News for Jan 2013

• Collins dictionary 12 words of the year : 
• Broga
• Legbomb
• Eurogeddon
• Mummy Porn
• Zuckered
• Jubilympics
• Romneyshambles
• 47 per cent
• Games Makers
• Superstorm
• Gangnam Style
• Fiscal cliff
• Pratibha Ray who is a famous Oriya novelist has been chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith award for the year 2011
• Previously, the honor was conferred on Gopinath Mohanty (1973), Sachidananda Routray (1986) and Sitakant Mohapatra (1993).
• Works : 
• Yajnaseni (won her the Moorti Devi Award in 1991 and Sarala Award in 1990)
• Her first novel Barsa Basanta Baishakha in 1974
• Australian batsman Mike Hussey will retire from Test cricket after the final match of the series against Sri Lanka at Sydney starting on January 3, 2013.
• In 2011, the Union Ministry of Textiles had announced the Restructured Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (R-TUFS) with subsidy cap for each value adding segment, such as spinning, weaving and processing.
• It is a scheme introduced by Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles, to channelize investments towards hitherto low investments segments to facilitate a balanced growth across the value chain.
• Objectives : 
• Addressing the issues of fragmentation and promoting forward integration
• Promoting investments in sector with low investment like processing
• Technology upgradation in weaving by providing higher capital subsidy
• U.S.General Norman Schwarzkopf who led Operation Desert Storm died
• Operation Desert Storm is the codename of the Gulf War fought in 1991 by a U.N.-authorized Coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq during the regime of President Saddam Hussein in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The Coalition forces drove out the forces of Iraq from the country and gained the victory in the war.
• The EU is increasingly promoting potato as crop which can replace rice as a staple in the Asian rice-consuming countries.
• Potato, which is a ‘tuber crop’, requires less amount of water to grow as compared to other basic food products, without compromising the nutritional value.
• Consumes about 30 % less water to grow than rice
• NASA scientists are planning to capture a 500,000 kg asteroid, relocate it and turn it into a space station for astronauts to refuel at on their way to Mars.
• The Planning Commission has opined to cut the growth rate target for the 12th Five Year Plan to 8%, from 8.2% at the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC).
• As per Planning Commission data, Bihar has left Gujarat behind in terms of growth as it emerged as the fastest growing state in the country with figure of 10.9%. Gujarat was overtaken by 5 states Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Orissa.
• Sikkim highest GSDP growth in 11th plan followed by Goa and Bihar
• Turkey lifts veto against NATO’s non-military cooperation with Israel
• Germany is India's top European trading partner
• Russia and Lakhdar Brahimi (the U.N. and Arab League envoy on Syria) supported the Geneva plan.
• However, Russia has put forth a condition that the formation of transitional government as proposed in Geneva Plan should be done without removal of current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This demand is against what the U.S. wants, which seeks exit of the Syrian president.
• India stiffens medical visa facility for Maldivians
• Pakistan recognizes Kosovo as an Independent State
• Prime Minister’s office has re-constituted the Planning Commission by appointing parliamentary affairs and urban development minister Kamal Nath as the new ex-officio member of the Plan panel in place of rural development minister Jairam Ramesh.
• A cryptic deathbed theory given by India’s mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, has now been proven correct and it could also explain the behavior of black holes.
• 22-year old Bhakti Sharma from India is the youngest in the world to have crossed seven seas, including four oceans.
• Besides, she is only the third person in the world to have swum across the Arctic Ocean, and is now targeting the Antarctic Ocean to become the youngest to swim in all five oceans.
• State Bank of India (SBI) has unveiled its mobile wallet named State Bank MobiCash Easy which provides facilities such as fund transfer, bill payment, balance inquiry, mini statement, mobile top-ups and DTH recharge etc.
• SBI is carrying out this plan in collaboration with a private service provider Oxigen
• China launched Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), a kind of global positioning system, in the Asia-Pacific
• The system would initially provide positioning, navigation, timing and short-message services in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
• he Centre has scaled down the launch of its ambitious Direct Cash Transfer scheme to cover 20 districts, instead of 43 as planned.
•  The states are: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab and the UTs of Puducherry, Chandigarh and Daman and Diu.
• PM Manmohan Singh inaugurated a new science policy, the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013that lays greater emphasis on innovation, setting up research institutes and encouraging women scientists with an aspiration to place itself among the top five scientific powers in the world by 2020.
• From January 1, 2013, Uttarakhand government enforced the ban on sale, purchase and storage of gutka and tobacco-based pan masala.
• Asif Ibrahim appointed as chief of Intelligence Bureau: First muslim to hold the post of IB
• The meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 which is ncknamed “Black Beauty,” is a new type of Martian meteorite, possessing 10 times more water than usual
• Difference with other Martian Meteorite : 
• Can provide insight into what Mars was like around 2 billion years ago.
