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POLITICAL NEWS

ELECTION COMMISSION AT 60

After overseeing 15 general elections to the Lok Sabha, the Election Commission of India, in its diamond jubilee year, can with justifiable pride claim to have nursed and st rengthened the electoral processes of a nascent democracy. The successes have not been consiste nt or uniform, but over the last six decades the ECI managed to make the worlds largest democratic p rocess freer and fairer. One of the instruments of this success is surely the Model Code of C onduct. D esigned to offer a level playing field to all political parties, it has been used to neu tralise many of the inherent advantages of a ruling party in an election. Although the model code wa s originally based on political consensus and does not still enjoy statutory sanction, it served as a handy tool for placing curbs on the abuse of the official machinery for campaigning. While ther e have been complaints of excess in the sometimes mindless application of the model code, th e benefits have generally outweighed the costs. After the Election Commission was made a three-member body, its functioning beca me more institutionalised and more transparent with little room for the caprices of an o verbearing personality. The diamond jubilee is also an occasion for the ECI to look at the challenges ah ead, especially those relating to criminalisation of politics and use of money power in elections. Neither of these issues is new. What is clear is that the efforts of the Commission to t ackle them have generally lacked conviction and have not yielded any significant results. Althou gh the political system and players must take a major share of the blame, and the ECIs powers are constitutionally circumscribed, these will have to be noted as failures. The dominant role of mon ey in elections, which is taking newer and more outrageous forms, is deeply worrying. Instances o f politicians paying for news coverage and bribing voters were widespread in the 2009-2010 ele ctions. Anotherpressing issue relates to the powers of the Chief Election Commis sioner vis-À-vis the two Election Commissioners. CEC Navin Chawla has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ask ing that the Constitution be amended to equalise the removal process for the CEC and ECs. Against the background of the unseemly controversy over the previous CECs attempt to have his colleague removed,an amendment that makes it explicit that the ECs too can be removed only through impeachment is an institutional imperative COMMERCIAL DIVISION OF THE HIGH COURT The provisions in the Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, 2009 that seek to give special and fast-track treatment to a certain class of cases has first to be exa mined to see whether it violates the fundamental principle of suprema lex. The Bill has as its foundatio n a special provision to establish commercial divisions in courts with the objective of achi eving quicker disposal by expert tribunals of commercial disputes that involve a sum of Rs.5 c rore or more. The idea is to facilitate their early disposal so that the rich who are involved in such disputes do not have to wait for too long for a final adjudication. 1 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

The Bill is based on this principle of facilitation in favour of the richer amo ng litigants who through a special body of the High Court and other relative clauses can get thei r disputes adjudicated and quickly disposed of. Meanwhile, the poor person whose litigation mostly involves a value that is below Rs.5 crore has to wait for the outcome at the Munsiffs Cour t, the District Court, the High Court, the Letters Patent Appeal and the Supreme Court. In India these proceedings, tier upon tier, take decades before a final judgment comes. Often i t takes more than a generation. It is obvious that there is discrimination writ large here between two classes o f litigants. This will also reduce the number of judges available to hear ordinary items of litiga tion, commercial, labour and land disputes that involve a jurisdictional value that is less than R s. 5 crore. Equality is a fundamental right under Article 14. Social justice really means th at justice, justices and justicing have an equal obligation to render early justice. To divi de social justice into two categories, the rich being given special facilities for early justice and th e not-so-rich being forced to wait, is violative of Article 14. It also constitutes breach of social and economic clauses. APEX COURT CHALLENGES HIGH COURT VERDICT The Supreme Court is believed to have filed an appeal before itself challenging the judgment of the Delhi High Court holding that the office of the Chief Justice of India ca me under the ambit of the RTI Act. The apex court, through Attorney General G E Vahanvati, had aggressively argued that information on the assets of Supreme Court judges was held by the CJI in a perso nal capacity, did not come under the public domain. The Delhi High Court declared that the judicia ry, including the Chief Justice of India, accountable to the common man under the Right to Informa tion Act, saying sunlight is the best disinfectant for the judiciary in a democratic society. The H igh Court further said to its peer Supreme Court, well-defined and publicly known standards and pro cedures complement, rather than diminish, the notion of judicial independence. Democracy expects openness and openness is concomitant of free society. Accountability of the judi ciary cannot be seen in isolation. Wielders of power legislative, executive and judicial are ent rusted to perform their functions on condition that they account for their stewardship to the people who authorise them to exercise such power, The CJI cannot be a fiduciary vis-a-vis judges of the Supreme Court. The judges o f the Supreme Court hold independent office, there is no hierarchy in their judicial f unctions, which places them at a different plane than the CJI. The assets declarations are not f urnished by the SC judges to the CJI in a private relationship, but in discharge of the constitutio nal obligation, the bench said. Reminding the Supreme Court that the CJI is a public authority under the RTI Act , the bench observed: Chief Justice of India besides discharging the prominent role of head of judiciary also performs a multitude of tasks specifically assigned to him under the Consti tution or various enactments. To the persistent stand from the Supreme Court that its own resolutions were not legally binding but only moral in nature, the three-judge bench told the apex court that it was better to abide by judicial values and ethics prescribed by the May 7, 1997 Full Court Res olution of the Supreme Court, which calls for the disclosure of assets, than wait for Parliamen t to compel judges to disclose their assets and undermine judicial independence. The court said if an entry level Magistrate is bound by the 1997 resolution to ann ually disclose his assets, why not judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court. As regards a ccountability and independence, it cannot possibly be contended that Judicial Magistrate at th e entry level in the 2 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM judicial hierarchy is any less accountable or independent than the judge of the high court or the Supreme Court. If the declaration of assets by a subordinate judicial officer is seen as essential to enforce accountability, then the need for declaration by judges of the constitut ional courts is even greater, the bench said. The independence of judiciary, the bench said, has to take second place to trans parency in the justice delivery system as even a single dishonest judge can cause the public to l ose faith in the entire judiciary. Judicial independence is not the personal privilege of the individual judge, but a responsibility cast on him. Public confidence in the administration of justice is imperative for its effectiveness, because ultimately ready acceptance of a judicial verdict alone g ives relevance to the judicial system, the bench observed. It is supposed that the appeal against the January 12 verdict had been filed aft er there was unanimity among judges of the apex court on challenging it. CJI K G Balakrishnan had consultation with other apex court judges on the issue and the grounds taken by it in the appeal were identical to the stand taken in the High Court th at disclosure of information held by the CJI would hamper independence of the judiciary. Attorney General would argue the matter on behalf of the apex court registry whe n it is expected to be listed for hearing shortly. The apex court would seek stay of the operation of the High Court direction and would plead for referring it before a larger Bench or t o the Constitution Bench. ORISSA HIGH COURT JUDGE DEMOTED In a rare case, a sitting judge of the Orissa High Court has been demoted to a d istrict and sessions judge. He has now been posted as district judge of Kalahandi. The decision to demote Justice L K Mishra was taken when the Supreme Court colle gium refused to recommend his case for continuation as Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court after his indictment in a case pertaining to alleged tampering of marks of candidates for the post of judicial officers in the state. DINAKARAN IMPEACHMENT PANEL Supreme Court judge V.S. Sirpurkar will head a three-member committee that will investigate the grounds for impeachment of Karnataka Chief Justice P.D. Dinakara n whose removal from office has been sought jointly by 75 Opposition members in the Rajy a Sabha on corruption and land-grabbing charges. NRIs MAY VOTE Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed the hope that Indians living abroad woul d be able to vote in the next general elections. Responding to the frequent plea for voting rights to non-resident Indians (NRIs) , most recently made by members of his Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians, Dr. Singh te rmed the desire legitimate. 3 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

SOCIAL AND NATIONAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION: NEGLECT AND DEFECIENCIES Pronouncements on new initiatives in education generate only a limited confidenc e among the people and the functionaries alike. SSA or the Navodaya Schools may be there but the existing situation certainly requires far more extra efforts to invigorate the system tha n should normally be needed. The conditions in elementary schools across the country tell the same old story of continuous neglect, deficiencies and deprivations.The existing scenario is certainly daunti ng when one picks up the prime factor, availability of an adequate number of suitable teachers and other professional functionaries in the system. Teacher absenteeism is a chronic problem in educati onal expansion. Appointment of locally available persons to teach in places where qualified teac hers are unwilling to go is certainly acceptable as a short-term arrangement and the same has been put to practice. Unfortunately, several States found it a resource-saving proposition a nd began indiscriminate recruitment of teachers everywhere on low emoluments. It is estim ated that there could be around 7.72 lack untrained teachers. In addition, the vacant positions of teachers are over 12 lakhs. The recruitment procedures generate little confidence and the system suffers the vacancy syndrome right from the primary schools to the highest professional institutions . The Right to education in the real sense suffers at every stage. This is one ref orm that the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) can initiate in its own functionin g and set an example for the State governments. The elementary education system in general suffers from loss of credibility, sys temic and societal neglect and a feeling that it would just deteriorate further as no one is interested in bringing about any change for the better! Educational planning often presumes that every school or college that is part of the statistics is doing its job and has the necessary support systems in place. Things have changed drastically during the last decade. Could one have even imag ined some three years ago recognised teacher preparation institutions giving degrees witho ut any faculty, equipment, laboratory or actual training? It is happening now and everyone knows about it, except those who are responsible to regulate the system! PROJECT IN KARNATAKA RESULTED IN 24 X 7 WATER SUPPLY The water scenario in three cities of Karnataka, i.e., Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum an d Gulbarga was not very different from that in most other cities of India until recently. W ater was available for 1 to 2 hours every 5 days or so, covering only 50 per cent of the population. To day 25,000 individual households or almost 2 lakh residents enjoy the benefits of 24x7 wate r supply with a world class water distribution system. This is the result of a pilot project with public-private partnership covering t he three cities and costing Rs 237 crore over a period of 5 years. The pilot covers approximatel y 10 per cent of 4 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

the population of these cities, which now has access to 24 x 7 water at a cost w hich is lower than what they paid for earlier. Average monthly water bills range from Rs. 80 to Rs. 150 depending on consumption. Customer service centres operate 24x7 to address customer complaint s and queries. The project focused on (i) physical investments in the system, and (ii) strength ening of institutions for service delivery. The role of the private operator, a French wa ter company, Veolia Water, was to develop an investment programme to refurbish and transform the exi sting system and to implement the programme The project has comprehensively proved wrong the perception that 24x7 requires m ore bulk water. Against the 135 lpcd assumed for the project, average water consumption i s actually 100 lpcd. The funding for the project came from the World Bank (77 per cent) and the Government of Karnataka (23 per cent). The project protects the interests of the poor through a cross-subsidy in the ta riff structure such that a minimum lifeline supply of 8,000 litres per household is provided at a subsidised rate for the poor, and connection charges are also waived. Improved water quality has also meant less spending on medicines for water-borne diseases. DEEMED UNIVERSITIES, DEEMED NOT TO BE The government plans to close 44 deemed-to-be universities across the country. T he Ministry of Human Resource and Development stated that all 44 institutes had bee n recommended for closure. The recommendation has come from a review committee of experts led by Professor P N Tandon. The panel had been created in June 2009. The panel invited all 130 deemed-to-be universities for face to face discussions during August-September 200 9. Of the 130 invited, 126 attended the sessions,. The work of the 44 institutes was termed neither on past performance nor on their promise for the future have they attributed to retain their status as deemed to be unive rsities The panel said 38 institutes justify with their achievements, performance and po tential to continue as deemed universities while 44 were found to be deficient in some aspec ts which need to be rectified over a three-year period suggested by the committee. Another 44 were recommended for derecognition. Tamil Nadu tops this list with 16 ,. Karnataka follows with six and Uttar Pradesh is at No. 3 with four. Three govern ment- sponsored institutes recommended for closure are the Nava Nalanda Mahavira in Bi har, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development at Sriperumbudur in Tamil a nd the National Museum, Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology at New Delhi. In the 35 years between 1956 and 1990, only 29 institutions were deemed-to-be universities by the Central government. In comparison, in the last five years, as many as 36 institutions have been granted this status. The spate of hasty approvals sparked accusations that Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal sought to address last yea r, when he ordered a review of all deemed-to-be universities. When this three-member review committee recommended 44 deemed-to-be universities for derecognition, the writing was on t he wall. The Centres affidavit to the Supreme Court on Monday, accepting that recommendation, is both welcome and necessary. Looking forward, the immediate concern is about the estimated two lakh students who will be affected by this step. In its affidavit, the Centre states that these below p ar institutions can continue as affiliated colleges to a state university, so that students can comple te ongoing courses and exit with a degree. The HRD minister has also assured that no studen t will suffer. The task force preparing a plan to safeguard these students must be careful not to punis h them for 5 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

