1. Indian Heritage

• Culture

• Modern Indian history

• The Freedom Struggle

Maulana Azad on his birth anniversary

Maulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed (11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was one of the foremost leaders of the Indian freedom struggle. He was also a great scholar and poet. He was appointed as independent India’s first Minister for Education and inducted in the Constituent Assembly to draft India’s Constitution. Under Maulana Azad’s tenure, a number of measures were undertaken to promote primary and secondary education, scientific education, establishment of universities and promotion of avenues of research and higher studies. The Maulana established many institutions such as the Sahitya Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Lalit Kala Akademi, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and also provided a major stimulus for the setting up of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Maulana Azad death was a loss deeply felt in the country. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, paying tribute to the Maulana in Parliament, said, “We have had great men and we will have great men, but the peculiar and special kind of greatness that Maulana Azad represented is not likely to be reproduced in India or anywhere else.” Azad is remembered as amongst the leading Indian nationalists of his time. He remains one of the most inspiring symbols of communal harmony in modern India. His work for education and social upliftment in India made him an important influence in guiding India’s economic and social development. For his invaluable contribution to the nation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1992. “I am a Muslim and profoundly conscious of that fact that I have inherited Islam’s glorious tradition of the last thirteen hundred years. I am not prepared to lose even a small part of that legacy. The history and teachings of Islam, its art and letters, its culture and civilization are part of my wealth and it is my duty to cherish and guard them… But, with all these feelings, I have another equally deep realization born out of my life’s experience, which is strengthened and not hindered by the Islamic spirit. I am equally proud of the fact that I am an Indian, an essential part of the indivisible unity of Indian nationhood, a vital factor in its total makeup, without which this noble edifice will remain incomplete. I am an essential element, which has gone to build India. I can never surrender this claim.”

                                                                       Acharya JB Kripalani        

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (1888-1982) has left a distinct mark on Indian politics in pre- as well as post- Independence India. Due to his involvement with nationalist politics in students days, he had to live studies at Wilson College,Bombay and D.J.Sindh College,Karachi. Finally he completed B.A. from Fergusson College, Pune and M.A. in History from Bombay University. He taught at a college in Muzaffarpur in Bihar from 1912 to 1917 and at Benares during 1919-20. He also served as the Principal of the Gujarat Vidyapith, founded by Mahatma Gandhi, for five years, till 1927. It was here that he was called Acharya

Meeting Gandhi was a turning point in his life. In March 1915, it was at Shantiniketan that Kripalani first met Gandhi. There was no immediate sparks between them. However, after meeting Gandhi later in 1917 during the Champaran satyagraha, he was attracted to Gandhi’s ideas and work and got completely involved in the nationalist movement led by Gandhi. In his own words he was a ‘humble interpreter’ of Gandhi’s thoughts ‘to others in more modern and understandable terms’. Kripalani married to Sucheta Mazumdar in April 1936. Gandhi did not give his blessings but said that he would ‘pray’ for them. Later Sucheta became very close to Gandhi. 2 Kripalai was the General Secretary of the congress from 1934 to 1945. He was elected President of the Indian National Congress in November 1946. He resigned soon thereafter due to ideological differences with his colleagues. He also resigned from the Congress Party in 1951 and begun a new political party, the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, which subsequently merged with the Socialist Party to become the Praja Socialist Party. He was a strong critic of the emergency imposed during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister. He, with Jayprakash Narayan, helped in the formation of Janta Party and led it to victory in 1977. He has written some thought-provoking books on Gandhian philosophy such as Gandhi : His Life and Thoughts, The Gandhian Way and Gandhi: the Statesman that display his original approach and high intellectual quality. In 1950 he started a weekly named vigil to create awareness about the economic and social issues and Gandhi’s ideas, but it had to be folded up after ten years for wants of funds. Kripalani’s commitments to social and economic regeneration of India, his uncompromising stand on moral and ethical principles, his deep concern for the poor and unemployed and his insistence on high values in public life coupled with his irrepressible wit, razor-sharp mind matched only by equally sharp expressions put up him in a class by itself.

 

• Post-independence

• Indian Society

A. population and associated issues

B. poverty and developmental issues

C.urbanization

   7. Geographical features

8.Indian Constitution

9. Polity

Governors cannot sit on Bills passed by House: The real power vests with elected representatives of people in a parliamentary democracy, the Bench said as it settled the law in a writ petition filed 

Supreme Court on Friday laid down that a Governor cannot sit on key Bills passed by a State Legislature after casting doubts on the validity of the Assembly session in which the proposed laws were passed with overwhelming majority by the elected representatives of the people.

The apex court settled the law in a writ petition filed by the Punjab government, represented by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, complaining that Governor Banwarilal Purohit has held back crucial Bills on Sikh gurdwaras, the police and higher education passed in a special sitting of the Budget Ses

Tsion of the Vidhan Sabha on June 19 and June 20.

