Civil Service Bytes

Appointment of Supreme Court Judge in India The Supreme court Judges in India are appointed by the President on the advice of his Council of Ministers and in consultation with such persons as he deems fit. In the appointment of the Chief Justice, the President consults such judges of the Supreme Court and High courts as he thinks necessary. Qualification for appointment as a Supreme Court Judge Article 124 (3) of the constitution prescribes that for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court a person must he (a) a citizen of India, (b) has been a judge of any High Court for at least 5 years, or (c) has been an advocate in a High Court for 10 years or is in the opinion of the President a distinguished jurist. There is no fixed tenure of service for a judge. He continues in service till the completion of 65th year of age. Vacancy of Post of Judge of Supreme Court inIndia Article  124 (4) prescribes the methods how the post of a judge may fall vacant. The...

Here are some key points you need to know: The bill seeks to add 106 inland waterways to the existing six National Waterways on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture and comments of several state governments The bill will also look after the renovation and maintenance of the existing waterways Out of the 106 new waterways, 18 have already been identified. These include five waterways each from Karnataka and Meghalaya, three each from Maharashtra and Kerala, one each from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan The bill also aims to help the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to develop the feasible stretches for Shipping and Navigation. Let us look at the six existing National Waterways in India: National Waterway 1 (NW1) The National Waterway No. 1 uses a 1,620-kilometre stretch of the Ganges River. It was declared a national waterway in the year 1986 and runs from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal....

Asia is the world's largest peak continent. Mount Everest in the Himalayas is the highest  in  the world. The Dead Sea in the West is the lowest point  in  the world. The coldest point in Asia is the frozen waste  of  Northern Siberia. Himalayas is the example of young mountain  range. The 'Takla Makan' is one of several deserts  in  the  Central Asia. Singapore is one of the world's densely populated  places. India is the world's largest democracy while  China  is  a  communist power. The booming 'Tiger Economy' has developed in countries such as Taiwan which borders  the  Pacific  Ocean. Norilsk is one of several era industrial complexes built in Russia. It is a processing centre of rich minerals reserves found  nearby. Mumbai is India's leading industrial city and  has  a  thriving  stock market. Half of the world's oil and gas reserves are  in Asia. J...

Sirocco is a type of hot wind blowing from Sahara  to Mediterranean. Swahili is the oldest surviving African language. The country Zaire has the maximum Hydro- electric  Power  potential  in Africa. The country Djibouti is facing the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Dar-es-Salam is the easternmost terminus of Tanjara railways which begins from Katanga  mineral  belt. Ostrich is the flightless bird of Kalahari Desert. Ethiopia is the place of origin of coffee. Pretoria is the administrative capital of S. Africa. Nilots are the aborigines of upper    Nile. River Zaire is the only river that crosses the equator  twice. Nubian  desert  lies  in Egypt. The countries Ethiopia and Somalia form  the  Horn  of Africa. High Veld is the temperate grassland of South  Africa. Africa is the most tropical of all   continents. Most part of Kalahari Desert lies in Botswana. The Farmers of the Egypt ar...

Imagine a planet with more than 60 moons, with a metallic hydrogen subterranean ocean 25,000 kilometres deep, with no solid surface to walk on, with clouds made of ammonia, with massive storms lasting several hundred years and with windspeeds of 400 mph, and with a magnetic field 20,000 times as powerful as the Earth. Welcome to Jupiter, the new frontier of humankind’s exploration of the Solar System. The last couple of decades have seen a flotilla of Missions to Mars — but with Juno, NASA begins a brand new trip into the mysteries of the Jovian system. Mars and Earth are similar in many aspects. They belong to the family of four planets from Mercury to Mars that are called Terrestrial Planets — thus, Mars and Earth are made of silicate rock and have broadly similar surface, interior and atmospheric processes. Hence, wind erosion, volcanic processes, the geochemical processes and the geophysics of the planetary interior on Earth and Mars bear a lot of similarities. In fact, before M...

