5/28/2011

BRAIN TREE
CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

15th November, 2009 to 30th November, 2009

1. U.S. Space agency NASA has signed an agreement with ISRO to use data from Indian
Satellite Oceansat-2, for various American agencies for research activities, including
weather forecasting. The signing ceremony was done in Washington on the sidelines of 6 th
Plenary Session of the Group on Earth observations. (GEO).
2. The number of billionaires in India almost doubled in the past 12 months to 52 due to
recovery in global stock markets according to US magazine, Forbes.
 The head of India’s biggest Company Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, is once
again the wealthiest person in India. Net worth $32 billion, an increase of 54% from
2008.
 In second place is steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal who is worth $30 billion, up 46% from
a year earlier.
 Anil Ambani is in third place with $17.5 billion, 40% higher than before.
3. U.P. was the first state in the country to have an airline of its own in India. On 10th April
1995, the U.P. Air made its inaugural flight from Lucknow to Dehradun.
4. The ‘P5+1’ proposal is made by the U.S. and its 4 other partners ( All 5 permanent
members of UN Security Council ) + Germany to Iran. It involves Iran shipping out 1200
kilos of 3.5% Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) to Russia, where it would be further enriched
to 20%. The 20% LEU would then be sent to France for fabrication into fuel rods
eventually, the rods would be shipped to Iran for use in the TRR ( Tehran Research
Reactor ), which produces medical isotopes Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki
recently visited India and Iran recently disclosed a new enrichment facility at Fardoo, Iran.
5. Sugar Cane Farmers are protesting against the Sugarcane Control ( Amendment ) Order
2009 Ordinance.
 The ordinance has changed the sugar cane pricing policy with an amendment to the
Sugar ( control ) Order, 1966 though an ordinance.
 Under the new system, the centre fixes a uniform FRP ( Fair & Remunerative Price )
and the States would have to bear the burden if there is difference between FRP and
the SAP (State Advised Price).
 Earlier, the government had a centrally declared Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) for
sugarcane. While some states used to declare a higher SAP Millers are opposed to
this anomaly as they will have to pay the high SAP to farmers.
 The bone of contention is that sugar cane shortage may not exist every year as the
current year. It is only in the current year that millers are ready to pay a higher price
to farmers owing to shortage of production ( of sugarcane ). Moreover, Agriculture is
a state subject and the farmers want the SAP price considered.
 The government has decided to restore status quo ante on the state governments
power to declare SAP for sugarcane that mills will pay to farmers as in the past. The
only difference will be that the centres Minimum Support Price ( MSP) will be called
FRP ( Fair and Remunerative Price ) in the case of sugarcane.
 The controversy erupted when the centre proposed an FRP of just under Rs. 130 a
quintal of sugarcane at a time when the market price was above Rs. 200.
6. Bangladesh P.M. Sheikh Hasina has been chosen for the prestigious Indira Gandhi
Prize for peace, Disarmament and Development this year.
7. Six women have made it to the list of 100 richest Indians this year. Ms. Jindal Savihi
retains the tag of richest Indian woman with a net worth of $ 12 billion, ranked seventh.

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 Indu Jain – Ranked 19th – Bennett Coleman & Co’s Chairperson.

15th November, 2009 to 30th November, 2009

 Anu Aga- Ranked 55th – Thermax Group.

