India to host first global ministerial meet on elephants

India will host the first ever global ministerial meet – 'E 50:50' – on elephants in the Capital from November 14 to 19.

The conference, expected to be attended by 50 countries that harbour wild populations of elephants, will discuss conservation and welfare of elephants, according the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

The ‘E 50:50 – the First International Elephant Congress and Ministerial Meet, will bring together scholars, conservation practitioners and policy makers to discuss issues on elephant conservation policy. It will also include conclaves on science, culture and management culminating in a ministerial summit to adopt a vision charter with common minimum global vision on conservation, management and welfare of elephants across all range countries.

At present, three species of elephants are spread across 50 countries, but regardless of geo-political boundaries, they face common threats of poaching, habitat loss and conflicts with people.

In 2010, India had set up an Elephant Task Force (ETF) to work out a strategy for the long-term conservation of the species elephants. In an effort to take the global lead on the matter, the ETF had initiated a global meet of affected countries in May 2011, such as Botswana, Congo Brazzaville, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand.

Ministry of Housing And Urban Poverty Alleviation came up with new benchmark to identify Urban poor

As the socio-economic census is going on across the country, the ministry is working on a mechanism according to which urban poor will be defined according to people’s vulnerabilities.  According to new guidelines the urban poor will now be identified on the basis of social, economic and occupational vulnerabilities. The move comes as the ministry is finding it difficult to identify beneficiaries in metropolises and other cities, where few families earn below the BPL cutoff while many of them live in vulnerable conditions. It has also been noticed that income certificates are forged or are being procured after bribing officials.

As of now, families earning below Rs 4,824 a month are put in the bracket of urban poor.

Under the mechanism, families will be divided into two groups — those automatically included the other automatically excluded -- in the poverty bracket.

Those automatically included in the poverty bracket will be the homeless and jobless. Automatically excluded will be families with a pakka house, motor vehicle or electronic appliances such as air-conditioner or refrigerator.

Based on data from the caste census, families will be graded and assigned points according to their needs. If a family scores very high on the housing vulnerability index, it would be given priority under slum upgradation schemes and Rajiv Awas Yojana.

The new formula will help in identifying poor in terms of vulnerabilities and government schemes will target the vulnerable group. It will result in better targeting. 

19th Colors Screen Awards

The 19th Colors Screen Awards were announced on 12 January 2013 in a function at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. From the list of 119 films released in 2012, 27 films were green signaled in the Screen Academy Selection singled for consideration by the Jury. The screen jury comprised the eminent members of the Indian Film Industry. These panelists after several rounds of discussions and debates were able to finalise the nominations.
Details :

Award Category	Winners
Best Film	Paan Singh Tomar
Best Actor Male	Irfan Khan for Paan Singh Tomar and Ranbir Kapoor for Barfi
Best Actress Female	Vidya Balan for Kahaani
Best Director	Anurag Basu for Barfi
Best Ensemble Cast	Gangs Of Wasseypur
Best Actor (Female-Popular Catagory)	Katrina Kaif
Best Actor (Male Popular Category)	Salman Khan
Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)	Dolly Ahluwalia for Vicky Donor
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)	Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Talaash
Best Actor in a Negative Role (Male/Female)	Tigmanshu Dhulia for Gangs Of Wasseypur
Most Promising Newcomer (Female)	Ileana D'Cruz for Barfi
Most Promising Newcomer (Male)	Ayushmann Khurrana for Vicky Donor
Best Child Artiste	Mohammad Samad for Gattu
Promising Debut Director	Gauri Shinde for English Vinglish
Best Actor in a Comic Role (Male/Female)	Annu Kapoor for Vicky Donor) and Abhishek Bachchan for Bol Bachchan
Best Playback Singer (Female)	Shalmali Kholgade for Ishaqzaade
Best Music	Pritam for Barfi
Best Playback Singer (Male)	Javed Ali for Ishaqzaade
Best Story	Sujoy Ghosh & Advaita Kala for Kahaani
Best Background Score	Pritam for Barfi
Best Production Design	Kaushik Dasa & Subrata Barik for Kahaani
Best Lyrics	Javed Akhtar for Talaash and Muskanein Jhoothi Hain
Best Sound Design	Sanjay Maurya & Allwyn Rego  for Kahaani
Best Dialogue	Bhavesh Mandlia & Umesh Shukla for OMG: Oh My God
Best Screenplay	Sanjay Chouhan & Tigmanshu Dhulia  for Paan Singh Tomar
Best Editing	Namrata Rao  for Kahaani
Best Choreography	Prabhu Deva & Vishnu Deva for Go Govinda and OMG: Oh My God
Best Cinematography	Ravi Varman for Barfi
Best Action	Sham Kaushal For Gangs Of Wasseypur
Best Costume	Anaita Shroff Adajania for Cocktail
Best Animation	Delhi Safari
Best Marketing	Barfi
Legend of Indian Cinema Award	Amitabh Bachchan
Lifetime Achievement: Award	Yash Chopra

11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet kicked off in Kerala

The three-day 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) kicked off in Kochi on 7 January 2013. 

The event saw delightful response from the people with more than 2000 registrations. 

The distinctive feature of this year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is that this is the first time that there is going to be an exclusive session on Middle East. The organizing partner of this year summit is Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC).

Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi is leading the day-long Middle-East session along with Chief Minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy and Joseph. The whole day event of 7th January 2013 would see discussions on problems that people from Kerala face in the region.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the annual flagship event on 8 January2013   and President Pranab Mukherjee will deliver the valedictory address on 9 January 2013and also confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards.

About Pravasi Bharatiya Divas:

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated on 9th January every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.

PBD conventions are being held every year since 2003. These conventions provide a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government and people of the land of their ancestors for mutually beneficial activities. These conventions are also very useful in networking among the overseas Indian community residing in various parts of the world and enable them to share their experiences in various fields.

During the event, individuals of exceptional merit are honoured with the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award to appreciate their role in India’s growth. The event also provides a forum for discussing key issues concerning the Indian Diaspora.

Justice D.K. Jain appointed as the Chairman of Law Commission

Union Government of India on 7 January 2012 appointed Justice D.K. Jain as Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India. Justice Jain would take on the chair of the Chairman of the Law Commission on 24 January 2012 after he retires of a Judge of Supreme Court on the same day. The Law Commission is responsible for offering advices on complex issues to the Government. He would be heading the commission as its chief for a period of three-years from the date of being in the office. 

