Current Affairs : January 21, 2012

40^th Manipur Day celebrated

• Manipur was a princely state under the suzerenity of British India and existed as such until 1947 as Kanglapak Kingdom.
• The Kanglapak King wilfully acceded to the newly independent Union of India.
• In 1956, Manipur was made a union territory and it became a full-fledged state in 1972 with Muhammad Alimuddin becoming the first state Chief Minister.
• On 21 January 2012, Manipur its 40th statehood day.
• The ceremony was held at the Secretariat in capital Imphal attended by Chief Minister, O Ibobi Singh and officials of the state government.

40^th Meghalaya Day Observed: 21st January

• Meghalaya , the "Abode of Clouds" was formed by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: the United Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills, and the Garo Hills on 21 January 1972. Prior to attaining full statehood, Meghalaya was given a semi-autonomous status in 1970.
• The state government celebrates this day as Meghalaya Day.
• On 21 January 2012, Meghalaya has completed 40 years of its existence as a state in the Union of India.
• Meghalaya Day Excellence Awards 2012 was awarded in the ceremony and an Information booklet - A compendium of Government Schemes, a Literature on Tourism Schemes and the launching of e-services of Taxation Department, was launched.

Ms Bhu Devi receives first RIC Smart Card of India

• Union Home Minister P Chidambaram issues the first set of Resident Identity (Smart) Card at Porthrapur village of South Andaman.
• India s first RIC Smart Card was handed over to Ms Bhu Devi, a resident of Porthrapur village.

Pandit Jasraj sings in Antarctica

• Noted classical singer Pandit Jasraj, who is 82, gave a performance at the South Pole, becoming the first Indian to do so.
• An exponent of Mewati gharana, Pandit Jasraj is probably the most popular classical singer in India after Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who passed away in January last year.
• Apart from numerous other awards he was awarded Padma Vibhushan, (art-classical music-vocal) in 2000. He got the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 2010.

Indian-American gets 20-yr sentence for money laundering

• An Indian-American entrepreneur Vikram Datta, who was found guilty in September last year on money-laundering charges, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court in New York.
• He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for using his perfume distribution business to launder millions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels.

Sri Lankan novelist wins $ 50,000 prize at Jaipur Literature Festival

• Young Sri Lankan novelist Shehan Karunatilaka wins the DSC South Asian Prize for Literature for his debut novel "Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew".