November - 2012 UPDATES

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Pakistan Cabinet Ratified the Landmark Visa Pact with India
Pakistans Cabinet ratified four recent agreements with India. The major of which is landmark visa pact aimed at facilitating restrictions on several categories of travellers, including senior citizens and businessmen. Dr. Kalam invited to teach at Chinese University Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President and Missile Man of India was invited to teach at the Peking University of China during his visit to the Beijing Forum. The nation also offered him the lab of his choice to work with the students. About Beijing Forum: Beijing Forum is the intellectual body backed by the Chinese Government, Chinese Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal Government, cosponsored by Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, Peking University, and Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. India-Japan-US Trilateral Dialogue Senior officials of the India, Japan and USA held their third trilateral dialogue in New Delhi to enhance cooperation on combating maritime security, piracy and leveraging their strengths to shape the Asia-Pacific architecture. The first round of talks was held in Washington in 2011 and the second in Tokyo. Australia membership for Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar (39) has been conferred with the membership of the Order of Australia (AM) by the Australian Arts Minister Simon Crean, for his service to India-Australia relations by promoting goodwill, friendship and sportsmanship through the sport. He is the second Indian after former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee to get the honour.

advising its citizens against traveling to Jammu and Kashmir.

Memorial to spy princess unveiled Noor Inayat Khan (Descendant of Tipu Sultan), the British Indian spy tortured and killed by the Nazis was publicly recognised as Princess Anne unveiled her bronze bust in a central London Square.

MALALA DAY The United Nations declared November 10 as Malala Day in honour of Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls education in Pakistan.
US to overtake Saudi Arabia as top Oil Producer According to the report of International Energy Agency (IAE), the United States is likely to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer by 2017. The Paris-based energy agency said in its annual forecast that the U.S. is drilling more crude oil through increased use of hydraulic fracturing of underground shale formations.

India, Afghanistan Sign Cooperation Pacts India and Afghanistan signed 4 agreements to cooperate in areas of social welfare, fertilizer, coal mining and youth affairs during Afghanistans President Hamid Karzai four day visit to India. Kansas State Assembly Elections Shanti Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi was elected to a State Assembly in the United States during the general elections for the Kansas 52nd Assembly District. Shanti Gandhi contested as a Republican Party candidate and had defeated his Democratic rival Theodore Ted Ensley .

OBAMA RE-ELECTED U.S. President Barack Obama has been reelected to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney. America's first black president secured more than the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win. The
Democrats retained their majority in the Senate and the Republicans kept control of the House of Representatives .

Support package for Egypt European Union has approved a 5 billion-Euro (i.e 6.4 billion dollars) financial support package for Egypt. for Reconstruction and Development. New Syrian Opposition Coalition France has become the first major nation to recognize the newly formed Syrian National Coalition of opposition and Revolutionaries as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Arab League has granted Observer status to the bloc while the six nation Gulf Co-operation Council has already recognized it. Britain and European Union have stopped short of recognizing the bloc waiting to see more evidence that the opposition grouping has strong support inside Syria. China unveils new leadership China's ruling Communist Party unveiled a new generation of younger leadership, including Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, as members of the key Central Committee to lead the world's largest political party and the second largest economy in the

Britain lifts travel advisory ban from J&K Due to improved security situation in J&K, Britain has lifted its twenty years old travel advisory for its nationals against travelling to Srinagar, Jammu and Ladakh. Britain is the third country after Germany and Japan to revoke

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next decade. The 18th CPC (Communist Party of China) Central Committee will in turn elect the Politburo, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and the General Secretary of the party at its first plenary session in Beijing. Belarus seeks Indian investments Belarus Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich has invited more Indian investments in his country, asking business leaders to increase cooperation in sectors like heavy engineering goods and fertiliser to boost economic. ties. To increase engagement in sectors like pharmaceuticals,biotechnology and information technology.

Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar presided over Adhikar Rally which turned out to be one of successful rallies in Gandhi Maidan of Patna as far as its turnout is concerned. The main purpose of the rally was to demand a special category status for Bihar enable the state to touch the national average on several indicators of human development index, economic growth and development. NADDP suspends 11 athletes on charges of doping National Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel (NADDP) has suspended all the 11 athletes who tested positive for banned drugs in the run-up to the last Commonwealth Games for two years The athletes who have been baaned include six wrestlers, including Arjuna awardee Rajeev Tomar, Joginder Singh, Sumit Sehrawat, Rahul Maan, Gursharanpreet Kaur and Khatri, Two athletes, Saurabh Vij and Akash Antil and three swimmers Amar Muralidharan, Jyotsana Pansare and Richa.

