DIARY OF EVENTS - 2008
JANUARY
Jan.10 : Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata
unveils ‘Nano’, the world’s cheapest car
priced at Rs.1 lakh, at the Auto Expo 2008
inaugural in New Delhi. Centre develops
blueprint for the auto industry.
Jan. 17 : The Centre gives its nod to
Rs.1,800 crore job scheme for the disabled
in the private sector. Over 11,225 poultry
birds are culled and 5,877 eggs and 1,218
kg of poultry feed destroyed in the bird fluhit
districts of West Bengal. The Prime
Minister, Manmohan Singh, is presented
with the NDTV’s ‘Leader of the Year’ Award
at a function in New Delhi.
Jan. 18 : The Supreme Court stays the
death sentence on three accused in the
Dharmapuri bus burning incident on February
2, 2000 in which three girl students of the
TNAU, Coimbatore were killed.
Jan. 21 : The PSLV-C10 puts into orbit the
300 kg Israeli satellite Tecsar after liftoff
from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Jan. 24 : The Union Cabinet gives nod for
getting up an All India Institute of Ayurveda
in New Delhi on the lines of the AIIMS.
Jan. 25 : India and France sign accords on
cooperation in nuclear research and mutual
protection of classified information after
talks between Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
in New Delhi.
Pranab Mukherjee, Ratan Naval Tata, Sachin
Tendulkar, Sir Edmund Hillary, Asha Bhosle
are among 13 Padma Vibhushan awardees.
Sunita Williams, Dominique Lapierre,
P.Susheela prominent among 35 honoured
with Padma Bhushan. Madhuri Dixit, Manoj
Night Shyamalan, Baichung Bhutia amont
71 Padma Shri awardees.
Jan. 26 : The nation celebrates its 59th
Republic Day.
Jan. 27 : France confers the Order of Arts
et Lettres on Bollywood star Shan Rukh
Khan at a glittering function in Mumbai.
Jan. 28 : The Supreme Court stays the
death sentence awarded to Yakub Razak
Memon for his role in the 1993 Mumbai
blasts.
Jan. 29 : The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.
Karunanidhi, introduces in the Assembly a
Bill declaring the first day of “Thai” as Tamil
New Year’s Day.
Jan. 30 : The Union Cabinet gives nod for
setting up a Central Institute of Classical
Tamil in Chennai at a cost of Rs. 76,32
crore.
India and the U.S. sign their biggest ever
arms deal estimated at over $1 billion
(Rs.3,943 crore).
FEBRUARY
Feb. 9 : Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin of
the multi-crore kidney transplant racket is
brought to New Delhi by a CBI team
following deportation from Nepal.
Feb. 14 : The Union Cabinet approves
implementation of the recommendations of
the Delimitation Commission of re-defining
Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies.
Feb. 15 : The Centre appoints National
Securities Depository Limited Chairman C.B.
Bhave as the new SEBi Chairman.
Feb. 18: The Supreme Court, rejects
petitions challenging the Tamil Nadu Learning
Act 2006 making Tamil a compulsory subject
from Standard I to X in all schools in the
State.
C.B. Bhave takes charge as the Securities
and Exchange Board of India Chairman.
A British teenager Scarlette Edden Keeling
is found dead in Goa’s Anjuna beach.
Feb. 19: President Pratibha Patil sings
notification for implementing the Delimitation
Commission recommendations.
Feb. 20: India’s indigenously developed
pilotless target aircraft ‘Lakshya’ is
successfully flight-tested from Chandipur,
Orissa.
Noted Bengali poet and novelist Sunil
Gangopadhyay is elected Sahitya Akademi
president and Punjabi poet S.S.Noor vicepresident.
Feb. 26: The Railway Minister Lalu Prasad
Yadav announces 53 new trains, including
10 ‘Garib Raths’ presenting his fifth
consecutive Railway Budget. Leaves freight
untouched and slashes fares. The annual
plan is set at a record Rs.37,500 crore.
India joins a select club in under-water
missile capability by successfully test firing
Sagarika, a tactical, submarine-to-surface
missile, from a pontoon off the coast of
Visakhapatnam.
Feb. 29: The Union Finance Minister, P.
