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[Misc.GK] Persons in News (2012-13), Sports, Books, Awards for SSC-CGL,

SBI-PO, UPSC-CSAT

1. Introduction
2. Drawing the line
3. International (Political)
4. International (Non political)
5. Indian in India (Non political)
6. Indian Diaspora abroad
7. Sports
8. Tennis
9. Sports Mascots
10. Books/Literature
11. Nobel-2012
12. Nobel winners associated with India
13. Astro
14. Beauty
15. Clichéd

Introduction
The previous list of [PIN] Persons in News (2011-12) was given in separate
article, click me (some names will overlap here).
Now this new article, is for [PIN] 2012-13, mainly keeping the upcoming
SBI-PO, SSC-CGL exams in mind. It contains list of PIN + Sports + Books +
awards.
This list is not exhaustive. This is just “minimum essential system
requirement”, otherwise Government gave more than 6 dozen Padma Shris in
2012, but time is not a luxury we cannot afford right now.
This is list is subject to revision (based on your additions via comments.)

Drawing the line

As the exam date comes near, people start making more and more ambitious
plans (like I’ll finish all Pratiyogita Darpan issues of last 2 years. I’ll cover all
The Hindu newspapers of last 12 months from its website and so on…).
But, Ambitious studyplans =often unrealistic studyplans= #EPICFAIL.
So, when it comes to Persons in News (PIN), Sports, Books and Misc.GK ,
you’ve to draw a line somewhere otherwise book market is flooded with
“current affairs” material worth 10000 pages (and more will come, as the
March-April floods approach.).
But beyond a point it starts giving “diminishing rate of return”.
The “core” areas for GK/GS for the upcoming exams are following:

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1. UPSC NCERT+NIOS+Laxmi+YearbookCurrent Affairs (Polity,

CSAT Economics, Enb, Sci-Tech.)

Static+Science+Crap (already explained in separate article. Click

2. SSC-CGL
me)

Economics (Current + theory) + International Affairs +

3. SBI PO
Marketing + Computer. (elaborate plan coming soon).

International Leaders

Country Name Info

Jigme Khesar
King of Bhutan. Chief guest for 26th Jan.
Bhutan Namgyel
2013.
Wangchuck
First woman President of Brazil. She
Brazil Dilma Rousseff
replaced Lula Desilva. (Lula got Indira
Gandhi peace prize.)
Replaced Hu Jintao, China. He is expected
China Xi Jingping
to become President, in March 2013.
China Li Kequiang New PM of China. Replaced Wen Jiabao.
corrupt leader in Chinese politbureu.
China Bo Xilai
Expelled
Cuba Raul Castro President of Cuba. Replaced Fidel Castro
Egypt Mohd. Morsy President of Egypt.
Herman Van PM of Belgium. President of European
Eu
Rompuy Council
President of France. He defeated Sarkozi.
France Francois Hollande
Belongs to Socialist party
PM Greece. Name is important only
Greece Atonis Samras
because Greece=#EPICFAIL economy.
Iran Aytollah Khamenei Supreme leader of Iran
Iran Ahmedijad President of Iran.
President Shimon
Peres.
Israel Their parliament =Knesset.
PM Benjamin
Netanyahu.
PM japan. Defeated Yoshiko Noda. Their
Japan Shinzo Abe
parliament =Diet.
President of Liberia, got Indira Gandhi
Liberia Ellen Sirleaf
peace price. (2012)
Nasheed N after coup, Nasheed was replaced by
Maldives -Coup
Waheed Waheed
Mali-coup Diarra N Traore After coup, Diarra was replaced by Traore
President of Mauratius. He was chief guest
Rajkeshwur
Mauritius @Pravasi bharatiya Divas 2013. Click me
Purryag
for more details
Mexico Enrique Nieto Mexico new President

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Myanmar Thein Sein Myanmar president

