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No. 1 followed by Singapore in the world in terms of its ability to provide the most competitive
competitiveness rankings are viewed as a barometer of the business climate in 139 countries
and mirror the assessments of leading businessmen on a range of political, social, and
economic parameters.
The new UN survey clearly showed that India is the second most preferred country for
investment for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) after China. The next places go to
Brazil and USA.
World Water Week was started in Stockholm, Sweden as a part of Global Water Summit.
2010) at HICC, Hyderabad. For the first time ever, the Union's General Assembly has elected
Ingrid Daubechies of the U.S., a woman as its president for the 2011-14 terms.
Vuvuzela, the horn instrument which became the sound of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South
Africa, has won an entry in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. It defines the
horn as a long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet that makes a very loud noise when
States, according to Chinese government figures. With this growth continuing, China will pass
guilty and recommended that he be ‘cashiered.'When an officer was cashiered, he would lose
the world's largest clock and will top a massive skyscraper that when completed will be around
600 metres tall, the second tallest in the world after Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, will be one of the 21
members of the United Nations' (UN) newly formed High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. It
will be co-chaired by South African president Jacob Zuma and Finnish president Tarja Halonen,
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' and Nepali
Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel could not obtain a simple majority of 301 votes in the
Cultural Organisation's(UNESCO)World Heritage List. Located outside the city palace, this large
stone observatory with its many instruments was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in the
18th century. It is one of the four existing astronomical observatories in India. The others are
.:: July 2010 International Affairs ::.
President Barack Obama made sweeping reform of Wall Street institutions a reality by signing
into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The reform
bill intends to crack down on abusive practices in the mortgage industry, provide students
taking out college loans with clear and concise information about their obligations and supply
more information to ordinary investors about the costs and risks of mutual funds and other
investment products.
For the prime ministerial election of the new Nepal government, the two candidates,
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) and Nepali Congress vice-president Ram
Chandra Paudel did not get a simple majority and the poll would be held again. As per the
interim constitution, a candidate must acquire a simple majority of 300 votes from the 599
the only Indian to be a part of the MDG Advocacy Group that comprises eminent international
personalities including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, philanthropist Ted Turner and Nobel
laureate Muhammad Yunus, among others. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are
eight international development goals that all the 192 United Nations member States and at
least 23 global organisations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.These include reducing
extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS and
in Berne, Switzerland.
The United States Senate passed a historic Wall Street reform bill on financial reformsthat
will bring greater economic security to families and businesses across the country.
Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalise same-sex marriage.
The U.N. rejected to reopen the probe into the assassination of the former Premier,
health and family welfare, while India’s population grew by 1.4% over the last five years,
China saw only a 0.6% population growth for the corresponding period. India’s total population
in 2009 was 119.8 crore, China’s 134.5 crore and Pakistan’s 18 crore. WhileIndia’s
population will increase to 161.38 crore by 2050, that of China will only reach 141.7
crore.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty
and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support reveals that there are more ‘MPI poor’
people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries
namely, 165-km-long highway between Jaglot and Skardu, and a 135-km highway between
Thakot and Sazin in the disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The International Monetary Fund has raised its world economic growth forecast from 4 per
Kyrgyzstan.
Bronislaw Komorowski of Civic Platform party won the Poland's presidential elections.
Astana, Kazakhstan, the three countries Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed a declaration
to launch a customs union as a first step towards forming a broader EU-type economic alliance
.:: June 2010 International Affairs ::.
friendly policy introduced by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou after assuming power in 2008.
Kyrgyzstan voted for a national referendum on a new Constitution. If approved, the
main powers shifted from a nationally elected President to a Prime Minister chosen by
Parliament. This would make Kyrgyzstan the first parliamentary democracy in former Soviet
Central Asia.
The two-day G-20 summit or the meeting of the heads of the world's major industrialised
1958.
Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia's first woman Prime Minister after Kevin Rudd was
one trillion dollars in mineral deposits and could become one of the richest in the world.
Iran and Pakistan finalise gas pipeline project without India to supply 21 million cubic metres
.:: May 2010 International Affairs ::.
According to Google’s web traffic data, Facebook.com is most visited website with monthly
visits by 540 million people, or slightly more than 35 per cent of the Internet population.
Nepal political parties UCPN-Maoist, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML agreed to extend
the term of the Constituent Assembly by one year as part of a crucial deal under which
its pact with South Korea on the prevention of naval clashes between them.
The annual ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) was held in Paris with Economy and Trade Ministers from 40 countries,
representing 80 per cent of the world economy attended. India, Russia, Brazil ,China,
investigate the oil spill from British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded on April
20 and has since been spewing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico seriously
publicspaces.
A deal was reached to swap a major part of Iran’s low enriched uranium stocks on Turkish
soil for an equivalent amount of uranium enriched to 19.75 percent among Iran, Turkey and
Brazil.
Iran has freed Clotilde Reiss, French lecturer charged with spying following last June's
presidential elections.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that efforts to eliminate the worst
forms of child labour have slowed down and called for a “re-energised” global campaign to end
the practice. In its global report on child labour, the ILO said the global number of child
labourers had declined from 222 million to 215 million, or 3 per cent, over the period 2004 to
counterpart Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister in the Britain's first post-war coalition
government.
The second Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in which 32 nations attended was
Konyak Nagas, directed by Vikeyeno Zao, will be screened at the annual Cannes Film Festival
the ruling Labour Party after 13 years in power. The conservative party ended up with 306
seats, 20 short of an outright majority .The Labour party got 258 seats and the Liberal
out on bail after being convicted in August last year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
(PTA). The pardon coincided with the World Press Freedom Day.
Iran and Syria have mooted the formation of a regional economic bloc with Turkey and Iraq
as their key partners. The two sides felt the move would yield economic benefits and impart
.:: April 2010 International Affairs ::.
The World Expo 2010 was held in Shangai in China. 189 countries have attended the event.
The Chinese government has spent an estimated $ 45 billion on the Expo, upgrading
Shanghai's infrastructure in a bid to make the city a “world financial capital” by 2020.
The 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation decided to establish
direction and guidance for regional cooperation as envisaged in the SAARC Plan of Action
challenges'. It was also decided to plant one crore trees over the next five years to build a
counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, agreed to the resumption of high-level dialogue, which
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, took the chair. Other leaders of the grouping
Lyonchhen Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan, Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, Madhav Kumar Nepal
of Nepal, and Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan attended the summit. For the first time,
Speaker of the newly elected Sri Lankan Parliament on its opening day.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law a landmark constitutional amendment bill
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the suspension of the United States from the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and proposed a five-point plan to democratise the
would carry up to 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year from Siberian gas fields 900 km
over land and 1,200 km under the Baltic Sea from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unveiled the first model of “third
generation” centrifuges that Tehran claims are six times more efficient than the previous
variants. Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony in Tehran marking the fourth “national nuclear
festival” that 60,000 new generation centrifuges would be installed at the Natanz enrichment
plant.
In the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led ruling
alliance won in 120 constituencies of the 180 seats declared in the 225-member House. The
main Opposition grouping, led by the United National Party (UNP), bagged only 47 seats.
The Pakistan National Assembly passed the 18th Amendment Bill that seeks to bring back
the 1973 Constitution. The Bill , which proposes 102 amendments to the Constitution , was
passed by a two-thirds majority after the House rejected the amendments moved by some
members on the abolition of the concurrent list, renaming the North West Frontier Province
aStrategic Arms Reduction Treaty which will reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles by a
third.
Anti-government protests broke out in Kyrgyzstan and its President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev has reportedly left the country and Prime Minister Usenov resigned, clearing the way
for the Opposition to form its own government. A “Cabinet of people's trust” has been headed
Icelandshooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to leave their
homes.
A 7.1-magnitude quake struck a remote border area in north-west Qinghai province in western
China leaving at least 400 dead and more than 10,000 injured. The epicentre of the quake
prefecture in Tibet.
The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) was held in Washington in which 37 of the
participating 47 countries are represented at the level of President or Prime Minister. The
agenda of the summit was how to physically secure sensitive nuclear materials around the
world so that terrorists don't get hold of them. The next Nuclear Security Summit will be held
president’s Tu-154 passenger jet carrying 97 people crashed as it was approaching a Russian
China stood first in implementing death sentence in the world, according to the report
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced plans for a “New Economic Model
During a session at the Arab League summit in Libya, the Arab leaders called for a review of
nuclear weapons development. These countries view Israel and Iran's nuclear programmes
with alarm, and have repeatedly called for an agreement to ban nuclear weapons from the
region.
The Former interim Prime Minister of Iraq, Iyad Allawi's Iraqiyah formation has secured the
maximum number of seats in Iraq's March 7th parliamentary elections, narrowly edging
out the State of Law grouping led by incumbent Premier Nouri al-Maliki.Out of the 325 seats,
National Iraqi List (“Iraqiyah”) of Mr. Allawi secured 91. Mr. Maliki's State of Law grouping got
89.
India joined the world to celebrate Earth Hour, from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. on 27th march 2010
organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The event is the largest global campaign on
climate change with over one billion people around the globe joined the campaign, involving
more than 6,000 cities and towns, to turn off lights in show of support for action on climate
change.
The Agriculture Ministers of the BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China have adopted
2. The four countries to jointly draw up a BRIC food security strategy for vulnerable
sections of the population and share experience in providing food for the poor.
3. To mitigate the impact of climate change on food security and adapt farming to the
changing climate.
Treaty(START) which include reduction by about one third the nuclear weapons that the two
countries would deploy and a significant reductions in missiles and launchers and putting in
China is now set to take the lead as the world's premier green energy power, according
to a report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which measured the growth of clean energy
investments in the world's major economies. In 2009, China invested $34.6 billion on
expanding its renewable energy capacity, out of $162 billion invested globally. The U.S.
invested $18.6 billion, losing the top spot for most investments for the first time ever. India
invested $2.3 billion, ranking tenth among the G-20 group of countries.
According to a new report from U.N.-Habitat, the U.N. agency for human settlements
1. The worldwide number of slum-dwellers now stands at 827 million and is on course to
2. Southern Asia now has 190.7 million slum dwellers (35 per cent of the population) and
3. China and India, the world's most populous countries, have together lifted 125 million
The United States House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the Healthcare
Reform bill which will soon be signed into law by President Obama as the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act, will lead to additional insurance coverage for almost 32 million
more Americans and also bring down the deficit of the country by $143 billion over 10 years
and by over a trillion dollars within the following 10 years, according to the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO). It will cost the American taxpayer $940 billion, according to the CBO.
a 'low - carbon foot print city' by European Aid and Development which works under the
European Commission.
Organisation (CSTO) signed a cooperation pact with the United Nations, which amounts to
Iran and Pakistan have signed in Istanbul, Turkey, the final agreement to launch the $7.5
billion Iran - Pakistan gas pipeline with a provision for India's possible participation in the
project at a later date. This would set in motion the broader Gas Sales Purchase Agreement
(GSPA) with the signing of two provisions i.e., the Operational Agreement (OA) and the Heads
of Agreement (HOA) which deals with details regarding the transportation of gas to India "if
Court martial proceedings begins against the former Army Chief of Srilanka, General
Richest men in India: There are eight Indians in the list of 100 wealthiest people in the
world.
China supports India in opposing any international 'scrutiny' of voluntary actions toreduce
greenhouse gas emissions. As both countries face common challenges, such as task of
and protecting the environment, China sought to continue and expand cooperation with India
as negotiations between the developing world and the west headed towards the climate change
conference in Mexico later this year, said Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of the National
May 28, 2010 was to be delayed as the calendar for its release has been amended for the tenth
time.
Pacific", a report brought out by the United Nations Development Programme to mark the
International Women's Day found that the problem of "missing girls" - a scenario where more
boys are born than girls, as girl foetuses are presumably aborted and women die from health
and nutrition neglect is growing in Asia Pacific. Birth gender disparity is the greatest in East
Asia, where 119 boys are born for every 100 girls. China and India together account for more
than 85 million of the nearly 100 million ''missing'' women estimated to have died from
The united States House of Representatives followed the senate in passing the Hiring
Incentive to Restore Employment Act (The HIRE Act), which offers a payroll tax holding
for business that hire unemployed workers and an income tax credit of $ 1000 for businesses
April 8 general election in Srilanka has advocated a federal model on the lines of Indian system
second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, to the country's top legislative advisory
body. His appointment comes amid Beijing's efforts to further legitimise its contested selection
of the monk, who analysts say may have a crucial role to play in the appointment of the
China has denied claims by Google, the internet Giant, that it had faced cyber attacks
targeting the E - mail accounts of several Chinese human right activists. American
membership of the UN Security Council. Out of 128 votes needed to get the seat, India
of the nuclear-weapons path in the realm of "3S". The "3S" relate to nuclear non-prolife ration-
the Falklands as a rig hired by British companies is to begin drilling off the coast of the remote
archipelago. Geologists think the territory, over which the two countries fought a war in 1982,
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) as long as Nobel peace Laureate Aung San
benefits known as GSP+ granted to Sri Lanka from August on the ground that they are
Council International (ACI). This is the first time that an Indian airport will be featured among
in Chennai.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while declaring the country to be a 'nuclear state'
said, Iran had produced a first stock of 20 percent enriched uranium for its nuclear programme
Said that, NATO's troubles in Afghanistan showed it were vital to boost ties with nations like
China, India and Pakistan and transform the alliance into a global security hub.
An Australian mining firm Resource House has signed a record $60 - billion deal to supply 30
million tonnes of coal every year to China Power International Development (CPI)for the
next 20 Years. The deal is the biggest - ever export contract in Australia's history with the
was dead. The Bo are believed to have existed for 65,000 years, making them the descendants
Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, removed the last hurdle to granting full autonomy to the
province envisaged in the 1998 Good Friday agreement that brought decades of sectarian
violence to an end. The deal paves the way for transferring policing and justice powers from
.:: January 2010 International Affairs ::.
The Chinese government's official growth figures released shows 8.7 growth in 2009. China
is now on course to overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy, while Japan's
control and natural resources management. Iceland was ranked 1st in EPI.
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa defeated the opposition consensus candidate and
former Army Chief, retired General Sarath Fonseka in the presidential election. This is the
This decision was taken at the second ministerial level meeting of the BASIC group of countries
in New Delhi.
China and Japan have been added to the 39 non-traditional export markets identified by
the Union Government as part of series of new incentives to encourage Indian exporters to
Eduardo Frei.
India is the 88th best place to live, according to the 2010 quality of Life Index published by
China, the world's largest producer of gold is set to overtake India as the metal'sbiggest
consumer for the first time in history. China’s consumption of gold is estimated as 450 tonnes
» National Affairs
Tirumala Seshachalam hills, the abode of Lord Venkteswara, has been declared as a“biosphere
airport to provide direct connectivity from various international destinations to the temple town
in Andhra Pradesh.
Shri K.H. Muniyappa, Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways laid the Foundation Stone
new Railway line is one of the largest projects of the South Central Railway and estimated to
cost Rs.1785 Crs. for a length of 258.3 Kms. This project is being executed on 50 :50 cost-
.:: August 2010 National Affairs ::.
The Union Cabinet cleared a 300 per cent salary hike, from Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 50,000, for
members of Parliament and doubled their perks. The increase will be given with retrospective
effect from May 2009, when the 15th Lok Sabha was constituted when the Bill seeking
amendment to the Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, is brought in
amendments.
According to the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI) S.K.
Sarin, MBBS aspirants will have a common entrance test for admission to medical colleges
and Innovations, to give shape to the Government's decision to observe the current decade
(2010-2020) as the Decade of Innovation. The Council will have a mandate to evolve an Indian
model of innovation that focuses on inclusive growth and creating an appropriate eco-system
affected.
While addressing the nation from the Red Fort during the 64th Independence Day
celebrations in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this country can resolve issues
harassment,pointing out that a large number of frivolous complaints are emanating from
section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting
her to cruelty) and the courts are flooded with such matrimonial cases.
The Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, gave its
approval to the enumeration of caste in Census 2011. The GoM recommended that the caste
headcount should be done at the biometric stage which will cover photographing, fingerprinting
and iris mapping of all citizens over the age of 15 for the National Population Register (NPR).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while addressing an all-party delegation from Jammu and
headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan, will have members as N.R. Narayana Murthy, Tarun Das, P.
Nanda Kumar, Shaqueel Qalander and an official representative of the State government.the
group would be tasked with not only creating employment in the public and private sectors, but
the unorganised sector and provide old age security to all, especially the vulnerable sections.
Under the scheme, the government is to provide an assistance of Rs. 1,000 a year as co-
contribution to every NPS (New Pension System) account of 10 lakh unorganised sector
workers, starting this fiscal for four years, till 2013-14 to cover 40 lakh subscribers.
Thirteen districts of Andhra Pradesh have been identified by the Centre for inclusion in
the backward regions grant fund (BRGF) for the current financial year. Adilabad,
related to Posco's Rs.54, 000-crore steel project, including land acquisition and handover,
Corporation (IOC) and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) will be set
of the Commission. Full-time Members are Justice Shivkumar Sharma, retired judge of the
Rajasthan High Court and Amarjit Singh Chandhiok, former Additional Solicitor General of
India.
The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee formed a three-member panel headed
both Houses of Parliament. The Bill is aimed at enhancing reservation of seats for women to 50
(ISO) 14001:2004 Certificate for having emerged as the country's first urban habitat with
(RTI) library named after Prakash Kardaley, a journalist from the city, who had a major role in
the newly inaugurated Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
As part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore a book was
Maoist violence, to set up a Unified Command headed by the four States' Chief Secretaries.
The prestigious Mahatama Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable
Gandhiji on October 2 in New Delhi. It will be the maiden category I institute of UNESCO to be
located in Asia. Out of 11 such institutes, nine are situated in the developed world and two is in
Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh to coordinate and monitor the clean-up of the Bhopal
Accreditation and a National Medical Education and Training Boardthat will register and
accredit medical colleges and prepare curricula for all streams of education in the health sector.
The Union Cabinet cleared the Nalanda University Bill 2010, paving the way for the
establishment of Nalanda University in Rajgir, Bihar near the original Nalanda University site at
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation of the 8.8-km-long Rohtang tunnel
Devisingh Patil presented the Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award to Asko
Parpola for his work on the Dravidian hypothesis in the interpretation of the Indus script.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) submitted their report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
addressing the legal, medical, humanitarian, environmental and other aspects of the Bhopal gas
leak disaster. The GoM recommended Rs. 1,500-crore package for the victims.
The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) endorsed the setting up of the
body entrusted with framing policy, and to bring within its ambit, medical education and other
India was cleared by a GoM headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony and is likely to be
outfit of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-
recommendation of the Union Cabinet after the Congress and the BJP gave up efforts to form an
.:: May 2010 National Affairs ::.
The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in its judgement upheld the intrinsic
constitutional validity of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the National
the issue of caste enumeration in Census 2011. The GOM would work out the modalities of
doing a caste headcount along with Census 2011 while looking into the issue of the practicality
of such census.
The Central Board of Secondary Education launched worldwide, its self-designedinternational
curriculum (CBSE-i) at Dubai's Indian High School (IHS) that aims to compete with its
The Chief Justice and all the other judges of Himachal High Court have declared their assets
and properties.
An Air India Express plane IX-812 from Dubai overshot the table-top runway at the
Mangalore airport and plunged over a cliff into a wooded valley, killing 158 persons.
Cyclonic storm Laila which brought heavy losses to farmers crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast
deferred by six months to December 1 from the earlier scheduled date of June 1 by the
government of India.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil signed an ordinance empowering the government todissolve
the Medical Council of India, a regulatory body responsible for maintaining standards of
medical education. The government created a seven-member Board of Governors that took over
the functioning of the 30-member executive council, the highest decision-making body of the
MCI. The Board of Governors is chaired by Dr. S.K. Sarin,Department of Gastroenterology, and
and appoint in its place a Board of Governors. In place of the present MCI team, the
government intends to appoint seven eminent medical practitioners and health experts to do
the job that the MCI is performing at present. The government would have no role in the new
set-up.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the former CBI Director, R.K. Raghavan,which
investigated Zakia Jaffry's complaint that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others
orchestrated the 2002 riots, submitted its report to the Supreme Court.
The Union Cabinet accorded in-principle approval for the setting up of an autonomous
defence university in Gurgaon district of Haryana at a cost of about Rs. 300 crore on a
200-acre campus that is expected to provide inputs to strategic policy making. It will be set up
under an Act of Parliament.
The Bihar government signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Bill and
Articles 243 D (6) and243 T (6), providing for reservation of seats in any panchayat or
would be given promotion to the next class even if they did not perform well in
examinations.
The Visva-Bharati University at santiniketan celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of
Rabindranath Tagore.
