Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Current Affairs-Sample Notes PDF
Current Affairs-Sample Notes PDF
Abbreviations in News
1. NSG Nuclear Suppliers Group
2. ADS Air Defence Ship (first indigenous aircraft carrier) by 2012.
3. CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
4. SAP South Asian Parliament
5. CECA Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (Between India & Sri
Lanka recently)
6. WTI World Tribunal on Iraq (Members include Arundhati Roy & 200 NGOs)
7. DTAC Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (Signed by India & Serbia)
8. CAS Conditional Access System
9. CICA Conference on Interaction & Confidence building Measures in Asia (Held
in Kazakhstan – India, Russian, China & others participated)
10. SLBM Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (DRDO is working on it)
11. IPTV Internet Protocol Television.
12. PAFTA Pan Asian Free Trade Agreement
13. PSPB Petroleum Sports Promotion Board. Most of the National Championship
winners are from PSPB.
14. RoHS Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances
15. PAROS Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space
16. NSAs Negative Security Assurances. This is aimed at assuring non-nuclear
weapons states that they would never be attacked by nuclear states.
17. NAMA Non Agricultural Market Access
18. HuJI Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami. Terrorist Outfit of Bangladesh.
19. NIMHANS National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences. It is located in
Bangalore & is one of Asia’s most reputable hospitals.
20. TULF Tamil Liberation United Front.
21. NACIL National Aviation Company of India. Merger of Air India & Indian.
22. SAFMA South Asia Free Media Association
23. CCPA Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
24. EFA Education for All. Report by UNESCO.
25. GNH Gross National Happiness
26. TUFS Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme
Important Summits
1. G – 20
2. G-8 Heilingendamn, Germany.
3. Shanghai Cooperation Organization Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
4. European Union Summit
5. G-77
6. 13th ASEAN Singapore
7. 7th India-EU Summit Helsinki
8. World Summit of UN
9. CHOGM Kampala in Uganda. Queen Elizabeth II, Head
of Commonwealth addressed it.
10. 94th Indian Science Congress Annamalai University, at Chidambaram, 250
Km from Chennai
11. WTO Minsterial Conference
12. 3rd East Asia Summit Singapore
13. ASEAN
Current Affairs – 2008 11 Ghanshyam Thori
14. Asia-Africa Summit
15. Organization of Islamic Conference
16. World Economic Forum
17. 7th World Social Forum Nairobi
18. 5th Pravasi Bhartiya Samman
19. African Union Summit
20. G-8 Foreign Ministers meeting Germany
21. NAM Summit
22. EU-India Summit
23. First India Social Forum
24. Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) Sydney
25. 6th ASEAN – India Summit Singapore
Grand Prix
1. Bahrain G.P. Felipe Massa (Brazil)
Current Affairs – 2008 12 Ghanshyam Thori
2. San Marino G.P
3. Australian G.P Kimi Raikkonen
4. Monaco G.P Fernando Alonso
5. Spanish G.P. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
6. European G.P. Fernando Alonso
7. Canadian G.P Lewis Hamilton
8. British G.P Kimi Raikkonen
9. French GP Kimi Raikkonen
10. German GP
11. Italian GP Fernando Alonso
12. Belgian GP Kimi Raikkonen
13. Japanese GP
14. US GP Lewis Hamilton
15. Malaysian GP Fernando Alonso
16. Brazilian GP Kimi Raikkonen
Places in News
1. Sanauli, Baghpat Largest Harappan discovered on the banks of Yamuna in UP.
2. Natanz Site of Uranium Enrichment Facility of Iran.
3. Hilla Suicide bombs killed 93 person in this Iraqi Town.
4. Camerron A Kenyan jet carrying 114 people abroad crashed.
5. Colombo, Sri Lk 8th International Congress on AIDs in Asia & the Pacific held here.
6. Hyderabad 58th Session of International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held here.
7. Jakarta 62nd session of UN Economic & Social Commission for Asia & Pacific.
8. Naypidaw New capital of Myanmar.
9. Singur Tata Motors plant here was involved in controversy.
10. Ranibodili In Chattisgrah. Major offensive by 300 Maoists.
11. Mumbai 32nd Annual Conference of International Organization of Securities
Commissions (IOSCO). IOSCO was established in 1983 & is today
known as the International Standard Setter for Securities Market
regulating 90 % of the world’s securities market. The chairperson of
IOSCO executive committee is Jane Diplock
12. Qatar Meeting of Gas Exporting Countries to setup a group on lines of OPEC
13. Bad Doberan The German town that stripped Adolf Hitler of his honorary citizenship
& would host G-8 summit in June 2007.
14. Incheon New Delhi lost bid to host 2014 Asian Games to this South Korean City.
15. Qingdao India & China joint naval exercise.
16. Puri The queen of Puri, Lilabati Pattamahadei conducted a traditional ritual.
17. Hamburg 8th Asia Europe Meeting – Meeting of Foreign Ministers.
18. Nusa Dua Located in Bali where the 116th Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting was
held. The top agenda was climate change.
19. Samara Russian city where EU-Russia summit ended without any agreement
getting signed.
