Historical personalities

1. Asvaghosha A Buddhist (Mahayana) saint and scholar of Kanishka’s period, he played an active part in the Fourth Buddhist Council. He was the author of Buddhacharita (a biography of the Buddha).

2. Atisha Dipankara A renowned Vajrayana Buddhist monk and preacher (AD 981 – 1054) of the Pala period, he served as the principal of the Vikramasila University for about 18 years, and later went to Tiber and preached there for 12 years.

3. Badal and Gora the Rajput heroes of Mewar, who died fighting while defending Chittor from Alauddin Khalji’s forces.

4. Badauni A prominent historian of Akbar’s period, he is the author of Muntakhab-ul-Tawarikh, which contains a rather critical account of Akbar’s liberal reign.

5. Ballala Sena The second Sena ruler (AD 1158-79) of Bengal, he was a prolific writer in Sanskrit, authoring Danasagara and Adbhutasagara. Being a patron of orthodox, Hinduism, he founded kulinism or a system of nobility among the Brahmins and Kayathas of Bengal.

6. Barani, Ziauddin A conservative historian of Firoz Shah Tughluq’s period, his Tarikh-i-Firoshahi gives us information about the rule of the Tughluqs up to Firoz.

7. Baz Bahadur Ruler of Malwa with Manda as his capital, he was famous for his patronage of architecture and music. Akbar annexed his kingdom but later took him into Mughal service. His wife, Rupmati, was known for her beauty.

8. Bethune, J E D Law Member of the Governor General’s Council, he is famous for promoting education among the Indian women. He was the founder of the Bethune School for Girls at Calcutta.

9. Bhagwan Das Kachhawaha ruler of Amber and son of Raja Bihari Mal (who voluntarily submitted to Akbar), he rose very high in the service of Akbar. Raja Man Singh who served Akbar with distinction was his son.

10. Bhasa An early Sanskrit dramatist of ancient India he is said to have composed 13 dramas, the most famous being Swapnavasavadatta, Charudatta Pratima.

Topics to be covered from Hindu Paper dated on Tuesday October 30^th  

Topic	Page No.
Dissolve Parliament as government is unconstitutional: Hazare, V.K.Singh	1
A visit Manmohan must make	8
Nuclear safety before vendor interests	9
Northern Europe needs to listen to hardy Greece	9
West Bengal’s JNNURM spending will be probed, says MoS Dasmunsi	10
Emergency declared in six States	13
Inflation risks still worry Reserve Bank	14

Question to be learn

1.     The Government has introduced annual recognition procedure for the National Sports Federations (NSFs) from the year 2010.  The NSFs which complied with the Government guidelines and furnished complete information/documents sought by the Government have been granted annual recognition.  51 NSFs have been granted recognition by the government for the year 2011. Which of the following have been granted recognition as NSF by the government? 
    1.    Judo Federation of India
    2.    Aero Club of India
    3.    Bridge Federation of India
    4.    Board of Control for Cricket in India
    Code:-
    (a)    1, 2 and 3    (b) 2, 3 and 4
    (c)    1, 3 and 4    (d) None of the above

2.     Consider the following sentences about 'Lakshya-1'.
1.    India's indigenously developed, micro-light pilot-less target aircraft 'Lakshya-1' was successfully test flown from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur on August 23, 2012.
2.    It is a sub-sonic, re-usable aerial target system, is remote controlled from the ground and designed to impart training to both air borne and air defence pilots.
3.    Lakshya has been inducted into the Indian Air Force since 2001.
The correct sentence/sentences is/are
(a)    1 and 2    (b)    2 and 3
(c)    1 and 3    (d)    All of the above

3.     Encouraged by the success of "Curiosity", NASA has announced to launch a new Mars mission in 2016 to take a better look into the guts of the Red Planet. The mission will investigate why Mars' crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth's. What is the name of this mission?
(a)    InSight    (b) OnSight
(b)    UnSight    (d) In toSight

4.     The Cabinet approved reduction of 30 per cent or 264 such items for NLDCs that are contained under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). India's imports are classified under two lists - the MFN list and sensitive list. Which year SAFTA came into force?
(a)    2004    (b) 2005
(c)    2006    (d) 2007

5.     Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) are being sanctioned for the development of education in the tribal areas of the country under the Special Area Programme. Which of the following article grant this Special Area Programme since 1997-98?
    (a) 274 (2)        (b) 275 (1)
    (c) 275 (2)        (d) 274 (2)

EDITORIALS

Our policy is to reprocess all the fuel put into a Nuclear reactor.

