National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)

To bring the benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the last mile to ensure transparent, timely and hassle free delivery of citizen services, Government of India has initiated e-governance programme in country in the late 1990s. After that, Union Government has approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components on May 18, 2006 to give a boost to e-Governance initiatives in India. Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEIT) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) has formulated the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).


Vision of National e-Governance Plan

National e-Governance Plan has been launched with the aim of improving delivery of Government services to citizens and businesses is guided by the following vision:

“Make all Public Services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.”

The vision statement clearly underlines these priorities of the Government in fostering good governance:

Accessibility: The vision has been designed keeping the rural population in mind. The need is to reach those sections of the society which have remained tangential to the government sphere due to various reasons like geographical challenges and lack of awareness. National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has a provision for State Wide Area Network (SWAN) to connect all the government offices upto the block level and Common Service Centres (CSCs) for accessing the citizens from the rural areas.

Common Service Delivery Outlets: At present, citizens especially those living in remote rural areas have to travel long distances to avail a service through a government department or its local offices. This is time-consuming and costly affairs for a common man to access citizen services. To overcome this problem, as a part of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) vision, one computer and internet enabled Common Service Centre (CSC) is envisaged to set up for every six villages so that Villagers can easily avail these services. These Common Service Centres (CSCs) are envisaged to offer online Integrated Service Delivery on ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ basis.

Adopting e-Governance for improving the Governance: The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will enable government to reach citizens thereby improving governance. This will also enable improvement in monitoring and implementing of various government schemes thereby increasing the accountability and transparency in government.

Improve the quality of life of citizens: e-Governance would help in attaining this objective through the provision of citizen centric service delivery at nominal cost, and thereby providing better turnaround times and convenience in demanding and availing services.

Hence, the vision is to use e-Governance as the route for governments to strengthen good governance. All services provided through the various e-Governance initiatives are expected to assist the governments at the Central and State levels in reaching the yet ‘unreached’ and enable involvement and empowerment of marginalized groups through their participation in the government processes thereby contributing towards poverty reduction and bridging the sharp social and economic divide.


Implementation Strategy for National e-Governance Plan

A prudent approach, therefore, is proposed for the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), which is based on lessons learnt from the past and experiences from successful e-Governance applications that have been implemented nationally and internationally. The approach and methodology adopted for National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) contains the following elements:

Common Infrastructure: National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) implementation involves setting up of common and support IT infrastructure such as: State Wide Area Networks (SWANs), State Data Centres (SDCs), Common Services Centres (CSCs) and Electronic Service Delivery Gateways.

Governance: Suitable arrangements for monitoring and coordinating the implementation of National e-Governance Plan under the direction of the competent authorities have been set up. The programme also involves evolving/ laying down standards and policy guidelines, providing technical support, undertaking capacity building, Research and Development etc. Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEIT) strengthens itself and various institutions like National Informatics Centre (NIC), Standardization, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG) etc., to play these roles effectively.

Centralized Initiative, Decentralized Implementation: e-Governance is being promoted through a centralized initiative to the extent necessary to ensure citizen-centric orientation, realize the objective of inter-operability of various e-Governance applications and ensure optimal utilization of Information and Communication Technology infrastructure and resources while allowing for a decentralized implementation model. It also aims at identifying successful projects and replicating them with required customization wherever needed.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model: It has to be adopted wherever feasible to enlarge the resource pool without compromising on the security aspects.

Integrative elements: Adoption of unique identification codes for citizens, businesses and property is to be promoted to facilitate integration and avoid ambiguity.


Implementation Framework for National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)

Considering the multiplicity of agencies involved in the implementation of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) and the need for overall aggregation and integration at the national level, it has been decided to implement National e-Governance Plan as a programme, with well-defined roles and responsibilities of each agency involved and to create an appropriate programme management structure and it has already been approved by government. The key components and features of the programme management structure are given in the graphic.

The Strategy for Service Delivery

A common digital service delivery infrastructure consisting of the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data Centre (SDC), National/State Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG/SSDG), State Portal and Common Services Centre (CSC) are being created in every State and Union Territory to ensure seamless and single-window delivery of public services to the common man.

IPv4 & IPv6

What is Internet Protocol -- IP?

The Internet Protocol (IP) is the method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet.

What is Internet Protocol address ?

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.

Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a destination and a source. IP by itself can be compared to something like the postal system. It allows you to address a package and drop it in the system, but there's no direct link between you and the recipient. TCP/IP, on the other hand, establishes a connection between two hosts so that they can send messages back and forth for a period of time.

What is IPv4?

 IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4. It is the underlying technology that makes it possible for us to  connect our devices to the web. Whenever a device access the Internet (whether it’s a PC, Mac,  smartphone or other device), it is assigned a unique, numerical IP address such as 99.48.227.227. To send data from one computer to another through the web, a data packet must be transferred across the network containing the IP addresses of both devices.

Without IP addresses, computers would not be able to communicate and send data to each other. It’s essential to the infrastructure of the web.

What is IPv6?

 IPv6 is the sixth revision to the Internet Protocol and the successor to IPv4. IPv6 is often referred to as the "next generation" Internet standard and has been under development now since the mid-1990s. IPv6 was born out of concern that the demand for IP addresses would exceed the available supply. It functions similarly to IPv4 in  that it provides the unique, numerical IP addresses necessary for Internet-enabled devices to communicate.  However, it does sport one major difference: it utilizes 128-bit addresses.

Why are we running out of IPv4 addresses?

In IPv4 an address consists of 32 bits (4 bytes) which limits the address space to 4294967296 (2^32) possible unique addresses. That means it can support 2^32 IP addresses in total — around  4.29 billion. That may seem like a lot, but all 4.29 billion IP addresses have now been assigned to various institutions, leading to the crisis we face today.

Though we haven’t run out of addresses quite yet. Many of them are unused and in the hands of institutions like MIT and companies like Ford and IBM. More IPv4 addresses are available to be assigned and more will be traded or sold (since IPv4 addresses are now a scarce resource), but they will become a scarcer commodity over the next two years until it creates problem for the web.

 How does IPv6 solve this problem?

 As previously stated, IPv6 utilizes 128-bit (16 bytes) Internet addresses. Therefore, it can support 2^128 Internet addresses — 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of them to be exact. That’s a lot of addresses, so many that it requires a hexadecimal system to display the addresses. In other words, there are more than enough IPv6 addresses to keep the Internet operational for a very, very long time.

 While increasing the pool of addresses is one of the most important benefit of IPv6, there are other important technological changes in IPv6 that will improve the IP protocol,they are :

• No more NAT ( Network Address Translation (NAT) is a method of connecting multiple computers to the Internet using one IP address because of shortage of IP addresses. This allows home users and small businesses to connect their network to the Internet cheaply and efficiently.) 

• Auto-configuration

• No more private address collisions

• Better multicast routing

• Simpler header format

• Simplified, more efficient routing

• True quality of service (QoS), also called "flow labeling"( Flow label field in the IPv6 header can be used by a source to label a set of packets belonging to the same flow.)

• Built-in authentication and privacy support

• Flexible options and extensions

• Easier administration (say good-bye to DHCP)

So why don’t we just switch?

The depletion of IPv4 addresses was predicted years ago, so the switch has been in progress for the last decade. However, progress has been slow — only a small fraction of the web has switched over to the new protocol. In addition, IPv4 and IPv6 essentially run as parallel networks — exchanging data between these protocols requires special gateways. 

To make the switch, software and routers will have to be changed to support the more advanced network. This will take time and money. 

How will this affect us?

 Initially, it won’t have a major impact.Most operating systems actually support IPv6, including Mac OS X 10.2 and Windows XP SP 1. However, many routers and servers don’t support it, making a connection between a device with an IPv6 address to a router or server that only supports IPv4 impossible. IPv6 is also still in its infancy; it has a lot of bugs and security issues that still need to be fixed, which could result in one giant mess.

Nobody is sure how much the transition will cost or how long it will take, but it has to be done in order for the web to function as it does today.

Census 2011 : Rural - Urban Distribution of Population

This is an extremely important data set for planners and administrators in the major ministries and of course for all those in social sector fields. The new group of data files lists all the districts, their total population with rural and urban components, the population of the 0-to-six years age group and the population of literates, in all cases by male and female.

Highlights :

"For the first time since independence, the absolute increase in population is more in urban areas than in rural areas. The rural-urban distribution is 68.84 per cent and 31.16 per cent respectively".The level of urbanisation increased from 27.81 per cent in the 2001 Census to 31.16 per cent in the 2011 Census, while the proportion of rural population declined from 72.19 per cent to 68.84 per cent.The slowing down of the overall growth rate of population is because of the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas, while the growth rate in urban areas remains almost the same.

