GENERAL AWARENESSJULY 2015 Vol. 4, Issue 01 A PUBLICATION OF GYANM EDUCATION & TRAINING INSTITUTE PVT. LTD. SCO 13-14-15, 2ND FLOOR, SEC 34-A, CHANDIGARH Contents CURRENT AFFAIRS MARCH TO MAY 2015 BULLET NEWS DEC 2014 TO FEB 2015 NATIONAL NEWS MAY 2015 01-32 MODI VISITS THREE NATIONS 33-50 LATEST 100 GK MCQS 51-58 SBI PO PRELIM PAPER 59-66 SSC CORNER / QUIZ 67-73 6 MONTHS GK BYTES 74-100 FIGURES TO REMEMBER REPO RATE (04.03.2015) 7. 50% REVERSE REPO RATE 6.50% MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY RATE STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO 8.50% CASH RESERVE RATIO BANK RATE 4.00% 8.50% BASE RATE(s) (of various banks) 21.5% 10 to 10.25 % INDIA’S RANK IN Motherhood Index 140th Environmental Democracy Index 24th Human Capital Index 100th Global Resilience Index 119th Global E-Waste Monitor 5th World Happiness Report 117th Global Networked Readiness 89th Social Progress Index 101st Open Government Index 2015 Press Freedom Index 2015 Talent Competitiveness 37th 136th 78th Travel and Tourism Index 65th Corruption Perceptions Index 85th The Web Index 2014 48th Global Terrorism Index 2014 Global Slavery Index 2014 Gender Gap Index Ease of Doing Business (WB) Global Hunger Index 2013 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 6th 1st 114th 142nd 55th Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a six day (May 14-20) visit to three countries – China, Mongolia and Soutah Korea. May 14 - Reached Xi'an city, home town of Chinese President in Shaanxi province. Breaking the protocol, President Xi Jinping received him in Xi’an city and accompanied him on his local sightseeing. Modi visited the famous Terracotta Warriors Museum, which has a large collection of clay sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. May 15- He met Chinese Premier (Prime Minister) Le Keqiang. The two leaders launched the State and Provincial Leaders’ Forum in Beijing. Mr Modi announced to extend electronic tourist visas to Chinese nationals. India and China signed 24 agreements to strengthen bilateral relationship in several fields including trade and commerce, railways, education, skill development, human resource and other areas. May 16-17 - Arrived in Mongolian capital Ulaan Baator, making the first ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Mongolia. He met Prime Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg and announced a $1-billion credit line to Mongolia for infrastructure development. He received a brown race horse named Kanthaka as gift. President: Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Currency: Togrog Parliament: State Great Khural May 18-20 - Arrived in Seoul, capital of South Korea. A slew of agreements were signed, including one on Double Taxation Avoidance Convention, cooperation in shipping and logistics, audiovisual co-production, transport, highways and electric power development in new energy industries. South Korea agreed to provide $ 10 billion to India for infrastructure, development of smart cities, railways, power generation. President: Park Geun-hye Parliament: National Assembly Currency: South Korean Won 1 PRESIDENT VISTS RUSSIA President Pranab Mukherjee visited Russia from May 7 to 10. He was conferred with honorary Doctorate by the Russian Diplomatic Academy. He attended the magnificent celebrations of the 70th Victory Day Parade. Eight agreements in the field of science and technology and higher education were signed during the visit. The Institutions of higher learning in India and Russia signed eleven Memorandum of Intent to establish the Network of Institutions of Higher Education The ban, however, would not cover late national leaders, while the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India (CJI) were free to use or not to use their photographs in such advertisements. INDIA RANKS 140TH IN MOTHERHOOD INDEX 50 YEARS OF CONQUERING MOUNT EVEREST Indian Mountaineering Foundation celebrated 50 years of first climbing by Indian team, of Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak, on 20 May 1965. Indian team was led by Captain Mohan Singh Kohli of Indian Navy and team’s Sherpa, Nawang Gombu was the first person to reach the peak. CABINET NOD FOR EXCHANGE OF ENCLAVES The Union cabinet approved on May 5 the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill 2013 to implement the land boundary agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh. Once approved by Parliament, the law will enable exchange of identified territories (enclaves) between the two countries. Enclaves are tiny landlocked territories that each country has within the borders of the other nation. DELHI AIRPORT RANKS FIRST IN WORLD Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi has been adjudged the world's best airport for the year 2014, under the category of handling 25 to 40 million passengers per annum by the Airports Council International of Canada. SC BANS USE OF PHOTOS IN GOVT ADs The Supreme Court issued guidelines to place a ban on the use of photographs of ministers and party leaders in the advertisements released by government institutions, public sector undertakings, local bodies and other autonomous bodies established under a statute to prevent ruling politicians from misusing tax payers’ money to enhance their image or of their parties. Further, official advertisements cannot carry the name of any political party, political symbol, logo or flag. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Save the Children's 'State of the World's Mothers' report for 2015 shows that India ranks at 140th place in a study of 179 countries to assess risk of maternal death, underfive mortality rate, expected number of years of formal schooling, the gross national per capita income and participation of women in government. Norway was ranked first, followed by Finland. INDIA RANKS POOR IN ENVIRONMENT CARE India has ranked 24th out of 70 countries in the first Environmental Democracy Index that evaluates nations' progress in enacting laws to promote transparency, accountability and citizen engagement in environmental decision making. Lithuania tops the list released by the Washington-based World Resources Institute and Access Initiative. India ranks 100th on 124 nations Human Capital Index, which measures countries on development and deployment of human capital. Finland topped the list. A commemorative coin released to mark the birth centenary of Swami Chinmayananda to honour his work in the field of education and social reform. World Bank to offer $ 250 million to Bihar govt as part of a programme to help improve effectiveness of elementary school teachers in the state India and Vietnam signed a Joint Vision Statement on Defence Cooperation in New Delhi to promote the mutual cooperation in maritime security. 6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy was held in New Delhi on 15 May 2015. The 10th World Hindi Conference will be held from 10 September to 12 September 2015 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. You are always a student Never a master You have to keep moving forward. 2 APRIL 2015 NEPAL DEVASTATED BY EARTHQUAKE A massive earthquake struck Nepal with a devastating impact, killing over 5000 persons and injuring double this number. The quake left several landmark sites, like the Durabl square and the 203 feet high Dharahera Towers completely flattened. India responded quickly, under its “Operation Maitri” by dispatching several National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, along with tonnes of relief supplies. The earthquake was a typical Himalayan tremor caused due to the “collision” of the Indian and the Eurasian plates. The epicenter of the earthquake that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale lay at a depth of 30 km, at Lamjung, around 80 km northwest of Kathmandu. Tremors were felt in several Indian states especially Bihar, NCR, Punjab and Haryana. 17 AGREEMENTS SIGNED WITH FRANCE During PM Modi’s 3-day visit to France, an agreement was signed for the supply of 36 Rafale fighter jets in flyaway condition as quickly as possible under a government-to-government deal. An agreement was also reached to promote the stalled nuclear power project in Jaitapur in Maharashtra where French company Areva, in collaboration with Indian company Larsen and Toubro, is to set up six nuclear reactors with a total power generation capacity of about 10,000 MW. ‘OPERATION RAHAT’ RESCUED 5600 PERSONS The Indian Navy conducted ‘Operation Rahat’ for about ten days to dramatically evacuate Indians and several other persons from war-torn Yemen. Over 5,600 persons were evacuated, including 4,640 Indians and about 960 foreigners from 41 countries. People were evacuated from Aden, a port in Yemen and brought safely to Djibouti (a nearby country) on board ship INS Sumitra, from where the Indian Air Force and Air India aircraft flew them to Mumbai and Kochi. Yemen has been witnessing a fierce battle between the Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels, who have battled their way into various cities including capital town Sana’a, the former stronghold of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has fled overseas. MODI, INDIA’s REFORMER-IN-CHIEF - OBAMA PM Narendra Modi was featured in the Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people for this year with an article by U.S. President Barack Obama, who titled it ‘India’s Reformer-in-Chief.’ “Today, he is the leader of the world’s largest democracy, and his life story — from poverty to PM — reflects the dynamism and potential of India’s rise,” Mr. Obama wrote. Dr. NASIM ZAIDI IS THE NEW CEC MODI INAUGURATES HANNOVER FAIR During his three Germany visit, PM Modi jointly, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, inaugurated the world’s largest industrial technology fair - Hannover Fair in Hannover. He said India had a huge potential to become a global manufacturing hub and invited the whole world to partner with the fastest growing economy in the ‘Make in India’ mission. He highlighted the 3D strengths of India as under: – Democracy ensuring fair and equal opportunity to everyone – Demand refers to the huge demand in the country for almost anything The President has appointed Election Commissioner Dr. Nasim Zaidi as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India. He assumed charge after the present incumbent Hari Shankar Brahma demitted office upon his retirement. Zaidi will have tenure up to July, 2017 when he attains the age of 65. The CEC has tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. He is appointed by the President, on the recommendations of the Union Government. He enjoys the same official status, salary and perks as available to the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. CANADA AGREES TO SUPPLY URANIUM FIRST PRIVATE BILL PASSED IN RAJYA SABHA – Demography refers to the huge, young manpower in the country The Prime Minister during his three-day visit to Canada inked 13 agreements on skill development with the host country. Canada also agreed to supply 3,000 metric tonnes of uranium to India from this year under a $254 million five-year deal. Only two other countries - Russia and Kazakhstan supply uranium to India. PM Modi also announced the inclusion of Canada in the list of nations receiving a visa-on-arrival from India. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 The Rajya Sabha has unanimously passed the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, which seeks to protect the rights of the transgender community, making it the first Private Member’s Bill to be cleared by the House in 46 years (the last private members bill was passed in the year 1968). The bill now will be moved in the Lok Sabha. The Bill envisages a comprehensive national policy to ensure the development and welfare of the transgender community. 3 Ms. SWARAJ VISITS INDONESIA INDIA LOW IN BUSINESS RESILIENCE External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj paid a 5-day visit to Indonesia to attend the 60th commemoration of the 1955 Asian-African Conference and to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership. India has been ranked 119th out of 130 countries on the 2015 FM Global Resilience Index which measures business resilience based on economic, risk quality and supply chain factors. Norway tops the index for being the best suited for companies seeking to avoid disruptions in their global supply chain. INDIA ELECTED TO FOUR UN AGENCIES India has been elected to four key subsidiary bodies of the United Nations' Economic and Social Council including the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The other three bodies are - Executive Board of the World Food Programme, Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and Governing Council of the UN Human Settlements Programme. INDIA 5TH IN PRODUCING E-WASTE FREE TREATMENT FOR ACID VICTIMS The Supreme Court has asked all private hospitals in India to provide full free treatment to acid attack victims, including medicines and expensive reconstruction surgeries. The order came on a public interest litigation petition filed by Laxmi, an acid attack victim, following a nine year fight for the rights of acid attack victims. LAW COMMISSION REPORT ON LEPROSY The 20th Law Commission headed by Justice (retd.) Ajit Prakash Shah has submitted its report titled ‘Eliminating Discrimination against Persons Affected by Leprosy’ to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice. It recommended the repealing of The Lepers Act, 1898 and removal of the word ‘leper’ from various statutes as it was considered ‘derogatory.’ ‘GREENPEACE’ FACES HEAT FROM THE GOVT The ‘Global E-Waste Monitor 2014 report by the United Nations University says that India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world, discarding around 1.7 million tonnes of electronic equipment in 2014. The list is topped by USA, followed by China, Japan and Germany. INDIA RANKS BELOW PAK IN ‘HAPPINESS’ As per the 2015 World Happiness Report published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of UNO, India comes at the 117th spot out of 158 countries, faring below even Pakistan (81) and Bangladesh (109). The index takes into account per capita GDP, life expectancy, social support and freedom to make life choices as indicators of happiness. Switzerland claimed the first rank, followed by Iceland, Denmark and Norway. INDIA RANKS 89TH IN USAGE OF ICT The government has frozen the bank accounts of the international environment campaign group- Greenpeace India for six months by invoking the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), accusing it of encouraging “anti-development” protests in the country. The Home Ministry said it was “a threat to national economic security”. It is suspected that foreign-funded NGOs were blocking the expansion of nuclear power and the introduction of genetically modified products. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 India has slipped six places to rank 89th in Global Networked Readiness Index compiled by the World Economic Forum, showing a "widespread" weakness in its potential to leverage information and communications technologies (ICT) for social and economic gains. INDIA BELOW NEPAL IN ‘SOCIAL PROGRESS’ Out of the 133 countries rated in the Social Progress Index on indicators of well-being such as health, water and sanitation, personal safety, personal freedom and choice, India ranks at the 101st place. Even Nepal and Bangladesh rank higher than India. Norway has bagged the first rank on the index. 4 India Post released special commemorative stamps to MODI, SATYARTHI AMONG TOP 50 LEADERS mark 50 years of Indo-French co-operation in space research at a function held in Puducherry. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan President arrived in New Delhi on April 27 on a 3 day visit. The 5th meeting of the Health Ministers of SAARC countries held in New Delhi in April 8. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (5th) and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi (28th) have been named among the 50 greatest leaders in the world by Fortune magazine in its annual list of extraordinary men and women transforming business, government and philanthropy. MARCH 2015 The President of India, breaking away from the protocol, conferred the Bharat Ratna on Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee on March 27 in New Delhi in a simple ceremony held at the residence of Shri Vajpayee, on account of his poor health condition. PM VISITS SEYCHELLES With a view to expanding its footprint in the strategic Indian Ocean, India signed four agreements with Seychelles for cooperation in hydrography, renewable energy, infrastructure development and maritime security during the visit of India’s Prime Minister’s visit on March 11. He also launched a Coastal Surveillance Radar project to boost security cooperation with the island nation. India promised to give one Dornier aircraft and free visa on arrival for three months to the citizens of Seychelles. PM VISITS MAURITIUS Prime Minister visited Mauritius on March 12 and inked five MoUs with Mauritius to give new impetus to bilateral co-operation. The agreements signed included one on Ocean economy which will help utilise the rich marine resources of Mauritius. PM VISITS SRI LANKA BHARAT RATNA CONFERRED UPON VAJPAYEE Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya was accorded Bharat Ratna posthumously during a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on March 30th. INDIA AND QATAR SIGN SIX AGREEMENTS The Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani visited India and held extensive talks with the Prime Minister. The two countries inked six pacts for cooperation in energy sector and boosting trade and investment. An agreement was also signed on the transfer of sentenced persons allowing the Indian convicts in Qatar to complete their balance sentence in India and vice versa. S C CANCELS RESERVATION FOR JATS The Supreme Court of India has nullified the Central Government's decision to include Jats in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The top court said that caste can't be the sole factor to decide backwardness, maintaining that Jats don't form socioeconomic backward class. The decision will prevent the Jat population in India from availing of the special benefits of reservation in jobs and educational institutions. AADHAAR NOT MUST FOR AVAILING SUBSIDY India and Sri Lanka signed four agreements during Mr. Modi's maiden visit to the island nation on March 13-14. The agreements are on visa, customs, youth development and building Rabindranath Tagore memorial in Sri Lanka. Facility of Tourist Visa on Arrival and Electronic Travel Authorization Scheme to Sri Lankan citizens to start from April 14, 2015. India to cooperate in developing a Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka and a Buddhist Circuit in India. The Supreme Court has given a landmark ruling, confirming that the Aadhaar card is not compulsory for availing of various government subsidies and any other benefits, and warned that officials ignoring this would be taken to task. CONFERENCE ON COUNTER TERRORISM P M PAYS HOMAGE TO MARTYRS On March 23, PM Narendra Modi visited Hussainiwala on Indo Pak border in Punjab's frontier district of Ferozepur and paid homage to freedom struggle martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. The three revolutionaries were cremated here on March 23, 1931. They were awarded death sentence for shooting a British Police Officer Mr Saundras on the 17th December, 1928. In their honour, March 23 is observed every year as Martyrs Day ( Shaheed Diwas). GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 A 3-day International Conference on Counter Terrorism 2015 was held at Jaipur in March. It was organised by India Foundation in association with the Sardar Patel University of Police Security and Criminal Justice, Jodhpur to develop an integrated approach to counter terrorism around the world. 5 S C RULES AGAINST SECTION 66A The Supreme Court has struck down the controversial 2009 amendment to India's Information Technology Act known as section 66A as it was “unconstitutional” and a restriction on freedom of speech. Section 66A makes the sending information of "grossly offensive or menacing character" punishable by up to 3 years in jail. NEWS FROM STATES MAY 2015 BLUE WHALE FOUND NEAR MAHARASHTRA ATTORNEY GENERAL IS PUBLIC AUTHORITY The Delhi High Court has ruled that the Attorney General is not merely a lawyer for the government, but is a constitutional authority and thus falls under the ambit of the RTI Act. The High Court reversed the 2012 decision of the Central Information Commission in which a full bench had ruled that the AG is only a person and can't be considered an "authority" under the Act. INDIA UNFURLS WORLD’s TALLEST FLAG The world’s largest and tallest Indian national flag was unfurled in Faridabad, Haryana. The flag has dimensions of 96 feet by 64 feet and weighs 48 kilograms. The flag was hoisted at a height of 250 feet (75 meters), thus, making it the world’s largest and the highest hoisted Indian flag. WORLD’S 1st SOLAR AIRCRAFT LANDS IN INDIA Solar Impulse, claimed to be the world’s only solarpowered aircraft, made a stopover in Ahmadabad on its maiden global journey. The Swiss aircraft can fly day and night without a drop of fuel, propelled solely by the sun’s energy. The single-seater aircraft made of carbon fibre has a 72 metre wingspan, larger than that of Boeing-747 and weighs just 2,300 kg. The 58th All India Ayurvedic Congress was held at Panjab University, Chandigarh – March 14-15. The 5th National Community Radio Sammelan held in New Delhi – March 16. A three-day conference for strengthening maritime trade and security among Indian Ocean Rim countries held at Bhubaneshwar – March 20-22. The government has announced that India's first National Skill Development University will be established in Chhattisgarh. In the World Justice Project's ‘Open Government Index 2015’ report, India was ranked 37th amongst 102 countries. Sweden was placed at first position. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 A group of researchers has spotted for the first time, two Blue Whales (mother-calf pair) and four Bryde’s whales near Kunkeshwar off the Sindhudurg coast in Maharashtra. This is for the first time after 100 years that the Blue Whales were sighted off the coast of Maharashtra. Punjab becomes first state to issue Soil Health Cards to all its farmers. The cards will show the details of the soil composition for every farm. In Gujarat, the number of Asiatic lions in Gir sanctuary and its surrounding areas has gone up to 523, registering 27 percent increase since 2010. World’s largest solar power plant is to be set up at Gurh tehsil in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh to produce 750 megawatt (MW) of electricity. Govt of Tripura withdrew on May 27 the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the remaining areas of the state with immediate effect. Among Indian states, Maharashtra attracts largest number of foreign tourists followed by Tamil Nadu. APRIL 2015 ‘SUBODHAM’ PROJECT LAUNCHED IN KERALA The Kerala government, supported by UNICEF, has launched a major campaign Subodham, to wean people away from liquor addiction. The project aims to free one lakh persons each year from alcohol addiction, through comprehensive, systematic awareness campaigns. GIFT CITY LAUNCHED IN GUJARAT The Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, GIFT City was inaugurated near Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It is intended to be a global financial hub. The domestic banks will be allowed to open, for the first time in India, International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) as offshore banking units. They will be exempted from the SLR and CRR requirements and but will not be allowed to handle cash transactions. 6 THANE WINS RENEWABLE ENERGY AWARD HARYANA MOVES TO BAN COW SLAUGHTER An 11-member international jury has declared Thane, a city in Maharashtra as the India’s National Earth Hour Capital as it won the Earth Hour City Challenge held in Seoul, South Korea. Seoul was declared the Global Earth Hour Capital 2015. The year-long competition among cities is aimed at promoting renewable energy and preparations for climate change. The Haryana Legislative Assembly passed the Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvar-dhan Bill, 2015, which bans cow slaughter, sale of beef and prescribes rigorous punish-ment for violations, ranging from punishment of up to 10 years with a fine up to one lakh rupees. 20 WOOD SMUGGLERS SHOT DEAD IN ANDHRA At least 20 labourers hired by suspected red sanders wood smugglers were shot dead on in a violent encounter with the task force of the Andhra Pradesh police in the Seshachalam forests on the outskirts of the temple town Tirupati, district Chitoor. The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to name its new capital as Amravati, considering its historic, mythological and spiritual significance. Punjab has launched ‘Padho Punjab-Khedo Punjab Mission’ to provide school students a separate period 40-50 minute period exclusively for playing games. The Kudermukh National Park, Karnataka and Rajaji National Park, Uttarkhand declared ‘tiger reserves’ by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Assam to erect bio-fences with thickets of thorny bamboos to replace the electric fences, to ward off straying elephants. THREE STATES EXEMPTED FROM ‘PAP’ In a written reply to a query, the Rajya Sabha was informed that Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland have been excluded from the Protected Area Permit (PAP) regime for foreign tourists till December 31. GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES MAY 2015 ‘KISSAN CHANNEL’ LAUNCHED FOR FARMERS MARCH 2015 FIRST COMMERCIAL COURT SET UP IN DELHI In March, the Delhi high court became the first court in India to set up dedicated commercial divisions within it, in line with the recommendation of the Law Commission. These special benches will hear commercial matters relating to intellectual property rights, arbitration, insurance, banking, taxation, company cases etc. A farmer-centric 24 hour TV channel by Doordarshan named DD Kissan was formally launched on May 26. The channel programmes would focus on promoting development of agriculture sector and rural India. It will be mandatory for every cable and DTH operator to relay this channel. 'AAPKI BETI HUMARI BETI' SCHEME LAUNCHED Prime Minister launched three social security schemes at Kolkata on May 9. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana for accidental insurance cover of Rs two lakh for a premium of Rs.12. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana for life insurance cover of Rs two lakh for a premium of Rs. 330. Atal Pension Yojana to address old age income security needs. The Haryana government has launched 'Aapki Beti Humari Beti' programme to provide cash assistance of Rs 21,000 to first-born girl child of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Below Poverty Line families and all second girl children born on or after Jan 22, 2015 of all families. OLIVE RIDLEY BEGIN MASS NESTING The mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles, an endangered species, started in March near river Rushikulya mouth in Odisha's Ganjam district. On the first day, over 10,000 female turtles laid eggs in the over 3-km-long sandy beach. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 THREE SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES LAUNCHED ANTI BLACK MONEY BILL PASSED Seeking to unearth unaccounted funds and assets stashed by Indians abroad, Parliament on May 13th passed the historic “Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) Bill, 2015”. For the first time, unlawful, undisclosed income abroad has been taxed under this law at a tax rate of 30 per cent with an additional 30 percent penalty. Further, it provides for 120 % tax and penalty in addition to 10-year jail term. 7 LOK SABHA CLEARS GST BILL The Goods and Services Tax Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 6, clearing its way to Rajya Sabha. The GST is proposed to be implemented from 1st of April next year. It seeks to create a new indirect tax regime which will replace various central and state levies like sales tax, excise and services tax except taxes on the supply of alcohol for human consumption and petroleum products. WHAT GST IS ALL ABOUT OTHER REQUIREMENTS A constitutional amendment is needed to allow states and the Centre to concurrently have powers to tax goods and services and also make relevant laws. At present States cannot tax services while the Centre cannot impose levies similar to sales tax ARTICLE 246A The bill will introduce a new article that says Parliament, and subject to some conditions, the legislature of every state will have power to make laws with respect to goods and services tax imposed by the Union or the state 2) WHO WILL ADMINISTER THE LEVY? The bill provides for a GST Council, a joint body of the states and the Centre for monitoring the implementation of GST. GST COUNCIL Chairperson: Union Finance Minister Other Member from Centre: Minister of State for Finance The government is set to introduce a bill in parliament to amend the constitution to pave the way for the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), a levy that was to have been in place five years ago. ET takes a look at what this much-anticipated indirect tax reform is all about and why you should WHAT IS GST? It is a tax levied when a consumer buys goods or services. This is how what consumption is taxed in most developed countries. 1) CUTTING THROUGH THE COMPLEXITY: The goods we buy include a number of taxes. GST will replace these taxes with a single levy. The taxes that will go are: CENTRAL TAXES 1) Central Excise Duty 2) Additional Excise Duties 3) Excise duty levied under the Medicinal and Tollet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act. 1955 4) Service tax 5) Additional customs duty. Commonly known as countervalling duty 6) Special additional duty of customs 7) Central surcharges and cesses that relate to the supply of goods & services STATE TAXES 1) Value added tax/sales tax 2) Taxes on lotteries, betting and gambling 3) Entertainment tax, excluding such taxes levied by local bodies 4) Central sales tax, Octroi and entry tax, Purchase tax, Luxury tax 5) State cesses and surcharges that relate to goods and services GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Vice-Chairperson: One of the state finance ministers Members: State finance ministers VOTING STRENGTH IN COUNCIL Centre: 1/3 vote in council States: 2-3 weight in council Decision to be taken by 75% vote support 3) SOME CONCERNS OF STATES COMPENSATION TO MANUFACTURING STATES 1) GST will be levied on buyers of goods and services or where the service is consumed 2) This means big consumer states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala will get a high share of taxes 3) Manufacturing states such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat fear they will lose revenues 4) The bill provides for 1 percentages point extra tax on goods for at least two years 5) This extra revenue will go the state from which the goods originated, or where it was manufactured COMPENSATION FOR LOSS OR REVENUE There are fears that states may lose some revenue because of the introduction of GST. However, the bill allows for compensation for revenue loss to states for a period of 5 years. Source: Economic Times: 5th May 2015 8 SOCIAL SECURITY FOR MNREGA WORKERS 20,000 CR FOR ‘NAMAMI GANGE’ PROGRAMME The Centre has asked all the states to enroll all MNREGA workers under the three newly-launched social security schemes and open bank accounts for each worker under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The three schemes include Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana. CABINET APPROVES SMART CITIES MISSION Union Cabinet on April 29 approved the Smart Cities Mission for development of 100 smart cities with an outlay of Rs. 48,000 crore. It also approved the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for 500 cities with outlay of Rs. 50,000 crore to replace the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Union Cabinet approved a massive Rs 20,000 crore budget for the ‘Namami Gange Programme’ for the next five years. The amount is a five-fold increase over the money spent in the last three decades towards the conservation of the river. The government plans to involve people living on the banks of the river to attain sustainable results. GOLD MONETISATION SCHEME LAUNCHED LOK SABHA PASSES JUVENILE JUSTICE BILL After elaborate discussions on the merits of trying juveniles as adults in case of grave offences such as the 2012 Delhi gang rape, the Lok Sabha passed on May 7 the controversial Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 which allows 16 to 18 year old child offenders in heinous crimes to be tried like adults. The law defines heinous offences as IPC offences with minimum punishment of seven years. These include rape, murder, dacoity, kidnapping, and even attempted murder. LOK SABHA PASSES N I ACT AMENDMENT The government on May 19 unveiled the draft of the Gold Monetisation Scheme aimed at getting goldhoarding Indians to deposit their holdings with banks in return for an interest payment. The finance ministry has sought the comments from the public on the scheme by June 2. A minimum 30 grams of gold could be deposited and Banks will decide the rate of interest. Minimum deposit period is one year, after which the customer may ask for gold or cash. GOVT TO START HIGHWAY RADIO In a move to keep highway commuters updated about road blocks, crashes, bad road condition and even weather forecast, government plans to start Highway Advisory Radio (HAR) system like a radio channel. Besides broadcasting music/ songs, it will also provide uninterrupted real-time information on traffic condition, local points of interest, suggest alternate routes etc. USTAAD SCHEME FOR BANARAS WEAVERS Union Government formally launched USTAAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Ancestral Arts/Crafts for Development) Scheme in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in order to improve degrading conditions of world famous Banarasi Saree weavers and other artisans of the state. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 The Lok Sabha passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015, on May 13. The amendment aims at easing the process of lodging court cases for cheque-bouncing. Now all such cases can only be filed at the place where the account of beneficiary is there i.e. place where the cheque is deposited for clearance. CHILDREN BELOW 14 ALLOWED TO WORK The government has approved a proposal for allowing children below 14 years of age to work only in family enterprises or entertainment industry with certain conditions, while completely banning their employment elsewhere. It also says that children up to 18 years of age will not be allowed to work in the hazardous industries. FIPB POWERS RAISED TO 3,000 CRORE With an aim to expedite FDI clearance process, the govt has enhanced FIPB's powers to recommend foreign investment proposals of up to Rs. 3,000 crore, against Rs 1,200-crore limit at present. The FIPB recommended proposals are cleared by the Finance Minister and any investment beyond the new ceiling of Rs. 3,000 crore will go to Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by the Prime Minister. FIPB: Foreign Investment Promotion Board 9 CHANGES TO COMPANIES ACT NOTIFIED ‘E-SAMIKSHA’ LAUNCHED BY RAILWAYS New amendments to the Companies Act have done away with the norms of minimum capital requirement of Rs 1 lakh for private limited company and Rs 5 lakh in case of a public sector unit. Besides, the concept of company seal has also been done away with. The Railways has launched a new web portal ‘ESamiksha’ to focus on Budget Review, Board Meetings, Zonal Railway Review, Infrastructure Targets and Project Implementation Review. PAN CARD MUST FOR EXCISE REGISTRATION The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) of the Labour and Employment Ministry will now be implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The scheme provides IT-enabled and smart card-based cashless health insurance, including maternity benefit cover up to Rs. 30,000 per annum on a family floater basis to the BPL families. Ministry of Finance has made quoting the Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for private firms seeking central excise registration to facilitate efficient online collection of excise duty. Applicant shall also quote his or her e-mail address and mobile number in the application form for quick and online communication with the department. Govt launched “Kayakalp” scheme for awarding public health facilities to encourage improvement in keeping the facilities clean and hygienic. “Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for SC” launched to finance to the SC entrepre-neurs. The scheme will be implemented by the IFCI Ltd. Doordarshan News has launched an app to enable live streaming of DD news channel by lakhs of smart phone users in the country. Govt approves continuation of minimum monthly pension at not less than Rs 1000 for pensioners under the Employees' Pension Scheme Amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 approved for enhancing the penalty under it to a maximum of 7 years imprisonment from 5 years. A 10-member panel formed under Vijay Kelkar to revisit and revitalise public private partnership mode of infrastructure development. APRIL 2015 P M LAUNCHES AIR QUALITY INDEX In a concerted effort to tackle the menace of air pollution, PM Modi has launched India's first Air Quality Index. The index will provide information on the quality of air / air pollution in 10 major cities in the country on a daily basis. Delhi's air pollution has been in focus in recent months, as the city has surpassed Beijing as the most polluted city in the world. RSBY SHIFTED TO HEALTH MINISTRY LAND RECORDS TO HAVE FIELD FOR ‘GENDER’ The government has asked the states to introduce a "gender" field for land owners in their property records. The move has been undertaken as part of the central government's National Land Records Modernisation Programme. Once the share of women in land ownership is ascertained, the data will be used to direct policy initiatives in this area. NJAC ACT NOTIFIED The Government has the notified the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, also known as constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014, which will replace the 23-year-old collegiums system for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Under the Act, the SC and HCs will have judges appointed by a six-member panel headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprising two senior most SC judges, the Union Law Minister and two eminent persons. NEW ‘e-TOURIST VISA’ SCHEME LAUNCHED The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to change the name of the scheme 'Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic Travel Authorization' to 'e-Tourist Visa' (eTV). The scheme will be extended to more countries and airports in a phased manner. GOVT TO PROMOTE ECO FRIENDLY VEHICLES CABINET AMENDS JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal to try juveniles, who are 16 to 18 years and are accused of heinous crimes, under the laws meant for adults. The Juvenile Justice Board will have the power to assess whether the perpetrator of a heinous crime aged between 16 and 18 should be tried under the regular laws or not. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Union Government has launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) – India Scheme. The scheme was launched as part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility to boost ecofriendly vehicle sales in the country. 10 RESTRICTIONS ON GIFTS TO IAS/IPS OFFICERS PRADHANMANTRI JEEVAN JYOTI BIMA YOJANA According to the recently amended all India Services Rules, the IAS and IPS officers now will have to take prior permission from the Central Government before accepting gifts worth more than Rs 5,000. They also need to inform the government, if they accept gifts of over Rs. 25,000 from their relatives or friends on customary occasions like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays etc. The scheme will be offered by Life Insurance Corporation and all other life insurers who are willing to join the scheme to offer life insurance cover. Eligibility: Available to all persons in the age group of 18 to 50 and having a bank account. Premium: Rs.330 per annum to be debited from the applicant’s account. Risk Coverage: Rs.2 Lac in death on any ground. APP LAUNCHED FOR RAIL TICKETS BOOKING ATAL PENSION YOJANA The Railway launched the ‘UTS on mobile’ (unreserved ticket system) app to relieve suburban train passengers from the serpentine queues for getting tickets. The new service allows the travellers to produce e-tickets or carry the ticket image on their mobile phones for suburban train services. P & S BILL PASSED BY THE PARLIAMENT The payments and settlements systems amendment bill 2014 was passed by the Parliament on April 27. The bill aims to address the problem of insolvency in the payment and settlement system by increasing transparency and stability. TRANSPORT ALLOWANCE EXEMPTION RAISED With effect from April 1, 2015, the transport allowance exemption for employees has been raised to Rs 1600 per month from Rs 800 for the purpose of Income tax. The exemption limit for the blind and orthopedically handicapped employees has been raised to Rs 3200 per month from the earlier Rs 1600. The Govt. has set up a task force chaired by B N Navalawala to examine relevant issues to expedite the work on the interlinking of rivers in the country. This scheme will be launched from 1st June, 2015 and will be administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. The scheme will focus on the unorganised sector workers and will replace the previous Swavalamban - NPS Lite scheme. Eligibility: The scheme is open to all bank account holders between 18 years and 40 years, who are not members of any statutory social security scheme. Benefit: Pension ranging between Rs.1000 - Rs. 5000 is payable after the age of 60. Govt Funding: The government would co-contribute 50% of the subscriber’s contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, for a period of 5 years from 2015-16 to 2019-20, to those who join the scheme before 31st Dec, 2015 and are not tax payers. ‘TWITTER SAMVAD’ LAUNCHED BY THE PM As part of the government's Digital India campaign, a new service ‘Twitter Samvad’ was launched in New Delhi by the Prime Minister. Everyday, a set of curated tweets will be delivered as SMS from the government and leaders' accounts to those mobile users across the country, who register for this service. Mr Modi and several state Chief Ministers have joined the scheme. LAND BILL PASSED BY LOK SABHA The controversial Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill was approved by the Lok Sabha in March despite a walkout by all opposition parties. The bill has been allowed to lapse as the government lacks majority in Rajaya Sabha. The ordinance in this regard is expected to be re-promulgated. ANTI BLACK MONEY BILL PASSED BY CABINET MARCH 2015 PRADHAN MANTRI SURAKSHA BIMA YOJANA The scheme will be offered by all Public Sector General Insurance Companies for giving insurance cover against death by accident. Eligibility: Available to all persons in the age group 18 to 70 years, having a bank account. Premium: Rs.12 per annum to be directly debited by the bank from the subscriber’s account. Risk Coverage: For accidental death and full disability-Rs.2 Lac and for partial disability–Rs.1 Lac. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 In a bid to unearth black money and illicit assets stashed abroad, the Union Cabinet has approved the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) Bill, 2015 with stringent provisions for prosecution of such offences with rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years. Penalty at the rate of 300 % of taxes will be levied, besides the applicable tax, on the concealed income. 11 P M KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJNA LAUNCHED The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore to provide skills training to youth, including Class 10 and 12 drop outs. The scheme will cover 24 lakh persons. It will be implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). 33% RESERVATION FOR WOMEN IN POLICE The Central government has announced 33 per cent reservation for women in police forces of union territories, including Delhi, for posts ranging from constables to sub-inspectors, in a move aimed at making police more gender-sensitive. ‘KAYA KALP’ COUNCIL TO OVERHAUL RLYs. The Ministry of Railways has constituted the Kaya Kalp council and appointed Ratan Tata its head to recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of the Railways. The council will have two railway union leaders also. ECONOMIC INDICATORS MAY 2015 UN REPORT PUTS INDIA’s GROWTH AT 8.1% Indian economy is likely to clock 8.1 per cent growth in the current financial year, spurred by strong consumer spending amid low inflation, infrastructure projects and government's reform measures, says a UN report. INDIA TO GROW BY 7.5 % - MOODY’s Global rating agency Moody's says that India will grow at a strong pace of 7.5 per cent in 2015-16, the highest among G20 economies, helped by the reforms drive and lower oil prices. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION DOWN BY 5.25% PHARMA JAN SAMADHAAN SCHEME LAUNCHED Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry has launched the Pharma Jan Samadhaan scheme for redressal of grievances of consumers related to drug pricing and availability of medicines. It is a web based scheme created by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority NEW WEBSITE FOR CEMENT SUPPLY Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry has launched a new web portal, www.inampro.nic.in to monitor the supply of cement at all India level. It will benefit the bulk users like developers of big infra projects as they can view the asking price as well as the nearest factory. INAM-PRO stands for platform for infrastructure and materials providers BACHCHAN TO LEAD WAR AGAINST HEPATITIS The government has again roped in Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador, this time for its campaign against Hepatitis B. According to the latest WHO data, Hepatitis B is responsible for 1.4 million deaths every year globally. India has over 40 million hepatitis B patients. Bharat-Nepal Maitri Bus Seva started between Varanasi and Kathmandu from March 5 as per Motor Vehicle Agreement signed with Nepal. The first Kisan Call Centre in N-E India was opened in Agartala, Tripura to give information to farmers for agriculture, fisheries and plantations etc. The Lok Sabha has passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to bring e-rickshaws into the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 As per the third advance estimates released for 201415, India’s foodgrain production is estimated to decline by 5.25 per cent to 251.12 million tones. Production of most of the Kharif crops fell because of the poor monsoon last year and Rabi crops due to the recent unseasonal rain and hailstorms. The country had registered a record foodgrain production of 265.04 million tonnes in 2013-14 crop year. EXPORTS CONTINUE TO SINK Continuing its declining trend, India’s exports shrank by about 14% in April to $22 billion, registering a contraction for fifth straight month. The slump is mainly due to global slowdown, decline in crude oil prices and rupee appreciation. Imports too declined by 7.48% to $33 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $11 billion. Industrial production growth as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed to 2.1 per cent in March, compared to 5 per cent a month ago. 8 core industries shrinked 0.1 per cent in March, the lowest in 15 months, due to a decline in production of steel, cement and refinery products. 