Current Affairs January 3, 2010

Appointments:
Tamilnadu State Public Services Commission Chairman: MR R Sellamuthu
MR R Sellamuthu has been appointed as Chairman of the State Public Service Commission.

who appoints chairman of state public service commission?
A chairman of a state public service commission is appointed for a period of six years under Article 316(1) of the Indian Constitution by the Governor of the respective state.

National :
Tripura's efforts in boosting Fisheries
Tripura had announced a 5 year perspective plan to attain self-sufficiency in fish production in 2004-05. In last 5 years Tripura has more than doubled its fish production and in this regard, Central Institute of Fisheries has recognised Tripura as the best fish producing state in the country with the successful implementation of five year perspective plan. Under this perspective plan, the state government has brought 1.37 lakh fish cultivators under different schemes to promote fishery activities and 5.96 lakh hectares of land have been converted into water bodies to encourage fish production.

BIMARU go heathy
4 states in India have been traditionally poor in growth and development and called BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh) , these along with Orissa are now remarkably doing well , this is what we read in today's ET editorial.

97th Indian Science Congress:
Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, inaugurated the 97th Indian Science Congress at Thiruvananthapuram. Full Article

Legal Assistance to Senior Citizens
The Government of India is proposing to provide legal assistance to senior citizens, the dependent family members of para military forces and the persons affected by terrorism in the country. A proposal is to amend Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 so as to include Senior Citizens whose income is upto one lakh twenty thousand rupees per annum, dependent family members of Defence Forces personnel and personnel of such other Armed Forces as the Central Government may specify by notification, who died in action and victims of terrorist/extremist violence and riots. (Dr.M.Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law and Justice's answer of a Question in Lok Sabha ; Press Information Bureau)

Non-operational Airports in India:
There are 32 airports belonging to Airports Authority of India (AAI) which are non-operational (Unused). They are Cuddapah, Donakonda and Warangal in Andhra Pradesh; Passighat in Arunachal Pradesh; Rupsi in Assam; Jogbani, Muzaffarpur and Raxaul in Bihar; Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh; Deesa in Gujarat; Chakulia in Jharkhand; Mysore in Karnataka; Khandwa, Panna and Satna in Madhya Pradesh; Akola, Solapur and Jalgaon in Mahrashtra; Shella in Meghalaya; Aizwal in Mizoram; Jharsuguda in Orissa; Kishangarh in Rajasthan; Vellore in Tamil Nadu; Kailashahar, Kamalpur and Khowai in Tripura; Asansol, Balurghat, Behala and Malda in West Bengal & Jhansi and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Diminishing Reefs:
According to a modeling study by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi; the reef building corals may not be dominant in Lakshadweep Seas after 2030-2040. The study has indicated that there is no evidence to state that the corals will totally die off and there is also no evidence that there is any danger to the existence of the islands. The study analysis was not based on field observations but on model and projection only.

The Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India has identified It provides financial assistance to the State/UT Forest Departments of all the four identified Coral Reef areas for implementation of approved Management Action Plans for conservation & management of corals and coral reefs. The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (1991), as amended subsequently, recognizes the Corals & Coral Reef areas as ecologically sensitive and categorizes them as CRZ-I (i) and some species of corals are also included in the Schedules of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, thereby according them high degree of protection. (PIB-Rajya Sabha)

Obituary
Moti Nandy
Eminent journalist Moti Nandy, 79 has died. He was Sports Editor for Anandabazar Patrika.He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award in 2008 in the Excellence in Journalism Awards. Kolaboti is a popular sports charecter by Moti Nandi. A writer of 22 novels, 18 stories for children, about a dozen of novels for teenagers. His two novels ''Stopper'' and '' Koni'' were filmed .
Vishnuvardhan:
Versatile, talented, stylish and popular actor of Kannada film indutry died of cardiac arrest on December 30, 2009. Some facts: