CURRENT AFFAIRS MONTH WISE

CURRENT AFFAIRS MONTH WISE
MAY 2010

For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports.

International Current Affairs 2010

* G-15 summit was held at Tehran on 16-17 May.
* Bangladesh handed over Ranjan Daimary of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland to India. The group was responsible for serial bombing in Assam in 2008.
* National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Myannmar’s democracy leader Aung San Sui Kyi was abolished after deadline to re-register as a political party was over.
* EU-IMF provide a $ 1 trillion rescue package to the Greece to resolve its debt crises.
* Pakistan successfully test fired two short range ballistic missiles, Shaheen I( range 650 Km) and Ghazani (range 290 Km) capable of carrying nuclear war heads and striking Indian cities.

National Current Affairs 2010

* Naxalites killed 47 people in a landmine blast between Dantewada and Sukma in Chattisgarh.
* Test fire of nuclear capable Agni-II missile was successfully carried out from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa on 17th May. Agni II has a range of 2000Km. It is 20m long two stage solid propelled ballistic missile. It was developed by Advanced System Laboratories alongwith DRDO & Bharat Dynamics Ltd.
* Supreme Court in a recent judgement upheld a rule that allows the adjustment of reserved category candidate SC/ST/OBC against their quota seats even if they manage to qualify an examination for govt services on merit.
* National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is the monitoring authority for the Right to Education Act which became effective from April 1, 2010.

Sports Current Affairs 2010

* England won 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating Australia. The tournament was held at South Africa. Kevin Pieterson of England has been declared as Player of the Tournament.
* Australia won 2010 Women’s World Twenty20 Cricket tournament defeating New Zealand.
* India and South Korea were declared joint winner of 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup, after suspension of the final match due to heavy rains.India’s Sardar Singh has been declared as Best Player of the Tournament. Australia won the Bronze medal. The tournament was held at Ipoh (Malaysia). India had won the tournament earlier in 1985, 1991, 1995 & 2009.
* China won Thomas Cup ( Men’s Badminton) defeating Indonesia.
* In the World Youth Boxing Championship, held at Baku, Azerbaijan, India won 1 Gold & 1 Silver. Gold medal was won by Vikas Krishan and Silver medal was won by Shiva Thapa.
* India won bronze medal in the 2nd Asian Paragliding Championship held at Nishiewa, Japan.
* World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand retained his title after defeating Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the World Chess Championship 2010.

Awards Current Affairs 2010

* Vandana Shiva has been awarded Sydney Peace Prize 2010 for her work in the field of social justice.

Persons in News 2010

* Gita Gopinath an Indian origin associate professor at Harvard Univ has been appointed a full professor, the first Indian woman in the Institution’s history to ge given this appointment.
* Former Vice President of India, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat died.
* Rima Fakih was crowned Miss USA 2010. She became the first ever muslim American Miss USA. She is of Lebanese muslim descent.
* Singer Christina Aguilera was named Ambassador against hunger by the United Nations World Food Programme.
* Rushanara Ali became first person of Bangladesh origin to be elected to the British Parliament.
* David Cameron elected Prime Minister of Britain. Nick Clegg became the Dy Prime Minister. Britain gets first coalition govt since World War-II. It is between Conservative and Liberal Democrats.
* Justice S H Kapadia sworn as new Chief Justice of India.
* Hari S Bhartia elected as President of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for 2010-11.
* Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail unassisted around the world in a yatch.

Misc Issues

* International Mosaics Festival was held in Tunisia.
* Aman ki Asha- the name of the Indo Pak Business Meet held at New delhi.
* International Museum Day- 18 May.
* ’Yours Sincerely’ written by Natwar Singh.
* ’The Duel’ written by Tariq Ali.
* ’The Promise :President Obama, Year One’ written by Jonathan Alter.

April 2010

For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 April current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports.

International Current Affairs [April 2010]

* Belgium became the Europe’s first country to ban burqa.
* Pakistan’s National assembly passed a bill that takes away the President’s power to dissolve parliament, dismiss a elected government and appoint the three services Chiefs. Pakistan’s parliament passes 18th amendment which was later signed by Presient cutting President’s powers.
* USA and Russia signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START) that allowed a maximum of 1550 deployed overheads, about 30% lower than a limit set in 2002. The treaty was signed in the Progue Castle.
* Emergency was imposed in Thailand.
* Nuclear Security Summit held at Washington.It was a 47 nation summit wherein P.M. announced setting up of a global nuclear energy centre for conducting research & development of design systems that are secure, proliferation resistant & sustainable.
* PM visit USA & Brazil, a two nation tour. He attended Nuclear Security Summit in USA & India- Brazil-S.Africa(IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China(BRIC) summit in Brasilia (Brazil).
* 16th SAARC Summit held in Bhutan in 28-29 April. The summit was held in Bhutan for the first time. It is the silver jubilee summit as SAARC has completed 25 years. The summit central theme was ‘Climate Change’. The summit recommended to declare 2010-2020 as the “Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC”. The 17th SAARC summit will be held in Maldives in 2011.

