Union Public Service Commission [UPSC]

• Central recruiting agency in INDIA
• Articles 315 to 323 of Part XIV elaborates provision regarding composition,appointment and removal of members along with independence,powers and functions of UPSC.

COMPOSITION

• Usually consists of 9-11 members including the Chairman and other members appointed by the President who determines the strength.
• The Chairman and other officers holds the office for a term of 6 years or till they attain 65 years of age.

REMOVAL

• The president can remove the members if he is adjudged an insolvent,if he is caught doing any other jobs outside his office or he is adjudged unfit to continue his term in the office.

FUNCTIONS

• Conducts examinations for appointments to All India services,Central and Public services of centrally administered territories.

ELECTION COMMISSION

• Article 324 provides power of super-intendence,direction and control to the Parliment,state legislatures,the office of president and vice president shall be vested in the election commission.
• From 1950 to 15th October 1989,the election commission functioned as a single member body consisting of the Election commissioner alone.
• On 16th October 1989,The President appointed 2 more election commissioners.Thereafter the commission worked as a multimember body of 3 election commissioners.
• The 2 posts of election commissioners were abolished in January 1990 and was reconstituted in 1993.
• The powers of the 3 commissioners are equivalent to the judge of supreme court.
• They hold office for 6 years or until they attain the age of 65.
• The powers of Election commission is divided in to ADMINISTRATIVE,ADVISORY and QUASI-JUDICIAL.
• The functions performed by the Election commission are;

• (a) Determine territorial area of constituencies based on Delimitation Commission Act of Parliment.
• (b) Register all eligible voters.
• (c) Notify dates and schedule of election.
• (d) Allot election symbols to various parties.
• (e) Settle the disputes
• (f) Determine the code of conduct.
• (g) Advice president relating disqualification of members.
• (h) To cancel polls in events of violence.

• The election commission is assisted by deputy commissioners 
• At the state level,Election commission is assisted by Chief Electoral Officer appointed by the Chief Election commissioner in consulation with the state govt.
• He appoints a returning officer for every constituency in the district and a presiding officer for every polling booth in the constituency

ADMINISTRATION OF SCHEDULED AND TRIBAL AREAS

• Article 244 in the Part X of constitution describes the administration of 'Scheduled and Tribal areas'
• The 5th schedule described the same except for the states of Assam,Meghalaya,Tripura and Mizoram.
• The 6th schedule deals with administration of tribal areas of the above 4 states.

SCHEDULED AREAS

• President has the power to declare and set the limits of an area as a scheduled area.
• Although the executive powers of the state extends to the scheduled areas,the Governor is specially responsible for the administration of the areas.
• A 'Tribes Advisory Council' is to be organised in each state with scheduled areas consisting of 20 members, three fourth of which are representatives of the scheduled tribes in the legislative assembly.
• A governor can modify the laws for the scheduled areas after consulting with the Tribes advisory Council and getting an assent from the President.
• A commission was appointed in 1960 headed by U N Dhebar and the 2nd commission was appointed in 2002 under Dilip Singh Bhuria.

ADMINISTRATION OF TRIBAL AREAS

• The 6th schedule describes the special laws to be introduced to the aboringies of Assam,Meghalaya,Mizoram and Tripura
• The tribal areas are configured as autonomous districts with each one having 30 members of which 4 are elected by the governor and the rest 26 by adult franchise.
• The Governor can appoint any commission to examine and report any matter relating to autonomous districts or regions.

ADMINISTRATION OF UNION TERRITORIES

• Union territories are under the direct control of the government
• Articles 239 to 241 in Part VIII of constitution deals with Union territories.
• Each Union territory is controlled by the President through an acting administrator appointed by him.
• The acting administrator is designated as a Lieutenant Governor in case of Delhi,Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands 
• He is designated as the Administrator in case of Chandigarh,Dadra and Nagar Haveli,Daman and Diu and Laskshadweep.
• Union territory of Delhi and Puducherry is provided with a legislative assembly and a council of ministers headed by the C.M.
• The strength of council of ministers is 10% of total strength of the assembly ie; 7.
• The Bombay high court has jurisdiction over Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu.
• Calcutta,Punjab,Haryana,Kerala and Madras High courts have jurisdiction over Andaman and Nicobar islands,Chandigarh,Lakshdweep and Puducherry
• The 69th amendment of 1961 provides special status to Union territory of Delhi and registered it as a National capital territory.