The Supreme Court in its judgement holding that gas is a national asset and the Centre's
pricing policy will prevail over any private agreement, has directed Reliance Industries Ltd
(RIL) of the Mukesh Ambani group to initiate renegotiations with Reliance Natural Resources
Ltd. (RNRL) of the Anil Ambani group for fixing the price of gas to be supplied to RNRL.The
bench thus rejected RNRL's claim that it was entitled to get 28 mscmd of gas from the KG Basin
at $2.34 mBtu in terms of a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding between Anil and Mukesh
removed on the ground that he/she is out of sync with the policies and ideologies of
the Union government or the party in power at the Centre. Nor can he/she be removed
on the ground that the Union government has lost confidence in him/her. The bench gave this
committees Murli Manohar Joshi as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee for 2010-
Undertakings, Gobinda Chandra Naskar as the chairman of the Committee on the Welfare of
(MPLAD) Scheme, under which every MP is allotted Rs. 2 crore a year for constituency
development was nothing unconstitutional. It held that the scheme falls within the meaning
of ‘public purpose' aimed at fulfillment of the development and welfare of the State as reflected
Minister Ashok Chavan, his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Water
Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal to prepare detailed project reports on linking of rivers that will
ceiling of gratuity for employees in private sector to Rs.10 lakh from Rs.3.5 lakh. The Lok Sabha
also passed the Employees' State Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2009, to provide for medicare to
workers in the unorganised sector, especially those below the poverty line (BPL).
A special sessions court judge M.L. Tahaliyani pronounced Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab,
the lone surviving gunman of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks along with nine
other terrorists and 20 co-conspirators in Pakistan, guilty of waging war against India.
The two day National Consultation for Second Generation Reforms in Legal Education was
held in Delhi.
.:: April 2010 National Affairs ::.
The cut motions moved by the Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha against the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's economic policies especially price rise, were
defeated.Cut motion moved by Sushma Swaraj defeated by- in favour 162 and against 246.The
cut motion moved by Gurudas Gupta was defeated by- in favour201 and against 289.
The former chief of the Border Security Force, E.N. Rammohan, submitted his report to Union
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will come under the new name ‘AADHAR' or
foundation.
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh K. Rosaiah launched the Rs. 600-crore Dr. YSR Protected
Hyderabad.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a proposal to set up
backward blocks (EBBs) through State governments. These schools will have norms and
standards equivalent to or better than Kendriya Vidyalayas. The requirement for the 1,000
schools has been estimated at Rs. 3,304 crore, the Centre's share being Rs. 2,478 crore.
The Navy plans to carve out an air enclave on the campus of the Cochin International Airport
Limited (CIAL) for sheltering the Navy's future air assets, especially the medium range maritime
reconnaissance aircraft.
The Commission on Centre-State relations headed by M. M. Punchhi, submitted its report to
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.The panel was constituted by UPA-I in April 2007 to take
a fresh look at the relative role and responsibilities of the various levels of government and
Centre-State relations.
The 59th year of birth of the Bhoodan Movement was celebrated at Bhoodan Pochampalli in
Nalgonda district on 18th April. Acharya Vinoba Bhave had secured the first land donation on
programme aimed at taking administration to the doorstep of people. K. Rosaiah started the
was a brainchild of the late YSR who wanted elected representatives to go to the people during
the difficult summer months and redress their grievances pertaining to drinking water and
which the India’s film rating system is set for a revamp. The Central Board for Film Certification
(CBFC), better known as the Censor Board, will now be asked to certify films under the U, 12+,
15+, A and S categories. Under the current Cinematograph Act, 1952, there are three
the Disaster Response & Fire Service (DSFS) Department at a cost of Rs. 5 crore to tackle
inter-district recruitment and provides a quota for Scheduled Castes in government jobs in all
districts.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launched the test phase ofUnique
Identity Number (UID) project in Medak and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The Union government has decided to soon declare the world's largest river island of
session of Parliament, will bring the institution of CAG under the ambit of the Right to
Information Act.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation started the country’s first Standard Gauge Railway line. This
months at the Commonwealth Games Village to provide uninterrupted power supply for the
event.
Addressing the nation to mark the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act, 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the States and
from April 1st 2010, and will directly benefit close to one crore children who do not go to school.
For the first time, education will become a constitutional right in India. According to this act
private institutes should provide 25% reservation to economically backward students. Right to
education was made fundamental right in 2002 by 86th amendment. The central and state
crore,which is 9.86 per cent more than the outlay of Rs. 33,497 crore fixed for 2009-2010. The
a National Council consisting of representatives from the Medical Council of India, the Dental
Council, the Nursing Council etc., to determine the standards for the clinics, classify them,
develop the minimum standards and their periodic review, compile, maintain and update a
gold received by way of offerings in its temple Hundi in various nationalized banks. TTD
deposited 3,000 kg gold with SBI, 1,125 kg gold with Corporation Bank and the rest 650
kilograms with Indian Overseas Bank and will be earning an interest of over 1.6 and 1.5 per
anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.An extent of 1.06 lakh acres will be distributed to 69,506
beneficiaries.
According to a report released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Gujarathas
been declared as the top contributor to the total hazardous waste generation in the
country. Gujarat generates almost 29 per cent of the 62 lakh metric tonnes of hazardous waste
generated every year. It is followed by Maharashtra (25 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (9 per
cent).
The government of India has reconstituted the National Integration Council (NIC)which will
be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Set up in the early 60s by Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru, the NIC held its first meeting in 1962. The council reviews matters relating to
National Election Watch in Bhopal, Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla said that
roughly 700 out of 1,000 registered political parties do not contest polls and the Election
.:: March 2010 National Affairs ::.
Census 2011, the 15th census since 1872, billed as the largest census ever attempted in the
history of mankind, is set to take off on April 1st, 2010. It will also involve the task of preparing,
country through high speed data communication network, at an outlay of Rs 5,990 crore to be
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of Supreme Court K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices J.M.
Panchal and B.S. Chauhan lifted the stay on the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to
provide four per cent reservation in jobs and education for backward members of the
backward sections by the State Backward Commission, will now be eligible for the benefit. But
the Supreme Court referred to a special bench the issue of its constitutional validity.
The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal of the Labour Ministry to amend the Employees
State Insurance Act, 1948, to provide medical facilities to unorganised workers in ESIC hospitals
and recognised private hospitals under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY), a
capacity addition target by over 20 percent to 62,374 mw for the 11th plan (2007-12) from the
The Union cabinet cleared the Prohibition of Unfair practices in technical, medical
Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010 that seeks to make capitation fee a
cognizable offence. Two other Bills - The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher
Educational Institutional Bill 2010, proposing to setup an independent regulatory body which will
register, monitor and audit accreditation agencies and the Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010
providing an adjudicatory forum for speedy resolution of all issues that arise in the higher
The Union Government has officially confirmed its earlier decision to accord classical language
Languages (CIIL) Mysore, and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to take steps
immediately to give the status to Telugu. This decision was the outcome of efforts by the late
Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy culminating in the adoption of a unanimous resolution in the Assembly
issued by the Postal Department on September 2 to coincide with his first death anniversary.
Wadhwa, while submitting its report to a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and K.S. Radha
Krishnan slammed the Public Distribution System as one of the most corrupt sectors, saying the
committee of vice-chancellors has been set up to focus on central universities lagging
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the world's first green legislature building,
The Union Cabinet cleared the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and
Operation) Bill, 2010, for introduction in parliament. The bill seeks to allow foreign education
The government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to waive the loans taken by weavers'
societies in the state from cooperative banks of APCOB and commercial banks. This waiver
which will place an additional burden of Rs. 312 crore on the ex chequer, will indirectly benefit a
Under the Indian Important Bird Areas (IBA) Programme, 12 more Important Bird Areas
(IBA) were identified in Kerala, which made it's total gone up to 36. The Indian IBA programme
India's first open jail for women was inaugurated at the Yerawada Central Prison in Pune by
Maharashtra Home Minister R.R.Patil. The Open jail would be made to agricultural work on the
17 acres of land adjoining the prison. This would improve their physical and mental well being.
They would also be eligible for remission in their punishment, for every one year served in the
The Government of Andhra Pradesh is set to bring Information Technology and IT Enabled
Services (ITES) sectors under the Essential Services Maintenance Act. A bill to amend ESMA
would be introduced in the Current Assembly session. The amendment, the Government felt
necessary to spare the IT industry from disruption to their mission critical applications during
agitations.
The Union government has set up an independent eight - member expert committeeunder the
chairmanship of Deepak Parekh to review the draft guidelines of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), a
was passed in the Rajya Sabha with the House recorded its vote of 186 for and 1 against. Now
the bill must be passed by the Lok Sabha and ratified by at least half the states for becoming
effective.
The Secretary - General of the Supreme Court has challenged the Delhi High Court Judgement
that the office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority that comes urthin the ambit
of the Right to Information Act. This can termed as Supreme Court appealing to Supreme Court
of its case.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar inaugurated
The Sam Pitroda led high - level committee formed to suggest the restructuring ofBharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has submitted a report to the Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh.
The first of the new generation Airbus A320 joined the Air India fleet. It has a host of latest
facilities, including advanced weather Radar System, Enhanced Ground proximity warning
met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Singalling the Seriousness of his organisation to final a
Women Entrepreneurs 2010, a platform to promote Indian heritage weavers and women
(Senior), the Man who "took the magic of India to the rest of the world.
The Union Cabinet approved the Women's Reservation Bill, 2008 that seeks to reserve 33
The 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in 2008 and was
subsequently referred to the Parliamentary standing committee on Law, Justice and Personnel,
which in its report submitted in December last year had recommended its early passage in the
present form.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram laid the foundation for the Integrated Check Post
(ICP) at Attari on the India-Pakistan Border, one of the 13 planned for eight states at a cost
of Rs. 635 crore along various land routes to Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and
Myanmar.
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh presented a Rs. 1.13 lakh crore budget for 2010-
11.This is the 16th budget presented by him and 1st one as a chief minister. The budget
outlay is Rs. 8,516 crore higher than that of the current fiscal (Rs.1.05 lakh crore). The plan
outlay is Rs. 40,313 crore and non plan outlay is Rs. 73,347 crore.
There was the revival of the Constituency Development Fund with allotment of Rs. one crore
into Constitution Bench in Delhi and Cassation Benches in the four regions.
Perambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala was declared the country's 38th tiger reserve.
and home to the Konda Savaras has now become part of the Food and Agricultural
has begun identifying and then documenting unique agricultural systems across the world to
High Courts have the power to order a CBI probe without a state's consent into a
The Union Minister for Environment and Forests JaiRam Ramesh had allocated all Rs. 12
crore of his MPLADS share from 2004 on "Giripragathi'', a programme for sustainable
Giripragathi covers eight mandals, three each in Adilabad and khammam and two in warangal
groups under the third phase of Poverty Alleviation Programme in Andhra Pradesh.
