Government, Legislature & Politics
India
• In a dramatic but long-expected development, the rebellious Kadapa MP, Mr Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy,
the son of the late chief minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and his mother and MLA, Ms
Vijayalakshmi, on November 29 quit the Congress and also resigned from their elected posts after
blaming the “high command”.
• Eminent lawyer and sitting Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Singhvi is back in the team of AICC
spokesperson on November 29.
• The government has ordered a probe into the leaking of recorded tapes of conversations between
corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, her clients and certain journalists, among others. Probe would be
conducted by the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and will focus on
how the “secret” tapes were leaked and who first accessed the tapes.
• The Supreme Court on November 22 asked the central government if Central Vigilance Commissioner P
J Thomas could function effectively in view of various charges hurled against him. The apex court bench
headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia wondered if a person who is an accused and facing a chargesheet
could head a watchdog body.
• The environment ministry on November 22 cleared the Navi Mumbai airport, paving the way for a
second airport to ease air traffic in Mumbai. The green ministry and the aviation ministry had been at
loggerheads over the alleged delay in environment clearance for the airport.
• Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa may have lost his voice as the pressure mounted to remove
him from office, but he regained his clout on November 22 after he persuaded the top leaders of the
Bharatiya Janata Party that they could not be judge and jury before the facts had been verified.
• The operations of both All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan were hit as the technical staff of both the
public broadcasters went on a 48-hour strike to press their demand for the repeal of the Prasar Bharati
Act with the employees of both the organisations claiming that the legislation has not worked.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General has found serious discrepancy in the budget of the Assam
government, which was pumping in more money than what was proposed in the budget for the North
Cachar Hills Autonomous Council. The excess fund sent to the autonomous district council was neither
re-appropriated nor supplemented by the government through supplementary demand.
• Assembly Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy will replace Mr K. Rosaiah as CM of Andhra Pradesh. Mr
Rosaiah quit suddenly on November 24 following directions from the Congress leadership.
• The Supreme Court on November 15 granted interim relief to former Samajwadi Party general secretary
Amar Singh and actor-turned politician Jaya Prada from being expelled as MPs even if they defy their
party's whip in the house.
• Registering its first case in alleged irregularities in Commonwealth Games, CBI on November 15 filed
two separate cases involving UK-based A M Films and former officials of CWG Organising Committee
on charges of forgery and cheating in organising Queen's Baton Relay in London.
• HRD minister Kapil Sibal was on November 15 given the additional charge of the telecom ministry by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a development that takes the portfolio away from DMK at least for
the time being.
• Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind on November 15 became the first of the 28 parties in the Ayodhya title suit to file
an appeal in the Supreme Court to challenge the Allahabad high court verdict declaring the place where
the disputed structure stood as the “birthplace” of Lord Ram.
• The government on November 19 approved the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on
the Bhopal gas leak tragedy to provide additional ex-gratia compensation of Rs. 71.28 crores for the
victims.
• In a new twist to the controversy that led to the resignation of former communications minister A Raja,
India's telecom watchdog on November 18 said it had recommended scrapping of 69 of the 122 licences
given for 2G phone services to new players.
• After a prolonged wait, India on November 25 launched the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) era,
allowing mobile phone users to switch operators without changing numbers.
World
• On November 21st the Irish government at last gave in. It yielded to pressure from its European Union
counterparts to seek an emergency bail-out from the EU and the IMF that may amount to as much as €85
billion ($115 billion).
• On November 22nd, after many procedural twists, the trial began in earnest of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a rich
Congolese warlord and the most senior political leader to be detained by the ICC so far. He is accused of
war crimes and crimes against humanity—not in Congo, but in the neighbouring Central African
Republic, where he intervened on the president’s side during a coup attempt. The ICC is also about to
name six prominent Kenyans as alleged instigators of the violence that followed the 2007 elections.
• Four ministers resigned from Silvio Berlusconi’s Italian government. The group belong to Future and
Freedom for Italy, a new party set up by Gianfranco Fini, a former ally of Mr Berlusconi who has split
with the prime minister. A vote of confidence will be held on December 14th; Mr Berlusconi has said
that Italy will face fresh elections if he loses.
• President Nicolas Sarkozy reshuffled the French government. Breaking with tradition, and surprising
some observers, he did not sack François Fillon, the prime minister, who is popular with both the ruling
UMP party and French citizens. But Bernard Kouchner, the left-leaning foreign minister, was given the
boot.
• Israel’s Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, returned from talks in New York with the American
secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who offered him a string of incentives, including the free delivery of
stealth aircraft, in return for a new freeze on the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. She
hoped that this would bring the Palestinians back to negotiations, which they had quit after the end of a
previous freeze.
