India Current Affiars December, 2011, General Awareness December, 2011

• Winter session has not done any significant business after Parliament was convened on November 22. Congress party firmly backs the government as the NDA supports 5 crore traders holding protests today. – Dec-01
• Former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad said today that India could be China in terms of its economic development if it was less democratic. Mahathir said though democracy is the best form of government, it is not the easiest to govern because people do not understand the limitations of democracy. – Dec-02
• The central government has decided to keep on hold its decision to allow foreign equity in retail till a consensus emerged on the issue, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday after talking to union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. – Dec-03
• Expressing concern over China’s involvement in the Kashmir region, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has said India should show “some spine” while dealing with that country. China sucking out CBI’s secrets – Dec-04
• Police in Hyderabad have sounded a high alert ahead of Dec 6, the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid which is coinciding this year with ‘Yaum-e-Ashoora’, the 10th day of Muharram. – Dec-05
• “Standing committee has betrayed the whole country. The poor are suffering and will not get justice till lower level officers are brought under the Lokpal,” said Hazare. – Dec-10
• It was on this day, 100 years ago, that an event changed the course of Delhi’s history forever. The Delhi Durbar on December 12, 1911 was marked as a celebration of the coronation of King Emperor George V. – Dec-12
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold consultations with allies on Tuesday on the Lokpal issue at a meeting of UPA leaders, the first such exercise after the fiasco over FDI in retail. – Dec-13
• Ahead of WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, trade ministers of G-20 countries are expected to meet today to review the progress of talks on liberalising global trade through the Doha pact, an official said. – Dec-14
• Around 250 staff members of Kolkata’s Advanced Medicare Research Institute (AMRI), where 93 people were killed in a blaze last week, have resigned en masse citing “security reasons”. – Dec-15
• With pressure mounting on the Centre for enacting a strong anti-graft legislation, home minister P Chidambaram today said the Lokpal Bill will “certainly” be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament. – Dec-17
• Railways plans to launch bullet trains in six high-speed corridors; top speed: 350kmph; journey time to be reduced by half. – Dec-18
• VP Singh to Narasimha Rao to AB Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh — Chaudhary Ajit Singh, 72, has been sought by one and all. The 3.7% Jat vote he controls in western Uttar Pradesh is a catalyst for both state assembly and Lok Sabha elections. – Dec-19
• Team Anna rejects govt draft, cautions BJP on ‘double speak’ – Dec-20
• Union home ministry Dec.21,2011 sanctioned National Investigation Agency to file chargesheet against American terrorist David Coleman Headley, his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain and others including Pakistani Army serving and retired officers. – Dec-21
• Claiming that the Centre was not paying heed to her suggestions on the lokpal bill, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati today said her Bahujan Samaj Party would not support the legislation if CBI is not brought under its ambit. – Dec-22
• As Bombay high court rejected a petition seeking concessional rate for hiring MMRDA ground to hold his fast, Anna Hazare on Friday said he will seek donations from public to book the protest venue. – Dec-23
• Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has provided much-needed support to the government and said he plans to invest Rs 70,000 crore in India. – Dec-24
• Observing that Anna Hazare had already “cleared the air” on links between himself and Sangh Parivar, former RSS chief K Sudarshan today accused Congress of purposefully using the name of the saffron organisation to target the anti-corruption movement. – Dec-26
• A Russian court on Wednesday rejected a petition, described by India as “patently absurd”, which had sought a ban on a translated version of Bhagvad Gita, bringing cheers to followers here as well as those across the world. – Dec-28
• Attacking the opposition for Rajya Sabha’s failure to pass the Lokpal Bill, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal today said the Bill will be taken up for consideration in the Budget session of Parliament. – Dec-30

World December 2011, International Current Affairs December, 2011, General Awareness December, 2011

• A bomb exploded near the office of a regional government official in the often restive city of Peshawar early on Thursday, police officials said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. – Dec 01
• A ‘scientific’ report has alleged that relaxing the ban on women drivers would also see more Saudis – both men and women – turn to homosexuality and pornography. The report was delivered to all the 150 members of the country’s legislative body. – Dec 02
• Often accused of playing a negative role in Nepal, India seems interested in reshaping its ties with the Himalayan nation in a new way with stress on economic cooperation. – Dec 03
• Five militants and two members of an elite police force were killed in a clash in southern Kazakhstan, prosecutors said today, amid concerns about rising Islamist unrest in the Central Asian state. – Dec 04
• Pakistan will review all its agreements with the US and NATO in the aftermath of the November 26 airstrike that left two dozen Pakistan Army soldiers dead, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said. Pak troop deaths ‘regrettable’: Obama – Dec 05
• The deputy commander of the Pakistan Taliban, who have been waging a four-year war against the government in Islamabad, confirmed the two sides were in peace talks, a move that could further fray the US-Pakistan relationship. – Dec 10
• A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck early today near the South Sandwich Islands, a remote British territory near Antarctica and South America’s southern tip, the US Geological Survey said – Dec 12
• With the US troop withdrawal from Iraq in its final days, President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki will meet at the White House on Monday to discuss the next phase of the relationship between their countries. – Dec 13
• Nordine Amrani, the lone gunman who died after killing three people and injuring scores in an attack in a crowded Belgian square today, had a long criminal record but not for violent crime. – Dec 14
• The Indian rupee fell by 46 paise to a record low of Rs 54.17 per US dollar in early trade on Thursday, breaching the Rs 54 per dollar-mark for the first time in history on sustained foreign capital outflows and dollar gains against the euro and other rivals overseas. – Dec 15
• The death toll from tropical storm Washi surged to 180 today with nearly 400 people missing in flash floods that ravaged the southern Philippines. – Dec 17
• The external affairs ministry has said it has no records of any “purported” letter written in 1962 by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to his Israeli counterpart David Ben Gurion seeking help during the Sino-India war. – Dec 18
• The external affairs ministry has said it has no records of any “purported” letter written in 1962 by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to his Israeli counterpart David Ben Gurion seeking help during the Sino-India war. – Dec 18
• A Russian court today suspended its verdict till December 28 on the demand for banning Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, which a group linked to the Christian Orthodox Church has described as ‘extremist’. – Dec 19
• The death toll from a destructive storm that hit the southern Philippines has risen to 927, the head of the govt disaster monitoring council said late Monday. – Dec 20
• BEIJING: The proposed February launch of India’s Agni-V missile has ruffled feathers among Chinese policy makers with Communist Party organ, the People’s Daily, saying the move reflects India’s “intention of seeking regional balance of power”. – Dec 21
• Facebook Inc has agreed to make several changes to its services to improve transparency and better protect the personal data of its millions of users outside of the US, following an in-depth audit of its international headquarters that was released on Dec.22,2011. – Dec 22
• The earthquake-devastated New Zealand city of Christchurch was rocked by two powerful 5.8 magnitude tremors on Dec 23,2011 sending terrified residents onto the streets and forcing the airport to close. – Dec 23
• An Afghan official says 11 miners have died in an accident at a coal mine in central Afghanistan. – Dec 24
• A fake marriage gang, which involved five Pakistani men and several Slovak women, has been jailed for manipulating marriage system to flout UK immigration laws. – Dec 26
• A roadside bomb attack killed three NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan, one of the deadliest flashpoints in the 10-year war against Taliban insurgents, the military said on Dec 28,2011 . – Dec 28
• As the United States enters the crucial election year, president Barack Obama and his Democratic party has a clear edge over the opposition Republican party, a latest opinion poll has said. – Dec 30