International Current Affairs [August 2010]

• Mission Accomplished
The United States have finally started pulling its troops out of Iraq. President Barack
Obama has confirmed that the US plans to withdraw significant number of combat troops
from Iraq stating that the war was nearing an end. The remaining force of 50,000 soldiers
will train Iraqi security forces and provide security for ongoing US Diplomatic efforts.
• Australia with a hung parliament
Australians failed to elect a new government in the polls held in August and were left with
a hung parliament. The non-result elections between Julia Gillard’s Labor and Abbott’s
Liberal party led to the first hung parliament in Australia since World War II. Three key
Independents are now in the process of deciding which party to support to form a
government.
• Pakistani cricketers tainted
The Game of cricket gets murkier with alleged match-fixer Mazhar Majeed’s claim of
having rigged games played by Pakistan for three years. The British Police recovered
cash from hotel rooms of Pakistani players involved in spot fixing. Salman Butt,
Mohammad Amir and Mohammed Asif were interviewed and their mobiles confiscated
after Majeed’s confession. The Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC will probe all 82
international matches played by Pakistan during this time. The news came as a bolt for
the flood-stricken and violence-plagued country where cricket is the national sport.
• Pakistan Floods
Annual monsoons rains have led to flooding in Pakistan leading to the death of 1500
people and rendering thousands homeless. In the worst flooding disaster in 80 years the
floodwaters have affected about one-fifth of the country washing away millions of
hectares of crops, submerging villages and destroying roads, bridges, schools, electricity
and communication setting back the infrastructure by many years. Disease is fast
spreading in these flood affected areas and there have been warnings that dams in the
south may burst. It is estimated that the floods in Pakistan have displaced people thrice
the number displaced during partition.
• Hike in Visa fee
The Obama Regime has raised H-1B and L1 visa fees to protect its borders from illegal
Mexican immigrants. This additional fee would be used to build operating bases and
deploy unmanned aerial surveillance to beef up U.S.-Mexico border security. The impact
of this hike will be substantial on Indian IT companies that account for approximately
50,000 H1 and L1 visas per year.
• Mosque near ground Zero
A New York city panel has cleared the way for the construction of a mosque near ground
zero that has been causing a political uproar over religious freedom. The proposed
construction of the mosque near ground zero has sparked debate all around the country.
President Barack Obama, however, supported the right of having a mosque by asserting
that Muslims have the same right to freedom of religion as everyone else in America.
• China to launch space station
Having finished the first module of a planned space station and testing its electronics and
other systems China is all set to launch it into orbit next year. Changes were being made
to the rocket that will carry the 8.5ton Tiangong 1 module into a set orbit. No finishing or
manning dates have been given for the space station. The official Xinhua news agency
said that The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft and Shenzhou 9 and 10 spacecraft would dock with
it in the second half of 2011 and 2012 respectively.
• Online route
Oxford English Dictionary that has been in print for over a century may never appear in
print for the future generations. The word reference Bible is likely to loose its existence to
its online version. With the digital books becoming popular, the format that the 3rd
edition, currently being worked upon, will take is anybody’s guess.
National Current Affairs [August 2010]