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal took the decision to notify the Right of
children to free and compulsory education Act, 2009. The date for it is fixed for April 1,
2010. From that date children in the 6 -14 age group will finally get their right to education.
The Union Government announced the seven - point terms of reference of the five -
The two - member committee comprising former Director of Special Protection Group (SPG)
M.R.Reddy and former Director General of Civil Aviation H.S.Khola Submitted a 110 - page
report to the Government of Andhra Pradesh on the cause of the Bell helicopter crash that
(POK)
The Indian Navy's Multilateral Milan 2010 exercise was held in Port Blair.
The conference of the Chief Ministers on internal Security was held in Delhi.
The West Bengal government announced a 10 per cent quota in jobs for the weaker
Understanding (MoU) for developing health care infrastructure along the railway network
Supreme Court Judge, Justice B.N. Sri Krishna to hold wide ranging consultations with all
sections of the people and all political parties and groups in Andhra Pradesh. The other
members of the committee are: Professor (Dr.) Ranbir Singh, Vice.Chancellor, National Law
University, Delhi; Dr. Abusaleh Shariff, Senior Research fellow, International Food Policy
research institute, Delhi; Dr (Ms.) Ravinder kaur, Professor, Departmentof Humanities and
social sciences. IIT Delhi; and Vinod K.Duggal, former home secretary.
1. The Indian Air Force has decided to procure 750 Akash missile systems from Bharat
Electronics Limited (BEL) at a cost of about Rs 4,000 crore.
2. The cabinet committee on security had cleared a proposal to sanction Rs. 8,000 crore
The share of the Big 5 states or 'suicide belt' in 2008- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh remained very high at 10,797 or 66.6 percent of
the total farm suicides in the country. Maharashtra remains the worst state in the nation for
farm suicides.
The brightest and biggest full moon of 2010 will be seen on Saturday. It will be around 15
per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than other full moons during the year.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the National Tobacco Control
Programme to facilitate the implementation of tobacco control laws and to bring about
greater awareness of tobacco's harmful effects. The programme will be implemented in the
remaining years of XI plan in 42 districts of the 21 states within the National Rural Health
Mission framework with financial outlay of Rs. 182 crore, from 2010 - 2011.
The 16th Edition of the Partnership Summit 2010 was held in Chennai, organised by the
loan assistance of Rs 3, 720 crore to fund three projects taken up at a cost of Rs 5699 crore to
develop roads, provide safe drinking water and improve infrastructure in urban areas. This is
the largest loan amount availed of from the bank in recent times, as the bank's share for the
Rs. 4,444 - Crore Nagarjuna Sagar modernization project is only Rs. 2,500 crore.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari Constituted a three - member committee headed by
supreme court judge V.S. Sirpurkar, that will investigate the grounds forimpeachment of
karnataka chief - Justice P.D.Dinakaran whose removal from office has been sought jointly
by 75 Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha on corruption and land - grabbing charges.
Justice A.R.Dave, cheif Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High court and eminent Jurist P.P.Rao are
To create an enabling policy frame work for the deployment of 20,000MW of Solar power by
2022.
To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability for indigenous production
To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000 MW by
2022.
To achieve 15 million sq-meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by 2022.
the country’s first eclipse cruise, to chase the Ring of Fire or the millennium’slongest annular
solar eclipse.
Union Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh announced a Rs. 200 crore grant for
and S.Muralidhar held that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is a "public
authority" and comes within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and it is bound to
provide information about the declaration of asset details by Supreme Court judges.
Kite fliers from across 34 countries are expected to participate during the International Kite
Festival in Ahmedabad.
President Pratibha Patil delivering the valedictory address at the Pravasi Bhartiya
Diwas (Jan, 9) on the day Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in 1915, pointed out that:
Overseas Indian's estimated at over 250 lakhs had come to be recognised as the "Knowledge
Diaspora". India's remittances from Overseas Indians estimated at over $ 50 billion last year
are the highest in the world.Of these about $ 20 billion comes from Overseas Indian workers in
» Economic Affairs
.:: August 2010 Economy ::.
The Andhra Pradesh Government signed the concession agreement with L&T Hyderabad
Metro Rail Pvt. Ltd for the development of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project in the public-
completed by the year 2014-15, the BHEL-NTPC joint venture project will manufacture power
plant equipment and would have capabilities to produce equipment required for generation of
institutions (MFIs) in India, has decided to set up seven task forces to monitor and manage the
MFIs and look into credit bureau, transparency, code of conduct, human resource development,
government equity to 51 per cent from a minimum of 55 per cent. With the passing of this Bill,
the State Bank of India will raise fresh funds from the capital market.
The RBI has hiked the repo rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.75 per cent and thereverse
repo rate by 0.50 percentage point to 4.50 per cent. The repo rate is the rate at which the
central bank lends to banks while the reverse repo is the rate it pays to banks for parking funds
with it.
(MoU) with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to facilitate close
coordination and cooperation on the latter's ambitious AADHAR project, which is primarily aimed
at curbing pilferage of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG.As per the MoU, oil marketing
companies IOCL, BPCL and HPCL will act as registrars for the UIDAI on behalf of the Ministry for
from 5.5 per cent to 5.75 per cent and borrowing rate by 50 basis points from 4 per cent to
Limited (IFFCO), said it was negotiating with two global players for setting up an integrated
dairy in its upcoming food processing special economic zone (SEZ) in Nellore.
The NDC approved the mid-term appraisal of the 11th Plan, scaling down the annual average
Development Council (NDC) to go “into the complex challenges of urbanisation.” The sub-
as the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) for the three-year period
ending 2012.
Three Indian projects KG-D6, an integrated gas infrastructure projects , the 4,000 MWMundra
plant and Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi have been featured in Global consultancy
India (SEBI).
The Union Cabinet approved a unique symbol designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D. Udaya
Kumar with a blend of the Devanagari ‘Ra' and Roman ‘R' to give a distinctive character and
agreement to set up a joint investment fund with an initial corpus of $100 million. The India
Oman Joint Investment Fund shall aim at making equity investments in various sectors of the
Indian economy.
Eight Indian companies have made into the list of the world's 500 largest companies
compiled by Fortune magazine. IOC has the highest rank of 125 among the featured Indian
companies, followed by RIL at the 175th spot, SBI (282), BPCL (307), HPCL (354), Tata Steel
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended that the foreign investment
limit for broadcast carriage services such as DTH, IPTV, Mobile TV, HITS, Teleport and MSOs,
which are upgrading to digital and addressable environment, may be raised to 74 per cent. The
into a Rs.50,000-crore deal with GTL Infrastructure to create the world's largest independent
Resources Ltd (RNRL) signed a revised gas supply agreement as per the directions of the
Supreme Court.
According to a United Nations report on the Millennium Development Goals for 2010,
India is expected to reduce its poverty rate from 51 per cent in 1990 to 24 per cent in 2015.
The Central Government made it clear that unit linked insurance products (ULIPs) will be
end to a two-month-long turf war between the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority (IRDA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
approved for the disinvestment of 10 per cent each in Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and Hindustan
Copper Ltd (HCL). The move would likely to generate about Rs.16,000 crore for the
government.
During the two-day Global Investors Meet in Bangalore, the Karnataka Government has
signed as many as 361 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with investors for a total
2009-10, said that the govt had decided to set up a National Social Security Fund for
workers in the unorganised sector which would cover weavers, toddy tappers, rickshaw
pullers and bidi workers with an initial allocation of Rs. 1000 crore.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has given freedom to the state-run Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) to price the natural gas produced by them
at market rates.
During the first meeting of the newly constituted Prime Minister's Council on Trade and
Industry Dr. Manmohan Singh reviewed the state of economy with Mr. Tata, Mr. Ambani, Azim
Premji, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Swati Piramal, Chanda Kocchar, Deepak Parekh, Kesab Mahindra and
Kiran Majumdar Shaw and asked them to form sub-groups on food security, public-private-
undertakings (PSUs) — NTPC, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil
auction generated Rs. 67,710 crore for the government. Reliance Communications bagged
the highest number of 13 circles followed by Bharti Airtel 12, Idea 11 and Tata and Vodafone
nine each.
The government decided to set up a Pharmacopoeia Commission in Ghaziabad at a cost of
Rs. 14.08 crore for developing indigenous medicines with the aim of raising the country's share
partners NTPC and BHEL to meet the target of order bookings worth Rs.7,000-crore in the
current financial year. NBPPL has been jointly set up by NTPC and BHEL for capacity building in
The Central Government said that ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank could not be called Indian-
P. Singh,”At best, the two can be called Indian-controlled banks.” ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank
have over 74 per cent foreign holding, including that of foreign banks and overseas institutional
investors.
According to the 13th Finance Commission report, the Transmission & Distribution losses
were about Rs.40,000 crore in 2009-10 which would swell to Rs.68,000 in the current fiscal.
The Planning Commission was trying to set up an expert committee to find out the causes for
such losses and to know the financial status of the distribution companies.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and NTPC entered into a joint
instruments of the public sector banks (PSBs) during the current fiscal to facilitate an
plants in Kazakhstan,which has huge coal reserves of about 33 billion tonnes. NTPC's total coal
requirement for the current financial year (2010-11) is about 145-150 million tonnes, of which
spectrum.
As said by Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja, the Telecom
Commission, the policy-making arm of the Department of Telecommunications, will soon take
up the issue of disinvestment in the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. The Sam Pitroda Committee
had recommended 30 per cent disinvestment in BSNL, besides offering voluntary retirement
and reverse repo and the mandatory Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of banks by 25 basis points
each.
The Government has accepted the Tendulkar Committee Report to adopt a new poverty line to
identify poor. The new standards of the Planning Commission would consider more parameters
than only the sufficient food basket for assessing poverty. Earlier a family was called poor if did
not have the required income to buy sufficient food containing a minimum number of calories
(2100 for urban areas and 2400 for rural areas) per day. Now, the minimum income required to
rise above the poverty line, apart from food, would also depend on expenditure on education
and health. The new poverty estimate would not change the urban poverty figure but for rural
India, the number of poor would increase from 28.3 per cent to 41.8 per cent. As many as 372
to the Indian Maritime University (IMU), Chennai, to meet capital expenditure and
recurring deficit.
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) banned Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in
cigarette manufacturing.
