India win Under-19 World Cup

India win by 6 wickets and are the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup Champions, the Indian players rush onto the field and they are very much excited and so are the fans. Chand is draped with the Indian flag, who has played an excellent knock
 Unmukt Chand led from the front with a magnificent hundred as India Under-19 lifted their third World Cup title after beating formidable defending champions Australia by six wickets in the final in Townsville on August 26.

This was India U-19s first triumph after Mohammed Kaif and Virat Kohli led their respective teams to victory in 2000 and 2008 editions respectively.
Courtesy a magnificent unbeaten 111 by Unmukt and his unbroken partnership of 130 runs with glovesman Smit Patel, India overhauled a competitive target of 226 on a bouncy strip with 14 balls to spare.
It was one of the best centuries one could have witnessed at the junior level as Unmukt hit seven fours and as many as six sixes during his 130-ball knock.
He completed his century with a six over extra cover off Alex Gregory but the celebrations were very muted. The skipper knew that the job was only half done.

                                               Winners

Year	Venue	Winner	Runners up	Plate Champion	Format	Final Venue
1988	Australia	Australia	Pakistan	Not Played	Round Robin	Adelaide Oval
1998	South Africa	England	New Zealand	Pakistan	Knockout	The Wanderers
2000	Sri Lanka	India	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Knockout	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
2002	New Zealand	Australia	South Africa	Zimbabwe	Knockout	Bert Sutcliffe Oval
2004	Bangladesh	Pakistan	West Indies	Bangladesh	Round Robin	Bangabandhu National Stadium
2006	Sri Lanka	Pakistan	India	Nepal		R. Premadasa Stadium
2008	Malaysia	India	South Africa	West Indies	Round Robin	Kinrara Academy Oval
2010	New Zealand	Australia	Pakistan	Bangladesh	Round Robin	Bert Sutcliffe Oval
2012	Australia	India	Australia	Sri Lanka	Round Robin & Knock Out	Tony Ireland Stadium

Russia joins WTO after 18 years of talks

After 18 years of negotiation, Russia  entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), which restricts import duties and subsidies in an attempt to create a level-playing field for international trade.

Analysts and politicians hope that Russia, which has long proven a formidable market to foreign investors because of its byzantine bureaucracy and protectionist tariffs, would be transformed by its entry into the WTO. Russia is one of the last major global economies to enter the group, which has long included other developing nations such asChina.

While consumers here will benefit from the lower cost of imported goods, some worry that struggling industries long coddled by state subsidies, such as agriculture or the automobile industry, will suffer because of foreign competition.

Russians often complain about the burdensome cost of Western-imported consumer products, which range from refrigerators to jeans. With its entry into the WTO, the country will cut its average import tariff by 5.9 per cent, making those imports cheaper.

CCEA clears five more oil, gas blocks

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared five more oil and gas blocks that had been put on offer under the NELP IX round of bidding. The major winners included U.K.'s BG Exploration & Production and BHP Billiton Petroleum (International Exploration) of Australia.

During the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) IX round held in 2010, the government had offered 34 areas for exploration and production of oil and gas. Bids for 33 were received at the close of bidding on March 28 last year. Of these, the CCEA in March awarded 16 blocks to firms such as ONGC while bids for ten blocks were rejected due to bidders offering lesser than expected profit petroleum.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy said the CEEA was to consider award of six onland and two offshore blocks but only five blocks were approved.

The Mumbai basin deep sea block MB-DWN-2010/1 was awarded to the consortium of BG Exploration & Production and BHP Billiton Petroleum (International Exploration) of Australia.

The BG-BHP combine beat the consortia of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India Ltd. (OIL) and GAIL India to the block. The shallow water block MB-OSN-2010/2 in the same basin is due to be awarded to a consortium of OIL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petro Resources, which were the sole bidders.

Sources said the required clearance from the Ministry of Defence had been received for exploration in the two offshore blocks.

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.

SPORTS EVENTS 2012

Lawn Tennis

• Wimbeldon Open

Roger Fedrer won the men's single title, while women's title was won by Serena Williams. Men's double was won by Jonathan Murray of Great Britain and Fredreik Neilson of Denmark. Ladies Double was won by Venus and Serena Williams. Mixed Double was won by Lisa Raymond (US) and Mike Bryan (US).

