in the news - ias exam portaliasexamportal.com/civilservices/sites/default/files/special...in the...

207 || Year Book 2015

OOOOOnline Coaching for IAS Enline Coaching for IAS Enline Coaching for IAS Enline Coaching for IAS Enline Coaching for IAS Examxamxamxamxamhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamportal.com/civilsertal.com/civilsertal.com/civilsertal.com/civilsertal.com/civilservices/coursesvices/coursesvices/coursesvices/coursesvices/courses

Click HClick HClick HClick HClick Hererererere to Be to Be to Be to Be to Buy Iuy Iuy Iuy Iuy Impormpormpormpormportant Books for IAS Etant Books for IAS Etant Books for IAS Etant Books for IAS Etant Books for IAS Exam:xam:xam:xam:xam:http://iasexamporhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamporhttp://iasexamportal.com/civilsertal.com/civilsertal.com/civilsertal.com/civilsertal.com/civilservices/booksvices/booksvices/booksvices/booksvices/books

In The NewsIn The NewsIn The NewsIn The NewsIn The News

2

Silvio Berlusconi

A Milan court has ruled that Silvio Berlusconi

will perform a year of community service for his tax

fraud conviction at a centre for the elderly. The

assignment curtails Berlusconi’s ability to participatein the upcoming European election campaign a

point of contention among his political allies. The

77-year-old, three-time former premier cannot run

due to the conviction, the first against him ever

confirmed by Italy’s high court, but remains apolitical force as head of Forza Italia. Berlusconi was

sentenced to four years for tax fraud, reduced to one

year for a general amnesty.

Arjun Bahadur Thapa

Nepal’s former Foreign Secretary ArjunBahadur Thapa has assumed charge as the Secretary

General of the South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation (SAARC).Thapa, who succeeds Ahmed

Saleem of Maldives, is the 12th Secretary General

of the regional grouping. This is the second timeNepal assumed the top post of the regional body

since its establishment in 1985. Former Foreign

Secretary Yadav Kanta Silwal held the post from

January 1994 to December 1995. The members of

the SAARC are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and

Afghanistan.

Thapa, 58, was appointed to the position by

the 30th Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers

held in the Maldives.

Shigeru Ban

Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect known for

his creative and inexpensive designs for disaster relief

shelters, has won the 2014 Pritzker Architecture

Prize. The annual award, considered the mostprestigious prize in the world of architecture, is given

to designers who have “significantly contributed to

humanity” and for “excellence in built work.” In a

significant departure this year, the prize has

recognised for the first time an architect for hiscontribution to the critical, but often overlooked,

area of housing disaster victims. Architectural awards

in general favour designers who construct

monumental, novel and expensive buildings.

Parupalli Kashyap

India‘s Parupalli Kashyap arrested his slide in

the latest Badminton World Federation rankings, by

rising a place to No.24 in men‘s singles. Kashyap,

who reached a career high of World No.6 last year,

had been out of form for quite some time until hissemifinal performance last week at the Swiss Open

which helped him gain vital points. Meanwhile, first

round exits at both All England Open and Swiss

Open have led Kidambi Srikanth to drop two places

to 22nd. Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu, however,have retained 8th and 9th positions in the women’s

singles rankings. No Indian figures in the top-25 of

men‘s, women‘s and mixed doubles rankings.

Aamir Khan

The Election Commission had signed up

208 || Year Book 2015



leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan as its ‘national

icon’ in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Aamir

will be part of the EC’s voter awareness initiatives.His main task would be to encourage more and

more people to vote in the General Elections. Aamir

joins the league of four other ‘national icons’ –

Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni,

boxer MC Mary Kom, badminton ace Saina Nehwaland former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

Adnan Randhawa

Adnan Randhawa, 34 Pakistani

former bureaucrat in foreign services turnedpolitician was in news as he started Aam Admi Party

of Pakistan. For the second time, Arvind Kejriwal’s

Aam Aadmi Party has found an echo in Pakistan.

First it was Arsalan ul Mulk from Gujranwala whose

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was registered by theElection Commission of Pakistan (ECP) . Mr.

Randhawa applied to the ECP for a formal

registration for his Aam Aadmi of Pakistan Party

(AAPP). He was formerly with the Imran Khan-led

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), a party which hasoften been likened to the AAP in India.

Suresh Raina

Left-handed batsman Suresh Raina is the lone

Indian in the short list of four players from all

countries to have scored a century in the ICC WorldT20 Championship’s brief history whose fifth

edition is set to commence in Bangladesh.

The other three century makers in the shortest

form of the game are Chris Gayle (West Indies, 117

v South Africa at Johannesburg in September, 2007),

Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka, 100 v Zimbabweat Providence in May, 2010) and Brendon

McCullum (New Zealand, 123 v Bangladesh at

Pallekele in September, 2012).

Juan Carlos Varela

Vice-President Juan Carlos Varela was declared

the victor of Panama’s presidential election ,

thwarting an attempt by former ally President

Ricardo Martinelli to extend his grip on power by

electing a handpicked successor.

With 60 per cent of ballots counted, officials

said Mr. Varela led with 39 per cent of the votes,

compared to 32 per cent for former Housing

Minister Jose Domingo Arias, the preferred choice

of Mr. Martinelli. Juan Carlos Navarro, a formermayor of the capital, was in third in the seven-

candidate field with 27 per cent.

The incumbent party has still never won re-

election to Panama’s presidency since the United

States’ 1989 overthrow of military strongman

Manuel Noriega.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Mr Garcia Marquez, widely considered one of

the greatest Spanish-language authors of all time was

eulogized in the dramatic art deco lobby by the

presidents of both Mexico and Colombia, twocountries linked by the writer through his birth, life,

heritage and career.

‘He will live on in his books and writings. But

more than anything he will live forever in the hopes

of humanity’ according to his admirers.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto saidthe death was ‘a great loss not only for literature but

for humanity. Various generations found answers to

the questions of life in his stories and tales.’

At the end, attendees tossed up a flurry of

yellow paper butterflies, one of Garcia Marquez’s

most famous literary images from One HundredYears of Solitude, and his favorite color.

Mr Tiwari had given blood sample for the

DNA test on May 29 last year at his residence in

Dehradun following the apex court’s order in the

case, after repeatedly contesting against undergoing

the test on various grounds.

Jawahar Kaliani

An Indian-American has been appointed to a

209 || Year Book 2015



key post in the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Jawahar Kaliani has been appointed as the Deputy

Chief Information Officer for Application ServicesDelivery (ASD) at the Office of the Comptroller of

the Currency (OCC), Department of Treasury.

Mr. Kaliani will lead the development and

implemen-tation of complex applications to deliver

secure business solutions that meet organisa-tionalpriorities and support the agency’s mission of

ensuring the safety and soundness of national banks

and federal savings associations.

Nabam Tuki

Veteran Congress leader Nabam Tuki wassworn in as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for

the second consecutive term at the Raj Bhavan in

Itanagar.Governor Lt. Gen. (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma

administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr.

Tuki in an impressive function held at Darbar Hallof Raj Bhavan in Itanagar.

Ratan Tata

Former TATA Group Chairman Ratan Tata

has received an honorary doctor of laws degree from

York University in Toronto, Canada. The award wasgiven for his achievements in promoting

innovations, exemplary leadership and corporate

social responsibility.

The honour was conferred at the 2014 spring

convocation of York University’s Schulich School ofBusiness by Chancellor of the varsity Gregory

Sorbara.Tata was among the 12 recipients of

honorary doctorate from York University.

Sanjay Rajaram

India-born Mexican plant scientist, SanjayaRajaram has been honoured with the World Food

Prize for the year 2014. It was announced by the

World Food Prize Foundation. The award will be

presented to Rajaram in Des Moines, Iowa in

October 2014.

He won the prize for his outstanding work in

the improvement of wheat crop. He is credited with

increasing world wheat production by more than

200 million tons during the 25-year-period knownas the golden years of wheat – building upon the

successes of the Green Revolution. It had a far-

reaching impact in alleviating world hunger.

Abhijit Guha

Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha of

Indian Army has been appointed as member of a

UN Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in

UN peacekeeping. Abhijit Guha is a member of the

five-member expert panel. The five-member ExpertPanel was appointed by Under-Secretaries- General

for Peacekeeping Operations and for Field Support

Herve Ladsous and Ameerah Haq.

The panel is headed by Ms. Jane Holl Lute

(United States) who is currently the Secretary-

General’s Special Adviser for Relocation of CampHurriya Residents Outside of Iraq. The other

members of the panel are Major General Michael

Fryer of South Africa, Major General Ib Johannes

Bager of Denmark and Walter Dorn of Canada.

V K Rajah

Indian-origin judge V K Rajah has appointed

as 8th Attorney-General of Singapore. President of

Singapore Tony Tan Keng Yam presided at the

swearing-in of Justice V K Rajah.

He had succeed Steven Chong. Steven Chongwill return to the Supreme Court.VK Rajah was also

appointed as a member of the Presidential Council

for Minority Rights for a three-year term. 17-

member council reports on matters, including Bills

or other legislation.

Sujit Choudhry

Sujit Choudhry became the first Indian-

American dean of the Berkeley Law School,

University of California. He is the 12th dean of the

famed Law school. He relieved Interim Dean GillianLester, and replaces Christopher Edley, who stepped

210 || Year Book 2015



down in December 2013 after nearly ten years as

dean. He is a noted expert in comparative

constitutional law and his core work addresses basicmethodological questions in comparative

constitutional law. He also studied constitutional

design as a way for states to transition from civil war

to peaceful democracies, especially in ethnically

divided societies.

Sumitra Mahajan

Eight-term member Sumitra Mahajan was

unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha,

becoming the second woman presiding officer of theLower House after her predecessor Meira Kumar.

71-year-old Mahajan, the longest-serving

woman MP, was elected after a motion moved by

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seconded by

BJP veteran L K Advani was adopted by voice vote

called by Protem Speaker Kamal Nath.

K Chandrashekhar Rao

Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) chief K

Chandrashekhar Rao was sworn in as the first Chief

Minister of Telangana, which became the 29th state

of India.

Prince Zeid al Hussein

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has

announced that Prince Zeid al Hussein, a long-time

diplomat and former U.N. peacekeeper, has beennominated as as the new high commissioner for

human rights.

Pinky Anand appointed ASG

Senior Advocate Pinky Anand has been

appointed Additional Solicitor-General in theSupreme Court. She is the second woman lawyer to

be appointed ASG after senior advocate Indira

Jaising.

Syrian President Assad sworn in for third term

President Bashar Assad marked the start of his

third seven-year term in office amid a bloody civil

war that has ravaged the Arab country. In the past

year, Syria have seized the momentum in the civilwar and troops made steady advances on several

fronts against outgunned rebels bogged down in

infighting.

Throughout the crisis, Mr. Assad has

maintained that the conflict that has torn his nationapart was a Western-backed conspiracy executed by

“terrorists” and not a popular revolt by people

inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, seeking

democracy and disenchanted with his authoritarian

rule.

Syria’s civil war, now in its fourth year, haskilled more than 170,000 people and displaced one

third of the country’s population. Mr. Assad declared

victory over “terrorism” and said countries that

supported the Syrian opposition “will pay a high

price”.

Jakarta Governor Widodo wins

Indonesian presidential election

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, who won the

hearts of Indonesians with his common man image,

won Indonesia’s presidential election with 53 per

cent of the vote. The numbers were released shortly

after his opponent, former general PrabowoSubianto, declared he was withdrawing from the

contest, saying there was massive fraud during the

election.

Iraq Elects Fuad Masum as President

Iraqi lawmakers elected a veteran Kurdish

politician as the nation’s new president, hours after

an attack on a prison convoy killed dozens of people.

In the past, Islamic militants have staged

several jailbreaks, including a complex, military-style

assault on two Baghdad-area prisons in July 2013that freed more than 500 inmates.

Masum’s election comes as Iraq is facing its

worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops

211 || Year Book 2015



amid the blitz offensive last month by Islamic State

group that captured large swaths of land in the

country’s west and north, including Iraq’s secondlargest city of Mosul.

The vote for president a post previously held

by ailing Kurdish leader Talabani is widely viewed

as a step toward achieving consensus among political

rivals, seen as necessary for tackling the deterioratingsecurity crisis.

Masum is considered a soft-spoken moderate,

known for keeping good relations with Sunni and

Shiite Arab politicians.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bloc won the

most seats in April elections, but he has faced

mounting pressure to step aside, with critics accusinghim of monopolizing power and alienating the

country’s Sunni and Kurdish minorities,

contributing to the latest unrest.

R.N. Ravi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has

approved the appointment of former Intelligence

Bureau Special Director R.N. Ravi as chairman of

the Joint Intelligence Committee for a period of

three years. The Joint Intelligence Committeefunctions under the National Security Council

Secretariat.

Mr. Ravi, a 1976-batch Indian Police Service

officer from Kerala, has been appointed in the pay

and rank of Secretary to the Government of India.He retired as IB Special Director in 2012.

Raghav Lakhanpal

The Meerut Commissioner in his report onlast month’s riots in Saharanpur has reportedly

blamed the local BJP MP, RaghavLakhanpal, forfanning tensions, besides accusing district authorities

of not controlling the rioting mob.The report of Meerut Commissioner

Bhupendra Singh is almost identical to the findingsof a Committee set up Chief Minister AkhileshYadav

and headed by senior Minister Shivpal Singh Yadavthat had come down heavily on the local MP and

BJP workers for their role in the riots that left threedead and gutted hundreds of shops.

Balraj Puri

Veteran journalist Padma Bhushan BalrajPuri

passed away after prolonged illness at a GovernmentMedical College here. Mr. Puri was conferred the

Padma Bhushan for his contribution in the fields ofLiterature and Education in 2005 and also the Indira

Gandhi award for national integration on October31, 2009. He was an author and co-author of about

40 books and approximately 1,000 articles forvarious dailies in India and abroad.

Atul Verma

Atul Verma won India its first Olympicarchery medal — a bronze — at the Youth Olympic

Games at Nanjing. The gold went to Korean Lee

Woo Seok, who got the better of D’Almeida 7-3 in

the final.

Ravi Shastri

In a damage-control move, the BCCI has

appointed former Test all-rounder Ravi Shastri

Director of Cricket in the Indian team for the five-

match ODI series against England, beginning

August 25. The Board’s dramatic action was aresponse to India’s disastrous 3-1 Test series defeat

against England.

IromSharmila

A local court ordered the release of rights

activist IromChanuSharmila, under detention forattempting to commit suicide by fasting for nearly

14 years demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces

(Special Powers) Act, 1958.

Arvind Gupta

Former Indian Foreign Service officer Arvind

Gupta was appointed as deputy National Security

Adviser, a post which fell vacant following the

212 || Year Book 2015



resignation of Nehchal Sandhu. Mr. Gupta, a 1979

batch officer, will also be Secretary, National Security

Council Secretariat (NSCS), an apex advisory bodytasked with suggesting to the government on

political, economic and strategic security concerns.

Hari Gautam

Finding the University Grants Commission

(UGC) ill-equipped to address the challenges posedby the manifold increase in the number of

universities — particularly private universities anddeemed-to-be-universities — the Human Resource

Development (HRD) Ministry has set up acommittee to restructure the apex regulatory body

for higher education in the country.The four-member committee will be headed

by former UGC chairman Hari Gautam and willhave as its members C.M. Jariwala (former head and

dean of law at Banaras Hindu University), KapilKapoor (former pro vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal

Nehru University) and the Joint Secretary in theHigher Education in the ministry as its members.

Rajni Razdan

Rajni Razdan has been appointed the next

Union Public Service Commission chairman. Shewill take the oath of office, replacing Professor D.P.

Agrawal. Ms. Razdan, a 64-year-old former Indian

Administrative Service officer from the Haryana

cadre, has been a UPSC member since April 19,

2010.

K V Chowdary

K V Chowdary has been appointed as the newChairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes

(CBDT), the top policy making body of the IncomeTax department.

The officer was till now working as theMember (Investigations) of the direct taxes revenue

collection board. He has earlier served as theDirector General of I-T (Investigations) in the

national capital where he headed a number of high-profile tax probes, including the 2G spectrum

allocation case and the HSBC Geneva taxpayers list

along with a number of cases dealing with blackmoney and tax evasion.

CBDT has six members apart from theChairman and is the apex body for framing policy

and administrative issues related to direct taxes andthe Income Tax department.

Ashraf Ghani as Afghanistan new President

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai has been sworn in as

Afghanistan’s new President, replacing Hamid Karzaiin the country’s first democratic transfer of power

since the 2001 U.S-led invasion toppled the Taliban.He became President of Afghanistan in a

peaceful transition after a six-month election seasonthat ended with marathon negotiations that gave the

newly created position of chief executive to hischallenger Abdullah Abdullah.

Afghanistan has now experienced its first-everpeaceful power transition in its history as outgoing

President Hamid Karzai transfers power to the newPresident Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Mr. Karzai had

been Afghanistan’s only leader since 2001.

Abdullah al-ThinniSwore in as Libya’s new Prime Minister

• Libya’s new parliament swore in PrimeMinister Abdullah al-Thinni and his cabinet

during a meeting in the eastern port town ofTobruk.

• The ceremony followed weeks of political

maneuvering in the fractious assembly, as

clashes continued between rival militias nearthe capital Tripoli and in the eastern city of

Benghazi.

• In Benghazi, the largest city in eastern Libya,radical Islamist militias have succeeded in

pushing rival forces loyal to retired general

Khalifa Haftar out of most areas.

• The Tobruk-based parliament, the House ofRepresentatives, has swung behind the anti-

Islamist forces, declaring the main Islamist

militias to be terrorist organizations.

213 || Year Book 2015



Edward SnowdenSelected for ‘alternative Nobel’

• Edward Snowden has been selected among

the winners of the Right Livelihood Award,also known as the “alternative Nobel,” for his

disclosures of top secret surveillance

programs.

• The award foundation said the formerNational Security Agency contractor splits

the honorary portion of the prize withGuardian editor Alan Rusbridger.

• The 1.5 million kronor ($210,000) cashaward is shared by Pakistani human rights

activist Asma Jahangir, Basil Fernando of theAsian Human Rights Commission and U.S.

environmentalist Bill McKibben.

• Award foundation director Ole von Uexkull

said all winners were invited to the December1 award ceremony in Stockholm, though he

added it’s unclear whether Mr. Snowden,who remains exiled in Russia, can attend.

Rizwan Akhtar as new ISI chief

• Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar was

appointed the new chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in commander-

level promotions announced in the country’spowerful Army.

• Announcement comes as current ISI chief Lt.

Gen. Zaheerul Islam and five other

lieutenant generals are scheduled to retirefrom service in the first week of October.

• Lt. Gen. Akhtar is a graduate of the

Command and Staff College in Quetta,

National Defence University and the ArmyWar College, U.S.

Versatile Bapu is no more

• The man whose pencil etched what wasuniversally accepted as the epitome of beauty

is no more.

• Artist, cartoonist, film director, designer and

painter, Bapu (born SathirajuLakshminarayana) leaves behind a legacy as

one of the finest filmmakers on the

firmament of Indian cinema.

• The director was conferred with Padma Shrilast year. He has won the National Film

awards twice and the Andhra Pradesh Stategovernment’s Nandi awards for 6 of his films

in addition to receiving awards from several

other institutions.

