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BRAIN TREE
CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1st November, 2010 to 30th November, 2010

1. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has launched a special scheme Sabla or the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adolescent Girls as a pilot project in 200 (most backward) districts. The scheme would address the nutritional and special training aspects of girls between the age of 11-18 years. 2. The UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural organization) has recently inscribed three Indian performing-art forms, the Mudiyetu (a ritual theatre of Kerala), the Chhau dance (a tradition from eastern India) and the Kalbelia (folk songs and dances of Rajasthan) in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 3. Smt. Indira Gandhi (the worlds longest serving woman Prime Minister) has been ranked by the Time Magazine as the 9th most powerful Woman of the past century while another Mother Teresa has been ranked as the 22nd most powerful woman of the 20th Century in the world. 4. India won 14 Gold Medals, 17 Silver Medals and 33 Bronze Medals (total 64 Medals) at 16th Asiad in Guangzhou, China in November 2010. India bagged its biggest medal haul in the Asian Games. Indias best medal haul in the Asian Games till date was recorded in the 1982 Games in New Delhi when they had won 13 Gold, 19 Silver and 25 Bronze for an overall tally of 57. 5. The construction work of 700 MWe Pressured Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NCPIL at Kakrapar in Gujarat began in November 2010. The 700 MWe units are the countrys biggest indigenous reactors in which natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both moderate and coolant is used. The Rs 8,000 crore worth of 700 MW PHWR project known as KAPP 3&4 is the latest state-of-the-art technology nuclear power reactors which have been designed by NCPIL. 6. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has been appointed to head the Russian part of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) for trade, economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation. 7. Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal launched the Mobile Number Portability in the state of Haryana. Haryana became the First State in the country to have this facility. This facility will help the users to retain the telephone number if the service provider is changed. 8. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India celebrated 150 years of its existence. President Pratibha Patil released the commemorative stamp on the eve of 150 years of CAG. 9. The Union government has decided to declare the natural course of the Ganga in 135 km stretch from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand as Indias first eco-sensitive zone on a major river. This means that part of the river cannot be disturbed for any projects. Following this decision, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved a proposal of scrapping three big Hydel projects Loharinag Pala, Bhairon Ghati and Pala- Maneriand providing 2,000 MW of free power to Uttarakhand as compensation for the same.
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CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 1st November, 2010 to 30th November, 2010
10. State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has surpassed Reliance Industries to regain its position as Indias biggest refiner. This was achieved after completion of expansion of its Panipat refinery. 11. Tatas have launched the first indigenously manufactured helicopter cabin from the aero-space special economic zone near Hyderabad. The TAS project for the cabin was conceived in collaboration with US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., USA. 12. From January 2011, all telemarketers mobile numbers will start with the same three digits: 700. This move is part of the Customer Call Preference Regulation on curbing unsolicited marketing calls and SMS messages. 13. The 16th United Nations Climate Change Conference took place in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29, 2010. India was among the 190 UN members who took part in the 12-day event. 14. The Bimal Jalan committee was set-up to review the ownership and working of capital Markets Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs). One major recommendation of the report is that only banks, insurance companies and domestic financial institutes with a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore be roped in as anchor investors. 15. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), SAIL and NTPC have been given the Maharatna status by the government. This status empowers these companies to form financial joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries and undertake mergers and acquisitions without government approval for up to Rs 5,000 crore in one project or 15 per cent of their net worth. 16. Chinese President Hu Jintao has been named the most powerful person in the world by Forbes magazine, ahead of US President Barack Obama who takes the second position. Smt. Sonia Gandhi has been ranked 9th, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 18th. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Chairman Ratan Tata and head of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal are also part of the list of 68 people. 17. Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad is Indias most expensive hotel. The palace was once the exclusive preserve of the rulers of Hyderabad. The grand presidential suite at the hotel costs Rs 5 lakh per night. 18. Uttarkhand based NGO Himalayan Chipko Foundation has been awarded the Green Apple award at the House of Commons, London, for exposing the Hak Hakook scam in which timber meant for villagers in the State was sold to the timber mafia. 19. Paris-based BNP Paribas has become the worlds biggest bank, with assets rising 34 per cent in last three years, reaching $3.23 trillion. 20. On November 1, 2010, the Reserve Bank of India raised the repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points (100 basis points equals one per cent), reflecting the continued government and RBI concerns over inflationary pressures. Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends to banks and that now

