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.

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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

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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.