Saturday, March 31, 2012

NEW KIND OF TAXES

Robin Hood Tax
The tax applies to speculative trade on financial products: Stocks, bonds commodities and currency transactions. This is a 'tiny' tax of 0.05 percent on banks' financial transactions. It is designed to hit only speculative, "casino" trading and not the high street banks used by the public.

Bangladesh War Tax

The BEST collected almost Rs 26 lakh from bus commuters as the Bangladesh Refugee Relief Surcharge from 1971 to 1973 and the Scarcity Relief Surcharge from 1973 to 1974. However, neither the BEST nor the Transport Commissioner's office, where BEST claims to have deposited the money, has any information on how the money was spent.

Fringe Benefit Tax

P. Chidambaram created quite a stir when he imposed this tax in 2005. This tax was levied on perquisites that companies provided to their employees.

Window Tax
The window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces.

Fat Tax
Implemented in 2011, Hungarians will have to pay a 10 forint (€ 0.037) tax on foods with high fat, sugar and salt content, as well as increased tariffs on soda and alcohol. The expected annual proceeds of €70 million will go toward state health care costs.

Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States in 1789, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their grain in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented. The tax was primarily imposed to pay off accumulated debts.



Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/cheat-sheet/taxes-that-raised-eyebrows/32432/1#ixzz1qd0hCWqm

INCOME TAX RETURN STATISTICS

QUICK HIGHLIGHTS OF E-FILING IN F.Y. 2011-12 (UPTO 31/12/2011)
COMPARATIVE GROWTH OF E-FILING IN CURRENT YEAR
FORM WISE RECEIPT OF E-RETURNS UPTO 31st DECEMBER
S.N. FORM NAME F.Y. 2010-11 F.Y. 2011-12 PERCENT GROWTH IN F.Y. 2011-12
1 ITR-1 15,57,020 35,44,687 127.66%
2 ITR-2 6,43,541 11,95,396 85.75%
3 ITR-3 1,75,908 2,82,576 60.64%
4 ITR-4 & 4S 26,77,206 49,74,560 85.81%
5 ITR-5 5,10,206 6,01,781 17.95%
6 ITR-6 4,72,465 5,12,404 8.45%
Total 60,36,346 1,11,11,404 84.08%
Highlights of e-filing in F.Y. 2011-12
No. of Registered Users as on 31/12/2011 1,73,05,170
Peak rate of receipt of returns per minute 1064/minute(on 30th July at 16:39 hrs)
Peak rate of receipt of returns per hour 53,667/hr(on 30th July between 17-18 hrs)
Peak rate of receipt of returns per day 5,59,152/day(on 30th July)
Peak utilization of bandwidth 200Mbps
Percentage of returns received outside office hours 23%
Percentage of returns filed using Utility provided by department 30%
STATE WISE RECEIPT OF E-RETURN IN F.Y. 2011-12 (UPTO 31/12/2011)
SNO STATE NUMBER OF E-RETURNS
1 MAHARASHTRA 24,14,526
2 GUJARAT 13,10,269
3 KARNATAKA 9,45,342
4 DELHI 9,08,602
5 TAMIL NADU 7,83,397
6 UTTAR PRADESH 7,45,254
7 ANDHRA PRADESH 6,17,390
8 RAJASTHAN 5,95,751
9 WEST BENGAL 5,63,617
10 PUNJAB 4,91,715
11 MADHYA PRADESH 3,86,437
12 HARYANA 3,48,224
13 KERALA 2,37,039
14 ORISSA 1,14,447
15 CHHATISHGARH 1,02,782
16 JHARKHAND 93,783
17 BIHAR 91,585
18 UTTARANCHAL 71,936
19 ASSAM 62,269
20 CHANDIGARH 59,449
21 HIMACHAL PRADESH 46,580
22 GOA 39,753
23 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 29,558
24 PONDICHERRY 16,028
25 FOREIGN 8,922
26 TRIPURA 6,057
27 DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI 5,098
28 ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 4,407
29 DAMAN AND DIU 3,150
30 MEGHALAYA 2,756
31 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 1,400
32 NAGALAND 1,325
33 MANIPUR 1,171
34 SIKKIM 1,036
35 MIZORAM 204
36 LAKHSWADEEP 145
Total 1,11,11,404

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Winners Never Quit - Real life stories..

 Winners Never Quit!!!

