Download complete India Year Book 2009 (English & Hindi Edition)

· Indian Army is world's second largest in terms of military personnel

· India shares land border with 7 countries( Bangladesh maximum) and martime border with 5 countries

· Hindustan Aeronautical Limited was established in 1964 with its corporate Headquarter in Bangalore

· NCC was established in 1948

· Total production of crops in 1007-08 2273.2 lakh tonnes

· ANNAPURNA SCHEME: Ministry of Rural Development launched this scheme in 2000-2001. Indigent senior citizens of 65 years of age or above who though eligible for old age pension under the National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) but are not getting the pension are covered under the Scheme. 10 kg of foodgrains per person per month are supplied free of cost under the scheme. From 2002-2003, the scheme has been transferred to State Plan along with the National Social Assistance Programme comprising the National Old Age Pension Scheme and the National Family Benefit Scheme.

· TARGETTED PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM:

· In order to ensure availability of minimum quantity of foodgrains to the families living below the poverty line, the Government launched the TPDS in June 1997.From 1 April 2002, this allocation has been increased from 25 to 35 kg per family per month. The Central Issue Price (CIP) for BPL families is Rs 4.15 per kg for wheat and Rs 5.65 per kg of rice

· The soft drinks constitute the 3rd largest packaged foods regularly consumed after packed tea and packed biscuits. The aerated soft drinks industry in India comprises over 100 plants across all states.

· The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Education) with effect from 15th August 1995 for the benefit of students in primary schools under Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS)/ earlier Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) blocks (2368). The Scheme covers students (Class I-V) in the Government Primary Schools/Primary Schools
aided by Government and in the Primary Schools run by local bodies.

· Indian Grain Storage Management and Research Institute (IGMRI), Hapur, is engaged in the training and R&D work relating to grain storage management.

· The State/UT wise forest cover in the country shows that Madhya Pradesh
with 76.013 km2 has the largest area under forest cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (67,777 km2), Chhattisgarh (55,863 km2)

· Mangroves in India account for about 5 per cent of the World’s mangrove
vegetation and are spread over an area of about 4500 km2 along the coastal
States/UTs of the country. Sunderbans in West Bengal account for a little less than half of the total area under mangroves in India

· world forestry Day on 21st March

· The forest cover of the country in terms of percentage to the
geographic area comes to 21.81%

· Out of the Fifteen Biosphere Reserves designated nationally, four Biosphere
Reserves namely Sunderbans (West Bengal), Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu).
Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) and Nanda Devi, (Uttarakhand)
have been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves so far

· The Protected Area network in India includes 99 National Parks and 513 Wildlife Sanctuaries

· Kachchh Biosphere Reserve in Gujarat has been designated as 15th Biosphere Reserve in the country on 29th January, 2008.

· The Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Tiger’ was launched in April, 1973 and Project Elephant was launched in February, 1992

· BEFORE 1976, education was the exclusive responsibility of the States. The
Constitutional Amendment of 1976, which included education in the Concurrent List, was a far-reaching step.

· The Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) a national flagship programme, is being implemented in all districts of the country. The aim of SSA is to provide useful and relevant elemantry education for all children in the 6-14 age group by 2010. The scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched in 2001. The goals of SSA are as follows : (i) All 6-14 age children in school/EGS (Education Guarantee Scheme) centre/Bridge Course by 2005. (ii) Bridge all gender and social category gaps at
primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010. (iii) Universal retention by 2010. (iv) Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life. Here and 50:50 sharing thereafter between the Central Government and the State Government except for 8 NE states

· The literacy rate in 2001 has been recorded at 64.84 per cent as against 52.21 per cent in 1991. The 12.63 percentage points increase in the literacy rate during the period is the highest increase in any decade.

· Administering the Copyright Act, 1957, one of the several legislations in India in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), is the responsibility of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary and Higher Education.

· India is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a specialised agency of the United Nations

· National Book Trust-1957

· UGC-1953 and became a statutory organisation by act of Parliament in 1986

· The Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed three Bills seeking to increase
reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions, Municipal bodies and
Shimla Municipal Corporation from existing 33 per cent to 50 per cent

· Jigmi Y Thinley has assumed office as Bhutan's Prime Minister after receiving the ceremonial scarf from King Jigme Khesar Namgyal.

