E-BOOK ON SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Hello friends

I have uploaded an e-book on Science & Tech and Environmental issues in scribd.com.The links are given below.You can read or download it from there directly.Thanks

http://www.scribd.com/doc/20394687/Science-Technology

MOBILE NUMBER PORATBILITY

Mobile number portability is basically switching from one service provider to another without changing the number.Here the old service provider is known as "donor" and new service provider is known as "recipient".In the International system, the customer is required to contact the "recipient" to make necessary arrangements for the process and is known as "recipient led porting" whereas UK is the only country where" donor led porting" exists.The system routs all calls,messages and other services to the new service provider database through a central database.In India, the govt has decided to launch MNP from December.The country will be divided into two service zones and eleven licensed service areas.However in the Indian context some problems may arise like- quick spread of mobile virus,less memory capacity to bear the switching exhaustion and less capacity of the batteries to handle the additional load.

E -WASTE

E waste or electronic waste is loosely defined as  discarded, surplus, obsolete, broken, electrical or electronic devices like computers,printers,scanners,CD/DVDs,mobile phones,microwave ovens, refrigerators,televisions etc.Often they are disposed off without thinking the consequences and they often release toxic and harmful elements like Lead,Silicon, Cadmium,Mercury etc,thereby causing irreparable damage to the environment and human health.This has much to do with the growing consumer culture all over the world.In a recent data published by the Indian Institute of Material Management,  the total obsolete computers originating from government offices, business houses, industries and household is of the order of 2 million nos.

There has been much debate over the disposal of such e-waste.It has become a lucrative business for some unscrupulous brokers who call themselves recyclers ,of the developed nations, to dump such products to developing nations.Nations like China,South Korea or Taiwan have been engaged in refurbishing such used products.Such refurbishing has threatened the existence of traditional manufacturing markets in countries like India.

The hazards associated with such unprocessed e -waste are plenty

• Some of such products are carcinogenic
• The degrading materials release toxic substances which again turns water unsafe
• Air and soil pollution
• May lead to death of animals upon grazing on the fields where such wastes are dumped
• Loss of physical beauty of the environment

The Solutions

• Strict international legislations on disposal,procurement and dumping of such products
• Developing new technologies based on the socio economic patterns of different regions for recycling of   such products
• Strict laws to regulate trade in e -waste.
• Global consensus on the negative impacts of such wastes and international cooperation to combat the situation

In India, although the total e-waste production is much less than that of US or EU, India suffers from absence of sophisticated technologies to recycle the waste materials.At present there are only  two formal units of recycling of such waste materials in India, whereas most of the recycling work is done by informal sectors, often ignoring the socio-economic status or demographic patterns of  different regions.Although rules like Hazardous waste( management and handling) Rules, 2003 and Municipal solid waste(Management & handling) Rules, 2000 exist, the implementation have not been up to the mark so far.

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM(GPS)

GPS is the only fully functional navigational satellite system in the world.It is a collection of 24 medium earth orbit satellites that permit precise microwave signals that enables GPS to track their locations,directions and speed.It was first developed by the US Dept of military Defense.However presently it is being used for both civil and military purposes.Its EU counterpart Gallileo, Russian GLONASS,Chinese COMPASS or Indian IRNSS have not been as effective as it.

In military GPS allows to track location in dark or unfamiliar terrains and therefore helps in coordination of movements of the army.It also helps in target tracking,missile or projectile guidance and map creation.In the civilian field it is used as surveyor's tool and aid to navigation because of its ability to track locations of objects.It also helps in studying different layers of the environment and also to measure the motion of faults during earthquake.It helps in synchronization of clocks in critical observations and calculations.This property is extensively used in various CDMA phones.