• Different chemical composition and has a different mixture of oxygen isotopes.
• It provides an excellent match for surface rocks and outcrops NASA has studied remotely via Mars rovers and Mars—orbiting satellites.
• South Korean sentenced a 31-year-old pedophile Pyo to 15 years in jail and ordered the country’s first ever chemical castration
• although Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the US state of California have used it for years
• The Haryana Government will implement a new initiative known as ‘Kanyadan’ from April 1, 2013 under which an incentive of Rs 11,000 per girl will be given to each of the beneficiary brides during the mass marriage ceremony to be organized by Red Cross Societies or any registered NGO in the state
• Beneficiary should be Haryana domicile and must be 18 years of age on the date of her marriage. The mass marriage should have least 11 marriages at a time, by Red Cross Societies or any registered NGO in the state
• produce a certificate regarding proof of girl’s age such as birth certificate or that of matric.
• Ireland’s esteemed Tipperary International Peace Prize for 2012 for Malala Yousufzai
• In 2007 it was awarded to Benazir Bhutto
• Four fast track courts in Saket,Rohini, Tis Hazari and Dwarka to try sexual offences
• As per medical experts the effect of medicines used for chemical castration like Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and Cyproterone acetate are temporary. There effect can be reduced by anti-epileptics and anti-diabetics drugs, anti-depressants and some performance-enhancing drugs used by athletes
•  Indian origin scientist Venkatesh Mannar who is President of Micronutrient Initiative, Canada, has been conferred with Canada’s ‘highest’ civilian award – the Order of Canada
• World’s largest solar telescope is likely to be established in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir by the end of 2013. The project costing Rs. 300 crore would come up either at Hanle or Merak village near Pangong Lake in Ladakh
• The telescope, with an aperture of two metres, will aid in understanding the process of creation and decay of sunspots
• With the help of this telescope it would be possible to get crucial information on the nature of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere.
• decay of sunspots assumes importance as they pose a threat to the communication system on earth as well as satellites orbiting in the outer space.
• Charged particles in solar wind can interfere with the operation of satellites by introducing what is called background static and also interact with atoms in the upper part of earth’s atmosphere and thus wreaking havoc with the communication systems on ground.  
• CCTNS(Crime & Criminal Tracking Network & Systems) Project will create a nation-wide environment for the real-time sharing of crime and criminal information under the National e-Governance Plan of Government of India. 
• The Project also includes the creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced a ban on journalistic activities by foreign tourists in India.
• The MP forest department has approved a site specific proposal of identifying eco sensitive zones around Kanha National Park (Mandla), Pench National Park (Seoni), Bandhavgarh National Park (Umaria), Panna National Park (Panna) and Kuno Palpur sanctury (Seopur) among others. Madhya Pradesh has 8 national parks and 25 wildlife sanctuaries.
• Eco-sensitive zone is land falling within 10 km of a park or sanctuary.
• As per norms, commercial activities and other activities harmful to environment like setting up of industries, hotels and resorts, mining activities among others will be prohibited
• National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) has commissioned its first 50 MW wind power project at Gandikota in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh built with the cooperation of Suzlon .
• Curiosity rover which was sent to Mars by NASA to explore the planet has spotted an unusual flower-like formation embedded in the Martian rock, along with a snake-like rock formation adorning the planet’s surface.
• The rover is currently going through a shallow depression named “Yellowknife Bay,” after spending its first four months deep inside Gale Crater
• On Mars the days are 2.7% longer than days on Earth at an average of 24 hours and 37 minutes. The days on Mars are called ‘sols’.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a Working Group which will be headed by Suma Verma with an aim to review, update, and revise the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006.
• Ministry of External Affairs has advised all Passport Issuing Authorities to accept Aadhaar letter as Proof of Address and Photo identity in conjunction with any other prescribed documents for proof of address/identity for the purpose of passport application.
• Stanford University scientist have developed a drug called LM11A-31 which they claim could help paralyzed people walk again
• The drug was tested for its ability to prevent the death of cells called oligodendrocytes. These cells cover and protect axons, long projections of a nerve cell, by wrapping them in a myelin sheath that protects the fibres
• Cross-subsidization scheme : It is a scheme by railways which envisages charging higher freight rates in order to keep the passenger fares low.It fails
• France honoured Malala Yousofzai with Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom
• National Institute of Design (NID) will be given the status of an ‘Institution of National Importance’
• to professionalise, standardise and internationally benchmark professional design education in India
• On Makar Sankrnti, Maha Kumbh Mela festival, one of the largest congregations on earth, began in Prayag (Sangam), Allahabad at the confluence of Rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati.
• The 55-day Mela will conclude on March 10 with the Maha Shivratri festival.