*A winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS,***

*but one who NEVER QUITS*****

*

**Real life stories...

**A winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS, but one who NEVER QUITS!!!!

A candidate for a news broadcasters post was rejected by officials since
his voice was not fit for a news broadcaster. He was also told that with
his obnoxiously long name, he would never be famous.

He is Amitabh Bacchan.

-------------------------------------------

A small boy - the fifth amongst seven siblings of a poor father, was
selling newspapers in a small village to earn his living. He was not
exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets.

The first rocket he built crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple
times and he was made a butt of ridicule. He is the person to have scripted
the Space Odyssey of India single-handedly -

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

--------------------------------------------

In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition
for the executives of the Decca recording Company. The executives were not
impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said,
"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."

The group was called The Beatles. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modelling Agency told
modelling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or
else get married." She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.

--------------------------------------------

In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, Fired a singer after
one performance. He told him, "You ain't goin' nowhere....son. You ought to
go back to drivin' a truck."

He went on to become Elvis Presley.

-------------------------------------------

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring
off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a
demonstration call,President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing
invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?"

-------------------------------------------

When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments
before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so
many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It
just happened to be a 2000-step process."

-------------------------------------------

In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to
20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all
turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long years of rejections, he finally got
a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid company, to purchase the rights
to his invention -- an electrostatic paper-copying process.

Haloid became Xerox Corporation.

------------------------------------------

A little girl - the 20th of 22 children, was born prematurely and her
survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double
pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralysed left leg. At
age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on

and began to walk without it.

By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle.
That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came
in last.

For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone
told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race.
And then another. From then on she won every race she entered.

Eventually this little girl - Wilma Rudolph, went on to win three Olympic
gold medals.

----------------------------------------

A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics
and for not being able to solve simple problems. She told him that you
would not become anybody in life.

The boy was Albert Einstein.

----------------------------------------

**The Moral of the above Stories: **
**

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet Only through experiences of
trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition
inspired and success achieved.

You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you
really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you cannot do.
And remember, the finest steel gets sent through the hottest furnace.

In LIFE, remember that you pass this way only once! let's live life to the
fullest and give it our extreme best.

"Failure is the pillar of success!"

"Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win."*

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Doing Good - Nice story

The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!
(Nice Story)

*A woman baked bread for members of her family and an extra one for a
hungry passerby.

She kept the extra bread on the Window-sill, for whosoever would take it
away.

Every day, a hunch-back came and took away the bread. Instead of expressing
gratitude,

he muttered the following words as he went his way:

"The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!"

This went on, day after day. Every day, the hunch-back came, picked up the
bread and uttered the words: "The evil you do, remains with you: The good
you do, comes back to you!"

The woman felt irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself...

"Everyday this hunch-back utters this jingle! What does he mean?

"One day, out of desperation, she decided to do away with him. "I shall get
rid of this hunch-back," she said. And what did she do? She added poison to
the bread she prepared for him! As she was about to place it on the window
sill, her hands trembled. "What is this I am doing?" she said.

Immediately she threw the bread into the fire, prepared another one and
kept it on the window-sill.

As usual, the hunch-back came, picked up the bread and muttered the words:

"The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!"

The hunch-back proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging
in the mind of the woman. Everyday, as the woman placed the bread on the
window-sill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant
place to seek his fortune. For many months, she had no news of him.. She
prayed for his safe return.

That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was
surprised to find her son standing in the doorway.. He had grown thin and
lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak.
As he saw his mother, he said, "Mom, it's a miracle I'm here. While I was
but a mile away, I was so hungry that I collapsed. I would have died, but
just then an old hunch-back passed by. I begged of him for a small part of
his food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole bread. "As he gave it
to me, he said, "This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to
you, for your need is greater than mine!"

"As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale and red. She leaned
against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned bread that she
had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been
eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life!

It was then that she realized the significance of the words: "*The evil you
do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!*"

Do good and; Don't ever stop doing good, even if it's not appreciated at
that time.

Happy Ugadi



**Ugadi* (Telugu: ఉగాది) is the New Year's Day for the people of Andhra
Pradesh. The Word Ugadi (Yugadi) came from yuga + aadi, yuga means era,
aadi means start, The start of an era. 

*Telugu Panchangam :-  The
Panchangam is nothing but Telugu calendar followed by Telugu people
residing in Andhra Pradesh.