• A state of emergency was declared in Guinea, after Alpha Condé, a 72-year-old professor who has lived
mainly in France, won a run-off in Guinea’s presidential poll, narrowly beating Cellou Dalein Diallo,
whose disgruntled backers embarked on a wave of violence.
• Military officers in Madagascar who overthrew the government last year claimed to have done so again
by deposing President Andry Rajoelina, whom they had installed in March 2009. He responded by
declaring on television that he is still in charge.
• Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, said he would promote General Henry Rangel Silva, who is
accused by the United States of helping Colombian guerrillas to smuggle cocaine, to be the army’s
commander-in-chief. Mr Chávez said that General Rangel Silva’s recent comment that an opposition
victory in a presidential election due in 2012 would be inadmissible had been taken out of context.
• WikiLeaks released the latest round of confidential material it has obtained illicitly, this time publishing
the first of some 250,000 cables between American embassies and the State Department. The leak of
sensitive diplomatic communications was criticised by Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, as
“an attack on the international community”. The Justice Department is investigating whether criminal
charges can be brought against Julian Assange, the public face of WikiLeaks.
• Barack Obama had his first big meeting with congressional leaders since the mid-term elections, to
consult on which pieces of legislation would pass during the remainder of the “lame-duck” session. The
most pressing item under discussion was a re-authorisation of Congress’s “continuing resolution” to
fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown of services, and a possible extension of George
Bush’s tax cuts.
• European Union finance ministers agreed on the details of an €85 billion ($113 billion) bail-out for
Ireland. The package includes €35 billion to help restructure the country’s beleaguered banks; the rest
will be used for budget support. The ministers also agreed on a permanent replacement for the euro
zone’s temporary rescue fund.
• Despite widespread irregularities, including the trashing of some polling stations, international observers
gave a cautious endorsement to Haiti’s general election. A dozen opposition candidates cried fraud and
called for the election to be invalidated, but the two presumed front-runners later changed their mind.
• The ruling National Democratic Party was set to win Egypt’s general election by a landslide, amid
reports of widespread hanky-panky. The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition, whose candidates
ran as “independents” since religion-based parties were banned, did not win a single seat outright in the
first round and says it will boycott the second. It previously had 88 in the 518-strong parliament.
• The military junta that rules Myanmar released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, six days after
staging the country’s first national election in 20 years. Miss Suu Kyi, whose political party won the
1990 election by a landslide, has spent most of the past 20 years in detention.
Happenings
National
• The CBI on November 30 carried out searches at 11 premises, including residences of four aides of
CWG organising committee Suresh Kalmadi, in connection with alleged irregularities in a Rs. 107 crore
contract for the Games result update system and registered cases against them. The CBI conducted
searches at the residences of OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot, director general V.K. Verma, R.K.
Sacheti, joint director general (Coordination) and Sangeeta Welingkar, member of the Games Image and
Look Group.
• IPS officer Amar Pratap Singh was on November 30 appointed the new director of the Central Bureau of
Investigation for two years succeeding Ashwani Kumar.
• Country’s top industrialist Ratan Tata stung by the public disclosure of his private conversation with
corporate lobbyist Nira Radia on November 29 filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking
direction for destruction of “Radia tapes” after they had served the purpose of investigation for which the
income tax department had done the recording.
• Kashmiri separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, writer-activist Arundhati Roy and five others were
charged with “sedition”, “promoting enmity” and “circulating rumours with the intent to cause mutiny”
by the Delhi police on November 29 following their remarks at a seminar held at LTG auditorium last
month.
• The investigation into the Adarsh Housing Society scam was on November 28 handed over to the
Mumbai police’s crime branch. The state government’s urban development department has initiated an
internal inquiry into the matter of the four pages that went missing from an important document
pertaining to the scam.
• The Enforcement Directorate has reportedly issued summons to seven private telecom companies in
connection with its probe into the alleged 2G spectrum scam. All seven companies have been asked to
submit their financial records to the Enforcement Directorate.
• The CBI’s economic offences wing unearthed a multi-crore corporate bribe- for-loan scam and arrested
top officers of nationalised banks. The eight arrested are Ramchandra Nair, director and CEO of LIC
Housing Finance; Naresh Chopra, secretary (investments) of LIC, Mumbai; R.N. Tayal, zonal manager,
Bank of India, Chennai; Maninder Singh Johar, director (CA), Central Bank of India; Venkoba Gujjal,
deputy GM, Punjab National Bank; Rajesh Sharma, chairman-MD of Money Matters India Pvt Ld; and
Suresh Gattani and Sanjay Sharma, both from Money Matters.