• The Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is observed every 6 years at Haridwar and Allahabad.
• The Purna (complete) Kumbh is celebrated every 12 years, at four places Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik. 
• Maha Kumbha Mela: Only at Prayag, every 144 year. 
• Astronomers from the University of Central Lancashire have discovered the largest known structure in the Universe called Large Quasar Group (LQG) that is powered by cluster of super massive black holes spanning across 4 billion light years.
• Quasars are believed to be the nuclei of galaxies of the universe, which undergoes short period of extremely high brightness making them visible in the sky from very distant positions
• Corporation Bank has launched Corp RuPay Aadhaar card which has a primary aim to provide easy and smooth banking services to the financially excluded and underprivileged sections of the society having Aadhaar number.
• NRHM survey : 
• For the utilisation of public health facilities for ante-natal care and post-natal care services, Tamil Nadu is the best performer whereas Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam are the worst. 
• By the Institute of Economic Growth of the University of Delhi.
•  Tamil Nadu stands at top for implementation outcomes of the NRHM and can be a benchmark for other States. 
• The seven States surveyed are: Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir.
• India has decided to put negotiations to finalize a trade liberalization pact with Mauritius on hold. It has said that the talks will not be resumed till the island nation amends its Double-Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India.
• The Basel Committee has extended the deadline given to banks around the world to comply with Basel-III norms has been deferred for 4 more years to January 2019 against the previous deadline of January 2015.
• Scientists at the University of York and Leeds in Britain have established that the majority of ozone-depleting gas iodine oxide observed over the remote ocean comes from a previously unknown marine source. 
• As per researchers, the main source of iodine oxide can be explained by emissions of hypoiodous acid (HOI) – a gas not yet considered as being released from the ocean – along with a contribution from molecular iodine. 
• ‘Krishi Karman Awards’
• Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland awarded for their special contribution to total foodgrains production.
• Uttar Pradesh for coarse cereals.
• On March 15, 2013, Microsoft’s Windows Messenger service will be switched of by the company.
• The service will remain functional only in China as it runs under license there.
• Health Ministry raises eligible income limit for HMDG to 1 lakh.
• PM Manmohan Singh has selected urban development and parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath to lead the Indian team in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual summit in Davos, Switzerland. The team has 3 other ministerial members:
• Commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma
• Heavy industry minister Praful Patel
• Power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia
• Chakan da Bagh is a crossing point located in Poonch district along the LoC in Kashmir where  India and Pak hold meet after escalating tensions between them due to brutal killing of army soldiers.
• Based on our Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) a list of countries with most infections (only for those with more than 5 victims) of the attacks of ‘Red October’ cyber espionage attack
• RUSSIAN FEDERATION-35
  KAZAKHSTAN-21
  AZERBAIJAN-15
  BELGIUM-15
  INDIA-14
• RBI introduces Dollar-Rupee Swap Policy : 
• Objective: To increase the flow of credit to the export sector to support incremental Pre-shipment export Credit in Foreign Currency (PCFC) by banks.
• Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC) will launch a tax-free bond issue
• IRFC is a dedicated financing arm of the Ministry of Railways. IRFC’s prime aim is to raise money from the market
• Objectives : 
• To finance the acquisition of Rolling Stock assets to be leased to MOR on the best possible rates and terms.
• To tap domestic as well as Overseas Markets for funds at the most competitive rates & terms by issue of tax-free and taxable bonds/FRNs/Foreign Currency Loans/medium term loans from Banks to achieve plan financing target fixed by MOR.
• To achieve ’zero complaint status’ through improved customer service to the bondholders/investors/lenders.
• To ensure optimum utilization of resources.
• Patiala court became the first district court to fully switch over to the e-stamping process and eliminate stamp papers.
• The change to e-stamping is aimed at ensuring hassle-free transactions and keeping a check on fraudulent practices.
• World Bank sharply slashed the global growth outlook for 2013 to 2.4% from earlier estimate of 3%
• Air India halts operations of Dreamliner
• Facebook has unveiled a new friends-based search tool “graph search” which will help its users search for people and places within the social network.
• The tool also addresses privacy concerns as it allows users to sort through only content that has been shared with them.
• Saina Nehwal becomes No2
• Axis Bank has launched ‘Axis Bank e- Gift Card’ which is an online version of physical plastic gift cards
• The card carrying a particular value can be bought by using debit or credit card. This card can be gifted via email or SMS to the recipient who can use it to purchase anything
• Market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has brought changes in its Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOS) and Employee Stock Purchase Scheme (ESPS) Guidelines, 1999, prohibiting companies from dealing in their own shares in the secondary market under these schemes, with immediate effect.
• Forthcoming Launches of ISRO:
  