Chidambaram, announces a Rs.60,000 crore
farm loans waiver presenting the Union
Budget for 2008-09.
MARCH
March 4: Kashmir Singh crosses the border
at Wagah in Amritsar after being freed by
Pakistan where he spent 35 years in jail,
following his arrest in Rawalpindi in 1973.
March 5: Maharashtra Governor S.M. Krishna
resigns.
March 10: D.D. Lapang is sworn in
Meghalaya Cheif Minister heading a minority
Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance
Government.
Manik Sarkar is sworn in Tripura Chief
Minister for a third consecutive term at a
function in Agartala.
March 19: Meghalaya Progressive Alliance
leader Donkupar Roy is sworn in Chief
Minister of Meghalaya after D.D. Lapang
resings ahead of the floor test, after bering
at the helm for just nine days.
March 20: The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister,
K. Anbazhagan, presents a revenue surplus
budget for 2008-09. Announces a Rs.2,300
crore transportation corridor for Chennai.
New district with Tirupur as headquarters to
be carved out of Coinbatore and Erode
districts.
The Union Cabinet gives its nod for launching
a Central Scheme to assist civilian victims of
violence.
March 27: The government decides to set
up a Farmers’ Debt Relief Fund with an
initial corpus of Rs.10,000 crore.
A.B. Bardhan (82) is re-elected CPI general
secretary for the fourth consecutive term at
the party’s 20th national congress in
Hyderabad.
March 28: India’s first Centre for Climate
Change and Adaptation Research is
inaugurated at Anna University in Chennai.
APRIL
April 1: The National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme is extended to all the
604 districts of the country.
April 3: Prakash Karat is re-elected CPI(M)
general secretary for a second term on the
final day of the 19th party Congress in
Coimbatore.
April 6: The former CEC M.S. Gill (Youth
Affairs and Sports) Jyotiraditya Scindia (IT
and Communications) are among seven new
persons inducted into the Union Cabinet
following a reshuffle.
April 10: The Supreme Court upholds law
enacted by the Centre in 2006 providing a
27 per cent quota for OBCs in higher
educational institutions. Creamy layer to be
excluded.
April 13: Biranchi Das, the former coach of
child marathoner Budhia Singh is shot dead
in Bhubaneswar.
April 14: “Maitree Express” is flagged off
from the Kolkata station on its inaugural
journey to Dhaka. The train services have
been resumed after 43 years.
April 23: Four children die after being
administered measles vaccine in Tamil Nadu’s
Tiruvallur district.
April 24: The Union Cabinet gives nod for
construction of airports, airstrips and helipads
for private use.
April 25: The Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh announces a Rs. 1,600 crore package
for refugees in Jammu and Kashmir. The
nation’s longest cantilever bridge over the
Chenab which links Rajouri and Poonch
districts with the rest of the country is
inaugurated.
April 28: The PSLV-C9 puts 10 satellites in
orbit in a precisely timed sequence after liftoff
from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Sriharikota.
April 30: The Lok Sabha Privileges
Committee draws up a code of conduct for
MPs.
Vice-Admiral Raman Prem Suthan takes
over as Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff.
MAY
May 1: Mr. K.V. Kamath, CMD, ICICI Bank,
takes over as the new CII president.
May 2: The Union Cabinet gives nod for
major amendments in the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
May 3: A devastating fire destroys Asia’s
largest chilli market yard in Guntur, Andhra
Prades causing a loss of Rs.80 crore.
G.K. Chandha, is appointed CEO of the
SAARC University.
May 5: External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and
melody queen Asha Bhosle are presented
with Padma Vibhushan awards. Dominique
Lapierre, ICCI Bank CMD K.V. Kamath
receive Padma Bhushan awards.
May 7: India successfully test fires Agni-III
ballistic missile, capable of striking targets
3,500 km away, from the Wheeler Island,
off the Orissa coast.
May 10: Ratan Tata, L.N. Mittal, Dr. R.K.
Pachauri among Padma Vibhushan award
recipients. Lord Meghnad Desai, P. Susheela
receive Padma Bhushan awards.
May 19: Justice A.K. Ganguly is sworn in
the new Chief Justice of Madras High Court.
May 20: The resignation of Tamil Nadu
Social Welfare Minister, Poongothai Aladi
Aruna following a row over her telephone
talk with the DVAC director is accepted.
