current affairs may 2011

1. which team has won DLF Indian Premiere League champions for the second time in a row at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai ?

Chennai Super Kings,

Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs, Bangalore could make only 147 runs in reply of Chennai’s huge total of 205 runs. Earlier a record 159-run
partnership between openers Murali Vijay (95, 52b, 6 x 6, 4 x 4) and Michael Hussey (63, 54b, 3 x 6, 3 x 4) powered the Chennai Super Kings to 205 for five in 20 overs against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

2. The alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings who has been arrested in Pakistan recently?
Umar Patek.

Patek is one of the main suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 people dead, including 88 Australians and 114 others.

3. British detective writer, best known to fans of the genre as the creator of Inspector Ghote of the Mumbai CID, who has died at the age of 84?
HRF Keating.

He introduced the character “Ghote” in his 1964 novel The Perfect Murder. Inspector Ganesh Ghote is an inspector in the Mumbai Police who appeared in twenty-four novels.

4. Alleged underworld gangster and former independent MLA, popularly known as ”Godmother”, died of a heart attack in Porbandar?
Santokben Jadeja.

She was elected on the Janata Dal ticket from the Kutiyana constituency in Porbandar district. She took over the underworld after the murder of her husband, Sarman Munja, was also a MLA for one term in the early Nineties. She was alleged to be behind the murder of 14 people who, she believed were responsible for her husband’s murder.

5. The world’s most wanted terrorist, was killed early by US special forces in a helicopter-borne operation at Abbottabad near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, climaxing a over 10-year long massive manhunt. Name of that Terrorist ?

- Osama bin Laden Read more here

6. Who takes over as Chairman of Infosys ?
K.V. Kamath. Read more here

7. Recently which country has release Postal stamp on Rabindranath Tagore ?
Sri Lanka.

The government of Sri Lanka will release on May 7, a postal stamp and first day cover on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary celebrations. Read more here

8. Recently ISRO develops India’s fastest supercomputer, Name of that Supercomputer?
SAGA-220. Read more here

9. Who has been elected as the new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh ?
Jarbom Gamlin

After the official confirmation on Dorjee Khandu’s death, Congress did not take time to assign Khandu’s successor for his job. In a core party meeting, Jarbom Gamlin has been elected as the new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. Gamlin was sworn as the new CM on May 5.

10. Which pair won the Miami Sony Ericsson Open Doubles title beating Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in final?

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
With this win, they became number one in the ATP World Tour Doubles Team Rankings.

11. Who is the new Prime Minister of Syria?
Adel Safar.
He previously served as Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform from 2003 to 2011.

12. Name of the Chinese painting which sold for record 10 million dollars at an auction in Hong Kong recently?
“Forever Lasting Love”.

The painting, by Zhang Xiaogang, features three scenes of semi-naked figures in a sparse desert-like background surrounded by symbolic images.

13. Who defeated Rafael Nadal to win the Sony Ericsson Open Tennis Title held in Miami?
Novak Djokovic.

14. Who has been appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)?
Sushil Munhot.

15. Who has been awarded the 20th Saraswati Samman for 2010?

S. L. Bhyrappa.

Kannada writer S. L. Bhyrappa was chosen for the prestigious Saraswati Samman for his novel Mandra. The award, constituted by the K. K. Birla Foundation, consists of Rs.7.50 lakh, a citation and a plaque. He has so far published 22 novels, the first being Bheemakaya in 1959 and the latest Aavarana in 2007. The first recipient of Saraswati Samman award was Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1991 for his autobiography.

16. Popular South Indian actress who died of a cardiac arrest on 6 April 2011 after undergoing treatment for a heart ailment at her residence in Chennai?

Sujatha.

Sujatha was introduced to the Tamil film industry by veteran director K. Balachander as a protagonist in “Aval Oru Thodar Kathai” (1974). She won Kalaimamani award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. She got Nandi Award for Pelli in 1998.

17. Indian prisoner who has been released on April 7,2011 after spending 27 years in prison in Pakistan on spying charges?
Gopal Das.

He was set free after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari remitted his sentence on humanitarian grounds following an appeal by the Indian Supreme Court.

18. Prominent Kashmiri religious leader, a trenchant critic of last year’s stone throwing youngsters, who was killed on April 8, 2011, in a powerful bomb explosion outside a mosque?
Maulana Showkat Shah.

