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Current Affairs September, 2012

2012-13 2 Current Affairs

1. Sanjay Mitra appointed as new Chief Secretary of West Bengal

Sanjay Mitra was appointed as the new Chief Secretary of West Bengal on 30 September 2012. An IAS officer from 1982 batch, Mitra who was serving as the Principal Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department took over the office from Samar Ghosh at the State Secretariat. 2. Punjab Government started a massive door-to-door Cancer Detection Campaign

The biggest door-to-door campaign to detect cancer at early stage was launched on 30 September 2012 by the Punjab Government The Pilot trial of the project will start in Faridkot district of Punjab from October 2012 for a complete month and will be implemented across the state in December 2012. The Cancer detection survey involving fifty thousand personnel aims at detecting the cancer at its initial stage in a population of over 1.25 crore. The Chief Minister of Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal declared during his high level meet of senior officials of World Health organization, departments of health and family welfare and medical education and research and more organizations about the official launch of the project. He also emphasized on the fact that he will not allow scarcity of funds to effect this prestigious campaign.

3. Tunnel joining the Amber Palace and Jaigarh Fort unveiled for Tourists The tunnel that connects the two monuments of historical importance Amber Palace and Jaigarh Fort in the capital city Jaipur of Rajasthan was inaugurated on 30 September 2012 by

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the Diya Kumari of Jaipur Royal Family and former Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak. The tunnel is now open for the tourists as well as the historians. To excavate the tunnels joining the Jaigarh Fort and the Amber palace the Jaigarh Public Charitable Trust and the State government‘s Archaeology & Museums Department have entered into an agreement by singing a contract of public- private partnership. It‘s believed the tunnels of the fort were constructed during eighteenth century for managing the evacuation task of the then royal family and the nobleman, under situations of unfortunate attack by enemies.

4. Shadman Chowk renamed as Bhagat Singh Chowk in Lahore Bhagat Singh Chowk: Is the new name of Shadman Chowk located in the Eastern City of Lahore (Pakistan) The Shadman Chowk in the eastern city of Lahore (Pakistan) on 29 September 2012 was renamed as Bhagat Singh Chowk on the 105th birth anniversary of the revolutionary freedom fighter and martyr, Bhagat Singh. This came up in result of the demand from the peace activists for renaming the Chowk by the name of Bhagat Singh. Noorul Amin Mengal, the District Coordination Officer directed the City District Government to rename Shadman Chowk as Bhagat Singh Chowk. It was Shadman Chowk roundabout, where Bhagat Singh along with his two companions Sukhdev Singh and Rajguru were hanged on 23 March 1931 in the Lahore Jail for their alleged involvement in the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Till 1947, the Chowk was named after the name of Bhagat Singh, later it was renamed to be Shadman Chowk. Bhagat Singh

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Bhagat Singh born of 28 September 1907 and hanged on 23 March 1931 was one of the greatest martyrs of the Indian Freedom Struggle against the British Empire. He has been termed as the most influential revolutionists of his time in the Indian History. Referred to be a Saheed, Bhagat singh as a teenager studied the revolutionary movements of European Countries and was attracted towards the Marxists and Anarchist thoughts. Some of the revolutionary acts of Bhagat Singh 1. Killed the then Assistant Superintendent of Police John P. Saunders in a plot to kill the Superintendent of Police James A. Scott 2. In 1915, when the British Government planned to implement the Defence India Act, 1915 Bhagat Singh along with Batukeshwar Dutt threw 2 bombs in the visitor‘s gallery of the Central Legislative Hall shouting Inquilab Zindabad and showered leaflets to with slogans against the Public Safety and Trades Dispute Bills. Both surrendered themselves in the hands of British police claiming the incident was intentional (this act was done in the influence of the news about the French anarchist who threw a bomb in the French Chamber of Deputies) Hunger strike and Lahore conspiracy case: 1. He along with few more revolutionaries went on a hunger strike of 116 days to protest against the inequalities, which were being done against the Indian Prisoners to that of the British Prisoners in the jail premises. 2. On 7 October 1930, a three hundred page judgment by the tribunal that he faced along with the duo Rajguru and Sukhdev declared their sentence of being hanged till death in the Lahore Conspiracy Case 3. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, the trio were hanged on 24 March 1931 few hours before the original time decided

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on the Shadman Chowk again renamed as Bhagat Singh Chowk in Lahore. Bhagat Singh‘s Dairy and Pamphlet: 1. During his term in jail and by the time he was hanged, the martyr who had the habit of maintaining a dairy wrote 404 pages. Views from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were the prominent ones available in the dairy. 2. In the prison he also wrote a small pamphlet with title Why I am an Atheist.

5. Dalmia Cement Bharat acquired Meghalaya based Adhunik Cement Meghalaya based Adhunik Cement on 28 September 2012 was acquired by the Dalmia Cement Bharat for Rs. 560 crore. The Adhunik Cement have a control over ten percent of the market shares in the North-East, with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. Dalmia Cement in January 2012, acquired fifty percent stake of the Assam based Calcom Cement for Rs. 238 crore. Dalmia cement is a subsidiary venture of Dalmia Bharat Enterprises and a leading player of the domestic market in India.

6. Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia retired The Chief Justice of India Sarosh Homi Kapadia, retired on 28 September 2012 from the post after serving the Supreme Court for two and a half years. Justice Kapadia, who turned up to be 65 years in age sworn in as the thirty-eighth CJI and served the Supreme Court from 12 May 2010 and retired, on 28 September 2012. While holding the office as a judge for a period of 22 years, Justice Kapadia never took a leave. After his retirement, Justice Altamas Kabir took over the job as the Chief Justice of India from 29 September 2012. The Chief

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Justice of India sworn-in to the post by the name of God by the president of India. His appointment to the position is mentioned in article 124 of the Indian Constitution. The chief Justice of India also acts as the acting President of the nation in case the office of the President falls vacant due to any reason like his death, resignation or removal via impeachment and the Vice-President is not available to take on the charge of the acting president. The only Chief Justice, who has served as the acting President of India Sir Mohammad Hidayatullah, who served the nation as eleventh CJI (17 December 1905 - 18 September 1992) has also served as the acting President of India being an ex-officio CJI from 20 July 1969 to 24 August 1969, after Dr. Zakir Hussain died as a president in office and the then Vice-President V.V. Giri resigned from the post of acting President to participate in the Presidential Election.

7. Altamas Kabir sworn-in as 39th Chief Justice of India Justice Altamas Kabir on 29 September 2012 was sworn-in as the new chief justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee. He took over the office from Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, who retired after serving the Supreme Court for two and a half year. 64 year old Altamas Kabir will be in the office for a period of nine months, from 29 September 2012 to 18 July 2013. His oath ceremony was conducted at the ceremony held at Ashoka Hall of Rastrapati Bhawan. At the swearing ceremony some of the dignitaries present were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari, working Chairperson of NDA L.K. Advani, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD leader Lalu Yadav along with several Union Ministers. About Justice Altamas Kabir

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Justice Altamas Kabir was appointed as the Judge of Supreme Court on 9 September 2005 and is known for some of the landmark judgments related to election laws and human rights. He pursued his MA in LLB from University of Calcutta and started his career as a practitioner in civil and criminal cases in the year 1973 at District court of Calcutta. Altamas Kabir was first time appointed as a permanent judge in the Calcutta high Court on 6 August 1990 and has served the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court. Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Indian Constitution and Article 124 to 147 states about the composition of Supreme Court of India. Supreme Court of India consists of one Chief Justice and 31 judges. The bench that comprises 2 or 3 judges is termed as a Division Bench and the one that consists of five or more judges is termed to be a Constitutional Bench. Tenure and qualification of Judges in Supreme Court President appoints the judges of the Supreme Court and the retirement age of these judges is 65. For being a judge or chief justice of a Supreme Court one must fulfill the following qualifications: 1. He must be an Indian Citizen 2. Should have served the High Court as its Judge for at least 5 years 3. He should have served the high court as its advocate for a period of 10 years In case their occurs a vacancy in the CJI office due to any reason, the president appoints the acting Chief Justice as the Chief Justice of India from amongst the judges of the Supreme Court. The salaries and other allowances of the Judges in India are charged from the Consolidated Fund of India. At present the salary structure is:

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1. Chief Justice of Supreme Court- Rs...... 1 Lakh 2. Other Judges of SC: Rs...... 90,000 Removal of Judges The Judge can be removed from India on certain ground that includes incapacity to hold the office or proven misbehavior. They can be removed only after the resolution of both the houses of Indian Parliament that is supported by the majority of two-third of the members voting and present. The two judges against whom the proceeding was initiated: 1. V Ramaswami in 1993 was the first judge against whom the proceedings were initiated. 2. Soumitra Sen in 2011 was the second judge against whom these proceedings were initiated

8. India successfully launched its Heaviest Satellite GSAT- 10 The advanced communication satellite GSAT-10 of India was successfully launched on 28 September 2012 on board Ariane-5 rocket from European spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket placed GSAT-10 in the elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) within 30 minutes and 45 seconds of its launch from the French station just after injecting the European co-passenger ASTRA-2F in the orbit. IGSAT-10 is the 101st space mission for ISRO is a Rs.750 crore project that includes development of the satellite along with its launch from the European launching station. The 3400 kg lift- off is the heaviest satellite built by the Indian Space Research Organization headquartered at Bangalore. Designed with a life span of 15 years the satellite will expand Indian radio- navigation, direct-to-home broadcasting and telecommunication services to the next level.

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Soon after successful injection of the satellite in the space, the command of control was taken by the ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka. K Radhakrishnan, chairman of ISRO declared that the satellite will come into operation from November 2012 for being used by the general community. 9. Delhi CM, Sheila Dikshit green signaled the Ladies Special Buses Delhi Transport Corporation green signaled Ladies‘ Special Buses with women conductors on 27 September 2012 from 11 different points across the city. Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit flagged off the bus from Delhi Secretariat. All this has been done to ensure safe and comfortable journey for the ladies during the peak office hours in the city. These buses will be operating to and from different locations of the city that includes: 1. Inder Puri to Delhi Secretariat 2. Dwarka More Metro Station to Nehru Place Terminal 3. Uttam Nagar Terminal to Sarai Kale Khan ISBT 4. Ambedkar Nagar Terminal to Rajendra Place 5. Uttam Nagar Terminal to Nehru Place Terminal 6. Rohini Sector 22 to Connaught Place 7. Shahdara to R.K. Puram 8. adhu Vihar Dwarka to CGO Complex 9. Kapashera Border to Mori Gate Terminal 10. Nangloi Syed to Delhi Secretariat 11. Mehrauli to Old Delhi Railway Station Chief Minister Delhi informed that the number of buses will increase in accordance to the frequency of the commuters in the near future.

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10. India's first National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra died The first National Security Advisor of India, Brajesh Mishra died on 28 September 2012 at New Delhi after suffering from a heart ailment. Mishra (84) played a pivotal role in making of the foreign policies during the NDA regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was a trouble shooter to him. Brajesh Mishra Son of the former congress Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, late Dwarka Prasad Mishra and one of the titans among the Indian diplomats, had several credentials in his account like: 1. He was Indian permanent representative to Geneva 2. Had been Indian ambassador to Indonesia 3. From June 1979 to April 1981, he was Indian permanent representative to United Nations, where he continued till June 1987 on deputation 4. He was a member of Bhartiya Janata Party from April 1991 to March 1998 5. Was the principal secretary to former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee from November 1998 to 23 May 2004

It was under his series of guidance related to foreign policies and the security exercises that motivated the NDA government to practice Pokharan-2. His strategic planning to involve US on the strategic dialogue involved Vajpayee‘s bus journey to Pakistan.

11. Jaideep Sarkar appointed as the new envoy to Israel Jaideep Sarkar on 27 September 2012 was appointed as the new Indian Ambassador to Israel. The IITian and diplomat, is a private secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a joint

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secretary of external affairs ministry, has replaced Navtej Sarna, the former ministry spokesperson.

12. Mars Curiosity Rover found the evidence of waist-deep flowing stream on the Planet

Scientists at NASA on 27 September 2012 announced that the Mars Curiosity Rover has discovered stream bed gravel, which hints towards the presence of waist-deep water on the surface of Mars in the past. The co-investigator of Curiosity Science, William Dietrich from University of California, Berkeley stated that for the first time water transported gravel was seen on Mars. Rebecca Williams a scientist at Curiosity Rover stated that the shape of these gravels proves that they have been transported by some means but its size proves that it can‘t be transported by the wind or some other medium of erosion. The findings of the scientists following the proofs provided by the cameras of the curiosity rover indicate that once upon a time the dry planet Mars was once wet with the presence of water that followed their for millions or thousands of years. Scientists at NASA concluded that rover‘s central goal was to identify a potentially habitable site on Mars and till now it succeeded in achieving it. Some proofs related to presence of flowing water near by the landing site of rover, the Gale Crater were determined by the presence of pebbles and gravels in the area.

13. Former Navy Chief Nirmal Verma appointed as Indian envoy to Canada Nirmal Verma, the former navy chief on 27 September 2012 was appointed as India‘s high commissioner to Canada. His appointment to the post happened on the recommendation of

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the PMO to the president, who cleared his name for the vacancy. Admiral Verma, will soon leave for Ottawa to join the office because Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s visit is scheduled to India in the near future.

14.Election Commission prohibited use of animals in Election Campaigns The Election commission on 27 September 2012 directed the Political Parties and candidates not to use birds and animals in the campaigns. The commission also directed that in case the use of animal is unavoidable then the party or candidate will have to ensure that no harm is caused to the animal including violation of any law as well as cruelty towards the creature. To justify the decision the commission pointed towards Article 51(g) of the Indian Constitution that states compassion for all living creature as well as Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960. The commission also pointed towards the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 that prohibits overloading and torturing of the animals. The Election Commission has also sent letters to the political parties as well as the Chief Electoral Officers of every state and union territories. The decision was made following the representations received by the election commission by some organization and individual stating the cruelty that animals suffered during the election campaign of the political parties.

15. SC: There are alternative ways for allocation of Natural Resources The Supreme Court in its verdict for routing of the allocation of Natural Resources on 27 September 2012 directed that the Auction being a preferable method for allotment of the natural

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resources can‘t be turned up to be a constitutional limitation or requirement. The Supreme Court passed the statement in relation to the 2 G Presidential Reference in form of its advisory opinion. The Supreme Court bench of five judges comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices D.K. Jain, Dipak Misra, J.S. Khehar and Ranjan Gogoi in its statement declared that auctioning is one of the several methods that can be used in distribution of natural resources. The bench also stated that it is the government, who is responsible to decide the ways of distribution with concerns of common good. Tata Group got an extension to manage the Taj Mansingh for another year In a meeting held on 27 September 2012 in between the NDMC Chairperson, Archna Arora and Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, the decision was made that the New Delhi Municipal Council‘s Taj Mansingh Property will be managed by the Indian Hotels Company (IHC) for another one year. The property has been managed by the Indian Hotels Company for past 34 years and its lease to manage the property was about to expire this year. Within this period council will search for new operators by conducting open auctions. The IHC that is owned by the Tata group will have the Right of First Refusal during the auction. The deal will continue for a period of one year or till the time the auctioning come into being, which so ever comes first. All this has been done for revenue maximization by the civic body.

Earlier, the civic body had appointed consulting firm Ernst & Young to determine the valuation of the property and explore other options such as finding another partner or even auctioning the landmark hotel.

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16. Sandeep Patil appointed as the Chief for BCCI Senior Selection Committee Former Cricketer and all-rounder, Sandeep Patil was appointed as the Chairman of the five member senior selection committee of BCCI on 27 September 2012. The other four members of the committee include Saba Karim, Roger Binny, Vikram Rathour and Rajinder Singh Hans. The four members of the previous panel that was headed by K. Srikkanth departed from the office after completion of their four years tenure. Mohinder Amarnath, the selector from North Zone departed from his office after serving the selection panel for one year of his tenure. About Sandeep Patil 1. Has served the Kenyan national team as a coach that managed to reach the semi-finals of the world cup in 2003 2. The former Indian Cricketer was a middle order hard- hitting batsman and a medium-pace bowler 3. He served Mumbai Champs in Indian Cricket League as its coach 4. Currently serving the National Cricket Academy as its director

17. US, India and Afghanistan held its First Trilateral Discussion US, India and Afghanistan held its first ever trilateral meeting on 25 September 2012. The major point of discussion was on the situation in Afghanistan along with the issue of terrorism.

The discussion marks the strengthening of Afghanistan relation with India and US who are totally behind the vision of a secure, peaceful, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan living in peace, security, friendship and cooperation with its region and the wider world.

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The meeting was held at the Afghan Mission in New York and was attended by Joint Secretary (Pakistan/Afghanistan/Iran) Y K Sinha and Joint Secretary (America) Jawed Ashraf from the Indian side, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman and Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake.

The discussions also mark the beginning of a series of consultations among the three governments, who share common interests across South and Central Asia and who have pledged to work together on common challenges and opportunities including combating terrorism and violent extremism, reviewing cultural exchanges and increasing regional trade, investment and economic integration.

18.The earthquakes of Indian Ocean is a Signal to Tectonic disintegration The simultaneous earthquakes seen in past few years in the Indian Ocean may be a cause of breaking up of the Tectonic Plate for the formation of a new plate boundary within the earth surface. Keith Koper, from University of Utah Seismograph Station, states that the earthquakes with magnitude-8 in two hour in April 2012 created at least four faults within the earth‘s Indo Australian plate. The geological stress that split the Indo-Australian plates were caused due to the massive quakes with magnitude-8.6 and 8.2 within 2 hours on 11 April 2012 and its after effects were felt in form of small and big shocks for continuous six days. These

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earth quakes are being considered as the latest step towards the formation of the new boundary plates. It‘s suspected by the seismologists that the process of disintegration of the Indo-Australian plates has been in process since 1980‘s. As per Matthias Delescluse, a geophysicist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris the earthquakes witnessed on 11 April 2012 was one of its kinds and was the most spectacular example of the change process. He considers it to be one of the clearest examples of the formation of plate boundaries. The available theories that speak about plate-tectonics hints that the internal deformation of the Indo-Australian plate started at least 10 million years ago. The theories elaborate that the northward movement of the plates nearby India that was crunched against the Eurasian Plate thrusted Himalayas above by slowing down India. The science fraternity suspects that the Australian portion, which was forged before by the twisting tensions is responsible for the split being caused in the plates in the Indian Ocean. As per the findings of Delescluse and his team, they inferred the presence of seismic stress zones using modeling changes of stress shortly before the earthquakes happened in the year 2012. Their findings signal that the 2012 earthquakes were triggered during the earthquakes of the year 2004 with magnitude-9.1 that caused the tsunami in Indian Ocean and the one felt in the year 2005.

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19. Farmers moved to Supreme Court Challenging the Release of Water Farmers of Karnataka moved to the Supreme Court on 25 September 2012 challenging the direction given to the state by the Union Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh who is the head of Cauvery River Authority (CRA) to release 9000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from September 20- October 15.

The reason was drastically failure of monsoon in the last year which has affected the agriculture of Karnataka severely.

The farmers had given a writ petition mentioning that due to failure of monsoon to the extent of 40 percent, drought had severely affected almost half of the agricultural activities in the Cauvery basin of Karnataka.

The Petitioner mentioned that the demand of Tamil Nadu seeking water from Karnataka was uncalled for because Farmers in Tamil Nadu is going to get enough water during the North-East monsoon beginning in October and ending in December.

They had also mentioned that the crops can be grown with the help of rain received during the North-East monsoon. As also the storage in Mettur Dam was 45 tmcft, Tamil Nadu farmers are not in need of water as it is going to be sufficient for them till November. 20. Radical Focus Later Camera will be available soon in the market Radical camera with a facility to adjust the focus later will be available from October 2012 in the markets of Canada,

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Australia, Hong-Kong, Singapore and United States. The camera with its unique feature to adjust the focus after clicking the picture is termed as Lytro and is a creation of Ren Ng. The telescope shaped camera is based on Light Field Technology and the implemented technology allows the focal point of the digital image to be changed even after taking the picture. Lytro calls this technology as Shoot Now, Focus Later. The powerful sensors attached to this camera allows it to capture more light than that of the conventional camera as a result of which focus of the taken photograph can be shifted to the desirable location. It was when; Ren Ng was studying his doctorate in computer science at Stanford University in California, he started up with his work on this camera.

21. India Malaysia to achieve a target trade of USD 15 Million India is going to expand bilateral trade with Malaysia to $15 billion by 2013 from $13 billion in 2011-12 as per the discussion in India- Malaysia CEO Forum.

It was informed by Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Anand Shrama that India‘s bilateral trade with Malaysia stood at nearly $13 billion in 2011-12 registering a growth of 34% over the previous year.

In his visit to Malaysia in July 2010 and February 2011 Anand Sharma analysed that it was required an investment from Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Government of Malaysia`s strategic investment fund) into Indian infrastructure sector through a collaborative venture with IDFC.

The Union minister, Anand Sharma has identified priority

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sectors of engagement including Roads & highways, Railways, Airports, IT &ITES, Biotechnology, Tourism, Health Services and JV projects in third countries. Subsequently, the two countries have entered into a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement which was signed in February 2011. The signing of this Agreement has provided considerable momentum to trade and investment on both sides.

22. CSIR announced Fellowship program for Scientists aged above 70 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on its 70th Foundation Day celebration on 26 September 2012 greeted the scientists aged above 70 years with research fellowships. The fellowship will offer a sum of Rs 20 lakh per year for continuous 5 years to scientists who will guide students and publish research papers. A scientist who has won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award is eligible for the fellowship program. Samir Brahmachari the Director-General of CSIR said that advantage of the services of scientists, who remain active even after the age of 70 years, should be taken. At present there are about 10 scientists who are eligible for the fellowship program. On the 70th Anniversary of CSIR Dr. Brahmachari also announced the names of scientists who have won Swarup Bhatnagar Award 2012. The name includes: 1. Suman Kumar Dhar of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (Biological Sciences) 2. Shantanu Chowdhury of the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology 3. Ravi Shankar Narayanan of the Indian Institute of Science 4. Govindasamy Mugesh of the Indian Institute of Science

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5. Gangadhar J. Sanjayan of the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (Chemical Sciences) 6. Sandip Basu of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Medical Sciences) 7. Shanti Pavan of the IIT, Madras (Engineering Sciences) 8. Siva Ramachandran Athreya of the Indian Statistical Institute (Mathematical Sciences) 9. Arindam Ghosh of the Indian Institute of Science 10. Debashish Goswami of the Indian Statistical Institute (Mathematical Sciences) 11. Krishendu Sengupta of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (Physical Sciences)

23. Justice Murugesan became the new chief Justice of Delhi Court Justice Darmar Murugesan, the former judge of the Madras High Court, on 26 September 2012 sworn in as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Lt. Gov. Tejendra Khanna.

He replaced the acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri, who was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Murugesan was born on June 10, 1951. He was appointed as Judge of the Madras High Court on March 2, 2000, and as Permanent Judge on June 13, 2001. He is going to have a brief tenure of nine months as Chief Justice.

