Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 1 Games & Hosting Nations 1. Common Wealth Games 2006 Melbourne 2. 2010 Delhi 3. 2014 Glasgow 4. First Afro-Asian Games 2003 Hyderabad 5. 2007 Africa 6. 15 th Asian Games (XV Asiad) 2006 Doha (Qatar) 7. 2014 South Korea 8. SAF (South Asian Federation) 2006 Colombo, Sri Lanka 9. 2008 Dehradun & Auli (Winter SAF) 10. Winter Olympics 2006 Turin 11. 2010 Vancouver 12. 2014 Sochi, Russia 13. Football World Cup 2006 Germany 14. 2010 South Africa 15. 2014 Brazil (the first time since 1950). 16. Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing 17. 2012 London. London has hosted summer Olympics maximum no of times. 18. World Badminton Championship 2009 Delhi 19. Cricket World Cup 2011 India, Pak, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Final Match in Delhi. 20. ICC Twenty20 world cup 2007 South Africa 21. 33 rd National Games 2007 Guwahati 22. 34 th National Games 2009 Kerala 23. Hockey World Cup 2010 2010 New Delhi 24. 14 th SAARC Summit 2007 New Delhi 25. 15 th SAARC Summit 2008 Maldives Awards & Honours 1. Nobel Prize Economics: Leonid Hurwicz (USA), Eric S Maskin (USA) Roger B Myerson (USA) For having laid the foundation of mechanism design theory. Physics: Albert Fert (France) Peter Grunberg (Germany) For the discovery of “Giant Magnetoresistance. Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (Germany) For his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces. Medicine: Mario R Capecchi (USA) Sir Martin J Evans (UK) Oliver Smithies (USA) For their discoveries in principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem
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Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 1
Games & Hosting Nations
1. Common Wealth Games 2006 Melbourne
2. 2010 Delhi
3. 2014 Glasgow
4. First Afro-Asian Games 2003 Hyderabad
5. 2007 Africa
6. 15th Asian Games (XV Asiad) 2006 Doha (Qatar)
7. 2014 South Korea
8. SAF (South Asian Federation) 2006 Colombo, Sri Lanka
9. 2008 Dehradun & Auli (Winter SAF)
10. Winter Olympics 2006 Turin
11. 2010 Vancouver
12. 2014 Sochi, Russia
13. Football World Cup 2006 Germany
14. 2010 South Africa
15. 2014 Brazil (the first time since 1950).
16. Summer Olympics 2008 Beijing
17. 2012 London. London has hosted summer Olympics maximum no of times.
18. World Badminton Championship 2009 Delhi
19. Cricket World Cup 2011 India, Pak, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh Final Match in Delhi.
20. ICC Twenty20 world cup 2007 South Africa
21. 33rd National Games 2007 Guwahati
22. 34th National Games 2009 Kerala
23. Hockey World Cup 2010 2010 New Delhi
24. 14th SAARC Summit 2007 New Delhi
25. 15th SAARC Summit 2008 Maldives
Awards & Honours
1. Nobel Prize Economics:
Leonid Hurwicz (USA), Eric S Maskin (USA) Roger B Myerson (USA) For having laid the foundation of mechanism design theory. Physics: Albert Fert (France) Peter Grunberg (Germany) For the discovery of “Giant Magnetoresistance. Chemistry:
Gerhard Ertl (Germany) For his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces. Medicine:
Mario R Capecchi (USA) Sir Martin J Evans (UK) Oliver Smithies (USA) For their discoveries in principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 2
cells. Literature: Doris Lessing (UK) – the epicist of the female experience who with skepticism, fire & visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny”. Peace: IPCC founded in 1988 headed by Rajendra Pachauri & Albert Arnold Gore Jr for work on Climate Change.
2. Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2005 Shyam Benegal. First film of his was “Ankur”.
3. Dada Saheb Phalke Ratna Award Living Legend Dilip Kumar
4. Bharat Ratna
5. Gyanpith Award
6. Ramon Magsaysay Award 2007 Palagumni Sainath of India, the Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu for Journalism Jonito R Salonga – Philippines – Govt Service Kin Sun Tae – South Korea – Public Service Mahabir Pun – Nepal – Community Leadership Tang Xiyang – China – Peace & Intl Understanding Chung To & Chen Guangcheng – China – Leadership
7. Indira Gandhi Prize for peace, Disarmament & Development 2006
Wangari Muta Maathai of Kenya (Nobel Laureate)
8. Rajiv Gandhi Manav Sewa
9. Gandhi Peace Prize
10. Indira Gandhi prize for National Integration
JS Bandukwala (MS University, Vadodara) & Ram Puniyani (IIE, Powai) – shared jointly. For participating in relief work in 1993 Mumbai riots & Godhra riots.
11. 14th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award
Hem Dutta (Social Activist from Assam)
12. Jamnalal Bajaj Award Yashpal Mittal Dr Anand Karve Ashok Gupta Prof Michael Nagler.
13. Saraswati Samman 2006 Oriya writer Jagganath Prasad for his work Parikrama
14. Tansen Award
15. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Shooter). He is the third shooter to receive this award after Abhinav Bindra & Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
16. Man Booker Prize 2007 Irish Writer Anne Enright for her novel “The Gathering”.
17. Man Booker International Prize Nigerian Novelist Chinua Achebe best known for his first novel “Things Fall Apart”.
18. Oscar – 79th Academy Awards Best Film – Departed Best Director – Martin Scorsese (Departed) Best Actor – Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) Best Actress – Helen Mirren (The Queen) Best Foreign Film – The Lives of Others (Germany)
19. 49th Grammy Awards Dixie Chicks stole the show by winning the record of the year & album of the year.
