International Current Affairs 2010

 Sri Lanka abandons Tamil version of its national anthem

The Sri lankan government has decided to scrap the tamil version of the national anthem in its
official and state functions. This move may possibly further alienate the tamil minorities in the
country. A directive to use only the Sinhalese version as been sent by the ministry as president
Rajapakse pointed out that no country uses two versions of the anthem.
 China reveals world’s fastest train
China unveiled its new high speed train CRH380 that can clock a maximum speed of 486.1
kmph. It is said to be much faster than even the bullet trains of Japan. At a cruising speed of 380
this is certainly a major accomplishment. China on its part has gone ahead and is now working on
a model that is expected to clock 600kmph.
 Mark Zuckerberg, Times Person Of The Year
Times magazine has named Mark Zuckerberg as the person of the year . Mr Zuckerberg is the
founder of thesmash hit social networking site Facebook and is also the world youngest billionaire
currently. Although, Julian Assange the editor in chief of wikileaks was the pick of the time
readers, but Zuckerberg won because of the scope and reach his website and how it has touched
and remodeled our thoughts on social networking bringing the world that much more closer.
Facebook has reached 500 million users this year all around the globe and the numbers are still
counting.

National Current Affairs 2010

 CBI seeking closure in Arushi Talwar case.

CBI has sought closure after being unable to comprehensively solve the Arushi Talwar murder
case which has hogged the limelight for over two years now. The report claims that they have hit
a road block and lack of evidence as main reasons for not being able to solve the case. However
the report as named the victims father Dr Rajesh Talwar as a possible suspect.
 Chandra Babu Naidu ends fast
Telugu Desam Party president finally ended his hunger strike of eight days on the insistence of
visiting leaders like Thambi Durai, Arunkumar, Amba Durai, Maitreya, Prakash Karat, Bardan, Om
Prakash Choutala, Sharad Yadav and Ajit Singh. Mr Naidu undertook the fast citing that the
Andhra Govt should revise its compensation package for the rain hit farmers of the state. The
visiting leaders promised Mr Naidu that they would bring the issue to the notice of the Prime
Minister Mr Manmohan Singh by taking an all party delegation to New Delhi.
 Congress blames Sanjay Gandhi for the emergency excesses
The congress party which is celebrating its 125th birthday this month has accused Sanjay Gandhi
for many of the excesses committed during the emergency of 1975-77. Sanjay Gandhi received
notoriety for many ruthless measures like slum clearance and mass sterilization programs. The
congress has always had to walk a tight rope when it comes to defending Indira Gandhis decision
to enforce emergency which led to one of the most turbulent times in Indian history since
independence.
 Citibank employee Shivraj Puri accused of fraud surrenders
Citibank employee Shivraj Puri who is said to be involved in a massive fraud, finally surrendered
to the police after almost 48 hrs since the incident came to light. Mr Puri who works as a
relationship manager has been accused of siphoning of money to the tune of 400 crores from
atleast 20 clients to other fictitious accounts.
 Opposition unrelenting on its demand in JPC probe
The opposition has been steadfast in its demand for the JPC with regard to the 2G scam. The PM
 Dr Manmohan Singh had earlier offered to appear himself before the PAC headed by BJP
stalwart Mr. Murali Manohar Joshi. The opposition still feels the JPC would be the best option that
would help to bring this case to its logical conclusion.
 Human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen convicted, gets life term
The session’s court of Raipur has convicted Dr Binayak Sen and three others on grounds of
sedition and conspiracy thereby sentencing them for life due to their links with the Maoists. Dr
Sen has been held guilty under Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act 1967, of being a conduit between Naxals and of meeting Narayan Sanyal in jail.
The trio has also been convicted under provisions of section 124 IPC (sedition) and 120 B IPC
(conspiracy). Dr Sen is a pediatrician and alumni of Christian medical college. The 58 year old
doctor has provided over 28 years of selfless service to the poorer sections of Chattisgarh.
 Prices of onions hit through the roof
The prices of onions have undergone a steep rise with a kg costing close to Rs 80 in the national
capital and its surrounding areas. Other parts of India too have started feeling the pressure and
the prices are continuously shooting up. The Government on it part has suspended the export of
onions until January in an attempt to bring down the prices. According to traders, they are
attributing the supply crunch due to torrential downpours in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Southern
states which has lead to a poor yield.
 Indias GSLV vehicle fails during launch.
ISRO suffered a serious setback when its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06)
failed on its course, forcing the team at SriHarikota to abort the mission and self destruct the
launch vehicle. The vehicles on board computer lost control of the actuation system raising
serious questions about ISROS other ambitious projects that includes a mission to the moon. The
GSAT-5P satellite which the launch vehicle was supposed to send into orbit was one of the
heaviest and cost ISRO 125 crores. Had it been successful, the satellite would have served the
needs of the telecommunication sector and the weather department. It would have eventually
replaced the INSAT-2E satellite that was sent up in 1999.
 India and China set $100bn trade target by 2015
India and China have agreed upon a new $100billion trade target by 2015 which is more than the
$6 billion agreed upon in 2010.With the arrival of Chinese PM Wen Jiabao accompanied by 400
Chinese business leaders in India, the two countries signed around 50 deals in power,steel ,wind
energy , food and marine products and telecommunications worth $16 billion. This overtakes the
$10bn of agreements signed between Indian and American businesspeople during the recent visit
of US President Barack Obama.

