Ten biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2012

 Higgs Boson

The capture of the most wanted sub-atomic particle in physics was today named as Science journal's Biggest Breakthrough of the Year.Scientists had been chasing the Higgs boson, nicknamed the 'God particle' for more than four decades. In July the team from the European nuclear research facility at Cern in Geneva announced the detection of a particle that fitted the description of the elusive Higgs.The boson is believed to give matter mass via an associated 'Higgs field' that permeates space. Without the property of mass, the universe we live in could not exist. Scientists used the world's biggest atom smashing machine, the £2.6billion Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-French border, to track down the missing particle.Finding the Higgs topped the list of most important discoveries of 2012 released today by Science, one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals.

The Denisovan Genome

 

 

Scientists sequenced the DNA blueprint of the Denisovans, an extinct species of human that lived alongside Neanderthals and the ancestors of people living today.

Making Eggs From Stem Cells

 

 

Japanese researchers showed that embryonic stem cells from mice could be coaxed into becoming viable egg cells.

Curiosity's Landing System

 

 

Mission engineers at the American space agency NASA safely and precisely placed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars. They used a 'sky crane' that dropped the 3.3 ton rover to the surface from a hovering platform on three cables.

X-ray Laser Provides Protein Structure

 

 

Researchers used an X-ray laser, which shines a billion times brighter than traditional synchrotron sources, to determine the structure of an enzyme required by the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness.

Precision Engineering of Genomes

 The revision and deletion of DNA in higher organisms has generally been hit-or-miss. In 2012, a tool known as TALENs, which stands for 'transcription activator-like effector nucleases,' allowed scientists to alter or inactivate specific genes in animals such as zebra fish and toads, and cells from patients with disease.

Majorana Fermions

 

 

The existence of Majorana fermions, particles that act as their own antimatter and annihilate themselves, has been debated for more than seven decades. This year, a team of physicists and chemists in the Netherlands provided the first solid evidence that such exotic matter exists, in the form of quasi-particles. These are groups of interacting electrons that behave like single particles.

 

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The ENCODE Project

 

 

 

A decade-long study reported this year in more than 30 papers revealed that the human genetic code is more functional than researchers had believed. Although just 2% of the genome codes for actual proteins, the Encyclopaedia of DNA Elements, or ENCODE, project indicated that about 80% of it is active in ways such as helping to switch genes on or off.

Brain-Machine Interfaces

 

 

Scientists showed that paralysed human patients could move a mechanical arm with their minds and perform complex movements in three dimensions.

Neutrino Mixing Angle

 

 

Hundreds of researchers working on the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment in China found the last part of the jigsaw describing how particles known as neutrinos morph from one strain or 'flavour' to another as they travel at near-light speed. daily times monitor

The Space Race

 The race between two defiant superpowers for supremacy over the outer space is also a secret battle between two extraordinary men.

The story of the race into space is marked by the greatest superpower rivalries, political paranoia, and technological feats of the twentieth century. But until now, we have only known half the story. With the end of the Cold War, a generation of secrets and cover-ups has been revealed.This is the true story about the American and Soviet space race led by Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev. The two men, thousands of miles apart, battled for the same goals.The documentary shows how Americans chief rocket designer, ex-Nazi Wernher von Braun  was hurriedly white-washed by the US to lead the way, against the obscure Russian engineer Sergei Korolev - a genius known only as the 'Chief Designer' - whose story has long remained a mystery. Both were men of their times, but with visions that were timeless. And both were prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to see the fulfilment of their dreams. The world watched as the American and Soviet teams, impervious to disaster, took the fight for the coveted prize right up to the wire....

 

Financial Inclusion

 
Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services, at affordable costs, to sections of disadvantaged and low income segments of society.Financial inclusion refers to the strategy adopted to make banking activities and its benefits reach the unbanked areas. It is a drive to bring the unprivileged people at par with the mainstream. It is argued that as banking services are in the nature of public good; the availability of banking and payment services to the entire population without discrimination is the prime objective of this public policy. The term "financial inclusion" has gained importance since the early 2000s, and is a result of findings about financial exclusion and its direct correlation to poverty. Financial inclusion is now a common objective for many central banks among the developing nations.

Need for Financial Inclusion

The Indian economy is the second fastest growing economy in the world. Majority of the population in India resides in rural areas. Thus development of rural India is a key step towards economic development for a country like ours.Credit is one of the very important inputs of economic development. The timely availability of credit at an affordable cost has a big role to play in contributing to the well being of the weaker sections of the society. Proper access to finance by the rural people is a key requisite to employment, economic growth and poverty reduction which are primary tools of economic development.

India has a huge network of institutional credit. Institutional credit refers to credit offered by financial institutions like banks. The Indian financial system is considered to be one of the finest systems in the world. It is only because of the strong grip of the financial system that even the global financial crisis could not affect India that severely.In spite of having such a strong financial system it has been evident that financial awareness has not been able to penetrate into the rural sections of the society. Non institutional credit givers in the form of money lenders still continue to grasp the poor in their clutches. This is a matter of concern and proper action needs to be taken for the same.

Credit can be penetrated into rural India through appropriate banking channels. The Indian banking industry has shown tremendous growth in the last few decades. But despite such growth, the banks have been unable to reach a vast segment of the Indian population causing financial exclusion. This void ultimately led to the emergence of policy for financial inclusion.

