GK - 2009

Doordarshan, India's national public television broadcaster, was launched on September 15, 1959. It celebrated 50 years on September 15, 2009.

ISRO had announced plans for Chandrayaan-2 to be launched in 2013, though the mission was subsequently delayed multiple times and actually launched in 2019. Given the timeframe of this question, 2013 was the expected launch year when announced.

Australia won the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, defeating New Zealand in the final. The tournament was held in South Africa.

Yugratna Srivastava, a 13-year-old girl from Lucknow, India, addressed world leaders at the UN Climate Change Summit in 2009 as a representative of UNEP's youth programme.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Charles Kao for fiber optics research, and Willard Boyle and George Smith for inventing the CCD sensor. Kao's work revolutionized telecommunications through fiber-optic communications, while Boyle and Smith's imaging technology transformed digital photography and astronomy. Option B refers to Medicine, C to Chemistry, and D to Economics.

Barack Obama received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize less than a year into his presidency, cited for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The award was controversial as it recognized his aspirations and initiatives rather than accomplished peacemaking. Hu Jintao, Jacob Zuma, and Dmitry Medvedev were world leaders but not Nobel laureates that year.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz, and Ada Yonath for their groundbreaking work on ribosome structure and function. They mapped the atomic structure of the ribosome, the cellular machinery that reads genetic instructions to build proteins - fundamental to understanding life at the molecular level. Kao/Boyle/Smith won Physics, Blackburn won Medicine, and Ostrom won Economics.

Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics (officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize) for their analysis of economic governance. Ostrom studied how communities manage common resources without government intervention, while Williamson examined how firms organize and make decisions. Their work challenged traditional economic theories about markets and hierarchies.

George Papandreou became Prime Minister of Greece in October 2009, leading his party to victory shortly before the Greek debt crisis erupted. His tenure was marked by severe economic challenges and negotiations with international creditors. Greece was the correct choice among the options, which included Iran, Italy, and Jordan.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak, and Carol Greider for discovering how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. Their work revealed fundamental mechanisms of cellular aging and genetic stability, with implications for cancer and age-related diseases. Kao/Boyle/Smith won Physics, Ramakrishnan won Chemistry, and Ostrom won Economics.

Bunker Roy, founder of Barefoot College, received the Robert Hill Award in 2009 for his work in rural development and sustainable technology. The award recognizes contributions to mountain development and community empowerment. Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Hilary Mantel is a Booker Prize-winning novelist, and Hillary Clinton is a former US Secretary of State.

Herta Müller, a German-Romanian author, won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature for works that with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose depict the landscape of the dispossessed. Her writing reflects experiences under the Ceausescu regime in Romania and explores themes of oppression, exile, and memory. Dan Brown, William Bissell, and Thomas Trautmann are authors but not Nobel laureates.

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations twice due to military coups - first in 1987 and again in 2000 (with readmission in 2001, then suspension again in 2006, and readmission in 2014). New Zealand, Iran, and Papua New Guinea have never been suspended from the Commonwealth.

K. Balachander, the renowned Tamil filmmaker, received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2010 for his lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. Kishore Kumar died in 1987, Lata Mangeshkar received it in 1989, and Manna Dey received it in 2007.

In the inaugural 2009 Champions League Twenty20, only 3 IPL teams participated - Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Deccan Chargers (the 2008 IPL finalists and winner). This was because the tournament was limited to top teams from domestic competitions.

Hilary Mantel won the 2009 Man Booker Prize for her novel 'Wolf Hall', a historical fiction about Thomas Cromwell. Herta Mueller won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2009, not Man Booker. Hilary Clinton and Bunker Roy have never won the Man Booker Prize.

World Food Day is celebrated on October 16th to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945. This date was chosen to raise awareness about global hunger and food security issues.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) declared a 1:1 bonus share issue in October 2009, meaning shareholders received one additional share for every share held. This was during Mukesh Ambani's leadership and aimed to reward shareholders during strong performance.

In the 2011 ODI World Cup, India and South Africa were placed in Group B together. Australia was in Group A, Pakistan was in Group A, and Sri Lanka was in Group B but the question asks specifically about India's grouping. The groups were: Group A (Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya) and Group B (India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands).

Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ribosome structure, did his graduation (B.Sc.) in Physics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. His later specialization was in biology, but his undergraduate degree was in physics.