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Current affairs, is the mainstay of the civil service examination, what with one portion of the

exam dedicated to general studies. The current affairs of india and international current event
affairs, are an important part of the general studies paper, both in the mains and the prelims. At
the interview current affairs news rules and decides the rank of the candidate and even whether
s/he will get through or not. In such a scenario the coverage of current affairs in india as well as
current world affairs, becomes an important part of your preprations.

Article

People in the News

Places in the News

Discuss Current Affairs

Current Affairs Quiz - new

For the very purpose of getting you ready for the challenge that is Current Affairs In India, we are
covering the 2011 current affairs including politics current affair, current affair news, science
current affairs, general knowledge current affair, current government affair and international
current affairs. Only studying India's current affairs or political current affairs is not sufficient as
you have to cover international events and current affairs along with the Indian current affairs, as
well as those in the field of science and sports. Current Affairs For March 2011 National

Godhra verdict: 11 get death, 20 get life term

• A Sessions Court in Ahmedabad awarded death sentence to 11 people and life term to
twenty others on 1/3/2011. The sentence was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge
PR Patel who had earlier convicted them of criminal conspiracy in the Sabarmati Express
train burning case on Feb 22nd.

The court had accepted the prosecution's contention that there was a conspiracy behind
the incident and convicted 31 under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) like 302
(murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120B(criminal conspiracy).

They were convicted under IPC section 147, 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 323,
324,325,326 (causing hurt), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on
religious grounds), various sections of the Indian Railways Act, Prevention of Damages to
Public Property Act and Bombay Police Act.

The court had acquitted 63 others out the total 94 for lack of evidence including the
alleged mastermind Maulavi Hussain Umarji. Fifty nine Kar Sevaks traveling in the S6
coach of Sabarmati Express were burnt alive near the Godhra railway station on
February 2002. This incident caused wide spread communal riots in the State of Gujarat
that resulted in the deaths of over 100 people, most of them Muslims. Justice Patel
termed the case as “rarest of rare” and the court has given the accused 90 days to
appeal in the High court.

SC strikes down CVC PJ Thomas' appointment

• The Supreme Court on 3/3/2011 struck down on the appointment of Chief Vigilance
Commisioner PJ Thomas after a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India
SH Kapadia delivered its verdict on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought his
removal. The apex court has observed Thomas is a person who is tainted as he was an
accused in the palmoline export scam. CVC PJ Thomas soon thereafter submitted his
resignation. This has come about as big blow to the UPA government which is already
facing several allegations of corruption. Furthermore Thomas is the country's 14th CVC
and was selected by a three member panel that included the PM and the Home Minister.
The opposition BJP had been highly critical all along and following his resignation
demanded even the PM to step down. The PM took responsibility for the incident and
cited the reason as error in judgement. An IAS officer of 1973 batch of Kerala cadre, PJ
Thomas is the eighth accused in the palmolien case. He served as food secretary in
Kerala in the early 90’s during which time he had aggressively campaigned for the import
of 1500 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia. Reports later emerged that price paid for the
oil- palmolein was unjustifiable high. He has since been fighting allegations of corruption,
while the case is still pending in court.

Delhi court accepts CBI's closure report against Quattrocchi

• A Delhi court on 4/3/2011 accepted CBI’s closure report seeking to drop all charges
against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the two decade old Bofors case. The
CBI was looking at closing all criminal cases against Italian businessman Quattrocchi,
who is allegedly one of the recipients of kickbacks in the controversial Bofors gun deal of
1986 which ended up resulting in the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989. Many
influential figures were accused of receiving payoffs in the deal which involved the
purchase of Bofors guns for the Indian army. The agency has been seeking withdrawal of
the case against him as he has never appeared before any Indian court to face trial due
to lack of evidence, even though a tax tribunal had ruled in Dec 2010 that illegal
commissions were indeed paid in the deal. The agency had said that its plea to withdraw
the case has been filed with bonafide intention as it has spent a huge amount of money
on the investigation but has not been able to arrest the Italian businessman. Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav observed: "At this moment we have to end the case
therefore I allow the CBI plea to close the case. I think the CBI has moved this application
to close this case after applying their minds, therefore there is no need of wasting public
money in continuing the investigation." Advocate Ajay Aggarwal, who objected to CBI’s
application in the court, said he would challenge the order in the Delhi High Court.

