international current affairs 2010

8/4/2019 International Current Affairs 2010

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International Current Affairs 2010

Sri Lanka abandons Tamil version of its national anthem (13th

Dec 2010)

The Sri lankan government has decided to scrap the tamil version of the nationalanthem in its official and state functions. This move may possibly further alienate the

tamil minorities in the country. A directive to use only the Sinhalese version as beensent by the ministry as president Rajapakse pointed out that no country uses twoversions of the anthem.

China reveals world’s fastest train (8th

Dec 2010) China unveiled its new high speed train CRH380 that can clock a maximum speed of486.1 kmph. It is said to be much faster than even the bullet trains of Japan. At acruising speed of 380 this is certainly a major accomplishment. China on its part hasgone ahead and is now working on a model that is expected to clock 600kmph.

Pakistan’s Initiative against Terrorism (23th Nov 2010)

Pakistan has been the victim of international terrorism in the past few months. As a

result of this, a top US official recently said that Islamabad should begin to crackdown on terrorists and terrorist groups operational within the country immediately.Barrack Obama, President of the United States of America has also agreed to thisstatement and feels that Pakistan has been one of the major victims of internationalterrorism lately. President Obama also said that Pakistan needs to take strong andimmediate steps against all terrorist groups operating on Pakistani soil. Furthermore,Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said that anumber of terrorist groups are operating in a syndicate and working together againstAmerican interests, not just in the US but in other nations such as Afghanistan andIndia as well. Mr. Blake also stated that the US has welcomed every step take byPakistan so far and that it is in full support of Pakistan as always.

Mark Zuckerberg, Times Person Of The Year (16th Nov 2010)

Times magazine has named Mark Zuckerberg as the person of the year . MrZuckerberg is the founder of thesmash hit social networking site Facebook and isalso the world youngest billionaire currently. Although, Julian Assange the editor inchief of wikileaks was the pick of the time readers, but Zuckerberg won because ofthe scope and reach his website and how it has touched and remodeled ourthoughts on social networking bringing the world that much more closer. Facebookhas reached 500 million users this year all around the globe and the numbers arestill counting.

UN’s terrorism sanctions list (16th Nov 2010)

In a recent and sudden move, a US committee took down several names of al-Qaidaand Taliban terrorists off its terrorism sanction lists. The committee said that thereason for such an action was that several of the names on the sanctions list wereprobably dead. The committee Chairman Thomas Mayr Harting said that followingthis step, the committee had started investigations into how many terrorists put onthe list were actually dead. This committee was set up in 1999.

Friendly neighbor China (15th November 2010)



Rising concerns over China‘s assertive and aggressive attitude in the Asiancontinent has prompted China‘s President Hu Jintao to assure all nations that Chinais committed to being a friendly and helpful neighbor. China has been in the newsrecently over its spats with neighboring nations over international borders andterritories. The reason for this has been said to be China‘s interests in a group ofpotentially resource rich islands in the Asian Pacific. Speaking to leaders at the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation summit in Japan, President Hu said that China wascommitted to the regional policy of building good neighborliness and friendship.

New Government in Iraq (11th Nov 2010)

Prolonged warring and quarrels between rival political factions in Iraq had causedover an eight month deadlock over the issue of forming the next government.Recently, the Iraqi Prime Minister appealed to these political factions to worktogether and unite following his acceptance of the President‘s request to form thenext government. Senior officials admitted that a Herculean task now lay beforethem, that of forming a government comprising of members of all possible politicalfactions. The task has been made harder by the month long deadline to form thegovernment which will preside over the country‘s affair as US troops move out and

power is handed back to the Iraqi people. The new government is expected to havemembers from all the political factions such as the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. PrimeMinister Designate al-Maliki called upon al Iraqi citizens and politicians to help him inthis difficult task.

Myanmar polls called fake (10th November 2010)

The first democratic polls in Myanmar after several years of military rule were heldamong complaints of threats, intimidation and accusations of the polls being acharade. In most constituencies, the poll was a competition between the UnionSolidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUS).Several accusations were made by opposition parties against the USDP, claimingthat they illegally collected advanced ballots. USA and UK officials also voiced their

concerns about the transparency and fairness of these polls.

Rolls Royce sued by Qantas (8th November 2010)

Australian flight safety officials have recently warned that manufacturing defectshave been found in the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines. Officials further urgedairlines using these engines to carry extensive checks before using them becausedefects present in them could lead to catastrophic failures. In the meanwhile, Qantasbegan court proceedings against Rolls Royce and was granted an injunction by thefederal court of Australia which ensured that the airline could pursue legal actionagainst the engine manufacturing giants.

China’s slowest growth (5 November 2010)

China had its slowest rate of economic growth in a year during the Septemberquarter. In addition to this, a World Bank report hinted at a further decrease in itseconomic growth. One of the reasons for this has been the long term inflation thatChina has faced for almost two years. China‘s industrial growth has also fallenconsiderably in recent times. This slow growth in China‘s economy has gotten manypeople to believe that India might be the next economic superpower to rise becauseof its high levels of industrial and economic growth in recent times. Though notimmediately, but experts predicted India‘s rate of growth to exceed that of China‘s by



a considerable margin in the next five years.

India gets UNSC non-permanent seat (12 October 2010)

The biggest news on the international front for India has been its inclusion into theUNSC as a non-permanent member after a gap of 19 years. Even as India‘s

acclamation for a non-permanent bench on the body that includes fifteen membersin total was an inevitable cessation afterwards Kazakhstan back out of the chase forthe Asian bench beforehand in early January. India got an unbelievable 187 of the191 votes in the UN General Assembly ballot on October 14th 2010. India's previousspell in the Security Council was way back in 1992. Almost immediately afterwardsIndia's appointment, Indian agent to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri put itstraight that New Delhi would make use of this couple of year valid span to buildassurance and accord a feeling of aplomb to the five non changing associates(famously known as the P-5) - the United States of America, Russia, Britain, Franceand China. Considering that Brazil, a running affiliate of the United Nation SecurityCouncil, and South Africa and Germany, which got appointed with India, on October14th were as well in contention for a permanent membership, he stated: 'Of courseeverybody of us will attempt to bring into play the two years we need to render our

allies a feeling of aplomb and formulate trust and faith so that they are at ease withour role playing in the United Nation Security Council on a continued period of time'.

India and Mozambique sign 3 agreementss (5 October 2010)

India and Mozambique came together and signed three agreements and a creditband of 500 million United States dollars has been advanced to that nation state forworks regarding the infrastructure, agronomics and power during a convention thatfeatured President of Mozambique Armando Guebuza and Prime Minister of IndiaDr. Manmohan Singh. Guebuza and Singh, who captivated entrustment levelconverses, resolved to actualize an affiliation following the lines of superior politicalmeeting, deepening of bread-and-butter collaboration, deepening of defense andaegis collaboration, distinctively to get hold of sea lanes in opposition to piracy and,

cooperation in competence building and human resource (or workforce)development. ―Both of us together accord to the aforementioned Indian Oceanassociation and we carve up familiar issues. It is in our alternate absorption toensure the assurance and aegis of sea lanes of communication in the IndianOcean,‖ Dr. Manmohan Singh said in a collective journalist statement. India will backthe enactment in preparation and setting up organizations in Mozambique to backcapacity building in the coal business and will as well back the ability formation forthe defense and patrolling personnel of that nation state, the Prime Minister alleged.Conveying worry over the assurance and aegis of sea lanes in Indian Ocean,Guebuza promised India it will accommodate all practical aid to safeguard them.

Indians freed from Malay traffickers: (3 September 2010)

Not less than 24 Indian men who were discovered bound up in a residence in aMalaysian boondocks were successfully freed from the arrest and two Pakistani mensupposedly engaged in a human trafficking guild were detained with immediateeffect. "Inquiries into the matter exposed that those people, age-old amid 20 and 30,were from Uttar Pradesh. If the reports of the media are to be trusted, the victimslanded on to the capital‘s intl. airport four months back, afore getting picked by theaccused people who were apparently looking for workers in an industrial unit inJohor," he said. He further stated that the two men promised the Indian workersappealing wages as the bait. It is once again proved that Malaysia is a magnet forwide spread drug peddling and human trafficking. Unemployed workforce looking out



confiscated after Majeed‘s confession. The Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC will probeall 82 international matches played by Pakistan during this time. The news came asa bolt for the flood-stricken and violence-plagued country where cricket is thenational sport.

Pakistan Floods (2 August 2010)

In the worst flooding disaster in 80 years the floodwaters have affected about one-fifth of the country washing away millions of hectares of crops, submerging villagesand destroying roads, bridges, schools, electricity and communication setting backthe infrastructure by many years. Disease is fast spreading in these flood affectedareas and there have been warnings that dams in the south may burst. It isestimated that the floods in Pakistan have displaced people thrice the numberdisplaced during partition.

Hike in Visa fee (11 August 2010)

The Obama Regime has raised H-1B and L1 visa fees to protect its borders fromillegal Mexican immigrants. This additional fee would be used to build operating

bases and deploy unmanned aerial surveillance to beef up U.S.-Mexico bordersecurity. The impact of this hike will be substantial on Indian IT companies thataccount for approximately 50,000 H1 and L1 visas per year.

Mosque near ground Zero(28 August 2010)

A New York city panel has cleared the way for the construction of a mosque nearground zero that has been causing a political uproar over religious freedom. Theproposed construction of the mosque near ground zero has sparked debate allaround the country. President Barack Obama, however, supported the right ofhaving a mosque by asserting that Muslims have the same right to freedom ofreligion as everyone else in America.

China to launch space station(17 August 2010)

Having finished the first module of a planned space station and testing its electronicsand other systems China is all set to launch it into orbit next year. Changes werebeing made to the rocket that will carry the 8.5ton Tiangong 1 module into a setorbit. No finishing or manning dates have been given for the space station. Theofficial Xinhua news agency said that The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft and Shenzhou 9and 10 spacecraft would dock with it in the second half of 2011 and 2012respectively.

Online route(30 August 2010)

Oxford English Dictionary that has been in print for over a century may never appearin print for the future generations. The word reference Bible is likely to loose itsexistence to its online version. With the digital books becoming popular, the formatthat the 3rd edition, currently being worked upon, will take is anybody‘s gue ss.

Japan Elections(10 July 2010)

Democratic Party of Japan suffered a heavy blow in the elections for the upperhouse of Japan‘s Diet (parliament) when it won ten seats fewer than expected thus



loosing its majority. DPJ will now have to look for new coalition partners to restore itsmajority in the upper house and enable it to easily pass laws through the Dietlegislature. After breaking the 55 year period of dominance of the Liberal DemocraticParty and naming Naoto Kan the new prime minister just a month back the resultshave baffled the DJP.

July 15th Summit, Islamabad(15 July 2010)

Failed talks between Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna and the Pakistanicounterpart Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi's have once again proved that wheneverefforts were initiated by India to improve the relations between the two countries.The Pak leaders and officials took deliberate steps to derail the process conveying aclear message to India that the talks can continue only on its terms.

Gulf of Spill(15 August 2010)

More than three months after the April 20 explosion aboard the BP-leasedDeepwater Horizon oil platform, which killed 11 workers and sank the rig gushing oilinto the Gulf of Mexico, the most severe US environmental disaster ever is close to

coming to an end. In an operation called ―static kill‖ 2,300 barrels of mud was forceddown into the well‘s opening overnight pushing the crude back down to its source. Acap over the wellhead has shut in leaking oil since July 15 and the static kill — alsoknown as bull heading — probably would not have worked without the cap in place.

Genocide(12 July 2010)

Omar-al-Bashir, President of Sudan has been charged with three counts of genocideover the Darfur Conflict, he was convicted by the International Criminal Court at TheHague. It is for the first time that a court has accused anyone of genocide.

Jacob Lew the new Budget Director(13 July 2010)

President Barack Obama has chosen Mr. Jacob Lew as his new budget director.This is Mr. Lews second stint with the federal budget.

Current Affairs [June 2010]

Julia Gillard become Australia‘s first women Prime Minister replacing KevinRudd following a sudden revolt against him.

No more time for sorrow‘ written by Robert Beeman. The author predict thatterrorist will set off an atom bomb in the USA by 2013.

Tuvalu become 187th member of IMF (International Monetary Fund). Theisland is located in the Pacific Ocean.

Kyrgyzstan voted for a new constitution in a referendum. It is Central Asia‘s

first parliament democracy. G-20 summit held at Toronto, Canada.

Current Affairs [May 2010]

G-15 summit was held at Tehran on 16-17 May. Bangladesh handed over Ranjan Daimary of the National Democratic Front

of Bodoland to India. The group was responsible for serial bombing inAssam in 2008.



