DIARY OF EVENTS 2012

20th Law Commission of India

Justice D. K. Jain, who would take up the assignment after his retirement on January 24, will have a three-year tenure and has been saddled with a wide terms of reference including one to examine existing laws from the gender equality perspective and suggest necessary amendments. The 12th Law Commission was constituted through a Government Order with effect from September 1, 2012, with the term ending on August 31, 2015. It was asked to identify obsolete laws for their repeal and also suggest suitable measures for quick grievance redressal of citizens grievances in the field of law. The new Law Commission would also examine the Laws which affect the poor and carry out post-audit for socio-economic legislations and take all necessary measures to harness law and the legal process in the service of the poor.

Greening Rural Development in India

The Ministry of Rural Development, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released a report “Greening Rural Development in India”. The report presents strategies for inclusive rural development embodying the principles of environmental sustainability. The Report assumes particular significance in the light of the Twelfth Five Year Plan, which has as its objective, faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth?.The report has examined six flagship Government of India (GoI) schemes, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS); National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM); Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP); Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY); National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDP) and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) to recommend actions and measures to achieve greening outcomes. In specific it looks as improving quality of ecosystems, enabling sustainable livelihoods, strengthening resilience of local communities to enable them to recover from extreme weather events and reducing ecological footprint through efficient use of energy, material and natural resources.

Tagore Centre for the Study of Culture and Civilization

To pay a befitting tribute to the man of letters, Nobel Laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, on his 150th birth anniversary, the Government of India has set up a 'Tagore Centre for the Study of Culture and Civilization' (TCSCC) at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla. The objectives of the Centre include: to encourage the study of Tagore's work; support translations of Tagore's work into other Indian languages; promote comparative study of his work with poets, artists and writers in other parts of India and the world; study the elements of his Humanist philosophy and his cosmopolitanism; and explore his concerns regarding the relationship between science and society.

Ravindra H. Dholakia committee

A committee was set up to suggest measures to lower the high costs of Air India’s operations and improve utilisation of resources in line with best global practices to help the state-run carrier achieve the goals of its turnaround and financial restructuring plans. A five-member committee, headed by IIM- Ahmedabad’s Prof Ravindra H Dholakia, was set up by Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh after a review meeting of the ailing national carrier’s functioning. Though the panel has been given two months to submit its report, it has been asked to give interim recommendations without waiting for its final report so that these could be implemented by Air India immediately.

14th Finance Commission

The government announced the constitution of the 14th Finance Commission under the chairmanship of former RBI Governor Y. V. Reddy. The five- member panel is to submit its report by October 31, 2014. Apart from its recommendations on the sharing of tax proceeds between the Centre and the States which will apply for a five-year period beginning April 1, 2015, the Commission has been asked to suggest steps for pricing of public utilities such as electricity and water in an independent manner and also look into issues like disinvestment, GST compensation, sale of non-priority PSUs and subsidies.

Bhim Awards" on outstanding sports persons

Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia conferred annual "Bhim Awards" on outstanding sports persons of the state. Appreciating the sports policy of the state he said that till now 137 sportpersons have been honoured with Bhim Award. Those who received the "Award" presently include Boxer from Bhiwani jeetender kumar, wrestler from Karnal Nirmala Devi, athletic player shotputter from Gurgaon Om Parkash, Roller Skating player from Faridabad Dhruv Gautam and Yashdeep kaur of Sirsa and Paralympics athlete from Sonepat Mr Rajesh Kumar.

Madhya Pradesh will be observed as Information Technology Empowerment Year as 2013

In Madhya Pradesh, the year 2013 will be observed as Information Technology Empowerment Year. All MoUs signed in the IT sector will be implemented during the Year. Work will be undertaken for development of new IT parks in Bhopal and Indore. Electronic manufacturing hubs will be established at Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur. Rural women will be given IT training while maximum number of government officers and employees will be made IT-savvy. Besides this an IT cadre will be developed for making available skilled human resources from state to block levels. Work will be done on a mission mode in mobile governance sector so that good governance can be ensured at the lowest level.

