CURRENT AFFAIRS- MONTH WISE

CURRENT AFFAIRS- MONTH WISE

MAY 2010
For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports. International Current Affairs 2010 * G-15 summit was held at Tehran on 16-17 May. * Bangladesh handed over Ranjan Daimary of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland to India. The group was responsible for serial bombing in Assam in 2008. * National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Myannmars democracy leader Aung San Sui Kyi was abolished after deadline to re-register as a political party was over. * EU-IMF provide a $ 1 trillion rescue package to the Greece to resolve its debt crises. * Pakistan successfully test fired two short range ballistic missiles, Shaheen I( range 650 Km) and Ghazani (range 290 Km) capable of carrying nuclear war heads and striking Indian cities. National Current Affairs 2010 * Naxalites killed 47 people in a landmine blast between Dantewada and Sukma in Chattisgarh. * Test fire of nuclear capable Agni-II missile was successfully carried out from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa on 17th May. Agni II has a range of 2000Km. It is 20m long two stage solid propelled ballistic missile. It was developed by Advanced System Laboratories alongwith DRDO & Bharat Dynamics Ltd. * Supreme Court in a recent judgement upheld a rule that allows the adjustment of reserved category candidate SC/ST/OBC against their quota seats even if they manage to qualify an examination for govt services on merit. * National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is the monitoring authority for the Right to Education Act which became effective from April 1, 2010. Sports Current Affairs 2010 * England won 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating Australia. The tournament was held at South Africa. Kevin Pieterson of England has been declared as Player of the Tournament. * Australia won 2010 Womens World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating New Zealand. * India and South Korea were declared joint winner of 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup, after suspension of the final match due to heavy rains.Indias Sardar Singh has been declared as Best Player of the Tournament. Australia won the Bronze medal. The tournament was held at Ipoh (Malaysia). India had won the tournament earlier in 1985, 1991, 1995 & 2009. * China won Thomas Cup ( Mens Badminton) defeating Indonesia. * In the World Youth Boxing Championship, held at Baku, Azerbaijan, India won 1 Gold &

1 Silver. Gold medal was won by Vikas Krishan and Silver medal was won by Shiva Thapa. * India won bronze medal in the 2nd Asian Paragliding Championship held at Nishiewa, Japan. * World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand retained his title after defeating Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the World Chess Championship 2010. Awards Current Affairs 2010 * Vandana Shiva has been awarded Sydney Peace Prize 2010 for her work in the field of social justice. Persons in News 2010 * Gita Gopinath an Indian origin associate professor at Harvard Univ has been appointed a full professor, the first Indian woman in the Institutions history to ge given this appointment. * Former Vice President of India, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat died. * Rima Fakih was crowned Miss USA 2010. She became the first ever muslim American Miss USA. She is of Lebanese muslim descent. * Singer Christina Aguilera was named Ambassador against hunger by the United Nations World Food Programme. * Rushanara Ali became first person of Bangladesh origin to be elected to the British Parliament. * David Cameron elected Prime Minister of Britain. Nick Clegg became the Dy Prime Minister. Britain gets first coalition govt since World War-II. It is between Conservative and Liberal Democrats. * Justice S H Kapadia sworn as new Chief Justice of India. * Hari S Bhartia elected as President of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for 2010-11. * Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail unassisted around the world in a yatch. Misc Issues * International Mosaics Festival was held in Tunisia. * Aman ki Asha- the name of the Indo Pak Business Meet held at New delhi. * International Museum Day- 18 May. * Yours Sincerely written by Natwar Singh. * The Duel written by Tariq Ali. * The Promise :President Obama, Year One written by Jonathan Alter.

April 2010
For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 April current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports. International Current Affairs [April 2010] * Belgium became the Europes first country to ban burqa.

* Pakistans National assembly passed a bill that takes away the Presidents power to dissolve parliament, dismiss a elected government and appoint the three services Chiefs. Pakistans parliament passes 18th amendment which was later signed by Presient cutting Presidents powers. * USA and Russia signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START) that allowed a maximum of 1550 deployed overheads, about 30% lower than a limit set in 2002. The treaty was signed in the Progue Castle. * Emergency was imposed in Thailand. * Nuclear Security Summit held at Washington.It was a 47 nation summit wherein P.M. announced setting up of a global nuclear energy centre for conducting research & development of design systems that are secure, proliferation resistant & sustainable. * PM visit USA & Brazil, a two nation tour. He attended Nuclear Security Summit in USA & India- Brazil-S.Africa(IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China(BRIC) summit in Brasilia (Brazil). * 16th SAARC Summit held in Bhutan in 28-29 April. The summit was held in Bhutan for the first time. It is the silver jubilee summit as SAARC has completed 25 years. The summit central theme was Climate Change. The summit recommended to declare 2010-2020 as the Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC. The 17th SAARC summit will be held in Maldives in 2011. National Current Affairs [April 2010] * Naxals killed about 75 CRPF personal at Chintalnar-Tarmetla village in Dantewada distt ,Chhattisgarh. Government appoint E.N. Rammohan, to probe the incident. * Uninque Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) now known as Aadhaar. Its Chairman is Nandan Nilekani. It will assign 16 digit identification number to all residents in India. * NTRO- National Technical Research Organisation. The organization came to limelight after allegation of phone tapping of politicians. * Indian navy commissioned Indias first indigenously built stealth warship INS Shivalik. The other stealth warship to be built are named as INS Sahyadri and INS Satpura. * Right To Education Act is notified and will become a legally enforceable from 1 April 2010. Key features of RTE Act are : All children in 6-14 age group must get free and compulsory eduction; No child shall be held back,expelled or required to pass a board examination till Class VIII; There must be 25 % reservation for poor children even in private & minority schools; There must be one teacher for every 30 students; A child rights commission will look into violations of the RTE law. * Govt start Census 2011. It is the 15th Census. It is in two phase. The first phase is called House listing & Housing Census and the second phase is called decadal headcount which will be held in Feb 2011. The Registrar General of India is C Chandramouli. Sports Current Affairs [April 2010] * IPL3 season won by Chennai Super Kings defeating Mumbai Indians. * Youth Olympics Games 2010 to be held in Singapore in Aug 2010. * World Youth Championship was held at Baku, Azerbaijan. * Lawn tennis legend Martina Navratilova diagnosed with Breast Cancer. * Jumbo chosen as 2011 World Cricket Cup Mascot. * World Kabbadi Cup 2010- India defeated Pakistan to won World Cup Kabbadi 2010 held at Ludhiana. * Pankaj Advani won the Asian Billiards Championship defeating Singapores Peter Gilchrist

for the consecutive third time. * Badminton Asia Championship, Delhi : o Mens singles Lin Dan defeated Wang Zhenguing o Womens singles-Li Xiurei defeated Liu Xin. Persons in News [April 2010] * Shashi Tharoor (born 9 March 1956) is a member of the Indian Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. A prolific author, columnist, journalist and human rights advocate, he has previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs. * Lalit Modi (born 29 November, 1963 Delhi, India) is an Indian cricket administrator and businessman. He is best known for his stint as the Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier League and the Chairman of the Champions League from 2008 to 2010. He is also the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since 2005 and Vice President of the Punjab Cricket Association. Economics & Commerce [April 2010] * India became the 7th largest shareholder in World Bank. Indias voting rights has gone up to 2.91 %. The USA has highest voting rights of 15.85 % followed by Japan with 6.84 % and Germany with 4 %. * Govt proposed that concept of GGDP Green Gross Domestic Product to be introduced in the country by 2015. In 2012 India will host the Rio+20 conference on biological diversity. * Government approved disinvestment of 20% of share in SAIL in this financial year. * Indias total external debt as on December 2009 is 251 billion. * Indias Gems & Jewellery export grow by 16% to $28.41 billion in 2009-2010. * RBI announced the credit policy. The CRR has been raised from 5.75 % to 6 %. The Repo rate has been raised from 5 % to 5.25 %. The reverse repo rate has been raised from 3.5 % to 3.75 %. Awards Current Affairs 2010 [April 2010] * 19Th Bihari Puraskar 2009 has been awarded to Hemant Shesh for his collection of poetry Jagah Jaisi Jagah. * 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best first Book was awarded to Glenda Guest for the novel Siddon Rock. Rana Dasgupta won Commonwealth Writers Prize for best Book 2010 for book Solo. * Carl Zeiss wildlife conservation award was won by Joydip Kundu. * Amitav Ghosh won the Dan David Prize alongwith Margaret Atwood for Rendition of the 2oth century. Misc Issues [April 2010] * Decision Points memoir of former US President George W Bush. * A variety of mango has been named after Sachin Tendulkar. * Scientist create element 117 from calcium & Berkelium. * International congress of Mathematicians will be hosted by India for the first time in August 2010 at Hyderabad. The congress has been held once every four years since

1897except the breaks during two world wars. * Government will opened four new campuses for the IIMC(Indian Institute of Mass Communication) at Nagpur, Kochi, Jammu and Aizawl. * Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Derjeeling become first zoo in the country to install infrared night vision cameras in the enclosures housing endangered snow leopard. * Hindutva, Sex & Adventure written by Mark Tully. * Gorumara National Park, Jalpaigudi has been declared the best among the 235 national parks & sanctuaries in the country by the MOEF. * Gandhi-Naked Ambition written by Jad Adams. * India ranks 5th in the Worlds cybercrime ranking for 2009 after US, China, Brazil & Germany. * India lauched GSLV from Sriharikota on 15 April 2010. However the launch was failed in the third stage. The launch was important as GSLV-D3 was the third developmental mission of Indias GSLV during which ISROs indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage (CUS) was to be flight tested. This is the 6th flight of GSLV, but the first one to test Indian made cryogenic upper stage. GSLV-D3 was to launch the GSAT-4 satellite into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The total flight of the vehicle was planned to be 1022 seconds. * India likely to complete building its first strategic crude oil storage by Oct 2011. India is building underground storage at Visakhapatnam in AP and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tones of crude oil which is enough to meet nations oil requirement for 13-14 days. India will join nations like the US, Japan & China that have strategic reserves. Persons in News [2010] * Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra was sworn in as Judge of Supreme Court of India. She became the 4th women judge to be elevated to the Supreme Court of India. * Justice S H Kapadia will be next Chief Justice of India. * Mukul Sangma shown in as Meghalaya Chief Minister. * Polands President Lech Kaczynski died in a air crash at Moscow. * Juan Antonia Samaranch, Former President of International Olympic Committee (IOC) died.

March 2010
For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 March current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports. International Current Affairs [March 2010] * China will launch in 2011 unmammed space mode Tiangong I for its future space laboratory. * US internet giant Google close its business in China. * Indias largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel buy Zains Africa operations for an enterprise value of $ 10.7 billion (Rs 49000 crore). Currently Bhartis non-India operations include Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

* Russia abolished two of its eleven time Zones. National Current Affairs [March 2010] * Govt launched National Mission for Empowerment of Women aimed at inter-sectoral convergence of all pro- women programmes. * Constitution 108th Amendment Bill 2008 commonly known as womens reservation bill was passed by Rajya Sabha by 186 in favour 1 against 39 abstained (Current strength of Rajya Sabha is 233). The bill seeks to reserve a third of the seats on the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for 15 years on a rotational basis. It was first introduced in 1996. Sharad Joshi, an independent MP is the only MP which cast vote against the bill. In the present Lok Sabha, there are 59 women MPs out of 543 MPs. Total MLAs in 29 state assemblies in India are 4093. * Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Vishakhapatnam (AP) are choosen for a pilot project on saving household energy by replacing incandescent lamps with CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps). * Earth Hour 2010 has been celebrated on 27 March organized by World Wide Fund for Nature, India. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are official Earth Hour Cities among 15 Indian cities. * Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia visit India in March 2010. * Supreme Court allowed religion based 4 % reservations in Govt jobs & educational institutes in Andhra Pradesh. It extended the benefit to 14 OBC in muslims in the state. The matter is further referred to Constitutional bench of Supreme Court. * Bold Kurushetra a joint armour exercise between India and Singapore was held at Jhansi(UP). * Prohibition of unfair practices in technical, medical educational institutions & universities Bill is passed by Govt. It provided for 3 year imprisonment and a fine of upto Rs 50 lakh for higher education providers guilty of misleading students. * Govt approved Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry & Operation) Bill 2010. It provides foreign universities to set up campuses in India. * Govt amends Anti Hijacking Act 1982. It now provides for death sentence to the hijackers. * Govt starts the scheme for creation of the National Population Register (NPR) of Indian residents. The project will cover an estimated 1.2 billion people and total cost of the project will be Rs. 3539.24 crore. * India became 1st country in the world to have a manoeuvrable supersonic cruise missile, when it successfully test fired 290 km range Brahmos missile. * Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visit India in March 2010. Sports Current Affairs [March 2010] * Tamil Nadu defeated West Bengal to won Vijay Harare Cricket Trophy. * Australia won World Hockey Cup 2010 defeating Germany. India ranked at 8th place. * India won six gold medal in the Commonwealth Boxing Championship held at Delhi. * Two new IPL teams, Kochi was auctioned for Rs 1533 crore and Pune was auctioned for Rs 1702 crore. Kochi was auctioned to Rendezvous Adventure Sports Ltd. Pune was auctioned to Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd. Persons in News [March 2010] * Rajan Bharti Mittal appointed President FICCI.

* Major Dimple Singla became first women army officer in the country who has been sentenced to imprisonment for corruption. * Bhubneshwar Kalita has been choosen as the Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent at Commonwealth Games 2010. * Cricketer Kapil Dev has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. * Former Supreme Court judge P V Reddy appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of India. * Lt Gen V K Singh appointed as new Army Chief. * Sonia Gandhi appointed head of National Advisory Council. NAC advice the govt on policy matters, monitor flagship programmes and prepare the ground for other pro-poor legislatures. * Lyricist Javed Akhtar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Dr Ram Dayal Munda, Dr Balchandra Mungekar and Kannada Actress B Jayashree are among other persons nominated to Rajya Sabha. * Austrian base jumper Felix Baumgartnar will became the first person to leaps from the edge of space at a height of 37 km above earths surface. He become the first man to break the speed of sound hitting a top speed of about 11000km/hr. He will jump on 11 April 2010. * Katie Spotz became the youngest person to complete a solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean. * Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepal Ex Prime Minister died. He was 5th time Nepal PM. Awards Current Affairs 2010 [March 2010] * Oscar Awards 2010 o Best Director- Kathryn Bigelow for The Heart Locker. She became first women to win the Oscar for best director. o Best Film- The Heart Locker. o Best Actor- Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart. o Best Actress- Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. o Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds. o Best Supporting Actress MoNique for Precious. o Best foreign language film- The Secret in their Eyes, from Argentina. * Amitabh Bachchhan honoured with lifetime achievement award at 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival. * Surjit Pater has been awarded with 19th Saraswati Samman 2009 for Lafzan Di Dargah. * Moortidevi Award was given to the Law Minister M Veerappa Moily for his work Shri Ramayan Mahanveshanam. * Vyas Samman 2009 was awarded to Amar Kant for his work Inhin Hathiyaron Se. Misc Issues [March 2010] * Brahan Natyanjali 2010 festival was organized to celebrate 1000 years of Tanjavur temple in Tamil Nadu which was built by Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola in 1010 AD. * 192 year old Presidency College of Kolkatta (Indias oldest college) converted into Presidency University. It became 18th state university in West Bengal. * Railways started Maharajas Express from Kolkatta to Delhi. It is a tourist train having stoppage at Gaya, Varanasi, Bandhavgarh, Gwalior, Khajuraho and Agra. * The book Way to go written by Upamanyu Chatterjee. * The book Wide Angle written by cricketer Anil Kumble. * The book El Sari Rojo written by Javier Moro, is on the life of Sonia Gandhi.

* World TB Day celebrated on 24 March. * Constitution 112th Amendment Bill 2009 seeks to amend following clauses of Article 243T of the Constitution that provides for reservation of seats for SC & ST and also for women in Urban Local bodies : a) In clause (2) for the word one third, the word one half shall be substituted, b) In clause (3) the word one third , the word one half shall be substituted.

February 2010
For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 February current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports. International Current Affairs [February 2010] * NATO forces carried out Marjah operation (dubbed Moshtarak) against Taliban forces in Afghanistan. * European Union summit was held in Brussels. EU & IMF decided to giving support to Greece in its struggle to bring its ballooning budget deficit under control. EU President is Herman Van Rompuy. * Irans President Mahmood Ahmedinejad declared that Iran had produced first batch of 20 % enriched uranium and now Iran became a nuclear state. * Iran launched Kavoshger -3 rocket capable of carrying a satellite. It carried a mouse, worms & two turtles. National Current Affairs [February 2010] * Kirit Parikh committee , set up to review petro pricing regime, submit its recommendation. Its major recommendation are to deregulate the prices of petrol & diesel as per market prices, reduce the subsidy on LPG. * India signed a Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the UK, which became the 8th country to enter into such a pact, since the lifting of atomic trade embargo in 2008. * Govt set up a panel under the Chairmanship of former Justice B N Srikrishna which would consider the demand for splitting Andhra Pradesh. * India and Denmark signed a social security pact which will relieve their workers from double taxation and provide for cooperation in areas of labour market expansion and orderly migration. * Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Saudi Arabia in Feb 2010. He was the first Indian PM in 28 years to visit the gulf country. Saudi Arabia is Indias largest supplier of crude oil ( 23 %) followed by Iran ( 17 %) and Nigeria ( 11 %). India is offering upto 10 % equity to Saudi petroleum firm Saudi Aramco in a refinery being built in Orissa. PM addressed the Shoura council of Saudi Arabia. * Constitution 111th Amendment Proposes to incorporate a new Part ( Part IX B) in the Constitution so as to provide for legal framework to regulate the functioning of cooperative societies. A new Article ( Article 43 B) is also proposed to be inserted in Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) for the States to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning of cooperative societies. * Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009 commonly known as Nuclear Liability Bill

will be introduced by Govt in Parliament in Winter session 2010. The draft bill aims at limiting the liability of a nuclear plant operator to Rs. 300 crore in the eventuality of an accident. The bill provides for the penalty to be paid by the operator and not the supplier companies which would mainly be American in this case. India has entered into civil nuclear cooperation agreement with eight countries so far. Sports Current Affairs [February 2010] * 11th South Asian Games 2010 : Held at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 Jan to 8 Feb. Originally scheduled to take place in 2009, but due to general elections in Bangladesh, the games were held in 2010. This was the third time that the Dhaka hosted the Games, thus becoming the first city to hold the games three times. 8 countries participated in the games in 23 different sports, including T20 cricket, which was introduced for the first time in SAG. The 8 countries included are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. 1The logo of the games was Kutumb, a flying doel , which is the national bird of Bangladesh. The mascot of the games featured a magpie robin, which was holding the torch to begin the games. The final medal tally include : India - 1st place with 90 G 55 S 29 B Total 174, Pakistan- 2nd place with 19 G 25 S 36 B Total 80, Bangladesh- 3rd place with 18 G 23 S 56 B Total 97. * West Zone won Duleep Trophy ( 2009-10) defeating South Zone. * Indias Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Asian Tour International Trophy 2010. It is his 2nd consecutive title. * Euro 2012 to be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. * 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held at Vancouver, Canada. Mascot of the game was MIGA (a sea bear), QUATCHI( a sasquatch) and SUMI (animal guardian spirit). The logo of the games was Ilnaaq meaning Friend in Inuktut. There were 86 events in 7 sports. The games were held from 12 Feb to 28 Feb. Final medal tally. Canada- 14 G 7 S 5 B, Germany10 G 13 S 7 B, USA- 9 G 15 S 13 B. * IOC (International Olympic Committee ) has approved ICC (International Cricket Council) bid to join the Olympic games 2020. The first time cricket was included in the Olympic games was in Paris Olympic 1900. * 11th World Hockey Cup 2010- To be held in Delhi, India. This is 2nd WHC which India is hosting. India also hosted the WHC in 1982 at Mumbai. 12 countries participated in the tournament. WHC is held in the years between two summer Olympics. First WHC was held at Barcelona in 1971. Pakistan has won the cup four times, Netherland three times, Germany two times, India & Australia once each. India won the WHC in 1975. * Sachin Tendulkar became first player in the world to score a double century in ODI (One day International). He scored 200 (Not out) against South Africa. * Commonwealth Shooting Championship was held in New Delhi in Feb 2010. India stood at first place with 35 Gold 25 Silver and 14 Bronze. England stood at 2nd place with 4 gold and Wales stood at 3rd place. Science and Technology Current Affairs [February 2010] * USA Space agency NASA launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to discover the causes of extreme solar activity such as sun spots and solar winds & flares. * GANGES- Global Advisory Network Group on environmental sciences. It was created by Govt for environment research work. * Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 Km was successfully launched from Wheeler Island, Orissa.