He is a leader of the Jamiat-e-Ahilhadith which is a highly puritanical group of Muslims closer to the Wahabi school of thought in Saudi Arabia.

19. Who has taken over as the new chairman of State Bank of India, the country’s top lender?
Pratip Chaudhuri.
Chaudhuri was the deputy managing director in the international banking division of the bank.

20. Indian Ambassador to Ivory Coast, who was evacuated from her residence on 08-04-2011 by United Nations and French forces in capital Abidjan in the wake of heavy fighting?
Shamma Jain.

21. Red Bull driver who won the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix title-2011?
Sebastian Vettel.

22. Who is Winner of the Man Booker International 2011?

Philip Roth Read more here

23. Man of the Match winners of Three ODI cricket Series played between Australia and Bangladesh held in Bangladesh in April 2011.
Man of the Match of First ODI played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on 09-04-2011:
Michael Clarke (Australia). He scored 101 runs.
Result: Australia beat Bangladesh by 60 runs.
Man of the Match of Second ODI played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on 11-04-2011:
Shane Watson (Australia). He scored unbeaten 185 runs and took one wicket.
Result: Australia beat Bangladesh by 9 wickets.
Man of the Match of Third ODI played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on 13-04-2011:
Michael Hussey (Australia). He scored 108 runs.
Result: Australia beat Bangladesh by 66 runs
Series Result: Australia wins the 3 ODI series 3-0.

24. Who won the Player of the series award in the three ODI cricket Series played between Australia and Bangladesh held in Bangladesh in April 2011?
Shane Watson (Australia).

25. who has been chosen for the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding for 2009 for her enormous efforts toward sustainable and equitable development ?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Read more here.

26. Who has been broken his own record for most climbs of Mount Everest by scaling the world’s tallest peak for the 21st time?

-Nepalese guide Sherpa Read more here

27. On 5 April 2011, an Indian social activist started a ‘fast unto death’ to exert pressure on the government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law to establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) with the power to deal with corruption in public offices. Name of that social activist?
Anna Hazare.

His real name is Kisan Baburao Hazare. His fast led to nationwide protests in support of Hazare. The fast ended on 9 April 2011, the day after all of Hazare’s demands were agreed by the government of India.

28. Wisden, regarded as the Bible of cricket, has named which Cricket Player as the leading cricketer in the world for the year 2010?
Sachin Tendulkar, Indian batting maestro.

He became the seventh recipient of the Wisden award after teammate Virender Sehwag, Australians Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, England’s Andrew Flintoff, Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and South African Jacques Kallis.

29. The 2011 BRICS summit took place in?
Sanya on the island of Hainan, China, on 14 April 2011.

Member countries of BRICS are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This was the third BRICS summit since 2009. Following a meeting in Brasilia in 2010, to which South Africa was invited as a guest, the group invited South Africa to join as a full member in 2011 and the group formerly called BRIC officially became BRICS.
The 2012 BRICS summit will be held in India.

30. Chief of Blackberry who ordered a BBC reporter to end an interview after he was asked about his problems with India and Middle Eastern countries over security issues?
Mike Lazaridis.

31. Who is appointed as the Commander-in Chief of the Mumbai-based Western Naval Command?
Vice Admiral D K Joshi.

32. Which countries signed seven pacts on April 16, 2011, including a framework agreement in civil nuclear field and a stake-sharing accord in oil sector?
India and Kazakhstan
The pacts including a civil nuclear agreement and one between state oil companies that gives an Indian firm 25 percent stake in the Satpayev oil block in the Caspian Sea.
Other agreements signed by the two countries are:
* Inter-governmental pact on peaceful uses of atomic energy
* Joint action plan for furthering strategic ties
* Cyber security cooperation
* Mutual legal assistance treaty
* Cooperation in agricultural fields.

33. The world’s certified oldest man who has passed away aged 114 in U.S.A on April 14, 2011?
Walter Breuning.

He is currently the oldest person who has died in 2011. He was born in Melrose, Minnesota in September 21, 1896. Breuning was 26 days younger than Besse Cooper of Georgia, USA, whom the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles lists as the world’s oldest person at 114.

34. A court in Chile has recently ordered the exhumation of the remains of former president as part of an investigation into the cause of his death in 1973. Name of that former president?