Nobel peace 91. Opposition leader in
Myanmar Aung San Suu Ki Myanmar. Party National league for
democracy. Visited India in Nov 12
North Korea President. After his father
N.Korea Kim Jong-Un
King Jong-il Died
Pak Raja Parvez PM of Pakistan, SC ordered his arrested.
Germany Angela Markel German Chancellor
Palestine Mohd.Abbas President of Palestine Authority
first female President of S.Korea. She
S.Korea Park Geun-hye
replaced Lee Myung-bak
Gen.Sarath Ex-General of Sri Lankan army. Was jailed
Srilanka
Fonseca after power struggle with President.
Mahinda Sri lankan President. He threw out CJI
Srilanka
Rajpakshe Shiran Bandaranyake.
Syria Wael Halqi PM of Syria.
Syria Bashar Al Assad President of Syria
Yingluck First female PM of Thailand. She was chief
Thailand
Shinawatra guest of 26th Jan parade in 2012.
PM of UK. (Conservative party) He
Uk David Cameron
replaced Gordon Brown.
Uk Nick Clegg Deputy PM of UK. (liberal democrats)
Ex PM of UK. (Conservative Party). First
Uk Margaret Thatcher
lady PM of England. Died recently.
won second time Presidential election. His
Usa Obama (Democrat)
VP candidate was Joe Biden.
Mitt Romney Contested against Obama. His VP
Usa
(Republican) candidate was Paul Ryan.
President Venezuela. He replaced Hugo
Ven Nicholas Maduro
Chavez, who had died because of cancer.

International Org (non political)

name Org
Ban-Ki-Moon UN General Secretary
Jim Yong Kim World Bank
Justice Dalveer
Indian. became Judge of International court of Justice.
Bhandari
Christine Lagarde
Chief of IMF
Chief of WTO. (update: Roberto Azevedo, a top Brazilian trade
Pascal Lamy diplomat, will replace Pascal Lamy as the head of the WTO in
September 2013)
Jacques Rogge President IOC, olympic Committee.
first Indian to become chairman of World Assco. Of Nuke
SK Jain
operators.
Nkosazana Zuma Head of African Union (AU): First woman

Indian in India (Non political)

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Name Org
Admiral Devendra
replaced Admiral Nirmal Verma
Joshi
Air Marshal N.A.K.
He replaced Pradeep Vasant Naik
Browne
Ashok Chawla CCI. Competition Commission of India
India’s first National Security Advisor. During Vajpayee
Brajesh Mishra
Government. Dead
Chief Justice of
replaced SH Kapadia.
India Altamas Kabir
Duvvuri Subbarao RBI Governor.
Urjit Patel recently appointed deputy RBI Governor.
Founder of SEWA. Got Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace.
Ela Ramesh Bhatt
(actually won in 2011, but was awarded that prize in 2013).
Gadgil Committee on Western Ghat ecology.
Gen. Bikram Singh he replaced Gen.VK Singh
associated with Urdu litt. Got Pakistani award Sitara-
Gopi Chand Narang i-Imtiaz. The highest civilian award in Pakistan is Nishan-
i-Imtiaz, earlier Morariji Desai and Dilip Kumar got it
Gulzar Indira gandhi award for national integration.
JS Verma Committee on women safety after Delhi gangrape
Justice DK Jain 20th law commission
Kaushik Basu World bank Chief economist
KC Chakrabary Committee : financial inclusion. Deputy Governor RBI ,
Major Abup J.
Kirti Chakra.
Manjali
Mrinal Gore Noted socialist. Dead.
chief of HSBC India. Became first woman President of
Naina Kidwai
FICCI.
Parthsarthi Shome Committee GAAR . General anti avoidance rules.
Previously with IMF. Now Chief Economic Advisor to
Raghuram Rajan
Finance ministry
Rahul Khullar TRAI
Rangachari Committee Taxation in IT sector
Domestic gas price. Rangarajan is also the Chairman
Rangarajan
of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.
Ranjit Sinha CBI
Sam Pitroda National Knowledge Commission.
Satyanand Mishra CIC. He replaced Wajahat Habibullah.
National Security Advisor (current). He replaced MK
Shivshankar Menon
Narayan. First NSA was Brajesh Mishra who recently died.
Defense scientist, making India self reliant in missile tech.
Tessy Thomas
Won Lal Bahdur Shashtri national award.
UK Singha SEBI
Amul. NDDB. Father of white revolution. Norman Barlung
Vergheze kurien
was father of green revolution.