* Ht Cotton Herbicide Tolerant Cotton. The variety of Ht Cotton in MON 1445. The variety can withstand herbicides (weed killers) for better productivity and is under trail. * Cervical cancer is caused by HPV- Human Papilloma Virus. * South Korea has worlds highest average connection speed at 14.6 Mbpd in Internet links. Japan has 2nd highest average speed. * Scientist deciphered the genetic blueprint of South Africas Archbishop Desmond Titu. Persons in News [February 2010] * Horst Kochler , Germany President visit India in Feb 2010. * Abdullah Gul, Turkey President visit India in Feb 2010. * Economist Kokkadan Nandanath Raj, who made a significant contribution in the preparation of first Five Year Plan(1951-56) died. * Sharad Chandra Sinha is appointed as Director General of National Investigation Agency(NIA). * Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President visit India in Feb 2010. * Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob of Malaysia appointed Chairman, International Atomic Energy Agency. * Govt appointed R S Pandey as its mediator for talk with NSCN(IM) in Nagaland to carry forward the peace process. * Former Justice P V Reddy will be appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of India. * Ram Baran Yadav, Nepal President visit India in Feb 2010. It was the first visit by Yadav to any foreign country after taking over as Nepals President. Yadav is the first President of Nepal since monarchy ended in 2008. India extended $ 250 million soft line of credit to Nepal. * Rajinder Singh became first non-white and also first Asian member of the right wing British National Party, after it amended its constitution to allow black and Asian to be its member. * Amitabh Bachan became the brand ambassador of Gujarat state. * Amnesty International, the global human right organization has appointed Salid Shetty as its next Secy General from June 2010. He will be the first Indian to head the organization. * Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol become the first Indian bollywood actors to ring the opening bell of the worlds biggest stock exchange NASDAQ. * Rajiv Satav appointed President, Indian Youth Congress. * Katrina Kaif awarded with 2009 Excellence in Performing Arts Award established by ASSOCHAM. * M H Hussain, famous painter accepted citizenship of Qatar. Economics [February 2010] * Planning Commission grant special category status to the Bundelkhand region comprising 9 distt of Uttar Pradesh and 15 distt of Madhya Pradesh for the irrigation projects. Under special category status, state govt can seek 90 % grant assistance from the centre and 10 % as loan. * Govt revises base year for the calculation of National Income from 1999-2000 to 20042005. The GDP for 2009-10 will be Rs. 55,74,449 crore and the fiscal deficit for the corresponding period will be 6.4 %. * Capital Control Foreign capital inflows in the form of loans and equity that are allowed in a restricted form are said to be controlled. The capital inflows include foreign borrowings by Indian corporate and businesses, NRI deposits and portfolio flow from institutional investors

into the stock market. Loans to Govt and short term trade credit are also included. India had control on both capital account transactions as well as on current account with the local currency fixed by the Central Bank. In 1991, rupee was first made convertible on the current account. In 1994, Govt allows foreign portfolio investments. * Govt will replace Benchmark Prime Lending System (BPLR) with Base rate system from 1 April 2010 to make bank lending more transparent. It provided for minimum rate for all types of loans for banks. Misc Issues [February 2010] * Milan 2010, a biennial meeting of navies of Asia Pacific countries held at Port Blair in Feb 2010. 12 countries of Asia Pacific Region participated in it. It is the 7th edition of Milan exercises. It is a biennial exercise of Asia Pacific maritime navies, hosted by the Indian Navy. First Milan exercise was held in 1995. * Vayu-Shakti name given to IAF exercise conducted at Pokhran range in the Thar desert in Feb 2010. IAF is the 4th largest air force in the world after USA, Russia and China. * Bo language of Andaman become extinct. Its last speaker died. * As per Indian Meteorological deptt, 2009 was the warmest year since 1990. The annual mean temperature for 2009 was 25.55 degree celcius for the country s as a whole. * Uttarakhand became first state in the country to ban the cultivation of Bt Brinjal ( Countrys first Genetically Modified food crop). Bt Brijnal is a genetically modified crop which has a special gene- Cry1AC, inserted to make it poisonous to pests. GM Crops resists pests and give better yields as well as nutrition. Bt Brinjal is developed in India by Mahyco company. GM foods are derived from organisms whose DNA has been modified through genetic engineering. * China ranked 1st in the wind power capacity in the world. India is at 5th place with 10925 MW capacity. The five top nations in the order of wind power capacity are China, US, Spain, Germany & India. * Eurozone is a economic and monetary union of 16 EU member states which have adopted the euro currency as their sole legal tender. PIIGS countries include Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain. * 17 army jawans killed in a avalanche at High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) at Khilanmarg, J&K. * West Bengal govt reserved 10 % of govt jobs in the state for poor muslims. * China will celebrate 2010 as Year of Tiger. * India has a road network of 33 lakh km and is second largest in the world. It included 200 km of expressway, 70548 km of national highways, 131899 km of state highways, 467763 km of major district roads and 26.5 lakh km of rural & other roads. The Golden Quadrilateral joining four metro cities of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkatta, has a length of 5846 km. * Taj Mahotsav organized by UP govt in Feb 2010 with the theme Ek Utsav Prem Ka. * Vancouver city, Canada named as the Worlds most livable city as per survey conducted by Economics Intelligence Unit. Delhi is ranked at 113th place and Mumbai at 117th place. * 16th Conference of Parties (COP) will be held in Dec 2010 at Mexico. The 15th COP was held in Copenhagen in Dec 2009. * Hyderabad International Airport has been named amongst the worlds five top airports. Other four airports are Seol, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing. * 1000 faces for 1000 tigers campaign was launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The campaign aims to help double the number of wild tigers in Malaysia by 2022. * Sachin Tendulkar features in BMCs Save Water Campaign. * Indian Navy inducted Russian built MiG 29 K fighters planes.

* Basic Capabilities Index 2009- India received 68 points. The index was published by Social Watchs. The highest BCI points was given to Iran having 97 points and lowest points 44 was given to Chad. * K R Sridhar, an US based Indian scientist invented Bloom Box- which convert air and virtually any other fuel source into clean electricity. The box uses solid oxide fuel cells and can generate 100 KW of power. * Present life expectancy of life at birth in India is 63.4 yrs. The highest expectancy of life is in Australia of 81.4 yrs, 81 yrs for France and 79.3 yrs for England. * World Cancer Day 04 Feb * International Condom Day 14 Feb

January2010
For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 january current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports. International Current Affairs [January 2010] * Gilgit Baltistan region elected its first Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on the basis of Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment & Self Governance Order 2009. The new appointed CM declare the Gilgit Baltistan region as 5th province of Pakistan. The Indian Govt has, however, of the view that the region was part of J & K, and thus objected to the remarks of CM. * Venezuela devalued it currency Bolivar. * A massive earthquake strike Haiti, the Carribbean nation. Capital of Haiti is Port-au-Prince. * Mahinda Rajapaksa won a second term as Sri Lankas President. He belongs to Sri Lanka Freedom Party. National Current Affairs [January 2010] * Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visit India in Jan 2010. She belongs to Awami League Party. The two countries signed five agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, on transfer of sentenced persons and on combating international terrorism, organized crime & illicit drug trafficking besides MOU on cooperation in the power sector and on cultural exchanges. India give Bangladesh a $ 1 billion line of credit, the biggest it has given to any country so far. * South Korea President Lee Myung Bak visit India in Jan 2010. The two countries decided to double the bilateral trade to $ 30 billion by 2014. Four facts were signed between two countries cooperation in peaceful use of outer space, IT, science & technology for the year 2010-12 and transfer of sentenced persons. South Korean President was also the chief guest at 2010 Republic Day Parade. * Gujarat Local Authorities Law (amendment) Bill 2009- The Bill makes it the duty of a qualified voter to vote during elections to local bodies. Voting is compulsory, but the Bill allows voters to cast their vote in favour of none of the candidates. Election officers will declare those who fail to vote defaulter, and serve them a notice. * India and China has decided to start joint military exercise from 2011. * Najib Razak, Malaysia Prime Minister visit India in Jan 2010.

* Govt launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Key highlights of the mission are : o To create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2020. o To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability for indigenous production and market leadership. o To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000 MW by 2022. o To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by 2022. o To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022. * New Governors appointed : a) M K Narayanan West Bengal, b)Shivraj Patil Punjab, c) Mohsina Kidwai Jharkhand, d) Shekhar Dutt Chhattisgarh, e) E S L Narasimhan Andhra Pradesh. * Govt plans to create a National Gas Highway Development Authority. The present Gas Pipeline Density in India is 3.29 Km per 1000 Sq.Km. * Govt plans to set up a National Green Tribunal to control Carbon Emissions and pollution. It will be responsible for implementing the low carbon roadmap to be set forth in the 12th Five Year Plan. Sports Current Affairs [January 2010] * U-19 World Cup 2010 held in New Zealand from 15 30 Jan 2010. Javagal Srinath from India appointed as one of the match referee for the tournament. * Australia won the U-19 World Cup for the third time defeating Pakistan. India is placed at 6th rank. Australia won the cup for the third time. * Rafael Nadal won the Capitala World Tennis Championsip, held at Abu Dhabi defeating Robin Soderling. * Magnus Carlsen becomes the youngest World No.1 chess player at the age of 19 years breaking the Garry Kasparovs record when he became the worlds top ranked chess player at the age of 22 years in 1985. Magnus Carlsen is the 5th player after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and V.Anand (India) to cross the 2800 ELO rating. In the Jan 2010 FIDE ranking, Carlsen stood at 1st place, Topalov at 2nd place and V Anand at 3rd place. * Marin Cilic defeated Staniglas Wawrinka to won Mens singles title of Aircel Chennai Open. * Pakistans cricketer Shahid Afridi was banned for two T20 internationals after he was found guilty of ball tempering in a ODI against Australia. * Corus Chess Grandmaster Tournament won by Magnus Carlsen. V.Anand of India ranked at 4th place. Hopman Cup 2010- Spain defeated Great Britain. * Australian Open 2010 : Womens Single- Serena William defeated Justin Henin. It is Serenas 5th Australian Open title. It is also Serenas 12th Grand Slam title equaling the record of Billie Jean King. * Mens Single- Roger Federer(Swiss) defeated Andy Murray(Britain). It is Federers 4th Australian Open title. It is Federers 16th Grand Slam title. * Mens Double- Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan defeated Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic. * Womens Double Serena Williams & Venus Williams defeated Cara Black & L Huber. * Mixed Double Laender Paes (India) & Cara Black (Zimbabwe) defeated Ekterina Makasova & Jaroslav Levinsky. It is Paess 11th Grand Slam title. Science and Technology Current Affairs [January 2010]

* 97th Indian Science Congress held at Tiruvananthapuram in Jan 2010. The theme of this year congress was Science & Technology of 21st Century- National Perspective. * The longest annular solar eclipse on the third millennium occur on 15 Jan 2010. The next annular solar eclipse will be visible in year 3043. Annular eclipse is occurred when the sun is visible like a ring of fire, with the moon darkening its centre. The last annular solar eclipse visible from India was occurred in 1976. In July 2010 also, a total solar eclipse will be occurred. * There are three strains of wild Polio virus namely P1, P2 & P3. Type 2 wild Polio virus (P2) was eliminated from the world in 1999. * First public hearing on the introduction of Bt Brinjal (First Genetically Modified Food Crop in India) was held in Kolkatta. Seven such public hearing are being organized by Centre for Environment Education, for opinion of public in respect of introduction of Bt Brinjal. 2nd hearing was held at Hyderabad. * 50th anniversary of creation of LASER is being celebrated in 2010. Theodore Maiman constructed the first LASER in May 1960. LASER stands for Light Amplification for Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Charles H Townes was father of MASER. Persons in News [January 2010] * Billy Arjan Singh, wildlife conservationist and Padma Shri awardee died. * P D Dinakaran, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court faces impeachement motion. The process was initiated in the Parliament. He is the first High Court Chief Justice against whom impeachment motion have been initiated. Justice V Ramaswami is the only judge to have faced impeachment proceedings in parliament. * Justice V S Sirpurkar appointed to head a three member panel to look into allegation of land grab and misconduct against Chief Justice P D Dinakaran in the wake of impeachment motion initiated against him in Parliament. * Fahmida Mirza is the first woman Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly. * Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket team captain, has been named as ESPN Cricinfo Player of the Decade for 2000. * Jyoti Basu, former West Bengal Chief Minister, died. * Mrinal Pande, appointed as Chairman, Prasar Bharti Board. * Lee Myung Bak, South Korea President was the Chief Guest at 2010 Republic Day Parade. * Shiv Shankar Menon is appointed as National Security Advisor. * Vikram Srivastava appointed as Director General of CRPF(Central Reserve Police Force). * Ranjit Kumar Bhatia appointed as Director General of ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police). Books & their Authors [January 2010] * All that you cant leave behind written by Soumya Bhattacharya. * We Must Have No Price written by Arun Sourie. * Train to India- Memories of another Bengal written by Maloy kumar Dhar. * Not by Reason alone : The Politics of Change written by N K Singh. * Five Point Someone written by Chetan Bhagat. * Nehru : The invention of India written by Shashi Tharoor. * The Museum of Innocence written by Orhan Panuk. * Thoughts on Linguistic States written by B R Ambedkar.

International Current Affairs 2010 Current Affairs [May 2010] * G-15 summit was held at Tehran on 16-17 May. * Bangladesh handed over Ranjan Daimary of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland to India. The group was responsible for serial bombing in Assam in 2008. * National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Myannmars democracy leader Aung San Sui Kyi was abolished after deadline to re-register as a political party was over. * EU-IMF provide a $ 1 trillion rescue package to the Greece to resolve its debt crises. * Pakistan successfully test fired two short range ballistic missiles, Shaheen I( range 650 Km) and Ghazani (range 290 Km) capable of carrying nuclear war heads and striking Indian cities. Current Affairs [April 2010] * Belgium became the Europes first country to ban burqa. * Pakistans National assembly passed a bill that takes away the Presidents power to dissolve parliament, dismiss a elected government and appoint the three services Chiefs. Pakistans parliament passes 18th amendment which was later signed by Presient cutting Presidents powers. * USA and Russia signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START) that allowed a maximum of 1550 deployed overheads, about 30% lower than a limit set in 2002. The treaty was signed in the Progue Castle. * Emergency was imposed in Thailand. * Nuclear Security Summit held at Washington.It was a 47 nation summit wherein P.M. announced setting up of a global nuclear energy centre for conducting research & development of design systems that are secure, proliferation resistant & sustainable. * PM visit USA & Brazil, a two nation tour. He attended Nuclear Security Summit in USA & India- Brazil-S.Africa(IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China(BRIC) summit in Brasilia (Brazil). * 16th SAARC Summit held in Bhutan in 28-29 April. The summit was held in Bhutan for the first time. It is the silver jubilee summit as SAARC has completed 25 years. The summit central theme was Climate Change. The summit recommended to declare 2010-2020 as the Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC. The 17th SAARC summit will be held in Maldives in 2011. Current Affairs [March 2010] * China will launch in 2011 unmammed space mode Tiangong I for its future space laboratory. * US internet giant Google close its business in China. * Indias largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel buy Zains Africa operations for an enterprise value of $ 10.7 billion (Rs 49000 crore). Currently Bhartis non-India operations include Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. * Russia abolished two of its eleven time Zones. Current Affairs [February 2010] * NATO forces carried out Marjah operation (dubbed Moshtarak) against Taliban forces in Afghanistan. * European Union summit was held in Brussels. EU & IMF decided to giving support to

Greece in its struggle to bring its ballooning budget deficit under control. EU President is Herman Van Rompuy. * Irans President Mahmood Ahmedinejad declared that Iran had produced first batch of 20 % enriched uranium and now Iran became a nuclear state. * Iran launched Kavoshger -3 rocket capable of carrying a satellite. It carried a mouse, worms & two turtles. Current Affairs [January 2010] * Gilgit Baltistan region elected its first Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on the basis of Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment & Self Governance Order 2009. The new appointed CM declare the Gilgit Baltistan region as 5th province of Pakistan. The Indian Govt has, however, of the view that the region was part of J & K, and thus objected to the remarks of CM. * Venezuela devalued it currency Bolivar. * A massive earthquake strike Haiti, the Carribbean nation. Capital of Haiti is Port-au-Prince. * Mahinda Rajapaksa won a second term as Sri Lankas President. He belongs to Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

Current National Issues Current Affairs [May 2010] * Naxalites killed 47 people in a landmine blast between Dantewada and Sukma in Chattisgarh. * Test fire of nuclear capable Agni-II missile was successfully carried out from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa on 17th May. Agni II has a range of 2000Km. It is 20m long two stage solid propelled ballistic missile. It was developed by Advanced System Laboratories alongwith DRDO & Bharat Dynamics Ltd. * Supreme Court in a recent judgement upheld a rule that allows the adjustment of reserved category candidate SC/ST/OBC against their quota seats even if they manage to qualify an examination for govt services on merit. * National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is the monitoring authority for the Right to Education Act which became effective from April 1, 2010. Current Affairs [April 2010] * Naxals killed about 75 CRPF personal at Chintalnar-Tarmetla village in Dantewada distt ,Chhattisgarh. Government appoint E.N. Rammohan, to probe the incident. * Uninque Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) now known as Aadhaar. Its Chairman is Nandan Nilekani. It will assign 16 digit identification number to all residents in India. * NTRO- National Technical Research Organisation. The organization came to limelight after allegation of phone tapping of politicians. * Indian navy commissioned Indias first indigenously built stealth warship INS Shivalik. The other stealth warship to be built are named as INS Sahyadri and INS Satpura. * Right To Education Act is notified and will become a legally enforceable from 1 April 2010. Key features of RTE Act are : All children in 6-14 age group must get free and compulsory eduction; No child shall be held back,expelled or required to pass a board

examination till Class VIII; There must be 25 % reservation for poor children even in private & minority schools; There must be one teacher for every 30 students; A child rights commission will look into violations of the RTE law. * Govt start Census 2011. It is the 15th Census. It is in two phase. The first phase is called House listing & Housing Census and the second phase is called decadal headcount which will be held in Feb 2011. The Registrar General of India is C Chandramouli. Current Affairs [March 2010] * Govt launched National Mission for Empowerment of Women aimed at inter-sectoral convergence of all pro- women programmes. * Constitution 108th Amendment Bill 2008 commonly known as womens reservation bill was passed by Rajya Sabha by 186 in favour 1 against 39 abstained (Current strength of Rajya Sabha is 233). The bill seeks to reserve a third of the seats on the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for 15 years on a rotational basis. It was first introduced in 1996. Sharad Joshi, an independent MP is the only MP which cast vote against the bill. In the present Lok Sabha, there are 59 women MPs out of 543 MPs. Total MLAs in 29 state assemblies in India are 4093. * Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Vishakhapatnam (AP) are choosen for a pilot project on saving household energy by replacing incandescent lamps with CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps). * Earth Hour 2010 has been celebrated on 27 March organized by World Wide Fund for Nature, India. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are official Earth Hour Cities among 15 Indian cities. * Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia visit India in March 2010. * Supreme Court allowed religion based 4 % reservations in Govt jobs & educational institutes in Andhra Pradesh. It extended the benefit to 14 OBC in muslims in the state. The matter is further referred to Constitutional bench of Supreme Court. * Bold Kurushetra a joint armour exercise between India and Singapore was held at Jhansi(UP). * Prohibition of unfair practices in technical, medical educational institutions & universities Bill is passed by Govt. It provided for 3 year imprisonment and a fine of upto Rs 50 lakh for higher education providers guilty of misleading students. * Govt approved Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry & Operation) Bill 2010. It provides foreign universities to set up campuses in India. * Govt amends Anti Hijacking Act 1982. It now provides for death sentence to the hijackers. * Govt starts the scheme for creation of the National Population Register (NPR) of Indian residents. The project will cover an estimated 1.2 billion people and total cost of the project will be Rs. 3539.24 crore. * India became 1st country in the world to have a manoeuvrable supersonic cruise missile, when it successfully test fired 290 km range Brahmos missile. * Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visit India in March 2010. Current Affairs [February 2010] * Kirit Parikh committee , set up to review petro pricing regime, submit its recommendation. Its major recommendation are to deregulate the prices of petrol & diesel as per market prices, reduce the subsidy on LPG. * India signed a Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the UK, which became the 8th country to enter into such a pact, since the lifting of atomic trade embargo in 2008.

* Govt set up a panel under the Chairmanship of former Justice B N Srikrishna which would consider the demand for splitting Andhra Pradesh. * India and Denmark signed a social security pact which will relieve their workers from double taxation and provide for cooperation in areas of labour market expansion and orderly migration. * Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Saudi Arabia in Feb 2010. He was the first Indian PM in 28 years to visit the gulf country. Saudi Arabia is Indias largest supplier of crude oil ( 23 %) followed by Iran ( 17 %) and Nigeria ( 11 %). India is offering upto 10 % equity to Saudi petroleum firm Saudi Aramco in a refinery being built in Orissa. PM addressed the Shoura council of Saudi Arabia. * Constitution 111th Amendment Proposes to incorporate a new Part ( Part IX B) in the Constitution so as to provide for legal framework to regulate the functioning of cooperative societies. A new Article ( Article 43 B) is also proposed to be inserted in Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) for the States to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning of cooperative societies. * Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009 commonly known as Nuclear Liability Bill will be introduced by Govt in Parliament in Winter session 2010. The draft bill aims at limiting the liability of a nuclear plant operator to Rs. 300 crore in the eventuality of an accident. The bill provides for the penalty to be paid by the operator and not the supplier companies which would mainly be American in this case. India has entered into civil nuclear cooperation agreement with eight countries so far. Current Affairs [January 2010] * Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visit India in Jan 2010. She belongs to Awami League Party. The two countries signed five agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, on transfer of sentenced persons and on combating international terrorism, organized crime & illicit drug trafficking besides MOU on cooperation in the power sector and on cultural exchanges. India give Bangladesh a $ 1 billion line of credit, the biggest it has given to any country so far. * South Korea President Lee Myung Bak visit India in Jan 2010. The two countries decided to double the bilateral trade to $ 30 billion by 2014. Four facts were signed between two countries cooperation in peaceful use of outer space, IT, science & technology for the year 2010-12 and transfer of sentenced persons. South Korean President was also the chief guest at 2010 Republic Day Parade. * Gujarat Local Authorities Law (amendment) Bill 2009- The Bill makes it the duty of a qualified voter to vote during elections to local bodies. Voting is compulsory, but the Bill allows voters to cast their vote in favour of none of the candidates. Election officers will declare those who fail to vote defaulter, and serve them a notice. * India and China has decided to start joint military exercise from 2011. * Najib Razak, Malaysia Prime Minister visit India in Jan 2010. * Govt launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Key highlights of the mission are : o To create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2020. o To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability for indigenous production and market leadership. o To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000 MW by 2022. o To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by

2022. o To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022. * New Governors appointed : a) M K Narayanan West Bengal, b)Shivraj Patil Punjab, c) Mohsina Kidwai Jharkhand, d) Shekhar Dutt Chhattisgarh, e) E S L Narasimhan Andhra Pradesh. * Govt plans to create a National Gas Highway Development Authority. The present Gas Pipeline Density in India is 3.29 Km per 1000 Sq.Km. * Govt plans to set up a National Green Tribunal to control Carbon Emissions and pollution. It will be responsible for implementing the low carbon roadmap to be set forth in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Sports Current Affairs 2010 Current Affairs [May 2010] * England won 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating Australia. The tournament was held at South Africa. Kevin Pieterson of England has been declared as Player of the Tournament. * Australia won 2010 Womens World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating New Zealand. * India and South Korea were declared joint winner of 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup, after suspension of the final match due to heavy rains.Indias Sardar Singh has been declared as Best Player of the Tournament. Australia won the Bronze medal. The tournament was held at Ipoh (Malaysia). India had won the tournament earlier in 1985, 1991, 1995 & 2009. * China won Thomas Cup ( Mens Badminton) defeating Indonesia. * In the World Youth Boxing Championship, held at Baku, Azerbaijan, India won 1 Gold & 1 Silver. Gold medal was won by Vikas Krishan and Silver medal was won by Shiva Thapa. * India won bronze medal in the 2nd Asian Paragliding Championship held at Nishiewa, Japan. * World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand retained his title after defeating Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the World Chess Championship 2010. Current Affairs [April 2010] * IPL3 season won by Chennai Super Kings defeating Mumbai Indians. * Youth Olympics Games 2010 to be held in Singapore in Aug 2010. * World Youth Championship was held at Baku, Azerbaijan. * Lawn tennis legend Martina Navratilova diagnosed with Breast Cancer. * Jumbo chosen as 2011 World Cricket Cup Mascot. * World Kabbadi Cup 2010- India defeated Pakistan to won World Cup Kabbadi 2010 held at Ludhiana. * Pankaj Advani won the Asian Billiards Championship defeating Singapores Peter Gilchrist for the consecutive third time. * Badminton Asia Championship, Delhi : o Mens singles Lin Dan defeated Wang Zhenguing o Womens singles-Li Xiurei defeated Liu Xin. Current Affairs [March 2010]

* Tamil Nadu defeated West Bengal to won Vijay Harare Cricket Trophy. * Australia won World Hockey Cup 2010 defeating Germany. India ranked at 8th place. * India won six gold medal in the Commonwealth Boxing Championship held at Delhi. * Two new IPL teams, Kochi was auctioned for Rs 1533 crore and Pune was auctioned for Rs 1702 crore. Kochi was auctioned to Rendezvous Adventure Sports Ltd. Pune was auctioned to Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd. Current Affairs [February 2010] * Sachin Tendulkar became first player in the world to score a double century in ODI (One day International). He scored 200 (Not out) against South Africa. * 11th South Asian Games 2010 : Held at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 Jan to 8 Feb. Originally scheduled to take place in 2009, but due to general elections in Bangladesh, the games were held in 2010. This was the third time that the Dhaka hosted the Games, thus becoming the first city to hold the games three times. 8 countries participated in the games in 23 different sports, including T20 cricket, which was introduced for the first time in SAG. The 8 countries included are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. 1The logo of the games was Kutumb, a flying doel , which is the national bird of Bangladesh. The mascot of the games featured a magpie robin, which was holding the torch to begin the games. The final medal tally include : India - 1st place with 90 G 55 S 29 B Total 174, Pakistan- 2nd place with 19 G 25 S 36 B Total 80, Bangladesh- 3rd place with 18 G 23 S 56 B Total 97. * West Zone won Duleep Trophy ( 2009-10) defeating South Zone. * Indias Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Asian Tour International Trophy 2010. It is his 2nd consecutive title. * Euro 2012 to be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. * 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held at Vancouver, Canada. Mascot of the game was MIGA (a sea bear), QUATCHI( a sasquatch) and SUMI (animal guardian spirit). The logo of the games was Ilnaaq meaning Friend in Inuktut. There were 86 events in 7 sports. The games were held from 12 Feb to 28 Feb. Final medal tally. Canada- 14 G 7 S 5 B, Germany10 G 13 S 7 B, USA- 9 G 15 S 13 B. * IOC (International Olympic Committee ) has approved ICC (International Cricket Council) bid to join the Olympic games 2020. The first time cricket was included in the Olympic games was in Paris Olympic 1900. * 11th World Hockey Cup 2010- To be held in Delhi, India. This is 2nd WHC which India is hosting. India also hosted the WHC in 1982 at Mumbai. 12 countries participated in the tournament. WHC is held in the years between two summer Olympics. First WHC was held at Barcelona in 1971. Pakistan has won the cup four times, Netherland three times, Germany two times, India & Australia once each. India won the WHC in 1975. * Commonwealth Shooting Championship was held in New Delhi in Feb 2010. India stood at first place with 35 Gold 25 Silver and 14 Bronze. England stood at 2nd place with 4 gold and Wales stood at 3rd place. Current Affairs [January 2010] * U-19 World Cup 2010 held in New Zealand from 15 30 Jan 2010. Javagal Srinath from India appointed as one of the match referee for the tournament. * Australia won the U-19 World Cup for the third time defeating Pakistan. India is placed at 6th rank. Australia won the cup for the third time.

* Rafael Nadal won the Capitala World Tennis Championsip, held at Abu Dhabi defeating Robin Soderling. * Magnus Carlsen becomes the youngest World No.1 chess player at the age of 19 years breaking the Garry Kasparovs record when he became the worlds top ranked chess player at the age of 22 years in 1985. Magnus Carlsen is the 5th player after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and V.Anand (India) to cross the 2800 ELO rating. In the Jan 2010 FIDE ranking, Carlsen stood at 1st place, Topalov at 2nd place and V Anand at 3rd place. * Marin Cilic defeated Staniglas Wawrinka to won Mens singles title of Aircel Chennai Open. * Pakistans cricketer Shahid Afridi was banned for two T20 internationals after he was found guilty of ball tempering in a ODI against Australia. * Corus Chess Grandmaster Tournament won by Magnus Carlsen. V.Anand of India ranked at 4th place. Hopman Cup 2010- Spain defeated Great Britain. * Australian Open 2010 : Womens Single- Serena William defeated Justin Henin. It is Serenas 5th Australian Open title. It is also Serenas 12th Grand Slam title equaling the record of Billie Jean King. * Mens Single- Roger Federer(Swiss) defeated Andy Murray(Britain). It is Federers 4th Australian Open title. It is Federers 16th Grand Slam title. * Mens Double- Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan defeated Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic. * Womens Double Serena Williams & Venus Williams defeated Cara Black & L Huber. * Mixed Double Laender Paes (India) & Cara Black (Zimbabwe) defeated Ekterina Makasova & Jaroslav Levinsky. It is Paess 11th Grand Slam title.

Science & Technology 2010 Current Affairs [February 2010] * USA Space agency NASA launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to discover the causes of extreme solar activity such as sun spots and solar winds & flares. * GANGES- Global Advisory Network Group on environmental sciences. It was created by Govt for environment research work. * Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 Km was successfully launched from Wheeler Island, Orissa. * Ht Cotton Herbicide Tolerant Cotton. The variety of Ht Cotton in MON 1445. The variety can withstand herbicides (weed killers) for better productivity and is under trail. * Cervical cancer is caused by HPV- Human Papilloma Virus. * South Korea has worlds highest average connection speed at 14.6 Mbpd in Internet links. Japan has 2nd highest average speed. * Scientist deciphered the genetic blueprint of South Africas Archbishop Desmond Titu. Current Affairs [January 2010] * 97th Indian Science Congress held at Tiruvananthapuram in Jan 2010. The theme of this year congress was Science & Technology of 21st Century- National Perspective. * The longest annular solar eclipse on the third millennium occur on 15 Jan 2010. The next annular solar eclipse will be visible in year 3043. Annular eclipse is occurred when the sun is visible like a ring of fire, with the moon darkening its centre. The last annular solar eclipse

visible from India was occurred in 1976. In July 2010 also, a total solar eclipse will be occurred. * There are three strains of wild Polio virus namely P1, P2 & P3. Type 2 wild Polio virus (P2) was eliminated from the world in 1999. * First public hearing on the introduction of Bt Brinjal (First Genetically Modified Food Crop in India) was held in Kolkatta. Seven such public hearing are being organized by Centre for Environment Education, for opinion of public in respect of introduction of Bt Brinjal. 2nd hearing was held at Hyderabad. * 50th anniversary of creation of LASER is being celebrated in 2010. Theodore Maiman constructed the first LASER in May 1960. LASER stands for Light Amplification for Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Charles H Townes was father of MASER.

Heads of Important Offices in India

Dr. Manmohan Singh: Chairman, Planning Commission. Ms. Meira Kumar: Speaker, Lok Sabha. Mohammad Hamid Ansari: Chairman, Rajya Sabha. Mr. K. Rahman Khan: Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha. Mr. Gopinath Munde: Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha. Ms. Sushma Swaraj : Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha). Mr. Arun Jaitley: Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha). Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. Mr. Navin Chawla: Chief Election Commissioner Mr. V. S. Sampath : Election Commissioner. Mr. S. Y. Qiuaishi : Election Commissioner. Mr. Vinod Rai : Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. Mr. K. M. Chandrasekhar: Cabinet Secretary. Mr. T. K. A. Nair : Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. Mr. Justice M. Narayana Rao: Chairman, National Commission for Backward Classes. Ms. Shanta Sinha: Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Dr. Buta Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes Mr. Kunwar Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Prof. D. P. Agrawal: Chairman, UPSC. Dr. M. S. Swaminathan : Chairman, National Commission on Farmers. Mr. Shiv Shankar Menon: National Security Adviser and Special Adviser to PM (Internal Security). Mr. R.V. Raju : Director-General, National Investigation Agency (NIA). Mr. S. S. Khurana: Chairman, Railway Board. Mr. Vivek Kumar Agnihotri: Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha Mr. P. D. T. Achary : Secretary-General, Lok Sabha. Mr. Rajiv Mathur: Director, IB.

Mr. Ashwani Kumar: Director, CBI. Mr. K. C. Verma: Director, Research and Analysis Wing. Mr. N .P. S. Aulakh: Director-General, NSG. Mr. Vikram Srivastava : Director-General, CRPF. Mr. Raman Srivastava : Director-General, Border Security Force (BSF). Mr. Niraj Ranjan Das : Director-General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Mr. Ranjit Sinha: Director-General, Railway Protection Force. Mr. R.L. Bhatia: Director-General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Mr. Gopal Sharma: Director-General, Sashastra Seema Bal. Vice-Admiral R.F. Contractor: Director-General, Coast Guard. Lt. Gen. Avtar Singh: Director-General, Defence Intelligence Agency. Mr. Sukhadeo Thorat : Chairman, UGC. Mr. M. Natarajan : Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Defence Research & Development Organisation. Dr. R. Chidambaram : Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government. Mr. K. Radhakrishnan: Chairman, Space Commission and ISRO. Mr. Srikumar Banerjee : Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Dept. of Atomic Energy. Mr. N. K. Raghupathy : Chairman, SSC. Mr. Justice (Retd.) B. N. Kirpal: Chairman, National Forest Commission. Dr. Amrita Patel: Chairperson, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Lt. Gen. M. C. Badhani : Director-General, Border Roads Organisation. Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch : Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research. Mr. D. K. Sikri : Registrar-General of India and Census Commissioner. Mr. P. Venkatarami Reddy: Chairman, Law Commission. Mr. Duvvuri Subbarao : Governor, RBI. Mr. Justice G. N. Ray: Chairman, Press Council of India. Mr. Subroto Chattopadhyay : Chairman, Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). Mr. N. B. Singh: Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Mr. A. K. Singh: Chairman, Central Board of Excise & Customs. Justice Arijit Pasayat : Chairperson, Competition Appellate Tribunal Mr. S. K. Garg : CMD, NHPC. Mr. R. S. Sharma: CMD, ONGC. Mr. U. D. Choubey : CMD, GAIL. Mr. S. Behuria : Chairman, IOC. Mr. N. M. Borah: CMD, Oil India Ltd. Mr. Vineet Joshi: Chairman, CBSE. Mr. C. B. Bhave: Chairman, Securities & Exchange Board of India. Mr. U. C. Sarangi: Chairman, NABARD. Mr. O. P. Bhat : Chairman, SBI. Mr. V. P. Shetty : Chairman, IDBI. Mr. S. Balasubramanian : Chairman, Company Law Board. Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri : India's Permanent Representative to UN. Mr. T. S. Vijayan : Chairman, LIC Mr. A. K. Bajaj : Chairman, Central Water Commission. Ms. Girija Vyas : Chairperson, National Commission for Women. Dr. Vijay L. Kelkar: Chairman, 13th Finance Commission. Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar : Chairman, National Statistical Commission. Ms. Shafmila Tagore : Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification. Ms. Anshu Vaish : Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India.

Mr. Ranjan Mittal : President, FICCI. Mr. J. S. Sarma: Chairman, TRAI Mr. R. N. Das : Director, Enforcement Directorate. Mr. D. Swarup : Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority. Mr. Pratyush Sinha: Central Vigilance Commissioner. Mr. S. Banerjee: Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Mr. Wajahat Habibullah : Information Commissioner. Mr. Suresh Kalmadi : President, Indian Olympic Association. Prof. Krishan Kumar: Director, NCERT. Mr. Venu Srinivasan: President, CII. Mr. Sam Pitroda : Chairman, National Knowledge Commission. Ms. Mrinal Pande : Chairman, Prasar Bharti Board. Mr. Ratan Tata : Chairman, Investment Commission. Mr. Pramod Bhasin : Chairman, NASSCOM. Mr. Swati Piramal: President, ASSOCHAM. Mr. Om Puri : Chairman, National Film Development Corporation. Mr. Ravindra Kumar: Chairman, United News of India. Mr. N. Ravi : Chairman, PTI. Mr. Hormusji N. Cama: President, Indian Newspaper Society. (As on 23-06-2010)

HEAD OF IMPORTANT OFFICES (WORLD)

Ban Ki-moon : Secretary-General, United Nations Organisation.

Ms. Asha-Rose Migiro : First Deputy Secretary-General, UN. Robert Zoellick : President, World Bank. Dominic Strauss-Kahn: Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Irina Bokova: Director-General-UNESCO. Dr. Margaret Chan: Director-General, WHO. Jacques Diouf: Director-General, Food and Agricultural Organisation. Juan Somavia : Director-General, International Labour Organisation. Ann M. Veneman: Executive Director, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Antonio Guterres : UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi : Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Angel Gurria : Secretary-General, Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Ms. Rosalyn Higgins: President, International Court of Justice. Haruhiko Kuroda: President, Asian Development Bank. Donald Kaberuka : President, African Development Bank. Jacques Rogge: President, International Olympic Committee. Kamalesh Sharma: Secretary-General, Commonwealth. . Muammar Qaddafi : Chairman, African Union. Pascal Lamy : Director-General, WTO. Ms. Navanethan Pillay : High Commissioner, UN High Commission for Human Rights. Jerzy Buzek : President, European Union David Morgan: President, International Cricket Council. Raul Castro: Secretary-General, Non-Aligned Movement.

Jose Manuel Durao Barroso: President, European Commission. Kandeh K. Yumkella : Director-General, UNIDO. Abdul-Rahman bin Hamad Al-Attiyah: Secretary-General, Gulf Co-operation Council. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu : Secretary-General, Organisation of Islamic Conference. Abdallah Salem el-Badri: Secretary-General, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Jose Miguel Insulza Salinas: Secretary-General, Organisation of American States. Hifikepunye Pohamba : President, South-West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). Mr. Yukiya Amano : Director- General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Jaap de Hoop Scheffer: Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Dr. Abdul Waheed Khan: Director, Commonwealth of Learning. Hashim Abdul Halim : Chairman, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Ms. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid : Executive Director, UNFPA. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan : Secretary-General, ASEAN. Q. A. M. A. Rahim : Secretary-General, SAARC Lamine Diack : President, International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). Michael Griffin : Chief of NASA (USA). Saleel Shetty: Secretary-General, Amnesty International.

WORLD PRESIDENTS AND PRIME MINISTERS

Afghanistan: President - Hamid Karzai; Capital - Kabul. Algeria: President - Abdelaziz Bouteflika; Prime Minister - Ahmed Ouyahia; CapitalAlgiers. Argentina: President- Ms. Cristina Fernandez Kirchner; Capital- Buenos Aires. Australia: Governor-General- Ms. Quentin Bryce; PRIME MINISTER- Kevin Rudd; Capital (Federal)- Canberra. Austria: President- Heinz Fischer; Chancellor-Werner Faymann, Capital- Vienna. Bahrain: King - Hamad ibn al-Khalifah; Prime Minister - Sheikh Khalifah Sulman alKhalifah; Capital- Manama. Bangladesh: President - Zillur Rahman; PRIME MINISTER - Ms. Sheikh Hasina; CapitalDhaka. Belarus: President- Alexander Lukashenko; Prime Minister - Sergei Sidorsky; CapitalMinsk. Belgium: King - Albert II; Prime Minister-Herman Van Rompuy; Capital- Brussels. Bhutan: King - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk; Prime Minister-Jigmi Y. Thinley; Capital Thimphu Bolivia: President- Evo Morales; Capital La Paz. Brazil: President- Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; Capital - Brasilia.

Bulgaria: President - Georgi Purvanov; Prime Minister - Boyko Borisov; CapitalSofia. Cambodia: King - Norodom Sihamoni; Prime Minister - Hun Sen; Capital Phnom Penh. Canada: Governor-General Ms. Michaelle Jean; PRIME MINISTER - Stephen Harper; Capital- Ottawa. Chile: President - Ms. Michelle Bachelet; Capital - Santiago. China: President- Hu Jintao; Prime Minister-Wen Jiabao; Capital- Beijing. Colombia: President- Alvaro Uribe Velez; Capital - Bogota. Croatia: President - Stjepan Mesic; Prime Minister -Dr. Ivo Sanader; Capital-Zagreb. Cuba: President- Raul Castro; Capital -Havana. Czech Republic: President- Vaclav Klaus; Prime Minister -Jan Fischer; Capital-Prague. Denmark: Queen - Margrethe II; Prime Minister- Lars Lokke Rasmussen; Capital Copenhagen. Egypt: President - Hosni Mubarak; Prime Minister - Ahmed Najief; Capital-Cairo. Finland: President - Ms. Tarja Halonen; Prime Minister - Matti Vanhanen; CapitalHelsinki. France: President- Nicolas Sarkozy; Prime Minister - Francois Fillon; Capital- Paris. Germany: President - Horst Koehler; Chancellor - Ms. Angela Merkel; Capital-Berlin. Guyana: President - Bharrat Jagdeo; Prime Minister - Samuel Hinds; CapitalGeorgetown. Greece: President Karolos Papoulias; Prime Minister George Papandreou; Capital Athens. Hungary: President- Laszlo Solyom; PRIME MINISTER - Gordon Bajnai; CapitalBudapest. Indonesia: President - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Capital- Jakarta. Iran: President - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Capital- Teheran. Iraq: President -Jalai Talabani; Prime Minister - Nuri al-Maliki, Capital- Baghdad. Ireland: President- Ms. Mary McAleese; Prime Minister - Brian Cowen, Capital- Dublin.

