1. Introduction
  2. Drawing the line
  3. International (Political)
  4. International (Non political)
  5. Indian in India (Non political)
  6. Indian Diaspora abroad
  7. Sports
  8. Tennis
  9. Sports Mascots
  10. Books/Literature
  11. Nobel-2012
  12. Nobel winners associated with India
  13. Astro
  14. Beauty
  15. Clichéd

Introduction

  • The previous list of [PIN] Persons in News (2011-12) was given in separate article, click me (some names will overlap here).
  • Now this new article, is for [PIN] 2012-13, mainly keeping the upcoming SBI-PO, SSC-CGL exams in mind. It contains list of PIN + Sports + Books + awards.
  • This list is not exhaustive. This is just “minimum essential system requirement”, otherwise Government gave more than 6 dozen Padma Shris in 2012, but time is not a luxury we cannot afford right now.
  • This is list is subject to revision (based on your additions via comments.)

Drawing the line

  • As the exam date comes near, people start making more and more ambitious plans (like I’ll finish all Pratiyogita Darpan issues of last 2 years. I’ll cover all The Hindu newspapers of last 12 months from its website and so on…).
  • But, Ambitious studyplans =often unrealistic studyplans= #EPICFAIL.
  • So, when it comes to Persons in News (PIN), Sports, Books and Misc.GK , you’ve to draw a line somewhere otherwise book market is flooded with “current affairs” material worth 10000 pages (and more will come, as the March-April floods approach.).
  • But beyond a point it starts giving “diminishing rate of return”.
  • The “core” areas for GK/GS for the upcoming exams are following:
  1. UPSC CSAT
 NCERT+NIOS+Laxmi+YearbookCurrent Affairs (Polity, Economics, Enb, Sci-Tech.)
  1. SSC-CGL
 Static+Science+Crap (already explained in separate article. Click me)
  1. SBI PO
 Economics (Current + theory) + International Affairs + Marketing + Computer. (elaborate plan coming soon).

International Leaders

Country

Name

Info
Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck King of Bhutan. Chief guest for 26th Jan. 2013.
Brazil Dilma Rousseff First woman President of Brazil. She replaced Lula Desilva. (Lula got Indira Gandhi peace prize.)
China Xi Jingping Replaced Hu Jintao, China. He is expected to become President, in March 2013.
China Li Kequiang New PM of China. Replaced Wen Jiabao.
China Bo Xilai corrupt leader in Chinese politbureu. Expelled
Cuba Raul Castro President of Cuba. Replaced Fidel Castro
Egypt Mohd. Morsy President of Egypt.
Eu Herman Van Rompuy PM of Belgium. President of European Council
France Francois Hollande President of France. He defeated Sarkozi. Belongs to Socialist party
Greece Atonis Samras PM Greece. Name is important only because Greece=#EPICFAIL economy.
Iran Aytollah Khamenei Supreme leader of Iran
Iran Ahmedijad President of Iran.
Israel President Shimon Peres.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu.		 Their parliament =Knesset.
Japan Shinzo Abe PM japan. Defeated Yoshiko Noda. Their parliament =Diet.
Liberia Ellen Sirleaf President of Liberia, got Indira Gandhi peace price. (2012)
Maldives -Coup Nasheed N Waheed after coup, Nasheed was replaced by Waheed
Mali-coup Diarra N Traore After coup, Diarra was replaced by Traore
Mauritius Rajkeshwur Purryag President of Mauratius. He was chief guest @Pravasi bharatiya Divas 2013. Click me for more details
Mexico Enrique Nieto Mexico new President
Myanmar Thein Sein Myanmar president
Myanmar Aung San Suu Ki Nobel peace 91. Opposition  leader in Myanmar. Party National league for democracy. Visited India in Nov 12
N.Korea Kim Jong-Un North Korea President. After his father King Jong-il Died
Pak Raja Parvez PM of Pakistan, SC ordered his arrested.
Germany Angela Markel German Chancellor
Palestine Mohd.Abbas President of Palestine Authority
S.Korea Park Geun-hye first female President of S.Korea. She replaced Lee Myung-bak
Srilanka Gen.Sarath Fonseca Ex-General of Sri Lankan army. Was jailed after power struggle with President.
Srilanka Mahinda Rajpakshe Sri lankan President. He threw out CJI  Shiran Bandaranyake.
Syria Wael Halqi PM of Syria.
Syria Bashar Al Assad President of Syria
Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra First female PM of Thailand. She was chief guest of 26th Jan parade in 2012.
Uk David Cameron PM of UK. (Conservative party) He replaced Gordon Brown.
Uk Nick Clegg Deputy PM of UK. (liberal democrats)
Uk Margaret Thatcher Ex PM of UK. (Conservative Party). First lady PM of England. Died recently.
Usa Obama (Democrat) won second time Presidential election. His VP candidate was Joe Biden.
Usa Mitt Romney (Republican) Contested against Obama. His VP candidate was   Paul Ryan.
Ven Nicholas Maduro President Venezuela. He replaced Hugo Chavez, who had died because of cancer.