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24. Service Tax on high-end class travel, freight and auxiliary service rail fares The new Railway Minister C.P. Joshi and the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in their meeting held on 26 September 2012 came up with the decision to regulate service taxes on high- end passenger classes like AC along with freight and auxiliary services provided by the railways. The taxation will be in effect from 1 October 2012. Implementation of the taxes will help the exchequer in generating estimated revenue of Rs 3100 Crore annually. Percentage increase in the fair chart for different segments is as follows: • First Class - 7 percent • Air-conditioned - 3.708 percent • Freight charges - 3.708 per cent • Auxiliary services at stations – 12.36 percent • The fair for high-end passengers have been increased by 30 percent Busy route surcharge during busy season of maximum 10 percent varying from commodity to commodity on freight will also come on effect from 1 October 2012. This step will help in winning an additional sum of Rs 826 crore in upcoming six months for the railways.

25. Sundar Rajan appointed as Executive Director of Ashok Leyland Ashok Leyland on 26 September 2012 had appointed Sundar Rajan as its new Executive Director (Legal).

Sundar Rajan is 46 years old and a law graduate who started his career as an advocate from the Madras high court.

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He had with him more than 20 years of experience in the legal field which comprises of his diverse service and function in reputed companies.

He has handled critical assignments in the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Corporate Governance – Compliance & Process Improvements, Risk Management, Commercial & Business Agreements and several other related fields.

Apart from his role as Executive Director he is also going to handle specific Group-level legal assignments from time to time.

26. Professor Banwarilal Sharma, the mathematician and a Gandhian activist died Professor Banwarilal Sharma, the mathematician and a Gandhian activist died on 26 September 2012 at Chandigarh. He served Allahabad University as former HOD of Mathematics department. Prof. Banwarilal Sharma also served International Council of Mathematicians in developing countries for 6 years in between 1986 to 1992, as its chairman. He was trained under Prof Henri Cartan to obtain DSc degree at University of Paris. Banwari Lal Sharma was a convenor of the movement named Azadi Bachao Andolan that was led as peoples‘ movement in different part of the nation against nuclear energy. The main aim of the andolan was to seek control of environment and its resources in the hands of local people. He also was a member of the movement in Orissa against Posco Steel as well as the spread of the multinational soft-drinks in the nation. He was one of the founding members of National Alliance of Peoples Movement as well as Swaraj Vidyapeeth at Allahabad. The

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Vidyapeeth worked with a focus of Jagrit Samaj promoting a new pedagogy.

27. Daimler India launched 3 BharatBenz Trucks Diamler India on 26 September 2012 launched 3 commercial vehicles in the Indian market with its brand name BharatBenz. The three heavy duty trucks in 25 and 31 tonnes categories with a price slab in between 15.7 lakh to 23.1 lakh. During the launch the CEO and MD of the company, Marc Llistosella informed that the company has planned to launch 17 more products in upcoming 17 months in a category range in between 7 to 49 tonnes. The trucks were launched by its 100 percent India owned subsidy Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd (DICV). At present the company is functional in India with its plant having an annual capacity of producing 36,000 units and can further increase the production to 50,000 units to compete with the Indian leaders in commercial vehicle segment.

28. Waheeda Rehman to receive Lifetime Achievement Award during 14th Mumbai Film Festival Waheeda Rehman, the veteran actress of Bollywood has been nominated to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented to the actress during the forthcoming 14th Mumbai Film Festival going to start from 18 October 2012 and end on 25 October 2012. C.I.D. (1956), Pyasa (1957), Solva Saal (1958), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962), and Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam (1962), Kohra (1964), Guide (1965), Teesri Kasam (1966), Mujhe Jeene Do (1966), Neel Kamal (1968) and Khamoshi (1969) are some important films by her name.

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The committee chaired by Filmmaker, Shyam Benegal in presence of Ramesh Sippy, Sudhir Mishra, MAMI trustee and Amit Khanna, chairman, Reliance Entertainment stated that they have made their decision to award Waheeda Rehman with life time achievement award for her contributions to Indian Cinema. About 14th Mumbai Film Festival Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) under the Chairmanship of famous Indian Filmmaker, Shyam Benegal is organizing the mega event that will last for eight days. The festival is an initiative of Reliance Entertainment and will be organized at INOX theatre in south Mumbai and National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA). During the festival 200 movies including 9 silent ones will be showcased.

29. R Lakshmipathy elected as chairman of the Press Trust of India R Lakshmipathy, the publisher of Tamil daily Dinamalar, was elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Press Trust of India (PTI) on 24 September 2012 after the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Lakshmipathy, has served as PTI Chairman twice earlier and is also a member of press council. He is succeeding M P Veerendrakumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Mathrubhoomi group of newspapers.

Alomg with him K N Shanth Kumar of Deccan Herald was also elected as the Vice Chairman of the Board.

K N Shanth Kumar is a director of The Printers (Mysore) Private Limited, publishers of ―Deccan Herald,―Prajavani,‖ ―Sudha‖ and

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―Mayura.‖ He earlier was the president of the Audit Bureau of Circulations which verifies circulation data published by newspapers and periodicals.

Press Trust of India (PTI) is India‘s premier and largest news agency, which employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India. On an average it puts out more than 2,000 stories and 200 photographs a day which caters the needs of the diverse subscribers, including the mainstream media, the specialised presses, research groups, companies and Government and non-governmental organisations.

30. CVC instructed CBI to expand the scope of investigation on Coalgate The Central Vigilance Commission on 24 September 2012 instructed the Central Bureau of Investigation to expand its investigation scope on Coal Block Allocation to private firms in between 1993 to 2004. The decision was made after CVC received a letter from the Coal Minister, Shriprakash Jaiswal seeking a probe from CBI on allocations made, since 1993. Widening of the scope of investigation will bring into scanner the allocation done to private companies during the reign of P.V. Narasimha Rao led congress government after 1993, including United Front Government from 1996 to 1998 and BJP- led NDA government from 1996 to 1998. Report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) - Vinod Rai on coal block allocations tabled in the parliament states- 1. Due to arbitrary allotment of the coal blocks the Indian exchequer suffered a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore equivalents to $ 37 billion 2. Up to 31 March 2011 total 194 coal blocks were allotted to different private and government parties with an

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aggregate quantity of 44,440 million tonnes of coal 3. The beneficiary of these allotments as per CAG report were 25 major companies of India including Essar Power, Jindal Steel and Power, Hindalco and Tata Power 4. To bring out transparency in the process, the CAG suggested competitive bidding as a better solution

31. China included Liaoning as its first Aircraft Carrier China on 25 September 2012 launched its first aircraft carrier giving a push to its fast expanding navy's blue-water capability beyond its territorial waters.

The aircraft carrier is a former Soviet ship with a capacity of 60000 tonne that is brought from Ukraine and later renovated in China. The carrier is capable of accommodating 33 fixed wing aircraft.

It is named as 'Liaoning', after a Chinese province liberated from Japanese occupation in 1945.

The aircraft carrier came amid high end dispute between China and Japan on East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The aircraft carrier, which is formerly known as the Soviet ship Varyag, underwent about seven years of refitting efforts to install engines, weapons, as well as a year-long sea trial.

With this advancement China has become the tenth country in the world and the last among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to have an aircraft carrier in active service.

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What is Air craft carrier?

An aircraft carrier is a warship which is a designed with a mission of positioning and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. It allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations. It is extremely expensive to built and important to protect.

Among the ten nations that possess an aircraft carrier, six have only one. Twenty-one aircraft carriers are currently active throughout the world with the U.S. Navy operating 11.

32. CCEA approved 1.90 crore lakh package on debt restructuring for the SEBs The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 24 September 2012 approved a 1.90 lakh crore package on debt restructuring for the state-electricity boards. The taken step will allow the state- distribution companies (DISCOMS) to facilitate their turnaround. The committee met under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and gave its nod to the package forcing the red marked distribution companies to start the fresh round of tariff increase. The note of the cabinet states that all this has been done to maintain a balance in between the average cost of supply to that of the average of the revenue released. To avail the package the discoms and the state government will have to keep revising the tariffs on a regular basis.

33. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Resigned Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar resigned on 25 September 2012 after the alleged corruption charges on him in

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awarding irrigation projects when he was state's water resource minister. It was alleged that there were discrepancy committed in granting administrative approvals to projects involving several crore of rupees during his tenure as an Irrigation Minister between 1999 and 2009.

Alleagation claim that Ajit Pawar had approved 38 projects worth Rs 20,000 crore in 2009 without clearance of governing council of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).

It was also alleged that tenders were approved at higher rates but Pawar has absolutely overthrown the charges. Ajit Pawar has also held Finance and Energy portfolios in the Prithviraj Chavan government before his resignation.

With the resignation of Ajit Pawar all NCP Ministers in the Congress-led government submitted their resignations to the party's State Unit Chief Madhukar Pichad.

Ajit Pawar had demanded a white paper on the irrigation projects and an investigation into all the allegations.

Ajit Pawar is also going to be the leader of NCP legislature party as long as he enjoyed the support of the legislators.

34. Pakistani-origin women appointed as Norwegian Cultural Minister Hadia Tajik, a 29 year old women of Pakistani origin was appointed as Norwegian Cultural Minister on 24 September 2012. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appointed her to this post during the cabinet reshuffle activity. She is the

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youngest minister and first Muslim in the Norwegian Political history. Hadia Tajik The 29 year old has degrees in Journalism and Law and has been Norway Labour Parties career politician. She had also served to Minister of Justice, Knut Storberget between 2008 and 2009 as an advisor. In the year 2009, she was elected as an MP from Oslo for Norwegian Labour Party.

35. Union Cabinet of India approved the Demands of Ex- servicemen for One Rank One Pension The Union Cabinet of India, under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 24 September 2012 approved the long awaited demand for One Rank One Pension (OROP) and other benefits of ex-servicemen. The cabinet also gave a nod for enhancement of pension for family and dual family pension. The approved demand will cost the government about Rs 2300 crore per year. The cabinet also approved family pension grants for mentally or physically challenged children of personnel from armed forces. Issue The ex-servicemen association and defence forces demanded payment of uniform pension to the defence personnel retiring at same rank with same length of service period irrespective of their date of retirement. The OROP also demanded passing of future enhancements to the past pensioners. The cabinet approved following things on the issue of one rank one pension: To bridge the gap created between the pension of the JCO/OR retirees as per the pre 1 January 2006 and post 1 January 2006 after determining the pensions of the pre 1 January retirees.

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The gap will be bridged on the basis of estimated maximum for ranks and groups among the three categories of services following the case of the post retirees. The weightage for qualifying into the service for Naik, Sepoy and Havaldar ranks would be increased by two years in case of both pre and post retirees. For the pre- 1 January 2006, commissioned officer pensioners the pensions will be decided after referring to the minimum of the fitment table for the ranks in place of the minimum of the pay band. In relation to the family pension, the cabinet in its decision stated that the pensions of the pre- 1 January 2006 retirees like Honorary Commissioned Officers, Commissioned Officers, JCOs/Ors will be decided following the fitment table instead of the minimum pay-band. For establishment of links with the family in cases, where death of the JCOs/ORs have occurred after the retirement than the dependants of the pensioner will be entitled for 60 percent of the determined pension incases the normal family pensions can be calculated to be 30 percent of the last pay drawn by the pensioner. In cases, where the pension is decided on the basis of ranks, length of service and group of employment, the normal family pensions after the death of JCOs/ORs will be 60 percent of the determined pension on notional basis. Dual family pension The cabinet also made its stand clear that in cases, the dual family pension will be allowed in both present and future scenario, where the pensioners drew or is drawing or will draw the pension for both the civil employment as well as for the military service. In cases of the family pension for mentally/physically challenged children, the family pension scheme will continue even after the marriage for those who are drawing or drew or may draw the pensions. Panel report

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The approval of the Union Cabinet came on the OROP after the six member committee formed by the Prime Minister submitted its report. Ajit Seth was the head of this committee. 36. Haryana Government Signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Haryana government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with four independent power producers for setting five bio-mass power projects.

The capacity of power projects is of 51 MW and required an investment of 230 crore. Out of four, two projects is going to commissioned soon.

Haryana is among the leading states in implementing energy conservation programmes.

The memorandum was basically signed to tackle with the prevailing power crisis in the state.

37. Double Trap Shooter, Ronjan Sodhi won Silver at ISSF World Cup Ronjan Sodhi, the double trap shooter on 24 September 2012 won Silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovania. In 2011 and 2010 World Cup finals, he managed to secure Gold by his name. The former world number one secured the Silver by scoring 191 points. Joshua Richmond of America won the Gold medal and Bronze was bagged by Fehaid Aldeehani of Kuwait during the event.

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38. Mary com became the brand ambassador of Super Fight League (SPL) Indian boxer and London Olympic bronze medalist M C Mary Kom on 24 September 2012 named as the brand ambassador of super fight league.

The Super Fight League is promoted by IPL team Rajasthan Royals' co-owner Raj Kundra and Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. The role of Mary kom is to mentor the female fighters and to act as an inspiration for male fighters. She is also the part of the selection process.

The Super Fight League is India's first professionally organized mixed martial arts which will feature on Television. Mary kom was awarded with Arjun award in 2003 and Padma Shree in 2006 respectively. She is also the ambassador International boxing association for women.

39. Ramesh Abhishek appointed as FMC chairman An IAS Officer of 1982 Batch Bihar Cadre, Ramesh Abhishek on 24 September 2012 was appointed to be the Chairman of Forward Markets Commission (FMC). His pay-scale and rank has been elevated to that of the additional secretary and FMC Chief respectively. Forward Markets Commission (FMC) With its headquarters at Mumbai, Forward Markets Commission (FMC) is a regulatory authority established under the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act 1952. The body is responsible for taking care of forward and future markets of India and is a part of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

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40. Dearness Allowance (DA) hiked for Union Government Employees The Union government on 24 September 2012, hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) by 7%, benefiting its 80 lakh employees and pensioners and costing the exchequer an additional Rs7,408 crore annually. With the dearness allowance the pension proposals for personnel of armed forces is also allowed now.

The hike in the DA from 65% to 72% will cost the exchequer Rs4939 crore for the remaining part of the current financial year. The annual burden on account of the DA increase is estimated at Rs7408 crore.

It is going to benefit about 50 lakh employees and 30 lakh pensioners of the central government. The decision was made by the government to compensate its employees and pensioners for general price rise. The increase in DA is in accordance with the accepted formula which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

The government had increased DA in March this year from 58% to 65%, which was effective from January 1; 2012.The government periodically hikes the DA, which is linked to consumer price index for industrial workers.

Dearness allowance (DA) is calculated as a percentage of an Indian person's basic salary and was introduced to alleviate against the impact of inflation upon low income earners.

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Both pensioners and their families are granted DA and this continues following reemployment with the Central or State Government, a Government undertaking, an autonomous body or a local body.

41. Aishwarya Rai appointed as International Goodwill Ambassador The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as its International Goodwill Ambassador.

Her job will be now is to raise global awareness on protecting children from HIV infection and to increase access to antiretroviral treatment.

The appointment came a day before the start of the annual debate at the UN General Assembly. Aishwarya has been involved in humanitarian issues for many years and will now have a special focus on HIV/AIDS.

The main focus now is to advocate for the global plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive. This plan was launched at the UN in June 2011 and focuses on 22 countries including India, which account for more than 90 per cent of all new HIV infections among children.

What is UNAID? UNAIDS, is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an

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expanded response to HIV and AIDS that includes preventing transmission of HIV, providing care and support to those already living with the virus, reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV and alleviating the impact of the epidemic. UNAIDS seeks to prevent the HIV/AIDS epidemic from becoming a severe pandemic.

42. John Terry, the former England Captain announced his retirement from International Football John Terry, the captain of Chelsea in the premier league announced his retirement from International Football on 24 September 2012. The central defender came up with this decision one day before the Football Association was supposed to hear the claim of using racial abusive language in the notorious Anton Ferdinand incident. The 31-year footballer made 78 international appearances in international match. His last appearance was in the world cup qualifier against Moldova. Terry was the captain for the national football team of England from August 2006 to February 2010 and from March 2011 to February 2012. The former captain of England was named as the UEFA Club Defender of the Year in 2005, 2008 and 2009. He was also named as the PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2005.

43. International day of Peace observed worldwide International day of peace also called as World peace day was celebrated worldwide on 21 September 2012. The day is dedicated to peace, providing opportunities to different organizations, individuals and nations to create a practical act of peace.

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In 1981, The United Nations General Assembly declared, in a resolution sponsored by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica as the International Day of Peace devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace. It was 21 September 1982 when the first international peace day was celebrated. Later, in 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.

With the creation of the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal.

From the day of its proclamation, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day.

Anyone anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be just as simple as lighting a candle at noon, sitting in silent meditation. Or involving your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a large event. International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political.

44. C.P. Joshi appointed as the new Railway Minister C.P. Joshi, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister on 24 September 2012 took an additional charge of the Railway Ministry after the exit of Mukul Roy.

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With this responsibility in the hands of C.P. joshi, the railway ministry has landed down in the hands of Congress after 17 years. The last railway minister from congress was C.K. Jaffer Sharief (1991-95). Joshi is a congress MP from Bhilwara in Rajasthan. His primary and secondary education was completed from his place of birth in Nathdwara, Rajasthan. He graduated from M.B. College Udaipur with a B.A. degree in Law. He completed his masters‘ degree in Physics and holds a Ph.D in Psychology. Mukul Roy, leader of Trinamool Congress and a member of Rajya Sabha resigned from the position on 21 September 2012 after his party withdrew support from the government. Mukul Roy replaced Dinesh Trivedi as railway minister on 14 March 2012. Process of allocating the ministry/appointment of a minister: Under article 75 (1) - Prime Minister of India is selected by the President and the ministers are appointed by the president on advice of the Prime Minister. The portfolio allocation to different ministers is also done by him. Some of the railway ministers of the Indian Union before Mukul Roy: 1. Dinesh Trivedi- 12 July 2011- 14 March 2012 2. Mamata Banerjee- 2009–2011, she resigned from the ministry on 19 May 2011 3. Laloo Prasad Yadav- 2004–2009 4. Nitish Kumar- 2001–2004 The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh managed the railway portfolio for a period of about two months after Mamata Banerjee resigned from the position.

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45. Caroline Wozniacki won the WTA Title at Korean Open Danish Caroline Wozniacki, the former world number one player won the Korean Open WTA Title on 23 September 2012. She defeated, the third seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi in the finals by 6-1, 6-0. The 22 years Old Danish national was placed at number 1 position at the start of the year but at present she ranks at 11th Position. She won her last title at Haven, in August 2011. With this win, she managed to increase the count of the WTA titles in her account to 19 the fourth highest among other players bagged the 19th WTA title in her account after Serena Williams (45), Venus Williams (43) and Maria Sharapova (27).

46. The Malayalam film actor, Surendranatha Thilakan died Surendranatha Thilakan, the Malayalam film actor and winner of National Award died due to multiple organ failure, at the age of 77 on 24 September 2012 at Thiruvananthapuram. He also was an acknowledged theater artist. In the year 2009, he was awarded with Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award in India) for his contributions to the (film) form of art. He made his debut in the industry in the year 1972 with Periyar, followed by Gandharvakshetram and many more in a row. His first movie as a lead character was as Kallu Varkey- he played role of a drunkard in Kolangal in 1981. For his role in Yavanika, he got his first state award in 1981 followed by two more state awards in the year 1994 and 1998, Santhanagopalam and Gamanam respectively. Some of his notable works include Randam Bhavam, Sphadikam, Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal, Moonnam Pakkam, Panchagni, Dhwani, Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam, Mookkilla Rajyathu, Kaattu Kuthira and Yavanika.

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47. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation won work in Jakarta Metro Rail Project The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on 23 September 2012 was awarded with the work of Management Consulting Services by Jakarta Metro Rail Project. Before this, DMRC assisted them in preparation of SAPI (Special Assistance on Project Implementation). The work in its first phase will be done in a distance of 15.7 kilometer. DMRC will be working in a joint- venture with eight international companies. As per the contract, DMRC is responsible for creation and finalisation of the organisational structure along with development of training facilities, recruitment of personnel and their training in different segments that will be required for starting the operations of the project. DMRC is also acting as a consultant to other metro projects of the nation that includes Chennai, Bangaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and Jaipur (here DMRC is also looking after the construction work).

48. Naveen Jindal, placed at the top in Executives Pay Chart The Chairperson and Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), Naveen Jindal was placed at top in the Executive Pay Chart of the listed companies for the fiscal year 2011-2012. He topped the chart for second time in a row with a package of 73.42 crore with a growth of over 6 crore to that of his last years package. Sun TV Networks, Kavery Marana and Kalanithi were placed at second position in the chart with their package of 57.01 crore. Pawan Munjal with a package of 34.47 crore and Brijmohan Lall Munjal with a package of Rs 34.44 crore from Hero MotoCorp's are among the five highest-paid executives of the country.

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Salary, profit- linked incentives or commissions, perquisites, along with other added benefits, makes the pay-package. The total rise seen by the pay-packages of the top ten executives has recorded a hike of Rs 43 Crore i.e. 12 percent to Rs 387 crore. Top fifteen highest paid executives of the year: 1. Naveen Jindal, Chairperson and MD of JSPL - 73.42 crore 2. Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV Network - 57.01 crore 3. Kavery Maran of Sun TV Network - 57.01 crore 4. Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp - 34.47 crore 5. Brijmohan Lall Munjal of Hero MotoCorp - 34.44 crore 6. PRR Rajha of Madras Cements - 29.34 crore 7. Shinzo Nakanishi of Maruti Suzuki - 28.14 crore 8. BG Raghupaty of BGR Energy -25.98 crore 9. Carl-Peter Forster of Tata Motors - 23.97 crore 10. Murali K Divi of Divi's Labs - 23.15 crore 11. Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel - 21.3 crore 12. D Bhattacharya of Hindalco - 19.5 crore 13. Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel - 18.18 crore 14. Jayadev Galla of Amara Raja Batteries - 17.23 crore 15. Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries - 15 crore

49. Abhishek Matoria elected as the President of Indian Boxing Federation Abhishek Matoria, a BJP MLA from Rajasthan was elected as the President of Indian Boxing Federation on 23 September 2012. Abhay Singh Chautala, the outgoing President was elected to be the Chairman of the Federation. Chautala has served the president as its President for three terms. In the Annual General Meeting of the federation, Khoibi Salam from Manipur and Rajesh Bhandari, were elected as the treasurer and secretary-general respectively. Brigadier P. K.

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Muralidharan Raja was elected as the senior Vice-President of the Federation.

50. Deepika Kumari won Silver at Recurve World Cup Deepika Kumari won Silver at Recurve World Cup on 23 September 2012 in Tokyo. In the finals of the tournament, she lost against the Korean double Olympic gold medalist, Ki Bo- Bae. To be in the finals, Deepika defeated American, Nichoils with 28-24, 25-26, 26-25, 28-27 during the semi-finals and Miki Kanie of Japan in the last eight stages 25-23, 26-26, 29-24, 27- 24.