Salvador Allende.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Allende killed himself, or was killed by soldiers in the 1973 coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power. An official post mortem report found he committed suicide using a rifle given to him by his friend, Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

35. Who has been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation’s Gold Medal for “exceptional courage in the pursuit of human rights” ?

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

36. The European Parliament (EP) recently passed two declarations against an Asian country condemning it for its support to Taliban and instructed the European Commission to re-evaluate the size of financial packages provided to them to eradicate terrorists from its soil. Name of that country?
Pakistan.

37. Who won his seventh straight Monte Carlo Masters title (2011)by beating David Ferrer 6-4, 7-5 in the final?
Rafael Nadal.

38. Who was named ] captain of Sri Lankan Cricket Team in all three formats of the game for next month’s tour of England , following Kumar Sangakkara’s resignation after the World Cup?
Tillakaratne Dilshan.

39. Which Bollywood film has won the best feature film award at the Geneva International Film Festival- 2011?
`The desire- A Journey of a woman’. The film is directed by noted director R Sarath.

40. One person was killed in police firing and several were injured as the protest against a new proposed 9900 MW nuclear power plant in Maharashtra turned violent on April 18, 2011. Name of that nuclear project?
Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project

It is the project of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) at Madban village of Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra. It will be the largest nuclear power generating station in the world by net electrical power rating once completed.

41. The former communist revolutionary and Cuban political leader who confirmed that he had resigned from the top leadership of the Cuba Communist Party in an article published on April 19, 2011?
Fidel Castro.
He served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party’s foundation in 1961 until 2011.

42. Who has become the fourth person of Indian origin to bag the prestigious Pulitzer Prize 2011 in the general non-fiction category for his acclaimed book on cancer, ‘The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.’?

Siddhartha Mukherjee.

India-born Mukherjee is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Centre.

43. Name of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched by ISRO on April20,2011 which carries 3 satellites including India’s latest remote sensing satellite ‘Resourcesat-2’
PSLV C16.

The rocket was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
The three satellites are Indian satellite RESOURCESAT-2 (1206kg), Indo-Russian joint satellite YOUTHSAT (92kg) and the first satellite of Singapore X-SAT (106kg). Resourcesat-2 will help in facilitating a variety of applications including natural resource monitoring, environmental assessments and disaster management related activities.

44. Which country recently announced to lift 44-year-old emergency from the country that was imposed in 1968?
Syria.

Syria was under Emergency Law from 1962–2011. Syria’s government passed a draft law on Tuesday to lift 48 years of emergency rule on April 19, 2011.

45. Name of the US serviceman suspected of passing classified information to the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, who is being transferred to a new prison by Pentagon recently?
Bradley Manning.

46. The inaugural AIBA Women’s Junior and Youth World Boxing Championships held in?
Turkey.

47. Which film has won the Golden Palm award 2011 at the Mexico International Film Festival (May 20 and 21, 2011)?
Viola.(English).
The film is directed by Biju Viswanath, the filmmaker from Kerala.

48. Who is appointed as the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) ?
Chandresh Kumari.

49. 25-year-old Nigeria international defender who has died in a car accident on April 18,2011 when he was driving to Thessaloniki Airport to return to Nigeria to finalise plans for his upcoming wedding?
Olubayo Adefemi.

50. Name of the two award-winning photographers who have been killed while covering the conflict in the Libyan city of Misrata?
Briton Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros.

Tim got nominated for the prestigious Oscar award this year for one of his documentary that he had co-directed with a journalist named Sebastian Junger, it was the documentary Restrepo. Chris was the master of war photography and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Economist and several other media papers, he had also been nominated for the Pulitzer-Prize.

51. Which club won the Spanish King’s Cup for the first time since 1993 as they defeated their arch rivals Barcelona 1-0 in final?
Real Madrid.
Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo hit the one goal in extra time.

52. According to the annual global wellbeing survey from Gallup, which country finishes first in happiest country ranking?
Denmark.
Sweden at No. 2, Canada at No.3.

53. Who will officiate as Director of the International Film Festival of India which will be held in Panaji in November, 2011?
Shankar Mohan.

54. Sri Lanka fast bowler who is retired from Tests on April 21, 2011 in a bid to prolong his one-day international career through to the 2015 World Cup?
Lasith Malinga.

55. Which country is all set to transport its Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to Egypt on a pilot basis as the country prepares for its forthcoming election season for presidential as well as parliamentary posts?
India.