20. 53rd National Film Awards Best Film: Kaal Purush (Bengali) Best Director: Rahul Dholakia, Parzania (English) Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchhan (Black)
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 3
Best Actress: Sarika, Parzania Best Popular Film: Rang De Basanti Indira Gandhi Award for the Best First Film of a Director: Parineeta
21. 52nd Filmfare Awards Best Film – Rang De Basanti Best Actor – Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom-2) Best Director – Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti) Best Actress: Kajol (Fanaa)
22. Miss Universe 2007 Riyo Mori (Japan), held at Mexico City. Natalia Guimaraes (Brazil) – first runner up
23. Miss World 2007 Zhang Zilin of China at the finals of World Beauty Pageant at Sanya, China
24. Miss Earth 2007 Pooja Chitgopekar of India won this contest.
25. Femina Miss India Universe Puja Gupta (Miss India Universe) Sarah Jane Dias (Miss India World) Pooja Chitgopekar (Miss India Earth)
26. Mr. India 2008
27. CAPA
28. Indian Science Award
29. Chameli Devi Award
30. Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo
31. Lata Mangeshkar Award
32. Kishore Kumar Award
33. Whitley Gold Award
34. Golden Peacock Global Award
35. World Food Prize
36. Nargis Dutta Award for Best Film on National Integration
Daivanamathil (Malayalam)
37. Hiroshima Award
38. National Communal Harmony Award 2006
Delhi based Institue for Socialist Education & Rabindra Nath Upadhyay
39. Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards Violin Maestro – T.N. Krishnan Kathak Dancer – Rohini Bhate Tabla player – Pt. Kishan Maharaj & Gursharan Singh
40. Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna S.K. Saxena
41. Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration
42. B.M Birla Science Prize
43. G.D Birla Scientific Research Award
44. Knight of the Legion
45. Borlaug Medallion
46. Nelson Mandela Award for Minority Empowerment
47. David Dixon Prize
48. WTA Newcomer of the year 2005
49. Stockholm Water Prize
50. Olof Palme Prize
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 4
51. Abel Prize Indian American Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan won the $ 850,000 Abel Prize known as Nobel prize of Maths.
52. Order Mexicana del Aguila Azteca
53. Order of Australia
54. DRDO Lifetime Achievement Aw.
55. UNESCO World Press Freedom Pr
56. National Geographic Champion Bee
57. Congressional Gold Medal
58. International Indian Film Academy Awards, Sheffield
Best Film: Rang De Basanti Best Actor: Hrithik Roshan (Krish) Best Actress: Rani Mukherjee (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) Best Villan: Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)
59. Mother Teresa Award
60. Lal Bahadur Shastri Award
61. International Cosmos Prize
62. Order of the Dannneberg-Knight
63. Mongolian Pole Star
64. Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Ekta Samman
65. M.S. Swaminathan
66. Kabir Puraskar Khalifa Gufran of Saharanpur for communal harmony.
67. UNESCO Madanjeet Singh prize
68. Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Award
69. CSIR Award (hosted in 2006)
70. ET Business Leader of the Year 07 KV Kamath
71. ET Company of the Year 2007 Bharti Airtel
72. ET Business Woman of the Year Shobhana Bhartia, Vice Chairman & Editorial Director of Hindustan Times.
73. ET Emerging Company of the Year Glenmark
74. Entrepreneur of the Year GM Rao, Chairman of GMR Group, Infrastructure Co.
75. Policy Change Agnet M Damodaran
76. ET Global Indian Rajat Gupta
77. ET Business Reformer Praful Patel
78. ET Lifetime Achievement N.R. Narayana Murthy
79. ET Corporate Citizen Sankara Nethralaya, Non profit Eye institute in Chennai.
80. Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award
81. Vyas Samman
82. Office of the Legion of Honour
83. ICC Awards Cricketer of the Year: Ricky Ponting Test Player of the Year: Md Yusuf (Pakistan) ODI Player of the Year: Mathew Hayden (Australia) Women Player of the Year: Jhulan Goswami (India) Emerging Player of the Year: Shaun Tait (Australia) Captain of the Year: Ricky Ponting Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (Australia) Spirit of Cricket Award: Sri Lanka
84. International Childrens Peace Prize
85. Ambassador of Conscience 2006
86. E&Y Entrepreneur Award
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 5
87. Bihari Puraskar
88. 15th Vachaspati Puraskar
89. Dayawati Modi Award
90. Man of Peace Prize 2006
91. Jawahar Nehru Award for International Understanding
Wangari M Maathai (Kenyan Human right activist) Luiz Lula da Silva (Brazilian President)
92. Jnanpith Award Eminent Kashmiri poet Rehman Rahi.
93. Pulitzer Prize Cormac McCarthy, novelist for “The Road” Ornette Coleman, saxophonist for “Sounder Grammer” 13 news organizations also won with “Wall Street” as the only multiple winner
94. Mo Ibrahim Prize Former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano. Instituted this year the Mo Ibrahim prize With a $5 million initial payment, plus $200,000 a year for life, the prize is believed to be the world's largest, exceeding the $1.3m Nobel Peace Prize.
Commission & Committees (Permanent)
1. Planning Commission
2. National Commission on Population
3. National Commission for Women
4. National Commission for Minorities Mohammad Shafi Qureshi
5. National Human Rights Commission Rajendra Babu
6. Staff Selection Commission
7. UPSC Subir Datta (replaced Gurbachan Jagat).
8. Election Commission
9. Central Pollution Control Board
10. Census Commission
11. National Commission for Linguistic Minorities
Justice Ranganath Misra (Recently Elected)
12. Economic Advisory Council
13. Central Information Commission
14. National Commission on Farmers
15. High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora
16. Expenditure Reforms Commission
Some Important Committees
1. Rekhi Committee Common Code of Indirect Taxes
2. LC Gupta Committee Stock Exchange Reform
3. Tarapore Committee Capital Account Convertability
4. Vasudev Committee NBFC reform
5. Nanavati Commission Anti Sikh Riots, New Delhi
6. Liberhan Commission Demolition of Babri Masjid
7. Naresh Chandra Committee National Civil Aviation policy
8. Integrated Energy Committee Kirit S Parekh (Submitted its report)
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 6
9. R.K Raghavan Committee Prevent ragging on campus (recent)
4. Justice Saraf Committee on Arbitration Law & Justice B.P. Saraf
5. Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee Ministry of Railways U.C. Banerjee (Godhra Enquiry)
6. Committee of Ministers on Dalit Affairs Social Justice & Emp. Pranab Mukherjee
7. Committee on Muslim Community PMO Justice Rajendra Sachar
8. Committee to review National Mineral Policy Planning Commission Anwarlal Hoda
9. J. J. Irani Committee Company Affairs New Company law
10. Committee to draft new Police Act Home Affairs f Sorabjee
11. Committee on Prasar Bharati Info & Broadcasting S. K. Arora
12. Committee to Probe Volcker Report Ministry of Finance Justice R.S. Pathak
13. Committee to review the syllabus of training of IAS officers
Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension
R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar.
14. Committee to examine pricing & taxation of petroleum products
Petroleum & Natural Gas
C. Rangarajan
15. Committee to probe into fire at Bombay High Pertroleum & Gas T.N.R. Rao
16. Committee for relief of 1984 riots Home Affairs K.P. Singh
17. Sandhu Committee to examine price control Chemical & Fertilizer Gurdial Singh Sandhu
18. S.K Joshi Committee HRD Increasing IITs
19. Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet Cabinet Committee R. Chidambaram
20. S. K. Tuteja Committee Agri, CAPD Restructuring Sugar Industry
21. Inter State Trade Council Commerce & Industry Kamal Nath
22. Kelkar Committee on Military Acquisitions Defense Vijay Kelkar
23. Expert Committee on Patent Laws R.A. Mashelkar
24. India-UK joint Economic & Trade Committee
GoI, GoU.K. Kamal Nath Patricia Hewitt
25. Expert Group on Corporate Bonds & Securitization
Ministry of Finance R. H. Patil
26. Hydrogen Energy Ratan Tata.
27. National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions
M.S.A. Siddiqui
28. Committee on Social & Economic status of Rajinder Sachar
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 8
Muslim Community
29. Pension Scheme for Judicial Officers Commission
Shetty
30. Committee to study restructuring of Public sector oil companies
V. Krishnamurthi.
Organization & Their Heads/Chairman/CEO
1. Reserve Bank of India Y.V Reddy
2. State Bank of India Yogesh Agarwal (MD) O.P Bhatt (Chairman)
3. Central Bank of India
4. Oriental Bank of Commerce Alok Kumar Mishra
5. Punjab National Bank Kamlesh Chandra Chakraborty (CMD)
6. EXIM Bank
7. IDBI Yogesh Afarwal (CMD)
8. SIDBI
9. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Thomas Mathew (MD)
10. T.S. Vijayan (Chairman)
11. BSE
12. NSE
13. BSNL Kuldeep Goyal (CMD)
14. Ford India
15. HSBC Naina Lal Kidwai (CEO)
16. ICICI Prudential Shikha Sharma
17. NABARD (Chairman) Umesh Chandra Sarangi
18. CII President Sunil Mittal (President) K.V. Kamath (Vice President)
19. NTPC T. Sankaralingam
20. Dena Bank P.L. Galoria (CMD)
21. Indraprastha Gas Limited Om Narayan
22. UTI
Various Central Organizations & their Heads
1. AICTE
2. CBSE
3. Bureau of Indian Standards
4. Food Corporation of India A.K. Dubey (CMD)
5. Central Board of Film Certification
6. Press Trust of India (Chairman of Boards of Directors) N. Ravi, Editor of Hindu
7. NASSCOM (Chairman) N. Lakshmi Narayanan (CTS)
8. NASSCOM (President) Som Mittal
9. ISRO Chairman
10. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (Director) K. Radhakrishnan (Earlier head of NRSA, Hyderabad) replacing BN. Suresh.