20. Islamabad Meeting of Organization of Islamic Conference.
21. Mustang A cave containing a mural of 55 panels depicting life of Buddha has
been discovered in Mustang, Nepal.
22. Larsemann Hills, The consultative parties of the Antarctic Treaty for a research station at
Persons in News
1. Preeti Malhotra First women president of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
2. Irwandi Yusuf Former Rebel leader sworn in as Aceh’s new governor
3. Chung Mong Koo Hyundai Motor’s Chairman convicted of embezzlement & sentenced to
3 yrs in prison
4. Drew Giplin Faust Harvards First Woman President
5. Ramadorai Sujatha Associate Professor at TIFR won Ramanujan Prize for 2006.
6. Taha Yassin Ramadan Saddam’s former Vice President hanged
7. Sheikh Salman bin Bahrain’s crown prince visited India.
Hamad – Al Khalifa
8. Zuben Mehta Won Dan David Prize & prize money of 1 million $.
9. SIS Ahmed CRPF Chief. Later replaced by Ranjit Kumar Das
10. Madhukar Gupta Appointed as Home Secretary.
11. Sunil Gavaskar Chairman of the revised Cricket Committee of ICC.
12. Tarun Gupta New chief of Indian Medical Association.
13. Felipe Perez Roque Cuban Foreign Minister visited India.
14. Dimple Singla First Court Martial of a woman army officer (a retd major).
15. Aarti Mehra New Mayor of Delhi
16. Tejinder Khanna Appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
17. Usha Le Macffarling Indian origin journalist awarded Pulitzer for descriptive reporting.
18. V. N. Kaul India’s Comptroller & Auditor General elected as the external auditor
of the World Health Organization for a 3 yr term.
19. Mohamad Bin Hammam Second term as Asian Football Federation President.
20. Drew Barrymore Ambassador against Hunger for UN World Food Program
21. A. Raja Appointed new Communication & Information Technology Minister
22. Naresh Trehan Quits Escorts to join Apollo.
Current Affairs – 2008 15 Ghanshyam Thori
23. P.K. Abdul Aziz VC of Aligarh Muslim University.
24. Sam Pitroda Head of Knowledge Commission.
25. Tejpreet Singh Chopra CEO of GE India.
26. U. R. Rao Awarded ISRO’s life time achievement award by Abdul Kalam
27. Srinivas Padmanaban Awarded World Clean Energy Award.
28. Alexander Solzhenitsyn Awarded top Kremlin Award by Putin for his humanitarian work.
29. Ray Mali Appointed as the acting President of ICC.
30. Randall Stephenson New CEO of America’s largest telecom player AT&T.
31. M.B.N. Rao Chairman of Indian Bank’s Association
32. M.S.S. Rajan Appointed CMD of Indian Bank.
33. Chinmaya Gharekhan President of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
34. Donald Tsang CEO of Hong Kong
35. Duvvuri Subbarao Appointed Finance Secretary
36. Vijay Singh Defence Secretary.
37. Y.S. Dadwal Delhi Police Chief
38. Geoff Lawson Pakistan’s New Cricket Coach.
39. K.G Balakrishnana CJI elected to the bench of the Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London.
40. Sheela Binde Appointed CMD of India Trade Promotion Organization
41. Jivtesh Singh Mani 1974 batch IAS officer has taken over as Chairman of NHAI.
42. Ramesh Chandra Chairman of Railway Board.
43. Karl Slym New President & MD of General Motors, India.
44. Karl Rove Most influential white house aide of Bush resigned
45. Jhulan Goswami ICC Women Cricketer of the Year.
46. K kasturirangan Director of National Institute of Advance Studies won Theodore Von
Karman Award of the International Academy of Astronautics.
47. Ang Lee Won Golden Lion for his film “Lust, Caution” at Venice Film Fest.
48. Geeta Gandbhir Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Picture Editing.
49. Indra Sinha Among the 6 authors shortlisted for Man Bookers prize for his work
“Animal’s People” which is about 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
50. Nadeem Taj New ISI chief of Pakistan.
51. MS Dhoni Captain of ODI team. Yuvraj to be VC.
52. Bahubali S. Shah MD of Indian Newspaper Society
53. Bhaskar Das Chairman of Advertising Standard Council of India
54. K. C. Jena New Chairman of Railway Board.
55. Mohd Shafi Qureshi Chairman of National Minorities Commission.
56. Shashank Manohar Will succeed Sharad Pawar as BCCI Chief in 2008.
57. D D Lapang Sworn in as CM of Meghalaya
58. Nilofar Bakhtiar A militant cleric madrasa of Pakistan issued a fatwa against the
tourism minister of Pakistan, N Bakhtiar after she hugged a male
paraglider in France.
59. Ravi Shankaran Main accused of Naval War Room Leak
60. Kapila Vatsyayan Nominated to Rajya Sabha. She is founder & former academic director
at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts.
61. S. Gopalakrishnan CEO & MD of Infosys
62. Harikrishna Devsare Noted Hindi Litterateur won the Vatsalya Award
63. Percy Mistry Heading Committee to realize the vision of Mumbai as an International
Financial Center. Advised making rupee fully convertible.
