News of this week – Current Affairs

Civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen, recently freed on bail by the Supreme Court in a sedition case, has been honoured with the 2011 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, South Korea's most prestigious award for those working on peace, democracy and justice in Asia. The award was announced yesterday by 2011 Gwangju Prize Committee in Seoul.

Today April 22 International Mother Earth Day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970

Indian-American physician Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee's acclaimed book on cancer, 'The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,' has won the prestigious 2011 Pulitzer Prize in the general non-fiction category.

Mr. Vijay has been selected as chairman  of Indian Olympic Association after Mr. Kalmadi ‘s  dismiss.

Important Days - National and International

Jan 1	Army Medical Corps Establishment Day
Jan 8	African National Congress Foundation Day
Jan 10	World Laughter Day
Jan 11	Death anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri
Jan 12	National youth Day (Birth Day of Swami Vivekanand)
Jan 15	Army Day
Jan 23	Netaji Subhashchandra Bose's birth anniversary
Jan 25	International Customs Duty Day, India Tourism Day, Indian Voter Day
Jan 26	Republic Day
Jan 28	Birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai
Jan 30	(Martyr's day) Mahatma Gandhi's Martyrdom Day; World Leprosy Eradication Day
Jan 31	World Leprosy Eradication Day
Feb 2	Natinal Day of Srilanka, World Wetlands Day
Feb 5	Kashmir Day (Organised by Pakistan)
Feb 13	Sarojini Naidu's Birth Anniversary
Feb 14	St. Valentine's Day
Feb 24	Central Exise Day
Feb 28	National Science Day
Mar 3	Natinal Defence Day
Mar 4	National Security Day
Mar 8	International Women's Day
Mar 9	CISF Raising Day
Mar 12	Mauritius Day; Central Industrial Security Force Day
Mar 15	World Consumer Day
Mar 16	National Vaccination Day
Mar 19	World Disabled Day
Mar 21	World Forestry Day
Mar 22	World Day of Water
Mar 23	World Meterological Day
Mar 24	World TB Day
Mar 26	Bangaladesh Liberation Day
April 1	Orissa Day
April 5	Natinal Meritime Day
April 7	World Health Day
April 13	Jallianwallah Bagh Massacre Day (1919)

For more Important Days

Abbreviations & Acronyms

Short Name	Full Form or Abbreviations
3G	Third Generation
AAA	Asian Athletics Association
AAFI	The Amateur Athletics Federation of India
AC	Ante Christum (Before Christ), Ashok Chakra, Air Conditioner
ADB	Asian Development Bank
AFI	Athletics Federation of India
AFMC	Armed Forces Medical College
AI	Artifical Intelligence, Air India
AICTE	All India Council for Technical Education
AIFF	All India Football Federation
AIIMS	All India Institute of Medical Science
AITUC	All India Trade Union Congress
ALGOL	Algebric Oriented Language
AM	Ante Meridiem (before Noon), Amplitude Modulation
APEC	Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
ARPANET	Advanced Research Project Agency Network
ASCII	American Standard Code for Informa­tion Interchange
ASEAN	Association of South East Asian Na­tions
ASLV	Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle
AT&T	American Telegraphic and Telephone Co. Ltd.
ATC	Air Traffic Control
ATM	Automated Teller Machine
AVSM	Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
B2B	Busines to Business
B2C	Business to Consumer
BARC	Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
BBC	British Broadcasting Corporation
BBS	Bulletin Board Service
BC	Before Christ
BHEL	Bharat Heavy Electri-cals Ltd
BIOS	Basic Input Output System
BIT	Binary Digit
BPL	Below Poverty Line
BPO	Business Process Outsourcing
BPR	Business Process Re-engineering
bps	bytes per second
BSE	Bombay Stock Exchange
BSF	Border Security Force
BSNL	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
C2C	Consumer to Consumer
CA	Chartered Accountant
CAD	Com­puter Aided Design
CAT	Common Admis­sion Test
CBI	Central Bureau of Investigation
CBSE	Central Board of Secondary Education
CDAC	Centre for the Development of Ad­vanced Computing
CDMA	Code Division Multiple Access
CEO	Chief Executive Officer
CFSL	Central Forensic Science Laboratory
CGI	Common Gateway Interface
CIA	Central Intelligence Agency
CID	Criminal Investigation Department
CISC	Complex instruction-set computing
CITU	Centre of Indian Trade Unions
CNN	Cable News Network
COMSAT	Communications Satellite Corporation
COPRA	Consumer Protection Act
CORBA	Common Object Request Broker Architecture
CPI(M)	Communist Party of India / Marxist
CPWD	Central Public Works Department
CRIS	Centre for Railway Information System
CSIR	Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
CTBT	Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
CYMK	Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Kinda

