FEBRUARY 15TH
FEBRUARY 29TH 2012
February 15th
*** The National Investigation Agency
(NIA) announced that Kamal Chauhan, a disgruntled RSS
worker arrested by the National Investigation Agency , planted bombs onboard
the Samjhauta Express in 2007 after undergoing training in arms and explosives
in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
*** Air India will no longer enjoy the
exclusive privilege over all bilateral air traffic rights with foreign countries as the government has decided to allow all
Indian carriers to use these rights.
*** The Income Tax Department has
submitted to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) a
“full probe report” on the investments and assets of the former Chief Justice
of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, and his family members.
*** The former President, A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam, and the former Lokayukta of Karnataka, Justice
N. Santosh Hegde, have been selected for the S.R. Jindal Prize for their
outstanding contributions in their fields. While Mr. Kalam gets the award for
his contributions in science and technology, Justice N. Santosh Hegde will be
bestowed the prize for his exemplary service in social development. The prize
carries a cash of Rs. 1 crore. The prize has been instituted by the Sitaram
Jindal Foundation.
*** The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed
the Department of Information Technology to submit the
papers on sanction for prosecution of Google India and social networking site
Facebook for allegedly hosting objectionable contents. complaint has been filed
under Sections 292 (sale of obscene books, etc), 293 (sale of obscene objects
to young person, etc) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The contention is that the material submitted by the complainant, journalist
Vinay Rai, had derogatory articles pertaining to Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ
and various Hindu gods and goddesses.
*** The convict in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab pleaded with the Supreme
Court to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment on the basis that he
was young and drawn into this vortex by exploitation of religious faith and
false ideology.
*** The Singapore Air
Show opened on a great note for India with state-of-the-art Indian defence
technologies including unmanned aerial vehicle Rustom and pilotless target aircraft
Lakhsya on show.
*** Sitar maestro Shamim Ahmed Khan, one
of the finest exponents of Hindustani instrumental
music, passed away in a private hospital following a massive heart attack. Khan
was one of the leading exponents of the famous Senia-Maihar gharana. He teamed
up with Ustad Alla Rakha, Buddy Rich and Paul Horn for the World Pacific
recording company. He also recorded for
a short film, “Drop in the Ocean”, and stage show, “A touch of brightness”.
*** Renowned scholar and critic M.K. Sanoo
was presented with the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Akademi award
for 2011 for his literary biography of celebrated writer Vaikom Mohammed
Basheer titled Basheer: Ekaanthaveedhiyile Avadhoothan .
*** India-born Nobel laureate Amartya Sen
was felicitated with the prestigious National Medals of
Arts and Humanities award by U.S. President Barack Obama for his efforts to increase the
understanding of fighting hunger and poverty.
February 16th
*** India and Pakistan have agreed to completely revise the 1974
Bilateral Visa Agreement and put in place a liberal
visa regime shortly for all categories of people, especially businessmen, as
part of the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) aimed to promote peace in the
region.
*** The Election Commission has decided
not to take any further action in the issue involving
Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid, after his “… clear change of
position as conveyed directly to the Commission.” The CEC S.Y. Quraishi and
Election Commissioners V.S. Sampath and H.S. Brahma took this decision.
*** The Kerala Christian Medical College
Managements' Federation has planned to approach the
Division Bench of the Kerala High Court against the single judge's order upholding the government decision to
cancel the admission of students by the managements to the 50 per cent
government quota in medical postgraduate courses in 2011-12. The High Courts of
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had ordered in similar cases earlier that
usurpation of seats by the government was an infringement of the rights
guaranteed under the Constitution.
*** India has summoned Norwegian
Ambassador Ann Ollestad and urged an expeditious solution
to the custody row involving two NRI children who are in foster care in the
Scandinavian country.
*** India and Saudi Arabia have decided to
set up a joint panel on defence ties which will also
explore ways of cooperation in fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean region. The
decision was taken at a meeting between Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony and
his Saudi counterpart Prince Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.
*** A committee on social security, set up
at the Indian Labour Conference (ILC) that concluded
its session here has suggested that maternity leave to women employees, now
provided under the Maternity Benefit Act, be raised to 24 weeks from the
present 12 weeks. The second suggestion was that retired employees be paid not
less than Rs. 10,000 per month.
*** R.N.K. Prasad (80), veteran
cinematographer of Kannada films passed away. He won
the President‟s Gold Medal for his only directorial venture Naguva Hoo. He
worked as cinematographer for more than 80 films, including Naandi , Belli Moda
,Vijayanagarada Veeraputra .
*** Maldivian President Waheed Hasan Manik
named a resort owner of no claimed political
affiliation, Mohamed Waheeduddin, as his Vice-President.
*** Syria's President has decreed to hold
a referendum later this month for a new Constitution
that would effectively end nearly 50 years of single party rule. Mr. Assad said
the Constitution would usher in a “new era” for Syria. Under the new charter,
freedom is “a sacred right” and “the people will govern the people” in a
multi-party democratic system based on Islamic law. However it fell short of
what was required to appease the opposition in Syria, said Paul Salem, head of
the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre.
February 17th
*** An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) of
the Navy crashed into the hillside at Gajuwaka near
Vizag. The Eastern Naval Command
confirmed that there were no causalities or damage to property.
*** Unfazed by the AP High Court striking
down the petition it filed against the disproportionate
assets of TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, the YSR Congress Party has
announced its resolve to approach the Supreme Court as “we are convinced with
the merits of the case.”
*** The Gujarat High Court on Thursday
rejected a Public Interest Litigation petition challenging
the appointment of the M.B. Shah judicial inquiry commission by the Narendra
Modi government to probe into graft charges against the State government since 1980.
*** Geevarghese Mar Osthathios,
senior-most Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian
Church, passed away at St. Gregorios Mission Hospital at Parumala.
*** The Kerala Students Union (KSU) on
Wednesday elected V.S. Joy as it's State president. A.
M. Rohit, who won the second largest share of votes polled, is the new vice-president
of the union.
*** WikiLeaks has lodged a strong protest
with the UNESCO for “banning'' it from an international
conference it is hosting at its headquarters in Paris on the impact of the
whistleblower website's activities.
*** Amnesty International has criticized the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for rejecting the
Indian Olympic Associations' call to terminate Dow Chemicals' sponsorship deal
for the upcoming London Olympics because of its links with the Bhopal gas
tragedy.
*** Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, on a high-profile tour of the United States has had a slew
of unprecedented honours heaped upon him by Washington. Yet he has stood firm
in articulating some of China's positions on its core national interests —most
significantly its insistence that the U.S. respect its “one-state policy”
regarding the territories of Taiwan and Tibet.
February 18th
*** The Centre's ambitious plan to create
a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) appears to
have run into rough weather with several non-Congress Chief Ministers attacking
the move on the ground that it “infringes upon the powers and rights of State
governments.” Nine Chief Ministers and a former Chief Minister have opposed the
NCTC. It is the criticism of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that
has hurt the UPA government most.
*** Lower courts cannot refuse to frame
charges under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal
Code just because the complainant (prosecutrix) had admitted that she consented
for sexual intercourse with the accused because he promised to marry her, the
Madras High Court Bench here has held.
*** The Union government on Friday filed a
review petition in the Supreme Court on its verdict in
a Rs.11,218 crore tax dispute favouring telecom service provider Vodafone.
*** Separate cases have been registered
against Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid's wife and
Congress candidate Louis Khurshid, BJP candidate Sunil Dutt Dwivedi and two
others for allegedly violating the model code of conduct.
*** A Pakistani judicial commission will
visit India on March 12 as part of the probe into the
November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.
*** Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said that economic integration was the key to the
progress of the backward South Asian countries, and pointed out that in spite
of abundant natural resources, the Himalayan nation remained among the most backward regions in the world today.
Delivering the inaugural address at the second edition of the Global Bihar
Summit — a meeting designed to showcase a resurgent Bihar — Dr. Bhattarai said democratic process
was the best solution.
*** Union Environment Minister Jayanthi
Natarajan has overruled a key wildlife committee to
approve the construction of a major hydel power project on the Lohit river in
Arunachal Pradesh. The State government had reportedly argued that the 1,750 MW
Demwe Lower Hydro Electric project was needed to counter Chinese plans to build mega hydel projects across the border
in Tibet. The Lohit river originates in China.
*** Prasar Bharati is finally set to get a
permanent Chief Executive Officer, with a search panel
recommending that Jawhar Sircar — Secretary to the Culture Ministry, but set to retire next month — be given the job. The
top spot has been empty for over a year, ever since B.S. Lalli was suspended due to a CBI probe
into the alleged financial irregularities. Since then, Information and Broadcasting
Ministry Additional Secretary Rajiv Takru has been acting as CEO.
*** The Supreme Court while admitting an
appeal filed by Abu Salem against the trial court order
that refused to close cases against him following the order of two Portugal
courts directing his re-extradition, stayed the Mumbai TADA court's proceedings
in two cases against him.
*** Anthony Shadid, two-time Pulitzer
Prize-winning foreign correspondent who had long been
passionately interested in West Asia, first because of his LebaneseAmerican
heritage and later because of what he saw there firsthand, died at 43.
*** Germany's President Chritian Wulff
resigned in a scandal over favours he allegedly received
before becoming head of state, creating a major domestic distraction for
Chancellor Angela Merkel as she grapples with Europe's debt crisis.
*** Amid reports that Afghan President
Hamid Karzai minced no words in his deliberations with
the Pakistani leadership vis-Ã -vis facilitating immediate contact with senior
leaders of the Taliban including Mullah Omar, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Friday dismissed the
demand as preposterous and unrealistic.
February 19th
*** Cardinal George Alencherry received his biretta, the ceremonial cap, from Pope Benedict XVI as he
was installed Cardinal during the Consistory at St. Peter's Basilica at the
Vatican.
*** A Delhi court on Saturday issued a
non-bailable warrant against Congress MP Mohd. Azharrudin
for his repeated failure to appear before it in a cheque bounce case.
*** The Election Commission (EC) has
served notice on Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma
asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him for his
statement on the Congress' intent to provide reservation to the minorities and
daring the EC to act against him.
*** Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Polit Bureau member Biman Bose was unanimously
re-elected West Bengal secretary of the party at its 23rd State
Conference.
*** The Delhi High
Court has upheld the „Advocate on Record' (AoR) system prevailing in the Supreme Court by which only those
advocates who are qualified in the AoR examination
are eligible to file petitions in the Supreme Court.
*** China on Saturday reaffirmed that it
continues to reject the western-backed Arab plan that calls for the exit of
President Bashar Al Assad as the first step towards achieving a political
transition in the strife-torn nation.
*** In possibly its most optimistic
economic forecast to date the White House has projected
a real Gross Domestic Product growth of 3.1 per cent in 2012 and 2013, after it
grew at 1.6 per cent during the four quarters of 2011. These numbers were a
part of the Annual Report, titled “To Recover, Rebalance, and Rebuild,”
compiled by the Council of Economic Advisers and submitted by the CEA to
President Barack Obama, who is then due
to transmit the study to the U.S. Congress.
*** To encourage greater participation by
foreign institutional investors (FIIs), regulator Securities
and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has reduced the minimum bid amount to Rs.1
crore for allocation of investments in long-term infrastructure corporate debt
for such investors.
*** Asian champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu
topped the table with an average of 115.75 that
included three merit points for winning the Olympic quota place, and confirmed
his berth for his third successive Olympics, as the shotgun trials concluded at
the Moti Bagh Gun Club in Patiala.
February 20th
*** After hectic negotiations, the Kerala police on Sunday arrested two Marines suspected to have fired the shots from an Italian oil tanker that
killed two Indian fishermen off Kerala on February 15. The marines are Latorre
Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone.
*** The Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI), which is no longer considered a “charitable
organisation” for assessing income, owes over Rs.371 crore as tax to the
government.And this figure could be even higher as the Income Tax Department is
yet to assess the income of one of world's richest sporting bodies for the last
two fiscal.
*** Italian documentary
“Caesar Must Die,” (Cesare deve morire) showing inmates of a high-security
prison staging Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar,” was awarded the Berlin film
festival's top award, the Golden Bear award. The festival's runner-up Silver
Bear went to Hungarian director Bence Fliegauf for “Just the Wind,” which
focuses on the lives of a family of Roma as their community faces a series of
deadly attacks.