• Aegon International

Andy Roddick of USA won the men's title at the Aegon nternational beating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-2, in the final played at Eastbourne, England on June 23, 2012.

Women's Singles title was won by Tamira Paszek of Germany who defeated Angelique Keber of Austria 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

• UNICEF Open

Top-seeded David Ferrer beat unseeded Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-4 to win the UNICEF Open tournament at Den Bosch, Netherlands on June 25, 2012. Nadia Petrova beat Urzula Radwanska to the women's title.

• Brussels Open

Sania Mirza clinched her 14th WTA double title with victory in the Brussels Open on May 26, 2012 in Brussels, Belgium.

Sania and her partner Bethanic Matek-Sands defeated Polish-Chinese duo Alicja Rosolska and Jie Zheng 6-3, 6-2.

• Rome Masters

Rafael Nadal won the Rome Masters title beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in the final onMay 21, 2012. Meanwhile Russian Maria Sharapova won the women's Rome INternational title on May 20 with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over Li Na of China.

• Madrid Open

Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 3-6 7-5 7-5 to win the Madrid Open tennis in Madrid, Spain on May 13, 2012.

• Dubai Open

Roger Federer beat Andy Murray 7-5, 6-4 to win the Dubai Tennis Championships for the fifth time on May 3, 2012. 

• Barcelona Open

Rafael Nadal defeated  David Ferrer (Spain) 7-6(1), 7-5 on April 29, 2012 to win a seventh Barcelona Open title.

• Monte Carlo Masters

Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in the final 6-3, 6-1 on April 22, 2012 to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the eighth consecutive year.

• Charleston Claycourt Tournament

Fifth seeded Serena Williams won the title by overpowering 9^th seeded Czech Lucie Safarova. 

• Miami Masters

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray 6-1, 7-6(4) on April 1, 2012 to win his second straight ATP Miami Masters title and third overall.

• Sony Ericsson Open

Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek clinched the Sony Ericsson Open, their second team trophy of the season at Miami. Paes and Stepanek, who were seeded seventh, rallied to upstage second seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 on March 31, 2012.

Meanwhile, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska captured her maiden Miami women's title beating World No. 2 Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-4 in the final.

• Stuttgart Open

Maria Sharapova earned her first WTA title of the year as she defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-4 in the final.

• Indian Wells

World No. 3 Roger Federe beat John Isner 7-6(7), 6-3 in the Indian Wells final on March 18, 2012 to capture his third straight title and a record fourth Indian Wells crown. World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka beat World No. 2 Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-3 to win the women's title. 

• Pattaya

India's Saniz Mirza and her Australian partner Anastasia Rodionova beat the Chinese Taipei pair of Hao-ching Chan dn Yung-jan Chan 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 to clinch the women's doubles title at the Pattaya Open in Pattaya, Thailand on February 12, 2012

• Chennai Open

Canadian Milos Raonic beat top seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-7 (4/7), 7-6(7/4), 7-6(7/4)  to lift the singles title at the Aircel Chennai Open in Chennai on January 8, 2012.The doubles title was won by the team of India's Leander Paes and Janko Tipsarevic who beat the Israeli dueo Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

• Hopman Cup

The Czech Republic thrashed France to lift its second Hopman Cup on January 7, 2012 in the final played at Perth, Australia. World No. 2 Petra Kvitova put her country ahead with the first victory of the day against Marion Bartoli, and her teammate Tomas Berdych wrapped up the contest beating Richard Gasquet, with neither dropping a set.

It was the second title for the Czech Republic, after Jana Novotna and Petr Korda lifted the Hopman Cup in 1994, while it was two looses out of two for France after its defeat in 1998. Czechoslovakia also won the inaugural Cup in 1989.

French Open 2012

Spain's Rafael Nadal won a record seventh Men's Singles title at the French Open when he defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 on June 11, 2012.

Maria Sharapova of Russia beat Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in the final played on June 9, 2012 to win her maiden French Open Women's Singles title. Sharapova had earlier won Wimbledon in 2004, US Open in 2006 and Australian Open in 2008.

