• 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.

June

• 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.

• July
•
•
• 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.

August

• 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.

Sep

• 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.

Oct

• Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was re elected as the President of Tunisia

consecutively for the fifth time. He has secured 89% votes.

• The 15th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits were held on 23-25 October
2009 in Cha-am Hua Hin, Thailand. Cha-am Hua Hin declaration on
strengthening cooperation on education to achieve an ASEAN caring and
sharing community was released. 7th India – ASEAN meeting too was held.
The next summit will be held at New Delhi.

• Senior Environment Officials of SAARC met in New Delhi. The meeting has
decided to start 50 environment centers in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to
study Climate Change.

• International Diabetes Federation (IDF) World 20th Diabetic Congress was

held at Montreal, Canada. It warned India that 9% of the population would
suffer with diabetes by 2033. Currently India is in the first place with 50.8
million diabetic patients followed by China. It also said that 258 million people
(7% of the population) in the world are diabetic patients.
• World Health Summit took place in Berlin from October 14th to 18th.
Modern diseases like asthma and obesity were concentrated. 700 members
from 60 countries participated in this summit.

• Iran’s Nuclear Talks with USA, UK, China, Russia, France and IAEA was
held in Vienna.

• Maldives Cabinet held the world’s first underwater meeting to highlight

the danger posed to low-lying nations by global warming.
• Bosnia, Lebanon, Gabon, Brazil and Nigeria will join UN Security Council
from January 2010 for a period of 2 years.
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that 105 million
more people are suffering from hunger as a result of the current economic
crisis. Ensuring food security in a time of crisis is the theme of this year's
World Food Day, marked on October 16th. Among them 642 million people
are from Asia Pacific region and 265 million from Sub Sahara region.
• 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).
November

• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) appealed for a day-long worldwide hunger

strike against chronic hunger. According to FAO statistics, 1.02 billion people live in

chronic hunger. The FAO has also launched an online anti-hunger petition on

www.1billionhungry.org Hunger Summit will be held at Rome, Italy from 16th to 18th

November, 2009.

• The National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) unveiled China’s fastest

supercomputer. The supercomputer named Tianhe, meaning Milky Way, will do

more than 1 quadrillion calculations per second (one petaflop) at peak speed.

• China offered billions of dollars of concessional loans to Africa and pledged to

contribute significantly to the continent’s skilled human resources base.

• A meeting of G20 Finance Ministers was held in Scotland. They failed to reach an

agreement on funding climate change.

• The U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched a campaign in the

Kenyan capital Nairobi to mobilise people around the world to take part in a drive to

stop the pandemic of violence suffered by women.

• 55th Golf World Cup was won by Italy in Shen Jen, China.

• Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place at Port of

Spain. The Commonwealth Climate change Declaration has been agreed by the 53

Heads of Commonwealth countries.

• China has announced that it would cut carbon intensity to 40-45 per cent of 2005

levels by 2020.

U.S. proposed 17 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2020.

 • International Conference of Jurists 2009 on International Terrorism started in

New Delhi. It was organized by International Council of Jurists, All India Bar

Association, All India Senior Advocates Association and Indian Council of Jurists.

• Unfriend was declared as word of the year 2009 by New Oxford American Dictionary.

It is defined as to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site.

• India was ranked 84 with score of 3.4 out of 180 countries, by Transparency

International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2009. New Zealand, Denmark and

Singapore were ranked top 3 in low levels of corruption.

• APEC 2009 summit was held in Singapore. Global financial crisis, free trade etc were

discussed at the summit.

• Iceland has claimed the top spot of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap

Index 2009. India has been ranked 114th out of 134 countries measured.

National

The Union Cabinet imposed President’s Rule in Meghalaya.

• The facility to maintain and train pilots for the MiG 29 K frontline fighter
aircraft was inaugurated at the INS Hansa naval base in Goa by Vice-Admiral
J.J. Bedi, Commander-in-Chief, Western Naval command.
• The Energy and Resources Institute and the Indian Mountaineering
Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to study, preserve and
 safeguard the Himalayan glaciers under the National Mission of Sustaining
the Himalayan Eco-system.
• The Government of India observed April 21 as Civil Service Day,
presenting an occasion for civil servants to rededicate themselves to the
cause of citizens and renew their commitment to public service and
excellence.

May

• UPA won the General Elections. It secured 263 seats out of 543. Congress
secured 206 seats, Trinamool congress-19, DMK-18, NCP-9, National
Conference -3, JMM-2 and AIMIM-1 among UPA.
• Naveen Patnaik sworn as the CM of Orissa for the 3rd time as Biju Janata
Dal (BJD) secured a clear majority in the elections.
• The President of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), Pawan Kumar Chamling
sworn as the CM of Sikkim for the 4th time.
• Meghalaya chief minister DD Lapang heading the Congress-led coalition
United Meghalaya Alliance won the trust vote.
• Cyclone Aila has hit West Bengal and Orissa which brought heavy rains and
nearly 60 people were dead.
• Sabitha Indra Reddy sworn as India’s 1st woman Home Minister of Andhra
Pradesh.

June

• 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
July

• 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

Aug

• 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.
 o 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.
o The Commission has suggested to amend Section 304A of the Indian
Penal Code.
o 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.

Sep

• 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

Oct
• According to Registrar General of India, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) for the
year 2008 was 53 per 1000 infants which were 57 per 1000 in 2006. The
least IMR was in Kerala – 16 per 1000.

• The highest broad-gauge railway line from Anantnag to Kajigund in Kashmir

was started by the Prime Minister. It was built on an altitude of 1772m.

• The Election Commission has recognised Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra

Navnirman Sena as a State party in Maharashtra and will allot a permanent
election symbol of the party’s choice.

• India has declared itself free from the Avian Influenza (H5N1). The
notification was issued to the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) on
October 22. A country can declare itself free from birdflu, if there is no
outbreak for three months. With the declaration, the country can hope to
revive its poultry trade.

India notified the outbreak of Avian Influenza (H5N1) in Assam (18

epicentres), West Bengal (11) and Sikkim (1) between November 2008 and
May 2009.

• Indian Pilgrims were advised not to visit Pakistan as the country is witnessing
terror attacks regularly.

• Pranab Mukherjee started National Skill Development Corporation in New

Delhi. It’s a public private partnership organization which aims to develop
skills for 30% people by 2022.

• Congress and NCP alliance has won in the general assembly elections of
Maharashtra. Asok Chavan was elected as the Chief Minister. Congress won
82 seats, NCP -62 and BJP and Sivasena – 90 out of 268 seats.

In Haryana, Congress won 40 seats, Indian National Lokda(INLD) – 31 and

BJP – 4. Bhupinder Singh Hooda was re-elected as the CM.
 In Arunachal Pradesh too Congress stood out as the single major party.
Dorjee Khandu was re-elected as the CM.

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Union Ministry for
Environment and Forests (MoEF) would jointly initiate “National Institute
for Research on Climate and Environment” in Bangalore. The institute
would use space-based and ground-based observation systems to create an
indigenous “nucleus” for research into all issues relating to climate, including
the impact of climate change on aspects of the economy such as agriculture
and water.

• Two satellites would be launched between 2010 and 2011 to measure and
monitor greenhouse gases. While a micro-satellite would be launched in 2010
to study aerosols, another dedicated satellite in 2011 would monitor
greenhouse gases such as methane and trace gases.

• Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari released a book, 'Unleashing

India, Water: Elixir of Life' authored by Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily,
which makes a strong case for a changeover from the existing conventional
method of flow or flood irrigation to total coverage under drip and sprinkler
methods. Mr Moily dedicated the book to former Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.

• 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.
Nove

• The Union Public Service Commission has recommended to the government that a

Civil Services Aptitude test replace the existing Civil Services (Preliminary)

examination.

• Cyclone Phyan has hit Maharashtra and caused massive damage to the coastal

districts.

• The Shipping Ministry has decided to set up a broad-based committee, comprising

various agencies, for sharing information on traffic, port and issues related to ship and

coastal security. The Committee will comprise the Ministry of Shipping, the Navy,

Coast Guard, State police, Customs, members of State maritime boards and the

maritime State concerned.

• The Union Cabinet has directed the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry to make it

mandatory for all oil marketing companies to sell petrol mixed with 5 per cent of

ethanol.

• India announced that issuance of paper visas stapled to passports by the Embassy of

China and its consulates in India would not be considered valid for travel out of the

country.

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a report revealing that

telephone users reached 50.93crore by the end of September 30th. Broadband users

reached 7.7million, telephone users were 43.50% and Mobile phone users were

40.31%.

• Home Ministry banned the use of prepaid mobile connections in Jammu and Kashmir

on security grounds.
• India has 25lakh cancer patients and one million new cases are diagnosed across

the country every year. In Andhra Pradesh alone, nearly 3 lakh people suffer from the

many forms of the disease. These figures were disclosed at a programme to mark

National Cancer Awareness Day.

• The government will introduce Hib (Haemophilus influenza type b) pentavalent (five-

in-one) vaccine in the routine immunisation programme from next year. It will replace

the DPT and Hepatitis ‘B’ vaccines. The Hib vaccine will initially be introduced in 10

States that have an immunisation coverage of more than 80 per cent

• A special postage stamp in recognition of the contribution of Apollo Hospitals

towards Indian healthcare was released by Union Minister of Communications and

Information Technology A. Raja.

• Twenty-one judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India K.G.

Balakrishnan, have declared their assets, giving details of movable and immovable

property owned by them and their spouses in the Supreme Court website.

• Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been appointed first Goodwill Ambassador of the

‘Smile Train,’ an international charity that provides free cleft lip and palate surgery to

children in need.

• 62nd World Newspaper Congress and other annual events of the World Association

of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) have started in Hyderabad. Apart

from the Congress, the 16th World Editors’ Forum and Info Services Expo-2009 are

being organised at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre.

• Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference has been hosted in Chennai.

• The President, Pratibha Patil took off in Sukhoy-30 at an altitude of 8000m from Pune

for half an hour.

• Unit 5 of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Project, a 220 MW pressurized heavy water

reactor (PHWR), started power generation at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. With this,

number of reactors in India are 18. The total atomic power capacity has reached

4330MW.

