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Deadly Coronavirus: Symptoms, Causes & Prevention

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What is Coronavirus?

The coronavirus is a family of viruses that can cause a range of respiratory illnesses in individuals including the common cold and more critical forms like SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) which are life-threatening. The virus is named after its shape which takes the form of a crown with protrusions around it and hence is known as coronavirus. this particular virus is never seen before.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of most coronaviruses are similar to any other upper respiratory infection. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases, there can be organ failure.

corona virus infographic
CoronaVirus-Infographics

Is it transmitted from one person to another?

China’s national health commission confirmed that this virus is transferred from one person to another. As of 27 January, the Chinese authorities had acknowledged more than 2,700 cases and 56 deaths.

Places with confirmed cases of coronavirus

corona virus spread

The confirmed case is found in 13 provinces, as well as the municipalities Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The virus has also been confirmed outside China, in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam. There have not been any confirmed cases in the UK at present

 The outbreak of coronavirus

The current outbreak of coronavirus is believed to have happened in a market for illegal wildlife in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. WHO is closely monitoring this event and is in active communication with counterparts in China.

coronavirus infographic

Prevention and treatment from virus

There is currently no vaccine to prevent this infection. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to this virus. Everyday preventive steps to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses are:

  • Wash your hands with water and soap. If soap and water are not accessible, apply an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with dirty hands.
  • Avoid close touch with people who are sick.
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the garbage.

These are everyday habits that can help prevent the spread of the virus.

You may like to read: Zika virus alarming spread in Past

Interview – BUREAUCRATS-The ambition of becoming bigger teacher to IAS

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Interview – BUREAUCRATS-The ambition of becoming bigger teacher to IAS:

The day he joined as an Excise Commissioner, a jeep of smuggler ran over and killed the Town Inspector (TI) but that did not stop him taking on liquor barons. He brought the element of uncertainty and today, the character of liquor trade has completely changed. His outstanding work in the implementation of ‘The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 was appreciated with PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration. In an interview with our Special Correspondent Mohd Ujaley, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, O P Rawat says “Do not treat whole population as one monolith, think differently for different people, accept the diversity and meet the requirements and needs according to the level of understanding and endowment of people, only then you will be able to do justice”.
You have served in different departments of government of Madhya Pradesh and now you are Secretary in government of India. Are you satisfied with what you have been able to achieve?
I feel very satisfied for the challenges I faced, the opportunities I got and whatever little I have been able to achieve. As a secretary of government of India, I am looking forward to contribute positively in future.

Do you find any difference in working style and approach between Centre and State bureaucracy?
There are lots of differences. At state bureaucracy, there is no security of tenure, if you do one thing wrong or displease the Chief Minister even for once, you will get a change immediately. In the state focus remain on liking and disliking of the Chief Minister. So everybody tries to ensure that whatever CM likes is got done. Now in that scenario and system possibility of drifting here and there is quite high.

In government of India things are very different, here you are totally secure, system of posting and lateral shifting are so cumbersome that people feel very secure and they can give their honest objective opinion irrespective of their bosses thinking or liking. However, that is also another extreme because that can also be misused by people by assuming that nothing can be done to them even if they do not exert, do not go deep down into the issue and do whatever they feel is fine, such an attitude cause lots of delay and result in half-baked decision which ultimately affect the nation adversely.  So both have some pluses and minuses, one has to somehow manage it properly.
There are officers who say Chief Ministers are more democratic and less Tughlaqi. Let me give you one example, no woman officer has been able to be Secretary of defence, home, commerce or cabinet. In an interview to this magazine Ms Sudha Pillai, Ex-Member Secretary Planning Commission and someone who came very close to be the first woman cabinet secretary said that there seems to be stated bias. What is your observation?