56. Who is appointed as Ombudsman for Local Governments in Kerala by the 20th of April 2011?
Justice M N Krishnan.

He served as the High Court Judge from 28th October 2004 to 10th February 2011. Ombudsman for Local Governments in Kerala is an independent quasi judicial authority which investigates the complaints against local governments in Kerala or the functionaries working under them.

57. The British manager of India’s national football team who is sacked over allegations that he made racist remarks to one of the country’s top referees?
Bob Houghton.
Houghton was appointed head coach of India in June 2006 by the All India Football Federation.

58. Who is appointed as State Chief Information Officer of Kerala?
Sibi Mathews..

59. Hindu holy man of India who is considered a living god by millions of followers worldwide, died on April 24, 2011 after nearly a month of hospital treatment near his southern Indian ashram?
Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as one of the 100 most spiritually influential people in the world.

60. Who has become the only player to have ever scored 50 goals in a single season of the Spanish League.?
Lionel Messi.

61. Which club won the French League Cup-2011?
Marseille.

62. Sacked chairman of Commonwealth Games Organising Committee of India who was arrested by the CBI over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the sporting extravaganza?
Suresh Kalmadi.

63. The convention held in which city has decided to ban endosulfan globally and agreed to list endosulfan in Annexure A with exemptions?
Stockholm.

The fifth conference of the parties (CoP) to the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants in Geneva has taken the decision to ban the use of endosulfan globally.

64. Chief Minister of which Indian state went on a seven-hour fast at the Martyrs’ Column on April 25 demanding a ban on Endosulfan and seeking Central assistance for the victims of the pesticide?
Kerala.

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan went on a day-long fast demanding a nationwide ban on pesticide Endosulfan.

65. Who has been appointed as the acting president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA)?
V K Malhotra.

66. Who has been appointed as coach of the Indian cricket team for a period of two years?
Duncan Fletcher.

Mr. Fletcher, who was born and raised in Zimbabwe and had a largely successful stint as England’s coach from 1999 to 2007.He will replace Gary Kirsten, the South African who resigned after guiding India to World Cup glory earlier this year.

67. United States Ambassador to India who announced his resignation on April 28, 2011 citing prior personal and professional commitments?
Timothy Roemer

68. Noted Malayalam litterateur who has been selected for the 20th Muttathu Varkey literary
award for her collection of stories “Papathara””.?
Sara Joseph
The award carries a cash prize of Rs.33,333, a sculpture and a memento.

69. Which country successfully conducted flight test of indigenously developed air launched cruise missile “Hatf-8” on April 29, 2011?
Pakistan.

70. The Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton took place at Westminster Abbey, London on which date?
April 29, 2011.Two billion TV viewers worldwide watched the marriage.

71. Who has been selected for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2010 for his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema?
K.Balachander.

He is the first Tamil film maker to win this award. The award carries a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of 10 lakh rupees and a shawl. He has written, directed and produced more than 100 films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada. He has bagged five National Film Awards and was conferred the Padma Shri in 1987.

72. Who becomes oldest Indian woman to climb Everest?

A mother of two, 45-year-old Premlata Agarwal . Read more here

73. Man of the match winners of three ODI cricket matches played between Pakistan and West Indies held in West Indies in April-2011.
First ODI played between West Indies and Pakistan at Beausejour Cricket Ground, St Lucia on 23-04-2011:
Player of the match: Mohammad Hafeez. (Pakistan) He scored 54 runs and took one wicket.
Result: Pakistan beat West Indies by 8 wickets.
Second ODI played between West Indies and Pakistan at Beausejour Cricket Ground, St Lucia on 25-04-2011:
Player of the match: Ahmad Shahzad. (Pakistan) He scored 102 runs and took 2 wickets.
Result: Pakistan beat West Indies by 7 wickets.
Third ODI played between West Indies and Pakistan at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados on 28-04-2011:
Player of the match: Misbah-ul-Haq. (Pakistan) He scored unbeaten 62 runs.
Result: Pakistan beat West Indies by 3 wickets

74. Swiss mountaineer and one of the few climbers to ever reach the summits of all 14 of the world’s peaks above 8,000m, (26,247 feet), died in a climbing accident on April 28, 2011?
Erhard Loretan.