• Nuclear liability bill passed

Nuclear liability bill which was adopted by Rajya Sabha has now been approved by the
process of Voice vote. The session of the Parliament lasted 48 hours extra than the
scheduled time so that the legislation can be easily passed and approved. A total of 18
amendments were introduced in this bill by Lok Sabha before processing it further. Soon
the bill was selected for a considerable hike in the liability of operator. This liability has
now become 3 times then what it was in the past and now holds a value of rupees 1500
crore’s in total. By virtue of progression of this bill and significant increase in the liability
many overseas companies have shown their interests in setting up reactors in India.
Special accidental care will now be provided for the employees operating in the various
sections of the nuclear plants. The decision and the passing of the bill had been strongly
opposed by the BJP leaders as they found it insignificant.
• Swiss Bank Access
Swiss Authorities will provide information to India on cases of tax fraud and tax evasion
from January 1,2011under the reworked double tax agreement (DTA) signed by India
and Switzerland. The Indian Authorities can now seek information about the account
holders in Swiss banks who have a case filed against them for tax evasion.
• Government Intervention for CWG
PM and his select team of ministers takeover as CWG supervisors. Indian Prime Minister
Dr.Manmohan Singh took over the reigns of the forthcoming games in the wake of
scandals and unfinished work surrounding the event. Committee of Secretaries, headed
by a Cabinet Secretary, will now supervise the mega event to be held in October
overtaking Organizing Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi.
• Bhopal Case reopened
The Supreme court of India has reopened the Bhopal Gas leak case in response to
Government’s petition for harsher punishment to the guilty for the worst tragedy of its kind
in which at least 7,000 people perished within days of the release of the toxic methyl
isocyanate gas at the Union Carbide pesticide plant on 3 December 1984, and a further
15,000 died later from exposure to the gas. The tragedy left countless others with lifelong
damage to their health.
• CSAT to replace the civil services prelims
The new Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) will replace the existing civil services
(preliminary) examination from 2011. The new scheme will test the candidates for their
aptitude for civil services as well as their ethical and moral dimension of decision-making.
There will now be two common papers with equal weightage in place of one common
paper (general awareness) and one optional paper (any particular subject of choice). The
civil services main exam and the interview will remain the same as of now.
• Rahul creates controversy
Wherein one place Mamta Banerjee is speaking in the favour of naxals and now Rahul
Gandhi is sharing a dias with a suspected Maoist , this is the approach of the government
in the fight against naxals.
• Member Parliament salaries hiked
Parliament recently in Delhi has made a decision to increase the salaries of MPs. A hike
of about rupees 35000 will be introduced in the salary of each MPs thus taking it from
figures like 20,000 to 55,000 or so. Because daily allowance has an important role to play
hence parliament has also decided to exactly double the allowances issued daily to each
Member of Parliament. Hence daily allowance of rupees 1000 will now become 2000.
This daily allowance will be issued only when the parliament session is in progress. Other
than the daily allowances the official expenses for every office per month have now been
considerably raised and touch a 50,000 amount. That is not all the travel and conveyance
charge issued will now become 4 times which were earlier around rupees 1,00,000.
Retired members will now get a monthly pension of around rupees 20,000 which was
around 10,000 in the past times.
• Commonwealth with less green
Approximately 40,000 trees have been either felled or transplanted for Delhi’s preparation
of Commonwealth Games 2010. Apart from the financial burden of creating world class
infrastructure and transport facilities Delhites have to bear the loss of its green cover as
the compensatory plantation cannot in any way compensate for the loss of a fully grown,
mature tree.
• Blackberry controversy
Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry has finally surrendered to Indian
security agencies’ demand for access to their server. The company has proposed for
lawful access to its services including the messenger as well as the enterprise with
immediate effect and the company would have to set up a server in India if it does not
work to the satisfaction of Indian agencies. The security agencies already had access to
voice data, SMS and general emails sent through Blackberry devices but Blackberry
email and messaging services that are highly encrypted were major concerns for the
security agencies. With this understanding in place the government has decided to serve
notices to Google and Skype also to fall in line.
• Direct tax code
The Government deferred the direct tax code(DTC) by yet another year to April 2012
causing yet another disappointment to the taxpayers. Women taxpayers suffered a bolt
as the preferential treatment meted out to them earlier is now proposed to be withdrawn.
Senior citizens, however, enjoy a higher exemption limit. The bill that replaces the
Income Tax Act 1961 seeks an increase in exemption threshold of individuals from
Rs.1.6 lakh currently to Rs.2lakh. The corporate taxes will be reduced to a flat 30%.
• Leh hit by flood
A cloudburst on the intervening night of August 5 and 6 has led to flash floods and
mudslides in the Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir. The cloudburst and the following
floods have claimed over 175 lives and injured about 400 people, besides causing
widespread damage to public and private property. The worst hit Chuglamsar has just
turned into debris all over.
• More rich than poor Indians
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has estimated in its report,
"How India Earns, Spends and Saves", that despite the economic slowdown of the last
three years, the number of high-income households in India has exceeded the number of
low-income households. Households with high income or earnings have grown by over
3.7% in total and now touch the mark of around 21%. That is not all also the households
with low income sources have fallen by around 3.2% and gone down to a mark of 18%.
• CWG Anthem
When everything is being prepared for the common wealth coming up in October then
how could Music maestro A R Rahman stay away from it. Yes, the musician has
launched the theme song for the Commonwealth Games 2010 that has the best lyrics
covering khelo oh yaaro,,jeeto oh yaaro. During the launch of this theme song honorable
Chief Minister Shiela Dixit, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and OC Chairman Suresh Kalmadi
were present in the ceremony.
• CWG breeding mosquitoes
The fingers are already crossed and people fear further delay in the common wealth
problems. When the earlier hurdles are not getting removed and new problems are
coming into view. The sincere attention is being drawn by the mosquitoes breeding in
various dumps. Because of heavy rainfall in the country water is collected in almost every
venue and mosquitoes have converted these venues into their favorite breeding places
and are increasing the fear of dengue disease.
• Yet another marine disaster
A foreign cargo ship MV Khalijia-111 which collided with MSC Chitra which was carrying
about 1,200 containers with over 266 tonnes of fuel about 10 km off Mumbai harbour has
spilled oil into the Mumbai seas. The collision tilted MSC Chitra vessel causing 300
 containers carrying oil to tumble into the Mumbai waters creating a thick oil slick two to
three kms around the vessel Chitra causing a serious threat to the marine life.
• India’s Independence
August 15th, 2010 India celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its independence.
• IBM Number two employer
IBM is the second largest private sector employer in India after TCS . The company has
more than one lakh people on its rolls.

Sports Current Affairs [August 2010]

• Sehwag denied century

A deliberate no ball by the Srilankan off-spinner Suraj Randiv to prevent Virendar
Sehwag from completing his century in the tri-series has left a bad taste in the mouth for
all cricket lovers. Indians were just short of 5 runs from destination called victory and the
opening batsman VEERU was just a run away from his ton. At the same time Lankan
skipper chose spinner S. Randiv to come in and bowl. On the third bowl of his spell
Virender Sehwag sent the bowl out of the fence with a huge six but the turning point was
that it was a no ball which defended Virender Sehwag from completing his century. As
per the declaration of the match referee it was been found out that it was an intentional
attempt.
• Shooting Gold
Tejaswini Sawant created history by becoming India’s first female shooter to clinch gold
at the World Shooting Championship held in Munich, Germany. The 29-year-old, who
shot a score of 597/600 (100, 100, 100, 99, 99, 99), equaling the world record in the
process, won the 50m rifle prone event
• Sri Lanka wins the tri series
The host Sri Lanka’ eight wicket victory over India in Dambulla represents its 25th win in
a tournament final. Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara'who won the toss decided to
bat against India in the tri-series final. The Sri Lankans won the match by 74 runs in this
game. With this it became the second team to win a tournament final on 25 occasions.
Australia has won 52 tournament finals.
• First Indian US PGA Tour winner
Arjun Atwal has become the first Indian Golfer to win the US PGA tour. Atwal, who
started playing at the age of fourteen, became one of the leading players on the Asian
Tour and the European tour. He is the the first native East Indian golfer to become a
member of, and later win the U.S. PGA Tour.

Persons in News [July 2010]

• Michael Kirk Douglas diagnosed with throat cancer

Michael Kirk Douglas, winner of three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards, was
diagnosed with throat cancer in August this year. He received the AFI (American Film
Institute) Life Achievement Award in 2009. The 65-year-old actor, a heavy smoker, was
informed of his condition labeled as Stage 4 cancer after his doctor's appointment for an
extremely sore throat. Douglas who is to undergo chemotherapy and radiation is
optimistic about his chances for recovery
• Archie Panjabi
Recently 62nd Emmy awards were held and the best part was to hear about actress
Archie Panjabi from the Indian-origin who has won the award for best supporting actress
in the movie “The Good Wife”. Her performance has been rated to be the best in the
international release recognized as “Bend it like Beckham”. Many others were nominated
for the same designation but because the best performance deserves to be on the top
hence the results proved it and Archie Panjabi took the award.
• Anil Aggarwal to overtake Mukesh Ambani
It was Anil Aggarwal who laid the foundation of Vedanta Resources Corporation, a UK
based corporation and all by the virtue of it that he has been designated as the non-
resident Indian billionaire. By this effort he has become the largest promoter of a
corporate house thus overtaking Mukesh Ambani.
• Pallava Bagla
Pallava Bagla from India has won the David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science
Journalism by American Geophysical Union (AGU). Pallav won this award for his articles
on the impact of change in climate on the Himalayan glaciers. Bagla is an author and
freelancer for BBC and the likes. His latest book is "Destination Moon: India's Quest for
Moon, Mars and beyond".