May be she was better placed to comment on this, but as I see, I don’t think this kind of bias is there. Any lady officer, coming up to that level, with that seniority and that kind of experience must be given charge of secretary for home or cabinet. They are equally capable of delivering the results.
Your tenure as an excise commissioner was appreciated for raising the government revenue and changing the character of Liquor trade across Madhya Pradesh. How challenging it was and how did you do that?
That was really very challenging because the vested interest in excise was so well entrenched that they made a click of 9 or 10 people and they would not allow any newcomer to enter the trade. Whenever there was an auction in any district, they would sit there with their gunman and lathi walas and ensure that no body enter for auction, that way they could hold the government to the ransom, and trap the revenue stagnant at around 700-800 crore for over 10 years.
When I was sent there as an excise commissioner, I replaced the whole system by transparent lottery method. I brought an element of uncertainty by fixing the price and getting away with auction. I said, I will fix the price and advertise that these are the licenses available with this price, let people apply. We said if there is single application, it will be allotted. For more than one application, transparent lottery system will be followed. That made so much of difficult for click walas to survive. In fact one group which had all the shops of 22 districts under auction system could not even get 22 shops in the state. They applied in the names of their cats and dogs but even then they could not get it.
That resulted in good people coming forward. Ex-army men, wife of good businessman entered the excise trade and today number is four thousand instead of nine. It also raised the revenue substantially from 800 crore in 2004 when I took over to the 4000 crore now. It not only improved 5 times, also the character of trade has changed. I remember the day, I joined, a jeep of smuggler ran over and killed the Town Inspector (TI), that was the courage of those people, now they all are gone, the good people have joined, even the character of the shops have changed, earlier it used to be full of shutter with a small window, now it is modern and westernize.
Very recently you were awarded by the Prime Minister for your work on implementation of ‘The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006’. How different and ambitious it was?
Again it was very challenging because we dealt with diverse group of people. In West, uniformity is there, majority of them are literate and educated. So all schemes and plans are made presuming that all of them are equally literate whereas if you look at us even city dwellers, there are many laws we are not well versed with, for example income tax laws and at times we fear getting hold up for making mistake in filing income tax.
Now think of the poor tribal who is living in jungle for ages, expecting him to know the law in English, to read the notification in English at the office of Deputy Commissioner and then object and suggest something and get hearing is absurd. That is why I consider that Recognition of Forest Rights Act is watershed law in the history of forest management. We translated into tribal dialect so that everybody understand the laws and we also made sure there involvement at Gram Sabha in decision making process.
Poor women in tribal areas cook in the morning, take the food with husband and go for labour. When they return in the evening, the husband might go to consume alcohol but women will have to cook again. Therefore she won’t have time to participate in Gram Sabha or any such decision making process. So we decided that there will be food available in the Gram Sabha meeting and entire village will be invited so that all women are freed from that labour of cooking again. There was 100 percent attendance that added to the transparency and objectivity.
For these poor people getting a cast certificate and other certificate were very difficult, they could not go to SDO office and waste their time. So we issued a circular saying that they will just write that they belong to a tribe, there was piece of evidence with them but now it’s no longer with them. Thereafter it will be duty of the officer to attest the cast certificate after verification so that no claim is rejected due to non-availability of certificate.
We also included new technology because serving such a vast area was very difficult. We utilized the service of Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) which can easily tell the longitude and latitude and bring the area map in one go. We collected four lakh records in a very short period and were streamlined to the extent that everybody claims was entertained.
Most challenging was giving the title deed – a paper. We found even after giving the title deed. When tribal went to cultivate the field, lower level bureaucracy was not sensitive enough and they did not allow them. When tribal showed the title deed, it was torned. Therefore we decided to give this title deed ceremonially at the hands of some minister or chief minister and side by side we also decided to give certificate that all the cases of encroachment against them have been withdrawn and whatever the property that was seized will be returned from the stage so that the message goes loud and clear to lower level bureaucracy that they must respect the title deed and should not tear it off and that really worked.
We also had media workshop, we informed them about the law and the way we were implementing, We told them if you find anything wrong anywhere please highlight so that it should come to our notice and we correct it and similarly we also took NGOs on board.
Do you agree that you succeeded because you respected their diversity and provided solution accordingly?
Very true, if everybody things like that and do not treat whole population as one monolith, think differently for different people. Accept the diversity and meet the requirement and need according to their level of understanding and endowment. Only then you will be able to do justice. We are not like west countries where there seems to be uniformity.
I believe you were in centre in 1993-1998 holding the position of Director in Ministry of defence. How was your experience in centre that time?
It was nice experience. I was procuring the items and equipment. I had good experience, I tried to do good things, in that order I suffered on one or two occasion. Procurement of weapons was tough because of the involvement of many people who have vested interests, but those challenges also made me learn a lot.
It is said that Madhya Pradesh government was so impressed with your efficient working that they were reluctant to release you for centre? How tough was that decision?
That was really a difficult decision because at times political executives become self-fish. If a person is doing good work, they try to have him with them because whatever the achievements would be there, government will get the credit for. During that process they forget that officer has career graph. They have to move on that career graph. I feel at times it is difficult decision for them also, my chief minister was very keen to continue with me but when I insisted, and he agreed.
Has there been any officer, may be your senior or super senior who inspired you?
Quite a few of them, they did very well, people are good and I took some senior officer in very high esteem. A K Pandya who has been Director General, Sports Authority of India, MB Lohani in Madhya Pradesh, Prabhat Kumar in government of India, there are many.
When you are not at work, how do you spend your time?
I love reading. Reading about people, process and good thing related to society. I also like walking in different areas. After coming to Delhi, I have seen so much area on foot, that way you see the people and the way they conduct themselves. Every time you change the trajectory, you see the new things and new way of life.

