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BRAIN TREEC I V I L S E R V I C E S E X A M I N A T I O N

C U R R E N T A F F A I R S & G E N E R A L K N O W L E D G E

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1st March, 2009 to 15th March, 2009

GENERAL ELECTIONS - 2009

1. For the purpose of the general elections to the 15th

Lok Sabha, to be held in five phases, thecountry witnesses an increase of 43 million (6.4%) voters over 2004 elections. A total of 714

million voters will elect 543 members. The whole country has been divided into 543

parliamentary constituencies, each of which elects one member. The members of Lok Sabha are

elected directly by the eligible voters. The President of India can nominate a maximum of two

members as representatives of Anglo-Indian Community. As per the order issued by the

Delimitation Commission in 2008, 412 seats are General, 84 seats are reserved for SC and 47

seats for the scheduled Tribes. Earlier it was 79 and 41 for SC and ST respectively.

The Delimitation process undertaken in all states except J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,

Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland has resulted in 499 constituencies being redrawn. For the

first time, photo electoral rolls will be used in 522 out of 543 constituencies, except in the

states of Assam, Nagaland and J&K. The Assembly elections in A.P., Orissa and Sikkim will be

held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha poll. With the poll dates announced the model code

comes into effect. It is applicable to all political parties and to union and state and UT

governments. It is mandatory for all candidates to file along with their nominations, two

affidavits with information on their criminal antecedents, if any; assets (including the movable

and immovalble properties of the candidates, spouse and dependents), their liabilities and

educational qualifications.

ELECTION – A FEW FACTS

The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the forceof law and cannot be called in question before any court. These orders come into force

on a date to be specified by the President of India in this behalf. The copies of its orders

are laid before the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly concerned, but

no modifications are permissible therein.

Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial

constituencies in a country of a province having a legislative body. The job a delimitation

is assigned to a high power body known as Delimitation Commission or boundary

commission. Currently, Justice Kuldip Singh is the Chairman of Delimitation Commission

and the Chief Election Commissioner is the ex-officio member ( N. Gopalaswami) of the

Commission.

In India, such Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times - in 1952, in 1963, in

1973, 1972 and in 2002.

The following acts/amendments were related to Delimitation. The Delimitation Commission

Act, 1952 The Delimitation Act-1972. 84th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001 The

Delimitation Act, 2002 87th Amendment Act-2003. The Delimitation ( Amendment)

Ordinance, 2008.

A few Constitutional Provisions related to Elections are: Article 81 : Composition of

House of People Article 82 : Readjustment after each census. Article 170 : Composition

of legislative assemblies. Article 330 : Reservation of seats for SC and ST in the House of

People Article 332 : Reservation of seats for SC and ST in the legislative assemblies of states.

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1st March, 2009 to 15th March, 2009

MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT

The Model code of conduct for guidance of political parties and candidates is a set of normswhich has been evolved with the consensus of political parties who have consented to abide

by the principles embodied in the said code and also binds them to respect and observe it in itsletter and spirit. The Election Commission ensures its observance for conducting free fair and

peaceful elections to the Parliament and State Legislature under Article 324 of theConstitution of India.

SALIENT FEATURES

The Model Code of Conduct is divided into 7 areas. 1) General Conduct 2) Meetings3) Processions 4) Polling Day 5) Polling Booth 6) Observers 7) Party in Power. Some of the

salient features are :1) General Conduct: No party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which may

aggravate differences or create mutual hatred between different castes, communities, religiousor linguistic. There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.Mosques, Churches and Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as a forum for election propaganda. The right of every individual for peaceful and undisturbed homelife shall be respected. Political parties shall ensure that their supporters do not createobstructions in or breakup meetings and processions organized by other parties.

2) Meetings : Local police to be informed of the venue and time of any proposed meeting. Permissions and licenses shall be taken for the use of loudspeakers for any other facilities in connection with any proposed meeting. Organisers, shall seek the assistanceof the police on duty for dealing with persons disturbing a meeting or other wise attempting

to create disorder. They shall not take action themselves against such persons.3) Processions: Time of organizing procession to be informed to the police. Processions

shall be so regulated so that there is no block or hindrance to traffic.

4) Polling Day: All political parties and candidates shall cooperate with officers on electionduty to ensure peaceful and orderly polling and complete freedom to the voters to exercisetheir franchise. The candidates camps shall be simple and shall not display any poster /flag or symbol or any other propaganda material.