20th Law Commission of India:

The 20th Law Commission of India was constituted with the Order of the Government of India with effect from 1 September 2012. The functioning of the commission would end on 31 August 2012. The commission would be responsible for identification of obsolete laws and suggest measures suitable for quick grievance handling and redressal of the citizens. It would also be examining the laws that effects poor and suggest measures which would help in harnessing the law and the legal process for the economically weaker and poor section of the society.

PM Manmohan Singh Became the 19th Most Followed Leader on Twitter

As per Digital Policy Council (DPC), PM Manmohan Singh became the 19th most followed leader of the world on Twitter. PM Manmohan Singh is ahead of David Cameron and Julia Gillard, both of who were left behind in less than 12 months time. The latest study conducted by Digital Policy Council (DPC) concluded that leaders of politically-unstable states or fragile states considered social media threatening but Manmohan Singh and India were an exception to this fact. Singh ranked 19th with 342612 followers. US President Barrack Obama topped the list with 24611982 followers. Second on the list was President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez with 3802177 followers. Nevertheless, Manmohan Singh has more followers on Twitter than Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and UK.  DPC provides its analysis about government institutions and world leaders who make use of the social media sites for connecting with the citizens. The latest study conducted by DPC proves that 75 percent of the heads of countries were making use of Twitter. The study about the ranks of leaders of states on Twitter also considers the factor of state fragility and this is what forms a negative point for Manmohan Singh because India ranks very poorly on this factor. Manmohan Singh is depicted as the leader of a state which is among politically unstable nations. The state fragility includes factors such as changes in the important policies, factionalism, auto-coups as well as state failure.

Irelands prestigious Tipperary International Peace Prize for 2012 awarded to Malala

Irelands prestigious Tipperary International Peace Prize for 2012 was awarded on 3 January 2013 to Malala Yousafzai the teenage schoolgirl from Pakistan, who was shot by Taliban’s Gunman in October 2012. Malala would be conferred with the award for her bravery, courage and determination to speak and support the cause of access to equal education for every child. With this award, Malala became the second Pakistani National to win the award. Before this, Lt. Benazir Bhutto was awarded with the same award in 2007. Malala was one among the five nominees, which included Sonia Gandhi, the Indian National Congress Party President and Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State.

Virat Kohli named CEAT International Cricketer of the Year

Vice-captain of Indian Cricket team Virat Kohli on 4 January 2013 was named the International Cricketer of the Year while Pakistan cricket team bagged the top honours for the best team at the CEAT Cricket Awards 2011-12 in New Delhi.

Virat Kohli had deafeated Hashim Amla, Kumar Sangakkara and Michael Clarke to bag the prestigious award. 

Kohli was the top run-getter for India in both Tests and ODIs in 2012 with his career-best 183 which came against Pakistan in the Asia Cup in March 2012 only.

The Former Pakistan cricket captain Zaheer Abbas was honoured with the lifetime award while Saeed Anwar got the best audience choice awards.

In the special category-India-Pakistan awards, former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq was awarded with the best ODI bastman honour, India's Sunil Gavaskar-Best Test batsman, Kapil Dev- Best Test bowler and Wasim Akram was adjudged as the best ODI bowler.

Unmukt Chand, the man who led the Indian side to win the U-19 World Cup 2012 was declared the Indian Youngster of the Year award.
 
CEAT awards is based upon Ceat Cricket Rating (CCR)

The Ceat Cricket Rating (CCR) system ranks the best players and teams in the world based on their performance in Tests and One Day Internationals over a period of 12 months from 1st May to 30th April. The points are allocated on overall performances and the system takes into account the batting, bowling, fielding and wicket-keeping performances making truly international, comprehensive and most credible cricket rating in the world.

In its first year of Inception of Award in 1995-96 the 'CEAT International Cricketer' award was bagged by Brian Lara. A year later the 'CEAT International Team' award was instituted with Pakistan as the best team in the world. During the World Cup in 1999, CEAT also instituted the 'CEAT International Cricketer of the World Cup' and Rahul Dravid was the recipient of the award in acknowledgment of his outstanding cricketing performance in the championship.

18th National Level Meeting between Myanmar and India held in New Delhi

The 18th National Level Meeting between Myanmar and India was held on 28 -29 December, 2012 in New Delhi. 

The Indian delegation was led by A.K Mangotra, Secretary, Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 

While the Myanmar delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Kyaw Zan Myint, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

The major area of Discussion was that of drug trade, arms smuggling and extremism/terrorism.

A.K  Mangotra highlighting the shared culture and traditionally close relationship between India and Myanmar, expressed India’s dedication to strengthen the cooperation between the two countries to eliminate the nexus between the drug trade, arms smuggling and extremism/terrorism.

Mangotra wanted Myanmar’s cooperation for co-ordinated patrolling along the Indo –Myanmar border and dismantling IIGs camps in Myanmar for peace and economic prosperity in the region. 

While Brig. Gen. Kyaw Zan Myint deputy minister of Myanmar assured that Myanmar is never going to allow insurgents and negative elements to use its own territory for activities inimical to its neighbour India.

Highlights of the discussion Held Between India and Myanmar:
• Both sides discussed and agreed to cooperate closely on issues like insurgent Groups along the border, arms Smuggling & drug trafficking, border management issues, Myanmar Fishermen in A&N jails, illegal smuggling of wild life parts, inspection and verification of pillars etc. 

• Both sides expressed satisfaction over opening of a third Border Liaison Office (BLO) between Changlang, India and Pangsau, Myanmar. 

• Both the leaders emphasized on nurturing BLOs to promote cooperation between law enforcement agencies of both the countries for peace and tranquility along the border. It was decided to open a fourth BLO in Nagaland sector between Ukhrul, Manipur, India and Somra, Myanmar.

Haryana Government announced Kanyadan Scheme for Bride participants of Mass Marriages

The Government of Haryana on 3 January 2012 announced its plan of launching a Kanyadan Scheme in the state for brides participating in the mass marriage ceremony, which would be organised by any of the registered NGO or the Red Cross Society. The scheme would carry an incentive amount of 11000 rupees and would come into effect from 1 April 2012. The incentive amount of 11000 rupees would be given to brides from all castes, creeds, race, religion and the income category to which the girl belongs.

