The highest civilian award in India : Bharat Ratna

Switzerland was one of the first countries to recognize Independent India. It was also the first country to sign the Treaty of Friendship and Establishment with India.

The attack on Iraq by U.S. Began on 20 March 2003. Major troops were of US and UK. Some smaller contingents from Australia, Denmark, Poland and other nations as well as some Eastern European countries supported the forces.

The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline failed due to security concerns. India is now putting its hopes on the Turkey-Israel-India pipeline. The pipeline is to transport crude from the Caspian region to Ceyhan port on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. From the Ceyhan port crude is to be transported through underwater pipeline to Israel. From Israel the pipeline would be connected to the Eilant port on the Red Sea from where it can be transported to India.

Lok Adalats have been given statutory status under the Legal Service Authority Act, 1987. Under the act, the award of Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court is final and binding on both parties, and there is no appeal against it.

In November 2006, Gujarat became the first state to establish evening courts.

MPLAD scheme was started in 1993 with an initial allocation of Rs. 5 lakh for every MP annually. It was increased to Rs. 1 crore in 1994 and further to Rs. 2 crore in 1998. There is a proposal to increase it to Rs. 5 crore. A petition has been filed against this scheme. The petitioners argued that empowering MP’s to implement projects meant that executive powers had been taken over by legislature which was against the constitution scheme. Under the Constitution, all money from the Consolidation Fund of India (CFI) for the development schemes had to be sanctioned by the Union Government.

BIMSTEC : Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. Members : India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. This group was setup in 1997.

Liquidity is the availability of cash and other cash like instruments which help in purchasing and investment. It consists of currencies and notes, cheques, credit cards, demand drafts, etc. In modern era, shares, debentures, bonds, deposits are also considered liquidity assets.

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) : Ratio of cash that banks have to maintain with RBI.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) : Banks have to maintain minimum liquidity assets (apart from CRR) in the form of cash, gold and approved securities.

Net Demand & Time Liability (NDTL) : Customers put saving in banks. Money supplied in this form may be used by banks in issuing demand drafts, etc.

Morarji Desai was the first non-Congress PM of the country of the Janata Dal Coalition.

H.D. Deve Gowda was the PM of the United Front Coalition.

Rajiv Goswami, a Delhi University student set himself on fire in 1990 to protest against the Mandal Commission.

Giani Zail Sigh became the first Sikh President of India.

Emergency : June 1975 – March 1977.

Operation Blue Star : 4 – 6 June 1984.

Indira Gandhi Assassination : 31 October 1984.

Bofors Scandal : It was responsible for the defeat of Rajiv Gandhi in general elections.

Babri Masjid Demolition : On 6 December 1992, 15,000 strong Hindu mob demolished the Babri Masjid structure as 25,000 paramilitary personnel watched.

Operation Pawan : India signed the 1987 peace accord with Sri Lanka. 20,000 strong Indian Peace keeping Force against the very LTTE it had trained to fight the Lankan Forces.

Fodder Scam : ( January 1996 )The scam involved millions of dollars in alleged fraudulent reimbursements from the treasury of Bihar for fodder, medicines and husbandry supplies for non-existent livestock. It forced Lalu Parsad Yadav, the CM of the state to resign.

Gujarat Riots : February – March 2002.

In Vote of No Confidence in July 2008 against the Manmohan Singh government (when the left front withdrew the support on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal), BJP members waved wads of money claiming they were offered cash in return for their support.

Arms Bribery Scandal ( March 2001) : Video tapes of highly placed officials taking bribes in arms deals were released in 2001 forcing BJP president Bangaru Laxman to resign.

IC-814 was hijacked on 24 December 1999 by 5 masked terrorists. The flight was from Kathmandu to Delhi. Six days later it was released. 3 top terrorists had to be released.

Parliament was attacked on 13 December 2001.

Youngest CM – Prafulla Mahanta was 31 when he became Assam CM. Madhu Koda was 35 when he was sworn in as Jharkhand CM. A.K. Antony was 37 when he took office as Kerala CM in 1977.

Saina Nehwal : Badminton player. Was the first Indian to reach Olympics quaterfinals in badminton. Top 10 position at the end of 2008.

Shooter Abhinav Bindra won India’s first individual gold medal in Olympics in 10m Air Rifle event. First gold medal for India after 1980 gold in Hockey.

Edmund Hillary ( 20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008 ) New Zealand mountaineer who along with his Nepali guide Sherpa Tensing became the first to climb Mt. Everest.

Large Hadron Collider, World’s largest particle collider completed its first major test by firing a beam of protons in a 27 km tunnel on 10 September 2008. The experiments are expected to address the questions such as what gives matter its mass, why nature prefers matter to anti-matter and how matter evolved form the first instants of universe’s existance. Unfortunately on 19^th September 2008, a fault developed on a small number of superconducting magnets. So it will start not before spring of 2009. In LHC, they collide 2 beams of protons/ heavy ions. The tunnel is buried around 50 to 175 m underground. It is on the borders of Switzerland and France on the outskirts of Geneva.

Reverse Repo Rate: Rate at which central banks borrow form commercial banks.

Nitish Kumar is in Janata Dal (United).

Terrorist arrested during Mumbai attacks was Muhammad Ajmal Amir.

While a weaker currency helps export-oriented sectors such as IT, it increases the cost for importers.