64. Cho-Seung Hui South Korean student killed 32.
65. Ramchand Bhavnani Bought 14.08 % stake in Spain’s fifth largest bank, Bankinter.
Current Affairs – 2008 16 Ghanshyam Thori
66. Sahana Pradhan Nepals Foreign Minister. Also the first woman foreign minister
67. Joseph Sepp Blatter FIFA president who visited India. Elected 3rd time as President.
68. Santosh Georg Kulangara
First space tourist from India from Kerala.
69. Roger Federer First swiss to have him on postage stamp.
70. Swami Shraddananda SC held him guilty of murdering his wife begum Shakereh Namazi
71. Appa Sherpa Broke his own world record by scaling Mt Everest for 17th time.
72. B.C. Khatua Appointed chairman of Forward Markets Commission.
73. A.R. Lakshmanan Chairman of 18th Law Commission.
74. Srgjan Kerim President of UN General Assembly.
75. Vasundhara Raje Won the Women Together Award of UN.
76. Rafael Nadal Lost for the first time on Clay Court after winning 81 consecutive
matches at Hamburg Masters (Germany). Defeated by Federer.
77. V Thulasidas CMD of National Aviation Co Ltd, formed by merging AI & Indian
Airlines.
78. Amartya Sen Won World Economic Prize known as Kiel Prize
79. BN Srikrishna Heads 6th Pay Commission.
80. Kamalesh Sharma High Commissioner of India in London, Kamalesh Sharma was
appointed Commonwealth Secretary General by CHOGM
81. Chinmaya R. Garekhan President of Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts
82. Trevor Bayliss Australian who was appointed as New Coach of Sri Lanka
83. P.S. Goel Secretary, Ministry of Earth Science was awarded Aryabhatta Award.
84. U.R Rao Former ISRO chairman awarded ISRO’s lifetime achievement award
85. John McEnroe Legendary tennis player awarded Philippe Chatrier Award.
86. Kuldip Sidhu Indian born Australian won the Top Invention Prize 2007 for his work
on stem cells.
87. Milan Martic Croatian leader convicted of war crimes & sentenced for 35 yrs RI.
88. Bernard Weber Started the “New 7 Wonder Project”.
89. Norman Borlaug Presented the Congressional Gold Medal
90. Iftikhar Choudhary The Chief Justice of Pakistan who was removed by Musharraf & later
reinstated by the Supreme Court reversing the decision.
91. Thaksin Shinawatra Former PM of Thailand & current owner of Manchester City Football
Club, Thaksin is wanted back in Thailand to face criminal charges.
92. Mahashweta Devi Turned down the request of attending World Hindi Conference in NY.
93. Mohammad Haneef Brisbane based Indian Doctor was charged of link with Al Qaeda.
94. Mohd Zahir Shah Afghanistan’s last king who was also titled “Father of the Nation”
95. Syed Nayeemuddin India’s former football coach & captain, Syed Nayeemuddin has been
appointed as the National Coach by the Bangladesh Football Federatn.
96. Martti Ahtisaari UN special envoy for Kosovo.
97. Charles Taylor Former Liberian President who is being tried for War Crimes.
98. Rashmi Sharma Became the youngest Indian woman to cross the English Channel
Twice. After Bula Choudhary she is the second Indian Woman to cross
the English Channel twice.
99. Ronen Sen India’s ambassador to US criticized political parties opposing N deal.
100. Indu Malhotra Only the second woman to be designated as “Senior Advocate”.
101. Milan Lalitkumar Naidu Appointed Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
102. Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Won the Sahitya Kala Parishad “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his
Khan Dagar outstanding contribution to the field of classical music.
103. S.K Satheesh Won the Asian Young Scientist Award.
104. S.S. Virk Former Punjab Director General was arrested for possessing assets
Obituaries
1. Omkar Prasad Nayyar Music director best known for hits like “Jhumka Gira re”.
2. Chandralekha Legendary Bharatanatyam dancer died.
3. Lalit Mohan Thapar Patriarch of Ballarpur Industries is dead.
4. Saparmurat Niyazov The iron fisted ruler of Turkmenistan for 20 years is dead.
5. S. Rangarajan Great Editor of “The Hindu” died
6. Vijay Arora Actor best known for this film “Yadon Ki Barat” & song “Chura Liya”.
7. Lothar Geunther German Author whose war novel “Das Boot” was adapted intoa
Buchheim critically acclaimed film.
8. Shyama Charan Shukla Veteran Congress Leader & 3 times CM of Madhya Pradesh died.
9. Pandit Bishan Das Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner who invented tamboori,
Sharma swarsangam, Mohan veena is dead.
10. Praduman Singh Athletics legend who won five medals for India in Asian games.
11. Ernest Gallo Who created the company E & J Gallo Winery is producing a quarter of
all wine & wine related products sold in US.