Venkatesh Mannar received Canada’s ‘highest’ civilian award

A Chennai-born scientist of Indian origin, Venkatesh Mannar, President, Micronutrient Initiative, Canada, has been awarded Canada’s ‘highest’ civilian award – the Order of Canada. For nearly 40 years, Mannar has been working to reduce debilitating micronutrient deficiencies among the world’s most vulnerable. Established in 1967 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the award is the centrepiece of the Canadian Honours System, and recognises a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation to people in all sectors of Canadian society. Micronutrient Initiative is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to ensure that the world’s most vulnerable – especially women and children – in developing countries get vitamins and minerals they need to survive and thrive through supplements and a food fortification programme. Its mission is to develop, implement and monitor cost effective and sustainable solutions for hidden hunger, in partnership with others.

Asia’s First Bio-Safety Level-IV Laboratory

India opened its first BIO-Safety Level –IV Laboratory in Pune. The lab has been established by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) with support from Department of Science & Technology. The BSL 4 Facility is dubbed to have the highest level of bio-safety lab in the world and will be the first of its kind in Asia and India. Under the aegis of ICMR, there are few Biosafety Laboratories and some of them are being upgraded to Level III and IV. A total of 16 new; 14 BSL-II and 2 BSL-III Laboratories have been set up for working on viral diseases and TB in the country.

‘Annaprasana’ – an innovative programme

The Odisha State government will be implementing the scheme through 71,134 anganwadi centres across the State. Annaprasana will be aimed at helping mothers know about complementary food required for infants after six months. The State government would give a spoon and a bowl to every mother to encourage them to follow the guideline.

Tagore Peace Prize

An Emirati poet, who is well known for translating Indian poetry in Arabic, has become the first from the Arab world to win the Tagore Peace Prize. Shihab Ganem has been awarded the prize for his achievements in the field of poetry and its translation, as well as his contribution to developing human understanding that are in compliance with the values of humanity, love and peace adopted and called for by Tagore. The honour is awarded to a single person every two years. The Tagore Award was instituted by the Indian government to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, for promoting values of universal brotherhood.

Jnanpith Award for the year 2011

Leading Oriya novelist and academician Pratibha Ray, who has over 40 novels, travelogues and short stories to her credit, was named for the prestigious Jnanpith Award for the year 2011. Ray has 20 novels, 24 short stories, 10 travelogues, two poetry collections and a number of essays to her credit. Her writings have been translated into English, other foreign languages as also a number of other Indian languages. Her boldness, courage and commitment to work with the Bonda tribe was commendable at a time when even a male researcher shied away from working with them.

India's first and unique cow sanctuary

India’s first and unique cow sanctuary will be established in Madhya Pradesh. State’s chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan laid the foundation stone of the Kamadhenu Cow Sanctuary at Salriya village in Susner tahsil of Shajapur district.Chief minister said that world's unique cow sanctuary will be made a cow pilgrimage centre. He also announced to set up a Cow Products Research Centre in the sanctuary. He said that a religious tourism circuit will be developed by interlinking Maa Bagulamukhi Mandir at Nalkhera, Pipalya Balaji Mandir at Soyat, Baijnath Mahadev Mandir at Agar and the cow sanctuary.

70th Annual Golden Globe Awards 2013

In the prestigious Golden Globe Awards 2013, the hostage-crisis movieArgo thrashed Lincoln to bag best picture as well as best director awards on 13 January 2013. Les Miserables, on the other hand won the awards in best musical or comedy category with the actors Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman winning one trophy each.

The award-winning movie Argo is actually inspired by 1979 crisis US diplomats in Iran. In the category of Best Drama, other nominees were Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty as well as Life of Pi.

Lincoln which was leading the race with a total of seven nominations took away just the trophy of best actor which was awarded to Daniel Day-Lewis for his role as the 16 President of US. However, the film might have better opportunities at Oscars where it is running first with 12 nominations.

The Golden Globe Awards 2013 also did not stand with Life of Pi and the film only took home a single award, the best original score by Mychael Danna.

List of Golden Globe Awards 2013 Winners:
•Best Motion Picture-Drama: Argo
•Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy: Les Miserables
•Best performance by an actor in a motion picture – Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
•Best performance by an actress in a motion picture – Drama: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
•Best performance by an actor in a motion picture- Musical or Comedy: Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables)
•Best performance by an actress in a motion picture- Musical or Comedy: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
•Best Director: Ben Affleck (Argo)
•Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
•Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway
•Best Television Series (Drama): Homeland
•Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series (Drama): Claire Danes (Homeland)
•Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Drama): Damian Lewis (Homeland)
•Best Screenplay: Adele - 'Skyfall' (Skyfall)
•Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical): Girls
•Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical): Lena Dunham (Girls)
•Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical): Don Cheadle (House of Lies)
•Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Game Change
•Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Julianne Moore (Game Change)
•Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys)
•Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)
•Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Ed Harris (Game Change)
•Best Original Score: Life of Pi
•Best Animated Feature Film: Brave