National Current Affairs [April 2010]

* Naxals killed about 75 CRPF personal at Chintalnar-Tarmetla village in Dantewada distt ,Chhattisgarh. Government appoint E.N. Rammohan, to probe the incident.
* Uninque Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) now known as Aadhaar. It’s Chairman is Nandan Nilekani. It will assign 16 digit identification number to all residents in India.
* NTRO- National Technical Research Organisation. The organization came to limelight after allegation of phone tapping of politicians.
* Indian navy commissioned India’s first indigenously built stealth warship ‘ INS Shivalik’. The other stealth warship to be built are named as ‘INS Sahyadri’ and INS Satpura’.
* Right To Education Act is notified and will become a legally enforceable from 1 April 2010. Key features of RTE Act are : All children in 6-14 age group must get free and compulsory eduction; No child shall be held back,expelled or required to pass a board examination till Class VIII; There must be 25 % reservation for poor children even in private & minority schools; There must be one teacher for every 30 students; A child rights commission will look into violations of the RTE law.
* Govt start Census 2011. It is the 15th Census. It is in two phase. The first phase is called –House listing & Housing Census and the second phase is called decadal headcount which will be held in Feb 2011. The Registrar General of India is C Chandramouli.

Sports Current Affairs [April 2010]

* IPL3 season won by Chennai Super Kings defeating Mumbai Indians.
* Youth Olympics Games 2010 to be held in Singapore in Aug 2010.
* World Youth Championship was held at Baku, Azerbaijan.
* Lawn tennis legend Martina Navratilova diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
* ‘Jumbo’ chosen as 2011 World Cricket Cup Mascot.
* World Kabbadi Cup 2010- India defeated Pakistan to won World Cup Kabbadi 2010 held at Ludhiana.
* Pankaj Advani won the Asian Billiards Championship defeating Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist for the consecutive third time.
* Badminton Asia Championship, Delhi :
o Men’s singles – Lin Dan defeated Wang Zhenguing
o Women’s singles-Li Xiurei defeated Liu Xin.

Persons in News [April 2010]

* Shashi Tharoor (born 9 March 1956) is a member of the Indian Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. A prolific author, columnist, journalist and human rights advocate, he has previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.
* Lalit Modi (born 29 November, 1963 Delhi, India) is an Indian cricket administrator and businessman. He is best known for his stint as the Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier League and the Chairman of the Champions League from 2008 to 2010. He is also the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since 2005 and Vice President of the Punjab Cricket Association.

Economics & Commerce [April 2010]

* India became the 7th largest shareholder in World Bank. India’s voting rights has gone up to 2.91 %. The USA has highest voting rights of 15.85 % followed by Japan with 6.84 % and Germany with 4 %.
* Govt proposed that concept of GGDP – Green Gross Domestic Product to be introduced in the country by 2015. In 2012 India will host the Rio+20 conference on biological diversity.
* Government approved disinvestment of 20% of share in SAIL in this financial year.
* India’s total external debt as on December 2009 is 251 billion.
* India’s Gems & Jewellery export grow by 16% to $28.41 billion in 2009-2010.
* RBI announced the credit policy. The CRR has been raised from 5.75 % to 6 %. The Repo rate has been raised from 5 % to 5.25 %. The reverse repo rate has been raised from 3.5 % to 3.75 %.

Awards Current Affairs 2010 [April 2010]

* 19Th Bihari Puraskar 2009 has been awarded to Hemant Shesh for his collection of poetry ‘Jagah Jaisi Jagah’.
* 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best first Book was awarded to Glenda Guest for the novel ‘Siddon Rock’. Rana Dasgupta won Commonwealth Writers Prize for best Book 2010 for book ‘Solo’.
* Carl Zeiss wildlife conservation award was won by Joydip Kundu.
* Amitav Ghosh won the Dan David Prize alongwith Margaret Atwood for ‘Rendition of the 2oth century’.