12. Boris Yeltsin Man who hastened the collapse of Soviet Union.
13. Parry O Brien Who broke 17 short put records & won 3 Olympic medals.
14. Nina Wang Asia’s richest woman.
15. Prabhakaran Hockey gold medalist in the 1998 Asian games died.
16. K.P Nair Kathakali Exponent & former principal of Kerala Kalamandalam.
17. Jagat Murari Directed 50 documentaries & was director of Film & TV Inst of India.
18. Percy Sonn ICC president died in Cape Town. Replaced by Ray Mali (Acting)
19. Bill Johnston A versatile left arm bowler of Australia died.
20. Dr Charat Ram Leading Industrialist died
21. Huang Ju Famous Chinese Communist Party Leader
22. Kurt Waldheim Former UN Secretary General & President of Austria.
23. Ramchandra Gandhi Grandson of Mahatma Gahndhi who was found dead in a guestroom at
the India International Centre in New Delhi.
24. Anita Guha Who played the role of Santoshi mata in “Jai Santoshi Ma”
25. Jeeva Tamilian Film director died of cardiac arrest.
26. Chandrashekhar Former PM & president of Samajwadi Janta Party died at Apollo, Delhi
27. Sahib Singh Verma Former Delhi Chief Minister & senior BJP leader.
28. Bharat Ram Industrialist – DCM group & Sri Ram Fertilizer died.
29. Albert Ellis Famous psychologist
30. Dilip Sardesai Former Indian Batsman & Father of Rajdip Sardesai (CEO of CNN-
IBN) & only cricketer from Goa died.
31. Banarasi Das Gupta Former Haryana CM died.
32. Yone Minagawa World’s Oldest Person acc to Guinness Book died.
33. Quratulain Hyder Renowed Indian Urdu Writer & Journalist.
34. Anita Roddick Body Shop Founder died
35. Jane Wyman Oscar winning Actress & Ronald Reagon’s first wife.
36. Mani Kumar Rai Seven times National Boxing Champion died.
Current Affairs – 2008 20 Ghanshyam Thori
37. Jana Krishnamurthy First leader from south to become BJP president died.
38. Mullah Dadullah Taliban’s most prominent military commander killed in Operation.
39. G. Srinivasan Producer of Guru & Director Mani Ratnam’s brother died.
40. R. Ramchandran Founder Secretary of music sabha ‘Hamasdhwani” died.
41. Ali-Hassan al Majid Cousin of Saddam Hussain known as Chemical Ali charged for gassing
the Kurds was sentenced to death.
42. Rekha Malhotra Accomplished classical dancer of Bharatanatyam & Kuchipudi died.
43. Wally Herbert First man to walk on north pole died.
44. Arvind Lalbhai Visionary Industrialist & Founder of Arvind Mills died.
45. Qurratulain Hyder Renowed Urdu writer. Her “Aag ka Dariya” was a masterpiece.
46. Jamanlal Sharma Olypic Hockey player from India died.
47. Rajyogini Dadi The head of Prajapita Brahmakumari Ishwariya Vishwavidyalaya
Prakashmani passed away at Mt. Abu in Sirohi district.
48. Akbarali A. Heptulla Husband of Najma Heptullah & noted manpower consultant died.
49. Rangaswamy Designer of India’ first general purpose digital computer.
Narasimhan
50. Ashesh Prasad Mitra Former CSIR director general & Padma Bhushan winner died.
51. Soe Win Myanmar’s Former PM died.
52. Al Oerter The discus great who won four gold medals in four straight Olympics in
1956, 1960, 1964 & 1968.
53. L.M Singhvi Jurist, Statesman, BJP leader & former MP died.
54. Babasaheb Bhosale Former Maharashtra CM died.
55. S.R Bommai Former Karnataka CM Died.
56. R.S Sarkaria Former Supreme Court Judge who defined Centre-State Relations.
57. Arthur Kornberg Who won the 1959 Nobel for figuring out how DNA is built died.
58. Ali Raza Scriptwriter of “Mother India” died.
59. Norman Mailer Author of famous book “The Naked & the Dead” & two times Pulitzer
winner.
60. R.S. Pathak Former Chief Justice of India. He headed U.N. Oil for Food Scam.
61. Ian Smith Former Rhodesian PM from 1964 to 1979 died.
62. Henry Hyde Former Republican after whom the Indo-US nuclear deal is named.
63. G.P. Sippy Producer of Sholay died.
64. Oscar Patterson One of the most popular Jazz artists in history
65. Teji Bachchan Mother of Amitabh Bachchhan
66. Ike Turner King of Rhythm credited with writing the first Rock & Roll record.
67. Swami Ghanananda President of Ramakrishna Math died.
68. Ustad Bale Khan Sitar Maestro of Dharwad.
69. Paul Tibbets Jr. US pilot who dropped the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
Miscellaneous Facts:
1. The 13th SAARC summit was held at Dhaka (Nov 2005) & 14th will be in India. Declared the decade of
2005-2015 as SAARC decade of poverty alleviation. The Dhaka Declaration welcomed the decision of
the SAARC summit to include Afghanistan in the forum as its newest member. 2001-2010 has been
declared as the SAARC decade of the ‘Rights of the Child’.