· China has emerged as our second largest trade partner

· The EU is India’s largest trading partner and bilateral trade crossed Rs.
270,000 crore in 2006

• There are 21 High Courts in the country, three having jurisdiction over more than one State
• Among the Union Territories, Delhi alone has a High Court of its own
• The 18th Law Commission was reconstituted on 1 September 2006 for a period of three years with Hon’ble Dr. Justice A.R. Lakshmanan as its Chairman. A.R. Lakshmanan has been appointed its Chairman w.e.f. 28.5.2007
• The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was raised on 21 October 1962 after the Chinese aggression
• Border Security Force (BSF) raised in 1965, is entrusted with the task of maintaining permanent vigilance on India’s international borders.
• The Assam Rifles raised as Catchar Levy in 1835 is the oldest Police Force in the country
• Rapid Action Force (RAF) is an integral part of the Central Reserve Police Force. With 10 battalions it has been conceived in 1992
• The Indian Succession Act was enacted in 1925
• The postal system, established by Lord Clive in the year 1766, was further developed by Warren Hastings by establishing the Calcutta G.P.O. under a Postmaster General in the year 1774
• The country has 1.55 lakhs post offices, of which, 1,39,074 are in rural areas and 16,259 in urban areas
• India is a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) since 1876 and of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) since 1964.
• Speed Post service was introduced on 1st August 1986.
• The first Telegraph line between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour was opened for traffic in 1851
• On 1 October 2000 a new public Sector Undertaking, viz. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), has been formed to take over all the service providing functions of the erstwhile Department of Telecommunication Services
• The first automatic exchange was commissioned at Shimla in 1913-14 with a capacity of 700 lines.
• In early 1997, the telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 to regulate the telecommunications services
• The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) came into existence on 1 April 1986.MTNL is entrustd with the Management, Control and Operation of telecom services (excluding public telegraph service) in metropolitan limits of Mumbai & Navi Mumbai (including Kalyan, and Thane, for mobile service) and Delhi (including four towns Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad & Ghaziabad for mobile service).
• The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) was launched on 25 September, 2001 by merging the on-going schemes of EAS and the JGSY
• Survey of India (SOI), the national survey and mapping organisation under the Ministry of Science & Technology was set up in 1767. In its assigned role as the National Principal Mapping Agency
• India has the largest constellation of Remote Sensing Satellites
• Antrix, the commercial front of the Department of Space, is a single window agency for marketing Indian space capabilities
• To promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country, the Government of India established Lalit Kala Akademi (National Akademi of Arts) at New Delhi in 1954. The Akademi has regional centres called Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendras at Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Garhi in New Delhi and Bhubaneswar.The Akademi brings out bi-annual art journals, Lalit Kala Contemporary (English), Lalit Kala Ancient (English) and Samkaleen Kala
• On 28 January 1953, Sangeet Natak Akademi was inaugurated by the then President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad
• The National School of Drama (NSD) - one of the foremost theatre institutions in the world and the only one of its kind in India was set up by Sangeet Natak Academy in 1959. Later in 1975, it became an autonomous organization, totally financed by Department of Culture
• Sahitya Akademi is the Indian National Academy of Letters meant to promote the cause of Indian literature through publications, translations, seminars, workshops, cultural exchange programmes and literary meets organized all over the country. The Akademi was founded in March 1954 as an autonomous body fully funded by the Department of Culture.
• The Anthropological Survey of India is a premier research organisation under the Ministry of Culture
• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was established in 1861. It functions as an attached office of the Department of Culture. The organisation is headed by the Director General.
• The National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology, New Delhi, an autonomous organisation fully funded by the Ministry of Culture was established and declared a Deemed to be University in 1989.
• The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 provides for fixation, review, revision and enforcement of minimum wage, both by the Central Government and the State Government, in respect of scheduled employments in their respective jurisdictions. There are 46 scheduled employments in the Central sphere whereas the number of these employments in the State sphere is 1542.
• The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 was enacted to regulate payment of wages to workers
• The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 provides for payment of bonus to employees as defined under the Act. According to the Act, “employees” means any person (other than an apprentice) employed on a salary or wage not exceeding Rs. 3,500/- per month in any industry to do any skilled or unskilled, manual, supervisory, managerial, administrative, technical or clerical work for hire or reward. However, according to Section 12 of the Act, the bonus is payable to employees whose salary or wage exceed Rs. 2,500/- per month, has to be calculated as if his salary or wage were Rs. 2,500/- per month