ASEAN

• Association of South East Asian Nations.
• Geo-political & economic organisation of ten nations in South east Asia.
• Formed on 8th August 1967 by Indonesia,Malaysia,the Philippines,Singapore and Thailand
• Aims at accelerating economic growth,social development,cultural growth,protection of regional peace and stability among the member nations
• Covers 3% of the total land area and about 8.8% of world's population
• The organisation was preceded by ASA formed by the Philippines,Malaysia and Thailand in 1961.

• The ASEAN declaration[BANGKOK declaration] was signed in Bangkok.
• Brunei Darussalam became the 6th member on 8th January 1984
• Vietnam became the 7th member o 28th July 1995
• Laos and Myanmar joined on 23rd July 1997
• Cambodia joined on 30th April 1999 as the 10th member

TODAYS GK [24-2-2013]

NASHEED LEAVES INDIAN EMBASSY

• Maldivian former President Mohamed Nasheed leaves INDIA after the Maldivian President's press informed of no arrest warrants for him
• The case relates to him having abducted a judge when he was the President
• Nasheed thanked INDIA for the support provided to him.

PSLV TO LAUNCH 'SARAL' TOMORROW

• Indo-French satellite.
• Weighs around 400 kg and will study ocean surface and environment using two devices-ARgos and ALtika
• The launch agreement was signed in February 2007

• PSLV-C20 is the 23rd mission of indigineous PSLV and is the ninth core alone flight of PSLV
• It will carry six small payloads with two each from universities of Canada and Austria and one each from U.K and Denmark

MOODY's STRIPS UK OF AAA RATING

• Weak prospects for British economic growth is highlighted as the main reason
• Austerity has been the watchword for Osborne's [Finance minister] fiscal policy
• Joins USA and France in having lost the AAA rating

BYPOLLS 

• Over 83% turnout in Nagaland
• West Bengal bypolls see 70% turnout
• Over 85% polling in Meghalaya
• Elections largely peaceful,polling distorted in 3 booths in Nagaland

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947

• On July 18,1947 the act enacted by UK Parliment to partition British INDIA in to INDIA and PAKISTAN.
• Pakistan came in to being on August 14th 1947 and India on August 15th 1947
• Legislation formulated by P.M Clement Atlee.

• This was also known as the Mountbatten Plan or 3 June plan
• The act also demanded for the division of joint property between the two countries.

AUGUST OFFER - 1940

• Made on August 8th,1940 on the eve of Battle of Britain
• The offer made by then Viceroy Lord Lilinthgow promised the expansion of the Governor general's executive council to include more Indian's,establishment of Advisory War council,and the spirit of Indian freedom of constitution
• Instead,the British wanted Indian's to cooperate in their war affairs
• The Congress however rejected the offer 

SIMON COMMISSION

• Appointed in November 1927 [A 7 member statutory commission under Sir John Simon]
• The commission was intended to report on the condition of INDIA under its new constitution
• Commission submitted report in 1930 and recommended the abolition of Dyarchy,extension of responsible govt in provinces,Establishment of Federation of British INDIA and princely states,continuation of communal electorate etc.
• Three Round table conferences were conducted including the representatives from British INDIA,princely states and British govt to consider the proposals of the commission
• The recommendations of the committe were considered in the next Govt of INDIA act of 1935

SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE

• Introduced by Marquess Wellesly,British Governor general from 1798-1805
• Acc to this rule,the Indian ruler has to accommodate the British Army and pay for them
• The ruler should accept a British resident in his state
• The ruler should not get into any other alliances and should not declare war without the British acceptance.