2. The top 10 countries accounting for FDI in India during 2004-05 are Mauritius, USA, Japan,
Netherlands, U.K., Germany, France, South Korea, Singapore & Switzerland.
3. Bharat Nirman targets are to be met by 2009 with a fund of 175000 crore.. It involves bringing
additional 1 crore hectares under irrigation. Connect all villages with a population of 1000 & above with
roads. 60 lakhs houses for poor; electricity & telephone connectivity to all remaining villages.
4. U.P, Punjab, Rajasthan are the top 3 states in India in Milk production. Per capita availability of milk is
highest in Punjab. India’s annual milk production in 2003-04 was around 90 million tonnes. Arunachal
Pradesh has the least milk production.
5. Mali & Nigeria are the poorest countries in the world with more than 70% populaiton below BPL.
Zimbabwe has 133 % inflation rate. Nauru has 90 % unemployment followed by Liberia & Zimbabwe.
Botswana, Lesotho & Swaziland have the highest death rates.
6. Tonga is the latest member of WTO.
Military News
• Pakistan test fires Shaheen 2 (or Hatf VI) surface to surface missile with a range of 2000 km. India’s
Nag (anti – tank missile) enters production stage.
• Brahmos the supersonic missile jointly developed by India & Russia is ready for induction after its 10th
& final test firing.
• Pinaka a multi barrel rocket system underwent a successful trial at Chandipur-on-Sea, 15 Km from
Balasore (Orissa).
• Indian Navy’s new frigate ‘Sahyadri built in Mazagaon docks, Mumbai launched.
• INS Kadamba Indian Navy’s Third operational base after Mumbai & Vishakhapatnam commissioned by
Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. It would provide navy with its first exclusive harbour.
• INS Beas (3600 tonne Indian Naval Ship) as the highest ever content of any warship built in India.
Military Data/Excercises
1. Shatrunaash Domestic Army Exercise on Sutlej river bank involving
15,000 soldiers.
2. Varuna 2007 Indo French Naval Exercise at Gulf of Aden.
3. Indra 2007 India Russia joint anti-terror wargames held at Russia’s
Pskov oblast.
4. Himalayan Warrior Indo-UK Joint exercise in Ladakh.
Current Affairs – 2008 25 Ghanshyam Thori
5. Malabar Exercise Biggest ever Naval Exercise in the Bay of Bengal
involving 5 nations – India, US, Japan, Australia &
Singapore.
6. Ashwamedh First Major exercise of Indian Army’s South-Western
Command in Pallu, Rajasthan.
7. Hand in Hand 2007 First Ever Joint Military Exercise by China & India
organized at Kunmig Military Academy, China.
8.
9.
Cricket News:
• India wins the India-West Indies ODI series by 3-1 in which Sachin’s century of 76 balls proved
decisive.
• Australia completed the most crushing Ashes victory with a 5-0 sweep of England.
• India looses test series to South Africa by 2-1.
• South African Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher claimed the world record for Test Catches.
• India wins the ODI series against Sri Lanka with Ganguly being the man of the series.
• Mumbai wins the Ranji Tropy for 2007.
• Kumble retired from ODI.
• Australia won the World Cup 2007 after defeating Sri Lanka. It became the first team to record a hat
trick of world cup titles – their fourth in the world cup history. Gilchrist got the man of the match award.
Glenn Mcgrath was officially named as the player of the tournament while Matthew Hayden got the title
of the “Golden Bat”.
• The Olympic council of Asia has added cricket to he 2010 Asian Games schedule.
• India won the Indo-Bangla series by 2-0 with the final being abandoned. Dhoni became the man of the
series.
• India wins the Future Cup over South Africa by 2-1.
• India won the test against England by 1-0. Kumble scored his first century.
• BCCI has accepted the VJD 2007 system developed by V Jayadevan, an engineer from Thrissur as a
possible replacement for the Duckworth-Lewis method that is used in cricked to calculate target score in
Rain Affected matches.
• India wins the ICC Twenty20 world cup with a breath taking 5 run victory over Pakistan. Earlier Yuvraj
Singh hit 6 sixes in an over of Stuart Board & fasted 50 off 12 balls. In Semi Final India defeated
Australia to enter Finals. Irfan Pathan was named “Man of the Match” while Shahid Afridi was named
Other Sports
• Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win a major badminton event when she clinched the
Philippines Open title in Manila.
• Sania Nehwal won the women’s title athe Senior National Badminton championship.
• The Hopman cup of Tennis was won by Russia.
• Geeth Sethi pulled off a close victory against Asian Games champion Pankaj Advani in the final round
to annex the national billiards title after nine years. Anuja Thakur took her fifth women’s National
Billiards title.
February 2007
Current Affairs – 2008 32 Ghanshyam Thori
• ISRO PSLV-C7 lifted off successfully form Satsih Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra
Pradesh. It carried the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite CATOSAT-2 (1 m resolution), Space Capsule
Recovery Equipment (SRE-1) Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT & Argentina’s six kg nanosatellite called
NANO PEHUENSAT-1. The SRE-1 was a technological forerunner to Indian scientists mastering the
re-entry technology & building re-usable launch vehicles like Discovery.
