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1. North-east to be brought under railway, air network With lack of connectivity posing
as a major hindrance in the economic growth of the northeast, the Centre has decided to bring
all the state capitals in the north-east region under railway and air network. The officials said
the central government has decided to set up an airport in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar
while another has been planned for Kohima in Nagaland. The government has set deadline of
July, 2015 to complete work on the green field airport in Itanagar while no target has been
fixed for the Kohima airport.

2. Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batsman to score 50 centuries in Test history
India's batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman in Test cricket's history to
score 50 centuries. Tendulkar achieved the feat when he drove Dale Steyn through the covers
for a single on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa at Super Sport Park in
Centurion. It took him 196 balls with 12 fours and one six.Tendulkar, who reached the
milestone in 175 Tests, is way ahead of others in the list of most number of centuries.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting is a distant second with 39 centuries followed by South African
Jacques Kallis who has 38 Test hundreds.

3. Some discrepancies in witnesses' statements can be ignored: SC Minor discrepancies
in the statements of witnesses can be ignored while convicting an accused in criminal cases,
the Supreme Court has ruled. A Bench of justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad in a judgement said
when a large number of witnesses depose during a trial, there are bound to be discrepancies
which cannot be a justification for giving benefit of doubt to the accused.

4. China ignores 1600km border, treats J&K out of India Just a couple of days after
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India, China has created another controversy by adding
a new twist to border disputes with India. A Xinhua, mouthpiece of the Chinese government,
report has desribed the Sino-Indian border as 2,000 km long, ignoring nearly 1,600 km from
its definition of China's border with India. The border as per Indian account is 3,500 km. China
apparently no longer treats the line of nearly 1,600 km separating Jammu and Kashmir on one
hand and Xinjiang and Tibet on the other as a border with India.

5. Madhya Pradesh tops in rape cases, Nagaland ranks lowest The number of rape cases
across the country has increased.A total of 21,467 rape cases were reported in 2008,
registering an increase of 3.5 per cent over the previous year.Madhya Pradesh reported as
many as 2,937 cases, accounting for 13.7 per cent and highest of total rape cases, followed by
West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh at 2,263 and 1,871 cases respectively. These states were
followed by Maharashtra (1,558), Assam (1,438), Rajasthan (1,355) and Bihar (1,302). The
lowest number of cases were reported from Nagaland (19).

6. Govt raises Rs 40,000 crore via disinvestment in 2010 Having begun 2010 with a wide
gap between its income and expenditure, the government diluted its stake in nine state-owned
companies, including Coal India, to raise Rs 40,000 crore that helped cut borrowings. The
amount is the most raised in a year since the government began the programme of diluting
minority stake or privatising vast swathes of public sector companies in 1991-92.

7. RBI forecasts the GDP growth at 8.5 per cent The strategy to communicate with the
markets more frequently has paid off for RBI. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the mid-quarter
review of RBI is the decision to maintain the GDP growth forecast at 8.5 per cent. The
Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), the proportion of deposits that banks have to compulsorily
invest in government securities, has been brought down from 25 per cent to 24 per
cent.Secondly, the RBI will also conduct open market operations (OMO) for purchase of
government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs.48,000 crore.


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December 2010

8. Delhi creates highest employment in '10 As India is back on track with high growth
rate, Delhi & NCR has reported largest employment generation in 2010 by creating 1,13,897
jobs in the year. Large scale hiring was in place during the third quarter of 2010 with the
Commonwealth Games 2010 being a significant contributor for the region in terms of hiring.
Mumbai ranks second.

9. Global meet on universal brotherhood opens in Colombo A global convention on
universal brotherhood opened in Colombo to commemorate the visit of Sree Narayana Guru to
Sri Lanka and to deliberate on his vision of an egalitarian and just society.The radical social
revolutionary from Kerala, known for his saying, one caste, one religion, and one god for
humankind visited the island nation in 1918 and in 1926. The Sree Narayana Guru Society
was established here as per his advice.

10. Laws violated in Ratnagiri, says ecology panel report The Western Ghats Ecology
Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil has decided to walk the untrodden
path. In the summary report which raises environmental concerns in the Sindhudurg and
Ratnagiri regions of Maharashtra and emphatically supports the rights of its people, while
strongly criticising the government's role, the WGEEP gave voice to the years of protests
witnessed by the regions.

11. Boom in harmful algal blooms Harmful algal blooms (HAB), lethal for human beings
and marine ecosystems alike, are steadily increasing in intensity in the Indian waters.
Researchers have found out that the toxic blooms had increased by around 15 per cent over
the last 12 years in Indian seas

12. Immigrant bill defeated in US The US senate blocked a White House-backed bill to offer
a path to citizenship to young undocumented immigrants who attend college or enroll in the
military. Lawmakers voted 55-41, largely along party lines, to end debate on the Development,
Relief and Education for Alien Minors ( DREAM) Act, falling short of the 60 votes needed to
advance the bill and effectively killing it

13. UN Security Council meets on Korea tensions World powers trying to defuse tensions
between North and South Korea met in an emergency session of the UN Security Council, but
disagreed over whether the North should be singled out for criticism over two deadly attacks
this year that have helped send relations to their lowest point in decades. China and Russia,
the countries with the closest ties to North Korea, have expressed concern about the South
Korean military's plans to conduct one-day, live-fire drills on the same front-line island the
North shelled last month as the South conducted a similar exercise. The United States supports
South Korea, a staunch ally, and says any country has a right to train for self-defense.

14. Prince Harry honoured in Germany for African charity work Prince Harry, the third-
in- line to the British throne, has reportedly become one of the youngest members of the Royal
Family to receive the 'Golden Heart' award in Germany for his humanitarian and charity work.

15. John Wright named New Zealand cricket coach Former India cricket coach John
Wright has replaced Mark Greatbatch as New Zealand's national coach as New Zealand Cricket
attempts to stem one of its worst international losing streaks. Captain Daniel Vettori has also
been stripped of some of his selection powers in restructuring announced after NZC review of
series losses to Bangladesh and India.