The other winners at the Golden Globe Awards 2013 were as follows:
•Best Foreign Language Film: Amour (Austria, Les Films Du Losange, X Filme Creative Pool, Wega Film; Sony Pictures Classics)
•Best Animated Feature Film: Brave
•Best Original Song: Skyfall, Adele from Skyfall
•Best Original Score: Mychael Danna, Life of Pi

About the Golden Globe Awards:
The Hollywood stars came on 13 January 2013 to Beverly Hills, Calif for taking the much-popular Golden Globe trophies at 70th annual Golden Globe Awards. These awards were presented by Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The first Golden Globes were held at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and were hosted by Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association. From there, the idea of recognizing the excellence in the concept of moviemaking came up by the members of Foreign Correspondents Association. The first awards of the organisation took place in early 1944 and the informal ceremony took place at 20th Century Fox.

Jennifer Jones bagged the Best Actress award for The Song of Bernadette, which was also the best film. Paul Lukas won the Best Actor award for Watch on the Rhine.

Jeevan Raksha Padak

The President of India has approved the conferment of Jeevan Raksha Padak Awards – 2012 on the following persons :-

Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak (3)

	Ms. Vineetha P.K. (Posthumous), Kerala Ms. Remya Rajappan (Posthumous), Kerala Smt. Sangeeta Agarwal (Posthumous), Uttarakhand
1.
2.
3.

Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak (10)

1.	Shri Rahul Kevat, Madhya Pradesh
2.	Shri Shivam Rajendra Pandey (Posthumous), Maharashtra
3.	Shri C. Thanthuama  (Posthumous), Mizoram
4.	Shri Liankanglova, Mizoram
5.	Shri Ramesh Kompalli Babu, Andhra Pradesh
6.	Ms. Lovely Verma (Posthumous), Uttar Pradesh
7.	Shri Kshetrimaym Rakesh Singh, Manipur
8.	Shri Mohammed Nishadh V.P., Kerala
9.	Ms. Prasannta Shandilya (Khushi), Jharkhand
10.	Ms. Mittal Mahendrabhai Patadiya, Gujarat

Jeevan Raksha Padak (37)

1.	Shri Sureshkumar C.S. (Posthumous), Kerala
2.	Shri Jishnu. V. Nair, Kerala
3.	Shri Pradeep Rai, Madhya Pradesh
4.	Shri Pradeep Shingare, Madhya Pradesh
5.	Shri Shahid Ismail Inamdar, Maharashtra
6.	Shri Ananda Ishwar Mane, Maharashtra
7.	Shri Shrikant Shamrao Mane, Maharashtra
8.	Shri Nitin Vilas Kore, Maharashtra
9.	Shri Lalramchhana, Mizoram
10.	Shri Lalchhuanliana, Mizoram
11.	Ms. Lalrinzuali, Mizoram
12.	Shri K.T. Chungnunga, Mizoram
13.	Shri Nisar Khan, Rajasthan
14.	Shri Aji Cherippanattu Kochu, Kerala
15.	Shri Kartik Uppal, Delhi
16.	Shri Sham Raj Kishor, Punjab
17.	Dr. Narendra Singh, Jammu & Kashmir
18.	Shri Takhelchangbam Devajit Sharma, Manipur
19.	Ms. Saudhita Barman (Posthumous), West Bengal
20.	Shri G. Parameswaran, Tamil Nadu
21.	Shri S.S. Madhu, Karnataka
22.	Shri Johnson Tourangbam, Manipur
23.	Shri Yandam Amara Uday Kiran, Andhra Pradesh
24.	Shri Phurailatpam Borish Sharma alias Bode, Manipur
25.	Shri Durgesh Singh, Chhattisgarh
26.	Shri Devashish Pandey, Chhattisgarh
27.	Shri Shubham Kumar Tiwari, Chhattisgarh
28.	Shri Raju Dhruv, Chhattisgarh
29.	Shri Vipin Patel, Chhattisgarh
30.	Shri Anshif C.K., Kerala
31.	Shri Suthrapu Shiva Prasad, Andhra Pradesh
32.	Shri Adithya Gopal (Posthumous), Arunachal Pradesh
33.	Shri Ranjan Pradhan, Chhattisgarh
34.	Shri Paramjeet, Haryana
35.	Shri Sahsad. K., Kerala
36.	Shri Dungar Singh, Rajasthan
37.	Ms. Anjali Singh Gautam, Chhattisgarh

            Jeevan Raksha Padak series of awards are given to a person for meritorious act of humanenature in saving the life of a person.  The award is given in three categories, namely, Sarvottam JeevanRaksha Padak, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak, and Jeevan Raksha Padak.  Persons of either sex in all walks of life are eligible for these awards.  The award can also be conferred posthumously.

