What Is Cybersquatting?

Cybersquatting is registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark. It generally refers to the practice of buying up domain names that use the names of existing businesses with the intent to sell the names for a profit to those businesses.

WIPO and India

World Intellectual Property Organisation established in 1967, is the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. It is a self-funding agency of the United Nations, with 188 member states. India became member state in 1975

Its mission is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international Intellectual Property (IP) system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all. It helps governments, businesses and society realize the benefits of IP. WIPO provides the following facilities

· a policy forum to shape balanced international IP rules for a changing world

· global services to protect IP across borders and to resolve disputes

·  technical infrastructure to connect IP systems and share knowledge

· cooperation and capacity-building programs to enable all countries to use IP for economic, social and cultural development

Main IP Laws: enacted by the Union Legislature

· The Patents Act, 1970 (as amended up to Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005) (2013)

· The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 

· The Trade Marks (Amendment) Act, 2010 

· Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 (Act No. 15 of 2005) 

·Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 

· Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 

·The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 

· The Designs Act, 2000 

· Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999

· The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 

·The Trade Marks Act, 1999 

·Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999 

·Copyright Act, 1957 (as consolidated up to Act No. 49 of 1999) 

·Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994 

IP-related Laws: enacted by the Union Legislature

·         The Competition Act 2002 

·         Biological Diversity Act, 2002 

·         The Seeds (Amendment) Act, 1972 

·         The Seeds Act 1966

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. . Intellectual property is divided into two categories:

·  Industrial Property includes patents for inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications.

·    Copyright covers literary works (such as novels, poems and plays), films, music, artistic works (e.g., drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures) and architectural design. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

What is a Patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention – a product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem. A patent provides patent owners with protection for their inventions. Protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a distinctive sign that identifies certain goods or services produced or provided by an individual or a company

What is a Geographical Indication?

A geographical indication is a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation due to that place of origin. Most commonly, a geographical indication consists of the name of the place of origin of the goods.

What are Copyright?

Copyright laws grant authors, artists and other creators protection for their literary and artistic creations, generally referred to as “works”.

What is an Industrial Design?

An industrial design refers to the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of an article. A design may consists of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article or two-dimensional features ,such as patterns, lines or colour.

Tribal Welfare

Article 164 of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Minister in charge of Tribal Welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes or any other work in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

Consequent upon the creation of the States of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, a sizable portion of the Scheduled Areas of the erstwhile State of Madhya Pradesh stands transferred to Chhattisgarh and the entire Scheduled Areas of the former Bihar State stand transferred to the newly formed Jharkhand State and the Scheduled Areas. Further, as per census figures of 2001, the percentage of the Scheduled Tribes population to total population in the four States are as follows:—

            Name of the State                                          Percentage of the Scheduled Tribes population to total

(i)                  Bihar                                                0.9

(ii)                Jharkhand                                26.3

(iii)                Chhattisgarh                              31.8

(iv)               Madhya Pradesh                                   20.3

As there are no Scheduled Areas in Bihar now and the fraction of population of the Scheduled Tribes is very small, it is proposed to exclude Bihar from the purview of the said proviso and also proposed to extend the provisions of clause (1) of Article 164 to the newly formed States of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

ECO-SENSITIVE ZONES

29 Eco Sensitive Zones notified by The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

ECO-SENSITIVE ZONES

The National Wild Life Action Plan (2002-2016) provided for declaring identified areas around Protected Areas and corridors as ecologically fragile under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, wherever necessary. The Indian Board for Wild Life on 21^st January, 2002 considered Wild Life Conservation Strategy, 2002 and recommended that lands falling within 10 km of the boundaries of National Parks and Sanctuaries should be notified as eco-fragile zones under Section 3(v) of the Environment (Protection) Act and Rule 5  Sub-Rule 5(viii) & (x) of Environment (Protection) Rules.

