Today's GK(9-10-13)

Karplus, Levitt, Warshel win chemistry Nobel

Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for laying the foundation for the computer models used to understand and predict chemical processes.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said their research in the 1970s has helped scientists develop programmes that unveil chemical processes such as the purification of exhaust fumes or the photosynthesis in green leaves.

“The work of Karplus, Levitt and Warshel is ground—breaking in that they managed to make Newton’s classical physics work side-by-side with the fundamentally different quantum physics,” the academy said. “Previously, chemists had to choose to use either/or.”

Karplus, a U.S. and Austrian citizen, is affiliated with the University of Strasbourg, France, and Harvard University. The academy said Levitt is a British, U.S., and Israeli citizen and a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Warshel is a U.S. and Israeli citizen affiliated with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Warshel told a news conference in Stockholm by telephone that he was “extremely happy” to be awakened in the middle of the night in Los Angeles to find out he had won the prize and looks forward to collecting the award in the Swedish capital in December.

Prithvi-II test-fired again successfully

For the second consecutive day, Prithvi-II missile was successfully test-fired by personnel of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from Chandipur, Odisha, on Tuesday.

On Monday, the missile was tested for a range of 300 km, against its maximum strike range of 350 km. In Tuesday’s mission, the single-stage liquid-propelled rocket was test-fired for a range of 325 km by a missile regiment unit of the SFC. The entire exercise was monitored by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The nuclear weapons-capable missile was picked up randomly from its arsenal and launched from a road mobile launcher at 12.15 p.m. from Launch Complex-III of the Chandipur test range.

Describing the mission as “excellent,” a DRDO official said the missile achieved a very good accuracy of less than 15 metres while zeroing on to the pre-designated target point in the Bay of Bengal. During a flight of seven minutes, aided by a hybrid GPS-INS navigation system, Prithvi-II, carrying a dummy payload of 500 kg, went to an altitude of 38 km before manoeuvring towards the target point.

Three banks cut lending rates

Within days of the government promising more funds to public sector banks, two state-owned lenders — Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) — and IDBI Bank, on Tuesday, cut interest rates on auto as well as consumer durable and home loans by up to 2.50 percentage points to cash in on the festive demand.

Autobiography of Malala Yousafzai entitled I am Malala Released

I Am Malala: the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

The autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban for supporting girls’ education released on 8 October 2013 in London.

Malala Yousafzai’s story is detailed in I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban, co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb, and tells of the day two Taliban gunmen boarded her school bus on 9 October 2012, and shot her in the head.

The autobiography talks about Yousafzai’s life as an activist under the Taliban's brutal rule in northwestern Pakistan in the mid-2000s, when the group banned female education and bombed local schools. The book also hints at her ambition to enter Pakistani politics, and talks about her father's brief flirtation with Islamic fundamentalism as a youngster.

Malala Yousafzai now lives in Birmingham, where she received specialist medical treatment after the shooting. The book also tells of her homesickness and her struggle to adjust to life in England.

Malala Yousafzai has also been nominated for 2013's Nobel Peace Prize

Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Bharti Enterprises ended up their Joint Venture

Wal-Mart Stores Inc and its Indian partner Bharti Enterprises ended up their joint venture on 9 October 2013. From now on they will independently own and operate separate businesses in the country. Wal-Mart will acquire Bharti's 50 percent stake in Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd and will run the business independently.

Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd runs about 20 wholesale stores in India under the Best Price Modern Wholesale brand. Wal-Mart is the world’s biggest retailer.
As part of their agreement, Bharti will acquire the compulsory convertible debentures (CCDs) held by Wal-Mart in Cedar Support Services, a company owned and controlled by Bharti.

India in 2012 allowed foreign supermarket companies to own up to 51 percent of their local operations. However, no company has applied to enter the country under the rule.

Peter Higgs Honoured for Contribution of Origin of Mass of Subatomic Particles

Peter Higgs, United Kingdom and Francois Englert, Belgium jointly awarded Nobel Prize for Physics 2013 on 8 October 2013.

Why Peter Higgs got Noble Prize?

For his contribution of the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider.

Economy to grow at 5.5 %: FinMin

The Finance Ministry, on Tuesday, expected the economic growth in the current fiscal to improve to 5.5 per cent from 5 per cent last year on back of likely pick up in agricultural output on account of good monsoon rains. “Following three quarters of sub-5 per cent growth, growth is expected to pick up from second quarter of 2013-14, resulting in full year growth of around 5.5 per cent,” said Quarterly Review 2013-14 (April-June) released by the Ministry.

Rail wheel factory, AIIMS to be set up in Rae Bareli

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Vadra at the stone laying ceremony of rail wheel factory at Lalgunj in Rae Bareli on Tuesday.— Photo: PTI

The UPA Chairperson and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, on a day-long visit to her constituency, Rae Bareli, on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of a Rs. 1100-crore rail wheel manufacturing unit at Lalganj — the biggest of its kind in India. Also, in a move which caught the district officials napping, performed the “bhumi pujan” (ground breaking ceremony ) of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in an old sugar mill compound near Munshiganj.

