Current Affairs For February 2011

National

2G scam: Former Telecom Minister A.Raja sent to Tihar Jail

 Former Telecom Minister A Raja was sent to Tihar Jail in Jail in Delhi on Feb
17th in relation to the 2G scam. He will be in judicial custody for fourteen days
until March 3rd. He was also earlier arrested by the CBI on 2nd Feb and was
held in their custody in view of the evidence they had collected against him
regarding his involvement in the 2G scam. A. Raja has been accused of
issuing 2G licenses at throw away prices creating massive losses for the
exchequer. According to the national auditor CAG, the 2G spectrum phone
licenses were sold in 2008 for a fraction of their value and this has resulted in
a notional loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crores. The 2 G scam has created major
uproar in Parliament and has sent shock waves across the country.

ULFA, government begin Assam peace talks

 Leaders of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) met Home
Minister P. Chidambaram on Feb 10 to signify the start of the much long-
awaited peace talks aimed at ending 30 long years of insurgency in Assam.
History was created when the eight member ULFA team headed by Arabinda
Rajkhowa met Chidambaram at his North Block office for a first round of
peace talks. This is a highly significant development considering ULFA has
been trying since 1979 to carve out an independent homeland of Assam.
While ULFA has not put up any demands or finalised any agenda for talks, the
beginning of talks itself is being seen as a very positive step to restoring
peace in the state.

PM announces JPC on 2G spectrum scam

 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that his government would set
up the Joint Pariamentry Committee (JPC) to investigate the 2G spectrum
scam. The government finally agreeing to introduce the JPC does not come
about as unexpected. With the opposition being absolutely unrelenting in their
demands for the introduction of the probe, the Congress had to finally give in.
The previous years winter session in parliament ended with only ten working
hours on record. In order to ensure that the budget session does not get
similarly affected, several meetings with the different political parties were set
up and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tried to bring about a compromise,
which in the end proved to be futile. In the Lok Sabha, on the first day of the
budget session the PM said “On account of the controversy relating to
allocation of 2G spectrum, the winter session of Parliament was lost. Our
country can ill-afford this...in paralyzing Parliament, we all do disservice to
those who have elected us.” Later on he also announced the introduction of
the probe when he went on to add “It is in these special circumstances that
 our government agrees to a JPC...we are a functioning democracy and must
try to resolve our difference is the spirit of collaboration not competition.”

Govt to release Rs. 150 coin soon

 With the Income Tax Department celebrating 150 years of taxation in the
country the government will issue coins of Rs. 150 in denomination. The
special coins which also includes Rs 5 denomination would be released by
the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee ahead of his budget speech. The Rs
150 coin is prepared from an alloy of copper, nickel, silver and zinc.
‘Sathyameva Jayathe’ and ‘India’ would be engraved on the front side of the
coin while the back side will feature a portrait of portrait of 'Chanakya and
lotus with honeybee'. The Rs 5 coins will also be minted in a similar fashion.
This is a special occasion with the IT department having completed 150 years
of taxation from 1860 to 2010.

HC upholds Death Penalty for Kasab

 The Bombay High Court on Feb 21 confirmed the death penalty to 26/11
terrorist Ajmal Kasab and termed the case being the rarest of rare and held
that there was "no scope of reform" of the convict. This comes nine months
after the lone 26/11 terrorist who was captured alive was ordered to be sent to
the gallows by the trial court on May 6, 2010. Kasab, an LeT operative was
captured alive at Girgaum Chowpatty in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 while
none other operatives who has come with him were gunned down by the
security forces at the terror sites. Justice Ranjana Desai told Kasab through
video conferencing "Aapko saza-e-maut yeh adalat barkarar karti hai. Aap
Supreme Court mein appeal zari kar sakte hain (Your death sentence is
upheld. You can appeal before the Supreme Court,"

Godhra verdict: Ahmedabad court convicts 31, acquits 63

 A special court in Ahmedabad on February 22nd convicted 31 people and

acquitted 63 including main accused Maulvi Umarji, in the 2002 Godhra train
burning incident that left 59 people dead mostly Kar Sevaks who were
returning from Ayodhya on the Sabarmati Express. This triggered the 2002
Gujarat communal riots which left over 1200 people dead mostly Muslims.
The court was the first one to pronounce a judgment, among the nine trying
the 2002 Gujarat riots cases. The court accepted the prosecution’s contention
that there was a conspiracy behind the incident. Apart from the charges of
murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy, the accused were
convicted under IPC sections 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 Damage to Public Property Act and Bombay Police Act.

Kidnapped Malkangiri Collector, junior engineer released

 Malkangiri District Collector RV Krishna and Junior Engineer Pabitra Majhi

were finally released by the Maoists after being kept for a week in captivity.
 The two were abducted by the Maoists on Feb 16th and the Maoists in a letter
to the government, listed 14 demands for the safe release of the two
hostages. These included halting anti-Maoist operations by security forces,
release of all political prisoners, scrapping of accords with MNCs for land
transfer and projects, and compensation for the families of Maoist
sympathizers killed in police custody. Dandapani Mohanty and academicians
G. Haragopal and R. Someswar Rao were chosen as mediators and had
discussions with the Maoists. The negotiators had made the government
agree to 14 key demands including the release of Ganti Prsadam, Padma
(wife of top Maoist Ram Krishna), and Sriramulu Srinivas, another top Maoist.
After intense round of negotiations the government finally relented and made
arrangements to secure bails for the jailed Maoists. A further twist in the tale
occurred when the Maoists released only Majhi and held back the Collector
making a fresh list of demands. However after another round of discussion,
common sense prevailed and the Maoists released the collector a day later.