the follies of others. The other concern is for action on those responsible for this impasse. Who in the UGC and the HRD ministry gave the approvals that are now shown to be faulty, with stipulations clearly not followed? It is important that a thorough inquiry names the guilty and that they are punished. Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act permits the Centre to grant dee med-to-be university status for educational institutions on the recommendation of the UGC. The Centres decision to derecognise will hopefully result in the sparing use of this section . But to prevent its use altogether might be self-defeating. The original purpose of this provision w as to reward well- performing colleges with the autonomy that university status brings. Top-class d eemed universities like Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani or Tata Institute of Soci al Sciences, Mumbai must be distinguished from more recent fly-by-night operators. It is hoped that the Centre accompanies this bold decision with a comprehensive overhaul. PM LAUNCHES SOLAR INDIA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for creation of solar valleys in India, akin to the Silicon Valley, as a contribution to the national as well as global efforts at c ombating climate change. Launching the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission or Solar India, Dr. Singh said its success could transform Indias energy prospects. Terming industrys role in the mission critical, he said the mission planned to cr eate an installed capacity of 20,000 MW by the end of the 13th Plan. If the mission is to become a reality, we will have to create many solar valleys on the lines of Silicon Valle y that is spurring our IT industry across the country, Noting that these valleys would become hubs for s olar science, engineering and research and fabrication and manufacturing, he urged industry to see the mission as a huge business opportunity. Solar energy can be the next scientific and industrial frontier in India after a tomic energy, space and IT. Though the missions target of 20,000 MW was ambitious, it was achie vable. The various Ministries and authorities would have to work in tandem to make it a suc cess. He hoped that the mission would also establish India as a global leader in solar energy, not just in power generation but in manufacturing and technology. India plans to install 20 million solar lights and 20 million square meters of s olar panel to generate 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru Na tional Solar Mission and save 7,500 MW power generation capacity. It also targets 20 mi llion solar lights to be installed by 2022 which would result in a saving of one billion lit res of kerosene every year. Of Indias total installed generation capacity of 155.8 GW, renewable energy accou nts for a mere 10 % . Most of this clean power is derived from wind,while solar powers shar e is negligible. India next three years India plans to add 1300 megawatts of solar power, of whic h 1100 MW will be grid-connected and 200 MW will be off-grid. A huge constraint in the commercial use of the solar energy has been its cost. T oday, the initial cost of solar energy is very high, specially for grid power generation. MAOISTS OWN SYLLABUS IN SCHOOLS Forcibly recruiting tribal children, the Maoists in Bastar region are running th eir own elementary schools in the interior areas and teaching them the basics of peoples r ebellion along with Mathematics, Science, Environment and training in fire weapons. 6 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Primary school textbooks published by CPI (Maoist) Dandakaranya committee were s eized by the police during recent anti-Naxalite operations in the region Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its report published in September 2008, had pointed out that the Naxalites recruit children aged between six and 12 into their childrens a ssociation called Bal Sangams, where children are trained in Maoist ideology, used as informers an d taught to fight with non-lethal weapons. The Maoists consider the vast forest area of South Bastar, spread over Dantewada , Bijapur and Narayanpur districts, as their liberated zone of Dandakaranya, which also cove rs parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa. There is no presence of civil administra tion and any government department in this region under the control of Maoists, who call it a s the DK state. However, in government parlance, its an area dominated by the Maoists. According to official estimates, the Maoists have destroyed 385 residential scho ols being run by the tribal welfare department in Bastar region over the last four years, depriving the tribal students facilities pertaining to education in government-run schools. Besides, there has been an alarming dropout rate in Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts that face t he problem of Naxalism. COMPETITION COMMISSION ASKED TO BREAK DTH CARTEL Major direct-to-home operators Tata Sky, Dish TV and Reliances Big TV have been f ound guilty of abusing their dominant position in the marketplace by not allowing tech nical interoperability that lets consumers shift from one service provider to another w ithout having to reinvest in a new set-top box (STB) and a dish. In a report to the Competition Commission of India, acting Director General K K Sharma, who investigated the complaint filed by Consumer Online Federation, said subscri bers to DTH services are not offered the three options specified by the Telecom Regulatory A uthority of India (TRAI) that regulates DTH business in the country. As per Trai guidelines of 200 7, subscribers must be offered to take STBs on rent, hire purchase or outright purchase. The report said, Owing to absence of Conditional Access Module (CAM) in open mar ket, the aspect of technical interoperability has not been achieved among different DTH s ervice operators. A CAM card allows the set-top box to read the feeds of more than one service pro vider. NO FREE DRUGS UNDER NHRM No State provides free medicines to below the poverty line (BPL) patients under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The insufficiency of drugs and thereby the imperative of prescribing medicines fr om outside continue widely. This could also be linked to insufficiency of understanding of the essential drug concept, says the third report of the Common Review Mission (CRM) on the NRHM. Showering praise on the NRHM for strengthening the public health service system, the CRM points out while most States seem sensitive to the issue of availability of drug especially for BPL patients, irrational prescribing higher order medicines, instead of basic ge neric preparations, has been reported. It has emphasised the need for combining free provisioning with promotion of rat ional drug use. This will lower the cost to the system and households. ANOTHER CESS ON FUEL TO FUND ACCIDENT VICTIMS ? 7 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

With a view to ensuring that all road accident victims get compensation on time , the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to create a Road Accident Fund (RAF) through levy of cess/surcharge on petrol and diesel and credit it to such Fund. The Court observed that it was necessary for the Centre to formulate a more comp rehensive scheme for payment of compensation to victims of road accidents, in the place of the present system of third party insurance. The Bench passed this order while dealing with the problems of victims not getti ng compensation; widespread practice of using goods vehicles for passenger traffic; procedural delays in settlement claims and hardships to victims and their families and full compen sation awarded by the courts not reaching the families. The Bench said the fund should be managed by RAF commissions, thereby eliminatin g the need for third party insurance. All accident victims, without exception, could b e paid compensation from out of the fund. At present the cess imposed by the Finance Ministry on petrol and diesel is Rs.2 and Re. 1, respectively. The money so raked in is used for financing road projects acros s the country. 2 LAKHS FARM SUICIDES SINCE 1997 There were at least 16,196 farmers suicides in India in 2008, bringing the total since 1997 to 199,132, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). 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 per cent of the total farm suicides in the country. This was marginally higher than it was i n 2007 (66.2 per cent). Maharashtra remains the worst State in the nation for farm suicides with a total of 3802 The all India total of 16,196 represents a fall of 436 from 2007. But the broad trends of the past decade reflect no significant change. POSCO GETS ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE South Korean steel giant Pohang Steel Company (Posco) has received the much-awai ted Stage II forest diversion clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF ) for its Rs 54,000-crore, 12-million tonne integrated steel project in Orissa. The company requires a total of 5,525 acres, of which 4,004.19 acres is needed for the project site and the balance for the township at Paradeep in Orissa. BUNDELKHAND TO GET SPECIAL STATUS The Centre has decided to declare the entire Bundlekhand region as a Drought Affe cted Special Area, and provide an additional Rs 3,450 crore as additional plan assista nce to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh over the next three. The reason for declaring Bundelkhand a Special Area is to facilitate the sharing o f costs between the Centre and the two states INDIAS AIDS FIGURE FALLING 8 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

The government has lowered its estimates for the number of people living with HI V/AIDS in India from 23.1 lakh in 2007 to 22.7 lakh in 2008-09. Estimates of the prevalenc e of the infection are down to 0.29 per cent from 0.36 per cent in 2007. Andhra Pradesh continues to be a problem state. The numbers suggest that every h undredth woman coming to the ante-natal care clinic may be infected, Bachani said. In terms of overall prevalence, Manipur has declined to 0.54% from 1.68% the hig hest in the country in 2007Overall prevalence is most in Andhra (1.22%), followed by Nagalan d (1.14%) and Karnataka (0.89%). PANEL ON LOW CARBON ECONOMY The Planning Commission had formed a 25 member expert panel to explore options b efore the country for a low carbon economy chaired by Kirit Parikh. It will review existing studies on low carbon growth / low carbon pathways prepa red by various organizations and assess low carbon options for the economy. 17 STATES LAUNCHED YEAR LONG TIGER CENSUS Seventeen tiger states have, for the first time, simultaneously launched a massi ve year-long wildlife census to come up with an accurate estimate of the tiger population in the country. The exercise christened Monitoring tigers, co-predators, prey and their habitats is be ing conducted employing the line-transact and camera-trapping method as opposed to the earlier pugmark and waterhole census. THREE CHINESE ARRESTED FOR BALCO MISHAP Nearly four months after the chimney collapse which claimed 41 lives at the Veda nta Resources-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Ltds upcoming power plant in Korba district of Chhattisgarh, police arrested three Chinese officials in connection with the incident. SCHEMES FOR CHILDREN IN HARYANA Haryana l;aunched two new schemes to improve the health of the children. Indira B al Swasthya Yojna aims at providing preventive and curative health care for all chil dren from the day of birth upto the age of 18, while the Nehru Drishti Yojna will strive to cont rol blindness. CHECK AND FILL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED Seeking to check the growing menance of adulteration, the Union Government will launch a nationwide Check and Fill campaign. Customers will be asked to carry out three on the spot basic check at petrol pumps to check the quality and density of fuel. Another initiative is to supply pilferage proof LPG cylinders at 6 odd hours esp ecially for working couples and individuals. 9 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

MILITARY SECRETARY FACES COURT MARTIAL

The Army Chief, General Deepak Kapoor ordered court martial proceedings against Military Secretary Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash for his alleged involvement in a la nd scam in the Darjeeling area of West Bengal. He would be the first three-star general to face such action.

61ST REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATED India displayed its military might including Russian origin hardware like SMERCH multiple rocket launch systems, Rohini radar, AWACS etc. President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-Bak was the Chief Guest. YEAR CHIEF GUEST COUNTRY 2010 Lee Myung bak President, South Korea 2009 Nursultan Nazarbayev President, Kazakhstan 2008 Nicolas Sarkozy President, France 2007 Vladimir Putin President, Russia 2006 Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-saud King, Saudi Arabia 2005 Jingme Singye Wangchuk King, Bhutan 2004 Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva President, Brazil 2003 Mohammad Khatami President, Iran DEMAND FOR SEPARATE TIME ZONE FOR NORTH EAST People from many walks of academics, intellectuals, lawyers, teachers, youth, st udents & women organization in north-east demanded creation of a separate time zone for the sev en north-east States. They said it was necessary to correct the anomalies forced on the people and economy of the region. Placing the region in separate time zone would enable them to observe Daylight S aving Time (DST). BIRD FLU OUTBREAK Barely three months after India declared itself free from bird flu, the Centre has notified a fresh outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5 strain of Avian Influenza (bird flu) in Mur shidabad district of West Bengal. Consequently birds within a five-kilometre radius of the infected villages will be culled and movement of poultry and its products would be restricted. Central teams have bee n rushed to the State. The High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal had tested positiv e for the H5 strain of Avian Influenza. SNIPPETS: 10 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Recently the CIC held that individual assessees could not invoke privacy concern s to prevent an unrelated third party from inspecting returns filed with the Income-Tax

Department.This ruling must be seen as a trendsetter that could eventually lead to the tax returns of all citizens being put up on the departments website. Sanskrit to become the second official language of Uttarakhand. The hill state b ecomes the first state to take such step Milleniums longest solar eclipse occurred in the southern tip of India covering a swathe of 1,000 km on January 16th 2011. The Union government lifted the more than two-month-old ban on pre-paid mobile p hone service in Jammu and Kashmir. It, however, imposed a number of conditions on the operators for customer verification India ranks 123rd in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index, while Iceland lea d the world in addressing pollution control and natural resourse management challenges

The agitation for a separate State of Gorkhaland was renewed in the Darjeeling h ills by the leadership of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) with a shutdown in both Central and State Government offices in the region. Players of Churchill Brothers football team were detained at Airport Police Stat ion at Mumbai for alleged molesting an airhostess, including the star Nigerian striker Okolie Odafa, the highest paid footballer in India and leading scorer in India for the last three years. Bihar became the first state to reject the commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal.

10 years ago, MP government displaced 24 villages from Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary t o make way for the Asiatic lion from Gir Wildlife Sanctuary but the inhabitants of displaced villages which mostly consist of Saharia tribes. A boat carrying 18 person capsizes in the Roopnarayan river in the West Bengal. 10 killed at 3 different train accidents due to fog in UP. First at Panki near K anpur between Gorakhdham express and Prayagraj Express, second at Etawah between Lichchivi Exp ress and Magadh Express and the third near Tharwai where Saryu Express cammed a troll ey. . 11 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

ECONOMY GLOBAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS FOR Rs.1000 CRORE FIRMS Listed and unlisted companies with a networth of over Rs 1,000 crore, those in t he elite Sensex and Nifty club and those listed on overseas stock exchanges, will have to prepare their balance sheet as per international accounting standards for the financial year b eginning April 1, 2011. The corporate affairs ministry had in 2008 said all Indian Accounting Standards must converge with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) by 2011. The convergence is expected to increase the credibility of Indian companies globally. Besides other things, the IFRS requires marking assets to market value that is expected to adversely impact the financial statements of many companies initially. Phased Adoption 1. Companies with networth of over Rs. 1000 crore will be asked to converge with th e IFRS in the year beginning April 1, 2011. 2. Both listed and unlisted companies with a networth over Rs. 500 crores but less than Rs.1000 crores will have to converga with the IFRS beginning April 1, 2013. 3. All listed companies with anetworth of Rs. 500 crores and less will have to conv erge with the IFRS beginning April 1, 2014. · However, small and medium enterprises and unlisted companies having net worth of less than Rs. 500 crores have been expempted from IFRS compliance · For banking and insurance companies, the core group will submit a report separately. GOVERNMENT TO REINTRODUCE MICROFINANCE BILL 12 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

The much-waited Micro Finance Bill is likely to see the light of day during the upcoming Budget Session as the government is doing the groundwork to reintroduce it. Micro finance is growing at a fast pace. However, it is neither regulated nor supervised The Bill, which seeks to regulate the growing micro finance sector, was original ly introduced in Parliament in 2007. However, it lapsed due to the dissolution of Parliament b efore the elections. The Bill assumes a lot of importance since the sector is growing at a rapid pace in terms of both client reach and loan portfolio. For the last three years, the sector has been g rowing at almost 52 per cent year-on-year in terms of the client base. According to The Bharat Micro Finance Report Quick Data 2009, there are 233 microfinance institutions (MFIs) reporting to Sa-d han today. The client outreach as on March 31, 2009 was more than two crore and the loan ou tstanding stands at Rs 12,027.65 crore. The Bill has the power to deepen the financial market by allowing MFIs to accept savings of its borrowers as well. At present, MFIs can only lend and not become the custodi ans of the savings of borrowers. The poor do not go to the bank to put their savings in bank account s. They rely on money collectors, who are infamous for fleeing with money, or they store it at t heir places The Microfinance Bill 2007 sought to promote and regulate micro finance organisa tions and designated NABARD as the regulator for the sector. Micro finance services are de fined to include credit, life insurance, general insurance and pension services. Micro cr edit will include loans not exceeding Rs 50,000 (or Rs 1,50,000 in case of housing). Sa-dhan is an association of community development finance institutions. NOVEL WAY TO TACKLE FOOD INFLATION Food inflation is good for 70 per cent of Indias real poor as they are net food producers. The Central Governments National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has ensured t hat farmers get a reasonable wage; good enough to lift them above the poverty line ( BPL). The downside is the steep increase in the cost of cultivation, given the farm sectors large dependence on manual labour. If it is ensured that the benefits of the 20 per cent inflation in food articles actually reach the farmers, substantial poverty for 70 per cent of the very poor can be eliminated. Several successful models exist within the system for ensuring a good connect between the farmer an d the consumer or end-user. They have to be identified, documented and laterally implemented to ensure that the farmer gets the benefit of higher prices. (1) Support price operations for crops where support prices are fixed; greater a wareness of the support prices should be created; support price operators should have a telephon e (SMS)-based complaint lodging mechanism in place to ensure proper functioning of the system.