Sports Current Affairs 2010

 Saina Nehwal wins Honk Kong Open Super Series.

Indias star sportswoman Saina Nehwal rallied around from a one game deficit to win 15-21, 21-
16, 21-17 over Wang Shixian of China. Saina finished of her year on a wonderful note and has an
unmatched record compared to any Indian player with regard to winning the super series title.
 Sachin Tendulkar scores fifty centuries in test cricket
Sachin Tendulkar scored his fiftieth test century in the second innings of the first test against
South Africa at the Centurion. The master blaster scored his century in196 balls with 12 fours and
one six. Even thought India lost the first test Sachin’s century helped about bringing some
respectability to the proceedings. Incidentally he has also been named the ICC player of the year.
 Indian cricket teams wins its second test at Durban.
The Indian team had a poor game at the centurion where they were bundled out by an innings
and twenty five runs by their South African counterparts. The second test they came back with a
much more inspired performance with both bat and bowl leading to their first ever win in Durban
which had always troubled them in the past. India had scored 205 and 228 in their two innings
 while the South Africans could score only 131 and 215 respectively.The star of the match was
V.VS Laxman whose 96 helped India seal victory.

Persons in News December 2010

 Congress Veteran Karunakaran passes away

Veteran congress leader Karunakaran finally breathed his last after a prolonged bout of illness.
He was 92 and is survived by his daughter Padmaja Venugopal and son K Muraleedharan. He
was a four time CM of Kerala and is affectionately called ‘Leader’ by his admirers. He was known
to be a master tactician and often played the role of troubleshooter for his party.
 Premji Donates 8,846 crores to improve education in India
Aziz Premji . Chairman of WIPRO will transfer 213 million equity shares valued at 8846 crores to
an irrevocable trust for charity. This will add a lot of muscle to the Aziz Premji Foundation which
was set up few years back in its quest to improve the standard of education. The foundation will
focus on providing quality education in rural India and the the government has also pitched in to
open the Aziz Premji foundation where higher education will be provided.
International Current Affairs [October 2010]

 India gets UNSC non-permanent seat:

