National Affairs

October 2009 National Affairs

2010 was declared as the year of Tigers. ‘The Year of the Tiger’ will start on February 14th at Corbett National Park. The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) has appointed Abdul Rahman as special Ambassador to Kashmir. On the eve of 50th anniversary of Panchayat Raj system, 2009-10 was declared as the year of “Gramasabha”. The NREG Act was renamed as Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were affected with severe floods. The Centre has declared dolphins a national aquatic animal in order to save the rare freshwater species from disappearing from the country's aqua map. September 2009 National Affairs The Cabinet has decided to release an additional installment of DA to Central government employees and dearness relief to pensioners... representing an increase of 5 per cent over the existing rate of 22 per cent of the basic pay/pension to compensate for price rise. On the International Literacy day (September 8th), the Prime Minister launched National Mission for Female Literacy (Sakshar Bharat Mission). The mission’s aim is to make 70 million people ( 60 million of them women ) functionally literate by 2012 and reduce the gender gap .The center and state governments will contribute in the ratio of 75:25 respectively for this programme. Venkateswara Ayurveda Nilayam Limited secured a patent for its anti-diabetic herbo mineral composition VK4 DIACON and the process of preparing it, for a period of 20 years with effect from December 12, 2005 in accordance with Patents Act, 1970. It’s chairman is D V Sriramamurthy. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy died in a chopper accident on September 2nd and Rosaish sworn as the new Chief Minister. The Executive Board of UNESCO has approved India's proposal to set up a Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development as UNESCO Category I Institute at Delhi. This would be the first Category-I Institute of Unesco to be established in the Asia Pacific region. The Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam’s Laddu got its Geographical Indication patent rights. Operation Green Hunt was started in South Bastar of Chhattisgarh from September 17th. State Police and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA) participated in the operation. August-2009 National Affairs The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has set to make the Class X board examination optional for students who will continue in the same school for the senior secondary level. Cabinet has approved 50% reservation for women in Panchayat Raj Institutions. The center shall amend Article 243(d) to implement the reservation. India’s largest ICT event e-India 2009 was held at Hyderabad International Convention Center. AP Assembly has adopted a resolution urging the center to give SC status to Dalit Christians. Oil production was started in Cairn India’s on-land Mangala oilfield, Barmer, Rajasthan. This is the country’s biggest oil find. Law Commissions chairperson Justice AR Lakshmanan submitted 234th report to law minister Veerappa Moily. The Law Commission has framed a set of drastic recommendations to deal with rash and negligent driving, including increasing punishment from two years in jail to 10 as well as making the offence non-bailable. The Commission has suggested to amend Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code. It recommended inserting a provision in the Motor Vehicles Act for confiscation of vehicles fitted with LPG cylinders meant for home kitchen and arrest and prosecution of owners/drivers of such vehicles. A special cell to deal with the issues of women married to non resident Indians (NRI) will be formally established on August 27. The Commission chairperson Girija Vyas told that the NRI cell will function under the National Commission for Women (NCW). The Center has banned the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). A new council will be formed in place of DGHC. AP Govt. has extended the ban on Maoists for a year from August 17th, 2009 to August 16th, 2010. 227th Law Commission Report: The Law Commission has recommended amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and other personal laws to the effect that a person whose marriage is governed by such legislation cannot marry again even after changing religion unless the first marriage is dissolved or declared null and void. The Commission was headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan. It also suggested that amendments be made in the Criminal Procedure Code to make bigamy a cognizable offence. Parliament has cleared ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009’ which envisages free and compulsory education to children in the 6-14 age group with the Lok Sabha approving it by voice vote. Thiruvavalluvar’s statue was unveiled in Bangalore by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi after a period of 18 years it was put on. President Pratibha Patil inaugurated Armed Forces Tribunal An exclusive court for members of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Armed Forces Tribunal, was established by the President. The keenly awaited AFT will provide a judicial forum for redressal of grievances among the 1.5 million military personnel and over 2 million ex-servicemen. July-2009 National Affairs Actress Nandita Das has been appointed chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI). Nandan Nilakeni took over as the head of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI). Ramsevak Sarma took over as CEO of UIAI. The solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century. This will take place again in 2132.Totality lasted for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the Pacific ocean at 02:35:21 about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. In Gujarat, it lasted for 6 min and 30 seconds. Mohanlal, an actor was conferred the honorary title of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army (TA), a citizen's force of the Indian army. The deepest sea port at Ganagvaram was opened which is 20meters deep 1km from the sea coast. Two NSG centers were started at Mumbai and Hyderabad. June-2009 National Affairs Prof Yashpal and his committee members submitted final report to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). They have suggested the scrapping of all higher education regulatory/monitoring bodies and creation of a super regulator: a seven-member Commission for Higher Education and Research (CHER). They also recommended that the deemed university status be abandoned and that all deserving deemed varsities be either converted full-fledged universities or scrapped and a GRE like test be evolved for university education. Ramesh Pokhariyal is the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Centre bans CPI (Maoist) : The Centre banned the Communist Party of India (Maoist), terming it a terrorist organization. It invoked Section 41 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the extremist outfit. The CPI (Maoist) came into existence following the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), the People’s War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). Liberhan Commission submitted report to the Prime Minister : The Justice Liberhan Commission, which probed the sequence of events that led to the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Inflation turns negative for first time since 1977-78 : The annual rate of inflation (wholesale price index) turned negative and stood at -1.61 % for the week ended 6 June 2009. AP Govt. handed over Environment Protection Training & Research Institute (EPTRI) to the Centre. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal launched anti ragging helpline in New Delhi. The toll free number of this helpline is 1800-180-5522, and the e-mail is helpline@antiragging.net. The other toll-free number 155222 is under implementation. Sukhoi 30 inducted into Air Force at Tezpur : Super fast Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft has been inducted in the Tezpur Air Force Station of Assam. Initially, four aircrafts were introduced in the Air Force Station at a simple function.