The UN Agency UNFC & CC (UNFCCC) issued the first set of certified emission reduction
(CER) to the ONGC from its first registered CDM (clean development mechanism) project,the
waste heat recovery project at Mumbai High. With this, ONGC is to earn green revenue from
CDM projects.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma released the final document of FDI
Policy Framework that would comprise the single document on FDI policy and mark the
help its state-run companies pursue acquisition of oil, gas, coal, LNG and other raw material in
other countries in order to compete with China which has $2.4 trillion of reserves and a $300-
billion sovereign fund. It has outpaced India in the global quest for resources. Chinese
companies spent a record $32 billion last year buying oil, coal and metal assets abroad, while a
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) — are
aiming for the ‘Maharatna' status and have made presentations before the inter-ministerial
committee (IMC) making a claim for the status seeking more autonomy in decision-making and
financial investments.
The government of India indicated that it would soon put in place the Financial Stability and
Development Council (FSDC) to plug the regulatory gaps and loopholes generated recently
by the controversy surrounding the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) over administration of unit
AP’s per capita income for the financial year 2009-10 was Rs. 43, 556. It is 6.49% more
when compared to 2008-09 (Rs. 40, 902.). The GSDP was 7.76% for the financial year 2009-
10.
Vizag steel plant was given Navaratna stature by the central government. The company
authorities need not take permission from the government up to Rs. 1000 crore investment.
The Seed processing plant under the Seed Business Incubation (SBI) initiative run by the
farmers in partnership with International Crops Research Station for Semi-Arid Tropics
organisation came forward for establishing an innovative Public Private Partnership-based seed
system.
Coal India Ltd (CIL) is keen to join a consortium of companies comprising GAIL (India) and
Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) to launch a coal gasification project at the now
closed Talcher unit of the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), which will enable CIL to source
one-third of its requirement of an explosive it now has to procure from outside. A mine with a
reserve of 5.5 million tonnes has been earmarked for this venture. The output of this mine
would yield 3.7 million tonnes of coal annually which would have 30 per cent less ash content
Having set an export target of $200 billion in 2008-09, India ended the fiscal year with$185
The Planning Commission scaled down the 11th Plan growth target to 8.1 per cent from an
theinfrastructure sector in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) would be very close to the
target of $500 billion, primarily due to better show by the telecom sector. On growth
prospects during the Eleventh Plan, he said it was likely to be 8.5% in the 2010-11 fiscal and
9% during 2011-12.
State Bank of India (SBI) opened the 1,000th branch and 10,000th ATM in Mumbai. With
this, SBI now has 12,448 branches and over 21,000 ATMs.
The Reserve Bank of India has raised the repo and reverse repo rates (short - term rates at
which the RBI lends and borrows from banks) by 25 basis points to 5 percent and 3.5 percent
respectively.
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S & P) pegged India's overall growth rate at 8
percent for 2011 - 12. S&P raised India's sovereign rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative'
even as it cautioned that the high rate of inflation at nearly 10 percent could upset the country's
The Central Government will set up a Central Food Security Fund to compensate the Below
poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries of the Targeted Public Distribution system (TPDS) who fail to
get the proposed mandatory 25 kg of wheat or rice per family a month at a subsidised rate of
Rs. 3 a kg.
National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
Department of Fertilizers where the company has set a production target of 32.31 lakh tonnes
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee moved the State Bank of India (Amendment) Bill, 2010
in the Lok Sabha which reduces Centre's shareholding in State Bank of India (SBI) from 55
percent to 51 percent and allows the bank to raise more capital from the market through
preference shares.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with RBI Governor D. Subba Rao unveiled a plaque at
RBI head quarters to mark the Central Bank's Platinum Jubilee celebrationsin Mumbai.
The Reserve Bank of India deferred the implementation of the Base Rate regime by three
months to July 1 and also exempted three categories of loans from the new system. The RBI
decided to replace the current benchmark prime lending rate system with the Base Rate to
increase transparency in lending at much lower rates than their benchmark lending rates to new
customers.
Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta Westland and Tata Motors which recently signed joint
venture for setting up a final assembly unit of AW 119 have finalised Hyderabad as location for
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan launched the 3G mobile services of Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Eurocopter, world's leading helicopter manufactures announced that it would form ventures
with Pawan Hans Helicopters for maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) and training
facilities either in Mumbai or Delhi. The MOUs for the two proposals would be signed during the
three - day, 'India Aviation - 2010' beginning at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad.
Fiscal deficit seen at 5.5 pct of GDP in 2010/11 (Reuters poll 5.6 pct)
Fiscal deficit seen at 4.8 pct of GDP in 2011/12; 4.1 pct in 2012/13
2009/10 revised estimate for tax collection 7.47 trillion rupees (USD 161.58 billion) Need to
Government will be in a position to implement direct tax code from April 2011
Since December have been signs food prices pressures transmitting to non-food items.
Maruti Suzuki India announced that it had recalled nearly one lakh 'A - Star' cars, the
are:
Asked the government to extend specific grants such as Rs. 24,000 crore for elementary
Targeted the fiscal deficit at 3 percent by 2013 - 14 for the current level of 6.8 percent and the
elimination of revenue deficit b y 2013 - 14 from the current level of 4.8 percent this fiscal.
The States would get 32 percent of its tax revenue along with Rs 3.19 lakh crore as grant for
Andhra Pradesh to give loans upto Rs 1 crore to SC/ST entrepreneurs with out collateral security
The State was likely to get Rs 1 lakh crore as its share in Central taxes and another Rs. 13,802
The divisible pool of Central taxes had been increased from 30.5 percent to 32 percent of which
Sabha: -
Andhra Pradesh was the first state to get the centre's approval for setting up thePetroleum,
released the ''Review of the Economy 2009-10''. It suggested that the Government have to
initiate fiscal consolidation in the coming fiscal year (2010 - 11) to ensure fiscal sustainability,
enable greater flexibility in monetary policy calibration, contain interest in payments and to
avoid upward pressure on interest rates and to curtail the expansion of the base of service tax
in Government's expenditure.
A World Class Seed Vault has been established on the Siachen Glacier to preserve India's
biological wealth for future generations. The vault, which has a natural temperature between –
20 and –40 Celsius, will hold samples of rice, pulses, peas and beans and can be used for
of a joint venture company, which will establish a final assembly line for AW-119 helicopters for
the Indian army and the global market. The AW-119 has been offered to India by Agusta for
army's requirement for 197 choppers to replace its ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak light
helicopters.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notification introducing a new category of Non -
view to encouraging larger flow of funds to infrastructure. The existing categories of NBFCs are
Asset Finance Companies (AFCs), Loan Companies (LCs) and Investment Companies (ICs)
India's IT - BPO market (including exports) could touch $285 billion in 2020, said the report
allowing the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to clear proposals from overseas
Company Grow Max Agri Corp to make its foray into Potash Project and Oil and gas
exploration.
East India company, the trading company with a 400 - year history will soon open outlets
to sell tea, coffee, spices and fabrics. It was bought in 2004 by Indian - Origin businessman
Sanjiv Mehta.
The Central Statistical Organisation in its advance estimates pegged economic growth at
former Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan to review the structures of the stock
exchanges as their role as self - regulatory bodies and functions as profit entities are sometimes
conflicting in nature. The committee may also look into the listing-related matters of the stock
exchanges.
GAIL (India) has been shortlisted as one of the 15 companies having qualified for the
Nigeria.
The National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency would soon be launched to unlock the
$15 - billion energy efficiency market. The initiate would reduce carbon emissions by almost 99
million tonnes.
A Report of the Export Group on "A Viable and sustainble system of pricing of petroleum
are
2. Hike of Rs. 100 per domestic LPG cylinder and an increase of Rs. 6 for liter kerosene
Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh received the report of the task force on micro, small and
deposits that commercial banks are required to keep with the central bank — by 75 basis
The CRR increase would be in two stages: the first stage of increase of 50 basis points will be
effective the fortnight beginning February 13, 2010 followed by the next stage of increase of
refinery project in visakhapatnam, AndhraPradesh at a cost of $1.2 billion and the smelter
and a captive power plant with a cost of 16,350 crore in Brajrajnagar in Tharsiguda district,
Orissa.
Country's largest iron ore miner NMDC and the world's premier diamond producer De
(Rs. 1,651 crore) for oil exploration in two deep-sea blocks in Nigeria over the next five years.
OVL is the over seas investment arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
The Union Finance Ministry agreed to release over 12,000 crore in cash to loss making state-
run oil companies to cover for losses in the current fiscal. The projected loss of IOC, BPCL and
HPCL on the sale of domestic LPG and kerosene below cost is Rs. 29,405 crore. Another 12,000
textile mills, Tata Mills, Podar mills and the India United Mill no.5 with a capital outlay of Rs.
130 crore.
The Asian development Bank (ADB) had Sanctioned $150 million aid for the Khadi and village
Industries commission (KVIC).
ONGC petro - Additions, a joint venture firm promoted by ONGC, plans to set up a
Gujarat.
Bharti Airtel, India's leading telecom services provider said it had agreed to acquire a 70%
and will make a fresh investment of $ 300 million to expand the operations of Warid Telecom.
The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the U.S-based soft drinks major, Pepsico
Holdings Pvt. Ltd to inject additional equity of $ 200 million (around Rs. 930 crore) into its
Indian arm within three years. With this Pepsico's total FDI into the country reaches $ 655
million.
India test-fired the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, which has a range of 290 kms, from
the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off the Orissa coast. The Brahmos-II, a result of
an Indo-Russian joint venture, can be potentially used for surgical strikes, including at terror
camps, without causing collateral damage. It can carry conventional warheads up to 300 kg
and effectively engage ground targets from an altitude of just 10 metres. The missile can travel
supercomputer, have been installed and it is scheduled to begin system debugging and testing
Rohini(Delhi)discovered the main belt asteroid named 2010 PO24. This is the first time an
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is building a new test range in
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), air-to-ground weapons, huge parachutes, Light Combat Aircraft
Tejas, aerostats and also for testing electronic warfare systems. The DRDO already has an Integrated
Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea, near Balasore, Orissa, from where different missiles are flight-
tested.
.:: July 2010 Science & Technology ::.
On part of the initial phase of a robust Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield by 2012 , a
C15) put five satellites in their precise orbit. The five satellites launched were:
c. 6.5-kg nano satellite, named NLS 6.1AISSAT-1 of the Space Flight Laboratory of the
d. One-kg nano satellite NLS 6.2 TISAT-1, built by the University of Applied Science
Sciences of Switzerland.
Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian Navy launched the Golden Jubilee celebrations of its frontline Sea Harrier (White
sector defence production unit, will set up two missile manufacturing units in Andhra
Pradesh, one in Bhagayat village of Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy district and the other in
Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan launched two water jet-propelled fast attack
warheads was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off
setting up an academy of scientific and innovative research that will offer instruction and
Smanufactured by Zydus-Cadila Healthcare that will protect people against the A (H1N1) flu.
:: May 2010 Science & Technology ::.
