March 16,2010

1.BJP Team.
President - Nitin Gadkari
Vice President - Hema Malini
Secretary - Smriti Irani
Secretary - Varun Gandhi
National Executive - Kiron Kher
Spokesperson - Tarun Vijay
General Secretary - Vasundhara Raje

2.Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Environment and Forests and Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) participated in the International Conference on Environment Audit-Concerns About Water Pollution organised at New Delhi on March 16, 2010.

3.Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault Nissan addressed a press conference at Chennai on March 16.

4.The Finance Minister exuded confidence that economy will soon return to 9-10% growth rate.

5.Arcelor-Mittal would commence construction of a $130 million steel plant in Iran in collaboration with Dayen, a Turkish firm during the second quarter of 2010.

6.Religare Enterprises will set up its asset management, sales and distribution business in Japan and has hired a team from KBC Financial Products for the same.

7.Share of nuclear energy in Power Generation (%)
FRANCE - 76
GERMANY - 28.3
JAPAN - 24.9
USA - 19.7
RUSSIA - 16.9
CHINA - 2.2
(mainland)
INDIA - 2.0

The share of nuclear power in India's energy basket is just 2.0%, the lowest amongst the major world economies. From 4,340 mw now, India's nuclear power generation capacity is set to expand to 7,280 mw by March 2012 according to DAE.

8.Two rebels of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were gunned down by security forces in Majuli village of Darrang district of Assam on March 16.

March 15, 2010

1.The Union Cabinet cleared the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill on March 15, 2010. The Bill will now be introduced in the Parliament.
2.Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff General Mohammed Abdul Mubeen met Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor at Delhi on March 15.
3.Bihar to celebrate March 22 as 'statehood day'.
4.Angelina Jolie has been named the most powerful celebrity -2009 by Forbes magazine.
5.Facebook facts : CEO & Founder- Mark Zuckerberg; Headquarters-Palo Alto ,California.
6.Sanjeev Goeanka is the President of AIMA.
7.The 6th CII-EXIM Bank Coclave on India-Africa Project Partnership 2010 was inaugurated at New Delhi on March 15, 2010.John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Republic of Ghana was present on the occasion.
8.Pankaj Advani won the inaugural OB Agarwal memorial 6 red snooker National Championship at Bangalore on March 15.
9.Katie Spotz beacame the youngest person (22 years) to row an entire ocean solo.She crossed Atlantic ocean from Senegal coast of Africa to Guyana Coast of South America.
10.SRM University , Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu will host the 98th Indian Science Congress from Jan. 3 to Jan.7, 2011.

March 14, 2010

1.Ms.Kaku Nakhate is the new country head of Bank of America -Merrrill Lynch- India.
2.Google, the world's largest search engine is likely to shut its Chinese search engine.
3.Steve Jobs is CEO of Apple.Tim Cook is the COO of Apple.
4.26 persons were killed when a bus fell off a bride along Sawai Madhopur - Dausa border, about 162 KMs from Jaipur, Rajasthan's capital.
5.S Ramadorai, former CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services, has been appointed as non-Executive Chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Madhu Kannan is the MD & CEO of BSE.

March 13, 2010

1.Australia won 12th Hockey World Cup -2010 by beating Germany in the final at New Delhi.Australian captain - JAMIE DWYER. Germany captain - Max Muller.
SPECIAL AWARDS:
Man of the final -Luke Doerner (Aus.)
Man of steel of final -Martin Haner (Germany)
Best Goalkeeper of the tournament -Guus Vogels (Netherlands)
Man of the steel of the tournament-Max Muller (Germany)
Maximum goals (8) -Luke Doerner (Australia)
Taeke Taekema(Netherlands)
Man of the tournament -Guus Vogels (Netherlands)
Fairplay Trophy -New Zealand
2.The 28th annual conference of Andhra Pradesh Economic Conference (APEA) was held at Acharya Nagarjuna University campus on March 13, 2010.

3.Sergei Kirienko, Chief of Russia's State Neclear Corporation exchanged agreements on nuclear power plants in India with Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman ,Atomic Energy Commission, in New Delhi on March 13, 2010.

4.Richard Stagg is British High Commissioner to India.
H.E.Narlin Surie is the Indian High Commissioner in London.

