CURRENT AFFAIRS 2009-10

NATIONAL
Jan. 1	Separate pay panel for armed forces personnel to be set up.
	Lieutenant-General Noble Thamburaj assumes charge as Vice-Chief of the Army Staff.
Jan. 2	The Government announces the second fiscal stimulus package.
	The Centre gives nod for a Rs. 908.28 crore desalination plant for Chennai.
Jan. 3	Need for a new generation of role models and teachers says the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 96th Indian Science Congress inaugural in Shillong, Meghalaya.
	The Hindu Media Research Centre, MSSRF is awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize for 2008.
Jan. 5	National Conference President Omar Abdullah is sworn in the 11th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir heading a coalition government. Nine Ministers assume office.
	Sensex closes above the 10000 mark buoyed up by the stimulus package.
	India gives a 69-page evidentiary dossier to Pakistan on the Mumbai terror attacks, identifying for the first time the names of six “Pakistan-based handlers”
Jan. 6	Pakistan “utilised terrorism as an instrument of State policy,” says the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing a conference of Chief Ministers on internal security.
Jan. 7	Byrraju Ramalinga Raju quits as Satyam Computers chairman after admitting that accounts were fudged to the tune of Rs. 7,106 crore over “several years”. The firm's stock nosedives on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Sensex loses 749 points.
Jan. 8	The Securities and Exchange Board of India begins probe into Satyam Computers imbroglio.
	Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Chennai.
	Overseas Indian Citizenship card-holders can practise their professions in India, says the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after launching a global Indian knowledge network at the Pravasi Bhratiya Divas inaugural.
Jan. 9	The Centre disbands board of Satyam Computer Services.
	Angidi Veeriah Chettiar and Ramdien Sardjoe Vice-Presidents of Mauritius and Surriname are among 13 presented Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards by the President Pratibha Patil at the conclave's valedictory in Chennai.
Jan. 11	The Centre forms a three-member board comprising HDFC chairman, Deepak Parekh, the former Nasscom president, Kiran Karnik and the ex-SEBI member, C. Achutan to take charge of Satyam Computer Services.
	The government-appointed directors take charge of Satyam Computer Services.
Jan. 12	The World Bank bans software vendors Wipro Technologies and Megasoft Consultants from doing business with it for four years under its corporate procurement programme.
	India wins a major arbitration case in the High Court of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur in the $ 55 million dispute between ONGC and Cairn Energy Pte Ltd.
Jan. 15	Radha Vinod Raju is appointed the first Director-General of the National Investigation Agency.
	CII Chief Mentor Tarun Das, chartered accountant J.N. Manoharan and Suryakant Balakrishna Mainak of the LIC are appointed directors of the Satyam Computer Sevices board.
Jan. 19	Jharkhand is placed under President's rule and the Assembly kept under suspended animation.
	The Serious Fraud Investigation Office is directed to probe into the affairs of Satyam group entities Maytas Properties and Maytas Infrastructure.
	Presidential assent for Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill.
Jan. 20	The government launches ‘Project Snow Leopard' to safeguard the nation's high altitude wildlife populations.
Jan. 21	The Tamil Nadu government decides to launch the Chief Minister's Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatments which will benefit one crore families.
Jan. 24	India and Kazakhstan sign a major agreement for supply of uranium and a comprehensive cooperation in civil nuclear energy programme. An extradition treaty and a protocol on the accession of Kazakhstan to the World Trade Ogranisation are also inked.
Jan. 25	The Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, the ISRO chief Madhavan Nair, Sister Nirmala and Sunderlal Bahuguna among 10 chosen for the Padma Vibhushan. Shekhar Gupta, C.K. Prahlad, D. Jayakanthan, Isher Judge Ahluwalia among 30 selected for Padma Bhushan. Padma Shri awards for 90, prominent among them being Abhinav Bindra, Aishwarya Rai, M.S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Aruna Sairam.
	K.C. Verma named the new Research and Analysis Wing Chief.
	Maharashtra police officials Hemant Karkare, Ashok Marutrao Kamte, Vijay Salaskar, NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan are among 11 persons selected for the Ashok Chakra awards. Thirteen personnel, six of them posthumously, are chosen for Kirti Chakra.
Jan. 26	India celebrates its 60th Republic Day, honouring the martyrs and putting up an impressive show of its military might.
	Dominic Emmanuel, who has been working on inter-religious dialogue and Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan, known for its annual “Phool Walon ki Sair” are selected for the National Communal Harmony Award for 2008.
Jan. 27	The former President R. Venkataraman (98) who presided over the era of coalition politics at the Centre in the late 1980s dies at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi following multiple organ failure.
Jan. 28	The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approves the Rs.14,600-crore Chennai Metro Rail Project at its meeting in New Delhi.
Jan. 31	The Ambikatanayadatta National Award is conferred on Sunil Gangopadhyaya, president of the Sahitya Akademi and Bengali writer.

	INTERNATIONAL
Jan. 1	Cuba celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Revolution.
Jan. 6	Sheikh Hasina is sworn in Bangladesh Prime Minister.
	Sardar Attiq Khan is removed as Pakistan occupied Kashmir Prime Minister through a no-confidence motion.