Men's Doubles title was won by Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Daniel Nestor (Canada) for the second successive year defeating the American pair of Mike and Bob Bryan 6-4, 6-4 in the final on June 9, 2012.

The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won the Mixed Doubles title defeating Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) and Klaudia Jans-Ignacek (Poland) 7-6(3), 6-1 in the final played on June 7, 2012. This is the second Grand Slam title for the Indian pairing, who won the Australian Open in 2009.

Australian Open 2012

Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka won the Men's and Singles titles respectively at the 2012 Australian Open tennis tournament organized in Melbourne in January 16-29, 2012. Novak Djokovic of Serbia successfully defended his title when he defeated Rafael Nadal of Spaifn in the final 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, (5-7), 7-5 that lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes.

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus defeated Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-3, 6-0 for her first Grand Slam title; Andover took Carloline Wozniacki as the number one ranked player on the WTA Tour.

In Men's doubles, India's Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic won the title defeating the Australian pair of Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan, 7-6(7-1), 6-2.

In women's doubles the Russian pair of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva beat the Italian team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to win the tittle.

The Mixed Doubled title was won by Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) & Horia Tecau of Romania who defeated the pair of Elena Vesnina (Russia) and Leander Paes 6-3, 5-7.

Chess

• FIDE Women's Grand Prix

India's Koneru Humpy and Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia were declared joint winners of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix Chess at Kazan, Russia, on June 22, 2012 after they finished with 7.5 points each from 11 rounds.

• Asian Nations Chess Cup

Indian men's team beat Iraq 4-0 to win silver while their women counterparts bagged a bronze in the Asian Nations Chess Cup concluded in Zaozhuang, China on May 26, 2012. China-1 beat Mongolia 3.5-0.5 to win the gold while China-2 won the Bronze medal. In the women's section, China-1 won the ninth match in a row to deservingly win the gold meal while China-2 won the silver ahead of India with better tie-break.

• World Team Chess Championship

China won the gold medal with 16 points while the siver was claimed by the Russian who finished with 13 points in all. Georgia ended with the bronze while India and Ukraine were tied for the fourth spot with much better tie-break for the Indians.

World Chess Championship 2012

Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand beat challenger boris Gelfand of Israel in  rapid chess tiebreaker to win the World Championship crown for he fifth time and fourth in a row, on May 30, 2012 at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Football

• European Champions League

 Chelsea won the European Champions League resulting  from penalty shootout to clinch their first Champions League title.

• Santosh Trophy

 Services Football team won the coveted Santosh Trophy. The Services has bagged the title for only the second time in more than five decades since the last win in 1961. In a thrilling match played at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on May 28, 2012, Services beat Tamil Nadu 3-2 to lift the 66th Santosh Trophy.

• King's Cup

Barcelona gave coach Pep Guardiola a fitting end to his glittering four-year reign as coach, winning the King's Cup final against Atheletic Bilbao 3-0 on May 25, 2012.

• English Premier League

Manchester City was crowned Premier League Champion on May 13, 2012 after an incredible fightback which saw it score twice in injury time to beat QPR 3-2 and seal the title on goal difference.

• FA Cup

Didier Drogba and Ramires scored a goal each as Chelsea beat Liverpool to seal its fourth FA Cup final victory in six seasons at London's Wembley Stadium on May 5, 2012 with a 2-1 win.

• Africa Cup of Nations

Zambia beat Ivory Coast 8-7 in a penalty shoot-out to claim its first-ever Africa Cup of Nations football title at the final played in Libreville, Democratic Republic of Congo, on February 12, 2012. Ivory Coast Failed to claim the title despite not conceding a goal throughout the entire competition until the shootout in the final.

• B.C. Roy Trophy

Bengal regained the B.C. Roy Trophy by winning the championship leg of the National Junior Football Championship at Kanhenjunga Stadium in Siliguri on January 29, 2012. Bengal won the title last in 2003-04.

Hockey

France Hockey Test series

India overcame hosts France 4-0 to make a clean sweep in the two-match friendly hockey Test series ahead of London Olympics. 