5.Mulsanne is the new car launched in India by British luxury car maker, Bentley Motors.

March 12, 2010

1.India and Russia signed deals in defence and civil nuclear spheres worth over $10 billion. Vladmir Putin, PM of Russia met Dr.Manmohan Singh, PM of India at New Delhi on March 12.

2.Tim Burton is the director of the movie 'Alice in Wonderland'.

3.The Nanavati Commission , which is probing into the post-Godhra riot cases is likely to submit its report by June 30, 2010.

4.Industry registers a growth of 16.7% during Jan 2010.

5.Reserve Bank of India to buy $10 billion IMF bonds.

6.Eric Schmidt is the CEO of Google.

7.Australia and Germany are the finalists of the 12th Hockey World Cup.

March 11, 2010

1.According to Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU),India ranks 99th among 187 nations as far as representation of women in legislatures is concerned.
Top five (5) countries in empowering women -
1.Rwanda(total seats-80/seats represented by women-45/56.3%)
2.Sweden(total seats-349/seats represented by women-162/46.4%)
3.S.Africa(total seats-400/seats represented by women-178/44.5)
4.Cuba (total seats-614/seats represented by women-265/43.2%)
5.Iceland(total seats-63/seats represented by women-27/42.9%)

2.The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) is located at New Delhi.

3.Food inflation declined marginally by 0.06 percentage points during the week ending February 27 from 17.87 % in the previous week.

4.International Automotive Expo- 2010 was inaugurated at Benguluru on March 11.

5.Michael Fennell is the President of Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

March 10, 2010

1.Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantaw (the grand Imam of Al - Azhar,the 10th century University, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning) passed away following a heart attack on March 10, 2010 in Saudi Arabia.
2.Military rulers has barred Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy leader from contesting upcoming elections in the country.

March 9, 2010

1.Women's Reservation Bill passed in Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010.
2.Micro Finance Institutions Network (MFIN) is the self-regulatory body formed by micro-finance institutions. President, Vijay Mahajan. 31 Institutions are members and five more would soon join.
3.NMEEE- National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency.
4.UK-based Campus BPO to be taken over by Indian BPO, Aditya Birla Minacs.
5.Kapil Dev, all-rounder and former Captain of Indian Cricket team, was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

March 8, 2010

1.82nd Academy Awards-
-Six Oscars for THE HURT LOCKER
-Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
-Best Actress - Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
-Best Actor - Jeff Birdges, Crazy Heart
-Best Supporting Actress - Mo'nique,Precious
-Best Supporting Actor -Christoph Waltz,Inglourious Basterds
2.A strong earthquake in eastern Turkey killed 57 persons in the wee hours of March 8, 2010.

March 7, 2010

1.UNDP administrator Helen Clark visited Rajasthan on March 6, 2010.
2.About 4500 years old settlement surrounded by a fortified structure, belonging to Harappan civilization was excavated at Shikarpur village in Kutch district, Gujarat recently.
3.Chichibu fire festival was observed at Nagatoro, outside of Tokyo Japan on March 7, 2010. The festival includes the 'hi-watari' or the traditional 'fire-walk' ritual.
4.Elections were held in Iraq on March 7. On the same day 24 persons were killed in bomb blasts in the country.
5.Vatsala Sharma has emerged as the winner of the first ever Miss India Worldwide Nepal Pageant 2010 at Kathmandu on March 6, 2010.
6.Three public sector banks -UCO bank, Central Bank of India and United Bank of India- would get a capital infusion of Rs.250, Rs.250 and Rs.300 crore respectively by the Central Government.
7.According to Sumit Bose,Disinvestment Secretary, Rs.40000 crore would be raised from disinvestment in the fiscal year 2011.

March 6, 2010

1.Books and authors:
a)A Warrior's Life - biography of Paulo Coelho - by Fernando Morais - Harper Collins
b)Uttara Yogi -Arup Mitra
c)Bina Das- A memoir - by Dhira Dhar
d)To the last Bullet - Vineeta Kamte
e)Superfreakonomics - Steven D. Levit & Stephen J. Dubner - Penguin
f)Ford County - John Grisham -Arrow Books
g)Run for Your Life - James Patterson
h)Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton - Harper Collins
i)Devil in Pinstripes - Ravi Subramanian - Rupa & Co.

