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Current Affairs - January 2013 (04)

National News :

  • The trade of India with China fell by 12 percent in 2012.
  • The Union Cabinet approved infusion of Rs. 12,517 crore in about 10 public sector banks in 2012-13 fiscal.
  • French telecom company Alcatel-Lucent has announced to enter into a 8-year contract with Reliance Communications. The contract is of $1 billion.
  • Union Cabinet has approved to impose President’s rule in Jharkhand state.
  • Ved Prakash has been appointed as the Chairman of the University Grant Commission (UGC).
  • The Repo rate has been cut by 25 percentage points from 8 percent to 7.75 percent by RBI.
  • RBI also cuts the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 25 percentage points from 4.25% to 4 %.
  • GDP growth downs to 6.2 percent for the fiscal year 2011-12.

International News :

  • US President Barack Obama decided to hand over the security responsibility from NATO to Afghan forces in 2013.
  • South Korea has launched the their first space rocket named Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-1) which carries a science satellite into space. This weighs of around 140 tonne. After the successfully launch, South Korea became a member of the exclusive global league of space-faring nations.
  • Pakistan’s Anna Hazare, Dr. Tahir-ul Qadri with huge supporter protested for the immediate dissolution of Parliament and Assemblies of Pakistan.
  • Barack Obama took the official oath as the President of USA for the second term.
  • According to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) report, the no. of jobless people globally will reach at 202 million by the end of 2013.
  • David Coleman, 26/11 accused, has been sentenced to a 35 years in prison by a US court.
  • China has successfully flight-tested a huge-sized freight plane named Y-20. This giant plane is capable to carry 66 tonnes.
  • Due to a devastating fire in a night club in Brazil, around 230 people were killed.
  • Iran has successfully sent a monkey into space in the rocket ‘Pishgam’.
 

Sports

  • Victoria Azarenka from Belarus has won the Australian Open single women’s title 2013.
  • Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic has clinched the title of men’s single in Australian Open tennis tournament 2013.
  • Agnieska Radwanska won the Sydney International tennis tournament 2013.
  • Soumyajit Ghosh of WB has secured the National Table tennis men’s championship 2013.
  • The winner of the Volvo Golf championship 2013 held in Durban, South Afrika is Louis Oosthuzen.
  • Kerala has emerged the 61st men’s National Volleyball championship 2013. They defeated Tamilnadu in the final in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
  • Haryana has won the 39th National women’s under-20 hockey championship in 2013.
  • Host India emerged the ODI series in 3-2 against England. India’s Suresh Raina has been chosen as the Man of the Series.
  • Mumbai clinches its 40th Ranji Trophy crown beating Saurashtra in the final.

Prize & Awards :

58th Filmfare Award 2013 :
  • Best Film – Barfi
  • Best Director – Sujoy Ghosh for ‘Kahaani’
  • Best male actor in leading role – Ranbir Kapoor for ‘Barfi’
  • Best Female actor in leading role – Vidya Balan for ‘Kahaani’
  • Best Music Director – Pritam for ‘Barfi’
  • Lifetime Achievement Award – Yash Chopra
Padma Award 2013 : Total no. of Padma Award winner is 108 (Padma Vibhushan- 4, Padma Bhushan-24, Padma Shri - 80)
  • Padma Vibhushan – Raghunath Mahapatra, S. Haider Raja, Prof. Yash Pal and Poddam Narasimha
  • Padma Bhushan – Rajesh Khanna, Adi Burjor Godrej, Rahul Dravid, Merri Kom and 20 more people.
  • Padma Shri – Sridevi, Ramesh Sippi, Yogeswar Dutt etc.