The biggest news on the international front for India has been its inclusion into the UNSC as a
non-permanent member after a gap of 19 years. Even as India’s acclamation for a non-
permanent bench on the body that includes fifteen members in total was an inevitable cessation
afterwards Kazakhstan back out of the chase for the Asian bench beforehand in early January.
India got an unbelievable 187 of the 191 votes in the UN General Assembly ballot on October
14th 2010. India's previous spell in the Security Council was way back in 1992. Almost
immediately afterwards India's appointment, Indian agent to the United Nations Hardeep Singh
Puri put it straight that New Delhi would make use of this couple of year valid span to build
assurance and accord a feeling of aplomb to the five non changing associates (famously known
as the P-5) - the United States of America, Russia, Britain, France and China. Considering that
Brazil, a running affiliate of the United Nation Security Council, and South Africa and Germany,
which got appointed with India, on October 14th were as well in contention for a permanent
membership, he stated: 'Of course everybody of us will attempt to bring into play the two years
we need to render our allies a feeling of aplomb and formulate trust and faith so that they are at
ease with our role playing in the United Nation Security Council on a continued period of time'.
 India and Mozambique sign 3 agreements:
India and Mozambique came together and signed three agreements and a credit band of 500
million United States dollars has been advanced to that nation state for works regarding the
infrastructure, agronomics and power during a convention that featured President of Mozambique
Armando Guebuza and Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh. Guebuza and Singh, who
captivated entrustment level converses, resolved to actualize an affiliation following the lines of
superior political meeting, deepening of bread-and-butter collaboration, deepening of defense and
aegis collaboration, distinctively to get hold of sea lanes in opposition to piracy and, cooperation
in competence building and human resource (or workforce) development. “Both of us together
accord to the aforementioned Indian Ocean association and we carve up familiar issues. It is in
our alternate absorption to ensure the assurance and aegis of sea lanes of communication in the
Indian Ocean,” Dr. Manmohan Singh said in a collective journalist statement. India will back the
enactment in preparation and setting up organizations in Mozambique to back capacity building in
the coal business and will as well back the ability formation for the defense and patrolling
personnel of that nation state, the Prime Minister alleged. Conveying worry over the assurance
and aegis of sea lanes in Indian Ocean, Guebuza promised India it will accommodate all practical
aid to safeguard them.

National Current Affairs [October 2010]

 Third stage of Bihar polling completed:

Polling was carried out affably in 48 electorates on 28th Oct 2010, estimating in the third
appearance of Bihar Assembly elections, which witnessed an approximated 53% voter
responsive. Electorates like Amnour, Taraya, Ramnagar, Balmikinagar and Patepur (Maoist
followers) account about 45%-52% voting. Voters were carried by boats in the littoral areas of
Raghopur Assembly electorate in Vaishali commune where the popular figure of Rabri Devi was
in the tussle. The better half of RJD spearhead Lalu Prasad Yadav is as well battling from
Sonepur bench in Saran constituency. More than 185 people were held during the balloting,
which saw miniature incidents of affray and fracas. Unlike on a number of occasions before, this
time Bihar polling did not see what it usually it experiences in terms of riots, booth capturing and
other forms of unrest and violence that hampers the true and the honest spirit of competition.
"Apart from this, it was nonviolent and silky," stated by Neelmani (DG of Police). Approximately
sixty cars were as well detained. In excess of one crore voters will adjudge the future of six
ministers (of the state) in the third stage. The following round i.e. stage 4 will be carried out on
Nov. 4 2010.
  UID experiences technical hiccups:
In order to overcome the challenge posed by the huge figure of people (approximately 1.03
billions) in the country, the chief of the dept. stated that the 16 digit long UID numbers will be
released in the next year and half or so. He added that the epicenter of its working will be in the
city of Bangalore. An easy remedy to the obstacles posed by the allotment of different IDs is to
have a bench where every formerly sanctioned UID are kept and a fresh one is given only
afterwards verifying that is actually a unique code. Fundamentally, we charge to break an
extremely tough difficulty in dispersed schemes once we have copies of the bench (for
dependability) and ought to accordingly respond/keep informed the table as questions are asked.
Taking the point in consideration, provided the millions of accretion objects affiliated to the web,
there is no scrutiny if a prime number selected is the similar chosen by somebody else before. If
this is to happen, it is an aegis aperture of the aboriginal order for web; the possibly is,
nevertheless, acutely undersized. Population on another instance has proven to be a major
obstacle in the development and progress course of India. UID which was anticipated to be a
huge success and particularly curb this issue is yet to combat the problem itself to even get kick
started.
 Haryana barricades polythene bags entry:
In another attempt to safeguard the environmental and not add insult to the already injured state
of the planet, like the govt. of Delhi, Haryana govt. has also decided to prohibit polythene bags in
the state. The ban includes a complete no-no of recycling, storage and usage (in any form) within
the state. A suggestion to this aftereffect has been supported by Bhupinder Singh Hooda (the
honorable Chief Minister of the state), an authorized agent said in the capital on Saturday. The
resolution was taken as it was empiric that fractional forbid on use of polythene bags of a clearly
defined array bracket did not crop the needed consequences. There was consistent ambiguity
over the array of poly bags in exercise and it had as well been discovered that nibbling of a great
number of polythene bogs had resulted in deaths of cows on a regular basis, he said. This type of
thinking and resolutions are the only way through which we can combat and better the ailing state
of the plant Earth. If all other cities and states like previously Delhi and now Haryana think about
the hazards the polythene bags can cost, we will be having better standards of health and
hygiene.