2.Tongues on Fire - 12th London Asian Film festival (March 5- 14)begins.

3.Women's Leadership Summit - 2010 on Inclusive Growth and Empowering Women of Rural India was inaugurated by Dr.Manmohan Singh, PM at New Delhi on March 6, 2010.

4.Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Director of DRDO received Dr.Y.Nayudamma Award from Dr.YV Reddy, ex- RBI Governor at Tenali, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh on March 6, 2010.

5.Selective killing of Neel gai (Blue bulls) to be legal in Himachal Pradesh.

March 5, 2010

1."MASSIVEGOOD" is the new micro-contribution initiative launched by the Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health at UN Headquarters, New York city on March 4, 2010.
2.On March 5, 2010 RBI deferred its decision to introduce 'base rate' system, which will be the new benchmark lending rate for banks. The base rate system will be introduced from July 1, 2010. RBI has come out with the the proposal of replacing 'BPLR' with 'base rate' system , below which no banks would be allowed to give loans. The current BPLR has been abused, as banks provide loans to corporates below this rate.
3.ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), the overseas arm of ONGC has made two significant discoveries of 185 mn. barrel of oil in NE Syria.

March 4,2010

1.According to UNIDO, India is the 9th largest industrial manufacturer in the world.
2.65 persons were killed and over 200 seriously injured in a stampede at the Mangadh Ashram at Kunda in Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh n March 4, 2010.
2.National Population Register, which will entail a house-to-house enumeration,biometric recording of finger prints and advanced photography of persons, would be launched on April 1, 2010.On the same day Census 2011 data collection work also will comence.
3.Singapore has decided not to revoke its ban on 'chewing gum' to maintain a clean and comfortable living environment.
4.A strong earthquake jolted Tainan city of southern Taiwan on March 4, 2010 causing wide-spread damage and injuring 64 people.
5.Food inflation rose marginally to 17.87% for the week ending February 20, 2010.
6.World Book Day was celebrated by Britain on March 4, 2010.
7.The two top money lenders for Housing- ICIC and HDFC have withdrawn 'teaser'rate on housing and auto loans. These schemes used to offer a lower rate for the first few years of loan.

March 3,2010

1.'India Aviation - 2010' inaugurated at Hyderabad. K.Rosaiah, AP Chief Minister; Timothy Roemer, US Ambassador; Jerome Bennafont,French Ambassador and others were present at the inaugural ceremony. Sagar Kiran aircraft which was participating in scintillating aerobatics on this ocassion crashed. Two pilots died in this accident.
2.'People for Animals' group of Guwahati , Assam have highlighted the need for protecting elephants. They are demanding removal of railway tracks in Deepor Beel are of the state to save the pachyderms.
3.Michael Foot, a former Labour leader of London passed away.
4.Bangladesh's High Court has declared 'death penalty' (for killing woman or a child after rape)as illegal and unconstitutional.

March 2, 2010

1.Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith visited New Delhi on March 2. He expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements being made for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.
2. A conference on "Operationalisation of National Policy for Farmers 2007" was organised at Hyderabad on March 2, 2010.
3.Argentina's President Christina Kirchner met Hillary Clinton , US Secretary of State at Buenos Aires on March 1, 2010.
4.A landslip in Baduda district of Uganda killed at least 45 persons on March 2, 2010.
5.MIRCA, a new car of Nissan Motor Company was unveiled by the company's President and CEO, Carlos Ghosn on March 2, 2010 at 80th International Geneva Motor Show.

March 1, 2010

1.As part of Riyadh Declaration , India and Saudi Arabia signed the Extradition Treaty and agreement for transfer of sentenced persons on February 28 night. Saudi ruler is King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. A total of five (5) treaties were signed during the visit of Dr.Manmohan Singh's to Saudi Arabia.
2.Rivals Georgia and Russia re-opened their only usable land-border crossing on March 1, restoring a vital transport route that had been closed since 2006. The re-opening of the crossing is known as Verkhny Lars in Russia and Darial Gorge in Georgia.
3.The storm called 'Xynthia' battred parts of France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Germany on February 28.
4.LIM DING WEI is Singapore's youngest programmer (10 Years).

