WORLD FACTS AND FIGURES

Country	Monarch	Type of monarchy
Bahrain	King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa	Constitutional
Belgium	King Albert II	Constitutional
Bhutan	King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchukin	Transitional1
Brunei	Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah	Constitutional
Cambodia	King Norodom Sihamoni	Constitutional
Denmark	Queen Margrethe II	Constitutional
Japan	Emperor Akihito	Constitutional
Jordan	King Abdullah II	Constitutional
Kuwait	Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah	Constitutional
Lesotho	King Letsie III	Constitutional
Liechtenstein	Prince Hans Adam II	Constitutional
Luxembourg	Grand Duke Henri	Constitutional
Malaysia	King Syed Sirajuddin	Constitutional
Monaco	Prince Albert II	Constitutional
Morocco	King Muhammad VI	Constitutional
Nepal	King Gyanendra	Constitutional2
Netherlands	Queen Beatrix	Constitutional
Norway	King Harald V	Constitutional
Oman	Sultan Qabus ibn Sa'id	Absolute
Qatar	Emir Sheik Hamad ibn Khalifa al-Thani	Constitutional
Saudi Arabia	King Abdullah	Absolute
Spain	King Juan Carlos I	Parliamentary
Swaziland	King Mswati III	Absolute
Sweden	King Carl XVI Gustaf	Constitutional
Thailand	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	Constitutional
Tonga	King George Tupou V	Constitutional
United Arab Emirates	Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan	Constitutional
United Kingdom	Queen Elizabeth II3	Constitutional4

1. Bhutan is in the process of becoming a constitutional monarchy.

2. Constitutional monarchy suspended in 2002, when King Gyanendra assumed power. A popular uprising in 2006, however, forced him to relinquish much of his power.

3. Queen Elizabeth II is also the Sovereign of 15 countries in the Commonwealth of Nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

4. Also parliamentary democracy.

Ramesh’s IIT remarks not based on facts: Sibal

NEW DELHI: This had to happen, the Government could not allow the image of its biggest education brands --the IITs and the IIMs-- be dented by one of its own ministers. So three days after Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at the faculties at the IITs and IIMs, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal gave it back to him saying that the remark was not borne out by facts.

Ramesh, on May 23, kicked up a storm claiming that the faculties at the premier IITs and IIMs are not world class, but the students are. Sibal on Thursday preferred to demolish Jairam’s argument at a specially convened GOM Media briefing. He said, “The discourses on these premier institutes should be based on evidence and not on perceptions.”

Sibal said he has “complete trust in the creative potential of the faculty of IITs”. Almost matching Ramesh wit-for-wit, Sibal added, “Well, 25 percent of the IIT faculties are IIT-products who have done their BTech, et al. Surely the 25 percent students who are world class students, must also be world class faculty.”

Interestingly, before Sibal could come out in defense of the IIT faculties, another prominent Congress Union Minister, Salman Khurshid, had actually backed Ramesh and his right to free speech.

“The atmosphere in which academic free exchange can take place are different from official statements made by a minister,” Khurshid had said.  Little wonder that he chose to stay away from the Thursday’s media briefing as he was earlier scheduled to. His presence would have brought forth the simmering differences within the Union Cabinet on the issue.

Sibal said that the comment made by Ramesh must be seen in the light of the general view within the community that the caliber of contributions by the scientific community does not really match world standards. He pointed out if the IITs have not gained the critical mass to change the global scientific discourse, it is because of the ecosystem and not because of the faculties. Sibal said that one cannot blame the faculty.

“While the US spends 250 billion dollars on research, India spends around 8 billion dollars. You cannot create that critical mass. That’s not because of faculty,” he added.  He reminded that originally IITs were meant to produce BTech graduates and there was a gradual realisation that they should also go for path- breaking research and produce more MTech students.

WORLD FACTS AND FIGURES

Future Population Estimates (UNdata)

2015 [5] 2020 [5] 2050 [5] World Population: 7,302,186,263 7,674,832,568 9,149,984,240 Most Pop. Continent: Asia 4,528,586,470 Asia 4,731,661,415 Asia 5,347,582,086 Most Pop. Region: South-Central Asia 1,908,282,674 South-Central Asia 2,028,785,827 South-Central Asia 2,493,681,489 Most Pop. Country: China 1,395,998,248 China 1,431,155,162 India 1,613,799,950

It is believed that we humans began to inhabit the Earth from about 200,000 years ago, after evolving from other species, but the planet itself is about 4.5 billion years old. Life began to develop from about 3.5 billion years ago, and nowadays it is home to an estimated 100 million different living species. Living things can flourish safely on our planet due to it's magnetic field, which is possibly controlled by the core of the planet, and which blocks harmful radiation from outer space. Other major protection for all of Earth's many life forms comes from the ozone layer, which was developed by a combination of our earliest living organisms, along with the basic elements that were present before life began on Earth. Without the Earth's protective magnetic field, and it's ozone layer, we humans would not exist.