February 2013

Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi on 26 December 2012 was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the fourth consecutive term. Governor Kamla Beniwal administered the oath of office and secrecy to him at Sardar Patel Stadium at Ahmedabad. Seven cabinet Ministers and nine Ministers of State also took oath. Narendra Mdoi was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Gujrat for the first time on 7 October 2001. He was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Gujrat for the second time on 22 December 2002. He was born in September 1950 at Vadnagar, a small town in Mehsana district of North Gujarat.

Virbhadra Singh

Former Union Minister of India and Veteran Congress leader Virbhadra Singh on 25 December 2012 was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Himachal for a record sixth term in Shimla. 78 years old Virbhadra Singh was administered the oath of office by Governor of Himachal Pradesh Urmila Singh. Oath of office and secrecy to the chief parliamentary secretaries was administered by the Chief Minister.

Besides Virbhadra Singh, nine Cabinet members and three chief Parliamentary secretaries were also sworn-in. Virbhadra Singh is often referred to as the Raja of Rampur because his ancestors were royalty. He had served five terms as chief minister of Himachal Pradesh between 1983 and 2007. In his five-decade political career, he has been an MLA seven times and a parliamentarian five times.

Ranjit Sinha

Ranjit Sinha, IPS officer of 1974-batch Bihar cadre on 3 December 2012 acquired the office as new CBI director. Ranjit Sinha, 59, who was holding the designation of director general Indo-Tibetan Border Police, succeeded A.P. Singh who retired from the CBI office on 30 November 2012. Sinha will have two-year duration as the CBI director. He had served in CBI agency initially as the DIG and joint director as well. Sinha accepted that there were challenges which the agency needed to face and these included lack of proper manpower, Letters Rogatory execution delays as well as delays in the forensic field. During his tenure, he would try solving and addressing these issues. Sinha accepted the prestigious designation with a greater sense of responsibility. He believed that the faith in CBI would be strengthened under his guidance and supervision.

Vinod Rai

United Nations gave Vinod Rai, the comptroll er and auditor general of India a second term as the designation of chairman of UN Panel of External Auditors for 2013. CAG of the UK, Amyas Morse was re-elected as the vice-chairman. Panel of the United Nations is the deciding body of the course as well as subject of audit of the different UN organisations which also include International Atomic Energy Agency. The UN Panel of External Auditors for 2013 includes apex auditors of various countries such as Switzerland, Tanzaniam, Canada, China, India, Italy, Philippines, UK, France and Pakistan as the members.

Role of UN Panel of External Auditors

The UN Panel of External Auditors has a crucial role to play in promotion of accountability as well as strengthening of the governance mechanisms in various organisations of UN. The Secretary General of UN, Ban-ki-Moon appreciated this panel of the auditors which was headed by Vinod Rai. In the meeting held on 11 December 2012, the panel of auditors at UN headquarters in New York held discussions about the business transformations which were at present underway in United Nations with secretary general.

Composition of UN Panel of External Auditors

UN Panel of External Auditors comprises of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) which are always engaged in auditing the United Nations as well as the specialised agencies and International Atomic Energy Agency.

Shinzo Abe

Shinzo Abe, the conservative leader of Japan was elected as the prime minister of the country by lower house of the Parliament called the House of Representatives, on 26 December 2012. Shinzo Abe took oath to rebuild Japanese economy as well as mend the coalition with US. The lower house of the parliament in Japan, which is said to be very powerful, picked 58-year old Shinzo Abe as the new leader of the country. All this came after the loud victory of Liberal Democratic Party which is headed by Abe, in national election earlier in December 2012. The Liberal Democratic Party had won over Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The lawmakers in Japan voted in favour of Abe by 328 votes. Opponent Banri Kaieda, the newly chosen leader of DPJ received merely 57 votes. The cabinet of Yoshihiko Noda resigned as a whole before LDP-powered lower house of the Parliament named Abe as the next Prime Minister. Abe had initially served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007.

Kamal Nath

Prime Minister’s Office on 26 December 2012 re-constituted the Planning Commission and appointed the Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development Minister - Kamal Nath as its new ex-officio member, replacing Jairam Ramesh. The decision was taken with the view to lay down government emphasis on the Urban Development and schemes like MNREGA, already in existence for rural development. The other ex-officio members of the Commission are Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M K Alagiri, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, Law Minister.

Justice Swatanter Kumar

Justice Swatanter Kumar in the fourth week of December 2012 took over as the Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) - the apex body constituted under The National Green Tribunal Act 2010. He would look forward to the issues related to the cases of environmental protection and conversation of forests and the natural resources.

Justice Kumar is the first Judge of Supreme Court of India to preside over the Tribunal that never had a full-time Chairperson for itself. He would be retiring from the Supreme Court on 30 December 2012. A retired judge of Madras High Court - Justice P. Jyothimani took his charge as the judicial member of the NGT on 24 December 2012.

February 2013

Parthasarathi Shome

The Union government of India appointed Parthasarathi Shome, the tax expert, as the adviser to finance minister P Chidambaram. Shome was appointed with a rank of minister of state and this also indicated his comeback to the Secretariat building after almost 5 years. Shome was also the adviser to P Chidambaram during the UPA-I. He was the working brain behind fringe benefit tax as well as banking cash transaction tax on the withdrawals of the cash. These tax policies were aimed towards keeping a check on black money which was a subject of sharp criticisms apart from the securities transaction tax. For past few months, he was also associated with acquiring back the investor confidence. He was the head of committee on General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) as well as retrospective amendments, the controversial legislative idea which was taken by Pranab Mukherjee in previous budget session.

