February Current Affairs II - 2010

·         India has offered foodgrains and a soft loan of USD 250 million to Nepal when Ram Baran Yadav visited India, and the two countries signed four pacts, including one on opening up air traffic and another on building of railway infrastructure at five border points.

·         Documentary filmmaker M V Krishnawamy has been selected for V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award.(Go for Part1)

·         India has retained its position as world's largest gold consumer overtaking China, the World Gold Council (WGC) has said.

·         Bharti Airtel said it has offered USD 10.7 billion (nearly Rs 50,000 crore) to buy Kuwait-based Zain telecom's mobile operations in Africa, in a deal that would catapult India's largest private telecom firm in the league of world's top 10 operators.

·         Delhi will host the next South Asian Games in 2012.

·         UK court allows Hindu-style funeral pyres. In a landmark judgement, Davender Ghai, an Indian-origin social and religious leader won his bid for the right to be cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre according to Hindu rituals.

·         Shane Watson beat Michael Clarke by a comfortable 15-vote margin to bag the Allan Border Medal besides being named Australia's ODI Player of the Year.

·         India plans to progressively base six surface-to-air Akash missile squadrons in the North-East to counter the threat posed by Chinese fighters, helicopters and drones in the region. 

·         Taiwan has eased its laws to allow visa-free entry to those Indians who hold valid visas of several countries including the US, the UK and Schengen states.

·         Noted litterateur C Raghavan, credited with bringing out the first authentic book on Tulu language passed away.

·         India and Maldives agreed to step up cooperation to meet the twin challenges of terrorism and radicalization.

·         France has agreed to sell Russia the 23,000-tonne Mistral class warship. It would be the first arms deal of its kind between Russia and a NATO member.

·         In most parts of the world, including India, women are way behind men in ownership of farm land, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The FAO report says out of the total 119 lakh farm land holders in the country, only 9.21 per cent are women.

·         The Hyderabad international airport has been named amongst the world's top five in the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passenger. The survey, conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), an autonomous body representing world airports. The top five awards in the worldwide category go to Seoul Incheon International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport respectively.

·         External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has been awarded with this year's Global Alumini Award by his alma mater Southern Methodist University of the United States for his distinguished career and accomplishments.

·         Parambikkulam wildlife sanctuary in central Kerala declared the country's 38th Tiger reserve as part of efforts to protect the big cat.

·         Against the backdrop of the two-month long agitation by teachers demanding payment of arrears, the Uttar Pradesh government announced a six-month long ban on strikes in all 12 state universities and 460 government-aided degree colleges in the state.

·         China tops among the leading countries emitting green house gas. China, which contributes 19.5 per cent of green house gas emission, is followed by the US (19.2 per cent), India (5.3 per cent), Russia (5.1 per cent), Japan (3.6 per cent) and Germany (2.6 per cent).

·         India has topped the list of export markets for Dubai for the second consecutive year with a share of 40.6 per cent at 21.3 billion dirhams (Rs 268.348 billion).

·         The Asian Development Bank will be providing up to USD 300 million to help India to develop and expand its micro, small and medium enterprises.