Jargan Josh Magazine July 2012 by Kuwait News

Current Affairs PDF July 2012

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CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF JULY 2012

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Current Affairs PDF July 2012

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Table of Contents Pick of the Month........................................................................................................................9 Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became the First Female Chairperson of African Union Commission ..........................................................................................................................9 Syrian Defence Minsiter, Dawoud Rajiha Killed in Suicide Bomb attack in Damascus, Syria ...9 SC banned Commercial and Tourism Activities near Jarawa Habitat ...................................10 Pranab Mukherjee won the Presidential Election 2012 .......................................................10 Indian Railways introduced new guidelines for booking of Tatkal tickets ............................12 Gagan Narang won Bronze inmen's 10 meter air rifle event at London Olympics ................12 sc Banned Tourism in Core Areas of Project Tiger Forests ...................................................13 Scientists identified First Radio Waves from Middleweight Black Hole HLX-1 ......................13 Assam’s Kokrajhar, Udalguri District Hit by Violence: Bodos & Muslims Clashed .................14 Derek O’ Brian became the First Anglo-Indian to Vote in Presidential Election ....................14 International .............................................................................................................................15 CII in Partnership with Govt of India and Afghanistan held Delhi Investment Summit .........15 PRI Leader Enrique Peña Nieto elected AS New President of Mexico ..................................16 Iran test-fired Medium Range Ballistic Missile Shahab-3 .....................................................17 Myanmar’s Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo stepped down .............................................17 UNHRC adopted Resolution to protect the Online Human Rights of Global Citizens ............17 Tokyo Conference pledged to provide 16 Billion Dollar Aid to Afghanistan .........................18 ICC sentenced Congolese Warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14-Year Imprisonment ...................19 United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Laos................................................20 Derek Mitchell assumed Charge as First US Ambassador to Myanmar since 1990 ...............20 Hillary Clinton visited Israel as Final Halt of her Trip to Asia ................................................21 India & Mozambique Signed Agreement on Bilateral Security Cooperation in Maputo, Mozambique ......................................................................................................................21

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US made Visa Application Rules for Indians More Flexible ..................................................22 Maldives Ex-President, Mohamed Nasheed charged for judge's illegal arrest .....................22 US House of Representative voted to cut the US Aid to Pakistan by 650 Million Dollar .......23 China pledged 20 Billion Dollar Loan to Africa over the Next Three Years ...........................24 China, Russia Vetoed UN RESOLUTION: Situation intensified in Syria ..................................25 Hesham Kandil Appointed Egypt's New Prime Minister ......................................................25 India Called on All Nations to Cooperate and Bring End to Syria Crisis ................................26 India, Indonesia Signed Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement .........................................26 National ....................................................................................................................................27 Union Government of India unveiled New Free Drug Policy ................................................27 Delhi High Court scrapped TRAI’s Limit on the Number of Daily SMS-es .............................27 Union cabinet approved a Proposal to make Rape a Gender-Neutral Offence ....................28 SC reduced VIP quota for Haj pilgrimage from 5050 seats to 300 ........................................28 SC allowed Tamil Nadu to carry out Small Maintenance Works on the Mullaperiyar Dam...29 sc of India Modified Order on Rehabilitation of Sex Workers ..............................................29 Ministry of Women and Child Development drafted the National Policy for Children 2012 30 Government of India Launched Anti-Ragging Website ........................................................30 General Knowledge Quiz ...........................................................................................................31 Economy ...................................................................................................................................37 India’s Direct Tax Collections registered 47.16 per cent Increase in April-June 2012 ...........37 SEBI permitted MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) to operate as a Full-fledged Stock Exchange ...........................................................................................................................................38 Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded 2.4% growth in May 2012 as against 6.2% in May 2011............................................................................................................................39 India’s Headline Inflation slowed to 7.25 percent in June 2012 ...........................................39 India’s Retail Inflation dropped to 10.02 Percent in June 2012 ............................................40 Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved 10.82 Per Cent Disinvestment in SAIL...40

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EGoM on Telecommunication recommended to reduce 2G Base Price ...............................41 SEBI tightened Eligibility & Exit Criteria for Stocks in Derivatives Segment to curb Manipulation ......................................................................................................................42 India received its First Investment through Qualified Framework Investor Route worth $ 5m ...........................................................................................................................................42 EGoM recommended CDMA Airwaves in the 800 MHz band at 1.3 times the Base Price for GSM Airwaves.....................................................................................................................43 Government approved 14 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Proposals worth Rs 1584.11 crore ...........................................................................................................................................44 Petrol & Diesel Prices raised as Oil Firms recalibrated Rates to Reflect Changes in Local Levies..................................................................................................................................45 State .........................................................................................................................................45 Delhi GoVT announced subsidy of 1 Rupee per unit on electricity for domestic consumers 45 Jagdish Shettar sworn in as the 27th Chief Minister of Karnataka .......................................46 The Government of Maharashtra banned Gutka and Pan Masala .......................................46 Union HRD Ministry announced to set up Two Central Universities in Bihar .......................47 Punjab Government increased the DA by 12 per cent for Employees and Pensioners .........47 Planning Commission sanctioned 57800 Crore Rupees as Annual Plan for UP .....................48 Delhi Government decided to increase the Number of Districts in Delhi from 9 to 11 .........48 UP Government rechristened Eight Districts in the State ....................................................49 India Diary .................................................................................................................................49 Corporate..................................................................................................................................51 Adani Kandla Bulk Terminal Pvt. Ltd Signed Agreement with Kandla Port Trust ..................51 HDFC launched Superia and Platinum Credit Cards for Doctors...........................................52 B. Surender Mohan appointed as the Chairman and MD of NLC .........................................52 Brazil Court Ordered BASF and Shell to compensate 382 million dollars .............................52 Dell Inc announced to buy Quest Software Inc for 2.4 billion dollar cash ............................53 European Aerospace Airbus Build its 1st US Assembly Plant in Alabama .............................53

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Apple paid 60 million dollar to Shenzhen Proview Technology to Settle Legal Dispute ........54 Vodafone Captured 1.04 billion euro of British firm Cable and Wireless .............................54 State Bank of Patiala launched Gold Loan (Swarn Shakti) for Farmers .................................55 MTS announced Flat Rate of 30 paise/minute for Local, STD, Roaming and ISD Calls ..........55 Mahindra Launched 100 crore rupees R&D Centre for two-wheelers in Pune .....................55 Cadbury launched famous Triangular Swiss Chocolate Brand Toblerone .............................56 Serum Institute of India bought Bilthoven Biologicals for 550 crore rupees ........................56 Electronics Company Toshiba launched C, L, M, U Satellite series .......................................57 Yahoo! India Signed Agreement with IIT-Madras to set R&D ...............................................57 EIL signed Integrated Refinery Expansion Project of BPCL at Kochi......................................58 Nokia launched Window-based phone Lumia 610 at 12999 rupees ....................................58 BPO Firm Sundaram Finance Ltd. Signed Various Deals in Australia ....................................59 Facebook Extended its App Center in India and Six other Countries ....................................59 Mahindra Satyam launched Apparel & Fashion xPress for Oracle Retail ..............................60 Government appointed Nasir Ali as the new Joint Managing Director of Air India ..............60 Tata Group firm Roots Corporation Ltd. planned 5 more Ginger Hotels ..............................60 Marissa Mayer appointed as the New President and CEO of Yahoo ....................................61 Hindi news channel ITV acquired English news channel News X ..........................................61 Nestle Health Science acquired a Stake in Accera to make milkshake for Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s patients ..............................................................................................................................62 Jet Airways introduced JetEscapes packages for corporate travellers .................................62 Godrej Properties signed MoU with Axis bank; offered Home loan scheme ........................63 Tata Power signed a long term agreement with Indonesian firm ........................................63 Philips India launched Bodygroom Gadget BG2024 for Men at 2495 rupees .......................64 Renault-Nissan alliance to invest 160 million dollar at Renault Samsung Motors Korea ......64 Percept Limited launched a Global Entertainment Company Percept Live ..........................64 ONGC was awarded Gold Trophy in Safety Management Award 2012 ................................65 www.jagranjosh.com

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GAIL and ONGC signed Swap Agreement and Gas Co-operation Agreement .......................65 Famous Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was signed as the Brand Ambassador of BMW ............65 Kavveri Telecom acquired US Firm WPCS International .......................................................66 Ravneet Gill appointed as the New CEO of Deutsche Bank India .........................................66 Apple Launched OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion System...............................................................67 Sports........................................................................................................................................67 Spain beat Italy 4-0 to win UEFA Euro Cup Football Championship 2012.............................67 Three Russian Female Athletes were Suspended ................................................................68 Ex-England Batsman Mark Ramprakash announced retirement from cricket ......................69 Sprint Star Usain Bolt Quit from Diamond League Meet in Monaco ....................................69 Roger Federer beat Andy Murray to claim Wimbledon Open Title 2012 .............................69 Serena Williams beat Agnieszka Radwanska to claim Wimbledon Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Singles 2012 ...70 South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher announced Retirement from International Cricket ................................................................................................................................71 England beat Australia 4-0 to claim NatWest Cricket Series ................................................71 Brett Lee announced Retirement from All Forms of International Cricket ...........................72 Englandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s David Howell won the 6th Leiden International Chess tournament .....................72 Bradley Wiggins won the 99th Edition of Tour de France Bicycle Race ................................73 30th Edition of Summer Olympics inaugurated in London ..................................................73 Hockey India signed a multi-year broadcast agreement with ESPN STAR ............................74 World Diary ...............................................................................................................................74 Environment & Ecology .............................................................................................................80 UNESCO inscribes Western Ghats Mountain Chain on the List of World Heritage Sites .......80 Karakoram Glaciers remained Impervious of Global Warming ............................................80 Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions increased by Three Percent in 2011 ................................81 World Bank approved 1100 Crore Rupees Loan for Himachal Pradesh ................................81 Science & Technology ...............................................................................................................82 www.jagranjosh.com

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Scientists at CERN discovered a New Sub-Atomic Particle called Higgs Boson .....................82 Russian Soyuz Spacecraft blasted-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ........82 Russiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Soyuz-FG Carrier rocket set Five Satellites into Orbit .............................................83 One Liners .................................................................................................................................83 News Capsule ............................................................................................................................85 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released UN Millenium Development Goal 2012 Report ...........................................................................................................................................85 Jawahar Thakur assumed the Charge as the Controller General of Accounts ......................86 Celebrated Assamese Poet Hiren Bhattacharyya passed away ............................................87 National Crime Record Bureau released the Crime Statistics for 2011 ................................87 Anup Sankar Bhattacharya appointed as the Director of IBPS .............................................88 Yannis Stournaras took oath as the New Finance Minister of Greece ..................................88 International Conference on Afghanistan held in Japanese Capital Tokyo ...........................89 EK Bharat Bhushan dismissed as the Chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation .......89 DV Sadananda Gowda resigned as Karnataka Chief Minister ..............................................90 Manipal University won the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2012 .......90 International Donors Conference held in Tokyo ..................................................................90 Champion Wrestler and Bollywood Actor Dara Singh passed away in Mumbai ...................91 India successfully test-fired Nuclear Capable Agni-I Missile.................................................91 Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong visited India ....................................................92 Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna won the Assembly By-Election from Sitarganj .................92 World Population Day Observed WorldWide on 11 July 2012 .............................................93 Oscard Award Winner Ernest Borgnine passed away ..........................................................93 Former BCCI President Purushottam M Rungta passed away ..............................................94 ITC, Hungama Digital Media & Shankar Mahadevan launched Digital Talent Hunt MOBisur94 Incidents of Child Marriages fell significantly in India: Annual Health Survey Report ...........95 North Korea awarded the Title of Marshal to its Top Leader Kim Jong Un ...........................95 www.jagranjosh.com

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Yesteryear Bollywood Superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away .............................................96 Top RSS Leader and BJP Former Vice-President Bal Apte passed Away ...............................97 Cases of New HIV Infections among Children declined: UNAIDS Report ..............................97 Seventh G20 summit took place in Mexican City Los Cabos ................................................98 HDFC Banker Deepak Parekh appointed as new Chairman of Financing Infrastructure .......98 P.N Dhar, First Principal Secretary of Indira Gandhi passed away ........................................99 Time Magazine dubbed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Underachiever ...........99 Eminent Freedom Fighter and social activist Captain Lakshmi Sehgal passed away ........... 100 Maruti Suzuki India Limited announced to close down its Factory at Manesar .................. 100 Aleppo in Syria Became the Centre of Revolt Against the Government ............................. 101 Rupert Murdoch Resigned as the Director of the NI Group ............................................... 101 Sally Ride, First US Woman to travel into Space, passed away .......................................... 101 Kulandei Francis, Indian Social Activist Won Magsaysay Awards 2012 .............................. 101 DRDO successfully test-fired Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile ...................................... 102 Assamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kokrajhar, Udalguri District Hit by Violence ......................................................... 103 Practise Sets ............................................................................................................................ 103 Q n A ....................................................................................................................................... 103 Previous Year Question Papers ................................................................................................ 104 Current Affair Quizzes ............................................................................................................. 104 Success Story .......................................................................................................................... 109

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PICK OF THE MONTH NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA BECAME THE FIRST FEMALE CHAIRPERSON OF AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION African Union Commission (AUC) on 15 July 2012 elected South Africa's home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as its new Chairperson, making her the first female head of the union. In a closely fought contest Dlamini-Zuma beat incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon 37-17. Dlamini-Zuma, wife of the former South African President Jacob Zuma, was declared winner following a third round of voting. In election held in January 2012, neither of the two candidates got the two-thirds majority, which was required to be elected as the organization head. Consequently, Ping got an extension of another six months in the office.

AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION The African Union Commission is the Secretariat of the African Union responsible for executive functioning. The commission is composed of 10 Officials: A Chairperson, a Deputy Chairperson; Eight Commissioners and Staff members. The AU Commission is made up of Portfolios. They are: Peace and Security; Political Affairs; Trade and Industry; Infrastructure and Energy; Social Affairs; Rural Economy and Agriculture; Human Resources, Science and Technology; and Economic Affairs. Amara Essy of Cote D'Ivoire was the first Chair of AUC.

AFRICAN UNION African Union, the successor to Organisation of African Unity, came into existence in 2002 at Durban summit in South Africa. The Union is headquartered at Addis Ababa Ethiopia. A panAfrican organization, AU aims at promoting unity and cooperation among African nations. The association also strives to spread democracy and good governance in the continent. At present the African Union has a total of 54 members. Morocco is the only African country which is not the part of the Union. Yayi Boni of Benin is the current Chairperson of African Union.

SYRIAN DEFENCE MINSITER, DAWOUD RAJIHA KILLED IN SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK IN DAMASCUS, SYRIA The National Security Bureau in the Rawda district of Damascus, capital of Syria suffered a heavy blow on 18 July 2012. As per the information available, the bomb struck while the high profile security meeting was in progress in the Syrian security establishment. The bomb killed www.jagranjosh.com

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Current Affairs PDF July 2012

Current Affairs PDF July 2012 the country’s Defence Minister, Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defence Minister Assef Shawkat and seriously injured Interior Minister, Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar and Intelligence chief, Hisham Bekhtyar. The Deputy Defence Minister who was killed was Assad’s brother in law, in relation.

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The bomb strike was carried out by a suicide bomber, apparently a part of the security team to guard Syrian President Bashar Al Assad

The bomb strike was carried out by a suicide bomber, who was apparently a part of the security team that was posted to guard Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s inner group. This incident took place after four days of violence in Damascus, which started soon after the opposition launched a new offensive codenamed Operation Damascus Volcano, which focused on high visibility targets. As of now, a Syrian rebel Islamist group is claiming up for the strike. The group came up with the information via a post written on Facebook. On the other hand, the opposition Free Syrian Army is also claiming for the attack, according to its spokesman Qassim Saadedine.

SC BANNED COMMERCIAL AND TOURISM ACTIVITIES NEAR JARAWA HABITAT The Supreme Court of India on 3 July 2012 declared the area within a five-kilometre radius around the Jarawa Tribal Reserve in Andaman and Nicobar Islands NO GO ZONE. The Apex Court banned all commercial and tourism activities near the Jarawa habitat. A Supreme Court bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya in its ruling prohibited entry of any person other than a member of tribe into the reserve area. The court’s verdict came following a news report which showed some tourists throwing money, food and bananas at the tribal people. The news report had forced the government to order an inquiry.

Jarawas are one of the oldest living indigenous people in the world. The tribe has their home in the forests of the Andaman Islands in India. The present number of Jarawa tribe is estimated to be about 250-400. Jarawas have been living in the forests of the Andaman Islands for past thousands of years.

PRANAB MUKHERJEE WON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2012

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Pranab Mukherjee was elected as the 13th President (in person) of India on 22 July 2012. Pranab Mukherjee defeated his rival PA Sangma with a huge margin as he secured nearly 69 percent of total valid votes. In an electoral college of 10.5 lakh, Pranab Mukherjee secured a vote value of 713763, while, PA Sangma managed to get only a vote value 315987. The victory of Pranab Mukherjee was announced by Returning Officer for the Presidential election VK Agnihotri. Pranab Mukherjee will be sworn in as the thirteenth President of India on 25 July 2012. Out of the total 748 MPs, Pranab got the support of 527 while his rival, PA Sangma got 206 votes in his favour. Fifteen votes including that of Samjwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav were invalid. Of these, nine were to be in favour of Mukherjee while six for Sangma. Each MP had a vote value of 708 in the Presidential Election 2012. There are a total of 776 voters in both the Houses of Parliament. The Electoral College also consisted of 4120 MLAs in the states. The Election Commission of India had issued the notification for Presidential Election 2012 on 16 June 2012. 30 June 2012 was the last date for filing the nomination. Elections were held on 19 July 2012. Pranab Mukherjee and PA Sangma were two principle contestants of 14th Presidential Election.

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS RELATED TO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

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Value of Vote of an MLA = State Population / (1000 X Total no. of elected MLA's) Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy On the basis of the above formula, the value of the was the only person to be vote of an MLA from UP has the highest value and elected to the office of that from Sikkim the lowest. Value of Vote of an President of India MP = Total value of votes of MLA's of all States / unopposed, as no other Total no. of elected MP's (LS + RS). The 1971 candidate filed nomination census is currently under consideration. The for the post of the election is held through the system of proportional President. He was elected representation by means of the single - transferable to the office of President in vote by secret ballot. The candidate who gets 50 July 1977. percent of votes is considered elected. Supreme Court looks into all disputes related to Presidential election. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, was the only President who served two tenures in the office. VV Giri is the only person who was elected as the President of the country as an independent candidate in 1969.

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INDIAN RAILWAYS INTRODUCED NEW GUIDELINES FOR BOOKING OF TATKAL TICKETS Amidst the increasing number of reports of the misuse of Tatkal scheme, the Indian Railways on 9 July 2012 introduced new guidelines for booking of Tatkal tickets. Under the new guideline the Railways revised the time for booking the Tatkal tickets to 10 am from earlier 8 am. Besides, under the new scheme, agents will not be allowed to book Tatkal tickets from 10 am to 12 pm either from the ticket counter or on the internet. Some zones will be provided the facility of separate Tatkal ticket counters while; others will issue Tatkal tickets from the same counters between 10 am to 10:30 am.

SEVERAL OTHER MEASURES HAVE ALSO BEEN INTRODUCED UNDER THE NEW TATKAL SCHEME, WHICH INCLUDES; • Individual users can not book more than two tickets from 10 am to 12 noon. • Quick book option and cash card option will remain inactive between 10 am and 12 pm • Installation of CCTVs in major booking centers, • Booking clerks barred from carrying cell phones inside counters, • Display of helpline numbers • Expansion of the e-ticket handling capacity of Railways website through short-term and longterm measures • Server capacity to be increased from 3.5 lakh bookings to about 5 lakh bookings per day in about four months, which will eventually be increased to about 8 lakh bookings a day.

GAGAN NARANG WON BRONZE INMEN'S 10 METER AIR RIFLE EVENT AT LONDON OLYMPICS Ace Indian Shooter won India its first medal in the London Olympics 2012 after he clinched the bronze medal in the men's 10 meter air rifle event on 30 July 2012. While Abhinav Bindra, who had won a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics 2008, failed to qualify for finals and finished sixteenth. Romania’s shooter Alin George Moldoveanu claimed the gold medal with a total score of 702.1 while Italy's Niccolo Campriani clinched the silver with a score of 701.5. Narang came third with a total score www.jagranjosh.com

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of 701.1. Gagan Narang, who hails from Amritsar in Punjab was conferred with the Padma Shree Award in 2010

It was third time when Gagan Narang was participating in Olympics. In previous Athens and Beijing Olympic games he could not turn his performance into medal. This was India’s third medal in shooting events in the history of Olympics. Earlier Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore and Abhinav Bondra had won India silver and gold medal respectively in 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. Narang’s bronze also marked India’s tenth individual medal in the history of Olympic Games. Gagan Narang, who hails from Amritsar in Punjab, was conferred with the Padma Shree Award in 2010. Considering his tremendous contribution to the field of sports, in year 2010, Gagan Narang was chosen for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sports award in the country.

SC BANNED TOURISM IN CORE AREAS OF PROJECT TIGER FORESTS The Supreme Court banned all tourism activities in the core areas of the tiger reserve forests on 24 July 2012. Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Ibrahim passed the order on a petition filed by conservationist Ajay Dubey. The petition sought a directive to the States to notify the buffer and peripheral areas of the tiger reserves, under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, to prevent tourism in the core areas. The court was informed that except the following states - Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh, the other States have yet not filed affidavits and were yet to notify the core areas, this was informed to the court on 24 July 2012. The bench has given a final tenure of three weeks to the states that have yet not notified the core areas, failing to do so will lead to a sum of Rs 10 thousand on them. The court will take the next hearing on 22 August 2012.

SCIENTISTS IDENTIFIED FIRST RADIO WAVES FROM MIDDLEWEIGHT BLACK HOLE HLX-1 A team of scientists at the University of Sydney on 10 July 2012 discovered the first radio emissions from the middle weight black hole HLX-1, that lies in a galaxy about 300 million light-years away. The research team had used Compact Array radio telescope from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

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What is Black Hole? Black holes are areas where the matter is so densely squeezed into a small space, that it makes gravity pull strongly enough to stop light from escaping.

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HLX-1 (hyper-luminous X-ray source 1), lies in a galaxy called ESO 243-49 about 300 million light-years away. HLX-1 was discovered by chance in 2009, because it stood out as a very bright X-ray source. Before the discovery of HLX-1, scientists had evidence for only super massive black holes ones a million to a billion times the mass of the Sun and stellar mass ones, three to thirty times the mass of the Sun. As per the new study, the size of HLX-1 is around 20000 times the mass of our sun which makes it an intermediate mass black hole.

ASSAM’S KOKRAJHAR, UDALGURI DISTRICT HIT BY VIOLENCE: BODOS & MUSLIMS CLASHED Assam’s Kokrajhar district remained a recipient of violence since 20 July 2012. Nineteen people have been killed so far in sporadic incidents of violence which resulted into a clamp night curfew on 21 July 2012. The whole incident started on 6 July 2012 when the violence got triggered with the firing on two student leaders, Mohibul Islam of All Bodoland Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) and Abdul Siddique Sheikh of All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) by unidentified gunmen at Anthihara in Kokrajhar. The Violence continued as, on 20 July 2012, four activists of former militant outfit Bodo Liberation Tigers were shot dead by unidentified persons in Joypur. In reply to the act, armed Bodos attacked Muslims, suspecting them to be behind the killings and soon communal violence spread across the In October 2008, ethnic clashes district. The violence took to a rather serious level by 23 between Bodos and Muslims July 2012 with the protesters stopping the Guwahati-New killed forty nine and left one point Delhi Rajdhani Express. five lakh homeless In Kokrajhar, the Udalguri district administration has taken up precautionary measures to control any kind of violence and maintain peace and harmony among people in the district. Also, Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed in the district, more over the Army and para-military forces have also been alerted. This is not the first time that Assam is subjugated to communal violence, In October 2008, ethnic clashes between Bodos and Muslims killed forty nine and left one point five lakh homeless.

DEREK O’ BRIAN BECAM E THE FIRST ANGLO-INDIAN TO VOTE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Derek o’ Brian, the Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal became the first Anglo Indian to vote in Presidential Elections in India. Brian, a Trinamool Congress MP, cast his vote in Kolkata on 19 July 2012. As per the constitution of India an MP who has been nominated by the President to either of the house of the Indian Parliament is not eligible for casting vote in Presidential election.