Junior Accountants in Treasuries and Accounts Subordinate Service and Junior Assistants in APMS UnderGROUP IV SERVICE General Recruitment - Errata

GROUP-IV SERVICES (38/2011) - FINAL KEY GENERAL STUDIES PAPER - ERRATA

SUMMITS HELD ON 2012-13

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summits

• 4th BRICS Summit 2012 – New Delhi, India
• 5th BRICS Summit 2013 – Durban, South Africa

G-8 Annual Summits
Group of Eight (G8) Countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Russia.

• 37th G8 Meeting 2011 – Deauville, France
• 38th G8 Meeting 2012 – David camp, USA
• 39th G8 Summit 2013 – County Fermanagh, UK
• 40th G8 Summit 2014 – Russia

G-20 Summits

• 7th G 20 Meeting 2012 – Los Cabos, Mexico
• 8th G 20 Meeting 2013 – Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 9th G 20 Meeting 2014 – Brisbane, Australia

SAARC Summits
SAARC – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

• 17th SAARC Summit 2011– Addu, Maldives
• 18th SAARC Summit 2013 – Kathmandu,Nepal

ASEAN Summits
ASEAN – Association of South East Asian Nation

• 19th ASEAN Summit 2011 (November) – Bali, Indonesia
• 20th ASEAN Summit 2012 (April) – Phnom penh, Cambodia
• 21th ASEAN Summit 2012 (November)– Phnom penh, Cambodia

ASEAN-India Summit

• 9th ASEAN-India Summit 2011 – Bali, Indonesia
• 10th ASEAN-India Summit 2012 – Phnom penh, Cambodia

East Asia Summit (EAS)
EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings.

• 6th East Asia Summit 2011 – Bali, Indonesia
• 7th East Asia Summit 2012 – Phnom penh, Cambodia

IBSA Summits
IBSA Dialogue Forum - India, Brazil, South Africa.

• 5th IBSA Summit 2011 – Pretoria, South Africa
• 6th IBSA Summit 2013 – India

APEC Summits
APEC – Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

• 23rd APEC summit 2011 – Honolulu, USA
• 24th APEC Summit 2012 – Vladivostok,Russia
• 25th APEC Summit 2013 – Medan/Jakarta, Indonesia
• 26th APEC Summit 2014 – China
• 27th APEC Summit 2015 – Philippines
• 28th APEC Summit 2016 – Lima, Peru

OPEC Seminars
OPEC – Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

• 4th OPEC International Seminar 2009 – Vienna, Austria
• 5th OPEC International Seminar 2012 – Vienna, Austria

NAM Summits
NAM – Non-aligned Movement

• 16th NAM Summit 2012 – Tehran, Iran
• 17th NAM Summit 2015 – Caracas,Venezuela

SCO Meetings
SCO – Shanghai Cooperation Organization

• SCO Meeting 2011 – Astana, Kazakhstan
• SCO Meeting 2012 – Beijing, China
• SCO Meeting 2013 – Kyrgyzstan

NATO (North Atlantic treaty organization) international conference on Afghanistan will be held in Chicago (USA)

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meetings
Annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held every year.

• ADB Annual Meeting 2012 – Manila, Philippines
• ADB Annual Meeting 2013 – New Delhi, India

WTO Ministerial Conferences

• 8th WTO Ministerial Conferences 2011 – Geneva, Switzerland
• 9th WTO Ministerial Conferences 2013 (Expected) -Bali, Indonesia

Other Important Summits

• United Nations framework convention on Climate, 2011 – Durban, South Africa
• 10th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change – New Delhi, India
• Arab summit 2012 – Baghdad, Iraq
• Nuclear security summit 2012 – Seoul, South Korea
• 12th Annual summit of European Union and India – New Delhi, India
• G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting – Mexico City, Mexico
• Friends of Syria Meeting – Istanbul,Turkey
• 5th Ministerial level India-UK Economic Financial Dialogue – New Delhi
• United Nation Conference on Sustainable Development 2012 – Rio de janeiro,Brazil
• 17th National youth Festival – Mangalore, Karnataka
• World Economic Forum – Davos, Switzerland
• World Polio Summit 2012 – New Delhi, India
• India, Russia Inter-Governmental Commission meet 2012 – New Delhi, India
• The sixth conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians held in Islamabad on 4th November 2012.
• E-9 countries review meeting held in New Delhi on 9th and 10th November 2012.The E-9 countries are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria and Mexico.
• The 8th meeting of the India-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) on counter terrorism was held on 20 November 2012 in New Delhi.
• The 3rd Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit organized by East West Institute, a New York based think-and-do tank, kick-started in the New Delhi on 30th October 2012.
• South Korea will host the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2014.
• The XI Conference of Parties (CoP-11) on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being hosted by India at Hyderabad starts on 1st October 2012.
• The 9th World Hindi Conference to be held in Johannesburg ,South Africa from 22-24 September 2012.The first world Hindi Conference was held in Nagapur from 10-12 January 1975.
• The APEC Russia 2012 Summit is the 24th annual gathering of APEC leaders of 21 countries.Leaders from the member economics are currently meeting on Russky Island off the Coast of Vladivostok, Russia from September 2-9 ,2012 .
• The world’s largest meeting on HIV/AIDS opened on 22nd July in Washington.
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Summit held in HICC, Novotel Hyderabad. The summit was held between 22 August 2012 to 25 August 2012.
• 7th ASEAN education Ministers meeting on July 4 with the 1st Asean plus three education Minister Meeting and the 1st East Asia Summit Education Minister meeting from July4-5 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• A One day International conference in Kabul took place on June 14,2012 to discuss ways to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan and boost regional cooperation.
• 101 st session of International Labour Conference organized by International Labour Organization(ILO), concluded on June 14 ,2012 in Geneva.
• The Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments took place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012
• India To Host Alternative International AIDS conference
• World Agriculture Congress mega event will be hosted by the Hyderabad city for the first time in the country.
• The 6th Summit of the Americas was held At Cartagena, Colombia on 14 and 15 April 2012.
• The Russia, India and China (RIC) trilateral conference was held in Mascow on 13 April 2012.
• The seventh meeting of the India-Russia Joint Working Group was held in New Delhi on 11 April 2012.
• Two-days national agricultural conference held at New Delhi.
• The international exhibition-cum conference ” Indian Aviation 2012 held at Hyderabad from 14-18 March 2012.
• The 23rd Arab summit was held on 29 March 2012 Baghdad, half of the Arab world’s 22 heads of states had to meet for the summit in former president Saddam Hussain’s palace, but only few leaders gathered.
• India, the independence accreditation agency organized its 1st world summit on Accreditation from 25 -28 March 2012 in New Delhi.
• The I’st World summit on Accreditation is going to be held in March 2012 at New Delhi.
• A seven days Turkey World Trade Bridge International Business Summit is going to be organized by the confederation of Businessman and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) and the Indo-Turkish Business Association (ITBA) from 3 June to 10 June 2012 in Istanbul.
• AIMA’s second Knowledge summit was held in Bangalore on 7March 2012.
• The 9th three day International conference & exhibition was hosted by the society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG),which was inaugurated on 16 feb 2012 in Hyderabad.
• The 44Th session of Indian Labour conference was held on 14 and 15 Feb 2012, under the chairmanship of Shri Mallikajun Kharge, Union minister of Labour and Employment.
• The Association of South East Nations (Asean ) summit had held in New Delhi on 12 Feb 2012 with the theme of India and Asean partners for peace, progress and stability.
• The 12th India – EU summit was held in New Delhi on 10 Feb 2012.
• The 4th ” International Conference on Luminescence and its Application’s” (ICLA) 2012 conference had been organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies on 8 Feb2012 in Hyderabad.
• The 15th National conference on e-Governance conference had been inaugurated by the chief minister of Odisha M.Naveen Patnaik on 8 Feb 2012
• The 10th International Kimberlite conference meeting was held from 6 to 11 Feb 2012 at Bangalore (GSI).
• The 58th annual meeting of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS) was held from 8 to 12 Feb 2012 in Kolkata
• The national conference on Governance’ was held on 29 Jan 2012 at the NCUI auditorium in New Delhi.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated 15th Global Sanskrit Meetings in New Delhi on 4 January 2012.
• 99th Science Congress Conferences were inaugarated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bhuvaneswar, Odisha on 3 January 2012. 