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 9
11. CSIR (Director General) Samir K. Brahmachari
12. CBI (Director) Vijay Shankar
13. SAIL S.K Roongta (Chairman)
14. GAIL (Chairman) U.D. Choubey
15. ONGC R.S. Sharma
16. Oil India Limited (OIL) M.R. Pasrija
17. Surveyor General of India
18. CII President
19. NSD (National School of Drama)
20. Indian Airlines
21. Comptroller & Auditor General of India
22. Chief Justice of Supreme Court (37th) K.G. Balakrishnan (First Judge from Scheduled caste)
23. National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan
24. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Nirpendra Misra
25. Attorney General Milon K. Banerjee
26. Delhi HC Chief Justice Vijendra Jain
27. Indian Tourism Development Corporation Parvez Diwan
28. Prasar Bharti Brijeshwar Singh
29. KVIC Kumud Joshi
30. Research & Analysis Wing Ashok Chaturvedi
31. CBDT (Central Board for Direct Taxes) Indira Bhargava
32. CBDT – Chairman B.M Singh
33. FICCI Chairman Habil Khorakiwala, Wockhardt
34. Chief of Indian Air Force Fali H. Major
35. National Hydel Power Corporation Sudershan Kumar Garg
36. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta
37. Chief of Army Deepak Kapoor
International Organizations & their Heads
1. International Cricked Council David Morgan (for 2008-10)
2. World Bank President Robert Zoellick
3. World Trade Organization (Director General)
4. UNHCR (UN high commissioner for refugees)
5. World Bank (Vice President)
6. International Atomic Energy Agency (Director General) Mohammad Elbaredi
7. UN FAO (Director General)
8. International Monetary Fund (Chief) Dominique Strauss Kahn.
9. E.U. Trade Commissioner P. Mandelson
10. U.N Under Secretary General Vijay Nambiar
11. ICC Chief Executive Malcom Speed
12. ICC Chairman Percy Sonn of South Africa (Replaced Ehsan Mani)
13. Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee Sunil Gavaskar
14. Intel Corporation Paul Otellini (CEO) Craig Barret (Chairman)
15. World Health Organization Mrs Margaret Chan (Chinese)
16. IBM Sam Palmisano
17. SAP Henning Kagermann
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 10
18. Ford Alan Mulally (replaced Bill Ford)
19. Asian Development Bank (Manila Based) Haruhiko Kuroda Rajat M. Nag (MD)
20. Airbus Louis Gallois (CEO)
21. World Food Program (WFP) Josette Sheeran
22. BBC Chitra Bharucha (First woman & Indian to head BBC)
Recently Elected Presidents (Pres.)/Prime Minister (PM) or In News
1. Lebanon Prime Minister Faud Saniora (US Backed PM of Lebanon)
2. France President Nicolas Sarkozy (replaced Jacque Chirac)
3. Prime Minister Francois Fillon
4. Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajpaksa
5. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake
6. Austria Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer
7. Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah)
8. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas) resigned
9. Japan Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda replaced Shinzo Abe
10.
11. Russia President Vladmir Putin (Guest of Honour on 26th Jan 2007)
12. Portugal President Anibal Antonio Cavaco Silva (Visited India)
13. Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown (chancellor of the ex-chequer visited India)
14. Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama
15. President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
16. Nicargua President Daniel Ortega
17. Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Azim Isabekov
18. Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed
19. Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
20. Italy Prime Minister Romano Prodi (visited India)
21. Turkmenistan President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov
22. Chechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov (former rebel fighter)
23. China Prime Minister Wen Jiabo
24. President Hu Jintao
25. North Korea Prime Minister Kim Yong II
26. Syria President Bashar Assad
27. Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka
28. Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jabr al thani.
29. East Timor President Nobel Peace Laureate Jose Ramos Horta (Male)
30. Prime Minister Gusmao Xanana (recently elected)
31. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev (President for Life – Parliament vote)
32. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
33. Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
34. Israel President Shimon Peres
35. Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
36. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (visited India)
37. Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen
38. South Africa President Thabo Mbeki
39. Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
40. Turkey President Abdullah Gul (recently elected)
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 11
41. Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan (recently elected – Islamic roots)
42. Greece Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis
43. Mexico President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa (Visited India)
44. Bulgaria Prime Minister Sergei Stainishev (Weeklong Indian Visit)
45. Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding
46. UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohd Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum
47. DMC President Joseph Kabila won over Jean Pierre Bemba
48. Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade (Second Term)
49. Estonia Prime Minister Andrus Ansip (Retained Power)
50. Nigeria President Umaru Yar Adua (Recently elected)
51. Thailand Prime Minister Surayud Chualnont (Visited India)
52. Argentina President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner (first elected female president & will succeed her husband, Nestor Kirchner).
53. Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Labour Party (Defeated John Howard)
54. Switzerland President Ms. Micheline Calmy Rey (Visited India)
55. Guatemala President Alvaro Colom (recently elected)
56. Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammedmian Soomro (Caretaker PM) after Shaukat Aziz
57. South Korea President Lee Myung Bak (recently elected)
58. Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
59. Slovenia President Danilo Tuerek
60. Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega (Former President too)
61. Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymeshenko. She was driving force of 2004 Organge Revolution of Ukraine.
62. Myanmar Prime Minister Lieutenant General Thein Sein is new PM
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Important Summits
1. G – 20
2. G-8 Heilingendamn, Germany.
3. Shanghai Cooperation Organization Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
4. European Union Summit
5. G-77
6. 13th ASEAN Singapore
7. 7th India-EU Summit Helsinki
8. World Summit of UN
9. CHOGM Kampala in Uganda. Queen Elizabeth II, Head of Commonwealth addressed it.
10. 94th Indian Science Congress Annamalai University, at Chidambaram, 250 Km from Chennai
11. WTO Minsterial Conference
12. 3rd East Asia Summit Singapore
13. ASEAN
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 12
14. Asia-Africa Summit
15. Organization of Islamic Conference
16. World Economic Forum
17. 7th World Social Forum Nairobi
18. 5th Pravasi Bhartiya Samman
19. African Union Summit
20. G-8 Foreign Ministers meeting Germany
21. NAM Summit
22. EU-India Summit
23. First India Social Forum
24. Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) Sydney
25. 6th ASEAN – India Summit Singapore
Recent Books (2008 Prelims)
1. India After Gandhi Ramachandra Guha
2. How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, & Got a Life
Kaavya Vishwanathan.
3. Half of a Yellow sun Chimamanda Ngozi (Won Orange Broadband prize of Fiction)
4. Military Inc – Inside Pak’s Military Economy Ayesha Siddiqui (Banned in Pak)
5. Agriculture Cannot Wait M.S. Swaminathan
6. Gandhi – A spiritual Journey Madhav Vittal
7. Inclusive Growth K.N. Raj
8. It Happened in India Kishore Biyani
9. The Call of 21st Century B.S. Raghavan.
10. Imperial Life in the Emerald City Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Won Samuel Johnson Non-Fiction prize).
11. India’s Unending Journey Mark Tully
12. India Remembered Pamela Mountbatten
13. Wolf Totem Lu Jiamin (This book won Man Asia Literary Prize)
14. The Tales of Beedle the Bard J.K. Rowling
15. Behind the Shades Duncan Fletcher (Former England Team Coach’s Autobiography)
16. The Solar Economy – Renewable Energy for Sustainable Future
Hermann Scheer (Winner of Right Livelihood Award)
17. Dwikhandita Taslima Nasreen (Controversial)
18. India’s Century Kamal Nath (Commerce Minister)
19. Inside IB & RAW K. Sankaran Nair (Former RAW Chief)
20. George’s Secret to the Universe Stephen Hawking
21. Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
22. The Elephant, The Tiger & the Cellphone Shashi Tharoor
23. The Age of Turbulence Alan Greenspan
24. Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer Yashwant Sinha
25. An American Witness to India’s Partition Phillips Talbot
Grand Prix
1. Bahrain G.P. Felipe Massa (Brazil)
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 13
2. San Marino G.P
3. Australian G.P Kimi Raikkonen
4. Monaco G.P Fernando Alonso
5. Spanish G.P. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
6. European G.P. Fernando Alonso
7. Canadian G.P Lewis Hamilton
8. British G.P Kimi Raikkonen
9. French GP Kimi Raikkonen
10. German GP
11. Italian GP Fernando Alonso
12. Belgian GP Kimi Raikkonen
13. Japanese GP
14. US GP Lewis Hamilton
15. Malaysian GP Fernando Alonso
16. Brazilian GP Kimi Raikkonen
Places in News
1. Sanauli, Baghpat Largest Harappan discovered on the banks of Yamuna in UP.
2. Natanz Site of Uranium Enrichment Facility of Iran.
3. Hilla Suicide bombs killed 93 person in this Iraqi Town.
4. Camerron A Kenyan jet carrying 114 people abroad crashed.
5. Colombo, Sri Lk 8th International Congress on AIDs in Asia & the Pacific held here.
6. Hyderabad 58th Session of International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held here.
7. Jakarta 62nd session of UN Economic & Social Commission for Asia & Pacific.
8. Naypidaw New capital of Myanmar.
9. Singur Tata Motors plant here was involved in controversy.
10. Ranibodili In Chattisgrah. Major offensive by 300 Maoists.
11. Mumbai 32nd Annual Conference of International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). IOSCO was established in 1983 & is today known as the International Standard Setter for Securities Market regulating 90 % of the world’s securities market. The chairperson of IOSCO executive committee is Jane Diplock
12. Qatar Meeting of Gas Exporting Countries to setup a group on lines of OPEC
13. Bad Doberan The German town that stripped Adolf Hitler of his honorary citizenship & would host G-8 summit in June 2007.
14. Incheon New Delhi lost bid to host 2014 Asian Games to this South Korean City.
15. Qingdao India & China joint naval exercise.
16. Puri The queen of Puri, Lilabati Pattamahadei conducted a traditional ritual.
17. Hamburg 8th Asia Europe Meeting – Meeting of Foreign Ministers.
18. Nusa Dua Located in Bali where the 116th Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting was held. The top agenda was climate change.
19. Samara Russian city where EU-Russia summit ended without any agreement getting signed.
20. Islamabad Meeting of Organization of Islamic Conference.
21. Mustang A cave containing a mural of 55 panels depicting life of Buddha has been discovered in Mustang, Nepal.
22. Larsemann Hills, The consultative parties of the Antarctic Treaty for a research station at
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 14
Paritz Bay this site.
23. Arak Iran’s first indigenously built heavy water reactor.
24. Samara Iraqi city which houses the golden mosque attacked by militants
25. Pamban Rail Bridge
Applied for world heritage site status.
26. Shanghai Has become the busiest port in the world surpassing Hong Kong
27. Khusab It was reported that Pakistan is building a third plutonium production reactor at this site.
28. Sochi This Russian City will host 2014 Winter Olympics.
29. Yongbyon The place where North Korea’s Nuclear reactor is situated
30. Kashiwazaki Kariwa
A place in Japan where nuclear plant was damaged due to earthquake.
31. Beirut UNESCO has selected this city as World Book Capital
32. Jwalapuram In Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh – Archaelogical Excavation.
33. Jias Cabinet to setup Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology here at Rae Bareli district in UP.
34. Glasgow Unsuccessful attempt of Car Bomb Blast.
35. Lal Maszid Located in Islamabad, where Abdul Rashid Ghazi confronted Pak’s Military but was later killed.
36. Dantewada 24 police personnel were killed by Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh.
37. Asaluyeh In Iran where Hugo Chavez & Ahmedinejad laid the foundation stone of a joint petrochemical plant.
38. Ayni Indian airbase in Tajikistan.
39. Geneva UN Conference on Disarmament held here. All 65 members barring Pakistan, China & Iran agreed to begin banning of fissile material.
40. Yangbyon North Korea’s sole functioning nuclear reactor shut down.
41. Bukit Ibam First Nuclear monitoring facility in ASEAN to come up at this site in Malaysia.
42. Jericho Where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas & Israeli PM Ehud Olmert met.
43. Belgaum Ruling Janta Dal-BJP coalition govt decided to make Belgaum as the second capital of Karnataka.
44. Devasthal Asia’s largest optical telescope is to be set up here, near Nainital.
45. Usaka South African Development Community Summit at Usaka in Zambia.
46. Jaipur The 12th International Lake Conference named Taal-2007 was organized here by Union Forest & Environment Ministry & Raj Govt.