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In Rajya Sabha, there are twelve members, who are nominated by the President and cannot vote in Presidential election. Under Article 331 of Indian constitution the President is also empowered to nominate not more than two members to the Lok Sabha from the Who are Anglo-Indians? Anglo-Indian community, if he is of the opinion that Anglo-Indians are people with Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented mixed Indian and British in the Lok Sabha. ancestry, or people who have British descent born or living in Under article 80 (1) of the Indian constitution twelve the Indian Subcontinent or Burma, now mainly historical in members are nominated by the President from persons having special knowledge or practical experience in the latter sense. matters like literature, science, art and social service. Article 80 (3) of the Constitution of India provides that the members to be nominated by the President to Rajya Sabha should have special knowledge or practical experience in matters like literature, science, art and social service. Article 84 (b) stipulates that a person shall be of not less than 30 (Thirty) years of age.

INTERNATIONAL CII IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GOVT OF INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN HELD DELHI INVESTMENT SUMMIT The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Government of India and Afghanistan along with Afghan investment and business organizations organised a Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan on 28 June, 2012. The summit took place at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi. The official language for the summit was English.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS (BRIEFLY) • India and US to enhance defense cooperation through increased technology transfer, collaborative joint research and development, and co-production of defense items in Afghanistan. • Eight grants awarded under the Obama-Singh Knowledge Initiative. Next call for proposals in July 2012. • India to establish 100 Community Colleges • CV Raman Fellowship will place 300 Post-Doctoral fellows in US higher education institutions • India and USA to launch a web portal for educational and research collaboration and exchanges

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• India proposed to organize a regional South Asia Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference that will bring key policy makers, women entrepreneurs, civil society organizations, private sector institutions, and corporations. • To facilitate travel between the two countries, an interview waiver pilot program is being introduced to further streamline U.S. visa processing and facilitate legitimate travel. The participants in the summit were investors not only from the public sectors, but also private sectors. The summit was expected to provide an extraordinary opportunity to get information on investment opportunities in Afghanistan.

OBJECTIVE OF THE SUMMIT • The primary objective was to attract foreign investment into Afghanistan opening in areas like Hydrocarbons, mining and infrastructure • It envisioned fruitful partnerships to help invest in Afghanistan. • The summit also included presentations in regard to Investment Climate in Afghanistan. • To throw light on Afghanistan’s national growth strategy, long term and short term investment opportunities. India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai have already met in the past year ,2011 for a tenure of two days to hold one-to-one and delegation level talks on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

PRI LEADER ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO ELECTED AS NEW PRESIDENT OF MEXICO The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) leader Enrique Peña Nieto was elected the new President of Mexico on 2 July 2012. In the Presidential Election held on 1 July 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto beat Party of the Democratic Revolution candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Of the total 98 percent votes counted, Pena Nieto bagged 38 percent votes, while former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador got 31 percent votes. Nieto succeeded Felipe Calderón on the top most position of the country. Enrique Peña Nieto, 45, the PRI leader, was earlier the governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011. The Institutional Revolutionary Party had ruled Mexico for nearly 71 years, before being voted out of power in 2000 presidential elections. Under the Mexican Constitution, the president is the head of both the state and the government. He is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces. The Latin American nation holds Presidential elections every six years since 1934 (earlier the set period was 4 years). The president in the country is elected through direct and universal adult franchise system, where the

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candidate who secures maximum number of votes is declared winner. The constitution of the country does not provide any runoff election.

IRAN TEST-FIRED MEDIUM RANGE BALLISTIC MISSILE SHAHAB-3 Iran on 3 July 2012, test-fired a medium range ballistic missile Shahab-3. The Shahab-3 has a range of up to 2000 kilometres. The Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, the two short-range missiles, with ranges of 300 to 500 kilometres, were also launched. The missile launch was the part of Iran’s Great Prophet 7 exercise. Great Prophet 7 exercise was announced by Iran on 1 July 2012 in the wake of latest European Union sanctions on Iran. The exercise, which involved test of dozens of missiles and domestically-built drones, came following European Union’s decision to ban the purchase of Iranian crude oil. The EU's decision is the clear repercussion of failed dialogue held between Iran and world powers on Iran’s ambitious nuclear programme. The world powers including United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, the Western powers had held three rounds of dialogues with Iran to persuade it to halt its nuclear programme. With all the three dialogues did not meet their desired end, the world powers including the European Union chose to impose a strict ban against the purchase of Iranian crude oil. Iran is the fifth largest oil producer in the world and the EU ban on Iranian oil imports will badly hurt its already floundering economy. The sanctions, which have been imposed to make Iran reconsider its nuclear development plan, will not only deprive Iran of European market that makes 18 percent of its exports but also bar EU companies from transporting Iranian crude or insuring shipments, hurting its trade worldwide.

MYANMAR’S VICE PRESIDENT TIN AUNG MYINT OO STEPPED DOWN Myanmar’s first Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo resigned on 4 July 2012 due to health reasons. The move, which is expected to begin a broader reshuffle in the government, could see the appointment of some more reformers to Myanmar's cabinet. Tin Aung Myint Oo, a former army general is widely regarded as a hard-liner. He took over as the vice president in 2011 after being selected by a bloc of military officers in the country's legislature. The resignation of Tin Aung Myint Oo is likely to accelerate the pace of economic change in Myanmar after the European Union and the US began lifting their longstanding economic sanctions against the country during the past several months.

UNHRC ADOPTED RESOLUTION TO PROTECT THE ONLINE HUMAN RIGHTS OF GLOBAL CITIZENS www.jagranjosh.com

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United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Geneva based human rights wing of UN, on 5 July 2012, adopted a first ever resolution to protect the online human rights of global citizens. The resolution adopted by consensus, stated that citizens of United Nations Human Rights the world are as much entitled to the human rights Council (UNHRC) online as they are offline. The resolution noted that there can be no double standard with regard to people’s right of fundamental freedom and since internet makes a major part of present world’s communication process, all governments must endeavour to protect the online rights of its citizens. The landmark resolution was sponsored by Sweden and co-sponsored by over 80 countries that include United States, Brazil, Turkey, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

TOKYO CONFERENCE PLEDGED TO PROVIDE 16 BILLION DOLLAR AID TO AFGHANISTAN The day long International Conference on Afghanistan held in Japanese capital Tokyo on 8 July 2012. The conference, which was held to discuss the peace building process in the war-torn nation concluded with the participants getting agreed to provide 16 billion dollar as the development aid to the country over the next four years.

TOKYO DECLARATION The participants adopted Tokyo Declaration towards the end of the conference, which widely acknowledged India's concerns on the security of Afghanistan. The declaration stated that the main threat to Afghanistan's security and stability comes from terrorism and that this threat also endangers regional and international peace and security. The declaration also endorsed key recommendations of a regional conclave hosted by India to promote direct investment in Afghanistan.Confederation of Indian Industry had hosted the Delhi Investors' Summit on Afghanistan on 28 June 2012.

INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE IN NATION BUILDING The Tokyo conference was attended by nearly 70 countries and organizations who assured Afghanistan of a complete support in nation building provided Afghan government curb corruption and take measures to strengthen democracy in the country. On financial part the US is expected to provide around 1 billion dollar every year, while Japan, Afghanistan’s second-largest financial supporter, will contribute 3 billion dollar over the next four years. Germany will feed the kitty annually with 536 million dollar. The international aid to Afghanistan came against the backdrop of global concern related to political and economic turmoil prevailing in the country over the past one decade. The country is still under the shadow of fanatic Islamic groups like Taliban, which sees western powers as the sole reason of all the problems that Afghanistan is confronting today. Taliban and terror group like Al-qaida, which draws its authority from the fundamentalist Islamic factions in the country, www.jagranjosh.com

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still poses a great threat to the future of the country. The international aid is largely aimed at bolstering the pace of development in the country by instating common citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faith in democracy. As all the US and NATO troops are scheduled to leave the country by the mid 2014, the security of the nation will completely be transferred in the hand of Afghan government, which until recently, has been quite inefficient in tackling the terror forces in the country. The pledged aid is intended to stabilise the fragile political and financial situation of the country. Afghanistan has received nearly 60 billion dollar from diversified international bodies as civilian aid over the past one decade. In addition to the 16 billion dollar aid pledged during the Tokyo conference, NATO members in May 2012 agreed to provide 4.1 billion dollar to strengthen countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security forces.

INDIA -PAKISTAN BILATERAL DIALOGUE ON THE SIDELINE OF THE TOKYO CONFERENCE India and Pakistan held a bilateral dialogue on the sideline of Tokyo conference, where the India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and his Pakistani countyerpart Heena Rabbani Khar discussed several issues like terrorism and the release of Sarabjeet Singh, Indian citizen languishing in Pakistani prison over the past 30 years. Issue of terrorism figured out prominently in the 30-minute long discussion between the leaders, as SM Krishna put pressure on Pakistan to stop anti-Indian activities, which is being conducted from its territory

ICC SENTENCED CONGOLESE WARLORD THOMAS LUBANGA TO 14-YEAR IMPRISONMENT Hague based International Criminal Court (ICC) awarded Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese warlord, 14-year imprisonment on 10 July 2012. Judges at the ICC found Thomas Lubanga guilty of recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia. The court, however, has arrangements with seven countries to jail the war criminals which includes; Denmark, Serbia, Mali, Austria, Finland, Britain and Belgium. Lubanga, who had used children as the soldiers during the violent struggle in Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003, was convicted for war crime. He is the first person to be convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it was established in 2002. He was arrested by UN www.jagranjosh.com

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Current Affairs PDF July 2012 peacekeepers, in March 2005. Lubanga had led the Union of Congolese Patriots, an ethnic militia in the violent struggle in the Ituri region and its main town of Bunia. The conflict, which began in 1999, claimed the life of about 60000 people in the country.

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International Criminal Court (ICC)

UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON VISITED LAOS Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state visited Southeast Asian nation Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic) on 10 July 2012. The historic visit marked the first to the Laos, a communist nation, by any US secretary of state over the past 57 years. John Foster Dulles’ visit in 1955 marked the last visit by any top US diplomat to Laos. During her visit she held separate dialogues with Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith where the leaders discussed a range of bilateral and global issues. The two countries had not been on best of terms after the US dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War. The hazardous effects of unexploded bombs are still being felt in the country. Hillary Clinton’s visit to Laos is the part of US’ strategy to strengthen its presence in the Southeast Asian region. US, which over the past one decade has shown a great willingness to get its position strengthened in the entire Asian continent, is reworking over its future plans in the region against the backdrop of growing Chinese hegemony. The visit indicates the US’ changing foreign policy stance and priorities in the region. Earlier Clinton had visited Mongolia the other Central-east Asian nation on 10 July 2012.

DEREK MITCHELL ASSUMED CHARGE AS FIRST US AMBASSADOR TO MYANMAR SINCE 1990 Derek Mitchell on 11 July 2012 assumed the charge as the first US Ambassador to Myanmar in the past 22 year. Mitchell met President Thein Sein in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw before assuming the charge. Prior to his current assignment, Mitchell served as President Barack Obama's special envoy to Myanmar. The US Senate confirmed his appointment as ambassador to the country in June 2012. Earlier, charge d'affaires used to be the US’ top diplomat in Myanmar. In yet another gesture of amity the US government eased sanctions on Myanmar, allowing American business houses to make investment in the Southeast Asian nation. The decision marked a strong indication of US’ support to the political reforms being unfolded in Myanmar.

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Prompted by the series of political reforms in the country, the US Government in January 2012 had announced to restore diplomatic relation with Myanmar. The former Junta ruled country has witnessed a slew of political reforms over the past few months, which witnessed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi released from the year-long house arrest and moving to the parliament following a victory in by-elections.

HILLARY CLINTON VISITED ISRAEL AS FINAL HALT OF HER TRIP TO ASIA Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, visited Israel on 16 July 2012 as the last halt of her 13-day long visit of eight Asian countries including Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Egypt and Israel. The Clinton's itinerary marked a blatant shift in US diplomacy viz a viz Asian continent as it not only included the allies like Japan and Israel but also included Countries like Laos and Vietnam, the countries with who US has always been on hostile terms. During her visit to Israel Hillary Clinton discussed a range of issues with the leaders of the country. Issues like Iran’s nuclear programme and political transition In Egypt figured out prominently in the bilateral dialogue. Resolution to stop violent struggle in Syria was also discussed during the meeting. As UN observer mission's mandate in Syria coming on to an end on 20 July 2012 and she also asked for a new resolution to renew it. Ahead of her trip to Israel Clinton visited Egypt, where she held a meeting with the head of Egypt's military leadership, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, whose military council is at loggerheads with newly elected President Mohamed Morsy. Hillary Clinton also chose to visit Mongolia and Laos in the course of her 13-day long trip, where she was the first US secretary of state to visit in 57 years and only the second ever. From the diplomatic perspective the trip was highly successful as the US not only redefined its future political strategy in Asia but also endeavored to make some new friends in the region. Many international politics experts believe that the trip is an indication of US’ serious attempt to rebalance power equation in the continent, which seems to be tilting in China’s favor. To contain China’s increasing strength, US are trying to gain firm ground in the continent and the Hillary’s trip certainly proved to be a great success in this regard.

INDIA & MOZAMBIQUE SIGNED AGREEMENT ON BILATERAL SECURITY COOPERATION IN MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE India and Mozambique signed an agreement on Bilateral Security Cooperation on 14 July 2012. The Minister of State for Home Affairs, India Shri Mullappally Ramachandran signed the Agreement with Jose Mandra, Minister of Interior, Govt of Mozambique at Maputo, Mozambique. The objective of the agreement was to discuss cooperation and both the countries decided to develop the relationship further in various fields for mutual benefit. Amongst the key highlights of the meet was that, Mullappally Ramachandran was on a three day visit to Mozambique.

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There is an estimation of almost twenty five thousand people of Indian origin living in Mozambique for generations. The relations between both the countries have remained warm and friendly. India was amongst the first countries to extend recognition to Mozambique after the later achieved independence in the year 1975. India and Mozambique have mutually rendered and benefited in the fields of industry, trade, mineral resources and culture.

US MADE VISA APPLICATION RULES FOR INDIANS MORE FLEXIBLE The United States made the visa application rules for Indians more flexible. Under the new visa application norms Indians who aspire to travel US for business or holiday purpose would not have to pay visa fees again in the case of reapplication. In the cases like pending application or it had been put on hold for any reason, applicants won't be required to pay the visa fee again. The relieved visa application norm also immunes children under seven years of age free from any non-immigrant visa interview after completed visa form is submitted. The US consulate has also upgraded its emergency appointment module for applicants who seek visa for unforeseeable travel to the US.

MALDIVES EX-PRESIDENT, MOHAMED NASHEED CHARGED FOR JUDGE'S ILLEGAL ARREST The ousted Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed is charged with illegally ordering the arrest of criminal court Chief Justice, Abdulla Mohamed. The charge was made on 15 July 2012. Mohamed Nasheed, was forced out of office in February 2012. General Ahmed Muizz the Maldives prosecutor was the one to file the criminal charge against Mohamed Nasheed and the, then defence minister, Tholhath Ibrahim. The case was filed at the HulhuMale Magistrate Court. The move taken by the Maldives prosecutor led to widespread protests and finally the detention. At present, Nasheed violating Article 81 of states that the employee who if not illegal. If Nasheed and shall face a jail three years.

has been charged with the Penal Code, the article detention of a government found guilty of a crime is Ibrahim are found guilty they sentence or banishment for

Despite pressures from both international and local parties and a direct order by the Supreme Court for immediate release, Abdulla had been detained in a military training facility at Kaafu Atoll Girifushi for twenty two days. Nasheed is the second former President in country's history to be charged after late President Ibrahim Nasir. Nasheed is a Maldivian politician and one of the founderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members of the Maldivian Democratic Party. He served as the fourth President of the Maldives from the year

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2008 to 2012. Maldives is a presidential republic. The President acts as the head of government as well as the head of state. The President heads the executive branch and also appoints the cabinet. The cabinet is approved by the People's Majlis.

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE VOTED TO CUT THE US AID TO PAKISTAN BY 650 MILLION DOLLAR The US House of Representative on 19 July 2012 voted unanimously to cut the US aid to Pakistan by 650 million dollar. The amendment to cut the aid was proposed by Republican Congressman Ted Poe. The proposal which got the approval of the house in a voice vote will now be tabled in Senate for its approval. Pakistan, a long time ally of US in its war on terror, has received over 20 billion dollar in military and non-military aid since 2001. The Islamic country is one of the largest recipients of US assistance, as in year 2012 alone it is set to receive nearly 3 billion dollar in US aid.

KERRY-LUGAR BILL The US Senate in September 2009 had unanimously passed the Kerry-Lugar bill which tripled non-military aid to Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollar per annum, pledging America's long term commitment to its key ally against extremism.

PRESENT STATE OF US â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PAK DIPLOMATIC RELATION The unusual move to cut the US aid to Pakistan has come at a time when the relation between the two countries has dipped to its lowest point since Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abottabad of Pakistan in May 2011. Following the incident Pakistan accused US of infringing on its sovereignty, while, the US blamed Pakistan for patronizing Osama and misleading the American government. The diplomatic relation between the two countries deteriorated further after Pakistan in December 2011 closed the critical NATO supply route to Afghanistan following a US drone attack in the country in November 2011, which claimed the life of 24 Pakistani soldiers. Amidst the increasing war cost due to the closed supply route (it cost the US government about 100 million dollar as additional war costs as it used another route across central Asia) the US government finally stepped ahead for reconciliation. In a move aimed at ending the 7-month long political impasse, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent an apology letter to the Pakistani government. The official apology from US administration subsequently opened the door for resumed NATO supply line, and cooperation between the two countries on counterterrorism and Afghanistan. Despite the current respite, the disagreements between the two countries continue to remain over the issues such as Pakistan's inaction on militant sanctuaries in the country, US drone strikes in Pakistani territory and reconciliation with the Taliban.

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CHINA PLEDGED 20 BILLION DOLLAR LOAN TO AFRICA OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS In a move aimed at strengthening its economic ties with the African continent, China pledged to give 20 billion dollar loan to African countries over the next three years. The announcement about the credit line was made by the Chinese President Hu Jin Tao at the opening session of the fifth Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing on 19 July 2012. Forum on China-Africa China had pledged 10 billion dollar loans at the previous Cooperation (FOCAC) China-Africa summit in 2009. Chinese President while addressing the conferencea announced to increase Chinese assistance to Africa by building agricultural technology demonstration centres, training 30000 personnel and offering 18000 scholarships. To provide better medical amenities in the continent, China will also send 1500 medical staffs to the continent. Heads of state and representatives from 50 African countries attended the conference. Besides, more than 20 Chinese and African business houses inked economic cooperation agreements worth 341 million dollar at the sideline of the conference. China’s two-way trade with Africa stood at 166 billion dollar in 2011, three times the 2006 volume. China in 2009 became the continent’s biggest trading partner globally. According to China custom data Angola, South Africa, Sudan, Nigeria and Egypt are the five biggest trading partners of China in Africa. China is sponsoring numerous infrastructure projects in African continent. It also provided the 200 million dollar fund for constructing the African Union’s new headquarters in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

TO BOOST THE SINO-AFRICAN TIES THE CHINESE PRESIDENT PROPOSED FIVE MEASURES INCLUDING: • Expanding cooperation in investment and financing to support sustainable development in Africa • Building more agricultural technology demonstration centers as necessary to help African countries increase production capacity • Supporting the African integration process and help Africa enhance capacity for overall development • Enhancing people-to-people friendship by setting up CHINA-AFRICA PEOPLE-TOPEOPLE FRIENDSHIP ACTION • Promoting peace and stability in Africa and create a secure environment for Africa's development Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit 2012 marked the fifth edition of summit. The summit is held every three year since 2000.

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CHINA, RUSSIA VETOED UN RESOLUTION: SITUATION INTENSIFIED IN SYRIA Russia and China vetoed on the UN Security Council resolution on Syria on 19 July 2012. Though Russia and China vetoed it, India was amongst the eleven countries that voted in favour with Pakistan and South Africa abstaining. A veto is a power exercised to stop an official action, not to adopt them.

The resolution, against which Russia and China vetoed, could have brought new sanctions against President Bashar Al Assad's regime. This is the third time in tenure of nine months that Russia and China used their powers as permanent members of the UN Security Council to block resolutions on Syria. The resolution also would have imposed economic sanctions on the Syrian government under Chapter seven of the United Nations Charter.

UNITED STATES REACTION ON THE VETO The Obama Administration was grossly against the decision of Russia and China to veto the UN Security Council resolution on Syria, and tagged the countries stating that, they are on the wrong side of history. However, the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that the end game of the Assad regime has just begun. US also stated that the Security Council has failed miserably on Syria and it would now work outside of the council to confront Assad's regime.

PRESENT SITUATION IN SYRIA The situation in Syria is very vulnerable at the moment; post the killing of the Defence Minister and the Deputy Defence Minister. The Syrian army has given the residents tenure of forty eight hours to leave the areas of the capital, where clashes are taking place between security forces and rebels. The medical and humanitarian situation in Damarcus is getting worst from worse. As per the observatory figures, huge number of hundred and seven people were killed in violence on 19 July 2012. The Security Council vote has now left the future of a 300-member United Nations mission in Syria to monitor the peace plan in jeopardy.

WHAT IS THE VETO POWER? A veto is a power exercised to stop an official action, not to adopt them. The veto therefore conveys to its holder an ability to protect the status quo. Amongst the permanent members, China, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States of America can block any resolution to pass.

HESHAM KANDIL APPOINTED EGYPT'S NEW PRIME MINISTER

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Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi elected fifty year old Hisham Kandil as the country’s Prime Minister. Morsi ordered the country’s former minister of water resources and irrigation, Kandil to form a new government. Kandil, holds an engineering degree from Cairo University in the year 1984 and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in the year 1993. Kandil, will be the first Egyptian prime minister to wear a beard, which is a sure sign of change in the country. A number of more experienced names were suggested for the prestigious role, but Morsi chose Kandil, a relatively lesser known face as the Prime Minister of the country, this could be because he wanted someone unlikely to threaten or overshadow him. Kandil is an independent national figure who has never been a member of any party before. Mohamed Morsi, who became the fifth President of the Republic of Egypt on 24 June 2012, is the first to have been freely elected in the country. The next government will be technocratic in nature, and the ruling Islamist Freedom and Justice Party is expected to head eight to ten ministries of the new cabinet

INDIA CALLED ON ALL NATIONS TO COOPERATE AND BRING END TO SYRIA CRISIS India called on all nations within and outside Syria to fully cooperate with international envoy Kofi Annan to bring an end to the ongoing crisis situation in Syria. Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador while addressing a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, stated that India does not see an alternative to the full implementation of UN resolutions 2042 and 2043 for a political resolution of the crisis without any further bloodshed. India urged all parties to fully cooperate with international envoy, Kofi Annan and bring an end to the bloodshed and crisis in Syria. The crisis in Syria took pace since the uprising against President Bashar Al Assad began sixteen months ago. An approximate number of thousand people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and thousands displaced. The UNSC failed to adopt a resolution to stop the crisis in Syria after Russia and China vetoed on the UN Security Council resolution on Syria on 19 July 2012.

INDIA, INDONESIA SIGNED DOUBLE TAXATION AVOIDANCE AGREEMENT India and Indonesia signed an agreement to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income on 27 July 2012. The agreement was signed by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. R. M. Marty Natalegawa and his Indian counterpart S M Krishna at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. Apart from the agreement, both sides also signed the agreed minutes of the fourth Joint Commission Meeting between India and Indonesia.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEET • Both the countries, reviewed the entire state of bilateral relationship including trade and commerce. • Two nations have also agreed to strengthen the bilateral relationship into a strategic partnership Both countries share a warm relationship on account of the solid foundation of historical and cultural ties. Both countries are also hopeful of achieving the trade target of 25 billion US Dollars by 2015

NATIONAL UNION GOVERNMENT OF INDIA UNVEILED NEW FREE DRUG POLICY In a policy aimed at benefitting country’s 120 crore population, the Union Government of India on 4 July 2012 unveiled the 5.4 billion dollar free drug policy. Under the new policy, every citizen of the country will be provided free medicines in all public health centers spreaded across the country. As the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare kept branded drugs out of this policy, the patients will be given only generic drugs. The policy which will remain effective over the next five years will provide a much needed support to nearly 40 percent people of the country, which spends 1.25 dollar or less a day on health. The new free drug policy marks the first of its kind endeavour by the government of India to address the grim health services condition in the country. India spends about 1.2 percent of its annual GDP on health, making it a country with least spending on public health services. The country also has a high infant mortality rate as 66 of per 1000 children die before the age of 5, compared with 19 in China and 21 in Brazil. If the report of Organisation for Economic Cooperation to be believed, only seven countries in the world have got their public health expenditure less than India in terms of GDP percentage.

DELHI HIGH COURT SCRAPPED TRAI’S LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF DAILY SMS-es Delhi High Court on 13 July 2012 scrapped the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guideline to cap daily SMS limit at 200. TRAI, the telecom watchdog of India, on 5 September 2011 had ordered the telecom companies to restrict the number of daily SMSes per SIM at 100. The number was however, increased to 200 subsequently. A division bench of acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw observed that such a restriction

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on the number of SMSes per day violates the citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fundamental right of freedom of speech and thus be scrapped. The judges however, upheld the capping of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) SMSes. The court's verdict came hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO against the TRAI's order, challenging its imposition of a cap of 200 SMSes per day per person. The PIL sought to do away with such restriction on SMS number as it infringes the very idea of constitutional right of free speech.

