APRIL 2009 The Union Cabinet imposed President’s Rule in Meghalaya. •The facility to maintain and train pilots for the MiG 29 K frontline fight er aircraft was inaugurated at the INS Hansa naval base in Goa by Vice- Admiral J.J. Bedi, Commander-in-Chief, Western Naval command. •The Energy and Resources Institute and the Indian Mountaineering Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to study, preserve and safeguard the Himalayan glaciers under the National Mission of Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system. •The Government of India observed April 21 as Civil Service Day , presentin g an occasio n for civil servant s to rededi cate the mselves to the cause of ci ti zens an d rene w th ei r commit ment to pu bl ic service an d excellence. MAY 2009 UPA won the General Elections. It secured 263 seats out of 543. Congress secured 206 seats, Tri namool congres s-1 9, DMK-18, NCP-9 , Nati onal Conference -3, JMM-2 and AIMIM-1 among UPA. Naveen Patnaik sworn as the CM of Orissa for the 3rd time as Biju Janata Dal (BJD) secured a clear majority in the elections. The President of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), Pawan Kumar Chamli ng sworn as the CM of Sikkim for the 4th time. Meghal aya chi ef minister DD Lapang headin g the Congress-l ed coal ition United Meghalaya Alliance won the trust vote. Cyclone Aila has hit West Bengal and Orissa which brought heavy rains and nearly 60 people were dead. Sabitha Indra Reddy sworn as India’s 1st woman Home Minister ofAndhra Pradesh. JUNE Prof Yashpal and his committee members submitted final report to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). They have suggested the scrapping of all higher education regulatory/monitoring bodies and creation of a super regulator: a seven-member Commissi on for Hi gher Education and Research (CHER).