Delhi University student Radhika Tanwar shot outside college

• Radhika Tanwar (21) a student of Ram Lal Anand College (Delhi University) was shot
dead by an unidentified man on the Dhaula Kuan foot-over bridge near South Campus at
around 10.30 AM on 8/3/2011. Radhika a second year BA student who lives with her
family in Naraina locality of West Delhi was shot point blank by the assailant who fled the
scene after shooting her in the stomach. Passersby took the girl in an autorickshaw to
Safdurjung Hospital where she was declared brought dead. The incident has caused
outrage in the Capital which has been witnessing increasing episodes of crimes against
women, while the world was celebrating International Womens Day. The assailant has
been identified as 25 yr old Ram Singh alias Vijay who hails from Sitapur in Uttar
Pradesh. He was caught a few days later and Delhi Police Commissioner B K Gupta said
“Vijay suffers from psychopathic obsession. He used to follow women. He followed
Radhika regularly. The immediate trigger was the snubbing of Radhika when he tried to
speak to her”. The police also went on to add Vijay “nurtured deep grudge” against the
victim after he got beaten up for harassing her and often told his friends that he would
avenge the humiliation whenever he got the opportunity. On 11/3/2011 another student
Monica Kirnapure was stabbed by four people in Nagpur while she was on her way to
class from her hostel. The twenty two year old girl lay in her pool of blood for ten minutes,
a knife sticking out of her back, asking for water. No help came about from the
bystanders until Sumedh Wanjaari hired a rickshaw to take her to the hospital where she
died en route.

SC dismisses Aruna Shanbaug's euthanasia plea


• Aruna Shanbaug a former nurse at Mumbai’s KEM hospital has been in a vegetative
state for the last 38 years after she was assaulted by a ward boy. A Bench of Justices
Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra rejected on 7/3/2011 the euthanasia plea filed
by Aruna’s friend Pinky Virani declaring ‘the petition stands cancelled’. They also added
Pinky was not allowed to appeal for the mercy killing of Aruna as she was not the staff of
KEM hospital. The bench in its 110-page judgement saw the nursing staff of KEM
hospital who have been looking after Aruna for the past 38 years as the real next friend of
Aruna and declared the patient didn’t have a single bed sore during the period. The apex
court however allows passive euthanasia in appropriate cases which have been
permitted by the concerned high courts. They also added there is no law in the country
presently in the country on euthanasia and clarified unless the Parliament drafts a law, its
stand on active and passive euthanasia will stay enforced. Aruna Shanabug was sexually
assaulted on November 27 1973 by Sohanlal Walmiki who used a dog chain to subdue
her which ended up cutting the oxygen supply to her brain damaging vital functions like
sight, memory and normal movement.

Congress, DMK seat-sharing deadlock ends

• After lot of political drama the DMK and the Congress have come to a mutual seat
sharing agreement ahead of the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections. The DMK
party announced on 8/3/20011 that it will contest for 121 seats while the Congress will
contest for 63 under the seat sharing deal for the April 13 Assembly polls. The Congress
demand of 63 seats marks an increase of 15 seats in allocation of what they got during
the 2006 Assembly elections. DMK chief Karunanidhi was initially ready to give 60 seats
to the Congress but the Congress unrelenting demand on having 63 made him unhappy
and he threatened to pull out his ministers from the government. The Congress refused
to blink this time and after quite a few rounds of discussions the DMK finally relented to
the Congress demands. The DMK has agreed to allocate 61 seats, up 1 seat from what
they previously agreed and another two seats would be allocated to the Congress from
the other allied parties of the DMK. Under the seat sharing formula, DMK will contest 121
seats, Congress 63, PMK 30, VCK 10, KMK 7, IUML 2 and MMK 1 for the 234-member
assembly.