UNION CABINET APPROVED A PROPOSAL TO MAKE RAPE A GENDERNEUTRAL OFFENCE The Union cabinet on 19 July 2012 approved a proposal that seek to make rape a gender-neutral offence. With the cabinet giving its nod to the proposal, now, the word RAPE will be replaced with SEXUAL ASSAULT. Under the current definition of rape (Section 375 of Indian Penal Code) a man is said to commit rape when he has sexual intercourse with a woman against her will. The amendment will expand the definition to cover male victims of sexual assault. The cabinet also approved a proposal which said the IPC will have a separate section (326-A) that would cover injury, hurt, burns and disfigurement of any body part of a person (male or female) by acid. The offence would draw a punishment of 10-year imprisonment and a penalty of 10 lakh rupees.

Under the new proposal, now, the word RAPE will be replaced with SEXUAL ASSAULT

The cabinet further decided to change the definition of a minor. At present some sections of the IPC and the Criminal Procedure Code consider those below 16 as minor. Following the amendment a person below 18 would be considered as minor. The age of consent has also been raised from existing 16 years to 18 years. However, it is proposed that the sexual intercourse by a man with own wife being under sixteen years of age will not be considered as sexual assault.

SC REDUCED VIP QUOTA FOR HAJ PILGRIMAGE FROM 5050 SEATS TO 300 The Supreme Court of India on 23 July 2012 reduced the VIP quota for Haj pilgrimage from 5050 seats to mere 300. The remaining 4750 seats will be provided to the pilgrims from general category. A Supreme Court bench of judges Justice Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai ruled that under the reduced quota, the Indian president can recommend 100 pilgrims, the vice-president 75, the prime minister 75 and the Minister for External Affairs 50 pilgrims, while, the 200 seats would be reserved for the Haj Committee of India (HCI). The court was informed that 11000 seats have been reserved

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under government quota to be allocated for Haj 2012. After limiting the seats under discretionary quota and the HCI, the remaining seats would go to the Haj committees of various states and Union territories. The court's decision came following an affidavit filed by the government of India in compliance with the Apex courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 8 May 2012 order. The court in its 8 May 2012 ruling had asked the Union government to come up with the details of the basis on which its discretionary quota seats for Haj pilgrims are allocated to applicants on recommendation by dignitaries and eminent persons.

SC ALLOWED TAMIL NADU TO CARRY OUT SMALL MAINTENANCE WORKS ON THE MULLAPERIYAR DAM The Supreme Court of India on 23 July 2012 allowed Tamil Nadu government to carry out repair and maintenance works on the Mullaperiyar dam. However, the court instructed that the repairing and maintenance work is to be carried out in the presence of the Superintending Engineer of Kerala and an independent member nominated by the Chairman of the Central Water Commission. A five-judge Constitution Bench of Justices DK Jain, RM Lodha, Deepak Verma, CK Prasad and Anil R Dave gave the verdict after hearing an application filed by Tamil Nadu government for the courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permission to carry out certain maintenance works.

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

Mullaperiyar Dam The Mullaperiyar Dam is constructed on the Periyar River in Kerala. The dam was constructed by the British government in 1895, to feed the water need of Tamil Nadu. The dam is located 2889 feet above mean sea level on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkadi, Idukki District in Kerala. The height of the dam is 176 feet while, its length is 1200 feet. The Periyar National Park is located around the dam's reservoir.

The past few years have witnessed a bitter disagreement between the Tamil Nadu and Kerala government over the safety of the dam. Kerala has openly expressed its disagreement over the safety of the dam as it argues that dam is 117 years old and has well outlived the average life span of a dam that stretches out between 50 to 60 years. In the face of a disaster, it will be extremely difficult to prevent the loss caused by the breakage of dam. The rising concern over the safety of dam is mostly due to the insufficient safety maintenance and monitoring of the dam. The Kerala government argues that if the dam breaks, as it can in the event of a disaster like earth quake, it will cause a massive loss of lives and property. On the contrary, the Tamil Nadu government contends that if the dam cease to work it will create a severe water scarcity in five districts of the state, leading to a draught in the region.

SC OF INDIA MODIFIED ORDER ON REHABILITATION OF SEX WORKERS

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The Supreme Court of India on 26 July 2012 modified one of its orders on welfare and rehabilitation of sex workers. A special bench of justices Altamas Kabir and Gyan Sudha Misra modified its earlier order, saying "the modification shall not be construed that by this order any encouragement is being given to prostitution." Modifying its earlier order, the bench clarified that it would only examine the conditions conducive for sex workers to work with dignity in accordance with provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The bench added that it was keen that sex workers should be given an opportunity to avail rehabilitation measures of the government and other agencies for them. While adjudicating a petition for rehabilitation of former sex workers, the Supreme Court had on July 19, 2011 had framed three terms of reference. Article 21 in the Constitution of India states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT DRAFTED THE NATIONAL POLICY FOR CHILDREN 2012 The Ministry of Women and Child Development on 26 July 2012 drafted THE NATIONAL POLICY FOR CHILDREN 2012. The revised draft policy reaffirms the government's commitment towards children and addresses new challenges, seeking to realize the full potential of children’s rights throughout the country. It defines a child as a person below eighteen years of age, and acknowledges the inalienable and inherent rights of the child and aims to realize the full range of child rights for all children in the country. The draft has stated that every child has a right to be safeguarded against hunger, deprivation and malnutrition. According to the draft policy, the state is bound to secure the rights and entitlement of children in difficult circumstances such as migration, displacement, disasters and communal violence. The first National Policy on Children was formulated in 1974. The first policy of 1974 described children as a supremely important asset and made the state responsible for providing equal opportunities for growth and development of all children. The policy primarily focused on health and education of the children.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LAUNCHED ANTI-RAGGING WEBSITE The Government of India launched an anti-ragging website. Kapil Sibal, the Union Human Resource Minister inaugurated the ‘Anti- Ragging Web Portal’ on 26 July 2012. The portal has been developed by The University Grants Commission (UGC) in collaboration with Ed. CIL (India) Ltd. and Planet E-Com Solutions. Rajendra Kachroo, father of Aman who lost his life to ragging at a medical college in Himachal Pradesh in 2009 has also contributed In the UGC managed portal.

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Supreme Court, in its judgment dated 8 May, 2009 ordered implementation of a ragging prevention programme comprising, inter-alia, setting up toll-free anti-ragging helpline /call centre, database of institutions/students, engaging an independent nongovernment agency. All calls that would be received by the Anti-ragging Helpline (18001805522) will be managed and followed up in a structured software system. Moreover, students can see the progress of their complaint any time on www.antiragging.in . Online anti ragging affidavits can be downloaded by students from the site, www.antiragging.in .

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ 1. The first modern Olympics were held in? a) 1912 b) 1853 c) 1896 The correct answer is c) 1986 2. Citus Altius Fortius is the Olympic motto in Latin? What does it mean in English? a) Bigger, better, best b) One World United c) Faster, Higher, Stronger The correct answer is c) Faster, Higher, Stronger 3. Which of these is not a sport that will feature at the 2012 Olympics? a) Football b) Gymnastics c) Roller-skating The correct answer is c) Roller-skating 4. Which country did the Olympics come from? a) United Kingdom

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b) France c) Greece The correct answer is c) Greece 5. How many towns and cities will the Olympic flame are travelling through? a) 1385 b) 1019 c) 2012 The correct answer is b) 1019 6. Where in London will the Olympic tennis matches be played? a) Queen's Club b) Wimbledon c) Stratford The correct answer is b) Wimbledon 7. Which sport will be played on the Prime Minister's doorstep? a) Fencing b) Long jump c) Beach volleyball The correct answer is c) Beach volleyball 8. After the 2012 Games in London, where will the next Summer Olympic Games be held? a) Brazil b) Belize c) Bolvia The correct answer is a) Brazil 9. Which country held the last Summer Olympic Games? a) Bolivia b) China c) Denmark

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The correct answer is c) China 10. Which of these Olympic venues is outside London? a) Wembley Stadium b) Olympic Stadium c) Millennium Stadium The correct answer is c) Millennium Stadium 11. Who are the official London 2012 mascots? a) Wendey and Mathew b) William and Mary c) Wenlock and Mandeville The correct answer is c) Wenlock and Mandeville 12. Who is the highest Law Officer of a state? (a) Attorney General (b) Secretary General Law Department (c) Solicitor General (d) Advocate General The correct answer is (d) Advocate General 13. What is zero hour? (a) When a Money Bill is introduced in the Lok Sabha (b) When matters of utmost importance are raised (c) When the proposals of the opposition are considered (d) Interval between the morning and afternoon sessions The correct answer is (b) when matters of utmost importance are raised 14. The maximum strength of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively is (a) 545 and 250 (b) 537 and 275 (c) 500 and 250

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(d) 525 and 238 The correct answer is (a) 545 and 250 15. A Bill referred to a joint sitting of the two Houses of the Parliament is to be passed by (a) A simple majority (b) Absolute majority of total membership (c) 2/3rd majorities (d) 3/4th majorities The correct answer is (a) A simple majority 16. As decided by the Government of India, a Member of Parliament would get what amount of money to spend on development activities in his/her constituency? (a) Rs 2 crore (b) Rs 1 crore (c) Rs 1 lakh (d) Rs 10 lakh The correct answer is (b) Rs 1 crore 17. In which of the following systems of Government, can the Government be removed through no-confidence motion passed by the Parliament? (a) Unitary (b) Parliamentary (c) Presidential (d) Federal The correct answer is (b) Parliamentary 18. If a Minister of a state wants to resign, to whom he should address the letter of resignation? (a) Speaker of Vidhan Sabha (b) Leader of his political party (c) Governor of the State (d) Chief Minister The correct answer is (d) Chief Minister

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19. For those Union Territories, which have no Legislative Councils of their own, laws are passed by (a) Union Ministry (b) Appointed Administrator (c) President (d) Parliament The correct answer is (d) Parliament 20. A party having 36 members will avoid disqualification under the provisions of the Anti Defection Law if the number of members crossing the floor is at least (a) 12 (b) 18 (c) 8 (d) 9 The correct answer is (a) 12 21. Collective responsibility of the Cabinet was introduced in India by the (a) Independence Act, 1947 (b) Constitution of India (c) Government of India Act, 1935 (d) Minto-Morley Reforms The correct answer is (b) Constitution of India 22. The 42nd Constitution Amendment Bill was passed in the year (a) 1979 (b) 1980 (c) 1976 (d) 1977 The correct answer is (c) 1976 23. Indian Constitution was amended for the first time in (a) 1951

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(b) 1953 (c) 1950 (d) 1952 The correct answer is (a) 1951 24. 44th amendment deals with (a) Abolition of Right to Property as a Fundamental Rights-(b) Extension of reservation of seats in Parliament (c) Curbing the Fundamental Rights (d) Curbing the jurisdiction of High Courts The correct answer is (a) Abolition of Right to Property as Fundamental Rights 25. Which of the following amendments provided for the extension of reservation of SC's and ST's for another 10 years? (a) 42nd (b) 45th (c) 43rd (d) 44th The correct answer is (b) 45th 26. Which of the following words were added to the Indian Constitution by 42nd Amendment? (a) Republic (b) Socialist Secular (c) Federal (d) Democratic The correct answer is (b) Socialist Secular 27. The Amendment regarding the formation of a new state by separating territory from any other state by separating territory from any other state must be passed by (a) Both the houses of parliament and before that the opinion of that state is to be ascertained by the President (b) Both the Houses of Parliament

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(c) Only Lok Sabha (d) Only Rajya Sabha The correct answer is (a) Both the houses of parliament and before that the opinion of that state is to be ascertained by the President 28. If any act or amendment is included in the Ninth schedule of the Constitution, what will be the result? (a) A new State or territory is created (b) It become non-justifiable (c) It become justifiable (d) It relates to official languages The correct answer is (b) It become non-justifiable 29. Who is entitled to initiate a Bill for Constitutional amendments? (a) Lok Sabha Only (b) Rajya Sabha only (c) Either House of Parliament (d) State Legislative Assemblies The correct answer is (c) Either House of Parliament 30. The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of India was (a) Added by the 42nd amendment (b) A part of the original Constitution (c) Added by the 1st amendment (d) Added by the 24th amendment The correct answer is (c) Added by the 1st amendment

ECONOMY INDIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DIRECT TAX COLLECTIONS REGISTERED 47.16 PER CENT INCREASE IN APRIL-JUNE 2012

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At 84273 crore rupees India’s direct tax collections registered a 47.16 per cent increase in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2012-13. On a cumulative basis, direct tax collections in the first quarter (April-June) swelled 6.77 per cent at 111182 crore rupees. This growth is, however, much lower than the 23.91 per cent growth witnessed in the same quarter of fiscal year 2011-12. The rise in direct tax collections is vital as the country had recorded a 17 per cent decline in direct tax collection during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2011-12. The poor show of manufacturing sector over the past few months widely reflected in corporate tax collection, as its growth pegged at a meagre 3.48 per cent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012-13. Personal taxes went up by 13 percent. Corporate and personal tax had witnessed 23.49 per cent and 24.63 per cent growth, respectively, during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2011-12. Securities transaction tax (tax on stock exchange trades), slumped 0.52 per cent to 952 crore rupees, while wealth tax revenues dropped 3.03 per cent in April-June to 32 crore rupees. The sluggish economic environment in the country is making it all more difficult for the government to meet its targets. The Union Government pegged direct tax collection target at 5.70 lakh crore rupees this fiscal, which is 15 percent higher than its total collection in fiscal year 2011-12.

SEBI PERMITTED MCX STOCK EXCHANGE (MCX-SX) TO OPERATE AS A FULL-FLEDGED STOCK EXCHANGE Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 10 July 2012 permitted to operate as a full-fledged stock exchange thereby ending nearly four-year-long wait of the bourse. With the grant of the permission MCX-SX will from hereon be able to offer additional asset classes such as equity and equity F&O (Futures and Options), interest rate futures and wholesale debt segments. Securities and Exchange Board So far the market regulator had been renewing MCX-SX’s of India (SEBI) licence for one-year periods only. However it had not allowed MCX-SX to operate in segments other than currency derivatives stating that the bourse was not compliant to the shareholding and other regulations. The promoters of MCX-SX, in their submissions and the undertakings to SEBI mentioned that the shareholding of MCX and Financial Technologies (India) Ltd. (FTIL) (the two promoters) would be brought within the 5 per cent limit within 18 months from 10 July 2012 itself. The MCX Stock Exchange (MCXpromoters also informed SEBI that the combined voting rights SX) of FTIL and MCX in the stock exchange would not exceed 5 per cent at any point of time. MCX and FTIL would reduce their rights over equity arising from instruments such as warrants to within the shareholding limit in accordance to what was specified in the revised SEBI regulations within three years.

SEBI’S DECISION IS LIKELY TO BRING IN MORE COMPETITION IN MARKETS

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MCX is the largest commodity exchange in the country while its promoter FTIL offers technology and other solutions for exchange businesses. MCX-SX was first granted recognition by SEBI in September 2008; however it was allowed to conduct trading only in the currency derivatives segment only. SEBI granted permanent recognition to eight stock exchanges in the country. Of the total eight only two of them — BSE and NSE are operating as active national level bourses across the segments.

INDEX OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION (IIP) RECORDED 2.4% GROWTH IN MAY 2012 AS AGAINST 6.2% IN MAY 2011 Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded 2.4% growth in May 2012 as against the market expectations of 1.7% growth. The April IIP was revised lower to -0.9% from earlier estimate of 0.1%. The slight growth in IIP was attributed to growth registered in the electricity and consumer durables sector. Industrial growth had stood at 6.2 per cent in the corresponding month in 2011. During the first two months of the 2012-13 fiscal, April-May, the industrial growth rate fell sharply to 0.8 percent from 6.2 percent in the same period of 2011-12. Mining sector witnessed a fall of -0.9% compared to 1.8 percent growth in May 2011. The output of the capital goods sector (machinery and equipment) dipped by 7.7 percent in May 2012 as against a growth of 6.2 percent in May 2011. However electricity sector registered a growth of 5.9%. Power generation had witnessed a slower growth of 5.9 percent during May, compared to 10.3 percent. Manufacturing sector which constitutes over 75 percent of the index, did not perform well and grew a mere 2.5 percent in May 2012 as against 6.3 percent in May 2011 Consumer durables production showed a faster growth rate of 9.3 percent in May 2012 as compared to 5.1 percent in May 2011. The consumer non-durables segment output growth declined sharply and remained flat at 0.1 percent, as against 9 percent. Headline inflation in May moved to 7.55 percent as both food and fuel prices increased. Consumer price inflation, which is an indicator of retail price rises, remained unchanged at 10.36 percent in May 2012.

INDIA’S HEADLINE INFLATION SLOWED TO 7.25 PERCENT IN JUNE 2012 According to the Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 16 June 2012, India’s headline inflation in the month of June 2012 slowed to 7.25 percent, marking the lowest in the last five months. The inflation figure stood at 7.55 per cent in May 2012, while at 9.51 percent during the corresponding month of 2011. The government revised the inflation figure for the month of April 2012 to 7.50 percent from earlier 7.23 percent. Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) Food Inflation, however, did not show any restraint as it stubbornly stood in double digit zone. The food inflation

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for the month of June 2012 stood at 10.81 percent as compared to 10.74 percent in May 2012. The persistent high food inflation left RBI with very little room to consider any policy rate cut in its upcoming monetary policy review. Annual fuel inflation at 10.27 per cent in June 2012, showed a little moderation as it stood at 11.53 percent during the same period in 2011. The persistent decline in the value of Indian rupee in the global currency market has not let the fuel prices in India come down, despite the global fuel prices dropped significantly. RBI is set to review its quarterly monetary policy on 31 July 2012, though any decision on change in policy rates is unlikely unless the inflation remains above the comfort level of the common man of the country. The Central Bank in its mid-quarterly review of monetary policy on 18 June 2012 had left various key policy rates unchanged.

INDIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RETAIL INFLATION DROPPED TO 10.02 PERCENT IN JUNE 2012

Consumer price index (CPI)

According to the annual Consumer price index (CPI) data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 17 July 2012, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retail inflation dropped marginally to 10.02 percent in the month of June 2012 from 10.36 percent in May

2012. The inflation rates (provisional) for rural and urban areas for June 2012 stood at 9.74 percent and 10.44 percent respectively. Inflation rates (final) in the month of May 2012 for rural and urban areas stood at 9.57 percent and 11.52 percent respectively.

National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)

Consumer Price Index, launched in January 2012, aims at making an accurate measurement of retail prices in major food groups, fuel, clothing, housing and education across rural and urban India. To find out the actual number of retail inflation in the country the Field Operations Division of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) collects price data from town while, data from selected villages are collected by the Department of Posts. Price data are received through web portals being maintained by the National Informatics Centre.

CABINET COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AFFAIRS APPROVED 10.82 PER CENT DISINVESTMENT IN SAIL The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 20 July 2012 approved 10.82 per cent disinvestment in Steel Authority of India (SAIL). The divestment will help the government to rise about 4000 crore rupees. The government holds 85.82 per cent stake in SAIL. Earlier the government on 15 July 2012 had deferred Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited's 2500 crore rupees initial public offering due to volatile state of market. The government plans to divest 10 www.jagranjosh.com

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per cent stake in RINL through IPO. The government in annual budget 2012-13 set the disinvestment target at 30000 crore rupees (300 billion rupees). Though, on the issue of ownership it made clear that at least 51 per cent ownership and management control of Central Public Sector Enterprises will remain with the Government. Union government is also eyeing to partially offload its share in PSUs like Hindustan Aeronautics, BHEL, National Aluminium Company (Nalco), Hindustan Copper and Oil India in the fiscal year 2012-13.

EGOM ON TELECOMMUNIC ATION RECOMMENDED TO REDUCE 2G BASE PRICE The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on telecommunications, headed by union home minister P Chidambaram , recommended to reduce the base price for 2G spectrum airwaves by 4000 crore rupees. The EGoM recommended the base price for 2G spectrum at 14000-16000 crore rupees against 18000 crore rupees suggested by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The EGoM decision on spectrum price was taken during a meeting in Delhi on 20 July 2012. The EGoM announced a cut in spectrum usage charges (which will be part of the operators’ revenues towards spectrum fee) from 8-10 percent recommended by Trai to between 3 percent and 6 percent. The EGoM’s recommendations will now be sent to the Union Cabinet for its approval. The EGoM also approved the department of telecommunications’ (DoT) suggestion to defer the mode of payment for auction winners. Giving in to demand of telecom operators the DoT had suggested the EGoM that the auction winners should be allowed to pay 25-30 percent of the spectrum fee upfront and rest amount divided in 10 equal installments annually. The fresh 2G spectrum auctions were necessitated as Supreme Court 2 February 2012 scrapped 122 licenses of 9 telecom companies. The Apex Court in its verdict observed that 2G spectrum allocation held in January 2008 was crammed with irregularities thus should be scrapped. The court also instructed Union government to carry out a fresh 2G airwave auction. 2 June 2012 was set as the initial deadline for the auction, which was later extended to 31 August 2012 by the court. The EGoM on telecommunication was reconstituted after Pranab Mukherjee, the head of the group, resigned as the Union Finance Minister in June 2012 to contest Presidential election. Subsequently the panel was reconstituted with Home Minister P Chidambaram as its head.The reconstituted panel includes Union Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Defence Minister AK Antony, Law Minister Salman Khurshid, and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy as members. www.jagranjosh.com

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The panel held its first meeing on 12 July 2012 where it discussed the issues including reserve price, spectrum usage charges and terms of payment.

SEBI TIGHTENED ELIGIBILITY & EXIT CRITERIA FOR STOCKS IN DERIVATIVES SEGMENT TO CURB MANIPULATION The market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 23 July 2012 tightened eligibility and exit criteria for stocks in the derivatives segment by increasing the benchmark liquidity level for any scrip to be eligible for trading in the derivatives segments. By doing away with illiquid stocks SEBI aims to check manipulation. According to the circular issued by SEBI, scrips with a minimum trading volume value of Rs 10 lakh and market wide position limit (MWPL) or market capitalisation of Rs 300 crore cannot be eligible for entry into the Future and Options (F&O) segment. Over 220 scrips trade the National Stock present. Of these 220 possibly meet the new the market regulator. Quarter Sigma Order liquidity/order size in introduction in revised to Rs 10 lakh, The MWPL, indicating was also raised to Rs crore. Scrips which fail MWPL requirement of to be in the F&O segment. The earlier limit was set at Rs 60 crore.

in the F&O segment on Exchange (NSE) at scrips only 100 scrips will eligibility criteria set by The minimum Median Size, which indicates scrip, a requirement for derivatives segment was from Rs 5 lakh at present. the size of the company 300 crore, from Rs 100 to maintain a minimum Rs 200 crore would cease

SEBI also tightened the minimum conditions for a stock to continue trading in the derivatives segment. As per the circular, a stock's MQSOS over the last six months ought to be more than Rs 5 lakh against Rs 2 lakh earlier for the stock to continue trading. SEBIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s measures in this respect are expected to restrain any manipulation in share prices and bring in more meaningfulness to the F&O segment. Stock exchanges (SEs) will now have to thus follow strict criteria for futures and option (F&O) securities.

INDIA RECEIVED ITS F IRST INVESTMENT THROUGH QUALIFIED FRAMEWORK INVESTOR ROUTE WORTH $ 5M Following the deal struck by Kotak Mahindra Bank worth $5 million India received its first investment through the qualified framework investor (QFI) route. The deal formally put an end to speculation that Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempt to get investors to buy shares directly will go kaput. Kotak Mahindra Bank has concluded the deal worth $5 million for a US-based client, said a finance ministry official. The scheme to attract investment through the Qualified Framework www.jagranjosh.com

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Investor route is expected to attract investment worth about $30 billion in 2012-13 period thereby helping the country fund a chunk of the current account deficit pegged at 4.2% of GDP in 2011-12. The finance ministry had in the recent past conducted road shows in five countries in the Gulf region--Riyadh, Dubai, Muscat, Kuwait and Bahrain - to project India as the incredible investment destination for wealthy investors.

QUALIFIED FOREIGN INVESTORS (QFI): A person or a trust resident in a country which is a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) can invest directly in India. Such a person or trust is termed as Qualified Foreign Investors.

INVESTMENT REGIME FOR QFI (QFI): QFIs have been permitted to invest in all the three segments of the Indian Capital Market namely- Mutual Funds (MFs), Equity and Corporate Debt.