The “bhumi pujan” of AIIMS was unannounced. But, with the Samajwadi Party Government agreeing to provide land for the mega project, a demand of Rs. 8.55 crore has been made in the Supplementary Budget for 2013-14 of the State Government for paying compensation of land. The Budget was passed in the Monsoon session of the Assembly in September.

Addressing the function to mark the foundation laying ceremony of the forged wheel plant at Lalganj, the UPA Chairperson said the Congress has worked for the overall development of the people. “We believe in inclusive growth and promise to continue our efforts in future also”, she said.

The Congress president lauded the UPA Government for taking several measures for the development and progress of the country. “The Lalganj factory is yet another example of the UPA Government’s commitment towards this end,” she added.

For setting up the forged wheel plant at Lalganj, the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and the Indian Railways have entered into a agreement for manufacturing 1 lakh forged wheels to cater to the demand of high speed locomotives. Under the agreement the Railways will lease 40 acres of land to RINL for a period of 30 years. The Lalganj rail unit is estimated to provide employment to 600 people with another 2000 benefitting indirectly.

Ms. Gandhi also laid the foundation stone for a City Resource Centre, a joint venture of Nagar Palika Parishad, Rae Bareli and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and presided over a meeting of District Vigilance Committee

Turkey Lifted a Ban on Women Wearing the Islamic Head Scarf

Turkey on 8 October 2013 lifted a ban on women wearing the Islamic head scarf in state institutions. It is considered as a part of a package of reforms introduced by the government. The new rules, however will not apply to the judiciary or the military.

The current government package is aimed at bolstering the rights of Turkey's Kurdish community. It included changes to the electoral system, the broadening of language rights and permission for villages to use their original Kurdish names. It also put an end to state primary school children reciting the oath of national allegiance at the start of each week, a deeply nationalistic vow.

The Turkey government in 1925 had introduced a series of clothing reforms meant to discard off overt symbols of religious affiliation for civil servants

Karnataka to implement the Second Phase of Forest Project

The Karnataka government on 8 October 2013 approved the implementation for the second phase of the Karnataka Sustainable Forest Management and Biodiversity Conservation Project (KSFMBC). It is aimed at expanding forests, over the next eight years. The project will cost around 1899.72 crore rupees. It will be implemented with the help of 1701.98 crore rupees from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), with the remaining share contributed by state government. It will run from 2013-14-2020-21.

India and Japan Signed MoU to study Mumbai-Ahmedabad Rail Route

India and Japan on 9 October 2013 signed MoU to do a joint feasibility study of High Speed Railway system on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. The aim of the Joint study is to prepare a feasibility report of High Speed Railway system on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route with speed of 300-350kmph. The cost of the study will be shared equally between India and Japan.

The study will take 18 months to complete. The study will include traffic forecasting, alignment surveys and undertake comparative Study of High Speed Railway Technology and System.

Government proposed to Set up Plastic Parks

The Government of India on 9 October 2013 proposed to support setting up of Plastic Parks for the promotion of downstream plastic processing industries. The Scheme to be implemented by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals envisages setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which would provide infrastructure and common facilities for the industries. State Government or its agency, which would set up such SPV, will have to mandatorily have equity participation in it. Share subscription agreements between the SPV and its members will have to be executed. The contribution of the members will have to be at least 20 percent of the total equity, including the cost of the land.

The Government of India would provide a Grant-in-Aid to the extent of 50 percent of the project cost, not exceeding 40 crore rupees per SPV to be set up for the purpose. The remaining contribution in the SPV will be from the State Government, its agencies, beneficiary industries or loan from financial institutions. The release of funds will be based on identification of milestones and time limits set for each such milestone to be decided at the time of the project approval by a Scheme Steering Committee (SSC) in the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. The proposals are to be made by the State Governments.

HRD Ministry Announced to Launch 50 DTH Educational Channels

The HRD Ministry on 8 October 2013 announced that it will launch 50 DTH educational channels soon. All these channels will be different from the existing programmes on air including Gyan Darshan as new one will be more interactive.

All these channels will air programmes which will be live and not pre recorded. The Ministry also announced that the new initiatives will be one of the largest anywhere in the world of its kind. Later, the number of these channels will increase to one thousand.

The Ministry already spent over one billion US Dollar for ICT. Over 400 universities and twenty thousand colleges have been linked with bandwidth. It is important to note that the Ministry may approach AICTE to make on-line education mandatory and integral part of education system. S.S. Mantha, chairman, AICTE focused on promoting quality initiatives in the country.

The one day workshop was organized by the HRD Ministry with AICTE. More than 150 engineering colleges from the National Capital Region of Delhi participated in the programme.