Naina Lal Kidwai

Naina Lal Kidwai on 15 December 2012 took over as President of FICCI, becoming the first woman to head the leading industry body. Kidwai, is the first woman and professional manager to be elected as President of the chamber. She is 55 years old. Digjam Ltd,Sidharth Birla was elected as Senior Vice-President of FICCI. Kidwai succeeds R V Kanoria of Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd.

Chairman of Xpro India Ltd. Naina Lal Kidwai on 15 December 2012 took over as President of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), becoming the first woman to head the leading industry body. Kidwai, is the first woman and professional manager to be elected as President of the chamber. She is 55 years old. Chairman of Digjam Ltd, Sidharth Birla was elected as Senior Vice-President of FICCI. Kidwai succeeded R V Kanoria of Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd. Chairman of Xpro India Ltd. Naina Lal Kidwai is the Country head of HSBC India and Director of HSBC Asia Pacific.

Patrick Suckling

Career diplomat Patrick Suckling on 30 December 2012 had been appointed as Australia’s next High Commissioner to India. Patrick Suckling who is a career diplomat and had been previously posted to New Delhi and Washington is going to take up the position in New Delhi in January 2013. The appointment of Patrick Suckling was announced by Foreign Minister Bob Carr who asserted that the role was important because India is Australia’s fourth largest export market, with trade between the two countries reaching 18-billion dollars a year. Suckling is replacing Peter Varghese, who is returning to Australia to head the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Suckling holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Hindi from the University of Sydney and as a career diplomat had an expertise in policy development, public diplomacy and consular service. Patrick Suckling was adviser to Foreign Minister D

MS Sahoo

MS Sahoo, the former member of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) on 27 December 2012 had been appointed secretary of the Institute of Company Secretaries. The appointment of MS Sahoo is going to be effective from 1 January2013.

•  MS Sahoo had over three decades of rich work experience in self-employment, private sector, public sector, regulator and government in varied functional areas such as reforms, policy, regulations, research and analysis.

•  Before joining the ICSI, he was an eminent legal practitioner in the field of securities laws.

•  He was a Whole Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) during 2008-11.

• M S Sahoo was instrumental in development of human resource capacity in securities markets through various interventions such as NSE’s Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM), National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) and a number of reputed publications. He has served / serves as a member on several expert committees / boards and professional groups.

Praful Patel

Praful Patel on 20 December 2012 was re-elected as the President of All India Football Federation (AIFF) during the annual general body meet that was held at Football House at New Delhi. This would be the second term for him as the President of All India Football Federation. The election concluded in the presence of Radhica Sreeman-Regional Director of SAI, P. C. Makholia of SAI, Mun Si Song of Asian Football Confederation and Shaji Prabhakaran of FIFA Regional Developmental Officer, South and Central Asia and the members of the federation were elected unopposed to the AGM.

Justice Arun kumar Mishra

Justice Arun Kumar Mishra took over as the new Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on 14 December 2012. Arun Kumar Mishra was earlier the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court. He was administered the oath of office by West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan.

Taking over the office Justice Mishra in his address said he would strive to ensure speedy disposal of cases to reduce pendency and his endeavour will be to work tirelessly for the interest of common men. Justice Mishra called on the Bar to ensure speedy and inexpensive justice to the people.

S.A. Ibrahim

The Competent Authority on 3 December 2012 approved appointment of S. A. Ibrahim the IPS (MP-77) as officer on Special Duty in the Intelligence Bureau and also as the Director for Intelligence Bureau for a next two years from the date he acquires his charge or till the next order that is is further sent. His tenure to the post of Officer on Special Duty in the Intelligence Bureau started from 1 December 2012. At Present S.A. Ibrahim is serving as Special Director, Intelligence Bureau and will be taking over the charge of Director, Intelligence Bureau after vice Nehchal Sandhu will retire from his office on 31 December 2012.

S Raman

Indian Market Regulator SEBI on 28 December 2012 appointed S. Raman as Whole-time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Prior to this appointment, Raman, had served as Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank from September 2010 to September 2012 and had also served as Executive Director of Union Bank of India from October 2008 to August 2010. As per the Finance ministry Raman is going to hold the post of SEBI whole-time member for a period of five years from the day he assumes charge or up to 65 years of age or until further orders, whichever is earlier. With this appointment, SEBI has three wholetime members, including Prashant Saran and Rajeev Kumar Agarwal.

February 2013

Subhash Joshi

Subhash Joshi on 18 December 2012 appointed as the new chief of Border Security Force (BSF) while. Subhash Joshi is at present is the director general of National Security Guard and he is going to lead the 1.8 lakh strong border force BSF. The post of the chief of Indian Border Force had fallen vacant on 1 December 2012 due to retirement U K Bansal’s, the director general of the Border Security Force ( BSF). Subhash Joshi is a 1976 batch IPS officer from Uttrakhand cadre and is due to retire in February 2014. He has also served in CRPF as special director general of Police.

Ajay Chadha

Special secretary in home ministry Ajay Chadha appointed to head the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), appointment cleared by appointments committee of cabinet. Ajay Chadha is a 1977 batch IPS officer of AGMU cadre and is going to have his tenure till August 2013.The post of director general of ITBP had fallen vacant after Ranjit Sinha was appointed as director of CBI.

Arvind Ranjan

The Special director general of BSF Arvind Ranjan was appointed as new director general, National Security Guard (NSG). Arvind Ranjan is a 1977 batch IPS officer of Kerala and will continue his service till April 2015.All the appointments is going to be in effect from the dates these officers assume charge of their posts and till their superannuation or until further orders, whichever event takes place earlier.

Tony Greig

Tony Greig, 66, the former captain of England cricket team and renowned commentator passed away in Sydney on 29 December 2012 following lung cancer. Tony Greig was born in Queenstown in South Africa. He was awarded with the Best Cricketer of the Year award in 1975. Greig had the test career of 58 matches and he scored 3599 runs while claiming 141 wickets. He played 22 ODIs and scored 269 runs while grabbing 19 wickets. Greig was diagnosed with the ailment in October 2012.

Pandit Ravi Shankar

Renowned Indian sitarist and Bharat Ratna Recipient Pandit Ravi Shankar passed away in San Diego city of California on 11 December 2012. He was 92 years old. The musician was admitted to the Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla on 6 December 2012 after he complained of breathing difficulties. Pandit Ravi Shankar is survived by his wife Sukanya and musician daughters, sitar player Anoushka Shankar, singer Norah Jones, 3 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. Pandit Ravi Shankar was suffering from upper-respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery on 6 December 2012. Though the surgery was successful, recovery proved too difficult for him. Pandit Ravi Shankar was the sitar exemplar and was also called India‘s musical ambassador who was responsible for making Indian classical music popular in the West. He had collaborated with several international artists including George Harrison of The Beatles which had earned him fame and adoration all over the world. In his 60 years as a musician Pandit Ravi Shankar had won numerous national and international awards.

Awards and Honours won by Pandit Ravi Shankar

• He received the Padma Bhushan in 1967, Padma Vibhushan in 1981 and Bharat Ratna in 1999.
•  He is also a three-time Grammy winner.
•  He is a honourary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of the United Nations International Rostrum of composers.
•  He is winner of Magsaysay award in year 1992.
•  He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975.
•  Pandit Ravi Shankar had won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie Kabuliwala.
•  He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962
•  He received the Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize in 1998.
• A three-time Grammy award winner Pandit Ravi Shankar last performed in California on 4 November 2012 along with his Daughter Anoushka Shankar. Pandit Shankar has also been nominated for the 2013 Grammys for his album The Living Room Sessions Part—1 and was pitted against Anoushka in the same category.
• Pandit Ravi Shankar wrote a autobiography, Raga Mala, with Harrison as editor in year 1997. The autobiography was named Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar.

Pandit Ravi Shankar’s Career

• Born in 1920 in Varanasi to a well-off Brahmin family, Shankar left a possible career as a dancer behind to study sitar.
•  Ravi Shankar was trained under Baba Allauddin Khan of the Senia Maihar gharana.
•  Pandit Ravi Shankar had authored violin-sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin and himself, music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal, music for Hosan Yamamoto, master of the Shakuhachi and Musumi iyashita - Koto virtuoso, and has collaborated with Phillip Glass (Passages).
•  Shankar also composed for ballets and films in India, Canada, Europe and the United States. The latter of which includes the films Charly,Gandhi, and the Apu Trilogy.

•  He was also nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha in year 1986.

•  Between the early 1950s and the mid-1960s he became the leading international emissary for Indian music, first performing as a solo artist in the USSR in 1954, in Europe and North America in 1956, and Japan in 1958.
•  He developed a characteristic sitar sound, with powerful bass notes and a serene and spiritual touch in the alap movement of a raga.
•  He was the man responsible for incorporating many aspects of Carnatic (south Indian) music into the north Indian system, especially its mathematical approach to rhythm. He also gave a new prominence to the tabla player in concert.
•  He was appointed Director of Music at the Indian People’s Theatre Association, and later held the same position at All India Radio (1949–56).
•  He composed his first new raga in 1945 (30 more would follow) and began a prolific recording career.
•  In 2001, Shankar was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II for his services to music.
•  Pandit Ravi Shankar is the brother of dance exponent Uday Shankar and had also scored music for Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and other Bengali and Hindi movies.
•  In 2010, Shankar received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
• Pandit Ravi Shankar is to receive a posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy award to be presented at 55th Grammy Awards ceremony on 10 February 2013 in Los Angeles becoming the first Indian to receive the prestigious award.
• His daughter Anoushka Shankar was also nominated in the same category for her Deutsche Grammophon release, Traveller.

Nityanand Swami

The first chief minister of Uttarakhand, Nityanand Swami, passed away on 12 December 2012. He was 84 years old and belonged to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Nityanand Swami, served the people throughout his life, focused on developmental issues and built a very good rapport with the people. Nityanand Swami was born on 27 December 1927 in Haryana. He was the first chief minister of the Uttarakhand and had served from 9 November 2000 to 29 October 2001 and then resigned willingly in favor of Bhagat Singh Koshiyari when asked by the BJP leadership. Nitayanand Swami’s father served in the Forest Research Institute of India where he had spent almost all of his life in Dehradun .He joined India’s freedom struggle at an early age, under the umbrella of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and contributed to local resistances in Dehradun.

Nitayanand Swami’s Political Career

•  In year 1969 Nitayanand Swami was first elected as the member of U.P legislative from the Dehradun constituency.
•  In Year 1984, he was elected as a member of Uttar Pradesh legislative council by the graduate and one of the largest constituency of kumaon and garhwal.
•  He had represented the constituency of Garwal and Kumaon for three years.
•  He served as the deputy chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1991 and was unanimously elected the chairman of the same in 1992.

Leslie Claudius

The legendary hockey player Leslie Claudius, India’s triple Olympic Gold Medallist died after a prolonged illness on 20 December 2012. Cirrhosis of the liver became the region of his death and is now survived by a wife and three sons. Claudius was a legendary Hockey player from the Indian side, who won three Olympic Gold Medals in the year 1948 London Olympics, 1952 Helsinki Olympics and 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He also won a silver medal at 1960 Rome Olympics. Udham Singh along with him is the only two Indians who share a tally of 4 Olympic Medals in the history of Hockey. The 85 year old was a part of legendary trio of the Indian Hockey team and shared the berth with Dhyan Chand and Roop Singh. During the Bangkok Asian Games of 1978, Claudius was appointed as the manager for the Indian Team. Claudius was the First Indian Hockey Player to play more than 100 games for the country.

February 2013

Besse Cooper

Besse Cooper, the woman listed as the oldest person of the world died on 4 December 2012 in Georgia nursing home at 116 years of age. Besse Cooper had died peacefully in Monroe. Besse was recently taken ill with the stomach virus. Besse Cooper was declared as the oldest person of the world in January 2011 by the Guinness World Records. She was also the first Georgian who had world record with her. The birth place of Besse was Tennessee and she had moved during the First World War to Georgia. Guinness World Records declared that as of now, merely 8 people have reached the age of 116. Besse Cooper held this title of oldest person of the world since 2011. She explained her secret of living for such a long time, to Guinness World Records. She explained that she didn’t eat junk food.

After the death of Besse Cooper, the title of oldest person of the world now goes to Dina Manfredini of Johnston who is aged 115 years of age. Jeanne Calment, the French woman is the oldest known person till now. She was aged 122 when she died in 1997.

Norman Schwarzkopf

Norman Schwarzkopf – the retired US General and a person who led the U.S. Forces for a Victory in the first Gulf War in Operation Desert Strom in 1991 died at Florida on 27 December 2012. He led an international coalition of U.N. authorized forces from 34 different nations into Kuwait to drive out the forces of Iraq from the country, when the forces of Iraq invaded Kuwait during the regime of President Saddam Hussein. The retired general died at the age of 78 due to the complications of pneumonia. Norman Schwarzkopf last served the U.S. Army as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command on their assignment in Tampa - the headquarter that is responsible for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly 20 countries from Africa to Pakistan and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Norman Woodland

Norman Woodland, the inventor of bar code, which revolutionalised retail in 70s, died at 91 on 8 December 2012 at New Jersey. He died because of complications resulting due to Alzheimer’s disease. He is survived by his wife (61), two daughters, one brother and granddaughters. Woodland was the co-inventor of bar code the zebra pattern which stores information about the products. He as well as his partner Bernard Silver (who died in 1963) patented this idea of bar code back in 1952 and also sold that to Philco, the electronics company for 15000 US dollar.

• Woodland was mechanical engineer.
•  He worked at IBM for around 35 years.
•  He worked with the team that had developed laser scanner which could read bar codes during the 70’s.
•  For his invention, Woodland was also awarded National Medal of Technology in 1992.

Bar code

Woodland along with his partner Silver started working on a project which eventually led to bar code. At that time, they taught at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

They developed bar code after the head of one supermarket asked for a way of keeping a better record of the inventory. Woodland thought if Morse Code was useful in tracking inventory and then he started drawing lines of varied thickness on sand. That is how the code came up and is today known as Universal Product Code (UPC).

First bar code scan occurred on 26 June 1974 in Troy, Ohio. Today, there are 5 billion products which are scanned optically with the help of bar code or UPC. The laser scanner which is handheld is today used in industrial, transportation as well as shipping industries across the world. Today, the bar code saves countless hours of shoppers in the supermarkets.

Narhari Amin

Senior party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Indian National Congress in Gujrat Narhari Amin on 6 December 2012 switched sides and joined the BJP with his supporters. Narhari Amin had over 21-year-old association with the Congress, where he worked hard to build and maintain a strong base of party workers. His decision of joining BJP came after he was denied ticket by the party for 2012 Assembly polls. Amin alleged that Union Minister C P Joshi, who was in-charge of screening committee on ticket distribution, had been giving tickets to unknown faces and fixed the polls before voting. Amin resigned from the Congress along with his six supporters. Another 175 of his supporters also had resigned on 5 December 2012 from the primary membership of the party. All of them joined BJP along with him.

Mario Monti

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on 21 December 2012 resigned after 13 months in office with handing over his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano after parliament gave final approval to the 2013 budget law. With the resignation of Mario Monti the President is expected to call early national elections within 70 days of the parliament dissolution, possibly on 24 February 2013.

69-year-old Mario Monti is an economist and former European commissioner and was appointed by the President Napolitano to fill former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s place after he resigned in 2011 under pressure for failing to control Italy’s debt and a series of scandals. Monti’s term was originally set to expire in mid-2013, but his earlier departure is expected to bring elections forward. Former Prime Minister Berlusconi had announced that he intends to run for re-election in the New Year.

Tamil Version of the Book Still Counting the Dead

Tamil version of the book, Still Counting the Dead- Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War authored by Frances Harrison was released on 15 December 2012. The first copy of the translated work was received by noted art critic and writer Sadanand Menon. This book reveals the unprecedented killings in the last phase of civil war-also called as Eelam War in Sri Lanka in the year 2009.

