CHECK YOURSELF QUIZ

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a panel to review the current system of data collection, dissemination and data management processes in the central bank and improve the existing mechanism in Dec 2013. The 15- member committee will be headed by whom?
A) C Rangarajan
B) Deepak Mohanty
C) Gowri Mukherjee
D) N. K. Sodhi

2. The US economic growth

4 February Updates

1. World Cancer Day is observed today (4th February) across the world in order to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. World Cancer Day was founded

3 February Updates.

1. The president of Indian Pranab Mukherjee launched National Mission On Libraries (NML) with the efforts of Union Ministry Of Culture on 3rd February 2014.

The mission has been launched in a digital way so that every one can have access to those treasure of Indian libraries.

This time not only professor,

2 February Updates Conti.

1) Asia’s first Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) was commissioned into the Indian Navy recently with which India joined the select league of just two countries – the United States and Ukraine. This SBTF has been established at INS Hansa in Panaji (Goa)
The SBTF is primarily used for flight testing

2 February Updates

1. Harish Rawat, a Union Minister, was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand today,
succeeding Vijay Bahuguna who was asked by the Congress high command to step down in a bid to boost the party’s prospects in the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls this year. He was administered the oath of office by Governor Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhawan.

Earlier incumbent Chief Minister of Uttrakhand,

1 FEBRUARY UPDATES

1. 44.12 million rupees grant assistance to Nepal Academy Library pledged by India on 30 January 2014. It will be for the construction of Nepal Academy’s library building in Kathmandu.

Nepal Academy, established in 1957, is a premier national

31 JANUARY CONTIND.

1) Family of late Justice J.S. Verma recently refused to accept an award conferred on him posthumously by the Union Government. In a letter written to President Pranab Mukherjee his family mentioned that accepting it would be against his principles as he never hankered for any such honours. Padma Bhushan award was conferred on late Justice J.S. Verma recently.

Late Justice J.S. Verma was one of the 25 winners of Padma

31 JANUARY UPDATES

• Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), Mumbai was selected for the National Communal Harmony Awards 2013 in the organisation category. In the individual category award,Mohinder Singh of Delhi and N Radhakrishnan of Kerala were selected.
• India launched a Gandhi Portal named Search for Gandhi in London. With this India aims to popularize Mahatma Gandhi among children of British Indians settled in UK. The portal is meant for children aged 6 to 15 and will use audios, videos, creatively integrated facts, games and quizzes.
• India Post announced to install as many as 3000 Automated Teller

30 DECEMBER UPDATES

1. Gorton Castle is the name of the heritage building in Shimla which houses the office of the Accountant General of Himachal Pradesh and was gutted in a major fire on 28 January 2014.
A major fire reduced two floors of this magnificent heritage building to ashes. Deriving its name from the former estate upon which it was built, this was the Government of India Secretariat Building from where the affairs of this vast country were administered during the summer months in the colonial times. Crores of rupees had been spent on renovation of this heritage building which was built in 1904. Renovation work was on when the fire broke out in the building.

2. India ranks 155th out of 178 countries in the 2014 Environmental

29 JANUARY CONTIND.

1. Lenovo Group agreed to acquire Google Inc’s Motorola handset division for USD 2.91 billion in
order to expand its business into a heavily competitive U.S. handset market dominated by Apple Inc. It
is Lenovo’s second major deal on U.S. soil after acquiring IBM’s low-end server business for USD 2.3 billion announced last week.
2. Google acquired Motorola Mobility for USD 12.5 billion in 2012 and sold the same division for USD
2.91 billion only after nearly 2 years. This is definitely the worst acquisition ever done by the internet giant.
Google will keep

29 JANUARY UPDATES

1) 8% is the new Repo Rate after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on 28 January 2014 increased it by 0.25% under RBI’s third quarter monetary policy review.

This move is expected to translate into higher EMIs and push up the cost of borrowing for corporates. Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) will be revised to 7% and the marginal standing facility rate and bank rate to 9%. However, the RBI kept the cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4% as liquidity seems to be comfortable.

2) In back-to-back moves to try resolving the ongoing Ukrainian

UPDATES FOR 28 DECEMBER CONTIN.

