February 2009 - Current Events - National - II

« 16^th Feb 2009: External Affairs Minister Mr. Pranab Mugharjee, who is in charge of Finance due to PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’s illness, presented India’s 12^th Interim Budget in the Parliament.

« 17^th Feb 2009: The Election Commission issues fresh guidelines banning telecast/publication of opinion/exit polls 48 hours prior to the date of Assembly or Lok Sabha elections.

« 18^th Feb 2009: Maharashtra challenges the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.

« 19^th Feb 2009: The Rajya Sabha passes the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2008 which will strengthen the legal framework to tackle cases effectively.

« 20^th Feb 2009: With 196 of its languages listed as endangered, India tops the UNESCO’s latest list of countries having the maximum number of dialects on verge of extinction.

« 22^nd Feb 2009: The central Board of Trustees of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) recommends a rate of interest of 8.5% for 2008-09.

« 23^rd Feb 2009: The Union Cabinet’s Committee on Economic Affairs gives its approval for NTT Docomo Inc. of Japan to subscribe to and acquire 27% equity in Tata Teleservices Ltd.

« 24^th Feb 2009: The Parliament passes the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Bill, 2009, extending the moratorium on sealing till December 31, 2009.

« 24^th Feb 2009: The Union Cabinet adopts the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2008.

« 26^th Feb 2009: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approves 6% dearness allowance (DA) for Central Government employees.

« 28^th Feb 2009: In a significant development in the history of Indian warship building, the keel of the first indigenous aircraft carrier is laid by Defence Minister Mr. A K Anthony at Cochin Shipyard Ltd., Kerala.

February 2009 - Current Events - National - I

« 2^nd Feb 2009:India and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sign a safeguard agreement in New Delhi, which will serve as a framework for the importing of both nuclear reactors and fuel to power them.

« 2^nd Feb 2009: The chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr. G. Madhavan Nair and Team Chandrayaan are declared the CNN-IBN Indian of the year 2008

« 4^th Feb 2009: India signs its first commercial nuclear deal pact with French nuclear giant Areva for building nuclear power plants and supply of nuclear fuel.

« 4^th Feb 2009: A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas' takes off from Bengaluru and for the first time drops live stores (bombs) at a firing range.

« 4^th Feb 2009: The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) under the Labour and Employment Ministry announces that it will set up 11 medical colleges and 13 post-graduate medical institutions to provide better health care.

« 5^th Feb 2009: The Union Cabinet approves two more AIIMS-like medical institutions, one in West Bengal and the other in Utter Pradesh, at a cost of Rs. 823 crores each.

« 5^th Feb 2009: The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, is conferred the Sustainable Development Award at the 9^th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), organised by the Energy and Resources Institute in Delhi.

« 6^th Feb 2009: The Union Government names former Nasscom chairman Mr. Kiran Karnik as the chairman of the fraud-hit IT giant Sathyam Computer Services.

« 8^th Feb 2009: India’s second humanoid robot, “Acyut 2”, is unveiled during Quark 2009, a technical festival in Goa.

« 8^th Feb 2009: The “Global Vipassana Pagoda”, the largest stone dome in the world built without supporting pillars, is inaugurated in Mumbai.

« 9^th Feb 2009: Indian Tabla maestro “Mr. Zakir Hussain” wins the Grammy Award in the best Contemporary World Music Album category for his collaborative album Global Drum Project.

« 10^th Feb 2009: Hindustani classical vocalist “Pandit Bhimsen Joshi” is presented the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, in Pune.

« 11^th Feb 2009: “Kayakalpa” an Assamese novel by “Mr. Lakshmi Nandan Bora” is selected for the 18^th Saraswathi Samman-2008. The award instituted by K K Birla Foundation in 1991, is among the most prestigious award in the country and carries cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh.

« 11^th Feb 2009: Aero India-2009 gets off to a flying start in Yelahanka, Bengaluru. The event has 592 exhibitors, including 289 foreign exhibitors form 25 countries.

« 12^th Feb 2009: Mr. A R Kidwai, Chairman of the committee of Governors, submits a crucial report on socio-economic development and empowerment of women in India to Hon’ble President Ms. Prathibha Devisingh Patil.

« 13^th Feb 2009: Union railway minister Mr. Lalu Prasad presents the Interim Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Parliament, the high point of the budget being a 2% cut of in fares

« 15^th Feb 2009: Ms. suman Sharma, a 30-year-old Indian woman becomes the first woman to fly the mighty Russian Mig-35 fighter jet at the Aero India International air show in Bengaluru.