Current Affairs National October 2009

October 13, 2009: Stamp on Dineshnandini Dalmia:
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar recently released a special commemorative stamp of Dr. Smt. Dineshnandini Dalmia on 11.10.2009. at Teen Murti Bhavan.
Padma Bhushan Dr. Smt. Dinesh Nandini Dalmia’s personal and literary journey portrays a bold departure from the prevailing trend of her times. Her life story has a fictional aura which reflects brilliantly in her literary works.
October 12, 2009: Argentina Passed Controversial Law:
Argentina’s Senate passed a controversial reform law targets media outlets critical of the government according to the critics. The law approved by the Senate calls for the creation of a regulatory agency and spells out ownership rules regarding how many and what kind of outlets one company can hold.

October 12, 2009: India test fires nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile.
India successfully test fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile twice from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district, some 230 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. The missiles have a striking range of about 350 km.

Prithvi is India’s first indigenously built ballistic missile. It is one of five missiles being developed under India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

October 13, 2009: U.S. report cites illegal payments by firms to Indian entities
U.S. report on Foreign Corrupt Practices and Anti-Corruption Enforcement 2008-09 released in May this year, mentions “illegal payments” to several Indian entities, including state-owned enterprises, by American companies. These firms have admitted to paying of bribes to secure orders.

The Indian Navy, employees of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, the Railways, the Central Insecticides Board and a “government official” have been mentioned as bribe receivers during 2000-06.

October 13, 2009: Jharkhand withdraws One Lakh cases against tribals
President ruled Jharkhand has withdrawn over one lakh petty cases slapped on tribals under Forest Conservation Act. The move is aimed at winning the confidence of locals who provide massive support base for the Red ultras.

The step has been taken after the Centre got inputs from the governor that it was necessary to withdraw the cases as the tribals are being unnecessarily harassed over petty issues. It was felt that these petty cases have for long been major irritants in building confidence of local people towards the civil administration.

October 13, 2009: Indian diaspora youth complete 12th know India programme
A group of 36 Indian diaspora youth from 11 countries called on the Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi in On October 13, 2009. The diaspora youth were the participants of 12th Know India Programme (KIP), organized by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in partnership with States of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

Know India Programme of the Ministry is a three-week orientation programme for diaspora youth conducted with a view to promote awareness on different facets of life in India and the progress made by the country in various fields e.g. economic, industrial, education, Science & Technology, Communication & Information Technology, culture, etc. and face –to-face with the culture and tradition s in the field of their ancestors. These are conducted in partnership with one or two State Governments. The participants, PIOs in the age group of 18-26 years, are selected based on recommendations received from Heads of Indian Missions/Posts abroad. Selected participants are provided with full hospitality in India during the duration of the programme. (PIB)

October 15, 2009: India’s ten-member delegation Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has assured an Indian parliamentary delegation that the resettlement of Tamil refugees would begin soon. The ten-member delegation, led by former Union Minister T R Baalu, includes MPs from the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), the Congress and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK were on their four-day visit to the island nation.

They had gone to discuss the status of rehabilitation of 260,000 Tamil refugees being held in camps since the end of the war with the Tamil Tiger separatists in May. (The Hindu)

October 15, 2009 : Press & Registration of Books Act 1867 will be amended soon
Recently, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said that the Government would soon amend the Press & Registration of Books Act, (PRB Act) 1867 on a larger scale as the existing provisions of the Act were inadequate to cater to the phenomenal growth of the print media in view of the liberalisation of the Government policies. This act was marginally amended between 1870 & 1983 several times.

What is this act?

  1. PRB Act regulates printing presses and newspapers, and also governs the registration of newspapers.
  2. The PRB Act spells out the rules that newspapers have to conform with to be published in India. PRB Act is a regulatory law which enables the Government to regulate printing presses and newspapers by a system of registration and to preserve copies of books and other matter printed in India.
  3. The earliest surviving enactment specifically directed towards the press was passed in 1867, and major amendments were carried out in this Act in 1955 following the recommendations of the First Press Commission in 1953, consequent upon which the Office of the Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI) was created and started functioning in 1956.