1. India’s Civil Aviation Ministry on 27 January 2014 approved the operations of Airbus A-380s in India at four airports Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore and currently equipped to handle these super jumbos. Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Lufthansa have been pressing the government for several years to allow them fly these super jumbos into India. Which four airports were allowed to handle this huge aircraft. The restrictions on the fully double-decker planes were lifted after weeks of consultation between Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Air India and Airports Authority of India (AAI).  An A-380 aircraft can seat 850 passengers in an all-economy configuration, but those having a three-class configuration can accommodate between 550-600 passengers

2.  India Inclusive Innovation Fund – IIIF  is the name of a new fund announced on 27 January 2014 by the National Innovation Council (NInC) and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to combine innovation and the dynamism of enterprise to solve the problems of citizens at the bottom of the economic pyramid in India.
This fund is launched by Sam Pitroda

3. Tunisia is the North-African country whose people overthrew their dictator in 2011 in a popular uprising that inspired the so-called Arab Spring across the region, approved the country’s landmark democratic constitution on 26 January 2014.

4. The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) organisation was chosen for the National Communal Harmony Award 2013 in the organisations category. The award was announced on 25 January 2014 by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony. Mohinder Singh of Delhi and Dr. N Radhakrishnan of Kerala have been selected for the award in the individual category. Established in 1996, CSSS is a Mumbai-based organisation working to promote peace, secularism and communal harmony in the country.
Mohinder Singh, 72, is a scholar and member of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions. Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, 69, is a well-known academic, Gandhian scholar and peace worker. The National Communal Harmony Awards were instituted in 1996 by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony, an autonomous organisation under the Union Home Ministry)

5. Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo, the patriotic song sung by Lata Mangeshkar to commemorate the martyrdom of Indian soldiers in the Sino-Indian War of 1962, completed 51 years of its public performance on 27 January 2014. The song written by Kavi Pradeep was performed live at Delhi’s historic Ramleela Maidan on 27 January 1963 by Lata Mangeshkar, just two months after the end of the war.  C. Ramchandra composed this legendary song.

6. Union Government on 27 January 2014 issued the notification declaring the Jain community as the sixth minority community in India. Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi  are the other five communities accorded this status earlier. The minority status was accorded to Jain community under Section 2(C) of National Minority Commission Act, 1992

28 JANUARY UPDATES

1. Karl Slym, who passed away recently in Bangkok, was the top executive associated with  TATA MOTORS Indian automobile company.He was the Managing Director of Tata Motors. He died in Bangkok on 26 January 2014 where he had gone to attend a board meeting of the company’s Thailand arm. The UK-born Slym was brought to the company in 2012 to turn around the company’s domestic business as Tata Motors was fully dependent on profits generated by the company’s UK-based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover till the end of the last quarter.
2. The third one- day international (ODI) of the India- New Zealand series at Auckland on 25 January 2014 ended in a nail- biting tie with India scoring exactly 314 runs, the same scored by the Kiwis. It was India’s 7th tie in an ODI match. 3.MS Dhoni created history by becoming the first ODI captain to have participated in four tied matches (Richie Richardson (West Indies), Steve Waugh (Australia) and Shaun Pollock (South Africa) were involved in three ties each. The first tie for Dhoni was in the 2011 ICC World Cup against England in Bangalore. His second was also against England at Lord’s on 11 September 2011. The third occasion was against Sri Lanka in Adelaide in February 2012. 4.Vakrangee Ltd.which is engaged in providing e- governance solutions has received final
authorization for operating White Label ATM (WLA) license from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Under, the RBI license, the company is entitled to set up and run minimum 15,000 ATMs across the country in next three years. White label ATMs are those which are not run by the Banks but by a non- banking entity in its own brand name (like Vakrangee ATM) after passing through all the stringent qualification and due-diligence process undertaken by RBI. 5. The Karnataka Government’s Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology, Science & Technology launched the ‘Namma Wi-Fi’ hotspots across six spots in the city. Usage will be limited to three hours per day or up to 50 MB data. The total number of access points would be 23 in the coverage area which will accommodate 2,000 users at the same time. To use this service, users should have an authentication password which would be sent to their mobile after they register on the network. Choose a sticker or/

