CURRENT AFFAIRS (NATIONAL)
Goa Assembly Elections
The Congress – National Congress Party (NCP) alliance won 19 seats and emerged as the largest combination in a fractured verdict of the Goa Assembly elections. In the results declared here on June 5, 2007, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 14 seats. While the Save Goa Front (SGF) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) won two seats each, the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) got one and Independents two. Rebel Congressman Churchill Alemao, who formed the SGF, bagged the Navelim seat by over 5,000 votes, defeating veteran Congressman and Industries Minister Luisinho Faleiro.

New Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati was sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on May 13, 2007 for the fourth time. She assumed reins of power heading a 50-member jumbo ministry inducting several persons from the upper castes, reflecting the rainbow coalition she stitched to get an absolute majority in elections, which were held to electa 403-member Assembly in seven phases in April-May, 2007. On May 11, 2007 the results of the Assembly elections were declared. Across the populous State, BSP’s elephant emerged triumphant garnering a phenomenal majority of 206 seats, smelting its rivals into surrender, Samajwadi Party came a distant second at 97 seats while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) folded up at 51. The performance of Congress was even worse, finishing a poor fourth with a paltry 22. The remaining 26 seats were taken by others such as the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh, other minor parties and the independents.

150 Years of India’s First War of Independence
Reviving memories of the momentous events that resulted in the revolt of 1857, a spectacular cultural show was presented at the Red Fort here on May 11, 2007 to commemorate 150 years of the First War of Independence. On May 11, 1857, hundreds of sepoys reached Delhi from Meerut to persuade Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar to lead them in their struggle for freedom from foreign rule. Addressing the gathering, President APJ Abdul Kalam shared his vision of a developed India with them – a country where there is employment, health and food security for all, the rural-urban divide is bridged and there is a transparent and corruption-free administration.

New TV channel in Tamil
A new television channel to cater to “the needs and desires of the people” will be launched on August 15, 2007 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi confirmed. According to informed sources, Raj TV, which has two unused sets of transponders in Thaicomm satellite, will host the new channel.

India’s Largest Ship Launched

The Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) launched India’s largest and most modern bulk carrier m.v. Good Princess on May 18, 2007. The ship is worth over Rs. 100 crore and has been built in 14 months by HSL. It will be delivered to the Chennai based Good-earth Maritime Limited (GML) in four months. Good Princess is the second in the series of four bulk carriers with a capacity of 30,000 DWT. Its length is 178 metres and width is 28 metres.

Prithvi-I Test-fired successfully
Prithvi-I, the medium range surface-to-surface missile, was successfully test-fired in an “extended range” of more than 150 km by the Army as part of its “training module” at Chandipur-on-sea on May 9, 2007. The successful launch met all the mission objectives including terminal parameters such as velocity of impact and validated the integrated command control and communication network for the deployment of the weapon system.

“Green Giant” A-380 comes in India
Forget about it being the world’s largest passenger aircraft or its wing-span giving goose bumps to even the biggest soccer field. The most gentle and quiet big daddy of all passenger jetliners, the A-380 completed its 100-minute Delhi-Mumbai flight, on May 8, 2007 with aplomb, grace and finesse. If the take-off from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport showed how easy it was to manoeuvre the big bird, the landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport demonstrated that it could land with ease, approaching the runway with the speed of a single-aisle aircraft. On this flight, the aircraft carried about 175 passengers, including media personnel, senior Airbus officials, travel agents and Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya, who has placed orders for purchase of five A-380s. The first delivery is expected only in 2011, and by then Mr. Mallya hopes Kingfisher would get permission to fly abroad, so that the aircraft could be deployed on the U.S. routes. Kingfisher is the only carrier from India that has ordered the A-380, with a list price of about $ 300 million (about Rs. 1,200 crore per aircraft).


Round Table Conference on Kashmir
The third Round Table Conference on Kashmir was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2007. Addressing the conference, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dismissed Pakistan’s claims that the two South Asian nuclear neighbours were nearingsettlement on the Kashmir issue, while announcing the decision to set up the Standing Committee and Oversight and Monitoring Mechanism to implement the recommendations of the Working Groups of the Kashmir Roundtable Conference.




Supreme Court Declines in Vacate Stay on OBC Quota
The Supreme Court of India on April 23, 2007 declined to vacate the interim stay on 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in elite educational Institutions. A Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice L.S. Panta held that its earlier order staying the provision of OBC Quota in a central legislation was final as far as the present academic session starting 2007 was concerned. On March 29, 2007 the two-member Bench had stayed section 6 of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) in so far as it related to 27 per cent quota for OBCs in institutions like IITs, IIMs and Central Universities.

PSLV-C8 successfully launches Italian Satellite ‘Agile’
PSLV-C8 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) was successfully launched on April 23, 2007. The launch vehicle also carried an Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE, from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. It was the first commercial launch of a foreign satellite.

New Commission on Centre-State Relations
Government has set up a Commission on April 27, 2007 to look into the issues on Centre-State Relations keeping in view the major changes that have taken place in the polity and economy of India over two decades. The Commission was headed by Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi (Retd.), former Chief Justice of India, Dhirendra Singh, IAS (Retd.), Vinod Kumar Duggal, IAS (Retd.) and Dr. N.R. Madhava Menon, former Director, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and former Director, National Law School of India Bangalore have been appointed as the members of the commission.



New Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh
Dorjee Khandu on April 9, 2007 was sworn-in as the fifth Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, replacing Gegong Apang, soon after dissident Congress MLAs elected him the new leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP). The dissidents, numbering 25 of the 33 Congress legislators, who had been clamouring for removal of Apang, flew back to the state capital from New Delhi after camping there for 10 days, to attend the CLP meeting to settle the leadership issue.

Delhi Municipal Corporation Elections
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on April 7, 2007 wrested the Municipal Corporation of Delhi from the Congress winning 164 of the 272 wards that went to the polls on April 5, 2007 The Congress which had won three-fourths of the seats in the last MCD elections, managed just about 25 per cent this time and ended up with a tally of 69. Most importantly, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which did not have even a single MLA in Delhi so far, put up a good show round winning 15 of the wards.

14th SAARC Summit-2007
The 14th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) took place in the Indian capital NewDelhi on April 3 & 4, 2007. The Indian delegation in the SAARC Council of Ministers at its two-day meeting apprised that India would host the next Council of Ministers prior to the summit meeting. Afghanistan, the eighth member of the group, also attended the 14th summit.

India Successfully Test-fired “Astra”
India successfully test-fired a short-range air-to-air missile “Astra”. The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), the agency responsible for carrying out missile tests, said a 3.8 metre (12 feet) solid-fuel propelled indigenous missile was launched off the coast of Orissa on March 31, 2007.

New Air Marshal Fali H. Major
Air Marshal Fali H. Major, Air Officer-Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command became the first Helicopter pilot to benamed as the Chief of Indian Air Force. Fali H. Major, the seniormost Air Marshal in the IAF, was succeeded Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi when he retired on March 31, 2007. With his appointment, the Government has chosen to uphold the principle of seniority and waived the tradition of only making fighter pilots the head of the world’s fourth largest Air Force.

INSAT-4B launched successfully
India’s latest communications satellite, INSAT-4B, was successfully launched by Ariane space’s Ariane-5 vehicle from the Kourou Island in French Guyana on March 12, 2007. The vehicle lifted off with INSAT-4B and co-passengers Skynet-5A, a military communications satellite of the United Kingdom.

67th Session of Indian History Congress
The three-day 67th session of the Indian History Congress (IHC) concluded in Feroke (Kerala) on March 12, 2007. The Congress asked the Centre to free Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the National Archives of India (NAI) frombureaucratic control. The Congress adopted a resolution which regretted the continuing tendency to place the administration of such organisations in the hands of Government officials and keep professionals out of their helm.



Ninth Schedule laws open to review
In a significant judgement, a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Jan. 11, 2007 held that there could not be any blanket immunity from judicial review of laws inserted in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Once a law is enacted and included in the Ninth Schedule, it gets protection under Article 31-B (validation of certain Acts and Regulations) and is not subject to judicial scrutiny. The Court examined the validity of inclusion of several Central and State laws, including the Tamil Nadu Reservation Act providing for 69 per cent quota in jobs and in educational institutions. The Bench, after examining thescope and powers of Parliament to enact laws and include them in the Ninth Schedule, held that the power of judicial reviewcould not be taken away by putting a law under the Ninth Schedule.

AWARDS
U.N. award for Vasundhara Raje
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje received the prestigious “Women Together Award” at the United Nations headquarters in New York to join the league of Nobel laureates, social workers and celebrities from the field of music and cinema. Heba Abdul Latif of the UN Department of Political Affairs handed over the award to Ms. Raje for her pioneering initiatives among the weavers of Kota doria saris. Those who received the Third Women Together Award, along with Ms.Raje, this year included Nobel laureates Shirin Ebadi and Wangari Maathai, artiste Yoko Ono, novelist Barbara Probst Solomon, TV producer Francine Le Frank, economist Isabel Estape and journalist Rosa Maria Calaf. The award comprises a trophy and a certificate.

Kalam selected for King Charles II Medal
President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been selected for being awarded the prestigious King Charles II Medal by the Royal Society of London in recognition of his extraordinary contribution in the field of Science and Technology. The prestigious Medal is awarded to Foreign Heads of State for extraordinary contributions to the promotion of Science and Technology. It has only been awarded once in the past, to Emperor Akihito of Japan in 1998.

National Communal Harmony Awards
Octogenarian social activist from Assam Rabindra Nath Upadhyay and Delhi-based Institute for Socialist Education
were presented the National Communal Harmony Awards for 2006 by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on May 23, 2007. The National Communal Harmony Awards comprise Rs.5 lakh for an organisation and Rs.2 lakh for an individual as well as a citation. Mr. Upadhyay is a Gandhian who played an active role in the freedom movement and is now working in the communally disturbed areas of the northeast. The Institute for Socialist Education, headed by its founder and former MP Shashi Bhushan, has been championing the cause of secularism and integration.

Dadasaheb Phalke Award - 2006
Hrishikesh Mukherjee was awarded the prestigious “Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2006 on April 30, 2007.

Jnanpith Award - 2004
Noted Kashmiri poet, Rehman Rahi was selected for the Jnanpith Award for 2004 on March 10, 2007 for his
outstanding contribution to Indian literature.

Padma Awards - 2007
The President APJ. Abdul Kalam presented to 121 names for the civilian awards in New Delhi on January 26, 2007 to
the following:-
Padma Vibhushan (10): Prof. Balu Sankaran, Medicine; Fali Sam Nariman, Public Affairs; Khushwant Singh, Literature and Education; N.N. Vohra, Civil Service; Naresh Chandra, Civil Service; Justice (Retd.) Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati,Public Affairs; Raja Rao (Posthumous), Literature and Education; Dr. Raja Jesudoss Chelliah, Public Affairs; Sudarshan Erinackal Chandy George, Science and Engineering; Dr. Venkataraman Krishnamurthy, Civil Service.

Padma Bhushan (32): Prof. Bhikhu Parekh, Literature and Education; Chandra Prasad Saikia (Posthumous), Literature and Education; Ela Gandhi, Public Affairs; Rev Father Gabriel, Literature and Education; Gopaldas Neeraj, Literature and Education; Dr. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat, Science and Engineering; Ms. Indra Nooyi, Trade and Industry; Jamshed J. Irani, Trade and Industry; Javed Jan Nisaar Akhtar, Literature and Education; Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Literature and Education; Justice K.T. Thomas, Public Affairs; Kavalam Narayan Panikkar, Art; Captain L.Z. Sailo, Literature and Education; Dr.Manju Sharma, Science and Engineering; Dr. N. Mahalingam, Trade and Industry; O. Suzuki, Trade and Industry; Dr.Prithipal Singh Maini, Medicine; Pandit Rajan Misra, Art; Ramankutty Nair, Art; Pandit Sajan Misra, Art; Dr. Saroj Ghose, Science and Engineering; Dr. Shiv Kumar Sarin, Medicine; Prof. (Vaidya) Shriram Sharma, Medicine; Somnath Hore (Posthumous), Art; Sunil Bharti Mittal, Trade and Industry; Syed Haider Raza, Art; Hakim Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri, Medicine; Prof. T.N. Srinivasan, Literature and Education; Prof. Tapan Ray Chaudhuri, Literature and Education; Tyeb Mehta, Art Dr. V. Mohini Giri, Social Work; Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandaran, Science and Engineering.

Padma Shri (79): A. Sivasailam, Trade and Industry; Prof. Adya Prasad Mishra, Literature and Education; Amitav Ghosh, Literature and Education; Prof. Ananda M. Chakrabarty, Science and Engineering; Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, Art; Prof. Anoop Misra, Medicine; Dr. Ashok Kumar Hemal, Medicine; Astad Aderbad Deboo, Art; Dr. Atul Kumar, Medicine; Dr. B. Paul Thaliath, Medicine; Dr. Bakul Harshadrai Dholakia, Literature and Education; Dr. Balbir Singh, Medicine; Dr. Baldev Raj, Science and Engineering; Shri Bharath Balachandra Menon, Art; Prof. Devindra Rahinwal (Posthumous), Social Work; Prof. Dilip K. Biswas, Science and Engineering; Gajendra Narayan Singh, Art; Geeta Chandran, Art; Giriraj Kishore, Literature and Education; Rajmata Goverdan Kumarri, Art; Prof. Harpinder Singh Chawla, Medicine;Jeev Milkha Singh, Sports; Dr. K.R. Palani Swamy, Medicine; Khalid Zaheer, Social Work; Prof. Kharak Singh Valdiya, Science and Engineering; Kiran Karnik, Science and Engineering; Ms. Koneru Humpy, Sports; Dr. Lalit Pande, Environment Protection; Louis Remo Fernandes, Art; Dr. M. Mohan Babu, Art; Dr. Mahadev Prasad Pandey, Literature and Education; Dr. Mahipal S. Sachdev, Medicine; Dr.Manjunath Cholenahally Nanjappa, Medicine; Dr. Mayilvahanan Natarajan, Medicine; Ms. Meenakshi Gopinath, Literature and Education; Ms. Miriam L’vovna Salganik, Literature and Education; Dr. Mohsin Wali, Medicine; Mujtaba Hussain, Literature and Education; Prof. Mushirul Hassan, Literature and Education; Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Trade and Industry; Prof. Narmada Prasad Gupta, Medicine; Neelamani Devi, Art; P.Gopinathan, Art; P.R. Thilagam, Art; Pannuru Sripathy, Art; Prof. P. Namperumalsamy, Medicine; Prof. Pratibha Ray, Literature and Education; Pushpa Hans, Art; Rabinder Gokaldas Ahuja, Sea Cadet Corps Management; Rajinder Gupta, Trade and Industry; Dr. Ravi Narayan Bastia, Science and Engineering; Ravindra Dayal, Literature & Education; Prof. Rostislav Borisovich Rybakov, Literature and Education; Ms. Runa Banerjee, Social Work; S. Dhakshinamurthy Pillai, Art; Sister S.M. Cyril, Social Work; Shanti Hiranand, Art; Shashikala Jawalkar, Art; Prof. Shekhar Pathak, Literature and Education; Dr. Sheo Bhagwan Tibrewal, Medicine; Sonam Skalzang, Art; Sonam Tshering Lepcha, Art; Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory, Science and Engineering; Dr. Sukumar Azhikode, Literature and Education; Sushil Gupta, Social Work; Dr. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Public Affairs; T.S. Rangarajan @ Kavingar Vaali, Literature and Education; Ms. Tarla Dalal, Cookery; Ms. Teesta Setalvad, Public Affairs; Dr. Temsula Ao, Literature and Education; Dr. Thanu Padmanabhan, Science and Engineering; Dr. Thekkethil Kochandy Alex, Science and Engineering; Thingbaijam Babu Singh, Art; Lama Thupten Phuntsok, Social Work; Valayapatti A.R. Subramaniam, Art; Vijaydan Detha, Literature and Education; Vikram Seth, Literature and Education; Waman Thakre, Art; Dr. Yusufkhan Mohamadkhan Pathan, Literature and Education.

Gallantry Awards - 2007
The following persons were awarded the country’s second highest peacetime award for gallantry, Kirti and Shaurya
Chakra Awards on January 26, 2007.

Kirti Chakra: Col. Gulbir Singh Sarna (29 RR); Maj. Manish Hiraji Pitambare (Parachute Regiment); Capt. Vishal Bhandral (Garhwal Rifles); Lt. Natarajan Parthiban (Jammu & Kashmir); Light Havildar Manjit Singh (Sikh Regiment); Sub-inspector Dhirendra Nath Pratap Singh (CISF).

Shaurya Chakra: Of the 31 Shaurya Chakras, 12 were awarded posthumously. This included two Border Roads Organisation personnel killed while undertaking road clearance operations in hazardous conditions. Lt. Col. Raj Kumar (Kumaon Regiment); Lt. Col. Vinay R. Chauhan (1 Gorkha Rifles, posthumous); Maj. Jung Bahadur Singh (SM Army Service Cops); Maj. Naveen Bindal (Army Air Defence); Maj. Shineesh Mukundan (Grenadiers); Maj. Virinder Sidhu; Maj. Krishnan Nishant Nair (Bihar Regiment); Maj. Manvendra Singh (20 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles); Capt. Nayanjyoti Buragohain (1 Naga Regiment); Capt. Shashi B. Singh (SM Corps of Engineers, posthumous); Capt. Ajit Anthony (Rajputana Rifles, posthumous); Lt. Thiyam Ibungochouba Luwang (21 Parachute Regiment); Subedar Samde Khan (14 Grenadiers); Naib Subedar M.A. Cruz (201 Engineer Regiment, posthumous); Havildar Santosh Kumar (14 Grenadiers); Havildar Bhag Singh (16 Sikh Regiment); Lance Havildar Sishpal Singh (Dogra Regiment); Sepoy Satnam Singh (Mahar Regiment); Subedar Sant Kumar (SM Grenadiers). Besides the Kirti Chakras, anti-terrorist operations have won 73 Sena Medals and one Vayu Sena Medal for the armed forces personnel. The President awarded 393 medals to the uniformed personnel on the occasion of Republic Day.

Param Vishisht Seva medals
The President’s honours list also includes 19 senior Army officers who have been decorated with Param Vishisht Seva Medals. This includes the new Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Deepak Kapoor, Western Army Commander Lt. Gen.Daljit Singh and Director - General of Military Operations Mohan Pandey. President APJ Abdul Kalam has also approved four Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), one Bar to Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, 52 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, one Youth Seva Medal, four Bar to Vishist Seva Medals, 123 Vishist Seva Medals, two Bar to Sena Medals, 41 Sena Medals, 12 Nao Sena Medals and Vayu Sena Medals (15).

President’s Medal for Delhi Police Officers
Sixteen Delhi Police officers and personnel have been conferred the President’s Police Medals for 2007. Joint Commissioner of Police (Rashtrapati Bhavan) K.K. Maheshwari, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Qamar Ahmad, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hanuman Singh and Inspector Data Ram have been awarded President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Against Women Cell) T.S. Luthra, Additional Commissioner of Police N. Dilip Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Prabhakar, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sriram Meena, Assistant Commissioner of Police Yashwant Singh, Inspectors Achala Rani, Ramesh Kumar and Chander Das Sub-Inspector Rajinder Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector Girdhari Singh, Head Constables Kesar Chand and Chura Mani have been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Services.



Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards - 2007
Former captain of the Indian women's hockey team, Sita Gussain and rifle shooter Shilpi Singh were awarded the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards. The awards ceremony was organised by the Punjab Engineering College (Chandigarh) Old Boys Association.

Lata Mangeshkar Awards
Hridayanath Mangeshkar - 2007; singer Jayamala Shiledar - 2006; singer Manna De - 2005; singer Snehal Bhatkar - 2004. The award has been instituted by the Madhya Pradesh Government.





Kalidas Samman - 2006
Renowned Odissi exponent Sonal Mansingh was awarded the prestigious “Kalidas Samman” on Jan. 27, 2007, for her outstanding contribution to the field of classical dance. The award has been instituted by the Madhya Pradesh Government.

52nd Filmfare Awards - 2007
These awards were presented on 24 February 2007, at the Yashraj studios in Andheri, Mumbai. Best Film : Rang De Basanti Best Actor : Hritik Roshan (Dhoom-2) Best Actress : Kajol (Fanaa) Best Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti) Best Critics Award: Rajkumar Hirani and Vidu Vinod Chopra (Lage Raho Munnabhai) Critics Award for Best Actor: Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti) Critics Award for Best Actress: Kareena Kapoor (Omkara) Lifetime Achievement Award: Jaya Bachchan, Javed Akhtar Special Juri Recognition: Deepak Dobriyal (Omkara) Best Dialogue: Abhijit Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai) Best Art Direction: Sameer Chanda (Omkara) Best Editing: P.S. Bharti (Rang De Basanti) Best Screenplay: Jaideep Sahni (Khosla Ka Ghosla) Best Story: Vidu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai) Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male): Abhishek Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) Best Actor in Supporting Role (Female): Konkona Sen Sharma (Omkara) Best Actor in a Comic Role: Arshad Warsi (Lage Raho Munnabhai) Best Actor in a Negative Role: Saif Ali khan (Omkara) Best Music: A.R. Rahman (Rang De Basanti) Best Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi (Chand Sifarish, Fanaa) Best Playback Singer(Male): Shaan and Kailash Kher (Fanaa) Best Playback Singer (Female): Sundhi Chauhan (Beedi, Omkara) Best Cinematography: Binod Pradhan (Rang De Basanti) Best Costumes: Dolly Ahluwalia (Omkara) Best Sound Design: Subhash Sahu and K.J. Singh (Omkara) Best Background Score Award: Salim-Sulaiman (Krrish) Best Debut (Female): Kangana Ranaut (Gangster) Powerhouse Awards: Yash Chopra R.D. Burman Award: Naresh Iyer Sony-Fairone face of the Year: Kangana Ranaut Best Choreography: Ganesh Acharya, Beedi Jalayle (Omkara) Best special Fx: Krrish Best Action: Siu Tung Ching, Sham Kaushal (Krrish) Best

Costumes Award: Omkara
7th IIFA Awards’ 2006
The 7th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards ceremony held in Dubai on June 16, 2006. Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan Best Actress: Rani Mukherji Best Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Best Film: Black Best Supporting Actor (F): Ayesha Kapoor (Black) Best Supporting Actor (M): Abhishek Bachchan (Sarkar) Best Performance in a Negative Role: Nana Patekar (Apaharan) Best Peformance in a Comic Role : Akshay Kumar (Garam Masala) Best Music: Shankar - Ehsaan - Loy (Bunty Aur Babli) Best Lyrics : Gulzar - Kajrare (Bunty Aur Babli) Best Playback Singer (M): Himesh Reshammiya (Aashiq Banaya Aapne) Lifetime Achievement Award: Shabana Azmi Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize-2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the prizes for Excellence in Science and Technology to the following 13 scientists on Sept. 26, 2006. Medical sciences: Virender Singh Sangwan of the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute; Chemical sciences: Srinivasan Sampath of Indian Institute of Science and K George Thomas of the Regional Research Laboratory; Mathematical sciences: Vikraman Balaji of the Chennai Mathematical Institute and Indranil Biswas of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Biological sciences: Vinod Bhakuni, Central Drug Reseach Institute, Lucknow and Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale, National Institute of Immunology; Earth, atmosphere, ocean and planetary sciences: Gufran-ullah Beig, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and Pulak Sengupta, Jadavpur University; Physical sciences: Atish Dabholkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Sanjay Puri, Jawahar Lal Nehru University; Engineering sciences: Ashish Lele, National Chemical Laboratory and Sanjay Mutual, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Sahitya Academy Awards – 2006 The following seven poets among the 23 were awarded the Sahitya Academy Awards for 2006 on December 21. Theyinclude famous poets Darshan Darshi (Dogri), Gyanendrapati (Hindi), Shafi Shauq (Kashmiri), Banshidhar Sarangi (Oriya), Harshadev Madhav (Sanskrit), Mu. Metha (Tamil) and Makhmoor Saeedi (Urdu). Ms. Rupa Bajwa has been chosen for the Sahitya Academy Award in English 2006 for her debut novel The Sari Shop.

Sangeet Natak Academi Awards - 2007
President APJ Abdul Kalam presented the Sangeet Natak Academi Awards to 33 persons in New Delhi on March 1,2007. Some of the awardees include Kuchipudi guru Pasumarthy Rattiah Sarma, Mohiniattam guru Kalamandalam Vimala Menon, Assamese dancer Gorima Hazarika for ‘Creative and Experimental Dance’ and D. Pasupathi, the veteran Carnatic vocal guru of dance a academy Kalakshetra in Chennai. The award has been instituted by the Ministry of Culture in 1952. National Kishore Kumar Samman’ 2007 & 2006 Popular actor and BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha was awarded for 2007 and famous film director Mr. Shyam Benegal for 2006. The Kishore Kumar award is given for direction, acting, scriptwriting and lyrics by the Madhya Pradesh Government .

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award-2006
Ace billiards and Snooker Player Pankaj Advani has been given the country's highest sports award.

Arjuna Awards, 2006
Tarundeep Rai (Archery), Dola Banerjee (Archery), Manjit Kaur (Athletics), Aparna Popat (Badminton), Anuja Prakash Thakur (Billiards & Snooker), Akhil Kumar (Boxing), Surya Shekar Ganguly (Chess), Anju Jain (Cricket), Viren Rasquinha (Hockey), Ramesh Kumar (Kabaddi), Gagan Narang (Shooting), Shikha Tandon (Swimming), Soumyadeep Roy (Table Tennis), Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Rajinder Singh Rahelu (Physically Handicapped).

Dronacharya Award, 2006
Hony. Captain M. Venu (Boxing), Balwan Singh (Kabaddi), Maha Singh Rao (Wrestling), Ismail Baig (Rowing) have been
given the award. This award is given to coaches who have done "outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis
and enabled sportspersons to excel in international events", and is worth Rs.3 lakhs

Dhyan Chand Award, 2006
Uday K. Prabhu (Athletics), Commander (Retd.) Nandy Singh (Hockey), Harish Chandra M. Birajdar (Wrestling).

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy - 2006
Punjab University, Chandigarh has won in the All India Inter-University Sports by lifting the coveted Trophy for the year 2006.


Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award - 2006
Nawang Gombu (Lifetime Achievement), Chhering Norbu Bodh (Land), Shital Kamalakar Mahajan (Air), Mukul Asthana (Water).

SPORTS
Billiards
Geet Sethi wins World Title
Billiards ace Geet Sethi has won his fifth World professional title after seven years, defeating England’s Lee Lagan by
over 1000 points in a five - hour final. Sethi had lost the title in 1998, having won it four times in the 1990s.

Chess
Padma Shri for Koneru Humpy
Koneru Humpy, the youngest female player in the history of chess to achieve a men’s GM title was conferred the Padma Shri on January 25, 2007. Reacting to the honour bestowed on her she said that she was delighted to receive the great civilian honour at this young age. She was an Asian Junior Champion, winner of World Junior crown and is also the first player to win a chess Gold in the Asian Games. She received the Arjuna award in 2004.

India's 12th Grandmaster
Panchanathan Magesh Chandran becomes India's 12th Grand Master when he is tied for the first place in the World Open Chess Tournament held at Philadelphia (US). Other Indian Grandmasters are: Viswanathan Anand, Dibyendu Barua, Pravin Thipsay, Abhijit Kunte, Krishna Sasikiran, S.S. Ganguly, P. Harikrishna, Sandipan Chanda, Koneru Humpy, R.B. Ramesh & Tejas Bakru.