A.Raja’s close aide Sadiq Batcha found dead

• Sadiq Batcha, a close aide of former telecom minister A.Raja committed suicide and was
found hanging at his residence in Chennai on 16/3/2011. Sadiq Batcha (37) who is the
Managing Director of Greenhouse Promoters has been under the CBI scanner for his
suspected involvement in the 2G spectrum case and was questioned by the agency on
February 22nd. Green House Promoters, initially a nondescript company with an equity
base of Rs.100,000 in 2004, is said to have grown to over Rs.600 crore revenue
company within a very short time frame. Raja’s wife Parameshwari is said to have served
as a director in the firm but quit during 2008. Batcha hails from Raja’s constituency
Perambalur in Tamil Nadu and initially worked as a sari seller until his friendship with the
former telecom minister happened in the early 1990’s.According to the post mortem
reports the cause of death has been ascertained as asphyxia while the forensic reports
are still awaited. This may come as blow to the CBI in their investigations into the 2G
scam.

TN Polls: Parties promise freebies to woo voters

• Ahead of upcoming assembly polls, the political parties of Tamil Nadu have promised a
host of freebies to woo the voting public. Top warring parties DMK and ADMK have taken
the war of freebies to a new high. While DMK in their manifesto have announced 35 kg of
free rice every month for below-poverty line families, AIADMK has promised 20 kg of free
rice for all ration-card holders. The ruling DMK party has promised laptops to students in
their first year of college while Jayalalitha’s ADMK party promises them one as early as
eleventh standard. While the DMK plans to give women free mixes, grinders its rivals
have promised additional fans along with mixies and grinders. Furthermore Jayalalitha in
her bid to woo female voters has promised 4gms of gold for 'Thali' (mangalsutra) free of
cost to poor, besides offering cable TV connections at subsidised rates. Some of the
other freebies include four sets of uniform and footwear for students, a hike in scholarship
upto Rs 5000 from class 10 onwards, women self help groups get Rs10Lakh with 25 %
waiver, 20 litres of mineral water a day to Below Poverty Line families, six months'
maternity leave for women and Rs 12,000 as pregnancy allowance and a host of other
promises were made. This does came as surprise since Jayalalitha was a staunch critic
of populist measures when the DMK party which came in power in 2006, promised to
offer free colour TV’s to the public and also kept up on its electoral promise. The partie’s
efforts in trying to gain an upper hand over each other by making such steep electoral
promises does raise a lot of concerns. It does make one wonder if the State Treasury
would be left with any money if such populist measures are left unchecked.

WB polls: Cong, TMC reach seat-sharing deal

• The Congress and the Trinamool Congress reached a seat sharing agreement ahead of
the West Bengal Assembly Polls. Mamta Banerjee of Trinamool has agreed to offer 65
seats after her rounds of discussion with the Congress party. She had earlier agreed to
give 64 seats against Congress demand of 98. The alliance will fight against CPM led
Left Front which has been in power for almost 35 years now.Congress spokesperson
Shakeel Ahmed said “In West Bengal, Congress will contest 65 seats and TMC will
contest 229. We will work in close cooperation to win the election to defeat the Left from
the state.”West Bengal will be voting in 6 phases. The first phase voting is on April 18,
second phase on April 23, third phase on April 27, fourth phase on May 3, fifth phase on
May 7 and sixth phase is on May 10th.

Cash for votes scam creates uproar in Parliament

• With the revelations by Wikileaks about the Congress buying MPs to win the vote-of-
confidence over the crucial Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008 came back to haunt party when
a united opposition created an uproar in Parliament. On 17/3/2011 they were demanding
the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in view of the fresh charges that bribe
was paid during the trust vote. The government on its part was dismissive questioning the
credibility of the leaks. Also FM Pranab Mukherjee said “Each Lok Sabha is sovereign in
its time. What happened in the 14th Lok Sabha cannot be decided in the 15th Lok
Sabha...Government of the day is accountable to the 15th Lok Sabha and not to the 14th
Lok Sabha. Whatever happened in the 14th Lok Sabha has come to an end with the end
of the tenure”. On 23/3/2011 Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj made a stinging
attack on the Prime Minister and said “It is the habit of the Prime Minister to blame
others. If it is price rise then (Agriculture Minister) Sharad Pawar is responsible, if it is 2G
then (former Telecom Minister) A Raja is responsible and if it is Commonwealth Games
then Suresh Kalmadi is to blame.” The Wikileaks cable suggests that the Congress
bought the support of MPs during a vote of confidence during the controversial nuclear
deal in 2008. Three BJP MP’s walked into the Lok Sabha with Rs 3 crores in cash and
claimed that they had been offered that money to vote for the nuclear deal and that they
had planned a sting operation to prove it. Following that a Lok Sabha committee, headed
by Congress MP KCS Deo, was set up to examine their allegations in which was found
there was no evidence of the allegations made by the BJP MP’s.

