International Current Affairs 2010

 Belgium became the Europe’s first country to ban burqa.

 Pakistan’s National assembly passed a bill that takes away the President’s power to dissolve
parliament, dismiss a elected government and appoint the three services Chiefs. Pakistan’s
parliament passes 18th amendment which was later signed by Presient cutting President’s
powers.
 USA and Russia signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START) that allowed a maximum of
1550 deployed overheads, about 30% lower than a limit set in 2002. The treaty was signed in the
Progue Castle.
 Emergency was imposed in Thailand.
 Nuclear Security Summit held at Washington.It was a 47 nation summit wherein P.M. announced
setting up of a global nuclear energy centre for conducting research & development of design
systems that are secure, proliferation resistant & sustainable.
 PM visit USA & Brazil, a two nation tour. He attended Nuclear Security Summit in USA & India-
Brazil-S.Africa(IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China(BRIC) summit in Brasilia (Brazil).
 16th SAARC Summit held in Bhutan in 28-29 April. The summit was held in Bhutan for the first
time. It is the silver jubilee summit as SAARC has completed 25 years. The summit central theme
was ‘Climate Change’. The summit recommended to declare 2010-2020 as the “Decade of Intra-
regional Connectivity in SAARC”. The 17th SAARC summit will be held in Maldives in 2011.

National Current Affairs 2010

 Naxals killed about 75 CRPF personal at Chintalnar-Tarmetla village in Dantewada distt

,Chhattisgarh. Government appoint E.N. Rammohan, to probe the incident.
 Uninque Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) now known as Aadhaar. It’s Chairman is Nandan
Nilekani. It will assign 16 digit identification number to all residents in India.
 NTRO- National Technical Research Organisation. The organization came to limelight after
allegation of phone tapping of politicians.
 Indian navy commissioned India’s first indigenously built stealth warship ‘ INS Shivalik’. The other
stealth warship to be built are named as ‘INS Sahyadri’ and INS Satpura’.
 Right To Education Act is notified and will become a legally enforceable from 1 April 2010. Key
features of RTE Act are : All children in 6-14 age group must get free and compulsory eduction;
No child shall be held back,expelled or required to pass a board examination till Class VIII; There
must be 25 % reservation for poor children even in private & minority schools; There must be one
teacher for every 30 students; A child rights commission will look into violations of the RTE law.
 Govt start Census 2011. It is the 15th Census. It is in two phase. The first phase is called –House
listing & Housing Census and the second phase is called decadal headcount which will be held in
Feb 2011. The Registrar General of India is C Chandramouli.

Sports Current Affairs 2010

 IPL3 season won by Chennai Super Kings defeating Mumbai Indians.

 Youth Olympics Games 2010 to be held in Singapore in Aug 2010.
  World Youth Championship was held at Baku, Azerbaijan.
 Lawn tennis legend Martina Navratilova diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
 ‘Jumbo’ chosen as 2011 World Cricket Cup Mascot.
 World Kabbadi Cup 2010- India defeated Pakistan to won World Cup Kabbadi 2010 held at
Ludhiana.
 Pankaj Advani won the Asian Billiards Championship defeating Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist for the
consecutive third time.
 Badminton Asia Championship, Delhi :
o Men’s singles – Lin Dan defeated Wang Zhenguing
o Women’s singles-Li Xiurei defeated Liu Xin.

Awards Current Affairs 2010

 19Th Bihari Puraskar 2009 has been awarded to Hemant Shesh for his collection of poetry
‘Jagah Jaisi Jagah’.
 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best first Book was awarded to Glenda Guest for the
novel ‘Siddon Rock’. Rana Dasgupta won Commonwealth Writers Prize for best Book 2010 for
book ‘Solo’.
 Carl Zeiss wildlife conservation award was won by Joydip Kundu.
 Amitav Ghosh won the Dan David Prize alongwith Margaret Atwood for ‘Rendition of the 2oth
century’.

Economics & Commerce

 India became the 7th largest shareholder in World Bank. India’s voting rights has gone up to 2.91
%. The USA has highest voting rights of 15.85 % followed by Japan with 6.84 % and Germany
with 4 %.
 Govt proposed that concept of GGDP – Green Gross Domestic Product to be introduced in the
country by 2015. In 2012 India will host the Rio+20 conference on biological diversity.
 Government approved disinvestment of 20% of share in SAIL in this financial year.
 India’s total external debt as on December 2009 is 251 billion.
 India’s Gems & Jewellery export grow by 16% to $28.41 billion in 2009-2010.
 RBI announced the credit policy. The CRR has been raised from 5.75 % to 6 %. The Repo rate
has been raised from 5 % to 5.25 %. The reverse repo rate has been raised from 3.5 % to 3.75
%.

Persons in News 2010

 Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra was sworn in as Judge of Supreme Court of India. She became the
4th women judge to be elevated to the Supreme Court of India.
 Justice S H Kapadia will be next Chief Justice of India.
 Mukul Sangma shown in as Meghalaya Chief Minister.
 Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski died in a air crash at Moscow.
 Juan Antonia Samaranch, Former President of International Olympic Committee (IOC) died.

Misc Issues

 ‘Decision Points’ memoir of former US President George W Bush.

 A variety of mango has been named after Sachin Tendulkar.
  Scientist create element 117 from calcium & Berkelium.
 International congress of Mathematicians will be hosted by India for the first time in August 2010
at Hyderabad. The congress has been held once every four years since 1897except the breaks
during two world wars.
 Government will opened four new campuses for the IIMC(Indian Institute of Mass
Communication) at Nagpur, Kochi, Jammu and Aizawl.
 Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Derjeeling become first zoo in the country to install
infrared night vision cameras in the enclosures housing endangered snow leopard.
 ‘Hindutva, Sex & Adventure’ written by Mark Tully.
 Gorumara National Park, Jalpaigudi has been declared the best among the 235 national parks &
sanctuaries in the country by the MOEF.
 ‘Gandhi-Naked Ambition’ written by Jad Adams.
 India ranks 5th in the World’s cybercrime ranking for 2009 after US, China, Brazil & Germany.
 India lauched GSLV from Sriharikota on 15 April 2010. However the launch was failed in the third
stage. The launch was important as GSLV-D3 was the third developmental mission of India’s
GSLV during which ISRO’s indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage (CUS) was to be flight
tested. This is the 6th flight of GSLV, but the first one to test Indian made cryogenic upper stage.
GSLV-D3 was to launch the GSAT-4 satellite into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
The total flight of the vehicle was planned to be 1022 seconds.
 India likely to complete building its first strategic crude oil storage by Oct 2011. India is building
underground storage at Visakhapatnam in AP and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million
tones of crude oil which is enough to meet nation’s oil requirement for 13-14 days. India will join
nations like the US, Japan & China that have strategic reserves.