• Manmohan Singh visits Japan. India & Japan will celebrate 2007 as the year of friendship.
• The Union of Islamic Courts lost power in Somalia when the Government aided by the Ethipian forces
routed them.
• The Rajya Sabha passed a bill to make child marriages null & void. The Parliament gave its nod for the
Scheduled Tribes & other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill.
• ONGC finds gas in the Basin off Krishna-Godavari.
• The SC held unconstitutional the controversial Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order, 2006 which puts
the onus of proving a person foreigner on the complainant
• The SC held that no prior sanction from the competent authority was required to prosecute a public
servant, including present & former ministers, in corruption cases.
• A bill introduced by Government seeks to declare the Kakinada-Pondicherry stretch of Canals
comprising the Kaknada canal, Buckingham canal – on the Gaodavari & Krishna rivers as a national
waterway. Another bill seeks to confer the status on canals on the Matai & the Mahanadi delta rivers
between West Bengal & Orissa.
• SC rejected the notion that the actions of a Speaker of a legislature are above judicial scrutiny citing that
the speaker does not sever his relationship with the political party on whose ticket he gets elected.
• The UN resolution 1737 was unanimously passed by imposing sanctions against Iran for failing to stop
its uranium enrichment program following resolution 1696.
• Nine countries of Southeastern Europe & the Serbian province of Kosovo today signed a new Central
European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in Bucharest.
• Vietnam became the 150thmember of WTO. Quatern Island is disputed between India & Pakistan.
• Slovenia, adopted the Euro becoming the 13th EU nation to use single currency.
• Bulgaria & Romania joined the European Union to bring the bloc’s membership to 27.
• RBI allowed FDI upto 49 % in stock exchanges, depositeries & clearing corporations.
• The Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana has bee in operation since April 2005. Under the scheme
allowance is paid to workers for six months who are rendered unemployed involuntarily on account of
closure of factories/establishments.
March 2007
• Somalia parliament declares emergency. Bullet train linking North & South island of Taiwan started.
• Bulgaria & Romania – two ex-communist nations joined EU brining membership to 27 nations.
• After years of negotiation & anticipation Vietnam became 150th member of WTO on January 11th.
• The Democrat party captured control of both Houses of Congress in US after 12 years of sidelines of
power. Nancy Pelosi, went on to make history by becoming the first woman to become Speaker of the
House of Representatives.
• Slovenia changed from its Tolar money to Euro. Slovenia is 13th European Nation to adopt Euro.
• China, Russia veto US resolution criticizing Myanmar’s military Junta.
• Rival Palestinian factions, Hamas & Fatah stuck a deal (Makkah Accord) for ceasefire in Gaza. The two
agreed on key cabinet posts.
• Armed forces commodore Frank Bainimarama of Fizi installed Mahendra Chaudhry as the minister of
Finance & National Planning.
• The man who led Ukraine’s Orange revolution two years ago, Viktor Yushchenko has been stripped of
power to veto through a humiliating parliamentary vote.
• Japan launced its Defence Ministry for the first time since World War II.
• Vladmir Putin conferred the “Order of Friendship” on Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande & JNU academic
Sankar Basu on his visit to India as Chief Guest durin Republic day.
• CM of Gujarat & M.P, Narendra Modi & Shivraj Singh dedicated to the nation the 1450 MW
hydroelectric project of the Sardar Sarovar at the dam site – Kevadia colony in Gujarat’s Narmada
district.
• The Supreme Court ruled that any law placed in the Ninth Schedule after 1973 will be open to Judicial
scrutiny but laws already upheld by the Supreme court cant be challenged. Drafted by the Nehru Govt in
1951 the Ninth Schedule grants Parliament the power to insulate any law from Judicial review.
• Year 2007 has been declared as “Water Year” by the ministry of water resources & approved by Cabinet
• The Cabinet has approved the setting up of Central Drugs Authority of India as an autonomous
organization under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
April 2007
• The union budget for 2007-08 was presented by Finance Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram. The total
plan expenditure is estimated at 690521 crores while the revenue deficit is 71478 crores. Fiscal deficit
for 2006-07 revised to 3.75 % of GDP against 3.8 % budgeted. For 2007-08 it would be 3.3 %. Revenue
deficit for 2006-07 – 2 % of GDP & for 2007-08 at 1.5 %. Education cess on all taxes hiked from 2 % to
3 %. Tax on dividend distribution by companies raised from 12.5 % to 15 %. ESOPs to be brought under
the Fringe Benefit Tax. Income tax exemption limit hiked by 10,000 to 1.1 lakhs & 1.45 lakh for women
& upto 1.95 lakh for senior citizens. (For Detailed Coverage refer Xerox)
• The economic survey 2006-07 pegged the economy growth rate at 9.2 % for 2006-07.
• May 2007
• According to UN Populations division estimate the world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion
over the next 43 years from the current 6.7 billion
• Bhutan sees formation of two political parties – People’s Democratic Party & Bhutan Peoples United
Party.
