Trade facilitation agreement (TFA)

The TFA will be formally implemented in 2015. 

The TFA, which aims at simplifying customs procedure, increasing transparency and reducing transactions cost

Current WTO norms limits the value of food subsidies at 10 per cent of the total value of food grain production.

The support is calculated at the prices that are over two-decade old and not at current prices.

India is asking for a change in the base year (1986) for calculating the food subsidies. The US gives about USD 120 billion as agriculture subsidy as compared to India's USD 12 billion.

It could add $1 trillion (Rs.s 60 lakh crore) to the world economy and create 21 million jobs.

if the global trade negotiations lose momentum again, many WTO members, including the European Union and the United States, will effectively give up and focus all their efforts on more ambitious trade reforms that they are already negotiating bilaterally and in small groups.

Regional deals such as

• The Trans-Pacific Partnership 
• The EU-U.S. 
• Transatlantic Trade 
• Investment Partnership,
• sectoral negotiations in areas such as services, information technology and environmental goods.

Reference:

http://firstbiz.firstpost.com/economy/exceutive-decision-india-wont-bend-on-its-stand-on-wto-bali-agreement-says-govt-91905.html

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cheat-sheet/india-blocks-wto-deal-on-customs-rules-angering-fellow-members-564906

bollywood homes

 Peshawar was Shah Rukh Khan's.

His cousin Maqsood Ahmad, , said Shah Rukh's father, Taj Mohammad Khan, and his brother Ghulam Mohammad Gama, were staunch supporters of Congress. 

Partition saw Taj Mohammad leaving Pakistan to escape arrest and his brother Ghulam imprisoned for seven years.

Dilip Kumar's ancestral home in Feelkhana Nawab Nasir Khan -- the street where the last Mughal governor Nasir Khan maintained an elephant shed. 

Kapoors lived in Dhakki near Peshawar's Qissa Khwani Bazaar - the famous street of storytellers - before partition. 

volcanic explosions around six crore years back

 fossilised feces discovered in the area are of the last generation of this extinct animal in India, he said.

"This was the last generation of the dinosaurs, which, while battling the adverse geographical changes, was able to survive for a long time. The severe volcanic explosions which occurred around six crore years back had led to the extinction of the last generation of dinosaurs in India," 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-rare-fossilised-feces-of-dinosaurs-found-in-narmada-valley-2002043

Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, is accussed of plotting a series of strikes in India including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. 

Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed 

Shravani mela @ Deogarh Baidyanath temple

Every year more than five million devotees from different parts of the country visit the Deoghar temple over a period of 30 days to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva during Shravani mela.

Lord Shiva known as Kanwaria in Deoghar district of Jharkhand began their foot journey to the Hindu pilgrimage places of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand to fetch holy waters of river Ganga.

According to Hindu calendar, Shravani mela begins on Shravan Amavasya, no moon day in Shravan month and ends on Shravan purnima, full moon day in Shravan month.

Legend says that Shiv Linga of Deogarh Baidyanath temple was brought there by a demon Ravana; hence the temple is known as Ravaneshwar Mahadeo temple. 

reference:

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-saffron-clad-pilgrims-begin-their-foot-journey-to-ganges-to-fetch-holy-water-2001832?google_editors_picks=true

RSS leader Ram Madhav

Who is Ram Madhav: 

* Madhav was born in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on April 22, 1965, and is one of the top intellectuals associated with the RSS today, according to Wikipedia.

* Primarily a student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ram Madhav also has a post-graduate degree in Political Science from the University of Mysore, Karnataka.

* Currently he is the spokesperson of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the largest voluntary organisation of the world.

* He has also served as director in several film censor boards and educational institutes of India. He worked as a journalist for over 20 years with RSS-sponsored publications and authored 10 books, including biographies. He currently lives in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh.

Yes, people want their businesses to run, they want their education, better healthcare, but that doesn’t contradict that they want their basic freedoms to be restored.
 Militancy has gone down, but at the same time why have troops not been lessened? They are not here to fight militancy

But Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh are at loggerheads with each other. Wahabis, Barelvis, Salafis are all pitted against each other.

Today that mosque is divided — Barelvis, Wahabis, Deobandis…

As a Kashmir, most brought up on Sufi thought and ethos, but the young Kashmiri isn’t akin to that. There is a change which I see in the Islamic discourse in the Valley. 

But there has to be a serious effort to address the Delhi-Srinagar trust deficit and take a holistic approach.

At least 400,000 young Kashmiris are addicted

Let Delhi-Srinagar-Islamabad and Muzaffarabad too come to the table for a regular process.

Ref:http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/its-time-new-delhi-looked-kashmir-as-political-issue-mirwaiz/article6176680.ece?ref=relatedNews

4-step for Kashmir Peace

What they call 4-step now, is what our plan for self-rule was about. 
These were all part of our plan, endorsed by all the parties. Also you need an emotional process.

We can do it without challenging the sovereignty of either country, without losing anything, or conceding even an inch of our territory. Kashmir has been a bone of contention for India and Pakistan, now we would like to be a bridge, and a gateway to the rest of Asia.

1. To begin with, you have to empower institutions and reduce security.
2. Politicians have to stepped in. 
3. Restore the links of Jammu and Kashmir to rest of the world.
1. Give people de facto not de jure “freedom. 
2. restore the old silk road
3. connect Jammu to Sialkot
4. do the Mansarovar-Kailash yatra through Ladakh, Kargil to Skardu, Leh to Xinjiang?
4. Have a “joint mechanism”- 
1. Let Kashmir people from this side and that side meet, have advisory councils, on trade, tourism, environment, disaster management like issues that meet twice a year.  

Kshmir Minister for Public Health Engineering Sham Lal Sharma  asked “whether they have ever thought as to how many employees had been working in the civil secretariat and how many of them were Hindus. “Of the 7,000 employees working there, hardly 200 were Hindus,”

reference: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/what-is-your-response-to-prime-minister-modi-s-visit-to-jammu-and-kashmir-i-thin/article6178116.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/why-cant-jk-have-hindu-cm-asks-minister/?google_editors_picks=true