IMPORTANT AWARDS 2012

• Israeli Scientist Daniel Hillel has won World Food Prize 2012 .
• ITC conferred world business & development award 2012.
• Life Time Achievement Award for Ratan Tata by Rockefeller Foundation
• Vijay Kumar conferred Himachal Gaurav award
• Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Puraskar for DR Mehra,
• Ashoke Sen wins Yuri Milner Prize.
• Sachin Tendulkar was presented the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award.
• Ondaatje Prize 2012 for Rahul Bhattacharya.
• Sudarshan Pattnaik won the Copenhagen Sand Art Championship-2012.
• Binayak Sen and Bulu Imam honored with the International Peace Award by the Gandhi Foundation at the House of Lords.
• Shalini Singh won Prem Bhatia award
• Kulandei Francis won Magsaysay award.
• Miss China Wenxia Yu won the title of Miss World 2012
• Mamta Kalia gets Sita puraskar.
• Shiv Bhatia gets Rashtriya Ekta Puraskar.
• Mr. Baba Kalyani was conferred an honorary ‘Doctor of Science’ (honoris causa) by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at the 58th Annual Convocation of IIT Kharagpur.
• Paraguay’s Highest Civilisation Award ‘National Order of Merito de Comuneros’ for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
• Lifetime achievement award for Waheeda Rehman at Mumbai Film Festival.
• Bangladesh honours Jagjivan Ram as 1971 war hero.
• Hilary Mantel wins Booker Prize for 2012.
• Gulzar gets Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 2012.
• C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Sunil Gavaskar.
• Sharmila Tagore was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the Edinburgh Napier University.
• Member of Order of Australia – Sachin Tendulkar
• IT giant Infosys founder, N.R. Narayan Murthy honoured with Hoover Medal for promoting science at Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Washington.
• Aishwarya Rai was honoured with French Civilian Award
• Dr Madhav Chavan has won the WISE Prize, which has been likened to a “Nobel prize for education”.
• Urdu Scholar Gopi Chand Narang Awarded Moortidevi Award for 2010
• Chinese movie ‘11 Flowers’, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai has won the prestigious NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) award at the 18th Kolkata International Film festival (KIFF).
• President of the Republic of Liberia Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf got the Indira Gandhi peace prize for 2012 for her Excellency, Peace,Disarmament and Development.
• “Andhey Ghorey Da Daan” a Punjabi film directed by Gurvinder Singh and produced by National Film Development Cooperation was bagged the Golden Peacock award of the International Film Festival of India, IFFI.

ICC Awards 2012

• Emerging Player of the Year – Sunil Narine
• LG People’s Choice Award – Kumar Sangakkara
• ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – Virat Kohli
• ICC Test Cricketer of the Year -Kumar Sangakkara
• ICC Cricketer of the Year – Kumar Sangakkara

IIFA Awards 2012

13th IIFA Awards 2012 schedule from 7th Jun to 9th Jun, 2012 as held in the beautiful city of Singapore . The list of winners has just been announced and as expected, Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan have once again won the Best Actor and Best Actress award respectively. The Best movie and director too have been predictable this year, as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which swept the IIFA 2012 technical awards, has won in both categories.
Winners of IIFA Awards 2012
Best Actor – Ranbir Kapoor (Rockstar)
Best Actress – Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture)
Best Movie – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Director – Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Story – Zoya Akhtar and Reema Katgi (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Music – A R Rahman ( Rockstar)

84th Academy Awards

The 84th Academy Awards Ceremony/ Oscars was hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science ( AMPAS). The ceremony which took place at the Hollywood Highland center in Hollywood, California on 26 Feb 2012 honoured the best film and performances of 2011. The ceremony was hosted by Billy Cristal who hosted this ceremony for the ninth time. Best Motion Picture: The Artist ,Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist Best Actor : Jean Dujardin, The Artist ,Foreign Language Film : A separation , Original Screenplay: Woody Allen Best Actress : Meryl Streep, Iron Lady , Adapted screenplay:Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash Best Supporting Actor :Christopher Plummer, Beginners, Cinematography : Hugo. Art direction: Hugo Best Supporting Actress :Octavia Spencer, The Help .Original Score : The Artist. Visual Effects: Hugo Film Editing: The girl with the dragon tattoo. Sound mixing:Hugo. Sound Editing: Hugo. Costume Design:The Artist Original Song: Man or Muppet, from Muppets. Make Up: The Iron Lady . Live Action Short Film:The Shore Animated Feature Film: Rango. Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Documentary Features: Undefeated. Documentary Short: Saving Face.