Israel: President - Shimon Peres; PRIME MINISTER - Benjamin Netanyahu; CapitalJerusalem. Italy: President - Georgio Napolitano; Prime Minister- Silvio Berlusconi; Capital- Rome. Japan: Emperor- Akihito; Prime Minister: Yukio Hatoyama; Capital- Tokyo. Jordan: King - Abdullah II; Prime Minister-Nader al-Dahabi; Capital- Amman. Kazakhstan: President - Nursultan A. Nazarbayev; Prime Minister Karim Masimov; Capital- Astana. Kenya: President - Mwai Kibaki; Prime Minister - Raila Odinga; Capital - Nairobi. Korea, North: President Marshal Kim Jong II; Prime Minister Hong Song Nam; Capital- Pyongyang. Korea, South: President-, Lee Myung-Bak; Prime Minister - Chung Un-chan; Capital Seoul. Kuwait: Emir - Sheikh Sabah ai-Ahmad al-Sabah; Capital - Kuwait. Kyrgyzstan: President (Interim) Kurmanbek Bakiyey; Prime Minister - Daniyar Usenov Capital - Bishkek. Madagascar: President - Andy Rajoelina; Prime Minister - Eugene Mangalaza; CapitalAntananarivo. Malaysia: King - T. S. S. Syed Putra Jamalullail; Prime Minister- Najib Tun Razak; Capital-Kuala Lumpur. Maldives: President - Mohammed "Anni" Nasheed; Capital - Male. Mauritius: President - Anerood Jugnauth; Prime Minister - Navinchandra Ramgoolam; Capital - Port Louis. Mongolia: President - Nambaryn Enkhbayar; Prime Minister - Sukhbaatar Batblod; Capital - Ulan Bator. Montenegro: President - Filip Vujanovic; Prime Minister-Milo Dukanovic; Capital Podgorica Morocco: King - Mohammed VI; Prime Minister - Abbas El Fassi; Capital - Rabat. Myanmar (Burma) : Head of Govt. : Gen. Than Shwe; Capital - Nyapidaw. Nepal: President - Dr. Ram Baran Yadav; Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal; Capital -Kathmandu. Netherlands: Queen - Beatrix; Capital-Amsterdam.

New Zealand: Governor-General Anand Satyanand; PrimeMinister - John Key; CapitalWellington. Nigeria: President - Umaru Yar'Adua; Capital - Abuja. Norway: King - Harald V; Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg; Capital - Oslo. Pakistan: President - Asif Ali Zardari; Prime Minister - Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani; Capital -Islamabad. . Panama: President - Ricardo Martenelli; Capital - Panama City. Paraguay: President - Fernando Lugo; Capital Asuncion Peru: President - Alan Garcia; Prime Minister -Javier Velasquez; Capital- Lima. Philippines: President - Ms. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo; Capital - Manila. Poland: Prime Minister- Donald Tusk; Capital- Warsaw. Portugal: President - Amibal Cavaco Silva; Prime Minister - Jose Socrates; CapitalLisbon. Romania: President - Traian Basecue; Prime Minister - Emil Boc; Capital - Bucharest. Russia: President - Dmitry Medvedev; Prime Minister - Vladimir Putin; Capital - Moscow. Rwanda: President - Paul Kagame; Prime Minister - Bernard Makuza; Capital -Kigali. Saudi Arabia : King - Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud; Capital- Riyadh. Serbia: President - Boris Tadic; Prime Minister - Mirko Cvetkovic; Capital - Belgrade. Singapore: President - S. R. Nathan; PRIME MINISTER - Lee Hsien Loong; Capital Singapore. Slovakia: President - Ivan Gasparovic; Prime Minister - Robert Fico; Capital-Bratislava. South Mrica : President- Jacob Zuma; Capital-Cape Town (Legislative) and Tshwane (Formerly Pretoria) (Administrative). Spain: King - Juan Carlos I; Prime Minister-Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero; Capital Madrid. Sri Lanka: President - Mahinda Rajapaksa; Prime Minister - Ratnasiri Wickremanayake; Capital- Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (Colombo). Sudan: President - Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir; Capital - Khartoum.

Sweden: King - Carl XVI Gustaf; PRIME MINISTER Fredrik Reinfeldt; Capital Stockholm. Switzerland: President - Hans-Rudolf Merz; Capital Berne Syria: President - Bashar Al-Assad; Prime Minister - Muhammad Naji al-Otari; CapitalDamascus. Taiwan: President - Ma Ying-jeou; Prime Minister -Wu Den-yih; Capital Taipei. Turkey: President - Abdullah Gul; Prime Minister - Recep Tayyip Erdogan; CapitalAnkara. Ukraine: President - Victor Yushchenko; Prime Minister- Yulia Tymoshenko; CapitalKiev. United Arab Emirates: Prime Minister- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum; Capital- Abu Dhabi. United Kingdom: Queen - Elizabeth II; Prime Minister - Gordon Brown; Capital London. United States of America: President Barack Obama; Secretary of State -Ms. Hillary Clinton; Capital- Washington, D.C. Uzbekistan: President - Islam A. Karimov; Prime Minister - Shavkat Mirziyayev; CapitalTashkent. Venezuela: President - Hugo Chavez Frias; Capital - Caracas. Vietnam: President - Nguyen Minh Triet; Prime Minister - Nguyen Tan Dung; CapitalHanoi. Zimbabwe: President - Robert G. Mugabe; PRIME MINISTER - Morgan Tsvangirai; Capital- Harare.

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOTES 2009

International Affairs 2009

Fijis president Ratu Josefa Iloilo repealed the countrys constitution and appointed himself head of the State and set a 2014 election deadline.

Switzerland expanded its border upto 150 meters into Italian territory because of melting glaciers in the high Alps. Venezuelas Stefania Fernandez become Miss Universe 2009. This is the 2nd consecutive year Miss Venezuela has won the title. Venezuela has so far won the title for the record six times. Miss Ada de la Cruz (Dominican Republic) is 1st runner up. Miss Marigona Dragusha is the 2nd runner up. Miss Universe 2009 contest was held in Bahamas. Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT) is an agreement that binds 141 countries in a pact that facilitates the process of seeking protection for an invention in multiple countries. The PCT which is administered by WIPO ( World Intellectual Property Organization) is particularly valuable option for any company operating internationally. It is a procedural treaty first launched in 1978. Recently PCT is in news because it is under modification/ reformation which India is opposing. Pakistan govt clears construction of the $ 8.5 billion Diamer-Bhasha power project of 4500 MW capacity on the Indus river in the Gilgit region in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Under the Indus water treaty signed with India, Pakistan is free to build dams anywhere on the Indus river. The treaty gives India first right over the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers and Pakistan the same privileges over the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers. 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II ( 1 Sep 1939) celebrated on 1 Sep. OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) parliamentary assembly recently grouped Germany and Soviet Union, pronouncing them to be equally responsible for World War II. Yukio Hatoyama is appointed as next Prime Minister of Japan. He is nicknamed the alien. For the first time since last 54 years, LDP(Liberal democratic party) ousted from forming Govt in Japan. Hatoyama belongs to Democratic Party. USA Commission on International Religious Freedom placed India on its watch list for 2009 because it found the Indian govt had failed to take effective measures to ensure the rights of religious minorities. The summit of Dushanbe Four was held in 2009. It includes Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The official objective to the summit was to discuss supply of electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nepal Vice President Parmananda Jha who took oath in Hindi last year, has been asked by the Nepal Supreme Court to retake the oath in Nepali language or resign from the post. Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after it failed to meet a deadline to make progress towards establishing democracy. Indias Reena Kaushal Dharamshaktu will be part of an eight member team that will ski to the South Pole to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Commonwealth. The expedition is headed by Felicity Aston and to be flagged off in Nov 2009. China intrudes Ladakh region on 31 July 2009. Sri Lanka expels James Elder, Communication chief with UNICEF(United Nations Childrens Fund).

Farah Pandith an Indian American, has been sworn in as the first US Special Representative to muslim communities in USA. As per report of UN World Food Programme (WFP), the number of hungry people will pass one billion this year for the first time. In the Food Security Risk Index 2009, India ranked at 25th place. The US is least at risk followed by France, Canada. The index rank the nations on the basis of risk of food shortage faced by the countries. Communal violence erupted in Chinas North West Xinjiang province capital Urumgi in July 09. START ( Strategic arms reduction treaty) between USA & Russia started on 31 July 1991 came to end on 5 Dec 2009. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) met at Yekaterinburg on June 2009. The SCO comprises of Russia, China, Kazakhtan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgzstan. India, Pakistan, Mongolia and Iran have observer status. Afghanistans president attended the summit as a special guest. Sri Lanka had been granted the status of dialogue partner. Google was shut down in China. The first ever summit of BRIC countries was held at Yekaterinburg in Russia in June 09. BRIC countries include Brazil, Russia, India and China. India signed a $ 400 million agreement with Ukraine to upgrade its fleet of transport aircraft AN-32 aimed at extending its life and improving avionics. Tipaimukh dam project issue between India and Bangladesh. Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Network (TAR) entered into force on June 11, 2009 after China ratified the treaty. The other parties to the agreement are Combodia, India, Mongolia, Korea, Russia, Tajikistan and Thailand. Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE was elected as headquarter of the International Renewal Energy Agency (IRENA), a grouping of 129 countries. Mini Pravasi Indian Day was held at Hague (Netherland) in Sep 2009. France President has recently remarked that the burqa is a sign of female subservience. Lord Swaraj Paul became the first India born Briton to be appointed a Privy Councillor in Britain. Milan has been named as the worlds top fashion city. Mumbai is placed at 16th place and Delhi at 17th place. Japans finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa resigned after he was accused to attending the G 7 summit in Rome in drinking condition. China became worlds largest green house gas emitter in 2007. USA at 2nd position. Russia at 3rd position. India at 4th position with one tone of Carbon Dioxide per person per year emission. Nuclear armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean.

USA govt approved $ 787 billion economic stimulus package initiated by Barack Obama. Venezualaa President Hugo Chavez won a referendum vote that lets him stay in power as long as he keeps winning elections. From 1 April 2009 NATO membership was enlarged to 28 with the entrance of Albania and Croatia. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) also called the North Atlantic Alliance is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. 16th SAARC Summit was held in Maldives in 2009. EUMA ( End User Monitoring Agreement)- India has signed EUMA with USA which allows US inspectors to verify the end use of US sourced high technology equipment to dual use. EUMA is designed to facilitate high end dual use technology transfer to India. Worlds first commercial passenger flight powered by natural Gas operated between London and Qatar in Oct 09. Shell company developed and produced the 50-50 blend of synthetic Gas to Liquid (GTL) kerosene and conventional oil based kerosene fuel. Qatar will become the worlds leading producer of GTL kerosene by 2012. Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark accord to restore ties and open their shared border after a century of hostility stemming from World War I. Operation Rah E Nijat or Path to Salvation- It is the name of operation conducted by Pakistan army against strongholds of Tehreek-e- Taliban (also called Pakistan Taliban) soldiers. USA has declared national emergency in view of increasing number of death due to Swine flu. Bangladesh decided to advance its time an hour to GMT + 7. Every 15 degree means an hour. France have 12 time zones, Russia have 11 times zones, USA has nine time zones. India has one time zone based on its 82*30 East near Allahabad. India and Canada signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal . Canada became the 8th country with which India has reached a civil nuclear agreement. Commonwealth has admitted Rwanda, central African country, as its 54th member. Nepal cabinet meet at Kala Patthar, situated at 17,192 ft above sea level in Nov 09 and the base camp of Mount Everest. It adopted Mt Everest declaration which allow setting up of Gauri Shankar Conservation Area near Mt Everest. COP15, the official term for the Copenhagen meeting, the 15th conference of parties to negotiate a new global climate treaty to replace or extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 in Dec 2009. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. India and Russia sign civil nuclear agreement in Dec 2009.

National Affairs 2009

Union govt cleared a constitutional amendment to increase the reservation for woman in Panchayat to 50 % from present 33 %. The Panchayati Raj Ministry amend Art 243 D of the Constitution of India accordingly. The proposed amendment will increase reservations for woman to 50 % in Zila Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats at District, Block and Village level respectively. India has about 28.18 lakh elected representatives in panchayats. Four states- Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh already have 50 % reservation for woman in Panchayat. Kerala also announced 50 % reservation for woman in Panchayat. Bihar was the first state to give 50 % reservations to woman in Panchayat in 2005. Govt clear setting up of National Mission Against Corruption Authority (NMAC). The aim of the authority will be to ensure better coordination among the CBI and State/UT anti corruption vigilance bureaus. Govt has declared 272 districts out of 616 districts as drought stricken in 2009 due to rainfall shortage. Draft of National Food Security Act to be presented in parliament in winter session (Jan 2010). As per the proposed Act, every family living below the poverty line in rural and urban areas will be entitled for 25 Kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per Kg. Govt plans to built 321 feet Shivaji statue in Mumbai. It is 16 feet taller that New Yorks Statue of Liberty and on completion, it became the tallest statue in the world. Jaswant Singh book Jinnah-India partition Independence was banned in Gujarat state. The ban however ,was lifted after the High court judgment. The book is a biography of Jinnah. Jaswant Singh also earlier write A Call to Honour. State Assembly Election was held in Oct 2009 in three states namely Haryana (seats -90), Maharashtra (seats -288) and Arunachal Pradesh (seats -60). Govt has decided that NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) will now provide employment for 200 days instead of 100 days. Parliament adopted the Constitution 109th amendment Bill 09 providing reservation of seats for SC & ST in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies of the states for another 10 years. Namibia president Hifikepunye Pohambe visit India in Sep 209. Russia provides nuclear submarine Nerpa to India in 2009. It is Akula-2 submarine series. Womens will be exempted from paying any fees for UPSC/SSC etc examination. SAF university to be set up in Delhi. It will be started from 2010-11 academic session. India bear 79 % of its expenditure. In the seven natural Wonders list, Indias only entry is that of Sunderban. It is a joint entry from India and Bangladesh.

Vision-2015 For Consumer Satisfaction and Beyond The paper is published by Oil & Petroleum ministry in which it is proposed to provide CNG in 200 cities by 2015. Mongolia president Tsakhiagiin Elbagdorj visited India in Sep 2009. India and Mongolia signed a Civil Nuclear pact. India already has civil nuclear agreement with USA, Russia, Kazakhstan and France. Indian National Congress party will completes 125 years on Dec 2009. Congress was formed on Dec 1885. Indias first non-stop super fast passenger train Duronto Train inaugurated from Sealdah station to Delhi. Total of 14 such trains will be launched this year. Yashpal Committee was set up to give recommendation on Higher education sector. Under Kisan Abhiman Scheme. Kerala Govt has granted Rs 300 per month as pension to farmers above 60 years of age. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank appointed as fifth Chief Minister of Uttrakhand. Railway ministry has appointed Amit Mitra to prepare Vision -2020 document for the railways. B Sudershan Reddy appointed as chairman of panel to look into the impeachment proceeding against Justice Soumitra Sen. India is funding Palaly project in Sri Lanka. Areva, French Company and Nuclear power corporation of India Ltd sign an agreement to set up two 1650 MW nuclear plants in Maharastra state. Govt launched Rajiv Awas Yojna under which govt plans to formulate for slum dwellers and the urban poor in an effort to promote a slum free India in next five years. Ramalingam Chandrashekeram appointed as head of parliamentary special committee that look into the matter of granting citizenship and other facilities for Sri Lankans in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. Indian Railway proposed a South Asian Regional Train service linking Dhaka, New Delhi and Lahore. Justice Liberhan Commission which probed the sequence of events that led to the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on Dec 1992, submitted its report. It has 399 sittings and 48 extensions. Govt increases minimum support price (MSP) for sugarcane to Rs. 107.76 for 2009-10. The MSP for the paddy crop for current year is Rs.950. Rajasthan will host the World Tiger Summit in Ranthambore in 2010. Appointment of new Governors D N Dwivedi ( Gujarat), Margarat Alwa (Uttarakhand), Jagannath Pahadia (Haryana). Tatas first Nano car was given to Ashok Vichare of Mumbai.

Dilip Donde will try to circumnavigate the world solo ( on his own) in boat Mhadei under Project Sagar Parikrama from 19 Aug 2009. Rajasthan became the first state in the country to sign a tripartite agreement with Central Govt promising accountability and adequate utilization of funds in the two tiger reserve of Sariska at Alwar and Ranthambore at Sawai Madho pur in Rajasthan. Jawahar lal Nehru Urban renewal mission (JNNURM) a centrally govt funded urban renewal mission is implemented in 63 cities out of a total of 5161 cities, towns and urban agglomerations in India. Right to Education Bill passed by the Parliament. Parliament made the right to education a fundamental right through the 93rd Constitution amendment. The bill earmarks 25 % seats to weaker sections in schools, seeks to do away with the practice of schools taking capitation fees before admission, subjecting the child or parents to a screening procedure and giving powers to child rights panels to look into grievances of parents against schools. Govt approved renaming of state of Orissa as Odisha and the Oriya language as Odia. Assembly election was held in Jharkhand which is under President Rule since Jan 2009 in Dec 09. Total number of seats are 81. RIC ( Russia, India & China). It is a group of three nations. Second meeting of RIC is held at Bangalore in Oct 09. President Pratibha Patil visit Britain in Oct 09 to invite Queen Elizabeth to inaugurate 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held next year. This is the first state visit by an Indian President to Britain after S Radakrishnan and R Venkataraman in 1963 & 1990 respectively. Separation plan India has notified its separation plan to International Atomic Energy Ageny. India will place 14 reactors under ISSA ( India Specific Safeguards Agreement) of the International nuclear watchdog by 2014. Under the plan, India has decided to permanently shut down the CIRUS research reactor located inside BARC, countries strategic laboratory in 2010. Govt has announced five new sites for setting up of light water reactors. The plants will come up at Jaitapur (Maharastra), Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu), Haripur (West Bengal), Chhayamithi Virdi (Gujarat) and Kovvada (Andhra Pradesh). Indian President Pratibha Patil visits Cyprus (Capital- Nicosia) in Nov 2009. Govt started Operation Green Hunt to tackle the Maoists in five Indian states. Bhutans King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangehuck visit India on a 5 day visit in Dec 09. He is the 5th king of Bhutan. NATGRID- National Intelligence Grid to be established by May 2011. The grid will provide real time access into 21 categories of databases such as credit card transaction, driving license, telephone, internet, passport, PAN details, bank A/c details etc.

Impeachement motion has been initiated against Justice P D Dinakaran in the parliament on charges of amassing disproportionate assets and land grab.

Sports Affairs 2009

Shooting champion of India, Samresh Jung is known as Gold finger. Heinrich Haussler won Tour de France 2009 tournament. Ranji Trophy celebrated Platinum Jubilee after completing 75 years in 2009. Ranji trophy will also be started in Ireland. 38th Ranji Trophy was won by Mumbai defeating UP in Jan 2009. Pullela Gopichand (Badminton champion) is the only person to have been awarded with Arjuna award, Dronacharya award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. Binish K Shahji of India won silver medal in World School Athletics in Estonia held in June 2009. Wimbledon 2009
y y y y y

Mens Single Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick. Federer break the record of Pete Sampras record of 14 grand slams. Womens Single Serena William defeated Venus William. She claimed third Wimbledon title. Womens doubles Serena and Venus William defeated Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur. Mixed Doubles- Mark Knowles and Anna Lena Groenefeld defeated Laender Paes(India) and Cara Black. Mens Doubles- Danial Nestor & Nened Jimonjic defeated Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan.

French Open 2009

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Mens single Roger Federer defeated Robin Soderling. Mens double Laender Paes and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman. Womens single Svetlana Kuzenletsova defeated Dinara Safina.

Australian Open 2009

y y y y

Mixed Double - Mahesh Bhupati and Sania Mirza defeated Nathalic Dechy and Andy Ram. Sania Mirza became the first Indian women to won a Grand slam title. Mens singles- Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer. He became the first Spaniard to won the title. Womens singles- Serena William defeated Dinara Safina. Indias Yuki Bhambri won Junior Australian Open Single title 2009 defeating A F Georgoudes.

US Open 2009
y y

Womens singles Kim Clijsters(Belgium) defeated Caroline Wozniacki. Mens singles- Argentinas Juan Martin del Potro defeated Roger Federer.

y y y

Mens Doubles- Laender Paes (India) and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark Knowles. This is Paes 10th Grand Slam title. Womens Doubles Venus Williams & Serena Williams defeated Cara Black & Ticzel Huber. Mixed double Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott defeated Cara Black & Laender Paes(India).

Science & Technology Affairs 2009

2009 is celebrated as International Year of Astronomy. 2009 is also celebrated as 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with the telescope used by the Italian physicist. 2009 is also celebrated as : Natural Fibre Year by UN, International Gurilla Year by conservationists & environmentalists, International Year of Reconciliation. Longest total solar eclipse of 21st century occurred on 22nd July 2009. It lasted 6 min 44 sec at Taregana in Bihar. GM( Genetically Modified) crops are those in which the genetic material(DNA) is altered so that there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer. Bt Cotton (Bacillius Thuringeinsis) is only commercially approved biotech crop in India. Govt plans to introduce GM foods particularly Tomatoes, Brinjals and Cauliflower to held meet food production target in three years time. Till date, India has only allowed the use of GM Cotton, a non food crop. India is worlds second largest cotton producer. Indias own Bt cotton variety : Bikaner Narma. Deep Space Network Facility is located at Byalalu, Karnataka. Chandrayan II a lander rover mission of ISRO is scheduled to be launched in 2012. ISRO plans to hoist a capsule with two Indians on board to the Moon by 2015. Subsquently, an Indian will be launched to set foot on the Moon in 2020. Aditya satellite will be sent by India to carry out studies on the Sun in 2012. SOHO stands for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Probe Plus of NASA to study Sun System will be launched in 2018. Indias first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarineArihant was launced on 26 July 2009. It will be commissioned by 2011. It was built with the help of Russian consultants. With the launch, India join elite club of five nations USA, Russia, China, Britain and France having nuclear powered submarine capability. Blue Brain project in Switzerland is under progress under which scientist attempt to Reverse engineer the mammalian brain. Novo-G, worlds fastest and most powerful supercomputer became operational. Novo-G got the first part of its name from the Latin term to make anew, change, alter and the second word G from Genesis. World Forestry Day celebrated on 21 March. Theme for 2009 was Sustainable Forest Management. India currently has 23.39 % of forest area against 33 % required. India presently has 37 Tiger reserves, 99 national parks and 515 wildlife sanctuaries. Earth Hour 2009 is a global event every year which will see landmarks around the world to go dark for an hour. Earth Day celebrated on 22 April.