National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Myannmar‘s democracyleader Aung San Sui Kyi was abolished after deadline to re-register as apolitical party was over.

EU-IMF provide a $ 1 tril lion rescue package to the Greece to resolve itsdebt crises.

Pakistan successfully test fired two short range ballistic missiles, Shaheen I(

range 650 Km) and Ghazani (range 290 Km) capable of carrying nuclearwar heads and striking Indian cities.

Current Affairs [April 2010]

Belgium became the Europe‘s first country to ban burqa.

Pakistan‘s National assembly passed a bill that takes away the President‘spower to dissolve parliament, dismiss a elected government and appoint thethree services Chiefs. Pakistan‘s parliament passes 18th amendment whichwas later signed by Presient cutting President‘s powers.

USA and Russia signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START) thatallowed a maximum of 1550 deployed overheads, about 30% lower than alimit set in 2002. The treaty was signed in the Progue Castle.

Emergency was imposed in Thailand. Nuclear Security Summit held at Washington.It was a 47 nation summit

wherein P.M. announced setting up of a global nuclear energy centre forconducting research & development of design systems that are secure,proliferation resistant & sustainable.

PM visit USA & Brazil, a two nation tour. He attended Nuclear SecuritySummit in USA & India- Brazil-S.Africa(IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China(BRIC) summit in Brasilia (Brazil).

16th SAARC Summit held in Bhutan in 28-29 April. The summit was held inBhutan for the first time. It is the silver jubilee summit as SAARC hascompleted 25 years. The summit central theme was ‗Climate Change‘. Thesummit recommended to declare 2010-2020 as the ―Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC‖. The 17th SAARC summit will be held in

Maldives in 2011.

Current Affairs [March 2010]

China will launch in 2011 unmammed space mode ‗ Tiangong I‘ for its futurespace laboratory.

US internet giant Google close its business in China. India‘s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel buy Zain‘s Africa

operations for an enterprise value of $ 10.7 bil lion (Rs 49000 crore).Currently Bharti‘s non-India operations include Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

Russia abolished two of its eleven time Zones.

Current Affairs [February 2010]

NATO forces carried out Marjah operation (dubbed Moshtarak) againstTaliban forces in Afghanistan.

European Union summit was held in Brussels. EU & IMF decided to givingsupport to Greece in its struggle to bring its ballooning budget deficit undercontrol. EU President is Herman Van Rompuy.

Iran‘s President Mahmood Ahmedinejad declared that Iran had producedfirst batch of 20 % enriched uranium and now Iran became a nuclear state.



Iran launched ‗Kavoshger -3 rocket‘ capable of carrying a satellite. It carrieda mouse, worms & two turtles.

Current Affairs [January 2010]

Gilgit Baltistan region elected its first Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on the basis

of Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment & Self Governance Order 2009. The newappointed CM declare the Gilgit Baltistan region as 5th province of Pakistan.The Indian Govt has, however, of the view that the region was part of J & K,and thus objected to the remarks of CM.

Venezuela devalued it currency ‗Bolivar‘.

A massive earthquake strike Haiti, the Carribbean nation. Capital of Haiti isPort-au-Prince.

Mahinda Rajapaksa won a second term as Sri Lanka‘s President. Hebelongs to Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

National Current Affairs 2010

CBI seeking closure in Arushi Talwar case (13th

Dec 2010)

CBI has sought closure after being unable to comprehensively solve the ArushiTalwar murder case which has hogged the limelight for over two years now. Thereport claims that they have hit a road block and lack of evidence as main reasonsfor not being able to solve the case. However the report as named the victims fatherDr Rajesh Talwar as a possible suspect.

Chandra Babu Naidu ends fast (13th

Dec 2010)

Telugu Desam Party president finally ended his hunger strike of eight days on the

insistence of visiting leaders like Thambi Durai, Arunkumar, Amba Durai, Maitreya,Prakash Karat, Bardan, Om Prakash Choutala, Sharad Yadav and Ajit Singh. MrNaidu undertook the fast citing that the Andhra Govt should revise its compensationpackage for the rain hit farmers of the state. The visiting leaders promised Mr Naiduthat they would bring the issue to the notice of the Prime Minister Mr ManmohanSingh by taking an all party delegation to New Delhi.

Congress blames Sanjay Gandhi for the emergency excesses (13th

Dec 2010)

The congress party which is celebrating its 125th birthday this month has accusedSanjay Gandhi for many of the excesses committed during the emergency of 1975-77. Sanjay Gandhi received notoriety for many ruthless measures like slumclearance and mass sterilization programs. The congress has always had to walk a

tight rope when it comes to defending Indira Gandhis decision to enforce emergencywhich led to one of the most turbulent times in Indian history since independence.

CBI seeking closure in Arushi Talwar case (13th

Dec 2010) Citibank employee Shivraj Puri accused of fraud surrenders Citibank employee Shivraj Puri who is said to be involved in a massive fraud, finallysurrendered to the police after almost 48 hrs since the incident came to light. Mr Puriwho works as a relationship manager has been accused of siphoning of money to



the tune of 400 crores from atleast 20 clients to other fictitious accounts.

Opposition unrelenting on its demand in JPC probe (13th

Dec 2010) Theopposition has been steadfast in its demand for the JPC with regard to the 2G scam.The PM Dr Manmohan Singh had earlier offered to appear himself before the PACheaded by BJP stalwart Mr. Murali Manohar Joshi. The opposition still feels the JPC

would be the best option that would help to bring this case to its logical conclusion.

Human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen convicted, gets life term (13th

Dec 2010) The session‘s court of Raipur has convicted Dr Binayak Sen and three others ongrounds of sedition and conspiracy thereby sentencing them for life due to their linkswith the Maoists. Dr Sen has been held guilty under Chhattisgarh Special PublicSecurity Act 2005, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, of being a conduitbetween Naxals and of meeting Narayan Sanyal in jail. The trio has also beenconvicted under provisions of section 124 IPC (sedition) and 120 B IPC (conspiracy).Dr Sen is a pediatrician and alumni of Christian medical college. The 58 year olddoctor has provided over 28 years of selfless service to the poorer sections ofChattisgarh.

Prices of onions hit through the roof (13th

Dec 2010) The prices of onions haveundergone a steep rise with a kg costing close to Rs 80 in the national capital and itssurrounding areas. Other parts of India too have started feeling the pressure and theprices are continuously shooting up. The Government on it part has suspended theexport of onions until January in an attempt to bring down the prices. According totraders, they are attributing the supply crunch due to torrential downpours inMaharashtra, Gujarat and Southern states which has lead to a poor yield.

Indias GSLV vehicle fails during launch. (13th

Dec 2010) ISRO suffered a serioussetback when its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) failed on itscourse, forcing the team at SriHarikota to abort the mission and self destruct thelaunch vehicle. The vehicles on board computer lost control of the actuation systemraising serious questions about ISROS other ambitious projects that includes a

mission to the moon. The GSAT-5P satellite which the launch vehicle was supposedto send into orbit was one of the heaviest and cost ISRO 125 crores. Had it beensuccessful, the satellite would have served the needs of the telecommunicationsector and the weather department. It would have eventually replaced the INSAT-2Esatellite that was sent up in 1999.

India and China set $100bn trade target by 2015 (16th

Dec 2010)

India and China have agreed upon a new $100billion trade target by 2015 which ismore than the $6 billion agreed upon in 2010.With the arrival of Chinese PM WenJiabao accompanied by 400 Chinese business leaders in India, the two countriessigned around 50 deals in power,steel ,wind energy , food and marine products andtelecommunications worth $16 billion. This overtakes the $10bn of agreements

signed between Indian and American businesspeople during the recent visit of USPresident Barack Obama.

Sensex drops 458 points (November 2010)

The Bombay Stock Exchange recently fell by a total of 458 points. The reasons forthe underperformance of the Indian Equity market have been said to be the series ofscams that were unearthed from mid November. Just last month, CBI officialsdiscovered a bribe for loan scandal that involved several officials from financial firms



and a few state run banks. The 10.8% rise in industrial growth since last monthcould not help and several indices ended with huge losses. Major loses were mainlysuffered by PSUs, realty, consumer durables and healthcare.

Satyam Trial Case (2 November 2010)

The examination of the first witness in the infamous multi crore Satyam Computeraccounting scam would begin from the first of November Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate Court. CBI officials submitted a list of six witnesses to thecourts who were officials of a number of different banks. All ten accused includingcompany founder B Ramalinga Raju were present in court during the hearing of thecase. The DIG of police who operates under the department of CBI said that theagency requested permission to set up LCD projectors and screens in the court sothat both parties could observe and take notes on all the documents that would bebrought up in court. Since cases in the Supreme Court need to be resolved at theearliest, CBI officials submitted close to a thousand documents to the court to speedup the prosecution. The bail of the owner of company and the other 5 individualsassociated has been rejected.

Baba Ramdev Temple under threat (2 November 2010)

An anonymous letter was received at the Ramdev Baba temple in Jaisalmer thatcontained threats to blow up the temple on November 9th. District Collector G SKushwaha received this letter by normal post. Following this letter security aroundthe temple and the surrounding complex was tightened by posting additional numberof policeman around the temple complex. Around 5 million devotees are said to visitthe temple every year.

Ashok Chavan’s fate (5 November 2010)

Disgraced Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chauhan‘s would be decided after the Diwali holiday season, i.e. after November 8th said the Congress party. Recently

Chief Minister Ashok Chauhan‘s name had come in the Adarsh Housing Soci etyscam. Following this allegation, Mr. Ashok Chauhan immediately offered to resignfrom his post. No mention of either the Adarsh Housing Society scam or thecommonwealth Games fiasco was made by the Congress in its AICC session. Alsopresent at the meeting were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, Common WealthGames Organizing Committee Chaiperson Suresh Kalmadi, Heavy IndustriesMinister and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and MaharashtraPCC President Manikrao Thakre.

Adjournment of Ajmer Dargah blast case (27 November 2010)

The hearing of the Ajmer Gargah blast case was recently adjourned to November 8by a sessions court due to leave taken by the presiding judge. Over an 800 pagecharge sheet was produced before the court of the Additional Chief JudgeMagistrate on the 22nd of October by the Rajasthan ATS. The five accused in thecase have alleged links with the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat. Only oneaccused was brought to the court while the other two are being questioned about theHyderabad Mecca blast case. The accused have been booked under varioussections of the Indian Penal Code like conspiracy to murder, attempt to murder andmurder. Over one hundred and thirty witnesses have been cited by the prosecutionof the case.



Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s concern (29 November 2010)

The finance minister of the country Pranab Mukherjee recently raised his fears overthe rising of inflation in the country. Minister Mukherjee said that the Reserve Bankof India would take steps at its next monetary policy review to check rising pricesbecause of increased inflation. He further added that rising food prices were solely

the reason for this sudden inflation. Inflation for the month of September wasestimated to be close to 8.6% much above the acceptable rate of 5%. As said byFinance Minister Mukherjee, food prices had the highest amount of inflation which inMid October was estimated to be over 13%. Recently, Minister Pranab Mukherjeewas in talks with the Reserve Bank of India Governor over the the possible rate hikeaction by the Central Bank. The global financial crisis, which was worsened by thetotal collapse of financial firm Lehman Brothers, is being said to be the reasonbehind the RBI‘s recent reversal of its soft monetar y policy that it started back inSeptember 2008. Adding to these has been the sudden drop in industrial growthfrom 15.2% to 5.6%. To combat the aforementioned rise in inflation, the ReserveBank of India has hiked its key short term lending and borrowing times several timesthis year.

Protest during Obama visit by Bhopal Gas tragedy victims (6 November 2010)

Victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy are said to be planning to stage a protest atJantar Mantar on the 8th of November, during the time of US President BarrackObama‘s visit to the capital. Several tonnes of the poisonous gas methyl iso -cyanide, leaked from the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal in 1984, killing over 3000people the same night and causing the deaths of over 25000 people over thesubsequent years. Five different voluntary organizations working for the gas tragedyvictims recently held a press conference where they stated that they would berequesting to President Obama to use his Presidential powers to bring the UnionCarbide Corporation to Indian Courts and be answerable to them. The verdict of thiscase many years back had found seven top officials of this corporation to be guiltybut as these guilty persons were bailed out within minutes of the verdict, many

people till date question the justice imparted in the case. The voluntary organizationsfurther added that hundreds of people regularly fall sick and die every month due tothe long term poisonous effects of the leaked gas on the soil and water. They furtherplan to ask President Obama for his help as the US government has been largelyunhelpful these last few years. The sit in protest organized by the voluntaryorganizations is said to be comprised of over 5000 gas tragedy victims.

