Shri Rajeev Ranjan IAS (Haryana 1998) presently posted as Division Commissioner, Rohtak, has been given the additional charge of Project Director, Haryana State Resident Database Authority (designate) Government of Haryana.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.
Ms Suprabha Dahiya IAS (Haryana 1994) presently posted as Managing Director, Warehousing Corporation Limited., Haryana, has been given the additional charge of Transport Commissioner and Secretary, Transport, Government of Haryana.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes her the very best
Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in a written reply to a question by Smt. Renuka Chowdhury and Dr. Chandan Mitra has informed that the Expert Group constituted in the Ministry of Home Affairs to prepare a roadmap for effectively tackling cyber crimes in the country has recommended to set up an Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to fight against cyber crimes in the country. This has been accepted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in-principle, for effective execution of online cyber crime reporting, cyber crime monitoring, setting up of forensic units, capacity building of police, prosecutors & judicial officials, promotion of Research & Development, awareness creation etc.
Minister of State for the external Affairs Gen. Dr. V. K. Singh has informed that it has been conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, including at the highest level, that all Indian passport holders should be treated equally on the basis of reciprocity. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India.
The prototype of Mobile App “mPassport Police” was launched on the occasion of the Passport Seva Divas held during 24-26 June, 2015 at New Delhi.
The “mPassport Police” App would help the Police Verifying Officer to capture the data for Police Verification Report (PVR) on real-time basis at applicant’s place of residence and would expedite the submission of PVR, making the entire Police Verification flow digital and accountable. This app would be in addition to the existing mPassport Seva App which has been designed primarily for the citizens who are interested in Passport related information on their smart phones.
The development and testing of the “mPassport Police” App is at the advanced stage. It is expected to be implemented and operationalized during the current financial year.
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that the following programmes are being implemented for promotion of youth development in the country : –
Sl. No. Name of the Scheme
1. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS)
2. National Service Scheme (NSS)
3. National Youth Corps (NYC)
4. National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Development (NPYAD)
5. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD)
6. International Co-operation including Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP)
7. Promotion of Scouts and Guiding
8. Youth Hostel (YH)
9. National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP)
10. Sports Authority of India (SAI)
11. Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education, Gwalior (LNIPE)
12. Special Cash Awards to Medal Winners in International Sports Events Including
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
13. Pension to Meritorious Sportspersons
14. Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs)
15. Human Resource Development in Sports
16. National Sports Development Fund
17. Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme (USIS)
18. Anti-Doping Activities [National Anti Doping Agency (NADA); National Dope
Testing Laboratory (NDTL); Scheme for contribution to World Anti Doping
Agency (WADA)]
19. Promotion of Sports among Disabled
20. SAI Stadia Renovation
21. National Institute of Sports Science & Sports Medicine
22. National Institute of Sports Coaching
23. National Physical Fitness Programme Resource Centre at LNIPE, Gwalior
24. Scheme for Identification & Nurturing of Sporting Talent in the Country
(INSTALL)
25. Enhancement of Sports Facility at J&K
26. Sports University in North-East
27. National Sports Talent Search System Programme
28. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA)
He said, funds are being provided for implementatio n of the above programmes all over the country. The programmes for encouragement and development of youth are open for youth across the country including new, hilly and backward states. The programmes are implemented through various implementing agencies. Out of the above programmes, National Service Scheme (NSS) and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) are Centrally Sponsored Schemes, under which funds are placed with State Governments. RGKA was introduced by restructuring the erstwhile Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) Scheme and the same is being implemented since 2014-15. The details of the funds released under NSS and PYKKA/RGKA to States/UTs are given is:
Grants released to States/UTs under NSS programmes
S.No. Name of the State/UT Grants Released (in Rs.)