Azian Shah Cup

New Zealand beat Argentina 1-0 in the final to win their maiden Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men's hockey tournament at Ipoh in Malaysia on June 3, 2012.  India beat Britain 3-1 to win the bronze medal.

FIH Champions Trophy for Women

Argentina retained the FIH Champions Trophy for women at Rosario (Argentina), defeating Great Britain by a solitary goal on February 5, 2012. The Netherlands claimed the bronze after a 5-4 win over Germany.

Formula One

• European Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari won the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain on June 24, 2012 to become the first driver to win two races this season. Kimi raikkonen of Lotus finished second, while Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher finished third.

• Canadian Grand Prix

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton stormed to a Canadian Grand Prix victory in Montreal on June 10, 2012 to become the seventh winner in seven Formula One races this season.

• Monaco Grand Prix

Monoaco Grand Prix, organized at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, on May 27, 2012, was won by Red Bull driver, Austrialian Mark Webber.

• Spanish Grand Prix

Spanish Grand Prix, organized at Circuit de Cataunya, Barcelona, on May 13, 2012, was won by Williams-Renault driver Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela)

• Bahrain Grand Prix

Bahrain Grand Prix, organized at Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, on April 22, 2012, was won by Red Bull Driver Sebastian Vettel (Belgium).

• Chinese Grand Prix

Chinese Grand Prix, organized at Shanghai Intrnational Circuit, Shanghai on April 15, 2012, was won by Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg (Germany).

• Malaysian Grand Prix

Malaysian Grand Prix, organized at Sepang International Cicuit, Kuala Lumpur on March 25, 2012, was won by Ferrai driver Fernando Alonso (Spain).

• Australian Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix, organized at Albert Partk, Melbourne on March 18, 2012, was won by Jenson Button (Britain) of McLaren-Mercedes.

Cricket

• IPL-5

Kolkata Knight riders won the 2012 DLF Indian Premier League beating defending champions Chennai Super Kings by five wickets in the final played at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on May 27, 2012.

Sunil Narine was the "Golden Player of IPL 5" for his 24 wickets. Morne Morket (25 wickets) of Delhi Daredevils took the Purple Cap award given to the leading wicket take while Royal Challengers Bangalore's CHris Gayle was the Orang Cap recipient with 733 runs. Kings XI Punjab's Mandeep Singh win the "Citi Rising Star" award. Punjab's David Hussey won the awrd for best catch fo the tournament while Rajasthan Royals took Fairplay Award. Rajasthan captain Rahul Dravid received the award in Chennai.

• Frank Worrell Trophy

Australia beat the West Indies in the final Test match in Roseau, Dominica by 75 runs to claim the Frank Worrell Trophy 2-0 on April 27, 2012 S. Chanderpaul of West Indies was choosen man-of –the series.

• Asia Cup Cricket

Misbah-ul-Haq-led Pakistan clinched the Asia Cup beating hosts Bangladesh by 2 runs in the final played at the Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on March 22, 2012. Batting first, Pakistan scored 236 runs for the loss of nine wickets. The hosts ended their innings at 234 for 8 in 50 overs.

Bangladesh won the toss and fielded first. Shahid Afridi was declared Player of the Final for his 32 runs in 22 balls and bowling figures of 10-1-28-1 while Shakib Al Hasan was Player-of-the-tournament.

The tournament features the four Test-playing nations from Asia: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Pakistan won the Asia Cup for the second time after 2000. India entered the tournament as the defending 2010 Asia Cup Champion.

• Hazare Trophy

All-round performance by Laxmi Ratan Shukla enabled Bengalto record a convincing six-wicket win over Mumbai and clinch its first-ever Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Ferozeshah kotla ground in New Delhi on March 12, 2012.

Shukla claime four wickets and restricting Mumabi to 248 and then scored an unbeaten century (106 n.o., 90b, 12x4, 2x6) to ensure victory for Bengal. Mumbai: 248 in 49.2 overs; Bengal: 252 for four wkts. in 46.1 overs.

• Tri-nation Commonwealth Bank Series

Australia beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs to win the third final at Adelaide Oval and the Commonwealth Bank ODI triangular series finals at the Adelaide OVal on March 8, 2012. Clint McKay was player of the Match for his 5 wickets for 28 runs in 9.5 overs.