Nobel Prize 2012 Winners

• Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 – Serge Haroche and David Wineland
  
• Nobel Peace Prize for 2012: European Union
  
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012: Robert J Lefkowitz and Brian K Kobilka
• Nobel Prize in Literature 2012: Chinese author Mo Yan
• Nobel Prize in Economy 2012: Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley
• Nobel Prize in Medicine 2012: John Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka

APPSC NOTIFICATIONS 2013

NDC approves 12th Five Year Plan

Country's apex policy making body NDC has approved the strategy to achieve average growth rate of 8 pc during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), generate 50 million new jobs and increase investments in infrastructure sector. The document has pegged the aggregate Plan resources at Rs 37.16 lakh crore during the five year period starting 2012-13. Moving away from previous practice of presenting single growth projection, the Planning Commission has come out with three different economic scenarios for 12th Five-Year Plan. As per the "aspirational" scenario one of strong inclusive growth India's economic growth will be average 8 percent in the five years. The document also cautions that in scenario of policy logjam, the GDP growth could slow down to 5-5.5 percent. The document proposes to bring down poverty by 10 percentage points by the end of the 12th Plan. As regard the infrastructure sector, efforts would be made to increase investment in this sector to 9 percent of the GDP by the end of the Plan period. The other targets include increasing green cover by one million hectare every year and adding 30,000 MW of renewable energy generation capacity in the Plan period. It also seeks to reduce emission intensity of the GDP in line with the target of 20-25 reduction by 2020 over 2005 levels. Although the document envisages 6.7 percent growth rate in the current fiscal, it has been projected at 5.7-5.9 percent in 2012-13 by the Finance Ministry. The strategy for the full Plan would aim at raising agriculture output to 4 percent and manufacturing sector growth to 10 percent. It also wants all the states to set higher targets of growth than what was achieved in the 11th Five Year Plan.

13th India-Russia Annual Summit

The President of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Vladmir V.Putin, paid an official visit to India for the Annual Summit between two countries. During the meet the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Russian Federation stressed the importance of further enhancing the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries. The two leaders reviewed the progress made in all important areas of cooperation, including in sectors such as energy, trade, high technology and military-technical cooperation. India and Russia moved to strengthen their economic ties by inking a pact on a Kremlin-backed $2 billion investment fund and agreeing to open talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that will also involve Belarus and Kazakhstan. Following documents were signed during the meet: a) Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations 2013-14: The Protocol is an instrument to continue the tradition of close political consultations between the two Foreign Offices. The current Protocol outlines seventeen different broad themes for such exchanges. The bi-annual Protocol mechanism enables frequent contacts and promotes broad-based understanding between the various wings of the two Foreign Offices. b) Memorandum on Cooperation in Science & Technology: The Memorandum shall facilitate deepening cooperation in the field of innovation and S&T, through implementation of joint programs or projects involving educational, R&D and industrial institutions. It also stipulates formation of a Working Group to implement the provisions of this MoC. c) Cultural Exchange Programme for the Years 2013 – 15: The document envisages enhancing bilateral cultural contacts through exchanges in performing arts, films, archives, museums and conservation, literature and language and through organization of reciprocal Festivals. It is in continuation to the previous CEP 2009-12. It also aims to preserve and promote the legacy of the Roerich Estate in Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), an important icon of cultural cooperation between the two countries. d) Memorandum of Understanding to Promote Direct Investment between Russia and India: MoU envisages investments upto US$ 2 billion in important bilateral projects or companies, privatization and other opportunities. RDIF is a US$ 10 billion sovereign-backed Russian private equity fund established by the Russian Government to co-invest alongside global institutional investors. Since its inception in 2011, it has led investments totaling US$ 1.5 billion in Russian companies together with some of the largest asset managers in the world. e) Memorandum of Understanding for Satellite based navigation services: The MoU envisages a pilot project to assess the usage of the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS – the Russian equivalent of GPS) using the capabilities of BSNL/MTNL ground infrastructure. Success of the pilot project may provide insights for wider applicability of GLONASS signals in the future in areas such as disaster management, telephony and long-distance communications. f) Contract for Delivery of 71 Mi-17V-5 helicopters: An order for procurement of 59 Mi-17 v5 MLH was agreed to in Feb 2010, which was subsequently increased to 71. The current contract is in context of the order. g) Contract for Delivery of 42 technological kits for SU-30MKI aircraft licensed production: The Protocol-II on licensed manufacturing of additional 42 SU-30MKI aircraft units was signed during Annual Summit 2011. The current contract is a follow up to this Protocol. However, there was no substantial progress on issues of discord-delay in commissioning aircraft carrier Gorshkov, stalemate on clinical trials in Russia, applicability of the Nuclear Limited Liability Act to six new reactors to be put up by Russia at Kudankulam, inability of Russian companies Sistema and Severstal to move ahead with their investment plans in India and the tax imposed on Imperial Energy, an Indian company operating in Russia.

List of APPSC Notifications 2013

List of APPSC Notifications Online submission of Applications has been scheduled 2013

JUNIOR ACCOUNTANTS IN APMASS (Notification No. 08/2012) FINAL KEY

Final Key of Jr.Accountants in Municipal Accts.service:: Paper-1 - G.S. & M.A.

Final Key of Accountants in Municipal Acct, Service :: Paper-2 - COMMERCE

Hostel Welfare Officers Grade-II in A.P. Tribal Welfare Sub Service under Group IV Service (Notification No. 55/2011) FINAL KEY

	Final Answer Key of Hostel Welfare Officers (Group-IV) Paper-1-General Studies.
	Final Answer Key of Hostel Welfare Officers (Group-IV) Paper-2 - Concerned Subject.