51. Forbes released the Annual Ranking List of 400 richest Americans Forbes on 19 September 2012 released the list of 400 richest Americans. Bill Gates with his total net worth of $ 66 billion managed to remain at the top position for 19th year in a row. Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway with net asset of $ 46 billion was at second position in the list. Larry Ellison of Oracle remained at third position with net asset of $ 41 billion. Some of the known names in the list include: 1. Jeff Bezos, at No. 11, with estimated net worth of $23.2 billion 2. Steve Ballmer at 19th position with net asset of $15.9 billion 3. Paul Allen grabbed 20th position with net asset of $15 billion 4. Mark Zuckerberg of facebook, slipped from his previous year‘s 11th position to 36th position with net asset of $17.5 billion 5. James Jannard secured 150th position with his net asset of $2.8 billion 6. Craig McCaw was placed at number 311 in the list with his net asset of $1.5 billion

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7. Bruce Nordstrom remained at. 360th position with net asset of $1.2 billion 52. Bill Gates still the richest person in America Microsoft Co-Founder, Bill Gates remained at the top position in the list of 400 richest Americans released by Forbes Annual Ranking on 19 September 2012. Gates, succeeded in winning the top position for 19th time in a row with his net worth of $ 66 billion. Bill Gates at present is the chairman of Microsoft and co-chair for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 53. Aung San Suu Kyi received US Congress Highest Honour The Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi received, the US Congress highest Civilian Honour at a ceremony organized in the Capitol Rotunda on 19 September 2012, before her meet with the US president Barack Obama. Before her, the recipient of this award includes George Washington, Pope John Paul II and Dalai Lama-the Tibetan Buddhist Leader. During her 15 year long house arrest against the military rule in Myanmar, she received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008. Other awards received by Suu Kyi before the US Congress highest Civilian medal are: 1. Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in the year 1990 2. Rafto Prize in the year 1990 3. Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1991 4. The government of India awarded her with Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in the year 1992 5. The government of Venezuela awarded her with International Simón Bolívar Prize 6. The Government of Canada in 2007 awarded her with Honorary citizenship, she was among the only four people by then to receive the award

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7. She won Wallenberg Medal in 2011

54. India and Nepal signed MoU for constructing School Building Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and Nepalese authorities signed an MoU on 19 September 2012 for granting the amount to Shri Mahendra Higher Secondary School in Achham district under Indian-Nepal Economic Cooperation Programme. The proposed building will provide better educational opportunity to over 1300 students, about half of whom are girls. Besides, India has gifted two ambulances to health care facilities in the district.

55. Foreign Investment cap hiked to 74 percent for Broadcasting Services The Government of India on 20 September 2012 hiked the foreign investment cap for the broadcasting service providers to 74 percent. The registered hike in foreign investment cap is for service providers of Direct to Home (DTH), modernized cable network and mobile television. This move of the government will allow the global players in acquiring major stakes in the broadcasting companies. Before his decision was passed, the eligibility of DTH and multi-system cable operators to make foreign investment was limited to 49 percent only. In its decision last week, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared its stand on the companies of broadcast content that the TV news Channels and FM radio channels can have a foreign investment cap of 26 percent. This decision was made to make sure that majority of control remains back in the hands of Indian Partner.

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56. Dinesh Thakur, the veteran actor-director died Actor-director Dinesh Thakur, primarily remembered for his cigarette smoking serious looks in the films of 1970‘s died on 20 September 2012. Thakur (65) died due to his prolonged illness is now survived by his actor wife Prita Mathur. Some of his critically as well as commercially appreciated films include Rajanigandha, Mere Apne and Ghar. His film Rajanigandha directed by Basu Chatterjee in 1974 won Filmfare Best Movie Award and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. Screenplay of Ghar (1978) that fetched him FilmFare Best Story Award was written by him. He also played a role in the serial named Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Dinesh Thakur was the founder-director of the Mumbai based theater group- ANK Productions. Some of his recognized works include Hai Mera Dil, Jaat Hi Poocho Sadhu KI, Khamosh Adalat Jaari Hai, Kamala, Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya and Rang Bajrang.

57. Australian Cricketer, Matthew Hayden retired from all formats of the game Matthew Hayden, the Australian Cricketer on 20 September 2012 announced his retirement from all formats of Cricket. He also declared that he is not going to be a part of his team Brisbane Heat in the Australian domestic Twenty 20 series to be held this year. Matthew Hayden retired from test cricket in the year 1999 and was a part of Chennai Super Kings squad in the Indian Premier League. Records by the name of Matthew Hayden 1. Highest score of 380 runs made by an Australian batsman in the test match is recorded by his name 2. He was declared to be the ODI Player of the Year in the year 2007

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3. With three centuries in super eight‘s in 2007 world cup he was declared to be the best batsman of the tournament 4. He was awarded with honorary citizenship by the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis for scoring a century just in 66 balls against South Africa during 2007 World Cup. This record was broken by an Irish Batsman, Kevin O'Brien in 2011, World Cup. Since his debut in 1993 as a part of Australian Cricket team, he played 103 test matches and 161 one-day internationals.

58. Former footballer from Delhi, Sardar Man Singh Batra Died Former footballer from Delhi, Sardar Man Singh Batra died on 19 September 2012 following a prolonged illness. Batra (88) is now survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.

59. Supreme Court refused to Review the petitions challenging Right to Education Act, 2009 The Supreme Court of India on 19 September 2012 refused to review the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Right to Education to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. The Independent Schools Federation of India, the Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India with two other institutions filed PIL (Public- interest litigation) against the Act, for a review. The Supreme Court Bench including Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia along with Justices Swatanter Kumar and K. S. Radhakrishnan rejected the petition stating that the Act is constitutionally valid and is applied for all the schools funded, held or managed by government or any private authority. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

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The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act makes it mandatory for the government, aided and non- minority unaided schools to reserve a minimum of 25 percent seats to provide free and compulsory education to children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. The right to education is included to the right to life in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and in case any child is derived from his right of education is also deprived from his right to live with dignity, exercise freedom of expression and speech included in Article 19(1) (a).

60. SC:Land belonging to Scheduled Castes or Tribes cannot be bought by Non-Dalits The Supreme Court of India on 20 September 2012 ruled that the land belonging to scheduled castes or tribes cannot be bought by non-dalits, including companies as such transactions are unconstitutional. A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra gave the verdict on an appeal by the Rajasthan government against the state High Court's order holding such a sale to be valid in law. The Rajasthan High Court had passed its order on an appeal by a private firm against the refusal by the state authorities to recognise or grant mutation to the purchase of a plot by the company from a person belonging to scheduled caste.

61. HCL Tech signed Multi-million dollar deal with Freescale

HCL Technologies on 19 September 2012 signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Texas-based Freescale Semi-conductor and embedded processing solution providing company. As per the deal, HCL will be involved in transformation of Freescales IT infrastructure apart from being an exclusive technology partner

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for a period of five years. HCL will offer helpdesk support to Freescale across 20 countries with a user base of across 19,000 employees.

62. Ex-COO and MD of Reebok India held for Rs 870 Crore Fraud The ex-COO Vishnu Bhagat and former MD Subhender Singh Prem of Reebok India along with three more executives were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Gurgaon on 19 September 2012. All these people are accused of doing fraud of Rs 870 Crore with the company. They were involved in selling the goods in the market via ghost representatives using forged bills and not depositing the money back on the companies account. The duo along with other three executives namely Surakshit Bhatt, Sanjeev Mishra and Prashant was booked on the charges of different charges under IPC (Indian Penal Code) including fraud, criminal conspiracy and breach.

63. A .A. Manavalan won Saraswati Samman for his comparative study on Ramayana AA Manavalan on 19 September 2012 was awarded with the prestigious Saraswati Samman for his work, Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalyum. This is a comparative study of epic Ramayana in 48 different languages. M Veerappa Moily, the Corporate Affairs and Power Minister presented him with a cheque of Rs 7.5 lakh, a memento and a citation plaque at a function organized by K K Birla Foundation. The characters, plot and individual insertions of the book deals with the changes that happened in the due course of migration.

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This book has tried to come up with the effect of Ramayana over the South East Asia, its language and culture. This book is a comparative study of Ramayana written in different languages over a certain period of time and some of the languages include Pali, Tibetan, Prakirt, Tamil, Japanese, Old Javanese, Assamese, Thai, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Sanskrit, Odisi, Hindi, Malay, Persian, Maranao, Burmese, Laotian and Kashmiri. Saraswati Samman The samman/award was instituted in the year 1991 by KK Birla Foundation and is a prestigious award in the field of literature.

64. India and Burundi signed 3 Major Agreements and issued a Joint Statement President of the Republic of Burundi visited India from 17 to 19 September 2012. During this visit, India and Burundi signed three agreements-(i) Exchange Programme for Cooperation in the field of Education, (ii) Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Rural Development and (iii) Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine. Besides, India also announced a Line of Credit of 42.38 million US dollars for Farm Mechanisation and Integrated Food Processing Complex in Burundi. India and Burundi issued a joint statement on that occasion. The major highlights of the joint statement are as following: • India and Burundi agreed to further enhance the bilateral cooperation in view of the considerable untapped potential. • Burundi thanked India for approval of a concessional line of credit of 80 million US dollars for the Kabu – 16 Hydro-electric project. • Both nations agreed to continue strengthening cooperation in the areas of economy, trade and investment, finance, human resource development, culture, etc. while striving to expand

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cooperation into other potential areas such as agriculture, food processing, ICT, science & technology, health, mining etc. • Burundi conveyed its support for India‘s candidature for Permanent Membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council.

65. India successfully test-fired its Indigenously built Agni- IV Missile India on 19 September 2012 test fired its nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile from Wheeler Island, off the Odisha Coast. Fitted with composite rocket motor technology, the missile was test fired from the road mobile launcher. The full range of the missile is 4000 kilometer. The launch was declared to be successful after the missile succeeded in hitting the pre-decided target after taking a flight of 20 minute at an altitude of about 800 kilometer in the atmosphere at a roasting temperature of about 3000°C. The support of Micro Navigation System (MINGS) along with the Ring Laser Gyro based Inertial Navigation System (RINS) ensured the two digit perfection in making the missile reach its target. The 20 meter long, 1.5 meter broad and 17 ton in weight, is capable of carrying about 1000 kilogram of explosives along with it. Light in weight, this missile is fitted with two stage solid propulsion with a payload for re-entry into the heat shield. One of its kinds, Agni-IV Missile India‘s first indigenously developed ballistic missile is embedded with 5th Generation on Board Computer state-of-the-art Avionics and a finely distributed architecture, which allows correction and guidance during in- flight disturbances. This missile is a proof of India‘s quantum jump for in relation to Missile Technology. The long range ballistic missile was designed and developed by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization). This entire operation of the launch

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was guided to by the Project Director, Smt. Tessy Thomas, along with a team of scientists. Wheeler Island and Chandipur are the two missile launching and testing stations of India. Both long range and short range ballistic missiles are test-fired from the two stations. Wheeler Island Strategically located at a distance of 150 kilometer from the capital city of Odisha that is Bhubaneshwar, the Island maintains the missile launching facility for India. The nearest port to the Island of about 390 acres and 70 kilometer south of Chandipur in the Bay of Bengal is Dharama. Chandipur Beach The beach is about 194 kilometers from the capital Bhubaneshwar and is one of the major Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Program test range for India in the city of Balasore.

66. Saina Nehwal signed up a 40-crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management Company India`s badminton player Saina Nehwal on 19 September 2012 signed up a 40-crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management company, which made her the country`s highest paid sportsperson outside cricket. Saina had a three-year contract with Deccan Chargers, which expired in September 2012. Rhiti Sports will now manage Saina`s endorsements and brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, images and all other commercial rights exclusively.

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67. Chandrika Tarafdar won two Bronze Medals in Youth World Weightlifting Championship

Chandrika Tarafdar on 19 September 2012 became the first Indian to win a medal in Youth World Weightlifting Championships at Kosice, Slovakia. She won two bronze medals in the girls` 44kg category on the opening day. Tarafdar won a bronze each in clean and jerk and total lift. She lifted 55kg in snatch, 74kg in clean and jerk for a total effort of 129kg. This happened for the first time in the history of Youth World Weightlifting Championships that an Indian won a medal.

Mao Xiangmei of China won a bronze in snatch and gold in the total lift. Csengeri Monica Suneta of Romania lifted exactly the same, 139kg in total but could manage silver only as she had more bodyweight than the Chinese lifter. 68. GAAR Report submitted by the Shome Committee to the Finanace Ministry The GAAR report was submitted on 1 September 2012 to the finance minister of India by the Shome Committee constituted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, after the approval of Prime Minister of India. The committee in its report has tried to create a balance in between the investors being invited to the country and protection of the tax base from tax avoidance and evasion, using aggressive tax planning. The major findings of the GAAR‘s committee to create a balance in between the investors and chances of tax avoidance and evasion includes: 1. Tax Evasion, Tax Mitigation and Tax Avoidance 2. Overcharging Principle Applicability of GAAR

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3. Monetary Threshold 4. Arm‘s Length Test 5. Test to Misuse or Abuse the Provisions of Act 6. Factors for determination of Commercial Substance 7. Grandfathering of existing Investments 8. GAAR will not override the CBDT circular 789 of 2000 with respect to the tax-treaty in between India and Mauritius 9. GAAR will not be applicable at places where so ever anti- avoidance provisions are in existence in the treaty of tax and any type of anti-avoidance rule exists in the Act 10. Impermissible Avoidance arrangements 11. Tax abolition in cases of gains that rises out by the transfer of listed securities 12. Foreign Institutional Investors 13. Corresponding adjustments 14. Implementation of the Onus on the revenue authority 15. Tax Withholding 16. Definition of the term Connected Person 17. Constitution of approval panel 18. Time limit for GAAR provisions 19. AAR to pass ruling within 6 months 20. Prescription of Statutory forms 21. Implementation issue 22. Reporting requirements

The committee in its findings has stated that the GAAR guidelines should be introduced in the country at the time of economic stability. Hence, it has recommended the postponement of its implementation by 3 years. Committee‘s recommendation also states about the implementation of the findings with complete spirit and has laid emphasis on transition period of the taxpayers and preparedness of the administrators. To provide clarity on GAAR‘s applicability provisions in different situations 27 illustrations were made and are mentioned under different conditions like:

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1. Tax Mitigation- GAAR can‘t be invoked 2. Tax Avoidance- SAAR is applicable hence GAAR is not invoked 3. Court Approved Amalgamations or demergers 4. Tax Avoidance- GAAR invoked 5. Tax Evasion can directly be dealt of law without invoking the GAAR Following the Finance Act 2012, the introduction of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) was done into the Income Tax Act, 1961. The committee briefly analysed the provisions of GAAR as per the inputs available from stakeholders and following the recommendations made the amendments in the Act were made for finalization of the guidelines for the Income Tax Rules, 1962. Shome’s Committee The expert committee on GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rules) was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Parthasarsthi Shome with members, namely Shri N. Rangachary (Former Chairman of IRDA and CBDT), Dr. Ajay Shah (Prof. NIPFP) and Shri Sunil Gupta (Joint Secretary-Tax Policy and Legislation, Department of Revenue) for undertaking the consultations of stakeholders and finalization of guidelines for GAAR. The main objective of the committee was to get feedbacks from the stakeholders and prepare new guidelines or to amend the previous guidelines after examining the things finely.The committee was constituted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes after being approved by the Prime Minister of India. The committee formed referred to following terms: • To receive feedback from both public and stakeholders on the Guideline of GAAR mentioned on the website of Government of India. • To rework on the guidelines following the feedback received and examining the same and then publish the same in form of second draft

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• To find out and finalise, guidelines along with an road-map for implementation of GAAR and submit it to the government Analysis of the GAAR provisions The provisions for the GAAR are mention in Chapter X-A (Section 95 to 102) of the Act. Presented provisions allow the authority of tax, despite of containing anything in the Act with clear declaration on the arrangements made for assesses (estimated value, nature or extent of amount of the fine) that has entered into the impermissible avoidance arrangement to face the consequences with regard to the tax liability determined by the arrangement.

69. Andhra Pradesh Government decided to set up 15 Marine Police Stations The Andhra Pradesh state government on 19 September 2012 decided to set up 15 marine police stations along its coastline in addition to the existing six ones. The decision was taken in a bid to beef up security along the 974 km long coastline of the state. The government also decided to appoint special police officers(SPOs) in coastal villages. Police sources said marine police will conduct patrolling in the deep sea within their jurisdiction in coordination with the Coast Guard, but SPOs will play a major role and keep a constant watch on the coastline activities in their villages.

70. Tata Steel won a high-speed Rail Contract of Value Rs 315.15 Crore in France Tata Steel, the Indian major iron and steel making company, received a letter of intent from French, Eiffage Rail on 19 September 2012 for supplying high quality rails for the 182 kilometer high speed line. The line will connect the cities

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named Rennes and Le Mans. The project with its value Rs 315.15 Crore and will have to supply 50,000 tonnes rails for making of the Brittany-Loire Valley line. The rail line that is an extension of the high-speed link in existence will reduce the travel time by 37 minutes in between Rennes and Paris. As per the deal, making of the steel will be done in UK and the rail rolling will be done in the French mills of Tata Steel. The delivery of the newly manufactured rails is expected to start from 2015. As per the statement of Eiffage Rail‘s Managing Director, Jean-Luc Trottin they opted for Tata as a company to supply the rail because of their commitment of make the deliveries possible at the time of their need and at the site, where the job is to be done. This will be Tata‘s second high speed rail project in an year‘s time and has turned up to be a milestone in the organization‘s credibility in making of the world class product and services. Few of the milestones achieved by Tata Steel in the recent past 1. The company made fresh investment in creation of a new technology that will help in production of long wear resistant rails, at its Hayange Rail Mill. 2. In the year 2011, the company upgraded its facilities to start production of 108 meter long rails. In the same year the company won an order to supply high-speed rails for the new 302 kilometer line joining French cities Bordeaux and Tours. 3. In the year 2009, Tata Steel entered into a deal SNFC, the French railway Operators for supply of rails for six years; the contract was signed at a cost of Euro 350 Million The project will create round about 10000 jobs during the construction period. Rails of 108-meters in length will be supplied for the project. Tata is going to make an estimated investment of 50 million in a period of three years for the making of reliable and high-quality rail.

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71. Famous Urdu Poet Muzaffar Razmi died at Kairana in Shamli district The famous Urdu poet Muzzaffar Razmi died on 19 September 2012 in Kairana in Shamli district. Razmi (76) suffered a brief illness and is now survived by his two daughters and three sons. Razmi wrote three books of Urdu Poetry. His book, Lahmon ki Khattah released in the year 2004 was uncovered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

72. Indigo Airlines emerged to be the top ranked carrier for consecutive second month The data presented by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on 18 September 2012 claimed that the low cost airlines Indigo emerged as the leading carrier in the month of August by carrying 12.05 lakh domestic passengers out of 43.69 lakh passengers. Indigo shared a total of 27.6 percent of the market share. Share of other airlines are as follows 1. Jet Airways-18.7 percent 2. Spice Jet- 18.5 Percent 3. Air India- 18.2 percent The report also reported that there was a fall of 8.6 percent passengers in total as compared to the previous year record for the month.

73. Finance Ministry demanded the Bank details of Coal Mining Firms In wake of the raging Coal Gate Scam, the Finance Ministry on 18 September 2012 asked for information related to bank loans of the mining companies. The ministry also asked details of

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companies not directly engaged in mining but collaterally engaged to coal blocks allocated from the public sector banks. The ministry also demanded details related to sanctioned and out-standing fund and non-funds of the companies along with their status of asset classification. The move of the ministry is a result of irregularities found in allocation of the coal-blocks to the 58 power and iron and steel companies, whose bank guarantees have been invoked by the Ministry of Coal followed by the recommendation made by the inter-ministerial group on coal or the de-allocation of the coal- blocks that is under process. The need for all these details by the finance ministry is in the wake of the report submitted by the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) of India related to non-transparent allocation of coal blocks, which lead to an estimated exchequer loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore. RBI’s data related to sectoral deployment of credit states 1. Bank exposure to power sector is Rs 344980 Crore 2. Bank exposure to iron and steel is Rs 36320 Crore 3. Bank exposure to cement and cement products is 36320 Crore 4. Bank exposure to mining and quarrying is Rs 36600 Crore Power producers in India consume almost 70 percent of the total production of coal in the country.

74. Union Government decided to launch Saksham to Educate Adolescent Boys The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 18 September 2012 decided to launch a scheme called Saksham to empower adolescent boys by educating them on gender sensitivity and moral behaviour. Saksham aims to target young boys in the age group 10-18 years for their holistic

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development by giving lessons in gender sensitivity and inculcating in them respect for women. The Union government has already allocated ten lakh rupees for preparatory work for the scheme which is expected to be rolled out from the next financial year 2012-13.

75. Plastic Omnium Planned to build its Third Factory in Russia Plastic Omnium, the French Auto Part supplier on 18 September 2012 declared their plan to build a factory in Russia. The decided location of the factory is St. Petersburg and this will be third factory for the French company in Russia. This decision came following the growing demands of the products of Plastic Omnium in Russian Market. Inergy that was launched as a 51 percent joint venture of Plastic Omnium with fuel systems manufacturers, DSK will build the factory. Inergy, which has recently won the contracts of General Motors, Ford and Nissan manufactures fuel system for Renault Dacia and supplies to AutoVaz.

76. Women and Child Development Ministry launched a Web Portal named Track Child Track Child: The Union Women and Child Development Ministry launched the portal to serve as a central database of all those children who have gone missing in different parts of the country. The Union Women and Child Development Ministry on 18 September 2012 decided to launch a web portal named Track Child, which will serve as a central database of all those children who have gone missing in different parts of the country. The portal will act as a coordination mechanism

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between child homes, police departments and state governments. As soon as a child is enlisted in a home, or whenever a missing FIR is registered in a police station, the details will be put on the portal. The ministry will coordinate with police heads, social welfare departments of various states and other agencies to create this mechanism. The ministry is also considering a proposal to create a National Institute of Women Affairs, which will serve as a think tank for women-related matters.

77. Schroder Singapore acquired 25 percent stake of Axis Asset Management Company Axis bank on 18 September 2012 announced that 25 percent of its subsidiary, Axis Asset Management Company was acquired by Schroder Singapore Holdings. The deal value was not disclosed by the bank but the statement released by its spokesperson provides a detail that Schroder has an access to the global distribution network of the company and can advice it for making investment of overseas funds in Indian securities. The statement also cleared that the deal allows Axis Asset Management Company to distribute the funds of Schroder in India. Schroder is the largest asset management company of UK with its operations in 26 countries worldwide. Schroder Singapore Holdings private limited is a subsidiary to Schroder, UK.

78. Salman Rushdie released his Book Joseph Anton Joseph Anton the 633 page book depicts a memoir of Salman Rushdie during his 10 years long run to protect himself from the Fatwa issued by his name was released on 18 September 2012.

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Salman Rushdie‘s new book reveals his life, at the time when he was issued an Iranian fatwa that ordered his death for the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. In the book, Salman Rushdie has characterized himself as Joseph Anton and the name is the combination of the first names of his favourite writers Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov.

79. Russia declassified the existence richest diamond field of the world Russian government on 18 September 2012 declassified its diamond reserves formed after a 7 kilometer wide asteroid stroked the graphite rich area of Russia, about 35 million years ago. The most valuable secret of Russian Cold War was kept hidden from the rest of the world for more than five decades. The reserve was discovered by the Russians during the mid- 1960s. The huge deposits of hard diamond, which can fulfill the demands of the world for next 3000 years was discovered in the Popigoi crater in East Siberia in an asteroid with diameter of 120 kilometers. Russian scientists from the Novosibirsk Institute of Geology and Mineralogy claimed that the total quantity of the available diamond in the crater is more than 10 times of the total reserve of diamond that the world have. These diamonds are an ideal material for industrial use and are twice harder than that of the technical diamonds generally used for industrial purposes. Declassification of the hidden reserves can‘t be used as jewellery item, so will not have any impact in the jewel making industry of the world.

