Cuurrent Affairs and GK - 2008

G.K OF 2008

Gagan Narang - World Record in 10m Air Rifle

During the World Cup Finals in Bangkok, Narang scored 103.5 points to attain a world record score of 703.5.

The old world record was set by Austrian Farnik Thomas in 2006 at World Cup Final in Granada, Spain. The other participants of the finals:

American Matthew Emmons (Gold)

Chinese Zhu Qinan (Bronze)

Gagan had won a bronze in the World Cup in China earlier this year to qualify for this World Cup.

Saina Nehwal Wins Badminton World Junior Championship

Saina Nehwal defeated Sayaka Sato of Japan to become Badminton Junior World Champion.

Anil Kumble Retires

Anil Kumble said goodbye to Test Cricket after playing at his favorite pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi against Australia.

MS Dhoni was appointed as the Indian captain.

The legendary leg-spinner has 619 wickets in the Test Cricket (Third highest wicket taker in Test Cricket after Muttiah Muralitharan, and Shane Warne)

A Brief look at Kumble's Career

	Tests	ODI
Matches	132	271
Runs scored	2,461	938
Batting average	17.57	10.53
Centuries	1	0
Half Centuries	5	0
Top score	110*	26
Wickets	619	337
Bowling average	29.59	30.89
5 wickets in innings	35	2
10 wickets in match	8	N/A
Best bowling	10/74	6/12

Saurav Ganguly Announces His Retirement

Saurav Ganguly announced to quit international cricket after the India-Australia test series. Saurav has been of the greatest test captains India has ever produced. As captain of India, he has the record of winning 21 of 49 test matches. It is under his captaincy that India reached the finals of 2003 World Cup. The left-handed batsman has over 10,000 ODI runs to his name.

Viswanathan Anand wins World Chess Championship

Viswanathan Anand won the 12-game World Chess Championship at Bonn by defeating Russian Vladimir Kramnik.

Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark Knowles Win Davidoff Swiss Indoors Title

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles have won the ATP Davidoff Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel on October 26, 2008 defeating Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany by 6-3, 6-3.

India Beats Australia In Mohali Test Match

India won the second test match at Mohali by crushing Australia by a huge margin of 320 runs on October 21, 2008. With this India has registered its biggest test match victory in terms of runs. The previous best was against South Africa in Kanpur in 1996. In that match, India had defeated the Portreas by a margin of 280 runs.

Sachin Tendulkar Becomes Highest Run Scorer In Test Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar became the leading run scorer in test cricket. He broke Brain Lara's record of 11,953 runs while batting against Australia in the second test match at Mohali. Tendulkar has achieved the milestone of maximum runs in test matches by playing 152 matches while Lara took 131 matches for his 11,953 runs.

Tendulkar also holds the record of having the maximum runs in 50-50 version of the game. He has made 16,361 runs from 417 one-day matches with an average well above 45.

Sachin Tendulkar also holds the world record of scoring maximum number of centuries in both forms of the game.

India Wins The Border-Gavaskar Trophy

India clinched the prestigious Border-Gavaskar trophy by 2-0 defeating the world champions by 172 runs in the final Test in Nagpur.

It is the first time that Australia has lost a Test series by more than one match since 1988 when they were defeated by West Indies.

Jeev Milkha Singh Wins Barclay's Singapore Open

Golfer Jeev Milkha Singh won the $ 5 million Barclays Singapore Open title on November 16, 2008 and thereby bagged the Asian Tour Order of Merit title. This is his third title this year. Earlier he had won the Bank Austria Golf Open on European Tour and the Nagashima Shigeo Invitational Sega Sammy Cup on Japan Tour.

Awards Presented in 2008

Arjuna Awards, 2007 (For Players)

Sr. No	Awardee	Game/Sports
1.	Chitra Soman	Athletics
2.	Anup Sridhar	Badminton
3.	Johnson Varghese	Boxing
4.	Harika Dron-avalli	Chess
5.	Arjun Atwal	Golf
6.	Prabhjot Singh	Hockey
7.	Tombi Devi	Judo
8.	Bajranglal Takhar	Rowing
9.	Avneet Kaur Sidhu	Shooting
10.	Alka Tomar	Wrestling
11.	Farman Basha	Power-Lifting

Dhyan Chand Award, 2007 (Life Time Achievement in Sports and Games)

Sr. No	Name	Game/Sports
1.	Hakam Singh	Athletics
2.	Mukhbain Singh	Hockey
3.	Gian Singh	Wrestling

Dronacharya award, 2007 (For Coaches)

Sr. No.	Name	Game/Sports
1.	Sanjeev Kumar Singh	Archery
2.	Jagdish Singh	Boxing
3.	G.E. Sridharan	Volleyball
4.	Jagminder Singh	Wrestling

Rajiv Award Sadbhavana Award, 2007

• Social worker and Gandhian N. Radhakrishnan

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, 2007 (India's highest sports award):

• Mahender Singh Dhoni

Tenzing Norgay National Adven ture Award (at par with the Arjuna Awards)

• Neel Chand
• Mohinder Singh
• Tushar Kanti Rath
• Captain M.S. Kohli

ICC Cricket Awards, 2008

Sr. No.	Awardee	Country	Award
1.	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies	Cricketer of the Year
2.	Dale Steyn	South Africa	Test Player of the Year
3.	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	India	ODI Player of the Year
4.	Charlotte Edwards	England	Women's Cricketer of the Year
5.	Ajantha Mendis	Sri Lanka	Emerging Player of the Year
6.	Ryan ten Doeschate	New Zealand	Associate ODI Player of the Year
7.	Yuvraj Singh	India	Twenty20 International Performance of the Year
8.	Simon Taufel	-	Umpire of the Year
9.	Sri Lanka	-	Spirit of Cricket Award

ICC World Test Team of 2008

Name	Country
Graeme Smith (captain)	South Africa
Virender Sehwag	India
Mahela Jayawardena	Sri Lanka
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies
Kevin Pietersen	England
Jacques Kallis	South Africa
Kumar Sangakkara (wicket-keeper)	Sri Lanka
Brett Lee	Australia
Ryan Sidebottom	England
Dale Steyn	South Africa
Muttiah Muralidaran	Sri Lanka
12th man: Stuart Clark	Australia

ICC World One Day Team of 2008

Herschelle Gibbs	South Africa
Sachin Tendulkar	India
Ricky Ponting (captain)	Australia
Yunus Khan	Pakistan
Andrew Symonds	Australia
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper)	India
Farveez Maha-roof	Sri Lanka
Daniel Vettori	New Zealand
Brett Lee	Australia
Mitchell Johnson	Australia
Nathan Bracken	Australia
12th man: Salman Butt	Pakistan

This is really important for all Competitive Exams.

