BOOKS

Religion, Law & Society-Across the Globe

The Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari on 12 April 2013 released a book titled Religion, Law & Society – Across the Globe. The book is authored by Prof. Tahir Mahmood. The book contains descriptions of foreign and Indian Conference addresses and commissioned papers, a section on Minority Rights in Indian as well as Global Context and more. The book also offers insights into a variety of intricate and inter-connected issues of constitutional and socio-legal significance.

The Orphan Master’s Son

Adam Johnson’s novel The Orphan Master’s son won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2013. Last year, judges had failed to select a winner of the award for fiction for the first time in 35 years. The book carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart. Johnson teaches creative writing at Stanford University.
He spent time in North Korea to research his book. Other books in contention were, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander and The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey.

VARIOUS

Leadership Training Programme – II

The Union Minister of Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch inaugurated Leadership Training Programme – II for Indian museum professionals on 10 April 2013. The Leadership Training Programme – II for Indian museum professionals was inaugurated in the presence of Neil MacGregor, Director British Museum, London as well as Sangita Gairola, Secretary Culture. The syllabus for the Leadership Training Programme was developed by the British Museum and the National Culture Fund. The Leadership Training programme (LTP) - II which has specially been created for the Indian museum professionals by the British Museum comprises of 3 modules of 2 weeks each spread over a period of 5 months. First module was held in New Delhi and second and the third modules would be held in London and Allahabad respectively. In between the Taught Modules, participants will be given Museums assignments to complete in their own museums. The syllabus was carefully designed after keeping in mind the Indian scenario. The Leadership Training Programme aims at developing leadership and executing skills for museum personnel.

Tagore Centre for Global Thought at London

Union Ministry of Culture, Government of India inaugurated the Tagore Centre for Global Thought at India Institute, King’s College, London on 2nd April, 2013. Tagore Centre was set up as part of the Tagore Commemoration celebrating 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. The Tagore Centre will enhance Tagore-related, academic intellectual and philosophic work globally. The underlying concept is to promote the study of liberal arts and support programmes connected with all aspects of Tagore’s works and showcase how the Indian thought and intellectual capability was influenced by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. The Tagore Centre has been established in partnership with the India Institute of King’s College, London by signing an agreement. The Centre will take up five core activities promoting global implications and connections of Indian thought besides promoting Tagore’s literary and cultural legacy. The Centre is also expected to promote research in Tagore’s literature and artistic works in all the areas of music, art and films. Besides promoting Tagore’s philosophy it is also expected to promote and support research students working on the Global Intellectual history of Indian Thought. The activities will include Tagore distinguished lectures in Global Thought, Lecture series on Tagore, Doctoral Scholarships and film series based on Tagore Stories and writings. To facilitate the Tagore Centre, Ministry of Culture has designed a lean but strong administrative architecture comprising the New Delhi - based Steering Committee headed by the Union Culture Secretary and the London - based Implementation and Monitoring Committee. The latter has been empowered to take decisions regarding the Centre and its programmes. Over 100000 euros out of a total of over 300000 euros committed for 3 years has already been released. The Tagore Centre is expected to become a vibrant Centre of excellence and an intellectual hub in the field of art and culture. It will not only promote and support research studies on Tagore’s thought and work in art, music, education and traditional literature but also studies in Indian Philosophy and cultural tradition, for which India is known worldwide.

Nuclear-Capable Hatf-IV Ballistic Missile

Pakistan successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable Hatf-IV ballistic missile on 10 April 2013. The missile has a range of 900 km and it can also hit targets in India.

Main features related to Hatf- IV ballistic missile:

• Hatf- IV ballistic missile is also called Shaheen-1.

• The missile incorporated various improvements in the technical parameters as well as range of the existing missile.

• Hatf-IV has the capability of carrying the conventional and nuclear warheads upto 900 km range.

• Impact point of launch of Hatf-IV was at the sea.

• Strategic Plans Division chief Lt Gen (retired) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai witnessed the launch of Hatf-IV missile.

• Since 2012, Pakistan has successfully test-fired various missiles including Hatf-IX tactical missile that has a range of 60 km, along with Hatf-V ballistic missile that has 1300 km reach.