Tabare Vazquez

Tabare Vazquez has won the second round of

the presidential election in Uruguay. It will be the

Left-wing Broad Front’s third consecutive term ingovernment and also the largest margin of victory

in a run-off. Meanwhile, outgoing president Jose

Mujica, whose management had the approval of 65

per cent of the citizens according to a poll last week,

said he would now have the task of being thecoordinator within the ruling coalition.

Arun Majumdar

• A top Indian-American scientist fromStanford University has been appointed as

one of the Science Envoys of the U.S.

• Arun Majumdar, a professor at the

prestigious university, along with three othersPeter Hotez, Jane Lubchenco and Geri

Richmond would serve as U.S. Envoysbeginning January next year, the State

Department said.

• An IIT-Bombay alumnus, Mr. Majumdar is

a material scientist, engineer, who wasPresident Barack Obama’s nominee for the

Under Secretary of Energy betweenNovember 30, 2011 and May 15, 2012.

Shinzo Abe

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a

comfortable re-election in a snap poll that hehad billed as a referendum on his economic

policies.

214 || Year Book 2015



• But a low turnout from unenthusiastic votersbeset by a heavy snowfall across much of the

country could cast doubt on the endorsement

he will claim for “Abenomics” — hissignature plan to fix the country’s flaccid

economy.

• Media exit polls shortly after voting showedhis ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)

and its junior partner Komeito had swept the

ballot, with an unassailable two-thirdsmajority in the lower house of parliament

that will give them the power to override theupper house.

• “Voter turnout is likely to be a record low,

but we still can call it a landslide victory for

Prime Minister Abe,” said Masaru Kohno, aPolitics Professor at Waseda University in

Tokyo.

Anerood Jugnauth

• Mauritius President named veteran politician

Sir Anerood Jugnauth as Prime Minister,

after the 84-year-old won a landslide takingnearly three-quarters of the seats in

Parliament.

• Mr. Jugnauth, a former President and Prime

Minister, was handed his letter ofappointment at a meeting at State House, a

statement from the office of President KailashPurryag said.

• Mr. Jugnauth’s centre-right Alliance Lepep

swept 47 out of 62 seats in the Indian Ocean

nation’s Parliament, after voters rejected theruling party ’s bid to boost presidential

powers.

• Debate over constitutional reform — notablyover a divisive proposal to strengthen

presidential powers — made Wednesday’s

poll one of the most crucial since the islandsgained independence from Britain in 1968.

• Mr. Jugnauth, previously PM between 1982

and 1995 and again between 2000 and 2003,

has promised he will boost the economy.

S. Narayanan

• S. Narayanan (89), chairman of India Motor

Parts & Accessories Ltd (IMPAL), part of theTVS group, passed away.

• He was a doyen of the automobile industryhaving spent over seven decades in it. He

single-handedly nurtured the spare partsindustry in the country and held top posts

in many industry associations.

• Narayanan was on the Board of IMPAL since1965, served as its managing director from1969-79 and as Chairman from 2002. He

was instrumental in the company’s expansionall over India.

• He is survived by wife ChoodamaniNarayanan and two sons — industrialist N.

S. Ramji and N. Krishnan, ManagingDirector of IMPAL — and daughter-in-law

Dr. Nalini Krishnan of The Hindu.

Dineshwar Sharma

• Dineshwar Sharma, a Bihar-born, Kerala-cadre Indian Police Service officer of the

1979 batch, will be the new chief of theIntelligence Bureau. Mr. Sharma, and Ashok

Prasad, another Bihar-born IPS officercurrently in the IB, were the front runnersfor the post.

• Mr. Sharma, who succeeds Syed Asif

Ibrahim, who retires on December 31, has awide range of experience — from handlingseparatism and insurgencies to domestic and

regional politics.

• He has served in Nagaland, Jammu andKashmir, Delhi and Lucknow in various

capacities. The unassuming officer is knownamong his colleagues as “quiet, bright andsavvy.”

Dr. Radhakrishnan

• Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

is one of the 2014 top ten scientists chosen

215 || Year Book 2015



by the prestigious journal Nature. This is thefirst time in the recent past that the journal

has chosen an Indian working in India.

• He is listed along with other people like

Andrea Accomazzo, the Rosetta flightoperations director, European Space Agency.

The reasons for choosing Dr. Radhakrishnanare pretty simple and straightforward.

• When India’s Mangalyaan successfully settled

into Mars orbit on September 24, 2014, the

country became the first and only nation tohave done so on its maiden attempt. India

also became the first Asian country to reachMars.

• The space organisation crossed two othermajor milestones this year. In January, the

space organisation achieved spectacularsuccess with the spaceflight of an Indian

cryogenic engine and stage.

• India has been striving hard for some years

to indigenously develop a cryogenic engineto improve the reliability of GSLV rockets

and to take the rocket to greater heights.

• The recent launch of the heaviest and tallestGSLV Mark III and the successful re-entry

of the unmanned crew module were the

other landmark achievements.

Meira Kumar

• Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar’s

book entitled “Indian ParliamentaryDiplomacy – Speaker’s Perspective” has been

recenlty released by the present Lok Sabha

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

• The book features an account of theparliamentary diplomacy and its role in

furthering foreign policy and strengtheninginternational relations.

• Meira Kumar was the first unopposed electedwoman Speaker of Lok Sabha and served

from 2009 to 2014. Kumar was also 5 time

Member of Parliament and was elected to8th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabha.

Venkatraman to head Royal Society of UK

• India-born Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman

Ramakrishnan has been confirmed aspresident elect of Britain’s prestigious Royal

Society.

• Dr. Ramakrishnan is the first India-bornscientist to be elected President of the Royal

Society. Dr. Ramakrishnan will take over his

new appointment on December 1, 2015,replacing the eminent geneticist Sir Paul

Nurse.• Earlier in the year 2009 he won Nobel Prize

in Chemistry for his work on the structureand function of the ribosome, the molecularmachine that synthesises proteins inside cell;

and on the action of antibiotics on theprocess.

• The Royal Society is a self-gov erning

fellowship of many of the world’s mostdistinguished scientists drawn from all areasof science, engineering, and medicine, set up

to support excellence in science, and toencourage its use for the benefit of humanity.

Yusuf kechery

• Veteren Malyalam poet Yusuf Kechery,

recently died at private hospital. He left adeep impression in Kerala’s cultural realm as

a lyricist.

• Kechery known for his mystic lyrics on

Hindu Gods, particularly Lord Krishna.

• He dominated Malayalam films along withONV and P Bhaskaran as a top-notch

lyricist, had written hundreds of songs knownfor their mystic and romantic charm with the

semi-classical touch.

• His lyrics in Dhwani, composed by

renowned musician Naushad Ali, areconsidered as one among the best works of

him.

216 || Year Book 2015



Mahendra Singh Dhoni

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become first

Indian Cricket team Captain to register the100 One Day International (ODI) match

wins. This acievement came after indian teamdefeated bangladesh in the 2015 ICC World

Cup quarter final matchby 108 run in

Asutralia.

• He is the only third captain in the history ofcricket world who got this title, prior to

Dhoni the other two cpatain who achievethis feat are Allan Border (107) and Rickey

Ponting (165) both from Australia.

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni assumes Indian

captancy in the year 2007 after Rahul DravidPut off this. Since then under his captaincy,

Indian Cricket team has won 2007 World

Twenty20, CB Series of 2007-08, Asia Cup2010, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011,

Champions Trophy 2013.

• It is important to note here that formerIndian Captain Mohammad Azharuddin had

recorded 90 wins in ODIs, followed by

Sourav Ganguly with 76 wins.

Katharine Viner

• Katharine Viner has been appointed the

editor-in-chief of the Guardian. She becamethe first woman to run the newspaper in its

194-year history. Viner will become only the

12th editor since the paper was founded inMay 1821.

• Viner, currently deputy editor of the

Guardian and editor-in-chief of GuardianUS, will take up the role in the summer from

incumbent Alan Rusbridger, who is to stand

down after 20 years.

• Viner joined the Guardian in 1997 and hasbeen a deputy editor of the title as well as

editing the Saturday edition of the newspaper

from 2008 until 2012. She has held a widerange of roles including editor of G2, deputy

women’s editor, and editor of Weekendmagazine.

Sohail Aman

• Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has appointed

Air Marshal Sohail Aman as new air chief,after promoting him to the rank of air chief

marshal.

• Earlier, outgoing Chief of the Air Staff, AirChief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt called on

PM Nawaz in Islamabad. The premier

lauded the services of the outgoing chief ofair staff for national defense and the role of

PAF in the ongoing war against terrorism.

• Air Marshal Sohail Aman, who is anaccomplished fighter pilot, was

commissioned in the GD (P) Branch of

Pakistan Air Force in November,1980.During his remarkable career in PAF, he has

flown various fighter and training aircrafts inPAF’s inventory.

• Aman remained on various important staffappointments including director operations,

director plans and assistant chief of the airstaff (operations) at Air Headquarters, in

addition to air officer commanding, central

air command and deputy chief of the air staff(training).

Kavinder Gupta

• Jammu & Kashmir Lagislative Assembly hasunanimously elected BJP MLA Kavinder

Gupta Speaker of the 12th Assembly.

• Basharat Bukhari, Minister of Law and

Parliamentry Affairs moved the motion in theAssembly seeking his election to the post.

• kavinder Gupta, an MLA from Gandhinagar

constituency in Jammu district, was electedwith voice vote with no one vote against the

motion. Mr. Gupta replaces the Protem

Speaker Muhammad Shafi of the regionalNational Conference.

217 || Year Book 2015



Narayan Desai

• Vetrent Gandhian of our country Narayan

Desai, who known for his rendition ofGandhi Katha — stories on the Mahatma’s

life — passed away at a private hospital inSurat.

• He is son of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal

secretary and biographer Mahadev Desai.

• In 2004, Desai started a lecture series on

Gandhi called ‘Gandhi Katha’, which he tookacross the world and received much acclaim

for it.

• Desai served as the Chancellor of Gujarat

Vidyapith from July 23, 2007 to November2014 .

• Desai has won several award for his work

which include the Sahitya Akademi Awardfor Gujarati in 1993 and the Jamnalal Bajaj

Award in 1999 and the UNESCO-

Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion ofTolerance and Non-Violence in 1998. He

was also associated with anti-nuclear activism.

Marry Kom

• Union Government has selected five time

world’s Boxing Champion and Olympic

medallist boxer M.C. Mary Kom as thebrand ambassador for north-east India to

promote the region in the rest of the countryand abroad.

• It was announced by Union Minister ofDevelopment of North Eastern Region

(DoNER) Jitendra Singh while adressing the10th North East Business Summit in New

Delhi. MC Mary Kom was selected to

showcase the potential of the North Eastregion which can offer Rs. 2.4 trillion

business opportunities across various sectors.

• Mary, 32, who hails from Manipur is onlywoman boxer to have won a medal in each

of the six world championships. She recently

announced in Imphal that she would quit the

sport after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics nextyear.

• The cultural tradition of Manipur is sports-

oriented and the state, as a result, has

produced many athletes. Mar y Komcemented the north-eastern state’s position as

a powerhouse of talent with her 2012Olympic bronze. Winning medals in many

international and national meets, the Hindi

film industry made a movie based on her life,starring actor Priyanka Chopra.

Sir Terry Pratchett

• Sir Terry Pratchett creator of the Discoveredseries and author of more thatn 70 novels has

recently passed away in London.

• In his 44 years long career, Pratchett had

written more than 70 books which weretranslated in 37 languages. His debut novel,

The Carpet People was published in 1971and his first Discworld novel, The Colour of

Magic was published in 1983.

• Pratchett has sold more than 85 million

books worldwide was the UK’s best-sellingauthor of the 1990s and later surpassed by

Harry Potter author J K Rowling.• He has won several award for his distinguish

work which includes Knighted by the QueenElizabeth II in 2009 for his services to

literature and in year 2010, he was awardedthe World Fantasy Award for LifeAchievement.

• In the year 1998 he was appointed as officer

of Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Vinod Mehta

• Senior journalist and Outlook Group’seditorial chairman Vinod Mehta passed away

at the AIIMS in New Delhi on Sunday.

• He had worked with several publicationsincluding Debonair, Sunday Observer,

Pioneer and Indian Post.

218 || Year Book 2015



• Born in Rawalpindi, Mehta has authored abiography of Meena Kumari and SanjayGandhi. His much-talked-about memoir,

Lucknow Boy, was published in 2011.

• He was conferred with Yash Bharti Samman(2015) by Uttar Pradesh government.

Ram Sunder Das

• Former Bihar Chief Minister and senior

JD(U) leader Ram Sundar Das has died, hewas 95. He was chief minister of Bihar as the

head of the Janata Party government in 1979.

• Earlier in the Lok Sabha election of 2009, hehas defeated Ram Vilas Oaswan in theHajipur, but in the parliamentary polls last

year, had lost to the latter.

• Present Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,announced two days of state mourning as amark of respect for the senior JD(U) leader.

Azhar Ali

Pakistan’s cricket chiefs named batsman AzharAli as the national side’s new One-Day International

captain, despite the fact that he has not made the50-over team in more than two years. The 30-year-

old replaces Misbah-ul-Haq, who retired from ODIsfollowing Pakistan’s World Cup quarterfinal exit at

the hands of eventual champion Australia.

Ali has played just 14 ODIs, the most recent

in January 2013, when he contributed two with thebat as Pakistan beat arch-rival India by 85 runs at

Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. Ali was also named as vice-

captain for the Test side, which Misbah will continue

to lead, while big-hitting all-rounder Shahid Afridi

stays on as T20 skipper.

Dr. Nasim Zaidi

The President has appointed the senior-most

Election Commissioner, Dr. Nasim Zaidi as the

Chief Election Commissioner in the ElectionCommission. Dr. Nasim Zaidi has assume the charge

of office of the Chief Election Commissioner on

19th April, 2015 vice Shri Harishankar Brahma

consequent upon his demitting the office of the

Chief Election Commissioner on the 18th April,

2015.

Dronavalli Harika

Indian chess Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika

on 6 April 2015 won the bronze medal in the World

Women’s chess championships along with SwedishGrandmaster Pia Cramling. In the semifinal match

played at Sochi in Russia, Harika lost to Ukraine’s

Mariya Muzychuk and settled to Bronze medal with

US $ 20,000. World Women’s chess championship’s

winners are.

Tarique Rahman

The Interpol has issued a ‘red corner’ notice

for the arrest of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader

Tarique Rahman, who has been in exile in London

for more than six years.

The notice was issued for the arrest of Tarique,

senior vice chairman of the party and son of Khaleda

Zia, on the charge of murder and explosion of hand

grenade in an Awami League rally on August 21,

2004. The Interpol ‘most wanted’ list has carried

Tarique’s picture with details, saying Bangladesh isseeking him to stand trial in the case.

Gunter Grass

Gunter Grass, the Nobel-winning German

writer who gave voice to the generation that cameof age during the horrors of the Nazi era has died.

He was 87. Grass was lauded by Germans for

helping to revive their culture in the aftermath of

World War II and helping to give voice and support

to democratic discourse in the post war nation.

Yet he provoked the ire of many in 2006 whenhe revealed in his memoir “Skinning the Onion”

that, as a teenager, he had served in the Waffen-SS,

the combat arm of Adolf Hitler ’s notorious

paramilitary organization.

In 2012, Grass drew sharp criticism at home

and was declared persona non grata by Israel after

219 || Year Book 2015



publishing a prose poem, “What Must Be Said,” in

which he criticized what he described as Western

hypocrisy over Israel’s nuclear program and labelledthe country a threat to “already fragile world peace”

over its belligerent stance on Iran.

Shamina Singh

President Barack Obama has nominatedShamina Singh, an Indian American as a member

of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for

National and Community Service for a term

expiring in Oct. 2019.

Singh currently serves as the Executive

Director of the MasterCard Center for InclusiveGrowth. She joined MasterCard in 2013 as the

Global Director for Government Services and

Solutions, where she expanded MasterCard’s business

capabilities to digitize social subsidy programs in

over 40 countries, according to the World EconomicForum.

Prior to joining MasterCard, she has also spent

15 years in the public sector holding senior positions

within the Clinton Presidential Administration and

the U.S. House of Representatives. Singh was

executive director for the President’s AdvisoryCommission on Asian Americans and Pacific

Islanders and the White House Initiative on Asian

Americans and Pacific Islanders from 1999 to 2001.

Baba Ramdev

The BJP government in Haryana has decided

to accord the rank, equal to that of a cabinet

minister, to yoga guru Ramdev; he had earlier been

named as the state’s brand ambassador with the

government then explaining his elevation as anattempt to promote yoga and ayurveda in the state.

Yuki Bhambri

Yuki Bhambri clinched the ITF Futures

tournament with a straight-set win over Dzmitry

Zhyrmont and ensured his berth in the French Openqualifying event. The 22-year-old player, seeded

second, overcame his Belarusian third seed rival 6-2

6-4 in the final and pocketed 27 ranking points

which will take him to a rank between 215 and 220.

Malala Yousafzai

NASA has reportedly named an asteroid in

honour of 17-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner

Malala Yousafzai. The asteroid, located in the mainbelt between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered by Dr

Amy Mainzer , an astronomer at NASA’s Jet

Propulsion Laboratory in California, USA.

Dr. Mohan Kumar

Union Governmnet has appointed Dr. MohanSingh Indian Foreign Officer of 1981 batch as the

next Ambassador of India to France. Presently

Mohan Kumar is Ambassador of India to Bahrain.

Meenakshi Madan Rai

Mrs. Meenakshi Madan Rai was sworn in as

the first lady judge of the Sikkim High Court.

Governor of Sikkim Srinivas Patil administered the

oath of office to her at Raj Bhavan in Gangtok. After

taking oath of office, she took charge as judge. Withthis Sikkim High Court again got its full strength

of three judges after a gap of about one year

Bidyut Chakraborty

Well-known Assamese filmmaker Bidyut

Chakraborty, who had bagged the Indira Gandhiaward for Best First Film of a Director in 1996 for

his film “Rag-Birag”, passed away in a private

hospital. He was 55.

Surya Bahadur Thapa

Former Nepal Prime Minister Surya Bahadur

Thapa passed away. Thapa served as Prime Minister

of Nepal for five terms, under three different Kings,

in a politcal career spanning more than 50 years.

Mr. Thapa started his political career by

executing “underground student movement” in1950. In 1958, he was elected to the Assembly and

220 || Year Book 2015



became Chairman of the Advisory Council. In 1959,

he was elected to the Upper House.

In 1966, he was appointed Prime Ministerunder the modified constitution of Nepal. He was

responsible for expanding the coverage of the

Constitution of 1962 and promulgated 2nd

amendment to make it “people-oriented”.

Stanislav Gross

Stanislav Gross, former and youngest Prime

Minister of Czech Republic has passed away at the

age of 45. Gross became premier at the age of 34

in July 2004 and took over as chairman of the leftist

Social Democrats. But his career at the top of politicswas brief.

D Jayakanthan

Legendary Tamil writer D Jayakanthan, who

charted a new course in Tamil literature with hisbold and progressive works, has passed away. He

has written around 40 novels and 200 short stories

and used his pen effectively against social injustices

and economic inequality.

His popular novel, ‘S ila Nerangalil Sila

Manithargal’, which was later made into a film, wonhim the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972. He was

also a recipient of the Jnanpith Award in 2002.

EM Hanifa

Renowned Tamil Muslim devotional singer

EM Hanifa passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.He was well-known for his number of devotional

songs and was a leading propagandist of Dravida

Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) Party for more than

five decades.