May 25: The BJP emerges as the largest
party in the 224-member Karnataka
Assembly bagging 110 seats.
May 31: B.S. Yeddyurappa is sworn in the
29th Chief Minister of Karnataka.
The IAF reopens the Daulatbeg Oldi airbase
in the Ladakh region after-43 years.
JUNE
June 2: Tata Motors annonces completion
of the $2.3 billion acquisition of British
luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover in an
all cash transaction.
June 3: Sajjan Jindal takes over as
Assocham president.
June 5: The Centre approves the
amendment of the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act.
June 10: Soumitra Chatterjee bags the
Best film Pokokkhep and Priyamani the Best
Actress award for her role in Tamil film
Paruthi Veeran at the 54th National Film
Pulijanmam is adjudged Best Feature Film
and Lage Raho Munnabhai the best popular
film.
June 11: Japanese drug frim Daiichi Sankyo
announces the acquisition of a majority
stake in domestic major Ranboxy for over
Rs.15,000 crore.
June 17: The DMK snaps ties with the PMK
June 24: The Construction of the Prototype
Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam, Tamil
Nadu crosses a “mega milestone” following
installation of the 160 tonne safety vessel
inside the reactor vault.
June 27: Field Marshal Sam Hormusji
Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (94), hero of
the 1971 liberation war that helped create
Bangladesh dies at the Wellington Military
Hospital in the Nilgiris.
JULY
July 2: P. Venugopal retires as AIIMS
director.
July 14: Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchen
Jigmi Y. Thinley arrives in New Delhi.
July 15: The four Indian Embassy blast
victims in Kabul are nominated for the Kirti
Chakra.
July 17: The Cabinet approves the setting
up of eight new IITs during the current
academic session.
Ranbaxy Laboratories and Japanese drug
major Daiichi Sankyo confirm merger deal.
July 21: Veteran Bengali film director Tapan
Sinha is selected for the Dadasaheb Phalke
Award for the year 2006.
July 22: The United Progressive Alliance
government wins the trust vote in the Lok
Sabha by a margin of 19 votes ater a twoday
debate. Three BJP members allege
being bribed crores of rupees to abstain.
July 24: The Union Cabinet approves merger
of the State Bank of Saurashtra with the
State Bank of India.
July 31: Himachal Pradesh DGP Ashwani
Kumar is appointed CBI Director.
AUGUST
August 1: The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister,
M. Karunanidhi, inaugurates the Vellore
Corporation. P. Karthikeyan takes office as
the first Mayor.
August 5: Tuticorin Corporation comes into
being and R.Kasturi Thangam becomes the
first Mayor.
August 13: The former RBI Governor C.
Rangarajan is nominated to the Rajya
Sabha.
August 15: Politics of consensus not
confrontation needed to tackle divisiveness,
says the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
his address to the nation on the 62nd
Independence Day.
August 18: C, Rangarajan and S.M. Krishna
are sworn in Rajya Sabha members.
August 21: The Nation’s first poly-silicon
solar project is launched in Kolkata.
August 26: Telugu matinee idol Chiranjeevi
launches ‘Praja Rajyam’ at the temple town
of Tirupati.
August 27: Shibu Soren is sworn in as
Jharkhand Chief Minister.
The country’s first frozen egg baby is born
in a Chennai hospital.
August 28: Tata Motors suspends work at
Singur.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 1 : The Union Finance Secretary
Duvvuri Subba Rao is appointed the RBI
Governor.
Sept. 2 : Tapan Sinha is presented the
Dada Saheb Phalke award for 2006 in
absentia. Soumitra Chatterjee bags best
actor award and Priyamani gets best
actress award.
Sept. 4 : V. Vaithilingam takes over as the
17th Chief Minister of Pducherry.
Sept. 5 : Sanjeev Nanda is sentenced to
five years RI for killing six persons in the
BMW hit-and-run case.
Sept. 6 : India signs a ‘historic’ agreement
with Colombia for cooperation in the entire
spectrum of hydrocarbon sector, in New
Delhi.
Duvvuri Subba Rao takes over as the 22nd
Governor of the RBI, in Mumbai.
