Current Affairs::Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2011

Eleven scientists have been selected for the India’s highest science award,Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology this year 2011.Samir Brahamachari,Director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)announced the award at Vigyan Bhavan.

List of Winners:

1. Biological sciences category:: Amit Prakash Sharma, Rajan Sankaranarayanan

2. Chemical sciences category:: Balasubramanian Sundaram, Garikapati Narahari Sastry

3. Earth, atmosphere, ocean and planetary sciences category::Shankar Doraiswamy

4. Engineering sciences category::Sirshendu De, Upadrasta Ramamurty

5. Mathematical sciences category::Mahan Maharaj, Palash Sarkar

6. Medical sciences category:: Kithiganahalli N Balaji

7. Physical sciences category: Shiraz Minwalla

About Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award:
This award was first given in 1958, the country’s highest award in science is named after the founder director of CSIR, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar.The award, given to a scientist upto 45 years age, carries a cash prize of Rs five lakh. Prime Minister has to give the award.

Current Affairs::General (05/11/2011)

1. Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is a mega infra-structure project of Rs 18,500 Cr with the financial & technical aids from Japan, covering an overall length of 1483 KMs between the political capital and the business capital of India, i.e. Delhi and Mumbai, passing through the six States – U.P, NCR of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, with end terminals at Dadri in Delhi NCR and Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai. The transit time between Delhi and Mumbai, will now reduce to 36 hrs instead of 60 hrs earlier.

2. PM and Cabinet declares Their assets::Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath is the richest minister in the central cabinet and on top with assets worth Rs 263 crore.

3. The Government approved the Approach Paper for the 12th Plan (2012-17) which seeks to raise annual economic growth rate to 9 per cent during the five-year period, up from 8.2 per cent estimated in the current Plan.

4. Eminent Hindi authors Amar Kant and Shrilal Shukla were today chosen for India’s highest literary honour Jnanpith Award for the year 2009 while renowned Kannada litterateur Chandrasekhar Kambar won it for the year 2010.

5. National-award winning Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu has been chosen as India’s official entry for Oscars, announced Film Federation of India. Co-produced by first-time filmmaker Salim Ahamed, the film stars Salim Kumar and Zarina Wahab.

Current Affairs::General (04/11/2011)

1. State-owned oil companies raised petrol prices by Rs 1.80 per litre. This is the 13th increase in petrol prices since the fuel was decontrolled in June 2010.

2. Indian mobile devices market to reach 350 million a year by 2020 according to a study by FICCI and Ernst & Young.

3. SEBI ordered all mutual funds to disclose names of distributors, who receive commission in excess of Rs 1 crore annually, on their respective websites.

4. Three Pakistan cricketers and an agent, were sentenced imprisonment in Britain for their involvement in one of the biggest fixing scandals. Former captain Salman Butt, was called the “orchastrator” of the entire event

5. Delhi’s per Capita Income is Thrid in Country after Goa and Chandigarh.

6. Finance Ministry gave its nod to mining company Coal India Ltd (CIL) for acquiring stake in overseas unlisted firms.

7. The Supreme Court of India directed Motor Accident Claims Tribunals to award just and adequate compensation to the victims, under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The act will cover not only the expenses for immediate treatment but also for future medical treatment.

8. The Table Tennis Federation of India appointed Poland’s Leszek Kucharski as the Indian TT coach on a one-year contract.

9.  Pakistan decided to grant India most favoured nation (MFN) trade status. The Pakistani cabinet voted unanimously to grant most-favored-nation status to India.

10. A UN study ranked India at 134 out of 187 countries in terms of Human Development Index.

11.  M. Ravindran took over as Indraprastha Gas Limited ‘s (IGL) new Managing Director.He succeeded Rajesh Vedvyas.

12. Indian scientists succeeded in decoding the genome of the arhar dal, which is also known as pigeon pea.Indian Council of Agriculture Research and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) carried out the research. The scientists discovered 152 genes, which can tolerate drought and over 1200 disease resistant genes that can make the pulse crop resilient.

13. Rahul Bhattacharya bagged the The Hindu Literary Prize for Best Fiction 2011 for his The Sly Company of People Who Care.

14. Bengali film Chaplin selected as the inaugural film at the 11 th edition of River to River Florence Indian Film Festival.

15. Bangladesh and Russia, signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna district.

16. Andhra Pradesh Government, launched one rupee a kilo rice scheme in the state.  Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy launched the scheme at a special programme held in Hyderabad on the occasion of the 56th State Formation Day.

17. East India Hotels inducted Nita Ambani on its board. Nita Ambani is the wife of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. East India Hotels runs the Oberoi Hotels chain.

18. Nabam Tuki was sworn in as the seventh Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. He replaced Jarbon Gamlin. Gamlin resigned from office. Arunachal Pradesh Governor JJ Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy at the Raj Bhavan in Itanagar.

19. Palestine won the membership of UNESCO, with 107 votes in favour and 14 votes against. UNESCO is the first UN agency Palestine has joined as a full member.

20. The state government of Goa gave its approval to 60 non-operational mines in the Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary under the Regional Plan 2021. The sanctuary is located 60 kms from Panaji.

Current Affairs::Banking and Business

1. Joint Liability Group (JLG) is an informal group comprising preferably of 4 to10 individuals but can be upto 20 members, coming together for the purposes of availing bank loan (Micro-Finance), earlier it was being practised with SHG’s.

2. Cash reserve Ratio and Statutory Liquidity Ratio are called Statutory Pre-emptions.

3. Fiscal Responsibility and Budget management Act, mainly helps to eliminate revenue Deficit.

4. Common-Wealth Heads of Governments (CHOGM) meeting held at Perth, Australia.

5. Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta, one of the most prominent Indian-Americans in the country’s financial scene, surrendered before Manhattan federal Court, New York in connection with a massive insider trading scam.