People in the News

 Shashi Tharoor (born 9 March 1956) is a member of the Indian Parliament from the
Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. A prolific author, columnist, journalist and human
rights advocate, he has previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary General for
Communications and Public Information and the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.
 Lalit Modi (born 29 November, 1963 Delhi, India) is an Indian cricket administrator and
businessman. He is best known for his stint as the Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian
Premier League and the Chairman of the Champions League from 2008 to 2010. He is also the
Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since 2005 and Vice President
of the Punjab Cricket Association.
International Affairs 2009
Fiji’s president Ratu Josefa Iloilo repealed the country’s constitution and appointed himself head of the
State and set a 2014 election deadline.
Switzerland expanded its border upto 150 meters into Italian territory because of melting glaciers in
the high Alps.
Venezuela’s Stefania Fernandez become Miss Universe 2009. This is the 2nd consecutive year Miss
Venezuela has won the title. Venezuela has so far won the title for the record six times. Miss Ada de
la Cruz (Dominican Republic) is 1st runner up. Miss Marigona Dragusha is the 2nd runner up. Miss
Universe 2009 contest was held in Bahamas.
Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT) is an agreement that binds 141 countries in a pact that facilitates the
process of seeking protection for an invention in multiple countries. The PCT which is administered by
WIPO ( World Intellectual Property Organization) is particularly valuable option for any company
operating internationally. It is a procedural treaty first launched in 1978. Recently PCT is in news
because it is under modification/ reformation which India is opposing.
Pakistan govt clears construction of the $ 8.5 billion Diamer-Bhasha power project of 4500 MW
capacity on the Indus river in the Gilgit region in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Under the Indus water
treaty signed with India, Pakistan is free to build dams anywhere on the Indus river. The treaty gives
India first right over the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers and Pakistan the same privileges
over the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers.
70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II ( 1 Sep 1939) celebrated on 1 Sep. OSCE
(Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) parliamentary assembly recently grouped
Germany and Soviet Union, pronouncing them to be equally responsible for World War II. Yukio
Hatoyama is appointed as next Prime Minister of Japan. He is nicknamed ‘the alien’. For the first time
since last 54 years, LDP(Liberal democratic party) ousted from forming Govt in Japan. Hatoyama
belongs to Democratic Party.
USA Commission on International Religious Freedom placed India on its ‘watch list’ for 2009 because
it found the Indian govt had failed to take effective measures to ensure the rights of religious
minorities.
The summit of Dushanbe Four was held in 2009. It includes Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The official objective to the summit was to discuss supply of electricity from Tajikistan to
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Nepal Vice President Parmananda Jha who took oath in Hindi last year, has been asked by the Nepal
Supreme Court to retake the oath in Nepali language or resign from the post.
Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after it failed to meet a deadline to make progress
towards establishing democracy. India’s Reena Kaushal Dharamshaktu will be part of an eight
member team that will ski to the South Pole to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Commonwealth. The
expedition is headed by Felicity Aston and to be flagged off in Nov 2009.
China intrudes Ladakh region on 31 July 2009.
Sri Lanka expels James Elder, Communication chief with UNICEF(United Nations Children’s Fund).
Farah Pandith an Indian American, has been sworn in as the first US Special Representative to
muslim communities in USA.
As per report of UN World Food Programme (WFP), the number of hungry people will pass one billion
this year for the first time. In the Food Security Risk Index 2009, India ranked at 25th place. The US is
least at risk followed by France, Canada. The index rank the nations on the basis of risk of food
shortage faced by the countries.
Communal violence erupted in China’s North West Xinjiang province capital ‘ Urumgi’ in July 09.
START ( Strategic arms reduction treaty) between USA & Russia started on 31 July 1991 came to end
on 5 Dec 2009. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) met at Yekaterinburg on June 2009. The
SCO comprises of Russia, China, Kazakhtan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgzstan. India, Pakistan,
Mongolia and Iran have observer status. Afghanistan’s president attended the summit as a special
guest. Sri Lanka had been granted the status of dialogue partner. Google was shut down in China.
The first ever summit of BRIC countries was held at Yekaterinburg in Russia in June 09. BRIC
countries include Brazil, Russia, India and China.
India signed a $ 400 million agreement with Ukraine to upgrade its fleet of transport aircraft AN-32
aimed at extending its life and improving avionics.
Tipaimukh dam project issue between India and Bangladesh.
Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Network (TAR) entered into force on June 11, 2009
after China ratified the treaty. The other parties to the agreement are Combodia, India, Mongolia,
Korea, Russia, Tajikistan and Thailand.
Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE was elected as headquarter of the International Renewal Energy Agency
(IRENA), a grouping of 129 countries. Mini Pravasi Indian Day was held at Hague (Netherland) in Sep
2009.
France President has recently remarked that ‘ the burqa is a sign of female subservience’.
Lord Swaraj Paul became the first India born Briton to be appointed a Privy Councillor in Britain.
Milan has been named as the world’s top fashion city. Mumbai is placed at 16th place and Delhi at
17th place.
Japan’s finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa resigned after he was accused to attending the G 7
summit in Rome in drinking condition.
China became world’s largest green house gas emitter in 2007. USA at 2nd position. Russia at 3rd
position. India at 4th position with one tone of Carbon Dioxide per person per year emission.
Nuclear armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean.
USA govt approved $ 787 billion economic stimulus package initiated by Barack Obama.
Venezuala’a President Hugo Chavez won a referendum vote that lets him stay in power as long as he
keeps winning elections.
From 1 April 2009 NATO membership was enlarged to 28 with the entrance of Albania and Croatia.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) also called the North Atlantic Alliance is a military alliance
established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. 16th SAARC Summit was held
in Maldives in 2009.
EUMA ( End User Monitoring Agreement)- India has signed EUMA with USA which allows US
inspectors to verify the end use of US sourced high technology equipment to dual use. EUMA is
designed to facilitate high end dual use technology transfer to India.
World’s first commercial passenger flight powered by natural Gas operated between London and
Qatar in Oct 09. Shell company developed and produced the 50-50 blend of synthetic Gas to Liquid
(GTL) kerosene and conventional oil based kerosene fuel. Qatar will become the world’s leading
producer of GTL kerosene by 2012.
Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark accord to restore ties and open their shared border after a
century of hostility stemming from World War I.
‘Operation Rah E Nijat or Path to Salvation’- It is the name of operation conducted by Pakistan army
against strongholds of Tehreek-e- Taliban (also called Pakistan Taliban) soldiers.
 USA has declared national emergency in view of increasing number of death due to Swine flu.
Bangladesh decided to advance its time an hour to GMT + 7. Every 15 degree means an hour. France
have 12 time zones, Russia have 11 times zones, USA has nine time zones. India has one time zone
based on its 82*30’ East near Allahabad.
India and Canada signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal . Canada became the 8th country with which
India has reached a civil nuclear agreement.
Commonwealth has admitted Rwanda, central African country, as its 54th member.
Nepal cabinet meet at Kala Patthar, situated at 17,192 ft above sea level in Nov 09 and the base
camp of Mount Everest. It adopted Mt Everest declaration which allow setting up of Gauri Shankar
Conservation Area near Mt Everest.
COP15, the official term for the Copenhagen meeting, the 15th conference of parties to negotiate a
new global climate treaty to replace or extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 in Dec 2009.
Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark.
India and Russia sign civil nuclear agreement in Dec 2009.

National Affairs 2009

Union govt cleared a constitutional amendment to increase the reservation for woman in Panchayat to
50 % from present 33 %. The Panchayati Raj Ministry amend Art 243 D of the Constitution of India
accordingly. The proposed amendment will increase reservations for woman to 50 % in Zila
Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats at District, Block and Village level respectively.
India has about 28.18 lakh elected representatives in panchayats. Four states- Bihar, Uttarakhand,
Himachal Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh already have 50 % reservation for woman in Panchayat. Kerala
also announced 50 % reservation for woman in Panchayat. Bihar was the first state to give 50 %
reservations to woman in Panchayat in 2005.
Govt clear setting up of National Mission Against Corruption Authority (NMAC). The aim of the
authority will be to ensure better coordination among the CBI and State/UT anti corruption vigilance
bureaus.
Govt has declared 272 districts out of 616 districts as drought stricken in 2009 due to rainfall shortage.
Draft of National Food Security Act to be presented in parliament in winter session (Jan 2010). As per
the proposed Act, every family living below the poverty line in rural and urban areas will be entitled for
25 Kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per Kg.
Govt plans to built 321 feet Shivaji statue in Mumbai. It is 16 feet taller that New York’s Statue of
Liberty and on completion, it became the tallest statue in the world.
Jaswant Singh book’ Jinnah-India partition Independence was banned in Gujarat state. The ban
however ,was lifted after the High court judgment. The book is a biography of Jinnah. Jaswant Singh
also earlier write ‘ A Call to Honour’.
State Assembly Election was held in Oct 2009 in three states namely Haryana (seats -90),
Maharashtra (seats -288) and Arunachal Pradesh (seats -60).
Govt has decided that NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) will now provide
employment for 200 days instead of 100 days. Parliament adopted the Constitution 109th amendment
Bill 09 providing reservation of seats for SC & ST in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies of the
states for another 10 years.
Namibia president Hifikepunye Pohambe visit India in Sep 209.
Russia provides nuclear submarine’ Nerpa’ to India in 2009. It is Akula-2 submarine series.
Women’s will be exempted from paying any fees for UPSC/SSC etc examination.
SAF university to be set up in Delhi. It will be started from 2010-11 academic session. India bear 79 %
of its expenditure.
In the seven natural Wonders list, India’s only entry is that of Sunderban. It is a joint entry from India
and Bangladesh.
Vision-2015 For Consumer Satisfaction and Beyond – The paper is published by Oil & Petroleum
ministry in which it is proposed to provide CNG in 200 cities by 2015.
Mongolia president Tsakhiagiin Elbagdorj visited India in Sep 2009. India and Mongolia signed a Civil
Nuclear pact. India already has civil nuclear agreement with USA, Russia, Kazakhstan and France.
Indian National Congress party will completes 125 years on Dec 2009. Congress was formed on Dec
1885.
India’s first non-stop super fast passenger train ‘Duronto Train’ inaugurated from Sealdah station to
Delhi. Total of 14 such trains will be launched this year.
Yashpal Committee was set up to give recommendation on Higher education sector.
Under Kisan Abhiman Scheme. Kerala Govt has granted Rs 300 per month as pension to farmers
above 60 years of age.
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank appointed as fifth Chief Minister of Uttrakhand.
Railway ministry has appointed Amit Mitra to prepare Vision -2020 document for the railways.
B Sudershan Reddy appointed as chairman of panel to look into the impeachment proceeding against
Justice Soumitra Sen. India is funding Palaly project in Sri Lanka.
Areva, French Company and Nuclear power corporation of India Ltd sign an agreement to set up two
1650 MW nuclear plants in Maharastra state. Govt launched ‘Rajiv Awas Yojna’ under which govt
plans to formulate for slum dwellers and the urban poor in an effort to promote a slum free India in
next five years.
Ramalingam Chandrashekeram appointed as head of parliamentary special committee that look into
the matter of granting citizenship and other facilities for Sri Lankans in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.
Indian Railway proposed a South Asian Regional Train service linking Dhaka, New Delhi and Lahore.
Justice Liberhan Commission which probed the sequence of events that led to the Babri Masjid
demolition in Ayodhya on Dec 1992, submitted its report. It has 399 sittings and 48 extensions.
Govt increases minimum support price (MSP) for sugarcane to Rs. 107.76 for 2009-10. The MSP for
the paddy crop for current year is Rs.950. Rajasthan will host the World Tiger Summit in Ranthambore
in 2010.
Appointment of new Governors – D N Dwivedi ( Gujarat), Margarat Alwa (Uttarakhand), Jagannath
Pahadia (Haryana). Tata’s first Nano car was given to Ashok Vichare of Mumbai.
Dilip Donde will try to circumnavigate the world solo ( on his own) in boat ‘Mhadei’ under Project Sagar
Parikrama from 19 Aug 2009. Rajasthan became the first state in the country to sign a tripartite
agreement with Central Govt promising accountability and adequate utilization of funds in the two tiger
reserve of Sariska at Alwar and Ranthambore at Sawai Madho pur in Rajasthan.
Jawahar lal Nehru Urban renewal mission (JNNURM) a centrally govt funded urban renewal mission
is implemented in 63 cities out of a total of 5161 cities, towns and urban agglomerations in India.
Right to Education Bill passed by the Parliament. Parliament made the right to education a
fundamental right through the 93rd Constitution amendment. The bill earmarks 25 % seats to weaker
 sections in schools, seeks to do away with the practice of schools taking capitation fees before
admission, subjecting the child or parents to a screening procedure and giving powers to child rights
panels to look into grievances of parents against schools.
Govt approved renaming of state of Orissa as ‘Odisha’ and the Oriya language as ‘Odia’.
Assembly election was held in Jharkhand which is under President Rule since Jan 2009 in Dec 09.
Total number of seats are 81.
RIC ( Russia, India & China). It is a group of three nations. Second meeting of RIC is held at
Bangalore in Oct 09.
President Pratibha Patil visit Britain in Oct 09 to invite Queen Elizabeth to inaugurate 2010
Commonwealth Games to be held next year. This is the first state visit by an Indian President to
Britain after S Radakrishnan and R Venkataraman in 1963 & 1990 respectively.
Separation plan – India has notified its separation plan to International Atomic Energy Ageny. India will
place 14 reactors under ISSA ( India Specific Safeguards Agreement) of the International nuclear
watchdog by 2014. Under the plan, India has decided to permanently shut down the CIRUS research
reactor located inside BARC, countries strategic laboratory in 2010.
Govt has announced five new sites for setting up of light water reactors. The plants will come up at
Jaitapur (Maharastra), Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu), Haripur (West Bengal), Chhayamithi Virdi (Gujarat)
and Kovvada (Andhra Pradesh).
Indian President Pratibha Patil visits Cyprus (Capital- Nicosia) in Nov 2009.
Govt started ‘Operation Green Hunt’ to tackle the Maoists in five Indian states.
Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangehuck visit India on a 5 day visit in Dec 09. He is the 5th
king of Bhutan.
NATGRID- National Intelligence Grid to be established by May 2011. The grid will provide real time
access into 21 categories of databases such as credit card transaction, driving license, telephone,
internet, passport, PAN details, bank A/c details etc.
Impeachement motion has been initiated against Justice P D Dinakaran in the parliament on charges
of amassing disproportionate assets and land grab.