Warning the Governor that “you are playing with fire”, the court directed him to take a decision on the longpending Bills presented to him for assent.

“Real power vests with the elected representatives of the people in a parliamentary form of democracy. The Governor, as an appointee of the President, is a titular head of the State. The Governor acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers save in areas where the Constitution gives him discretion.

A three-judge Bench on Friday issued formal notice to the Union of India through the Home Ministry to respond to the T.N. government’s petition that Governor R.N. Ravi was acting in a manner which “defeats the rights of the people” of the State to welfare legislation.

 

 

 

10. Governance

A. institutions

B. regulatory

C. Government policies

D. role of NGOs

E. measures

11. Social Justice

A. Welfare schemes

B Health

C. Education

D. Human Resources

E. poverty and hunger

12. International relations

A. India and its neighbourhood

B. groupings and agreements

C.Indian diaspora

D.International institutions

13. Economic Development

A. Government Budgeting

B. industrial

C. Infrastructure

D. Investment models

E.issues

14. Technology

 

15. Environment

16. Security

National Investigation Agency (NIA)

National Investigation Agency is one of the most reputed Counter-Terrorism Law Enforcement Agencies across the world. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was formed in the wake of the Mumbai Terror Attacks of 2008. It was set up as a statutory body under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008.

• The NIA headquarters is in New Delhi, and its regional offices are located at various other locations in India.
• Radha Vinod Raju was the founding Director-General of NIA. He served the office till 31 January 2010. 

Objectives of the National Investigation Agency (NIA)

• The main objective of the NIA is to combat terrorist activities in India.
• For this, it also ensures that various international conventions, resolutions, treaties, and agreements of the United Nations, its agencies & also of other international organizations that are related to combating terrorism are implemented in India.
• To uphold the Constitution of India and the law of the land.
• To ensure that a thorough and professional investigation of scheduled offences is carried out using the latest scientific methods of investigation.
• Give significant importance to protecting Human Rights and the dignity of individuals.
• To ensure that an effective and speedy trial takes place.
• To develop a professional workforce through various mechanisms like regular training and exposing them to global best practices.
• To maintain a professional and friendly relationship with the various state Governments and Union Territories, including all other law enforcement agencies, to promote the objectives of the NIA Act, 2008.
• To assist and take assistance from other investigative agencies to better tackle terrorist cases.
• To build a strong database of all terrorist-related information and also share and take assistance from the database already prepared by the state investigating agencies.
• To study and analyze various laws and regulations related to terrorist activities in various other countries, and thus regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the existent laws in India, and also propose certain amendments as & when they are necessary.

17. Disaster Management

Tremors reveal gaps in emergency alert system

When tremors hit Delhi and surrounding areas following the 6.4 magnitude earthquake last week in Nepal and the 5.6 magnitude aftershock this Monday, the government and private early alert systems did not reach many of the people who could feel palpable tremors.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)’s Cell Broadcast Alert System (CBAS) has been tested in recent weeks to send out mass alerts when natural disasters strike, but it did not do so. Meanwhile, Google did not send out alerts in the national capital, even though tremors were felt in both instances here.

“The Android Earthquake Early Warning system supplements the government’s efforts on earthquake alerts and aims to provide people with advance notice that can help them stay safe,” a Google spokesperson said in response to queries from The Hindu, referring to the company’s alert system for Android users in India, who account for the bulk of smartphone owners in the country.

The spokesperson said earthquake alerts did go out immediately in many areas around the IndiaNepal border, where the shaking was strongest, pointing to screenshots posted online by social media users in this region. The company says it warns users only if the shaking in their area can expect to cross a value of 3.5 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) Scale, a measurement of shaking during earthquakes that serves as an alternative to the Richter scale.

At an MMI value of three (“weak” shaking), the United States Geological Service’s description of the scale says that tremors are felt “quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings,” and at four (“light” shaking), the tremors are felt “indoors by many, outdoors by a few”.

The tremors in both cases, in New Delhi, appear to have been in the lower end of these two MMI values, meaning Google did not send alerts to everyone who felt shaking, as the intensity did not seem as risky in places like Delhi.

As for the CBAS, which is the alert system that works through telecom operators, no alerts went out anywhere in North India, even in places near the Nepal border where shaking was intense.

No answer from NDMA

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) did not respond to queries on why the system did not alert residents in the areas where tremors were felt. Sample alerts have been tested by the NDMA in partnership with telecom companies and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) over the last few months, with many users reporting that they received sample broadcasting messages for emergencies.

“Common applications of Cell Broadcast include delivering emergency alerts such as severe weather warnings (eg, Tsunamis, Flash Floods, Earthquakes), public safety messages, evacuation notices, and other critical information,” the Union government said in a press release about these sample messages in September.