• The ruler should acknowledge East India company as the paramount of India.
• If the ruler fails to pay them,the British has the power to take away part of land owned by the ruler

TODAY'S GK [23-2-2013]

NEW INTERCEPTOR BOAT JOINS COAST GUARD

• C-154,new IB with new generation Arneson Surface Drive[ASD] {capable of turning the boat while in high speed}
• Built by M/s Bharathi Shipyard Ltd @ 18 crores
• 28m long with 75 tonnes displacement,can achieve a max speed of 35 knots { 1 knot app =0.5 m/s}

• Capable of operating in shallow water 
• Has 2 main engines of 1630 KW each 
• It'll be based in Mumbai to protect the Western coastline

POST BANK OF INDIA COMING SOON

• Dept of Posts appointed Ernst & Young {E & Y} as consultant for proposed 'Post Bank'
• Detailed report to be submitted by April
• Around 24,000 district Post offices ready to take the initiative in the next two years
• Around 1000 ATM's to be set up in the period

RBI CALLING FOR NEW BANKING PARTNERS

• All domestic private and public companies are eligible
• Bank should not have any exposure to promoter group
• 10 years of track record and 500 crore initial min paid up voting equity capital necessary.
• At least half of the holding company's directors should be independent.
• Applications invited till JULY 1st

'IRON FIST' SETS DESERT SKY ABLAZE

• IAF's first ever day-night full combat and fire demonstration @ Pokhran 
• More than 200 fighter and transport aircraft[ Sukhoi 30,Mirage 2000,Jaguar,MIG 21,27,29]
• TEJAS[Light combat Aircraft] and RUDRA[Light Combat Helicopter] also turned up
• The event was witnessed by Honorable President, Defence minister,Air chief,military attaches from more than 50 Nations etc...

IMPORTANT LINES AND BOUNDARIES

• DURAND LINE - Demarkates INDIA and AFGANISTAN [By Sir.Mortimer Durand in 1896]
• MAcMAHON LINE - INDIA and CHINA
• RADCLIFFE LINE - INDIA and PAKISTAN
• HINDENBURG LINE - GERMANY and POLAND
• MASON DIXON LINE - FOUR STATES IN US

ATTORNEY GENERAL and SOLICITOR GENERAL

ATTORNEY GENERAL

• Appointed by the President of INDIA under Article 76(1) of INDIAn constitution
• Holds the office during the pleasure of the President
• He must be a person qualified to be appointed as a judge of Supreme court
• Attorney general gives advice to the government of INDIA on legal matters
• Assisted by a Solicitor general and 4 additional Solicitor Generals
• References to the Attorney general are made by the Law ministry

SOLICITOR GENERAL

• Sub-ordinate to the Attorney general
• Appointed for a period of 3 years
• Secondary Law officer of the Nation

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

• Formed under the Cabinet mission plan of 1946
• Inaugural meeting on December 9th,1949 with Dr.Sachidananda Sinha as the first Chairman of the constituent Assembly.
• Longest written constitution in the world
• Consists of 22 Chapters,12 Schedules and over 395 Articles.
• Parlimentary system of rule is adopted with the President of the union as the constitutional head
• Guarantees single citizenship too all the citizens
• Articles 1-4 deals with Territories,admission,establishment and formation of new states etc..
• Articles 5-11 deals with Citizenship
• Articles 12-35 deals with Fundamental Rights
• Articles 36-51 deals with the Directive Principles of State Policy

KHILAFAT MOVEMENT [1919-1924]

• Pan-Islamic movement by the Muslims of British INDIA to influence the British empire and protect the Ottoman empire
• The Ottoman empire sided with Central powers during World War-1 suffered a big defeat.
• The movement was in support to the Turkish empire led by Khilafa.

• The Muslims considered Khilafa as the custodian of ISALM
• The movement however fell down owing to Gandhiji calling off the Non-Cooperation movement
• The movement received its final blow in march 1924 when the original Khilafat movement was abolished in Turkey was abolished due to Islamic country's conversion from Sultanate empire to a Republic

LUCKNOW SESSION 1916

• The session was able to call back many extremists who left the congress after the Surat session of 1907
• The Surat session of 1907 saw the splitting of congress in to Moderates and Extremists
• The Lucknow Pact was signed which brought a sense of unity among the Congress and the Muslim League.

• Sarojini naidu gave Jinnah,the chief architect of The LUCKNOW PACT, the title of the 'Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity'
• The relationship however turned worse after the Chauri-Chaura incident of 1924 during the Khilafat movement.

THE GHADAR PARTY

• Punjabi party formed against the brutal British Rule
• Organised and formed under the leadership of HARDAYAL on November 1,1913 at San Fransisco,USA actively assisted by Ram Chandra Barkatulla
• It was initially called as the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association
• Ghadar means revolt or revolution
• The party slogan asks  What is our name?? GHADAR  What is our work ?? Ghadar Where will the revolution start?? INDIA

• The Ghadar party carried the slogan 'Angrezi Raj ka Dushman' as the enemy of British rule
• Ideologies : Revollutionary socialism and INDIAN Nationalism
• It was dissolved in 1919 

HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA

GEORGE VI ALBERT FREDERICK ARTHUR GEORGE WAS THE KING UNTIL THE REPUBLIC INDIA WAS PROCLAIMED IN 1950

LORD MOUNTBATTEN WAS THE FIRST GOVERNOR GENERAL FOLLOWED BY CHAKRAVARTI RAJAGOPALACHARI

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU WAS THE FIRST P.M

SARDAR VALLABHAI PATEL BECAME THE FIRST DEPUTY P.M AND HOME MINISTER

UNION INTEGRATION

BRITISH INDIA CONSISTED OF 17 PROVINCES AND 562 PRINCELY STATES

BRUTAL KILLING OF FATHER OF NATION

THE STATE OF JUNAGADH,HYDERABAD AND KASHMIR WERE HARD TO MERGE

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA DRAFTED BY NOV 26,1949 and CAME TO EFFECT FROM JAN 26,1950

THE WORDS SOCIALIST,SECULAR REPUBLIC WERE ADDED TO THE CONSTITUTION BY THE 42nd AMENDMENT OF 1976

NEHRU's ADMINISTRATION [1952-1964] SAW A SOCIALIST APPROACH INCLUDING ESTABLISHMENT OF IIT's, SOCIALIST ECONOMIC POLICIES,NATIONALIZATION OF HEAVY INDUSTRIES etc..

STATE REORGANIZATION ACT WAS PASSED IN 1956

SINO-INDIAN WAR OF 1962

INDO-PAK WAR OF 1971 AND INTERNAL EMERGENCY OF 1976

TERROR BLASTS HIT AGAIN --> HYDERABAD BLASTS

   
                           The notorious terrorist action strike INDIA once again.In the midst of high alertness,the city of Hyderabad was badly hit by twin blasts by around 7 P.M..Major cities have been given high alert after the act has been almost confirmed as the brutal terrorist attack.The terror strike hit the city of Dilsukhngar.Atleast 15 are dead and around 50 are brutally injured till now.The three blasts took place at anand Kishan center,Konark theatre and Venkatadri movie theater.The blasts originated from a tiffin box from a cycle.

            The NIA and NSG have rushed to the spot.

BUDGET SESSION 2013-2014 STARTS

                In his first session as the President,Sri.Pranab Mukharjee,the previous Finance minister  touched issues like slower economic growth and ways to overcome it to start the session.He expressed deep concerns over the gang rape and assault on the 23 year old and raised his voice against similar incidents.The 36,000 chopper scam was also dealt in his 1 hour long speech.The priority will be given to the Lokayukta,lokpal,Whistle blowers protection bill,Bills against bribery etc..which stands in the parliment, said the President.Amendments to the Anti Corruption bill is under consideration to prevent the innocent ones and punish the guilty.The Judicial standards and accountability Bill is also to be introduced in this session of the Parliment.

The President also dealt with issues like relations with Pakistan,condition of women in the Nation etc..in the session.The GDP growth is only 5.4% in the first fiscal which is comparatively lower to the 8% in the last decade average.the government is also considering a scheme for the handloom sector to prevent the 10 lakh weavers in the Nation-The President said.

JALLIANWALA BAGH INCIDENT SHAMEFUL--> DAVID CAMERON

                                         Alas,the British P.M came forward to agree that the incident was one of the shameful and most notorious incidents in the British reign of INDIA.Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden in Amritsar(Punjab).The shameful act in the British reign history took place on April 13,1919.The vengence against the Rowlatt act and the cruelty of Dyer that resulted in the huge massacre was indeed a black letter day in the history of INDIA.

The P.M Cameron wrote "This was a deeply shameful act in the British history.One that Winston Churchill described at that time as monstrous.We must never forget what happened here and we must ensure that U.K stands up for the right of peaceful protests around the world".

This is the first time that a British P.M is seeking apology in the incident apart from a few who already had told that the incident was monstrous.He stood for a few minutes in front of the Amar jyothi and kneeled down expressing his apology towards INDIA.  

THE HINDU EDITORIAL -FEB 20TH

                                                AN UNREASONABLE RESTRICTION

                   The whole lot story on Internet crimes is increasing.The editorial smashes eyes on whether all of them are really crimes ..Is the rule restricting the Articles 14,19 and 21 which gives us freedom of speech and expression? Section 66(A) of the IT act passed in January 2013 has made the discussion more relevant.The act is much similar to the Act 127 of UK.Section 66(A) refers to the sending of any information through a communication service that is grossly offensive. In the UK section 127(1)(a) deals with the sending of matter grossly offensive or of indecent manner as offense.The 2009 amendment has avoided the words indecent and obscene.

There have been many who have been arrested based on this.But the rule is yet to be explained completely in our nation.The interrogates ranges from Manoj Oswal to Sanjay Chaudhary ..The question still remains..Is this the correct Rule??Should it be amended?

ISRAEL PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL FOR OBAMA

US Preseident Mr.BARACK OBAMA will be awarded with ISRAEL presidential medal when he visit ISRAEL. The award is in return to the contributions by him to strengthen ISRAEL and ensuring the safety of ISRAEL personnels.The news was out frm ISRAEL President Mr.SHIMON PERES's office.

ARMENIA RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT

Armenia has re-elected President Serzh Sarksyan for another tenure.His closest rival US born Raffi Hovannisian won nearly 37 percent of the votes.The opposition claimed of fraud in the election,but the story remains the same.

GWADAR PORT IN CHINA's CONTROL

PAKISTAN has now handed over the control of GWADAR port's operation and control to CHINA hoping for a better operation of the same.Chins Overseas Port Holdin Company[COPHC] will have the power from today for it's operation and maintenance although the site still rests in the hands of PAKISTAN.It's told that CHINA's NAVY will start utilising this and this has caused some fear in our NATION.The event was witnessed by PAK president Sri.ASIF ALI ZARDARI and Chinese Ambassador LIU JIAN.CHINA is also giving assistance to many ports in BANGLADESH and SRILANKA too..The site is almost near to the main route HORMUS through which the oil trade is being done.The site was earlier in the hands of Singapore based PSA.The port is expected to bring glory to CHINA too by carrying out oil trade through this port

THE HELICOPTER SCAM NOW...

                        Scams in our Country never ends. Whether it affects us or not,it'll always be here.The latest being the Helicopter scam with the parent company FINMECCANICA in ITALY and its son AGUSTA WESTLAND in Uk.Nowthat the P.M David Cameroon has arrived here and given us the assurance,we can now start the wait after which the whole thing will vanish in to a hole and followed by the new scam..

The 36,000 CRORE deal set in 2010 has seen it enough.The whole lot drama on the stories of establishing some well made anti corruption systems in UK has been disclosed and our beloved P.M is glad about that.The unconfirmed stories tell that Finmeccania bribed then IAF chief S P Tyagi for the favour of the company.Anyhow CBI probe has been ordered and the truth will unwind itself.