Misc Issues [April 2010]

* ‘Decision Points’ memoir of former US President George W Bush.
* A variety of mango has been named after Sachin Tendulkar.
* Scientist create element 117 from calcium & Berkelium.
* International congress of Mathematicians will be hosted by India for the first time in August 2010 at Hyderabad. The congress has been held once every four years since 1897except the breaks during two world wars.
* Government will opened four new campuses for the IIMC(Indian Institute of Mass Communication) at Nagpur, Kochi, Jammu and Aizawl.
* Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Derjeeling become first zoo in the country to install infrared night vision cameras in the enclosures housing endangered snow leopard.
* ‘Hindutva, Sex & Adventure’ written by Mark Tully.
* Gorumara National Park, Jalpaigudi has been declared the best among the 235 national parks & sanctuaries in the country by the MOEF.
* ‘Gandhi-Naked Ambition’ written by Jad Adams.
* India ranks 5th in the World’s cybercrime ranking for 2009 after US, China, Brazil & Germany.
* India lauched GSLV from Sriharikota on 15 April 2010. However the launch was failed in the third stage. The launch was important as GSLV-D3 was the third developmental mission of India’s GSLV during which ISRO’s indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage (CUS) was to be flight tested. This is the 6th flight of GSLV, but the first one to test Indian made cryogenic upper stage. GSLV-D3 was to launch the GSAT-4 satellite into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The total flight of the vehicle was planned to be 1022 seconds.
* India likely to complete building its first strategic crude oil storage by Oct 2011. India is building underground storage at Visakhapatnam in AP and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tones of crude oil which is enough to meet nation’s oil requirement for 13-14 days. India will join nations like the US, Japan & China that have strategic reserves.

Persons in News [2010]

* Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra was sworn in as Judge of Supreme Court of India. She became the 4th women judge to be elevated to the Supreme Court of India.
* Justice S H Kapadia will be next Chief Justice of India.
* Mukul Sangma shown in as Meghalaya Chief Minister.
* Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski died in a air crash at Moscow.
* Juan Antonia Samaranch, Former President of International Olympic Committee (IOC) died.

March 2010

For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 March current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports.

International Current Affairs [March 2010]

* China will launch in 2011 unmammed space mode ‘ Tiangong I’ for its future space laboratory.
* US internet giant Google close its business in China.
* India’s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel buy Zain’s Africa operations for an enterprise value of $ 10.7 billion (Rs 49000 crore). Currently Bharti’s non-India operations include Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.
* Russia abolished two of its eleven time Zones.

National Current Affairs [March 2010]

* Govt launched National Mission for Empowerment of Women aimed at inter-sectoral convergence of all pro- women programmes.
* Constitution 108th Amendment Bill 2008 commonly known as women’s reservation bill was passed by Rajya Sabha by 186 in favour 1 against 39 abstained (Current strength of Rajya Sabha is 233). The bill seeks to reserve a third of the seats on the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for 15 years on a rotational basis. It was first introduced in 1996. Sharad Joshi, an independent MP is the only MP which cast vote against the bill. In the present Lok Sabha, there are 59 women MPs out of 543 MPs. Total MLAs in 29 state assemblies in India are 4093.
* Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Vishakhapatnam (AP) are choosen for a pilot project on saving household energy by replacing incandescent lamps with CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps).
* Earth Hour 2010 has been celebrated on 27 March organized by World Wide Fund for Nature, India. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are official Earth Hour Cities among 15 Indian cities.
* Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia visit India in March 2010.
* Supreme Court allowed religion based 4 % reservations in Govt jobs & educational institutes in Andhra Pradesh. It extended the benefit to 14 OBC in muslims in the state. The matter is further referred to Constitutional bench of Supreme Court.
* ’Bold Kurushetra’ a joint armour exercise between India and Singapore was held at Jhansi(UP).
* Prohibition of unfair practices in technical, medical educational institutions & universities Bill is passed by Govt. It provided for 3 year imprisonment and a fine of upto Rs 50 lakh for higher education providers guilty of misleading students.
* Govt approved Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry & Operation) Bill 2010. It provides foreign universities to set up campuses in India.
* Govt amends Anti Hijacking Act 1982. It now provides for death sentence to the hijackers.
* Govt starts the scheme for creation of the National Population Register (NPR) of Indian residents. The project will cover an estimated 1.2 billion people and total cost of the project will be Rs. 3539.24 crore.
* India became 1st country in the world to have a ‘manoeuvrable’ supersonic cruise missile, when it successfully test fired 290 km range Brahmos missile.
* Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visit India in March 2010.