Cricket
India-Bangladesh Test Series
India took 15 wickets on day three at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium at Mirpur to wrap up the two-match Test series 1-0 on May 27, 2007. Mohammad Ashraful hit the joint second fastest fifty in Tests, from 26 balls, but his efforts could not prevent defeat by an innings and 239 runs. Only Jacques Kallis, against Zimbabwe, had produced a faster Test half-century. India scored 610 for 3 and Bangladesh scored 118 and then 253. Anil Kumble distinguished himself by crossing the 550-wicket mark in Tests, taking 115 matches, 21 more than Sri Lankan wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, the fastest to reach the same target. The Test ended in India’s biggest ever victory. With it, the curtains came down on the two-Test series after the raininfluenced draw in the first Test at Chittagong, Zaheer Khan was adjudged the man of the match, while Sachin Tendulkar was declared the man of the series for his back-to-back hundreds.

Ranji Trophy - 2007
Mumbai Captain Amol Muzumdar proudly lifted the Ranji Trophy after defeating Bengal in the final played in Mumbai on February 5, 2007. This was the 37th victory for the home team in the history of Ranji Trophy. Bengal, bowled out in the second innings at 339, 132 runs short of the target, lost its second back to back Ranji final.
Football
Santosh Trophy
Punjab won the Santosh Trophy, beating a crack Bengal combination 5-3 in the tie-breaker penalty shoot-out after the teams were locked goalless after regulation time and extra time in the 61st National Football championship in Gurgaon on October 25, 2006. It was Punjab’s seventh title.

Hockey
16th Azlan Shah Trophy
Olympic champions Australia has won its fifth Azlan Shah Trophy, the third in four years, after defeating home sideMalaysia, 3-1 in Ipoh, Malaysia on May 14, 2007. Eddie Ockenden, played his best match so far in the Australian strip, winning Player of the final and scoring twice in the win, blitzing the Malaysian defense with his pace and touch. For Malaysia, it was second time unlucky in the final. They had lost to India in 1985, the only other time the hosts had entered the final of this tournament. India finished third by defeating Asian champion South Korea 1-0 in the play-off match for third place.
š Player of the tournament: Andrew Smith (Australia) š Player of the Match: Ed Ockenden (Australia)
š Highest Scorer: 6, Lee Sung Min (Korea) š Best Goalkeeper: Kumar Subramaniam (Malaysia) š Fair Play:
Argentina; š Final Placings: 1. Australia, 2. Malaysia, 3. India, 4. Korea, 5. Argentina.

Miscellaneous
33rd National Games - 2007
33rd National Games were held in Guwahati from 9th to 18th February. 11,000 athletes from 33 team participated in the event. Karate has been included as a discipline in this games. These Games were inaugurated on 9th February 2007 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Sarusajai, Guwahati. The closing ceremony of the event took place on February 18, 2007 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium where the Services team were declared winners with 59 Gold medals, closely followed by Manipur that won 51 gold medals, whereas the host state Assam bagged as many as 38 gold medals only. First place Services team (59 Gold, 46 Silver, 37 Bronze) won 142 Medals, Second place Manipur (51 Gold, 32 Silver, 40 Bronze) won 123 Medals, Third place Assam (38 Gold, 53 Silver, 57 Bronze) won 148 Medals, Fourth place Kerala (31 Gold, 19 Silver, 25 Bronze) won 75 Medals, Fifth place Haryana (30 Gold, 22 Silver, 28 Bronze) won 80 Medals and 14th place Tamil Nadu (10 Gold, 21 Silver, 20 Bronze) won totally 51 Medals.

15th Asian Games - 2006
The 15th edition of the Asian Games was inagurated in a colourful ceremony in Doha (Qatar) on December 1, 2006. The host country Qatar, presented a spectacular show of its history, culture and heritage at the opening ceremony. More than 13,000 athletes from 45 Asian nations took part in the games that were played for the first time in the Arab World. Koneru Humpy brought India its first Gold Medal in the 15th Asian Games by winning the individual women’s rapid chess championship. She was followed by Pankaj Advani who won the Gold medal in the Billiards event. Jaspal Rana won two Gold Medals in the individual shooting events while India won the Gold in the team shooting event. 1st place China (164G, 88S, 63B) won 315 Medals, 2nd Place South Korea (58G, 53S, 82B) won 193 Medals, 3rd Place Japan (50G, 71S, 77B) won 198 Medals and 8th place India (10G, 18S, 26B) won 54 Medals.

INTERNATIONAL
New World Bank President
US President George W. Bush has chosen Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. trade representative to replace Paul Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank. Zoellick, was one of 18 mostly conservative figures, including former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, who wrote a much publicized letter to former President Bill Clinton in 1998 advocating removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. It also noted that any bank executive director could nominate a candidate. TheUnited States has traditionally selected the head of the World Bank since it was founded 60 years ago, while Europe haschosen the head of its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund.
Sonia, Mittal on Time List
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Steel baron L.N. Mittal and Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi figure in Time magazine’s coveted list of 100 most influential people, which also includes Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. But missing from the list for the firsttime in four years, is United States President George W. Bush. The list also features Queen Elizabeth II, Sudanese President Mohamed Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, acting Cuban President Raul Castro, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Chinese President Hu Jintao, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Pope Benedict XVI, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barrack Obama, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are among the Americans on the list.

Huge Oil field in China
China’s newly found oil field in Bohai Bay has a reserve of one billion tonnes, or about 7.35 billion barrels, the largest discovery in the country over four decades, said the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The field lies in the Jidong offfield in the Hebei Province. The block, partly offshore, covers 1,300-1,500 sq.km. and is expected to produce light crude. The company previously estimated that the reserve of the new oilfield was 2.2 billion barrels and the daily output would be 2,00,800 barrels in three years. China’s oil dependency, or net oil imports against oil consumption, went up 4.1 percentage points year on year to 47 percent in 2006, according to the Ministry of Commerce. In 2006, the nation produced 183.68 million tonnes of crude oil, up 1.7 per cent, and imported 138.84 million tonnes, up 16.9 per cent. Its oil consumption (crude plus oil products) amounted to 346.56 million tonnes, up 9.3 per cent. Blair to step down as Prime Minister The longest goodbye in Britain’s political history moved closer to a denouement on May 10, 2007 when Tony Blair announced that he would step down as Prime Minister on June 27, 2007 saying that sometimes the only way to “conquer the pull of power is to set it down”. Mr. Blair would submit his resignation to the Queen on June 27, 2007 after attending probably his last Question Hour in the Commons as Prime Minister, but he would stay on in Downing Street until his successor – Chancellor Gordon Brown – is formally elected. Mr. Blair, who became the longest serving Labour Prime Minister when he completed 10 years in office on May 1, 2007 made the heavily-trailed announcement in a brief and emotional speech to Labour activists in his parliamentary constituency of Sedgfield. Presidential Election in East Timor East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta on May 11, 2007 emerged victorious in the tiny state’s first presidential poll since Independence five years ago. A Nobel Peace laureate for his role in the country’s struggle for independence, Horta defeated Facisco Guterres, currently leader of the Fretilin party that had fought for freedom from Indonesia. ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia on April 13, 2007. At the end of the meeting, the Ministers agreed to establish a task force to look into the formation of an infrastructure fund. Other priorities, covered integrated development of capital market in ASEAN with stronger support to financial supply institutions among ASEAN communities. China joins Elite Club China’s home made new generation fighter air craft, the Jian-10, made its debut in Beijing on January 5, 2007. A fiveminute- long video film revealed how the fighter takes off, lands, fires missiles and flies in formation. A single-seater model plane was also uneviled by the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVICI), which spent seven years developing the Jian-10, the Taihang turbofan engine and the new generation air to air missiles. China has become the fourth country in the world to develop its own advanced fighter aircraft, aero-engines and missiles, said Geng Ruguang, Deputy General Manager of AVICI. The Jian-10 and the Taihang turbofan engine, both with proprietary intellectual property rights (IPR), herald the third generation of Chinese fighter aircraft and military aero engines, said Mr.Geng. The Jian-10 series marks a break through in China’s development of heavy fighter aircraft, said Liu Gaozhuo, executive Jian-10 programme. Putin visits Saudi Arabia in First Time President Vladimir Putin, making the first visit by a Russian leader to Saudi Arabia, has met King Abdullah and other senior officials for talks on the situations in Iraq and the Palestinian territories. His visit to this traditional US ally comes as audi Arabia is opening up to other countries, particularly in Asia. Moscow represents an option for Saudi Arabia to diversify its sources and a potential ally with considerable political clout as a member of the United Nations Security Council and the club of Mideast peacemakers. The leaders met for talks on regional and international issues including the Palestinian issue, the situation in Iraq and bilateral cooperation, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. New UN Secretary General Mr. Ban-Ki-Moon of South Korea has been appointed as the New Secretary-General of the UN (United Nations) w.e.f. January 2007. Mr. Ban-Ki-moon succeeds Mr. Kofi Annan of Ghana. He is the eighth person of occupy the prestigious post. First U.K. Hindu School Britain’s Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Jews already have their own state-funded faith schools and now the country’s 6,00,000 strong Hindu community is set to acquire one. The school which like other faith schools, will receive millions of pounds of Government funding, will be located in Harrow, a predominantly Hindu enclave in northwest London and run by Krishna-Avanti school foundation Saddam Hussein Hanged The former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hanged on December 30, 2006, bringing to an end an era which has left a powerful imprint on West Asia. Amid an outpouring of grief from fellow Sunni Arabs, the former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was buried in his home village Awja near Tikrit on December 31, 2006. Trans-Asian Railway Transportation and Railway Ministers of 17 Asian countries and Russia signed an agreement in Busan (South Korea) on November 10, 2006 on a trans-Asian railway network, paving the way for further development of the 81,000-km transcontinental railway network in Asia. The agreement, signed by Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhastan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikstan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam is regarded as a major breakthrough in accelerating the establishment of an international transport system in the Asia-Pacific region. The Trans-Asian Railyway Network starts on the Pacific seaboard of Asia and ends on the doorstep of Europe. It comprises 81,000 km of railway lines passing through 28 countries. US Veto on Gaza The Palestinians’ ruling Hamas Party on November 12, 2006 denounced the U.S. denounced the U.S. for vetoing a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning and Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demanding an Israeli troop withdrawal from the territory. The American veto represents a political and moral aggression against our people and national cause, an ugly act of racism, and a direct encouragement of the Zionist enemy to commit more crimes and massacres,” it said in a statement. The draft resolution was brought before the Security Council after errant Israeli shells slammed into an apartment compound in Gaza, killing 19 civilians.

Global AIDS Meet
The biggest ever 6-day global conference on AIDS was opened on August 13, 2006 in Toronto in a mammoth melting pot of science, politics, protest and glamour, 25 years into the disease’s murderous march against humanity. Some 24,000 delegates and journalists registered registered for the conference. Two years after the previous meeting in Bangkok, the conference tracked the deadly spread into new crisis zone in Weastern Europe, China and parts of India, and take the pulse of Africa, where the pandemic has wreaked carnage. It also focussed on key advances in research, therapy and treatment, and assess progress of a new generation of antiretroviral drugs at last being sent to areas of greatest need. Responding to the fact that globally only one in 10 men who have sex with men (MSM) have access to basic HIV/AIDS prevention services, a group of activists on August 15, 2006 announced the launch of the Global Forum on MSM and HIV. The forum will coordinate a global response to the enormous gaps in funding and services that currently exist for MSM living with and at risk of HIV/AIDS. According to the United Nations Programmer on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), at the end of 2005 an estimated 39 million people worldwide had HIV/AIDS, the vast majority in develping countries. Last year, 4.1 million people became newely infected and 2.8 million died of AIDS related illness. Of the 6.8 million people living with HIV in low and middle income countries. who are in need of antiretroviral medication, only 24 per cent (1.6 million) had access. Next conference will be held in Mexico City in 2008 “Slow pace of progress has led to growing impatience”


AWARDS
Nehru Award for International Understanding:
This award carries an amount of fifteen lakh rupees in cash and a citation which is presented to the recipient at a
special ceremony in India. It is awarded to those who have contributed for international peace and understanding.
The Recipients of Nehru Awards
U.Thant (former Secretary General of the UNO) 1965
Dr. Martin Luther King (Posthumous) 1966
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Frontier Gandhi) 1967
Yehudi Menuhin (Violinist) 1968
Mother Teresa (Nun) 1969
Kenneth Kaunda (President of Zambia) 1970
Marshal Tito (Ex-President of Yugoslavia) 1971
Andre Malraux 1972
Julius Nyrere (Ex-President of Tanzania) 1973
Paul Prebisch 1974
Jonal Salk 1975
Giuseppe Tucci 1976
Tulsi Mehrji Shrestha 1977
Nichidatsu Fuji 1978
Nelson R.Mandela 1979
Mrs. Barbara Ward 1980
Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal 1981
Dr. Leopold Sedar Senghor 1982
Dr. Bruno Kreisky 1983
Mrs.Indira Gandhi (Posthumous) 1985
Olaf Palme (Ex.Prime Minister of Sweden) 1986
Perez de Cuellar (former Secretary General of the UNO) 1987
Yasser Arafat (PLO Leader) 1988
Robert Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe) 1989
Helmut Kohl (Chancellor of Germany) 1990
Aruna Asaf Ali (Social Worker, India) 1991
Maurice F.Strong (Canada) 1992
Ms. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar) 1993
Mr. Md.Hosini Mubarak (Egypt) 1996
Gok Chok Tong (Prime Minister of Singapore) 2003
Julius Namrai (Princess of Tanzania) 2004
Wangari M. Maathai (Environmentalist, Kenya) 2005
Luiz Nacio Lula Da Silva (Prasident of Brazil) 2006
Magsaysay Awards:
The award instituted in 1957 to honour the memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the late President of the Philippines. The award consists of a gold medal, a certificate and 50,000 U.S. dollars.

The following were awarded for the year 2006:
(1) Government Service - Ek Sonn Chan (Cambodia);
(2) Public Service - Park Won soon (South Korea);
(3) Community Leadership - Gawad Kalinga & Antonio Meloto (Philiphines);
(4) International Understanding - Santuk Ruit (Nepal);
(5) Journalism - Eugenia Duran Apostol (Philiphines);
(6) Emergent Leadership - Aravind Kejriwal (India) Head of the Delhi based parivarthana citizen's movement.