On this ocassion of Ugadi, people make a recipe called Ugadi Pachadi. This
is a special preparation prepared in every Andhra home on Telugu New Year's
day. If you would like to know how to prepare Ugadi Pachadi Check this link
*http://indiacuisine.blogspot.com/2006/03/ugadi-pachadi-andhra-delicac...
*

Sunday, March 18, 2012

[Strategy & Studyplan] Public Administration Mains Paper 1 & 2- By Mrunal

[Strategy & Studyplan] Public Administration Mains Paper 1 & 2 (Hindi / English) for UPSC IAS Exam Recommend Booklist


For those totally newcomers, wanting to prepare Public Administration in Just 2-3 months.
  1. Why Public Administration is Popular?
     
  2. Challenges/Obstacles/Problems in Preparation
     
  3. Essential Books and Study Plan for Public Administration
     
  4. Core Study Material For
     
  5. Non-English Non Hindi Vernacular Medium (Gujarati, Marathi)
     
  6. Not Recommend Books!
     

Public Administration as a Mains Optional Subject

  • Public Administration is a very popular optional subject both in UPSC and state public service exams because
  • The syllabus is relatively short, requires less mugging (compared to geography or history)
  • Syllabus has a lot of overlapping with topics of general studies and Essay (polity, budget, empowerment, good Governance, disaster Management etc)
  • Books, material and question papers of public administration are very easy to find in both English and Hindi medium.
  • The subject is easy to understand, any graduate from any stream: medical, engineering, science, commerce or arts can get a good grip over it after to 2-3 months of diligent preparation.
  • This optional subject is taken in huge number by both English and non-English medium aspirants, so when they get selected for the interview, the "success-rate" looks huge compared to Botany and Medicinal science.

Challenges of Public Administration

  • Public Administration is an "easy" subject, and by easy, because any Tom, Dick or Harry can read the books once and (can manage to) attempt the questions. So it takes much effort to shine out from the Mains-crowd in terms of answer quality.
  • Lately UPSC has started asking unconventional question, thus making the life a little more difficult.
  • Keep in mind, selecting Public Administration as optional doesn't automatically make you an IAS- hard work and good luck are essential.
"Before a science can develop principles, it must possess concepts" - Herbert A. Simon
So let us possess some concepts before developing the Principles of Public Administration Preparation Strategy. (PAPS!)There are two types of questions in Public Administration (Mains) Exam

Types of Question: Static vs Dynamic

Static Questions

  • They are on the expected lines, directly lifted from the books.
  • They don't require brain application, in the answer sheet you just have to jot down whatever points you've prepared (or mugged up.)
  • For example: Functions of Cabinet Secretary or Functions of O& M office.
  • Problem: even a 7th standard kid can read the book once and understand what it is all about.
  • But when you actually answering in 150 words, you have to write down the specific points, you cannot beat around the bush, like you did in the board and university exams by filling up answersheets by garbage and repeated lines.
  • And You cannot waste 10-15 minutes in "brainstorming or framing" an answer for this. You just have to mechanically reproduce the information from your mind on the piece of paper.
  • The advantage of a static question is, you write down the points and get full marks (unlike Dynamic questions, where the examiner may be expecting for a different angle of answer or opinion altogether)
  • Static questions give competitive advantage to rot-learners. For example if total function of cabinet Secretary are ten and you write down only 6, while others write 9 or 10, you are a gone case.
  • That's why always have a crispy "key-words" note ready for static questions . For example
  • functions of cabinet secretary:
  • 1. Agenda 4 cabinet
  • 2. Advice PM
  • 3. Newspaper case
  • 4. Conscience keep
  • 5. Chief coordinate
  • 6. Select Jt.secy
  • 7. Conference of C/S

---etc.etc.And so on.
^or in the book itself, write down the keywords in the margin of the same page . You can quickly do revision of it. Whenever you pick up the book for the first-time, just finish the notes making simultaneously. "baad mein kar loonga" (I'll do it later) approach is dangerous. You'll have to re-read the entire topic again.