International Org (non political)

name Org
Ban-Ki-Moon UN General Secretary
Jim Yong Kim World Bank
Justice Dalveer Bhandari Indian. became Judge of International court of Justice.
Christine Lagarde Chief of IMF
Pascal Lamy Chief of WTO. (update: Roberto Azevedo, a top Brazilian trade diplomat, will replace Pascal Lamy as the head of the WTO in September 2013)
Jacques Rogge President IOC, olympic Committee.
SK Jain first Indian to become chairman of World Assco. Of Nuke operators.
Nkosazana Zuma Head of African Union (AU): First woman

Indian in India (Non political)

Name

Org
Admiral Devendra Joshi replaced Admiral Nirmal Verma
Air Marshal N.A.K. Browne He replaced Pradeep Vasant Naik
Ashok Chawla CCI. Competition Commission of India
Brajesh Mishra India’s first National Security Advisor. During Vajpayee Government. Dead
Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir replaced SH Kapadia.
Duvvuri Subbarao RBI Governor.
Urjit Patel recently appointed deputy RBI Governor.
Ela Ramesh Bhatt Founder of SEWA. Got Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace. (actually won in 2011, but was awarded that prize in 2013).
Gadgil Committee on Western Ghat ecology.
Gen. Bikram Singh he replaced Gen.VK Singh
Gopi Chand Narang associated with Urdu litt. Got Pakistani award Sitara-i-Imtiaz. The highest civilian award in Pakistan is Nishan-i-Imtiaz, earlier Morariji Desai and Dilip Kumar got it
Gulzar Indira gandhi award for national integration.
JS Verma Committee on women safety after Delhi gangrape
Justice DK Jain 20th law commission
Kaushik Basu World bank Chief economist
KC Chakrabary Committee : financial inclusion. Deputy Governor RBI ,
Major Abup J. Manjali Kirti Chakra.
Mrinal Gore Noted socialist. Dead.
Naina Kidwai chief of HSBC India. Became first woman President of FICCI.
Parthsarthi Shome Committee GAAR . General anti avoidance rules.
Raghuram Rajan Previously with IMF. Now Chief Economic Advisor to Finance ministry
Rahul Khullar TRAI
Rangachari Committee Taxation in IT sector
Rangarajan Domestic gas price. Rangarajan is also the Chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.
Ranjit Sinha CBI
Sam Pitroda National Knowledge Commission.
Satyanand Mishra CIC. He replaced Wajahat Habibullah.
Shivshankar Menon National Security Advisor (current). He replaced MK Narayan. First NSA was Brajesh Mishra who recently died.
Tessy Thomas Defense scientist, making India self reliant in missile tech. Won Lal Bahdur Shashtri national award.
UK Singha SEBI
Vergheze kurien Amul. NDDB. Father of white revolution. Norman Barlung was father of green revolution.
Vijay Kelkar Committee on Fiscal deficit. Ex-Chairman of Finance Commission
Vinod Rai CAG. Also Enemy #1 of Kapil Sibbal, Manish Tewari, A.Raja and countless others in UPA. hahaha.
VS Sampath Chief election Commissioner (CEC). He replaced SY Quraishi.
YV Reddy He is chairman of 14th Finance Commission. (period: 2015-2020) And Chairman of 13th Finance Commission was Vijay Kelkar.