Nobel Prizes - 2006
Peace : Mohamed Unnus (Bangladesh) won the Nobel Peace Prize ‘2006 for his works in foundation
of Grameen Bank in all over the world for poor people.
Literature : Orhan Pamuk (Turkey) for his works in Turkish, English, French and Swedish novels
Cevdet Bey Ve Ogullari (1982), Sessiz EV (1983), The House of Silence (1998).
Physics : Americans John C.Mather and George F. Smoot were jointly awarded Nobel Prize for
their work that helped cement the Big Bang theory of how the universe was created and deeper understanding of the origin f galaxies and stars.
Chemistry : American Roger D. Kornberg was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his studies of
how cells take information from genes to produce proteins, a process that could provide insight into defeating cancer and advancing stem cell research.
Medicine or Physiology : Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello of the US were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for
Medicine for their work in controlling the flow of genetic information and their discovery of RNA interference-gene silencing of double-stranded RNA.
Economic Sciences : American economist Edmund S. Phelps won the Nobel Economics Prize for explaining how
policies to deal with inflation and umemployment today can have big effects on behaviour and welfare in the future.
64th Annual Golden Globe Awards’ 2006
The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards were presented in Beverly Hills on Jan 15, 2007 to the following:
CINEMA CATAGORIES: • Best Film, Drama - Babel; • Best Actor, Drama - Forest Whitaker, The Last King of
Scotland; • Best Actress, Drama - Helan Mirren, The queen; • Best Musical or Comedy - Dreamgirls; • Best Actor,
Musical or Comedy - Sacha Boran Cohen, Borat; Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of
Kazakhstan; • Best Actress, Musical or Comedy - Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; • Best Director - Martin
Scorsese, The Departed; • Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls; • Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer
Hudson, Dreamgirls; • Best Foreign Language Film - Letters from Iwo Jima; • Best Original Song - The song of the
Heart from Happy Feet; • Best Screen play-Peter Morgan, The Queen. TELEVISION CATAGORIES: • Best Actor,
Drama - Hugh Laurie, House; • Best Actress, Drama - Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer.

UN Population Award-2006
Dr. Halida Hanum Akhter from Bangladesh, a doctor specialising in family planning, has won the UN Population Award for the year 2006. The other winner is the Foundation Pour la Sante Reproductive el’Education Familiale, a Haiti-based private, non-profit organisation devoted to reproductive health and the promotion of family life. The award, instituted by the UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities), goes each year to individuals and institutions for their outstanding work in population stabilisation and in improving the health and welfare of people.


60th Cannes Film Festival Awards - 2007
š Palm d’or (Top Cannes Award): “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” by Christian Mungiu (Director) from Romania. š Grand Prize (Second Top Award): “The Mourning Forest”, “Naomi Mungiu”, Japan š 60th Anniversary Prize: Gus Van Sant, “Paranold Park A”, US š Best Director: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, Julian Schnabel, USA š Best Actress: Jeon Do-yeon, “Secret Sunshine”, South Korea š Best Actor: Konstantin Lavronenko, “The Banishment”, Russia.

49th Annual Grammy Awards - 2007
These Awards given for excellence in music, held in Los Angeles (USA) on February 11, 2007.
š Best Album of the year: “Talking the Long Way”, Dixie Chicks š Best Record of the year: “Non Ready To Make
Nice”, Dixie Chicks š Best Song of the year: “Non Ready To Make Nice”, Dixie Chicks š Best New Artist: Carrie
Underwood š Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Waiting on the World to change" John Mayer š Best Female Pop
Vocal Performance: "Ain't No Other Man," Christina Agullera š Best Pop Vocal Album: "Continuum", John Mayer
š Best Rock Album: "Stadium Arcadium", Red Hot Chili Peppers š Best Rhythm & Blue Album: "The Breakthrough,
Marry J. Blige š Best Rap Album: Release Therapy.

79th Annual Academy Oscar Awards - 2007
These awards were presented in Hollywood, California (U.S.A.) on February 25, 2007.
Best Picture: The Departed Best Actor: Forest Whitaker (The last King of Scotland) Best Actress: Helen
Mirren (The Queen) Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer
Hudson (Dreamgirls) Best Acheivement in Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth Best Achievement in Cinematography:
Pan's Labyrinth Best Achievement in Costume Design: Pan's Labyrinth Best Director: Martin Scorsese (The
Departed) Best Documentary (feature): An Inconvenient Truth Best Film Editing: The Departed Best Foreign
Language Film: The Lives of Others Best Make-up: Pan’s Labyrinth Best Music (Original Score): Babel Best

Car Race
Monaco Grand Prix Championship
Defending champion Fernando Alonso of Spain drove from pole position to a clear and consummate victory for Renault in the Monaco Grand Prix at Monaco on May 28, 2006. His first win in the principality, coming in the wake of extraordinary penalty that sent disgraced rival Michael Schumacher from pole to the back of the grid, enlarged his lead over the seven times German champion.

Cricket
ICC World Cup - 2007
Australia won a record third successive World Cup title amid scenes of unprecedented confusion as night fell at Kensington Oval stadium on 28th April 2007. The Australians, who scored 281 for four from 38 overs, thought they had clinched the rain-reduced match when Sri Lanka needing 63 runs from three overs to win accepted the umpires offer to go off for bad light. Australia unbeaten in 29 World Cup matches since they lost to Pakistan in 1999, are the only team to win the tournament three times in a row. It was their fourth victory overall. Another milestone for Shane Warne Australian spin wizard Shane Warne reached another milestone in his farewell outing as he grabbed his 1000th international wicket in the fifth and final Ashes Test. Warne became the second bowler in the history of the game to claim 1000 international wickets as he trapped Monty Panesar before the stumps during England’s first innings. The leg-spinner, who is the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, having scalped 707 batsmen so far, has claimed 293 one-day international wickets. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan was the first to claim 1000 international wickets. The off-spinner, who is the second highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 674 scalps, has captured 1104 international wickets so far. Meanwhile, Australian paceman Glenn McGrath, who is also playing his last Test, got his 900th international wicket.

ICC Champions Trophy - 2006
Australia won their maiden ICC Champions Trophy title by beating West Indies by eight wickets in Mumbai (Maharashtra) on November 5, 2006. The Australians bundled out the West Indies for 138 runs in just 30.4 overs before overhauling the revised target of 116 with 6.5 overs to spare in the rain affected final. Shane Watson of Australia was adjudged Man of the Match while Chris Gayle of West Indies was adjudged Man of the Series. Earlier, India was knocked out of the tournament when it lost to Australia by six wickets in Mohali (Punjab) on October 29, 2006.

ICC Awards - 2006
The third ICC (International Cricket Council) Awards were presented in a glittering ceremony in Mumbai (Maharashtra) on November 3, 2006. Ricky ponting of Australia was adudged the ICC Player of the year 2006 as aksi ICC Test Player of the Year 2006. He was also named on both the ICC ODI and Test Teams of the year
ICC Player of the year: Ricky Ponting (Aus) Test Player of the year: Ricky Ponting (Aus) ODI Player of the year: Michael Hussey (Aus) Emerging Player of the year: Ian Bell (England) Captain of the year: M. Jayawardene (SL) Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (Aus) Woman Player of the year: Karen Rolton (Aus) Spirit of Cricket Award: England Cricket Team.

Football
FIFA World Cup - 2006
š 32 Teams š 64 Matches š 30 Billion viewers All Over The World š Over 31 Days š 1 Champion The biggest sporting tournament of the world, the 18th FIFA (Federation International de Football Association) Football World Cup 2006, was declared open by the German President, Mr. Hort Koehler in Munich (Germany) on June 9, 2006. The spectacular event was witnessed by a 60,000 strong audience in the Allianz Arena of Munich as well as by hundreds of millions of Viewers worldwide on the television. For the first time in the history of the mega event, every living member of the past World Cup-winning teams was present at the opening ceremony. More than 100 former players took apart in a parade during the event. The opening ceremony was followed by the inaugural match between the host Germany and Costa Rica. Philipp Lahm of Germany scored the first goal of the 18th FIFA World Cup. Germany won the match 4-2 and thus, set the momentum for the month - long sporting extravaganza end with a grand final on July 9, 2006. Italy won the World Cup in a penalty shootout in final, beating France 5-3 after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes.



World Cup Football - 2010
The World Cup Football 2010 will be held in South Africa, according to a decision taken by the executive meeting of the FIFA at Zurich (Switzerland).

Hockey
Women’s Champions Trophy - 2007
The Netherlands beat Argentina 1-0 on an early goal by Maartje Paumen to win the Women’s Champions Trophy hockey tournament at Quilmes (Argentina) for the fifth time. The Dutch forced two penalty corners in the second minute and Paumen, who scored twice in its World Cup final victory last October, slammed in the second one. The Netherlands’ steely defence then made it hard work for Argentina just to cross into Dutch territory.
World Cup - 2006
Germany defeated Australia 4-3, to retain the Hockey World Cup title, in Monchengladbach (Germany), on September 17, 2006. Germany came back from behind and scored three goals in the space of nine minutes to lift the coveted trophy. In nother match, Spain beat South Korea 3-2, to secure the third place in the tournament. Jaime Dwyer of Australia was adjudged ‘Player of the Tournament’ while Christopher Zeller and Ulrich Bubolz, both of Germany were named ‘Promising Player’ and ‘Best Goalkeeper’ respectively. New Zealand got the Fair Play Award.

Women’s World Cup - 2006
The Netherlands won the women’s hockey World Cup with a 3-1 win over Australia on October 8, 2006 in Madrid, Spain. Maartje Paumen scored twice and Sylvia Karres - the tournament’s top scorer grabbed her sixth goal to snap a two game losing streak at major finals for the Oranje. It was the Netherlands’ first world title since 1990. Argentina claimed the bronze medal when it trounced host Spain 5-0 in the third place playoff. The Indian women’s hockey team finished 11th in the World Cup.

Swimming
World Championship
Veerdhawal Khade, who became the first Indian swimmer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics celebrated the feat by creating a new national record in the 100m freestyle event in the World Championship at Melbourne. Khade clocked 51.46 sec. to improve upon his record of 52.12 sec. set at the Doha Asian Games in 2006.

Table Tennis
World Championships
š Women’s Singles: China’s Guo Yue defeated compatriot Li Xiaoxia in the women’s singles final at the World table tennis championship at Zagreb on May 27, 2007. š Men’s Singles: Wang Liqin beat Ma Lin in an all-Chinese men’s singles final at the World table tennis championships. China thus made a clean sweep of gold and silver medals for the third time. China has won the men’s singles and doubles, mixed doubles, women’s singles and doubles. It is the fifth time for China to clean sweep the individual golds. š Women’s Doubles: Wang Nan / Zhang Yining (China) bt Guo Yue / Li Xiaoxia (China). š Men’s Doubles: Chen Qi / Ma Lin (China) bt Wang Liqin / Wang Hao (China). š Mixed Doubles: Wang Liqin / Guo Yue (China) bt Ma Lin / Wang Nan (China).

Tennis
Dubai Open-2007
Men’s Singles : Swiss Roger Federer won the 2007 Dubai Open Men’s Singles Tennis Tournament beating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in the final at Dubai on March 3, 2007. Women’s Singles : Belgian Justine Hennin-Hardenne won the 2007 in the 2007 Dubai Open Lawn Tennis beating Amelie Mauresmo of France in the final at Dubai on Feb. 24, 2007.

Davis Cup
Russia won its second Davis Cup title in Moscow (Russia) on December 3, 2006 when Marat Safin of Russia defeated Jose Acasuso of Argentina, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), in the fifth and deciding match. The Russians beat Argentina 3-2, in the best of-five series.

Wimbledon-2006
Men’s Singles: Roger Federer (Switzerland) defeated Rafael Nadal (Spain) by 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3,in the final at London (UK) on July 9, 2006. Women’s Singles: Amelie Mauresmo (France) defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) by 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Men’s Doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, both from the US, defeated Fabrice Santoro (France) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia). Women’s Doubles: Chinese duo Zi Yan and Jie Zheng defeated Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) and Paola Suarez (Argentina). Mixed Doubles: Andy Ram of Israel and Vera Zvonareva of Russia defeated Bob Bryan and Venus Williams, both from the US by 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

French Open - 2006
Men’s Singles : Rafael Nadal (Spain) won the 2006 French Open Men’s Singles Tennis Tournament defeating Roger Federer (Switzerland) by 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the final at Paris on June 11, 2006. Women’s Singles : Justine Henin - Hardenne (Belgium) beat Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia). Men’s Doubles: Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) and Max Mirayi (Belarus) defeated American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan. Women’s Doubles : Lisa Raymond (US) and Samantha Stosur (Australia) defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Ai Sugiyama (Japan). Mixed Doubles: Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) and Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia).

\Australian Open - 2007
Men’s Singles: Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) (Cyprus) by 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final at Rod Laver Arena on January 28, 2007. Women’s Singles: Serena Williams (US) beat Maria Sharapova (Russia). Men’s Doubles: Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (USA) beat Jonas Bjorkman (Swedan) & Max Mirniyi (Belgium). Women’s Doubles: Cara Black (Zimbabwe) & Liezel Huber(South Africa) beat Chan Yung-Jan & Chuang Chia-Jung (Taiwan). Mixed Doubles: Daniel Nestor (Canada) & Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Max Mirnyi & Victoria Azarenka (Belgium).
US Open-2006 Men's Singles: Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia); Women's Singles: Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Justice Henin Hardenne (Belgium); Men's Doubles: Martin Damm (Czech) and Leander Paes (India) beat Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) and Max Mirnyi (Blr); Mixed Doubles: Martina Navratilova & Bob Bryan (USA) beat Kveta Peschke & Martin Damm (Czech).