How did IAS come to you?
My father was teacher and my ambition was to become bigger teacher. So I did my master degree and some research, and tried to become the lecturer. But when appeared for interviews I was not selected, whereas I was topper of my university. So I was frustrated and became cynical about whole world. That was terrible time of my life then I thought of competition, so in one go I applied for all – Indian Forest Service, Probationary Officer of bank, Public Service Commission of state, and UPSC. When I got my first result and I almost top there, then I realized word is good, honesty is still alive if you deserve you get it and that resulted in my coming to IAS.
India is nation of young; people are talking about demographic dividend. How do you look at it?
Actually it’s a great opportunity for the country but somehow I feel our slow approach and slow decision making is letting this opportunity passed by. We are taking few decision and very late. We need to focus on master trainer and human resource. If we are able to train the people, India will become the supper. Time is running fast, those young people who are young today and if we can’t take decision on time they will ruin their life, we need to push very hard.
Every day you need a breakfast, lunch and dinner so if you can’t take the decision which can provide you food then you are finished.

Inspiring Story of Kerala’s Lipin Raj M.P who Cracked UPSC Exam

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Lipin Raj MP

Lipin Raj, a visually Handicapped person,lost his vision partially in a childhood accident,who cleared Civil Services Examination in 2012 is a Writer, Pubic Speaker as well as a Social Outreacher. His success has set an example for several differently abled candidates aspiring to clear one of the toughest competitive exams in the country. Fighting against odds ranging from poverty to a troubled family life to deteriorating eyesight, Lipin Raj has realised his biggest dream at a young age of 24.

Marks Obtained

 Total Marks  Marks Obtained
Total (Written)  2000 782
 Interview 300  200
 Total  2300  982 (42.70%)

Must Read: Inspirational Story of Tailor’s Son – Nirish Rajput IAS

Family Background of Lipin Raj

Lipin Raj was born at Naranganam, near Kozhencherry. His family had gone through many difficulties, and he believes that a series of coincidences have turned out to be the turning points in his life. His father had been an alcoholic and all problems of the family stemmed from it. The family, including his sister, Ligy P. Nair, brother, Vineshkumar, and mother, Leelamony, plunged into poverty and starvation.

His brother started working in an upholstery shop and sister began giving tutions to school children at home to support the family. Their father sold off his nearly 1.5-acre farmland. Hooligans started attacking their house, following quarrels with his father in toddy shops. The father even had even plans to sell their small house a day before he died when Lipin Raj was studying in Class X.