Sports Affairs 2009

Shooting champion of India, Samresh Jung is known as ‘Gold finger’.
Heinrich Haussler won Tour de France 2009 tournament.
Ranji Trophy celebrated Platinum Jubilee after completing 75 years in 2009. Ranji trophy will also be
started in Ireland.
38th Ranji Trophy was won by Mumbai defeating UP in Jan 2009.
Pullela Gopichand (Badminton champion) is the only person to have been awarded with Arjuna award,
Dronacharya award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Binish K Shahji of India won silver medal in World School Athletics in Estonia held in June 2009.
Wimbledon 2009

 Men’s Single – Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick. Federer break the record of Pete
Sampras record of 14 grand slams.
 Women’s Single – Serena William defeated Venus William. She claimed third Wimbledon title.
 Women’s doubles –Serena and Venus William defeated Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur.
  Mixed Doubles- Mark Knowles and Anna Lena Groenefeld defeated Laender Paes(India) and
Cara Black.
 Men’s Doubles- Danial Nestor & Nened Jimonjic defeated Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan.

French Open 2009

 Men’s single – Roger Federer defeated Robin Soderling.

 Men’s double – Laender Paes and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman.
 Women’s single – Svetlana Kuzenletsova defeated Dinara Safina.

Australian Open 2009

 Mixed Double - Mahesh Bhupati and Sania Mirza defeated Nathalic Dechy and Andy Ram. Sania
Mirza became the first Indian women to won a Grand slam title.
 Men’s singles- Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer. He became the first Spaniard to won the
title.
 Women’s singles- Serena William defeated Dinara Safina.
 India’s Yuki Bhambri won Junior Australian Open Single title 2009 defeating A F Georgoudes.

US Open 2009

 Women’s singles – Kim Clijsters(Belgium) defeated Caroline Wozniacki.

 Men’s singles- Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro defeated Roger Federer.
 Men’s Doubles- Laender Paes (India) and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark
Knowles. This is Paes 10th Grand Slam title.
 Women’s Doubles – Venus Williams & Serena Williams defeated Cara Black & Ticzel Huber.
 Mixed double – Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott defeated Cara Black & Laender Paes(India).