          The National Board for Wild Life reviewed the matter and recommended that delineation of eco-sensitive zones would have to be site specific, and relate to regulation, rather than prohibition, of specific activities. The following criteria, as proposed by the Ministry were agreed by the National Board for Wildlife for declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones around National Parks and Sanctuaries:

i.Complete protection to endemic species in its entire range;

ii.Development processes not to reduce, damage or destroy the habitat  of critically  endangered or any other threatened species;

iii.Protection to biological corridors;

iv.Protection to highly complex and diversified ecosystems susceptible to irreversible damage, like coral reefs, mangroves, etc.;

v.Sites associated with reproductive, breeding or nurturing behaviour of  rare and threatened species;

vi.Existence of pristine forests;

vii.Steep slopes ( more than 60º)

At present the 29 ESZ spread across 10 States notified by the Union Government are spread across Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Sikkim, Goa, Maharasthra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttarakhand. Jammu and Kashmir government has identified 12 ESZ around National Parks and Sanctuaries in the state, including those around the Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary, Dachigam National Park, Hemis High Altitude National Park and Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.

The conservation and sustainable development of ESZ is achieved through preparation of Zonal Master Plans for them on a scientific basis with adequate participation of the local communities and line departments of the state government. 

El Nino & La Nina

El Niño is defined by prolonged warming in the Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures when compared with the average value. El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of what is known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. The ENSO cycle is a scientific term that describes the fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central Equatorial Pacific. The ENSO cycle, both El Niño and La Niña, causes global changes of both temperatures and rainfall

The first signs of an El Niño are a weakening of the Walker circulation or trade winds and strengthening of the Hadley circulation and may include

1.  Rise in surface pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia

2.  Fall in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean

3.  Trade winds in the south Pacific weaken or head east

4.  Warm air rises near Peru, causing rain in the northern Peruvian deserts

La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Niño as the warm phase of ENSO. These deviations from normal surface temperatures can have large-scale impacts not only on ocean processes, but also on global weather and climate. La Niña caused a drop in sea surface temperatures over Southeast Asia by 2 °C. It also caused heavy rains over Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. La Niña causes mostly the opposite effects of El Niño

2014 hottest year on record: US scientists

According to US scientists, year 2014 was the hottest year on record, with global average temperature increasing about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880. It was revealed by two separate analyses carried out by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).However, 2014’s record warmth occurred during an El Nino-neutral year.

Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)

Union Government launched this scheme to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country. In the initial phase, 12 heritage cities have been identified which will be rejuvenated and developed under HRIDAY. The 12 cities are:  Amritsar, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Ajmer, Mathura, Dwarka, Badami, Velankanni, Kanchipuram, Warangal and Amaravati.

Lala Lajpat Rai on his 150th birth anniversary

He was born on 28 January 1865 in Dhudike (now Moga district) of Punjab. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari meaning The Lion of Punjab also known as Sher-E- Punjab in Punjabi for his contribution to the freedom movement. He was part of the Lal Bal Pal trio i.e. assertive nationalists Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal from 1905 to 1918. Lal Bal Pal trio had advocated the Swadeshi movement involving the boycott of all imported items and the use of Indian-made goods in 1907 during the anti-Partition agitation in Bengal which began in 1905. He was lawyer by profession and had practiced his legal profession for few years but later curtailed it to focus on all his efforts to the freedom struggle. He was also associated with the foundation of Punjab National Bank in 1895 and later Lakshmi Insurance Company. He also had helped to establish the nationalistic Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School and became a follower of Dayanand Saraswati (founder of the Arya Samaj). In 1888 and 1889 he was a delegate to the annual sessions of Indian National Congress (INC) and was elected as its President in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920. In 1921, he had founded Servants of the People Society, a non-profit welfare organisation, in Lahore, which shifted based to Delhi after partition, and has branches in many parts of India. His books: As an author he had written many books which includes The Story of My Deportation (1908), Arya Samaj (1915), The United States of America: A Hindu’s Impression (1916), Unhappy India (1928) etc. Death: He died on 17 November 1928 after sustaining serious injuries in lathi charge carried by the police when he leading a non-violent protest against the Simon Commission

Agni-V Missile

Agni-V ICBM is indigenously designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is part of the Agni series of missiles, one of the missile systems under the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. Range: 5,500–5,800 km. It will allow India to strike targets across Asia and into Europe It is a 3 stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage. It carries Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) payloads. A single MIRV equipped missile that can deliver multiple warheads at different targets. Incorporate advanced technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance. First successfully test-fired by DRDO from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa on April 19, 2012. With this, India joined an “elite nuclear club” that also included China, Russia, France, the US, the UK and possibly Israel.

