Reforms in UPSC exam still not final

Aloke Tikku, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, June 28, 2010

more...
Next year would be Nilesh's first shot at the Civil Services Examination but he doesn't know where to start. The government has decided to replace the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination with the Civil Services Aptitude Test from 2011 but hasn't been able to finalise the details of the new examination paper so far. "There is less than a year to go for the examination… It
is not fair… when are we going to prepare for the examination," said the 22-year-old Delhi University graduate.
The decision to give the examination a few face lifts was cleared at the instance of the Union Public Service Commission by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this February.
The PM's approval to UPSC's proposal comes nearly a decade after the YK Alagh panel on examination reforms submitted its report. Over the next few years, UPSC first expressed reservations but later accepted the broad point.
The preliminary examination consists of two papers: the first is on general studies and is common to all; candidates can then choose the second paper from a list of 23 subjects.
UPSC wanted to replace the second paper with an aptitude test to grade the cognitive skills of the aspirants rather their ability to memorise.
"There is no cause for anxiety since all candidates will be placed at the same level of advantage or disadvantage," said a UPSC official. Nearly 3.8 lakh aspirants apply for the preliminary test each year, but only half of them appear for it.
The official said a committee headed by former UGC vice chairman SK Khanna — tasked to recommend detail the specifics of the aptitude test —recently submitted its report.
"I would say the commission is up and running… It would be able to finalise the syllabus soon," the official said.
Sources said the Khanna committee had pointed out that there were going to be limits to how far the commission could test cognitive skills.
"There are certain skills that do not lend themselves to be evaluated in an objective-type format ....," the source said.
Ethical and moral dimensions of decision-making, one of the primary ingredients in the reform, would come under this category.
In light of these limitations, it is being suggested that UPSC continue with the optional paper and only tweak the general studies paper to incorporate analytical reasoning or comprehension.

