens only in the case of a Thrust fault (like in the case of the December 2004 earthquake) or a dip-slip fault. A Strike-slip fault will generally not generate tsunami waves. Although the earthquake was a strike-slip fault, there should have been a small amount of oblique movement along the fault.

Current Affair

Current Affair for IAS » make test

Understanding the Hindu Editorial

The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010

.

Grounds so far on which divorce was applicable:

--Cruelty, mental disorder, conversion, desertion and mutual consent

Details of the Bill:

·    -- Seeks to amend parts of the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act

·    -- Irretrievable Breakdown new ground for divorce which means ‘The situation that exists when either or both spouses no longer are able or willing to live with each other, thereby destroying their Husband and Wife relationship with no hope of resumption of spousal duties’. In this ‘no-fault’ clause, either spouse can -seek a divorce after three years of separation without having to prove the failure of the marriage in court.

·    -- legally recognize a wife's right to property acquired by her spouse during their marriage but the quantum of share will be decided by courts on a case by case basis.

·      --  give rights to adopted children at par with biological off-springs in case the parents go for a divorce.

·        -- proposed waiver of the cooling period of six months i.e earlier to seek divorce by mutual consent, couples can file a case only after a year of separation, followed by a six-month cooling off time.

Controversy over the Bill:

·    --  women’s rights activists believe that the proposed amendments are still not strong enough to guarantee the rights of women.

·    --‘Irretrievable breakdown of marriage’, they feel, is a Western concept being imported without understanding the socially disadvantaged contexts of Indian women and will largely favour man.

·     --believed the move would allow Indian men to end marriages easily, leaving non-working women with just a meagre maintenance or alimony.

·    --applicable only to Hindus and those who marry under the secular Special Marriage Act, leave out minority communities.

Current affairs for IAS

General studies for IAS

Current Affair for IAS Prelims

1. Vladimir Putin has recently become Russia's president for which among the following terms?

First
Second
Third
Fourth


2. The main goal of Total Sanitation Campaign is to eradicate the practice of open defecation by __?

2015
2017
2020
2022


3. In context with agriculture, 2012 is being launched as the year of ___?

Green Manure
Organic Farming
Horticulture
Sericulture


4. Annual Elephant Festival was recently celebrated in which city of Rajasthan?

Jaipur
Jodhpur
Ajmer
Kota


5. Who among the following has won the Best actor Award in the 59th National Film Awards 2011?

Amir Khan
Nasiruddin Shah
Girish Kulkarni
Salman Khan


6. Ravi Shankar Sharma, popularly known as Ravi, who recently passed away was a __?

Musician
Painter
Film Director
Writer


7. Terry Wagon is known as a famous personality related to which among the following disciplines?

Music Band
Radio Broadcasting
Public Administration
Economics


8. The Assam Government has launched the Mamoni scheme under which among the following schemes?

Total Sanitation Campaign
National Rural Health Mission
National Solar Mission
MGNREGA


9. Who among the following was sent as UN Special Envoy to Syria during the recent crisis?

U Thant
Mossaad Mohamed Ali
Kofi Annan
Boutros Boutros-Ghali


10. Which among the following country is not a major source of FDI in India?

Singapore
Canada
Netherlands
]Mauritius

Hindu Editorial in a understandable Way

Licensed to kill

Problem :

• Tobacco products are singularly responsible for a large number of cancer deaths in adults has once again become strikingly clear as published in The Lancet.
• Tobacco-related cancers constitute about 30 per cent of the total mortality (3,95,000) from all cancers in the age group of 30-69.  Oral cancer was found to cause more than twice as many deaths as lung cancers.

Reason:

• majority of rural women chewed tobacco, many men in urban and rural areas chose to chew and smoke.
• remains in close contact with the sensitive mucous membrane of the oral cavity for extended periods is a potent and lethal carcinogen.

How it Affects:

• Besides causing organ-specific cancers, it increases the risk of death from other medical causes.
• In urban areas, smoking-related deaths are more from heart attacks
• While  in rural areas tuberculosis and respiratory diseases are the main causes

Any Initiation from Govt.:

The government showed great eagerness to introduce into the national immunisation programme the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, the most common cancer among women in 2010. Sadly, it seems to lack the gumption to clamp down on killer tobacco products

Solution:

•  Most effective way is to ramp up taxes. France has shown the way by tripling taxes between 1990 and 2005 and halving consumption.
•  Using powerful pictorial warnings, as in many other countries, rather than the currently used ineffectual ones, and rotating them every year instead of once in two years, is yet another means.

Earth Hour 2012 Official Video

This Earth Hour 2012: 8.30pm, Saturday 31 March, celebrate your action for the planet with the people of world by switching off your lights for an hour, then go beyond the hour.

From its inception as a single-city initiative -- Sydney, Australia - in 2007, Earth Hour has grown into a global symbol of hope and movement for change. Earth Hour 2011 created history as the world's largest ever voluntary action with people, businesses and governments in 135 countries across every continent coming together to celebrate an unambiguous commitment to the one thing that unites us all -- the planet.