For more Abbreviations & Acronyms

Famous Books and Writers for Your Competitive Exams

Book's Name	Author's Name
A Gift of Monotheists	Ram Mohan Roy
A Minister and his Responsibilities	Morarji Bhai Desai
A Nation is Making	Surendra Nath Bandhopadhye
A Pair of Blue Eyes	Thomash Hardy
A Passage to India	E. M. Foster
A Revenue Stamp (autobiography)	Amrita Pritam
A Strange and Sublime Address	Amit Choudhary
A Suitable Boy	Bikram Seth
A Tale of Two Cities	Charls Dikens
A Voice of Freedom	Nayantara Shehgal
A week with Gandhi	L. Fischer
Adventures of Sherlock Homes	Arther Canon Doel
All the Prime Minister's Men	Janardan Thakur
Allahabad Prasasti	Harisen
Amukta Malyad	Krishna Deva Raya
An Unknown Indian	Nirod C. Choudhary
Anand Math	Bankim Chandra Chattopadhaye
Anna Karenina	Leo Tolstoy
Aparajito	Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay
Apple Cart	G. B. Shaw
Aranyak	Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay
Arogyaniketan	Tarashankar Bandopadhyay
Astyadhaye	Panini
Bakul Katha	Ashapurna Devi
Ban Palashir Padabali	Ramapada Chowdhury
Bandit Queen	Mala Sen
Bela Obela Kalbela	Jibanananda Das
Bengali Zamindar	Nilmoni Mukherjee
Bicramanchadev	Bilhon
Blind Beauty	Boris Pasternak
Buddhacharit	Asha Ghosh
Captive Lady	Michel Madhusudan Dutta
Causes of the Indian Mutiny	Sir Syyed Ahmed Khan
Charitraheen	Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Chidambara	S. N. Panth
Circle of the Region	Amitabha Ghosh
City of Job Charnak	Nisith Ranjan Roy
Commedy Errors	Shekhspear
Conversations with Myself	Nelson Mandela
Coolie	Mulkraj Anand
Crisis of India	Ronal Segal
Das Capital	Karl Marks
Death of President	W. Marchent
Decamaren	Bocachio
Desert Village	Oliver Goldsmith
Devdas	Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Devi Chaudharani	Bankim Chandra Chattopadhaye
Devine Comedi	Dante
Divine Life	Sivanand
Economic History of India	Ramesh Chandra Dutta
End and Means	Huxlay
Faust	Goethe
Ferary Queen	Edmond Spensar
Freedom at Midnight	Lapierre & Collins
Friend Not Master	Ayub Khan

For more books info visit  Books and Writers

Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2010.

 

Eight books of poetry, four novels, three collections of short stories, four works of criticism, one travelogue, an autobiography and a play were among the literary works in 22 languages that have won the Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2010.

The awards announced here on Monday were recommended by jury members representing 22 languages, and approved by the Executive Board of Sahitya Akademi which met under the chairmanship of its president Sunil Gangopadhyay.

