Current Affairs 4 TNPSC: 2012

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Indian Judges of International Court of Justice

Ø Justice Dalveer Bhandari swore in as a Member of the International Court of Justice on June 19, 2012.

Ø He became the Fourth Indian on whom this honour has been bestowed.

Ø The other Indians were Justice R. S. Pathak, Justice Nagendra Singh and Justice Benegal Rau.

Thursday, 1 November 2012

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INDIAN DIASPORA PEOPLE

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Kamla prasad bissessar	Prime minister of trinidad & tobago.
Hargobind khorana	Indian-american biochemist who won the 1968 nobel prize for medicine, dead
Ravinder singh	First sikh in more than 30 years to be appointed as the army chief of singapore
Prof.sachchidanand sahai	Noted writer from Cambodia, won Pravasi bhartiya samman 2012
Sunita williams	Second space journey to the international space station (ISS). She will stay at the ISS for four months.
Bobby jindal	Governor of Louisiana state, us
Nikki haley	Governor of south Carolina state, us

What is the Nagoya Protocol and what is its objective?

Ø Supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Ø It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

The Nagoya Protocol on ABS was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan and will enter into force 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification. Its objective is the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Why is the Nagoya Protocol important?

Ø Establishing more predictable conditions for access to genetic resources.

Ø Helping to ensure benefit-sharing when genetic resources leave the contracting party providing the genetic resources

What does the Nagoya Protocol cover?

The Nagoya Protocol applies to genetic resources that are covered by the CBD, and to the benefits arising from their utilization. The Nagoya Protocol also covers traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources that are covered by the CBD and the benefits arising from its utilization.

What are the core obligations of the Nagoya Protocol with respect to genetic resources?

The Nagoya Protocol sets out core obligations for its contracting Parties to take measures in relation to access to genetic resources, benefit-sharing and compliance.

Access obligations

Domestic-level access measures are to:

Ø Create legal certainty, clarity and transparency

Ø Provide fair and non-arbitrary rules and procedures

Ø Create conditions to promote and encourage research contributing to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use

Benefit-sharing obligations

Domestic-level benefit-sharing measures are to provide for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources with the contracting party providing genetic resources.

Compliance obligations

Specific obligations to support compliance with the domestic legislation or regulatory requirements of the contracting party providing genetic resources, and contractual obligations reflected in mutually agreed terms, are a significant innovation of the Nagoya Protocol.

How does the Nagoya Protocol address traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and genetic resources held by indigenous and local communities?

The Nagoya Protocol addresses traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources with provisions on access, benefit-sharing and compliance. It also addresses genetic resources where indigenous and local communities have the established right to grant access to them. Contracting Parties are to take measures to ensure these communities’ prior informed consent, and fair and equitable benefit-sharing, keeping in mind community laws and procedures as well as customary use and exchange. More information on the Nagoya Protocol and traditional knowledge can be found on the Traditional Knowledge programme of work webpage.

Tools and mechanisms to assist implementation

The Nagoya Protocol’s success will require effective implementation at the domestic level. A range of tools and mechanisms provided by the Nagoya Protocol will assist contracting Parties including:

Ø Establishing national focal points (NFPs) and competent national authorities (CNAs) to serve as contact points for information, grant access or cooperate on issues of compliance

Ø An Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House to share information, such as domestic regulatory ABS requirements or information on NFPs and CNAs

Ø Capacity-building to support key aspects of implementation. Based on a country’s self-assessment of national needs and priorities, this can include capacity to

§ Develop domestic ABS legislation to implement the Nagoya Protocol

§ Negotiate MAT

§ Develop in-country research capability and institutions

§ Awareness-raising

§ Technology Transfer

§ Targeted financial support for capacity-building and development initiatives through the Nagoya Protocol’s financial mechanism, the Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Dravidian Architecture is an Architectural style of South India, which evolved around 6th century A.D. and developed for about 10 centuries. This style has produced number of magnificent buildings. This growth had been patronized by various dynasties that ruled this region. Architectural Historian sub divide the period of Dravidian Architectural growth into 1. Pallava Period, 2. Chola Period, 3. Pandava Period, 4. Vijayanagara Period and 5. Nayakkar Period.