5) Party in Power: The Ministers shall not combine their official visit with electioneeringwork and shall not also make use of official machinery or personnel during theelectioneering work. Government transport including official aircrafts, vehicles,machinery and personnel shall not be used for furtherance of the interests of the party in

power.

In the forthcoming General Election, for the first time, the Photo Electoral Rolls will be usedfor polling in the entire country except the three states of Assam of Assam, Nagaland andJ&K. The concept of Photo electoral roll was introduced in 2005 when it was tested as a pilot

project during the revision of rolls in all constituencies of Kerala and Puducherry twoconstituencies of Haryana and in one constituency each in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Onthe successful completion of the pilot project, the subsequent elections to the LegislativeAssemblies of Kerala, Puducherry (2006), Himachal Pradesh(2007), Meghalaya, Tripura,Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, NCT of Delhi (2008)were also conductedusing photo electoral rolls.

The term of 14th Lok Sabha will expire in the normal course on 1st June 2009. In terms of constitutional provisions, a new Lok Sabha is required to be constituted before the 2nd June2009.




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1st March, 2009 to 15th March, 20092. National Small Industries Corporation ( NSIC) has set up Info Call Centre at its office in NewDelhi to enhance its service delivery to the existing customers and further spread its reach to

potential Micro, Small and Medium enterprises. Features : Customer care services and solutions Tele and Internet Marketing services Infomediary services.

3. Bureau of Police Research and Development and Ministry of Home Affairs and Haryana Policeare organizing the 3rd National Conference of Women in Police from 7-9 March, 2009 atPanchkula ( Haryana). The main theme of the conference was “Optimising Contribution of Womenin Police to the organization and society”. The conference is a part of the project “Spring BoardWomen Development Programme” jointly sponsored by the British Council Division,, British HighCommission, New Delhi and Ministry of Home Affairs / BPR&D. The fist National conferencewas held in New Delhi in 2002 and the second one was held in Mussoorie in 2005.

4. A.K. Antony, defence minister unveiled the contours of the governments plans to strengthenmaritime and coastal security under the Navy, with the coast guard, states Marine police andother central and state agencies assisting it. The Navy was tasked with overall maritimesecurity encompassing coastal and offshore security of the country. The coast guard will beadditionally responsible for coastal security in territorial waters including areas under coastal

police. Joint Operating centres to be set up in Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam, Kochi and PortBlair under the charge of existing Naval Commander-in-chiefs. To be jointly manned andoperated by the Navy and the coast guard, these centres will also collect inputs from agencies of the central and state governments. The Naval Commander in chiefs will now be designated ( inchief coastal defence. A National Command control, communications and Intelligence network for providing real –time maritime domain awareness will set up. The network will link theoperations room of the navy and the coast guard both of the field and apex levels The Navy willcontrol all Navy and coast guard joint operations to ensure optional deployment of assets and“synergy between the two organizations”. In order to protect naval assets and bases on theEast and West coasts and island territories, a new 1000 strong specialized for ‘Sagar Prahari Bal’is being created. This force would get 80 fast interception crafts for sea front patrolling. Gujarat will be the regional headquarters for the newly created commander coast guard, NorthWest to look after the surveillance off the coast of Gujarat.

5. The Keel of the first in digenous aircraft carrier was laid at Cochin Shipyard Ltd. Whencompleted in 2014, the ship will catapult India into a select club of four nations with the

capability to design and build 40,000 tonne category aircraft carriers. The warship building programme would gave an impetus to indigenization of defence production. The carrier will be260 metres long ad 60 metres wide. The shipyard is being assisted by the Italian firm Fincantieri in propulsion system integration and NDB of Russia in aviation aspects.

6. DRDO is in the process of developing an integrated coastal defence system under its project‘Nayan’. The prototype seabed array system was successfully tested. The idea is to get alertedwhen objects traverse the waters. The array would transmit the richocheted signal to the topwater medium, may be a sonobuoy, which in turn would be transmitted to the shore - basedcommand and control centre by way of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV) or satellite. Oncedemonstrated, it will be installed initially at Karwar under Project ‘Seabird’.