            The decoration of the award (medal, certificate signed by the Home Minister and demand draft for lump sum monetary allowance) is presented to the awardee in due course by the respective State Government to which the awardee belongs.  The lump sum monetary allowance is given at the rate of 1,00,000, Rs.60,000, and Rs. 40,000 to the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padakand Jeevan Raksha Padak awardee respectively.

Jute fair in Mangalore

The National Jute Board (NJB) will conduct a jute fair, an exhibition-cum-sale of lifestyle jute decorative products, in Mangalore on January 16-20.

Mayor of Mangalore, will inaugurate the event on January 16.The NJB, which is under the Union Ministry of Textiles, has been organising exhibitions, buyer-seller meets, fashion shows, seminars and workshops for the promotion of the eco-friendly jute products. The jute fair will be conducted at Woodlands Auditorium on Bunts’ Hostel Road in the city

19th Colors Screen Awards

The 19th Colors Screen Awards were announced on 12 January 2013 in a function at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. From the list of 119 films released in 2012, 27 films were green signaled in the Screen Academy Selection singled for consideration by the Jury. The screen jury comprised the eminent members of the Indian Film Industry. These panelists after several rounds of discussions and debates were able to finalise the nominations.

Details :

Award Category	Winners
Best Film	Paan Singh Tomar
Best Actor Male	Irfan Khan for Paan Singh Tomar and Ranbir Kapoor for Barfi
Best Actress Female	Vidya Balan for Kahaani
Best Director	Anurag Basu for Barfi
Best Ensemble Cast	Gangs Of Wasseypur
Best Actor (Female-Popular Catagory)	Katrina Kaif
Best Actor (Male Popular Category)	Salman Khan
Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)	Dolly Ahluwalia for Vicky Donor
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)	Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Talaash
Best Actor in a Negative Role (Male/Female)	Tigmanshu Dhulia for Gangs Of Wasseypur
Most Promising Newcomer (Female)	Ileana D'Cruz for Barfi
Most Promising Newcomer (Male)	Ayushmann Khurrana for Vicky Donor
Best Child Artiste	Mohammad Samad for Gattu
Promising Debut Director	Gauri Shinde for English Vinglish
Best Actor in a Comic Role (Male/Female)	Annu Kapoor for Vicky Donor) and Abhishek Bachchan for Bol Bachchan
Best Playback Singer (Female)	Shalmali Kholgade for Ishaqzaade
Best Music	Pritam for Barfi
Best Playback Singer (Male)	Javed Ali for Ishaqzaade
Best Story	Sujoy Ghosh & Advaita Kala for Kahaani
Best Background Score	Pritam for Barfi
Best Production Design	Kaushik Dasa & Subrata Barik for Kahaani
Best Lyrics	Javed Akhtar for Talaash and Muskanein Jhoothi Hain
Best Sound Design	Sanjay Maurya & Allwyn Rego  for Kahaani
Best Dialogue	Bhavesh Mandlia & Umesh Shukla for OMG: Oh My God
Best Screenplay	Sanjay Chouhan & Tigmanshu Dhulia  for Paan Singh Tomar
Best Editing	Namrata Rao  for Kahaani
Best Choreography	Prabhu Deva & Vishnu Deva for Go Govinda and OMG: Oh My God
Best Cinematography	Ravi Varman for Barfi
Best Action	Sham Kaushal For Gangs Of Wasseypur
Best Costume	Anaita Shroff Adajania for Cocktail
Best Animation	Delhi Safari
Best Marketing	Barfi
Legend of Indian Cinema Award	Amitabh Bachchan
Lifetime Achievement: Award	Yash Chopra

India to host first global ministerial meet on elephants

India will host the first ever global ministerial meet – 'E 50:50' – on elephants in the Capital from November 14 to 19.