Neeraj Kumar

Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj

Kumar was appointed as chief adviser of the Board

of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Anti-

Corruption & Security Unit (ACSU). Decision inthis regard was taken at the Governing Council

Meeting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) chaired

by IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla in New Delhi,. He

will succeed Ravi Sawant as his term ended and willhave term of one year.

Venkadarath Saritha

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has

appointed a 30-year-old woman Venkadarath Sarithafrom Telangana as its first female driver. The driver,

Venkadarath Saritha, will be on day-time duty on

regular routes in Central Delhi.

Ms. Saritha, who moved from Hyderabad to

New Delhi four years ago, was selected from among

seven women candidates who had applied for thepost in response to a DTC advertisement. After

completion of formalities, she attended a four-week

training programme at the DTC training school.

Ashish Jakhar

Haryana’s Ashish Jakhar set a national youth

record in boys’ hammer throw on the second day

of the 12th National Youth Athletics Championships

held in Goa.

Ashish hurled the 5kg ball-and-chain to a new

distance of 71.92m on his opening throw and wenton to improve it further to 72.04m to stamp his class

with fine rotations on the circle to set the first

national record of the meet.

The previous national record had stood in the

name of Haryana’s Sukhdev Singh (70.35m) since

2009. Only Chinese thrower Xu Wenjie has a bettermark than Ashish in the Asian rankings, with a

72.35m throw, so far this season.

Vivek Priyadarshi

The apex court of India has appointed CBI

officer Vivek Priyadarshi to head a new investigatingteam to further probe the IPL-6 spot-fixing and

betting scandal.

Priyadarshi, currently a superintendent of

police in the anti-corruption cell of the agency, will

replace 1983-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS

221 || Year Book 2015



officer BB Mishra as the head of the probe team

following his retirement.

Jamal Benomar

United Nation (UN) peace envoy to Yemen,

Jamal Benomar has resigned, after losing support

from Gulf countries for his mission in the conflict-

riven nation. His resignation comes after UNSecurity Council adopted a resolution calling for the

swift resumption of peace talks and an end to

violence in Yemen on 14 April 2015. The adopted

resolution adopted calls on the Huthis to withdraw

from Sanaa and all other areas they have seized.

Surinder Pal Singh Cheema

Vice Admiral Surinder Pal Singh Cheema took

over the reins of the Western Naval Command as

flag officer commanding-in-chief from Vice Admiral

Anil Chopra at a ceremonial parade held at INSShikra. Cheema, while serving in Mumbai earlier,

had commanded INS Nishank, INS Trishul and INS

Virat, a Naval release said, adding Chopra was

accorded a send off.

Lee Kuan Yew

First Prime Minister (PM) of Singapore Lee

Kuan Yew passed away on 23 March 2015. He was91. Mr. Lee is described as the ‘founding father’ and

‘ar chitect’ of modern Singapore. He is also

considered as pioneer for transforming the island

country from a small port city into a wealthy global

hub after its independence from United Kingdomand separation from Malaysia.

Mukesh Khanna

Veteran actor Mukesh Khanna, has been

appointed as the new chairperson of the Children

Film Society of India (CFSI).

CFSI started functioning in 1955 as anautonomous body under the Ministry of

Information and Broadcasting with Pandit Hriday

Nath Kunzr u as President. CFSI’s maiden

production Jaldeep won the first prize for best

Children’s Film at the 1957 Venice Film Festival.Since then CFSI has continued to produce, exhibit

and distribute quality content for children: from

feature films, shorts, animations to television

episodes and documentaries.

222 || Year Book 2015



SporSporSporSporSportststststs

3

Texas Open squash final

• Deepika Pallikal stumbled on the final hurdle

against Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini

in the title clash of the Women’s ChampionFiberglass Texas Open.

• Eyeing maiden major title of her career,

world No 12 Deepika faltered against the 18-year-old qualifier 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 to lose in

48 minutes.

• The 22-year-old Deepika was celebrating the

biggest Tour final of her career - while worldjunior champion El Sherbini was continuing

the form of her life which had seen the

youngster reached WSA WorldChampionship final after upsetting world No

1 Nicol David.

Shotgun World Cup

• Mohammed Asab missed the double trap

knock-out phase by one point in the Shotgun

World Cup in Tucson, US. Ankur Mittalfinished 19th with a 132 while Ronjan Sodhi

placed 35th with 120 in a field of 41.

• Joshua Richmond of the US who made thecut for the knock-out, one point above Asab,

following a shoot-off on 138, went on to bag

the silver after losing the shoot-off for goldagainst compatriot Jeffrey Holgun.

• In women’s skeet, Saniya Sheikh shot 64 to

be placed 25th among 31 shooters. Nationalchampion Rashmee Rathore could muster

only 57 . Danka Bartekova of Slovakia won

the gold as she beat Wei Weng of China,

14-13.

2014 South Asian Judo Championship

• Humera Ashique recently became the first

Pakistani women to win a judo gold medal

in an international event in Nepal.

• The 24-year-old took the gold at the 2014South Asian Judo Championship in

Kathmandu as she defeated a local athlete toclinch the 48kg event.

2014 ICC World Team

• His side may have lost in the final but

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named captainof the 2014 ICC World Team of the

Tournament that figures four Indians,including star batsman Virat Kohli.

• Opener Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran

Ashwin are the other two Indian players who

feature in the team that was announced bythe ICC.

• Kohli was adjudged Player of the

Tournament for amassing 319 runs with the

help of four half centuries, including knocksof 72 and 77 in the semifinal and final of the

showpiece event.

• Besides Indians, the team has two playersfrom both South Africa and West Indies, and

one representative each from Australia, the

Netherlands and champions Sri Lanka.

• Chosen by a select group of experts, the team

223 || Year Book 2015



was aimed at being suited for Bangladeshconditions, on the basis of performances in

the tournament only. Statistics were used but

were not the sole basis for selections.

The newest Laureus Ambassador

• Spain’s young MotoGP world champion

Marc Marquez has been appointed thenewest Laureus Ambassador.

• Marquez, the youngest ever MotoGP world

champion, at 20 years 266 days, a feat for

which he received the Laureus WorldBreakthrough of the Year Award last month,

was welcomed into the Laureus Family bymotor cycle legend and Laureus World Sports

Academy member Mick Doohan.

Match-fixing case

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) moved an application before the

Supreme Court seeking transcripts of audiotapes containing statements of Board

President N Srinivasan and Indian captain

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, recorded by theMukul Mudgal Committee which probed

allegations of IPL spot and match fixing.

• The plea was mentioned before a bench

headed by Justice A K Patnaik which postedthe matter for hearing on April 11.

• In the application, the BCCI has also sought

the transcripts of statements by SundarRaman, the Chief Operating Officer of IPL.

Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year

• Indian batting star Shikhar Dhawan has

earned top honours by being named in theprestigious Wisden’s list of Five Cricketers of

the Year, an honour dating back to 1889, forhis 2013 performance.

• The Five Cricketers of the Year are Dhawan,

Australia players Chris Rogers and Ryan

Harris, England batsman Joe Root andEngland women’s captain Charlotte Edwards.

• Dhawan was acknowledged for his role inIndia’s victorious Champions Trophy

campaign in England, in which he was the

highest run-scorer, amassing 363 runs in fiveODIs at an average of 90.75 and was

awarded the Man of the Series for hisperformance that included centuries against

South Africa and West Indies.

• The Cricketer of the Year is chosen by the

editor of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack,based on their ‘excellence in, or performance

on, the previous English summer’ and it canbe won only once in a player’s career.

Cycling academy launched

• Union Sports Ministry has inaugurated the

National Cycling Academy at the IndiraGandhi Sports Complex and launched a

project to create swimming pools at threeseparate stadiums in the capital.

• At an estimated cost of ‘907.50 lakhs, the

project of creating swimming pools will come

up at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, IndiraGandhi Sports Complex and Karni Singh

Shooting Range.

• On the occasion, ministry has also launched

a Community Connect Scheme to includesports and recreational facilities in the JNS,

IGSC and the SP Mukherjee SwimmingComplex.

• The academy will be financed by the Union

government, and the sports ministry through

SAI with a long-term perspective of makingit a top notch institution, which is financially

independent and a self-sustaining venture.

Swiss Grand Prix Gold

• Producing yet another emphatic

performance, Indian shutller P V Sindhu

stunned the recently-crowned All Englandchampion Shixian Wang to breeze into the

semifinals even as it was end of road for Saina

224 || Year Book 2015



Nehwal at the $125,000 Swiss Grand PrixGold .

• In the men’s singles, Parupalli Kashyap also

booked a semifinal berth with a hard-fought

victory over sixth seed Tien Chen Chou ofChinese Taipei.

• Seventh seed Sindhu played a dominating

game to assert her supremacy.

• World number 9 Sindhu showed once again

why she is considered to be India’s next bigbadminton sensation as she produced a

beautifully controlled and carefully-pacedgame to keep Shixian at bay throughout the

quarterfinal match.

1st Asian Grand Prix Archery Championships

• Indian archers won two gold and one silverin team events in the 1st Asian Grand Prix

Archery Championships held in Bangkok.

• Compound women team of GagandeepKaur, V Jyothi Surekha and P Lily Chanu

defeated Iran in the final team event and

took the first gold for the country by a goodmargin of 15 points (219 vs 204). They

eliminated Taipei team (224 vs 220) in thesemi-final and Lao (224 vs 214) in the

quarter-final.

• Recurve men trio of Jayanta Talukdar,

Tarundeep Rai and Kapil clinched the goldby thrashing Taipei in a one-sided final (6-

0) in set system.

Validity of sports code

• The Delhi high court has directed allNational Sports Federations (NSF) to follow

the national sports code. This simply meansthat the Union sports ministry’s guidelines on

age and tenure restriction have attained legal

sanctity.

• This is a shot in the arm for the ministrywhich suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing

Federation (IABF) and Archery Associationof India (AAI) for not implementing age and

tenure directives. The court’s directive will

certainly make all NSFs accountable andtheir functioning transparent.

• The sports ministry has repeatedly outlined

that recognition to any NSF would rely onthe current legal status of the organisation,

recognition by the respective international

federation, the Asian federation and theIndian Olympic Association (IOA). The IOA

had also challenged the gov ernment’sauthority, but the latest directive from the

court has come as a jolt.

Richmond Open

• Joshna Chinappa ended a career-long losingrun to Australia’s former world champion

Rachael Grinham when she upset the topseed in straight games to win the inaugural

$10,000 Richmond Open.

• World No.21 Chinappa beat her 16th-

ranked opponent 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 for thefirst time in six meetings to bag her ninth

Women’s Squash Association (WSA) tour

title at the Country Club of Virginia.

Asian Badminton Championship

• India’s teen sensation P V Sindhu and

Commonwealth Games gold medallist pairof Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had

to settle for bronze medals after losing their

respective semifinals matches in the AsianBadminton Championship held at Korea.

• The 18-year-old Sindhu fought hard for one

hour and 18 minutes before losing to thetwo-time reigning All England champion

Shixian 21-15 20-22 12-21 in the women’s

singles competition.

• In women’s doubles, Jwala and Ashwini failedto breach the defence of Luo Yu and Luo

Ying, and suffered a 12-21 7-21 loss to theworld number 10 Chinese pair

225 || Year Book 2015



Historic accord on Sport for Peace

• The United Nations (U.N.) and the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) hassigned a historic agreement to use the power

of sports to promote peace and economicdevelopment, a move that strengthenscollaboration between two of the world’s

major organizations.

• The U.N. and Olympic charters, both callfor international cooperation to promotepeace, a better life for people around the

world and preserving human dignity.

• The Memorandum of Understanding signedwith the IOC was “a logical and historic step

after years of ever closer collaboration inusing sport to promote development andpeace.”

• The agreement calls for joint sporting

initiatives between the IOC, nationalOlympic committees, international sportsfederations, organizing committees and

international athletes and the 193 U.N.member states, U.N. agencies, envoys and

goodwill ambassadors.

• The two organizations will be promoting

education for youth through sport withoutdiscrimination of any kind, access to sport for

all communities especially the mostdisadvantaged and marginalized, healthylifestyles and peace-building and community

dialogue.

Real Madrid reach their firstChampions League final

• Real Madrid reached their first Champions

League final for 12 years with an historic 4-0 win at Bayern Munich in semifinal, second

leg to knock the holders out.

• Having won last week’s first leg 1-0 inMadrid, Real won the semifinal 5-0 onaggregate as Pep Guardiola’s Bayern suffered

their heaviest home defeat in European com-petition.

• Bayern had previously never lost at home bymore than two goals in Europe as the

Bavarian giants saw their dreams of reaching

a fourth Champions League final in five yearscrushed.

Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings

• India has become the number-one rankedTwenty20 Inter-national (T20I) side after the

annual update of the Reliance ICC T20I

Team Rankings, which was recentlyannounced.

• India has swapped places with ICC World

Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 champion SriLanka.

• In the past 12 months, India has lost just one

T20I (against Sri Lanka in the ICC WT20

Final in Bangladesh), while Sri Lanka has lostfour matches. The 2013-2014 results are

weighted at 100 per cent whereas, the resultsin 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 are now

weighted at 50 per cent. Therefore, Sri

Lanka’s strong performances in those twoearlier years now count for less.

• In the other major change, the West Indies

has slipped two places. This drop has moved

Australia and New Zealand up by one placeeach.

Texas Open squash final

• Deepika Pallikal stumbled on the final hurdleagainst Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini

in the title clash of the Women’s Champion

Fiberglass Texas Open.

• Eyeing maiden major title of her career,world No 12 Deepika faltered against the 18-

year-old qualifier 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 to lose in48 minutes.

• The 22-year-old Deepika was celebrating the

biggest Tour final of her career - while world

junior champion El Sherbini was continuingthe form of her life which had seen the

Online Coaching for IAS PRE General Studies

What candidate will get:

1. All the relevant and required materials of subjects mention in the GS syllabus like:

100% IAS Exam Syllabus Covered with MCQs.

History of India and Indian National Movement.

Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights

Issues, etc.

Economic and Social Development -Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics,

Social Sector initiatives, etc.

General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require

subject specialisation

General Science.

Current Affairs.

2. Home assignment: where Multiple Choice Questions of the learned chapters will be

given for selfevaluation.

3. Important current affairs materials for civil services preliminary examination will be

provided

4. Online Tests will be conducted after the end of each subject.

5. At the end of your course, five comprehensive test will be conducted to evaluate your

performance.

Click Here to Join IAS (Pre.) Online Coaching: http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-pre/csat-paper-1

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/courses/ias-pre/csat-paper-1

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/test-series/online-ias-pre

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/test-series/online-ias-pre

226 || Year Book 2015



youngster reach last month’s WSA WorldChampionship final after upsetting world No

1 Nicol David.

Shotgun World Cup

• Mohammed Asab missed the double trapknock-out phase by one point in the Shotgun

World Cup in Tucson, US. Ankur Mittalfinished 19th with a 132 while Ronjan Sodhi

placed 35th with 120 in a field of 41.

• Joshua Richmond of the US who made the

cut for the knock-out, one point above Asab,following a shoot-off on 138, went on to bag

the silver after losing the shoot-off for goldagainst compatriot Jeffrey Holgun.

• In women’s skeet, Saniya Sheikh shot 64 to

be placed 25th among 31 shooters. National

champion Rashmee Rathore could musteronly 57 . Danka Bartekova of Slovakia won

the gold as she beat Wei Weng of China, 14-13.

2014 South Asian Judo Championship

• Humera Ashique recently became the first

Pakistani women to win a judo gold medalin an international event in Nepal.

• The 24-year-old took the gold at the 2014

South Asian Judo Championship in

Kathmandu as she defeated a local athlete toclinch the 48kg event.

Rome Masters

• Serena Williams won her third title of theseason as she delivered a crushing 6-3, 6-0

defeat to Sara Errani to win a third trophy

at the Rome Masters .

• The world number one now heads to theFrench Open on solid form after winning the

week in Rome after withdrawing from aMadrid semi-final last weekend with a thigh

injury.

• Williams becomes the first player on the

WTA to lift three trophies this season after

beating Italy’s Errani for the seventh timewith the loss of just one set in that series.

CEAT International Cricket Awards0

• India’s top batsman Virat Kohli has won the

Ceat International Cricketer of the Yearaward while off-spinner Ravichandran

Ashwin, the fastest player from the countryto pick 100 Test wickets, bagged the Indian

Player of the Year award for 2013-14.

• Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan was

named the International Player of the Yearwhile Robin Uthappa, who was part of the

triumphant Karnataka Ranji Trophy team,clinched the Domestic Cricketer of the Year

honour.

• Kohli had won the best player award in

2011-12 too. India’s under-19 cricketer VijayZol got the Young Player of the Year award

while yesteryear stumper Syed Kirmani, oneof the finest behind the stumps who was also

part of the 1983 World Cup winning team,

was honoured with the Lifetime AchievementAward. Kirmani played in 88 Tests and 49

ODIs.

• Australian Mitchell Johnson, who was

instrumental in his country winning theAshes Series in overwhelming fashion against

England at home, and compatriot GlennMaxwell received the Test Player of the Year

and Popular Choice awards respectively,

while Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib AlHasan got the T20 Player of the award.

National Sports Talent Search System

• Union Government has promised to facilitatedevelopment and promotion of sports,

particularly rural sports, and said it will

launch a National Sports Talent SearchSystem.

• Addressing the first joint sitting of Parliament

after the recent Lok Sabha polls, PresidentPranab Mukherjee said that India is the

227 || Year Book 2015



world’s oldest civilisation and today it is alsoa country with the largest population of the

youth, government must equip and nurture

the youth with the right kind of education,skill-set and opportunity to reap this

demographic dividend.

Seventh women’s hockey World Cup title

• Olympic gold medallists Netherlands

defeated Australia 2-0 in the title showdown

to clinch the women’s hockey World Cup.

• This was the fourth time these two nationsmet in the women’s World Cup final and The

Netherlands has won three of them. Out of13 women’s World Cups since its inception

in 1974, the Dutch have won it seven times.

• Captain Maartje Paumen, one of the four

Dutch players winning her second WorldCup gold, put her team ahead in the 12th

minute with a penalty stroke conversion. Thepenalty stroke was awarded when Ross Dross

was brought down by the goalkeeper and a

defender inside the circle.

Viswanathan Anand joint ninth

• Five-time world champion Viswanathan

Anand got off to a sedate start with two

draws and ended up joint ninth after the endof the fifth round of World Rapid Chess

Championship.• A couple of draws at the beginning against

Ivan Salgado Lopez of Spain and MaximMatlakov of Russia in the first two roundsfor Anand were followed by a couple of

victories coming at the expense of his newfull time ‘second’ Sandipan Chanda and

Russian Vladimir Fedoseev.

• But a draw in the fifth round with Viktor

Laznicka of Czech Republic saw the Indianace slump a little in the strongest ever rapid

chess tournament of the world.

India fifth in the shooting World Cup

• National champion Sanjeev Rajput shot

1160 to take the 26th spot in the men’s freerifle 3-position event, but India had the

honour of finishing fifth in the medals table,in the shooting World Cup at Maribor,

Slovenia.

• Rajput shot 386 in kneeling, 394 in prone

and 380 in standing, 16 points short of hisnational record 1176, and missed the final by

10 points.

• Gagan Narang was in awful form, finished

second from last among 52 shooters with ascore of 1141. It was his third lowest total

in an international competition in the event.

