Current affairs digest2

CURRENT AFFAIRS DIGEST – JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2011
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Arts, Music
India's most expensive living artist whose untitled painting sold for a record high of Rs. 7.19 crore – Tyeb Mehta
The renowned painter who passed away on 02 Sep 2011 - Jhangir Sabavala,
The renowned photographer who passed away on 13 Sep 2011 - Gautam Rajadhyaksha
Anniversaries, Centenaries, Days
The day which has been selected to be celebrated as Common Service Centre (CSC) Diwas every year to mark the incorporation of CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd on this day in 2009 – Jul 16
Appointments
International
The new and the first woman Prime Minister of Thailand – Yingluck Shinawatra
The Prime Minister-elect of Tibetan Government in exile who is to take oath on August 8 in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh – Lobsang Sangay
Naoto Kan who became The fifth Prime Minister of Japan to step down in five years was the – Naoto Kan
The Prime Minister of Nepal who assumed office in Feb 2011 only to resign in Aug 2011 – Jhalanath Khanal
The new and the first woman Prime Minister of Denmark – Helle Thorning-Schimdt
National
The new Chairperson of National Commission for Women – Sm t Mamata Sharma
The new Chief Vigilance Commissioner – Pradeep Kumar
The person appointed as the new Solicitor General of India in place of Gopal Subramaniam – Rohinton F Nariman
The new Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes – Shri M.C. Joshi
The new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand replacing Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank – BC Khanduri
The new President of Board of Cricket Control of India – N Srinivasan
Aviation
The first aircraft developed by Mahindra Aerospace (which made its maiden flight in Sep 11) in partnership with CSIR-Nal and GippsAero is named – C-NM5
International Awards
The Indian who has been awarded the 2011 Magsaysay Award for "Guiding villages to
find their own ways towards hope and progress" – Nileema Mishra
The Indian who has been awarded the 2011 Magsaysay Award for "Lighting the way to
make solar power work for the poor" – Harish Hande
The former Indian Prime Minister who has been chosen for Bangladesh's highest state honour, 'Bangladesh Swadhinata Sanmanona' – Mrs. Indira Gandhi
The person who has been chosen to receive the International Award in Statistics, jointly
instituted by Government of India and International Statistical Institute, Woorburg, The Netherlands – Prof. Victor Yohoi of Argentina
The recipient of 2011 Right Livelihood Award for his outstanding success in the
development and mass-deployment of cutting-edge technologies for harnessing solar energy – Huang Ming (China)
This country's National Institute for the Education of Adults has been awarded
the 2011 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize for its Bilingual Literacy for Life
Programme – Mexico
This country's National Literacy Service was awarded the 2011 UNESCO King Sejong
Literacy Prize for its National Literacy Programme – Burundi
The Indian who has been recently awarded the Special Book Award, China's highest
literary award – Prof BR Deepak
Other Awards
The recipient of V.V.Giri Memorial Award 2010 recognition of his outstanding contributions towards the understanding of the emerging labour issues – Dr. Panchmal Dinanath
The Hindi authors who have been chosen for Jnanpith Award 2009 – Amar Kant and Shrilal
The Kannada author who has been chosen for Jnanpith Award 2010 – Chandrasekhar
The singer who has been conferred the Viswavikhyata Sangeetha Kala Saraswathi award by the T Subbarami Reddy Lalithakala Parishat – P Susheela
The company which has been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Clean Technology for the year 2009-10 – Lanco Tanjore Power Co. Ltd
The company which has been awarded the Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Shield for effective implementation of Official language Hindi – Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd
The statutory body of Min. of Environment and Forests, which has been selected for Chief Dave Cameron Award 2010 for excellence in Environmental Crimes Enforcement and Education by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) – Wildlife Crime
Control Bureau (WCCB)
The department which has been awarded Today's Traveller Award for Best Customer
Service Organisation for the year 2011. (Note: Today's Traveller is an Indian monthly travel magazine published by Gill India Communications Pvt Ltd) – Department of Posts
Books, Magazines
The author of the controversial book Controversially Yours – Shoaib Akhtar
Corporate, Commerce, Financial News
The South Korean power equipment-maker which will set up a power equipment manufacturing unit at Chennai, in Tamil Nadu – Doosan
The government recently cleared international oil company BP Plc buying 30% stake in most of Reliance Industries' (RIL) oil and gas blocks, including the showpiece KG-D6 gas fields, for $7.2 billion. BP Plc is headquartered in – London, U.K.
