PERSONS IN THE NEWS (NATIONSL)

Abhijeet Baruah

Assam Police consitable on April 17, 2012 officially made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for running barefoot non-stop for over 24 hours.

 Anita Rana

Uttarkhand-based social and environmental activist, she heads the NGO Janhit Foundation. She received on February 3, 2012 an award recognizing her 'Leadership in community Initiatives for a Green Economy' from United Nations Development Programme. 

A. Raja

Former telecom minister from DMK, after spending nearly 15 months in the Tihar Central Jainl in New Delhi, facing trial in the 2G Spectrum allocation case, was granted bail by a special CBI court on May 15, 2012.

Alex Paul Menon

District Collector of Chhattisgarh's  Sukma reached home on May 4, 2012, 13 days after he had been kidnapped by the Maoists.

Bangaru Laxman

Former BJP president was sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment by special court of CBI on alleged corruption charges.

Balwant Singh Rajoana

 In August  2007, a special CBI court awarded the death sentence to Rajoana, who was a police constable and top operative of terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International, and Jagtar Singh Hawara. Three days before his scheduled execution in connectin with killing of the former Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh, on August 31,  1995, Balwant Singh Rajoana got relief on March 28, 2012, with the Union government staying the capital punishment.

 B.S. Yeddyurappa

The former Chief Minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa,  was given mjor reprive by  the Karnataka High Court on Bangalore, March 7, 2012  and quashed a portion of the Lokayukta report accusing him of corruption in grant of mining leases in favour of two companies, the sanction given by the governor to prosecute him based on the report, and the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police against him.

Jhina Hikaka

37 year old Tribal MLA of Biju Janta Dal  from Odisha was kidnapped by Maoist but later was released in Koraput.

Madhuri Gupta

Suspended Indian diplomat Madhuri Gupta arrested over 21 months ago allegedly for passing country's sensitive information to Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, was on January 11, 2012 granted bail by a Delhi court. Gupta, 55, was arrested on April 22, 2010 by the Speical Cell of Delhi Police. She was posted as Second Secretary (Press and Information) in the Indian High Commission in Islambad.

Medha Patkar

Social activist Medha Patkar on February 8, 2012 declined the Karnataka government's Basava Puruskar 2010 on grounds' of 'disagreement with certain State policies and inability of the government to deal with mining scam and other scandals.

Mayawati

Mayawati became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time in 2007, achieving the feat of former Chief Ministers Chandrabhanu Gupta and N.D. Tiwari who held the post four times each.

Sachin Tendulkar

 The best batsman of the modern era scored his 100th century in international cricket at Dhaka's Shere Bangla National Stadium. This century was Tendulkar's 49th in one-dayers; he has 51 Test centuries. He was also in news for being nominated as member of Rajya Sabha by the President.

 Rajendra Singh

 Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh also known as the Waterman for his efforts at water harvesting and has submitted his resignations to the Prime Minister as the chairperson of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) body. 

Roddam Narasimha

Eminent aerospace scientist Roddam Narasimha on February 24, 2012 resigned as a member of the Space Commission in protest against the blacklisting of scientists involved in the controversial spectrum deal between ISRO's commercial wing Antrix and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia.

R. Rishi

A money laundering case was on April 13, 2012 registered against Vectra chief Ravinder Rishi and his firms by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe alleged generation of illegal funds in the defence deal between Tatra Sipox UK and defence PSU BEML. The Probe agencies have found out that it was in 1997 that tatra Sipox UK signed the truck supply dea with BEML which was in alleged violation of defence procurement rules which say that procurement should be done directly from original equipment manufacturer only.

 Sam Pitroda

Sam Pitroda, advisor to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was on May 18, 2012 conferred with an honorary degree by New York University's Polytechnic institute, which is considered among the U.S. most prestigious and oldest private schools specialsing in engineering and technology.

VRS Natarajan

The Government on June 11, 2012 put the CMD of BEML VRS Natarajan under suspension following a recommendation by the CBI that he should be kept away from the post to ensure fair investigation. CBI is probing alleged irregularities committed in the supply of Tatra trucks to the Army by BEML.