Omnishambles
The Oxford English Dictionary has chosen Omnishambles as the UK Word of the Year 2012. The meaning of the word is the situation of complete disorder or the situation that has been mismanaged comprehensively and is characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.

Golconda Diamond
A rare 76 carat diamond mined from the Golconda Kingdom was auctioned for at a record price of Euros16.9 million or approximately 118 crore rupees at the auction held in Geneva, Switzerland. The diamond has been described as the cushion shaped, internally flawless, of superb quality as well as colourless.

TATA STEEL fined.

TATA Steel has been fined Rs6000 crores for illegal and excessive mining in Orissa. Along with TATA several other iron ore producers were also fined. Uttarakhand tops in green ranking Uttarakhand has been rated on top in the Planning Commission's green ranking based on quality of air and water, waste management, forest cover and climate change. The panel lists Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh as the other top four states on its Environmental Performance Index, which will serve as a measure of a state's green initiative and be linked to financial assistance from the Centre. UIDAI launched Public Data Portal
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has launched its 'Public Data Portal' for the Aadhaar project to enable the people to access several types of data. The UIDAI has also been sharing information about the latest developments of the project in the public domain through its website.

Tenth ASEAN-India Summit

The tenth ASEAN-India Summit that is held at Peace Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The summit was chaired by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia- Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN Sen.

Tongariro Volcano
The Tongariro Volcano in Mount Tongariro at Tongariro National Park, New Zealand has erupted. This Volcano consists of 12 cones and has erupted more than 70 times since 1839.

NATIONAL NEWS
Indian Ambassador to Bhutan Resigned Indian Diplomat Pavan K. Varma resigned as Indias ambassador to Bhutan with an idea to enter into politics by joining the Janata Dal-United (JDU). CCEA lifts Export Ban from Milk Products Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the Union Government body lifted the export ban on milk products, especially on whole milk powder (WMP), dairy whitener, infant milk foods and other milk products till March 2013 which was imposed in February 2011 to meet the domestic supply of Milk Products that is skimmed milk powder (SMP), whole milk powder (WMP), dairy whitener, infant milk foods, casein and casein products. However the ban was withdrawn in for Casein in April 2012 and for Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) in June 2012. Adhikaar Rally Held in Bihar

Disinvestment in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Government today approved disinvestment of 10 per cent in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, HAL out of its holding 100 per cent through Initial Public Offer (IPO). The government is expecting to raise approx. 2500 crore from this move.
Door-to-door campaign for cancer detection Punjab government is launching the biggest ever state wide door-to-door campaign next month for early detection of cancer and its subsequent treatment. The survey would involve approx. 50,000 personnel. 2G spectrum auction ends The much talked about 2G mobile phone spectrum auction ended with half of the airwaves on offer remaining unsold and

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government getting just about one-third of the targeted revenue. According to preliminary estimates, the government received bids worth "much-less" than Rs 10,000 crore in an auction that ended in two days, a far cry from the 35-day bidding for the 3G spectrum in 2010 that got Rs 67,719 crore.

The IMF(International Monetary Fund) has predicted that the economies of the Middle East and North Africa, MENA region will grow up by 5.1 per cent this year up from 3.3 per cent in 2011-12.
Growth of 7% feasible in next fiscal A majority of corporate honchos feel that reviving India's overall economic growth to 7% will be feasible in the next fiscal. According to a survey by industry body Assocham "After a subdued Diwali this financial year, India Inc will certainly see a sparkle in the festive season of 2013-14 on the back of manufacturing and exports returning to growth."

Skilling India
The theme selected for the 32nd edition of the India International Trade Fair, New Delhi was Skilling India and the event focused on the initiatives undertaken by different agencies, government departments and other private participants for development of skills among the youths.

Income Ceiling for LIG & EWS raised

The Ministry for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has raised the income criterion for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) housings from 60000 Rupees per year to Rs 1 Lakh. And the income bar for LIG category has been raised to 2 lakh Rupees now. With this, people under this income category will be able to get benefits under the Rajiv Awas Yogna (RAY) and EWS Housing Schemes.

RBI signs MoU with State Bank of Vietnam

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for promoting greater co-operation and sharing supervisory information, between the two supervisors at Hanoi, Vietnam in the Headquarters of State Bank of Vietnam.