*** Veteran Communist leader, D. Pandian,
was elected unanimously the Tamil Nadu State secretary
of Communist Party of India for the third successive
*** Latvia's voters overwhelmingly
rejected a proposal to make Russian the second official
language widening the rift with the Russian-speaking minority in the former
Soviet Baltic state..
*** Lanco Infratech plans to install
nearly 4,000 MW additional thermal power generation
capacity, entailing investments of about Rs. 22,000 crore by March 2015. The
diversified group currently has an installed power generation capacity of 4,400
MW. The company is planning to raise up to $ 750 million in the next six months
for its power business.
*** South African Jbe Kruger won his
maiden European Tour title.
February 21st
*** Kingfisher Airlines owner liquor baron Vijay Mallya, blames the Income Tax authorities
for the widespread cancellation of its flights, even as the Centre rejects a
bailout plan for the financially-troubled airlines.
*** The Central Vigilance Commission has
asked the heads of all agencies —Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax)
Department and Central Bureau of Investigation — probing the 2G scam to appear
before it for explaining the status of their investigation and offering a blue
print for further investigation. The meeting comes in the wake of the Supreme
Court directing the CBI to file status reports on its probe to the CVC.
*** Italian Marines Latorre Massimiliano
and Salvatore Girone, deployed on the oil tanker Enrica
Lexie, were remanded in judicial custody till March 5, on the charge that they
had fired and killed two Indian fishermen off Kollam.
*** Renowned Rabindra Sangeet exponent
Maya Sen died at her residence.
*** Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma
pleaded with the Election Commission (EC) that he is
not guilty of the violation of the model code of conduct. The EC had served a
notice on the Minister to explain why action should not be taken against him
for his statement on the intent of the Congress to provide job reservation to
minorities and daring the Commission to act against him.
*** Hindustan Copper Limited and the Rajasthan Government propose to start
joint ventures to explore and exploit copper and other
mineral deposits in the State. initiative is part of Hindustan Copper Limited's
plan to consolidate its mining
business,
especially in Rajasthan. It is the only copper mining company in India.
*** Several parts of Britain were
officially declared to be facing drought with
groundwater levels in some areas falling to alarmingly low levels after two
consecutive dry winters. The situation said to be particularly serious in
south-east England, East Anglia and the East Midlands with some rivers having
already dried up.
*** For the second time in a week, the
U.S. Charge d'Affaires was called to the Foreign Office in Islamabad
to register Pakistan's strong protest over American Congressmen's
interventions on Balochistan.
*** Mahindra Satyam has announced that it
has entered into global services agreement with
FuelQuest, an on-demand software and services company, for the downstream energy industry. As part of the agreement,
Mahindra Satyam will provide implementation and support services to FuelQuest
as the latter scales its operations across the U.S., BRIC and other target
countries.
*** Toshiba JSW Turbine and Generator has
bagged an order from NTPC for the supply of three 800
MW (3 x 800 MW) super-critical steam turbine and generator island packages for
the Kudgi Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-I, in Kudgi, Karnataka. The
contract value is around Rs. 2,300 crore.
*** Starting 21st Feb, the government will
releases the nation-wide Consumer Price Index (CPI) on
a monthly basis for better reflection of retail price movement and to help the
Reserve Bank of India take effective monetary policy steps to deal with inflation.
*** RWITC's Board of Appeal Member Dady N.
Adenwala passed away.
February 22nd
*** The Supreme Court expressed its
displeasure at the Gujarat government filing a “spurious”
criminal case against social activist Teesta Setalvad for her alleged role in
exhuming the bodies of post-Godhra riot victims in 2006 at Pandarwada, and
extended the stay of the proceedings against her pending before a lower court.
*** The Kiran Kumar Reddy government in
Andhra Pradesh was faced with acute embarrassment when
Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan rejected the names of four out of the eight
persons proposed for appointment as Information Commissioners (IC) under the
Right to Information Act. Invoking the provisions of the RTI Act, the Governor
found the four nominees ineligible for holding the post of Information
Commissioners as they have political affiliations and sent the file back to the
government.
*** Kollam Judicial First Class Magistrate
P.V. Anishkumar issued a warrant for searching the
Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie and seizing the weapons allegedly used by the
marines on security duty on the ship to open fire on the fishing vessel St.
Antony on February 15 killing two fishermen.
*** The New Delhi-Rome standoff over the
killing of two Indian fishermen off the Kerala not
over, although the two sides are trying to isolate the incident from their
“multifaceted'' bilateral ties. Besides engaging diplomatically, Italy is
working the Catholic channels via the Vatican to allow the two marines to leave
for Rome after paying some compensation to the families of the killed
fishermen.
*** Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar arrived
in Islamabad, leading a six-member parliamentary
delegation on a five-day visit to Pakistan. This is being billed as the
first-ever Indian parliamentary delegation headed by the Speaker to visit the
country.The other members are Shahnawaz Hussain, Tarun Vijay (both Bharatiya
Janata Party), Madan Lal Sharma (Congress), Sheikh Saidul Haque (Communist
Party of India-Marxist), Inder Singh Namdhari (Independent) and Birendra Prasad
Baishya (Asom Gana Parishad).
*** The Supreme Court issued notice to
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on an appeal
filed by the CBI against a Madras High Court judgment, which set aside the
“three lakh U.S. dollars gift case” against
her on the ground of inordinate and unexplained delay at the investigation
and trial stages.
*** The British government was accused of
being part of a “conspiracy of silence” over Dow
Chemical's controversial sponsorship of the London Olympics as British
MPs,cutting across party lines, called for the multi-million pound deal to be
scrapped because of the company's links with the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
*** Raosaheb Shekhawat, Congress MLA from
Amravati district and President Pratibha Patil's son,
was questioned by the police in connection with the seizure of Rs. 1 crore four
days before the February 16 Amravati municipal corporation elections.
*** Pakistan has decided to ask Interpol
to arrest the former President, Pervez Musharraf, in
connection with the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto,
for failing to provide adequate security to her. Mr. Musharraf is currently
based in the U.K.
*** SIBUR, Russia and Eastern Europe's
largest petrochemical company, and Reliance Industries
Ltd. (RIL) have agreed to form a joint venture
— Reliance Sibur Elastomers Private Limited — to produce one lakh tonnes
of butyl rubber a year in Jamnagar. The joint venture will be the first
manufacturer of butyl rubber in India and the fourth largest supplier of butyl
rubber in the world.
*** Trying to save its operations post the
Supreme Court order cancelling its licences issued in
2008, the Telenor Group said it had started the process of setting up a new
Indian company to take its operations in the country forward.
February 23rd
*** In a setback to the Mayawati
Government amid the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections,
Lokayukta N. K. Mehrotra recommended a CBI inquiry against PWD and Irrigation
Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui and his wife Husna Siddiqui on charges of owning
assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
*** In a bid to motivate Maoists to join
the mainstream, the government is likely to come up
with a new uniform surrender policy for all Left Wing Extremism-affected
States, offering Rs. 5 lakh to anyone laying down a Light Machine Gun (LMG) and
Rs. 3 lakh to those depositing an AK-47 assault rifle. The issue was discussed
at a meeting of Chief Secretaries and Directors- General of Police of the
Naxal-affected States, presided over by
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
*** Italy has moved the Kerala High Court, seeking to quash the first information report (FIR) registered
against two of its naval personnel for the killing of two fishermen off the
Kerala coast.
*** Iran and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) have failed to
achieve a breakthrough, after two days of talks, on a
roadmap to ease nuclear tensions surrounding Iran's atomic programme.
*** Post the Supreme Court order
cancelling all 122 licences issued in 2008, UAE-based Etisalat
said it would shut down its operations
in India. Etisalat has 16.7-lakh subscriber across 15 circles.
February 24th
*** Social activist Anna Hazare and his
team demanded that the „right to reject' option be included
in Electronic Voting Machines and that two Election Commissioners be given
constitutional status like the Chief Election Commissioner.
*** Leading nations, including India,
agreed that the international community must respond
urgently to the crisis in Somalia, described by Prime Minister David Cameron as
the “world's worst failed state”, blighted by two decades of civil war and
famine and caught up in a vortex of terrorism, piracy and famine.
*** Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime
Minister Tony Blair, became the latest in a long list
of high-profile figures to sue Rupert Murdoch's media group, News International,
claiming that her phone was hacked by the News of the World.
*** Researchers have found a flaw in the
technical setup of an experiment that startled the
science world last year by appearing to show particles travelling faster than
light. The problem may have affected measurements that clocked subatomic
neutrino particles breaking what Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein
considered the ultimate speed barrier.
*** Citigroup Inc plans to raise up to $2.1 billion by selling its
entire stake in Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC)
as part of its efforts to shore up its capital base. The transaction is the
largest share sale this year.
*** The Adani Group announced plans to invest $ 6 billion by 2015 to develop its three core
clusters of resources, logistics and energy. The investment will be funded by a
mix of internal accruals, equity and debt. It will largely go to its new
Australian coal mining operation.
*** JSW Ispat
Steel and GVK Industries are crying foul over the continued reduction in
supplies of APM (administered price mechanism) gas and KG D6 gas by ONGC, GAIL
(India) and Reliance Industries, impacting their production.
*** A day after announcing its exit from the Indian market, UAE-based Etisalat said it has moved the court against the
promoters of Swan Telecom (Etisalat DB) alleging fraud and misrepresentation.
*** There was a goof-up by the Centre in
the Supreme Court with the Additional Solicitor-General
opposing homosexuality between two consenting adults and the Union Home Ministry
issuing a press release within minutes distancing itself from the ASG's stand
and saying the Union government had not taken any position on homosexuality.
***
The IIT-JEE Admission Committee has decided to implement 4.5 per cent reservation for them within the 27 per cent seats meant for the
Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from this year.
*** The action of the
Delhi Police in evicting yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his followers on the night
of June 4/5, 2011 — they were sleeping
at the Ramlila ground —demonstrated the
might of the State and was an assault on the very basic democratic values
enshrined in our Constitution, the Supreme Court held. The Supreme Court,
though strongly deprecating the midnight eviction of yoga guru Baba Ramdev and
his followers, rejected the charge that there was mala fide action on the part
of the Delhi police and the Union Home Ministry in passing the ban order on the
night of June 4, 2011.
*** An upgraded version of world's
cheapest computing device Aakash will be available at
the same price to students.
*** The High Court has stayed the order of
the Income Tax Department seeking attachment of
properties of Mahindra Satyam in the Rs. 617 crore tax demand issue. The stay
was granted after Mahindra Satyam filed
a petition challenging the provisional order.
*** Close on the heels of the incident
involving Jeeja Ghosh, a differently-abled woman who
was off-loaded from a SpiceJet flight, Anjlee Agarwal suffering from muscular
dystrophy has complained of harassment at the hands of Jet Airways personnel.
*** Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has criticised non-governmental organisations that receive
support from abroad for stalling the use of genetic engineering in agriculture
and leading protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.
*** Janata Party
President Subramanian Swamy moved the Supreme Court for a direction to order a
Central Bureau of Investigation probe against Union Home Minister P.
Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum allocation case. Dr. Swamy has alleged that Mr.
Chidambaram had a role in the decision-making process — during his tenure as Finance Minister along
with the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja
— in fixing spectrum prices. The appeal by Dr. Swamy is directed against
the special court's February 4 order
rejecting his plea to direct the CBI to institute a probe against Mr.
Chidambaram and to summon him as an accused in the case.
*** Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram
announced that the Centre has allotted Rs. 1200 crore
for the modernisation and development of the National Security Guard during the
12th Five Year plan. He inaugurated the fourth and final regional hub of the
NSG at Marol.
February 25th
*** Close on the heels of the publication
of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion in an
interview in the latest issue of Science that some United States-based NGOs are
behind the agitation against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, the Centre
announced the revocation of the licences of three NGOs. The licences of the
three NGOs were cancelled after an inquiry by the Home Ministry found that they
were diverting foreign funds for anti-nuclear plant campaign in Kudankulam.
*** Eminent aerospace scientist Roddam
Narasimha has resigned as a member of the Space
Commission in protest against the blacklisting of scientists involved in the
controversial spectrum deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia Private Limited.
*** Opposition PDP members in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly protested against the Speaker's refusal to
allow an adjournment motion to discuss scams in the State. Party chief Mehbooba
Mufti later alleged that Central funds had been siphoned off in the State.
*** Alleging that Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, as Finance Minister, had an equal role as the
former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, in fixing the 2G spectrum licence prices, the
Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) moved the Supreme Court demanding
a CBI probe into the former's role in the scam.
