Very Important Current Affairs Update For Journalism Exam 2012

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-à-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 23^rd 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 Baluchistan.

*** Mahindra Satyam has announced that it has entered into global services agreement with Fuel Quest, 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 Fuel Quest 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 24^th

*** 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