Narangwal, Ludhiana

The Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Manish Tiwari on 6 April 2013 inaugurated an Indoor Shooting Range in Govind National College, Narangwal in District Ludhiana. The Indoor Shooting Range was built with the grant of 50 lakh Rupees from University Grants Commission. The Indoor Shooting Range was inaugurated on the occasion of convocation of Govind National College. During the convocation, Manish Tiwari awarded degrees to 260 students. Apart from the degrees, stipends and scholarships were also awarded. Grant of 5 lakh Rupees for development of college was also announced by Manish Tiwari.

H-191

Director General Indian Coast Guard Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal was commissioned at Mumbai on 10 April 2013 by the Director General Indian Coast Guard Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal. This is the fifth of the series of twelve Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs) to be commissioned so far. This ship will be based in Okha under the Administrative and Operational Control of the Commander Coast Guard Region (North-West).

Indian Coast Guard Ship H-191

• It is a 21 meter long Air Cushion Vehicle with 31 tonnes displacement

• It can achieve maximum speed of 45 knots

• It is capable of undertaking multi-farious tasks such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and rendering assistance to small boats/craft in distress at sea

Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS) Train

The Ministry of Environment & Forests decided to re-launch SEBS (Science Express Biodiversity Special) train in the 2nd phase of the programme on 9 April 2013 from Delhi Safdarjung. The present run of the train is the 2nd Phase in the two phase programme envisaged to cover a minimum of 100 locations on Broad Gauge network of Indian Railway across the entire length & breadth of the country. Of the 16 coaches of Science Express- Biodiversity Special, 8 are solely dedicated to showcasing the myriad biodiversity spread across all the bio-geographical zones of India through a variety of interactive exhibits, short films & videos that are shown on Plasma & LED TV screens, large format displays, kiosks, backlit panels, and so on. The rest of coaches have interesting & informative exhibits on Climate Change, Energy and Water conservation and topical issues in science.

The popular Joy of Science Lab is mounted in an exclusive coach in which students are guided to perform various experiments & activities to understand concepts of various themes projected in the train. In addition, on the railway platform where the train is halted, young visitors are encouraged to play several exciting games as well as participate in quizzes, painting competitions, elocutions, just-a-minute, etc. The window panes of the entire train have also been judiciously used to put up posters on the numerous species of flora & fauna found in India which keep the visitors engaged while waiting for their turn. SEBS was launched on 5 June 2012 (World Environment Day) with a view to create awareness amongst masses in general and youth in particular about the exceptional biodiversity of India.

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets

The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in the Palam area of Delhi entered the list of top 10 Weird and Unusual museums of the world. The list is compiled by a travel portal, Journeymart.com and it also includes the Salem’s Witch Museum and Washington DC’s International Spy Museum.

About the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets was inaugurated in 1992. It has the collection of various toilet seats from different eras. The major highlight of this museum is facsimile of the King Louis the XIV’s throne. It is believed that the King used it to defecate when he used to conduct the court sessions. Journeymart.com explained that there are other nine unique museums from all over the world. The list has been compiled by travelling across the museums of the world from past 13 years. Every museum on the list is very unique and different from one other. Ironically, while the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets is housed in Delhi, it is also the state where ratio of one person to the toilet is extremely low.

Other museums on the list of Top 10 Weird and Unusual museums of the world are:

• The International Spy Museum, Washington DC

• Celebrity Hair Museum, Missouri

• The Witch Museum, Salem

• The Chocolate Museum, Cologne, Germany

• Celebrity Lingerie Hall of Fame, Los Angeles

Abu Jundal

National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 4 April 2013 charge sheet against Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, the suspected terrorist of the banned Lashker-e-taiba (Let) and the mastermind of Mumbai Terror Attacks in the designated court in Patiala house in New Delhi. Abu Jundal is accused of making recruitments for Pakistan for LeT, the Pakistan based terror outfit.

Jundal made many deliberated efforts to recruit people through internet to join LeT for the cause of carrying out terror activities in India, in 2011 and 2012. The NIA has alleged that Jundal, during 2011 and 2012, had made deliberate attempts for recruiting different persons through internet for joining LeT and carrying out terror activities in India.