Rail Budget 2010-11

HIGHLIGHTS OF RAILWAY BUDGET 2010-11
Introduction
· Economic viability and Social responsibility – main consideration for
taking up of the projects.
· ‘Inclusive growth and expansion of rail network’ for development of the
country.
· Special Task Force to clear proposals for investments within 100 days.
· A separate structure will be created within the Railways for
implementation of the business models.
Commitments Fulfilled
· Of the 120 new trains, extensions and increase in frequencies announced,
117 would be flagged off by the end of March 2010.
· Recruitment policy of the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) has been
reviewed.
· RRB examination fee for woman candidates and those belonging to
minority and economically backward classes waived.
· All question papers to be set in Hindi, Urdu, English and in local State
languages and examination for a particular post will be held on the same
date simultaneously by all RRBs.
· Izzat Scheme, implemented within three months of announcement.
· Work initiated in all the 67 Multi-functional Complexes (MFCs).
Development of Adarsh Stations started in phases.
Passenger Amenities/Facilities
· 94 stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations
· 10 more stations identified to be converted as World Class Stations
· Construction of additional 93 Multi Functional Complexes
· Multi-level parking through PPP route.
· Six clean drinking water bottling plants to be set up through PPP for
providing cheap bottled drinking water.
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· SMS updates of reservation status and punctuality of trains to passengers,
· SMS updates on the movement of wagons to freight customers.
· RFID technology for tracking of wagons
· to provide modern trolleys at all important stations to be handled by
uniformed attendants for senior citizens and ladies.
· Allotment of iron ore rakes to be rationalised scientifically and would be
accessible through the web.
· Introduction of e-ticket based mobile vans for issuing tickets.
Safety and Security
· Automatic fire and smoke detection system to be introduced in 20 long
distance trains.
· All the unmanned LCs to be manned within five years.
· 12 companies of women RPF personnel named ‘Mahila Vahini’ to be
raised.
Sports
· Railways first recipient of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar
· Five Sports Academies at Delhi, Secunderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and
Mumbai to be setup.
· Astro-turfs to be provided at more places for hockey.
· Railways will be lead partners of Common Wealth Games.
· Railways to run a Commonwealth exhibition train.
Culture and Heritage
· To set up a Railway Cultural & Heritage Promotion Board for
coordinating and supervising all related activities on the railways.
· To set up Rabindra Museum at Howrah and Gitanjali Museum at Bolpur
to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
· To set up Shambhu Mitra Cultural Complex with performing arts and a
music academy at Howrah.
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Staff Welfare and Health
· A new scheme “House for All” to be launched, to provide residences to
all railway employees in the next ten years with the help of Ministry of
Urban Development.
· MOU entered with Ministry of Health and Ministry of Human Resource
Development for setting up of hospitals and educational institutions on
surplus railway land.
· To set up about 522 hospitals and diagnostic centres, 50 Kendriya
Vidyalayas, 10 residential schools on the pattern of Navodaya Vidyalaya,
model degree colleges and technical and management institutions of
national importance to benefit railway employees and their children.
· To set up 50 crèches for children of women employees and 20 hostels.
Railways will also provide more numbers of community centres and
stadia.
· Contribution to Staff Benefit Fund to be enhanced to Rs 500 per
employee.
· Scope of safety-related retirement scheme to be expanded to cover all
safety category staff with a grade pay of Rs 1800.
· To extend Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to all licensed porters,
vendors and hawkers, from unorganised sector and socially challenged.
· To set up a state-of-the-art advanced loco pilot training centre at
Kharagpur, an advanced railway track training centre at Beleghata and
four multi-disciplinary training centres.
Railway Research
· A Centre for Railway Research to be set up at IIT, Kharagpur. To
establish strong research partnerships with premier institutes like IITs,
NITs, CSIR and DRDO.
Infrastructure
· To modernize and augment the capacity of CLW to 275 locomotives.
· A Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) factory to be set up at Sankrail.
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· Second unit to be installed at ICF.
· Wagon repair shop to be set up at Badnera.
· Centres of Excellence in Wagon Prototyping to be set up at Kharagpur
Workshop.
· A new Rail Axle Factory to be set up in New Jalpaiguri under PPP/JV
mode.
· A Design Development and Testing Centre for Wheels to be set up at
RWF, Bangalore.