The United States derivative contracts in which Indian investors will be able to trade at the National Stock Exchange from 29 Aug 2011 – Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P
The company which is being sued by thousands of South Koreans who claim it had invaded their privacy by storing a hidden log of their movements on their iPhones – Apple Inc.
Colleges, Universities, Institutes
The place where setting up of Indian Sign Language Research & Training Centre (ISLRTC), has been approved on project basis for a period of five years – New Delhi
The place where Indian Statistical Institute has opened a new centre – Tezpur, Assam
Committees, Commissions etc.
The Committee on Customer Service in Banks, constituted by the RBI in 2010, which submitted its report in Aug 2011 was headed b – M. Damodaran
Countries
The African nation where famine has been declared in its two regions – Somalia
The country with which India has signed a Civil Nuclear Deal in Jul 2011. (India has already signed Civil Nuclear Deal with US, France, Russia, Canada, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Namibia since 2008) – South Korea
The newly opened world's longest cross-sea bridge, the Jiaozhou Bay bridge (26 miles (42 kilometers) long) linking city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao is in – China
The country which has passed the controversial boycott law making it a civil offence to call for an economic, cultural, or academic boycott of people or institutions – Israel
The country which has become the 193rd country of the world to be recognised by the UN on 09 Jul 11 after its independence from Sudan. Its first President is President General Salva Kiir Mayarditand its capital is Juba – South Sudan
The SAARC nation which has recently banned smoking in public places Nepal
The country with which India has signed Double Tax Avoidance Agreement in Aug 2011 – Georgia.
The country which has become the 62nd nation to ratify the Convention on Cluster Bombs – Afghanistan
The country which lifted the state of emergency it had imposed 30 years ago – Sri Lanka
The country which has granted its women citizens the right to vote and contest in elections for the first time – Saudi Arabia
Marcoule nuclear processing plant which witnessed an explosion resulting in death of 1
person and injury of 3 others is located in – France
The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, who died on 25 Sep belonged to – The indigenously built fast attack craft (FAC), built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineer Limited of Kolkata, which was commissioned into the Indian Navy in Jul – The new chief of the Indian Air Force – Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne
INS Teg, INS Tarkash and INS Trikhand, the three frigates which will be inducted into the Indian Navy are being built by – Russia
The Indian Air Force base where the C-17 Globe III, the largest strategic heavy lift aircraft being acquired from US are planned to be inducted – Hindan
The new tactical short-range missile with a range of 150 km developed by DRDO is named – The oldest commissioned ship of the Indian Navy which has been decommissioned this month – Sharabh
The indigenously built fast attack craft (FAC), which has been inducted into the Indian Navy as a part of strengthening the coastal surveillance. (The ship has been named after a historic island off Kerala’s Wayanad coast and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited of Kolkata) – INS Karuva
The country to which Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has supplied its indigenously manufactured helicopter Dhruv – Ecuador
The second of Shivalik class stealth frigate manufactured by Mazagaon Docks inducted into the Indian Navy in Aug 2011 – INS Satpura
The Sukhoi fifth-generation stealth fighter, which is being jointly developed by Russia and India is named – T - 50
The first aircraft carrier of China is undergoing sea trials, the aircraft carrier, named Shi Lang, was acquired from Russia and formerly named – Varyag
Exercises
The country which conducted joint naval exercise with India (termed Passex) in the Arabian Sea – Turkey
The largest ever joint naval exercise between India and Sri Lanka being conducted off the coast of Trincomalee is code-named – SLINEX II
Environment
The animal which has been added by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to the list of animals that cannot be trained or used as a performing animal under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 – Bull
The theme of National Environment Awareness Compaign 2011-12 launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests – Forests for Sustainable Livelihood
The Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary which has been selected for re-introducing cheetahs under Project Cheetah is in – Madhya Pradesh
The highly endangered cat species, Rusty Spotted Cat or Felis Rubiginosa, which is endemic to India and Sri Lanka was spotted at – Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve
The bio-diversity hot spot region in India where 12 new species of frogs have been discovered by the researchers from Bombay Natural History Society, the Zoological Survey of India and Belgium's Vrije University – Western Ghats