U.S. geneticist Craig Venter and his team have built the genome of a bacterium and
incorporated it into a cell to make what they call the world's first synthetic life form in an
experiment that paves the way for designer organisms that are built rather than evolved.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of America, the year 2010
is turning out to be the warmest ever in recorded history and April was the warmest
Kasturirangan to study the capability of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) to build civil
aircraft.
Microsoft Corporation launched its latest software Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio
2010 and Project 2010 for business customers, unified productivity experience across
primarily focus on research on areas that are not taught in regular academic universities.
According to the Asiatic Lion census-2010, the population of Asiatic Lions in the Gir forest in
Gujarat's Saurashtra region, the only abode of the animals in the world, has grown by 13
INS Shivalik, India's first indigenous stealth frigate, was commissioned at Mazagon Dock
Limited in Mumbai.
According to a report titled ‘Monitoring of Tigers and Prey Animals of Kaziranga National Park,'
rhino, has the highest density of tigers in the world.The density of tigers at Kaziranga is 32.64
tigers per 100 sq.km., the highest in any known tiger habitat.
The Hubble Space Telescope, named after the astronomer Edwin P. Hubble celebrated the
that shoots love darts are among 123 new species found in Borneo since 2007.
Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), the premier rice research centre of the country here
has come up with at least 11 new high-yielding varieties of rice, five of which are
Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC) for the Indian Navy at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders &
Engineers (GRSE) Limited.
Communic Asia 2010, the most established information, communication and technology
day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle, a multi-purpose
Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki. Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is already at
the space station and this mission will mark the first time that four women have been in space
at one time.
India's third indigenous naval destroyer, INS Chennai, built at the Mazagon Docks, was
launched by Defence Minister AK Antony's wife Elizabeth. This belongs to Project 15A. Brahmos
engine failing to ignite and the vehicle tumbling into the sea. The cryogenic technology is
crucial to put heavy satellites in geo-synchronous transfer orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km.
ISRO had worked for more than 17 years to develop its own cryogenic engine. The earlier five
GSLV flights from 2001 to 2007 were powered by Russian cryogenic engines.
Indian scientists announced the first-ever detailed mapping of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis. The government's Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) initiative released the
results of its ‘Connect 2 Decode' (C2D) project to re-annotate the biological and genetic
developing reliable dynamic models for forecasting the monsoon over the next three to five-
year period through a multi-institutional effort. The mission will include aspects of short (up to
team for anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden. INS Betwa, 16th Indian Navy ship deployed in
Laser Guided Bombs (LGB) were successfully tested from integrated test range, Chandipur,
Orissa.
The $10-billion Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or
CERN, made high-energy collisions with proton beams crashing into each other at 7 trillion
electron volts (TeV) to reveal about the unanswered questions of particle physics, such as the
existence of antimatter and the search for the Higgs boson, a hypothetical particle that
scientists theorise gives mass to other particles and thus to other objects and creatures in the
universe.
Agni-I ballistic missile, with range of 700-km, was successfully test-fired from the Wheeler
The 11-metre long Dhanush, a ship-to-surface and ship-to-ship system and the 8.5-metre-
naval variant of Prithvi, was launched first from INS Subhadhra, anchored near Balasore, off
the coast of Orissa, Prithvi-II was fired a few minutes later from Launch Complex-III at the
that can detect A(H1N1) virus in an hour. The kit does not need sophisticated instruments
and can be used in villages where electricity is not available. It uses a simple technique called
real-time loop amplification methodology (RT LAMP) to detect the A(H1N1) virus.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a $75 million project to help clean-
Pollution Sites. The ‘Capacity Building for Industrial Pollution Management' project,
which is being sponsored by the World Bank, will work on four sites in Andhra Pradesh and
The vertical launch of Brahmos missile was successful with the super sonic cruise missile,
while lifted off vertically from naval destroyer INS Ranvir, punched a hole in a decommissioned
vessel 290 km away in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast. This is the 22nd launch of
Brahmos, which has already been inducted into the Army and the Navy.
The state - of - the - art new generation Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) - ICGS 'Vishwast'was
inducted into the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). 'Vishwast' is an OPV indigenously designed in -
tons in size.
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem began exhibiting the 46-
first time.
For the first time anywhere in the world, biotech agriculture giant Monsanto has admitted that
insects like pink bollworm pest have developed resistance to its Bt cotton crop.
The ATV - DO1, weighing three tonnes at lift - off, is the heaviest sounding rocket developed
by the ISRO.
The demonstration named "Vayu Shakti-2010" by the striker aircraft and helicopter gunships
against mock terrorist camps and other support structures was mounted by the IAF at the
Pokhran ranges in the Thar Desert, barely 100 km from Pakistan. President Pratibha Patil, the
three services chief and the top brass of the IAF witnessed the first everday-and-night fire
The Arctic writer expedition of Indian researchers is expected to leave on March 20; will
spend one month at the International Arctic Research Base at Ny-Alesund, Norway.
Coordinated by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, the expedition’s
research areas include phytoplankton productvity and modelling, the ice - binding proteins of
algae, the diversity of heterotrophic bacteria and their role in phosphorus cycling in the Arctic
water and sediment and atmoshpheric and weather - related aspects of the region.
A National Bureau of Forest Genetics is to be established in Dehra Dun under the Indian
Council for Forest Research and Education to protect India's diminishing forest resources.
The Environment Ministry has taken a decision to impose a moratorium on the release of
Monsanto.
The launch of Agni-III, the two - stage, surface-to-surface ballistic missile from the Wheeler
Island off Orissa coast was a complete success. V.K.Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the defence
Minister, called it ''a fantastic launch and a hatrick''. Agni - III missile has the longest range in
India's arsenal.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared 2009 the warmest year since 1901.
The Andhra Pradesh Government has opposed the Commercial release of Bt brinjal,relying on
a report submitted by the Vice - Chancellors of two principal agriculture institutions - Acharya
Bacillus Thuringiensis bacterium into the plant. Such insertion is claimed to give resistance to
two important hosts, fruit borer and shoot borer. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee
of the Union Enviroment Ministry has approved it, but the Centre withheld its release pending
public consultations.
mitigation actions to prevent climate change. India told the UNFCCC that it would endeavour to
reduce emissions intensity of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 - 25 percent by 2020 in
India has clarified that the domestic mitigation actions will be entirely voluntary in nature and
will not have a legally binding character. The actions will not apply to the agriculture sector.
China's voluntary mitigation actions will be to the lowering of CO 2 emissions per unit of GDP
by 40 - 45 percent by 2020 compared to the 2005 levels. The US announced a 17% cut in the
institutions. To be implemented by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) within next two
powerful rocket motor called S-200, powered by 200 tonnes of solid propellants in Sriharikota.
This test is a vital step in the development of ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
Mark-III (GSLV MK-III), which will put a satellite weighing four tonnes in orbit.
S-200 is the third biggest solid rocket motor in the world after the booster rocket of NASA's
space shuttle and that of Arianespace's Ariane-5 launch vehicle.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) launched a total of 10 Rohini series indigenous
sounding rockets from the Thumba, Equatorial Rocket Launching Station and the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota to investigate the effects of the longest annular solar
Madras won a business competition plan in New York and is to setup shop in New York to
interfaces with the grid, thereby powering large networks and reducing power loss.
The test flight of Astra, Beyond Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) was successfully
carried out from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Balasore, Orissa.M
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while launching Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission,
called for creation of 'Solar Valleys' in India, akin to the Silicon Valley, as a contribution to
» Awards
Social activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on fast-unto-death for the past nine years
demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 from Manipur, has been
Award 2009. The award, which includes a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh, will be presented at the
National Film Awards event in October. The other recepients from Telugu film industry were BN
Bryan Cranton and best actress to Kyra Sedgwick. Best supporting actress was won by Archie
Nagaraja, Senior Technical Assistant of the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore, has
been chosen for the Shram Ratna for 2008, the country's highest award given by the
Ministry of Labour and Employment. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh and a “Sanad”
(citation).
Major Laishram Jyotin Singh, who sacrificed his life in the February terror attack in Kabul
this year, has been awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, the eve
Texas, Austin, has won the prestigious Dirac Medal for his contribution to the understanding of
theoretical physics. The Dirac Medal of ICTP is awarded by the Abdus Salam International
Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) on renowned physicist P.A.M Dirac's birthday — August
8.
Renowned Indian sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik has won the first prize at the 8th
International Sand Sculpture Championship for the 5Th time which was held in Berlin,Germany.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presented the prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2006 to
octogenarian Konkani litterateur Ravindra Kelekar. The 42nd Jnanpith Award for 2006 carried
a citation, shawl, srifal, a bronze idol of Vagdevi Saraswati and a cash prize of Rs. 7 lakh.
In recognition for his outstanding contribution to International Legal Co-operation, Union Law
Vice President M. Hamid Ansari presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. A.R.
Kidwai, former Governor of Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and former Chairman of UPSC,
Vice President M. Hamid Ansari presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. A.R.
Kidwai, former Governor of Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and former Chairman of UPSC,
festival for Uncle Boonmee. Spanish actor Javier Bardem shared the best actor award with
for People's Choice prize at 2nd Moscow World sand sculpture championship 2010, Russia.
The artists from Island won the 'Jury Choice', and 'Sculptor Choice' prize in this championship.
India's top industrialist and chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata has received the 2010
CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award for his outstanding global leadership, vision and
professional excellence.
Social activist Ela Bhatt (76) received the Niwano Peace Prize for 2010 for her contribution
President Pratibha Patil presented the Paulos Mar Gregorios Award 2010 to Dr. Karan
Singh for Outstanding Contribution in the Fields of Public Life, Inter-Faith Dialogue and
Culture.
Bengali novelist Mani Sankar Mukherjee's book, Chowringhee, has been shortlisted for one
of the Independent Foreign Fiction prize for 2010 — the first time that an Indian work has
for this year's Dr. Malcom Adiseshiah Award, instituted by the Malcom and Elizabeth
Adiseshiah Trust.
Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata was conferred the 2010 CIF Chanchlani Global Indian
award by Canada India Foundation for his outstanding global leadership, vision and
professional excellence.
Prof. Kolakaluri Enoch was conferred with Telugu Bharti Puraskaram given by CP Brown
Academy and Alfa foundation.
Neel Chowdary received The Hindu’s Metro plus Playwright award for his book
Taaramandal.