(2) Ulavar Sandhai initiated by the Tamil Nadu Government is another good example that can be studied and finetuned for lateral adoption, probably with the addition of better hygiene and cold storage facilities. (3) The market committee yards in Gujarat and parts of Andhra Pradesh are the ot her good examples to be adopted to connect farmers and users in a transparent way. While connecting the farmer and the end-user, focus should not be lost on the ot her 30 per cent of the very poor who are non-food producing poor. It is here that the publi c distribution system (PDS) plays an important part; a well-run PDS, which is also inclusive, c an substantially alleviate the impact of rising food prices. Here again, Tamil Nadu needs to be complimented. The State government partnered Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and studied possible improvements to the PDS system and 13 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

implemented most of the recommendations. The recent experiment of selling vegeta bles through the PDS at 50 per cent of the open market price needs to be emulated. This effort of the government will also help the farmer realise better prices wh en they sell the products to PDS outlets even as it brings down the vegetable prices substant ially to consumers. Instead of looking at food price increase as an inflationary evil, one should lo ok at it as a belated recognition of the fact that those who produced food too need to come ab ove the poverty line. Remedy For Inflation: Remedy for food price inflation is completely different from that for inflation stemming from other sources. Tight money policy is not an answer. A better connect betwee n food producers and consumers or agro product users and a more compassionate policy of adding a larger number of items to PDS together with leakage elimination in the PDS system is the way o ut. Organisations interested in doing charity can volunteer to help better connect f armers to users and be watchdogs at PDS outlets. Corporates too can include theses in thei r corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and convert what appears to be dangerous cholest erol into good and desirable cholesterol. In the process, they can save themselves from tight money policy which becomes inevitable if food inflation is seen as bad cholesterol. Ensuring that t he PDS becomes less prone to leakages too is in the interest of corporates as food subsidy will then come down, lowering the budget deficit and lessening the need for taxation. INDIANS EARNING, SPENDING AND SAVING The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economys (CMIEs) Consumer Pyramids, a survey of Indian households compiloed the first-ever direct income estimate,which has been reviewed by the Planning Commission. Food expenditure (this category excludes money spent on eating out) commands jus t over 25 per cent of household annual income, while power and fuel account for 7. 6 per cent, and transport expenses eat up 1.74 per cent. CMIEs data, which estimates household income directly and by including incomes of all household members and not just the head of households, finds the average per hous ehold income in India in 2008-09 was Rs 1,40,000. CMIEs data for 2008-09 says household income the last financial year was Rs 28 billion Of Indian households total annual income, 0.22 per cent is spent on buying newspapersPaying off bank loans (expenditure under equated monthly instalments) takes up 1.4 per cent of total household annual income. The share of health expenditure is 1. 5 per cent, and that of education expenditure, 3.21 per cent. Indian households devote roughly the same proportion of their annual income on recreation and alcohol (0.64 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively) and somewhat more on eating out (1.02 per cent of annual income). Expenditure on employing domestic help? 0.57 per cen t of total annual household income. . This is smaller than the official estimate (for 2007-08) of personal disposabl e income, which is put at Rs 36 billion. However, official estimates by the Central Statistical Organization measures income of what are called non-profit institutions serving households: basically, temples, churches, mosques, gurdwaras and various trusts. The god element probably explains the dif ference. 14 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

BIG CORPORATES TO TRAIN 1.1 LAKHS RURAL YOUTH UNDER NREGS

Companies such as L&T, IL&FS, Dr Reddys and NIIT will soon train and employ youths from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, based on the success of a pilot p roject in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, implemented under the National Rural Employment Guar antee Scheme (NREGS). The National Rural Livelihoods Mission, to be taken to the Cabinet by the Rural Development Ministry soon, envisages the training of 1.1 lakh unskilled youth ov er the next year. Under the scheme, private sector companies and non-government organisation s (NGOs) will train such youths for 2-3 months. The government will spend Rs 10,000 per indivi dual. The trainers will have the obligation to absorb at least 75 per cent of the people t hey train. The idea is to equip the youth with skills that will provide long-term employment with a sta rting salary of about Rs 4,000 a month The idea emerged after some states sought the expansion of NREGS to provide 150 days of employment in a year. The Ministry has found partners in a host of companies inc luding Anil Ambanis NIS Sparta, Mukesh Ambanis Tally Solutions Pvt Ltd., Lupin Labs, Construct ion Industry Development Council, Don Bosco and Drishtee Foundation, besides the one s mentioned above. Its not just infrastructure and retail sectors, but even service sectors includin g private security, etc. that hold the key to providing employment to less educated poor y outh.There is a huge demand for skilled labour in infrastructure projects in mining, oil explora tion, drilling, roads and ports. Youths employed under NREGS can be trained for such works. There is a need for such people and it is evident since infrastructure players are participating with us.

The skills acquired through training could be of use in areas ranging from healt hcare to basic banking at the rural grassroots. Some agencies like Don Bosco will train people and send them abroad for services like housekeeping. 13th FINANCE COMMISSION The Thirteenth Finance Commission chaired by Vijay Kelkar has recommended a high er devolution or a larger share of Centres gross tax receipts for states, separate g rant from the Consolidated Fund of India for states that increase their forest cover, more res ources for urban local bodies, a new five-year fiscal prudence strategy, and a complete stop to be low-the-line budgeting. The commission recommends states should get around a percentage point higher sh are of the Centres gross tax receipts for the next five years beginning April 1, 2010. Currently, states get 30.5 per cent of the gross tax receipts. The increased sha re in tax resources will reflect in the budget for next fiscal. OPEN TRADE WITH ASEAN, SOUTH KOREA India will liberalise its from Jan 1, trade with South Korea and three key ASEAN countries Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia by slashing duties on several products like sea food, chemicals and apparel among others. The countrys market-opening pacts with three of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea will be operational from January 1. The remaining seven ASEAN members will take a few more months to get the India-ASEAN trade pact, which needs to be internally approved or ratified by their parliaments, an o fficial said. 15 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Indian exports to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia accounting for over 90 per ce nt of the India-ASEAN $44-billion trade, would also be given easy access on about 4,000 ta riff items SEWA KENDRAS TO COME UP WITH RURAL JOB SCHEME FUNDS The Centre has decided to go ahead with the controversial proposal of constructi ng Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras at the panchayat level at a cost of Rs.10 lakh each from fun ds meant for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mgnregs). The Centre has provided close to Rs.40,000 crore for the Mgnregs during the curr ent financial year.The Ministry regards the construction of these kendras as an extension of w orks under the Mgnregs conforming to norms that the proportion of labour cost to material cost be in the ratio of 60:40 of the project cost. E-SHAKTI CARD IN BIHAR Bihar government has decided to issue over one million E-shakti cards, a biometr ic musterroll- cum-job card, by March 31, 2010. Patnawas chosen as the first district to extend benefit of the smart card. E-shakti project is an initiative by the department of rural development for suc cessful implementation of NREGA in the state. Since their had been allegations that the Narega had no proper system for work measurement , taking attendance and disbursing wages, E-s hakti card will have all such details as permanent address, bank ac count number and no. of days , the holder worked and got wages for in ayear. REPO IN CORPORATE BONDS FROM MARCH 1 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued final guidelines to execute repo in c orporate bonds which would be effective from March 1, 2010. Repos in corporate debt secur ities will be for a minimum period of one day and a maximum period of one year, the RBI said, addi ng that only listed corporate debt securities which are rated AA or above by the rating agencie s can be used for repo. Scheduled commercial bank, excluding RRBs, primary dealers, non-banking financia l company, financial institutions such as Exim Bank, Nabard, NHB and SIDBI, mutual fund registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), housing finan ce company registered with the NHB, insurance company registered with the Insurance Regulat ory and Development Authority, will be eligible for repo transactions in corporate debt securities. CURRENCY FUTURES IN EURO, POUND, YEN ALLOWED Providing more flexibility to exporters and importers to hedge their risks again st volatility in exchange rates, the financial sector regulators have allowed exchange-traded cur rency futures in the euro, the pound and the yen pairing with the rupee. Currently, currency futu res are allowed only in the dollar-rupee contracts. GDP GROWTH PEGGED AT 6.7% IN 2008-2009 16 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

GDP growth continued to be pegged at 6.7 per cent for 2008-09 even as the govern ment switched over to a new methodology for calculation of national income with 2004- 05 as the base year instead of the earlier benchmark of 1999-2000. According to the quick estimates of national income released, the economic expan sion during the 2008-09 remained constant at 6.7 per cent as compared to a growth of 9.2 per cent in the previous fiscal, marking no change in percentage terms at constant prices despit e the change in base year. GST DATE POSTPONED The proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is to replace most of the indire ct taxes levied by the Centre and the States will not be introduced from April 1, 2010. A fresh date for its implementation will be announced in April after a meeting between the States and the Union Government.

SNIPPETS British confectionery maker Cadbury has agreed to be acquired by U.S.-based Kraf t Foods The IPL-III matches from March 12 would be streamed live through a dedicated IPL

channel to YouTube. Under the terms of agreement, Google will have exclusive online rights for IPL content for two years, and both Google and IPL will jointly share revenues from sponsorships and advertising on www.youtube.com/ipl and www.iplt20.com . The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened the monetary policy by raising the Cas h Reserve Ratio the portion of deposits that commercial banks are required to keep with the central bank - by 75 basis points to tame rising inflation.This increase in C RR from 5 to 5.75 per cent would absorb Rs.36,000 crore of excess liquidity from the syste m. Bharti Airtel will acquire 70% stake in Bangladeshs Warid Telecom China, the worlds largest producer of gold is set to overtake India as the metals biggest consumer for the first time in the history. ICICI Bank and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) have signed an MoU to help Indian fi rms capitalise on opportunities in the UK. The joint initiative is aimed at providin g training events and additional inward investment assistance for Indian businesses looking to enhance their ability to grow in the UK Indias average food grain productivity is 3.5 tonnes per acre which is mich lower than the worlds average. After a gap of 13 months, exports turned positive, in November 2009 registering a growth rate of 18.2% 17 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

DIPLOMACY & INTERNATIONAL INDIA - SOUTH KOREA The South Korea President Lee Myung-baks visit to India and his being the chief g uest for the Republic Day celebration this year are symbolic of a growing proximity a nd diversifications of relations between the two countries. The bilateral relations , which had more economic overtones with the opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s, has been gradually deepening and diversifying into several other areas of cooperation. India and South Koreas economic relations are the bedrock of their mutual coopera tion. Both the countries have worked enthusiastically to arrive at a Comprehensive Eco nomic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed during Commerce Minister Anand Sh armas visit to South Korea a few months back. The agreement is expected to provide fur ther impetus to their growing economic relationship. It is pertinent to mention that bilateral t rade between India and South Korea already surpassed $15 billion in 2008 and has gone far ahead fro m the volume of India-Japan bilateral trade. South Korean capital and technology along with Indian cheap labour and a growing middle class market, make economic cooperation beneficial for both the countries. In th e IT sector also, 18 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Indian expertise in software and Korean advancement in hardware gel quite well w ith each other. Apart from bilateral trade, both countries have shown interest in the FDI sector . Whereas, South Korean conglomerate POSCO has been patiently working for a $12 billion investmen t in a steel plant in Orrisa, TATA has invested in Daweoo Motors. At the multilateral f ora also, both countries have been working together, such as in ASEAN+3 framework. India and South Korea have been working to evolve a common approach towards vari ous political and strategic issues in regional politics The most remarkable among th em is growing strategic understanding between India and the US. South Korea, which has been a close ally of the US since its very inception, now shares various common concerns with India. The emerging Asian strategic landscape has also brought India and South Korea together in which the rise of China has been looked at as a challenge and an opportunity. It is a challenge for both India and South Korea, if China tries to dominate regional politics and resorts to any aggressiv e intention. India and South Korean strategic perspectives also converged with the emergence of the problem of nuclear and missile programmes of North Korea and Pakistan. It is a f act that North Korea and Pakistan provided technological know-hows to each other, in which Nort h Korea provided missile-related technology to Pakistan and in return, Pakistan provided nuclear weapons related technology to North Korea. India and South Korea are quite troubled by t heir neighbours, which have shown even less responsibility in recent years. There is scepticism a bout the domestic instability in North Korea and Pakistan and accidental use of nuclear weapons in case of desperation or last resort. India and South Korea want the issue to be dealt wit h in a delicate but firm manner. India could also benefit from South Korea by forging an understanding on the iss ue of civilian nuclear cooperation. South Korea which is a member of the NSG has been less adam ant than Japan on the issue of providing nuclear technology to India. Another area of future cooperation between the two countries could be cooperatio n on environment and energy related issues. South Korea has been working on its proje ct for green development and could provide valuable technologies, help and advice India inclu ding assistance at arriving at a safe nuclear energy option. INDIA BANGLADESH When Ms Hasina became Prime Minister in 1996 (she held office till 2001), her Aw ami League had a thin majority in Parliament, and her government had many limitation s. During that tenure, the Awami League-led government signed the historic Ganga Wa ter Treaty. It also paved the way for the return to India of thousands of Chakma ref ugees from Tripura with the signing of a landmark accord that ended decades of tribal insur gency in the border region. Then, it sent a firm signal to insurgents operating all across no rtheastern India, many of whom, as claimed by India, enjoyed sanctuary in Bangladesh. These steps were not easy to take, and indeed constituted a test of courage and conviction for the governm ent. This time, too, the government of the grand alliance led by the daughter of the slain founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is not without its limitat ions. But its leadership is now more experienced. It won a landslide in the December 2008 elec tions, and secured a two-thirds-plus majority in Parliament. This enabled Ms Hasinas governm ent to amend the Constitution and bring about certain changes that it felt were needed to ini tiate a new journey that Bangladesh needs to undertake in order to get back on the right track. Bangladesh is now ruled by secular democratic forces, known as the pro-liberation forces. But the forces which opposed independence from Pakistan and which developed a so lid economic foundation and organisational base over the past few decades, have now become qu ite alert and 19 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