• China passes law on property which gives owners of private property the same legal protection as
government property. It is a landmark development in a country that has practiced collectivism in
property ownership since communist party won power in 1949.
• Hamas-Fatah government gets installed in Palestine.
• Ugandan troops arrive in Mogadishu as part of proposed 8000 African Union forces in Somalia.
• China to build port in Lanka at Hambantota in South Sri Lanka.
• Ghana celebrates 50 years of Independence.
• The trial of Kosovo’s former PM Ramush Haradinaj began at Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal.
• Chirac retires from active politics. He became twice the president of France.
• France upholds turban ban on Sikhs. China to invest 13 billion $ into Tibet.
• India & UAE revised their agreement on Double Taxation Avoidance (DTA) & signed a pact for
exchange of information between the stock exchange regulators.
• Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week held at Delhi & Lakme Fashion Week held at Mumbai.
• Parliament approved bill for making it compulsory for all private broadcasters to share their feed of
major sports events with Doordarshan & All India Radio.
• The Lok Sabha passed the Banking regulation bill which seeks to provide greater operational flexibility
to RBI in monitoring the monetary policy. It empowered RBI to specify SLR without any floor limit.
• June 2007
• China flags of high speed train between Shanghai & Suzhou.
• US approved first vaccine against avian flu which is directed against the H5N1 stain of virus.
• Sitting HC judges cant be appointed to probe panels according to SC ruling.
• 14th SAARC summit was inaugurated in New Delhi. Afghanistan joined the regional forum in the first
expansion since its inception in 1985. Observers from China, Japan, South Korea, US & EU also
participated in the summit proceedings. The decisions involved setting up a South Asian University,
create SAARC food bank & arbitration council & to start a museum of textiles & industry. Year 2007
was termed as “Year of Green South Asia”. SAARC countries account for 22 % of world population
with only 2 % of world GDP. Up to 90 % of imports of SAARC were sourced from outside south Asia.
15th SAARC summit would be held in Male, Maldives.
• India & Belarus agreed to set up a joint commission on military technical cooperation & signed
extradition treaty. Belarus, a member of NSG would continue to cooperate with India. The two countries
also signed a bilateral protocol on accession of Belarus to the WTO. NSG currently has 45 members.
• President Kalam visited Greece on a 3 day tour. He also visited Strasbourg, France.
• India-EU to jointly fight streptococcus with a 3 year project that began with 1.5 million euro grant from
EU. It is being coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany.
• The National floor level minimum wage has been increased from Rs. 66 to Rs. 80.
• Tamil Nadu has demanded that Education should be shifted from Concurrent List to State List.
• July 2007
• Bush vetoed a bill that would force him to begin withdrawing US troops angering democrats who vowed
to fight on.
• India is planning to setup a high tech monitoring station in northern Madagascar to tackle piracy &
terrorism.
• The ET-NCAER Business Confidence Survey shows that the Index slipped by six points to 151.3 in
January-March 2007 Quarter from its peak level attained in last quarter.
• Reuters purchased by Canadian Financial Data Provider Thomson Corp in a deal worth 7.8 billion $.
• SC declines plea against Sethusamudram Project.
• Government has decided to give navratna status to 7 New PSUs including Bharat Electronics Ltd,
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, NALCO, National Mineral Development Corp, Power Finance Corp,
PGCIL & Rural Electrification Corp Ltd. This would increase navratnas from 9 to 16. Existing 9
Navratnas include GAIL, BHEL, SAIL, ONGC, IOC, BPCL, IPCL, MTNL and NTPC.
• RBI released new Norms on Priority Sector which qualify Home Loans upto 20 Lakhs as priority sector
as against 15 lakhs earlier. Education loan upto 20 lakhs for studies abroad & 10 lakhs in India.
• Under the priority sector lending program, banks are mandated to extend 40 % of their total advances to
borrowers in sectors like agriculture & Small & medium enterprises.
• August 2007
• WTO Doha round broke midway among four major India, Brazil, EU & USA at Potsdam in Germany as
India refused to yield any ground on giving market for farm products to rich countries.
• UN has declared October 2 as international day of non violence.
• At the BICSAM (Brazil, India, China, South Africa & Mexico), meeting in Berlin during G-8 meeting it
was proposed that the group should consider getting together again at a forum other than that of G-8.
• China announced that it was building a metalled road to the Everest Base camp.
• September 2007
• North Korea had pledged to shut the reactor of Yongbyon Nuclear complex & to dismantle the atomic
programmes in return for 1 million tonnes of oil & political concessions.
• The NWFP government reached an agreement with North Waziristan tribals of Swat District (home to
pro-Taliban Militants group called the Tehreek Nifaz-I-Shariat-I-Mohammad) to end violence.
• Russia suspends CFE treaty. The treaty was adopted in 1990 to limit the number of tanks, heavy artillery
& combat aircraft deployed & store between the Atlantic & Russia’s Ural Mountains.
• Earthquake slams Japan fearing nuclear leaks at Kashiwazaki city – world’s largest nuclear plant.