Vizag Steel Plant was conferred with Global Human Resource Development award-
noted journalist and writer Homen Borgohain for the year 2007 in recognition of his
significant contribution to journalism and literature and noted actor Sharmila Tagore in the
University of Helsinki, Finland, has been chosen for the Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical
as equivalent to the Nobel Prize, has been awarded to the Japanese duo Kazuyo Sejima and
Rukhsana (21) and her brother Aijaz (19) were awarded the Sarvotam Jeevan Raksha
Padak and the Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak respectively by the Centre for snatching an AK
rifle from LeT commander Abu Usma and killed him with the weapon when he and another
American mathematician John Torrence Tate, 85, has been awarded the prestigiousAbel
Well - Known Hindi writer Amar Kant has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman
Nandi Awards – 2008 were presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Best Actor -
Ravi Teja (Neninthe), Best Actress - Swati (Ashta Chamma), Best Film - Gamyam, Best
Eminent heroine of yesteryears Jamuna has been chosen for the NTR National Film Award to
The B.N. Reddy National Film Award will be given to renowned director K.B. Tilak.
Tehelka Executive Editor Shoma Chaudhury and Nagaland page Editor Monalisa Changkija will
share the Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding Women Media persons for 2009.
Conjecture' has been selected for $ 500,000 National Science Award of the United States
of America.
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) (First women to be awarded Best Director)
Veteran actress Jaya Bachchan has been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award at the
Vidyasagar, an inmate of the Government Home for Juvenile Delinquents and correctional
centre in kadapa received the Golden Nandi Award for 2009 from Chief Minister K.Rosaiah
for his portrayal of the role of a tribal boy named 'sega' in a Telugu play, Bapu Kalaluganna
Desam.
Veteran British Asian film maker Yavar Abbas will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement
Award by the South Asian Cinema Foundation in London for making films like India! My
India!
Prabhakar Mandara has won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize 2009 for translating
Yagati Chinna Rao's research book, '' Dalit struggle for Identity" into Telugu by the name
Award.
Veteran Congress leader G. Venkataswamy was presented the 'Eashwari Bai Memorial
Citizenship by the U.S. - based Tufts University for his contribution to the north - east of India,
been chosen for the 27th Niwano Peace Prize for her contribution to the uplift of poor
women.
British Academy of Film and Television Art's (BAFTA) awards
Development Organisation (DRDO), has been chosen for the DRDO's Technology Leadership
K.Radhakrishnan and Minister of state for external Affairs Shashi Tharoor were presentedthe
Pazhassi Raja charitable Trust Awards 2009 by the President Pratibha Patil.
Bhilai Steel plant was presented the Prime Minister's trophy for the best integrated steel
plant.
11th Mumbai International Film Festival of Documentary, Animation and short films
o Russain director Alexander Gutman's 17 August won the Golden Conch for the best
Documentary.
o The Spell, Directed by Umesh Kulkarni was adjudged the best fiction film.
Prominent Stage actor and director Chatla Sriramulu (75) has been selected for the prestigious
Science Award', instituted by B.M. Birla Science Centre, to Nobel Laureate Anthony James
Leggett.
o Jai Ho - Best song written for motion pictures, TV and other visual media.
o Best soundtrack for the film Slum dog Millionaire.
2. Social activist and actor Nafisa Ali and Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer in the country
President Pratibha Patil conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and
» Sports
US OPEN 2010 Men’s Singles title was by Rafael Nadal defeating Novak Jokovich.
Shanghai. The Indians also picked up one silver and a bronze medal.
Japan's Yuka Sato become the first gold medal winner of the Youth Olympic Games in
S. Jaipal Reddy approved the theme song for the event composed by Oscar winner A.R.
Rahman.
India won over Sri Lanka in the third Test at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo
leveling the test series. This is India's fourth highest successful chase in Test cricket. Laxman
was named the Man of the Match. Virender Sehwag was adjudged Player of the Series.
Tyson Gay beat Usain Bolt in the 100 metres at the DN Galan meet in 9.84 seconds in
Stockholm.
Bengal beat Punjab in the final of the 64th senior National football championship (Santosh
trophy) in Kolkata.
Tejaswini Sawant became the first Indian woman shooter to be crowned a World champion
when she won the 50m rifle prone event with a World record 597 in the 50th World shooting
championship in Munich.
Asher Noria won the double trap gold by equaling the junior World record of 146 in the 50th
Devvarman became the sixth Indian man to figure in the top-100, after ATP rankings were
introduced in 1973, behind Vijay Amritraj (16), Ramesh Krishnan (23), Leander Paes (73),
Budapest, Hungary.
India defeated China to win the bronze medal in the inaugural Asian women's Champions
Munich, Germany.
Badminton star Saina Nehwal has been chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Among
the titles Saina won in the last three years were the Indonesian Open (2009), Syed Modi Grand
Prix (2009) and World junior title (2009). She climbed to No. 2 in world rankings following
three major titles in a row in Chennai, Singapore and Indonesia. She also became the first
Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the All England and Asian championships.
Fernando Alonso won the German Formula One Grand Prix which was held at Hockenheim.
Muttiah Muralitharan became the first man to take 800 Test wickets and became the
highest wicket-taker in 133 matches at an average of 22.72. Muralitharan began his Test
career against Australia in Colombo in 1992. The 38-year-old ended his Test career with the
victory over India on the final day of the first Test held at Galle, Srilanka.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has allocated the FIH Champions Trophies for
2011. The men's event will be played in India, while the women's is scheduled to be held in
The Netherlands
Argentina won the Samsung hockey Champions Trophy for women, beating the Netherlands.
Dani Pedrosa of Spain won the German MotoGP F-1race which was held at
Sachsenring,Germany.
Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa won the British Open golf championship which was held in
St.Andrews,Scotland.
Poojashree Venkatesh and Rushmi Chakravarthi won the doubles title of the $10,000 ITF
women's tennis tournament at Hatyai, Thailand, beating the third-seeded Ayu-Fani Damayanti
international rankings. She is now just behind number one, Chinese Yihan Wang.
Visakhapatnam won the inaugural Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy memorial South India cricket
Sharath Kamal of India won the US Open table tennis championship by beating Slovakia's
open with the victory over Russian 21st seed Vera Zvonareva in the final.
Sharad Pawar assumed office as President of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Pawar is
only the second Indian, after Jagmohan Dalmiya, to have become the highest executive of the
Sebastian Vettel of Germany won the European Grand Prix which was held in Valencia,
Spain.
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal won the Indonesia Open Super Series defeating Japan's
Sayaka Sato. This was Saina's third successive title, having won the Indian Open Grand Prix
Saina Nehwal won the Singapore Open badminton Super Series defeating Tzu Ying Tai of
Lonato, Italy.
Somdev Devvarman became the first Indian in 13 years to qualify for the men's singles event
medal in the Commonwealth Chess Championship in New Delhi. The women’s title was bagged
by Dronavalli Harika.
Asian champion Pan Qiang of China equalled the World record on way to winning the double
England defeated Australia by seven wickets to win its first title in the ICC World
Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament as the summit clash between the two teams
Veselin Topalov in the final classic game of the series in Sofia (Bulgaria). Anand won the 12-
game match with a score of 6.5-5.5 to defend the title he claimed in 2007.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed vice-president (West Zone) Chirayu
achievement award for her long and illustrious career by the Calcutta Sports Journalists' Club.
Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar was named best batsman while Deccan
Chargers Pragyan Ojha bagged the best bowler honour at the IPL Awards Night in Mumbai.
Jenson Button,the reigning World champion won the Chinese Grand Prix.
Third seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes won the Sony Ericsson Open defeating fourth
seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi in the final. Female singles title was by kim clijsters
defeating Venus Williams.
Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team won the formula one Malaysian Grand Prix.
A massive web of spiralling steel in the form of five Olympic rings taller than the Statue of
Liberty and designed by the internationally renowned Mumbai-born artist Anish Kapoor, will
seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi in the final. Female singles title was by kim clijsters
A massive web of spiralling steel in the form of five Olympic rings taller than the Statue of
The seventh National youth (under-18) athletics championship, jointly organised by the
Tamil Nadu Athletic Association (TNAA) and the Coimbatore District Athletic Association
Pune and Kochi joined the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the auction for the new
teams. The Sahara Group won Pune with a $ 370 million bid for 10 years. Rendezvous sports
world, a consortium of five companies won Kochi with a bid of $ 333.3 million. The IPL will
India won the overall title in the commonwealth boxing championship with a tally of six
gold medals.
Australia won the hockey world cup dethroning Germany at the Dhyan Chand Stadium in
New Delhi.
ceremony in Dubai. The Hall of Fame recognises some of the legends of the game from its long
policy has made it mandatory for all shooters to hence forth compete in the national
Ong Beng Hee clinched the PSA title at the Chennai open squash championships. In the
Women's section, World No.1 Nicol David won the WISPA title.
The Tamil Nadu team retained the Vijay Hazare Trophy - India's Premier one - day cricket
The Tamil Nadu team retained the Vijay Hazare Trophy - India's Premier one - day cricket
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Gaganjeet Bhullar of India won the Asian Tour International Golf title held in Bangkok.
Olympic Champion Abhinav Bindra clinched the gold in the 10 - metre air rifle event, in the
first of the three competitions in the intershoot shooting championship at The Hague in the
Netherlands.
Leander Paes and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black won the Australian open mixed
Czechoslovakia. Women’s double championship was won by Serena and Venus Williams.
Roger Federer has set a record of winning 16 Grand Slam Titles after defeating Murray in the
Australian open.
Defending Champion Serena Williams won her fifth Australian Open title and 12th Grand
champion Anup Sridhar. In the women's section, Trupti Murgunde defeated the defending
Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu became the Queen's baton-bearer for Delhi
Kim Clijsters beat the fellow Belgian Justine Henin in the final of the Brisbane
International held at Sydney.
» Persons
Indian nuclear scientist Homi Sethna has died at the age 86. During his career Sethna held
the Atomic Energy Commission. During his time with the AEC Sethna presided over India's
P.J. Thomas, former Telecom Secretary, was sworn in as 14th Central Vigilance Commissioner
The state government appointed Senior IPS officer Aravind Rao as Director General of Police
of Andhra Pradesh. He was 1977 batch IPS officer and was chief intelligence officer during
YSR's tenure.
India`s top cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was conferred with Indian Air Force`s honorary rank
Lieutenant Colonel of the Territorial Army. In 2009, Mohanlal was conferred with the honorary
title of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army. Till date, 21 eminent personalities have been
granted honorary ranks by the IAF, the first person being the Raja of Jawhar Raja Yashwant
Rao, who was conferred the Flight Lieutenant rank in 1944. Industrialist J R D Tata was made
an honorary Air Vice Marshal in 1974 and the last one to get such an honour in 1990 was
mark the centenary birth celebrations of the legend who made serving the poor her mission in
life.