Aarushi murder case: Talwars surrender passports

• Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, parents of murdered teen Aarushi Talwar have surrendered
their passports to a local court following a direction by the Supreme Court which also
stayed their trial in the Noida double murder case. On 19/3/2011 the SC had stayed the
CBI court order summoning the Talwars to appear before it on 22/3/2011. The Allahabad
High Court on 18/3/2011 dismissed the couples plea seeking quashing of criminal
proceedings initiated by the lower court which not only refused the closure report filed by
the CBI but also summoned the couple as accused in the case. The HC declared that it
could not prohibit the magistrate from taking cognizance of a case if prima facie it
appears that there is sufficient evidence against a person. Earlier the CBI had file a
closure report pleading closure citing lack of incriminating evidence, however the CBI has
pointed a needle of suspicion to the parents and as a result left the option of proceeding
against the Talwars with the Trial Court. The couple had challenged the order of the
Allahabad High Court which the Supreme Court stayed on 19/3/2011 but asked the
Talwars to surrender their passports. Satish Tamta, the counsel for Rajesh and Nupur
Talwar, submitted the passports in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate
Puspendra Kumar Singh. Fourteen-year-old Aarushi was found murdered at her home in
Noida on May 16, 2008. A day after, Hemraj's body was found in the same building.

India revokes licenses of 14 'fake pilots'

• Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on 23/3/2011 revoked a total of 14


commercial pilot licenses (CPL) which means it brings an end to the flying careers of the
those accused of having submitted fake training records from Rajasthan State Flying
School to procure their licenses. The discovery of frauds in the issuing of licenses is a
worrying development to the safety of air travel for the passengers and the industry. The
fake pilot scam began unraveling when female Captain Parminder Gulati landed her
airliner on the nose instead of the rear wheels which set the alarms ringing across many
quarters. DGCA, the airline regulator stepped in and discovered she had submitted
forged mark sheets to procure her license. Since then more pilots have been caught
guilty of the same crime. The DGCA admits there was a lapse, and now says as much as
4000 pilot licences are now under fresh scrutiny. On 26/3/2011 a DGCA official Pradeep
Kumar(48), pilot Pradeep Tyagi(35) and two of his touts Lalit Jain (34) and Pankaj Jain
(23) were arrested by the Delhi Police. Tyagi along with his touts used to forge mark
sheets for the fake pilots for huge a fee and also bribed Pradeep Kumar of the DGCA for
expediting those files. A person is eligible to fly a commercial aircraft only when he or she
secures a CPL, which is given out after a person completes 200 hours of flying during the
training.

Hasan Ali Remanded In Judicial Custody

• Hasan Ali is a Pune bases stud farm owner who has been accused of allegedly stashing
away 8 billion dollars in Swiss banks. It is speculated that the major portion of the money
in offshore accounts belong to some politicians and industrialists and that Ali acts as a
conduit for them and allegedly facilitates transfer of black money from India on a
commission basis. He has been under the radar of the Income Tax (IT) department and
the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a few years now while his premises were raided in
2007. According to Hasan Ali’s statements he is scrap dealer with an annual income of
Rs 30 Lakh which does not tally with kind of lifestyle Ali is known for. He is known to
throw lavish parties, has a penchant for race horses and own quite a few of them and
also own an expensive fleet of cars. A little ironic for a man with humble beginnings,
whose father worked as an excise officer. Hassan Ali has been declared the highest tax
defaulter in the country with dues allegedly over Rs 70,000 crores. Ali was arrested by
the ED on 7/3/2011 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. But a
Mumbai Court on 11/3/2011 rejected ED’s plea for custodial interrogation of Hasan Ali on
the grounds that the agency had not gathered sufficient evidence and Ali was released
on bail. The Supreme Court on 17/3/2011 stayed the trial courts order, directed custodial
interrogation of Hasan Ali to ED and was also critical of Mumbai Court Judge M L
Tahaliyani's order of granting bail to Ali, saying it was "deeply disturbed" as to the manner
in which the trial court judge rejected the ED's contention and had given a lengthy order
for it. On 21/3/2011 the apex court extended his custody with the ED for an additional
three days and when that duration came to a close a session’s court remanded Hasan Ali
in judicial custody till April 8, 2011.

