CURRENT GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: JULY 2009

ABBREVIATIONS
DMO: Debt Management Office.

GST: Goods and Services Tax.

NUIAI: National Unique Identification Authority of India.

AWARDS

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, 2008

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has become the first business leader in the world
to receive the coveted award.

Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation, 2008

The pro-democracy Myanmar leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has
been felicitated with Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and
Reconciliation. The award was bestowed by the South African-based Mahatma
Gandhi Foundation. Burmese PM-in-exile Thien Win received the award on her
behalf. The award was being given on July 20 because it representeds the 20th
anniversary of Suu Kyi’s house arrest by the military junta in her country.
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2009

M.C. Marykom. Inspired by Dingko Singh’s gold medal feat in the 1998 Bangkok
Asiad, the Manipuri girl took up boxing a decade back and hasn’t looked back. She
took up the sport to support her family, but soon she emerged as one of the most
feared boxers in the ring. Her best came in the world championships, where she
has won four gold.

Vijender Singh. The boxer from Kaluwas in Haryana struggled to make ends meet
in his early days. His talent got recognition after he started doing well in the junior
nationals and subsequently was sent abroad for training and competition
programmes. Kept the entire nation glued to the TV set during his bouts in the
Beijing Olympics. Unlucky to have missed the final, the tall and handsome boxer
did enough to create a record by becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic
boxing medal.

Sushil Kumar. The Delhi wrestler has battled the odds since childhood, but kept
on working hard to excel. Things began to change after he bagged the world cadet
gold in 1998 and he followed it up with another gold in the Asian junior
championship. Though he was successful at the highest level, the Beijing medal
made him a household name.

Arjuna Award, 2009

 Mangal Singh Champia (Archery)

 Sinimole Paulose (Athletics)
 Saina Nehwal (Badminton)
 L. Sarita Devi (Boxing)
 Tania Sachdev (Chess)
  Gautam Gambhir (Cricket)
 Ignace Tirkey (Hockey)
 Surinder Kaur (Hockey)
 Pankaj Navanath Shirsat (Kabaddi)
 Satish Joshi (Rowing)
 Ronjan Sodhi (Shooting)
 Poulomi Ghatak (Table Tennis)
 Yogeshwar Dutt (Wrestling)
 Girdhari Lal Yadav (Yachting)
 Parul Parmar (Badminton, disabled).

Dhyan Chand Award, 2009

 Ishar S Deol (Athletics)

 Satbir Singh Dahya (Wrestling).

Dronacharya Award, 2009

 P. Gopichand (Badminton)
 Jaydev Bisht (Boxing)
 S. Baldev Singh (Hockey)
 Satpal (Wrestling).

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar, 2009

 Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent: TATA

Steel Ltd.

Financial Support for Sports Excellence, 2009: TATA Steel Ltd.

 Employment of Sportspersons and sports welfare measures, 2009: Railways
Sports Promotion Board.

BOOKS
Future of Cricket—The Rise of Twenty20

Written by John Buchanan, the former coach of the Australian national team and
the Knight Riders IPL squad the book takes swipes at Sunil Gavaskar, Yuvraj Singh,
Harbhajan Singh, Kevin Pietersen, Shoaib Akhtar, Vijay Mallya and Mark
Ramprakash. The book deals with IPL and T20. Yet, attention remained focused
on its criticism of some of cricket’s biggest stars.

DEFENCE
Nuclear Submarine INS Arihant is launched

Mrs Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, launched the first
indigenously built nuclear submarine INS Arihant and sent it out to water on July
26, 2009. The 110-metre-long submarine is expected to generate a “wave” of
strategic signals as India entered the exclusive club of nations that have the
capability to build nuclear submarines.

The 5,500 tonne vessel, with a range of 750 km, will become operational within
two years after sea trials. With this, India has become the only country in the
Indian Ocean region to have nuclear submarine.