Sept. 7 : The stalemate over land acquisition
at Singur ends.
Sept. 8 : Singer Bhupen Hazarika is
conferred the ‘Asom Ratna’.
Sept. 11 : The Union Cabinet approves the
signing and ratification of an extradition
treaty with Iran.
Sept. 18 : The Union Cabinet gives nod for
foreign news magazines to come out with
Indian editions.
The Cabinet clears Chandrayaan-2 moon
mission costing Rs.425 crore.
Sept. 25 : The fire aboard Sabarmati
Express at the Godhra railway station on
February 27, 2002 is a “pre-planned
conspiracy” by local Muslims, says the
Nanavati-Mehta judicial commission report.
OCTOBER
Oct. 1 : Bombay Stock Exchange launches
the currency derivatives segment in Mumbai.
Oct. 2 : The nationwide ban on smoking in
public places comes into force.
Oct. 7 : The Tata Group’s Rs.2000 crore
Nano car project moves to Sanand in
Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district.
Oct. 11 : The Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh flags off the first ever train in the
Kashmir valley at the Nowgam station on
the outskirts of Srinagar.
Oct. 15 : Sensex closes below the 10000-
level for the first time in two years.
Oct. 21 : The much-awaited cross-LoC
trade the first since 1947 begins with the
flagging off of 13 trucks carrying goods on
the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road.
Oct. 22 : India’s Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle (PSLV-C11) puts Chandrayaan-1,
the nations’ first spacecraft to the Moon, in
its initial orbit after liftoff from the Sriharikota
space center.
Oct. 23 : The Lok Sabha passes two bills to
declare water stretches in five states,
including Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, as
national waterways.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 4 : Eminent Hindustani vocalist of the
Khirana Gharana Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is
chosen for the Bharat Ratna Award.
Chandrayaan-I becomes the first Indianbuilt
space craft to leave the earth’s gravity.
Nov. 6 : Kashmiri poet Abdul Rahman Rahi
is presented the 40th Jnanpith Award by the
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
gives nod for the first rail link to Sikkim,
Integrated checkposts to come up on
borders.
Nov. 8 : Chandrayaan-1 is safely inserted
into the lunar orbit.
Nov. 14 : The Moon Impact Probe on board
Chandrayaan-1 successfully ejects and lands
on the lunar surface near the Shackleton
crater on the South pole.
Nov. 18 : India and Egypt sign an extradition
treaty at a bilateral summit being held after
11 years in New Delhi.
The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is
conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for
International Understandings for 1995.
Nov. 19 : The International Atomic Energy
Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei
is chosen for the Indira Gandhi prize for
Peace, Disarmament and Development for
2008.
Nov. 22 : The 39th International Film
Festival of India gets under way in the Goa
capital Panaji.
Nov. 24 : SBI to enter general insurance
business. Forms joint venture with Insurance
Austrailia Group of Australia.
Nov. 26 : At least 125 persons are killed
and 327 injured in a series of explosions
and firing by Lashkare-e-Taiba terrorists at
seven places in Mumbai. Anti-terrorism
squad chief Hemant Karkare dies while
seeking to assist in an operation near the
Cama and Albless Hospital. Additional
Commissioner of Police (East) Ashok Kamte
and inspector Vijay Salaskar also lay down
their lives. Fifty six persons are killed and
98 injured in the terrorist rampage at
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
Nov. 27 : Four terrorists holed up in
Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel are killed as NSG
commandos and the Army launch a
counteroffensive. Hundreds evacuated from
hotels. The BSE and the NSE remain closed.
The former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap
Singh (77) remembered most for ordering
the implementation of the Mandal
Commission recommendations dies after a
prolonged illness at the Apollo Hospital in
New Delhi.
Nov. 28 : Nine inmates and three terrorists
are killed in the Chabad-Lukovich Jewish
religious center in Nariman House in Colaba
area. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan NSG
commando leading the rescue efforts at the
Taj hotel falls to terrorists’ bullets.
Nov. 29 : At least 172 persons including 21
foreigners lose their lives in the Mumbai
terror attacks. Nine terrorists are killed in
the 60-hour gun battle with security forces
dubbed Operation Cyclone.