ACCOUNTS OFFICER IN A.P. MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTS SUB ORDINATE SERVICE (Notification No. 07/2012) FINAL KEY

	Final Answer Key of Accounts Officer In MPL.ACCTS.Sub-Services:: Paper-2 Series: A 056- COMMERCE-I
	Final Answer Key of Accounts Officer In MPL.ACCTS.Sub-Service :: Paper-3 Series: A-057-COMMERCE-II
	Final Answer Key of Accounts Officer In MPL.ACCTS.Sub-Services:: Paper-1 Series: A-500-G.S. & M.A.

Ilayaraja gets Sangeet Natak Akademi award

Grammy Award-winning percussionist T.H. Vinayakram and veteran playwright Ratan Thiyam are among three personalities chosen for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship, while legendary South Indian composer Ilayaraja will receive the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

N Rajam, violinist who performs Hindustani classical music, T.H. Vinayakram and Ratan Thiyam have been selected for the prestigious the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships.

The Fellowship of the Akademi is restricted to a very limited number at a given time. Presently there are only 40 Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

The honour of Akademi Fellow carries a purse money of Rs. 3 lakh, while Akademi Awards carry Rs. 1 lakh besides Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

At the General Council meeting on Friday, the Akademi also selected 36 persons from the fields of Music, Dance, Theatre and Puppetry for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2012.

Nine eminent artists -- Rajashekhar Mansur and Ajay Pohankar for Hindustani Vocal Music, Sabir Khan (Tabla) and Bahauddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) for Hindustani Instrumental Music, O.S. Thyagarajan for Carnatic Vocal Music, Mysore M Nagaraja (Violin) and K V Prasad (Mridangam) for Carnatic Instrumental Music, Ilayaraja for Creative and Experimental Music and Bhai Balbir Singh Ragi (Gurbani) for Other Major Traditions of Music have been selected for the Award 2012.

In the field of Dance, nine eminent practitioners, namely Priyadarsini Govind (Bharatanatyam), Vijay Shankar (Kathak), Vazhengada Vijayan (Kathakali), Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry (Kuchipudi), Sharmila Biswas (Odissi), Jai Narayan Samal (Chhau), Painkulam Damodara Chakyar (Kutiyattam), Jwala Prasad (Music for Dance) and Aditi Mangaldas (Creative & Experimental Dance) have been selected for the Akademi Award 2012.

In the field of Theatre, eight eminent artists have been selected for Akademi Awards 2012.

They include Arjun Deo Charan for Playwriting, Tripurari Sharma and Waman Kendre for Direction, Parvesh Sethi, Nirmal Rishi and Purisai Kannappa Sambandan for Acting, Murari Roychoudhury for Theatre Music and Ghulam Rasool Bhagat for Major Traditions of Theatre (Bhand Pather).

Goru Channabasappa for Folk Music (Karnataka), Kinaram Nath Oja for Suknani Ojapali (Assam), Prem Singh Dehati for Folk Theatre (Haryana), Sulochana Chavan for Lavani (Maharashtra), Mattannur Sankaran Kutty Marar for Thayambaka (Kerala), Govind Ram Nirmalkar for Nacha (Chhattisgarh), Heera Das Negi for Mask Making (Himachal Pradesh) and Prafulla Karmakar for Traditional Puppetry (West Bengal) have also been chosen.

Nandini Ramani and Arun Kakade will receive the Akademi Award 2012 for Overall Contribution/Scholarship in Performing Arts.

India, Russia sign defence deals worth around $3 bn

Boosting their military ties, India on December 24 inked deals worth around $ 3 billion with Russia to procure 42 new Su-30 MKI combat aircraft and 71 Mi-17V5 medium-lift helicopters.

The contracts for acquiring these weapon systems were signed during the 13th India-Russia Annual Summit after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi.

At the Summit meeting on December 24 a joint venture agreement was also inked between Elcom Systems Private Ltd. and OAO “Vertoleti Rassi” (JSC “Helicopters Russia”), which aims to set up a modern industrial facility for manufacturing Russian Mi and Kamov choppers in India.

Under one contract worth around $2.2 billion for licence production of 42 Su-30MKIs, Russia will deliver technical kits to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to assemble them.

With this contract, the number of Su-30MKIs in the IAF would go up to 272 in next four to five years with 170 of them already at present in the force.

These multi-role frontline aircraft could also be equipped with Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.

Under the contract for 71 Mi-17V5 choppers, 59 of the machines would be given to the IAF while the remaining 12 would be used by paramilitary forces in their anti-Naxal operations.

These helicopters would be used by the IAF to replace its existing fleet of older versions of Mi-17 and Mi-8 aircraft in its inventory.

This is a follow up order by the IAF for the new ‘V5’ version as it is in the process of inducting 80 such machines for which orders were placed around three years ago.

Already more than 40 of them have been inducted into the force at locations including Bathinda in Punjab, Srinagar and Bagdogra in West Bengal.

Eight Indians in HBR’s 100 best CEO list

Eight Indian CEOs have made it to the list of 100 global chief executives, compiled by Harvard Business Review (HBR), with ITC’s Y C Deveshwar and late Subir Raha of ONGC finding a place in the top 20.

Mr. Deveshwar was first among the Indian CEOs featured in this list, and cornered the seventh place overall.

Under his leadership, ITC delivered industry-adjusted shareholder returns of 1,574 per cent and saw its value increase by $ 45 billion.

The other Indians on the list include late Subir Raha of ONGC, at 13th place, ahead of Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani who was ranked 28th.

Larsen and Toubro’s A M Naik was ranked 32nd, followed by BHEL’s A K Puri (38), Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal (65), Jindal Steel and Power’s Naveen Jindal (87) and Steel Authority of India’s V S Jain (89).

Meanwhile, the best-performing CEO over the past 17 years globally was Steve Jobs of Apple. From 1997 to 2011, Apple’s market value increased by $ 359 billion, and its shareholder return experienced average compound annual growth of 35 per cent. 

Others in the top 10 include, Samsung Electronics’ Yun Jong-Yong (3rd), followed by Vale’s Roger Agnelli (4), Gilead Sciences’ John C Martin (5), Hyundai Motor Company’s Chung Mong-Koo (6), ITC’s Y C Deveshwar (7), Simon Property Group’s David Simon (8), eBay’s Margaret C Whitman (9) and Cisco Systems John T Chambers (10).