 Kiran Mazumdar – 73rd – Biocon. Shaw Biocon is developing the world’s first oral
Insulin.
 Shobhan Bhartia – Ranked 76 – Hindustan Times.
 Vidya Murkumbi – Ranked 93rd – Renuka Sugars.
Net worths were calculated using stock prices and exchange rates as of October 16th 2009.
8. The CCEA decision to change the WPI – based inflation figures made available weekly
into monthly is being implemented from this month. However, the data on the prices of
primary articles and commodities are to be released every week.
 The decision to switch to a monthly release of WPI data is clearly promoted by a
desire to move towards the international practice of relying on a representative
consumer price index for policy purposes.
 Secondly, it is more practical to capture the changes in the prices of manufactured
goods over a month than over a week..
 Thirdly, the weekly release leads to volatility in the financial markets.
The WPI, in vogue 1942 had certain merits such as :
 It could give a true picture of the economy at short intervals.
 It is a significant pointer in a situation where several lead indicators such as
unemployment rate and capacity utilization are absent.
9. The first two women / lady combatants of the Navy, Sub Lieutenants Seema Rani
Sharma and Ambica Hooda were awarded with the ‘wings’ creating history at the
Southern Naval Command, Kochi.
10. The former Orissa CM, J.B. Patnaik, and educationist D.Y. Patel of Maharasthra have been
appointed governors of Assam and Tripura respectively. The former replaces Syed Sibte
Razi and the latter replaces Dr. Kamla who has been appointed Governor of Gujarat for
the remainder of her term.
11. Indian President, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil made history by becoming the first woman
head of state to fly in a fighter jet. She flew in a Sukhoi for a 30 minute Sortie at the
Airforce’s Lohegaon base in Pune.
12. Dilip Rao Saheb Deshmukh is the new chief of the Company Law Board.
13. Tobin Tax : A financial transactions tax is an idea to deter financial speculation. Mr.
Tobin argued that currency speculation money moving internationally to bet on
fluctuations in exchange rates – was having a disruptive effect on the world economy. To
reduce these disruptions, he called for a small tax on every exchange of currencies.
 Such a tax would be a trivial expense for people engaged in foreign trade or long
term investment; but it would be a major disincentive for people trying to make a
fast buck ( or euro, or yen ) by out guessing the markets over the course of a few days
or weeks.
 James Tobin ( Late), the Nobel winning Yale economist floated this idea in 1972.
 The Turmer –Brown proposal was picked up by Gordon Brown, the British Prime
Minister of Britain’s top financial regulator – Adair Turner’s advise, and presented at
the group of 20 meeting of leading economies this month. This proposal, a modern
version of Tobins idea, would apply a ‘Tobin Tax’ to all financial transactions – not
just those involving foreign currency. It would be a trivial expense for long – term

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investors, but it would deter much of the churning that now takes place in our
hyperactive financial markets.

15th November, 2009 to 30th November, 2009

14. The government has reconstituted the scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister.
It now has 32 members, with four more on the existing panel. Eminent scientist
C.N.R. Rao will continue as the Chairman.  The new entrants are : Chairman and M.D.
of TVS Motor Company, Venu Srinivasan, the former Director – General of the Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research, R.A. Mashelkar, and two from the Mumbai based
TIFR ( Tata Institute of Fundamental Research ) – Mustansir Barma, Director and Sujatha
Ramadorai of the School of Mathematics at the Institute.  The Secretary, Department of
Science and Technical, would continue as member – secretary.
15. The 2009 meeting of the heads of Common-Wealth began at Port of Spain inaugurated
by Queen Elizabeth-II. CHOGM is a 53 member strong group. Trinidad and Tobago’s
Prime Minister, Patrick Manning played host.
16. In the new phase of the global strategic partnership between India and the United States
the two leaders ( PM & President respectively) unveiled new initiatives to intensify
cooperation on ‘counter-terrrorism’, ‘climate change’, ‘agriculture’ and ‘education’.
 A MOU was signed between the two countries to “enhance cooperation on energy
security, energy efficiency, clean energy and climate change”. Signed between
External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna and U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, it
is planned to “bring together joint ideas on energy efficiency, renewable energy and
green technologies to stimulate the India – US. Energy Dialogue.
 Another MOU was signed to intensify cooperation in agriculture and food security,
calling for an expansion of the current partnership.
 Under the umbrella of a new framework called the “Obama – Manmohan Singh 21st
Century Knowledge Initiative”, the two sides have promised to increase university
linkages and junior faculty development exchanges between India and the U.S. The
funding for this initiative is to be from both countries.
 The India – U.S. counter terrorism cooperation initiative, explained by the joint
statement as a move to expand collaboration on counter – terrorism, information
sharing and capacity building was initialed by Meera Shankar, India’s Ambassador in
Washington and Timothy Roemer, U.S. Ambassador to India.

