Current Affairs – January 2012

Jan 21, 2012 by AimCLAT

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January 21

• Salman Rushdie – was in dispute recently in relation to his visit at Jaipur Literature Festival, which was inaugurated by the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuk – “Satanic Verses” – disputed novel authored by Rushdie
• A.K. Antony – Union Defence Minister
• Marc Grossman – U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan
• S.Y. Quraishi – Chief Election Commissioner – other Election Commissioners are – V.S. Sampath and H.S. Bhrama
• NSAB – National Security Advisory Board – Chairman – Naresh Chandra
• R.N. Kao – Founder of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
• News of the World – the British News Tabloid which had to be closed following controversy in relation to phone hacking
• Megaupload.com – one of the world’s most popular file-sharing website – recently it has been shut down following piracy claims against it – Founder – Kim Dotcom
• Vodafone – U.K. based group – recently it has won a case whereby it has been exempted to pay 11,000 crore income tax for acquiring majority stake in Hutchison-Essar.,
• HUL – Hindustan Unilever Limited
• S. Gopalakrishanan – Executive Chairman, Infosys
• Azim Premji – Chairman, Wiprok

January 20

• Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister, Bangladesh
• UIDAI – Union Identification Authority of India – comes under the nodal authority of the Planning Commission of India – Registrar General of India comes under the authority of Union Home Ministry
• Pink City – Jaipur
• Jarawa – tribe in Andaman and Nicobar
• Eastman Kodak Company – a US Company – it helped in bringing the world the first pictures from the moon – it has recently filed for Bankruptcy Protection
• P.H. Parekh – President, Supreme Court Bar Association – he had resigned recently following a controversy
• Suresh Kalmadi – President, Indian Olympic Association – former Chairman, CWG Organising Committee – has been facing trail for corruption charges in relation to Commonwealth Games
• Indian Naval Academy  - located in Ezhimala, Kerala

January 19

• SOPA – Stop Online Piracy Act, PIPA – Protect Intellectual Property Act – two acts against whom Wikipedia had been protesting recently – it had blocked its website for a day.
• Justice R.A. Mehta – Lokayukta, Gujarat – his appointment had been challenged by Gujarat Government – High Court has recently upheld the appointment – Kamla Beniwal – Governor, Gujarat
• C.K. Mahajan – Chairman, National Anti-Doping Appeal Panel
• S. Jaipal Reddy – Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister
• Fiat India Automobiles Limited – Joint venture of Fiat and Tata Motors
• Tibet – region where China has recently announced to expand its railway network
• FNA – state run news agency of Iran
• P5+1 -  Five United Nations Permanent Members plus Germany
• National Bravery Awards – awarded on Republic Day
• S.M. Srikrishna – External Affairs Minister

January 18

• Recently Union Government has decided to allow foreign Airlines to have 49 % stake in Indian Carriers – the move  has been taken following the financial crisis faced by Indian Airlines
• Shiv Shankar Menon – National Security Adviser
• Portugal – Country whose court has denied to extradite Abu Salem [ he is related to Underworld] to India
• N. Chandrasekharan – CEO and MD, TCS
• The Artist – black-and-white film directed by French Director Michel Hazanavicius – this film has been nominated under 12 categories for Bafta Awards – Bafta stands for British Academy of Films and Television Arts
• INS Vikramaditya – also known as Admiral Gorshkov – to be handed over to India by Russia by 2012 – After its inclusion, India will become the 4^th Country in the world after USA, Russia and UK to operate an aircraft carrier with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons.
• PIO – Person of Indian Origin
• iDiscoveri – a social enterprise involved in various initiatives aimed at quality education.
• “Fight Corruption” – an initiative by Transparency International – a helpline which will enable common person in combating corrupt practices

January 17

• General V.K. Singh – Chief of Indian Army – recently he was in news in relation to the issue of his official age – he moved to the Supreme Court against the decision of the government for not changing his age.
• INS Krishna – a training Squadron Ship of Indian Navy – will make its last voyage – it was earlier known as “HMS Andromeda” while it was under Royal Navy – it will be tentatively replaced by INS Shardul
• Suzlon Energy – a leading wind turbine manufacturer
• Web Jiabao – Premier, China
• Winners – GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

Best Film – Musical or Comedy – The Artist

Best Director – Martin Scorsese [Hugo]

Best Actor – George Clooney [The Descendants]

Best Actress – Meryl Streep [The Iron Lady]