7. Change-1, Chinas first lunar probe impacted the moon at 4:13 pm Beijing time. This was thefirst phase of China’s three stage moon mission, which will lead to a landing and launch of arover vehicle around 2012. Change-1 was launched into space on October 24 2007. Change isnamed after a legendary Chinese Moon Goddess. Later next year, China plans to launch

‘Tiangong-1’ designed to provide a “safe room” for Chinse astronauts to live and conductscientific research in zero gravity. The Boards of directors of Reliance Industries Limited and itsrefinery subsidiary RPL approved the merger of the firms, creating one of the worlds largest

petrochemical entity. Its also India’s largest corporate merger.8. India will help set up an Information Technology lab at Indonesia’s Military Academy and

participate in a defence exercise, “Garuda Shield” for United Nations peace supportorganizations. India, US and Indonesia would be among the key participants of themultinational exercise that would take place in Bandung, June. India Indonesia are alsoengaged in coordinated naval patrolling for maritime security.

9. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPV) announced that Women hold just over 18% of the seats in parliaments around the world. This represents a 60% increase since 1995. The UN Economicand Social Council had set a target of having a minimum of 30% women lawmakers in all

parliaments by 1995. The UN women’s conference was held in Beijing in 1995. According toIPU, 15% of parliamentary chambers reached the 30% goal for the first time in 2008. Thattranslates to 39 out of 264 chambers in 32 countries. Forty per cent of those chambers are in




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1st March, 2009 to 15th March, 2009Europe, 33% in Africa and 23% in Latin America-Asia has registered the slowest rate of progress in terms of women’s access to parliament over the past 15 years, reaching aregional average of 17.8% . It cited significant gains in Nepal where women took 32.8% of the seats, a contrast to Iran where women won just 2.8% of seats.

10. In a third, successful mission, India proved that it could shield itself against ballistic missilesfrom enemy countries by successfully testing an interceptor missile from ‘Wheeler Island’ off the Orissa coast. The launch features two missiles. The ‘enemy missile was a modifiedversion of Dhanush, a surface-to-surface missile. It off from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengaland simulated the terminal phase of the High of a ballistic missile with range of 1500 kms.As it zeroed in on wheeler island, off Damra village on the Orissa coast, a Prithvi Air Defence( PAD) missile intercepted the incoming ‘enemy’ missile at an altitude of 80 km. TheDhanush missile was destroyed in its path in both a direct-hit and detonation of the warhead of the interceptor, an advanced Prithvi missile. The interceptor used for the first time amaneuverable warhead called Gimbaled Directional Warhead ( GDW) which can rotate 360degrees. It has so far been sued only in the U.S. and Russia. A directional warhead weighs lessthan 30 kh but its lethality is equivalent to a 150 kg warhead. In terms of strategic importance,the test would established India’s capability to intercept Pakistan’s ‘Hatf’ and ‘Ghauri’ missiles.The Dhanush with 1500 km range is similar to Pakistan’s Ghauri. This was the third test.The first interceptor missile test took place on November 27, 2006 where it waylaid anincoming ballistic missile in the exo- atmosphere at 48 km altitude. The second test took placeon December 6,2007 against the target missile at 15 km altitude in endo-atmosphere. DRDOdescried, these tests established BMD ( ballistic Missile Defence ) as part of the network centric warfare.

11. A new version of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile meant to attack a particular target out of a cluster on land was successfully tested at the Army’s range at Pokhran, Rajasthan. Thisvariant is called the Block II versions Brahmos is essentially an anti-ship missile. The armyalready has the block 1 version of Brahmos.

12. The Barbie doll of Mattel ( Industry ) which debuted on March, 9, 1959 celebrates its 50th

anniversary.13. The Third front was officially launched with a coalition of left and major regional parties

including CPI (M), CPI, JD(s), TDP, BSP, AIADMK, TRS, Revolutionary Socialist Party,Forward Bloc and Janhit congress.

14. Forbes list states Microsoft Corporation Founder Bill Gates is the richest man again overtakingWarren Buffet ( now second richest). Mexican Communication giant Carlos Slim Stood third.Seven among top 100 are Indians. Mukesh Ambani ranked seven, is the richest man from India.He is followed by Mr. Mittal at the eight place.

15. Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, the first women to hold that position in her country is inIndia on a visit Chile was earlier under the rule of Salvador Allende. General Augsto Pinto stageda military coup. In 2006, Dr. Bachelet got elected.

DISCLAIMER

The information presented above has been collected from a variety of sources. Brain Treeexercises due care and caution in collecting the data before publication. Inspite of this, if anyomission, inaccuracy or printing errors occur with regard to the data, Brain Tree will not be heldresponsible or liable.



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