MARCH 2012

 

NATIONAL

     State Elections 2012

• Uttar Pradesh: The Samajwadi Party won a landslide victory and formed the government without any outside support. It won 224 seats of the 403-member Assembly. Akhilesh Yadav, son of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, was elected as the youngest Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, representing a generational shift in a State whose politics is dominated by caste and religion. He was sworn in on March 15.
• Goa: The BJP which, along with its ally the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), bagged a majority (24 seats) in the 40-member Assembly.Mr Manohar Parrikar was sworn-in as the Chief Minister on March 9.
• Uttarakhand: Congress won 32 seats, BJP bagged 31. BSP got 3 seats and Independents 4 in the Assembly of 70. Mr Vijay Bahuguna of Congress was elected as the Chief Minister of the State.
• Manipur: Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh sworn in as Chief Minister of the State. The veteran Congressman led the party to the third consecutive victory in Manipur.
• Punjab: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP alliance made history by overcoming anti- incumbency to retain power for the second consecutive term, thus creating history in the Punjab electoral politics. Mr Parkash Singh Badal was sworn-in as the Chief Minister on March 14.

• India hosted the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit for the first time. It was held in Indian capital New Delhi. The theme of the Summit was BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Security and Prosperity.

• Lok Sabha passed the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2011, aimed at striking a balance between maximising judicial independence and laying down accountability at the same time for members of the higher judiciary.

• BrahMos the supersonic cruise missile, was successfully test-fired from the Interim Test Range, Chandipur from Balesore district of Odisha. BrahMos, which has a target range of 290-km, is the surface-to-surface cruise missile capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 200 to 300 kg.

• Union government gave its consent to a seven percentage increase in the rate of dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners.

• Union Cabinet approved the setting up of a credit risk guarantee fund trust with an initial corpus of Rs. 1200 crore, to encourage housing for low-income groups in India.

• Union Cabinet approved the redrafted Marriage laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010. The bill seeks to give a woman share in her husband’s property in case of a divorce but the share will be decided by the courts on case by case basis.It also aims at giving rights to adopted children on par with biological off-springs.

• Union Government notified the setting up of the anti-terror body, National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). NCTC will have the power to carry out operations including arrest, search and seizure under the provisions of the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

• Mamoni scheme launched by the Assam government in the state under the National Rural Health Mission, to reduce Maternal Mortality Ratio.

• Madhya Pradesh emerged victorious by bagging maximum number of awards in National Tourism Awards 2010-11, held in New Delhi.
  

 INTERNATIONAL

• The US Senate confirmed career diplomat Nancy Powell as ambassador to India.
• Seoul nuclear security summit was held in South Korea. It was the second nuclear security summit.
• Lt General Zaheerul Islam appointed as Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
• Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi became the President of Yemen.
• Joachim Gauck was elected as Germany's new president.
• Vladimir Putin won the Russian Presidential Election with 63.75 percent of votes.
• Dav Whatmore appointed as coach of Pakistan Cricket Team.

  INDIA AND WORLD

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited South Korea. India and South Korea agreed to set a new bilateral trade target of 40 billion US dollars by 2015.
• The World Bank approved a 109-million dollar grant to fund Rajasthan Agricultural Competitiveness Project which is aimed at promoting water-efficient agriculture through sustainable and efficient use of resources in Rajasthan.
• India signed an IDA credit worth 152 million dollar with the World Bank to finance the Centre's efforts to help improve the efficiency, quality and accountability of health services in Uttar Pradesh.
• India and Colombia signed a Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) in New Delhi for the Years 2012-2016.
• Assam government signed an agreement for the grant of 81 mn dollar with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop urban infrastructure in the state.
• India and China decided to have maritime cooperation to build confidence and It was decided during the talks between the External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in New Delhi.

 

SPORTS & GAMES

• M.C. Mary Kom and Sarita won two gold medals in the Asian women's boxing championship at Mongolian capital Ulaanbator.
• Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso, won the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix.
• Pakistan defeated host Bangladesh to lift Asia Cup Cricket Trophy.
• Saina Nehwal won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy by securing a victory over China's Shixian Wang.
• Indian national women Kabaddi team won its maiden Women World Cup Kabaddi championship title.
• Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bopanna won the doubles title of Dubai Open.
• Roger Federar defeated Andy Murray to win the singles final of Dubai Open.