The conference, expected to be attended by 50 countries that harbour wild populations of elephants, will discuss conservation and welfare of elephants, according the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

The ‘E 50:50 – the First International Elephant Congress and Ministerial Meet, will bring together scholars, conservation practitioners and policy makers to discuss issues on elephant conservation policy. It will also include conclaves on science, culture and management culminating in a ministerial summit to adopt a vision charter with common minimum global vision on conservation, management and welfare of elephants across all range countries.

At present, three species of elephants are spread across 50 countries, but regardless of geo-political boundaries, they face common threats of poaching, habitat loss and conflicts with people.

In 2010, India had set up an Elephant Task Force (ETF) to work out a strategy for the long-term conservation of the species elephants. In an effort to take the global lead on the matter, the ETF had initiated a global meet of affected countries in May 2011, such as Botswana, Congo Brazzaville, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand.

Krishi Karman awards for 8 States

Bihar, Manipur, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh will be awarded the Krishi Karman 2011-12 awards for their efforts in increasing food grain production.

President Pranab Mukherjee will present these awards to Chief Ministers of these States.

The awards are given to best performing States in two broad categories, one for the total food grain production and the other for the individual food grain crops of rice, wheat, pulses and coarse cereals.

International flower show in Sikkim

Sikkim will host the second international flower show to showcase the floral potential of the Himalayan State.

The five-day long show will commence on February 23 and will host 15,000 different varieties of flowers.

“Flower-growers from Australia, New Zealand, Holland, the US, Taiwan, Nepal and Thailand have confirmed their participation while Delhi , Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and seven North-eastern states will also participate.

In all 25 international flora companies, 30 national flora companies and 190 States flower growers’ organisations, associations and groups have confirmed their participation.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

• New President of India- Pranab Mukherjee
• Re-elected Vice President- Hamid Ansari
Secretary in National Commission for Women - Ajit Saran
• New Indian envoy to Israel – Jaideep Sarkar
• New Indian envoy to Canada – Nirmal Kumar Verma
• New MSME secretary - Vivek Rae
• New chairman of ICC Cricket Committee - Anil Kumble
• Junior pistol chief coach - Jaspal Rana
• India’s ambassador to Brazil - Ashok Kumar
• New Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau – Rajiv Mehta
• New FMC (Forward Markets Commission) Chairman – Ramesh Abhishek
• New Director on the Central Board of Directors of the RBI - Y C Deveshwar
• New President of Indian Newspaper Society – Tilak Kumar
• New Secretary Gen of Rajya Sabha – Shumsher K Sheriff
• New Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulation – Shailesh Gupta
• New President of Indian Boxing Federation – Abhishek Matoria
• New Economic affairs secretary-Arvind Mayaram
• New Chief Economic Advisor- Raghuram Rajan
• New Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL)Chairperson - Shyamala Gopinath
• Re-appoint Deputy Governer of RBI: K C Chakrabarty
• New CBDT Chairperson- Poonam Kishore Saxena
• New Union Railway Minister- Pawan Kumar Bansal
• New Aviation Secretary- K N Srivastava
• New Election Commissioner- S Nasim Ahmad Zaidi
• New Chief Election Commissioner-VS Sampath
• New secretary to the Prez of India- Omita Paul
• Head of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Committee - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
• New CMD of Oriental Bank of Commerce- SL Bansal
• New Executive Director of PNB- S R Bansal
• New CEO of Prasar Bharti – Jawhar Sircar
•  New Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh- Virabhadra Singh

Olivia Culpo, Miss USA was crowned Miss Universe 2012

Olivia Culpo, Miss USA was crowned Miss Universe 2012. Olivia Culpo beat out 88 other beauty queens to take the title from Leila Lopes of Angola during the competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip.  Miss Philippines held the second spot, followed by Miss Venezuela, Miss Australia and Miss Brazil.
India’s hope of winning the Miss Universe 2012 crown crashed as Shilpa Singh failed to make it to the list of top 10 contestants. Ji Dan Xu, Miss China won the Best National Costume title while Laura Godoy from Guatemala grabbed the Miss Congeniality title. Diana Avdiu from Kosovo became Miss Photogenic of the year 2012. Indian beauty Shilpa Singh could not make it to the Top 10, though she succeeded in making it to the top 16 list.
As Miss Universe, Culpo will receive an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe fit for a queen, a limitless supply of beauty products, and a luxury apartment in New York City.