3G TECHNOLOGY

3G or 3rd Generation Technology is the latest technology for the up gradation of mobile phone services.It simultaneously enables to transfer voice and non voice data like downloading or uploading,sending and receiving e-mails and instant messaging.The bandwidth needed for 3G is 5 to 20 MhZ.The maximum download speed provided is 14.4 Mbps whereas upload speed may be as high as 5.8 Mbps.The highlight of 3G service is video telephony.This will provide the service providers the opportunity to provide better quality service over a large number of subscribersIt promises to improve mobile phone operational standards in India by providing better network connectivity,fascilitation of e-governance and e-commerce services, thereby bridging the urban-rural techno divide.The technology followed in 3G is IMT 2000,endorsed and accredited by International Telecommunication Union.Presently the Government of India has allowed five foreign players to bid for 3G Spectrum.The floor price is $20.20 billion.In 2009, BSNL launched its 3G service in India, although the response even after half a year has not been satisfactory.Many hazards like high operation cost, health hazards due to excessive electromagnetic waves are some of the reasons behind its lack of popularity in the initial periods despite having tremendous potentials for future.

SUPER COMPUTER

Super computer is basically a computer with higher processing capacity and therefore it is able to do calculations at much faster rate than the normal computers.It is required for calculation intensive tasks like molecular modelling,weather forecasting,nuclear researches,quantum mechanics etc.It is widely used in military researches,weather houses or various research organizations and universities.The speed of Super computers is denoted by FLOPS along with certain prefixes like TFLOPS(tera FLOPS),PFLOPS(Peta FLOPS) etc.A particular problem "Grand Challenge" requires semi infinite computer resources and thereby needs super computers.Such computer use variants of LINUX or UNIX as Operating systems.Presently IBM's Road Runner is the fastest super computer in the world.Blue Gene is a Computer architectural Project to design and build super computers.India's EKA installed in Computational Research Laboratory(CRL) is world's 4th fastest super computer.C-DAC'S Pram Padma is the first super computer of India.The challenges before super computers are that these become heated very early and as the process and integrate data very fast, there is need for more works on external storage bandwidth.

COMMERCIAL BREAK...

Dear friends,

Recently some of the followers of this blog asked me why I am making this blog a commercial place like many others by placing so many ads.In fact that was a bit distracting, they complained.I would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.And let me make you very much clear that I am placing these ads not to enrich my pockets.I am indeed  in search of some plans to start a charity fund where all the revenues raised through the ads will be deposited.Although presently as I am a bit busy with the preparation for the Main exam and that is why  I have not yet come to any decision what exactly  the plan  is or how that will materialize,once the exam is over and I'm back in action, things will definitely materialize.So just for the sake of the plan, bear with the commercialization of this blog

   However, personally I do not endorse the products or services being advertised here and nor do I select the ads.

God bless you all and have a great time.

Saptarshi

FDI IN INDIA

FDI or foreign Direct Investement is used as a strategic tool to speed up the development process.Developing countries like India suffer from poor capital formation and low level of income generation.FDI can be helpful to overcome such situations.

In India FDI is important because of many reasons

• To overcome domestic savings constraints
• To carry out development projects
• With investment comes better technology
• Boosts up production
• Ensures India's assimilation in the global production chain
• Creates better employment opportunities

India is a favouite destination of the foreign investors due to the following reasons

• Huge domestic market
• Conducive government policies
• Access to the flourishing South-East Asian market
• Easy availability of cheap labour
• No hindrance in using foreign brand names
• Corporate tax holidays, eg- 100% duty exemption for the SEZs

Except coal and lignite,atomic energy,railway transport, arms and ammunitions,mining of gold,chromium etc. India allows FDI in varying rate in all other areas.Mauritius leads in FDI in India, followed by US.In India FDI is allowed through four routes- joint ventures,capital market,preferential allottments,financial collaboration.States like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat,Delhi lead in attracting FDI.Financial sector,IT sector and Real estate market are in the top zones to attract maximum FDI..The FDI in the current fiscal is expected to cross $ 35 bn mark.