• In April 2013, ISRO expects to resume flying the GSLV rocket. The GSLV-D5 will lift the communications satellite GSAT-14 into orbit. GSLV programme was put on hold after it suffered two successive failures in April and December 2010.
• In May 2013, the first of the national navigational satellites or navsats — the IRNSS-1 — is expected to be launched on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. IRNSS or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System with its seven satellites will be India’s own regional Global Positioning System.
• GSAT-7, a satellite dedicated for the Navy, will be launched around May on a European Ariane rocket.
• INSAT-3D and GSAT-10, will be launched in the second half of this year
• China has appointed Wei Wei (57) as new ambassador to India, succeeding Zhang Yan
• India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI), along with its associates, plans to set up ‘by-invitation-only’ branches under the ‘Kohinoor’ brand in 20 cities to serve uber-rich customers and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
• SBI had launched first such branch — Kohinoor Banjara — in Hyderabad in 2010.
• The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has been given approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to continue to sanction new projects and capacity building activities till March 31, 2014 under Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) components of JNNURM.
• Parchin is an Iranian military complex, located about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Tehran. It is suspected that Iran is advancing with its nuclear enrichment program for making nuclear weapons. Iran is not allowed to do so as it is a signatory to Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
• President Pranab Mukherjee imposed President’s rule in Jharkhand following its approval by the Union Cabinet.  The imposition of President’s Rule in Jharkhand draws its power from Article 356(1) of the Constitution.
• Online shopping portal Snapdeal.com has tied with Mahindra & Mahindra to sell its two-wheelers. It will happen for the first time that vehicles will be sold and home delivered through website
• Cities covered under this scheme include Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata
•  Mahaveer Golechha, a London-based Indian researcher will be honored with Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s ‘Young Investigator Scholarship Award’ at the 7th Annual Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration Conference San Francisco.
• The award is being given to him to recognize his outstanding research on ‘Naringin’, a bioflavonoid found in grape fruits and citrus fruits. He has discovered thatnaringin bears significant "anti-Alzheimer activity"
• The former ISRO chairman, Prof. U.R. Rao, will be inducted the prestigious international Satellite Hall of Fame. The US based Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) is honoring him for his contribution to the field of satellite-related aerospace scientific research.
• The International Olympics association has requested the discredited cyclist Lance Armstrong to return the Olympic bronze medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games. The cyclist was stripped off all the seven Tour de France medals he had won after a report from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) accused him of leading a massive doping programme on his teams.
• As per the latest ruling of the apex court, not only an MLA but any interested person has the right to inform the Speaker of the fact that a member has incurred disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) and the presiding officer is bound to take action on the complaint.
• In order to curb the menace of encroachment and strengthen the hands of civic bodies the Supreme Court has ordered ban on fresh encroachment of roads, pavements and sideways by construction of religious structures or installation of statues of public figures.
• Ghat Ki Guni is a 2.8km long tunnel located at east Jaipur and connects MI Road and NH-11 passing through Jhalana Hills. The passage, built at the cost of Rs 150 crore, will alleviate the congestion due to traffic by providing alternative route to Jaipur-Agra Road.
• 12 LPG for BPL families and other marginalised sections  : decision by Delhi government is part of its ‘kerosene-free Delhi scheme’ launched in August, 2012. The scheme was launched with free distribution of gas stoves, cylinder and regulator to all families covered under BPL, Antyodaya Anna Yojna and Jhuggi Ration Card.
• The apex court banned all tourist movements in the habitat of extremely endangered Jarawa tribe in Andaman and Nicobar and also sought to know from Andaman & Nicobar Island administration whether it intended to keep the tribe, which has a thin population of just over 300, in isolation or to be assimilated in the mainstream
• The court banned the movement of all tourist vehicles through the 46-km Andaman Trunk Road that links North Andaman to its southern part passing through the tribe’s habitat till February 26, 2013.
• Jarawas are highly vulnerable to diseases and viruses carried by the urban population and they live in forests in the western coasts of South and Middle Andaman Islands
• Garima II which is world’s first cloned buffalo has delivered a healthy and normal calf at the Karnal-based National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI).
• The calf, named Mahima, was born through ‘hand-guided cloning technique’. It is the first calf born from a cloned buffalo in the world
• India and Rawanda inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral co-operation in Water Resources Development and Management.
• Major Abup J Manjali of the Rashtriya Rifles has been awarded the Kirti Chakra on this Republic Day for the exhibition of exceptional valor in counter- terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Railways has set up a toll-free phone number (1800111321) to register the complaints about quality, quantity or charges of food on a real-time basis b/w 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
• “International Tea Producers’ Forum” (ITPF). It will be headquartered at Colombo for now.
• Attended by Kenya, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malawi, Rwanda and China.
• Britain is not a member of the eurozone
• IMF : The world output would expand 3.5% in 2013, a modest gain from 3.2% in 2012.
• India’s economy is expected to expand at the rate of 5.9% in 2013 and a higher growth of 6.4% in 2014
• The Pakistani military conducted a combat exercise “Saffron Bandit” involving fighter jets and ground troops. This exercise is conducted every 3 years
• India’s capital New Delhi has got rid of Leprosy as a public health problem, as the incidence rate of leprosy has declined from 4.5 cases per 10,000 of population in 2001 to 0.8 cases at present. 
• Leprosy is a bacterial disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae which affects mainly the skin and nerves. It takes 2 to 5 years for the symptoms to be visible as the disease progresses slowly.
• South-India playback singer Sreeramamurthy Janaki refused to accept Padma Bhushan award announced for her on the eve of 64^thRepublic Day. She did this showing her dissatisfaction over the number of people from South India chosen for Padma awards list for 2013.
• Hindustani vocalist Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan (105) has become the oldest person to be chosen for this year’s Padma Shri award.
• Khan is also a poet who has penned around 2000 compositions under the pseudonym ‘Rasan Piya’.
•  the Govt the launch of an eBiz portal which will offer Government-to-Business (G2B) services for India’s investor and business communities.   
• Developed by: Infosys in a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) mode.
• The portal provides a single-window service to enable businesses and investors to save time and costs and improve the business environment
• Government-to-Business (G2B) services for India’s investor and business communities.
• A 24×7 facility for information and services, and will also offer joined-up services where a single application submitted by a customer, for a number of permissions, clearances, approvals and registrations, will be routed automatically across multiple governmental agencies in a logical manner.
• eBiz will launch 29 services in the five states including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. 