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Committee on Fiscal deficit. Ex-Chairman of Finance

Vijay Kelkar
Commission
CAG. Also Enemy #1 of Kapil Sibbal, Manish Tewari,
Vinod Rai
A.Raja and countless others in UPA. hahaha.
Chief election Commissioner (CEC). He replaced SY
VS Sampath
Quraishi.
He is chairman of 14th Finance Commission. (period:
YV Reddy 2015-2020) And Chairman of 13th Finance Commission was
Vijay Kelkar.

Indian Diaspora abroad

Name Why
Ami Bera California, House of representative.
Bobby Jinda Louisiana Governer, USA, Indian origin, Republican party
Fareed Zakaria worked for CNN and TIME. Suspended for plagarism.
Halimah Yacob Singapore’s first woman speaker, of Indian origin.
she was a nurse in London, treating Kate William. She
Jacintha Saldana
committed suicide after two Australian radio DJ mocked her.
Kamla Persad
PM of Trinidad and Tobago. Chief Guest of PBD-2012.
Bissessar
Nikky Haley S.Carolina Governer, USA, Indian origin, Republican party
Patricia Maria
UK Musician. Won PBD 2013.
Rozario
Jailed for insider trading in USA. Was associated with Goldman
Rajat Gupta
Sachs
Rajkeswur
President of Mauritius. Chief guest of PBD-2013
Purryag
Rasik Joshi Sanskrit Litt. Mexico. Won PBD-2013 award
1st Hindu in US House of Representatives (their Lok Sabha).
Elected from Hawai State.
Tulsi Gabbard
Party:Democrat.She took oath on Gita, Served in US army, was
deployed in Iraq.

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Tulsi Gabbard

Sports
Sport name why
Athletics Fauja Singh world’s oldest marathon runner.
Athletics Usain Bolt IAAF award. Got 3 gold in London Olympic
Athletics Allyson Felix IAAF award. Got 3 gold in London Olympic
Badminton PV Sindhu Asia under 19
Billiards Pankaj Advani won the world cup
Chess World
V.Anand defeated Boris Gelfand
Cup
Cpt. Unmukt India cricket under 19 cpt, won world cup.
Cricket
chand defeated Aussies.
Lance
Cycling Cyclist, banned for drugs.
armstrong
Football Lionel Messei most goals in a calendar year. got Golden boot.
AIFF player of the year.(2011). For 2012 It is
Football Sunil Chhetri
Syed Rahim Nabi
India’s triple olympic gold medalist. Hockey.
Hockey Leslie Claudius
Dead.
London Silver Wrestle 66kg. He was flag-bearer. He got
Sushil
Olympic bronze in 2008 Beijing.
London
Vijay Kumar Silver. 25 rapid fire pistol. Rajiv G.Khel ratna
Olympic
London
Mary Kom Bronze. Women flywt. Boxing
Olympic
London
Gagan Narang Bronze. 10 air-rifle
Olympic
London
Yogeshwar dutt Bronze. 60kg wrestle. Rajiv G.Khel ratna.
Olympic
London
Saina Nehwal Bronze. Single badminton
Olympic
London
Krishna Poonia discus throw. Did not win
Olympic
Shooting Ronjan Sodhi ISSF shooting world cup: .(silver, double trap).
did not win but only Indian woman to enter
Squash Dipika Pillia
semifinals
London
Michael Phelps Swimming. four golds and two silver medals
Olympic

Tennis
Male Female
Aus.Open Djkovik, Serbia Azarenka, Belarus
French Open Nadal, Spain Sharapova, Rus
US Open Ande Murray, UK Serena Williams, US
Wimbledon Federer,Swiz Serena Williams,US

Bhupathi Sania won French open doubles.

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Andy Roddick, Tennis retired.

Sports Mascots
Beijing Olympics 2008 Fuwa (good-luck dolls)
Cricket World Cup 2011 Stumpy, the elephant.
CWG, 2011 Shera, the tiger.
Kabbadi world cup 2012,
JAANBAZ, the eagel.
India
Wenlock + Mandeville. They symbolize Britain’s
London Olympics 2012
industrial revolution.
FIFA 2014 Armadillo.