· A new MLR workshop of 250 coach capacity to be set up at Anara
(Adra).
· Five state-of-the-art wagon factories to set up at Secunderabad,
Barddhaman, Bhubaneshwar/Kalahandi, Guwahati and Haldia under
PPP/JV mode.
· Two workshops for POH of high axle load wagons to be set up in
Maharashtra and Dankuni.
· Kisan Vision Project initiated at six locations, namely Dankuni,
Mechheda, Nasik, New Jalpaiguri, New Azadpur and Singur as pilot
projects.
· To set up a refrigerated container factory on PPP mode at Budge Budge.
Freight Business
· A modified wagon investment scheme for high capacity general purpose
and special purpose wagons to be introduced.
· Private operators to be permitted to invest in infrastructure and run
special freight train.
· To set up automobile and ancillary hubs at 10 locations.
Carbon Footprint
· Railways to distribute 2.6 million CFLs to railway employees.
· To introduce ten rakes with green toilets and install on diesel locomotives
a GPS-based optimised driver guidance system.
· To set up 10 Rail Eco-parks to conserve, protect and promote Railways’
wetlands and forest areas.
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Other Projects
· Preliminary Engineering-cum-Traffic Survey (PETS) to be taken up for
north-south, east-west, east-south and south-south DFCs.
· Six high speed passenger corridors identified, to be executed through PPP
mode. To set up a National High Speed Rail Authority for planning,
standard setting, implementing and monitoring these projects.
· To provide rail link between Akhaura on Bangladesh side and
Agartala on Indian side.
· To new Railway projects viz., Jogbani (India) – Biratnagar (Nepal) new
line and Jaynagar (India) – Bijalpur (Nepal) gauge conversion with
extension upto Bardibas(Nepal) have been taken up to improve transport
infrastructure between the two countries.
Financial Performance in 2009-10.
· Loading target of 882 MT likely to surpassed by 8 MT in 2009-10.
· Gross Traffic Receipts kept at Rs. 88,356 crore, i.e an increase of 10.7%.
· The full impact of VI CPC fully absorbed within the Railway resources.
· The current dividend liability to be fully discharged.
· Annual Plan kept at Rs 40,284 cr.
Budget Estimates 2010-11.
· Freight loading targeted at 944 MT – an increment of 54 MT; number of
passengers likely to grow by 5.3 %.
· Gross Traffic Receipts estimated at Rs. 94,765 crore, i.e Rs 6490 cr more
than 2009-10.
· The dividend payable to general revenues kept at Rs 6608 cr.
· Budgeted operating ratio 92.3%.
Annual Plan 2010-11
· Highest ever Plan Outlay at Rs 41,426 cr., an increase of Rs 1142 cr over
2009-10.
· New Lines – Rs 4411cr.
· Passenger Amenities–Rs 1302 cr.
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· Metro Projects – Rs 1001cr.
· Aquisition of 18000 wagons.
· Additional budgetary support of Rs 3701 cr sought for 11 National
Projects.
· Surveys for 114 socially desirable projects connecting backward areas to
be taken up.
· 54 Surveys for new lines, 2 for gauge conversion, 7 for doubling and 5
others to be taken up.
· Master Plan for the development of rail infrastructure in the Northeast
region to be drawn up in consultation with the Northeast Development
Council and the state authorities concerned.
· 1021 km of New Lines to be completed. 9 new new line projects
announced.
· 800 km of gauge conversion and 700km of doubling targeted.
· Several projects being taken up on cost sharing basis with State
Governments and on PPP mode.
Concessions
· Technicians of regional film industry when travelling for film
production related work to be eligible for 75% concession in Second
Sleeper and 50% concession in higher classes in all trains.
· Cancer patients going for treatment to get 100% concession in 3 AC and
Sleeper Class
· 50% concession to spouse of the correspondents extended to the
companion of those correspondents who do not have a spouse, and
dependent children up to 18 years.
· Service charge on e-tickets to be reduced to Rs.10 for Sleeper Class and
Rs.20 for AC Class.
· Reduction of Rs 100 per wagon in freight charges for food-grains for
domestic use and kerosene.
New Suburban services
· 101 new suburban services to be introduced in Mumbai area.
· More services to start in Chennai and Kolkata areas.
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Special Trains
· Sanskriti Express to run across the country to mark the 150th birth
anniversary of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. It is also proposed to
take this train to Bangladesh.
· Ladies special trains to be renamed as ‘Matrabhoomi specials’.
· 3 unreserved trains named as ‘Karambhoomi trains’ to be introduced.
· A new weekly express train service ‘Janmabhoomi express’ to start
between Ahmedabad and Udhampur .
· Special tourist trains called “Bharat Tirth” to start on 16 routes.
· 6 long route Duronto trains and 4 short distance Duronto day trains to be
introduced.
Other New Train Services
· 54 new train services to be introduced.
· 28 new passenger train services, 9 MEMU and 8 DEMU services to start.
· Extension of 21 trains and increase in frequency of 12 trains announced.