Also Read: Mohammed Ali Shihab IAS: An Inspiring Journey from Orphanage to UPSC

Educational Background

Lipin Raj had done his schooling at the Government High School and St. Thomas Higher Secondary School at Kozhencherry. Lipin scored 100 per cent marks in Malayalam in the higher secondary examinations. It was his teacher, Rajeswari, who had sown the seeds of reading in him while studying in Class IV. Though the medical advice was not to strain his left eye, Lipin became a voracious reader. The village library was his main source of books. He won many first prizes in poetry, essay and story-writing.

His acquaintance with Motty Cherian, owner of a photocopy centre in Kozhencherry, was what led to a major breakthrough in his professional pursuit. Mr. Cherian played a key role in making him a Civil Service aspirant, taking the initiative to send him to Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, to do a Bachelor of of Mass Communication and Video Production course and, thereafter, MA (Malayalam) from the Institute of Distance Education in Thiruvananthapuram.

To fund his studies,he took up the job of a part-time correspondent in a Malayalam daily. He worked as an internee in Malayala Manorama Daily and India vision Channel. After completing his degree in 2009, he wanted to go to Delhi and study further and to prepare for Civil Services Exam. But with no financial support from anywhere, he found it difficult to do so.

Don’t Miss: Inspirational Story of Sandeep Kaur IAS – Retired Peon’s Daughter

Career

Just when hope seemed to recede, Lipin got a message from State Bank of Travancore that he had cleared a clerical test that he had written earlier. Soon he became a probationary officer in IDBI Bank. By then he had completed his Masters degree in History and Malayalam. Mr. Lipinraj joined IDBI Bank as an assistant manager at its Kadavanthra branch in Ernakulam in 2011.

Success in Civil Services has strengthened his resolve to serve the poor, the neglected and the differently abled people in the society. Lipinraj and the State had much to cheer about as he came first among candidates who have written all papers of the examination in Malayalam.

“I used to pray, looking skyward, when parent-teacher meetings come because my father used to quarrel even with teachers in an inebriated mood,” Lipin Raj says.

Inspired by Mr. Cherian, he took a short trip to Delhi for higher studies. But while waiting in the queue on the Jamia Millia University campus for paying the admission fee, he got a mobile alert that he had been selected for a clerical post in the State Bank of Travancore. Coming out of the queue the next moment, he returned and joined the bank in Pathanamthitta.

Have a Look: Inspirational UPSC Board Interview of Gokul GR IAS, AIR – 19

Story of Lipin Raj

Lipin was in Class 4 when a silly act of one of his friends at school cost him the sight of his right eye. A sharp object thrown by a friend seriously injured it. Afraid of telling this to his alcoholic father, Lipin and his mother resorted to home remedies as they did not have the money for proper treatment. This worsened his condition and he lost the sight of his right eye. The injury was so serious that it later partly affected his left eyesight also.

Mr. Lipinraj had lost vision in his right eye at the age of 11 in an accident while playing with a hard object in their residential courtyard. The object thrown at a papaya tree boomeranged and pierced the pupil of the eye.

But the accident never dampened the spirit in the little boy. In Mr. Lipinraj’s own words, he started feeling the comfort of dim light as it elicits a feeling of freedom, self-determination and reduced inhibition, all of which encourage innovative thinking.

Must Read: Success Story of K Nandakumar IAS – A Lorry Driver’s Son

Optional Paper

Lipin Raj opted for Public Administration and Malayalam Literature as his optional subject. The interest towards creative writing finally gave him a command over mother tongue. He opted for Malayalam as medium of writing and Public Administration as optional. For writing the answers, Lipin Raj chose his own way of writing including personal opinion in case of opinion-based questions.