Fourteenth Finance Commission

• Formed due to Article 280 of the Constitution,  consisting of Dr. Y.V.Reddy, former Governor Reserve Bank of India, as the Chairman and the following four other members, namely:-Prof Abhijit Sen; Ms. Sushma Nath; Dr. M.Govinda Rao and Dr. Sudipto Mundle.
• Shall make its report available by the 31^st October, 2014, covering a period of five years commencing on the 1st April, 2015.
• Make recommendations regarding the sharing of Union taxes, principles governing Grants-in-aid to States and transfer of resources to local bodies.
• Review the state of finances, deficit and debt levels of the Centre and states, keeping in view the fiscal consolidation roadmap recommended by the 13th Finance Commission.
• Suggest measures for maintaining a stable and sustainable fiscal environment consistent with equitable growth including suggestions to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management Acts.
• May also review the present arrangements  financing of Disaster Management with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and make recommendations.
• Look into issues like disinvestment, GST compensation, sale of non-priority PSUs and subsidies
• It will take the base of population figures as of 1971.

Vocabulary : Jan 2013

• Bluntly : बिना किसी बनावट के : in a blunt direct manner 
• Synonyms : bluffly, brusquely 
• Apartheid : रंग-भेद : a political system in which people of different races were separated
• Synonyms : segregation
• Prejudice : पूर्वाग्रह , भेदभाव : an opinion formed beforehand, esp an unfavourable one based on inadequate facts.
• Synonyms : Bias , Preconception
• Comprehend : समझना : to understand something completely.
• Synonyms : Apprehend , Perceive , Savvy
• Privy : गुप्त जानकारी के संबन्धित : to be told information that is not told to many people
• Synonyms : Toilet , Secluded , Secret
• Commence : आरम्भ होना : to begin something
• Synonyms : Begin , Lead Off, Embark on
• Vexed : विवादास्पद : difficult to deal with and causing a lot of disagreement and argument
• Synonyms : Harassed ,Controversial
• Slumber : अल्पनिद्रा : sleep 
• Synonyms : Sleep , Nap ,Doze
• Bourse : सराफ़ा : a stock market 
• Blizzard :बर्फ़ानी तूफ़ान : severe snow storm
• Memoir : वृतांत : a book or other piece of writing based on the writer's personal knowledge of famous people, places or events
• Ultra Vires : Beyond the powers.

Padma Awards : 2013

Awardees

Padma Vibhushan

SNo	Name	Discipline	State
1.	Shri Raghunath Mohapatra	Art	Orissa
2.	Shri S. Haider Raza	Art	Delhi
3.	Prof. Yash Pal	Science and Engineering	UP
4.	Prof. Roddam Narasimha	Science and Engineering	Karnataka