AWARDS
Indira Gandhi National Award Renowned Lyricist and poet Gulzar was awarded with Indira Gandhi National Integration Award by Sonia Gandhi on the eve of 28th death anniversary of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. BCCI Polly Umrigar Award Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli was chosen by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) for Polly Umrigar award for being India's top international cricketer in 201112. The award is in the name of late Indian cricketer Polly Umrigar, a first-class cricketer for Bombay, and a member of the Indian cricket team, which had captained the Indian team in eight Test matches from 1955 to 1958. Sahara India Pariwar Felicitates 6 olympics medalist Sahara India Pariwar felicitated six Indian Olympians who had won medals at the London Olympics. The silver medalist Sushil Kumar and Vijay Kumar were presented with gold weighing three kg while bronze medalist Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom and Yogeshwar Dutt were presented with 2 kg of gold by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. French Award for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres) by the French Ambassador to India Franois Richier on behalf of the French Authorities for her contributions to Indian and World Cinema and the developments in improving Indo-French cooperation in the field of art, culture and the most important one, Cinema. Greentech Environment Award Indian Oil's Mathura Refinery was awarded the Platinum Award at the 13th Annual Greentech Environment Awards, with regard to the company's outstanding

Cancer and Cardio institute.

The Government has decided to set up a National Cancer Institute (NCI) and a National Cardio Care Centre (NCCC) at the second campus of AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Badhsa village of Jhajjar, Haryana. The Proposed National Cancer Institute would be the countrys largest cancer institute with a capacity of 600 beds and facilities of treating almost every form of cancer.

Aam Admi Party

Social activist and anticorruptionist Arvind Kejriwal announced the name of his newly formed Political Party as Aam Admi Party. This was decided at Jantar Mantar.

Disinvestment in NTPC
The Cabinet has approved the disinvestment of 9.5 percent Government Stake in the Maharatna PSU-National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The equity disinvestment of NTPC would bring back a sum of about 13000 crore rupees.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy

The Union Cabinet of India has been passed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPA). As per the new pricing policy , 348 essential drugs would come under price control policy of the nation, which would lead to price reduction of the same.

Kasab Hanged
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Pakistani National and the lone surviving terrorist of 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks, has been hanged at Punes Yerwada Jail. Kasab had killed 166 people along with 9 other terrorists from Pakistan.

e-court Fee
The Delhi High Court has launched the e-court fee system to cut off the difficulty and delay in filing cases and to make the justice delivery system paperless and hassle-free.

ECONOMY
MENA economies to grow up

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achievements and contribution for apt implementation of environmental friendly technologies and methodologies. Greentech Awards is a key component that values the need of environmental management in business sustainability Durgabai Deshmukh awards Indina President presented the Durgabai Deshmukh awards for women's development for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. The 2005 award was jointly given to Mizoram Hmeithai (Widows) Association and People's Forum, Bhubaneswar, for 2006 to Sumangali Seva Ashram of Bangalore and Snehalaya of Ahmednagar was awarded the Award for the year 2007 for its landmark work in the rehabilitation of women of red light areas and other destitute women.
Kyoto Prize Renowned literary critic and educator Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Professor at Columbia University in the U.S. was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Kyoto. She won the award in the Arts and Philosophy category for her deep thinking on humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to globalisation. Kyoto prize honours those personalities who have significantly contributed to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind.

together defeating Pakistan's Aisam- Ul- Haq Qureshi and Netherlands' Jean- Julien Rojer in the finals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. South African Sportsman of the Year Cricketer Vernon Philander was named South Africa's 'Sportsman of the Year'. Philander is the fastest player to take 50 Test match wickets in more than 100 years of cricket history. Asia Kabaddi Championship Pakistan won the Asian Kabaddi Championship title after the Indian team walked out of the field in protest against the referee's decision to penalize their coach. M.S.Dhonis Superbike Championship Team signs 2 new drivers Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Superbike Championship Team changed its name from MSD R-N Racing Team India to Mahi Racing Team India and signed two new members, world champion Kenan Sofouglu and former world champion Fabien Foret. Youngest Indian on Elite Golfers' League Gaganjeet Bhullar, 24, became the youngest Indian to make it to the elite group of the worlds top-100 players in the latest rankings.
ATP World Tour Tennis 2012 Serbia's World Number One Novak Djokovic has bagged the Men's Singles trophy of the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic defeated World Number Two Roger Federer of Switzerland. ATP World Tour Doubles Final 2012 The Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez defeated the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the Men's Doubles title clash of the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Asian Jr Weightlifting Female Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has won three bronze medals for Indian Team on the opening day of the 19th Junior Women Asian Weightlifting Championships in Yangon in Mynamar.