• South Indian Telugu film Sankarabharanam and Malayalam film Bhoothakkannady

were screened at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that was started in

Goa.

• Acting on the letter written by the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme

Court, the AP State government decided to suspend mining operations, including

transportation of already mined material, in six iron ore mines in Anantapur district.

• According Liberhan Commission report, the demolition of the Babri Masjid was

planned, systematic, and was the intended outcome of a climate of communal

intolerance deliberately created by the Sangh Parivar and its sister affiliates, including

the Bharatiya Janata Party. Report has indicted Advani, Joshi and Vajpayee.

• The Centre on Monday launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. It is

one of the eight key missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change and

aimed at ensuring long-term energy security as well as ecological security.

• The mission recommends implementation in three stages leading up to an installed

capacity of 20,000 MW by the end of the 13th Plan in 2022.

• 16th International Children’s Film Festival started at Hyderabad on November

14th. 70 movies from different countries were screened at the film festiv

bilateral
april

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announces to provide

about Rs.800 crore more for the Hogenekkal Water Supply and Fluorosis
Mitigation Project.
• United States based Satellier - Scream point International a leading digital
city solutions provider globally, brings its latest “5D Digital City” solutions and
technology services to India.
• Under a multimillion dollar long-term nuclear fuel supply deal between
Moscow and New Delhi, Russia delivers the first batch of 30 tonnes of uranium
pellets to India.
• Tata Communications has announced its participations in the $600 million new
West African Cable System (WACS) – the submarine fibre optic cable that will
link countries in Southern Africa, Western Africa and Europe, with at least 3.84
terabits a second of international bandwidth.
• India and Spain sign a trade agreement expected to boost bilateral ties in six
crucial sectors of infrastructure development, renewable energy, agriculture,
research and development, tourism, and cooperation in Latin America, where
Spain has a sphere of influence
May

• India-U.S.-Japan Planned Malabar-2009 Naval Exercises

Japan has joined India and the United States in trilateral naval exercises
from April 26 to May 3. The exercise, named Malabar 2009, was
conducted east of Okinawa islands.

The professional objective was to “deepen mutual understanding and

trust” among the navies of the three countries. The political aim was to
“enhance friendly ties.”

• India-Poland pacts on healthcare and tourism

India and the European country Poland signed two agreements: one on
cooperation in healthcare and medicine, and the other on tourism. This
bilateral trade is $1 billion.
• Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement for the construction of gas
 pipeline which will carry natural gas from Asalouyeh and stretch over 1100
kilometres through Iran. In Pakistan, it will pass through Baluchistan and
Sind which stretches 1000km. In India it runs around 600km. 150 million
Cubic meters natural gas would be transported through this pipeline per
day.
• India became the first country in South Asia to own an AWACS, Airborne
Early Warning and Control System, called 'an eye in the sky', with the
Israeli-made Phalcon. It arrived at the Jamnagar airbase on the country's
western coast.

The Phalcons will be inducted into the Indian Air Force on May 28 by
Defense Minister A K Antony at the Palam airbase in New Delhi.

June

• India and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) for cooperation in production and marketing of bio fuels in a
sustainable and environmentally friendly manner and in accordance with
national priorities and socio economic development goals.
• India to set up IT lab in Indonesia
India will help set up an Information Technology Lab at Indonesia’s Military
Academy and participate in a defence exercise, “Garuda Shield”, for United
Nations peace support operations.
• India-ASEAN summit cancelled: The India-ASEAN summit has been
delayed following anti-government demonstrations in Thailand.

July

• G8, G5 leaders met in L’Aquila, Italy on economic issues and climate change .
• India, U.S. Sign Space-defense Deals
The new Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) will cover launches
involving satellites owned by U.S. government or academic institutions or by
third country space agencies and universities which have U.S. equipment on
board. Since the components and satellites will have to be integrated with
Indian Space Research Organization's launch vehicles, the TSA will provide for
 monitoring by the U.S. side to ensure against diversion or misuse of
equipment.

A second agreement was signed on a framework for "robust result-oriented

cooperation" in science and technology for "collaborative research and its
commercialization."

The signing of the end-use monitoring shall enable India to procure

sophisticated U.S. defense technology and equipment.

Aug

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has signed a memorandum of

cooperation with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to
implement Avahan, an initiative of the foundation to check the spread of
HIV/AIDS in India. Avahan funds targeted HIV-prevention programmes in six
Indian States and along the national trucking routes.
• Mauritius to use AP e-procurement tech
The Government of Mauritius has signed a formal memorandum of agreement
with the Andhra Pradesh Government to source e-procurement solutions. The
Mauritius Government would use the Andhra Pradesh Government’s e-
procurement platform in order to aggregate demand from various
Government departments and ensure reduced inventory costs. Also, this
would result in lower cost of procurement, transparency and help achieve
effective tendering process. Andhra Pradesh, one of the front runners in
implementing the e-governance initiatives, had so far concluded 61,534
tenders worth Rs 1.08 lakh crore, involving 206 departments and agencies.
• India has signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that will include tariff cuts on an estimated
4,000 products. The FTA is expected to boost trade between the two to
US$50 billion by next year. The agreement will be implemented beginning
January 1, 2010 and will take out duties on about 3,200 products by
December 2013, while duties on the remaining 800 products will be brought
down to zero or near zero levels by December 2016.
 • India, China to set up hotline
India and China have decided to set up a hotline between Prime Ministers
Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao as a confidence building measure. The
decision was taken during the 13th Round of India-China Special
Representatives talks on the boundary question.
• India-Singapore Joint Venture For Tourism Promotion
According to the plan, the tourists who visit Singapore will be given an option
to include a four-five day trip to India in their itinerary.
• India, South Korea signed bilateral trade agreement
South Korea and India signed a bilateral trade agreement to cut duties on
goods as auto parts and electronics and to boost cooperation between the two
Asian economic powerhouses.
Both sides started negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in March, 2006, committing them to
drastically lower import tariffs on cars and other manufactured items.
The CEPA is similar to the free trade agreements (FTA) South Korea has
signed with the U.S. and other trading partners, but phases out tariffs more
slowly.

Sep

• During the visit of Indian President, India and Tajikistan decide to

cooperate in the fields of energy, food and regional security. India invested
$20 million in the reconstruction of the Ayni Air Base near Dushanbe in 2008
and has made significant investments in other Tajik projects, including the
reconstruction of the Varzob hydropower plant.

• India and Russia agreed to raise the volume of the trade between them to
USD ten billion by 2010. Russia and India would cooperate in energy,
metallurgy, mechanical engineering, knowledge-intensive industries, ongoing
construction of Kudankulam nuclear power plant and ONGC's participation in
the Sakhalin-I project.

Oct

•
India and the U.S. agreed on enhancing and deepening trade and investment
engagement, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) cooperation agreement and an
agreement for putting in place traditional knowledge digital library.
 The two countries also issued a joint statement at the end of the Sixth Ministerial
Level meeting of the India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum (TPF) to continue focus on
agriculture, innovation and creativity, investment, services and tariff and non-
tariff barriers.

• India has taken initiative with China and Bhutan for saving Himalayan eco-
system.

• India and Nepal on Tuesday signed a new treaty to control unauthorised trade
across the border and redefine their trade and commercial relations. India and
Nepal also signed a new treaty making it easier for Nepalese products to enter the
Indian market without duty.

The revised “India-Nepal treaty of Trade and Agreement of Cooperation to

Control Unauthorised Trade” was signed by Commerce and Industry Minister
Anand Sharma and Nepalese Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajinder
Mahto.

• The Finance Ministers of Russia, China and India met in Bangalore. During the
meeting on the sidelines of the trilateral Russia India China (RIC) dialogue, the
Ministers of China and India favoured more frequent high-level exchanges,
media, cultural and people-to-people interaction and even more defence
exchanges.

• India and China have agreed to use official mechanisms to discuss outstanding
issues and agreed not to amplify the differences when both the Prime Ministers
met in Thailand.

• India and China signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to establish a

partnership in the area for strengthening dialogue and practical cooperation.
They agreed to set up an India-China Working Group on Climate Change that
will hold annual meetings alternately in China and India to exchange views on
important issues concerning international negotiations and domestic policies and
measures.

• India – US defense cooperation Yudh Abhyas 2009 has started on October 12th
at Babina in UP. 17 US Stryker vehicles shall participate in the operation.

• India signed an agreement in civilian nuclear cooperationwith Argentina. This

is the seventh pact it has signed after coming out of isolation in the civilian
nuclear field. India had signed civilian nuclear pacts with the United States,
France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Mongolia.
 India and Argentina also signed pacts on business visas, cooperation in science
and technology and outer space besides Memoranda of Understanding in
hydrocarbon sector, sports, trade and geological research.

November

• India and the 27-member European Union signed an agreement on a nuclear

energy project and decided to conclude a free-trade pact within a year. They also

signed an agreement in the field of fusion energy research.

• India and Japan renewed their commitment to “develop an Action Plan to advance

security cooperation.

• India and Finland on Thursday signed three agreements to boost cooperation in

science and technology. Both the countries also decided to set up a Joint Business

Council and address climate change. The agreements were signed during the India-

Finland Technology Partnership Forum meeting

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his visit to Washington invited it to explore the

public-private partnership projects in infrastructure that are being set up in India.

He also welcomed to invest in other areas such as agriculture-based businesses,

including cold chains, agricultural marketing and food processing, manufacturing and

mining. India would sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Security, Clean

Energy and Climate Change.

Economy
• Union Commerce Ministry announced that India’s exports continued the
downtrend with a fall of 21.7 per cent in February, the lowest in 13
years. Imports too dropped by 23.3 per cent during the month.
• Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) enters into a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Steel Ministry to produce around 12
million tones of salable steel during 2009-10 despite the current
economic slowdown.
• Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) commenced production of gas from
Dhirubhai 1 and 3 discoveries of D6 block in Krishna-Godavari basin,
located off the coast in the Bay of Bengal.
• Four Central public sector undertakings – National Thermal Power
Corporation (NTPC), National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), Power
Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC)
– signed an agreement to set up a high power testing laboratory for
testing equipment as per world standard
May

• Indian Economy managed at 6.7% growth in 2008-09. Per

capita Income, for the first time crossed Rs.3000/month at
current prices.
• The Industrial growth for the whole of 2008-09 plunged
to 2.4% from a high of 8.5% in 2007-08.
• According to Reputation Institute (RI), Tata Group, SBI and
Infosys were among the 17 Indian companies listed in the
World’s Most Reputable Companies in 2009. The top company
was Italian Chocolate maker Ferrero followed by Swedish
Creative design firm Ikea and US based Johnson & Johnson.
• Daiiichi Sankyo has acquired Ranbaxy. It bought 64% stake in
Ranbaxy.
• National Aluminum Company Limited (NALCO) has bagged the
Engineering Export Promotion Council Eastern Region’s Gold
Trophy, as top exporter in the large Enterprises category, for its
outstanding export performance during the year 206-07.
• The World Bank has approved a $400-million additional financing
loan to Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
• Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) forecasts GDP growth at
6.1% in 2009-10, agriculture expected to grow by 2.8-3%,
industry by 5-5.5% and services by 7.5 – 8%.
• The Sensex, at the opening bell, surged 1306 points to 13479
and Nifty was 532 points up at 4203 and hit the first circuit for
the day on May 18th and also for the first time in the history of
the Indian stock exchanges and the markets were closed for two
hours. At 11.55 a.m. when the market opened again, the Sensex
gained another 700 points and Nifty 150 points and hit the
second circuit of the day and the market was closed for the day.

June

• The largest automobile manufacturer, General Motorsfiled for

bankruptcy court protection.
 • Indian Economy has, for the first time after 32 years
touched negative inflation of -1.6 at the end of the week on
June 6th.
• According to Hong Kong’s Political and Economic Risk
Consultancy, Singapore bureaucracy is the best in Asia followed
by Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea.
• The US Census Bureau has said that India's older population is
projected to quadruple by 2050 while that of the world is
expected to triple.
In its latest report, the Census Bureau said the world's 65-and-
older population is projected to increase from 516 million in
2009 to 1.53 billion in 2050. The older population of the US is
projected to double by that time

July

• The RBI has revised base year to 2004-05 from the current base year of
1993-94.

• 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 under consideration, bilateral trade between India and the US dipped
7.5% and stood at Rs 1,55,353 crore (approximately $ 34 billion).

• Infosys became the first private company to get protection from the Central
Industrial Security Force (CISF).

• RBI Policy for the year 2009-10.

GDP growth rate is estimated to be 6%.

No change in interest rates.

4.75% repo rate, 3.25% reverse repo rate and 5% (CRR) cash reserve ratio.

Inflation is estimated at 5% by the end of the financial year.

• AP State’s Budget for the year 2009-10. For the financial year 2009-10, it
is programmed for

An expenditure of Rs.1,03,485.33crores out of which

Rs.63,301.22crores under non-plan and

Rs.40,184.11crores under Plan

Revenue surplus would be Rs.2, 406crores.

 The fiscal deficit is estimated to be Rs.16, 162crores, which would be 3.96
percent of GSDP.

Sector wise budget allocations :

Irrigation – 17,800crores.

Panchayat raj and rural development – 3, 330crores.

Education – 1850crores

Building Houses – 1800crores

Healthcare, agriculture – 1470crores

Others – 1223crores.
• Budget 2009-10 Highlights :

Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%.

GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY|09

Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP

IT exemption limit raised; Rs 15,000 for Sr.citizens

Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women

10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped

Fringe Benefit Tax abolished

No change in corporate tax

Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 cr, up 34%

Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr

Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 cr

Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 cr

Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 cr

Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 cr

Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme

Commodity Transaction Tax abolished

New pension system trust exempted from STT; DDT

Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%

Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas

100% tax deduction on political donation

Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price

Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector

Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas

Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA

NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY|09

Work National Food Security scheme has begun

Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45 per cent

Rs 2,000 cr rural housing fund under National Housing Bank

Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities, SC/ST

50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programmes

Action for social security to unorganised sector workers

New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July

One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel

Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months

Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project

Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs

Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr

Customs, excise and service tax base rates unchanged

For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation increased 63%

8 missions being launched under Plan on climate change

Allocation for market development assistance scheme up 148%

Allocation for Rural Health Mission raised by Rs 257 cr above interim budget

Rs 500 cr for rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils

Rs 1,000 cr for infrastructure in cyclone-hit area in WB

 Total expenditure crosses Rs 10 lakh cr for first time

Share of direct taxes in revenue increased to 56% in FY|09

• AP Govt announced agriculture action plan.

Increasing cultivation land to 124.06lakh hectares from 121.46 hectares

Increasing production of food grains to a target of 214.87lakh metric tons

from 204.27lakh metric tons.

Fertilizer supply to a target of 71.75lakh metric tons.

Seeds supply to a target of 59.50lakh quintals.

Rs.500crores to modernize agriculture techniques.

• 2009-10 Railway Budget :

Plan outlay of Rs.40, 745crores.

57 new trains, 12 nonstop duronto trains.

Aug

• Following are the highlights of the new Foreign Trade Policy that was
unveiled by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma
o Duty entitlement passbook scheme extended till December 2010
o Extension of sops for export-oriented units till March 2011
o Export target of $200 billion set for 2010-11
o Growth target of 15 per cent for next two years, 25 per cent thereafter
o Inter-ministerial group to address issues raised by exporters
o Obligation under export promotion capital goods scheme relaxed
o Permission for tax refund scheme for jewellery sector
o No fee on grant of incentives to cut transaction costs
o Steps to help exporters reduce transaction costs
o Plan for diamond bourses in the country
o Single-window scheme for farm exports
o Re-export of unused leather allowed subject to 50 per cent duty
o Minimum value addition for tea reduced to 50 per cent from 100 per
cent
o Export units allowed to sell 90 per cent of goods in domestic market
o Provision for state-run banks to provide dollar credits
o Twenty-six new markets added to focus market scheme
o Sops under focus market scheme hiked from 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent
o Number of duty-free samples for exporters raised to 50 pieces from 15
o New directorate of trade remedy measures to be set up
o Zero duty under technology upgrade scheme
• Reader’s Digest Association Inc., owned by the New York private equity firm
Ripplewood Holdings decided to file for bankruptcy protection.
• New Income Tax Slab under New Direct Tax Code 2009
 Income Tax Slab Under New Direct
Tax Code 2009 applicable for A.Y.
2011-12
Individual Male
Up to Rs. 1,60,000 NIL
Rs.1,60,001 – Rs.10,00,000 10%
Rs.10,00,001 -Rs. 25,00,000 20%
Above Rs. 25,00,001 30%
Individual Female
Up to Rs. 1,90,000 NIL
Rs.1,90,001 – Rs.10,00,000 10%
Rs.10,00,001 -Rs. 25,00,000 20%
Above Rs. 25,00,001 30%
Oct

• 35 Trade Ministers met in New Delhi. WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy
also participated in the meeting.

• The Center has approved “India Invest” to attract foreign investments.

Central government, State governments and Federation of Indian Chambers
and Industry will start this institute.

November

• NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Pvt. Ltd. (NBPPL), a 50:50 joint

venture between NTPC and BHEL, would set up its first power
equipment manufacturing plant with an outlay of Rs. 6,000 crore
at Mannavaram in Andhra Pradesh.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) preferred to keep long-term

as well as short-term indicative rates at the current level despite
rising inflation and inflationary pressure.

The RBI raised the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) — the portion
of deposits that banks are required to keep in government
securities — by 100 basis points to 25 per cent with effect from
November 7.

• The Union Cabinet decided to include three more schemes in the

Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the welfare of
 minorities.

The additional schemes are the National Rural Drinking Water

Programme, the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for
Small and Medium Towns and the Urban Infrastructure and
Governance Scheme.

• A Reserve Bank of India committee suggested that the

Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) system should be
replaced with a base rate mechanism to introduce greater
transparency in pricing of loans given by banks.

• Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee launched theNational

Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a unique PPP
(public-private partnership) enterprise which has been mandated
to skill 30 per cent of the overall target of 500 million people by
the year 2022

• Merger talks between emerging markets giants Bharti and MTN

have been called off, after the two firms failed to convince the
South African government – MTN’s biggest shareholder on the
benefits of the deal.

• Reliance Communications introduced a new plan whereby

customers can make all calls at 50 paisa a minute.

• The Center and AP Govt. has made agreement to

startPetroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment
Region (PCPIR) between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.

• The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC)

projected a GDP (gross domestic product) growth of around 6.5
per cent for the current fiscal. At this level, it would be lower
than the 6.7 per cent growth in 2008-09 and this would be
mainly owing to a likely decline in farm output.

• Industrial growth touched to a 22-month high at 10.4

percent in August this year. The Index of Industrial Production
(IIP) figures showed that while the manufacturing sector grew
by 10.2 per cent during August 2009, the growth in electricity
generation was even higher at 10.6 per cent, and the mining
sector topped them both with a growth of 12.9 per cent.

November
 •
According to the IIP (Index of Industrial Production) data released by the Central

Statistical Organisation (CSO), all the three major sectors, namely, manufacturing,

mining and electricity generation witnessed markedly higher growth during the

month as compared to September 2008.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has bought 200 tonnes of goldfrom the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) at an estimated price of around Rs. 31,490 crore

($6.70 billion), under the IMF’s limited gold sales programme.

• The Indian Oil Corporation has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with

the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) to set up Rs. 10,000-crore

nuclear power plant.

• The Union Finance Ministry has constituted a working group to recommend changes in

the existing policies on FII (foreign institutional investor) inflows and

participatory notes (PNs), with a view to attracting more foreign portfolio investments.

• Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes Rich list of Indian billionaires with a net worth

of $32 billion. Steel baron Lakshi Mittal is next with a net worth of $30 billion. Others

in the top 10 include Azim Premji of Wipro, steelmakers Ruia brothers, real estate

baron KP Singh and telecom tycoon, Sunil Mittal.