General Knowledge Update 2 - October 2008

New RBI Governor:

Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao has been named the 22^nd Governor of Reserve Bank of India. Present Governor Y V Reddy retires on September 5, 2008.

Sixth Pay Commission for Armed Forces.

The Ministry of Defence has notified the new allowances on the basis of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission for officers of the Armed Forces.

54^th National Film Awards

Presented by: President Pratibha Patil

Dilip Kumar (Bollywood Actor), Lata Mangeshkar (Singer), Saroja Devi (South Indian Actress)	Lifetime Achievement Award
Konkona Sen Sharma	Best supporting actress award.
Tapan Sinha	Dadasheb Phalke Award
Lage Raho Munna Bhai	Best entertainment film
Soumitra Chatterjee	Best actor award for the Bengali film Podokkhep
Madhur Bhandarkar	Best director award (Traffic Signal)

People In News:

Amartya Sen is part of committee appointed by International Monetary Fund to advise on governance reform.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has been conferred the third Malcom S Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours heroes of entrepreneurial capitalism and free enterprise.

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal arrived on September 14, 2005 on his first visit to India.

Bhupen Hazarika is conferred the 'Asom Ratna' on his 83rd birthday.

Former Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh unseated from Punjab Assembly and disqualified for the remaining tenure of the 13th Vidhan Sabha for his alleged involvement in corruption.

News in India:

Agreement between India and Colombia

For exploration and production of oil and gas, exchange of training and human resource development, exchange of visits of professionals and technicians.

India became the only nuclear weapons power to be allowed global nuclear commerce without signing either the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) or Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), when 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group lifts its 16 year old embargo on nuclear commerce with India in Vienna.

Meghalaya becomes the first state to allow Muslim women to offer Ramzan prayer in mosque alongside men.

China opens Consulate General's office in Kolkata

Economic News:

Finance Minister P Chidambaram inaugurates the Universal Arogya Medical Insurance Scheme for persons belonging to below poverty line category.

More in Current GK 2008 Series

This is Very Important GK Update for the competitive Exams. Make sure that you remember these names for your next competitive exam and interview.

Happy Learning!!

Noble Laureates for the year 2008

Physics:

1.       Yoichiro Nambu

"for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"

1.       Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa

"for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"

Chemistry:

1.       Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien

"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP"

Physiology or Medicine:

1.       Harald zur Hausen

"for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"   Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus" 

Literature:

1.       Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"

Peace:

1.       Martti Ahtisaari

"for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts"

Prize in Economics:

1.       Paul Krugman

"for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"

Suggested Reading:

Noble price winners of 2008

Hello Friends,

Here we are with another General Knowledge Update for you. I hope you are preparing well for the Bank PO Examination for SBI and BOB. SSC exams are also scheduled in near future.

Today we have a list of Nobel Prize Winners from India. The Nobel Prize is the most respected award in the world and these Nobel laureates have made India proud. We salute them.

The list is:

Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Field: Literature
For: Gitanjali (His collection of Poems, English version, published in 1912)
Year: 1913

• He was first Asian to win Nobel Prize
• He wrote our National Anthem (Later translated into English and is known as morning song of India)
• He founded Shanti Niketan, which later became VishwaBharati University
• He also wrote the National Anthem of Bangladesh "Amar Sonar Bangla (My Bengal of gold)".

Sir C.V. Raman (Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman) (1888 - 1970)
Field: Physics
For: "RAMAN" effect (Scattering of Light)
Year: 1930

• He was the first Asian scientist to win the Nobel Prize.
• He also received Bharat Ratna and Lenin Peace Prize.
• He founded Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Hargobind Khorana (1922 - )
Field: Medicine and Physiology
For: Genetic Study
Year: 1968

• He produced the first artificial gene in his laboratory.
• He shared the Nobel Prize with Marshall Nuremberg and Robert Holley.

Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)
Field: Peace
For: Exemplary Charity and Social Service
Year: 1979

• Born in Skoplje, Yugoslavia (then Turkey)
• Original Name: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
• Founded Missionaries Of Charity in Calcutta.
• Received Bharat Ratna Award in 1980
• Receive Magsaysay Award in 1962.

Dr. Subramaniam Chandrasekar (1910 - 2000)
Field: Physics
For: his work on stars and their evolution (Chandrasekhar's Limit).
Year: 1983

• The space telescope Chandra launched by NASA was named after him.
• He also served as the Governor of Maharashtra
• He received Bharat Ratna in 1998

Dr. Amartya Sen
Field: Economics
For: Mathematical Solution to "Arrow's Impossibility Theorem"
Year: 1998
There are some more Nobel Laureates who are related to India but are not Indians.
V.S. Naipaul, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932- )
[British writer of Indian origin]
Field: Literature
Year: 2001
Rajendra K. Pachauri (1940 - )
For: Peace and Environment Conservation
Year: 2007

• He accepted the prize on behalf of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as he was the chairman.
• He shared the award with Al Gore, Vice President of USA

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
[British writer]
For: Literature
Year: 1907

• He wrote novels, poems and short stories
• He is known for his books "The Jungle Book" (1894), "The Second Jungle Book" (1895). Remember "Mowgli" J.