Lipin Raj was almost diverted from the pattern of answer writing, especially in general studies and public Administration; he studied or prepared answers for Mains and gave himself the freedom of deviating from the expected framework of answers. So after the exam he thought that he did some injustice to this exam and probably wouldn’t appear in final list. He started preparing for the next year.

Attempts

Lipin Raj cracked UPSC Exam in his second attempt.

Must Read: Govind Jaiswal, IAS – The Rickshawallah’s Son

Kanishak Kataria Tops UPSC Civil Services Exam

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UPSC has released the final result of Civil Services Exam 2018 and recommended 759 candidates. Out of these 361 belong to General category, 209 to OBC category, 128 to SC category, and 61 to ST category.

These selected candidates will join various civil services posts including all India Services IAS, IPS; Group A services IRS, IFS etc.; and various other Group B services.

IAS Toppers 2019

Topper Kanishak Kataria is a data scientist have studied B.Tech. from IIT Mumbai. Mr. Kataria is from Rajasthan.

Kanishak Kataria secured top rank in his first attempt. Earlier he worked for three and a half years, and out of it for one and a half year he was in South Korea and for 1 year in Bangalore.

He took coaching in Delhi for seven to eight month to become familiar with the exam and gain basic knowledge as he had not much idea about the exam.

Kankisha’s father is also a civil servant and he wanted him to become a civil servant.

He studied for 8 to 10 hours during his mains prepartion and even for 15 hours during the exam.

Women topper Srushti Jayant Deshmukh secured the fifth rank. She is a Chemical Engineer from Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal.

Junaid Ahmad secured Rank 3, last year also he got 352 rank and currently officer trainee in IRS.

Another topper Karnati Varun Reddy is already a civil servant.

Top 10 newly selected Civil Servants by UPSC

UPSC Toppers 2019 Kanishak karatira junaid ahmad srushti
  1. Kanishak Kataria
  2. Akshat Jain,
  3. Junaid Ahmad,
  4. Shreyans Kumat
  5. Srushti Jayant Deshmukh
  6. Shubham Gupta
  7. Karnati Varun Reddy
  8. Vaishali Singh
  9. Gunjan Dwivedi
  10. Tanmay Vashistha

Among 759 selected candidates, 577 are men and 182 women. And among top 25 candidates 15 are men and 10 women

The government reported 812 vacancies including 180 IAS, 30 IFS, 150 IPS, 384 Central Services Group A, and 68 Group B vacancies.

Everything you need to know about UPSC Civil Services Exams

IAS Topper’s Strategy – Bhavya Mittal, IAS, AIR 34 – How to Prepare?

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bhavya mittal ias

Bhavya Mittal successfully secured Rank 34 in the Civil Service Exam popularly known as IAS exams of 2013. She is an IIT Delhi graduate having B. Tech. and M. Tech in Civil Engineering.

Mark-sheet of Bhavya Mittal

 

Total Marks Marks Obtained
Total (Written) 1750 677
Interview 275 187
Total 2025 864 (42.67%)

 

MARKS OBTAINED:

SUBJECTS MARKS
ESSAY (PAPER-I) 115
GENERAL STUDIES -I (PAPER-II) 071
GENERAL STUDIES -II (PAPER-III) 057
GENERAL STUDIES -III (PAPER-IV) 103
GENERAL STUDIES -IV (PAPER-V) 099
OPTIONAL-I (GEOGRAPHY) (PAPER-VI) 116
OPTIONAL-II (GEOGRAPHY) (PAPER-VII) 116
WRITTEN TOTAL 677
PERSONALITY TEST 187
FINAL TOTAL 864

Preparation Strategy

bhavya mittal ias topperShe says about the preparation strategy that there is no static rule or guideline to be followed. It differs from individual to individual depending upon his/her strength and weaknesses.

She further adds,

Dedication, motivation and strategy are essential for cracking this examination. Dedication is dependent on one’s own willpower, and is achieved if there is sufficient motivation yet strategy is an area where I can sufficiently help the aspirants. So my focus shall be on strategy.

How to read?