47. Dalian Conference of World Economic Forum known as “Summer Davos” was held in this Chinese City.
48. Rawalpindi Two bomb blasts rocked the city
49. Kolkata Indo Vietnam Friendship Festival. It was inaugurated by legendary revolutionary leader, Nguyen Jhi Binh.
50. Bhirrana Rare discovery by ASI of a “Dancing Girl” of Harappan times (Haryana)
51. Harbin Foreign Ministers of India, Russia & China held a meeting here.
52. Tshwane IBSA (India, Brazil & South Africa) meeting held here.
53. California More than half a million people were ordered to evacuate their homes because of forest fire.
54. Annapolis US city in Maryland where Israeli PM Ehud Olmert & Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in association with George Bush.
55. Quseir-al Qadim An ancient port on the Red sea coast of Egypt where a broken jar with
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 15
inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script has been excavated.
56. Beppu In Japan where the first Water Summit of Asia-Pacific was held.
57. Thummalapalle Second place after Jaduguda where Uranium in mined. In Andhra Pr.
58. Bhopal Indian Science Conference was held here.
59. Panaji International Film Festival of India held here.
60. Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games to be held here.
61. Swat Valley Pakistan’s army has launched a massive crackdown in NW Pakistan.
62.
63. Mexico 17th Iinternational Aids Conference held here.
64. Wasington Indo US Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism met here.
65. Santa Elena Newly created 24th Province of Ecuador.
66. Istanbul International Conference on Iraq held here.
67. Rome World Energy Congress held here.
68. Tokelau Referendum on self determination took place in this territory of New Zealand.
69. Tirumadh India’s largest Uranium Processing plant was inaugurated here.
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Persons in News
1. Preeti Malhotra First women president of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
2. Irwandi Yusuf Former Rebel leader sworn in as Aceh’s new governor
3. Chung Mong Koo Hyundai Motor’s Chairman convicted of embezzlement & sentenced to 3 yrs in prison
4. Drew Giplin Faust Harvards First Woman President
5. Ramadorai Sujatha Associate Professor at TIFR won Ramanujan Prize for 2006.
6. Taha Yassin Ramadan Saddam’s former Vice President hanged
7. Sheikh Salman bin Hamad – Al Khalifa
Bahrain’s crown prince visited India.
8. Zuben Mehta Won Dan David Prize & prize money of 1 million $.
9. SIS Ahmed CRPF Chief. Later replaced by Ranjit Kumar Das
10. Madhukar Gupta Appointed as Home Secretary.
11. Sunil Gavaskar Chairman of the revised Cricket Committee of ICC.
12. Tarun Gupta New chief of Indian Medical Association.
13. Felipe Perez Roque Cuban Foreign Minister visited India.
14. Dimple Singla First Court Martial of a woman army officer (a retd major).
15. Aarti Mehra New Mayor of Delhi
16. Tejinder Khanna Appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
17. Usha Le Macffarling Indian origin journalist awarded Pulitzer for descriptive reporting.
18. V. N. Kaul India’s Comptroller & Auditor General elected as the external auditor of the World Health Organization for a 3 yr term.
19. Mohamad Bin Hammam Second term as Asian Football Federation President.
20. Drew Barrymore Ambassador against Hunger for UN World Food Program
21. A. Raja Appointed new Communication & Information Technology Minister
22. Naresh Trehan Quits Escorts to join Apollo.
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 16
23. P.K. Abdul Aziz VC of Aligarh Muslim University.
24. Sam Pitroda Head of Knowledge Commission.
25. Tejpreet Singh Chopra CEO of GE India.
26. U. R. Rao Awarded ISRO’s life time achievement award by Abdul Kalam
27. Srinivas Padmanaban Awarded World Clean Energy Award.
28. Alexander Solzhenitsyn Awarded top Kremlin Award by Putin for his humanitarian work.
29. Ray Mali Appointed as the acting President of ICC.
30. Randall Stephenson New CEO of America’s largest telecom player AT&T.
31. M.B.N. Rao Chairman of Indian Bank’s Association
32. M.S.S. Rajan Appointed CMD of Indian Bank.
33. Chinmaya Gharekhan President of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
34. Donald Tsang CEO of Hong Kong
35. Duvvuri Subbarao Appointed Finance Secretary
36. Vijay Singh Defence Secretary.
37. Y.S. Dadwal Delhi Police Chief
38. Geoff Lawson Pakistan’s New Cricket Coach.
39. K.G Balakrishnana CJI elected to the bench of the Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London.
40. Sheela Binde Appointed CMD of India Trade Promotion Organization
41. Jivtesh Singh Mani 1974 batch IAS officer has taken over as Chairman of NHAI.
42. Ramesh Chandra Chairman of Railway Board.
43. Karl Slym New President & MD of General Motors, India.
44. Karl Rove Most influential white house aide of Bush resigned
45. Jhulan Goswami ICC Women Cricketer of the Year.
46. K kasturirangan Director of National Institute of Advance Studies won Theodore Von Karman Award of the International Academy of Astronautics.