Science & Technology Affairs 2009

2009 is celebrated as International Year of Astronomy. 2009 is also celebrated as 400th anniversary
of the first recorded astronomical observations with the telescope used by the Italian physicist. 2009 is
also celebrated as : Natural Fibre Year by UN, International Gurilla Year by conservationists &
environmentalists, International Year of Reconciliation.
Longest total solar eclipse of 21st century occurred on 22nd July 2009. It lasted 6 min 44 sec at
Taregana in Bihar.
GM( Genetically Modified) crops are those in which the genetic material(DNA) is altered so that there
is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer. Bt Cotton (Bacillius Thuringeinsis) is
only commercially approved biotech crop in India. Govt plans to introduce GM foods particularly
Tomatoes, Brinjals and Cauliflower to held meet food production target in three years time. Till date,
India has only allowed the use of GM Cotton, a non food crop. India is world’s second largest cotton
producer. India’s own Bt cotton variety : Bikaner Narma. Deep Space Network Facility is located at
Byalalu, Karnataka.
Chandrayan II a lander rover mission of ISRO is scheduled to be launched in 2012. ISRO plans to
hoist a capsule with two Indians on board to the Moon by 2015. Subsquently, an Indian will be
launched to set foot on the Moon in 2020.
‘Aditya’ satellite will be sent by India to carry out studies on the Sun in 2012. SOHO stands for Solar
and Heliospheric Observatory. Probe Plus of NASA to study Sun System will be launched in 2018.
India’s first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine’Arihant’ was launced on 26 July 2009. It will be
commissioned by 2011. It was built with the help of Russian consultants. With the launch, India join
elite club of five nations USA, Russia, China, Britain and France having nuclear powered submarine
capability.
Blue Brain project in Switzerland is under progress under which scientist attempt to ‘Reverse
engineer’ the mammalian brain. Novo-G, world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer became
operational. Novo-G got the first part of its name from the Latin term to ‘make anew, change, alter’ and
the second word G from ‘Genesis’.
World Forestry Day celebrated on 21 March. Theme for 2009 was ‘Sustainable Forest Management’.
India currently has 23.39 % of forest area against 33 % required. India presently has 37 Tiger
reserves, 99 national parks and 515 wildlife sanctuaries.
Earth Hour 2009 is a global event every year which will see landmarks around the world to go dark for
an hour. Earth Day celebrated on 22 April.
Eight Millenium Development Goals (MDG) were set in Millenium Summit 2000. It has a deadline of
2015. Kerala has already achieve the targets in 2008.
India launched a Israel developed spy satellite ‘RISAT 2’ providing all weather 24 hour surveillance.
Also launched experimental communication micro satellite’ ANUSAT’ built by Chennai based Anna
University.
International Space Development Conference was held at Orlando in May 2009.
Scientist have discovered 47 million year old primate fossil named ‘Ida’ (Scientific name-Darwinius
masillae) which forms a crucial missing link between our evolutionary branch of life and rest of animal
kingdom.
Per capita consumption of electricity is 630 Units in India in 2009.
NDRI Karnal cloned world’s 2nd cloned buffalo ‘Garima’. It also produced world’s 1st cloned buffalo
calf in Feb 2009 but it could not survive. El Nino- is a shift in ocean temperatures and atmospheric
conditions in the tropical pacific. It is a periodic warming of the Pacific oceans that leads to extremes
of weather.
La Nino- It follows an El Nino. It is also called the Little Girl. It is anti El-Nino or simply a cold event. It
is the cooling of water in the Pacific Ocean.
SOI ( Southern Oscillation Index) is a major indicator of El Nino, measures the pressure difference
between the Pacific islands of Tahiti and Darwin in Australia. A consistently negative SOI indicates to
a developing El Nino. An El Nino is formally declared when above normal temp -0-5 degree celcius or
higher are recorded over eastern Pacific surface for three straight months.
Definition of poverty as per Planning Commission- Average per capita spending below Rs. 356 per
month in rural areas and Rs. 539 per month in urban areas.
38th World Environment Day was celebrated on 5th June 2009. Theme for 2009 chosen by UNDP is
‘Your Planet Needs You’. World Environment Day was established by UN General Assembly in 1972
to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the human environment. 0.8 degree celcius rise
in average temperature around the world since 1880. India is the 5th largest emitter of Greenhouse
Gases. 2 of the 12 biodiversity hotspots of the world are in India i.e. Northeastern region and Western
Ghats.
US Space Agency’s Themis Mission – to study the colourful display of high latitude skies.
Phoenix Mars Lander found Perchlorate substance on Mars surface.
Carbon Credits : It provide a way to reduce green house emissions on industrial scale by capping total
annual emissions and allowing the market to assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading.
India has earned 4,64,45,282 carbon credits, second only to China in the world. Per capita carbon
dioxide emission for India is 1.02 metric tones, while USA stood at first place with 20.01 metric tones.
Super Earth : It is a large extrasolar terrestrial planet, which is atleast twice the mass of earth but less
than ten earth masses. European researcher found three super earths recently.
Asia’s first and world’s second DNA bank is opened in Lucknow.
Pluto, the 9th planet of solar system, was demoted from planet status in 2006 is now called’ Plutoids’.
Jason-2, a French- USA satellite was launched in 2009. It will monitor rising sea levels and current
movement. ‘Gegeneiphis Seshachari’ first viviparous ( those that do not lay eggs) was discovered in
western Ghat. It is the first viviparous creature to be found in Asia.
International Lunar Network, is a initiative that provide new insights into the Moon’s surface and its
interior composition- critical inputs for the future colonialist. India has signed for the mission to put
together a network of robotic science stations on the Moon. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Korea, UK, USA and India have joined hands for six to eight stations of the Lunar Network. USA
places first two Lunar Network Landers on the lunar surface in 2013-14. India has also scheduled to
launched Chardrayaan-II in collaboration with Russia in 2012-13.
LHC Project : Large Hadron Collidor Project is operated by European Organisation for Nuclear
Research (CERN) at Geneva on 10 Sep, 2008, at Franco- Swiss border. In actual CERN stand for
Conseil European pour la Recharche Nucleaire, in French language. CERN was founded in 1954.
Under this experiment, scientist recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang to understand the
creation and workings of the Universe. It is the most expansive scientific experiment to date, it cost $
3.8 billion or Rs.16,340 crore. . CERN has 20 nations as member. India, Japan, Russia and US are
the observer countries.
Hadron : A particle with mass made up of smaller units called quarks that are bound together. Protons
and Electrons are types of hadron. Higgs Boson : A theoretical particle which is thought to give matter
its mass, known as the ‘God Particle’. First proposed by Peter Higgs in 1964. The particle was named
after an Indian physicists S.N.Bose. The LHC experiment should confirm whether it exists or not.
Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) operates the 17 reactors in six states, to produce 4120 MW of
electricity.
Brain Fingerprinting : It is an electronic test of a specific kind of brain wave that can identify
incriminating information despite an individual’s attempt to conceal the knowledge. It is a type of signal
in the brain kwown as P300 wave, so called because it is an involuntary response to a recognized
object or piece of information that happens within 300 milliseconds.
Carbon Footprint : It is a measure of the impact human activites have on the environment in terms of
the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of Carbon Dioxide.
Global Positioning System Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) : It is a satellite based
process developed jointly by the ISRO and the Airport Authority of India. Govt recently approved the
system that will help airlines to choose the best and most fuel saving routes. GAGAN would be in
place by 2011 and make flying much safer.
Govt set a ten year deadline for the blending of petrol and diesel with 20 % bio-fuel. Govt approved
the implementation of National Biofuel Policy that has set an indicative target of blending 20 % ethanol
in petrol and non-edible oil from plants like Jatropha in diesel by 2017. At present, 5% ethanol
blending in petrol is mandatory across the country except J&K, NE states. India is the world’s second
largest producer of sugar after Brazil. Ethanol is produced from molasses, a sugar by product.
10th planet discovered called ‘Xena’ or 2003 UB 313.
A new ozone hole discovered over Tibet.
Anoushah Ansari is the first woman space tourist in the world.
Namira Salim, first Pakistani women astronaut, sent in space by NASA in 2008.
Agni 5 missile is in design stage. It has a maximum range of 5000 Km as an ICBM ( Inter Continental
Ballistic Missile). Range of Agni I -700 Km, Agni-II- 2500 Km, Agni-III- 3500Km
Virgin Mothership ‘Eve’ is designed to reach an altitude of 50000 feet and release space Ship Two,
which will transport passengers to space.
S-500 – Russia is developing a fifth generation surface to air rocket which is cabable of engaging
ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 Km per second.
ISRO unveil ‘Bhuvan’, its version of Google Earth. It is a 3 D mapping tool.
Google unveiled a new version of its search engine called ‘ Caffeine’.
‘Weblog’ first coined by Jorn Barger in 1997. The contracted name ‘blog’ was coined in 1999 by Peter
Merholz.
TERI launched campaign ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ which is based on the use of solar laterns specially
designed and manufactured on a decentralized basis.
Govt approved National Solar Mission which aimed at Solar generation target of 20,000 MW by 2020.
At present solar generation capacity of India is 500 MW. National Solar Mission envisages an
investment of Rs.91,684 crore over the next 30 years. It proposes to add 20,000MW of power by 2020
and 1,00,000 MW by 2030. It aims to achieve parity with coal based thermal power generation by
2030.
According to latest findings, Malaria was first transmitted to humans by Chimpanzees.
H1N1 a new influenza virus caused Swine flu. It is a genetic code consists of 8 segments. The virus
gets its name from a combination of two proteins – hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Swine flu was
first detected in 1987. Just like humans, pigs get flu too, hence the name Swine flu. A disease that
spreads throughout the world is called Pandemic. Swine flu is termed as pandemic disease.
Govt formulate a technology mission – War for Water ( Winning, Augmentation and Renovation for
Water). It solve problem of water scarcity. CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) is a global
mechanism where green projects can be registered to earn carbon credits for trading in the
international market. India has maximum number of CDM projects in the world followed by China. One
Carbon Credit is equal to a tone of carbon saved from emission.
UN Convention on Climate Change, the global body for certifying clean projects was held at Bonn, in
Aug 2009.
UMPP (Ultra Mega Power Projects) are large sized coal based power projects having a capacity of
4000 MW involving an estimated investment of about $ 4 billion. Four UMPP has been awarded so far
in India. These are Mundra UMPP, Gujarat, Sasan UMPP, Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam UMPP,
Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya UMPP at Jharkhand.
Antares DLR-H2 motor glider is the first manned aircraft to be powered exclusively with a hydrogen
fuel system.
IMD (Indian Meteorological Deparment) official definition of a drought year is when more than 20 % of
the country faces a deficit of atleast 25 % of normal rainfall.
Wind power generation in India as on March 2009 is 10243 MW.
SPASER- It is the world’s smallest laser which amplifies surface plasmons- tiny oscillations in the
density of free electrons on the surface of metals which in turn produce light waves. LASER amplifies
light using a mirrored cavity to intensify it.
IIST- Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology set up at Valiamala, Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala
is the only space university in the world offering courses at the undergruate, graduate, doctoral and
post doctoral level in space technology.
The Amino acid ‘Glycine’ a fundamental building block of proteins has been found for the first time in a
comet Wild 2 by the NASA spacecraft ‘Stardust’ sent in 2004. Comet Wild 2 was named after
astronomer Paul Wild.
ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) launched first Swiss satellite built by students of Ecole
Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne to study the upper atmosphere.
‘Tobacco Atlas’ published by American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation, ranks India at
No.3 in the top 20 female smoking population across the globe. First and second place is held by USA
and China.
Former DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation) scientist K Santhanam claimed that
1998 Hydrogen bomb test at Pokhran (Rajasthan) has failed to deliver the desired result.
ISRO looses contact with Chandrayan I on 29 Aug 2009. It was launched on 22 Oct 2008 and was
designed for a two year mission in space. India has terminated the 400 crore moon mission
Chandrayan I on 30 Aug 2009. NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper placed abroad Chandrayan I
recorded presence of water molecules on Moon.
India’s first national medical research park is being set up in the Sricity SEZ on the Tamil Nadu-AP
border.
World’s first cloned wolf named ‘Snuwolf’ died in South Korea.
Ridge A in the Antarctic plateau is the world’s coldest, driest and calmest place discovered so far.
China proposed base in Antarctica is known as ‘Kunlun’ located at Dome A.
A new technique called array Comparative Genomic Hybridization(CGH) makes it possible to ensure
eggs have a normal number of chromosomes boosting the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. Baby
Oliver became the first baby in the world using this egg screening technique in London.
China overtake USA in the internet user population. Internet users in 2009 : China - 298 million, USA
– 227 million, Japan – 94 million ,India -81 million.
International Ozone Day is celebrated on 16 September every year. Theme of 2009 is ‘Universal
Participation-Ozone protection unifies the world’. Ozone layer is a deep layer in the stratosphere ,
encircling the earth that has large amounts of ozone in it. The ozone layer protects all life on land on
the surface of the ocean. Ozone molecules absorb the harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun. This
protects us from radiation that can cause skin cancer and other severe skin disorders.
Scientist discovered first rocky extrasolar planet named ‘Corot-7b’.
ISRO launch Oceansat-2 satellite on 23 September 2009, which would help identify fishing zones and
help in coastal studies. The 970 Kg spacecraft is launched by C 14 PSLV from Sriharikota. Six other
nano satellites from European countries were also launched alongwith it.
‘Copernicium’ is included in the Periodic table as a new chemical element in July 09. It’s name was
done after the famous astronomer Nicolus Copernicus.
Google is testing a new service ‘ Fast Flip’ that allows users to view news articles from dozens of
major publishers and flip through them as quickly as they would the pages of a magazine.
Planet Saturn’s 61st satellite discovered.
Scientist confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur, after discovery of
‘Australovenator Wintonensis alias Banjo’.
A new class of black hole was discovered by astronomers in 2009. A black hole is a ramnant of the
collapsed star with such a powerful gravitational field that it absorbs all the light that passes near it
and reflects nothing.
Mocrobiologists in Maharastra’s Lonar lake found magnetic bacteria therein formed due to meteorite
impact.
Present day Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere have touched the highest mark in the past 2.1
million years.
World’s first zero waste city is under construction in Abu Dhabi called Masdar City. It is to be
completed by 2016 and will be world’s first carbon neutral, zero waste city completely powered by
renewable energy.
CMERI has developed a solar electric rickshaw called ‘ Soleckshaw’ which is pollution free.
Gyroscopes are used to maintain orientation and provide stability in boats, aircrafts and space crafts.
Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning harbour wave. A massive tsunami was unleased by a
earthquake in the pacific islands of Samoa on 30 Sep,2009. The capital of Samoa is Apia.
Light combat aircraft ‘Tejas’ successfully completes its 1000th flight in Jan 09.
Indigenously built ‘Astra’ air to air missile was successfully tested at Chandipur Range, Orissa in May
09.
China’s Chang’e-1 mission successfully landed on Moon surface in March 09. It is China’s first moon
probe.
‘Princess Elizabeth’ is the name of research station established by Belgium in Antartica in Feb 09. It is
the first research station which does not emit any pollutant i.e. it is pollution free station.
China successfully conducted Artificial Snowfall.
LCROSS – Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. NASA’s LCROSS crashed two
spacecrafts into a lunar crater on 9 Oct 2009, hoping to splash ice and find out possibility of water on
Moon.
IOTWS (Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning & Mitigation System)- It was tested in 18 Indian ocean
nations on 14 Oct 2009.
‘2 Pallas’is the name of one of the largest asteroid in the solar system.
James Dyson has developed a ‘Dyson Air Multiple Fan’, a desktop cooling device with no blades.
Scientists have identified a gene ‘TMPRSS6’ which is responsible for causing anaemia.
Neutrinos are elementary particles key to understanding how the universe evolved. Govt proposed to
set up Rs.900 crore Neutrino observatory at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve at Masinagudi in Tamil Nadu.
Epi -genome are the pattern of chemical switches in 200 types of human cell. A team led by Joseph
Ecker produce the first complete map of the human epi- genome.
NASA launched Ares 1-X rocket. It is first flight test of NASA’s next generation space craft and launch
vehicle system which will replace shuttle system.
There are 61 greenhouse gases that are together called Carbon Dioxide equivalent.
ICAR scientist discovered a new sub species of the ‘mite’ variety of insect and named it ‘Mangalaus’.
International Antartic Treaty Expedition 2009 was made from 15 to 30 Nov 2009. It started from
Ushuaia. The expedition was run by Robert Swan Obe ( only man to travel to both North & South
Poles). Drake passage is a thin body of water that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Indian scientist at Institute for Genomics & Integrative Biology sequenced the entire genome of
human. The human genome contains 3.1 billions base pairs. India is the 8th country in the world to
sequence the human genome.
Astronomers discovered a planet GJ 1214 b in the constellation called ‘ Ophiuehus’. The planet is
almost entirely made of water. ‘Ardi’ which roamed African forests 4.4 million years ago, has been
named as the ‘Scientific breakthrough of 2009’.
International Current Affairs [January 2010]

