Haryana first state to provide health insurance to all its poor

Chandigarh, July 20 (IANS) Haryana has become the first state in the country to provide health insurance cover to all its below poverty line (BPL) families.
Nearly 1.29 million (12.97 lakh) families have been covered under the scheme, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Monday.

Hooda said the scheme, initiated in Haryana from January 2008, has been completely implemented in record period of time - beating the state government’s own deadline by four years. The scheme was to be originally implemented by 2012-13 in Haryana’s 21 districts

Read more: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/haryana-first-state-to-provide-health-insurance-to-all-its-poor_100220573.html#ixzz0XxunwGNT

Amendments to Article 243 T of the Constitution for enhancing reservation for women in Urban Local Bodies to 50 percent

REPORTED ON Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for moving a Constitutional Amendment Bill for enhancing reservation for women in Urban Local Bodies from one third to fifty percent. This provision will apply to

(i) the total number of seats to be filled by direct election,

(ii) offices of Chairpersons and

(iii) seats and offices of the Chairpersons reserved for SCs and STs.

Increased representation of women is likely to yield significant benefits in terms of higher priority to women’s issues in critical areas of urban Governance and service delivery such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, education and health etc.

BACKGROUND :

The President of India in her address to the Parliament on 4.6.09 stated that the Government will initiate steps for Constitutional Amendment to provide fifty percent reservation for women in Urban Local Bodies as women suffer multiple deprivations of class, caste and gender and enhancing reservation in Urban Local Bodies will lead to more women entering the public sphere.

Implementation Strategy & Targets

Ministry of Urban Development will move a Bill for amendment to Article 243 T of the Constitution in the next session of Parliament after approval of the Cabinet.

Major Impact

Enhancement of reservation for women in Urban Local Bodies will not only ensure their increased representation and participation at grassroots levels in various Urban Local Bodies but also mainstream gender concerns in governance and decision making process.

Expenditure involved

There is no financial implication in operationalization of the proposal.

States/Districts covered

The proposed Constitution Amendment Bill would cover All States/UTs and parts thereof, which are covered by Part IX A of Constitution.

GK watch

Short Name	Full Form or Abbreviations
3G	Third Generation
AAA	Asian Athletics Association
AAFI	The Amateur Athletics Federation of India
AC	Ante Christum (Before Christ), Ashok Chakra, Air Conditioner
ADB	Asian Development Bank
AFI	Athletics Federation of India
AFMC	Armed Forces Medical College
AI	Artifical Intelligence, Air India
AICTE	All India Council for Technical Education
AIFF	All India Football Federation
AIIMS	All India Institute of Medical Science
AITUC	All India Trade Union Congress
ALGOL	Algebric Oriented Language
AM	Ante Meridiem (before Noon), Amplitude Modulation
APEC	Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
ARPANET	Advanced Research Project Agency Network
ASCII	American Standard Code for Informa­tion Interchange
ASEAN	Association of South East Asian Na­tions
ASLV	Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle
AT&T	American Telegraphic and Telephone Co. Ltd.
ATC	Air Traffic Control
ATM	Automated Teller Machine
AVSM	Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
B2B	Busines to Business
B2C	Business to Consumer
BARC	Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
BBC	British Broadcasting Corporation
BBS	Bulletin Board Service
BC	Before Christ
BHEL	Bharat Heavy Electri-cals Ltd
BIOS	Basic Input Output System
BIT	Binary Digit
BPL	Below Poverty Line
BPO	Business Process Outsourcing
BPR	Business Process Re-engineering
bps	bytes per second
BSE	Bombay Stock Exchange
BSF	Border Security Force
BSNL	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
C2C	Consumer to Consumer
CA	Chartered Accountant
CAD	Com­puter Aided Design
CAT	Common Admis­sion Test
CBI	Central Bureau of Investigation
CBSE	Central Board of Secondary Education
CDAC	Centre for the Development of Ad­vanced Computing
CDMA	Code Division Multiple Access
CEO	Chief Executive Officer
CFSL	Central Forensic Science Laboratory
CGI	Common Gateway Interface
CIA	Central Intelligence Agency
CID	Criminal Investigation Department
CISC	Complex instruction-set computing
CITU	Centre of Indian Trade Unions
CNN	Cable News Network
COMSAT	Communications Satellite Corporation
COPRA	Consumer Protection Act
CORBA	Common Object Request Broker Architecture
CPI(M)	Communist Party of India / Marxist
CPWD	Central Public Works Department
CRIS	Centre for Railway Information System
CSIR	Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
CTBT	Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
CYMK	Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Kinda
D.Litt.	Doctor of Literature
D.Phil.	Doctor of Philosophy
D.Sc	Doctor of Science
DC	Direct Current
DIG	Deputy Inspector General
DMA	Direct Memory Access
DMK	Dravida Munetra Kazhagam
DNA	Deoxyribo-nucleic Acid
DTP	Desktop Publishing
DVC	Damodar Valley Corporation
DVD	Digital Versatile/Video Disc

