GK 2010

The Union Home Ministry on February 3, 2010 announced the formation of a 5-member Committee hold wide-ranging consultations with all parties and groups in A.P on the Telangana issue. Former Supreme Court Judge Justice B.N. Srikrishna will head the Committee. The other members are V.K. Duggal, Prof. Ranbir Singh, Dr Ravinder Kaur and Prof Abu Saleh Sheriff.

R. K. Bhatia, a 1974-batch IPS officer, on January 31, 2010 took over as the new Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Bhatia, an IPS officer of the UP cadre, took the charge from incumbent Director-General Vikram Srivastava who has been moved as the new CRPF chief.

hdog Amnesty International appointed Salil Shetty, an Indian who headed the UN Millennium Campaign, as its next secretary-general. Shetty took over in June 2010, succeeding Irene Khan. Shetty joined the United Nations in 2003 as director of the Millennium Campaign from ActionAid - an international development organisation. He had joined ActionAid in 1985 and was part of more than 30 programmes in Africa, Asia and across other developing regions

Lata Mangeshkar was conferred with the Akkineni Nageswara Rao award instituted by the ANR International Foundation in Hyderabad on February 1, 2010. The award carries a citation and cash prize of Rs. 4 lakh.

According to the TRAI press release dated July 23, 2010: Telecom Subscription Data as on 30th June 2010

Noble laureate Prof. Anthony James Leggett was conferred with The Lifetime Achievement in Science Award', instituted by B.M. Birla Science Centre on February 1, 2010 at Hyderabad. Prof. Leggett won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003 for his pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and super-fluids.

Amitabh Bachchan on February 1, 2010 accepted the Gujarat government's offer to be the new “brand ambassador” for the State in a letter of acceptance to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol became the first Indian actors to ring the opening bell of the New York based stock exchange NASDAQ on February 02, 2010. The actors were visiting the US to promote their film, 'My Name Is Khan'.

Social activist and actor Nafisa Ali and Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer in the country received the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards 2010 in New Delhi on January 31, 2010.

Actress Katrina Kaif received the 'Excellence in Performing Art Award 2009' from ASSOCHAM on February 3, 2010.

Sushma Swaraj on February 23, 2010 formally took over as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The seat was hitherto held by senior BJP leader L. K. Advani. Swaraj, who represents Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, has been the Chief Minister of Delhi and a Union Minister during the NDA regime.

Prof C.R. Rao, Director, Centre for Multivariate Analysis, Pennsylvania State University, US, and Prof. Janet Thornton, Director, EMBL European Bio-informatics Institute, Cambridge, UK, were given the Genome Valley Excellence Award 2010. The awards, instituted by the government of Andhra Pradesh, were presented to the awardees during BioAsia 2010 organised at Hyderabad in February 2010.

Maqbool Fida Husain, one of India's best known artists, on February 25, 2010 decided to surrender his Indian passport after being offered Qatari nationality by the royal family. Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Queen Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned met the painter in Qatar recently and asked him to live there. Husain has been working on a project sponsored by the Qatar government. Husain has been in self-exile ever since he came under attack from Hindu outfits for his alleged depiction of Bharat Mata and other gods and goddesses in the nude. Cases were filed against him in courts across India. In 2008, the Supreme Court refused to initiate criminal proceedings against him for allegedly hurting public sentiments.

Japan and Gujarat government on February 7, 2010 signed a MoU to upgrade the Alang shipyard in Bhavnagar to the international standards. The government plans to make Alang the largest International Maritime Organisation (IMO) compliant ship-recycling yard.

The UGC National Veda Vyas Sanskrit Award was presented to Prof. Kamala Bhardwaj in New Delhi on February 22, 2010.

Karkardooma court in New Delhi was inaugurated as the first district-level e-court in the country on February 8, 2010.

The Indo-German Max Planck Centre on Computer Science at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi was inaugurated by Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences along with Horst Koehler, President of the Federal Republic of Germany on February 03, 2010. The establishment of a German House of Science and Innovation under which German institutions will come together and present themselves as partners for the future was also announced on the occasion.

Maurya TV, a news and entertainment channel by film producer-director Prakash Jha was launched in Patna on February 2, 2010.

Neal Duggal from Bangalore, Jesika Haria from Mumbai and Rudrajit Banerjee from Kolkata - on February 3, 2010 became the first students selected for the 2010 Manmohan Singh Undergraduate Scholarship administered by the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, a charity organization established by the University of Cambridge. The scholarships have been funded through the UK based Eranda Foundation and Bharti Airtel's Bharti Foundation. Manmohan Singh graduated from the university a First in Economics in the late 1950s, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2006.