Wikileaks: 'Hindutva an opportunistic issue for BJP'

• After the Congress it was the BJP’s turn to be hit by the Wikileaks phenomenon when a
US diplomat reported in the cable that senior leader of BJP declared to him that Hindu
Nationalism was an ‘opportunistic issue’ for the party. "Pressed on the question of
Hindutva, Jaitley argued that Hindu nationalism 'will always be a talking point' for the
BJP. However, he characterized this as an opportunistic issue," a cable by Robert Blake,
the Charge at the US Embassy, to his government, had said after a meeting with Jaitley
on May 6, 2005. "Pressed on the question of Hindutva, Jaitley argued that Hindu
nationalism 'will always be a talking point' for the BJP. However, he characterized this as
an opportunistic issue," a cable by Robert Blake, the Charge at the US Embassy, to his
government, had said after a meeting with Jaitley on May 6, 2005. Jaitley a senior leader
of the BJP and also leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha , whom the cable
described as "one of several aspirants to direct the next generation of BJP leadership",
said in a statement that the word opportunistic in reference to Hindutva could be the
"diplomat's own usage". He said the cable by the diplomat in 2005 makes a reference to
his conversation with him. "The cable reflects my views on cross-border terrorism, illegal
infiltration from Bangladesh and the unfair denial of US Visa to the Gujarat Chief Minister
(Narendra Modi). “However, the use of the word "opportunistic” in reference to
nationalism or Hindu nationalism is neither my view nor my language. It could be the
diplomat's own usage,” he said. Congress on its part was quick to give it back to the BJP.
“Chickens are coming to roost, what goes out wrongly hits back like a boomerang.
People living in glass houses are taught in this manner that they were to throw stones at
others,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

PM Manmohan Singh and PM Gilani of Pakistan engage in cricket diplomacy

• The relations between India and Pakistan had soured post Mumbai 26/11 blasts. With the
ongoing world cup when India defeated Australia in the quarters it became apparent that
it was to face off against Pakistan in the semifinal. The clash between the two countries
generated tremendous hype in the media of both countries. The match even took on
political turns when PM Manmohan Singh invited his counterpart Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari to the cricket match. The invite was accepted by the
PM of Pakistan who then along with Dr Manmohan Singh reached the cricket venue on
30/3/2011 where they shook hands with players and also engaged in diplomatic talks
which has now leased a fresh breath of air to the relations between the two countries. As
per the joint statement released in the capital on 29/3/2011 the Pakistani delegation
updated India on the ongoing trial and investigation and agreed to allow an Indian
Commission to come to Pakistan to investigate 26/11 attacks. The Pak delegation
assured that India's National Investigative Agency (NIA) and Pakistan's Federal
Investigation Agency (FIA) will cooperate in the 26/11 investigation. India on its part
provided Pakistan information with regards to the Samjauta blast case and agreed that
they would update them once the charge sheet was filed. According to the joint statement
released in New Delhi on Tuesday, the Pakistani delegation updated India on the
ongoing trial and investigation and agrees in principle to allow an Indian commission to
investigate 26/11 attacks in Pakistan. The two countries have also agreed to hold home
secretary-level talks bi-annually.

Census 2011: Indian population increased by 181 million

• India’s population has risen to 1.21 billion in the last ten years, which is an increase of
181 million according to the new census released on 31/3/2011. India’s population is now
bigger than population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh, says the
Census report. On the positive side the overall population growth rate is 17.6 in 2011,
significantly lower than 2001 when it was 21.15 per cent. Coming to the sex ration India
has 623.7 million males and 586.5 million women. A matter of concern is that child sex
ratio has slipped to its lowest since India's independence. For every 1000 male infants,
there are 914 girls. The most populous state of Indian continues to be Uttar Pradesh with
16.49 per cent share in the total population, followed by Maharashtra with 9.29 per cent,
while, the least populous state is Sikkim with 0.05 per cent share in the total population.
This is the 15th Census conducted since 1872. It was carried out in two phases, covering
640 districts and 5924 sub-districts.