Pablo Neruda

A team of forensic specialists in Chile on 8 April 2013 began work of exhuming poet Pablo Neruda’s body to find out whether he was murdered or died of prostate cancer. Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda died just 12 days after military coup of 1973. The 1973 military coup had ousted Chile’s socialist president Salvador Allende, thus bringing General Augusto Pinochet in power. It was believed that Pablo Neruda died because of prostate cancer but in 2011, the possibility of poisoning of the poet by agents of Pinochet regime also came in limelight. He died on 23 September 1973 in Santiago. The remains of Pablo Neruda were in a tomb at his home in Isla Negra. The poet had won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was renowned for his love poems. Apart from being the poet, he was also a Communist Party politician. The Chilean justice system ordered probe in June 2011 after filing of complaint by the Chilean Communist Party.

INTRA-IPS

The official online portal of INTRA-IPS was launched by S. Jayaraman (Special Secretary-Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs at New Delhi on 8 April 2013. The address of the INTRA-IPS online portal is http://intraips.gov.in.

Features of this new online portal are as follows:

The online portal will facilitate information about the Indian Police Service Civil List, Immovable Property Returns, Latest notifications/circulars, Rules, Police Medal Awardees list etc. related to all IPS officers all over India. The Ministry of Home Affairs will issue new e-mail addresses to All Indian Police Service (IPS) officers. Knowledge Management System (KMS) will also be a part of the online portal. In this KMS, the IPS officers will be facilitated to upload as well as share the knowledge resources, which according to them are fruitful for the IPS community.

Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh visited Germany from 10 April 2013 to 12 April 2013. He visited for participating in second round of Inter Governmental Consultations with Germany. He was accompanied by delegation including Ministers and senior officials.

During his visit, certain documents were signed. The documents were signed during the official visit of Prime Minister to Germany for the 2nd India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations. Also, the documents were signed on the sidelines of 2nd round of India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations.

Bushehr

An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 killed 37 leaving behind 850 people injured in Bushehr Province of south-west Iran on 9 April 2013 at 4:22 pm (local time). The quake struck 90 kilometers away from the country’s only 1000 Megawatt Bushehr Nuclear Plant but was not able to have an impact on the plant. Seismologists measured that the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers near the town of Kaki – a Gulf Port City. Several aftershocks of intensity more than five on the Ritcher Scale were felt. The effects of the quake were felt across Gulf in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, UAE and Bahrain. A total of about 700 houses were damaged and more than 200 families felt the effect of the quake. Rescue operations are being conducted by the rescue team sent in the affected area. Iran lies in an area of major geological fault-line and thus is prone to seismic activity. A major earthquake in the City of Bam that stuck Iran on 26 December 2003 left 25000 people dead.

Lt Cdr Tomy

President of India, Pranab Mukherjee welcomed Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy of Indian Navy, who on 6 April 2013 became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe, solo and non-stop, in a sail boat over a 150-day voyage. This voyage of Lt Cdr Tony placed India in the list of few selected nations, whose citizens were successful in completion of such an arduous voyage. The voyage of Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy ended at the Gateway of India. He started his voyage across the oceans of the world from the same place from in his boat INSV Mhadei on 1 November 2012. The Voyage was conducted under the Sagar Parikrama Project, which was sanctioned by Pranab Mukherjee, when he was the Defence Minister of India. With this achievement Tony turned up to be the first Indian and second Asian to complete such a voyage. At present there are less than 80 people across the world in the list of people who have completed such a voyage.

The Voyage

• Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy during the voyage crossed three capes of the world namely Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope.

• During the voyage, total distance covered is around 23100 nautical miles and crossed Indian, Southern, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

• During the journey from West to East, Tony crossed south of the continents of Australia, South America and Africa, thus rounding the three Great Capes — Cape Leeuwin in Australia, Cape Horn in South America and Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

INSV Mhadei is a custom-built boat of Indian Navy that was designed in the year 2009 and in a period of four years, the boat undertook its second solo circumnavigation trip.

Sichuan

Earthquake that measured 7 on Ritcher Scale killed more than 167 and injured at least 5000 people in China’s western Sichuan Province on 20 April 2013. The earthquake struck at 8.02 am from Chinese local time. The incident occurred at a distance of less than 100 miles from Chengdu, the Provincial Capital of the region. Seismologists measured that the epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 12 Kilometers below the surface in Ya’an City, which is a home to about 1.5 million people. The earthquake left behind a devastating look in form of destroyed and broken houses. More than 700 aftershocks followed the devastating earthquake.