FDI ensures  mobilization of financial resources and maximum utilization of a country's potentials.It changes government policy from resource generation to resource utilization.Though  it is often blamed for ousting domestic resources and lowering regulatory standards in investment patterns, it can not be denied that the resurgence of Indian economy in the present years has much to do with liberal policy of the government towards foreign investment since the liberalization of economy in 1991.

YASHPAL COMMITTEE REPORT ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Yashpal Committee was appointed to look into various aspects of higher education of India and very recently the committee submitted its recommendations.Apart from criticizing modern system of education and mismanagement and negligence on the part part of the government to promote higher education, the committee has made a few recommendations for the up gradation of the existing system of higher education in India.Below are some of the recommendations

• The committe talks about the establishment of a National Commission for Higher Education and Research which will subsume the role of as many as 13 government bodies and councils like the UGC,MCI or AICET which supervise higher education in India

• The committee is critical of the accreditation of granting deemed university status to mushrooming institutes and observes that while during the period of 1956 to 199 only 29 institutes were granted deemed university status, in the past 15 years as many as 63 institutes were granted the same status. 

• The Committee stressed on improvement of the educational standard in the undergraduate level and recommended that the IITs and IIMs should expand their scopes by including arts and humanities subjects

• The committee was critical of allowing numerous foreign institutes to open their business in India and held that while these institutes are unheard of in their lands, they are earning a lot here and damaging our educational system.The Committee recommended that such institutes if want to stay in India must provide and Indian degree of education and not foreign one.

• The committee was critical of profit driven private institutions and asked the need for "different layers of institutions", i.e. state run, private and Public private partnership etc.
  
 

• The committee also stressed on the integration of education and research.
  

NEED FOR POLICE REFORMS IN INDIA

At present there is dire need for the police reforms in the country.The laws related to police administration dates back to British colonial regime and hardly reflects the present socio-economic needs.The Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Evidence Act of 1871 or the Criminal Procedure Code of 1898- all these bear the evidence that in India Police administration is till governed by century old archaic laws.

Under the Indian constitution policing is a state system.Most state governments have laws which are simple imitations of the 1861 penal code.Since independence there have efforts from the government on numerous occasions to introduce some changes in the police administration.Numerous committees and commissions have been formed.But at the end of the day it is all that same wth all those voluminous, archaic acts and laws.

The honourable Supreme Court of India in 2006 asked the Govt Of India to ensure more accountability in police administration and to release a draft model of a new police act.The issue till date remains unanswered.

Apart from the archaism of the laws numerous other problems exist in police administration in India.The existing system has  bred and still breeding corruption among the policemen.The existing system hardly provides the criminals the opportunity to correct themselves.It is still very much a system of punishment,not correction.The police training emphasizes on muscle power and gunmanship while very little care is taken to imbibe endearing values among the cops.They are the protector of human rights in the first  line although they mostly remain ignorant of what human right is.

Modernization of the police force is thus a dire need of the day considering ever increasing cases of terrorism and violence.But more important is the need to inculcate  human values among our policemen so that they do not behave like inhuman musclemen, but actively take part in the socio cultural reconstruction process.

WETLANDS

Wetlands are transitional areas between terrestrial and aquatic zones, where the water table is near the land surface and the land is covered by shallow water.The Ramsar Convention, 1971 was held to protect the wetlands of international importance and ensure the sustainable use of such wetlands.The science dealing with wetlands is called paludology.

  Such wetlands are the life support systems for the people living in the zones, winter resort for the migratory birds and they work as bulwark againsta encroachment by the sea, buffer against storms and hurricanes and provide habitat to various flora and fauna in the region.Moreover they are important as tourist places,scientific and educational interests, and they provide ample vegetables for the people and green fodder for the livestock.Moreover, they provide habitat to mangroves and play very important role in maintaining biodiversity of the world.

Some of the important wetlands of India are Pichavaram,Vembanad,Chilka,Harike,Bhitarkanika,Bhoj,Loktak etc.With the looming threat of climate channge and food scarcity it is the need of the hour to develop international and national strategies to conserve the wetlands so that they are alowed to play their role in ecology.