• Duleep Trophy

East Zone won the Duleep Trophy beating Central Zone by an innings and 20 runs with two-and-a-half days to spare on February 14, 2012 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. Piyush Chawla was the captain of Central Zone while Natraj Behera Captained East Zone.

• Vizzy Trophy

South Zone lifted the inter-university inter-Zonal championship for the Vizzy Trophy, after beating North Zone by seven wickets in the four-day final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on February 11, 2012

• Cooch Behar Trophy

Mumbai beat Maharashtra, via first innings lead, I the final of the COoch Behar Trophy (under-19) at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on January 30, 2012. This was Mumbai's seventh Cooch Behar title. Mumbai won on first innings lead.

• Border-Gavaskar Trophy

 Australia complete a 4-0 whitewash with a comprehensive 298 run victory over India in the fourth and final test played at Adelaide Oval on January 29 to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

• C.K. Nayudu Trophy

Punjab won the all-India C.K. Nayudu (under-22) cricket title on the basis of taking the first-innings lead against Delhi on the final day of the one-sided encounter in Delhi on January 6, 2012 Delhi, resuming at 279 for seven, was bowled out for 319, conceding a lead of 105 runs.

Athletics

• National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships

M A Prajusha defended her title in triple jump on the concluding day as her state Kerala emerfged overall winners in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at the G M C Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli Hyderabad on June 26, 2012. Other athletes who defened their titles include Kheta Ram (Rajasthan) in 10000m men's race , M M Anchu (Kerala) in 100m hurdles, Harwant Kaur (Punjab) in discuss throw and Sushmita Singha Roy (Bengal) in heptathlon. The championships, the last domestic qualification event for next month's Olympics, lacked major achievements with only high jumper Sahana Kumari of Karnataka making the London Game grade with here gold-winning effort of 1.92m.

Kerala retained the over all title with a whooping 192 points while Uttar Pradesh fiished a distant second in 82 points. Punjab's intermediate hurdler satinder Singh and Kerala half-miler Tintu Luka were adjudged as best male and female athletes of the championships.

• Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2012

Kenyan Laban Moiben finished first in the men's marathon in the standard Charterd Mumbai Marathon 2012 organised on January 15, 2012 winning a cash prize of $36,000.

Ethiopian Netsanct Abeyo left her rivals far behind while cruising to victory in the women's event. Five Indians finished in th top 20. Army Sports Institute's Ram Singh Yadav headed the list at 12th.

Golf

• U.S.Open Golf

26-year-old Webb Simpson of the United States   won the U.S. Open golf at the san Francisco's Olympic Club on June 17, 2012. 

• Augusta Masters

Bubba Watson captured the 76th Masters on April 9, 2012 at Augusta golf course in the US. 

• Panasonic Open

Digivijay Singh won the Panasonic Open golf title in New Delhi on April 1, 2012. This was his first title win on the Asian Tour. Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh and India's Gaganjeet Bhullar finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

• Avantha Masters Golf

Avantha Masters golf was won by Jbe Kruger of South Africa at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on February 19, 2012.

Billiards/Snooker

• World Snooker Championship

Ronnie O'Sullivan won the 2012 World snooker championship beating Ali Carter 18-11 in the final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, UK on May 7, 2012. Victory gave O'Sullivan his fourth. O'Sullivan maintained his record of never losing in a World championship final.

• Asian Snooker Championship

Aditya Mehta stunned fancied compatriot Pankaj Advani to become only the third Indian ever to clinch the Asian Snooker Championships in Doha on April 29, 2012.

• World Ladies Championship

India's R. Umadevi claimed her maiden World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association title, beating World No. 13 Eva Palmius 2-0 in the seniors' final at the Cambridge Snooker centre, England on April 25, 2012.

• ONGC Asian Billiards Championship

Pankaj Advani prevailed ovel Thailand's Thawat Sujaritthurakarn to claim the 11th ONGC Asian billiards championship at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias Mirmar. Goa on April 8, 2012.