Mr. Sekhar Basu Responded about the Nuclear waste to the hindu executive.

Sekhar Basu :

1. Director of Bhabha Atomic Research centre (BARS)

2. Executive of Nuclear Recycle Board.

3. He is responsible for the design, development, construction and operation of Nuclear recycle plant.

4. He has designed and built Reprocessing plants fuel storage, nuclear waste treatment facilities at trombay, tarapur and Kalpakkam.

5. Now he is in the process of designing first Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant.

Difference between coal power plant and Nuclear Power Plant

1. In Nuclear Plant the amount of fuel that we input will be utilised and only a few waste will be generated. 97% of the waste that is generated contains uranium and Thorium which will be reused in the reactor and only 3% waste will be left out. 

In the case of coal plant all the amount of coal that we push in will amount to waste such as ash and other emission.

Notes: on Nuclear Reactors waste

2. The amount of fuel input will be 30,000 times less in Nuclear power plant. Because very little uranium is sufficient to produce energy but the level of coal required in more.

Nuclear waste problems

1. Nuclear waste are radioactive in which the waste can be divided into two parts.

Part I – 99% waste will become non radioactive in 300 years.

Part II – the 1% waste will be radioactive even after 300 years.

2. The pilot plant to separate the waste will be set up at Tarapur, Mumbai.

3. This will be the large plant and will reprocess 600 tonnes of spent fuel

4. The waste is first vitrified in the vitrification plant. Then it will be put in steel canisters which in turn will be put in steel over packs. Over packs will again be put into steel casing, which will finally put into a concrete building. This will be the procedure for the 99% waste that will become non – radioactive in 300 years.

5. 1% waste that will be radioactive : has to be kept inside a repositories. These repositories can be set up in places with granite rocks.

The other alternative for these radioactive wastes are to bombard the waste with high energy neutrons to kill or burn radio active elements this is called transmutation.

Transmutation is the way of handling actinides that have long half lives. This system can be implemented where neutrons of high energy are used or accelerated driven system (ADS)

The ADS system is being implemented in the 12^th plan. The ADS programme will be implemented at Visakhapatnam within 15 to 20 years. (2020)     

6. The capacity to reprocess waste has be increased in Kalpakam plant which will reprocess fuel from all the plants of South India and will be in operation from 2014.

Topics to be covered from Hindu Paper dated on Monday October 29^th  

Topic	Page No.
‘Our policy is to reprocess all the fuel put into a nuclear reactor’	11
In post – war Jaffna, a slow piecing back of life	11
Traditional dilemma of the central banker	15

1. Akbar (Prince) Third son of Aurangzeb, he revolted against his father in 1681, but was defeated and had to take refuge with Sambhaji. Failing to achieve anything in the Deccan due to the personal presence, of the emperor, he finally retired to Persia.

2. Alberuni Originally a native of Khiva in Central Asia, he was brought to Ghazni, by Mahmud. Abu Rihan Muhammad was his original name, but became famous as ‘Alberuni’, meaning the ‘Master’. Being a great scholar himself, he learnt Sanskrit and made a thorough study of Indian sciences and philosophy. His famous work. Tariq-i-Hind or Kitab-i-Hind, is a truly scientific treatise and gives us an accurate account of India on the eve of the Turkish conquest of India.

3. Ali, Muhammad A prominent nationalist leader and brother of Shaukat Ali, he was a leader of the Khilafat, Movement and the Non – cooperation Movement. He became the President of the Indian National Congress in 1923.

4. Ali, Muhammad Ruhela Founder of the power of the Rohillas or Ruhelas in Rohilkhand lying to the north – west of Awadh. In 1774 they were defeated and their last ruler. Hafiz Rahamat Khan, was murdered by the Nawab of Awadh with the help of the British.

5. Amar Singh Son and successor of Rana Pratap of Mewar, he continued the fight against the Mughals under Akbar and later under Jahangir. But in 1614 peace was patched up when Jahangir stopped insisting on the personal attendance of the Rana at the imperial court.