Type:2 Dynamic Questions

Dynamic questions are "not directly from the book". You've to pause, brainstorm, think and structure an answer before putting it on paper.Example:
Kautilya's Arthashatra bears considerable similarity with features of Weber's ideal bureaucratic model. -2009 Mains
Here, First you've to brainstorm the ideas, e.g.
  • What was Kautilya talking about?
  • What was weber talking about?
  • How are their ideas related?
And then you structure a good answer out of it.
same way another question
Explain how McGregor took forward Follet's ideas in the context of complex organizations -2011
Again If you've done proper revision, you can brainstorm the ideas very quickly else you'll end up wasting 10-15 minutes in just trying to 'recall' what was Weber's idea?IF you start writing the answer immediately without thinking, you'll end up beating around the bush and then 150 words limit will be over before you can even touch the 'actual' question.

Gemstone Mining from Standard Reference Books

  • Dynamic questions are generally derived from some random sentences given in the standard reference books. (SRB)
  • Readymade guidebook and Printed material from coaching class= only copy paste the chief ideas from SRB but cannot do the gem-stone mining.
  • So whenever you read a book containing some analytical or philosophical idea about the topic, try to dig gemstones from it, and note it down. Suppose you read 10 books in the span of four months, it is impossible to do another in-depth reading of the same books before 2 weeks of the mains exam. Besides have to prepare general studies and other optional subject. That's why whenever you are reading any book of public administration, after every paragraph,Try to summarise the idea for any key "gemstone" in one or two sentences, wherever applicable. Consider this example
Indicate the milestones in the story of development from Nehruvian model to the Liberalisation Model.(asked in 2011's Pub Ad.Mains Paper 1)
On the first hand it looks like a static question, just list down changing approaches of five-year plans over the years, then LPG etc. But (in my opinion) This question is lifted from Mohit Bhattacharya's New Horizones of Public Administration
 
,Chapter 10 :Development Administration. I'm copy-pasting the sentence from his book:
…In the Fifties, when development set out on its journey, The search was on for goods and things. Roads, buildings, dams, fertilizer, wheat, rice, these are the targets; development meant to direct it planned activities to produce or construct these things.
(journey=>milestones...is it clicking your brain? this is indirectly 'lifted' question by UPSC)(Milestones hinted by Mohit in the same chapter)
  • 1950s: Aeroplane perspective
  • 1970s: Helicopter vision
  • 1980s: Steamroller approach
  • 1990s: Panchayati Raj.
Then you dress it up with Changing approaches in Five years plans etc. and The Impact on examiner, will be totally different.Another example
Incrementalist paradigm posits a conservative tendency in public policy making.15m (2011 Mains Paper 1)
It is Directly lifted sentence from Nicholas Henry's book: Public Administration and Public Affairs
 
Chapter 10 : Understanding and improving public Policy.
Note: Some Online question papers have typing mistake : "Instrumentalist" paradigm. Actually UPSC asked about "Incrementalist" paradigm, download the question papers from original site www.UPSC.gov.in only!

Back-breaking Move of UPSCTM

  • A trademark move of UPSC to break the backs of coaching factories and senior players.
  • UPSC Chairman has an affinity for 'first timers', as said in an interview. :(
  • Now what does this mean? If UPSC asks a very routine static question from Taylor, Fayol or Weber, the senior player who has been in this business (with or without coaching) for 2-3 or more years, has lot of competitive advantage over a newcomer / first timer.
  • The strategy adopted by coaching factories of Delhi is something like this:
  • Heavy emphasis on Static topics of syllabus (Thinkers, Theories, personnel, Financial administration et al) combined with tonnes of mock-test answer writing preparation. Their preparation is very 'professional' : Ignore Public Policy and Development administration, you can take it out in 'options' and concentrate heavy on personnel , thinkers etc. Besides their 'assumption' : examiners don't give enough marks from public policy / DA questions.
  • For a seasoned veteran out of these factories, routine static question paper= walk in the park, easy 150+/300 marks.
  • So lately UPSC has stopped giving importance to the static topics or "HOT" current affairs and started heavy on Development administration, Public Policy etc. And even from the core topics they are asking very unusual questions.
  • 2009, 2010, 2011 UPSC has increased the intensity of back-breaking move, for both public administration and general studies paper.

Innocent Bystanders

  • Those small town candidates who themselves don't goto Delhi for coaching but follow their printed postal material and method of preparation, which they learned from some xyz friend who went to Delhi earlier.
  • What happens to Innocent Bystander in Action movies? They get killed during the car chase of hero and villain.
  • Whether it is Public Administration, or general studies, prelims or mains, innocent bystanders always suffer the most. Some of you might have first-hand experience of this.