October 14, 2009: Arnold vetoed ‘kirpan’ bill
A bill to educate law enforcement officers about the religious significance of ‘kirpans’ was vetoed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who found it “unnecessary”, drawing angry reaction from the Sikh community in the US. The bill was passed unanimously in both Houses, by 77-0 in the Assembly and by 36-0 in the Senate. The bill Bill AB 504 was introduced in February 2009 by Assembly member Warren Furutani to use education to help stem the arrests of Sikhs for carrying kirpans in California.

October 13, 2009: India and China to treble HNI population by 2018: Report
According to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report released by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Capgemini, India and China are likely to treble the high net worth individuals’ population and add $ four trillion to its wealth by 2018. The combined wealth of Asia Pacific’s HNWIs is estimated to grow at 8.8 per cent annually till 2018, which is faster than the global average of 7.1 per cent.

October 13, 2009: Albania wanted Mother Teresa’s remains, India rejected
The Albanian Prime Minister, Mr Sali Berisha, had asked New Delhi for her remains to be given to Albania by the 100th anniversary of her birth in August 2010. India has rejected Albania’s demand for Mother Teresa’s remains, saying she was an Indian citizen — a decision widely welcomed in this country where the Nobel prize winner spent her life tending to the poor and needy. Mother Teresa was an Indian citizen and there was no question of returning her remains. It was reacting to a demand by Albania, the country where she was born on August 26, 1910. Mother Teresa, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, is buried at the courtyard of the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Kolkata. She died in 1997.

October 14, 2009: Court notice to Rajasthan Government on inaction on Deorala Sati Incident
The Rajasthan High Court has issued a show-cause notice to the State Government on its alleged inaction in pursuing cases against those accused of glorification of the infamous Deorala sati on 1987. The court thus responded to four writ petitions filed in the Court on May 22, 2008, by various human rights and women’s organisations including PUCL and Rajasthan University Women’s Association, Justice Prem Shankar Asopa asked the Government to explain why it did not go for an appeal against the acquittal in 2004 of those accused under the Sati (Prevention) Act. (Patrika)

October 15, 2009: Documentation of 2.65 lakh manuscripts starts in Andhra Pradesh
A big programme of listing, identifying and authenticating 2.65 lakh ancient manuscripts collected from repositories, institutions and individuals was launched in Andhra Pradesh by States Minister for Information and Public Relations and Tourism J. Geetha Reddy.

A survey for collecting rare and old manuscripts was launched in the State in 2006 under National Manuscripts Mission (NMM) with Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Institute, Tarnaka, identified as the nodal centre. It yielded a rich collection of palm-leaf and other old manuscripts in 16 languages, including Telugu, Sanskrit, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Urdu, Arabic and Persian from private collections of individuals, libraries and institutions such as Salar Jung Museum, State Museum, etc. (The Hindu)

October 14, 2009: ‘Missing link’ pterosaur found in China
Chinese and British palaeontologists have identified a crow-sized fossil which fills a key gap in our understanding of the mysterious flying reptiles known as pterosaurs. Named as Darwinopterus modularis in honour of Charles Darwin.

Darwinopterus appears to be intermediary between primitive, long-tailed pterosaurs — sometimes called pterodactyls — and their descendants, who were short-tailed, more sophisticated flyers that sometimes reached gigantic sizes. (CNN)

October 15, 2009: India-US Education Council
India and the US are proposing to set up an India-US Education Council. This Council is slated to include representatives of Industry and Education. The Council will coordinate the moving forward of bilateral relations in education between the two countries. This was discussed during the meeting of the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal and Mr. William Burns, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs recently in new Delhi.

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1 Comment

  1. Anonymous

    October 29, 2009 at 11:12 pm

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