• India was fifth out of 14 countries that wonat least one medal, in an overall field of 59

countries, thanks to a gold and silver by Jitu

Rai and a bronze by Ayonika Paul.China (7)and Germany (4) finished in that order with

three gold medals.

Amla named South Africa test captain

• South African cricket broke new ground with

the appointment of Hashim Amla as test

captain, the first black cricketer to hold thepost permanently in a sport long seen to be

dominated by whites.

• Cricket South Africa (CSA) had identifiedAmla, one-day skipper AB de Villiers and

Twenty20 leader Faf du Plessis as the

potential successors to Graeme Smith, whoretired from the international game in

March.

• Having initially ruled himself out, Amla had

a change of heart in recent weeks and willnow lead the side to Sri Lanka for a two-

match series next month.

• Amla believes it is the right time for him totake over after the loss of senior players Smith

and Jacques Kallis in the past six months.

228 || Year Book 2015



Sourav Ganguly joined Mudgal Committee

• Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian cricket

captain, joined the Mudgal Committee onIPL spot-fixing as an expert on cricketing

affairs. The Mudgal committee headed byJustice (retired) Mukul Mudgal is probingIPL betting and spot fixing scandals of 2013.

• It is investigating on the 13 names submitted

by it to Supreme Court in a sealed envelopein February 2014 after a preliminary inquiry.It was appointed in October 2013 by the

Supreme Court to investigate the fixingallegations that took place during the IPL’s

2013 season.

• The Supreme Court in its direction asked theprobe committee to select a cricketer ofimpeccable repute and integrity to help the

committee on the cricketing matters relatedto IPL betting and spot fixing.

Saina Nehwal wonAustralian Open Super Series title

• Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton ace, on 29June 2014 won 750000 US dollar Australian

Open Super Series by defeating CarolinaMarin of Spain in straight-game 21-18, 21-11 in final played at Sydney.

• This is the second title win of the year for

sixth-seeded, Saina Nehwal. The previoustitle for her was Indian Open GrandprixGold in Delhi. On the other hand, this was

first World Super Series final for WorldNumber 11, Carolina Marin.

Germany Lift FIFA World Cup 2014 title

• Germany’s Mario Götze kicks in second half

of extra time to win 1-0 against Argentina infinal of the FIFA World Cup 2014. Germany

became the first side from Europe to win a

World Cup in South America.

• Lionel Messi Of Argentina was awardedGolden Ball, which is given to best player of

the tournament.

• This was Germanies fourth world cup, lastcoming in 1990 against the same opponent.

This is the first World Cup for unified

Germany, the previous three having beenwon by West Germany in 1954, 1974 and

1990.

• Argentina last won world cup in 1986, whichwas played in Mexico.

• Manuel Neuer of Germany won the Golden

Glove, award for best goalkeeper.

• James Rodriguez of Colombia won the

Golden boot award for most number(6) ofgoals in the tournament.

U.S. Lawmakers Ask FIBA to Review itsPolicy on Sikh Turbans

• Appalled by reports that Sikh players from

India were asked to remove their turbans atan international basketball match, top U.S.

lawmakers have launched a campaign asking

International Basketball Federation(FIBA) toreview the discriminatory policy.Sikh players

participating within FIBA were told thattheir turbans violate Article 4.4.2 of FIBA’s

official rules, which states that “Players shall

not wear equipment (objects) that may causeinjury to other players.”

• There is no evidence showing that a turban

has been dangerous during basketball gamesor other popular sports ev ents, the

Congressmen argue, The letter cited the

example of Darsh Preet Singh who captainedthe basketball team at Trinity University

while maintaining his turban throughout asuccessful career at the National Collegiate

Athletic Association (NCAA).

ON TARGET Apurvi and Rahi Shoot Gold

• Apurvi Chandela and Rahi Sarnobat were thetoast of the Indian camp as the duo won gold

in the women’s 10m air rifle and 25m pistolrespectively.

• Apurvi went to the final topping the

229 || Year Book 2015



preliminaries with a Games record total of415.6 points. She shot brilliantly right

through the final, going into the lead with a

score of 31.4 points and staying therethrough the next eight rounds.

• Ayonika had finished fourth in the

preliminaries with a score of 413.2 points.However, the Mumbai girl was in no mood

to surrender and showed steely resolve as she

clawed her way back to second with threerounds remaining. In the end, Ayonika had

a score of 204.9 points as against Apurvi’swinning total of 206.7 points.

• India also picked up a silver medal through

Prakash Nanjappa in the men’s 10m air

pistol. Australia’s Daniel Repacholi took thegold.

Red Bull driver Ricciardo wins HungarianGrand Prix ahead of Alonso

• Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull won the

Hungarian Grand Prix , overtaking Ferrari’sFernando Alonso near the end of the race.

• Lewis Hamilton, who started from pit lane

after crashing during qualifying, was third,

holding off Mercedes teammate NicoRosberg, who started from pole position.

• It was Ricciardo’s second victory of the season

and his career, having won the CanadianGrand Prix in Montreal in June.

ICC warns Ali against Repeat of Gaza Protest

• England’s Moeen Ali has been warned by

world cricket chiefs not to wear wristbandsdeclaring his support for the people of Gaza

again during international matches.

• But the International Cricket Council (ICC)said Ali would face no disciplinary action on

this occasion after being warned about his

future conduct by match referee David Boon.

• Ali wore wristbands during the third Testagainst India that read “Save Gaza” and “Free

Palestine”

Mali adds to India’s tally

• Chandrakant Mali boosted the Indian tally

by winning a bronze medal in the 94kgcategory of the weightlifting competitions.

• The Indian had a best of 150kg in the snatch

and 188kg in the clean and jerk to finish witha total of 338kg, behind Steven Kukuna Kari

(Papa New Guinea) and Simplice Ribouem

(Australia). Kari won the gold on lower bodyweight after he and Ribouem finished with

349.

• India is ranked 6th after Navjot Kaur won

the latest bronze medal for the Indian sidetaking their medal tally to 42 with 10 gold,

20 silver and 12 bronze.

India finish fifth with 64 Medals

• The CWG incidents took some of the sheen

off the impressive 64 medal haul — 15 gold,

30 silver and 19 bronze — that ensured afifth place finish in the leaderboard for India

after England, Australia, Canada and hostsScotland.

• It was India’s third best showing in the

Commonwealth Games after the 100 plus

bounty at home in Delhi four years back andthe 69 medals they picked up at Manchester

in 2002.

Kabaddi goes Internationalwith World Kabaddi League

• It’s quintessentially Indian but Kabaddi is allset to make waves across three continents

with the first-of-its-kind World KabaddiLeague kickstarting in London .

• Featuring eight teams, including one from

Pakistan, the tournament will be played for

four months in USA, England, Canada, UAEand India.

• The venues for the league include eight

international (London, Birmingham, Dubai,

New York, Los Angeles, Sacramento,

230 || Year Book 2015



Vancouver, Toronto) and six Indian (NewDelhi, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bhatinda,

Amritsar, Mohali) cities.• The tournament will follow the double

round robin format with a total of 94matches — 90 league games and four

playoffs — and has 144 international playerson its roster.

• Every team will play the other seven thricebefore the top four qualify for the play-offs.

The final will be played in Mohali onDecember 14.

National Sports Awards 2014

• NNNNNational Sational Sational Sational Sational Sporporporporports Ats Ats Ats Ats Awarwarwarwarwardsdsdsdsds are given every year

to recognize and reward excellence in sports.

• Rajiv GRajiv GRajiv GRajiv GRajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Aandhi Khel Ratna Aandhi Khel Ratna Aandhi Khel Ratna Aandhi Khel Ratna Awarwarwarwarwarddddd is givenfor the spectacular and most outstanding

performance in the field of sports bya sportsperson over a period of four yearsimmediately preceding the year during which

award is to be given.

• Arjuna AArjuna AArjuna AArjuna AArjuna Awarwarwarwarwarddddd is given for consistentlyoutstanding performance for four yearspreceding the year of award.

• DDDDDrrrrr onacharonacharonacharonacharonacharya Aya Aya Aya Aya Awarwarwarwarwarddddd for coaches for

producing medal winners at prestigiousinternational sports events.

• DDDDDhyan Chand Ahyan Chand Ahyan Chand Ahyan Chand Ahyan Chand Awarwarwarwarwarddddd for lifetime contribution to sports development.

• AAAAArjuna, Drrjuna, Drrjuna, Drrjuna, Drrjuna, Dronacharonacharonacharonacharonacharya and Dya and Dya and Dya and Dya and Dhyan Chandhyan Chandhyan Chandhyan Chandhyan Chand

AAAAAwarwarwarwarwardees will rdees will rdees will rdees will rdees will receiveceiveceiveceiveceiv e statuettes, citationse statuettes, citationse statuettes, citationse statuettes, citationse statuettes, citationsandcash prizandcash prizandcash prizandcash prizandcash prize of Rs.5 lakh each. e of Rs.5 lakh each. e of Rs.5 lakh each. e of Rs.5 lakh each. e of Rs.5 lakh each.

• Rashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel Prrrrrotsahan Potsahan Potsahan Potsahan Potsahan Purururururuskaruskaruskaruskaruskar is givento the corporate entities (both in private and

public sector) and individuals who haveplayed a visible role in the area of sportspromotion and development. Recipients of

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar will begiven Trophies.

The Awardees

• Arjuna awarArjuna awarArjuna awarArjuna awarArjuna award:d:d:d:d: Abhishek Verma (archery),

Tintu Luka (athletics), H.N. Girisha (para-athletics), V. Diju (badminton), Geethu

Anna Jose (basketball), Jai Bhagwan (boxing),

R. Ashwin (cricket), AnirbanLahiri (golf ),MamtaPujari (kabaddi), Saji Thomas

(rowing), HeenaSidhu (shooting), AnakaAlankamony (squash), Tom Joseph

(volleyball), RenubalaChanu (weightlifting),

Sunil Kumar Rana (wrestling).

• DDDDDrrrrr onacharonacharonacharonacharonacharya awarya awarya awarya awarya award:d:d:d:d:Mahabir Prasad(wrestling); Lifetime achievement: N.

Lingappa (athletics), G. Manoharan(boxing), Gurcharan Singh Gogi (judo), Jose

Jacob (rowing).

• DDDDDhyan Chand awarhyan Chand awarhyan Chand awarhyan Chand awarhyan Chand award:d:d:d:d: Gurmail Singh

(hockey), K.P. Thakkar (swimming-diving),Zeeshan Ali (tennis).

• TTTTTenzing Nenzing Nenzing Nenzing Nenzing Norgay Aorgay Aorgay Aorgay Aorgay Awarwarwarwarwards: Land advds: Land advds: Land advds: Land advds: Land adventurenturenturenturenture:e:e:e:e:

SubedarJagat Singh, Passang Tenzing Sherpa;

Air advAir advAir advAir advAir adventurenturenturenturenture: e: e: e: e: MWO Surender Singh;

• Lifetime achievLifetime achievLifetime achievLifetime achievLifetime achievement:ement:ement:ement:ement: Wg. Cdr. (retd)AmitChowdhury.

• MMMMMaulanaAaulanaAaulanaAaulanaAaulanaAbulKalam AbulKalam AbulKalam AbulKalam AbulKalam Azad zad zad zad zad TTTTTrrrrrophy:ophy:ophy:ophy:ophy: Punjabi

University, Patiala.

• Rashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel PRashtriya Khel Prrrrrotsahan Potsahan Potsahan Potsahan Potsahan Puraskar:uraskar:uraskar:uraskar:uraskar: Oil

and Natural Gas Corporation (employmentof sports persons and sports welfare

measures); Jindal Steel Works (communitysports–identification and nurturing of

budding/young talent); Guru Hanuman

akhara (establishment and management ofsports academies of excellence); Child Link

Foundation of India–Magic Bus (other formsof sports activities not covered in the

categories mentioned in the schemes).

Seema Punia takes Discus Silver

• Seema Punia gave India a second track andfield medal by clinching the silver in women’s

discus throw of the athletic events of theCommonwealth Games.

• The Indian had a season’s best throw of

231 || Year Book 2015



61.61m off her fifth effort as she finishedsecond best behind Australian gold medallist

Dani Samuels.

• Samuels had a best of 64.88m through her

fourth trial, to save the top place of thepodium, after towering over the field all

along.

• Krishna Poonia, the gold medal winner at theNew Delhi Games in 2010, finished fifth

with a best effort of 57.84m against her

name.

Sait Nagjee Trophy to be Revived

• The SaitNagjee Trophy all-India football

tournament, once one of the most importantevents in India’s football calendar and a huge

hit in this football-crazy city, is being revived

after a gap of 20 years.

• World varsity meet from Sept. 1

• The eighth editionThe eighth editionThe eighth editionThe eighth editionThe eighth edition of the World Universitysquash championship will be hosted by

Squash Rackets Federation of India at the

ISA courts, Chennai from September 1 to 7,in association with the Association of Indian

Universities.

17th Asian Games

The 2014 Asian Games, officially known asthe XVII Asiad has been held from September 19-

October 4 in the port city of Incheon, South Korea.The opportunity to host the 17th edition of Asian

Games, the largest multi-sporting event in Asiagoverned by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), was

given to Incheon after defeating Delhi, India with35 is to 13 votes in bidding. Incheon with this

notable achievement becomes the third city in SouthKorea to host the Asian Games after Seoul (1986)

and Busan (2002).The motto 2014 Asian Gameswas the Diversity Shines.

Medals Tally - Asian Games 2014

RANKRANKRANKRANKRANK COUNTRCOUNTRCOUNTRCOUNTRCOUNTRYYYYY GOLDGOLDGOLDGOLDGOLD SILSILSILSILSILVERVERVERVERVER BRBRBRBRBRONZEONZEONZEONZEONZE TTTTTOOOOOTTTTTALALALALAL

1. CHINA 151 108 83 342

2 REPUBLIC OF KOREA 79 71 84 234

3 JAPAN 47 76 77 200

4 KAZAKHSTAN 28 23 33 84

5 IRAN 21 18 18 57

6 THAILAND 12 7 28 47

7 DPR KOREA 11 11 14 36

8 INDIA 11 10 36 57

9 CHINESE-TAIPEI 10 18 23 51

10 QATAR 10 0 4 14

India ended the Games with a total of 57medals, including 11 gold, 9 silver and 37 bronze,

which is 8 less than the 65 medals (14 gold, 17 silver

and 34 bronze) India won at the Guangzhou Games

four years ago. Athletics and shooting bagged the

most number of medals at Incheon, 13 and 9respectively.

Lifetime Achievement award for Kapil Dev

• Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev has beenhonoured with a Lifetime Achievement

award at a ceremony in the House of Lordsin London.

• The award, constituted by the Indo-

European Business Forum (IEBF), was

232 || Year Book 2015



presented to the former India World Cup-winning captain for his contribution to the

sport and for his work in the field of

upliftment of poor and destitutecommunities through the Khushii society.

Sawarn Singh wins bronze in rowing

• Young rower Sawarn Singh brought some

cheers back to the Indian contingent as heclinched the bronze medal in men’s singlesculls final at the 17th Asian Games in

Incheon.

• The 24-year-old Singh finished behind Iran’sMohsen Shadinaghadh, who won the goldmedal and silver medallist Kim Dongyong of

hosts South Korea.

• Another rower Dushyant Singh was the onlyathlete to manage a podium finish for Indiaas he grabbed a bronze in the men’s

lightweight single sculls.

Abhinav Bindra’s firstAsian Games individual medal

• Ace Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra claimed

his first Asian Games individual medal bywinning bronze in the men’s 10 metre Air

Rifle event at the Ongnyeon International

Shooting Range

• The 2008 Olympic gold medalist had wonhis first Asian Games medal earlier in the day

by taking third place in the men’s team 10mAir Rifle event along with compatriots

Sanjeev Rajput and Ravi Kumar.

Arjuna award for Manoj Kuma

• The Union Sports Ministry has informedboxer Manoj Kumar that he will receive this

year’s Arjuna award.

• The Arjuna award selection committee didnot consider Manoj for the award after theSports Authority of India (SAI) erroneously

informed the panel that the boxer had faileda dope test.

• The panel stuck to its choices even after itbecame clear that Manoj had never testedpositive.

• An aggrieved Manoj moved the Delhi High

Court, where the government admitted thatthe pugilist also deserved to get the honour.

• After reconsidering the case, the Ministrydecided in giving the award to

Manoj.Assured bronze for India in Asiad

• Indian squash player Dipika Pallikal couldnot better the colour of her assured bronzeas she lost to world number one Nicol David

in the women’s singles semifinals of the 17thAsian Games on Monday.

• India had won three medals (all bronze) outof four categories at Guangzhou 2010 and

this time they look good for medals in allfour categories including the team

Players allowed to wear religious head

coverings, such as hijabs or turbans

• Basketball players will be allowed to wear

religious head coverings, such as hijabs or

turbans, on a trial basis in some games.

• Previous FIBA rules allowed a player to wearonly a 5 cm headband. That drew objections

that the group was discriminating against

Muslim and Sikh players.

• The central board of the InternationalBasketball Federation (FIBA) met over the

weekend at the men’s World Cup and votedto allow a two-year testing phase that would

let players wear head coverings.

Davis Cup:Doubles win takes France into final

• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet putFrance back in the Davis Cup final by

winning the doubles and ending the two—

year reign of the Czech Republic.

• France makes the final for the first time since2010. It won the last of its nine cups in 2001.

233 || Year Book 2015



• The defending champions Czechs needed towin the doubles to keep alive their chances

of reaching a third straight final.

Subroto Cup from September 16

• The 55th Subroto Cup international footballtournament kicks off on September 16 this

year, with 94 participating teams across threecategories.

• The tournament, organised by the Subroto

Mukherjee Sports Education Society under

the aegis of the Indian Air Force, will finishon October 20 with the junior boys’ (under-

17) final at the Ambedkar Stadium.

• The major attraction in the junior boys ’section will be the Brazilian side Colegio

Estadul Santo Antonio.

Rohan Bopanna to receiveDavis Cup Commitment Award

• Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna will be

awarded the Davis Cup Commitment Awardin Bangalore; it was announced by

International Tennis Federation (ITF).

• The ITF through its national associations,will present Davis Cup Commitment Awards

during this weekend’s 2014 Davis Cup by

BNP Paribas World Group and zone groupties.

• This new award was conceived as part of the

ITF’s 2013 Centenary celebrations, and ispresented to Davis Cup players who have

shown long-standing dedication to

representing their country in this prestigiouscompetition.

• Each award recipient will have competed in

a minimum of 20 home-and-away ties or 50ties at any level of the competition (including

week-long zone group events) over their

career.

• Besides Bopanna, former Grand Slam tennischampions Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil will also bepresented the award after their respective

games.

Karun Chandhok set for Formula E debut

• Twenty drivers, including India’s KarunChandhok, representing 10 teams will kick-

start the historic FIA Formula Echampionship, the world’s first fully-electric

racing series, when the 270bhp machines willrun on a purpose-built circuit around theiconic Bird’s Nest stadium that was build for

the 2012 Olympics.

• The 30-year-old Chandhok, only the second

Indian after Narain Karthikeyan to race inFormula One, will be driving for Mahindra

Racing Formula E team with Brazilian Bruno

Senna, also a former F1 racer, as his partner.

• The grid is brimming with ex-F1 driversbesides two female participants in Italy’s

Michela Cerruti and Britain’s KatherineLegge, one of the FIA’s Women in

Motorsport Ambassadors.

• The championship comprises 10 rounds over

nine months in Europe and the US with agrand finale in London June 27, 2015.

