HAPPY NEW YEAR

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK QUIZ - 137

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK  QUIZ -137 

1. What is the name of AK 47 assault rifle designer, who passed away recently?

[A]Paul Walker                       

[B]Mikhail Kalashnikov

[C]Mikhail Takahashi 

[D]David Warner

2. Vernon Philander, who has been declared as world’s no.1 bowler in ICC Test rankings, belongs to which country?

[A]Australia                            

[B]New Zealand

[C]South Africa                      

[D]England

3. Which court has become the first high court in the country to provide court case details and other key judicial information in public domain?

[A]Himachal Pradesh High court

[B]Bombay High court

[C]Madras High court

[D]Karnataka High court

4. Michiaki Takahashi, who passed away, recently was well known for developing a vaccine for___?

[A]Malaria                                     

[B]Tuberculosis

[C]Chickenpox                        

[D]Cholera

5. Which of the following has become the first airport in the World to receive the prestigious “Sword of Honour” for safety management?

[A]Kempegowda International Airport

[B]Kochi International Airport

[C]Indira Gandhi International Airport

[D]Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

6. Recently, Mary T Barra was named the first woman chief executive of which auto major company?

[A]Ford                                   

[B]General Motors

[C]Toyota                               

[D]Chrysler

7. Tirupur in Tamil Nadu is well known for export of which of the following items?

[A]Handicrafts                        

[B]Knitted Garments

[C]Leather Products              

[D]Horticulture Products

8. The Trilateral Tabletop Exercise (TTEX) 2013, is a maritime exercise between ____?

[A]India, Maldives and Bangladesh

[B]India, Sri Lanka and Maldives

[C]Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan

[D]Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan

9. The “Dodecanese” are a group of twelve large islands of which country?

[A]Ireland                               

[B]Greece

[C]Hungary                             

[D]Australia

10. Which among the following personalities birthday is observed as Kisan Diwas in India?

[A]Chaudary Charan Singh    

[B]Norman Borlaug

[C]M S Swamynathan            

[D]Atal Bihari Vajapeyi

           ANSWER

1	B	6	B
2	C	7	B
3	A	8	B
4	C	9	B
5	D	10	A

CURRENT UPDATE : FIPB CLEARS TESCO, VODAFONE INVESTMENT PROPOSALS

FIPB CLEARS TESCO, VODAFONE INVESTMENT PROPOSALS

UK-based Tesco Plc became the first global retailer to get approval to enter country's multi-brand retail sector from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board that also cleared Vodafone's Rs 10,141 crore plan to buy out minority shareholders in its India arm.

A decision on the proposal of HDFC Bank to increase Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) holding limit was, however, deferred, Finance Ministry sources said on Monday. 

Tesco Plc's plans to initially invest USD 110 million in the multi-brand retail foray, including for the acquisition of 50 percent stake in Tata group firm Trent Hypermarket Ltd. 

As regards to Vodafone, the FIPB has given go ahead to the British telecom major to buy out minority shareholders like Ajay Piramal and Analjit Singh in its Indian arm at an estimated cost Rs 10,141 crore.

Piramal holds a 10.97 percent stake in India's second-largest telecom company by subscribers, while Singh, who is Vodafone India's non-executive chairman, holds 24.65 percent. 

Vodafone Group Plc will pay Analjit Singh Rs 1,241 crore and Piramal Enterprises Rs 8,900 crore for their stakes in Vodafone India as part of a proposal. 

However, since the investment is of more than Rs 1,200 crore, the company's proposal also requires clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). 

CGP India Investments Ltd, an indirect Mauritian subsidiary of Vodafone International Holdings BV, had sought FIPB approval to buy the stake held by minority shareholders in Vodafone India Ltd. 

The FIPB has also approved foreign investment proposals of Johnson & Johnson. 

HDFC Bank's proposal, which was deferred, pertains to raising FII holding limit beyond the existing 49 percent in the bank. 

CURRENT UPDATE : AIR MARSHAL ARUP RAHA TAKES OVER AS IAF CHIEF

AIR MARSHAL ARUP RAHA TAKES OVER AS IAF CHIEF

Air Marshal Arup Raha today took over as the Air Force chief succeeding Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne. In his address after taking over the charge at Air Headquarters in New Delhi, Mr. Raha said IAF is committed to providing vital support to the security forces deployed in counter-insurgency operations. He said IAF is on a trajectory of modernisation and is transforming into a strategic aerospace power with full spectrum capability.

An ace fighter pilot, Raha has held various command, staff and instructional appointments in his 39-year-old career. Born on 26th December, 1954, 59 year-old Raha is expected to have tenure of three years as the Chief of Air Staff.

CURRENT UPDATE : NEW LAND ACQUISITION ACT TO COME INTO FORCE FROM TOMORROW

NEW LAND ACQUISITION ACT TO COME INTO FORCE FROM TOMORROW

The new Land Acquisition Act, enacted by Parliament this year will come into force from tomorrow (01- 01-2014). It will replace a 120-year-old legislation. 

The historic Act which provide just and fair compensation to farmers was passed by both Houses of Parliament during its Monsoon Session. It received the Presidential assent on September 27.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act" stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent of affected people for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.

CURRENT UPDATE :FINANCIAL STABILITY REPORT – DECEMBER 2013

RBI RELEASES FINANCIAL STABILITY REPORT – DECEMBER 2013

The Reserve Bank of India today released the Financial Stability Report (FSR) – December 2013. The eighth in the series, the FSR – December 2013 is being released against the backdrop of a mild positive market reaction to the announcement of tapering in the US Federal Reserves’ bond purchase programme from January 2014. The commencement of the taper should signal a calibrated return to normal liquidity and credit conditions in the global markets and also better pricing of risk. This will mean a repricing of certain assets with consequent volatility. Efforts during the past few months have been directed to make the Indian economy more resilient to the ultimate withdrawal of liquidity from the system and less reliant on unstable external capital for growth.

The FSR, published every six months, aims to create awareness about the vulnerabilities in the financial system, to inform about the resilience to stress of the financial institutions and to generally serve as a health check on the financial system.

The Report reflects the collective assessment of the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on risks to financial stability.

Highlights:

`    The US Federal Reserve has now laid to rest the uncertainty on timing of the exit and tapering in its bond purchase programme, which is set to begin from January 2014. However, financial market volatility will be conditioned by the pace of tapering going forward.

`    Realignment of global growth as well as high inflation differential between advanced economies (AEs) and Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) is a potential source of exchange rate volatility and may result in volatile cross-border flows with every repricing of risk.

`    The delay in tapering allowed India to bring about adjustment in the current account deficit (CAD) and build buffers by replenishing its foreign exchange reserves. However, macro-economic adjustment is far from complete, with persistence of high inflation amidst growth slowdown. Fall in domestic savings and high fiscal deficit are other major concerns for India.

`    Corporate performance continues to be weighed down by boom period expansions and excess capacities, amid shifting asset composition towards financial investments.

`    House prices and outstanding loans for housing by housing finance companies have grown relatively faster during the last few years.

`    Inadequate social security coverage in India against a backdrop of changing demographics will pose challenges for expanding the pension system given the fiscal constraints. The National Pension System (NPS) was created to serve Government employees and private sector workers.

`    The risks to the banking sector have further increased since the publication of the previous FSR in June this year. All major risk dimensions captured in the Banking Stability Indicator show increase in vulnerabilities in the banking sector.

`    Network tools have been used to assess impact of contagion due to risk of credit concentration. Failure of a major corporate or a major corporate group could trigger a contagion in the banking system due to exposures of a large number of banks to such corporates.

`    Asset quality continues to be a major concern for Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs). The Gross Non-performing Assets ratio of SCBs as well as their restructured standard advances ratio have increased. Therefore, the total stressed advances ratio rose significantly to 10.2 per cent of total advances as at end September 2013 from 9.2 per cent of March 2013.

`    Five sectors, namely, Infrastructure, Iron & Steel, Textiles, Aviation and Mining together contribute 24 percent of total advances of SCBs, and account for around 53 per cent of their total stressed advances.

`    Macro stress tests on credit risk suggest that if the adverse macroeconomic conditions persist, the credit quality of commercial banks could deteriorate further. However, under improved conditions, the present trend in credit quality may reverse during the second half of 2014-15.

`    India stands committed to the implementation of the global regulatory reforms agenda and has made considerable progress on this front. Although firms and markets are beginning to adjust to the regulatory approach towards ending too-big-to-fail (TBTF), recent research indicates continued expectation of sovereign support to such institutions.

`    Due to the interconnectedness with banks, liquidity pressure is felt by the money market mutual funds (MMMFs) whenever redemption requirements of banks are large and simultaneous. Regulatory measures taken to reduce the degree of interconnectedness seem to have been successful in reducing the liquidity risk in the system.

`    India’s domestic markets for interest rate derivatives have not taken off due to the absence of some of the basic building blocks. Efforts are on to address these issues.

`    Action to create central repositories for the banking sector, corporate bond market and insurance sector has been initiated. This move is expected to break the information asymmetry in those markets.