Miscellaneous
Delhi to Bid for 2020 Olympics
South Korea’s Incheon pip New Delhi to host the 2014 Asian Games and India’s subsequent withdrawal from the race to host the 2016 Olympic Games, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Suresh Kalmadi on April 28, 2007 announced that India will bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

2014 Asian Games
New Delhi’s bid to host the 2014 Asian Games came unstuck as the Olympic Council Asia awarded the multi-sport event to South Korean city of Incheon. The Council presented this honour to South Korean city in its meeting held in Kuwait. Delhi was bidding to bring back the continental mega event to the Indian soil after a gap of 32 years, having last organised the same in 1982. South Korea will be hosting the Games for a third time, with Seoul and Busan having conducted it in 1986 and 2002 respectively. Incheon seemed to have clinched the bid with its offer of USD 20 million for training, equipment and other facilities for the participating nations.Sharapova becomes UN Anti-poverty Ambassador Tennis world number one Maria Sharapova has beome the latest celebrity appointed goodwill ambassador of the UN Development Program (UNDP), pledging to use her charisma and fame to galvanise support for the fight against world poverty. The 19-year-old US-based Russian star also donated 100,000 dollars to eight UNDP recovery projects in rural communities in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine still affected by the 1986 ChernobyI nuclear diaster. The pre-dawn blasts on 26th April 1986, at the Soviet-era ChernobyI plant, the world’s worst nuclear accident, unleashed a cloud of radioactive dust that drifted over a large swath of Europe and still haunts millions of people in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. On behalf of UNDP, Sharapova will promote international efforts to achieve the poverty-reduction Millennium Development Goals in the areas of education, health, women’s rights and sanitation by the target date of 2015.

ECONOMY
Monetary and Credit Policy (2007-08)
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y.V. Reddy announced the Annual Monetary and Credit Policy for 2007-08 in Mumbai on April 24, 2007. The policy left the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Repo and Reverse Repo Rates unchanged. It kept the Bank Rate unchanged at six per cent, Reverse Repo at six per cent, Repo Rate at 7.75 per cent and the CRR at 6.5 per cent. RBI also introduced measures to make interest rates attractive for housing loans upto Rs. 20 lakh. The risk weight on the residential housing loans to individuals would be reduced to 50 per cent from 75 per cent as a temporary measure, keeping in view the default experience and other relevant factors. This step would be applicable to loans up to Rs. 20 lakh and will be reviewed after one year, the policy said. This measure will leave banks with more money to lend for the housing sector and make interest rates attractive for loans up to Rs. 20 lakh. Meanwhile the apex bank has lowered its growth forecast to 8.5 per cent from 8.5-9 per cent as it expects global GDP to decline in 2007. Inflation targets have also been revised downward to 5 per cent from last year’s targets of 5-5.5 per cent.

New Foreign Trade Policy
The Union Government on April 19, 2007 announced a host of incentives to boost exports from several sectors including a new scheme covering high-technology products, as part of the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy. The measures would help maintain the 25 per cent compounded growth rate in exports witnessed in the past three years, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said. The highlights of the Policy are (i) Abolishes service tax on all exports; (ii) Includes more items in Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana for tax sops; (iii) Gives duty exemption and remission schemes to developers of SEZs; (iv) Extends the Duty Entitlement Passbook scheme till March next; and (v) Sets $160 billion target for merchandise exports in 2007-08. Rate of Inflation Inflation fell for the second consecutive week, reaching a level of 5.66 per cent for the week ended April 28, 2007 amid signs of a narrowing of the demand-supply mismatch for agricultural produce in the current rabi marketing season. While prices of cereals declined by 0.2 per cent, the price of wheat fell by one per cent. Wheat production in 2006-07 is estimated to be around 73.7 million tonnes, compared with 69.35 million tonnes the previous year. Minimum Support Price for Kharif Crops The Union Government on May 17, 2007 announced the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the 2007-08 Kharif crops of paddy, coarse grains and pulses, based on the recommendations of the (CACP). The MSPs have seen an increase, over the price fixed in 2006, especially of pulses, as government wanted to encourage farmers, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, said announcing the approval accorded by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

IT Services Revenue
Worldwide IT services revenue on May 15, 2007 totalled $672.3 billion in 2007, a 6.4 per cent rise from $631.8 billion generated last year, said Gartner, the World’s leading IT research and advisory company. While India-based vendors’ IT services revenue grew 33.3 per cent in 2006, these companies earned only three per cent of the revenue tracked, while US-based vendors earned 57 per cent of the total.

Target for 11th Plan
Seeking to emulate tiger economies such as China and Korea, the Planning Commission has set an ambitious 8.5 per cent growth target for the 11th Five Year Plan, commencing in 2007-08. The Plan aims to reach 9.5 per cent growth in the final year, according to the approach paper. The paper, in a break with tradition, has been circulated to Chief Ministers and Union Ministers well in advance of a formal meeting of the National Development Council (NDC). The Commission is believed to have described the high growth path as “feasible but not inevitable,” while flagging a number of hard decisions essential to achieve this objective. It has placed the focus of the next plan on agriculture, social sector and manufacturing.

SCIENCE
Brightest Star Explosion
Astronomers at the University of California have spotted a cataclysmic explosion that marked the death of a huge, distant star in a blast five times as bright and powerful as any they had seen previously. According to them a similar fate may be imminent for a star in Earth’s galactic neighbourhood. The size and energy of the newly record blast, 240 million light-years away, has already begun to transform scientific understanding of how especially large stars explode, and has left awestruck researchers concerned – and a little excited – about what might happen to the similarly anemones and unstable stars closer home.

Artificial Plastic Blood
Scientists in Britain have developed an artificial plastic blood, which they claim could act as a substitute, easier to store and could be a huge advantage in war zones. The new artificial blood is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like haemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body. The researchers say they were looking for extra funding to develop a final prototype that would be suitable for biological resting.

Solar Vaccine Refrigerator
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on November 1, 2006 acquired the first environment friendly Solarchill vaccine refrigerator. It was installed at the President’s estate clinic in the presence of Mr. Kalam. The Solarchill was conceived as a vaccine cooler for remote areas in developing countries where access to power supply is difficult. Powered by three 60-watt photovoltaic panels, it stores the energy of the sun in ice instead of batteries. In place of the chloroflurocarbons (CFC) and other ozone depleting and global warming substances, Solarchill relies on ozone and climate friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants. Mercury Passes in front of the sun Mercury’s brief trip between Earth and the Sun treated sky watchers to a celestial event most people get to see less than once a decade. The minuscule planet appeared on November 8, 2006 night as a tiny dot passing from left across the face of the Sun. The five hour passing called a transit, was viewable only with specially outfitted telescopes and online telescope cameras. The crossing, which occurs about 13 times a century, last occured in 2003 and will not happen again untill 2016.

Census of India - 2001 (Revised)
The census enumeration took place from 9th February to 28th February, with 00.00 hours of 1st March as the reference date, and the revisional round was over on 5 March, 2001. No developed country can match this performance. In India this is possible because of a combination of manual tabulation and use of computers, fax and e-mail. Census coverage The 2001 census covered the whole of India: 28 States, 7 Union Territories, 5,564 tahsils/talukas, 640,000 villages and 5,161 towns and cities. It may be noted that in 1991 the census enumeration could not take place in Jammu & Kashmir. In 2001 the census enumeration did take place in Jammu & Kashmir in spite of the threat from militants. Another important aspect to be noted is that 2001 census data are available for the three newly formed states of Chhatisgarh, Uttarakhand (Uttaranchal) & Jharkhand. The data are adjusted for previous census years (1991, 1981 etc) in order to enable the user to study past trends. The decennial census of 2001 is in the 21st century and deserves special attention. The census is the most important single source of information on the life of the people of India.

A special postage stamp was released to commemorate the Census of 2001. A census logo with the motto ‘people-oriented’ was introduced by the Census organisation. Highlights of the final census 2001 Statistics The population of India on the 1st March 2001 was 1027 million (102.7 crores) and it has reached 1028 million on 10.5.2004 (102.8 crores) with 53.2 crore males and 49.6 crore females at an annual growth rate of 1.94. This includes the population of J & K where the 1991 census could not be conducted while the enumeration was done in 2001. In the last decade (1991-2001) the population of India increased by 181 million. In percentage terms, the decadal growth rate was 21.3 per cent compared to 23.9 per cent during the previous decade (1981-91). The decline in the decadal growth rate was 2.5 percent points during 1991-2001 decade. Bihar recorded the highest decadal growth rate, which in fact increased from 23.4 per cent to 28.4 per cent. Andhra Pradesh recorded the sharpest decline in the decadal growth rate: 13.9 per cent during 1991-2001 compared to 24.2 per cent during 1981-1991 or a decline of 10.3 per cent points. The lowest growth rate was recorded by Kerala (9.4 per cent) followed by Tamil Nadu (11.2 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (13.9 percent). Uttar Pradesh even after the new state of Uttarakhand (Uttaranchal) was carved out in 2000, continues to be the most populous state in India with a population of 166 million (Uttarakhand population is 8.5 million). Thus Uttar Pradesh as of 1991 has a population of 175 million in 2001. Uttar Pradesh has 16.2 per cent of India’s population followed by Maharashtra (9.4 per cent) and Bihar 8.0 per cent. The density of India is 325 per sq km. in 2001 compared to 267 in 1991 or an increase of 57 during the last ten years. West Bengal has the highest density (903) followed by Bihar (881). The sex ratio (females per 1000 males) is 933 in 2001 compared to 927 in 1991 or an increase by 6 points during the last decade. Kerala has the highest sex ratio (1058) and Haryana the lowest (861). The child sex ratio (0-6 age group) was 927 in 2001 compared to 945 in 1991 or a decline by 18 points. The sharpest decline in the sex ratio of the child population was in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The literacy rate (for population 7 years and over) was 64.8 per cent in 2001. The male literacy rate was 75.2 per cent and the female literacy rate was 53.6 per cent. Compared to 1991 the overall literacy rate increased by 12.6 percentage points (52.2 in 1991 to 64.8 in 2001). The increase in the male and female literacy rate were 11.7 and 14.9 percentage points respectively. The gap between male and female literacy rates has decreased from 28.8 percentage points in 1991 to 21.6 in 2001. For the first time since independence there has been an absolute decline in the number of illiterate persons: the number of illiterates declined by 32 million during the last decade. Among males the number declined by 21.5 million and among females by 10.5 million. The literacy rate was highest in Kerala (90.9 per cent) and lowest in Bihar (47.5 per cent). India is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of 1027 million (on 1st March 2001) and it had reached 1028 million (102.8 crores) on 10-5-2004, compared to China which had a population of 1,278 million (on 1st February 2000).

Highlights of Census 2001
181 m persons added in the last decade.
Literacy rate goes up
Kerala has the highest literacy rate, Bihar the lowest
UP is the most populous State
Every sixth human being is an Indian.
India accounts for 16.7 percent of World's population
The most densely populated State is West Bengal
Kerala has the highest sex ratio (1,058), Haryana the Persons lowest (861)
Of the North Eastern States only Meghalaya shows Females an increase in population growth
Railway Budget 2007-08
The Railway Minister, Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, presented a “people-friendly budget", for the year 2007-08 in the Lok
Sabha on 26-2-2007 without increasing the passenger fares for all classes and the freight rates and parcel tariffs and still
managed to shower concessions on women, rural students, farmers and milk producers.

Highlights
1st class AC fare to be cheaper by 3% to 6%.
The reduced rates would be two per cent and four per cent in AC two-tier.
Also, candidates appearing for the main written examination by the Staff Selection Commission and the Union Public
Service Commission can now avail themselves of 50 percent concession.
A reduction in fares would also be effected in all classes of high-capacity newly designed coaches, which would be
F our percent in the busy season and eight per cent in the lean season in AC three tier and AC chair car classes, and four
percent in all seasons in the sleeper class.
Non-suburban fare cut by Re1 per passenger.
Superfast surcharge on 2nd class tickets reduced by 20%.
Differential discounts for lean and peak seasons, as well as popular and other trains.
40 new trains, including 8 Garib Raths, to be introduced.
AC suburban trains for Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata; Rs.5000 cr. over 5 years for Mumbai locals.
Rail tickets to be sold at post-offices, ATMs petrol pumps.
All wooden berths to be cushioned.
Unreserved compartments in each train to rise from 4 to 6.
Quotas for elderly and women in lower berths, special coaches for handicapped.
All classes of coaches to be redesigned to take in many more passengers.
Double and triple deck freight trains on way.
Smart travel cards to be introduced.
Palm tops for TTEs.
Feasibility study on 300-350 kmph trains.
Call local number 139 anywhere and get Rly call centers, which will also provide SMS alerts. Other facilities also on the anvil.800 more coaches, including special coaches for the physically challenged, will be attached to popular trains. 300 more stations to be developed as model stations with focus on cleanliness. 2007 has been declared ‘Cleanliness Year’. 8,000 is the number of new unreserved ticketing facility counters that will come up in the next two years. 6,000 automatic ticket vending machines will be installed and linked to Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) in the metros. Rs.31,000 crore is the annual, budget outlay for 2007-08, the largest annual plan ever. The Budget addresses the needs of all economic agents concerned - Indian Railways itself, its passengers and businesses who want to move freight. In pushing a revenue model for Indian Railways that lays stress on volumes to bring in the expected returns, the Minister hopes not only to ride on the current growth wave but also rely on improved capacity utilisation, operational efficiencies and last-mile improvements. Indian Railways achieved a surplus income of Rs. 20,063 crore for 2006-07 and set an ambitious target of Rs.21,578 crore in 2007-08 riding high on the booming economic growth. In fact, there has been a marginal reduction in fares across the board, and a selection lowering of freight tariff on sensitive commodities such as a petrol, diesel and iron ore, which can also have an inflationary effect. The Railway Minister has not only pleased the passengers and trade, but also looked at expansion and competition in a new light. The Budget combines sensitivity to popular needs and sentiments with efficiency and performance.
Budget Estimates
Sharp in short-term money making, strong in medium-term strategy, but weak long-term vision, Lalu’s fourth Budget chugs on the tracks he charted four years ago. It transports record-breaking profits and freight carriage; most importantly, it delivers the lowest-ever operating ratio. Lalu’s budget yearned for attention in the Lok Sabha but he had to yell his way. A surplus before devidends of Rs. 20,000 crore makes Indian Railways the country’s biggest profit-making entity. To put it in perspective, the Railways’ profit are 25 per cent more than Rs.16,000 crore, the training 12 month profits on ONGC and almost double of Reliance Industries’ Rs.10,557 crore. Keeping the speed at which it is growing and the magical “infrastructure” sector it is operating in mind, the Railways, if listed, would command a PE multiple of at least 20 times. Which means, at Rs.400,000 crore, it would be India’s most valued company, beating ONGC and Reliance by a margin of 100 per cent – and we are not factoring its huge land banks.