• 6 women have made to top 100 richest Indians. Ms. Jindal has retained the richest

woman in India. She is ranked seventh in the list and she is followed by Bennett,

Coleman & Co’s Chairperson Indu Jain, who is ranked 19th. Anu Aga of Thermax group

and Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw have been ranked 55th and 73rd

Science and technology

April

• Bharti Airtel launched 16 Mbps wireless broadband powered by Airtel’s carrier

Ethernet network in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.
• The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C12) has put orbit Radar Imaging
Satellite (RISAT-2), a surveillance satellite, which could keep a watch on the
country’s borders. This is the first time the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) putting in orbit a RISAT in the micro-wave band.
• The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea announced the successful launch of
an indigenous communications satellite by a home-made three stage rocket, Unha-2
(Milky Way).
• India has successfully test-fired a version of nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic
missile, with a range of 350 km from the Integrated Test Rangeat Chandipur.

May

• Iran has test fired a new ballistic missile, Sajjil-2, with a range
of 1200 miles, far enough to hit Israel and southeastern Europe
• INS Airavat, a Landing Ship Tank (LST) of the Shardul class,
was commissioned into the Indian Navy by Naval Chief Admiral
Sureesh Mehta at Visakhapatnam on May 19.
• Indigenously built nuclear-capable Agni-II missile, with a load
of 1 ton and strike range of up to 3,000 km, was successfully
test fired from Wheelers Island, a launch pad off Orissa’s coast.
• Russian Soyuz-FG carrier rocket was launched from Site 1/5 at
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the Soyuz TMA-
15 spacecraft, on a manned (3 astronauts from Canada, Russia
and Belgium) spaceflight to the International Space Station
(ISS).

June

• NASA successfully Launched LRO/LCROSS for return to the Moon

An Atlas V rocket carrying NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and

sister payload Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) has
launched from complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening. Both its
payload passengers were successfully sent on their journey to the moon.

• Japanese lunar probe to crash-land on moon

The Kaguya probe hit the moon. The probe was launched in September 2007
and has completed its scheduled observations. Its mission was extended and
it has been in low lunar orbit since January last year.

• Chandrayaan detects X-ray signals

Chandrayaan-I has picked up first X-ray signals from the Moon, revealing the
presence of three elements. The Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (CIXS), one of
the 11 payloads onboard Chandrayaan-1, has received X-ray “signatures” of
 aluminium, magnesium and silicon — three of the six elements it has been
designed to detect, the others being titanium, iron and calcium. CIXS
detected the X-ray signals on December 12, 2008 from a region close to the
Apollo landing sites.

CIXS was jointly developed by ISRO and United Kingdom’s Rutherford

Appleton Laboratory (RAL).

• ISRO Launched W2M Satellite from French Guiana. It is a communication

satellite. The satellite was launched by Orion Launch Vehicle. The
communication satellite has been built for European EADS Astrium, a
subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company
(EADS).Another satellite ‘Hot Bird’ was also launched by OLV

July

• Technology and market research firm Forrester Research projected Indiato

have 3rd largest online population by 2013 in its ‘Global online population
forecast 2008-13’ report.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited handed over the first batch of fourCheetal

helicopters to the Indian Air Force at HAL’s Barrackpore Division near
Kolkata.

• India launched her first indigenous nuclear powered submarine Arihanton

July 26. The submarine designed and constructed in India as Advanced
Technology Vessel (ATV) project. ‘Arihant’ means ‘Destroyer of Enemies’.

Some interesting features of indigenous nuclear powered submarine Arihant

are:

- It was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Ship

Building Center, Vishakapatnam naval dockyard.

- It is among the five in the class approved by the government for

construction.

- The other countries having capabilities to operate nuclear powered

submarines are: U.S, Russia, U.K, France and China.

- It is jointly developed by Indian Navy, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

(BARC), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with
Russian assistance.

- It is the nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)

- It is about 110 metres long, 6000 tons, 22 knots speed, 11 metre-wide with
complement of around 23 officers and 72 men

- The 80 MW mini-nuclear reactor to power the submarine has been installed

 - The K-15 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) for the submarine
was tested successfully from an undersea platform on February 26, 2008

- It can launch 12 SLBMs, even under ice-cap.

- The necessary crew training to operate the submarine, is planned through

Russian Akula II submarine expected to join Indian Navy on lease by year
end.

- The ATV project started making significant progress only after the land-
based reactor became fully operational in December 2004 at Kalpakkam, near
Chennai.

• Space shuttle Endeavor was successfully launched from International Space

Center. It was launched with 7 members from Kennedy Space Center at Cape
Canaveral.

Aug
 South Korea had launched its first Rocket Naro-1. It failed to place the satellite
in the earth’s orbit.
 The indigenously built T-90 S tank ‘Bhishma’ was handed over to army in
Chennai. The superior features of the new battle tank are its mobility, lethal
firepower, surprise hit-at-first sight and self-protection. Its enhanced mobility,
ballistic computers for sight and accuracy and capability to fire all types of
ammunition in addition to firing guided missiles make the `Bhishma' among the best
in the world
 Spaceship Discovery was sent to International Space Center from Kennedy
Space center, Florida. 7 astronauts were sent along with it.
 Chandrayaan-I was terminated by ISRO as it lost the radio signals with the
craft. ISRO Chairman said that there was no chance of retrieving it.
 Cystorm, a Sun Microsystems Machine was developed by Mr Aluru Srinivas from
Iowa State University. This supercomputer unleashes 28.16 trillion calculations per
second.
 ISRO had launched a 3D mapping tool, Bhuvan. It is an indigenously developed
system which takes pictures of the earth similar to that of Google earth.
 Nag was successfully test-fired
The indigenously developed anti-tank missile Nag was successfully test fired from the
Interim Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 kilometres from Balesore in
Orissa.

Sep

• Space shuttle Discovery reached the earth safely after its travel in the space.
 • NASA and ISRO’s Bi- static experiment to find water on the moon failed. It
involved coordinated use of Chandrayaan-I and US space agency National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO
spacecraft.

• Sowa-Rigpa, a traditional system of medicine practiced in the Himalayan

region, has been accorded legal status in India, through a proposed
amendment in Medicine Central Council Act.
• The powerful Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran's missile
program, successfully tested upgraded versions of Iran's medium-range
Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles. Both can carry warheads and reach up to 1,200
miles, putting Israel, U.S. military bases in the Middle East and parts of
Europe within striking distance.
• The Chandrayaan-1 probe had found traces of water across the surface of
large parts of the moon. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had clearly indicated
the presence of water molecules on the lunar surface.
• In its sixteenth flight conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC)
SHAR, Sriharikota, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-
C14 successfully launched the 960 kg Indian remote sensing
satelliteOceansat-2 and six nano European education satellites for
international customers into a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). This was
the fifteenth successful flight of PSLV. The four nano satellites are named as
Cubesat 1, 2, 3 and 4. The other two are named as Rubinsat 9.1 and 9.2.
• India has launched the Navy - warship INS Kochi, a Delhi-class destroyer.
This is the second warship of Project 15-A built by Mazgaon Dock Limited.
• India has designed a new version of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor
named Advanced Heavy Water Reactor-Low Enriched Uranium
(AHWR-LEU) which will use low enriched uranium along with thorium as
fuel.

Oct

• NASA has launched tallest rocket (327 feet) Ares 1-X form Cape
Canaveral, Florida.

• Two Cyprus companies, NORASCO and Upturn Trading Limited,

signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India’s CASE
Neuberg Solutions for setting up turnkey solar energy plants.

• Three pairs of the Himalayan Tahr and two pairs of Blue

sheep from a zoo in Japan were received by officials of the
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological (PNHZ) Park in Darjeeling.

The animals were received as a part of an animal exchange

 programme. India has sent a pair of elephants to the Okinawa
Zoo about three years back.

• Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California

detected water, methane and carbon dioxide — the basic
components of life — on the planet named HD 209458b, outside
solar system.

It’s the second planet outside our solar system after Jupiter-
sized planet, HD 189733b on which water, methane and carbon
dioxide have been found, which are potentially important for
biological processes in habitable planets.

• Three new species of legless amphibians have been

discovered from forests in Manipur and Nagaland by researchers
led by Delhi University Associate Professor S.D. Biju.

• India has allocated places at Chhayamithi Virdi in Gujarat

and Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh to the U.S.-led consortia for
expanded cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

• Russia has been given a site at Haripur in West Bengal,besides

Koodankulam. French company Areva will start work at Jaitapur
in Maharashtra.

• Three scientists who created the technology behind digital

photography and helped link the world through fibre-optic
networks shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics. Charles K
Kao was cited for his breakthrough involving the transmission of
light in fiber optics while Willard S Boyle and George E. Smith
were honored for inventing an imaging semiconductor circuit
known as the CCD sensor.

• Three Americans, Australian-born Elizabeth Blackburn, British-

born Jack Szostak and Carol Greider won the Nobel prize for
medicine for revealing the existence and nature of telomerase,
an enzyme which helps prevent the fraying of chromosomes that
underlies aging and cancer.

• Iran test fired Shaheb-3 and Sajjal missiles with a range of

1300 to 2000Km. These can carry payload of 1000kgs.

• The International Conference on 'Peaceful Uses of Atomic

Energy' was inaugurated by Prime Minister on September 29th
in New Delhi. Bhabha was the president of the first international
 conference on this subject held in Geneva in 1955. The
conference was also attended by Mohammad ElBaradei, Director-
General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The
conference was organized by the Department of Atomic Energy
in association with the International Atomic Energy Agency and
the Indian Nuclear Society.

• Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) recommended

commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal in India.

• The US Space Agency NASA has crashed a Rocket into a crater

on the South Pole of the Moon in the hope of detecting water.
The LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite)
satellite crashed into the Cabeus crater floor near the moon's
south pole at around 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) per hour.

• Two nuclear-capable, medium range surface-to-surface Prithvi-II

missiles were successfully test-fired by the armed forces from
the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur. Both missiles had a
range of 350 km and can carry nuclear load.

November

• The Union Cabinet gave its nod for the Headend In The Sky (HITS), a digital

delivery platform to distribute multiple channels through satellite straight to cable

operators.

• The cultivation of Lotus plants were banned in Kanyakumari as these plants would

prevent sunlight entering into ponds.