Indian Diaspora abroad

Name Why
Ami Bera California, House of representative.
Bobby Jinda Louisiana Governer, USA, Indian origin, Republican party
Fareed Zakaria worked for CNN and TIME. Suspended for plagarism.
Halimah Yacob Singapore’s first woman speaker, of Indian origin.
Jacintha Saldana she was a nurse in London, treating Kate William. She committed suicide after two Australian radio DJ mocked her.
Kamla Persad Bissessar PM of Trinidad and Tobago. Chief Guest of PBD-2012.
Nikky Haley S.Carolina Governer, USA, Indian origin, Republican party
Patricia Maria Rozario UK Musician. Won PBD 2013.
Rajat Gupta Jailed for insider trading in USA. Was associated with Goldman Sachs
Rajkeswur Purryag President of Mauritius. Chief guest of PBD-2013
Rasik Joshi Sanskrit Litt. Mexico. Won PBD-2013 award
Tulsi Gabbard 1st Hindu in US House of Representatives (their Lok Sabha). Elected from Hawai State.
Party:Democrat.She took oath on Gita, Served in US army, was deployed in Iraq.
Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard

Sports

Sport name why
Athletics Fauja Singh world’s oldest marathon runner.
Athletics Usain Bolt IAAF award. Got 3 gold in London Olympic
Athletics Allyson Felix IAAF award. Got 3 gold in London Olympic
Badminton PV Sindhu Asia under 19
Billiards Pankaj Advani won the world cup
Chess World Cup V.Anand defeated Boris Gelfand
Cricket Cpt. Unmukt chand India cricket under 19 cpt, won world cup. defeated Aussies.
Cycling Lance armstrong Cyclist, banned for drugs.
Football Lionel Messei most goals in a calendar year. got Golden boot.
Football Sunil Chhetri AIFF player of the year.(2011). For 2012 It is Syed Rahim Nabi
Hockey Leslie Claudius India’s triple olympic gold medalist. Hockey. Dead.
London Olympic Sushil Silver Wrestle 66kg. He was flag-bearer. He got bronze in 2008 Beijing.
London Olympic Vijay Kumar Silver. 25 rapid fire pistol. Rajiv G.Khel ratna
London Olympic Mary Kom Bronze. Women flywt. Boxing
London Olympic Gagan Narang Bronze. 10 air-rifle
London Olympic Yogeshwar dutt Bronze. 60kg wrestle. Rajiv G.Khel ratna.
London Olympic Saina Nehwal Bronze. Single badminton
London Olympic Krishna Poonia discus throw. Did not win
Shooting Ronjan Sodhi ISSF shooting world cup: .(silver, double trap).
Squash Dipika Pillia did not win but only Indian woman to enter semifinals
London Olympic Michael Phelps Swimming. four golds and two silver medals

Tennis

Male Female
Aus.Open Djkovik, Serbia Azarenka, Belarus
French Open Nadal, Spain Sharapova, Rus
US Open Ande Murray, UK Serena Williams, US
Wimbledon Federer,Swiz Serena Williams,US
  • Bhupathi Sania won French open doubles.
  • Andy Roddick, Tennis retired.