Third stage of Bihar polling completed (28 Oct 2010)

Polling was carried out affably in 48 electorates on 28th Oct 2010, estimating in thethird appearance of Bihar Assembly elections, which witnessed an approximated53% voter responsive. Electorates like Amnour, Taraya, Ramnagar, Balmikinagarand Patepur (Maoist followers) account about 45%-52% voting. Voters were carried

by boats in the littoral areas of Raghopur Assembly electorate in Vaishali communewhere the popular figure of Rabri Devi was in the tussle. The better half of RJDspearhead Lalu Prasad Yadav is as well battling from Sonepur bench in Saranconstituency. More than 185 people were held during the balloting, which sawminiature incidents of affray and fracas. Unlike on a number of occasions before, thistime Bihar polling did not see what it usually it experiences in terms of riots, boothcapturing and other forms of unrest and violence that hampers the true and thehonest spirit of competition. "Apart from this, it was nonviolent and silky," stated byNeelmani (DG of Police). Approximately sixty cars were as well detained. In excessof one crore voters will adjudge the future of six ministers (of the state) in the third



stage. The following round i.e. stage 4 will be carried out on Nov. 4 2010.

UID experiences technical hiccups (Oct 2010)

In order to overcome the challenge posed by the huge figure of people(approximately 1.03 billions) in the country, the chief of the dept. stated that the 16

digit long UID numbers will be released in the next year and half or so. He addedthat the epicenter of its working will be in the city of Bangalore. An easy remedy tothe obstacles posed by the allotment of different IDs is to have a bench where everyformerly sanctioned UID are kept and a fresh one is given only afterwards verifyingthat is actually a unique code. Fundamentally, we charge to break an extremelytough difficulty in dispersed schemes once we have copies of the bench (fordependability) and ought to accordingly respond/keep informed the table asquestions are asked. Taking the point in consideration, provided the millions ofaccretion objects affiliated to the web, there is no scrutiny if a prime number selectedis the similar chosen by somebody else before. If this is to happen, it is an aegisaperture of the aboriginal order for web; the possibly is, nevertheless, acutelyundersized. Population on another instance has proven to be a major obstacle in thedevelopment and progress course of India. UID which was anticipated to be a huge

success and particularly curb this issue is yet to combat the problem itself to evenget kick started.

Haryana barricades polythene bags entry (Aug 2010)

In another attempt to safeguard the environmental and not add insult to the alreadyinjured state of the planet, like the govt. of Delhi, Haryana govt. has also decided toprohibit polythene bags in the state. The ban includes a complete no-no of recycling,storage and usage (in any form) within the state. A suggestion to this aftereffect hasbeen supported by Bhupinder Singh Hooda (the honorable Chief Minister of thestate), an authorized agent said in the capital on Saturday. The resolution was takenas it was empiric that fractional forbid on use of polythene bags of a clearly definedarray bracket did not crop the needed consequences. There was consistent

ambiguity over the array of poly bags in exercise and it had as well been discoveredthat nibbling of a great number of polythene bogs had resulted in deaths of cows ona regular basis, he said. This type of thinking and resolutions are the only waythrough which we can combat and better the ailing state of the plant Earth. If allother cities and states like previously Delhi and now Haryana think about thehazards the polythene bags can cost, we will be having better standards of healthand hygiene.

PM and Sonia Gandhi inaugurate UID: (28 Sep 2010)

The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and UPA Arch Sonia Gandhi shaped arecord by accordingly ablution the world's aboriginal ID activity on September 29th2010 forth with Nilekani, the arch man of the ministry is acclimated to accommodate

Unique Identification Numbers for India's citizens (cumulatively well in billions), byrendering them the aboriginal collection of twelve digit figures to ten clannish. ThePM as well as the UPA Chief were collectively congratulated in the presence offormer Infosys headman. This ID Card is assumed to be nation‘s bigges t ever techadeptness action alleged 'Aadhaar'(base), that is due to be issued to all Indians toaccommodate them within a lucrative nationally accurate and absolute individualantecedent of character affidavit through an authenticity vault and that will help toaccomplish supply processes transparent. Biometric following abstracts includefingerprints and an iris browse getting acclimated for the aboriginal time wherever in



the planet.

Yamuna raises its bar, causes menace: (28 Sep 2010)

The baptize akin in the river rose to 206.70 accent recently, 1.87 accent aloft thecrisis mark of 204.83 accent and is acceptable to go up added as neighboring

Haryana would absolution added water in the river, a chief official of the floodascendancy administration said. Waters from the flood reached into vicinities like ofthe local areas as well (Yamuna and Sonia Vihar, Usmanpur, Jaitpur are a few). Alarge number of localities that reside in the areas forth the banks of the river wereapparent lined up on the footpaths on the ITO arch with whatsoever they had of theirpossessions. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had on Friday requested the inhibiters notto get into agitation and said all basic measures are getting put into abode toaccommodated any possible occurrence. Over 100 cadre from National DisasterResponse Force, were soon deployed to abetment the bounded authorities. Theascent Yamuna has affected the Northern Railways to abolish 25 trains and absent36 others. The cancelled train were prominent ones (Kalka and Brahamaputra Mail,Shalimar, A.A. and G.N. Express, etc). The 90 trains that have to be detouredincluded the most heavily commuted ones and this has disrupted the life of the

general public paralyzing their usual movements, a Northern Railway spokesmenstated.

Ayodha Verdict finally out, Allahabad Bench applauded: (Sep 2010)

Culminating 60 years of anfractuous proceedings, asserts and counter-claims,optimism and desolation, Allahabad HC conventions in favor of improvised Ramtemple on quarreled site; the remaining of acreage to be disconnected amid Hindus& Muslims. In what is conceivably the most of eagerly anticipated judgment incontempt times, a breach adjudication dispensed out by a three-member bank ofAllahabad High Court were in full abounding of the claims of the Hindu petitionerswhile acclimation a three-way analysis of the acknowledged land. The cardinalprovided acknowledged permit to the temporary Ram temple that came up

afterwards the annihilation of the acknowledged anatomy in Ayodhya on December6, 1992. The entire panel of adjudicators – the prominent faces of the country(Justice Agarwal, Khan and Sharma) – was very much in favor of the acceptancethat captivated the acknowledged land was the native land of the Hindu deity. Mr.Sharma and Mr. Agarwal settled with the long-held affirmation of the Sangh Parivarand an area of archaeologists that the acknowledged anatomy cannot be advised asan Islamic place of worship as it came into actuality adjoins the credo of Islam.

Lights, Camera and Applause: (Sep 2010)

The 57th Edition of the National Film Award ceremony was concluded for the year2009 in the month of September. The awards were given away in three groupsnamely, finest Feature Motion Picture Class led by Chairpersonship of Mr. Sippy,

Non Feature Motion Picture Group led by Chairpersonship of Mr. Pandey, and Scripton Movies beneath the Chairpersonship of Mr. S. Bandhopadhyay.

The following were the recipients of a few awards in various nominations:

a. Motion Picture: Malayalam flick – KuttySrankb. I.G.A. for the Best first appearance movie : Hindi movie – Lahore for the

Directionc. Box office blockbuster (widespread entertainment): Hindi – 3 Idiots



d. N.D.A. for the Best motion picture on Patriotic Spirit: Hindi – Delhi 6e. Best motion picture on Society‘s Matters: Bollywood - Well Done Abbaf. Motion Picture for Kids: Tied between Keshu (Malayalam) and Putaani Party

(Kannada)g. Direction: Rituparno Ghosh for Abohomanh. Actor: Amitabh Bachcha for Auro‘s rolei. Actress: Ananya Chatterjee

j. Child‘s Performance: Tollywood‘s Pasangak. Male Singer: Rupam Islam in Bengalil. Female Singer: Neelanjana Sarkar in Bengali

Nuclear liability bill passed (Aug 2010)

Nuclear liability bill which was adopted by Rajya Sabha has now been approved bythe process of Voice vote. The session of the Parliament lasted 48 hours extra thanthe scheduled time so that the legislation can be easily passed and approved. A totalof 18 amendments were introduced in this bill by Lok Sabha before processing itfurther. Soon the bill was selected for a considerable hike in the liability of operator.This liability has now become 3 times then what it was in the past and now holds a

value of rupees 1500 crore‘s in total. By virtue of progression of this bill andsignificant increase in the liability many overseas companies have shown theirinterests in setting up reactors in India. Special accidental care will now be providedfor the employees operating in the various sections of the nuclear plants. Thedecision and the passing of the bill had been strongly opposed by the BJP leadersas they found it insignificant.

Swiss Bank Access (Aug 2010)

Swiss Authorities will provide information to India on cases of tax fraud and taxevasion from January 1,2011under the reworked double tax agreement (DTA)signed by India and Switzerland. The Indian Authorities can now seek informationabout the account holders in Swiss banks who have a case filed against them for tax

evasion.

Government Intervention for CWG (28 Aug 2010)

PM and his select team of ministers takeover as CWG supervisors. Indian PrimeMinister Dr.Manmohan Singh took over the reigns of the forthcoming games in thewake of scandals and unfinished work surrounding the event. Committee ofSecretaries, headed by a Cabinet Secretary, will now supervise the mega event tobe held in October overtaking Organizing Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi.

Bhopal Case reopened (Aug 2010)

The Supreme court of India has reopened the Bhopal Gas leak case in response toGovernment‘s petition for harsher punishment to the guilty for the worst tragedy of itskind in which at least 7,000 people perished within days of the release of the toxicmethyl isocyanate gas at the Union Carbide pesticide plant on 3 December 1984,and a further 15,000 died later from exposure to the gas. The tragedy left countlessothers with lifelong damage to their health.

CSAT to replace the civil services prelims (Aug 2010)

The new Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) will replace the existing civil services



(preliminary) examination from 2011. The new scheme will test the candidates fortheir aptitude for civil services as well as their ethical and moral dimension ofdecision-making. There will now be two common papers with equal weightage inplace of one common paper (general awareness) and one optional paper (anyparticular subject of choice). The civil services main exam and the interview willremain the same as of now.

Rahul creates controversy (Aug 2010)

Wherein one place Mamta Banerjee is speaking in the favour of naxals and nowRahul Gandhi is sharing a dias with a suspected Maoist , this is the approach of thegovernment in the fight against naxals.

Member Parliament salaries hiked (Aug 2010)

Parliament recently in Delhi has made a decision to increase the salaries of MPs. Ahike of about rupees 35000 will be introduced in the salary of each MPs thus takingit from figures like 20,000 to 55,000 or so. Because daily allowance has an importantrole to play hence parliament has also decided to exactly double the allowances

issued daily to each Member of Parliament. Hence daily allowance of rupees 1000will now become 2000. This daily allowance will be issued only when the parliamentsession is in progress. Other than the daily allowances the official expenses forevery office per month have now been considerably raised and touch a 50,000amount. That is not all the travel and conveyance charge issued will now become 4times which were earlier around rupees 1,00,000. Retired members will now get amonthly pension of around rupees 20,000 which was around 10,000 in the pasttimes.

Commonwealth with less green (Aug 2010)

Approximately 40,000 trees have been either felled or transplanted for Delhi‘spreparation of Commonwealth Games 2010. Apart from the financial burden of

creating world class infrastructure and transport facilities Delhites have to bear theloss of its green cover as the compensatory plantation cannot in any waycompensate for the loss of a fully grown, mature tree.

Blackberry controversy (Aug 2010)

Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry has finally surrendered to Indiansecurity agencies‘ demand for access to their server. The company has proposed for lawful access to its services including the messenger as well as the enterprise withimmediate effect and the company would have to set up a server in India if it doesnot work to the satisfaction of Indian agencies. The security agencies already hadaccess to voice data, SMS and general emails sent through Blackberry devices butBlackberry email and messaging services that are highly encrypted were majorconcerns for the security agencies. With this understanding in place the governmenthas decided to serve notices to Google and Skype also to fall in line.

Direct tax code (Aug 2010)

The Government deferred the direct tax code(DTC) by yet another year to April 2012causing yet another disappointment to the taxpayers. Women taxpayers suffered abolt as the preferential treatment meted out to them earlier is now proposed to bewithdrawn. Senior citizens, however, enjoy a higher exemption limit. The bill that



replaces the Income Tax Act 1961 seeks an increase in exemption threshold ofindividuals from Rs.1.6 lakh currently to Rs.2lakh. The corporate taxes will bereduced to a flat 30%.

Leh hit by flood (Aug 2010)

A cloudburst on the intervening night of August 5 and 6 has led to flash floods andmudslides in the Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir. The cloudburst and thefollowing floods have claimed over 175 lives and injured about 400 people, besidescausing widespread damage to public and private property. The worst hitChuglamsar has just turned into debris all over.