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
1 Andaman & Nicobar 347700 — —
2 Andhra Pradesh 53914431 49333909 47073962
3 Arunachal Pradesh 3206250 3206250 3462750
4 Assam 11906046 11831063 —
5 Bihar — 8725457 —
6 Chandigarh 3161125 3107959 5283067
7 Chhattisgarh 17379554 23191875 23191575
8 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 252700 410310 470250
9 Daman & Diu 356250 621637 621637
10 Delhi 7861583 525000 53,70,900
11 Goa 4848682 — —
12 Gujarat 26667720 40162344 43366313
13 Haryana 17410920 — —
14 Himachal Pradesh 3228631 22923689 23501314
15 J & K 6898564 — —
16 Jharkhand 8446497 5300780 —
17 Karnataka 43637909 54035561 86342615
18 Kerala 28651137 44239125 44175074
19 Lakshadweep 356250 456758 —
20 Madhya Pradesh 21818761 42522431 36932362
21 Maharashtra 60738373 115052752 94854216
22 Manipur 5121023 5258250 —
23 Meghalaya 9486802 9426375 9426375
24 Mizoram 8229375 7406438 7598813
25 Nagaland 2261689 2340563 —
26 Orissa 16392916 26658188 —
27 Puducherry 3319182 2833362 2858026
28 Punjab 24837751 — 36035694
29 Rajasthan 29091976 47263375 —
30 Sikkim 4145382 4181063 —
31 Tamil Nadu 61269259 — 94576135
32 Telangana** — 33241688 32741915
33 Tripura 8249681 8208000 —
34 Uttar Pradesh 73066876 65748922 54900650
35 Uttarakhand 19915088 12362155 —
36 West Bengal 15515727 25236750 25236750
Details of funds released under PYKKA during 2013-14 and under RGKA during 2014-15 and 2015-16In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today the Minister said, in addition, funds are also released to State Governments under some components of National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Development (NPYAD), the details of which are given is:
(in Rs.)
Sl. Name of the State/UT 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
No. Released upto 30.11.2015
1. Andhra Pradesh 72700000 30561024 27450000
2. Arunachal Pradesh — 6800000 —
3. Assam — 12700000 —
4. Gujarat — 58370000 —
5. Haryana 51500000 30522318 —
6. Himachal Pradesh 38200000 17960000 7242949
7. Jammu & Kashmir — 11324700 —
8. Jharkhand — 2550000 —
9. Karnataka 130600000 59056993 —
10. Kerala — 41669356 —
11. Madhya Pradesh 372000000 88495641 —
12. Maharashtra — 51836656 —
13. Manipur — 14180470 4710000
14. Meghalaya 5500000 9888875 —
15. Mizoram 49100000 13325383 1774950
16. Nagaland 60000000 — —
17. Odisha 78000000 46960000 39012926
18. Punjab 15800000 34880000 11182664
19. Rajasthan — — 18487500
20. Sikkim 7900000 6060000 —
21. Tamil Nadu 154700000 — 3526000
22. Tripura 52100000 14456304 —
23. Uttar Pradesh 60700000 132475574 —
24. Uttrakhand 240400000 16978503 —
25. West Bengal — 51095703 —
26 . Telangana — 76000000 —
The Rajya Sabha passed the landmark Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2015 . With this, the Bill stands passed in the Parliament. The Bill was earlier passed by the Lower House of the Parliament, Lok Sabha 7th May this year.
In her introductory remarks to the motion for consideration and passage of the Bill, the Women and Child Development Minister Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2015 will help to arrest the rise in Juvenile crime , which according to reports is the fastest rising segment of crime. It is a compassionate Bill which will at the same time act as a deterrent, she explained. Giving details, Smt Maneka Gandhi said that, if made into law, it will not send the juvenile offender directly to the jail. Whether the child committed the crime of heinous category in an adult or child mind, will be first assessed by the Juvenile Justice Board, the Minister briefed the House. This Board will comprise of psychologists, social workers and experts. The Minister urged the House, “The Bill was started by you (Opposition), finished by us but it is a matter of the whole House.” The Minister said that it is not a retrospective Bill, and cannot be applied to the Juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya case, but it can deter many other boys from doing the same in future. The juvenile offenders have also been committing heinous crimes against other children, there is a need to bring justice to these children, she added. It is a comprehensive Bill and has subject of Adoption as well as Foster care in it, the Minister said.