read more--http://www.onlinegk.com/general-knowledge/acronym.aspx

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Quiz

Image via Wikipedia

1. On what date Indo-US Nuclear cooperation treaty was signed?
2. Who headed IIM review Committee which recommended higher Government control on IIM?
3. On what date India launched its first Moon Mission Chandrayan?
4. What was the name of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which put Chandrayan I into orbit?
5. How many other countries have sent moon mission earlier?
6. Which IBSA summit concluded recently in New Delhi?
7. What is ACD?
8. Who is the new president of Maldives?
9. Which state topped the Government’s Primary Education Development Index?
10. What is EDI?
11. On what day National Consumer Rights Day is observed?
12. Who was the batsman put on the top in recent Reliance ICC Test Ranking?
13. Where was the 4000 years old Pyramid found recently?
14. Which country ranks top in gender equality?
15. Who has written the book-Politics & Politics-A Marxist Perspective?
16. Who was the first India to become the President of World Squash Federation?
17. What is Nerpa?
18. Who is the new Vice President of USA?
19. Who won Singapore Open Golf Recently?
20. Which state of India is least densely populated?
21. Which is the only country in South East Asia which is totally landlocked?
22. Where is security Printing Press?
23. What is the stretch of India from north to south?
24. What is ASEAN and where is its headquarters?
25. Orissa shares its longest border with which state?
26. Who founded PURA?
27. Who got the Qutub Minar Finished?
28. Which Veda gives the first classification of PRAN ( Respiration)?
29. What do we call collection of Budhdha’s Teaching?
30. Who was the first Muslim President of Indian National Congress?



Answers
1. October 11, 2008
2. RC Bhargava
3. October 22, 2008
4. PSLV-C-11
5. Three, India is Fourth
6. Third
7. Asia Cooperation Dialogue
8. Mohammed Anni Nasheed
9. Kerala
10. Education Development Index
11. December 24.
12. Mike Hussey
13. Egypt
14. Norway
15.
Prakash Karat
16. N Ramchandran
17. A nuclear enabled submarine
18.
Joe Biden
19. Jeev Milkha Singh
20. Arunachal Pradesh
21. Laos
22. Hyderabad
23. 3200 Kms
24. Association of South
East Asian
Nations, Jakarta
25. Andhra Pradesh
26. PURA is providing
Urban
Amenities in Rural Areas, and was founded by Honorable Former
President APJ
Abdul Kalam
27. Firoz Shah Tuglaq
28. Rig Veda
29.
Budhdha Charita
30. Badruddin Tayyabji

GK bits

A.
Organisations HQ

1.UN New York
2.Int’ l Court of Justice The Hague
3.UNDP,UNICEF New York
4.UNEP Nairobi
5.UNHCR Geneva
6.IAEA,UNIDO Vienna
7.FAO Rome
8.UNESCO,ESRO Paris
9.IMF Paris & Geneva
10.World Bank (IBRD) Washington DC
11.WIPO,WTO Geneva
12.IMO London
13.UPU Berne
14.ICAO Montreal
15.ADB Manila
16.ASEAN Djakarta
17.CARICOM Georgetown (Guyana)
18.CIS Minsk(Belarus)

B. Rivers
Brahmaputra – 2900 km
Indus - 2900 km
Ganga - 2510 km
Godavari – 1450 km
Narmada – 1290 km
Krishna – 1290 km
Mahanadi – 890 km
Kaveri – 760 km

Ranking of rivers on the basis of length and direction (west to east ,north to south etc) is a frequently asked question in UPSC prelims. One should also have a good idea about the important international rivers. Ensemble’s Geography through Maps is a good book to follow even for non-geography optional students.

C. Information on important straits :
1.Gibraltar strait separates Spain and Morocco.
2.Magellan strait separates Chile and Tierra del Fugeo.
3.Bass strait separates Australia and Tasmania.
4.Torres strait separates Australia and Papua New Guinea.
5.Bab-al-Mandab strait separates Yemen and Djibouti.
6.Strait of Hormuz separates Iran and UAE.
7.Strait of Malacca separates Malaysia and Sumatra.
8.Selat-sunda strait separates Sumatra and Java.

One should look up all important straits in Atlas and in fact referring atlas should become an important part of reading newspaper.Whenever and wherever one encounters the name of any place or country that one cannot place geographically ,one must immediately look it up in Atlas and don’t stop there,go a step further by looking up nearby countries,mountain ranges,rivers and also whether any tropic or equator is passing through it.This will make the learning more complete and can very well make make the difference.

D.Random Information
1.Oxalic Acid – used to remove ink spots.
2.Sulphuric Acid – dehydrating agent.
3.Hydrogen Peroxide – bleaching agent.
4.Haber’s Process – Ammonia.
5.Ostwald’s Process – Nitric Acid.
6.Solvay Process – Sodium Carbonate.
7.Parke’s Process – Silver.

E.Research Institutes Locations
1.Potato - Shimla
2.Leather - Chennai
3.Poultry - B’lore
4.Tobacco - Rajamundry
5.Rice - Cuttack
6.Sugarcane - Lucknow
7.Jute - Barrackpore
8.Botanical Survey - Kolkata
9.Dairy Institute - Karnal
10.Dairy Corporation - Anand
11.Coffee - Chikmaglur
12.Tea - Jorhat
13.Bee - Pune
14.Cotton - Thane

F.Winds
1.Haboob - Sudan
2.Harmattan – West Africa
3.Khamsin – North Africa
4.Bora – Adriatic Coast
5.Zonda – Argentina

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