More rich than poor Indians (Aug 2010)

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has estimated in itsreport, "How India Earns, Spends and Saves", that despite the economic slowdownof the last three years, the number of high-income households in India has exceededthe number of low-income households. Households with high income or earningshave grown by over 3.7% in total and now touch the mark of around 21%. That is not

all also the households with low income sources have fallen by around 3.2% andgone down to a mark of 18%.

CWG Anthem (Aug 2010)

When everything is being prepared for the common wealth coming up in Octoberthen how could Music maestro A R Rahman stay away from it. Yes, the musicianhas launched the theme song for the Commonwealth Games 2010 that has the bestlyrics covering khelo oh yaaro,,jeeto oh yaaro. During the launch of this theme songhonorable Chief Minister Shiela Dixit, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and OC ChairmanSuresh Kalmadi were present in the ceremony.

CWG breeding mosquitoes (Aug 2010)

The fingers are already crossed and people fear further delay in the common wealthproblems. When the earlier hurdles are not getting removed and new problems arecoming into view. The sincere attention is being drawn by the mosquitoes breedingin various dumps. Because of heavy rainfall in the country water is collected inalmost every venue and mosquitoes have converted these venues into their favoritebreeding places and are increasing the fear of dengue disease.

Yet another marine disaster (Aug 2010)

A foreign cargo ship MV Khalijia-111 which collided with MSC Chitra which wascarrying about 1,200 containers with over 266 tonnes of fuel about 10 km off

Mumbai harbour has spilled oil into the Mumbai seas. The collision tilted MSC Chitravessel causing 300 containers carrying oil to tumble into the Mumbai waters creatinga thick oil slick two to three kms around the vessel Chitra causing a serious threat tothe marine life.

India’s Independence (Aug 2010)

August 15th, 2010 India celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its independence.



IBM Number two employer (Aug 2010)

IBM is the second largest private sector employer in India after TCS . The companyhas more than one lakh people on its rolls.

Noose tightening for Politicos in Sohrab case (July 2010)

Sohrab case getting murkier with CBI stepping up pressure on top Gujarat IPSOfficers P.C.Pande, O.P.Mathur and Geeta Johri for their suspected involvement inscuttling the probe at the behest of former Gujarat Minister of State for home AmitShah. Two Rajasthan BJP leaders Gulabchand Kataria and Om Mathur are alsofacing the CBI heat.Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed in a fake encounter and his wife who was a witnessto her husband‘s abduction was also later eliminated. The agency is investigatingthe police-politico nexus behind the killings.

Chidambaram confident of overcoming maoist problem in three years (July2010)

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the ministryof home affairs, P Chidambaram informed that in a meeting of chief ministers ofseven Naxal-affected states on July 14, a decision of unified command was agreedto namely in-- West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand -- for anti-Naxaloperations. A two-pronged strategy of initiating development and police action in theaffected areas was designed to overcome Maoist problem after consultations withthe Naxal-affected states

Grooming for a succession? (July 2010)

Noel Tata, chairman Ratan Tata‘s brother has been installed as the chairman andCEO of Tata Investment Corp and the MD in Tata International while relinquishinghis executive position in Trent Ltd within the last two months. There is speculationthat these moves are in line with the group‘s succession plan for top job i.e. theChairmanship of Tata Sons in 2012 when Ratan Tata steps down.

Applaud or embarrassment? (July 2010)

According to top sources from Central Vigilance Commission, fake certificates werebeing routinely issued to pass substandard work and material to the vendors ofCommonwealth Games 2010 leading to huge gains for the contractors and vendors.All these certificates were issued without ground verification or technicalexamination. The compromise, herein, in the quality of materials and workmanshipposes a serious threat to the sports personnel from countries all over the worldlending a shameful picture of India and hence jeopardizing our ability to host such

events in the future.

Valley stir (July 2010)

Following the imposition of curfew in wake of the protest by Syed Ali Geelanidemanding the release of dozens of arrested separatist leaders, violence wastriggered in the valley due to a spate of civilian killings by security personnel leadingto an indefinite curfew being clamped in Srinagar. Educational institutions, shops,post offices, banks, public transport and other business establishments were closed



as a precautionary measure. The protests are part of the separatists' 'Quit Kashmir'programme.


In the Global Peace Index 2010, India ranked at 128.

2010 Failed State Index- Somalia top the list followed by Zimbabwe, Sudan& Chad. India is ranked at 87 place out of 177 countries. Norway in rankedat the bottom of the list.

President Rule imposed in Jharkhand. Amar Singh launches a new party ‗Akhil Bhartiya Lok Manch‘.

South African president Jacob Zuma visited India. Turkmenistan President Gurbaguly Bardimuhamedov visited India. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited India. India signed 7 pacts

with Sri Lanka. India will assist in building 50000 houses in the northen &eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh Govt has requested to rename the train linking West Bengal toTripura via Banglades as ‗ Sonar Tori‘. Earlier the name of the train asenvisaged in the Railway Budget 2010 is ‗Epar Bangla Opar Bangla‘. Sonar

Tori is a collection of poems written by Rabindranath Tagore, whose 150thbirth anniversary is being celebrated in 2010.

Maharastra will become first state in the country to have a real estateregulatory authority.

BWA- Broadband Wireless Access. The BWA spectrum was auctioned bythe Govt. BWA Spectrum is essential for rolling out WiMAX servicesenabling hand held devices and laptops to access Intranet. It will allow firmsto offer high speed Net, Web telephony & TV Services. The govt fixedRs.1750 crore as base rate for BWA license. The auction was held for 117rounds and in 16 days. Rs.12848 crore was the pan India BWA license pricewhich was won by Infotel Broadband services ( in all 22 circles). The Govtauctioned the BWA license for a total of Rs.38,543 crore. Mumbai had thehighest bid of Rs.2293 crore followed by Delhi with Rs.2241 crore

respectively. India signed Civil Nuclear agreement with Canada. The agreement was

signed by Manmohan Singh and Canada‘s PM Stephen Harper. Canada isthe 8th nation to enter into such an agreement with India. Canada servednuclear ties with India in 1974 when India conducted its first nuclear test atPokhran in 1974. India‘s nuclear power programme is based on the CANDU( Canada Deuterium Uranium) reactor.

India become a full fledged member of the Financial Action Task Force(FATF), a 34 member inter governmental body that devises policies at bothnational & international levels to combat money laundering and terroristfinancing. FATF membership will enable Indian authorities to accessinformation on suspect accounts in nations such as Switzerland & UK. Indiabecome its 34th member.


Naxalites killed 47 people in a landmine blast between Dantewada andSukma in Chattisgarh.

Test fire of nuclear capable Agni-II missile was successfully carried out fromWheeler Island off the coast of Orissa on 17th May. Agni II has a range of2000Km. It is 20m long two stage solid propelled ballistic missile. It wasdeveloped by Advanced System Laboratories alongwith DRDO & Bharat



Dynamics Ltd. Supreme Court in a recent judgement upheld a rule that allows the

adjustment of reserved category candidate SC/ST/OBC against their quotaseats even if they manage to qualify an examination for govt services onmerit.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is the

monitoring authority for the Right to Education Act which became effectivefrom April 1, 2010.


Naxals killed about 75 CRPF personal at Chintalnar-Tarmetla village inDantewada distt ,Chhattisgarh. Government appoint E.N. Rammohan, toprobe the incident.

Uninque Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) now known as Aadhaar. It‘sChairman is Nandan Nilekani. It will assign 16 digit identification number toall residents in India.

NTRO- National Technical Research Organisation. The organization cameto limelight after allegation of phone tapping of politicians.

Indian navy commissioned India‘s first indigenously built stealth warship ‗INS Shivalik‘. The other stealth warship to be built are named as ‗INSSahyadri‘ and INS Satpura‘.

Right To Education Act is notified and will become a legally enforceablefrom 1 April 2010. Key features of RTE Act are : All children in 6-14 agegroup must get free and compulsory eduction; No child shall be heldback,expelled or required to pass a board examination till Class VIII; Theremust be 25 % reservation for poor children even in private & minorityschools; There must be one teacher for every 30 students; A child rightscommission will look into violations of the RTE law.

Govt start Census 2011. It is the 15th Census. It is in two phase. The firstphase is called –House listing & Housing Census and the second phase iscalled decadal headcount which will be held in Feb 2011. The Registrar

General of India is C Chandramouli.


Govt launched National Mission for Empowerment of Women aimed at inter-sectoral convergence of all pro- women programmes.

Constitution 108th Amendment Bill 2008 commonly known as women‘sreservation bill was passed by Rajya Sabha by 186 in favour 1 against 39abstained (Current strength of Rajya Sabha is 233). The bill seeks toreserve a third of the seats on the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for 15years on a rotational basis. It was first introduced in 1996. Sharad Joshi, anindependent MP is the only MP which cast vote against the bill. In thepresent Lok Sabha, there are 59 women MPs out of 543 MPs. Total MLAs in

29 state assemblies in India are 4093. Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Vishakhapatnam (AP) are choosen for a pilot

project on saving household energy by replacing incandescent lamps withCFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps).

Earth Hour 2010 has been celebrated on 27 March organized by WorldWide Fund for Nature, India. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are official EarthHour Cities among 15 Indian cities.

Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia visit India in March 2010. Supreme Court allowed religion based 4 % reservations in Govt jobs &



educational institutes in Andhra Pradesh. It extended the benefit to 14 OBCin muslims in the state. The matter is further referred to Constitutional benchof Supreme Court.

‘Bold Kurushetra‘ a joint armour exercise between India and Singapore washeld at Jhansi(UP).

Prohibition of unfair practices in technical, medical educational institutions &

universities Bill is passed by Govt. It provided for 3 year imprisonment and afine of upto Rs 50 lakh for higher education providers guilty of misleadingstudents.

Govt approved Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry &Operation) Bill 2010. It provides foreign universities to set up campuses inIndia.

Govt amends Anti Hijacking Act 1982. It now provides for death sentence tothe hijackers.

Govt starts the scheme for creation of the National Population Register(NPR) of Indian residents. The project will cover an estimated 1.2 billionpeople and total cost of the project will be Rs. 3539.24 crore.

India became 1st country in the world to have a ‗manoeuvrable‘ supersoniccruise missile, when it successfully test fired 290 km range Brahmos missile.

Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visit India in March 2010.


Kirit Parikh committee , set up to review petro pricing regime, submit itsrecommendation. Its major recommendation are to deregulate the prices ofpetrol & diesel as per market prices, reduce the subsidy on LPG.

India signed a Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the UK, whichbecame the 8th country to enter into such a pact, since the lifting of atomictrade embargo in 2008.

Govt set up a panel under the Chairmanship of former Justice B NSrikrishna which would consider the demand for splitting Andhra Pradesh.

India and Denmark signed a social security pact which will relieve their

workers from double taxation and provide for cooperation in areas of labourmarket expansion and orderly migration.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Saudi Arabia in Feb 2010. He wasthe first Indian PM in 28 years to visit the gulf country. Saudi Arabia isIndia‘s largest supplier of crude oil ( 23 %) followed by Iran ( 17 %) andNigeria ( 11 %). India is offering upto 10 % equity to Saudi petroleum firmSaudi Aramco in a refinery being built in Orissa. PM addressed the Shouracouncil of Saudi Arabia.

Constitution 111th Amendment – Proposes to incorporate a new Part ( PartIX B) in the Constitution so as to provide for legal framework to regulate thefunctioning of cooperative societies. A new Article ( Article 43 B) is alsoproposed to be inserted in Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principles ofState Policy) for the States to promote voluntary formation, autonomous

functioning of cooperative societies. Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009 commonly known as Nuclear

Liability Bill will be introduced by Govt in Parliament in Winter session 2010.The draft bill aims at limiting the liability of a nuclear plant operator to Rs.300 crore in the eventuality of an accident. The bill provides for the penaltyto be paid by the operator and not the supplier companies which wouldmainly be American in this case. India has entered into civil nuclearcooperation agreement with eight countries so far.




Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visit India in Jan 2010. Shebelongs to Awami League Party. The two countries signed five agreements – on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, on transfer of sentencedpersons and on combating international terrorism, organized crime & illicit

drug trafficking besides MOU on cooperation in the power sector and oncultural exchanges. India give Bangladesh a $ 1 billion line of credit, thebiggest it has given to any country so far.

South Korea President Lee Myung Bak visit India in Jan 2010. The twocountries decided to double the bilateral trade to $ 30 billion by 2014. Fourfacts were signed between two countries – cooperation in peaceful use ofouter space, IT, science & technology for the year 2010-12 and transfer ofsentenced persons. South Korean President was also the chief guest at2010 Republic Day Parade.