80. Top-level appointments announced by Tata Motors Tata Motors on 18 September 2012 with appointment of Ranjit Yadav, the former country head for Samsung India Mobile and

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IT business as President of its Passenger Car Business Unit (PCUB) announced name of more appointees‘ at top-level. Some of names of new appoints at Tata Motors include Neeraj Garg, Ex-Director Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen in India as its Vice-President for commercial segment of PCBU. R. Ramakrishnan, the former Vice-President of commercial segment of PCBU has been moved as Vice-President for Commercial Vehicles Business Unit (CVBU).

81. Najeeb A Majeed became the new Chief Minister of Sri Lanka's, Eastern Province United People‘s Freedom Alliance‘s former minister and provincial councillor Najeeb A Majeed became the new Chief Minister of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, on 18 September 2012. The party won 12 seats with 2 additional seats from the 37-member province and was supported by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). At national level, SLMC is a part of UPFA and it contested the elections separately to garner share in votes.

82. Haryana Government instituted Four Awards to Felicitate Women Haryana government on 18 September 2012 instituted four state-level awards to felicitate women who have done outstanding work in different fields. Three of the awards include Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award, Kalpna Chawla Shaurya Award and Bahin Shano Devi Panchayti Raj Award. The fourth award comprises of two awards,Life time Achievers Award and Women Outstanding Achievers Award. These awards would come into effect from the current financial year 2012-13.

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Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award, would be given to the women who has done exemplary work in rehabilitation of destitute women and children, widows, victims of atrocities and conflict disabled women and children, aged women.

It would also be given to those engaged in promoting self help groups or women empowerment initiatives, established their own business or industry and have contributed to development of women besides entrepreneurship and done exemplary work in public service. It would carry a cash prize of Rs one lakh and a citation.

Kalpna Chawla Shaurya Award named after astronaut Kalpna Chawla, would be given to those who perform acts of bravery and meritorious services. The award would carry a cash prize of 51000 rupees and a citation.

Bahin Shanno Devi Panchayati Raj Award named after the first women Speaker in Haryana had been instituted for encouraging the emergence of women in the public sphere in the village of Haryana. This award would be given to woman Panchayat leader who have done exemplary work in promoting female literacy, health and nutrition, universalisation of education, sanitation, water, hygiene and other health determinants, he said. It would carry cash prize of 51000 rupees and a citation.

Life Time Achievement Award would given to woman of 60 years of age or above, who has excelled in administrative skills, career or profession, leadership quality, courage and creative work. It would carry a cash prize of Rs 21,000 and a citation

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and a shawl, he said.

Women Outstanding Achievers Award would be given to the women who have done exemplary achievements and outstanding work in their respective fields. The awards will be presented annually to such women who have done commendable work in their respective fields. It would be given to nurses, sports women, Sakshar Mahila Sammoh Members, Government employees, social workers, Women entrepreneurs, nominees of Stree Shakti Puraskar, Prohibition-cum-Protection Officer and Anganwadi workers. Each such award carries cash prize of Rs 5,100, a citation and a shawl.

83. New Nuclear Safety Agency launched in Japan Japan launched a new Nuclear Safety Agency on 18 September 2012. The formation of this five-member Nuclear Regulation Authority was done after the country was hit by Tsunami in the year 2011 resulting in major breakdown and leakage of the Nuclear Power Plants in the tsunami-stricken-area of Fukushima Dai-Ichi Plant. Headed by the nuclear Physicist, Shunichi Tanaka, this agency is responsible for reviewing of the nuclear policies of the country. Before the incident, Japan relied on nuclear power for at least one-third of its energy requirements but now it‘s planning to increase it to a level of 50 percent of its total energy requirements. The framed policies framed aims to phase out the issues related to nuclear power of the country for next three decades.

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84. World Bank appointed Onno Ruhl as the country director for India World Bank appointed Onno Ruhl a Dutch National to be the country director for India on 10 September 2012. He will replace the retiring N Roberto Zagha in October 2012. His appointment at this post will help the bank to formulate and implement developmental programs and steps in the nation. About Onno Ruhl 1. Onno Ruhl holds a post graduate degree (MSc) in Economics from University of Amsterdam 2. He joined World Bank in the year 1993 and due to his potential leadership skills and strong experience in finance and operations; he held several positions in Asia and Africa. 3. He has served World Bank as its director for Nigeria and a country manager for Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 4. Prior to his joining to World Bank in 1993, Ruhl served the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Netherlands 5. He has served the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) as an Alternate Executive Director on the Board

85. India signed a memorandum of understanding with Egypt

India and Egypt on 18 September 2012 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in New Delhi to establish an institutional framework for their ongoing cooperation in the field of election management and administration.

The MOU was signed by the Chief Election Commissioner of India, V.S. Sampath and the Secretary General of the Supreme Presidential Election Committee of Egypt, Justice Hatem Bagato.

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The major aims of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) are:

(a) Promotion of exchanges of knowledge and experience in the field of organizational and technical development, with a view to strengthening the administration of electoral processes.

(b) Exchange of information, material, expertise and technical knowhow relating to electoral processes and systems; training of personnel and development of human resources.

(c) Organizational development and capacity building. MoU was made so that it can facilitate sharing of best practices, skills and experiences between the two institutions for mutual benefit.

MoU is an extremely suitable mechanism for strengthening and carrying forward mutual collaboration in electoral management and administration.

Election Commission of India has so far signed thirteen MOUs with Election Management Bodies and international organizations across the world.

India and Egypt are already collaborating in the areas of Electronic Voting, Voters Education and Election Tracking Technology.

86. HDFC Bank announced the Launch of Credit Card for Teachers HDFC Bank on 5 September 2012 announced the launch of credit card for teachers, coinciding with the celebration of Teachers Day. The card offers special features like multiple

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reward points, weekend bonanza points, petrol surcharge waiver and 500 special gift reward points to be credited annually on the Teachers day. With a combined market size of more than 450 million students and growth rates of 10-15 per cent expected over the next decade, education is one of the largest service sectors in India. In fact, it is the largest issuer of credit cards in the country with a customer base of 5.60 million as of 31 March, 2012.

87. Delhi High Court gave a nod to installation of GPS system in Auto Rickshaws The division bench of Delhi High Court that comprised Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and A. K. Sikri rejected the petitions of auto-rickshaw owners and green signalled the installation of GPS systems in auto-rickshaws in Delhi on 17 September 2012. He also ordered the installation of printers in the auto- rickshaws to provide the print-outs of fares to the passengers traveling from one position to other within the capital. To justify the recovery of the investment made on the installation of the ordered equipment the bench said that the auto operators can levy 50 paise per kilometer on the passengers, as allowed by the Government. Installation of Global Positioning System will help in tracking the position and movement of the auto-rickshaws. The GPS will also ensure that the auto-rickshaw operators are not overcharging the passenger via any wrong means, like by taking long routes to reach a particular location. Installation of the GPS system will also ensure the security of the passengers to the next level.

88. India Offered Telecom Support to Turkmenistan India has assured Turkmenistan of all cooperation in Information and Communication technology (ICT) for the

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mutual benefit of both the countries.

It was decided in the inaugural session of TurkmenTEL 2012 at the Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat on 17 September 2012 by the Minister for Communications & IT and HRD, Kapil Sibal.

Recalling the historical ties between India and Turkmenistan, it was emphasized that the need for regional cooperation to uplift the social and economic status of the people in the region is uttermost important.

Kapil Sibal shared the success story of Indian Telecom Sector and gave an overview of the spectrum of policy initiatives in India‘s National Telecom Policy 2012.

India could extend cooperation to Turkmenistan in the fields of e-health, e-education and e-governance services. Turkmenistan can be connected to Indian Universities through National Knowledge Network and students sitting in Turkmenistan can directly be part of academic sessions in various disciplines in India.

Turkmenistan Minister and his delegation was invited to participate in India Telecom 2012 in Delhi, from 13 to 15 December 2012, as the event could be an excellent platform for further strengthening mutual cooperation and for promoting ICT and its eco system in the region.

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89. HDFC Bank Commissioned its 10001st ATM at Kovalam HDFC Bank, India‘s second largest private sector bank, on 17 September 2012 commissioned its 10001st Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram city, Kerala. The launch of the 10001st ATM in Kerala follows the inauguration of the 10000th ATM, commissioned last week in Ajmer Sharif, Rajasthan. The launch reflects the bank‘s endeavour to provide all forms of electronic channels-- ATMs, net banking and mobile banking, for customers.

90. FICCI General Secretary Rajiv Kumar Resigned Rajiv Kumar, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on 18 September 2012 left the industry association because he wanted to return to academics.

He will, however, stay up to December, till Ficci chooses his successor. Rajiv Kumar is an economist and had joined Ficci in October 2010 as a director general and subsequently became its secretary general in May 2011.

Before joining Ficci, he was Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, which is one of India's independent economic policy think tanks.

He has committed to play as advisory role to Ficci in the future on select initiatives.

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91. Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican got Shonkaliya region to breed The endangered birds, Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican have got a dedicated land for breeding in the Shonkaliya Region of Ajmer District, Rajasthan. The villagers of Ajmer District have agreed to conserve 30 hectares of land for the breeding activity of these endangered birds. Population of the Great Indian Bustard (the state bird of Rajasthan) is reportedly not sizeable with six males, present in the area. The Great Indian Bustard needs to lure at least three to four females in number for making of the family. Nests of the Great Indian Bustard have been noticed in the crop fields of the area. The Lesser Floricans are available in a large number as compared to the Great Indian Bustards‘ in the region. Nest of lesser Floricans have also seen around the crop lands of the area. Floricans make a visit to this north-western region of the country during their breeding season of advancing monsoons. This move of conservation of the Lesser Floricans and the Great Indian Bustard is an initiative to use MNREGA, the job guarantee scheme of the central government as a conservative tool. At the time of Manju Rajpal, the former collector of Ajmer district, the villagers of Shonkaliya agreed to earmark a dedicated zone in 30 hectare of land for breeding of the birds from their total of 100 hectares. From 1st May to 30th September entry of cattle as well as people will be restricted in the protected land. 92. Delhi Government to Provide subsidized Gas Cylinders to Jhuggi Ration Card Holders The Delhi state Government on 17 September 2012 announced to provide three subsidised cooking gas cylinders to the Antodaya Anna Yojana, Below Poverty Line and Jhuggi Ration Card holders in the national capital. These will be in addition to

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the six subsidised cylinder limit announced by the Union government of India. The move will benefit over 3.56 lakh such card holders of the city. 93. Rajiv Mehta appointed as Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau Rajiv Mehta is appointed as a Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on 18 September 2012. His appointment will be on deputation basis for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or till the date of his superannuation or until further orders.

Rajiv Mehta is an IPS from 1981 batch of Assam-Meghalaya cadre who is currently serving as the Additional Deputy General (Law and Order) in Meghalaya.

He was an alumnus of St. Columba‘s and St. Stephen‘s College of Delhi. He had also taught for two years at Lawrence School, Sanawar, before joining the Indian Police Service and had also given his service in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) as an IG, as well as an advisor to the Indian mission in the European Economic Community in Brussels.

He took over this service from OPS Malik, a 1975-batch IPS officer of the UP cadre, who was appointed to the post in December 2008 and he is going to serve the agency till 2016.

The NCB is a leading law enforcement and intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs, responsible for countering drug trafficking and illegal substances' abuse. The Director General of NCB is usually an officer of the Indian Police Service

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or the Indian Revenue Service.

NCB is the most vital agency for coordination between various central and state government departments to counter the menace of illegal drugs and contraband.

94. China signed 16 new Agreements with Sri Lanka China on 16 September 2012 signed 16 major agreements with Sri Lanka in Colombo on a range of issues, from visa exemption and marine development to economic and technology cooperation. China also promised to expand investment and increase imports from Sri Lanka. China and Sri Lanka agreed that holders of diplomatic and service passports of the other nation will be exempt from visa requirements. China-Sri Lanka bilateral trade volume reached 3.14 billion dollars in 2011. After the civil war, Sri Lanka needs to rebuild its infrastructure, which offers great opportunities for China, while China also seeks to increase overseas investment. 95. Cash Reserve Ratio slashed to inject Rs 17000 crore, Repo Rates remained unchanged Reserve Bank of India on 18 September 2012 injected a liquidity of around Rs 17000 crore by slashing down the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points to 4.50 percent from 4.75 percent. The indicative policy rates were remained at its original level. The repo rate, state-term policy rate and reverse repo rate remained unchanged with 8 and 7 percent respectively. The RBI stated following its mid-term review of the monetary policy that with increased risks of growth and inflation. In the situation, where there is a persistent inflammatory pressure of fiscal and current deficits constraints, there exists a need of a stronger policy targeting growth risks. The monetary policies

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are of great use in reviving the growth rate as per the expectations of the market. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) will come into effect from 22 September 2012. So far in 2012, RBI has slashed the CRR by 150 basis points. Cash Reserve Ratio, basically is a portion of deposits that the banks are supposed to keep with the central bank (RBI), these deposits doesn‘t earn any interest the depositing bank. Repo Rate is a rate at which the central bank offer funds to the borrowing banks, whereas the reverse repo rate is the rate of parking the funds available by the banks with the central bank. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) have been moving around 7.5 percent across the financial year, without much changes and so is the condition of Consumer Price Index (CPI) that has been rotating around 10 percent in spite of price hike in food items. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) means the price fixed as a representative for a wholesale grain. In India, WPI is used for monitoring inflation. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a statistical estimate that helps in measurement of price change of services and consumer goods purchased by the households. 96. Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar grabbed third Asian tour title Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar wrapped up a four-shot victory at the Yeangder tournament players Championship in Chinese Taipei on 17 September 2012.

The event was scheduled at the Linkou International Golf Club which was a $500,000 event. With winning the title Bhullar fetched prize money of $79,250. His previous Asian Tour titles were the Indonesia President Invitational in 2009 and the Asian Tour International in 2010.

To get down to this position Bhullar had to fend off the challenges of American Jason Knutzon and 14-time Asian Tour

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winner Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand

Bhullar earlier used to play as an amateur player.He was India's number one amateur in 2004 and 2006 and was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games. He finished in a tie for seventh in the individual competition. Bhullar turned professional in 2006.

97. ITC launched Grand Chola a luxury five Star hotel in Chennai ITC on 17 September 2012 started Grand Chola a Luxury Hotel in Chennai. The luxury hotel with 600 rooms have an integrated banquet in an area of 1 lakh square feet and a convention space of 30,000 square feet of a pillar-less ballroom have 10 beverage and food outlets as well as a Kaya Kalp Spa in a total area of 23,000 square feet. 4000 persons were employed during the construction of the hotel that included workers as well as craftsmen. For management of its day-to-day operations the hotel has employed a team of 1000 people. 98. US and Japan agreed to deploy advanced missile defense system The United States and Japan on 17 September 2012, announced an agreement to set up second advanced missile defense radar on Japanese province. It is an effort which is distinctively designed to counter the ballistic missile threat from North Korea.

The radar which is named as X-band radar is meant to protect Japan as well as the U.S. homeland.

The United States and its allies in the region have expressed

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growing concern about North Korea's missile tests and nuclear arms programs. Despite warnings by the international community, Pyongyang fired a rocket in April, saying it was meant to launch an experimental satellite. But it was generally believed the launch was a missile test.

This deal came when China and Japan is on dispute for an uninhabited, resource-rich island chain known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. The joint missile defense system encourages Japan to keep an forceful position in the Diaoyu Islands dispute, which is sending China a very negative message.

99. Tech Mahindra acquired 51% stake in Comviva Technologies Tech Mahindra on 17 September 2012 acquired 51% stake in Comviva technology limited for 260 crore.

The new brand identity is now called as Mahindra Comviva, which reflects combined strength and spirit of both the entities. With this Tech Mahindra enters into the world of Mobility Products and is set to build portfolio in Mobile VAS, Mobile Money and Mobile payments space.

The acquisition is going to enhance Tech Mahindra‘s capabilities in the mobile VAS domain and will also provide access to a marquee client base, enabling significant cross- selling opportunities.

Comviva technology is Bharti group owned mobile value added service (VAS) provider and have Vodafone, Idea, NTT Docomo in its client list. It was also earlier named as Bharti Telesoft

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when it was 50% owned by Bharti group. Comviva Technologies Ltd. was formed in 1999, and has grown rapidly to become the global leader in providing mobile VAS and financial solutions.

Tech Mahindra Limited is an Indian provider of networking technology solutions and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to the global telecommunications industry. It is a joint venture between the Mahindra Group and BT Group plc, UK with M&M (Mahindra and Mahindra) holding 44% and BT holding 39% of the equity.

100. Sunita Williams became the second woman in history to take command of ISS Sunita Williams, the astronaut of Indian American origin, took over the command of International Space Station on 15 September 2012. As per the reports released by NASA, in the traditional ceremony of change-of-command, Expedition 33 Sunita Williams took over the command from Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka in the Destiny Laboratory. Before this on 6 September 2012, Sunita Williams booked a record for total cumulative spacewalk time of 44 hours and 2 minutes by a woman astronaut with her sixth walk in the space for repairing a faulty unit of power distribution. In the spacewalk of 6 hours and 28 minutes, she used a wire brush made using a spare cable and a toothbrush for repairing the unit. Sunita Williams is accompanied with Japan‘s Akihiko Hoshide and Russia‘s Yury Malenchenko on the International Space Station.

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101. Mariamma Koshy appointed as the full-time President of Hockey India Hockey India on 17 September 2012 appointed Mariamma Koshy of Hockey Kerala as its new full-time President. The decision was made during the 15th meet of Board Executives and was taken following the guidelines prescribed under rule 4(f) of Hockey India Rules and Regulations. Koshy (63 years in age) has been a vice-president of Hockey India as well as an Interim-President of the National Body. Gayatri Shetty, the treasurer of Hockey Karnataka was named as the new Vice-President of Hockey India after the post was vacated, due to Koshy‘s elevation. Appointment of Gayatri also was done following the guidelines and regulations under rule 4 (f). 102. Wave Group was announced as the owner of Delhi Franchise of Hockey India Hockey India on 17 September 2012 announced Wave Group as the owner of the Delhi Franchise of Hockey India League (HIL). Chairman of Hockey India League and Secretary General of Hockey India Narinder Kumar Batra on 17 September stated that Wave Group‘s entry is a signal of hockey‘s good future in India. Other Franchise owners of different team include Jaypee Group for Punjab, Sahara India for Lucknow and Patel-Uniexcel for Ranchi. 103. Trial to make Maharaja Express affordable for domestic tourists In a hunt to pull the interests of domestic tourists by making Maharaja Express affordable, IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) announced a cut in the journey along with discounted offers for twin travellers.

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Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation have declared four trips in the festive season for the runnining financial year. The IRCTC had shortened the distance of travel and duration of two trips along with a discounted offer of 50 percent discount to the second companion. The trips of eight days and seven nights have been shortened to be of four days and three nights. The two trips scheduled for the year includes the one during Dussehra and the other during Diwali, commencing on 20 October 2012 and 27 October 2012. The trip named to be Indian Panorma will move on the route mentioned Delhi-Jaipur-Ranthamobore-Agra-Gwalior-Orchha- Khajuraho-Varanasi-Lucknow-Delhi). The offered package includes meals along with sight-seeing, 24-hour valet service, paramedics on-board and entrance fees to the sights. Beer, liquor and house wines will be served as complementary.

The other route of travel will cover Delhi-Agra-Ranthambore- Jaipur-Bikaner-Jodhpur-Udaipur-Balasinor-Mumbai and is named to be and Indian Splendour. The package with deluxe cabin start at a $ 5560 per person and the one travelling with a companion will be charged $8340 instead of $11120. Packages with shortened distances and duration are named as Gems of India and Treasures of India and will commence from Delhi and travel through Agra, Ranthambore and Jaipur and terminate back at Delhi and have been priced at $ 3850 for one in deluxe cabin and with the discounted offer of 50 percent it will cost $7160 for two persons. 104. Virat Kohli became the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year The Vice-Captain of Indian Cricket team, Virat Kohli was named as the ODI Cricketer of the year at ICC Awards Function held at Colombo, Sri Lanka on 15 September 2012. He was picked ahead in the competition from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga. He was awarded with this title for scoring 1733 runs in 31 matches at an average of 66.65,

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which included eight centuries and six half-centuries. During this period of consideration for the title, he scored his career best of 183 runs in 148 balls against Pakistan in Asia Cup. Other players awarded at the award function were 1. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) - The ICC Cricketer of the year, ICC Test Cricketer of the Year and the People`s Choice Award 2. Richard Levi (South Africa) - The ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year 3. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) - The Spirit of Cricket Award 4. Sunil Narine (West Indies) - The Emerging Cricketer of the Year 5. Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) - The Women`s ODI Cricketer of the Year 6. Sarah Taylor (England) - Women`s T20 Cricketer of the Year 7. George Dockrell (Ireland)- Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year 105. Pakistan test fired cruise missile, Babur Pakistan successfully test fired nuclear-capable Babur cruise missile on 17 September 2012 with a range of 700 km (435 miles). It is a low flying, terrain-hugging missile that can be used against targets at land and sea with pin-point accuracy.

The missile was launched from a multi-tube missile launch vehicle that extensively enhances the targeting and deployment options of the Babur system. The missile is designed to avoid radar detection and penetrate enemy air defenses.

Pakistan has already conducted the tests of a wide range of nuclear-capable missiles this year. Serial production of the Babur was started in October 2005.

The missile was named after the first Mughal Emperor Zahir

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ud-Din Babur is also known by Hatf VII. It is the first land attack cruise missile to be developed by Pakistan.

106. DMRC started its 17-week training program to train the recruits of Rapid Metrorail The 17-week training program scheduled to be conducted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the new recruits of Rapid Metrorail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL) commenced on 17 September 2012. RMGL is a consortium that is engaged in building of the 6.1 kilometer Rapid Metro network in Gurgaon and will connect the Sikanderpur Metro station to Cyber City and NH-8 in Gurgaon. The same body will be looking forward for its operations in the future. The rapid metro is scheduled to come under operations by April 2013. During this intensive training period of 17-weeks, the DMRC will train people using special training modules, designed with a purpose to suit the requirements of Rapid Metro. The candidates will be taught about the technologies used and its operations like Automatic Train Protection (ATP) and how a metro station works. 107. 18th International Day for preservation of the Ozone Layer celebrated worldwide On 16 September every year, from 1995 onwards the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is celebrated. This date was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 49/114, to memorialize the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. With this, The Montreal Protocol is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

The theme for this year‘s celebration was Protecting our Atmosphere for Generations to come.

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In India it was celebrated at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of State for Environment & Forests Government of India was the Chief Guest.

This celebration around the world offers a chance to focus attention and action at the global, regional and national levels on the protection of the ozone layer.

The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). The ozone layer is mainly found in the lower portion of the stratosphere from approximately 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 mi) above Earth. It protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Scientist in the 1970‘s discovered that the layer was thinning as a result of the release of CFC‘s which resulted in the development of ozone hole.

In 1985 national around the world signed an agreement and developed a framework for cooperative activities to protect the ozone layer in Vienna which is known by Vienna convention for the protection of ozone layer.