Sports Current Affairs [October 2010]

 A century of Medals in CWG 2010:

Thanks to the final in the woman badminton category that India was able to taste the sweet gland
of a century tally of medals for the very first time in any CWG edition. India had tallied 38 gold, 27
silver and 36 bronze medals which cumulatively read 101 medals. Even though India were
shattered to an 8-0 defeat by the Aussies the woman shutters’ heroics steered them to a total of
medals that read 101. India finished ahead of England (142) and behind Australia (177). The
culminating day (Oct 14th) saw the quest of an unimaginable 2nd place finish thanks to Jwala and
Ashwini. They defeated Singapore’s Sari Shanti Mulia and Yao Lei with some ease and become
the lone pair so far to win gold in women badminton (doubles). But the cherry on the cake was
put by Indian badminton pioneer – Saina Nehwal. The hosts scalped addition one inclusive of a
bronze medal when our table tennis masters Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das won in the
doubles for women bronze medal final round alongside the Australian pair. Tan Zed Vivian and
Peri Campbell-Innes. But the finals for the hockey men were a match to forget as they were
thumped by the Kangaroos scoring 8 past their goal. Going into this match with some resilient
attitude as shown in the semis, the Aussies brought them to ground by outplaying them with
power play.
 Master Blaster’s the Best; ICC admits:
Sachin Tendulkar (quite unsurprisingly) was shortlisted for the most decorated cricketing
accolade in contempt period, an award given to the greatest cricketer for the year that is named
after Sir Garfield Sobers. The Master Blaster turned out to be the second Indian to win the
accolade following the success of Rahul Dravid in the same award six years before. Afterwards
accumulating 1,000 runs in Test match cricket this calendar year more to the point becoming the
 aboriginal cricketer to score a double century in LOI cricket playing against South Africa on Feb
24th 2010 in Gwalior, Sachin completed a double of awards at the even by also winning the
famous – LG People’s Choice Award. The Men in Blue had a lot extra to applaud about as their
striking opener, Virender Sehwag, with 1,282 runs in the game’s longer adaptation, was chosen
as the Test Cricketer of the Year and M.S. Dhoni was selected as the captain of a World Test XI.
In the previous, Sehwag’s Delhi team mate as well as opening partner, Gautam Gambhir was
given this privilege. Decorated Indian off-spinner, B.S. Bedi was introduced into the Hall of Fame
(for ICC) forth along with the legendary West Indies’ fast bowlers Garner and Walsh and Rachael
Heyhoe Flint (ex-England women cricketer) The LOI (also known as ODI) Player of the Year was
bagged by the South African cricketer A.B. de Villiers.
 Kangaroos see BLUE in India:
In a highly anticipated and evenly fought cricket competition between two giants of the beautiful
game of cricket between India and Australia, the former proved to be good for the Aussies. The
Australian team over a period of time has seen its main workforce in Gilchrist, Hayden, McGrath
and others retiring had to rely majorly on the young breed of players lacking experience of play in
the Indian subcontinent. India had slipped its rank down a bit from No. 1 and was in a quest to get
it back. That’s what actually transpired. Thanks to the great heroics of Sachin along with the rest
of his teammates India were not only able to beat the Aussies but finish it as a clean sweep which
the team Down Under hadn’t experienced for quite some time. Sachin’s double ton was the
highlight of the series and imperative in order to retain the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Apart from the Test Series, India also won the ODI series without losing single game (1-0). Two
of the three matches were abandoned due to bad weather conditions while the sole game played,
India convincingly beat the Australians thanks to a solid partnership between Suresh Raina and
Mohit Tiwary. The partnership between the two batsmen helped India to chase down a total just
under 300.