Eight Millenium Development Goals (MDG) were set in Millenium Summit 2000. It has a deadline of 2015. Kerala has already achieve the targets in 2008. India launched a Israel developed spy satellite RISAT 2 providing all weather 24 hour surveillance. Also launched experimental communication micro satellite ANUSAT built by Chennai based Anna University. International Space Development Conference was held at Orlando in May 2009. Scientist have discovered 47 million year old primate fossil named Ida (Scientific nameDarwinius masillae) which forms a crucial missing link between our evolutionary branch of life and rest of animal kingdom. Per capita consumption of electricity is 630 Units in India in 2009. NDRI Karnal cloned worlds 2nd cloned buffalo Garima. It also produced worlds 1st cloned buffalo calf in Feb 2009 but it could not survive. El Nino- is a shift in ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions in the tropical pacific. It is a periodic warming of the Pacific oceans that leads to extremes of weather. La Nino- It follows an El Nino. It is also called the Little Girl. It is anti El-Nino or simply a cold event. It is the cooling of water in the Pacific Ocean. SOI ( Southern Oscillation Index) is a major indicator of El Nino, measures the pressure difference between the Pacific islands of Tahiti and Darwin in Australia. A consistently negative SOI indicates to a developing El Nino. An El Nino is formally declared when above normal temp -0-5 degree celcius or higher are recorded over eastern Pacific surface for three straight months. Definition of poverty as per Planning Commission- Average per capita spending below Rs. 356 per month in rural areas and Rs. 539 per month in urban areas. 38th World Environment Day was celebrated on 5th June 2009. Theme for 2009 chosen by UNDP is Your Planet Needs You. World Environment Day was established by UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the human environment. 0.8 degree celcius rise in average temperature around the world since 1880. India is the 5th largest emitter of Greenhouse Gases. 2 of the 12 biodiversity hotspots of the world are in India i.e. Northeastern region and Western Ghats. US Space Agencys Themis Mission to study the colourful display of high latitude skies. Phoenix Mars Lander found Perchlorate substance on Mars surface. Carbon Credits : It provide a way to reduce green house emissions on industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and allowing the market to assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. India has earned 4,64,45,282 carbon credits, second only to China in the world. Per capita carbon dioxide emission for India is 1.02 metric tones, while USA stood at first place with 20.01 metric tones. Super Earth : It is a large extrasolar terrestrial planet, which is atleast twice the mass of earth but less than ten earth masses. European researcher found three super earths recently.

Asias first and worlds second DNA bank is opened in Lucknow. Pluto, the 9th planet of solar system, was demoted from planet status in 2006 is now called Plutoids. Jason-2, a French- USA satellite was launched in 2009. It will monitor rising sea levels and current movement. Gegeneiphis Seshachari first viviparous ( those that do not lay eggs) was discovered in western Ghat. It is the first viviparous creature to be found in Asia. International Lunar Network, is a initiative that provide new insights into the Moons surface and its interior composition- critical inputs for the future colonialist. India has signed for the mission to put together a network of robotic science stations on the Moon. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, UK, USA and India have joined hands for six to eight stations of the Lunar Network. USA places first two Lunar Network Landers on the lunar surface in 2013-14. India has also scheduled to launched Chardrayaan-II in collaboration with Russia in 2012-13. LHC Project : Large Hadron Collidor Project is operated by European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) at Geneva on 10 Sep, 2008, at Franco- Swiss border. In actual CERN stand for Conseil European pour la Recharche Nucleaire, in French language. CERN was founded in 1954. Under this experiment, scientist recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang to understand the creation and workings of the Universe. It is the most expansive scientific experiment to date, it cost $ 3.8 billion or Rs.16,340 crore. . CERN has 20 nations as member. India, Japan, Russia and US are the observer countries. Hadron : A particle with mass made up of smaller units called quarks that are bound together. Protons and Electrons are types of hadron. Higgs Boson : A theoretical particle which is thought to give matter its mass, known as the God Particle. First proposed by Peter Higgs in 1964. The particle was named after an Indian physicists S.N.Bose. The LHC experiment should confirm whether it exists or not. Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) operates the 17 reactors in six states, to produce 4120 MW of electricity. Brain Fingerprinting : It is an electronic test of a specific kind of brain wave that can identify incriminating information despite an individuals attempt to conceal the knowledge. It is a type of signal in the brain kwown as P300 wave, so called because it is an involuntary response to a recognized object or piece of information that happens within 300 milliseconds. Carbon Footprint : It is a measure of the impact human activites have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of Carbon Dioxide. Global Positioning System Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) : It is a satellite based process developed jointly by the ISRO and the Airport Authority of India. Govt recently approved the system that will help airlines to choose the best and most fuel saving routes. GAGAN would be in place by 2011 and make flying much safer. Govt set a ten year deadline for the blending of petrol and diesel with 20 % bio-fuel. Govt approved the implementation of National Biofuel Policy that has set an indicative target of blending 20 % ethanol in petrol and non-edible oil from plants like Jatropha in diesel by 2017. At present, 5% ethanol blending in petrol is mandatory across the country except J&K, NE states. India is the worlds second largest producer of sugar after Brazil. Ethanol is produced from molasses, a sugar by product.

10th planet discovered called Xena or 2003 UB 313. A new ozone hole discovered over Tibet. Anoushah Ansari is the first woman space tourist in the world. Namira Salim, first Pakistani women astronaut, sent in space by NASA in 2008. Agni 5 missile is in design stage. It has a maximum range of 5000 Km as an ICBM ( Inter Continental Ballistic Missile). Range of Agni I -700 Km, Agni-II- 2500 Km, Agni-III3500Km Virgin Mothership Eve is designed to reach an altitude of 50000 feet and release space Ship Two, which will transport passengers to space. S-500 Russia is developing a fifth generation surface to air rocket which is cabable of engaging ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 Km per second. ISRO unveil Bhuvan, its version of Google Earth. It is a 3 D mapping tool. Google unveiled a new version of its search engine called Caffeine. Weblog first coined by Jorn Barger in 1997. The contracted name blog was coined in 1999 by Peter Merholz. TERI launched campaign Lighting a Billion Lives which is based on the use of solar laterns specially designed and manufactured on a decentralized basis. Govt approved National Solar Mission which aimed at Solar generation target of 20,000 MW by 2020. At present solar generation capacity of India is 500 MW. National Solar Mission envisages an investment of Rs.91,684 crore over the next 30 years. It proposes to add 20,000MW of power by 2020 and 1,00,000 MW by 2030. It aims to achieve parity with coal based thermal power generation by 2030. According to latest findings, Malaria was first transmitted to humans by Chimpanzees. H1N1 a new influenza virus caused Swine flu. It is a genetic code consists of 8 segments. The virus gets its name from a combination of two proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Swine flu was first detected in 1987. Just like humans, pigs get flu too, hence the name Swine flu. A disease that spreads throughout the world is called Pandemic. Swine flu is termed as pandemic disease. Govt formulate a technology mission War for Water ( Winning, Augmentation and Renovation for Water). It solve problem of water scarcity. CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) is a global mechanism where green projects can be registered to earn carbon credits for trading in the international market. India has maximum number of CDM projects in the world followed by China. One Carbon Credit is equal to a tone of carbon saved from emission.

UN Convention on Climate Change, the global body for certifying clean projects was held at Bonn, in Aug 2009. UMPP (Ultra Mega Power Projects) are large sized coal based power projects having a capacity of 4000 MW involving an estimated investment of about $ 4 billion. Four UMPP has been awarded so far in India. These are Mundra UMPP, Gujarat, Sasan UMPP, Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam UMPP, Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya UMPP at Jharkhand. Antares DLR-H2 motor glider is the first manned aircraft to be powered exclusively with a hydrogen fuel system. IMD (Indian Meteorological Deparment) official definition of a drought year is when more than 20 % of the country faces a deficit of atleast 25 % of normal rainfall. Wind power generation in India as on March 2009 is 10243 MW. SPASER- It is the worlds smallest laser which amplifies surface plasmons- tiny oscillations in the density of free electrons on the surface of metals which in turn produce light waves. LASER amplifies light using a mirrored cavity to intensify it. IIST- Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology set up at Valiamala, Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala is the only space university in the world offering courses at the undergruate, graduate, doctoral and post doctoral level in space technology. The Amino acid Glycine a fundamental building block of proteins has been found for the first time in a comet Wild 2 by the NASA spacecraft Stardust sent in 2004. Comet Wild 2 was named after astronomer Paul Wild. ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) launched first Swiss satellite built by students of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne to study the upper atmosphere. Tobacco Atlas published by American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation, ranks India at No.3 in the top 20 female smoking population across the globe. First and second place is held by USA and China. Former DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation) scientist K Santhanam claimed that 1998 Hydrogen bomb test at Pokhran (Rajasthan) has failed to deliver the desired result. ISRO looses contact with Chandrayan I on 29 Aug 2009. It was launched on 22 Oct 2008 and was designed for a two year mission in space. India has terminated the 400 crore moon mission Chandrayan I on 30 Aug 2009. NASAs Moon Mineralogy Mapper placed abroad Chandrayan I recorded presence of water molecules on Moon. Indias first national medical research park is being set up in the Sricity SEZ on the Tamil Nadu-AP border. Worlds first cloned wolf named Snuwolf died in South Korea.

Ridge A in the Antarctic plateau is the worlds coldest, driest and calmest place discovered so far. China proposed base in Antarctica is known as Kunlun located at Dome A. A new technique called array Comparative Genomic Hybridization(CGH) makes it possible to ensure eggs have a normal number of chromosomes boosting the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. Baby Oliver became the first baby in the world using this egg screening technique in London. China overtake USA in the internet user population. Internet users in 2009 : China - 298 million, USA 227 million, Japan 94 million ,India -81 million. International Ozone Day is celebrated on 16 September every year. Theme of 2009 is Universal Participation-Ozone protection unifies the world. Ozone layer is a deep layer in the stratosphere , encircling the earth that has large amounts of ozone in it. The ozone layer protects all life on land on the surface of the ocean. Ozone molecules absorb the harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun. This protects us from radiation that can cause skin cancer and other severe skin disorders. Scientist discovered first rocky extrasolar planet named Corot-7b. ISRO launch Oceansat-2 satellite on 23 September 2009, which would help identify fishing zones and help in coastal studies. The 970 Kg spacecraft is launched by C 14 PSLV from Sriharikota. Six other nano satellites from European countries were also launched alongwith it. Copernicium is included in the Periodic table as a new chemical element in July 09. Its name was done after the famous astronomer Nicolus Copernicus. Google is testing a new service Fast Flip that allows users to view news articles from dozens of major publishers and flip through them as quickly as they would the pages of a magazine. Planet Saturns 61st satellite discovered. Scientist confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur, after discovery of Australovenator Wintonensis alias Banjo. A new class of black hole was discovered by astronomers in 2009. A black hole is a ramnant of the collapsed star with such a powerful gravitational field that it absorbs all the light that passes near it and reflects nothing. Mocrobiologists in Maharastras Lonar lake found magnetic bacteria therein formed due to meteorite impact. Present day Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere have touched the highest mark in the past 2.1 million years. Worlds first zero waste city is under construction in Abu Dhabi called Masdar City. It is to be completed by 2016 and will be worlds first carbon neutral, zero waste city completely powered by renewable energy.

CMERI has developed a solar electric rickshaw called Soleckshaw which is pollution free. Gyroscopes are used to maintain orientation and provide stability in boats, aircrafts and space crafts. Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning harbour wave. A massive tsunami was unleased by a earthquake in the pacific islands of Samoa on 30 Sep,2009. The capital of Samoa is Apia. Light combat aircraft Tejas successfully completes its 1000th flight in Jan 09. Indigenously built Astra air to air missile was successfully tested at Chandipur Range, Orissa in May 09. Chinas Change-1 mission successfully landed on Moon surface in March 09. It is Chinas first moon probe. Princess Elizabeth is the name of research station established by Belgium in Antartica in Feb 09. It is the first research station which does not emit any pollutant i.e. it is pollution free station. China successfully conducted Artificial Snowfall. LCROSS Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. NASAs LCROSS crashed two spacecrafts into a lunar crater on 9 Oct 2009, hoping to splash ice and find out possibility of water on Moon. IOTWS (Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning & Mitigation System)- It was tested in 18 Indian ocean nations on 14 Oct 2009. 2 Pallasis the name of one of the largest asteroid in the solar system. James Dyson has developed a Dyson Air Multiple Fan, a desktop cooling device with no blades. Scientists have identified a gene TMPRSS6 which is responsible for causing anaemia. Neutrinos are elementary particles key to understanding how the universe evolved. Govt proposed to set up Rs.900 crore Neutrino observatory at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve at Masinagudi in Tamil Nadu. Epi -genome are the pattern of chemical switches in 200 types of human cell. A team led by Joseph Ecker produce the first complete map of the human epi- genome. NASA launched Ares 1-X rocket. It is first flight test of NASAs next generation space craft and launch vehicle system which will replace shuttle system. There are 61 greenhouse gases that are together called Carbon Dioxide equivalent. ICAR scientist discovered a new sub species of the mite variety of insect and named it Mangalaus.

International Antartic Treaty Expedition 2009 was made from 15 to 30 Nov 2009. It started from Ushuaia. The expedition was run by Robert Swan Obe ( only man to travel to both North & South Poles). Drake passage is a thin body of water that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Indian scientist at Institute for Genomics & Integrative Biology sequenced the entire genome of human. The human genome contains 3.1 billions base pairs. India is the 8th country in the world to sequence the human genome. Astronomers discovered a planet GJ 1214 b in the constellation called Ophiuehus. The planet is almost entirely made of water. Ardi which roamed African forests 4.4 million years ago, has been named as the Scientific breakthrough of 2009.

Longest, Largest, Biggest, Smallest, Tallest and Highest

Longest, Largest, Biggest, Smallest, Tallest and Highest
Longest river (India) Longest river (World) The longest tributary river of India The longest river of the south Highest mountain peak Largest lake (Fresh water) Highest Dam Largest Mosque Longest Road State with longest coastline Largest railway route Longest tunnel Ganges Nile Yamuna Godavari Godwin Austin (k2) Wular lake (Kashmir) Bhakra Dam (Punjab) Jama Masjid, Delhi Grand Trunk Road Gujarat From Jammu to Kanya Kumari Jawahar tunnel (Jammu & Kashmir)

Longest national highway Longest Dam Longest River Bride Longest populated city Largest Museum Largest Delta Largest Dome Largest Zoo Largest man-made Lake Largest Desert Highest Tower Smallest State (Area) Smallest State (Population) Highest Waterfall Longest Electric railway line Densest populated State Largest cave temple Largest animal Fair Highest Gateway Biggest Hotel Largest State (Area)

NH-7which runs from Varanasi to Kanyakumari Hirakod Dam (Orissa) Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Patna Mumbai (1.60 crore) National Museum, Kolkata Sunderban Delta, W. Bengal Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur (Karnataka) Zoological Gardens, Alipur, Kolkata Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar (Rihand Dam) Thar (Rajasthan) Pitampura Tower, Delhi Goa Sikkim Gersoppa waterfall (Karnataka) From Delhi to Kolkata via Patna West Bengal Kailash temple, Ellora (Maharashtra) Sonepur (Bihar) Buland Darwaza, Fatehpur Sikri (Agra) Oberal Sharaton (Mumbai) Rajasthan

Largest State (Population) Place of heaviest rainfall Largest corridor Largest cantilever span bride Largest forest state Highest straight gravity Dam Longest Railway Platform Largest Stadium Largest Port Highest Lake Largest Lake (Saline water) Highest Award Highest Gallantry Award Largest Gurudwara Deepest river valley

Uttar Pradesh Mausinram (Meghalaya) Rameshwaram temple corridor (Tamil Nadu) Howrah Bridge (Kolkata) M.P. Bhakra Dam Kharagpur (W. Bengal) Salt lake (Yuva Bhaeti), Kolkata Mumbai Devatal (Garhwal) Chika lake, Orissa Bharat Ratna Paramveer Chakra Golden Temple, Amritsar Bhagirathi & Alaknanda

State with longest coastline of South India Andhra Pradesh Longest river which forms estuary Largest Church Longest Beach Highest Battle field Highest Airport Narmada Saint Cathedral (Goa) Marina Beach, Chennai Siachin Glacier Len (Laddakh)

Largest river island Largest Planetarium

Majuli (Brahmaputra river, Assam) Birla Planetarium (Kolkata)

y

Animal, Tallest

Giraffe

Archipelago, Largest Bird, Fastest Bird, Largest Bird, Smallest Bridge, Longest Railway

Indonesia Swift Ostrich Humming Bird Huey P. Long Bridge, Louisiana (U.S.A.)

Building, Tallest in the Burj, Dubai (UAE) World Canal, Longest Irrigational Canal, Longest Capital, Highest City, Biggest in Area City, Largest in Population City, Costliest City, Highest Continent, Largest Continent, Smallest The Kalakumsky Canal

Suez Canal La Paz (Boliva) Mount Isa Australia Tokyo

Tokyo Van Chuan (China) Asia Australia

Country, Biggest (Area) Country, Largest (Population) Country, Largest (Electorate) Creature, Largest Delta, Largest

Russia

China

India

Blue Whale Sunderban (Bangladesh & India) Sahara (Africa)

Desert, Largest (World) Desert, Largest (Asia) Dam, Largest

Gobi Grand Coulee Dam (U.S.A.) Hoover Dam (U.S.A.) The Cullinan Astrodome, in Housten (U.S.A.) Mahabharat Lloyd Barrage, Sukkur (Pakistan) Greenland Mediterranean sea Baikal (Siberia) Lake Mead (Boulder

Dam, Highest Diamond, Largest Dome, Largest

Epic, Largest Irrigation Scheme, Largest Island, Largest Sea, Largest Lake, Deepest Lake, Largest

(Artificial) Lake, Highest Lake, Largest (Fresh water) Lake, Largest (Salt water) Library, Largest

Dam) Titicaca (Bolivia) Superior

Caspian

United State Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Everest (Nepal)

Mountain Peak, Highest Mountain Range, Longest Museum, Largest

Andes (S. America)

British Museum, London Pacific Vatican (Italy) Yellow Stone National Park (U.S.A.) Arabia Verkhoyank (Siberia)

Ocean, Largest Palace, Biggest Park, Largest

Peninsula, Largest Place, Coldest (Habitated) Place, Dryest

Iqique (In Atacama Desert, Chile) Azizia (Libya, Africa) Mausinram

Place, Hottest Place, Rainiest

(Meghalaya, India) Planet, Biggest Planet, Brightest Planet, Smallest Plateau, Highest Platform, Longest Railway, Longest Railway Station, Longest Jupiter Venus Mercury Pamir (Tibet) Kharagpur (India) Trans-Siberian railway Grand Central Terminal, Chicago (U.S.A.) Nile (Africa) Amazon (S. America) Albatross Sirius Statue of Motherland, Volgagrad (Russia) New Mexico (U.S.A.)