12 APRIL 2015 ECONOMY & INDUSTRY M STANLEY PUTS INDIA’s GROWTH AT 7.9% Multinational financial services corporation Morgan Stanley says that India's economy will grow at 7.9 per cent this fiscal and 8.4 per cent in financial year 2016-17 due to government's determined efforts to implement policy actions, reviving productive investment and cutting back less effective policies. INDIA’s GDP SET TO GROW BY 7.5% - IMF The International Monetary Fund, in its latest World Economic Outlook says that India will overtake China as the fastest growing emerging economy in 2015-16 by clocking a growth rate of 7.5 per cent on the back of recent policy initiatives, pick-up in investments and lower oil prices. MAY 2015 NORTH EAST GETS ITS FIRST MEGA FOOD PARK The first mega food park of the North East was inaugurated on May 28 at Nathkuchi in Nalbari distt. of Assam. The park has 27 food processing units spread over 50 acre of land. The park will prevent wastage of local farm produce and find ready customers. NGT IMPOSES ‘SEWAGE CESS’ IN DELHI INDIA TO GROW BY 7.5% - WORLD BANK The World Bank has predicted that the GDP growth in India is expected to accelerate to 7.5 percent in the FY 2015 -16 and could reach 8 per cent in 2017-18, supported by investment growth. The report said that a strong expansion in the country, coupled with favorable oil prices, would accelerate this economic growth. MOODY’s UPGRADES INDIA’s RATING Rating agency Moody's has raised the rating outlook for India from stable to positive, saying that there is a higher probability that the policy initiatives will enhance the country's economic strength and, in turn, the sovereign's financial strength in future. MARCH 2015 ADB PUTS INDIA’S GROWTH AT 7.8 % The Asian Development Outlook Report from the Asian Development Bank says that India’s growth rate is expected to surpass China and improve to 7.8 per cent in next fiscal and further to 8.2 per cent in 2016-17 on the back of government's structural reform agenda and improved external demand. INDIA TO GROW BY 7.7% - OECD According to a recent OECD report, India is poised to grow 7.7 %this year and 8 per cent in 2016 to become the "fastest growing major economy" in the world, beating even China which is expected to grow by 7%. PER CAPITA INCOME UP BY 37.6% As per a reply submitted in Parliament, India's per capita annual income rose by 37.6 per cent in the last four years to Rs 88,533 in 2014-15. It was Rs. 71,593 in 2012-13 and Rs 80,388 in 2013-14. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 The National Green Tribunal has directed every household in Delhi that is generating sewage, to pay a monthly charge proportionate to their property tax or water bill and, in the case of unauthorized colonies, a minimum of Rs.100 per family, on the polluters pay principle. The collected funds shall be utilized for cleaning of drains and Yamuna River. MoU SIGNED WITH IRAN FOR CHABAHAR PORT India and Iran have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the strategically important Chabahar Port in Iran. The port will be used to ship crude oil and urea, saving India transportation costs. India will get sea-land access route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. BIG BAZAAR MERGES WITH BHARTI RETAIL Owners of Big Bazaar retail chain, Future Retail Ltd have agreed to merge its retail operations with rival Bharti Retail Ltd to create one of India's biggest retail chain with more than 570 stores across the country. INFOSYS JOINS RE100 GROUP The Climate Group, the global NGO working for climate change has announced that Indian IT giant Infosys has become the first Indian company to join RE100, a global platform for corporates committed to use 100% renewable power. SEBI has replaced the three colour risk code with a 'riskometer' that will help investors to better understand the risks involved in mutual funds. Asian Development Bank signed a 31 million US dollars loan agreement to boost water availability in selected river basins in Karnataka. 13 Government has cleared the lone bid of Airbus-TATA consortium for replacing Indian Air Force's ageing fleet of Avro transport aircraft for Rs 11,930 crore. P M dedicated the Rs 16,000-crore revamped IISCO Steel plant at Burnpur, West Bengal to the nation. It now has largest blast furnace in India. The RBI has done away with the mandatory calendar of reviews for boards of banks in order to make their functioning of more effective. Govt decides to sell 10% stake in Indian Oil Corporation and 5% in NTPC to mop up Rs 13,600 crore in this fiscal’s first disinvestment approval. Finance Ministry has clarified that LPG subsidy received by individuals in their bank accounts will continue to be exempt from income tax. Reliance Industries tops the 56 Indian companies listed in the world's 2000 largest and most powerful public companies list compiled by the Forbes. APRIL 2015 FOREIGN TRADE POLICY ANNOUNCED The government has announced its Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) for the period 2015-20. The policy aims to push manufacturing and services exports, simplification of procedures, focus on the ease of doing business and integrating programmes like Make in India with the export push. It aims to increase exports to USD 900 billion by 2019-20, from USD 466 billion in 2013-14 and raise India's share in world exports from 2 percent to 3.5 percent. WOMEN DIRECTOR MUST FOR LISTED COs. Taking to task the companies without a woman dire ctor, the SEBI has announced a penalty of a minimum Rs 50,000 on such companies for non-compliance beyond September, 2015. The fine will be levied by the stock exchanges as it violates the Listing Agreement. Around 1,000 companies on the BSE and nearly 200 on the NSE are guilty of non-compliance with the rule. The SEBI rules require every listed company to have at least one woman director on their board. ROURKELA STEEL PLANT EXPANDED TARGET SET FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY The conference of Power, Renewable Energy and Mines ministers of all states and union territories of India was held in Guwahati. A target of generating 1 lakh 75 thousand megawatt of renewable energy in the next 5 years has been set by the Central Government I GATE ACQUIRED BY CAPGEMINI The Paris based IT giant Capgemini has acquired the New Jersey-based IT company I-GATE, for $4 billion in cash. The deal, one of the largest in the Indian information technology sector, will see the exit of IGATE co-founders Ashok Trivedi and Sunil Wadhwani. PPF INTEREST RATE REMAINS 8.7% The government has decided to keep the rate of interest on General Provident Fund and Public Provident Fund (PPF) contributions unchanged at 8.7 per cent for 201516. The interest rates for senior citizens savings schemes will now be 9.3 per cent and for the Sukanya Samriddhi Account for the girl child, 9.2 per cent, w.e.f. April, 2015 MoC ON TRANSPORTATION WITH USA India and USA have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on transportation to enable India to use the world's latest technology available with the USA for projects like development of waterways and multimodal hubs. It would cover highways, urban transportation, safety and environmental protections, vehicle and behavioral safety, fuel efficiency, rail transportation and maritime shipping. MOBILE TARRIFS REDUCED BY TRAI Starting May, mobile calls made during roaming will be cheaper by up to 23 per cent while a local SMS will cost only 25 paise, a steep cut of 75% from the present Re 1, as regulator TRAI has slashed ceiling tariffs. TRAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India INDIA NOT YET READY FOR E-COMMERCE India has been ranked 83rd on a new index compiled by the UN trade body UNCTAD for assessing the readiness of countries for electronic commerce. In terms of the number of complaints made against companies selling online, India ranks pretty high at the 4th place. The Prime Minister dedicated to the nation an expansion and modernization project worth Rs 12,000 crore at Rourkela Steel Plant, Odisha. It is the first Integrated Steel Plant of India set up in the public sector. It was set up in the 1960s with German collaboration. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Snapdeal.com has picked up a majority stake in digital financial products platform, RupeePower to enter Rs 4,500 crore online financial services market. As per a World Bank report, India tops in receiving remittances from its global migrant workforce, receiving around $ 70 billion in 2014. 14 MARCH 2015 P M TO MONITOR HELD UP PROJECTS To give impetus to stalled projects and ensure their timely execution across the country, the Prime Minister plans to have a regular direct interaction with officials in the states and the central ministries. Titled Pragati, an acronym for Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation, the programme will be conducted through video conferences. CABINET APPROVES ‘SAGARMALA’ PROJECT At least 12 smart cities at ports and several coastal economic zones will come up under the ambitious Sagarmala project approved by the Union Cabinet. The project will include smart cities which will have affordable housing, wind & solar power and green industry, 1,208 islands to be developed for attracting tourists and 189 light houses also. WB AID FOR GANGA SAGAR DEVELOPMENT The World Bank has sanctioned 100 crore rupees for all round development of Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal. Every year, lakhs of pilgrims from India and abroad offer prayers at Gangasagar on Sagar Island on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. LIC TO INVEST 1.5 TRILLION IN RAILWAYS In the biggest ever funding for the Railways, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) committed Rs 1.5 lakh crore for development of various railway projects over the next five years. The investment would be made through bonds issued by the Railways. MACAU/HK BANNED FROM BUYING PROPERTY NEW CPI TO COVER 460 ITEMS The Central Statistics Office released the new Consumer Price Index with revised base year as 2012. The new index will reflect any increase in prices of items like mineral water or potato-chip as well as changes in data usage charges as the number of items in the CPI basket has been increased to 448 from 437 in rural areas and to 460 from 450 in urban areas. The CPI tracks inflation at the consumer level and has become the key measure of inflation used by the Reserve Bank of India for monetary policy action. Rs 1.10 TRN FROM SPECTRUM AUCTION The government has fetched about 1.10 lakh crore rupees after rigorous bidding in the auctioning of telecom spectrum. The auction was conducted for 800 MHz, 900 Mhz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz covering both mobile telephony and broadband, including 4G. NGT PULLS UP RLYs FOR CLEANLINESS The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has announced a fine of Rs 5,000 on individuals spotted littering or throwing waste on the railway platforms and tracks. The tribunal directed the Railways to collect, transport and treat the waste at the treatment plants instead of directly releasing the garbage into sewer system. AGRI PRODUCTION TO EXCEED 257 MT As per the second advance estimates for 2014-15, the foodgrain output in the country is estimated at 257.07 million tonnes, far more than the projected requirement of 249 million tonnes for the year. The average annual increase in the overall foodgrain production has been 3.48 per cent during the period 2009-10 to 2014-15. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 The RBI has included Macau and Hong Kong in the list of countries whose citizens are prohibited from acquiring or transferring immovable property in India. The other prohibited countries include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal and Bhutan. RELIANCE IS NO 1 CORPORATE IN INDIA Among top 10 corporates in terms of assets, compiled by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, Reliance Industries Ltd is the largest corporate with assets worth 3.68 lakh crore rupees, followed by the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation with assets worth 2.52 lakh crore rupees. CAIRN INDIA SERVED 20 CR TAX NOTICE Income Tax Department has slapped a Rs. 20,495-crore tax demand notice on Cairn India for failing to deduct withholding tax on alleged capital gains made by its erstwhile promoter, Cairn Energy. JOINT EFFORT FOR GREENER INDIA The government has decided to merge the National Mission for a Green India (GIM) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ-ment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to facilitate afforestation on 10 million hectares of land over the next decade. This would, in turn, help provide forest-based livelihood income to three million households. India and Kyrgyzstan signed an MoU to strengthen bilateral cooperation in textiles and clothing. 15 BANKING & FINANCE MAY 2015 BANKS TO HAVE THEIR OWN OMBUDSMAN The Reserve Bank has asked all public sector banks and large private and foreign banks to appoint internal ombudsman for resolution of customer complaints. The internal ombudsman would be designated Chief Customer Service Officer (CCSO) and he should not be from the same bank in which he is being appointed. NFC PAYMENTS ALLOWED UP TO Rs 2000 The Reserve Bank has relaxed the additional factor of authentication (AFA) requirement for transactions by cards up to Rs.2,000 per transaction to facilitate contactless payments (without PIN authentication) through NFC (Near Field Communications technology). Further, banks were free to facilitate their customers to set lower per transaction limits. ‘EARLY WARNING SYSTEM’ FOR BANK LOANS To check the rising instance of frauds in the banking system, the Reserve Bank has asked banks to put in place early detection and prompt reporting mechanism in place. The early warning signals in a loan account should immediately put the bank on alert regarding a weakness or wrong doing which may ultimately turn out to be fraudulent. Besides, the central bank will set up a Central Fraud Registry that can be accessed by all banks to identify borrowers having committed frauds with any bank in the past. A new concept of a ‘Red Flagged Account’ (RFA) is being introduced. An RFA is one where a suspicion of fraudulent activity is thrown up by the presence of one or more early warning signals. NFC CARDS LAUNCHED BY SBI State Bank of India has launched the contactless debit and credit cards- SBIinTouch. These cards are more secure and hassle-free to use at merchant outlets or ATMs as they use the NFC technology to enable users to make payments by waving or tapping the card near the contactless reader instead of swiping or dipping it. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 SBI LAUNCHES PLATINUM DEBIT CARD State Bank of India in association with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched ‘State Bank RuPay Platinum Debit Card’ targeting the affluent segment. It offers a range of value added benefits such as 5 % cash-back on utility bill payments, up to one per cent fuel surcharge waiver and complimentary airport lounge access. BANKS PENALIZED FOR VIOLATING KYC NORMS RBI imposed a penalty of Rs 1.5 crore each on Bank of Maharashtra, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and anti-money laundering norms. IDBI Bank plans to roll out e-huts to provide services to people in rural areas. E-hut is a western concept set up at relatively populated areas, such as malls. RBI has asked banks to issue only chip-based and PIN-enabled debit/credit cards from September 1 onwards to protect customers from frauds. RBI has advised that the urban coop banks can issue only general purpose cards to their customers and not allowed to issue co-branded credit cards. The Reserve Bank has dropped the condition of its prior permission for distribution of mutual fund products by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). India’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank opened its branch in Shanghai, China. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Modi on May 16. Scheduled commercial banks' credit grew at 10.16% to Rs 66.32 trillion in the fortnight ended May 15, and deposits were up by 11.85% to Rs 87.39 trillion. ICICI Bank launched a service where customers can make transactions using just their voice, without using other means of authentication like a password. APRIL 2015 PRIORITY SECTOR LENDING NORMS MODIFIED The Reserve Bank has revised the Priority Sector Lending norms and has asked the banks to give 8 per cent of their total credit to small and marginal farmers. It will be within the overall target of 18 per cent for agricultural loans. Further, new segments like medium enterprises, social infrastructure and renewable energy firms have been brought under the ambit of priority sector lending. Housing loans to individuals, up to Rs. 28 lakh in metros and up to Rs. 20 lakh in other centres will be covered under priority sector lending, provided the overall cost of the house does not exceed Rs.35 lakh and Rs. 25 lakh, respectively. The banks are required to give 40 per cent of their total loans to the priority sector. 16 RBI MAKES NO CHANGES IN KEY RATES The RBI has not changed any key policy rate in its first bimonthly monetary policy statement in April. It projected the GDP growth rate in 2015-16 at 7.8 per cent, up from 7.5 per cent in 2014-15 and expected retail inflation to be stabilize between 5 -5.5 per cent in 2015-16. The bank will have three main loan schemes - Shishu for loans up to Rs 50,000; Kishor for loans above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh and Tarun for loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh. ICICI LAUNCHES ‘TAP-N-PAY’ SERVICE RBI TURNS 80 ON APRIL 1 Addressing the 80th anniversary celebrations of the RBI in Mumbai, the Prime Minister asked the RBI to prepare a 20-year road map for “financial inclusion” and asked the banks to be considerate in giving loans to the poor. DIFFERENTIAL INTEREST ON BANK DEPOSITS The Reserve Bank has advised that now the banks will have the discretion to offer differential interest rates for term deposits of above Rs.15 lakh and these deposits can be made without the option of premature withdrawal as well. However, all term deposits of Rs.15 lakh and below should, necessarily, have premature withdrawal facility. KYC NORMS RELAXED FOR PROPRIETORS The Reserve Bank has relaxed the Know Your Customer norms for sole proprietor firms and has allowed them to open accounts in co-operative banks by submitting a single proof of their business. Earlier, they were required to submit two such documents. INTEREST SUBVENTION TO CONTINUE The ICICI Bank, in arrangement with Tech Mahindra has launched a contactless payment service based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. Called, ‘Tap n Pay’, it is a pre-paid facility open to all, wherein the users need to just tap the NFC- enabled tag or mobile phone at the merchant’s point-of-sale device to make payments. CENTRAL BANK WORST IN TERMS OF NPAs The latest RBI data places the Central Bank of India on the top of the public sector banks having a high percentage of bad loans including restructured assets as 21.5 % of its total loans are NPAs. The other banks suffering from high gross NPAs include the United Bank of India - 19.04 %, Punjab & Sind Bank - 18.25% and Punjab National Bank - 17.85 % as on December, 2014. GOOD GROWTH IN BANK LOANS & DEPOSITS Recent RBI data show that the Bank loans grew at a healthy rate of 11.47 per cent to Rs 68,30,965 crore in the fortnight ended April 3, from Rs 60,64,660 crore in the same fortnight last year and the deposits rose 12.63 per cent to Rs 89,11,484 crore from Rs 79,01,619 crore in the same period last year. The RBI has instructed the banks to continue the existing interest subvention scheme till June 30. Currently, an interest subvention of 2 per cent is available for short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh per farmer, subject to conditions. Further, an additional interest subvention of 3 per cent is available to the farmers, who repay their loans on time. PM LAUNCHES MUDRA BANK PM Modi has launched the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, wherein MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore. It will give credit to small businesses and regulate microfinance institutions, to promote their growth and creating more jobs. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 To facilitate bank account opening by the transgenders, RBI has directed banks to include a column 'third gender' in their forms/ applications. The RBI has penalized 16 central co-operative banks with a fine of 5 lakh rupees each for non-adherence to ‘KYC’ and ‘Anti-Money Laundering’ guidelines. MARCH 2015 REPO RATE SLASHED TO 7.5 % Citing better fiscal consolidation, the Reserve Bank of India cut its main lending rate known as repo rate by 0.25 percentage points to 7.5% w.e.f. 04.03.2015. It raised hopes of lower EMIs for home loan borrowers and cheaper bank finance for companies. 17 LOANS TO DISABLED UNDER PRIORITY SECTOR RRBs ASKED TO CUT ON STAFF DEPLOYMENT The RBI has decided that priority sector loans to persons with disabilities will now be eligible for classification under weaker sections category of Priority Sector lending. The RBI guidelines require the banks to lend 10% of their total loans to the weaker section. The government has directed the regional rural banks to become slim by cutting jobs and by outsourcing noncore functions such as IT maintenance, cash remittance and house-keeping. The move, based on the recommendations of the SK Mitra Committee on HR policy for RRBs, is aimed at improving the productivity and profitability of RRBs. India has 56 RRBs with 19400 branches which have a collective business volume of Rs 4.50 lakh crore. They lend primarily to small farmers and artisans. NEW RUPEE ONE NOTE RELEASED After a gap of over 20 years, Re 1 note has been released in the country and it bears the signature of Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. The note was released at Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, on March 6. The notes will be printed by the Government of India as provided in The Coinage Act 2011. Printing of one rupee notes was discontinued in November 1994 due to higher printing costs. EASIER HOUSING LOANS UP TO Rs 10 LAKH NPA SALE NORMS EASED The RBI has allowed the banks to reverse the excess provision on sale of bad loans to their profit and loss account, provided the transaction took place before February 26, 2014 and the cash received by way of sale assets is higher than the NBV (net book value)of the NPAs sold to a securitisation company or an asset reconstruction company (ARC), LENDING BAN LIFTED FROM UNITED BANK Giving a boost to affordable housing, the Reserve Bank of India eased the norms for home loans for up to Rs 10 lakh by allowing the banks to include stamp duty and registration charges in the cost of a house. As per the current practice, the banks do not include stamp duty, registration and other documentation charges in the cost of housing property. The Reserve Bank has removed the lending restriction on United Bank of India as the bank demonstrated an ability to arrest bad loans after its chairman's exit last year amid record non-perfoming assets. The UBI will have to maintain a CRAR (capital to risk weighted assets ratio) above 9.5% and a credit to deposit ratio not exceeding 70%. 'SUKANYA SAMRIDHI SCHEME' RBI GIVEN INFLATION TARGET @ 6% The government and the Reserve Bank of India have signed an agreement on Monetary Policy Framework whereby the government has set a target for RBI to bring down inflation below six per cent by Jan. 2016. As per the agreement, if the RBI fails to meet the target, it will have to report to the government the reasons for the failure to achieve the target, what remedial action it proposes to take and estimate of the time period within which the target would be achieved. Currently, the Centre and the RBI give inflation estimates, but don’t set targets. Inflation targeting was suggested by Urijit Patel Committee as per the practice adopted by central banks in developed countries BANKS TO GIVE MORE LOANS TO MINORITIES The government has advised the PSU banks to step up lending to minorities with a view to ensuring that they get loans in proportion to their population. In terms of population, the Muslims make up the largest community, followed by Christians and Sikhs, besides Parsis, Buddhists and Jains. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 As many as 1.80 lakh accounts have been opened under the 'Sukanya Samridhi Scheme' in less than two months after the launch of the special programme for girl child, with the maximum number of accounts being opened in Karnataka. The National Payments Corporation of India reached a major milestone of successfully linking 15 crore bank accounts with the Aadhaar number. The Reserve Bank has directed all NBFCs to get themselves rated by March 2016 and only investment grade rate NBFCs will be allowed to accept deposits. The Reserve Bank will issue Rs 5 coins to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru that fell on Nov 14, 2014. RBI and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka signed a Currency Swap Agreement of 1.5 billion dollar to help keep the Sri Lankan rupee stable. 18 DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY MAY 2015 MIRAGE 2000 LANDS ON HIGHWAY LHC CREATES NEW WORLD RECORD The world’s largest particle smasher- the Large Hadron Collider [LHC] broke the record for energy levels on May 20 when it successfully collided protons at the recordbreaking energy of 13 TeV for the first time. The LHC’s previous highest energy for collisions was 8TeV, reached in 2012. NEW SUPER METAL DISCOVERED Scientists in Japan have discovered a new state of matter called the ‘Jahn-Teller-metal’ that appears to be an insulator, superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one. The research could help develop new molecular materials that are superconductors at even higher temperatures. SCIENTISTS LOCATE FARTHEST GALAXY In a first in the history of Indian Air Force, a Mirage 2000, supersonic fighter jet of Indian Air Force landed successfully on Yamuna Expressway in U P on May 21as part of developing road runway for emergency landing. NAVY GETS NEW SUBMARINE–SINDHUKIRTI INS Sindhukirti, the Russia made diesel electric submarine of Indian Navy, was launched for sea trials on May 21, after successful completion of retrofitting at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Visakhapatnam. JOINT NAVAL EXERCISE WITH SINGAPORE Indian Navy along with The Republic of Singapore Navy conducted the annual Singapore-Indian Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX), from 23 to 26 May in sea east of Singapore. ‘AKASH’ JOINS INDIAN ARMY The Army inducted on May 5 its first regiment of the indigenously-developed Akash surface-to-air missile system, capable of targeting a multitude of aerial threats up to a range of 25 km. Astronomers have found the most distant exceptionally luminous galaxy, EGS-zs8-1, located some 13.1 billion light-years away from Earth. This is the largest distance ever measured between Earth and another galaxy. The light from distant galaxies we see via today's advanced telescopes travels for billions of years before it reaches us - so we're seeing what those galaxies looked like billions of years ago. ‘MESSENGER’ CRASHES IN TO MERCURY NASA's Messenger spacecraft has ended a four-year mission to Mercury by crashing into the planet after running out of fuel. Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) was launched in 2004 and travelled more than 6½ years before it started orbiting Mercury in March, 2011. It was the first spacecraft to orbit the planet closest to the sun. FIRST FULLY WARM-BLOODED FISH INS Sardar Patel, new naval base commissioned in Porbandar, Gujarat for better coordination of ships, submarines deployed in coastal regions of Gujarat. Indian Navy's latest anti-submarine warfare class stealth corvette, the INS Kavaratti was launched on May 19 at Kolkata ISRO MAKES INDIA’s GPS- ‘GAGAN’ ISRO and Airports Authority of India have implemented the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation-GAGAN project as a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) for the Indian Airspace. It will be also be useful for intelligent transportation, maritime, highways, railways, surveying, geodesy, security agencies, telecom industry, personal users of position location applications etc GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 OPAH FISH Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA, discovered the world’s first fully warm-blooded fish species named Opah. These fish are found in the deep waters off the US, Australia and several other countries. India has reached to sixth position, up from 10th last year, in terms of publishing scientific research papers in different journals in the world. Microsoft launched Edu-Cloud, a cloud computingbased offering to enhance digital learning and teaching in schools and higher education institutions. 19 APRIL 2015 JOINT INDO-FRENCH NAVAL EXERCISE MARCH 2015 ASTRA MISSILE TEST FIRED SUCCESSFULLY 14th The Indo-French Naval Exercise named VARUNA-15 commenced off the coast of Goa. The French Navy will be led by the Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle and the Indian Navy by the Aircraft Carrier INS Viraat. INS VISAKHAPATNAM LAUNCHED INS Visakhapatnam, the Indian Navy's most powerful indigenously built stealth destroyer was launched into water at Mazagaon Dock in Mumbai. The Kolkata class warship will be inducted in Navy for operations in 2018. INDIA TO TAKE PART IN TALL SHIPS’ RACE INS Tarangini, the sail training ship of the Indian Navy left Kochi on an eight-month-long voyage through Europe to participate in the annual Tall Ships’ Races and other events organised under the aegis of Sail Training International. AKRAMAN II CONDUCTED IN RAJASTHAN The Chetak Corps of the Army held its major battle exercise “Akraman-II” in the deserts of Rajasthan, along with the contingents of Indian Air Force to test the new generation of weapons and weapon platforms. BSF GETS HI TECH Mi-17 V5 HELICOPTERS Two Russian-made Mi-17 V5 military helicopters, capable of withstanding small arms fire and operating in a nuclear disaster, were inducted into the Border Security Force. The helicopters will be used mainly in operations in the Maoist-affected areas and along the India-China border. INDIA GETS ITS FIRST ‘SCORPENE’ SUBMARINE The first of the six India-France joint venture Scorpene stealth submarines was launched for sea trials from the Mazagon Docks Limited in Mumbai. It has been named INS Kalvari, after a deep sea tiger shark. It will be formally inducted into the Indian Navy in 2016. India test-fired its nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-III ballistic missile, with a range of over 3,000 km, from the ITR near Chandipur in Odisha. India successfully test-fired the nuclear-weapon capable Dhanush missile for its full range of 350 kms, off the Odisha coast. An integrated Indian Army-Air Force operational war exercise code named ‘Bramhshira’ was conducted in the Suratgarh area in Rajasthan in last week of April. Japan's state-of-the-art Maglev train clocked a new world speed record in a test run, smashing through the 600 kilometre per hour mark it had made earlier. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 The indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was successfully launched from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft to hit a simulated target at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha. The all-weather missile developed by DRDO can engage and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speed (1.2 Mach to 1.4 Mach) in head-on (up to 80 km) and tailchase (up to 20 km) modes. NAVY CONDUCTS ‘TROPEX 2015’ Indian Navy’s Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX) exercise concluded on 27 February. The month long exercise aimed at validating the Indian Navy’s Concept of Operations and the area of operations spanned the Arabian Sea and Northern Indian Ocean. Three Immediate Support Vessels (ISVs), armed with heavy machine guns, were commissioned by the Indian Navy at Vishakhapatnam. INS Alleppey, the coastal minesweeper purchased from Russia in the 1970s, was decommissioned in March, after nearly 35 years of service Pakistan tested its Shaheen-III Surface to Surface Ballistic Missile, having a strike range of 2750 kms. IRNSS – 1D LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY On March 29, India took another step towards putting in place an alternative to the American GPS by putting in orbit IRNSS-1D (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System), the fourth of the seven satellites that would form a navigation satellite network. The IRNSS -1D weighing 1,425kg was placed in a subgeostationary orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C27) launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. INDIA’s POLAR REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE India's first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe), indigenously built by National Insti-tute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), was made operati-onal for research in Marchin "Priyadarshini lake" on the Schirmacher Oasis in North Antarctica. 20 ‘ROTAVAC’ VACCINE AGAINST DIARRHOEA India’s first indigenously developed and manufac-tured rotavirus vaccine, Rotavac, was launched in New Delhi. The vaccine will boost efforts to combat infant mortality due to diarrhoea. Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children WIRELESS TRANSFERR OF ELECTRIC POWER In a breakthrough, Japanese researchers have successfully transmitted electric power wirelessly to a pinpointed target using microwaves, an advance that brings space-based solar power closer to reality. JAPAN TO INVEST $100 BILLION IN ASIA Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced a $110 billion investment plan for infrastructure projects in Asia in an apparent counter to China's move to launch a new development bank - Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. A PAINTING SOLD FOR Rs 1,155 CRORE NASA's Opportunity Rover on Mars has become the first human-made vehicle that has completed 11 years marathon in a record time. INTERNATIONAL MAY 2015 USA TOPS IN COMPETITIVENESS A study of 61 countries by the Swiss business school IMD on the parameters of competitiveness shows that the USA continues to enjoy top position, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland. The rankings were based on four aspects - Economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. IRELAND APPROVES SAME SEX MARRIAGE The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote, passing a referendum on May 23 on the issue with a resounding 62.1 per cent ‘Yes’, despite the fact that 84 percent of country’s population is Catholic. U K GETS ITS 4th HEIR TO THE THRONE A painting from Pablo Picasso set a world record for auction of a work of art, selling for $179.4 million (about Rs. 1,155 crore) at an auction by Christie’s at New York. The oil painting is a vibrant, cubist depiction of nude courtesans WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY May 3 is observed every year as the “World Press Freedom Day” to assert that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. This year’s theme is “Let Journalism Thrive!” China overtook the United States as the world's top Prince William of UK Royalty was blessed with his second baby as his wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby girl on April 2 at a London hospital. The new baby is fourth-in-line to the throne, behind her grandfather Prince Charles, father Prince William and brother Prince George. The baby named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 importer of crude oil for the first time in April, and its purchases are expected to grow further. The 68th World Health Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland from 18 to 27 May, 2015. India was given the Presidency of the Assembly. Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands, 1500 kms east of African mainland, became the 161st member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). NATO forces launched the Arctic Challenge Exercise in the Arctic sea north of Europe on May 26, involving 115 fighter planes & 3600 troops from nine countries. The United States economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of the year to just 0.2% due to the slowdown by unusually foul winter weather. 68th Cannes Film Festival held at Cannes, France from 13 to 24 May World Asthma Day observed on 5 May 2015. This year’s theme is “You Can Control Your Asthma” 21 APRIL 2015 LANDMARK IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL SIGNED After marathon talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, world powers and Iran have agreed on the framework of a historic deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear drive. It marks a major breakthrough in a 12-year standoff between Iran and the Western powers that have long feared of Iran wanting to build a nuclear bomb. Iran agreed to the deal in return for lifting tough sanctions. The outline agreed now has to be finalized in a highly complex agreement by June 30. W B TO FOCUS ON AIR POLLUTION CONTROL Air Canada to resume direct flights between Toronto and Delhi from the coming winter season. The flights were discontinued in 2005. Chinese President Xi Jinping was honoured with the Nishan-e-Pakistan, highest Pak civilian award, during his recent official visit to Pakistan. Around 900 illegal migrants trying to reach Europe were feared killed after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean sea, off the Libyan coast. Official data released by China shows that the country’s GDP grew at its slowest pace in six years in the first quarter of 2015, at just 7 per cent. Palestine formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), raising hopes of a possible prosecution of Israelis for alleged war crimes. MARCH 2015 150 KILLED IN GERMAN PLANE CRASH Flight 4U 9525 of Germanwings went crashing into a mountainside in French Alps on March 24, killing all 150 persons aboard as apparently its pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately sent the aircraft crashing as a case of suicide and mass murder. The World Bank launched Pollution Management and Environmental Health (PHEM) program on Global Citizen Earth Day (April 18) to focus primarily on air quality management in countries facing rapid urbanization and on tackling water and land pollution. EBOLA CLAIMS 10,800 LIVES The World Health Organisation has said that more than 26,000 people have been infected with Ebola since the outbreak began in December, 2013 and more than 10,800 have died, almost all of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TO JOIN ASIAN BANK France, Germany and Italy have followed the UK in joining the China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). With their joining it, the total number of the bank's member states, including India, has gone up to 30. The AIIB is an international financial institution formed to provide support to infrastructure projects in Asia. It is expected to be formally established by the end of this year. INDIA IS LARGEST IMPORTER OF WEAPONS GLOBAL FINANCIAL INCLUSION REACHES 62% As per Global Findex, a global database to study financial inclusion, the percentage of adults with an account increased from 51 per cent to 62 per cent between 2011 and 2014, a trend driven by rise in account ownership in developing countries and the role of technology. WORLD TRADE TO GROW BY 3.3% A World Trade Organization (WTO) forecast says that the global goods trade will grow by 3.3 percent in the year 2015 and by 4.0 percent in 2016, mainly due to sluggish economic growth caused by falling oil prices, currency volatility and the slowdown in major emerging economies. World Haemophilia Day was observed globally on 17th April, 2015 with the theme ‘Building a Family of Support’. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 A report by Sweden-based think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reveals that India has is the world’s largest buyer of weapons and military equipment, accounting for 15% of all such international imports during 2010-14. Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan, are the next four biggest global importers. 22 GANDHI STATUE UNVEILED IN LONDON In a historic development, a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled in March at Parliament Square in London. It is a rare honour bestowed by the British government, whose colonial regime was overthrown by his non-violent campaign. Gandhi is the first Indian and the only person never to have been in a public office to be honoured with a statue at the Square. ‘HARVARD’ IS BEST IN THE WORLD Once again, no Indian university made it to the list of top 100 most prestigious global universities in the latest “world reputation ranking” of the 100 most prestigious universities by Times Higher Education of UK. The rankings placed Harvard University, USA at the top, followed by the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in the second and third place respectively. RECORD FALL IN WORLD FOOD PRICES Global food prices fell to a nearly five-year low in February this year on increased supply of key food items and strong US dollar, says a report from Food and Agriculture Organisation-FAO. Food prices averaged at 179.4 points in February, down from 208.6 points in February 2014. The FAO's Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks prices of five major food commodity groups on international markets - cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY International Women’s Day was observed across the world on 8 March 2015. United Nations declared this year’s theme as ‘Make it Happen’ to encourage effective action for advancing and recognizing women. Food and Agriculture Organisation observed March 21 as the International Day of Forests, with the theme ‘Forests and Climate Change’. PERSONS IN NEWS MAY 2015 ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA: SBI Chairperson and ICICI Bank’s MD Chanda Kochhar figure at 30th and 35th place in the world’s top 100 powerful women list by Forbes. Two other Indian women in the list are Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon Ltd and Shobhana Bhartia, Chief of the Hindustan Times Group at 85th and 93rd rank, respectively. The list is topped by German chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by Hilary Clinton and Milinda Gates. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 ARUNA SHANBAUG: A former nurse who lived in a vegetative state for the past 42 years after being brutally sexually assaulted at KEM Hospital, Mumbai died on May 18. She became the face of the debate on euthanasia in India. MANABI BANDOPADHYAY: She became the first transgender in India to head an educational institute when she took over as principal of Krishnagar Women's College in Nadia district, West Bengal. BARACK OBAMA: On 20 May 2015, he entered Guinness Book of World Record for reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5 hours after going live on Twitter, @POTUS account — named for the in-house acronym derived from “President of the United States”. MOHAMMED MORSI: Deposed Egyptian President was in news as he along with his 100 supporters was sentenced to death by a court in Cairo in connection with a mass jail break in 2011. APRIL 2015 VISWANATHAN ANAND, the Chess Grand Master of India now has a planet named after him, called '4538 Vishyanand'. The planet is a minor one discovered by Kenzo Suzuki of Japan in Toyota Observatory in 1988 but it was unnamed until now. A minor planet is an astronomical object which is neither a planet nor a comet. They are dwarf planets which have been archived by the Minor Planet Centre. MALALA YOUSAFZAI: Pakistan's teenage education activist and the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner was in news as an asteroid-316201, orbiting the sun between the Mars and the Jupiter, discovered by a US astronomer, has been named after her. RAJA RAJESWARI: She is the first India-born woman to be appointed as a criminal court judge in the New York City. MOHAMMED MORSY: Ousted President of Egypt was in news as an Egyptian criminal court sentenced him 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012. MUSTAFA KAMAL: He resigned from the post of President of the International Cricket Council. He is also the President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. ANA JARA: Prime Minister of Peru was sacked after she lost the vote of confidence in Congress. She was censured for alleged spying of several key personalities. 23 MARCH 2015 VENKATRAMAN RAMAKRISHNAN: The Indian-American scientist, whose pioneering work in molecular biology won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has been elected to head Britain's prestigious Royal Society, an association of the world's most distinguished scientists. APPOINTMENTS MAY 2015 PRADEEP KUMAR SINHA: New Cabinet Secretary. Usually senior most IAS officer is appointed to this post. Dr. S CHRISTOPHER: Director General of DRDO. He is also the Secretary, Department of Defence Research K.V. KAMATH: Eminent banker was appointed as head of the 50 billion dollars New Development Bank being set up by the five emerging economies of BRICS group, with SMRITI IRANI: Union HRD Minister has been named the Young Global Leader from India by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Switzerland M. C. MARY KOM: Veteran boxer from Manipur has been appointed a brand ambassador for north-east India to promote the region in the rest of the country and abroad. headquarters at Shanghai ARUN SHRIVASTAVA: Managing Director & CEO of Syndicate Bank. SAIF ALI KHAN: ‘Visit Britain’, the national tourism agency for Britain, has announced the appointment of the Nawab of Pataudi, Saif Ali Khan, as the spokesperson for the ‘Bollywood Britain’ tourism campaign in India. G MOHAN KUMAR: Union Defence Secretary AZIZ QUERESHI: Governor of Mizoram was sacked By the President without assigning any specific reasons. NEW GOVERNORS APPOINTED TIM COOK: CEO of the IT giant Apple Inc has announced to donate his entire wealth totalling to $ 785 million to charity. CHRISTINE LAGARDE: Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund was in news as she visited India in March. M J JOSEPH: Appointed as the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in the Union Ministry of Finance. Tathagata Roy: Governor of Tripura Draupadi Murmu: Governor of Jharkhand, first tribal women to become Governor V Shanmuganthan: Governor of Meghalaya J P Rakkhowa: Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Lt Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma: Governor of Mizoram MOHAMED NASHEED: Former Maldivian President was sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by a criminal court of Maldive over the detention of a judge in 2012. Syed Ahmed: Governor of Manipur MARK LIPPERT: The US ambassador to South Korea was in news as he suffered a knife attack by a pro-North Korean activist. ACHAL KUMAR JYOTI: appointed as the new Election Commissioner (EC), he is a retired IAS officer from Gujarat. BILL GATES: stands atop Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people, with a net worth of 79.2 billion dollars. MUKESH KHANNA: Appointed as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI). He is popular for his role of super hero ‘Shaktimaan’ and also remembered for his portrayal of Bhishma Pitamah in tele serial Mahabharat K V THOMAS: Re-nominated as Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee SURENDER SINGH: Appointed new Director General of Central Industrial Security Force, CISF. ANDRZEJ DUDA: New President of Poland DAVID GRANGER: New President of Guyana (South America) GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 24 APRIL 2015 H L DATTU: Chairman, National Judicial Appointments Commission. He is the Chief Justice of India. Dr. NASIM ZAIDI: New Chief Election Commissioner of India SITARAM YECHURY: Elected General Secretary of the Communist Party (Marxist) of India MOHAN KUMAR: Appointed the next Ambassador of India to France. SUMIT MAZUMDER: President of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) for 2015-16. He is the CMD of Tractors India Ltd. BVR MOHAN REDDY: Elected Chairman of NASSCOM -The National Association of Software and Services Companies for 2015-16. He is the Chairman, Cyient Ltd. VIRAT KOHLI: Goodwill Ambassador of Uttarakhand. PEDRO CATERIANO BELLIDO: New Prime Minister of Peru OMAR AL-BASHIR: Re-elected as President of Sudan NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV: Re-elected as President of Kazakhstan MUHAMMADU BUHARI: Elected President of Nigeria. A former military ruler, he is the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election in Nigeria. MARCH 2015 KSHATRAPATI SHIVAJI: Chairman and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India. ARUN KUMAR SINGH: India’s next Ambassador to the USA, An Indian Foreign Service officer, currently Ambassador to France. JAGMOHAN DALMIYA: President of the BCCI VIKAS SWARUP: The new spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry. K M MANI: Kerala Finance Minister has been appointed Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Re-elected Prime Minister of Israel. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 AWARDS & HONOURS MAY 2015 THE ORDER OF THE RISING SUN, GOLD AND SILVER STAR: Japan's highest civilian award was conferred on eminent scientist CNR Rao for his outstanding contributions to Science and Indo-Japan Science cooperation. Shri Rao was honoured with Bharat Ratna in 2013. Pt. HARIDUTT SHARMA AWARD: To senior T V journalist Anuradha Prasad for her contribution in the field of Journalism NATIONAL FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE AWARDS: 35 Nurses selected from all over India were honoured with this prize by the President of India on International Nurses Day – May 12, birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing. COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE 2015: Srinagar-born novelist Siddhartha Gigoo won the prize for Asia region for his work Umbrella Man, a tale of surreal meditation on mental health and the environment WHITLEY AWARDS: (also known as Green Oscar) won by two Indians, Dr Ananda Kumar and Dr Pramod Patil for their contribution to wildlife conservation. PALME d'Or: Award for best feature film at the Cannes Film Festival won by the French thriller – ‘Dheepan’, directed by Jacques Audiard, spotlighting the plight of traumatised refugees from Sri Lanka. Neeraj Ghaywan’s directorial debut “Masaan”, won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival, - International Jury of Film Critics prize and Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section. MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2015: Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Hungarian writer has won Britain’s prestigious life time achievement award for literature. This prize is given once in two years. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION COURAGE AWARD: won by the French satirical weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’. The award is given by the PEN American Center. 25 APRIL 2015 FBB FEMINA MISS INDIA WORLD 2015 RESULTS The finals were held in Mumbai in March, 2015 Miss World: Aditi Arya First Runner-up: Aafreen Rachel Vaz Second runner-up: Vartika Singh GOLDEN PEACOCK NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD: Delhi International Airport Limited. The award is given for corporate excellence by the Institute of Directors, India. Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award: Balbir Singh Senior, legendary hockey player, member of three Olympic gold medal winning teams. The award was given by the apex sports body i.e. Hockey India. The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015: won by the Bharatiya Mahila Bank at Hong Kong HEINZ AWARD IN TECHNOLOGY: Sangeeta Bhatia, an Indian-origin scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Dr Subadhra Devi Rai, an Indian-origin nurse in Singapore. The award is given by the Florence Nightingale International Foundation (FNIF) of the International Council of Nurses. 'Margarita with a Straw', a disability based Indian film, directed by Sonali Bose has bagged the best feature film honour at the recently concluded Washington DC International Film festival in USA MARCH 2015 62nd NATIONAL FILM AWARDS, 2014 Best Feature Film: Court (multilingual) by Chaitanya Tamhane Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment: Mary Kom by Omung Kumar Best Hindi Film: Queen by Vikas Bahl Best Director: Srijit Mukherjee for Shotushkone Best Actor: Vijay for Nanu Avanalla Avalu (Kannada) Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut for Queen DADA SAHEB PHALKE AWARD: Actor-filmmaker Shashi Kapoor (77), who has starred in over 100 Hindi films and best known for his powerful portrayals in hits like Namak Halaal, Deewar and Kabhie Kabhie. The Award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs and a shawl. INTERNATIONAL GANDHI PEACE PRIZE 2014: awarded to ISRO for their contribution in bringing space to the service of the common man and in the service of the nation. The award was instituted by govt of India in 1995 on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Award comprises an amount of Rs. one crore and a citation. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 SARASWATI SAMMAN 2014: M. Veerappa Moily, Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader for his Kannada poem Ramayana Mahanveshanam. FOLIO PRIZE 2015: Novelist Akhil Sharma for his novel Family Life. The prize is given by the Folio Academy of UK. GOLDEN GATE AWARD: Kerala Tourism at the Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2015, Germany for its global multimedia campaign to promote its backwaters. KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF ARTS AND LETTERS: Artist Bharti Kher of India was conferred the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in French, the highest cultural award of France. STOCKHOLM WATER PRIZE: Rajendra Singh, eminent environment activist from Rajasthan for his innovative water restoration efforts and extraordinary courage to empower communities in Indian villages. The prize is awarded by the King of Sweden and carries a cash prize of $ 150000 and a specially designed sculpture. ABEL PRIZE for 2015: US mathematician John F Nash Jr and Canada-born American national Louis Nirenberg, for their contributions to mathematical sciences. GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE: Nancie Atwell, a teacher from the USA. It is the world’s first $1 million prize set up by the Varkey Foundation of USA to recognise one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. MO IBRAHIM PRIZE: Hifikepunye Pohamba, ex President of Namibia for excellent leadership. The five million dollar award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office. BOOKS & AUTHORS MAY 2015 A Practitioner’s Diary by Pradip Baijal Me Hijra Me Laxmi by Laxminarayan Tripathi, autobiography of a transgender, a crusader for rights of LGBT community. Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar, Gandhi at First Sight by Thomas Weber India – Central Asia Relations by Amiya Chandra More Bad Time Tales by Humra Quraishi. Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad by senior Advocate Prof. Bhim Singh 26 World’s Best Boyfriend by Durjoy Datta Your Dreams are Mine Now by Ravinder Singh The Past Before Us by Romila Thapar At Home in India- The Muslim Saga by Salman Khurshid Green Signals: Ecology, Growth and Democracy in India by Jairam Ramesh, ex Union Minister for environment APRIL 2015 Water, Peace, and War— Confronting the Global Water Crisis by Brahma Chellaney; No Free Left — The Futures of Indian Communism by Vijay Prashad KP: The Autobiography by Kevin Pietersen. India Shastra— Reflections on the Nation in Our Time by Shashi Tharoor Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment by Akeel Bilgrami At The Helm— A Memoir by V. Krishnamurthy The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Mightier Than the Sword by Jeffrey Archer MARCH 2015 On Religion by Late Khushwant Singh God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican by Gerald Posner Prince of Gujarat by Rajmohan Gandhi Sahib: the British Soldier in India by Richard Holmes Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish Tripathi. He is the author of the immensely popular Shiva Trilogy. His next series is on Lord Rama and this one is the first in the new series. Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy- Speaker's Persp-ective by Smt. Meira Kumar, former Speaker, Lok Sabha 'The Modi Effect: Inside Narendra Modi's Campaign to Transform India' by Lance Price OBITUARY MAY 2015 AMITABHA CHOWDHURY: Veteran journalist, writer and renowned Tagore researcher passed away in Kolkata on May 2 at the age of 88. He was associated with three leading Bengali dailies Anandabazar Patrika, Jugantar and Aajkal for more than three decades. AMALENDU GUHA: Noted historian, social scientist, academician and author passed away in Guwahati on May 7 at the age of 91 after a protracted illness. SUDHA SHIVPURI: Popular Indian stage, film and television actress died on 20 May at the age of 77. She was very popular for her role as Baa in the longest running TV show Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, B.B. KING: One of the most famous electric guitar players of all time, died in Las Vegas, USA at the age of 89. Famous as the King of the Blues, he won 15 Grammy awards. JOHN FORBES NASH JR: A mathematical genius whose struggle with schizophrenia was chronicled in the 2001 movie "A Beautiful Mind," died along with his wife in a car crash in New Jersey, USA. He was 86. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994 for his work in game theory. He won Abel Prize for Mathematics for 2015. MICHAEL BLAKE: The Oscar-winning US author passed away; famous for his novel “Dances with Wolves” APRIL 2015 JANAKI BALLABH PATNAIK: Senior Congress leader, former 3-time Odisha Chief Minister and ex-Assam Governor passed away at the age of 89. MALLI MASTAN BABU: World famous ace mountaineer from Hyderabad, who had gone missing in the Andes Mountains ranges in Chile, South America during a climbing mission, was found dead. KAILASH VAJPEYI: Renowned Hindi poet passed away at the age of 79. He was editor of the popular Hindi magazine ‘Dharmyug’. JAYAKANTHAN: Tamil novelist and short story writer (81), Gyanpith awardee, died in Chennai. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 27 HRUSHIKESH MOOLGAONKAR: Retired Air Chief Marshal, recipient of Param Vishisht Seva medal and Mahaveer Chakra, passed away in Pune at the age of 95. GUENTER GRASS: German novelist, the Nobel Prizewinning author of “The Tin Drum”, an epic treatment of the Nazi era, died at the age of 87. RICHIE BENAUD: Former Australian captain and legendary cricket commentator CHRISTOPHER ALAN BAYLY: An eminent historian and teacher, known for his work on colonial and postcolonial India, died in Chicago. MARCH 2015 VINOD MEHTA: Distinguished editor and commentator who successfully launched a number of newspapers and magazines, including the ‘Outlook’. He wrote his autobiography “Lucknow Boy: A Memoir”. D.K. RAVI: A young IAS officer was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his apartment in Bengaluru. The huge crowd of mourners bore testimony to the goodwill he had earned by taking on the powerful land mafia when he was Deputy Commissioner of Kolar district till 2014. LEE KUAN YEW: Great statesman and founding father of modern Singapore passed away in March, after dominating the politics of Singapore for over 50 years. TERRY PRATCHETT: Famous British author, creator of the science fantasy Discworld novels. He won worldwide fame and a cult following his Discworld novels about a flat, parallel universe balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the shell of a giant turtle. PLACES IN NEWS MAY 2015 PALMYRA: Ancient city in Syria was in news as the militants of the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized its full control on May 21. It is an oasis in the Syrian Desert and is a World Heritage Site because of its ancient architecture. MARIA ELENA SOUTH: Place in the Atacama Desert in Chile has been discovered as the driest place on the Earth. This site is dry as Mars and has a mean atmospheric Relative Humidity (RH) of 17.3 percent and a soil RH of a constant 14% at a depth of one meter. BUENOS AIRES: According to a recent study by the World Cities Cultural Forum, this capital city of Argentina, with around 700 bookstores has more bookstores per capita than any other major city in the world. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 APRIL 2015 PURNIA: The city in Bihar was in news as around 70 persons were killed there and in surrounding areas due to a sudden cyclone that left over 2,000 people injured. NIMRUD: Historical city of Syria was in news as the Islamic State militants have been destroying rare ancient relics there, dating back to the 13th century BC, saying that they promote idolatry which violates their fundamentalist interpretation of the Islamic law. GARISSA: The town in Kenya was in news as at least 150 students were massacred there when Somalia's Al Shabaab Islamist militant group raided the Garissa University campus. CALBUCO VOLCANO of Chile erupted twice on 22 April and 23 April 2015 after 42 years. Tonnes of ash rained down following two volcanic eruptions leading to declaration of state of emergency by the govt. TURRIALBA VOLCANO in Costa Rica, South America, erupted, producing a column of ash, gas, and water vapor that reached some 6,500 feet over the volcano’s crater, forcing the closure of the airport in the capital city San Jose. MARCH 2015 BACHHRAWAN: The town near Rae Bareli, UP was in news as two coaches of the Dehradun-Varanasi Janta Express derailed there, killing around 40 persons and injuring over 150 others. HYDERABAD: According to the Mercer Quality of Living Rankings 2015, Austrian capital Vienna is the city with the best quality of living in the world, while Hyderabad, ranked 138th, was the best Indian city to live in. DIMAPUR: The city in Nagaland was in news as thousands of protesters stormed the central jail there and dragged out Syed Sarifuddin Khan, accused of raping a 20-year-old Naga student, and lynched him to death, after brutally thrashing him. ZOKHAWTHAR: The small town in Champhai district of Mizoram was in news as a land customs station was inaugurated there at the Indo-Myanmar border. SANAA: The capital of Yemen was in news as over 150 persons, mainly Shia muslims were killed there in the bomb attacks by the Sunny militants of the IS group. TUNIS: The capital of Tunisia was in news as Islamic militants stormed its Bardo National Museum killing 17 foreign tourists and three Tunisians. CYCLONE PAM: A super cyclone slammed the south Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu, east of Australia, leaving complete devastation in its wake. 28 SPORTS WORLD MAY 2015 19th FEDERATION CUP National Senior Athletic Championships held in Mangalore, Karnataka. Men’s team title won by the Indian Army team and Kerala won in the women’s category. The event is dubbed as a selection trial for the Asian Athletics Championships at Wuhan (China). 5th National women hockey championship: Railways won the title by beating Jharkhand at Saifai, Uttar Pradesh VIKAS GOWDA: Ace Indian discus thrower won gold in the Jamaican International Invitation meet in Kingston, capital of Jamaica with a throwing distance of 65.14 mts. He also won a bronze medal in the IAAF Diamond League series in Shanghai. JITU RAI: Ace marksman was declared the ‘Sportsperson of the Year' by the Times of India Sports Awards Geeta Phogat and Lalita Sherawat, each won a bronze medal in the women's freestyle category in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship held at Doha, UAE. International Shooting Competition: India's top rifle shooters have won a rich haul of three gold and two bronze medals at this competition held in Hannover, Germany. Chain Singh, Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang won the gold and Apurvi Chandela along with Gagan Narang won the bronze. Indian boxers completed a brilliant run at the Doha International Boxing Tournament, winning four gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the event. Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 50 metre Rifle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning in the USA Tejaswini Sagar, Indian school girl won her maiden world title by bagging the gold in the under-15 category of World School Chess Championships held in Pattaya, Thailand. Mumbai Indians won their second IPL title defeating Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24. Women’s World Team Chess Championship: won by Georgia beating China at Chengdu, China. India's D Harika and K Humpy won the silver and bronze medal respectively, in individual category. Kumar Sangakkara, former Sri Lanka captain was named as the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year 2015 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Ajinkya Rahane, Indian batsman was named as the CEAT Indian Cricketer of the Year 2015. Nico Rosberg of Germany won the Monaco Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship held in Monaco on May 24. He also won the Spanish Grand Prix F1 championship at Barcelona, Spain ‘MONEY’ WINS THE ‘FIGHT OF THE CENTURY’ American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Money) of USA defeated Manny Pacquiao from Philippines to win the unified World Welterweight title. The legendary bout termed as ‘Fight of the Century’ took place on May 2 at Las Vegas, USA. This was one of the most hyped fights in the history of boxing, generating revenues of around $400 millions. Mayweather is expected to take home $180 million and Manny $ 120 million as prize money. A welterweight boxer's weight is greater than 63.5 kg (140 lb), but less than 67 kg (147 lb). Novak Djokovic won the Rome Masters Tennis title with beating Roger Federer in Rome, Italy. Women’s singles title was won by Maria Sharapova by beating Carla Suarez of Spain. Madrid Masters Men's Singles Title: Andy Murray beats Rafael Nadal to win the title. Women's Singles title: Czech player Petra Kvitova defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia World Team Chess Championship-Men’s: China won the championship leaving Ukraine at second place at Tsaghkadzor, Armenia Australian Open Badminton tournament begins in Sydney from May 26 APRIL 2015 Sania Mirza created history by becoming the first Indian female tennis player to achieve the world number one rank in doubles, following her stupendous title win at the WTA Family Circle Cup with partner Martina Hingis, at Charleston in the USA. India won the bronze in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (Hockey) at Ipoh in Malaysia by beating Korea. The tournament was won by New Zealand Jitu Rai of India won the bronze medal in the men's 10metre air pistol event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup at Changwon, S Korea. Apurvi Chandela won the bronze in women’s 10-metre air pistol event. Rakesh Kumar and Harpal Singh won gold in men’s category and S Sarjubala and Pinki Jangra clinched gold in women’s category at the 22nd President's Cup Open International Boxing Tournament in Indonesia. 29 Dronavalli Harika, Indian Grandmaster won the bronze medal in the World Women's chess championships in Sochi, Russia. Badminton Asia Championship: Lin Dan of China won the cup by beating compatriot Tian Houwei at Wuhan, China. India won Gold and a Bronze at the Asian Indoor Rowing Championship held in Pattaya, Thailand. Shamkir Chess Tournament: Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the tournament by defeating Rauf Mamedov in Shamkir city of Azerbaijan on 26 April 2015. 5th Senior Men’s National Hockey Championship won by Railways team beating Uttar Pradesh in Pune, Maharashtra. SACHIN TENDULKAR: Indian batting legend was inducted into the prestigious Laureus Sports Academy in a glittering ceremony at Shanghai. Three Indian race walkers, Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat and Sandeep Kumar have qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics. The 8th edition of the grand cricket extravaganza – IPL 2015 began with a grand opening ceremony at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata in April. The Chinnaswamy cricket stadium in Bengaluru has become the first cricket venue in the country to have a roof top solar power plant. Sim Bhullar has become the first player of Indian descent to play in the high-profile National Basketball Association (NBA) league in the USA, making his debut for Sacramento Kings. The 22 years old 7-foot-5-inch Sim was born in Toronto, Canada. Laureus Sportsman of the Year, 2015: Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic Laureus Sportswoman of the Year, 2015: Ethiopian sprinter Genzebe Dibaba. Laureus is an international academy devoted to recognizing and honouring sportspersons at the global level, just like the Nobel Prizes. Every year, these honours are given in seven categories. Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine successfully defended his world heavyweight boxing title for the 18th time in a row by defeating his American challenger Bryant Jenn ings in New York. MIAMI MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP, Florida, USA Men’s singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beats Andy Murray (Britain) Women’s singles: Serena Williams (USA) beats Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) Women’s doubles: Sania Mirza and her Swiss teammate Martina Hingis beat Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, both of Russia. Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the Monte-Carlo Masters title of Tennis by beating Tomas Berdych in Monaco. Daniel Vettori: New Zealand left-arm spinner has announced his retirement from international cricket. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Lewis Hamilton: Formula One world champion won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the second year in a row. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Formula 1 driver from Britain won the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, China. MARCH 2015 AUSTRALIA LIFTS WORLD CUP FOR 5TH TIME Lead by Captain Michael Clark Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets to lift their fifth World Cup trophy on Final played on March 29 at Melbourne, Australia. TOP ACHIEVERS Man of the Tournament: Mitchell Starc, bowler from Australia. Man of the Match (final): James Faulkner,Australia Top scorer Martin Guptil (New Zealand) 547 Best strike rate: B Mc Cullum (NZ) 188.5 Top wicket taker Trent Boult (NZ) and Mitchell Starc (Aus), both 22 each Best economy rate: Mitchell Starc (Aus) – 3.5 HIGHLIGHTS OF WORLD CUP 2015 M S DHONI: By beating Bangladesh in Melbourne, he became the first Indian captain and third in the world history to win 100 ODI matches. He reached this milestone in 178th ODI. The other two achievers are Australian pair of Ricky Ponting (165 wins) and Allan Border (107 wins). MARTIN GUPTILL of New Zealand made the highest score in the World Cup history with 237 not out against West Indies in the match played at Wellington, Australia. KUMAR SANGAKKARA of Sri Lanka became the first cricketer to score four successive one-day international centuries as he scored 124 against Scotland at a World Cup match played at Hobart, Australia. Also, he is the only batsman having scored 4 centuries in one world cup tournament. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka have announced their retirement from the One Day International (ODI) format of Cricket. Pakistan cricketers Misbah-ul-Haq and Shaid Afridi have also bid adieu to One Day International cricket. The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup will be hosted by England and Wales in June 2019. 30 RANJI TROPHY: Defending champions Karnataka clinched their eighth title as they thrashed Tamil Nadu in the final played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. SEBESTIAN VETTEL of Germany won the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 29 at Sepang, Malaysia, beating World Champion Lewis Hamilton of Britain. KARNATAKA LIFTED THE IRANI CUP after beating the Rest of India team in the finals played in Bengaluru. DAYS AND DATES The 69th National Football Tournament for Santosh Trophy held at Ludhiana. The Services team won the trophy beating the Punjab team. The Indian team won the Women's Hockey World League Round Two competition title by beating Poland in New Delhi. SAINA – INDIA’s FIRST WORLD NO 1 Saina Nehwal created history on March 28 as she became the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the world number one ranking after her closest challenger for the spot, Spain's Carolina Marin, lost in the India Open Super Series semifinal played in Delhi. Later on March 29, she won the prestigious India Open Badminton Championship at New Delhi beating former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. KIDAMBI SRIKANTH became the first Indian to win the Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship beating Viktor Axelsen in Basel, Switzerland. He again defeated Axelsen to win the India Open at New Delhi WONDER KID CREATES ARCHERY RECORD Two-year-old girl Cherukuli Dalli Shivani from Vijaywada has achieved a stunning feat by setting a new record in Archery and entering her name into the India Book of Records. She became the youngest Indian to score 200 points over five and seven-metre distances. VIV BEATS SACHIN TO RANK NO 1 ODI PLAYER West Indian star batsman Viv Richards has been voted as the greatest ODI player in the history of cricket, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar (second) in an online poll conducted by ESPN cricinfo’s magazine ‘Cricket Monthly’ and a jury of 50 eminent cricketers. Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic to win the Dubai Championship title for Tennis at Dubai. MAY World Labour Day, Maharashtra Day International Energy Day, World Asthma Day Coal Minor's Day World Midwives Day World Red Cross and Red Cresent Day National Technology Day International Family Day World Telecom Day National Anti Terrorism Day World No Tobacco Day 01st May 03rd May 04th May 05th May 08th May 11th May 15th May 17th May 21st May 31st May JUNE International Children’s Day World Naturist Day World Environment Day Father’s Day International Yoga Day International Olympic Day Rath Yatra International Anti-Drugs day World Diabetes Day 01st June 03rd June 05th June 16th June 21st June 23rd June 26th June 27th June JULY Architecture day / Doctor’s day World Sports Journalists Day Free 4th of July World Zonnosis Day International day of Co-Operatives World Population Day Man Walks on the Moon Kargil Vijay Divas 01st July 02nd July 04th July 06th July 07th July 11th July 20th July 26th July ALL THE NEWS ITEMS IN THIS MAGAZINE HAVE BEEN SOURCED FROM VARIOUS NEWS PAPERS AND GOVT. PRESS RELEASES Rafael Nadal won the Argentina Open title for Tennis defeating Juan Monaco of Argentina at Buenos Aires, Argentina. BNP PARIBAS OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP: Novak Djokovic won the Men's Singles at Indian Wells, Californea (USA) beating Roger Federer. Women’s singles title was won by Simona Halep beating Jelena Jankovic. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won the women’s doubles title. LEWIS HAMILTON of Britain won the Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 race held in Melbourne, Australia. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 31 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 32 (December 2014 – February 2015) For details please visit our website: www.gyanm.in NATIONAL NEWS FEBRUARY 2015 Govt has accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission for devolution of revenue collection from the Centre to the states A three day Heads of the Missions Conference was held in New Delhi from Feb 7 to 9 in New Delhi. The 10th edition of Aero India Show concluded in Bengaluru. Bharti Airtel tied-up with UNICEF to provide health, education and youth-focused content to its customers in 17 African countries. PETA will create India's first fenced elephant sanctuary within the Bannerghatta Biological Park in Karnataka. India ranks 136TH in terms of press freedom in the 180 nations World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters without Borders. Rajya Sabha was informed that 76.83 crore Aadhaar cards have been generated till 15 February 2015 out of a total population of 121.01 crore Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam, President of Singapore visited India on Feb. 10 and inaugurated the Singapore Festival in New Delhi. 18th National Conference on e-Governance held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from 30 to 31 January 2015. Three postage stamps on the theme of Swachh Bharat Mission were released on 30 January 2015 to mark the Martyrdom Day of Mahatma Gandhi. The first National Tribal Festival “VANAJ”-2015 held at New Delhi from 13 to 18 Feb., 2015. India and Sri Lanka have agreed to explore avenues for enhancing cooperation in oil and gas sector. JANUARY 2015 Barrack Obama became the first U.S. President to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day and the first U.S. President to visit India twice during his tenure. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 For the first time an all-women contingent from the three defence forces-Army, Air Force and Navy, marched down in the parade. India and the US signed MoUs for formulating action plans for development of smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam. 15 persons were conferred with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award at the three day Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas, Jan 7 to 9, held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Coins and stamps bearing images of Mahatma Gandhi were released on Jan 8 at Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas Number of tigers in India increased from 1,706 in 2010 to 2,226 in 2014 where Karnataka tops the list with 406 tigers. India to provide Rs 6.90 crore support to Nepal for fighting against the Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Programme for goitre control. ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, Asia’s biggest literary event was held at Jaipur from 21st to 25th Jan 2015. DSC Prize for Literature: The $50,000 prize won by Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri for her book, The Lowland. Arunadhathi Subramaniam won the Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for poetry for her work “When God is a Traveler”. The 19th National Youth Festival began in Guwahati on Jan 8. In a list of 93 countries compiled by INSEAD Business School, India has been ranked 78th in terms of talent competitiveness of its human capital India will provide 60 million dollars Line of Credit to Guyana for its road infrastructure projects. Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan came to India on a weeklong visit. The 13th Pune International Film Festival held at Pune in Maharashtra from January 8 to 15. 102nd Indian Science Congress was held at Mumbai University, Maharashtra. Coins of Rs 100 and 5 released in the honour of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata to mark his 175th birth anniversary. 33 January 12 observed as National Youth Day on the The first Arabic translation of the Indian birth anniversary of social reformer, philosopher and thinker Swami Vivekananda. Constitution launched by the Arab League in Cairo, Egypt. India signed an agreement on transfer of prisoners Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid arrived in who are completing their sentence, with Hong Kong The first Border Haat along Tripura-Bangladesh frontier was opened at Srinagar (Tripura) - Purba Madhugram (Feni, Bangladesh). Indian Railways to run an additional weekly trip of Maitree Express train between Kolkata and Dhaka. Kolkata on a two-day visit to West Bengal. NEWS FROM STATES DECEMBER 2014 The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party on Feb FEBRUARY 2015 Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Late Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya honoured with Bharat Ratna-country's highest civilian award. Putin Opens Economic Doors For India: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi to attend the India-Russia annual summit on Dec 11. The two leaders unveiled the ‘Druzhba (friendship in Russian)-Dosti' vision to strengthen the bilateral partnership over the next decade As per the 2014 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, India has been placed at 65th position. The index was topped by Switzerland. India is one of the top 3 countries that witnessed highest outflow of black money in 2012 with about $94.76 billion going out of the country. As per the Corruption Perceptions Index – 2014 released by the Transparency International, India stands at 85th position among 175 countries UNO has declared June 21 as International Yoga Day, recognising the ancient Indian science's "holistic approach to health and well-being." Focusing on improving connectivity to the northeast, Central govt plans to provide Rs 28,000 crore for laying new railway lines in the region The Web Index 2014 which measures the internet's contribution to social, economic and political progress ranks India at 48th place and topped by Denmark. The birthday of the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the 25th of December will be observed as National Good Governance Day. Mahaparinirwan Diwas observed on 6 December 2014, death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar. The Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings 2015 of UK has placed Bangalore-based IISc at No. 25 in the overall 100, topped by China's Peking University. India’s most prestigious Indian classical music function – The Tansen Sangeet Samaroh held at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 10 swept to power with 67 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, leaving only three to BJP. Uttarakhand govt launched on Feb 7 its ambitious “Himalaya Darshan” programme as part of its ongoing efforts to boost tourism in the state. Haryana to set up Gram Sachivalayas to bring Gram Panchayat and village level functionaries of all departments under one roof for better functioning. The ten day long annual Taj Mahotsava, a cultural extravaganza, began in Agra, UP from 18th February. Gujarat govt. has decided to set up ‘Plast India International University’ in Vapi in partnership with University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA. Madhya Pradesh won the 10th National Award for excellent work in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). Haryana launched e-registration of properties in all the 130 tehsil and sub-tehsils of the State on Feb 04. The First World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC) was held in Kochi, Kerala from 5 to 8 February 2015. JANUARY 2015 The Punjab state has banned the sale of loose cigarettes (as single sticks) and loose tobacco, becoming the first State to do so. Jammu and Kashmir won the National eGovernance Award 2014-15 for the best districtlevel initiative for their project e-Panchayat Scientist say that Jorhat, Assam can emerge as the only place in the world after Kenya to become a producer of health-rich medicinal purple tea. Amitabh Bachchan appointed as the Brand Ambassador for health sector in Andhra Pradesh. Hampi Utsav Jan 9 – 11, cultural festival of dance, drama, art and music held at Hampi, the erstwhile seat of the Vijayanagar Empire in Karnataka. Haryana has appointed yoga guru Ramdev as the state's brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda in a big way. 34 DECEMBER 2014 Govt launched Consular Grievances Monitoring The New Year festival of Tibetans known as Losar System named MADAD-Because You Are Us- to register grievances pertaining to the Consular Services Govt plans to construct over two crore toilets in select villages across the country under a programme of making India free from open defecation by 2019. The government plans to launch a new scheme 'Krishi Daak Service' to distribute improved seed varieties to farmers at their doorstep, through postoffices. Govt has constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Pramod Asthana for re-investigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. festival is celebrated mainly in Lahaul Distt. It denotes the start of winter session in the valley. JANUARY 2015 Maharashtra to observe the year 2015 as “Year of Prime Minister launched the nationwide 'Beti Digitised and Time-Bound Services” to standardise, simplify and deliver the services electronically. Bachao-Beti Padhao' (save girl child, educate her) campaign from Panipat in Haryana on Jan 22 Noted film actress Madhuri Dixit was roped in as the brand ambassador of the campaign. A special savings scheme by the name ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account’ launched to encourage savings for girl child. India set a new world record on Dec 7 for forming the largest human flag, when over fifty thousand volunteers formed the Indian Tricolour in Chennai. Karnataka launched “Mobile one” app to enable public to access 4000 govt and a few private services on their mobile phones just by dialling 161. On Nov 29, Meghalaya got its first rail link when PM Modi flagged off a train from Maligaon, Guwahati to Mendipathar in Meghalaya, a distance of 131 kms. Andhra govt. signed a MoU with Singapore for the development of its new capital that is set to come up near Vijawayada region. Arunachal Pradesh won the Krishi Karman Award for the year 2013-14 for showing exemplary agriperformance in 14 different categories. Manipur to set up a Cultural University to promote its rich cultural heritage, like Russia’s Moscow State Art and Cultural University. Militants of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) gunned down over 80 persons in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts of Assam. GOVT INITIATIVES FEBRUARY 2015 In the first meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog in New Delhi, three sub groups were formed for improved functioning of ‘Team India’. First to study the 66 centrally-sponsored schemes and recommend which schemes should continue, and which to discontinue. Second to focus on skill development and creation of skilled manpower within states. Third to promote implementation of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan Further, two task forces to be formed to focus on poverty alleviation and development of agriculture. The nationwide “Soil Health Card” scheme was launched by the Prime Minister from Suratgarh, Rajasthan on Feb 19 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the first National Deworming Day on Feb 10 to reduce the threat of parasitic worm infections in children. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 To promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched two schemes on Jan 16: Venture Capital Fund to provide financial assistance up to Rs.15 crore for up to six years to SC entrepreneurs. Green Business Scheme to provide loans up to Rs.1 lakh at concessional rate of interest to SCs for running e-rickshaw, solar pumps etc. Govt launched the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country. On Jan 1, the govt announced that the Planning Commission has been restructured as the NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog. Govt plans to set up a ‘Price Stabilisation Fund’ to check price volatility through procurement of selected perishable horticulture produce. Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched a toll-free helpline (1800-11-0031) to assist the alcoholic and drug-dependent persons. Govt has allowed SEZs to set up social infrastructure like schools, hospitals and hotels also in SEZs which can be accessed by outside people also. Under a new initiative by North Central Railway, rail passengers will now be able to lodge an FIR in the train itself. 35 The Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) scheme, Justice G P Mathur committee set up to examine the now called ‘Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh’ (PAHAL), launched in 622 districts w.e.f. Jan 1, 2015. Govt launched 'Green India Mission' for undertaking eco-friendly development of the rural areas. Scheme launched for LED (light emitting diodes) bulb distribution under Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) in Delhi on 5th January. ICRISAT launched a customised low-cost combination of phone and tablet computer ‘greenphablet’ for small farmers. The device is powered by GreenSIM and is dust- and shatter-proof, readable under bright sunlight; operates from -20°C to +60°C. ICRISAT: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. HQ: Hyderbad, Telangana possibility of forming a Special Investigation Team for re investigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. India's first integrated mobile application for women safety called ‘Himmat' was launched in Delhi on Jan 1. Country’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered train was flagged from Rewari, Haryana on Jan 13. India’s first International Institute of Music will be set up in Kerala by a trust headed by Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his family. Department of Disability Affairs has been renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Viklangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag). President signed the Citizenship Ordinance to merge Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes DECEMBER 2014 Prime Minister launched a Rs 900-crore scheme "Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching" at Varanasi. Government has decided to set-up Grahak Suvidha Kendras (Consumer care centres) to provide counseling to consumers in redressal of their grievances Mission Indradhanush launched to cover all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children against seven vaccine preventable diseases The government has decided to repeal Section 309 from the Indian Penal Code, for decriminalizing attempt to commit suicide. A new train - The Sushaasan (good governance) Express launched on Dec 25, from Gwalior , the birth place of Mr. Vajpayee, to Gonda in Uttar Pradesh. Govt has decided to pay 8.75 per cent interest on provident fund deposits of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for the year 2014-15. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 ECONOMIC INDICATORS FEBRUARY 2015 India's monthly per capita income is likely to be at Rs 7,378.17 this financial year India grew 7.5 per cent in the October-December quarter, to become the fastest growing major economy in the world. The Central Statistics Office has revised its base year to 2011-12 JANUARY 2015 India's GDP growth has averaged 6.5 per cent over the last 25 years, while in the last two years it averaged 4.9% alongside very high inflation. The Expenditure Management Commission, headed by Bimal Jalan says that the govt should cut fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent of the GDP during 2015-16. Base year for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) changed from 2010 to 2012 for computing retail inflation rate from January 2015 onwards. As per a Labour Bureau survey, unemployment rate in the country rose to 4.9 per cent in 2013-14, mainly on account of increase in joblessness in rural areas. DECEMBER 2014 Moody’s Projects India’s Growth @6%: Global rating agency Moody’s has projected that Indian economy is expected to pick up pace in 2015 and grow in the range of 5 to 6 per cent, helped by strong domestic demand. ECONOMY FEBRUARY 2015 Government has notified the rules for Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) which are converged with global standards IFRS. The ADB has inked two loan agreements worth $ 350 million with India to upgrade district roads in Madhya Pradesh India reclaimed its position as the leading consumer of gold in 2014 with an estimated consumption of 880 tonnes against China’s 866 tonnes. World Bank agrees to grant $ 8 million loan to India for sustainable livelihoods and adaption to climate change project of National Rural Livelihoods Mission. 36 JANUARY 2015 Government has asked PSUs to ensure that they procure 20% of their requirements from the products manufactured by MSMEs, w.e.f. April 01, 2015. India has allowed duty free access to Afghanistan’s export products in Indian markets under the Agreement of South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA). Leading IT company - Infosys has assured govt that they will spend USD 250 million to fund innovations in software and services in India. Government has prohibited imports of all kind of mobile handsets with fake or duplicate Unique Identity Numbers. Film PK recorded gross collection of Rs. 500 crore worldwide within 2 weeks of its release, becoming first ever Indian movie to have such huge collection Connaught Place in New Delhi has become the world’s sixth costliest office destination, with an annual occupancy cost of around $ 160 per square feet, Snapdeal.com has announced the launch of ‘Agri IRDA has been renamed as ‘Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’ after the promulgation of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014. European Union has decided to lift a seven-month- Store’, offering online products like seeds, fertilizer and irrigation tools, among others, to farmers. World Bank will lend Rs 475 crore ($75 million) to the Andhra Pradesh Government for implementing a rural growth project. Government has fixed an export target of $340 billion for the current fiscal. Actual exports last year were $312.6 billion. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will extend $200 million loan to Punjab to improve the state's fiscal situation. India Germany sign loan pact for euro 625 million for the Green Energy Corridors project under the Indo-German bilateral development cooperation. The World Bank has approved $130 million credit for the Nepal Grid Solar and Energy Efficiency Project to minimize energy shortages in Nepal. long ban on the import of mangoes from India. Sun Edison USA and India’s Adani Group will invest BANKING Rs.25,000 cr in setting up one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic manufacturing unit in Gujarat. FEBRUARY 2015 ADB to give $ 75 million loan and $1.8 million grant to Karnataka for Integrated Management Investment Program. Urban Water On Feb 3, the RBI cut the statutory liquidity ratio India and Israel have signed a joint agreement to implement the third phase of the agriculture cooperation project for next three years, 2015-18. To boost the jute sector, govt has directed packaging of sugar and food grains in jute bags to minimum extent of up to 90 % of production. To meet the fiscal deficit, the government sold 10 per cent stake in state owned Coal India Ltd to raise about Rs 24,000 crore. Union Cabinet approved the hike of govt stake in Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd. to 51 % from around 48 % at present. DECEMBER 2014 India has inked a US $1100 million IBRD Direct Lending pact with the World Bank for phase two of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). Union government mopped up around 1715 crore rupees with the sale of 5 percent stake in SAIL at a floor price of 83 rupees per share The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal for setting up of a 500 crore rupees Credit Guarantee Fund for Factoring for MSMEs GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 (SLR) by 50 basis points to 21.5 per cent of their total deposits from February 7 RBI has estimated that the real GDP in 2015-16 is expected to rise by 6.5 percent. RBI has doubled the annual overseas investment ceiling for individuals to $250,000 per person per year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). The RBI has allowed banks to offer deposit schemes up to Rs 1 crore which cannot be broken prematurely — so-called non-callable deposits — Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana has entered the Guinness Book of World Record for opening over 12.5 crore bank accounts RBI has advised that the overdrafts extended by banks up to Rs.5,000 in PMJDY accounts will be eligible for classification under priority sector advances Govt will infuse Rs. 6,990 crore in nine public sector banks for enhancing their capital to meet the global risk norms under Basel III guidelines As per an agreement reached between IBA and bank unions, public sector banks will remain closed on second and fourth Saturdays. 37 RBI has allowed banks to install Cash Deposit Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched Jifi Saver, a Machines at locations selected by them (banks) without getting its prior permission. ICICI Bank has launched ‘Pockets’, a digital banking service, enabling users to instantly send money to any e-mail id, mobile number, friends on Facebook etc. HDFC Bank raised about Rs 8,000 crore by selling American Depository Receipts in USA Reserve Bank has asked all credit institutions to become members of all Credit Information Companies. RBI has lifted the ban on import of gold coins and medallions by banks but the sales will be permitted against upfront payment only. R Gandhi, Dy. Governor RBI to head the committee formed to review the structure and functioning of the Urban Cooperative Banking Sector. HDFC Bank is set to introduce a new app, Chillr, which will allow users to send money to any contact in their phone books, 24X7. social savings bank account which can be seamlessly managed via Twitter and Facebook The government has allowed certain eligible branches of Post Offices to issue ATM cards for their Savings bank accounts Yes Bank signed an agreement with U.S. govt’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation for $220 million loan for on-lending to MSMEs. JANUARY 2015 The Reserve Bank of India on 15th January, 2015 cut down repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent from 8 percent, with immediate effect RBI has asked banks to notify the Base Rate, or the minimum lending rate, at least once in every three months, based on the cost of funds India's top PSU bankers meet 'Gyan Sangam’ held at Pune for a brainstorming session to give a facelift to PSU banks. RBI has clarified that business houses with assets above Rs 1,000 crore and having finance companies will not be eligible to apply for a small bank license. RBI said that RRBs with assets less than $175 million need not register with the US Internal Revenue System under FATCA- Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The RBI has signed an information sharing agreement with US banking regulators for better coordination in supervising financial institutions. RBI has asked banks to display on their website the total fees and charges applicable on various types of loans and tell the same to the borrower also ICICI Bank launched country’s first contactless debit/ credit cards based on the near-field communication technology RBI signed a MoU on “Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information” with Banco Central do Brasil, central bank of Brazil. RBI has allowed banks to act as brokers for insurers, set up their own subsidiaries, undertake referral services for multiple companies. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 RBI and the European Central Bank signed MoU for cooperation in the area of central banking. RBI has allowed Indians to carry high value notes of Rs 500 /1000 while travelling to Nepal and Bhutan with a cap of Rs 25,000 on the total amount. DECEMBER 2014 The Reserve Bank released a charter of customer rights on Dec.3 that lays down five basic rights that bank customers enjoy. Right to Fair Treatment with no discrimination on any basis Right to Transparency, Fair and Honest Dealing Right to Suitability of products and services Right to Privacy of customers' personal information Right to Grievance Redressal and Compen-sation RBI has defined the ‘non-cooperative borrower’ as one who does not engage constructively with his lender by defaulting in timely repayment of dues A bill to raise the authorised capital of Regional Rural Banks to Rs 2,000 crore, from Rs 5 crore at present was passed by the Lok Sabha on Dec 22. Government has approved the continuation of interest subvention for short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh to farmers. RBI has increased RTGS business hours to 12 hours from 8 am to 8 pm on weekdays and from 8 am to 3.30 pm on Saturday. State Bank has launched two indices namely the SBI Monthly Composite Index and the SBI Yearly Composite Index for manufacturing sector. RBI has doubled the limit for pre-paid payment instruments (PPI) to Rs. 1 lakh from Rs. 50,000 at present. RBI issued final guidelines for the Bharat Bill Payment System to help consumers pay multiple bills like electricity, telephone etc at a single point. HDFC Bank launched its mobile banking initiative 'Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein' that works on both smartphones as well as the basic phones The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes, including 500 and 1,000 rupees, has been extended by six months till June 30, 2015. 38 Yes Bank has raised $200 million loan from Asian Apple Inc earned profit of $18 billion in quarter Development Bank for onward lending to small farm households and rural women self help groups (SHGs). RBI has imposed penalty of Rs. 5 million and 2.5 million, respectively, on ICICI bank and Bank of Baroda for violation of KYC norms. Money supply rose by Rs 31,400 crore to Rs 101,950 crore ($1.61 trillion) in the fortnight to December 12, growing by 10.2 per cent on year on year basis. ending December 2014, largest ever made by a public company in the corporate history worldwide. DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 2015 The 8th India-Nepal Battalion level Combined Scientists discovered a powerful new antibiotic – Teixobactin which can kill an array of germs without the bugs easily becoming resistant to it Indian Immunologicals Limited launched a vaccine ‘Raksha-Blu’ for countering for the first time the viral blue tongue disease among cattle. The year 2014 was the hottest on record, with global average temperature increasing about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880, according to US scientists. India’s Mars Orbiter programme team has won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award from the US based National Space Society (NSS). DECEMBER 2014 Military Training named Exercise Surya Kiran-VIII, held at Saljhandi, Nepal. India test fired its ICBM Agni-V, for the first time from a canister mounted on a Tatra truck, from the Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast. India test-fired the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from warship INS Kolkata, in Arabian Sea. It has a range of 290km and a top speed of Mach 2.8. Indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile with a range of 350 kms, tested at a test range at Chandipur in Odisha. The DRDO has established the world’s highest research station at an altitude of 17,586 feet at Chang La, about 80 km east of Leh, J&K. Researchers in Australia have developed the world's first 3D-printed jet engine that could pave the way for cheaper, lighter and more fuel-efficient aircraft. DRDO has successfully tested Panchi, wheeled JANUARY 2015 Sikorsky of the United States has been selected for The first of the indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft, LCA Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air Force on Jan 17 at Bengaluru. Country’s first geothermal heating plant was launched successfully by the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment of DRDO at its Manali (HP) campus. Idukki district in Kerala became the first district in the country where all gram panchayats are connected through National Optical Fiber Network Microsoft has announced that its new operating system - Windows 10 will also bring its voicecontrolled assistant Cortana to PCs. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 version of the unmanned aerial vehicle Nishant. It can take off from and land on small airstrips. Nuclear-capable strategic ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km, test fired successfully from a test range off the Odisha coast. For the first time, India exported a war ship to a foreign country. The ship is CGS Barracuda offshore patrol vessel, purchased by Mauritius. India has tested a 1,000 kg indigenously-developed glide bomb, which successfully hit a target 100 kms away, off the Odisha coast. The indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant, for the first time sailed out for sea-trials on Dec 16, from its base at Visakhapatnam. INS Circars, the oldest naval establishment on the Eastern seaboard in Visakhapatnam celebrated its Platinum Jubilee on Dec 12. supply of 16 multirole helicopters for the Indian Navy in a contract worth Rs. 6,000 crore. Russia successfully test fired its Angara-A5 rocket from Plesetsk in northern Russia on 23 December. NATO forces formally ended their role in Afghanistan, after 13 years of conflict that left the country in the grip of worsening insurgent violence. India’s communication satellite GSAT 16 was launched successfully from Kourou in French Guiana on Dec. 7. ISRO launched from Sriharikota its heaviest rocket till date - the 630-tonne three-stage rocket GSLV Mark III, capable of carrying satellites up to four tonne. 39 Carbon-dioxide emissions from burning of fossil fuels reached a high of 35.3 billion tonnes in 2013 where top 2 countries were China and USA NASA’s Kepler has discovered a ‘super-Earth’ located 180 light-years from Earth - HIP 116454b, which is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth Nasa's Curiosity rover has detected methane on Mars, a gas that could hint at past or present life on the planet. Japan launched asteroid explorer Hayabusa 2 to explore one of the C-type asteroids called 1999 JU3 and retrieve materials and bring them to Earth. NASA launched Orion spacecraft atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket for a four-hour test flight, after which it safely splashed down in to Pacific Ocean. American geologists have named the earth’s most abundant mineral as ‘Bridgmanite’. It makes up about 70 percent of the earth’s lower The International Ocean Discovery Program has analysed life in the deepest ever marine drilling expedition- microbes living 2,400 meters beneath the seabed off the Japanese coast. International journal Science has declared the European space mission spacecraft Rosetta as most important scientific Breakthrough of the Year 2014. JANUARY 2015 Militants attacked the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, for publishing cartoons lampooning Muslim leaders The World Economic Forum's five-day annual jamboree of the global elite held at Davos, Switzerland, attended by over 2500 VIPs. Boko Haram militants killed over 2000 persons in a multi-day attack in the northeast of Nigeria, focusing on the town of Baga Encouraged by the India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, Britain announced 'Great Collaborations’ campaign to forge collaborations with Indian companies. AirlineRatings.com, has announced Quantas, the national airline of Australia as the safest airline for 2015, from the 449 airlines. Australia has launched an Online Visa Pilot Programme to make it easier for Indian business and tourism visitors to apply online visa The biggest cultural festival of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism in Nepal - Tamu Lhochhar, observed to mark the New Year, celebrated in Kathmandu. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who will be 89 in April this year, is now the world's oldest monarch following the death of King Abdullah (90) of Saudi Arabia. INTERNATIONAL Lithuania becomes 19th country to adopt Euro as FEBRUARY 2015 DECEMBER 2014 China has overtaken the United States as the top destination for foreign direct investment for the first time since 2003. Britain has become the first country in the world to allow a "three-parent" IVF (in vitro fertilization) technique Apple Inc has set a world record by becoming the first US Company to be worth more than $700 billion in terms of market capitalization More than 3,000 flights were cancelled in North East USA as winter storms dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain across the region. The Nepal has started a massive cleanliness campaign in 33 municipalities of the country in order to promote environment-friendly governance Summit of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held in Istanbul, Turkey on 9-10 Feb. 2015 The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine met in Minsk, capital of Belarus to find solution to end fighting in eastern Ukraine Musicians from around the world will gather this April in Paris to celebrate the International Jazz Day which is observed on April 30. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 its currency w.e.f. Jan 1, 2015. A treaty laying down international rules for the $85 billion global arms trade came into force from Dec 24, after being signed by the USA USA announced a series of steps for normalising relations with communist-ruled Cuba with which it had severed diplomatic ties decades ago. Tehrik-e-Taliban gunmen stormed a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 140 students and nine staff members on Dec 16. Hong Kong police forcefully ended the more than two month old street demonstration - Occupy Central Russian economy is in deep trouble due to sanctions and slumping oil prices, leading to deep fall in value of its currency against the US dollar. According to the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 report by UNO, the global economy will grow by more than 3 percent in 2015 and 2016. The countless doctors, nurses and caregivers fighting the outbreaks of the Ebola virus, have been collectively named as Time magazine's 2014 'Person of the Year'. 40 112nations gathered in Lima, Peru on Dec 1 for the 12-day ‘Lima Climate Change Conference’ under the UN Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUNFCCC World AIDS Day observed on December 01. The theme for this year is, 'Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free Generation'. HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; (advanced stage of HIV infection) Singapore launched a new National Day song in Tamil to celebrate its 50 years of independence. Tamil is 4th official language of Singapore. United Nations General Assembly on 5 December 2014 declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils Bhutan became 181st member of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency– a branch of the World Bank Group. An Airbus A320-200 of Air Asia flight QZ8501 with 162 persons aboard disappeared on Dec 28 on way from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore. Ukraine has decided to join North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), signalling its movement away from Russia, towards western powers. Latvia will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2015. The Presidency changes every six months. An Italian Ship - Norman Atlantic, carrying 478 passengers caught fire in mid sea, near Italian port Ancona. Rescue teams could save 471passengers. Malaysia’s worst flooding in decades forced some 1,18,000 people to flee to safer places. Kelantan, in north east Malaysia, was worst-affected area. PERSONS IN NEWS FEBRUARY 2015 AMARTYA SEN: 81 year old Nobel laureate economist was in news as he resigned as the Chancellor of Nalanda University, alleging political interference in the affairs of the University. DEEPIKA MISRA: Squadron Leader of Indian Air Force became the first and the only woman pilot to make it to the helicopter acrobatic display team – ‘Sarang’ of the Indian Air Force. SUMITRA MAHAJAN: Lok Sabha Speaker’s name was included in the LIMCA book of records for being the only woman of the country to represent the same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a row. SALONI DALAL: A 12 year old school girl from Karnataka became the youngest medal winner in the GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 35th National Games in Kerala by winning a Bronze medal in the 200 meter breast stroke swimming event. RICKY KEJ: Bengaluru-based musician was in news as his collaborative album 'Winds of Samsara' with African flautist Wouter Kellerman won the ‘Best New Age Album’ award at the 57th Grammy Awards announced in Los Angeles, USA NEELA VASWANI: won the Grammy in the Best Children's Album category for rendering audio version of the book 'I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World’ by Malala Yousafzai. AJAY BANGA: President and Chief Executive Officer of MasterCard and the Chairman of the US India Business Council, has been appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations by the US government. ANGELINA JOLIE: Cine actress -director of America has been named the most admired woman in the world in a survey by the British website dailymail.co.uk., leaving behind ladies like Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton. JANUARY 2015 POOJA THAKUR: A Wing Commander from Indian Air Force became the first woman to lead the ceremonial tri-service guard of honour inspected by U.S. President Barack Obama at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Jan. 25, 2015. VIKRAM CHANDRA: Indian origin Novelist was named among the finalists for prestigious National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards of USA for his non-fiction work Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty. MS. LEELA SAMSON: She resigned as Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification, CBFC to protest the clearance of the controversial film Messenger of God by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). BHAKTI SHARMA: India's 24 year old open water swimmer has set a world record by swimming 2.25 kms in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean. She is the first Asian girl and youngest in the world to have achieved this feat. AVINASH CHANDER: Secretary, Defence Research and Development cum Director General, DRDO and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister was in news as he was removed 15 months before his contract was to end. NARENDRA MODI, REKHA: Our Prime Minister and veteran Bollywood actress, both were crowned ‘hottest vegetarian celebrities’ by animal rights organisation PETA India for making plant-based foods more popular than ever in 2014. 41 YINGLUCK SHINAWATRA: Former Premier of Thailand was impeached on Jan 23 for corruption charges. Country’s first woman Premier and the sister of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, suffers an automatic fiveyear ban from politics. DECEMBER 2014 DR. K. RADHAKRISHNAN: Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been selected as one of the top ten scientists in 2014 chosen by the prestigious science journal of UK-Nature. PRIME MINISTER MODI: has been rated as the world’s top policy maker, according to a new report of Harvard’s prestigious Kennedy School of Government. PAWAN CHAMLING: Sikkim Chief Minister, on 12 December 2014 became longest serving Chief Minister of India as he completed his 20 years in the office. TASHI MALIK AND NUNGSHI MALIK: The twin sisters from Dehradun scaled Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest mountain at 4,892 metres to become the world’s first twins and siblings to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents. SARITA DEVI: The International Boxing Association (AIBA) banned Indian boxer for one year for refusing to accept the Asian Games bronze medal. VIVEK MURTHY: The 37 year old Indian origin doctor has been confirmed as the youngest ever Surgeon General of the United States. APPOINTMENTS FEBRUARY 2015 L C GOYAL: New Union Home Secretary Ms. ZOE KONSTANTOPOULOU: New President of Greece, from the left wing party Syriza. SERGIO MATTARELLA: Italy’s new President JANUARY 2015 APPOINTMENTS IN NITI AAYOG The following appointments have been made by the Prime Minister to the various positions in the Aayog: Chairman: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Vice-Chairman: Arvind Panagariya (Economist) CEO: Sindhushree Khullar FULL TIME MEMBERS: Bibek Debroy, Economist Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Former Secretary Defence R&D EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS: Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister SPECIAL INVITEES: Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister Smt. Smriti Irani, Union Minister PAHLAJ NIHALANI: Chairman, Central Board of Film Certification, CBFC. He is a noted film producer A S KIRAN KUMAR: Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation- ISRO and Secretary of the Department of Space, Govt of India AZIZ QURESHI: Governor of Mizoram (transferred from Uttarakhand). SHEKHAR SEN: Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi; he is a renowned music composer and actor K K PAUL: Governor of Uttarakhand (shifted from Meghalaya), with additional charge of Manipur KRISHNA CHAUDHARY: Director General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). K N TRIPATHI: Governor of West Bengal will take additional charge as the Governor of Meghalaya KSHATRAPATI SHIVAJI: New CMD of SIDBI KALYAN SINGH: Governor of Himachal Pradesh (Additional Charge); He is Governor of Rajasthan AJIT KUMAR: Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Offices NITISH KUMAR: Chief Minister of Bihar, 4th time KAPTAN SINGH SOLANKI: Governor of Punjab (Additional Charge); He is Governor of Haryana ARVIND KEJRIWAL: Chief Minister of Delhi S. JAISHANKAR: Union Foreign Secretary MOHAMMAD SAYEED MUFTI: Chief Minister of J & K KOLINDA GRABAR-KITAROVIC: First female President of Croatia GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 MALINI PARTHASARATHY: veteran journalist appointed the Editor of The Hindu, the first woman editor of the century-old newspaper 42 H S BRAHMA: Chief Election Commissioner ATUL KHARE: Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support (DFS) in UNO AWARDS & HONOURS FEBRUARY 2015 R KOTEESWARAN: MD & CEO, Indian Overseas Bank ANIMESH CHAUHAN: Commerce MD & CEO, Oriental Bank of Best film: Best Director: Best Actress: Best Actor: KISHORE KUMAR SANSI: MD & CEO, Vijaya Bank P SRINIVAS: MD & CEO, United Bank of India LEE WAN KOO: New Prime Minister of South Korea SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL SAUD: New king of Saudi Arabia ALEXIS TSIPRAS: Prime Minister of Greece, from the anti-austerity Syriza party KOLINDA GRABAR-KITAROVIC: President of Croatia First women MODIBO KEITA: Prime Minister of Mali, a West African country. DECEMBER 2014 RAGHUBAR DAS (BJP): New Chief Minister of Jharkhand JYOTSNA SURI: President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). RAJINDER KHANNA: Chief of Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), PRAKASH MISHRA: Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). DINESHWAR SHARMA: Director, Intelligence Bureau Director, Central Queen by Vikas Bahl Vikas Bahl for Queen Kangana Ranaut for Queen Shahid Kapoor for Haider THE 87th ACADEMY AWARDS, popularly known as ‘Oscars” were presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on February 22, 2015, at Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA. Best Picture: Birdman by Alejandro G Inarritu Best Director: Alejandro G Inarritu for Birdman Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything GRAMMY AWARDS MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA: 6th President of Sri Lanka, from Sri Lanka Freedom Party - SLFP ANIL Kr. SINHA: Investigation 60th FILMFARE AWARDS ANNOUNCED Bureau KLAUS IOHANNIS: President of Romania BEJI CAID ESSEBSI: President of Tunisia ANEROOD JUGNAUTH: Prime Minister of Mauritius TABARE VAZQUEZ: President of Uruguay SHINZO ABE: Re elected as Prime Minister of Japan Announced on Feb 8 at Los Angeles, California, USA Some major winners are as under: Record of the Year - "Stay with Me," Sam Smith Song of the Year - "Stay with Me" (Darkchild Version) Album of the Year - Morning Phase, Beck Best R&B Performance - "Drunk in Love," Beyoncé Best Rock Album - Morning Phase, Beck Best Pop Vocal Album - In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith Best Pop Solo Performance - "Happy," Pharrell Williams Best Rap Album - The Marshall Mathers LP2, Eminem BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards announced on Feb 8 at London. BEST FILM: Boyhood by Richard Linklater of BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood BEST ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything BEST ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, Still Alice 50th JNANPITH AWARD - 2014: Bhalchandra Nemade, Marathi novelist, known for his famous novels – Kosala, Hindu. STHREE SHAKTI AWARD: conferred upon Irom Sharmila, Human rights activist from Manipur who has been on an indefinite fast since November 4, 2000, ASHTON CARTER: US Defence Secretary GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 43 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. BEST MARCHING CONTINGENTS Trophy for Republic Day Parade 2015 won jointly by the Brigade of The Guards and the Sikh Regiment awarded jointly the PADMA SHRI – 2015 (75) S. Name of No. Awardee the Discipline State/Domicile 1. Mithali Raj Sports – Cricket Telengana 2. P.V. Sindhu Sports – Badminton Telengana 3. Sanjay Leela Bhansali Art – Films Maharashtra 4. Prasoon Joshi Art – Films Maharashtra 5. Tarak Mehta Art – TV Gujarat PADMA AWARDS 2015 ANNOUNCED PADMA VIBHUSHAN – 2015 (9) 6. Jean-Claude Carriere Literature and Education France S. No. Name of the Awardee Discipline 7. Late Pran Kumar Sharma alias Pran Art – Cartoonist Delhi 1. Lal Krishna Advani Public Affairs – Politician 2. Amitabh Bachchan Art - Cinema Maharashtra 3. Prakash Singh Badal Public Affairs Punjab 4. Dr. D V Heggade Social Work Karnataka 5. Dilip Kumar Art - Cinema Maharashtra 6. Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya Others - Hindu Scholar Uttar Pradesh DSC Prize for Literature: The $50,000 prize won by Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri for her book, The Lowland at the Jaipur Literature Festival M. R. Srinivasan Science and Engineering Nuclear Scientist Tamil Nadu Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for poetry won by Arunadhathi Subramaniam for her work When God is a Traveller, at the Jaipur Literature Festival AMARTYA SEN: Eminent Indian economist and Nobel laureate has been named as the first winner of a newly established Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize in the UK, in recognition of his work on welfare economics. JANUARY 2015 7. 8. 9. K. K. Venugopal Public Affairs Constitutional Lawyer State/Domicile Gujarat SOCIAL MEDIA PERSON of the Year Award 2015: Amitabh Bachchan, conferred by the Internet and Mobile Association of India Delhi Karim Al Hussaini Trade and Industry France/UK Aga Khan PADMA BHUSHAN 2015 (19) S. No Name of the Awardee Discipline State/ Domicile 1. Shri Jahnu Barua Art – Films Assam 2. Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap Public Affairs Constitutional Expert Delhi "GOVERNOR OF THE YEAR": Raghuram Rajan, Governor, RBI was selected by the British magazine ‘Central Banking’ for this award at the global level. ‘AWARD FOR THE BEST BANK’: bagged by the Canara Bank at the "MSME Banking Excellence Awards-2014" at Bengaluru. 72ND GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2015 Announced at Beverly Hills, California, USA 3. Harish Salve Public Affairs – Advocate Delhi 4. Rajat Sharma Media (India TV) Delhi 5. Manjul Bhargava (NRI/PIO) Science & Engg, Mathematician USA 6. Bill Gates Social Work USA 7. Melinda Gates Social Work USA GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 ASHOK CHAKRA: The highest peacetime military honour awardaed posthumously to Major Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh, the two Army personnel who laid down their lives combating militants in Kashmir Valley. Best Motion Picture-Drama: Boyhood Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice MISS UNIVERSE 2015: Paulina Vega of Columbia at Miami, USA. 44 Martin Luther King Jr. Award: Frank Islam, an eminent Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist for his contribution to the promotion of the civil rights in USA. Giraffe Hero Award 2015: Renowned Indian RTI activist Subhash Chandra Aggarwal was conferred with the by a US-based NGO The Giraffe Heroes Project. FIFA Ballon d'Or Award- 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, earning the title of world's best football player for the third time. DECEMBER 2014 THE GOLDEN PEACOCK: Award for the best film at the 45th International Film Festival of India, Goa won by the Russian film ‘Leviathan’ directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. The award carries a cash prize of 40 lakh Wong Kar Wai: The Chinese filmmaker was conferred the lifetime achievement award at IFFI. Swiss Ambassador's Award: Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro for inspirational and socially responsible leadership. Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards for 201011 given at Delhi for outstanding performance in exports. Canara Bank won the Niryat Bandhu Silver Trophy, Banks Yash Chopra Memorial Award: Amitabh Bachchan Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014: Ruhi Singh of India at Beirut, Lebanon. Miss Intercontinental 2014: Wang Patraporn, from Thailand at Magdeburg, Germany. Miss World 2014: Rolene Strauss, from South Africa at London Olof Palme Human Rights Prize: Xu Youyu, Chinese pro-democracy activist. It is an annual prize worth USD 75,000 granted by the Swedish labour movement. OBITUARY FEBRUARY 2015 D. RAMANAIDU: Veteran film producer from Andhra Pradesh, Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner, holder of the Guinness Book of World Records for the most films produced by an individual, having produced more than 150 films in 13 Indian languages. R.R. PATIL: Former Maharashtra Home Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader (16th Feb 2015) RAJINDER PURI: Popular cartoonist, veteran columnist and political activist (16th Feb 2015). GAUR HARI SINGHANIA: Chairman, J K Group of Industries that includes JK Tyres, JK Cements. CHARLES H. TOWNES: American noble prize winner scientist, inventor of laser –‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation’. JANUARY 2015 R K LAXMAN: Full name Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman, legendary cartoonist, creator of the iconic "The Common Man" cartoon published regularly for several years in The Times of India, Padma Vibhushan awardee. He wrote his autobiography titled ‘The Tunnel of Time’. B G VERGHESE: Eminent journalist, a Ramon Magsaysay award winner and former editor of the Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. RAJNI KOTHARI: Noted political scientist, founder of The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies JASWANT SINGH RAJPUT: winning hockey Olympian Two-time gold medal SUBASH GHISING: Former chief of Gorkha National Liberation Front, who gave birth to the Gorkhaland movement Confucius Peace Prize: Fidel Castro, Former Cuban leader. It is known as China's version of the Nobel Prize. SAIYID HAMID: Noted Muslim academician, educationist, reformist and author. He was Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University, ex-Chancellor Jamia Millia Islamia and former Vice Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014: Noted Pakistanborn poetess Imtiaz Dharker for her poetry collection ‘Over the Moon’. This award is given by British Queen. ABDULLAH BIN ABDULAZIZ: King of Saudi Arabia Turner Prize: Duncan Campbell, film artist from UK for a video that reflects on African art. It is a popular UK prize for art work. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 DECEMBER 2014 K. BALACHANDER: Eminent South Indian filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner from Chennai. 45 V.R. KRISHNA IYER: Legendary jurist, a Supreme Court judge and post-retirement, a human rights activist DEVEN VERMA: noted Bollywood comedy actor, famous for his roles in films Chori Mera Kaam, Chor Ke Ghar Chor and Angoor. A R ANTULAY: Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and former Union Minister, veteran Congress leader CHUNIBHAI VAIDYA: A veteran Gandhian and freedom fighter from Ahmadabad, Gujarat. JARBOM GAMLIN: Former C M of Arunachal Pradesh JOE COCKER: Legendary rock singer from Colorado, USA. DAVID JOHN RYALL: Veteran British actor PLACES IN NEWS FEBRUARY 2015 MELBOURNE & CHRISTCHURCH: Cities in Australia and New Zealand, respectively were in news as they were host to the cricket extravaganza ICC World Cup. JANUARY 2015 PERIYAR TIGER RESERVE: Sanctuary in Kerala won the National Tiger Conservation Authority award for encouraging local public participation in managing the reserve. MALIHABAD: Area of Lucknow was in news as around 50 lives were lost their due to a hooch tragedy that occurred in its nearby villages. Hooch is a type of local liquor, usually of inferior quality. BAGA: A town in north east Nigeria was in news as the Islamic militant group Boko Haram executed over 2000 persons there and in adjoining villages. DECEMBER 2014 CHINTAGUFA, SUKMA: place in Chattisgarh was in news as 14 CRPF personnel were killed there by naxalites. TYPHOON HAGUPIT: hit the eastern Philippines creating misery for millions following a barrage of deadly disasters. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 SPORTS WORLD FEBRUARY 2015 35TH NATIONAL GAMES The 14 day sports extravaganza – The 35th National Games that started on 31st January, came to an end on 14th Feb. at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. In all, sportspersons competed for the 1334 medals comprising of 405 Gold, 406 Silver and 523 Bronze medals. Services created a record by topping the medal tally for the third consecutive time. The group won 159 medals that included 91 golds. They won the Raja Bhalendra Singh Trophy for best performance. Amongst states, Kerala topped the tally with 162 medals, including 54 gold. National Games mascot Ammu, the Great Hornbill, has been selected for entry in to the Limca Book of Records. The 36th National Games will be hosted by Goa in 2016. Anirban Lahiri won his second European Tour title at the Hero Indian Open Golf Championship on Feb 22 in New Delhi. Anil Kumble, former India Captain and ace Leg Spinner has been chosen to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame with all times greatest cricketers Hero Hockey India League 2015: Ranchi Rays won the championship by defeating Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the finals played at New Delhi. All India Football Federations (AIFF) has declared Sunil Chhetri and Bala Devi as Player of the Year 2014 in men and women category, respectively. Paul van Ass of Netherland was appointed Head Coach of India’s men’s Hockey team. 67th National track cycling championship held at Thiruvananthapuram A glittering opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was held on Feb 12 at two places - at Christchurch New Zealand and at Melbourne, Australia. France has become the first team in handball history to win World Handball Championships for the 5th time beating the Qatar at Doha, Qatar. Omega Dubai Desert Classic: World No. 1 Rory McIlroy of UK won the prestigious golf cup. Simona Halep of Romania won the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) championship in Dubai. Nicol David: World Women’s Squash champion from Malaysia has set a new record for topping the world rankings for the 106th month. 46 AUSTRALIAN OPEN held at Melbourne, Australia Men’s: Novak Djokovic of Serbia won his 5th Australian Open title beating Andy Murray of Britain Women’s: Serena Williams of USA beats Maria Sharapova of Russia. It was her 19th Grand Slam title. She is tied for third on a list of the most Grand Slam singles won by women. Mixed Doubles: Leander Paes of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland won the title. JANUARY 2015 The Sports Ministry revised its ‘Scheme of Special Awards’ to medal winners in international events by increasing the award money in Olympic and Paralympics Games (summer and winter) from Rs 50 lakh to 75 lakh for gold, Rs 30 lakh to 50 lakh for silver and Rs 20 lakh to 30 lakh for bronze. Sania Mirza along with her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands won doubles title at the Sydney International Tennis Tournament. Anirban Lahiri, Indian professional golfer voted as the 2014 Players’ Player of the year in Asian Tour. National Billiards Championship: Pankaj Advani won the national title in Kolkata beating Dhruv Sitwala. Arantxa Sanchis won the women’s title. Senior National Snooker Championship: Pankaj Advani won the title defeating Varun Madan at Kolkata. Amee Kamani won the women’s title. Youth National Weightlifting Championship: Jimjang Deru of Arunachal Pradesh created national record by lifting 238 kilograms under the 56 kilograms category in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana. Bengaluru FC won the Federation Cup football title at Margao, Goa, beating Dempo Sports Club 76th Table Tennis National Championship: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board team won both men's and women's titles at Puducherry. The 79th Senior National Badminton Championship held in Vijayawada from January 29 to February 5. Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the ATP Chennai Open Tennis Singles title beating Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Mahendra Singh Dhoni Indian cricket captain has decided to retire from Test cricket, citing strain of playing all formats. He would prefer to concentrate on ODI and T20 formats. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 India will host the 2016 Twenty 20 World Cup from 11th of March to 3rd of April 2016. Stephen Constantine appointed head coach of Indian men's football team. O P JAISHA: Indian runner broke the 19-year-old national record of women marathon at the 12th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon in Mumbai, clocking a time of 2:37:29. Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for 2014, earning the title of world's best football player for a third time. Brett Lee: Australian cricketer, rated as third fastest bowler in world, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20-year career. AB de Villiers, South Africa's cricket captain hit the fastest century in one-day internationals cricket history, 31 balls to 100 against the West Indies in Johannesburg, South Africa. He scored 149 runs off 44 balls. Roger Federer of Switzerland reached the 1,000 ATP Tour wins milestone as he won the Brisbane International title on Jan 11, defeating Canada's Milos Raonic at Brisbane, Australia. He becomes the third man, after Jimmy Connors (1253) and Ivan Lendl (1071), to secure 1,000 ATP wins. ATP: Association of Tennis Professionals Sean Abbott, the Australian bowler has been named Australia's young cricketer of the year, winning the Sir Bradman Award. He is the same bowler whose delivery led to the death of Phillip Hughes. \ DECEMBER 2014 Blind Cricket World Cup: India lifted the Cup on Dec 7 after defeating Pakistan in Cape Town, South Africa. P V Sindhu: Won the Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy at Macau, China, beating Kim Hyo Min of Korea Viswanathan Anand won his maiden London Classic title after defeating British Grandmaster Michael Adams Ankita Raina won ITF singles tennis title defeating British Katy Dunne in Pune, Maharashtra. She is the first Indian to win this title in past 14 years. M S Dhoni broke the world record for most number of stumpings in international cricket after he claimed his 134th victim – Mitchell Johnson of Australia at Melbourne, Australia. Baichung Bhutia: Former Indian football captain conferred with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Hall of Fame Award in Manila, Philippines. 47 Sachin Tendulkar has been named as the brand ambassador for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Arjun Atwal has won the Inaugural edition of Dubai Open Golf Championship. Pragyan Ojha, The left-arm spinner has been banned by BCCI from bowling in competitive matches as his bowling action was found illegal, flexing elbow beyond 15 degrees. India beats Turkey to win the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad at Gyor in Hungary. 17th Asian Luge Championships: Shiva Keshavan won Silver Medal at the Spiral Olympic Sliding Centre in Nagano, Japan. Indian Super League football tournament: Atletico de Kolkata won the championship beating Kerala Blasters. Champions Trophy: Germany beats Pakistan to win the hockey trophy at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Deodhar Trophy: East zone beats West zone to lift cricket trophy in Mumbai. 58th National Shooting Championships held in Pune, Maharashtra ‘VINICIUS’ & ‘TOM’ – MASCOTS FOR RIO OLYMPICS Brazil has declared ‘Vinicius’ as the mascot for the Rio 2016 Olympics to be held at Rio de Janeiro. International Tennis Federation (ITF) has declared following as the “Player of the Year 2014” Men’s: Novak Djokovic from Serbia Women’s: Serena Williams from USA Hillel Oscar: An international umpire and former captain of Israel's national cricket team died on Nov 30 after being hit in the jaw by a ball at Ashdod, Israel. ASIAN GAMES -- INDIAN HIGHLIGHTS Yogeshwar Dutt ended a 28-year gold drought for India in wrestling after winning Gold Jitu Rai, shooter won India's 1st gold in the 50m event. MC Mary Kom became the first Indian woman boxer to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Games India won the Hockey gold medal beating Pakistan Indian Kabaddi Teams, both men and women, beat Iran’s teams to win the Gold. Varsha Gautam and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan made history by becoming the first Indian women to win a sailing medal – Bronze in Dinghy event at the Asian Games. Khushbir Kaur won the country’s first-ever silver in the women’s 20 kms race walk in Asiad. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 With an aim to increase India`s medal tally in 2016 and 2020 Olympics, the Sports Ministry has decided to start a "Target Olympic Podium Scheme" The Indian Super League (ISL) heralded a new dawn for football in India on 12 October, at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Sharath Gayakwad, the para-swimmer made history at the Asian Para-Games in Incheon, South Korea, by winning six medals. Anirban Lahiri won the Venetian Macau Open Golf Cup. Pankaj Advani: Won World Billiards Point Format Championship at Leeds, UK. He also won the World title in time format beating Robin Wilson of UK. World junior Chess title 2014 Lu Shanglei of China defeated Aleksander Indjic of Serbia to win the title in Pune, Maharashtra. 35th Senior National Archery Championship held in New Delhi, won by Punjab. Champions League Twenty 20 Chennai Super Kings won the trophy by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. Chinn aswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The multi-sport Paralympic Games 2015 will be held in India in February 2015. 4th Sultan of Johor Cup (hockey) for under 21 won by India beating Great Britain at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. James Tull: A club cricketer in Australia created history by scoring a triple ton – 341 runs - with 25 sixes and 34 fours Shanghai Rolex Masters (Tennis) – 2014 won by Roger Federer (Switzerland) beating Gilles Simon (France) in Shanghai, China. KOHEI UCHIMURA: Japan’s gymnast won his fifth straight all-around world title at the Gymnastics World Championships in Nanning, China. ATP CHINA OPEN Tennis Cup 2014, Beijing Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beats Tomas Berdych (Czech) to win men’s singles title. Maria Sharapova (Russia) beats Petra Kvitova(Czech) to win women’s singles title Serena Williams (USA) beat Simona Halep (Romania) to lift the WTA Finals cup at Singapore. Sania Mirza and Cara Black (Zimbabwe) won the WTA finals women's doubles tennis title at Singapore. 48 BOOKS & AUTHORS BOOK AUTHOR Editor Unplugged: Media, Magnates, Netas and Me Vinod Mehta The Ever After of Ashwin Rao Padma Viswanathan The Bookman’s Tale Go Set a Watchman Charlie Lovett Harper Lee, author of world famous novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” Recasting India: How Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World’s Largest Democracy Hindol Sengupta 'Neither a Hawk nor a Dove' Khurshid M Kasuri, Pakistan's Ex-Foreign Minister The Red Sari The Indian Parliament – A Critical Appraisal Javier Moro; the book is the story of Sonia Gandhi, originally written in Spanish Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar At Home in India: The Muslim Saga Salman Khurshid The Tunnel of Time R. K. Laxman (autobiography) The Last Illusion Adultery Life is What You Make it In God’s Hands Family Life Born Again on the Mountain 2014: The Election That GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Your Dreams are Mine Now Pandit Prabodh Kumar Mishra. Paulo Coelho Preeti Shenoy Desmond Tutu Templeton prize winner Akhil Sharma, the book has been selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten Best Books of 2014. Arunima Sinha, the first Indian female amputee to climb Mount Everest. Rajdeep Sardesai Ravinder Singh Dev Dutt Pattnaik The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years Pranab Mukherjee, President of India The Scatter Here is Too Great Truth Always Prevails The Narrow Road to the Deep North Bilal Tanweer of Lahore won the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize Sadruddin Hashwani John Kampfner Dilip D’Souza Richard Flanagan A Man and A Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power Bette Dam Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace by Leon Panetta Jim Newton Sons of Brahama The divided Island And then One Day: A Memoir The Highlights Odyssey of My Life Harish Khare Porochista Khakpour Gen. Sundarajan Padmanabhan, former Indian Army Chief 7 Secretes of the Goddess Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar John Green How Modi Won It Next China-India War World's First Water War – 2029 The Rich The Fault in Our Stars Vande Bharatam Changed India Playing It My Way –My Autobiography Gods of Antarctica The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, Kolkataborn British author. Heaven is for Real The Boys in the Boat Orange is the New Black The Book of Life Dhruba Hazarika Samanth Subramanian Autobiography of noted film artist Naseeruddin Shah Frank Keating Autobiography of former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar Yashwardhan Shukla, a 13 year old school boy from Delhi The book has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize 2014 Todd Burpo & Lynn Vincent Daniel James Brown Piper Kerman Deborah Harkness 49 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 50 Latest MCQs ON CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY GK TEST-01 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Who among the following was in news on becoming the first-ever Indian judge in the New York court? A. Bobby Jindal B. Rajat Gupta C. Preet Bharara D. Raja Rajeswari E. None of these The epicenter of the massive earthquake that shook Nepal last month was A. Tibet B. Shin Kiang C. Lumjong D. Kabul E. Gorkha The proposed Atal Mission for rejuvenating the Indian cities is going to replace the earlier A. JRY B. MNREGA C. RGAY D. PMRY E. JNNURM The energy released by an earthquake is measured in terms of A. Megatons B. Tons C. Watts D. Joules E. Ergs Which of the following IS/ ARE true with regard to the companies listed in India? 1. A listed company must have at least 2 women on the Board of Directors. 2. A listed company must have a minimum 25% shareholding with the general public. 3. All listed companies must have a minimum FII shareholding of 10%. A. 2 Only B. 1 and 2 C. 1, 2, 3 D. 1 Only E. None of these statements is correct. iGATE, a software company, has been acquired by A. Grant Thornton B. Progeon C. Wipro D. Capegemini E. Du Pont Statins are the medicines used to A. Treat common childhood infections B. Treat Ebola C. Prolong the lives of AIDS patients GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. D. Treat kidney problems E. Dilate narrow arteries that lead to the heart In the context of the proposed amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, which of the following statements IS/ ARE CORRECT? A. The bribe-giver will be equally culpable as is the bribe-taker B. The convicted person shall be debarred from holding any public office in future. C. The jail term in corruption cases has been raised to 7 years D. Both A and C E. None of these The book “Half Rupee Stories” is authored by A. Neil Mukherjee B. Javed Akhtar C. Ravinder Singh D. Sudha Murthy E. Gulzar The movie Margarita With Straw, which won the best movie honour at a German Film Festival recently, stars ……… in the lead role of a cerebral palsy patient. A. Divya Dutta B. Kalki Koechlin C. Sonam Kapoor D. Vidya Balan E. Radhika Apte The new capital city of Telangana is coming up in/ near A. Hyderabad B. Amravati C. Seemandhra D. Guntur E. Bellary The phenomenon of S and P waves pertains to A. Heat waves B. TV Transmission C. Sound waves D. Earthquakes E. Tsunamis Pick out the wrong pair. A. Kiran Mazumdar: Biocon B. Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook C. Chanda Kochhar: ICICI Bank D. Kanchan Chaudhry: ITBP E. Shikha Sharma: Axis Bank Operation Maitri refers to the A. Earthquake rescue and relief efforts mounted by India in Nepal B. Joint military exercises launched by Nepal and India C. Treaty signed between Mauritius and India for mutual cooperation 51 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. D. Joint anti-terrorist operations by India and Bangladesh E. None of these Which of the following days does NOT fall in the month of May? A. World Book Day B. No Tobacco Day C. Labour Day D. Anti-Smoking Day E. All these days are observed in the month of May Select the WRONG pair from the following groupings. A. Meetings with Remarkable Women --- Karan Singh B. On Hinduism --- Wendy Doniger C. Crusaders or Conspirators?: Coalgate and Other Truths --- Dr. Sanjay Baru D. Manmohan and Gursharan: Strictly Personal --Ms. Daman Singh E. The Election That Changed India --- Rajdeep Sardesai Which of the following acronyms can be expanded to mean a tax avoidance treaty? A. DTAA B. GAAR C. GST D. NCPCR E. IPCC Assertion (A): The collegium system of appointing judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court has been abolished by the government. Reasoning (R): The government has enacted a new Judicial Accountability Act to deal with the appointment of judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court. Select your answer using the following codes: A. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A. B. Both A and R are correct but R is not a correct explanation of A. C. A is correct while R is incorrect. D. A is incorrect while R is correct. E. Both A and R are incorrect Nick Wallenda, who was in news recently, is a well-known A. Hollywood actor B. climber C. photographer D. adventurist E. bungee jumper Ethanol Blending refers to A. Blending ethanol and denatured spirit B. Mixing 20% ethanol with kerosene to reduce dependence on diesel C. Mixing 20% ethanol with petrol to reduce dependence on petrol D. Mixing ethanol in LPG for better fuel efficiency E. None of these The government has decided to amend the Juvenile Justice Act to GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. A. try juveniles, accused of committing heinous crimes, as adults B. provide for more stringent punishment than before to all juveniles C. provide for death punishment in case of serious crimes D. provide for the rehabilitation of juvenile criminals E. modify the definition of juvenile as given in the law Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) invested a record ………… in India during FY 2014-15. A. $ 270 billion B. Rs. 70, 000 Crore C. Rs. 1,70, 000 Crore D. Rs. 5, 70, 000 Crore E. Rs. 2, 70, 000 Crore Assertion (A): The government has entered into an inflation targeting arrangement with the Reserve Bank, whereby the RBI has agreed to contain inflation within 6% by 2016. Reasoning (R): The government would like to ensure better accountability in inflation management by fixing such a target. Select your answer using the following codes: A. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A. B. Both A and R are correct but R is not a correct explanation of A. C. A is correct while R is incorrect. D. A is incorrect while R is correct. E. Both A and R are incorrect The Public Debt in India is managed by A. Public Debt Management Authority B. Reserve Bank of India C. Union Cabinet D. Securities and Exchange Board of India E. Finance Ministry The national-level counter-terrorism body in India, which coordinates all relevant activities, is the A. NTRO B. NSAC C. RAW D. ANTER E. NATGRID Among the Indian states, ………………… attracts the largest number of foreign tourists followed by ……………. A. Kerala, Goa B. Maharashtra, Kerala C. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu D. Kerala, Punjab E. Kerala, Maharashtra The latest member nation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is A. Seychelles B. Mauritius C. Mali D. Fiji E. The West Indies 52 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has replaced the mandatory three colour codes on all mutual fund literature with A. A riskometer to help investors understand better the risks in mutual fund investments. B. A graphical representation of the risk involved in mutual funds vis a vis other investment options C. A warning printed in bold capital letters to inform the investors of the risks they face. D. Both A and C E. None of these Future Retail, which owns the Big Bazaar stores, will merge with …………….. to create a big retail chain with more than retail 570 stores. A. Bharti Retail Ltd B. Reliance Retail C. Spencer Retail D. Walmart Retail E. Westside Retail Amitabh Chowdhury, who passed away recently, was a renowned A. Journalist, writer and Tagore researcher B. Painter C. Playwright D. Environmental activist D. Musician The World Welterweight boxing match termed Fight of the Century took place in Las Vegas, USA which saw ……………. defeat ……………. of …………….. . A. Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, The Philippines B. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, The USA C. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, The Philippines D. Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Indonesia E. None of these Which among the following Indians has been honoured with The Order of the Rising Sun, Japan's highest civilian award for promoting Indo-Japanese scientific cooperation? A. Dr. AS Paintal B. Manmohan Singh C. Dr. Anil Kakodkar D. Prof CNR Rao E. Dr. RA Mashlekar The government has decided to launch a new urban renewal mission called the ………… to transform 500 cities at a cost of Rs. 50000 Crore. A. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) B. Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) C. PM’s Shehri Vikas Karyakram (PMSVK) D. Deen Dyal Upadhyaya Urban Development Mission (DDUUDM) E. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Improvement (AMRUI) GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 34. Which NASA spacecraft recently finished a four-year mission to Mercury by crashing into the planet after it had run out of fuel? A. Mercury Rover B. Discovery C. Messenger D. Challenger E. Curiosity 35. The government has approved a minimum monthly pension of ………… for pensioners under the EPFO beyond the financial year 2014-15. A. Rs 1500 B. Rs 2000 C. Rs 500 D. Rs 10000 E. Rs 1000 The new Chairperson of Children's Film Society of India (CFSI) will be A. Shabana Azmi B. Nandita Dass C. Gulzar D. Anupam Kher E. Mukesh Khanna A private member’s bill in Parliament is one which is A. passed by a voice vote, without electronic voting B. not allowed without the President’s consent C. proposed by a non-MP, who has been granted special permission by the Speaker to move it D. proposed by an MP, who does not belong to the ruling party E. initiated by the main Opposition party in the respective House Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, which has been in news of late, deals with A. Murder B. Abetment to suicide C. Culpable homicide, not amounting to murder D. Suicide E. Common intention The title Oracle of Omaha is given to A. Carlos Slim B. Warren Buffett C. Jack Maa D. Bill Gates E. Steve Jobs With which neighbouring country has India signed a Land Border Agreement (LBA) for exchange of land enclaves? A. Myanmar B. Nepal C. Pakistan D. China E. Bangladesh The Goods and Services Tax Bill will become a law A. After at least 50% of all Indian states pass it subsequent to the Presidential assent after parliamentary approval B. Once both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha pass it C. After at least 3/4th of Indian states pass it subsequent to its passage by the Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and the Presidential assent D. Once the Rajya Sabha passes it 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 53 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. E. If Lok Sabha passes it, even if Rajya Sabha rejects it Choose the correct descending order of the top civilian awards given by the Indian government. A. Bharat Ratan, Padma Vibhushan, Padam Shri, Padam Bhushan B. Bharat Ratan, Padam Bhushan, Padam Shri, Padma Vibhushan C. Bharat Ratan, Padam Shri, Padma Vibhushan, Padam Bhushan D. Bharat Ratan, Padma Vibhushan, Padam Bhushan, Padam Shri E. None of these Which of the following is/ are NOT true of the Land Border Agreement signed by India recently? 1. The Land Border Agreement (LBA) was passed by Parliament as 119th Constitutional Amendment Act. 2. The agreement proposes to transfer certain land enclaves to Bangladesh in return for similar land enclaves from it. 3. The agreement would need approval by at least half of the Indian states. A. 1 and 2 B. 1 Only C. 2 and 3 D. 3 Only E. All these statements are correct The best feature film at the 61st National Film Awards was A. Pagdi - The Honour B. Mary Kom C. Court D. Queen E. None of these Very often, the Wholesale Price Index and the Consumer Price Index figures published in India in the past showed discrepancy in the level of inflation they report. Given below are some possible reasons behind it. Study them carefully and choose the set of CORRECT statements according to the codes given thereafter. 1. Services like housing, healthcare, education and entertainment are part of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) but they do not figure in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). 2. The Consumer Price Index for a certain period is released much later than the Wholesale Price Index. 3. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) tracks the producer-level prices while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) computes the retail-level prices. A. 1, 3 B. 2, 3 C. 1, 2 D. All are correct E. 1 only Ram Chandra Guha is a prominent A. film maker B. painter GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 47. 48. 49. 50. C. photographer D. theologian E. historian If you are not satisfied with the grievance redressal mechanism of a bank, the topmost appellate authority you can approach, is the A. Governor, Reserve Bank of India B. Chairman, National Consumer Forum C. Chairman of the Bank concerned D. Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India E. Finance Ministry Which of the following corporates is not headed by a lady? A. Axis Bank B. ICICI Bank C. HDFC Bank D. PepsiCo E. Biocon A bank acts as a/an ……… in relation to the money lying with it. A. Landlord B. Safekeeper C. Financial intermediary D. Both B and C E. Owner of the funds The provisions of the SARFAESI Act DO NOT apply if A. When the case is pending in the court of law. B. 80% or more of the loan amount has been recovered C. The Act does not apply in any of these cases D. The asset in question is agriculture land E. Both B and D MAY GK TEST-02 1. 2. 3. Match the following pairs. 1. UNDP P. Global warming 2. UNCTAD Q. Human rights violations 3. WTO R. Global trade 4. UNHRC S. Human Development Index 5. IPCC T. Anti-dumping duties Select your answer using the codes given below: P Q R S T A. 5 4 2 1 3 B. 5 4 1 2 3 C. 4 5 2 1 3 D. 3 2 4 1 5 E. None of these is correct The Right to Compulsory, Free Elementary Education is contained in which article of the Indian Constitution? A. Art 32 B. Art 21 A C. Art 14 D. Art 19 E. Art 17 The primary deficit in the Union Budget 201516 was pegged at A. 0.7% B. 2.7% 54 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. C. 3.9% D. 1.8% E. 3.7% Which of the following schemes has/have been launched by the government recently? 1. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana 2. Atal Pension Yojana 3. Pradhan Mantri Surakasha Beema Yojana A. 1, 3 B. 2, 3 C. 1 Only D. 1, 2 E. All of these In American parlance, if someone has been Bangalored, he/she A. has been promoted fast B. has lost his/her job due to outsourcing C. has been demoted D. has suffered a pay cut E. has been transferred to Bangalore Which of the following is/are NOT within the domain of SEBI in India? A. Hawala cases B. Public debt management functions C. Insider Trading D. Portfolio Management Schemes (PMS) E. Both A and B Select the wrong pair. A. Not A Nice Man To 1. Khushwant Know Singh B. Not Just An Accountant 2. Vinod Rai C. Neither Hawk Nor Dove 3. Farid Zakaria D. Scion of Ikshvaku 4. Amish Tripathi E. Manmohan and 5. Ms. Daman Singh Gursharan: Strictly Personal The biggest litigant in India, as per a Law Commission report, is the A. Farmers B. Government employees C. Labourers D. Government E. Corporates “In the world of technology, efficiency doubles and prices halve every 18 months”---- This wise saying is also known as A. Laffer’s axiom B. Moore’s law C. Murphy’s law D. Say’s law E. Parkinson’s law Significant remains of the Harappan civilization have been discovered recently in A. Rakhigarhi B. Banawali C. Kalibangan D. Dholavira E. Sanghol Which of the following statements regarding euthanasia in India is/ are CORRECT? GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 1. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Right To Die is an intrinsic part of the Right To Life under Article 21 of the Constitution. 2. The Supreme Court, in the Aruna Shanbaug case, had allowed passive euthanasia, with the consent of the terminally ill patient’s family. 3. The Supreme Court, in the Aruna Shanbaug case, had allowed both passive and active euthanasia, with the consent of the terminally ill patient’s family. A. 1 only B. 1, 2 C. 2 only D. 1, 3 only E. None of these 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Which country recently conducted a referendum on allowing gay marriages? A. The USA B. Iceland C. The UK D. Ireland E. France India has extended a $ 1 billion credit line to A. Mauritius B. Nepal C. Seychelles D. South Korea E. Mongolia Pick the wrong pair. A. Yingluck Shinawatra: Thailand B. Park Gun-hye: South Korea C. Xi Jinping: China D. Kim Jong Un: North Korea E. All these pairs are correct Near Field Communication is a technology employed in A. Communication in space travel B. Making missiles C. Contactless ATM Debit Cards D. Mines E. Mobile phones Which of the following statements about the proposed Gold Monetization Scheme is/ are WRONG? 1. The scheme seeks to make productive use of the idle gold lying in households. 2. The scheme offers a fixed rate of interest on the gold deposited with the bank by customers. 3. The gold deposited under it can be used by the bank as part of its Statutory Liquidity Ratio requirements. A. None of these B. 3 only C. 1 and 2 D. All statements given above are wrong E. 2 only The term play off is quite popular in A. Hockey B. Boxing C. Golf D. Cricket E. Tennis 55 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. The proposed Whistleblowers Act deals with which of the following? A. Financial system frauds B. Black money lying abroad C. Creation of a Jan Lokpal D. Corruption in government offices, PSUs and other public bodies E. None of these Which of the following countries tops the latest Human Development Index report issued by the UNDP? A. The USA B. Luxembourg C. Denmark D. Norway E. Canada USTAAD is a scheme announced by the government for the promotion of A. Traditional religious education in Madrasas B. Urdu in schools and colleges C. Financial literacy across India D. music and dance E. Traditional arts and crafts John Nash, who passed away recently, was most well-known for his contribution to A. Fundamental Particles B. Welfare Economics C. Science Fiction writing D. Total Quality Systems E. Game Theory Jayalalitha, the 5th time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was recently acquitted of the charges of …… by a Karnataka court. A. Money Laundering B. Electoral Malpractices C. Disproportionate Assets D. Bribery E. None of these Which of the following statements is CORRECT in the context of the National Capital Territory of Delhi? A. The National Capital Territory of Delhi is governed by the Central Government through a Lieutenant Governor in all respects. B. The National Capital Territory of Delhi is a fullfledged state in all respects just like other states in India. C. The National Capital Territory of Delhi is a limited state, with many important powers on law and order, land etc. lying with the Central Government. D. The National Capital Territory of Delhi is similar to other Union Territories (UTs) in terms of its administrative system and the relationship with the Central Government. E. None of these Which of the following is/ are WRONG in respect of the Gold Monetization Scheme? 1. People can deposit their idle gold with the banks in return for an interest payment. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 2. A minimum 30 grams of gold can be deposited on which the Banks will decide the rate of interest. 3. The minimum deposit period is one year, after which the customer may ask for gold or cash. A. 2 Only B. 3 Only C. 1, 2, 3 D. 2 and 3 E. All these statements are correct Which of the following has become the first country to legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote by passing a referendum? A. The UK B. The Netherlands C. Ireland D. Switzerland E. Iceland Palmyra was in news recently as A. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has seized its full control. B. It has been declared a World Heritage Site because of its ancient architecture. C. It has been made the new capital of the Islamic Caliphate in Syria. D. The world’s tallest tower has been inaugurated here. E. None of these Sudha Shivpuri, who passed away last month, was active in the field of A. Entertainment, films and television B. Literature, especially poetry C. Classic vocal music, especially thumri D. Sports, especially athletics E. Wildlife Protection Name the process by which appointment of judges to High Court and Supreme Court is set to be made? A. Collegium system B. Committee consisting of Prime Minister, Speaker of Lok Sabha and Leader of opposition. C. National Judicial Appointment Commission D. President of India E. None of these E-huts are designed to A. Act as a one-prominent contact for all banking needs of high net worth customers B. Provide banking services to people in rural areas C. Provide insurance services to people in rural areas D. Provide safety locker services to rural customers E. Provide all financial services to rural customers Maria Elena South was in news recently as A. It has been found to be the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean. 56 31. 32. 33. 34. B. It has been found to be the highest point on the Earth. C. It has been found to be the wettest place on the Earth. D. It has been found to be the driest place on the Earth. E. None of these Which of the following statements is/are TRUE in respect of some recent legislations/ plans approved by the government/ Parliament? 1. The new Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets Act 2015 seeks to tax unlawful, undisclosed income abroad @ 30 per cent, with an additional 30 percent penalty. Further, it provides for 120 per cent tax and penalty besides a 10-year jail term. 2. The ‘Namami Gange Programme’ has been allocated Rs. 20000 Crore and will involve people living on the banks of the river to attain sustainable results. 3. The amended Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act provides for filing the case against the issuer of the cheque at the place where cheque is deposited by the beneficiary (payee). A. 2 Only B. 1, 2, 3 C. 1, 3 D. 1, 2 E. 1 Only The newly appointed CEO of the 50 billiondollar New Development Bank set up by the BRICS group, with its headquarters in Shanghai, is A. Chanda Kochhar B. Shikha Sharma C. Naina Lal D. KV Kamath E. Deepak Parekh Which of the following is TRUE with regard to the latest changes in child labour laws? A. Children below 14 years can work in family enterprises, entertainment industry and even in hazardous industries, with certain conditions. B. Children below 14 years can work only in family enterprises. C. Children below 18 years can work in the entertainment industry with certain conditions, while completely banning their employment elsewhere. D. Children below 14 years have been completely banned from employment anywhere, including family enterprises and entertainment industries. E. None of these is correct. Find the wrong pairing. A. Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad: Prof. Bhim Singh B. World’s Best Boyfriend: Durjoy Datta GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. C. Your Dreams are Mine Now: Ravinder Singh D. The Past Before Us: Romila Thapar E. The Scion of Ikshvaku: Preeti Shenoy The Man Booker International Prize 2015 was bagged by A. Hillary Mantel B. Robert Flangan C. Laszlo Krasznahorkai D. Gunter Gross E. None of these Pick the wrongly matched pair out of the following. A. Dr. Nasim Zaidi: Chief Election Commissioner B. Surinder Singh: D-G, Central Industrial Security Force C. Deepak Sandhu: Chief Information Commissioner D. KV Thomas: Chairman, Public Accounts Committee E. Dalbir Singh Suhag: Chief of Army Staff The following are some of the decisions said to be taken by the Reserve Bank recently. 1. Appointment of internal ombudsman in every bank for complaint resolution. 2. Abolition of priority sector guidelines to banks due to high NPAs 3. Abolition of Base Rate for the purpose of computing the interest rates chargeable on bank loans. Select the CORRECT ones and mark your answer accordingly. A. 1 only B. 2, 3 C. 2 only D. 1, 3 E. All these statements are correct Which of the following is/ are INCORRECT regarding the farm output figures for the year 2014-15? A. India’s foodgrain production is estimated to decline by 5.25 per cent to 251.12 million tones. B. The production of most Kharif crops fell due to poor monsoons last year and Rabi crops due to unseasonal rain and hailstorms. C. India had recorded a record foodgrain output of 265.04 million tons during the year 2013-14. D. The government plans to dig up network of tubewells throughout the country in the next 10 years to minimize the farmers’ dependence on monsoons. E. None of these Tejaswini Sagar, an Indian girl was in headlines recently for A. Bagging a gold in the under-15 World School Chess Championships in Pattaya. B. Getting a gold in the under-15 Para-Olympics held in Spain. C. Becoming the youngest Chess Grandmaster in the world. D. Crossing the English Channel in record time. 57 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. E. Creating a new world record in under-15 100metre race competition. Which of the following is the largest private sector bank in India, as per recent media reports? A. IDBI Bank B. ICICI Bank C. Kotak Mahindra Bank D. Axis Bank E. HDFC Bank Who among the following was named International Cricketer of the Year 2015? A. AB de Villiers B. Chris Gayle C. Kumar Sangakkara D. Virat Kohli E. Shane Warne The AFSPA, a piece of legislation, which hogged the headlines recently, deals with A. Dowry deaths B. Special powers given to the armed forces in areas declared as disturbed C. Divorce laws D. Child labourers E. Protection of children’s rights against violence of all kinds Which company was in news due to allegations of excess Lead in one of its food items, leading to withdrawal of its batches? A. Nestle India B. Tata Sons C. PepsiCo D. Adani Wilmar Enterprises E. Hindustan Unilever The Cannes Film Festival, an iconic event that showcases the best in world cinema, recently concluded in A. Canada B. Germany C. The UK D. France E. The USA John Nash, who died recently in an accident, was a well-known A. Car designer B. Welfare economist C. Abstract painter D. Mathematician E. Management expert Effective June 1, all payments beyond Rs.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, made for buying immovable property will have to be in the form of cheques. A. 100, 000 B. 10, 000 C.5, 000 D. 50, 000 E. 20, 000 Pick the wrong pairing. A. World Human Rights Day: December 10 B. No Tobacco Day: May 31 C. World Environment Day: June 5 D. World Book Day: April 23 E. World Press Freedom Day: May 5 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 48. 49. 50. The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star is awarded by which government to honour men of merit? A. The USA B. Britain C. Japan D. Russia E. France Mohammed Morsi, who has been awarded a death sentence along with hundreds of others accused of a mass jail break, is the ex ruler of A. Egypt B. Pakistan C. Yemen D. Bangladesh E. The UAE The sweetest substance known so far is A. Saccharine B. Glucose C. Lactose D. Sucrose E. Fructose ANSWER KEY TEST – 1 Q. 1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 A. D D B C A C A E A E Q. 2 7 12 17 22 27 32 37 42 47 A. C E D A E A D D D D Q. 3 8 13 18 23 28 33 38 43 48 A. E C B C A A A C E C Q. 4 9 14 19 24 29 34 39 44 49 A. A E A D B A C B C D Q. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 A. A B A C E A E E D E Q. 4 9 14 19 24 29 34 39 44 49 A. E B E B E B E A D A Q. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 A. B A C E C D C B D A TEST – 2 Q. 1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 A. A E C A E A B C C E Q. 2 7 12 17 22 27 32 37 42 47 A. B C D D C A D A B E Q. 3 8 13 18 23 28 33 38 43 48 A. A D E D C C B D A C 58 SBI PO PRELIM Model Test Paper QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE 8) 3001 x 749 ÷ 1001 – 1399 = ? 1) 650 2) 700 3) 950 4) 850 5) 1000 9) 2642 - 1156 + 459 = ? 1) 50 2) 90 3) 40 4) 20 5) 30 1-5): What will come in place of question mark (?) in the following questions? 1) 12 of 25% of 1020 120 ? 17 1) 60 3) 80 5) None of these 2) 2) 40 4) 120 4321 – 9241 + 5642 + 3220 = ? + 1203 1) 2649 2) 2769 3) 2639 4) 2749 5) None of these 3) 52 X 26 ÷169 – 32 = ? - 42 1) 65 2) 57 3) 55 4) 67 5) None of these 4) 54 x 5 + 150 + 21 = (?)2 1) 21 2) 21 3) 4412 4) 441 5) None of these 5) 72 x 492 = 7? X 343 1) 4 3) 6 5) None of these 2) 3 4) 2 6 – 10): What approximate value will come in place of the question mark (?) in the following questions? (You are not expected to calculate the exact value.) 10) 901 91 51 ? 29 301 599 1) 140 3) 60 5) 30 2) 110 4) 20 11 – 15): What will come in place of the question mark (?) in the following number series? 11) 11 15 31 67 131 ? 1) 233 2) 221 3) 243 4) 231 5) None of these 12) 483 471 ? 1) 183 3) 185 5) None of these 435 375 2) 184 4) 186 13) 5 7 13 25 45 ? 1) 67 2) 75 3) 65 4) 55 5) None of these 6) 465.84 + 764.86 – 211.99 = ? 1) 1100 2) 1080 3) 1000 4) 1020 5) 1060 14) 4 11 25 53 109 ? 1) 221 2) 234 3) 212 4) 222 5) None of these 7) 149.9% of 149.9 + 149.9 = ? 1) 375 2) 400 3) 350 4) 425 5) 450 15) 15 21 33 51 75 ? 1) 113 2) 103 3) 105 4) 115 5) None of these GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 291 59 16-20): In the following questions two equations numbered I and II are given. You have to solve both the equations and _____ Give answer if 1) x>y 2) x≥y 3) x<y 4) x≤y 5) x = y or the relationship cannot be established 16) I) x2 – 1200 = 244 II) y + 122 = 159 17) I) 14x – 25 = 59 – 7x II) 18) I) 144x2 – 16 = 9 II) 12y + 4 = 49 19) I) x2 - 9x + 20 = 0 II) y2 – 13y + 42 = 0 20) I) x 3 x 1 5 10 x II) y 222 - 36 = 81 10 2 4 y y y 21-25): Each of the questions below consists of a question and two statements numbered I and II are given below it. You have to decide whether the data provided in the statements are sufficient to answer the question. Read both the statements and ____ Give answer 1) If the data in statement I alone are sufficient to answer the question, while the data in statement II alone are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 2) If the data in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question, while the data in statement I alone are not sufficient the question. Give answer 3) If the data in statement I alone or in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 4) If the data in both the statement I alone or in statement II alone are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 5) If the data in both the statements I and II are together are necessary to answer the question. 21) In how many days will five women complete a work? I) Two women, five boys and three men together complete the work in eight days. II) Six women complete the same work in sixteen days. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 22) What is Sonu’s monthly income? I) Rita’s monthly income is Rs. 5,000/-more than Sonu’s monthly income. II) Sonu’s monthly income is Rs. 8,000/- more than Sohan’s monthly income. 23) What will be Pravin’s age after 4 years? I) The ratio between Pravin’s and Shekhar’s present age is 2 : 3 respectively. II) Shekhar is six years older than Pravin. 24) What is the area of a circle? I) The radius of the circle is equal to length of a rectangle II) The breadth of the rectangle is equal to 22 cms. 25) What is the average speed of a car? I) Average speed of the car is four times average speed of a truck which covers 220 kms in 11 hours. II) Average speed of the truck is half the average speed of a train whereas the average speed of a jeep is 40 km/hr. 26) A man sold a wristwatch for Rs. 2,400/- at a loss of twenty five percent. At what rate should he have sold the wristwatch to earn a profit of twenty five percent? 1) Rs. 3,600/2) Rs. 4,000/3) Rs. 3,500/4) Rs. 3,800/5) None of these 27) The average of five numbers is 56. If the average of first four numbers is 54. What is the value of the fifth number? 1) 68 2) 72 3) 56 4) 64 5) None of these 28) If a number is added to seven-ninth of thirty five percent of 900, the value so obtained is 325. What is the number? 1) 60 2) 120 3) 90 4) 180 5) None of these 29) The ratio between the three angles of a quadrilateral is 1 : 4 : 5 respectively. The value of the fourth angle of the quadrilateral is 60. What is the difference between the value of the largest and the smallest angles of the quadrilateral? 1) 120 2) 90 3) 110 4) 100 5) None of these 60 30) What least number should be subtracted from 1740, so that it will be completely divisible by 88? 1) 156 2) 68 3) 58 4) 146 5) None of these 31-35): Study the following table carefully to answer the questions that follow. Number of flights (in hundreds) cancelled in five different sates during six different years Years Punjab Haryana States Rajasthan Assam 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 1.4 1.3 0.5 2.7 1.4 2.7 3.2 4.1 1.7 2.6 1.5 1.3 0.3 0.7 0.2 1.8 2.2 2.1 1.1 0.8 1.3 2.7 1.3 1.4 West Bengal 1.5 2.1 3.5 4.3 5.5 6.0 31) What was the respective ratio between the number of flights cancelled in Rajasthan in the year 2006 and number of flights cancelled in West Bengal in the year 2009? 1) 1 : 6 2) 15:2 3) 1 : 30 4) 30 : 7 5) None of these 32) What was the average number of flights cancelled in all the state together in the year 2008? 1) 278 2) 232 3) 238 4) 272 5) None of these 33) What is the difference between the number of flights cancelled in Assam in the year 2007 and the total number of flights cancelled in Rajasthan in the year 2005, 2007 and 2008 together? 1) 200 2) 230 3) 210 4) 240 5) None of these 34) In which state the number of flights cancelled continuously increased during the years 2004 to 2009? 1) Punjab 2) Haryana 3) Rajasthan 4) Assam 5) West Bengal GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 35) Number of flights cancelled in Haryana in the year 2004 was what percent of the total number of flights cancelled in Punjab over all the years together? 1) 12 2) 32 3) 36 4) 24 5) None of these ENGLISH LANGUAGE Directions (Q. 36-45): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. July 15, 2010 turned out to be a historic day, as the Indian Rupee got the much-awaited symbol, just like other leading currencies of the world, viz Dollar, Euro, Pound Sterling and the Yen. The new symbol ` is an amalgamation of Devanagri ‘Ra’ and the Roman ‘R’ without the stem. Till now, the Rupee was written in various abbreviated forms in different languages. The new symbol designed by IIT Bombay postgraduate Shri D Udaya Kumar was approved by the Union Cabinet on July 15. “It’s a big statement on the Indian currency. The symbol would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and global face of the Indian economy,” said Information and Broadcasting Minister Smt Ambika Soni, while briefing the media on the Cabinet decision. The new symbol will not be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, but it would be included in the ‘Unicode Standard” to ensure that it is easily displayed and printed in the electronic and print media. The encoding of the rupee symbol in the Indian Standards is estimated to take about six months while encoding in the Unicode and ISO/IEC10646 will take about 18 months to two years. It will also be incorporated in software packages and keyboards for use in India. On March 5, 2009 the Government announced a contest to create a symbol for the Rupee, inviting entries for the symbol, which would reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture. Over 3000 entries were received, which were evaluated by a jury headed by the Deputy Governor, RBI, which also included experts from three reputed art and design institutes. The Jury selected five entries and also gave its evaluation of these five entries to the Government to take a final decision. Shri Udaya Kumar’s entry was the ‘Best of Five’. He will get an award of Rs. 2.5 lakh and more than that an incredible fame, as the designer of the Rupee symbol. “My design is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters – capital ‘R’ and Devanagri’ Ra’ which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences. It is based on the tricolor, with two lines at the top and white space in between,” a visibly-happy Kumar said. 61 The genesis of the word ‘rupee’ is in the Sanskrit word ‘raupya’ which means silver. Indian Rupee is variously called ‘rupaya’ in Hindi, ‘rupiya’ in Gujarati, ‘roopayi’ in Telugu and Kannada, ‘rubai’ in Tamil and ‘rupyakam in Sanskrit. However in Eastern India it is called ‘Taka/Toka’ in Bengali and Assamese and ‘Tanka’ in Oriya. Indian stands among the earliest to issue coin, and as a result it has seen a wide range of monetary units throughout its history. There is some historical evidence to show that coins may have been introduced the first time some time between 2500 and 1750 BC. 42) What is the genesis of the term ‘rupee’? 1) It has been derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Raupya’. 2) It finds its origin in the term ‘Rupaya’ of Hindi. 3) ‘Rupiyo’ in Gujarati 4) ‘Roopayi’ in Tamil and Kannada 5) None of these 36) Who is the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister? 1) Smt Sushma Swaraj 2) Smt Meera Kumar 3) Smt Pratibha Devsingh Patil 4) Smt Ambika Soni 5) None of these 44) What is Rupee called in Oriya? 1) Taka 2) Toka 3) Rupyakam 4) Tanka 5) None of these 37) What is the importance of 15 July in the history of Indian rupee? 1) The new Rupee symbol replaced the old. 2) The international community approved the Rupee symbol. 3) The Cabinet approved the much-awaited Rupee symbol. 4) Both (1) and (3) 5) None of these 38) Which of the following countries has a currency symbol? 1) China 2) France 3) Singapore 4) Germany 5) Not mentioned in the passage 39) Who has designed the newly approved Rupee symbol? 1) A teacher posted at IIT Bombay 2) Mr Uday Kumar of Maharashtra 3) Mr D Udaya Kumar, a postgraduate 4) Information and Broadcasting Minister 5) None of these 40) The new design ‘`’finds its origin in 1) Devanagari 2) Roman 3) Devanagari and Sanskrit 4) Devanagari and Roman 5) None of these 41) What is the importance of the new Rupee symbol? 1) It highlights the strength of the Indian economy. 2) Now Indian rupee gets value like Dollar, Pound, Euro Yen. 3) Now most of the foreign countries will maintain their foreign exchange reserves in Rupee. 4) Now it will be a fully convertible currency. 5) None of these GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 43) What does ‘Raupya’ mean in Sanskrit? 1) Gold 2) Diamond 3) Silver 4) Bronze 5) None of these 45) When was the first coin introduced? 1) Between 250 and 750 BC 2) Between 2500 and 1750 AD 3) Between 250 and 759 AD 4) Between 2500 and 1750 BC 5) None of these Directions (Q. 46-50): Read each sentence carefully and detect the error which may be in any one of the parts 1, 2, 3 or 4. In case of ‘No error’, 5 will be the answer. 46) 1) To hit a man/ 2) when he is down/ 3) is a contemptuous /4) thing to do. /5) No error 47) 1) The climate on this / 2) altitude is cool and dry /3) but down in the valley /4) it is very sultry. /5) No error 48) 1) Since her mother /2) died when she /3) was young /4) she did lack maternal care. / 5) No error 49) 1) In 1665 a /2) great pestilence caused /3) the death of 63000 persons /4) in the city of London. / 5) No error 50) 1) Because of his /2) lack of interest in the /3) affairs of the society, the members /4) decided to depose the president. /5) No error Directions (Q. 51-55): Rearrange the sentences given below in a way which would make an appropriate and meaningful paragraph. Mark the correct order of sentences and answer the questions given below. A. But in most of the tourist destinations of the valley, the sombre environs greet the visitor. B. But the turmoil has restricted most of the pilgrims only to visit the Amarnath Shrine. 62 C. Besides, most of the Amarnath Yatris too used to visit the valley’s tourist spots after their pilgrimage to the holy Amarnath cave shrine. D. The tourism industry was expecting a booming business this summer. E. The unrest has dashed the hopes of those associated with this industry, the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy. F. The industry was expecting at least ten lakh visitors this season. 51) After rearrangement which of the following sentences will come ‘FIRST’? 1) A 2) B 3) C 4) D 5) E 52) After rearrangement which of the following sentences will come ‘THIRD’? 1) A 2) B 3) C 4) D 5) E 53) After rearrangement which of the following sentences will come ‘FOURTH’? 1) E 2) F 3) D 4) C 5) A 54) After rearrangement which of the following sentences will come ‘FIFTH’? 1) B 2) C 3) D 4) E 5) F 55) After rearrangement which of the following sentences will come ‘LAST’? 1) F 2) E 3) D 4) B 5) A Directions (Q. 56-60): Fill up the blanks with the most suitable pair of words from the options given to make a meaningful sentence. 56) We’re late. The film _______ have already started by the time we ______ the cinema hall. 1) shall, arrive 2) would, reach 3) will, get to 4) should, approach 5) may, go 57) The fire spread through the building ______ but everybody was ______ escape. 1) fast, enable to 2) instant, managed to 3) quick, able 4) immediately, safe 5) quickly, able to 58) I am thinking ____ a house; _________ you think that’s a good idea? GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 1) buying, what 3) taking, what 4) for, will 2) of buying, do 5) of, do 59) I am tired. I’d rather ______ out this evening, if you don’t ______. 1) go, feel 2) not, accompany 3) not be, worry 4) never go, annoy 5) not go, mind 60) I must ______ now. I promise not _____ late. 1) leave, being 2) reach, of being 3) go, to be 4) do it, for being 5) get in, of been Directions (Q. 61-65): Replace the word/ words given in bold by one of the given options to make the sentence correct and meaningful. In case of ‘no correction required’ (NCR), 5 will be the answer. 61) It was not long for I discovered that he could neither read nor write. 1) long before 2) long since 3) longer than 4) long then 5) No correction required 62) The death toll in the train accident went to six hundred. 1) increased to 2) rose to 3) spread to 4) counted to 5) No correction required 63) While walking on the road, a dog bit one man. 1) a dog had bitted a man 2) the man was dogged 3) a dog did bit a man 4) the man was bitten by a dog 5) No correction required 64) He promised that he will deliver the letter within two days. 1) will must deliver 2) would deliver 3) will be delivering 4) will have delivered 5) No correction required 65) The negotiations faced a doldrum with neither side ready to move even an inch. 1) a hanger 2) a crisis 3) a hold 4) an abortion 5) No correction required REASONING ABILITY 66 – 70) Study the following information to answer the given questions: In a certain code ‘ge ji zo’ means ‘had horrible dream’. ‘lit zo pit’ means ‘realize your dream’ and ‘ge ze pat ze’ means ‘very very horrible experience’. 63 66) Which of the following is the code of ‘your’? 1) lit 2) zo 3) pit 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 72) How is N related to M? I) O is the husband of N II) Z who is the sister of brother M is the daughter of N. 67) ‘ji ze pit lit’ may represent ___ 1) very horrible you realize 2) you had realize your 3) had realize your very 4) your very realize dream 5) None of these 73) B is the sister of A. How is A related to B? I) A is the only son of his parents. II) A has two sisters – B and F. 68) ‘dream had horrible experience’ can be coded as _ 1) zo ge ji ze 2) pat ge zo ji 3) zo ji ge pit 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 69) Which of the following is the code of ‘very’? 1) ge 2) pat 3) ze 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 70) Which of the following is the code of ‘had’? 1) ge 2) ji 3) zo 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 71-75): Each of the questions below consists of a question and two statements numbered I and II given below it. You have to decide whether the data provided in the statements are sufficient to answer the question. Read both the statements and:Give answer 1) if the data in statement I alone are sufficient to answer the question, while the data in statement II alone are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 2) if the data in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question, while the data in statement I alone are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 3) if the data either in statement I alone or in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 4) if the data even in both statements I and II together are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 5) if the data in both statements I and II together are necessary to answer the question. 71) Who among Meera, Jyoti, Pinki and Sadhana is the tallest? I) Meera is not as tall as Pinki or Sadhana II) Jyoti is taller than Sadhana. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 74) How is X related to W? 1) V is the husband of X. II) W is the brother of Z and Z’s mother is X. 75) Is this college co-educational? I) There are more female teachers than male teachers in this college. II) A girl known to me was the topper from this college. 76-79): In each question below is given a statement followed by two assumptions numbered I and II. An assumption is something supposed or taken for granted. You have to consider the statement and the following assumptions and decide which of the assumptions is implicit in the statement. Give answer 1) if only assumption I is implicit. Give answer 2) if only assumption II is implicit. Give answer 3) if either assumption I or assumption II is implicit Give answer 4) if neither assumption I nor assumption II is implicit. Give answer 5) if both assumptions I and II are implicit. 76) Statement Job rotation helps employees get an overview of the organization. Assumptions I) Job rotation is the only method to get an overview of the organization. II) It is required to have an overview of the organization. 77) Statement Let us appoint Ms. X as the CEO of our company so that the company’s products are also perceived to be genuine. Assumptions I) CEO can change the perception of products. II) Perception is same as the actual reality. 78) Statement An advertisement – The new model has been launched with K-series engine. Assumptions I) People know about K-series engine. II) Engine type/series is important for buyers. 64 79) Statement Mohan tells Nita, “Let us meet over lunch tomorrow”. Assumptions I) Lunch timings are known to both. II) Both are aware of the venue for lunch. As per the rules followed in the above steps, find out in each of the following questions the appropriate steps for the given input. Input for the questions Input : when 11 given fine 37 provide zero 90 over 45 is 29 team 89 (80-83) Study the following information to answer the given questions. V, U and T are seated in a circle facing the centre. A, B and C are also seated in the same circle but two of them are not facing the centre (facing opposite direction of the centre). V is second to the left of C. U is second to the right of A. B is third to the left of T. C is second to the right of T. A is seated next to V. 84) Which of the following would be the step I? 1) Fine given when 11 37 provide zero 90 45 is 29 team 89 2) Fine when 11 given 37 provide zero 90 45 is 29 team 89 3) Zero when 11 given fine 37 provide 90 45 is 29 team 89 4) Fine given when 90 89 11 37 provide over 45 is 29 team 5) None of these 80) Which of the following are not facing the centre? 1) BA 2) CA 3) BC 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 81) Which of the following is T’s position with respect to B? 1) Third to the right 2) Second to the right 3) Third to the left 4) Fourth to the left 5) Cannot be determined 82) Which of the following is V’s position with respect to C? 1) Second to the right 2) Third to the left 3) Fourth to the right 4) Fourth to the left 5) Cannot be determined 83) Which of the following is true regarding the seating arrangement? 1) A, B and C are seated adjacent 2) V, U and T are seated adjacent 3) There are two persons whose seating arrangement cannot be ascertained 4) Those not facing the centre are seated adjacent 5) There are only two persons seated between V and T Directions (Qs. 84-90) A word and number arrangement machine when given an input line of words and numbers rearranges them following a particular rule. The following is an illustration of input and rearrangement. Input : mix 12 in form 35 are 20 with 47 given Step I : are form mix 12 in 35 20 with 47 given Step II : are form given in mix 12 35 20 with 47 Step III : are form given in mix with 12 35 20 47 Step IV : are form given in mix with 47 35 12 20 Step V : are form given in mix with 47 35 20 12 And step V is the last step of the rearrangement of the above input as the intended arrangement is obtained. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 over over over zero 85) Which word/number would be on 4th position (from left) in step II? 1) given 2) is 3) when 4) 11 5) None of these 86) How many steps would be needed to complete the arrangement? 1) V 2) VI 3) VII 4) IV 5) None of these 87) In step IV, which of the following word/number would be on 8th position (from left)? 1) zero 2) when 3) 11 4) provide 5) None of these 88) Which step number would be the following output? Fine given is over provide team when 11 37 zero 90 45 29 89 1) IV 2) III 3) II 4) V 5) None of these 89) Which of the following would be step V? 1) fine given is over provide team when zero 89 45 37 11 29 2) fine given is over provide team when zero 37 90 45 29 89 3) fine given is over provide team when 11 zero 90 45 29 89 4) fine given is over provide team when zero 29 37 45 89 90 5) None of these 90 11 37 11 65 90) Which of the following would be the final arrangement? 1) Zero when team provide over is given five 90 89 45 37 29 11 2) Fine given is over provide team when zero 90 89 45 37 29 11 3) Fine given is over provide team when zero 90 89 45 37 11 29 4) Fine given is over provide team when zero 11 29 37 45 89 90 5) None of these 91-95): In these questions, relationship between different elements is shown in the statements. These statements are followed by two conclusions. Mark answer if 1) Only conclusion I follows. 2) Only conclusion II follows. 3) Either conclusion I or II follows 4) Neither conclusion I nor II follows 5) Both conclusions I and II follow 91) Statements : A = B≥ C < D = E ≤ F Conclusions : I) F > B II) B ≥ D 97) Which pen is Harsh’s preference? 1) Lamy 2) Pointer 3) Lexi 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 98) Which watch is Harsh’s preference? 1) Samay 2) Fastrack 3) Timex 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 99) Who’s preference is Swift? 1) Harsh 2) Amit 3) Veena 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 100) Which watch is Veena’s preference? 1) Samay 2) Fastrack 3) Titan 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these ANSWER KEY Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 92) Statements : P > M > Q, Q > Z > N Conclusions : I) M ≥ Z II) N < P 1 1 2 5 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 4 7 1 8 4 9 3 10 2 93) Statements : X > Y, Y ≥ Z , Z = V, V < W Conclusions : I) Y = V II) Y > V 11 4 12 1 13 2 14 1 15 3 16 5 17 1 18 4 19 3 20 5 21 2 22 4 23 5 24 4 25 1 95) Statements : B < C, D > B, C > K, K ≤ N, Conclusions : I) C > N II) B > K 26 2 27 4 28 5 29 1 30 2 31 3 32 3 33 1 34 5 35 2 96-100): Study the following information to answer the given questions. In a group of 5, each person has an exclusive and different preference (has/likes) for a pen, a watch and a car. Pen preferences are parker, lamy, pointer, lexi and Cello. Car preferences are Wagon R, Swift, Santro, Mica and Honda City. Watch preference are Timex, Titan, Fastrack, Samay and Citizen. Suman has Mica and Parker but does not prefer among watches – Titan or Fastrack. The one who has Swift, likes Fastrack. Mrudula has preference for Honda city, Cello and Citizen. Amit has preference for Lamy and Timex. Veena prefers WagonR and Lexi. Harsh’s preference for a watch is not Titan. 36 4 37 3 38 5 39 3 40 4 41 1 42 1 43 3 44 4 45 4 46 4 47 1 48 4 49 5 50 5 51 4 52 5 53 2 54 2 55 4 56 3 57 5 58 2 59 5 60 3 61 1 62 2 63 4 64 2 65 2 66 4 67 3 68 2 69 3 70 2 71 4 72 5 73 1 74 2 75 4 76 2 77 1 78 5 79 1 80 2 81 1 82 3 83 4 84 1 85 5 86 3 87 1 88 2 89 5 90 2 91 4 92 2 93 3 94 4 95 4 96 3 97 2 98 2 99 1 100 3 94) Statements : D > B, C > K, K ≤ N, B < C, Conclusions : I) D > N II) C ≥ K 96) Which watch is Suman’s preference? 1) Titan 2) Fastrack 3) Samay 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 66 GETTING WORD WISE How much do you know about the huge variety of professions available, apart from your own? Take the quiz below to find out for yourself and also learn some new words as a BONUS! DIRECTIONS: On the left side in COLUMN 1 are certain situations, each of which should remind you of a profession mentioned in COLUMN 2 on the right. Pick the right code for each situation and mark your answer accordingly. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. COLUMN I You are over-anxious for no reason A constantly crying 2-year old does not let you sleep Hari has a fractured left arm The CBI officer would like to get two handwriting samples matched Raju wants to compute the age of a tree axed by him Rashes on the skin Expecting a baby very soon Floating, coloured circles in front of eyes Would like to get a foot massage A kid keen on commanding a space flight What lies inside the nucleus of a cell? My heart is palpitating Getting X-ray done of my left leg Want to know which acid helps digestion? Taking care of standing crops Athletic competitions are held in a Bees are kept in an Gas is stored in a Guns are kept in an Scientific experiments are conducted in a A. COLUMN II Astronaut B. Dermatologist C. Podiatrist D. Obstetrician E. Orthopedist F. G. H. Ophthalmologist Dendrochronologist Psychiatrist I. Graphologist J. Pediatrician K. Biochemist L. M. Radiologist Agronomist N. Cytologist O. Cardiologist P. Laboratory Q. R. S. T. Armory Stadium Apiary. Cylinder SALIENT FEATURES OF SBI PO EXAM 1) 2) Candidates will be tested in two stages: Phase I and Phase II 3) Phase I: English / Quant / Reasoning – 30 / 35/ 35 marks. Duration: 60 Min. 4) Phase I is of qualifying nature only with sectional cut off 5) Marks of Phase I will NOT be added for final selection 6) Phase II: to be conducted 2 / 3 weeks after Phase I. Only candidates clearing Phase I will be eligible for Phase II 7) Phase II: It will have four sections of 50 marks each (i) English (ii) GK / Marketing / Computers (iii) DI and Data Analysis (iv) Reasoning High Level Duration 120 minutes with sectional cut off. 8) 9) ANSWER KEY Q. 1 6 11 16 A. H B N R Q. 2 7 12 17 A. J D O S Q. 3 8 13 18 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 A. E F L T Q. 4 9 14 19 A. I C K Q Q. 5 10 15 20 There is no change in syllabus A. G A M P Descriptive Test, (Letter and Essay) – 50 Marks. To be checked only if objective test is cleared. Marks of descriptive test will be included in final merit Knowledge of computer typing / formatting will be required as the descriptive test will be conducted online Phase III: GD and Interview – 20 / 30 Marks 10) Final Selection score of Phase II out of 250 marks to be converted out of 75 marks 11) Marks of GD and Interview to be converted into 25 marks 67 SSC CORNER FOOD AND NUTRITION Human diet contains substances called proximal principles, which are essential for maintenance of life and health. These proximal principles are: CARBOHYDRATES, PROTEINS AND VITAMINS Carbohydrates supply energy to our body for the necessary internal and external activities. The internal body parts require energy for constant functioning, which is supplied by carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found in abundance in wheat, rice, potato, banana as sugars and starches, etc. Proteins (origin from proteus, which means first or most important), are essential for building new tissues and repairing old ones. Thus, they are called body builders for a reason. Proteins can be found in eggs, meat, pulses, beans, milk and cheese. Vitamins are complex chemicals required for certain essential bodily reactions and processes. FATS, MINERALS AND WATER Fats are found in oils, ghee and butter. Unsaturated fats are good from the viewpoint of health and are advised for heart patients. Saturated fats create cholesterol in the arteries, which can block them, thereby leading to heart problems. Minerals are inorganic substances present in very small or trace quantities in different foods. They are essential to regulate normal body processes e.g. Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulphur, Phosphorus etc. Water is of utmost importance for biochemical reactions, which cannot occur in its absence. A balanced diet is one which contains all the necessary proximal principles in the right proportion for the maintenance of health. We cannot get all these elements together in a single food item. Therefore, to get them in the right proportion, we need to mix certain articles in our diet and have a balanced diet. VITAMINS AND DEFICIENCY DISORDERS Vitamins, discovered by Funk, are found naturally in certain foods and their absence may cause one or the other deficiency disease. Vitamins can be both watersoluble and fat-soluble in nature. VITAMIN A It is a general health-giving vitamin and improves resistance to infection and tones up the entire body system. It ensures good appetite and promotes growth. Its deficiency causes night blindness and skin disorders. Found in milk, butter, egg yolk, ghee, carrot, tomatoes, fresh, leafy and yellow vegetables, fresh fruits and cod liver oil. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 VITAMIN B Present in cereals, peas and beans. Protects the body from beriberi, pellagra and cures pernicious anemia, degeneration of sex glands and enlargement of liver and adrenals. VITAMIN C Ensures healthy teeth, bones, and protects against scurvy. Present in fresh vegetables, orange, lemon, lettuce, tomato, cabbage and turnip. VITAMIN D Present in milk, butter, ghee, cod liver oil, egg yolk. It is also produced under the skin in the presence of ultraviolet rays of the sun. It promotes bone formation and prevents rickets. VITAMINS E It has vital influence on reproductive organs. Its absence can cause sterility. This vitamin is present in germinated wheat. VITAMIN K Found in fish, oats, and wheat. It helps in proper clotting of blood in case of injuries. VITAMINS SOURCES AND DEFICIENCY DISEASES Vitamin A Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Niacin (Nicotinic acid) Folic Acid Milk, carrot, egg Cereals, pulses Night blindness Beriberi Dermatitis Vitamin B12 Liver, kidney, milk Yeast, cereals, liver Peas, tomato, eggs Green leafy vegetables, egg Kidney, meat, yeast Milk, liver, meat Vitamin C Citrus fruit Vitamin D (Calciferol) Vitamin E Sun rays, eggs, fish, milk Milk, Soyabean, egg yolk Fish, peas, green vegetables Pantothenic Acid Vitamin K Anemia Polyneuritis Anemia Dermatitis Pernicious anemia Scurvy, Common cold Rickets Reproductive disorders Delayed clotting of blood 68 Profit And Pleasure Port Trust but his mathematical genius was spotted by a British professor, who brought him to England on a scholarship. Unfortunately, he died young due to TB but left behind a rich legacy of contributions to the Number Theory. In fact, the number 1729 is named after him but can you name him? ON PEOPLE Starting this issue onwards, we will have a regular feature Profit and Pleasure. Not only will it tickle your brain cells but will also make you learn interesting facts about the world. This time around, we are focusing on some people and what they did. Here we go! 1. The Chipko Movement is frequently associated with Sunder Lal Bahuguna, who did great work against illegal tree felling in the hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh. But the movement had originated with some villagers sticking to the trees, which the tree mafia wanted to axe for profit. Can you name the simple village woman who started it? 2. This man was called the Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity by Sarojini Naidu in undivided India. Ironically, he did the most for the creation of a separate Pakistan. Whom are we talking about? 3. He did not won the Nobel Prize for his most famous contribution i.e. the Theory of Relativity which only two people in the world could understand when it was announced. He got it for another scientific contribution, which is very little known in the world. Can you name this man and his contribution? 4. This man, who brought about a revolution in milk output in India, never drank milk himself as he did not like it. He, after returning from the USA, set up the cooperative model for milk production, which improved the dairy framers’ incomes and transformed their lives, so beautifully captured in the 1970s Smita Patil- starrer Manthan. Can you name this revolutionary man? 5. Besides Gulzar, he is the only other lyricist to get the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Prize for overall cinematic contributions. Initially, he was a hakim but discovered his true calling in Bollywood. He teamed up with the iconic R D Burman for some of his most glorious songs, which are popular till date. Do you remember him? 6. He is the man regarding whom it is said that he knew infinity. He worked as a clerk in the Madras GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 7. The Pakistanis lovingly call him Father Teresa on account of his humanitarian work, which covers rescue and relief work during calamities. His foundation has a vast fleet of ambulances and relief vans to help people in any kind of distress situation. What is his real name? 8. The famous economist and former American ambassador to India once described India as a “functioning anarchy”. Can you recall his name? 9. The movie A Beautiful Mind portrays the life and work of this great mathematician, who struggled with schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder. His contributions to the Game Theory are wellrecognized and find applications in many fields. Can you identify him? 10. No modern book on psychology is complete without repeated references to this Austria-born psychiatrist, who explored the unconscious mind and its workings. He wrote extensively on dreams and what they mean. His ideas on the human instincts of violence and sex sparked great controversy. Can you identify him? ANSWER KEY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Gauri Devi Mohammed Ali Jinnah Albert Einstein, Law of Photoelectric Effect Dr. Verghese Kurien Majrooh Sultanpuri Srinivasa Ramanujan Abdus Sattar Eidhi J K Galbraith John Nash Sigmund Freud 69 GYANM QUIZ - 02 How much do you know about the world around you? Take the quiz below to find out for yourself and WIN some exciting prizes as rewards. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. The country which tops the Human Development Index report of the UNDP for 2014, is A. The USA B. Switzerland C. Luxembourg D. Canada Goitre is caused by the deficiency of A. Protein B. Iron C. Iodine D. Vitamin C The 119th Constitutional Amendment Act deals with A. Goods and Services Tax B. Judicial Appointments C. NITI Aayog D. Creation of Telangana The Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana is meant for A. Manual scavengers B. Giving scholarships to needy students C. Self-employed women D. Financial inclusion The Cannes Film Festival was held in A. The USA B. Sweden C. Germany D. France The efficiency of a computer is measured by A. Hertz B. Decibel C. Angstrom D. None of these The first metal used by man was A. Copper B. Gold C. Iron D. Silver Which state recently saw an ongoing tussle between its Chief Minister and its Governor/ Lt. Governor? A. Puducherry B. Goa C. Mizoram D. Delhi The most widely spoken language in the world is A. Hindi B. Chinese C. French D. English The Periyar Sanctuary is located in A. Andhra Pradesh B. Kerala C. Telangana D.Tamil Nadu GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Heartiest congratulations to the winners of Gyanm Quiz-01 ! 1. Nanduswamy Periyar, Coimbtore 2. Harmanpreet Singh, Patiala The winners are being informed by post. Name: ______________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ PIN: _____________________ Mobile: ___________________________________ _ My answers to Gyanm Quiz - 01 are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Signature _______________ TERMS AND CONDITIONS 1. 2. 3. 3. 4. 5. Please send your responses to the quiz, along with your COMPLETE ADDRESS and PIN CODE, by 25th June, 2015. The responses can be sent By e-mail to
[email protected] OR On Whatsapp mobile number 09646888377 OR By post to Gyanm College of Competitions, SCO 13-15, 2nd Floor, Above Domino’s, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh-160034 ONLY the residents of India are eligible to participate. In case of multiple correct entries, a draw will be held to decide the winner/s. The Prize/s CANNOT be exchanged for cash. The decision of the jury shall be FINAL and BINDING on all the participants. The winners’ names shall be announced in the August, 2015 issue. 70 Financial Glossary BANKING FRAMEWORK Besides, banking has three unique features not available to any other organisation. WHAT IS A BANK? a) The deposits are repayable on demand. It means that one has to make a demand for repayment and whenever it is made, the banker has to repay the amount. No company other than a bank can accept deposits payable on demand. A Bank is a financial institution which acts as an intermediary between those who have surplus funds and those who need it. Persons with surplus funds keep their deposits with the banks, out of which the banks give loans to those people who require them. Thus, the Banks help in mobilising the savings and put these idle savings to productive use. Thus, banks act as levellers of wealth not only between persons but also among different areas by mobilising funds from surplus areas and investing them in deficit areas, thereby leading to distribution of wealth. Therefore, banks are also known as financial intermediaries. DEFINITION OF BANKING Banking is a legally defined activity, which means that it is governed by strict rules and regulations. The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 defines and governs the banking activities in India. As per Section 5(b) of this act, banking has been defined as “the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment, of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise, and withdrawal by cheque, draft, order or otherwise”. In simple words, banking is related to a) Accepting deposits of money from the public. b) For the purpose of lending, i.e. making loans, and making investments (in approved govt. securities). c) Withdrawal of money on demand or through cheque. The above three are the most basic functions of the banks. Other than this, banks are allowed to undertake several other functions like bill business, foreign exchange business, bonds/debentures, bank guarantees, letter of credit etc. as mentioned in sec 6 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. However, modern banking covers a large number of other activities, like issuance of debit / credit cards, providing safe custody of valuable items, locker facility, ATM services, Transfer of funds, etc. apart from accepting deposits and making loans. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 b) The Banks are allowed to issue cheques and no company other than a bank can issue its own cheques. c) For the Banks, it is necessary to incorporate words like bank, banking, banker etc. in their name. No other organisation is allowed to use such words as part of its name. BANKING COMPANY A company which transacts the business of banking as defined in Banking Regulation Act is known as banking company. BANK LICENCE To undertake the banking activities in India, it is compulsory, by law, to obtain a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (Sec.22 of Banking Regulation Act, 1949). Even the foreign banks have to obtain such a licence from the RBI before opening a branch in India. The RBI also has the powers to cancel the licence, if it is not satisfied with the bank’s functioning. Minimum capital required to start a banking company is Rs. 500 crore. REGULATION OF BANKS The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 authorises the Reserve Bank of India to regulate and control the banks in India. As per section 35(a) of this law, the RBI is fully authorized to issue any instructions / directions to the banks as it deems fit, as and when considered necessary. It is mandatory for all the banks (including foreign banks) to comply with directions of the RBI. 71 TYPES OF BANKS The Banks can be classified on a number of basis. Depending upon the criterion selected, a given bank can be classified into more than one category also. Banks and Foreign Banks. The Banks registered in India are called Indian Banks while those with their registered office outside India are called Foreign Banks. ICICI Bank Ltd is the largest private sector bank and Standard Chartered Bank is the largest foreign bank in India. CLASSIFICATION OF BANKS RBI ACT Scheduled Bank Non Scheduled Bank – OWNERSHIP Public Sector Bank Private Banks 1. Indian 2. Foreign Cooperative Banks CONSTITUTION Statutory Bank Nationalized Bank NATURE OF BANKING Payment Banks Small Banks Regional Rural Bank SCHEDULED BANK A bank whose name appears in the second schedule of the RBI Act 1934 is called a ‘scheduled bank’. Whenever the RBI is not satisfied with the functioning of a bank, it may delete the name of that bank from the second schedule. Barring a few small banks, almost all banks (including foreign ones) in India are Scheduled Banks. The bank whose name does not appear in the 2nd schedule is called a ‘non- scheduled bank’. STATUTORY BANK The banks which have been constituted under a separate Act of Parliament are called Statutory Banks. Examples of such banks are – Reserve Bank of India (Reserve Bank of India Act-1934), State Bank of India (State Bank of India Act – 1955), IDBI Bank (Industrial Development Bank (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Act, 2003). PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS All those banks where the government share holding is 51% or more are called Public Sector Banks. Thus all nationalized banks, SBI, IDBI Bank and RRBs are Public Sector Banks. The State Bank of India is the largest public sector bank in India. NATIONALISED BANKS The banks which were nationalised in 1969 and 1980 vide Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Act are called nationalised banks. In all, 14 banks were nationalised in 1969 and 6 in 1980. Of the 6 banks nationalised in 1980, New Bank of India was merged with Punjab National Bank in 1993. (These banks now fall in the category of public sector bank). Punjab National Bank is the largest nationalised bank in India. PRIVATE BANKS All banks other than public sector banks are called Private Banks. These banks are registered under the Companies Act, 1956. They are of two types – Indian GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 REGIONAL RURAL BANKS - RRBs The Narasimhan Working Group (1975) proposed the establishment of RRBs as special purpose, low cost banks which were started in 1976 to serve the banking needs of rural areas. These banks were formed under the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976. An RRB cannot be formed of its own; it has to be sponsored by a public sector bank. The capital structure of the RRB is jointly subscribed by the Central Government - 50%, State Government – 15% and Sponsoring Bank – 35%. Recently govt. has decided to increase the authorized capital of RRBs from Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 2000 crores. COOPERATIVE BANKS These banks are co-operative societies registered under the respective State Cooperative Societies Act. For their organisational structure, they are governed by the State Cooperative Societies Act and for their banking functions they are governed under Banking Regulation Act. Both RRBs and Cooperative Banks are supervised by NABARD as well. Inspection of RRBs and Cooperative Banks is conducted by NABARD under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. DIFFERENTIATED BANKING According to the Reserve Bank of India, India needs variety of Banks to cater to different strata of society. The Nachiket Mor Committee constituted by the RBI has proposed a Differentiated Banking system with Payments Banks for Deposits and Wholesale Banks for credit with relaxed entry points for financial inclusion. The Reserve Bank has released the guidelines for ‘payment banks’ and ‘small banks’. Payments banks can receive deposits and remittances, but cannot lend; focus on migrant labour and low income households. Small banks will lend to “un-served and under-served sections”, including small business units, small and marginal farmers, and micro and small industries. …………To Be Continued SOURCE: FINANCIAL GLOSSARY, A GYANM PUBLICATION 72 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 73 Latest G.K. Bytes MAY – 2015 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) Union cabinet has launched a new scheme to replace the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). What is its formal name: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Union Cabinet on April 29 approved the Smart Cities Mission for development of ________ smart cities with an outlay of Rs. 48,000 crore: 100 Messenger spacecraft has ended a four-year mission to Mercury by crashing into the planet after running out of fuel. The space craft was managed by which country: USA The Union cabinet has decided that the minimum monthly pension under the Employees Pension Schemes will not be less than Rs. ________: 1000 The Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for enhancing the penalty under it to a maximum of ________years imprisonment from the present five years: seven ___________ has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India: Mukesh Khanna Mukesh Khanna, a renowned TV / Film artist is known for his role of which Super Hero: Shaktimaan Name the book for which Siddhartha Gigoo won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2015 for Asia region: Umbrella Man As per recent RBI guidelines, urban co-operative banks are not allowed to issue ________ credit cards: Co branded Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Money) recently won the $180 million prize money by securing World Welterweight title. He is from which country: USA Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge from UK Royalty gave birth to a baby girl who is _________in line to the throne. 4th What is the name of the over all trophy for the national senior athletics championships held in Mangaluru, Karnataka: The Federation Cup Recently, two Indians, Dr Ananda Kumar and Dr Pramod Patil won the Whitley Award for their contribution to wildlife conservation. What is its popular name: Green Oscar 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) Surender Singh has been appointed new Director General of which paramilitary force: Central Industrial Security Force, CISF 5th National women hockey championship was held at which place: Saifai, Uttar Pradesh 20) Who won the 5th National women hockey championship: Railways 21) Among Indian states, ______________ attracts largest number of foreign tourists followed by Tamil Nadu: Maharashtra Which city has a unique distinction of having more bookstores per capita than any other major city in the world: Buenos Aires, Argentina Which country became the 161st member of the World Trade Organization (WTO): Seychelles SEBI has replaced the mandatory three colour risk code with a new pattern that will help investors to understand better the risks involved in mutual fund investments. What is its name: Riskometer Which Indian airport has been adjudged the world's best airport for the year 2014, under the category of handling 25 to 40 million passengers per annum: Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi At which international event India's top rifle shooters have won a rich haul of three gold and two bronze medals: International Shooting Competition May 3 is observed every year as the “World Press Freedom Day”. What is the theme for this year: Let Journalism Thrive Name the two big names in the Indian retail operations who have joined hands to create one of 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Which country won the World Team Chess Championship (Men’s) leaving Ukraine at second place at Tsaghkadzor, Armenia: China Indian chess players __________ and _________ won the silver and bronze medal respectively, in individual category at World Chess Championship: D Harika and K Humpy Which country conferred its highest civil award “The Order of The Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star’ recently on an Indian scientist: Japan Name the Indian scientist honoured recently by the Japan Govt. with its highest civilian award: CNR Rao 74 29) 30) 31) 32) 33) 34) 35) 36) 37) 38) 39) 40) 41) 42) 43) 44) 45) India's biggest retail chain with more than 570 stores across the country: Future Retail Ltd. And Bharti Retail Ltd. World’s largest solar power plant is proposed to be set up at Gurh tehsil in Rewa district of which state to produce 750 megawatt (MW) of electricity: Madhya Pradesh Name the veteran journalist, writer and renowned Tagore researcher who passed away in Kolkata on May 2 at the age of 88: Amitabha Chowdhury The Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 1.5 crore each on Bank of Maharashtra, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce for violation of which rules: KYC norms The Goods and Services Tax Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 6. Once it becomes an act, it will replace which type of taxes: Indirect Taxes like sales tax, excise and service tax India and Iran have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of which strategically important port in Iran: Chabahar President of India visited recently which super power: Russia The 119th amendment bill to the Indian constitution refers to which matter: Land boundary agreement with Bangladesh Name the indigenously-developed missile whose first regiment was inducted in the Indian army on May 5: Akash Akash is which category of missile and what is its range: Surface to air, 25 Kms Name the ex Union Minister for environment who wrote the book Green Signals: Ecology, Growth and Democracy in India: Jairam Ramesh What is the name of the cloud computing-based offering by Microsoft that will enhance digital learning and teaching in schools and higher education institutions, in India: Edu-Cloud Name the Oscar – winning US author, famous for his novel “Dances with Wolves”, who died recently: Michael Blake The Lok Sabha passed on May 7 the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 which allows _____ to _______ year old child offenders in heinous crimes to be tried like adults: 16 to 18 Achal Kumar Jyoti, a retired IAS officer from Gujarat has recently been appointed to which important national level post: Election Commissioner Geeta Phogat and Lalita Sherawat, each won a bronze medal in women's category of which sports: Wrestling Name the satirical French weekly that won the Freedom of Expression Courage Award by the PEN American Center: Charlie Hebdo Govt. has launched Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes to provide easy finance GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 46) 47) 48) 49) 50) 51) 52) 53) 54) 55) 56) 57) 58) 59) 60) 61) 62) 63) 64) to the upcoming SC entrepreneurs. The scheme will be implemented by which financial institution: Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd. Which Indian company figures at the top of the 56 Indian companies listed in the world's 2000 largest and most powerful public companies list compiled by the Forbes's magazine, USA: Reliance Industries The Union Cabinet has approved the renewal of the existing double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with which country: South Korea The Reserve Bank has asked banks to issue only _____________ and PIN-enabled debit and credit cards from September 1 onwards, a move aimed at protecting customers from frauds: Chip-based World Asthma Day is observed on which date: 5th May What is the theme of this year’s World Asthma Day: You can control your Asthma Name the Indian politician who has written the Book “At Home in India- The Muslim Saga”: Salman Khurshid Prime Minister launched three social security schemes at Kolkata on May 9. Name these schemes: 1) Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, 2) Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, 3) Atal Pension Yojana What is the age group of the persons in eligible under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana: 18-70 years Name the politician who has been re-elected as the Prime Minister of UK: David Cameroon Which particular party regained power in the recent general elections held in Britain: Conservative Party Which major political party of Britain is popularly known as Tories: Conservative Party What is the name of the parliament of UK: Parliament What is the name of the lower house of the British parliament to which MPs are elected: House of Commons As per the 'State of the World's Mothers' report for 2015, which country tops the list: Norway India has been placed at which rank in the 'State of the World's Mothers' report for 2015: 140th The Reserve Bank has recently issued a set of “early warning signals” to monitor the performance of which banking product: Loans With an aim to expedite FDI clearance process, the FIPB's powers to recommend foreign investment proposals have been hiked to Rs. _____ crore, against Rs 1,200-crore limit at present: 3000 The abbreviation FIPB stands for: Foreign Investment Promotion Board Asian Development Bank signed a 31 million US dollars loan agreement to boost water availability in 75 65) 66) 67) 68) 69) 70) 71) 72) 73) 74) 75) 76) 77) 78) 79) 80) 81) 82) 83) 84) selected river basins of which State: Karnataka Prime Minister released a commemorative coin on May 8 to mark the birth centenary of Swami Chinmayananda. Swami ji worked in which field: Education and Social Reform The National Green Tribunal has directed every household of which city to pay a monthly charge proportionate to their property tax or water bill as Sewage Cess: Delhi Which Indian state is home to the largest gathering of Asiatic lions: Gujarat Name the tennis star who won the Madrid Masters Men's Singles Title: Andy Murray 68th Cannes Film Festival was held at which place: Cannes, France Name the MP who has been re-nominated as Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee: K V Thomas INS Sardar Patel is the name of a new _____________ of the Indian navy: Operational Base The new naval base – INS Sardar Patel is located at which city: Porbandar Name the noted historian, social scientist, academician and author who passed away in Guwahati on May 7 at the age of 91: Amalendu Guha __________________, ace marksman was declared the ‘Sportsperson of the Year' by the Times of India Sports Awards: Jitu Rai Who is the author of the book, ‘Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad’ : Prof. Bhim Singh President of India recently honoured 35 persons from which field with the National Florence Nightingale Awards: Nursing Name the eminent banker who was appointed as head of the 50 billion dollars New Development Bank: K V Kamath The New Development Bank has been setup by which international organization: BRICS Headquarters of the New Development Bank are to be located in which city: Shanghai In a recent global study, __________ overtook the United States as the world's top importer of crude oil for the first time in April 2015: China Nico Rosberg won which international sports event held at Barcelona, Spain: Grand Prix F1 championship Formula 1 car racing champion Nico Roseberg is from which country: Germany Name the Ace Indian discus thrower who won gold and a bronze medal recently at two international meets: Vikas Gowda Prime Minister dedicated revamped IISCO Steel plant at Burnpur with largest blast furnace in India to the nation on May 10. It is located in which State: West Bengal GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 The government has approved a proposal for allowing children below _____ years of age to work only in family enterprises or entertainment industry with certain conditions: 14 86) As per the law, children up to ________ years of age are not to be allowed to work in the hazardous industries: 18 87) With reference to the office of the Ombudsman, what are the recent directions of the RBI: Banks asked to appoint their internal Ombudsman 88) A painting by which artist set a world record for auction of a work of art, selling for $179.4 million (about Rs. 1,155 crore) at an auction by Christie’s at New York: Pablo Picasso 89) Which Indian state recently got its 1st tribal women governor: Odisha, Draupadi Murmu 90) Tathagata Roy has been appointed as governor of which State: Tripura 91) Name the city of China which was the first stop over of Prime Minister’s recent visit to China: Xi’an city 92) Xi’an city of China is famous in the world for which monument: Terracotta Warriors Museum 93) Prime Minister Modi met the Chinese Premier _________ in Beijing: Le Keqiang 94) Tejaswini Sagar, Indian school girl won her maiden world title by bagging the gold in the under-15 category in which sports: Chess 95) Parliament on May 13 passed the historic anti black money bill to curb the menace of black money. What is its formal name: “Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) Bill, 2015” 96) The Union Cabinet approved a massive Rs. ________ crore budget for the ‘Namami Gange Programme’ for the next five years: 20,000 97) As per a recent amendment to the Negotiable Instruments Act, the court case for taking action against the issuer of the bounced cheque can only be filed at ___________: Place where the cheque is deposited 98) Government has cleared the lone bid of _____________ consortium for replacing Indian Air Force's ageing fleet of Avro transport aircraft for Rs 11,930 crore: Airbus-TATA 99) State Bank of India has launched the contactless debit and credit cards- SBIinTouch based on NFC technology. What is NFC: Near Field Communications 100) To facilitate contact less payments through NFC technology, RBI has relaxed the additional factor of authentication (AFA) requirement for transactions upto which amount: Rs. 2000 101) Union government recently launched USTAAD scheme in which city of Uttar Pradesh: Varanasi 102) The acronym USTAAD stands for what: Upgrading the Skills and Training in Ancestral Arts / Crafts for Development 85) 76 103) Recently launched USTAAD schemes focuses on the 104) 105) 106) 107) 108) 109) 110) 111) 112) 113) 114) 115) 116) 117) 118) 119) 120) 121) 122) 123) problems of which particular category of artisans: Banarasi Saari weavers PM Modi visited ____________, the capital of Mongolia on May 16: Ulaan Baator Pandit Haridutt Sharma Award for excellence in journalism has been won this year by which person: Anuradha Prasad B.B. King, one of the most famous electric guitar players of all time, winner of 15 Grammy Awards died recently. He was from which country: USA ________ has become the first state in India to issue Soil Health Cards (SHCs), to its all farmers: Punjab In the recently compiled 124 nation Human Capital Index India has been placed at which rank: 100th Name the central government initiative for awarding public health facilities to encourage improvement in keeping the facilities clean and hygienic: Kayakalp Scientists in which country have discovered a new state of matter called the ‘Jahn-Teller-metal’ that appears to be an insulator, superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one: Japan Central govt plans to start Highway Advisory Radio for what purpose: To keep highway commuters updated about road conditions Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse by profession, who died at the age of 67, was in news for what reasons: She lived in a vegetative state for the past 42 years During his visit to South Korea, Prime Minister Modi met the President of South Korea. What is her name: Park Geun-hye Which artificial line forms the international border between South Korea and North Korea: 38th North Latitude Name the deposed Egyptian President who was in news as he along with his 100 supporters was sentenced to death by a court in Cairo in connection with a mass jail break in 2011: Mohammed Morsi Arun Shrivastava has been appointed Managing Director & CEO of which bank: Syndicate Bank 6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy was held in which city: New Delhi Scientists have discovered the world’s first fully warm-blooded fish species. What is its name: Opah Which private sector bank recently opened its first branch in Shanghai, China, that was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Modi on May 16: ICICI Bank ____________ ____________ won the Rome Masters Tennis title with beating Roger Federer in Rome, Italy: Novak Djokovic Women’s singles title of the Rome Masters was won by which player: Maria Sharapova As per the 70 countries Environmental Democracy Index, India has been placed at which rank: 24th Indian Mountaineering Foundation celebrated 50 years of first climbing by Indian team, of Mt. Everest. GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 124) 125) 126) 127) 128) 129) 130) 131) 132) 133) 134) 135) 136) 137) 138) 139) 140) 141) 142) This team was led by which person: Captain Mohan Singh Kohli Which city will host the 10th World Hindi Conference in Sept. 2015: Bhopal The 68th World Health Assembly held in which city of Switzerland: Geneva Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Hungarian writer has won Britain’s prestigious life time achievement award for literature. What is its name: Man Booker International Prize 2015 Name the Indian Navy's latest anti-submarine warfare class stealth corvette, that was launched on May 19 at Kolkata: INS Kavaratti Which Bank plans to roll out e-huts to provide services to people in rural areas: IDBI Bank World Bank will offer a credit of 250 million US Dollar to Bihar government for what purpose: To promote primary school teachers Name the popular Indian stage, film and television actress who died on 20 May at the age of 77: Sudha Shivpuri What type of vessel is INS Sindhukirti which was launched for sea trials on May 21: Submarine What is India’s rank in terms of publishing scientific research papers in different journals in the world: 6th The world’s largest particle smasher- the LHC broke the record for energy levels on May 20. What is the full form of LHC: Large Hadron Collider Which is the first Indian company to join RE100, a global platform for corporates committed to use 100% renewable power: Infosys Ltd. Name the supersonic fighter jet of Indian Air Force that landed successfully on Yamuna Expressway in U P on May 21as part of developing road runway for emergency landing: Mirage 2000 Name the world leader who entered Guinness Book of World Record for reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5 hours after going live on Twitter, @POTUS account: Barack Obama Which famous big fish specie has been spotted for the first time of the Maharashtra Coast: Blue Whale Name the ancient city in Syria that was in news as the militants of the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized its full control on May 21: Palmyra Which Asian country has announced a $110 billion investment plan for infrastructure projects in Asia: Japan What is the minimum amount of gold that can be deposited under the recently announced Gold Monetisation Scheme: 30gm Gold deposited under the Gold Monetisation Scheme has to be kept in the bank at least for a period of _____________: One year Which country has become the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage: Republic of 77 Ireland 162) As per a recent study by the Swiss business school 143) Which award is given for the best feature film at the 144) 145) 146) 147) 148) 149) 150) 151) 152) 153) 154) 155) 156) 157) 158) 159) 160) 161) Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or Which film won the Palme d’Or – award for the best feature film at the Cannes film festival: Dheepan Which team won the IPL title 2015 defeating Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24: Mumbai Indians Indian boxers completed a brilliant run at which international event, winning four gold, one silver and two bronze medals: The Doha International Boxing Tournament Name the film from India that won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival: Masaan Name the naval exercise conducted jointly by Indian Navy along with Singapore Navy: SIMBEX 2015 What is the full form of SIMBEX: SingaporeIndian Maritime Bilateral Exercise The joint naval exercise conducted jointly by Indian navy along with Singapore Navy – SIMBEX 2015 was held at which place: In Sea East of Singapore Which bank has launched a service where customers can make transactions using just their voice, without using other means of authentication like a password: ICICI Bank G Mohan Kumar has been appointed to which important national level govt. office: Union Defence Secretary Andrzej Duda has been elected as the new _________________ of Poland: President The book “More Bad Time Tales” has been written by which person: Humra Quraishi Laxminarayan Tripathi, author of the book Me Hijra Me Laxmi is known for which activity: He is a crusader for rights of LGBT community David Granger has been elected as the new President of which South American country: Guyana Central Govt. has taken what steps recently to enhance the social security of MNREGA workers: They are to be enrolled for three recently launched social security schemes ISRO launched its own GPS system by the name GAGAN. What is the full form of GAGAN: GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation Which organization is the first user of the recently launched GAGAN project: Airports Authority of India As per the New amendments to the Companies Act, what is the minimum capital requirement for starting a Pvt. Ltd. and Public Ltd. company: No limit The central govt. has asked all the state governments to enroll which category of workers into the recently launched three security schemes. MNREGA Workers GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 163) 164) 165) 166) 167) 168) 169) 170) 171) 172) 173) 174) 175) IMD on the parameters of competitiveness, which country enjoys the top position in terms of competiveness: USA The first mega food park of the North East was inaugurated on May 28 in which state: Assam Which Indian Business women has been ranked as no. 1 in India and 30th in world by the Forbes list of most powerful women in world: Arundhati Bhattacharya What is the name of the new TV channel launched by the doordarshan to focus on promoting development of agriculture sector and rural India: DD Kissan Which international organization launched the Arctic Challenge Exercise in the Arctic sea north of Europe on May 26, involving 115 fighter planes and 3600 troops from nine countries: NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization Manabi Bandopadhyay, a transgender educationist was in news recently for what reasons: She became the first transgender in India to head a college With which country India signed a Joint Vision Statement on Defence Cooperation for 2015-2020 in New Delhi on May 25 to promote the mutual cooperation in maritime security: Vietnam Government has constituted a 10-member panel under former finance secretary ______________ to revisit and revitalise public private partnership (PPP) mode of infrastructure development: Vijay Kelkar Australian Open Badminton tournament was held at which place: Sydney Who is the author of the book “A Practitioner’s Diary”: Pradip Baijal Name the former Sri Lanka captain who was named as the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year 2015: Kumar Sangakkara Which Indian batsman was named as the CEAT Indian Cricketer of the Year 2015: Ajinkya Rahane Which state has decided to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the remaining areas of the state with immediate effect: Tripura Dr. S Christopher has been appointed to which important national office: Director General of DRDO APRIL – 2015 176) 177) 178) 179) __________ has been crowned as the FBB Femina Miss World: Aditi Arya In the FBB Femina Miss India World contest, letters FBB represents what: Fashion at Big Bazaar Name the legendary hockey players honoured with Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award: Balbir Singh Senior India has been ranked a lowly ______ on a new index 78 180) 181) 182) 183) 184) 185) 186) 187) 188) 189) 190) 191) 192) 193) 194) 195) 196) compiled by the UN trade body UNCTAD for assessing the readiness of countries for electronic commerce: 83rd What action is planned under Punjab’s special project named as ‘Padho Punjab-Khedo Punjab Mission’: A separate period only for playing games RBI has penalised 16 central co-operative banks with a fine of 5 lakh rupees each for what laps: Non-adherence of the Know Your Customer norms Daniel Vettori, the left-arm spinner has announced his retirement from international cricket. He is from which country: New Zealand Prime Minister dedicated to the nation an expansion and modernisation project worth Rs 12,000 crore for which steel plant: Rourkela Steel Plant India’s 1st integrated steel plant established at Rourkela in early 60’s was setup with which country’s collaboration: Germany Muhammadu Buhari has recently been elected as President of which African country: Nigeria Name the President of Bangladesh Cricket Board who was in news as he resigned from the post of President of International Cricket Council: Mustafa Kamal Govt. has decided to shift implementation of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) from the Labour and Employment Ministry to which ministry: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare What is the amount of health insurance cover available under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: Rs. 30,000 Ana Jara, Prime Minister of Peru was in news for what reasons: She was removed by the parliament Who is the author of the book God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican: Gerald Posner What is the name of the book written by Rajmohan Gandhi about a famous prince of Gujarat: Prince of Gujarat What is India’s rank the 2015 FM Global Resilience Index: 119th As per 2015 FM Global Resilience Index, _______ is the best country for companies seeking to avoid disruptions in their global supply chain operations: Norway Recently the government announced its Foreign Trade Policy (FTP)for which period: 2015-20 FTP policy 2015-20 aims to Increase exports to USD _______billion by 2019-20, from USD 466 billion in 2013-14: 900 FTP policy 2015-20 aims to raise India's share in GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 197) 198) 199) 200) 201) 202) 203) 204) 205) 206) 207) 208) 209) 210) 211) 212) 213) 214) 215) 216) world exports from 2 percent to ____ percent: 3.5 What is the proposed name for new capital of Andhra Pradesh: Amaravati Name the renowned Hindi poet (79) passed away on April 1: Kailash Vajpeyi Which country formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 1, raising the hopes of the possible prosecution of Israelis for their alleged war crimes: Palestine Headquarters of International Criminal Court (ICC) are located at which place: The Hague, Netherland What was the name of the gigantic rescue operation conducted by Indian Navy to evacuate over 5600 persons stuck in the war torn Yemen: Operation Rahat Which Indian naval ship played a critical role in the Operation Rahat: INS Sumitra The book Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish Tripathi has been written about which famous Hindu god: Lord Rama In which country Somalia's Shebab Islamist group raided the campus of Garissa University, killing over 150 students: Kenya In which place marathon talks were held between the world powers and Iran to reach a historic deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear drive: Lausanne, Switzerland Which apex financial institution of India celebrated its 80th anniversary on April 1: RBI Speaking on 80th anniversary of RBI, the Prime Minister asked the bank to prepare a 20 year road map for what purpose: Financial Inclusion Dr. Subadhra Devi Rai was honour with international achievement award for excellence in which field: Nursing Recently a minor planet was named after a legendary sports person of India. Who is he: Viswanathan Anand What is the name of the index that has been launched to provide information on the quality of air / level of air pollution in 10 major cities in the country on daily basis: Air Quality Index _____ is the most polluted city in India: New Delhi _____ is the most polluted city in the world : Beijing Malli Mastan Babu, world famous ace mountaineer from Hyderabad was in news recently for what reasons: He went missing in an expedition and was found dead later. The Reserve Bank has relaxed the Know Your Customer norms for which type of firms to allow them opening of account by submitting a single proof of their business: Sole proprietor firms Miami Masters Tennis Championship were held in which state of USA: Florida ________ won the men’s single title of the Miami Masters Tennis Championship: Novak Djkovic 79 217) 218) 219) 220) 221) 222) 223) 224) 225) 226) 227) 228) 229) 230) 231) 232) 233) 234) 235) ________ won the women’s single title of the Miami Masters Tennis Championship: Serena Williams In its first bimonthly monetary policy statement made on April 7, the RBI changed which policy rate: No change Name the Indian Grandmaster who won the bronze medal in the World Women's chess championships: Dronavalli Harika The World Women's chess championship was held at which place: Sochi, Russia __________ has been appointed as the good will ambassador of Uttarakhand: Virat Kohli What is the name of the first Scorpene Submarine launched for sea trial in India on April, 6: INS Kalvari Scorpene Class Submarines are being built in India in collaboration with which country: France Which