47. Ang Lee Won Golden Lion for his film “Lust, Caution” at Venice Film Fest.
48. Geeta Gandbhir Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Picture Editing.
49. Indra Sinha Among the 6 authors shortlisted for Man Bookers prize for his work “Animal’s People” which is about 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
50. Nadeem Taj New ISI chief of Pakistan.
51. MS Dhoni Captain of ODI team. Yuvraj to be VC.
52. Bahubali S. Shah MD of Indian Newspaper Society
53. Bhaskar Das Chairman of Advertising Standard Council of India
54. K. C. Jena New Chairman of Railway Board.
55. Mohd Shafi Qureshi Chairman of National Minorities Commission.
56. Shashank Manohar Will succeed Sharad Pawar as BCCI Chief in 2008.
57. D D Lapang Sworn in as CM of Meghalaya
58. Nilofar Bakhtiar A militant cleric madrasa of Pakistan issued a fatwa against the tourism minister of Pakistan, N Bakhtiar after she hugged a male paraglider in France.
59. Ravi Shankaran Main accused of Naval War Room Leak
60. Kapila Vatsyayan Nominated to Rajya Sabha. She is founder & former academic director at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts.
61. S. Gopalakrishnan CEO & MD of Infosys
62. Harikrishna Devsare Noted Hindi Litterateur won the Vatsalya Award
63. Percy Mistry Heading Committee to realize the vision of Mumbai as an International Financial Center. Advised making rupee fully convertible.
64. Cho-Seung Hui South Korean student killed 32.
65. Ramchand Bhavnani Bought 14.08 % stake in Spain’s fifth largest bank, Bankinter.
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 17
66. Sahana Pradhan Nepals Foreign Minister. Also the first woman foreign minister
67. Joseph Sepp Blatter FIFA president who visited India. Elected 3rd time as President.
68. Santosh Georg Kulangara First space tourist from India from Kerala.
69. Roger Federer First swiss to have him on postage stamp.
70. Swami Shraddananda SC held him guilty of murdering his wife begum Shakereh Namazi
71. Appa Sherpa Broke his own world record by scaling Mt Everest for 17th time.
72. B.C. Khatua Appointed chairman of Forward Markets Commission.
73. A.R. Lakshmanan Chairman of 18th Law Commission.
74. Srgjan Kerim President of UN General Assembly.
75. Vasundhara Raje Won the Women Together Award of UN.
76. Rafael Nadal Lost for the first time on Clay Court after winning 81 consecutive matches at Hamburg Masters (Germany). Defeated by Federer.
77. V Thulasidas CMD of National Aviation Co Ltd, formed by merging AI & Indian Airlines.
78. Amartya Sen Won World Economic Prize known as Kiel Prize
79. BN Srikrishna Heads 6th Pay Commission.
80. Kamalesh Sharma High Commissioner of India in London, Kamalesh Sharma was appointed Commonwealth Secretary General by CHOGM
81. Chinmaya R. Garekhan President of Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts
82. Trevor Bayliss Australian who was appointed as New Coach of Sri Lanka
83. P.S. Goel Secretary, Ministry of Earth Science was awarded Aryabhatta Award.
84. U.R Rao Former ISRO chairman awarded ISRO’s lifetime achievement award
85. John McEnroe Legendary tennis player awarded Philippe Chatrier Award.
86. Kuldip Sidhu Indian born Australian won the Top Invention Prize 2007 for his work on stem cells.
87. Milan Martic Croatian leader convicted of war crimes & sentenced for 35 yrs RI.
88. Bernard Weber Started the “New 7 Wonder Project”.
89. Norman Borlaug Presented the Congressional Gold Medal
90. Iftikhar Choudhary The Chief Justice of Pakistan who was removed by Musharraf & later reinstated by the Supreme Court reversing the decision.
91. Thaksin Shinawatra Former PM of Thailand & current owner of Manchester City Football Club, Thaksin is wanted back in Thailand to face criminal charges.
92. Mahashweta Devi Turned down the request of attending World Hindi Conference in NY.
93. Mohammad Haneef Brisbane based Indian Doctor was charged of link with Al Qaeda.
94. Mohd Zahir Shah Afghanistan’s last king who was also titled “Father of the Nation”
95. Syed Nayeemuddin India’s former football coach & captain, Syed Nayeemuddin has been appointed as the National Coach by the Bangladesh Football Federatn.
96. Martti Ahtisaari UN special envoy for Kosovo.
97. Charles Taylor Former Liberian President who is being tried for War Crimes.
98. Rashmi Sharma Became the youngest Indian woman to cross the English Channel Twice. After Bula Choudhary she is the second Indian Woman to cross the English Channel twice.
99. Ronen Sen India’s ambassador to US criticized political parties opposing N deal.
100. Indu Malhotra Only the second woman to be designated as “Senior Advocate”.
101. Milan Lalitkumar Naidu Appointed Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
102. Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar
Won the Sahitya Kala Parishad “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his outstanding contribution to the field of classical music.
103. S.K Satheesh Won the Asian Young Scientist Award.
104. S.S. Virk Former Punjab Director General was arrested for possessing assets
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 18
disproportionate to his known sources of income.
105. Suharto Ex dictator of Indonesia awarded 106 million $ by Indonesia’s supreme court in a law suit against “Time Magazine”.
106. Joseph Estrada Former Phillipine President sentenced to life imprisonment but later granted Presidential pardon.
107. Kumaran Pathmanathan Second Most wanted LTTE man – claimed to have arrested in Bangkok but not confirmed.
108. Alberto Fujimori Former President of Peru was extradited from Chile to face charges.
109. Shilendra Kumar Singh Sworn in as new governor of Rajasthan.
110. Nawab Mohd Abdul Ali Elected President of Ajmer Dargah Committee for five years.
111. Nadeem Taj Appointed head of ISI – Pak’s intelligence agency.
112. Michael Schumacher Germany’s seven time F-1 Champion awarded Spains highest honour, the Prince of Asturias prize for sports.
