November Current Affairs 2009 - Part 2

Ø  Chandrayaan-II moon mission, which will help in analysis of mineral composition and undertake terrain mapping of the moon, will be completed by 2012-13.

Ø  India may be the world's second fastest growing economy, but when it comes to man-woman equality the country figures at the bottom of the table ranked 114th among 134 countries complied by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Ø  The Centre is targetting to add one lakh mega watt power generation capacity under the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) to meet the growing demand of electricity in India.

Ø  India and the 27-nation European Union (EU) have signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of Fusion Energy Research and agreed over the free trade treaty by next year (2010) to boost trade and investment.

Ø  India has pledged a developmental assistance of USD 1.3 billion to Afghanistan to fight against terror which is not limited to military campaign and also for social, economic and developmental activities.

Ø  Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and women's boxing world champion MC Mary Kom, received the Sahara Indian Sports Award 2008-09.

Ø  India has approved further assistance of shelter material worth over USD 2.6 million besides augmenting its demining teams for speedy resettlement of over 2.8 lakh internally displaced Tamil civilians in Wanni in northern Sri Lanka.

Ø  Spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama inaugurated Kahndo-Dowa Songma Tawang district hospital  and donated Rs 20 lakh for its building when he visited Arunachal Pradesh recently.

Ø  India will open their 2011 cricket World Cup campaign against Bangladesh in Dhaka on February 19 and the country (Bangladesh) will host its first match.

Ø  India's 1983 World Cup hero, former all-rounder Mohinder Amaranth honoured with the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2008-09 by the BCCI.

Ø  Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi was today re-elected unopposed as the president of Asian Athletic Association (AAA) in Guangzhou, China, to serve his third consecutive term at the office.

Ø  Nepal and India have decided to boost their cooperation in the energy sector as they agreed to complete a key cross-border transmission line by May 2012.

Ø  The Centre has assured Rs 60 crore to set up a Software Technology Park on the premises of a Special Economic Zone in puducherry.

Ø  President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Rajiv Shah to head US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Ø  In a major move to boost its air warfare capability, Pakistan is to purchase 36 J-10 fighter aircraft from China in a deal worth more than USD 1.4 billion.

Note : Go for November Current Affairs Part -1.

Awards 2009

The Government has announced the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards, Arjuna Awards, Dhyan Chand Awards, Dronacharya Awards and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for the year 2009, in New Delhi. The selection panel for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar was headed by Kum. Indu Puri while the panel for Dronacharya Award was headed by Shri G.S. Randhawa.

Normally, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given to only one sportsperson in a year. Arjuna Award is given to not more than 15, Dhyan Chand Award to not more than 3 and Dronacharya Award to not more than 5 persons. However, taking into consideration the spectacular performance of Shri Vijender in Boxing and Shri Sushil Kumar in Wrestling, both Bronze Medalists in Beijing Olympics, 2008, the Government has accepted the recommendation of the Selection Committee to confer the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on both of them, as a special case, in addition to Smt. M.C. Marykom.

With a view to recognizing the contribution made to sports development by entities other than sportspersons and coaches, Government has instituted this year, a new award entitled Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, which has four categories, namely, community sports development, promotion of sports academies of excellence, support to elite sportspersons and employment to sportspersons.

A. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award - 2009 :

1.	Smt. Mangte Chungneijang Marykom	Boxing (Women)
2.	Shri Vijender	Boxing
3.	Shri Sushil Kumar	Wrestling

B. Arjuna Awards – 2009:

1.	Shri Mangal Singh Champia	Archery
2.	Kum. Sinimole Paulose	Athletics
3.	Kum. Saina Nehwal	Badminton
4.	Smt. Laishram Sarita Devi	Boxing
5.	Kum. Tania Sachdev	Chess
6.	Shri Gautam Gambhir	Cricket
7.	Shri Ignace Tirkey	Hockey (Men)
8.	Kum. Surinder Kaur	Hockey (Women)
9.	Shri Pankaj Navanath Shirsat	Kabaddi
10.	Shri Satish Joshi	Rowing
11.	Shri Ronjan Sodhi	Shooting
12.	Kum. Poulomi Ghatak	Table Tennis
13.	Shri Yogeshwar Dutt	Wrestling
14.	Shri Girdhari Lal Yadav	Yachting
15.	Kum. Parul D. Parmar	Badminton (Disabled)

C. Dhyan Chand Awards – 2009 :

1.	Shri Ishar Singh Deol	Athletics
2.	Shri Satbir Singh Dahya	Wrestling

D. Dronacharya Awards – 2009 :

1.	Shri Pullela Gopichand	Badminton
2.	Shri Jaydev Bisht	Boxing
3.	Shri S. Baldev Singh	Hockey
4.	Shri Satpal	Wrestling

E. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, 2009 :

S. No.	Category	Entity recommended for Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, 2009
1.	Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent	TATA Steel Ltd.
2.	Financial Support for Sports Excellence	None qualified
3.	Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence	TATA Steel Ltd.
4.	Employment of Sportspersons and sports welfare measures	Railways Sports Promotion Board

National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for spectacular performance in the year under consideration; Arjuna Award is given for consistently outstanding performance for three consecutive years preceding the year of award; Dhyan Chand Award for life time contribution to sports development; and Dronacharya Award for producing medal winners at prestigious international sports events in the past three years.

Apart from a medal and a citation, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardees will receive a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh each. Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya Awardees will receive statuettes, citations and cash prize of Rs.5 lakh each. The recipients of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar will receive trophy and citation.