The Book

The book states the killings of thousands of people who lost their lives in the No Fire Zones because mortars, artilleries, rocket launchers and supersonic jets were used by the armed forces of Sri Lanka to fight with the rebel group Tamil Tigers. The book includes interviews of the people who had shared their experiences and condition during the war with the autho

Cyber Security get Revamped with Government Five Year Plan

Union government of India in its bid to meet the challenge of cyber attacks and security in the virtual world in month of December set in motion a five-year project to revamp the entire cyber security apparatus of critical sectors in the country. In the past one year, India has suffered 13,000 cyber incidents.

National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) had taken the responsibility to coordinate cyber security operations for critical infrastructures across the country. It is part of the step to first create awareness and ensure setting up of a robust security system in all critical government agencies at their own level. Once agencies set up their security infrastructure, it will be connected to NCIIPC.

NCIIPC had prepared a five-year plan to completely revamp and integrate the cyber security apparatus of all critical infrastructures such as power, transportation, water, telecommunication and defence. The government has also defined clear mandates for NCIIPC and CERT-IN, which is also engaged in cyber security of national infrastructure.

Tasks that NCCIIPC is Going to Perform

• NCIIPC will only look after absolutely critical sectors that have high threat perception coupled with greater dependence on computer and information technology (CIT),while other sectors will be with CERTIN.
• These sectors (with NCIIPC) have been identified as energy (power,coal,oil and natural gas),transportation (railways and civil aviation),banking and finance, telecom, defence, space, law enforcement and security.
•  NCIIPC also plans to set up a sectoral Computer Emergency Response Team (CERTs) that would be connected to it, and will install censors on all critical systems to provide real-time information to its command and control (C&C) center about any cyberattack to formulate a quick response.
•  Under a newly defined mandate, NCIIPC will look after critical sectors with high dependency on computer and information technology (IT), while other sectors will be under India’s CERT, CERT-IN. India’s critical infrastructure agencies are no stranger to cyber attacks. Just in month of December a hacker group leaked Indian telco BSNL’s passwords and database, calling for the withdrawal of a controversial legislation which allegedly suppresses freedom of speech and expression. In April 2012 Chinese hackers allegedly planted a bug via flash drives on India’s navy computers, which relayed sensitive data to China IP addresses.

Vasai

Early in December 2012, a team of the historians in Vasai recovered the 750 year old stone tablet which has sexually explicit inscription. The historians explained that the bygone king of that area (identity of whom is yet to be discovered) might have had custom-made the carvings as warning symbol for keeping the trespassers at a distance or to make sure that the tax collectors regularly deposited the revenue. The stone tablet bears the inscription of a donkey copulating with the female, which might be an indication that women of trespassers would face a similar fate. In the olden times, the property owners in Vasai area used to place the carved stones at entrances of their properties. This practice is followed even today in Vasai. Trespassers were given a warning using the abusive words but historians believe that such a pictorial abuse was not common. The stone tablet dates back to 1268 AD and was recovered from the Kiravali village. The measurements of the stone are 126 cm, 56 cm and 22 cm in length, width and breadth respectively. The stone is from the era of Shilahara kings who were the rulers of Vasai around 1000 years back. Shilahara kings had ruled over the Vasai region before Portuguese in 1536. It is important to note that this stone tablet was, at some point of the time, acclaimed artifact in village. It was kept in Chankai Devi Mandir and villagers broke coconuts on it on new moon day. Later, this stone was kept near the pond. The historians eventually removed this stone tablet and were surprised at the historical value.

India Successfully test fired Agni I Ballistic Missile

India on 12 December 2012 successfully test-fired it’s indigenously developed nuclear capable Agni-I ballistic missilewith a strike range of 700 km from a test range off Odisha coast. The missile was test-fired under a practice trial by the Strategic Force Command of the Indian Army from a mobile launcher at about 8.30 am on 12 December 2012 from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, about 100 km from Balasore, defence.

Facts about Agni I Ballistic Missile

•  Agni- I is a single-stage missile which is powered by solid propellants and has a specialised navigation system which ensures that it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy and precision.

•  It Weighs around 12 tonnes and is 15-metre-long which is capable of carrying payloads up to 1000 kg.
•  Agni-I has been developed by advanced systems laboratory, the premier missile development laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.The last trial of the Agni-I missile was successfully carried out on 13 July 2012 from the same test range off Odisha Coast.

New Freshwater Mosasaurs Species

Researchers discovered the fossilised bones of new species of mosasaurs in Bakony Hills, Western Hungary in the third week of December 2012. The fossilised bones are those of mosasaurs species which were thought as the marine animals initially. New findings proved that the 84 million years old sea monsters lived in freshwaters. These reptiles were present in the period when dinosaurs existed and were known as T.Rex of sea. The study established the fact that these were the first freshwater mosasaurs discovered. First fossil ruins of the large specimen were also found in 1764 in Maastricht. The details were presented after the study conducted by Laszlo Makadi of the Hungarian Natural History Museum together with the University of Alberta, Canada colleagues. The new species was called Pannoniasaurus. It was found that this species was larger than T.Rex and also they did not share the same ancestor. The researchers declared that size of the Pannoniasaurus made them largest-known predators in paleo-environment waters.

February 2013

Prithvi I, Missile Successfully test-fired

India on 20 December 2012 successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable surface-to-surfacePrithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range at Chandipur near Balasore. The missile was test fired from a mobile launcher in salvo modefrom launch complex-3 of Integrated Test Range at about 9:20 am. The missile launch was conducted as part of operational exercise by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence services. The entire trajectory of the missile was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships. The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the total launch activities were carried out by the specially formed SFC and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of practice drill. The Prithvi-II missile, developed by the DRDO, is already inducted into the Indian Armed forces. The last trial of Prithvi-II was successfully carried out from the same base on 4 October 2012.