The smuggling of this wood which has increased substantially after reports of using Pterosibilin, its extract to make pills similar to Viagra – Red Sanders
Films and Actors
The person who has been conferred honorary doctorate by Middlesex University, London in recognition of his contribution to entertainment in India and throughout the world – Shiamak Davar
The Indian actress who has been awarded Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters from France in recognition of her contribution to the world of cinema and to the development of Franco-Indian co-operation in the film industry – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
The film Gandhi to Hitler is directed by – Rakesh Ranjan Singh
The actor who has been chosen as the Brand Ambassador for Ministry of Women and Child Development for spreading the message of curbing malnutrition among children – Aamir
The Indian actor who has been awarded the Best Actor International Award at the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) for his performance in the Hollywood film 'Desperate Endeavours' – Gulshan Grover
The director of controversial Hindi film Aarakshan – Prakash Jha
Government Programmes, Schemes, Missions
The GoI scheme which envisages promotion of e-Governance with the objective to provide IT enabled services to farmers and also for computerization of various offices in the States in agriculture & allied sectors is known as – AGRISNET
The material which has been sought to be banned by National Human Rights Commission, for it being responsible for various incurable diseases including cancer – Chrysotile Asbestos
or White asbestos
The disease affecting animals which has been declared to be globally eradicated – Rinderpest
Scrub Typhus which has taken the lives of at least 12 people in Himachal Pradesh is caused
by the bite of an infected – mite
A herbal formulation named Perfomax to improve physical and mental performance in High
Altitude and Hypoxic Conditions has been developed by – DRDO
The organisation which has developed Lukoskin, a herbal product for Leucoderma –
Defence Institute of Bio-energy Research (DIBER) under DRDO
Legal Issues
The chemical which has been recently notified as an explosive by the Government of India – Ammonium Nitrate
Meets, Summits, Conferences, Fairs, Festivals
The venue of TECHNOTEX 2011 , 1st International Exhibition & Conference on Technical Textile jointly being organized by Ministry of Textiles, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) – The venue of cultural programme "Remembering Tagore" held to commemorate the 150th
Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore – UNESCO HQs, Paris
Venue of first ever World Gaming Festival to be held from Sep 23, 2011 – Goa
Miscellaneous
The Indian queen who has been listed among 10 wives who were resolute even in troubled times by the Times magazine – Rani Lakshmibai
The ICT based solution for vehicle registration launched by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is named – Vaahan
The one stop solution to Motor Vehicle Driver Licensing launched by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is named – Sarathi
The 168-year old newspaper owned by News International (Chairman - James Murdoch) which was finally shut down in the face of the raging phone hacking scandal – News of the
The Padmanabhaswamy Temple which was in news recently for the discovery of huge amount of wealth is located in – Thiruvananthapuram
Professor Amartya Sen was conferred the Degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa, by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) which is located in – New Delhi
The honorarium payable to Anganwadi workers has been increased by the Government from Rs. 1500/- to – Rs. 3000/-
The Audio-Visual presentation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Jana Gana Mana’ poem in full five stanzas by various artists unveiled in Aug 11 by Finance MInister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is named – Jaya Hey
The joint operation launched by the security forces of Bihar, U.P. and Jharkhand to apprehend the maoists is named – Operation Vishwas
The variety of mango grown around foothills of Girnar mountains in Gujarat's Junagadh district, which has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag – Gir Kesar
The variety of fish which has been declared to the official fish of Madhya Pradesh by its Chief Minister – Mahaseer
The chemical which, (originally used to preserve dead bodies in mortuaries), has been found to be used to preserve fish during transportation by unscrupulous businessmen in Punjab – Formalin
Miss Leila Lopes who was crowned Miss Universe 2011 at the pagaent held Sao Paulo,
Brazil belongs to – Angola
The river in South America under which an underground river about 6000 km long has been discovered. (The river has been named Hamza after a scientist of Indian origin Mr Valiya
Mannathal Hamza) – Amazon
The para-military force which has been allowed to grant five percent reservation for women – Assam Rifles
Budh International Circuit, which will witness India's first F1 car race is located in – Greater
Seas, Ports, Ships etc.