• India on November 24 test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-I strategic ballistic missile, with a range of 700
kms, as part of the Army's user trial from the Integrated Test Range at Wheeler Island off Orissa coast.
• Terming his trial by a special court as 'unfair', Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab demanded a retrial of
26/11 case claiming that important witnesses were not examined, material evidence not tabled and norms
not followed in appointing lawyers to defend him.
• A man described as a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group was arrested after a gunfight
in the capital on November 15.
• Army troops on November 15 busted a hideout and recovered a cache of explosive material, including
two kg of RDX powder and an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), in Reasi district of Jammu and
Kashmir.
• A five-storey building collapsed in the Lalita Park area of Lakshmi Nagar in east Delhi on November 15
evening. More than 100 people were living in the building The toll in the East Delhi collapse mounted to
61 on the next morning.
• CBI on November 19 arrested an absconding Jatin Chatterjee, popularly known as Swami Asimanand,
for his alleged involvement in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad that left nine people dead.
• Twelve people — 11 from the Air Force and an Army lieutenant-colonel, were killed on November 19
as an IAF Mi-17 helicopter crashed following a blast on board near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
International
• A 65-minute-long artillery barrage on November 23rd rained down upon the tiny South Korean island of
Yeonpyeong, marking the first time since the war of 1950-53 that the North has fired shells at civilian
targets on land. Four South Koreans—two civilians and two marines—were killed and about 18 injured
in an onslaught that left houses and hillsides in flames.
• Cambodia’s capital had been filled with visitors for the annual water festival. When a bridge began to
sway, it seems, there was a panic, which became a stampede, crushing people underfoot or causing them
to leap into the water, where they drowned. Some 350 at last count perished in Phnom Penh on
November 22nd.
• 29 Miners were trapped inside in Pike River Coal company mine, on the rugged west coast of New
Zealand’s South Island on November 19th after a blast. A second blast on November 24th put the grim
toll beyond doubt. The policeman in charge of the rescue effort declared that all the missing men were
thought dead.
• At least two people were killed during protests in Haiti against UN peacekeepers, whom many Haitians
blame for introducing cholera to the country. The UN denies this, and attributed the demonstrations to
campaigning for an election due later this month. The cholera outbreak has now claimed more than
1,100 lives.
• A Somali-born American citizen was arrested in Oregon after trying to detonate what he thought was a
car bomb at a ceremony to light the Christmas tree in Portland’s main square. The “bomb” was actually
a dud planted by FBI agents following a six-month investigation.
• South Korea mustered a series of martial postures in the face of North Korea’s recent shelling of a
disputed island. The president, Lee Myung-bak, apologised for the country’s unreadiness, sacked the
defence minister and announced a bigger budget for the army. America sent a carrier group to join South
Korea’s navy for a series of war games in the Yellow Sea—though they refrained from using live
artillery after Chinese grumbles.
• Officials from 190 countries gathered in Cancún in Mexico for the start of UN-sponsored talks on
climate change. Expectations of any agreement are low. Separately, Brazil reported that deforestation in
the Amazon fell to its lowest recorded level in the year to July. Even so, 6,500 sq km of forest were lost.
Business & Economy
Economy
• Even as global recovery continues to be fragile, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India stood
at just $15.97 billion during the January-September period, down 26 per cent as compared to the same
period last year.
• In a move that could make it difficult for corporate entities to set up stock exchanges, a Securities and
Exchange Board of India committee on November 23 recommended that only banks and public financial
institutions could be anchor investors in bourses and stopping them from listing or making huge profits.
• Rating agency Crisil on November 22 placed debt instruments of 12 microfinance institutions, including
SKS Microfinance, under rating watch which could adversely impact their future gradings, as an
ordinance issued by Andhra Pradesh can damage their business models. Half of the 12 microfinance
institutions (MFIs) mentioned by Crisil have currently a rating of below ‘BB’, which signifies
inadequate safety.
• In what could put a spanner in the economic growth story, India's industrial production grew at a
disappointing 4.4 per cent in September as compared to 8.2 per cent in the same month of the previous
fiscal with the decline in capital goods output being the main pull-down effect.
• To further ease the funds crunch, the Reserve Bank of India decided to extend its liquidity support
facility to banks. The second LAF, which will be conducted daily at 4-15 p.m., will be available till
January 28, 2011, against December 16 announced earlier.
Corporate & Companies
• The Salem Steel Plant has won the prestigious National Sustainability Award for the year 2010 from
Indian Institute of Metals. Virbhadra Singh, Union Minister of Steel, gave away the award, which was
received by Pankaj Gautam, Executive Director of Salem Steel Plant.