Punjab retains Dhruv Pandove Trophy

• Punjab retained the all-India Dhruv Pandove

Trophy for under-19 players on the basis offirst-innings lead after the final against

Madhya Pradesh Cricket Academy ended ina draw here.

• Punjab has now won the title four times in

a row.

Lewis Hamilton wins US Grand Prix

• Race by race and point by point, LewisHamilton is tightening his grip on the

Formula One world championship andsqueezing out Mercedes teammate Nico

Rosberg.

• “This whole season has been incredible,”

234 || Year Book 2015



Hamilton said after playfully taking formerworld champion Mario Andretti’s blackStetson cowboy hat on the winner’s podium.

“I pushed as hard as I could.”

• Mercedes had another 1-2 finish in adominating season that has pushed Hamiltonand Rosberg well clear of the pack in the title

chase. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was thirdfor his eighth podium finish on the season.

Sardar Singh to lead

hockey squad for Australia tour

• Sardar Singh will lead a 21-member Indian

men’s hockey squad for the four-match Test

tour of Australia to be held in Perth fromNovember 4 to 9.

• Post bagging the gold medal at the 17th

Asian Games in Incheon, the tour of

Australia is being organised as part ofpreparation for the upcoming FIH

Champions Trophy 2014, to be held inBhubaneswar December 6-14.

• Besides the four Tests, India will also play a

training game against Australia A on

November 1 at the Perth Hockey Stadium.

Terry Walsh quits as

Chief Coach of Hockey Team

• The Indian men’s hockey team chief coach

Terry Walsh resigned from the post, citing

difficulty in working under the presentsystem of governance.

• The resignation, however, is subject to

further talks between the parties concernedin the next one month, but the blame game

has already begun.

• Walsh, who took charge of the team exactly

a year ago, led India to its only third AsianGames title recently at Incheon, securing a

berth at the 2016 Olympics. However,

despite visible improvements during histenure, Walsh had been under constant

pressure. It was said he was close to losing his

job after India’s disappointing performanceat the World Cup earlier this year.

• “The entire issue is about the decision-

making process in Indian bureaucracy. I find

it difficult to work in a professional mannerin this system. We are now at a place where

we are seeing if we can adjust the way itoperates. But there are issues that we have to

solve if we have to go forward,” Walsh said.

He, however, ruled out any monetary disputewith SAI.

Srikanth, Saina win China Open

• Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwalclinched the $ 700,000 China Open Super

Series Premier tournament after beating

young Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in thesummit clash, in Fuzhou.

• The World No. 5 Indian prevailed over the

17-year-old Akane 21-12 22-20 in thewomen’s singles finals which lasted 42

minutes at the Haixia Olympic Sport Centre.

• Young Indian shuttler K Srikanth clinched

his maiden Super Series title after defeatingtwo-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of

China in the men’s singles events of China

Open Super Series Premier.

Bafna assured of title in

National karting championships

• Ameya Bafna of Mumbai and Bengaluru’sRicky Donison and Yash Aradhya won the

titles in the Senior Max, Junior Max andMicro Max events respectively at the 11th JKTyre-FMSCI National karting

championships, which concluded with thefifth and final leg.

• Bafna (Rayo Racing) played it safe in thefinal leg and finished fourth to make sure of

the overall championship.

Harinder Pal wins gold in Asian Beach Games

• Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu held his own to

235 || Year Book 2015



defeat Hong Kong’s Yip Tsz Fung in anexciting three-game affair to win gold in themen’s squash event at the Asian Beach Games

in Phuket, Thailand.

• Apart from Sandhu, India won two bronzemedals from Kush Kumar (men’s singles) andAparajitha Balamurukan (women’s singles).

• Harinder later said: “This is a superb

tournament and I am proud to win a goldmedal for my country. I t has been a

memorable week.

• “Firstly, I was honoured when IOA selected

me to carry the Indian flag at the openingceremony and now, I am going home with a

gold medal. Playing outdoors was special,” headded.

Dhoni buys Ranchi franchise of HIL

• India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni

and Sahara Adventure Sports Limited areco—owners of new Ranchi—franchise of

Hockey Indian League (HIL), Ranchi Rays,which was unveiled.

• Ranchi Rhinos, who were the inaugural

champions of HIL, was scrapped following

distrust between owners (Patel—PS Groupand Uniexcel Group) and Hockey India

(HI).

Pankaj Advani firstPlayer to bag billiards triple double

• Pankaj Advani outplayed England’s RobertHall 1928-893 in the final of the IBSF

World Billiards championship (timed format)to complete a grand double.

• The 29-year-old, Bangalore-based Advanihad won the title in the points format (150-

up) last week.

• Advani, who took a stranglehold of thematch leading 746-485 at the half-way mark,

thus became the first player ever to win titles

in both formats thrice, following his doublein 2005 and 2008.

• Advani capped a phenomenal year that sawhim win the World 6-Red championship

besides the World Team billiards

championship before the double here thattook his individual haul of world titles to 10.

Lawis Hamilton emerges the fastest

• Lewis Hamilton topped the charts ahead of

Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in

opening free practice session for United StatesGrand Prix.

• The 29-year-old Briton clocked a best lap

time of 1m 39.941s to finish two-tenths ofa second clear of the German after the pair

took its time to get into top form at the

Circuit of the Americas.

• Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points withthree races remaining, including the final

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where double pointswill be awarded.

• McLaren’s Jenson Button, the 2009champion, was third fastest ahead of Russian

Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, Dane KevinMagnussen in the second McLaren and two-

time champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

• Last year’s winner and four-time champion

Sebastian Vettel was seventh ahead of FelipeNasr, making an impression as the Williams

test driver, Nico Hulkenberg of Force Indiaand Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, back in

action for Toro Rosso, after his first outing

in Japan.

• Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardosuffered an engine failure and wound up

17th out of 18 cars on the smallest F1 gridfor a decade since the Monaco Grand Prix.

Varun Kakran set a new National record

• Uttar Pradesh’s Varun Kakran cleared a height

of 1.86 metres to set a new National recordin the under-14 boys’ high jump in the Jio

236 || Year Book 2015



junior National athletics championship atIGMC stadium here on Saturday.

• Varun eclipsed Maharashtra’s Anil Kumar

Sahoo’s 1.85 metre effort achieved in 2011.

• Kerala and Haryana athletes dominated the

penultimate day with Kerala runners hoggingthe limelight in the relays.

• The rThe rThe rThe rThe results: Boesults: Boesults: Boesults: Boesults: Boys: U-14: Hys: U-14: Hys: U-14: Hys: U-14: Hys: U-14: High Jigh Jigh Jigh Jigh Jump: ump: ump: ump: ump: 1.

Varun Kakran (UP) 1.86m – NR (ONR &

NMR 1.85), 2. Anil (Har) 1.70; 3. RavindraReddy 1.56.

Chikkarangappa triumphs at CG Open Golf2014

• S. Chikkarangappa defended his title in style

at the CG Open Golf 2014, producing afinal round of four-under-66 at the Bombay

Presidency Golf Club course.

• The Bengaluru golfer totalled 17-under-263

in the PGTI Super Series event and alsotopped the Rolex Rankings.

• Om Prakash Chouhan bettered the courserecord with 10-under-60 in the fourth round,

and was rewarded with the second spotcarding 16-under-264.

• Overnight leader C. Muniyappa of

Bengaluru returned a card of 15-under-265for third place.

• Chikkarangappa (67-66-64-66) started withpars on the first three holes, birdied the

fourth, fifth and seventh. Muniyappabogeyed the 11th, as the former struck formto manage birdies on 16th and 18th for the

title.

East Zone reclaims‘Deodhar Trophy’ after a long gap

• East Zone proved to be a hard nut to crack

and won the Deodhar Trophy after 11seasons. The game swung back and forth in

a tantalising manner, but East struck crucialblows in the closing stages of the match to

beat West by 24 runs in the final.

• East’s team work stood out in stark contrastto some poor bowling by Shardul Thakur

and Yusuf Pathan, and later some poor

batting chasing a tall target of 270.• West’s chase suffered as Ashoke Dinda,

getting one last chance to impress the

selectors before the World Cup probablesselection, induced errors from Smit Patel,

Sheldon Jackson and Ambati Rayudu. Hiseffort earned him the man-of-the-matchaward.

• As the final drifted towards East,

Maharashtra’s Kedar Jadhav and his Puneteammate Ankit Bawne pulled their team outof the woods with a solid 74-run stand for

the fourth wicket.

• After Bawne’s dismissal, Jadhav and local ladSuryakumar Yadav took charge. Jadhav also

survived a strong appeal for leg-before offleft-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and waslucky to be dropped by Kumar Deobrat at

long-on off off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri.

• But once Odisha all-rounder BiplabSamantaray bowled Jadhav and Dindadismissed Yadav, East’s anxiety ended and it

went on to win the match.

• Earlier , after electing to bat, East wasindebted to skipper Manoj Tiwary — his 75led the fight-back after early loss of wickets

— and Samantaray’s quick-fire half-century.

Indians subdue theDutch in Champions Trophy

• After two morale-sapping defeats, India

finally regained a lot of confidence bynotching up a 3-2 upset win over World Cup

silver medallist and second-rankedNetherlands in its final Pool B match of the

Champions Trophy hockey tournament at

the Kalinga Stadium.

• The home team, which opened its accountwith three points earned from this

unexpected victory, finished third in its pool

237 || Year Book 2015



and will meet Pool A’s second-placed sideBelgium in the quarterfinals.

• The Netherlands frontline, especially the trio

of Jeroen Hertzberger, Sander Baart and

Rogier Hofman, showed tremendousunderstanding and agility to invade the

Indian circle at lightning speed and cameclose to taking the lead on several occasions.

• But India remained unaffected mainly due to

some fabulous saves by its brave goalkeeper

P.R. Sreejesh. V.R. Raghunath andRupinderpal Singh, who were tested on

numerous instances, withstood the nervousmoments.

• Against the run of play, India grabbed thelead early in the third quarter. Bubbling with

energy, young Gurjinder Singh launched along-range slap shot and S.V. Sunil deflected

it in to trigger celebrations in the stands. The

Dutch lost a bit of advantage as its referralchallenging the goal did not yield the desired

result.

Pakistan wins a thriller,makes final in Champions Trophy

• The blockbuster involving India and Pakistanhad disappointment in store for the

passionate home fans as the host lost 4-3 anevenly-contested, high voltage semifinal clash

of the Champions Tr ophy hockey

tournament at the Kalinga Stadium.

• Incidentally, India had also lost to the sameopponent in the last four of the 2012 edition

in Melbourne. The defeat also meant that thethird place finish in 1982 remains India’s best

ever performance in the Champions Trophy.• World No. 11 Pakistan, which reached the

final after 16 years on the strength ofMuhammad Arslan Qadir’s brace, will take

on Olympic champion and nine-time winnerGermany. The world No. 3 edged past five-time defending champion Australia 3-2.

• It was also a big achievement for Germany,

which had struggled throughout the year andcame into this event with a team which hadseveral players from the 2013 Junior World

Cup-winning squad, as it made the final after2009.

• As expected, Pakistan used its sharpenedwings to cut through the Indian defence

frequently and kept hitting into the circlefrom the right.

IP TL & traditional

Tennis can co-exist says Carlos Moya

• The innovative rules and format of theInternational Premier Tennis League (IPTL)

may have struck a chord with the Asian fans,generally starved of top-level action, butformer World No.1 Carlos Moya believes the

‘traditional’ sport will stick to itsconventional rules, though the inaugural

tournament will ‘co-exist’ and thrivealongside the existing order.

Germany wins Champions Trophy

• Enjoying the strong backing of a partisan

crowd of 7,000 in a city designed by Germanarchitect Otto Konigsberger, Olympic

champion Germany made itself at home to

see Pakistan off 2-0 in the final and lift theChampions Trophy at the Kalinga Stadium.

• The World No.3 could not have asked for

more as it ended the year by pocketing its10th Champions Trophy crown. It had last

won the tournament in 2007. A tired and

lacklustre India was beaten 2-1 by Worldchampion Australia in the battle for third

place.

• This was the fifth Champions Trophy finalinvolving Germany and Pakistan, and the

previous time they had met in the summit

clash was way back in 1994, when Pakistanhad emerged champion through penalty

shoot-outs in front of home supporters inLahore.

238 || Year Book 2015



• In changed times, with both teams seekingto groom the youngsters in their squads inthe run-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the

duel assumed importance for differentreasons.

• Thanks to the plans of master tacticianMarkus Weise, Germany stifled the Asian

Games silver medallist with some brilliantpossession and strong marking.

• Germany, which shrugged off a below-par

start to beat fine teams like England andAustralia in the knockout stage, checkedPakistan’s free-flowing style.

Boxing India not Recognized by IOA

• N. Ramachandran, President of the IndianOlympic Association, has categorically stated

that the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation(IABF) will be the official body and notBoxing India (BI). He added that boxing

affairs will now be handled by IOA’s ad-hoccommittee.

• “This matter was discussed at length at theExecutive Committee. The EC unanimously

agreed that the body that will be recognisedby the IOA will be IABF,” said Mr.

Ramachandran at a press conference, afterattending the IOA’s executive committee andthe annual general body meeting.

• Explaining the rationale behind the decision,

Mr. Ramachandran said IOA refused to giveofficial sanction to BI because BI electionswere held without consulting IOA.

• “When the dispute first arose between IABF

and Boxing India, the IOA constituted an ad-hoc committee. It is AIBA which recognised

Boxing India and the latter’s elections.Neither the Government of India nor theIOA sent an observer for the elections.

• “In fact, when the IOA took up the matter

with the President of the Internationalboxing body (AIBA) and said that, in theinterest of the athletes, the elections should

be held under the aegis of IOA and withAIBA’s observer present, the latter did notaccept these suggestions and BI held its

elections under the supervision of AIBA,” hesaid, adding that the IOA had received

“many” complaints of irregularities duringthe elections.

• He said the top three athletes at theCommonwealth Games, Asian Games and

Beach Asian Games, will receive a cash awardof Rs. 3 lakh, Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. one lakhrespectively. He regretted that the

government funding for National SportsFederations has been reduced to a larger

extent.

AIBA bans boxer L. Sarita Devi

• Indian woman boxer L. Sarita Devi washanded a one-year ban by the International

Boxing Association (AIBA) for refusing toaccept her bronze medal at the Asian Games

but the punishment is unlikely to hurt hercareer too badly as she would be available to

compete in the 2016 Olympic qualifiers.

• Sarita, who had refused to accept the medal

to protest her controversial semifinal boutloss, has been banned retrospectively from

October 1, 2014 to October 1, 2015 andfined 1000 swiss francs.

• Although her repeated apologies failed in

getting her AIBA’s pardon, even this ban is

quite a relief for the lightweight (60kg) boxer,who is currently nursing a broken right wrist.

Bindra wins bronze inNational Shooting championship

• India’s sole individual Olympic gold medallist

Abhinav Bindra bagged the 50-metre rifleprone bronze medal, but the gold went to

Hariom Singh in the 58th National ShootingChampionships in Pune.

• Competing in the men’s 50-metre rifle prone

event after a gap of almost a decade, Bindra

239 || Year Book 2015



shot 183.8 to finish third on the podium atthe Balewadi Shooting Range.

• Fellow Olympic medallist Gagan Narang

finished fourth in the eight-man final, after

having finished third in qualifying,marginally ahead of Bindra, who qualified in

fourth position.

Gouramangi Singh isBharat FC’s new catch for 2015

• Defender Gouramangi Singh has been ropedin by new I-league team, Bharat FC to firm

up its squad for the 2015 season which willkick off next month.

• Bharat FC, which will compete in its

inaugural I-League season starting on January

17, snapped up Gouramangi fromChennaiyin FC on a season-long contract.

• “I and Stanly have worked at the national

team and I know how good he is. I have also

been speaking regularly to Stuart and hisvision for the team is really exciting.

• I am excited about my role here,” said

Gouramangi, who joined the Kalyani group-owned team during its pre-season training

camp at the BharatiVidyapeeth football

ground on Tuesday.

• “I want to transfer my experience of havingplayed in the I-League, help build the team

well and win lots of football matches,” headded. The 28-year-old, who was a India

regular before Wim Koevermans became

India coach, comes to Bharat FC on the backof an impressive showing in the Indian Super

League.

• The centre-back made 11 appearances for

Chennaiyin FC, driving them to thesemifinals of the competition. One of the

most accomplished players in India,Gouramangi who is a graduate of the Tata

Football Academy, began his professional

football career with Dempo SC in the 2004-

2005 season making 40 appearances andscoring one goal.

Poland wins Hopman Cup

• Poland has won its first ever Hopman Cup

title, beating the USA 2-1 in the final.Agnieszka Radwanska showed why she

should be considered among the favouritesfor the Australian Open later this month bybeating the world No. 1 Serena Williams in

the final.

• The world No. 5 Radwanska teamed up withHopman debutant Jerzy Janowicz to beat theUS pairing of Serena Williams and John Isner

2-1.

Avinash emergesChampion in National junior snooker

• Avinash Kumar continued his giant-killing

spree to win his maiden National juniorsnooker title at the BRC. The 20-year-old

Delhi cueist won all his round-robinsemifinal league games, losing just threeframes.

• Playing his second league game against Hritik

Jain from Madhya Pradesh, Avinash wasthrashed 1-63 in the opening frame. “I came

to the venue late and hardly had time towarm-up,” he said.

• “Though I won the second frame I was stillnot be able to focus well. I got my rhythm

back in the fourth and there was no stoppingme.” Avinash lost the first frame to S.Shrikrishna of Tamil Nadu 11-72 in the final

league game only to take the next four in arow.

Railways’ teams win in contrasting styles

• It was double delight for Railways at the 63rd

senior national volleyball championship as itclinched the men’s and women’s titles beating

Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively.

• While the women’s final was a cakewalk, the

240 || Year Book 2015



men’s title-round will probably go down inthe history of Indian volleyball as one of the

greatest comebacks in the finals of the

national championship.

• Railways was down two sets and staringdown the barrel before it saved three match

points in the fourth set and went on to turnit around and win the match 19-25, 18-25,

25-23, 26-24, 15-9.

• Defending champion TN had no one to

blame but itself for the result — letting itscrown slip when it had one hand on it with

some poor defence work and unforced errorsin the final three sets.

• For Railways, attacker S. Prabagaran was thestar performer of the day. He, along with all-

rounder Manu Joseph, kept the visitors in thegame with some attacking play.

Brett Lee announcedRetirement from all forms of cricket

• Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee

announced his pending retirement from allforms of cricket after a 20-year career.

• The 38-year-old pacer quit international

cricket in July 2012, but had been a

Twenty20 regular, both in the Indian PremierLeague and the domestic competition in

Australia.

• Lee, who made the announcement at theSydney Cricket Ground, remains the equal

leading wicket-taker for Australia in ODIs

with Glenn McGrath, with 380 in 221appearances. Lee also took 310 wickets in 76

Tests for Australia.

Sania wins first t itle of theSeason in Sydney Open doubles

• India’s Sania Mirza won her first title of theseason and 23rd of her career when she and

Bethanie Mattek-Sands shocked top-seededAmericans Abigail Spears and Raquel Kops-

Jones in the summit clash of the ApiaInternational.

• The unseeded Indo-American combine

humbled the top seeds 6-3, 6-3 in just 69

minutes.

Panel to decide penalty

• The Supreme Court formed a three-member

committee to decide on the punishmentagainst Chennai Super Kings (CSK and

Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier

League (IPL) betting scandal involving co-owners of the two teams.