The cruise ship which sank recently in Volga river in Russia on Jul 10 was named – Bulgaria
The cargo vessel Nafis-I which was found to be carrying weapons and intercepted by the Indian Navy belongs to – Iran
The world's largest floating library which has recently docked in at Visakhapatnam – MV
Logos Hope
The cargo ship which started sinking off the coast of Mumbai and the crew of which were rescued by Indian Coast Guard – M.V. Rak Carrier
M T Pavit, an oil tanker that drifted in from the Persian Gulf and lay stranded at Mumbai on 31 Jul 11 belongs to (the ship was set afloat on Aug 15 and set on sail to Dighi port) – The oil tanker which has been hijacked by Somali pirates with 21 Indian sailors aboard, off the coast of Oman – Fairchem Bogey
The ship carrying valuable silver from India which was destroyed by the Germans during World War II and whose wreckage has been discovered in North Atlantic was named – SS
Gairsoppa
The state which has recorded the highest number of domestic tourists for the year 2010 – Andhra Pradesh
The state where the pollution control board has ordered closure of 22 coal mines – Jharkhand
The state in which the Government has taken an initiative to set up shops known as Kalavara shops to supply building materials to poor at affordable price – Kerala
The state which has been awarded the Decadal Literacy Award for achieving highest decadal growth in literacy rate in the country – Bihar
The state which has become the first state in the country to have launched Swarnajayanti Aarogya Bima Yojana providing health insurance cover for the entire resident population of the state – Goa
The state which has resorted to culling of birds to prevent spread of avian flu reported in some of its districts – Assam
Sports News
The venue of 46th World Archery Championship 2011, held during 3 - 10 Jul 11 – The mascot of FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 held in Germany – Karla Kick, the cat
The team which has won the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 held in Germany by defeating USA in the finals – Japan
The venue of 5th World Military Games to be held from Jul 16 to Jul 24 – Janeiro, Brazil
The team which has topped the medals tally at 19th Asian Athletics Championship held at Kobe, Japan. India finished 8th with 11 medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 8 bronze) – The venue of 21st President's Cup International Boxing Tournament – Jakarta
The venue of 19th Asian Athetics Championship 2011 – Kobe, Japan
The Ukrainian coach who has been removed from his position for being responsible for Indian athletes failing in the the dope test – Yuri Ogrodnik
The biennial Asia-Pacific Golf Championships for the Nomura Cup, at which the Indian team a bronze medal were held in – Fiji
The venue of 1st Asian Men Circle Style Kabbadi Championship which India won defeating Pakistan in the finals – Tabriz in Iran
The team which topped the medals tally at the 51st National Open Athletics Championship with 17 gold, 13 silver and 8 bronze – Railways
The venue of 51st National Open Athletics Championship held in Sep 2011 – Kolkata
The country which topped the medals tally at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea – United States of America
The venue of 8th International Abilympics, a vocational skill competition among the person with disability – Seoul, Korea
The city in which a newly-laid Astro-turf hockey pitch, has been named after Indian hockey legend Dhyan Chand – London
The country which has won the Women's Asian Champions Trophy defeating China in the final at Ordos, China. Japan defeated India to take the 3rd place – South Korea
The team which has won the Federation Cup 2011 by defeating East Bengal in the finals – Salgaocar
Sportspersons in News
The ace Indian shooter who has been chosen for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2010 – Gagan Narang
The Chess player who has become the second Indian Grandmaster among Indian woman (Koneru Humpy being the first) – D Harika
The Indian cricketer who has become the second highest run-getter in test cricket (the first slot being occupied by Sachin Tendulkar) – Rahul Dravid
Cadel Evans, the cyclist who recently won the 2011 Tour de France belongs to – Australia
The East Bengal footballer who has been awarded the Fan’s Player of the Year and also the FPAI Player of the Year 2011 by Football Players Association of India – Mehtab Hossain
The Jamaican athlete who won the men's 100 meters event at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea after Usain Bolt was disqualified for a false start – Yohan Blake
The Serbian tennis player who has won the US Open 2011 Men's singles title – Djokovic
The Australian tennis player who has won the US Open 2011 Women's singles title – Samantha Stosur
The sportspersons who have been conferred the rank of honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army by President Pratibha Patil – MS Dhoni and Abhinav Bindra
The Indian cricketer who has been awarded the International Cricket Council's Spirit of Cricket Award 2011 – MS Dhoni
The player from Serbia who has won Wimbledon 2011 Men's title by defeating Spain's Rafael Nadal – Novak Djokovic
The Czech national who has won the Women's Wimbledon title for the year 2011, defeating Russian Maria Sharapova – Petra Kvitova
The winner of men's singles title in the 2011 Rogers Cup held in Montreal, Canada – Novak
Djokovik
The winner of National Snooker Championship held in Chennai – Aditya Mehta
The winner of National Billiards Championship held in Chennai – Pankaj Advani
The Woman International Master (IM) who has been chosen for the Dilip Sardesai Award by the Goa government – Bhakti Kulkarni
The former football player who has been awarded the Dhyanchand Award in recognition for his lifetime achievement in sports – Shabbir Ali
The Indian shooter, who has secured number one rankng in the world in doubletrap shooting – Ronjan Sodhi
The person who has been awarded the Tenzing Norgay Lifetime Achievement Award, 2010 – Late Col Balwant Singh Sandhu
Surveys, Census, Reports
The Maternal Mortality Rate of India as per the latest figures released for 2007-09 is – 212
According to the World Investment Report 2011 released by UNCTAD in July 2011, India’s position among the top 20 FDI recipients is – 14th (it was 8th in 2009.)