6. Ambar Malik An Abyssinian slave who settled in Ahmadnagar and became the prime minister of the Nizam Shahi rulers. He introduced a number of revenue reforms, trained the Nizam Shahi forces in the guerrilla tactics of warfare, employed a large number of Marathas in the army, and foiled the attempts of Jahangir to complete Mughal annexation of the Nizam Shahi kingdom.

7. Amir Khusrau known as the ‘Parrot of India’, he was a famous poet, historian and musician of the Delhi Sultanate. He enjoyed the patronage of successive rulers of Delhi from Balban to Ghiyasuddin Tughluq.   

8. Ansari, Dr (1880 – 1936) A medical doctor by profession, he was initially involved in the Muslim League politics and presided over its 1920 session. But later he became a Congressman and was the president of the Madras Session (1927) of the INC.

9. Aquaviva, Father Ridolfo A Jesuit missionary working at Goa, he was sent to Fatehpur Sikri along with Father Monserrate by the Portuguese government on the request of akbar who wanted to know the fundamental tenets of Christianity.

10. Asanga  A prominent Buddhist scholar, saint and author, he belonged to the fourth century AD and was the brother of Vasubandhu (teacher and minister of Samudragupta). He was the author of the Sutralankara (the earliest text of the Yogachara school of Mahayanism)

Question to be learn

1. Consider the following statements.
1. 'Tulsi' (Indian Basil) is now being tested by Indian Scientists for treating people exposed to harmful radiations.
2. According to scientists at DRDO, tulsi has anti-oxidant properties and can repair cells damaged by exposure to radiation.
Which of the following statement is/are correct.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) 1 and 2(d) None of the above

2. Which of the following pair is/are correctly matched.
1. Portia Simpson - Prime Minister Jamaica
2. Navi Pillay - United Nations Human Rights Chief
3. HUNGAMA - Entertainment
4. Zhang Jun - Bharatnatyam.
(a) Only 1
(b) 1, 2 and 4
(c) 1 and 2
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

3. Consider the following statements.
1. Inaugurating the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Jaipur, Dr. Singh announced the right of franchise to the non-resident Indians who are registered under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
2. A new pension and life insurance fund for overseas Indian workers, to enable them to voluntarily save for their return and resettlement, has also been introduced.
3. A PIO is foreign national who has Indian origins or Indian ancestors while an OCI is an Overseas Indians who migrated from India after 26th January, 1950, except those from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Which of the above statement is /are correct.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) 1, 2 and 3(d) 1 and 3

4. Consider the following statements.
1. Jallikattu or Eruthazhuvuthal or Manju Virattu is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations usually on Mattu Pongal day.
2. There is specific breed of cattle bred for this purpose which are called by two common name, Jellicut and from the place of a big breeder Pulikulam. 
3. The Animal welfare Board of India took the case to the Supreme Court, which is considering an outright ban on Jallikattu because of the cruelty to animals and the threat to public safety involved.
4. On November 27, 2010 the supreme court in accordance with the law enacted on the regulation of event, permitted the Tamil Nadu government to allow 'jallikattu' for five months in a year from January 15.
Which of these statement is/are correct:
(a) 1 Only (b) 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (d) 2, 3 and 4

5. Consider the following statements.
1. The Corps of Army Air Defence (AAD),is the youngest arm of Indian Army, will celebrate its 19th raising day on 10th January.
2. The Army Air Defence has dedicated itself to the service of the nation with its motto, Akashe Shatrun Jahi, (Destroy the enemy in sky).
3. In India, the Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force celebrate their own Army Day (15 January), the Navy Day (4 December), the Indian Coast Guard Day (1 February) and the IAF Day (8 October) respectively
Which of these statement is/are correct:
(a) Only 1 (b) 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3

6. Consider the following statements.
1. HyAlfa is a hydrogen-driven three-wheelers.
2. The three-wheeler is almost a zero-emission vehicle while its fuel consumption is substantially lower as compared to gasoline with 1 kg of hydrogen giving around 80 km mileage.
3. The three-wheelers have been developed under a project, DelHy 3W, of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)'s International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (UNIDO-ICHET) in association with Mahindra & Mahindra and IIT-Delhi, besides being supported by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Which of these statement is/are correct:
(a) Only 1 (b) 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3

Historical personalities

1. Abdul Gaffar Khan Popularly known as the ‘Frontier Gandhi’, he was a prominent nationalist leader of the North – western. Frontier Province, and founded a nationalist organisation, called the ‘Khudai Khidmatgars’ (Soervants of God), popularly referred to as the ‘Red Shirts’. Awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna’ award posthumously by the Indian government.