REASON WHY GOVERNMENT IS PROMOTING QFI ROUTE: The wealthy investors, the finance ministry felt should be encouraged to invest directly so that the stable in-flows could fund the current account deficits

EGOM RECOMMENDED CDMA AIRWAVES IN THE 800 MHZ BAND AT 1.3 TIMES THE BASE PRICE FOR GSM AIRWAVES A high-powered ministerial panel responsible for finalising rules for upcoming second generation (2G) spectrum Empowered Group of auctions recommended fixing of minimum price for CDMA Ministers (EGoM) airwaves in the 800 MHz band at 1.3 times the base price for GSM airwaves in the 1800 MHz band. Headed by home minister P Chidambaram, in its meeting on 20 July 2012 had rejected the department of telecom’s (DoT) suggestion that reserve price in the 800 MHz band for CDMA players be twice as that of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band. In the same meeting the EGoM had recommended that the minimum price for GSM airwaves be cut to Rs 14000 to Rs 16000 crore. The EGoM’s proposal disappointed the mobile phone companies who were pitching for an 80% reduction from the Rs 18111 crore proposed by the telecom regulator, TRAI. The EGoM has recommended two specific reserve price for the 1800 MHz band at Rs 14111 crore and Rs 15111 crore for 5 units of airwaves on a pan-India basis. The group of ministers provided two options to the Cabinet on the spectrum usage charge that forms part of the revenue share for mobile phone companies. The first option is to (1) keep this levy at 5% of the telco’s annual revenues, or (2) calculate this levy according to the current rules. The spectrum usage

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charges currently range between 2% and 7% of the telcos’ annual revenues depending on two factors – the quantity of airwaves as well as the availability of third generation airwaves. One unit of GSM airwave in the 1800 MHz on a pan-India basis to cost Rs 2822 crore and Rs 3022 crore, respectively, at the base price of Rs 14111 crore and Rs 15111 crore, respectively. Airwaves will be sold in blocks of 1.25 MHz and on a circle-wise basis. India is divided into 22 circles. This thus translates to a reserve price of Rs 18344 crore to Rs 19644 crore for 5 MHz of airwaves in the 800 MHz band for CDMA companies. For a single unit, the telecom companies will have to pay between Rs 3668 crore and Rs 3928 crore. The mobile phone companies in the GSM space slammed the inter-ministerial panel for suggesting that the base price for 800 MHz be at 1.3 times that for 1800 MHz. The EGoM also specified that new entrants and companies that lost their mobile permits on account of the Supreme Court’s ruling can bid for a maximum 6.25 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band in the upcoming auctions, while existing operators in the GSM space can bid for a maximum of 2 blocks or 2.5 MHz of airwaves.

DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN GSM & CDMA It is argued that discrimination between GSM and CDMA is being widened by keeping the auction reserve price for 800 MHz at 1.3 times of 1800 MHz on the rationale that less than 5 MHz is being put up for auction. A similar option is however not being extended to GSM operators to retain their 900 MHz spectrum at a price of 1.3 times of 1,800 MHz in the event that less than 5 MHz is obtained at the time of the license extension. The requirement for 25% of upfront payment for CDMA and 35% of upfront payment for GSM is another example of discrimination between CDMA & GSM. This discrimination will go against the objective of creating a level playing field among the operators.

GOVERNMENT APPROVED 14 FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) PROPOSALS WORTH RS 1584.11 CRORE The finance ministry declared on 24 July 2012 that the government based on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approved 14 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 1584.11 crore. The FDI proposal which received government approval included 225-crore investment in the Indian operations of Asian equity research firm CLSA. Maharashtrabased Abhijeet Power’s proposal to invest Rs 674 crore for induction of foreign equity in an investing company to make downstream investment also received approval. The government also cleared the proposal of Pune-based Bajaj Finserv, which sought a nod for issue of equity shares to carry out NBFC activities directly and through subsidiaries. It proposed to bring in FDI worth Rs 100 crore.

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The government rejected seven proposals. the decision on 15 proposals including those of Tara Aerospace Systems, Ordain Health Care Global, Sterlite Networks and Mauritius-based Cloverdell Investments were been deferred.

PETROL & DIESEL PRICES RAISED AS OIL FIRMS RECALIBRATED RATES TO REFLECT CHANGES IN L OCAL LEVIES Petrol and diesel prices were on raised in seven states like West Bengal and Maharasthra while the price of domestic LPG were raised in six states. Earlier, on 23 July 2012, petrol prices were raised by 70 paise. The state-owned oil firms recalibrated rates to reflect changes in local levies which resulted in the second raise. The state-run fuel retailers recalibrated surcharge calculations to align with changes made in local levies like entry tax on crude oil, surcharge on sales tax and CST/purchase tax on inter-company sale, by state governments which resulted in further increase in prices in the seven states. However, the exercise by the state-owned oil firms resulted in petrol and diesel prices being reduced in 11 states like Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat and Odisha beginning 25 July 2012. There is to be no change in price of petrol in Delhi, Kolkata however is to see an increase of Rs. 2.52 a litre to Rs. 76.13 per liter. Petrol in Mumbai is to cost Rs. 75.14 from 25 July 2012 as against Rs. 74.23 per litre. Rates were however cut in Chennai by Rs. 0.97 per litre to Rs. 72.19. Diesel price in Delhi would remain unchanged at Rs. 41.29 per litre. it will however be raised by Rs. 0.92 per litre to Rs 44.66 in Kolkata and by Rs. 0.89 to Rs. 45.28 a litre in Mumbai. Diesel rates in Chennai rates were reduced by a marginal 12 paisa to Rs. 43.83 a litre. Domestic LPG price was raised by Rs. 19.43 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Assam, by Rs. 9.16 in Bihar and Rs. 8.72 per bottle in Maharashtra. LPG will cost Rs. 9 more at Rs. 423 in Mumbai. There is to be no change in rates in Delhi where it is sold at Rs 399.26 per cylinder. In Kolkata prices fell to Rs 4 to Rs 401 and in Chennai by Rs 7 to Rs 386.50 beginning 25 July 2012. Domestic cooking gas rates were however reduced by Rs 10.18 per cylinder in Gujarat, by Rs 7.01 in Tamil Nadu and Rs 4.15 in Odisha.

STATE DELHI GOVT ANNOUNCED SUBSIDY OF 1 RUPEE PER UNIT ON ELECTRICITY FOR DOMESTIC CONSUMERS Delhi Government announced subsidy of 1 Rupee per unit on electricity for domestic consumers on 1 July 2012. This subsidy would be relevant for those people who consume 200 units or fewer

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units per month. Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had increased the tariffs on electricity in various Delhi Electricity Regulatory categories. The new chunk of electricity tariffs announced Commission (DERC) by DERC was that people who consumes 0 to 200 units, 0 to 400 and 401 and above have to pay Rs 3.70, 4.80 and Rs 6.40 respectively. The subsidy of 1 Rupee was charged from consumers under the previous tariff regime but it was discontinued by the government till 31 March 2012.

JAGDISH SHETTAR SWORN IN AS THE 27TH CHIEF MINISTER OF KARNATAKA Jagadish Shivappa Shettar was sworn in as the 27th Chief Minister of Karnataka on 12 July 2012. Shettar was administered the oath of the office by Governor HR Bharadwaj at an oath taking ceremony held at Raj Bhawan. KS Eshwarappa and R Ashoka, two other BJP leaders in the state, were sworn in as deputy chief ministers of the state. A total of 34 ministers took the oath of office. Shettar, 56, was unanimously chosen the leader of the BJP legislature party following the resignation of DV Sadananda Gowda on 11 July 2012. Life has come full circle for Jagdish Shettar, another big leader from the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s influential Lingayat community (other one is BS Yeddyurappa, the former Karnataka CM) as he finally moved to the office of Chief Minister. Earlier he served as the Revenue Minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government headed by H DKumaraswamy in 2006. In 2008, he was elected as the Speaker of the Karnataka Shettar, 56, is the third CM of legislative assembly. In 2009 he was included in to the state, within the period of 4 years cabinet of BS Yeddyurappa as Rural development and Panchayati Raj Minister. Shettar had lost the race for the top job in the hand of DV Sadananda Gowda in 2011. In a meeting of BJP legislature party following the resignation of BS Yeddyurappa, Sadananda Gowda was handpicked by BS Yeddyurappa to become the Chief Minister of the state in August 2011. Sadananda Gowda was forced to step down after he developed a rivalry with BS Yeddyurappa who forced the BJP central leadership to ask Gowda to quit. Gowda, however, agreed to quit only after he was given the position of state BJP president. Besides, he also got two of his confidants as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, the post which was created giving in to his demand.

THE GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA BANNED GUTKA AND PAN MASALA The Government of Maharashtra banned Gutka and Pan Masala on 11 July 2012. The State Cabinet decided to ban the manufacturing, sale and distribution of these products. Food and Drug www.jagranjosh.com

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Administration (FDA) had initiated this proposal under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. As per the Government rule, if any person offends this law then that person can be imprisoned for 6 months to three years. It aims to reduce the number of The gutka was consumed by the cases that are related to the oral and other forms of cancer that resident of the state worth Rs are increasing day by day. In addition, the Non Government 360 Crore on daily basis Organization was also forcing for the ban from last few years. 60 percent of people consume gutka in Maharashtra who lies in the age group between 14-16 years. The gutka was consumed by the resident of the state worth Rs 360 Crore on daily basis. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have already banned gutka but Maharashtra is the first state to ban Pan Masala.

UNION HRD MINISTRY ANNOUNCED TO SET UP TWO CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES IN BIHAR Conceding to the demand of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry on 13 July 2012 agreed to set up two central universities in the state. The union governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nod for two central universities also put an end to the 3-year long impasse over the location of the university. The Ministry, however, announced that it would not provide any separate funds for the additional university. Hence, the 240 crore rupees fund which was allocated as initial capital for the university will have to be divided between the two varsities. The Union Government will have to make certain amendments in the Central Universities Act, 2009, to enable the opening of two central universities in Bihar. Under the legislation there is a provision for setting up two central universities in Jammu and Kashmir as a special case. The proposal to set up central university in Bihar was delayed by several months given the differences between the state government and the human resource development ministry related to the location of the university. While the Nitish Kumar led state government was adamant on setting up the university in Motihari, the Union Government considered Gaya as the preferred location for the university. There are 41 central universities functioning in India at present, with Delhi and UP have a maximum of 4 Universities each.

PUNJAB GOVERNMENT INCREASED THE DA BY 12 PER CENT FOR EMPLOYEES AND PENSIONERS The Government of Punjab increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) by 12 per cent for the employees and pensioners on 17 July 2012. The governor of Punjab, Shivraj V Patil approved the rate of dearness allowance from 127 per cent to 139 per cent. The Finance Ministry declared that the amount will be credited from the General Provident Fund (GPF) account of employees. The government of Punjab ordered that the allowance will be paid in cash from July 2012. Dearness Allowance is the part of the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s salary that is calculated as a percent of the basic www.jagranjosh.com

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salary. This amount is added to the basic salary along with the House Rent Allowance (HRA) to get the total salary.

PLANNING COMMISSION SANCTIONED 57800 CRORE RUPEES AS ANNUAL PLAN FOR UP Marking an increase of whopping 23 percent in annual financial allocation for UP, the Planning Commission of India allocated 57800 crore rupees to the state for fiscal year 2012-13. Besides, it also approved a 20000 crore rupees additional funding for centre-sponsored schemes in the state. The Planning Commission had sanctioned 47000 crore rupees to UP during financial year 201112. The decision over the financial allocation for the state came following the meeting held between UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Planning Commission Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in New Delhi on 18 July 2012. The financial package includes a special one-time grant of 800 crore rupees for the forthcoming Kumbh Mela and an additional central allocation of 9200 crore rupees. The UP government is striving at attaining the 10 percent growth target by 2016-17. In addition to that, the state is also striving to attract 1200000 crore rupees private investment over the next five years.

DELHI GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF DISTRICTS IN DELHI FROM 9 TO 11 To facilitate the speedy justice and efficient administration, the Delhi government on 16 July 2012 decided in-principle to divide Delhi into 11 sessions and revenue districts. The existing number of district is nine that includes, Central, North, South, East, Northeast, Southwest, New Delhi, Northwest and West Delhi. After reshaping the boundaries of existing districts there will be 11 districts including, Central, East, West, North, South, Najafgarh, Saraswati Vihar, Kalkaji, Preet Vihar, Seelampur and New Delhi. The Northeast, Northwest and Southwest districts will cease to exist while, five new districts namely Seelampur, Gandhi Nagar, Saraswati Vihar, Najafgadh and Kalka Ji will come into existence. The governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s move came following law department sent a proposal to the Delhi government to divide the capital into 11 districts so that the work of the judiciary and the revenue department gets divided according to their respective areas. Under the present structure, the work of the trial courts is divided into nine districts for the civil cases, while, there is only one chief metropolitan magistrate for criminal jurisdiction. For revenue department, there are nine districts along with 27 sub-divisions.

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UP GOVERNMENT RECHRISTENED EIGHT DISTRICTS IN THE STATE Uttar Pradesh government on 23 July 2012 rechristened eight districts in the state, which had been given a new name by erstwhile BSP government. The UP government’s decision to restore the early name of the districts, which were named after the dalit and OBC icons King George’s Medical by the previous Mayawati led government, was taken in a University (KGMU) cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar was rechristened as Amethi, while Rambai Nagar was named Kanpur Dehat. The districts namely Bheem Nagar, Prabuddha Nagar and Panchseel Nagar will now be known as Sambhal, Shamli and Hapur respectively. Similarly, Kanshiram Nagar, Mahamaya Nagar and JP Nagar will be known as Kasganj, Hathras and Amroha respectively. The name of the 105-year-old King George’s Medical University (KGMU), which was named Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University by the previous BSP government, was also restored.

INDIA DIARY 2 July 2012 • Anup Sankar Bhattacharya was appointed as the Director of the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) on 2 July 2012. 3 July 2012 • Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan to hold two-day bilateral talks in New Delhi from tomorrow • In Assam flood death toll mounts to 95; Relief and rescue operations are on 4 July 2012 • Air India pilots call off their 58-day long strike 5 July 2012 • In Assam, flood water submerges 315 more villages in Dhemaji district; Death toll goes up to 116. 6 July 2012 • Sensex loses 45 points in afternoon trade; rupee falls 52 paise to 55.49 against the dollar 7 July 2012 • CNG prices go up in Delhi by 2 rupees 90 paise per kilogram

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8 July 2012 • United Progressive Alliance (UPA) decided to field Hamid Ansari in the vice-presidential poll 2012 9 July 2012 • Amidst the increasing number of reports of the misuse of tatkal scheme, the Indian Railways on 9 July 2012 introduced new guidelines for booking of Tatkal tickets. Under the new guideline the Railways revised the time for booking the tatkal tickets to 10am from earlier 8am. 10 July 2012 • Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 10 July 2012 permitted MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) to operate as a full-fledged stock exchange thereby ending nearly four-year-long wait of the bourse. • The Civil Aviation Ministry of India sacked EK Bharat Bhushan, the head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, on 10 July 2012. 11 July 2012 • World Population Day was celebrated on 11 July 2012. It aims to make aware people about the increasing population in the country. • The Government of Maharashtra banned Gutka and Pan Masala on 11 July 2012. 12 July 2012 • Jagadish Shivappa Shettar was sworn in as the 27th Chief Minister of Karnataka on 12 July 2012. • Rustam-E-Hind, Dara Singh, who won India numerous accolades globally in wrestling, passed away on 12 July 2012 in Mumbai following a protracted illness. 13 July 2012 • India on 13 July 2012 successfully test-fired domestically built surface-to-surface single stage Agni-I ballistic missile. 14 July 2012 • Delhi University released the sixth cut off list for 2012-13 session, the cut list saw a marginal drop in subjects for students from the OBC category. • A two member team of National Commission for Women reaches Guwahati to investigate the molestation of a teenager; Assam government also orders an inquiry 15 July 2012 • UPA nominates Hamid Ansari as its Vice Presidential candidate for a second term; BJP decides to contest; NDA meets today to finalise its strategy • India slips to fifth place in the latest ICC Test ranking 23 July 2012 

Pranab Mukherjee wins Presidential election with huge margin; Says that he will justify the responsibility entrusted to him

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Night curfew imposed in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam; Death toll in violence rises to 16

24 July 2012 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directs ministries to co-ordinate with states to deal with deficient monsoon situation

25 July 2012  

The Government tells Supreme Court it cannot restrict itself to auction route only in allocating natural resources More than 140 Maoists surrender before authorities in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh

26 July 2012  

Delhi High Court bars sacked CWG Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi from attending opening ceremony of London Olympics DIndian activist Kulandei Francis among six winners of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award

27 July 2012  

Various State governments and corporate bodies support Centre's stand that all natural resources cannot be allocated through auction only Situation remains calm in the three violence hit districts of Assam; Prime Minister to visit Kokrajhar tomorrow to take stock of the situation

29 July 2012  India successfully conducts user trial of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile from Chandipur, off Odisha coast

CORPORATE ADANI KANDLA BULK TERMINAL PVT. LTD SIGNED AGREEMENT WITH KANDLA PORT TRUST Adnani subsidiary Adani Kandla Bulk Terminal Pvt. Ltd. signed an agreement with Kandla Port Trust on 2 July 2012 to locate a dry bulk terminal at Kandla Port on build, operate, transfer basis. It will be a modern and mechanised cargo bulk terminal. It would likely to knob cargo like coal, www.jagranjosh.com

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fertiliser, salt, minerals and agro products. Kandla Port terminal will have the capacity to manage 20 million tonnes of cargo. The project costs around 1200 crore rupees and to be completed within 24 months. Kandla port is the only private sector port which has six ports locations in India. The six ports are in Mundra, Dahej, Hazira and Kandla in Gujarat, Mormugao in Goa and Visakhapatnam.

SITE The location is near to Tuna outside the Kandla stream. The Tuna port is owned by the Kandla Port Trust. The Adani will construct four T-shaped ports near Tuna with 14 metres depth, due to which the giant ships can move directly at Tuna, there is no need to transfer the cargo by small boats to the Kandla port. The sufficient space at Tuna also cuts the distance of the port behind the coast. Adani Ports plans to handle 200 million tonnes of cargo by 2020.

HDFC LAUNCHED SUPERIA AND PLATINUM CREDIT CARDS FOR DOCTORS Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) bank on 1 July 2012 launched two credits cards Superia and Platinum for doctors. It will furnish their special needs including lifestyle, travel and other needs. Hdfc planned to open one million credit cards to the fiscal year 2012. The doctors will be able to access credit card in more than 600 airports lounges in the world despite of the class or the airlines they are travelling. They will also get benefit from the reward point redemption across all major airlines in India.

B. SURENDER MOHAN APPOINTED AS THE CHAIRMAN AND MD OF NLC B. Surender Mohan was appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) on 1 July 2012. A R Ansari was the former Managing Director of Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Neyveli Lignite Corporation is the government organization and the leading company in mining, thermal power plants and innovative researches. B. Surender Mohan is 56 years old. He served as the Mines Director in his earlier stage of life. He started his career from Rourkela Steel Plant and he was the Deputy General Manager at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam in the year 1998. In addition, he was trained in various institutes of France and Italy. He presented many papers on the mining industry in Washington DC, United States of America and Poland.

BRAZIL COURT ORDERED BASF AND SHELL TO COMPENSATE 382 MILLION DOLLARS

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Brazil court on 3 July 2012 ordered Baden Aniline and Soda Factory (BASF) and Royal Dutch Shell to pay 382 million dollar into a compensation fund. The fund would likely to be given to the ex-employees who were suffered from working in contaminated and sickened agricultural chemical plant. Both companies were disputed against the decision. As per annual report of BASF, in 1995 Shell was operating the site in the Brazilian municipality of Paulinia, after that Shell sold it to the American Cyanamid. BASF claimed that it had bought the site in the year 2000 and at that time the site was already infected by Shell. After that in 2011, BASF SA, parent company of BASF SE had also approved that the site was extensively infected by production of crop protection products.

DELL INC ANNOUNCED TO BUY QUEST SOFTWARE INC FOR 2.4 BILLION DOLLAR CASH Dell Inc on 3 July 2012 announced to buy Quest Software Inc for 2.4 billion dollar to increase its software and reduce its dependence on personal computer souk. There was a bidding war between Dell and Insight Initial offer to buy Quest Software. In this, Insight Initial Offer bid on 23 dollar per share in March 2012 where Dell bid on 25.50 dollar per share and bough the Quest Software Inc. International Business Primarily, Dell awarded Quest its 1300 engineers and its Machines Corp. (IBM) secure software designed for businesses and government agencies. Dell is with Quest to sell more servers, networking and storage products and computing services as it is more profitable than PCs currently. Dell decided to buy Quest because it founded itself a step behind its rivals Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and to become one-stop shops for corporate information technology needs. Quest is Dell's biggest purchase after Perot Systems for 3.9 billion dollar in 2009. Dell Inc. is an American multinational computer technology corporation in US. It was founded by Michael Dell. It is one of the largest technological corporations in the world. It is the third largest PC vendor across the world after HP and Lenovo.

EUROPEAN AEROSPACE AIRBUS BUILD ITS 1ST US ASSEMBLY PLANT IN ALABAMA European aerospace Airbus on 2 July 2012 announced to build its first US assembly Plant in Alabama to compete with Boeing. The Alabama plant costs around 600 million dollar. It will employ around 1000 people and likely to be complete till 2017. Previously, Airbus had planned to manufacture refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force in Alabama. But its parent company, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. had lost the contract to Boeing in 2011. Boeing is already present in Alabama and its employing 2700 people in defense and rocket operations. Airbus appears to increase its A320 production while Boeing is producing its 737. Airbus A320 directly competes with Boeing 737. Both companies are placing new, more fuel-efficient engines www.jagranjosh.com

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on the planes to extend their request as airlines try to cut fuel costs. Airbus had the facility in Mobile to design and install the interior items like seats and cabin equipment for its big planes, this facility would likely employ around 230 people.

APPLE PAID 60 MILLION DOLLAR TO SHENZHEN PROVIEW TECHNOLOGY TO SETTLE LEGAL DISPUTE Apple had paid 60 million dollar to Chinese computer maker Shenzhen Proview Technology on 2 July 2012 to settle legal dispute over iPad trademaker. The dispute was that Proview claimed the ownership of iPad trademark whereas Apple contradicted that it had bought the trademaker earlier.

Proview demanded 400 billion dollar to settle the dispute, but Apple had paid 60 million dollar and 55 million dollar earlier. The total amount was not given to Proview inspite of that it had settled the dispute because it has to pay debts. The settlement was signed by the Communist Party of China outside the court in between Proview and Apple. The settlement was later announced in the court. The Apple transferred the amount of 60 million dollar to the Guangdong High Court account which was requested in mediation letter. After US, Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest market is in China. After the settlement, Apple is free to sell the new iPad 3 in China. Apple Tablets are already approved by China telecommunications equipment certification agency in May 2012. Apple's products are made in China-based factories which are run by Taiwanese firm Foxconn.

VODAFONE CAPTURED 1.04 BILLION EURO OF BRITISH FIRM CABLE AND WIRELESS Vodafone on 3 July 2012 agreed to take over 1.04 billion euro of British firm cable and Wireless Worldwide (C & WW). The decision was taken after Tata Communications withdrew itself when it failed to agree on a price. Vodafone is the only remaining option for the British firm cable and Wireless. Vodafone made the payment of 38 pence a share. There was 92 percent premium to the C&WW share price when the offer was first made on 10 February 2012.

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C&WW will provide voice, data hosting and IP-based services and applications. This will help Vodafone to expand its international cable network up to 425000 km to diversify its business further beyond mobile handsets. Vodafone is the largest telecom operator after BT in Britain. C&WW also has international assets including India. Vodafone had rejected the taxsynergy (lower cost of debt) with the use of C&WW as it was the only reason for bid.

STATE BANK OF PATIALA LAUNCHED GOLD LOAN (SWARN SHAKTI) FOR FARMERS State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) on 2 July 2012 launched gold loan (Swarn Shakti) for farmers against the security of gold ornaments to provide free loans to the farmers without taking loan on land. It would help farmers meet their small and long term agricultural needs with crop production, investment and consumption. The maximum amount of loan is 10 lakh rupees and 30 percent margin will be given by the farmers. The loan for crop production will be charged at 7 percent per year up to 3 lakh rupees. Further, 3 percent interest of financial support will be given to farmers who refund their loans in time. Therefore, the actual rate of interest charged will be 4 percent. The total period to refund the amount will be 36 months counting with harvesting season.

MTS ANNOUNCED FLAT R ATE OF 30 PAISE/MINUTE FOR LOCAL, STD, ROAMING AND ISD CALLS Mobile Tele Systems (MTS) on 4 July 2012 launched a new scheme to enjoy all the services at a flat rate of 30 paise per minute. The services includes local, STD, roaming, ISD calls, an SMS including data usage at 30 paise per MB (Mega Byte). MTS is a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) service provider. MTS has about 16 million users. The scheme is available Mobile Tele Systems (MTS) for new as well as for the existing customers through a recharge coupon between 50 rupees to 100 rupees. The customer will make or receive calls at 30 paisa per minute on roaming. This offer is valid for ISD calls made to US and Canada with a cap of 100 minutes per month. When the limit is over, the company will charge the standard rates. It also announced free access to Facebook for a month through MTS planet on entry level phones given to the customers.