aggressive. The fundamentalists and the local versions of the Taliban do not wan t Bangladesh to remain friendly with India; to them India is the enemy state. An economically strong, secular and democratic Bangladesh is crucial for New Del hi and the rest of the region. A democratic and secular India, and Bangladesh, that has started its renewed march towards a stable democratic polity despite the muscle flexing by some extr emists, should work together for a stable South Asia. During the recent visit of Bangladesh PM, India and Bangladesh signed five pacts in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, to add impetus to the bilateral ties that had been on the upswing since the last one year. The five agreements relate to mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, trans fer of sentenced persons, fight against terror, organised crime and illegal drug trafficking, pow er cooperation and cultural exchange programmes. They resolved not to allow their respective territory to be used for training, s anctuary and other operations by domestic or foreign terrorists/militants and insurgent organ isations and their operatives. As the two countries signed a power cooperation agreement, Hasina appreciated Si ngh for facilitating the provision of electricity in Dahagram-Angarpota and invited Indi a to construct a flyover across Tin Bigha Corridor for exclusive Indian use as agreed earlier. India also announced a credit line of $1 billion to Bangladesh for strengthening its infrastructure. This is the highest-ever credit line extended by India to any co untry.This credit line will be used for railway infrastructure, supply of broad gauge locomotives and passenger coaches, rehabilitation of Saidpur workshop, procurement of buses and dredging p rojects. It was agreed that Bangladesh will allow use of Mongla and Chittagong sea ports for movement of goods to and from India through road and rail. Bangladesh also conve yed its intention to give Nepal and Bhutan access to these ports. Ms. Hasina thanked Dr. Singh for facilitating the provision of electricity in Da hagram- Angarpota and invited India to construct a flyover across Tin Bigha Corridor for exclusive Indian use. It was also agreed that Ashuganj in Bangladesh and Silghut in India shall be dec lared as port of call. It was also agreed that the construction of the proposed Akhaura-A gartala railway link be financed by grant from India. Further the Rohanpur-Singabad broad gauge railway link would be available for tr ansit to Nepal. Bangladesh wants to convert the Radhikapur-Birol railway line into broad gauge and requested for a railway transit to Bhutan as well. Two Prime Ministers agreed on taking action on several issues includimg dredging of the Ichhamati river and protection wall along six rivers. New Delhi agreed to suppor t Bangladeshs plan to dredge rivers for flood control, navigation and access to ports. New Del hi also assured that it will not take steps on the Tipaimikh Hydroelectric project that will adversel y impact Bangladesh. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also received the prestigious Indira Gan dhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh and a citation, A port of call is an intermediate stop for a ship on its sailing itinerary, whic h may include up to half a dozen ports. At these ports, a cargo ship may take on supplies or f uel, as well as unloading and loading cargo. But for a cruise ship, it is their premier stop whe re the cruise lines take on passengers to enjoy their vacation. 20 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

INDIA MALAWI

India and Malawi explored the possibility of entering into a Memorandum of Under standing (MoU) on the development of the southern African nations mineral resources, parti cularly uranium and coal. Malawian Vice-President Joyce Banda specifically sought Indias assistance in the development of its recently discovered uranium sources, The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was form erly known as Nyasaland. Its capital is Lilongwe. Bingu Mutharika, elected in 2004, is the current president. Malawi INDIA BOTSWANA Botswana urged India to do more South-South Cooperation in a changing world orde r. Pleased to be included in the list of countries being visited by Vice President Hamid An sari, the Botswana leadership underlined the need for the developing world to speak up in one voice on issues of common concern Two agreements were signed for capacity building in agriculture and an exchange programme in education. The Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa.Up to 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert. Gaborone is the capital of Botswana and Ian Kham a is the President of Botswana. ATTACKS ON INDIANS IN AUSTRALIA While not denying an increase in the attacks on Indians in Australia, the countr ys High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese, urged moderation in media reporting and s aid Canberra was doing all it could to provide security and safety to Indian students. He maintained that most attacks on Indians were opportunistic in nature and that a very small minority had a racist tinge to them. He wanted students going to Australia to tie up the financial requirement $ (Australian)18,000 per annum before leaving Indian shore s, as it was impossible to work in Australia and pay for studies. The Australian Mission here was taking action to identify economic refugees in the garb of students. The rate of visa rejection in India had gone up due to the detection o f large-scale fraud in documentation INDIA KEPT OUT OF AFGHASN SECURITY CONFERENCE IN ISTANBUL New Delhi has lodged a protest with Ankara for keeping it out of the Afghanistan security conference in Istanbul, apparently at the behest of Islamabad. This may cast a s hadow over Turkish President Abdullah Guls visit to India next fortnight. Gul, the organiser of the conference, is on a two-day visit to India from February 9 after which he will leave for Dhaka. India, France and Japan, all of whom have a substantial stake in stabilising Kab ul, had protested to Ankara for not being invited to the conference to mull over the mil itary and political future of Afghanistan. Paris and Tokyo were squeezed in at the last moment with New Delhi being left out in the cold. 21 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Russia had invited Indian MEA officials for a separate Afghanistan conference i n Moscow on January 25 and the United Kingdom has invited Foreign Minister S M Krishna to at tend the London conference on January 28 The Istanbul conference organisers first stuck to inviting six plus two (immedia te Afghan neighbours, including China, plus Russia and the US), then added the countries p articipating in the ISAF operations that includes Turkey. France and Japan, which has announced aid of $5 billion part of which will be used as Taliban reconciliation fund for Afghanistan, were included at the last moment. RUSSIA ON THE ROAD TO REFORM The Russian Federations recent endorsement of reforms to the European Court of Hu man Rights the judicial arm of the 47-member Council of Europe (CoE) signals Moscows deepening engagement with a system of governance based on democratic values, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. Moscows ratification of Protocol 14 to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the foundational charter of the CoE, means that states can be brought before the Strasbourg Court for failure to implement its rulings. This is indeed a bold commitment to enhancing accountability and transparency for a country that has drawn flak f or its handling of the situation in Chechnya and its military intervention in Georgia. Insofar as political and democratic reforms are predicated upon the stage of eco nomic development and vice versa, Russias long pending bid for accession to the World T rade Organisation could boost investment and ease barriers to its exports and sustain the momentum for all-round progress. Similarly, Moscows application for membership of the Organisa tion for Economic Co-operation and Development would deepen its commitment to greater int egration into the global economy. NEW MARKETS FOR RUSSIAN OIL The year 2010 will see the global energy map redrawn as Russia, the worlds larges t producer of hydrocarbons, reorients its oil and gas flows from Europe to Asia. O n the eve of the New Year, Russia launched a major oil pipeline from Eastern Siberia to the Pacif ic Ocean (ESPO). For the first time, it is able to ship oil not only westward to its trad itional customers in Europe, but also to the ever-growing energy markets in Asia, which already accou nt for a third of t he global oil consumption. Today, more than 90 per cent of Russian oil exports goes to Europe and only 3 pe r cent to Asia. Last year, Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the worlds biggest producer and exporter of oil. The ESPO pipeline will help Russia ramp up oil output to an all-time record of 5 30 million tonnes by 2030 despite declining production at the mature oilfields of Western Siberia. It is symbolic that the first tanker loaded with Siberian oil headed for Hong Kong. China will be th e main winner of the new Russian export route. CHINA WARNS US OF SANCTIONS OVER TAIWAN China warned that Washingtons announcement of arms sales to Taiwan would seriousl y damage cooperation between the two global powers. Beijing was strongly indignant a bout the proposed arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province. 22 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

The proposed arms sales to Taiwan, a potential $6.4 billion package including Bl ack Hawk helicopters, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 anti-missile missiles, and command-and- control technology. Beijing quickly responded with a warning the arms sale could jeopardise bonds of

cooperation with Washington, which has looked to China for support in surmountin g the financial crisis, dealing with Iran and North Korea, and seeking international agreement o n fighting climate change. Arms sales to Taiwan join trade imbalances, currency values, Internet freedoms, human rights, and Tibet where differences strain ties between the worlds biggest and third-bigg est economies. CHINA ELEVATES RANK OF ENVOY IN NEW DELHI In a sign of the rising importance -and growing challenges -Beijing perceives in its relations with New Delhi, China has elevated the rank and role of its Ambassador to India to the level of a Vice-Minister. The move means Zhang Yan, the current Chinese Ambassador to India, will now repo rt directly to China's Foreign Minister and will also have greater authority to tak e on-the-ground decisions. Earlier he was reporting to the Vice Minister and Others.This is a si gn of increasing importance with which Beijing views its relationship with New Delhi. PANEL TO PUSH NEPALI PEACE PROCESS After months of stalemate, the major political parties of the country decided to form a high- level mechanism, a three-member panel. It would focus on speeding up the peace process and writing the Constitution. Th e panel is headed by Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala; Maoist chairman Pushp a Kamal Dahal Prachanda and CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal are the current members. Mr. Prachanda said the group would work on ending of the peace process logically,

writing of the Constitution in the stipulated time [May 2010] and to end the pre sent political stalemate. SUDANS NEW YEAR OF FEAR With elections due this year and 365 days left until the crucial referendum on independence for the south, concern is growing among analysts, advocacy groups and NGOs worki ng in Sudan that the spectre of widespread conflict is once again a reality. The comprehensive peace agreement that ended the 22-year civil war between north and south Sudan has its fifth anniversary on January 9. This week (JANUARY 7) sees the launch of Sudan365, a global campaign, as well as a major joint-agency report Rescuing the Peace in Southern Sudan which warns that a cocktail of rising violence, chronic poverty and political tensions has left the peace de al on the brink of collapse. PRIVATE ARMIES IN PHILLIPINES With national and local elections scheduled in the Philippines for May, an indep endent commission was due to begin work on January 7th on disbanding politicians private armies before then. The government appointed the commission after public outrage over the mass acre of 57 23 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

people in the southern province of Maguindanao in November. The authorities accu sed a local politician and his armed followers of the crimea charge the politician has denied in court. Critics doubt that the commission can complete its task in time. Successive gove rnments that might have disbanded these armed groups have failed to do somainly because they h ave benefited from their existence. Sometimes, private armies augment the official security forces, and help defend communities threatened by communist or Muslim separatist guerrillas. Almost alwa ys, they keep local politicians in power by intimidating rivals and voters. INDIA FRANCE CIVIL NUCLEAR AGREEMENT TAKES EFFECT India and France operationalised the civil nuclear agreement signed between the two sides in 2008 with New Delhi and Paris exchanging instruments of ratification In accordan ce with the provisions of the September 30, 2008 agreement, it enters into force on the date of exchange of instruments of ratification. France was the first country with which India signed the agreement soon after th e formalities in regard to removing restrictions on the New Delhi to do commerce in nuclear en ergy was lifted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group CONCERN OVER PROSECUTION OF BAHAIS IN IRAN The seven Bahais two women and five men were arrested in the spring of 2008 and official Iranian news accounts have said that they are to be accused of espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic. Some of these charges carry the death penalty. The Iranian Bahai community represents the largest religious minority in Iran. Ye t, they are not recognised by the Iranian Constitution and are considered as unprotected infi dels. Prominent Indians have expressed deep concern over the continued persecution of the Bahais in Iran and called upon the government to take up the issue with Tehran. The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century

Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories. In the Bahá'í Faith, religious history is seen to have unfolded through a series of divine messengers, each of whom established a religion that was suited to the needs of the time and the capacity of the people. These messengers have included Abraham, Buddha, Jesus, M uhammad and others, and most recently the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh ASIA PACIFIC NAVIES TO MEET AT PORT BLAIR To foster a bond of friendship across the seas, a biennial conglomeration of Asi a-Pacific maritime Navies would be organized at Port Blair this February. Milan, the six day event which begins February 3, would see the participation of A ustralia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Combodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Phillip ines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN SRI LANKA 24 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapksa won a second term in office today defeatin g joint opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, the Army Chief who helped him crush LTTE. SNIPPETS One of the worst earthquake of the millennium devastated Haiti where more than t ens of thousands are feared killed. Chinese regulators announced that thay had arrested three executives and shut do wn a dairy company for selling products contaminated with an industrial chemical called Mel anine In a bid to renew focus on Africa, during India Africa Summit 2008,India committ ed to invest $5.4 billion over a four year period. Recently, the Indian government has agreed to lend $50 million to the Zambian government for a proposed power plant. Bagram in Afghanistan was in news for torture and other ill treatment. It emerge d as another Guantanamo and its closure is demanded by human rights organization Burj Khalifa 828 metres or 2717 feet tall, boasts of the most stories and highes t occupied floor of any building in the world and ranks as the tallest structure in the wor ld beating out a television mast in North Dakota. The skyscraper is named Burj Khalifa in the h onour of a leader in Abu Dhabi. It is said that a plain wont be able to slice through the Bu rj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Centre SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NANOTECHNOLOGY TURNS FIFTY Nanotechnology implies the power to manipulate matter at the atomic level. It i s the power of the creator, as all are constructed with atoms. Once this capability is comprehe nded fully, nothing that matter can deliver is impossible. 25 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Materials can be made super tough, super light, etc; after all carbon is the tou ghest and still quite light. It may one day be possible to harvest all the energy needed for the planet from the sun and if more is needed, there is the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen forming water. The world may be clean and green again. Well, nanotechnology does give hopes. Thinking of such possibilities, this is what is going on in nature. All the carb ohydrate which plants cook in their leaves, to keep us going, is made atom by atom, from carbon dioxide and water, using sunlight. In the way we convert that food to energy and then to work, very little wastage occurs. If biological machinery were to be as inefficient as our motors, the food we produc e cannot even sustain one-tenth of the population. Thus, biology is nanotechnology in perfecti on. On December 29, 2009, we celebrated the golden jubilee of Nanotechnology. It was on this day, fifty years ago Professor Richard P. Feynman (Nobel Laureate, 1965) de livered the celebrated talk, Theres plenty of room at the bottom, which predicted the era of na notechnology the technology of nanometre scale objects. He proposed a new kind of technology by assembling things atom by atom, in todays terms, molecular nanotechnology. The term inology, nanotechnology itself came into being in 1974, due to Professor Norio Taniguchi.

A new methodology to see and place atoms called scanning tunnelling microscopy c ame in 1981 and numerous modifications of this tool revolutionized all branches of scie nce Indian efforts have been small, the government started a Nano Mission two years ago with an investment of Rs.1,000 crores in five years. Nanotechnology is expected to pr oduce goods and services worth $2.6 trillion in the year 2014 globally. A total of about 400,000 research papers and 100,000 patents have already come out in the area. COPENHAGEN ACCORD NOT LEGALLY BINDING: UNFCCC Seeking to put at rest doubts over the status of the Copenhagen Accord agreed up on at the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) in the Danish capital last year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has issued a clarification sayin g that the agreement was not a legally binding document but merely a political one. Since the COP neither adopted nor endorsed the Accord, but merely took note of i t, its provisions do not have any legal standing with the UNFCCC process even if some P arties decide to associate themselves with it. The BASIC members have already announced a series of voluntary mitigation action s for 2020, with India declaring to reduce its green house gas emission intensity up t o 25 percent. The UNFCCC has asked the countries to convey by January 30 their stand on the legall y non binding Copenhagen Accord arrived in the Danish capital last month. INDIA LEAD THE EFFORT FOR BINDING BIODIVERSITY TREATY India is set to take the lead in pushing for a single legally binding treaty for access to and benefit sharing of biological resources at the 10th Convention on Biological Div ersity (CBD) to be held at Nagoya, Japan, in October. The CBD was one of the key agreements adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. 26 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

The convention, while reaffirming the sovereign rights of nations over their bio logical resources, established three main goals conservation of biological diversity, su stainable use of its component, and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of ge neric resources. The major item for consideration at the 10th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the CBD is adoption of an international protocol on access and benefit sharing (ABS), which provides an opportunity to biodiversity-rich countries such as India to realise benefits for their people from the use of this biodiversity. To host 2012 CoP : India would also host the 11th CoP to the CBD in October 2012. To address patenting, India was signing agreements with other patent offices for access to the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), which has about two lakh formulati ons in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Yoga on 34 million pages. These agreements would en able research by international patent offices to prevent bio-piracy of Indias traditional knowled ge. However, no third party disclosure would be permitted, unless necessary. In the past, patents were secured in the U.S. and Europe on the use of neem and on turmerics wound-healing properties, even though their therapeutic qualities were already known in India. JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE A massive telescope, with a diameter of 6.5 metres, will be deployed in the sky about 1.5 million km from the earth in 2014 to enable astronomers to study several subject s, including the formation of the first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang that created the un iverseThe telescope, called the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is named after a former NASA Admin istrator. The other observations that scientists could make with the JWST were the evoluti on of galaxies as they changed with time, the formation of stars and planets, and evol ution of planetary systems such as the solar system. It is a very large telescope. It is bigger than the Hubble telescope. The JWST is a project of NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope will have a sun-shield bigger than a tennis-court. This huge umbre lla allows the telescope to reach a temperature of 40 Kelvin so that it can observe infra-red r adiation. Arianespaces Ariane -V vehicle will deploy the telescope. It will be folded up in to the rockets fairing before the launch. Its locationis called the Sun-Earth Lagrange p oint L-2. BSNL LAUNCHES FTTH Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Aksh Optifibre have jointly launched Fibr e to the Home (FTTH) services in Jaipur. The facility provides multi-play services wit h high- definition content for their existing 30,000 customers of iControl IPTV services . BSNL-Aksh Optifibre consortium is Indias first FTTH service which would replace t he traditional copper line from exchange to the home called the last mile connectivi ty. Currently the last mile connections between homes and telephone exchanges are copper-based. This launch promises to bring India on the same technological plane as advanced countries li ke China, Singapore, Japan and Britain where the majority of fixed-line operators have rep laced last-mile copper connections with fibre. RUSSIA TO BE FIRST TO BUILD NUCLEAR-POWERED SPACECRAFT 27 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM Russia will endeavour to become the worlds first nation to build a nuclear-powere d spacecraft for interplanetary flights. The Russian Government has allocated 500 million roubles ($17 million) in 2010 for designing a nuclear engine and a spacecraft for long s pace travel. The draft design of the spacecraft is slated to be ready by 2012, while the actu al model is expected to be developed by 2018. The total cost of the project is estimated at about $600 million.Nuclear engines for spaceships are a very promising area. Such engines a re a must if flights to Mars and other planets are to be undertaken. SPIRIT ROVER ON MARS STUCKED The Martian rover Spirit will rove no more. Officials at the National Aeronautic s and Space Administration announced last week that the Spirit, mired in a sand pit for the last 10 months, would remain there forever. But the officials said they were hopeful that the Sp irit would continue life as a stationary science stationif it survives the upcoming Martian winter SUCCESSFUL MAIDEN FLIGHT OF FGFA Russias Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, a joint project with India, made a suc cessful maiden flight, boosting hopes that the stealth fighter may be ready for induction in fi ve years. Russia is the second country in the world to produce a fifth generation fighter aircraft, 90 percent of which is made of composite fibre is rival to US Lockheed F-22 Raptor and its newer version F-35. Under an agreement signed in 2007, India has also joined the FGFA Project by tak ing a 50 percent investment stake in the project. For the Indian Air Force, a lighter , t wo-seater version is to be developed to meet its specific requirements. The Indian version will also hav e weapon of Indian origin including Astra, the beyond visual range missile being developed by DRDO.

AWARENESS MEET HELD FOR NUTRINO OBSERVATORY PROJECT Scientists involved in the setting up of a Rs.900-crore underground neutrino obs ervatory in Theni district have kick-started the process of allaying the radiation fears among local people and environmentalists. They claimed progress in the first round of talks held on Monday. The Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology are fun ding the ambitious India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). It will be housed undergro und in the mountains of Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu amidst dense rocks. A site on West Bodi Hills near Pottipuram in the district has been found suitable by geologists and scientists.

ASTRA TEST FIRED SUCCESSFULLY Two ballistic flight tests of Astra, Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVR AAM), were successfully carried out from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Balasore, Orissa The missiles final trial is expected to be conducted by the year-end after its in tegration with fighter aircraft Su-30 MKI. Astra would also be carried by MiG-29 and Light Combat Aircraft Tejas. The missile is envisaged to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic s peeds in the head-on mode at a range of 80 km and in tail-chase mode at 20 km. Astra, which uses solid propellant, can carry a conventional warhead of 15 kg. I t is the smallest of the missiles developed by the DRDO in terms of size and weight. It i s 3.8-metre long and has a diameter of 178 mm with an overall launch weight of 160 kg. The missil e could be 28 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

launched from different altitudes it can cover 110 km when launched from an alti tude of 15 km, 44 km when fired from an altitude of eight km and 21 km when the altitude is sea -level. INDIA, JAPAN TO DEVELOP SOLAR CITY India and Japan decided to jointly develop one city in India as solar city. The so lar city project aims to reduce a minimum of 10 per cent of its projected demand of conve ntional energy at the end of five years through energy efficiency measures and generation from ren ewable energy installations. The Union Government has, so far, given in-principle approval to 34 cities to be developed as solar cities. Japan is keen on promoting Midori no Bunken which aims at changing centralised soc iety to community-based society to enhance self-sufficiency within a region through m aximising natural resources, including forest, sea, food and energy, with emphasis on not relying on electricity generated by others. It focusses on renewable energy such as solar, wind, micro hydro and biomass energy. CHALLENGES AHEAD IN PUTTING TWO INDIANS IN SPACE Plans to put two Indians in space by 2015 require cutting edge technologies suc h as building a robust and reliable launch vehicle, a livable crew capsule, providing life suppo rt systems for the astronauts and a 100 per cent reliable crew escape system in case of an emergency, The most challenging part was to ensure that the two-man crew were brought back safely to earth. The astronauts would remain in low-earth circular orbit at an altitude of 300 km for seven days. The mission called for building a launch vehicle that could safely take tw o humans into space, navigation, guidance and control systems, plans to pre-empt disasters, et c The ISRO was building a technology demonstrator of a reusable launch vehicle, c alled RLVTD, similar to the U.S. space shuttle. The RLV-TDs engineering model was ready. A sca led-down model would be flown by the end of 2010. The Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III was now in the testing pha se. Its two boosters, each carrying 200 tonnes of solid propellants, would be tested aft er some weeks. It is a three-stage vehicle which, in 2011, would put a satellite weighing four tonnes in geosynchronous transfer orbit and a 10-tonne satellite in low-earth orbit. EMPOWERING SUNDERBANS WITH RICE HUSK 11 remote villages in the Sunderbans delta can finally look forward to getting e lectricity in the new year. What makes the project even more special is that the electricity w ill be generated from rice husk. The lives of the people living in Sunderbans have changed ever since a solar pow er plant was first set up in Sagar Island Another advantage is that unlike the solar power system, the rice husk-to-electri city project will provide round-the-clock electricity to the villagers. The work of setting u p biofuel grids will start in March, and is expected to be completed in April. As per the report, ele ctricity will be supplied to 400 houses per village. A grid in a village will produce 200 kilowat t OCEANS GETTING LOUDER 29 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

Another consequence of rising CO2 emissions: the oceans are getting louder. It h as long been known that chemical compounds in sea water, including boric acid, absorb sound, as energy from sound waves stimulates certain reactions . As the oceans grow more acidic, a res ult of increasing absorption of atmospheric CO2, the sea water chemistry changes, resulting in few er reactions and less acoustic energy used. That means sounds will travel farther and be louder a t a given distance from a sound source. ICON A5: THE FOLDING PLANE THAT FEELS LIKE A SPORT CAR It is a Light Sport Aircraft, a collaboration between an F-16 pilot and a skateb oard designer, the ICON A5 is a sport plane designed with retractable landing gear for flying o ff both land and water, and folding wings that allow the plane to be easily stored and towed on a trailer SPACESHIP FOR SALE National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has slashed the price of At lantis and Endeavour, 1970s era spaceships. The shuttles are for sale once they quit flying. Acid 3 is a test page from the Web Standards Project that checks how well a web browser follows certain selected elements from web standards, specially relating to the Document Object Model and Java Script. Internet Explorer scored 20/100, FireFox scored 93/100 and Chroma and Opera scor ed 100/100 each. SNIPPETS · NASA planning to send an orbiter to Europa, a moon of Jupiter 30 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

MISCELLANEOUS SNIPPETS: · In 2005, Bihar was the first state to allow 50 percent reservation for women at Panchayat level. · K G. Karmakar : MD, NABARD · B C Tripathi : Chairman, GAIL · Venu Srinivasan : President, TVS motors and CII. · Sanjoy Ghosh : Bengal State Armed Police jawan beheaded by Maoists. · G. P. Mathur : Acting Chairpersom of NHRC · Shiv Shankar Menon :Replaces M K Narayan as National Security Adviser · V K Singh : Would be Army Chief to succeed General Deepak Kapoor · Putrajaya :Malaysias Administrative capital · M K Narayana : Appointerd as Governor of Wset Bengal · Shivraj Patil : Appointed as Governor of Punjab and Administrator of the UT of Chandigarh · Yogesh Agrawal : IDBI, Chairperson, will be the next chairman of the Pension Fun d Regularity Development Authority (PFRDA). · GP Mathur: Acting Chairperson of the NHRC · Kumud Joshi : Chairperson of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Recently ADB hqad sanctioned $150 million assittance for KVIC · SR Ramchandran was unanimously elected as President of the All India Kisan Sabha at Guntur in its All India Conference. · Kurt Westergaard : The Danish cartoonist facing several death threats for his ca rtoon of Prophet Mohammad five years back, was attacked by a Somali fanatic. AWARDS: PADMA VIBHISHAN : Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Y. V. Reddy, Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Apollo Hospitals group founder Prathap C. Reddy, theatre director Ebrahim Alkazi, theatre actor Zohra Segal and percussionist and mridangam vidwan

Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman have been honoured with Padma Vibhushan, the countrys second highest civilian award, on the occasion of Republic Day 56th NATIONAL FILM AWARDS 31 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

BEST FILM : Antaheen (Bengalee) BEST MALE ACTOR : Upendra Limaye for Marathi film Jogva. BEST FEMALE ACTOR : Priyanka Chopra for Fashion BEST DIRECTOR :Sh. Bala for Tamil Film Naan Kadavul DAADA SAHEB PHALKE AWARD : V K Murthy, the first cinematographer to be chosen for award.

