Combined Defence Services Examination (I) – 2013

Union Public Service Commission will be conducting the Combined Defence Services Examination (I) – 2013  on17/2/2013 (Sunday) at 41 Centres all over India as per notification dated 10th November, 2012.  E-Admission Certificates are available on the Union Public Service Commission web-site http://www.upsc.gov.in   Candidates are advised to download and check their e-Admission Certificates carefully and bring discrepancy, if any,  to the notice of the Commission immediately.  Rejection Letters citing the ground(s) for rejection have been issued through e-mails or speed post and also put on Commission’s web-sitehttp://www.upsc.gov.in   In case any difficulty faced by the candidates in downloading e-Admission Certificates, they may contact the UPSC Facilitation Counter on Telephone Nos. 011-23385271, 011-23381125 & 011-23098543 on any working days between 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM.  The candidates can also send FAX message on FAX No. 011-23387310.   No Admission Certificate will be sent by post.  In case the photograph is not printed clear on the e-Admission Certificates,  candidates are advised to carry three (3) photographs (one identical photograph for each session)alongwith proof of Identity such as Identity Card or Voter Identity Card or Passport or Driving License and printout of e-Admission Certificate at the venue of the Examination.                                      MOBILE PHONES BANNED (a)    Mobile Phones, Pagers or any other communication devices are not allowed inside the premises, where UPSC Examination is being conducted.  Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action including ban from future examination. (b)   Candidates are advised in their own interest not to bring any of the banned items including mobile phones/pagers to the venue of the examination, as arrangements for safekeeping can not be assured.

REJECT ENVIRONMENT CLEARANCE FOR LUHRI HEP: 

Over 50 groups wrtie to MoEF

Over 50 groups individual and groups from all over have written to the Union Minister of state of Environment and Forests Smt Jayanthi Natarajan, Secertary MoEF and members of the Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley Projects, urging them to reject the Environment Clearance for the 775 MW Luhri hydropower project on Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh. The letter has been endorsed by over 50 individuals and groups from 15 states all over India, including prominent organisations like the Kalpavriksh, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad, Bharat Jan Andolan, National Alliance of People's Movements, All India Forum of Forest People, People's Science Institute, Save Rivers Campaign of Uttarakhand, Matu Jan Sangathan, River Research Centre, River Basin Organisation, People's Union of Democratic Rights, Socialist Party, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, Nature Conservation Foundation and ATREE. The letter has been endorsed by two of the former secretaries of Govt of India, a former ambassador, well known columnist, environmentalists, among others. 

The Luhri project will have the world's longest tunnel (38.14 km), bypassing last 50 km stretch of flowing Sutlej river, in addition to submerging 6.8 km of the river in the reservoir. This is the last stretch of the mighty Sutlej river that is still flowing, in an otherwise over developed river basin. Forgetting its own norms the Expert Appraisal Committee on RVP did not even note that there is zero distance of flowing river between upstream Rampur and Luhri upstream of the project. Similarly there is zero distance of flowing river between downstream Kol dam and Lurhi project, downstream of the project. This is against the recommendation of at least 5 km of flowing river between any two projects by the Himachal High Court appointed committee headed by former additional Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Avay Shukla. Even the EAC has been following the norm of 1 km between two projects, which is highly inadequate, but the EAC has not followed it in this case, the letter says. 

The letter notes that the overdeveloped Sutlej river basin does not have any credible cumulative impact assessment including carrying capacity of the basin from various aspects. Without such an assessment, it is not even possible to know if the large number of projects in the basin are viable or sustainable, as even directed by the Supreme Court in its 2006 order. The project has seen violations of several norms from the stage when it applied for the Terms of Reference in 2007 to when the Expert Appraisal Committee recommended clearance to the project in Nov 2012, the letter highlights. 

Another letter, endorsed by the same groups, on similar lines have been sent to the EAC, asking it to reconsider its decision on the project. The Environment Impact Assessment of the project has been so shoddy that even the EAC noted it is meeting that the EIA is inadequate and the EIA consultant has submitted poor quality material. The letter notes that in spite of this and even as the public hearings of the report had seen numerous violations and the government officials have been manipulating processes to bring pressure on the gram sabhas to give their consent for the project, the EAC recommended clearance to the project without resolving the issues raised by the EAC. This is completely against people, environment and legal norms and the EAC should immediately review the decision and reject the environment clearance to the project. 