River, Longest River, Largest Sea-bird, Largest Star, Brightest Statue, Tallest

Telescope, Largest Radio Tramway, World s first Tunnel, Longest (Railway) Tunnel, Longest (Road)

New York

Tanna (Japan)

Mont Blanc Tunnel between France and Italy

Volcano, Highest

Ojos del Salado (Andes, Ecuador) Maunaloa (HawailU.S.A.) Great wall of China Angel (Venezuela) Dead Sea Kruger National Park, South Africa

Volcano, Most Active

Wall, Longest Waterfall, Highest Water, Lowest body Zoo, Largest

IMPORTANT INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA

IMPORTANT INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA Education Commission of Scientific and Technical Words Terminology New Delhi Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages Hyderabad Institute of National Sanskrit New Delhi National Sanskrit Vidyapeeth Tirupati Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit Vidyapeeth New Delhi Rashtriya Bal Bhavan New Delhi Institute of Central Indian Language Mysore Indian Council of Higher Research Shimla Indian Institute of Social Sciences and Research New Delhi Council of Indian Philosophy Research New Delhi and Lucknow Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior Central Hindi Institute Agra Environmental Institutes Arid Zone Research Institute Jodhpur Central Pollution Control Board Delhi

Central Museum Authority New Delhi Rehabilitation Institute of Social Forestry and Ecology Allahabad G. B. Pant Himdoya Environment and Development Institute Almora Himalayan Forest Research Centre Shimla Indian Forest Research and Education Council Dehradun Institute of Indian Forest Management Bhopal Institute of Indian Plywood Industry and Research Bengaluru Institute of Forest Genetic Tree Breeding Coimbatore Forest Productive Centre Ranchi Institute of Forest Research and Human Resource Development Chindwara Institute of Rainforest Jorhat Institute of Lumbering Science and Technology Bengaluru Institute of National Science & Technology Faridabad Indian Botanical Survey Kolkata Indian Anthropology Survey Kolkata Indian Forest Survey Jorhat Tropical Institute Jabalpur Defence Institutes Air Force Academy Hyderabad Air Force Technical College Bengaluru College of Military Engineering Pune Defence Management Institute Sikandrabad Defence Services Staff College Wellington Directorate General N.C.C. New Delhi Electrical and Mechanical Engineering School Baroda Hindustan Aeronatic Limited Bengaluru Indian Air Force Training Centre Chennai Indian Military Academy Dehradun Institute of Armament Technology Pune Military College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Sikandrabad Directorate of National Cadet Core New Delhi National Defence Academy Kharagwasala Naval College of Engineering Lonavala Officers Training Academy Chennai Art and Culture Institute of National Museum History for Art Conservation and Science Museum New Delhi Allahabad Museum Allahabad Asiatic Society Kolkata Indian Anthropology Survey Kolkata Indian National Archives New Delhi Central Buddh Education Institute Leh

Central High Tibetean Educational Institute Varanasi Central Secretariat Library (1981) New Delhi Cultural Institute and Training Centre (1979) New Delhi Delhi Public Library New Delhi Gandhian Recollection and Philosophy Recollection New Delhi Institute of Indian Diamond Surat Indian Museum Kolkata Indira Gandhi National Art Centre New Delhi Indira Gandhi National Human Museum Bhopal Jawahar Lal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy (1954) Imphal Kala Chitra Foundation Chennai Khudabaksh Oriental Public Library Patna Lalit Kala Academy (1954) New Delhi Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Asian Studies Institute Kolkata National Drama Vidyalaya (1959) New Delhi National Science Museum Parishad Kolkata National Modern Art Technique (1954) Kolkata National Library (1948) Kolkata National Museum New Delhi National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Heritage Lucknow National School of Drama New Delhi Nav-Nalanda Mahabihar Bihar Nehru Memorial Museum and Library New Delhi Raja Rammohan Rai Library Foundation Kolkata Ram Krishan Mission Sanskrit Institute (1938) Kolkata Rampur Raja Library Rampur Sahitya Academy (1954) New Delhi Salarjanj Museum Hyderabad Sangeet Natak Academy New Delhi Victoria Memorial Hall Kolkata Food and Civil Supply Indian Standard Bureau Delhi Indian Examination House Kolkata Health and Family Welfare Central Health Education Bureau New Delhi National Medical Science Academy New Delhi National Ayurvedic Institute Jaipur National Siddh Institute Chennai National Yunani Institute Bengaluru Morarji Desai National Yog Institute New Delhi National Natural Medical Institute Pune

National Homeopathic Institute Kolkata National Ayurvedic Vidyapeeth New Delhi Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd. Rasoyni (Maharashtra) Industries South India Textile Research Association Coimbatore North India Cloth Research Institute Ghaziabad Silk and Art Silk Mills Research Association Mumbai Indian Jute Industry Research Association Kolkata Wool Research Institute Thane National Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. Trombay Pesticide Technology Institute Gurgaon Hindustan Antibiotic Ltd. Pimpri, Pune Plastic Engineering and Technology Institute (Sepate) Chennai Indian Bureau of Mines Nagpur National Aluminium Co. Ltd. Orissa Hindustan Zinc Ltd. Udaipur Law and Justice National Justice Academy Bhopal Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy Hyderabad Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain National Crime and Justice Institute New Delhi Labour Labour Bureau Institute Chandigarh and Shimla V. V. Giri National Labour Institute Noida (U. P.) Central Labour Board Nagpur Director General of Mines Security Dhanbad Central Education Media Institute Chennai Institute of Central government Training and Research Kolkata Mass Communication Publication Deptt. New Delhi Film Department Mumbai National Film Archieves Pune Indian Committee of Children Film Mumbai Directorate of Publications and Visual Publicity Delhi Directorate of Regional Publicity New Delhi Testimony Board of Central Movie Mumbai Institute of Indian Film and Television Pune Satyajeet Ray Film and Television Institute Kolkata

Institute of Science and Technology Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Kolkata Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Pune Indian Astro-physics Institute Bengaluru Jawahar Lal Nehru Developed Scientific Research Centre Bengaluru Indian Institute of Geomagnetism Mumbai Indian Science Academy Bengaluru Indian National Science Academy New Delhi Indian Science Congress Association Kolkata Indian National Engineering Academy New Delhi Indian National Oceanic Information Service Centre Hyderabad Indian Oceanic Technical Institute Chennai National Antarctic and Ocean Research Centre Goa National Biological Science Centre Bengaluru National Institute of Reservation New Delhi Centre of National Cell Science Pune Centre of National Mental Research Manesar National Plant-Genome Research Centre New Delhi National Earthquake Science Data Centre New Delhi Indian Science Academy Allahabad Survey Training Institute Hyderabad (with the help of U.N.D.P.) Bose Institute Kolkata Agarkar Research Institute Pune Sri Chitra Triunal Medical Science and Technical Institute Tiruvananthapuram Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Dehradun N. N. Bose National Fundamental Science Centre Kolkata Birbal Sahani Institute of Paleo-botany Lucknow Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council New Delhi Science Expansion (Vigyan Prasar) New Delhi Liquid Crystal Research Institute Bengaluru Aryabhatta Research Observatory Nainital Director of Atomic Mineral Investigation and Research Hyderabad Indian Uranium Corporation Ltd. Jaduguda Heavy Water Board Mumbai Nuclear Fuel Campus Hyderabad Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Mumbai Shri Ram Institute of Chemical Research New Delhi Institute for Plasma Research (I. P. R.) Ahmedabad Harish Chand Research Institute Chennai Physics Institute Bhubaneshwar Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre Kolkata Deptt. of Atomic Energy Mumbai Project Directorate, Integrated Coastal and Sea Coast Management Chennai

Sea-biotic Resources and Ecology Centre Cochin Hindustan Zinc Limited Udaipur D. N. A. Finger Print and Centre Hyderabad Biotic Resources and Continuous Development Centre Imphal Life Science Institute Bhubaneshwar Physical Research Laboratory Ahmedabad (Gujarat) S. V. National Technical Institute Surat Saha Nuclear Physics Institute Kolkata (W. Bengal) Cosmic Rays Research Institute Gauribidanow Shri Ram Chennai Research Institute New Delhi Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology Kocchi Institute of Mathematical Science Chennai Institute of Physics Bhubaneshwar National Biology Centre Bengaluru Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. Jaduguda (Jharkhand) Vishveshraiya National Technical Institute Nagpur Transport Diesel Locomotive Works Varanasi Chitranjan Locomotive Works Chitranjan Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala Integral Coach Factory Perambur, Kapurthala Rail Wheel Factory Bengaluru Marine Engineering and Research Institute Kolkata Marine Engineering and Research Institute Mumbai Lal Bahadur Shastri Coastal Research and Higher Study Institute Mumbai Indian Inland Waterways Authority Noida Maritime Training Institute Powai Mumbai Hindustan Shipyard Limited Visakhapatnam Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Kolkata Civil Aviation Security Bureau Delhi National Aviation Management and Research Institute Delhi Fire Training Centre New Delhi Fire Service Training School Narainpur (Kolkata) Indira Gandhi National Flying Academy Furshatganj (U. P.) Indian Tourism and Travel Management Institute Gwalior National Water Sporting Institute Goa Water Resources Central Soil and Material Research Centre New Delhi Central Water and Electric Research Centre Kharagwasala (Pune) National Project Construction Corporation Ltd. New Delhi

National Hydrology Institute Roorkee (Uttarakhand) Welfare National Blind Institute Dehradun National Orthopedic Disabled Institute Kolkata Aliyawarjung National Hard of Hearing Institute Mumbai National Mental Disabled Institute Sikandrabad National Rehabilitation Training and Research Institute Cuttack Physically Disabled Institute New Delhi Multi-disabled Strengthen Institute Chennai National Public Cooperation and Child Development Institute New Delhi Youth Work and Play Rajeev Gandhi National Youth Development Institute Perambur Laxmibai National Physical Education Institute (1957) Gwalior Energy National Thermal Power Corporation New Delhi Electric Finance Corporation Ltd. New Delhi Communication Telecommunication Engineering Centre New Delhi National Telecommunication Finance and Management Academy Hyderabad High Level Telecommunication Training Centre Ghaziabad Advance Level Telecommunication Training Centre Ghaziabad Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Telecommunication Training Institute Jabalpur

DIARY OF EVENTS 2009 INTERNATIONAL

JANUARY JAN 1 Cuba celebrates 50th anniversary of its revolution. JAN 6 Shekh Hasina sworn in as Prime Minister in Bangladesh. JAN 9 The Srilankan Army captures Elephant Pass, a crucial base of the LTTE at the gateway to Jafna linking peninsula with Wanni. JAN 11 British drector Danny Boyle s Slumdog Millionaire based on Indian Diplomat Vikas

Swarup s novel Q and A emerges big winner at the 66th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calofornia. Composer A.R. Rahman bags best composure honours, the first Indian to win the award. JAN 20 Barack Hussain Obama is sworn in the 44th President of US, breaking the colour barrier. Joe Biden takes oath as the 47th Vice-President. JAN 21 In a rare do-over, Barack Obama is sworn in for the second time as the US President. Israel completes troops pull out from the Gaza strip after a three week offensive. JAN 23 Japan launches the Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellite, the world s first satellite dedicated to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from Tanegashima, a small island. The US authorities approves the first human trials using embryonic stem cells testing a pioneering therapy for stroke patients. FEBRUARY FEB 1 Johanna Sigurdardottir takes over as Iceland s first women Prime Minister. FEB 8 Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain wins Grammy in the Contemporary World Music category for his collaborative album Global Drum Project . FEB 11 Awami League loyalist Zillur Rahman is elected Bangladesh President. FEB 14 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia appoints for the first time a woman Noura al-Fayez, Deputy Minister for girl s education FEB 16 The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins referendum on scrapping term limits for elected posts, paving the way for his seeking re-election in 2012 and beyond. FEB 22 Slumdog Millionaire, a small budget British film bags eight Oscars at 81st Academy Awards Functions in Hollywood including Best Director (Danny Boyle), Original Music Score and Song(A.R. Rahman, the first Indian to win two Oscars), Sound Mixing (Resul Pookutty of Kerela shares it with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke), Best Picture. Smile Pinki , the tale of a little girl with cleft lip, Pinki Sonkar, from Uttar Pradesh gets Oscar for Best Documentary (Short). FEB 25 Fifty persons are killed as Bangladesh Rifles personnel launched an armed rebelliobn seeking better pay and putting an end to the deputation of Army officers to command paramilitary bodyguards. BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmad is taken hostage FEB 27 Bangladesh security forces discover a mass grave of at least 42 massacred Army officers at the Pilkhana Headquarter of the BDR, including Bangladesh Rifles chief Major General Shakil Ahmad.

MARCH MAR 1 Chang e-1, China s first lunar probe impacts moon ending its 16 month mission. MAR 2 The President of Guinea-Bissau Jao Bernardo Vieira is assassinated by renegade soldiers at his place. MAR 4 The International Criminal Court, The Hague, issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Beshir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. It is the first by the court against a sitting head of State. MAR 9 Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan (Karuna), former deputy leader of the LTTE, is sworn in Sri Lanka s Minister of National Integration in Colombo, shortly after joining ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party. President Barack Obama lifts curbs on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. MAR 12 The former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff is jailed after he pleads to an epic fraud that robbed investors worldwide of billions of dollars. An Iraqi Court hands down a three year jail term to journalist Muntazer Al- Zaidi for hurling shoes at then US President George Bush during a globally televised press conference in Baghdad last December. MAR 16 The Pakistan Government agrees to restore the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary . MAR 26 Charles Simonyi becomes the first person to travel twice to space as a tourist. Russian-French mathematician Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov is chosen for the Abel Prize for 2009. MAR 29 Ninety countries take part in Earth Hour 2009 , a global event in which landmarks and homes go dark to highlight the threat for climate change. APRIL APR 1 Benzamin Netanyahu assumes office as Israeli Prime Minister APR 2 The G-20 Summit in London pledges $1.1 trillion to boost global economic growth. Leaders agree on measures to reform the banking system. APR 3 Najib Tun Razak is sworn in as Malaysia s sixth Prime Minister. APR 4 France returns to the NATO fold at the 60th anniversary summit of the Organisation at Strausborg. Albania and Croatia become new members. Spanish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is named is named the next Secretary General.

APR 6 Over 100 people are feared dead and nearly 1200 injured after a powerful earthquake strikes the historic central town of L Aquila in the mountainous Abruzo region. APR 13 Sri Lanka de-recognizes Norway as the official facilitator of Peace talks. APR 14 North Korea pulls out of denuclearisation expels IAEA inspectors and US monitors from the Yongbyon nuclear complex. APR 24 India and Poland sign agreements on cooperatin in health care and medicine and tourism, in the presence of Presidents Pratibha Patil and Lech Kaczynski. APR 30 The six year British Occupation of Iraq ends. MAY MAY 1- The British government appoints Scottish Poet Carol Ann Duffy, the country s first woman Poet Laureate. MAY 4 Pushp Kumar Dahal Prachanda resigns as Nepal Prime Minister after the President Ram Baran Yadav asks the Army Chief General Rookmangud Katawal to continue in office. MAY 7 Patxi Lopez assumes office as the first non-nationalist President of the Basque region( Spain). MAY 8 The Pakistam Army launches full scale military action named Operation Rah-e-Rast in the Swat valley to flush out militants. MAY 9 Jacob Zuma assumes office as the forth President of the post aparthied South Africa. MAY 18 The LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is killed in an intense battle with Sri Lankan Military at Mullivaikkal in Mullaithivu district bringing an end to the 33 month long Ealem War IV. MAY 21 Former British Gorkha soldiers won a major victory after the government accepts their demand to settle in Britain. Apa Sherpa of Nepal climbs Mt. Everest for the record 19th time. MAY 23 The former South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun, who was at the center of a multi million dollar corruption probe commits suicide by jumping of a hill . Horst Koehler, the former head of IMF is re-elected German President. MAY 25 Cyclone Aila wreak havoc in Bangladesh. MAY 27 Canadian short story writer Alice Munro wins the 60,000 Man Booker International Prize.

JUNE JUN 1 All 228 passengers on board an Air France aircraft flying from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris are killed as the plane crashes into the Atlantic ocean after being stuck by lightning. JUN 3 The Organisation of American States decides to lift a 47 year old ban on Cuba at the OAS General Assembly meeting in Honduras. JUN 11 The WHO declares the swine flu pandemic, the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. JUN 13 Iran s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad secures a landslide victory in presidential polls trounching his nearest rival Mir Hosein Mousavi. JUN 16 The first-ever summit of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) at Yekaterinburg, Russia calls for the creation of a more diversified international monetary system and a more democratic and just multipolar world order . JUN 19 Iran s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorses the presidential pole result and awnts protesters to keep off the streets. JUN 20 13 persons killed in crackdown on protesters in Iran. JUN 25 Pop King Michael Jackson (50) dies at Los Angeles. His entertainment career hit high water marks with the release of Thriller in 1982. JUN 28 Honduran Army ousts leftists Presindent Manuel Zelaya and exiles him to Costa Rica in Central Americas first military coup since the cold war, hours before a rogue referendum he had called in defiance of the courts and congress. JUN 30 Atleast 152 people on board a Yemeni Airbus jet are killed after the aircraft crashes into the Indian Ocean while trying to land in Comoros Islands. US forces pull out of Iraqi cities. JULY JUL 2 Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano is elected the new chief of the IAEA. JUL 6 Atleast 184 people are killed and 1000 injured following two days of rioting in Urumqi, the capital city of China s Muslim majority Xingjiang autonomous region. JUL 7 Obama and Dmitry Medvedev sign a pact that sets a new limit of 1,675 warheads after the first Russian American summit in 8 years in Moscow. JUL 9 The G8 and G5 Leaders call for an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round of trade talks through a joint declaration at the G8-G5 Summit at L Aquila, Italy.

JUL 13 Turkey signs an accord with Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria to built the 3,300 km Nabucco pipeline to supply gas to Europe. JUL 15 The 15th NAM Summit beging at Sharm- el-Sheikh, Egypt. 160 people killed as an Iranian Airliner en route to Armania catches fire mid air. 10 members of Iran s national Judo team among dead. JUL 20 NASA observes 40th anniversary of first human landing on moon. Myanmar Leader Dang San Suu Kyi is conferred with the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation at a function in Durban. JUL 25 Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is re -elected. AUGUST AUG 3 Indian social activist Deep Joshi named among the winners of Ramon Magsaysay Awards for 2009. AUG 5 Pakistan s most wanted man Beithullah Masood leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban killed in USA missile strike in South Waziristan tribal area. AUG 6 The new LTTE Chief Selvarasa Pathmanathan is arrested in Malaysia. AUG 8 Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in as the US Supreme Courts first Hispanic justice and third female member in the courts 220 year history. AUG 11 Typhoon Morakot leaves 600 dead in Taiwan. AUG 13 India and ASEAN sign a FTA in Bangkok. AUG 14 President Asif Ali Zardari confers the Sitar-e-Imtiaz (Star of excellence), Pakistan s third highest award posthumously on Indian Parliamentarian Nirmala Deshpandey. AUG 20 The Scottish government frees Abdal Basset al-Megrahi, former Libyan agent, serving lifer for his role in December 1998 Lockerabie air crash which killed 270 passengers, mostly American. AUG 23 Venezuela s Stefania Fernandez(18) crowned Miss Universe in Bahamas. AUG 24 The publisher of the world s largest circulated magazine Reader s Digest files for bankruptcy protection in US. SEPTEMBER SEP 1 Fiji is suspended from the Commonwealth for failing to meet a deadline to make progress towards establishing democracy.

SEP 3 Iran to have First woman Cabinet Minister after Parliament gives approval for nomination of Marzieh-Vahid Dastjerdi as Heath Minister . SEP 12 Lebanon, an Israeli flim bags the Golden Lion at 66th Venice Film Festival. SEP 16 Yukio Hatoyama is appointed as Japan s new Prime Minister. SEP 21 The deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returns home and seeks asyl m in u Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa The former US President Jimmy Carter is presented the Mahatma Gandhi Global Non Violence Award in Virginia. SEP 22 Irina Bokova, Bulgaria s former Foreign Minister becomes the first woman to head UNESCO. SEP 24 World Powers adopt a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuclear arms at an unprecedented UN Security Council Summit chaired by Obama. SEP 27 The German Chancellor Angela Merkel wins a second four year term. SEP 29 150 killed as a Tsunami triggered by an earthquake flattens villages in the South Pacific Islands of Samoa and American Samoa. SEP 30 1,100 killed as earthquake (7.6) hits Indonesia s Sumatra Island. Peru s Supreme Court sentences former President Alberto Fujimori to six years in jail for wire tapping opponents and paying bribes to law makers during his tenure from 1990 to 2000. OCTOBER OCT 1 The people s Republic of China stages the largest ever military display in its history as a part of its 60th anniversary celebrations. OCT 2 Marking the International day of Non-Violence, the United Nations releases a stamp on Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his 140th birth anniversary. OCT 3 Ireland votes Yes in a crucial referendum on the contentious Lisbon Treaty designed to streamline the European Union. David Coleman Headley, a US citizen is held by the Chicago FBI s Joint Terrorism Task Force at O Hare International Airport for plotting terror attacks in Denmark and India. OCT 5 Americans Elizabeth h. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak win the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres a vital factor in cell ageing. The trio had won the 2006 Lasker Prize for the same work.

The Greek Socialist leader George Papandreou trounces the governing Conservatives and is set to form Government. OCT 6 Three Americans Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing fibres-optic cable and the sensor at the heart of digital cameras. British Novelist Hilary Mantel s Wolf Hall, a historical novel about the rise of King Henery VIII s adviser Thomas Cromwell wins the 2009 Man Booker Prize. OCT 7 India born American Venkataraman Ramakrishnan and fellow American Thomas Steitz along with the Israeli Ada Yonath share the 2009 Nobel Chemistry prize for showing how the ribosomes, which produces protein, functions at the atomic level usung X-ray crystallography. OCT 8 Herta Mueller, a member of Romania s ethnic German minority wins the 2009 Nobel Prize for literature. OCT 9 Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2009. OCT 11 After an 18 hour stand-off, Pakistani Army commandos storm Army Headquarter in Rawalpindi freeing 39 persons taken hostages by militants. OCT 12 Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson win the 2009 Economic Nobel for their analyses of economic governance. Ostrom is the first woman to win the Economic Nobel. OCT 13 Alyn Ware of New Zealand, Congo s Rene Ngongo, David Suzuki of Canada and Catharine Hamlin are named the co-winners of the 2009 Right to Livelihood Award, the so called Alternative Nobel OCT 16 Queen Elizabeth II formally opens the UK s Supreme Court situated in London s Parliament Square. It was established on Oct. 1st. OCT 17 The Maldivian Cabinet signs a declaration appealing to global leaders to save their atoll nation from being swamped by rising sea water after a under water meeting in Girifushi near the capital Male. OCT 24 The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposes the setting up of an India Asean Round Table at the 7th bilateral Summit on the sidelines of the 17th ASEAN Summit in the Thai resort of Hua Hin. OCT 27 India and Nepal signs a historic new treaty to control illegal trade across the border. OCT 28 Massive bomb blast near the historic Kissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar in Pakistan. OCT 29 President Pratibha Patil receives the Queen s Baton from Britain s Queen at the

Buckingham Palace as India formally takes charge of the 2010 XIX Commnwealth Games New Delhi. Egypt offers to allow India to set up an India Zone along the Suez Canal Development Area. China s fastest Super Computer Tianhe (Milky Way) is unveiled. NOVEMBER NOV 6 The un General Assembly endorses the 575 page report by South African jurist, Richard Goldstone that focuses on alleged war crimes during this 22 day Gaza conflict early this year. NOV 10 Russia honours Mikhail Kalashnikov, father of the world s most famous gun AK 47 with the country s highest award , Hero of Russia NOV 12 Sri Lanka s Chief of Defence Staff Sarath Fonseka resigns. NOV 19 The Supreme Court of Bangladesh upholds death sentence for the August 15, 1975 assassination of the nation s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Von Rompuy is elected the first European Council President and Britain s Catherine Ashton is named the 27 member body s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. NOV 20 The Big Bang machine or the Large Hadron Collider, the world s largest atom smasher, starts operating again 14 months after a technical snag caused one tonne of helium to leak into the 27 km long that houses it. NOV 24 India a rising and responsible global power , says the US President Barack Obama after the summit meeting with PM Manmohan Singh. Acknowledges India s status as nuclear power. NOV 25 Indian PM and the US President announce the launch of the India-US Counterterrorism Cooperation Iniative. Dubai World, the fulcrum of the United Arab Emirates economy asks for a standstill agreement to delay repayment by six months on most of its $59 billion of debt. NOV 27 The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting opens in the Trinidad cap Post of ital Spain. NOV 28 The National Reconciliation Order (NRO) under which Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and others got amnesty from corruption charges against them lapses. NOV 29 Jose Mujica, the former leftist Tupamaro guirrilla fighter is elected Uruguay President. NOV 30 Porfirio pepe Lebo is elected Honduras President.

