Current Affairs-Sample Notes

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Games & Hosting Nations Common Wealth Games 2006 Melbourne 2010 Delhi 2014 Glasgow First Afro-Asian Games 2003 Hyderabad 2007 Africa th 15 Asian Games (XV Asiad) 2006 Doha (Qatar) 2014 South Korea SAF (South Asian Federation) 2006 Colombo, Sri Lanka 2008 Dehradun & Auli (Winter SAF) Winter Olympics 2006 Turin 2010 Vancouver 2014 Sochi, Russia Football World Cup 2006 Germany 2010 South Africa 2014 Brazil (the first time since 1950). Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing 2012 London. London has hosted summer Olympics maximum no of times. World Badminton Championship 2009 Delhi Cricket World Cup 2011 India, Pak, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Final Match in Delhi. ICC Twenty20 world cup 2007 South Africa 33rd National Games 2007 Guwahati th 34 National Games 2009 Kerala Hockey World Cup 2010 2010 New Delhi th 14 SAARC Summit 2007 New Delhi th 15 SAARC Summit 2008 Maldives
1.
Nobel Prize
Current Affairs 2008
Awards & Honours Economics: Leonid Hurwicz (USA), Eric S Maskin (USA) Roger B Myerson (USA) For having laid the foundation of mechanism design theory. Physics: Albert Fert (France) Peter Grunberg (Germany) For the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance. Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (Germany) For his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces. Medicine: Mario R Capecchi (USA) Sir Martin J Evans (UK) Oliver Smithies (USA) For their discoveries in principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem 1 Ghanshyam Thori
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Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2005 Dada Saheb Phalke Ratna Award Bharat Ratna Gyanpith Award Ramon Magsaysay Award 2007
cells. Literature: Doris Lessing (UK) the epicist of the female experience who with skepticism, fire & visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny. Peace: IPCC founded in 1988 headed by Rajendra Pachauri & Albert Arnold Gore Jr for work on Climate Change. Shyam Benegal. First film of his was Ankur. Living Legend Dilip Kumar
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Palagumni Sainath of India, the Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu for Journalism Jonito R Salonga Philippines Govt Service Kin Sun Tae South Korea Public Service Mahabir Pun Nepal Community Leadership Tang Xiyang China Peace & Intl Understanding Chung To & Chen Guangcheng China Leadership Indira Gandhi Prize for peace, Wangari Muta Maathai of Kenya (Nobel Laureate) Disarmament & Development 2006 Rajiv Gandhi Manav Sewa Gandhi Peace Prize Indira Gandhi prize for National JS Bandukwala (MS University, Vadodara) & Ram Integration Puniyani (IIE, Powai) shared jointly. For participating in relief work in 1993 Mumbai riots & Godhra riots. 14th Rajiv Gandhi National Hem Dutta (Social Activist from Assam) Sadbhavana Award Jamnalal Bajaj Award Yashpal Mittal Dr Anand Karve Ashok Gupta Prof Michael Nagler. Saraswati Samman 2006 Oriya writer Jagganath Prasad for his work Parikrama Tansen Award Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Shooter). He is the third shooter to receive this award after Abhinav Bindra & Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Man Booker Prize 2007 Irish Writer Anne Enright for her novel The Gathering. Man Booker International Prize Nigerian Novelist Chinua Achebe best known for his first novel Things Fall Apart. Oscar 79th Academy Awards Best Film Departed Best Director Martin Scorsese (Departed) Best Actor Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) Best Actress Helen Mirren (The Queen) Best Foreign Film The Lives of Others (Germany) th 49 Grammy Awards Dixie Chicks stole the show by winning the record of the year & album of the year. rd 53 National Film Awards Best Film: Kaal Purush (Bengali) Best Director: Rahul Dholakia, Parzania (English) Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchhan (Black) 2 Ghanshyam Thori
21. 52nd Filmfare Awards
22. Miss Universe 2007 23. Miss World 2007 24. Miss Earth 2007 25. Femina Miss India Universe
Best Actress: Sarika, Parzania Best Popular Film: Rang De Basanti Indira Gandhi Award for the Best First Film of a Director: Parineeta Best Film Rang De Basanti Best Actor Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom-2) Best Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti) Best Actress: Kajol (Fanaa) Riyo Mori (Japan), held at Mexico City. Natalia Guimaraes (Brazil) first runner up Zhang Zilin of China at the finals of World Beauty Pageant at Sanya, China Pooja Chitgopekar of India won this contest. Puja Gupta (Miss India Universe) Sarah Jane Dias (Miss India World) Pooja Chitgopekar (Miss India Earth)
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Mr. India 2008 CAPA Indian Science Award Chameli Devi Award Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo Lata Mangeshkar Award Kishore Kumar Award Whitley Gold Award Golden Peacock Global Award World Food Prize Nargis Dutta Award for Best Film on National Integration Hiroshima Award National Communal Harmony Award 2006 Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards
Daivanamathil (Malayalam)
40. Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna 41. Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 42. B.M Birla Science Prize 43. G.D Birla Scientific Research Award 44. Knight of the Legion 45. Borlaug Medallion 46. Nelson Mandela Award for Minority Empowerment 47. David Dixon Prize 48. WTA Newcomer of the year 2005 49. Stockholm Water Prize 50. Olof Palme Prize Current Affairs 2008
Delhi based Institue for Socialist Education & Rabindra Nath Upadhyay Violin Maestro T.N. Krishnan Kathak Dancer Rohini Bhate Tabla player Pt. Kishan Maharaj & Gursharan Singh S.K. Saxena
Ghanshyam Thori
51. Abel Prize 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.
Indian American Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan won the $ 850,000 Abel Prize known as Nobel prize of Maths.
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Order Mexicana del Aguila Azteca Order of Australia DRDO Lifetime Achievement Aw. UNESCO World Press Freedom Pr National Geographic Champion Bee Congressional Gold Medal International Indian Film Academy Best Film: Rang De Basanti Awards, Sheffield Best Actor: Hrithik Roshan (Krish) Best Actress: Rani Mukherjee (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) Best Villan: Saif Ali Khan (Omkara) Mother Teresa Award Lal Bahadur Shastri Award International Cosmos Prize Order of the Dannneberg-Knight Mongolian Pole Star Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Ekta Samman M.S. Swaminathan Kabir Puraskar Khalifa Gufran of Saharanpur for communal harmony. UNESCO Madanjeet Singh prize Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Award CSIR Award (hosted in 2006) ET Business Leader of the Year 07 KV Kamath ET Company of the Year 2007 Bharti Airtel ET Business Woman of the Year Shobhana Bhartia, Vice Chairman & Editorial Director of Hindustan Times. ET Emerging Company of the Year Glenmark Entrepreneur of the Year GM Rao, Chairman of GMR Group, Infrastructure Co. Policy Change Agnet M Damodaran ET Global Indian Rajat Gupta ET Business Reformer Praful Patel ET Lifetime Achievement N.R. Narayana Murthy ET Corporate Citizen Sankara Nethralaya, Non profit Eye institute in Chennai. Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award Vyas Samman Office of the Legion of Honour ICC Awards Cricketer of the Year: Ricky Ponting Test Player of the Year: Md Yusuf (Pakistan) ODI Player of the Year: Mathew Hayden (Australia) Women Player of the Year: Jhulan Goswami (India) Emerging Player of the Year: Shaun Tait (Australia) Captain of the Year: Ricky Ponting Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (Australia) Spirit of Cricket Award: Sri Lanka International Childrens Peace Prize Ambassador of Conscience 2006 E&Y Entrepreneur Award 4 Ghanshyam Thori
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Bihari Puraskar 15th Vachaspati Puraskar Dayawati Modi Award Man of Peace Prize 2006 Jawahar Nehru Award International Understanding 92. Jnanpith Award 93. Pulitzer Prize
94. Mo Ibrahim Prize
for Wangari M Maathai (Kenyan Human right activist) Luiz Lula da Silva (Brazilian President) Eminent Kashmiri poet Rehman Rahi. Cormac McCarthy, novelist for The Road Ornette Coleman, saxophonist for Sounder Grammer 13 news organizations also won with Wall Street as the only multiple winner Former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano. Instituted this year the Mo Ibrahim prize With a $5 million initial payment, plus $200,000 a year for life, the prize is believed to be the world's largest, exceeding the $1.3m Nobel Peace Prize.
Commission & Committees (Permanent) 1. Planning Commission
2. National Commission on Population 3. National Commission for Women 4. National Commission for Minorities 5. National Human Rights Commission 6. Staff Selection Commission 7. UPSC 8. Election Commission 9. Central Pollution Control Board 10. Census Commission 11. National Commission for Linguistic Minorities 12. Economic Advisory Council 13. Central Information Commission 14. National Commission on Farmers 15. High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora 16. Expenditure Reforms Commission
Mohammad Shafi Qureshi Rajendra Babu Subir Datta (replaced Gurbachan Jagat).
Justice Ranganath Misra (Recently Elected)
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Some Important Committees Rekhi Committee Common Code of Indirect Taxes LC Gupta Committee Stock Exchange Reform Tarapore Committee Capital Account Convertability Vasudev Committee NBFC reform Nanavati Commission Anti Sikh Riots, New Delhi Liberhan Commission Demolition of Babri Masjid Naresh Chandra Committee National Civil Aviation policy Integrated Energy Committee Kirit S Parekh (Submitted its report) 5 Ghanshyam Thori
9. R.K Raghavan Committee 10. Rajan Committee (Headed Raghuram G. Rajan) 11. Madhav Menon Committee 12. Srikrishna Commission 13. Shanta Sinha Commission 14. K.N Saikia Commission
Prevent ragging on campus (recent) by Financial Sector Reforms Criminal Justice System Reforms Equal Opportunity Commission (Head) Riots post Babri Masjid demoltion Protection of Child Rights Extra Consitutional Killings in Assam during 19982001. It has indicted former CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Compulsory One Year Service in rural areas. Civil Services Reforms. It recommended restoration of original age limit of 21-24 yrs for competing for civils. Agricultural Indebtness Long Term Cooperative Credit Structure (recently submitted its report).
15. Sambasiva Rao Committee 16. Hota Committee 17. Radhakrishna Committee 18. Vaidyanathan Committee
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NSG ADS CITES SAP CECA WTI DTAC CAS CICA SLBM IPTV PAFTA PSPB
14. RoHS 15. PAROS 16. NSAs 17. NAMA 18. HuJI 19. NIMHANS 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. TULF NACIL SAFMA CCPA EFA GNH TUFS
Abbreviations in News Nuclear Suppliers Group Air Defence Ship (first indigenous aircraft carrier) by 2012. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species South Asian Parliament Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (Between India & Sri Lanka recently) World Tribunal on Iraq (Members include Arundhati Roy & 200 NGOs) Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (Signed by India & Serbia) Conditional Access System Conference on Interaction & Confidence building Measures in Asia (Held in Kazakhstan India, Russian, China & others participated) Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (DRDO is working on it) Internet Protocol Television. Pan Asian Free Trade Agreement Petroleum Sports Promotion Board. Most of the National Championship winners are from PSPB. Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space Negative Security Assurances. This is aimed at assuring non-nuclear weapons states that they would never be attacked by nuclear states. Non Agricultural Market Access Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami. Terrorist Outfit of Bangladesh. National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences. It is located in Bangalore & is one of Asias most reputable hospitals. Tamil Liberation United Front. National Aviation Company of India. Merger of Air India & Indian. South Asia Free Media Association Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. Education for All. Report by UNESCO. Gross National Happiness Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme 6 Ghanshyam Thori
27. CFDS 28. RUDSETIs 29. CSTO 30. GEO-4 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.
Corporate Filing & Dissemination System (new portal developed jointly by BSE & NSE). Rural Development & Self Employment Training Institutes Collective Security Treaty Organization of Russia (to counter NATO) Global Environment Outlook, the most comprehensive report on environment by UN Information Center. GEO-4 was launched in Islamabad
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Committees & Their Tasks Committee Control/Ministry Coordination Commission on Energy PMO Trade & Economic Relations Committee PMO Agriculture Coordination Committee PMO Justice Saraf Committee on Arbitration Law & Justice Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee Ministry of Railways
6. Committee of Ministers on Dalit Affairs 7. Committee on Muslim Community 8. Committee to review National Mineral Policy 9. J. J. Irani Committee 10. Committee to draft new Police Act 11. Committee on Prasar Bharati 12. Committee to Probe Volcker Report 13. Committee to review the syllabus of training of IAS officers 14. Committee to examine pricing & taxation of petroleum products 15. Committee to probe into fire at Bombay High 16. Committee for relief of 1984 riots 17. Sandhu Committee to examine price control 18. S.K Joshi Committee 19. Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet 20. S. K. Tuteja Committee 21. Inter State Trade Council 22. Kelkar Committee on Military Acquisitions 23. Expert Committee on Patent Laws 24. India-UK joint Economic & Trade Committee 25. Expert Group on Corporate Bonds & Securitization 26. Hydrogen Energy 27. National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions 28. Committee on Social & Economic status of Current Affairs 2008 7
Chairman Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh B.P. Saraf U.C. Banerjee (Godhra Enquiry) Social Justice & Emp. Pranab Mukherjee PMO Justice Rajendra Sachar Planning Commission Anwarlal Hoda Company Affairs New Company law Home Affairs f Sorabjee Info & Broadcasting S. K. Arora Ministry of Finance Justice R.S. Pathak Personnel, Public R.V. Vaidyanatha Grievances & Pension Ayyar. Petroleum & Natural C. Rangarajan Gas Pertroleum & Gas T.N.R. Rao Home Affairs K.P. Singh Chemical & Fertilizer Gurdial Singh Sandhu HRD Increasing IITs Cabinet Committee R. Chidambaram Agri, CAPD Restructuring Sugar Industry Commerce & Industry Kamal Nath Defense Vijay Kelkar R.A. Mashelkar GoI, GoU.K. Kamal Nath Patricia Hewitt Ministry of Finance R. H. Patil Ratan Tata. M.S.A. Siddiqui Rajinder Sachar Ghanshyam Thori
Muslim Community 29. Pension Scheme for Judicial Officers Commission 30. Committee to study restructuring of Public sector oil companies
Shetty V. Krishnamurthi.
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Organization & Their Heads/Chairman/CEO Reserve Bank of India Y.V Reddy State Bank of India Yogesh Agarwal (MD) O.P Bhatt (Chairman) Central Bank of India Oriental Bank of Commerce Alok Kumar Mishra Punjab National Bank Kamlesh Chandra Chakraborty (CMD) EXIM Bank IDBI Yogesh Afarwal (CMD) SIDBI Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Thomas Mathew (MD) T.S. Vijayan (Chairman) BSE NSE BSNL Kuldeep Goyal (CMD) Ford India HSBC Naina Lal Kidwai (CEO) ICICI Prudential Shikha Sharma NABARD (Chairman) Umesh Chandra Sarangi CII President Sunil Mittal (President) K.V. Kamath (Vice President) NTPC T. Sankaralingam Dena Bank P.L. Galoria (CMD) Indraprastha Gas Limited Om Narayan UTI
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Various Central Organizations & their Heads AICTE CBSE Bureau of Indian Standards Food Corporation of India A.K. Dubey (CMD) Central Board of Film Certification Press Trust of India (Chairman of Boards of Directors) N. Ravi, Editor of Hindu NASSCOM (Chairman) N. Lakshmi Narayanan (CTS) NASSCOM (President) Som Mittal ISRO Chairman Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (Director) K. Radhakrishnan (Earlier head of NRSA, Hyderabad) replacing BN. Suresh. 8 Ghanshyam Thori
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CSIR (Director General) CBI (Director) SAIL GAIL (Chairman) ONGC Oil India Limited (OIL) Surveyor General of India CII President NSD (National School of Drama) Indian Airlines Comptroller & Auditor General of India Chief Justice of Supreme Court (37th) National Security Advisor Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Attorney General Delhi HC Chief Justice Indian Tourism Development Corporation Prasar Bharti KVIC Research & Analysis Wing CBDT (Central Board for Direct Taxes) CBDT Chairman FICCI Chairman Chief of Indian Air Force National Hydel Power Corporation Chief of Naval Staff Chief of Army
Samir K. Brahmachari Vijay Shankar S.K Roongta (Chairman) U.D. Choubey R.S. Sharma M.R. Pasrija
K.G. Balakrishnan (First Judge from Scheduled caste) M.K. Narayanan Nirpendra Misra Milon K. Banerjee Vijendra Jain Parvez Diwan Brijeshwar Singh Kumud Joshi Ashok Chaturvedi Indira Bhargava B.M Singh Habil Khorakiwala, Wockhardt Fali H. Major Sudershan Kumar Garg Admiral Sureesh Mehta Deepak Kapoor
International Organizations & their Heads International Cricked Council David Morgan (for 2008-10) World Bank President Robert Zoellick World Trade Organization (Director General) UNHCR (UN high commissioner for refugees) World Bank (Vice President) International Atomic Energy Agency (Director General) Mohammad Elbaredi UN FAO (Director General) International Monetary Fund (Chief) Dominique Strauss Kahn. E.U. Trade Commissioner P. Mandelson U.N Under Secretary General Vijay Nambiar ICC Chief Executive Malcom Speed ICC Chairman Percy Sonn of South Africa (Replaced Ehsan Mani) 13. Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee Sunil Gavaskar 14. Intel Corporation Paul Otellini (CEO) Craig Barret (Chairman) 15. World Health Organization Mrs Margaret Chan (Chinese) 16. IBM Sam Palmisano 17. SAP Henning Kagermann Current Affairs 2008 9 Ghanshyam Thori 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
18. Ford 19. Asian Development Bank (Manila Based) 20. Airbus 21. World Food Program (WFP) 22. BBC
Alan Mulally (replaced Bill Ford) Haruhiko Kuroda Rajat M. Nag (MD) Louis Gallois (CEO) Josette Sheeran Chitra Bharucha (First woman & Indian to head BBC)
Recently Elected Presidents (Pres.)/Prime Minister (PM) or In News 1. Lebanon Prime Minister Faud Saniora (US Backed PM of Lebanon) 2. France President Nicolas Sarkozy (replaced Jacque Chirac) 3. Prime Minister Francois Fillon 4. Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajpaksa 5. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake 6. Austria Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer 7. Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) 8. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas) resigned 9. Japan Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda replaced Shinzo Abe 10. 11. Russia President Vladmir Putin (Guest of Honour on 26th Jan 2007) 12. Portugal President Anibal Antonio Cavaco Silva (Visited India) 13. Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown (chancellor of the ex-chequer visited India) 14. Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama 15. President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. 16. Nicargua President Daniel Ortega 17. Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Azim Isabekov 18. Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed 19. Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala 20. Italy Prime Minister Romano Prodi (visited India) 21. Turkmenistan President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov 22. Chechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov (former rebel fighter) 23. China Prime Minister Wen Jiabo 24. President Hu Jintao 25. North Korea Prime Minister Kim Yong II 26. Syria President Bashar Assad 27. Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka 28. Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jabr al thani. 29. East Timor President Nobel Peace Laureate Jose Ramos Horta (Male) 30. Prime Minister Gusmao Xanana (recently elected) 31. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev (President for Life Parliament vote) 32. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong 33. Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 34. Israel President Shimon Peres 35. Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 36. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (visited India) 37. Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen 38. South Africa President Thabo Mbeki 39. Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. 40. Turkey President Abdullah Gul (recently elected) Current Affairs 2008 10 Ghanshyam Thori
41. 42. Greece 43. Mexico 44. Bulgaria 45. Jamaica 46. UAE 47. DMC 48. Senegal 49. Estonia 50. Nigeria 51. Thailand 52. Argentina 53. Australia 54. Switzerland 55. Guatemala 56. Pakistan 57. South Korea 58. Ukraine 59. Slovenia 60. Nicaragua 61. Ukraine 62. Myanmar 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70.