• The National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) unveiledChina's fastest

supercomputer, which could rival the world's most powerful computing devices. The

supercomputer, named Tianhe,meaning Milky Way, is theoretically able to do more

than 1 quadrillion calculations per second (one petaflop) at peak speed.

• According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Ma fourth of

India’sgeographical area, or 81 million hectares, is undergoing aprocess of

 desertification. It reveals a first-of-its-kind‘desertification status map’ of the

country created in collaboration with several scientific institutions across the country.

Changes in rainfall pattern and over-exploitation of natural resources are the main

reasons for this change.

The spatial inventory, which uses satellite imagery from an Indian Remote Sensing

Satellite, Resourcesat, also reveals that a third of the country’s area (or 105.48

million hectares) is degraded.

The research paper depicts that about 15.8 per cent of the country’s geographical area

is arid, 37.6 per cent semi-arid and 16.5 per cent falls in the dry sub-humid region.

Put together, about 228 million hectares, or 69 per cent of the country constitute ‘dry

land.’

• The Government of India has approved a new policy on development of solar energy in

the country by launching of theJawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. It is one

of the eight key National Missions which comprise India’s National Action Plan on

Climate Change.

• The first night trial of the nuclear weapon capable Agni-II failed,with the missile not

achieving the mission objectives. The 2,000 km range Intermediate Range Ballistic

Missile (IRBM) was fired from a mobile platform from the Wheeler Island, off the

Orissa Coast.

• The fifth nuclear reactor of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station(RAPS-5) at

Rawatbhatta, with a capacity of 220 MWe, reached criticality. This is the 18th nuclear

power reactor to be commissioned in the country. With its commissioning, the total

nuclear power-generation capacity now stands at 4,340 MWe.

RAPS-5 is an indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). It uses Russian

fuel and will come under the IAEA safeguards.

• NASA had launched Atlantis with six men to ISS from Kennedy space center, Cape

Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle carries nearly 13,610 kg of equipment and Ammonium

tanks.

Sports
 • Jenson Button won Malaysian Grand Prix.

• England's Claire Taylor has become the first woman to be named as one of
the Five Cricketers of the Year 2009 by Wisden, the sport's annual of record.

• Victoria Azaranka beat Serena Williams to win Miami Masters Tennis title.

• Sehwag was announced as Wisden 2008 ‘Leading Cricketer in the World’.

• Wisden Dream Team: M S Dhoni was selected as captain. Sehwag,

Harbajan Singh, Sachin and Zaheer Khan were selected in the dream team.

• India has won a test series in New Zealand after 41 years.

• Shooting World Cup in Changwon, Korea: Gagan Narang won the bronze
medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event of the first ISSF World Cup of the year
in Chongwon, Korea. He also won the gold in the men’s 50-metre free rifle 3-
position event.

• Rahul Dravid created world record in the number of catches (183).

• India has won Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2009 after 13
years by beating Malaysia in the final.

• Rafael Nadal won his fifth consecutive Barcelona Open title victory over
Spanish compatriot David Ferrer.

June
 • Brazil won Confederation cup against America in final.

• Saina Nehwal won Indonesian Open. She is the first Indian to win a
Super Series tournament. she clinched the Indonesian Open title with a
stunning victory over higher ranked Chinese Lin Wang in Jakarta.

• Sebastian Vettel, Won 2009 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix.

• Pakistan won T 20 World cup. Shahid Afridi was declared as Man of the
Match.

• Roger Federer won French open title beating Robin Soderling.

• The world|s fastest man, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, was awarded the title
of 2009 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.

• Suranjoy won Asian boxing gold : Suranjoy Singh gave India its first Asian
Boxing Championship gold in 15 years.

July

• Bangladesh has won its first away from home Test series against West
Indies.
• Gaganjeet Bhullar is the youngest Indian golfer to win Asian Tour Title.
• Sania Mirza won Lexington Challenger Title by defeating Jolie Koin.
• Michael Phelps created world record in American swimming championship. He
swum butterfly swimming race in just 50.22 seconds.
• Padmini Raut won Asian Junior chess championship.
• Roger Federer won Wimbledon Men’s title beating Andy Roddick in finals.
With this 15th Grand slam, he became the highest winner of the grand
slams.
• Serena Williams won Wimbledon women’s title.
• Doubles women's title was won by Serena and Venus Williams.

Aug

 Kingfisher’s Forbes India team has won 8 points for the first time in F1
Belgian Grand Prix with Fischichella achieving 2nd rank.
 India’s mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju won the Chinese Taipei
Grand Prix Gold over Malaysia’s Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh.
 Russian Yelena Isinbayeva set world record in Pole vault held at Zurich Golden
League Meet.
 Roger Federer has won the Cincinnati Masters title beating Novok Djokovic.
 Rubens Barichello (Brazil) has won F1 European Grand prix.
 Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender Singh achieved a career-highsecond
rank in the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) official rankings. Among other
Indians, Beijing Olympics quarterfinalist Akhil Kumar has been placed ninth in the
feather weight (57kg).
 Kenenisa Bekele has won the world championship in 5000m and 10000m running
consecutively for the fourth time.
 Dubois won the Vancouver final beating Sania Mirza.
 Jamaica’s Usain Bolt obliterated his own 100 meters World record to win the
World championship final in a breathtaking 9.58 seconds. He also created world
record in 200m running by completing in 19.19seconds.
 South Korean golf star Yang Yong-Eun beat world number one Tiger Woods by
two strokes and won the PBA Golf Champions tournament.
 Mahesh Bhupati and Knowles has won the Montreal tennis title.
 Lin Dan won his third straight world title defeating second-seeded fellow Chinese
and World No. 2 Chen Jin in men’s singles final in the BWF World badminton
championship.

In the women’s final seventh-seeded Lan Lu of China defeated two-time world

champion and fifth-seeded Xie Xingfang.
 World Badminton Championship started at Hyderabad. England did not participate
in the championship due to security reasons.
 India is the Asia Youth Chess Champion. Second place goes to Vietnam.
 India stood at third place in the world junior squash championship. Egypt
stood at first place.

Dep

• US Open Women’s singles Tilte was won by Clijsters by beating Serena

Williams. Men’s doubles title was won by Paes and Dlouhy (Czech Republic)
over Bhupati and Knowels.
• Rubens Barrichello has won the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
• Vijender Singh has won bronze medal in World Boxing Championship.
• Hyderabad Hockey Association, Andhra Hockey Association and AP women
Hockey Association merged to form Hockey Andhra Pradesh.
• India has reached 1st rank in ICC World cricket rankings for the first time
after defeating Sri Lanka in Compaq cup.
• China won the World Chess Team Championship. Russia stood in the 2nd
place and India was placed in 7th position.
• India has won Nehru Cup International Football Tourney beating Syria.
• Pankaj Advani defeated nine times champion Mike Russell at the Northern
Snooker Centre in Leeds to win the elusive World Professional Billiards
Championship.
• Pankaj Advani has won the World Billiards Title. He is the second Indian to
win this title after Geet Sethi in 1992.
• FIBA – Asia basketball championship held at Chennai was won by China
beating Korea. Japan stood in the 3rd place.
 • Lakshmi Sahiti from AP won the National Women’s chess championship.
• Indian wrestler Ramesh Kumar has won bronze medal in 74kg category World
Wrestling Championship.
• Football Durand Cup was won by Churchill brothers.
• Gautam Gambhir has won the Castrol Cricketer for the year 2008. He also
won the batsman of the year. In other categories, M S Dhoni was selected for
ODI player, Sehwag for test player, Harbajan Singh for bowler of the year.

US Open
Del Proto of Argentina defeated Federer and won his 1st grand slam, US
open Men’s title.

Women’s singles Tilte was won by Clijsters by beating Serena

Williams.

Men’s doubles title was won by Paes and Dlouhy (Czech Republic)
over Bhupati and Knowels.

Womens’s doubles title was won by Serena and Venus Williams.

• India dominated in Asian Grand Prix Archery. India has won 4gold, 1silver
and 3bronze medals.
• Somdev Devvarman beat Rik de Voest in the first reverse singles to win the
Davis Cup World Group play-off 3-1 against South Africa. With the victory,
India was qualified for the Davis Cup World Group after a long gap of 11
years. India last played in the World Group in 1998.
• Gaganjeet Bhullar won the DLF Masters golf tournament by beating
Anirbaan Lahiri.

Octe

• Queen Elizabeth II handed over the glittering baton to India’s

President to take the responsibility of 2010 Common Wealth
Games.

• England’s Umpire David Shepherd died. He has umpired for

172 ODIs and 92 test matches.

• India has won Senior and Junior Team titles in Common wealth
Weightlifting Championship which was held in Penang,
Malaysia.
 Best junior Lifter in female category was Usha(48kgs) and Best
junior lifter in male category was Sukhen Dey (56kgs).

• National Inter-state Athletic Championship ended in

Chennai on October 24th.
Kerala stood 1st with 12 gold medals followed by Punjab and
Jarkhand. Men’s and Women’s Championship was won by Kerala.
Best male athlete was Joseph Abraham (Kerala) and Best female
athlete was Manjeet Kaur (Punjab).

• Chetan Anand won Dutch Open Badminton title in Almere,

Holland.

• New South Wales Blues was crowned champion of the

inaugural Airtel-Champions League Twenty20 championship with
a 41-run win over Trinidad & Tobago in the final at Rajiv Gandhi
Stadium.

Brett Lee was named ‘Player-of-the-Final’ and ‘Man-of-the-

Series’.

• Ghana has won FIFA U-20 Football World Cup beating Brazil.
This is the 1st African country to win this cup.

• Jenson Button has won F1 World’s Drivers Championship title

that was held in Brazil.

• Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko beat Rafael Nadal to win the

Shanghai Masters.

• ICC Awards 2009:

1. Best Test Cricketer – Gautam Gambhir

2. Best One day Cricketer - Mahendra Singh Dhoni

3. Test and One day teams captain – M S Dhoni.

4. Best Cricketer – Mitchell Jhonson

5. Best Emerging Cricketer – Peter Siddle (Australia)

 6. Best Umpire – Aleem Dar

7. Spirit of Cricket Award – New Zealand

• Pan Pacific Title was won by Maria Sharapova by beating

Jelena Jankovic.