SUMMITS HELD ON 2012-13

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summits

• 4th BRICS Summit 2012 – New Delhi, India
• 5th BRICS  Summit 2013 – Durban, South Africa

G-8 Annual Summits
Group of Eight (G8) Countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Russia.

• 37th G8 Meeting 2011 – Deauville, France
• 38th G8 Meeting 2012 – David camp, USA
• 39th G8 Summit 2013 –  County Fermanagh, UK
• 40th G8 Summit 2014 – Russia

G-20 Summits

• 7th G 20 Meeting 2012 – Los Cabos, Mexico
• 8th G 20 Meeting 2013 – Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 9th G 20 Meeting 2014 – Brisbane, Australia

SAARC Summits
SAARC – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

• 17th SAARC Summit 2011– Addu, Maldives
• 18th SAARC Summit 2013 – Kathmandu,Nepal

ASEAN Summits
ASEAN – Association of South East Asian Nation

• 19th ASEAN Summit 2011 (November) – Bali, Indonesia
• 20th ASEAN Summit 2012 (April) – Phnom penh, Cambodia
• 21th ASEAN Summit 2012  (November)– Phnom penh, Cambodia

ASEAN-India Summit

• 9th ASEAN-India Summit 2011 – Bali, Indonesia
• 10th ASEAN-India Summit 2012 – Phnom penh, Cambodia

East Asia Summit (EAS)

EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings.

• 6th East Asia Summit 2011 – Bali, Indonesia
• 7th East Asia Summit 2012 – Phnom penh, Cambodia

IBSA Summits
IBSA Dialogue Forum - India, Brazil, South Africa.

• 5th IBSA Summit 2011 – Pretoria, South Africa
• 6th IBSA Summit 2013 – India

APEC Summits
APEC – Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

• 23rd APEC  summit 2011 – Honolulu, USA
• 24th APEC Summit 2012 – Vladivostok,Russia
• 25th APEC Summit 2013 – Medan/Jakarta, Indonesia
• 26th APEC Summit 2014 – China
• 27th APEC Summit 2015 – Philippines
• 28th APEC Summit 2016 – Lima, Peru

OPEC Seminars
OPEC – Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

• 4th OPEC International Seminar 2009 – Vienna, Austria
• 5th OPEC International Seminar 2012 – Vienna, Austria

NAM Summits
NAM – Non-aligned Movement

• 16th NAM Summit 2012 – Tehran, Iran
• 17th NAM Summit 2015 – Caracas,Venezuela

SCO Meetings
SCO – Shanghai Cooperation Organization

• SCO Meeting 2011 – Astana, Kazakhstan
• SCO Meeting 2012 – Beijing, China
• SCO Meeting 2013 – Kyrgyzstan

NATO (North Atlantic treaty organization) international conference on Afghanistan will be held in Chicago (USA)

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meetings
Annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held every year.

• ADB Annual Meeting 2012 – Manila, Philippines
• ADB Annual Meeting 2013 – New Delhi, India

WTO Ministerial Conferences

• 8th WTO Ministerial Conferences 2011 – Geneva, Switzerland
• 9th WTO Ministerial Conferences 2013 (Expected) -Bali, Indonesia