The JJ Bill, 2015 will now become an Act with the Presidential approval.
This law will strengthen provisions for both children in need of care and protection and children in conflict with law. For the first time, offences have been clearly defined and classified as petty, serious and heinous based on provisions of IPC. Under Section 15, special provisions have been made to tackle child offenders committing heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.
The Juvenile Justice Board has been given the option to transfer cases of heinous offences by such children to a Children’s Court (Court of Session) after conducting preliminary assessment. The provisions provide for placing children in a ‘place of safety’ both during and after the trial till they attain the age of 21 years after which an evaluation of the child shall be conducted by the Children’s Court. After the evaluation, the child is either released on probation and if the child is not reformed then the child will be sent to a jail for remaining term.
The enactment of this law will act as a deterrent for child offenders committing heinous offences such as rape and murder and will protect the rights of victim.
To streamline adoption procedures for orphan, abandoned and surrendered children, the existing Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has been given the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more effectively. There is a separate chapter on Adoption which provides detailed provisions relating to adoption and punishments for not complying with the laid down procedure. Processes have been streamlined with timelines for both in-country and inter-country adoption including declaring a child legally free for adoption.
Several rehabilitation and social reintegration measures have been provided for institutionalization and non-institutionalization of children. Under the institutional care, children are to be provided with various services including education, health, nutrition, de-addiction, treatment of diseases, vocational training, skill development, life skill education, counselling, etc to help them assume a constructive role in the society. The variety of non-institutional options include: sponsorship and foster care including group foster care for placing children in a family environment which is other than child’s biological family, which is to be selected, qualified, approved and supervised for providing care to children.
Several new offences committed against children, which are so far not adequately covered under any other law, have also been made part of this law. These include: sale and procurement of children for any purpose including illegal adoption, corporal punishment in child care institutions, use of child by militant groups, offences against disabled children and, kidnapping and abduction of children.
It is well known that almost all rail operations in India are handled by the Ministry of Railways. The organization has its own facilities for production of locomotives and other rolling-stock besides a Research, Design and Standards organization to carry out research work in rail technology, standardization and application to attain self-sufficiency. Although Indian Railways has been continuously upgrading its technology but it has been primarily done through technology transfer from abroad.
The spirit of ‘Make in India’ is also the ripe time for new initiatives to build foundation for research in Indian Railways in collaboration with premier academic institutions. Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu had announced in his Budget speech on 26th February 2015, the setting up of four Centres for Railway Research in select Universities. The MOU with University of Mumbai has already been signed in April 2015. Today the MOUs were signed with Indian Institutes of Technology at Kanpur, Madras and Roorkee, for setting up the Centres of Railway Research, fulfilling the Budget commitment in presence of Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha. Specific areas of research in railway technology have been assigned to the respective IITs, with provision to identify more areas in the future. Shri Manoj Pande (ED/T&MPP) signed the MOU on behalf of Ministry of Railways while signatories from other side included prof. Amalendu Chandra, Dean Research & Development IIT Kanpur, Prof. Krishnan Balasubramanian, Dean Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IIT Madras and Prof. Manoranjan Parida, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, IIT Roorkee. Chairman Railway Board Shri A.K. Mital, Member Staff Shri Pradeep Kumar and other senior officers were present on this occasion.
Speaking on the occasion Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu announced that with the signing of these MOUs, he is confident that these Centres for Railway Research would contribute immensely towards providing solutions for utilization of Railways’ assets in a more cost effective manner. The Government’s vision to see Indian Railways as one of the most progressive organizations in the world and also a net exporter of Railway technology to the world shall soon be realized. Shri Prabhu said that such partnership between railways and academic institutions will not only help railways and IITs but will also be helpful to the nation. He said it will also lead to spin off benefits to society. There is a need to implement new ideas on real time basis.