The number of unemployed persons in the country as the latest reports available for 2009-10 is – 9.50 million
As per a report by Global Financial Integrity, the total present value of India's illicit assets held abroad is – $462 billion
The training-cum-placement programme for unemployed youth of Jammu and Kashmir launched by Ministry of Rural Development under National Rural Livelihood Mission is named – Himayat
The rank of India in The Global Competitiveness Index rankings published by World Economic Forum recently – 56
The country which ranks first in The Global Competitiveness Index rankings as per the report of 2011-2012 published by World Economic Forum recently – Switzerland
According to America's Census Bureau's annual report for 2010 released recently the overall percentage of poverty in the USA is (As per new US Census Bureau methodology reports released in Nov 2011, the overall percentage is 16 % or 49.1 million) – 15.1%
As per data released by Ministry of Home Affairs (for 2010), the age group in which maximum percentage of people commit suicide is – 15 - 29 years
Space News
The spacecraft of NASA which is on a mission to two largest members of the asteroid belt, the Vesta and the Ceres (it reached Vesta on Jul 16, 2011) – Dawn
The mini satellite to be launched by astronauts aboard International Space Station on Aug 3 in honour of the 50th anniversary of Russian astronaut Yury Gagarin's pioneering space flight is named – Kedr
The last of the US space shuttles which completed its last trip to the space by landing at Kennedy Space Centre on Jul 21 – Atlantis
GSAT-12, India's latest communication satellite has been launched on 15 Jul from Sriharikota aboard – PSLV C-17
The last active Space Shuttle of the United States which was launched on its final mission from Kennedy Space Center on July 8, 2011, in Cape Canaveral – Atlantis
The planet which is completing its first revolution of the sun this year since its discovery in 1846. (The period of revolution is 164.79 years) – Neptune
The spacecraft launched by NASA on a journey to Jupiter is named – Juno
The experimental module, the first of series in China's programme to finally launch a space station, launched by China from the Jiuquan launch centre on 29 Sep 2011 is named – Tiangong - I
The place at which Oceansat-2 ground station (data reception and processing system) has been set up to receive and process data from Ocean Colour Monitor on-board the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Oceansat-2 – Indian National Centre for Ocean Information
Services (Incois), Hyderabad
NASA on Sep 10, 2011 launched a pair of washing-machine-sized satellites on a mission to map the Moon's inner core for the first time. The spacecrafts are named – GRAIL-A and
Towns in News
The place in Andhra Pradesh which is reported to have about 49,000 tonnes of uranium — three times the original estimate of the area’s deposits, with the potential of becoming the world’s largest uranium mine – Tumulapalli
Eran, the place at which archeological monuments and remains have been declared monuments of national importance is located in – Madhya Pradesh
The village in Darjeeling where a historic tripartite agreement has been signed by the Central Govt, WB State Govt and Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha on the Gorkhaland issue – The place at which a new Officers Training Academy for training military officers for short- service commission has come up – Gaya, Bihar
The place where Prabhash Prasang, a two-day festival on vernacular journalism is being held – Indore
The venue of 71st World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences to be held from September 3rd, 2011 – Hyderabad
The venue of 4th SAARC Folklore and Heritage Festival to be held from September 30, 2011 Typhoons, Cyclones
The typhoon which lashed Luzon, the main island of Phillipines on Sep 28, 2011. The typhoon later moved on to China and Vietnam – Typhoon Nesat
The typhoon which struck Japan on 21 Sep 11, killing people and disrupting public transportation in northeastern Japan including the tsunami-crippled Fukushima was named – Typhoon Roke
The Typhoon that recently lashed Japanese island of Shikoku and Honshu – Talas
The hurricane which lashed the east coast of the United States of America in Aug 2011 is named – Irene
Volcanoes
Mount Lokon, a volcano which started erupting on Jul 14 is located in Indonesia
Soputan, the volcano which has erupted recently is located in Indonesia
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