1. Bharat Ratna
    1. 44th Winner: Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya (1861-1946)
    2. 45th Winner: Atal bihari Vajpayee (1924-)
  2. Sarkari People in News (SPIN)
    1. Governors in News
    2. Committees in News
    3. New Bank CMD appointments
    4. International
  3. Civilians in News
  4. Dead in news
  5. Appendix: List of all Bharat Ratna Recipients

Bharat Ratna

  • Highest civilian award of India, started in 1954. 7th in order of precedence.
  • PM recommends winner to President. At present, Maximum 3 awards can be given in a year.
  • Doesn’t carry any money reward, only a certificate and a medal is given.
  • Shape: peepal leaf
  • Material: bronze and platinum.
  • Front side: Sun logo and words “Bharat Ratna” inscribed in Hindi
  • Back side: Ashok Chakra and Lion emblem.

44th Winner: Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya (1861-1946)

  • Lawyer from Allahabad, Served in provincial and central legislature.
  • Foundation of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Hindu Mahasabha,  “The Leader” newspaper.
  • Moderate leader of INC, Four times President.
  • Gandhiji gave him a title “Mahamana”
  • Opposed separate electorate for Muslims under Lucknow pact of 1916
  • He participated in 1st round table conference in 1930, later established Congress Nationalist Party to oppose communal award
  • Popularized the slogan “Satyamev Jayate”
  • Editor of The Hindustan, Indian Union and Abyudaya.
  • Budget 2014: Teacher’s training program named after him.
  • Malviya’s Birthday 25th December (same as Vajpayee).

45th Winner: Atal bihari Vajpayee (1924-)

  • Born in Gwalior, Poet, Founding member of Bharatiya Jan Sangh and later BJP.
  • Foreign minister under Morarji Desai’s junta government in late 70s.
  • 11th PM of India. 1st PM to serve full term outside Congress party. [1996 to 2004]
  • 1998: conducted Pokhran nuclear test.
  • 1998-99: Opened Delhi-Lahore bus service, Lahore declaration for peaceful relations between India-Pak. Later Agra summit with Musharraf.
  • 1999: Won Kargil war.
  • 2001: Passed POTA act aftermath of December attack on Parliament.
  • Infrastructure: Golden quadrilateral highways, connecting 4 metro cities, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
  • During his regime, Bill Clinton became first US President to visit India in 22 years.
  • Vajpayee’s Birthday 25th December is celebrated as “good governance day”.

Sarkari People in News (SPIN)

Congress 130th Foundation day celebrated. It was founded on 28th December 1885 with AO Hume’s help.
BJP Party with largest number of MLAs across India (total 1058). Congress is below 1000.
CM Jharkhand Raghuwar Das (BJP), the first non-tribal CM of Jharkhand.
CM J&K PDP-BJP Government yet to form.
Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian
RAW Rajinder Khanna new chief of Research and Analysis wing (RAW)
CRPF Prakash Mishra (Odisha Cadre) is the new Director General.
IMD Laxman Singh Rathore is the DG of Indian meteorology Department
TRAI Chief Rahul Khullar says there is nothing wrong in Airtel charging extra money from customers for using skype & other VOIP services.
BIS Bureau of Indian standards: new DG MJ Joeshp.

Governors in News
Aziz Qureshi
  • Uttarakhand’s Governor Aziz Qureshi has been transferred to Mizoram.
  • Earlier Qureshi had approached Supreme court for Modi’s method of informally asking Congress governors to resign. Perhaps that’s why given this ‘punishment’ posting.
KK Paul
  • Earlier: Governor of Meghalaya.
  • Now: Governor of Uttarakhand and Manipur (additional charge)
Keshari Nath Tripathi Governor of West Bengal AND Bihar (Additional Charge), Meghalaya (Additional charge).

Committees in News
Justice GP Mathur
  • Home ministry formed. Deadline: 3 months.
  • To examine the need to setup an SIT to investigate 84’s Sikh riots.
  • To oversee implementation of Rs.5 lakh compensation to riot victims.
  • GP Mathur is retired SC judge.
IMG Khan This DoPT Committee recommended online SSC exam.
Dr.Radhakrishnana ISRO chief. Placed in Nature journal’s top ten list.
Justice Shushanta Chatterjee Report about police firing on Opposition leader Mamta Banerjee in 1993.commission report says it was worst than Jaliawallan massacre.
Gyan Sangam
  • Meeting between Government and Bank CMDs for proposed banking sector reforms
  • To be held on 2-3 January at Pune.
Prof. Goverdhan Mehta UGC committee to formulate the National Higher Education Qualifications Framework.
Ashok Lahiri
  • High level Committee on tax clarity
  • Ex Chief Economic advisor in finmin.
Cyber crime Home ministry formed expert group with DGs of CDAC, CERT, IIT-K etc.
Justice Mukherjee commission In 2005, this commission said Subhash Chandra Bose did not die in a plane crash. In news again, because PMO refused to reveal files related to Netaji under RTI.