Sports Current Affairs [March 2010]

* Tamil Nadu defeated West Bengal to won Vijay Harare Cricket Trophy.
* Australia won World Hockey Cup 2010 defeating Germany. India ranked at 8th place.
* India won six gold medal in the Commonwealth Boxing Championship held at Delhi.
* Two new IPL teams, Kochi was auctioned for Rs 1533 crore and Pune was auctioned for Rs 1702 crore. Kochi was auctioned to Rendezvous Adventure Sports Ltd. Pune was auctioned to Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd.

Persons in News [March 2010]

* Rajan Bharti Mittal appointed President FICCI.
* Major Dimple Singla became first women army officer in the country who has been sentenced to imprisonment for corruption.
* Bhubneshwar Kalita has been choosen as the Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent at Commonwealth Games 2010.
* Cricketer Kapil Dev has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
* Former Supreme Court judge P V Reddy appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of India.
* Lt Gen V K Singh appointed as new Army Chief.
* Sonia Gandhi appointed head of National Advisory Council. NAC advice the govt on policy matters, monitor flagship programmes and prepare the ground for other pro-poor legislatures.
* Lyricist Javed Akhtar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Dr Ram Dayal Munda, Dr Balchandra Mungekar and Kannada Actress B Jayashree are among other persons nominated to Rajya Sabha.
* Austrian base jumper Felix Baumgartnar will became the first person to leaps from the edge of space at a height of 37 km above earth’s surface. He become the first man to break the speed of sound hitting a top speed of about 11000km/hr. He will jump on 11 April 2010.
* Katie Spotz became the youngest person to complete a solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
* Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepal Ex Prime Minister died. He was 5th time Nepal PM.

Awards Current Affairs 2010 [March 2010]

* Oscar Awards 2010
o Best Director- Kathryn Bigelow for The Heart Locker. She became first women to win the Oscar for best director.
o Best Film- The Heart Locker.
o Best Actor- Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart.
o Best Actress- Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side.
o Best Supporting Actor –Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds.
o Best Supporting Actress –Mo’Nique for Precious.
o Best foreign language film- The Secret in their Eyes, from Argentina.
* Amitabh Bachchhan honoured with lifetime achievement award at 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival.
* Surjit Pater has been awarded with 19th Saraswati Samman 2009 for ‘Lafzan Di Dargah’.
* Moortidevi Award was given to the Law Minister M Veerappa Moily for his work Shri Ramayan Mahanveshanam.
* Vyas Samman 2009 was awarded to Amar Kant for his work ‘Inhin Hathiyaron Se’.

Misc Issues [March 2010]

* Brahan Natyanjali 2010 festival was organized to celebrate 1000 years of Tanjavur temple in Tamil Nadu which was built by Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola in 1010 AD.
* 192 year old Presidency College of Kolkatta (India’s oldest college) converted into Presidency University. It became 18th state university in West Bengal.
* Railways started ‘Maharajas Express’ from Kolkatta to Delhi. It is a tourist train having stoppage at Gaya, Varanasi, Bandhavgarh, Gwalior, Khajuraho and Agra.
* The book ‘Way to go’ written by Upamanyu Chatterjee.
* The book ‘Wide Angle’ written by cricketer Anil Kumble.
* The book ‘El Sari Rojo’ written by Javier Moro, is on the life of Sonia Gandhi.
* World TB Day celebrated on 24 March.
* Constitution 112th Amendment Bill 2009 seeks to amend following clauses of Article 243T of the Constitution that provides for reservation of seats for SC & ST and also for women in Urban Local bodies : a) In clause (2) for the word ‘one third’, the word ‘one half’ shall be substituted, b) In clause (3) the word ‘one third’ , the word ‘one half shall be substituted.

February 2010

For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 February current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports.

International Current Affairs [February 2010]

* NATO forces carried out Marjah operation (dubbed Moshtarak) against Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
* European Union summit was held in Brussels. EU & IMF decided to giving support to Greece in its struggle to bring its ballooning budget deficit under control. EU President is Herman Van Rompuy.
* Iran’s President Mahmood Ahmedinejad declared that Iran had produced first batch of 20 % enriched uranium and now Iran became a nuclear state.
* Iran launched ‘Kavoshger -3 rocket’ capable of carrying a satellite. It carried a mouse, worms & two turtles.

