Current Affairs : August 23, 2011

World’s longest periscope

  • A 10 m long indigenously developed periscope for a nuclear reactor at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Researc (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam near Chennai was dedicated to the nation

  • The periscope is the longest in the world
  • Costing around Rs 3.9 crore , the periscope was handed over to
    Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam (Bhavini), Kalpakkam
  • It will be used in Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor to view objects inside the reactor during maintenance

U.N. nuclear official visits Iran’s restricted atomic sites

  • Head of the IAEA’s safeguards division, Herman Nackaerts visited Iran’s normally restricted atomic sites
  • Nackaerts and his delegation visited the Bushehr nuclear plant, enrichment facilities in Fordo and Natanz, nuclear sites in Isfahan and the Arak heavy water research facility
  • The group was allowed to visit research sites for advanced centrifuges, and that there were talks on how to expand cooperation with the IAEA 
  • As per Iran it is all set to take steps to resolve its nuclear clash with Western powers in return for mutual steps from the international community
  • The IAEA has said Iran did not cooperate with its recent probe of Western allegations that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes
  • Western nations have enforced a series of economic and political sanctions on Iran to pressure it to stop enriching uranium

     

Rs 1,877 Crore for transformation of Post Offices

  • Rs 1,877 Crore provided by the Government for transformation and computer networking of Post Offices across the country
  • The Post Offices have started several VAS (Value Added Services)
  • Nearly 5 crore MGNREGA accounts have been opened apart from introduction of new services like Insurance and other financial services
  • The speed post business is increasing at the rate of 20 to 30% per annum
  • Many telegraph offices have been closed down due to increasing mobile, internet and SMS services but no employee on this account has been laid off
  • Department of Posts is exploring feasibility of setting up Post Bank

Baichung Bhutia retires from international football

  • Former captain of Indian Football Team, striker Baichung Bhutia announced his retirement from international sports
    Baichung however, will continue to play for his club United Sikkim FC which he founded
  • Three-time Indian Football Player of the Year I. M. Vijayan described Bhutia as “God’s gift to Indian football”
  • He was the first Indian athlete to boycott the Olympic torch relay in support of the Tibetan independence movement

Honours

  • Arjuna Awardee in Football : 1998
  • Padma Shri : 2008

Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools, Delhi

  • On 28 October 2010 he started Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools in Delhi in partnership with Football by Carlos Queiroz and Nike, Inc

Baichung Stadium

  • Baichung Stadium is a football stadium in Namchi, the district headquarters of South Sikkim district in the state of Sikkim, India

The stadium was built in honour of Baichung Bhutia,in honour of his contribution to Indian football (first player to have such honour while he is still playing) The state plans to actively promote the sport made popular after Bhutia became the first Indian to play in a European league and captain the national team

India inks DTAA with Georgia

  • India and Georgia signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) to avert tax evasion and swap banking information
  • Agreement provides for business profits to be taxable in the source state if the activities of an enterprise has a permanent establishment there
  • The agreement also provides for sharing of information to other agencies with the consent of supplying state
  • This Agreement is to provide tax stability to the residents of India and Georgia and will facilitate mutual economic cooperation b/w the two countries

North Korea willing to impose moratorium on WMD tests

  • North Korea has conveyed willingness to enforce a moratorium on tests of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and resume the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear programme
  • North Korea is ready to resume the six-party talks on the settlement of the nuclear problem in the Korean Peninsula without pre-conditions
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Il agreed to go ahead with international talks on de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula


Syed Habib, Former Indian Snooker Player passed away

  • Former Indian No:2 snooker player Syed Habib passed away

  • Habib was India No:2 in snooker for three years 1980,81,82
  • He entered the billiards when he defeated the then World billiards champion Michael Ferreira in the Pune Nationals in 1987
  • He also represented India in IBSF World Snooker in the year 1981 and IBSF World Masters Snooker in the year 2009.

     

Oldest Known Fossils of Life on Earth found by the Australian and British Geologists

  • The Australian and British geologists have found evidence of what may be the oldest-known fossils of life on Earth
  • The sulfur-based microbes they discovered are ~3.4 billion years old
  • The fossils were very well preserved between the quartz sand grains of the oldest beach known on Earth in some of the oldest sedimentary rocks that can be found anywhere
  • The discovery confirms that life emerged surprisingly shortly after the Earth finished being pulverized by asteroids during the Late Heavy Bombardment, which completed around 3.8 billion years ago

 

Standard & Poor’s President Devan Sharma to step down by end of 2011

  • Ratings agency Standard & Poor announced that Deven Sharma, the president of the agency would step down from the post by end of 2011
  • Sharma had turned into a public face of the rating agency following its historic downgrade on U.S. continuing debt rating
  • Sharma’s decision to resign came at a time when Standard & Poor’s  is under immense pressure from a number of fronts, that includes  the Justice Department which held an inquiry about its ratings of mortgage securities and lot of stress is given by the activist investors to disintegrate its parent company
  • Sharma had joined S&P in 2006 as executive vice-president, Investment Services and Global Sales, and later was named president in 2007. Before joining S&P, he served as the executive vice-president, Global Strategy, at the McGraw-Hill Companies for five years
  • Douglas Peterson, a top executive at Citigroup was chosen to replace Sharma as president of Standard & Poor

Sexual-assault Case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn dismissed by Supreme Court in Manhattan

  • The sexual-assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn was dismissed bringing an abrupt end to what had been a three-month criminal investigation
  • The dismissal order was issued by Justice Michael J. Obus of State Supreme Court in Manhattan
  • Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting an immigrant hotel housekeeper after she entered his suite to clean it

 

Proponent of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana Ustad Azizuddin Khan passed away

  • Proponent of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana (school of music), Ustad Azizuddin Khan passed away
  • He was dearly called as Baba among his disciples
  • Azizuddin Khan settled down in Kolhapur at the insistence of Chhatrapati Shhahu Maharaj
  • He initially came from Uniara of Rajasthan
  • The Jaipur-Atrauli gharana is a khayal-based stylised singing school founded by his grandfather Alladiya Khan in the late 19th Century
  • A branch of the Agra gharana, it gained reputation in the early half of the 20th Century
  • The gharana is exceptional in that it was the first such school to be founded in Khyal singing,
    whereas other major gharanas were previously founded on Dhrupad-based singing style
  • Some of his noted disciples include Mallikarjun Mansur, Dhondutai Kulkarni and Shruti Sadolikar-Katkar
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1 Comment

  1. govind prasad gupta

    November 20, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    very good wesite

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