 

New Bank CMD appointments
Indian Overseas Bank R. Koteeswaran
Oriental Bank of Commerce Animesh Chauhan
Vijaya Bank Kishore Kumar Sansi
United Bank of India P. Srinivas
PSU, Research bodies
Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sircar wants to increase Prasar Bharati’s reach online.
Coal India S. Bhattacharya became CMD. Of Coal India Ltd. (CIL). Previously he was CMD of CMD of Singareni Collieries.
IIT-D Director RK Shevgaonkar resigned. Two conspiracy theories

  • HRD minister Smriti Irani forced him to released salary dues of Subramanium Swami- who was a faculty in IIT-D back in the 80s.
  • Shevgaonkar had opened an IIT-D campus in a foreign country without requisite permissions from higher authorities.
ISRO Launched GSAT-16 from French Guiana. It’s a communication satellite to help brodcasting DTH TV signals. New Chief: A.S. Kiran Kumar
DRDO Pinaka Mark-II rocket test fired. It has range of 60 km, can fire 12 rockets in 44 seconds and cover a blast area of approx. sq. 4 kms

International

Rahul Richard Varma

Australia Terrorist takes Hostages in Syden café.
China World’s longest rail journey from Yiwu China to Madrid Spain- covering 13,000 kms.
Greece Vessel “Norman Atlantic” caught fire near Corfu island (Greece). 500 travelers rescued.
Indonesia Aceh and West Java areas. Over 35k people displaced.
Japan Shinzo Abe re-elected as Prime minister. (Liberal Democractic party)
Malaysia
  • Country ravaged by floods while PM Najib Razak enjoying golf in USA.
  • AirAsia Flight QZ8501- flying from Indonesia to Singapore, later found crashed in sea. (Air Asia’s boss Tony Fernandez is a Malaysian)
Mauritius
  • New PM Sir Anerood Jugnauth
  • Becomes first country in the world to buy Indian warship. Name of the petrol vessel is “CGS Barracuda”- built by Garden Reach, Kolkata based Indian PSU.
NATO Officially withdrew from Afghanistan.US Gen. John F. Campbell was the commander of joint International security Assistance force (ISAF) composed of NATO and US forced.
Pakistan
  • Terrorists attack an army school in Peshawar, 132 kids killed.
  • Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah responsible for this attack.
  • Name of Pak.Army chief: General Raheel Sharif.
Russia
  • President Putin visited India.
  • Kalashnikov Company registered trademark for AK-47- including for toys.
Sri Lanka
  • Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez went to campaign for Mahinda Rajpaksha’s election Dec, 2014.
  • But in Jan.2015, Maithripala Sirisena won. Earlier he was health ministry in Rajapaksa’s government.
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered mass arrests of TV-media personnel associated with his opposition Sunni Cleric.
Ukraine Parliament dropped “non-aligned” status, planning to join NATO.
USA
  • Richard Rahul Verma became US Ambassador to India- he is the first Indian-American to hold this post.
  • Vivek Hallegere Murthy. 37 years old Indian American became the youngest and first person of Indian origin to be appointed as Surgeon general of USA.

Civilians in News
Nobel 2014 Kailash Satyarthi, Malala Yousafzai finally received Nobel Peace Prize.
Bharat Ratna
  1. Madan Mohan Malviya (Historian Ramchandra Guha opposed to it)
  2. Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Super30
  • Mathematician Anand Kumar’s initiative for free IIT coaching.
  • Japanese media group listed it as “Top 3 pioneering education initiatives”
PETA India
  • “Hottest Vegetarian 2014” title to Modi and Rekha.
  • People of the Year award to Jacqueline Fernandez (Actress), KS Radhakrishnan (Retired SC judge)
Tashi Malik &  Nungshi Malik
  • World’s first Twin girls who climbed highest peaks in 7 continents.
  • Hailing from Dehradun.
Green Oscar Ashwika Kapur won Panda Award (=Green Oscar) for making movie on Newzealand’s rare Kakapo Parrot. Their official mascot is a bird named Sirocco- it even has a twitter profile just like ISRO’s Mangalyan.
Time Magazine Readers’ poll for “Person of the year” for 2014- Modi wins.
Jairam Ramesh Became member of UNEP’s International Advisory Board