February 28, 2010

1.A Beguluru - bound Air India flight from Delhi had to make an unscheduled landing at Raja Bhoj Airport , Bhopal when the pilots detected a problem with the cabin pressure on February 28, 2010.None of the 88 passengers and the flight crew suffered injuries.
2.Pran Nath Lekhi, a noted onstitutional expert and senior Supreme Court lawyer, who was one of the defence counsels in the Indira Gandhi assassination case, passed away at New Delhi on February 28. He was 85.
3.Julianna Smoot has replaced Desiree Rogers as the White House Social Secretary.

February 27, 2010

1.A devastating earthquake (8.8 magnitude on Richter Scale) struck Chile on February 27, 2010.
2.The Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, considered one of the biggest habitat for pelicans and other birds, will host the FLAMINGO FESTIVAL ( Doravari satram mandal, Sree Potti Sreeramulu Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh) during the 2nd week of March 2010.
3.BSNL has launched (Feb.27) India's first commercial urban mobile Wi Max (World-wide Interoperability for Microwave access) network in Ernakulam in Kerala.
4.Moonnilavu Panchayat in Kerala state is the first litigation-controlled tribal panchayat in India.
5.Representatives of Commonwealth countries are keen to replicate a livelihood generation model, financed through micro-credit released by women's Self-Help-groups in JHUND village of Jaipur district.
6.The Centre has decided to garner Rs.40000 crore in 2010-11 from the sale of its equity in PSUs as against Rs.25000 crore during the current fiscal.
7.PM of India is on a 3-day visit to Saudi Arabia.
8.Tabla maestro, Nawab Khan passed away at New delhi on February 27, 2010.
9.Nanaji Deshmukh, a veteran RSS member and former Rajya Sabha member passed away at Chitrakoot, Maharashtra on February 27, 2010.
10.White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers resigned on Feb. 27.

February 26,2010

1.The 10-day festival at Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple commenced on February 26, 2010 with the Elephant race (Aanayottam).
2.Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi has called for 'jihad' against Switzerland. Swiss voters approved a ban on construction of minarets in Switzerland in a referundum held in November 2009.
3.Actor and director Clint Eastwood and singer Bob Dylan were honoured by the US President with art awards.
4.Jose Brasa is the chief coach of Indian hockey team.
5.Petra Diamonds Ltd. sold a 507 carat diamond for $35.3 million on February 26, 2010 creating a record of the highest price ever paid for a rough diamond. Johan Dippenaar is the CEO of Petra Diamonds Ltd.

February 26, 2010 -Budget Highlights

UNION BUDGET 2010-11 – HIGHLIGHTS
PROPOSALS MADE:

• For rural infrastructure under Bharat Nirman Rs.48,000 crore allocated.
• Rs.40,100 crore allocated for MG NREGS.
• Under Indira Awas Yojana – unit cost raised to Rs.45000 in plains and Rs.48500 in hilly areas.
• Backward Region Grant Fund – allocation raised by 26% from Rs.5800 crore to Rs.7300 crore.
• Rs.1200 crore Additional Central assistance for drought mitigation in Bundelkhand region.
• Allocation of Rs.7500 crore for urban development.
• Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation – allocation raised from Rs.850 crore to Rs.1000 crore.
• Scheme for 1% interest subvention on housing loan (upto Rs.10 lakh, where total cost does not increase Rs.20 lakh) extended till 31.03.2011.
• School Education – Plan allocation raised by 16%.
• Women and Child Development – Plan Outlay raised by nearly 50%.
• Rs.1000 crore for launching National Social Security Fund for unorganized sector (weavers etc.).
• Rashtriya Swasth Bima Yojana benefits to be extended to MG NREGS workers.
• Rs.100 crore to look into the needs of women farmers.Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana to be launched in this regard.
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment – plan outlay to be raised by 80% to Rs.4500 crore.
• Minority affairs – plan outlay raised by nearly 50% from Rs.1740 crore to Rs.2600 crore.
• To ensure that public sector banks attain a minimum 8% Tier-I Capital by 31.03.2011, Rs.16500 crore allocated.

