Thursday 21 June 2012

Tuesday 19 June 2012

ASEAN or the Association of South East Asian Nations

ASEAN : Basic Facts                                source: PD/June/2011
1. ASEAN or the Association of South East Asian Nations was founded on Aug.8, 1967 at Bangkok by five founder members : Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia. Brunei joined it in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia joined ASEAN in 1999. Thus, at present, it has ten members.
2. According to the charter of ASEAN, it has following objectives :
(a) It aims to promote economic growth, social progress and culture development in the region.
(b) To facilitate among members the cooperation in economic, social and culture fields.
(c) To provide a forum for the peaceful settlement of disputes among member states.
(d) To promote peace and stability in the region.
 3. ASEAN has a distinct way of functioning, which is known as the 'ASEAN way', characterised by certain fundamental principles, which were outlined during the first ASEAN Summit in 1976, held at Bali, Indonesia. These principles are contained in the treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) signed by member during the first Summit. The main principles underlying the ASEAN way are : the respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of all nations; right of each state to lead a national life without external coercion and precessure, non-interference in the internal affairs of nations; abide by the norm of not using force or threat of force in mutual relations and deepening cooperation among members as well as resolution of differences by peaceful means.
The 'ASEAN way' has been instrumental in ensuring that ASEAN keeps away from regional and domestic controversies and tensions and concentrates on the main agenda of economic cooperation.
 4. ASEAN has gradually expanded its activities from economic cooperation to security matters and community building. It has tried to involve non-member nations in its activities; from economic cooperation to security matters and community building. It has tried to involve non-member nations in its activities; which play significant role in the region. Thus, in 1997, it founded ASEAN + 3 mechanism in which three leading countries of this region-Japan, China and South Korea are also activity involved in its activities.
 In 1994, ASEAN founded ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to discuss security related matters and to ensure peace and stability in the region. All important actors including the USA, USSR, China are members of ARF. Similarly, it has founded East Asia Summit in2005 to facilitate the community building process in East Asia. India is a founder member of East Asia. Its meetings are held on annual basis at the same place and time, where the annual ASEAN Summits are held. The fifth East Asia Summit was held at Hanoi(Vietnam) in Oct. 2010. It should be noted that India joined the ARF in 1996.

Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol:
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11th December 1997, and came into force on 16th February 2005. The Kyoto Protocol recognized the fact that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere because of their long years of industrial activity. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries, and the European community, for reducing green gas emissions.

The Microsoft Surface table has been re-branded 'PixelSense.'

The Microsoft Surface table has been re-branded 'PixelSense.'
I thought Microsoft's new tablet was being added to the Microsoft Surface "line" of devices, from a branding perspective. But apparently, the tablet is "stealing" the brand. The original Microsoft Surface table is reportedly being re-branded as the "PixelSense."If this is true, it feels like a mistake to me, possibly driven by internal silo psychology more than consumer branding.

The old Surface group inside Microsoft and the new Surface group are clearly two very different groups. But consumers don't care about that.I mean, the idea of Microsoft's tablet as a small, personal, consumer and portable version of their Surface table is very appealing, conceptually. They're both multi-touch devices.I think this is a mistake.
~Mike Elgan

Monday 18 June 2012

Extradition Treaties

Extradition
Extradition is the surrender of a criminal to one country by another. It also helps is maintaining the territoriality of the penal code which says that a country should not apply its criminal law to a person who committed an offense outside its territories except when the crime is related to the countries national interest. The process is regulated by treaties between the two countries.
 What are the internationally accepted conditions for extradition?
There is a general consensus about few conditions of extradition. The crime should fulfill the criterion of dual criminality, i.e it is a punishable offence in both the countries. The country A cannot request B to extradite a person who is charged with a homosexuality related offence. Persons charged for political reasons are generally not extradited. Some countries refuse to extradite if the kind of expected punishment is abolished or is not administered in their own territories. For instance Australia, Canada, Macao, Mexico, and most of the European nations refuse to extradite a criminal if the person in question might get capital punishment after his extradition.

Sunday 17 June 2012

Weather different from climate

Weather different from climate:
Climate and weather are the two aspects of meteorology. 
Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region. It deals with sunshine, rain, cloud cover, winds, hail, snow, sheet, freezing rain, flooding, blizzards, storms, heat waves and other conditions on a particular day, or at a particular time, in most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, and day-to-day.
Climate, on other hand, is how the atmosphere 'behaves' over relatively long periods of time. When scientists talk about climate, they're looking at averages of precipitation, temperature,humidity, sunshine, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and other measures of the weather that occur over a long period in a particular place. Weather varies all the time, but climate doesn't vary nearly as quickly.

Thursday 14 June 2012

General Knowledge For Competition Exams, Agricuture

General Knowledge For Competition Exams
Agriculture

  • Which element plays an important role in nitrogen metabolism ? -Molybdenum
  • Apis florea, apis dorsata and apis cerana are the species of - Honeybee
  • For how many years is sheep able to breed ? - 10 years
  • The major fungi that affects food grains in storage is -Mucor
  • Topography, soil age and parent material are the natural factors which affects -Soil fertility
  • The leaching loss of Nitrogen is more in the form of -Nitrate
  • Which is the perennial variety of Elephant Grass (Napier Grass) ? -Pusa Giant Napier
  • Sharadmani is the suitable -Rabi maize variety
  • Green Ear, Ergot, Rust are the diseases associated with -Bajra
  • Which disease occurs when more sorghum is consumed ? -Pellagra
  •  The fungus which is used in Alcohol industry is : -yeast
  • Pomology is a study of: -Fruits
  • The father of White Revolution in India is : -Vargheese Kurein
  • The rank India holds in fish production is : -Third
  • TRIFED stands for : -Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited
  • National Horticulture Mission was started on : -5 May 2005
  • Oil seeds, sugar Crops, Fiber Crops, Narcotic Crops and Beverage Crops are : -Commercial Crops
  • TG-38B, SG-99, GG-8, GG-16 and Vasundhra (Dh-101) are the crop varieties which belong to : -Groundnut
  • Who said "Everything else can wait but not agriculture" : - Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru
  • National Research Cent re for Plant Biotechnology is located in : -New Delhi
  • National Fisheries Development Board was set up on : -September 9, 2006