The highest-ranked woman on the list is Meg Whitman, currently the CEO of beleaguered HP, whose performance as the CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008 earned her the 9th spot.

Interestingly, overall, only 1.9 per cent of all the CEOs studied were women.

The HBR 100 best performing CEOs in the world list assessed the long-term performance of each CEO, from the first day on the job to the last and for CEOs still in office, until August 31, 2012.

The list accessed how much total shareholder returns had changed over the tenure of the respective CEO, and the overall increase in market capitalisation.

Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2012

The General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, New Delhi at its meeting held on 21 December 2012 elected three (3) eminent personalities in the field of performing arts, namely N. Rajam, T.H. Vinayakram and Ratan Thiyam as Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellows (Akademi Ratna).  The Fellowship of the Akademi is the most prestigious and rare honour, which is restricted to a very limited number at a given time.  Presently there are only 40 Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

The General Council of the Akademi also selected thirty six (36) persons from the fields of Music, Dance, Theatre and Puppetry for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2012.

In the field of Music, nine eminent artists, namely Rajashekhar Mansur and  Ajay Pohankar for Hindustani Vocal Music, Sabir Khan (Tabla) and Bahauddin Dagar (Rudra Veena) for Hindustani Instrumental Music, O.S. Thyagarajan for Carnatic Vocal Music, Mysore M. Nagaraja, (Violin) and K.V. Prasad (Mridangam) for Carnatic Instrumental Music, Illayaraja for Creative & Experimental Music and Bhai Balbir Singh Ragi (Gurbani) for Other Major Traditions of Music have been selected for the Akademi Award 2012.

In the field of Dance, nine eminent practitioners, namely  Priyadarsini Govind (Bharatanatyam), Vijay Shankar (Kathak), Vazhengada Vijayan (Kathakali),  Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry (Kuchipudi), Sharmila Biswas (Odissi), Jai Narayan Samal (Chhau), Painkulam Damodara Chakyar (Kutiyattam), Jwala Prasad (Music for Dance) and Aditi Mangaldas (Creative & Experimental Dance) have been selected for the Akademi Award 2012.

In the field of Theatre, eight eminent artists have been selected for Akademi Awards 2012. They include Arjun Deo Charan for Playwriting, Tripurari Sharma and Waman Kendre for Direction, Parvesh Sethi, Nirmal Rishi and Purisai Kannappa Sambandan for Acting, Murari Roychoudhury for Theatre Music and Ghulam Rasool Bhagat for Major Traditions of Theatre (Bhand Pather).

For their contribution to Other Traditional/Folk/ Tribal Music/ Dance/ Theatre and Puppetry, eight artists have been selected for the Akademi Award. They are Goru Channabasappa for Folk Music (Karnataka), Kinaram Nath Oja for Suknani Ojapali (Assam), Prem Singh Dehati for Folk Theatre (Haryana), Sulochana Chavan for Lavani (Maharashtra), Mattannur Sankaran Kutty Marar for Thayambaka (Kerala), Govind Ram Nirmalkar for Nacha (Chhattisgarh), Heera Das Negi for Mask Making (Himachal Pradesh) and Prafulla Karmakar for Traditional Puppetry (West Bengal).

Nandini Ramani and Arun Kakade will receive the Akademi Award 2012 for Overall Contribution/Scholarship in Performing Arts.

The honour of Akademi Fellow has been conferred since 1954 and Akademi Award since 1952. They not only symbolize the highest standard of excellence and achievements on a national basis, but also recognize sustained individual work and contribution to the practice and appreciation of the arts through performance, teaching and scholarship.  The honour of Akademi Fellow carries a purse money of Rs 3,00,000/- (Rupees three lacs) and Akademi Awards carry Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lac), besides Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

Click here to see List of Awardees.

Chhattisgarh launched first food security law in the nation

The Chhattisgarh Assembly enacted landmark legislation by unanimously passing the Food Security Act, becoming the first state in the country to introduce such a law, covering several deprived sections of society left out by existing welfare programmes. The law also takes a major step to empower women by considering the eldest woman in a household as its head in matters related to the ration card. The Act considers entitlements under both public distribution system (PDS) and non-PDS on a household basis and not per person and places them under the Chhattisgarh Lok Seva Guarantee Act 2011. The Act makes food entitlements a right and its non-compliance has been made an offence. Officials can be penalised if PDS rations are being siphoned. The state government will pay for entitlements not covered by the Centre. While some households mentioned under the Act will get rice at Rs 1 per kg, several categories such as destitutes and disaster-affected persons will get it free. The Act includes all households of landless agricultural labourers, small or marginal farmers, workers in the urban informal sector and construction workers. It also defines a new category of “particularly vulnerable social groups” which includes households headed by terminally ill persons, widows or single women, physically challenged persons, all households headed by a person aged 60 or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support and a person freed from bonded labour. All households of particularly vulnerable social groups shall be designated as Antyodaya households. The law also makes foodgrains mandatory for all students living in hostels or ashrams, meals through dal-bhat centres or take-home rations through panchayats for destitutes and homeless persons, besides making special provisions for emergency or disaster-affected persons. The Act also includes meals for pregnant women and lactating mothers and children from six months to six years through anganwadis, mid-day meal for children of 6-14 years in school and supplementary nutrition for malnourished children. These groups will now have a right to food entitlements and officials will be penalised for any failure. Households paying income tax, households in non-scheduled areas who own more than four hectares of irrigated or eight hectares of non-irrigated land, all households that own a pucca house (concrete roof) of carpet area more than 1,000 sq ft in urban areas and are liable to pay property tax, are among categories excluded.

Union Government of India Constituted a Commission to suggest measures for Safety of Women

The Union Government of India on 23 December 2012 constituted a three-member Commission to be headed by the Former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma for reviewing the laws in existence and the lapses of the police to suggest measures for ensuring safety of women in Delhi as well as across the nation.  It would also look into the matter of the gang rape incident. 
Former Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam and Justice Lalitha Seth are the two other members of the constituted inquiry commission. The commission would submit its report and findings within 30 days to the Government. Senior High Court lawyer Dyan Krishnan was appointed as the Special Prosecutor to ensure speedy trial and enhancement of the punishment in cases of aggravated sexual assault.