7th IRNSS navsat to be launched next week India’s own Regional Navigation Satellite System, the IRNSS, is all set to be completed in space next week when the seventh and last of its spacecraft gets placed in orbit. IRNSS-1G will be launched on April 28 IRNSS will be to the subcontinent what the U.S. Global Positioning System, GPS, is to its users worldwide, but with far greater precision and in Indian control, according to ISRO. It will drive both everyday uses as a  24/7 standard service for air, sea, ship transport   and will also be used for  missile-related applications  as an encrypted and restricted service. IRNSS-1G is slated to be launched from the PSLV-C33 from Sriharikota and will be the 35th PSLV flight in the last two decades. An ISRO official said over the next three to six months, all the IRNSS satellites in the fleet would be stabilised as a constellation, their signals and performance verified and later put to use. The fleet ha...

3rd Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation Has Been Inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi The third edition of Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation has been inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi to save wild tigers. India is host of this edition of conference in which more than 700 tiger experts, scientists, managers, donors and other stakeholders are participating. Key facts: In this conference main discussion points will be issues related to tiger conservation and anti-poaching strategies. Ministers and government officials from all 13 tiger range countries (TRCs) participating in the conference. These 13 TRCs are: Bangladesh Bhutan Cambodia China India Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Nepal Russia Thailand Vietnam Participating TRCs In this edition of conferences will share their: Good practices and success stories in conserving tigers Success stories i...

12th April is being observed as the International Day of Human Space Flight to commemorate the date of the first human space flight in the history of mankind every year.  In 1961 Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet Union (USSR) cosmonaut undertook first successful first human space flight on this day. And this historic occasion had opened the way for space study for the benefit of all humanity. This historic day is celebrated as Cosmonautics Day in Russia and some other former USSR countries. This year 2016 is 55th anniversary of First Human Space Flight. Background After UN General Assembly had passed its resolution A/RES/65/271 of 7 April 2011, United Nations (UN) had declared 12th of April as the International Day of Human Space Flight. The main objective behind international celebration of this day is to memories each year at the international level the beginning of the space era for mankind. It also aims to reaffirm the important role of space science and technology...

What is OCD It is a neurobiological disorder caused by the deficiency of a neuro-chemical in the brain called serotonin, which triggers obsessions that are characterised by repetitive thoughts which are intrusive in nature. OCD traps a person in a vicious cycle of obsessions, and this leads to anxiety, fear, tension or irritation. Engaging in compulsive behaviour allows the person to lower that anxiety temporarily, but a fresh obsession is triggered soon enough. Treating OCD Depending on the severity of the case, the doctor treats the patient through medication or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). In some cases, due to their severity, doctors use medicines and CBT to treat the patient. The treatment is often for 16 to 20 sessions, with one session lasting 60 minutes. Early identification and motivation towards treatment is the key to recovery. So when do you have to seek treatment? When the obsessive behaviour is time-consuming, causing substantial distress and severe...

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has said the Centre will extend all help to protect the brow antlered deer whose numbers in the entire world is just 204, according to a 2013 census. Wildlife enthusiasts feel there is an encouraging ray of hope for the survival of the rare deer on the brink of imminent extinction. The union minister for forest, environment and climate change made the announcement as he visited the 40 sq. km Keibul Lamjao National Park, the natural habitat of the brow antlered deer, locally known as Sangai, on Saturday shortly before leaving for Mizoram after a two-day visit to Manipur. Javadekar said: “As per official information, there are now 90 stags, 86 hinds and 28 fawns. All assistance will be extended for the protection of this endangered species.” There is a slight increase in the deer numbers. There were 180 deer in 2000. Asked if the Centre is thinking in terms of a project on the lines of Project Elephant or Project Rhino, Javedkar said: “Once we get...

The year began with the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the government of Canada issuing a level-two warning for those traveling to Caribbean countries, after a resident of Puerto Rico tested positive for Zika virus on December 31. While warning travellers to protect themselves from the vector, mosquitoes, the advisory specifically advised pregnant women and those trying to conceive to avoid travelling to these regions till the transmission of the virus is contained. On Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the virus is expected to spread to all countries in the Americas, except for Canada and Chile.  Given this rapid spread of the virus, does India have reason to worry? Zika virus has never been isolated in India. The only time any trace of the virus was recorded in India was in 1952-53. A study titled ‘Neutralising antibodies against certain viruses in the sera of the residents of India’, published in a journal called The Journal of Immunology, recorded...