Prime Minister Prime Minister President Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister President President Prime Minister President Prime Minister President Prime Minister President President Prime Minister President Prime Minister President President Prime Minister Prime Minister
Recep Tayyib Erdogan (recently elected Islamic roots) Costas Karamanlis Felipe Calderon Hinojosa (Visited India) Sergei Stainishev (Weeklong Indian Visit) Bruce Golding Sheikh Mohd Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum Joseph Kabila won over Jean Pierre Bemba Abdoulaye Wade (Second Term) Andrus Ansip (Retained Power) Umaru Yar Adua (Recently elected) Surayud Chualnont (Visited India) Christina Fernandez de Kirchner (first elected female president & will succeed her husband, Nestor Kirchner). Kevin Rudd of Labour Party (Defeated John Howard) Ms. Micheline Calmy Rey (Visited India) Alvaro Colom (recently elected) Muhammedmian Soomro (Caretaker PM) after Shaukat Aziz Lee Myung Bak (recently elected) Yulia Tymoshenko Danilo Tuerek Daniel Ortega (Former President too) Yulia Tymeshenko. She was driving force of 2004 Organge Revolution of Ukraine. Lieutenant General Thein Sein is new PM
Important Summits 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. G 20 G-8 Shanghai Cooperation Organization European Union Summit G-77 13th ASEAN 7th India-EU Summit World Summit of UN CHOGM Heilingendamn, Germany. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Singapore Helsinki Kampala in Uganda. Queen Elizabeth II, Head of Commonwealth addressed it. Annamalai University, at Chidambaram, 250 Km from Chennai Singapore 11 Ghanshyam Thori
10. 94th Indian Science Congress 11. WTO Minsterial Conference 12. 3rd East Asia Summit 13. ASEAN Current Affairs 2008
14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Asia-Africa Summit Organization of Islamic Conference World Economic Forum 7th World Social Forum 5th Pravasi Bhartiya Samman African Union Summit G-8 Foreign Ministers meeting NAM Summit EU-India Summit First India Social Forum Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) 6th ASEAN India Summit
Nairobi
Germany
Sydney Singapore
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Recent Books (2008 Prelims) India After Gandhi Ramachandra Guha How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, & Kaavya Vishwanathan. Got a Life Half of a Yellow sun Chimamanda Ngozi (Won Orange Broadband prize of Fiction) Military Inc Inside Paks Military Economy Ayesha Siddiqui (Banned in Pak) Agriculture Cannot Wait M.S. Swaminathan Gandhi A spiritual Journey Madhav Vittal Inclusive Growth K.N. Raj It Happened in India Kishore Biyani The Call of 21st Century B.S. Raghavan. Imperial Life in the Emerald City Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Won Samuel Johnson Non-Fiction prize). Indias Unending Journey Mark Tully India Remembered Pamela Mountbatten Wolf Totem Lu Jiamin (This book won Man Asia Literary Prize) The Tales of Beedle the Bard J.K. Rowling Behind the Shades Duncan Fletcher (Former England Team Coachs Autobiography) The Solar Economy Renewable Energy for Hermann Scheer (Winner of Right Livelihood Sustainable Future Award) Dwikhandita Taslima Nasreen (Controversial) Indias Century Kamal Nath (Commerce Minister) Inside IB & RAW K. Sankaran Nair (Former RAW Chief) Georges Secret to the Universe Stephen Hawking Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell The Elephant, The Tiger & the Cellphone Shashi Tharoor The Age of Turbulence Alan Greenspan Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer Yashwant Sinha An American Witness to Indias Partition Phillips Talbot Grand Prix Felipe Massa (Brazil) 12
1. Current Affairs 2008
Bahrain G.P.
Ghanshyam Thori
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San Marino G.P Australian G.P Monaco G.P Spanish G.P. European G.P. Canadian G.P British G.P French GP German GP Italian GP Belgian GP Japanese GP US GP Malaysian GP Brazilian GP
Kimi Raikkonen Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa (Ferrari) Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Kimi Raikkonen Kimi Raikkonen Fernando Alonso Kimi Raikkonen Lewis Hamilton Fernando Alonso Kimi Raikkonen
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Places in News Sanauli, Baghpat Largest Harappan discovered on the banks of Yamuna in UP. Natanz Site of Uranium Enrichment Facility of Iran. Hilla Suicide bombs killed 93 person in this Iraqi Town. Camerron A Kenyan jet carrying 114 people abroad crashed. Colombo, Sri Lk 8th International Congress on AIDs in Asia & the Pacific held here. Hyderabad 58th Session of International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held here. Jakarta 62nd session of UN Economic & Social Commission for Asia & Pacific. Naypidaw New capital of Myanmar. Singur Tata Motors plant here was involved in controversy. Ranibodili In Chattisgrah. Major offensive by 300 Maoists. Mumbai 32nd Annual Conference of International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). IOSCO was established in 1983 & is today known as the International Standard Setter for Securities Market regulating 90 % of the worlds securities market. The chairperson of IOSCO executive committee is Jane Diplock Qatar Meeting of Gas Exporting Countries to setup a group on lines of OPEC Bad Doberan The German town that stripped Adolf Hitler of his honorary citizenship & would host G-8 summit in June 2007. Incheon New Delhi lost bid to host 2014 Asian Games to this South Korean City. Qingdao India & China joint naval exercise. Puri The queen of Puri, Lilabati Pattamahadei conducted a traditional ritual. Hamburg 8th Asia Europe Meeting Meeting of Foreign Ministers. Nusa Dua Located in Bali where the 116th Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting was held. The top agenda was climate change. Samara Russian city where EU-Russia summit ended without any agreement getting signed. Islamabad Meeting of Organization of Islamic Conference. Mustang A cave containing a mural of 55 panels depicting life of Buddha has been discovered in Mustang, Nepal. Larsemann Hills, The consultative parties of the Antarctic Treaty for a research station at 13 Ghanshyam Thori
23. 24. 25. 26. 27.
Paritz Bay Arak Samara Pamban Bridge Shanghai Khusab
this site. Irans first indigenously built heavy water reactor. Iraqi city which houses the golden mosque attacked by militants Rail Applied for world heritage site status. Has become the busiest port in the world surpassing Hong Kong It was reported that Pakistan is building a third plutonium production reactor at this site. This Russian City will host 2014 Winter Olympics. The place where North Koreas Nuclear reactor is situated A place in Japan where nuclear plant was damaged due to earthquake. UNESCO has selected this city as World Book Capital In Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh Archaelogical Excavation. Cabinet to setup Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology here at Rae Bareli district in UP. Unsuccessful attempt of Car Bomb Blast. Located in Islamabad, where Abdul Rashid Ghazi confronted Paks Military but was later killed. 24 police personnel were killed by Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh. In Iran where Hugo Chavez & Ahmedinejad laid the foundation stone of a joint petrochemical plant. Indian airbase in Tajikistan. UN Conference on Disarmament held here. All 65 members barring Pakistan, China & Iran agreed to begin banning of fissile material. North Koreas sole functioning nuclear reactor shut down. First Nuclear monitoring facility in ASEAN to come up at this site in Malaysia. Where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas & Israeli PM Ehud Olmert met. Ruling Janta Dal-BJP coalition govt decided to make Belgaum as the second capital of Karnataka. Asias largest optical telescope is to be set up here, near Nainital. South African Development Community Summit at Usaka in Zambia. The 12th International Lake Conference named Taal-2007 was organized here by Union Forest & Environment Ministry & Raj Govt. Conference of World Economic Forum known as Summer Davos was held in this Chinese City. Two bomb blasts rocked the city Indo Vietnam Friendship Festival. It was inaugurated by legendary revolutionary leader, Nguyen Jhi Binh. Rare discovery by ASI of a Dancing Girl of Harappan times (Haryana) Foreign Ministers of India, Russia & China held a meeting here. IBSA (India, Brazil & South Africa) meeting held here. More than half a million people were ordered to evacuate their homes because of forest fire. US city in Maryland where Israeli PM Ehud Olmert & Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in association with George Bush. An ancient port on the Red sea coast of Egypt where a broken jar with 14 Ghanshyam Thori
28. Sochi 29. Yongbyon 30. Kashiwazaki Kariwa 31. Beirut 32. Jwalapuram 33. Jias 34. Glasgow 35. Lal Maszid 36. Dantewada 37. Asaluyeh 38. Ayni 39. Geneva 40. Yangbyon 41. Bukit Ibam 42. Jericho 43. Belgaum 44. Devasthal 45. Usaka 46. Jaipur 47. Dalian 48. Rawalpindi 49. Kolkata 50. 51. 52. 53. Bhirrana Harbin Tshwane California
54. Annapolis 55. Quseir-al Qadim Current Affairs 2008
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Beppu Thummalapalle Bhopal Panaji Glasgow Swat Valley Mexico Wasington Santa Elena Istanbul Rome Tokelau
inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script has been excavated. In Japan where the first Water Summit of Asia-Pacific was held. Second place after Jaduguda where Uranium in mined. In Andhra Pr. Indian Science Conference was held here. International Film Festival of India held here. 2014 Commonwealth Games to be held here. Pakistans army has launched a massive crackdown in NW Pakistan. 17th Iinternational Aids Conference held here. Indo US Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism met here. Newly created 24th Province of Ecuador. International Conference on Iraq held here. World Energy Congress held here. Referendum on self determination took place in this territory of New Zealand. Indias largest Uranium Processing plant was inaugurated here.
69. Tirumadh 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
Persons in News Preeti Malhotra First women president of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. Irwandi Yusuf Former Rebel leader sworn in as Acehs new governor Chung Mong Koo Hyundai Motors Chairman convicted of embezzlement & sentenced to 3 yrs in prison Drew Giplin Faust Harvards First Woman President Ramadorai Sujatha Associate Professor at TIFR won Ramanujan Prize for 2006. Taha Yassin Ramadan Saddams former Vice President hanged Sheikh Salman bin Bahrains crown prince visited India. Hamad Al Khalifa Zuben Mehta Won Dan David Prize & prize money of 1 million $. SIS Ahmed CRPF Chief. Later replaced by Ranjit Kumar Das Madhukar Gupta Appointed as Home Secretary. Sunil Gavaskar Chairman of the revised Cricket Committee of ICC. Tarun Gupta New chief of Indian Medical Association. Felipe Perez Roque Cuban Foreign Minister visited India. Dimple Singla First Court Martial of a woman army officer (a retd major). Aarti Mehra New Mayor of Delhi Tejinder Khanna Appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Usha Le Macffarling Indian origin journalist awarded Pulitzer for descriptive reporting. V. N. Kaul Indias Comptroller & Auditor General elected as the external auditor of the World Health Organization for a 3 yr term. Mohamad Bin Hammam Second term as Asian Football Federation President. Drew Barrymore Ambassador against Hunger for UN World Food Program A. Raja Appointed new Communication & Information Technology Minister Naresh Trehan Quits Escorts to join Apollo. 15 Ghanshyam Thori
23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.
P.K. Abdul Aziz Sam Pitroda Tejpreet Singh Chopra U. R. Rao Srinivas Padmanaban Alexander Solzhenitsyn Ray Mali Randall Stephenson M.B.N. Rao M.S.S. Rajan Chinmaya Gharekhan Donald Tsang Duvvuri Subbarao Vijay Singh Y.S. Dadwal Geoff Lawson K.G Balakrishnana Sheela Binde Jivtesh Singh Mani Ramesh Chandra Karl Slym Karl Rove Jhulan Goswami K kasturirangan
47. Ang Lee 48. Geeta Gandbhir 49. Indra Sinha 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. Nadeem Taj MS Dhoni Bahubali S. Shah Bhaskar Das K. C. Jena Mohd Shafi Qureshi Shashank Manohar D D Lapang Nilofar Bakhtiar
59. Ravi Shankaran 60. Kapila Vatsyayan 61. S. Gopalakrishnan 62. Harikrishna Devsare 63. Percy Mistry 64. Cho-Seung Hui 65. Ramchand Bhavnani Current Affairs 2008
VC of Aligarh Muslim University. Head of Knowledge Commission. CEO of GE India. Awarded ISROs life time achievement award by Abdul Kalam Awarded World Clean Energy Award. Awarded top Kremlin Award by Putin for his humanitarian work. Appointed as the acting President of ICC. New CEO of Americas largest telecom player AT&T. Chairman of Indian Banks Association Appointed CMD of Indian Bank. President of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. CEO of Hong Kong Appointed Finance Secretary Defence Secretary. Delhi Police Chief Pakistans New Cricket Coach. CJI elected to the bench of the Society of Lincolns Inn, London. Appointed CMD of India Trade Promotion Organization 1974 batch IAS officer has taken over as Chairman of NHAI. Chairman of Railway Board. New President & MD of General Motors, India. Most influential white house aide of Bush resigned ICC Women Cricketer of the Year. Director of National Institute of Advance Studies won Theodore Von Karman Award of the International Academy of Astronautics. Won Golden Lion for his film Lust, Caution at Venice Film Fest. Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Picture Editing. Among the 6 authors shortlisted for Man Bookers prize for his work Animals People which is about 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy. New ISI chief of Pakistan. Captain of ODI team. Yuvraj to be VC. MD of Indian Newspaper Society Chairman of Advertising Standard Council of India New Chairman of Railway Board. Chairman of National Minorities Commission. Will succeed Sharad Pawar as BCCI Chief in 2008. Sworn in as CM of Meghalaya A militant cleric madrasa of Pakistan issued a fatwa against the tourism minister of Pakistan, N Bakhtiar after she hugged a male paraglider in France. Main accused of Naval War Room Leak Nominated to Rajya Sabha. She is founder & former academic director at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts. CEO & MD of Infosys Noted Hindi Litterateur won the Vatsalya Award Heading Committee to realize the vision of Mumbai as an International Financial Center. Advised making rupee fully convertible. South Korean student killed 32. Bought 14.08 % stake in Spains fifth largest bank, Bankinter. 16 Ghanshyam Thori
66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76.