national organization is undertaking the building of scorpene class submarines in India: Mazagon Docks Ltd., Mumbai Pedro Cateriano Bellido has been elected as the new Prime Minister of which south American country: Peru Golden Peacock National Quality Award is given for excellence in which field: Corporate governance Union Government on 1 April 2015 launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) – India Scheme for what purpose: To boost eco-friendly vehicles sales in the country Prime Minister launched the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana on April 8. The acronym MUDRA stands for what: Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency What is the amount of corpus with which MUDRA Yojana has been started: Rs. 20,000 crore What is the objective of starting the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana: To extend credit to small businesses and regulate micro-finance institutions The proposed MUDRA bank will have three main loan schemes, named as _______: Shishu, Kishore and Tarun The proposed MUDRA bank can give loans upto a maximum amount of Rs. _________ : 10 lac Which international rating agency has raised the rating outlook of India from stable to positive: Moody’s ____________has become the first player of Indian descent to play in the high-profile National Basketball Association (NBA) league of USA: Sim Bhullar Which index has ranked India at 101st place in terms of indicators of well-being such as health, water and sanitation, personal safety, personal freedom: Social Progress Index GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 236) 237) 238) 239) 240) 241) 242) 243) 244) 245) 246) 247) 248) 249) 250) 251) 252) 253) 254) 255) 256) _________ has been elected as the President of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) for 2015-16: Sumit Mazumder B V R Mohan Reddy has been elected as Chairman of which national level business body: NASSCOM Who has been appointed as the New Chief Election Commissioner of India: Dr. Nasim Zaidi The 5th meeting of the Health Ministers of SAARC countries held in which place: New Delhi Opening match of the 8th edition of the grand cricket extravaganza – IPL 2015 was held in which stadium: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata During his recent foreign visit to Europe, PM Modi visited which city first of all: Paris As per recent data from RBI, ____________ ranks first in the public sector banks having highest percentage of bad loans, at 21.5 % of its total loans: Central Bank of India As per SEBI guidelines, it is mandatory for every listed company to have at least __________ woman director on their board: One Name the international environment campaign group whose bank accounts were recently frozen by the Indian govt.: Greenpeace India For what reasons Govt. of India froze the bank accounts of Greenpeace India: For their alleged encouragement of “anti-development” protests in the country Who is the appointing authority for the Chief Election Commissioner of India: President of India Chief Election Commissioner of India can hold the office up to the age of maximum ___________ years: 65 Status of the Chief Election Commissioner is equivalent to that of which official: Judge of the Supreme Court The CEC has tenure of __________ years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier : Six Recently two hi-tech Mi-17 V5 military combat helicopter were inducted in which paramilitary force of the first time: Border Security Force (BSF) Hi-Tech Mi-17 V5 military combat helicopter have been sourced from which country: Russia Name the retired Air Chief Marshal, recipient of Param Vishisht Seva medal and Mahaveer Chakra, who passed away recently: Hrushikesh Moolgaonkar Legendary cricket commentator Richie Benaud who died recently, was from which country: Australia India successfully test-fired the nuclear-weapon capable Dhanush missile recently. What is its full range: 350 km Which Indian state proposes to setup bio-fences with thickets of thorny bamboos to ward off straying elephants: Assam Gyanpith awardee Jayakanthan passed away 80 257) 258) 259) 260) 261) 262) 263) 264) 265) 266) 267) 268) 269) 270) 271) 272) 273) 274) 275) 276) recently. He was from which field: Tamil Novelist The 20th Law Commission in its report on Leprosy has recommended removal of which word from various statutes as it was considered ‘derogatory’: Leper Which Indian city won the Earth Hour City Challenge held in Seoul, South Korea for best champion of renewable energy: Thane With which country India signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on development of waterways and multi-modal hubs in India: USA The Supreme Court has asked all private hospitals in India to provide full treatment free to _____________ victims, including medicines and expensive reconstruction surgeries: Acid attack The conference of Power, Renewable Energy and Mines ministers of all states and union territories of India was held at which place: Guwahati India has been elected to four key subsidiary bodies of the which forum of the United Nations: Economic and Social Council Which French company has agreed to restart the work in the nuclear power project at Jaitapur, Maharashtra: Areva France has agreed to supply 36 __________ fighter jets to India in a flyaway condition: Rafale India’s first hi-tech financial city – GIFT has been launched in which state: Gujarat What is the full form of acronym GIFT: Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Govt. has allowed banks to open for the first time in India, IFSC as offshore banking units. What is IFSC: International Financial Services Central In the context of electronic fund transfers, abbreviation IFSC stands for what: Indian Financial System Code The World Bank has predicted that the GDP growth in India is expected to accelerate to ________percent in the FY 2015 -16, supported by investment growth: 7.5 _____________ created history by becoming the first Indian female tennis player to achieve the world number one rank in women’s doubles: Sania Mirza __________ won the Sultan Azlan shah cup of hockey: New Zealand Sultan Azlan shah cup of hockey was held at which place in Malaysia: Ipoh __________of India won the bronze medal in the men's 10-metre air pistol event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup: Jitu Rai The ISSF Shooting World Cup was held at _________ South Korea: Changwon In which sea around 900 illegal migrants trying to reach Europe were feared killed after their boat capsized: Mediterranean Sea A report by IMF says that India is likely to overtake GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 277) 278) 279) 280) 281) 282) 283) 284) 285) 286) 287) 288) 289) 290) 291) 292) _______ as the fastest growing emerging economy in 2015-16 by clocking a growth rate of 7.5 per cent: China Name the world’s largest industrial technology fair held in Germany that was recently inaugurated by the Indian Prime Minister: Hannover Fair To promote ‘Make in India’ mission in Germany, Mr. Modi highlighted the 3D strength of India. What is repressed by 3D: Democracy, Demography, Demand Guenter Grass, ______ novelist, the Nobel Prizewinning author of “The Tin Drum”, died recently: German In terms of usage of Information Communications Technologies (ICT), India stands at _____ rank as per an index compiled by the World Economic Forum: 89th A World Trade Organization (WTO) forecast says that the global goods trade will grow by ____percent in the year 2015 and by ____percent in 2016: 3.3, 4.0 Name the historical city of Syria that was in news as the Islamic State militants have been destroying rare ancient relics there dating back to the 13th century BC: Nimrud Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan's teenage education activist and the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner was in news recently for what reasons: An asteroid has been named after her Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Formula 1 driver who won the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, China, hails from which country: Britain The Government has set up a task force chaired by __________ to examine the relevant issues to expedite the work on the interlinking of rivers in the country: B N Navalawala India test-fired its nuclear-capable surface-tosurface Agni-III ballistic missile from the ITR near __________in Odisha: Chandipur ________ has been declared as the Laureus Sportsman of the Year, 2015: Novak Djokovic Genzebe Dibaba has been declared as the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year, 2015. She is from which field and country: Sprinter, Ethiopia Which country has recently agreed to supply uranium to India, becoming third such country: Canada An interest subvention of ___% is available for short-term crop loans up to Rs. ___ lakh per farmer, subject to conditions. 2, 3 Indian batting legend_______, was inducted recently into the prestigious Laureus Sports Academy: Sachin Tendulkar In a article written by Mr. Barack Obama in Time Magazine, he described Prime Minister Modi as _______ of India: Reformer in Chief 81 293) 294) 295) 296) 297) 298) 299) 300) 301) 302) 303) 304) 305) 306) 307) 308) 309) 310) 311) RBI has allowed banks to offer differential interest rates on term deposits of above what amount: Rs.15 lakh Mohan Kumar has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to which country: France What is the short name of a book written by India by the Indian Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor: India Shastra Mightier Than the Sword is a popular novel written by _________: Jeffrey Archer Total exports of India during 2014-15 fell short by $29.5 billion of its annual target of $ ________ billion: 340 The government has asked the states to introduce a new field for indicating _______ of the land owners in their property records: Gender After a gap of almost a decade, Air Canada will resume direct flights between _______ and Delhi from the coming winter season: Toronto The Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in _______ has become the first cricket venue in the country to have a roof top solar power plant: Bengaluru World Haemophilia Day is observed globally on which date: 17th April As per a global study on financial inclusion, roughly _______ per cent of world population has a bank account: 62 The Kerala government, supported by UNICEF, has launched a major campaign Subodham to wean people away from which addiction: Alcohol ________ has been elected General Secretary of the Communist Party (Marxist) of India, at the party’s 21st Congress held in Visakhapatnam: Sitaram Yechury As per new rules, IAS and IPS officers have to take prior permission from govt. before accepting gifts worth more than Rs. _______: 5,000 IAS / IPS officers need to inform the government, if they accept gifts of over Rs. ______from their relatives or friends on customary occasions like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays etc: 25,000 In terms of production of e-waste, India ranks _____ in the world: 5th ____ is the largest producer of the e-waste in the world, followed by China and Japan: USA J. B. Patnaik, a senior congress leader and ex-Assam Governor passed away at the age of 89. He was elected 3 times the Chief Minister of which state: Odisha External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj paid a 5day visit to ________ to attend the 60th commemoration of the 1955 Asian-African Conference: Indonesia Name the Indian Navy's most powerful indigenously built stealth destroyer was launched into water at Mazgaon Dock in Mumbai: INS GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 312) 313) 314) 315) 316) 317) 318) 319) 320) 321) 322) 323) 324) 325) 326) 327) 328) Visakhapatnam Which bank has launched a contactless payment service based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology: ICICI Bank What is the name of the new contactless payment service launched by the ICICI bank: Tap-N-Pay _______, Formula One world champion won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the second year in a row: Lewis Hamilton “KP, the Autobiography” is the life story of which famous cricketer: Kevin Pietersen Sukanya Samriddhi Account for the girl child will earn interest @ _____per cent, w.e.f. April, 2015: 9.2 The Railways has launched a new web portal named ________ to focus on Budget Review, Board Meetings, Zonal Railway Review, Infrastructure Targets and Project Implementation Review: ‘ESamiksha’ ________ train clocked a new world speed record in a test run, smashing through the 600 kilometre per hour: Maglev, Japan Christopher Alan Bayly was an eminent _____ known for his work on colonial and post-colonial India: Historian The Kudermukh National Park in Karnataka and Rajaji National Park in Uttarkhand have been declared _________ by the National Tiger Conservation Authority: Tiger Reserves Chinese President Xi Jinping was honoured by Pakistan with the________, the highest Pak civilian award, during his recent official visit to Pakistan: Nishan-e-Pakistan ______________ has been appointed as the Chairman of National Judicial Appointments Commission: H. L. Dattu Mohammed Morsy, ousted President of ______ was in news as a criminal court sentenced him 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012: Egypt The New York Times won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for journalism for its courageous coverage of which international event: Ebola outbreak in West Africa _______ of Serbia won the Monte-Carlo Masters title of Tennis by beating Tomas Berdych in Monaco: Novak Djokovic With effect from April 1, 2015, the transport allowance exemption for employees has been raised to Rs. _______ per month from Rs 800 for the purpose of Income tax: 1600 The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal to try juveniles, of age _______ years and are accused of heinous crimes, under the laws meant for adults: 16 to 18 Outbreak of deadly disease ebola has claimed over 10,800 lives till date, mainly in three African 82 329) 330) 331) 332) 333) 334) 335) 336) 337) 338) 339) 340) 341) 342) 343) 344) 345) countries. Name the countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone Which international financial giant has launched Pollution Management and Environmental Health (PHEM) program on Global Citizen Earth Day: World Bank As per revised Priority Sector Lending norms banks have to give _____ per cent of their total credit to small and marginal farmers: 8 Housing loans to individuals, up to Rs. ___ lakh in metros and up to Rs. ____ lakh in other centres are now covered under priority sector lending: 28, 20 As per revised Priority Sector Lending norms, the foreign banks will have to make ______ per cent of their total loans under priority sector in the near future: 40 The Rajya Sabha, for the first time in 46 years passed a private members bill to protect the rights of which particular community: Transgender As per the 2015 World Happiness Report, India has been placed at ___ spot out of 158 countries surveyed for level of happiness among the citizens: 117th In terms of general happiness level of the citizens, ____ is the best country in the world, followed by Island and Denmark: Switzerland The railways has launched a new app called _____ for booking of sub-urban train tickets through mobile phones: UTS on mobile The 14th Indo-French Naval Exercise named ______ commenced off the coast of Goa: VARUNA-15 Which city in Bihar was in news as around 70 persons were killed there and in surrounding areas due to a sudden cyclonic storm: Purnia In which country of South America, sudden violent eruption of Turrialba Volcano forced closure the San Jose airport: Costa Rica Indian boxers Rakesh Kumar and Harpal Singh in Men’s category and S Sarjubala and Pinki Jangra in women’s category, won the gold medal’s at which international boxing tournament: 22nd President’s Cup, Indonesia The Chetak Corps of the Army held its major battle exercise named _________ in the deserts of Rajasthan: “Akraman-II” Indian women's hockey team lifted the Hero Hockey World League Round Cup defeating which country at New Delhi: Poland The Reserve Bank has directed banks to include a separate column for which particular community in all their account opening forms and applications: Transgender Name the Indian origin scientist who recently won the prestigious Heinz Award in Technology: Sangeeta Bhatia ___________ of Ukraine successfully defended his GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 346) 347) 348) 349) 350) 351) 352) 353) 354) 355) world heavyweight boxing title for the 18th time in a row: Wladimir Klitschko Who is the author of the book Water, Peace, and War— Confronting the Global Water Crisis: Brahma Chellaney Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of ______ arrived in New Delhi on April 27 on a three day visit: Afghanistan Omar Al-Bashir has been re-elected as President of which country: Sudan Bhartiya Mahila Bank has won which prestigious award recently at Hong Kong: The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 Name the European IT giant that acquired the New Jersey-based I T company I-GATE, for $4 billion in cash: Capgemini India won Gold and a Bronze at the Asian Indoor Rowing Championship which was held at ____________: Pattaya, Thailand 5th Senior Men’s National Hockey Championship won by _______________ team beating Uttar Pradesh in Pune, Maharashtra: Railways Name the Chinese player who won the Badminton Asia Championship held at Wuhan, China: Lin Dan In which country severe eruption of Calbuco volcano took place, forcing its president to declare a state of emergency: Chile Indian navy’s ship INS Tarangini which is going to take part in the annual Tall Ships’ Races is what type of ship: Sail training ship MARCH – 2015 356) 357) 358) 359) 360) 361) 362) 363) 364) 365) Kshatrapati Shivaji has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of which bank: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Mo Ibrahim Prize is given for what achievement: for excellence in public governance Mo Ibrahim Prize is given in which part of the world: Africa Who has been elected as the new President of the BCCI: Jagmohan Dalmiya What is the full form of the BCCI – the apex body governing the game of cricket in India: Board of Control for Cricket in India The government has, for the first time, fixed a inflation target for the RBI, at what level: 6% by January 2016 RBI has been given inflation target as per the recommendation of which committee: Dr. Urjit Patel Committee Arun Kumar Singh has been appointed India’s next Ambassador to which country: USA As per the Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people, ___________ has topped the list for the 8th year: Bill Gates Growth of core sector was lowest in January in past 83 366) 367) 368) 369) 370) 371) 372) 373) 374) 375) 376) 377) 378) 379) 380) 381) 382) 383) 384) 385) 13 months at 1.8 per cent. How many industries are there in the core sector: Eight As per recent data the per capita annual income in India has been recorded at Rs. __________in 2013-14: Rs. 80,388 Which wing of defence forces recently conducted its operational exercise ‘TROPEX 2015’: Navy Write the full form of the abbreviation TROPEX: Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise Indian navy recently conducted TROPEX 2015 exercise in which area: Arabian Sea Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic to win which title in Dubai: Dubai Championship the Argentina Open title of Tennis was won by __________ beating Juan Monaco of Argentina: Rafael Nadal Reserve Bank of India cut its main lending rate--the repo rate by _______ percentage points to 7.5% on Mar 4, 2015: 0.25 At which place world’s largest and tallest Indian national flag was unfurled on March 3: Faridabad, Haryana The Lok Sabha has passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to bring which category of vehicles into the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988: e-rickshaws and e-carts Name the popular news magazine that was founded by Vinod Mehta, the eminent journalist who passed away recently: Outlook What is the name of the autobiography of Vinod Mehta: Lucknow Boy Reserve Bank of India eased the norms for home loans for up to which amount: Rs. 10 lac What are the expenses that now can be included in the amount of home loan as permitted by RBI: Stamp duty and registration charges etc Name the new scheme that will be offered by all Public Sector General Insurance Companies for giving insurance cover against death by accident: Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) The PMSBY is available to all persons in age group_________ years, having a bank account: 18 to 70 What is the annual premium amount payable for joining PMSBY: Rs. 12 What is the amount of cover available under PMSBY in case of accidental death: Rs. 2 lac Name the new scheme that will be offered by Life Insurance Corporation and all other life insurers for providing life insurance: Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) The PMJJBY is available to all persons in age group_________ years, having a bank account: 18 to 50 What is the annual premium amount payable for GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 386) 387) 388) 389) 390) 391) 392) 393) 394) 395) 396) 397) 398) 399) 400) 401) 402) 403) joining PMJJBY: Rs. 330 What is the amount of cover available under PMJJBY in case of death by any reason: Rs. 2 lac Name the new proposed pension scheme to be launched by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, focussing the unorganised sector workers: Atal Pension Yojana (APY) The APY is available to all persons in age group_________ years, having a bank account: 18 to 40 Name the badminton player who became the first Indian woman to reach the finals of the All-England Badminton Championship: Saina Nehwal Which Indian organization reached a major milestone of successfully linking 15 crore bank accounts with Aadhaar number: National Payments Corporation of India According to the Mercer Quality of Living Rankings 2015, which Indian city has been selected as the ‘Best Indian City’ to live in: Hyderabad Name the three states that have recently been excluded from the Protected Area Permit (PAP) regime for foreign tourists till December 31: Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland International Women’s Day was observed across the world on which date: March 8 United Nations declared this year’s theme for women’s day as _________ to encourage effective action for advancing and recognizing women: Make it Happen Govt has decided to converge which national programme with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to facilitate afforestation on 10 million hectares of land over the next decade: National Mission for a Green India (GIM) Name the special bus service that has been started between Varanasi and Kathmandu from March 5: Bharat-Nepal Maitri Bus Seva What was the name of the world’s only solarpowered aircraft which made a stopover in Ahmadabad on March 11: Solar Impulse Name the India’s first indigenously developed and manufactured rotavirus vaccine which was launched in New Delhi: Rotavac Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe ________ among infants and young children: Diarrhea Ambassador of which country to South Korea was in news as he suffered a knife attack by a pro-North Korean activist: USA Saraswati Samman is given for excellence in which field: Literature Saraswati Samman for 2014 has been awarded to which eminent author: M. Veerappa Moily Which state tourism won the silver prize of Golden 84 404) 405) 406) 407) 408) 409) 410) 411) 412) 413) 414) 415) 416) 417) 418) 419) 420) Gate award at the Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2015, Germany. Kerala Which country tested its Shaheen-III Surface to Surface Ballistic Missile, having a strike range of 2750 kms: Pakistan In which city first Kisan Call Centre (KCC) in NorthEastern India was opened on 9 March 2015: Agartala Which is the top corporate in the list of top 10 corporates in terms of assets, compiled by the Corporate Affairs Ministry: Reliance Industries Ltd. Which is the largest public sector corporate entity in India in terms of its assets: Indian Oil Corporation A recent Delhi High Court has clarified about which high public office that it is covered under the RTI Act: Attorney General of India Which state government has launched 'Aapki Beti Humari Beti' programme to provide cash assistance of Rs 21,000 families having girl child: Haryana National tourism agency of which country has appointed film star Sai Ali Khan as its brand ambassador in India: Britain Name the three countries that were visited by the Prime Minister Mr. Modi in the second week of March 2015: Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles Name the country that was visited first of all by the Prime Minister Modi on his recent visit of Indian Ocean Country: Seychelles Name the Sri Lankan Cricket Star who became the first cricketer to score four successive one-day international centuries: Kumar Sangakkara Which international organization has raised India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.2 per cent taking into account the revised methodology adopted by India earlier this year for calculating the GDP figures: International Monetary Fund Which Indian organization has committed Rs 1.5 lakh crore for development of various railway projects over the next five years: Life Insurance Company of India Which two countries have been prohibited by RBI from acquiring or transferring immovable property in India: Macau & Hong Kong Which cricketer has been voted as the greatest ODI player in the history of cricket by recent survey: Viv Richards The new Consumer Price Index released by the Central Statistics Office, number of items in the CPI basket has been increased to _____ from 450 in urban areas: 460 The base year for the ‘Consumer Price Index’ has been revised from 2004-05 to ________: 2011-12 After a gap of over 20 years, Re 1 note has been released in the country and it bears the signature of GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 421) 422) 423) 424) 425) 426) 427) 428) 429) 430) 431) 432) 433) 434) 435) 436) 437) 438) 439) which government official: Finance Secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi Name the university that has topped the list of the 100 most prestigious universities compiled by Times Higher Education of UK: Harvard University, USA The final match of Ranji Trophy (Cricket) was played on March 12 at which place: Mumbai Which team won the prestigious Ranji Trophy on March 12: Karnataka by beating Tamil Nadu 58th All India Ayurvedic Congress was held in which place on March 14: Chandigarh Which Union Ministry has launched a new web portal, www.inampro.nic.in to monitor the supply of cement at all India level: Road Transport & Highways Name the tool that is used by Central Statistics Office to measure the level of industrial production in the country: Index of Industrial Production (IIP) Terry Pratchett who passed away recently was a famous science fantasy novelist from which country: Britain Name the new scheme that has been launched for redressal of grievances of consumers related to drug pricing and availability of medicines: Pharma Jan Samadhaan Scheme Which Indian ministry has launched the Pharma Jan Samadhaan Scheme: Chemicals and Fertilizers A former President of which country was sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by a criminal court: Maldives In which country India has agreed to build a Rabindranath Tagore memorial: Sri Lanka Which Indian organization has agreed to enter into a currency swap Agreement of 1.5 billion dollar to help keep the Sri Lankan rupee stable: RBI Name the super cyclone which slammed into the south Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu, east of Australia, leaving complete devastation in its wake: Pam Indian navy decommissioned the INS Alleppey on March 13. It was what type of ship: Coastal Minesweeper On which corporate the Income Tax Department recently slapped a tax demand notice of Rs. 20,495 crore: Cairn India The 5th National Community Radio Sammelan held in which city: New Delhi Santosh Trophy is awarded for winning which national tournament: Football Name the winner of the 2014 Santosh Trophy: Services Team A historic bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled on March 14 at Parliament Square in which international city: London 85 440) 441) 442) 443) 444) 445) 446) 447) 448) 449) 450) 451) 452) 453) 454) 455) 456) 457) 458) 459) Name the Indian sports star who clinched the Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship title beating Viktor Alexson in Basel, Switzerland: Kidambi Srikanth Which state has opened the largest number of Sukanya Samridhi Account in last two months: Karnataka As per RBI guidelines, loans to which new category of persons will now be included in the priority sector lending: Persons with disabilities RBI has said that loans to persons with disabilities can now be classified in loans to _______ category under priority sector lending: Weaker Section As per RBI guidelines, banks are required to make _____ per cent of their loans to the weaker section: 10 Priority sector lending target for all banks in India is fixed at ____ per cent of their total loans: 40 Name the Chief of International Monetary Fund (IMF) who visited India recently: Christine Lagarde Headquarters of IMF are located in _____________ in USA: Washington DC ___________ is known as the currency of IMF: SDR Lewis Hamilton who won the Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 race held in Melbourne, Australia is from which country: Britain Name the team that won the Women's Hockey World League Round Two competition title: India Final match of the Women's Hockey World League Round Two competition was held in which city: New Delhi As per a recent international report, _________ has emerged as the world’s largest buyer of weapons and military equipment, accounting for some 15% of total imports: India What is the content of a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of India on the issue of Aadhaar Cards: They are not compulsory for availing various government subsidies and any other benefits The world’s first $1 million prize – Global Teacher Prize is given in which country: USA Which State has passed The Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill, 2015 to ban cow slaughter and sale of beef: Haryana Supreme Court has reversed central government decision to include Jats in the ____________ category: Other Backward Classes (OBC) Out of France, Germany, Italy and Spain, which country has not decided to join Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Spain _______ is the main promoter country of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: China Union cabinet recently approved the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 460) 461) 462) 463) 464) 465) 466) 467) 468) 469) 470) 471) 472) 473) 474) 475) 476) 477) Bill, 2015 for which objective: To unearth black money and illicit assets stashed abroad Which Indian State is famous for mass nesting by Olive Ridley: Odisha Olive Ridley, known for their mass nesting practices are which type of animal: Sea Turtle M.C. Mary Kom, Veteran boxer has been appointed brand ambassador for north-east India to promote the region in the rest of the country and abroad. She hails from which state of India: Manipur Capital of which country was in news as Islamic militants stormed its Bardo National Museum killing 17 foreign tourists and three locals: Tunisia Which judicial authority has announced a fine of Rs 5,000 on individuals spotted littering or throwing waste on the railway platforms and tracks: National Green Tribunal According to a recent report by the global thinktank OECD, India is poised to grow 7.7 per cent this year. What is the full form of OCED: Organization for Economic co-operation and Development Name the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile that was successfully tested recently: Astra The Astra missile is launched from which type of platform: Aircraft Which Union Minister has been named Young Global Leader from India by the World Economic Forum (WEF) of Switzerland: Smriti Irani _________ has been re-elected as the Prime Minister of Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu A three-day conference for strengthening maritime trade and security among Indian Ocean Rim countries was held at which place: Bhubaneshwar Name the Nobel Laureate who has been elected to head Britain's prestigious Royal Society: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Ministry of Railways has constituted the________ council to recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of the Railways: Kaya Kalp Name the prominent industrialist who has been asked by the government to head the Kaya Kalp council of railways: Ratan Tata M S Dhoni became the first Indian captain to score victory in 100 ODI matches. He achieved this fete in the match played against which country: Bangladesh Capital of which country was in news as over 150 persons, mainly Shia muslims were killed there in the bomb attacks: Yemen (Sanaa) The Central government has announced ___ per cent reservation for women in police forces of union territories, including Delhi: 33 Name the team that won the Irani Cup after beating Rest of India in the finals played in Bengaluru: 86 478) 479) 480) 481) 482) 483) 484) 485) 486) 487) 488) 489) 490) 491) 492) 493) 494) 495) 496) Karnataka Government has directed regional rural banks to cut down on which aspect of their operations: Staff Strength Name the scheme that aims to provide skills training to youth, including Class 10 and 12 drop outs: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana Which union ministry has been assigned the task of aggregating all the stake holders linked with Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana: Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Reserve Bank will issue Rs. ____ coins to commemorate 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru that fell on Nov 14, 2014: 5 The government has roped in _______ _________as brand ambassador for its campaign against Hepatitis B: Amitabh Bachchan Name the author of the book “Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy- Speaker's Perspective”: Smt. Meira Kumar, former Speaker, Lok Sabha _________ of New Zealand made the highest score in the World Cup history with 237 not out against West Indies: Martin Guptill Which UN organization is associated with observing March 21 as the International Day of Forests: Food and Agriculture Organization What is the theme of this year’s International Day of Forests: Forests and Climate Change Lee Kuan Yew, a great statesman who passed away on March 23 was credited with development of which country: Singapore BNP Paribas Open Tennis Championship 2015 Men’s singles title was won by which player: Novak Djokovic BNP Paribas Open Tennis Championship 2015 Women’s singles title was won by which player: Simona Halep Which country is associated with the awarding of Stockholm Water Prize: Sweden Name the eminent Indian environment activist who has been selected for Stockholm Water Prize: Rajendra Singh A three day International Conference on Counter Terrorism 2015 was held at which place: Jaipur Stockholm Water Prize winner Rajendra Singh works in which part of India for promoting conservation of water resources: Rajasthan Prime Minister has launched Pragati programme to give impetus to stalled projects and ensure their timely execution across the country. What is the full form of Pragati: Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation The Supreme Court on March 24 struck down the controversial section 66A of which Act: Information Technology Act The Asian Development Bank says that India’s GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 497) 498) 499) 500) 501) 502) 503) 504) 505) 506) 507) 508) 509) 510) 511) 512) 513) 514) growth rate is expected to surpass China and improve to _____ per cent in next fiscal: 7.8 Name the film that won the National Award for Best Feature Film: Court The Hindi film Mary Kom was honoured with Best Film in which category of National Film Awards: Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment Which film won the National Award for Best Hindi Film: Queen Name the male actor who won the National Award for Best Actor: Vijay Name the female actor who won the National Award for Best Actor: Kangana Ranaut Veteran actor-filmmaker Shashi Kapoor (77), who has starred in over 100 Hindi films has been honoured recently with which National Award: Dada Saheb Phalke Award What is the amount of cash prize given in Dada Saheb Phalke Award: Rs. 10 lacs India's first National Skill Development University will be established in which State: Chhattisgarh Indian navy recently inducted 3 ISVs at Vishakhapatnam. What is ISV: Immediate Support Vessel What is the name of the new service that has been launched by the government through which anyone can get the tweets directly from the Prime Minister / Chief Ministers in form SMS messages: Twitter Samvad Name the author who is the only Indian among 10 authors finalized for this year’s Man Booker International Prize for English literature: Amitav Ghosh In collaboration with which bank railways has launched the RuPay debit card service to facilitate online booking of rail tickets, payment of shopping bills and other service bills: Union Bank of India Who has been appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax: K M Mani For the development of which popular pilgrimage centre, world bank has sanctioned a fund of Rs. 100 crore: Ganga Sagar Tirath, West Bengal After a rigorous bidding in the auctioning of which item the government recently fetched about Rs. 1.10 lac crore: Telecom spectrum The Reserve Bank signed a $400 million currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of which country for a period of three years: Sri Lanka Two-year-old girl Cherukuli Dalli Shivani from Vijaywada was in news for her exceptional record achievement in which field: Archery With which country India recently signed 6 pacts including one for the transfer of sentenced Indian convicts in that country to complete their 87 515) 516) 517) 518) 519) 520) 521) 522) 523) 524) 525) 526) 527) 528) 529) 530) 531) remaining sentence in India: Qatar Which international prize given in the field of Mathematics is popular as the Nobel of Maths: Abel Prize Zokhawthar, a small town in Champhai district of _________was in news as a land customs station was inaugurated there at the Indo-Myanmar border trade centre: Mizoram Who has been appointed as the new spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry: Vikas Swarup By which country Indian artist Bharti Kher has been honoured with ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’: France Which high court became the first court in India to set up dedicated commercial divisions within it, in line with recommendation of the Law Commission: Delhi India's first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe), was made operational at which place in North Antarctica: Priyadarshini Lake Name the ambitious project that aims to develop 12 smart cities at ports and several coastal economic zones to promote tourism and economic growth: Sagarmala The Reserve Bank on March 25 removed the lending restriction on which bank to allow it to restart normal lending operations: United Bank of India At which place Prime Minister Modi paid homage to 3 great revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on March 23, 2015: Hussainiwala, Ferozepur, Punjab For which offence the British govt. awarded the death sentence to the revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev: Killing British Police Officer Mr. Saundras. International Gandhi Peace Prize 2014 is given for what purpose: For promoting peace and harmony in public life What is the amount of cash award in the International Gandhi Peace Prize: Rs. 1 cr Which organization has been selected for the international Gandhi peace prize 2014: ISRO Name the two Indians who have been named among the 50 greatest leaders in the world by Fortune magazine in its annual list of extraordinary men and women transforming business, government and philanthropy: Narendra Modi and Kailash Satyarthi Name the airlines whose aircraft went crashing into a mountainside in French Alps on March 24, killing all 150 persons aboard: Germanwings Name the space vehicle that became the first human-made vehicle that has completed 11 years marathon on a planet: Opportunity Rover of NASA Final match of Cricket World Cup – 2015 was GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 532) 533) 534) 535) 536) 537) 538) 539) played in which stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Name the cricketer who scored highest runs in the Cricket World Cup 2015: Martin Guptil (NZ) - 547 Which cricketer declared as the ‘Man of the Tournament’ in Cricket World Cup 2015: Mitchell Starc (Aus) _______________ was declared as the ‘Man of the Match’ in the final match of Cricket World Cup 2015: James Faulkner (Aus) Name the women badminton player of India who created history by becoming the first Indian women to be ranked as No. 1 in world: Saina Newal Saina Nehwal defeated world champion _______________ to win the women’s singles title in the India Open Badminton Championship: Ratchanok Intanon Name the male Indian badminton player who won the recently held India Open Badminton Championship: Kidambi Srikanth The prestigious India Open Badminton Championship was held in March 2015 at which place: New Delhi _____________ will host the 2019 ICC Cricket Word Cup: England and Wales FEBRUARY – 2015 540) 541) 542) 543) 544) 545) 546) 547) 548) 549) The first Grand Slam of the tennis for 2015 – Australian Open was held at which place: Melbourne, Australia Name the winner of men’s singles title at the Australian Open tennis tournament: Novak Djokovic Name the winner of women’s singles title at the Australian Open tennis tournament: Serena Williams Name the Indian tennis player who won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open: Leander Paes Name the Indian Union Minister who recently visited China on a four day official visit, to launch the “Visit India Year” in China: Sushma Swaraj Nicol David, World Women’s Squash champion has set a new record for topping the world rankings for the 106th month. She is from which country: Malaysia Country’s GDP growth rate was revised upwards to ________ per cent for 2013-14, as against 4.7 per cent estimated earlier: 6.9 The base year for measuring National Accounts has recently been revised to _______ from 2004 – 05 earlier: 2011-12 India test fired its Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), __________ for the first time from a canister mounted on a Tatra truck, from the Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast: Agni-V What is the approximate range of India’s ICBM Agni 88 550) 551) 552) 553) 554) 555) 556) 557) 558) 559) 560) 561) 562) 563) 564) 565) 566) 567) 568) 569) 570) 571) – V: 5000 kms Sergio Mattarella has been elected as the new President of which country: Italy Rory McIlroy is the world’s no. 1 player in which sports: Golf Rory McIlroy is from which country: Britain _______ has been appointed Head Coach of India’s men’s Hockey team: Paul Van Ass 18th National Conference on e-Governance was held in which city: Gandhinagar, Gujarat Name the film that won the Filmfare Award for the best film for 2014: Queen The Filmfare award for the best actor for 2014 was won by _________: Shahid Kapoor for Haider The Filmfare award for the best actress for 2014 was won by _________: Kangana Ranaut for Queen The Filmfare award for the best director for 2014 was won by _________: Vikas Bahl for Queen Krishna Chaudhary has been appointed Director General of which paramilitary force: Indian Tibetan Boarder Police (ITBP) Name the renowned music composer and actor who has been appointed Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi: Shekhar Sen Which bank has introduced a new app, Chillr, which will allow users to send money to any contact in their phone books, 24X7: HDFC Bank Charles H. Townes, American noble prize winner scientist passed away recently. He was known for which popular invention: Laser lights What is the full form of the word laser: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation A high powered committee chaired by R Gandhi, has been formed to review the structure and functioning of the Urban Cooperative Banking Sector. Who is R. Gandhi: Dy. Governor, RBI India's first fenced elephant sanctuary is to be setup in which Biological Park in Karnataka: Bannerghatta The RBI recently slashed the statutory liquidity ratio by how many basis points: 50 What will be the impact of recent reduction of SLR by 50 basis points on the inflation front in the country: It may go up What will be the impact of recent reduction of SLR by 50 basis points on the growth of the economy of the country: It may go up What will be the impact of recent reduction of SLR by 50 basis points on the bank loans: It may go up What will be the impact of this reduction of SLR by 50 basis points on the interest rates of the bank loans: It may go down Which is the only country to win the Handball World Championships for the record five times: France GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 572) 573) 574) 575) 576) 577) 578) 579) 580) 581) 582) 583) 584) 585) 586) 587) 588) 589) 590) Which country secured the no. 1 position in world in consumption of gold in 2014: India India overtook which country in becoming the top consumer of gold in the world: China Which American celebrity has been elected as the most admired women in the world in a recent survey: Angelina Jolie Winner of the “Most Admired Women” title, Angelina Jolie is from which field: Cinema The Reserve Bank on Feb. 3 doubled the annual overseas investment ceiling for individuals to $_________ per person per year under the Liberalised Remittance: 250,000 The deposit accounts in the banks in which there are no transactions for 10 years or more are called _______ accounts: Unclaimed Under which project Govt plans to construct over two crore toilets in select villages to make India free from open defecation by 2019: MNREGA The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to install which type of machines at locations selected by them (banks) without getting its prior permission: Cash Deposit Machines Which country has overtaken the United States as the top destination for foreign direct investment for the first time since 2003: China According to the UNCTAD, foreign firms invested 128 billion dollars in China and 86 billion in the US last year. Write the full form of UNCTAD: United Nations Conference of Trade and Development Which country has become the first country in the world to allow a "three-parent" IVF (in vitro fertilization) technique: Britain Who is the author of world famous novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”: Harper Lee Saloni Dalal, a 12 year old girl became the youngest medal winner in the 35th National Games in Kerala by winning a Bronze medal in which field: 200 meter breast stroke swimming event Which state won the 10th National Award for excellent work in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA): Madhya Pradesh Which state launched e-registration of properties in all the 130 tehsil and sub-tehsils of the State on Feb 04: Haryana Who has been appointed as the new Union Home Secretary: LC Goyal Gaur Hari Singhania, a noted industrialist passed away recently. He was associated with which corporate group: J K Group of Industries ________ has been appointed as member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations by the US government: Ajay Banga Which state has decided to set up ‘Plast India International University’ in partnership with 89 591) 592) 593) 594) 595) 596) 597) 598) 599) 600) 601) 602) 603) 604) 605) 606) 607) 608) 609) 610) 611) University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA: Gujarat Who is the author of the book “The Bookman’s Tale”: Charlie Lovert Which Indian Bank raised about Rs 10,000 crore by selling American Depository Receipts in the largest follow-on offer by a private sector firm: HDFC Bank Ms. Zoe Konstantopoulou has been elected as the new President of which country: Greece In which country Shiite Houthi rebels dissolved the Parliament and took over the reins of the impoverished nation: Yemen Noted novelist Bhalchandra Nemade has recently been honoured with which prestigious literary award: Jnanpith Award Jnanpith Award winner Mr. Nemade writes in which language: Marathi Name the Indian musician who won the ‘Best New Age Album’ award at the 57th Grammy Awards: Ricky Kej Name the Indian who won the Grammy in the Best Children's Album category for rendering audio version of the book 'I Am Malala’: Neela Vaswani The Grammy award for the record of the year and song of the year went