Business And Economy 2010

 Inflation hits essential commodities:

Prices of seven of the most essential commodities for example that make up the most of our
meals for the day have steeped upwards by a percentage of 18 on an boilerplate for over one
year long period (Aug ’09 – Aug ’10) while per capita earnings of an boilerplate Indian citizen has
seen a surge by 10.4% (these facts have been obtained by a research from ASSOCHAM). At the
same time as prices of all kinds of staple commodities experienced an aciculate boost, alignment
amid 40%, 27%, and 26%, in that order, added necessities for daily meals saw a rising instant in
the ambit of 11%, 10%, 9% and 7% in that order. The per capita earnings of a boilerplate Indian
was seen about Rs. 40,141/- per annum in the previous financial year amplified by about Rs.
4,404/- in the current year, totaling to Rs. 44,345/- each year. The organization includes that the
acceleration in mandatory commodity prices and per capita income was absolutely uneven. The
values of condiments and spices and condiments belted quite higher from the phase in 2009
August and have seen significantly greater animation in their prices which shot up to the bar of
over 40% amid the year long period specified earlier.
 18.18 people went Mobile:
The telecom companies in India had new 18.18 million user as per records of the quarter just
ended, using the final figure of mobile users in India to 670.60 million, the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) alleged. According to facts disclosed by the telecom controller in the
second week of October, the mobile phone subscriber abject shot up from 652.42 crores in the
first quarter than ended for FY 2010, to 670.60 crores by the first month of the second quarter of
FY 2010 that took shape of a shape of 2.79 percent. The cumulative number of phone
subscribers (both wireless and fixed line) in India amplified to 706.37 crores by the last weeks of
late August from 688.38 crores in July, it further stated. With this, the all-embracing telephones
per 100 people or telephone density in India went nearly up to 59.63 percent. The advancement
in the wireless class was led by Vodafone, which has new 2.30 crore new users to yield its
subscriber abject to 113.77 crore subscribers. Just behind chasing Vodafone, PSU (govt. run)
abettor BSNL further had an enormous 2.25 crore users in early 2nd quarter of FY 2010, which
 resulted in its entire subscriber abject to 76.03 million. Telecom market baton Bharti Airtel saw
2.03 crore new users, which took its consumer abject to 141.25 million, at the same time as
Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular and Aircel had 1.98 crore new users and 1.61 cores
subscribers, in that order.
 India gets 1% of World’s Auto:
According to a study carried out by FICCI, India stands 22nd in auto exports. Indian auto industry
strives to accomplish consigns ambition of USD 12 billion in the next four years: FICCI strives 3%
allotment in all-around exports in the next six years. Despite the fact that India has coped to be
the seventh largest manufacturer of automobiles all across the globe but it continues to be a
miniature contributor in the all-around market, empiric FICCI Abstraction on Indian Auto Exports.
The share of the country in all-around automobile exports is a bare 1% in the previous year and
our country ranks 22nd in car exports declining abaft countries like Thailand and China (in Asia),
Mexico, Argentina, Brazil (North and Latin America) and Turkey (from Europe), acclaimed FICCI
Study. Regardless of this, Indian vehicle business is assured of accomplishing its consign
ambition of USD 12 billion within the next three to four years, which will be great considering the
fact it will be two years prior to the planned year of 2016 outlined in Automotive Mission Plan
2006-16. At present, India exports USD 4.5 billion of vehicles which cover tractors, commuter
cars, business cars and others like scooters and motor-bikes.
International Current Affairs [November 2010]