For the first time, a canisterised version of Agni-V missile was successfully test-fired on 31 January 2015 from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. This was the third successful flight test of the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and the first canister trial.

Acid Rain:

Acid rain occurs due to the presence of certain pollutants in the atmosphere. Acid rain can be caused due to combustion of fossil fuels or erupting volcanoes or rotting vegetation which release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Acid rain is a known  environmental problem that can have serious effect on human health, wildlife and aquatic species.

Ocean Acidification:

It is a direct impact of excessive production of CO2. 25% of CO2 produced by humans. The ocean acidity has increased by the last 250 years but by 2100, it may shoot up by 150%. The main impact is on shellfish and plankton in the same way as human osteoporosis.

Ozone Layer Depletion

The ozone layer is an invisible layer of protection around the planet that protects us from the sun’s harmful rays. Depletion of the crucial Ozone layer of the atmosphere is attributed to pollution caused by Chlorine and Bromide found in Chloro-floro carbons (CFC’s). Once these toxic gases reach the upper atmosphere, they cause a hole in the ozone layer, the biggest of which is above the Antarctic. The CFC’s are banned in many industries and consumer products. Ozone layer is valuable because it prevents harmful UV radiation from reaching the earth. This is one of the most important current environmental problem.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

1.    Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.  It was amended in 1987

2.     Biological Diversity Act, 2002 National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)is a statutory autonomous body, headquartered in Chennai, under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India established in 2003 to implement the provisions under the Act

3.    Environment Protection Act, 1986. The purpose of the Act is to implement the decisions of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environments they relate to the protection and improvement of the human environment and the prevention of hazards to human beings, other living creatures, plants and property.

4.     Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

5.     National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 to provide for the establishment of a National Green Tribunal for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

6.    Public Liability Insurance Act 1991 is to provide for damages to victims of an accident which occurs as a result of handling any hazardous substance. The Act applies to all owners associated with the production or handling of any hazardous chemicals.

7.    The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was enacted in 1974 to provide for the prevention and control of water pollution, and for the maintaining or restoring of wholesomeness of water in the country. The Act was amended in 1988.

8.    The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act was enacted in 1977, to provide for the levy and collection of a cess on water consumed by persons operating and carrying on certain types of industrial activities. This cess is collected with a view to augment the resources of the Central Board and the State Boards for the prevention and control of water pollution constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The Act was last amended in 2003.

Exploration of Mars

Starting in 1960 the Soviets launched a series of probes to Mars including the intended first flybys and hard (impact) landing (Mars 1962B).The first successful fly-by of Mars was on July 14–15, 1965, by NASA's Mariner 4. On November 14, 1971 Mariner 9 became the first space probe to orbit another planet when it entered into orbit around Mars. 

The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2, 1971—Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing. Mars 6 failed during descent but did return some corrupted atmospheric data in 1974. The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters, each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976. Viking 1 remained operational for six years, Viking 2 for three. The Viking landers relayed the first color panoramas of Mars and the Viking orbiters mapped the surface so well that the images remain in use.

The Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 were sent to Mars in 1988 to study Mars and its two moons, with a focus on Phobos. Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars. Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed before it was set to release two landers to the surface of Phobos.

Roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars have failed without completing their missions, and it has a reputation as difficult space exploration target.^[16] Missions that ended prematurely after Phobos 1 & 2 (1988) include Mars Observer (Launched in 1992), Mars 96 (1996), Mars Climate Orbiter (1999), Mars Polar Lander with Deep Space 2 (1999), Nozomi (2003), Beagle 2 (2003), andFobos-Grunt with Yinghuo-1 (2011).