Cyclone Nisha batters Chennai city besides
wreaking havoc in almost all the districts of
Tamil Nadu leaving over 100 dead. Chennai
receives about 370mm rainfall in a span of
72 hours.
Nov. 30 : Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil
resigns and Finance Minister P. Childambaram
replaces him. Primer Minister to hold Finance
portfolio.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1 : The interrogation of Mohammed
Ajmal Amir Iman, the only terrorist of the
ten-member group involved in the Mumbai
mayhem to be caught alive unfolds
background story.
Dec. 2 : Kazakh film director Sergei
Dvort7sevoy’s Tulpan bags the Golden
Peacock at the 39th IFFI. Dvortsevoy also
gets the Best Director’s award.
Dec. 4 : The Maharashtra Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh submits resignation to
Governor S.C.Jamir.
Historian Romila Thapar is chosen for the
2008 Kluge Prize for Life-time Achievements
in the Sstudy of Humanity.
Dec. 5 : India and Russia clinch a mega
uranium deal in New Delhi following a
summit between Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and President Dmitry Medvedev. Four
more nuclear power plants for Kudankulam
in Tamil Nadu.
Dec. 8 : Ashok Chavan is sworn in
Maharashtra’s 24th Chief Minister. Chhagan
Bhujbal takes office as Deputy Chief Minister.
Dec. 15 : The Union Cabinet gives nod for
setting up a National Investigation Agency.
Proposal to amend the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act 1967 cleared.
Dec. 16 : A postage stamp on Field Marshal
Manekshaw is released at a function in New
Delhi.
Dec. 17 : The Lok Sabha passes two Bills –
the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
Amendment Bill, 2008 and the National
Investigation Agency Bill, 2008.
Dec. 18 : Parliament nod for anti-terror
Bills
The indigenous cryogenic engine passes a
“flight acceptance hot test” at Mahendragiri,
Tamil Nadu.
Dec. 23 : Parliament passes Information
Technology (Amendment) Bill that provides
for stringent punishment for cyber crimes.
Tamil poet Melanmai Ponnusamy among 21
litterateurs chosen for the Sahitya Akademi
awards for 2008.
Dec. 31 : The new anti-terror laws come
into force after presidential assent.
The Indian Maritime University is inaugurated
in Chennai.
Importent Meeting
Jan. 1 : E.U. newcomers Cyprus, Malta
adopt the euro scrapping the pound and
lira.
Jan. 11 : Sir Edmund Hillary (88) conqueror
of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953 dies in an
Ackland hospital of heart attack.
The world’s first commercial service from
Hobart, Australia to Antarctica, an Airbus A-
319, touches down smoothly at the Wilking
glacial blue ice runway.
Jan. 14 : Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh
and Wen Jiabao sign a joint document “A
Shared Vision for the 21st Century” after
talks in Beijing.
NASA’s Messenger Spacecraft makes historic
Mercury flyby.
Jan. 23 : The world Economic Forum
summit opens in Davos, Switzerland.
Jan. 24 : Dr. Craig Venter of the U.S.
creates the world’s first man-made microorganism.
Feb. 5 : France’s Alstom unveils “Automatrice
Grande Vitesse”, a new generation of super
fast train without locomotive that can travel
1,000 km in three hours.
INTERNATIONAL
Feb. 15 : Mark Beaumont (25), a Scotsman
sets a record by cycling around the world in
194 days and 17 hours.
March 11 : A Chinese vessel with e-tagged
containers sails out from Shanghai to
Savannah in the U.S. marking the opening
of the world’s first international e-tagged
container route.
March 15 : China’s Parliament endorses Hu
Jintao for a second five years term as
President. Xi Jinping is appointed Vice-
President.
April 1 : India’s Kamalesh Sharma takes
over as the Commonwealth Secretary
General.
India and Venezuela sign a historice
agreement to invest $400 million to develop
the San Cristobal oil field.
April 9 : The Navy becomes the first Indian
team to ski to the North Pole.
Jigme Y. Thinley assumes office as Bhutan’s
first elected Prime Minister.
May 1 : The world’s longest sea bridge is
inaugurated in the Yangtze River delta in
China. The 36 km long Hangzhou Bay
Bridge in Ningbo, Zhejiang provice links
Shangahi with Ningbo.