Gujarat Local Authorities Law (amendment) Bill 2009- The Bill makes it theduty of a qualified voter to vote during elections to local bodies. Voting iscompulsory, but the Bill allows voters to cast their vote in favour of none ofthe candidates. Election officers will declare those who fail to vote defaulter,

and serve them a notice. India and China has decided to start joint military exercise from 2011. Najib Razak, Malaysia Prime Minister visit India in Jan 2010. Govt launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Key highlights of

the mission are :o To create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of

20,000 MW of solar power by 2020.o To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability

for indigenous production and market leadership.o To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW

by 2017 and 2000 MW by 2022.o To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by

2017 and 20 million by 2022.o To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022.

New Governors appointed : a) M K Narayanan – West Bengal, b)ShivrajPatil – Punjab, c) Mohsina Kidwai – Jharkhand, d) Shekhar Dutt – Chhattisgarh, e) E S L Narasimhan – Andhra Pradesh.

Govt plans to create a National Gas Highway Development Authority. Thepresent Gas Pipeline Density in India is 3.29 Km per 1000 Sq.Km.

Govt plans to set up a National Green Tribunal to control Carbon Emissionsand pollution. It will be responsible for implementing the low carbonroadmap to be set forth in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Sports Current Affairs 2010

Sachin Tendulkar scores fifty centuries in test cricket (19th Dec 2010)

Sachin Tendulkar scored his fiftieth test century in the second innings of the first testagainst South Africa at the Centurion. The master blasted scored his century in196balls with 12 fours and one six. Even thought India lost the first test Sachin‘s century

http://www.civilserviceindia.com/current-affairs/sports/index.html






helped about bringing some respectability to the proceedings. Incidentally he hasalso been named the ICC player of the year.

Indian cricket teams wins its second test at Durban. (16th Dec 2010)

The Indian team had a poor game at the centurion where they were bundled out by

an innings and twenty five runs by their South African counterparts. The second testthey came back with a much more inspired performance with both bat and bowlleading to their first ever win in Durban which had always troubled them in the past.India had scored 205 and 228 in their two innings while the South Africans couldscore only 131 and 215 respectively.The star of the match was V.VS Laxman whose96 helped India seal victory.

Saina Nehwal wins Honk Kong Open Super Series. (12th Dec 2010)

Indias star sportswoman Saina Nehwal rallied around from a one game deficit to win15-21, 21-16, 21-17 over Wang Shixian of China. Saina finished of her year on awonderful note and has an unmatched record compared to any Indian player withregard to winning the super series title. Current Affairs

Chelsea lose third match out of fourth (16th Nov 2010)

Birmingham City defeated Chelsea by a score of 1-0 at Birmingham City making thisthe third defeat to be suffered by Chelsea in the four matches that it has played sofar. This win helped Manchester United to move up in the English Premier Leaguerankings. Birmingham gained three points in the rankings thanks to the one and onlywinning goal scored by its player Lee Bowyer. Newcastle lost 5-1 to Bolton whileWest Ham lost 3-0 to Liverpool alongside Blackpool and Stoke who claimed theirrespective victories. In their game against Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea let slip pasttheir initial lead of 2-0, to finally lose the game at a score of 3-2. The game was at ascore of 2-0 till half time with Chelsea winning but a combination of lack ofconcentration in players and simple bad luck cost Chelsea the match.

Cricket in 2014 Asian Games (15th Nov 2010)

Rumors recently originated that cricket had been removed from the list of proposedsports and events of the 2014 Asian games. The reason for these rumors has beensaid to be the decision of the Olympic Committee of Asia to limit the number ofsporting events in the Asian games to a maximum of 35. However, these fearsproved out to be false as the OCA recently confirmed the inclusion of cricket in thelist of sporting events for the Asian games 2014. For the time being cricket andkarate have been confirmed as two out of the seven non Olympic events in thesegames while the other five are still to be decided. However, South Korean organizersare said to not be in support of this decision.

Nadal and Clijsters (Nov 2010)

Rafael Nadal continues to hold the top spot in the ATP rankings with his score beingclose to 11900 points while Roger Federer holds the spot of number two. On theother hand Kim Clijsters fell to the third position in the WTA rankings releasedrecently followed by Serena Williams on the fourth position.



Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Nov 2010)

Following his win in the Korean Grand Prix, third position in Brazil and third positionin the qualifiers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari looked likethe possible winner. However the title slipped out of his hands, much to his surpriseand landed into the hands of Vettel making him the youngest Formula One

champion in the history of F1 racing aged just 23 years. Current Affairs

A century of Medals in CWG 2010: (15th Oct 2010)

Thanks to the final in the woman badminton category that India was able to taste thesweet gland of a century tally of medals for the very first time in any CWG edition.India had tallied 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals which cumulatively read101 medals. Even though India were shattered to an 8-0 defeat by the Aussies thewoman shutters‘ heroics steered them to a total of medals that read 101. Indiafinished ahead of England (142) and behind Australia (177). The culminating day(Oct 14th) saw the quest of an unimaginable 2nd place finish thanks to Jwala and Ashwini. They defeated Singapore‘s Sari Shanti Mulia and Yao Lei with some easeand become the lone pair so far to win gold in women badminton (doubles). But the

cherry on the cake was put by Indian badminton pioneer – Saina Nehwal. The hostsscalped addition one inclusive of a bronze medal when our table tennis mastersPoulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das won in the doubles for women bronze medal finalround alongside the Australian pair. Tan Zed Vivian and Peri Campbell-Innes. Butthe finals for the hockey men were a match to forget as they were thumped by theKangaroos scoring 8 past their goal. Going into this match with some resilientattitude as shown in the semis, the Aussies brought them to ground by outplayingthem with power play.

Master Blaster’s the Best; ICC admits: Sachin Tendulkar (quite unsurprisingly) was shortlisted for the most decoratedcricketing accolade in contempt period, an award given to the greatest cricketer forthe year that is named after Sir Garfield Sobers. The Master Blaster turned out to be

the second Indian to win the accolade following the success of Rahul Dravid in thesame award six years before. Afterwards accumulating 1,000 runs in Test matchcricket this calendar year more to the point becoming the aboriginal cricketer toscore a double century in LOI cricket playing against South Africa on Feb 24th 2010in Gwalior, Sachin completed a double of awards at the even by also winning thefamous – LG People‘s Choice Award. The Men in Blue had a lot extra to applaudabout as their striking opener, Virender Sehwag, with 1,282 runs in the game‘slonger adaptation, was chosen as the Test Cricketer of the Year and M.S. Dhoni wasselected as the captain of a World Test XI. In the previous, Sehwag‘s Delhi teammate as well as opening partner, Gautam Gambhir was given this privilege.Decorated Indian off-spinner, B.S. Bedi was introduced into the Hall of Fame (forICC) forth along with the legendary West Indies‘ fast bowlers Garner and Walsh andRachael Heyhoe Flint (ex-England women cricketer) The LOI (also known as ODI)

Player of the Year was bagged by the South African cricketer A.B. de Villiers. Kangaroos see BLUE in India: In a highly anticipated and evenly fought cricket competition between two giants ofthe beautiful game of cricket between India and Australia, the former proved to begood for the Aussies. The Australian team over a period of time has seen its mainworkforce in Gilchrist, Hayden, McGrath and others retiring had to rely majorly onthe young breed of players lacking experience of play in the Indian subcontinent.India had slipped its rank down a bit from No. 1 and was in a quest to get it back.That‘s what actually transpired. Thanks to the great heroics of Sachin along with therest of his teammates India were not only able to beat the Aussies but finish it as a



clean sweep which the team Down Under hadn‘t experienced for quite some time.Sachin‘s double ton was the highlight of the series and imperative in order to retainthe coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Apart from the Test Series, India also won theODI series without losing single game (1-0). Two of the three matches wereabandoned due to bad weather conditions while the sole game played, Indiaconvincingly beat the Australians thanks to a solid partnership between SureshRaina and Mohit Tiwary. The partnership between the two batsmen helped India tochase down a total just under 300. Current Affairs [September 2010]

Kalmadi and Co. pocket Common man’s Wealth: The contempt letters of forgery and fraud in Commonwealth Games resultedin an abnormally affliction of our nation‘s picture. The bulk of finances usedup on modernizing the venues for Commonwealth Games accommodate aprima facie affirmation of ample calibration enticement in the alignment ofCommonwealth Games. The abstracts accessible on the CommonwealthGames website reveals that the amount of refurbishing the JNU stadiumwas USD 215 million; the IGI Stadium USD 150 million; the Hockey stadium(named after Dhyan Chand) USD 60 million; and the Shooting Alleys USD35 million. An absolute sum of USD 10150 million was spent on renovations.The costs incurred in the advance of the lone cricket stadium in Delhi wereUSD 20 million. For the LBS stadium in Hyderabad was USD 18 million, andarchitecture of a contemporary and technology studded stadium in the city oforanges amounted USD 19 million. It is acute that the Central Governmentanon adjustment a top akin analysis into this arrangement and the dealingsembarked on. It is abominable that such all-embracing abusage ofcommunal resources has taken abode in the name of the CommonwealthGames. The accusations of inducement ambit from favoritism in accolade ofaffairs to big-ticket appoint of accessories for training and abrupt accretion inthe costs of architecture treaties.

Bridge Collapses; Casualties cross double figures: Reportedly not less than 27 people were afflicted afterwards an under-construction foot over bridge burst within the close proximity of theJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the capital area of the Commonwealth Games,

bidding the Organizing Committee (OC) to awning up by giving a statementor in other words a false sense of complacency and assurance thateverything is being taken care of. The arch was to hotlink the amphitheaterto parking for delegates and athletes. The Urban Development Minister,Jaipal Reddy has dismissed the pressures by quoting it is a negligibleincident. The Public Works Department (PWD) has urged for an acoount ofthe structure from the builders. Later the aforementioned day, OrganizingCommittee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot addressed reporters: "We will putup a great show. He said the venues will be all set in the days to come andthere would be added sprucing to accommodate top notch standards.However, the mishap is a concern to the CWG organizers, who are alreadynabbed amidst accuse of laziness and fraud for the XIX Edition. Previously,Mike Hooper, the main controller of the Commonwealth Games Federation

(CGF), remarked on the condition of hygiene at the Games Village as ―dirty.‖ Chennai are the Super Kings of Twenty20 Cricket:

The Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings are the champions ofthe second edition of the AirTel Champions League Twenty20 hosted bySouth Africa from September 10th to September 26th. Chennai Super Kingsdefeated their fellow finalists in some fashion by 8 wickets in the final of theChampions League T20 2010.Warriors had won the toss earlier and decidedto bat first but bootless to account an appropriate target, but only capable toset a minimal total of mere 128 runs for 7 wickets. Only Davy Jacobs‘s



denticulate 34 runs were the notable contribution and was also the best fromthe entire batting lineup of the Warriors. Muttiah Muralidaran was the mostbooming bowler scalping 3 wickets for only 16 runs. Ashwin got a couple ofwickets for 16 runs as well. Chennai Super Kings started off in some style bybaking batting by Murali Vijay who denticulate a 58 run total. MichaelHussey fabricated 42 handy runs to the total. The Opening brace fabricated103 runs which fabricated their way of triumph easier than it ever seemed.With this Murali Vijay became the highest run getter of the second edition ofthe Champions League Twenty20. He was facilitated with the Man of theMatch Award. With such great triumph on the world stage, the Indian andCSK captain has silenced his critics and is still in contention to be the bestever captain in the world today.

Current Affairs [August 2010]

Sehwag denied century A deliberate no ball by the Srilankan off-spinner Suraj Randiv to preventVirendar Sehwag from completing his century in the tri-series has left a badtaste in the mouth for all cricket lovers. Indians were just short of 5 runs from

destination called victory and the opening batsman VEERU was just a runaway from his ton. At the same time Lankan skipper chose spinner S.Randiv to come in and bowl. On the third bowl of his spell Virender Sehwagsent the bowl out of the fence with a huge six but the turning point was that itwas a no ball which defended Virender Sehwag from completing his century.As per the declaration of the match referee it was been found out that it wasan intentional attempt.

Shooting Gold Tejaswini Sawant created history by becoming India‘s first female shooter toclinch gold at the World Shooting Championship held in Munich, Germany.The 29-year-old, who shot a score of 597/600 (100, 100, 100, 99, 99, 99),equaling the world record in the process, won the 50m rifle prone event

Sri Lanka wins the tri series

Thehost Sri Lanka‘ eight wicket victory over India in Dambulla represents its

25th win in a tournament final. Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara'whowon the toss decided to bat against India in the tri-series final. The SriLankans won the match by 74 runs in this game. With this it became thesecond team to win a tournament final on 25 occasions. Australia has won52 tournament finals.

First Indian US PGA Tour winner Arjun Atwal has become the first Indian Golfer to win the US PGA tour.Atwal, who started playing at the age of fourteen, became one of the leadingplayers on the Asian Tour and the European tour. He is the the first nativeEast Indian golfer to become a member of, and later win the U.S. PGA Tour.