This question is important because in the entire phase of preparation, a lot of material gets thrown at us and most aspirants in their enthusiasm get boggled down by never-ending material. Selective study can help but the most important question to reflect upon is how to read what one is reading so that it can actually be used in the examination.

How to write Answer?

Bhavya Mittal says, “So much for spending hours and days and what seems like a lifetime on this examination if one is not able to deliver in the paper. Thus the art of writing answers need to be cultivated.”

She explains the importance of answer writing an answer in a very lucid way. She says the answer writing should be based on the following points:

1. SPECIFICITY

Specificity is how precise the answer is in catering to the requirement of the question i.e. did the examiner get what he was looking for in the answer? This can be ensured by focussing on the demand of the question and on writing with brevity.

2. COMPREHENSIVENESS

Comprehensiveness means that the answer is able to cover multiple and  different dimensions and thus reflects a good understanding of an issue and ability to think from all perspectives . It can be ensured by a good knowledge base and by a good approach in thinking. Both can be built upon during the preparation. Knowledge is to be self developed so I will focus on approach of thinking.

3. VISIBILITY

Visibility is a measure of how easy and time-saving it is for the examiner to determine that the answer is right and the marks to be given thereof. It means that the eye of the examiner can quickly find the actual answer in the 1-2 pages of matter that we have written per question.

She further adds,

The best way to improve on answers is continuous practice. It should be an effort to write at least one answer on each topic and sub topic covered.  An approach that can be followed to improve answer-writing is to write an answer to a previous year question.

What articles to read in a newspaper?

She answers this query by step by step methodology to be adopted:

  • Read the heading and try to place the topic of the article under the points of the syllabus for GS given by UPSC. Identify the GS paper it caters to and what heading it belong to ex: security, environment, governance, international affairs etc.
  • Have a thorough idea of the questions that are asked on each of the headings under the syllabus by referring to previous years question papers compiled under separate headings. This can help analyse whether a question is likely to be asked on that topic or how important it is.
  • Read articles that cater to the syllabus and on which question is likely to be asked. Thus an analysis of question papers would help one determine that what alliances are being made during elections or political controversies are not important but voting pattern of voters or electoral reforms are important topics regarding elections.

How to make notes?

The frequently asked question is whether to make notes or not but the more important question is that if one is to make notes, then how?

Bhavya Mittal brilliantly explains following points to be kept in mind while making notes:

  1. Revisable notes are easy to read thus the focus should be on legibility and use of simple words.
  2. Revisable notes should be time-saving thus they should be concise and as briefly written as possible. Only then will you actually read them again.
  3. Notes should help one recall the stored knowledge in our memory. The recall process should start just as one reads a question in the examination. Therefore the notes should help one remember and reproduce later. This can be done as I have detailed below.

Book list for Geography Optional suggested by Bhavya Mittal.

Paper 1:

Part A

  1. Savindra Singh Physical Geography [ All chapters including Glossary behind each chapter]
  2. Rupa Made Simple Physical Geography [ Chapters on Slopes, Landscape Development and Soils should not be missed]
  3. ICSE Goyal Bros. Publications Class IX,X,XI,XII books [ It covers pollution, waste management, EIA, biodiversity] These books don’t need to be read line by line. Go through the books to extract points to improve answers or study uncovered portions on Environment.
  4. R.B.Bunnett Physical Geography in Diagrams OR G.C.Leong [To prepare for diagrams]

Part B

  1. For Population and Settlement Geography: Human Geography by Majid Hussain [Specifically portions on Migration, Theories of Population]
  2. For Perspectives in Human Geography: Evolution of Geographical Thought by Majid Hussain [Ch 8,9,10,12]
  3. For Economic Geography and Models and Theories: K.Siddhartha 
  4. Rupa Made Simple Economic and Social Geography [To supplement in areas uncovered]

Paper 2:

  1. Geography of India by Majid Hussain, OR Khullar.
  2. For Maps: Map Entries in Geography K.Siddhartha [Prepare for map entries and written piece along with it]