• The Supreme Court on November 15 directed telecom major Vodafone to deposit Rs 2,500 crore ($550
million) as part of a tax liability in the takeover of Hutch Essar group's India operations.
• NTPC Ltd has been ranked among Platts “Top 250 Global Energy Company” listings for the year 2010
and been ranked first as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Asia.
• ONGC has been conferred the ‘International Partner of the Year' award for 2010 in recognition of its
achievements through Methane to Market (M2M) programme and mitigation of fugitive emission.
• SR Foils and Tissue Ltd received the Best SME of the Year and Best Performing Retail Trading
Company of the year, CNBC TV18's Emerging India Awards 2010.
• Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd has received the Wellcome Trust Award, the UK's leading biomedical
foundation, under the new ‘R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India Initiative' to support a phase III
clinical trial of Polycap, a combination pill to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
• The Gateway Hotel (Taj), Ernakulam, has been selected as the Best Five Star Hotel in Kerala for the
year 2009-2010 by the Department of Tourism.
• Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, was formally conferred
the status of ‘Navratna' by the Union Government at a function in New Delhi.
Mergers and Acquisitions
• Pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd will buy oral penicillin facility and product portfolio of
GlaxoSmithKline plc in the US for an undisclosed sum.
• Abbott India is set to merge Solvay Pharma India with itself, with the board of directors of both
companies giving their approval. The development follows US drug-maker Abbott's $6.6-billion global
acquisition of Belgium-based Solvay's pharmaceutical business, late last year.
• JSW Energy is to acquire Toronto-listed CIC Energy for about Canadian $422 million. CIC is
developing the Mmamabula Energy Complex at its Mmamabula coalfield in south-eastern Botswana.
• Deutsche Securities Mauritius Ltd has marginally increased its stake in SKS Microfinance Ltd by 0.76
per cent taking its stake in the company to 5.74 per cent even as some of its employees are encashing
their holding.
• Bajaj Auto International Holdings BV Netherlands (BAIHBV), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Bajaj Auto
Ltd, has purchased a further 2,44,600 shares in KTM Power Sports AG (KTMPS), raising its total
shareholding in KTMPS to 38.09 per cent.
• Mahindra Satyam has entered into an agreement with the US-based Stratus Technologies, a provider of
Uptime Assurance products, to jointly provide consulting services, solutions and products to customers
globally.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and software association Nasscom signed a pact for
collaboration in the area of cyber-crime investigation, training and computer forensics.
• Sterlite Technologies, one of the leading transmission solutions providers for power and telecom
industries, has joined hands with China-based Jiangsu Tongguang Communication, an optical cable
solution provider, to set up a new company Jiangsu Sterlite & Tongguang Optical Fibers Co Ltd in
Haimen, Jiangsu Province, China.
• Four Soft, an IT firm catering to the logistics industry, has tied up with Chennai-based UNIFO Solutions
to offer services on SaaS (software as a service) model to its customers in the US and the UK.
• Mahindra Satyam has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to set up Windows Azure Centre
of Excellence (CoE) with 100 employees working on providing consultation, development and migration
services to its customers.
• HCL Infosystems said that its Dubai subsidiary has entered into an agreement with Mercator (the IT
division of the Emirates Group) to manage IT infrastructure for low-cost carrier flydubai.
• Wipro Technologies has entered into a five-year strategic partnership with Electricity North West Ltd to
deliver end-to-end service transition and transformational services to maintain their IT systems through a
managed service framework.
People
• Mr A.K.M.A. Shamsuddin is back at the helm of the MGM group's Southern Agrifurane Industries Pvt
Ltd as its Managing Director.
• Volkswagen India announced the appointment of Dr John Chacko as its new President and Managing
Director and the Volkswagen Group's Chief Representative for India.
• Nissan Motor India Ltd's alliance partner for sales and marketing – Hover Automotive India (HAI)
announced the appointment of Mr Dinesh Jain as its CEO.
• Adani Power Ltd (APL) said that Mr Prabal Banerji has joined the company as its Chief Financial
Officer.
• Mr S. K. Roy has taken over as the General Manager of NTPC Ltd, Korba.
• Larsen & Toubro has said that Mr Y.M. Deosthalee, Whole-time Director and Chief Financial Officer,
has been nominated Chairman and Managing Director of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd (LTFHL).
• The Essar Group announced the appointment of Mr V. Ashok as the new Chief Financial Officer for its
India operations.
• Mr S.K. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director of NHPC Ltd, has been conferred with a ‘Life Time
Achievement Award' for “achieving excellence in productivity, quality, innovation and management”.