Nepals Foreign Minister. Also the first woman foreign minister FIFA president who visited India. Elected 3rd time as President. First space tourist from India from Kerala. First swiss to have him on postage stamp. SC held him guilty of murdering his wife begum Shakereh Namazi Broke his own world record by scaling Mt Everest for 17th time. Appointed chairman of Forward Markets Commission. Chairman of 18th Law Commission. President of UN General Assembly. Won the Women Together Award of UN. Lost for the first time on Clay Court after winning 81 consecutive matches at Hamburg Masters (Germany). Defeated by Federer. 77. V Thulasidas CMD of National Aviation Co Ltd, formed by merging AI & Indian Airlines. 78. Amartya Sen Won World Economic Prize known as Kiel Prize 79. BN Srikrishna Heads 6th Pay Commission. 80. Kamalesh Sharma High Commissioner of India in London, Kamalesh Sharma was appointed Commonwealth Secretary General by CHOGM 81. Chinmaya R. Garekhan President of Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts 82. Trevor Bayliss Australian who was appointed as New Coach of Sri Lanka 83. P.S. Goel Secretary, Ministry of Earth Science was awarded Aryabhatta Award. 84. U.R Rao Former ISRO chairman awarded ISROs lifetime achievement award 85. John McEnroe Legendary tennis player awarded Philippe Chatrier Award. 86. Kuldip Sidhu Indian born Australian won the Top Invention Prize 2007 for his work on stem cells. 87. Milan Martic Croatian leader convicted of war crimes & sentenced for 35 yrs RI. 88. Bernard Weber Started the New 7 Wonder Project. 89. Norman Borlaug Presented the Congressional Gold Medal 90. Iftikhar Choudhary The Chief Justice of Pakistan who was removed by Musharraf & later reinstated by the Supreme Court reversing the decision. 91. Thaksin Shinawatra Former PM of Thailand & current owner of Manchester City Football Club, Thaksin is wanted back in Thailand to face criminal charges. 92. Mahashweta Devi Turned down the request of attending World Hindi Conference in NY. 93. Mohammad Haneef Brisbane based Indian Doctor was charged of link with Al Qaeda. 94. Mohd Zahir Shah Afghanistans last king who was also titled Father of the Nation 95. Syed Nayeemuddin Indias former football coach & captain, Syed Nayeemuddin has been appointed as the National Coach by the Bangladesh Football Federatn. 96. Martti Ahtisaari UN special envoy for Kosovo. 97. Charles Taylor Former Liberian President who is being tried for War Crimes. 98. Rashmi Sharma Became the youngest Indian woman to cross the English Channel Twice. After Bula Choudhary she is the second Indian Woman to cross the English Channel twice. 99. Ronen Sen Indias ambassador to US criticized political parties opposing N deal. 100. Indu Malhotra Only the second woman to be designated as Senior Advocate. 101. Milan Lalitkumar Naidu Appointed Vice Chief of the Army Staff. 102. Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Won the Sahitya Kala Parishad Lifetime Achievement Award for his Khan Dagar outstanding contribution to the field of classical music. 103. S.K Satheesh Won the Asian Young Scientist Award. 104. S.S. Virk Former Punjab Director General was arrested for possessing assets Current Affairs 2008 17 Ghanshyam Thori
Sahana Pradhan Joseph Sepp Blatter Santosh Georg Kulangara Roger Federer Swami Shraddananda Appa Sherpa B.C. Khatua A.R. Lakshmanan Srgjan Kerim Vasundhara Raje Rafael Nadal
105. Suharto 106. Joseph Estrada 107. Kumaran Pathmanathan 108. Alberto Fujimori 109. Shilendra Kumar Singh 110. Nawab Mohd Abdul Ali 111. Nadeem Taj 112. Michael Schumacher 113. Bernard Lagat 114. Ravi Shastri 115. Dalai Lama 116. Kurmanbek Bakiyev 117. Mikhail Y Fradkov 118. Queen Beatrix 119. Joaquim Chissano 120. Bhanwar Meghavanshi 121. Bobby Jindal 122. Ali Larijani 123. Drew Gilpin Faust 124. Inzamam Ul Haq 125. Mammen Mathew 126. Gopal Sharma 127. Som Mittal 128. Vivek Kumar Agnihotri 129. B. Aleksey Efremov 130. Vijay Nambiar 131. Asha Rose Migiro 132. Kamlesh Sharma 133. Ashfaz Pervez Kayani 134. Renu Khator 135. Rita Gunasekaran
136. Steven Spielberg 137. Vijay L. Kelkar
138. Oswald Garcias 139. Akbar Padamsee 140. Jacob Zuma 141. Julia Gillard Current Affairs 2008
disproportionate to his known sources of income. Ex dictator of Indonesia awarded 106 million $ by Indonesias supreme court in a law suit against Time Magazine. Former Phillipine President sentenced to life imprisonment but later granted Presidential pardon. Second Most wanted LTTE man claimed to have arrested in Bangkok but not confirmed. Former President of Peru was extradited from Chile to face charges. Sworn in as new governor of Rajasthan. Elected President of Ajmer Dargah Committee for five years. Appointed head of ISI Paks intelligence agency. Germanys seven time F-1 Champion awarded Spains highest honour, the Prince of Asturias prize for sports. Kenyan Born US Citizen became the first man to win both the 5000 m & 1500 m world titles in world athletics championship. Becomes Chairman of the National Cricket Academy. Awarded US Congressional Medal. Kyrgyzstans President tendered his resignation. Appointed Russias new spy chief. Netherlands Queen visited India. Former President of Mozambique won the African Leadership prize. Won the Sarojini Naidu Award for Hindi Journalism. Governor of Lousiania. He is Congressman from New Orleans & belongs to the Republican party. Irans chief nuclear negotiator quit. Saeed Jalili replaced him. Harvard Universitys first woman president. Quits Test Cricket. Editor of Malayala Manorama renominated as Trustee of Reuters. Director General of SSB (Seema Suraksha Bal) NASSCOM President Secretary General of Rajya Sabha. National TT Coach. Chief of Staff of UN (appointed by Ban Ki Moon) Deputy Secretary General of UN. She was Tanzanian Foreign Minister Commonwealth Secretary General Paikstans Army Chief Indian American to lead prestigious university of Houston US woman lawyer has been conferred with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Associations highest honour for 2007 the NAPABA Trailblazer Award. Honoured with Cecil B DeMille Award at the 65th Golden Globes. Heads 13th Finance Commission. The recommendations will cover the period from 2010 to 2015. It will look into principles governing grantin-aid of the revenues of States out of Consolidated Fund of India. Archbishop of Mumbai elevated as Cardinal of India. Noted painter awarded Dayawati Modi Award Became South Africas African National Congress (ANC) as he defeated Thabo Mbeki in a leadership election at a party. Australias deputy PM (Lady). 18 Ghanshyam Thori
142. Vikram Pandit 143. Kiran Bedi 144. Raj Singh Dungarpur 145. Sowmya Raghavan 146. Vinod Rai 147. Karan Thapar 148. Ian Wilmut 149. Taslima Nasreen 150. Ieng Sary 151. Ronen Sen 152. T.D. Dogra 153. Avtar Singh Makkar 154. T. Shanmugaratnam 155. Surin Pitsuwan 156. Samina Malik 157. P. Uthayakumar 158. Pravin Mahajan 159. K.V. Kamath 160. Aung San Suu Kyi 161. G.D Jayalakshmi 162. CNR Rao 163. Sudha Mahalingam 164. D.R. Mehta
165. Babasaheb Purandare 166. B. Ramalinga Raju
167. Shikha Sharma 168. S.P. TamilSelvan 169. Kamal Nath 170. Peggy Whitson 171. John Wahey 172. Princess Nafa Ali 173. David Mulford 174. Bruno Cuche 175. 176. 177. Current Affairs 2008
CEO of Citigroup Resigned from DG of Bureau of Police Research & Development Former BCCI Chief elected President of Cricket Club of India. First women to take charge of Railway zone (GM of Central Railway) Comptroller & Auditor General of India (replace VN Kaul) An IAS officer of 1972 batch. Awarded Asian Television Award for the best current affairs presenter. The person who revolutionized stem cell research by creating Dolly, the sheep has been given knighthood. Due to some controversial lines written by her in Dwikhandita, she had to leave West Bengal. Deputy PM & Former Minister of Cambodia was charged with war crimes. Indian Envoy to the US who was in news for his Headless Chicken remark over the opposition to Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. Appointed Acting Chief of AIIMS replacing P. Venugopal. Re-elected President of SGPC, for the third time. Ethnic Indian appointed Finance Minister of Singapore. Appointe Secretary General of ASEAN from 2008-2013. First women in UK to ver get convicted under Terrorism Act. Leader of Hindarf (Hindu Rights Action Force) in Malaysia who was arrested, granted bail & then rearrested. Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for killing Pramod Mahajan. Forbes Asias Businessman of the year 2007. Congressional Gold Medal awarded. Her documentary on How Indian Recycle paper won commonwealth vision award. Won First Bangalore Nano Award. Awarded the first K. Subhrahmanyam Award for Excellence in Strategic Studies. Awarded Tech Award for Innovation & Benefit of Humanity. Mr. Mehtas organization is the largest limb manufacturing agency in for its affordable Jaipur foot. Awarded with Kalidas Samman. Awarded E&Y Young Entrepreneur of 2007. He is founder of Satyam Computers. Lifetime achievement award was given to Keshab Mahindra. MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential. She was awarded Manager Entrepreneur by E&Y. LTTE No. 2 leader Killed by Sri Lankan Air Force Attack. Awarded FDI personality of the year. First Female Commander of International Space Station. President of World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) Princess of Jordan visited India. US Ambassador to India General of Frances Army who visited India.
19
Ghanshyam Thori
178. 179. 180. 181. 182. Obituaries 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Omkar Prasad Nayyar Chandralekha Lalit Mohan Thapar Saparmurat Niyazov S. Rangarajan Vijay Arora Lothar Geunther Buchheim 8. Shyama Charan Shukla 9. Pandit Bishan Das Sharma 10. Praduman Singh 11. Ernest Gallo 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. Boris Yeltsin Parry O Brien Nina Wang Prabhakaran K.P Nair Jagat Murari Percy Sonn Bill Johnston Dr Charat Ram Huang Ju Kurt Waldheim Ramchandra Gandhi Anita Guha Jeeva Chandrashekhar Sahib Singh Verma Bharat Ram Albert Ellis Dilip Sardesai Banarasi Das Gupta Yone Minagawa Quratulain Hyder Anita Roddick Jane Wyman Mani Kumar Rai Music director best known for hits like Jhumka Gira re. Legendary Bharatanatyam dancer died. Patriarch of Ballarpur Industries is dead. The iron fisted ruler of Turkmenistan for 20 years is dead. Great Editor of The Hindu died Actor best known for this film Yadon Ki Barat & song Chura Liya. German Author whose war novel Das Boot was adapted intoa critically acclaimed film. Veteran Congress Leader & 3 times CM of Madhya Pradesh died. Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner who invented tamboori, swarsangam, Mohan veena is dead. Athletics legend who won five medals for India in Asian games. Who created the company E & J Gallo Winery is producing a quarter of all wine & wine related products sold in US. Man who hastened the collapse of Soviet Union. Who broke 17 short put records & won 3 Olympic medals. Asias richest woman. Hockey gold medalist in the 1998 Asian games died. Kathakali Exponent & former principal of Kerala Kalamandalam. Directed 50 documentaries & was director of Film & TV Inst of India. ICC president died in Cape Town. Replaced by Ray Mali (Acting) A versatile left arm bowler of Australia died. Leading Industrialist died Famous Chinese Communist Party Leader Former UN Secretary General & President of Austria. Grandson of Mahatma Gahndhi who was found dead in a guestroom at the India International Centre in New Delhi. Who played the role of Santoshi mata in Jai Santoshi Ma Tamilian Film director died of cardiac arrest. Former PM & president of Samajwadi Janta Party died at Apollo, Delhi Former Delhi Chief Minister & senior BJP leader. Industrialist DCM group & Sri Ram Fertilizer died. Famous psychologist Former Indian Batsman & Father of Rajdip Sardesai (CEO of CNNIBN) & only cricketer from Goa died. Former Haryana CM died. Worlds Oldest Person acc to Guinness Book died. Renowed Indian Urdu Writer & Journalist. Body Shop Founder died Oscar winning Actress & Ronald Reagons first wife. Seven times National Boxing Champion died. 20 Ghanshyam Thori
37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75.
Jana Krishnamurthy Mullah Dadullah G. Srinivasan R. Ramchandran Ali-Hassan al Majid
First leader from south to become BJP president died. Talibans most prominent military commander killed in Operation. Producer of Guru & Director Mani Ratnams brother died. Founder Secretary of music sabha Hamasdhwani died. Cousin of Saddam Hussain known as Chemical Ali charged for gassing the Kurds was sentenced to death. Rekha Malhotra Accomplished classical dancer of Bharatanatyam & Kuchipudi died. Wally Herbert First man to walk on north pole died. Arvind Lalbhai Visionary Industrialist & Founder of Arvind Mills died. Qurratulain Hyder Renowed Urdu writer. Her Aag ka Dariya was a masterpiece. Jamanlal Sharma Olypic Hockey player from India died. Rajyogini Dadi The head of Prajapita Brahmakumari Ishwariya Vishwavidyalaya Prakashmani passed away at Mt. Abu in Sirohi district. Akbarali A. Heptulla Husband of Najma Heptullah & noted manpower consultant died. Rangaswamy Designer of India first general purpose digital computer. Narasimhan Ashesh Prasad Mitra Former CSIR director general & Padma Bhushan winner died. Soe Win Myanmars Former PM died. Al Oerter The discus great who won four gold medals in four straight Olympics in 1956, 1960, 1964 & 1968. L.M Singhvi Jurist, Statesman, BJP leader & former MP died. Babasaheb Bhosale Former Maharashtra CM died. S.R Bommai Former Karnataka CM Died. R.S Sarkaria Former Supreme Court Judge who defined Centre-State Relations. Arthur Kornberg Who won the 1959 Nobel for figuring out how DNA is built died. Ali Raza Scriptwriter of Mother India died. Norman Mailer Author of famous book The Naked & the Dead & two times Pulitzer winner. R.S. Pathak Former Chief Justice of India. He headed U.N. Oil for Food Scam. Ian Smith Former Rhodesian PM from 1964 to 1979 died. Henry Hyde Former Republican after whom the Indo-US nuclear deal is named. G.P. Sippy Producer of Sholay died. Oscar Patterson One of the most popular Jazz artists in history Teji Bachchan Mother of Amitabh Bachchhan Ike Turner King of Rhythm credited with writing the first Rock & Roll record. Swami Ghanananda President of Ramakrishna Math died. Ustad Bale Khan Sitar Maestro of Dharwad. Paul Tibbets Jr. US pilot who dropped the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
Indias Recent Trade Pacts 1. 2. TEF FTA Trade & Economic Framework (with Australia) Brazil & South Africa 21 Ghanshyam Thori
3. 4.
PTA
Preferential Trade Agreement (Chile)
Miscellaneous Facts: 1. The 13th SAARC summit was held at Dhaka (Nov 2005) & 14th will be in India. Declared the decade of 2005-2015 as SAARC decade of poverty alleviation. The Dhaka Declaration welcomed the decision of the SAARC summit to include Afghanistan in the forum as its newest member. 2001-2010 has been declared as the SAARC decade of the Rights of the Child. 2. The top 10 countries accounting for FDI in India during 2004-05 are Mauritius, USA, Japan, Netherlands, U.K., Germany, France, South Korea, Singapore & Switzerland. 3. Bharat Nirman targets are to be met by 2009 with a fund of 175000 crore.. It involves bringing additional 1 crore hectares under irrigation. Connect all villages with a population of 1000 & above with roads. 60 lakhs houses for poor; electricity & telephone connectivity to all remaining villages. 4. U.P, Punjab, Rajasthan are the top 3 states in India in Milk production. Per capita availability of milk is highest in Punjab. Indias annual milk production in 2003-04 was around 90 million tonnes. Arunachal Pradesh has the least milk production. 5. Mali & Nigeria are the poorest countries in the world with more than 70% populaiton below BPL. Zimbabwe has 133 % inflation rate. Nauru has 90 % unemployment followed by Liberia & Zimbabwe. Botswana, Lesotho & Swaziland have the highest death rates. 6. Tonga is the latest member of WTO.
Military News Pakistan test fires Shaheen 2 (or Hatf VI) surface to surface missile with a range of 2000 km. Indias Nag (anti tank missile) enters production stage. Brahmos the supersonic missile jointly developed by India & Russia is ready for induction after its 10th & final test firing. Pinaka a multi barrel rocket system underwent a successful trial at Chandipur-on-Sea, 15 Km from Balasore (Orissa). Indian Navys new frigate Sahyadri built in Mazagaon docks, Mumbai launched. INS Kadamba Indian Navys Third operational base after Mumbai & Vishakhapatnam commissioned by Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. It would provide navy with its first exclusive harbour. INS Beas (3600 tonne Indian Naval Ship) as the highest ever content of any warship built in India. 22 Ghanshyam Thori
Dhanush Naval version of Prithvi test fired. Tejas Indias indigeneously built LCA makes it maiden flight Akash medium range surface to air missile test fired successfully. Indias Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv cleared by HAL for recommencement of flight. Indian Navys first UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) commissioned. KARTIK (Brick layer tank), KAVERI (Engine for LCA), INDRA (low level warning radar) & PANCHENDRIYA (Tactical weapon system control).
India gifted INS Tillanchang to Maldives as a part of bilateral cooperation. Pakistan cabinet has given a go-ahead to the acquisition of Swedish AWACs (Air borne warning & control system). India earlier acquired the same.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has released the first ever Joint War Doctrine containing the principles by which to conduct Joint Operations by the three services
Army Headquarters (AHQ) has been formally designated as the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence.
MiG-25s will be used no more. They use to serve as spy planes. Chinas new generation fighter aircraft Jian-10 which officials claim is superior in many aspects to the US F-16 & French Mirage 2000 jets made its debut.
China successfully carried out its first test of an anti-satellite weapon hitting an ageing weather satellite at an altitude of roughly 800 km.
Defence Minster, AK Antony dedicated INS Shardul, a landing warship to the nation at an event at the Karwar Naval Base.
Indian Navy took charge of USS Trenton. It will be the second largest ship in the Indian Navy after the aircraft carrier Viraat & will be renamed as INS Jalashva (Seahorse).
INS Trangini is Indias only Naval Sail Training ship. Pakistan test fired its long range surface to surface ballistic missile Hatf VI. India builds air base at Tajikistan in Central Asia. China hikes its arms budget by 44 billion $. US sells F-16s to Pak. Pakistan tested Hatf VII Babur missile with a range of 700 Km. Britain passes law to build new Trident nuclear deterrent submarines to replace older ones. Indian Army withdraws Cheetah & Chetak light helicopters due in inadequacy for present operational requirement.
Russia builds its new Nuclear Submarine Yuri Dolgoruky after 12 years. Agni III test fired successfully which has a range of 3500 Km. 23 Ghanshyam Thori
Eurocopter has won the Indian Armys much awaited deal for 197 modern light helicopters estimated at around 550 million $.
Admiral Gorshov or the rechristened Vikramaditya aircraft carrier stands delayed to atleast 2010. Much to the concern of the Government Indias sole aircraft carrier INS Viraat does not have many years left with only 12 Sea Coast Harrier jumpets on deck.
Russia tested a new long range ICBM called RS-24 from its Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The ministry of Defence has announced that the first batch of 124 Arjun Main Battle Tanks ordered by the army would be in service by 2009. The production of Arjun has commenced at Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi.
India Coast Guard Ship Sangram commissioned in 2007 left the Chennai port to participate in the International Maritime Defence Exhibition & Conference Asia 2007 (IMDEX 2007) held in Singapore.
India test fired Astra an Air to Air missile. Chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major flagged off a round the world microflight which will be flown by Wing Commanders Rahul Monga & Anil Kumar. The expedition would cover 39,000 km in about 45 days & set IAF set new world record in 300-500 kg weight category.
The constitution of highly advanced submarine, Scorpene began at Mazgon Deck, Mumbai. The first Scorpene would be delivered to the Indian Navy in 2012 & then one every year totaling induction of six French submarines in the Indian Navy.
India to acquire four more aerostat radar from Israel. HMS Astute, Britains first new attack submarine in almost two decades is being launched which is capable of circumnavigating the planet without surfacing. It will never need refueling as the nuclear reactor inside it will last for the vessels entire 25 yr life.
Indian Air Force participated in the Royal Air Force Waddington International Air Show in UK. The Indian Air Force tanker Su-30 MKIs & the IL-78 were declared the best. They were in the UK for Exercise Indra Dhanush, a joint exercise with the RAF.
Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL) of DRDO in Vishakhapatnam handed over two Advanced Exercise Mines (AEMs) to the Navy.
India has sent radars to Sri Lanka to ward off threat of air attack by LTTE. Tezpur Air Base phases out MiG-21 fleet, the last air base to do so. Shaheen 2 is Pakistans largest & most capable ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear war heads & striking most parts of India.
India successfully tested Sagarika, a submarine based cruise misile.
24
Ghanshyam Thori
India & Russia ink 5th Generation aircraft deal in Moscow. American F-22 Raptor is regarded as the first of the Fifth Generation Fighters.
IAF celebrated its platinum jubilee after turning 75 years old on October 8 (The Airforce Day). India allows Singapore to use its Kalaikunda Airbase in an agreement. First Batallion of the Fourth Gorkha Rifles celebrated its 150th year. Army conducts wargame codenamed Exercise Kaamyaab. IAF to participate in the prestigious Red Flag Advanced Aerial Combat Exercise to be held in Nevada, USA. Australia & New Zealand are also expected to participate.
Amendments to the Armed Forces Tribunal Bill, 2005 was approved by Union Cabinet which would provide speedy redressal to the grievances of officers.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been formally upgraded & redesignated as a separate Department of Health Research under the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
India signed the Abuja Declaration with Nigeria strengthening its strategic partnership with the worlds fifth largest producer of oil.
After series of trials Indias surface-to-air Akash Missile was cleared for induction in the armed forces. The Parliament approved the Sashastra Seema Bill 2007 to provide armed forces status to Sashastra Seema Bal (Earlier called Special Services Bureau) & gave it legal backing to strengthen policing of borders with Nepal & Bhutan.
US gives 25 Bell 412 helicopters to Pakistan. Military Aerospace deal signed between HAL & Boeing which involves technological cooperation. A sea harrier fighter aircraft of the Indian Navy crashed at the Dabolim Airbase in Goa. The ageing Sea Harrier is the only type of fighter aircraft available in the Navys inventory & are no longer in production anywhere in the world.
DRDO develops Composite Rocket Motor Casing which will reduce the weight of the missiles by 40 % & production cost by half.