May 7 : Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in
Russian President and nominates hs
predecessor Vlammir Putin Prime Minister.
May 16 : The Prime Minister, Manmohan
Singh, pledges to extend the Indian rail
network to Bhutan during talks with his
counterpart Jigmi Y. Thinley in Thimphu.
Russia, India, China and Brazil institutionalize
their four-way group BRIC after Foreign
Ministers’ meeting in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
May 17 : The Prime Minister, Manmohan
Singh, addresses the first-ever joint sitting
of the Bhutan Parliament in Thimphu.
Announces decision to begin work on the
‘Golden Jubilee Rail Line’, the first-ever rain
link into the Himalayan kingdom from
Hashimara, northern Bengal.
May 25 : Min Bahadur Sherchan (75)
becomes the oldest person to reach the
summit of Mt. Everest.
May 26 : The former president of the
erstwhile Soviet Union, Michael Gorbachev
is conferred the lift time achievement award
at the Energy Global Awards in Brussels.
June 6 : The External Affairs Minister
Pranab Mukherjee confers the Padma
Bhushan award on Chinese Indologist Ji
Xianlin (97) in Beijing.
June 28 : Bill Gates leaves the job of
running Microsoft.
JULY
July 2 : Usha Chammar of Gujarat is
crowned ‘Princes of Sanitation Worker’s at
the U.N.
July 10 : Salman Rushdie wins the Best of
Booker prize for his path breaking novel
Midnight’s Children after a global vote by
readers.
July 24 : Indian-origin ICC judge
Navanetham Pillay is appointed the United
Nations’ new Human Rights Commissioner.
July 29 : A group of Russian scientists
reaches the bottom of Lake Baikal, the
world’s deepest fresh water lake in Russia’s
far east, for the first time ever.
July 31 : Doctor couple Prakash Amte and
Mandakini Amte of India, Grace Padaca, a
woman Philippines provincial Governor among
the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay awardees.
Aug. 2 : Terrorism “single biggest threat” to
stability and progress, says the Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh at the inaugural of the
15th SAARC Summit in Colombo. Nod for
SAARC Convention on Mutual Legal Assitance
Treaty.
Aug. 3 : The SAARC Summit adopts the
Colombo Declaration titled “Partnership for
growth of our people.” Leaders resolve to
jointly fight terror and trans-national
organised crime.
Aug. 8 : The 29th Olympic Games gets off
a colourful start in the Chinese capital
Beijing.
Aug. 11 : Abhinav Bindra wins the Olympic
gold medal for the 10-metre air rifle event
bagging for independent India its first
individual Olympic gold.
Aug. 16 : U.S. ace swimmer Michael
Phelpsties Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of
seven gold medals in a single Olympics.
Aug. 17 : Michael Phelps win an
unprecedented eighth gold medal at the
Beijing Olympic Games.
Aug. 18 : Pervez Musharraf resigns as
Pakistan President after an eight-year rule.
Aug. 24 : The Beijing Olympic Games
conclude after 16 glorious days.
Sept. 10 : The biggest physics experiment
in history, Large Hadron Collider tests being
under the aegis of the European Organization
for Nuclear Research on the French Swiss
border.
Sept. 17 : Australia issues licence allowing
scientists to create cloned human embryos.
Sept. 18 : The Large Hadron Collider is
shutdown by the CERN for two months due
to a mechanical failure.
Sept. 23 : “Like slavery and piracy, terrorism
has no place in the modern world,” says the
U.S. President George W.Bush in his farewell
speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
Sept. 25 : China launches Shenzhou-7 its
third manned spacecraft with three
taikonauts on board from the Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Centre in Gansu province.
Sept. 27 : Taikonaut Zhai Zhigang starts
China’s first spacewalk.
Sept. 28 : The Shenzhou- space shuttle
with three taikonauts aboard lands safely at
Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia in China
after a 68-hour flight including a 25-minute
space-walk.
Oct. 1 : Sarvodaya couple Krishnammal
Jagannathan and Sankaralingam
Jagannathan share the Right Livelihood
Award or “alternative Nobel.” An American
Journalist, a Swiss-born doctor and an
activist from Somalia are the other winners.
The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration celebrates 50 years of
operation.
