current affairs january 2012

Compiled by – Abhinav Shrivastava, Batch of 2015, NUJS, Kolkata

January 21

• Salman Rushdie – was in dispute recently in relation to his visit at Jaipur Literature Festival,

which was inaugurated by the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuk –

“Satanic Verses” – disputed novel authored by Rushdie

• A.K. Antony – Union Defence Minister

• Marc Grossman – U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan

• S.Y. Quraishi – Chief Election Commissioner – other Election Commissioners are – V.S.

Sampath and H.S. Bhrama

• NSAB – National Security Advisory Board – Chairman – Naresh Chandra

• R.N. Kao – Founder of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)

• News of the World – the British News Tabloid which had to be closed following controversy

in relation to phone hacking

• Megaupload.com – one of the world’s most popular file-sharing website – recently it has

been shut down following piracy claims against it – Founder – Kim Dotcom

• Vodafone – U.K. based group – recently it has won a case whereby it has been exempted to

pay 11,000 crore income tax for acquiring majority stake in Hutchison-Essar.,

• HUL – Hindustan Unilever Limited

• S. Gopalakrishanan – Executive Chairman, Infosys

• Azim Premji – Chairman, Wiprok

January 20

• Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister, Bangladesh

• UIDAI – Union Identification Authority of India – comes under the nodal authority of the

Planning Commission of India – Registrar General of India comes under the authority of

Union Home Ministry

• Pink City – Jaipur

• Jarawa – tribe in Andaman and Nicobar

• Eastman Kodak Company – a US Company – it helped in bringing the world the first

pictures from the moon – it has recently filed for Bankruptcy Protection

• P.H. Parekh – President, Supreme Court Bar Association – he had resigned recently

following a controversy

• Suresh Kalmadi – President, Indian Olympic Association – former Chairman, CWG

Organising Committee – has been facing trail for corruption charges in relation to

Commonwealth Games

• Indian Naval Academy - located in Ezhimala, Kerala

January 19


• SOPA – Stop Online Piracy Act, PIPA – Protect Intellectual Property Act – two acts against

whom Wikipedia had been protesting recently – it had blocked its website for a day.

• Justice R.A. Mehta – Lokayukta, Gujarat – his appointment had been challenged by Gujarat

Government – High Court has recently upheld the appointment – Kamla Beniwal –

Governor, Gujarat

• C.K. Mahajan – Chairman, National Anti-Doping Appeal Panel

• S. Jaipal Reddy – Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister

• Fiat India Automobiles Limited – Joint venture of Fiat and Tata Motors

• Tibet – region where China has recently announced to expand its railway network

• FNA – state run news agency of Iran

• P5+1 - Five United Nations Permanent Members plus Germany

• National Bravery Awards – awarded on Republic Day

• S.M. Srikrishna – External Affairs Minister

January 18

• Recently Union Government has decided to allow foreign Airlines to have 49 % stake in

Indian Carriers – the move has been taken following the financial crisis faced by Indian

Airlines

• Shiv Shankar Menon – National Security Adviser

• Portugal – Country whose court has denied to extradite Abu Salem [ he is related to

Underworld] to India

• N. Chandrasekharan – CEO and MD, TCS

• The Artist – black-and-white film directed by French Director Michel Hazanavicius – this film

has been nominated under 12 categories for Bafta Awards – Bafta stands for British

Academy of Films and Television Arts

• INS Vikramaditya – also known as Admiral Gorshkov – to be handed over to India by

Russia by 2012 – After its inclusion, India will become the 4th Country in the world after USA,

Russia and UK to operate an aircraft carrier with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons.

• PIO – Person of Indian Origin

• iDiscoveri – a social enterprise involved in various initiatives aimed at quality education.

• “Fight Corruption” – an initiative by Transparency International – a helpline which will

enable common person in combating corrupt practices

January 17

• General V.K. Singh – Chief of Indian Army – recently he was in news in relation to the

issue of his official age – he moved to the Supreme Court against the decision of the

government for not changing his age.