LASER AND ITS VARIOUS USES

LASER or light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is spatially coherent which means that the light is emitted in narrow, low divergent beams  or can be converted into ones by using optical tools like lenses,unlike other lights where the light is spatially incoherent.Theodore Maiman demonstrated the first working laser back in 1960.Since then it has become multi billion dollar industry.

   Laser uses a gain medium inside a highly reflective optical cavity.Light which passes through the cavity becomes amplified.It may be electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, not necessarily visible.This feature is used for security purposes.Laser is usually labeled with a safety class number to avoid any danger.

   The single largest use of laser is in optical storage devices such as compact discs where a semiconductor laser less than 1 mm wide scans the whole disc.Besides, it is widely used in fibre optics communication.It is being used inmedical technolgy as well for blood less surgery, kidney stone treatment, hair removal,eye treatment etc.In research laser spectroscopy is a popular field.Laser shows are popular during various festivals and ceremonies.In product development it is widely used in developing pointer mouses, printers,scanners etc.In defence, laser is gradually replacing rader for locating targets.In industry laser is used for weilding,cutting or marking.

FACT SHEET ON CHILD LABOR IN INDIA

• Presently there are 20 million child labor in India, and out of this 85% belong to rural areas or unorganized sectors
• India's child labor policy is consistent with the International Labor Conference Resolutions,1979
• It is a socio cultural menace 
  
• Article 24 prohinits employment of children in mines or other hazardous activities
• Child labor( Prohibition and Regulation) act, 1986 seeks to regulate employment of children in hazardous activities
• The Directive Principles of Sate Policy also seeks to regulate Child Labor in India
• India is signatory to 36 conventions of ILO on Child Labor
• India adopted its first policy on Child Labor in 1974 in consonance with the UN Declaration on Child Rights,1959
• To monitor the working of various rules and regulations on Child Labor, National Authority for elimination of Child Labor was established under the chairmanship of the Union Labor Minister
• However despite all such efforts real scenario is gloomy as there have been hardly any efforts to regulate unorganized child labor
• Of the total workforce in India, share of child labor is 12.1%
• In the carpet industry of Mirzapur, more than 25,000 children are employed in hazardous occupatios
• In the matchstick industries of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu around 40,000 children are employed
• The efforts of the girl children in hazardous occupations are rarely counted as they are considered as mere helpers not workers

TARGETED PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM(TPDS)

The Targeted Public Distribution system was launched in 1997 by the Government of India with the objective of providing minimum quantity of essential commodities, i.e, food grains to the targeted people allover the country.Accordingly to identify the targeted people issue of  BPL card was started and people were categorized into BPL and APL categories.Initially 10 kg of food grains per family per month was allotted at a rate much lower than the standard market rate.At present 35 kg of food grains are given to each family per month at a highly subsidized rate, i.e, rise @ Rs 5.65/kg and wheat @ 4.15/kg.Fair price shops have been established to distribute the ration items to the common people.

The policies:

• Maintaining a buffer stock to meet up the rising demands during scarcity.
• Arranging MSP for the farmers during scarcity
• Distribution of food grains from the surplus to deficit areas

Problems

• Identification of the genuine candidates.Very often deserving candidates do not get BPL cards whereas well off people walk away with the cards
• Political influence in the allotment of the cards
• Corruption of the government officials
• Absence of fair price shop all over the country
• Lack of supply of ration items in many fair price shops

Solutions

• Any impartial body, for example the Judiciary should be given the task of identifying the poor people
• Criteria to identify the poor people are to be codified clearly by the government
• More fair price shops are to be established 
• Well of people wth BPL cards should be given exemplary punishment
• Grievances regarding the issue of false cards, delay in distribution are to be heard by any impartial body
  

   

  

RAINWATER HARVESTING

It is basically accumulation and storage of rainwater in a scientific way to combat the increasing water crisis of the present day.It is advantageous in many ways, such as

• Use of ancient concept in a sustainable manner
• Low cost technology
• Can be performed even in common households without much apparatus or technical knowledge
• It can supply plenty of water for consumption, irrigation or other works
• The areas where ground water is saline, rainwater can solve agricultural crisis.
  