Oct. 6 : Germany’s Harald Zur Hausen and
French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi
and Luc Montagnier share the 2008 Noble
Prize for medicine.
Oct. 7 : Two Japanese scientists, Makoto
Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa and a
Tokyo-born American citizen Yoichiro Nambu
share the 2008 Nobel Physics Prize for
discoveries in sub-atomic particles.
Oct. 8 : The U.S. President George W.Bush
signs the United States-In-dia Nuclear
Cooperation Approval and Non-proliferation
Enhancement Act in Washington.
Osamu Shimomura of Japan and Americans
Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien win the
Nobel Chemistry Prize for a fluorescent
protein derived from a jellyfish.
Oct. 9 : French writer Marie Gustave Le
Clezio is awarded the Nobel Literature Prize.
Oct. 10 : Finland’s former President Martti
Ahtisaari is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Oct. 12 : India’s Sister Alphonsa is declared
a saint by Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony
in Vatican City and named St. Alphonsa of
Immaculate Conception.
Oct. 13 : U.S. Economist Paul Krugman is
awarded the Nobel Economics Prize for his
trade analysis theory.
Oct. 14 : Arvind Adiga, the Chennai-born
author wins the $50,000 Man Booker Prize
for his debut novel The White Tiger.
Nov. 13 : Ilustrado, a novel by Filipino
author Miguel Syjuco wins the $10,000 Man
Asian Literary Prize.
Nov. 14 : Ann E.Dunwoody becomes the
first woman four-star general in the U.S.
military.
Nov. 15 : The Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh moots a coordinated global fiscal
stimulus to mitigate the severity of recession
addressing the G-20 Summit in Washington.
Dec. 6 : The Malaysian State of Malacca
presents ‘Datuk’ title to Bollywood actor
Shah Rukh Khan, making him the first
foreign actor to get the honour.
Dec. 9 : Lord Swraj Paul becomes the first
Asian Deputy Speaker of the British House
of Lords.
.,……………………………………………
sports-JANUARY
Jan. 6: Mikhail Youzhny wins the Chennai
Open ATP championship.
Jan. 24: Sachin Tendulkar scores his 39th
Test century in the fourth Test against
Australia in Adelaide.
Jan. 26: Maria Sharapova wins the Australia
Open women’s tennis championship in
Melborne.
Jan. 27: Djokovic clinches the Australian
Open men’s tennis championship in
Melbourne.
March 29: Rahul Dravid completes 10,000
Test runs in the match against South Africa
in Chennai.
June 7: Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic wins the
women’s title of the French Open in Paris.
June 8: Rafael Nadal is crowned the men’s
French Open champion in Paris.
July 5: Venus Williams claims the women’s
Wimbledon crown.
July 6: Rafael Nadal wins the men’s
Wimbledon title.
Aug. 4: Viswanathan Anand retains title in
the world rapid chess championship in
Mainz.
Aug. 11: Abinav Bindra becomes India’s
first-ever individual Olympic gold medalist,
winning the 10m air rifle competition at
Beijing.
Aug. 16: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt creates a
new World record (9.69 sec) in the men’s
100m final in the Beijing Olympic Games.
Aug. 17: American swimmer Michael Phelps
overtakes Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold
medals in a single Olympics, with eitht in
Beijing.
Aug. 20: Usain Bolt clinches a double
winning the 200m in a World record time
(19.32s), thereby becoming the first athlete
to bag a sprint double since Carl Lewis in
1984.
Sep. 8: Serena Williams claims the women’s
crown in the US Open tennis championship
in New York.
Sep. 9: Roger Federer wins the men’s title
in the US Open tennis championship in New
York.
Oct. 17: Sachin Tendulkar goes past Brian
Lara’s mark - 11953 runs - to become the
highest run-getter in Tests. He achieves the
feat in the second Test against Australia in
Mohali.
Oct. 29: Viswanathan Anand wins the World
chess championship in Bonn.
Nov. 4: Pankaj Advani wins the men’s
National billiards title in Indore.
Nov. 25: Umadevi wins the women’s
National billiards title in Indore.
Dec. 15: India wins the first Test in its two-
Test series against England at Chennai.
Sachin Tendulkar makes his 41st Test
hundred in guiding India home.
........................................................................................................................