The award was given by the Institute of Economic Studies (IES), New Delhi.
Sports
• A decision on the future of the faction-ridden Kochi franchise has been deferred till December 5 after its
warring owners struck a compromise. Cricket board president Shashank Manohar announced in Nagpur
on November 28.
• Former Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble was on November 22 declared "elected" president of the
Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in a tough fight.
• Roger Federer overcame Rafael Nadal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win the fifth year-end title of his career with
victory in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals.
• Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Australian Open due to a foot injury and won’t be defending
her title at the first Grand Slam of next season.
• Somdev Devvarman won his second gold medal of the Asian Games, demolishing top seed Denis
Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-2 in the men's singles final at Guangzhou on November 23.
• Robin Soderling trashed the home title dream of Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-1, 7-6 (7-1) to win the first
Masters 1000 title of his career at Paris Bercy.
• Bangladesh ended Afghanistan’s unlikely run with a five-wicket victory in the Twenty20 final match to
clinch its first-ever Asian Games gold medal.
• A buzzing Indian attack made short work of New Zealand at the VCA Stadium at Nagpur on November
23 on the fourth day to win the contest by a whopping innings and 198 runs. Dhoni's men clinched the
three-Test series 1-0.
• Playing with palpable aggression throughout, Pakistan beat Malaysia 2-0 to regain the gold medal that it
last won in 1990 in the men's hockey competition of the Asian Games on November 22.
• China retained the gold medal and completed a hat-trick of triumphs in the Asian Games women's
hockey competition from 2002. In an absorbing title fight that stretched into extra time and tie-breaker
after 0-0 deadlock, China won on penalty strokes, converting all the five against the four by South Korea
for a total of 5-4.
• Dejected at India's semifinal defeat to Malaysia in the Asian Games at Guangzhou, National coach
Harendra Singh on November 23 resigned from his post.
GA Handout Quiz
1. Jagan Reddy son of late ex CM of Andhra Pradesh YSR Reddy. Who succeeded for the post of CM after
YSR’s death?
a. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy b. Chiranjeevi c. C Chandrasekhara Rao d. K Rosiah*
2. Recently in news P J Thomas holds which amongst the following posts?
a. Central Vigilance Commissioner * b. Chief Information Commissioner c. Home
Secretary d. Chief Justice of India
3. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has recently found several discrepancies in Budget of
Assam. Who is the CM of Assam currently?
a. Tarun Gogoi* b. Prafull Kumar Mahanta c. J M Lyngdoh d. P N Sangma
4. Who has been appointed CM of Andhra Pradesh recently?
a. YS Jagan Reddy b. C Chandrasekhara Rao c. Kiran Kumar Reddy* d. K Rosiah
5. Who took charge of the Telecom ministry after A Raja’s resignation?
a. Pranab Mukherjee b. Dr. Manmohan Singh c. Kapil Sibal* d. Ambika Soni
6. The Government has recently approved recommendations of the GOM on Bhopal gas leak tragedy and
has approved certain amount for ex gratia compensation. How much is the amount?
a. Rs. 1500 Crore b. Rs. 71.28 Crore* c. Rs. 80 Crore d. Rs. 738 Crore
7. On which date MNP(mobile number portability service) launched in India?
a. 25th November* b. 15th November c, 30th November d. 14th November
8. A bailout package has recently been approved for the Ireland government by EU and IMF. If EU is
European Union, what does IMF stands for?
a. International Monetary Fund* b. International Money Fund c. International Money Federation
d. International Maritime Fund
9. Silvio Berlusconi is the PM of which of the following countries?
a. Greece b. France c. Italy* d. Ireland
10. Who is the Prime Minister of France?
a. Nicolas Sarkozy b. Francois Fillon* c. Bernard Kouchner d. Silvio Berlusconi
11. Recently we heard about [Link] which released the cable messages around 250,000 of various
US Embassies. Who heads this website?
a. Julian Assange * b. Paul Swivel c. Mark Zuckerberg d. Sergei Brin
12. Aung San Suu Kyi, released recently by military leadership is the popular face for democracy of which
country?
a. China b. Combodia c. Myanmar* d. Indonesia
13. Who has been appointed Chief of CBI recently?
a. Ashwini Kumar b. Amar Pratap Singh* c. Jaswinder Singh d. Marwyn D Souza
14. Who is sacked CEO of LIC Housing Finance Corporation after the revelation of the bribe scam?
a. Ramchandra Nair* [Link] Singh Johar c. Rajesh Sharma d. Venkoba Gujjal
15. North Korea has recently attacked on islands of which of the neighbouring rival country?
a. South Korea* b. China c. Russia d. Japan