• Former Chief Justice India R. M. Lodha will

head the committee that includes formerSupreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R.

V. Raveendran.

• The committee has been given six months for

to further investigate and come to a decisionregarding the allegations against Mr. Kundra

and Mr. Meiyappan. The two teams face the

possibility of being scratched from the highprofile domestic T20 tournament.

• The Board will have to elect its new president

in six months’ time and N. Srinivasan cancontest only if he lets go of his commercial

interest in CSK. It is East Zone’s turn to have

a president. However, BCCI rules allow acandidate from outside the zone to contest

if there is a proposer and seconder a fromthat zone.

• It is compulsory for the candidate to have

attended two Annual General Meetings of

the Board apart from being a principal office-bearer.

Undertaking a must to contest BCCI elections

• Following the Supreme Court’s ruling thatBCCI members with commercial interest in

BCCI-organised events — including the IPL

— are not eligible to contest the BCCIelections, the candidates will have to give an

undertaking to that effect to the BCCI.

241 || Year Book 2015



• Elections are to be held for the post ofprincipal office-bearers (president, secretary,

jt. secretary and treasurer) and five vice-

presidents.

• Apart from the IPL, the BCCI organisestournaments in the senior , junior and

women’s categories and also organises theannual awards and the M.A.K. Pataudi

Memorial lecture. Many other committees

are also nominated by each zone. GenerallyBCCI office-bearers obtain unanimity for

selection committees, but there have beenoccasions when selectors have been elected.

• The BCCI by-laws also specify eligibility

r ules for members wanting to contest

elections. Past or present office-bearers orvice-presidents, except the president or a

member who has represented his associationat two AGMs, can contest for the post of

office-bearer (secretary, jt. Secretary and vice-

president).

• The president must be a past or presentoffice-bearer or vice-president of the Board

nominated by at least two full members from

the zone, whose turn it is as per the principleof rotation.

• He must have attended two AGMs

representing a full member.• The BCCI’s rules also say that such candidate

or candidates (for the post of president) neednot be from the same zone that is exercisingits right of nomination by rotation.

• According to the by-laws of the BCCI, the

office-bearers and vice-presidents who getelected at the next AGM will have a tenure

of three years.

• But the question now though is, will the

BCCI be forced to conduct another electionin September 2015, should the Supreme

Court’s three-member panel recommendamendments to the eligibility rules for

elections.

• The Supreme Court has said that the three-member committee’s deliberations will not

affect the BCCI AGM and elections to be

held within six weeks.

India set for

Tri-series with one Eye on World Cup

• All set to defend its cricket World Cup crown

in less than a month, India will get its

preparations underway with the aim to findthe right combination for the marquee event

when it takes on Australia in the ongoingODI tri-series.

• While this tri-series provides the perfect

setting for experimentation, the need of the

hour is to get a settled combination goingahead to instil confidence in the side.

• Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will return

to international cricket after a little over twoweeks since his Test retirement at the same

venue, and he will have some decisions to

make. The first order of business will be tomake a firm choice about the opening

combination.

• Ahead of Sunday’s game, the team

management has failed to specify whether itwill be Ajinkya Rahane or Rohit Sharma

pairing up with Shikhar Dhawan at the topof the order, or indeed whether a third

possibly surprising combination might be

thrown up.

• Unlike the team’s preparations ahead of anyTest match, its net sessions for an ODI do

not throw up any suggestive patterns and itwas the same on Saturday as well. In no

particular order then, all batsmen enjoyed a

decent hit in the nets including AmbatiRayudu and Stuart Binny.

• Among the bowlers, playing two spinners is

definitely par for the course for India, withR. Ashwin and Axar Patel slated to take up

those spots.

242 || Year Book 2015



Boxing India toIntroduce new league, ranking system

• In order to work in line with International

Boxing Association (AIBA)’s ambitiousleagues such as AIBA Open Boxing (AOB),

AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) and World Series of

Boxing (WSB), Boxing India (BI) hasdecided to launch the Indian Series of Boxing

(ISB) and a national ranking system in thesecond half of the year.

• The apex body has been making an effort for

the synergy of amateur and professional

boxing by allowing pugilists fromprofessional leagues to qualify for the

Olympics. BI’s new step will help the Indianboxers be part of the reforms “that will bring

fresh value to boxers and boxing in India”.

Debashis Das holds Topalov

• Grandmaster Debashis Das came up with hisbest performance ever to hold former world

champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria to a

creditable draw in the second round of theMasters’ section of Tradewise Gibraltar Chess

festival.

• On a day of upsets, Indian GrandmasterVishnu Prasanna defeated Grandmaster Emil

Sutovsky of Israel while former world junior

girls’ champion Soumya Swaminathan beatAmerican Kayden Troff to maintain a clean

slate after two games. Also ending on a highwas Indian GM M.R. Venkatesh who scored

a fine victory over Simen Agdestein of

Norway.

• With eight rounds still to come, it wasbusiness as usual for some of the higher-

ranked players.

• But highest rated Indian P. Harikrishna hadto show his endgame-magic before he could

secure his second victory in the tournament.

‘Revive defunct IBPWA’

• Olympian and former National badminton

champion U. Vimal Kumar, said thatshuttlers should revive the defunct Indian

Badminton Players Welfare Association(IBPWA) and approach the Badminton

Association of India (BAI) instead of floating

a new body.

• He also expressed anguish over the players’attitude as many thought of floating an

association only when they were left out ofthe Indian team. “This way, they can never

be united. Players should have a clear agenda

and not be there for selfish reasons,” heremarked.

• Vimal said active players and recently-retired

ones should take the responsibility of running

the association.

• Vimal explained how players revolted againstBAI in the mid-90s when All England

champion Prakash Padukone had formed theIndian Badminton Confederation.

• He said BAI permitted players to send entries

directly for National-ranking tournaments,

and also for international events through BAIfor forwarding it to the respective organisers.

“The State associations, players and BAIfunctioned with better understanding,” he

pointed out.

Kidambi Kidabi clinches swis grand prix gold2015

Indian Shuttler Kidambi brought fruitful

movement for India as he clinched the badmintonprestigious $ 120000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold

championship title after defeating a strong

Denmark’s Viktor Alexson in men’s singles final.

In the final world No. 4 Srikanth showed

nerves of steel to prevail over his opponent, rankedsixth in the world, 21-15 12-21 21-14 in the

thrilling summit clash of the event as the contest

lasted 47 minutes.

243 || Year Book 2015



Services wins 69th Santosh trophy

Services has clinched 69th Santosh Trophy

Nationals after deafiting hosts Punjab 5-4 via tie-breaker in a nail-biting clash at Guru Nanak

Stadium. Services dominated possession in the first

half and also created number of scoring

opportunities but failed to convert. Services sealed

the title for the fourth time besides finishing runnersup on five occasions.

Karnataka wins Ranji Trophy 2015

Defending champions Karnataka has won

their eighth Ranji Trophy title as they defeated their

southern opponents Tamil Nadu by an innings and217 runs on the last day of the Ranji Trophy cricket

tournament final at the Wankhede stadium.

The man of the match was Karnataka’s Karun

Nair who had scored 338 runs. The captain of

Karnataka team was R Vinay Kumar and of Tamil

Nadu team was Abhinav Mukund.

Earlier Karnataka has won 7th Ranji Tile,which are- 1973-74 - Vs Rajasthan, 1977-78 - Vs

Uttar Pradesh, 1982-83 - Vs Bombay, 1995-96 - Vs

Tamil Nadu, 1997-98 - Vs Uttar Pradesh, 1998-99

- Vs Madhya Pradesh, 2013-14 - Vs Maharashtra .

Snagakara hitsRecord four Consecutive ODI centuary

Sri Lanka cricket team wicketkeeper Kumar

Sangakkara has become the first player to hit four

successive one-day international centuries after

notching up a ton in his side’s 148-run win against

Scotland in the world cup.

Sangakkara now has a total of 14,189 careerODI runs and five World Cup centuries, only one

behind record holder Sachin Tendulkar.

Sangakara century against Scotland followed

an unbeaten 105 against Bangladesh, 117 not out

against England and 104 against Australia.

Previously, six other players had scored three ODIhundreds in a row.

Ranchi Ray winsHero Hockey India League 2015

Indian Cricket team captain Mahaendra Singh

Dhoni owned Ranchi Rays have been crowned Hero

Hockey India League champions for 2015 followinga dramatic penalty shoot-out triumph over Jaypee

Punjab Warriors in a high quality tournament final

at New Delhi’s Major Dhyan Chand National

Stadium. Jaypee Punjab Warriors lead the final on

two occasions, with Lovell ’s 2014 World Cupwinning team-mates Kieran Govers and Chris

Ciriello finding the net while Stanli Minz and Barry

Middleton twice pulled the Rays level as the match

finished with the scores locked at 2-2.

Lovell, who had made numerous breathtaking

saves in normal time, produced a goalkeepingmaster-class in the shoot-out, keeping out efforts

from Simon Orchard, SV Sunil and Robert

Hammond to give Ranchi a 3-2 win.

Lovell’s performance deservedly earned him

the Hero Man of the Match Award, while team-mate

and Rays’ captain Ashley Jackson was named HeroMost Valuable Player of the Tournament thanks to

a series of wonderful displays during this season’s

HHIL.

Delhi Waveriders claimed a third place finish

in this year’s Hero Hockey India League, with

Rupinder Pal Singh and Yuvraj Walmiki both ontarget in their team’s 2-1 triumph over Uttar Pradesh

Wizards.

Chris Gayle hits firstWorld Cup Double Centuary

West Indies opener Chris Gayle hit the first

double century in World Cup history in their PoolB victory over Zimbabwe at Canberra.He reached

200 off 138 balls, hitting Tendai Chatara for a

boundary in the 46th over.

His mark eclipsed the unbeaten 188 by South

Africa’s Gary Kirsten against the United Arab

Emirates in 1996. Gayle hit a total of 16 sixes in

Study Kit for Preliminary Examinations:

IAS (Pre) GS Paper 1 http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-1

IAS (Pre) GS Paper 2 http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-2

आई. . . ( ) 2014 -1 http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-1-hindi

आई. . . ( - ) 2014 -2

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-2-hindi

Study Kit for Mains Examinations:

Contemporary Issues http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/contemporary-issues-ias-mains

Public Administration http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-public-adminstration

Essay Writing http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/essay-mains

English Grammar & Comprehension http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-english-compulsory

History http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-history

Philosophy http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-philosophy

Sociology http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-sociology

General Studies http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/gs-mains

Study Kit for UPSC Other Examinations:

Armed Police Forces (CAPF) http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/capf

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-1

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-pre/csat-paper-2



http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/contemporary-issues-ias-mains

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-public-adminstration

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/essay-mains

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-english-compulsory

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-history

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-philosophy

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/ias-mains-sociology

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/gs-mains

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit/capf

Study Kit for Other One Day Examinations:

SSC Combined Graduate Level (Tier - I) http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl

( -1) http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl/tier-1-hindi

SSC Combined Graduate Level Examination (Tier - II) http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl-tier-2

SSC Combined Higher Secondary Level (10+2) Examination http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/chsle

IBPS Specialist Officer Study Kit http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-specialist-officer

IBPS Probationary Officer (PO) Study Kit http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-po

IBPS Clerk Study Kit http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-clerk

For Full Information about Study Kits Click below Link: http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit

http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl

http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl/tier-1-hindi

http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/cgl-tier-2

http://sscportal.in/community/study-kit/chsle

http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-specialist-officer

http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-po

http://bankpoclerk.com/community/study-kit/ibps-clerk

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/study-kit

244 || Year Book 2015



147 balls before he was out for 215 off the last

delivery of his side’s innings.

It was also only the fifth double century in allone-day internationals and the first by a non-Indian,

with Rohit Sharma (two), Sachin Tendulkar and

Virender Sehwag the only other batsmen to achieve

the feat.

Anil Kumble Inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Internation Cricket Council has inducted

former Indian captain Anil Kumble into their hall

of fame at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Kumble

is just the fourth Indian to be included in the elite

group, joining Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and BishanBedi.

Australian legend Betty Wilson was also

inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, along with

Kumble.Kumble has played 132 Tests for India,

capturing 619 wickets and became the second man

in history to take 10 wickets in an innings when hedismantled Pakistan in 1999 to finish with figures

of 10-74.

Alongside Kumble, Wilson becomes the

second Australian woman in the Hall of Fame

behind champion batter Belinda Clark.Wilson, considered one of the greatest female

cricketers of all-time, played 11 Tests between 1947and 1958, scoring 862 runs at an average of 57.4

and claimed 68 wickets at 11.8 runs apiece. In 1957against England, Wilson became the first cricketer,

male or female, to take score a century and take 10wickets in a Test. Kumble and Wilson become the

77th and 78th inductees into the Hall of Fame.

Quasar bags Indian Turf Invitation Cup

• Quasar (Yash Narredu up) upset stablemateBe Safe in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup

(Gr. I), the stellar attraction of the races.

• The winner is owned by Mr. Jaydev M.Modi

rep. J.M.Livestock Pvt Ltd, M/s. TanmayA.Agashe & Madhav G.Patankar. Malesh

Narredu trains the winner.

• Yet again the race course here witnessed

unruly scenes when the punters in the firstenclosure protested soon after the hot

favourite Be Safe lost a certain race.

• The punters did not allow the horses for the

last race to leave the paddock for more than45 minutes. Only after the police intervened

the crowd dispersed and the last race was heldafter an hour’s delay.

Mandatory to shareWC live feed: Prasar Bharti

• Reminding that “cricket is almost a religion

in the Indian sub-continent,” Prasar Bhartiurged the Supreme Court to order “absolute

stay” on a Delhi High Court order barring

the public broadcaster from sharing itsDoordarshan feed of the ongoing ICC World

Cup 2015 matches with private cableoperators.

• In a volatile hearing before a Bench, led by

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Attorney-General

Mukul Rohatgi said it was mandatory underthe law for Prasar Bharti to give free live

signals to cable operators when events of

national interest took place. Any tinkeringwith this statutory obligation, is contrary to

law, he said.

• The Delhi High Court’s verdict favouringStar India Ltd., which said it had a six-year

broadcasting contract worth Rs. 3,850 crore

with the BCCI to beam the World Cupmatches in the subcontinent, had come after

a seven-year court battle with the PrasarBharti.

• The court extended the period of the interim

stay till February 19. In the meantime, it

asked the AG to respond by an affidavit to aproposal put forward by Star India to “create

a separate channel” so that the visuals ofIndia’s World Cup matches could be aired

directly to subscribers without passing

through private cable operators.

245 || Year Book 2015



Daredevils pick up Yuvraj for Rs.16 crore

• Yuvraj Singh continues to be the leading

draw at IPL auctions. After commanding ahefty Rs.14 crore from Royal Challengers

Bangalore last year, the all-rounder againemerged numero uno at the player auction

held at the ITC Gardenia Hotel.

• Delhi Daredevils, with deep pockets thanks

to an initial purse of Rs. 39,75,00,000,aggressively pursued the southpaw and edged

his former team to secure him at a whoppingRs.16 crore, which turned out to be the day’s

highest bid.

• RCB, which released Yuvraj in a bid to

expand its purse, strangely bid for him up toRs.15.50 crore before backing off. Once

Daredevils drew him into its fold, Yuvraj

tweeted: “Namaste Delhi! @DelhiDaredevilsenjoyed playing for Rcb but now look

forward to play under a very special mancalled gaza! @Gary_Kirsten.”

• While Yuvraj was happy to link-up with his

former India coach, Daredevils continued to

be a big-spender, snapping up Sri Lankancaptain Angelo Mathews at Rs.7.50 crore.

Lahiri is Golfer of the Year

• Anirban Lahiri walked away with the Golferof the Year award in the second edition of the

India Golf Awards held.• Lahiri, the winner of the Malaysian Open,

was an obvious choice of the jury that pickedDelhi’s Vani Kapoor as the Professional

(Female) Golfer of the Year.

• his year’s jury included five-time BritishOpen champion Peter Thomson, AshokMalik, Gaurav Ghei and Champika Sayal. S.

Chikkarangappa was named the RisingGolfer of the Year while Vaishavi Sinha won

the award in the female category of the sameaward. Vijay Divecha, Lahiri’s coach for 13years, was chosen as the Best Teaching Pro.

• The occasion also saw two-time Indian Openchampion Ali Sher, along with Ashok Malik,being honoured with the Veteran Award.

Kidambi KidabiClinches swis grand prix gold 2015

Indian Shuttler Kidambi brought fruitful

movement for India as he clinched the badminton

prestigious $ 120000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold

championship title after defeating a strong

Denmark’s Viktor Alexson in men’s singles final.

In the final world No. 4 Srikanth showednerves of steel to prevail over his opponent, ranked

sixth in the world, 21-15 12-21 21-14 in the

thrilling summit clash of the event as the contest

lasted 47 minutes.

Services wins 69 th Santosh Trophy

Services has clinched 69th Santosh Trophy

Nationals after deafiting hosts Punjab 5-4 via tie-

breaker in a nail-biting clash at Guru Nanak

Stadium. Services dominated possession in the first

half and also created number of scoringopportunities but failed to convert.

Services sealed the title for the fourth time

besides finishing runners up on five occasions.

Karnataka wins Ranji Trophy 2015

Defending champions Karnataka has wontheir eighth Ranji Trophy title as they defeated their

southern opponents Tamil Nadu by an innings and

217 runs on the last day of the Ranji Trophy cricket

tournament final at the Wankhede stadium.

The man of the match was Karnataka’s Karun

Nair who had scored 338 runs. The captain ofKarnataka team was R Vinay Kumar and of Tamil

Nadu team was Abhinav Mukund.

Earlier Karnataka has won 7th Ranji Tile,

which are- 1973-74 - Vs Rajasthan, 1977-78 - Vs

Uttar Pradesh, 1982-83 - Vs Bombay, 1995-96 - Vs

Tamil Nadu, 1997-98 - Vs Uttar Pradesh, 1998-99- Vs Madhya Pradesh, 2013-14 - Vs Maharashtra .

246 || Year Book 2015



Snagakara hits recordFour Consecutive ODI Centuary

Sri Lanka cricket team wicketkeeper Kumar

Sangakkara has become the first player to hit four

successive one-day international centuries afternotching up a ton in his side’s 148-run win against

Scotland in the world cup.

Sangakkara now has a total of 14,189 career

ODI runs and five World Cup centuries, only one

behind record holder Sachin Tendulkar.

Sangakara century against Scotland followed

an unbeaten 105 against Bangladesh, 117 not outagainst England and 104 against Australia.

Previously, six other players had scored three ODI

hundreds in a row.

AB Deviler hits fastest 150 in ODI

South African batsman AB de Villiers hit the

fastest 150 in one-day internationals during a match

between South Africa & West Indies. De Villiers

took 64 deliveries to reach 150, beating the previous

best, set by Australia’s Shane Watson, by 19 balls.

He finished 162 not out from 66 balls asSouth Africa made 408-5, the second-highest total

in World Cups. Only last month, De Villiers hit the

fastest-ever ODI hundred against the same team in

Johannesburg, from 31 balls. In that same innings,

South Africa’s captain also set the record for thefastest fifty in ODIs, from 16 balls.

Ranchi Ray winsHero Hockey India League 2015

Indian Cricket team captain Mahaendra Singh

Dhoni owned Ranchi Rays have been crowned Hero

Hockey India League champions for 2015 following

a dramatic penalty shoot-out triumph over JaypeePunjab Warriors in a high quality tournament final

at New Delhi’s Major Dhyan Chand National

Stadium.