MAHINDRA LAUNCHED 100 CRORE RUPEES R&D CENTRE FOR TWOWHEELERS IN PUNE Mahindra invested 100 crore rupees for Research and Development (R&D) centre for twowheelers on 4 July 2012 with the investment plan of 500 crore rupees till 2017. It will enable www.jagranjosh.com

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Mahindra two wheelers to undertake in-house design and development of engine technology for its motorcycles. Pune R&D centre is the third largest two-wheeler centre in India. It has 175 engineers and designers. The facility has an Engine Development Centre (EDC), vehicle design & development facility, testing facilities and prototype centre. Mahindra also launched two new engines-110cc and 300cc which was developed at the R&D centre as well as the Duro DZ which was fitted with a fuel-efficient micro hybrid technology engine. Duro DZ would likely to be launched till September 2012. Mahindra and Mahindra is an Indian multinational automaker. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is one of the largest automobile manufactures in India and a subsidiary of Mahindra Group. It was founded by K.C. Mahindra and J.C. Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Mohammed in 1945.It is a major manufacturer of commercial vehicles, two wheelers, and service vehicles.

CADBURY LAUNCHED FAMOUS TRIANGULAR SWISS CHOCOLATE BRAND TOBLERONE The Chocolate brand Cadbury on 4 July 2012 launched its famous Triangular Swiss Chocolate Brand Toblerone in India to enlarge its market. Cadbury decided to get Toblerone due to tremendous success of its Italian rival Ferrero Rocher in the country. Ferrero Rocher brands are Oreo cookies and Tang powdered drink mix. It would be available in the India in five pack sizes ranging between 65 rupees for 50 gm pack to 430 rupees for 400 gm pack in retail outlets. Cadbury India gazes to position the brand as premium gifting brands with its unique shape, different taste. Toblerone is manufactured only at Bern Brunnen in Switzerland and exported across world. It is the largest selling chocolate brand in duty-free and travel retail. Only 4 percent of Toblerone is sold in their own country while rest 96 percent of the production is sold in other countries. Toblerone is sold in around 122 countries. Cadbury India also sells brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Bournvita, 5 Star, Perk, Bournville and Celebrations in India.

SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA BOUGHT BILTHOVEN BIOLOGICALS FOR 550 CRORE RUPEES Vaccine-maker Serum Institute of India on 4 July 2012 bought polio vaccine maker Bilthoven Biologicals for 550 crore rupees (80 million euro). The acquirement gives Serum a manufacturing base in Europe and greater access to European and U.S. markets. Bilthoven Biologicals was owned by the Netherlands government where as the Serum Institute of India is owned by Cyrus Poonawalla Group.

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The initial amount of 220 crore rupees (32 million euro) was already given for 100 percent shares in the Bilthoven Biologicals where as the rest amount of 330 crore rupees will be paid within three-year period with other liabilities in the company. Serum planned to invest about 70 million to 80 million euros with the acquisition amount in three years to grow polio vaccine maker manufacturing capacity and to meet capital requirements.Due to the acquisition, Serum Institute will get access to technology and proficiency for making Injectable Polio Vaccine (Salk). Serum Institute is centred in Pune, India. It is the fifth largest vaccine maker by volume across the world. Bilthoven Biologicals is manufacturing 20 million vaccines doses per year. It sells the vaccines to Europe and other developing countries

PAYMENT Serum would likely to attain the fund through internal growth and a capital loan from banks. It had attained a turnover of 1700 crore rupees in 2011-12 where 700 crore rupees was the profit.

ELECTRONICS COMPANY TOSHIBA LAUNCHED C, L, M, U SATELLITE SERIES Toshiba launched fully-equipped C, L, M and U Satellite series on 4 July 2012. The C series includes C840 and C850, L series with L850, M series with M840 and Ultrabook satellite U840. The new series of laptop offers high definition entertainment, outstanding performance, higher HD entertainment and style. The Ultrabook have 14 inch screen with 21:9 wide. It has the 1792X768 pixel display resolution. These new Satellite C, L, M and U series will be available at Toshiba authorized stores in India. Toshiba Corporation is Japanese multinational electronics, electrical equipment and information Technology Corporation in Tokyo, Japan. Earlier it was named Tokyo Shibaura Electric K.K. It was the fifth largest personal computer company after HP, Dell, Acer and Lenovo in 2010.

YAHOO! INDIA SIGNED AGREEMENT WITH IIT-MADRAS TO SET R&D Yahoo! India on 5 July 2012 signed an agreement with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to support its faculty and students in Cloud Computing Research. The project costs around 50 lakh rupees. The lab will be available for cloud computing courses and doctoral candidates. The students will be able to start to work in lab from next semester. As per Yahoo Vice-President Hari Vasudev, Indian product offering generates over 200 terabytes of data in a week. Such big data research performed at the R&D lab would likely to help Yahoo in analysing data, which is later be used to improve its various products like Yahoo Home Page, Yahoo Slides. So the agreement is helpful for yahoo as well as for IIT-Madras.

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Cloud Computing is the release of computing and storage capacity as a service to different community of end-recipients. It gives services with a user data, software and computation over a network. Recently in November 2011, Yahoo! India launched a free online video service. By this, Yahoo! video will give the real matter across various sorts like news, entertainment, lifestyle and movies.

EIL SIGNED INTEGRATED REFINERY EXPANSION PROJECT OF BPCL AT KOCHI Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) on 6 June 2012 announced to secure for Integrated Refinery Expansion Project (IREP) at Kochi. It costs around 720 crores rupees. The project involves expanding crude oil refining capacity from 9.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 15.5 MMTPA. EIL would likely to provide the consultancy services for project management, process design, residual process design, detailed engineering, procurement, inspection, expending, tendering, construction management and supervision. With this, EIL also had 50 petroleum refinery projects. Consultancy Services Contract from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL)

Besides all this, EIL also providing its services to various refineries in India like Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), BPCL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), KRL, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL), Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL )and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL). EIL is a Total Solutions Consultancy Company. It is the Metric tonnes per annum Engineering, Procurement and Construction. (EPC) Contractor (MMTPA) in the field of Petroleum Refining, Petrochemicals, Pipelines, Oil & Gas Terminal & Storages, Mining & Metallurgy and Infrastructure projects. EIL is also expanding into nuclear, solar and thermal power, water and solid waste management, city gas distribution and fertilizers sectors.

NOKIA LAUNCHED WINDOW-BASED PHONE LUMIA 610 AT 12999 RUPEES Nokia launched its window-based phone Lumia 610 on 6 July 2012 in four colours-white, black, cyan and magenta. It is the cheapest device in the series. It costs around 12999 rupees. It had also launched Lumia 710 at 15000 rupees and Lumia 800 at about 24000 rupees. Nokia Lumia 610 has a silky plastic cover touch screen. The touch screen is of 3.7 inch with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. It has many features like Radio Mix and Nokia Transport, Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. It runs on latest version of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, 8 GB internal storage and a camera of 5MP camera. It is powered by 800 MHz processor www.jagranjosh.com

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and has 256 MB RAM. There is alternative to add a micro SD card and good browsing speed. The customers will also get selected content, information, trailers etc from the movie in addition to games from Lumia 610.

BPO FIRM SUNDARAM FINANCE LTD. SIGNED VARIOUS DEALS IN AUSTRALIA Sundaram Finance Ltd., the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) arm of Sundaram Business Services (SBS) on 9 July 2012 signed a number of deals to expand its BPO servies in Australia.The Company is targeting to expand its Australian business by 50 percent in 2012. Sundaram Business Services . It also offers accounting, credit processing, deposit (SBS) provides non-voice support processing, employee administration and insurance services related processing services. The company is based in Chennai, India. It would process around 3 lakh mortgage documents annually. The overall BPO business from Australia for SBS was around 15 crore rupees in the year 2011-12. It had also signed a deal with a Sydeny- based company to undertake mortgage process work from India. It has also signed Melbourne-based Research Company to undertake high-end equity research back office work. As per the company, each contract will cost around 15 crore rupees.

FACEBOOK EXTENDED IT S APP CENTER IN INDIA AND SIX OTHER COUNTRIES Facebook on 9 July 2012 extended its application centre App Center in India and six other countries. This will help App Center users find games, music and media content easily. The other six countries are Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The users can access App Center tagged on the left side of its homepage on facebook.com and on Apple and Android mobile devices. The App Center will give modified experience to the users depending upon their as well as their friends interests. It includes games, fashion, food, fitness, travel, otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s lifestyle apps. Facebook expanded its plan to reach to large number of its users. Currently, it has more than 900 active users in the world.

FACEBOOK APP DASHBOARD Facebook also added App Dashboard tool that allows developers to translate the names and description of their apps into other languages. It would allow developers to translate the names and descriptions of their apps into other languages. In this, developers will choose a primary language for their apps with the secondary language by localize tab on the App Dashboard. It offers Six Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam in India. . www.jagranjosh.com

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MAHINDRA SATYAM LAUNCHED APPAREL & FASHION XPRESS FOR ORACLE RETAIL A topmost IT services provider, Mahindra Satyam on 11 July 2012 launched Apparel and Fashion xPress for Oracle Retail implementation. It will cater to the requirement of average market fashion and apparel retailers globally. It is likely to help the traders to grow through international market. This will provide a new accelerated framework Apparel & Fashion xPress for Oracle retail implementation, Global merchandise restrictions, integrations with wholesale parties and Franchises, 3 Programming language (PL) warehouse Integration. It is also providing decision support features for better business user productivity and a solution accelerator to improve the internal supply chain efficiency. Mahindra Satyam is an Indian IT services company in Hyderabad, India. It was founded by B. Ramalingua Raju in 1987. The company offers consulting and IT services. It is included in top 10 industries in India.

GOVERNMENT APPOINTED NASIR ALI AS THE NEW JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR OF AIR INDIA Civil aviation Ministry on 11 July 2012 appointed Nasir Ali as the new joint managing director. Prior to his promotion, he was dealing with human resource issue related to the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. He is the second managerial executive posted in airline by civil aviation ministry after Rohit Nandan who was appointed as the chairperson and managing director of the airline in 2011. Previously, Nasir Ali worked as the director with the civil aviation ministry. He was appointed as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the Air India Airline. He was the head of four-member committee to apply Dharmadhikari Committee proposal on amalgamation of Air India and Indian Airlines in the year 2008.

TATA GROUP FIRM ROOTS CORPORATION LTD. PLANNED 5 MORE GINGER HOTELS Tata Group firm Roots Corporation Ltd. (RCL) on 11 July 2012 planned five more Ginger Hotels. The five hotels are likely to be inaugurated in metro and Tier I cities. RCL functions in the field of hospitality sector. Tata Group firm Roots Corporation Ltd. (RCL) The decision was taken due to growing demand in domestic travel industry. Ginger is likely to invest 50 crore rupees to open 5 Ginger hotels in the country. Currently, it works in Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Durg, Goa, Guwahati, Haridwar, Jamshedpur, Ludhiana, Mangalore, www.jagranjosh.com

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Mysore, Nasik, New Delhi, Pantnagar, Pondicherry, Pune-Pimpri, Pune-Wakad, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Surat, Chennai, Manesar and Vivek Vihar. Roots Corporation (RCL) operates the Ginger chain of hotels. It is completely owned subsidiary of Indian Hotels Corporation (IHCL). RCL has 25 assets in the country. It was established in 2003 and runs the first-of-its-kind Smart Basics hotels across India.

MARISSA MAYER APPOINTED AS THE NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO OF YAHOO Yahoo, worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest search engine by query volume, appointed Marissa Mayer as its new President and CEO. Mayer prior to this appointment served as the top executive at Google. Mayer, who assumed the charge on 17 July 2012 will lead the product innovation in troubled internet company by bringing out the new perspective. Mayer, 37, joined Google in 1999 as its 20th employee and first female engineer. In her over a decade long stint at Google she led a number of its businesses, and was credited for simplifying the Google search interface, a major selling point for the company. A graduate from Stanford University, Mayer was instrumental in several projects at Google including Google Search, Google News, Google Images and Gmail. The appointment of Mayer at the top position of the company also put an end on prolonged years of turmoil in the company which saw 5 CEOs in 5 years. In May 2012 Scott Thompson was forced to resign as CEO of the company after less than 6 months on the job. Thompson had replaced controversial Carol Bartz who was fired in September 2011 after failing to revitalize Yahoo. Following the resignation of Thompson, Ross Levinsohn took over as the acting CEO of the company. Yahoo has been facing stiff competition in the market from Google and Facebook. The company has lost its user base significantly over the past few years. As per a 2009 data, its share in global internet business shrank to 6.42 percent while its prime competitor Google acquired 85.35 percent of the query volume on the internet. Yahoo has starkly failed to catch with the changing needs of global users, paving the way for Google to capture the larger share of market with its innovative and user friendly services. The appointment of Mayer as the head of the company signals the change in its business strategy. With Mayer, an engineer with well established credentials, taking over the control of the company, Yahoo is likely to pay additional attention on Web technology and products rather than concentrating on online content only.

HINDI NEWS CHANNEL ITV ACQUIRED ENGLISH NEWS CHANNEL NEWS X Information TV (ITV), which operates Hindi news channel of India News on 17 July 2012 acquired 100 percent stake of English news channel NewsX. This is likely to expand the ITV group India News (Hindi news channel), in addition to six regional news channels in the north and central zones of India. www.jagranjosh.com

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ITV is a part of Piccadilly Group of Companies, based in New Delhi. It works in print and electronic media. Piccadilly Group also holds Good Morning India (GMI). GMI is the print division. It publishes daily Hindi newspaper Aaj Samaj and politically and social affairs Hindi magazine India News on the weekly basis. Aaj Samaj is published from Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Ambala, Panchkula, Mohali. ITV was launched on 19 January 2004. NewX is the English news channel. It was India's first high-definition news channel. It is a part of INX media which operates in music and entertainment channels. It was founded by ex-STAR India CEO Peter Mukerjea and launched as a part of INX News on 28 March 2008.

NESTLE HEALTH SCIENCE ACQUIRED A STAKE IN ACCERA TO MAKE MILKSHAKE FOR ALZHEIMER’S PATIENTS KitKat chocolate, Nescafe coffee and Maggi soup maker Nestle Health Science on 19 July 2012 acquired a stake in U.S based company Accera, that makes milkshake prescribed to Alzheimer’s patients. Accera specializes in the research, development and commercialization of medical foods for neurodegenerative disorders. Nestle is likely to invest about 500 million dollar in 10 years to make more food and drinks products on gastrointestinal, metabolic and brain health. Accera’s main brand Axona sells an easy-mix vanilla flavour powder which is added to milk or other liquid for Alzheimer’s patient. Axona is already suggested to around 30 thousand gentle and sensible Alzheimer patient in U.S only. The product is made from a compound derived from coconut oil. The derived product from coconut oil works as energy source for the brain and help Alzheimer's patients, because their brains are less able to use glucose for the energy as per their requirement. Alzheimer affects memory and cognitive function in adults. It is a progressive neurologic disease of the brain causes irreversible loss of neurons and thinking abilities. It is more common form of Dementia. Dementia is a non-specific syndrome, affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behaviour.

JET AIRWAYS INTRODUCED JETESCAPES PACKAGES FOR CORPORATE TRAVELLERS Jet Airways on 19 July 2012 introduced JetEscapes packages for corporate travellers and guests looking for a holiday break. The packages include individual overnight stay to corporate groups stay. It also has monsoon packages and luxurious packages. For corporate travellers, two nights group packages within India to Goa, Kochi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Udaipur starts from 12003 rupees. www.jagranjosh.com

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The airline is also offering two and three nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s package to Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong starting from 32737 rupees. Group packages of the airline providing conference hall facility, besides of air tickets, airport transfers, 3-star lodging, meals and travel insurance. Jet Airways is the largest Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was founded by Naresh Goyal in 1 April 1992. It operates more than 400 flights daily to 76 destinations across the world. Its main hub is Mumbai and secondary hub at Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin, Ahmadabad and Mangalore. It has an international hub at Brussels Airport, Belgium.

GODREJ PROPERTIES SIGNED MOU WITH AXIS BANK; OFFERED HOME LOAN SCHEME Real estate firm on 19 July 2012 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Axis bank to offer special finance solution scheme for its customers to make their purchasing affordable. Godrej Properties GPL projects customers will get home loan from Axis bank (GPL) by paying 10 percent margin money against the traditional 20 per cent margin. The customers will have the flexibility to pay the balance 10 percent during the term of payment schedule. Godrej Properties Ltd is a real estate company in India. It is a part of Godrej Industries Ltd. It was founded by Adi Godrej in 1 January 1990. It is first real estate Company to have International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

TATA POWER SIGNED A LONG TERM AGREEMENT WITH INDONESIAN FIRM Tata Power on 20 July 2012 signed an agreement with Indonesian firm PT Antang Gunung Meratus (AGM) to secure fuel for its thermal power plants. AGM is the 100 percent subsidiary of the Indonesian company PT Baramulti Sukses Sarana (BSSR).

Antang Gunung Meratus (AGM)

Tata Power already has 30 percent equity stake in Indonesian two major coal producer, PT Kaltima Prima Coal and PT Arutmin Indonesia. Apart from this, Tata Powerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100 percent subsidiary Khopoli Investments Limited also inked an agreement acquired 26 percent stake in BSSR. It is likely to hold about 1 billion tonnes of coal in South and East Kalimantan in Indonesia. Recently, Tata Power organized the second 800 megawatt of 4000 megawatt Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Gujarat. The company is importing coal from Indonesia for this project. Also the company thermal power generation capacity stands at 5247 megawatt and the generation through clean sources like hydro, wind and solar at 852 Baramulti Sukses Sarana (BSSR) www.jagranjosh.com

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megawatt. Currently, Tata Powerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total generation capacity stays at 6099 megawatt.

PHILIPS INDIA LAUNCHED BODYGROOM GADGET BG2024 FOR MEN AT 2495 RUPEES Philips India on 20 July 2012 launched the Philips Bodygroom gadget BG2024 for men priced at 2495 rupees. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a body hair trimming and shaving gadget for men. The gadget is likely to be imported from Philips resources in Holland. The Bollywood actor John Abraham is the Brand Ambassador of Philips Male Grooming. The gadget will be available in 500-750 stores in India. Philips also decided to replace the existing product with more modern and advanced features as per the needs of Indian customers. Philips decided to sell products through cosmetic channels, gadget stores, besides modern retail outlets like Croma stores, Shoppers stop and Reliance in all major cities of the country.

RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE TO INVEST 160 MILLION DOLLAR AT RENAULT SAMSUNG MOTORS KOREA The Renault-Nissan alliance on 20 July 2012 announced to invest 160 million dollar at in Busan, Korea. The company is likely to add 80 thousand units of production at RSM. The production is likely to begin in the year 2014, with an annual capacity of around 80 thousand units. The plant plans to build 180 thousand vehicles sale in Korea and 60 other countries. Earlier in 2012, Renault Samsung Motors launched RSM 2012 revival Plan which aims to attain efficiency and cost competitiveness in Busan. Currently, RSM has four models- SM3 compact, SM5 midsize sedan, SM7 large sedan and QM5 SUV (sold outside Korea).

Renault Samsung Motors (RSM)

The partnership between Renault-Samsung was established on 27 March 1999, when Renault acquired 70.1 percent stake in Samsung Motors. Samsung Motors is car-making unit of Samsung Group. It was the first industrial and commercial partnership involving French and a Japanese company.

PERCEPT LIMITED LAUNCHED A GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY PERCEPT LIVE Percept Limited launched a global entertainment company Percept Live on 20 July 2012 to focus on creating academics for sports, entertainment and social media. The media, entertainment and communications are planning to invest around 200 crore rupees.

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Percept has appointed Balaji Telefilmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former TV CEO Manuj Agarwal as the Chief Executive of Percept Live. Percept IPs includes Sunburn, Fight Night, Bollywood Live and fans Football Championship in sports space. Percept is planning to organize 30 events in the year 2012. Besides, the expansion of IP property Sunburn, a music festival plans to launch in other cities. In Delhi it is likely to come in October 2012. Percept Live also aims to take Sunburn in cities like Jakarta, Colombo, Dubai and Singapore and looking to host the event in Mexico. The company is also aiming to build another IP property in the music space Lost. For Lost, Percept Live has the partnership with Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal.

ONGC WAS AWARDED GOLD TROPHY IN SAFETY MANAGEMENT AWARD 2012 Greentech Foundation awarded Gold Trophy in Safety Management Award 2012 on 24 July 2012 to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The conference was held in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. The Application of the Company was shortlisted by the award committee. ONGC was selected in Corporate Category for the gold trophy of safety Oil and Natural Gas management award. A.K.Hazarika and Anoop Kumar are Corporation (ONGC) the Director and ED-Chief HSE of ONGC. The Greentech Foundation provides an opportunity to discuss on the issues of fire, Safety & Security and the innovative ways to overcome these challenges faced by different Industries and corporates.

GAIL AND ONGC SIGNED SWAP AGREEMENT AND GAS CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT GAIL gas India Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) signed Swap Agreement and Gas Co-operation Agreement on 26 July 2012. According to the Gas Co-operation Agreement, ONGC can sale and purchase the gas from GAIL for three years. In addition, both the companies can supply or sale LNG by GAIL to ONGC for the reduction of C2+ Extraction at Dahej. The components of C2+ will be supplied to ONGC Petro additions Limited (OPAL) for manufacturing the petrochemicals at Dahej Special Economic Zone. According to the Swap Agreement, ONGC would supply gas to customers through GAIL's infrastructure so as to enhance the availability and the effective utilization of resources. If both the companies (ONGC and GAIL) will find the beneficial results with the Gas Co-operation Agreement they could extend it.

FAMOUS CRICKETER SACHIN TENDULKAR WAS SIGNED AS THE BRAND AMBASSADOR OF BMW

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Famous Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was signed as the Brand Ambassador of BMW on 27 July 2012. The German Luxury brand BMW will launch New Three Series Sedan. Sachin Tendular was the Brand Ambassador of Fiat and Parent Company of Ferrari. Sachin Tendulkar is also known as the big fan of the Italian Sports Car Ferrari. It is the first time that BMW is connected with the celebrity.

KAVVERI TELECOM ACQUIRED US FIRM WPCS INTERNATIONAL Kavveri Telecom acquired US Firm WPCS International on 26 July 2012. Kavveri Telecom and WPCS International are a Bangalore based firm and US Based firm respectively. WPCS International is into the business of wireless Communications Division. They make solutions used by the police officers, firemen and other emergency Services. WPCS International has their operations in Lakewood, New Jersey and Hartford in Connecticut. This acquisition will provide Kavveri with a range of wireless systems solutions in addition to its existing products portfolio. Kavveri Telecom makes Cellphone Tower antennas, Radio Frequency (RF) components, repeaters and other telecom products. WPCS International is the parent company of the wireless communications division, provides infrastructure for companies in the energy and utility sector, healthcare, educational institutions and public services organizations worldwide. According to the Analysts, Kavveri’s telecom products can enter in the US market with this acquisition. Kavveri Telecom wants to become global in wireless infrastructure solutions. Since, 2006 the company had acquired five American companies.

RAVNEET GILL APPOINTED AS THE NEW CEO OF DEUTSCHE BANK INDIA Deutsche Bank, the largest German lender, appointed Ravneet Gill as the new CEO of the bank’s Indian operations. Gill replaced Gunit Chadha to the top position, who was elevated as co-chief executive of Asia Pacific along with Alan Cloete in June 2012. Prior to his appointment as the CEO, Gill headed the capital markets and treasury solutions, and oversaw the successful integration of corporate treasury sales, debt capital markets and corporate banking coverage in the country, the German lender said in a statement. As the head of Bank’s India’s operation, Gill will report Gunit Chaddha and Alan Cloete.

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Gill, in a banking career spanning nearly 26 years, worked on various banking projects including capital market, corporate and treasury. H e joined the Deutsche bank in 1991 at the private wealth management and moved to the corporate banking division in 1993. In 2003, he was appointed the head of corporate banking coverage and held the position till December 2008 when he took over as the head of coverage for global markets and built a dominant flow franchise to compliment the platform's structured products' capabilities. Gill was appointed the head of capital markets & treasury solutions of Deutsche Bank in 2011.

APPLE LAUNCHED OS X 10.8 MOUNTAIN LION SYSTEM Apple Launched OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion System on 25 July 2012. This Application is for Mac Range of Personal Computers. The OS X 10.8 will be fully integrated with social networks like:Facebook and Twitter. OS X Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac Appstore at 19.99 Dollars (Rs.1110 approx). It can compete with most of the iMacs and Macbooks manufactured after the year 2007-08. This Application also brings the iMessage platform to iMacs and Mac Notebooks. It can be upgraded with 200 new features as compared to the Operating System (OS) Lion. With the help of this Application, users can tweet or post their messages on the Facebook along with browsing web or viewing photos. In addition, it will allow users to chat with other users who are running the program either on their Macs or other mobile Apple devices.