`    It has been observed that the equity prices of the companies in which the promoters had pledged significant portions of their shares, are relatively more volatile than the broader market during times of correction.

CURRENT UPDATE : CVC DEVELOPS ISAAC FOR INITIATING ANTI-CORRUPTION MEASURES

CVC DEVELOPS ISAAC FOR INITIATING ANTI-CORRUPTION MEASURES

The Information Sharing and Analysis Against Corruption, ISAAC, a knowledge management system, will facilitate exchange of information about anti-corruption organisations, systems, procedures, and practices among member organisations across the world.

This system has been developed by the Central Vigilance Commission to ensure global cooperation in checking black money and initiating anti-corruption measures.

About 219 anti-corruption authorities across the world are part of this global online mechanism, which can be accessed at www.isaac.nic.in.

CURRENT UPDATE :INDIA’S NEW AMBASSADOR TO UAE

SEETHARAM TO TAKE OVER AS INDIA’S NEW AMBASSADOR TO UAE

Mr. T.P. Seetharam will take over as India’s new Ambassador to United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi. He is expected to present his credentials soon to the UAE President. Prior to this assignment he was working as India’s Ambassador to Mauritius. 

He has handled India’s bilateral relations with European countries, the European Union, India’s permanent mission in Geneva, Thailand, Cambodia, South Africa and China in various capacities.

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK QUIZ - 136

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GK  QUIZ - 136

1. Who among the following has been voted the BBC sports personality of 2013?

[A]Andy Murray                    

[B]Novak Djokovic

[C]Usain Bolt                          

[D]Rafel Nadal

2. “Ocean acidification” is the ongoing decrease in pH of Earth Ocean’s caused by uptake of ___?

[A]Methane                         

[B]Carbon dioxide

[C]Sulphur dioxide                 

[D]Nitrogen oxide

3. The “Sagar Thermal Power Plant” is a proposed power plant coming up in which state?

[A]Bihar                                  

[B]Andhra Pradesh

[C]West Bengal                      

[D]Odisha

4. “Jallikattu” is a bull taming sport played in which of the following states?

[A]Kerala                                

[B]Tamil Nadu

[C]Karnataka                          

[D]Andhra Pradesh

5. Who among the following has become the highest-ranked Indian golfer in the world?

[A]Anirban Lahiri                   

[B]Shiv Kapur

[C]Chiragh Kumar                  

[D]Arjun Atwal

6. Which among the following is not a minority community in India?

[A]Muslim                               

[B]Christians

[C]Jainism                               

[D]Buddhists

7. The Luzon strait lies between the Philippines and which one of the following countries?

[A]Malaysia                            

[B]Indonesia

[C]Taiwan                               

[D]Japan

8. Which among the following is the major aim of the “Perform Achieve Trade (PAT)” scheme?

[A]To reduce energy consumption in industries

[B]To improve export of agriculture products

[C]To minimise the Greenhouse gas emission

[D]To reduce the energy wastage in industries

9. The “Eurasia Project” a new international project

plans to develop innovative technologies for drilling ultra-deep wells is initiating by which country? 

[A]Russia                            

[B]Kazakhstan

[C]Iran                                    

[D]Saudi Arabia

10. The Nile River which is regarded as the longest river in the world empties into the ___?

[A]Mediterranean Sea             

[B]Bering Sea

[C]Caribbean Sea                    

[D]Sea of Okhotsk

          ANSWER

1	A	6	C
2	B	7	C
3	C	8	A
4	B	9	B
5	A	10	A

CURRENT UPDATE : TEJAS TEAM SETS NEW RECORD OF 500 FLIGHTS IN ONE CALENDER YEAR

TEJAS TEAM SETS NEW RECORD OF 500 FLIGHTS IN ONE CALENDER YEAR

TEJAS attained another significant milestone on 27th Dec 2013, by flying the 500th sortie this year, the highest achieved in a calendar year thus far.

The achievement is significant, given that the highest number of sorties attained earlier in a calendar year was less than 300 sorties this feat follows close on the heels of attaining IOC on 20th December 2013. 

The pace of the programme continues with greater enthusiasm towards achieving newer milestones.

Congratulating the Tejas team Avinash Chander, SA to RM and Secretary Deptt of Defence R&D said, "the single most important factor behind the achievements is the synergy of teamed efforts of ADA, DRDO, CEMILAC, HAL and IAF."

Year 2013 has been exceptionally successful year for Tejas in achieving key milestones while participating in seven detachments all over country, an excellent achievement in itself. 