• Nursultan Nazarbayvev – President, Kazakhstan
• Nepal – Country with whom India has recently agreed to share terror-related Information
• UPA – United Progressive Alliance
• Nitin Gadkari – President, Bhartiya Janta Party
• Guzaarish – Indian Movie which will released in Latin Amercia – it was produced by UTV Motion Pictures

January 16

• K. Srikanth – Chairman, Selection Panel Committee of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI)
•  Laban Moiben – Winner, Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2012
• Darjeeling Tea – it has been registered as a PGI – PGI stands for Protected Geographical Indication
• DCB – Development Credit Bank
• TNA – Tamil National Alliance – an umbrella group representing Tamil Political parties in Sri Lanka
• LLRC ­ ­- Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
• Aung Sann Suu Kyi – has been honoured with National Order of the Legion d’Honneur – a French Honour – in recognition of her long struggle for democracy.
• Ma Yingjeou – has been re-elected as the President of Taiwan
• Roskomos – Russian Space Federal Agency – Phobos-Grunt – a Russian probe designed to travel to a moon of Mars which was stuck within the Earth’s orbit.
• Costa Concordia – Cruise which had flipped off recently after it hit a Rock
• Bashar-al-Assad – President, Syria
•  Homai Vyarwala – considered to be India’s 1^st woman photo-journalist – she has passed away recently
• Milan Luthira – Director, The Dirty Picture – it has been produced by Ekta Kapoor and others.
• B.C. Khanduri – Chief Minister, Uttrakhand
• Bihar – State which has launched the details of Convicted persons in Criminal Cases under the category “Civil Consequence of Crime”

January 15

• Germany – it is the largest economy in the Eurozone.
• Gangasagar Mela – held in Kolkata
• Umesh Yadav – Indian bowler who has recently registered 2^nd Best Figure by an Indian Bowler in Perth, 5/93 [Cricket Ground] – after Bishan Bedi
• Haroon Logart – Chief Executive, International Cricket Council
• Cricket – it had been played only once at the Olympics in 1900.
• Standard and Poor’s – a credit rating agency – Chairman – John Chambers
• EFSF – European Financial Stability Facility
• Tunisa – Country which has celebrated anniversary of the revolution which ended the dictatorship of Zine El Adbidine Ben Ali [Its president]
• Bhupinder Singh Hooda –Chief Minister, Haryana
• IMA – Indian Medical Association – largest non-governmental organisation of doctors in India.
• IMBL -  International Maritime Boundary Line
• M.C. Joshi – Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes

January 14

• Facebook, Google – among 21 sites against which sanction has been granted by to prosecute them with regard to the objectionable material which they had on their websites.
• NCTC – National Counter-Terrorism Centre – to be set up by the Union Government – will work under Intelligence Bureau.
• V.K. Singh – Army Chief – determination of his age was in dispute recently.
• INS Arindaman – second Arihant class nuclear submarine – INS Arihant was launched in the year 2009 – INS Chakra – has been borrowed from Russia on a 10-year lease which is a nuclear powered submarine.
• McDonalds – U.S. Food Giant which will remain a key sponsor of the Olympic Games until at least the year 2020.
• Asian Shooting Championship 2012 – Doha, Qatar.
• Apple Inc. – recently it has halted sale of iPhone 4S in China because of security fears – CEO – Tim Cook
• “e-biz” – the new portal to be a one-stop solution for the industry to submit applications, obtain licenses, and seek renewal of the existing online applications – Andhra Pradesh to launch this unique Government-to-Business Portal.
• Bardley Manning – the U.S. military analyst charged with the biggest leak of the state secrets in U.S. History – it had leaked these secrets to Wikileaks
• Pakistan – Country which is currently facing Political Crisis between the government and the Army.
• Dam999 – movie directed by Sohan Roy – it is banned in the state of Tamil Nadu because of its alleged connection with the issue of Mullaperiyar Dam
• Top Gear – a popular motoring show on BBC – presented by Jeremy Clarkson – the show was in dispute recently because of its alleged racial remarks against India.
• David Cameron – Prime Minister, England
• Shahid Malik – Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India
• Dinesh Trivedi – Union Railway Minister

January 13

• Margaret Chan – Director-General, World Health Organisation
• Ghulam Nabi Azad – Union Health Minister
• Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria – Countries considered to be “endemic” to polio – two years ago, India was also considered to be a such country – recently India has reported not a single case of wild polio for a year – Polio is caused by Poliomyelitis
• S.D. Sibhulal – CEO & MD, Infosys
• Phobos Grunt – Russia’s failed  Mars Probe – is likely to fall into the Indian Ocean
• TMT – a Hawaii telescope to be jointly constructed by India and China – to be the world’s largest telescope.
• There are three kinds of Polio Virus – PV₁ , PV₂ , PV₃
• Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister, Bangladesh
• Jaitapur Nuclear Plant- situated in Maharashtra
• Jeremy Clarkson – presents the BBC’s show Top Gear in UK – was accused of concluding a racist programme by mocking Indian Culture – accusations have been made by Indian High Commission in London.
• Red Ribbon Express – Train related to AIDS awareness programme – its third phase has recently been launched by the Union Health Minister.
• João Cravinho – he has been appointed the Ambassador — Head of Delegation of the European Union in India.