National Current Affairs [February 2010]

* Kirit Parikh committee , set up to review petro pricing regime, submit its recommendation. Its major recommendation are to deregulate the prices of petrol & diesel as per market prices, reduce the subsidy on LPG.
* India signed a Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the UK, which became the 8th country to enter into such a pact, since the lifting of atomic trade embargo in 2008.
* Govt set up a panel under the Chairmanship of former Justice B N Srikrishna which would consider the demand for splitting Andhra Pradesh.
* India and Denmark signed a social security pact which will relieve their workers from double taxation and provide for cooperation in areas of labour market expansion and orderly migration.
* Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Saudi Arabia in Feb 2010. He was the first Indian PM in 28 years to visit the gulf country. Saudi Arabia is India’s largest supplier of crude oil ( 23 %) followed by Iran ( 17 %) and Nigeria ( 11 %). India is offering upto 10 % equity to Saudi petroleum firm Saudi Aramco in a refinery being built in Orissa. PM addressed the Shoura council of Saudi Arabia.
* Constitution 111th Amendment – Proposes to incorporate a new Part ( Part IX B) in the Constitution so as to provide for legal framework to regulate the functioning of cooperative societies. A new Article ( Article 43 B) is also proposed to be inserted in Part IV of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) for the States to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning of cooperative societies.
* Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009 commonly known as Nuclear Liability Bill will be introduced by Govt in Parliament in Winter session 2010. The draft bill aims at limiting the liability of a nuclear plant operator to Rs. 300 crore in the eventuality of an accident. The bill provides for the penalty to be paid by the operator and not the supplier companies which would mainly be American in this case. India has entered into civil nuclear cooperation agreement with eight countries so far.

Sports Current Affairs [February 2010]

* 11th South Asian Games 2010 : Held at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 Jan to 8 Feb. Originally scheduled to take place in 2009, but due to general elections in Bangladesh, the games were held in 2010. This was the third time that the Dhaka hosted the Games, thus becoming the first city to hold the games three times. 8 countries participated in the games in 23 different sports, including T20 cricket, which was introduced for the first time in SAG. The 8 countries included are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. 1The logo of the games was ‘Kutumb’, a flying doel , which is the national bird of Bangladesh. The mascot of the games featured a magpie robin, which was holding the torch to begin the games. The final medal tally include : India - 1st place with 90 G 55 S 29 B Total 174, Pakistan- 2nd place with 19 G 25 S 36 B Total 80, Bangladesh- 3rd place with 18 G 23 S 56 B Total 97.
* West Zone won Duleep Trophy ( 2009-10) defeating South Zone.
* India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Asian Tour International Trophy 2010. It is his 2nd consecutive title.
* Euro 2012 to be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
* 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held at Vancouver, Canada. Mascot of the game was MIGA (a sea bear), QUATCHI( a sasquatch) and SUMI (animal guardian spirit). The logo of the games was Ilnaaq meaning Friend in Inuktut. There were 86 events in 7 sports. The games were held from 12 Feb to 28 Feb. Final medal tally. Canada- 14 G 7 S 5 B, Germany- 10 G 13 S 7 B, USA- 9 G 15 S 13 B.
* IOC (International Olympic Committee ) has approved ICC (International Cricket Council) bid to join the Olympic games 2020. The first time cricket was included in the Olympic games was in Paris Olympic 1900.
* 11th World Hockey Cup 2010- To be held in Delhi, India. This is 2nd WHC which India is hosting. India also hosted the WHC in 1982 at Mumbai. 12 countries participated in the tournament. WHC is held in the years between two summer Olympics. First WHC was held at Barcelona in 1971. Pakistan has won the cup four times, Netherland three times, Germany two times, India & Australia once each. India won the WHC in 1975.
* Sachin Tendulkar became first player in the world to score a double century in ODI (One day International). He scored 200 (Not out) against South Africa.
* Commonwealth Shooting Championship was held in New Delhi in Feb 2010. India stood at first place with 35 Gold 25 Silver and 14 Bronze. England stood at 2nd place with 4 gold and Wales stood at 3rd place.

Science and Technology Current Affairs [February 2010]

* USA Space agency NASA launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to discover the causes of extreme solar activity such as sun spots and solar winds & flares.
* ‘GANGES’- Global Advisory Network Group on environmental sciences. It was created by Govt for environment research work.
* Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 Km was successfully launched from Wheeler Island, Orissa.
* Ht Cotton – Herbicide Tolerant Cotton. The variety of Ht Cotton in MON 1445. The variety can withstand herbicides (weed killers) for better productivity and is under trail.
* Cervical cancer is caused by HPV- Human Papilloma Virus.
* South Korea has world’s highest average connection speed at 14.6 Mbpd in Internet links. Japan has 2nd highest average speed.
* Scientist deciphered the genetic blueprint of South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Titu.