London Olympic Mascots (click to enlarge)

Books/Literature
author book/info
Won two man booker prizes. This time for book “Bring up the
Hilary Mantel
bodies”.
Shashi tharoor Pax indica. It details India’s international relations.
Narcopolis. Tale of mumbai’s opimioum addiction. Booker price
Jeet Thayil shortlisted but did not win. Another book is “These errors are
correct”
Ruskin Bond Maharani
JK Rowling The Casual Vacancy (Harry Potter author)
N.Vittal Ending corruption: how to clean up Iondia
Kushwant
Free thinker’s prayer book
Singh.
Amitav Ghosh River of smoke
Sudheendra
Music of spinning wheel
Kulkarni
Salman
Joseph Anton.
Rushdie
APJ Kalam Turning Points
Aravind Adiga Last man in tower
Tarun Tejpal The Valley of Masks

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Taslima
Nirbasan
Nasreen
Kuldeep Nayar Beyond the lines
Kushwant
Turbaned Tornado: The Oldest Marathon Runner Fauja Singh
singh
Verghese
An Unfinished Dream
Kurien
Verghese
The Man Who Made The Elephant Dance
Kurien
Hamid Ansari Muslim in Indian cities
I K GUJRAL Matters of Discretion: An Autobiography
Pt. ravi shankar Living to Tell It All
Vikram
Red Earth and Pouring Rain
Chandra
Syed Mustafa
Aleek Manush – 1994
Siraj

Authors Dead
Sunil Gangopadhyaya Bengali writer. Sahitya Acadamy chief.
Kamla Sadgopan Tamil novelist
Eric Hobsbawm Noted Marxist Historian from UK

Nobel-2012
Category Who? Why?
Gurdon, Regenerative medicine. Cure disease by
1. Medicine
Yamanaka growing tissues in lab.

Haroche, Measure quantum particles, without destroying

2. Physics
Wineland them.

Lefkowitz, Protein receptors that let body cell respond to

3. Chemistry
Kobilka signals.

4. Litt. Mo Yan First Chinese writer to get this award.

5. Economics Roth, Shapley. Stable allocation + market design.

6. Peace EU Lolz

Nobel winners associated with India

1. Dr. Hargobind Khorana Medicine

2. S. Chandrasekhar Physics

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3. Venkatarama Ramakrishnan Chemistry

4. Mother Teresa Peace

5. Tagore Litt.

6. Amartya Sen Economics

7. Rudyard Kipling Litt.

8. VS Naipaul Litt.

Astro
Name Why
Cpt. Nivedita
First Indian woman to command boeing 787
Bhasin
Liu Yang first Chinese woman astro.
Neil Armstrong Apollo 11. 1969. First man to land on moon. Dead.
First American woman astro. Dead. A Moon crate named after
Sally Ride
her.
Take a command of international space station. second Indian
Sunita Williams
woman, first kalpana chawala.

Beauty

1. Olivia Culpo Miss Universe, USA.

2. Tereza
Miss Earth 2012. from czech.
Fajksova

Miss World 2012 (China). Last Indian to win was Priyanka

3. wen xia yu
Chopra.

Clichéd
following names have become so clichéd in current affairs related books, magazines
and sites that they can be simply ignored for the exam:

Homai Vyarawala India’s first woman photojournalist. Dead.

Chanda Kochhar ICICI
Malala Yousufzai Pakistani girl, shot by Talibans, survived.
Indra Nooyi Pepsi

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Pandit Ravi Shankar Sitar Maestro. Will get Grammy award posthumously.

ok so that’s it for the moment, if you feel any important names/terms have been left
out or if there is any correction in the tables, do post it in comments and I’ll update
the article accordingly.

URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2013/02/misc-gk-persons-in-news-2012-13-sports-

books-awards-for-ssc-cgl-sbi-po-upsc-csat.html

Posted By Mrunal On 26/02/2013 @ 17:22 In the category culture

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