January 12

• Ashfaq Kayani – Army Chief, Pakistan
• ISI – Inter-Services-Intelligence – Chief – Ahmed Shuja Pasha – recently Pakistan has been facing political crisis following the controversy between Government on one hand, and ISI and Army on another hand – Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has sacked Defence Secretary Khalid Lodhi in between this controversy.
• Ajit Singh – Union Civil Aviation Minister of India
• Daniel Ortega – has recently been assumed the office of the President of Nicaraguan for third term.
• Shivraj Singh Chauhan – Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh
• Chairman, Bar Council Of India – Ashok K. Prarija
• Swami Vivekanand – his 150^th Birth Anniversary has recently been celebrated

January 11

• 42% - percentage of Children who are underweight in India – according to a new study – conducted by Naandi Foundation.
• Salman Khurshid – Union Law Minister – recently Election Commission has served notice to him for promising sub-quota to Muslims ahead of UP Assembly Polls.
• Mamta Banerjee – Chief Minister, West Bengal
• Anuj Bidve – The student in whose memory a fund has been decided to set up.
• Moniligaster Ivaniosi – new species of earthworm found in Andaman and Nicobar
• Zhang Zun – the first Chinese to learn classical dance in India [Bharatnatyam and Kathak] – she has passed away recently
• Lionel Messi – has won the award of Ballon d’Or , which has been merged with the FIFA World Player of the year – he has won this award for 3^rd consecutive time – 2^nd Player to win this award three consecutive times after Michael Pitani

Homare Sawa – Woman World Player of the Year 2011 [FIFA]

• NADA – National Anti Doping Agency
• Bobby Jindal - the first Indian-American Governor in the U.S. – began his second term as the chief of state of Louisiana following a landslide victory.
• David Cameron – Prime Minister, England
• Yusuf Raza Gilani – Prime Minister, Pakistan
• European Union – 27 Members
• Moody’s Corporation – a global rating agency – it has upgraded India’s rating of short-term foreign currency bank deposits from ‘speculative’ to ‘investment’ grade.
• Madhya Pradesh – State having highest Infant Mortality rate in India
• “Response 10” – an initiative to be started by Mumbai Police to tackle against terrorism in the City.
• Kamla Prasad Bissessar – Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago
• Dal Lake – located in Jammu and Kashmir

January 10

• Salman Rusidhe – he was in controversy recently relating to his visit to Jaipur Literature Festival – his arrival had been opposed by certain groups
• - Viswanath Venkat Dasari – a visually challenged 18 year-old boy, who has authored Pharaoh and the King , a story based on Indian and Egyptian mythology.
• Swift (Maruti Suzuki) -  has been chosen as  the ‘Indian Car Of The Year 2012′ –  adjudged by India’s leading automobile experts and writers of automobile magazines – the only car in India to receive this coveted title twice
•  S. Jaipal Reddy – Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas
• Hu Jintao – President, China
• Vijay Kumar – Acting President, Indian Olympic Association

January 9

• 10^th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas – Jaipur – Chief Guest – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
• Gir Wildlife Sanctuary – located in the state in Gujarat
• ICANN –  Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – global body that oversees the operation and administration of the Internet domain name system.
• Aung San Suu Kyi – Myanmar political leader who had been serving house arrest for a long period of time
• LG Electronics – a South Korean Manufacturer

January 8

• NIA – National Investigating Agency
• Union Minister for Rural Development – Jairam Ramesh.
• Sukh Ram -  convicted in the case relating to the purchase of telecom equipment in 1993-94 resulting in a loss of Rs.1.66 crore to the exchequer
• “Year of Germany in India” – from September 2011 to November 2012
• Trek Elite 9.9 SSL – bike launched by Firefox at Auto Expo, New Delhi – India’s costliest bicycle worth Rs.4.25-lakh

Current Affairs from January 1- January 7/8 will be updated by the end of this Month.

Complied by – Abhinav Shrivastava, Batch of 2015, NUJS, Kolkata

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