 Pakistan’s Initiative against Terrorism

Pakistan has been the victim of international terrorism in the past few months. As a result of this,
a top US official recently said that Islamabad should begin to crack down on terrorists and
terrorist groups operational within the country immediately. Barrack Obama, President of the
United States of America has also agreed to this statement and feels that Pakistan has been one
of the major victims of international terrorism lately. President Obama also said that Pakistan
needs to take strong and immediate steps against all terrorist groups operating on Pakistani soil.
Furthermore, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said that a
number of terrorist groups are operating in a syndicate and working together against American
interests, not just in the US but in other nations such as Afghanistan and India as well. Mr. Blake
also stated that the US has welcomed every step take by Pakistan so far and that it is in full
support of Pakistan as always.
 UN’s terrorism sanctions list
In a recent and sudden move, a US committee took down several names of al-Qaida and Taliban
terrorists off its terrorism sanction lists. The committee said that the reason for such an action
was that several of the names on the sanctions list were probably dead. The committee Chairman
Thomas Mayr Harting said that following this step, the committee had started investigations into
how many terrorists put on the list were actually dead. This committee was set up in 1999.
 New Government in Iraq
Prolonged warring and quarrels between rival political factions in Iraq had caused over an eight
month deadlock over the issue of forming the next government. Recently, the Iraqi Prime Minister
appealed to these political factions to work together and unite following his acceptance of the
President’s request to form the next government. Senior officials admitted that a Herculean task
now lay before them, that of forming a government comprising of members of all possible political
factions. The task has been made harder by the month long deadline to form the government
which will preside over the country’s affair as US troops move out and power is handed back to
the Iraqi people. The new government is expected to have members from all the political factions
such as the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. Prime Minister Designate al-Maliki called upon al Iraqi
citizens and politicians to help him in this difficult task.
 Friendly neighbor China
Rising concerns over China’s assertive and aggressive attitude in the Asian continent has
prompted China’s President Hu Jintao to assure all nations that China is committed to being a
friendly and helpful neighbor. China has been in the news recently over its spats with neighboring
nations over international borders and territories. The reason for this has been said to be China’s
interests in a group of potentially resource rich islands in the Asian Pacific. Speaking to leaders at
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Japan, President Hu said that China was
committed to the regional policy of building good neighborliness and friendship.
 Rolls Royce sued by Qantas
Australian flight safety officials have recently warned that manufacturing defects have been found
in the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines. Officials further urged airlines using these engines to carry
extensive checks before using them because defects present in them could lead to catastrophic
failures. In the meanwhile, Qantas began court proceedings against Rolls Royce and was granted
an injunction by the federal court of Australia which ensured that the airline could pursue legal
action against the engine manufacturing giants.
 Myanmar polls called fake
The first democratic polls in Myanmar after several years of military rule were held among
complaints of threats, intimidation and accusations of the polls being a charade. In most
constituencies, the poll was a competition between the Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUS). Several accusations were made by opposition
parties against the USDP, claiming that they illegally collected advanced ballots. USA and UK
officials also voiced their concerns about the transparency and fairness of these polls.
 China’s slowest growth
China had its slowest rate of economic growth in a year during the September quarter. In addition
 to this, a World Bank report hinted at a further decrease in its economic growth. One of the
reasons for this has been the long term inflation that China has faced for almost two years.
China’s industrial growth has also fallen considerably in recent times. This slow growth in China’s
economy has gotten many people to believe that India might be the next economic superpower to
rise because of its high levels of industrial and economic growth in recent times. Though not
immediately, but experts predicted India’s rate of growth to exceed that of China’s by a
considerable margin in the next five years.