Two more indigenous nuclear submarines are under construction and are slated
to be inducted by 2015. The three will cost about Rs 30,000 crore. Another
nuclear submarine, the Akula class ‘Nerpa’, is to arrive on 10-year lease from
Russia in December 2009. So far, only USA, Russia, France, UK and China have
nuclear-submarine capabilities. India operated a nuclear submarine on lease from
Russia between 1988 and 1991.
It took more than 25 years for it to come into existence since the submarine was
planned. In between, India faced sanctions and was even denied technology but it
carried on. The actual project commenced in January 1998 when the first steel
was cut at a secret ceremony. The project was code-named the “advanced
technology vessel” and the government had been denying its existence
altogether.

The submarine has a diameter of 11 meters and displacement of 6,000 tonnes. It

has the latest sensors, anti-ship missiles besides strategic (nuclear-tipped)
missiles. INS Arihant can fire missiles from under the sea and can lurk in ocean
depths of half a km and more. It is powered by an 85-MW capacity nuclear
reactor and can acquire surface speeds of 22 to 28 kmph and submerged speed
up to 44 kmph. It will be carrying a crew of 95 and will be armed with torpedoes
and missiles, including 12 ballistic missiles.

The K-15 nuclear missile, Shaurya, that can fire some 700 km, has already been
tested by the DRDO using a canister to mimic an under-sea launch. With this,
India will complete its nuclear triad. India already has land-based and air-borne
nuclear capabilities.

Unlike diesel-electric powered submarines that have to surface every 48 hours or

so to “breathe”, a nuclear- powered submarine can remain submerged for longer
periods, enabling it to hide. The vessel is critical for India's nuclear doctrine that
calls for high survivability against surprise attacks and for rapid punitive response.
A nuclear submarine can be counter in case an enemy launched a crippling strike
on land-based or air-based nuclear weapons.
PEOPLE
Hangal, Gangubai

Legendary Hindustani vocalist, she died on July 21, 2009. She was 97. Gangubai,
who enthralled millions with her deep understanding of Hindustani music and her
powerful androgynous voice, lived a full life. Her career spanned over seven
decades. She loved life and remained humble despite her unparalleled
achievements. Her early life was tough. She battled hunger and caste and gender
prejudices. Though this battle continued for most part of her life, she found a
reason to always smile.

Born in 1913 in Dharwar (Karnataka) in a family of Gangamats (boatmen),

Gangubai, like her mother Amlabai and grandmother Kamlabai, was naturally
drawn to singing since childhood. Women belonging to the caste were supposed
to entertain upper caste people by singing.

Gangubai’s late husband Gururao Kaulgi and her father Nadgir were both
Brahmins. But, neither Gangubai nor her mother assumed their husbands’ name
or lived with them. In adherence to the matrilineal tradition, her children also call
themselves “Hangal”.

Gangubai, who belonged to the Kirana Gharana, first sang in front of a large
audience in the Congress session held in Belgaum in 1924.

In her long life as a classical singer, Gangubai went on to bag prestigious awards,
including the Padma Bhushan, Tansen Award and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
She was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the Karnataka University (KU).
Naidu, Leela

Hindi film actress, who mesmerised audiences with her classic beauty in films like
"Anuradha" and "Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke” died in Mumbai after prolonged
illness. She was 69. The actress, who came into the spotlight after winning the
Miss India title in 1955, was later featured in the Vogue magazine along with
Maharani Gayatri Devi in the list of 'World's 10 Most Beautiful Women'. Born to
renowned scientist Ramaiah Naidu and an Irish mother, Leela began her career
with Hrishikesh Mukherjee's National Award winning film "Anuradha" in 1960
opposite Balraj Sahni.

PLACES

L'Aquila

The heads of G-8 met in L'Aquila, a mountainous town of Italy, situated 120 km
from Rome in July 2009. Almost 40 countries were present there. Many other
international organisations were invited as well. G-5 that consists of India, China,
Brazil, Mexico and South Africa had a buzz around them. G-5 plus Egypt were
invited for a special session.

Sharm El-Sheikh

This Red Sea resort city of Egypt hosted the Non-Aligned (NAM) summit in July
2009.

Staples Centre

Located in Los Angeles, the public memorial of pop star Michael Jackson was held
here on July 7, 2009. A staggering 1.6 million people applied to win free tickets for
the event, which were allocated via an online lottery. Over 1,400 police officers
were deployed to provide security. In the US alone, at least 16 major TV networks
covered the service live, and 88 cinemas screened it, making it one of the biggest
televised events of the year after the January 20, 2009 inauguration of President
Obama.