DECEMBER DEC 7 India and Russia sign the civil nuclear cooperation pact 3.0 that is free from any curbs on New Delhi and guarantees against restriction in the future. Two sides sign six pacts, including three in the military sphere. Bolivian President Evo Morales wins landslide victory in general elections seeking second term. The UN Climate Change Conference 2009 of 194 nations opens at Copenhagen, Denmark. DEC 8 British billionaire Sir Richard Branson s Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceshipTwo, a commercial spaceship. DEC 12 Gibralter s Kaiane Aldorino is crowned Miss World 2009 at glittering ceremony in Johannesburg. DEC 14 African nations walk out of the UN climate change talks against efforts by rich nations to kill Kyoto . DEC 15 Boeing s revolutionary lightweight passenger jet 787 Dreamliner made mostly of composite materials take to the skies for the first time around Puget Sound and inland Washington state. DEC 16 Pakistan Supreme Court declares the National Reconciliation Order null and void and orders reinitiation of proceedings against the accused acquitted under the controversial law. DEC 24 Rajiv Shah to be the USAID chief. DEC 31 Reena Kaushal is the first Indian woman to ski to the South Pole. Mota Singh, Britain s first Asian judge is knighted.

OBITUARY APRIL 9 Raja J. Chelliah :Economist

APRIL 9 Shakti Samant : Noted Hindi Film Maker. APRIL 21 : Iqbal Bano : India born Pakistani classic and ghazal singer. MAY 2 - K. Balaji : Tamil actor and producer MAY 3 - B. Rajam Iyer : Scholar and Misician

MAY 31 - Prakash Mehra :Hindi film producer and director JUNE 8 - Habib Tanvir - Noted playwriter and Theatre director JUNE 19 - Ustad Ali Akbar Khan : Siter Maestro JULY 1 - Tyeb Mehta :Renowned Painter JULY 8 - Syed Abdullah Bukhari : Former Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid. JULY 11 Ji Xianlin : Chinese Indologist JULY 13 - Nilu Phule : Marathi stage and cinema actor. JULY 16 Damal Krishnaswami Pattamal : Indian classical music JULY 21 - Gangubai Hangal : Hindustani classical music of Kirana Gharana JULY 29 - Gayatri Devi : Queen Mother of Jaipur, Founder of Swatantra Party. AUGUST 18 Kim Dae Jung :Former South Korean President and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2000. SEPTEMBER 12 Norman Borlaug : Agriculture scientist and central figure of green revolution. Jack Kramer : American tennis great of 1940s. Rajsingh Dungarpur : Former BCCI President and Chairman of selectors. SEPTEMBER 14 Patrick Swayze : US actor known for his roles in Dirty Dancing, Ghost OCTOBER 10 Stephen Gately :Boyzone singer. OCTOBER 14 Krishna Chandra Pal : member of India s famed 1956 Olympic football team. OCTOBER 30 Claude Levi Strauss :Renowned French Anthropologist NOVEMBER 5 Prabhash Joshi : Eminent Hindi Journalist and founder editor of Jansatta. NOVEMBER 10 Robert Enke :German Goalkeeper, commits suicide. DECEMBER 6 Bina Rai : Bollywood Actress. DECEMBER 10 Dilip Chitre : Poet and Film Maker. DECEMBER 13 - Paul Anthony Samuelson : Economist

T.S. Satyan : Renowned Photojournalist DECEMBER 20 - Brittany Murphy : Hollywood actor DECEMBER 30 Vishnuvardhan : Kannada actor

SPORTS

FEBRUARY 1 Mahesh Bhupati and Sania Mirja became the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam Mixed Double title when they clinched Australian Open. MARCH 6 Honda announces the sale of lts Formula One team to Ross Brawn. The new outfit is called is Brawn GP. MARCH 11 Virender Sehwag scores India s fastest ODI hundred against host New Zealand. APRIL 7 Chitra Mgimairaj finishes runner up in the WLBSA World ladies billiards championship at Cambridge. APRIL 10 Gagan Narang wins the bronze medal in the Men s 10 m air rifle event of the first ISSF World Cup of the year in Chongwon, Korea. APRIL 12 India wins Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament with a 3-1 victory over host Malaysia in the final. APRIL 23 French swimmer Alain Bernard breaks the 100 m freestyle world record at the French Championship at Montpellier, setting a new time of 46.94 seconds . MAY 6 Wang Ho and ZhangYining of China win the men s and women s singles title at the World Table Tennis Championship at Yakohama. MAY 24 Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguli wins the Asian Chess Championship at Phillipines. MAY 25 Deccan Chargers wins IPL season II at the Wanderers. MAY 26 Sayali Gokhale wins the women s single title at the Spanish Open Badminton Championship in Madrid beating Lianne Tan of Belgium. MAY 29 Barcelona beats Manchester United in the final to lift the Champion League Title at Rome.

JUNE 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova defeats Dinara Safin to win French Open title. JUNE 8 Roger Federer wins his first French Open Title. India s Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic win the French Open Men s double title. JUNE 14 Boxer Suranjoy Singh wins Gold in Asian Championship in Zhuhai, China. JUNE 15 Goa beats Bengal to win 63rd Santosh Trophy in Chennai. JUNE 21 Pakistan wins Twenty20 World Cup beating Sri Lanka in final at Lords in London. Saina Nehwal becomes the first Indian to win a Super Series Tournament with her triumph over Chinese Lin Wang in the Indonesian Open at Jakarta. Indian women s hockey team wins the Champion Challenge for women in Kazan, Russia. JULY 5 Roger Federer wins record 15th Grand Slam title by winning at Wimbledon. Serena Williams wins the women s title and along with Venus claims the women s double crown. JULY 11 Squash player Joshna Chinappa wins the third WISPA title of her career in Kuala Lumpur. JULY 19 GM Arun Prasad becomes the first Indian to claim the title in the 116 year history of the Scottish Chess Championship in Edinburgh. JULY 26 Alberto Contador wraps up his second Tour de France title GM Parimarjan Negi wins the Politiken Chess title at Copenhagen JULY 29 Union Government announces Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards to Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Vijender Singh (Boxing) and M.C. Mary Kom (Boxing). AUGUST 16 Usain Bolt breaks his world record in the 100 m event as he clocks 9.54s at the World Championship in Berlin. AUGUST 20 Usain Bolt breaks the world record, clocking 19.19s in the 200m event in the World Championship. AUGUST 23 Bekele becomes the first athlete to win the 5000m and 10000m crowns at the World Championship. England claims Ashes by defeating Australia.

AUGUST 28 GM Parimarjan Negi clinches the prestigious Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open Chess title in Kuala Lumpur. AUGUST 30 Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari wins the Belgian Grand Prix and Force India picks up its first points as Giancarlo Fisichella finishes second. AUGUST 31 India defeats Syria to win the Nehru Cup SEPTEMBER 7 Pankaj Advani wins his maiden World Professional Billiards title beating Mike Russel in finals at Leeds. SEPTEMBER 11 Vijender Singh wins the 75 kg bronze at the World Boxing Championships in Milan, India s first ever medal at the event. Leander Paes and Cara Black finish runner up in the US Open Mixed doubles losing to Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrot in the final. SEPTEMBER 12 Churchill Brothers beats Mohun Bagan to win its maiden IFA Shield crown in Kolkata SEPTEMBER 13 Kim Clijsters wins US Open women s Single title. Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy wins the Men s Doubles of US Open. SEPTEMBER 14 Juan Martin Del Potro wins men s Single Title of US Open. Venus and Serena Williams win the women s Doubles of US Open. SEPTEMBER 20 India enters the Davis Cup World Group after eleven years beating South Africa in the play off at Johannesburg. SEPTEMBER 22 Churchill Brothers bags the Durand Cup football title in New Delhi. SEPTEMBER 30 Pankaj Advani wins his third straight National Billiards Title at Agra. OCTOBER 1 Gautam Gambhir wins the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year Award Mahendra Singh Dhoni wins the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award. Mitchell Johnson is named the Cricketer of the year. OCTOBER 2 Rio de Janeiro wins the bid to host 2016 Olympics. OCTOBER 4 Pankaj Advani and Meenal Thakur win the Men s and Women s titles respectively in the National Snooker Championship in Agra.

OCTOBER 5 Rest of India lifts the Irani Cup Trophy in Nagpur. OCTOBER 10 Karnataka wins the National Aquatics Championship for the 18th consecutive year at Thiruvananthpuram. OCTOBER 11 C.Muniyappa wins the Indian Open Golf Tournament at Gurgaon. OCTOBER 18 Jenson Button wins the Formula One World Championship in Sao Paulo (Bra zil). OCTOBER 23 New South Wales Blues wins the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament in Hyderabad. OCTOBER 29 Jeev Milkha Singh becomes the first Indian Golfer to tee off at the World Matchplay Championship at Casares (Spain) and defeats world No. 5, Lee Westwood. DECEMBER 2 Argentina,s Lionnel Messi wins Golden Ball as well as the FIFA Player of the year award. DECEMBER 3 Virender Sehwag scores second fastest double hundred ever in the third and final test against Sri Lanka. It was Sehwag s sixth double century, the most by an Indian. DECEMBER Spain retains Davis Cup defeating Czech Republic in the finals in Barcelona. DECEMBER 6 India s V.Diju and Jwala Gutta loses in the finals of the BWF World Super Series Badminton Tournament in Johor Bahru. Indian cricket team reaches No. 1 status in ICC Test ranking. DECEMBER 15 Boris Gelfand of Israel wins the Chess World in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. DECEMBER 20 Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal win the Men s and Women s singles title in the Jaypee Cup Syed Modi International Grand Prix Badminton tournament in Lucknow. Saurav Goshal and Joshna Chinappa win the Men s and Women s Title in the Kingfisher 57th National Squash Championship in Delhi. Indian Wrestlers make a clean sweep of all the 7 gold medals in the Men s Freestyle competition of the Commonwealth wrestling in Jalandhar. DECEMBER 26 Ashutosh Singh and Ankita Raina of Gujrat lift the Men s and Women s titles of the National Grass Court Tennis Championship in Kolkata.

DIARY OF EVENTS 2009 NATIONAL

JANUARY: JAN 8 Overseas Indian Citizenship cardholders can practice their professionin India JAN 11 The center forms a three member board comprising HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, the former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik and C. Achutan to take charge of Satyam. Jan 15 Radha Vinod Raju appointed as the first Director General of the National Investigation Agency Jan 21 The Tamil Nadu government decides to launch the Chief Minister s Insurance Sche for me Life Saving Treatments which will benefit 1 crore families/ JAN 24 India and Kazakhstan sign a major agreement for supply of uranium and a comprehensive cooperation in civil nuclear energy program. An extradition treaty was also inked. JAN 28 - Cabinet approves the Rs.14,600 crore Chennai Metro Rail Project. FEBRUARY FEB 4 India signs its first commercial pact with the French nuclear giant Areva for reactors, fuel supply. FEB 5 The UN Secretary-General Ban ki- Moon is presented the Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2009 in New Delhi. FEB 10 Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, the noted Hindustani vocalist is presented with Bharat Ratna. FEB 11 Scientists of National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal (Haryana)announced the cloning of world s first buffalo Sumn Sharma became the world s first woman to fly the MIG 35 fighter jet. FEB 22 Tirupur become the 32nd district of Tamil Nadu. FEB 26 Supreme Court orders a probe by B. N. Srikrishna, the retired judga of the apex court into the violent incidents on the Madras High Court. MARCH MAR 3 The Howrah New Delhi Rajdhani Express , the country s first super fast train completes 40

years of service. MAR 7 Manipur Human Right activist Irom Chanu Sharmila on a continued fast for the past nine years demanding complete withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 is freed from judicial custody. MAR 21 Mohanrao Bhagwat takes over as the chief of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh. MAR 24 Sister Mary Prema is elected the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity in place of ailing Sister Nirmala. MAR 27 The Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson for 2008is conferred on Nirupama Subramaniam, Islamabad correspondent of The Hindu and Vinita Deshmukh, editor of Intelligent Pune. APRIL APR 13 Tech Mahindra acquires Satyam Computer Serveces. APR 20 The PSLV C12 puts in Orbit Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT 2), a surveillance satellite procured from Israel and Anusat, built by Anna University, Chennai after lift- off from Sriharikota. APR 21 Senior Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla takes over as the 16th Chief Election Commissioner. V. S. Sampath assumes office a the new Election Commissioner. APR 29 Four passengers died and 11 other injured after an unidentified person hijacks a suburban train from near the Central Railway Station and drives it at high speed resulting in head on collision with goods train at Vyasarpadi Jiva Railway Station. India and Israel ink Rs.1200 crore deal to revive ammunition production in Nalanda, Bihar. India and Kuwait sign three pacts for strengthening cooperation in science and technology, education and culture. 47 Indian companies including SBI and Reliance industries make to the list of 2000 biggest companies of world. India regained Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament after a gap of 13 years defeating Malaysia in the finals. MAY MAY 18 Sensex gains 2110.79 points. For the first time in the history of the stock market, the market remains closed for 2 hours because of steep climbing. MAY 25 Cyclone Aila pounds West Bengal MAY 28 Rani Abbaka, the Coast Guards first inshore patrol vessel is launched atVisakhapatnam. MAY 31 Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naiktakes charge as the 19th Chief of Indian Air Force.

JUNE JUN 3 Meira Kumar is lected as the first women Speaker of the Lok Sabha. JUN 6 Protests continued in the Kashmir against the rape and death of two women Nilofar Ahanger and Asiya jan at Shopian on May 29 night. Vice Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma is named the nation s Chief of Naval Staff. Indian Scientists announced the birth of world s second cloned buffalo named Garima at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. JUN 8 Seven times Member of Parliamint Karia Minda is unanimously elected Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha. JUN 16 The Maharashtra Government rejects the indictment of the then Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor by the Ram Pradhan Committee which probed the 26/11 attack. JUN 18 Central paramilitary forces and the State Armed Police launched offensive against Maoists and the supporters of the Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities in West Bengal s Lalgarh area. JUN 20- The Centre launched a round the clock anti- ragging helplinethat can be accessed at 1800180-5522 JUN 21 Satyam Computer Services unveils its new brand identity Mahindra Satyam . JUN 23 Maoists ambush police party and then free Misir Besra, a top ranking leader in Bihar s Lakhisarai district. JUN24 Hans Raj Bharadwaj is appointed Karnataka Governor. Rameshwar Thakur to be Madhya Pradesh Governor and Devanand Konwar is named Governor of Bihar. JUN 25 Nandan M. Nilkeni is to be Chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority Gopal Subramaniam becomes the new Solicitor General of India

JULY JUL 2 In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court strikes down the provision of Section 377 of the IPC, which criminalized consensual sexual acts of adults in private. JUL 3 Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee presents the first Railway budget of the new UPA Govt., highlights being Izzat Pass for unorganized sector,Duronto trains and low cost air-conditioned Yuva trains.

JUL 9 The toll in the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad s Rakhiyaal area goes up to 105. JUL 18 Margaret Alva is appointed Uttarakhand Governor and Jagannath Pahadia to be Haryana Governor and Syed Sibtey Razi is shifted to Assam. JUL 20 India and the US finalise 3 agreements a military end user pact, the Technology Safeguards Agreement and Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement with the visiting of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Supreme Court declines to stay the Delhi High Court judgment declaring the Section 377 of IPC unconstitutional and decriminalizing unnatural sex between consenting adults. JUL 22 A longest total solar eclipse of the century lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds sweeps across the narrow swathe of Asia. JUL 23 The Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Ajad inaugurates the Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life saying Treatments for One Crore Poor Families in Chennai. Jul 25 The President Pratibha Patil presents the Indira Gandhi International prize for Peace Disarmament and development for 2007 to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at Rashtrapati Bhavan The BSF for the first time inducts 178 women recruits for guarding international borders at the Kharkhan camp, 150 kms from Chandigarh. Jul 26 The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launches the nation s first indigenous nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant for sea trials. JUL 30 The Rajasthan Governor Shailendra Kumar approves the Bill which provides for 5% reservation to Gujjars and three other communities , besides 14 % quota to the economically backwards classes.

AUGUST Aug 3 Rida Shaikh becomes the first person to die of swine flu in India. Aug 11 The agrees to abolish the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and work for a new set up of the hill district. AUG 19 Jaswant Singh is expelled from the BJP for his book- Jinnah:India, Partition Independence. Eminent Sanskrit poet, author of The Ramayana: A Linguistic Study , Satya Vrat Shastri is presented the 42nd Jnanpith Award by the Princess of Thailand Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at New Delhi. AUG 24 The Prime Minister Council on Climate Change gives in principle approval for the

National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency. AUG 26 Supreme Court judges agreed to make their assets public. The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act gets Presidential assent. AUG 29 The Indian Space Research Organisation loses radio contact with Chandrayaan- 1 and the first moon mission ends in ten months instead of its stated life of two years. SEPTEMBER SEP 2 The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy(60) is killed a the s helicopter in which he was traveling crashes into Pavurala Gutta, a steep hollock between Atmakur and Rollapenta villages in Kurnool district. SEP 7 Class X Board exams in CBSE schools stand cancelled beginning 2011. Kanchivaram wins Best Feature Film award Prakash Raj adjudged Best Actor as the 55th National Films Awards 2007 announced. The Best Actress award goes to Kannada actorUmashree for her role in Gulabi Talkies . SEP 8 The National Mission for Female Literacy christened Saakshar Bharat Mission is launched by P.M. SEP 20 Top Maoist leader Kobad Gandhi is arrested. SEP 23 PSLV puts Oceansat-2 and six other foreign nano satellites into orbit. SEP 26 Chhatradhar Mahato, convener of the Maoist backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee is arrested by police near Lalgarh in West Bengal. SEP 30 Veteran playback singer Manna Dey is selected for 2007 Dadasahab Phalke award. More than 32 persons on board a boat killed after it capsizes in the Mullaiperiyar dam in Kerela s Iduki district. The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohammad ElBardei is honoured with the indira Gandhi Prize for Peace and Disarmament and Development 2008. OCTOBER OCT 2 The Union Cabinet renames the National Rural Employment Act after Mahatma Gandhi. Heavy rains lash Karnataka and the pilgrim center town of Mantralayam lies submerged. The Krishna and its tributaries in Andhra Pradesh reach levels not seen in 100 years and Kurnool lies in neck deep water.

OCT 5 Ganga Dolphin is declared the National Aquatic Animal at the first meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Athaurity. OCT 6 Maoists behead the Jharkhand police inspector Francis Induwar. OCT 12 The Rajasthan High Court stays the new law providing 19% reservation for Gujjars and the newly created economically backward class in the state. OCT 22 The Centre gives nod to a proposal to enhance the quota for woman in urban local bodies from one-third to 50%. OCT 24 K. Radhakrishnanis appointed the ISRO chairman. OCT 25 Dorjee Khandu is sworn in as Arunachal Pradesh C.M. for second consecutive term. OCT 29 At least 4 persons killed and 150 injured in a massive fire at the Indian Oil Corporation s fuel depot in the Sitapura industrial area on the outskirts of Jaipur. OCT 31 P.S. Veeraraghavan takes over as Diretor, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,. NOVEMBER NOV 11 Cyclone Phyan kills 4 persons and causes massive damage to property in the coastal districts of Maharashra. NOV 12 N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief The Hindu is chosen for the 2009 K.R.Narayanan Award. NOV 19 Bangladesh Prime Minister Shekh Hasina is chosen for the 2009 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. NOV 23 The Centre launches the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. NOV 24 Mumbai gets its brand new anti-terror outfit, Force One with the passing out parade of the first batch. NOV 25 President Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman Head if State to fly abroad a SU-30 MKI fighter plane. NOV 30 Srikumar Banerjee takes over as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy. DECEMBER DEC 1 Najam Sethi, the former Editor-in-chief of the Friday Times and Daily Times , Pakistan is awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), during the 62nd World Newspaper Congress and 16th World Editors Forum inaugral in Hyderabad.