• 8th World Hindi Conference was inaugurated by Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand
Sharma at New York. The first conference was held at Nagpur.
• US & Russia at loggerheads over Bush’s plan to station 10 missile silos containing interceptor missiles
in Poland & a tracking system in Czech Republic.
• The seventh potter book titled “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows” released
• Sri Lanka launched a 24 hour Buddhist channel titled “The Buddhist”.
• Iran has allowed UN IAEA to visit its nuclear facility in Arak.
• Britain bans smoking in public place. England was the last part of the UK to ban smoking.
• Burj Dubai currently standing at 512 metres is to beat Taipei towers as world’s tallest building.
• 200 killed in Brazilian plane crash when the plane of Tam Airlines skidded off a runway at crashed into
the airlines won building.
• India signs the “Trans-Asian Railway Network” sponsored by UN. The network would cover 80,900
Km of railway line in 28 countries including 22,600 in South Asia, Iran & Turkey. The proposed rail
• October 2007
• Russia resumes global bomber patrols in retaliation to relocation of NATO forces closer to Russia’s
border & US plans to deploy anti ballistic missile defenses in Eastern Europe.
• Ehud Olmert became the first Israeli prime minister to visit a Palestinian town since the outbreak of
fighting seven years ago. He met with Mahmoud Abbas.
• Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit was held at Kyrgyzstan. The six countries armed
forces have been taking part in the Peace Mission 2007 exercise in Russia’s south Urals.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Kabul.
• Sonia Gandhi visited South Africa & met Nelson Mandela & president Thabo Mbeki.
• Pretoria renamed as Tshwane.
• Thailand passed new constitution proposed by the military. It would prevent the emergence of a strong
elected prime minister by reducing the number of MPs to call a veto of no confidence.
• Russia, Canada, US & Greenland in race for Arctic minerals.
• US approves 460 billion $ defense budget.
• Moscow has frozen the Chinese request for re-export of RD-93 engines used to power JF-17 fighter to
Pakistan. Two JF-17s handed over to Pakistan have been returned to Beijing.
• December 2007
• Chinese president Hu Hintao was re-elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of
China.
• The United Nations officially launched “International Year of the Potato 2008”.
• In a historic future setting accord, the two Koreas on October 4, agreed to solve the issue of unification
on their own initiative. North Korea’s Kim Jong II & S Korean Roh Moo Hyun signed a joint
declaration calling for peace treaty.
• Myanmar allows UN inspector, Ibrahim Gambari to look into the recent pro-democracy protests &
action taken by the government against the demonstrators.
• Russian President Vladmir Putin arrived in Tehran to hold talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program.
• Pakistan CJ orders return of Nawaz Sharif to Pak.
• UN bid to set up a human rights monitoring office in Sri Lanka has failed following the Sri Lankan
government’s resolute opposition to it.
• Vietnam gets a non permanent seat in UN’s Security Council for two years.
• Turkey’s Parliament approved the motion allowing troops to cross into Northern Iraq to hunt down
Kurdish rebels hiding there brushing aside appeals from the US & Baghdad government.
• Pakistan ranked as the world’s largest arms buyer in 2006 well ahead of India.
• UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi visited China.
• The Union Cabinet approved a national policy on Rehabilitation & Resettlement, 2007 & amendments
to the Land Acquisition Act 1894 to strike a balance between the need for land for development
activities & protecting the interests of farmer, landowners etc esp in cases of SEZs.
• The Government launched a “National Investment Fund” made up of money from sale of equity in state
run companies to finance social sector schemes & revive sick PSUs.
• The Union Govt announced a record hike of Rs. 250 per quintal on the MSP for wheat. With this MSP
for wheat would go up from Rs. 750 to Rs. 1000.
• India & Philippines signed nine bilateral agreement including a joint declaration for cooperation to
combat International Terrorism. Philippines president is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
• The Centre launched “Aam Admi Bima Yojna” for families living below poverty line.
• PM, Manmohan singh visited Nigeria. Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa.
January 2008
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visits Iran for the fourth time.
• UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari met Myanmar’s detained opposition leader Aung San Syu Kyi.
• Labour Party led by Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australia defeating PM John Howard
• French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits China & closes deal for two nuclear reactors & 160 passenger
jets.
• Pope Benedict meets Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.
• Malaysian’s protest against Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current PM by alleging that he has elected in
an unfair election.
• Cyclone “Sidr” hits Bangladesh.
• Iran & Pakistan finalize the Gas Deal without India.
February 2008
• Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party, was killed in a gunfire attack cum suicide
bombing minutes after she finished addressing an election rally at Rawalpinidi, Pakistan. She was laid to
rest to her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at the family tomb in Garhi Khuda Baksh in Nudero, her ancestral
home in Larkana district of Sindh. PPP named her son Bilawal to head the party but leaving the real
power to her husband Asif Ali Zardari. Nawaz Sharif heads Pakistan Muslim League & Imran Khan
heads “Tehreek E Insaf”.
• Pervez Musharraf lifted Emergency & restored the constitution.
Doubts