Plan Allocation
The Gross Traffic Receipts was estimated at Rs.71,318 crore, while the total working expenses were Rs.56,687 crore. The dividend payable to general revenues were estimated at Rs.3,908.54 crore. The Railway has achieved Rs.20,063 crore surplus for 2006-07

Safety Plan
Railway Minister announced a slew of security measures, including strengthening of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), installation of CCTV’s and smart video cameras at important railway stations, induction of dog squads to detect explosives and consultation with security experts to make train travel safe and sound. Besides increasing the strength of the existing dog squads in many sensitive divisions, explosive detection devices, door frames and hand-held metal detectors are being installed. The Minister announced an allocation of Rs. 5,500 crore towards Depreciation Reserve Fund for 2007-08 compared to Rs. 2,100 crore in 2001-02. “This has had a direct impact on railways safety record,” Prasad said, adding that although the gross traffic volume had increased from 724 million train km in 2001-02 to 825 million train km in 2005-06, the number of accidents is expected to be less than 200 in 2006-07 against 473 in 2001. With regard to the introduction of the much-awaited Anti-Collision Device, the Minister said as per the Corporate Safety Plan, the testing of the ACD on the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is in its last phase and is likely to be completed by March 2007.

Fares and Freight Rates
Living up to his promise of presenting a “good budget”, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad slashed upper class fares up to eight per cent, effected a token reduction of a rupee in second class ordinary fares, and reduced freight rates on diesel, petrol, minerals and ores while retaining from an across-the-board freight hike. In a bid to woo traffic from low-cost airlines, he announced a reduction in fares in the AC first class by three percent in the busy season and six per cent in the lean season. The reduced rates would be two per cent and four per cent in AC two-tier. Also, candidates appearing for the main writen examination by the Staff Selection Commission and the Union Public Service Commission can now avail themselves of 50 per cent concession. A reduction in fares would also be effected in all classes of high-capacity newly designed coaches, which would be four per cent in the busy season and eight per cent in the lean season in AC three-tier and AC chair car classes, and four per cent in all seasons in the sleeper class. Railway Minister announced reductions and discounts in the freight tariff on various commodities including diesel, Petrol, steel, cement and further discounts for consignments of wheat and fertilisers. Presenting the Railway Budget for the year 2007-08 in the Lok Sabha today, the minister said that the reduction and discount schemes were being announced in the Budget to maintain the unprecedented growth in freight transportation. Yadav proposed to reduce the classification for diesel and petrol of highest class from Class 200 to Class 210, which would bring down the freight rate for diesel, petrol and ammonia, etc., by about five per cent thus taking the rationalisation process further. Last year fuel was reduced from Class 240 to Class 220 thereby reducing the tariff by about nine per cent.

Proposed New Trains
32 New passenger trains, 8 new ‘Garib Rath’ trains and 23 extension of trains have been proposed.
Garib Raths (8)
1. Secunderabad - Yesvantpur (Tri-Weekly).
2. Jaipur - Bandra Terminus via Ahmedabad (Tri-Weekly)
3. Kolkata - Patna (Tri-Weekly)
4. Bhubaneshwar - Ranchi (Tri-Weekly)
5. Thiruvananthapuram - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Bi-Weekly)
6. Kolkata - Guwahati (Bi-Weekly)
7. New Delhi - Dehradun (Tri-Weekly)
8. Raipur - Lucknow (2 days in a week)
32 Pairs of New Trains
1. Shri Chhatrapati Sahu Maharaj Terminus, Kolapur Ahmedabad Exp. (Weekly).
2. Howrah - Rampurhat Express (Daily)
3. Jhansi - Kanpur Express (Daily)
4. Pune - Gorakhpur Express (Weekly)
5. Delhi - Shamli DEMU (Daily)
6. Bapudham Motihari - Varanasi (Tri-Weekly)
7. Bikaner - Jaisalmer Express (Two pairs) (Daily)
8. Mumbai - Aurangabad Jan-shatabdi Express (Six days in a week).
9. Bhagalpur - New Delhi Express (Weekly)
10. Bijapur - Bagalkot Express (Six days in a week)




How a rupee is earned?
How a rupee is spent and earned
How a rupee is spent?
Paise
1. Goods Traffic Earnings 64
2. Passenger Earnings 29
3. Other Coaching Earnings 2
4. Sundry: Other Earnings 3
5. Miscellaneous Receipts 4
Total 100
Paise
1. Staff Wages
& Other Allowances 28
2. Stores 5
3. Lease Charges 3
4. Depreciation Reserve Fund 7
5. Pension Fund 12
6. Fuel 18
7. Dividend 7
8. Spl. Rly. Safety Fund 1
9. Development Fund 4
10. Miscellaneous 8
11. Capital Fund 7
Total 100
Note: Figures for 2006-07 are Revised Estimates and for 2007-08 are Budget Estimates
Railway Budget at a Glance
Overall Position (Surplus)
Rs. crore S
SPassenger
Goods
Railway Earnings
2005-06 06-07 06-07 07-08
(Actual) (Budget) (Revised) (Budget)
Rs. crore
Operating Ratio
In per cent
S
STotal Working Expenses
Gross Traffic Receipts
Working Results
Rs. crore

11. Allahabad - Mathura Express (Daily)
12. Nasik - Pune Express (Daily)
13. Coimbatore - Nagercoil Express via Madurai (Daily)
14. Bhubaneshwar - Rameshwaram Express (Weekly)
15. Gorakhpur - Yeswantpur Express (Weekly)
16. Yeshwantpur - Chennai Express (Two pairs) (Weekly)
17. Farrukhabad - Kasganj Express (Two pairs) (Daily)
18. Indore - Amritsar Express (Weekly)
19. Chennai Egmore - Nagore Express (Daily)
20. Rewa - Jabalpur Intercity Express (Daily)
21. New Delhi - Sahibabad EMU Service (Delhi)
22. Banka - Bhagalpur Passenger (Six days in a week)
23. Chennai Egmore - Rameshwaram Express (Six days in a week)
24. Chhapra - Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Jansadaran Express via Siwan, Gorakhpur (Weekly)
25. Mumbai - Ajmer / Udaipur Express (Six days in a week)
26. Solapur - Bagalkot Express (Six days in a week)
27. Ajmer - Ratlam Express (Daily two pairs)
28. Vadodara - Bhilad Express (Daily)
29. Patna - Delhi - on - Sone Intercity Express (Daily)
30. Gandhidham - Palanpur Express (Daily)
31. Lucknow Jn-Saharanpur Express (Daily) in lieu of Lucknow - Saharanpur Link Express
32. Jabalpur - Delhi via Itarsi (Two days in a week)
Allocation for Tamil Nadu
New Trains
• Coimbatore - Nagercoil daily Express via Madurai
• Yesvanthpur - Chennai (weekly) Express
• Bhubaneshwar - Rameshwaram
• Chennai Egmore - Nagore (daily) Express
• Chennai Egmore - Rameshwaram (six days a week) Express
Gauge Conversion
• Quilon - Tirunelveli - Trichendur - Virudunagar
• Vellore - Thiruvannamalai stretch of Villupuram - Katpadi
• Dindugal - Pollachi - Palghat • Pollachi - Coimbatore
• Cuddalore - Salem • Thanjavur - Villupuram
Doubling works
• Madurai - Dindugal • Irugur - Coimbatore
• Chengalpet - Villupuram - Thiruvannamalai • Chennai Beach - Korukupet
• Chennai Beach - Atipattu fourth line • Pattabhiram - Thiruvallur fourth line
• Thiruvallur - Arakonam third line
Railway Budget - Key Figures
(Figures in Rs. Crore)

Actuals Budget Revised Budget
2005-06 2006-07 2006-07 2007-08
Gross Traffic Receipts 54491.38 59978.00 63220.00 71318.00
Total Working Expenses 45291.62 50124.50 49615.00 56687.00
Net Railway Revenue 10143.15 10885.54 14869.74 16021.99
Dividend Payable to
General Revenues 3286.83 3480.23 3579.26 3908.54
Operating Ratio 83.2% 83.8% 78.7% 79.6%
Overall Surplus 6193.32 6742.31 10627.48 11449.45

Investment By Plan Heads
(Figures in Rs. Crore)
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
(RE) (BE)
New Lines 1994.37 2525.12 1580.20
Gauge Conversion 1323.59 2045.71 2704.31
Doubling 690.53 1178.31 2002.00
Rolling Stock 5197.39 6898.35 9218.50
Track Renewal 3778.98 4206.52 4360.00
Bridge Works 410.58 517.07 602.60
Signaling 1047.79 1354.68 1607.90
Electrification 73.35 224.54 302.00
Leased Assets 1615.59 1720.12 1677.00
Passenger Amenities 256.24 401.10 493.30
Total 16,388.41 21,071.52 24,547.81
BE - Budget Estimates RE - Revised Estimates
Economic Survey 2006 - 07
• Govt lays stress on reforms
• Economic Survey hints at further liberalisation
The Economic Survey 2006-07 was presented in Parliament on 27-02-2007 by the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
Highlights
Economy projected to grow at 9.2 per cent in 2006-07
Sustaining high growth with moderate inflation, inclusive growth and intervention in social sector recommended.
Agricultural growth at 2.7 percent; total foodgrains production at 209.2 million tonne.
Fiscal consolidation satisfactory.
Government making efforts to ease pressure on prices.
FDI rises by 98.4 per cent in first half of 2006-07.
Foreign exchange reserves touch $180 billion.
Buoyancy in exports. Steady progress on infrastructure front. Sharp rise in rate of investment’ in economy.
Trade, hotels, transport and communication services continue to grow at double-digit rates for 4th successive year.
Financial services growth maintained at 11.1 percent. Increase in savings rate expected with higher economic growth.
Need to re-visit multiplicity of poverty alleviation schemes. Alternative mechanisms for subsidy transfers to truly needy suggested. The Survey has two principal themes - maintaining the new growth momentum and containing inflation, have dominated all recent discourses on the macro-economy. But while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest review of Monetary Policy has opted for price stability, the Survey suggests that maintaining the high level of economic growth would be the priority area. The biggest challenges extending to the medium term are to sustain rates of 9 percent and more while moderating inflation and simultaneously to make growth more inclusive. The surge in inflation at this juncture is no doubt a matter of serious concern. Although there is a defence of forward markets while asking for better regulation, issues like RBI’s purchase of dollars, agro reforms to allow disintermediation and lower tariffs are conveniently sidestepped. Overall, the Survey is upseat on the recent economic performance. There has been unprecedented tax buoyanc, with tax collections under all heads except excise showing robust growth. The external sector continues to be in good health with reserves adding up to nearly $185 billion. The Survey is an important document but it remains to be seen how much of its hard-headed analysis is reflected in the political economy of budget-making.

Growth Rate
Taking a cue from the spiralling inflation rates in the face of a healthy economic growth rate of 9.2 per cent in the current fiscal, the Economic Survey 2006-07 advocated “calibrated” measures, including focus on critical areas such as education, health and support for the needy to achieve the target of “inclusive growth”. The government’s pre-budget report card acknowledged buoyancy in all sectors of economy except agriculture, which at a 2.7 per cent growth was a cause for concern. While a sense of optimism characterised the current economic conjecture, the Economic Survey, a critical document prepared by the Chief Economic Adviser in the finance ministry and a indicator of the general Budget to be presented, interjects a note of caution in view of hardening interest rates and a high demand for credit not adequately matched by deposit growth. “Fostering the momentum of growth continues to be a top priority”, the survey spelt out, in an indication that budget may continue the overall trend of moderating taxes.

Agriculture
The country’s foodgrain production could fall 11 million tonnes short of the target of 220 million tonnes raising further concerns about supply side constraints of essential commodities, the primary factor behind rising inflation in recent weeks. The target for foodgrain production for 2006-07 was fixed at 220 million tonnes, but actual production could be around 209.2 million tonnes, the survey said. “Poor agricultural performance, as the current year has demonstrated, can complicate maintenance of price stability with supply side problems in essential commodities of day-to-day consumption,” it said. With a shortfall in domestic production vis-a-vis domestic demand and hardening of international prices, prices of primary commodities mainly food have been on the rise. “Wheat, pulses, edible oils, fruits and vegetables and condiments and spices have been the major contributors to the higher inflation rate of primary articles. As much as 39.4 percent of the overall inflation in Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on Feb, 3, 2007 came from the primary group of commodities,” it said. Food articles have a high weight of 15.4 per cent in the WPI basket. The estimated actual production at 209.2 million tonnes is marginally higher than the 208.6 million tonnes in 2005-06. The target of 228 million tonnes was fixed in view of the late monsoons rains during Sept. 2006 in several States.

Inflation
Inflation has spoilt the growth party and the government is deeply worried. The country’s feel-good economy-riding high on consumer spending, an industrial revival and an expanding boom in services like telecommunications and software is posed for a record 9.2 percent growth this financial year, according to the Economic Survey. But the report also reveals that inflation, measured by wholesale prices is at 6.7 percent, compared with 4.1 per cent a year ago. Finding immediate answers to inflation produced by commodity-specific supply shortfalls is difficult,” says the survey. “A durable solution has to be found in increasing yields and domestic output for products such as pulses, edible oils, rice and wheat.”

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Indian continues to be a favourable destination for overseas investors. Be it foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investment by foreign institutional investors or deposits by the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) or external commercial borrowings, almost all the ingredients of overseas investments have witnessed a sharp upswing in 2006-07. Unlike last financial year, when the Reserve Bank of India lost five billion dollars on account of a valuation loss in foreign exchange reserves, in the first six months of the current financial year, the central bank made a killing of $5.1 billion. Forex reserves reached $180 billion as on Feb. 2007. The pre-budget economic survey says that capital flows into India remained strong on an overall basis even after gross outflows under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with domestic companies seeking a global presence to harness scale, technology and market access through acquisitions overseas. Overtaking South Korea, but still behind the dragon (China), India attracted a cumulative FDI inflow of Rs. 1,81,566 crore ($43.29 billion) since August 1991 upto September 2006, the survey said. As per the latest report of UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), India surpassed South Korea to become to fourth largest recipient of FDI in the region, the Survey-said.