Padma Bhushan

Dr. Ramanaidu Daggubati	Art	Andhra Pradesh
Smt. Sreeramamurthy Janaki	Art	Tamil Nadu
Dr (Smt.) Kanak Rele	Art	Maharashtra
Smt. Sharmila Tagore	Art	Delhi
Dr. (Smt.) Saroja Vaidyanathan	Art	Delhi
Shri Abdul Rashid Khan	Art	WB
Late Rajesh Khanna	Art	Maharashtra
Late Jaspal Singh Bhatti	Art	Punjab
Shri Shivajirao Girdhar Patil	Public Affairs	Maharashtra
Dr. Apathukatha Sivathanu Pillai	Science & Tech	Delhi
Dr. Vijay Kumar Saraswat	Science & Tech	Delhi
Dr. Ashoke Sen	Science & Tech	UP
Dr. B.N. Suresh	Science & Tech	Karnataka
Prof. Satya N. Atluri	Science & Tech	USA
.Prof. Jogesh Chandra Pati	Science & Tech	USA
Shri Ramamurthy Thyagarajan	Trade and Industry	TN
Shri Adi Burjor Godrej	Trade and Industry	Maharashtra
Dr. Nandkishore Shamrao Laud	Medicine	Maharashtra
Shri Mangesh Padgaonkar	Literature & Education	Maharashtra
Prof. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak	Literature & Education	USA
Shri Hemendra Singh Panwar	Civil Service	MP
Dr. Maharaj Kishan Bhan	Civil Service	Delhi
Shri Rahul Dravid	Sports	Karnataka
Ms. H. Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom	Sports	Manipur

For More : - > http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/Padma(E)2013.pdf

Jan 2013 : General Knowledge

• Union Tourism Minister  : Shri K Chiranjeevi
• Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences : Shri Jaipal Reddy
• Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) : S. Ramakrishnan.
• CyanoBacteria  : Blue Green Algae
• World's largest solar telescope : McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope : aperture size of 1.6 metres in Kitt Peak National Observatory at Arizona in the US.
• Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, and nicknamed "Black Beauty(weighs 320gm) : Martian Meteorite.
• Square Kilometer Array (SKA) telescope : World's largest radio telescope(to be built)
• SCI Chairman and Director(Finance) and MD : B K Mandal 
• Mukesh Ambani : 18th world's richest ( Bloomberg Billionaires Index)
• Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim : World's Richest.
• NASA’s Cassini mission : On Saturn' moon Titan.
• Bonn Convention : also known as Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
• Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation : Ajay Maken.
• Business 2012 : At a Glance .
• US Vice President : Joe Biden.
• Persons died in 2012 : At a Glance 
• Japan PM : Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh ah-bay).
• Railway Minister : Pawan Kumar Bansal.
• French President  : Francois Hollande.
• British Prime Minister: David Cameron.
• Paigam-e-Aman’ bus service between Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Jammu and Kashmir
• Maitree Express : India Bangladesh Train service.
• Xpress’ browser : Nokia fast loading browser.
• Kansai Nerolac (subsidiary of Kansai Paints Company, Japan): second largest paint manufacturer in India.
• R.K. Dubey: Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank
• Infosys CEO and Managing Director :  S. D. Shibulal
• Biritish telecom giant :  Vodafone
• Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister : Veerappa Moily
• State Bank Group chairman : Pratip Chaudhuri
• Working group constituted for studying gold and goal loans by Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs)  under the chairmanship of KUB Rao.
• Reserve Bank of India Governor: D. Subbarao 
• Chairman, SEBI : U. K. Sinha
• Mauritius President :Rajkeswur Purryag
• Union Minister of Steel : Shri Beni Prasad Verma
• The Government of India has so far declared five waterways as National Waterways. These are:- (i) Allahabad-Haldia stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (1620 km); (ii) Dhubri-Sadiya stretch of Brahmaputra River (891 km); (iii) Kottapuram-Kollam stretch of West Coast Canal along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals (205 km); (iv) Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of the canal along with designated stretches of Godavari and Krishna Rivers (1078 km); and (v) designated stretches of East Coast Canal, Brahmani River and Mahanadi Delta (588 km). The Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of the Barak River would be the sixth National Waterway.
• Union Minister for Commerce, Industry & Textiles : Anand Sharma.
• NH-6 is a major link for Kolkata in West Bengal to Hazira Port in Gujarat.
• Kanha National Park is a national park and a Tiger Reserve in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. 
• In 2006 Rajinder Sachar Committee placed the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims below that of the Scheduled Castes.
• Jharkhand Governor : Syed Ahmed
• Pakistani human and civil rights activist :  Ansar Burney(key role in negotiating with Somali pirates).
• Enrica Lexie is an Italian Aframax oil-tanker involved in the shooting of two fisherman at Indian coast on 15 Feb 2012.
• Environmental Performance Index at Yale University : 
• India (125)(36.23)
• China(116)(42.24)
• Switzerland(1) (76.69)
• Anant Gupta elevated as HCL Tech CEO.
• Kachin(Jingpo People) tribe : inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Burma's Kachin State and neighbouring areas of China and India
• Czech President : Milos Zeman
• Siju-Rewak Corridor, located in the Garo Hills of India : Major among 88 Elephant corridor(A wildlife corridor or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities (such as roads, development, or logging)).
• Jordanian prime minister  : Abdullah Ensou
• Bhutan King : King Jigme Khesar
• Megaupload founder : Kim Dotcom
• White phosphorus : an incendiary agent generally used in war to create smoke screens
• The 700-Mhz spectrum band ranges from 698 Mhz to 806 Mhz : 4G Spectrum.
• RBI has not ease its elevated interest rate, which is one of the highest in the world and the highest among BRIC countries, citing high inflation and the government’s inability to reign-in the fiscal deficit at the desired levels.
• CyberKnife technique have helped lung cancer patients. 