Notes making

  • As I said earlier any Tom, Dick or Harry around can attempt 300/300 marks in the question paper, even after reading the books for only single time. Truckload of Juntaa from the coaching factories of Delhi, mug up the readymade (garbage) notes of Vajiram, Mohanti, Bhavani Singh, Sunil Gupta et al and vomit out everything verbatim from those notes, in the answersheets.
  • The examiners check dozens of answersheets in few hours, gives below-average marks to these 'factory-answers' so your answers should be sparkling, unique, must stand out in the crowd, or you will also get average marks= no interview call.
  • There won't be any MCQs in the mains exam, your marks will depend on the content, quality, width and depth of your descriptive answers.
  • Your vocabulary, command over language, way of expressing your idea, your handwriting- everything matters.

Excuses Excuses

Ofcourse Coaching 'sirs' will tell everything that a lazy person wants to hear:
Oh you attempted only 20 marks worth questions? don't worry cut off will be less than 15 marks! No problem! Your handwriting doesn't matter, command over language doesn't matter, you don't need to maintain notes, you don't need to remember the thinker-quotes, just read from my printed material.etc. etc. etc.
  • But think for a moment: a rough estimate (not looking for statistical debates here)
  • 12,000 candidates clear preliminary exam, 5000 would have opted for Public Administration, 2000 of them would be Senior players who're already dead tired giving attempt after attempt, really hungry for success and have learned from their past mistakes.
  • They don't make such excuses, they never shy away from hard work. They keep making and updating their notes from every possible current affairs source or reference book possible. They keep revising it, they keep practicing mock-answer-writing at home at regular intervals. They hang charts of quotes, thinkers, factual data in their study table and room. They maintain separate pocket-diaries for revision of "easy to forget points" topics such as NPM, PCA etc.
  • I'm talking about "THE" professionals. If you don't work hard, someone else will and he'll become the topper while you fill the application form for the next year's preliminary exam.
  • When you maintain your own handwritten notes, you are improving your handwriting passively and automatically. Besides in Mains you've to write for 6 hours each day. (each descriptive paper=3 hours, and 2 papers per day). The speed and elegency in handwriting can only come through practice.

Bogus Postal Courses

Donot waste your money in postal courses. Each and everyone of them is mere rephrasing and copy pasting the sentences from IGNOU's booklets and some random data from internet articles here and there. Better consult the original source itself.
Some of these 'readymade' postal courses and printed class notes, intentionally skip the difficult sounding concepts for example in Max Weber/ bureaucracy topic, they start Directly from Read more »
    

Bio-piracy from India in this intellectual property rights regime: An analysis


The world wide economic integration by the GATT and the TRIPs opened the mind of the national and international policy markers to protect their bio-diversity from the free access and bio-privacy. The Biological Diversity Act 2002, The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 and The Patent Act 1970 as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005 in India have not realized the menance of bio-privacy, 're-colonization in the making', 'global village global tillage' and the offspring of WTO.

India is a signatory of WTO and TRIPs and The Patent Act of India is being influenced by the TRIPs. Section 3 of the Patent Act, 1970 deals with the concept of what are not inventions. Sub-Section (j) of section 3 as added by Act 38 of 2002, sec. 4 (w.e.f. 20.05.2003) says:

"Plants and animals in whole or any part thereof other than micro-organism sent including seeds, varieties and species and essentially biological processes for production or propagation of plants and animals."

Article 27(3)(b) of the TRIPs says:

"Parties may exclude from patentability plants and animals other than micro-organism, and essentially biological process for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological process. However, parties shall provide for the protection of plant varieties or any effective sui generis system or by any combination thereof. This provision shall be reviewed four years after the entry into force of this agreement."

According to the Indian Patent Act, the geographical origin or the anticipation of the invention in local or indigenous knowledge constitute grounds for opposition or revoking a patent. Section 25 of the Patent Act 1970 says about the opposition of the patent. Sub-section (j) and (k) of see 25 runs as under:

See 25 (j) "that the complete specification does not disclose or wrongly mentions the source or the geographical origin of the biological material used for invention."

See 25(k) "that the invention so far as claimed in any claim of the complete specification is anticipated having regard to the knowledge, oral or otherwise, available within any local or indigenous community in India or elsewhere,…."