However, according to the census 2011 report, the number of births in rural areas have increased by nine crore in the last decade. The statistics reveal that while the maximum number of people living in rural areas in a particular state is 15.5 crore in Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai tops the list having the maximum number of people in urban areas at five crore.

The data also reflects that 18.62 per cent of the country's rural population lives in Uttar Pradesh and 13.48 per cent urban population lives in Maharashtra.

During 2001-11, the rate of growth of rural population has been 12.18 per cent. The growth of the country's rural population is steadily declining since 1991.

The data shows there is an increase in the overall sex ratio in the country from 933 in 2001 to 940 in 2011. However, the improvement in the overall sex ratio is largely in urban areas.

In rural areas in the country there has been an increase by only 1 point from 946 in 2001 to 947 in 2011. In urban areas there has been an appreciable gain of 26 points from 900 in 2001 to 926 in 2011.

The rural-urban literacy gap which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001 has come down to 16.1 percentage points in 2011.

There is more improvement in female literacy than in male literacy in both rural and urban areas, according to the data.

The gender gap in literacy has come down from 24.6 in 2001 to 19.8 in 2011 in rural areas and from 13.4 in 2001 to 9.8 in 2011 in urban areas.

Details :

Census 2011 official report

Link 2

Link 3

How the President of India is Elected

What are the roles and the powers of the President of India?

India has adopted the system of Parliamentary democracy, where in the powers of the Government are vested in the political office of the Prime Minister. The President of India holds the highest elective office in India. He is the head of state of the Republic of India and is the formal head of the Union legislature and executive and is also the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence Forces. The President of India is the first citizen and represents the Indian nation and therefore does not belong to any particular party. The President of India, in consultation with the Council of Ministers, makes all major appointments under the Constitution-PM, Ministers, Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, CAG, Attorney General, Governors, Chief Election Commissioner and other members of the Election Commission of India etc. He has the powers to summon and prorogue the sessions of both Houses of Parliament and to dissolve the Lok Sabha. The powers to grant pardon and clemency vest in the President of India.

Who elects the President of India?

The President is elected by the representatives of the people through an Electoral College, which consists of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States including NCT of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

What is the term of the office of the President?

The President shall hold office for a term of 5 years from the date on which he enters upon his office. He shall, however, continue to hold office notwithstanding the expiry of his term, until his successor enters upon his office.

When is the election of the Office of President of India held?

Under the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 4 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the notification under sub-section (1) of section 4 of the said Act calling the election can be issued by the Election Commission on or after the sixtieth day before the expiry of the term of office of the outgoing President. The election schedule shall be so fixed, that the President elect is able to enter upon his office on the day following the expiry of the term of the outgoing President.


What is the legal framework for the election to the Office of President of India?

Election to the Office of President of India is governed by the provisions contained in Articles 54 to 58 and 62 of the Constitution of India and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and the Rules made thereunder.

Who conducts the election to the Office of President of India?

Under Article 324 of the Constitution of India, the authority to conduct elections to the Office of President is vested in the Election Commission of India.

What electoral system/process is adopted for the election to the office of the President?

As per Article 55(3) of the Constitution of India, the election of the President shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.

 What are the Qualifications required by a candidate to contest the election to the Office of the President of India?

A candidate should satisfy the following requirements to contest the election to the Office of President: -
1. Must be a citizen of India.
2. Must have completed 35 years of age.
3. Must be eligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha.
4. Must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments-
Exceptions are the offices of President and Vice-President, Governor of any State and Ministers of Union or State.

 Apart from the above what are the conditions to be fulfilled by a candidate for his nomination to be valid?

A nomination paper of a candidate for the election in the prescribed form (Form 2 appended to the Presidential and Vice- Presidential Elections Rules, 1974 Rules) has to be subscribed by at least fifty electors as proposers and at least fifty electors as seconders and has to be presented to the Returning Officer, between 11AM and 3PM on any day appointed for the purpose, either by the candidate himself or by any of his proposers or seconders.
The Security Deposit for the election of Rs.15000/- should also be deposited either in cash with the Returning Officer or a receipt showing that the amount has been deposited by the candidate or on his behalf in the Reserve Bank of India or in a Government Treasury should be furnished along with the nomination paper.
The candidate is also required to furnish a certified copy of the entry showing his name in the current electoral roll for the Parliamentary Constituency in which the candidate is registered as an elector.