He was leading a Swiss client up the summit ridge of the Gruenhorn, in the Bernese Alps, when the pair fell for unknown reasons at a height of 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) up the 4,043 meter (13,264-foot) peak. Loretan was the third person, behind Italian climber Reinhold Messner and Polish mountaineer Jerry Kukuczka, to summit all the 8,000-meter peaks.

75. Name of a plant species that was recently discovered from the Mathikettan Shola National Park in the Western Ghats?

Murdannia satheeshiana.

The plant with little golden flowers was recently discovered by a team of researchers from the School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. The plant has been named after a teacher who passed away some time ago. The teacher was R. Satheesh, Reader at the School of Environmental Science of Mahatma Gandhi University. The herb belongs to the ‘Commelinaceae’ plant family of the ‘Murdannia’ genus.

76. Who has been chosen as new head of MCI ?

- Prof. K.K. Talwar

77. who has been sworn in Puducherry CM ?

N Rangasamy

78. Who was sworn in as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for a third time along with 33 ministers at a glittering function at the Madras University centenary auditorium on May 16. 

- AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa

79. Recently Indian Railways launches magazine for passengers, what is the name of that magazine ?
-Rail Bandhu

80. 58th National Film Awards Winners List
-
Best Feature Film: Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)
Indira Gandhi Award For Best Debut Film Of A Director: Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi)
Award For Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Dabangg (Hindi)
Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film On National Integration: Moner Manush (Bengali)
Best Film On Social Issues: Champions (Marathi)
Best Film On Environment Conservation/Preservation: Bettada Jeeva (Kannada)
Best Children’s Film: Hejjegalu (Kannada)
Best Direction: Vetrimaran, Aadukalam (Tamil)
Best Actor: Dhanush, Aadukalam (Tamil) / Salim Kumar, Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)
Best Actress: Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar, Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi) / Saranya Ponvannan, Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Tamil)
Best Supporting Actor: J. Thambi Ramaiah, Mynaa (Tamil)
Best Supporting Actress: Sukumari, Namma Gramam (Tamil)
Best Child Artist: Harsh Mayar, I am Kalam (Hindi) / Shantanu Ranganekar and Machindra Gadkar, Champions (Marathi) / Vivek Chabukswar, Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi)
Best Male Playback Singer: Suresh Wadkar, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)
Best Female Playback Singer: Rekha Bhardwaj, Ishqiya (Hindi)
Best Cinematography: Madhu Ambat, Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)
Best Screenplay – Original: Vetrimaran, Aadukalam (Tamil) / Adapted: Anant Mahadevan & Sanjay Pawar, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi) / Dialogues: Sanjay Pawar, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)
Best Audiography: Location Sound Recordist: Kaamod Kharade, Ishqiya (Hindi) / Sound Designer: Subhadeep Sengupta, Chitrasutram (Malayalam) / Re-recordist: Debajit Changmai, Ishqiya (Hindi)
Best Editing: T.E. Kishore, Aadukalam (Tamil)
Best Production Design: Sabu Cyril, Endhiran (Tamil)
Best Costune Designer: Indrans Jayan, Namma Gramam (Tamil)
Best Make-Up Artist: Vikram Gaikwad, Moner Manush (Bengali)
Best Music Direction: Music Director (Songs): Vishal Bhardwaj, Ishqiya (Hindi) / Music Director (Background Score): Issak Thomas Kottakapally, Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam)
Best Lyrics: Vairamuthu, Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Tamil)
Special Jury Award: Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)
Best Special Effects: V. Srinivas M Mohan, Enthiran (Tamil)
Best Choreography: Dinesh Kumar, Aadukalam (Tamil)
Best Assamese Film: Jetuka Patar Dare
Best Bengali Film: Ami Aadu
Best Hindi Film: Do Dooni Char
Best Kannada Film: Puttakkana Highway
Best Malayalam Film: Veettilekkulla Vazhi
Best Marathi Film: Mala Aai Vhhaychay
Best Tamil Film: Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru
Best English Film: Memories in March
Special Mention:Bettada Jeeva (Kannada), Aadukalam (Tamil)
81. Which to Host 11th Conference of The Parties to The Convention on Biological Diversity ?
- INDIA Read more here

82. Who has been Appointed Next Cabinet Secretary ?
- A.K. Seth

83. The documentary based on the Mullaperiyar Dam which has bagged the award for Best Documentary Short at the ‘Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood Spring 2011’?
‘DAMs – The Lethal Water Bombs’.
The documentary is directed by Sohan Roy.