• INS Krishna – a training Squadron Ship of Indian Navy – will make its last voyage – it was

earlier known as “HMS Andromeda” while it was under Royal Navy – it will be tentatively

replaced by INS Shardul

• Suzlon Energy – a leading wind turbine manufacturer

• Web Jiabao – Premier, China

• Winners – GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

Best Film – Musical or Comedy – The Artist

Best Director – Martin Scorsese [Hugo]

Best Actor – George Clooney [The Descendants]

Best Actress – Meryl Streep [The Iron Lady]

• Nursultan Nazarbayvev – President, Kazakhstan

• Nepal – Country with whom India has recently agreed to share terror-related Information

• UPA – United Progressive Alliance

• Nitin Gadkari – President, Bhartiya Janta Party

• Guzaarish – Indian Movie which will released in Latin Amercia – it was produced by UTV

Motion Pictures

January 16

• K. Srikanth – Chairman, Selection Panel Committee of the Board of Cricket Control in India

(BCCI)

• Laban Moiben – Winner, Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2012

• Darjeeling Tea – it has been registered as a PGI – PGI stands for Protected

Geographical Indication

• DCB – Development Credit Bank

• TNA – Tamil National Alliance – an umbrella group representing Tamil Political parties in Sri

Lanka

• LLRC - Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission

• Aung Sann Suu Kyi – has been honoured with National Order of the Legion d’Honneur – a

French Honour – in recognition of her long struggle for democracy.

• Ma Yingjeou – has been re-elected as the President of Taiwan

• Roskomos – Russian Space Federal Agency – Phobos-Grunt – a Russian probe designed

to travel to a moon of Mars which was stuck within the Earth’s orbit.

• Costa Concordia – Cruise which had flipped off recently after it hit a Rock

• Bashar-al-Assad – President, Syria

• Homai Vyarwala – considered to be India’s 1st woman photo-journalist – she has passed

away recently

• Milan Luthira – Director, The Dirty Picture – it has been produced by Ekta Kapoor and

others.


• B.C. Khanduri – Chief Minister, Uttrakhand

• Bihar – State which has launched the details of Convicted persons in Criminal Cases under

the category “Civil Consequence of Crime”

January 15

• Germany – it is the largest economy in the Eurozone.

• Gangasagar Mela – held in Kolkata

• Umesh Yadav – Indian bowler who has recently registered 2nd Best Figure by an Indian

Bowler in Perth, 5/93 [Cricket Ground] – after Bishan Bedi

• Haroon Logart – Chief Executive, International Cricket Council

• Cricket – it had been played only once at the Olympics in 1900.

• Standard and Poor’s – a credit rating agency – Chairman – John Chambers

• EFSF – European Financial Stability Facility

• Tunisa – Country which has celebrated anniversary of the revolution which ended the

dictatorship of Zine El Adbidine Ben Ali [Its president]

• Bhupinder Singh Hooda –Chief Minister, Haryana

• IMA – Indian Medical Association – largest non-governmental organisation of doctors in

India.

• IMBL - International Maritime Boundary Line

• M.C. Joshi – Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes

January 14

• Facebook, Google – among 21 sites against which sanction has been granted by to

prosecute them with regard to the objectionable material which they had on their websites.

• NCTC – National Counter-Terrorism Centre – to be set up by the Union Government – will

work under Intelligence Bureau.

• V.K. Singh – Army Chief – determination of his age was in dispute recently.

• INS Arindaman – second Arihant class nuclear submarine – INS Arihant was launched in

the year 2009 – INS Chakra – has been borrowed from Russia on a 10-year lease which is a

nuclear powered submarine.

• McDonalds – U.S. Food Giant which will remain a key sponsor of the Olympic Games until at

least the year 2020.

• Asian Shooting Championship 2012 – Doha, Qatar.

• Apple Inc. – recently it has halted sale of iPhone 4S in China because of security fears –

CEO – Tim Cook

• “e-biz” – the new portal to be a one-stop solution for the industry to submit applications,

obtain licenses, and seek renewal of the existing online applications – Andhra Pradesh to

launch this unique Government-to-Business Portal.


• Bardley Manning – the U.S. military analyst charged with the biggest leak of the state

secrets in U.S. History – it had leaked these secrets to Wikileaks

• Pakistan – Country which is currently facing Political Crisis between the government and the

Army.

• Dam999 – movie directed by Sohan Roy – it is banned in the state of Tamil Nadu because of

its alleged connection with the issue of Mullaperiyar Dam

• Top Gear – a popular motoring show on BBC – presented by Jeremy Clarkson – the show

was in dispute recently because of its alleged racial remarks against India.

• David Cameron – Prime Minister, England

• Shahid Malik – Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India

• Dinesh Trivedi – Union Railway Minister

January 13

• Margaret Chan – Director-General, World Health Organisation

• Ghulam Nabi Azad – Union Health Minister

• Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria – Countries considered to be “endemic” to polio – two

years ago, India was also considered to be a such country – recently India has reported not a

single case of wild polio for a year – Polio is caused by Poliomyelitis

• S.D. Sibhulal – CEO & MD, Infosys

• Phobos Grunt – Russia’s failed Mars Probe – is likely to fall into the Indian Ocean

• TMT – a Hawaii telescope to be jointly constructed by India and China – to be the world’s

largest telescope.