 Gilgit Baltistan region elected its first Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on the basis of Gilgit Baltistan
Empowerment & Self Governance Order 2009. The new appointed CM declare the Gilgit
Baltistan region as 5th province of Pakistan. The Indian Govt has, however, of the view that the
region was part of J & K, and thus objected to the remarks of CM.
 Venezuela devalued it currency ‘Bolivar’.
 A massive earthquake strike Haiti, the Carribbean nation. Capital of Haiti is Port-au-Prince.
 Mahinda Rajapaksa won a second term as Sri Lanka’s President. He belongs to Sri Lanka
Freedom Party.

National Current Affairs [January 2010]

 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visit India in Jan 2010. She belongs to Awami League
Party. The two countries signed five agreements – on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters,
on transfer of sentenced persons and on combating international terrorism, organized crime &
illicit drug trafficking besides MOU on cooperation in the power sector and on cultural exchanges.
India give Bangladesh a $ 1 billion line of credit, the biggest it has given to any country so far.
 South Korea President Lee Myung Bak visit India in Jan 2010. The two countries decided to
double the bilateral trade to $ 30 billion by 2014. Four facts were signed between two countries –
cooperation in peaceful use of outer space, IT, science & technology for the year 2010-12 and
transfer of sentenced persons. South Korean President was also the chief guest at 2010 Republic
Day Parade.
 Gujarat Local Authorities Law (amendment) Bill 2009- The Bill makes it the duty of a qualified
voter to vote during elections to local bodies. Voting is compulsory, but the Bill allows voters to
cast their vote in favour of none of the candidates. Election officers will declare those who fail to
vote defaulter, and serve them a notice.
 India and China has decided to start joint military exercise from 2011.
 Najib Razak, Malaysia Prime Minister visit India in Jan 2010.
 Govt launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Key highlights of the mission are :
o To create an enabling policy framework for the deployment of 20,000 MW of solar power
by 2020.
o To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability for indigenous
production and market leadership.
o To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000
MW by 2022.
o To achieve 15 million sq. meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by
2022.
o To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022.
 New Governors appointed : a) M K Narayanan – West Bengal, b)Shivraj Patil – Punjab, c)
Mohsina Kidwai – Jharkhand, d) Shekhar Dutt – Chhattisgarh, e) E S L Narasimhan – Andhra
Pradesh.
 Govt plans to create a National Gas Highway Development Authority. The present Gas Pipeline
Density in India is 3.29 Km per 1000 Sq.Km.
 Govt plans to set up a National Green Tribunal to control Carbon Emissions and pollution. It will
be responsible for implementing the low carbon roadmap to be set forth in the 12th Five Year
Plan.

Sports Current Affairs [January 2010]

  U-19 World Cup 2010 held in New Zealand from 15 – 30 Jan 2010. Javagal Srinath from India
appointed as one of the match referee for the tournament.
 Australia won the U-19 World Cup for the third time defeating Pakistan. India is placed at 6th
rank. Australia won the cup for the third time.
 Rafael Nadal won the Capitala World Tennis Championsip, held at Abu Dhabi defeating Robin
Soderling.
 Magnus Carlsen becomes the youngest World No.1 chess player at the age of 19 years breaking
the Garry Kasparov’s record when he became the world’s top ranked chess player at the age of
22 years in 1985. Magnus Carlsen is the 5th player after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and
V.Anand (India) to cross the 2800 ELO rating. In the Jan 2010 FIDE ranking, Carlsen stood at 1st
place, Topalov at 2nd place and V Anand at 3rd place.
 Marin Cilic defeated Staniglas Wawrinka to won Men’s singles title of Aircel Chennai Open.
 Pakistan’s cricketer Shahid Afridi was banned for two T20 internationals after he was found guilty
of ball tempering in a ODI against Australia.
 Corus Chess Grandmaster Tournament won by Magnus Carlsen. V.Anand of India ranked at 4th
place. Hopman Cup 2010- Spain defeated Great Britain.
 Australian Open 2010 : Women’s Single- Serena William defeated Justin Henin. It is Serena’s
5th Australian Open title. It is also Serena’s 12th Grand Slam title equaling the record of Billie
Jean King.
 Men’s Single- Roger Federer(Swiss) defeated Andy Murray(Britain). It is Federer’s 4th Australian
Open title. It is Federer’s 16th Grand Slam title.
 Men’s Double- Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan defeated Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic.
 Women’s Double – Serena Williams & Venus Williams defeated Cara Black & L Huber.
 Mixed Double – Laender Paes (India) & Cara Black (Zimbabwe) defeated Ekterina Makasova &
Jaroslav Levinsky. It is Paes’s 11th Grand Slam title.

Science and Technology Current Affairs [January 2010]

 97th Indian Science Congress held at Tiruvananthapuram in Jan 2010. The theme of this year
congress was ‘ Science & Technology of 21st Century- National Perspective’.
 The longest annular solar eclipse on the third millennium occur on 15 Jan 2010. The next annular
solar eclipse will be visible in year 3043. Annular eclipse is occurred when the sun is visible like a
ring of fire, with the moon darkening its centre. The last annular solar eclipse visible from India
was occurred in 1976. In July 2010 also, a total solar eclipse will be occurred.
 There are three strains of wild Polio virus namely P1, P2 & P3. Type 2 wild Polio virus (P2) was
eliminated from the world in 1999.
 First public hearing on the introduction of Bt Brinjal (First Genetically Modified Food Crop in India)
was held in Kolkatta. Seven such public hearing are being organized by Centre for Environment
Education, for opinion of public in respect of introduction of Bt Brinjal. 2nd hearing was held at
Hyderabad.
 50th anniversary of creation of LASER is being celebrated in 2010. Theodore Maiman
constructed the first LASER in May 1960. LASER stands for Light Amplification for Stimulated
Emission of Radiation. Charles H Townes was father of MASER.

Persons in News [January 2010]

 Billy Arjan Singh, wildlife conservationist and Padma Shri awardee died.
 P D Dinakaran, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court faces impeachement motion. The process
was initiated in the Parliament. He is the first High Court Chief Justice against whom
impeachment motion have been initiated. Justice V Ramaswami is the only judge to have faced
impeachment proceedings in parliament.
 Justice V S Sirpurkar appointed to head a three member panel to look into allegation of land grab
and misconduct against Chief Justice P D Dinakaran in the wake of impeachment motion initiated
against him in Parliament.
  Fahmida Mirza is the first woman Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly.
 Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket team captain, has been named as ESPN Cricinfo Player of the
Decade for 2000.
 Jyoti Basu, former West Bengal Chief Minister, died.
 Mrinal Pande, appointed as Chairman, Prasar Bharti Board.
 Lee Myung Bak, South Korea President was the Chief Guest at 2010 Republic Day Parade.
 Shiv Shankar Menon is appointed as National Security Advisor.
 Vikram Srivastava appointed as Director General of CRPF(Central Reserve Police Force).
 Ranjit Kumar Bhatia appointed as Director General of ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police).