• Consistent with the constitutional provisions, the Child Labour (Prohibition
  and Regulation) Act, 1986 was enacted replacing the Employment of Children Act, 1938. The Act seeks to prohibit employment of children below 14 years in hazardous occupations and processes and also regulates the working conditions of children in other employments. In the last 5 years, the number of hazardous ‘occupations’ listed in the Schedule of the Act has increased from 7 to 13 and ‘processes’ from 18 to 57 on the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Committee.
• The issue of ‘bonded labour’ came to forefront in national politics, when it was included in the old 20-Point Programmed in 1975.To implement this, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance was promulgated. This was later replaced by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.
• The Government had constituted a National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganised/Informal Sector under the chairmanship of Dr. Arjun Sengupta to look into the problems of the enterprises in the unorganised sector
• V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA
• Prasar Bharati is the public service broadcaster in the country, with All India Radio and Doordarshan as its two constituents. It came into existence on 23 November 1997, with a mandate to organise and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain people and to ensure balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television
• Radio Broadcasting started in India in the early 1920’s. The first programme was broadcast in 1923 by the Radio club of Bombay. This was followed by setting up Broadcasting Services in 1927 with two privately-owned transmitters at Bombay and Calcutta. The Government took over the transmitters in 1930 and started operating them under the name of Indian Broadcasting Service. It was changed to All India Radio (AIR) in 1936 and it came to be known as Akashvani from 1957.
• Doordarshan, a Public Service Broadcaster, is among the largest terrestrial television network in the world. The service was started in New Delhi on 15 September 1959
• Commencement of regular television service as part of All India Radio
  commenced in Delhi (1965); Mumbai (1972); Kolkata (1975), Chennai (1975).
• Doordarshan was established on 15 September 1976.A major landmark
  thereafter was the introduction of colour television in 1982 coinciding with the 9^th Asian Games held in New Delhi
• Orissa had the distinction of publishing newspapers in 18 out of 23 principle languages. Maharashtra came next with publication in 17 languages followed by Delhi with publications in 16 principle languages
• India’s largest news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI) is a non-profit sharing cooperative owned by the country’s newspapers with a mandate to provide efficient and unbiased news to all subscribers. Founded on 27 August 1947, PTI began functioning from 1 February 1949.Bhasha is the Hindi language news service of the agency.
• UNI distributes world news from Reuters, the world’s largest information
  company. Besides, it has news exchange arrangements with Xinhua of China, RIA Novosti of Russia, UNB of Bangladesh, Anadolu of Turkey, WAM of the United Arab Emirates, GNA of Bahrain, KUNA of Kuwait, ONA of Oman and QNA of Qatar and CNA of Taiwan.
• The tribal people of India, who come under the category of ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (STs) in terms of the provisions of the Constitution of India, number 8.43 crore—constituting 8.2 per cent of the population of the country (Census 2001).
• The term ‘‘Scheduled Tribes’’ is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 366(25) as ‘‘such tribes or tribal communities or parts of groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution’’. Article 342 prescribes the procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of Scheduled Tribes
• The term ‘‘Scheduled Tribes’’ is defined in the Constitution of India under Article 366(25) as ‘‘such tribes or tribal communities or parts of groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution’’. Article 342 prescribes the procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of Scheduled Tribes
• While women (including female child 0-14 years) consititute 48%
  of total population, the children (male and female 0-14 years) consititute 35% of total population
• STEP : Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) was launched as a Central Sector Scheme in 1987
• Swayamsidha is an integrated scheme for the development and
  empowerment of women
• The Swadhar Scheme was launched by the Department during the year
  2001-2002 as a Central Sector Scheme for providing holistic and integrated services to women in difficult circumstances, such as destitute widows deserted by their families in religious places like Vrindaban and Kashi, women prisoners released from jail and without family support; women survivors of natural disasters who have been rendered homeless and are without any social and economic support, trafficked women/girls, rescued or runaway from brothels or other places or victims of sexual crimes, who are disowned by family or who do not want to go back to their family for various reasons, women victims of terrorist violence who are without any family support, mentally challenged women who are without any support of family or relatives etc.
• NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY, 2003.The age group of the Youth, as per the National Youth Policy, 2003, is 13 to 35 years.
• The Sports Authority of India (SAI) was established by the Government of India in January 1984
• There are 75 primitive tribal groups in the country