21-31 Jan 2013

• In order to increase the availability of pulses, especially for the people living under the low poverty line, the government has resumed import of pulses through State Governments for distribution under Public Distribution System.The thrust of the scheme is to make pulses available to the BPL card holders at least one kg. per month. For More
• Bangalore Gears Up to Host Aeroindia – 2013 .
• Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) lab, which will audit the SAR values of mobile phones; and the Next Generation Network (NGN) lab in the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC).For More. 
• Shri S. N. Ananthasubramanian,  has been elected as the President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India . Shri Harish K. Vaid,  has been elected as the Vice President. 
• One Year Agenda for DeitY(Department of Electronics and Information Technology). 
• India and Rawanda have singed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral co-operation in Water Resources Development and Management.
• India has decided to go it alone in its second lunar mission, the Chandrayaan-2, which was originally proposed as an Indo-Russian venture. 
• India and Sri Lanka  signed two separate agreements on combating international terrorism and avoidance of double taxation.
• A voter, by pressing the Electronic Voting Machine, will know who he is voting for in an election through a printing slip which will display the name of the candidate and go into a box : Election Commission
• Heritage status for Netaji’s ancestral house
• Rajnath Singh is new BJP president 
• Uddhav Thackeray elected Shiv Sena president 
• The Justice Verma Committee formed to look into crimes against women on Wednesday ruled against recommending death penalty even in the rarest of the rare rape cases, and also did not favour lowering the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16.However they also said the minimum sentence for a rapist should be enhanced from 7 years to 10 and that life imprisonment must always mean jail for ‘the entire natural life of the convict .
• Supreme Court on Wednesday restraining airlines from levying transaction fee in any form on them.
• Indian firms gear up for the mega Thirty Metre Telescope project which will be the world’s most advanced ground-based observatory that will be operating in optical and mid-infrared wavelengths.
• Congress announced that the party’s yuvraj, Rahul Gandhi, had just been appointed vice-president
• Japan to replace Fukushima plant with world’s largest wind farm’.
• Govt will auction spectrum in 700 Mhz band, which is used for offering high-speed Internet services through fourth generation technologies, in 2014.
• INS Saryu commissioned near Andaman & Nicobar islands.
• Malaysia and Sri Lanka bans Kamal Hassan's Vishwaroopam.
• U.S. sanctions cause shortage of drugs in Iran particularly for life-threatening ones such as cancer and cardiac disorder.
• U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Denis R. McDonough, one of his top foreign policy advisors and long time trusted aide as his next Chief of Staff.
• US sentencing commission website hacked to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide.
• Milos Zeman is first directly elected Czech President.
• Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy on Sunday declared a state of emergency and a nightime curfew for one month in three restive cities after days of deadly violence.
• Multiple Entry Visa agreement between India and Bangladesh.
• OVL, the overseas arm of Oil & Natural Gas Corp., in November agreed to pay US energy giant ConocoPhillips about US $5 billion for the 8.4 per cent stake in Kashagan, the biggest oilfield discovery in over four decades get nod from all partners.
• Joint US-Japanese team, investigating into the Boeing Dreamliner’s battery problems, has shifted from the battery-maker to the manufacturer of a monitoring system. 
• UN group okays new video format (codec known as H.265) to save bandwidth .
• UK-based global conglomerate Hinduja group has signed a deal to acquire Belgian media company Alfacam, which provides TV facilities and services to broadcasters and production houses.
• P. Chidambaram will launch the much-awaited Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS)(Under the scheme, an individual with an income of less than Rs 10 lakh would get tax incentives for investing up to Rs 50,000 in the stock market but there would be a lock—in period of one year on investments made under the scheme) in Mumbai.
• To reduce Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) from biomedical waste, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has launched a project titled "Enviornmental sound management of medical waste"
• First time a video can be embedded in the tweet itself of not more than 6 seconds.
• A secret plant (at Aldermaston — a village in Berkshire, South-East England) which enriches uranium for Britain’s nuclear warheads has been shut down over safety fears .
• Russia to ban smoking in public places from mid 2014.
• Britain introduces same-sex marriage bill.Soon it will become law after voting.
• Defence Secretary Leon Panetta announced more than 230,000 battlefront posts, many in Army and Marine infantry units and in potentially elite commando jobs, are now open to women.
• Pak Supreme Court  ordering the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference within a week against the Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party secretary general for the questionable appointment of Tauqir Sadiq as chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and then allegedly facilitating his exit from the country to avoid arrest. 
• Headley gets 35 years in jail.
• 787 Dreamliners: Japan probe finds battery not overcharged.
• King Abdullah II of Jordan has given the parliament the right to choose the prime minister, previously appointed by the crown.