Rainwater can be harvested in many ways from simple rooftop harvesting to complex commercial harvesting.

Rooftop harvesting

• Here catchment area is available free of cost
• Supply is done at the zone of consumption

Pond, lake or other water bodies

• This can be used to recharge ground water aquifers
• Here subsurface dyke may be used.

Rain water is generally free of harmful minerals and in most cases chemicals, but can be adversely effected by air pollutants and/or contaminated by animals in the catchment area. Due to increasing levels of pollutants, city and bottled water providers are increasingly turning to use of sophisticated treatment processes and chemincals to ensure a quality product. Consequently, rainwater for drinking should be carefully stored and treated prior to consumption. Several technlogies exist for home treatment including: ozone sterilization, UV and distillation.

WATER CRISIS IN INDIA

In a list of 122 countries on the availability of quality potable water prepared by UNEP ,India ranks 120.This is surprising ,considering the fact that India has 4% of total water reserve of the world.According to the census report 2001 only 68% of the total households have access to quality potable water.37% of the population, of whom 75% are children are affected by water related diseases.In around 20 states, 60 million people are at high risk due to excessive amount of fluoride in water.While the permissible limit of Fluoride in water is 1 mg/lit, in Haryana it is as high as 48 mg/lit.Around 10 million people are at high risk of exposure to excess amount of arsenic in water.This is most severe in West Bengal.Due to excessive use of fertilizers,poor sanitation standards, the amount of nitrate in water in India is ever increasing.Moreover, water borne diseases like hepatitis,cholera,diarrhoea are frequent in India.High salinity of land is causing irreparable loss to agriculture.By 2020,India will be a water starved nation.

Some facts:

• Per capita availability of water during independence was 5000 cu mt/year.Now it has come down to 1800 cu mt/year.
• Water has been one of the cardinal reasons of inter state problems and inter regional clashes.
• According to a survey by World Bank, out of 27 Asian Cities with more than a million population,Delhi,Chennai,Kolkata and Mumbai occupy the bottommost position in terms of water availability per day
• Excessive nitrogen content in water leads to eutrophication or growth of aquatic weeds rendering water unsafe for consumption
• Waste of human resources due to travelling long distances in search of water.

Solutions:

1. Polluters Pay- a tax for polluting water in urban areas in both industrial and domestic levels.
2. Better solid waste management
3. Developing Public private partnership and chalking out a holistic plan for conservation and better management of water and proper execution of the plan through community development programs,extension networks
4. Rainwater harvesting
5. Water management system to recycle water waste in each industry.
6. Popularizing organic farming.
   

SETHUSAMAUDRAM PROJECT

The proposed Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project aims to create a link between Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka by creating a shipping channel through the shallow sea known as Sethusamudram.The project recently got a nod from the central government although it was first conceived by Alfred Dundas Taylor in 1860.

The proposed project envisages to break the limestone shoal known as Rama Sethu and create a continuous navigable channel across the Indian peninsula.Thus it will save around 400 nautical miles of sailing distance and 30 hours of journey time.Once the project is finished, ships will be able to move freely between East and West coast, thus saving the time to circumnavigate Sri Lanka.


However various organizations have raised objection over the project for economic,religious and environmental issues.There is apprehension that the project will cause much damage to the Marine National Park in the Gulf of Mannar especially to the coral reef and other flora and fauna therein.Moreover fishing activities win the region may be disrupted as well.Besides,there is an opinion breaking the Ram Sethu may hurt religious sentiments in India.However, a study conducted by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute suggests that by the apprehensions of financial or environmental damage are unfounded.

INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES SCHEME (ICDS)

RELEVANT POINTS( SYNOPSIS FROM THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION ON THE TOPIC)

• India is the home to the largest child population in the world
• As per 2001 census, India has around 157.86 million children, constituting 15.42% of India's population
• Children are the first call on agenda of human resource development – not only because young children are the most vulnerable, but because the foundation for life long learning and human development is laid in these crucial early years.
• Launched on 2^nd October 1975 in 33 Community Development Blocks, ICDS today represents one of the world’s largest programmes for early childhood development.Presently covers al the blocks and urban slums.
  
• Presently it includes Kishori Shakti Yojana
  

Objectives of ICDS:

Lay the foundation for proper psychological development of the child

Improve nutritional & health status of children 0-6 years

Reduce incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school drop-outs

Enhance the capability of the mother and family to look after the health, nutritional and development needs of the child

Achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation among various departments to promote child development

Services

The Scheme provides an integrated approach for converging basic services through community-based workers and helpers. The services are provided at a centre called the ‘Anganwadi’. The Anganwadi, literally a courtyard play centre, is a childcare centre, located within the village itself. A package of following six services is provided under the ICDS Scheme:

Supplementary nutrition

Non-formal pre-school education

Immunization

Health Check-up

Referral services

Nutrition and Health Education

BIOMETRICS

Biometric is an automatic method of recognizing a person by physical,physiological or behavioral characteristics like finger prints,retinal scan,face recognition etc.It is widely used in financial systems, IT security,immigration,law enforcement sectors etc.It has much potentials to be used in homeland security.

It is a more accurate method of identification than the presently used password or PIN systems.People have to remember their passwords,ID proofs may be lost or stolen,PIN may be cracked.However biometrics is free from such hassles.It is fast, easy to use,reliable and accurate system.
Certain principles of biometrics

• Universality of character
• Permanent nature of character, eg- although retina scan is a very useful method, the features of retina may be changed with aging or eye diseases and thus impossible to recover the data.
• Technology must be difficult to be deceive

Apart from the above mentioned systems newly emerging biometric techniques like keystroke dynamics( here a person is recognized by his typing behaviour and speed), behaviometrics or behavioral biometrics like mouse gesture,facial thermography,vein scan are also becoming popular.However, it must be remember that, in biometrics once a character is chosen, it is not possible to replace it with another one.That has been an obstacle in the rising popularity of biometrics.

ANTIOXIDANTS

Antioxidants are the molecules which prevent oxidation of other molecules.These are generally reducing agents like Theol or polyphenols.Oxidative stress in the body produces free radicals which cause irreparable damage to the body systems and may in turn result in cancer, heart diseases,Alzheimer disease, Perkinsons disease,diabetes etc.Antioxidants prevent the formation of free radicals and thereby prevents numerous diseases.

Antioxidants are of two types-lipid soluble( prevents per oxidation of cell membranes) and water soluble( reacts with oxidative agents in plasma or cytoplasm).Vit C (ascorbic acid),Vit E(alfa tocopherol), Glutathione, melatonin are some of the important antioxidants.However strong reducing agents like tannin or oxalic acid bind to dietary Fe or Zn and causes nutritional imbalance.

Antioxidants have other uses as well, namely

• As supplement after exercise
• Food preservation
• Lubricant and cosmetics
  

PRESSURE GROUPS

Any social group that seeks to influence the behaviour of the authority without capturing formal control of governance, is known as pressure group.It is a medium available for the common people to dictate the course of affairs in the government.The political right of citizens is limited to exercising the power of casting vote after a certain time gap.Such democratic deficit is compensated by the existence of pressure groups.Thus pressure groups act as medium of communication between government and the citizens.

Lobbying is a common method to create pressure on government.Sending representation to the legislature or any department to influence policy making is called lobbying.Use of media,publication of books,demonstrations, pamphlets are the other techniques.Such groups are broadly classified four types- institutional,associational,non associational,anomic.