DEC 3 The Cabinet clears the National Green Tribunal Bill. The Taiwanese film I Can t Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti) directed by Leon Dai bags the prestigious Golden Peacock at the 40th IFFI Celebrated singer Lata Mangeshkar is presented with the Frances highest civilian award Officer of The Legion of Honour. DEC 4 Senior All Parties Hurriat Conference leader Fazal Haq Qureshi, critically injured in an assassination attempt. DEC 10 The Lok Sabha passes the Essential Commodities (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2009(Suger cane pricing bill). DEC 14 The CBI rules out rape, murder of two women in Shopian on May 29, says it is case of drowning in Rambiara, Nallah near Zawoora Bridge. DEC 18 L.K. Advani steps down as the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and becomes chairman of the BJP s Parliamentary Party. Sushma Swaraj takes his place. Arun Jaitely renominated Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha post-facto approves the SBI-State Bank of Saurashtra merger. DEC 19 The Gujrat Assembly passes the Gujrat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment), 2009 making voting compulsory in elections to all the local bodies in the State. DEC 21 A.R. Rehman presented the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Award by Prime Minister in New Delhi. Life Time Achievement Award goes to sitar maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar. DEC 22 India and Bhutan sign four MoUs after a summit with the visiting monarch. New Delhi agrees to fund nearly a quarter of Thimpu s Tenth Plan outlay of Rs. 14,800 Crore. DEC 26 The Andhra Pradesh Governor N.D. Tewari resigns in the wake of TY expose. DEC 28 The Chhattisgarh Governor E.S.L. Narsimhan takes charge of Andhra Pradesh. DEC 30 Lokmanya Tilak award for The Hindu Editor-in-Chief N. Ram.

INDIA AND THE WORLD

India-Japan Relation
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Japan inks pact for Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIC). Rs. 3.6 lakh Crore New Delhi & Tokyo signed two Pacts, including Collaboration in developing & Promoting eco-cities around the project. (Smart communities). The Japan Bank of International Cooperation also signed a loan agreement totalling upto USD 75 million (Rs 330 Crore) with India ,Infrastructure Finance to prepare plan for overall DMIC region & developing plans for investment-in phase -1st. The DMIC Project Development Fund is envisaged to be set up with equal Contribution from India and Japan. The Centre has already approved a grant of Rs 330 Crore towards this. Japanese pm Yukio Hatoyama. This shows that both the Countries are committed to take forward the bilateral cooperation & further accelerate economic engagements. The DMIC is planned to promote integrated development of Industry and Infrastructure in a band of 150-200km on the either side of the Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor between Delhi & Mumbai, over a length of about 1,500km The Delhi-Mumbai Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor is also being post-founded by Japanese Govt. The agreement would help DMIC to establish eco-friendly township & Industrial Zones by adopting global best practises

SCHEME Government Plans Schemes For Free Treatment Of Road- Accident Victims
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The Govt. is planning to introduce a scheme to fund the medical treatment of victims of road accidents for the first 48 hours through insurance Companies or budgetary Support. Free-treatment scheme will be rolled out, Flag off pilot projects, Mumbai-Pune Expressway is a good option. The Committee headed by- Former Transport- Secretary S.Sundar (2005) The Committee headed by Transport- Secretary Brahm Dutt (current)

NISER-NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE EDUCATIONAND RESEARCH (NISER) -BHUBANESHWAR

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ESL Narasimhan takes charges as AP Governor India Continues to be world s largest milk producer

Govt. introduces Maharastra states for top PSUS. The Govt has approved bestowing the (Maharastra) Status enchanced autonomy to the PSUS which have a three year track record of annual turnover of Rs 25,000 crore & net profit of Rs 5,000 Crore.

The govt. on Thursday transferred state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Ltd. From the Shipping to the Defence Ministry to meet the Countrys Security Needs. In India - ASEAN talks on services trade from 12th Jan 2010.
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India has lined up a series of meetings with the ASEAN members over the next seven months to reach a deal on opening up services trade, after opening up services trade, after opening up of merchandise trade. Two rounds of Negotiations have already taken place in this regard. India signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of southeast Nations (Asean) in Aug; which will come into effect from 1st January, 2010 and is committed to begin breaking duty barriers on goods. Brunei, Combodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam are the 10 Members of the the Asean, India has an observer status in the bloc. All Complaints received by police stations should be treated as FIRS- The Home Ministry has decided to issue a circular to all states.

May 2010
APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc. David Cameron: He has been elected as the Prime Minister of UK. Kamla Persad-Bissessar: A 58-year-old woman of Indian origin, she has been elected as the first woman Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago. Her party, People s Partnership, won 29 of the 41 parliamentary seats to end the 43-yeaqr-old rule of the ruling party. Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia: He has been appointed as the 38th Chief Justice of India. He is an expert in taxation and commercial laws. Dr Ratan Kumar Sinha: He has been appointed as the new Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). He is closely associated with the design and development of India s first Thoriumbased advanced Heavy Water reactor. RESIGNED Horst Koehler: President of Germany. He resigned following criticism over his comments about Germany s military engagement in Afghanistan. He is the first President in Germany s post-war history to resign before completing his term. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS Jacob Zuma: President of South Africa. DIED Bhairon Singh Shekhawat: Former Vice President of India. He was 86. A senior BJP leader, he had also held the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Mac Mohan: Veteran character actor of Hindi film industry, he immortalised in the role of Gabbar Singh s sidekick Sambha in blockbuster Sholay . He was 71. MILESTONES Nitin Nohria: India-born American, he has been named the 10th Dean of Harvard Business School. He is the first person of Indian origin to achieve this honour. Mamta Sodha: 30-year-old Dalit girl from Kaithal, Haryana, she has achieved the distinction of climbing Mount Everest. She was part of the Mission Mount Everest 2010 expedition. Jordan: A 13-year-old American boy from California, he has become youngest person to climb Mount Everest. He achieved the feat on May 22, 2010. Arjun Bajpayee: 16-year-old resident of Uttar Pradesh's Noida city, he has become the youngest Indian to climb the Mount Everest. He broke the record of Krushnaa Patil,18, from Maharashtra who became the youngest Indian to reach the highest peak in 2009. Commander Dilip Donde: He has become the first Indian to sail solo around the world. Shah Faesal: An MBBS degree holder from Srinagar, he has topped the Civil Services Exam 2009. Gita Gopinath: She is the first Indian woman in the history of Harvard University to be appointed a full time professor at the University. She is a professor in Economics Department of Harvard University. EVENTS MAY 1 The police in New York foil a major terror attack by defusing a crude car bomb in the heart of city s famous tourist hub of Times Square. 17 Maoists blow up a passenger bus in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, killing more than 36 people. 17 The Strategic Forces Command, with logistics support from DRDO, successfully launches the Agni-II surface-to-surface, intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM). 22 In one of the worst air tragedies in India, Air India flight from Dubai overshoots runway at Mangalore airport and bursts into flames, killing 158 passengers and crew on board. 28 More than 80 people are killed as a goods train rams into already derailed Gyaneshwari Express near Kharagpur, West Bengal. The Maoists are blamed for the derailment of the passenger train.

CURRENT EVENTS APRIL 2010

April 2010
APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc. Justice S.H. Kapadia: He has become the 38th Chief Justice of India. D.M. Jayaratne: He has been appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Mukul M. Sangma: He has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Gen V.K. Singh: He has taken over as the Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army.

Chirayu Amin: He has been appointed as the interim chairman of Indian Premier League (IPL) by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). RESIGNED D.D. Lapang: Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Shashi Tharor: Minister of State for External Affairs in the Union Cabinet. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS Admiral Dary Roughead: Chief of the US Navy. DIED Lech Kaczynski: President of Poland. Prabha Rau: Governor of Rajasthan. C. K. Prahalad: Globally known influential management thinker. MILESTONES Manasvi Magmai: Delhi girl, she has been crowned Femina Miss India World. Nicole Faria from Bangalore has won the Miss India Earth title and Neha Hinge has won Miss India International title. Prasun Chatterjee: An Indian environmental engineering student whose research has contributed to a new way of detecting toxic lead and copper in water, has won one of the highest US research honours. Chatterjee, a research student at the University of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, received the 2010 C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Environmental Chemistry Division. EVENTS APRIL 1 The exercise to conduct the 15th Census of India begins. 6 Seventy three security personnel are killed in the deadliest Naxal strike in the restive Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. 6 Prime Minister Gordan Brown of UK announces General Elections on May 6; the Parliament is dissolved. 7 Thailand s embattled Prime Minister declares a state of emergency in Bangkok after protesters storm Parliament in a dramatic escalation of their bid to topple the government. 10 Polish President Lech Kacznski and his wife are among 97 people killed in air crash in western Russia. 14 More than 400 people die as a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits China s Qinghai province on the Tibetan plateau. 15 After 18 years of research and testing, the Indian Space Research Organisation s (ISRO) first attempt to put a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine ends in failure. 19 The Supreme Court upholds the conviction and life sentence to Manu Sharma for the 1999 murder of model Jessica Lall.

CURRENT EVENTS MARCH 2010

March 2010
APPOINTED; ELECTED Etc. Sonia Gandhi: UPA chairperson and Congress President, she has been appointed as the head of National Advisory Council (NAC), four years after quitting the post over an office-of-profit controversy. She will hold the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister. S. Ramadorai: He has been appointed as the Chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE). DISTINGUISHED VISITORS Vladmir Putin: Prime Minister of Russia. Stephen Smith: Foreign Minister of Australia. General Mohammad Abdul Mubeen: Army chief of Bangladesh. Nelson Jobin: Defence Minister of Brazil. DIED Girija Prasad Koirala: Five-time Prime Minister of Nepal and architect of the landmark peace deal with the Maoists that ended a decade-long insurgency in Nepal. G.P. Birla: Noted industrialist and second most eldest member of the Birla clan. He was 86. MILESTONES Capt Tejdeep Singh Rattan: A 31-year-old Dentist, he has become the first Sikh in over 25 years to be allowed to complete US Army officer basic training without giving up his turban or shaving his full beard. EVENTS MARCH 7 Explosions rock Iraq as the country votes to elect a new government, leading to 36 people getting killed. 29 Two female suicide bombers blow themselves up on two packed metro trains, near iconic Gorky Park in Moscow, killing more than 40 people.

CURRENT EVENTS FEBRUARY 2010

February 2010
APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc.
S.C. Sinha: Haryana cadre IPS officer, he has been appointed as the Director General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Salil Shetty: He has been appointed as the Secretary-General of Amnesty International. He is the first Indian to be appointed to the job and will succeed Irene Khan in June 2010.

RESIGNED
Shyam Saran: Prime Ministers special envoy on climate change.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
Abdullah Gul: President of Turkey. Horst Koehler: President of Germany. Salman Bashir: Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.

DIED
Fred Morrison: Inventor of the Frisbee, a flying-saucer shaped toy. He was 90. Nanaji Deshmukh: One of the founder members of Bhartiya Jan Sangh, social worker and former member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sbha. He was 93. Kakkadah Nandanath Raj: Leading economist of India who made a significant contribution in preparation of Indias first five-year Plan (1951-56). He was 85. Nirmal Pandey: Hindi films actor. He was 46. A graduate rom National School of Drama, he is best known for his roles in Bandit Queen, Iss raat kee subha nahin and Pyar Kiya to darna kya. Tahir Hussain: Well-known Hindi film-maker and father of film star Amir Khan. He is known for producing hits like Hum hain rahi pyar ke, Zakhmee, Anamika and Caravan.

MILESTONES
Sanjiv Mehta: He is the new owner of East India Company, the worlds first multinational whose forces once ruled much of the globe, including India.

EVENTS
FEBRUARY 2010 5Twin blasts in Karachi claim 25 lives. Terrorists target a Shia religious procession and a hospital. 7India successfully test-fires its indigenous, nuclear-capable Agni-III missile, with a range of over 3,000 km. 13More than 11 people are killed in a high-intensity bomb explosion at the German bakery at Koregaon Park, Pune. This is the first major terror strike in India after 26/11 strikes in Mumbai.

15Maoists kill 24 jawans during s daring attack at a police camp at Simplipal in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal. 18Naxals gun down 11 persons in a village under Jamui district of Bihar. 21Taliban behead a Sikh in Pakistan for refusing to pay jazia (money to protect a non -Muslim community). 24Railways Budget is presented in the Lok Sabha by Union Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee. -Day 24Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first cricketer in the world to hit a double century in One format (in ODI against South Africa, played in Gwalior). 26Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presents his fifth Union Budget in the Lok Sabha. 26Nine Indians are among 18 people killed in a series of attacks by militants in central Kabul, Afghanistan. 27Earthquake measuring 8.8 on Richter scale hits areas around Santiago, Chile, killing more than 500 people and destroying property worth billions of dollars. 27Prime Minister Manmohan Singh becomes the first Prime Minister in 28 years to visit Saudi Arabia.

CURRENT EVENTS 2010

January 2010
APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc.
Mahinda Rajapaksa: He has been re-elected as the President of Sri Lanka, E.S.L. Narasimhan: He has been appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Shivraj Patil: He has been appointed as the Governor of Punjab and Chief Administrator of Union Territory of Chandigarh. M.K. Narayanan: He has been appointed as the Governor of West Bengal. Prabha Rau: She has been appointed as the Governor of Rajasthan. Sekhar Dutt: He has been appointed as the Governor of Chattisgarh. M.O.H. Farooq: He has been appointed as the Governor of Jharkhand. K. Sankaranarayanan: He has been appointed as the Governor of Maharashtra. Urmila Singh: She has been appointed as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Gen Vijay Kumar Singh: He has been appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army. Shiv Shankar Menon: He has been appointed as the National Security Advisor. S. Sundareshan: He has been appointed as the Petroleum Secretary in the Union govern ment. Vikram Srivastava: He has been appointed as the Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Raman Srivastava: He has taken over as the Chief of Border Security Force (BSF). Ranjeet Kumar Bhatia: He has taken over as the Chief of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Mrinal Pandey: She has been appointed as the Chairperson of Prasar Bharti.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

Lee Myung-bak: President of South Korea. He was the Chief Guest on occasion of the Republic Day 2010. Sheikh Hasina: Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Uzi Arad: National Security Adviser of Israel. Vice-Admiral Elizer Marom: Commander-in Chief of Israeli Navy. Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak: Prime Minister of Malaysia.

DIED
Jyoti Basu: CPM patriarch and former Chief Minister of West Bengal. He was 95. Billy Arjan Singh: Pioneering wildlife activist and author. He was 94. Erich Segal: Author of the tear-jerking novel Love Story and screenwriter of the Oscar-winning film version. He was 72.

MILESTONES
Asma Parween: Her story features on the 2010 UN Population Fund calendar. A native of an obscure village, Sakri Saraiya in Bihars Muzzafarpur district, this 19 year-old girl defied her orthodox father to join an education-cum-vocational centre in her village. Today she is a history honours student as also a karate trainer.

EVENTS
JANUARY 2010 1India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into effect with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand implementing it with immediate effect. 1A suicide bomber blows up a car packed with explosives killing 70 people during a volleyball game in a village in north-west Pakistan. 4Blazing fireworks and dazzling lights mark the opening of the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai). 14The first holy bath of centurys and Uttarkhands first Maha Kumbh starts at Haridwar. 15Centurys longest annular solar eclipse takes place. 18Taliban attack heart of Kabul by targeting key government buildings. 13More than three lakh people are killed as an earthquake with 7.0 magnitude hits Port-auPrince, capital of Haiti. 25Ninety persons die in Ethiopian airlines crash into Mediterranean sea, shortly after take-off from Beirut. 26Sri Lanka goes to polls to elect new President. 27Bangladesh hangs five ex-Army officers convicted for assassinating countrys founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, almost three decades after he was killed in a military coup.

International Organizations and Agreements

International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol): It functions as an administrative liaison between the law-enforcement agencies of the member countries, providing communications and database assistance. It was formed in 1923 an is d headquartered at Lyon, France.

African Union (AU): It was established in 2002 to accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent; to promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples; to achieve peace and security in Africa; and to promote democratic institutions, good governance and human rights. Its secretariat is based in Adis Ababa and its current chairman is Bingu Wa Mutharika.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): It was founded in 1998 and it is responsible for managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses. It is headquartered at Maria del Rey.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Established in 1957 through IAEA treaty. It seeks to promote peaceful use of nuclear energy and reports both to General Assembly and Security Council (both of U.N.). It is headquartered in Vienna and its Director General is Yukio Amano. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Established in 1948 as Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). It is headquartered in Paris. It defines itself as a forum of countries committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a setting to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and co-ordinate domestic and international policies.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): It s an intergovernmental body tasked with evaluating the risk of climate change caused by human activity. It was established in 1988 and shared 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO):

It is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. It is headquartered in Brussels and constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.

Commonwealth of Nations: It is an intergovernmental organisation (of 54 independent countries all (but for Mozambique and Rwanda) of which were formerly part of the British Empire) through which countries with diverse social, political and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status It is headquartered in . London and it s Secretary General is Kamalesh Sharma.

Bank of the South (BancoSur): It is a monetary fund and lending organization established on September 26, 2009 byArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela with an initial capital of 20 billion U.S. dollars as an alternative to the World Bank and IMF.

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC): It s a cartel of twelve countries (Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Venezuela) which fixes the price of oil on the international markets. It is headquartered at Vienna, Austria.

International Monetary Fund (IMF): It was established in the year 1944 to stabilize exchange rates and assist the reconstruction of the world's international payment system. It s headquartered at Washington D.C. and it s Managing Director is Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Bank for International Settlements (BIS): It is an international organization of central banks which fosters international monetary and financial policy. It is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and it was established in 1930.

European Central Bank (ECB): The European Central Bank (ECB) is the institution of the European Union (EU) tasked with administrating the monetary policy of the EU member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt. The current President of the ECB is Jean-Claude Trichet.

GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development: It is a regional organization of four post- Soviet states: Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. Its charter was signed on June 6 to June 7, 2001. It is headquartered at Kiev, Ukraine.

Asian Development Bank (ADB): It is a regional development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance. It is headquartered at Manila and it s President is Haruhiko Kuroda.

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN): It was established in the year 1954 for setting up the world s largest particle physics laboratory. It s main function is to provide infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research. It is headquartered at Geneva and it s President is Rolf-Dieter Heuer.

Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG): It is a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development.

International Agreements / Conventions

Treaty of Lisbon: It was signed by European Union member states in December, 2007. It amends the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht; 1992) and the Treaty establishing the European Community ( Rome; 1957). Prominent changes include increased involvement of European Parliam in legislative ent process.

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FTC): This treaty came into force in 2005 and provides a framework of national, regional and international tobacco control measures, including the setting of broad limits on the production, sale, distribution, advertisement, taxation, and government policies towards tobacco. It has been ratified by 168 countries.

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: It is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted in 1998 and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. Among other things, the statute establishes the court's functions, jurisdiction and structure.

Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty): This treaty bans all anti-personnel landmines and a party to the treaty must destroy all the antipersonnel mines in its possession within four years. Just a small number of mines is allowed to remain for training (mine-clearance, -detection, etc.). Within ten years after signing the treaty, the country should have cleared all of its mined areas. It was signed by 133 countries in 1997.

Kyoto Protocol:

Under this Protocol, 37 industrialized countries commit themselves to a reduction of four greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) produced by them, and all member countries give general commitments. It was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005.

POP Air Pollution Protocol: It is an agreement to provide for reduction in the emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POP) in order to reduce their transboundary fluxes so as to protect human health and the environment from adverse effects. It entered into force in 2003 and twenty-seven countries and European Union have signed it.

WIPO Copyright Treaty: It was adopted by member states of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in 1996. It provides additional protections for copyright deemed necessary due to advances in information technology.

General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): It is a treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides such a system for merchandise trade.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: It is a convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership arrangements. It entered into force in 1996.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: It is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place from 1973 through 1982. The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):

It is an agreement signed by the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): It is an international legally binding treaty that was adopted in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The Convention has three main goals: conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components; and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT): It is a treaty to limit the spread (proliferation) of nuclear weapons. The treaty came into force on 5 March 1970 and currently there are 189 states party to the treaty. NPT is commonly described as having three main "pillars": non-proliferation, disarmament, and peaceful use.

Biological Weapons Convention: This was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons. It entered into force on March 26, 1975. This convention prohibits to developing, production, stockpiling or otherwise acquiring or retaining microbial or other biological agents except for peaceful purposes.

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations: It is an international treaty on diplomatic immunities and privileges of a diplomatic mission. It was adopted in 1961.

Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties (VCLT): It is a treaty concerning the customary international law on treaties between states. This convention entered into force on 1980. The VCLT has been ratified by 110 states as of October 2009; those that have not ratified it yet may still recognize it as binding upon them in as much as it is a restatement of customary law.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES / Washington Convention): It is an international agreement, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1973 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its aim is to ensure that

international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 33,000 species of animals and plants.