*** Pakistan appealed to the Taliban
leadership and other Afghan groups including the Hizb-e-Islami
of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to enter into direct negotiations with the Hamid
Karzai-led government of Afghanistan within the framework of an “intraAfghan
process for reconciliation and peace” in the war-ravaged country.
*** Amid suspicions that the meeting,
backed by the West, will seek fresh avenues to remove
Bashar al-Assad from the Syrian presidency, Russia and China — two key members of the United Nations
Security Council — boycotted the international
conference on
Syria hosted by the Tunisian capital, Tunis. The meeting of the Friends of
Syria was taking place outside the fold of the United Nations, where Russia and
China have blocked moves to unseat Mr. Assad.
February 26th
*** A portion of the iconic Russell
Market, which was part of the growth of Bangalore's Cantonment
area, was ravaged in a major fire that broke out in the vegetable section in
the early hours of 25th March.
Fortunately, there was no loss of life.
*** The search and seizure of weapons and
material onboard Enrica Lexie, the Italian oil-tanker
involved in the shooting to death of two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast
on February 15, started amid apprehensions by other agencies over the efficacy
of the effort.
*** Without directly referring to Defence
Minister A.K. Antony's recent visit to Arunachal
Pradesh, China said on Saturday that India should refrain from taking any
action that could “complicate” the border issue.
*** The World Health Organisation (WHO)
has removed India from the list of polioendemic countries, suggesting that the
wild polio virus had been totally eliminated from the
environment. The disease paralysed thousands of children every year for several
decades. However, India will have to remain polio free for two more years
before it is declared polio-free by the WHO.
*** Noted slide
guitar player Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has been selected for the Puttaraj Gawai award
for 2012. It is given in memory of the late Hindustani vocalist Pandit Puttaraj
Gawai. It carries a purse of Rs. 1 lakh and a memento.
*** Nearly 8,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's war-torn north during a final offensive to crush
Tamil rebels, the census department said. Another 6,350 people went missing
after government forces finally crushed the separatist Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, the department said. The figures are in stark
contrast to estimates by international rights groups, which say up to 40,000
civilians perished in the final months of the civil war and have heavily
criticised Sri Lanka's treatment of civilians.
*** In a move
aimed at simplifying and consolidating its business structure, the Vedanta
Group on Saturday announced that its Indian subsidiaries Sterlite Industries
and Sesa Goa would be merged into a single entity named Sesa Sterlite.
February 27th
*** Mansoor Ijaz, the
Pakistani-American businessman with links to the Inter-Services Intelligence
Directorate and connected with the “memogate controversy”, raised over $1.5
million from a San Marino bank by claiming to have the backing of a
politically-influential Indian business family, court documents show.
*** With the Supreme Court's recent
finding on the “offloading” of Swan Telecom and Unitech
shares, spotlight has turned back on the UPA government for its failure to
check what was clearly the veiled purchase of spectrum by Etisalat and
Telenor. Lawyers may continue to argue
over whether the Swan and Unitech transactions were “acquisitions” or not. But
with the Supreme Court describing the transactions as the “offloading of
shares” which enabled the companies to make “huge profits”
*** A Central government team visited the
Farakka Barrage in Murshidabad district after West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee complained to the Prime Minister about
the collapse of two sluice gates, leading to excess water flow to Bangladesh.
*** The Delhi High Court has held that the
Indian Railways is an “enterprise” and that the
Competition Commission of India (CCI) is empowered to hear complaints against
it for the alleged abuse of its dominant position in the goods-transport
sector. Holding that there is a “commercial angle” to the services rendered by
the Railways, Justice Vipin Sanghi dismissed the Railway Ministry's plea
challenging CCI's jurisdiction to decide cases related to it.
*** A day after China reacted sharply to
Defence Minister A.K. Antony's visit to Arunachal
Pradesh, India said it took this matter “seriously,” asserting Beijing had “no
right” to interfere in its domestic affairs.
*** Syrians were called to the polls to
vote on a new Constitution in the face of opposition
calls for a boycott and deadly violence that Washington said made the exercise
“laughable.” The new text ends the legal basis for the five-decade stranglehold
on power of the ruling Baath party but leaves huge powers in the hands of
President Bashar al-Assad.
*** A war of rallies continued in Russia a
week before presidential elections that is almost
certain to see Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reclaim presidency for a third time.
Thousands of Putin opponents formed a human chain on a ring road in the centre
of Moscow on Sunday to protest Mr. Putin's return as President.
*** The energy war between Iran and the European Union (EU) escalated with Tehran refusing to load
an oil tanker from Greece, a weak link among the troubled eurozone countries.
Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency (FNA) is reporting that a Greek tanker
returned home empty, after Iranian authorities refused to load it with crude.
*** India beat France 8-1 in the Olympic
qualifier final. Micael Nobbs is the coach of Indian
Hockey Team. The title victory at the National Stadium, New Delhi not only ensured
the return of the Indian team to the Olympics after the 2004 Athens Games, but
also healed the wounds of the four-year-old „Chile horror' when the country had
failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years.
Februray 28th
*** The Union Sports Ministry has written
to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), urging it
to cancel the sponsorship of Dow Chemical for the London Olympics.
*** The Supreme Court directed the Centre to constitute a „special committee' forthwith for
inter-linking of rivers for the benefit of the entire nation. A Bench of Chief
Justice S.J. Kapadia and Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar, in its
judgment in a 2002 case relating to networking of rivers, said the committee
should submit a biannual report to the Union Cabinet, which must consider the
report and take decisions.
*** Even as Dow Chemical has resisted all
compensation claims with regard to the Union Carbide
gas leak disaster in Bhopal, it found the money to hire an intelligence
research firm to intensively monitor all NGOs and activists working on the
issue. WikiLeaks released a cache of 5.5 million emails from the Texas-based
intelligence company Stratfor, which revealed that regular monitoring reports
of NGO activity as well as media coverage were sent to Dow and Union Carbide
communications
directors
*** Rajasthan's fugitive police officer A.
K. Jain surrendered before a special court a week after
the investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, announced a
reward of Rs.10 lakh for valid information on him. Mr. Jain, Additional
Director General of Rajasthan Police when he was issued a charge sheet in the
much talked about Dara Singh encounter case, was remanded to one day's judicial
custody by the court.