Jan. 7	Israel announces opening of three-hour humanitarian corridor to bring in aid to Gaza residents.
Jan. 8	Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor of the Sri Lankan English Weekly Sunday Leader is assassinated by gunmen in Colombo.
Jan. 9	Israel, Hamas reject United Nations ceasefire plan.
Jan. 10	USS George H.W. Bush a new aircraft carrier named after the former U.S. President George H.W. Bush a decorated World War II pilot is commissioned at a function in Norfolk.
Jan. 11	Scores of people are feared drowned after a ferry carrying more than 260 passengers and crew sinks in stormy seas off Indonesia's Sulawesi Island.
	British director Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's novel Q and A emerges big winner at the 66th annual Golden Globes Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Composer A. R. Rahman bags best composer honours, the first Indian to win the award. It also bags the Golden Globe for Best Director, Best Drama and the Best Adapted Screenplay.
	Australian actor Health Lodger earns a posthumous Golden Globe for his role in Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight, while British star Kate Winslet wins two awards for best drama actor in Revolutionary Road and supporting actor in The Reader.
Jan. 12	‘e6', a purely electric car with a range of 400 km on a single charge made by Chinese automaker BYD Co. Ltd. Is launched at the North American International auto Show in Detroit.
Jan. 13	Canada-based global telecom equipment major Norfel Networks Corp files for creditor protection.
Jan. 16	Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank posts its first quarterly loss in 17 years and slashes dividend. Wins $ 20 billion lifeline to help absorb Merrill Lynch.
Jan. 17	Cambridge University turns 800. Universities across the world celebrate by ringing church bells in a synchronised salute.
	Israel declares a unilateral ceasefire.
Jan. 18	Hamas announces a conditional ceasefire.
Jan. 19	Israeli forces begin pullout from Gaza.
	A new capital named Yongchang planned for quake-hit Beichuan in China's Sichuan province.
Jan. 20	Barack Hussein Obama is sworn in the 44th President of the U.S. breaking colour barrier. Joe Biden takes oath as the 47th Vice-President.
	Two Indian-Americans Neal Kumar Katyal and Preeta Bansal appointed to key posts.
	Toyota Motor names Akio Toyoda grandson of its founder as new president.
Jan. 21	The U.S. President Barrack Obama orders suspension of trial proceedings by the military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
	In a rare do-over, Barack Obama is sworn in for the second time as the U.S. President.
	Hillary Rodham Clinton is sworn in the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington DC.
Jan. 22	David Fincher's period love story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Bags 13 Oscar nominations, while India-set rags-to-riches drama Slumdog Millionaire scores 10 nominations, including three for music director A.R. Rahman.
	The U.S. President Barack Obama orders closure of the Guantanamo Bay military detention centre in Cuba within a year.
	The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation launches the International Year of Natural Fibres 2009.
	India hands over the strategic Delaram-Zaranj highway built by it to Afghanistan at a function in Nimroz province.
	The U.S. President Barack Obama becomes the nation's first emailing head of state.
Jan. 23	Japan launches the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite, the world's first satellite dedicated to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from Tanegashima, a small island.
	The U.S. authorities approve the first human trials using embryonic stem cells testing a pioneering therapy for stroke patients.
Jan. 25	The provincial government of Punjab in Pakistan takes over the Muridke headquarters of the Jamat-ud-Dawah, a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and renames it Punjab Welfare Institute.
Jan. 26	New York-based Pfizer to acquire rival drugmaker Wyeth in a $ 68-billion cash-and-stock deal.
	Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde's right-left coalition is forced to resign following months of protests over economic crisis following the crumbling of the financial sector in October.
	Thomas Lubango Dylia of Congo, an armed militia leader, becomes the first to be tried by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Jan. 28	The U.S. House of Representatives gives nod to a $ 819-billion stimulus package.
	Britain announces a $ 3.2 billion aid package to bail out the automobile industries.
	The World Economic Forum meet opens in Davos, Switzerland.
Jan. 29	Afghanistan presidential polls set for August 20.
	The Illinois Senate throws out of office Governor Rod Blagojevich accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Jan. 30	North Korea nullifies all pacts with South Korea.
	Michael Steele an African-American is voted in chairman of the Republican Committee.
Jan. 31	Iraq holds provincial polls. Voting in Kirkuk postponed indefinitely.
	SPORTS
Jan. 10	Zimbabwe records its first win over a Test nation since 2007 with a victory over Bangladesh in the opening match of the triangular one-day cricket series in Dhaka.
Jan. 11	Marin Cilic of Croatia wins the Chennai Open ATP tennis championship defeating India's Somdev Devvarman in the final.
	Sharath Kamal and K. Shamini clinch the men's and women's titles in the Senior National table tennis championship in Patna.
Jan. 16	Mumbai clinches the Ranji Trophy championship in Hyderabad.
Jan. 26	South Africa caps a dream cricket tour of Australia by winning the ODI Series in addition to the Test series win (2-1).
Jan. 30	Australia is dethroned as the No.1 team in one-dayers by South Africa after the latter defeats Australia 4-1.
Jan. 31	Serena Williams bags the women's title in the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne.
	Yuki Bhambri wins the junior boys' title in the Australian Open.