Missile Specification

•  Prithvi is India’s first indigenously built ballistic missile and one of the five missile developed under India’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
•  It is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1000 kg of warheads and thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engines, uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory.
•  The Prithvi-II missile is equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system and guided by an innovative guidance scheme.
•  The improved Circular Error Probability (CEP) achieved by the missile is a testimony to specify the efficacy of this missile system.
•  Prithvi uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring capabilities and comes within metres of its target.

Ramanujan’s Cryptic Death Bed Theory

Indian maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan’s cryptic deathbed theorywhich he claimed was conceived in his dreams was finally proved by American scientist in the month of November. It was in year 1920, when while on his death-bed, Ramanujan wrote a letter to his mentor, English mathematician G.H. Hardy, demarcating several new mathematical functions never before heard of, along with an instinct about how they worked. As per the Researchers study the theory is now proved to be right and that the formula derived from the theory is capable of explaining the behaviour of black holes. Researcher proved that Ramanujan was right and found the formula explaining one of the visions that he believed came from his goddess Researchers were also stunned to find the function could be used even today. The problem was solved from the last mysterious letters of the theory. The problem has been open for 90 years for people who work in this area of math. Ramanujan, was a self-taught mathematician who was in born in a rural village in South India and had spent so much time thinking about mathematics that he flunked out of college twice. The maths genius’s letter described several new functions that behaved differently from known theta functions, or modular forms, and yet closely mimicked them. Functions are equations that can be drawn as graphs on an axis, like a sine wave, and produce an output when computed for any chosen input or value. The findings were presented in November at a Ramanujan conference held at the University of Florida, ahead of the 125th anniversary of the Ramanujan ‘s birth on 22 December.

Astra Missile test-fired

Astra air-to-air inceptor missile was successfully test-fired for the third time within a week on 24 December 2012 from the Chandipur, defence base of Odisha. The test was conducted for identifying the missile’s interception capability and high manoeuvring and was successful in intercepting the simulated target at an altitude of 4 kilometer. Astra has capabilities of intercepting the enemy aircraft and destroy it at supersonic speed that is for head on mode at a range of 1.2 Mach and at the tail-chase mode at 1.4 Mach. The missile can be launched from different altitudes and can easily cover a distance of 110 kilometer if launched from an altitude of 15 kilometer, 44 kilometer when launched from an altitude of 8 kilometer and 21 kilometer when launched from sea level. The missile with a capability of carrying a conventional warhead of 15 kilogram uses a solid propellant. Astra is of 3.8 meter in length and the smallest missile developed by the DRDO till date. Before this test firing, Astra was also tested from the same base on 21 December and 22 December 2012 by the scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who have designed and developed this missile. After passing all the tests, Astra would be integrated with different combat fighter aircraft like MIG-29, Sukhoi-30 and other light combat aircraft.

World’s Longest High-speed Rail Route

China on 26 December 2012 inaugurated world’s longest high-speed rail route linking its capital Beijing with the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, covering a distance of 2298 kms. It runs at an average speed of 300 km per hour and it will save nearly 12 hours by bringing down the travel time between Beijing and Guangzhou from more than 20 hours to around eight. The route connects five provinces and has 35 stops in major cities, including Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha. With the opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railroad, China now has a network of more than 9300 km of operating high-speed railways. This is the longest high speed network China launched after the Beijing-Shanghai Bullet train in 2010, which brought down travel time to around five hours, covering over 1300 km distance between two of China’s largest cities. The new train covers Beijing with China’s most industrialised province Guangdong where most developed cities like Guangzhou close to Hong Kong and Maccau are located. The line is expected to be extended to Hong Kong by 2015.

February 2013

P-8I Maritime Surveillance Aircraft

The Indian Navy on 19 December 2012 received its first P-8I Maritime Surveillance Aircraft at its facility located at Seattle, out of the eight that it would get from Boeing. P-8I would be armed with torpedoes, rockets and deadly missile with abilities to fight against powerful warships and anti-submarine warfare. A deal of 2.1 billion dollar was signed between India and the US Aircraft maker Boeing in January 2009 for procurement of the long range surveillance aircraft equipped with anti-submarine weaponry. This contract also included the option of having four additional aircrafts along with the intelligence and surveillance systems, training and maintenance support and warfare. The aircraft will arrive in India by May 2013 along with two more aircrafts expected to be handed over the Indian Naval team by the month.

About P-8I

P-8I, the aircraft is an imitative of the Boeing 737-800 long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft and an anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Being an Indian variant of the P-8A Poseidon, being developed by Boeing for U.S. Navy the P-8I is expected to replace Indian Navy’s Russian Tupolev Tu-142M maritime surveillance turboprop. The aircraft would enable Indian Navy to patrol across Indian Ocean to a greater level.

Sonar Fort

More than 1500 kg of 500-year old gunpowder was found on 20 December 2012 in five leather bags near Jain Temple in Sonar Fort, Jaisalmer. District administration decided to seek help from Army for destroying the gunpowder. The secretary of Jaisalmer Vikas Samiti explained that gunpowder was lying in closed burj (tower) and was discovered by the labourers who were engrossed in repairing work. This burj had remained closed for several years, possibly centuries. Local authorities vacated the area after getting this information. Historian Nand Kishore Sharma believed that gunpowder could possibly be from Maharaj Loonkaran Singh’s time when the cannon use was just started in 1550. Till today, five huge cannons were kept in Sonar Fort, Jaisalmer. Usually the explosives were kept in proximity to the cannons. It was possible that explosives were kept in burj near cannons which were placed near Jain temple.

IPv6

Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) started issuing next version of Internet addresses IPv6, which is going to make it easy for security agencies to identify each Internet user. The present version of Internet that is IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), is limited and service providers often assign single IP address to many users which makes it difficult to identify the end user. The number of IPv6 addresses available is enormous. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) can allocate an IP address to their users. People can be easily identified if they are using IPv6. Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), which is one of the five authorised bodies for issuing Internet addresses, has recognised Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) for issuing IP addresses in India. IRINN has been set-up under the state-run NIXI. The new addresses are going to be be multiple times cheaper for companies than IPv4 addresses. Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) is issuing initial set-of IPv6 addresses in price range starting at 21999 rupees as compared to prevalent rate of around 66000 rupees in Asia Pacific region.

Gangnam Style

Gangnam Style, the most-watched video ever on Youtube now booked a place in popular culture with becoming Collins dictionary’s word for November 2012. Gangnam Style, is pop sensation with a horse dance video by his Sotuh Korean singer Psy. It became the first video in the history of the Internet to be viewed more than a billion times. Gangnam Style was named among the Collins dictionary’s words of the year along with mummy porn, fiscal cliff and Romneyshambles. Mummy porn became April’s word of the year as the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey was published during that month and became an instant bestseller. Defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney became word of the year for July after critics recognized his visit to London a Romneyshambles. Jubilympics was June’s word, while Games Makers was August’s due to the volunteers who made the Olympic event in UK a success. Each word was submitted by the public to the on-line dictionary www.collinsdictionary.com/submission. However, the publishers said not all 12 words had the staying power to make it to the print edition.

Barack Obama

US President Barack Obama was named TIME’s Person of the Year for 2012, because of his historic win over the re-election in November 2012 which is being considered as symbol of the nation’s changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges. His name was announced by TIME editor Rick Stengel on NBC’s Today program on 19 December 2012.

It is the second time Barack Obama is being accorded with this honour. He had also received the honour in 2008, when he was first elected as president. Obama had won re-election despite a higher unemployment rate than anybody’s had to face in basically in 70 years. He’s the first Democrat to actually win two consecutive terms with over 50 percent of the vote. The short list for the honour included Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head for advocating for girls’ education, as well as Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Italian physicist Fabiola Giannati. Time’s Person of the Year is the person or thing that has most influenced the culture and the news during the past year for good or for ill.

Sale at Sotheby’s

Anonymous bidder bought two letters of Mahatma Gandhi as well as rare copy of Indian constitution at Sotheby’s sale in London on 12 December 2012. The bidder bought letter which was written by Gandhi in 1922 to eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendranath at 7 times the value of its pre-sale estimate. The rare copy of Indian constitution was sold at around 8 times the offer price to private collector. The constitution copy was bought by the private collector, while the two letters which were associated to Gandhi were bought by an anonymous buyer. The letter which was written by Mahatma Gandhi to Dwijendranath from the Sabarmati jail brought back 49250 pounds (around 43 lakh Rupees) at Sotheby’s sale of Children’s Books, History, English Literature as well as Illustrations. There was an estimate of 5000-7000 pounds. In the letter, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that the calm and peace in India was important for his own strength. He had asked Dwijendranath to send this supporting message to Young. India journal in two pages letter which was written in pencil. There was another letter written by Gandhi to unknown friend in 1922 in which he had offered condolences after hearing about the death of his friend’s mother. This letter was sold for 5625 pounds. The estimated amount of this letter was 3000-4000 pounds. It is important to note that in November 2012, the Gandhian author Giriraj Kishore had gone to UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi in order to put a halt to the auction of these two letters written by Gandhi. On the other hand, the first limited edition of constitution on the stiff Whatman paper having an estimate amount of 4000-5000 pounds was sold for 39650 pounds. This copy of constitution is signed by the President Rajendra Prasad in English as well as Devnagari, along with Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru on authentification page.

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II would be the first UK royal broadcasted in 3D while delivering the Christmas message. In order to watch this monarch, viewers will have to use special glasses as well as new 3D TV sets. After the 3D debut of royal Queen Elizabeth II, there would also be an on-screen performance of the Queen with Daniel Craig in James Bond sequence which is primarily recorded for opening ceremony of London Olympics. The special 3D Christmas message was filmed by BskyB. This message would be available on BBC and ITV. The recording of the special Christmas message took place on 7 December 2012 at the Buckingham Palace. However the speech would miss out on the pregnancy of The Duchess of Cambridge, news which broke out in the first week of December 2012. In the message, instead of the pregnancy of The Duchess of Cambridge, the 86-year old royal Queen Elizabeth II would speak about Diamond Jubilee celebrations as well as the Olympic Games. The opportunity of becoming the first Royal to be broadcasted in 3D was declined by Prince William at the wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011. The first Christmas message was given by the Queen in 1952. The first live TV broadcast on Christmas was in 1957. The tradition of Christmas message started with Queen’s grandfather George V in 1932. George V had delivered the radio broadcast which was written by Rudyard Kipling. First royal channel to be set up on YouTube was back in the year 2007. Queen also has her account on social networking site- Twitter since 2009.

Tirupati

President Pranab Mukherjee on 27 December 2012 declared open the 4th World Telugu Conference in the presence of thousands of Telugu-speaking people from across the world in the temple town of Tirupati of Andhra Pradesh. Marking the occasion President released Teluguvari Charitra, a coffee table book brought out by EMESCO and another on gold coins of Srivari Hundi on Tirumala, while Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan released Teluguvani, another book. The event was also marked with the felicitation of 14 eminent Telugus. People were asked to pass on the rich Telugu culture, heritage and tradition to the next generation with a resolve to preserve and promote the honey-laced aura of the language. The inaugural also saw the laying of a foundation stone for an international convention centre. The deliberations of the three-day conference should come out with recommendations on preserving and promoting the language. The purpose behind the conference is to give a new dimension and vision for the upkeep of Telugu, tracing its history and while naming prominent persons and their contributions and various literary movements.

Bhanu Athaiya

Bhanu Athaiya, the first Indian to win an Oscar for costume design in the movie Gandhidecided to return her award to the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in December 2012. Bhanu Athaiya fears that she might lose her trophy as the government might not be able to protect it. Bhanu Athaiya, 85 blamed that the central government had neglected her work and contributions. She also blamed that there was no one or no museum that could protect these things. Athaiya had won the most prestigious Oscar award for costume design for classic film Gandhi in 1982. Now, she has decided to return the award to AMPAS, for which she is also in negotiations with the academy. Athaiya had dressed Ben Kingsley in the film Gandhi. Bhanu Athaiya is also unsure that her family could take care of the prestigious award after her dismissal. Athaiya was the first Indian star at Academy. She has designed various costumes for more than 100 films which include Guide, Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, CID, Pyaasa and Chaudhvin Ka Chand.

New Delhi

The 2nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs was held in New Delhi on 29-30 November, 2012. The discussions took place in a cordial, constructive and cooperative atmosphere. The two delegations reviewed developments in the India-China border areas since the 1st meeting of the Mechanism and acknowledged with satisfaction that peace and tranquillity continued to be maintained due to the efforts of both sides. The two delegations also exchanged ideas on additional measures for maintaining peace and tranquillity as well as further steps to build greater trust and confidence between the two sides. The two delegations welcomed the recent liberalization of border trade across Nathu La, which has led to a significant increase in the volume of trade. They continued their discussions on introducing additional routes for the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra. The Indian delegation was lead by Gautam Bambawale, Joint Secretary (East Asia) and comprised of representatives of the Ministries of External Affairs, Defence and Home Affairs as well as members of the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The Chinese delegation was lead by Ambassador Wang Xiaodu, Special Representative, Department of Boundary and Oceanic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and comprised of representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and National Defence of the People’s Republic of China. The 3rd meeting of the Working Mechanism will be held in China at a mutually convenient time.

Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were named in the list of top 20 most powerful people in the world by the Forbes Magazine in annual power rankings which were declared on 5 December 2012. Enjoying the first position for the second year consecutively is the US President Barrack Obama. Prime Minister Manmohan Sign was ranked at number 19. Sonia Gandhi dropped from the rankings of 2011 to number 12 in 2012. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, the richest business tycoon of India as well as Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also appeared in this list. Ambani is ranked at number 37 and he outranked Mittal by various positions.

Forbes Magazine also noted that Rahul Gandhi was next to reign the most popular political dynasty of India. The magazine also described Ambani’s Reliance Industries as the most valued company of India and Mukesh Ambani’s home called Antilia was described as the most expensive private residence of the world. Antilia is the 27-storeyed 400000 sqft private residence of Ambani in Mumbai.

February 2013

Vladmir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the President of Russia visited India on 24 December 2012 at the Invitation of Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India to attend 13th India-Russia Annual Summit. During the visit the Russian President met the Prime Minister of India - Manmohan Singh and the President of India – Pranab Mukherjee. During this visit of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the progress made in all the important areas of mutual cooperation, comprising sectors like energy, trade, high technology and military-technical cooperation. Both these leaders discussed on extending the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries.

Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore

The 23-year old para-medical student who was gangraped in New Delhi on 16 December 2012 passed away in Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on 29 December 2012. The 23-year old Delhi gangrape victim passed away on 29 December 2012 at Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore at 2:15am (IST). The victim died due to multiple organ failure and severe injuries to her brain and body. India’s High Commissioner to Singapore TCA Raghavan announced that the body would be brought back to India on 29 December 2012. According to the Singapore doctors, the victim lost the battle of her life after two weeks of brutal sexual attack which horrified India. The chief executive of Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital announced on 28 December 2012 that she was suffering from severe organ failure because of injuries to her brain as well as body. She was raped on 16 December 2012 by six men who also assaulted her with iron rods. The victim was shifted to Singapore hospital on 27 December 2012.

Mumbai

Mumbai, the commercial capital of India was named one among the dirtiest cities of the world in the Trip Advisor’s Cities Survey. Trip Advisor’s Cities Survey was the global survey including 40 main tourist cities. Mumbai ranked last in the category of cleanest streets. Tokyo got the first rank in this category. Mumbai was again ranked last in the category of ease of getting around. Zurich, on the other hand was ranked first. The survey also found out the cities that had rudest locals, worst shopping as well as dirtiest streets. It was found that the least-friendly locals were found in Moscow. Cities of Russia ranked last in various categories which included friendliest locals. The highly decorated city of the world was Tokyo and it ranked at the top most position in terms of friendliest taxi drivers, cleanest streets, safety, best public transportation as well as best taxi services. The New York City was ranked at the top for the purpose of shopping. It already has the global reputation of shopping hub. The survey which was completed by over 75000 people checked cities from various tourists’ point of view. The survey looked at how travellers noticed these cities and locals viewed them. They survey was conducted in the 40 important and popular tourist cities of the world.

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