Who is appointed the Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer for the election to the Office of President of India? Who makes such appointment?

By convention, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha or the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha is appointed as the Returning Officer, by rotation. Two other senior officers of the Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha Secretariat and the Secretaries and one more senior officer of Legislative Assemblies of all States including NCT of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry are also appointed as the Assistant Returning Officers. The Election Commission of India makes such appointments.

Can a Candidate submit more than one nomination paper? What would be the security deposit to be made by such candidate?

Yes. A candidate can present by himself or in his behalf a maximum of four nomination papers. However, he is required to make only one security deposit in this regard.

Can an elector propose or second the nomination of more than one candidate at a Presidential election?

No. An elector can propose or second the name of only one candidate at a Presidential election. If he subscribes as proposer or seconder, the nomination papers of more than one candidate, his signature shall be deemed operative only on the nomination paper first delivered to the Returning Officer.

What are the grounds for rejection of the nomination of a candidate in the Presidential election?

A nomination paper may be rejected on the following grounds:-
1. On the date of scrutiny of nominations, the candidate is not eligible for election as President under the Constitution; or
2. if any of the proposers or seconders is not qualified to subscribe a nomination paper i.e. he is not an elector at the election; or
3. if it is not subscribed by the required number of proposers and/or seconders; or
4. if the signature of the candidate or any of the proposers or seconders is not genuine or has been obtained by fraud; or
5. if the nomination paper is not presented in person by the candidate or any of his proposers or seconders or if it is not delivered to the Returning Officer, within the hours and dates prescribed for the purpose or at the place appointed for the purpose, or the candidate has failed to make the required security deposit in the prescribed manner
However, a candidate’s nomination shall not be rejected, if he has submitted another set of nomination papers, which are without any irregularity or defect. A candidate’s nomination shall not be rejected on the ground of any defect that is not of substantial character.

What is the colour and form of ballot papers used in the election to the office of the President?

The Election Commission has directed that the ballot papers should be printed in 2 (two) colours – in green for use of Members of Parliament and in pink for use by the Members of the State Legislative Assemblies. The ballot papers are printed with two columns-first column containing the names of the candidates and the second column for marking preferences by the elector for each such candidate. The ballot papers are printed in Hindi and English for use by MPs and in English and the official language(s) of the State for use by the MLAs of the State concerned.

Where is the election to the Office of President held?

A Room in the Parliament House in New Delhi and a room in all State Legislative Assembly Secretariats are generally fixed as places of poll.

Can the electors choose their place of voting?

Yes. While normally Members of Parliament vote in New Delhi and the members of the State Legislative Assemblies, including the members of the Legislative Assemblies of NCT of Delhi and UT of Puducherry vote at the place fixed in each State/UT capital, facilities are provided by the Election Commission for any MP to vote in the capital of his State and similarly an MLA may vote at the polling booth set up in the Parliament House, if he is in Delhi on the date of poll. However, the MP or MLA who opts to vote in a place other than the place where the member is designated to vote is required to intimate the same to the Commission well in advance (ten days) for making necessary arrangements. In exceptional circumstances, MLAs may be permitted by the Commission to vote at other State Capitals also.


How is the value of votes of members of the Electoral College calculated?

The value of votes of electors is basically determined on the basis of population of the States. The Constitution (Eighty fourth) Amendment Act, 2001 provides that until the population figures for the first census to be taken after the year 2026 have been published, the population of the States for the purposes of calculation of value of the votes for the Presidential Election shall mean the population as ascertained at the 1971 census. The value of the vote of each member of the Electoral College, who is a member of a State Legislative Assembly, is calculated by dividing the population of the State by the total number of elected members of the Assembly, and then to divide the quotient by 1000. Total Value of all members of each State Assembly is worked out by multiplying the number of elective seats in the Assembly by the number of votes for each member. The total value of votes of all the States added together is divided by the total number of elected members of Parliament (Lok Sabha 543+Rajya Sabha 233) to get the value of votes of each Member of Parliament.

Is the value of vote of each elector the same?

No. The value of votes of MLAs differs from State to State. However, the value of the MPs is the same. Such value is determined on the basis of the population of the State as explained above.

