Current affairs NOVEMBER 2010

GK UPDATE NOVEMBER 2010

NATIONAL
 National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) starts the project ‘Baal Bandhu’ in Naxalite affected districts to prevent kids from taking up arms in these areas.
 Delhi High Court recommends upper age limit of 70 years for Heads of Sports Federation; maximum tenure 12 years with not more than three terms.
 Cherapally prison in Hyderabad becomes first to start a BPO office from the jail as 40% of its inmates are educated.
 Barack Obama, President of USA visits India from 6th to 8th November, signed deals worth $ 10 billion.
 Raja Sansi International Airport at Amritsar renamed as Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport.
 As per WHO report, India has highest number of TB patients in world (around 2 million).
 The public interest disclosure and protection to person making the disclosure bill 2010 approved by Union Cabinet.
 Central Vigilance Commission starts a toll free phone help line – “Speak Out”. Number 1800-11-0180
 Department of Posts issues a s 5 stamp in the honour of veteran industrialist late Kamlapat Singhania, founder of JK Group of Industries.
 Oriental Bank of Commerce becomes first bank to start issuance of UID Cards to its staff and customers.
 Indian president visits UAE and Syria.
 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) starts in Panaji (Goa).
 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sweeps Bihar polls led by Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister.
 Mobile Number Portability (MNP) makes a beginning from Rohtak (Haryana).
 Government sanctioned Rs. 3300 crores for Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 Naxalite affected districts.
 Kaiga 4, India’s 20th Nuclear Power Plant becomes operative at district Uttar Kannada, Karnataka. India becomes sixth country to have 20 or more Nuclear Power Plants.
 Income Tax Department introduces Document Identification Number (DIN) for filing of tax returns.
 India signs dollar 4.1 billion deals with USA for purchase of C-17 Globemaster-III military cargo aircrafts.
 Cabinet approves bill on sexual harassment of women - Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill, 2010.
 Indian Scientific Team Reaches South Pole for the first time on 22-11-2010.
 Army’s Strategic Forces Command Tests fires Agni – I, the surface to surface missile.
 Lok Sabha approves new name for Orissa as Odisha and its language Oria as Odia.
 Famous Indian Dance forms Mudiyetu of Kerala, Chhau of Odisa and Kalbelia of Rajasthan selected in heritage list of UNESCO.
 Construction of India’s biggest Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (Atomic Power Plants) starts at Kakrapar, near Surat, Gujarat.
 Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adolescent Girls (Sabla) launched for improving nutritional and training aspects of girls aged 11 to 18 years.
 India placed at 119th rank out of 169 countries listed by human development index of UNDP.
 Rashtrawadi Muslim Manch – new organisation floated by RSS to attracts Muslims.
 Tejas - India’s first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) completes its first flight in Bangalore.
INTERNATIONAL
 Jammu & Kashmir dispute has been dropped from UN dispute list
 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) makes it mandatory for all pilots to clear a test in English by March 2011.
 G-20 summit meet of Heads of Nations held at Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 11 to 12.
 The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10), also called Biodiversity Summit, held in Nagoya (Japan).
 US announces with drawal of troops of Afghanistan by next year.
 General Musharraf (Ex-President of Pakistan) launches new political party – All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) in London.
 Around 400 dead in Phnom Penh, Combodia in a festival stampede.
 India elected to UN women – a new body formed by merging all women focussed bodies of UNO.
 Fresh violent row sparks between North Korea and South Korea for violation of 1953 Armistice Agreement.
 16th UN Framework Convention on Climatic Change (FCCC) held at Cancun, Mexico.
ECONOMY
 Maruti Suzuki becomes first company in India to cross sale target of one lac cars in a quarter.
 Punjab to export 15,000 tractors to Indonesia.
 Harley Davidson, the iconic motorcycle manufacturer of USA to open its assembly plant in Bawal, Haryana.
 Threshold limit for remitting funds through RTGS raised to Rs. 2 lacs.
 Power Grid Corporation of India Limited comes out with its Follow on Public Offer (FPO) for Rs. 8,000 crores.
 National Stock Exchange to start currency trading.
 Consortium led by L&T gets contract for construction of Airport at Muscot, Oman.
 Maha Ratna status granted to four PSUs – ONGC, SAIL, IOC and NTPC.
 Repo Rate and Reverse Rate again raised by RBI by 25 basis point each to 6.25% and 5.25% respectively.
 India’s GDP grows @ 8.9% in second quarter of 2010-11.
 India tops the Nielsen Global Confidence Index list reflecting high consumer confidence in India.
 HDFC Life and Air Tel adopt new logo.
 Government plans to raise Rs. 40,000 crore in the current year through disinvestment.
 Ministry of new and renewable energy declares 20% subsidy / incentives on Ex-factory prices of electrical vehicles.