Taregna

A mindboggling two lakh star gazers, including researchers, astronomers and

scientists from across the globe descended on July 22, 2009, on this sleepy Bihar
village which was catapulted to world fame because of NASA declaring it as the
‘best spot’ to view the total solar eclipse. The duration of the eclipse at Taregna,
35 km from Patna, was three minutes 48 seconds.

Taregna village, it is said, was the observatory of legendary astronomer and

mathematician Aryabhata. The word ‘Taregna’ perhaps comes from the Sanskrit
‘‘taraka-gnana’’ (calculating stars).

Aryabhata was born in Pataliputra (then Kusumpura), in 476 AD (according to

some experts on April 13) and at age 23 wrote his monumental work
‘Aryabhatiyam’. At the same age, Isaac Newton proposed his theory of gravitation
in 1665 AD. Almost 1,000 years before Copernicus (1473-1543 AD) and Galileo
(1564-1642), Aryabhata discovered that the earth is round and rotates on its axis.
He proposed a theory of his own to explain various planetary motions and
accurately predicted the duration of an eclipse and total obscuration of the sun
and the moon.

PROJECTS

Gail to lay India’s longest gas pipeline

Gail India, country’s largest gas transportation company, will invest Rs 7,600 crore
in building India’s longest gas pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia
in West Bengal. Besides the 2,050-km pipeline, the company will invest an
additional Rs 400 crore to lay two spur pipelines that will link Baurani and
Chappra in Bihar with Gail’s pipeline networks.

Gail currently operates 7,100 km of gas pipelines and plans to double its the
network by March 2012 with an investment of around Rs 28,000 crore.

The Jagdishpur-Haldia project will be executed in phases. First 1,410 km of

pipeline will be laid from Haldia to Phulpur, along with spur-lines to various
consumers like Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation at Durgapur and Barauni,
Fertiliser Corporation of India at Sindri and Barauni, power plant at Barh and
Bettiah and in the cities of Patna, Chapra, Siwan, Gopalganj and Bettiah.

In the next phase, spur-lines and feeder lines will be laid for a length of 450 km to
the cities of Kolkata, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Varanasi and Allahabad and Sagardighi.
In the last phase, gas pipeline infrastructure will connect SAIL’s plants at Durgapur
and Bokaro and petrochemical plant at Barauni with Gail’s network.

RESEARCH

Superior face recognition software

Florida Atlantic University engineers in Boca Raton are working on a superior new
face recognition technique that can see through disguises. Lin Huang, from the
University's department of engineering, says that every face has special features
that define people, yet faces can also be very similar. This is what makes
computerised face recognition for security and other applications an interesting,
but difficult task.
Face recognition software has been in development for many years, but the main
technical limitation is that, although the systems are accurate, they require a lot
of computer power. Early face recognition systems simply marked major facial
features—eyes, nose mouth—on a photograph, and computed the distances from
these features to a common reference point.

In the new study, researchers have applied a one-dimensional filter to the two-
dimensional data from conventional analyses, such as the Gabor method (which is
based on neural networks). This allows them to reduce significantly the amount of
computer power required without compromising accuracy.

The team found that their technique was not only faster and worked with low
resolution images, such as those produced by standard CCTV cameras, but it also
solved the variation problems caused by different light levels and shadows,
viewing direction, pose, and facial expressions. It could even see through certain
types of disguises, such as facial hair and glasses.

The findings have been published in International Journal of Intelligent Systems

Technologies and Applications.

SPACE RESEARCH

A hole as big as Earth in Jupiter

In a startling discovery, an amateur Australian astronomer has spotted a giant

hole, the size of the Earth, on planet Jupiter—a finding corroborated by US space
agency NASA. Anthony Wesley said he spotted the dark “scar” which had
suddenly appeared on Jupiter through a homemade telescope, from the yard of
his rural home near Canberra.
MISCELANEOUS

GM fish set to tickle Indian palates

Scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad,
have developed a genetically modified (GM) fish that are superior in yield and
quality. The popular fish variety “rohu” will reach the Indian plates once the
mandatory clearances come. After obtaining the approvals the CCMB will go for a
tie up with Andhra Pradesh fisheries department for mass production of GM rohu.