What is the manner/procedure for recording votes at an election to the office of President?

In accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote, every elector can mark as many preferences, as there are candidates contesting the election. These preferences for the candidates are to be marked by the elector, by placing the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on, against the names of the candidates, in the order of preference, in the space provided in column 2 of the ballot paper. The preference can be indicated in international form of Indian numerals or in the form used in any Indian language or in Roman form but the preferences cannot be indicated in words like one, two, first preference second preference etc.

Are the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law applicable in Presidential elections?

No. Members of the Electoral College can vote according to their conscience and are not bound by any party whips. The voting is also by secret ballot.

Are Nominated Members of either Houses of Parliament or a State Legislative Assembly eligible to vote at the election to the Office of President?

No. Only elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies are members of the Electoral College. Therefore nominated members cannot vote.

Can an elector at a Presidential election exercise his vote by proxy?

No.

Can a disabled or illiterate elector in a Presidential election take the help of a companion to record his vote?

No. Unlike in Parliamentary and Assembly election, an elector cannot take the help of a companion. He must take the assistance of the Presiding Officer to record his vote.

How can an elector who is under preventive detention during the period of Presidential election cast his vote?

An elector under preventive detention can cast his vote through postal ballot.

Is the winner in a Presidential election elected on the basis of obtaining simple majority? Or by securing a specified quota of votes?

As the Presidential election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, every elector has as many preferences as candidates contesting the elections. The winning candidate has to secure the required quota of votes to be declared elected, i.e., 50 per cent of valid votes polled +1.

Is it compulsory for an elector at a Presidential election to mark his preference for all candidates?

No. Only the marking of first preference is compulsory for a ballot paper to be valid. Marking other preferences is optional.

What are the grounds for rejection of the ballot papers?

The Returning Officer shall reject a ballot paper as invalid on which:
1. The figure 1 is not marked; or
2. The figure 1 is marked against the name of more than one candidate or is marked in a manner which renders it doubtful as to which candidate it is intended to apply; or
3. The figure 1 and some other figure is marked against the name of the candidate; or
4. Any mark is made by which the elector may be identified.
A ballot paper will be invalidated if the preference is marked in words like one, two, three or first preference, second preference, third preference, etc instead of in figures 1, 2, 3 etc. A postal ballot may be rejected if the signature of the elector on the declaration and the attestation form received with the ballot paper is not duly attested by the authority specified in such form (who is normally the officer-in-charge of the jail or the place of detention).

What is the procedure of counting in a Presidential election? How is the quota of votes to be secured by the winning candidate determined?

After the valid ballot papers are segregated from the invalid ones, the valid ballot papers are distributed among the contesting candidates on the basis of first preference marked on each of them for those candidates. The value of votes which each contesting candidate gets in this process is ascertained by multiplying the number of ballot papers on which the first preference is marked for him, by the value of vote which each ballot paper of a member (MP or MLA) represents. The total votes secured by each contesting candidate are then ascertained by adding together the value of votes secured by him from the Members of Parliament and the Members of the State Legislative Assemblies. This is the first round of counting.
For ascertaining the quota sufficient to secure the return of a candidate, the value of votes credited to each contesting candidate in the first round of counting is added up to determine the total value of valid votes polled at the election. Such total value of valid votes is then divided by two, and one is added to the quotient so obtained, ignoring the remainder, if any. The number so determined, is the quota, which a candidate should secure to be declared elected.
If the total value of the votes credited to any candidate at the first count, is equal to, or greater than the quota sufficient to secure the return of a candidate, he is declared elected by the Returning Officer. If however, after the first round of counting, no candidate secures the requisite quota, then the counting proceeds on the basis of a process of elimination and exclusion, whereby the candidate credited with the lowest number of votes is excluded and all his ballot papers are distributed among the remaining (continuing) candidates on the basis of the second preferences marked thereon. The value of such transferred ballot papers will be the same as the value at which the excluded candidate received them. The ballot papers on which second preference is not marked is treated as exhausted ballot papers and shall not be further counted, even if the third or subsequent preferences are marked thereon.
If no candidate secures the requisite quota, then the process of counting will continue on the same basis of elimination and exclusion, till a candidate secures the required quota of votes. In case, even after the exclusion of the candidates receiving the lowest number of votes, no candidate secures the requisite quota and ultimately one candidate remains as the lone continuing candidate, he is declared elected even if he has failed to secure the quota sufficient to secure the return of a candidate.