*** The Supreme Court reserved its verdict
on Dr. Rajesh Talwar's plea for transfer of the Aarushi
Talwar murder case trial from Ghaziabad to Delhi citing security reasons.
*** Having cast its lot with the Arab
League on the Syria question, India will step up its multilateral
engagement with the Arab world in the coming months with a series of events
that will include a visit to Cairo by External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna to
confabulate with the Arab League and to re-engage Egypt, which is stepping out
of the rigid policy confines of the Mubarak era.
*** With good news relating to Pakistan
scarce to come by, the nation basked in the spotlight
that fell on documentary film maker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who became the
country's first Oscar awardee.
*** “The Artist” won five Academy Awards,
including best picture, becoming the first silent film
to win Hollywood's highest honours since the original Oscar ceremony 83 years
ago.
*** In a humble speech amid tense times,
Asghar Farhadi accepted Iran's first Oscar for best
foreign film as a chance to celebrate a culture “hidden under the heavy dust of
politics.” The acclaimed domestic drama, A Separation is the first Iranian film
to win the award. The only other Iranian movie ever nominated was 1997's
Children of Heaven, which was defeated by Italy's Life Is Beautiful .
February 29th
*** An expert committee appointed by the Tamil Nadu government submitted its report on the safety
aspects of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNNP) to Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa, marking a crucial stage in the debate over the project. At the
same time, the State government invited the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
(PMANE) representatives for talks.
*** In a bid to get legal assistance for
finding the elusive money trail in the Maran-Aircel Maxis
case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has despatched Letters Rogatory
(LRs) to four countries. Highly placed CBI sources said the agency had sent LRs
to Malaysia, Mauritius, Bermuda and another tax haven where alleged payoffs
related to the deal were sent.
*** Barnavernet, Norway's powerful Child
Welfare Service (CWS) announced on Tuesday that it had
decided to award the custody of two Indian children taken into foster care last
May to their uncle.
*** Running against time to meet the Rs.
40,000-crore disinvestment target, the Centre decided
to off-load a five per cent stake in ONGC through auction on March 1 at a
likely floor price of Rs. 290 a share.
*** Agni V, the surface-to-surface nuclear
missile that is expected to give more teeth to India's
deterrence programme, is likely to be test-fired for the first time in the last
week of March or the first week of April from the Wheeler Island, off the coast
of Odisha.
*** Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai will
put forward India's case for joining the Nuclear
Suppliers Group (NSG) at an outreach meeting with the world body's key members
in Vienna on 1st March.
*** The Supreme Court pulled up the Centre
for trying to change the Home Ministry's stand on
homosexuality when it submitted that there appeared to be no legal error in the
Delhi High Court judgment, which struck down as unconstitutional Section 377 of
the Indian Penal Code in so far as it criminalised sex between two consenting
adults in private.
*** The government asked Chief of the Army Staff General V.K. Singh to cancel his visit
to Israel mid-March, citing situation in West Asia.
*** C.K. Mathew, a 1977 batch IAS officer,
will be the new Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.
GK COMPENDIUM
FROM MARCH 1 TO MARCH 14, 2012
March 1
*** Pakistan decided to switch to the
negative list approach for trade with India. This paves the way for granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India
as mandated by World Trade Organisation (WTO). India granted MFN status to
Pakistan in 1996.
*** North Korea has agreed to halt nuclear
activities and implement a moratorium on nuclear and
long-range missile development in exchange for a U.S. package of 240,000 metric
tons of food aid.
*** Karnataka launched the Animation,
Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics policy. The aim of
policy is to develop animation, gaming segment of the information technology
industry.
*** CBI will send judicial requests to
Bermuda and the United Kingdom for details of the money
trail in the Aircel-Maxis deal
*** New chairman of Association of Supreme
Audit Institutions (ASOSAI)- Vinod Rai (Comptroller and
Auditor General of India)
*** Taliban negotiators involved in
ongoing talks in Doha are seeking dramatic constitutional
changes which would make Mullah Muhammad Omar Afghanistan's supreme religious
and political leader
*** R. Chidambaram received the ‘Rajiv
Gandhi Outstanding Leadership Award-2011' from the Academy
of Grassroots Studies and Research of India (AGRASRI)
*** Marc Grossman- the United States'
special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan *** The special CBI court
sentenced Abdul Karim Telgi to life imprisonment for his role in forgery, counterfeiting and cheating in the multi-crore stamp paper
scam.
*** James Murdoch
resigned as executive chairman of News International, publisher of The Times ,
The Sunday Times and The Sun in the light of
allegations that he attempted to cover-up a scandal on the issue of an
employee of News International having hacked the phones of certain people for a
news story.
*** Chairman, Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)- R. V. Kanoria.
*** Madhukant Girdharlal Sanghvi will
assume charge as Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of
Syndicate Bank
March 2
*** India and China have decided to
undertake joint operations against pirates and sharing technological
knowhow on seabed research.
*** Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary-
located in Shimoga district, Karnataka
*** Nagarahole National Park, also called
the Rajiv Gandhi National Park is located in the state
of Karnataka.
*** Government sold five per cent stake in
ONGC through an auction to partly meet the disinvestment
target of the current fiscal year
*** A court in Delhi removed Microsoft
India from the civil suit against 21 social-networking
websites. The suit was filed alleging that the website was hosting
objectionable content ***
Malik Dinar Juma Masjid- mosque in Kerala- was recently visited by Anwar
Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
*** The Indira
Gandhi Canal- will remain closed for 90 days from April 1 for extensive repair
work. The Canal provides water for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes
in Rajasthan.
*** The bank accounts of GITAM University
have been attached by the Employees' Provident Fund
Organisation (EPFO) for failing to pay PF dues in time
*** The four-member committee headed by
Srishailappa Biradur- to probe the incident of ministers
watching porn in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
*** Pritzker Architecture Prize- considered as the Nobel prize in architecture- awarded to Wang Shu
from China
*** Dakshina Kannada- awarded Nirmal Gram
Puraskar- first district in the State to win the award
*** Kathryn Bigelow – is shooting a film in Chandigarh
on Osama bin Laden's killing in Abbottabad in
the U.S. raid
*** Torpedo Advanced Light (TAL) -
indigenously developed advanced light-weight torpedo Designed
and developed by- The Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL),
Visakhapatnam (Torpedoes are underwater missiles which are fired from ships,
submarines or helicopters against ships and submarines.) Akash missile -
anti-aircraft defence systemProduction agency for the torpedo and akash
missile- Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)
*** U.S. court has
dismissed a lawsuit against Mahinda Rajapaksa (President of Sri Lanka) on
grounds that he enjoyed immunity from lawsuits as a head of state. Mr.