108. Defence Minister, A.K. Antony opened an Army Hospital in Male On his three day visit from 15 September 2012 to 17 September 2012 to Maldives the Defence Minister of India, A.K. Antony opened Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) hospital, SENAHIYA at Male on 16 September 2012. The hospital that was developed with Indian assistance is an example of a shining collaboration and cooperation model in between the two countries.

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India has also provided the hospital with 25 bed state-of-the- art medical equipment and a team of highly qualified medical experts. This team will be functional as a unit that will take care of fine functioning and smooth running of the hospital. The defence minister of India also participated in the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Maldivian National Defence Force‘s training academy. The Defence Minister of Maldives Mohamed Nazim thanked India for its assistance in the collateral development of the nation and hoped for strengthening of the bond between the two countries under every circumstance. He also declared that Maldives will stand by the side of India for assurance of the maritime security in the sensitive regions of the Indian Ocean. 109. Anuraag Thakur, BCCI Joint Secretary became a member of Asian Cricket Council Anuraag Thakur a BJP MP from Hamirpur and Joint Secretary of Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) on 16 September 2012 was appointed as a member of Asian Cricket Council‘s (ACC‘s) executive board. Thakur has served the National Cricket Academy as its vice- chairman and a member with National Junior Selection Committee. ACC is a 25 member committee with its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. The committee is engaged in development and promotion of the cricketers in Asian region. 110. Shimla Municipal Corporation introduced Green Tax on vehicles entering Shimla Shimla Municipal Corporation on 15 September 2012 introduced Green Tax on Shimla entry of vehicles not registered in Himachal Pradesh. The Corporation Commissioner M.P. Sood stated that the vehicles crossing the entry points of the town will have to pay the imposed tax. The tax will be imposed on automobiles on both commercial and non- commercial category.

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By imposing the tax, the corporation will increase its revenue by Rs 6 crore per year. The taxes will be charged on the four entry points of the city namely, Totu, Tara Devi, Dhalli and Mahali. Tax imposed as per the category of vehicles: 1. Two wheelers- Rs 100 per entry 2. Car- Rs 200 per entry 3. Utility Vehicles- Rs300 per entry 4. Bus/truck- Rs 500 per entry 111. Chidambaram pitched for Prime Minister led National Investment Board Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 15 September 2012 pitched for institutionalization of a National Investment Board under the leadership of Prime Minister. The formation of the board will help in speeding the approval of the proposals, for the mega projects and their implementation. Formation of the board will help the country in achieving the targeted growth for the twelfth five year of 8.2 percent. At the meeting of the full planning commission under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the finance minister expressed his concern on the delayed implementation of the mega projects and stressed on the fact that the decision made by the National Investment Board (NIB) to be taken as the final decision. Chidambaram also insisted interference by any other authority on the approvals and decisions made by the NIB will be entertained. He also added to his statement that NIB‘s role will be limited to the projects with investments of Rs 1000 crore or more. 112. IRCTC introduced Interbank Mobile Payment System The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited introduced the Interbank Mobile Payment System (IMPS) for making the payment of the bookings via mobile phones. On

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use of IMPS system, the user will be charged with Rs 5 for transactions of up to Rs 5000 and Rs 10 for transactions more than that. The facility of booking via IMPS will be available to those with their phone number registered in the respective bank accounts as the M-Pin and the MMID (Mobile money identifier) will be required for furnishing the details required. This facility will ensure smooth and functioning of the booking criteria via SMSs. 113. Liberty Medal awarded to Muhammad Ali, the Boxing Champion The boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali who retired from the game in the year 1981 was honoured with Liberty Medal in Philadelphia on 13 September 2012. The boxer who has been battling with Parkinson disease for the past 30 years was awarded with the honor for his contribution towards the humanitarian causes like religious freedom and civil rights. National Constitution Center of the United States administers the Liberty Medal and presents the honuor of this medal to the leaders who fight in pursuit of freedom. Muhammad Ali, who was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay changed his name to be Muhammad Ali after converting himself into Isalm in the year 1964. He won the world heavyweight title three times and is nicknamed as The Greatest. In the year 1999, BBC crowned Ali, with the title; Sports Personality of the Century and Sports illustrated crowned him with the title of Sportsman of the century. 114. Indian Women won SAF Football Championship 2012 Indian Women registered a thumping win over Nepal in the final of SAF Football Championship in Colombo. India defeated Nepal by 3-1. India had defeated Bhutan and Sri Lanka in the

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league stage and thrashed Afghanistan 11-0 in the semis to romp into the final

115. AITA extended the Ban on Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bopanna The All India Tennis Association (AITA) extended the ban on Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna from the national team till 30 June 2014. Bhupathi and Bopanna had objected to partnering with Leander Paes at the London Olympics, following which AITA had sent two doubles team - one of Bhupathi and Bopanna, and the other of Paes and Vishnu Vardhan to the Olympics. The AITA stated that it would stick to the young Indian side for the Asia-Oceania Group-I Davis Cup and will not include Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the squad until the country moves up from the Asia-Oceania Group. 116. Farida Malik a girl of Indian Kazakh origin won the title of Miss Almaty 2012 Student of Kazakhstan's Turan University Farida Malik a girl of Indian Kazakh origin won the title of Miss Almaty 2012, on 14 September 2012. Farida, whose father is an Indian and mother a Kazakh, received the beauty pageant of Miss Kazakhstan. Executive Director of Miss Kazakhstan beauty pageant Sovet Seitov, stated that Farida is a girl with outstanding appearance and the jury along with her liked her dance and moves. 117. New Zealand pacer Daryl Tuffey retired from both International and Domestic Cricket Injury-plagued New Zealand pacer Daryl Tuffey announced his retirement from both international and domestic cricket . Tuffey represented New Zealand Auckland, Northern Districts over the course of his career, picking up 77 Test wickets and 110 ODI wickets in 123 matches.

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He made his debut for Northern back in 1996/97 as an 18- year-old, coincidentally against Auckland, before forcing his way into the New Zealand in 1999/2000. 118. Former Sarsanghchalak of RSS KS Sudarshan died at Nagpur KS Sudarshan, the former RSS Sarsanghchalak died on 15 September 2012. He suffered a heart attack at the Nagpur headquarters of RSS. He was in Nagpur for release of a book written by Gopal Vyas a Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh that was held on 14 September 2012. Life of KS Sudarshan 1. He led the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist organization as its fifth Sarsanghachalak from 2000 to 2009. 2. He did his bachelor in Engineering in Telecommunications (honours) from Sagar University 3. He became a Pracharak of RSS at the age of 23 in the year 1954 4. In 1979, he became the chief of the RSS think-tank (Bouddhik Cell) 5. In the year 2005, his comment asking Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani to step-down and allow a young face to be take the leadership of the country on behalf of BJP, created a rift in between party and Sangh Parivaar

119. Larsen and Turbo restructured its Engineering and InfoTech services Larsen & Turbo the infrastructure and engineering giant on 15 September 2012 integrated its L&T Integrated Engineering Services with IT business L&T InfoTech for igniting growth rate of the company in technical arena. The company‘s restructured cluster will be rebranded as L&T Technology Service with

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Keshab Panda, the chief executive of L&T Integrated Engineering Services as its chief executive. This entity will remain functional in providing customized engineering services that includes embedded systems, which are deployed in custom firmware along with plant and product electronics. 120. Veteran communist leader and the Freedom Fighter A.M. Govindarasu passed away A.M. Govindarasu (A.M. Gopu), the veteran communist leader and the Freedom Fighter passed away on 13 September 2012 at Chennai. The 83 year old, who survived six bullet shots by the police in 1950, is survived by his daughter. Following his wish of not being cremated, his family members donated his body to the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital. Life of A.M. Govindarasu alias A.M. Gopu He became a part of the freedom movement, when he was in class ninth in the year 1942. Supported by three more classmates, he came on the streets at Tiruvidaimarudur shouting slogans against British government, where he was arrested and sent to Juvenile jail for 16 days. He was expelled from his college, Maharaja College at Pudukottai after making protests against the Diwan of Travancore, Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer. Gopu was brought to Chennai by CPI leader K. Balathandayutham to be a member of the party‘s body Janashakti. Some of his daring actions were 1. He waylayed the trolley that carried the salary of railway employees of French Government in Puducherry 2. At Karaikal-Kumbakonam route he along with three of his friends threw country bombs at a security officer and took away Rs. 37,000 and a gun carried him. French Government announced a prize amount of Rs 5000 on him and his friends 3. He escaped life term by French government for killing 2

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people and robbing the train but Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajaji‘s intervention saved him at that point of time 4. After Communist movement saw a split, he remained with the party. He served the parties trade union AITUC as its general secretary 121. The President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon visited India The President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon visited India from 1 to 4 September 2012.This was the fifth visit to India by President Emomali Rahmon. During this visit, India and Tajikistan signed six agreements in the field of sports, health, culture, education, labour, textiles and energy. It was also decided that India would increase training slots for Tajikistan from 100 to 150 under India Technology and Eco Training Programme. In the course of his visit, President of Tajikistan also addressed a business meeting jointly organised by ASSOCHAM, CII and FICCI. 122. Proposal for 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail and 49 percent in Aviation passed The Union Cabinet on 14 September 2012 cleared the proposal of foreign direct investment (FDI) for 51 percent in the multi- brand retail chains and 49 percent in Aviation power exchanges industry. Passing of the proposal have cleared the floor for welcoming the multi-brand retail chains like Wall mart and Tesco and Carrefour in the country for setting up of their shops and retail outlets. Similarly, the 49 percent of FDI allowed in aviation and Power exchanges will bring in funds for the domestic carriers on a verge of death and will help in enhancement of power availability and distribution management, respectively. Conditions put forward for investors in the proposal for the multi-brand retails

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1. The proposal makes a clear stand that investors looking ahead for investments will have to take the permission in form of approvals from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board 2. Investment of minimum $100 million is a must for any foreign investor planning to invest in India, out of which 50% of the investment should be made in creation of back-end infrastructure. Back-end investment means investments that is made in quality control, warehouse creation, cold storage, design improvement, manufacturing, processing and packaging 3. The investors will have to get 30% of the production of their total products by the small-scale industries 4. The proposal also clears that the agricultural produce like pulses, flowers, fruits, vegetables, poultry item, fishery, meat and others can be unbranded 5. Investors can invest in the 51 cities with a minimum population of 10 lakh people as per the census presented in the year 2011 For making investment in the aviation sector, the proposals have 1. This will help in making equity invasion for the aviation companies seeking financial support at the time when maximum of the domestic airlines are passing through a phase of losses. 2. Investors who are not functional in airline business can own equity of 49 percent directly or indirectly in the Indian Aviation Companies. FDI in Power Exchanges will be guided via 1. 49 percent of FDI in power trading exchanges will be taken care of as per the regulation laid down by SEBI and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power Market) Regulations) 2010 2. The commerce minister stated that Foreign Institutional Investors cannot exceed a limit of 26 percent investment and

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the paid-up capital will be restricted to 23 percent 3. FII can be permitted under automatic routes whereas; the FDI will be scrutinized under the route approved by the government 4. The generation of electricity, power transmission and distribution along with trading will be done in accordance to the provisions of the Electricity Act 2003 5. The current policy allows FDI up to 100 percent in power sector (atomic energy is an exception) What does it mean for different economic sections of India 1. Economy: Help in reversal of the economic slowdown, attract the investment of billions of dollars from foreign market and spin jobs to a greater extent 2. Kirana Stores: Will lower down the selling price, because they will purchase the supplies from deep down retailers 3. Retailers: Can sell their equity up to 51% to the global leaders 4. Farmers: They can sell their produce directly at higher prices and the presence of middle man will end 5. States: Decision to allow the retail giants or prohibit lies in the hands of states 6. Common Man: A chance to gain big discount with many options to shop 7. UPA government: Got a chance to wash away the blames of policy paralysis 123. Dhoni named as the captain for IIC ODI team of the year Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian Cricket team has been named as the Captain of ICC‘s ODI team of the year. Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are two more players from Indian squad to be selected in the ICC‘s ODI team for the year. Dhoni has been nominated to be a member of the team for fifth consecutive year in a row.

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The complete team of twelve members selected for the ICC‘s One Day International team of the year includes three Indians and two members from each of the team Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England along with one nominated South African player as a whole. The team was selected by the a panel headed by the former West Indian Captain Clive Lloyd that included other members like Carl Hooper (Former Skipper-West Indies), Marvan Atapattu (Former Captain Sri Lanka), Tom Moody (former Australian all-rounder) and Clare O‘Connor (Former Captain of England‘s women team). Name of the squad for the ICC ODI team was announced by David Richardson, the ICC Chief Executive at an event organized before LG ICC Awards ceremony. Name of the players for the team are MS Dhoni (Ind, wicketkeeper/Captain), Shahid Afridi (Pak), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Alastair Cook (Eng), Virat Kohli (Ind), Morne Morkel (SA), Michael Clarke (Aus), Lasith Malinga (SL), Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Steven Finn (Eng). The twelfth man of the team will be Shane Watson (Aus). 124. Rashtriya Aarogya Nidhi Scheme was launched in Arunachal Pradesh The State Health Ministry of Arunachal Pradesh launched Rashtriya Aarogya Nidhi scheme in Itanagar on 14 September 2012. The scheme which is under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, provides financial assistance upto 1.5 lakh rupees to BPL patients suffering from life threatening diseases in the form of a one-time grant. In the event of the treatment cost exceeding 1.5 lakh rupees, the patients can avail the assistance from the Central Rashtriya Aarogya Nidhi scheme. The Central government‘s contribution to the scheme for Arunachal Pradesh, will be two crore rupees. 125. Worldwide protests against the film Innocence of Muslims Innocence of Muslims, written and produced by Sam Bacile turned up to be the reason for protests across the Islamic

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nations. The movie has claimed lives of many including, the US Ambassador to Libiya Chris Stevens. The film has seen protests in Libiya, Egypt, India and the Arabic speaking world. Producer of the film, Sam Bacile with original name Nakoula Basseley Nakoula hired the director of many soft-core porn flicks to do the job. Some of the films of the Robert include The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, Lost at War and Zombie Wars. The reason of protests against the film is the insult of Prophet Mohammad. The director of the film, who is an Israeli- American, has portrayed Prophet to be a philanderer, fool and a religious fake. There are scenes in the movie that illustrates Prophet to be a fake person along with scenes that have thrown light on the sexual acts of Prophet. 126. Inflation rose by 0.68 percent in a month’s time Indian inflation rose from 6.87 percent recorded in July 2012 to 7.55 percent August 2012 as per the data released by the government on 14 September 2012. It‘s projected that the rise in the price of diesel on 13 September 2012, will impact it adversely. The report has reduced the chances of cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India. The presented data has even crossed the median of 7 percent as well as the top of 7.4 percent, the estimates presented by sixteen economists. Slipping of bond prices maturing in 2022 has seen a benchmark drop of 8.15 percent with an intraday low of Rs 99.77 from that of Rs 99.97 before the release of this data. The growth in share market after the fuel price rise was a positive sign for the dubious fiscal condition of India. The benchmark sensitive index of the Bombay stock exchange traded at 2.2 percent higher at 18410.14. RBI‘s prolonged battle to against inflation by raising the rate of interest 13 times in a year‘s time (2010-2011) was able to witness limited success because of government‘s failure in addressing the bottlenecks of supply diluting the efforts of new monetary policies. Shaken fiscal policies have also been a

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reason for this failure in addressing the issue. The deputy governor of RBI K.C. Chakrabarty stated that to control inflation is their top priority at this point of time. 127. Chhattisgarh HC annulled the Land acquired by the Government The Chhattisgarh High Court on 11 September 2012 annulled the acquisition of thousand acre of fertile land in Raigarh as well as in Champa–Janjgeer districts of the state. It had been taken away from farmers by the Chhattisgarh state government for setting up power station. Chhattisgarh High Court also imposed a fine in each case which would be given to the petitioners as litigation fee in the case. Justice Prashant Mishra, in his order, observed that the government move to acquire the fertile land of the farmers would not serve its interest. 128. SupremeCourt asked Essar Oil to pay the sales tax dues in phases Supreme Court passed a judgment on 13 September 2012 for Gujarat Sales Tax case allowing Essar Oil to pay back the sales tax dues in phases. The dues amount of Rs 5,165 crore can be paid back in eight different installments of two years beginning from 17 January 2012. Supreme Court also dismissed the demand of Rs 1800 crore interest made by the Government of Gujarat. The court also directed the oil company to make the payment at the interest rate of 10 percent on the payment due of 17 January 2012 instead of 18 percent demanded by the state Government. In its statement, the oil company cleared that it has already cleared a due payment of Rs 1004 crore of the total dues amount of Rs 6169 crore.

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129. UP Government launched the Samajwadi Swasthya Seva in the State Uttar Pradesh state government on 14 September 2012 launched the Samajwadi Swasthya Seva, the biggest emergency medical transport service in the country. The ambitious service was launched in 13 districts - Mainpuri, Etawah, Lucknow, Kannauj, Saharanpur, Meerut, Rampur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Sambhal, Shamli, Baghpat and Ambedkarnagar - in the first phase.The facility can be availed free of cost by dialling 108. The ambulance service was launched with the help of a private service provider.

The government aims to reach people in need within 20 minutes of the SOS call. A call centre that will be manned by 100 people has been set up here to support the emergency service. It will be functional 24x7.

130. Supreme Court lifted the Gag Order on Media Reporting of Troop Movement The Supreme Court of India on 14 September 2012 lifted the gag order on media reporting of troop movement ordered by the Allahabad High Court. The SC pronounced the order while hearing the petition filed through PCI Chairman and former Apex Court judge Markandeya Katju's office which submitted that the HC order was in violation of the fundamental right under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution, granted to the media and every citizen of the country. On April 10, the High Court bench of justices Uma Nath Singh and Virendra Kumar Dixit had directed various Central and state government authorities to ensure that there is no reporting / release of any news item by the print or electronic media, namely the movement of troops.

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The directions were given to the Union Home secretary, the Information and Broadcasting secretary and the principal secretary (Home) of the Uttar Pradesh government.

The High Court order had come on a PIL filed by a social activist relating to a report in The Indian Express on April 4, 2012. The report pertained to purported movements of some Army troops towards New Delhi. 131. Railways won the 52nd National Open Athletics Championships Railways lifted the overall Trophy in the 52nd National Open Athletics Championships on 13 September 2012. The sporting event took place in Chennai. Railways finished at the top with a total of 327 points. Services athletes finished runners-up with 138 points. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation clinched the third position with 114 points. The Services athletes claimed the men's team trophy by logging 138 points while Railways were runners-up with 119 points. Railways also lifted the women's team trophy by accumulating 208 points while ONGC were second. 132. The Indian Newspaper Society declared Tilak Kumar as its new President K.N. Tilak Kumar was appointed as the president of The Indian Newspaper Society for the year 2012-2013 on 13 September 2012 during the 73rd annual meet of the Newspaper Society. Tilak Kumar is the Editor of Deccan Herald and the Joint Managing Director of the Printers (Mysore). He is a successor of Ashish Bagga from India Today. The secretary general of the society released the names of other newly elected office bearers of the society. Some of the prominent names are Ravindra Kumar (The Statesman) is appointed as the Deputy President, Kiran B Vadodaria

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(Sambhaav Metro) is the new Vice President and Sanjay Gupta (Dainik Jagran, Varanasi) has been appointed as the Honorary Treasurer of the Society. New elected members of the executive committee are V K Chopra (Dainik Asam), P V Chandran (Grihalakshmi), Mahendra Mohan Gupta (Dainik Jagran), L Adimoolam (Health & The Antiseptic), Jagjit Singh Dardi (Charhdikala Daily), Samahit Bal (Pragativadi),Ravindra Dhariwal (Navbharat Times), K Balaji (The Hindu Weekly), Pradeep Gupta (Dataquest), Dr B S Adityan (Varantari Rani), Pawan Agarwal (Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal), Rishi Darda (Lokmat, Ahmednagar) and Vijay Darda (Lokmat) and others. Indian Newspaper Society has 1000 dailies, weeklies, bi- weeklies, monthlies and fortnightlies on board, which are published in eighteen different languages of India. It plays a major role in fostering a mutual cooperation in the newspaper industry. 133. Fuego Volcano in Guatemala started spewing Ash and Lava Guatemala: Guatemala is a country located in Central America. Guatemala, in the second week of September 2012 evacuated tens of thousands of people after the Fuego volcano started spewing ash and lava. Powerful eruptions were catapulting burning rocks as high as 1000 meters above the crater and lava was flowing down its slopes. The eruption of the Fuego, 50 kilometers south-west of Guatemala City, is the biggest since 1999. 134. Somalia got its new President in form of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won the presidential elections of Somalia on 10 September 2012. He won the election by gaining 190 votes to 79 in the second round of competition. Alliances

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were formed between the Prime Minister Abdiweli Ali and Hassan Sheikh. Short description about Hassan Sheikh Mohamud 1. He was born in Jalalaqsi on the Shebelle River of central Somalia in the year 1955 2. He completed his education in India and United States 3. Worked in the United Nations development program and World Bank as well as a university lecturer 4. In the year 2008, he worked with Somalia Civil Society 5. In 2009 history of mediation in Somalia is a book written by him was published 6. 2011, founded the peace development party as its chairman His election as a President is welcomed by many of the nations of the world and there are expectations that Somalia will soon see a new dawn. 135. Fortis Escorts won FICCI Healthcare Excellence Award 2012 FICCI Healthcare Excellence Award-2012 went to the Jaipur based Fortis Escorts hospital for its operational excellence in the category of private hospital with multi-specialty hundred beds. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has instituted this award for felicitation of the individuals and institutions for their contribution in increasing the efficiency of health care by imparting innovative steps. The laid norms were specified by the Quality Council of India. Parameter on which the judgment was made includes efficiency in staff excellence, functioning and patient track record management. As per the director of Fortis Escorts Hospital, Prateem Tamboli, the hospital is the first hospital in the state of Rajasthan to receive this award. The chief guest to this award function was the President of India Pranab Mukherjee. 136. Former Chief Justice of India Ranganath Misra Died Ranganath Misra, the former chief justice of India died on 13 September 2012. He died at the age of 86 and is survived by

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his wife Sumitra Misra. Ranganath Misra was appointed to be the 21st Chief Justice of India from 25 September 1990 to 24 November 1991 during the reign of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and former President of India, R. Venkataraman. Life of Ranganath Misra Ranganath Misra completed his education from Cuttack, Orissa and Allahabad University. He turned up to be an advocate in high court of Orissa in the year 1950 and was appointed to be the judge of the same court on 18 September 1969 and turned up to be the acting Chief Justice of the same court on 6 November 1980 and a chief justice from 16 January 1981. He served NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) as its first chairman. He chaired the famous Ranganath Misra Commission that was constituted by his name on 29 October 2004 by the Government of India to deal and look after the issues related to Linguistic and Religious minorities in India. The report was submitted by the commission on 21 May 2007 and important findings like, 1. To reserve 8.4 percent of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota of the 27 percent of the minorities 2. Scheduled caste reservation for Dalit converts 3. 15 percent seats for minorities in educational institutions and government services Ranganath Misra was the head of the judicial commission that was appointed for the probe in the anti-Sikh riots of New Delhi after the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. 137. Sheryl Kumar was Crowned as Miss India Fiji 2012 Sheryl Kumar was crowned Miss India Fiji 2012 at a glittering ceremony in Suva on 8 September 2012. Sheryl beat nine other contestants to win the title. She is now preparing for the Miss India Worldwide pageant to be held in Kuala Lumpur in March 2013.