to which song: Stay with me BAFTA awards are given for excellence in which field: Cinema The abbreviation BAFTA stands for what: British Academy of Film and Television Arts Which film won the BAFTA award for the best film: Boyhood Government has decided to infuse Rs. 6,990 crore in nine public sector banks to comply with which international norms / guidelines: Basel III Basel III guidelines have been issued for what purpose: To ensure capital adequacy in banks Basel III guidelines have been issued by which international authority: Bank for International Settlements Name the politician whose name name was included in the LIMCA book of records for being the only woman of the country to represent the same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a row: Sumitra Mahajan Which state launched the “Himalaya Darshan” programme as part of its ongoing efforts to boost tourism in the state: Uttarakhand Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam who visited India recently is the President of which country: Singapore National Deworming Day is observed on which date: Feb 10 Medicine Albendazole is orally administered to preschool and school-going children between one and nineteen years for what purpose: For de-worming Which Indian economist has been named as the first winner of a newly established Charleston-EFG GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 612) 613) 614) 615) 616) 617) 618) 619) 620) 621) 622) 623) 624) 625) 626) 627) 628) John Maynard Keynes Prize in the UK: Amartya Sen Which bank has launched ‘Pockets’, a digital banking service, enabling users to instantly send money to any e-mail id, mobile number, friends on Facebook and bank account: ICICI Bank The RBI has allowed banks to offer extra interest on deposit schemes up to Rs 1 crore which cannot be broken prematurely. Such deposits are called _________ deposits: Non Callable Reserve Bank has given the directions that all credit institutions, banks and NBFCs should become members of all the CICs in the country. The abbreviation CIC stands for: Credit Information Company Summit of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held in _______ on 9-10 February 2015: Istanbul The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine met in Minsk, capital of Belarus to find solution to which international problem: Fighting in Eastern Ukraine What is the name of the mascot of the 35th National Games: Ammu Which animal has been made the mascot for the 35th National Games: The Great Hornbill Bird Which marching contingents were awarded jointly the Best Marching Contingents Trophy for Republic Day Parade 2015: The Brigade of The Guards and the Sikh Regiment The First World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC) was held in ______, Kerala from 5 to 8 February 2015: Kochi Govt. has constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by _________for reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases: Pramod Asthana The opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World cup 2015 was held on Feb 12 at which two places: Christchurch and Melbourne Which US Company has created a world record by crossing the mark of $700 billion in terms of market capitalization: Apple Inc RBI has decided to put in circulation currency note in One Rupee denomination. These notes are printed under which Act of Govt. of India: Coinage Act 2011 In terms of freedom of press, the World Press Freedom Index puts India at which rank: 136th All India Football Federations (AIFF) has declared which sports person as the player of the year 2014: Sunil Chhetri Name the champions who won highest number of medals – 159 in the national games 2015: Services Raja Bhalendra Singh Trophy is awarded for which achievement: Sports Contingent that wins 90 629) 630) 631) 632) 633) 634) 635) 636) 637) 638) 639) 640) 641) 642) 643) 644) 645) highest medals in national games The 36th National Games will be hosted by which state in 2016: Goa For which national programme World Bank has agreed to grant $ 8 million loan to India for sustainable livelihoods and adaption to climate change: National Rural Livelihoods Mission India successfully test-fired the naval version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from which naval ship: INS Kolkata Name the first National Tribal Festival that was held at New Delhi from 13 to 18 Feb., 2015. “VANAJ”-2015 Which national scheme recently launched by the govt. of India has been listed in Guinness Book of World Records for largest coverage: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Which state has set up Gram Sachivalayas to bring Gram Panchayat and village level functionaries of all departments under one roof for better functioning and coordination: Haryana Name the former Maharashtra Home Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader who passed away recently: R. R. Patil Name the Popular cartoonist, veteran columnist and political activist who passed away in Feb 2015: Rajinder Puri The 67th National track cycling championship was held at which place: Thiruvananthapuram Name the veteran film producer, holder of the Guinness Book of World Records for the most films produced – 150, by an individual, who passed away recently: D Ramanaidu What is the strike range of recently tested nuclear capable Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile: 350 kms The nationwide “Soil Health Card” scheme was launched by the Prime Minister from which place in Rajasthan on Feb19 : Suratgarh Which Indian telecom major has tied-up with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide health, education and youth-focused content to its customers in 17 African countries: Bharti Airtel Government has launched MADAD-Because You Are Us system for what purpose: Consular Grievances Monitoring Name the former India Captain and ace Leg Spinner has been chosen to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame: Anil Kumble What is the short name for the recently notified Indian Accounting Standards which are converged with global standards IFRS: Ind AS The Indian Accounting Standards – Ind AS will be mandatory for companies from which date: 1st April 2016 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 646) 647) 648) 649) 650) 651) 652) 653) 654) 655) 656) 657) 658) 659) 660) 661) 662) 663) 664) 665) 666) Which organization compiles the weekly figures for India's foreign exchange reserves: RBI Name the Indian golfer who won the European Tour title at the Hero Indian Open on Feb 22 in New Delhi: Anirban Lahiri Who has been elected as the new Chief Minister of Bihar: Nitish Kumar Amartya Sen, 81 year old Nobel laureate economist was in news recently for what reasons: He resigned as the Chancellor of Nalanda University The famous international Nalanda University is located in which State: Bihar The 10th edition of Aero India Show was held in which place: Bengaluru The government plans to launch a new scheme 'Krishi Dak Service' for what purpose: To distribute improved seed varieties to farmers at their doorstep, through post-offices ADB has agreed to grant $350 million loan to Madhya Pradesh for what purpose: To upgrade district roads Which organization has reached an agreement with the bank unions to keep the banks closed on 2nd and 4th Saturday: Indian Banks Association (IBA) The Academy Awards are given for excellence in which field: Cinema What is the popular name for prestigious US Academy Awards: Oscars Which picture won the Oscar for best picture: Birdman Name the actor who won the Oscar for best actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything The Oscar for the best actress for 2014 was won by which lady: Julianne Moore for Still Alice What is the name of the recently conducted Indo Nepal Joint Military Exercise: Surya Kiran-VIII The military exercise Surya Kiran – VIII was recently held at which place: Saljhandi, Nepal Who has been appointed as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Offices in Geneva: Ajit Kumar The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has established the world’s highest research station at which place: Chang La, Ladhakh What type of research activities shall be carried out at the world’s highest research station at Chang La: To develop and validate cold weather technologies for agriculture and allied fields Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had amended the rules to introduce MNP on nationwide basis from May 3. What is MNP: Mobile Number Portability Musicians from around the world will gather this April in which city to celebrate the International 91 667) 668) 669) 670) Jazz Day: Paris International Jazz Day is celebrated on which date: April, 30 Irom Sharmila, Human rights activist has been conferred Sthree Shakti Award for her fight against imposition of Armed Forces (Special Powers Act, 1958). She is from which state: Manipur Hero Hockey India League 2015 was played in which city: New Delhi Which team won the Hero Hockey India League 2015 Championship: Ranchi Rays JANUARY – 2015 671) 672) 673) 674) 675) 676) 677) 678) 679) 680) 681) 682) 683) 13th The Pune International Film Festival was held at Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra from January 8 to 15. What was the theme this year: War against War Name the biggest cultural festival of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism in Nepal, observed to mark the beginning of the New Year: Tamu Lhochhar The famous new year festival of Nepal – Tamu Lhochhar is held at which place: Kathmandu ADB has agreed to give $ 75 million loan and $1.8 million grant to which state in India for Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Program for improving the water resource management: Karnataka Name the top Indian cricketer who has decided to retire from the Test Cricket: MS Dhoni Name the country that has recently adopted the Euro as its currency: Lithuania How many countries in Europe have adopted Euro as their currency: 19 President gave his assent to the NJAC Act, nearly ending the two-decade-old Collegium System for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and 24 high courts. NJAC stand for what: National Judicial Appointments Commission The NJAC will be headed by ___________ and will have ______ other members: Chief Justice of India, Five Name the India's first integrated mobile application for women safety launched in Delhi on Jan 1: ‘Himmat' Saiyid Hamid, noted Muslim academician, educationist, reformist and author passed away recently. He was Chancellor of which educational institution: Jamia Hamdard University and Jamia Millia Islamia What is the new name of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) after the promulgation of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India On Jan 1, the government announced that the Planning Commission had been revamped and rechristened as NITI Aayog. What is the full form of GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 684) 685) 686) 687) 688) 689) 690) 691) 692) 693) 694) 695) 696) 697) 698) 699) 700) 701) 702) 703) NITI: National Institution for Transforming India _____________ is the Chairman of the NITI Aayog: Prime Minister Name the newly appointed vice chairperson of the NITI Aayog: Arvind Panagariya Ms Sindushree Khullar has been appointed CEO of which important national level office: NITI Aayog In which development financial institution government has decided to increase its stake to 51% from around 48% at present: Industrial Finance Corporation of India – IFCI Which is the only state in India that has the potential to grow the rare ‘purple tea’: Assam ______________ is the only country in the world that produces unique purple tea: Kenya India's top PSU bankers and select policy makers gathered in Pune for a two-day (Jan 2-3) retreat that was named ______________: Gyan Sangam 102nd Indian Science Congress was held at which place: Mumbai Who is the author of the book ‘The Fault in Our Stars’: John Green Name the senior politician who has authored the book titled, ‘At Home in India: The Muslim Saga’: Salman Khurshid The RBI has signed an information sharing agreement with which country for better coordination in supervising financial institutions: Unite States of America As per revised norms, NBFCs have been asked to review KYC norms in their high risk category accounts every _________ years: Two Two commemorative coins of Rs 100 and five were released in the honour of Tata Group founder ________________ to mark his 175th birth anniversary: Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata Indian railways runs the Maitree Express train between which two stations: Kolkata – Dhaka Name the project launched by government for under taking eco friendly development of the rural areas: Green India Mission Govt. has launched domestic efficient lighting programme in Delhi. What is the highlight of this project: LED bulbs to be supplied at an initial payment of Rs. 10 What is the full form of LED: Light Emitting Diodes What is the name of the customized low-cost combination of phone and tablet computer launched for farmers by ICRISAT: Greenphablet Write the full form of the abbreviation ICRISAT: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Headquarters of ICRISAT are located at which place: Near Hyderabad, Telangana 92 704) 705) 706) 707) 708) 709) 710) 711) 712) 713) 714) 715) 716) 717) 718) 719) 720) 721) India is on way to join the global high-end scientific Neutrino Club as the government has approved a high level research laboratory in __________ field in Tamil Nadu: High energy physics Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed as the brand Ambassador for health sector by which State: Andhra Pradesh The theme for 19th National Youth Festival is_______________: Youth for Clean, Green and Progressive India Name the satirical weekly of France whose office was attacked recently by Islamic militants, killing over 12 persons: Charlie Hebdo Millions of people around the world expressed their solidarity with the slain French journalists by using the hash tag # Je Suis Charlie on Twitter. What is its meaning: I am Charlie Name the senior Indian diplomat who has been named as the new Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support (DFS) in UNO: ATUL KHARE Which bank recently launched the country’s first contactless debit and credit cards that use the nearfield communication (NFC) technology, enabling customer to make payments by just waving the card near merchant terminals instead of swiping the same: ICICI Bank India has agreed to provide 60 million dollars Line of Credit – LoC to Guyana for its road infrastructure projects. Where is it located: On Northern border of Brazil Modibo Keita has been elected as Prime Minister of which country: Mali The country Mali is located in which part of the world: West Africa Hampi Utsav – 2015 a three-day mega cultural festival of dance, drama, art and music was held in which State: Karnataka Ancient town of Hampi in Karnataka was the capital of which empire: Vijayanagar Empire Scientists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic which can kill an array of germs without the bugs easily becoming resistant to it. What is its name: Teixobactin India will provide Rs 6.90 crore support to Nepal for fighting against the Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Programme (IDDCP) for control of which ailment: Goitre In which country militants of Boko Haram massacred over 2000 persons in towns around Baga: Nigeria Tshering Tobgay, who recently visited India is the _________ of Bhutan: Prime Minister Who has been elected as new President of Sri Lanka: Maithripala Sirisena 15 prominent NRIs were conferred which honour GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 722) 723) 724) 725) 726) 727) 728) 729) 730) 731) 732) 733) 734) 735) 736) 737) 738) 739) 740) at the recently held Pravasi Bharatiya Divas: Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award In whose honour, the coins of the denomination of Rs. 100 and Rs. 10 and the stamps of value of Rs 25 and Rs 5 were released at Pravasi Bharatiya Divas: Mahatama Gandhi National Youth Day is observed on which date: 12th January Why January 12 is observed as National Youth Day: It is birthday of Swami Vivekananda Name the star footballer who won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo Name the ace tennis player who reached the 1,000 ATP Tour wins milestone as he won the Brisbane International title on Jan 11: Roger Federer In the field of tennis, the abbreviation ATP stands for: Association of Tennis Professional Who has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization: A S Kiran Kumar Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has been elected as the first women President of which country: Croatia Which airline has been selected as the safest airline in the world for 2015: Quantas Quantas is the official air carrier of which country: Australia A new vaccine ‘Raksha Blue’ has been launched to counter which deadly disease in farm animals: Bluetongue Golden Globe awards are given in which field: Cinema Golden Globe award are given in which country: USA Which film won the Golden Globe 2015 for the best motion picture: Boyhood Name the Secretary, Defence Research and Development cum Director General, DRDO and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister who was in news as he was removed by the govt. from his seat, 15 months before his contract was to end: Avinash Chander Raghuram Rajan, Governor, RBI was selected as the ‘Governor of the Year’ by international magazine Central Banking. This magazine is from which country: Britain Country’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered train was flagged on January 13 from which place: Rewari, Haryana Encouraged by the India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, the United Kingdom announced which campaign to forge collaborations with Indian companies: Great Collaborations Nabard has signed an MoU with which Indian Institute of Management, to set up a Chair to encourage research in climate change, rural livelihood and financial inclusion, among others: 93 741) 742) 743) 744) 745) 746) 747) 748) 749) 750) 751) 752) 753) 754) 755) 756) 757) IIM, Ahmedabad Which bank bagged three awards, including the ‘award for the best bank’ at the annual flagship event "MSME Banking Excellence Awards-2014" at Bengaluru: Canara Bank Which Bank on Jan 13 launched a savings bank account christened as Jifi Saver, which can be managed via Twitter and Facebook: Kotak Mahindra Bank Which Indian space project has won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category from the US based National Space Society (NSS): Mass Orbiter Mission Which district in Kerala became the first district in the country to have all its gram panchayats connected through National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) - hi-speed rural broadband network: Idukki The first Border Haat (market) along with Bangladesh frontier was opened on 13 January 2015 in which State: Tripura Which country has launched an Online Visa Pilot Programme to make it easier for Indian business and tourism visitors to apply online visa: Australia Name the Indian professional golfer who has been voted as the 2014 Players’ Player of the year in Asian Tour: Anirban Lahiri Bank Rate of Reserve Bank of India is calibrated with which other policy rate: Marginal Standing Facility Which top IT company of India has promised the Prime Minister to invest $250 million for funding innovations in software and services in India: Infosys Who is the appointing authority for Chief Election Commissioner: President of India What is the tenure of Chief Election Commissioner: 6 years The official status of Chief Election Commissioner is equivalent to which other post: Judge of Supreme Court Which area of Uttar Pradesh was in news as around 50 lives were lost there due to a hooch tragedy that occurred in its nearby villages: Malihabad, Lucknow Bhakti Sharma, India's 24 year old open water swimmer has set a world record by swimming 2.25 kms in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in which ocean: Antarctic Ocean 76th Table Tennis National Championship was held at which place: Puducherry The Red Sari by Javier Moro is a book return about which Indian political celebrity: Sonia Gandhi Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification recently resigned from her post. What is her name: Ms. Leela Samson GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 758) 759) 760) 761) 762) 763) 764) 765) 766) 767) 768) 769) 770) 771) 772) 773) 774) 775) 776) Which Bollywood celebrity has been conferred Social Media Person of the year award 2015 by the Internet and Mobile Association of India: Amitabh Bachchan Name the new indigenously built fighter aircraft recently inducted in the Indian Air Force: Tejas Tejas is a LCA acquired by the Indian Air Force. What is the full form of LCA: Light Combat Aircraft Stephen Constantine has been appointed head coach of which Indian sports team: Men's Football Sania Mirza along with her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands won doubles title at which international tournament in Australia: Sydney International Tennis Tournament Giraffe Hero Award is given for excellence in which field: Social Work Which State has appointed yoga guru Ramdev as the state's brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda in a big way: Haryana Which state has banned the sale of loose cigarettes (as single sticks) and loose tobacco, becoming the first State to do so: Punjab Which State has been selected, for the first time, for National e-Governance Award 2014-15 for the best district- level initiative in the country: Jammu & Kashmir In a bid to promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes (SCs), which Ministry launched two schemes for funding ventures setup by them: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Name the Australian cricketer, rated as third fastest bowler in world, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20-year career: Brett Lee Name the cueist who won the National Billiards Championship held at Kolkata: Pankaj Advani Name the cricketer who recently hit the fastest century in one-day internationals cricket history: AB de Villiers _________ state to host the 35th National Games: Kerala Asia’s biggest literary event was recently held in which city: Jaipur Name the Indian-American author who won the coveted DSC Prize for Literature at the Jaipur Literature Festival: Jhumpa Lahiri _________ was declared as the winner of inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize Literature at the Jaipur Literature Festival: Arunadhathi Subramaniam Name the film producer who has been appointed as the Chairman, Central Board of Film Certification: Pahlaj Nihalani A report by the IMF says that India is expected to grow at 6.3 per cent this year and 6.5 per cent in 2016 by when it is likely to cross growth rate of 94 777) 778) 779) 780) 781) 782) 783) 784) 785) 786) 787) 788) 789) 790) 791) 792) 793) 794) 795) which country: China The 79th Senior National Badminton Championship held in ________ from January 29 to February 5: Vijayawada Name the Indian runner who broke the 19-year-old women marathon national record at the 12th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon in Mumbai: O P Jaisha In which country the Houthi rebels seized the Presidential palace in the capital Sanaa, forcing the President to resign: Yemen As per the recent tiger census in India, ________ State has highest number of tigers: Karnataka As per a study by Edelman, India has been placed at _____ rank in world in terms of faith reposed by its citizens in its institutions: 2nd Name the noted political scientist, founder of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies who passed away recently: Rajni Kothari With which country India signed an agreement on transfer of prisoners who are completing their sentence there: Hong Kong Name the author of the book “Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty”: Vikram Chandra The prestigious National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards are given in which country: USA Jimjang Deru of Arunachal Pradesh recently created national record in which sports: Weight Lifting Which international organization has decided to lift a seven-month-long ban on the import of mangoes from India: European Union Veteran journalist Malini Parthasarathy has been appointed as the first women editor of a century old national news paper: The Hindu The government has launched HRIDAY to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country. Write full form of HRIDAY: Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana What is the name of the Microsoft’s voice controlled assistant to be introduced in its new operating system - Windows 10: Cortana India has allowed duty free access to which country’s export products in Indian markets under the Agreement of South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA): Afghanistan Name the scheme launched by the Prime Minister to save and empower the girl child: Beti BachaoBeti Padhao Which Bollywood celebrity has been appointed as brand ambassador of Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign: Madhuri Dixit A special savings scheme by the name ________ has been launched to encourage special savings for girl child: Sukanya Samriddhi Account What is the rate of interest payable in the Sukanya GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 796) 797) 798) 799) 800) 801) 802) 803) 804) 805) 806) 807) 808) 809) 810) 811) 812) Samriddhi Account: 9.1% per annum A maximum amount of Rs. ______ can be deposited in a financial year in the Sukanya Samriddhi Account: 1,50,000 Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, King of Saudi Arabia was in news recently for what reasons: He passed away India’s first International Institute of Music will be set up in _____ by a trust headed by Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his family: Kerala In which country its first women premier was impeached on Jan 23 for corruption charges: Thailand Lee Wan Koo has been appointed new Prime Minister of which Asian country: South Korea The Reserve Bank has allowed Indians to carry high value notes of Rs 500 /1000 while travelling to _______ and _____with a cap of Rs 25,000 on the total amount: Nepal, Bhutan The World Economic Forum's five-day annual jamboree of the global elite started on Jan 20 at______, Switzerland: Davos Which Ministry has launched a new organisation “National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited” (NHIDCL) to promote the road construction: Road Transport and Highways Ministry Name the controversial Australian bowler who has been named Australia's young cricketer of the year, winning the Sir Bradman Award: Sean Abbott In a major boost to the jute sector, govt. has approved mandatory packaging of _____ and _____ in jute material to minimum extent of up to 90 per cent of production: Sugar and Foodgrains RBI has advised that RRBs with assets less than $175 million need not to register under the US law FATCA. Write the full form of FATCA: Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Govt plans to set up a ‘Price Stabilisation Fund’ (PSF), with a corpus of Rs 500 crore for what purpose: To control price fluctuations in fruits and vegetables The proposed price stabilization fund will initially focus on which two commodities for their price regulation: Onions and Potatoes With which country India signed MoUs for formulating action plans for development of smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam: USA Govt plans to introduce a new Consumer Price Index with ________ as base year for computing retail inflation rate: 2012 India has been ranked _______ globally in terms of talent competitiveness of its human capital, indicating acute shortage of skilled workforce: 78th The Expenditure Management Commission, headed by_______, has recommended to the government that it cut fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent of the GDP during 95 813) 814) 815) 816) 817) 818) 819) 820) 821) 822) 823) 824) 825) 826) 827) 828) 829) 830) 831) 2015-16: Bimal Jalan Which Bank has launched Jifi Saver, a social savings bank account which can be seamlessly managed via Twitter and Facebook: Kotak Mahindra Bank Who has been appointed as the new Union Foreign Secretary of India: S. Jaishankar Country’s first geothermal heating plant was launched successfully by the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment of DRDO at its _____(HP) campus: Manali R K Laxman, the legendary cartoonist who passed away recently is known for the iconic cartoon character named ________:The Common Man Veteran cartoonist R K Laxman was associated with which news paper: The Times of India Name the highest peacetime military honour awardaed posthumously to Major Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh on Republic Day: Ashok Chakra Paulina Vega of Columbia has been crowned with which international beauty pageant: Miss Universe Name the new national champion of snooker in men’s category: Pankaj Advani The Reserve Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding on “Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information” with central bank of which country: Brazil Which Indian bank signed an agreement with U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation for $220 million loan for on-lending to micro, small and medium enterprises: Yes Bank Pooja Thakur, the first woman to lead the ceremonial tri-service guard of honour inspected by Mr. Obama is from which wing of Indian Defence Forces: Air Force Which MNC recorded highest ever quarterly profit of $18 billion in quarter ending December 2014: Apple Inc. Name the legal luminary, a senior advocate who has been awarded Padma Bhushan recently: Harish Salve Mr. Subhash Kashyap who has been honoured with Padma Bhushan is an authority in which field: Constitutional Expert Name the noted philanthropist couple honoured recently with Padma Bhushan: Bill Gates and Melinda Gates Name the noted TV journalist honoured with Padma Bhushan this year: Rajat Sharma Name the veteran politician, a serving Chief Minister who has been decorated with Padma Vibhushan this year: Prakash Singh Badal Name the two noted bollywood actors who have been honoured with Padma Vibhushan this year: Amitabh Bachhan and Dilip Kumar Name the UK businessman and spiritual leader who GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 832) 833) 834) 835) 836) 837) 838) 839) 840) 841) 842) 843) has been honoured with Pamda Vibhushan this year: Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan Sportsperson Mithali Raj has been honoured with Padma Shri. She is from which sports: Cricket Name the women badminton player honoured with Padma Shri award this year: PV Sindhu Noted film personality Prasoon Joshi who has been awarded Padma Shri is from which field of film industry: Lyricist Jhumpa Lahiri has been awarded DSC Prize 2015 for literature for her book : The Lowland India's FDI increased by 26 per cent in 2014 to an estimated 35 billion US dollar. Maximum FDI was attracted by which sector of economy: Services To meet the fiscal deficit, the government sold 10 per cent stake in which state owned company to raise about Rs 24,000 crore: Coal India Ltd Which country will host the 2016 Twenty 20 World Cup from 11th of March to 3rd of April 2016: India Name the Former chief of Gorkha National Liberation Front, who gave birth to the Gorkhaland movement, who died recently: Subash Ghishing As per revised guidelines, winners of Gold medal in international sports events will now get Rs. __________: 75 lacs Jaswant Sing Rajput who won two times gold medal for India in Olympics, passed away recently. He was from which Sports: Hockey The Payment Banks are not allowed to undertake which major banking function: Giving Loans The payment banks are not allowed to accept deposits beyond Rs. ___________: One lac DECEMBER – 2014 844) 845) 846) 847) 848) 849) 850) 851) 852) Name the Russian film that won the Golden Peacock for the best film at the International Film Festival of India: Leviathan The Golden Peacock Award for the best film carries a cash award of __________ rupees: 40 lac Noted film maker Wong Kar Wai was conferred the lifetime achievement award at IFFI. He is from which country: China Worlds Aids Day is observed on which date: December 1st What is the full form of HIV infection: Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection In the abbreviation of AIDS, the letter S stands for what: Syndrome Which Southeast Asian country has launched a Tamil version of National Day Song: Singapore Name the Indian footballer who has been given Hall of Fame Award in Manila: Baichung Bhutia Name the Indian woman badminton player who won the Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy at Macau, 96 853) 854) 855) 856) 857) 858) 859) 860) 861) 862) 863) 864) 865) 866) 867) 868) 869) 870) 871) 872) 873) 874) China: PV Sindhu Jarbom Gamlin who passed away recently was a formal Chief Minister of which State: Arunachal Pradesh Govt. has deiced to observe 25th December as which day: National Good Governance Day National Good Governance Day is observed in the honour of which national leader: Atal Behari Vajpayee A R Antulay, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra passed away recently. He was from which political party: Congress Tabare Vazquez has been elected as President of which South American country: Uruguay Who has been appointed as the new Director of Central Bureau of Investigation: Anil Kumar Sinha The international prize for art – Turner Prize is given in which country: UK Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards are given in which field: For excellence in exports Which bank won the Niryat Bandhu Silver Trophy for excellence in exports: Canara Bank American geologists have named the earth’s most abundant ________as ‘Bridgmanite’: Mineral The world climate change conference was held at which place: Lima, Peru The recent world climate change conference was organized by UNFCCC. What is the full form of UNFCCC: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change As per the Corruption Perceptions Index–2014 released by the Transparency International, India stands at ___ position among 175 countries: 85th As per the Corruption Perceptions Index–2014, which country is least corrupt in world: Denmark Name the India’s recently tested nuclear – capable strategic ballistic missile having a range of about 4000 kms: Agni IV Name the system launched by RBI to help consumers pay multiple bills like electricity, telephone and school fees at a single point of transaction: Bharat Bill Payment System Which organization has been appointed as the nodal body for implementing Bharat Bill Payment System: National Payment Corporation of India India recently launched GSAT-16 satellite for what purpose: Communications The communication satellite GSAT-16 was launched at which place: Kourou in French Guiana United Nations has declared which day as International Yoga Day: June 21 Why June 21 has been selected as World Yoga Day: This is the longest day thus having maximum energy Which state recently launched “Mobile one” e- GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 875) 876) 877) 878) 879) 880) 881) 882) 883) 884) 885) 886) 887) 888) 889) 890) 891) 892) 893) 894) 895) governance initiative to enable public to access 4000 govt/ private services on their mobile phones just by dialing 161: Karnataka Blind Cricket World Cup was recently held at which place: Cape Town, South Africa Name the country that won the Blind Cricket World Cup 2014: India RBI has hiked the limit for pre-paid payment instruments (PPI) to Rs. _________ from Rs. 50,000 at present: One Lac Deodhar trophy is related to which place: Cricket Deodhar trophy 2014 was lifted by which team: East Zone Which US firm has been selected for supply of 16 multirole helicopters for the Indian Navy: Sikorsky Who has been appointed as the new US Defence Secretary: Ashton Carter On December 5, NASA launched Orion spacecraft atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket. It is what type of spacecraft: Returnable Spacecraft Name the author of the book “2014: The Election That Changed India”: Rajdeep Sardesai Which Indian state got its first rail link on Nov. 29, 2014: Meghalaya Death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar – 6 December is observed as what day: Mahaparinirwan Divas United Nations General Assembly has declared 2015 as the International Year of _______: Soils Japan recently launched explorer Hayabusa 2 for what purpose: For exploring asteroids With which country Andhra Pradesh signed a MoU for development of new capital: Singapore The UNICEF has said that 2014 has been “devastating” for some 15 million ______caught up in violent conflicts around the world: Children Ms. Wang Patraporn has been selected as Miss Intercontinental 2014. She is from which country: Thailand The government has decided to decriminalise “attempt to suicide” by deleting which section of the Indian Penal Code: 309 The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal for setting up of a 500 crore rupees Credit Guarantee Fund for Factoring for MSME units. What is factoring: Collection of receivables of business units The first Arabic translation of the Indian Constitution has been launched recently in which country: Egypt Name the entity that has been selected as the ‘Person of the Year 2014’ by Time magazine: Ebola Fighters Which Indian bank has launched two indices to track manufacturing activity and offer forward looking economic trends: State Bank of India 97 896) 897) 898) 899) 900) 901) 902) 903) 904) 905) 906) 907) 908) 909) 910) 911) 912) 913) Which country has become the 181st member of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA): Bhutan As per the Web Index 2014 India has been placed at which rank in terms of internet's contribution to social, economic and political progress: 48th Noted corporate personality Azim Premji has been awarded Swiss Ambassador's Award. He is chairman of which company: Wipro Ltd. The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) links Ludhiana in Punjab to __________ near Kolkata: Dankuni India’s most prestigious Indian classical music function – The Tansen Sangeet Samaroh was held at which place: Gwalior, MP INS Circars, the oldest naval establishment on the Eastern seaboard celebrated its Platinum Jubilee. It is located at which place: Visakhapatnam Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India to attend which important meeting: 15th IndiaRussia annual summit Who is Arunima Sinha, writer of the book “Born Again on the Mountain”: First Indian female amputee to climb Mount Everest The Druzhba – Dosti concept relates to strengthening of the bilateral partnership of India with which country: Russia Name the book by Akhil Sharma that has been selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten Best Books of 2014: Family Life In which country police forcefully ended the more than two month old street demonstration - Occupy Central: Hong Kong The 14th Finance Commission submitted its report on December 11 to which authority: President of India Who is the head of the 14th Finance Commission: Y V Reddy What is the purpose of setting the finance commission: To decide the devolution of tax receipts from the Centre to the states The recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission shall be applicable from ______ to 31st March, 2020: 1st April, 2015 To promote electronic payments, the Reserve Bank of India has increased the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) business hours to 12 hours from ________ to _____ on weekdays: 8 am, 8 pm Name the recent international chess title won by Viswanathan Anand: London Classic Name the indigenous nuclear-powered submarine that for the first time sailed out for sea-trials on Dec 16: INS Arihant GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 914) 915) 916) 917) 918) 919) 920) 921) 922) 923) 924) 925) 926) 927) 928) 929) 930) 931) 932) 933) 934) Name the beauty queen that has been selected as Miss World 2014: Rolene Strauss Miss World 2014, Rolene Strauss is from which country: South Africa National Energy Conservation Day is observed on which date: Dec 14 Who is the author of the book ‘In God’s Hands’: Desmond Tutu Who is Desmond Tutu, winner of Templeton Prize: Archbishop from South Africa Name the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau: Dineshwar Sharma Who has been re-elected as the Prime Minister of Japan: Shinzo Abe Champions Trophy is related to which sports: Hockey Champions Trophy 2014 was won by which country: Germany Champions Trophy 2014 was held at which city in India: Bhubaneswar Confucius Peace Prize, also known as China's version of the Nobel Prize, has been given to which person for 2014: Fidel Castro, Former Cuban leader Vivek Murthy, the 37 year old Indian origin doctor in USA was in news for what reasons: He has been appointed Surgeon General of USA Olof Palme Human Rights Prize is given in which country: Sweden Nasa's Curiosity rover has recently detected methane on which planet: Mars Government has approved the continuation of interest subvention for short-term crop loans up to Rs _______ to farmers: 3 lakh Which state has won the Krishi Karman Award for the year 2013-14 for showing exemplary agriperformance in 14 different categories: Arunachal Pradesh Which bank has launched its mobile banking application by the name ‘Bank Aapki Muththi Mein’: HDFC Bank Name the heaviest ever rocket, weighing 630 tonnes launched by ISRO on Dec 18: GSLV Mark III GSLV Mark III carried CARE as its payload which is an Indian-made unmanned crew module. What is full form of CARE: Crew Module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment USA has announced a series of steps aimed at normalising relations with which country: Cuba Name the two banks that have been fined recently by the RBI for violation of KYC norms: ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda 98 935) 936) 937) 938) 939) 940) 941) 942) 943) 944) 945) 946) 947) 948) 949) 950) 951) 952) 953) 954) Union Cabinet recently approved a constitutional amendment bill on which important tax issue: Goods and Services Tax Name the super power whose economy is in deep trouble due to economic sanctions imposed on it and huge loss on account of steep fall in oil prices: Russia Opening ceremony for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2015 shall be held at which place: Melbourne, Australia Tashi Malik and Nungshi Malik, the twin sisters from Dehradun were in news for what reasons: They completed scaling highest peaks Name the beauty queen selected as the Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014: Ruhi Singh Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014 contest was held at which place: Beirut, Lebanon What is the name of the new Prime Minister of Mauritius: Anerood Jugnauth Among the chief ministers serving currently, who is the Chief Minister with longest tenure of 20 years: Pawan Chamling Pawan Chamling, who completed 20 years as Chief Minister on Dec 12. He is from which State: Sikkim In India the record for longest tenure as Chief Minister, 23 years, 4 months is held by which person: Jyoti Basu Chunibhai Vaidya, a veteran Gandhian and freedom fighter passed away recently. He is from which state: Gujarat Rajinder Khanna has been appointed head of which national intelligence agency: Research and Analysis Wing Prakash Mishra has been appointed head of which paramilitary force: CRPF The festival of Losar celebrated to mark the beginning of new year is observed at which place in India: Ladakh, J & K Which Indian cricketer has been named as the brand ambassador of ICC cricket world cup 2015: Sachin Tendulkar Name the Indian golfer who won the Inaugural edition of Dubai Open Golf Championship title: Arjun Atwal Name the winning team of the Indian Super League Football Championship: Atletico De Kolkata Beji Caid Essebsi has been elected as President of which African Country: Tunisia Which Indian State has decided to set up a Cultural University to promote its rich cultural heritage: Manipur Klaus Iohannis has been elected as __________ of GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 955) 956) 957) 958) 959) 960) 961) 962) 963) 964) 965) 966) 967) 968) 969) 970) 971) 972) Romania: President Govt. has decided to pay __ % interest on provident fund deposits of Employees Provident Fund Organisation: 8.75% International Tennis Federation (ITF) has declared __________ as the men’s player of the year 2014: Novak Djokovic _______ has been named as the women player of the year 2014 by International Tennis Federation: Serena Williams The authorize capital of the Regional Rural Banks has been raised from Rs.5 crore at present to Rs. _______ crore: 2000 The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has advised that the new IFRS norms shall be applicable from April 1, 2015. What is the full form of IFRS: International Financial Reporting Standards Recently RBI has released a new set of norms defining which type of borrowers: Non Cooperative Borrowers Jyotsna Suri has recently been elected as President of the prominent national trade body – FICCI. What is the full form of FICCI: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Name the President of Bangla Desh who visited Kolkata recently: Abdul Hamid Name the NASA’s planet-hunting spacecraft which discovered a ‘super-Earth’ located 180 light-years from Earth: Kepler As per a recent survey which are the two top culprits for highest global carbon-dioxide emissions from burning of fossil fuels: China and United States– 29 and 15 per cent British Queen has honoured noted Pakistan-born poetess Imtiaz Dharker for her poetry collection ‘Over the Moon’ with which award: Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014 Joe Cocker who died recently was a famous ________ from the Colorado, USA: Rock Singer Name the Indian player who won silver medal at the 17th Asian Luge Championship: Shiva Keshavan 58th National Shooting Championships was held in which place: Pune Vinicius – the cat, has been declared as mascot for which international sports event: 2016 Rio Olympics Name the European space mission spacecraft that has been declared as the most important scientific Breakthrough of the Year 2014: Rosetta Bharat Ratna Award is given on recommendation of which authority: Prime Minister The declaration for Bharat Ratna Award is made by 99 973) 974) 975) 976) 977) which authority: President The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including 500 and 1,000 rupees, has been extended upto which date: June 30, 2015 The World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad at Gyor in Hungary was won by which country: India For the first time, India exported an indigenously built war ship to which country: Mauritius Name the new Chief Minister of Jharkhand: Raghubar Das Govt. has launched which programme to cover all those children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases: Mission Indradhnaush 978) 979) 980) 981) 982) ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD: ONLY 12 MONTHS 983) FROM (MONTH) …………………..TO…………….(MONTH) AMOUNT: Rs. 600/- 984) Name: Mr./Ms……………………………………………….……… 985) Address:…………………………………………………………….… ……………………………………………………………………… …. 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Radhakrishnan A new train - The Sushaasan (good governance) Express was launched on Dec 25, from which place to which place: Gwalior to Gonda Ankita Raina won ITF singles tennis title becoming the first Indian to win this title in past 14 years. This match was played at which place: Pune Name the cricketer who broke the world record for most number of stumpings in international cricket after he claimed his 134th victim: M S Dhoni Which country has been assigned the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2015: Latvia Which southeastern country suffered worst flooding in decades forcing some 1,18,000 people to flee to safer places: Malaysia Name the wheeled version of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Nishant, recently tested by DRDO: Panchi Name the mission that aims at creating an environment for producing high quality teachers: Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching Name the country that has decided to join North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Ukraine World Bank will lend Rs 475 crore ($75 million) to the ___________Government for implementing a rural growth project: Andhra Pradesh The Reserve Bank released a charter of customer rights on Dec.3 that lays down ____________basic rights that bank customers enjoy: Five (Magazine will be sent by Ordinary Post) GYANM: SCO 13-15, 2nd FLOOR, SEC 34-A, CHD , PH: 0172-4052124 GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2015 Edited, Printed and Published by Varinder Mohan Singh Grover for Gyanm Education and Training Institute Pvt. 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