Japanese navy destroyer successfully intercepted a dummy test missile. India successfully tested a hypersonic inter-ceptor missile at an altitude of 15 km in Wheeler Island.
Military Data/Excercises 1. 2. 3. 4. Shatrunaash Varuna 2007 Indra 2007 Himalayan Warrior Domestic Army Exercise on Sutlej river bank involving 15,000 soldiers. Indo French Naval Exercise at Gulf of Aden. India Russia joint anti-terror wargames held at Russias Pskov oblast. Indo-UK Joint exercise in Ladakh. 25 Ghanshyam Thori
5.
Malabar Exercise
6. 7. 8. 9.
Ashwamedh Hand in Hand 2007
Biggest ever Naval Exercise in the Bay of Bengal involving 5 nations India, US, Japan, Australia & Singapore. First Major exercise of Indian Armys South-Western Command in Pallu, Rajasthan. First Ever Joint Military Exercise by China & India organized at Kunmig Military Academy, China.
Cricket News: India wins the India-West Indies ODI series by 3-1 in which Sachins century of 76 balls proved decisive. Australia completed the most crushing Ashes victory with a 5-0 sweep of England. India looses test series to South Africa by 2-1. South African Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher claimed the world record for Test Catches. India wins the ODI series against Sri Lanka with Ganguly being the man of the series. Mumbai wins the Ranji Tropy for 2007. Kumble retired from ODI. Australia won the World Cup 2007 after defeating Sri Lanka. It became the first team to record a hat trick of world cup titles their fourth in the world cup history. Gilchrist got the man of the match award. Glenn Mcgrath was officially named as the player of the tournament while Matthew Hayden got the title of the Golden Bat. The Olympic council of Asia has added cricket to he 2010 Asian Games schedule. India won the Indo-Bangla series by 2-0 with the final being abandoned. Dhoni became the man of the series. India wins the Future Cup over South Africa by 2-1. India won the test against England by 1-0. Kumble scored his first century. BCCI has accepted the VJD 2007 system developed by V Jayadevan, an engineer from Thrissur as a possible replacement for the Duckworth-Lewis method that is used in cricked to calculate target score in Rain Affected matches. India wins the ICC Twenty20 world cup with a breath taking 5 run victory over Pakistan. Earlier Yuvraj Singh hit 6 sixes in an over of Stuart Board & fasted 50 off 12 balls. In Semi Final India defeated Australia to enter Finals. Irfan Pathan was named Man of the Match while Shahid Afridi was named Current Affairs 2008 26 Ghanshyam Thori
Man of the Tournament. The only century was hit by Chris Gayle of WI. Bret Lee scored the only Hat trick. 260 runs were the highest score by Sri Lanka against Kenya. Australias Mathew Hayden was the top run scorer with 265 runs. England beat India in the Seventh & Final ODI played at Lords to win the Natwest series by 4-3. Australia clinched the Future Cup from India by 4-2. Symonds was man of the series. The Ceat Cricket Rating awards went to: International Team of the Year: Australia, Cricketer of the year: Muttiah Muralitharan, International Bowler of the year: Muttiah Muralitharan, Batsmen of the year: Mahela Jayawardene, Life Time Achievement Award Ricky Ponting & Anil Kumble. Anil Kumble appointed as Test Captain. India wins the ODI series against Pakistan by 3-2 despite loosing the final match. Yuvraj was declared man of the series. After a gap of 27 years at home, India won the test series of 3 test matches against Pakistan by 1-0 in the captaincy of Anil Kumble. India won 1 match & the other two were drawn. BCCI Award 2007 were awarded to Sachin Tendulkar (for crossing 11000 Test Runs & 15000 ODI Runs), Jhulan Goswami (ICC Womens Cricketer), Anjum Chopra, Anju Jain (Arjuna awardees), Jaya Sharma (best women cricketer), Rahul Dravid (Crossing 10,000 runs) & Anil Kumble (Crossing 550 Test wickets & India captaincy). C.K. Naidu award for lifetime achievement was given to Nari Contractor. After a gap of more than 100 years, the International Olympic Committee has given cricket the status of a recognized sport. With the dismissal of Paul Collingwood wicket of Englad, Muralitharan broke Shane Warnes record of 708 wickets & became Test Crickets leading wicket taker. Jayasurya announces retirement from Test Cricket. Australian John Dyson appointed coach of West Indies cricket team.
Other Sports Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win a major badminton event when she clinched the Philippines Open title in Manila. Sania Nehwal won the womens title athe Senior National Badminton championship. The Hopman cup of Tennis was won by Russia. Geeth Sethi pulled off a close victory against Asian Games champion Pankaj Advani in the final round to annex the national billiards title after nine years. Anuja Thakur took her fifth womens National Billiards title. Current Affairs 2008 27 Ghanshyam Thori
Paraguay stunned the Games big guns by winning the Womens World cup of Golf. John Kelai of Kenya won the Mumbai Marathon organized by Standard Chartered. Chinese Yang Ziao Shu won the womens race.
Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to join the 2700 ELO rating club in the FIDE. It also helped him to his carrier best 21st ranking in the world.
Indian Kabbadi team wins the Kabbadi world cup organized at Karnala Sports Academy, Raigarh near Mumbai beating Iran. Goa based Churchill Brothers recently won the 120th edition of the Durand Cup Soccer tournament. Durand cup is the third oldest soccer tournament of the world started in 1888.
Anoop Shridhar is a famous Badminton Player. Former World Champion Vesselin Topalov of Bulgaria triumphed over Indian Krishnan Sasikiran in the ifnal of Mtel Masters. The 33rd National Games saw the Services Contingent finishing on the top of the heap with an over-all haul of 59 golds, 46 silver & 37 bronze & thus emerged the winner of Raja Bhalendra Singh Trophy, the symbol of supremacy at these games. Manipur stood second & won the best state award. Swimmers Rehan Poncha & Richa Mishra were adjudged the best athletes of the National Games.
The prize money at Wimbeldon is the same now for both men & women singles. Alok Kumar won the Senior National Snooker title for the sixth time. Top Seed Anup Shridhar clinched the mens single title of the All India Major Ranking Badminton tournament.
Henrik Stenson of Sweden won the World Golf Championships Accenture match play championship. The Indian Hockey Federation sacked national coach Vasudevan Baskaran following a streak of dismal performances & handed the post to Joaquim Carvalho.
Sharath Kamal won the National Table Tennis Championship. Manpreet Singh won the heavyweight final of the Natioanl Boxing Championship.
Jeev Milkha Singh, son of Milkha singh was named Asian player of the year. Amelie Mauresmo was named the Womens Tennis Association (WTA) Tour Player of the Year 2006. Ronjan Sodhi won the double trap bronze in the World Cup at Santo Domingo. The French Open will award equal prize money to male & female players throughout the tournament falling in line with the three other Grand Slam tournaments.
Indias Monika Raut won Indias first ever individual gold medal in the Asian cross country championship in the 9th edition of the biennial meet in Amman, Jordan.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal won his third Monte Carlo Masters series in succession defeating Roger Federer. 28 Ghanshyam Thori
Gaurav Ghei won the inaugural Pine Valley Beijing Open Golf Tournament. Irina Brar has been declared the top ladies professional golfer of the year. Ace Shooter Tejaswani Sawant won gold in the womens 50 m rifle event at Australia cup. Michael Phelps became the only swimmer in the world to win 7 gold medals at a single world championship.
Zoravar Singh Sandhu won bronze at the shotgun world cup at Changwon, Korea. Sania won the doubles of Morocco open with American Vania King. Jyoti Randhawa won the DLF Masters title The next edition of the Asia cup would be held at Pakistan. Vijender, the lone Indian won the silver medal at the 24th Asian Boxing Championship at Ulan Bator. Angel Canrera of Argentina won the Golf US open title. India won the Asian Volleyball championship defeating Maldives. Supoj Saenia of Thailand won the 23rd Asian Snooker championship beating Indias Yasin Merchant. Indian rover Bhavik Gandhi has become the first person to row across the Atlantic unassisted. American Kate Zeigler broke the 19 yr old record in the womens 1500 m freestyle by almost 10 seconds. China won the Sudirman Cup of Badminton for the record 6th time. Rohan Bopanna clinched his maiden Challenger singles at the Irish Open Challenger Tennis Tournament in Dublin winning $ 50,000.
Tennis player from India, Karan Rastogi won the singles title in the $ 10,000 ITF Mens Futures Tennis Tournament.
Pete Sampras, Spains Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Sven Davidson, the first Swedish player to win a Grand Slam title at Roland Garros & Photographer Russ Adams who covered the sport for 50 yrs have been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Woman Grandmaster Koneru Humpy won the HSG International Open Tournament. P. Harrington became the first Irishman in 60 years to win the British Open Golf tournament. Indias Tombi Devi won the Gold Medal at the International Judo Competition held at Istanbul in the 48 kg category. With this she has become the first Indian to win gold in a European Judo Union Championship for seniors. In the 34th Junior National Aquatic Championship, Virdhawal Khade of Maharashtra broke 5 National records. He has already qualified for the 2008 olympics to be held in Beijing.
Iraq won the 2007 Asia Cup Football Title. Spaniard Alberto Contador of Discovery Channel Team won Tour De Franc. 29 Ghanshyam Thori
In the 17th Asian Athletics Championship held at Amman, Jordan finished second behind China. At the Commonwealth Boxing Championship, Sunil Kumar of India won gold in the 51 kg category. Arjuna awards given to Jayanta Talukdar (Archery), KM Beenu (Athletics), Chetan Anand (Badminton), Vijender (Boxing), Anjum Chopra (Cricket), Jyoti Kullu (Hockey), Navneet Gautam (Kabbadi) Vijay Rani (Weightlifting), Geetika Jhakar (Wrestling), P Harikrishna (Chess) Rohit Bhakkar (Athletics, Disabled Category).
Dhyan Chand Award given to Virender Singh (Hockey), Shri Shamsher Singh (Kabbadi) & Rajinder Singh (Wrestling).
Dronacharya Award given to RD Singh (Athletics, Disabled), B. Chandra Lal (Boxing), Koneru Ashok (Chess). World Champion Viswanathan Anand won his 10th & seventh in succession Grenkeleasing Rapid Championsip title after beating Armenian Levon Aronian at Mainz (Germany).
Indian team comprising B Adhiban, R Ashwath, S Nitin, Shyam Nikhil & Swayam Mishra created history by winning 1st position with 28 points at World Youth Chess Olympiad at Singapore.
Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championship. Tiger Woods won the 89th PGA Golf Championship. Australia won the Commonwealth Volleyball championship defeating India at Kolkata. Thailand to hold Asian Hopman cup at Bangkok this year & Australia (Perth) will hold it next year. Indian Ace archer Dola Banerjee won gold at the Meteksan Archery World Cup in Dover. A triple Gold Medallist in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Jaspal Rana was declared the Sportsperson of the year at the seventh Petroleum Sports Promotion Boards annual awards function.
Harveen Srao, the shooter from Chandigarh won gold medal in the world university games beating reigning Olympic Champion Olena Kostevych of Ukraine. Sonia Vickraman of India won gold at the Kata (imaginary fighting) event of 16th Karate World Cup held at Varna in Bulgaria.
Kartar Singh won gold in the freestyle category of the veterans World Wrestling Championship held at Istanbul.
US Star Tyson Gay won the 100 m World title at the World Athletic Championship held at Osaka. China with Lin Dan won the mens single & womens single title at the World Badminton Championship.
India won the ONGC Nehru cup of football held at Delhi defeating Syria Kerala won the National Senior Powerlifting Championship. Russia won the Federation Cup of Tennis. 30 Ghanshyam Thori
Maria Kirilenko won the Sunfeast Open at Kolkata. Indias Sharath Kamal won the Pyongyang Invitational tournament held in North Korea. India won the ITTF World Junior TT Championship held at Panaji. India won the Asia Cup Mens Hockey Tournament beating Korea 7-2. National Champion Tania Sachdeva won the Asian Women Chess Championship held at Tehran. In the points format of the ISBF World Billiard Championship Indias Rupesh Shah won the title while in the time format Pankaj Advani won.
Indias Karun Chandok became the first Indian driver to win a GP2 at Belgium Grand Prix -2. Asafa Powell set a new world record in 100 m by clocking 9.74 secs in his heat at the Reiti GP in Italy. Gagan Narang logged at perfect 600/600 in the 10 M rifle event at the Karni Singh Range in New Delhi creating a world record.
East Bengal won the Federation Cup defeating Mahindra united. T20 to make debut at the 16th Asian Games to be staged at Guangzhou, China. India won the right to host the 2009 Asian Table Tennis Championship at New Delhi. India has earned a direct qualification for the World Cup of Golf 2007. Jyoti Randhawa & Gaurav Ghei will represent India.
Tara Iyer won the 10,000 $ ITF Womens tennis tournament & created a hat-trick in her wins. Haile Gebrrelassie of Ethiopia broke the Marathon world record by winning the Berlin Marathon 29 seconds faster than the previous world record.
South Africa won the Rugby world cup defeating England. Marion Jones was stripped of her five Olympic Medals she won in 2000 after she was found guilty of doping. She was banned for two years.
Dola Banerjee of India created history, by winning the World Archery Championship in Dubai. With this she became the first Indian women to win the World Archery Championship.
Roger Federer was crowned the top player of the year for the fourth consecutive time. Justine Henin was awareded in the womens category.
Sunil Chhetri has been adjudged by All India Football Federation as Player of the Year. Argentine Luciana Aymar (4th Time) & Australian Jamie Dwyer (2nd Time) were awarded as Wrold Hockey Player of the Year India found its 17th Grand Master in Abhijeet Gupta. David Nalbanian of Argentina won the Paris Masters defeating Roger Federer. Martina Hingis announces retirement. Taiwan wins Asian Hopman cup. 31 Ghanshyam Thori
Indias Arvind Bhatt won the Badminton Singles title at the Jordan Open Tournament defeating former Enland No. 1.
India won the Kabbadi title in the Asian Indoor Championship held at Macau defeating Pakistan. China stood overall first.
Pankaj Advani clinched the Mens title in the National Billiards Champion while Anuja Chandra won in womens category.
Pankaj Advani also clinced the National Snooker Championship while Vidya Pillai won in Womens category.
India won the inaugural Lal Bahadur Shastri Womens cup of hockey held in Delhi by defeating Azerbaijan.
Brazil Midfielder Kaka won the FIFAs world player of the year 2007. He also won the European Footballs Golden Ball & World Soccer magazines player of the year award.
USA clinched the Davis Cup by defeating Russia in the final held at Portland (Oregon). J. Vishnu Vardhan won the National Tennis Championship. Alonso joins back Renault with a 2 yr contract. Grandmaster Gata Kamsky of US wonthe World Chess Cup. England wins ICL Worlds Men Squash Championship R.B. Ramesh won the Commonwealth Chess Championship. Scotland won its first World Cup Golf title. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated V. Anand to win the World Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow. For the second time, Tania Sachdev claimed the prestigious Womens National A chess. Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira broke the mens 200 m medley short course World Record in Berlin. 18 year old Kochi Boy G.N. Gopal has officially become the 16th Grandmaster of the country.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
French Open Wimbeldon US Open Australian Open
Rafael Nadal Justine Henin (Belgium) Roger Federer Venus Williams Roger Federer Justine Henin Roger Federer Serena Williams
Roger Federer Ana Avanovic Rafael Nadal Marion Bartoli Novak Djokvic Svetlana Kuznetsova Fernando Gonzalez Maria Sherapova
February 2007 Current Affairs 2008 32 Ghanshyam Thori
ISRO PSLV-C7 lifted off successfully form Satsih Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It carried the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite CATOSAT-2 (1 m resolution), Space Capsule Recovery Equipment (SRE-1) Indonesias LAPAN-TUBSAT & Argentinas six kg nanosatellite called NANO PEHUENSAT-1. The SRE-1 was a technological forerunner to Indian scientists mastering the re-entry technology & building re-usable launch vehicles like Discovery.
Manmohan Singh visits Japan. India & Japan will celebrate 2007 as the year of friendship. The Union of Islamic Courts lost power in Somalia when the Government aided by the Ethipian forces routed them.
The Rajya Sabha passed a bill to make child marriages null & void. The Parliament gave its nod for the Scheduled Tribes & other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill.
ONGC finds gas in the Basin off Krishna-Godavari. The SC held unconstitutional the controversial Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order, 2006 which puts the onus of proving a person foreigner on the complainant
The SC held that no prior sanction from the competent authority was required to prosecute a public servant, including present & former ministers, in corruption cases.
A bill introduced by Government seeks to declare the Kakinada-Pondicherry stretch of Canals comprising the Kaknada canal, Buckingham canal on the Gaodavari & Krishna rivers as a national waterway. Another bill seeks to confer the status on canals on the Matai & the Mahanadi delta rivers between West Bengal & Orissa.
SC rejected the notion that the actions of a Speaker of a legislature are above judicial scrutiny citing that the speaker does not sever his relationship with the political party on whose ticket he gets elected.
The UN resolution 1737 was unanimously passed by imposing sanctions against Iran for failing to stop its uranium enrichment program following resolution 1696.
Nine countries of Southeastern Europe & the Serbian province of Kosovo today signed a new Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in Bucharest. Vietnam became the 150thmember of WTO. Quatern Island is disputed between India & Pakistan. Slovenia, adopted the Euro becoming the 13th EU nation to use single currency. Bulgaria & Romania joined the European Union to bring the blocs membership to 27. RBI allowed FDI upto 49 % in stock exchanges, depositeries & clearing corporations. The Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana has bee in operation since April 2005. Under the scheme allowance is paid to workers for six months who are rendered unemployed involuntarily on account of closure of factories/establishments.
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National Insurance Company completed 100 years. It is based in Kolkata. The hallmarking of Jewellery will be essential from 2008. Andhra Pradesh got the maximum agricultural credit from Nationalized banks. Per capita food availability in India is 154.2 Kg per annum
Centre has cleared the constructions of two indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors of 700 MWe capacity at kakrapara (Gujarat). Recently PM announced that National Statistical Day will be celebrated across the country on June 29th. The day marks the birth anniversary of PC Mahalanobis, the doyen of Indian Statistics who also was the founder of Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata.
Serva Shiksha Abhiyaan would be renamed as Rashtriya Shiksha Abhiyaan. Indian Institute of Information Technology for Design & Manufacturing is situated at Jabalpur (recently started).
The chemical used in Narco Analysis to detect truth as truth serum is Sodium Pentothal. Vasundhara Raje launched the first SEZ of Rajasthan Mahindra World City at Jaipur. 4000 MW Mundra ultra mega power project is situated at Kutch District, Gujarat.
Sheetal Mahajan became the first woman in the world to do successfully do a free tall para jump on South Pole.
RBI mandated cap on IPO investment by a single investor is 10 lakh. France launched COROT from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will be taken into a polar orbit 827 Km above the earth where it will survey star fields for approximately 2.5 years. Its main purpose is to discover earth like planets.