In India such groups often use techniques like candle light protests,hartal, gherao etc.The politics of coalition has made such groups even more prominent in india.

To sum it up, such groups accelerate social development,prevents stagnation and increases social cohesion by providing outlet of popular grievances.

GM CROPS

GM Crops or Genetically modified crops have their DNA modified through genetic engineering.Transgenic plants where the plant genome is altered by Recombinant DNA Technology,also belong to this category.Soyabean,canola,cotton,corn are the common crops which are used for producing GM Crops.

Advantages:

• Herbicide resistant: Due to insertion of herbicide tolerant genes., eg- Monsanto's Round Up Ready Soyabean
• Insect resistant:By inserting Bacillus thurigiensis into the gene, eg- Bt Cotton against Ball Worm and Bt Maize against Maize Borer.
• Pest resistant
  
• Virus,bacteria,fungus resistant
• High yielding
• Reduction in the cost of pesticides
• Addition of essential nutritional factors through genetic engineering into such crops, eg- "Golden Rice" contains high amount of Beta Carotene
  
• Drought resistant/salinity resistant

Disadvantages:

• Potential gene flow from cultivated to wild species
• There is apprehension that these crops will harm not only insect pests but also other insects and thus will disturb ecostability, eg- recent threat to the existence of monarch butterfly
• Emergence of new viruses/ diseases through antgenic shift, eg-Mad Cow Disease( caused by prion) is believed to have emerged from indiscriminate plantation of Monsanto's Round Up Ready Soyabean
• Due to potential gene flow, enforcement of patent in such crops is often contentious

Conclusion: Limited scale use on the basis of agro climatic zone and socio economic conditions prevailing therein is recommended.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION

The term " FINANCIAL INCLUSION " was added in the budget 2008-09 on the recommendation of the central committee on financial inclusion.It refers to better access of the larger sections of the population to the vast organized and structured financial market of the country and ensuring availability of timely and adequate credit.In other words, it is extension of banking to the less privileged sections of the society.

Though regional rural banks and cooperative banks are larger in number in the rural areas, their contribution in total banking services is meager, 9% and 3% of the total as compared to the huge 78% of the commercial banks.Financial inclusion seeks to make corrections in such anomalies.

The financial inclusion policy of the government includes two fold policy- first to encourage the RRBs and cooperative banks to enroll more rural and semi urban households as their customers and to appoint retired bank officials and other ex servicemen to act as credit counselors or business facilitators.

This is a wonderful step in many ways.Firstly it will save the rural people from the clutches of the unscrupulous money lenders and intermediaries and help them to take benefits of the financial progress of the country.Secondly, this will boost up the overall financial health of the country as most of the population the country stll live in villages.

Suggested strategies:

• Setting up a financial inclusion task force.
• Setting up a Financial Inclusion fund like that of UK.
• Better monitoring system to keep a vigil on the banking activities in the rural areas.
• Creation of better business opportunities in the rural areas to help the rural people to utilize the credit available in better ways.
• India must learn from the mistake of the US financial system that financial inclusion policy if not guided by a pragmatic approach may cause irreversible damage to the economic structure of the nation.
  

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence is the intelligence of machines and it also refers to the section of science which seeks to create it.It is also known as synthetic intelligence or computational intelligence.The term was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956.He described it as " the science and engineering of creating intelligent machines". But AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.

The basic objective of this section of science is to create machines capable of thinking. Such machines will posses qualities like knowledge,planning, communication,reasoning,perception apart from the general ability to move and manipulate objects.Thus it will create a bridge between computer science and Linguistics,Psychology,logic,cognitive science and economics.In terms of moving and manipulating objects this field is very closely related to robotics.

It is widely being used in software development, game development especially chess,information analysis,speech recognition etc.However as there is no concrete definition of intelligence till now, the grading of AI or the success of it, is difficult to judge.

The following site may be useful for knowing more on the topic
http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/