INTACH INDIRA GANDHI LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENMT AWARDS: The recipients were Ebrahim Alkazi, Kapila Vatsyayan, Martand Singh, Rajeev Sethi, O.P. Jain an d O.P. Agarwal. SPORTS: 58th National Volleyvall Championship : Tamil Nadus men and Railways women the 58t h National Volleyvall Championship. AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Serena Williams wins the womens single title after defeating J ustine Henin Hardine. Her 5th Australian open and 12th Grand Slam title Bob Brayan and Mike Brayan won the Mens doubles title. CHENNAI OPEN :Marin Cilic of Croatia defended his Chennai Open title by defeatin g Staislas Wawrinka BC ROY TROPHY : Karnataka won the BC Roy football trophy. Fed Cup : East Bengal won the Fed Cup football tournament defeating Shillong Laj ong FC in Guwahati. RANJI TROPHY : Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy in cricket for 39th time by deafeting

Karnataka in the finals by 6 runs. African Cup of Nationa: Togos national football team, devastated by a shooting at tack on its bus that killed at least three people, withdrew from the African Cup of Nations on S aturday. The bus was in Angola about six miles from the border of Congo when the gunfire began. When the ambush ended, 30 minutes later, the driver was dead and the teams assist ant coach and spokesman were mortally wounded. Strike by Indian Hockey Team: The Indian Hockey Team stopped training for next m onths Worlds Cup, reiterating their demand to be paid by Hockey India . BOOKS: Economy of permanence : J C Kumarappa Small is Beautiful : E F Schumacher Not By Reason Alone :The Politics Of Change :- N K Singh The Complaints : Ian Rankin The Gathering : Anne Enright Nehru : The Invention Of India : Shashi Tharoor Decoding Tolerance : Prateep K. Lahiri

32 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM We Must Have No Price : Aroun Shourie And Every One Must Know That We Have No Price

The Post American World : Fareed Zakaria DEATHS: J D Salinger : Legendary author of the Catch in the Rye Jean Simmons : Legendary Hollywood actress Jyoti Basu : Former West Bengal CM, an icon of Indian politics Billy Arjan Singh : Veteran Wild life conservationist Hemendra Chandra Sen :Renowned Sarod and Sitar maker, who crafted musical instruments for maestros like Amjad Ali Khan,Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shanjkar. 33 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM DIARY OF EVENTS 2009 NATIONAL JANUARY: JAN 8 Overseas Indian Citizenship cardholders can practice their professionin In dia JAN 11 The center forms a three member board comprising HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, the former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik and C. Achutan to take charge of Satyam. Jan 15 Radha Vinod Raju appointed as the first Director General of the National Investigation Agency Jan 21 The Tamil Nadu government decides to launch the Chief Ministers Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatments which will benefit 1 crore families/ JAN 24 India and Kazakhstan sign a major agreement for supply of uranium and a comprehensive cooperation in civil nuclear energy program. An extradition treaty was also inked. JAN 28 - Cabinet approves the Rs.14,600 crore Chennai Metro Rail Project. FEBRUARY FEB 4 India signs its first commercial pact with the French nuclear giant Areva for reactors, fuel supply. FEB 5 The UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon is presented the Sustainable Developm ent Leadership Award 2009 in New Delhi. FEB 10 Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, the noted Hindustani vocalist is presented with Bharat Ratna. FEB 11 Scientists of National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal (Haryana)announce d the cloning of worlds first buffalo Sumn Sharma became the worlds first woman to fly the MIG 35 fighter jet. FEB 22 Tirupur become the 32nd district of Tamil Nadu. FEB 26 Supreme Court orders a probe by B. N. Srikrishna, the retired judga of th e apex court into the violent incidents on the Madras High Court. MARCH MAR 3 The Howrah New Delhi Rajdhani Express , the countrys first super fast train completes 40 years of service. MAR 7 Manipur Human Right activist Irom Chanu Sharmila on a continued fast for t he past nine years demanding complete withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 is freed from judicial custody. MAR 21 Mohanrao Bhagwat takes over as the chief of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh.

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MAR 24 Sister Mary Prema is elected the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity in place of ailing Sister Nirmala. MAR 27 The Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson for 2008is conferred on Nirupama Subramaniam, Islamabad correspondent of The Hindu and Vini ta Deshmukh, editor of Intelligent Pune. APRIL APR 13 Tech Mahindra acquires Satyam Computer Serveces. APR 20 The PSLV C12 puts in Orbit Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT2), a surveillanc e satellite procured from Israel and Anusat, built by Anna University, Chennai aft er lift-off from Sriharikota. APR 21 Senior Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla takes over as the 16th Chief

Election Commissioner. V. S. Sampath assumes office a the new Election Commissio ner. APR 29 Four passengers died and 11 other injured after an unidentified person hi jacks a suburban train from near the Central Railway Station and drives it at high speed resulting in head on collision with goods train at Vyasarpadi Jiva Railway Station. India and Israel ink Rs.1200 crore deal to revive ammunition production in Nalan da, Bihar. India and Kuwait sign three pacts for strengthening cooperation in science and technology, education and culture. 47 Indian companies including SBI and Reliance industries make to the list of 20 00 biggest companies of world. India regained Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament after a gap of 13 years defeating Malaysia in the finals. MAY MAY 18 Sensex gains 2110.79 points. For the first time in the history of the sto ck market, the market remains closed for 2 hours because of steep climbing. MAY 25 Cyclone Aila pounds West Bengal MAY 28 Rani Abbaka, the Coast Guards first inshore patrol vessel is launched atVisakhapatnam. MAY 31 Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naiktakes charge as the 19th Chief of In dian Air Force.

JUNE JUN 3 Meira Kumar is lected as the first women Speaker of the Lok Sabha. JUN 6 Protests continued in the Kashmir against the rape and death of two women Nilofar Ahanger and Asiya jan at Shopian on May 29 night.

Vice Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma is named the nations Chief of Naval Staff. Indian Scientists announced the birth of worlds second cloned buffalo named Garima at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. JUN 8 Seven times Member of Parliamint Karia Minda is unanimously elected Deputy

Speaker, Lok Sabha. 35 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

JUN 16 The Maharashtra Government rejects the indictment of the then Mumbai Polic e Commissioner Hasan Gafoor by the Ram Pradhan Committee which probed the 26/11 attack. JUN 18 Central paramilitary forces and the State Armed Police launched offensive against Maoists and the supporters of the Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities in West Bengals Lalgarh area. JUN 20-The Centre launched a round the clock anti-ragging helplinethat can be ac cessed at 1800-180-5522 JUN 21 Satyam Computer Services unveils its new brand identity Mahindra Satyam. JUN 23 Maoists ambush police party and then free Misir Besra, a top ranking lead er in Bihars Lakhisarai district. JUN24 Hans Raj Bharadwaj is appointed Karnataka Governor. Rameshwar Thakur to be

Madhya Pradesh Governor and Devanand Konwar is named Governor of Bihar. JUN 25 Nandan M. Nilkeni is to be Chairperson of the Unique Identification Autho rity · Gopal Subramaniam becomes the new Solicitor General of India JULY JUL 2 In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court strikes down the provision of Section 377 of the IPC, which criminalized consensual sexual acts of adults in private. JUL 3 Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee presents the first Railway budget of the n ew UPA Govt., highlights being Izzat Pass for unorganized sector,Duronto trains and low cost air-conditioned Yuva trains. JUL 9 The toll in the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabads Rakhiyaal area goes up to 105. JUL 18 Margaret Alva is appointed Uttarakhand Governor and Jagannath Pahadia to be Haryana Governor and Syed Sibtey Razi is shifted to Assam. JUL 20 India and the US finalise 3 agreements a military end user pact, the Tech nology Safeguards Agreement and Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement with the visiting of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Supreme Court declines to stay the Delhi High Court judgment declaring the Section 377 of IPC unconstitutional and decriminalizing unnatural sex between co nsenting adults. JUL 22 A longest total solar eclipse of the century lasting 6 minutes and 39 sec onds sweeps across the narrow swathe of Asia. JUL 23 The Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Ajad inaugurates the Kalaignar Insur ance Scheme for Life saying Treatments for One Crore Poor Families in Chennai. Jul 25 The President Pratibha Patil presents the Indira Gandhi International pri ze for Peace Disarmament and development for 2007 to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at

Rashtrapati Bhavan The BSF for the first time inducts 178 women recruits for guarding international

borders at the Kharkhan camp, 150 kms from Chandigarh. Jul 26 The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launches the nations first indigenous nu clear powered submarine INS Arihant for sea trials. JUL 30 The Rajasthan Governor Shailendra Kumar approves the Bill which provides for 5% reservation to Gujjars and three other communities , besides 14 % quota to th e economically backwards classes. 36 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

AUGUST Aug 3 Rida Shaikh becomes the first person to die of swine flu in India. Aug 11 The agrees to abolish the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and work for a n ew set up of the hill district. AUG 19 Jaswant Singh is expelled from the BJP for his book-Jinnah:India, Partitio n Independence.

Eminent Sanskrit poet, author of The Ramayana: A Linguistic Study, Satya Vrat Shastri is presented the 42nd Jnanpith Award by the Princess of Thailand Maha Ch akri Sirindhorn at New Delhi. AUG 24 The Prime Minister Council on Climate Change gives in principle approval fo r the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency. AUG 26 Supreme Court judges agreed to make their assets public. The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act gets Presidential assent. AUG 29 The Indian Space Research Organisation loses radio contact with Chandraya an-1 and the first moon mission ends in ten months instead of its stated life of two years. SEPTEMBER SEP 2 The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy(60) is killed as the helicopter in which he was traveling crashes into Pavurala Gutta, a steep hollock between Atmakur and Rollapenta villages in Kurnool district. SEP 7 Class X Board exams in CBSE schools stand cancelled beginning 2011.

Kanchivaram wins Best Feature Film award Prakash Raj adjudged Best Actor as the 55th National Films Awards 2007 announced. The Best Actress award goes to Ka nnada actorUmashree for her role in Gulabi Talkies. SEP 8 The National Mission for Female Literacy christened Saakshar Bharat Missio n is launched by P.M. SEP 20 Top Maoist leader Kobad Gandhi is arrested. SEP 23 PSLV puts Oceansat-2 and six other foreign nano satellites into orbit. SEP 26 Chhatradhar Mahato, convener of the Maoist backed Police Santrash Birodhi

Janasadharaner Committee is arrested by police near Lalgarh in West Bengal. SEP 30 Veteran playback singer Manna Dey is selected for 2007 Dadasahab Phalke a ward. More than 32 persons on board a boat killed after it capsizes in the Mullaiperiy ar dam in Kerelas Iduki district. The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohammad ElBardei is honoured with the indira Gandhi Prize for Peace and Disarmament and Developme nt 2008. OCTOBER OCT 2 The Union Cabinet renames the National Rural Employment Act after Mahatma Gandhi. Heavy rains lash Karnataka and the pilgrim center town of Mantralayam lies submerged. The Krishna and its tributaries in Andhra Pradesh reach levels not se en in 100 years and Kurnool lies in neck deep water. 37 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

OCT 5 Ganga Dolphin is declared the National Aquatic Animal at the first meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Athaurity. OCT 6 Maoists behead the Jharkhand police inspector Francis Induwar. OCT 12 The Rajasthan High Court stays the new law providing 19% reservation for Gujjars and the newly created economically backward class in the state. OCT 22 The Centre gives nod to a proposal to enhance the quota for woman in urba n local bodies from one-third to 50%. OCT 24 K. Radhakrishnanis appointed the ISRO chairman. OCT 25 Dorjee Khandu is sworn in as Arunachal Pradesh C.M. for second consecutiv e term. OCT 29 At least 4 persons killed and 150 injured in a massive fire at the Indian Oil Corporations fuel depot in the Sitapura industrial area on the outskirts of Jaipu r. OCT 31 P.S. Veeraraghavan takes over as Diretor, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,.

NOVEMBER NOV 11 Cyclone Phyan kills 4 persons and causes massive damage to property in th e coastal districts of Maharashra. NOV 12 N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief The Hindu is chosen for the 2009 K.R.Narayanan Aw ard. NOV 19 Bangladesh Prime Minister Shekh Hasina is chosen for the 2009 Indira Gand hi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. NOV 23 The Centre launches the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. NOV 24 Mumbai gets its brand new anti-terror outfit, Force One with the passing out parade of the first batch. NOV 25 President Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman Head if State to fly abr oad a SU-30 MKI fighter plane. NOV 30 Srikumar Banerjee takes over as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy.

DECEMBER DEC 1 Najam Sethi, the former Editor-in-chief of the Friday Times and Daily Time s , Pakistan is awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedomof the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), during the 62nd World Newspaper Congr ess and 16th World Editors Forum inaugral in Hyderabad. DEC 3 The Cabinet clears the National Green Tribunal Bill.