Bharat ratna in 2008

Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian award. We have some information that will help you prepare for the various Entrance and Recruitment Exams.

Some Facts:

1.      The award is conferred to the People who make great contribution in the field of art, literature, and science, and social service.

2.      The award was started by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, on January 2, 1954.

3.      The honour has been awarded to forty persons.

4.      Two non-Indians and a naturalized Indian citizen are among the awardees.

5.      With 8 honours each Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are the states with the most number of awardees.

6.      The award is designed in the shape of a "peepul leaf" and with words "Bharat Ratna" written on it. The reverse side of the medal carries the state emblem and motto.

7.      The award to Subhash Chandra Bose (1992) was withdrawn

8.      The award was briefly suspended from July 13, 1977 to January 26, 1980.

9.      No one has been awarded Bharat Ratna since 2001.

10. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2008

S.No	Recipient	Year
1	Lata Mangeshkar	2001
2	Ustad Bismillah Khan	2001
3	Pandit Ravi Shankar	1999
4	Amartya Sen	1999
5	Gopinath Bordoloi	1999
6	M. S. Subbulakshmi	1998
7	Chidambaram Subramaniam	1998
8	Jayaprakash Narayan	1998
9	A.P.J. Abdul Kalam	1997
10	Gulzarilal Nanda	1997
11	Aruna Asaf Ali	1997
12	Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	1992
13	J. R. D. Tata	1992
14	Satyajit Ray	1992
15	Rajiv Gandhi	1991
16	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	1991
17	Morarji Desai	1991
18	B. R. Ambedkar	1990
19	Nelson Mandela	1990
20	M. G. Ramachandran	1988
21	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	1987
22	Acharya Vinoba Bhave	1983
23	Mother Teresa	1980
24	K. Kamaraj	1976
25	V. V. Giri	1975
26	Indira Gandhi	1971
27	Lal Bahadur Shastri	1966
28	Dr. Zakir Hussain	1963
29	Pandurang Vaman Kane	1963
30	Dr. Rajendra Prasad	1962
31	Dr. B. C. Roy	1961
32	Purushottam Das Tandon	1961
33	Dhondo Keshav Karve	1958
34	Govind Ballabh Pant	1957
35	Bhagwan Das	1955
36	Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya	1955
37	Jawaharlal Nehru	1955
38	Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1954
39	Chakravarti Rajagopalachari	1954
40	Sir C. V. Raman	1954

Suggested Reading:

Bharat ratna on wiki pedia

2. No Jewel in India’s Crown for seven years!

Is not it very discouraging that we have not had a Bharat Ratna Awards for so long. Leave a comment about what you think.

Finally the award was continued in 2008. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2008.

August 11th, 2008Posted in General Knowledge

INDIA AT OLYMPICS

India' first participation in Olympics was in 1900.We have been associated with Olympics for last 21 games. Today Abhinav Bindra has made the nation proud by wining the GOLD medal for 10 m Air Rifle Shooting. It is a very special victory as it brings a Gold Medal after a gap of 28 Long Years. He is also the Only Indian to win an individual gold at Olympics. Here is India's performance at Olympics over the years.

MEDALS IN DIFFERENT SPORTS

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Hockey	8	1	2	11
Shooting	0	1	0	1
Tennis	0	0	1	1
Weightlifting	0	0	1	1
Wrestling - Freestyle	0	0	1	1
Total	8	2	5	15

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MEDALS

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1928	1 (H)	0	0	1
1932	1 (H)	0	0	1
1936	1 (H)	0	0	1
1948	1 (H)	0	0	1
1952	1 (H)	0	1 (W)	2
1956	1 (H)	0	0	1
1960	0	1 (H)	0	1
1964	1 (H)	0	0	1
1968	0	0	1 (H)	1
1972	0	0	1 (H)	1
1980	1 (H)	0	0	1
1996	0	0	1 (T)	1
2000	0	0	1 (WL)	1
2004	0	1 (S)	0	1
Total	8	2	5	15

(H) - Hockey Team

(W) - Wrestling, won by Kha-Shaba Jadav in Helsinki

(T) - Tennis, won by Leander Paes at Atlanta

(WL) - Weight Lifting, won by Karnam Malleshwari at Sydney

(S) - Shooting, won by Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore at Athens

We hope we will get the honour to add more names to this list in coming days!!

We wish all the luck to the Indian Olympic Contingent competing at Beijing!!

General Knowledge for Entrance and Recruitment Exams

KHEL RATNA AWARDS

Official Name: Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

Special: It is India's Highest Honour given for achievement in sports.

Started In: 1991-92

Here is the list of people who have been awarded Khel Ratna so far.

S. No.	Year	Name of the Sportsperson(s)	Sport Discipline
01	1991-92	Viswanathan Anand	Chess
02	1992-93	Geet Sethi	Billiards
03	1993-94	Not Conferred
04	1994-95	Cdr. Homi D. Motivala and Lt. Cdr. P. K. Garg	Yachting (Team Event)
05	1995-96	Karnam Malleswari	Weightlifting
06	1996-97	Leander Paes and Nameirakpam Kunjarani (Joint)	Tennis and Weightlifting respectively
07	1997-98	Sachin Tendulkar	Cricket
08	1998-99	Jyotirmoyee Sikdar	Athletics
09	1999-2000	Dhanraj Pillay	Hockey
10	2000-01	Pullela Gopichand	Badminton
11	2001-02	Abhinav Bindra	Shooting
12	2002-03	Anjali Ved Pathak Bhagwat and K. M. Beenamol (Joint)	Shooting and Athletics respectively
13	2003-04	Anju Bobby George	Athletics
14	2004-05	Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore	Shooting
15	2005-06	Pankaj Advani	Billiards & Snooker
16	2006-07	Manavjit Singh Sandhu	Shooting
17	2007-08	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Cricket

Are you preparing for a competitive exam like Bank Probationary Officer (PO) Recruitment, Bank Clerical, NDA, CDS, B. Ed., ETT etc. Here is a series of updates that we release every week just for you.