Section 64 of the Patent Act, 1970 deals with revocation of patents. See 64(p) and (q) has been inserted by Act 38 of 2002, see 31 (w.e.f. 20.05.2003) which are the repetition of section 25(j) and (k).

The current international framework of the intellectual property law favours for the investment protection and the commercial exploitation of the biological resources and the related knowledge.

It is important to emphasized the Article 27(3)(b) of the TRIPs to protect the indigenous knowledge by a wide interpretation. International Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV deals with the concept of the protection of plant varieties grant of exclusive property right to the plant breeders on the basis of distinct, uniform and stable for the appropriation of biological resources and related knowledge but it does not recognize farmers as a breeders. The main philosophy of UPOV is to protect the interest of the corporate biotechnology and powerful seed companies.

At the present scenario to protect the threat of bio-privacy it is needed in India to evolve its own the generis system on community intellectual rights of farmers and not to follow the UPOV nodal.

The legislature with the objective of incentive to breeders and motivation of private sector for the development of the new varieties of plants recognized the right of the plant breeders and included farmers as breeders in respect of their contribution made at any time in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources for the development of new plant varieties. The present law is being rectified by providing farmers right at equal footing of the breeder but the main problem lies on the fact that the farmers can not easily obtain property right, benefit sharing on the financial compensation and the intellectual contribution not taken into account.

The Bio-diversity policy broadly encapsulates survey of bio-diversity, national data base, in situ and ex situ conservation, sustainable utilization, indigenous knowledge system, benefit sharing, people participation, international cooperation, research, education, training and extension. Failing in line with B.D. Policy, the Bio-diversity conservation Bill entail information sharing system, chronicling and documentation of bio-wealth, farmers and breeders right is tantamount to CBD – but the grey area of it is about the silence of conservation and sustainable use of biological resource. Another point is that the farmers have no right to allocation of property right.

The fundamental objectives of CBD are – (1) conservation of biological diversity (2) sustainable use of biological diversity and (3) right to sovereignty and equitable sharing of benefit among the indigenous community. The main problem of India is that CBD is directly learned by WTO and TRIPs on the binding character of the treaty to a country.

TRIPs provides for the IPR protection on the basis of monopoly and capitalistic approaches for the patent holders. The effective sui generis under the TRIPs indicate only the patent protection.

Our legislature should, therefore, refurbish the IPR regime over biological resources including the plant variety protection under the paramount consideration of human right to food, health, environment and socio-economic complexities and peculiarities of the country tune with global integral relation, monetary balance, free and fair trade to achieve, "the greatest good of the greatest number."

Sk Jahangir Ali

source : http://www.legalindia.in/bio-piracy-from-india-in-this-intellectual-property-rights-regime-an-analysis





SBI is going to recruit 9600 posts

Clerical Recruitment [Assistants and Stenographers] in State Bank of India. SBI is going to recruit more than nine thousand vacancies as the post of clerks and stenographers across the country. The minimum payment for these posts in metro such as Mumbai would be around Rs.15,000 per month.

STATE BANK OF INDIA
CENTRAL RECRUITMENT & PROMOTION DEPARTMENT
ADVERTISEMENT NO. CRPD/CR/2011-12/5A
CLERICAL RECRUITMENT [ASSISTANTS AND STENOGRAPHERS]

• This advertisement is in modification of our earlier advertisement CRPD/CR/2011-12/05 dated 27.12.2011
• The vacancy position stands revised.

• Revised Vacancies: Assistants - 8500 ( Inclusive of 3100 vacancies already advertised vide our advertisement dated 27.12.2011).


Stenographers (English) - 900, Hindi - 100
• The date of examination stands postponed from 18.03.2012

Revised Dates of Written Examination : 27.05.2012 and 03.06.2012

Bank may conduct written test on more than two dates, if need be.