Madhya Pradesh Government set up a Senior Citizen Commission

The Madhya Pradesh Government on 21 December 2012 set up a Senior Citizen Commission to look into problems of the elderly in the State. The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Senior Citizen Commission would comprise one Chairman and four members. The commission will try to solve the problems of the senior people of the State and providing an ideal platform for old persons’ policy for the welfare and solution of their problems.

Karnataka Announced Safety Measures in Public Transport

On 23 December 2012, Karnataka became the first state that announced some measures for making public transport safer via use of technology. The Karnataka government announced that it would equip taxis as well as autorickshaws with surveillance cameras as well as GPS for providing safety to the women travellers.
All the state transport buses would be equipped with the surveillance cameras. Apart from this, the deputy chief minister R Ashoka who has home department under him also announced establishment of fast-track courts for dealing with all rape cases.

Additionally, the deputy chief minister announced that Karnataka government would push aggressively regarding capital punishment in rarest-of-rare cases.
On 22 December 2012, a meeting of the home department officials discussed about the safety concerns of women.

Sachin Tendulkar announced Retirement from One Day Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar on 23 December 2012 announced retirement form one day cricket which put an end to his 23- year old glorious career.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian Batsman who is considered one of the greatest batsman of the world after Don Bradman in Test Cricket and the second most successful one day batsman after Viv Richards as per the ranking done by Wisden-the Bible of Cricket. Tendulkar who belongs to Mumbai Maharashtra made his appearance in six world cups for India and was the member of the 2011 World Cup winning squad of the nation.

The major facts related to his one day international career are as follows:

•    Sachin scored 18426 runs in 463 one-day matches at an average of 44.83
•    Tendulkar made his ODI debut on his international tour against Pakistan in 1989 in Gujranwala, where he scored zero runs
•    He scored his first half century in the 9th ODI
•    He made 49 hundreds in the one-day format, including a double hundred which is the first in this form of cricket and 96 half centuries
•    He scored his first century in the 79th ODI against Australia in 1994 at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo in a day-night match-this was the third match of singer world series
•    In the 2003 World Cup in South Africa he finished as the highest run-getter
•    He became the first cricketer to score a double century in the history of One Day international Cricket against South Africa in February 2010
•    He played his last One Day International Match against Pakistan in Asia Cup Dhaka played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur and scored a half century to help India win the match
•    Tendulkar scored his 100th international century on 16 March 2012 against Bangladesh, where he scored 114 runs

NASA Ruled out Asteroid Collision with Earth in 2040

The Mayan Doomsday predictions about the world ending on 21 December 2012 had failed and additionally NASA ruled out the asteroid collision with Earth in 2040. NASA claimed that the fear of asteroid collision with Earth does not pose a threat to our planet any more. 

NASA declared that doubt about orbit of this asteroid called 2011 AG5 initially enabled that there were less than 1 percent chances of it hitting the planet in February 2040. Initially the scientists had estimated that risk of 140m-diametre asteroid collision with Earth was just one in 500. 

In case, this asteroid would have collided with Earth, there would have been a release of around 100 megatonnes of energy, which is a lot more than atom bombs used in World War II. Considering the statistics, it was found that a body as huge as this would have created an impact on Earth every 10000 years on an average. 

The observations were made while making use of Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. The observations were very challenging for the team. The scientists were especially surprised about the fact that a telescope could recover faint asteroid in the sky.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

• New President of India- Pranab Mukherjee
• Re-elected Vice President- Hamid Ansari
Secretary in National Commission for Women - Ajit Saran
• New Indian envoy to Israel – Jaideep Sarkar
• New Indian envoy to Canada – Nirmal Kumar Verma
• New MSME secretary - Vivek Rae
• New chairman of ICC Cricket Committee - Anil Kumble
• Junior pistol chief coach - Jaspal Rana
• India’s ambassador to Brazil - Ashok Kumar
• New Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau – Rajiv Mehta
• New FMC (Forward Markets Commission) Chairman – Ramesh Abhishek
• New Director on the Central Board of Directors of the RBI - Y C Deveshwar
• New President of Indian Newspaper Society – Tilak Kumar
• New Secretary Gen of Rajya Sabha – Shumsher K Sheriff
• New Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulation – Shailesh Gupta
• New President of Indian Boxing Federation – Abhishek Matoria
• New Economic affairs secretary-Arvind Mayaram
• New Chief Economic Advisor- Raghuram Rajan
• New Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL)Chairperson - Shyamala Gopinath
• Re-appoint Deputy Governer of RBI: K C Chakrabarty
• New CBDT Chairperson- Poonam Kishore Saxena
• New Union Railway Minister- Pawan Kumar Bansal
• New Aviation Secretary- K N Srivastava
• New Election Commissioner- S Nasim Ahmad Zaidi
• New Chief Election Commissioner-VS Sampath
• New secretary to the Prez of India- Omita Paul
• Head of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Committee - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
• New CMD of Oriental Bank of Commerce- SL Bansal
• New Executive Director of PNB- S R Bansal
• New CEO of Prasar Bharti – Jawhar Sircar
•  New Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh- Virabhadra Singh

Barack Obama was named TIME's Person of the Year for 2012

US President Barack Obama was named TIME's Person of the Year for 2012, because of his historic win over the re-election in November 2012  which is being considered as symbol of the nation's changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges.
His name was announced by TIME editor Rick Stengel on NBC's Today program on 19 December 2012.

It is the second time Barack Obama is being accorded with this honour. He had also received the honour in 2008, when he was first elected as president.

Obama had won re-election despite a higher unemployment rate than anybody's had to face in basically in 70 years. He's the first Democrat to actually win two consecutive terms with over 50 percent of the vote.

The short list for the honour included Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head for advocating for girls' education, as well as Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Italian physicist Fabiola Giannati.

Time's Person of the Year is the person or thing that has most influenced the culture and the news during the past year for good or for ill. In 2010, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg received the honour.

Last year in 2011 Time honoured "The Protester," citing dissent across the Middle East that spread to Europe and the United States, saying the protesters reshaped global politics.

Other previous winners have included Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Bono and President George W. Bush.