World Cancer Day was observed on March 5, 2010.

Google India announced the winners of the third 'Google India Women in Engineering Award' on March 2, 2010 in Hyderabad recently. The winners are: Ankita Arvind Kejriwal, Kriti Sharma, Neha Kalekar, Ishani Parekh, Hunny Mehrotra, Chhaya Methani, Kirti Garg and Shruti Mahambre.

After Delhi, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) on February 21, 2010 has decided to extend its 'Farm Gate to Home Gate (the sale of essential commodities at low prices) to more States to help hold the price line of essential commodities. The scheme will now be taken to Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Under the campaign, the NAFED procures essential commodities - 20 kitchen basics, including pulses, edible oil, rice and wheat --from farmers directly and sells them to people; thereby eliminating intermediaries who make the process expensive.

National Awards for Science & Technology (S&T) Communication were presented on the National Science Day at Technology Bhawan, New Delhi on February 26, 2010. Along with each award, a memento, a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation was presented. The annual awards are given by the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), Dept. of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India.

‘First As Tragedy, Then as Farce’ - Slavoj Zizek

'Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi' - Pranay Gupte

Substitute Mohamed Nagui scored the only goal of the match as Egypt beat Ghana 1-0 in the final played at Luanda, Angola on February 1, 2010 to win the African Nations Cup football tournament for the third time in succession.

“L'Homme Qui Marche I” (Walking Man I), a bronze sculpture of a man by 20^th century Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) has sold for USD 104.3 million - making it the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction, Sotheby's auction house said in February 2010. The sale price exceeded the USD 104.17 million paid at a 2004 New York auction for Pablo Picasso's 1905 “Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice).”

'Blocked by Caste: Economic Discrimination in Modern India' is co-authored by Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman of the University Grants Commission and Katherine S. Newman

Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on February 27, 2010 declared Moonnilavu panchayat in Kottayam district of Kerala as the first litigation-controlled tribal panchayat in the country.

Australia lifted the Under-19 Cricket World Cup beating Pakistan by 25 runs in the final played at, Lincoln, New Zealand on February 6, 2010. Batting first Australia scored 207 runs in 50 overs while Pakistan were bowled out for 182 in 46.4 overs.

Former Chairman and Managing Director of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Subir Raha passed away on February 1, 2010 at the age of 62. Under his leadership (2001-2006), ONGC's overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) expanded to 24 properties in 14 countries. For ONGC, he launched the Sagar Samriddhi — one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the Indian oil and gas industry — in Sept 2003. During his tenure, ONGC acquired private-sector owned Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in 2003. Currently Raha was leading Team Raha Ideation, an India-based consulting firm focused on strategic advisory services.

India's rubber production declined 7.3 per cent in 2009. The rubber production is expected to rise to 8.53 lakh tonnes in 2010 from the estimated 8.17 lakh tonnes in 2009.

Annual Meeting 2010 was organised at Davos, Switzerland from 27 - 31 January, 2010. The theme of the 40^th Davos Summit was “Improve The State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, and Rebuild”. Professor Karl Schwab is the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah inaugurated the Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC) in Visakhapatnam on February 5. Brandix Lanka, which is Sri Lanka's largest integrated apparel exporter conceived BIAC and manages it.

A. R. Rahman won two awards at the 52^nd Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on February 1, 2010. He received awards for best film song and best soundtrack for the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

The Haj terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has been selected for the 2010 American Institute of Architects' Twenty-Five Year award on February 4, 2010. The award was for architectural designs that have stood the test of time for over 25 years.

World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the Corus Chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, on February 1, 2010. Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana and Alexei Shirov were other contenders for the title.

Australian Open Tennis winners

The Union Government on February 9, 2010 decided to make a change in the name of Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, to Genetic Engineering Assessment Committee.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) unveiled plans to have year-long celebrations for the city's 600^th anniversary. The celebrations began on February 26, which is the day when the foundation of the city was laid by Ahmed Shah in 1411.

f the International Advisory Board (IAB) that will oversee the country's nuclear power programme. Blix was director general of the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, from 1981 to 1997.

Estimates for financial year 2010-11 made in the Union Budget 2010-11||
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Budget Highlights: Facts to Remember

BUDGET ESTIMATES 2010-11

Alexander Haig, a former Army general who became White House Chief of Staff during the Watergate scandal and Secretary of State during the Ronald Reagan administration, passed away on February 27, 2010 at the age of 85.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with AYUSH (Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy), government of India, and the Kerala government will organised the Global Ayurveda Summit 2010 from March 24 to 26, 2010 in Kochi. The theme of the summit was 'global health challenges: Ayurveda solutions'.