Where is the counting of votes in a Presidential election held?

The counting of votes is done in the office of the Returning officer at New Delhi.

When is the security deposit of a candidate in a Presidential Election forfeited?

The Security deposit shall be forfeited if the candidate is not elected and the number of valid votes polled by him does not exceed one-sixth of the number of votes necessary to secure return of a candidate at such election. In other cases, the deposit will be returned to the candidate.

Can the result of the election to the Office of President be challenged? If so, what is the proper procedure for doing so?

Yes. An election to the Office of the President can be called in question by means of an election petition presented to the Supreme Court. Such election petition should be presented by a candidate or twenty or more electors joined together, and may be presented at any time after the date of publication of the declaration containing the name of the returned candidate at the election under Section 12 (of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952), but not later than 30 days from the date of such publication. Subject to these provisions, the Supreme Court, under Article 145 of the Constitution, may regulate the form, manner and the procedures connected with such election petitions.

Cell Division - Basics

What is Cell Division ?

Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells.Upon completion of the process, each daughter cell contains the same genetic material as the original cell and roughly half of its cytoplasm. Among prokaryotes, cell division occurs by simple fission. Among eukaryotes, the cell nucleus divides first, and then a new cell membrane is formed between the nuclei to form the new cell. Cell division is used as a means of reproduction in organisms that reproduce asexually, as by fission or spore formation, and sexually reproducing organisms form gametes through cell division. Cell division is also the source of tissue growth and repair in multicellular organisms. The two types of cell division in eukaryotic organisms are mitosis and meiosis.


Why is cell division necessary ?

One of the most important characteristics of living being is its ability to reproduce. Growth involves increase in the size of organisms and increase in the number of cells. Cell division is the process through which this is achieved. The new cells arise from pre existing cells only through the process of cell division.

In unicellular organisms too cell division is a means of reproduction and population growth. Two or more daughter cells are produced by cell division. Multi-cellular organisms are made up of millions of cells. For example,there are 26 billion cells in a newborn baby and 50 trillion cells in an adult. In all multicellular organisms, life starts from a single cell i.e., zygote. Zygote is the product of union of male and female gametes. Zygote divides and re-divides to produce a complex multicellular organization. After each division, there is a gap period in which cells take nutrients from their surroundings and convert them into the living substance, protoplasm. The cells in plants divide throughout the life of the plant. However, in animals, cell division stops after a certain age, but takes place when cell division is required to replenish damaged cells. Growth and development result from this action.

Types of Cell Division : 

Cells divide by three different methods – amitosis, mitosis and meiosis. In amitosis, spindle fibers are not formed. Mitosis is the type of cell division which takes place in somatic (body) or vegetative cells. It takes place during growth and asexual reproduction of plants and animals. It is also known as somatic (soma means vegetative body) cell division. Meiosis is the type of cell which takes place in reproductive found in gonads of organisms. This process can be observed during gametogenesis i.e., formation of gametes (eggs and sperms).

What happens during Cell Division ? 

A cell has broadly two parts: nucleus and cytoplasm. In cell division both parts divide successively. The division of nucleus is called nuclear division or karyokinesis (karyon means nucleus). This is followed by the division of cytoplasm which is known as cytokinesis. The processes of mitosis and meiosis are complicated and are studied in different steps.

What is Cell Cycle ? 

The cell cycle is the life cycle of a dividing cell.It is the series of events involving the growth, replication, and division of a eukaryotic cell. It includes Interphase and the M phase or Mitotic phase (mitosis and cytokinesis).The sequence of events within the cell between mitotic (cell) divisions. The cell cycle is conventionally divided into five phases: G0 (the gap); G1, (the first gap or growth phase); S (the synthesis phase, during which the DNA is synthesized and replicated); G2 (the second gap or growth phase); and M (mitosis). Cells that are not destined to divide again are considered to be in the G0 phase. The transition from G0 to G1 is thought to commit the cell to completing the cell cycle by dividing.