SPORTS SPAIN BEAT ITALY 4-0 TO WIN UEFA EURO CUP FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2012 Spain beat Italy 4-0 in the final to win UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Euro Cup Football Championship 2012 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, on 1 July 2012. Spain which had earlier defeated Germany 1-0 in 2008 Euro Cup not only defended the title but also created a record by becoming the first team to claim two consecutive titles in tournamentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 52-year long history. Spain and Italy had defeated Portugal and Germany respectively in their semi final matches. Iker Casillas was the captain of Spanish side, while the Italian side was led by Gianluigi Buffon.The four goals hit by David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata led the Spanish side to a remarkable victory, which virtually started a debate among the football followers whether this Spanish side is the best national side ever? Spain midfielder AndrĂŠs Iniesta of Spain was declared the man of the match given his match winning performance, while www.jagranjosh.com

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Fernando Torres was given the Golden Boot as he scored three goals in the Spain’s title winning campaign. Torres also became the first ever player in the history of the tournament to score in two separate European Championship finals. The Italian Soccer team is also called Azzuri, which is its popular name. Azzurri is the plural adjective form of Azzurro which in Italian language means light blue. Since the Italian team's costume colour is blue and white, the team is called Azzuri. The nick name of Spanish soccer team is La Furia Roja which in Spanish language means the red fury. Spain and Italy were placed in group C along with Croatia and Republic of Ireland.

IMPORTANT FACTS RELATED TO UEFA EURO 2012 •

Poland-Ukraine jointly hosted the sporting event

•

Euro Cup 2012 began on 8 June 2012 and concluded on 1 July 2012

• The winning team received the prize money 7.5 million euro, while the runner-up team got 4.5 million euro as the prize money. Teams which made to semi-finals and quarter-finals received 3 million euros and 2 million euro respectively as prize money. •

The Euro Cup 2016 will take place in France

• A total of 16 countries namely, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Russia, Portugal, England, Germany, Netherland, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Republic of Ireland participated in Euro Cup 2012 •

The sixteen teams were divided into four groups, A, B, C & D

•

Eight cities were selected by UEFA as host venues

• A total of 31 matches were played during Euro 2012, with Ukraine hosting 16 of them and Poland 15 • There were 10 global sponsors of the Euro Cup 2012. The list includes, Adidas, Canon, Castrol, Continental, Orange and Telekomunikacja, PolskaHyundai-Kia Carlsberg, McDonald's, SHARP

THREE RUSSIAN FEMALE ATHLETES WERE SUSPENDED Russian Athletics Federation on 3 July 2012 decided to suspend three Russian female athletes with the European Marathon Champion, Naiva Tulamanova. The three women are Svetlana Klyuka, Yevgenia Zinurova, Lithuania's Zivile Balciunaite. European Marathon Champion 2010 Naiva Tulamanova was banned for two years. While Second winner in 800 meters European Champions in 2006 Svetlana Klyuka and 2011 European 800 indoor winner Yevgenia Zinurova, were suspended for anomalous indexes in their biometric passports and Lithuania's Zivile Balciunaite was disqualified and banned for using steroids.

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The suspensions of Yulamanova and Klyuka have been backdated to February. The ban for Zinurova began from September. All the three were suspended to compete in Russian championships as well as from London Olympics which is starting from 27 July 2012.

EX-ENGLAND BATSMAN MARK RAMPRAKASH ANNOUNCED RETIREMENT FROM CRICKET Previous England Batsman Mark Ramprakash on 5 July 2012 announced his retirement from cricket after being told by Surrey that he was not figured in the selection plans. He was the most prolific and stylish batsman in the England cricket team. He scored 13000 runs in limited-over cricket and 35689 runs in 461 first-class matches. He had also played 18 one-day internationals. He topped 1000 runs in 20 separate seasons and three times made more than 2000 in 1995, 2006 and 2007. He is one in 25 players in the history of the sport who have scored 100 first-class centuries. His last Test was in 2002, but he was pushed to return in the year 2009.

SPRINT STAR USAIN BOLT QUIT FROM DIAMOND LEAGUE MEET IN MONACO Sprint star Usain Bolt on 5 July 2012 withdrew his name from the Samsung Diamond League meet in Monaco on 20 July 2012 due to slight problem at Jamaican Olympics trials. He was prepared for 200 meter race at Diamond League. He was suffered with a shock in his right hamstring after finishing in 200 meters at Jamaican Olympics trials which took place on 1 July 2012. He was second to Yohan Blake in 200 meters. He was also defeated by Blake in 100 meters in Kingston as well. Bolt withdrew his name from Diamond League to get enough time for treatment and time to prepare for the Olympic Games in London. Bolt is the three-time Olympic champion and five times world record holder. He was born on 21 August 1986. He was the record holder in 100 meters, 200 meters and 4X100 meters relay race.

ROGER FEDERER BEAT ANDY MURRAY TO CLAIM WIMBLEDON OPEN TITLE 2012

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Swiss (Switzerland) Tennis maestro Roger Federer beat British player Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 63, 6-4 to win the Wimbledon Open Championship Gentlemen’s Singles Final 2012 in London on 8 July 2012. Federer, with this victory also reclaimed the world No. 1 ranking surpassing Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks at the top of the game. Federer had defeated Djokovic in the semi-finals, while Murray had beat French Jo-Wilfreid Tsonga to make to the final of the tournament. In quarter-finals Federer had defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Murray overcame David Ferrer of Spain. The Wimbledon Open marked 17th career Grand Slam for Federer, who had earlier claimed the Wimbeldon title on 6 different occasions from 2003 to 2007 and again in 2009. Only William Renshaw's and Pete Sampras have got the distinction of winning the coveted Wimbledon singles title on seven occasions. Bunny Austin was the last British man to win the Wimbledon Open Titles in 1938. No other British player has been able to win the title since 1938.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION • The 14-day sporting event which had commenced on 25 June 2012 concluded with the Gentlemen’s Singles Final on 8 July 2012. • Serena Williams of US beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland to claim Ladies’ singles title. • The mixed pair of Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond defeated Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina to win the mixed doubled final. • The men’s doubles final was won by Jonathan Marray and Frederick Nielson who defeated Robert Lindstedt. • In Ladies’ Doubles final the pair of Serena Williams and Venus Williams emerged victorious as they defeated Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. • Wimbledon, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious sporting events in the world, has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. Played on a grass court, Wimbledon is one of the four major grand slam tournaments in the world. Other three grand slams are Australian Open, French Open and US Open.

SERENA WILLIAMS BEAT AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA TO CLAIM WIMBLEDON WOMEN’S SINGLES 2012 Ace US tennis player Serena Williams beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in Wimbledon women’s singles Title at the All England Club in London on 7 July 2012. William, the world no.6, beat the third seed, Radwanska who was playing her first grand slam final and striving to become the first Polish to win a Grand Slam. Radwanska made a history by becoming the first Polish tennis player to reach a grand slam final.

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Serena had defeated defending champion Petra Kvitová in the quarter finals and second-seeded Victoria Azarenka in semi-finals clash, while, Agnieszka Radwanska had defeated Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals and Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. The Wimbledon victory holds a great importance for Serena Williams who was out of the game for nearly 1 year as she suffered a dreadful foot injury and underwent a surgery for blood clots in her lungs. Serena, had claimed the Wimbledon women’s singles title on four occasions in the past including 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2010. In a career marked by 18 grand slam finals, Serena has to her credit 14 singles titles, which comprise all grand slams.

SOUTH AFRICAN WICKETKEEPER MARK BOUCHER ANNOUNCED RETIREMENT FROM INTERNATIONAL CRICKET South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on 10 July 2012 announced his retirement from International Cricket due to eye injury. He suffered the eye injury on the opening day of South Africa’s tour match against Somerset at Taunton on 9 July 2012. He was struck by a flying bail from Imran Tahir’s delivery. After that he was operated for 3 hours eye surgery in Taunton to repair a laceration to the white of his eyeball. Earlier, He had planned to retire after Somerset tour. Mark Boucher had played 147 Test matches with a world record of 555 dismissals which include 532 catches and 23 stumping. He scored 5515 runs with five centuries and 35 half centuries at an average of 30.30. He also played 295 ODIs in which he made 425 dismissals with 403 catches. He scored 4686 runs in a century and 26 half centuries.

ENGLAND BEAT AUSTRAL IA 4-0 TO CLAIM NATWEST CRICKET SERIES England beat Australia in the fifth and final one-day international cricket played at Old Trafford on 11 July 2012 to complete a 4-0 victory in the NatWest cricket series played in England. The English team was led by Alistair Cook while the Aussie team was led by Michael Clarke. England all-rounder Ravi Bopara starred in England’s final victory and was given the Man of the Match award. He claimed two wickets and made 52 not out off 56 balls. Ian Bells of England was given the Man of the Series Award. The victory marked the third series white wash for Australia over the last 40 years. The Australian team is still the world no.1 ODI team. Earlier the team had suffered clean sweeps against New Zealand (0-3) in 2006-07 and against England (0-3) in 1997.

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BRETT LEE ANNOUNCED RETIREMENT FROM ALL FORMS OF INTERNATIONAL CRICKET Ace Australian fast bowler Brett Lee announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on 12 July 2012. He, however, will continue to play in the Big Bash League and Indian Premier League. He had already announced his retirement from Test cricket in 2010. Brett Lee, 35, made his debut in the international cricket against India in the Melbourne Test in 1999. In a career spanning 13 years he played 76 Tests, 221 One Day Internationals and 25 T20 internationals. A bowler with frightening speed and sheer accuracy, he claimed over 700 international wickets (310 in Tests, 380 in ODIs and 28 in T20s). He has taken 10 five-wicket hauls in Tests and 9 five-wicket hauls in ODIs. He is also the first bowler to take a hat-trick in T20 cricket. Born in Wollogong in Australia, on 8 November 1976, Brett Lee ended his stint with the Australian Cricket Team as one of its most successful bowler in the history. He is the second highest ODI wicket-taker for Australia after Glenn McGrath (seventh all-time) and one of only four Australians to take more than 300 Test wickets. Lee has also been associated with the Indian Premiere League since the cricket extravaganza had commenced in 2008. Though, he is now the part of Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders, in the previous four seasons he played for the Kings 11 Punjab.

ENGLAND’S DAVID HOWELL WON THE 6TH LEIDEN INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT England’s David Howell won the 6th Leiden International Chess tournament at 7.5 points on 15 July 2012. The tournament was held at Leiden, Netherland from 7 July 2012 to 15 July 2012. The grandmaster and Asian champion Parimarjan Negi ended the tournament with 7 points out of nine possible points and was second in the 6th Leiden International Chess tournament. He defeated Netherland’s Benjamin Bok in the ninth round (final) of the tournament. He was announced as the Indian youngest Grandmaster at the age of 13 years on 1 July 2006 after drawing with Russian Grandmaster Ruslan Sherbakov. He also won the 11th Asian continental chess championship held in from 4 May 2012 to 14 May 2012 in Vietnam. Third place of the Leiden tournament was shared by two Indian Grandmasters S Arun Prasad and M.R. Lalith at 6.5 points.

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BRADLEY WIGGINS WON THE 99TH EDITION OF TOUR DE FRANCE BICYCLE RACE Bradley Wiggins of Britain became the first cyclist of the country, to win the coveted Tour de France Cycling race on 22 July 2012. Team Sky rider Wiggins is the first cyclist to have won both the Tour and an Olympic track cycling gold. His Sky teammate and fellow Briton, Froom Christopher came second. Their teammate and fellow country man Mark Cavendish was declared the day’s winner as he won the final stage of the race. Wiggins, 32, was given the yellow jersey at the end of the event. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day is given the yellow jersey. One of the most successful Olympian of Britain, Wiggins won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and three medals (1 Gold + 1 Silver + 1 Bronze) at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and two golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Wiggins is the first and only person in history to win the Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France in one single season.

TOUR DE FRANCE The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race event held in France and nearby countries. The first The Tour de France was held in 1903. The race which lasts three weeks, covers around 3200 kilometres. Mauris Garin was the winner of the first edition of tour, while Lance Armstrong of USA had won the race for 7 times, the highest individual win.

30TH EDITION OF SUMMER OLYMPICS INAUGURATED IN LONDON Summer Olympic Games 2012 inaugurated at Olympic Stadium at the Olympic Park in East London on 27 July 2012. Queen Elizabeth II officially declared the commencement of the 30th Olympics Game, popularly called the London Olympics, amidst the sparkling fireworks. The games, which will conclude on 12 August 2012, will see nearly 10500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participating in as many as 26 sports events. London was selected to host the 30th Summer Olympics on 6 July 2005 after it defeated bids from Moscow, New The York City, Madrid and Paris during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. London also got a distinction to host the modern Olympic Games three times. The city had previously hosted the games in 1908 and in 1948.

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BELOW ARE SOME OF THE MAJOR FACTS RELATED TO LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 1. 100 heads of states were present at the three and a half hour long opening ceremony 2. More than 10000 performers participated in the opening ceremony 3. The opening ceremony was directed by celebrated Hollywood director Danny Boyle 4. Motto of the London Olympics is - Inspire a Generation 5. 10500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participating in as many as 26 sports events

HOCKEY INDIA SIGNED A MULTI-YEAR BROADCAST AGREEMENT WITH ESPN STAR Hockey India on 30 July 2012 signed a multi-year broadcast agreement with ESPN STAR Sports to exclusively broadcast all international hockey test matches under Hockey India to be played in India for the next 5 years. Under the agreement the ESPN STAR Sports will also exclusively cover Hockey India League (HIL), which is expected to be launched in January 2013. The Hockey India is coming up with a professional hockey league that will see the best of Indian and international hockey players showcase their sporting skill. The first edition of the league is expected to be played in the month of January 2013. At least six franchise hockey teams will participate in the league and will feature 33 hockey matches to be played in prime time in stateof-the-art stadia across the country. All teams will play each other on a home and away basis (30 league matches) followed by 2 semifinals and the final.

WORLD DIARY 1 July 2012 

Joan Dunlop, a global leader in addressing women’s issues who helped prod the U.N. to define a woman’s right to say no to sex as an essential human right passed away



Enrique Pena Nieto of Institutional Revolutionary Party won the Mexican Presidential Election 2012



The meeting of world leaders including Russia and China in Geneva agreed a transition plan that could include regime members, but the West ruled out any role for President Bashar al-Assad in a unity government

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2 July 2012 

  

Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi urged national unity, resistance and patience in the face of the sanctions imposed on the country by the European Union in coordination with the U.S. Afghanistan government accused Pakistan army of opening rocket fire on posts inside Afghanistan while, Pakistan claimed that Afghan soldiers had entered Pakistan. Mali’s Islamist rebels destroyed the entrance of a 15th century Timbuktu mosque. Sri Lankan government summoned all Heads of its overseas Missions for an orientation session on Tamil issue.

3 July 2012 

Pakistan announced to reopen the NATO supply lines to Afghanistan after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologised for the losses caused to the Pakistan military in the Salala attack of 26 November 2012.

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At least 33 people were killed and score others were left wounded in a series of bomb explosions in Iraq. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad regretted his country’s defence forces bringing down a Turkish fighter jet on 22 June 2012, but maintained that the jet was in Syrian airspace. Iran initiated military intervention in the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could raise global oil prices and pave the way for a larger armed confrontation between Iran and western powers.

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India and Pakistan held Foreign Secretary level talk in New Delhi. Issues like terrorism, especially revelations by LeT operative Zabiuddin Ansari on Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks, and Jammu and Kashmir prominently figured in the dialogue. A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera which revealed that Yasser Arafat may have died of polonium poisoning and not of natural causes prompted Palestinians to demand an international investigation into the circumstances of their celebrated leader’s death. Nearly 2000 protesters gathered at the Independence Square monument at Bamako in Mali protesting against Islamists who have enforced strict Sharia, destroyed ancient shrines and trapped residents with landmines in their region.

5 July 2012

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The two-day foreign secretary level talk between India and Pakistan wrapped up with no tangible outcome although both reiterated their commitment to fighting terror. Pakistan government offered a joint probe into the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The British government banned the Indian Mujahideen (IM) for its alleged involvement in several terror attacks, including the Mumbai bombings. China pledged to strike with an iron fist at separatist forces in its restive Xinjiang region, as it deployed heavy security in the trouble-torn region on the third anniversary of deadly ethnic riots. China pledged financial aid to Cuba as Cuban President Raul Castro visited China and promised to roll out economic reforms in the communist nation. A parliamentary report said that Fukushima nuclear accident occurred in 2011, was a manmade disaster caused by Japan’s culture of “reflexive obedience” and not just the tsunami that hit the plant.

6 July 2012 

A world meeting on Syria held in Paris urged the UN to use the threat of sanctions to force change in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also lambasted Russia and China, two veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members for blocking peace in the country.

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The Pakistani government planned to frame a contempt law that will provide immunity to senior government functionaries for their executive actions. China made it clear that it has no plans to open a consulate in the Gilgit Baltistan region of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

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Libya held first poll after the death of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, to elect a National Assembly. The Obama administration declared Afghanistan the United States’ newest major nonNATO ally. Severe flash floods killed almost 100 people and displaced about 13000 in Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar. Buddhist artefacts worth millions possibly dating back to the first century A.D. Gandhara School of Art were recovered by the police in Karachi.

8 July 2012 

International donors pledged to give 16 billion dollar to Afghanistan as development aid over the next four years.

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Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsy ordered the reinstatement of his country’s Parliament. International Conference on Afghanistan held in Japanese capital Tokyo.

9 July 2012   

Aung San Suu Kyi attended Myanmar’s Parliament as a lawmaker for the first time South Sudan on marked its first year of independence. The country is badly trapped in border wars with the north, internal violence and shutdown of its vital oil production Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that the country would itself implement the 3-billion dollar Padma bridge project through mobilising domestic resources after the World Bank cancelled the loan deal recently

10 July 2012 

The International Criminal Court sentenced a Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in prison  Ten Southeast Asian nations reached on an agreement on a code of conduct to prevent armed clashes over the South China Sea but still sought China’s agreement  An Israeli court cleared the former Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert from corruption charges, that forced him out of power  The Islamists forces in northern Mali destroyed two tombs at the ancient Djingareyber mosque in Timbuktu 11 July 2012  At least 95 people were killed after a truck carrying fuel caught fire and exploded in Nigeria  At least nine police trainees were killed by terrorists at a crowded locality of Lahore  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum meeting in Phnom Penh  At least nine police trainees were killed by terrorists at a crowded locality of Lahore 12 July 2012  US imposed a fresh wave of sanctions against Iran, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran to stop its nuclear weapons programme  A cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid from the US to Cuba, the first expedition of its kind in 50 years, arrived in Cuba

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A court in Ethiopia court sentenced a journalist for 18 years imprisonment for terrorism and 23 others for between eight years and life, after a trial condemned by rights groups 13 July 2012

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Syrian troops and pro-regime militias stormed and torched a southern town in Syria, as T=the group of UN Observers visited the sites of mass killing  A suicide bomber blew himself up in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 23 people including a prominent warlord-turned-politician Ahmad Khan Samangani 14 July 2012  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Egypt  Japan recalled its Ambassador to China for consultations amid a simmering row between the Asian powers over disputed territory in the East China Sea  US President Barack Obama expressed concerns over the deteriorating investment climate in India and asked the Indian government to endorse another wave of economic reforms 23 July 2012   

At least 103 people were killed in Iraq after bombings and shootings ripped through thirteen cities in the country akistan ordered an investigation into a visa scam aimed at facilitating access to the London Olympics as part of the country’s Olympic squad Syria warned that it could use chemical weapons to combat external aggression, but never inside the country against its own people

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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned of endless Afghan-type civil war in Syria if President Bashar al-Assad is removed unconstitutionally China said it is keen to expand its fast-growing indigenous helicopter industry by reaching out to the Indian market The Supreme Court of Pakistan turned down the government’s request for a review of its order to open graft cases against President Zardai, saying such a petition should have been filed earlier as per rules

25 July 2012

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Supreme Court of Pakistan extended the time for the government to comply its order asking the government to write to the Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari North Korean state media confirmed that its new leader Kim Jong-Un is married A planned strike by immigration staff at Heathrow airport on the eve of the London Olympics was called off after an agreement was made

26 July 2012   

The wife of purged Chinese Politburo member Bo Xilai was charged with murder Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez unveiled a digitised 3-D image of Simon Bolivar based on remains exhumed two years ago A white gunman who shot student Anuj Bidve in an unprovoked racist attack in Salford, Manchester, in December 2011 was convicted of his murder

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India banned U.S.-sanctioned Iranian ships from entering its waters Immigration and customs authorities in New York City seized more than 20-million dollar worth of antiques, stolen from Indian temples The Russian Navy said the Russian naval flotilla, which entered the Mediterranean earlier this week, may be there for the long haul

28 July 2012   

A UN agreement aimed at regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade will have to wait after member states failed to reach an agreement A Russian-built fighter jet made the first landing on the INS Vikramaditya as part of comprehensive sea trials Chinese authorities acknowledged in rare frank comments that last week’s floods had exposed many loopholes in the Beijing’s planning and infrastructure

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US and Pakistan accused each other of doing too little to combat Taliban sanctuaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging the State Department to put the Haqqani network, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the US list of terrorist groups Catastrophic forest fires ravaged vast areas of Siberia, and ruined the region’s ecosystem. Fires destroyed 100000 sq km of forests across Russia

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ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY UNESCO INSCRIBES WESTERN GHATS MOUNTAIN CHAIN ON THE LIST OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES The science and cultural body of UN, inscribed India's 1600-km long Western Ghats mountain chain on the list of its world heritage sites on 1 June 2012. The Western Ghats mountain chain is globally renowned for its enormous biological diversity. The mountainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chains, which are older than the Himalaya, are widely responsible for the Indian monsoon weather pattern. United Nations Educational, The Western Ghats are also considered to be one of Scientific and Cultural the world's eight hottest hotspots of biological Organisation (UNESCO) diversity. The 1600-km long ghats, begins at the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra and passes through as many as 5 states including Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu marks the ending point of the ghats. The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO holds its meeting once every year where it reviews its list of World Heritage sites. The committee also looks into the implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which defines the kind of natural or cultural sites which can be considered for inclusion on the World Heritage List.

KARAKORAM GLACIERS R EMAINED IMPERVIOUS OF GLOBAL WARMING According to a recent study published in the Journal Nature Geo-science on 9 July 2012, Diran and Rakaposhi, two glaciers in the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan, remain unaffected of global warming and contrary to the popular belief, grew slightly in recent years. The study found that the glacier saw an increase in ice thickness of 0.11 (plus or minus 0.22) metres of water equivalent per year between 1999 and 2008. The researchers had study a 5615 sq km Karakoram Range of western China. The of great importance entire Himalayan estimated to lose about year.

used spaceborne data to section of the northern Pakistan and findings of the study are given the fact that the mountain range is 0.4 to 0.8 metres ice per

Karakoram mountain range, which account for 3 percent of the total ice-covered area in the world, is located across the border of Pakistan, India and China. The mountain range is concentrated in Gilgitâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Baltistan in Pakistan, Ladakh in India, and Xinjiang region, in China. Part of greater Himalaya it is one of the largest mountain range of the world. K2 or Godwin Austen, www.jagranjosh.com

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the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, is part of the Karakoram Range. The total elevation of K2 is 8611 m (28251 feet).

GLOBAL CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS INCREASED BY THREE PERCENT IN 2011 According to the findings of the report Trends in global CO2 emissions, global carbon dioxide (CO2), emission increased by three percent in 2011. The three percent increase in CO2 took the total amount of CO2 in air at an alltime high of 34 billion tonnes. The report was released on 19 July 2012 by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).

The United States with 17.3 tons per capita remains one of the top CO2 emitters, while, China, the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most populous country, average CO2 emissions increased by nine percent to 7.2 tonnes per capita. The 27-nation European Union emitted 7.5 tonnes of CO2 per person. Emissions from 34-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries account for only one third of global CO2 emissions in 2011. China (29 percent), the United States (16 percent), the European Union (11 percent), India (six percent), the Russian Federation (five percent) and Japan (four percent) were the top CO2 emitters in 2011.

WORLD BANK APPROVED 1100 CRORE RUPEES LOAN FOR HIMACHAL PRADESH The World Bank approved an 1100 crore rupees loan for Himachal Pradesh to promote green initiatives and sustainable development in the state. The loan agreement was signed between the World Bank and the state government in New Delhi on 28 July 2012. The financial assistance consists of 90 per cent grant and 10 per cent loan at interest rate of 0.7 per cent (payable in 30 years). The loan is directed towards the development of industry, tourism, power and infrastructure projects in the state. The planning commission of India in its environment performance report released on 26 July 2012, ranked Himachal Pradesh as top state in the country on environmental performance index. According to the 2009 Forest Survey of India, the northern hilly state has a total of 37033 sq km of forest area, of which 3224 sq km is very dense forest.