Rajasthan leads in Child marriages. Central Institute for English & Foreign Languages (CIFEL), Hyderabad given university status.
CBI filed a charge sheet against former SP president Jaya Jaitly for taking bribe from Tehelka reporters. An amendment bill seeking to make the Minister of Women & Child development the chairperson of the committee to select the national commission for protection of Child Rights was introduced in Loksabha.
Decks were cleared for renaming Uttaranchal as Uttarakhand. The centre plans to declare 2007 as Water Year year of more crop & income per drop of water. Haryana became the first state to have its own police act. India has been ranked 105th in the Press Freedom Index. India signs with Belgium, its first ever social security pact.
The Kolkata based Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS) has developed a technology to convert ordinary light combat aircraft into stealth jets that could go undetected on radar.
Metamaterial (being developed by Britain & USA) is a kind of material which can bend ray of light so that it does not reflect or cast shadows. It has many potential military applications.
Japan has found flammable ice (Methane hydrate) under sea bed which if tapped can provide it energy for the next 100 years.
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Indias share in world merchandise exports inched upto 0.9% after remaining stuck at 0.8% for 3 yrs. Retd. Chief Justice of Delhi High Court B.C. Patel appointed to head the commission looking into the irregularities in the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.
The 500 MW plutonium based fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam being built at a cost of Rs. 3000 crore will become operational by 2010.
March 2007 Somalia parliament declares emergency. Bullet train linking North & South island of Taiwan started. Bulgaria & Romania two ex-communist nations joined EU brining membership to 27 nations. After years of negotiation & anticipation Vietnam became 150th member of WTO on January 11th. The Democrat party captured control of both Houses of Congress in US after 12 years of sidelines of power. Nancy Pelosi, went on to make history by becoming the first woman to become Speaker of the House of Representatives. Slovenia changed from its Tolar money to Euro. Slovenia is 13th European Nation to adopt Euro. China, Russia veto US resolution criticizing Myanmars military Junta. Rival Palestinian factions, Hamas & Fatah stuck a deal (Makkah Accord) for ceasefire in Gaza. The two agreed on key cabinet posts. Armed forces commodore Frank Bainimarama of Fizi installed Mahendra Chaudhry as the minister of Finance & National Planning. The man who led Ukraines Orange revolution two years ago, Viktor Yushchenko has been stripped of power to veto through a humiliating parliamentary vote. Japan launced its Defence Ministry for the first time since World War II. Vladmir Putin conferred the Order of Friendship on Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande & JNU academic Sankar Basu on his visit to India as Chief Guest durin Republic day. CM of Gujarat & M.P, Narendra Modi & Shivraj Singh dedicated to the nation the 1450 MW hydroelectric project of the Sardar Sarovar at the dam site Kevadia colony in Gujarats Narmada district. The Supreme Court ruled that any law placed in the Ninth Schedule after 1973 will be open to Judicial scrutiny but laws already upheld by the Supreme court cant be challenged. Drafted by the Nehru Govt in 1951 the Ninth Schedule grants Parliament the power to insulate any law from Judicial review. Year 2007 has been declared as Water Year by the ministry of water resources & approved by Cabinet The Cabinet has approved the setting up of Central Drugs Authority of India as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Current Affairs 2008 35 Ghanshyam Thori
India & China special representatives M.K. Narayanan (National Security Advisor) & Dai Bingguo (Chinese Vice Foreign Minister) concluded their ninth round. The next round will be in China.
The first World Convention of Science & Spirituality was held in Delhi. SC rejected Mohammad Afzals petition seeking reconsideration for Death sentence. He was involved in the Parliament attack case.
Kerala will become the first total banking state with every household having a bank account. West Bengal government signed MoU with JSW for a 10 million tonne steel plant @ 35000 crores.
Rajasthan abolishes house tax. Bihar govt has introduced 5 day week for its employees. Tata pays 12.1 billion $ to buy Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus by outbidding Brazils CSN. This makes Tata-Corus the fifth largest steel maker in the world.
ISRO plans to land a motorized moon rover on the moon in 2010 or 2011 as a part of its second Chandrayan Mission.
India will access the Russian Global Navigation & Satellite System (GLONASS) ending its quest for a global positioning system.
The finding of a first complete skeleton of a marsupial lion, Thylacaleo carnifex in southern Australia is being hailed by scientists as the find of the century.
Gene SORL1 linked to Alzheimer identified. Kazhakhstan PM Danial Akhmetov who held the post since 2003 resigned forcing the entire government to step down.
Superstar Amitabh Bachchan received the Legion DHonneur, Frances highest civilian award for his contribution to Indian & International Cultural Life.
The National Knowledge Commission in it first report recommended increase in the number of universities in India to 1500 from current 350.
April 2007 The union budget for 2007-08 was presented by Finance Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram. The total plan expenditure is estimated at 690521 crores while the revenue deficit is 71478 crores. Fiscal deficit for 2006-07 revised to 3.75 % of GDP against 3.8 % budgeted. For 2007-08 it would be 3.3 %. Revenue deficit for 2006-07 2 % of GDP & for 2007-08 at 1.5 %. Education cess on all taxes hiked from 2 % to 3 %. Tax on dividend distribution by companies raised from 12.5 % to 15 %. ESOPs to be brought under the Fringe Benefit Tax. Income tax exemption limit hiked by 10,000 to 1.1 lakhs & 1.45 lakh for women & upto 1.95 lakh for senior citizens. (For Detailed Coverage refer Xerox) The economic survey 2006-07 pegged the economy growth rate at 9.2 % for 2006-07. 36 Ghanshyam Thori
The Railway budget for 2006-07 declared a profit of Rs. 20,000 crores as against Rs. 14,700 crores for the year 2006. The Indian railway will observe year 2007-08 as the year of cleanliness.
The worlds oldest newspaper Postoch Inrikes Tidningar of Sweden goes digital & drops paper edition. AICTE announced to closing down of all B-schools & engineering colleges that are functioning out of rented buildings or sheds or temporary locations by March 31. Such institutions would not be permitted to offer courses for the academic year 2007-08.
OBC quota gets implemented for lecturer selection in Central & Deemed universities. North Korea gives up its Nuclear plan in return for an estimated 10 Lakh tonnes of oil or its equivalent in energy from US, Russia, Japan, China & South Korea. IAEA inspectors have confirmed that North Korea has shut down its sole functioning nuclear reactor at Yangbyon.
PKK (Partiya Karkern Kurdistan) Rebels operate in Northern Iraq. Ogaden National Liberation Front is a rebel organization based in Ethiopia. The disbanded Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Unit belongs to Fiji.
Qods force belongs to Iran. Basij is the name of the Iranian Volunteer Force that played key role in Iran & Iraq war.
Vienna talks on Iran Nuclear issue fails. Iran is using 3000 centrifuges to enrich uranium at Natanz. Nepal declares to be a federal state while accepting the key demands of the Terai region. King Gyanendra & his predecessors have been evicted from the Nepali currency notes. The Buddha, Mt. Everest et all have taken their place.
The Parliament building of Afghanistan in Kabul, Supreme Court in Thimpu & Salma Dam in Afghanistan are being constructed by India.
Japan launched a satellite based alert system J-ALERT for sending alerts of an earthquake. India wins on Baglihar Dam tussle over Pakistan after the World Bank appointed neutral expert, Raymond Lafitte held that India has not violated the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.
The National Manuscripts Mission launched the national database of manuscripts which will enable access to as many as 1.8 million manuscripts on Vedic literature, Islamic laws, Buddhist scripts etc.
India & Pakistan signed an agreement on Reducing the risk from Accidents relating to Nuclear Weapons in New Delhi. It commits both side to inform each other in the event of any accident related to nuclear weapons.
Menon-Burns Talk: Between US under secretary of State Nicholas Burns & Indian Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on the stalled civilian nuclear deal.
A two days conference on editors from SAARC nations was held at Delhi. UP reported the maximum (539) cases of Polio in the total 666 cases reported nationally. 37 Ghanshyam Thori
The National Family Health Survey reported that only 35 % men & 22 % women complete 10 years of education in India. 37 % women faced domestic violence. Av number of children a women has in her lifetime dropped to 2.7. The use of contraceptives increased to 56 %.
The Cabinet cleared a bill which provides for a jail term of 3 months & a fine of Rs. 5000 for children who refuse to ensure a life of dignity for their elders.
The move to increase the number of sittings of Parliament to at least 100 days in a year has got a go ahead with the leaders of various political parties agreeing to the proposal.
Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case was detained by Interpol in Argentina & later released on bail. Britains arms supplier BAE systems is involved in the scam.
67 Killed when two firebombs went off on the New-Delhi Wagah Samjhauta express near Panipat, Haryana.
India China year of Friendship through Tourism 2007 was launched. The Cuavery Water Disputes Tribunal gave its final award. Total availability of water is pegged at 740 tmcft. Out of this Tamilnadu get 57 %, Karnata gets 36 % & Kerala (4 %), Puducherry (1 %). Karnataka parties rejected the verdict & decided to take legal remedies to secure justice.
According to the New Master Plan for Delhi 2021, Delhi needs about 24 lakh dwelling units to meet the needs of its population of 2.3 crores by 2021.
The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal allowing the government to acquire all of RBIs stake in SBI, NABARD, National Housing Bank (NHB). The cashless transaction is being done to distance the banking regulator from holding shares in the banks it also regulates.
HLL becomes Hindustan Uniliver Ltd. Steel Magnate LN Mittal will invest Rs. 3000 crores & will acquire 49 % stake in Guru Gobind Singh Refineries as an equal partner with state owned HPCL to revive the refinery at Bhatinda.
Leading European exchange operator, Deutsche Borse group has piced up a 5 % statek in BSE for 189 crores.
Aditya Birla Groups flagship company, Hindalco acquires Canadian Aluminium maker, Novelis. IBM becomes the largest MNC employer in India with a head count of 53,000 personnel. Alcoa, the world largest aluminium producer, appointed Ratan Tata on its director board. Govt sets up the process to disinvest partially in 3 PSUs Rural Electrification Corporation LTd, Power Grid Corporation & National Hydro-electric Power Corporation.
Govt plans to revive HMT by injecting 750 crores. Govt bans export of powder milk & lifts ban on export of sugar.
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Tata & Fiat signed MoU to build up vehicles. ONGC & Russias state run behemoth Gazprom have signed an agreement to jointly explore oil & gas fields in India, Russia & other countries.
The centre has agreed to invest 100 million US $ to develop the Sittwe Port in Myanmar. The US NASA launched THEMIS (Time & History of Events & Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) with the blasting of 5 satellites on a single rocket to figure out the source of powerful geomagnetic substorms in the earths atmosphere.
MEGHA-TROPIQUES is a joint project of India & French to study climate change. India will launch a satellite named PSLV MK-3 weighing 4000 Kg by 2009. Maria Sharapova appointed goodwill ambassador of UNDP program.
May 2007 According to UN Populations division estimate the world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion over the next 43 years from the current 6.7 billion
Bhutan sees formation of two political parties Peoples Democratic Party & Bhutan Peoples United Party.
China passes law on property which gives owners of private property the same legal protection as government property. It is a landmark development in a country that has practiced collectivism in property ownership since communist party won power in 1949.
Hamas-Fatah government gets installed in Palestine. Ugandan troops arrive in Mogadishu as part of proposed 8000 African Union forces in Somalia. China to build port in Lanka at Hambantota in South Sri Lanka. Ghana celebrates 50 years of Independence. The trial of Kosovos former PM Ramush Haradinaj began at Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal. Chirac retires from active politics. He became twice the president of France. France upholds turban ban on Sikhs. China to invest 13 billion $ into Tibet. India & UAE revised their agreement on Double Taxation Avoidance (DTA) & signed a pact for exchange of information between the stock exchange regulators.
Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week held at Delhi & Lakme Fashion Week held at Mumbai. Parliament approved bill for making it compulsory for all private broadcasters to share their feed of major sports events with Doordarshan & All India Radio.
The Lok Sabha passed the Banking regulation bill which seeks to provide greater operational flexibility to RBI in monitoring the monetary policy. It empowered RBI to specify SLR without any floor limit.
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Cabinet raised retirement age of teachers from 62 to 65 years & also raised Dearness Allowance. Cabinet also approved the reintroduction of the Communal Violence Bill.
Lok Sabha gave a nod to phase out Central Sales Tax in four steps to prepare the stage for its eventual abolition in 3 years.
The Foreign secretaries of India & Pakistan concluded talks at Islamabad agreeing to consider a set of new Kashmir related confidence building measures (CBMs).
Germany played host to the worlds largest tourism trade fair International Tourism Bourse (ITB). India is now home to the largest number of billionaires in Asia relegating Japan to second position. In its renewed excavation at Salvankuppam close to the Tiger cave near Mamallapuram, the Archaeological society of India has discovered 3 granite pillars with inscriptions of Pallava & Chola kings.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo visited Japan to reciprocate earlier visit by Shinzo Abe to China. Five South Eastern European countries namely Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia & Italy signed a declaration to start work on the 1400 km long Pan European Oil Pipeline from Constanta to Trieste. According to the 14th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs nearly 8 lakh person of Indian Origin have been granted the status of Overseas Citizen of India as of Nov 2006.
According to the latest figures released by the planning commission poverty in the country has declined to 21.8 % in 2004-05 from 26.1 % in 1999-2000. The figures are based on the report of the 61st round of the National Sample Survey. Orissa is the poorest state with 39.9 % of people living below poverty line. The number of people living below the poverty line is highest in U.P. Poverty levels are low in Chandigarh (3.8 %), J & K (4.2 %) & Punjab (5.2 %).
The West Bengal govt issued a notification stating that it would not acquire any land for industry at Nandigram.
India & Bangladesh plan to restore the Dhaka-Kolkata rail link. TRAI abolished the access deficit charge (ADC) on outgoing calls to other countries. Delhi based Havells group has acquired Dutch based SLI sylvanias lighting business for 300 million $. Tata group has acquired a car making plant in Pretoria in South Africa. Singapore exchange picked up a 5 % stake in BSE. Blackstone buys out Madame Tassauds wax museum for 1 billion $.
Italian Coffee roaster Lavazza has acquired Barista from Chennai based Sterling Infotech. Indias external debt stands at 143 billion $. FDI in telecom raised from 49 % to 74 %. Mumbai high court rules that Life Insurance policies can be traded.
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Indias largest telecommunication satellite INSAT 4B weighing 3025 kg was successfully launched by Arianspaces Ariane-5 vehicle from Kourou island in French Guiana. It will facilitate DTH & other communication facilities. This satellite has been collocated with INSAT-4A. India has taken up GSLV Mark III program which will enable India to orbit satellites upto four tonnes by 2010-11
Hypersonic speeds are greater than 5 times the speed of sound. Richard Bransons space tourism venture Virgin Galactic & NASA plans to activate hypersonic travel between earth based cities.
Doctors in US have identified a third type of twin somewhere between identical & fraternal as semi fraternal two sperm cells fused with single egg. With fraternal twin, the most common type, the mother contributes two eggs, each of which gets fertilized in the womb by two different sperm cells. In Identical twins, one egg from the mother is fertilized by one sperm from the father & then very early in development the embryo splits & two fetuses grow.
European space craft Mars Express reported huge deposits of pure frozen water on Mars. Lost Indian bird the large billed Reed Warbler found in Thailand.
O&M won at the Abby 2007 awards once more as it was judged as the Agency of the year. India to host World Cup Hockey for Men in 2010. II Administration reforms commission was appointed in August 2005 under the chairmanship of Veerappa Moily, former CM of Karnata to prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping public administration. The commission has submitted 3 reports in 2006 & fourth in Feb 2007. The latest report talks about Ethics in Governance. One of its recommendation is to abolish schemes such as MPLADS (MP Local Area Development Scheme) & MLALADS.
According to UN World Population report World population is likely to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. The Union Social Justice & Empowerment tabled the Maintenance & Welfare of Parents & Senior Citizens Bill, 2007 in Lok Sabha. The Bill proposed to make it obligatory on the person who inherit the property of their aged relatives to maintain them.
The Supreme Court stayed the law providing 27 % reservation for OBCs in higher education institutions such as IITs & IIMs.
The government setup the National Mission on Monuments & Antiquities recognizing the absence of a comprehensive database on archaeological resources.
France has signed an extradition treaty with China despite concerns that Beijing frequently uses death penalty.
Vanuatu (Melanesian Island Nation) govt has declared a state of emergency in the capital Port Vila following deadly tribal clashes.
Pakistan president Gen Musharraf sacked CJ of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohd Chaudhary for misconduct. 41 Ghanshyam Thori
Portugal leagalized abortion. Abkhazia a territory of Georgia held presidential elections to gain independence. The Central Govt has powered NPPA to take action against companies which hike their drug prices by more than 10 % in a year.
Pujab & Sind Bank has the maximum NPAs. The objective of SARFAESI Act (Securitization & Reconstruction of Financial Assets & Enforcement of Security Interest Act) is to acquire NPAs of any bank.
Madhya Pradesh enhanced womens reservation in Panchayati Raj to 50%. Goa tops the list of 50 best e-governed states. Fourth Military World Games 2007 will be held in India. Centre announced the increase of Dearness Allowance of its employees by 6 %. New Capital of Myanmar is situated at Naypidaw.
June 2007 China flags of high speed train between Shanghai & Suzhou. US approved first vaccine against avian flu which is directed against the H5N1 stain of virus. Sitting HC judges cant be appointed to probe panels according to SC ruling. 14th SAARC summit was inaugurated in New Delhi. Afghanistan joined the regional forum in the first expansion since its inception in 1985. Observers from China, Japan, South Korea, US & EU also participated in the summit proceedings. The decisions involved setting up a South Asian University, create SAARC food bank & arbitration council & to start a museum of textiles & industry. Year 2007 was termed as Year of Green South Asia. SAARC countries account for 22 % of world population with only 2 % of world GDP. Up to 90 % of imports of SAARC were sourced from outside south Asia. 15th SAARC summit would be held in Male, Maldives.
India & Belarus agreed to set up a joint commission on military technical cooperation & signed extradition treaty. Belarus, a member of NSG would continue to cooperate with India. The two countries also signed a bilateral protocol on accession of Belarus to the WTO. NSG currently has 45 members.
President Kalam visited Greece on a 3 day tour. He also visited Strasbourg, France. India-EU to jointly fight streptococcus with a 3 year project that began with 1.5 million euro grant from EU. It is being coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany.
The National floor level minimum wage has been increased from Rs. 66 to Rs. 80. Tamil Nadu has demanded that Education should be shifted from Concurrent List to State List.
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UN has selected Bihar, M.P, Rajasthan, Orissa, Sikkim & Andhra Pradesh as priority states for development.
Delhi hosted the UNESCO Regional Conference for 2007. Mission 2007 is a national initiative led by M.S. Swaminathan that seeks to establish a knowledge center in every village.