National Current Affairs [November 2010]

 Sensex drops 458 points

The Bombay Stock Exchange recently fell by a total of 458 points. The reasons for the
underperformance of the Indian Equity market have been said to be the series of scams that were
unearthed from mid November. Just last month, CBI officials discovered a bribe for loan scandal
that involved several officials from financial firms and a few state run banks. The 10.8% rise in
industrial growth since last month could not help and several indices ended with huge losses.
Major loses were mainly suffered by PSUs, realty, consumer durables and healthcare.
 Satyam Trial Case
The examination of the first witness in the infamous multi crore Satyam Computer accounting
scam would begin from the first of November Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. CBI
officials submitted a list of six witnesses to the courts who were officials of a number of different
banks. All ten accused including company founder B Ramalinga Raju were present in court
during the hearing of the case. The DIG of police who operates under the department of CBI said
that the agency requested permission to set up LCD projectors and screens in the court so that
both parties could observe and take notes on all the documents that would be brought up in court.
Since cases in the Supreme Court need to be resolved at the earliest, CBI officials submitted
close to a thousand documents to the court to speed up the prosecution. The bail of the owner of
company and the other 5 individuals associated has been rejected.
 Baba Ramdev Temple under threat
An anonymous letter was received at the Ramdev Baba temple in Jaisalmer that contained
threats to blow up the temple on November 9th. District Collector G S Kushwaha received this
letter by normal post. Following this letter security around the temple and the surrounding
complex was tightened by posting additional number of policeman around the temple complex.
Around 5 million devotees are said to visit the temple every year.
 Ashok Chavan’s fate
Disgraced Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chauhan’s would be decided after the Diwali
holiday season, i.e. after November 8th said the Congress party. Recently Chief Minister Ashok
Chauhan’s name had come in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. Following this allegation, Mr.
Ashok Chauhan immediately offered to resign from his post. No mention of either the Adarsh
Housing Society scam or the commonwealth Games fiasco was made by the Congress in its
AICC session. Also present at the meeting were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, Common
Wealth Games Organizing Committee Chaiperson Suresh Kalmadi, Heavy Industries Minister
and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Maharashtra PCC President
Manikrao Thakre.
 Adjournment of Ajmer Dargah blast case
The hearing of the Ajmer Gargah blast case was recently adjourned to November 8 by a sessions
court due to leave taken by the presiding judge. Over an 800 page charge sheet was produced
before the court of the Additional Chief Judge Magistrate on the 22nd of October by the
Rajasthan ATS. The five accused in the case have alleged links with the radical Hindu group
Abhinav Bharat. Only one accused was brought to the court while the other two are being
questioned about the Hyderabad Mecca blast case. The accused have been booked under
various sections of the Indian Penal Code like conspiracy to murder, attempt to murder and
murder. Over one hundred and thirty witnesses have been cited by the prosecution of the case.
 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s concern
The finance minister of the country Pranab Mukherjee recently raised his fears over the rising of
 inflation in the country. Minister Mukherjee said that the Reserve Bank of India would take steps
at its next monetary policy review to check rising prices because of increased inflation. He further
added that rising food prices were solely the reason for this sudden inflation. Inflation for the
month of September was estimated to be close to 8.6% much above the acceptable rate of 5%.
As said by Finance Minister Mukherjee, food prices had the highest amount of inflation which in
Mid October was estimated to be over 13%. Recently, Minister Pranab Mukherjee was in talks
with the Reserve Bank of India Governor over the the possible rate hike action by the Central
Bank. The global financial crisis, which was worsened by the total collapse of financial firm
Lehman Brothers, is being said to be the reason behind the RBI’s recent reversal of its soft
monetary policy that it started back in September 2008. Adding to these has been the sudden
drop in industrial growth from 15.2% to 5.6%. To combat the aforementioned rise in inflation, the
Reserve Bank of India has hiked its key short term lending and borrowing times several times this
year.
 Protest during Obama visit by Bhopal Gas tragedy victims
Victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy are said to be planning to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar on
the 8th of November, during the time of US President Barrack Obama’s visit to the capital.
Several tonnes of the poisonous gas methyl iso-cyanide, leaked from the Union Carbide Plant in
Bhopal in 1984, killing over 3000 people the same night and causing the deaths of over 25000
people over the subsequent years. Five different voluntary organizations working for the gas
tragedy victims recently held a press conference where they stated that they would be requesting
to President Obama to use his Presidential powers to bring the Union Carbide Corporation to
Indian Courts and be answerable to them. The verdict of this case many years back had found
seven top officials of this corporation to be guilty but as these guilty persons were bailed out
within minutes of the verdict, many people till date question the justice imparted in the case. The
voluntary organizations further added that hundreds of people regularly fall sick and die every
month due to the long term poisonous effects of the leaked gas on the soil and water. They
further plan to ask President Obama for his help as the US government has been largely
unhelpful these last few years. The sit in protest organized by the voluntary organizations is said
to be comprised of over 5000 gas tragedy victims.