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY SCIENTISTS AT CERN D ISCOVERED A NEW SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLE CALLED HIGGS BOSON Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, on 4 July 2012, discovered a new sub-atomic particle called Higgs Boson or God’s Particle. The new discovery is being considered as a gateway to a new era in understanding the universe's great mysteries including dark matter. Scientists at CERN, the European Scientists had predicted the existence of Higgs Boson, Organization for Nuclear Research, which is also referred to as God’s Particle, in 1964. a new sub-atomic particle called The particle was named Higgs Boson after Peter Higgs Higgs Boson or God’s Particle and Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose. Peter Higgs was one of six authors who wrote the revolutionary papers covering what is now known as the Higgs mechanism and described the related Higgs field and boson. The term God particle was first used by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman. The term is now a more popular term for Higgs Boson which explains how the subatomic universe works and got started.

RUSSIAN SOYUZ SPACECRAFT BLASTED-OFF FROM THE BAIKONUR COSMODROME IN KAZAKHSTAN A Russian Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying three astronauts including Sunita Williams, the Indian-American astronaut, took-off for the international space station on 15 July 2012 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz launch marked the 37th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that opened the door to US-Russian cooperation in space science. The Soyuz spacecraft is likely to remain docked to the International Space Station throughout Expedition 32 to serve as an emergency escape vehicle. Three astronauts on board including Sunita Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide will take two days to reach to the International space station where they will join Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who have already been in the International Space Station since 17 May 2012. The six crew members will work together for about two months as Acaba, Padalka and Revin are scheduled to return to Earth on 17 September 2012. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide will return to the Earth in mid-November 2012.

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NASA’s space shuttle programme came to an end in July 2011, which left US astronauts dependent on Russian Soyuz spacecrafts for ferrying to the International Space Station.

SUNITA WILLIAMS Sunita Williams, the Indian-American astronaut, was born on 19 September 1965 in Euclid, Ohio and was raised in Massachusetts in US. She completed her B.S in Physical Science from US Naval Academy in 1987, while M.S in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995. She joined NASA in June 1998. Previously she served as a flight engineer on board the International Space Station. She launched with the crew of STS-116 on 9 December 2006, docking with the station on 11 December 2006. During her trip to the space as a member of the Expedition-14 crew, Williams created a world record for females with four spacewalks totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes. (Astronaut Peggy Whitson subsequently broke the record in 2008 with her five total spacewalks). Williams also holds the record for being the first female to have spent 195 days in space.

RUSSIA’S SOYUZ-FG CARRIER ROCKET SET FIVE SATELLITES INTO ORBIT Russia's Soyuz-FG carrier rocket set off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on 22 July 2012. The rocket will put the Russian satellites Canopus-B and MKA-PN1, a Belarusian BKA satellite, the Canadian ADS-1B and German TET-1 into orbit. The Canopus-B satellite, developed by the All-Russia Research Institute of Electromechanics, is designed for remote sensing of the Earth. It weighs about 400 kg and will work on a circular orbit at a height of 510 km. The MKA-PN1 satellite, developed by Russia's NPO Lavochkin aerospace company, will collect data to help meteorologists build models of ocean circulation - particularly in Arctic waters along Russian shores - and climate dynamics. The German TET-1 satellite, a part of the German Aerospace Center's On-Orbit Verification Program, will conduct a test on new space technologies. The ADS-1B satellite, built by the Com Dev aerospace company, will form part of a ship-identification satellite system. The satellites were earlier planned to be launched in the first half of 2012, but was postponed several times as Kazakhstan kept the decision to let Russia use its territory for rocket launch on hold. Russia got the permission to launch the rocket following a meeting between Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in June 2012.

ONE LINERS 

Eighty one year old founder of the News Corporation, resigned third week of July 2012Rupert Murdoch

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India’s leading four-wheeler manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited announced to close down its factory at an industrial town in the Gurgaon district of Haryana on 21 July 2012-Manesar Who became the first cyclist of Britain, to win the coveted Tour de France Cycling race on 22 July 2012 - Bradley Wiggins Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi elected fifty year old man as the country’s Prime Minister-Hisham Kandil President of Ghana, Passed away on 24 July 2012- John Atta Mills Greentech Foundation awarded Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on 24 July 2012- Gold Trophy in Safety Management Award 2012 India got its fourteen President at the Central Hall of Parliament on 25 July 2012- Pranab Mukherjee The Government of Japan on 23 July 2012 decided to honour Indian Environmental philosopher with Fukuoka Prize 2012.- Vandana Shiva Following the deal struck by Kotak Mahindra Bank worth India received its first investment through the qualified framework investor (QFI) route.- $5 million The first US woman to travel into space died in La Jolla, California on 23 July 2012.- Sally Ride GAIL gas India Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) signed Agreement on 26 July 2012.- Swap Agreement and Gas Co-operation Agreement The Ministry of Women and Child Development on 26 July 2012 drafted - NATIONAL POLICY FOR CHILDREN 2012. The World Bank approved an 1100 crore rupees loan for Himachal Pradesh to promote. The loan agreement was signed between the World Bank and the state government in New Delhi on 28 July 2012- green initiatives and sustainable development in the state The Government of India launched an anti-ragging website. The Union Human Resource Minister inaugurated the ‘Anti- Ragging Web Portal’ on 26 July 2012.- Kapil Sibal India and Indonesia signed an agreement to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income on 27 July 2012.- Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement Famous Cricketer was signed as the Brand Ambassador of BMW on 27 July 2012.- Sachin Tendulkar Coast Guard Station Karaikal, was commissioned by Vice Admiral, Director General Indian Coast Guard at Karaikal on 25 July 2012.- MP Muralidharan Appointment Committee of the Cabinet(ACC) appointed the Secretary of the President on 24 July 2012.- Omita Paul Kulandei Francis, Indian Social Activist Won award- Magsaysay Awards 2012

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The Government of a state banned Gutka and Pan Masala on 24 July 2012. The State Cabinet decided to ban the manufacturing, storage, distribution, sale and consumption of these products.- Chhattisgarh

NEWS CAPSULE UN SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON RELEASED UN MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL 2012 REPORT United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released United Nations Millenium Development Goal 2012. Report on 2 July 2012. The report noted that three important targets on poverty, slums and water have already been met three years ahead of 2015, the target year On the front of poverty, the report stated that for the first time since poverty trends began to be monitored, both the number of people living in extreme poverty and the poverty rates have fallen in every developing regionincluding sub‐Saharan Africa, where rates are highest. Preliminary estimates indicate that in 2010, the share of people living on less than a 1.25 dollar a day dropped to less than half of its 1990 value. The target of providing clean drinking water to a The report noted that three substantial population of the world also saw a important targets on poverty, slums considerable achievement as the proportion of and water have already been met people using improved water sources rose from 76 three years ahead of 2015, the per cent in 1990 to 89 per cent in 2010, which target year means more than two billion people across the world today have the access to sources of clean drinking water. In developing world the share of urban population living in slums came down to 33 per cent in 2000 from 39 per cent in 2000. The millennium development goal asserted that the developing countries have also marked considerable achievements in education as many more of the world’s children are enrolled in school at the primary level, especially since 2000. Girls have benefited the most. On the front of AIDS control, the developing countries have achieved tremendous fate as at the end of 2012 nearly 6.5 million people in the developing countries were receiving the antiretroviral therapy for HIV AIDS.

WHAT IS UN MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL? The UN Millenium Development Goal Report presents the most comprehensive global assessment of progress to date, based on data provided by a large number of international organizations within and outside the United Nations system. The aggregate figures in the report provide an overview of regional progress under the eight goals and are a convenient way to track

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advances over time. The report is coordinated and published by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The Millenium Development Goal has its origin in the Millennium Declaration produced by the United Nations following the Millennium Summit in 2000. The Declaration asserts that every individual has the right to dignity, freedom, equality, a basic standard of living that includes freedom from hunger and violence, and encourages tolerance and solidarity. In order to achieve its target of providing every individual a basic standard of living along with freedom, equality, the member nations had adopted the Eight goals which has to be achieved by 2015. The eight areas which comprises the UN Millenium Development Goal are as follows: Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

JAWAHAR THAKUR ASSUMED THE CHARGE AS THE CONTROLLER GENERAL OF ACCOUNTS Jawahar Thakur, a 1979-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service officer took over as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA) of India, the post earlier held by C.R. Sundaramurti. Prior to his appointment as the CGA, Thakur was the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry. Thakur, a Post Graduate and a Law Graduate from Delhi University, also holds a M.Sc. degree in Public Economic Management from University of Birmingham, U.K. and Diploma in Public Financial Management from the University of Strathclyde, UK. He has extensive experience in the areas of Public Financial Management and has worked in diverse capacities in the Ministries of Earth Sciences, Commerce, Human Resource Development, Science & Technology, Labour, Health, Home Affairs and Finance. He is known for his initiatives in the area of development of an effective financial management information system.

WHAT IS CGA AND WHAT ARE ITS FUNCTIONS?

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Controller General of Accounts is the principal Accounts Adviser to the Government of India and it exercises the powers of the President under Article 150 of the constitution for prescribing the forms of Accounts of the Union and State Governments on the advice of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. The major functions of CGA includes; establishing and maintaining a technically sound management accounting system for the government. Besides, it also prepares a critical analysis of expenditures, revenues, borrowings and the deficit for the Finance Minister every month. The CGA is also responsible for preparing annual Appropriation Accounts and Union Finance Accounts for presentation to the parliament.

CELEBRATED ASSAMESE POET HIREN BHATTACHARYYA PASSED AWAY Renowned Assamese Poet Hiren Bhattacharyya, who was fondly called HIRU-DA by his admirers, passed away on 4 July 2012. He was 80. Hiren Bhattacharya was well known as PREM ARU RODALIR KOBI (Poet of Love and Sunshine) in the Assamese literature. Born in Jorhat district at Assam in 1932, Hiren Bhattacharyya went on to become the most celebrated author of Assamese language. The poems penned by Hiru Da had diversified colours of emotions such as love, patriotism, rebellion, loneliness and humanity. He also wrote several rhymes for the children. Lora Dhemali (1991) and Akon Dhemali (1991) were two of his most famous collections of children writing. Some of his famous poetry works include: Roudro Kamona (1968), Kobitar Rod (1976), Xugondhi Pokhilaa (1981), Mor Desh aru Mor Premor Kobita (1972) and Bibhinno Dinor Kobita. Hiren Bhattacharya was the recipient of numerous literary awards including Bishnu Rava Bota, (1958) Rajaji Puroskar ( 1984-85) awarded by Bharatiya Bidya Bhawan, Soviet Desh Neheru Bota (1987), Sahitya Akademi Award ( 1992), and Asom Upotyoka Sahitya Bota, (Assam Valley Literary Award) in 2000.

NATIONAL CRIME RECORD BUREAU RELEASED THE CRIME STATISTICS FOR 2011 According to the latest crime statistics, released by - the statistical arm of Indian Police under ministry of home affairs (MHA) on 3 July 2012, rape with 24206 cases in 2011, emerged as the biggest crime in India in India. NCRB had started recording the cases of rape in 1971, while other cognizable offences have been recorded since 1953. Madhya Pradesh with 3406 rape got the maximum number of rape case registered in the country followed by West Bengal which recorded 2363 rape cases in year 2011. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan came next with 2042 and 1800 cases

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respectively. Kidnapping and abduction was the other major crime in the country followed by murder and riots. Crime like feticide also witnessed a rise as there were 132 cases of feticide reported in the country in 2011, while the number stood at 111 in year 2010. Madhya Pradesh with 38 feticide cases topped the list of state with maximum number of feticide cases. The state was followed by Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with 21, 15, 13 and 12 cases respectively. Number of farmers' suicide also went up in 2011, as nearly 14027 farm suicide cases were reported in the entire year. Adding the total number of suicide cases reported in 2011, the total number of farm suicides since 1995 has touched 270940. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh saw the maximum number of farmers taking their lives.

ANUP SANKAR BHATTACHARYA APPOINTED AS TH E DIRECTOR OF IBPS Anup Sankar Bhattacharya was appointed as the Director of the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) on 2 July 2012. M Balachandran was the former director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection. After the abolition of Banking Services Recruitment Board, IBPS plays a vital role for candidates who are interested in Bank Jobs. Approximately, 15 million applications applied in the year 2011-12. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya was the part of Advisory Board of Central Vigilance Commission for three months

In 2011, all the nationalized banks authorized Institute of Banking Personnel Selection to conduct a common written test to get admission in the government banks. IBPS conducts separate test for SBI (State Bank of India) and its associate banks. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya was the part of Advisory Board of Central Vigilance Commission for three months. He was responsible for security issues at IBPS. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya spent thirty seven years in United Bank of India, Kolkata. He was the executive director of Indian Bank in the year 2004. In addition, he was the part of Bank of Maharashtra in 2010 for 16 month time.

YANNIS STOURNARAS TOOK OATH AS THE NEW FINANCE MINISTER OF GREECE Yannis Stournaras took oath as the new finance minister of Greece on 5 July 2012. He succeeded Vassilis Rapanos. Yannis took his oath in his office with the two deputy ministers. He was the former Governor of European Investment Banking. He was the development Minister in the caretaker government of Greece. He was also the part of the team that negotiates Greece's entry to the Zone of Euro. He was the general director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research in Greece (IOBE). He was the researcher and Lecturer in St. Catherineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Collegein Oxford University from the year 1982-1986. He was the Professor of Economics in Athens University since 1989.

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He performed as Vice Chairman of the Public Gas Corporation from 1994 to 1997 and he was the member of the Board of Directors of the Public Debt Management Office from 1998 to 2000. In addition, he was the managing Director of Kappa Securities in Athens. He was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emporiki Bank and Vice-Chairman of the Association of Greek Banks. Yannis Stournaras had completed his graduation from the Department of Economics at Athens University. He had completed is post graduation in Economic Theory and Policy from Oxford University.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFGHANISTAN HELD IN JAPANESE CAPITAL TOKYO The day long International Conference on Afghanistan was held in Tokyo on 8 July 2012. Nearly 70 countries and organizations attended the conference, pledging a 16 billion dollar development aid to Afghanistan over the next four years. Multilateral organizations like World Bank and Asian Development Bank also attended the conference. At the end of the conference all the participant nations and groups adopted the Tokyo Declaration, on the security of Afghanistan. The declaration read the main threat to Afghanistan's security and stability comes from terrorism and that this threat also endangers regional and international peace and security. The declaration also endorsed key recommendations of a regional conclave hosted by India to promote direct investment in Afghanistan. The conference, which came in the wake of US and NATO forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to pull out its troop from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, was aimed at providing monetary support to the war-torn nation. The development aid is intended to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the country.

EK BHARAT BHUSHAN DISMISSED AS THE CHIEF OF THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF CIVIL AVIATION The Civil Aviation Ministry of India sacked EK Bharat Bhushan, the head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, on 10 July 2012. Prashant Sukul, joint secretary, the Ministry of Civil Aviation took over as the temporary head of DGCA. The ministryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s move came as a big surprise as the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in its meeting held on 4 July 2012, had extended his tenure as the head of DGCA for another one year with effect from 1 December 2011. A 1979 batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Bharat Bhushan had assumed charge as DGCA chief from Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi in December 2010. Post removal, he is set to go back to the Ministry of Civil Aviation as Additional Secretary. During the 20-month period at the helm of the aviation regulatory body, Bharat Bhushan took variety of measures to ensure the safety of passengers. He also came hard on cash-strapped King Fisher Airlines and Air India forcing them to pay the pending salary of their employees to ensure the better functioning of the airline companies. Besides, he implemented various corrective measures to revitalize the ailing aviation industry of the country. www.jagranjosh.com

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DV SADANANDA GOWDA RESIGNED AS KARNATAKA CHIEF MINISTER Ending a month-long tussle within the state BJP, Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda stepped down as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on 11 July 2012. He handed over his resignation to Karnataka Governor HR Bharadwaj at Raj Bhavan. The resignation of Gowda paved the way for Jagdish Settar to be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of the state. Sadananda Gowda had assumed the charge as the 26th Chief Minister of Karnataka on 4 August 2011. He was elected the CM by ruling Bhartiya Janata Party following the resignation of BS Yeddyurappa. He was the head of the Bhartiya Janata Party in Karnataka when the party recorded its first victory in the state assembly elections in May 2008. The BJP victory in Karnataka paved the way for the party to form its first government in any of the Southern states. Earlier he had also served as the member of Loksabha for two different terms.

MANIPAL UNIVERSITY W ON THE GOLDEN PEACOCK ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT AWARD 2012 Manipal University won the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 2012 on 8 July 2012. The main theme of this meet was DRIVING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS THROUGH GREEN ECONOMY.The award was given by Karan Singh on the Fourteenth World Congress Meet on Environment Management. The Ceremony was held in the Le Meridian Hotel, New Delhi. The meet was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit. The meet provides a way for the sustainable business in the areas like community-led advocacy and action programmes for environment protection, carbon neutrality, solar technologies and watershed management programmes. The Golden Peacock Award was introduced by the Institute of Directors in the year 1992. This award is considered as the Holy Grail of Corporate Excellence Worldwide. In 2012, The Golden Peacock Awards Secretariat received 1000 entries (approx) for various National and Global awards. In addition, Golden Peacock Environment Management Award (GPEMA) was introduced by the World Environment Foundation (WEF) in the year 1998. It aims to promote the best strategy and management of environmental issues. This award was presented to those organizations that attain the significant achievements in the field of Environment Management.

INTERNATIONAL DONORS CONFERENCE HELD IN TOKYO Tokyo: An international donor meeting was held here to discuss the peace building process in Afghanistan.Tokyo is the capital of Japan. International donors meeting was held in Tokyo, on 8 July 2012. The conference, was held to discuss the peace building process in the war-torn nation, Afghanistan. The participants agreed to www.jagranjosh.com

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provide 16 billion dollar as the development aid to the country over the next four years. The Tokyo conference was attended by nearly 70 countries.

CHAMPION WRESTLER AND BOLLYWOOD ACTOR DARA SINGH PASSED AWAY IN MUMBAI Rustam-E-Hind, Dara Singh, who won India numerous accolades globally in wrestling, passed away on 12 July 2012 in Mumbai following a protracted illness. He was 84.He had suffered a cardiac arrest on 7 July 2012.

Born on 19 November 1928 in Dharmoochak village of Amritsar in Punjab, as Deedar Singh Randhawa, Dara Singh travelled to different parts of the globe as a Professional Wrestler. He announced his retirement from active wrestling in 1983. In 1996 he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Dara Singh, who earned a name for him worldwide in professional wrestling, also has had a long stint in Indian film Industry. After he made his debut in Bollywood in 1967 with the film Saat Samundar Paar, he played numerous characters in more than fifty Indian movies. He also directed and produced a number of movies. Singh, however, got the real recognition as an actor when he fabulously portrayed the character of Lord Hanuman in the Ramanand Sagarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ramayan television series. Imtiaz Aliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jab We Met marked the last movie of his career. Dara Singh was also the member of Rajya Sabha from August 2003 to August 2009. He was conferred the title RustamE-Punjab in 1966 and Rustam-E-Hind in 1978.

INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRED NUCLEAR CAPABLE AGNI-I MISSILE India on 13 July 2012 successfully test-fired domestically built surface-to-surface single stage Agni-I ballistic missile. The missile was launched from a test range at Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The nuclear capable missile with a strike range of 700 km was first test fired on 25 January 2002.

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The missile was launched by the strategic force command of Indian Army as a routine users’ trial. As the missile has already been inducted into the armed forces the objective of the launch was to train the user team to launch the missile. With a specialised navigation system, the Agni-I hits the target with sheer accuracy and precision. Weighing 12 tonnes, the 15-metre-long Agni-I, can carry payloads up to 1000 kg. Agni-I was developed under the joint work of advanced systems laboratory, the missile development laboratory of the DRDO, Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat, while it was integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad. The Agni-I missile belongs to the genre of Short to Intermediate range ballistic missiles developed by India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. The missile was made operational by the Indian Army in March 2010.

SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER, LEE HSIEN LOONG VISITED INDIA Singaporean prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong visited India on a three day trip in July 2012. Where India and Singapore signed three key bilateral agreements and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 11 July 2012, New Delhi. The two countries are working on deepening economic relations even outside south-east Asia, building linkages with companies where India and Singapore were associated. Singapore is not only an important trading partner in ASEAN but also a major source of FDI inflows in India. India is Singapore’s eight largest investor. India-Singapore bilateral trade accelerated to USD 17.44 billion in 2010-11 from USD 14.04 percent in 2009-10. The holistic agreement turned out to be fruitful and both the countries expect to achieve better milestones together. Lee is a member of the People’s Action Party (PAP) and took to Prime Minister’s position in the year 2004. Prior to becoming a prime minister, he served as an officer in the Singapore Armed Forces.

UTTARAKHAND CM VIJAY BAHUGUNA WON THE ASSEMBLY BYELECTION FROM SITARGANJ Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna emerged victorious in a by-election that was held for the Sitarganj assembly seat on 8 July 2012. The election result declared on 11 July 2012 saw Bahuguna defeating his closest rival, BJP candidate Prakash Pant, by a record margin of 39954 votes. Bahuguna received 53566 votes while, BJP candidate Prakash Pant got only 13812 votes out of the total 69695 in the by-election. The margin of victory by which Bahugua has won the election is the highest in Uttarakhand assembly elections since 2002.

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Vijay Bahuguna had taken oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 13 March 2012, after Congress had defeated incumbent BJP in the state assembly elections held in February 2012. With the Vijay Bahuguna joining the state assembly the number of Congress legislators has risen from 32 to 33. The BJP's strength in the 70 seat assembly now stands at 30. Three Independent BSP MLAs are also extending their support to the Congress in the state assembly. Son of Hemwanti Nandan Bahuguna, the former Chief Minster of Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Bahuguna is the first former high court judge to become a chief minister. He had also been the member of Lok Sabha in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha. He represented the Tehari Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency.

IMPORTANAT INFORMATION Article 164(4) provides that a Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister after six months.

WORLD POPULATION DAY OBSERVED WORLDWIDE ON 11 JULY 2012 11 JULY 2012: WORLD POPULATION DAY World Population Day was celebrated on 11 July 2012. It aims to make aware people about the increasing population in the country. It includes the harmful effects of EARLY MARRIAGE AND EARLY CHILD BIRTH. The main theme of the year 2012 was UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES. According to the census of 2011, the population of India over the last ten years increased to 1.21 billion. Health Services is one of the major target by United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) till 2015. They had started several programmes to educate people about the different methods of family Planning. UNPF conducted a programme in Egypt where they had shown a documentary on the nursecum-midwife who serves poor and isolated clients and contributes to saving lives every day in Minya. Many states in India had celebrated this day so as to make aware people about harmful effects of increasing population. Delhi celebrated World Population Day with the 20 thousand people who had participated in walkathon. The walkathon was organized by the JANSANKHYA STHIRATA KOSH (JSK). Kanpur celebrated this day with a rally to make aware people about the disadvantages of bigger families. National Cadet Corps took rally from Phool Bagh with banners and posters. This day was first celebrated in the year 1987. This day gained popularity with support from different national organizations and common people around the world.

OSCARD AWARD WINNER ERNEST BORGNINE PASSED AWAY

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American Actor Ernest Borgnine passed away on 8 July 2012. He was 95 years old. He took his last breath at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He won the Oscar Award for his role in the film named MARTY in the year 1955. He was the part of many famous films from Hollywood like: The Dirty Dozen, Ice Station Zebra, McHale's Navy, the Wild Bunch etc. In late 1990s, he was the part of the famous Television series named THE SINGLE GUY. Basket Ball and Gattaca were his recent films. Ernest Borgnine received GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATION 2007 for his role in A Grandpa for Christmas. In addition, He achieved LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award 2011.

FORMER BCCI PRESIDENT PURUSHOTTAM M RUNGTA PASSED AWAY Former President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Purushottam M Rungta died on 12 July 2012 after long sickness. He was 84 years old. He was commonly known as BHAIJI to cricketers and administrations. He was President of BCCI for three years from 1972 to 1975 and Vice-President of BCCI from 1963 to 1972. He was also BCCI treasurer for six months in the year 1992 after the resignation of Madhav Matri from BCCI treasurer when he lost to Manohar Joshi in Bombay Cricket Association election. After that former BCCI President Madhavrao Scindia named P.M.Rungta as the treasurer of the BCCI. He also managed the affairs of Rajasthan Cricket Association for many years.