People residing in rural areas where banking facilities have not yet touched foot are unaware of the benefits of financial services. Finance is an integral part of every life. Managing the hard earned money so that it grows to yield more money is very important. But people who are financially unaware often fall prey in the hands of greedy money lenders. These money lenders take undue advantage of the ignorant people and they fall in debt trap that lasts for not only their life but for generations to come.  

•  It is now widely acknowledged that financial exclusion leads to non accessibility, non-affordability and non-availability of financial products. Limited access to funds in an underdeveloped financial system restricts the availability of their own funds to individuals and also leads to high cost credit from informal sources such as moneylenders.
• Due to lack of access to a bank account and remittance facilities, the individual pays higher charges for basic financial transactions.
• Absence of bank account also leads to security threat and loss of interest by holding cash. All these impose real costs on individuals.
• Prolonged and persistent deprivation of banking services to a large segment of the population leads to a decline in investment and has the potential to fuel social tensions causing social exclusion.

Thus, financial inclusion is an explicit strategy for accelerated economic growth and is considered to be critical for achieving inclusive growth in the country.

Extent of Financial Exclusion in India

In India, almost half the country is unbanked.Only 55 per cent of the population has deposit accounts and 9 per cent have credit accounts with banks. India has the highest number of households (145 million) excluded from Banking. There was only one bank branch per 14,000 people.In 6 lakh villages in India, rural branches of Schedule Commercial Banks including Regional Rural Banks number 33,495 only.Only a little less than 20% of the population has any kind of life insurance and 9.6%  of the population has non‐life insurance coverage.Just 18 per cent had debit cards and less than 2 per cent has credit cards.

 Reasons for Financial Exclusion 

(i) Geographical Location

• remoteness of residence,hilly & sparsely populated areas with poor infrastructure & difficult physical access.
• distance from bank branch
• branch timings

(ii) Economic Factors

• low income
• low assets

(iii) Social Factors

•  ease of availability of informal credit
•  culture
•  Gender

(iv) Financial illiteracy

•  illiteracy
•  lack of awareness

(v) Documentation Process

• Cumbersome
•  KYC – documentary proof of identity/ address

(vi) Inefficiency of the financial Institutions

•  high cost of operations
•  less volume & more number of clients
•  unsuitable products
•  language
•  staff attitude
•  poor functioning and financial health of some financial institutions (such as financial cooperatives) which limit the effectiveness of their outreach figures.
•  Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), which restrict their membership to persons with land ownership are also not effective in offering savings services.

Consequences of Financial Exclusion 

• Affects individuals and economy alike
• The households, micro and small enterprises dealing entirely in cash are susceptible to irregular cash flows would be affected
• Limits options for providing for old age security
• Recourse to informal lenders
• Exposed to higher interest rates charged by informal lender
• Highest risk as loans are often secured against the borrower’s property
• Banking with informal sources does not provide interest benefit and tax advantages and are far less secure

Benefits of Financial Inclusion 

Financial inclusion does not restrict itself to credit. It includes financial awareness, knowledge about banks and banking channels, facilities provided by banks and the advantages of using the banking route. It involves educating people financially; making them financially literate.

Inclusive financial system allows poor households to save and manage their money in a secure manner, decreases their exposure to economic shocks in the form of drought, floods or any calamity of the kind which affects people dependant on agricultural activities.

An important measure of financial inclusion is to check the number of people who own a bank account. A person holding a bank account is considered to have elementary banking knowledge. Thus a count of the number of bank accounts gives an idea of the percentage of people who are aware of banking and what percentage still needs to be included. However financial inclusion does not end with opening of bank accounts. It has to be a continuous effort.

Steps taken so far to eliminate financial exclusion 

• Focus on Inclusive Growth
• Improving Banking Technology
• The Indian Way- Multi Agency Approach
• Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) mandated to focus on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy
• Financial Sector Regulators including the Reserve Bank committed to FI Mission
• Financial services through mainstream financial institutions to 6 lakh villages
• ​Banking Correspondent Model

The drive for financial inclusion has been started in India by the monetary regulator, Reserve Bank of India.The Reserve Bank of India has initiated several policy measures to ensure financial inclusion and increase the outreach of the banking sector. A major initiative taken by the Bank in this direction is the introduction of the business correspondent model.Under this model RBI has permitted banks to use the services of intermediaries such as business facilitators and correspondents to provide banking services for ensuring greater financial inclusion and increasing the outreach of the banking sector.
 
By using the Information Technology  the banking services in the rural areas are being improved

What has been done so far?

• ICT based Business Correspondent (BC) Model for low cost door step banking services in remote villages .
• RBI Board approved Financial Inclusion Plans (FIPs) of banks for 3 years, starting April 2010.Roadmap to cover villages of above 2000 population by march 2012
• Availability of minimum four banking products through ICT model has been ensured
• Mandatory opening of 25 % of new branches in unbanked rural centers.
• KYC documentation requirements significantly simplified for small account
• Guidelines for convergence between Electronic Benefit Transfer and FIP have been issued.
• Pricing for banks totally freed . Interest rates on advances totally deregulated.

Approach adopted by RBI:

• Achieving planned, sustained and structured Financial inclusion.
• Technology-To be fixed first
•  ​All Bank branches must be on Core Banking Solution (CBS). All Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to be on CBS by September 2011.
•  Multi-channel approach (Handheld devices, mobiles, cards, Micro-ATMs, Branches, Kiosks, etc.)
•  Front-end devices transactions must be seamlessly integrated with the banks’ CBS.
• Coverage- Ensuring Transparency 

 

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