WIndia held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million, it was the largest democratic election in the world until surpassed by the subsequent 2014 Indian general election.
WAgropedia is an online knowledge repository for information related to agriculture in India. It includes universal meta models and localized content for a variety of users with appropriate interfaces built in collaborative mode in multiple languages. This national portal, designed as an "agricultural Wikipedia" hosts wide range of agricultural information on a variety of crops, with an aim to empower farmers with crop information.
WBarda Na Dungar, preceded by Ajavasnan Matsya, is a Gujarati language poetry collection written by Pravin Pandya. The book won Uma-Snehrashmi Prize (2008-09).
WOn 24 January 2009, the Sri Ram Sena attacked a group of young women and men in a pub in Mangalore, India. A group of 40 activists of the Sri Rama Sena barged into the pub "Amnesia – The Lounge" and beat up a group of young women and men, claiming the women were violating traditional Indian values. Two of the women were hospitalised. The video of the incident has become one of the most watched clips on YouTube, though how the TV crew happened to be ready at the 'unannounced' attack is not known.
WNaz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi is a landmark Indian case decided by a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court, which held that treating consensual homosexual sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's Constitution. The verdict resulted in the decriminalization of homosexual acts involving consenting adults throughout India. This was later overturned by the Supreme Court of India in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. Naz Foundation, in which a 2 judge bench reinstated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. However, even that was overturned by a 5 judge bench in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India in 2018, decriminalizing homosexuality once again.
WThe Ninety-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 2009, extended the period of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and representation of the Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies for another ten years, i.e. up to 26 January 2020.
WOceansat-2 is an Indian satellite designed to provide service continuity for operational users of the Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) instrument on Oceansat-1. It will also enhance the potential of applications in other areas.
WThe Jajpur derailment was a passenger train derailment that occurred at 19:45 local time near Jajpur in the eastern state of Odisha, India, on 13 February 2009. Nine people were killed and 150 people were injured in the incident. Twelve carriages belonging to the Howrah–Chennai Coromandel Express are believed to have derailed following the train's departure from Jajapur Road station near Jajapur. The cause of the accident is currently unknown.
WA total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on July 22, 2009 with a magnitude of 1.0799. It was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century, the longest total solar eclipse during the 3rd millennium will be on 16 July 2186. It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 38.86 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia, causing tourist interest in eastern China, Pakistan, Japan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Its greatest magnitude was 1.07991, occurring only 6 hours, 18 minutes after perigee, with greatest eclipse totality lasting 6 minutes, 38.86 seconds during the Total Solar Eclipse of July 22, 2009.