Following the 1993 failure of the Mars Observer orbiter, the NASA Mars Global Surveyor achieved Mars orbit in 1997. This mission was a complete success, having finished its primary mapping mission in early 2001. Contact was lost with the probe in November 2006 during its third extended program, spending exactly 10 operational years in space. The NASA Mars Pathfinder, carrying a robotic exploration vehicle Sojourner, landed in the Ares Vallis on Mars in the summer of 1997, returning many images.

Phoenix landed on the north polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. Its robotic arm dug into the Martian soil and the presence of water ice was confirmed on June 20, 2008.

Rosetta came within 250 km of Mars during its 2007 flyby.  Dawn flew by Mars in February 2009 for a gravity assist on its way to investigate Vesta and Ceres. 

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter entered Mars orbit in 2001. Odyssey's Gamma Ray Spectrometer detected significant amounts of hydrogen in the upper metre or so of regolith on Mars. This hydrogen is thought to be contained in large deposits of water ice.

The Mars Express mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) reached Mars in 2003. It carried the Beagle 2 lander, which was not heard from after being released and was declared lost in February 2004. Beagle 2 was located in January 2015 by HiRise camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) having landed safely but failed to fully deploy its solar panels and antenna. In early 2004 the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer team announced the orbiter had detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. ESA announced in June 2006 the discovery of aurorae on Mars.

In January 2004, the NASA twin Mars Exploration Rovers named Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity (MER-B) landed on the surface of Mars. Both have met or exceeded all their targets. Among the most significant scientific returns has been conclusive evidence that liquid water existed at some time in the past at both landing sites. Martian dust devils and windstorms have occasionally cleaned both rovers' solar panels, and thus increased their lifespan.

Spirit Rover (MER-A) was active until 2010, when it stopped sending data.

On March 10, 2006, the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe arrived in orbit to conduct a two-year science survey. The orbiter began mapping the Martian terrain and weather to find suitable landing sites for upcoming lander missions. The MRO snapped the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole, scientists said March 3, 2008.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission was launched on November 26, 2011 and it delivered the Curiosity rover, on the surface of Mars on August 6, 2012 UTC. It is larger and more advanced than the Mars Exploration Rovers, with a velocity of up to 90 meters per hour (295 feet per hour). Experiments include a laser chemical sampler that can deduce the make-up of rocks at a distance of 7 meters.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on November 5, 2013. It was successfully inserted into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014. India's ISRO is the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA and ESA. India became the first country to successfully get a spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its maiden attempt.

 

Mars Orbiter Mission

The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on 24 September 2014. The mission is a technology demonstrator, and as secondary objective, it will also study the Martian atmosphere. This is India's first mission to Mars, and with it, ISRO became the fourth space agency to successfully reach Mars after the Soviet Union, NASA (USA) and ESA (Europe). It also made India the first country to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt and also the first Asian country to successfully send an orbiter to Mars. It was completed in a record low budget of $71 million, making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date.

MAVEN

NASA's MAVEN is an orbiter mission to study the atmosphere of Mars. It will also serve as a communications relay satellite for robotic landers and rovers on the surface of Mars. MAVEN was launched 18 November 2013 and reached Mars on 22 September 2014.

Curiosity rover

The NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission with its rover named Curiosity, was launched on November 26, 2011.The rover carries instruments designed to look for past or present conditions relevant to the past or present habitability of Mars. The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater, between Peace Vallis and Aeolis Mons (informally known as Mount Sharp),on August 6, 2012 at 05:14:39 UTC.The coordinates of the landing site (named "Bradbury Landing") are: (4.5895°S 137.4417°E)

Fobos-Grunt

In November 8, 2011, Russia's Roscosmos launched an ambitious mission called Fobos-Grunt. It was a lander aimed to retrieve a sample back to Earth from Mars' moon Phobos, and place the Chinese Yinghuo-1 probe in Mars' orbit. The Fobos-Grunt mission suffered a complete control and communications failure shortly after launch and was left stranded in low Earth orbit, later falling back to Earth. The Yinghuo-1 satellite and Fobos-Grunt underwent destructive re-entry on January 15, 2012, finally disintegrating over the Pacific Ocean.