Current Affairs 1 - 2009

·        Gujarat government banned the book “Jinnah:India-Partition” written by Jaswant Singh.

·        India's High Commissioner to Pakistan: Sharat Sabharwal.

·        China has become the world's largest exporter surpassing Germany.

·        The England and Wales Cricket Board scrapped the 50-over format from its domestic cricket calendar      for the 2010 season, claiming that the ICC will review the future of ODIs after the 2011 World Cup.

·        Government has approved a proposal to increase reservation for Women in panchayats from 33% to 50 %.

·        The union Cabinet approved setting up of seven new Indian Institutes of Management in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan besides allocating Rs 1,057 crore (Rs 10.57 billion) for their establishment. Currently, there are seven IIMs in the country at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and Shillong.

·        Nepalese cabinet approves General Chhatra Man Gurung as new Army chief.

·        Banker of the year 2009: Aditya Puri (MD & CEO of HDFC conducted by Business Standard.

·        Wipro has won a $100 million worth outsourcing contract from Australia's beer and wine giant Foster's Group.

·        The first Regional Rural Bank of the country was established on 2nd October, 1975: Prathama Bank.

·        Wednesday, not Monday is worst day of the week, according to the research done by two American Mathematicians Christopher Danforth and Peter Dodds.

·        The government decided to infuse Rs 5,000 crore equity into the cash-strapped airline over the next three years, subject to AI improving performance and cutting costs aggressively, to prevent it from shutting down.

·        The Space Shuttle ‘Discovery’ launches on a mission to the International Space Station, marking the 25th anniversary of its first flight.

·        South Korea launches Naro-1, its first carrier rocket, but fails to place the STSAT-2A satellite in the planned orbit.

·        Ten months after it was launched, India's maiden moon mission the ambitious Chandrayaan-1 came to an abrupt end on Saturday (29-08-09) after ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft, cutting short the dream odyssey that was expected to last two years.

·        U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving Kennedy brother, dies at age 77, after      battling brain cancer.

·        U.S. President Barack Obama nominates Ben Bernanke for his second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

·        The United States budget deficit for 2009 will reach $1.6 trillion, the highest ever recorded.

·        At the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Jamaica'sUsain Bolt sets new world records of 9.58 seconds for the 100 m sprint and 19.19 seconds for the 200 m sprint.