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Sheryl also won the Pure Fiji Beautiful Skin award at the event. 138. India topped the chart of registered largest number of under five deaths in 2011 In the Child Mortality Estimates Report 2012 published on 12 September 2012, by United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF), India was placed at the top position in the chart of 10 countries that topped on the chart. The other countries with their names on the chart are Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. As per the report, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Pakistan along with India are the countries with more than fifty percent of the total deaths. The countries with world‘s lowest mortality rate are Singapore, the Nordic Countries, Japan and some of the European Countries. But the good news of the report is the decrease in the number of the under-five mortality to 6.9 million from that if the 12 million in 1990. This fall measures to 51 per thousand in 2011 from that of 87 per thousand in 1990. The identified cause for the mortality is: • 14 percent due to pre-term birth complications • 18 percent due to Pneumonia • 11 percent due to Diarrhea • 9 percent due to Intrapartum related complications • 7 percent of the total deaths happen The report also cleared that approx 40 percent of the total deaths were reported within 28 days (neonatal period) of birth which counts to be three million deaths in total.

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139. Smiling Armadillo to be the official Mascot of 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil A Smiling Armadillo is declared to be the official mascot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on 12 September 2012. The reports state that FIFA has registered the patent for this rare animal with the European Patent Office as a symbol to this extreme sporting event. Officials declared that internet poll will help in deciding the name of this mascot. Brazuca the name of the ball for the world cup 2014 to was finalized by the opinion poll on internet. The armadillo in Brazil is known by the name of 'tatu-bola' and is known for its abilities of rolling itself in form of a ball to with a leathery shell as a symbol of self-defence. In the previous FIFA World Cup the mascots were: • FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa- Zakumi the green- haired leopard • FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany- Goleo named lion Taking the Armadillo as an official mascot for the mega event was backed by a NGO named Caatinga Association engaged in protection of the biodiversity of North Eastern Brazil. 140. Environment clearance of 99 Mines in Goa suspended The environment clearance of 99 Mines of Goa was suspended with respect to the report presented by the Justice M B Shah Commission on 12 September 2012. Report claims that the organizations involved in the mining work taunted with the forest laws and environment norms & guidelines. This report also suggests the involvement of state directorate of mines, the union ministry for environment and forests (MoEF), Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), the state forest department and the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) in this act of illegal mining.

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Jayanti Natarajan, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests cleared his stand over the issue that officials, whose involvement is found in the case, will be dealt accordingly following the procedures made by the law. As per the issued report, the complete scam worth approx 35,000 rupees. The report also present data that proves the involvement of Indian Authorities and the State Government in supply of unchecked and unregulated iron ore to China under their protected scanner to make more money. 141. The Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the PHDCCI signed MoU The Islamabad Women‘s Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the PHDCCI on 12 September 2012 signed an MoU. The objective of the MoU is to develop policies in trade, investment and tourism between Pakistan and India and expand the existing business base and increase understanding.

The two chambers agreed to establish and develop commercial links between the business communities of both countries and their members. According to the MoU, both trade bodies will endeavour to improve cooperation, assist trade missions, exchange information and find methods for promoting trade.The two chambers will also organise seminars, exhibitions, trade fairs and other promotional activities.

Both industry chambers have agreed on a work plan, which will cover information-sharing, networking, exploring opportunities, problem solving and reaching international markets. The IWCCI is the first women's chamber from Pakistan that has signed a MoU with a foreign chamber.

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142. State-owned Bank of India opened its first branch in South Africa State-owned Bank of India (BoI) opened its first branch in South Africa in a move to enhance the relationship between South Africa and India while contributing to the overall development of the BRICS grouping. BoI opened branch in Johannesburg which is in South Africa.

During state visit of then Indian president Pratibha Patil to South Africa in May 2012, both countries agreed to increase two-way trade to 15 billion US dollars by 2014 from 10.64 billion US dollars.

India can take advantage of the huge opportunities on the African continent, particularly in infrastructure and communication. South Africa and India both are members of BRICS, which also includes Brazil, Russia and China.

143. US Diplomat to Libya killed in Benghazi Attack United states ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens with three other embassy staff were killed on 9 September 2012 after some fundamentalist mobs fumed and protesting over a film mocking Prophet Mohammed, attacked Consulate building in Benghazi city of Libya.

The said event happened on the day which is also marked as the 11th anniversary of 9/11.

The US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens was the man who had helped Libyan opposition to overthrow the Gaddafi regime.

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The protest came after 14 minute trailer of the film posted on You Tube. The film named as Innocence of Muslims, was directed and produced by an Israeli- American real estate developer. It depicts the Prophet in poor light.

In response to the incident, US President Barack Obama ordered increased security for US diplomatic posts across the world and in his White House appearance he declared that the U.S. would "work with the Libyan government to bring to justice those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Chris Stevens is the second U.S. ambassador who had been killed during an outstation posting since the death of Adolph Dubs in 1979 during his tenure in Afghanistan.

144. Cartoonist Assem Trivedi granted bail by Mumbai High Court The cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was released from the Arthur Road Jail on 12 September 2012. Aseem Trivedi, who was arrested on the charges of sedition and insulting the national symbol and emblem, was released from jail after Bombay High Court granted him bail on the personal bond of Rs 5000. This supporter of Anna Hazare‘s Anti-Corruption campaign was arrested for depiction of wolves in place of lions and providing a quote Bhrastameva Jayate as a replacement of Satyameva Jayate on the National Emblem.

Aseem Trivedi the cartoonist is renowned for portraying politics in India and appreciated for his campaign Cartoons against Corruption. He is the winner of Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award for 2012 that is conducted by Cartoonists Rights Network International. The cartoonist has been a founding

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member of a body named movement against internet censorship in India, Save Your Voice.

145. Government reduced Interest Rates on rescheduled Crop Loans from 12 to 7 Percent Government on 11 September 2012 reduced interest rates on rescheduled crop loans from 12 to 7 per cent in drought- affected areas for this fiscal. It also increased the number of guaranteed work days under the MGNREGA to 150 days from 100 days.Four Indian states namely Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have declared drought in more than 390 taluks. During agrarian crisis, crop loans get converted into term loans for a longer period of three years but at a higher interest rate of 12 per cent. The Empowered Group of Ministers also approved 846 crore rupees to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, and relaxed some norms. 146. India and Saudi Arabia held their first talk on defence ties The Joint Committee on defence cooperation from Saudi Arabia and India met for creation of defence ties on 11 September 2012. Decisions for this establishment of joint committees was decided during the visit of Indian defence minister A.K. Antony to Saudi Arabia and his meet with the Crown Prince and defence minister of Saudi Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in February 2012.

The 11 member team from Saudi Arabia was headed by the Chief of the Armed Forces Operations of Saudi Arabia Maj Gen Suleiman Saleh Al-Khalifa. The Indian side was headed by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence. Both the sides met for

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formulation of the program that can enhance the areas of cooperation between the defence establishments of two nations.

This upswing in the relationship between India and Saudi Arabia has been in existence ever since the visit of King Abdullah to New Delhi in the year 2006. The two nations inked several agreements on certain factors like narcotics, energy, money laundering, counterterrorism and extradition in the 2010.

147. Supreme Court: media can be restrained from pressing trials during proceedings Supreme Court refused to frame any guideline for pressing up of the court proceedings of the sub-judicial matters, on 11 September 2012. It just put forward a constitutional provision for postponement of the publications of the report or court hearing if the involved parties want so.

The bench of five judges, headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia declared its stand on the issue. The bench also said that the decision about the publication of the proceedings and its postponement will be decided by the court on case to case basis. The other four members of the bench were justices S S Nijjar, D K Jain, Ranjana Prakash Desai and J S Khehar. This bench of Supreme Court also cleared that use of the constitutional principle is a preventive measure not a prohibition and this will help in ensuring fair trail and maintain a good balance for freedom of speech.

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148. Punjab Government amended Canal and Drainage Act Punjab state government on 11 September 2012 amended the section 70 of Canal and Drainage Act, 1873 to punish the offence of canal water theft. As per the amendment, those who puncture a canal to irrigate their fields will face a fine of 5000 rupees, imprisonment or both. For the second offence of canal water theft, water supply would be ceased for full term during the crop season. In case any person still continues to use water in an unauthorised manner, they would be excluded from the command area of the canal for a period of two years. Before this amendment, there was a provision of Rs 1,000 fine or 1 month imprisonment or both. 149. NIIT and Microsoft came together for Cloud Training Information training company NIIT Ltd partnered with Microsoft on 12 September 2012 for courses in Cloud computing. The partnership is going to create nearly one lakh cloud ready professionals in India over the time period of three years.

The tie- up is totally benefitting. Now, the benefits of Microsoft Certification integrated with NIIT programmes are made available to students both in the retail and academic space by NIIT.

NIIT and Microsoft are already in strategic partnership for over two decades basically for developing contemporary talent pool for IT industry.

NIIT Limited is a global computer education company. The company provides training for individuals, enterprises, schools and colleges. It has its presence in 40 countries worldwide.

In 2004, NIIT was restructured into two groups. One is NIIT

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Limited, which focuses on the training and education in IT segment, and another which is known as NIIT Technologies which is an information technology (IT) solutions organization.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. 150. QS World University Rankings released and MIT top the ranking Chart Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topping the list of best universities issued by the QS World University Rankings for 2011-2012 for the first time that there is a massive rise in the tech-based universities of the world. Cambridge University that had managed to be at second position in the list has seen a slight depression from its first slot, whereas Harvard University was ranked to be at third position in the list.

University College, London (UCL), Oxford and Imperial are the ranked to be at fourth and fifth position. Four universities from United Kingdom have taken the slot among six best universities of the world. In the announced rankings, none of the Indian universities have been successful in managing a rank even in the top hundred. The published results are based on the QS Academic reputation survey in which 46,000 academics from across the world were engaged in identifying the leading universities of their respective field.

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151. EGoM cut down the loan interest rate to 7 percent in the drought affected areas The EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers) on 11 September 2012 declared to slash down the interest rate from 10 to 12 percent to 7 percent in the entire 350 drought hit Talukas of the four states namely, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka. They also came up with a declaration of providing additional 50 days of work guarantee to that of 100 days under MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) to the registered households. The decision will be applicable for a period of one year from the day of announcement. The decisions made in the meet, are subject to be practiced in the drought affected areas only. There is a total of 8 percent deficiency in the monsoon to that of the 20 percent recorded in the first four months of the season.

The EGoM is headed by Food Minister K V Thomas, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister Sushil kumar Shinde and Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath. In the current financial year government has provided Rs 33,000 crore budget for MGNREGS to make sure that everyone gets a justifiable employment opportunity of 100 days.

EGoM during its last meet in June 2012, declared a relief budget of 2000 crore for the drought hit areas along with the subsidy on diesel.

152. Tensions grew over Senkaku Islands in between Japan and China The uninhabited group of Islands Senkaku or Diaoyu turned up to be the cause for mounting tensions in between China and Japan. Japan on 11 September 2012 announced that they have

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purchased three islands of this group of islands from its identified Tokyo based Kurihara family (owner of the island) at $25b million. In response to this declaration, china sent two Marine Surveillance Ships for patrol and resettling Chinese claim on the islands. Chinese foreign ministry also warned Japan that necessary steps will be taken to protect Chinese interests to the issue.

Following the study conducted by experts in 1968, the Island group that has been under the control of Japan, since 1895 holds oil reserves under the sea. China claims that the islands were discovered and controlled by them ever since fourteenth century and considers it to be a part of Taiwan (Republic of China).

153. India, Myanmar and Thailand decided to implement Trilateral Connectivity Project by 2016 India, Myanmar and Thailand on 10 September 2012 reviewed the eagerly awaited trilateral connectivity project and decided to make all efforts to implement this by 2016. This was done at the meeting of the India-Myanmar-Thailand Joint Task Force, which met in New Delhi. It was also agreed during the meeting that steps be initiated to address issues related to harmonisation of customs and immigration procedures at border check-posts to enable seamless movement of goods and people to realise the full potential of the trilateral highway. 154. Differences grew in between China and Japan over the disputed Diayo Islands Japan on 11 September 2012, announced that it has purchased the three uninhabited islands in the Diayo Islands from its owner family based in Tokyo. Amidst, the growing tensions in

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relation to the disputed East China Sea, China issued a warning to Japan on that it will take care of its interests by taking necessary steps in relation to the three islands purchased by Japan in the Diaoyo Islands.

Two Marine Surveillance Ships were sent on patrol by China to the inhabited islands for enforcement of Chinese control that heightened the possibilities of confrontation with Japanese coastguards.

What is the Dispute all about?

Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands are the uninhabited group of Islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan since 1895. These Islands lie in between the mainland of China, West of Okinawa Island, Northeastern Taiwan and north of the South-western end of Ryukyu Islands. As per a study conducted by the experts in the year 1968, it was discovered that these islands may have oil reserves. After Japan‘s surrender in the World War II, the control of the Islands went in the hands of USA and controlled by them from 1945 to 1971. US returned these islands to Japan after the Okinawa Reversion Treaty inked in between US and Japan in 1972. Whereas after the reversal treaty, People‘s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China, Taiwan (ROC) claims the discovery of the islands and their control over these from 14th Century. Amidst the complexity, ROC and PRC consider these Islands as the part of Taiwan as part of Yilan Countries, Toucheng Township. Japan does not consider Taiwan as a sovereign state and hence does not regard the claims of Taiwan over the group of Islands.

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155. Delhi Government decided to impose a Blanket Ban on Plastic Bags The Delhi government on 10 September 2012 decided to impose a blanket ban on the manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags in the national capital. The use of plastic cover pouches to pack magazines and invitation and greeting cards will also be prohibited.Following a Delhi High Court order, the government had in January 2009 imposed a ban on the use of plastic bags in various markets, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals but it has not produced any desired result. The government now decided to impose the ban as per provision of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 under which the violators could face imprisonment up to five years and fine of upto 1 lakh rupees or both. 156. Jeet Thayil shortlisted for the Man Booker for his debut novel Narcopolis Jeet Thayil, 53 years has been shortlisted for £ 50,000 the Man Booker Prize for the year 2012 on 11 September 2012. The Kerela born novelist and poet was chosen for the prize for his debut novel Narcopolis. Before this in the year 2008, Arvind Adiga won the booker prize for his debut novel The White Tiger.

Narcopolis the story that begins with Bombay is a masterpiece of a cyclone of drugs, violence, sex, loves, lives and deaths. Even the title suggests the theme of the story that is related to drugs. The story seems to be based on the experiences of Jeet Thayil and has been compared to the William Burrough‘s Junky and Thomas de Quincey‘s confessions of an English Opium Eater by the Guardian. After winning the award Jeet will be the member of a selected group of Indian and Indian Born Booker winners like Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai and

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Arvind Adiga.

In this race of Booker Awards, Jeet Thayil will have to survive a tough competition from Will Self and Harry Mantel, the previous winners of the awards. Creator of the Wolf Hall the book that won booker in 2009, Harry Mantel has been shortlisted for Bring up the Bodies, which a sequel to the Wolf Hall. Umbrella helped Mr. Self in being shortlisted for the award. Will Self, Harry Mantel, Tan Twan Eng, Deborah Levyand Alison Moore are the other shortlisted candidates for the awards.

157. India’s Virender Singh won Bronze in World Deaf Championship India's Virender Singh won the bronze medal in the Men's 84 kgs free style category in the third World Deaf Championship at Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The Indian team ended up at the seventh place in the championship overall. 158. India extended a credit of $10 Million aid to Palestine in a gesture of support Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a support of $10 Million to Palestine during a meet with Palestine‘s National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on 11 September 2012. Palestinian president was here in Indian on a three day visit from 10 to 12 September 2012. Mr. Singh also promised his Palestinian counterpart about India‘s backing for their full and equal membership of the U.N. the one that is threatened by US for veto.

During the meet, both the sides inked three different agreements comprising information and communication

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technology, education and vocational training. The agreements were inked in presence of the Indian external Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and the member of executive committee of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Dr. Saeb M.S. Erakat.

A MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) has been signed up to set up two schools at two districts of Palestine namely Abu Dees and Asera Al Shamalyeh, which will be named on the name of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, India‘s first Prime Minister. Cost estimated for the construction of the two schools is US$ 1.8 million and will help about eight hundred students of these districts to fetch quality education. The schools at Abu Dees and Asera Al Shamalyeh will be constructed in an area of 1700 and 1900 square meter with 10 and 12 classes respectively.

In the second agreement, India will set a state-of-the-art information and communication technology center in Palestine to create IT experts and generate opportunities of employment. To make the center of Palestine self-reliable, some of the IT professionals from Palestine will be trained here in India to a higher level.

As per the third agreement, India will participate in providing vocational training to the women and youth of Palestine. The training will include technical and machinery know-how to.

Prime Minister Mr. Singh stated that he supported the Palestinian cause to achieve independent, sovereign and united state of Palestine and East Jerusalem as a capital to the state.

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159. Vice president of India M. Hamid Ansari released a book Vice president of India Hamid Ansari released the book ―Muslim in Indian cities‖ on 10 September 2012. The book is edited by Laurent Gayer and Christopher Jafferlot.

On the occasion of book release, Vice-President denoted Indian muslim as sui genericthat means unique in characteristics.

The book speaks about Muslim life in India. Numbering more than 150 million, Muslims constitute the largest minority in India, yet they suffer the most politically and socioeconomically.

The books argue that the quality of Muslim life may lag behind that of Hindus nationally, local and inclusive cultures had resilient in the south and the east. Within India‘s cities, however, the challenges Muslims face can be harder to read. As per the book, In the Hindi belt and in the north, Muslims have known less peace, especially in the riot-prone areas of Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Aligarh, and in the capitals of former Muslim states—Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow. These cities are rife with Muslim ghettos and slums. However, self-segregation has also played a part in forming Muslim enclaves, such as in Delhi and Aligarh, where traditional elites and a new Muslim middle class have regrouped for physical and cultural protection.

Combining firsthand testimony with sound critical analysis, the book follows urban Muslim life in eleven Indian cities, providing uncommon insight into a little-known but highly consequential subject. The book is published by Harper Collins publisher, India.

Laurent Gayer is a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), currently posted at the Centre

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de Sciences Humaines (CSH) in New Delhi. He is also research associate at the Centre d‘Etudes de l‘Inde et de l‘Asie du Sud in Paris.

Christophe Jaffrelot is research director at CNRS and teaches South Asian politics and history at Sciences Po (Paris), as well as at King‘s College, London. 160. Karnataka agreed to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu Karnataka showcased a gesture of goodwill on 10 September 2012 in front of the Supreme Court of India and agreed to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from the Cauvery River, till 20 September 2012.

As a response to this act of Karnataka, the bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Madan Lokur didn‘t pass any verdict for the plea of directing the state to release 2 tmcft (thousand million cubic foot of water). Supreme Court expressed its hope that a fine and friendly solution will be brought forward by the Cauvery River Authority that is headed by the Prime Minister. The bench also stated that in case Karnataka‘s plea is kept pending than the bench will have to come forward for making a decision on the issue.

Cauvery River Water Dispute

The dispute is related to the sharing of water of Cauvery River in between the two states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the place of origin to this dispute goes back to the two controversial agreements signed in 1892 and 1924 between the two states, and that two at the time when the two were the

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parts of the Princely State of Mysore and erstwhile Madras Presidency.

161. Production Sharing Contract inked in between BHP Billiton and BG Group A production- Sharing Contract (PSC) was signed by Australian BHP Billiton and UK‘s BG Group on 10 September 2010. The duo won the bid on the deep waters of Mumbai Basin with the government in the ninth round of the bidding that was conducted under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Two different statements issued by the company and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas confirmed the inking of the contract in between BG-BHP and the government MB-DWN- 2010/1 for deep water blocks of the Mumbai Basin. This block is located at a distance of 350 from the offshore of Mumbai covering an area of 7963 sq kilometres in water depths of 2,900 to 3,200 meters. For BG group this contract represents the first deepest water operated exploration licence in the western coast of India. The group also have its exploration blocks in the KG Basin waiting for certain clearances for starting the work. 162. Welspun finds the lenders for its 50 MW solar Project in Rajasthan Welspun Energy declared that it was successful in finding the funds of Rs 355 crore for its 50 MW Solar Power Project in Rajasthan on 10 September 2012. Three public sector banks along with an infrastructure finance company came together to issue the loan for this long term project to the company. The project is expected to be commissioned by the first quarter of 2013. Welspun Energy is a sister concern of the US $ 3.5 billion Welspun Group. The company mainly deals with creation of

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environment-friendly power plants and is aimed to establish its plants across India. 163. Jal Satyagraha came to an end after 17 days demonstration on a victory note The most outstanding demonstrations of its own kind in Khandawa district of Madhya Pradesh named Jal Satyagraha continued for 17 days at Omkareshwar Dam Project came to an end on 10 September 2012. Across 1000 acres of cultivatable land has been submerged into water with at least 60 odd villages that will not be visible in the map of India any more. The Satygrahis demanded land for the land compensation following the ruling of Supreme Court. The oustees in the satyagraha remained standing in the neck deep water with demands like lowering down the level of water stored in the dam to 189 meters and to provide land for land compensation, ended the battle on the victory note. A high level committee has been constituted to hear the grievances of the dam effected people. The constituted committee will comprise of Minister of State for Narmada Valley Development K.L. Agrawal, SC-ST Welfare Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, Commerce and Industries Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya, Principal Secretary, Narmada Valley Development Rajneesh Vaish and the Indore Divisional Commissioner. Jal Satyagraha Jal Satyagraha is a type of Satyagraha in which 51 farmers from Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh stood in the neck dip water of Omkareshwar Dam for 17 days continuously asking for their rehabilitation. In this unique way of demonstration by the agitators of Khandwa region of Madhya Pradesh against the state government demanding for their rehabilitation after their lands and homes were flooded off by the Omkareshwar Dam water. The Satyagrahis demanded for the compensation as per the

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ruling of the Supreme Court. The agitators termed as Jal Satyagrahis made a decision to stand in neck deep water of the dam, all wet and damp. Omkareshwar Dam Project Omkareshwar Dam Project is a 520 MW project constructed by the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation in joint venture with Madhya Pradesh Government and NHPC is among the biggest dam on Narmada River. The Omkareshwar project area, lies in between the banks of the two important rivers of India, Narmada and Kaveri (it‘s a tributary to Narmada). It was conceived as an irrigation and power dam to be built in the state of Madhya Pradesh in the year 1965. The project is one of the fasted completed hydroelectric projects of the country in between 2004 and 2006. The project has benefitted about 529 villages with irrigation facilities and has helped in raising the yield to .725 million tons of grains along with .835 million ton of other crops in the region. 164. Researchers discovered Two Proteins that can Protect against Diabetes Researchers discovered that two proteins that work together to kill self-reactive immune cells can protect against diseases such as type1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia discovered that absence of proteins called Puma and Bim can result in to self-reactive immune cells accumulating and attacking many different body organs, causing illness. The proteins are called BH3-only. They make the self-reactive cells die by a process called apoptosis. Defects in apoptosis proteins were linked to many human diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders and autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis,

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develop when immune cells launch an attack on the body's own cells, destroying important body organs or structures. 165. World suicide prevention day observed in India 10 September: World Suicide Prevention Day

World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the globe.

The International Association For Sucide Prevention (IASP) collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health, to host World Suicide Prevention Day.

Such an event provides a platform to organizations, government agencies and individuals to promote awareness about suicide, mental illnesses associated with it, and basically focusing on suicide prevention.

166. Sales percentage of car declined in India The sales of cars in India declined in the month of August 2012 by an overall 19 percent. It is counted among the biggest drop in one year timeline, resulting to which Society of Indian automobile Manufacturer (SIAM) asked the government to cut the excise duty.

The next disappointing part is that the export of cars is also declined to a figure of 26.83 percent in the August month which has affected overall production of companies in India. It is the highest decline in 11 years of time. The automobile industry has entered into a desperate situation.

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The excise duty on automobiles, which was increased in this year‘s Budget, needs to be reduced, particularly for the commercial vehicles segment to regain the sale in momentum.

In contrary to that, Chinese market saw a robust sale of car in the month of august.

167. Supreme Courts Notice to Tamil Nadu on the petition that challenged 69% quota in the state In a petition filed against 69 per cent quota in educational and employment institutions of Tamil Nadu by ten meritorious students, Supreme Court of India issued a notice on 10 September 2012 as the granted quota exceeds the limits decided by the judgement issued by Mandal Commission.

After hearing from the senior council Rakesh Diwedi, the notice was issued by the bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra seeking clarification and response from the state for directing the ways to provide admission to the petitioners in the running session of the Medical Colleges, by increasing the number of seats as it has been doing for past sixteen years.

The petitioners, Ms. Gayathri and nine others scored a high marks that ranges in between 198.50/200 to 198/200, but they were barred from being admitted in any of the medical institutions of the state because of the 69 percent quota provision.

As per the petitioners, the Supreme Court directed the backward class commission in 2010 to measure the justifiability

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of the 69 percent quota with the objective criteria report. The body filed a report to the state government on 8 July 2011, without any objective criteria just by confirming the 69 percent reservation on basis of Amba Shankar Commission Report made in 1985, without taking any objective criteria related to the terms of Nagaraja case that does not permits the power to exceed the restriction beyond 50 percent reservation.

168. Supreme Court granted two weeks time to the centre to take a call on Abu Salem India Current Affairs 2012. In case of Abu Salem‘s extradition to India, Supreme Court of India granted a two weeks time to the centre to analyse the judgement of Portuguese Court and pass a statement in relation to the gangster on 10 September 2012. The order was passed in reference to the submitted petition to the Supreme Court by the Attorney General G E Vahanwati for granting sometime to translate the judgement of Portugal‘s court from Portuguese to English.

Abu Salem, 44 years in age is an underworld don who has been convicted with the charges of 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai and killing of Gulshan Kumar the Indian music tycoon and many more cases of extortion and killings. He has also been a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim. In 2002, the Azamgarh born was arrested in Lisbon, Portugal by the Interpol. He was handed over to Indian Authority by the Portuguese authority for facing the trial in case of 1993 serial blasts of z , with a guarantee that death penalty will not be pronounced by his name.

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169. Infosys acquired Switzerland based firm Lodestone Infosys, one of the largest software companies of India, acquired Switzerland based global management consultancy firm Lodestone on 10 September 2012 with an enterprise value of $350 million.

It is the largest acquisition by Infosys till date. By the end of October Lodestone will operate as a subsidiary named ‗Infosys Lodestone‘ in Europe.

Lodestone is a key player in the SAP domain and has in-depth experience of transformational change.

Lodestone is headquartered in Zurich, and the key role of the company is to advise international companies on strategy and process optimization, and to provide business transformation solutions enabled by SAP's enterprise solutions. Lodestone currently employs about 850 employees, most of whom are SAP professionals.

Infosys is an India based multinational company which provides business consulting, technology, engineering and outsourcing services. It also ranks among the second largest software services exporter. 170. Goa Government ordered Temporary Suspension of Mining Operations The Goa Government on 10 September 2012 ordered temporary suspension of all mining operations in the state. An order to this effect was issued by the Principal Secretary, Department of Mines and Geology. The suspension came into effect from 11 September 2012.

The decision comes in view of the serious illegalities and

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irregularities mentioned in the report of the Justice M.B. Shah commission of inquiry constituted by the Union Government of India to look into the aspect of illegal mining in various states including Goa.

However, the suspension of mining operations will have no effect on trade and transportation of ore already mined and existing in the lease-hold area, in transit or stored or stocked on the jetties.

171. Klitschko retains his heavy weight title by defeating German Manuel Charr Ukrainian, Vitali Klitschko managed to defend his WBC heavyweight title on 8 September 2012 at 30,000 seater Olimpiyski indoor sports arena. The medical team and the referee stopped the bout 56 seconds before the end of the fourth round after witnessing a cut mark on the opponent‘s eye, the German Manuel Charr, 27.

Vitali Klitschko is a leader of UDAR of Vitaliy Klychko, a political party and a member of the delegation to from Ukrain for Congress of the Council of Europe. He is the first boxing champion of the world to hold Ph. D. degree. For his accomplishments he won Germany‘s highest civilian award Federal Cross of Merit.

Manuel Charr is a professional boxer from Germany. At the age of 17.2 years, he became the youngest German to be a Champion in Muay Thai. Later at the age of 19, he became German Champion and the European Champion in Thai-Boxing. As per his track record, out of the 22 fights of his career as a

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boxer he won 21 matches and the only one he faced defeat id the one played against Klitschko.

172. Andy Murray became the first British man to capture a Grand Slam single championship after 76 years Sports Current Affairs 2012. The 76 year old tennis history for Britain was re-written after Andy Murray won the US Open Grand Slam Singles Championship by defeating Novak Djokovic 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 on 11 September 2012. Before this, Fred Perry was the British player to win a grand slam in US Championship in the year 1936. Murray also broke an eight match loss streak, by his fellow citizen at Grand Slam Finals. With this win Andy Murray marched ahead on the ranking sheet to be at number three just after Roger Federer and Djokovic.

For Murray, this was the second New York Final in four years; in the first final of 2008 he lost the game against Federer. The 25 year old, recently won Olympic Gold medal in Men‘s singles category and a silver medal in mixed doubles category in the 2012 London Olympics. He is the first British player, who won an Olympic Gold medal in hundred years and also the first British to reach in the men‘s singles final of Wimbledon in an open era.

173. NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) Summit 2012 held in Tehran The 16th NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) summit was held at Tehran, Iran on 30-31 August 2012.The theme of the summit was Lasting Peace through Joint Global Governance. Venezuela was selected the host for the 17th NAM Summit in 2015.

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174. India and Pakistan issued a joint statement at the end of the SM Krishna's Visit External Affairs of India, SM Krishna visited Pakistan from 7 to 9 September 2012 to review progress in the Dialogue process. During his visit, India and Pakistan issued a joint statement. The highlights of the statement are as following— • Cross-LoC travel would be expanded on both sides of LoC to include visits for tourism and religious pilgrimage. • Tourist and Pilgrimage sites will be designated on both sides of the LoC and information will be available with the designated authorities. • Both sides will extend necessary assistance to valid entry permit holders to cross the LoC in emergency situation on crossing as well as non-crossing days. This will be facilitated by designated authorities. • Improvement of roads and bridges for Cross-LoC trade will be facilitated. •Transportation links on operational crossing points will be upgraded. • Both sides agreed to facilitate the exchange of business delegations. • Besides, List of 21 products of permissible items for Cross- LoC trade will be respected by both sides. It was agreed that the JWG (Joint Working Group) on Cross-LoC CBMs will meet on a bi-annual basis to review existing arrangements and suggest additional CBMs and measures for Cross-LoC travel and trade. • India and Pakistan reviewed the status of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction on the holding of meetings on the issues of Counter-Terrorism (including progress on Mumbai trial) and Narcotics Control; Humantarian issues; Commercial & Economic cooperation; Wullar Barrage / Tulbul Navigation Project; Sir Creek; Siachen; Peace & Security including CBMs; Jammu & Kashmir; and promotion of Friendly Exchanges. • Both nations held substantive discussions on the whole range

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of issues within the framework of the Dialogue process and expressed satisfaction over the progress achieved since their last review meeting in July 2011. • India and Pakistan reaffirmed the importance of carrying forward the dialogue process with a view to resolving peacefully all outstanding issues through constructive and result oriented engagement, and to establish friendly, cooperative and good neighborly relations between Pakistan and India. • The nations agreed that terrorism poses a continuing threat to peace and security. They reaffirmed the strong commitment of the two countries to fight terrorism in an effective and comprehensive manner so as to eliminate the scourge in all its forms and manifestations. • Both nations attached importance to promoting Peace and Security, including Confidence Building Measures, between the two countries and agreed to convene separate meetings of the Expert Groups on Nuclear and Conventional CBMs, in New Delhi in the second half of December 2012. • The nations held discussions on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and agreed to the need for continued discussions, in a purposeful and forward-looking manner, with a view to finding a peaceful solution. • The Ministers reviewed the existing Cross-LoC CBMs and acknowledged that the ceasefire was holding since 2003. They also reviewed the implementation of the decisions taken regarding travel and trade across the Line of Control (LoC) in their last meeting in July 2011.

176. West Bengal signed an agreement with TCS to monitor MGNREGA Fund The West Bengal government on 8 September 2012 signed an agreement with a leading IT firm TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) to monitor management of the MGNREGA (Mahatma

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Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) fund. The agreement will facilitate in plugging wastage and leakage of funds under the scheme in the state. The 100-day employment programme will also get a boost with modernization and transparency. The pilot project of technology enabled monitoring of MGNREGA will start from south 24 Pragana district and gradually will be extended to all other 18 districts of the state. TCS will provide a 5-year support to the system after implementation. TCS said it would offer extensive experience in e-governance. 177. Serena Williams won Women's Singles US Open 2012 Serena Williams of USA won her fourth Women's Singles US Open title in New York on 9 September 2012. In the final match played a short while ago, fourth seeded Serena showed incredible resolve as she beat the top seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in two hours and 18 minutes. Besides the fourth US Open title, this was Serena's 15th Grand Slam singles crown. Meanwhile, the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won the Women's Doubles trophy. In the title clash, the second seeded Italian duo defeated the Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 6-4, 6-2 to win the title. 178. India and China agreed to boost the Defence Ties India and China on 4 September 2012 agreed to boost defence ties. The agreement was made during the visit of Chinese Defense Minister Gen Liang Guanglie to India and his meet with his Indian Counterpart AK Antony. Last time the defence minister of China visited India in the year 2004. The two nations have agreed on improving the friendly, strategic and co-operative partnership and exchange of young officers and high level visits. An inter-collegiate exchange that

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includes non-traditional security fields is also a part of the agreement. During the joint Naval Practice in Shanghai, the two nations agreed on increasing the process of military exchange that includes maritime operations and navy. Last joint exercise that took place between the two nations was at Kunming in the year 2007 and at Belgaum in the year 2008. The third joint exercise scheduled for 2010 was cancelled because China disagreed to provide VISA to Lieutenant General BS Jaiswal of the Northern Command and since then India cancelled all collateral ties related to defence activities with China. 179. Pieta the South Korean Film won Golden Lion Venice Top Prize The Golden Lion Prize for best movie was given to the South Korean Movie, Pieta directed by Kim Ki-duk at the 69th Venice Film Festival on 8 September 2012. The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson walked off with two major awards namely, Special Jury Award and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Pieta is the brutal story about a debt collector with a habit of crippling those, who were unable to pay his debt. The brutality stops at a certain point of time, when he meets a woman who claims to be his mother.

180. A merchant vessel M V Amsterdam Bridge was on fire near Mumbai Coast M V Amsterdam a merchant vessel carrying hazardous and inflammable materials was on fire at a distance of four nautical miles from the Prongs Reef Lighthouse in south Mumbai on 9 September 2012. To control the fire ICGS Samudra Prahari, ICGS Subhadra Kumari Chouhan, ICGS Sankalp and ICGS Sangram were sent on duty.

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Out of 112 containers on the vessel, 24 containers were carrying 45 tonnes of dangerous cargo that included turpentine petrol and inflammable gas. Any short of oil spill was not witnessed. The crew members of the 54,405 vessel were removed safely, without causing any damage.

181. Lewis Hamilton became the winner of Italian Grand Prix 2012 Lewis Hamilton, the driver of McLaren's became the winner of the Italian Grand Prix 2012 on 9 September 2012. Ferrari‘s Fernando Alonso extended his overall lead after finishing at third position in the event.

With this win, Hamilton managed to wash away the rumors of his future and possible switch to Mercedes after winning the grand prix and the twentieth victory of his career. Hamilton, who is 27 years old Formulae one driver from England, has been a 2008 Formulae one World Champion. He is the world‘s youngest driver to secure a contract for McLaren driver development program, which paved his way to the F1 drive. Lewis Hamilton is also known as the first black driver in formulae one.

182. ISRO made a century with the launch of PSLV-C21 With the launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) on 9 September 2012, at 9:53 am Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) completed its 100th mission. PSLV-C21, the Rs 90 crore project that was 44 meter in height and 230 tonne in weight, fired 2 satellites in the orbit. The reverse count for the launch started on 7 September 2012 and ended after a 51 hour long countdown. The PSLV-C21 took 17 minutes and 49 seconds to inject France‘s SPOT-6, the first satellite into the orbit. Within seconds, it managed to fix

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Proiteres from Japan into the orbit. SPOT-6 that weighs 712 kg, so far has been the heaviest lift for the multi-million dollar global satellite launch station, since India has become a part of the commercial satellite launch Market.

The launch, which was pre-scheduled at 9.51 am was delayed by two minutes after the alert generated by India‘s Internal Navigation System for the possible collision with the debris of space. This navigation system, guides the rockets in placement of the satellites into the orbit with pinpoint precision. Director of the mission, Kunhi Krishnan declared about the success of the mission at 10.14 am. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who himself was present at the launch station congratulated and greeted the scientists, by stating that India is proud of its space scientists, who are responsible for development of technology for space mission in India itself.

ISRO

ISRO began its operations for the space mission with the launch of Aryabhata in the year 1975 India‘s first satellite via Russian Rocket. Vikram Sarabhai was the visionary, who envisioned and realized the potential of the space technology that can be of the great importance for national development. This was thought after the scientific investigations helped in identifying, the upper atmosphere and ionosphere over the magnetic equator, near Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram with the use of small sounding rockets.

India has turned up to be the World leader in remote sensing data market with twelve earth observation satellites.

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183. Aseem Trivedi the cartoonist from Mumbai held for sedition Charged for the acts of insulting the national symbols, the Kanpur based cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was arrested and sent on a remand for seven days by the Bandra Holiday Court, on 9 September 2012. The cartoonist and the supporter of Anna Hazare‘s anti-corruption campaign, was charged for creation of cartoons against corruption among, which one depicts, wolves sitting with the national emblem instead of lions and a comment Bhrastameva Jayate that replaced Satyameva Jayate.

A Mumbai based lawyer filed a complaint against the cartoonist in December 2012, at Bandra Kurla Police Station under section 124 (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act 66-A (that states, passing of offensive messages via communication channel/services) and the Prevention of Insults to Nation Honour (PINH) Act, Section 2 (imprisonment for disrespect to National Flag, Symbol, Constitution or any other part of National importance).

184. Verghese Kurien the White Revolutionary and the Milkman of India Died The man responsible for bringing white revolution in India and founder of world‘s largest dairy company Amul, Verghese Kurien (90) took his last breath in a hospital at Nadiad, on 9 September 2012. The body of Kurien was cremated in the ultramodern crematorium at Kailash Bhumi in the milk capital of India- Anand, Gujarat in presence of his admirers and staff members of milk cooperatives.

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) was founded under the chairmanship of the visionary. He was

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appointed to be the founder Chairman of National Dairy Development Board in the year 1965 by the then Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. He played a major role in different organizations like, he chaired the Vikshit Bharat Foundation and been a Chairman for Board of Governors of Institute of Rural Management, Anand.

Kurien, who was born in Kerela on 26 November 1921, in a Syrian Christian family was a mechanical engineer by education with dairy engineering as his minor subject. He was sent to Anand by the first home minister of Indian Union, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel to look after the existing problems of farmers in 1949 and since then Anand turned up to be the home for the Milkman of India. He along with his team is known as the pioneer, who invented the process of transforming buffalo‘s milk into condensed milk as well as powder instead of the cow‘s milk. He was a co-writer of the film Manthan-based on white revolution, directed by Shyam Benegal in 1976.

His vision and leadership together helped the then milk deficit country India to be the largest milk producing country of the world. India‘s contribution to the total milk production of the world is about 17%. Because of his contributions to the nation, Verghese Kurien won awards namely Magsaysay Award, the world food prize and India‘s second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan. Now, Kurien is survived by his grandson, Siddharth, daughter Nirmala Kurien and his wife.

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185. Partnership in between Alstom Grid and Toshiba Corp The two corporate giants Alstom Grid and Toshiba Corp entered into partnership for their smart grid business by signing a Memorandum of Understanding on 6 September 2012. The goal of the collaboration is to secure the supply of energy by identifying different types of electricity management solutions. This partnership will help in ensuring consistency in outcome and support of the supplied energy. Both the organizations are expecting to develop systems that support the integration of renewable energy for bringing down the cost of energy production. Alstrom and Toshiba, both are looking forward for extending the business in the global market. Alstrom Grid is a 125 years old company and placed among the three global players of electrical transmission. Whereas, Toshiba Corp is a renowned Japanese electronics company engaged in development of electrical products, internet based services and solutions and more in the domain.

186. India’s first multi-lateral Social Science research collaboration with four European Nations India has managed to enter into its first multi-lateral Social Science research collaboration with four European Nations by the approval of projects for networking and social science research cooperation in between the researchers of these nations on 5 September 2012.

The French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) are the four bodies with which India has been

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successful in created tie-ups.

The social scientists will get national funds for creating collaborations with European Partners via a scheme. This is help in eradication of bureaucratic restrictions and obstacles. It‘s expected to economise and rationalize the efforts of Europe towards production of high impact and quality research on social science that can address to the challenges forwarded by the global arena in terms of growth, economy, development, climate change, well-being and health. As per the scheme the proposal can be made on any hemisphere of social science that can be of a help in understanding the social and individual behavior of a person and influence the policies beyond the boundaries.

The targeted six proposals that have been awarded with the funds after being mapped in the month of May 2011, will deal in the aspects of wellbeing, ageing, bullying, mapping the cultural authority of science, globally accessible medicine, climate governance and pupil-safety.

187. Cabinet gave a nod to two subsidiaries of Air India: AIESL and AITSL To split off the ground handling and engineering services of Air India, Union cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh approved a proposal of Rs 768 crore on 6 September 2012. Now the two units Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) and Air India Transport Services Ltd. (AITSL) will be operational as two completely owned subsidiaries and treated as separate profit centers.

The approval came after waiting for almost two years since; Air

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India board agreed for the separate operations of the two units and sent it for clearance to the Ministry Of Civil Aviation. Ministry gave its nod to the proposal in the month of April.

AIESL will be operational in line of repair, maintenance and overhaul (MRO) business for Air India only but also for airlines owned by different groups. It‘s expected that the unit can bring back a potential turnover of about $ 1.5 billion MRO business in Asia Pacific.

Air India that has reportedly suffered a loss of about 7,853 crore in the financial year 2011-2012 is hoping to gain a total equity infusion of Rs 30,000 Crore by 2021 under the turnaround and restructuring time devised by the government.

J.R.D. Tata founded Air India and is also known as the Father of Civil Aviation in India. Air India took its first flight on 15 October 1932. Air India is known as the national flag carrier of India.

188. Padamshree Dr. AN Purohit awarded with Shiksha Ratna Award by Petroleum University The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies on 5 September 2012, on the occasion of teacher‘s day felicitated Dr. AN Purohit with siksha ratna award.

Dr. Purohit is a former vice-chancellor of HNB Garhwal University. He was born in 1940 in Kimni village of chamoli district, Uttrakhand and did his schooling from Nanital and had his doctorate from Punjab University.

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Dr Purohit has widely worked in the Himalayan belt, particularly in Uttarakhand, on specific subject of plant physiology, ecophysiology of trees and the environment.

He was awarded Padmashree in 1997 by the President.

189. Government cleared Rs 808 crore FDI proposal by Cloverdell Mauritius based, Cloverdell Investments Ltd. got a clearance for their foreign direct investment proposal of investing Rs 808 crore on 6 September. The Mauritius based company‘s case was taken into consideration by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the meeting conducted on 27 July 2012, but the approval came after getting clarifications on certain issues.

Clearance for making the investment in form of FDI to Cloverdell raised the total number of cleared FDI application to 11 with an expected investment of Rs 2,067.98 crore. Cloverdell‘s investment will be directed to introduce the foreign equity directly into the operating Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) like the companies engaged in commodity broking, stock broking, housing finance and depository participant service.

190. Mamta Banerjee listed among 50 most influential finance personality The ‗Bloomberg Markets‘ magazine had included West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee in the list of 50 most influential people in the finance category.

The other leading personalities included in that category were Business Tycoon Warren Buffet, Founder of Facebook Mark

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Zuckerberg and Hyundai‘s chairman Chung Mong Koo.

Mamta Banerjee is included in the policy-makers section and is sharing space with US federal chairman Ben S Bernanke, European Central Bank‘s President Mario Draghi and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The selection was decided on the ability of leader to move markets and shape ideas and policies and his or her influence in affecting the price of a security or the structure of a deal.

Two other people of Indian origin who were included in the list were Anshu Jain, Co- CEO of Deutsche Bank and Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the southern District of New York.

Mamta banerjee was placed in 21st position. Earlier in April, she was also ranked among 100 most influential personalities of the world by the Time magazine.

191. ICICI Bank to extend its net banking services through social media platform ‘Facebook’ ICICI Bank announced on 6 September 2012 that it is going to launch its services on social media platform ‗Facebook‘ in order to expand its internet banking services. ICICI is among the first banks to start its online presence and the only bank that allows non-cash transactions i.e. requests for cheque books, account statement enquiry and more. The bank has plans of allowing debit and credit transactions in the near future.

ICICI on 5 September launched eLocker facility to wealth customers and initiated a 24*7 electronic branch. The bank has also introduced the Tab Banking Services for potential

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customers, who can open their accounts from any location. The social network expansion is an initiative taken by the bank under the tag line Khayaal Aapka‘ (your care) philosophy in form of next-generation banking solutions.

192. Dr. KC Abraham awarded with Business Excellence Award Managing Director of Kunnath Pharmaceuticals and the producer of world famous Musli Power X-tra won Switzerland Business Excellence Award 2012 on 8 September 2012 at Zurich, Switzerland. He got shortlisted for the award because of his visionary leadership skill, hardworking nature and dedication. The award has helped Kunnath Pharmaceutical to become a name of rapport across the nation.

193. Union cabinet approved interest subsidy for farmer loans The Union Cabinet on 6 September 2012 gave its approval to continue interest subsidy to Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Cooperatives Banks and NABARD enabling them to provide short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakhs to farmers at 7% p.a. during the year 2012-13.

It was also decided to provide additional interest subsidy of 3% p.a. to those farmers who repay loans within one year of disbursement in the current fiscal year.

The Cabinet allowed the release of 10901 crore Rupees as interest subvention for 2012-13. Interest subsidy is allowed for small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Cards for loan. The Cabinet approved the release of 442 crore rupees as interest subsidy to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Cards against negotiable warehouse receipts, for post- harvest.

