Current events

1. Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple:- A treasure trove of gold, diamonds and precious stones estimated at Rs. One lakh crore has been found in Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvanthapuram. Morrocan traveller Ibn Batuta visited Tenavaram in the 14th century and described the Vishnu idol here as being made of gold and the size of a man with two large rubies as eyes ‘that lit up like lanterns during the night’. This revelation has solidified the status of the temple ass one of the wealthiest temples in India and with the final estimate of the wealth, it might overtake the Tirumala Venkateswara temple. Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple was restructured in 1773 by King Marthanda Varma of Travancore kingdom.

2. Pradeep Kumar:- Former defence secretary was sworn in as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner. He replaced P.J. Thomas, whose appointment was struck down by the Supreme Court. Kumar was chosen by consensus by a panel comprising PM, home minister P. Chidambaram and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

3. Ranjan Mathai:- India’s ambassador to France was named as the new Foreign Secretary. He replaced Nirupama Rao who is named as India’s next ambassador to the US.

4. R.K. Singh:- He has taken over as the new Home Secretary succeeding GK Pillai. Singh tenure as the home secretary is fixed for a period of two years.

5. Shashikant Sharma:- He has been appointed as the new Defence Secretary.

6. Christine Lagarde: - French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde was elected as the first woman head of the international Monetary Fund, succeeding Dominique Strauss Kahn, who resigned after being arrested on rape charges. Lagarde was the first woman ever to become minister of Economic affair of a G8 economy, and is the first woman to ever head the IMF.

7. DRS:- DRS stands for Decision Review System in cricket. Recently ICC had made the DRS mandatory for all tests and ODI matches.

8. Gopal Subramaniam:- India’s solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam has quit office in protest after Communications Minister Kapil Sibal asked senior lawyer Rohinton Nariman to represent him in the Supreme Court in the 2G case against him. Now Rohinton Nariman has been appointed as the new Solicitor General of India.

9. Leon Panetta: - He has been sworn in as the new US secretary of Defence succeeding Robert Gates.

10. Yuri Ogorodonik :- Ukrainian coach of India’s track and field squad has been sacked after eight athletes were suspended within a week for failing doping tests.

11. SAIL: - This Maharatna company has received the prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for the year 2011.

12. Jose Graziano da Silva : - has been elected as the Director General of the Food & Agriculture Organization, succeeding Senegal’s Jacques Diouf.

13. Manas National Park:- UNESCO has removed the ‘in-danger’ tag from the World Heritage Site in Assam.

14. Michael Jack Nobbs:- This former Australian hockey player has been appointed the coach of the Indian men’s hockey for a five year term.

15. Agent Orange:- Vietnam has kicked off the first phase of a joint plan with the US to clean up environment damage left over from the chemical defoliant, a lasting legacy from the Vietnam War.

16. The theme of the 17th SAARC summit that will be held in the Republic of Maldives is ‘Building Bridge for Peace, Friendship & Security’.

17. ‘Chavanni’ : - The 25 paise coin, popularly known as ‘chavanni’, died an official death on June 30, 2011. With the end of the era of 25 paise coins, the 50 paise shall now be the lowest denomination coin in public circulation.

18. The oldest commissioned ship of the Indian Navy, ‘Sharabh’, a landing ship tanker, was given a fond farewell recently after 35 years of service, with a guard of honour. INS Sharabh was commissioned in Poland.

19. PRAN:- Permanent Remittance Account Number.

20. Pyeongchang:- The International Olympic Committee has selected Pyeongchang, south Korea as the host of 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Sochi, Russia was selected in 2007 for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, giving Russia its first hosting of the Winter Games.