Current Affairs [July 2010]

Saina Nehwal: A smash hit The Indian Open Grand Prix Gold, the Singapore Open Super Series andthen the Indonesian Open Super Series at Jakarta have given enoughreasons to Saina to celebrate. The World No.3 defeated a fighting SayakaSato of Japan 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in the badminton finals. Just two notchesaway from the badminton World No. 1, Saina is now indisputably India's topfemale athlete.

Khel awards Saina Nehwal to be conferred the country‘s top sporting honour -the Rajiv



Gandhi Khel Ratna award. While Jhulan Goswami skipper of womenscricket team, boxer Dinesh Kumar and Sandeep Singh are tipped to receivethe Arjuna Awards in recognition of their outstanding achievements duringthe last one year, Footballer Sunil Chhetri and Deepak Mondal have alsobeen nominated for the award that will be given away in RashtrapatiBhawan on 29th Aug by President Pratibha Patil.

World cup for Spain In a historic football victory Spain lifted their first-ever World Cup afterdefeating Netherlands 1-0 in Johannesburg. Andres Iniesta secured the onlygoal of an enthralling final against the Netherlands four minutes from theend of extra-time on Sunday leading his team to victory.


French Open 2010 :o Men‘s singles – Rafael Nadal defeated Robin Soderling. He is the

second person after Bjorn Borg to win 5th French Open titles.o Women‘s singles- Francesca Schiavone (Italy) defeated Samantha

Stosur (Australia). She became first Italian women to won the

French open.o Men‘s Doubles- Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic defeated Lukas

Dlouhy & Leander Paes.o Women‘s Doubles- Serena Williams & Venus Williams defeated

Kveta Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik.o Mixed Doubles – Katarina Srebotnik & Nenad Zimonjic defeated

Yavoslava Shvedova & Julian Knowle. Saina Nehwal defeated Choo Wong Mew to win women‘s single title in

Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open badminton championship. In the Men‘s singlesYunus Alamsyah won the title.

Saina Nehwal defeated Japan‘s Sayaka Sato to win women‘s singles title inIndonesian Open Super Series 2010.

Indian Ronjan Sodhi won the double trap gold medal at ISSF World Cup in

Lonato, Italy. India defeated Sri Lanka to won Asia Cup(Cricket) 2010. India won the title

after 15 years i.e. it won the cup in 1995. Saina Nehwal won the Women‘s singles title in Singapore Super Series

badminton championship 2010 defeating China‘s Tzu Ying Tai. It was her 2nd consecutive title.

3000th ODI( One day international) cricket match was played betweenEngland & Australia.


England won 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeatingAustralia. The tournament was held at West Indies. Kevin Pieterson of

England has been declared as Player of the Tournament. Australia won 2010 Women‘s World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating

New Zealand. India and South Korea were declared joint winner of 2010 Sultan Azlan

Shah Hockey Cup, after suspension of the final match due to heavyrains.India‘s Sardar Singh has been declared as Best Player of theTournament. Australia won the Bronze medal. The tournament was held atIpoh (Malaysia). India had won the tournament earlier in 1985, 1991, 1995 &2009.



China won Thomas Cup ( Men‘s Badminton) defeating Indonesia.

In the World Youth Boxing Championship, held at Baku, Azerbaijan, Indiawon 1 Gold & 1 Silver. Gold medal was won by Vikas Krishan and Silvermedal was won by Shiva Thapa.

India won bronze medal in the 2nd Asian Paragliding Championship held atNishiewa, Japan.

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand retained his title after defeatingVeselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the World Chess Championship 2010.


IPL3 season won by Chennai Super Kings defeating Mumbai Indians. Youth Olympics Games 2010 to be held in Singapore in Aug 2010. World Youth Championship was held at Baku, Azerbaijan. Lawn tennis legend Martina Navratilova diagnosed with Breast Cancer. ‗Jumbo‘ chosen as 2011 World Cricket Cup Mascot.

World Kabbadi Cup 2010- India defeated Pakistan to won World CupKabbadi 2010 held at Ludhiana.

Pankaj Advani won the Asian Billiards Championship defeating Singapore‘s

Peter Gilchrist for the consecutive third time. Badminton Asia Championship, Delhi :

o Men‘s singles – Lin Dan defeated Wang Zhenguingo Women‘s singles-Li Xiurei defeated Liu Xin.


Tamil Nadu defeated West Bengal to won Vijay Harare Cricket Trophy. Australia won World Hockey Cup 2010 defeating Germany. India ranked at

8th place. India won six gold medal in the Commonwealth Boxing Championship held

at Delhi.

Two new IPL teams, Kochi was auctioned for Rs 1533 crore and Pune wasauctioned for Rs 1702 crore. Kochi was auctioned to Rendezvous AdventureSports Ltd. Pune was auctioned to Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd.


Sachin Tendulkar became first player in the world to score a double centuryin ODI (One day International). He scored 200 (Not out) against SouthAfrica.

11th South Asian Games 2010 : Held at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 Jan to8 Feb. Originally scheduled to take place in 2009, but due to generalelections in Bangladesh, the games were held in 2010. This was the thirdtime that the Dhaka hosted the Games, thus becoming the first city to hold

the games three times. 8 countries participated in the games in 23 differentsports, including T20 cricket, which was introduced for the first time in SAG.The 8 countries included are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. 1The logo of the games was‗Kutumb‘, a flying doel , which is the national bird of Bangladesh. Themascot of the games featured a magpie robin, which was holding the torchto begin the games. The final medal tally include : India - 1st place with 90 G55 S 29 B Total 174, Pakistan- 2nd place with 19 G 25 S 36 B Total 80,Bangladesh- 3rd place with 18 G 23 S 56 B Total 97.



West Zone won Duleep Trophy ( 2009-10) defeating South Zone. India‘s Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Asian Tour International Tr ophy 2010. It is

his 2nd consecutive title. Euro 2012 to be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held at Vancouver, Canada. Mascot of

the game was MIGA (a sea bear), QUATCHI( a sasquatch) and SUMI

(animal guardian spirit). The logo of the games was Ilnaaq meaning Friendin Inuktut. There were 86 events in 7 sports. The games were held from 12Feb to 28 Feb. Final medal tally. Canada- 14 G 7 S 5 B, Germany- 10 G 13S 7 B, USA- 9 G 15 S 13 B.

IOC (International Olympic Committee ) has approved ICC (InternationalCricket Council) bid to join the Olympic games 2020. The first time cricketwas included in the Olympic games was in Paris Olympic 1900.

11th World Hockey Cup 2010- To be held in Delhi, India. This is 2nd WHCwhich India is hosting. India also hosted the WHC in 1982 at Mumbai. 12countries participated in the tournament. WHC is held in the years betweentwo summer Olympics. First WHC was held at Barcelona in 1971. Pakistanhas won the cup four times, Netherland three times, Germany two times,India & Australia once each. India won the WHC in 1975.

Commonwealth Shooting Championship was held in New Delhi in Feb 2010.India stood at first place with 35 Gold 25 Silver and 14 Bronze. Englandstood at 2nd place with 4 gold and Wales stood at 3rd place.


U-19 World Cup 2010 held in New Zealand from 15 – 30 Jan 2010. JavagalSrinath from India appointed as one of the match referee for the tournament.

Australia won the U-19 World Cup for the third time defeating Pakistan. Indiais placed at 6th rank. Australia won the cup for the third time.

Rafael Nadal won the Capitala World Tennis Championsip, held at AbuDhabi defeating Robin Soderling.

Magnus Carlsen becomes the youngest World No.1 chess player at the age

of 19 years breaking the Garry Kasparov‘s record when he became theworld‘s top ranked chess player at the age of 22 years in 1985. MagnusCarlsen is the 5th player after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and V.Anand(India) to cross the 2800 ELO rating. In the Jan 2010 FIDE ranking, Carlsenstood at 1st place, Topalov at 2nd place and V Anand at 3rd place.

Marin Cilic defeated Staniglas Wawrinka to won Men‘s singles title of AircelChennai Open.

Pakistan‘s cricketer Shahid Afridi was banned for two T20 internationalsafter he was found guilty of ball tempering in a ODI against Australia.

Corus Chess Grandmaster Tournament won by Magnus Carlsen. V.Anandof India ranked at 4th place. Hopman Cup 2010- Spain defeated GreatBritain.

Australian Open 2010 : Women‘s Single- Serena William defeated Justin

Henin. It is Serena‘s 5th Australian Open title. It is also Serena‘s 12th GrandSlam title equaling the record of Billie Jean King.

Men‘s Single- Roger Federer(Swiss) defeated Andy Murray(Britain). It isFederer‘s 4th Australian Open title. It is Federer‘s 16th Grand Slam title.

Men‘s Double- Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan defeated Daniel Nestor & NenadZimonjic.

Women‘s Double – Serena Williams & Venus Williams defeated Cara Black& L Huber.

Mixed Double – Laender Paes (India) & Cara Black (Zimbabwe) defeated



Ekterina Makasova & Jaroslav Levinsky. It is Paes‘s 11th Grand Slam title.

General Studies Notes on 2009

International Affairs 2009

Fiji‘s president Ratu Josefa Iloilo repealed the country‘s constitution and appointedhimself head of the State and set a 2014 election deadline.

Switzerland expanded its border upto 150 meters into Italian territory because ofmelting glaciers in the high Alps.

Venezuela‘s Stefania Fernandez become Miss Universe 2009. This is the 2ndconsecutive year Miss Venezuela has won the title. Venezuela has so far won thetitle for the record six times. Miss Ada de la Cruz (Dominican Republic) is 1st runner

up. Miss Marigona Dragusha is the 2nd runner up. Miss Universe 2009 contest washeld in Bahamas.

Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT) is an agreement that binds 141 countries in a pactthat facilitates the process of seeking protection for an invention in multiplecountries. The PCT which is administered by WIPO ( World Intellectual PropertyOrganization) is particularly valuable option for any company operatinginternationally. It is a procedural treaty first launched in 1978. Recently PCT is innews because it is under modification/ reformation which India is opposing.

Pakistan govt clears construction of the $ 8.5 billion Diamer-Bhasha power project of4500 MW capacity on the Indus river in the Gilgit region in Pakistan occupiedKashmir. Under the Indus water treaty signed with India, Pakistan is free to build

dams anywhere on the Indus river. The treaty gives India first right over the watersof the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers and Pakistan the same privileges over the Indus,Chenab and Jhelum rivers.

70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II ( 1 Sep 1939) celebrated on 1Sep. OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) parliamentaryassembly recently grouped Germany and Soviet Union, pronouncing them to beequally responsible for World War II. Yukio Hatoyama is appointed as next PrimeMinister of Japan. He is nicknamed ‗the alien‘. For the first time since last 54 years,LDP(Liberal democratic party) ousted from forming Govt in Japan. Hatoyamabelongs to Democratic Party.

USA Commission on International Religious Freedom placed India on its ‗watch list‘

for 2009 because it found the Indian govt had failed to take effective measures toensure the rights of religious minorities.

The summit of Dushanbe Four was held in 2009. It includes Russia, Tajikistan,Pakistan and Afghanistan. The official objective to the summit was to discuss supplyof electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nepal Vice President Parmananda Jha who took oath in Hindi last year, has beenasked by the Nepal Supreme Court to retake the oath in Nepali language or resign



from the post.

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after it failed to meet a deadline tomake progress towards establishing democracy. India‘s Reena KaushalDharamshaktu will be part of an eight member team that will ski to the South Pole tocelebrate the 60th anniversary of Commonwealth. The expedition is headed by

Felicity Aston and to be flagged off in Nov 2009.

China intrudes Ladakh region on 31 July 2009.

Sri Lanka expels James Elder, Communication chief with UNICEF(United NationsChildren‘s Fund).

Farah Pandith an Indian American, has been sworn in as the first US SpecialRepresentative to muslim communities in USA.

As per report of UN World Food Programme (WFP), the number of hungry peoplewill pass one billion this year for the first time. In the Food Security Risk Index 2009,India ranked at 25th place. The US is least at risk followed by France, Canada. The

index rank the nations on the basis of risk of food shortage faced by the countries.

Communal violence erupted in China‘s North West Xinjiang province capital ‗Urumgi‘ in July 09.

START ( Strategic arms reduction treaty) between USA & Russia started on 31 July1991 came to end on 5 Dec 2009. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) met atYekaterinburg on June 2009. The SCO comprises of Russia, China, Kazakhtan,Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgzstan. India, Pakistan, Mongolia and Iran haveobserver status. Afghanistan‘s president attended the summit as a special guest. SriLanka had been granted the status of dialogue partner. Google was shut down inChina.

The first ever summit of BRIC countries was held at Yekaterinburg in Russia in June09. BRIC countries include Brazil, Russia, India and China.