In his speech Minister of state for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha said that Indian Railways always believes in keeping itself abreast of latest technology. Referring to the problem of train movement during fog season specially in northern India, Shri Manoj Sinha called upon experts to work on a technique to find solution to this problem. He said that the technology to solve this problem should be practical and affordable.
In his address, Chairman Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital said that signing of the MOUs between Ministry of Railways and IITs at Kanpur, Madras & Roorkee for setting up of Centres for Railway Research is an important step. In order to achieve growth rate of 10% per annum in the coming years, it is necessary that railways make use of the technology advancements in the field of Railway related technology as this will be a major contributor in improving the quality of services. Government has laid high priority on giving boost to this vital sector as the Railways is considered engine of growth.
Speaking on the occasion, Member Staff Railway Board Shri Pradeep Kumar pointed out that subjects on railway technology do not figure in the curriculum of the academic institutions. The natural corollary has thus been the lack of experts on railway technology in the academia. In most of the Institutions, there are either no professors having expertise on the subject or wherever there are a few with some knowledge on rail technology, they are out of sync with the latest technology and development for obvious lack of practical exposure/contact. Moreover the major technological advances are coming from out of India. This initiative of the Indian Railways to involve these premier academic institutions by setting up Centres for Railway Research will remove this gap to some extent.
Summary:Polymers play a vast number of roles in daily life, but they lack many properties that would make them even more useful. As in cooking, a way around these limitations is to mix in other ingredients that have the right properties. Scientists have just made recipe development a more palatable job.
Imagine you’re baking a special cake, one in which the shape of each mote of spice mixed into the batter can have a profound effect on your dessert’s color, its taste, its texture on the tongue. That’s a rough description of creating new lightweight materials for aircraft, cars and windmills that use tiny nanoparticles as ingredients, and scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made recipe development a more palatable job.
Polymers–a large class of materials that includes plastics–play a vast number of roles in daily life, but they lack many properties that would make them even more useful. As in cooking, a way around these limitations is to mix in other ingredients that have the right properties. Polymers conduct electricity poorly, for example, but adding carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or graphene sheets forms a strong, lightweight “nanocomposite” whose electrical conductivity can be more than a million times higher.
But the variety of options can confound designers. If they can find the right combination of polymer and particles, manufacturers can mix up a nanocomposite that has just the right properties for a job–be it strength, flexibility, conductivity, or a host of others. But with so many polymers and nanoparticles to choose from, devising the best recipe is often a matter of trial and error. That’s largely because there has been no way to predict the resulting mix’s capabilities based on what each ingredient can do. Why not? In a word, math.
The effect the added particles have on the polymer is profoundly influenced by their shape. But it’s hard to account for the complex shapes of the particles mathematically; in fact, it’s a famously difficult math problem. So it’s tough to create models that account for this essential design variable. Materials designers have been forced to model their mixtures using the assumption that all particles were shaped like spheres–an unrealistic picture, to say the least.
“It’s been called the ‘spherical cow’ approach,” says NIST materials scientist Jack Douglas. “It isn’t too helpful when your particle is shaped like a bush or a dust-bunny or crumpled paper, which are what nanoparticles can look like in a mixture. CNTs, for example, aren’t the idealized tubes you often see in magazines; their complicated shape depends sensitively on the exact conditions under which the particles are made.”
The team dealt with this issue by exploiting a kernel idea from a seven-decade-old math paper by Shizuo Kakutani, who suggested a way of more realistically modeling particle shapes in material property calculations. Using his ideas for practical materials science would have required far more number-crunching power than was available in Kakutani’s day, but modern computers make this class of problems easier to handle. The team first created virtual nanoparticles that have the same physical shape as the real-world particles they want to analyze, and they then calculated the relevant properties using a publicly available software package (ZENO) developed partly at NIST.
“We generate thousands of examples of the shapes we want, enough to represent variation in the real world,” says Douglas. “That gives us enough information to make general statements about their behavior in the mix.”
Since polymer nanocomposites are central to many developing technologies relating to the energy, auto and airline industries, Douglas says, this theoretical effort promises to have an appreciable impact. The team’s paper focuses on mixing CNTs or graphene with polymers, but the math has wider application.