• Formula 1 Japan Grand Prix was won by Sebastian Vetel.

• Rio de Janeiro has been chosen as the host city of the2016

Summer Olympics, beating Madrid in the final round of voting.

• Muniyappa won Indian Open Golf Title by defeating South

Korean Lee Sang in Gurgaon.

• China Open Men’s Title was won by Jokovich and Women’s Title
was won by Svetlana Kuznetsova.

• Australia won ICC Champion’s Trophy by beating New Zealand in

the finals. Shane Watson was selected as Man of the Match and
Ricky Ponting was given Player of the tournament and Golden
Bat award for scoring highest runs in the series.

• Irani Trophy was won by Rest of India team defeating Mumbai.

November

• ustralia had won the ODI series against India at 4-2. Watson was named Man-of-the-

Series.

• Viswanath Anand has won Rapid Chess Championship by defeating Karpov.

• Sachin Tendulkar scored 17, 000 runs in 435 ODIs. He is the highest scorer in ODIs.

Sanat Jayasurya and Rickey Ponting are 2nd and 3rd highest scorers.

• Italy has won Federation cup tennis title.

• Sowmya Swaminathan has won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship held

in Argentina. She is the third to win the title after Hampi and Harika.
• China has won Asia Women Hockey cup by defeating India in the final.

• Serena Williams has won WTA women’s championship after defeating her sister

Venus in the final.

• CEAT Cricket Awards:

• International Cricketer of the year and test batsman of the year – Gautam Gambhir

Test bowler of the year – Jhonson (Australia)

One day batsman of the year – Sehwag

One day bowler of the year – Mendis

International Lifetime Achievement Award – EAS Prasanna

International Team of the year – Australia.

• Davydenko defeated Juan Martin del Potro in the finals at London, to become the first

Russian to win ATP World Tour title in the tournament history. Doubles’ title was won

by Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.

• India has won its 100th test match in cricket on November 27th when it has won

the test match against Sri Lanka in Kanpur. The other countries which have won 100

test matches are Australia, England, West Indies, South Africa and Pakistan.

• Roger Federer was titled number one player of the 2009 by defeating Andy Murray in

ATP World Tour Finals in London.

• Ng-On Yee is the youngest snooker world champion. The 19-year-old Hong Kong

girl produced a classy performance to beat the 49-year-old Australian in the final of

the ONGC-IBSF World snooker championship at Hyderabad. The men’s title was won

by England’s Alfred Burden.

• World Under-16 Chess title was won by P Seturaman that was played at Atlanta.

• Athlete of the year 2009 awards was given to Usain Bolt and Sanya Richards by

International Association of Athletics Federation.

• Sachin has become the first cricketer to score 30, 000 runs in international cricket.

Ricky Ponting is in the second place with 25, 000 runs.

 • China has won Asian Table Tennis Championship by defeating Japan in Men’s title

and Singapore in Women’s title which was held in Lucknow. India was ranked 7th in

the championship.

• Tigerwoods has won the Australian Masters Golf Title that was played at Melbourne.

• Mohinder Amarnath was conferred with C K Naidu memorial lifetime achievement

award.

Awards
April

• emina Miss India 2009

Ekta Chaudhary, 22 year old from Delhi was crowned Miss India
Universe.
Pooja Chopra was chosen Miss India World.
Shriya Kishore was crowned Miss India Earth.

• Goenka awards for 29 journalists

P. Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu, Karan Thapar, Nidhi
Razdan and Neelesh Mishra are among the 29 journalists who
were conferred the coveted Ramnath Goenka Excellence in
Journalism Awards on Monday.

Mr. Sainath and Mr. Thapar were chosen ‘Journalists of the Year’
in print and broadcast categories by a panel which included
Hindustan Times Chairperson and Editorial Director Shobhana
Bhartia, filmmaker Shyam Benegal and agriculture scientist M.S.
Swaminathan.

The awards were presented by Chief Justice of India K.G.

Balakrishnan at a function here.

Ms. Razdan of NDTV won the award in the category of reporting

from Jammu and Kashmir, while V.K. Sasikumar of CNN-IBN was
honoured for his reportage from the North-East.

In the category of ‘Uncovering India Invisible (Print),’ Mr.

Neelesh Mishra and Nagendra Sharma of Hindustan Times won
 the honours. The award in the broadcast category of the same
segment went to Mridu Bhandari of CNN-IBN.

• Russia has conferred the “Order of Friendship” on the former

Tamil Nadu Governor, Bhishma Narain Singh, and International
Council for Cultural Relations president Karan Singh. This is one
of the highest state decorations of the Russian Federation and is
bestowed for significant contribution to the strengthening of
friendship and cooperation between nations.

• Noted journalist Neerja Choudhury was selected for the

prestigious Prem Bhatia Award for her exemplary contribution in
the field of political reporting.Senior journalist Gargia Parsai of
The Hindu was selected for the award in the category of
reporting on environment issue.Ms. Choudhury was selected for
the award for “combining social conscience with commitment” to
her profession. She fought for social causes and was the first
and only Civil Rights correspondent for an Indian newspaper
when she was serving The Statesman from 1982 to 1987.

• The Dr.Malcolm Adiseshiah Award 2009 was awarded to Dr. C.P.

Chandrasekhar, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and
Planning, School of social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi.

• Pritzker Prize, considered one of the highest honors and an equal

to the Nobel Prize in Architecture, has been awarded to Swiss
architect Peter Zumthor, known for his “crisp look” buildings and
his approach to design and the nature of his practice.

May

• Air India Cargo has won the Cargo Airline of the Year award at
the 26th Cargo Airline of the year Award instituted by the Air
Cargo News, UK group.
• Yudhvir Memorial Award was presented to the noted film
maker Shyam Benagal for his outstanding contribution to the
films.
• Jaishankar Raman, Associate Professor of economics, has been
named recipient of Valparaiso University’s
prestigious Caterpillar Award for Excellence in Teaching.
• Alice Munro has won the Man Booker International Prize .
Munro is one of Canada's most celebrated writers. She is known
 for her short stories. Her famous stories are Lives of Girls,
Woman. Her latest collection is Too Much Happiness.
• Cannes Film Festival Awards
Sharmila Tagore served as one of the judges during the
presentation of awards.
Awards presented were..
Best Film (Golden Palm award) - The White Ribbon (Austria)
Best Director - Brillante Mendoza (Phillipines)
Best Actor - Christoph Waltz (Austria)
Best Actress - Charlotte Gainsbourg (British)
Best Screenplay - Feng Mei (China)

June

• Azim Premji was awarded the US-India Business Council's (USIBC) 34th
anniversary Global Vision Award in Washington for his work on furthering
Indo-US relations through commercial partnership.

• Mr. Nagaratnam Naidu was presented with the Jagjivan Ram Kisan
Puraskar, an award constituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (IACR)

• Sulabh International, an Indian organisation popular for introducing low-

cost toilet technology, has been selected for this year|s
prestigiousRenewable Energy award. The Intergovernmental Renewable
Energy Organisation (IREO) will present the award to Sulabh founder,
Dr.Bindeshwar Pathak, at the United Nations headquarters.

• Christopher Lee (horror actor of Dracula) was honored with Knighthood

award.

• IIFA awards :

Bollywood director Ashutosh Gowarikar|s historical love epic Jodhaa Akbar

swept the 10th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards here, taking
home trophies for best picture, best director and best actor for heartthrob
Hrithik Roshan

Best director – Gowarikar

Best actor – Hrithik Roshan

Best actress – Priyanka Chopra

Best music director– A R Rahman

 Best supporting role, actor – Arjun Rampal

Best actor in comic role – Abhishek Bachchan

The other winners in the key categories were Kangana Ranaut, who won best
supporting role for her performance as a troubled supermodel in Fashion,
Akshaye Khanna won the best negative role for Race, Neeraj Pandey scooped
the tropy for best story for his film on terrorism A Wednesday. He also won
the technical award of best scriptwriter for the same film.

July

• Rajiv Khel Ratna award for 2008-09 were conferred to M C Mary kom,
Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar.

• 15 Sportspersons were conferred with Arjuna Awards. The Arjuna awardees

were

Mangal Singh Champia (archery),

K Sinimol Paulose (athletics),

Saina Nehwal (badminton),

L Saritha Devi (boxing),

Tania Sachdeva (chess),

Gautam Gambhir (cricket),

Ignace Tirkey (hockey),

Surinder Kaur (hockey),

Pankaj Shirsat (kabaddi),

Parul D Parmar (badminton- disabled),

Satish Joshi (rowing),

Ranjan Sodhi (shooting),

Poulami Ghatak (table tennis),

Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling),

G L Yadav (yachting).

• Dhyanchand Awards : Ishar Singh Deol (athletics), Satbir Singh Dahya

(wrestling).
 • Dronacharya Awards: Baldev Singh (hockey), Jaidev Bisht (boxing), Satpal
(wrestling), Pullela Gopichand (badminton).

• Pranab Mukharjee was conferred with the Tilak Award by the Tilak trust.

• Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu
Kyi was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for
Reconciliation and Peace at a ceremony on Monday night in South Africa.T
he Gandhi Development Trust in the port city of Durban has made the award.

• President Pratibha Patil presented the Indira Gandhi Prize for

Peace,Disarmament and Development to Microsoft founder Bill Gates for
his charity work

Gates received the prize on behalf of his $38 billion Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation. The foundation has been working for a range of issues; including
HIV/AIDS.

• Mr Madhavan Nair was conferred with MP Birla memorial award.