Noteworthy accomplishments are In-flight relight (shutting off and then reigniting the single engine), high energy brake testing, flight envelope expansion, R73E missile firing with radar guidance, Air to ground weapon tests, Emergency jettisoning of entire store, Aircraft in wake tests, Wet Runway trials, demonstration of Swing Role capability during exercise IRON FIST. All these led to a big leap towards achieving IOC 2

CURRENT UPDATE : KEJRIWAL SWORN-IN AS DELHI'S CHIEF MINISTER

KEJRIWAL SWORN-IN AS DELHI'S CHIEF MINISTER

Arvind Kejriwal, whose AAP has rewritten the grammar of politics in Delhi and may possibly do so elsewhere, on Saturday took oath as Delhi Chief Minister promising a corruption-free govt and new style of governance without arrogance of power.

45-year-old Kejriwal, a former revenue service official, who broke from Anna Hazare's campaign for Lokpal and scored a stunning debut in electoral politics winning 28 of the 70 seats, took the oath of office and secrecy at a public ceremony in the historic Ramlila Maidan, the fast venue of the anti-graft campaigners more than two years ago. 

Along with Kejriwal, six others --- Manish Sisodia, Girish Soni, Rakhi Birla, Satyendra Jain, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Somnath Bharti -- took oath as ministers administered by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung. 

Sporting his trademark Gandhi cap proclaiming that "I am an aam admi', Kejriwal wore a blue pullover over bush shirt and trousers discarding the traditional 'kurta-pyjama' of politicians. 

Hazare and his associate Kiran Bedi, who were invited to the function, kept away from it as did several political leaders including outgoing Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. 

BJP leader Harsh Vardhan, who would be the Leader of the Opposition in the new Assembly, was the lone prominent politician to be present. 

Kejriwal even praised him as an honest person. Shoiab Iqbal, JD(U) MLA, was also present. 

In a short speech after the formalities were over, Kejriwal said the Aam Admi Party has come with a promise to provide governance different from the one given by corrupt parties. 

Asserting that it is a very historic day, Kejriwal said, "The oath we are taking today is not of Arvind Kejriwal and the other ministers but people of Delhi have taken the oath. 

"The whole fight is not to make Arvind Kejriwal a Chief Minister but it is for a change of governance in Delhi".

The new Chief Minister said the huge responsibility thrust upon him has instilled a sense of fear in him.

"I don't claim to have a magic wand or remedies for all the ills but if the 1.5 crore people of Delhi join him there is no reason why all the problems can't be solved," he said. 

Asking his ministers to adopt service as a motto, Kejriwal cautioned them against getting arrogant with power. 

"We should not get arrogant. Don't get arrogant ever. Work for the people with service as the goal. We have not come here to become ministers. We were born to remove the arrogance of big parties. We should be wary that no other party has to take birth to dismantle us," he said. 

Making anti-corruption his main plank, the new Chief Minister asked people not to turn away officials asking bribes but to help in catching them red-handed by laying a trap. 

Conscious of the minority status of his government, he appealed to all the parties including the BJP and Congress to support his government in all its right steps. 

However, he made it clear that he was not bothered about the confidence vote the government has to face by 3rd January, saying he is ready to face the people if it is defeated. 

"We will get back to power with a thumping majority," he said to a thunderous applause from the huge crowd that had gathered from the capital and the surrounding areas in the National Capital Region. 

Talking about his mentor Anna Hazare, Kejriwal said, "Anna used to say that politics is dirty. Two-and-a-half years back, Annaji held a 13-day fast to remove corruption and to get the Janlokpal bill passed. 

"In these last two years, we did every possible thing. We fasted, agitated but nothing happened. Gradually it became clear that without changing country's politics we cannot get rid of corruption," he said. 

"I used to suggest Anna that if we want to clean the system, then we will have to get down in this 'dirty politics'," he said "Two years ago we could not think of such a revolution that we could remove corrupt parties. But its nature's miracle. It is only a beginning," he said. 

Riding on AAP's success in Delhi, he said, "In the next five years if we take the right steps I think India can become a golden bird".

Flaunting his 'aam admi' (common man) credentials, Kejriwal, who lives in a modest flat in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, took a metro train to Delhi to reach Barakhamba station, a distance of 20 kms from where he drove in his Maruti car to Ramlila Maidan. 

Straight from the oath ceremony, Kejriwal went to Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, a short distance away and paid homage. 

Born in Siwani in Haryana, Kejriwal becomes the second youngest Chief Minister of Delhi. 

Chaudhry Brahm Prakash was the youngest Chief Minsiter at 34 when he took over in 1952.