Books & their Authors [January 2010]

 ‘All that you can’t leave behind’ written by Soumya Bhattacharya.

 ‘We Must Have No Price’ written by Arun Sourie.
 ‘Train to India- Memories of another Bengal’ written by Maloy kumar Dhar.
 ‘Not by Reason alone : The Politics of Change’ written by N K Singh.
 ‘Five Point Someone’ written by Chetan Bhagat.
 ‘Nehru : The invention of India’ written by Shashi Tharoor.
 ‘The Museum of Innocence’ written by Orhan Panuk.
 ‘Thoughts on Linguistic States’ written by B R Ambedkar.

International Current Affairs [February 2010]

 NATO forces carried out Marjah operation (dubbed Moshtarak) against Taliban forces in
Afghanistan.
 European Union summit was held in Brussels. EU & IMF decided to giving support to Greece in
its struggle to bring its ballooning budget deficit under control. EU President is Herman Van
Rompuy.
 Iran’s President Mahmood Ahmedinejad declared that Iran had produced first batch of 20 %
enriched uranium and now Iran became a nuclear state.
 Iran launched ‘Kavoshger -3 rocket’ capable of carrying a satellite. It carried a mouse, worms &
two turtles.

National Current Affairs [February 2010]

 Kirit Parikh committee , set up to review petro pricing regime, submit its recommendation. Its
major recommendation are to deregulate the prices of petrol & diesel as per market prices,
reduce the subsidy on LPG.
 India signed a Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the UK, which became the 8th country
to enter into such a pact, since the lifting of atomic trade embargo in 2008.
 Govt set up a panel under the Chairmanship of former Justice B N Srikrishna which would
consider the demand for splitting Andhra Pradesh.
 India and Denmark signed a social security pact which will relieve their workers from double
taxation and provide for cooperation in areas of labour market expansion and orderly migration.
 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Saudi Arabia in Feb 2010. He was the first Indian PM in
28 years to visit the gulf country. Saudi Arabia is India’s largest supplier of crude oil ( 23 %)
followed by Iran ( 17 %) and Nigeria ( 11 %). India is offering upto 10 % equity to Saudi petroleum
firm Saudi Aramco in a refinery being built in Orissa. PM addressed the Shoura council of Saudi
Arabia.
 Constitution 111th Amendment – Proposes to incorporate a new Part ( Part IX B) in the
Constitution so as to provide for legal framework to regulate the functioning of cooperative
societies. A new Article ( Article 43 B) is also proposed to be inserted in Part IV of the
 Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) for the States to promote voluntary formation,
autonomous functioning of cooperative societies.
 Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009 commonly known as Nuclear Liability Bill will be
introduced by Govt in Parliament in Winter session 2010. The draft bill aims at limiting the liability
of a nuclear plant operator to Rs. 300 crore in the eventuality of an accident. The bill provides for
the penalty to be paid by the operator and not the supplier companies which would mainly be
American in this case. India has entered into civil nuclear cooperation agreement with eight
countries so far.

Sports Current Affairs [February 2010]

 11th South Asian Games 2010 : Held at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 Jan to 8 Feb. Originally
scheduled to take place in 2009, but due to general elections in Bangladesh, the games were
held in 2010. This was the third time that the Dhaka hosted the Games, thus becoming the first
city to hold the games three times. 8 countries participated in the games in 23 different sports,
including T20 cricket, which was introduced for the first time in SAG. The 8 countries included are
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. 1The logo of the
games was ‘Kutumb’, a flying doel , which is the national bird of Bangladesh. The mascot of the
games featured a magpie robin, which was holding the torch to begin the games. The final medal
tally include : India - 1st place with 90 G 55 S 29 B Total 174, Pakistan- 2nd place with 19 G 25 S
36 B Total 80, Bangladesh- 3rd place with 18 G 23 S 56 B Total 97.
 West Zone won Duleep Trophy ( 2009-10) defeating South Zone.
 India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar won the Asian Tour International Trophy 2010. It is his 2nd consecutive
title.
 Euro 2012 to be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held at Vancouver, Canada. Mascot of the game was MIGA (a
sea bear), QUATCHI( a sasquatch) and SUMI (animal guardian spirit). The logo of the games
was Ilnaaq meaning Friend in Inuktut. There were 86 events in 7 sports. The games were held
from 12 Feb to 28 Feb. Final medal tally. Canada- 14 G 7 S 5 B, Germany- 10 G 13 S 7 B, USA-
9 G 15 S 13 B.
 IOC (International Olympic Committee ) has approved ICC (International Cricket Council) bid to
join the Olympic games 2020. The first time cricket was included in the Olympic games was in
Paris Olympic 1900.
 11th World Hockey Cup 2010- To be held in Delhi, India. This is 2nd WHC which India is hosting.
India also hosted the WHC in 1982 at Mumbai. 12 countries participated in the tournament. WHC
is held in the years between two summer Olympics. First WHC was held at Barcelona in 1971.
Pakistan has won the cup four times, Netherland three times, Germany two times, India &
Australia once each. India won the WHC in 1975.
 Sachin Tendulkar became first player in the world to score a double century in ODI (One day
International). He scored 200 (Not out) against South Africa.
 Commonwealth Shooting Championship was held in New Delhi in Feb 2010. India stood at first
place with 35 Gold 25 Silver and 14 Bronze. England stood at 2nd place with 4 gold and Wales
stood at 3rd place.

Science and Technology Current Affairs [February 2010]

 USA Space agency NASA launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to discover the causes
of extreme solar activity such as sun spots and solar winds & flares.
 ‘GANGES’- Global Advisory Network Group on environmental sciences. It was created by Govt
for environment research work.
 Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 Km was successfully launched from Wheeler Island,
Orissa.
 Ht Cotton – Herbicide Tolerant Cotton. The variety of Ht Cotton in MON 1445. The variety can
withstand herbicides (weed killers) for better productivity and is under trail.
  Cervical cancer is caused by HPV- Human Papilloma Virus.
 South Korea has world’s highest average connection speed at 14.6 Mbpd in Internet links. Japan
has 2nd highest average speed.
 Scientist deciphered the genetic blueprint of South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Titu.

Persons in News [February 2010]

 Horst Kochler , Germany President visit India in Feb 2010.

 Abdullah Gul, Turkey President visit India in Feb 2010.
 Economist Kokkadan Nandanath Raj, who made a significant contribution in the preparation of
first Five Year Plan(1951-56) died.
 Sharad Chandra Sinha is appointed as Director General of National Investigation Agency(NIA).
 Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President visit India in Feb 2010.
 Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob of Malaysia appointed Chairman, International Atomic Energy
Agency.
 Govt appointed R S Pandey as its mediator for talk with NSCN(IM) in Nagaland to carry forward
the peace process.
 Former Justice P V Reddy will be appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of India.
 Ram Baran Yadav, Nepal President visit India in Feb 2010. It was the first visit by Yadav to any
foreign country after taking over as Nepal’s President. Yadav is the first President of Nepal since
monarchy ended in 2008. India extended $ 250 million soft line of credit to Nepal.
 Rajinder Singh became first non-white and also first Asian member of the right wing British
National Party, after it amended its constitution to allow black and Asian to be its member.
 Amitabh Bachan became the brand ambassador of Gujarat state.
 Amnesty International, the global human right organization has appointed Salid Shetty as its next
Secy General from June 2010. He will be the first Indian to head the organization.
 Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol become the first Indian bollywood actors to ring the opening bell of the
world’s biggest stock exchange’ NASDAQ’.
 Rajiv Satav appointed President, Indian Youth Congress.
 Katrina Kaif awarded with 2009 Excellence in Performing Arts Award established by
ASSOCHAM.
 M H Hussain, famous painter accepted citizenship of Qatar.

Economics [February 2010]

 Planning Commission grant special category status to the Bundelkhand region comprising 9 distt
of Uttar Pradesh and 15 distt of Madhya Pradesh for the irrigation projects. Under special
category status, state govt can seek 90 % grant assistance from the centre and 10 % as loan.
 Govt revises base year for the calculation of National Income from 1999-2000 to 2004-2005. The
GDP for 2009-10 will be Rs. 55,74,449 crore and the fiscal deficit for the corresponding period will
be 6.4 %.
 Capital Control – Foreign capital inflows in the form of loans and equity that are allowed in a
restricted form are said to be controlled. The capital inflows include foreign borrowings by Indian
corporate and businesses, NRI deposits and portfolio flow from institutional investors into the
stock market. Loans to Govt and short term trade credit are also included. India had control on
both capital account transactions as well as on current account with the local currency fixed by
the Central Bank. In 1991, rupee was first made convertible on the current account. In 1994, Govt
allows foreign portfolio investments.
 Govt will replace Benchmark Prime Lending System (BPLR) with Base rate system from 1 April
2010 to make bank lending more transparent. It provided for minimum rate for all types of loans
for banks.

