03.10.2006

Tshwane Declaration and Indian PM’s visit to South Africa
Signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the South African President Thabo Mbeki during the current visit to South Africa of Prime Minsiter Singh.

Phoenix settlement was set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1904 on the outskirts of Durban. It was destroyed in an outbreak of racial violence in 1985. It was reconstructed in February 2000.

Dr. John Langalibalele Dube is the first African National Congress President and friend of Mahatma Gandhi.

Madrasa lingo
Hafiz: is an individual who knows the Quran by memory.
Qari: is skilled in the rules that govern Quran’s recitation.
Hadith: compilations of the words and deeds of Prophet Mohammad – authored by Imam Mohammad al-Bukhari.

Mosquito control: Vietnamese style
Chikungunya and Dengue are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

It flourishes in fresh stagnant water.

Vietnam has been successful in taking a community based approach to contain the spread of the mosquito.

Tiny creatures known as Mesocyclops, which have a prodigious appetite for the mosquitoes and their larvae were introduced into water containers.

Japanese politics
Yoshida Doctrine: Shigeru Yoshida, a yesteryear leader devised the mantra to address post-imperial Japan’s parlous state at home and abroad in the mid-20th century. The doctrine ordained Japans’ economic recovery and progress in an atmosphere of total dependence on the US for security on the external front.

Koizumi Doctrine: is founded on the principles of economic reforms at home and a ‘state of the art’ military alliance with the US. This is different from the earlier doctrine in emphasizing self-assertive nationalism as opposed to the self-effacing dependence on the US.

Yakusuni Shrine: is a war memorial that commemorates Japanese soldiers who died in various wars but that includes 14 leaders convicted as war criminals. To Japan’s neighbours, the prime ministerial visits to this shrine symbolize lack of genuine atonement by the Japanese for their war time atrocities.

Alternative education
NCERT has come out with a scheme to revive alternate native educational systems and methods.

Some alternative models that were thrown up during the colonial period include:

• Tagore’s educational model
• Basic Education Scheme (a.k.a Wardha Scheme of Education) initiated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1937
• Gijubhai Badheka’s model which emphasized the child’s need for an atmosphere of independence and self reliance.

Swami Agnivesh
Winner of Right Livelihood Award for social upliftment.
“Bharat Navnirman Mahaabhiyan” to fight social inequality and gender inequality, including female foeticide and dowry.
86th Amendment of the Constitution passed by Parliament in 2003 declared the right to education and equal opportunities as fundamental right.

Nobel prize for medicine
Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for their discovery in 1998 of how to silence the malfunctioning genes, a breakthrough that could lead to an era of new therapies to reverse disease.

Chinese Grand Prix
Won by Michael Schumacher of the Ferrari team.

Raghunath Nayak of Kendrapara in Orissa
He was a gardner at Birla House in Delhi. He grappled with Nathuram Godse before he shot Mahatma Gandhi on January 30th 1948.