Infrastructure
With infrastructure now showing signs of progress and providing impetus to economic growth, the Economic Survey has suggested that insurance and pension funds can be used to meet the massive investment need of $320 billion in infrastructure during the XI Plan. An indicator of the economy’s progress, the document, tabled in Parliament on 27th February, 2007 says: “Outlook in infrastructure will depend on how investment in infrastructure is facilitated”. It injects a note of optimism when it observes that infrastructure - for years perceived as a constraint on growth-is showing signs of progress in areas such as power, roads, ports and airports. In this contest, it points to the fact that the overall index of six core industries, having a direct bearing on infrastructure and accounting for 27 per cent of weight in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), registered a growth of 8.3 per cent during April-December, 2006 as against the 5.5 per cent registered a year ago. Referring to the projection of investment of Rs. 14,50,000 crore ($320 billion) required in the core sector during the XI Plan, it said investment in infrastructure required long-term funds with long payback periods, which would be possible if insurance and pension funds were utilised. The pre-budget Survey goes on to add, “Thus, success on the infrastructure front will be facilitated by the development of a vibrant bond market, and pension and insurance reforms.” “A single, unified exchange-traded market for corporate bonds would help create a mature debt market for financing infrastructure,” it says further, recalling that the Committee on Infrastructure, headed by the Prime Minister, has projected Rs.2,20,000 crore fund requirement for modernising and upgrading highways, Rs.40,000 crore for civil aviation, Rs.50,000 crore for ports and Rs.3,00,000 crore for the railways by 2012.

Unemployment
The overall employment rate may be on the rise, but the dip in jobs in agriculture and the organised sector is a problem, a fact that the Economic Survey acknowledges while offering higher growth as the only solution. While the rate of employment grew 2.5 per cent annually between 2000-01 and 2004-05, compared to 1.6 per cent during the preceding five years, the rate of unemployment went up to 3.1 per cent in 2004-05, as against 2.8 per cent in 1999-2000. The survey attributes the higher rate of unemployment to the growth in population. What is worrying the government is the limited scope for absorbing the growing workforce in the agriculture sector, whose share in economic activity has dipped below 20 per cent. Farm sector employment too decreased from 61.7 per cent of the total workforce in 1993-94 to 54.2 per cent in 2004- 05. With the sector’s share in GDP falling, it will be even more difficult for agriculture to contribute much to employment generation, the

Survey notes.
Fiscal Deficit
Inflation may be a worry, but tax collections are not. And thanks to that the government is staring at a benign figure on the fiscal deficit - which is an indicator of how much government’s spending and borrowing put together falls short of what it gets in terms or revenues. The economy appears to have done well on the fiscal consolidation front with the tax revenues for 2006-07 likely to surpass its budget estimates on the back of a strong growth in direct tax collections, though public expenditure management remains a matter of concern. The Economic Survey for 2006-07 notes that the fiscal deficit of the Centre as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) has come down from 6.2 per cent in 2001-02 to 3.8 percent in 2006-07. The survey said that as far as the reduction in revenue deficit is concerned, on an aggregate basis, this is budgeted to get eliminated in 2006-07 (Budgetary Estimates), two years ahead of the target. The survey said that the proposed reduction in revenue and fiscal deficits as proportions of the GDP by 0.6 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points respectively was higher than the levels prescribed under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Rules.

Special Economic Zones
Caught in the crossfire between a country on a blazing growth path and the politically sensitive issue of acquiring farm land for industries, the government is doing a tightrope on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and admits as much in the annual economic survey. Dwelling at length on the need for a proper policy on special economic zones, expected to generate employment, survey stresses the fact that fears about revenue losses and compensation could be alloyed only by proper policies. “The recent debate about SEZ illustrates the kind of considerations that have to be taken into account in the formulation of policies,” it observed. SEZs have been in the eye of a political storm due to farm land acquisition for industrial purposes. Issues of meagre land compensation, misuse of land by real estate developers and possible impact on “food security” had caught the attention of policy makers.”

Union Budget 2007 - 08
The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the Union Budget for 2007-08 in the Parliament on Feb. 28, 2007. The Budget is best evaluated in terms of its impact on growth, prices and rural incomes. With the allocation of 34.2 percent more money for heatlh, the Budget stands out for its thrust on the country’s human development profile, which is poorer than some of the smaller neighbouring countries. The additional one per cent education cess on all taxes is estimated to yield Rs.5,500 crore, which will be used to fund secondary and higher education apart from expanding the intake capacity of premier Central institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The Budget has raised the personal income tax exemption limit by Rs. 10,000. The IT exemption limit for women in up at Rs.1,45,000 and for the senior citizens at Rs.1,95,000. The Budget has a clear focus - to curb the price rice, increase public spending on education and health and revitalise agriculture. What the Finance Minister has not done is equally significant. He has not tinkered with the Special Economic Zones, though he is concerned about the proposed loss of revenue.

Plan Outlay
The Union budget accords top priority to the social sector, followed by energy and transport that together account for nearly three-fourth of the total Plan size of Rs.3,19,992 crore, but more than half the financing would come from much maligned Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs). Social services including education, housing and nutrition have got the largest allocation of Rs.83,950.69 crore out of the total Plan allocation and the transport sector has been given the maximum increase of 43.7 per cent in the outlays.With an increase of over 15 percent in the budget allocation, the energy sector has been provided Rs.79,158.45 crore. The transport sector has been provided the third largest pool of resources of Rs.71,589.02 crore to be spent on development of railways, ports, shipping, civil aviation, roads and bridges and inland water transport. The Finance Minister has proposed a Central Plan outlay worth Rs.20,342 crore for the rural development sector, Rs.79,158 crore for the energy sector, Rs.20,434 crore for industry and minerals. He has proposed Rs.18,861 crore for the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Rs.33,153 crore for the Power Ministry and Rs.28,674 crore for the Human Resource and Development Ministry.

Defence
Defence spending continued to inch towards the one lakh crore-mark with the Union budget allocating Rs.96,000 crore for the next fiscal as against this year’s outlay for defence of Rs. 89,000 crore and actual spending of Rs.86,000 crore. Capital outlay on defence services (purchase of major military equipment) has been proposed at a record high of about Rs.42,000 crore and accounts for just over 40 per cent of the budget indicating that the Government’s desire for a 50:50 ratio between capital equipment and revenue expenditure remains unfulfilled. Of the three armed forces, the highest outlay at about Rs. 16,500 crore was for the Indian Air Force (IAF) followed by Rs.11,374 crore for the Army and just over Rs.10,000 crore for the Navy. This does not take into account Rs.2,700 crore earmarked for research & development, a euphemism for missiles and other strategic systems, Rs. 320 crore for the joint staff, Rs.168 crore for special projects and smaller amounts for the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and purchase of rolling stock, mainly specially designed railway wagons for carrying missiles.

Disinvestment
The Government hopes to raise Rs.1651 crore in 2007-08 through disinvestment of a portion of its equity holdings in select PSEs. In 2006-07, the government had assumed Rs. 528.58 crore on account of bonus shares issued by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. The disinvestment proceeds of Rs. 1651 crore in 2007-08 are on account of disinvestment of small equity in Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) an National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). Provision for transfer of the same amount to National Investment Fund (NIF) has been provisioned in the Budget.

Health
An increased allocation has been announced in the budget for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) with particular focus on mother and childcare and communicable diseases. Allocation has also been hiked for HIV/AIDS prevention and polio elimination. The overall allocation for health has been hiked by 21.9 per cent. The proposed allocation for 2007-08 is Rs.15,291 crore, against Rs. 11,366 crore in the current financial year. The allocation for NRHM was hiked from Rs.8,207 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.9,947 crore in 2007-08. He said 320,000 Associated Social Health Activists (ASHAs) had been recruited and over 20,000 received orientation training. Besides, 90,000 link workers were selected by the States.

Science & Technology
Science and Technology got a major boost in the budget with the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, announcing plans to upgrade Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), tax exemptions for research institutions and Rs. 50 crore for initiatives towards undertaking the first human space flight by 2014. The Government also announced Rs. 100 crore for recognising excellence in the field of agricultural research and a proposal to set up an expert committee to study the impact of climate change on India and identify the measures to be taken up in the future. The Minister said that 1396 ITIs would be upgraded into Centres of Excellence in specific trades and skills under Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The state government, as the owner of the ITI, will continue to regulate admission and fees and the new management will be given academic and financial autonomy. The Central Government will provide financial assistance by way of seed money and ITI would be encouraged to start a second shift.

Agriculture
For the first time in a Budget speech, the Finance Minister devoted a good 15-20 minutes exclusively to agriculture. While the announcements lay stress on seeds and water, there is not much in it to encourage private sector investment in areas like food processing. Most of these are seen as long-term measures that are unlikely to have an immediate impact on the present farm crisis. This year’s Budget has moved the focus away from credit and irrigation last year to seeds and extension. After little progress on the irrigation front following the announcements in 2006-07, P. Chidambaram decided to put more money into irrigation. Irrigation outlay has gone up by 35 per cent from Rs.7,000 crore to about Rs.11,000 crore. For farm credit, though the targets have already been achieved, he hiked the outlay from Rs.1,95,000 crore to about Rs. 2,25,000 crore.

Information Technology
The budget must surely have pleased Narayana Murthy, the only one who is game for software being brought under the tax net. For the rest of the software services sector, P. Chidambaram’s speech served a much-evaded blow. The sector has been brought under the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) net and software services and IT-enabled companies will have to pay about 12 percent. Chidambaram did it with finesse, without as much as mentioning the, software sector. Quietly, he extended MAT to the income of companies that have been claiming deduction under Section 10A and 1013 of the Income Tax (read software services and BPO sector). Funds alloted for a new scheme of manpower development for the software export industry is Rs. 33 crore. The minimum alternate tax to be levied on software services and IT-enabled companies is 12 percent.

Education
The Union Budget 2007-08 has enhanced allocation for education by 34.2 percent to Rs.32,352 crore and proposesone per cent additional cess to fund secondary and higher education. The one percent additional cess would be in addition to the two per cent existing cess on all taxes to fund basic education. The additional cess would take care of 54 percent expansion of capacity for the OBC quota. The allocation for school education is proposed to be increased by about 35 per cent from Rs.17,133 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.23,142 crore in 2007-08. Out of this, the Sarva Shiksha Abbiyan (SSA) would get Rs.10,671 crore. The provision for strengthening teachers’ training institutions would be raised from Rs. 162 crore to Rs.450 crore. Next year, two lakh more teachers would be appointed and five lakh additional class rooms built. The Mid-Day Meal Scheme, which targets to enrol more children in schools, will be provided Rs.7324 crore in the next ‘financial year’.

Subsidy
The budget provides for Rs. 2,650 crore for subsiding LPG and Kerosene at the rate of Rs.22.58 per 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinder and Re.0.82 per litre of kerosene sold through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Minister of State in PMO Prithiviraj Chauhan recently mooted the idea of putting in place a “dual pricing” system for LPG distribution to put an end to the misuse of domestic LPG for commercial purposes.

Income Tax
Budget 2007 has increased the basic income tax exemption limit by Rs.10,000. For individual assesses, it is now Rs.1.1 lakh, though for women assesses, it is Rs.1.45 lakh and for senior citizens Rs. 1.95 lakh. As a consequence, the total relief will be Rs. 1,000 for women and men asseses, and Rs.2,000 for senior citizens. However, what Chidambaram has given by way of exemptions, he’s taken by way of a new higher education cess of 1 per cent, which takes the total cess to 3 per cent. For higher income groups, earning a salary of Rs. 6 lakh per annum or more-this might translate into a marginally higher amount shelled out by way of taxes. This is largely due to the fact that as the income increases the percentage increase of the cess has a magnifying effect vis-a-vis a standard relief Rs.1,000. Another change has been in the hike in the withdrawl limit of the Banking Cash Transaction Tax. The exemption has been raised from Rs.25,000 to Rs.50,000 for individuals an HUFs. Now, on withdrawl from one’s current account or fixed deposit exceeding Rs. 50,000 in a day, a tax of 0.1 per cent will be levied on the entire withdrawl.

Tourism
Recognising the need for 20,000 more hotel rooms for the Commonwealth Games to be held here in 2010, Chidambaram proposed a five-year holiday from income tax for new star hotels and conventions centres with a seating capacity of not less than 3,000 persons. Presenting the budget for 2007-08, Chidambaram said the work on the new two, three or four-star hotels as well as the convention centres should be completed and begin operations in Delhi or in the adjacent districts of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad or Gautam Budh Nagar between April 2007 and March 31, 2010. Nothing that India bid for and won for Delhi the Commonwealth Games 2010, Chidambaram recalled that the country had successfully hosted the 1982 Asian Games.
How a rupee is earned?
How a rupee is spent and earned
How a rupee is spent?
Paise
Corporation Tax 21
Borrowings and other Liabilities 19
Excise Duty 17
Income Tax 13
Customs Duty 12
Non-tax Revenue 10
Service Tax & Other Taxes 7
Non-debt Capital receipts 1
Total 100
Paise
Central Plan 20
Interest 20
States’ share of taxes & duties 18
Defence 12
Other Non-plan expenditure 11
States & UT Plan assistance 7
Subsidies 7
Non-plan assistance to States & UT
Govts. 5
Total 100

Commonwealth Games 2010
An allocation of Rs. 500 crore for the Commonwealth Games 2010 was announced in the Union budget, besides a higher allocation of Rs. 111 crore for the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry. In a bid to make the multi-disciplinary snorting extravaganza a success, the Centre would sanction Rs. 350 crore to the Delhi government and another Rs.150 crore to the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry for organising the Games. Finance Minister also earmarked Rs.50 crore for the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Pune next year. The Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry has been provided a budget allocation of Rs.780 crore for the year 2007-08, an increase of Rs. 111 crore from the previous year. Rs.62 crore have been earmarked for training and scouting sports talent. The scheme envisages a package of assistance to the promising sportpersons for training in India and abroad, purchase of sport equipment etc.