Misc Issues [February 2010]

  Milan 2010, a biennial meeting of navies of Asia Pacific countries held at Port Blair in Feb 2010.
12 countries of Asia Pacific Region participated in it. It is the 7th edition of Milan exercises. It is a
biennial exercise of Asia Pacific maritime navies, hosted by the Indian Navy. First Milan exercise
was held in 1995.
 ‘Vayu-Shakti’ name given to IAF exercise conducted at Pokhran range in the Thar desert in Feb
2010. IAF is the 4th largest air force in the world after USA, Russia and China.
 ‘Bo’ language of Andaman become extinct. Its last speaker died.
 As per Indian Meteorological deptt, 2009 was the warmest year since 1990. The annual mean
temperature for 2009 was 25.55 degree celcius for the country s as a whole.
 Uttarakhand became first state in the country to ban the cultivation of Bt Brinjal ( Country’s first
Genetically Modified food crop). Bt Brijnal is a genetically modified crop which has a special
gene- Cry1AC, inserted to make it poisonous to pests. GM Crops resists pests and give better
yields as well as nutrition. Bt Brinjal is developed in India by Mahyco company. GM foods are
derived from organisms whose DNA has been modified through genetic engineering.
 China ranked 1st in the wind power capacity in the world. India is at 5th place with 10925 MW
capacity. The five top nations in the order of wind power capacity are China, US, Spain, Germany
& India.
 Eurozone is a economic and monetary union of 16 EU member states which have adopted the
euro currency as their sole legal tender. PIIGS countries include Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece &
Spain.
 17 army jawans killed in a avalanche at High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) at Khilanmarg,
J&K.
 West Bengal govt reserved 10 % of govt jobs in the state for poor muslims.
 China will celebrate 2010 as Year of Tiger.
 India has a road network of 33 lakh km and is second largest in the world. It included 200 km of
expressway, 70548 km of national highways, 131899 km of state highways, 467763 km of major
district roads and 26.5 lakh km of rural & other roads. The Golden Quadrilateral joining four metro
cities of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkatta, has a length of 5846 km.
 Taj Mahotsav organized by UP govt in Feb 2010 with the theme ‘Ek Utsav Prem Ka’.
 Vancouver city, Canada named as the World’s most livable city as per survey conducted by
Economics Intelligence Unit. Delhi is ranked at 113th place and Mumbai at 117th place.
 16th Conference of Parties (COP) will be held in Dec 2010 at Mexico. The 15th COP was held in
Copenhagen in Dec 2009.
 Hyderabad International Airport has been named amongst the world’s five top airports. Other four
airports are Seol, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.
 ’1000 faces for 1000 tigers’ campaign was launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The campaign
aims to help double the number of wild tigers in Malaysia by 2022.
 Sachin Tendulkar features in BMC’s ‘Save Water Campaign’.
 Indian Navy inducted Russian built MiG 29 K fighters planes.
 Basic Capabilities Index 2009- India received 68 points. The index was published by Social
Watch’s. The highest BCI points was given to Iran having 97 points and lowest points 44 was
given to Chad.
 K R Sridhar, an US based Indian scientist invented Bloom Box- which convert air and virtually any
other fuel source into clean electricity. The box uses solid oxide fuel cells and can generate 100
KW of power.
 Present life expectancy of life at birth in India is 63.4 yrs. The highest expectancy of life is in
Australia of 81.4 yrs, 81 yrs for France and 79.3 yrs for England.
 World Cancer Day – 04 Feb
 International Condom Day – 14 Feb

International Current Affairs [March 2010]

 China will launch in 2011 unmammed space mode ‘ Tiangong I’ for its future space laboratory.
 US internet giant Google close its business in China.
  India’s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel buy Zain’s Africa operations for an enterprise
value of $ 10.7 billion (Rs 49000 crore). Currently Bharti’s non-India operations include Sri Lanka
& Bangladesh.
 Russia abolished two of its eleven time Zones.

National Current Affairs [March 2010]

 Govt launched National Mission for Empowerment of Women aimed at inter-sectoral

convergence of all pro- women programmes.
 Constitution 108th Amendment Bill 2008 commonly known as women’s reservation bill was
passed by Rajya Sabha by 186 in favour 1 against 39 abstained (Current strength of Rajya
Sabha is 233). The bill seeks to reserve a third of the seats on the Lok Sabha and state
assemblies for 15 years on a rotational basis. It was first introduced in 1996. Sharad Joshi, an
independent MP is the only MP which cast vote against the bill. In the present Lok Sabha, there
are 59 women MPs out of 543 MPs. Total MLAs in 29 state assemblies in India are 4093.
 Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Vishakhapatnam (AP) are choosen for a pilot project on saving
household energy by replacing incandescent lamps with CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps).
 Earth Hour 2010 has been celebrated on 27 March organized by World Wide Fund for Nature,
India. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are official Earth Hour Cities among 15 Indian cities.
 Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia visit India in March 2010.
 Supreme Court allowed religion based 4 % reservations in Govt jobs & educational institutes in
Andhra Pradesh. It extended the benefit to 14 OBC in muslims in the state. The matter is further
referred to Constitutional bench of Supreme Court.
 ’Bold Kurushetra’ a joint armour exercise between India and Singapore was held at Jhansi(UP).
 Prohibition of unfair practices in technical, medical educational institutions & universities Bill is
passed by Govt. It provided for 3 year imprisonment and a fine of upto Rs 50 lakh for higher
education providers guilty of misleading students.
 Govt approved Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry & Operation) Bill 2010. It
provides foreign universities to set up campuses in India.
 Govt amends Anti Hijacking Act 1982. It now provides for death sentence to the hijackers.
 Govt starts the scheme for creation of the National Population Register (NPR) of Indian residents.
The project will cover an estimated 1.2 billion people and total cost of the project will be Rs.
3539.24 crore.
 India became 1st country in the world to have a ‘manoeuvrable’ supersonic cruise missile, when it
successfully test fired 290 km range Brahmos missile.
 Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visit India in March 2010.

Sports Current Affairs [March 2010]

 Tamil Nadu defeated West Bengal to won Vijay Harare Cricket Trophy.
 Australia won World Hockey Cup 2010 defeating Germany. India ranked at 8th place.
 India won six gold medal in the Commonwealth Boxing Championship held at Delhi.
 Two new IPL teams, Kochi was auctioned for Rs 1533 crore and Pune was auctioned for Rs 1702
crore. Kochi was auctioned to Rendezvous Adventure Sports Ltd. Pune was auctioned to Sahara
Adventure Sports Ltd.

Persons in News [March 2010]

 Rajan Bharti Mittal appointed President FICCI.

 Major Dimple Singla became first women army officer in the country who has been sentenced to
imprisonment for corruption.
 Bhubneshwar Kalita has been choosen as the Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent at
Commonwealth Games 2010.
  Cricketer Kapil Dev has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
 Former Supreme Court judge P V Reddy appointed as Chairman, Law Commission of India.
 Lt Gen V K Singh appointed as new Army Chief.
 Sonia Gandhi appointed head of National Advisory Council. NAC advice the govt on policy
matters, monitor flagship programmes and prepare the ground for other pro-poor legislatures.
 Lyricist Javed Akhtar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Dr Ram Dayal Munda, Dr Balchandra Mungekar and
Kannada Actress B Jayashree are among other persons nominated to Rajya Sabha.
 Austrian base jumper Felix Baumgartnar will became the first person to leaps from the edge of
space at a height of 37 km above earth’s surface. He become the first man to break the speed of
sound hitting a top speed of about 11000km/hr. He will jump on 11 April 2010.
 Katie Spotz became the youngest person to complete a solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
 Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepal Ex Prime Minister died. He was 5th time Nepal PM.

Awards Current Affairs 2010 [March 2010]

 Oscar Awards 2010

o Best Director- Kathryn Bigelow for The Heart Locker. She became first women to win the
Oscar for best director.
o Best Film- The Heart Locker.
o Best Actor- Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart.
o Best Actress- Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side.
o Best Supporting Actor –Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds.
o Best Supporting Actress –Mo’Nique for Precious.
o Best foreign language film- The Secret in their Eyes, from Argentina.
 Amitabh Bachchhan honoured with lifetime achievement award at 34th Hong Kong International
Film Festival.
 Surjit Pater has been awarded with 19th Saraswati Samman 2009 for ‘Lafzan Di Dargah’.
 Moortidevi Award was given to the Law Minister M Veerappa Moily for his work Shri Ramayan
Mahanveshanam.
 Vyas Samman 2009 was awarded to Amar Kant for his work ‘Inhin Hathiyaron Se’.

Misc Issues [March 2010]

 Brahan Natyanjali 2010 festival was organized to celebrate 1000 years of Tanjavur temple in
Tamil Nadu which was built by Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola in 1010 AD.
 192 year old Presidency College of Kolkatta (India’s oldest college) converted into Presidency
University. It became 18th state university in West Bengal.
 Railways started ‘Maharajas Express’ from Kolkatta to Delhi. It is a tourist train having stoppage
at Gaya, Varanasi, Bandhavgarh, Gwalior, Khajuraho and Agra.
 The book ‘Way to go’ written by Upamanyu Chatterjee.
 The book ‘Wide Angle’ written by cricketer Anil Kumble.
 The book ‘El Sari Rojo’ written by Javier Moro, is on the life of Sonia Gandhi.
 World TB Day celebrated on 24 March.
 Constitution 112th Amendment Bill 2009 seeks to amend following clauses of Article 243T of the
Constitution that provides for reservation of seats for SC & ST and also for women in Urban Local
bodies : a) In clause (2) for the word ‘one third’, the word ‘one half’ shall be substituted, b) In
clause (3) the word ‘one third’ , the word ‘one half shall be substituted
Head of Important Offices (International)
Secretary-General, United Nations
Ban Ki-moon
Organisation

Ms. Asha-Rose Migiro Deputy Secretary-General, UN.