The poets honoured are Aurobindo Uzir (Bodo), Arun Sakhardande (Konkani), Gopi Narayan Pradhan (Nepali), Vanita (Punjabi), Mangat Badal (Rajasthani), Mithila Prasad Tripathi (Sanskrit), Laxman Dubey (Sindhi) and Sheen Kaaf Nizam (Urdu).

The novelists who have won the award are Bani Basu (Bengali), Esther David (English), Dhirendra Mehta (Gujarati) and M. Borkanya (Manipuri).

Uday Prakash (Hindi), Nanjil Nadan (Tamil) and Manoj (Dogri) have won the awards for their short story collections.

Keshada Mahanta (Assamese), Rahamath Tarikere (Kannada), Basher Bashir (Kashmiri) and Ashok R. Kelkar (Marathi) won the awards for their books of criticism.

The other winners are the former Union Minister M.P. Veerendra Kumar (Malayalam) for his travelogue, Pathani Pattnaik (Oriya) for his autobiography and playwright Bhogla Soren (Santhali).

Sahitya Akademi secretary Agrahara Krishna Murthy said the awards for Telugu and Maithili would be announced in a few weeks. He said the books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by a three-member jury in the respective languages.

The awards, which include a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh, will be presented to the winners on February 15 next year during the Festival of Letters in the capital. The festival will also include a seminar on the works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Mr. Murthy said the Akademi is instituting the Yuva Sahitya Puraskar for debutant writers in Indian languages under the age of 35 from next year. Earlier this year, the Akademi had instituted the Bala Sahitya Puraskar for writers of children's literature.

Career in Pharmaceutical Technology

The Indian pharmaceutical companies continue expanding their base despite the slow down. The pharmaceutical industries in India seem to be more stable compared to other industries and they would continue with their impressive performance.

According to available figures the size of the Indian Pharmaceutical industries is poised to grow from Rs. 30,200 crore in 2007 to Rs. 33,500 crore in 2008 and further to Rs. 140, 000 crore in 2020. India is known as pharmacy of the whole world especially to third world countries. The country exports pharmaceuticals to more than 200 countries including USA, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom and Brazil. India is the leading supplier of AIDS drugs to the world. Pharmaceutical exports (valued in US dollar terms) registered an impressive growth rate at 30.7 % terms during April – October 2008 compared to corresponding period in the previous year. This growth further increases to 38.5 % when valued in rupees terms. Not withstanding the fears of a global recession, pharma exports are expected to grow by 25.2 % in 2008-2009. The Department of Pharmaceuticals estimated to have creation of 5 lakh new jobs within next four years involving investment of Rs. 5,000-10,000 crore through public – private partnership model.

Drug approvals given to Indian pharmaceutical firms were 30% of total generic approvals given by USA Drug Regulatory Authority (USFDA) in 2008 while the share was 26.5 % in 2007. The trend is likely to continue as Indian companied account for 35 % of all Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approvals given by USFDA in first two months of 2009. ANDA is an application for a generic drug approval for an existing licensed medication or an approved drug. With over US dollar worth 47 billion drugs are expected to go off patent by 2011, promising further growth in generic medicine market.

Pharmaceutical industries usually employ pharmacy graduates and post graduates for most of the operations.  The various activities include manufacturing, quality control (including quality assurance), and distribution (marketing). The expertise required to perform all these activities are usually the course programme of Pharmaceutical Sciences or Pharmaceutical Technology. Pharma being knowledge based industry; special skills are required for all these operations or activities. The available career opportunities for pharmacy graduates in pharmaceutical industries and government/private sector include:

    * As Manufacturing Chemist (called as competent technical staff): under whose active direction and personal supervision manufacturing of medicines takes place. The pharmaceutical production companies need such persons to obtain license for manufacturing. Graduates of pharmacy with 18 months of experience in manufacturing are treated as competent technical staff under Drugs and Cosmetics Act which regulates the Drug Industries. This job of looking after manufacturing of medicines is very interesting and responsible. There are scopes of promotion too to the highest position as works manager or factory manager.
    * In Quality Control/Quality Assurance: Quality Assurance is a total process for assuring the quality of pharmaceutical products as per standard specified in National or other approved pharmacopoeias. Quality Assurance is a component of Quality Assurance programme which deals with checking of representative samples of production to find out their compliance with standards. The graduates with aptitude in analysis of pharmaceuticals and handling of sophisticated instruments find the job interesting. There are promotional scopes too from Quality Control chemists to Quality Assurance Manager.