Sports News

Cricket World Cup 2011 Officially Opened 

 The 10th edition of the ICC cricket World Cup, was officially launched on 17th
Feb with a grand opening ceremony being held in Dhaka, Bangaldesh. The
stadium was filled with spectators and evening proved to be visual spectacle
with colourful fireworks, songs and dance routines to mark the start of the
eagerly awaited event. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared
the event open amid thundering cheers while the fourteen participating
Captains were revealed to the public being carried in tricycles. Shankar
Ehsaan Loy and other popular artists performed at the venue with the show
stopper being Bryan Adams.

National Games Held in Jharkand 

 The 34th National Games, was finally held in Jharkand and the event turned
to be very successful. The games were held from 12th February 2011 to 26th
February 2011.Many athletes all over the country took part in various
disciplines and quite a few records were broken in the process. The long-
postponed 34th National Games was originally scheduled for 2007. The
Games have been deferred six times – four times due to delay in developing
infrastructure and then postponed again due to the coming of Assemble
Elections.

India start their Word cup campaign on a bright note

 India played Bangladesh at Mirpur in the first WC match of the tournament on

Feb 19. India started with a bang scoring 375 with both Virender Sehwag and
Virat Kohli hitting sensational hundreds to take the match away from the
hosts. Sehwag particularly looked murderous. The Indian team was expected
 to be under pressure to perform well against Bangladesh as their previous
campaign in 2007 resulted in an early exit and left many disappointed fans
back at home.

Viswanathan Anand regains No.1 Ranking Again

 World Champion Viswanathan Anand played against Magnus Carlsen of

Norway to end the match in hard fought draw and finished second in the
Bilbao Final Masters chess tournament. But the icing on the cake was when
the Indian ace dethroned Carlsen from the number one ranking in Live rating
list for the first time since January this year and ended up as the top player in
ratings too.

Brazilian striker Ronaldo announces retirement

 Former Brazil striker Ronaldo announced his retirement from soccer on Feb
14. The 34-year-old three-time world player had a year end contract with
Corinthians. But a shock loss led to an early elimination from the Libertadores
Cup and violent protests from fans. Ronaldo further added that frequent injury
problems were one of the main reasons in him deciding to announce his
retirement. Thus ends a brilliant career in which he scored more than 400
goals including a record 15 at World Cups.

International News

Mubarak resigns, Egypt celebrates

 The people of Egypt went wild with celebrations after President Hosni
Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military on 11th February. For
eighteen days thousands of people had taken to the streets all over Egypt
demanding the ouster of their autocratic President who had been in power for
the past thirty years. One of the key reasons for such public outrage has been
widespread poverty, inflation and rampant corruption in the government for
many years. Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-government protests
burst with joy when the announcement was made. This has been a hard
fought struggle for the people of Egypt after many episodes of violence having
been reported between the public and Mubaraks forces.

China overtakes Japan as world's second-biggest economy

 China has now overtaken Japan as the world's second-biggest economy.

Japan's economy was worth $5.474 trillion (£3.414 trillion) at the end of 2010,
figures from Tokyo have shown while that of China's economy is closer to
$5.8 trillion for the same period. China has been enjoying a manufacturing
boom for quite a few years now and it is expected that at its current rate of
growth, analysts see China replacing the US as the world's top economy in
 about a decade. The US economy is currently almost three times the size of
the Chinese economy in dollar terms.

New Zealand earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing at least 148

people

 A massive earthquake on 22nd Feb has caused massive destruction in the

city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake was the
second in five months for the city and the death toll continues to increase with
the police having confirmed 148 deaths with 200 still missing. The damage
caused has been said to be much worse than the 7.1-magnitude quake on 4
September, which left two people seriously injured but no fatalities. The city's
historic cathedral was one of the many buildings that got significantly
damaged, while cars lay in a mangled heap under a pile of rubble and roads
cracked open with fissures as a result of the tremors. Dazed, bleeding
residents could be seen wandering through streets strewn with debris and
piles of concrete.

Libyan people take to the streets in their demand for freedom 

 Inspired by the outcomes of Tunisia and Egypt over the past few weeks the
people of Libya have also taken out to the streets in their cries for freedom
against their autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi. Thousands of people have
joined the struggle and there have been continuous reports of frequent
clashes with the Muammars loyalists and the protesting public. Scores of
people have been reported killed in continuing violence in the Libyan capital,
Tripoli, amid escalating protests against Muammar Gaddafi's 40-year rule
across the North African nation. With each passing day the leader seems to
be losing support from people working in his own government and is also
under increasing pressure from International powers to step down.

The Kings Speech Wins Best Picture at the 83rd Annual Academy
Awards

 ‘The Kings Speech’ had a great outing at this years Oscars winning four
awards. The film won in the best picture category and its director Tom Hooper
received Best Director. Colin Firth received the award for best actor for his
central role in Kings Speech while best female actor went to Natalie Portman
for Black Swan. ‘The Best Supporting Actor’ and The Best Supporting Actress’
awards were bagged by Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for their
performances in film, ‘The Fighter’. Indian musician AR Rahman missed out
on his two nominations for his score in ‘127 hours.’