• There are three kinds of Polio Virus – PV1 , PV2 , PV3

• Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister, Bangladesh

• Jaitapur Nuclear Plant- situated in Maharashtra

• Jeremy Clarkson – presents the BBC’s show Top Gear in UK - was accused of concluding a

racist programme by mocking Indian Culture – accusations have been made by Indian High

Commission in London.

• Red Ribbon Express – Train related to AIDS awareness programme – its third phase has

recently been launched by the Union Health Minister.

• João Cravinho – he has been appointed the Ambassador — Head of Delegation of the

European Union in India.

January 12

• Ashfaq Kayani – Army Chief, Pakistan

• ISI – Inter-Services-Intelligence – Chief – Ahmed Shuja Pasha – recently Pakistan has been

facing political crisis following the controversy between Government on one hand, and ISI


and Army on another hand – Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has sacked Defence

Secretary Khalid Lodhi in between this controversy.

• Ajit Singh – Union Civil Aviation Minister of India

• Daniel Ortega – has recently been assumed the office of the President of Nicaraguan for

third term.

• Shivraj Singh Chauhan – Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh

• Chairman, Bar Council Of India – Ashok K. Prarija

• Swami Vivekanand – his 150th Birth Anniversary has recently been celebrated

January 11

• 42% - percentage of Children who are underweight in India – according to a new study –

conducted by Naandi Foundation.

• Salman Khurshid – Union Law Minister – recently Election Commission has served notice to

him for promising sub-quota to Muslims ahead of UP Assembly Polls.

• Mamta Banerjee – Chief Minister, West Bengal

• Anuj Bidve – The student in whose memory a fund has been decided to set up.

• Moniligaster Ivaniosi – new species of earthworm found in Andaman and Nicobar

• Zhang Zun – the first Chinese to learn classical dance in India [Bharatnatyam and Kathak] –

she has passed away recently

• Lionel Messi – has won the award of Ballon d’Or , which has been merged with the FIFA

World Player of the year – he has won this award for 3rd consecutive time – 2nd Player to win

this award three consecutive times after Michael Pitani

Homare Sawa – Woman World Player of the Year 2011 [FIFA]

• NADA – National Anti Doping Agency

• Bobby Jindal - the first Indian-American Governor in the U.S. - began his second term as

the chief of state of Louisiana following a landslide victory.

• David Cameron – Prime Minister, England

• Yusuf Raza Gilani – Prime Minister, Pakistan

• European Union – 27 Members

• Moody’s Corporation – a global rating agency – it has upgraded India’s rating of short-

term foreign currency bank deposits from ‘speculative’ to ‘investment’ grade.

• Madhya Pradesh – State having highest Infant Mortality rate in India

• “Response 10” – an initiative to be started by Mumbai Police to tackle against terrorism in

the City.

• Kamla Prasad Bissessar – Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago

• Dal Lake – located in Jammu and Kashmir

January 10


• Salman Rusidhe – he was in controversy recently relating to his visit to Jaipur Literature

Festival – his arrival had been opposed by certain groups

• - Viswanath Venkat Dasari - a visually challenged 18 year-old boy, who has authored

Pharaoh and the King , a story based on Indian and Egyptian mythology.

• Swift (Maruti Suzuki) - has been chosen as the ‘Indian Car Of The Year 2012' -

adjudged by India's leading automobile experts and writers of automobile magazines - the

only car in India to receive this coveted title twice

• S. Jaipal Reddy - Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas

• Hu Jintao – President, China

• Vijay Kumar – Acting President, Indian Olympic Association

January 9

• 10th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas – Jaipur – Chief Guest - Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister

Kamla Persad-Bissessar

• Gir Wildlife Sanctuary – located in the state in Gujarat

• ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - global body that

oversees the operation and administration of the Internet domain name system.

• Aung San Suu Kyi – Myanmar political leader who had been serving house arrest for a long

period of time

• LG Electronics – a South Korean Manufacturer

January 8

• NIA – National Investigating Agency

• Union Minister for Rural Development - Jairam Ramesh.

• Sukh Ram - convicted in the case relating to the purchase of telecom equipment in 1993-

94 resulting in a loss of Rs.1.66 crore to the exchequer

• “Year of Germany in India” – from September 2011 to November 2012

• Trek Elite 9.9 SSL - bike launched by Firefox at Auto Expo, New Delhi - India's costliest

bicycle worth Rs.4.25-lakh.

current affairs january 2012

Documents