Aug

• ndian sanitation expert and founder of Sulabh sanitation movement in

India, Bindeshwar Pathak has been awarded the prestigious
2009Stockholm Water prize. The award equivalent to Nobel Prize on
environmental issues was presented to him by Prince Carl Philip of Sweden.
• The former director of the National Council of Educational Research and
Training (NCERT), J. S. Rajput, was presented the 2004 Jan Amos
Comenius Award by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO).
• Eminent Sanskrit poet Satya Vrat Shastri was presented the prestigious
42nd Jnanpith Award by the Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
for introducing a number of new genres in Sanskrit writing such as
autobiography, diary and collections of letters in verse.
• The 17th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award has been presented
to Guatam Bhai of Paunar Ashram, Maharashtra, by Indian PM, Dr.
Manmohan Singh. Bhai received the award for his endorsing communal
harmony, peace and goodwill.
• Venezuelan Stefania Fernandez won the 2009 Miss Univere in Bahamas.
The first runner-up was Miss Dominican Republic, Ada Aimee de la Cruz, while
Miss Kosovo, Gona Dragusha, was the second runner-up.
• The Pakistan government has conferred its highest civilian award,Sitara-e-
Imtiaz, posthumously on Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande for working
towards peace, harmony and cordial relations between India and Pakistan.
• Stephen Hawking, the world’s leading theoretical physicist, was awarded
with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of USA.
 • Major Mohit Sharma and Major D. Sreeram Kumar have been awarded the
country’s highest peace time gallantry award Ashok Chakra. Major Sharma
will be decorated with Ashok Chakra posthumously. Major Sreeram Kumar, 28
of Artillery Regiment, is presently serving in Assam Rifles. He was awarded in
recognition of his service in the Operation Hifazat in Manipur.
• RajyaLaxmi Foundation has selected Sunita Narayan, Director of Center for
Science and Environment for RajyaLaxmi award.
• 'Khabar Lahariya' bags UNESCO Literacy Prize
Nirantar, a non-governmental organisation, which runs Khabar Lahariya a
fortnightly newspaper in Hindi run by rural women in Uttar Pradesh has
bagged the prestigious UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize 2009.
• Prominent Indian social activist Deep Joshi, who has done pioneering work
for "development of rural communities", was named along with five others for
the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2009, considered as Asia's
equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Joshi was the co-founder of Professional Assistance for Development Action

(PRADAN) and now works as an independent consultant for the NGO which
works for rural poor, promoting self-help groups, developing locally suitable
economic activities, mobilising finances and introducing systems to improve
livelihoods of rural people.

Oct

• 2009 Nobel Prizes:

Barak Obama (U.S.President) Won Nobel Prize in Peacefor
his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy
and cooperation between peoples.
Herta Muller won Nobel Prize in Literature for the Landscape
of Dispossessed.

Elizabeth H.Blackburn (University of California San

Francisco,CA,USA) , Carol W.Greider (Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine Baltimore,MD,USA) & Jack
W.Szostak (Harvard Medical chool,Massachusetts General
Hospital,Boston,MA,USA) are awarded Nobel Prize
inPhysiology/Medicine "for the discovery of how chromosomes
are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase”.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (MRC Laboratory of Molecular
Biology Cambridge,United Kingdom) , Thomas A.Steitz (Yale
University New Haven,CT,USA) & Ada E.Yonath (Weizmann
Institute of Science Rehovot,Israel) are awarded Nobel Prizes
in Chemistry "for studies of the structure and function of the
 ribosome".
Willard S. Boyle (Bell Laboratories) & George E. Smith(Bell
Laboratories) are awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for the
invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD Sensor".
Charles K.Kao (Standard Telecommunication Laboratories) is
awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for groundbreaking
achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for
optical communication".

Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the

Nobel economics prize for their analyses of economic
governance, the rules by which people exercise authority in
companies and economic systems. Ms. Ostrom is the first
woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
since it was founded in 1968.
• GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has
bagged the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation’s (CAPA) newly
instituted award in the category, “Best Airport Environmental
Performance of the Year”.
• 2008 Nandi Awards were announced by AP Govt. Some of the
awardees were
Best Movie: Gamyam
Best home viewing film: Asta Chemma
Best film on National Integration: 1940lo oka gramam.
Best Directo: Radhakrishna
Best Actor: Raviteja
Best Actress: Swati
Best Music Director: Mickey J Meyer
• Rajiv Sadbhavana awards were conferred on Care Hospitals
Chairman Somaraju and Bihar Goovernor Devanand Kanwar.
• A R Rehman was conferred with World sound track Academy
award in Belgium for Jaiho song in Slumdog Millionaire.

• Two Indian NGOs — Mumbai-based “Prerana” and“Sense

International India”, Ahmedabad — are to get $100,000 each
under “Stars Impact” awards (UK) for their work among
disabled and poor children.
• Shahrukh Khan conferred honorary Black belt in Taekwondo by
the Korean government. The actor was also appointed the
Honorary Ambassador of Korea (Culture and Tourism) in India.
• Tamil Nadu’s Agricultural Scientist Subramanyam was conferred
with MS Swaminathan award.
• The Right Livelihood Awards
David Suzuki (Honorary Award, Canada) for his lifetime
 advocacy of the socially responsible use of science, and for his
massive contribution to raising awareness about the perils of
climate change and building public support for policies to address
it".

René Ngongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) is honoured "for

his courage in confronting the forces that are destroying the
Congo's rainforests and building political support for their
conservation and sustainable use".

Alyn Ware (New Zealand) is recognised "for his effective and

creative advocacy and initiatives over two decades to further
peace education and to rid the world of nuclear weapons".

Catherine Hamlin (Ethiopia) is awarded "for her fifty years

dedicated to treating obstetric fistula patients, thereby restoring
the health, hope and dignity of thousands of Africa's poorest
women".
• Bharat Shiromani awards for 2008-09 were conferred on the
Arunachal Pradesh Governor and former Army Chief, General J.J.
Singh, Law Commission Chairman Justice A. R. Lakshmanan,
actor and MP Jayaprada and former cricketer and MP Mohammad
Azharuddin. These awards were started in 1977 by Shiromani
Institute.
• Dr. Nageswar Reddy, Director of Asian Institute of
Gastroenterology has been conferred with Endoscopist award by
American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
• Tata Motors Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, has been named the
winner of The Economist’s eighth ‘Business Process
Innovation Award’. The British news weekly has selected Mr
Tata for the development of the world’s cheapest car, the Tata
Nano.
• Ninety-year-old playback legend Manna Dey is being honoured
with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest honour in
Indian cinema.
• Kathrin Bringman, the Professor from Germany was conferred
with Sastra Ramanujam Award for the year 2009 for his work in
Mathematics.
• Indian-American Human rights activist Mallika Dutt has won
the American Courage Award for her human rights work in
India and the United States. Ms. Dutt presently heads
“breakthrough: building human rights culture” an international
human rights organization which spreads the message of social
justice through popular media.
• IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] ChiefMuhammad
Al-Baradi'i was conferred the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.

• 2009 Nobel Prizes:

Barak Obama (U.S.President) Won Nobel Prize in Peacefor
his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy
and cooperation between peoples.
Herta Muller won Nobel Prize in Literature for the Landscape
of Dispossessed.
Elizabeth H.Blackburn (University of California San
Francisco,CA,USA) , Carol W.Greider (Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine Baltimore,MD,USA) & Jack
W.Szostak (Harvard Medical chool,Massachusetts General
Hospital,Boston,MA,USA) are awarded Nobel Prize
inPhysiology/Medicine "for the discovery of how chromosomes
are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase”.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (MRC Laboratory of Molecular
Biology Cambridge,United Kingdom) , Thomas A.Steitz (Yale
University New Haven,CT,USA) & Ada E.Yonath (Weizmann
Institute of Science Rehovot,Israel) are awarded Nobel Prizes
in Chemistry "for studies of the structure and function of the
ribosome".
Willard S. Boyle (Bell Laboratories) & George E. Smith(Bell
Laboratories) are awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for the
invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD Sensor".
Charles K.Kao (Standard Telecommunication Laboratories) is
awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for groundbreaking
achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for
optical communication".
Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the
Nobel economics prize for their analyses of economic
governance, the rules by which people exercise authority in
companies and economic systems. Ms. Ostrom is the first
woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
since it was founded in 1968.
• Hilary Mantel was selected for the Man Booker Prize for her
Wolf Hall.
• Noted journalist, writer and human rights activist Balraj Puri has
been nominated for the prestigious Indira Gandhi Award for
National Integration.
• The Centre announced a bravery award for 22-year-old
Rukhsana, who killed a top LeT militant in Jammu and Kashmir.
November

• N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of Hindu, has been chosen for the K.R. Narayanan Award 2009

for his outstanding contribution to journalism in India.

• Veerappa Moily received Moorti Devi award-21 for his Sri Ramayan

Mahanveshana.

• Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who now leads the Unique Identification

Database Authority of the nation, has become the first Indian to be honoured with

the Legend in Leadership Award of Yale University.

• Mr.Lavanam of Atheist Centre, Vijayawada has bagged theJamnalal Bajaj Award -

2009 for his contribution in the field of constructive work.

• Amitab Bachan was awarded Life time achievement award in Mumbai Film Festival.

• Renowned educationist Prof Yashpal and Prof Trinh Xuan Thuan from Vietnam have

been declared joint winners of UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for 2009 for popularisation of

science.

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research scientist Pramod Kumar Aggarwal, who has

done pioneering work on the intricate relationship between agriculture, climate and

the environment, and enhanced understanding of the probable impact of climate

change on agriculture, has won the 2009 Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize. He
shares the prize money with Carlos Clemente Cerri from Brazil, who has examined the

impact of land use changes on climate.

• Cancer-stricken actor Lisa Ray is among seven Indo-Canadians who are conferred

with Canada’s ‘Voice Achievers Award for 2009’ for their outstanding contributions

to the film industry, trade, medicine, literature and sports. She has been honoured for

her performance in Deepa Mehta’s film Water. The other winners were: Gopal

Bhatnagar (cardiac surgery); M.G. Vassanji (arts); Meenu Sikand (social work); Raja

Panjwani (sports) and Kuldip Rai Sahi and Asha Luthra for business.
 • Lata Mangeshkar has been conferred France’s highest civilian award, the Insignia

of ‘Officier de la Legion d’Honneur’ (Officer of the Legion of Honour). This award

was also received by Satya Jitrey and Amitabh Bachan.

• Brazil’s Larissa Ramos was crowned Miss Earth title held in Philippines. Miss Fire

was won by Miss Spain Alejandra Echevarri, Miss Water by Miss Venezuela Jessica

Barboza and Miss Air by Miss Philippines Sandra Seifert.