India signed a $ 400 million agreement with Ukraine to upgrade its fleet of transportaircraft AN-32 aimed at extending its life and improving avionics.

Tipaimukh dam project issue between India and Bangladesh.

Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Network (TAR) entered into forceon June 11, 2009 after China ratified the treaty. The other parties to the agreementare Combodia, India, Mongolia, Korea, Russia, Tajikistan and Thailand.

Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE was elected as headquarter of the International RenewalEnergy Agency (IRENA), a grouping of 129 countries. Mini Pravasi Indian Day washeld at Hague (Netherland) in Sep 2009.

France President has recently remarked that ‗ the burqa is a sign of femalesubservience‘.

Lord Swaraj Paul became the first India born Briton to be appointed a Privy



Councillor in Britain.

Milan has been named as the world‘s top fashion city. Mumbai is placed at 16thplace and Delhi at 17th place.

Japan‘s finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa resigned after he was accused to

attending the G 7 summit in Rome in drinking condition.

China became world‘s largest green house gas emitter in 2007. USA at 2nd position.Russia at 3rd position. India at 4th position with one tone of Carbon Dioxide perperson per year emission.

Nuclear armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean.

USA govt approved $ 787 billion economic stimulus package initiated by BarackObama.

Venezuala‘a President Hugo Chavez won a referendum vote that lets him stay inpower as long as he keeps winning elections.

From 1 April 2009 NATO membership was enlarged to 28 with the entrance ofAlbania and Croatia. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) also called theNorth Atlantic Alliance is a military alliance established by the signing of the NorthAtlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. 16th SAARC Summit was held in Maldives in 2009.

EUMA ( End User Monitoring Agreement)- India has signed EUMA with USA whichallows US inspectors to verify the end use of US sourced high technology equipmentto dual use. EUMA is designed to facilitate high end dual use technology transfer toIndia.

World‘s first commercial passenger flight powered by natural Gas operated between

London and Qatar in Oct 09. Shell company developed and produced the 50-50blend of synthetic Gas to Liquid (GTL) kerosene and conventional oil basedkerosene fuel. Qatar will become the world‘s leading producer of GTL kerosene by2012.

Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark accord to restore ties and open their sharedborder after a century of hostility stemming from World War I.

‗Operation Rah E Nijat or Path to Salvation‘- It is the name of operation conductedby Pakistan army against strongholds of Tehreek-e- Taliban (also called PakistanTaliban) soldiers.

USA has declared national emergency in view of increasing number of death due to

Swine flu.

Bangladesh decided to advance its time an hour to GMT + 7. Every 15 degreemeans an hour. France have 12 time zones, Russia have 11 times zones, USA hasnine time zones. India has one time zone based on its 82*30‘ East near Allahabad.

India and Canada signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal . Canada became the 8thcountry with which India has reached a civil nuclear agreement.



Commonwealth has admitted Rwanda, central African country, as its 54th member.

Nepal cabinet meet at Kala Patthar, situated at 17,192 ft above sea level in Nov 09and the base camp of Mount Everest. It adopted Mt Everest declaration which allowsetting up of Gauri Shankar Conservation Area near Mt Everest.

COP15, the official term for the Copenhagen meeting, the 15th conference of partiesto negotiate a new global climate treaty to replace or extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocolbeyond 2012 in Dec 2009. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark.

India and Russia sign civil nuclear agreement in Dec 2009.

National Affairs 2009

Union govt cleared a constitutional amendment to increase the reservation forwoman in Panchayat to 50 % from present 33 %. The Panchayati Raj Ministryamend Art 243 D of the Constitution of India accordingly. The proposed amendmentwill increase reservations for woman to 50 % in Zila Parishads, Panchayat Samitisand Gram Panchayats at District, Block and Village level respectively. India has

about 28.18 lakh elected representatives in panchayats. Four states- Bihar,Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh already have 50 % reservationfor woman in Panchayat. Kerala also announced 50 % reservation for woman inPanchayat. Bihar was the first state to give 50 % reservations to woman inPanchayat in 2005.

Govt clear setting up of National Mission Against Corruption Authority (NMAC). Theaim of the authority will be to ensure better coordination among the CBI andState/UT anti corruption vigilance bureaus.

Govt has declared 272 districts out of 616 districts as drought stricken in 2009 due torainfall shortage.

Draft of National Food Security Act to be presented in parliament in winter session(Jan 2010). As per the proposed Act, every family living below the poverty line inrural and urban areas will be entitled for 25 Kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3per Kg.

Govt plans to built 321 feet Shivaji statue in Mumbai. It is 16 feet taller that NewYork‘s Statue of Liberty and on completion, it became the tallest statue in the world.

Jaswant Singh book‘ Jinnah-India partition Independence was banned in Gujaratstate. The ban however ,was lifted after the High court judgment. The book is abiography of Jinnah. Jaswant Singh also earlier write ‗ A Call to Honour‘.

State Assembly Election was held in Oct 2009 in three states namely Haryana(seats -90), Maharashtra (seats -288) and Arunachal Pradesh (seats -60).

Govt has decided that NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) willnow provide employment for 200 days instead of 100 days. Parliament adopted theConstitution 109th amendment Bill 09 providing reservation of seats for SC & ST inthe Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies of the states for another 10 years.



Namibia president Hifikepunye Pohambe visit India in Sep 209.

Russia provides nuclear submarine‘ Nerpa‘ to India in 2009. It is Akula-2 submarineseries.

Women‘s will be exempted from paying any fees for UPSC/SSC etc examination.

SAF university to be set up in Delhi. It will be started from 2010-11 academicsession. India bear 79 % of its expenditure.

In the seven natural Wonders list, India‘s only entry is that of Sunderban. It is a jointentry from India and Bangladesh.

Vision-2015 For Consumer Satisfaction and Beyond – The paper is published by Oil& Petroleum ministry in which it is proposed to provide CNG in 200 cities by 2015.

Mongolia president Tsakhiagiin Elbagdorj visited India in Sep 2009. India andMongolia signed a Civil Nuclear pact. India already has civil nuclear agreement withUSA, Russia, Kazakhstan and France.

Indian National Congress party will completes 125 years on Dec 2009. Congresswas formed on Dec 1885.

India‘s first non-stop super fast passenger train ‗Duronto Train‘ inaugurated fromSealdah station to Delhi. Total of 14 such trains will be launched this year.

Yashpal Committee was set up to give recommendation on Higher education sector.

Under Kisan Abhiman Scheme. Kerala Govt has granted Rs 300 per month aspension to farmers above 60 years of age.

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank appointed as fifth Chief Minister of Uttrakhand.

Railway ministry has appointed Amit Mitra to prepare Vision -2020 document for therailways.

B Sudershan Reddy appointed as chairman of panel to look into the impeachmentproceeding against Justice Soumitra Sen. India is funding Palaly project in SriLanka.

Areva, French Company and Nuclear power corporation of India Ltd sign anagreement to set up two 1650 MW nuclear plants in Maharastra state. Govtlaunched ‗Rajiv Awas Yojna‘ under which govt plans to formulate for slum dwellers

and the urban poor in an effort to promote a slum free India in next five years.

Ramalingam Chandrashekeram appointed as head of parliamentary specialcommittee that look into the matter of granting citizenship and other facilities for SriLankans in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.

Indian Railway proposed a South Asian Regional Train service linking Dhaka, NewDelhi and Lahore.



Indian President Pratibha Patil visits Cyprus (Capital- Nicosia) in Nov 2009.

Govt started ‗Operation Green Hunt‘ to tackle the Maoists in five Indian states.

Bhutan‘s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangehuck visit India on a 5 day visit in Dec09. He is the 5th king of Bhutan.

NATGRID- National Intelligence Grid to be established by May 2011. The grid willprovide real time access into 21 categories of databases such as credit cardtransaction, driving license, telephone, internet, passport, PAN details, bank A/cdetails etc.

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

Sports Affairs 2009

Shooting champion of India, Samresh Jung is known as ‗Gold finger‘.

Heinrich Haussler won Tour de France 2009 tournament.

Ranji Trophy celebrated Platinum Jubilee after completing 75 years in 2009. Ranjitrophy will also be started in Ireland.

38th Ranji Trophy was won by Mumbai defeating UP in Jan 2009.

Pullela Gopichand (Badminton champion) is the only person to have been awardedwith Arjuna award, Dronacharya award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Binish K Shahji of India won silver medal in World School Athletics in Estonia held inJune 2009.

Wimbledon 2009

Men‘s Single – Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick. Federer break therecord of Pete Sampras record of 14 grand slams.

Women‘s Single – Serena William defeated Venus William. She claimedthird Wimbledon title.

Women‘s doubles –Serena and Venus William defeated Rennae Stubbs andSamantha Stosur.

Mixed Doubles- Mark Knowles and Anna Lena Groenefeld defeatedLaender Paes(India) and Cara Black.

Men‘s Doubles- Danial Nestor & Nened Jimonjic defeated Bob Bryan & Mike

Bryan.

French Open 2009

Men‘s single – Roger Federer defeated Robin Soderling. Men‘s double – Laender Paes and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Wesley Moodie

and Dick Norman. Women‘s single – Svetlana Kuzenletsova defeated Dinara Safina.



Australian Open 2009

Mixed Double - Mahesh Bhupati and Sania Mirza defeated Nathalic Dechyand Andy Ram. Sania Mirza became the first Indian women to won a Grandslam title.

Men‘s singles- Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer. He became the first

Spaniard to won the title. Women‘s singles- Serena William defeated Dinara Safina. India‘s Yuki Bhambri won Junior Australian Open Single title 2009 defeating

A F Georgoudes.

US Open 2009

Women‘s singles – Kim Clijsters(Belgium) defeated Caroline Wozniacki. Men‘s singles- Argentina‘s Juan Martin del Potro defeated Roger Federer.

Men‘s Doubles- Laender Paes (India) and Lukas Dlouhy defeated MaheshBhupathi & Mark Knowles. This is Paes 10th Grand Slam title.

Women‘s Doubles – Venus Williams & Serena Williams defeated Cara Black& Ticzel Huber.

Mixed double – Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott defeated Cara Black &Laender Paes(India).

Science & Technology Affairs 2009

2009 is celebrated as International Year of Astronomy. 2009 is also celebrated as400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with the telescopeused by the Italian physicist. 2009 is also celebrated as : Natural Fibre Year by UN,International Gurilla Year by conservationists & environmentalists, International Yearof Reconciliation.

Longest total solar eclipse of 21st century occurred on 22nd July 2009. It lasted 6

min 44 sec at Taregana in Bihar.

GM( Genetically Modified) crops are those in which the genetic material(DNA) isaltered so that there is some perceived advantage either to the producer orconsumer. Bt Cotton (Bacillius Thuringeinsis) is only commercially approved biotechcrop in India. Govt plans to introduce GM foods particularly Tomatoes, Brinjals andCauliflower to held meet food production target in three years time. Till date, Indiahas only allowed the use of GM Cotton, a non food crop. India is world‘s secondlargest cotton producer. India‘s own Bt cotton variety : Bikaner Narma. Deep SpaceNetwork Facility is located at Byalalu, Karnataka.

Chandrayan II a lander rover mission of ISRO is scheduled to be launched in 2012.ISRO plans to hoist a capsule with two Indians on board to the Moon by 2015.

Subsquently, an Indian will be launched to set foot on the Moon in 2020.

‗Aditya‘ satellite will be sent by India to carry out studies on the Sun in 2012. SOHOstands for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Probe Plus of NASA to study SunSystem will be launched in 2018.

India‘s first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine‘Arihant‘ was launced on 26July 2009. It will be commissioned by 2011. It was built with the help of Russianconsultants. With the launch, India join elite club of five nations USA, Russia, China,



Britain and France having nuclear powered submarine capability.

Blue Brain project in Switzerland is under progress under which scientist attempt to‗Reverse engineer‘ the mammalian brain. Novo-G, world‘s fastest and most powerfulsupercomputer became operational. Novo-G got the first part of its name from theLatin term to ‗make anew, change, alter‘ and the second word G from ‗Genesis‘.

World Forestry Day celebrated on 21 March. Theme for 2009 was ‗SustainableForest Management‘. India currently has 23.39 % of forest area against 33 %required. India presently has 37 Tiger reserves, 99 national parks and 515 wildlifesanctuaries.

Earth Hour 2009 is a global event every year which will see landmarks around theworld to go dark for an hour. Earth Day celebrated on 22 April.

Eight Millenium Development Goals (MDG) were set in Millenium Summit 2000. Ithas a deadline of 2015. Kerala has already achieve the targets in 2008.