Collected By- Ms Neha Jain (Club Member)

Naxalite problem and solutions

Naxalism – some reasons and some solutions
2008 MARCH 11
tags: Adivasis, Bihar, Jharkhand, Naxalism, Poverty
by Nita
The Indian government seems to be waking up to the Naxalism (revolutionary, often violent, communist groups) menace if the spate of articles in the mainstream media in the last few months are anything to go by. About time too as the Maoists plan to attack urban centres like the industrial belts of Bhilai, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Calcutta and Mumbai, Pune, Surat Ahmedabad.

Here are some of the initiatives taken by the individual states:

States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will share information and coordinate with one another in adjoining border areas (to stop the Naxals from escaping across the borders after launching attacks).
The Jharkhand government is setting up a state industrial security force on the lines of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to protect industries as the Naxalites (who operate in 18 of the 24 districts in the state) often destroy equipment of business establishments if they are not given extortion money.
The Orissa State government will be getting 10000 extra personnel for fighting the Naxals – long term deployment of two battalions of CRPF in Orissa and an additional five India Reserve Battalions.
In Tamil Nadu, a 10-day guerilla warfare training programme has begun for 320 cops in the seven districts falling under the Central Zone. The commandos of the elite STF will provide specialised training such as (1) sophisticated arms training (2) combing operations in reserve forests (3) setting up of temporary tents and bunkers to the 320 cops.
The Kerala govt is now surveying labourers from other states as the Maoists are using the state as a hide-out.
The Maharashtra government and the state police is setting up with a special force.
While the Centre has ruled out deployment of the Army as the forces’ hands are already full, the government has the following plans:

The central government will be investing Rs 500-crore to fight the Naxals. This money will be used to provide (1) critical mobility to the police (2) secure camping grounds and helipads at strategic locations, (3) build basic roads for the forces so they have mobility in otherwise inaccessible areas.
India’s Interior Ministry has set up an anti-rebel cell to ensure periodic review and close monitoring of rebel activities.


The price of government neglect
What’s probably worrying the government is that the Naxals are targeting the poor to get their recruits and there is no dearth of the poor in India. The map (from the wikipedia) shows that the Naxals are successful in the poorest districts of India.

For example, the rural tribal villagers in Chhattisgarh (where Naxalism thrives) live on less than 35 cents a day, one of the lowest in the country.

The Naxals are making hay in the north-east too. This map doesn’t show too much of Naxalite presence in the north-east but it must be wrong. Why, tea-estates in Assam have become breeding grounds for the Naxals!

Orissa seems to be in a bad shape. Here over 72 percent of all adivasis (indigenous minority of the population of India, the term often used synonymously with tribals) live well below the poverty line and the Naxals are becoming more powerful by the day. You can read more about the Adivasis and Naxalism here.

Let’s all remember that the Adivasis were here before us. If India belongs to anybody, it belongs to them:

The spread of Naxalism is an indication of the sense of desperation and alienation that is sweeping over of large sections of our nation who have been not only systematically marginalised but cruelly exploited and dispossessed in their last homelands…the central Indian adivasis have been described as “the original autochthonous people of India” meaning that their presence in India pre-dated the Dravidians, the Aryans and whoever else settled in this country…these are the real swadeshi products of India, in whose presence all others are foreign. These are ancient people with moral rights and claims thousands of years old. They were here first and should come first in our regard…Unfortunately like indigenous people all over the world, the India’s adivasis too have been savaged and ravaged by later people claiming to be more ‘civilised’.

More hard facts:

At the national level 45.86 percent of all adivasis live below the poverty line which means that almost half of India’s original inhabitants go to bed every night starving. Several anthropometric studies have revealed that successive generations of adivasis are actually becoming smaller unlike all other people in India who benefit from better and increasingly nutritious diets…

Adivasis are just one group of people being targeted by the Naxals for recruitment. Overall, all poor people are being targeted, including Dalits.

Poverty, lack of land reforms, caste discrimination and oppression and denial of access to justice push the Dalits closer to the Naxals. The concentration of Dalit populations in the Naxalite affected areas in India is quite high.

Well, that was to remind all of us about the injustice that is being perpetrated on certain areas in the country….and that terror groups are making full use of it. As the agenda that the Naxals mouth is typically pro-poor and because the ‘development’ in India is not reaching all of the population, the Naxals are having a field day. The government seems to be waking up to the seriousness of the situation however and well, better late than ever.

In conclusion I want to say that the government has proposed a three-pronged strategy to combat Naxalism:

Gain confidence of local people by taking up more welfare related activities.
Build up infrastructure in naxal-affected areas and generate employment.
Launch joint security operations with neighbouring states to eliminate left wing extremists.
I am glad that the government has put (1) and (2) first. That should be the priority, always. Hopefully, the situation doesn’t have to get worse to get better.

(Credits: Map is from the Wikipedia, photo is from the Times of India. I also want to thank NaxalWatch as that site has a collection of many articles on this subject all in one place. I found at least half of the above links due to the headlines on that blog.)