Other Important Summits

• United Nations framework convention on Climate, 2011 – Durban, South Africa
• 10th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change – New Delhi, India
• Arab summit 2012 – Baghdad, Iraq
• Nuclear security summit 2012 – Seoul, South Korea
• 12th Annual summit of European Union and India – New Delhi, India
• G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting – Mexico City, Mexico
• Friends of Syria Meeting – Istanbul,Turkey
• 5th Ministerial level India-UK Economic Financial Dialogue – New Delhi
• United Nation Conference on Sustainable Development 2012 – Rio de janeiro,Brazil
• 17th National youth Festival – Mangalore, Karnataka
• World Economic Forum – Davos, Switzerland
• World Polio Summit 2012 – New Delhi, India
• India, Russia Inter-Governmental Commission meet 2012 – New Delhi, India
• The sixth conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians held in Islamabad on 4th November 2012.
• E-9 countries review meeting held in New Delhi on 9th and 10th November 2012.The E-9 countries are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria and Mexico.
• The 8th meeting of the India-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) on counter terrorism was held on 20 November 2012 in New Delhi.
• The 3rd Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit organized by East West Institute, a New York based think-and-do tank, kick-started in the New Delhi on 30th October 2012.
• South Korea will host the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2014.
• The XI Conference of Parties (CoP-11) on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being hosted by India at Hyderabad starts on 1st October 2012.
• The 9th World Hindi Conference to be held in Johannesburg ,South Africa from 22-24 September 2012.The first world Hindi Conference was held in Nagapur from 10-12 January 1975.
• The APEC Russia 2012 Summit is the 24th annual gathering of APEC leaders of 21 countries.Leaders from the member economics are currently meeting on Russky Island off the Coast of Vladivostok, Russia from September 2-9 ,2012 .
• The world’s largest meeting on HIV/AIDS opened on 22nd July in Washington.
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Summit held in HICC, Novotel Hyderabad. The summit was held between 22 August 2012 to 25 August 2012.
•  7th ASEAN education Ministers meeting on July 4 with the 1st Asean plus three education Minister Meeting and the 1st East Asia Summit Education Minister meeting from July4-5 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
•  A One day International conference in Kabul took place on June 14,2012 to discuss ways to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan and boost regional cooperation.
•  101 st session of International Labour Conference  organized by International Labour Organization(ILO), concluded on June 14 ,2012 in Geneva.
•  The Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments took place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012
•  India To Host Alternative International AIDS conference
•  World Agriculture Congress mega event will be hosted by the Hyderabad city for the first time in the country.
•  The 6th Summit of the Americas was held At Cartagena, Colombia on 14 and 15 April 2012.
•  The Russia, India and China (RIC) trilateral conference was held in Mascow on 13 April 2012.
•  The seventh meeting of the India-Russia Joint Working Group was held in New Delhi on 11 April 2012.
•  Two-days national agricultural conference held at New Delhi.
•  The international exhibition-cum conference ” Indian Aviation 2012 held at Hyderabad from 14-18 March 2012.
• The 23rd Arab summit was held on 29 March 2012 Baghdad, half of the Arab world’s 22 heads of states had to meet for the summit in former president Saddam Hussain’s palace, but only few leaders gathered.
•  India, the independence accreditation agency organized its 1st world summit on Accreditation from 25 -28 March 2012 in New Delhi.
•  The I’st World summit on Accreditation is going to be held in March 2012 at New Delhi.
•  A seven days Turkey World Trade Bridge International Business Summit is going to be organized by the confederation of Businessman and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) and the Indo-Turkish Business Association (ITBA) from 3 June to 10 June 2012 in Istanbul.
• AIMA’s second Knowledge summit was held in Bangalore on 7March 2012.
• The 9th three day International conference & exhibition was hosted by the society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG),which was inaugurated on 16 feb 2012 in Hyderabad.
• The 44Th session of Indian Labour conference was held on 14 and 15 Feb 2012, under the chairmanship of Shri Mallikajun Kharge, Union minister of Labour and Employment.
• The Association of South East Nations (Asean ) summit had held in New Delhi on 12 Feb 2012 with the theme of India and Asean partners for peace, progress and stability. 
• The 12th India – EU summit was held in New Delhi on 10 Feb 2012.
• The 4th ” International Conference on Luminescence and its Application’s” (ICLA) 2012 conference had been organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies on 8 Feb2012 in Hyderabad.
•  The 15th National conference on e-Governance conference had been inaugurated by the chief minister of Odisha M.Naveen Patnaik on 8 Feb 2012
• The 10th International Kimberlite conference meeting was held from 6 to 11 Feb 2012 at Bangalore (GSI).
• The 58th annual meeting of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS) was held from 8 to 12 Feb 2012 in Kolkata
• The national conference on Governance’ was held on 29 Jan  2012 at the NCUI auditorium in New Delhi.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated 15th Global Sanskrit Meetings in New Delhi on 4 January 2012.
• 99th Science Congress Conferences were inaugarated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bhuvaneswar, Odisha on 3 January 2012. 