27 JANUARY UPDATES

1. The ‘fastest ever’ broadband speeds of 1.4 terabits per second have been achieved in a test in London recently, raising hopes of more efficient data transfer via existing infrastructure. This astonishing speed is enough to send 44 uncompressed HD films a second. Which companies collaborated in this test– Alcatel-Lucent (France) and British Telecom – BT (Britain)  companies collaborated in this test.
The test was conducted on a 410km (255-mile) link between the BT Tower in central London and Ipswich. This breakthrough is being seen as highly important for internet service providers (ISPs), as it means a greater amount of information can be sent through existing broadband infrastructure, reducing the need for costly upgrades. However, it may be many years before consumers get services at this speed)

2. GAURAV, the tiger is the name of the new mascot of Hockey India League (HIL), which was launched on 23 January 2014 for HIL’s second edition.The introduction of mascot “Gaurav” will be a new and refreshing chapter in the HIL. The mascot is designed to arouse the interest for hockey in the country and to connect all hockey fans with the game in a completely redefined manner.

3.  V.P. Agarwal, the Chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI) was on 23 January 2014 removed from his post as the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) did not clear his name for an extension. He was replaced by Alok Sinha.Sinha is the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and he was given the post of AAI Chairman as an additional charge. AAI is in the middle of a major investment programme to develop 50 low cost airports in the country and also privatise the running of major airports including Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Ahmedabad

4. Leading Indian drug manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories’ plant in Toansa (Punjab), which had recently received Form 483 from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), was put under import alert on 24 January 2014. With this, all products manufactured at Toansa would now remain banned from the US. This is Ranbaxy’s fourth Indian plant to receive an import alert from the USFDA, which means that sale of all Ranbaxy drugs manufactured in India have been banned in the US.
The three plants which were banned by the USFDA earlier were Ponta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh),Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Mohali (Punjab) – The USFDA’s inspection of the Toansa facility, which concluded on 11 January 2014, identified significant CGMP violations. According to the USFDA findings, the staff at Toansa facility were retesting raw materials and intermediate drug products and also finishing API that had earlier failed analytical testing and specifications.
5. Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka claimed his first Grand Slam title in dramatic fashion on 26 January 2014 when he upset injury-troubled world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain in the Australian Open men’s singles final. He defeated Nadal by 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to win his maiden Grand Slam tennis title.
Stanislas Wawrinka has earlier in January 2014 won Chennai Open (Wawarinka had won the men’s singles title of Chennai Open on 5 January 2014.

26 JANUARY UPDATES

1. Indian-American scientist AJ Paulraj has been honoured with the Marconi Prize 2014 for developing
the theory and applications of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology. The prestigious award, often called the Nobel equivalent for technology world, carries a cash prize of $100,000.

2. B.K.S. Iyengar, the renowned Yoga guru and R.A. Mashelkar are the two recipients of India’s second highest civilian award – Padma Vibhushan for 2014, as announced by the Union Government on 25 January 2014. B.K.S. Iyengar, the renowned Yoga guru and R.A. Mashelkar, former chief of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – B.K.S. Iyengar (95), who founded the Iyengar School of Yoga that has millions of followers across the globe including in China, was once named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world. The 71-year-old Mr. Mashelkar has played a significant role in evolving science and technology policies in post-liberalised India. A chemical engineer, he is also a former head of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

3. 128 Padma awards were announced by the Union government on the eve of Republic Day on 25 January 2014This includes 2 Padma Vibhushans, 25 Padma Bhushans and 101 Padma Shri Awards

4. India and China on 24 January 2014 launched a special year to mark the coming year of exchanges in the field of economy, culture and people-to-people cooperation between the two countries.  ‘Year of Friendly Exchanges’ is the name given to this year.

5. Li Na of China won the women’s singles title of Australian Open on 25 January 2014.She defeated Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (3), 6-0 to win her maiden Australian Open title. She also became the oldest woman to clinch the title in the Open era. Li, who turns 32 next month, lost Australian Open finals to Kim Clijsters in 2011 and to Victoria Azarenka last year. In between, she won the 2011 French Open to become the first Chinese woman to win a major.