On-line Registration will start from : 05.03.2012
Last Date for Registration of Online Applications : 26.03.2012

Payment of Fees : 07.03.2012 to 31.03.2012
To know more details click the link given below...
http://www.statebankofindia.com/webfiles/uploads/files/1330520572227_NEW_ADVERTISEMENT_2011-12-5A.pdf
 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Exemption from filing IT return for the year A.Year 2012-13

Income Tax Department has issued Notification No: 9/2012 F. No.225/283/2011-ITA(II) dated 17-2-2012, for exempting filing of Income tax Return for the financial Year 2011-12 (Assessment Year 2012-13).
The text of the said notification is as follows.
Section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 – Return of Income – Exemption to specified persons from requirement of furnishing a return of income under section 139(1) for assessment year 2012-13
NOTIFICATION NO. 9/2012  F. No.225/283/2011-ITA(II), dated 17-2-2012
S.O……….. (E). – In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (IC) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby exempts the following class of persons, subject to the conditions specified hereinafter, from the requirement of furnishing a return of income under sub-section (1) of section 139 for the assessment year 2012-13, namely:-
1. Class of persons. -An individual whose total income for the relevant assessment year does not exceed five lakh rupees and consists of only income chargeable to income-tax under the following head,-
(A)  "Salaries";
(B)  "Income from other sources", by way of interest from a saving account in a bank, not exceeding ten thousand rupees.
2. Conditions,- The individual referred to in para 1,-
 (i)  has reported to his employer his Permanent Account Number (PAN);
(ii)  has reported to his


UPSC declares Civil Services (Main) Exam, 2011 results


The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the result of Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2011, roll numbers of the candidates who have qualified for Personality Test for selection to the Civil Services.

The services include Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and other Central Services (Group 'A' and Group 'B'). Personality Tests of these candidates will commence from 19th March, 2012. Personality Tests, to be held at UPSC, will be intimated individually to the candidates, the commission said.

For more information, visit the Commission's Website at http://www.upsc.gov.in. The candidates who do not receive any communication regarding their Personality Test, should immediately contact the office of the Commission through letter or on Phone, Nos. 011-23385271, 011-23381125, 011-23098543 or Fax Nos. 011-23387310, 011-23384472, said a press note.

No request for change in the date and time of the Personality Test intimated to the candidates will be entertained, it said. The candidates are advised to notify change(s) in their address, if any, to the Commission immediately through letter or Fax at Telephone numbers indicated above.
Candidature of these candidates is provisional subject to their being found eligible in all respects. The candidates will be required to produce the original certificates in support of their claims pertaining to age, educational qualifications, community, physical handicap and other documents such as Questionnaire, Attestation Form, TA form, etc. at the time of their Personality Test. The formats of SC/ST/OBC/PH certificates and Questionnaire, Attestation Form and TA form can be downloaded from the website of the Commission. They are, therefore advised to keep the said documents ready with them.
Result is also available on PIB website i.e www.pib.nic.in

The mark-sheets of candidates who have not qualified, will be put on the Commission's Website within 15 days from the date of publication of the final result (after conducting Personality Test) and will remain available on the Website for a period of 60 days, said the statement.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Addanki Sridhar IAS success story



http://epaper.eenadu.net/svww_zoomart.php?Artname=20120227b_008108002&ileft=43&itop=55&zoomRatio=130&AN=20120227b_008108002

Department of S&T, launched, Science@mobile

Vigyan Prasar celebrates National Science Day; launches mobile alert
service to inculcate interest in science

There could have been no better way to celebrate the National Science
Day on February 28 than launching a mobile alert service to promote
and propagate scientific and rational outlook. Vigyan Prasar, an
autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology,
launched the service, Science@mobile, in collaboration with the Indira
Gandhi Open National University (IGNOU).

Speaking at the launch at National Science Centre in New Delhi, O P
Sharma, deputy director with IGNOU and project coordinator of
Science@mobile, said scientific literacy is as important as reading
and writing, and mobile phones are the best way to achieve it. Under
the project, subscribers can receive daily or weekly alerts on
scientific breakthroughs as well as science lectures and seminars,
articles on latest scientific research and achievements, interesting
facts on inventions, astronomy, space, planets, environment and
health, quotes by scientists, humours related to experiments, tips for
an environment-friendly life, a free guide to live a healthy life and
biographies of national and international scientists.

Sharma said alerts will be sent out in three categories based on the
level of scientific literacy of the subscribers: one, alerts for the
layman; two, non-scientific population interested in science; and
three, scientists and others associated with scientific activities. To
subscribe to the alerts, one can either send an SMS to 09923051616
with SCIMBL in the subjectline, or visit
http://scienceatmobile.ignou.ac.in to register.

Important APPSC notifications



Provided By Shankar Reddy, APPSC Groups aspirant

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Telugu web magazine

I thank Mr. Saikrishna IRS (OT) for introducing telugu web magazine http://www.eemaata.com to me...you ppl can also have a glance