Happy Learning!!

G-8 Environment Ministers Meeting:
Held in Kobe, Japan May 24-26, 2008.
What is G-8?
Aim: Debt Relief to 36 poorest countries of the World.

Members: US, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada and Russia

NOTE: Formerly G7 (excluding Russia)

G-8 Summit

Held between July 7 and 9, 2008. The agenda was to control Climate Change, controlling price hike for food and petroleum. North Korea's Atomic Programme.

Agni - III Test Fired Successfully:

Type: Intermediate Ballistic Missile

On: May 07, 2008

Range: 3500 KM

Tested At: Wheeler Island (off the Orissa Coast)

NOTE:

Agni-I was short range ballistic missile. Range: 700- 800 KM

Agni-II was medium range ballistic missile. Range: 2,500 KM

Agni - V will be an ICBM (InterContinental Ballistic Missile). ICBM is a land-based or mobile rocket-propelled missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to a range greater than 5,500 KM

Prithvi - II Test Fired Successfully:

Type: Surface to Surface

On: May 23, 2008

Range: 350 KM

Tested At: Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Balasore

Hatf - VIII Test Fired (Pakistan)

Type: Surface to Surface

Range: 350 KM

India Ranked 120^th in Doing Business by World Bank's Report

Total Countries Ranked: 178

Pakistan:           76

Sri Lanka:         101

Bangladesh       : 107

Nepal               : 111

Bhutan             : 119

Indonesia to Withdraw from OPEC

• Against the decision for a price hike in petroleum.
• Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
• Headquarters: Vienna, Austria.
• An international oil cartel originally formed in 1960.
• Indonesia is the only SE Asian member of OPEC.
• Other 12 members are: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Qatar, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador and Gabon.

India's first Marine Conservation Reserve:

Will be located in Agatti Atoll in Lakshadweep.

Books:

Animal's People by Mr. Indra Sinha

Adjudged Best Book of the year by the Commonwealth Foundation for the year 2008

Midnights Children by Mr. Salman Rushdie

It has been awarded "Best of Booker" prize in 2008. It was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981.

People in News:

Ms. Tessy Thomas:

She became the first woman Scientist to lead the Agni Missile Project.

Mr. Min Bahadur:

He became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest at the age of 75.

Mr. B. S. Yedddyurappa

He became the 19^th Chief Minister of Karnataka.

The recent trend shows that the General Awareness (General Knowledge or GK) part of many competitive exams include question from world Geography where they may ask about the Capital of a Country. Here is the list of all the 195 countries of the world including their capitals. Usually the questions relate to country that is in news for some reason. So please try to remember as many as you can and relate them to current events.

Afghanistan: Kabul             Albania: Tirane

Algeria: Algiers

Andorra: Andorra la Vella

Angola: Luanda

Antigua and Barbuda: Saint John's

Argentina: Buenos Aires

Armenia: Yerevan

Australia: Canberra

Austria: Vienna

Azerbaijan: Baku

The Bahamas: Nassau

Bahrain: Manama

Bangladesh: Dhaka

Barbados: Bridgetown

Belarus: Minsk

Belgium: Brussels

Belize: Belmopan

Benin: Porto-Novo

Bhutan: Thimphu

Bolivia: La Paz (administrative); Sucre (judicial)

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo

Botswana: Gaborone

Brazil: Brasilia

Brunei: Bandar Seri Begawan

Bulgaria: Sofia

Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou

Burundi: Bujumbura

Cambodia: Phnom Penh

Cameroon: Yaounde

Canada: Ottawa

Cape Verde: Praia

Central African Republic: Bangui

Chad: N'Djamena

Chile: Santiago

China: Beijing

Colombia: Bogota

Comoros: Moroni

Congo, Republic of the: Brazzaville

Congo, Democratic Republic of the: Kinshasa

Costa Rica: San Jose

Cote d'Ivoire: Yamoussoukro (official); Abidjan (de facto)

Croatia: Zagreb

Cuba: Havana

Cyprus: Nicosia

Czech Republic: Prague

Denmark: Copenhagen

Djibouti: Djibouti

Dominica: Roseau

Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo

East Timor (Timor-Leste): Dili

Ecuador: Quito

Egypt: Cairo

El Salvador: San Salvador

Equatorial Guinea: Malabo

Eritrea: Asmara

Estonia: Tallinn

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa

Fiji: Suva

Finland: Helsinki

France: Paris

Gabon: Libreville

The Gambia: Banjul

Georgia: Tbilisi

Germany: Berlin

Ghana: Accra

Greece: Athens

Grenada: Saint George's

Guatemala: Guatemala City

Guinea: Conakry

Guinea-Bissau: Bissau

Guyana: Georgetown

Haiti: Port-au-Prince

Honduras: Tegucigalpa

Hungary: Budapest

Iceland: Reykjavik

India: New Delhi

Indonesia: Jakarta

Iran: Tehran

Iraq: Baghdad

Ireland: Dublin

Israel: Jerusalem

Italy: Rome

Jamaica: Kingston

Japan: Tokyo

Jordan: Amman

Kazakhstan: Astana

Kenya: Nairobi

Kiribati: Tarawa Atoll

Korea, North: Pyongyang

Korea, South: Seoul

Kosovo: Pristina

Kuwait: Kuwait City

Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek

Laos: Vientiane

Latvia: Riga

Lebanon: Beirut

Lesotho: Maseru

Liberia: Monrovia

Libya: Tripoli

Liechtenstein: Vaduz

Lithuania: Vilnius

Luxembourg: Luxembourg

Macedonia: Skopje

Madagascar: Antananarivo

Malawi: Lilongwe

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

Maldives: Male

Mali: Bamako

Malta: Valletta

Marshall Islands: Majuro

Mauritania: Nouakchott

Mauritius: Port Louis

Mexico: Mexico City

Micronesia, Federated States of: Palikir

Moldova: Chisinau

Monaco: Monaco

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar

Montenegro: Podgorica

Morocco: Rabat

Mozambique: Maputo

Myanmar (Burma):Rangoon (Yangon); Naypyidaw or Nay Pyi Taw (administrative)