Sports News

ICC WC 2011 off to spectacular start

• The ICC cricket world cup is on in full swing. The fourteen teams have all played their
group stages and 8 teams qualified to the knockout stages. The teams that played in
quarterfinals were West Indies, India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Among these only four teams made it to the Semis where
Pakistan and India played each other at Mohali and Srilanka and New Zealand played
against each other in Colombo. The semi final match between India and Pakistan created
unprecedented hype as the two teams have not faced off against each other since
Mumbai 26/11 attacks. There was a never before seen rush to get the tickets for the
match and people were selling their tickets in black market at astronomical amounts.
India and Sri Lanka went on to win their semi finals respectively and face each other in
the final on April 02 , 2011.

Levon Aronian wins Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championship

• Levon Aronian has won the 20th and final edition of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid
Chess Championship held at Monaco. He had earlier also won in 2008 and 2009
respectively. The Armenian grandmaster tied his last round game against Sergey
Karjakin and still maintained a one point lead over runner up Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
Indian chess grandmaster and World Champion Vishwanath Anand came in at third
position. With the 2011 edition the 20 year run of one the Worlds favourite chess events
comes to an end and Aronian having won three of the last four editions does come
across as a significant achievement.

Saina clinches Swiss Open Grand Prix

• India’s badminton ace Saina Nehwal won her first title of 2011 with a 21-13, 21-14 victory
over South Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the Wilson Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton
at Basil on 20/3/2011. It was her second win against the Korean in as many meetings
whom she earlier defeated in the Indonesia Open Super Series as well. She reached the
quarters of the All England Championship also held earlier this month where she lost to
Eriko Hirose of Japan. Riding on her Swiss Open triumph Saina has regained her number
three ranking with 69721.2637 points. At first place and second place are Shixian Wang
(83506.4) and Yihan Wang (73988.9106) of China respectively.

Djokovic beats Nadal to win Indian Wells title

• Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the BNP Paribas Open title at
Calirfonia on 20/3/2011. The Serbian remains undefeated this year whose victories
include Australian and Dubai open, has struck a purple patch notching up an impressive
18-0 record in 2011. He now jumps to number two in the ATP rankings pushing Roger
Federer to the third place while Rafael Nadal is still at number one with a 14-3 record.
Djokovic said "It definitely says good things. I am playing with a lot of confidence. I'm
feeling the ball well on the court. I'm very dedicated. I have a big will to win each match. I
want to keep on going and keep on playing good tennis."

Sebastian Vettel wins Australian GP

• Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel drove a flawless race to win the season opening Australian
Grand Prix at Melbourne on 27/3/2011. Starting from pole position Sebastian drove
superbly to open more than a two second gap over runner up Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren
following the first lap. At third place was Renaults Vitaly Petrov who made his first ever
podium finish. Fernando Alonso came in fourth with Australian Mark Webber finishing fifth
at the race. They used three stops strategies which was one more than the podium
finishers. It was not a good start to the year for Mercedes with both their drivers Michael
Shumacher and Nicco Roseberg being forced to retire.

India crowned World Champions

• The Indian team defeated Sri Lanka win the final of the ICC World Cup becoming the first
team to lift the cup after 28 years on April 02,2011. Srilanka won the toss and elected to
bat and posted a daunting 274 on board following a superb century by Mahela
Jayawardhene. The Indian team had begun their bowling on a bright note with ace spear
head Zaheer Khan bowling a superb initial spell but the end power over proved to be a
costly affair and helped the Lankans post a very challenging total. Indian batting started
on patchy note when both the dangerous openers lost their wickets early to Lasith
Malinga who came up with an inspired spell of fast bowling. The stadium had gone quiet
but the Indian innings was resurrected when Virat Kholi and Gautam Gambhir formed a
respectable partnership but the star of the innings was Indian Skipper Mahendra Singh
Dhoni. He promoted himself up the order ahead of the inform Yuvraj Singh took India
home with an unbeaten 91. The Captain criticized throughout the tournament for his lack
of form stepped up at the most crucial moment with a crucial innings and hit the last ball
straight down the ground for a huge six. The nation erupted with joy and there wild
celebrations all over India. Sachin Tendulkar was given a lap of honour when his team
mates took him on their shoulders and a happy Sachin could be seen waving at the
crowds. This is the highest successful run chase made in a World cup final and what
makes the victory sweeter is India is the first team to win a World Cup on home soil.