6.  Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,  made a dramatic turnaround on the back of Argentina’s fast-growing economy and scored a landslide reelection victory in Presidential Elections.

7.  NATO is carrying out Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack in Libya.

8. The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), Government of India, with assistance from the World Bank, is in the process of taking up the DAM REHABILITATION AND IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (DRIP), which would be a six-year project starting around January 1, 2011. The project would be implemented in 4 States,  Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu.

9. The cabinet approved equity infusion of Rs 3,000 crore in state-run National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).

10. India’s quota share at the IMF will increase from 2.44 per cent to 2.75 per cent, making it the 8th largest quota holding country at the IMF.

11. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a scheme for the creation of a ‘National Optical Fibre Network’ (NOFN) for providing broadband connectivity to panchayats at an initial cost of over Rs.20,000 crore, which will help in offering governance, banking and health services online.

12. India has provided Rs. 345.73 million to Nepal for the construction of embankments along Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla rivers in Nepal which is being undertaken in accordance with the decisions made by the India-Nepal Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management (JCIFM).

13. Justice M B Shah, heading the Central government-appointed inquiry Commission on mining in Goa, began inspection of several controversial mines, to ascertain the ground realities of illegal iron ore mining in the coastal state.

14. The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal of Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Research and Education to accept the proposal of International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) to establish an international institute, Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in India with centres at Ludhiana in Punjab, Pusa in Bihar and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

15. In a major initiative to cater to the back-up mechanism of athletes’ overall performance, the government announced the establishment of National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine at a cost of Rs 200 crore at New Delhi.

16. With the Railways flagging off its first air-conditioned (AC) double-decker chair-car train between Howrah and Dhanbad, it has moved into a technological upgrade.

17.  In order to encourage students from backward and poor communities to pursue higher education, the Odisha government has launched ‘Prerna’ – an e-post-matric scholarship programme.

18. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography::Walter Isaacson’s 656-page biography of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

19. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won global recognition as the first woman elected head of state in Africa, also won Noble Peace Prize 2011.

20. Vanarai Foundation was formed by Dr. Mohan Dharia. The Foundation insists on clean, green, self reliant villages, afforestation, agriculture with modern methods, animal husbandry, latrine and gobar gas for every house, eradication of illiteracy, family planning and creating local employment opportunities.

Current Affairs::General (02/11/2011)

1.  We lose 2 Lakh hectares just for felling trees for burning dead bodies, in lieu of that,  ONGC launched the ‘Harit Moksha’ project, a CSR initiative in association with Mokshda Paryavaran Evam Van Suraksha Samiti (Mokshada PEVSS).

2.  Lt Gen Palvinder Singh Bhalla, a veteran armoured officer,  took over as the Director General of National Cadet Corps (NCC).

3. To facilitate banking facilities to reach all people, Indian Bank, Melur Branch, Tuticorin has launched a CASA (Current account and Savings account) campaign.

4.  The government has reconstituted the National Integration Council(NIC) which will be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

5. Under the National e-Governance Project (NeGP), Ministry of Home Affairs has taken up the project Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) as one of the MMPs.

6. Rashtriya Madhmik Shiksha Abhiyan launched for students of classes 8-10 (Ages 14-18 years, by Dept of School Education and Literacy.

7. Energy Sector has launched Perform-Achieve-Trade Plan. PAT scheme is designed to enable major Indian industries, such as aluminum, cement, power plants, paper, textiles, and railways, to save some 19GW of energy and reduce emissions by 98 million tons a year.

8. India proposes special Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) fund for Brazil, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) to the tune of USD 2 million.

9.  IIT Kanpur with its Nano Satellite Mission- Jugnu is ready to set new limits in the space research. A team of students has come ahead to work under the guidance of faculty of IIT Kanpur and ISRO scientists to launch India’s first Nano Satellite.

10. Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang visited New Delhi, on his first visit to India, amid tensions with Beijing surrounding an India-Vietnam oil exploration project in the disputed South China Sea.

11. DGFT office is India’s first Digital Signature enabled Deptt.

12. Former Union Minister Mohan Dharia, who was a strong critic of Indira Gandhi in her lifetime, given the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for his yeoman’s service in promoting and preserving spirit of national integration.

13.  DGFT announced introduction of a new ‘Niryat Bandhu’ scheme for international business mentoring for young turks in international business enterprises.

14. President Pratibha Patil today conferred the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award 2011 on noted scientist and educator Prof Yash Pal. Pal was honoured for excellence in public administration, academics and management at a brief function in the ornate Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

15. The Sense of  an Ending is written by Julian Barnes.

16. A four day joint exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) concluded today at Air Force Station Jamnagar. The exercise, named “Ex Eastern Bridge – 2011” marks the second of the series, the first was held in Oct 2009.

17. The Cabinet  approved setting up of a National Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports (NIMAS) at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh as an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Defence, a Registered Society under Societies Registration Act.

18. The Union Government has approved a proposal for establishment of a spice park at Ramganj Mandi in Kota district of Rajasthan to promote production and marketing of spices. The spice park will be constructed at a cost of Rs.15 crore.

19. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has landed after taking its first flight from Tokyo to HongKong, showing off a carbon-composite design its maker says is lighter, more economical to fly and more comfortable than its metal rivals currently plying the airways.

20. World’s population crossed the 7Bn mark with the arrival of two baby girls, one in India and the other in Philippines.Nargis born to Ajay and Vineeta in Mal, 20 km from Lucknow, and Danica May Camacho born in Manila.