March Current Affairs - 2010

·        India's economic growth slipped to 6 per cent in the third quarter of this fiscal compared to 7.9 per cent in the previous quarter, mainly due to contraction in farm output and certain services.

·        P J Nayak, former chairman and CEO of Axis Bank, is the Business Standard Banker of the Year for 2009.

·        The ancient site of Bhima Devi Temple located in the Yadavindra Gardens in Pinjore near here has been chosen by the Union Ministry of Tourism for the Best Maintained Tourist Friendly Monument award.

·        Telecom giant BSNL has lost its place in the coveted list of top 10 profit-making central PSUs which is topped once again by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Power producer NTPC moved up to the second place, pushing down steel counterpart SAIL to third slot, according to the Department of Public Enterprises Survey for 2008-09. Mineral major NMDC is fourth in the list, while Coal India is ranked 5th.

·        Microsoft has been voted the leading business-facing brand in the world, knocking competitor Google from the number one spot. Google has dropped to number five in the annual Business Superbrands Top 500 survey, compiled by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA), with Rolls-Royce retaining its position in second place, while Sony and Virgin Atlantic have been voted into third and fourth place, respectively.

·        Chhattisgarh government has decided to install mobile phone jammers in seven jails in the state to ensure that the inmates do not communicate with their accomplices outside.

·        Sangh Parivar veteran and former Rajya Sabha member Nanaji Deshmukh passed away.

·        BSNL launched the country’s first mobile broadband fourth generation Internet access network - Mobile WiMAX in Kerala.

·        Noted Kannada poet and writer Jayant Kaikini will be awarded by the first Kusumagraj National Literary award.

·        Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard was nominated by Australia and New Zealand Cricket board to take over as ICC President.

·        Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to appoint former captain Waqar Younis as the new coach of the national team.

·        The International Monetary Fund has approved a USD 3.6 billion loan to Iraq to help the war-torn country meet pressing financial needs.

·        Obama has appointed eminent Indian American attorney, Amy K Singh, as President's Advisory Committee on the Arts for the prestigious John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

·        Dubai's government has ordered its departments to cut spending by 15 per cent to save 3.7 billion dirham’s (about Rs 4,602 crore), with the aim of reducing the emirate's deficit.

·        National Tourism Awards 2008-09: Rajasthan received the award for best tourism related programmes, Andhra Pradesh was chosen for best tourism infrastructure and Sikkim for best state from the North East for tourism related programmes.

·        Government has asked the United Nations to pay approximately USD 62.92 million as reimbursement in connection with India's participation in UN peacekeeping operations.

·        Olympian and famous national hockey player Syed Mushtaque Ali alias Farzan Chacha has passed away.

·        Afghanistan launches poppy eradication programme. Afghanistan, source of 90 per cent of the world's heroin, announced plans to wipe out opium poppies across most of the country.

New Chairman,CEO,etc and Their Positions

1.      H S Brahma takes charge as power Secretary (Secretary in the Ministry Of Power).

2.      Ashok Chawla as the new finance secretary in the ministry of finance succeeded Arun Ramanthan.

3.      New TRAI chairman J S Sharma (TDSAT member) Succeed Nipendra Mishra.

4.      D P Agarwal is the Chairman of UPSC.

5.      Pulock Chatterji was appointed as the new executive director of world Bank.

6.      Ashok Chawla was appointed as India's Alternative governor on the world Bank Board.

7.      Justice Ashok Bhan was appointed as the new chairman of NCDRC.

8.      Venu Srinivasan is the new president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2009-10.

9.      Sharat Sabharmal is the India's new high commissioner to Pakistan.

10. Madhu Kannan is new CEO of bSE.

11. Traditionally, RBI has Four Deputy Governors of different Departments.

12. i)Punjab National Bank chairman & managing Director Kamlesh Chandra Chakrabarty is set to take over as deputy Governor of RBI in place of V Leeladhar.

13. ii)RBI Deputy Governor: Smt.Shyamala Gopinath.

14. iii)RBI Deputy Governor: Usha Thorat

15. iv)RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan is set to leave the central bank this month (June) to take up an assignment at Stand ford University.

16. Arvind Jhadav is the new chairman and managing director of national aviation Company Of India Limited(NACIL) that Operates Air India.

17. Chairman of SEBI C.B. Bhave.

18. Chairman of Planning Commission is Prime Minister.

19. Deputy Chairman of planning Commission is Montek.Singh.Ahluwalia.

20. President of NASSCOM is Som Mittal.

21. Chairman of NASSCOM is Pramod Bhasin.

22. Vice Chairman of NASSCOM is Harsh Manglik.

23. Secretary General of NATO is Jaap de Hoop Schaffer.

24. Radha Vinod Raja as appointed as the First Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA).

25. Sudhir Garg has assumed the charge as the chief general manager of SBH.

26. Suresh Kalmadi is president of Indian Olympic Association.

27. Dhanendra Kumar is the newly appointed chairman of Competition Commission of India.

28. 42nd Asian Development bank(President Harihuko kuroda) Summit held at bali,Indonesia.

29. Chairman and Managing Director Of SIDBI(Small Industries Development Bank Of India) is R M Malla.

30. Aravind Jhadav is the Chief and Managing Director(CMD) of Air India.

31. Chairman for Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister is Suresh D Tendulkar .

32. National Security Adviser for India is M K Marayan.

33. Foreign Secretary for India Nirupama Rao.

34. Nirupama Rao(India's ambassador of china) to be next Foreign Secretary to Succeed Shiv Shankar Menon who retires on July 31 2009.

35. India's new Ambassador to US is Meera Shankar.

36. Timothy Roemer is the new US envoy to India replacing David Mulford.

37. Recently President Barack Obama has nominated Vinay Thummalapally of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the next US Ambassador to Belize.

38. N Chandrasekhar to be new CEO of TCS.

39. Air Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff has been appointed as the chief of the Indian Air Force. The present IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major retires from service on May 31, 2009.

40. Chief of Army Staff:: General Deepak Kapoor.

41. Chief of Naval Staff::Admiral Sureesh Mehta.(Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, will be the country's next Chief of Naval Staff with an affect from September 1st.)

42. Barbora is new IAF vice-chief.

43. Hardeep Singh Puri has been appointed as India's permanent representative to the United Nations.

44. Chief Of Central Information Commission(CIC) is Wajahat habibullah.

45. President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Charles Bolden as NASA Administrator.

46. K.P. Raghuvanshi is Maharashtra ATS chief.

47. John Bercow of the Britain's main opposition Conservative party has been elected as the new Speaker.

48. C P Gurnani is CEO of Mahindra Satyam and Durga Shankar the new CFO.

49. Goolam E Vahanvati is the new Attorney General of India.

50. Ashok Jha has appointed MCX-SX as Non-Executive Chief.

51. West Bengal Power Secretary Sunil Mitra will be the new disinvestment secretary.

52. The 35-member IAEA Board of Governors selected Ambassador Yukiya Amano of Japan as new IAEA Director General from November 2009 replacing Mohamed ElBaradei.

53. Nandita Das is new Chairperson of Children's Film Society.