India launched a Israel developed spy satellite ‗RISAT 2‘ providing all weather 24

hour surveillance. Also launched experimental communication micro satellite‘ ANUSAT‘ built by Chennai based Anna University.

International Space Development Conference was held at Orlando in May 2009.

Scientist have discovered 47 million year old primate fossil named ‗Ida‘ (Scientificname-Darwinius masillae) which forms a crucial missing link between ourevolutionary branch of life and rest of animal kingdom.

Per capita consumption of electricity is 630 Units in India in 2009.

NDRI Karnal cloned world‘s 2nd cloned buffalo ‗Garima‘. It also produced world‘s 1st

cloned buffalo calf in Feb 2009 but it could not survive. El Nino- is a shift in oceantemperatures and atmospheric conditions in the tropical pacific. It is a periodicwarming of the Pacific oceans that leads to extremes of weather.

La Nino- It follows an El Nino. It is also called the Little Girl. It is anti El-Nino orsimply a cold event. It is the cooling of water in the Pacific Ocean.

SOI ( Southern Oscillation Index) is a major indicator of El Nino, measures thepressure difference between the Pacific islands of Tahiti and Darwin in Australia. Aconsistently negative SOI indicates to a developing El Nino. An El Nino is formallydeclared when above normal temp -0-5 degree celcius or higher are recorded overeastern Pacific surface for three straight months.

Definition of poverty as per Planning Commission- Average per capita spendingbelow Rs. 356 per month in rural areas and Rs. 539 per month in urban areas.

38th World Environment Day was celebrated on 5th June 2009. Theme for 2009chosen by UNDP is ‗Your Planet Needs You‘. World Environment Day wasestablished by UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the StockholmConference on the human environment. 0.8 degree celcius rise in averagetemperature around the world since 1880. India is the 5th largest emitter ofGreenhouse Gases. 2 of the 12 biodiversity hotspots of the world are in India i.e.



Northeastern region and Western Ghats.

US Space Agency‘s Themis Mission – to study the colourful display of high latitudeskies.

Phoenix Mars Lander found Perchlorate substance on Mars surface.

Carbon Credits : It provide a way to reduce green house emissions on industrialscale by capping total annual emissions and allowing the market to assign amonetary value to any shortfall through trading. India has earned 4,64,45,282carbon credits, second only to China in the world. Per capita carbon dioxideemission for India is 1.02 metric tones, while USA stood at first place with 20.01metric tones. Super Earth : It is a large extrasolar terrestrial planet, which is atleasttwice the mass of earth but less than ten earth masses. European researcher foundthree super earths recently.

Asia‘s first and world‘s second DNA bank is opened in Lucknow.

Pluto, the 9th planet of solar system, was demoted from planet status in 2006 is nowcalled‘ Plutoids‘. Jason-2, a French- USA satellite was launched in 2009. It willmonitor rising sea levels and current movement. ‗Gegeneiphis Seshachari‘ firstviviparous ( those that do not lay eggs) was discovered in western Ghat. It is the firstviviparous creature to be found in Asia.

International Lunar Network, is a initiative that provide new insights into the Moon‘ssurface and its interior composition- critical inputs for the future colonialist. India hassigned for the mission to put together a network of robotic science stations on theMoon. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, UK, USA and India have

joined hands for six to eight stations of the Lunar Network. USA places first twoLunar Network Landers on the lunar surface in 2013-14. India has also scheduled tolaunched Chardrayaan-II in collaboration with Russia in 2012-13.

LHC Project : Large Hadron Collidor Project is operated by European Organisationfor Nuclear Research (CERN) at Geneva on 10 Sep, 2008, at Franco- Swiss border.In actual CERN stand for Conseil European pour la Recharche Nucleaire, in Frenchlanguage. CERN was founded in 1954. Under this experiment, scientist recreate theconditions just after the Big Bang to understand the creation and workings of theUniverse. It is the most expansive scientific experiment to date, it cost $ 3.8 billion orRs.16,340 crore. . CERN has 20 nations as member. India, Japan, Russia and USare the observer countries.

Hadron : A particle with mass made up of smaller units called quarks that are boundtogether. Protons and Electrons are types of hadron. Higgs Boson : A theoreticalparticle which is thought to give matter its mass, known as the ‗God Particle‘. Firstproposed by Peter Higgs in 1964. The particle was named after an Indian physicistsS.N.Bose. The LHC experiment should confirm whether it exists or not. NuclearPower Corporation (NPC) operates the 17 reactors in six states, to produce 4120MW of electricity.

Brain Fingerprinting : It is an electronic test of a specific kind of brain wave that canidentify incriminating information despite an individual‘s attempt to conceal theknowledge. It is a type of signal in the brain kwown as P300 wave, so calledbecause it is an involuntary response to a recognized object or piece of information



aims to achieve parity with coal based thermal power generation by 2030.

According to latest findings, Malaria was first transmitted to humans byChimpanzees.

H1N1 a new influenza virus caused Swine flu. It is a genetic code consists of 8

segments. The virus gets its name from a combination of two proteins – hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Swine flu was first detected in 1987. Just likehumans, pigs get flu too, hence the name Swine flu. A disease that spreadsthroughout the world is called Pandemic. Swine flu is termed as pandemic disease.

Govt formulate a technology mission – War for Water ( Winning, Augmentation andRenovation for Water). It solve problem of water scarcity. CDM (Clean DevelopmentMechanism) is a global mechanism where green projects can be registered to earncarbon credits for trading in the international market. India has maximum number ofCDM projects in the world followed by China. One Carbon Credit is equal to a toneof carbon saved from emission.

UN Convention on Climate Change, the global body for certifying clean projects was

held at Bonn, in Aug 2009.

UMPP (Ultra Mega Power Projects) are large sized coal based power projectshaving a capacity of 4000 MW involving an estimated investment of about $ 4 billion.Four UMPP has been awarded so far in India. These are Mundra UMPP, Gujarat,Sasan UMPP, Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam UMPP, Andhra Pradesh and TilaiyaUMPP at Jharkhand.

Antares DLR-H2 motor glider is the first manned aircraft to be powered exclusivelywith a hydrogen fuel system.

IMD (Indian Meteorological Deparment) official definition of a drought year is whenmore than 20 % of the country faces a deficit of atleast 25 % of normal rainfall.

Wind power generation in India as on March 2009 is 10243 MW.

SPASER- It is the world‘s smallest laser which amplifies surface plasmons- tinyoscillations in the density of free electrons on the surface of metals which in turnproduce light waves. LASER amplifies light using a mirrored cavity to intensify it.

IIST- Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology set up at Valiamala,Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala is the only space university in the world offering coursesat the undergruate, graduate, doctoral and post doctoral level in space technology.

The Amino acid ‗Glycine‘ a fundamental building block of proteins has been found

for the first time in a comet Wild 2 by the NASA spacecraft ‗Stardust‘ sent in 2004.Comet Wild 2 was named after astronomer Paul Wild.

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) launched first Swiss satellite built bystudents of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne to study the upperatmosphere.

‗Tobacco Atlas‘ published by American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation,ranks India at No.3 in the top 20 female smoking population across the globe. First



and second place is held by USA and China.

Former DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation) scientist KSanthanam claimed that 1998 Hydrogen bomb test at Pokhran (Rajasthan) hasfailed to deliver the desired result.

ISRO looses contact with Chandrayan I on 29 Aug 2009. It was launched on 22 Oct2008 and was designed for a two year mission in space. India has terminated the400 crore moon mission Chandrayan I on 30 Aug 2009. NASA‘s Moon MineralogyMapper placed abroad Chandrayan I recorded presence of water molecules onMoon.

India‘s first national medical research park is being set up in the Sricity SEZ on theTamil Nadu-AP border.

World‘s first cloned wolf named ‗Snuwolf‘ died in South Korea.

Ridge A in the Antarctic plateau is the world‘s coldest, driest and calmest placediscovered so far. China proposed base in Antarctica is known as ‗Kunlun‘ located at

Dome A.

A new technique called array Comparative Genomic Hybridization(CGH) makes itpossible to ensure eggs have a normal number of chromosomes boosting thelikelihood of a successful pregnancy. Baby Oliver became the first baby in the worldusing this egg screening technique in London.

China overtake USA in the internet user population. Internet users in 2009 : China -298 million, USA – 227 million, Japan – 94 million ,India -81 million.

International Ozone Day is celebrated on 16 September every year. Theme of 2009is ‗Universal Participation-Ozone protection unifies the world‘. Ozone layer is a deep

layer in the stratosphere , encircling the earth that has large amounts of ozone in it.The ozone layer protects all life on land on the surface of the ocean. Ozonemolecules absorb the harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun. This protects us fromradiation that can cause skin cancer and other severe skin disorders.

Scientist discovered first rocky extrasolar planet named ‗Corot-7b‘.

ISRO launch Oceansat-2 satellite on 23 September 2009, which would help identifyfishing zones and help in coastal studies. The 970 Kg spacecraft is launched by C14 PSLV from Sriharikota. Six other nano satellites from European countries werealso launched alongwith it.

‗Copernicium‘ is included in the Periodic table as a new chemical element in July 09.

It‘s name was done after the famous astronomer Nicolus Copernicus.

Google is testing a new service ‗ Fast Flip‘ that allows users to view news articlesfrom dozens of major publishers and flip through them as quickly as they would thepages of a magazine.

Planet Saturn‘s 61st satellite discovered.

Scientist confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur,



after discovery of ‗Australovenator Wintonensis alias Banjo‘.

A new class of black hole was discovered by astronomers in 2009. A black hole is aramnant of the collapsed star with such a powerful gravitational field that it absorbsall the light that passes near it and reflects nothing.

Mocrobiologists in Maharastra‘s Lonar lake found magnetic bacteria therein formeddue to meteorite impact.

Present day Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere have touched the highest mark inthe past 2.1 million years.

World‘s first zero waste city is under construction in Abu Dhabi called Masdar City. Itis to be completed by 2016 and will be world‘s first carbon neutral, zero waste citycompletely powered by renewable energy.

CMERI has developed a solar electric rickshaw called ‗ Soleckshaw‘ which ispollution free.

Gyroscopes are used to maintain orientation and provide stability in boats, aircraftsand space crafts.

Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning harbour wave. A massive tsunami wasunleased by a earthquake in the pacific islands of Samoa on 30 Sep,2009. Thecapital of Samoa is Apia.

Light combat aircraft ‗Tejas‘ successfully completes its 1000th flight in Jan 09.

Indigenously built ‗Astra‘ air to air missile was successfully tested at Chandipur Range, Orissa in May 09.

China‘s Chang‘e-1 mission successfully landed on Moon surface in March 09. It isChina‘s first moon probe.

‗Princess Elizabeth‘ is the name of r esearch station established by Belgium inAntartica in Feb 09. It is the first research station which does not emit any pollutanti.e. it is pollution free station.

China successfully conducted Artificial Snowfall.

LCROSS – Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. NASA‘s LCROSScrashed two spacecrafts into a lunar crater on 9 Oct 2009, hoping to splash ice andfind out possibility of water on Moon.

IOTWS (Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning & Mitigation System)- It was tested in 18Indian ocean nations on 14 Oct 2009.

‗2 Pallas‘is the name of one of the largest asteroid in the solar system.

James Dyson has developed a ‗Dyson Air Multiple Fan‘, a desktop cooling devicewith no blades.



Scientists have identified a gene ‗TMPRSS6‘ which is responsible for causinganaemia.

Neutrinos are elementary particles key to understanding how the universe evolved.Govt proposed to set up Rs.900 crore Neutrino observatory at Mudumalai TigerReserve at Masinagudi in Tamil Nadu.

Epi -genome are the pattern of chemical switches in 200 types of human cell. Ateam led by Joseph Ecker produce the first complete map of the human epi-genome.

NASA launched Ares 1-X rocket. It is first flight test of NASA‘s next generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system which will replace shuttle system.

There are 61 greenhouse gases that are together called Carbon Dioxide equivalent.

ICAR scientist discovered a new sub species of the ‗mite‘ variety of insect andnamed it ‗Mangalaus‘.

International Antartic Treaty Expedition 2009 was made from 15 to 30 Nov 2009. Itstarted from Ushuaia. The expedition was run by Robert Swan Obe ( only man totravel to both North & South Poles). Drake passage is a thin body of water thatconnects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Indian scientist at Institute for Genomics & Integrative Biology sequenced the entiregenome of human. The human genome contains 3.1 billions base pairs. India is the8th country in the world to sequence the human genome.

Astronomers discovered a planet GJ 1214 b in the constellation called ‗ Ophiuehus‘.The planet is almost entirely made of water. ‗Ardi‘ which roamed African forests 4.4million years ago, has been named as the ‗Scientific breakthrough of 2009‘.

-Rakesh Kumar Gupta

Email: [email protected]

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