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Centre has subsidized short-term crop loans to farmers since 2006-07 to ensure the availability of crop loans to farmers of upto Rs.3 lakh at 7% p.a. Banks have been consistently meeting the target set for agriculture credit flow in the past years. For the year 2012-13, the target for agricultural credit flow has been raised to Rs 575000 crore from Rs 475000 crore in the year 2011-12.

194. US uplifted ‘terrorist’ designation from Nepali Maoists The title of ‗terrorists‘ assigned to Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) by United States has been uplifted on 6 September 2012. Maoist part was Specially Designated with the title of Terrorist Entity under ‗Executive Order 13224‘. US also withdrew its status as terrorist organisation from the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This decision came in favor of the party after six years long wait, since the time it signed peace treaty to make its entry to open politics.

US declared its decision on the day, when final phase of rehabilitation and integration process of former Maoists combatants started. The state department stated that the party is no longer involved in the activities that threaten the security of U.S. foreign policy and its nationals and now they are directly involved in governance of the Nation.

195. Cargotec tied up with Tata Communication to improve productivity and operational efficiency Tata entered up in a tie-up with Cargotec, the provider of cargo handling solutions for ships, terminals, ports and local distribution to more than 50 nations of the world. Cargotec has

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its presence in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, America and Africa. The tie-up will help in boosting the productivity and operational efficiency of Cargotec and will be a support in streamlining of its supply chain management. Tata Communication, that has a global presence of its fibre optics cable network will be of a great help to Cargotec in extending wide area network (WAN) connectivity to more than 150 global sites.

Tata Communication is the world‘s first company to have its own round-the-world fibre cable network. It also posses world‘s largest sub-sea cable network. The company has a power to offer services in countries that represents 99.7 percent of the world‘s GDP.

196. India and Tajikistan went ahead on strategic partnership and signed six agreements India and Tajikistan on 3 September 2012 signed six agreements in the field of sports, health, culture, education, labour, textiles and energy.

India and the central Asian country of Tajikistan agreed to advance their ties to a strategic partnership in order to impart greater strength to the relationship through all-round co- operation and engagement.

The President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Mr. Emomali Rahmon, was on a State Visit to India from 1 to 4 September 2012 at the invitation of the President of the Republic of India. This was the fifth visit to India by President Mr. Emomali Rahmon. The visiting dignitary also attended a business meeting

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organized jointly by ASSOCHAM, CII and FICCI.

Both the countries identified information technology, bio- technology, mining, tourism, pharmaceuticals among other sectors as high potential area.

After the agreements it was decided that India will increase training slots for Tajikistan from 100 to 150 under India Technology and Eco Training Programme.

197. Special Committee recommended and submitted the report in favor of Hockey India managing the Game In a long going fight for, who will manage the game of hockey in India, the special committee came up with a decision in favor of Hockey India (HI) on 5 September 2012. The report was submitted to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by the three-member committee that comprised of, the Indian Weightlifting Federation President Birendra Prasad Baishya, former Wrestling Federation of India President GS Mander and the Handball Federation of India Secretary-general SM Bali with details of the findings in a thousand page draft.

As per the report, Hockey India conforms to the IHF (International Hockey Federation) statute of having 40 percent of woman representative in its Executive Committee. Hockey India also conforms to the IHF norm of having a unified body to run both men‘s and women‘s competition.

198. Indu’s triumph with a bronze at World Junior Championship, Patta Indu Choudhary, the 20 year old Indian grappler won Bronze in the World Junior Championship at Pattava on 6 September

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2012. She won bronze in the women‘s 44 kg category after defeating Turkish Evin Demirhan. With this medal India opened its account in the tournament.

To qualify for this round, Indu succeeded in lop-sided pre- quarterfinals over Russian Aziyata Khomushku. She lost the chance of getting home a silver or gold after facing a defeat from Rie Matsumoto, a competitor from Japan in the semi- finals.

199. Gaurav Shumsher Rana became Nepal’s Army Chief India Current Affairs 2012. Gaurav Shumsher Rana an India- educated lieutenant general took over the position of Nepal‘s Army Chief, on 6 September 2012. He has served Nepal‘s army for 39 years ever since his recruitment in 1970. Rana‘s appointment is a result of cabinet decision following a proposal made by the ex-army chief Gen Chhatra Man Singh Gurung to the President Ram Baran Yadav, as a successor to him.

Rana, who did his graduation in military affairs from a Himachal Pradesh based, The Lawrence School at Sanawar also completed his Officers‘ Cadet Course Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK. Rana is a son of a former Major General Aditya Shumsher Rana of Nepal Army and a great-grand son of the Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher Rana, who ruled the nation in between 1901-1930.

200. Andy Roddick bids a goodbye to Tennis Andy Roddick the legendary tennis player from US announced his retirement during the US open on 6 September 2012 after facing a defeat from John Martin del Potro.

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The 30 year old is a former number one ranked player who won 2003 US Open to be a Grand Slam singles champion. He is a son to a businessman father and school teacher mother. Till date Roddick was successful in reaching the finals of Wimbledon in the year 2004, 2005 and 2009 as well as US Open 2006 and faced a defeat from Roger Federer.

201. Sixth Mekong–Ganga Cooperation meeting held in New Delhi Mekong–Ganga sixth Cooperation meeting was held in New Delhi on 3-4 September 2012.Senior officials meeting was held on September 3 whereas the Foreign Ministers meet was held on September 4 2012.

The Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) was established on November 10, 2000 in Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic with a purpose of cooperation amongst India and the five Mekong region countries - Cambodia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

It was basically established to emphasize on four areas of cooperation, which are tourism, culture, education, and transportation linkage, in order to build strong foundation for future trade and investment cooperation among the region.

This is the first time that the Mekong Ganga Cooperation meeting was hosted by India. India had earlier chaired the 5th MGC Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India Meetings.

Five Mekong Ganga Cooperation ministerial meetings has held so far, In Vientiane, Lao Peoples Democratic Rebuplic on November 10, 2000; In Hanoi, Vietnam on July 28, 2001; In Phnom Penh, Cambodia June 20, 2003; In Cebu, Philippines on January 12, 2007 and in Manila, Philippines on August 1, 2007.

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202. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Thales entered into a joint venture Corporate/Bussiness Current Affairs 2012. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the defense public sector unit of India and French security solutions company. Thales announced a joint venture on 5 September 2012 to manufacture radars for civilian and defence purposes. The operations related to the processing of the manufacturing process will begin after one and a half year. Following the regulations in India for a foreign company holding shares in the Indian Defense sector, Thales will be able to hold a 26 percent of the equity in total, whereas rest of the 74 percent will remain with BEL. This joint venture will also provide BEL a chance to be a part of Thales Global Supply Chain.

Although a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed by both the groups on 17 November 2009 and has been in effect since then, the directors of both the companies were waiting for government‘s approval.

With this venture, it‘s expected that the expertise carried on by Thales in system engineering, testing and integration as well as transfer of the technology will be transferred to India. Thales is a capable player in force protection, air defence solutions, rocket system and missile system as well as in the mobile ground C4I system. One of the major contracts won by the company in the recent past is the contract to upgradation of 49 Mirage 2000s of Indian Air Force into full Mirage 2000v5 Mk 2 standards.

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203. India established Diplomatic Relations with Niue Minister of State for External Affairs of India E Ahamed and Prime Minister of Niue H. E. Toke Talagi signed a Joint Communiqué on the establishment of Diplomatic Relations between India and Niue, at Cook Islands, on 30 August 2012.

Niue is a Pacific island country, which is a member of regional bodies such as the Pacific Island Forum and the Pacific Community and also of UNESCO, WTO and FAO. It is an island of 1400 inhabitants, which is also known as the world‘s first ―Wi-Fi nation‖, in which free wireless Internet access is provided throughout the country.

Niue is also known as the ‗Rock of Polynesia‘, and is situated 2400 km northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest and the Cook Islands to the southeast.

Since 2002, India has intensified its cooperative relations with all countries in pacific island region.

India always actively participated as a 'Dialogue Partner' of the Pacific Island Forum, a regional group of Pacific Island countries. The country has always been engaged in assisting in the development of the island countries of the Pacific.

204. India ranked to be 59th in the report released by World Economic Forum India slipped down with 3 ranks to 59th position from its previous year ranking in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 released on 5 September 2012 by the World Economic Forum. The identified reason for this downfall is

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India‘s disappointing performance in satisfying competitiveness for the basic factors.

Previously, India was far ahead to the nations like South Africa and Brazil has trailed down by 10 ranks and is 30 ranks behind the China. As per the details released by the forum, India still is strong in term of competitiveness on many other sections of comparison.

Switzerland managed to be on top of the list for consecutive four years followed by Singapore that ranked second and Finland was placed at third position. Among the members of BRICKS Nations, Russia was placed at 67th Position, South Africa got 52nd position and Brazil remained to be the 48th Nation.

205. Smita Shah turned up to be the First Indian American at DNC parliamentarian Smita Shah a close supporter of US President Barack Obama became the first person from Indian-American origin to serve as a parliamentarian for Democratic National Convention on 6 September 2012. As per the publically available documents, Smita has been an applauded donor to the campaign of the Democratic Party and Obama.

She is the Vice-Chair at Chicago Plan Commission. Smita heads Spaan Tech, a unit that was described by The Chicago Tribune to be politically connected with an information and management technology firm having four contracts of several million dollars potentially, in the year 2011. Being a professional engineer with license, she founded Spaan Tech in the year 1998 and since then has been a great participant in

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the success story of the company.

The Chicago born is serving as a Chairman with Delhi–Chicago Sister Cities Committee. To promote the exchange of values in relation to culture, social and economy in between the two nations, she guided the Chicago‘s Mayor Richard M Daley trade mission to India.

206. Jindal Steel & Power acquired Canadian firm CIC for Rs 650 cr Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) on September 5, 2012 bought CIC Energy Corp of Canada for Rs 650 crore. CIC has coal mines in Botswana, Africa, with reserves of six billion tonnes.

The deal was concluded through Jindal BVI Ltd (JBVI), a subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power Limited. JBVI and CIC now be merged and delisted from the Canadian stock exchange in a month‘s time.

Botswana is a landlocked country in Africa and JSPL is going to spend close to Rs 550 crore in developing the mine. JSPL already holds coal mining licences in South Africa and Mozambique.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited is one of India's major steel producers with a significant presence in the mining, power generation and infrastructure sectors.

JSPL is a part of the US$15 billion diversified O.P. Jindal Group and is consistently tapping new opportunities by increasing production capacity, diversifying investments, and leveraging its core capabilities to venture into new businesses.

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207. Sachin Pilot commissioned as a Lieutenant in Territorial Army Indian Union Minister of state for Telecommunication and Information Technology is commissioned to be a Lieutenant in Territorial Army on 6 September 2012. He was ‗pipped‘ by the Army Chief Bikram Singh at the commissioning ceremony organized in South Block, at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army). With this he has turned up to be a part of ‗124 TA (Sikh) Battalion‘ the one also known by the name of ‗Urban Concept‘ battalion. Along with commissioning, he will have to attend "14 camp and 22 parade days'' in a year.

Sachin Pilot has turned up to be the first union minister to be commissioned as an officer on regular basis in Territorial Army. He cleared the exam that was conducted by the Territorial Army and the SSB interview round at Allahabad. He will be ‗pipped‘ by the Army Chief Bikram Singh at the commissioning ceremony organized at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army).

Sachin Pilot age 35 is a son of late Squadron Leader Rajesh Pilot who also was IAF (Indian Air Force) fighting pilot. He is a MP from Ajmer Lok Sabha Constituency of Rajasthan. A graduate from St. Stephens College, Delhi Sachin holds a masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Wharton Business School based in United States.

208. Kaushik Basu appointed as World Bank Chief Economist On 5 September 2012, The World Bank appointed Kaushik Basu, as its chief economist and senior vice president. Basu, an Indian national and a Cornell University professor most recently served as chief economic adviser of the India's Union Ministry of Finance.

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He has to take over as the chief economist at the World Bank on October 1.

Kaushik Basu, 60, holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and has also founded the Centre for Development Economics at the Delhi School of Economics in 1992 is also a founding member of the Madras School of Economics. He had his wide contributions in the field span development economics, welfare economics, industrial organisation and public economics

He has earlier served as chairman of Cornell's economics department and was a director of its Center for Analytic Economics. He was awarded with one of the country's highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan in May 2008.

In his two-and-a-half-year stay in the Union finance ministry, Basu gave some constructive thoughts on food coupons and innovative ways to tackle corruption among other advices. 209. India, China discussed Border security and Bilateral Defence ties For expanding defence cooperation, India and China on September 4 2012, agreed to resume joint military exercises that were postponed since 2010 due the denial of visa to the then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal by China in 2010, resulting to which New Delhi had suspended all bilateral defence exchanges with Beijing.

Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie and his delegation, including high-ranking members of the defence and military establishment met Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony on 4 September 2012 to discuss measures to help avoid

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flares along the border between the nuclear-armed Asian giants. Both the two sides reached on an agreement on a wide range of issues relating to defence and military.

This is the first visit after eight years by a Chinese defence minister to India. The last time a Chinese defence minister visited India was in 2004. A growing competition between the two emerging powers was highlighted as they are pushing up for influence and resources across Asia.

Both the two sides went ahead on a wide range of issues relating to defence and military. The result of the meeting happened so that the both sides agreed to strengthen border security cooperation between the troops in order to maintain peace in the border areas.

The Chinese delegation has also invited Antony to visit China, which he accepted and he will be visiting China next year.

210. High jumper Girisha won silver at Paralympic 2012, London High jumper Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda, India won a silver medal (F42 single leg, amputations minimal disability category) at London Paralympic Games. To make this happen, he cleared his career best 1.74 m high jump. He managed to secure the first medal for the country in this category of game. Girisha won eighth Paralympic medal for India and is the first to do so in the high jump category and third Indian to claim silver in the event. He is a man with polio impaired left leg. To win the medal he used the scissor kick technique.

Girisha, who belongs to a farming family from a small village in Hassan District in South Karnataka was forced to compete

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against the able-bodied athletes at different levels of competition because of the lack of information about any such event like paralympics for the disabled.

Sports minister, Ajay Maken declared that the medal winners in the Paralymipic will be awarded with the same cash reward as that of the Olympians i.e. 50 lakhs for gold, 30 lakhs for silver and 20 lakhs for Bronze.

211. Tech Mahindra Acquired Hutchinson Global Services Tech Mahindra on 4 September 2012 acquired the back office unit of Hutchison Global Services (HGS), for $87.1 million (Rs 484.03 crore). The deal made with the HGS is supposed to give it a revenue rise of USD 845 million over the next five years which will mark to an average revenue increase of around USD 170 million per annum.

The acquisition will provide significant enhancement of Tech Mahindra's expertise in the customer management space and will be a key component of strategic plans.

The deal will also enable Tech Mahindra to leverage the acquired capabilities and scale for expanding the scope of their existing services to other parts of the Hutchison group and to other customers and verticals.

Hutchison Global Services (HGS), basically provides call centre and customer life-cycle operations to customers in UK, Ireland and Australia. Whereas,Tech Mahindra is a leading provider of solutions and services to the telecommunications industry with a majority stake owned by Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, in partnership with British Telecommunications plc.

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212. Australian Scientists discovered Alzheimer's Treatment Australian scientists along with US experts claimed that they are a step closer to create a treatment for Alzheimer patients following a study finding a link to abnormalities inside brain cells. In a joint study, researchers at Queensland Brain Institute and Havard medical School team found that when a toxic protein builds up, it starves brain cells of energy, causing them to die.According to ABC online report, in the study of over three years, scientiests tried to unveil the mystery surrounding Alzheimer's disease and a section of the brain cell called the mitochondria, the part responsible for metabolising energy, was analysed.

This is the first study to directly link toxic levels of Tau, a protein in the brain that is related to dementia, to abnormalities in the mitochondria, which starves them of energy and destroys brain cells. Researchers claimed that the latest development was a promising step towards developing an effective treatment for sufferers.

213. Supreme Court directed the Government to re-fix the Pay Scale of Army Officers The Supreme Court of India on 4 September 2012 directed the Union Government of India to re-fix the pay scale of army officers affected by the Fourth Pay Commission. It would now entail a payout of 1600 crore rupees to the exchequer. The Supreme Court also directed the government to pay interest at the rate of 6 per cent from 1January 2006, to all the officers, whether or not they have filed any petition before any of the High Courts or Benches of Armed Forces Tribunal.

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The bench directed that all pending petitions before any of the High Courts or Benches of Armed Forces Tribunal, by similarly- placed officers, will be governed by this order. A three-judge bench of justices- R M Lodha, T S Thakur and Anil R Dave, passed the order while dismissing an application filed by the Centre for recall and modification of 8 March 2010 order. 214. Tehran hosted the 16th NAM(Non-Aligned Movement) Summit The 16th NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) summit was held at Tehran, Iran on 30-31 August 2012.The theme of the summit was Lasting Peace through Joint Global Governance. At the Tehran Summit , the Chairmanship of NAM was passed on from Egypt to Iran in accordance with the NAM‘s practice of regional rotation.The NAM meeting in Tehran was held in three phases: preparatory senior officials meeting on 26-27 August, ministerial level meeting on 28-29 August, and the summit on 30-31 August. Heads of the government from over 100 countries participated in the Tehran Summit to discuss the new global challenges.

Venezuela was selected the host for the 17th NAM Summit in 2015. India expressed support for popular aspirations for a democratic order in Syria while cautioning against external intervention. India urged NAM to take a clear stand on Syria.

215. Scientists developed a Gene Therapy which can restore the Sense of Smell Scientists of the University of Michigan developed a gene therapy which they claimed could restore the sense of smell in human beings who lost the ability to sniff odours from birth.

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The scientists used gene therapy to regrow cilia, cell structures that are important for olfactory function. These results could result in to one of the first therapeutic options for treating people with congenital anosmia. They also set the stage for therapeutic approaches to treating diseases which involve cilia dysfunction in other organ systems. Many of these diseases can be dangerous if left untreated. Olfactory dysfunction can be a symptom of a class of genetic disorders, known as ciliopathies. It includes diseases as diverse as polycystic kidney disease and retinitis pigmentosa--an inherited, degenerative eye disease- that causes severe vision impairment and blindness. 216. DCGI directed Drug Companies to submit Safety Reports of New Drugs to It The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on 3 September 2012 directed drug companies to submit mandatory safety reports of new drugs to it every six months. The country's drug regulator, in its order, threatened to cancel drug licenses in case they fail to do so. The Directive came after DCGI found that some companies are not submitting the required mandatory safety reports every six months during the first two years. 217. Industry Leader Deepak Parekh Nominated to Competition Commission of India The Union government of India on 31 August 2012 nominated industry leader Deepak Parekh to Competition Commission‘s Eminent Persons Advisory Group (EPAG). The group advises the anti-trust regulator on good global practices and other issues. The group was constituted in a way that CCI could avail from the advice of eminent persons representing a wide arena from the Corporate Sector. Along with HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, eminent authors Gurcharan Das and Rama Bijapurkar were also nominated as

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members of the EPAG of the Commission. Others on the ten- member panel comprises former, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CAG V N Kaul, NGO activist Rohini Nilekani and former RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan 218. No Mobile Connection to any Foreign Tourist for more than Three Months The Government in the first week of September 2012 asked telecom service providers not to give mobile connection for more than three months to any foreign tourist visiting India. New guidelines issued by Department of Telecom, DoT, recently stated that the proof for a mobile connection to any foreigner will be a passport with a valid visa. DoT ruled that any mobile connection issued to a foreigner should not have a validity beyond the validity of the visa. The move comes in the wake of instances where mobile connections used by foreigners were misused by some people even after the departure of the foreign nationals from the country. 219. India beat Cameroon in Penalty Shoot-out to win Nehru Cup Football Tournament India won Nehru Cup football tournament on 2 September 2012 after beating Cameroon 5-4 via penalty shoot-out. In the final played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India vanquished Cameroon 5-4 via penalty shootout and retained the Nehru Cup football. The match went into tie-breaker after the two teams were locked 2-2 at the end of 120 minutes of play. Gouramangi Singh (19th minute) and Sunil Chhetri (77th) scored for India in the regulation time, while Makkon Thierry (29th) and Kingue Mpondo (54th) found the net for Cameroon.In the tiebreaker, Robin Singh, skipper Chhetri, Denzil Franco and Mehtab Hosain struck to ensure that India managed a clean slate.

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Taking the final shot, Makkon hit the post to leave Cameroon shattered. Ashu C Tambe, Ousmalia, Bebey Kingue Paul and Mpondo scored for the visitors in the shootout. 220. USA slapped Sanctions on Laskar-e-Toiba’s Top Eight Commanders The United States of America on 31 August 2012 slapped sanctions on Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba's top eight commanders, including Mumbai terrorist attack mastermind Sajid Mir and its founder Hafiz Saeed's son. LeT, despite being designated as a foreign terrorist organisation in January 2002, continues to operate in Pakistan and throughout the region and engage in terrorist activities worldwide. LeT conducted numerous terrorist acts against Pakistani, Indian, Afghan and US interests and is responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans, and the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 180 people.

The US decision to designate the Lashkar-e-Toiba as a terrorist organisation again and ban it is the vindication of the long standing Indian assessment of this particular group. The specific US reference to the role of the Lashkar in the Mumbai attack of November 2008 will place greater politico-diplomatic pressure on the Pakistani government to take action against Lashkar-e-Toiba. 221. Supreme Court directed Sahara Group to refund 17400 Crore Rupees to their Investors The Supreme Court of India on 31 August 2012 directed Sahara Group's two companies to refund around 17400 crore rupees to their investors within three months with 15 per cent interest. A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar directed Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI, to take action against the companies of Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation, if

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they fail to refund the money. The apex court allowed the regulatory body to attach properties and freeze bank accounts of these two companies if they did not comply with its order. The bench further directed SEBI to conduct investigation against these companies to find out their actual subscriber base besides getting other relevant information. It also directed the companies to furnish all their documents and account details to SEBI. The court also appointed a former apex court judge B N Aggarwal to oversee the probe by SEBI against the two Sahara firms. 222. Queen Elizabeth officially opened the London Paralympic Games Queen Elizabeth officially on 29 August 2012 opened the London Paralympic games, which will be the biggest in the event's 64 year history. The flame was lit at midnight, local time. The ceremony was watched by some 80000 spectators. Britain's first Paralympic Games gold medallist, Margaret Maughan hit the cauldron. The opening ceremony signalled the start of 11 days of competition by 4200 athletes from 164 countries, including more than 300 athletes from Britain. 223. The Bhilai Steel Plant won the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the 10th Time The Bhilai Steel Plant, on 24 August 2012 won the prestigious Prime Minister's Trophy for the 10th time. Bhilai Steel plant is the flagship unit of India‘s largest public sector steel maker, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL). The plant, which is based in Chhattisgarh's Durg district, some 30 km west of capital Raipur. It has an annual production capacity of over 5 million tonnes. The award includes a cash element of Rs.2 crore, is given to integrated steel plants (ISPs) on the basis of an evaluation by a panel of judges appointed every year. The Prime Minister's Trophy is awarded to an ISP based on customer satisfaction

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index, its overall performance, and observations by the panel of judges based on plant visits.

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