Namibia: Windhoek

Nauru: no official capital; government offices in Yaren District

Nepal: Kathmandu

Netherlands: Amsterdam; The Hague (seat of government)

New Zealand: Wellington

Nicaragua: Managua

Niger: Niamey

Nigeria: Abuja

Norway: Oslo

Oman: Muscat

Pakistan: Islamabad

Palau: Melekeok

Panama: Panama City

Papua New Guinea: Port Moresby

Paraguay: Asuncion

Peru: Lima

Philippines: Manila

Poland: Warsaw

Portugal: Lisbon

Qatar: Doha

Romania: Bucharest

Russia: Moscow

Rwanda: Kigali

Saint Kitts and Nevis: Basseterre

Saint Lucia: Castries

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Kingstown

Samoa: Apia

San Marino: San Marino

Sao Tome and Principe: Sao Tome

Saudi Arabia: Riyadh

Senegal: Dakar

Serbia: Belgrade

Seychelles: Victoria

Sierra Leone: Freetown

Singapore: Singapore

Slovakia: Bratislava

Slovenia: Ljubljana

Solomon Islands: Honiara

Somalia: Mogadishu

South Africa: Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judiciary)

Spain: Madrid

Sri Lanka: Colombo; Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative)

Sudan: Khartoum

Suriname: Paramaribo

Swaziland: Mbabane

Sweden: Stockholm

Switzerland: Bern

Syria: Damascus

Taiwan: Taipei

Tajikistan: Dushanbe

Tanzania: Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (legislative)

Thailand: Bangkok

Togo: Lome

Tonga: Nuku'alofa

Trinidad and Tobago: Port-of-Spain

Tunisia: Tunis

Turkey: Ankara

Turkmenistan: Ashgabat

Tuvalu: Vaiaku village, Funafuti province

Uganda: Kampala

Ukraine: Kyiv

United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi

United Kingdom: London

United States of America: Washington D.C.

Uruguay: Montevideo

Uzbekistan: Tashkent

Vanuatu: Port-Vila

Vatican City (Holy See): Vatican City

Venezuela: Caracas

Vietnam: Hanoi

Yemen: Sanaa

Zambia: Lusaka

Zimbabwe: Harare

Hello Friends,

Here we come with another useful General Knowledge update for competitive exams like Bank PO, SSC, Excise and Income Tax Inspector exams.

New and Old Seven Wonders of the World

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The greatest monuments of the ancient world were listed as Seven wonders of the World by Antipater of Sidon in 2nd century BC. He was a Greek author. Most of these structures are now in ruins except the 'Pyramids of Egypt', a portion of which has survived. The old list is:

1. The Pyramids of Egypt:

These are royal tombs built more than 4000 years ago for the Egyptian Pharaohs and house their mummified bodies surrounded by their treasures and personal belongings. They are about 70 in number and represent 1200 years of ancient Egyptian history that flourished around the lower Nile (near Cairo).

2. The Colossus of Rhodes It was a bronze statue of the Greek Sungod, Helios (Apollo) in the port city of Rhodes along the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. It was sculpted around 325 BC-292 BC by Charles of Lindus. It was destroyed during an earthquake in 224 BC.

3. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon They were built in the 6th century BC by Nebuchadnezzar II near the Euphrates river (south of modern Baghdad, Iraq). The gardens consisted of a series of terraces at about 23-91 m (75-300 feet) above the ground level and water was piped down from the reservoir at the top of the terraces.

4. The Mausoleum at Halicamassus Also known as the Tomb of Mausolus (the King of Caria in Asia Minor-325 BC) at Halicamassus on the eastern side of Aegean Sea in Turkey.

5. The Pharos of Alexandria It was world's first known lighthouse, built in 270 BC on the island of Pharos at the entrance of the port of Alexandria (chief port of Egypt on the Nile Delta). It was destroyed by an earthquake in the 13 th century.

6- The Statue of Zeus (Jupiter) at Olympia It was located in the valley of Olympia, in the southern peninsula of Greece and was made of wood; sometime in 5th century BC

7 The Temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus (Rome) It was situated in Asia Minor at Ephesus, an ancient but now vanished city, built some time in 5th century BC. It was destroyed by invades hordes in 262 A.D.

New Seven Wonder

Wonder	Location
Taj Mahal	Agra, India
Chichen Itza	Yucatán, Mexico
Christ the Redeemer	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Colosseum	Rome, Italy
Great Wall of China	China
Machu Picchu	Cuzco, Perú
Petra	Jordan

Here is another GK Update from GJ Tutorial. This information is useful for General Knowledge section of various entrance examinations and recruitment exams.

This is very general information meant specifically for people who have not studied science as a subject after class 10 (So you forgot all this!! Right!!). This is meant to be a refresher and we believe you do not need to read more for this as far as GK is concerned.

So Lets Recall what we learnt when we were young!!

Part 1: Space

Universe:

Everything that exists.

All of space and time taken together.

Milky Way:

Our Solar System is a part of galaxy called "Milky Way". The nearest galaxy is "Andromeda Nebula".

Solar System:

The Sun and the collection of celestial bodies that orbit it. These include the nine planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) and their 60 moons, the asteroid belt, the comets and other heavenly bodies. (Diameter: 1170 Crore Km Approx).

The solar system's nearest neighbor in the galaxy is the triple star system Alpha and Proxima Centauri, which is 4.3 light-years away from the sun.

Origin:

The planets were formed out of the gas clouds surrounding the newly born Sun (a Star). This gave birth to the Solar System.