Rajapaksa was sued by families of torture victims under the Torture Victim
Protection Act.
*** General Motors
(US) is going to take up 7 percent stake in Peugeot Citroen (France)
*** Microsoft has launched a beta version
of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system (OS) for
consumers to install and try out.
*** Jeevan
Vriddhi - a single premium insurance plan
launched by LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India)
*** M.C. Mary Kom- India’s Women’s Boxing
champion.
March 3
*** India and Iran have resolved their
longstanding issue of payments for export shipments by
agreeing to
accept payment in rupee form
*** Integrated
Security System (ISS) – a
state-of-the-art system to be set up on railway stations as a security measure
to ensure safety of the travelling public, and avert terror attacks.
*** Raspberry Pi - a low-cost mini-PC-
developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, UK to develop coding and programming skills among school
students across the globe
*** One-laptop-per-child project- a
non-profit mission run by Nicholas Negroponte
*** The Bangalore City Railway
Station - the first railway station
to offer BluFi (a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi). It will provide passengers with
internet access. The facility is being jointly provided by TeleBrahma (provides
Bluetooth) and Railtel (offers free Wi-Fi facility).
*** Madras High Court held that a court
cannot issue a writ of quo warranto for removing a
Minister. The prerogative of removing a State Minister has to be that of the
Governor and not that of the High Court.
*** Justice H.S. Bedi – appointed Chairman
of the Monitoring Authority to probe all cases of fake
encounter deaths in Gujarat from 2003 to 2006. Justice Bedi replaced Justice
M.B. Shah.
*** Andrew Breitbart dies. He was a
conservative U.S. blogger and activist. He played key roles
in the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, the resignation of Shirley Sherrod, and
the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy.
*** India-born Engelbert Humperdinck-
popularly called the ―King of Romance''- will represent
the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 to be held in Baku,
Azerbaijan
*** Prime Minister, Fiji - Commodore Bainimarama
March 4
*** Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh- to be the next
Chief of Staff of the Indian Army. He will succeed General
Vijay Kumar Singh
*** S. Ayyappan- Director General, Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
*** BP has agreed to pay $7.8 billion in a settlement reached with people affected by the
Gulf
of Mexico Oil
spill (Bob Dudley- BP CEO)
March 5
*** Vladimir Putin will succeed Dmitry
Medvedev as the President of Russia
*** A prison in Nebraska, US, is going to
use a chemical made in Kashipur, Uttarakhanda for
executing a
prisoner.
*** The Army successfully test-fired the
BrahMos supersonic cruise missile at Pokhran
*** Pakistan has requested Interpol to
issue a Red Corner notice to arrest and extradite former president, Pervez Musharraf to the country for his alleged role in
the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
*** Barack Obama warned that the U.S.
military will destroy Iran's nuclear programme as a final
option, if economic sanctions fail to compel reduce its nuclear activities.
March 6
*** Khopoli Investments Limited, a subsidiary
of Tata Power, has joined hands with Exxaro Resources
Limited (Exxaro) to form a joint venture (JV) to create a new company, Cennergi
(Pty) Limited, to bid for projects in African countries
*** 4 companies- ICICI
Bank, Citi Financial, Bank of Baroda and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)
—joined hands to set up India's first $2 billion Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF)
to meet the financing needs of infrastructure projects in the country
*** ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director -
Chanda Kochhar
*** Chairman, Bank of Baroda-M. D. Mallya
*** F. M. Ibrahim Kalifulla (Chief Justice
of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court)- would soon
become a judge of the Supreme Court
*** Pakistan test-fired Hatf-II (Abdali ) surface-to-surface ballistic missile
*** Gopalkrishna Gandhi- new chairman of
the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla
*** ‘Northeast Trilogy'- a book on
north-eastern states- written by Dipti Bhalla
and Kunal Verma
*** Geir Haarde (ex-Prime Minister of Iceland) went on trial over his role in the 2008 banking sector
collapse
March 7
*** Nirbhay – first sub-sonic cruise
missile developed by India- designed by Aeronautical Development
Establishment (ADE)
*** Tomahawk- a long-range, sub-sonic
cruise missile, developed by the U.S.
*** The DRDO will also soon test-fire
Helina (the helicopter-fired version of Nag)- the third
generation anti-tank missile.
*** The National Association of Street
Vendors of India (NASVI) and Nidan (an organisation that supports unorganised workers) will be awarded the
Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
*** Mayawati- first Chief Minister of
Uttar Pradesh to have completed a full
five-year term in
*** A copper coin dating back to the
British era with images of Lord Rama, Sita, Lakshmana
and Hanuman on one side was found at the Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy shrine in
Bhadrachalam.
*** Iran is going to open up its Parchin
military facility for inspections by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to stop others from launching military strikes
against Iran's nuclear facilities.
*** Lady Gaga has become the first person
with more than 20 million followers on Twitter.
*** Former dictator of Maldives, Maumoon
Abdul Gayoom, returned to the country
*** A Pakistani Judicial Commission will
visit India to record statements of the magistrate and
others involved in the investigations into the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
*** Tata Motors is aiming to make a car,
Tata Megapixel, which can deliver up to 100 kilometres
from a litre of fuel (under battery only power).
*** Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar's
autobiography ‘Shaker' released
March 8
*** Byari shared the Best Film Award with
Marathi film Deool at the National Film Awards 2011.
*** Jallikattu cattle is among the ten livestock breeds indigenous to Tamil Nadu selected for
a conservation project being funded by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD).
*** The International Air Transport
Association (IATA) has suspended Kingfisher Airlines
from its clearing house that enables airlines to settle inter-line billings
globally for its failure to pay dues.
*** Two senior journalists at The Sun
attempted to commit suicide after being questioned by
police over allegations of phone hacking and bribing public officials for
stories. ( head of The Sun-Rupert Murdoch)
*** Intel Corp launched its newest server
chip, Xeon E5.