• GMR synchronises Kamalanga Thermal plant Orissa with the central grid.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),  notified the enhanced limit of investing in government securities (G-Secs) by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and long-term investors(include SEBI-registered sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), multilateral agencies, endowment funds, insurance funds, pension funds and foreign central banks. ) by $5 billion to $25 billion from $20 billion.It also hiked the investment limit in corporate bonds by these entities by $5 billion $50 billion from $45 billion.
• As part of the UPA Government’s National eGovernance Plan, the Commerce and Industry Ministry, on Monday, announced the launch of an eBiz portal aimed at providing Government-to-Business (G2B) services for India’s investor and business communities developed by Infosys in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.The online single-window concept was visualised to enable businesses and investors to save time and costs and improve the business environment.
• Air India puts up Dreamliners for sale, leaseback.
• Home-grown GPS ‘Gagan’ likely by 2014.
• Genome sequence of 90 chickpea lines decoded(Chickpea(gram) is the second largest cultivated grain food legume in the world, grown in about 11.5 million hectares mostly by resource poor farmers in the semi-arid tropics. It contributes to income generation and improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers in African countries such as Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya, and is crucial to the food security in India.)
• Reserve Bank of India  slashed its key interest rates by 0.25 per cent and released Rs 18,000 crore additional liquidity into the system to perk up growth through reduced cost of borrowing(cutting repo rate by 0.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent and cash reserve ratio (CRR) by similar margin to 4 per cent.) 
• Boeing delivers first of 10 C-17 Globemaster III airlifters to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• Railways addressing food complaints in real time ( call 1800111321 any time between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.)
• Software for rapid diagnosis of dengue : Dengue Decision Support System (DDSS) has been developed by U.S N. Murty.
• 3 new High Courts in the northeast — Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura — taking the total number of High Courts in the country from 21 to 24. 
• King of Bhutan(King Jigme Khesar) : Chief guest of Republic Day 2013
• India on Sunday successfully test-fired the underwater ballistic missile, K-15 (code-named B05), off the Visakhapatnam coast.
• Largest Russian naval exercise in post-Soviet era conduct nine-day exercises in the Mediterranean and Black seas.
• Myanmar : mining project in Monywa is a joint venture between a military-controlled holding company and China’s Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd., a subsidiary of NORINCO, a Chinese weapons manufacturer.Protestors wanted it to be halted. 
• Nepal to issue IDs to third gender.
• Hawaiian Surfer Garrett McNamara rides world record wave of 100ft at Atlantic Coast off Nazare.
• Israel became the first country to boycott a U.N. review of its human rights practices in which all 193 member-states submit every four years.
• Chinese company taking over management of Pakistan’s deep-sea Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.
• China's 12th Plan stresses hydropower from Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra).(4 Dams).
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved state-run ONGC Videsh’s (OVL’s) acquisition of U.S. energy major Hess Corp’s 2.7213 per cent stake in the Azeri, Chirag and the deep water portion of Guneshli (ACG) fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea and 2.36 per cent interest in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in Azerbaijan for $1.001 billion.
• Vodafone-DoT collision course could jeopardise 2G spectrum auctions(acquisitions : auction guidelines have arbitrarily fixed reserve price at levels that are higher than international benchmarks.)
•  Samsung launches Galaxy Grand(powered by Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system, and runs on a 1.2 GHz dual core processor)
• To prevent anaemia, the government will soon launch an ambitious programme to provide Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets every week to 13 crore adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years across the country. 
• Protein, known as IRHOM2, as the potential new target for drugs to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
• NASA launches communication satellite : unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into the starry night sky carrying the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. 
• NASA Super-TIGER balloon shatters flight record carrying the Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (Super-TIGER) experiment(Super-TIGER is flying a new instrument for measuring the rare heavy elements among the flux of high-energy cosmic rays bombarding Earth from elsewhere in our Milky Way Galaxy)
• HTC launched Butterfly has the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor.
• Blackberry released OS upgrade Blackberry 10. 
• Prof U R Rao, former Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space is being honoured by the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) by inducting him as a Member of the highly prestigious “Satellite Hall of Fame”, Washington. 
• Indian scientist Dr C N R Rao has been conferred with China's top science award for his important contributions in boosting Sino-India scientific cooperation.
• IT to help differently abled students to ramp up the use of information technology in teaching. 
• India would flight test sub-sonic, medium range cruise missile Nirbhay, in Feb 2013.
• Twitter launches Vine, a six-second iPhone video app (a service that lets users upload videos. Just as Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, Vine limits videos to six seconds.)