Dead in news

More important
Boobli George Verghese Ex-Editor of the Hindustan Times and The Indian Express
C. Iyodhee Thass Pandithar Tamil Dalit intellectual. 100th Death anniversary
Dr.Ambedkar 6 December- Mahaparinirvan Diwas.
Justice VR Krishna Iyer
  • He was first law minister of Kelera under communist government in the late 60s.
  • Supreme court judge in the 70s
  • In mid 70s, Allahabad high court had found PM Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractice. She approached Supreme court but Justice VRK refused to grant stay order- hence she declared emergency in June 1975.
  • 80s: He retired and continued social service work in Kerala and South India.
Nedunuri Krishna Murthy Carnatic Music guru From Andhra Pradesh Pradesh
Poet Kuvempu Birth anniversary of noted Karnataka poet. Famous book: Smashana Kurukshetra – talks about futility of war and inevitability of death.
Rajan Devdas Indian-American photojournalist. Captured US visits of all Indian prime ministers, except Modi.
Saiyid Hamid Muslim Educationist. He was the last surviving ICS officer, and ex-VC of AMU.
Sardar Patel Died on 15th Dec 1950 in a heart attack.
Srinivasa Ramanujan Noted mathematician. Birth anniversary celebrated as national Maths day. (22nd December)
Less important for exams
A.R Antulay first and only Muslim Chief Minister of Maharashtra in the early 80s
Alois Brunner Nazi officer who killed many jews during WW2. Died recently in Syrian patronage. He was close aid of Adolf Eichmann- the mastermind of Jew holocaust.
Deven Verma Noted Bollywood film actor. Died in December.
G. Venkatswamy ‘Kaka’ Senior-most Congress leader of Andhra Pradesh. Died.
George Stinney 14 year American-black teenager, who executed for allegedly murdering two white girls in 1944. Recent trial exposed he was  innocent.
Jarbom Gamlin former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. Dead.
Joe Cocker British singer.
K. Balachander Tamil film maker.
Mohd. Farooq Oldest litigant in Babri case, dead.
Poet Kodanda Rama Rao From Hyderabad. Naxalbari poet from 70s.
Raj Kapoor Bollywood actor, 90th Anniversary in December, Google released a doodle.

Appendix: List of all Bharat Ratna Recipients

Recipient Year
1. C. Rajagopalachari. India’s last governor genral 1954
2. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. First VP, second President of India. 1954
3. C.V. Raman. Nobel winner Physicist. 1954
4. Bhagwan Das. Social activist. 1955
5. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Engineer from Mysore. 1955
6. Jawaharlal Nehru. Three times PM of India from 1947 to 64. 1955
7. Govind Ballabh Pant. Uttar Pradesh’s first Chief minister. 1957
8. Dhondo Keshav Karve.Social reformer. 1958
9. Bidhan Chandra Roy. 2nd CM of W.Bengal. 1961
10. Purushottam Das Tandon. Congress activist. 1961
11. Rajendra Prasad. India’s 1st President. 1962
12. Zakir Hussain. India’s 3rd President. 1963
13. Pandurang Vaman Kane. Sanskrit Scholar. 1963
14. Lal Bahadur Shastri. India’s PM after Nehru’s death. 1966
15. Indira Gandhi. 1971
16. V.V. Giri. 1st Acting President of India. 1975
17. K Kamaraj. Tamilnadu CM. 1976
18. Mother Teresa. Nobel peace winner, ran catholic mission in Kolkata. 1980
19. Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Social reformer, Mangsaysay winner. 1983
20. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Freedom fighter. 1987
21. M.G. Ramachandran. Film actor and Tamilnadu CM. 1988
22. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Read Mrunal.org/history for detailed contribution to India. 1990
23. Nelson Mandela. Nobel peace prize for Anti-apartheid movement in S.Africa 1990
24. Rajiv Gandhi. 1991
25. Vallabhbhai Patel. 1st Home minster and Dy.PM of India. 1991
26. Morarji Desai. First Non-Congress PM but couldn’t complete 5 year term. (1977-79) 1991
27. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. 1st Education minister of free India. 1992
28. JRD Tata. Steel Industrialist 1992
29. Satyajit Ray. Film maker from Bengal. 1992
30. Gulzarilal Nanda. Twice interim PM of India. 1997
31. Aruna Asaf Ali. Freedom fighter. 1997
32. APJ Abdul Kalam. 1997
33. M.S. Subbulakshmi. Carnatic singer. 1998
34. Chidambaram Subramaniam. Agriculture minister in mid 60s. 1998
35. Jayaprakash Narayan. Social reformer 1999
36. Amartya Sen. Nobel Economics in 1998. 1999
37. Gopinath Bordoloi. Assam’s 1st CM. 1999
38. Pandit Ravi Shankar. Sitar player 1999
39. Lata Mangeshkar. 2001
40. Ustad Bismillah Khan. Shehnai player. 2001
41. Bhimsen Joshi. Classical singer 2009
42. C.N.R Rao. Chemist. 2014
43. Sachin Tendulkar. 2014
44. Pt.Madan Mohan Malviya. Covered in this article. 2014-15
45. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Covered in this article. 2014-15

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