Kochi to house smart city project. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared the entire phase III of the National Highway Development Programe by giving approval for upgradation of an additional 7300 Km of highways in various states at cost of 47,500 crores.
The Cabinet gave its approval to the Gram Nyayalya Bill 2007 for extension of the regular, formal subordinate court system to units below district level to every panchayat or a group of contiguous panchayats.
A 12 member delegatin visited at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research on a tri lateral collaborative program among India, Brazil & South Africa on Nano Technology.
The government appointed a four member commission on Centre-State Relations headed by the former CJI, MM Punchhi to examine the changes that have taken place since the Sarkaria Commission looked intot he relations over two decades ago. The Union Government will launch the 64th round of Socio Economic Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization to generate data on education, employment, migration, expenditure etc.
BJP returned to the reckoning in Delhi defeating the Congress in the MCD elections claiming 167 out of 272 member house.
The Iraqi government has endorsed the plan named Kirkuk plan to relocate thousands of Arabs who were moved to oil rich Kirkuk as part of Saddam Husseins Arabanization campaign to displace ethnic Kurds.
The annual foreign trade policy (FTP) has been announced for 2007-08. An export target of 160 billion $ for the current fiscal has been set. Exports have been exempted from service tax. Vishesh Krishi Yojana & Gram Udyog Yojana have been expanded. Duty free imports of tools & machinery for handicrafts introduced. Exports obligations under EPCG (Export Promotion Capital Goods) increased.
India has announced zero duty access to Least developed countries in SAARC which consists of Bangladesh & Afghanistan.
India has removed port restrictions on tea & apparel from Sri Lanka under Indo-Sri Lanka FTA. India & Sri Lanka are negotiating on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The cabinet approved a national policy on petrochemicals. 43 Ghanshyam Thori
The government has cleared purchase of 6 % equity in NSE by foreign investors. Dollex 100 is the BSE launched Dollar Linked version of BSE-100. Allahabad HC stayed a single Judges Judgement denying minority status to Muslims in UP. Karnataka passes Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill 2007 with support from ruling Janta Dal but resisted by its partner BJP & the opposition congress.
In view of directions from SC the Orissa government has decided to bring down the reservation in jobs for OBC candidates to 11.25 % from the existing 27 %.
Shipra Path Police Station, Jaipur has been selected as the best police station in the world beating 450 contestants.
Tamil Nadu government has announced Exclusive Reservation for Christians & Muslims in government.
Kerala council of Historical Research (KCHR) has excavated some important historical objects like the pottery & beads at Pattanam near Kodungalloor strengthening the rich heritage of Malabar coast.
Madumalai Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu rolls Project Elephant. The government gave exports a service tax waiver, extended the incentives for SEZs. SBI has pipped LIC to emerge as the highest Corporate Tax Payer in the country as it paid 2670 crores as advance tax.
P. Chidambaram stated that the total tax collection, including direct & indirect taxes, touched Rs. 4,70,077 crore in 2006-07.
India to waive $ 62 million Cuban debt. The government has finally notified the export subsidy for sugar mills at Rs. 1350 per tonne.
Jet Airways has finally acquired Air Sahara for Rs. 1450 crore. Google Inc has agreed to pay 3.1 billion $ in cash to acquire ad management technology company Double Click. Britains Barclays Bank has agreed to buy Netherlands biggest investment bank ABN Amro for 91.16 billion $.
USA & South Korea concluded a landmark Free Trade Agreement (FTA). ONGC Videsh Ltd have struck a sizeable oil reserve in Egypt at the North Ramadan-1A filed. FDI crossed 12 billion $ for the financial year 2006-07. At La Sillas observatory in Chile a team of Astronomers announced the discovery of Super Earth. The star Gliese 581 has the planet 14 times closer than the earth is to the sun.
India blasted into the new space orbit by launching its first commercial venture & placing a 352 kg Italian Satellite, AGILE that rode atop a PSLV-C8 rocket.
Water vapour was detected on the Plantet HD 209458b in the constellation Pegasus. This planet was the first plantet outside the solar system with an atmosphere & the first detected transiting planet.
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US billionaire Charles Simonyi became the worlds first space tourist after his Soyuz rocket blasted off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Hungarian born developer of Microsofts Word & Excel application is paying over 20 million $ for his 13 day trip
Doctors at AIIMS sliced the cornea of one patient into 3 & restored vision of 3 people. In a breakthrough that can make all human universal donors, Danish scientist have converted A, B & AB blood types into type O, the universal blood which can be given to anyone in need of transfusion.
Kerala ranks first & Bihar last in the first composite Education Development Index (EDI) prepared by the National University of Educational Planning & Administration. At primary level Tamil Nadu was first.
New Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) would come up at Medak district in Andhra Pradesh. An HNI is defined as having 4.5 crores in liquid funds that can be invested. There are 25000 people in Mumbai who are millionaires.
The RBI marked up the repo rate to 7.75 %.
July 2007 Bush vetoed a bill that would force him to begin withdrawing US troops angering democrats who vowed to fight on.
India is planning to setup a high tech monitoring station in northern Madagascar to tackle piracy & terrorism.
The ET-NCAER Business Confidence Survey shows that the Index slipped by six points to 151.3 in January-March 2007 Quarter from its peak level attained in last quarter.
Reuters purchased by Canadian Financial Data Provider Thomson Corp in a deal worth 7.8 billion $. SC declines plea against Sethusamudram Project. Government has decided to give navratna status to 7 New PSUs including Bharat Electronics Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, NALCO, National Mineral Development Corp, Power Finance Corp, PGCIL & Rural Electrification Corp Ltd. This would increase navratnas from 9 to 16. Existing 9 Navratnas include GAIL, BHEL, SAIL, ONGC, IOC, BPCL, IPCL, MTNL and NTPC.
RBI released new Norms on Priority Sector which qualify Home Loans upto 20 Lakhs as priority sector as against 15 lakhs earlier. Education loan upto 20 lakhs for studies abroad & 10 lakhs in India.
Under the priority sector lending program, banks are mandated to extend 40 % of their total advances to borrowers in sectors like agriculture & Small & medium enterprises.
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World Banks BioCarbon Fund (BioCF) signed an Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) that will enable small farmers in Orissa & Andhra Pradesh to earn additional revenues through carbon credits by afforesting their severly degraded lands.
Wockhardt becomes the largest Indian Pharma company in Europe after acquiring Negma Laboratory, the fourth largest Independent integrated pharmaceutical group in France.
HDFC starts trading at NYSE. The worlds largest beer company, Belgium Based InBev enters India in JV with R.K Jaipuria group. Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) are plants with capacity greater than 4000 MW. Seven such plants have been planned which include Akaltara (Chattisgarh), Mundra (Gujarat), Tadri (Karnataka), Sasan (M.P). & Giriye (Maharashtra).
ICT4D (Information & Communications Technologies for Development) is an initiative aimed at bridging the digital divide.
Drug war in Columbia threatens Nukak Maku tribe one of the last primitive tribes. The Cabinet decided to promulgate an ordinance to scrap the law that bans employing women on night shifts. 6th Pay commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna Russia signed deal with Turkmenistan & Kazakhstan to construct a 1 billion $ 500 Km pipeline to export Turkmen gas via Kazakhstan & Russia to Europe.
Jordans queen Rania & Actress Natalie Portman joined in the launch of a major microcredit programme targeting global poverty.
Two trains from North & South Korea crossed the heavily fortified border restoring an artery severed in the 1950-53 fatricidal war.
China launches satellite for Nigeria where both the Satellite & the launch vehicle were Chinese. According to IMD, Switzerlands World Competitiveness Year Book 2007 India ranks 27th with US at No 1.
Venezuela nationalizes Oil Companies. Earlier it had pull out of the World Bank & IMF after paying its debt to the banks. It also shut down opposition Television Channel RCTV & replaced it with one promoting Presidents Hugo Chavezs socialist revolution.
Northern Irelands Protestant & Roman Catholic Leaders launched a new power sharing, home rule government designed to put an end to decades of sectarian conflict. Earlier Direct rule was imposed after the assembly was dissolved amid allegations of spying against IRA (Irish Republican Army).
National Disaster Management Aurthority released a set of guidelines for Chemical Disaster Management.
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Three Member Committee headed by Sukhdeo Thorat to look into the allegations of discrimination against the reserved category students at AIIMS submitted its report.
The Union Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Rajinder Sachar Committee on Muslims. It directed various ministries to initiate comprehensive programs to implement the recommendations.
Chairman of National Wage Board for Working Journalists & Newspaper Employees, is Justice K. Narayana Kurup.
The Central Government has decided to increase the number of attempts of disabled candidates from the current four to seven in Central Civil Services job.
US & EU signed a open skies deal allowing airlines for the first time to offer a wider range of services. Army Chief JJ Singh visits Beijing. Rally to commemorate 150 years of 1857 mutiny held at Red Fort, Delhi. India will not sign the bilateral 123 agreement with US without right to reprocess spent fuel one of the 3 important red lines. The other two are: restricting Indias strategic as well as indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor programs & closing further nuclear test options. PM Manmohan Singh at the 53rd meeting of the NDC announced a Rs. 25000 crore plan to boost farm sector growth.
RBI has included minority communities in the list of priority sector lending by banks. Domestic banks both private & government owned are mandated to lend 10 % of their total loans to weaker sections.
India & Pakistan have exchanged maps of Sir Creek to solve the boundary issue. From June-1 seven more services would come under the tax net including renting for use in commerce or business, works contracts, services outsourced for mining of mineral oil or gas, design services, asset management services provided by individuals & various telecom related services. Service providers of these service categories would have to pay a service tax of 12 % along with 3 % additional cess.
A premium scientific agency, National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) is to be located in Hyderabad.
Central Government to setup Indian Institute of Corporate Governance at Manesar, Haryana. National I-Card scheme kicks off involving a unique 16 digit national identity number. The Union Cabinet approved legislation to provide social security to workers in the unorganized sector. Sonia Gandhi, LN Mittal & Indira Nooyi figure in Times Magazine as the 100 most influential people. Lok Sabha cleared 3 bills The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order Amendment Bill, the securities contract amendment bill & the National Institutes of Technology Bill. The last seeks to convert RECs into NITs.
India-Japan sign MoU on joint working group on Urban Development. 47 Ghanshyam Thori
Bomb blast at historic Mecca Masjid near Charminar rocks the city of Hyderabad Delhi Govt has launched Bed & Breakfast scheme to tide over the shortage of 30,000 rooms for visitors during the Commonwealth games in 2010.
India & Mexico signed a ten year bilateral investment promotion & protection agreement (BIPPA) to promote flow of investment to both countries. Since Mexico is a member of North American Free Trading Agreement (NAFTA) comprising Mexico, US & Canada the agreement is likely to help Indian companies access to these markets as well.
RBI allowed foreign companies to open escrow account in authorized banks for buying shares in Indian firms.
The merged AI-IA entity will be known as Air India. Govt quits Maruti. IOC becomes first company to notch up sales in excess of 50 billion $. Birla group enters into retailing with the chain MORE.
IT exports touch 158,500 crores during 2006-07. Hindustan Shipyard launches Indias largest ship. Kennedy Space Center is planning to launch a robotic probe to test Martian water. The craft known as Phoenix, is expected to land in the northern polar region of Mars & dig beneath the soil.
First Carbon free city to come up at Abu Dhabi totally powered by Solar energy. Scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California have identified for the first time a gene, known as PHA-4, which plays a critical role in prolonging life.
India is set to launch GSLV Mark III launch platform scheduled to launch a 4 tonne satellite in 2009. Scientists of UK have created a form of water called Dermacyn dubbed Miracle water which could possibly treat many bacterial infections.
GJ436B is the planet orbiting a nearby star & is mainly made up of hot, solid water. People who lack the hormone, Leptin over eat even when they are not hungry. Bihar launches JEEVIKA project to improve rural livelihoods. Gujarat plans to give free bus passes to girl students (in villages traveling to nearest town) studying in VII standard & upward.
August 2007 WTO Doha round broke midway among four major India, Brazil, EU & USA at Potsdam in Germany as India refused to yield any ground on giving market for farm products to rich countries.
UN has declared October 2 as international day of non violence. At the BICSAM (Brazil, India, China, South Africa & Mexico), meeting in Berlin during G-8 meeting it was proposed that the group should consider getting together again at a forum other than that of G-8.
China announced that it was building a metalled road to the Everest Base camp.
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UKs Department for International Development (DFID) has announced a grant of Rs. 2,000 crore to India for improving access to healthcare.
Indira Gandhi National Tribal University would be established at Amarkantak. The armed Basque separatist group of Spain, ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna or Basque country & freedom) ended its 15 month old ceasefire & warned Spain government of new attacks.
On the first ever visit of a US president to Albania, the US president, Bush supported the independence of Kosovo by saying that UN should grant independence quickly to the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, & if Russia continued to block it the west would act.
Chronicles of Thailands King The worlds longest serving monarch & god like figure to many will soon be available online. The Centres share in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has come down from 75 % in the 10th plan period to 50 % during 11th plan.
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission has recommended repeal of the controversial Armed Forces Speceal Powers Act, 1958 stating that its scrapping would remove the feeling of alienation among the people of the North Eastern States.
Russia bans imports of rice, groundnut & sesame seeds from India after finding them infected with pests Palestinitan President Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency cabinet & outlawed the militia forces of Islamic Hamas movement deepening the violent rupture of Palestinian society.
Cyclone Gonu hits Oman killing 28. Israel launched a new spy satellite Ofek 7 in a move that would boost surveillance over states like Syria. Red Fort of Delhi added to the World Heritage List by UN. Pratibha Patil, serving as only woman governor of Rajasthan becomes first women president Brazilian President Lula Da Silva visited India & signed India-Brazil Red Fort Declaration to boost bilateral trade to 10 billion $ by 2010.
The 169 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) passed a resolution not to undo a 14 year ban on Tiger Trade.
Sister Alphonsoa, a Christian nun who died 59 yrs ago is now all set to become the first Indian to be elevated to sainthood.
The US ensured that the Hyde Act will not have any impact whatsoever on the Nuclear Deal. Two days conference of MPs from SAARC countries was organized by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) in Shimla.
India plans to construct a bridge over River Umngot at Dawki, the last Indian post in Meghalya to boost links with Bangladesh.
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Under the amended Juvenile Justice Act government has given the Juvenile Justice Board authority to grant permission to offenders below the age of 18 to stay with their families or in foster care, unless the police have branded them hardened criminals.
To resolve a running feud between India & Pakistan over the construction of a power project on the Neelam river in J&K, Pakistan for the first time allowed Indian experts to visit the Neelam valley in PoK. Till now India has been relying only on the satellite data to defend the design of 330 MW Kishanganga hydro electric project coming up on Neelam (Kishanganga) river.
India to build leather parks at Chennai, Kolkata, Agra, Kanpur & Tada (Andhra Pradesh). The commission headed by K. Veerappa Moily submitted its fifth report to PM suggesting an amendment to the unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to enable deployment of security forces in the Northeast.
USS Nimitz aircraft carrier to dock at Chennai. Telgi gets 13 years of rigorous imprisonment & 100 crore fine the highest fine so far. The centre has enhanced the threshold limit from Rs. 5000 to Rs 10,000 for exemption from tax deducted at source on the interest earned on any deposit under the Seniors Citizen Saving Scheme.
Thirty manuscripts of the Rig Veda, in the archives of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune have been added to a UNESCO listing of the most important documents from around the world.
The South Asian University would be housed in Delhi & Delhi govt would give more than 200 acres of land for it. IGNOU opens its MBA program in Ethiopia.
Supreme Court gave green signal to the 2300 crore Omkareswar Hydel Power Project. It is a JV between MP & National Hydro Power Corporation.
Srinagar named as endangered site by the New York based World Monuments Fund (WMF). Private players to run air conditioned local train in Mumbai. In quick succession, the countrys GDP & BSEs market capitalization crossed the 1 trillion $ mark in May. The countrys mutual fund industry crossed the 100 billion $ mark. Much of this has happened due to rising rupee & weakening dollar.
Ruias corporate house Essar Group managed to acquire Canadian Steel Major Algoma for 1.74 billion $ Tata Tea buys everest mineral. ESPN buys cricinfo from wisden. The largest contributor to the Forex Reserves of India in the Financial year 2006-07 is External Commercial Borrowing (ECBs) followed by Foreign Investments.
Pluto was declassified as a planet & was demoted to dwarf planet due to discovery of a similar dwarf planet named Eris which is larger than Pluto. Ceres, the largest asteroid is also a dwarf planet.
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Dollar is going to be traded on Indian Stock Exchanges. The first step has already been taken to bring in Currency Futures.
Amul becomes the first billion dollar cooperative in India with 1 billion $ in revenues. Shipping corporation of India will invest about 4 billion $ in the next five years to acquire 72 vessels. Space Shuttle Atlantis landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base, California bringing seven astronauts including Sunita Williams back. The space shuttle had blasted from Kennedy Space Centre earlier. Sunita William made the record of staying 6 months in space.
A team of scientists from UK have coaxed ordinary mouse skin cells to become embryonic stem cells. An Australian scramjet engine touched mach 10. The sixth Asia Security Conference was organized in Singapore.
September 2007 North Korea had pledged to shut the reactor of Yongbyon Nuclear complex & to dismantle the atomic programmes in return for 1 million tonnes of oil & political concessions.
The NWFP government reached an agreement with North Waziristan tribals of Swat District (home to pro-Taliban Militants group called the Tehreek Nifaz-I-Shariat-I-Mohammad) to end violence.
Russia suspends CFE treaty. The treaty was adopted in 1990 to limit the number of tanks, heavy artillery & combat aircraft deployed & store between the Atlantic & Russias Ural Mountains.
Earthquake slams Japan fearing nuclear leaks at Kashiwazaki city worlds largest nuclear plant. 8th World Hindi Conference was inaugurated by Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma at New York. The first conference was held at Nagpur.
US & Russia at loggerheads over Bushs plan to station 10 missile silos containing interceptor missiles in Poland & a tracking system in Czech Republic.
The seventh potter book titled Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows released Sri Lanka launched a 24 hour Buddhist channel titled The Buddhist. Iran has allowed UN IAEA to visit its nuclear facility in Arak. Britain bans smoking in public place. England was the last part of the UK to ban smoking. Burj Dubai currently standing at 512 metres is to beat Taipei towers as worlds tallest building. 200 killed in Brazilian plane crash when the plane of Tam Airlines skidded off a runway at crashed into the airlines won building.