Jaypee Punjab Warriors lead the final on two

occasions, with Lovell’s 2014 World Cup winning

team-mates Kieran Govers and Chris Ciriello finding

the net while Stanli Minz and Barry Middleton twice

pulled the Rays level as the match finished with thescores locked at 2-2. Lovell, who had made

numerous breathtaking saves in normal time,

produced a goalkeeping master-class in the shoot-

out, keeping out efforts from Simon Orchard, SV

Sunil and Robert Hammond to give Ranchi a 3-2win.

Lovell’s performance deservedly earned him

the Hero Man of the Match Award, while team-mate

and Rays’ captain Ashley Jackson was named Hero

Most Valuable Player of the Tournament thanks toa series of wonderful displays during this season’s

HHIL.

Delhi Waveriders claimed a third place finish

in this year’s Hero Hockey India League, with

Rupinder Pal Singh and Yuvraj Walmiki both on

target in their team’s 2-1 triumph over Uttar PradeshWizards.

Chris Hayle hits firstWorld Cup double centuary

West Indies opener Chris Gayle hit the first

double century in World Cup history in their Pool

B victory over Zimbabwe at Canberra.He reached

200 off 138 balls, hitting Tendai Chatara for aboundary in the 46th over.

His mark eclipsed the unbeaten 188 by South

Africa’s Gary Kirsten against the United Arab

Emirates in 1996. Gayle hit a total of 16 sixes in

147 balls before he was out for 215 off the last

delivery of his side’s innings.

It was also only the fifth double century in all

one-day internationals and the first by a non-Indian,

with Rohit Sharma (two), Sachin Tendulkar and

Virender Sehwag the only other batsmen to achieve

the feat.

Anil Kumble inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Internation Cricket Council has inducted

former Indian captain Anil Kumble into their hall

247 || Year Book 2015



of fame at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Kumble

is just the fourth Indian to be included in the elite

group, joining Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and BishanBedi.

Australian legend Betty Wilson was also

inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, along with

Kumble.

Kumble has played 132 Tests for India,

capturing 619 wickets and became the second manin history to take 10 wickets in an innings when he

dismantled Pakistan in 1999 to finish with figures

of 10-74.

Alongside Kumble, Wilson becomes the

second Australian woman in the Hall of Fame

behind champion batter Belinda Clark.

Wilson, considered one of the greatest femalecricketers of all-time, played 11 Tests between 1947

and 1958, scoring 862 runs at an average of 57.4

and claimed 68 wickets at 11.8 runs apiece. In 1957

against England, Wilson became the first cricketer,

male or female, to take score a century and take 10wickets in a Test. Kumble and Wilson become the

77th and 78th inductees into the Hall of Fame.

Australia wins ICC World Cup 2015

Australia on 29 March 2015 won the ICCCricket World Cup 2015 for the record fifth time.

In the final match Australia defeated co-hosts of the

tournament, New Zealand by 7 wickets played at

the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG),

Australia.

In the final match, New Zealand had won thetoss and had chosen to bat first. They had set the

target of 183 runs to Australia after losing all wickets

in the 45th over. Australian team easily overhauled

the target in the 34th over with 7 wickets in hand.

In the final match, Australian bowlers James

Faulkner and Mitchell Johnson had bagged 3 wicketseach, while Mitchell Starc had claimed two wickets.

Captain Michael Clarke had scored 74 runs and

Steve Smith 56 runs. Previously, Australia had won

the Cricket World Cup in 1987, 1999, 2003 and

2007. It was first time of New Zealand to enter final

of Cricket World Cup. In the previous world cup’sthey were defeated for six times in the semi-finals.

NZ bags SultanAzlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2015

New Zealand has won the 24th edition of

Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2015 for

second time. In the final match, New Zealanddefeated World Champions Australia by 3-1 goals

in the penalty shoot-out. In regulation 60 minutes

time, both teams had tied at 2-2 goals. Earlier, New

Zealand had won the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey

Tournament in 2012. It is third time Australia cameas runner-ups position in tournament (1999, 2006

and 2015). India won the bronze i.e. finished third

by defeating South Korea by 4-1 goals in the penalty

shoot-out after both the teams were tied at 2-2 at

regulation time.

Sania Mirza ranked

World number one in doubles

Sania Mirza created history by achieving the

feat of becoming world No.1 in WTA tennis

rankings. She is the first woman tennis player from

India to do so after winning the Family Circle Cup

final partnering with Martina Hingis.

The top-seeded pair overwhelmed CaseyDellacqua and Darija Jurak in the lop-sided final of

the $731,000 clay court event. Sania took 470

points from the win to take her tally to 7965 as she

jumped past Italy’s Sara Errani (7640) and Roberta

Vinci (7640) to sit atop the ranking table.

Before Sania, only Leander Paes and Mahesh

Bhuapthi had achieved the top rank when they

dominated men’s doubles circuit in the late 90s.

Sania is also first female player from the

country to win Grand Slam tournaments. It is Sania’s

third successive title win with Hingis and they havenot lost as a single match since joining forces in

March. They won trophy in Indian Wells, which was

248 || Year Book 2015



their first tournament together and followed up that

with win in Miami.

Lewis Hamilton winsBahrain Grand Prix of Formula One

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton

from Britain won Bahrain Grand Prix of Formula

One on the the Sakhir Grand Prix Circuit. This was

his third win of the season and his second Bahrain

Grand Prix win. It was also Lewis Hamilton’s overall36th Grand Prix win. In Bahrain Grand Prix,

Hamilton was followed by Ferrari F1 driver

Sebastian Vettel of Germany to the second position.

Earlier in the same month on 12 April 2015

he had won Chinese Grand Prix of Formula One

on the Shanghai International Circuit in China.

Jitu Rai wins bronze Medal in

ISSF Shooting World Cup

Celebrated Indian shooter Jitu Rai shot his

way to a bronze medal in the men’s 10-metre air

pistol event in the ISSF Shooting World Cup held

in in Changwon, South Korea.

An Asian and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, Jitu aggregated a total of 181.1 points to

finish third on the podium, missing out on the gold

medal shoot-out by 0.4 points. Jin Jongoh of Korea

won the yellow metal with a score of 206.0, beating

Naung Ye Tun of Myanmar (201.0) in the goldmedal shoot-out.

This is Jitu’s seventh medal in international

events, following a run that started last June. Jitu’s

compatriots in the 10m air pistol, Prakash Nanjappa

and Gurpreet Singh finished 18th and 48th,

respectively in the qualification round.

Apurvi Chandela another Indian shooter hasalso won Bronze medal in the 10-metre air rifle in

the same event. She won the bronze after she shot

score of 185.6 in the qualifying fifth final round.

With this win, Apurvi Chandela has qualified for the

2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil. She was placed at third position in

the list of eight-strong competitors. Among these

eight competitors six were qualified for the

Olympics. It should be noted that Apurvi Chandelais the second Indian marksman after pistol shooter

Jitu Rai to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Gujarat clinches SyedMushtaq Ali T-20 cricket trophy

Gujarat won the Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20

cricket trophy for the tournament season 2014-15.In the final match played at KIIT Stadium, Odisha

they defeated Punjab by two wickets.

Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 Trophy is a Twenty20

cricket domestic championship in India named after

famous Indian cricketer, Syed Mushtaq Ali. Board

of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organizes thetournament and played among the teams from Ranji

Trophy. Inaugural season of tournament was 2008-

09 and was won by Maharashtra cricket team.

Y Pranjala winsAsian Junior Tennis Championship

India’s Y Pranjala clinched the Asian Junior

Tennis championship title after a come-from-behindvictory over top seed Chinese Zheng Wushuang at

New Delhi.

The second seeded Indian won with a 5-7 6-

2 7-5 scoreline in the final against her formidable

rival, who happened to be her doubles partner inthe event.

It was double delight for the 16-year-old

Pranjala as she had won the doubles trophy.

Miami Open Title 2015

MMMMMenenenenen’’’’’s Ss Ss Ss Ss Singles ingles ingles ingles ingles TTTTTitle:itle:itle:itle:itle: World No. 1 and Serbian

ace tennis player Novak Djokovic has won the 2015Miami Open Men’s Singles Title. In the final match

he defeated Britain’s Andy Murray by 7-6 (7-3) 4-6

6-0 score. This was Djokovic’s fifth Miami Open

trophy.

WWWWWomenomenomenomenomen’’’’’s singles s singles s singles s singles s singles TTTTTitle:itle:itle:itle:itle: World No. 1 andAmerican ace tennis player Serena Williams has won

249 || Year Book 2015



the 2015 Miami Open Women’s singles Title. In the

final match she defeated Spain’s Carla Suárez

Navarro by 6-2, 6-0 score.

MMMMMenenenenen’’’’’s doubles s doubles s doubles s doubles s doubles TTTTTitle:itle:itle:itle:itle: American Bob Bryan

and Mike Bryan pair has won the 2015 Miami

Open Men’s doubles Title. In the final match they

defeated Vasek Pospisil (Canada) and Jack Sock (US)

pair by 6–3, 1–6, 10–8 score.WWWWWomenomenomenomenomen’’’’’s doubles s doubles s doubles s doubles s doubles TTTTTitle:itle:itle:itle:itle: India’s Sania Mirza

and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis pair has won 2015Miami Open Women’s doubles Title. In the final

match they defeated Russian pair of EkaterinaMakarova and Elena Vesnina by 7–5, 6–1 score.

NZ CricketerRetires from International Cricket

New Zealand cricketer Kyle Mills on 1 April2014 announced retirement from international

cricket. He made this announcement after NewZealand lost to Australia in ICC World Cup 2015

final. Kyle Mills cricket career spanned 14 years. Inhis entire cricket career he had played 19 Tests

matches, 170 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and42 T20s. He had made his international debut in a

ODI against Pakistan in 2001 and test debut in2004 against England. In 170 ODI matches he had

taken 240 wickets, second highest wicket takeramong New Zealand bowlers after Daniel Vettori.

In 19 tests matches, he had taken 44 wickets and43 wickets in his 42 Twenty20 internationals.

Indian Open Super Series 2015

World Number one ace shuttler Saina Nehwal

on 29 March 2015 won India Open Super Series

Badminton Women’s Singles 2015 Title. She

defeated Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the final

match played at Siri Fort Indoor Complex in NewDelhi in straight sets 21-16, 21-14.

Men’s Single’s Title India’s Srikanth Kidambi

has won India Open Super Series Badminton Men’s

Singles 2015 Title. In the final match he defeated

Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in three games 18-21, 21-

13 and 21-12.

Men’s Doubles Title China’s Chai Biao and

Hong Wei pair has won India Open Super Series

Badminton Men’s Doubles 2015 Title. In the finalmatch Chinese pair defeated Denmark’s Conrad-

Petersen Mads and Pieler Kolding Mads pair by 21-

18, 21-14 score.

Women’s Doubles Title Number one ranked

Japanese pair of Misaki Matsutomo and AyakaTakahashi has won India Open Super Series

Badminton Women’s Doubles 2015 Title. In the

final match, Japanese pair has defeated Chinese pair

Japanese pair by 21-19, 21-19 score.

Mixed Doubles Title Second-ranked Chinese

pair of Yixin Bao and Cheng Liu has won IndiaOpen Super Series Badminton Mixed Doubles 2015

Title. In the final match, Chinese pair defeated

Number one ranked Danish pair of Christinna

Pedersen and Joachim Fischer Nielsen by score 21-

19 21-19.

Stuart Bingham wins

World Snooker’s Championship 2015

Stuart Bingham won the 2015 World

Championship final, beating Shaun Murphy 18-15at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre to take snooker’s most

prestigious title for the first time in his 20-yearprofessional career.

This all-English clash was a see-saw affair, withBingham resuming 9-8 behind, having been 3-0 and

8-4 down at various stages of Sunday’s opening dayin this best of 35-frame contest.

The 38-year-old Bingham, who earlier in thetournament knocked out five-time world champion

Ronnie O’Sullivan, then won a marathon 64-minuteframe to edge closer to the title before a break of

65 took him to within touching distance at 17-15in front.

Bingham, from London, then completed his

victory in fine style with a break of 88 to becomethe oldest player to lift the World championship

trophy since Welsh great Ray Reardon won the 1978

final aged 45.

250 || Year Book 2015



List of AList of AList of AList of AList of Awards & Prizeswards & Prizeswards & Prizeswards & Prizeswards & Prizes

4

Krishi Karman Awards

The awards were presented in two categories.

In the Total food grain production category, the

awards were presented to Madhya Pradesh, Odisha

and Manipur states.

In the excellence in the Individual food grainscrops category, the awards were presented to

Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar

States. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal

Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura got

commendation prizes for total food grainproduction.

Maharashtra got commen-dation prize for rice,

Assam for pulses and Punjab and Haryana for rice

and wheat. Krishi Karman awards were instituted in

2010-11 by the Government of India, Ministry of

Agriculture. Krishi Karman awards are given toStates for their effort and contribution towards

raising the country’s food grain production.

Vyas Samman

Vishwanath Tripathi, the eminent Hindi writerhas been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman

for the year 2013. He has been chosen for his

memoir ‘Vyomkesh Darvesh’ that is a biography of

the noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad

Dwivedi.

Moorti Devi Award

The 26th Moorti Devi Award was given to

Renowned Odia poet and thinker Haraprasad Das.

The award is given every year by the Bharatiya

Jnanpith consists of a Citation and a cash prize of 4

Lakh rupees.

With this award, he became the first scientist

of Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) to win

the award.

International Gandhi Award 2013

Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongreand Prof.

Guocheng Zhang won International Gandhi Award

2013 for making outstanding contributions in the

field of leprosy to eradicate the disease throughtreatment, training and research.

National Tourism Award

Sikkim has been declared the best state in the

country in implementation of Rural TourismProjects by inistry of Tourism, government of India.

for this the state was presented the National Tourism

Award 2012-13.

Russian MathematicianReceives the 2014 Abel Prize

• The Norwegian Academy of Science and

Letters has decided to award the Abel Prizefor 2014 to Yakov G. Sinai (78) of Princeton

University, USA, and the Landau Institutefor Theoretical Physics, Russian Academy of

Sciences,”for his fundamental contributions to

dynamical systems, ergodic theory, andmathematical physics”. The President of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters,Nils Chr. Stenseth, announced the winner of

251 || Year Book 2015



the 2014 Abel Prize at the Academy in Oslotoday, 26 March. Yakov G. Sinai will receive

the Abel Prize from His Royal Highness The

Crown Prince at an award ceremony in Oslo.

• The Abel Prize recognizes contributions ofextraordinary depth and influence to the

mathematical sciences and has been awardedannually since 2003. It carries a cash award

of NOK 6,000,000 (about EUR 750,000 or

USD 1 million).

• Yakov Sinai is one of the most influentialmathematicians of the twentieth century. He

has achieved numerous groundbreakingresults in the theory of dynamical systems, in

mathematical physics and in probability

theory. Many mathematical results are namedafter him, including Kolmogorov–Sinai

entropy, Sinai’s billiards, Sinai’s random walk,Sinai-Ruelle-Bowen measures, and Pirogov-

Sinai theory.

Salman Rushdiewins the 2014 Pen / Pinter Prize

• Salman Rushdie has been awarded the 2014

Pen / Pinter Prize. Established in 2009 byEnglish Pen, the worldwide writers ’

association and freedom of expression charity,it celebrates the memory of the playwright

and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter and is

awarded annually to a British writer ofoutstanding literary merit who casts an

“unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon theworld and shows a “fierce intellectual

determination to define the real truth of our

lives and our societies”.

• Rushdie is best known for his acclaimednovels such as Midnight’s Children, Shame

and The Satanic Verses. Much of his fictionis set in India and Pakistan, and combines

magical realism with historical fiction to

explore the relationship between East andWest.

• He has received the Booker Prize (withMidnight’s Children also winning the one-

off Best of Booker prize in 2008) and the

Whitbread Prize for Best Novel (twice)among many other accolades.

Russian award for Viswanathan Anand

• Chess greats Viswanathan Anand (India) andBoris Gelfand (Israel) have been selected for

the Russian Federation’s ‘Order of Friendship’

award.

• The awards recognise foreign nationals ’contribution to expanding friendship and

cooperation with the Russian Federation andto the development of economic, scientific

and cultural ties.

• Anand and Gelfand played the FIDE world

chess championship match at the StateTretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2012.

EnvironmentalistChandi Prasad gets Gandhi Peace Prize

• Environmentalist and social activist Chandi

Prasad Bhatt was presented the Gandhi PeacePrize by President Pranab Mukherjee.

• Mr. Bhatt is a dedicated, tireless and

invaluable worker for the conservation of the

environment, the Chipko movement startedby him in 1973 followed the method of

peaceful and non-violent Satyagraha for theredressal of the legitimate rights of the hill

people to collect wood and fodder and saving

them from natural calamities owing to large-scale deforestation.

• A Gandhian and a member of the Sarvodaya

movement, Mr. Bhatt organised the DashauliGram Swarajya Sangh in 1964. He dedicated

himself through the Sangh to improve the

lives of villagers, providing employment neartheir homes in forest-based industries, and

fighting against wrong policies throughGandhian non-violent satyagraha.

252 || Year Book 2015



Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (for 2010),

Congress leader Karan Singh (2011) and JD(U)President Sharad Yadav (2012) are conferred with

‘Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards’ by the

President Pranab Mukherjee on 12 August in New

Delhi. The awards were given for their invaluable

contribution in discharge of their parliamentaryduties.

Pakistani Journalist AsmaShirazi Won 2014 Peter Mackler Award

Asma Shirazi, Pakistan’s first female war

correspondent and host of popular TV talk shows,

was named 2014 Winner of Peter Mackler Award

for Courageous and Ethical Journalism on 22August. Shirazi is the second woman to win the

award since its creation in 2008, after Honduran

radio news editor Karla Rivas won in 2011.

Global Biodiversity Prize for Indian

• R. Kamal Bawa, president, the Ashoka Trustfor Research in Ecology and the Environment

(ATREE), India, and DistinguishedProfessor, University of Massachusetts,

Boston, is among the three winners of the

MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity, 2014.

• The winners were announced in Tokyo andMontreal.

• The other two who bagged the prize are

Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chair, Ghana National

Biodiversity Committee, and Bibiana Vila,principal researcher, National Research

Council and Director, Vicunas, Camelids andEnvironment (VICAM), Argentina.

• The MIDORI prize is a biennial

international prize given by the AEON

Environmental Foundation and theSecretariat of the Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD) to honour individuals whohave made outstanding contributions to the

conservation and sustainable use of

biodiversity at global, regional or local levels.

• According to a press release, each recipientwill be given a wooden plaque, a

commemorative gift and $100,000 to

support their work in safeguardingbiodiversity.

Dr. Manmohan SinghChosen for Japan national award

• Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

has been chosen for one of Japan’s topnational awards for his contribution to India-

Japan ties, becoming the first Indian toreceive the rare honour.

• Dr. Singh will be awarded ‘The Grand

Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia

Flowers’ for his “significant contribution tothe enhancement of relations and promotion

of friendship” between Japan and India forabout 35 years, a Japanese Embassy statement

said.

• It is a “high level National Order” and a rare

honour awarded to those who are recognisedfor their distinguished contribution, it said,

adding “Manmohan Singh is the first Indian

recipient of this Order.”