2. Abdul Hamid Lahori Shah Jahan’s official historian and the author of Padshah Namah.

3. Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan Son of Bairam Khan, he became a prominent noble and military commander of Akbar, and contributed to literature.

4. Abdul Fazl Son of Shaik Mubarak and brother of Fait (poet), he was the official historian and close adviser of akbar. Wrote Ain-i-Akbari (a statistical account of Akbar’s empire) and Akbar Namah (an authoritative account of his reign). Assassinated by Bir Singh Bundela in 1602 at the instigation of Prince Salim (later Jahangir).

5. Adbam Khan son of Maham Anaga (foster mother of Akbar), he became powerful for two years (1560-62) after the full of Bairam Khan, but was executed by Akbar for murdering the then wazir, Shams-ud-din Atga Khan (1562).

6. Afzal Khan Bijapuri general sent to suppress Sivaji, but was outsmarted and killed by Sivaji with his baghmakh (tiger claws) when the two met for negotiations (1659).

7. Aga Khan The title of the religious head of the Borah Ismailian community of the Muslims in India. It was first conferred on Hasan Ali Shah who claimed descent from the Prophet through his daughter.

8. Abalya Bai the widowed daughter – in – law of Malhar Rao Holkar of Indore, who ruled the state between 1764 and 1795. Famous for her construction of temples like the Annapurna and Vishnu temples at Banaras and Gaya respectively.

9. Ahmad Shah Abdali Belonging to the Durrani clan of Afghanistan, he initially worked under Nadir Shah during his independent rule of Afghanistan (1747-1773), he invaded India eight times, scoring a spectacular victory over the Marathas in the third battle of Panipat (1761).

10. Ajit Singh The posthumous son of Raja Jaswant Singh of Marwar, he was imprisoned by Aurangzeb as an imposter but was rescued from Delhi by the Rathors under Durgadas. The Rathors, supported by the Ranas of Mewar, fought against the Mughals for the cause of Ajit till 1709 when Bahadur Shah I finally recognised him as the ruler of Marwar.

Question to be learn

1.Consider the following statement/s with regards to National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology.

1.The Mission aims to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 25000 colleges.

2.The Mission, in addition to utilize the connectivity network of service providers, shall explore the possibility to provide connectivity utilizing Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Virtual Private Network (VPN) and EduSat channels.

3.Under the mission The Minister of Human Resource Development unveiled a low cost access-cum-computing device (LCAD) name Gagan.

Incorrect statement/s is/are

(a)Only 1(b)Only 2

(c)Only 3(d)None of above

2.Consider the following statements

1.The DFC project is a marvel of Planning, engineering, design and technology. In the first phase of DFC mega project has taken up two corridors the Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana (Punjab) to Dankuni (West Bengal) and the Western Corridor JNPT (Mumbai) to Dadri.

2.The prime objectives for building these dedicated freight corridors are to create additional rail infrastructure to cater to increased transport demand as well as to reduce unit cost of transportation.

3.The Dedicated freight corridors are capable to hold the burden of double stack containers.

Correct statement/s is/are

(a)1 and 2(b)1 and 3

(c)2 and 3(d)All above

3.UNSMIS , in news, relates to 

(a)Libya 

(b)Small Scale Industries

(c)Computer Technology

(d)Syria

4.India has received first Embraer Jet from

(a)France(b)UK

(c)Brazil(d)USA

5.POCSO Act 2012 deals with

(a)Child rights protection

(b)Foreign investment

(c)Women Development

(d)Backward section of the society

Topics to be covered from Hindu Paper dated on Friday October 26^th  

Topic	Page No.
Dengue: The virus, the mosquitoes, the diseases Severe abdominal pain Persistent vomiting Rapid breathing Bleeding gums Blood in vomit Low BP fatigue, restlessness	8
Lokayukta to probe Krishna, Gowda, Yeddyurappa	1
China will not accept LAC as solution to border dispute, says commentary
Gadkari and the business of politics	11
Here comes the sun	11
A last opportunity, missed	11
PM sets up National Committee on direct cash transfers	12
Centre clears National Policy on Electronics	12

Origin of Prakrits:

·         Another set of languages which were neither Dravidian nor Austro – Asiatic have also probably provided some non – Indo – European words to the Rig veda and early Sanskrit.