Sports Mascots

Beijing Olympics 2008 Fuwa (good-luck dolls)
Cricket World Cup 2011 Stumpy, the elephant.
CWG, 2011 Shera, the tiger.
Kabbadi world cup 2012, India JAANBAZ, the eagel.
London Olympics 2012 Wenlock + Mandeville. They symbolize Britain’s industrial revolution.
FIFA 2014 Armadillo.
London Olympic Mascots

London Olympic Mascots (click to enlarge)

Books/Literature

author book/info
Hilary Mantel Won two man booker prizes. This time for book “Bring up the bodies”.
Shashi tharoor Pax indica. It details India’s international relations.
Jeet Thayil Narcopolis.  Tale of mumbai’s opimioum addiction. Booker price shortlisted but did not win. Another book is “These errors are correct”
Ruskin Bond Maharani
JK Rowling The Casual Vacancy  (Harry Potter author)
N.Vittal Ending corruption: how to clean up Iondia
Kushwant Singh. Free thinker’s prayer book
Amitav Ghosh River of smoke
Sudheendra Kulkarni Music of spinning wheel
Salman Rushdie Joseph Anton.
APJ Kalam Turning Points
Aravind Adiga Last man in tower
Tarun Tejpal The Valley of Masks
Taslima Nasreen Nirbasan
Kuldeep Nayar Beyond the lines
Kushwant singh Turbaned Tornado: The Oldest Marathon Runner Fauja Singh
Verghese Kurien An Unfinished Dream
Verghese Kurien The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance
Hamid Ansari Muslim in Indian cities
I K GUJRAL Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography
Pt. ravi shankar Living to Tell It All
Vikram Chandra Red Earth and Pouring Rain
Syed Mustafa Siraj Aleek Manush – 1994

Authors Dead

Sunil Gangopadhyaya Bengali writer. Sahitya Acadamy chief.
Kamla Sadgopan Tamil novelist
Eric Hobsbawm Noted Marxist Historian from UK

Nobel-2012

Category Who? Why?
  1. Medicine
 Gurdon, Yamanaka Regenerative medicine. Cure disease by growing tissues in lab.
  1. Physics
 Haroche, Wineland Measure quantum particles, without destroying them.
  1. Chemistry
 Lefkowitz, Kobilka Protein receptors that let body cell respond to signals.
  1. Litt.
 Mo Yan First Chinese writer to get this award.
  1. Economics
 Roth, Shapley. Stable allocation + market design.
  1. Peace
 EU Lolz

Nobel winners associated with India

  1. Dr. Hargobind Khorana
 Medicine
  1. S. Chandrasekhar
 Physics
  1. Venkatarama Ramakrishnan
 Chemistry
  1. Mother Teresa
 Peace
  1. Tagore
 Litt.
  1. Amartya Sen
 Economics
  1. Rudyard Kipling
 Litt.
  1. VS Naipaul
 Litt.

Astro

Name Why
Cpt. Nivedita Bhasin First Indian woman to command boeing 787
Liu Yang first Chinese woman astro.
Neil Armstrong Apollo 11. 1969. First man to land on moon. Dead.
Sally Ride First American woman astro. Dead. A Moon crate named after her.
Sunita Williams Take a command of international space station. second Indian woman, first kalpana chawala.

Beauty

  1. Olivia Culpo
 Miss Universe, USA.
  1. Tereza Fajksova
 Miss Earth 2012. from czech.
  1. wen xia yu
 Miss World 2012 (China). Last Indian to win was Priyanka Chopra.

Clichéd

following names have become so clichéd in current affairs related books, magazines and sites that they can be simply ignored for the exam:

Homai Vyarawala India’s first woman photojournalist. Dead.
Chanda Kochhar ICICI
Malala Yousufzai Pakistani girl, shot by Talibans, survived.
Indra Nooyi Pepsi
Pandit Ravi Shankar Sitar Maestro. Will get Grammy award posthumously.

ok so that’s it for the moment, if you feel any important names/terms have been left out or if there is any correction in the tables, do post it in comments and I’ll update the article accordingly.