• German film The Crocodiles has won the Golden Elephant award in international

category. In Asia Panorama section, Chinese movie Two Men’s Class Room has won

the Golden Elephant award. Best Director was given to Harard Hamrel for the film A

witch in our family in international category and Pandiraj won the award in Asia

Panorama category for the film Kids.

• Chief Justice of Singapore, Chan Sek Keong and Judge, International Court of Justice,

Justice Awn S. Al-Khasawneh were conferred with 2009 International Jurists

Awards. 2009 National Law Day Awards were conferred on Haryana Chief Minister

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Competition Appellate Tribunal chairman Arijit Pasayat,

Solicitor General Subramaniam and Lawyer K Viswanath.

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is chosen for the prestigious Indira Gandhi

Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2009 for her contribution to the

promotion of democracy and pluralism.

• ISRO chairman Radhakrishnan received Nayudamma award at AP science

congress conducted in Tirupati by SV University and AP Academy of Sciences.

• APGENCO (Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited) received National

Power Award for the year 2009.

Persons
April

• Pramod Bhasin, Presiden and CEO of Genpact, took over as the

new Chairman of National Association of Software and Service
Companies (NASSCOM) for 2009-10, succeeding Ganesh
Natarajan.
 • The former Indian ambassador to the United Nations, Nirupam
Sen, is appointed Special Senior Adviser to the president of the
192-member General Assembly on the world financial and
economic crisis.
• Naina Lal Kidwal is appointed as the country head of HSBC group
companies in India.
• Balwinder Singh, a 1976 batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh
cadre, took over as Additional Director in the Central Bureau of
Investigation.
• Marris Zare music director of the movies A Passage to India and
Lawrence of Arabia died in Los Angeles.
• Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was
appointed as the new NATO chief.
• Israel's Likud party Chief Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as the
new prime minister of the Jewish state.
• Senior Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla took over as the
16th chief Election Commissioner of India in New Delhi.
• The Government removes Raghu Menon from the post of
Chairman and Managing Director of Air India and appoints EK
Bharat Bhushan as the interim chairman and managing director.
• President Barack Obama has appointed Indian American
management consultant Anju Bhargava, who is also an ordained
‘pujari’ (priest), as the member of a faith-based advisory council
of the White House.
• V.S. Sampath is new Election Commissioner
Union Power Secretary Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath, a 1973
batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, will be the new
Election Commissioner.
• Sonal Shah joins Obama administration
Indian-American Sonal Shah, who formerly led the philanthropic
arm of Google, has been appointed head of the new Office of
Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the Obama
administration.
• Senior advocate Ghulam E.Vahanvati was appointed as the new
Attorney General of India.He was the Solicitor General during the
previous UPA Government.

May

• The famous director , producer died in Mumabai. He directed

fasmous movies like Zanjeer, Lavarees etc.
 • President Obama Nominated Gen. Charles Bolden to be NASA
Administrator.
• Robert Furchgott who developed Viagra died at the age of 92. He
won the Noble Prize in Pharmacology. He proved that Nitric
Oxide gas is useful for various reactions taking place in the body
which lead to the invention of Viagra.
• Eminent Historian, A R Kulkarni was dead at the age of 84. He is
credited with the setting up the History Department at the
University of Pune in 1969.
• Prasara Bharati Chairman, Arun Bhatnagar has resigned to his
job.
• Justice Pasayat was appointed as the chairman of the
Competition Appellate Tribunal.

June

• Nandan Nilekani of Infosys has been appointed as the Chairperson of

Unique Identification Scheme (UID), a project by the union central
Government. This newly created position will be equivalent to a Cabinet Rank
minister.

• Obama administration has appointed Farah Pandith as Special

Representative to Muslim Communities under the aegis of the State
Department and Secretary Hillary Clinton.

• Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court has
been appointed as Chairperson of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

• Lord Swaraj Paul was appointed by the British Queen as a member of her
Privy Council, the British monarch|s advisory group whose members include
the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers and other eminent personalities.

• Ramesh Pokhariyal is the new Uttarakhand CM

• Senior associate editor and bureau chief of The Hindu Harish Khare will be
the media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

• Nirupama Rao to be next Foreign Secretary :

she was High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Her other diplomatic jobs included
being Ambassador to Peru, deputy head of the Indian embassy in Moscow,
and Minister (Press) at the Indian embassy in Washington, DC.

• Karia Munda was elected as deputy speaker.

• Habib Tanvir, one of the greatest stalwarts of Indian theatre, died due to a
brief illness.

July
 • Nirupama Rao is the new foreign secretary.

• AP state’s 1st woman High Court Judge, Justice Amareswari was dead.

• Legendary Hindustani vocalist Gangubai Hangal died in Hubli. She was 97.

• Padmanathan takes over as new LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) chief.

• Indira Jaisingh was appointed as the first woman Additional Solicitor General.

• Sri Vatsava is the new Director General of BSF.

Aug

• The Medal of Freedom Awardee Edward Kennedy, brother of John F Kennedy

died at the age of 75.
• Hind Samachar Group Editor in chief, Vijaykumar Chopra was appointed as
the Board Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI).
• Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma was elected as the
Chancellor of UK’s Queen’s University Belfast.
• VijayKumar Saraswat is the new chief of Defense Research and Development
Organization (DRDO).
• Sonia Gandhi was ranked the 13th most influential women in the world by
Forbes magazine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was ranked 1st. Sheela
Beyer, America Federal Deposit Insurance Chairperson was ranked 2nd. Pepsi
Co CEO, Indra Nooyi -3rd , ICICI bank CEO Chanda Kochar – 20th and Biocon
chairman, Kiran Mozumdar Shah – 91st.
• Jaswant Singh has released his controversial book ‘Jinnah: India-Partition-
Independence’.
• The 13 Militant groups association, Therik-e-taliban announced Hakimullah
Mehsud as the new Pak Taliban Chief.
• A postal stamp, in commemoration of Pingali Venkaiah, designer of the Indian
Tricolor, was released by the CM of AP.
• Guitar legend Les Paul has died at 94. He invented the solid-body electric
guitar.
• Rangarajan Was reappointed Economic advisor to PM

Sep

• Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, the father of the "Green

Revolution"who is widely credited with saving millions of lives by breeding
wheat, rice and other crops that brought agricultural self-sufficiency to
developing countries around the world, died in Texas. He was also conferred
with Padmavibushan by India.
• Former BCCI chairman Raj Singh Dungarpur died in Mumbai.
• Jack Kramer, a tennis champion in the 1940’s and 50’s died in Las Angeles.
 • Retired IAS officer JM Girglani passed away. He was the chairman of the
One-Man Commission on Six Point Formula. Girglani was instrumental in
implementation of the popular GO 610 pertaining to repatriation of non-locals
to their native zones.
• Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General P. K. Bhardwaj will be the
new Vice-Chief of Army Staff.
• General Deepak Kapoor, took over as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff
Committee from outgoing Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.
• Vice Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma took over as the new Navy Chief.

Oct

• Indian – American Mr. Suresh Kumar, president and managing

partner of KaiZen Innovation, known for his expertise of public-
private partnership, has been nominated Assistant Secretary of
Commerce and Director-General of the United States and
Foreign Commercial Service in the U.S. Department of
Commerce.

• Global rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Asia-Pacific

Chief Economist Subir Gokarn will be the new Deputy Governor
of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

• The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday

electedChhagan Bhujbal as the leader of its legislature party,
thereby making him the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

• Dr. K. Radhakrishnan was appointed as the new Chairman of

ISRO. He is the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.

• Admiral Suresh Mehta was appointed the new High

Commissioner to New Zealand. He is the 1st to be appointed to
such post after retirement.

• Joseph Wiseman, the actor who played the sinister scientist

and title character of Dr. No in the first James Bond feature film,
has died.

• G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research

Organisation, has been appointed President of theInternational
Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

• Sujatha Koirala was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister of

Nepal.
 • The US-based food and beverages giant PepsiCo has named
Indian-born senior executive Jaya Kumar as president of its two
billion dollar Quaker Foods and Snacks division

• A veteran freedom fighter and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi,

Chote Singh Rathore, died. Rathore had played an active role in
the Satyagrah and Quit India Movement.

• C.B. Muthamma, India’s first woman career diplomat and first

woman Ambassador, died in Bangalore.

• Noted civil rights activist and Lawyer K Balagopal died of cardiac

arrest. He worked as a Professor in Kakatiya University. He
wrote books like Naxalbari Udyamam, Gamyam Gamanam,
Chikati Konam.

• Sam Pitroda was appointed as the PM’s advisor. Pitroda, who is

also the chairman of National Knowledge Commission, will advise
Singh on integrating information communication technology in
the sectors of infrastructure, health, justice and information.

November

• U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Rajiv Shah to head the

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

• Oxford fellowship has been given a philosophy student of Indian origin, Amia

Srinivasan. With this fellowship she joined the band of scholars that includes the

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

• Asok Chavan sworn as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

• P.S. Veeraraghavan, a rocket technologist, took over as Director of Vikram Sarabahi

Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, from K. Radhakrishnan. Mr.

Veeraraghavan was till now Director of ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU),

Thiruvananthapuram.

• Srikumar Banerjee, a leading expert in Materials and Technology in the country and

director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been appointed as chairman of

Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)

• Vinita Kamte wrote a book titled “TO THE LAST BULLET” in search of truth behind her

husband, 26/11 martyr Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte’s death. It was

co-authored by senior journalist Vinita Deshmukh.?

• Veteran journalist Naresh Chandra Rajkhowa, who broke the news about the Dalai

Lama’s flight from Tibet through Tawang in March 1959, passed away.

• International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato has

appointed Siddharth Tiwari as Director of the IMF's Office of Budget and Planning

(OBP).

• Carnatic vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and playback singerMangalampalli

Balamuralikrishna has been appointed as the ''Asthana Vidwan'' of the Tirumala

Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for the third time. Dr Balamuralikrishna, who performed

in more than 25,000 concerts worldwide and made over 400 compositions in various

languages including Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, has now become the official singer in

the Lord's court.

• Belgium PM Herman Van Rompuy was elected as the first President of

EU. Ashton was appointed the EU's first High Representative of the Union for Foreign

Affairs and security policy.

• Ameed Karzai sworn in as the president of Afghanistan.