Read more »

International Affairs

October 2009 International Affairs

Angela Merkel was re-elected as the Chancellor of Germany. She forms the government with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and Social Union and Free Democratic Party. Iran test fired Shaheb-3 and Sajjal missiles with a range of 1300 to 2000km. They can carry payload of 100kgs. The 10-member countries and observers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, met in Beijing. They pledged to work together on combating terror and improving financial co-operation among Asian nations to combat the financial crisis. Greek socialists achieved resounding win in elections. George Papandreou-led Pasok swept elections with 43% of vote after five years of New Democracy government. UNDP has announced Human Development Index (HDI) rankings for the year 2009. Norway (.971) stood first followed by Australia and Iceland. India (.612) dropped to 134th rank from 128th (2008). USA was ranked 13th (12th in 2008) and China 92nd (99th in 2008). September 2009 International Affairs The World report on road traffic injury prevention is the major report being jointly issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. According to the most dangerous place in the world to travel on roads is in the impoverished East African state of Eritrea and the safest road conditions were found in Marshall Islands. The opposition Democratic Party won election defeating Liberal Democratic Party which ruled Japan for 54 years. Yukio Hatoyama will be chosen as the Prime Minister. Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth after it failed to respond to a demand to begin restoring democracy to the island nation. The Group of 20 countries met for two days to focus on the worldwide financial crisis, and plot how to avoid a repeat in the future. Irina Bokova, ex foreign minister of Bulgaria was elected as the chief of UNESCO. She is the 1st woman chief of UNESCO. According to “Global Times”, among the 60 most influential persons on China, Tagore is in the 11th place and Nehru is in the 19th place. Yukiyo Hatoyama, the leader of Democratic party of Japan sworn as the Prime Minister. August-2009 International Affairs Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) has made Rs.4125crores deal with Spielberg’s Dreamworks Studios to produce 5-6 movies per year. Typhoon Morakot has hit Taiwan. The government has claimed at least 500 people dead and a loss of 3 billion dollars. China Becomes India's Largest Trade Partner China has emerged as India's largest trading partner, replacing US in 2008-09. Bilateral trade engagement between India and China stood at Rs 1,63,202 crore (nearly $36 billion) in April to February 2008-09, an increase of nearly 7% over Rs 1,52,713 crore in the year ago period. In the same period, bilateral trade between India and the US dipped 7.5% and stood at Rs 1,55,353 crore (approximately $34 billion). Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice and only third female member in the top U.S. court's 220-year history. July-2009 International Affairs Susilo Bambang was re elected as Indonesian President. Yukayi Amano from Japan was elected as the Director General of IAEA. US President Barack Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are countering "a sense of drift" in relations between their nations with preliminary agreement to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles to as few as 1,500 warheads each. June-2009 International Affairs American House passed climate bill : Climate bill was formulated under American Clean Energy and Security act. According to this bill, green house gases emission should be reduced by 17% in 2020 and by 83% in 2050 when compared to 2005. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) met at Yekaterinburg SCO is an intergovernmental and inter-state grouping to enhance regional cooperation in a multiple area, where Pakistan holds an Observer status on SCO along with India, Iran, and Mongolia, while China, Russia, Kazakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are full members of the organization. BRIC Nations met in Russia. European people’s parliament won EU parliament elections. WHO declares swine flu as pandemic. Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad won in Iran elections. May-2009 International Affaris The President of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealem (LTTE), Prabhakaran died in an attack by Sri Lankan army. His son Charles Antony and prominent LTTE leaders were found dead during the attack. He was the founder of Tamil New Tigers in 1972. It was changed to LTTE in 1976. 11 Indians created a record on May 21st by climbing up Mount Everest. Horst Koehller was re elected as German Presisdent. Madhav Kumar was elected as the new Prime Minister of Nepal. April 2009 International Affairs · The International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2009 of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) ranks India as the fourth leading producer of automobiles, petroleum products, textiles, electrical machinery and apparatus, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, leather products coke and nuclear fuel after China, USA and Italy. · On April 2, 2009, leaders of the Group of 20 countries met in London and agreed to a $ 1.1 trillion (Rs 55 lakh crore) deal to combat the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. · North Korea announced that it had successfully conducted it's second nuclear test, defying international warnings. · Nejib Tun Razak sworn in as Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister in the constitutional monarch’s palace in Kuala Lumpur. · A 6.3-magnitude earthquake striked Italy – its worst in three decades, killing 289 and leaving some 30,000 homeless. · Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opened a nuclear fuel plant in Isfahan province and announced the testing of two high capacity centrifuges. · Russia cancelled 1999 decree that imposed a regime of “anti-terror operation” in Chechnya and formally declared it a zone of peace. It has recalled the tight security regime that has been in force in the region for the past decade. · France has announced to train a 500-strong Somali battalion to help support the country’s fledging security forces against Islamist militants and pirate gangs. · South Africa’s long dominant African National Congress has won overwhelmingly in parliamentary elections. Jacob Zuma was re elected as the president.

Read more »