TAXES:
DIRECT TAXES:
• No IT up to Rs.1.6 lakh
• 10% from Rs.1.6 lakh to Rs.5 lakh
• 20% from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.8 lakh
• 30% above Rs.8 lakh
• Surcharge on domestic companies reduced from 10% to 7.5%
• On book profits of companies Minimum Alternate Tax raised from 15% to 18%
• For the purpose of presumptive taxation, limit of turnover of small businesses raised to Rs.60 lakh.
• Limits of turnover for audit purpose raised to Rs.60 lakh for businesses and Rs.15 lakh for professions.

INDIRECT TAXES:
 Central Excise on all non-petroleum products raised to 10%
 Central Excise duty on petrol and diesel up by Re.1 each per litre
 Basic Duty of 5% on crude petroleum;7.5% on diesel and petroleum and 10% on refined products restored.
 Excise Duty on all non-smoking tobacco products increased.
 Uniform basic duty of 5% countervailing duty (CVD) of 4% on import of medical equipment.
 Certain orthopaedic implants exempted from import duty
 Toy balloons totally exempted from Central excise duty.
 Transportation by road of cereals and pulses exempted from service tax.

February 25,2010

1.Maqbool Fida Husain, renowned artist of India has been conferred Qatar nationality.
2.Pre-Budget Economic Survey-2010 estimates that the economy could grow by as high as 8.75% during 2010-11 and move to 9% next year.
3.The Union Cabinet on February 25, 2010 approved Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008 (108th Constitutional Amendment Bill).
4.Viktor Yanukovich was sworn in the President of Ukraine on February 25, 2010 in Verkhovna Rada, Parliament.
5.Abdolmalek Rigi, Chief of JUNDULLAH,a high-profile anti-Iran militant group based in Pakistan, was nabbed on February 22 in a solo Iranian operation at Bandar Abbas, seaport city of Iran.
6.Kishore Kumar, a Hindu Legislator, who was elected to the North-West Frontier Province Assembly candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal religious alliance, condemned the beheading of a Sikh trader and abduction of his colleagues by militants as well as the kidnapping of Robin Singh, a Hindu man from Peshawar.
7.The six core sectors – Coal, Electricity, Finished Steel, Cement, Crude Oil and Petroleum Refinery Products – registered a growth of 9.4% in January 2010 as against a growth of 2.2% in the same month of 2009.
*Finished steel expanded by 16.2%
*Cement expanded by 12.4%
*Crude Oil expanded by 9.7%
*Petroleum Refinery Products by 3.8%
*Coal expanded by 6%
*Electricity expanded by5.6%
8.According to the Economic Survey – 2009-10, India has emerged the 10th largest gold-holding nation (557.7 tonnes) in the world. India also has emerged as the 4th largest foreign exchange reserves holder ($283.5 billion) in the world after China ($2399.2 bn.), Japan ($1049.4 bn.) and Russia ($439 bn)
9.ICICI Bank raises deposit rate to 6.75% (earlier 6.5%) for deposits having 390-day maturity w.e.f. February 25, 2010.
10.BMW , a car company of Germany launched two cars on February 25, 2010 at Chennai– (1)BMW 330i petrol version and BMW 320 d Corporate Edition diesel version. Peter Kronschnabi is the President of BMW India.
11.BMW has sought RBI’s permission to launch its financial services arm –BMW Financial Services in India.
12.Ela Bhatt, social worker and founder of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a trade union (1972), has been chosen for the 27th NIWANO PEACE PRIZE-2010 for her contribution to the upliftment of poor women in India. Niwano Peace Prize, given by Tokyo-based Niwano Peace Foundation, is conferred on those who are devoting themselves to interreligious cooperation in the cause of peace, and to make their achievements known. The Foundation hopes that the prize will further promote interreligious cooperation for peace and lead to the emergence of ever more people devoting themselves to this cause.
13.”Bloom Energy” one of the Silicon Valley’s start-ups, unveiled its ground-breaking technology ‘Bloom Box’ invented by rocket scientist K.R.Sridhar at San Jose, California, USA on February 24, 2010.
14.Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary visited India to hold talks with his Indian counter-part Nirupama Rao on February 25, 2010.
15.A tipper truck assembling plant was commissioned at Hosur, Karnataka following a Joint Venture Agreement between India’s Vectra Group and Russia’s Kamaz Inc. on February 25, 2010.