Misc Issues [February 2010]
* Milan 2010, a biennial meeting of navies of Asia Pacific countries held at Port Blair in Feb 2010. 12 countries of Asia Pacific Region participated in it. It is the 7th edition of Milan exercises. It is a biennial exercise of Asia Pacific maritime navies, hosted by the Indian Navy. First Milan exercise was held in 1995.
* ‘Vayu-Shakti’ name given to IAF exercise conducted at Pokhran range in the Thar desert in Feb 2010. IAF is the 4th largest air force in the world after USA, Russia and China.
* ‘Bo’ language of Andaman become extinct. Its last speaker died.
* As per Indian Meteorological deptt, 2009 was the warmest year since 1990. The annual mean temperature for 2009 was 25.55 degree celcius for the country s as a whole.
* Uttarakhand became first state in the country to ban the cultivation of Bt Brinjal ( Country’s first Genetically Modified food crop). Bt Brijnal is a genetically modified crop which has a special gene- Cry1AC, inserted to make it poisonous to pests. GM Crops resists pests and give better yields as well as nutrition. Bt Brinjal is developed in India by Mahyco company. GM foods are derived from organisms whose DNA has been modified through genetic engineering.
* China ranked 1st in the wind power capacity in the world. India is at 5th place with 10925 MW capacity. The five top nations in the order of wind power capacity are China, US, Spain, Germany & India.
* Eurozone is a economic and monetary union of 16 EU member states which have adopted the euro currency as their sole legal tender. PIIGS countries include Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain.
* 17 army jawans killed in a avalanche at High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) at Khilanmarg, J&K.