India signs the Trans-Asian Railway Network sponsored by UN. The network would cover 80,900 Km of railway line in 28 countries including 22,600 in South Asia, Iran & Turkey. The proposed rail
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route enters India at Tamu, bordering Myanmar before going to Bangladesh at Gede. On the western side the route is proposed to enter Pakistan at Attari. Based on the Cebu Declaration on Energy security in East Asia adopted at the Second East Asia Summit (EAS) India & Japan agreed to cooperate in development of renewable resources. TADA special court sentenced Yakub Memon, brother of prime accused Tiger Memon to death & six years RI for Sanjay Dutt. African Unions chairperson Alpa Oumar Konar backs India for UNSC permanent seat. The term of the Liberhan panel looking into the events which lead to the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992 has been extended by two months. India Bhutan sign agreement to build the largest ever hydel project in the Himalayan Kingdom. The 1095 MW Punatsanghu-I plant is expected to be completed in 8 yrs. The New Mining Policy rejected the demand for capping iron ore export. Union Health & Family Welfare Mnister Anbumani Ramadoss launched the third phase of National Aids Control Programme (NACP-III). A bill was passed providing 4 % reservation for socially & educationally backward Muslims. Cherrapunjee will now be known as Sohra which was its name before Britishers came. The subcontinents longest cave Krem Liat Prah is in Meghalaya that boasts of 1100 plus caves. Tamil Nadu will be the first state in India to offer State Govt owned cable television service to viewers. Union Commerce & Industry Minister, Kamal Nath launched e-filing of patents. The SEBI has directed all stock exchanges to replace the existing claused 41 of the equity listing agreement with a revised one. Navratnas can now invest in MFs with a 30 % cap on equity exposure. The fortune 500 list has the following 6 companies IOC (135), RIL (269), BPCL (325), HPCL (336), ONGC (369) & SBI (495). US tops the list with 162 companies followed by Japan (67) & France (38). Genpact ranked no 1 ITES-BPO company by Nasscom survey. India received a record 3.8 billion $ loan by world bank the largest ever to any single country so far. India cleared 2500 crores for the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project which as US, EU, China, Russia, Japan & S. Korea as partners. RIL, Reliance Communication, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Infosys, TCS & ICICI have Rs One Trillion (one lakh crore) in Market valuation. 21 SEZ cleared that includes multi product Navi Mumbai SEZ promoted by Mukesh Ambani. Incentives to SEZs include Duty free import/domestic procurement of goods 52 Ghanshyam Thori
100 % income tax exemption on export income of SEZ units for first five years, 50 % for next five years & 50 % on ploughed back export profit for next five years.
Exemption from MAT (minimum alternate tax) ECB upto 500 million $ without any maturity restriction through recognized banking channels Exemption from Service Tax. Exemption from Central Sales Tax (CST). Exemption from state sales tax & other levies as extended by respective state government. Azim Premji acquired SE Asias largest personal care firm Unza Holdings based in Singapore for 246 million $.
Blackstone has acquired US based Hilton Hotels Corp for 26 billion $. Car rental service provider Hertz has opened its flagship outlet in Delhi. An international team of Scientists led by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution began a 40 day expedition of Gakkel ridge under Arctic ice.
Mammoth fossil found in Siberia. A new moon of Saturn has been discovered bringing the total upto 60. Most of the moons have been discovered by NASAs Cassini probe.
October 2007 Russia resumes global bomber patrols in retaliation to relocation of NATO forces closer to Russias border & US plans to deploy anti ballistic missile defenses in Eastern Europe.
Ehud Olmert became the first Israeli prime minister to visit a Palestinian town since the outbreak of fighting seven years ago. He met with Mahmoud Abbas.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit was held at Kyrgyzstan. The six countries armed forces have been taking part in the Peace Mission 2007 exercise in Russias south Urals.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Kabul. Sonia Gandhi visited South Africa & met Nelson Mandela & president Thabo Mbeki. Pretoria renamed as Tshwane. Thailand passed new constitution proposed by the military. It would prevent the emergence of a strong elected prime minister by reducing the number of MPs to call a veto of no confidence.
Russia, Canada, US & Greenland in race for Arctic minerals. US approves 460 billion $ defense budget. Moscow has frozen the Chinese request for re-export of RD-93 engines used to power JF-17 fighter to Pakistan. Two JF-17s handed over to Pakistan have been returned to Beijing.
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Wagah gates open to trucks to boost bilateral trade. Hurricane Dean hits Mexico. Peru Earthquake of 7.9 magnitude claims 500 lives. Nepal adopts new national anthem written by a young poet, Byakul Maila. Brazil govt would pay for sex change operations after a federal court ruled the procedure was a constitutional right.
Iran has resolved UN questions about Nuclear enrichment & IAEA considers the matter closed. Former Diplomat Mohammad Hamid Ansari sworn in as 13th Vice President of India. Japanese PM, Shinzo Abe visits India. The Japanese PM pitched his concept of the Arc of Freedom & Prosperity.
India Bangladesh at issue over Teesta river. Bangladesh had constructed Dalia barrage & West Bengal had constructed Gajal-Doba reservoir leading to argument.
Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty alleviation granted its first installment to Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal mission by giving 1850 crores.
WHO granst a new two year 2.15 billion $ plan to prevent TB in India. Wildlife Crime Control Bureau setup to check the dwindling population of tigers. Temple dedicated to goddess Mahalakshmi & designed by Sri Narayani Amma of Vellore built with gold plating.
Five Indians set off to the icy Arctic on the countrys first scientific expedition to the region. The 104 year old Shimla toy train will be Indias official entry for inscription as World Heritage site. PM approved funding of the Bogibeel rail cum road bridge & the Rangia-Murkongselek guage conversion projects for NE states at a cost of 2000 crore.
Cabinet clears setting up of a Uranium mine & processing center at Tummalapalle in Cudapah district of Andhra Pradesh.
The ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor (DMIC) project was cleared after Cabinet approved the 1483 KM project that would include six mega investment projects of 200 sq kms each. The DMIC would cost 100 billion $ in just the first phase. Japan is collaborating in the construction of DMIC.
Indias first mobile court started by Haryana Govt. The National Consumer Mission has brought the Lawyer under the ambit of Consumer Protection Act like doctors & engineers.
Former Union Coal Minister & JMM leader from Jharkhand, Shibu Soren acquitted by Delhi HC of his Death sentence due to lack of evidence.
Explosions rock Hyderabead. Assams golden silk Muga has now secured the much needed Geographical Indication. 54 Ghanshyam Thori
Drinking age down from 25 to 21 in Delhi. Atta-Daal policy which provides Wheat & Pulses at highly subsidized rates launched in Punjab & UP. Central Institute of Classical Tamil launched in Chennai. MCD of Delhi has decided to employ only women teachers in the girls school. Karnataka government launched Bhagyalakshmi scheme to provide Rs. 10,000 insurance cover to each girl child covering 1.15 lakh children.
India & Japan agree to a bilateral currency swap to help both countries manage their currency from attacks of speculators.
Tata group has emerged as the largest tax payer contributing 10.3 % to total corporate tax kitty amounting to Rs. 15000 crore approx.
RBI has allowed Indian residents to open maintain & hold foreign currency accounts in banks outside the country & transfer upto 1 lakh dollars a year in them without its prior approval. It is part of RBIs efforts to flush out excess foreign capital.
India & Switzerland sign MoU on safeguarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). Earlier India had signed similar deal with Japan.
Taurian Resources Pvt Limited won a contract for Uranium Exploration & mining anywhere in the world.
Media Tycoon, Rupert Murdoch finally won control of Dow Jones & Co, publisher of business newspaper The Wall Street Journal for 5 billion $.
MTNL JV company United Telecom Limited (UTL) has been permitted by Nepal Govt to start Voice over Internet Protocol services there. The 15th Century Maitreys temple of Ladakh won the Award of Excellence at the 2007 UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award beating 25 other entries.
A US probe named Phoenix Mars Lander was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a Delta II rocket.
An indigenous cryogenic stage developed by ISRO has successfully tested on the ground for a long duration of eight minutes at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC) at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu. Till now India is using GSLVs from Russia.
US space shuttle Endeavour returned to its Florida home port touching safely at the Kennedy Space Center following a 13 days mission to the International Space Station.
Indian Scientists have hit upon High Concentration Uranium in Ladakh. FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) cleared a proposal by ICICI bank to divest 24 % stake in Banks financial services.
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November 2007 More than 100,000 people flooded the streets of Myanmars biggest city Yangon joining the Buddhist monks in the strongest show of dissent against military Junta.
Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada & US which control a coastline in the Arctic are in race to procure rights to the Arctic as per 1982 Law of the Sea.
US Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte alongwith other US officials arrived in Islamabad for talks with Pervez Musharraf, two days after the government blocked former PM Nawaz Sharifs return from exile.
Russia tested the father of all bombs, a conventional air delivered vacuum bomb. Sri Lanka amends Citizenship Act. September 15 has been picked up by UN as the International day of Democracy. UN cuts down the global aids count from 39.5 million to 33.2 million. Nepal adopts Nepal Sambat as new national calendar. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo granted pardon to convicted former President Joseph Estrada who was sentenced to Life for Plunder.
Bangladesh delinks Judiciary from Executive. From now onwards all magistrates at subordinate courts will exercise their judicial functions under the authority of the supreme court.
Negotiators from 158 countries at UN Climate Conferece at Bali reached basic agreement that industrialized countries should strive to cut emissionsby 25 to 40 percent of their 1990 levels by 2020.
US recently delivered two F-16B state of art fighter jets to Pakistan & announced plans to donate another two dozen.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had quit the five month old coalition govt after PM Girija Prasad Koirala refused to bow to their demands.
Putin dissolved the Russian Government. He also named Viktor Zubkov, head of financial market watchdog as next PM.
Israel branded Gaza as a hostile entity clearing the way for shutting off basic supplies to the Hamas run territory in response to rocket attacks.
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe who was the youngest PM of Japan post World War II resigned. An amendment has been made to French immigration laws under which visa seekers will undergo DNA testing in order to prove their blood ties to a resident in France. DNA testing of Visa applicants is currently practiced in 11 European countries.
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The Indian Parliament passed the Competition Amendment Bill 2007 which made mergers & acquisitions to be mandatorily notified.
The Sethusamudaram project was first of all mooted by Commander AD Taylor in 1860. The Union Govt in 1955 appointed a committee headed by A Ramaswamy Mudaliar, which found the project feasible.
The Ministry of Women & Child Development is implementing a scheme named Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) using the infrastructure of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
Union Govt has decided to ease overseas visit norms for Emigration Check Required (ECR). India & Pakistan have agreed to setup a technical level mechanism to take forward their talks on the Tulbul Navigation Project in the Baramullah district of J&K. The Tulbul Navigation Project was started in India in 1984 & was halted in 1986 after Pakistan raised objections.
India-Chile signed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) after the visit of Chilean President. Britain, India & Algeria will be among the first countries to face scrutiny by the 47 member UN Human Rights Council which has been created to replace the highly politicized Human Rights Commission.
The military backed interim government of Bangladesh arrested Khaleda Zia of Banladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) & her son. Earlier the government had arrested chief of Awami league, Sheikh Hasina.
According to WHO the deadly Hemorrhagic Ebola Virus has resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo killing 160. Taiwan has been refused UN membership a record 15th time as UN considers it to be a part of Peoples Republic of China.
Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar visited Vienna to meet IAEA Director General Mohammad ElBaradei regarding the 123 deal.
India & Mexico signed DTAA (Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement) & Extradition Treaty during Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosas visit to India.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited South Korea for a meeting of the India-Republic of Korea Joint Commission.
The Cabinet approved the proposal to expand the mid-day meal scheme to the upper primary levels in schools. Under this 100 gm of wheat & rice is supplied to every child. Incredibe India@60 a four day celebration saluting the 60th anniversary of Independence of the worlds largest democracy was kicked off in New York.
The Union Cabinet decided to expand the scope of the National Old Age Pension Scheme by including all Senior Citizens above 65 years of age & living below poverty line.
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India has slipped further six notches to 48 over last year in a global ranking of competitiveness spread across 131 countries as per the report by World Economic Forum. India is ranked ahead of Russia & Brazil but lags behind China.
India leads the world in CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects. In the biggest ever Save Tiger package the government has agreed to relocate over 40,000 families at a whopping 4874 crore budget.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the 100 most powerful women list of Forbes for second year in a row. Pepsi Chairman Indra Nooyi is ranked 5th & Sonia Gandhi is ranked 6th.
Sumgayit city of Azerbaijan is the worlds most polluted city. Sukina & Vapi of India feature in top 10. The government has finalized a model contract that will be binding for the Indian Worker & their employers
According to the Economic Freedom of the World Report 2007, Indias overall ranking on the global economic freedom index improved to 69.
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is working on a national blood law being called as the National Blood Transfusion Services Act of 2007.
Bills to bring unorganized sector workers under the social security net was introduced in Rajya Sabha. The 58th session of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) was held at Hyderabad. Azadi Express, the new mobile exhibition train, celebrating the 150th year of the first war of Independence & the centenary celebratioins of Shaheed Bhagat Singh made out its maiden ride from Safdarjung Railway Station. As per Transparency International, India is ranked 72nd on Corruption Perception Index (CPI). According to yet another survey 77 % of the respondents believe that Judiciary in India is corrupt.
Power Finance Corporation has bagged the prestigious Golden Peacock Award for excellence in corporate governance.
India & Thailand have agreed to sign FTA. Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST) started functioning at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram.
Punjab was judged as No 1 state at the fifth India Today States of States Conclave. Mayawati sacked 10,500 policemen alleging irregularities in their recruitment during the Mulayam Singh regime. In addition around 50 officers from IG rank to DSP level have been suspended.
CM Mayawati announced a Rs. 40,000 crore Ganga Expressway from Noida to Ballia in East. The Cabinet gave approval to the 1000 km project that is likely to get completed in 3 years.
Gujarat to have a new district named Vyara which is a tribal dominated district. 58 Ghanshyam Thori
Tamil Nadu government has announced the creation of a separate quota (3.5 % each) for Muslims & Christians in educational institutions & government jobs through an ordinance. Later it got assemblys approval too.
Karnataka government bans use of mobile phones by school children aged below 16. Borse Dubai acquired a 20 % stake in Nasdaq making it the single largest owner of the US exchange. Mallya buys Spyker F1 team for 123 million $ (500 crore). BSNL gives contract to Ericsson for 13 million lines. SBI Life becomes first life insurer in India to receive AAA rating from CRISIL. Indias external debt stood at 155 billion $ as on March 31, 2007. RBI aiming to free up the rupee towards full convertability doubled the overseas investment limit for individuals to 200,000 $ (80 lakhs).
Japan to launch its Lunar Probe SELENE (Selenological & Engineering explorer) spacecraft. Indias latest communication satellite INSAT 4CR was successfully launched through the GSLV-FO4 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sri Harikota. Weighing 2130 Kg INSAT 4CR is the heaviest payload being placed in orbit by an Indian Launcher. It carries 12 high power Ku-band transponders designed to provide DTH television services, Video Picture Transmission & Digital Satellite News. It was built to replace an identical INSAT-4CR that was lost due to failure of GSLV-F02 in 2006.
Fracto Fusus Misrai named after Indian Geologist S.B. Misra is believed to 565 million years old & is the oldest record of multicellular life on earth.
Japan launched its first lunar probe nicknamed Kaguya to explore the moon. NASA has announced an astronomy project, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array or NuSTAR designed to detect black holes.
The Dawn spacecraft of US is to probe the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter. The Asia Pacific Economic Forum in its meeting at Sydney has decided against expanding its membership till 2010 thereby stopping India to become its member. . US, China, Japan, Russia & Australia are among the 21 APEC countries.
Seven Possible Caves discovered by NASAs Mars Odyssey named Seven Sisters. Osteoarthritis beats Diabetes, Hypertension or cancer to claim no 1 spot among ailments in the country. Adipose Gene found to play significant role in fat metabolism. The worlds first floating nuclear plant will be commissioned in 2011 in Russias arctic. India won the prestigious Montreal Protocol Implementers Award signifying its emergence as a global leader in promoting Ozone.
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MRTPC has initiated an investigation against BCCI for allegedly threatening players with a life term ban if they joined Subhash Chandra promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) & also refusing to share infrastructure with ICC.
December 2007 Chinese president Hu Hintao was re-elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China.
The United Nations officially launched International Year of the Potato 2008. In a historic future setting accord, the two Koreas on October 4, agreed to solve the issue of unification on their own initiative. North Koreas Kim Jong II & S Korean Roh Moo Hyun signed a joint declaration calling for peace treaty.
Myanmar allows UN inspector, Ibrahim Gambari to look into the recent pro-democracy protests & action taken by the government against the demonstrators.
Russian President Vladmir Putin arrived in Tehran to hold talks on Irans Nuclear Program. Pakistan CJ orders return of Nawaz Sharif to Pak. UN bid to set up a human rights monitoring office in Sri Lanka has failed following the Sri Lankan governments resolute opposition to it.
Vietnam gets a non permanent seat in UNs Security Council for two years. Turkeys Parliament approved the motion allowing troops to cross into Northern Iraq to hunt down Kurdish rebels hiding there brushing aside appeals from the US & Baghdad government.
Pakistan ranked as the worlds largest arms buyer in 2006 well ahead of India. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi visited China. The Union Cabinet approved a national policy on Rehabilitation & Resettlement, 2007 & amendments to the Land Acquisition Act 1894 to strike a balance between the need for land for development activities & protecting the interests of farmer, landowners etc esp in cases of SEZs.
The Government launched a National Investment Fund made up of money from sale of equity in state run companies to finance social sector schemes & revive sick PSUs.
The Union Govt announced a record hike of Rs. 250 per quintal on the MSP for wheat. With this MSP for wheat would go up from Rs. 750 to Rs. 1000.
India & Philippines signed nine bilateral agreement including a joint declaration for cooperation to combat International Terrorism. Philippines president is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The Centre launched Aam Admi Bima Yojna for families living below poverty line. PM, Manmohan singh visited Nigeria. Nigeria is Indias largest trading partner in Africa. 60 Ghanshyam Thori
SC relaxes ban on construction in Forest Areas. Govt revised pictorial health warning for smoking & smokeless forms of Tobacco. India hosted the second ministerial meetings of six Asia-Pacific nations in New Delhi. The main focus was climate change.
India unveiled its Tsunami Early Warning System which took shape at the Indian National Center for Ocean Informatics Center , Hyderabad.
The Govt has decided to reserve 30 % of all school scholarships for girls belonging to the minority community, scheduled castes & STs.
Nine years after deadly attacks aimed at assassinating BJP leader LK Adwani left 58 people dead, a special court ordered 31 people including the terror mastermind S.A. Basha & his son Siddique Ali of the Al Umma Group to serve life terms.
India is now home to worlds largest number of blinds a whopping 15 million out of total global blind population of 37 million.
President rule in Karnataka. A day earlier Karnatakas CM HD Kumaraswamy had submitted resignation on being reduced to minority after BJP withdrew its support.