113. Bernard Lagat Kenyan Born US Citizen became the first man to win both the 5000 m & 1500 m world titles in world athletics championship.
114. Ravi Shastri Becomes Chairman of the National Cricket Academy.
115. Dalai Lama Awarded US Congressional Medal.
116. Kurmanbek Bakiyev Kyrgyzstan’s President tendered his resignation.
117. Mikhail Y Fradkov Appointed Russia’s new spy chief.
118. Queen Beatrix Netherlands Queen visited India.
119. Joaquim Chissano Former President of Mozambique won the African Leadership prize.
120. Bhanwar Meghavanshi Won the Sarojini Naidu Award for Hindi Journalism.
121. Bobby Jindal Governor of Lousiania. He is Congressman from New Orleans & belongs to the Republican party.
123. Drew Gilpin Faust Harvard University’s first woman president.
124. Inzamam Ul Haq Quits Test Cricket.
125. Mammen Mathew Editor of Malayala Manorama renominated as Trustee of Reuters.
126. Gopal Sharma Director General of SSB (Seema Suraksha Bal)
127. Som Mittal NASSCOM President
128. Vivek Kumar Agnihotri Secretary General of Rajya Sabha.
129. B. Aleksey Efremov National TT Coach.
130. Vijay Nambiar Chief of Staff of UN (appointed by Ban Ki Moon)
131. Asha Rose Migiro Deputy Secretary General of UN. She was Tanzanian Foreign Minister
132. Kamlesh Sharma Commonwealth Secretary General
133. Ashfaz Pervez Kayani Paikstan’s Army Chief
134. Renu Khator Indian American to lead prestigious university of Houston
135. Rita Gunasekaran US woman lawyer has been conferred with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Associations highest honour for 2007 – the NAPABA Trailblazer Award.
136. Steven Spielberg Honoured with Cecil B DeMille Award at the 65th Golden Globes.
137. Vijay L. Kelkar Heads 13th Finance Commission. The recommendations will cover the period from 2010 to 2015. It will look into principles governing grant-in-aid of the revenues of States out of Consolidated Fund of India.
138. Oswald Garcias Archbishop of Mumbai elevated as Cardinal of India.
139. Akbar Padamsee Noted painter awarded Dayawati Modi Award
140. Jacob Zuma Became South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) as he defeated Thabo Mbeki in a leadership election at a party.
141. Julia Gillard Australia’s deputy PM (Lady).
Current Affairs – 2008 Ghanshyam Thori 19
142. Vikram Pandit CEO of Citigroup
143. Kiran Bedi Resigned from DG of Bureau of Police Research & Development
144. Raj Singh Dungarpur Former BCCI Chief elected President of Cricket Club of India.
145. Sowmya Raghavan First women to take charge of Railway zone (GM of Central Railway)
146. Vinod Rai Comptroller & Auditor General of India (replace VN Kaul) – An IAS officer of 1972 batch.
147. Karan Thapar Awarded Asian Television Award for the best current affairs presenter.
148. Ian Wilmut The person who revolutionized stem cell research by creating Dolly, the sheep has been given knighthood.
149. Taslima Nasreen Due to some controversial lines written by her in Dwikhandita, she had to leave West Bengal.
150. Ieng Sary Deputy PM & Former Minister of Cambodia was charged with war crimes.
151. Ronen Sen Indian Envoy to the US who was in news for his “Headless Chicken” remark over the opposition to Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
152. T.D. Dogra Appointed Acting Chief of AIIMS replacing P. Venugopal.
153. Avtar Singh Makkar Re-elected President of SGPC, for the third time.
154. T. Shanmugaratnam Ethnic Indian appointed Finance Minister of Singapore.
155. Surin Pitsuwan Appointe Secretary General of ASEAN from 2008-2013.
156. Samina Malik First women in UK to ver get convicted under Terrorism Act.
157. P. Uthayakumar Leader of Hindarf (Hindu Rights Action Force) in Malaysia who was arrested, granted bail & then rearrested.
158. Pravin Mahajan Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for killing Pramod Mahajan.
159. K.V. Kamath Forbe’s Asia’s Businessman of the year 2007.
160. Aung San Suu Kyi Congressional Gold Medal awarded.
161. G.D Jayalakshmi Her documentary on How Indian Recycle paper won commonwealth vision award.
162. CNR Rao Won First Bangalore Nano Award.
163. Sudha Mahalingam Awarded the first K. Subhrahmanyam Award for Excellence in Strategic Studies.
164. D.R. Mehta Awarded Tech Award for Innovation & Benefit of Humanity. Mr. Mehta’s organization is the largest limb manufacturing agency in for its affordable Jaipur foot.
165. Babasaheb Purandare Awarded with Kalidas Samman.
166. B. Ramalinga Raju Awarded E&Y Young Entrepreneur of 2007. He is founder of Satyam Computers. Lifetime achievement award was given to Keshab Mahindra.
167. Shikha Sharma MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential. She was awarded Manager Entrepreneur by E&Y.
168. S.P. TamilSelvan LTTE No. 2 leader Killed by Sri Lankan Air Force Attack.
169. Kamal Nath Awarded FDI personality of the year.
170. Peggy Whitson First Female Commander of International Space Station.
171. John Wahey President of World Anti Doping Agency (WADA)
172. Princess Nafa Ali Princess of Jordan visited India.
173. David Mulford US Ambassador to India
174. Bruno Cuche General of France’s Army who visited India.
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Obituaries
1. Omkar Prasad Nayyar Music director best known for hits like “Jhumka Gira re”.