Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod , Kerala
The Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) wss established in 1916 and later brought under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during 1970. The initial mandate of the institute was on crop husbandry of coconut, arecanut, cocoa, oilpalm, cashew and spices. The restructuring process during VII and VIII Plan resulted in the establishment of separate Research Institute/Centres for Spices, Cashew and Oilpalm, but the institute continue to maintain strong linkage with these Institutions. At present the Institute has a countrywide research network of four regional stations, four research centres and 17 Centres under AICRP on palms. Besides, the institute also hosts the headquarter of Indian Society of Plantation Crops.

First National Forest Policy of India:
Appreciating the necessity of developing forests, the government of India declared its first forest policy in 1952. According to this policy, it was decided to raise steadily the area under forests to 100 million hectares or 33 % for the country as a whole. The target area was to provide green cover over two thirds of the land area in the hills and mountains. The main objectives of forest policy under the Five-Year Plans were:
• To increase the productivity of forests
• To link up forest-development with various forest-based industries and
• To develop forests as a support to rural economy.

New Forest Policy, 1988
The 1952 forest policy had failed to stop the serious depletion of forest wealth over the years. Accordingly, it became imperative to evolve a new strategy of forest conservation. The government of India announced its new forest policy in December 1988. The important features of this policy are:
• Role of tribal in forests recognized: The new policy enunciates that all agencies responsible for forest management, including forest development corporations should associate tribal people closely in the protection, regeneration and development of forests.
• Depletion of forest area and the target for green cover The new policy reiterates that green cover should be extended to over two-thirds of that land area in the hills and mountains and that the total forest area in the country should be raised to 100 million hectares or 33 % of the total geographical area in the country.
• Discouragement to forest-based industries The new forest policy states that no forest based enterprises except at the village or cottage level will be set up in the future, unless it is first cleared, after a careful study of the availability of raw materials.
• End the system of private forest contractors The new forest policy advocates an end to the system of contractors working the forests. The contractors will be replaced by institutions such as tribal cooperatives, government corporations, etc.
• Forest land not to be diverted to non-forest uses The forest department used to assign forestland to individuals or nongovernment agencies for the purpose of reforestation.
• Participatory Forest Management System This new strategy involves rural people, particularly women and tribal community who have intimate knowledge of plant species, their growth characteristics, utility and medicinal value, etc. They also know the specific requirements of fuel, fodder, timber and other non-food products.

The adoption of the new strategy has led to several positive outcomes, such as:
• Change in the attitude and relationships of local communities and forest officials towards each other and the forests
• Improvement in the condition of forests
• Reduction in encroachments
• Increase in the income of local people and
• Involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in forest research, tree planting, promotion of productivity, etc.

Free Enterprise Economy or Laissez Faire system
This economic system works on the principle of Laissez Faire system, i.e., the least interference by the government or any external force. The primary role of the government, if any, is to ensure free working of the economy by removing obstacles to free competition.
A free Enterprise Economy is characterized as follows:
• Means of production are privately owned by the people who acquire and posses them
• Private gains are the main motivating and guiding force for carrying out economic activities
• Both consumers and firms enjoy the freedom of choice; consumers have the freedom to consume what they want to and firms have the choice to produce what they want to
• The factor owners enjoy the freedom of occupational choice, i.e., they are free to use their resources in any legal business or occupation;
• There exists a high degree of competition in both commodity and factor markets and
• There is least interference by the government in the economic activities of the people; the government is in fact supposed to limit its traditional functions viz, to defence, police, justice, some financial organizations and public utility services.

Government Controlled Economy
The government-controlled economies are also called as Command, Centrally planned or Socialist economies. Such economies are, in contradistinction to the free enterprise economies, controlled, regulated and managed by the government agencies.
The other features of a pure socialist economy are:
• Means of production are owned by the society or by the state in the name of the community – private ownership of factors and property is abolished;
• Social welfare is the guiding factor for economic activities – private gains, motivations and initiatives are absent,
• Freedom of choice for the consumers is curbed to what society can afford for all, and
• The role of market forces and competition is eliminated by law.

National Security Exception Act (NSEA)
With a view to curb security threats caused by inflow of FDI in various sectors, the National Security Council (NSC) has decided to promulgate an umbrella legislation known as National Security Exception Act (NSEA) aimed at imposing checks on the FDI flow into India. The NSC has raised concerns that foreign investment from various notified countries are likely to pose security threats as there is a possibility of multinational corporations in such countries being used for catalyzing anti-national activities and breach of national security.

The NSEA would be based on the lines of the Exon-Florio Act of USA, 1988 that empowers the Committee of Foreign Investment in the US, to prohibit takeover of any American company likely to cause a threat to the country’s security. Such legislations are very common to countries viz. England (Golden Share), Mexico (Foreign Investment Law), Canada, Australia, Thailand and China who have enacted similar laws to block anti-national activities through FDI.
The proposed legislation is expected to be implemented in a phased manner by NSC under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). At the outset, security guidelines would be formulated by virtue of which a security screening of FDI on the basis of sensitive locations, sectors and foreign firms known to have dealings with anti-national elements etc. would be conducted.

The areas that would come within the realm of FDI screening would include Jammu and Kashmir, the North Eastern States and other sensitive locations in close proximity to vital nuclear, space and defence installations and border areas. Further, the sectors where security concerns are being expressed include inter alia aviation, ports, shipping and telecom. Subsequently, in all Government contracts, tenders, agreements, the National Security Exception Clause would initially be introduced and consequently NSEA would be brought into force, empowering the Government to suspend or prohibit any foreign acquisition, merger or takeover of an Indian company prejudicial to national interest in the abovementioned sensitive areas. The implementation of NSEA is expected to provide an effective scrutiny of MNCs proposing to invest in the Indian market. Further, such legislation is expected to bring about transparency and adoption of a non-discriminatory mechanism in approving FDI proposals.
source : mondaq.com
UN Millenium Development Goals
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.
They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets – with a deadline of 2015 – that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals.
The 2005 World Summit, held from 14 to 16 September at United Nations Headquarters in New York, brought together more than 170 Heads of State and Government. It was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations. The agenda was based on an achievable set of proposals outlined in March 2005 by Secretary- General Kofi Annan in his report “In Larger Freedom”.
The Millennium Project was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2002 to develop a concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reverse the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people. In 2005, the independent advisory body headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, presented its final recommendations to the Secretary-General in a synthesis volume “Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”

India ‘s FDI policy
India’s foreign trade policy has been formulated with a view to invite and encourage FDI in India. The process of regulation and approval has been substantially liberalized. The Reserve Bank of India has prescribed the administrative and compliance aspects of FDI. FDI can be divided into two broad categories: investment under automatic route and investment through prior approval of Government.
Procedure under automatic route
FDI in sectors/activities to the extent permitted under automatic route does not require any prior approval either by the Government or RBI. The investors are only required to notify the Regional office concerned of RBI within 30 days of receipt of inward remittances and file the required documents with that office within 30 days of issue of shares to foreign investors.
Procedure under Government approval
FDI in activities not covered under the automatic route, requires prior Government approval and are considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Approvals of composite proposals involving foreign investment/foreign technical collaboration are also granted on the recommendations of the FIPB.

National Biofuel Policy 2008
In a bid to reduce the country’s huge oil import bill, the government after much deliberation had given its nod to National Policy on Biofuels besides giving approval for setting up of National Bio-fuel Coordination Committee and Bio-Fuel Steering Committee in September 2008.
Under this policy , the country aims to raise blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel to 20% by 2017. The Biofuel Steering Committee would be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, which, along with the National Biofuel Coordination Committee would be serviced by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Besides, the Panchayati Raj ministry would also be included as member in the Steering Committee. A sub-committee, comprising the department of biotechnology and the ministries of agriculture, new and renewable energy and that of rural development under the Steering Committee would aid research on bio-fuels.

Darfur Humanitarian Crisis:
Darfur is an ecologically- fragile area in Sudan and subject to growing – and often armed – conflict over access to water. Since February 2003, there has been a growing armed conflict between two armed groups and the Government of Sudan in Darfur. These groups launched their first attacks on government garrisons in the region. These armed groups call themselves the ‘Sudan Liberation Army’ (SLA) and the ‘Justice and Equality Movement’ (JEM).Darfur is home to some 80 tribes and ethnic groups divided between nomads and sedentary communities. The unrest, especially that associated with the SLA, appears to have been identified with one particular ethnic group, the Zaghawa tribe, which straddles the Sudan-Chad border. The JEM group has come to be identified with extremist Islamic political leaders hostile to the present Sudanese government.The escalation of conflict since February 2003 has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Many have fled into neighbouring Chad. A humanitarian crisis has ensued.

Scheduled Commercial Banks In India
The commercial banking structure in India consists of: Scheduled Commercial Banks in India & Unscheduled Banks in India
Scheduled Banks in India constitute those banks which have been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Act, 1934. RBI in turn includes only those banks in this schedule which satisfy the criteria laid down vide section 42 (6) (a) of the Act.
“Scheduled banks in India” means the State Bank of India constituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (23 of 1955), a subsidiary bank as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959), a corresponding new bank constituted under section 3 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970), or under section 3 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 (40 of 1980), or any other bank being a bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934), but does not include a co-operative bank”.
“Non-scheduled bank in India” means a banking company as defined in clause (c) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949), which is not a scheduled bank”.

The following are the Scheduled Banks in India (Private Sector):
ING Vysya Bank Ltd
Axis Bank Ltd
Indusind Bank Ltd
ICICI Bank Ltd
South Indian Bank
HDFC Bank Ltd
Centurion Bank Ltd
Bank of Punjab Ltd
IDBI Bank Ltd

The following are the Scheduled Foreign Banks in India:
American Express Bank Ltd.
ANZ Gridlays Bank Plc.
Bank of America NT & SA
Bank of Tokyo Ltd.
Banquc Nationale de Paris
Barclays Bank Plc
Citi Bank N.C.
Deutsche Bank A.G.
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
Standard Chartered Bank.
The Chase Manhattan Bank Ltd.
Dresdner Bank AG.

18th Safety Olympics
From June 29 to July 2, 2008 at COEX, Samseong-dong, Seoul, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) hosted the World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, generally called the “Olympics of industrial safety and health”.

Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon or the Reform Treaty is an international agreement signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 that would change the workings of the European Union (EU). The treaty would amend the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC, Rome). In the process, TEC is renamed to Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
Prominent changes include more qualified majority voting in the EU Council, increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended codecision with the EU Council, eliminating the pillar system, preventing the provision in the Treaty of Nice reducing the number of commissioners, and the creation of a President of the European Union and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs to present a united position on EU policies. If ratified, the Treaty of Lisbon would also make the Union’s human rights charter, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding.

Robert Webster:
Robert G. Webster (born May 7, 1932), in New Zealand, leading avian influenza expert, is the virologist who in 1957 was the first to announce a link between human flu and bird flu. He correctly posited that pandemic strains of flu arise from genes in flu virus strains in nonhumans; for example, via a reassortment of genetic segments (antigenic shift) between viruses in humans and nonhumans (especially birds) rather than by mutations (antigenic drift) in annual human flu strains.

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