Persons in News [February 2010]

* Horst Kochler , Germany President visit India in Feb 2010.
* Abdullah Gul, Turkey President visit India in Feb 2010.
* Economist Kokkadan Nandanath Raj, who made a significant contribution in the preparation of first Five Year Plan(1951-56) died.
* Sharad Chandra Sinha is appointed as Director General of National Investigation Agency(NIA).
* Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President visit India in Feb 2010.
* Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob of Malaysia appointed Chairman, International Atomic Energy Agency.
* Govt appointed R S Pandey as its mediator for talk with NSCN(IM) in Nagaland to carry forward the peace process.
* Former Justice P V Reddy will be appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of India.
* Ram Baran Yadav, Nepal President visit India in Feb 2010. It was the first visit by Yadav to any foreign country after taking over as Nepal’s President. Yadav is the first President of Nepal since monarchy ended in 2008. India extended $ 250 million soft line of credit to Nepal.
* Rajinder Singh became first non-white and also first Asian member of the right wing British National Party, after it amended its constitution to allow black and Asian to be its member.
* Amitabh Bachan became the brand ambassador of Gujarat state.
* Amnesty International, the global human right organization has appointed Salid Shetty as its next Secy General from June 2010. He will be the first Indian to head the organization.
* Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol become the first Indian bollywood actors to ring the opening bell of the world’s biggest stock exchange’ NASDAQ’.
* Rajiv Satav appointed President, Indian Youth Congress.
* Katrina Kaif awarded with 2009 Excellence in Performing Arts Award established by ASSOCHAM.
* M H Hussain, famous painter accepted citizenship of Qatar.

Economics [February 2010]

* Planning Commission grant special category status to the Bundelkhand region comprising 9 distt of Uttar Pradesh and 15 distt of Madhya Pradesh for the irrigation projects. Under special category status, state govt can seek 90 % grant assistance from the centre and 10 % as loan.
* Govt revises base year for the calculation of National Income from 1999-2000 to 2004-2005. The GDP for 2009-10 will be Rs. 55,74,449 crore and the fiscal deficit for the corresponding period will be 6.4 %.
* Capital Control – Foreign capital inflows in the form of loans and equity that are allowed in a restricted form are said to be controlled. The capital inflows include foreign borrowings by Indian corporate and businesses, NRI deposits and portfolio flow from institutional investors into the stock market. Loans to Govt and short term trade credit are also included. India had control on both capital account transactions as well as on current account with the local currency fixed by the Central Bank. In 1991, rupee was first made convertible on the current account. In 1994, Govt allows foreign portfolio investments.
* Govt will replace Benchmark Prime Lending System (BPLR) with Base rate system from 1 April 2010 to make bank lending more transparent. It provided for minimum rate for all types of loans for banks.

Misc Issues [February 2010]

* Milan 2010, a biennial meeting of navies of Asia Pacific countries held at Port Blair in Feb 2010. 12 countries of Asia Pacific Region participated in it. It is the 7th edition of Milan exercises. It is a biennial exercise of Asia Pacific maritime navies, hosted by the Indian Navy. First Milan exercise was held in 1995.
* ‘Vayu-Shakti’ name given to IAF exercise conducted at Pokhran range in the Thar desert in Feb 2010. IAF is the 4th largest air force in the world after USA, Russia and China.
* ‘Bo’ language of Andaman become extinct. Its last speaker died.
* As per Indian Meteorological deptt, 2009 was the warmest year since 1990. The annual mean temperature for 2009 was 25.55 degree celcius for the country s as a whole.
* Uttarakhand became first state in the country to ban the cultivation of Bt Brinjal ( Country’s first Genetically Modified food crop). Bt Brijnal is a genetically modified crop which has a special gene- Cry1AC, inserted to make it poisonous to pests. GM Crops resists pests and give better yields as well as nutrition. Bt Brinjal is developed in India by Mahyco company. GM foods are derived from organisms whose DNA has been modified through genetic engineering.
* China ranked 1st in the wind power capacity in the world. India is at 5th place with 10925 MW capacity. The five top nations in the order of wind power capacity are China, US, Spain, Germany & India.
* Eurozone is a economic and monetary union of 16 EU member states which have adopted the euro currency as their sole legal tender. PIIGS countries include Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain.
* 17 army jawans killed in a avalanche at High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) at Khilanmarg, J&K.
* West Bengal govt reserved 10 % of govt jobs in the state for poor muslims.
* China will celebrate 2010 as Year of Tiger.
* India has a road network of 33 lakh km and is second largest in the world. It included 200 km of expressway, 70548 km of national highways, 131899 km of state highways, 467763 km of major district roads and 26.5 lakh km of rural & other roads. The Golden Quadrilateral joining four metro cities of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkatta, has a length of 5846 km.
* Taj Mahotsav organized by UP govt in Feb 2010 with the theme ‘Ek Utsav Prem Ka’.
* Vancouver city, Canada named as the World’s most livable city as per survey conducted by Economics Intelligence Unit. Delhi is ranked at 113th place and Mumbai at 117th place.
* 16th Conference of Parties (COP) will be held in Dec 2010 at Mexico. The 15th COP was held in Copenhagen in Dec 2009.
* Hyderabad International Airport has been named amongst the world’s five top airports. Other four airports are Seol, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.
* ’1000 faces for 1000 tigers’ campaign was launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The campaign aims to help double the number of wild tigers in Malaysia by 2022.
* Sachin Tendulkar features in BMC’s ‘Save Water Campaign’.
* Indian Navy inducted Russian built MiG 29 K fighters planes.
* Basic Capabilities Index 2009- India received 68 points. The index was published by Social Watch’s. The highest BCI points was given to Iran having 97 points and lowest points 44 was given to Chad.
* K R Sridhar, an US based Indian scientist invented Bloom Box- which convert air and virtually any other fuel source into clean electricity. The box uses solid oxide fuel cells and can generate 100 KW of power.
* Present life expectancy of life at birth in India is 63.4 yrs. The highest expectancy of life is in Australia of 81.4 yrs, 81 yrs for France and 79.3 yrs for England.
* World Cancer Day – 04 Feb
* International Condom Day – 14 Feb