International News

Earthquake and Tsunami strike Japan

• A powerful earthquake of 8.9 magnitude struck Japan on its north eastern coast on
11/3/2011. The earthquake resulted in a massive tsunami that caused wide scale
destruction and loss of thousands of lives. Cars, ships and buildings were all swept away
by the rampaging waters of the Tsunami which struck about 400km (250 miles) north-
east of Tokyo. The port city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture was one of the worst affected.
Ten metre waves struck the city deluging everything that was part of it-farmlands, cars,
buildings, houses etc. Fires broke out in the city following the deluge. A cluster of two to
three hundred bodies were found in one part of this city alone. This is the most powerful
natural disaster to have struck Japan in its recorded history and is considered 8000 times
more powerful than what struck Christchurch in New Zealand earlier this year.
As of March 30th 2011 according to official estimates the death toll now stands at 11,257
while another 16,344 people are still missing. Many of the survivors who have been
displaced have lost all their property to the Tsunami. More than 173,200 people are living
in the 2000 evacuation centres in the 17 prefectures mostly in the northern side of the
country. Among the worst affected prefectures which are Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate
146,628 displaced people have been housed in close to 1,245 evacuation centres.

Nuclear Crisis

• The massive earthquake that struck the north east coast of Japan has resulted in a
catastrophic situation at the Fukushima Nuclear power plant. When the earthquake struck
they switched off the reactor and where about to use the onsite diesel back up power.
The tsunami then struck and the back up power also failed. Hence after losing electric
power, that system could not be used. Instead the operators are dumping seawater into
the vessel and letting it cool the fuel by boiling. But as it boils, pressure rises too high to
pump in more water, so they have to vent the vessel to the atmosphere, and feed in more
water, a procedure known as "feed and bleed." Thousands of people residing in areas
close to the plant were evacuated. Over the following days there have been many
instance of radiation exposure traced in the vicinity. Radioactive water found in and
outside reactor buildings is delaying work to restore cooling functions of the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Libyan Uprising

• Having received inspiration from the revolutions of Egypt and Tunisia the next country to
vehemently protest against government autocracy is the North African country of Libya.
The public are fighting to bring down Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year rule and are
demanding new leadership and democratic elections. What actually began as a series of
peaceful demonstrations took ugly turns when Gaddafi’s army tried to crush protests by
using force eventually turning into an all out civil war in the days to come. In a matter of
days the uprising had spread to other parts of Libya and Gaddafi was having trouble
retaining control over many parts of the country. Gaddafi a harder nut to crack than
Mubarak has continued to be on the offensive and refuses to give up power in spite of all
the diplomatic pressure, much to the chagrin of his own country men. On 19/3/2011 a
multi-state coalition began a military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1973, which was taken in response to the uprising in Libya.
The military operations began, with US and British forces firing over 110 Tomahawk
cruise missiles, the French Air Force and British Royal Air Force[ undertaking sorties
across Libya and a naval blockade by the Royal Navy. Air strikes against Libyan Army
tanks and vehicles by French jets have since been confirmed. The situation is far from
peaceful and remains to be seen what would be the outcome of the situation in the days
to come.

Elizabeth Taylor passes away

• One of Hollywood’s greatest icons Dame Elizabeth Taylor breathed her last on 23/3/2011
due to congestive heart failure. The 79 year old actress has been in the public eye for six
decades having won three academy awards and has acted in over 50 films. The
Cleopatra star's stunning looks, including her famed violet eyes, earned her fans around
the globe and her stormy personal life that included eight marriages received as much
press interest as some of her best works. She won two Oscars for her performances in
“Butterfield 8”(1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) and a third Oscar for
her humanitarian work in 1993. The actress has also battled many health ailments
undergoing as much as 20 surgeries during the course of her life. In her later years she
was a spokeswoman for several causes, most notably AIDS research.

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