The Taiwanese film I Cant Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti) directed by Leon Dai bags the prestigious Golden Peacock at the 40th IFFI Celebrated singer Lata Mangeshkar is presented with the Frances highest civilian award Officer of The Legion of Honour. DEC 4 Senior All Parties Hurriat Conference leader Fazal Haq Qureshi, critically injured in an assassination attempt. DEC 10 The Lok Sabha passes the Essential Commodities (Amendment and Validation)

Bill 2009(Suger cane pricing bill). DEC 14 The CBI rules out rape, murder of two women in Shopian on May 29, says it is case of drowning in Rambiara, Nallah near Zawoora Bridge. 38 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

DEC 18 L.K. Advani steps down as the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and b ecomes chairman of the BJPs Parliamentary Party. Sushma Swaraj takes his place. Arun Jai tely renominated Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha post-facto approves the SBI-State Bank of Saurashtra merger. DEC 19 The Gujrat Assembly passes the Gujrat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment),

2009 making voting compulsory in elections to all the local bodies in the State.

DEC 21 A.R. Rehman presented the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Award by Prime Minister in New Delhi. Life Time Achievement Award goes to sitar maestro Pt. Rav i Shankar. DEC 22 India and Bhutan sign four MoUs after a summit with the visiting monarch. New Delhi agrees to fund nearly a quarter of Thimpus Tenth Plan outlay of Rs. 14,800 Crore. DEC 26 The Andhra Pradesh Governor N.D. Tewari resigns in the wake of TY expose.

DEC 28 The Chhattisgarh Governor E.S.L. Narsimhan takes charge of Andhra Pradesh . DEC 30 Lokmanya Tilak award for The Hindu Editor-in-Chief N. Ram. INTERNATIONAL JANUARY JAN 1 Cuba celebrates 50th anniversary of its revolution. JAN 6 Shekh Hasina sworn in as Prime Minister in Bangladesh. JAN 9 The Srilankan Army captures Elephant Pass, a crucial base of the LTTE at t he gateway to Jafna linking peninsula with Wanni. JAN 11 British drector Danny Boyles Slumdog Millionaire based on Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarups novel Q and A emerges big winner at the 66th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calofornia. Composer A.R. Rahman bags best composure ho nours, the first Indian to win the award. JAN 20 Barack Hussain Obama is sworn in the 44th President of US, breaking the c olour barrier. Joe Biden takes oath as the 47th Vice-President. JAN 21 In a rare do-over, Barack Obama is sworn in for the second time as the US

President.

Israel completes troops pull out from the Gaza strip after a three week offensi ve. JAN 23 Japan launches the Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellite, the worlds first sa tellite dedicated to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from Tanegashima, a small islan d. The US authorities approves the first human trials using embryonic stem cells testing a pioneering therapy for stroke patients. FEBRUARY FEB 1 Johanna Sigurdardottir takes over as Icelands first women Prime Minister. FEB 8 Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain wins Grammy in the Contemporary World Music category for his collaborative album Global Drum Project. FEB 11 Awami League loyalist Zillur Rahman is elected Bangladesh President. FEB 14 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia appoints for the first time a woman Noura a l- Fayez, Deputy Minister for girls education

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FEB 16 The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins referendum on scrapping term li mits for elected posts, paving the way for his seeking re-election in 2012 and beyond . FEB 22 Slumdog Millionaire, a small budget British film bags eight Oscars at 81s t Academy Awards Functions in Hollywood including Best Director (Danny Boyle), Original Mu sic Score and Song(A.R. Rahman, the first Indian to win two Oscars), Sound Mixing (R esul Pookutty of Kerela shares it with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke), Best Picture. Smile Pinki, the tale of a little girl with cleft lip, Pinki Sonkar, from Uttar Pradesh gets Oscar for Best Documentary (Short). FEB 25 Fifty persons are killed as Bangladesh Rifles personnel launched an armed

rebelliobn seeking better pay and putting an end to the deputation of Army offic ers to command paramilitary bodyguards. BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmad is taken hostage FEB 27 Bangladesh security forces discover a mass grave of at least 42 massacred Army officers at the Pilkhana Headquarter of the BDR, including Bangladesh Rifles chi ef Major General Shakil Ahmad. MARCH MAR 1 Change-1, Chinas first lunar probe impacts moon ending its 16 month mission.

MAR 2 The President of Guinea-Bissau Jao Bernardo Vieira is assassinated by rene gade soldiers at his place. MAR 4 The International Criminal Court, The Hague, issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Beshir for war crimes and crimes against human ity in Darfur. It is the first by the court against a sitting head of State. MAR 9 Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan (Karuna), former deputy leader of the LTTE, i s sworn in Sri Lankas Minister of National Integration in Colombo, shortly after jo ining ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party. President Barack Obama lifts curbs on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. MAR 12 The former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff is jailed after he pleads to an epic fraud that robbed investors worldwide of billions of dollars. An Iraqi Court hands down a three year jail term to journalist Muntazer Al- Zaidi for hurling shoes at then US President George Bush during a globally telev ised press conference in Baghdad last December. MAR 16 The Pakistan Government agrees to restore the deposed Chief Justice Iftik har Chaudhary. MAR 26 Charles Simonyi becomes the first person to travel twice to space as a to urist. Russian-French mathematician Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov is chosen for the Abel Prize for 2009. MAR 29 Ninety countries take part in Earth Hour 2009, a global event in which landmarks and homes go dark to highlight the threat for climate change. APRIL APR 1 Benzamin Netanyahu assumes office as Israeli Prime Minister APR 2 The G-20 Summit in London pledges $1.1 trillion to boost global economic g rowth. Leaders agree on measures to reform the banking system.

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APR 3 Najib Tun Razak is sworn in as Malaysias sixth Prime Minister. APR 4 France returns to the NATO fold at the 60th anniversary summit of the Orga nisation at Strausborg. Albania and Croatia become new members. Spanish Prime Minister An ders Fogh Rasmussen is named is named the next Secretary General. APR 6 Over 100 people are feared dead and nearly 1200 injured after a powerful earthquake strikes the historic central town of LAquila in the mountainous Abruzo region. APR 13 Sri Lanka de-recognizes Norway as the official facilitator of Peace talks . APR 14 North Korea pulls out of denuclearisation expels IAEA inspectors and US monitors from the Yongbyon nuclear complex. APR 24 India and Poland sign agreements on cooperatin in health care and medicin e and tourism, in the presence of Presidents Pratibha Patil and Lech Kaczynski. APR 30 The six year British Occupation of Iraq ends.

MAY MAY 1-The British government appoints Scottish Poet Carol Ann Duffy, the countrys first woman Poet Laureate. MAY 4 Pushp Kumar Dahal Prachanda resigns as Nepal Prime Minister after the President Ram Baran Yadav asks the Army Chief General Rookmangud Katawal to continue in office. MAY 7 Patxi Lopez assumes office as the first non-nationalist President of the B asque region( Spain). MAY 8 The Pakistam Army launches full scale military action named Operation Rah- e- Rast in the Swat valley to flush out militants. MAY 9 Jacob Zuma assumes office as the forth President of the post aparthied Sout h Africa. MAY 18 The LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is killed in an intense battle wi th Sri Lankan Military at Mullivaikkal in Mullaithivu district bringing an end to the 3 3 month long Ealem War IV. MAY 21 Former British Gorkha soldiers won a major victory after the government a ccepts their demand to settle in Britain. Apa Sherpa of Nepal climbs Mt. Everest for the record 19th time. MAY 23 The former South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun, who was at the center of a multi million dollar corruption probe commits suicide by jumping of a hill . Horst Koehler, the former head of IMF is re-elected German President. MAY 25 Cyclone Aila wreak havoc in Bangladesh. MAY 27 Canadian short story writer Alice Munro wins the £ 60,000 Man Booker International Prize. JUNE JUN 1 All 228 passengers on board an Air France aircraft flying from Rio de Jane iro in Brazil to Paris are killed as the plane crashes into the Atlantic ocean after be ing stuck by lightning. JUN 3 The Organisation of American States decides to lift a 47 year old ban on C uba at the OAS General Assembly meeting in Honduras. 41 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

JUN 11 The WHO declares the swine flu pandemic, the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. JUN 13 Irans President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad secures a landslide victory in preside ntial polls trounching his nearest rival Mir Hosein Mousavi. JUN 16 The first-ever summit of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) at Yekate rinburg, Russia calls for the creation of a more diversified international monetary system and a more democratic and just multipolar world order. JUN 19 Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorses the presidential pole

result and awnts protesters to keep off the streets. JUN 20 13 persons killed in crackdown on protesters in Iran. JUN 25 Pop King Michael Jackson (50) dies at Los Angeles. His entertainment care er hit high water marks with the release of Thriller in 1982. JUN 28 Honduran Army ousts leftists Presindent Manuel Zelaya and exiles him to C osta Rica in Central Americas first military coup since the cold war, hours before a rogue referendum he had called in defiance of the courts and congress. JUN 30 Atleast 152 people on board a Yemeni Airbus jet are killed after the airc raft crashes into the Indian Ocean while trying to land in Comoros Islands.

US forces pull out of Iraqi cities. JULY JUL 2 Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano is elected the new chief of the IAEA. JUL 6 Atleast 184 people are killed and 1000 injured following two days of rioti ng in Urumqi, the capital city of Chinas Muslim majority Xingjiang autonomous region. JUL 7 Obama and Dmitry Medvedev sign a pact that sets a new limit of 1,675 warhe ads after the first Russian American summit in 8 years in Moscow. JUL 9 The G8 and G5 Leaders call for an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round of trade talks through a joint declaration at the G8-G5 Summit at LAquila, Italy. JUL 13 Turkey signs an accord with Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria to bui lt the 3,300 km Nabucco pipeline to supply gas to Europe. JUL 15 The 15th NAM Summit beging at Sharm- el-Sheikh, Egypt.

160 people killed as an Iranian Airliner en route to Armania catches fire mid ai r. 10 members of Irans national Judo team among dead. JUL 20 NASA observes 40th anniversary of first human landing on moon. Myanmar Leader Dang San Suu Kyi is conferred with the Mahatma Gandhi Internation al Award for Peace and Reconciliation at a function in Durban. JUL 25 Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is re-elected. AUGUST AUG 3 Indian social activist Deep Joshi named among the winners of Ramon Magsays ay Awards for 2009. AUG 5 Pakistans most wanted man Beithullah Masood leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban

killed in USA missile strike in South Waziristan tribal area. AUG 6 The new LTTE Chief Selvarasa Pathmanathan is arrested in Malaysia.

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AUG 8 Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in as the US Supreme Courts first Hispanic justic e and third female member in the courts 220 year history. AUG 11 Typhoon Morakot leaves 600 dead in Taiwan. AUG 13 India and ASEAN sign a FTA in Bangkok. AUG 14 President Asif Ali Zardari confers the Sitar-e-Imtiaz (Star of excellence ), Pakistans third highest award posthumously on Indian Parliamentarian Nirmala Deshpandey. AUG 20 The Scottish government frees Abdal Basset al-Megrahi, former Libyan agen t, serving lifer for his role in December 1998 Lockerabie air crash which killed 27 0 passengers, mostly American. AUG 23 Venezuelas Stefania Fernandez(18) crowned Miss Universe in Bahamas. AUG 24 The publisher of the worlds largest circulated magazine Readers Digest file s for bankruptcy protection in US.

SEPTEMBER SEP 1 Fiji is suspended from the Commonwealth for failing to meet a deadline to make progress towards establishing democracy. SEP 3 Iran to have First woman Cabinet Minister after Parliament gives approval for nomination of Marzieh-Vahid Dastjerdi as Heath Minister . SEP 12 Lebanon, an Israeli flim bags the Golden Lion at 66th Venice Film Festiva l. SEP 16 Yukio Hatoyama is appointed as Japans new Prime Minister. SEP 21 The deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returns home and seeks asylu m in Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa

The former US President Jimmy Carter is presented the Mahatma Gandhi Global Non Violence Award in Virginia. SEP 22 Irina Bokova, Bulgarias former Foreign Minister becomes the first woman to head UNESCO. SEP 24 World Powers adopt a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuc lear arms at an unprecedented UN Security Council Summit chaired by Obama. SEP 27 The German Chancellor Angela Merkel wins a second four year term. SEP 29 150 killed as a Tsunami triggered by an earthquake flattens villages in t he South Pacific Islands of Samoa and American Samoa. SEP 30 1,100 killed as earthquake (7.6) hits Indonesias Sumatra Island. Perus Supreme Court sentences former President Alberto Fujimori to six years in jail for wire tapping opponents and paying bribes to law makers during his tenur e from 1990 to 2000. OCTOBER OCT 1 The peoples Republic of China stages the largest ever military display in i ts history as a part of its 60th anniversary celebrations. OCT 2 Marking the International day of Non-Violence, the United Nations releases a stamp on Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his 140th birth anniversary. OCT 3 Ireland votes Yes in a crucial referendum on the contentious Lisbon Treaty designed to streamline the European Union.