Union Cabinet decided to create a self governing Gorkha Hill Council under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Jharkhand Govt declares Urdu as 2nd language. Tamil Nadu Govt bans use of mobile phones in schools. The Mayawati government finally agreed to implement VAT in UP. With this UP becomes the last state to go in for VAT. This is the last of the three year grace period given by the centre to the states for implementing VAT.
UNCTAD in its World Investment Report has ranked India on the second spot after China as the most attractive location ahead of US, Russia & Brazil.
According to World Bank, India has displaced China & Mexico to become the top remittance receiving country in the world with 25.7 billion $ in remittances. Mexico & China followed.
A European Consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) clinched a record 100 billion $ takeover of ABN Amro. Genpact buys Citi Group call centers in India for 700 million $. BBC buys Lonely Planet.
Indias first Biodiesel plant starts operation at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. Government makes it mandatory for gold to be embossed with Bureau of Indian Standards hallmark.
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Fourth CISM Military World Games were held in Hyderabad. Li Yang of China set a world record in the 50 meters womens back stroke. Russia stood first & India at a distant 20th rank. Fifth World Military Games will be held at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
US Space shuttle discovery blasted off soaring above Florida Marshlands towards a rendezvous in two days to the International Space Station. Pamela Melroy was its commander.
China launched its first moon orbiter christened Change One. Soyuz lands safely after the Russian rocket returned from the International Space Station. A NASA spacecraft New Horizon while passing by Jupiter enroute to dwarf planet, Pluto observed lightning strikes at Jupiters pole.
NASA extended the mission of Mars probes Spirit & Opportunity the two robots with mission to explore the red planet.
Smallest Indian Frog Found, considered to be the smallest known land vertebrate in India from Kurichiyarmala in Keralas Wayanand district. Western Ghats is considered one of the 18 biodiversity hotspots of the world
The worlds first commercial wave farm is to open at Portugal. India won the coveted Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) award for its Incredible India campaign. The capital of Serbia is Belgrade & of Montenegro is Podgorica. Based on the results of the referendum held on May 21, 2006, Montenegro declared independence on June 3, 2006 making it the newest fully recognized country in the world. On June 28, 2006, it became the 192nd member state of the United Nations, and on May 11, 2007, the 47th member state of the Council of Europe.
January 2008 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visits Iran for the fourth time. UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari met Myanmars detained opposition leader Aung San Syu Kyi. Labour Party led by Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australia defeating PM John Howard French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits China & closes deal for two nuclear reactors & 160 passenger jets. Pope Benedict meets Saudi Arabias King Abdullah. Malaysians protest against Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current PM by alleging that he has elected in an unfair election. Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh. Iran & Pakistan finalize the Gas Deal without India.
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China sends largest Antarctic expedition. Australia is the biggest per capita polluter. China & US establish military hot line. In Bangladesh the Judiciary separates from executive.
Russia suspends the arms treaty which limits the deployment of armoured vehicles across Europe. The UN Climate Change Secretariat located in Bonn stated that total emission remains same despite all efforts.
UN seeks end to death penalty by passing a non binding resolution. Khmer Rogue was the political party of Cambodia which committed genocide during its reign. British HC overturned the discriminatory visa rule which made visa for Indian doctors tougher. Pakistan elected to Economic & Social Council of the UN for 2008-10. PM visits Russia. India & Iceland signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The DTAA provides for taxation of dividend, interest, royalties & fees for technical services.
India signed an agreement with Qatar to protect the interest of expatriate domestic workers in Gulf countries.
India ranked 128 out of 177 countries in 2007 in the latest human development index released by the UNDP. In 2006 it was ranked 126.
Indias second Uranium Plant after Jaduguda in Jharkhand is being setup at Thummalapalle in Pulivendula constituency in Andhra Pradesh. The Kadapa basin in Andhra Pradesh is a treasure trove with large deposits of Uranium. 4th International Conference on Federalism organized by the Inter-State Council Secretariat of the Home Ministry held. 7th World Toilet Summit held in Delhi where a declaration on sanitation was adopted. Nearly 1,10,000 Indians who were working illegally in the UAE have availed themselves of the three month amnesty offered by the government. Of them 70,000 have left the country & the others have found new jobs or reworked their employment status.
SC ruled that an undertrial prisoner might not be able to vote but being lodged in a jail was no disqualification for him to contest polls.
The government has decided to move ahead with floodlighting all along the Indo-Bangladesh border fence.
Karnataka assembly was dissolved & put under Presidents rule after the then CM B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned.
Sikkim to get its first airport at Pakyong. Presently the nearest airport to Sikkim is located 124 Kms away at Bagdogra in West Bengal.
Justice Jasraj Chopra appointed to look into the demand of providing ST status to Gujjars in Rajasthan. 63 Ghanshyam Thori
13 people killed in 3 simultaneous blasts in Lucknow, Varanasi & Faizabad in U.P. NTPC to setup 1320 MW thermal power plant in Meja Tehsil of Allahabad district in U.P. Russia & India signed a pact for sending an unmanned laboratory to the moon in 2011-12. India will build a launch vehicle & a lunar orbiter while Russia would contribute a landing module & a moon rover packed with instruments.
ISRO has successfully tested the indigenously built Cryogenic engine that would be employed in the upper stage of GSLV. The test was conducted at Liquid Propulsion Test Facility at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
Chinas first lunar probe Change I completed its 20 lakh Km journey to the moon successfully. Discovery & its crew returned to earth after a 15 day space station build & repair mssion. China launched a remote sensing satellite Yaogan III. Empowered group of State Finance Ministers on VAT has accepted the report of the Joint Working group which favours giving both the Centre & the State the power to levy the Goods & Services Tax (GST) when it is implemented from 2010. UNCTAD has ranked India 86th among 123 countries Indira Nooyi appointed on the board of directors of US-India Business Council. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the leading defence public sector undertaking has been conferred with Navratna Status.
The Gautam Thapar led group which includes companies like BILT, Crompton Greaves has been renamed as Avantha Group. The 18th Stockholm International Film festival awarded the best film prize to 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 days.
Pratibha Patil presented the International Council of Jurists Award, to the chief justice of England & Wales, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers for his lifetime contribution to justice.
Gandhi My Father has won the best screenplay category award at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Screen Awards.
More than 500 delegates are to participate at the India International Tea Convention 2007 held at Guwahati in Assam.
Black Widow is the anti talk faction of the Dima Halam Daogah in Assams North Cachar Hills District. Seven CRPF personnel were killed by it.
A lifetime fuel supply for two light water reactors of 1000 MW each of which are under construction at Koodankulam is covered through a sovereign guarantee of the Russian federation.
Cabinet approves Krishna Drinking Water Supply in Hyderabad. 64 Ghanshyam Thori
Cabine gave its approval to Rs. 8000 crore programme for river management in flood affected areas India signs MoU with Costa Rica to promote trade. NSDL appointed as Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) for the new pension scheme. SEBI mulls starting currency futures. American astronomers discover the biggest Black Hole in the constellation Cassiopeia. NASA scientists spot earth like planet near a star known as Cancri 55. Norway to have worlds first Osmotic Power Plant. Tata Group Scion Ratan Tata was recently awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy (Philanthropy Nobel) in recognition of longstanding commitment of Tata Family to philanthropic causes.
State Run Commodity Trading firm MMTC (Metals & Minerals Trading Corporation) has become Indias most valued public sector firm, toppling ONGC. ONGC has become the most valued firm on BSE after Reliance Industries & MMTC.
London based Inmarsat has signed a contract with industrialists to construct the Alphasat I-XL mission. The six tonne satellite is to deliver high bandwidth services such as mobile internet to Europe, Middle East, Asia & Africa.
The US Futures Exchange (USFE) recently announced that it would exclusively license BSE benchmark Sensex for US dollar denominated futures strading.
Induced Pluripotent Stemcells (iPS) have been developed by Japanese scientists which is an alternative to cloning & bypasses the ethical issue involved in it.
EKA, a supercomputer developed by Tata Groups Pune based Computational Research Laboratories is the 4th fastest in the world capable of performing 118 Trillion Floating Operations per second (Teraflops).
February 2008 Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was killed in a gunfire attack cum suicide bombing minutes after she finished addressing an election rally at Rawalpinidi, Pakistan. She was laid to rest to her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at the family tomb in Garhi Khuda Baksh in Nudero, her ancestral home in Larkana district of Sindh. PPP named her son Bilawal to head the party but leaving the real power to her husband Asif Ali Zardari. Nawaz Sharif heads Pakistan Muslim League & Imran Khan heads Tehreek E Insaf. Pervez Musharraf lifted Emergency & restored the constitution. 65 Ghanshyam Thori
UN Climate Change Conference 2007 held at Bali & Island of the Gods, Indonesia. The Bali meeting approved a roadmap for two year talks to adopt a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2009, widening it to the US & developing nations such as China & India. The Kyoto protocol which requires 36 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 % below 1990 levels is to end in 2012.
Russian President Vladmir Putin has backed the First Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev to succeed him at Presidential Elections scheduled in March 2008.
Russia delivered its first delivery of enriched Uranium fuel to Iran in advance of the startup of the controversial Russian-built Bushehr atomic power station.
Hugo Chavez looses in the referendum which was to scrap term limits on President Hugo Chavezs rule, boosted his power to expropriate private property.
The EU Nations sign The Treaty of Lisbon which replaces a planned E.U. constitution. Leaders of the 27 Nation European Nation signed a landmark treaty to revitalize decision making after years of wrangling on how much power they are willing to hand over. As per the European Union Reform Treaty, the number of votes allocated to each member would be according to population size. The President serves 2.5 year term. It replaces system where states take turns to hold post for six month.
United Russia, the party supported by Vladmir Putin won landslide victory in the Parliamentary elections. It secured 64 % seats in the 450 seat State Duma.
South Korea hit by worst oil spill. New Jersey has become the first US State in four decades to abolish the death penalty. The two Koreas started their first regular train service since the 1950-53 war. Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, tipped to be the next army chief of Lebanon assassinated. Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) launced a one million signature campaign for the release fo five of its detained leaders & for the equal rights of the ethnic Indian minority in Malaysia.
Russia, Kazakhstan & Turkmenistan have signed a landmark deal to build a gas pipeline cementing Moscows control over Central Asia Energy resources.
Russia suspended its obligation under the CFE (conventional forces in Europe) treaty after failing to reach any agreement with US on missile defence in Europe.
Four & a half years after the Anglo American Invasion, Iraqi authorities have taken control of Basra province from British Troops.
Norway has drawn up plans to build the 1700 metre, the worlds first shipping tunnel. The tunnel is being made
Year 2008 will be celebrated as The Year of Russia in India. 66 Ghanshyam Thori
Akshardam temple makes it to Guinness Book of world record. Pramukh Swami Maharaj is its chief. French Minister of Foreign & European Affairs Bernard Kouchner arrived in New Delhi to prepare ground for Sarkozys visit.
National Development Council (NDC), the countrys highest policy making body endorsed the Eleventh Plan Document which envisages an average 9 % GDP during the first four year & 10 % during the terminal year. The incidence of poverty is to be reduced by 10 percentage points by generating seven crore new jobs. Overall Investment would be Rs. 36 Lakh Crore. NDC fixed the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) 115 % higher at Rs. 10 lakh crore, to help the states in ushering in an inclusive growth.
SEBI approved introduction of new derivative products based on the interim recommendations made by the SEBI committee on Derivatives headed by Prof M. Rammohan Rao.
BSE announces launch of Sensex Mini Derivative Contracts from January 1, 2008. The announcement came in immediately after SEBI allowed tradin gin mini contracts on both sensex & nifty with a minimum contract size of Rs. 1 Lakh.
Indias Foreign Exchange Reserve stood at 272 billion $ as on Dec 21, 2007. Cambodian PM Hun Sen arrived in New Delhi. India & Mauritius signed a MoU for the establishment of the Insitute of Diplomacy & Foreign Trade in the island nation.
The Union Cabinet approved the Gram Nyayalya Bill, 2007 with certain amendments. The legislation involves appointment of about 6,000 trained first class judicial magistrates all over the country. Gram Nyayalyas would be setup in every panchayat of the country except J&K, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim.
PM clears proposal to recruit 35 thousand personnel under the Indian Reserve Battalion for deployment in naxal affected states.
The Forest Act to give land rights to tribals & forest dwellers is applicable from January 1, 2008. 15 prominent public sector companies sign the Transparency Pact of Transparency International to reduce corruption.
The Senior Citizens Bill 2007 has been passed under which people who abandon their parents or neglect their basic needs will have to face 3 months of imprisonment & a penalty of upto Rs. 5000. It also talks about setting up an appropriate mechanism to provide need based maintenance to parents & senior citizens once they attain the age of 60.
Coal India increases the package for deceased worker to 5.8 Lakhs against a mere 80,000 at present. The first India-Russia-China trilateral business conference was held at Delhi to strengthen economic cooperation & iron out the irregularities in trade among the 3 countries.
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India & Hong Kong have signed a new bilateral air services agreement. President Pratibha Patil conferred the honorary rank of General of the Indian Army on the General Rookmangud Katwal Prajatantra Bhaskar Dusro, Chief of Nepalese Army.
Narora I unit recommissioned after it was shut down two years ago for safety upgrade & replacement of major components. For the first time Delhi hosted the 12th International Conference of Natioanl Trusts attened by 150 members from 53 countries.
H5N1 virus strain of Bird Flu deteced again. The three chiefs of the defence staff will be exempted from pre-embarkation security checks at all civil airports across the country.
India will chair UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for one year. Modi sweeps Gujarat Election with 117/182 votes. TN clears proposal to setup five thermal power projects with 10000 MW capacity. BJP sweeps victory in Himachal defeating Virbhadra Singh led Congress. Nagaland showcases its Annual Hornbill Festival in a village in Kohima which is a tribute to Hornbill, the most admired & revered bird of the Nagas.
Loksabha increases the compensation amounts to be paid to accident victim to Rs. 150,000 from current Rs. 50,000 by amending the Motor Vehicles Act 1994.
229 inmates including 105 naxal activists escaped from Dantewada jail in Chhattisgarh after naxals overpowered prison guards.
The Matheran Light Railway, a 20 km narrow guage line from Neral to Mathran has already been shortlisted by UNESCO to be included in its heritage list.
SC permitted employment of women in Bars & Liquor serving restaurants in the NCT of Delhi. It also removed the ban on employment of men below 25 years of age.
New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) offering 57 oil & gas blocks to national & international players launched.
GSM operators Airtel, Vodafone & Idea have decided to form an independent tower company Indus Towers Limited that will provide passive infrastructure services to all operators leading to lower operating costs.
ONGC enters the Fortune Magazines list of Worlds Most Admired Companies. CCEA cleared NHDP-VII, a Rs. 16000 crore project for construction of several ring roads, bypasses, arund major cities in the country.
Padmasree Warrior joined Cisco systems as CTO. Ealier she was CTO of Motorola. 68 Ghanshyam Thori
Air India joins Star Alliance. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) has been renamed Tata Communications Ltd. It will now have to pay a fee for using the Tata word in its name like other Tata Group companies which is .25 % of the turnover or 5 % of the profit before tax, whichever is less.
Bank of Saurashtra & SBI to merge. The 11th Five Year Plan aims at inclusive growth by introducing Sarva Swasthya Abhiyan that will find solutions for strengthening the health services. It will have components of National Rural Health Mission that was launched in 2005 & the National Urban Health Mission (NURM).
A team of Indian Astronomers lead by Joydeep Bagchi of the University of Pune have discovered the longest intergalactic particle beam, stretching nearly 1.5 million light years.
32 metre antenna is being installed at the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu near Bangalore.
The Indian Regional Navigation System (IRNSS) an indigenous system being developed by the ISRO to ensure continuous earth observation of India from the space will be ready by 2012. Under it India would be divided into 7 regions each having a dedicated satellite. At present ISRO was dependent on GPS (US) & GLONASS (Russian).
Supreme Court of Peru sentenced the former President, Alberto Fujimori to six years in Prison The Wall a film from Taiwan bagged the Golden Peacock Award at the 38th International Film Festival of India.
Vladmir Putin was named TIME Magazines Person of the Year 2007 for bringing his country roaring back to the table of world power.
SAIL wins SCOPE award for excellence in Public Sector Management. Indian MBBS at par with US medical degree. 20 more IIITs to be setup. New National Law School to be established in Delhi on lines of NLS, Bangalore. UN FAO celebrated 2007 Food Day with the theme Right to Food. Indian Television Academy Awards NDTV (best News Current Affairs), CNN-IBN (Best English News Channel), Aaj-Tak (Best Hindi News), CNBC TV 18 (Best Business News).
Rastrapati bhawan opened for public to see the Change of Guard. British call for sons of the soil to counter the startling revelation that British Government has admitted that 80 % of the jobs created in the country since labour party came to power in 1997 had gone to foreigners.
NASA cancels launch of Atlantis Space Shuttle due to some technical error.
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The Human Rights Day was celebrated on December 10, 2007 whicch marked the beginning of the 60th anniversary year of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
Rainbow revolution is related to overall development of Agriculture Sector. Carlos Ghosn, Chairman of Daimler visisted India. Citigroup has sold its captive BPO in India to Genpact. Gene therapy cures Fragile X syndrome. Fragile X is causled by the loss of a gene called FMRP. IBM develops Waveguide technique equivalent of a pair of railway lines it forces an optical beam to stay within the guide. This will help in building super computer of far superiority & compactness.
Lectin produced by Sea Cucumber seen as potential treatment against Malaria. English News Magazine Outlook won the coveted Internatinal Press Institutes India Award for Excellence in Journalism for 2007.
The Second Administrative Reforms have recommended a survey of urban poor. The commission in its report Local Governance noted that poverty is a distressing feature in urban areas. The commission has recommended door to door surveys & issuing Multi-utility identity card to the Urban poors identified. The Second ARC advocated simplified property tax & abolition of octroi. It suggested increase in fine for Civic Offences. It asked the state governments to ensure that all local bodies switch over to the Unit Area Method or Capital Value Method for assessment of property tax. In its sixth report which dealt with local governance, the ARC, headed by senior congress leader & former Karnataka CM Veerappa Moily, favoured clear delineation of functions of various spheres of the government.
Doubts
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XEROX Issue March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 November 2007 January 2007 February 2007 Page 44 3-5 43 38 24 26 28 18 Topic Books & Authors Union Budget, Economic Survey & Railway Budget Books & Authors Books & Authors Books & Authors Books & Authors Books & Authors Books & Authors
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42 44
Books & Authors. Books & Authors
Essential Extra Readings Waziram Current Affairs November Magazine Waziram Current Affairs December Magazine Important Schemes of GoI (51-61) New Vishals India Yearbook 2008 Hindu Newspaper Important Events of 2007 Wizard Current Affairs.
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French Open Wimbeldon US Open Australian Open

February 2007 Current Affairs 2008 32 Ghanshyam Thori

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The cabinet approved a national policy on petrochemicals. 43 Ghanshyam Thori

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