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stands at 6.25%. Reverse repo is the rate at which RBI borrows from banks and that now stands at 5.25%. 1st November, 2010 to 30th November, 2010 21. TELECOM SPECTRUM SCAM On November 16, 2010, the CAG indicted former telecom minister A. Raja for ignoring the advice of Prime Minister, Finance and Law ministries to allocate 2G spectrum to new players in 2008 causing a whopping revenue loss of over Rs 1.76 lakh crore. In the report, tabled in both houses of Parliament, the CAG noted that the ministry of communication and IT decided to go ahead with arbitrarily deciding that the cut-off date for issuance of Letters of Intent would be advanced to September 25, 2007, and applications received would be decided on FCFS (first-come-first-served) basis. In November 2007, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written to the telecom ministry suggesting introduction of transparent methodology of auction, revision of entry fee in the backdrop of inadequate spectrum and large number of applications received for fresh licences. The CAG highlighted that the Law Ministry had suggested setting up of an Empowered Group of Ministers to discuss the large number of applications and spectrum pricing, but the telecom ministry rejected it saying the need for forming and EGoM arises when a new policy is being framed and on this particular issue no new policy for grant of UASL (unified access service licences) was being framed. The auditor, however, said the contention of the DoT is untenable as the rejection of the advice of the Law Minister to have detailed deliberations on the issues in the EGoM on the ground that changes in policy might lead to litigation goes against the well-established and time-tested procedures of functioning of the government and the collective responsibility of the Union Cabinet. The report said the presumptive loss caused to the exchequer through spectrum allocation to 122 licencees and 35 dual technology licences in 2007-08 was Rs 1,76,645 crore. It pegged the figures on the basis of 3G auction held earlier this year in which the government mopped up over Rs 67,000 crore. In the 77-page report, the CAG said the figure of the presumptive loss has been determined on the basis of various indicators like 3G auction and a price offered by an operator in 2007, besides scarcity value, nature of competition, business plans envisaged, number of operators and growth of sector. The auditor pointed out that spectrum was allotted by DoT to the existing operators beyond the contracted limits (6.2 Mhz) without imposing any upfront charge for such allotment. On the values determined through various indicators, the presumptive value of 2G spectrum on account of grant of 157 licences in different circles during 2007-08 would be in the range of approximately Rs 58,000 crore to Rs 1,52,038 crore. The value of spectrum held by 13 operators for 51 circles based on the 2001 rates works out to be Rs 2,561 crore, while its value based on above indicators like 3G auction would be Rs 12,000 to Rs 37,000 crore. The CAG said that 85 out of 122 new licences issued to 13 companies in 2008 were granted to ineligible companies as all of them (85) did not have stipulated paid-up capital at the time of application. Further 45 out of 85 licencees were issued to companies which failed to satisfy conditions of main object clause in the memorandum of Association (MoA), the government auditor said. The CAG said the process of giving dual technology licences to leading telecom firms including Reliance Communications and Tata Tele Services lacked transparency and fairness, and equal opportunity was denied to other similarly placed operators who could apply for use of dual technology only after formal announcement of the policy.

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Noting that this approval (dual technology use) had violated Cabinet decision of 2003 to allow additional spectrum at 2001 prices, the auditor said, Deviation from a Cabinet decision should normally be with the approval of Cabinet. 1st November, 2010 to 30th November, 2010 22. CABLEGATE CRISIS IN U.S.A. The United States was thrown into a worldwide diplomatic crisis on November 29, 2010, with the leaking to various international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February 2010. At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN leadership. The cables include comments on a shift in relations between China and North Korea, high-level concerns over Pakistans growing instability, and details of clandestine US efforts to combat al Qaeda in Yemen. The cables also contain specific allegations of corruption, as well as harsh criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, from Caribbean islands to China and Russia. The State departments legal adviser wrote to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, warning that the cables were obtained illegally and that the publication would place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals ongoing military operations and co-operation between countries. PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Dilma Rousseff: She has been elected as the first female President of Brazil. 62-year-old economist, Rousseff is a former Marxist guerrilla who was jailed and tortured for three years in early 1970 for fighting against dictatorship in Brazil. Nitish Kumar: He has been re-elected as the Chief Minister of Bihar. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Prithviraj Chavan: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Nehchal Singh Sandhu: He has been appointed as the Director of Intelligence Bureau of India (IB) Ronald Noble: He has been re-elected as the Secretary-General of Interpol, for a third fiveyear term. Nikki Haley: She has become the second person of Indian origin to become the Governor of an American State. She has been elected as Governor of South Carolina. She originally belongs to Amritsar, Punjab.
DISCLAIMER

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The information presented above has been collected from a variety of sources. Brain Tree exercises due care and caution in collecting the data before publication. Inspite of this, if any omission, inaccuracy or printing errors occur with regard to the data, Brain Tree will not be held responsible or liable.

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CA10

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6/27/2011

1st November, 2010 to 30th November, 2010

Training Tomorrows Administrators TODAY

Training Tomorrows Administrators TODAY

Training Tomorrows Administrators TODAY

Training Tomorrows Administrators TODAY

Training Tomorrows Administrators TODAY

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