ITC, HUNGAMA DIGITAL MEDIA & SHANKAR MAHADEVAN LAUNCHED DIGITAL TALENT HUNT MOBISUR ITC leading personal care brand Vivel Face Wash on 13 July 2012 launched Indianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first truly digital talent hunt MOBISUR along with Hungama Digital Media and Indian musician Shankar Mahadevan. The aim of the hunt to encourage remote areas participant to participate in the hunt that were not able to participate in the auditions due to feasibility. They require a mobile phone or an internet connection to participate in the hunt. Vivel Face Wash with Hungama providing a platform and opportunity to aspiring singers to grind their skills under the guidance of Shankar Mahadevan. The winner of the hunt is likely to get an opportunity to record an album with Shankar Mahadevan. The album will be released by T-Series and Hungama. Apart from this, the winner will also get cash prize of 5 lakh rupees. The talent hunt participants have to dial 546465 to record their voice on a unique IVR or to log onto www.mobi-sur.com to upload their video. The participants who clear the first round is

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likely to be chosen form next round on the basis of performance and votes secured for each tasks. There are three rounds. The contestants clear all the three rounds will be the winner of the hunt.

INCIDENTS OF CHILD MARRIAGES FELL SIGNIFICANTLY IN INDIA: ANNUAL HEALTH SURVEY REPORT According to the data released by first Annual Health Survey (AHS), conducted by the census authorities, the incidents of child marriage fell significantly over the past few years. The data was released on 16 April 2012. The AHS, world’s largest demographic survey, was carried out by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the Registrar General of India (RGI) and Ministry of Home Affairs of India. The survey was conducted in all 284 districts of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states that include Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam. The nine states account for half of the country’s population. The project was launched to assess the impact of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in all 284 districts. Until recently the only reliable source of such health data was the National Family Health Survey, which the health ministry has now discontinued.

THE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED BY PRIVATE AGENCIES UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF RGI. THE KEY FINDINGS OF THE LATEST REPORTS OF THE SURVEY ARE AS FOLLOWS: • One-fifth of marriages in Bihar between 2007-09 involved women under 18. • In Jharkhand, the proportion of child marriage went down from 60 percent to 18 percent earlier. • Rajasthan with 22 percent cases of child marriage has the highest proportion of women under 18 getting married. • Contraceptive use remains low despite improvements in several regions. • Among the 9 states, Bihar has the lowest contraceptive use with just over a third of women aged 15-49 using any method of contraception. • Sitapur in UP emerged as the district with the lowest contraceptive use as only 20 percent of women found using any method of contraception. • Condition of maternal and infant health is still the subject of worry. • Less than 5 percent of women in UP had a full ante natal check-up. • Chhattisgarh, with 20 percent full ante-natal check-up, emerged as the best-performing of these states. • Less than half of pregnant women in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have safe deliveries. • UP, Bihar and Uttarakhand saw 40 percent of safe deliveries.

NORTH KOREA AWARDED THE TITLE OF MARSHAL TO ITS TOP LEADER KIM JONG UN

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Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) on 18 July 2012 awarded the title of Marshal to its top leader Kim Jong Un. The decision to confer the title on Kim was taken by nation's top military brass and government officials on 17 July 2012. Kim Jong Un rose to helm of Communist Nation following the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011. Since then he has been serving as supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. Kim Jong Il was named the Marshal of North Korea following the death of his father Kim Il Sung in July 1994. The death of Il on 17 December 2011left the position of Marshal vacant for nearly seven months. Kim Jong Il was posthumously made grand marshal, the nation's top military title, in February 2012. Before formally being named the Marshal, Kim Jong Un carried out a high-profile reshuffle in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s army, which saw the chief of the army, Ri Yong Ho being sacked from all posts due to illness on 16 July 2012.Subsequently a less renowned military general, Hyon Yong Chol took over as the vice marshal on 17 July 2012.

YESTERYEAR BOLLYWOOD SUPERSTAR RAJESH KHANNA PASSED AWAY Yesteryear Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away at his Mumbai residence ASHIRWAD on 18 July 2012. He was 69. He was severely ill over the past few months. Rajesh Khanna, who was fondly called Kaka by his fans, is considered to be the first superstar of Indian cinema. Rajesh Khanna is survived by his wife Dimple Kapadia and two daughters Twinkle Khanna and Rinkie Khanna. His elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to Hindi film actor Akshay Kumar. Rajesh Khanna married Dimple Kapadia in 1973. Though, the couple parted their ways in 1984 due to personal issues, they never separated on legal terms. Rajesh Khanna, whose real name was Jatin Khanna, was born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar, Punjab. A natural actor, Khanna got his first break in bollywood after he emerged victorious in All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare in 1965. Aakhri Khat, directed by Chetan Anand, was his debut film. The film was released in 1966. Rajesh Khanna got the first lead role of his career in 1966 with the film Raaz directed by Ravindra Dave. Period between 1969 and 1972 saw Rajesh Khanna, rising to the pinnacle of stardom. The period was marked by 15 consecutive solo hits by him, the record which still remains untouched. In his over than four-decade long career in the Indian Film Industry he worked in 163 films. An unchallenged king of romantic roles on the screen, Khanna played the lead protagonist in 128 films. He also appeared in 17 short films.

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Aradhna, Anand, Kati Patang, Dushman, Bawarchi, Amar Prem, Hathi Mere Saathi, Hum dono and Aag are few of his movies which earned him both the praise of critics and commercial success at the same time. Rajesh Khanna has had a great on-screen chemistry with her fellow actresses like Mumtaz and Sharmila Tagore. With Mumtaz he went on to give block-busters like Aap ki Kasam, Prem Kahani and Roti. Though, Rajesh Khanna was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award 16 times, Saccha-Jhutha, Anand and Aaviskar actually won him the filmfare awards in the best actor categoy. He was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Khanna got his first break in bollywood after he emerged victorious in All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare in 1965. Aakhri Khat, directed by Chetan Anand, was his debut film

The superstar along with playback singer Kishore Kumar gave a number of hit songs. The actor-singer duo gave the Indian audience an entirely new perspective of melodious Indian music. Songs such as Mere Sapnon Ki Rani from Aradhana, which had the voice of Kishore Kumar, made Rajesh Khanna exteremely popular among the youths. Rajesh Khanna was also the member of Lok Sabha from 1992 to 1996. He was elected to the lower house on the Congress Party ticket from the New Delhi constituency. The magic of the Rajesh Khanna could well be assessed by the fact that the BBC in 1974 made a film on him, named Bombay Superstar, and while, the Bombay University prescribed a book contained an essay, The Charisma of Rajesh Khanna.

TOP RSS LEADER AND B JP FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT BAL APTE PASSED AWAY Top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Ideologue and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Balwant Apte alias Bal Apte died in Mumbai on 17 July 2012. He was 73. He was suffering from a chronic lung disease. Bal Apte was twice elected to the Rajya Sabha (in 2000 and 2006), where he represented the state of Maharashtra. He was the vice president of BJP during 2002-2010 and was also a member of the party's Central Parliamentary Board. He was the head of the review committee which was constituted to look into the reasons of defeat of BJP in 2009 general election. Bal Apte has his association with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of RSS, for nearly 38 years. A senior lawyer, Apte was kept under detention from December 1975 to February 1977 under the stringent Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during Emergency.

CASES OF NEW HIV INFECTIONS AMONG CHILDREN DECLINED: UNAIDS REPORT

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According to UNAIDS Report released on 18 July 2012, new HIV infections among children are declining at a steady rate. The report noted that about 330000 children were newly infected in 2011, which indicated a 24 percent drop in the new HIV case among children since 2009. Report asserted that nearly 60 percent of the 1.5 million pregnant women living with HIV in poor countries received effective anti-AIDS medications last year, which lowered the chances of passing on the virus to their babies. As per the report about 34.2 million people worldwide were living with the AIDS virus at the end of 2011, while, a record eight million people in low- and middle-income countries received the antiretrovirals treatment in 2011.

UNAIDS (UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS) UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an innovative partnership that leads and inspires the world in achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Member of United Nations Development Group, UNAIDS came into existence in 1994 by a resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council and launched in January 1996. UNAIDS has itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland. Michel Sidibe is the Executive Chairman of UNAIDS.

SEVENTH G20 SUMMIT TOOK PLACE IN MEXICAN CITY LOS CABOS LOS CABOS - The seventh G20 summit took place on 18 and19 June 2012 in the Mexican City Los Cabos. The seventh G20 summit took place in the city of Los Cabos in Mexico on 18 and 19 June 2012. The summit was attended by the leaders of 20 nations including South Africa, Canada, India, Mexico, United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia. The G 20 Summit, one of the most important multilateral event, was held to discuss the prominent economic issues such as eurozone crisis, poor scenario of global economic growth and faltering international financial systems. The participant nations and world bodies also ratified the Los Cabos Action Plan for growth and employment.

HDFC BANKER DEEPAK PAREKH APPOINTED AS NEW CHAIRMAN OF FINANCING INFRASTRUCTURE The government on 16 July 2012 appointed HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh as the new chairman of the High Level Committee on Financing Infrastructure. He would function in an honorary capacity with the rank of minister of state. He was elected after the approval from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in first week of July 2012. The committee is authorized to re-examine existing policies and advice necessary changes to present in the investment for the infrastructure sector. It will work under 12th Five- Year project investments plan from 2012 to 2017 of 4099240 crore rupees. The other members of the committee are R. Gopalan (secretary, Department of Economic Affairs), D. K. Mittal (secretary, Department of Financial Services), J. Hari Narayan (chairman, Insurance Regulatory and www.jagranjosh.com

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Development Authority), Yogesh Agarwal (chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority), Subir Gokarn (deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India), Pratip Chaudhuri (chairman, State Bank of India), D. K. Mehrotra (chairman, Life Insurance Corporation of India), Satnam Singh (chairman, Power Finance Corporation), Chanda Kochhar (chief, ICICI Bank) and Rajiv Lall (chief, IDFC). Parekh is a chartered accountant. He joined Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) in 1978 after Ernst & Young Management Consultancy Services in New York. He is a part of sub-committee of the Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s council on Trade and Industry for promoting Financial Inclusion. He is also one of the members in the expert team of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The committee was first set up by Rakesh Mohan, former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in November 2012.

P.N DHAR, FIRST PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF INDIRA GANDHI PASSED AWAY Professor of Economics Prithvi Nath Dhar passed away on 19 July 2012 in New Delhi. He was 94 years old. He was the professor of Economics in the University of Delhi. Prithvi Nath was the first Principal Secretary of Indira Gandhi in 1970. He was the only person who had joined Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office in the year 1970. He was the team member which was accompanied by Indira Gandhi when she had signed Simla Agreement with Pakistan after the War of Bangladesh in the year 1971. Dhar was one of the founders of Delhi School of Economics. He worked as the Assistant Secretary General in United Nations, Research and Policy Analysis in New York in the year 1976-78. In addition, the memory of Prithvi Nath Dhar with the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, The Emergency, and Indian Democracy is considered as the authoritative documentation of important events in the pages of the History of Modern India.

TIME MAGAZINE DUBBED INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MANMOHAN SINGH AS UNDERACHIEVER Leading American magazine Time on the cover of its latest Asian edition dubbed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the Underachiever. The magazine which hit the stand on 16 July 2012 carried three stories including the cover story to describe the gloomy economic scenario in the country. The magazine insisted that Indian Prime Minister has been starkly unable to reverse the pessimistic economic environment in the country. Once widely regarded as a staunch reformer, Manmohan Singh has come under severe criticism over his failure in beefing up the economy. Earlier US President Barack Obama had urged Indian government to introduce some much needed reforms in the country to reinvigorate the investment sentiment among the global investors.

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Earlier Time magazine in its June 2002 edition had termed the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpeyee 'asleep on the wheel.Time sells 264000 copies in entire Asian continent, while, the Indian subcontinent accounts for the sell of as many as 47000 copies, accounting for almost 18 percent of the sales.

EMINENT FREEDOM FIGHTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST CAPTAIN LAKSHMI SEHGAL PASSED AWAY Eminent Freedom Fighter and social activist Captain Lakshmi Sehgal passed away in Kanpur on 23 July 2012. She was 97. She suffered a severe heart attack and was admitted to the hospital on 19 July 2012. Born as Lakshmi Swaminadhan on 24 October 1914 in Madras, Captain Lakshmi Sehgal completed his high school education from Madras. Subsequently, she studied medical science in Madras Medical College and received her MBBS degree in 1938. A close aide of Subhash Chandra Bose during the days of freedom movement, she was the one of the most prominent mambers of his Indian National Army. She was the head of the women’s regiment of Indian National Army, which was called the Rani of Jhansi regiment.

Lakshmi Sehgal tied the knot with Indian National Army Officer Colonel Prem Kumar Sehgal in March 1947 in Lahore. Well known CPI (M) leader Subhasini Ali is her daughter.Lakshmi Sehgal was confrred the Padma Vibhushan in 1998.

Politically she was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and went on to contest the Presidential Election in 2002. She, however, received defeat in the hand of APJ Abdul Kalam.She was the principle member of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). Besides, she had spearheaded several political, economic and social justice campaigns in the country.

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LIMITED ANNOUNCED TO CLOSE DOWN ITS FACTORY AT MANESAR Manesar : Manesar is an industrial town in the Gurgaon district of Haryana. The town drew the nationwide attention following the reports of scuffle at Maruti Suzuki’s plant located in the town. India’s leading four-wheeler manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited announced to close down its factory at Manesar on 21 July 2012. The company’s move came after a scuffle between the workers and senior management of the company broke out at the factory site on 18 July 2012. The scuffle, which left many of the company’s executives injured, broke out after the workers' demand of pay-parity was not accepted by the company. MSIL’s plant at Manesar had long been stuck in functional discrepancies. The plant had witnessed 5 workers’ strike in year 2011 itself. In October 2011 the company had witnessed a 14-day-long strike that ended on 21 October 2011, after the company gave in to the workers' demand to register a trade union. www.jagranjosh.com

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ALEPPO IN SYRIA BECAME THE CENTRE OF REVOLT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT Aleppo– Aleppo, until recently, a relatively secure government stronghold, has now become the latest focus of the revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad. Aleppo is the largest city in Syriaand the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. The clashes in Aleppo are an ominous development for the regime. Until both Damascus and Aleppo were relatively untouched by the uprising and remained strongholds of the regime. Syria went through a severe crisis after the National Security Bureau in the Rawda district of Damascus, capital of Syria suffered a heavy blow on 18 July 2012

RUPERT MURDOCH RESIGNED AS THE DIRECTOR OF THE NI GROUP Rupert Murdoch an eighty one year old founder of the News Corporation, resigned third week of July 2012. He resigned from his directorship from a string of companies, namely the director of the NI Group, the Times Newspaper Holdings, and Newscorp Investments in Britain. He is a known name in the industry of media and known as the ‘media mogul’. After more than a year of scandal in his own British news paper empire, the sustained criminality led to an influential parliamentary committee in May 2012 to describe Murdoch as unfit to run a major company, resulting finally into his resignation. Murdoch has now moved to the United States of America.

SALLY RIDE, FIRST US WOMAN TO TRAVEL INTO SPACE, PASSED AWAY Sally Ride, the first US woman to travel into space died in La Jolla, California on 23 July 2012. She was 61. She was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Ride fired the imagination of millions of women across the world when she set off for space in the US space shuttle Challenger in June 1983. Sally Ride was, however, not the first woman to travel into space, as Valentina Tereshkova of erstwhile USSR had visited space in June 1963. Born on 26 May 1951 at Los Angeles, California, Ride received her Masters degree in Physics from Stanford University. Subsequently, she joined NASA in 1978. Ride went on her first space shuttle mission on board the Challenger in 1983. She was only 32 when she first travelled into space, making her the youngest person in America at the time to go into space. Her second space visit occurred in 1984, also aboard the Challenger. She spent a total of more than 343 hours in space.

KULANDEI FRANCIS, INDIAN SOCIAL ACTIVIST WON MAGSAYSAY AWARDS 2012 www.jagranjosh.com

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Indian social activist Kulandei Francis, age sixty six will be felicitated with the Magsaysay Award. In the year 1979, Francis begun with his organisation, Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) in Krishnagiri, wherein he initially started with small projects, amongst his achievements, he has conducted night schools in the light of gas lamps, set up first aid centres. Then, with the help of development organizations, he undertook a micro-watershed programme that, over twenty-two years, built three thirty one mostly small check dams benefitting cultivators and their families in sixty villages. His organisation, the Integrated Village Development Project also provides training to rural students a in enhancing their skills namely training in rural sanitation, accountancy, management, giving educational assistance for students in high schools, scholarships and also computer skills. The visionary Mr. Francis was also successful in pursuing the holistic economic empowerment of thousands of women and their families. The Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) announced the recipients of this year, 2012 Asia's premier prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award on 25 July 2012. The six individuals chosen from around the globe are from countries, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The other people chosen for the prizes, announced by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) in Manila, are Ms Chen Shu-Chu from Taiwan, Mr Romulo Davide from the Phillipines, Ms Syeda Rizwana Hasan of Bangladesh, Mr Yang Saing Koma of Cambodia and Mr Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto from Indonesia. Kulandai Francis who has been awarded with the Magsaysay says, working with the objective of eradicating poverty and empowering more than one lakh rural women for thirty five long years has got him the award. Magsaysay Award winners receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize. They will be formally felicitated with the Magsaysay Award during the Presentation Ceremonies which is to be held on 31 August 2012 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila. In the past, many Indians have won the Magsaysay award. In the year 1958, awardee was Vinoba Bhave, in the year 1959 C.D Deshmukh, again in the year 1994, it was awarded to Kiran Bedi, in 1996, T.N seshan , in the year 2003, James Michael Lyngdoh,in the year 1965 Jayaprakash Narayan,In 1974 M.S. Subbulakshmi was awarded, in 1982 Manibhai Desaiwas awarded. Ram贸n Del Fierro Magsaysay was the seventh President of the Republic of the Philippines; he served from 30 December 1953 until his death in a 1957 aircraft disaster. The Ramon Magsaysay Award known as Asia's Nobel Prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers.

DRDO SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRED BRAHMOS SUPERSONIC CRUISE MISSILE Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test-fired Brahmos supersonic cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, in Balasore www.jagranjosh.com

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district, Orissa on 29 July 2012. The missile was test-fired as the developmental trial as it has already been inducted into the Indian Army and Indian Navy. BrahMos, which has a target range of 290-km, is the surface-to-surface cruise missile. It is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 200 to 300 kg. The missile has been developed by BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, a joint venture between Republic of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroeyenia. It is the world's fastest cruise missile in operation. It can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. Presently scientists at the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited are working to develop the air as well as the submarine launch version of the missile. Last time the missile was tested on 28 March 2012 from the same platform. The name BrahMos is the blend of the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.

ASSAMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S KOKRAJHAR, UDALGURI DISTRICT HIT BY VIOLENCE Assamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kokrajhar and Udalguri district remained a recipient of violence since 20 July 2012. Nineteen people have been killed so far in sporadic incidents of violence which resulted into a clamp night curfew on 21 July 2012. The whole incident started when the violence got triggered with the firing on two student leaders Mohibul Islam of All Bodoland Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) and Abdul Siddique Sheikh of All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) by unidentified gunmen at Anthihara in Kokrajhar.

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CURRENT AFFAIR QUIZZES 1. Which one of the following signed as Brand Ambassador of Kalyan Jewellers? a. Kajol b. Katrina Kaif c. Amitabh Bachchan d. Diya Mirza Answer: (c) 2. Which one of the following launched first educational tablet PC? a. Alphabetics Computer b. HP c. IBM d. Apple Answer: (a) 3. Consider the Statement: __________ is the first educational tablet PC. Which one of the following is correct? a. TabStudy b. TabSkisha c. TabTeacher d. TabGuru Answer: (d) 4. Which Hindi news channel acquired English News channel NewsX? a. Aaj Tak www.jagranjosh.com

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b. Good Morning India c. India News d. Information TV Answer: (d) Information TV 5. Consider the statement: ______ Books published Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first eBook. Which one of the following is correct? a. Penguine b. Dollfine c. Seal d.Starfish Answer: (a) 6. Which two companies listed in top 100 of Fortuneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World magazine 2012? a. State Bank of India & Indian Oil b. Hindustan Petroleum & State Bank of India c. Reliance Industries & Hindustan Petroleum d. Indian Oil & Reliance Industries Answer. (d) 7. Consider the statement: FaceBook introduced _________ to allow developers to translate the names and descriptions into other languages. Which one of the following is correct? a. App Center b. App Dashboard c. App xpress d. App Translator Answer. (b) 8. Which one of the following is appointed as the Joint Managing director of AirIndia? a Arvind Jadav b. Sunil Arora c. Rohit Nandan d. Nasir Ali Answer. (d) 9. In which year Air India and Indian Airlines merged? a. 2008 b 2007 c. 2006 d. 2005 Answer. (a) 10. Which one of the following launched Apparel and Fashion xPress for Oracle Retail? www.jagranjosh.com

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a. Mahindra Satyam b. Tech Mahindra c. MphasiS Corporation d. Larsen & Toubro Answer.(a) 11. Which two of the following credit cards HDFC launched for Doctors? a. Superia & Platinum b. Platinum & Titanium c. Titanium & Gold d. Gold & Superia Answer. (a) 12. Which one of the following is correct? TATA AIG Life Insurance turned in to ___________ a. TATA AIP Life b. TATA AIA Life c. TATA AIT Life d. TATA TIA Life Answer. (b) 13. What was the following is correct? The full form of TATA AIG Life was _____________ . a. Tata Australian International Group b. Tata America International Group c. Tata American International Grouping d. Tata American International Group Answer. (d) 14. Consider the statement Apple paid 60 million dollar to Shenzhen Proview Technology to settle _______. Which one of the following is correct? a. Legal Dispute b. Business Dispute c. Personal Dispute d. Financial Dispute Answer. (a) 15. Consider the Statement: Adani Kandla Bulk Terminal Pvt. Ltd. signed an agreement with _____________. Which one of the following is correct? a. Kandla Bulk Terminal b. Adani Bulk Terminal c. Kandla Port Trust www.jagranjosh.com

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d. Adani Port Trust Answer. (c) 16. Consider the Statement: _____________ launched famous Triangular Swiss Chocolate Brand Toblerone. a. Cadbury b. Nestle c. Ferrero d. Callebaut Answer. (a) 17. which one of the following is the current Nasscom President? a. Bijoy Ghosh b. Som Mittal c. Anil Ambani d. Krishnakumar Natarajan Answer. (b) 18. Consider the following two Statements: I. Som Mittal is the Nasscom president II. He is assigned as Nassom president till 2014. Which of the following answer is correct? a) I is correct b) II is correct c) Both I) and II are correct d) Both I) and II are incorrect Answer. (c) 19. What is the full form of Nasscom? a. National Association of services and software companies b. National Association of Software and Service Companies c. national Association of Safety and services d. National Association of Services and Safety Answer. (b) 20. Who is the owner of Kingfisher Airlines? a. Vijay Mallayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s b. Goyal c. Siddhanta Sharma d. Harsha Viji Answer. (a) 21. Which Airlines Launched Daily Flights to Dubai from Delhi and Mumbai in 2012? a. Indigo b. Spice jet c. Kingfisher Airlines www.jagranjosh.com

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d. Go Answer. (b) 22.Which one of the following is Spice jet CEO? a. Vijay Mallayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s b. Neil Mills c. Kalanithi Maran d. Neil Raymond Answer. (b) 23. which one of the following is the second largest car seller in India? a) BMW b) Audi c) Mercedes-Benz d) TATA Answer. (c) 24. which one of the following appointed as Brand Ambassador of Nepal Cricket Association? a) Rahul Dravid b) Sachin Tendulkar c) Mahendra Singh Dhoni d) Virat Kohli Answer. (c) 25. Which one of the following is the maker of BlackBerry? a) HP b) RIM c) AIM d) Apple Answer. (b) 26. Consider the following two Statements: I. BlackBerry is a Featured phone. II. BlackBerry was developed and designed by Apple. Which of the following answer is correct? a) I is correct b) II is correct c) Both I) and II are correct d) Both I) and II are incorrect Answer. (d) 27. Consider the following Statment? a) BlackBerry- Featured Phone b) Motorola MOTO Q8 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Featured Phone c) BlackBerry- Smartphone d) Motorola MOTO Q8- Smartphone

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Which two of the following is correct? a) A and B b) B and C c) C and D d) D and A Answer. (c) 28. Which one of the following launched Purview 808? a. Nokia b. BlackBerry c. Motorola d. Samsung Answer. (a) Nokia 29. Which of the following is correct? Nokia Pureview 808 is a ___________ a. Featured Phone b. Smart Phone c. Both A and B d. None of the above Answer. (b) Smart Phone 30. Which one of the following decided to buy London Metal Exchange? a. Tokyo Stoke Exchange b. Hong Kong Stock Exchange c. Toronto Stoke Exchange d. Korea Exchange Answer. (b) Hong Kong Stock Exchange

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