Age of Solar System:

About 4600 million years.

Sun:

1.       Sun is an average sized Star (A Dwarf Star).

2.       Forms 99% of the mass of Solar System.

3.       Surface Temperature: 5,800 kelvins (K)

4.       Core Temperature: 15,000,000 K

5.       Provides us heat and light, generated by a nuclear reaction.

6.       Photosphere: Glowing Surface of Sun.

7.       Chromospheres: The inner reddish region.

8.       Corona: The outermost layer of sun, visible during eclipse.

Planets:

The bodies revolving around the sun (at the same time rotating on their own imaginary axis).

Nine Planets are:

1.       Mercury

2.       Venus (Rotates clockwise)

3.       Earth

4.       Mars

5.       Jupiter

6.       Saturn

7.       Uranus (Rotates clockwise)

8.       Neptune

9.       Pluto (Not considered a planet any more)

Note: Pluto had been considered a planet from the time of its discovery in 1930 until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (the organization that classifies astronomical objects) created the dwarf planet category.

How to Remember All The Planets in Order:

use the phrase "My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets" where the first letter of each word reminds us of a planet starting from Mercury to Pluto.

Types of Planets:

1.       Inferior planets: Mercury and Venus, whose orbits lie between the sun and Earth

2.       Superior Planets: The planets whose orbits lie beyond Earth's orbit are the superior planets

OR: based on similarity of structure.

1.       Inner Planets: (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)

2.       Outer Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). Also called Jovian (Jupiter Like) Planets.

Satellites (Moons)

They revolve around planets.

1.       Earth has only one moon.

2.       Mars has two moons

3.       Jupiter and Saturn have more than 50 known moons each

4.       Uranus has more than 25

5.       Neptune has more than 10.

6.       Saturn's moon Titan is Largest Satellite (larger than mercury).

7.       Rings: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have planetary rings made up of innumerable tiny satellites.

Asteroids: They are many smaller bodies that circle the sun in orbits that lie in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres is the largest asteroid.

Meteoroids, Meteors (Shooting Star), Meteorites

Small chunks of stony or metallic matter from outer space that enter the Earth's atmosphere and vaporize.

1.       Before they encounter Earth's atmosphere these are called meteoroids.

2.       Once they enter the atmosphere, they are called meteors.

3.       Most meteors are so tiny that they vaporize completely soon after entering the atmosphere. The large meteors that survive the fall to Earth are called meteorites.

The poll for "What would you like to read" has suddenly shifted to "General Knowledge". Respecting your opinion, today we have useful general knowledge update for Indian Economy. This information is very useful for upcoming Bank PO (SBI and BoB), SSC Section Officer (Audit) Exams. Hope you enjoy reading this.

INDIAN ECONOMY

A policy of mixed economy is followed in the country. In a mixed economy, the public sector enterprises (government-owned) exist alongside the private sector to achieve a socialist pattern of society in a welfare state.

PLANNING IN INDIA

Planning Commission (Estb. 1950)

In March 1950, Government of India constituted a statutory body with the Prime Minister of India as its Chairman-called the Planning Commission. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Chairman of the Planning Commission.

National Planning Council (Estb. 1965)

It is an advisory body attached to the Planning Commission and was established in 1965. It includes experts representing a cross-section of the Indian economy.

National Development Council (Estb. 1951)

Chief Ministers of the states, together with the members of the Planning Commission, constitute the National Development Council. The Prime Minister of India presides over the Council.

Five Year Plans

The development plans are drawn by the Planning Commission to establish India's economy on a socialistic pattern in successive phases of five year Periods-called the Five Year Plans. The organisation was set up to formulate basic economic policies, draft plans and watch its progress and implementation. It consists of:

(I) Planning Commission of India

(ii) National Planning Council

(iii) National Development Council and State Planning Commissions

DETAILS OF THE FIVE YEAR PLANS

FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN (1951-56)

In July 1951, the Planning Commission issued the draft outline of the First Five Year Plan for the period April 1951 to March 1956. It was presented to the Parliament in December 1952. In the First Plan, agriculture received the main thrust, for sustaining of growth and development of industries which would not be possible without a significant rise in the yield of raw materials and food.

Objectives:

i) To increase food production.

ii) To fully utilise available raw materials.

iii) To check inflationary pressure.

Outlay: The total proposed outlay was Rs. 3,870 crore.

SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN (1956-61)

The main objective was to launch upon industrialisation and strengthen the industrial base of the economy. It was in this light that the 1948 Industrial Policy Resolution was revised and a new resolution of 1956 was adopted. The Second Plan started with an emphasis on the expansion of the public sector and aimed at the establishment of a socialistic pattern of society.

Objectives:

i) A sizeable increase in national income so as to raise the level of living.

ii) Rapid industrialisation of the country with particular emphasis on the development of basic and key industries.

Outlay: The Second Plan proposed a total public sector outlay of Rs. 4,800 crores though actual outlay was only Rs. 4,672 crore.

THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN (1961-66)

In the third Plan, the emphasis was on long-term development. The Third Plan report stated that during the five-year period concerned, the Indian economy "must not only expand rapidly but, at the same time, become self-reliant and self-generating."

Objectives:

i) An increase in national income of more than 5 per cent annually. The investment pattern laid down must be capable of sustaining this growth rate in the subsequent years.

ii) An increase in the agricultural produce and to achieve self sufficiency by increasing food grain production.

iii) Greater equality of opportunities, more even distribution of economic power and reducing wealth and income disparities.

FOURTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1969-74)

After the ‘Plan Holiday', the Fourth Plan was begun in 1969.

Objectives:

i) To achieve stability and progress towards self-reliance.

ii) To achieve an overall rate of growth of 5.7 per cent annually.

iii) To raise exports at the rate of 7 per cent annually.