*** The International Kabaddi Federation
is making serious efforts to see that the sport is included
in the 2020 Olympics, IKF President- J.S. Gehlot
March 9
*** Committee headed by V.D. Satheesan has
found that V.A. Arun Kumar, son of former Chief
Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, was appointed the director of ICT academy in
Kerala through irregular means
*** Apple's new iPad could be banned in China if it does not resolve a trademark issue with Chinese
technology firm Proview.
*** Gustavo Kuerten (a three-time Grand
Slam title champion and former World No. 1) from Brazil
has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame
*** R.G. Vaidyanatha will head the one-man
Commission of Inquiry to probe the March 2 violence that erupted
at the City Civil Court complex in Bangalore
*** Pakistan has charged Osama bin Laden's
three wives with illegal entry into the country.
*** EdServ (Education
Services Company) has launched EdServ Training Institute (EDI), the first-of-its-kind
instructor-led-training (ILT) centre. It will offer academic support and
vocational training courses that will include tuition, coaching, test prep, and
joboriented training apart from placement support.
*** Mahindra Satyam entered into retail
and consumer technology by acquiring vCustomer's
international operations.
March 10
*** Rahul Dravid announced his retirement
from cricket
*** Manohar Parrikar -Goa Chief Minister
*** Tusha Mittal won the Chameli Devi Jain
Award, 2012.
*** Zaheer-ul Islam is going to become the Director-General of
ISI. He will replace Ahmad Shuja Pasha
*** An Indian NGO, Chintan has been
selected for the U.S.' first Innovation Award for the
Empowerment of Women and Girls for training and organising waste-pickers and
eliminating child labour from recycling.
*** K. Venkataramanan will take over as
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing
Director(MD) of Larsen & Toubro (L&T)
*** Mercedes-Benz launched the City Bus in India. It also inaugurated its City Bus manufacturing
facility at Chakan in Pune.
March 11
*** The Parliamentary Standing Committee
on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, which examined ‘The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Bill,
2011,' has suggested the establishment of a Council of Nuclear Safety (CNS) to
oversee and review the policies related to radiation/nuclear safety in the
country.
*** Jose Mourinho- declared to be the
world's highest-paid coach
*** Three members quit the National Ganga River Basin Authority claiming that it has become a toothless
organisation which has made no changes in the position of Ganga.National Ganga
River Basin Authority- created in 2009 after widespread protests against the
earlier Ganga Action Plan (Phase I) launched by Rajiv Gandhi, in 1986 which had
failed to clean up the river.
*** The leaders of Kiribati are planning
to move the whole population to Fiji fearing that climate
change could wipe out the entire Pacific archipelago. The Cabinet endorsed a
plan to buy nearly 6,000 acres on Fiji's main island, Viti Levu. Kiribati
President - Anote Tong
*** The U.S. and Afghanistan entered into an agreement by
which U.S will gradually transfer control of Parwan
(main U.S prison in Aghanistan) to Afghanistan
March 12
*** The Horticulture Research Station at
Thadiyankudisai has been declared as the Nodal Research
Center for ‘hill banana'
*** A national award for sanitation and
water has been constituted in the name of Maharashtrian
saint Sant Gadge Baba.
*** Amitabh Bachchan, will lend his voice
and face to the character of Bheeshma Pitamah in the
animation film Mahabharat .
*** Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa
against full body scans, ruling that the exercise is
against the Shariyat law.
*** The Tagore University for the Liberal
Arts- first institution to be established under the Universities
for Innovation programme- will be set up in Pune. The aim of the programme is to establish 14 such
Universities for Innovation
*** An initiative
has been launched under the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) to standardise virtual keyboards in Indian languages for use in smart
phones and tablet computers.
March 13
*** The government proposes to convert the
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) into a National
Health Mission to provide health care to the urban poor also
*** A separate Department of Disability
Affairs is proposed to be set up for greater focus on
addressing issues confronting persons with disabilities. At present, the
disability sector is under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and
partially under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
*** Anjana Thomas, an eighth class
student, has entered the Indian Book of Records by performing
Kuchipudi dance from Timmapur in Dubbak mandal to Siddipet
*** Vijay Bahuguna will become the Chief
Minister of Uttarakhand
*** The Sri Lankan Army to produce a film
of its own as a result of the publicity for the sequel
to the Channel 4 documentary, Killing Fields
*** Traces of a Leonardo Da Vinci
masterpiece has been found on a hidden wall in a palace
in Florence
*** Durum wheat- wheat that thrives in
saline soils has been bred to help feed the world’s growing
population at the time of water shortage and climatic changes.
*** The International Association of
Athletics Federations (IAAF) has appealed in the Court
of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Lausanne, against the one-year suspensions
imposed by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on 400m runners Mandeep Kaur
and Jauna Murmu.
March 14
*** Irom Sharmila has been re-arrested on
the charge of attempt to suicide. Irom Sharmila is
Manipur's ‘Iron Lady' who has been on an indefinite fast for the past 11 years
*** Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram
Yojana(PMAGY) will be transferred to the Ministry of
Rural Development (MoRD) from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The
PMAGY was announced in 2009-10 for
integrated development of all villages with more than 50 percent scheduled
caste population.
*** India is
hoping to activate the Partnership Council which will push forward the
IndiaAfghan strategic partnership agreement (SPA). The Partnership Council will
be chaired by the foreign ministers of India and Afghanistan.
*** Planning Commission, Deputy Chairman -Montek Singh Ahluwalia
*** Hajigak iron ore mine- located in
Afghanistan
*** West Bengal would release 40 prisoners
lodged behind bars for more than 18 years in various
correctional homes across the State.
*** Bandi Mukti Committee- committee
formed by West Bengal which recommended the release of
political prisoners
*** M.S. Reddy committee - to review the
safety of the Nagarjunasagar dam
*** Roopam Sharma took over as the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of the Basketball
Federation of
India (BFI)
*** A decree has been passed making death
illegal in Falciano del Massico, a village in Italy.
The decree was passed because the village does not have a cemetery
*** Bomabay Stock Exchange (BSE) has
launched SME Exchange to offer a platform to small and
medium companies to raise capital. BCB Finance Ltd. became the first company to
be listed on the SME platform
*** National Stock Exchange (NSE) will also launch its SME platform which will
be called, ‘EMERGE'.
*** Yahoo! has sued Facebook, alleging
violations of ten patents
*** Pepsi is going to launch a T20
football event
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