January2010

For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are covering the 2010 january current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as well as those in the field of science and sports.

International Current Affairs [January 2010]

* Gilgit Baltistan region elected its first Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on the basis of Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment & Self Governance Order 2009. The new appointed CM declare the Gilgit Baltistan region as 5th province of Pakistan. The Indian Govt has, however, of the view that the region was part of J & K, and thus objected to the remarks of CM.
* Venezuela devalued it currency ‘Bolivar’.
* A massive earthquake strike Haiti, the Carribbean nation. Capital of Haiti is Port-au-Prince.
* Mahinda Rajapaksa won a second term as Sri Lanka’s President. He belongs to Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

National Current Affairs [January 2010]

* Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visit India in Jan 2010. She belongs to Awami League Party. The two countries signed five agreements – on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, on transfer of sentenced persons and on combating international terrorism, organized crime & illicit drug trafficking besides MOU on cooperation in the power sector and on cultural exchanges. India give Bangladesh a $ 1 billion line of credit, the biggest it has given to any country so far.
* South Korea President Lee Myung Bak visit India in Jan 2010. The two countries decided to double the bilateral trade to $ 30 billion by 2014. Four facts were signed between two countries – cooperation in peaceful use of outer space, IT, science & technology for the year 2010-12 and transfer of sentenced persons. South Korean President was also the chief guest at 2010 Republic Day Parade.
* Gujarat Local Authorities Law (amendment) Bill 2009- The Bill makes it the duty of a qualified voter to vote during elections to local bodies. Voting is compulsory, but the Bill allows voters to cast their vote in favour of none of the candidates. Election officers will declare those who fail to vote defaulter, and serve them a notice.
* India and China has decided to start joint military exercise from 2011.
* Najib Razak, Malaysia Prime Minister visit India in Jan 2010.
* Govt launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Key highlights of the mission are :
o To create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2020.
o To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability for indigenous production and market leadership.
o To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000 MW by 2022.
o To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by 2022.
o To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022.
* New Governors appointed : a) M K Narayanan – West Bengal, b)Shivraj Patil – Punjab, c) Mohsina Kidwai – Jharkhand, d) Shekhar Dutt – Chhattisgarh, e) E S L Narasimhan – Andhra Pradesh.
* Govt plans to create a National Gas Highway Development Authority. The present Gas Pipeline Density in India is 3.29 Km per 1000 Sq.Km.
* Govt plans to set up a National Green Tribunal to control Carbon Emissions and pollution. It will be responsible for implementing the low carbon roadmap to be set forth in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Sports Current Affairs [January 2010]

* U-19 World Cup 2010 held in New Zealand from 15 – 30 Jan 2010. Javagal Srinath from India appointed as one of the match referee for the tournament.
* Australia won the U-19 World Cup for the third time defeating Pakistan. India is placed at 6th rank. Australia won the cup for the third time.
* Rafael Nadal won the Capitala World Tennis Championsip, held at Abu Dhabi defeating Robin Soderling.
* Magnus Carlsen becomes the youngest World No.1 chess player at the age of 19 years breaking the Garry Kasparov’s record when he became the world’s top ranked chess player at the age of 22 years in 1985. Magnus Carlsen is the 5th player after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and V.Anand (India) to cross the 2800 ELO rating. In the Jan 2010 FIDE ranking, Carlsen stood at 1st place, Topalov at 2nd place and V Anand at 3rd place.
* Marin Cilic defeated Staniglas Wawrinka to won Men’s singles title of Aircel Chennai Open.
* Pakistan’s cricketer Shahid Afridi was banned for two T20 internationals after he was found guilty of ball tempering in a ODI against Australia.
* Corus Chess Grandmaster Tournament won by Magnus Carlsen. V.Anand of India ranked at 4th place. Hopman Cup 2010- Spain defeated Great Britain.
* Australian Open 2010 : Women’s Single- Serena William defeated Justin Henin. It is Serena’s 5th Australian Open title. It is also Serena’s 12th Grand Slam title equaling the record of Billie Jean King.
* Men’s Single- Roger Federer(Swiss) defeated Andy Murray(Britain). It is Federer’s 4th Australian Open title. It is Federer’s 16th Grand Slam title.
* Men’s Double- Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan defeated Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic.
* Women’s Double – Serena Williams & Venus Williams defeated Cara Black & L Huber.
* Mixed Double – Laender Paes (India) & Cara Black (Zimbabwe) defeated Ekterina Makasova & Jaroslav Levinsky. It is Paes’s 11th Grand Slam title.

Science and Technology Current Affairs [January 2010]

* 97th Indian Science Congress held at Tiruvananthapuram in Jan 2010. The theme of this year congress was ‘ Science & Technology of 21st Century- National Perspective’.
* The longest annular solar eclipse on the third millennium occur on 15 Jan 2010. The next annular solar eclipse will be visible in year 3043. Annular eclipse is occurred when the sun is visible like a ring of fire, with the moon darkening its centre. The last annular solar eclipse visible from India was occurred in 1976. In July 2010 also, a total solar eclipse will be occurred.
* There are three strains of wild Polio virus namely P1, P2 & P3. Type 2 wild Polio virus (P2) was eliminated from the world in 1999.
* First public hearing on the introduction of Bt Brinjal (First Genetically Modified Food Crop in India) was held in Kolkatta. Seven such public hearing are being organized by Centre for Environment Education, for opinion of public in respect of introduction of Bt Brinjal. 2nd hearing was held at Hyderabad.
* 50th anniversary of creation of LASER is being celebrated in 2010. Theodore Maiman constructed the first LASER in May 1960. LASER stands for Light Amplification for Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Charles H Townes was father of MASER.

Persons in News [January 2010]

* Billy Arjan Singh, wildlife conservationist and Padma Shri awardee died.
* P D Dinakaran, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court faces impeachement motion. The process was initiated in the Parliament. He is the first High Court Chief Justice against whom impeachment motion have been initiated. Justice V Ramaswami is the only judge to have faced impeachment proceedings in parliament.
* Justice V S Sirpurkar appointed to head a three member panel to look into allegation of land grab and misconduct against Chief Justice P D Dinakaran in the wake of impeachment motion initiated against him in Parliament.
* Fahmida Mirza is the first woman Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly.
* Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket team captain, has been named as ESPN Cricinfo Player of the Decade for 2000.
* Jyoti Basu, former West Bengal Chief Minister, died.
* Mrinal Pande, appointed as Chairman, Prasar Bharti Board.
* Lee Myung Bak, South Korea President was the Chief Guest at 2010 Republic Day Parade.
* Shiv Shankar Menon is appointed as National Security Advisor.
* Vikram Srivastava appointed as Director General of CRPF(Central Reserve Police Force).
* Ranjit Kumar Bhatia appointed as Director General of ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police).

Books & their Authors [January 2010]

* ‘All that you can’t leave behind’ written by Soumya Bhattacharya.
* ‘We Must Have No Price’ written by Arun Sourie.
* ‘Train to India- Memories of another Bengal’ written by Maloy kumar Dhar.
* ‘Not by Reason alone : The Politics of Change’ written by N K Singh.
* ‘Five Point Someone’ written by Chetan Bhagat.
* ‘Nehru : The invention of India’ written by Shashi Tharoor.
* ‘The Museum of Innocence’ written by Orhan Panuk.
* ‘Thoughts on Linguistic States’ written by B R Ambedkar.