This GM fish can multiply manifold within a short time. Not only that, they will be
much bigger than the natural variety without any change in nutritional value and
taste. Consequently, fish breeders will not need to wait for a long time for the fish
to reach their optimum size and number, thereby reducing feed costs and other
expenses of fish hatcheries.

Allaying apprehensions over the safety of GM rohu, scientists said: “There is no

introduction of foreign gene. The gene inserted into the fish’s genome is part of
its own genome.” Rohu is the most farmed and among the most widely consumed
fish in India.

Google’s new system to take on Microsoft

Google is working on a new operating system for inexpensive computers in a

daring attempt to wrest away Microsoft's long-running control over people's
computing experience. The new operating system will be based on the company's
nine month-old web browser, Chrome. Google intends to rely on help from the
community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating
system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.
Google is designing the operating system primarily for "netbooks," a lower-cost,
less powerful breed of laptop computers that is becoming increasingly popular
among budget-conscious consumers primarily interested in surfing the web.

The operating system represents Google's boldest challenge yet to its biggest
nemesis Microsoft. A high-stakes duel between the two technology powerhouses
has been steadily escalating in recent years as Google's dominance of the
Internet's lucrative search market has given it the means to threaten Microsoft in
ways that few other companies can.

The Chrome operating system will run in a new windowing system on top of a
Linux kernel computer coding that has been the foundation for the open-source
software movement for nearly two decades. Google has already introduced an
operating system for mobile devices, called Android, which vies against various
other systems, including ones made by Microsoft and Apple.

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

GST is a comprehensive tax levy on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods

and services at a national level. Through a tax credit mechanism, this tax is
collected on value-added goods and services at each stage of sale or purchase in
the supply chain. The system allows the set-off of GST paid on the procurement of
goods and services against the GST which is payable on the supply of goods or
services. However, the end consumer bears this tax as he is the last person in the
supply chain.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) will integrate State economies and boost overall
growth. GST will create a single, unified Indian market to make the economy
stronger. The implementation of GST will lead to the abolition of other taxes such
as octroi, Central Sales Tax, State-level sales tax, entry tax, stamp duty, telecom
licence fees, turnover tax, tax on consumption or sale of electricity, taxes on
transportation of goods and services, etc., thus avoiding multiple layers of
taxation that currently exist in India.

It is estimated that India will gain $15 billion a year by implementing the Goods
and Services Tax as it would promote exports, raise employment and boost
growth. It will divide the tax burden equitably between manufacturing and
services.

In the GST system, both Central and State taxes will be collected at the point of
sale. Both components (the Central and State GST) will be charged on the
manufacturing cost. This will benefit individuals as prices are likely to come
down. Lower prices will lead to more consumption, thereby helping companies.

Almost 140 countries have already implemented the GST. Most of the countries
have a unified GST system. Brazil and Canada follow a dual system where GST is
levied by both the Union and the State governments. France was the first country
to introduce GST system in 1954.

CGST will include central excise duty, service tax, and additional duties of customs
at the central level; and value-added tax, central sales tax, entertainment tax,
luxury tax, octroi, lottery taxes, electricity duty, state surcharges related to supply
of goods and services and purchase tax at the State level.

India to be third largest Internet user base by 2013

The number of Internet users worldwide is expected to touch 2.2 billion by 2013
and India is projected to have the third largest online population during the same
time, technology and market research firm Forrester Research said in a report.
Globally, there were about 1.5 billion Internet users in the year 2008.

Titled ‘Global Online Population Forecast, 2008 to 2013’, the report noted that
emerging markets like India would see a growth of 10 to 20 per cent by 2013. In
the next four years, about 43 per cent of the Internet users globally are
anticipated to reside in Asia and China would account for about half of that
population. The percentage of Internet users in Asia would increase to 43 per cent
in 2013 from 38 per cent in 2008.

The percentage of the global online population located in North America will drop
from 17 per cent to 13 per cent between 2008 and 2013, while Europe’s share will
shrink from 26 per cent to 22 per cent.