17. President Barack Obama announced the end of a 22 – year old ban on the entry of
people with HIV into the U.S. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) has followed up promptly, by publishing the rule in the Federal Register.
 The ban in the U.S. was enacted in 1987 amidst widespread fears that HIV, like
tuberculosis, was a communicable disease and spread through physical or
respiratory contact.
 Though U.N. AIDS and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) concluded in
2004, that HIV/ AIDS related travel restrictions have no public health justification,
the ban remained. Although President George Bush amended the immigration and
Nationality Act last year the HHS did not remove it from the list of communicable
diseases.
18. An incident of tritium intake by some workers of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in
Karnataka led to an investigation which concluded that a small quantity of ‘tritiated’ heavy
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water was added to a water cooler, possibly from a heavy water sampling Vial. Affected
persons were administered ‘diuretics’, which accelerated the process of removal of
tritium from the human body by urination.

15th November, 2009 to 30th November, 2009

 Increased tritium in human body can cause annual radiation exposure to marginally
exceed the AERB- specified limit of 30 millisievert (msv).
 Kaiga -1 reactor uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both coolant and
moderator. Heavy water has two atoms of deuterium and one atom of oxygen D 2O.
During the reactors operation, small quantities of heavy water got converted into
tritium, which is in liquid form but highly radioactive.
19. Lata Mangeshkar has been conferred Frances highest civilian award, the Insignia of
‘Officer de la Legion d ‘Honneur’ ( officer of the Legion of Honour ). Satyajit Ray and
Amitabh Bachan have been earlier conferred this award. The ‘Legion d’ Honneur’
(Legion of Honour ) is the highest distinction that is conferred by the French Republic on a
French citizen as well as a on a foreigner. The legendary singer has sung more than
30,000 songs in a career spanning six decades.
20. President Pratibha Patil inaugurated the 62 nd World Newspaper Congress in Hyderabad.
More than 900 participants from 87 countries, including publishers, CEOs, MDs Chief
Editors, senior newspaper executives have registered for the event. Apart from the
Congress, the 16th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo-2009 are being
organized at the Hyderabad International convention centre.
 Xavier Vidal - Folch, President, World Editors Forum, presented the 2009 WAN –
INFRA Golden Pen of Freedom to Najam Sethi, Editor-in-Chief of Pakistani newspapers
Friday Times and Daily Times.
21. Fluroscent Tube Lights convert an electric discharge in the mercury vapour present in the
tube, into visible light at the phosphor coating inside the tube. But this discharge
cannot take place of its own when the normal supply voltage is applied, because this
voltage is not sufficient to cause ionization of the gas in the tube. In order to strike this
discharge, an ingenious combination of a set of filaments ( at the ends of the tube), a
choke ( Inductor Coil) and a starter is used.
22. Astronomers have found a mega ring around Saturn. They believe its genesis is a small
distant moon of the be-ringed planetary giant.
 Phoebe, saturnian satellite measuring 214 km across, probably provides the record
breaking tenuous circle of dusty and icy debris.
 The largest ring identified so far in the solar system, the circle starts about six
million km from Saturn and extends outward by another 12 million km, within the
orbit of phoebe.
 The ring could also explain the mysterus of ‘Iapetus’, Saturn’s bizarre two – tone,
black-and-white moon. A connection between Saturn’s outer moon, Phoebe and the
dark material on Iapetus might be evidence cause of the new ring.
 Until now, the champion planetary rings in the solar system were the so called
“gossamer rings” surrounding Jupiter, the solar system largest planet, and Saturn’s and
ring.

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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