Squash

• Chennai Open

Joshna Chinappa bagged her sixth WISPA crown when she beat England's Sarah Jane Perry 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 in the final to win the Chennai Open women's squash tournament at the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai on May 26, 2012

• Asian Championship

The Indian women's squash team comprisig Aparajitha Balamurukan, Anaka Alankamony, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal created history by winning its maiden Asian title, defeating top seed Hong Kong 2-0 in the final, in Kuwait on May 6, 2012. The men, however, went down 0-2 to Pakistan in the summit clash of the 16th Asian Team squash championship.

• Windy City Open

India's Saurav Ghosal registered a comfortable victory over No. 2 yasir Butt of Pakistan 11-8, 15-13, 10-12, 11-5 to become the new 'Windy City Open Squash 2012' champion in Chicago on February 12, 2012.

Kabaddi

• Women's Kabaddi WC Championship

India on March 14, 2012 clinched the first women's Kabaddi World Cup championship title, defeating Iran 25-19 in the final played at Patlipura sports complex at Kankerbagh  in Patna.

Boxing

• Asian Olympic Qualifiers

Pugilists Shiva Thapa and Sumit Sangwan capped their fine performances with title wins in the Asian Olympic boxing qualification event in Astana, Kazakhstan, on April 12, 2012.

In the 56kg final, Thapa defeated 2010 Asian Games bronze medalist Wessam Salamana of Syria 18-11 t bag the gold medal. Sangwan got the better of Tajikistan's Jakhon Qurbanov, an Asian Games bronze winner in 91 kg, 14-9 to secure the 81kg gold.

Besides these two, Vijender Singh (75kg) has also booked a London berth. Seven Indian boxers have qualified to take part in Lodon Olympics.Four Indian boxers – L.Devendro Singh (49kg) and VIkas Krishan (69kg) – had already booked their Olympic berths in last year's World Championship. Gurbax Singh Sandhu is India's national boxing coach.

• Asian Women's Boxing Championship

M.C. Mary Kom and Sarita Devi won gold medals in the Asian women's boxing championship at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on March 25, 2012.

In the 51 kg final, five-time world champion Mary Kom defeated two-time world title winner and 2010 Asian Games gold medalist Ren Cancan of China 14-8 Sarita, a world title winner in 2006, beat defending champion Chorieva Mavzu of Tajikistan 26-15.

In the other title clashes, Pinki jangra (48 kg) lost to Bolortuul Mumurhuyag of Mongolia 22-24, Sonia Lather (54kg) lost to Ke Jia Luu of China 8-12, Monica Saun lost to Dong Mei Wang of China 10-13 and Pooja Rani (75kg) lost to world champion and Asian Games gold medalist Jinzi Li of China 8-15.

Shooting

• Dortmund Championship

Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra had to settle for the silver with a total of 699 in the International shooting Championship in Dortmund, Germany, on March 25, 2012.

The former world champion shot 104.0 in the final, which was 0.4 better than he eventual gold medallist. Are Hansen of Norway. However, Bindra had shot only 595 in the qualification, following a series of 98, 99, 100, 99 and 99.

• Asian Shooting Championship

Abhinav Bindra asserted his class as he beat the 2008 Athens Olympic Games gold medalist Zhu Qinan of China by 0.3 points for the gold in the air rifle event in the 12th Asian shooting championship on Doha, Qatar, on January 13, 2012.

Table Tennis

• National Table Tennis Titles

A. Amalraj beat reigning champion A. Sharath Kamal to win his maiden Senior National Table Tennis title while Poloumi Ghatak won her seventh at the National table tennis Championship organized in Lucknow on January 30, 2012

 

Badminton

• Indonesian Open

India's Saina Nehwal won Indonesia Open Super Series women's singles title after beating world No. 3 Li Xuerui of China in the final played in Jakarta on June 17, 2012. 22-year-old Saina had earlier clinched this title in 2009 and 2010 and was runner-up last year.

Men's Ssingles title was won by Simon Santoso of Indonesia who beat China's Du Pengyu in the final 21-18, 13-21, 21-11. 

Thailand Open

India's Saina Nehwal lifted the Thailand Open Grand Prix badminton gold title after rallying to beat Thailand's Ratchanok Inthanon in the final in Bangkok on June 10, 2012. 

• Thomas Cup and Uber Cup

Chinese men retained the Thomas Cup in convincing style by beating arch-rival South Korea 3-0 at the Wuhan Sports Complex Gymnasium in Wuhan, China on May 27, 2012. This was China's seventh Thomas Cup win. Four times world champion Lin Dan gave China a flying start by beating Lee Hyun ll, 21-14, 21-17 in the first men's singles while Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng beat Lee Yong Dae/Kim Sa Rang 21-16, 25-23 to win the doubles match to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. Chen Long wrapped up the winning point by easily disposing Shon Wan Ho 21-9, 21-13 in the third match.

Chinese woman on May 26, 2012 handed a 3-0 defeat to defending champions South Korea, to win its 12th Uber Cup trophy. Wang, Yihan beat Sung Ji Hyun 21-14, 22-20, 21-13 in the first singles. China went 2-0 up after its doubles pair Yu Yang/Wang Xialoi defeated Kim Min Jung/Ha Jung Eun 21-15, 21-13. China won the third match and the title when Wang Xin beat Bae Youn Joo in 21-10, 21-16.

• Swiss Open

Saina Nehwal won her first title of the season when she retained the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy with a straight-game victory over China's Wang Shixian in the summit clash at Basel (Switzerland)  on March 18, 2012. title.

• All England Championship

Men's Singles: Lin Dan (Chn) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mal) 21-19, 6-2 (retd)

Men's Doubles: Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae (Kor) bt Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng (Chn) 21-23, 21-9, 21-14;

Women's Singles: Li Xuerui (Chn) bt Wang Yihan (Chn) 21-13, 21-19

Women's Doubles: Tian Qing & Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt. Wang Xiaoli & Yu Wang (Chn) 21-17, 21-12

Mixed doubles: Tontowi Ahmad & Lilyana Natsir (Indonesia) bt Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Denmark) 21-17, 21-19

• Korea Open

• Men's singles: Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) bt Lin Dan (China)

• Men's doubles: Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (China) bt 2-Jung Jae-Sung/Lee Yong-Dae (Korea)

• Women's singles: Wang Shixian (China) bt Jiang Yanjiao (China)

• Women's doubles: Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (China) bt 4-Ha Jung-Eun/Kim Min-Jung (Korea)

• Mixed doubles: Xu Chen/ Ma Jin (China) bt Lee Yong-Dae/Ha Jung-Eun (Korea)

India’s Retail Inflation declined to 9.86 percent in July 2012

According to the retail inflation data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO), on 21 August 2012, India’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation came down to 9.86 percent in July 2012. The retail inflation number for June 2012 was revised downwards to 9.93 per cent from the provisional estimate of 10.02 per cent.
Prices of vegetables, edible oil, egg, meat, fish, pulses shot up considerably keeping the overall retail inflation high during the month of July.
Inflation rates for rural and urban areas stood at 9.76 per cent and 10.10 per cent in July 2012.

As per the revised data, the inflation rates for rural and urban areas stood at 9.65 per cent and 10.44 per cent in June 2012.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based headline inflation also declined to 6.87 percent in July 2012. The WPI inflation stood at 7.25 percent in June 2012.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenavi passed away

Meles Zenavi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, passed away on 20 August 2012 following prolonged illness. He was 57. Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also Ethiopia's foreign minister, will assume the charge as the acting Prime Minister of the country.
Born into a middle-class family in Adawa, Tigray, in Ethiopia's northern highlands, Meles Zenavi joined the politics when he was still studying in the university. He later dropped out of university to take full participation in the insurrection against the Syrian military regime.
In 1991 when Mengistu Haile Mariam led Military Council was finally thrown out of power, Meles assumed the charge as the president in a transitional government. Later in 1995 he took over as the prime minister of the country. He went on to lead the African country for nearly 20 years and influenced the Ethiopian public life until his death.

Roger Federer and Li Na won Cincinnati Masters

World no. 1 tennis player Roger Federer won a record fifth Western & Southern Open Title (Cincinnati Masters ) at Cincinnati on 19 August 2012. Federer beat second seeded Novak Djokovic 6-0, 7-6, (9-7). This was the first time when top-seeded men’s players clashed in the final of Cincinnati Masters.
In women’s singles final China’s Li Na beat German Angelique Kerbar to win her first title of the season. Li Na overcame the terrible first set to record a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over her rival.
To make it to the final, Li defeated American wild card Venus Williams in the semifinals. Kerber, meanwhile defeated Petra Kvitova, the winner over Li in Montreal, in her semifinal match at night on Center Court. Defending Champion Maria Sharapova withdrew from the tournament due to illness.

Target for Highway Development

There are fifteen (15) National Highways (NHs) viz NH-58, 72, 72A, 72B, 73, 74, 87, 87(Extn.), 94, 108, 109, 119, 121, 123 and 125 with an aggregate length of 2149 Kms in the State of Uttarakhand.

This Ministry is primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of National Highways and is not responsible for maintenance of State roads including State Highways. Allocation of Rs. 200.97 crore was made from 2009 to 2012 for maintenance of NHs against which an expenditure of Rs. 150.45 crore has been incurred.

Expansion of National Highways network is a continuous process and is taken up from time to time depending upon the requirement of connectivity, inter se priority and availability of funds.

Natural Gas Pipeline of over 11,000 KM Length laid in the Country

The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri R.P.N. Singh informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that more than 11,000 km of cross-country gas pipelines have been laid so far for connecting the consumption centers for supply of gas. Another 14,000 km of pipelines infrastructure is under various stages of implementation. The development of pipeline infrastructure is an ongoing process which will progress with increase in demand of natural gas, the Minister added.

He further stated that Government has initiated multi-pronged measures to increase availability of natural gas in the country. They are as follows:-

I. Intensification of domestic Exploration & Production (E&P) activities through New exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds,

II. Coal Bed Methane (CBM),

III. Shale Gas,

IV. Gas Hydrates,

V. Import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from various countries, and

VI. Transnational pipelines, viz., Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India(TAPI) pipeline and Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline.

15 Mega Food Parks at Various Stages of Implementation

There are 15 Mega Food Parks existing in the country at various stages of implementation. The Mega Food Park projects aim at developing adequate infrastructure facilities from farm gate to retailer outlet and effective supply chain management. The projects are expected to provide remunerative price to the farmers, minimize wastage of agri. produce and generate sufficient employment in the agriculture sector. On successful implementation, it is expected that each project on an average will have around 30-35 food processing units with a collective investment of Rs. 250 crores that would eventually lead to annual turnover of about Rs. 450-500 crores and creation of direct and indirect employment to the extent of about 30,000.

Special Tiger Protection Force

Karnataka is the first State to create the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.  Under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger, 100% central assistance is provided to tiger States for raising, arming and deploying the STPF in sensitive tiger reserves. The details of central assistance provided to States and spent in this regard are:

S. No.	Name of the Tiger Reserve	State	Year	Central assistance provided (Rs. in lakhs)	Amount spent by States (Rs. in lakhs)
1	Corbett	Uttarakhand	2008-09	93.00	--
2	Dudhwa	Uttar Pradesh	2008-09	93.00	--
3	Ranthambhore	Rajasthan	2008-09	93.00	--
4	Similipal	Odisha	2010-11	30.00	30.00
			2011-12	240.00	--

 

Based on tiger abundance and vulnerability, 13 Tiger Reserves in the country have been identified for raising, arming and deploying the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF).  The details are:

S. No.	Name of Tiger Reserve	State
1.	Dudhwa	Uttar Pradesh
2.	Corbett	Uttarakhand
3.	Ranthambhore	Rajasthan
4.	Pench	Madhya Pradesh
5.	Kanha	Madhya Pradesh
6.	Bandhavgarh	Madhya Pradesh
7.	Pakke	Arunachal Pradesh
8.	Bandipur	Karnataka
9.	Pench	Maharashtra
10.	Tadoba-Andhari	Maharashtra
11.	Mudumalai	Tamil Nadu
12.	Kaziranga	Assam
13.	Similipal	Odisha

However, under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored scheme of Project Tiger, central assistance is provided to all the tiger reserves, including those in Andhra Pradesh, for antipoaching measures.  This, interalia, includes deployment of local people as well in protection to complement the field staff.