Rural Unemployment
The budget has promised to expand the National Rural Job Guarantee scheme (NREG) to 130 new districts, taking the total number of districts under the scheme to 330 with a budgetary allocation of Rs.12,000 crore. A scheme of death and disability insurance scheme for the rural landless households under the name of Aam Admi Bima Yojana is also on cards. Under the scheme, to be run through LIC, the centre will bear the 50 per cent of the premium of Rs.200 a year per person while the rest will have to be borne by the State governments. In order to incentivise the organised sector jobs for physically challenged persons, Rs. 1,800 crore has been earmarked. The money will be used for rewarding the employers by reimbursing their first three EPF contributions for each regularised physically challenged persons in their organization.

Industry
The industry and minerals have also seen a big jump in Plan allocation to Rs.12,588 crore in 2006-07 (revised estimates) to Rs.20,434.42 crore. The tax relief, in the form of infrastructure status, would be directly reflected in lower tariffs in the pipeline system and would make the product more affordable to consumers. The new concession would also make additional funds available as such investments would qualify for tax benefits under the new regime. Chidambaram also provided infrastructure status to the cross-country natural gas distribution network, including pipeline and storage facilities integrated with it. The status, which gives a 10-year income-tax holiday, would help bring down gas-transportation cost by 12-14 per cent. The tax break would mean a net saving of about Rs. 300 crore to fertilizer companies if they used pipelines.

Bharat Nirman Scheme
Grant to the Bharat Nirman Project has been increased by about a third to Rs.24,603 crore. The budget has increased
the budgetary allocation for rural electrification scheme by about 30 per cent to Rs.3,983 crore.

BUDGET AT A GLANCE
(Figures in Rs. Crore)
2005-06 2006-07 2006-07 2007-08
Actuals Budget Revised Budget
Estimates Estimates Estimates
Revenue Receipts 347462 403465 423331 486422
Capital Receipts 158661 160526 158306 194099
Total Receipts 506123 563991 581637 680521
Non-Plan Expenditure 365485 391263 408907 475421
Plan Expenditure 140638 172728 172730 205100
Total Expenditure 506123 563991 581637 680521
Revenue Deficit 92299 84727 83436 71478
Fiscal Deficit 146435 148686 152328 150948
Primary Deficit 13805 8863 6136 –8047
STATE GOVERNORS AND CHIEF MINISTERS
STATE GOVERNOR CHIEF MINISTER
Andhra Pradesh Mr. Rameshwar Thakur Mr. Y.S. Rajasekar Reddy
Arunachal Pradesh Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan Mr. Dorjee Khandu
Assam Lt.Gen.(Retd.) Ajay Singh Mr. Tarun Gogai
Bihar Mr. R.S. Gavai Mr. Nitish Kumar
Chattisgarh Mr. E.S.L. Narasimhan Mr. Raman Singh
Goa Mr. S.C. Jamir Mr. Pratap Singh Rane
Gujarat Mr. Nawal Kishore Sarma Mr. Narendra Modi
Haryana Mr. A.R. Kidwai Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda
STATE GOVERNOR CHIEF MINISTER
Himachal Pradesh Justice (Retd.) V.S. Kokje Mr. Virbadra Singh
Jammu & Kashmir Lt.Gen. (Retd.) S.K. Sinha Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad
Jharkhand Mr. Syed Sibte Razi Mr. Madhu Goda
Karnataka Mr. T.N. Chaturvedi Mr. Kumaraswamy
Kerala Mr. Raghunand Lal Bhatia Mr. Aachudanandan
Madhya Pradesh Mr. Balram Jakhar Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan
Maharashtra Mr. S.M. Krishna Mr. Vilas Rao Deshmukh
Manipur Mr. Shivinder Singh Sidhu Mr. Okram Ibobi Singh
Meghalaya Mr. B.L. Joshi Mr. D.D. Lapang
Mizoram Lt. Gen. (Retd.) M.M. Lakhera Mr. Zoramthanga
Nagaland Mr. K. Sankara Narayanan Mr. Neiphiu Rio
Orissa Mr. Rameshwar Thakur Mr. Naveen Patnaik
Punjab Lt. Genl. (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues Mr. Prakash Singh Padal
Rajasthan Mr. A.R. Kidwai (Addl. Charge) Ms. Vasundara Raje Scindia
Sikkim Mr. V. Rama Rao Mr. Pawan Kumar Chamling
Tamil Nadu Mr. S.S. Barnala Mr. M. Karunanidhi
Tripura Mr. Dinesh Nandan Sahaya Mr. Manik Sirkar
Uttar Pradesh Mr. T.V. Rajeshwar Rao Ms. Mayavati
Uttarakhand Mr. Sudarsan Agarwal Maj. Gen. (Retd.) B.C.Kanduri
West Bengal Mr. Gopalakrishna Gandhi Mr. Bhuddadeb Bhattacharya
Lt. Governors/Administrators and Chief Ministers
of Union Territories
Union Territory Lt.Governor/Administrator Chief Minister
Andaman & Nicobar Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh -
Chandigarh Genl. S.F. Rodrigues (Addl. Charge) -
Dadra and Nagar Haveli Mr. Rajnikanth Varma -
Daman and Diu Mr. Rajnikanth Varma -
Delhi Mr. Tejendra Khanna Mrs. Sheila Dixit
Lakshadweep Mr. Parimal Rai -
Pondicherry Mr. Mughul Mitti Mr. N. Rangaswamy
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
MANMOHAN SINGH : Prime Minister, Personnel, Public grievances & Pensions, Planning, Atomic energy, Environment,
Forests & Space.
Cabinet Ministers
A.K. Antony : Defence
Pranab Mukherjee : External Affairs
Arjun Singh : Human Resources Development
Sharad Pawar : Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Lalu Prasad Yadav : Railways
Shivraj Patil : Home Affairs
Ram Vilas Paswan : Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel
S. Jaipal Reddy : Urban Development
P. Chidambaram : Finance
Mahavir Prasad : Small-scale Industries, Agro & Rural Industries
P.R. Kyndiah : Tribal Affairs
T.R. Baalu : Shipping; Road Transport & Highways
Shankersingh Vaghela : Textiles
Kamal Nath : Commerce & Industry
H.R. Bhardwaj : Law & Justice
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh : Rural Development
Priya Ranjan Das Munshi : Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs
Mani Shankar Aiyar : Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs, Sports & Development of North-Eastern region
Ms. Meira Kumar : Social Justice & Empowerment
A. Raja : Communication & Information Technology
Anbumani Ramdoss : Health & Family Welfare
Sis Ram Ola : Mines
Murli Deora : Petroleum and Natural Gas
Sushil Kumar Shinde : Power
A.R. Antulay : Minority Affairs
Vayalar Ravi : Overseas Indian Affairs
Ms. Ambika Soni : Tourism and Culture
Saifuddin Soz : Water Resources
Santosh Mohan Dev : Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
Prem Chand Gupta : Company Affairs
Kapil Sibal : Science & Technology and Ocean Development
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
Ms. Renuka Choudhury : Women and Child Development
Subodh Kant Sahay : Food processing Industries
Vilas Muttemwar : Non-conventional Energy Sources
Ms. Kumari Selja : Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
Praful Patel : Civil Aviation
G.K. Vasan : Statistics and Programme Implementation
Oscar Fernandes : Labour & Employment
Ministers of State
E. Ahamed : External Affairs
Suresh Pachauri : Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and Parliamentary Affairs
B.K. Handique : Chemical and Fertilisers; Parliamentary Affairs
Ms. Panabaka Lakshmi : Health & Family Welfare
Dasari Narayan Rao : Coal
Shaqeel Ahmed : Communications & Information Technology.
Rao Inderjit Singh : Defence
Naranbhai Rathwa : Railways
K.H. Muniappa : Road Transport & Highways
M.V. Rajasekharan : Planning
Kantilal Bhuria : Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Manik Rao Gavit : Home Affairs
Sri Prakash Jaiswal : Home Affairs
Prithviraj Chavan : Prime Minister’s Office
Taslimuddin : Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Ms. Suryakanta Patil : Rural Development; Parliamentary Affairs
Md. Ali Ashraf Fatmi : Human Resources Development
R. Velu : Railways
S.S. Palanimanikkam : Finance
S. Regupathy : Environment and Forests
K. Venkatapathy : Law & Justice
Radhika Selvi : Home Affairs
Ms.Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan : Social Justice & Empowerment
E.V.K.S. Elangovan : Textiles
Ms. Kanti Singh : Heavy Industries
Namo Narayan Meena : Environment & Forests
Akhilesh Prasad Singh : Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Pawan Kumar Bansal : Finance
Anand Sharma : External Affairs
Ajay Maken : Urban Development
M.M. Pallam Raju : Defence
Akhilesh Das : Steel
Chandrasekhar Sahu : Rural Development
Ashwani Kumar : Commerce & Industries
Ms. D. Purandareshwari : Human Resources Development
Dinshaw Patel : Petroleum & Natural Gas
T. Subbirami Reddy : Mines
Jairam Ramesh : Commerce & Industry
Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav : Water Resources
(Unallocated portfolios will be looked after by the Prime Minister)
HIGH-UPS IN INDIA
President: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Vice-President: Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Speaker, Lok Sabha: Somnath Chatterji
Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha: Charanjit Singh Atwal
Chairman, Rajya Sabha: Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha: K. Rahman Khan
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha: L.K. Advani
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha: Jaswant Singh
Chief Justice of India: K.G. Balakrishnan
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government: Dr. R. Chidambaram
National Security Adviser and Special Adviser to PM (Internal Security): M.K. Narayanan
Chairperson, University Grants Commission: Sukhadeo Thorat
Comptroller and Auditor-General of India: V.N. Kaul
President, Indian National Congress: Ms. Sonia Gandhi
President, BJP: Rajnath Singh
Governor, Reserve Bank of India: Y.V. Reddy
Chairman, UPSC: Gurbachan Jagat
Chairman, Public Accounts Committee: Vijaya Kumar Malhotra
Chairman, Staff Selection Commission: B.K. Mishra
Chairman, Planning Commission: Manmohan Singh
Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission: Montek Singh Ahluwaliah
Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secy., Dept. of Atomic Energy: Anil Kakodkar
Chief Election Commissioner: N. Gopalaswami; Others: Nawin B. Chawla & S.Y. Quraishi
Attorney-General of India: Milon Kumar Banerjee
Solicitor-General of India: Goolam E. Vahanvati
Additional Solicitor-General of India: B.Dutta, Vikas Singh, R. Mohan, P.P. Malhotra
Census Commissioner and Registrar-General of India: D.K. Sikri
Chairman, State Bank of India: O.P. Bhat
Chairman, Law Commission: Justice M. Jagannath Rao
Chairman, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation: Subir Raha
Chairman, Prasar Bharathi: M.V. Kamath
Chairman, National Human Rights Commission: Justice S. Rajendra Babu
Chairman, National Commission for Minorities: Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Chairman, National Commission for Backward Classes: Justice Ratnavel Pandian
Chairman, National Book Trust: Bipin Chandra
Principal Secretary to Prime Minister: T.K.A. Nair
Chairman, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI): M. Damodaran
Chairman, GIC: Mathew Varghese
Chairman, LIC: T.S. Vijayan
Director-General, NCC: Lt. Gen. M.C. Bhandari
Chairman, Space Commission and Indian Space Research Organisation: G. Madhavan Nair
Director-General, Indian Council of Agri. Research: Dr. Mangla Rai
Director-General, Central Industrial Security Force: Ranjit Kumar Das
Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal: Justice V.K. Bali
Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research: Sabyasachi Bhattacharya
Director-General, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF): S.I.S. Ahmed
Chairperson, National Commission for Women: Ms. Girija Vyas
Chairman National Commission for Scheduled Tribes: Kunwar Singh
Chairman, National Commission on Labour : Ravindra Varma
Chairman, Telecom Commission: Anil Kumar
Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India: Nripendra Mishra
Director, CBI: Vijay Shanker
Director, IB: P.C. Halder
Chairman, All-India Council for Technical Education: Dr. S. Rame Gowda
Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation: S. Behruia
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN: Nirupam Sen
President, National Council of Applied Economic Research: Ratan Tata
Chief Vigilance Commissioner: Pratyush Sinha
Chief of Central Board of Film Certification: Sharmila Tagore
Chairman, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC): Manmohan Shetty
Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO):
M. Natarajan
Chairman, National Forest Commission: Justice (Rtd.) B.N. Kirpal
Director-General, National Security Guards: A.K. Mitra
Director-General, Border Roads Organisation: Lt. Gen Ranjit Singh
President, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission: Justice D.P. Wadhwa
Chairman, Press Council of India: Justice (Retd.) G.N. Ray
Director, Press Institute of India: Ajit Bhattachariya
Chairman, United News of India: Ravindra Kumar
India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to WTO: K.M. Chandrasekhar
Chairman, Central Water Commission: R. Jayaseelan
Chairperson, Children Film Society of India: Ms. Nafisa Ali
Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India: C. Babu Rajeev
Chairman, National Commission for Farmers: M.S. Swaminathan
Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre: S. Banerjee
President, All India Sports Council: Vijay Kumar Malhotra
President, Indian Olympic Association: Suresh Kalmadi
Director-General, Doordarshan: Naveen Kumar
Chairman, NASSCOM: N. Lakshminarayanan
Chairperson, Sangeet Natak Academy: Ram Niwas Mirdha
Director, National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT): Prof. Krishnakumar.
Chairman, Sahitya Academy: Gopi Chand Narang
Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR): M. Annamalai
Chief Information Commissioner: Wajahad Habibullah
Chairman, National Knowledge Commission: Sam Pitroda
Chairman, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW): Ashok Chaturvedi
Chairman, National Child Rights Commission: Shantha Sinha
Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University: Yash Pal

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