“We can use it in any problem in which objects of complex shape arise,” he says. “For example, we are currently applying it to classify the shapes of stem cells as well as to biometric data.”
Source:National Institute of Standards and Technology
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151222163448.htm)
Summary:Researchers have demonstrated — for the first time — that targeting microbes in the gut may prevent heart disease brought on by nutrients contained in a diet rich in red meat, eggs and high-fat dairy products.
Cleveland Clinic researchers have demonstrated — for the first time — that targeting microbes in the gut may prevent heart disease brought on by nutrients contained in a diet rich in red meat, eggs and high-fat dairy products.
This novel approach centers around the research team’s previous discovery that TMAO — trimethylamine N-oxide, a byproduct formed in the gut during digestion of animal fats — is linked to atherosclerosis and heart disease. Now, the team has identified a naturally occurring inhibitor called DMB — 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol, found in some cold-pressed extra virgin olive oils and grape seed oils — that reduced levels of TMAO and reduced atherosclerosis in mice.
This discovery may represent a potential new therapeutic approach for the prevention of heart disease, the No. 1 killer in the United States, as well as other metabolic diseases linked to gut microbes, such as diabetes.
The current research will be published both online and in the Dec. 17 print edition of Cell.
The link between TMAO, gut microbes and heart disease was first discovered four years ago by the same investigative team, led by Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine in the Lerner Research Institute and section head of Preventive Cardiology & Rehabilitation in the Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic. Zeneng Wang, Ph.D., first author on the manuscript, is also a member in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine in the Lerner Research Institute.
“Many chronic diseases like atherosclerosis, obesity and diabetes are linked to gut microbes,” said Dr. Hazen. “These studies demonstrate the exciting possibility that we can prevent or retard the progression of diet-induced heart diseases starting in the gut. This opens the door in the future for new types of therapies for atherosclerosis, as well as other metabolic diseases.”
TMAO is a gut metabolite formed during the digestion of the nutrients choline, phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) and carnitine, which are abundant in animal products. Blood TMAO levels are associated with heightened risk of heart attacks, stroke and death in clinical studies. Carnitine is abundant in red meat and liver, while choline and lecithin are abundant in beef, lamb, liver, egg yolk and high-fat dairy products.
The present study suggests that targeted inhibition of the first step in TMAO generation, commensal microbial trimethylamine (TMA) production, can help to prevent diet-induced atherosclerosis. The research team inhibited TMA production using 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB) in mice fed a high choline or carnitine diet. The mice treated with the inhibitor had less TMAO and developed less atherosclerosis. DMB is not an antibiotic. This important fact suggests that a treatment could target a specific microbial pathway while protecting the gut flora and avoiding antibiotic overuse and resistance, which is a worldwide health crisis.
“We were able to show that ‘drugging the microbiome’ is an effective way to block this type of diet-induced heart disease. The inhibitor prevents formation of a waste product produced by gut microbes, leading to lowering of TMAO levels and prevention of diet-dependent atherosclerosis.” said Dr. Hazen. “This is much like how we use statins to inhibit cholesterol synthesis in human cells.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease kills about 610,000 in the United States annually, accounting for one in every four deaths. It’s the leading cause of the death in the U.S. for both men and women.
This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Dietary Supplements and the American Heart Association.
Source:Cleveland Clinic(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151217130454.htm)
Shri R Rajagopal IAS (TN 1984) presently Additional Secretary ,Department of Agricultural Research and Education ,Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has been appointed as Adviser ,Inter State Council Secretariat under Ministry of Home Affairs vice Shri Ashok Kumar Pavadia IRTS (1980) consequent to his premature repatriation to his cadre .
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.
Ms. Kalpana Mittal Baruah IAS (PB 1985) presently in her cadre has been aapointed as Additional Secretary – Cabinet Secretariat(SR) vice Shri Navin Verma IAS (BH 1982) consequent to his appointment as Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
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