Outlay: The total proposed outlay was Rs. 24,880 crore, which included Rs. 15,900 crores as public sector outlay and Rs. 8,980 crore as private sector outlay.

FIFTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1974-79)

The Plan was formulated against the background of sever inflationary pressure.

Objectives: In addition to removal of poverty and attainment of self-reliance, the Fifth Plan had the following major objectives.

i) 5.5 per cent overall rate of growth in Gross Domestic objectives.

ii) Expansion of productive employment and fuller utilisation of existing skills and equipment.

iii) A national programme for minimum needs and extended programmes of social welfare.

Outlay: A total outlay of Rs. 53,410 crore was proposed for the Fifth Plan.

SIXTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1980-85)

The draft of the Sixth Five Year Plan (1978-1983) was presented in 1978. However, the plan was terminated with the change of Government in January 1980. The new Sixth Five Year Plan was implemented in April 1980.

Objectives:

i) To eliminate unemployment and underemployment.

ii) To raise the standard of living of the poorest of masses.

iii) To reduce disparities in income and wealth.

Outlay: The proposed outlay for the Sixth Plan totalled Rs.
1, 58, 710 crore.

SEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1985-90)

The draft of the Seventh Plan was approved on November 9, 1985 by the National Development Council. The plan was part of the long-term plan for the period of 15 years.

Objectives:

i) Decentralisation of planning and full public participation in development.

ii) The maximum possible generation of productive employment.

iii) Removal of poverty and reduction in income disparities.

EIGHTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1992-97)

The Eighth Plan proposed a growth rate of 5.6 per cent per annum on an average during the plan period. The Eighth Plan focused on (i) clear prioritisation of sectors/projects for investment in order to facilitate implementation of the policy initiatives taken in the areas of fiscal, trade and industrial sectors and human development.

Objectives:

i) Generation of adequate employment of achieve near full employment level by the turn of the century.

ii) Containment of population growth through people's active co-operation and an effective scheme of incentives and disincentives.

iii) Universalisation of elementary education and complete eradication of illiteracy among the people in the age group of 15 to 35 years.

THE NINTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1997-2002)

It began on April 1, 1997. The Ninth Plan was the first concrete attempt to translate the programme of economic reforms and the New Economic Policy within the framework of an indicative Plan. The Approach Paper to the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) was approved by the N.D.C. on 16th January, 1997.

Objectives:

i.) Priority to agriculture and rural development

ii.) Accelerating growth rate of economy

iii.) Food and nutritional security for all

iv.) Containing growth rate of population

v.) Empowerment of women and socially disadvantaged groups such as SC/ST, backward classes and minorities.

vi.) Promoting and developing participatory institutions like "Panchayati Raj" institutions, co-operatives and self-help groups.

TENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (2002-07)

On December 21, 2002, the Tenth Five Year Plan was approved by the National Development Council (NDC). The Plan has further developed the NDC mandated objectives, of doubling per capita income in 10 years, and achieving a growth rate of 8% of GDP per annum. An 8% growth rate is considered necessary for achieving the social and economic targets of Tenth Plan Keeping in mind decadal growth performance and the steady acceleration that the country has recorded in growth over the past two decades, it is a realisable target. The plan has a number of new features, such as, for the first time

(a) It recognises the rapid growth of labour force over the next decade

(b) Addresses the issue of poverty and the unacceptably low levels of social indicators

(c) Adopted a "differential development strategy" to equate national targets into balanced regional development as there is vast difference in the potentials and constraints of each state

(d) Recognises that the governance is perhaps one of the most important factors for ensuring realisation of the Plan

(e) Identifies measures to improve efficiency, unleash entrepreneurial energy, and promote rapid and sustainable growth

(f) Proposes major reforms for agricultural sector making 'agriculture' the core element of the Plan.

Since economic growth is not the only objective, the Plan aims at harnessing the benefits of growth to improve the quality of life of the people by setting the following key targets:

1. All children to be in school by 2003 and all children to complete five years of schooling by 2007

2. Reduction in poverty ratio from 26% to 21%

3. Growth in gainful employment to, at least, keep pace with addition to the labour force

4. Decadal population growth to reduce from 21.3% in 1991-2001 to 16.2% by 2001-11

5. Reducing gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by 50%

6. Literacy rate to increase from 65% in 1999-2000 to 75% in 2001

7. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to be reduced from 72 in 1999-2000, to 45 in 2007

8. .Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to be reduced from 4 per 1000 in 1999-2000 to 2 per 1000 in 2007

9. Providing portable drinking water in all villages

10. Cleaning of major polluted river stretches

11. Increase in forest/tree cover from 19% in 1999-2000 to 25% in 2007

ELEVENTH PLAN (2007-2012)

The United Progressive Alliance government issued a paper in the eleventh plan titled "Towards faster and more inclusive growth." According to the approach paper, the monitorable targets of five-year plan are:

1. GDP growth rate to be increased to 10% by the end of the plan;

2. Farm sector growth to be increased to 4%;

3. Creation of seven crore job opportunities;

4. Reduce educated unemployed youth to below 5 percent

5. Infant mortality rates to be reduced to 28 per 1000 births;

6. Maternal death rates to be reduced to 1 per 1000 births;

7. Clean drinking water to all by 2009;

8. Improve sex ratio to 935 by 2011-12 and to 950 by 2016-17;

9. Ensure electricity connection to all villages and broadband over power lines (BPL) households by 2009

10. Roads to all villages that have a population of 1000 and above by 2009;

11. Increase forest and tree cover by 5%;

12. Achieve the World Health Organization standard air quality in major cities by 2011-12;

13. Treat all urban wastewater by 2011-12 to clean river waters;

14. Increase energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2016-17

Hello friends,

We are back with another GK update for you. This time we are posting information about India. This information is very important for all major entrance and recruitment examinations. If you are preparing for Bank Probationary Officer (PO), B. Ed., SSC and any other graduation level exam, this forms the very basic of what you need to learn and practice.

