EVENTS; APPOINTMENTS; ETC.

:DEC 2008-JAN 2009

APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc.

Sheikh Hasina: She has been elected as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Abhisit Vejjajiva: He has been appointed as Prime Minister of Thailand.

Sheila Dikshit: She has been elected as Chief Minister of Delhi for a third
consecutive term.

Omar Abdullah: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of J&K.

Ashok Gehlot: He has been elected as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Lalthanhawla: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of Mizoram.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan: He has been elected as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Raman Singh: He has been elected as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.

Rajiv Mathur: He has been appointed as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau
(IB).
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

Gordon Brown: Prime Minister of Britain.

He Yafei: Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister.

John Kerry: US Senator and key functionary in the new Obama government.

RESIGNED

Shibu Soren: Chief Minister of Jhar-khand.

DIED

Samuel Huntington: Political scientist, whose controversial book The Clash of

Civilizations predicted conflict between the West and the Islamic world. He was
81.

Manjit Bawa: Noted artist who revolutionized the Indian painting scene with bold
use of vibrant colours. He was 67.
EVENTS
DECEMBER

11—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates a new era in the Indian

telecom sector by launching the next generation 3G services of Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). MTNL is the first telecom operator in the country
to offer 3G services on its network which has been named Jaddu.

13—Indian warship INS Mysore and its marine commandos thwart an attempt to
hijack an Ethiopian merchant vessel and captured 23 pirates and a large cache of
arms.

18—About 100 vehicles destined for the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan
are set ablaze by heavily armed pro-
Taliban militants in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, in the
second such attack in as many days.

27—Israel attacks Gaza in an all-out-war against Hamas militants.

30—Sheikh Hasina Wajed, daughter of Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh

Mujibur Rehman, wins the country’s first election since 2001 in a landslide,
crushing the Khaleda Zia led Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami
combine.

—National Conference and Congress agree to form coalition government in J&K.

NC leader Omar Abdullah is elected to be the Chief Minister.
JANUARY

1—At least five people are killed and 50 injured in separate bombings in
Guwahati.

4—Israeli troops advance into Gaza under cover of heavy air, tank and artillery
fire after opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas a day earlier.

5—India gives Pakistan and other key countries a dossier of incriminating

“Material” from the probe into Mumbai attacks.

7—India’s fourth largest IT company, Satyam is hit by a Rs 7000 crore.

9—Two people are killed in a blast in

Maligaon area of Guwahati, Assam.

12—Composer A.R. Rahman creates history by becoming the first Indian to win
the Golden Globe Award for his music in movieSlumdog Millionaire.
MILESTONES

Swaraj Paul: Leading NRI entrepreneur he has scripted history by becoming the
first Asian Deputy Speaker of the British House of Lords. Though people of Indian
origin have held ministerial berths in the British Cabinet, this is the first time an
Indian has been appointed to such a high position in UK’s Parliament.

Rajo Devi: This 70-year-old from Alewa village in Jind district of Haryana has
become perhaps the world’s oldest mother after she delivered a girl child on
November 28, 2008 with the help of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment at a
Hisar fertility centre. Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer in Romania, was
till date the oldest woman to have given birth. She delivered at the age of 66 in
2006.