Sunday, 8th April, 2012

HEADLINES

• 117 Pakistani soldiers missing as avalanche hits siachen glacier
• Despite opposition, Zardari all set to visit India

NATIONAL NEWS

• Jairam Ramesh all praise for Andhra Pradesh
  • Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh was all praise for Andhra Pradesh for its model implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in spite of some shortcomings and scope for further improvement.
    
    
• Agni V ready for launch
  • Capable of covering 5,000 km, Agni-V is India's longest-range missile which can carry a nuclear warhead. If the test-flight is successful, it will catapult India into a select band of countries possessing the technology for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM).
  • Agni-V is 17 metres tall and weighs 50 tonnes. Its diameter is two metres. All its three stages are powered by solid propellants. It can carry a nuclear warhead weighing 1.1 tonne and a dummy payload. The entire flight will last more than 1,000 seconds.
    
    
• New scheme to raise higher education enrolment
  • The proposed Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is aimed at increasing enrolment in the higher education institutions to 30 per cent by 2020 as against the present 12.4 per cent. The government intends to subsume the current scheme of setting up model degree colleges in 374 educationally backward districts of the country.
  • The RUSA aims to expand the institutional base of higher education by creating additional capacity in existing institutions, establishing new institutions and incentivising State governments.
  • The strategy is to ensure one Degree College in every district and opening of new universities and expanding/upgrading existing universities. Through RUSA, it is hoped to make all institutions conform to prescribed norms, improve pupil-teacher ratio and address reforms in examination, governance, accreditation issues and overhaul of the affiliation system.
  • The programme will be funded in the ratio of 75:25, with the Centre putting up three-fourths of the cost. For special category States, the funding ratio will be 90:10. To increase fund availability, it has been proposed that as much as 50 per cent of the State share could be mobilised through public private partnerships. The balance funds including recurring cost of the institutions will be met by the State governments. Land for the institution will be provided free of cost by the State governments.
    
    
• UAV squandron to come up at Uchipuli
  • It is considered a significant step towards strengthening maritime surveillance and reconnaissance in Palk Strait, Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay off the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coast. The commissioning of the UAV squadron near Rameswaram assumes significance not only due to its close proximity to Sri Lanka but also due to the strategic importance of the region.
  • It has been christened INAS 344 and it will be operated from INS Parundu, a naval air station. It will be the third UAV squadron of the Navy. Established in 2006, the Indian Navy's first UAV squadron, INAS 342 in Kochi, already performs operational missions as well as training. The 2{+n}{+d}squadron was commissioned at Porbandar in Guajarat in 2011.

• Buddhist antiquities found in Dakshnia Ganga
  • Buddhist antiquities have been discovered at Peruvaje in Dakshina Kannada district
  • Among the antiquities, the most interesting ones were a Buddha head, 12 cm in height, and a flake of a Bodhisattva face about 9 cm in height and 9 cm in width and made out of soapstone
  • The facial features on the Buddha head have been badly damaged. It has longish ears and a small “ushnisha” over the head.
  • The facial expression, eyes and the nose resembles those of Yaksha image of Igunda in Uttara Kannada which belongs to the Satavahana period