1. Area

3280463 Sq. KM

2. Geographical location

Latitudes: 8° 4' to 37° 6 ' north

Longitudes: 68° 7 ' to 97° 25' east.

3. Indian Standard Time

GMT + 05:30 (Standard for Allahabad, 82.5° East)

4. Border Countries:

Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west

China, Bhutan and Nepal to the north;

Myanmar to the east;

Bangladesh to the east of West Bengal.

Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea, formed by Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar

5. Coastline

7,516.6 km including the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

6. Capital

New Delhi

7. National Flag

The National Flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle, and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. At the centre of the white band is a navy blue wheel, which is a representation of the Ashoka Chakra at Sarnath.

8. National Emblem

Replica of the Ashoka's Pillar at Sarnath, UP

9. National Anthem

Jana Gana Mana, written by Rabindra Nath Tagore in 1911

10. National Song

Vande Maatram, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, taken from Novel "Ananda Math" published in 1882

11. National Bird

Peacock

12. National Game

Hockey

13. National Animal

Tiger

14. National Flower

Lotus

15. National Calendar

Saka, Introduced on March 22, 1957

16. National Days

26^th January (Republic Day)

15^th August (Independence Day)

2^nd October (Gandhi Jayanti; Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi)

30^th January (Martyrs' Day)

5^th September (Teachers' Day, Birthday of Dr. S. Radha Krishnan)

14^th November (Children's Day, Birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru)

17. Type of Government

Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic with a Parliamentary system of Government

18. Legislature (Bicameral)

Lok Sabha (House of the People)

Rajya Sabha (Council of States)

19. States

28

20. Union Territories

7

21. Largest State in Population

Uttar Pradesh

22. State with Highest Density of Population

West Bengal (904)

23. Life expectancy

63.9 years (Males); 66.9 years (Females) (As of Sep 2005)

24. Largest state in area

Rajasthan

25. Largest desert in

Rajasthan

26. State with Lowest Density of Population

Sikkim

27. State with the Minimum Area

Goa

28. First state to achieve nearly 100% rural electrification

Haryana

29. Population 2001 Census

1,027 millions

30. Population Growth Rate

1.93 per cent during 1991-2001.

31. Rank in population

Second

32. Major Export of India

Tea

33. Major Bank

Reserve Bank of India

34. Highest per capita income

Punjab (Among States), Chandigarh (Overall)

35. Lowest per capita income

Bihar

36. Membership of U.N.O

1945

37. First General Elections

1951-52

38. First Five Year Plan

1951

39. Financial Capital

Mumbai

40. Languages

22 Languages recognized by constitution. Hindi is the Official Union Language.

41. Literacy rate

64.84 % (75.26% for males and 53.67% for female)

42. Coldest place

Dras Sector

43. First Indian Lady in the Space

Kalpana Chawla

44. First Indian Man in the Space

Rakesh Sharma

45. Sex ratio (Male: Female)

1000:933 (2001 Census)

46. Formation of INC (Indian National Congress)

1885

47. Hindi became National Language

1953

48. Muslim League formed in

1906

49. Wettest Place

Mawsynram, Meghalaya

50. Wettest state

Meghalaya

51. Biggest District

Bastar (M. P.)

52. Rural Population

About 72%

53. Largest Desert

Thar (Rajasthan)

Hope you all liked this post. If you have any other useful information please leave a comment. You may rate this article, which helps us understand what you like to see on the website.

Are you preparing for a competitive exam like Bank Probationary Officer (PO) Recruitment, Bank Clerical, NDA, CDS, B. Ed., ETT etc. Here is a series of updates that we release every week just for you.

Happy Learning!!

G-8 Environment Ministers Meeting:
Held in Kobe, Japan May 24-26, 2008.
What is G-8?
Aim: Debt Relief to 36 poorest countries of the World.

Members: US, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada and Russia

NOTE: Formerly G7 (excluding Russia)

G-8 Summit

Held between July 7 and 9, 2008. The agenda was to control Climate Change, controlling price hike for food and petroleum. North Korea's Atomic Programme.

Agni - III Test Fired Successfully:

Type: Intermediate Ballistic Missile

On: May 07, 2008

Range: 3500 KM

Tested At: Wheeler Island (off the Orissa Coast)

NOTE:

Agni-I was short range ballistic missile. Range: 700- 800 KM

Agni-II was medium range ballistic missile. Range: 2,500 KM

Agni - V will be an ICBM (InterContinental Ballistic Missile). ICBM is a land-based or mobile rocket-propelled missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to a range greater than 5,500 KM

Prithvi - II Test Fired Successfully:

Type: Surface to Surface

On: May 23, 2008

Range: 350 KM

Tested At: Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Balasore

Hatf - VIII Test Fired (Pakistan)

Type: Surface to Surface

Range: 350 KM

India Ranked 120^th in Doing Business by World Bank's Report

Total Countries Ranked: 178

Pakistan:           76

Sri Lanka:         101

Bangladesh       : 107

Nepal               : 111

Bhutan             : 119

Indonesia to Withdraw from OPEC

• Against the decision for a price hike in petroleum.
• Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
• Headquarters: Vienna, Austria.
• An international oil cartel originally formed in 1960.
• Indonesia is the only SE Asian member of OPEC.
• Other 12 members are: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Qatar, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador and Gabon.

India's first Marine Conservation Reserve:

Will be located in Agatti Atoll in Lakshadweep.

Books:

Animal's People by Mr. Indra Sinha

Adjudged Best Book of the year by the Commonwealth Foundation for the year 2008

Midnights Children by Mr. Salman Rushdie

It has been awarded "Best of Booker" prize in 2008. It was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981.

People in News:

Ms. Tessy Thomas:

She became the first woman Scientist to lead the Agni Missile Project.

Mr. Min Bahadur:

He became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest at the age of 75.

Mr. B. S. Yedddyurappa

He became the 19^th Chief Minister of Karnataka.