Asom Ratna Assam CM Tarun Gogoi announced to confer Eminent litterateur Dr Indira (Mamoni) Raisom Goswami with the prestigious Asom Ratna posthumously for her outstanding contribution to literature, art and culture and social service.

Education Nobel Prize

Dr Madhav Chavan has been awarded the WISE prize, which is known as the Nobel prize for Education. at the WISE summit in Doha, the capital of Qatar. He was conferred with this award for helping uneducated slum dwellers in Mumbai and devising a method for providing lessons for huge number of people at low cost. His charity, Pratham, also carried out lessons in temples for the less fortunate.

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace

The former President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was awarded with Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development at Rashtrapati Bhavan by President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

West Indies thrash Bangladesh

West Indies won the second match of the test series against Bangladesh sealed the series with 2-0. With this defeat Bangladesh faced its 65th defeat in the 75 tests played till date.

Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award

Sunil Gavaskar, the Former Captain and legendary opener of Indian Cricket Team has been conferred with BCCIs prestigious Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

SPORTS
ATP Tour Masters Title Indian Tennis Player Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna won their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title

PERSON IN NEWS
New CEO of AITA

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Hironmoy Chatterjee, Secretary of the Bengal Tennis Association was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The All India Tennis Association (AITA). The selection was made by the Executive Board of AITA headed by President Anil Khanna in consultation with the honourable Life President, Yashwant Sinha. New President of IHF V. Dinesh Reddy, the DGP of Andhra Pradesh has been appointed as the New President of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) replacing R.K. Shetty.

Makemake
Astronomers from Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, Spain has been discovered that the distant drawf planet called Makemake, which is 2/3rd that of Pluto in size does not have atmosphere.

Super-Jupiter
Astrophysicists at the University of Toronto discovered a new planet called Super-Jupiter which is thirteen times bigger than Jupiter. This is the largest planet discovered in the solar system so far.

Ami Bera
California-based, Indian-American Ami Bera has become the rd 3 Indian-American to win Congressional election, making it to US House of Representatives. He defeated Republican candidate Dan Lungren. Dalip Singh Saund and Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal are the other two who made to the house of representatives.

OBITUARY
Pioneer of Pocket Cartoons Dies Veteran Cartoonist and the pioneer of pocket cartoons in India, T Samuel died on at the age of 86. Veteran BJP Leader Dies Veteran BJP leader, former governor of Gujarat and Rajasthan and former finance minister of Bihar Kailashpati Mishra passed away after prolonged illness. Chinese-British Writer died Chinese-British writer and physician Elizabeth Comber, who was known by her pen name Han Suyin, died at the age of 95 at her home in Lausanne, Switzerland. She emerged as the most powerful voices that served as a bridge between China and the West in the 20th century. S.K. Khaitan passes away Shree Krishna Khaitan, chairman of Khaitan group of companies, passed away. He incorporated the Khaitan group of companies in 1975 which is one of the leading fan manufacturers in the country with a name in home appliances and lightings business.

President of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone, has been re-elected as President of Ernest Bai Koroma. Sierra Leone is a West African country rich in mineral resource. Julius Maada Bio, the top rival of Koroma won 37.4 percent votes.

World Athletes of the Year 2012

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt nicknamed Lightning Bolt has won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 for the fourth time and United States sprinter Allyson Felix won women's World Athlete of the Year Award 2012.
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Brazils Supreme Courts First non-White President

Joaquim Barbosa is sworn-in as Brazil's Supreme Court's first non-White President in the capital Brazilia. Barbosa is famous for his tough stand against political corruption.

K.C.Pant dead
K.C. Pant, (ex-Defence Minister) and former Planning Commission Deputy Chairman died. He was the son of former CM of Uttar Pradesh, Govind Ballabh Pant, and held various key positions in the government.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Space Station Alert Service The US Space Agency, NASA launched a new service in which people can receive text messages on their phones, whenever the International Space Station would come over their house. The service was launched during the celebration to make people aware in finding out the location of International Space Station (ISS) as people yet are unaware about the location of ISS in the sky also about the fact that after sun and moon, it is the third brightest object present in the sky. 8th Ballistic Missile Interceptor Test Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) announced to conduct a test of its 8th ballistic interceptor missile. Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, K. Saraswat, had asserted that the interceptor would blast off and pounce on the attacker in endo-atmosphere at an altitude of 15 km to 16 km.

Kamala Sadagopan - Tamil writer

The eminent Tamil writer and novelist Kamala Sadagopan died. She won Narayanasamy Iyer Award for her famous novel Kadhavu.

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