CURRENT AFFAIRS 2009-10

National July 2009

The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announces the setting up of a National Council for Human Resources in Health to act as an over-arching regulatory body

In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court strikes down the provision of Section 377 of the IPC which criminalised consensual sexual acts of adults in private

National Food Security Act to be brought in to ensure entitlement of 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs.3 a kg to BPL families.

The ‘star sensors' of India's first lunar satellite Chandrayaan, vital in determining the orientation fail and are set right by activating contingency “gyroscopes” on board. (The snag occurred on April 26 and was detected on May 16).

India and the U.S. finalise three agreements — a military end user pact, the Technology Safeguards Agreement and the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement — with the visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Rajya Sabha passes “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008

The Centre launches ‘Customs Tariff Database Online' in New Delhi.

A longest total solar eclipse of the century lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds sweeps across a narrow swathe of Asia. The dark shadow of the moon made its landfall in Gujarat before racing across the nation.

The former CEO of Insofys Nandan Nilekani takes over as Chairman of the newly created Unique Identification Authority of India.

The President Pratibha Patil presents the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2007 to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, launches the nation's first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant for sea trials at Visakhapatnam. The Advanced Technology Vessel project was cleared for implementation by Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Two Indian NGOs, Ecosphere Spiti in Himachal Pradesh and Barefoot College in Rajasthan are chosen for the 2009 Green Energy and Green Livelihoods awards, instituted by Sierra Club, a U.S.-based environmental organisation.

India will follow a policy of “trust and verify” on commitments by Pakistan, says the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha.

India's first standard gauge Metro train goes on trial run on the Inderlok-Mundka corridor of the Delhi Metro.

Actor Nandita Das is appointed chairperson of the Children's Films Society of India.