General Knowledge Current Affairs

Friday, October 19, 2012

Australian honour for Sachin Tendulkar

 

Sachin Tendulkar is all set to become the first Indian sportsperson to be conferred with the Membership of the Order of Australia, an honour “rarely” bestowed on non-Australians.The ‘Order of Australia’ is an order of chivalry to recognise Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Nobel Prize 2012

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems"

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 was awarded jointly to Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 was awarded jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 was awarded to Mo Yan "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary".

The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 was awarded to European Union (EU) "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe".

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management: 2012

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee conferred on Smt. Tessy Thomas, the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management: 2012 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan today. The President congratulated Smt. Tessy Thomas and said that she had made the country proud by her achievements.

In a career spanning over 24 years, Smt. Tessy Thomas has contributed in various fields such as Guidance, Control, Inertial Navigation, Trajectory Simulation and Mission Design. She is also the Associate Project Director (Mission) for Agni-I, II & III systems. She has been associated with the Agni Programme right from their developmental stages. She has designed the guidance scheme for long range missile systems which is used in all Agni missiles. Currently, she is the Project Director of Agni –IV, which is a major project with state of the art technologies. The Agni-IV was successfully flight tested on 15th November, 2011. This is a state of the art system with range to launch mass ratio of 15% better than its equivalent missiles across the world. Smt.

Tessy is Project Director (Mission) for the long range Agni – V System also and has successfully flight tested Agni – V on 19th April, 2012. She, as the Technology Director for Mission Design and System Analysis Group of Advances Systems Laboratory, has significantly contributed in the development of various systems associated with missiles technology.
The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award, instituted by the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management (LBSIM) honours each year an Indian, residing either in India or abroad, who is an exceptionally outstanding and distinguished business leader, management practitioner, public administrator, educator or institution builder for his/her sustained individual contributions and achievements of high professional order and excellence. The honour carries a cash award of Rupees Five Lakh plus a Citation and a Plaque. The Awardee’s name is inscribed on the Roll of Honour of LBSIM and he/she is designated as Lal Bahadur Shastri Fellow.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

International Day of Non-Violence

In 2007 the United Nations (External website that opens in a new window) has declared October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence (External website that opens in a new window). According to the United Nations General Assembly resolution on 15 June 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence".

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

MOOWES gets Priyadarshini Award

Marketing Organisation of Women Entrepreneurs (MOOWES) has won the Priyadarshini Award at the 12th Global Conference, in association with IFWE (International Federation of Women Entrepreneurs), on ‘Trade Liberalisation and its Global Impact on Women Entrepreneurs,’ held at Hotel The Ashok, New Delhi, from September 3 to 5.

The programme was organised by FIWE (Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs), Delhi.

Seetha Ranganathan, president-MOOWES, received this award for the Marketing Organisation.

Janaki Ananth, secretary-MOOWES, received an individual award for best Women Entrepreneur.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

International Day of Peace 21st September

In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace. By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:

"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."

Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Human rights as a career

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, irrespective of nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are interrelated, interdependent, and indivisible.

Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the form of treaties, customary international law, general principles, and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.



Human Rights legislation commonly contains:

  • Security rights that protect people against crimes such as murder, massacre, torture, and rape
  • Liberty rights that protect freedoms in areas such as belief and religion, association, assemblies, and movement
  • Political rights that protect the liberty to participate in politics by expressing themselves, protesting, voting, and serving in public office
  • Due process rights that protect against abuse of the legal system such as imprisonment without trial, secret trials, and excessive punishment
  • Equality rights that guarantee equal citizenship, equality before the law, and non-discrimination
  • Welfare rights (also known as economic and social rights) that require the provision of education and protection against severe poverty and starvation
  • Group rights that provide protection for groups against ethnic genocide and for the ownership by countries of their national territories and resources

Violation of Human Rights

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, fundamental rights are violated when:

  • A Certain, Creed or a group is denied recognition as a “person” (Article 2)
  • Men and Women are not treated as equal (Article 2)
  • Different Racial or Religious groups are not treated equally (Article 2)
  • Life, liberty, or security of a person are threatened (Article 3)
  • A person is sold as or used as a slave (Article 4)
  • Cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment is used on a person (such as torture or execution) (Article 5)
  • Punishments are dealt arbitrarily or unilaterally, without a proper and fair trial (Article 11)
  • Arbitrary  interference into personal, or private lives by agents of the state (Article 12)
  • Citizens are forbidden to leave their country (Article 13)
  • Freedom of Speech or religion are denied (Article 18 & 19)
  • The right to join a trade union is denied (Article 23)
  • Education is denied (Article 26)