Robert Zoellick President, World Bank.

Managing Director, International Monetary

Dominic Strauss-Kahn
Fund (IMF)

Irina Bokova Director-General, UNESCO.

Dr. Margaret Chan Director-General, WHO.

Director-General, Food and Agricultural

Jacques Diouf
Organisation

Director-General, International Labour

Juan Somavia
Organisation

Executive Director, United Nations

Ann M. Veneman International Children's Emergency Fund
(UNICEF)

Antonio Guterres UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Administrator, United Nations

Helen Clark
Development Programme

Secretary-General, United Nations

Dr. Supachai
Conference on Trade and Development
Panitchpakdi
(UNCTAD)

Secretary-General, Oranisation of
Angel Gurria Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD)

Ms. Rosalyn Higgins President, International Gourt of Justice

Haruhiko Kuroda President, Asian Development Bank

Donald Kaberuka President, African Development Bank

 President, International Olympic
Jacques Rogge
Committee

Kamalesh Sharma Secretary-General, Commonwealth

Muammar Qaddafi Chairman, African Union

Pascal Lamy Director-General, WTO

High commissioner, UN High Commission

Ms. Navanethan Pillay
for Human Rights

Jerzy Buzek President, European Union

David Morgan President, International Cricket Council

Raul castro Secretary-General, Non-Aligned Movement

Jose Manuel Durao

President, European Commission
Barroso

Kandeh K. Yumkella Director-General, UNIDO

Abdul-Rahman bin Secretary-General, Gulf Co-operation

Hamad Al-Attiyah council

Secretary-General, Organisation of Islamic

Ekmeleddin Ihanoglu
Conference

Secretary-General, Organisation of
Abdallah Salem el-Badri
American States

President, South-West African People's

Hifikepunye Pohamba
Organisation (SWAPO)

director-General, International Atomic

Mr. Yukiya Amano
Energy Agency (IAEA)

Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Organisation (NATO)

Dr. Abdul Waheed Khan Director, Commonwelath of Learning

Chairman, Commonwealth Parliamentary

Hashim Abdul Halim
Association
Ms. Thoraya Ahmed
Executive Director, UNFPA
Obaid

Dr. Surin Pitsuwan Secretary-General, ASEAN

Q.A.M.A. Rahim Secretary-General, SAARC

President, International Amateur Athletic

Lamine Diack
Federaton (IAAF)

Michael Griffin Chief of NASA (USA)

Ms. Irene Zubaida Khan Secretary-General, Amnesty International

   

Chief
States Capital Governors
Ministers
Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad Mr. E.S.L. Narasimhan Mr. K. Rosaiah
Arunachal Mr. Dorjee
Itanagar Gen.(Retd.) J.J. Singh
Pradesh Khandu
Mr. Tarun
Assam Dispur Shri Janaki Ballav Pattanaik
Gogoi
Mr. Nitish
Bihar Patna Mr. Devanand Konwar
Kumar
Dr. Raman
Chhatisgarh Raipur Shri Shekhar Dutt
Singh
Mr. Digambar
Goa Panaji Dr. Shivinder Singh Sidhu
v. Kamat
Mr. Narendra
Gujarat Gandhi Nangar Dr. Kamla Beniwal
Modi
Mr. Bhupinder
Haryana Chandigarh Mr. Jagannath Pahadia
S.Hooda
Himachal Mr. Prem
Shimla Ms. Urimila Singh
Pradesh Kumar Dhumal
Jammu and Srinagar(Summer) Mr. Omar
Mr. N.N. Vohra
Kashmir Jammu(Winter) ) Abdullah
Shri Shibu
Jharkhand Ranchi Shri M.O.H Farook
Soren
Mr. B.S.
Karnataka Bengaluru Mr. Hans Raj Bhardwaj
Yeddyurappa
Mr. V.S.
Kerala Thiruvananthapuram Mr. Ramkrishna S. Gavai
Achuthanandan
Mr. Shivraj
Madhya Pradesh Bhopal Mr. Rameshwar Thakur
Singh chauhan
Maharashtra Mumbai Shri K. Shankarnarayanan Mr. Ashok
 Chavan
Mr. Okram
Manipur Imphal Mr. Gurbachan Jagat
Ibibo Singh
Mr. D.D.
Meghalaya Shillong Mr. R.S. Mooshahary
Lapang
Mr.
Mizoram Aizawl Lt.Gen.(Retd)M.M.Lakhera
Lalthanhawla
Nagaland Kohima Shri. Nikhil Kumar Mr. Neiphiu Rio
Mr. Naveen
Orrissa Bhubaneshwar Mr. M.C. Bhandare
Patnaik
Mr. Parkash
Punjab Chandigarh Shri Shivraj Patil
Singh badal
Shri Shivraj Patil, Governor of Mr. Ashok
Rajasthan Jaipur
Punjab (Additional Charge) Gehlot
Mr. Pawan
Sikkim Gangtok Mr. Balmiki Prasad Singh
Chamling
Mr. M.
Tamil Nadu Chennai Shri Surjit Singh Barnala
Karunanidhi
Shri Dnyandeo Yashwantrao Mr. Manik
Tripura Agartala
Patil Sarkar
Mr. Ramesh
Uttarakhand Dehradun Ms. Margaret Alva
Pokhriyal
Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Mr. B.L. Joshi Ms. Mayawati
Mr. Buddhadeb
West Bengal Kolkata Shri M.K. Narayanan
Bhattacharjee

Film Fare Award 2010

Best Film 3 Idiots

Best Director Raj Kumar Hirani (3 Idiots)

Best Actor (Male) Amitabh Bachchan (Paa)

Best Actor (Female) Vidya Balan (Paa)

Best Supporting Actor (Male) Boman Irani (3 Idiots)

Best Supporting Actor (Female) Kalki Koechlin (Dev D)

Best Music A R Rahman (Delhi 6)

Irshad Kamil (Aaj din chadya, Love

Best Lyrics
aaj Kal)

Best Playback (Male) Mohit Chauhan (Masakali, Delhi 6)

Kavita Seth - Iktara, Wake up Sid 

Best Playback (Female) Rekha Bhardwaj, Genda phool, Delhi
6

Critics' Award for Best Director Nandita Das, Firaaq

Ranbir Kapoor, Wake up Sid. Ajab

Critics' Award for Best Actor (Male)
Prem.., Roket Singh

Critics' Award for Best Actor (Female) Mahie Gill (Dev D)

Abhijat Joshi, Raj Kumar Hirani,

Best Story
Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 3 Idiots

Abhijat Joshi, Raj Kumar Hirani,

Best Screenplay
Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 3 Idiots

Abhijat Joshi, Raj Kumar Hirani,

Best Dialogue
Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 3 Idiots

Helen Jones, Sukanta Panigrahi for

Best Production Design & Art Direction
Dev D

Best Editing Sreekar Prasad, Firaaq

Best Cinematography Rajeev Ravi, Dev D

Govardhan Vigharan, Vinay Singh

Best Visual Effects
Chuphal, Kaminey

Best Action Vijayan Master, Wanted

Best Choreographer Bosco-Caeser, Chorbazari, Love Aaj

 Kal

Best Background Score Amit Trived, Dev D

Best Sound Design Manas Chaudhary, Firaaq

Best Costumes Vaishali Menon, Firaaq

R D Barman Award for New Musical Talent Amit Trivedi, Wake Up Sid, Dev D

Ayaan Mukherji - Wake Up Sid; Zoya

Best Debut
Akhatar- Luck By Chance

Lifetime Achivment Awards Shashi Kapoor & Khayyam

Geographical Sobriquets
Surname Name

Bengal’s Sorrow Damodar River

Blue Mountains Nilgiri Hills

City of Sky-scrapers New York

City of Seven Hills Rome

City of Dreaming Spires Oxford

City of  palaces Kolkata

City of Golden Gate San Francisco

City of Magnificent Buildings Washington D.C.

City of Eternal Springs Quito(S.America)

China’s Sorrow Hwang Ho

Cockpit of Europe Belgium

Dark Continent Africa

Emerald Isle Ireland

Eternal City Rome

Empire City New York

Forbidden City Lhasa (Tibet)

Garden City Chicago

Gate of Tears Strait of Bab-el Mandeb

Gateway  of India Mumbai

Gift of the Nile Eqypt

Granite City Aberdeen (Scotland)

Hermit Kingdom Korea

Herring Pond Atlantic Ocean

Holy Land Jerusalem

Island Continent Australia

Island of Cloves Zanzibar

Isle of Pearls Bahrein (Peesian Gulf)

Key of the Mediterranean Gibralter

Land of Cakes Scotland

Land of Golden Fleece Australia

Land of Maple Leaf Canada

Land of Midnight Sun Norway

Land of the Thousand Lakes Finland

Land of the Thunderbolt Bhutan

Land of white Elephant Thailand

Land of Five Rivers Punjab

Land of Thousand Elephants Laos

Land of Rising Sun Japan

Loneliest Island Tristan De Gunha (Mid-Atlantic)

Manchester of Japan Osaka

Pillars of Hercules Strait of Gibraltar

Pearl of the Antilles Cuba

Playground of Europe Switzerland

Quaker City Philadelphia

Queen of the Adriatic Venice

Roof of the World The Pamirs

Rose Pink City Jaipur

Sugar bowl of the World Cuba

Venice of the North Stockholm

Windy City Chicago

Whirteman’s grave Guinea Coast of Africa

Yellow River Huang Ho (China)