·         Interaction with such languages in Afghanistan (like Nuristani) probably started much before the Indo – Aryan speakers reached India, and might have caused the early appearance of a unique feature of Indo  - Aryan languages, namely, ‘Prakritism’

·         This consists of simplifying the Indo - Aryan word structure, characteristically dispensing with compound consonants (usually replaced by single consonants, for example, puta for putra, son).

·         Such simplification must have helped to spread Indo-Aryan speech among ordinary people, for Rig Vedic Sanskrit, like the later Sanskrit evidently remained a language of the few.

·         By the sixth century BC it was the Prakrit language of each region that the people understood; and so it was in the Prakrit of Magadha that Lord Mahavira and Gautama Buddha delivered their sermons.

·         So, if Indo – Aryan speech was spread predominantly by way of ‘elite dominance’, the people still had a share in determining its popular form, namely Prakrit.

Dravidian Family

Major constituents:

The Dravidian languages form the second largest language family in India. There are also many minor languages attached to these different groups.

Within this family Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada belong to the Southern group;

Telugu and Gondi (in parts of Madhya Pradesh to the South central;

Kolani (mainly in Maharashtra) to the Central;

Kurukh (in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Nepal) and Brabui (Baluchistan) to the Northern,

A comparison of the vocabularies and grammars of these languages enables us to reconstruct a hypothetical Proto – Dravidian language that must have been spoken before the speakers of the Dravidian languages broke up from each other.

The use of certain retroflex sounds (such as the hard l, n, r and rh) that require the tongue to curl back just under the hard palate in order to pronounce them is one of the most common traits in the Dravidian languages.

But such retroflexion is absent in both Austro – Asiatic and Indo – European languages spoken outside the Indian subcontinent. Hence, it is postulated that it is from the Proto – Dravidian or its early successors that the Austro – Asiatic and Indo – Aryan languages derive their retroflex consonants. This assumptions has many consequences.

Questions to be learn

1.Consider the following statement regarding London Olympics 2012.

1.The kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent female athletes to the Games for the first time.

2.British flyweight Nicola Adams won second women's boxing gold.

3.Oprah Winfrey became the first African American to win an Olympic title in the Flying  Squirrel. 

The correct statement is/are

(a)1 and 2(b)2 and 3

(c)1 and 3(d)1, 2 and 3

2.The Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Krishna Tirath, highlighted the initiatives taken by the Government of India towards addressing the problem of malnutrition at the Global Nutrition Meet held at London on 12 August 2012. The meet was on the eve of the closing of the Olympics 2012. Name the  countries that jointly organized this meet.

(a)UK and Germany 

(b)UK and Brazil

(c)USA and UK

(d)Japan and UK

3.The National Mission for Justice Delivery and legal Reforms was set up in June, 2011 to achieve the twin goals of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears; and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities. The Mission has become fully functional from 2012-13 and is pursuing strategic initiatives of -

1.outlining policy and legislative changes

2.re-engineering of procedures and court processes

3.focussing on Women Development

4.leveraging Information and Communication Technology & tools 

The correct initiatives are

(a)1, 2 and 3(b)2, 3 and 4

(c)1, 2, 3 and 4(d)1, 2 and 4

4.Government of India is promoting Organic Farming through various schemes. The 

      Schemes are: 

1.National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF)

2.National Horticulture Mission (NHM)

3.Rashtriya Shram Vikas Yojana (RSVY)

4.Macro Management of Agriculture (MMA)

The correct schemes are:-

(a)1, 2 and 3

(b)1, 3 and 4

(c)2, 3 and 4

(d)1, 2 and 4

5.Consider the following sentences about first formal announcement on the country's Mars mission.

1.India will be the sixth country to launch a mission to the Red Planet after the U.S., U.K, Europe, Japan and China.

2.If the mission is successful, India will be the first Asian country to do so as probes sent by China and Japan had to be abandoned en route.

The correct sentence/sentences:-

(a)Only 1(b)Only 2

(c)1 and 2(d)None of the above