Gopuram is an important structure in Dravidian Architecture.

NAGARA style temples have curvilinear towers as against DRAVIDIAN temples which have truncated pyramids. The derivative style VESARA is a combination of both NAGARA and DRAVIDIAN type of architecture.

NAGARA style temple architecture originated during the Gupta period (320 -650 AD) and is found mostly in North and Central India. The temple complexes at TIGAWA (In modern MADHYA PRADESH), NACHNA in RAJASTHAN and DEOGARH in UTTAR PRADESH are examples of this. The major developments in temple architecture were during the following periods.

750 – 1250 AD in Orissa

950 – 1050 AD in Central India

10^th to 11^th Century in Rajasthan and

11^th to 13^th Century in Gujarat.

Some of temples worth seeing are LINGARAJA temple at Bhubaneswar, JAGANNATHA temple in Puri, SURYA temple at Konarak.

VESARA STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE

Vesara is the name given to a particular architectural style which was prevalent in Karnataka for a number of centuries during the medieval era. It is essentially a combination of the ‘nAgara’ and ‘drAviDa’ styles which are typical of North India and the far South respectively. The geographical position of Karnataka, the wide spread activities of the important royal dynasties and an attitude which is not unduly stubborn might have prompted this amalgamation of styles. This phenomenon is observed right from the days of the architectural endeavours of Badami Chalukyas till the days of the Vijayanagara Empire. Some scholars have argued that “the Vesara, which came to prevail mostly in western Deccan and south Karnataka, was a derivation from the apsidal chapels of the early Buddhist period which the Brahmanical faith adopted and vastly improved. In its origin, the vesara is as much north Indian as it is west Deccanese.”

TRANSITION FROM IPV4 to IPV6

HOW INTERNET WORKS?

Two Components are important for Internet Communication viz Hardware and Protocol.

The first of those components is hardware. That includes everything from the cables that carry terabits of information every second to the computer sitting in front of you. Other types of hardware that support the Internet includes routers, servers, cell phone towers, satellites, radios, smart phones and other devices. All these devices together create the network of networks..

These elements are connections. Some are end points -- the computer, Smartphone or other device you're using to read this may count as one. We call those end points clients. Machines that store the information we seek on the Internet are servers. Other elements are nodes which serve as a connecting point along a route of traffic.

All of this hardware wouldn't create a network without the second component of the Internet: the protocols. Protocols are sets of rules that machines follow to complete tasks. Without a common set of protocols that all machines connected to the Internet must follow, communication between devices couldn't happen.

IP ADDRESS In the TCP/IP protocol, the unique identifier for a computer is called its IP address.

TYPES

There are two standards for IP addresses: IP Version 4 (IPv4) and IP Version 6 (IPv6).IPv4 uses 32 binary bits to create a single unique address on the network. An IPv4 address is expressed by four numbers separated by dots. Each number is the decimal (base-10) representation for an eight-digit binary (base-2) number, also called an octet.

For example: 216.27.61.137

IPv6 uses 128 binary bits to create a single unique address on the network. An IPv6 address is expressed by eight groups of hexadecimal (base-16) numbers separated by colons,as in2001:cdba:0000:0000:0000:0000:3257:9652. Groups of numbers that contain all zeros are often omitted to save space, leaving a colon separator to mark the gap (as in 2001:cdba::3257:9652).

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, system numberallocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers.

Genetically modified organism (GMO)

An organism produced from genetic engineering techniques that allow the transfer of functional genes from one organism to another, including from one species to another. Bacteria, fungi, viruses, plants, insects, fish and mammals are some examples of organisms whose genetic material has been artificially modified to change some physical property or capability. Living modified organisms (LMOs) and transgenic organisms are other terms often used instead of GMOs.