Details : Howard and Pelc divided the cell cycle into four intervals: G1, G2, and mitosis. G refers to gap and S refers to synthesis.in the G1 (gap one) period, a cell has to make a critical decision as to whether it should divide or remain as such. If a cell has passed the checkpoint of G1, it enters a phase of DNA duplication. This phase is called S phase. The mass of DNA is doubled upon the completion of S phase. The next phase is G2 phase. In this phase RNA synthesis occurs, which in turn leads to synthesis of proteins needed during mitosis. After the completion of G2 phase, the cell enters the mitotic phase marked by prophase. G1, S, and G2 are included within the interphase.

Regulation of Media in India – A brief overview

Media in India is mostly self-regulated. The existing bodies for regulation of media such as the Press Council of India which is a statutory body and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, a self-regulatory organization, issue standards which are more in the nature of guidelines. Recently, the Chairman of the Press Council of India, former Justice of the Supreme Court, Mr. M. Katju, has argued that television and radio need to be brought within the scope of the Press Council of India or a similar regulatory body. We discuss the present model of regulation of different forms of media.

What is the Press Council of India (PCI)?

The PCI was established under the PCI Act of 1978 for the purpose of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India.

What is the composition of the PCI and who appoints the members?

The PCI consists of a chairman and 28 other members. The Chairman is selected by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and a member elected by the PCI.

The members consist of members of the three Lok Sabha members, two members of the Rajya Sabha , six editors of newspapers, seven working journalists other than editors of newspapers, six persons in the business of managing newspapers, one person who is engaged in the business of managing news agencies, and three persons with special knowledge of public life.

What are its functions?

The functions of the PCI include among others (i) helping newspapers maintain their independence; (ii) build a code of conduct for journalists and news agencies; (iii) help maintain “high standards of public taste” and foster responsibility among citizens; and (iv) review developments likely to restrict flow of news.

 What are its powers?

The PCI has the power to receive complaints of violation of the journalistic ethics, or professional misconduct by an editor or journalist. The PCI is responsible for enquiring in to complaints received. It may summon witnesses and take evidence under oath, demand copies of public records to be submitted, even issue warnings and admonish the newspaper, news agency, editor or journalist. It can even require any newspaper to publish details of the inquiry. Decisions of the PCI are final and cannot be appealed before a court of law.

What are the limitations on the powers of the PCI?

The powers of the PCI are restricted in two ways. (1) The PCI has limited powers of enforcing the guidelines issued. It cannot penalize newspapers, news agencies, editors and journalists for violation of the guidelines. (2) The PCI only overviews the functioning of press media. That is, it can enforce standards upon newspapers, journals, magazines and other forms of print media. It does not have the power to review the functioning of the electronic media like radio, television and internet media.

Are there other bodies that review television or radio?

For screening films including short films, documentaries, television shows and advertisements in theaters or broadcasting via television the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) sanction is required. The role of the CBFC is limited to controlling content of movies and television shows, etc. Unlike the PCI, it does not have the power to issue guidelines in relation to standards of news and journalistic conduct.

Program and Advertisement Codes for regulating content broadcast on the television, are issued under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The District magistrate can seize the equipment of the cable operator in case he broadcasts programs that violate these Codes.

Certain standards have been prescribed for content accessible over the internet under the IT Rules 2011. However, a regulatory body such as the PCI or the CBFC does not exist. Complaints are addressed to the internet service provider or the host.

Radio Channels have to follow the same Programme and Advertisement Code as followed by All India Radio. Private television and radio channels have to conform to conditions which are part of license agreements. These include standards for broadcast of content. Non-compliance may lead to suspension or revocation of license.

Is there a process of self regulation by television channels?

Today news channels are governed by mechanisms of self-regulation. One such mechanism has been created by the News Broadcasters Association. The NBA has devised a Code of Ethics to regulate television content. The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), of the NBA, is empowered to warn, admonish, censure, express disapproval and fine the broadcaster a sum upto Rs. 1 lakh for violation of the Code. Another such organization is the Broadcast Editors’ Association.

The Advertising Standards Council of India has also drawn up guidelines on content of advertisements.

These groups govern through agreements and do not have any statutory powers.

Is the government proposing to create a regulatory agency for television broadcasters?

In 2006 the government had prepared a Draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2006. The Bill made it mandatory to seek license for broadcasting any television or radio channel or program. It also provides standards for regulation of content. It is the duty of the body to ensure compliance with guidelines issued under the Bill.

Statistical Profile of Scheduled Tribes of India

Statistical Data (2010)