The letter and the annexures send to the MoEF and EAC are attached. 

Himanshu Thakkar 

For SANDRP

Naresh --

The President did something big last week.

He proposed a set of major reforms to help protect our children and our communities by curbing gun violence, and he's already announced 23 executive actions that will go a long way in helping keep our kids safe.

This is an important start -- but I have no illusions about what needs to be done and how difficult it will be.

Every step we intend to take will preserve the tradition of responsible gun ownership in our country and uphold the Second Amendment. And while we'll never end gun violence entirely, if we can save the life of even one child, then we have a responsibility to act.

This action includes not only what we can do, but what Congress can do. To make a real and lasting difference, they must act soon. 

The President has called on Congress to act on four specific legislative measures: closing background check loopholes, banning military-style assault weapons and limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines, making our schools safer, and increasing access to mental health services.

Read more about the President's plan to reduce gun violence, and make sure you forward this to friends and family.

The President asked me to work with law enforcement, teachers, parents, sportsmen, Democrats, Republicans, faith leaders, mental health experts, and other organizations and individuals to come up with a set of concrete policy proposals. The plan he put forth is the product of those conversations and recommendations.

Right now, President Obama is counting on you.

Each one of us needs to speak up and demand action. It doesn't matter whether you live in a big city or a small town like Newtown, Connecticut. When our fellow Americans are victims of senseless violence, we all pull together as one American family.

Let's get this done, folks.

Whether the action we take saves one life or 1,000, it matters.

Thank you,

Joe

NOW USE YOUR TABLET IN HINDI

WishTel offers Hindi Operating System on WishTel BSNL IRA ICON

Powered by BSNL sim, the 7 inch android tablet is pre-loaded with Hindi Operating System that is intelligent, intuitive and just takes less than a minute to get familiar

New Delhi, 28^th Jan 2013 – Keeping in mind the current growth trend of Tablet Devices in upcoming days, WishTel has introduced a new range of its very popular BSNL IRA ICON tablets that are loaded with Hindi OS interface. This tablet allows all Android users not only to type in Hindi but read and access all functions and icons in Hindi. This tablet PCs delivers optimized experience in typing and surfing in Hindi language using Hindi Keyboard. In addition to Voice (using  BSNL sim and VOIP Technologies) & Video (using video conferencing and Mobile TV applications), BSNL is also offering 2months of free data usage upto 2GB. Users can access and send emails in Hindi, Network on Facebook in Hindi, Watch Hindi Movies and TV channels, Read Hindi  News and books and sign for education cources in Hindi.

India is the world's fastest growing tablet market with more than 500 million active users. Of the population of India, only 11 per cent speak English, mostly for professional reasons.  Lack of Indian keyboards has been one of the major problems Indian languages on an English dominated web. While a large portion of the first 100 million Internet users in India are English speakers, the next 200 million users are expected to be more comfortable with Indian languages. Hindi is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world. Considering all this facts, WishTel and BSNL has launched this tablet with Hindi Interface.

Designed and manufactured in India, Wishtel’s IRA ICON ,the 7inch Tablet PC, IRA ICON is a 1024X768 pixel full angle TFT LCD capacitive multi-touch screen that runs on Android 4.0 with Hindi OS , 1.2 GHz processor and a non-standard 1GB of RAM. The IRA ICON supports calling features Wi-Fi and bluetooth connectivity and also comes with built-in stereo speakers and a microphone. The device comes with a full complement of ports, including USB, SD Card, audio and HD video to simplify the use of industry standard peripheral solutions.. It has a 0.3 MP front web camera and 2.0MP rear-facing documentation camera tosupport image capture, video conferencing and collaboration. The tablet comes engineered with a 4000 mAh battery, which can give users browsing time of approximately 4 hours. The tablet PC has an internal storage of 8GB (expandable to 32GB - MicroSD (TF)).

IRA Icon is available through a national network of value-added resellers and distributors of BSNL and WishTel.