 9900 MW Nuclear Power Plant Project at Jaitpur, Maharashtra gets clearance from Environment Ministry.
 Tata’s DoCoMo becomes first private operators introducing 3G service.
 Vodafone asked to deposit R 2500 crore as tax by Supreme Court, in connection with its deal with Hutchinson Essar.
 SBI raises 750 Million Euros in global capital market by selling bonds.
 SMS ‘SOLVE’ to 56161 is the new message service launched by SBI life for customer complaints.
 Indian forex reserves cross $ 300 billion.
PERSONS IN NEWS
 Arya Ika: Seven years old boy from a business family of USA was the youngest delegate in Obama’s business delegation.
 Justice Soumitra Sen of Kolkatta High Court indicted for corruption charges and recommended for impeachment by parliament.
 Miss Alexandria Mills, 18 years old beauty of USA declared Miss World 2010 at Sanya, China.
 Hu Jintao, President of China, declared most powerful person in the world by Forbes Magazine; Obama slips to second position. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh placed at 9th and 18th position respectively.
 Amarjeet Singh Chandok, Additional Solicitor General of India, declared ‘Sikh of the Year’ at London, UK for his work on environment protection, blood donation etc.
 Simran Preet Singh Lamba becomes first enlisted Sikh soldier in US Army.
 Aung San Suu Kyi – pro democracy leader of Myanmar released from house arrest after 15 years.
 Lord Swaraj Paul resigned as Deputy Speaker of upper house of Parliament of UK.
BOOKS AND AUTHOR
 Leadership in Crisis --by Bobby Jindal, Governor Louisiana, USA.
 Decision Points-- by George Bush, Ex-president of USA.
 Global Crisis, Recession and Uneven Recovery – by Y.V. Reddy, former RBI Governor.
 Superpower: The Amazing Race between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise – by Raghav Behl.
APPOINTMENTS / ELECTED
 Prithivi Raj Chavan appointed Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
 Kiran Kumar Reddy appointed new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
 Nitish Kumar: Elected Chief Minister of Bihar, for the second time.
 A.P. Singh new director for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
 Dilma Rousseff – Elected first women president of Brazil.
 Nikky Randhawa elected as first Indian women governor of South Carolina, USA.
 Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn in as President of Sri Lanka for second time.
 Nehchal Sandhu – New chief of Intelligent Bureau.
AWARDS / HONOURS
 Hari Prasad Chaurisya, flute maestro of India gets top Civil Award from the Govt. of France.
 Indira Gandhi Peace prize awarded to Luiz Inacio Lulla Da Silva, Ex-Prime Minister of Brazil.
 Roberto Baggio, Italian Footballer awarded Peace Summit Award 2010 by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates for his fund raising activities.
 Manu Joseph wins the Hindu Best Fiction Award 2010 for his Nobel ‘Serious Men’.
 Global Vision Award, instituted by Asia society for helping to promote understanding between Asian and American won by Mukesh Ambani, Chairman Reliance Industries.
SPORTS
 Sahara India sports awards 2010 declared:
 Cricketer of the year – Sachin Tendulkar
 Sportsman of the year – Sushil Kumar (Wrestling )
 Sportswoman of the year – M.C. Mary Kom (Boxing)
 Gagan Narang leads the Indian Squad at Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
 Mahindra & Mahindra becomes first Indian company to enter Moto – GP, world famous motor bike race.
 Makhaya Nitini announces his retirement from International Cricket. He is first black African to play in South Africa Team and is popularly known as Mdingi Xpress.
 Sebastian Vettel, 23 years old German becomes youngest F1 world champion.
 Harbhajan Singh (famous Indian cricketer) creates world record by scoring two successive centuries playing at eighth number.
 16th Asian Games – Asiad 2010 starts at Guangzhou, China, 12 to 27 November 2010.
 India placed at 6th position in Asian Games, winning 14 Gold, 17 Silver and 33 Bronze medals ( total 64 medals ).
 China tops medal tally by winning 416 medals at Asiad 2010.
 International Association of Athletics Federation (IAF) declares sports persons of 2010.
o Athlete of the Year (men) David Rudisha of Kenya, world champion of 800 meter race.
o Athlete of the Year (women) Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, world champion of high jump.
 Lin Dan, world champion of Badminton from China declared Most Valuable Player of XVI Asiad.
 Durand Cup of Football won by Kolkata’s Chirag United defeating JCT at New Delhi.
 Mike Russell of England won world professional Billiards title at Leeds, UK.
ABBREVIATIONS
 CAG - Comptroller and Auditor General - of India
 PAC - Public Accounts Committee – of Parliament
 JPC - Joint Parliamentary Committee
 FSDC - Financial Stability and Development Council
 IMPS - Interbank Mobile Payment Service
 NDFB - National Democratic Front of Bodoland