Sports Current Affairs [November 2010]

 Chelsea lose third match out of fourth

Birmingham City defeated Chelsea by a score of 1-0 at Birmingham City making this the third
defeat to be suffered by Chelsea in the four matches that it has played so far. This win helped
Manchester United to move up in the English Premier League rankings. Birmingham gained three
points in the rankings thanks to the one and only winning goal scored by its player Lee Bowyer.
Newcastle lost 5-1 to Bolton while West Ham lost 3-0 to Liverpool alongside Blackpool and Stoke
who claimed their respective victories. In their game against Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea let slip
past their initial lead of 2-0, to finally lose the game at a score of 3-2. The game was at a score of
2-0 till half time with Chelsea winning but a combination of lack of concentration in players and
simple bad luck cost Chelsea the match.
 Cricket in 2014 Asian Games
Rumors recently originated that cricket had been removed from the list of proposed sports and
events of the 2014 Asian games. The reason for these rumors has been said to be the decision of
the Olympic Committee of Asia to limit the number of sporting events in the Asian games to a
maximum of 35. However, these fears proved out to be false as the OCA recently confirmed the
inclusion of cricket in the list of sporting events for the Asian games 2014. For the time being
cricket and karate have been confirmed as two out of the seven non Olympic events in these
games while the other five are still to be decided. However, South Korean organizers are said to
not be in support of this decision.
 Nadal and Clijsters
Rafael Nadal continues to hold the top spot in the ATP rankings with his score being close to
11900 points while Roger Federer holds the spot of number two. On the other hand Kim Clijsters
 fell to the third position in the WTA rankings released recently followed by Serena Williams on the
fourth position.
 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Following his win in the Korean Grand Prix, third position in Brazil and third position in the
qualifiers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari looked like the possible
winner. However the title slipped out of his hands, much to his surprise and landed into the hands
of Vettel making him the youngest Formula One champion in the history of F1 racing aged just 23
years.

Persons in News November 2010

 Leslie Nielson passes away

Beloved actor Leslie Nielson best remember as bumbling police detective Lt. Frank Drebin of the
Naked Gun series of movies, passed away recently aged 84 from complications arising as a
result of Pneumonia. He was surrounded on his death bed y his loving wife, friends and long time
agent. Leslie Nielson had over a 60 year long career in motion pictures which started back in the
1950s. He was initially cast as a leading man in serious movies such as The Forbidden Planet
and Poseidon Adventure. The former flopped while the latter was a big success in its time.
However, Nielson soon found his forte in comedy movies when he first acted in the 1980 comedy
motion picture, Airplane. The movie was a huge hit and Nielson’s popularity as a comedy actor
soared. He then appeared in a number of comedy movies, the most famous of them being the
Naked Gun series, all of which were big hits. Some of these were repossessed, Dracula- dead
and loving it and Spy hard. Leslie was married thrice in his lifetime and has two daughters with
his second wife.
 I-phone versus Google Android
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc. recently praised the operating system on Google’s smart
phones. The operating system called Android was further praised by Mr. Wozniak who said that
these phones had more features to offer as compared to the I-phone. He however, further added
that while Google’s smart phones offer people more number of choices, Apple I-phones on the
other hand were much better in terms of quality.