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David Coleman Headley, a US citizen is held by the Chicago FBIs Joint Terrorism T ask Force at OHare International Airport for plotting terror attacks in Denmark and I ndia. OCT 5 Americans Elizabeth h. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak win the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres a vital factor in cell ageing. The trio had won the 2006 Lasker Prize for the same work. The Greek Socialist leader George Papandreou trounces the governing Conservative s and is set to form Government. OCT 6 Three Americans Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing fibres-optic cable and the sensor at the heart of digital cameras. British Novelist Hilary Mantels Wolf Hall, a historical novel about the rise of K ing Henery VIIIs adviser Thomas Cromwell wins the 2009 Man Booker Prize. OCT 7 India born American Venkataraman Ramakrishnan and fellow American Thomas Steitz along with the Israeli Ada Yonath share the 2009 Nobel Chemistry prize fo r showing how the ribosomes, which produces protein, functions at the atomic level usung X -ray crystallography. OCT 8 Herta Mueller, a member of Romanias ethnic German minority wins the 2009 Nobel Prize for literature. OCT 9 Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2009. OCT 11 After an 18 hour stand-off, Pakistani Army commandos storm Army Headquart er in Rawalpindi freeing 39 persons taken hostages by militants. OCT 12 Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson win the 2009 Economic Nobel

for their analyses of economic governance. Ostrom is the first woman to win the Economic Nobel. OCT 13 Alyn Ware of New Zealand, Congos Rene Ngongo, David Suzuki of Canada and Catharine Hamlin are named the co-winners of the 2009 Right to Livelihood Award, the so called Alternative Nobel OCT 16 Queen Elizabeth II formally opens the UKs Supreme Court situated in Londons

Parliament Square. It was established on Oct. 1st . OCT 17 The Maldivian Cabinet signs a declaration appealing to global leaders to save their atoll nation from being swamped by rising sea water after a under water meeting in Girifushi near the capital Male. OCT 24 The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposes the setting up of an India Ase an Round Table at the 7th bilateral Summit on the sidelines of the 17th ASEAN Summi t in the Thai resort of Hua Hin. OCT 27 India and Nepal signs a historicnew treaty to control illegal trade across the border. OCT 28 Massive bomb blast near the historic Kissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar in Pakistan. OCT 29 President Pratibha Patil receives the Queens Baton from Britains Queen at t he Buckingham Palace as India formally takes charge of the 2010 XIX Commnwealth Gam es New Delhi. Egypt offers to allow India to set up an India Zone along the Suez Canal Development Area. Chinas fastest Super Computer Tianhe (Milky Way) is unveiled. NOVEMBER 44 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

NOV 6 The un General Assembly endorses the 575 page report by South African juri st, Richard Goldstone that focuses on alleged war crimes during this 22 day Gaza con flict early this year. NOV 10 Russia honours Mikhail Kalashnikov, father of the worlds most famous gun A K 47 with the countrys highest award , Hero of Russia NOV 12 Sri Lankas Chief of Defence Staff Sarath Fonseka resigns. NOV 19 The Supreme Court of Bangladesh upholds death sentence for the August 15, 1975 assassination of the nations founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Belgian Prime Minister Herman Von Rompuy is elected the first European Council President and Britains Catherine Ashton is named the 27 member bodys High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. NOV 20 The Big Bang machine or the Large Hadron Collider, the worlds largest atom

smasher, starts operating again 14 months after a technical snag caused one tonn e of helium to leak into the 27 km long that houses it. NOV 24 India a rising and responsible global power, says the US President Barack Obama after the summit meeting with PM Manmohan Singh. Acknowledges Indias status

as nuclear power. NOV 25 Indian PM and the US President announce the launch of the India-US Counterterrorism Cooperation Iniative. Dubai World, the fulcrum of the United Arab Emirates economy asks for a standstill agreement to delay repayment by six months on most of its $59 billion o f debt. NOV 27 The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting opens in the Trinidad capita l Post of Spain. NOV 28 The National Reconciliation Order (NRO) under which Pakistan President As if Ali Zardari and others got amnesty from corruption charges against them lapses. NOV 29 Jose Mujica, the former leftist Tupamaro guirrilla fighter is elected Uru guay President. NOV 30 Porfirio pepe Lebo is elected Honduras President.

DECEMBER DEC 7 India and Russia sign the civil nuclear cooperation pact 3.0 that is free from any curbs on New Delhi and guarantees against restriction in the future. Two sides s ign six pacts, including three in the military sphere. Bolivian President Evo Morales wins landslide victory in general elections seeki ng second term. The UN Climate Change Conference 2009 of 194 nations opens at Copenhagen, Denmark. DEC 8 British billionaire Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceshipT wo, a commercial spaceship. DEC 12 Gibralters Kaiane Aldorino is crowned Miss World 2009 at glittering ceremo ny in Johannesburg. DEC 14 African nations walk out of the UN climate change talks against efforts b y rich nations to kill Kyoto.

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DEC 15 Boeings revolutionary lightweight passenger jet 787 Dreamliner made mostly of composite materials take to the skies for the first time around Puget Sound and inland Washington state. DEC 16 Pakistan Supreme Court declares the National Reconciliation Order null an d void and orders reinitiation of proceedings against the accused acquitted under the c ontroversial law. DEC 24 Rajiv Shah to be the USAID chief. DEC 31 Reena Kaushal is the first Indian woman to ski to the South Pole.

Mota Singh, Britains first Asian judge is knighted. OBITUARY APRIL 9 Raja J. Chelliah :Economist APRIL 9 Shakti Samant : Noted Hindi Film Maker. APRIL 21 : Iqbal Bano : India born Pakistani classic and ghazal singer. MAY 2 - K. Balaji : Tamil actor and producer MAY 3 - B. Rajam Iyer : Scholar and Misician MAY 31 - Prakash Mehra :Hindi film producer and director JUNE 8 -Habib Tanvir - Noted playwriter and Theatre director JUNE 19 - Ustad Ali Akbar Khan : Siter Maestro JULY 1 - Tyeb Mehta :Renowned Painter JULY 8 - Syed Abdullah Bukhari : Former Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid. JULY 11 Ji Xianlin : Chinese Indologist JULY 13 - Nilu Phule : Marathi stage and cinema actor. JULY 16 Damal Krishnaswami Pattamal : Indian classical music JULY 21 - Gangubai Hangal : Hindustani classical music of Kirana Gharana JULY 29 - Gayatri Devi : Queen Mother of Jaipur, Founder of Swatantra Party. AUGUST 18 Kim Dae Jung :Former South Korean President and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2000. SEPTEMBER 12 Norman Borlaug : Agriculture scientist and central figure of green revolution. Jack Kramer : American tennis great of 1940s. Rajsingh Dungarpur : Former BCCI President and Chairman of selectors. SEPTEMBER 14 Patrick Swayze : US actor known for his roles in Dirty Dancing, Gho st OCTOBER 10 Stephen Gately :Boyzone singer. OCTOBER 14 Krishna Chandra Pal : member of Indias famed 1956 Olympic football team. OCTOBER 30 Claude Levi Strauss :Renowned French Anthropologist NOVEMBER 5 Prabhash Joshi : Eminent Hindi Journalist and founder editor of Jansatta. NOVEMBER 10 Robert Enke :German Goalkeeper, commits suicide. DECEMBER 6 Bina Rai : Bollywood Actress. DECEMBER 10 Dilip Chitre : Poet and Film Maker. DECEMBER 13 - Paul Anthony Samuelson : Economist T.S. Satyan : Renowned Photojournalist DECEMBER 20 - Brittany Murphy : Hollywood actor DECEMBER 30 Vishnuvardhan : Kannada actor 46 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM SPORTS FEBRUARY 1 Mahesh Bhupati and Sania Mirja became the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam Mixed Double title when they clinched Australian Open. MARCH 6 Honda announces the sale of lts Formula One team to Ross Brawn. The new outfit is called is Brawn GP. MARCH 11 Virender Sehwag scores Indias fastest ODI hundred against host New Zealand. APRIL 7 Chitra Mgimairaj finishes runner up in the WLBSA World ladies billiards championship at Cambridge. APRIL 10 Gagan Narang wins the bronze medal in the Mens 10 m air rifle event of t he first ISSF World Cup of the year in Chongwon, Korea. APRIL 12 India wins Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament with a 3-1 victory o ver host Malaysia in the final. APRIL 23 French swimmer Alain Bernard breaks the 100 m freestyle world record at the French Championship at Montpellier, setting a new time of 46.94 seconds . MAY 6 Wang Ho and ZhangYining of China win the mens and womens singles title at th e World Table Tennis Championship at Yakohama. MAY 24 Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguli wins the Asian Chess Championship at Phillipines. MAY 25 Deccan Chargers wins IPL season II at the Wanderers. MAY 26 Sayali Gokhale wins the womens single title at the Spanish Open Badminton Championship in Madrid beating Lianne Tan of Belgium. MAY 29 Barcelona beats Manchester United in the final to lift the Champion Leagu e Title at Rome. JUNE 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova defeats Dinara Safin to win French Open title. JUNE 8 Roger Federer wins his first French Open Title.

Indias Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic win the French Open Mens double title. JUNE 14 Boxer Suranjoy Singh wins Gold in Asian Championship in Zhuhai, China. JUNE 15 Goa beats Bengal to win 63rd Santosh Trophy in Chennai. JUNE 21 Pakistan wins Twenty20 World Cup beating Sri Lanka in final at Lords in London. Saina Nehwal becomes the first Indian to win a Super Series Tournament with her triumph over Chinese Lin Wang in the Indonesian Open at Jakarta. Indian womens hockey team wins the Champion Challenge for women in Kazan, Russia. JULY 5 Roger Federer wins record 15th Grand Slam title by winning at Wimbledon. Serena Williams wins the womens title and along with Venus claims the womens doubl e crown. JULY 11 Squash player Joshna Chinappa wins the third WISPA title of her career i n Kuala Lumpur. JULY 19 GM Arun Prasad becomes the first Indian to claim the title in the 116 ye ar history of the Scottish Chess Championship in Edinburgh. JULY 26 Alberto Contador wraps up his second Tour de France title GM Parimarjan Negi wins the Politiken Chess title at Copenhagen 47 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

JULY 29 Union Government announces Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards to Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Vijender Singh (Boxing) and M.C. Mary Kom (Boxing). AUGUST 16 Usain Bolt breaks his world record in the 100 m event as he clocks 9.5 4s at the World Championship in Berlin. AUGUST 20 Usain Bolt breaks the world record, clocking 19.19s in the 200m event in the World Championship. AUGUST 23 Bekele becomes the first athlete to win the 5000m and 10000m crowns at the World Championship.

England claims Ashes by defeating Australia. AUGUST 28 GM Parimarjan Negi clinches the prestigious Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open Chess title in Kuala Lumpur. AUGUST 30 Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari wins the Belgian Grand Prix and Force India picks up its first points as Giancarlo Fisichella finishes second. AUGUST 31 India defeats Syria to win the Nehru Cup SEPTEMBER 7 Pankaj Advani wins his maiden World Professional Billiards title bea ting Mike Russel in finals at Leeds. SEPTEMBER 11 Vijender Singh wins the 75 kg bronze at the World Boxing Championships in Milan, Indias first ever medal at the event. Leander Paes and Cara Black finish runner up in the US Open Mixed doubles losing to Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrot in the final. SEPTEMBER 12 Churchill Brothers beats Mohun Bagan to win its maiden IFA Shield crown in Kolkata SEPTEMBER 13 Kim Clijsters wins US Open womens Single title. Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy wins the Mens Doubles of US Open. SEPTEMBER 14 Juan Martin Del Potro wins mens Single Title of US Open. Venus and Serena Williams win the womens Doubles of US Open. SEPTEMBER 20 India enters the Davis Cup World Group after eleven years beating South Africa in the play off at Johannesburg. SEPTEMBER 22 Churchill Brothers bags the Durand Cup football title in New Delhi.

SEPTEMBER 30 Pankaj Advani wins his third straight National Billiards Title at A gra. OCTOBER 1 Gautam Gambhir wins the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year Award Mahendra Singh Dhoni wins the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award. Mitchell Johnson is named the Cricketer of the year. OCTOBER 2 Rio de Janeiro wins the bid to host 2016 Olympics. OCTOBER 4 Pankaj Advani and Meenal Thakur win the Mens and Womens titles respectively in the National Snooker Championship in Agra. OCTOBER 5 Rest of India lifts the Irani Cup Trophy in Nagpur. OCTOBER 10 Karnataka wins the National Aquatics Championship for the 18th consecutive year at Thiruvananthpuram. OCTOBER 11 C.Muniyappa wins the Indian Open Golf Tournament at Gurgaon. OCTOBER 18 Jenson Button wins the Formula One World Championship in Sao Paulo (Brazil). OCTOBER 23 New South Wales Blues wins the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament in Hyderabad. OCTOBER 29 Jeev Milkha Singh becomes the first Indian Golfer to tee off at the W orld Matchplay Championship at Casares (Spain) and defeats world No. 5, Lee Westwood.

DECEMBER 2 Argentina,s Lionnel Messi wins Golden Ball as well as the FIFA Player of the year award. 48 HTTP://WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

DECEMBER 3 Virender Sehwag scores second fastest double hundred ever in the thir d and final test against Sri Lanka. It was Sehwags sixth double century, the most b y an Indian. DECEMBER Spain retains Davis Cup defeating Czech Republic in the finals in Barce lona. DECEMBER 6 Indias V.Diju and Jwala Gutta loses in the finals of the BWF World Sup er Series Badminton Tournament in Johor Bahru.

Indian cricket team reaches No. 1 status in ICC Test ranking. DECEMBER 15 Boris Gelfand of Israel wins the Chess World in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. DECEMBER 20 Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal win the Mens and Womens singles title in the Jaypee Cup Syed Modi International Grand Prix Badminton tournament in Luc know. Saurav Goshal and Joshna Chinappa win the Mens and Womens Title in the Kingfisher 57th National Squash Championship in Delhi. Indian Wrestlers make a clean sweep of all the 7 gold medals in the Mens Freestyle competition of the Commonwealth wrestling in Jalandhar. DECEMBER 26 Ashutosh Singh and Ankita Raina of Gujrat lift the Mens and Womens titles of the National Grass Court Tennis Championship in Kolkata. 49