IMPORTANT AWARDS 2012

• Israeli Scientist Daniel Hillel has won World Food Prize 2012 .
• ITC conferred world business & development award 2012.
• Life Time Achievement Award for Ratan Tata by Rockefeller Foundation
• Vijay Kumar conferred Himachal Gaurav award
• Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Puraskar for DR Mehra,
• Ashoke Sen wins Yuri Milner Prize.
• Sachin Tendulkar was presented the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award.
• Ondaatje Prize 2012 for Rahul Bhattacharya.
• Sudarshan Pattnaik won the Copenhagen Sand Art Championship-2012.
• Binayak Sen and Bulu Imam honored with the International Peace Award  by the Gandhi Foundation at the House of Lords.
• Shalini Singh won Prem Bhatia award
• Kulandei Francis won Magsaysay award.
• Miss China Wenxia Yu won the title of Miss World 2012
• Mamta Kalia gets Sita puraskar.
• Shiv Bhatia gets Rashtriya Ekta Puraskar.
• Mr. Baba Kalyani was conferred an honorary ‘Doctor of Science’ (honoris causa) by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at the 58th Annual Convocation of IIT Kharagpur.
• Paraguay’s Highest Civilisation Award ‘National Order of Merito de Comuneros’ for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
• Lifetime achievement award for Waheeda Rehman at Mumbai Film Festival.
• Bangladesh honours Jagjivan Ram as 1971 war hero.
• Hilary Mantel wins Booker Prize for 2012.
• Gulzar gets Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 2012.
• C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Sunil Gavaskar.
• Sharmila Tagore was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the Edinburgh Napier University.
• Member of Order of Australia – Sachin Tendulkar
• IT giant Infosys founder, N.R. Narayan Murthy honoured with Hoover Medal for promoting science at Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Washington.
• Aishwarya Rai was honoured with French Civilian Award
• Dr Madhav Chavan has won the WISE Prize, which has been likened to a “Nobel prize for education”.
• Urdu Scholar Gopi Chand Narang Awarded Moortidevi Award for 2010 
• Chinese movie ‘11 Flowers’, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai has won the prestigious NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) award at the 18th Kolkata International Film festival (KIFF).
• President of the Republic of Liberia Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf got the  Indira Gandhi peace prize for 2012 for her Excellency, Peace,Disarmament and Development.
•  “Andhey Ghorey Da Daan” a Punjabi film directed by Gurvinder Singh and produced by National Film Development Cooperation was bagged the Golden Peacock award of the International  Film Festival of India, IFFI.

ICC Awards 2012

• Emerging Player of the Year – Sunil Narine
• LG People’s Choice Award – Kumar Sangakkara
• ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – Virat Kohli
• ICC Test Cricketer of the Year -Kumar Sangakkara
• ICC Cricketer of the Year – Kumar Sangakkara

IIFA Awards 2012

13th IIFA Awards 2012 schedule  from 7th Jun to 9th Jun, 2012 as held in the beautiful city of Singapore . The list of winners has just been announced and as expected, Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan have once again won the Best Actor and Best Actress award respectively. The Best movie and director too have been predictable this year, as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which swept the IIFA 2012 technical awards, has won in both categories.
Winners of IIFA Awards 2012
Best Actor – Ranbir Kapoor (Rockstar)
Best Actress – Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture)
Best Movie – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Director – Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Story – Zoya Akhtar and Reema Katgi (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
Best Music – A R Rahman ( Rockstar)

84th Academy Awards 

The 84th Academy Awards Ceremony/ Oscars was hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science ( AMPAS). The ceremony which took place at the Hollywood Highland center in Hollywood, California on 26 Feb 2012 honoured the best film and  performances of 2011. The ceremony was hosted by Billy Cristal who hosted this ceremony for the ninth time. Best Motion Picture: The Artist ,Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist Best Actor : Jean Dujardin, The Artist  ,Foreign Language Film : A separation      , Original Screenplay:       Woody Allen Best Actress : Meryl Streep, Iron Lady ,  Adapted screenplay:Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash Best Supporting Actor :Christopher Plummer, Beginners,      Cinematography : Hugo. Art direction: Hugo Best Supporting Actress :Octavia Spencer, The Help .Original Score : The Artist.  Visual Effects: Hugo Film Editing: The girl with the dragon tattoo.   Sound mixing:Hugo.   Sound  Editing: Hugo. Costume Design:The Artist Original Song: Man or Muppet, from Muppets.  Make Up: The Iron Lady . Live Action Short Film:The Shore Animated Feature Film: Rango.   Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Documentary Features: Undefeated.  Documentary Short: Saving Face.

Nobel Prize 2012 Winners

• Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 – Serge Haroche and David Wineland
  
• Nobel Peace Prize for 2012: European Union
  
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012: Robert J Lefkowitz and Brian K Kobilka
• Nobel Prize in Literature 2012: Chinese author Mo Yan
• Nobel Prize in Economy 2012: Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley
• Nobel Prize in Medicine 2012: John Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka