India 2009: A Retrospective

Here is my retrospective of the major news that took place during the year 2009. Please read the list and leave your comments in the “Comments” section.

January 2009

• ·         US President Barack Obama took office, in the wake of the greatest economic crisis since World War II
• ·         Google Chrome browser released in Beta
• ·         India – Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations
• ·         Satyam scandal rocks Indian Outsourcing industry
• ·         US backs India on 26/11 terror attack probe
• ·         Pakistan denies proofs sent by India on Terror attacks
• ·         50,000 officers of oil PSUs go on indefinite strike

February 2009

• ·         Hijack scare at Delhi airport
• ·         Chairman of ISRO, G Madhavan Nair, felicitated with “Indian of the Year” award
• ·         American woman alleges molestation at Iskcon temple
• ·         Despite economic slowdown, J-K witnesses cellphone boom
• ·         Al-Qaeda video warns India of more attacks
• ·         Family of a poverty-ridden man beheaded in Bihar for marrying a rich girl
• ·         Biggest Air-show in India takes place at Bangalore

March 2009

• ·         Indian Auto industry defies global slowdown, registers highest total sales
• ·         UK unemployment figure grows beyond 2 million
• ·         Japan posts a record current account deficit of 172.8 billion yen
• ·         Class XII topper Akhilesh Narayan reports: "I slept before my maths exams, scored 99%"
• ·         India successfully tests Interceptor missile
• ·         Error in CBSE maths paper reported
• ·         US clears decks for biggest defence deal with India

April 2009

• ·         Tata Nano hits showrooms
• ·         IPL 2 starts in South Africa
• ·         Management student Akhil Dev ragged, beaten and blinded at PSG College, Coimbatore
• ·         US radio host Rush Limbaugh calls Indian workers, slumdogs
• ·         Kolkata prisoners go on hunger strike to watch IPL
• ·         Swine Flu spreads in US, India on high alert
• ·         IAF Sukhoi fighter jet Su-30MKI crashes, navigator killed

May 2009

• ·         IPL 2 ends in Pretoria, South Africa with Deccan Chargers as champions
• ·         IIT student arrested for Credit Card fraud at Ahmedabad, India
• ·         MIG 27 crashes in Jodhpur, 5 injured
• ·         Air France apologises to Indian passengers for “ill-treatment”
• ·         Girls outshine boys In ICSE, ISC and CBSE board exams
• ·         19-year old woman Krushnaa, youngest woman to scale Mt Everest
• ·         Cyclone hits West Bengal

June 2009

• ·         Indian bureaucracy worst in Asia, says survey
• ·         Swine Flu drug Tamiflu banned
• ·         India seeks 25-member UN Security Council
• ·         Two Indian sailors freed from Koran prison
• ·         Air India employees warn of strike, if salaries delayed
• ·         Indian students attacked in Australia
• ·         MIG 21 crashes in Assam, no casualties

July 2009

• ·         N. Korea warns of “Unimaginably Deadly Blows” to US
• ·         UPA proposes 100-day ‘unrealistic’ plans to put India on fast track
• ·         Izzat Train scheme released: Travel 100 kms for Rs 25
• ·         Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja agrees of having sex with maid servant
• ·         Heavy rains flood Mumbai
• ·         BSF finds Pak rocket debris in a Punjab village
• ·         Hillary Clinton visits India

August 2009

• ·         West Bengal govt cracks down on polluting vehicles
• ·         India – China begin 14^th round of border talks
• ·         Call centre employee sedated and raped by colleague in Delhi
• ·         Mumbai terrorists came from Pakistan, claims FBI
• ·         Delhi will be slum-free in 4 years, promises CM Sheila Dikshit
• ·         BSNL staff go on strike, demand wage hike
• ·         Swiss banks refuse details to India on Black Money trail

September 2009

• ·         Jet Airways cancels more than half of its flights, as over a hundred staff stay on leave
• ·         Class X board exams declared “optional” in CBSE
• ·         Tata Indicom launches new plan: Unlimited calls for Re 1
• ·         Infosys to produce unique IDs for Delhiites by 2012
• ·         Theft reported at Rashtrapati Bhavan in India
• ·         Lockheed begins F-16 trials to replace MIG-21 fleet
• ·         CBI forms new team to probe Aarushi Murder case

October 2009

• ·         Heavy rains lash South India
• ·         Infant Mortality Rate highest in India, says United Nations Human Development report
• ·         India test fires N-capable Prithvi-II missile in Orissa
• ·         Half of India’s children malnourished, says ActionAid NGO report
• ·         US ship Alang poses toxic threat to India
• ·         India’s Swine Flu toll reaches 415
• ·         Hyderabad throws open India’s longest flyover

November 2009

• ·         Sachin Tendulkar reaches 17,000 ODI runs
• ·         Online CAT exam fails due to server crash
• ·         Teller’s machine in use to detect fake currency notes, reports CNN
• ·         Bangladesh launches major crackdown on ULFA
• ·         Dutch national held in Child Pornography in Chennai
• ·         India revises air quality norms after 15 years
• ·         DRDO admits N-capable Agni-II failed night testing

December 2009

• ·         India regains top spot in Cricket Test Rankings
• ·         Indian Railways unveil new method to curb accidents due to fog
• ·         Third ceasefire violation reported in a week on Indo-Pak border near LoC

Top 7 Cheapest cars of the world

7. Fiat Palio $9,242

Born in Brazil and built in other Latin American countries, as well as Poland, Morocco, Turkey, India, South Africa China and Russia (the sedan version), the Fiat Palio is truly a “world car.” This car is one of the first models designed with emerging technologies in mind.

6. Hyundai i10 $9,096

Hyundai recently changed the names of its cars from actual words to numbers after the letter i. Because of this, the Atos, the smallest member of the Hyundai lineup, became the i10. It makes #8 on the list.

5. Tata Indica $8,500

The Indica has always been the ugly duckling in the European market, where it survives because there’s nothing cheaper available (well, the latest Fiat 600 can sometimes be found for under 6,000 EUR). The car is also sold in South Africa, where it’s a huge success.

4. Geely HQ SRC $5,780

The Geely HQ SRC is based on the mid-’80s Daihatsu Charade. If you don’t remember that particular vehicle, rest assured it was a quite competent subcompact at the time.

3. Suzuki Maruti 800 $4,994

Until the Tata Nano arrives, the Suzuki Maruti 800 — the “smallest car in production” — will be the cheapest car you can buy in India and in other nearby countries (and even South America). Some versions of the Maruti have even arrived in Europe.

2. Chery QQ $4,781

It’s almost twice as expensive as the cheapest car on the this list, but that doesn’t stop the Cherry QQ from coming in at #2. This car sparked some trademark issues because of similarities to the Daewoo/Chevrolet Matiz.

1. Tata Nano $2,497

This car is well thought out, and lots of patents have resulted from the creation process — from the Nano’s powertrain to the assembly process itself. Will this car ruin the world? Some voices say that more cars on the roads imply more pollution, which is hard to argue against.

For pictures of these cars and the original post, please visit: The Ultimate Renaissance.

Please post your comments below.

Black Rhino: Endangered or Extinct?

An endangered species is a population of an organism (usually a taxonomic species), which because it is either few in number or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters, leaving it at risk of becoming extinct. Many countries have laws offering special protection to these species or their habitats: for example, forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves.

Only a few of the many endangered species actually make it to the official lists and obtain legal protection.

Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice. The greatest factor of concern is the rate at which species are becoming extinct within the last 150 years.

While species have evolved and become extinct on a regular basis for the last several hundred million years, the number of species becoming extinct since the Industrial Revolution has no precedent in biological history. If this rate of extinction continues, or accelerates as now seems to be the case, the number of species becoming extinct in the next decade could number in the millions.

While most people readily relate to endangerment of large mammals or birdlife, some of the greatest ecological issues are the threats to stability of whole ecosystems if key species vanish at any level of the food chain. One such endangered animal is the Black Rhinoceros.

The Black Rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis also colloquially Black Rhino is a mammal in the order Perissodactyla, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Although the Rhino is referred to as a “Black” creature, it is actually more of a grey-white color in appearance. For most of the 20th century the continental black rhino was the most numerous of all rhino species. Around 1900 there were probably several hundred thousand living in Africa. During the later half of the 20th century their number severely reduced from an estimated 70,000 in the late 1960s to only 10,000 to 15,000 in 1981.

In the early 1990s the number dipped below 2500, and in 1995 it was reported that only 2,410 black rhinos remained.

According to the International Rhino Foundation, the total African population has since then slightly recovered to 3,610 by 2003. According to a July 2006 report by the World Conservation Union, a recent survey of the West African Black Rhino, which once ranged across the savannahs of western Africa but had dropped to just 10, concluded the subspecies to be extinct.