 PERSONALITIES

• Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee selected for India's highest film honour - the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2012.
• Manik Godghate, Marathi poet and Sahitya Akademi award winner passed away. He was popularly known by his pen name Grace.
• Sharukh Khan appointed as the brand ambassador for the state, West Bengal.
• Harsh Pati Singhania, took over as the President of International Chamber of   Commerce (ICC), India.
• C.P. Gurnani, appointed as the CEO of Mahindra Satyam-Tech Mahindra.
• K. Venkataramanan appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) and Managing Director of the company, Larsen and Toubro Ltd.
• Rahul Dravid, announced his retirement from international cricket.
• RK Tyagi took charge as Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

 

BOOKS & AUTHORS

     The Last Journey – Satish Pendharkar

      Baby – Nandini Krishnan

     Romeo & Juliet- No Strings Attached – Prashanth Kumar Nair

     Scratch – Swetanshu Bora

     AjataSatru – V.Narayanan

     Dark Clouds Of The Dawning Sky – Anand Raghav

     Metaphor – Deepa Kylasam Ayyar

 

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• NTPC board approved an investment of over 17000 crore rupees in two power projects in Maharashtra having a total generation capacity of 2640 MW. The two approved projects are the Mouda Super Thermal Power Project and Solapur Super Thermal Power Project.
• Hinduja Energy India, a subsidiary of Hinduja Group formed a joint venture with Steag Energy Services (India) for operation and maintenance of power projects.
• Shyamala Gopinath appointed as the Chairperson of the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds.

• RBI restructured the fair practices code (FPC) to be adopted by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) while doing lending business. The guidelines issued by the central bank covered general principles on adequate disclosures on the terms and conditions of a loan and also adopting a non-coercive recovery method.

• Bank of Baroda, 1001 ultra small branches to provide banking services to the people of villages which don’t have access to banking services.

• Microsoft, leading IT company took up five girl schools in Bihar under Digital Literacy Programme for computer training.

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned, 423 crore rupees loan assistance to the Gujarat government under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund for an irrigation project in the water scarce district of Sabarkantha.

• ICICI Bank on launched a new card named, ICICI Bank Sapphiro, for the super rich class and the bank’s Wealth Management customers. It is the third in the bank’s gemstone series of credit cards, after ICICI Bank Coral and ICICI Bank Rubyx.

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India went up by 31 per cent to 27.5 billion US Dollars in 2011 despite global economic slowdown and uncertainities.

• Reliance Communications unveiled India’s first CDMA network technology driven tablet computers.

• ICICI Bank along with Bank of Baroda, Citicorp Finance India Ltd, Life Insurance Corporation, launched India's first infrastructure debt fund (IDF) of a capacity of 2 billion dollar.

• Madhukant Girdharlal Sanghvi appointed as new Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank.

 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Astronomers discovered an ancient planetary system, which belonged to one of the earliest cosmic eras, 13 billion years ago. It consists of the star HIP 11952 and two planets namely HIP 11952b and HIP 11952c.
• Scientists discovered a human gene called IFTIM3 that influences how people respond to flu infections.
• NASA spacecraft, Messenger discovered further evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury's poles.
• Scientist from Iran developed a gas-filled aspirin that can enhance the cancer-fighting ability of the drug. The new aspirin was dubbed NOSH, which stands for Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Sulphide.
• Researchers found a new frog species in Meghalaya. The new species was named Fejervarya Sengupti.
• Researchers invented fibre-optic technology under a project called Sardana to run ultra-fast Internet. It demonstrated speed of upto 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), around 2000 times faster than today’s fastest Internet speed.

AWARDS & HONOURS

• Russian President Dimitry Medvedev was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
• Tamil writer A A Manavalan to be honoured with the Saraswati Samman 2011 for his book on Ramayana.
• The 59th National Film Awards:

           Best Feature Film: ‘Deool’ (Marathi) and ‘Byari’ ( Beary language of coastal Karnatak

           Best Director: Gurvinder Singh for ‘Anhe Ghore Da Daan’

           Best Actor: Girish Kulkarni for ‘Deool’

           Best Actress: Vidya Balan for ‘The Dirty Picture‘

           Best Supporting Actor: Appu Kutty for ‘Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai’

           Best Supporting Actress: Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi for ‘Phijigee Mani’( Manipuri)

           Best Cinematography: Satya Rai Nagpaul for ‘Anhe Ghore Da Daan’

           Best Hindi Film: ’I AM’ directed by Onir

           Best Female Playback Singer: Rupa Ganguly for ‘Abosheyshey’

           Best Male Playback Singer: Anand Bhate for ‘Bal Gandharva’

           Best Child Artist: Partho Gupte for ‘Stanley ka Dabba’ and the Chillar Party Group

           Best Children’s Film: Chillar Party

EVENTS & DAYS

• World Glaucoma Day - March 12.
• World Forestry Day - March 21.
• World Water Day - March 22.