A deal was finalised in 2004 at a cost of $ 1.5 billion for refit and modernisation of Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov which was to be delivered to the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya in 2008. But at the end of 2008 and the start of 2009, Russians said that the bill was underestimated and an additional $ 2 billion was needed. The delivery is now expected in 2012. This aircraft carrier will replace INS Viraat, India’s sole aircraft carrier.

Pervez Musharraf quited as the Pakistani President on 18 August 2008. It saved Musharraf from facing an impeachment by government led by PM Abdul Raza Gilani.

Asif Ali Zardari was elected as President of Pakistan on 6 September 2008 ending a decade of military rule.

Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren lost a by-election he needed to win to remain CM. He was appointed CM in August 2008 and had to win election by February 2009 but he lost polls by huge margin in January 2009.

Slumdog Millionaire is a British film based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q & A”.

Appu Ghar, India’s first amusement park, was opened on 19 November 1984. It got it’s name from ‘Appu’, the mascot of the 1982 Asian Games. It closed on 16 February 2008 after a Supreme Court order to make way for new section of Supreme Court and a part of Delhi Metro Station.

Area wise Ladakh is India’s largest parliamentary constituency followed by Barmer (Rajasthan), Kutch, Arunachal West and Arunachal East.

Chandni Chowk is smallest parliamentary constituency followed by Calcutta Northwest, Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central and Delhi Sadar.

Haryana was formed on 1 November 1966 on the recommendation of Sardar Hukam Singh Parliamentary Committee. Acting on the recommendations of the Hukam Singh Committee, Indian Government setup Shah Commission under the chairmanship of Justice J.C. Shah, to divide the boundaries of Punjab and Haryana on the basis of language spoken.

Haryana was the first state to achieve 100% rural electrification.

Fiscal/ Budget Deficit occurs when an entity often government plans to spend more money than it takes in. Opposite to it is budget surplus. Debt is essentially accumulated flow of deficits. If a government’s debt is dominated in it’s own currency, it can print new currency to pay debts (this can cause inflation if done on large scale). Government can finance their debts by issuing long term government bonds. According to Keynesian economics, running fiscal deficit and increasing government debt can stimulate economic activity if country’s GDP is below potential. When economy is running at potential level of output, deficits can cause inflation.

NIA (National Investigation Agency) and UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) amendment bills were passed by Parliament after the Mumbai blasts.

On 21 January 2008, Sensex lost 1408 points, largest ever fall in the history of Indian stock exchange.

On 14 February 2008, Union Government approved implementation of the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission. President Pratibha Patil signed notification implementing Delimitation Commission’s Recommendations on 19 February 2008.

During the Union Budget 2008-09, Finance Minister P. Chidambram announced a Rs.60000 crore farm loan waiver for farmers. This was later increased to Rs.71000 crores.

Cyclone refers to an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the earth. It rotes counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere.

The U.S. Capitol servers as the seat of the government of the United States Congress i.e. it is the US Congress Building. It is located in Washington D.C on the top of Capitol Hill.

Barack Obama sworn in as the 44^th President of U.S. On 20 January 2009.

Ban-Ki-Moon is the current Secretary General of the United Nations. He was elected the 8^th Secretary-General on 13 October 2006 replacing Kofi Annan. He is a South Korean.

The Solicitor-General for India is subordinate to the Attorney General. The Solicito General for India is the 2^nd law officer of the country. He assists Attorney General and is himself assisted by 4 additional Solicitor Generals.

Israeli forces have begun withdrawing from the Gaza Strip on 19 January 2009 after 22 days in Gaza (Operation Cast Lead).

Ashok Chakra is the Highest peacetime gallantry award in India.

4 Mumbai Police Personnels – ATS Chief Hemant Karkare; Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte; Inspector Vijay Salaskar; Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Umble were awarded Ashok Chakra in 2009 on Republic Day. Other awardees who lost their lives during operation in Mumbai – 2 NSG personnel Major Sandeep Unnikrishanna and Havildar Gajender Singh.

Pete Sampras has the record of most Grand Slam titles – 14.

Roger Federer ( Swiss Tennis Player ) has won 13 Grand Slam titles. He is the only player in tennis history to have won 5 consecutive Grand Slam titles at 2 separate events : Wimbledon ( 2003-2007 ) and US Open ( 2004-2008 ).

Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of the Delhi Police lost his life in Jamia encounter with terrorists in Delhi was awarded Ashok Chakra in 2009 Republic Day Parade.

Full Name of President Pratibha Patil is Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

Ashok Leyland is a Hinduja Company.

Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. Secretary of State under Obama Government. She was a former Obama Presidential campaign rival.

Mother Teresa was born in Macedonian Capital Skopje. Her organization is Missionaries of Charity.

Surya Kiran is the Aerobatics team of the Indian Air Force.

A <!– @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } –.R. Rahman is the first Indian to get 3 Oscar nominations. He got nominated for Best Original Song for songs : Jai Ho – Slumdog Millionaire and O Saya – Slumdog Millionaire and Best Original Score for Slumdog Millionaire.

Delimitation means the act of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or province having a legislative body.Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body, whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court. These orders come in force on a date specified by the President of India in their behalf. The copies of it’s orders are laid before the House of People and State Legislative Assemblies concerned but no modifications are permissible therein by them. In India, Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 time :  1952 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1952; 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962; 1972 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1972; 2002 under Delimitation Commission Act, 2002.