IPI Award

• The IPI India Award for Excellence in

Journalism, 2014, has been awarded jointlyto Hindustan Times and The Week for

“outstanding journalistic work” during 2013.

• Hindustan Times has been chosen for the

award for a series of stories it did last yearon acid attacks on women, sufferings of the

victims and how some of them carried onwith the fight. The series culminated in a

campaign called “Stop Acid Attacks” to enlist

the support of society for the cause.

49th Jnanpith award

• President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the

49th Jnanpith award upon eminent Hindi

253 || Year Book 2015



poet Kedarnath Singh for his outstandingcontribution towards Indian literature.

• Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Mukherjeesaid Mr. Singh had offered, through his

poetry, a rare assimilation of rhymes andlyrical prose, exploring both the realms ofreality and fantasy with equal felicity.

• “A poet of unique stature, his approach is not

only sensitive to modern aesthetics but alsoto traditional rural communities while at alltimes being committed to the celebration

called life,” the President said.

• The Jnanpith award, institutionalised byphilanthropist couple Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain

and Late Rama Jain, commemorates Indianauthors for their contribution to Indianliterature.

C.K. Nayudu ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

• Dilip Vengsarkar who earned the sobriquet‘colonel’ has been chosen for the BCCI’s Col.

C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Awardfor 2013-14.

• He will receive a citation, trophy and chequefor Rs. 25 lakh at the BCCI’s eighth annual

awards ceremony to be held onNovember 21.

World’s Children’s Prize for Malala Yousafzai

• Champion for girls’ rights Malala Yousafzai,

the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate inhistory, won the World’s Children’s Prize,

after a global vote involving millions ofchildren.

• “Millions of children have voted to awardMalala this year’s World’s Children’s Prize for

the rights of the child,” the organisation saidin a statement.

Jhumpa Lahiri wins DSC Prize for 2015

• Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri won

the $50,000 DSC Prize for Literature, oneof South Asia’s top literary awards for her

book, The Lowland .

• The Prize celebrates writing on the SouthAsian region from writers across the globe

and is given to the best novel or translations

into English of a work on or about theregion.

• “This is an enormous honour for The

Lowland and for me personally. I wish I wasthere in person to receive the award,” Ms.

Lahiri said through a phone conversation

from Rome. Publisher Caroline Newburyaccepted the award on her behalf.

Raghuram Rajan wins‘Governor of the Year’ award

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been

named ‘Governor of the Year’ by Central BankingPublications. In a statement, the publication said

that the award recognises, “Raghuram Rajan’s

disciplined and focussed approach leading the

Reserve Bank of India during his first year as

Governor was remarkably impressive.

The judging panel, comprising members ofthe Central Banking editorial staff and former

central bank governors sitting on the journal ’s

advisory board, cited Rajan’s disciplined and focused

approach to tackling macroeconomic instability as

a reason for him winning the award.

They also singled out his forthrightobservations about some of the less welcome

developments in the global economic, financial and

monetary system, which the judges believe represent

an important voice for change.

Last year, Rajan was also conferred with the

Best Central Bank Governor award for 2014 by theEuromoney magazine for his tough monetary stance

to combat the ‘ravaging deficit-ridden economy’

and battling vested interests “to arouse a sleepy

financial system for over one billion people.”

Paris based poet winsKumar Asan World Prize

Paris- based Syrian-Lebanese Arab poet Adonis

254 || Year Book 2015



has been chosen for this year’s Kumaran Asan World

Prize for poetry, instituted by the Kumaran Asan

Memorial Association to honour poets ofinternational stature and introduce them to Indian

readers. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs 3

lakh, memento and a citation.

Some of his important works include If Only

the Sea Could Sleep, Pages of Day and Night, Songsof Mihyar the Damascene, Not A Star, A Voice, A

King is Miyhar, The Adoring Rock, and Take me

to God.

Susanta Lahiri winsHevesy Medal Award 2015

Professor Susanta Lahiri, Chemical Sciences

Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata,won the Hevesy Medal Award 2015, at the Tenth

International Conference on Methods andApplications of Radio-analytical Chemistry for his

outstanding contributions to heavy ion inducedradioisotope production, tracer packet technique,

converter targets, and green chemistry.The other person to also win the award this

year is Professor Kattesh V. Katti of the Cedntre forRadiological Research, University of Missouri,

Columia. This premier international award namedafter George de HEVESY, the 1943- Chemistry

Nobel Laureate, is given to “an individual inrecognition of excellence through outstanding,

sustained career achievements in the fields of pureas well as applied nuclear and radiochemistry, in

particular applications to nuclear analyticalchemistry.”

UP Government tohonours Gopal Das Neeraj

Uttar Pradesh government has conferred its

Sahitya Shiromani Samman and a cash prize of 21

lakh Rupees upon noted Hindi poet Gopal DasNeeraj. Along with Gopal Das Neeraj, veteran Hindi

litterateur Uday Pratap Singh was also conferred

with Sahitya Shiromani award and cash prize of 21

lakh Rupees.

Champions of Change award to Satya Nadela

Indian-origin Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella

has been chosen for the ‘Champions of Change’award for bringing about change within his company

to support working families. US President Barack

Obama will honor this award to him.

Before being named CEO in February 2014,

47-year-old Nadella held leadership roles in both

enterprise and consumer businesses across thecompany. Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly

became known as a leader who could span a breadth

of technologies and businesses to transform some of

Microsoft’s biggest product offerings.

Champions of Change’ award is given to those

who support working families and have helped tobring about change within their companies,

communities or organizations by advocating for

commonsense paid sick and paid leave policies, equal

pay and an end to pregnancy discrimination to

support families, businesses, and economy.

Bishwaratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika

International Solidarity Award 2015

The second Bishwaratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika

International Solidarity Award 2015 was conferred

on internationally acclaimed filmmaker Adoor

Gopala-krishnan in a function held at Rabindra

Bhawan.

The biennial award, instituted by the Asam

Sahitya Sabha and sponsored by the Numaligarh

Refinery Limited (NRL), carries a memento, a

citation, an eri chador, a collection of books and a

cheque of Rs 5 lakh. The first international solidarityaward instituted in the memory of the cultural icon

had been given to eminent research scholar and

dance exponent Lubna Marium of Bangladesh.

Sudakshina Sarma, eminent singer and

younger sister of Dr Hazarika, offered her tributes

and captivated the audience with the song Paneirponati.

255 || Year Book 2015



Femina Miss India 2015

Delhi girl Aditi Arya was crowned fbb Femina

Miss India World 2015 at a glittering ceremony atYashraj Studios in Mumbai. Aditi will represent the

country at Miss World pageant and the runners-up

Afreen and Vartika will compete for various

international titles.

Afreen Racheal Vaz was adjudged first runner-

up while Vartika Singh second runner up at thegrand finale of 52nd year of fbb Femina Miss India,

which took place on late Saturday night.

About Femina Miss India

Femina Miss India is a national beauty pageant

in India that annually selects three winners tocompete globally. The winner of Femina Miss India

World vies in Miss World, Femina Miss India Earth

winner competes in Miss Earth, and the third

winner, Femina Miss India International goes to

compete in Miss International.

Major Dhyan Chand Life Time Achievement

award to Balbir Singh Sr

A landmark occasion was witnessed, as Hockey

India conferred the first ever Annual Awards to

recognise the dedication and hard work of hockey

players, coaches and administrators on the field tobuild the sport on the national and international

arena.

Hockey India conferred the awards in the

categories of Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime

Achievement Award to Balbir Singh Sr. with a cash

prize of Rs 30,00,000, the Dhruv Batra Award forPlayer of the Year (Men and Women) awarded to

Birendra Lakra and Vandana Katariya taking home

a cash award of Rs 25,00,000 each. Jaman Lal

Sharma Award for Invaluable Contribution (for

coaches and support staff ) awarded to HarendraSingh wherein he got a cheque Rs 5,00,000 and

Hockey India President Award for Outstanding

Achievement conferred to One Thousand Hockey

Legs with a Rs 5,00,000 cheque for its exceptional

contribution towards the sport.

Six awards named after players whorepresented India in the past included, the Jugraj

Singh Award for Upcoming Player of the Year (Men

– Under 21) awarded to Harmanpreet Singh with a

cash prize of Rs 10,00,000, Asunta Lakra Award for

Upcoming Player of the Year (Women – Under 21)to Namita Toppo with Rs 10,00,000. Besides a cash

prize of Rs 5,00,000, Baljit Singh Award for

Goalkeeper of the Year awarded to PR Sreejesh,

Pargat Singh Award for Defender of the Year to

Deepika, Ajit Pal Singh Award for Midfielder of theYear given to Manpreet Singh and Dhanraj Pillay

Award for Forward of the Year awarded to

Akashdeep Singh for showcasing their efforts to

continue upholding a healthy sports culture in the

nation.

Shashi Kapoor to get

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Veteran Film Actor and Producer Shri Shashi

Kapoor has been conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award

for the year 2014. He is the 46th Dada Saheb Phalke

Award Winner. The award is conferred by the

Government of India for outstanding contributionto the growth and development of Indian Cinema.

The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden

Lotus), a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl. The

award is given on the basis of recommendations of

a Committee of eminent persons set up by the

Government for this purpose.

Shashi Kapoor was one of India’s first actorsto go international. He is known internationally for

starring in many British and American films, notably

Merchant Ivory Proudctions run by Ismail Merchant

and James Ivory, such as The Householder (1963),

Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Bombay Talkie (1970)and Heat and Dust (1982). He also starred in other

British and American films such as Siddhartha

(1972) and Muhafiz (1994).

256 || Year Book 2015



ISRO names for Gandhi Peace Prize 2014

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

has been selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for2014 for its contribution to the country’s

development through space technology and satellite-

based services.

The award, comprising Rs.one crore and a

citation, was decided after the jury for the prize met

under the chairmanship of Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday.

Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu, Leader of

the single largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha

Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Member of Parliament

L.K. Advani and Gopalkrishna Gandhi are other

members of the jury.

The Gandhi Peace Prize for social, economicand political transformation through non-violence

was instituted in 1995.

Previous winners

Some of its previous winners are NelsonMandela, Vaclav Havel, Julius K Nyerere, Baba

Amte, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Grameen Bank

of Bangladesh, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan and

Ramkrishna Mission.

Akhil Sharma’s novelFamily Life wins Folio Prize 2015

Indian-American novelist Akhil Sharma’s novel

Family Life has won the prestigious Folio Prize 2015.His novel was among the eight shortlisted books

from 80 fictional works and was chosen as the bestfiction novel published in the United Kingdom in

2014. Family Life is Sharma’s second novel and tookhim 13 years to write.

The Folio Prize 2015, worth £40,000, aims torecognise and celebrate the best English-language

fiction from around the world, published in the UKduring a given year, regardless of form, genre or the

author’s country of origin. I t is the first majorEnglish-language book prize open to writers from

all over the world.

Bangladesh wins Women in Parliament award

Bangladesh has won the prestigious Women in

Parliaments (WIP) Global Forum Award for regionalleadership in reducing gender gap in politics.

Bangladesh won the award for its outstanding success

in closing the gender gap in the political sphere in

the regional category “South and Southeast Asia”.On behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alamreceived the award today at the Headquarters of

African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a foreignministry press said here this afternoon.

The World Economic Forum study reveals

that Bangladesh is one of the top 10 countries in

the world in reducing gender gaps and this leads the

country to win the prestigious WIP Global Forum

Award for “regional leadership in closing the gendergap in politics”.

Based on the rankings of the World Economic

Forum’s “Global Gender Gap Report”, WIP Awards

were presented at the WIP Summit 2015 to those

countries which were recognized for their political

empowerment of women, and to countries whichshowed regional leadership in closing the gender gap

in politics.

National Kavi Pradeep Samman award

Noted Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj hasreceived the first National Kavi Pradeep Samman at

a function held here.

The award has been instituted by the Madhya

Pradesh government in the memory of Kavi Pradeep,

the renowned poet and songwriter who is best

known for his patriotic song ‘Aye Mere Watan KeLogo’ written as a tribute to the soldiers who had

died defending the country during the Sino-Indian

War.

62nd National Film Awards 2014

The 62nd National Film Awards 2014 has been

announced by the Chairpersons of the three juries

on Feature Films, Non Feature Films and Best

257 || Year Book 2015



Writing on Cinema. The awards in the various

categories are as follows:

• BBBBBest Aest Aest Aest Aest Actor:ctor:ctor:ctor:ctor: Vijay for Nanu Avanalla Avalu(Kannada).

• BBBBBest Aest Aest Aest Aest Actrctrctrctrctr ess:ess:ess:ess:ess: Kangana Ranaut for Queen

(Hindi).

• BBBBBest Dest Dest Dest Dest Diririririrection: ection: ection: ection: ection: Srijit Mukherji, Director of

Chotushkone (Bengali).

• BBBBBest Fest Fest Fest Fest Film on Silm on Silm on Silm on Silm on Social Iocial Iocial Iocial Iocial Issues:ssues:ssues:ssues:ssues: Chotoder Chobi(Bengali) directed by Kaushik Ganguly.

• BBBBBest Sest Sest Sest Sest Supporupporupporupporupporting Ating Ating Ating Ating Actor:ctor:ctor:ctor:ctor: Bobby Simhaa for

film Jigarthanda (Tamil).

• BBBBBest Sest Sest Sest Sest Supporupporupporupporupporting Ating Ating Ating Ating Actrctrctrctrctress:ess:ess:ess:ess: Baljinder Kaur for

film Pagdi The Honour (Haryanavi).

• BBBBBest Childrest Childrest Childrest Childrest Childre ne ne ne ne n’’’’’s Fs Fs Fs Fs Fi lm:i lm:i lm:i lm:i lm: Kaakkaa Muttai(Tamil) and Elizabeth Ekadashi (Marathi).

••••• BBBBBest Child Arest Child Arest Child Arest Child Arest Child Artist: tist: tist: tist: tist: Vignesh & Ramesh for

Kaakkaa Muttai (Tamil). Special Jury Award-

Bhaurao Karhade, Director of Khwada(Marathi).

••••• BBBBBest Cinematography:est Cinematography:est Cinematography:est Cinematography:est Cinematography: Sudeep Chatterjee

for film Chotushkone (Bengali).

••••• IIIIIndira Gndira Gndira Gndira Gndira Gandhi Aandhi Aandhi Aandhi Aandhi Awarwarwarwarward for Bd for Bd for Bd for Bd for Best Dest Dest Dest Dest Debut Febut Febut Febut Febut Filmilmilmilmilm

of a Dof a Dof a Dof a Dof a Diririririrector:ector:ector:ector:ector: Aditya Vikram Sengupta forAsha Jaoar Majhe (Bengali).

••••• NNNNNargis Dargis Dargis Dargis Dargis Dutt Autt Autt Autt Autt Awarwarwarwarward for Bd for Bd for Bd for Bd for Best Fest Fest Fest Fest Featureatureatureatureature Fe Fe Fe Fe Filmilmilmilmilm

on Non Non Non Non National Iational Iational Iational Iational Integration:ntegration:ntegration:ntegration:ntegration: Chotoder Chobi(Bengali) directed by Kaushik Ganguly.

••••• BBBBBest est est est est WWWWWriting on Cinema:riting on Cinema:riting on Cinema:riting on Cinema:riting on Cinema: Silent Cinema:

(1895-1930) authored by Pasupuleti

Purnachandra Rao.

Tyler Prize 2015

The Tyler Prize for EnvironmentalAchievement Executive Committee named the

Honorable Jane Lubchenco, PhD, of Oregon StateUniversity, and Madhav Gadgil, PhD, of Goa

University, as the recipients of the 2015 Tyler Prizefor their leadership and engagement in the

development of conservation and sustainabilitypolicies in the United States, India and

internationally.

Since its inception in 1973 as one of the

world’s first international environmental awards, the

Tyler Prize has been the premier award forenvironmental science, environmental health and

energy.

As the winners of the Tyler Prize, Lubchenco

and Gadgil will share the $200,000 cash prize and

each receive a gold medallion. The Prize, awardedby the international Tyler Priz e Executive

Committee with the administrative support of the

University of Southern California, honors

exceptional foresight and dedication in the

environmental sciences and policy—qualities thatmirror the prescience of the Prize’s founders, John

and Alice Tyler , who established it while the

environmental debate was still in its infancy.

Previous laureates include Edward O. Wilson,

Jane Goodall, Jared Diamond and Paul and Anne

Ehrlich, M.S. Swaminathan andThomas Lovejoy.

Heniz Award 2015

An Indian-origin scientist at MIT Sangeeta

Bharti, who has developed artificial human

microlivers for drug testing, has won a prestigious

$2,50,000 Heinz award for her work in tissueengineering and disease detection.

The award includes an unrestricted prize of $

2,50,000. The Heinz Awards annually recognise

individuals for their extraordinary contributions to

arts and humanities; environment; human

condition; public policy; and technology, theeconomy, and employment.

She is also using microlivers in the lab to

model malaria infection and test drugs that can

eradicate malaria parasites completely. She hopes to

eventually develop implantable liver tissue as acomplement or substitute for whole-organ

transplant.

NCDC Cooperative excellence award 2014

Ministry of Agriculture has conferred National

Cooperative Development Corporation Award for

258 || Year Book 2015



Cooperative Excellence – 2014 to the best

performing primary cooperatives for their excellent

performance to Utlou Weavers’ Cooperative SocietyLimited (UWCSL).

National Cooperative Development

Corporation (NCDC) is a statutory Corporation set

up under an act of Parliament in March 1963 for

developing rural economic activities through

cooperatives. The NCDC Award for Cooperative

Excellence is an initiative to encourage and give due

recognition to those cooperatives who despite all

odds, are able to sustain and work for developmentand prosperity of agrarian society. The Award is for

inculcating a sense of achievement and spirit of

cooperation and thus set an example for others to

follow.

THE GIST DETAILS:

Medium: English

Price: Rs. 840 Rs. 559

No. of Booklets: 12 (1 Year)

Publisher: IASEXAMPORTAL.COM

File Type: PDF File Only (No Hard Copy)

TOPICS OF THE GIST

Gist of The Hindu

Gist of Yojana

Gist of Kurukshetra

Gist of Press Information Bureau

Gist of Science Reporter

For Full Information Click Here: http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/order-form/the-gist-subscription

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/order-form/the-gist-subscription

WHY IS IT A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR THE STUDENTS?

You will be provided current affairs on various important topics on a weekly basis.

Important national and international news from various sources at a single platform for your

convenience.

Each and every topic will be given point wise , making it easier to grasp.

Very handy when it comes to various competitive exams…..

VARIOUS CATEGORIES:

Planning Commission

Ministry of External Affairs

National Portal of India

National

International

Economy

India And The World

Sports

In The News

Science and Technology

Burning Issues (Editorials From Different Newspapers)

WHAT YOU WILL GET:

You will get (52 Issues) PDF Only no Hard Copy

For Full Information Click Here: http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs/weekly-update

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs/weekly-update

THE GIST DETAILS:

Medium: English

Price: Rs. 840 Rs. 559

No. of Booklets: 12 (1 Year)

Publisher: IASEXAMPORTAL.COM

File Type: PDF File Only (No Hard Copy)

TOPICS OF THE GIST

Gist of The Hindu

Gist of Yojana

Gist of Kurukshetra

Gist of Press Information Bureau

Gist of Science Reporter

For Full Information Click Here: http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/order-form/the-gist-subscription

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/order-form/the-gist-subscription

in the news - ias exam portaliasexamportal.com/civilservices/sites/default/files/special...in the...

Documents