There are private and independent drug testing laboratories too. The graduate pharmacist can join these laboratories as analyst.

    * In Marketing: Pharmaceutical marketing is different from marketing of other consumer goods. Here, real consumer, the patient, has little or no choice. The marketing takes place through doctors and chemists. Thus the job is more challenging and requires special skill and training as they deal with highly qualified doctors in one hand and the professional business man (often called drug trader in common terminology). This is a never saturating professional area and jobs are available always. The sales personal are called as medical representatives or business executives. They can grow from medical representatives to general manager.
    *  In regulatory affairs: The medicines are not only required to be effective but must be safe and of assured quality. In order to assure efficacy, safety and quality, the entire pharmaceutical scenario, from manufacturing to sale of medicines, is regulated by the central and state government through a process of licensing and inspecting. The pharmaceutical graduates can join the government services usually through public service commission as Drugs Inspectors. They have promotional scopes to grow up to the rank of Drugs Controller.
    * As Hospital Pharmacists: The pharmacists in hospitals do wide range of functions ranging from procurement of medicines to dispensing to the patients. In short they are responsible for medicine management in the hospitals. Though legally Diploma in Pharmacy qualification is sufficient for medicine dispensing, the degree pharmacists are preferred in procurement system in government sector and service sector in corporate hospitals. The promotional scope in this sector is limited.
    * As Community Pharmacist (working in Drug Store or Retail Pharmacy):  Our medical systems are well developed and are on par with any developed country. But this community pharmacy sector is still in primitive stage. In western countries community pharmacists are well paid and many of pharmacists who have migrated to UK or USA work in community pharmacy. The scenario of community pharmacy now started changing in India too. Many chain stores are entering into the market. Diploma in Pharmacy qualified pharmacists. Like hospital pharmacy sector, the graduate pharmacists too started entering into the retail business as entrepreneur.  Self owning pharmacy in a good location not only gives good revenues but also provides ample opportunities to provide professional pharmaceutical services to the consumers. A license from the state Drugs Control Authority is necessary start a retail pharmacy business.
    * As Government Analyst: The medicines that have been sampled either from manufacturing units or retail drug stores are tested in government drug testing laboratories. The graduate pharmacists can join these government laboratories as government analyst. But the graduate pharmacists do need to under go training on testing of drugs under a government analyst or in approved laboratories.

Bollywood Screen Awards 2010

Screen Awards: Udaan Best Film, Salman Khan-Vidya Balan Best Actor-Actress

Year 2010's mega blockbuster Dabangg bagged a total of six awards with superstar Salman Khan getting the Best Actor Award for his fitting portrayal of a fearless rustic cop. Best Playback Singer (female) went to Mamta Sharma for chart buster 'Munni Badnaam Hui'. The song also got Farah Khan the trophy for the Best Choreography. Vidya Balan won the Best Actress Award for her feisty role as a widow in Ishqiya. Newcomers Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh bagged the most promising female and male award for Dabangg and Band Baaja Baraat respectively. The Promising Newcomer Director Award went to Manish Sharma for his film on two wedding planners.

Shahrukh Khan and Katrina Kaif were adjudged as Best Actor and Actress in the popular choice category for their performances in My Name is Khan and Raajneeti respectively. The special Ramnath Goenka Award also went to the Khan-Kajol starrer.