Senior IPS officer R K Medhekar will be the new Director General of elite commando force
-- National Security Guard. Medhekar, a 1975 batch officer of Kerala cadre, currently serving
Mr. Mathew is the eldest son of K.M. Mathew, who was the Chief Editor of the daily till his
Balmiki Prasad Singh. Proceedings for his removal is pending before a parliamentary panel
headed by Justice V.S. Sirpurkar. Justice Dinakaran faces allegations of land grabbing and
Lehna Singh has been selected by the International Mathematical Union for the Leelavathi
after the mathematical treatise of the great Indian mathematician Bhaskaracharya, the award
carries a cash prize of Rs.10 lakh and a citation and will be presented by the International
mandate to engage all political parties, including the Maoists, and help build a consensus on
away. Mr. Mathew started off as a rubber planter in Chickmagalur in Karnataka. He joined the
family-owned Malayala Manorama in 1954 as its General Manager under his elder brother
K.M. Cherian and later became the Chief Editor of the newspaper. Mr. Mathew was honored
report in both Houses of Parliament. The Bill is aimed at enhancing reservation of seats for
USA, had been appointed Co-Chairman of the U.S. National Advisory Council on Innovation
Banerjee, as Attorney-General, had the rare honour of being called upon to address the
Parliament regarding the powers of the Election Commission on August 5, 1993, a request
that had not been made to the Attorney-General for decades, and the Padma Awards case,
where he argued before the Supreme Court that these awards were not titles and as such
Harvard University, becoming the first Indian-origin woman professor in the institution's
history.
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has signed a marketing deal with an Indian
sports management company Rhiti worth $42 million over two years. The deal, the richest in
Indian cricket history, surpasses batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar's $40million three-year
faculty at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Powai in Mumbai. In 2003,Tulsi
was named as one of the world's “seven most gifted youngsters” by Time magazine.
Lieutenant General Chander Prakash has been appointed the Force Commander for the U.N.
peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) by United Nations chief
Ban Ki-moon.
The U.S. government had appointed Preeta D. Bansal to serve as the Vice-Chair of the
post of Assistant Administrator for Asia in the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID).
P. Obul Reddy, industrialist, philanthropist and patron of the arts, passed away. He was one
of the first industrialists from the South to enter into the television business, was the
proprietor of the firm that sold the popular Dyanora TV sets. He was also the former
philanthropic work.
A.K. Antony became the first Defence Minister to land on the Advanced Landing Ground
(ALG) of Nyoma in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.The ALG, activated in
September,2009 for fixed-wing aircraft, is 23 km from the Line of Actual Control and close to
Woman Justice Rekha Manharlal Doshit was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Patna
Saran of Kalpa village of Kinnaur district (Himachal Pradesh), one of the first few voters of
India,Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, as the sixth chairperson of the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC).
Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)
has been appointed Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of the Indian Space
making him head of the Programme Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-
ISE) agency that facilitates the sharing and access of terrorism-related information within
London.
The 13-year-old Jordan Romero became the youngest climber of the tallest mountain in the
world,Mount Everest.
Film personality Tapen Chattopadhyay(72), famous for his role as Goopi in Satyajit Ray's
classic Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen (Goopi the singer Bagha the drummer), died of chronic
boat INSV (Indian Naval Sailing Vessel) Mhadei, covering about 21,600 nautical miles (38,880
country's first thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, will be the new director of the
and Yasmin Qureshi, Labour candidate for Bolton South East, in the north-west, became
Business School (HBS) making him the first member from the community to occupy the post.
Indian scientist Goverdhan Mehta has been selected to be part of the 12-member committee
Major General C.S. Nair is appointed as the 14th Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the
Army
President Pratibha Patil has appointed senior-most judge of the Supreme Court Justice
Sarosh Homi Kapadia the 38th Chief Justice of India (CJI). He will replace Justice K.G.
Balakrishnan, who retires on May 11.Justice Kapadia will be the first CJI born after
Independence.
Oh Eun-sun (44), a South Korean mountaineer became the first woman to scale the world's
14 highest mountains.
Madhuri Gupta, a junior diplomat in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has been
arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police on the charge of leaking sensitive national
project — the Kabini River Lodge on the banks of the Kabini at Karapur in Mysore district,
passed away.
An ethnic Indian P.Kamalanathan won a prestigious parliamentary by-election for the Hulu
Chief Justices of the Madras and Bombay High Courts H.L. Gokhale and Anil Ramesh Dave as
1925,died in Barcelona(Spain).
IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)
announced that Harsh Manglik will take over as the Chairman of its Executive Council for
2010-11, effective from April 20. Mr. Manglik, replaces Pramod Bhasin.
Activist Dorothy Height, described by President Obama as the “the godmother of the civil
rights movement” passed away at the age of 98 years. Ms. Height, a pioneer of the 1960s
movement, had joined historic marches with Martin Luther King Jr. and led the National
who resigned as Chief Minister, bringing the curtains down on nearly month-long dissidence in
the Congress. Twenty-one of the 28 Congress legislators had demanded his removal.
Vijay Gandhi was sworn in Magistrate Judge for the District Court of the Central District of
California (U.S). Mr. Gandhi is the first Indian-American federal judge in California and only
the second ever Indian-American federal judge in the history of the United States. The first
was Judge Amul Thapar, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District
the University of Michigan, and a world authority on management thought, passed away in
San Diego after a brief illness. He was known for his work specialising in corporate strategy
victory from a parliamentary constituency in Matara district in the south. Jayasuriya won on
the ticket of the ruling United People's Freedom Party alliance of the President Mahinda
Rajapaksa.
President Pratibha Patil has nominated M. Natarajan, former Scientific Advisor to the
appointed by the Central government to probe the circumstances leading to the massacre of
appointed as a member of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars by the U.S
~Famous mountaineer of Nepal, Apa Sherpa, who broke his own world record by climbing
the Everest 19th time last year, is all set to climb Mt Everest again on April 6th for his 20th
climb.
Henry Edward Roberts, a developer of an early personal computer that inspired Bill Gates
the summit of Mount Everest. If he succeeds, will be the youngest person ever to stand on top
(BCI).
President Pratibha Patil had appointed Justice Barin Ghosh as Chief Justice of the Sikkim
High Court.
theNational Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC was set up after the UPA came to power in
Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), including the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Eminent Bhoodan leader Biswanath Patnaik, 94, a close associate of Vinoba Bhave, and was
popularly known as the “Koraputia Gandhi” passed away at Baliguda in Orissa's Kandhamal
district.
issued by the Postal Department on September 2 to coincide with his first death anniversary.
Innovator of the Year by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC),
Britain's leading agency for academic research and training in non-clinical life sciences.
The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has recommended
the elevation of Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court Gyan Sudha Misra as a Supreme
Court Judge. Justice Misra, who hails from Bihar will be the fourth woman judge of the
Supreme Court, after Fatima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, and Ruma Paul, who retired in June
2006.
The 31-year-old Tejdeep Singh Rattan became the first Sikh in a generation who had
continued wearing a traditional turban and yet joined the United States Military, a feat not
Kanu Sanyal, one of the architects of the naxalite movement and who, in more recent times,
was critical of the Maoists, was found dead at his residence in the Naxalbari area of West
C.V. Midhun, a second semester B.Sc. Physics student of the Majlis Arts and Science College
at Puramannur in Valanchery, Kerala ,who had disputed the famous black hole theory of noted
scientist Stephen Hawking, has become part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment.
The LHC, a gigantic instrument placed near Geneva, is studying the impact of particle
collision.
The Centre has appointed Justice P. Venkatarama Reddy, a retired judge of the Supreme
Court as chairperson of the 19th Law Commission, which will have tenure up to August
31, 2012.
Girija Prasad Koirala(86), the Nepali Congress president, who served as Prime Minister four
times and as head of state once, passed away. Koirala, popularly known as Girija babu, was
Former Deputy Chief Minister and Veteran Dalit leader Koneru Ranga Rao (74) died after
prolonged illness. Rao held various port folios, including housing and social welfare in the
congress governments that were in power from 1978-88 and 1989-94 and went on to become
Noted Marathi poet and Jnanpith award winner, Govind Vinayak Karandikar(91) - known by
Iron Sharmila, who has been on a fast - onto - death since November 4, 2000 demanding
the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in Manipur, was
rearrested, as she continued her fast despite being released by the court.
Eminent industrialist G.P. Birla (87) passed away. Son of B.M. Birla, who had helped to set
up units such as Orient Paper and Industries, Hyderabad Industries and Nigeria Engineering
Works. He was also involved in setting up the Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi, Birla
Science and Technological Museum and Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute.
M.F. Hussain, India's most celebrated artist has been conferred Qatar nationality.
Justice Nisar Ahmed Kakru was sworn in Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High court by
high level panel to be set up by UN Secretary General Ban ki - Moon on financing climate
change action globally. The panel will be co - chaired by British PM Gordon Brown and
Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to P.V.Narasimha Rao and one of the architects of the Indian
member of U.S. President Barak Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, along with
five others.
Nepal’s first Vice-President appointee Paramananda Jha, whose post has been inactive for
the last five months over an oath-taking controversy, sworn in a second time.
For the first time, an India-born businessman Vim Kochhar (73) has been nominated to the
the year 2010. The following are some of the names of the people chosen for the Padma
awards:
Padma Vibhushan
Ebrahim Alkazi (Art), Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Art), Zohra Segal (Art), Yaga Venugopal
Reddy (Public Affairs), Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Science and Engineering), Prathap
Padma Bhushan
Ilaiyaraaja (Art), Aamir Khan (Art), Fareed Zakaria (Journalism), Mallika Sarabhai (Art), Prof.
(Dr.) Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana (Art), Prof. Bipan Chandra (Literature and Education),
Padma Shri
Resul Pokutty (Art), Rekha (Art), Deep Joshi (Social Work), Saina Nehwal (Sports), Vijender
Singh (Sports), Virendra Sehwag (Sports), Ram Narain Karthikeyan (Sports) etc.
According to defence ministry announcement, lieutenant General V.K.Singh will replace the
current chief of the Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, who retires from service on March
31, 2010.
Jyoti Basu, Veteran Marxist leader, who set a record as the nation's longest serving chief
minister and one of the tallest figures in the country's political life, died of septicemia due to
pneumonia that led to multi-organ failure. He was 95 and is survived by his son and three
grand children.
An Iraqi court sentensed Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussain henchman widely
known as "Chemical Ali" to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000
kurds.
Fitness trainer Dinaz Vervatwala enters Guinness book of world records for completing 26-
village about 217 km from Jammu on the night of Sep 27, 2009.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has appointed Gopinath Munde as chairman of the Public
Accounts Committee.