Current Affairs!

mahalakshmi.s · May 3, 2016, 9:06am

Dear PaGaLGuY Readers,

We are pleased to present you the April 2016 General Knowledge (GK) Bullet - an exclusive, complete and comprehensive summary of important news, both national and international, that took place in the month of April.

This Bullet is relevant for Banking, SSC, Insurance and UPSC Exams. We will keep posting similar GK bullets so that you have a ready source of all necessary GK material while studying for your exams.

You can download the April 2016 - GK Bullet here:

http://bit.ly/1TsZSlh

We will continue posting similar GK bullets so that you have access to ready GK study material while preparing for your exams.

To download our previous months' bullets, click here:

1. March 2016 - http://bit.ly/1Sbn9XW

2. February 2016 - http://bit.ly/1SCgnzi

3. January 2016 - http://bit.ly/1PqhMDE

4. December 201 5 - http://bit.ly/1Z5dm9X

5. November 2015 - http://bit.ly/1TJlDiO

All The Best!

To get fresh updates about Banking Exams on your Facebook & Twitter timelines, subscribe to our pages created specifically for them. We will be posting only those exam specific links on these pages:

Bank PO:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pagalguybankpo

Twitter:https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYBankPO

SSC & Other Exams:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-SSC-CGL-Others/879667042056262

Twitter:https://twitter.com/pagalguyssc

UPSC:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-UPSC/951926044840262

Twitter:https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYUPSC

mechamit.nits · May 3, 2016, 10:18am

World Press Freedom Day .

mahalakshmi.s · May 3, 2016, 12:49pm

Daily Current Affairs - May 1 and 2, Sunday and Monday

1. Indian-American journalist receives Edgar Allan Poe award

(i) Indian American journalist Neela Banerjee, along with her colleagues from Inside Climate News - John Cushman Jr, David Hasemyer and Lisa Song - have been conferred with the Edgar Allan Poe award.

(ii) The award was shared by Washington Post reporter Terrence McCoy, who explored the issue of lead poisoning among poor black children in Baltimore.

(iii) A Yale University graduate, Banerjee was Moscow correspondent with the Wall Street Journal. Earlier she was with the Los Angeles Times' Washington Bureau as energy and environmental reporter.

(iv) The annual award by White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) honours outstanding journalistic work.

2. IISc professor among Royal Society Fellows

(i) Three Indians have made it to the list of 50 scientists who have been elected as Fellows of The Royal Society, the foremost scientific academy of the U.K. and the Commonwealth.

(ii) These are: Physicist Sriram Ramaswamy, Director of TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hyderabad; biochemist Ramanujan Hegde, MRC Laboratory of Microbiology, U.K. and applied mathematician Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Harvard University.

(iii) Ramaswamy works on Collective movement of self-propelled ("active") matter through fluids and non-living imitations of self-propulsion. Ramanujam work shows that even modest failures of proteins to reach their correct cellular destination could cause neurodegeneration, which cells avoid by targeting the proteins.

(iv) Lastly, L Mahadevan's work attempts to understand the geometrical and dynamic patterns of shape and flow in physical and biological systems.

(v) Since the Royal Society's establishment in 1660, around 8,000 Fellows have been elected, with around 60 persons of Indian origin making the cut.

3. PM launches Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

(i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which aims to provide five crore LPG connections to women in Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, at a cost of Rs. 8,000 crore over the next three years.

(ii) The scheme will be partly funded from the savings the government accrues from LPG users who surrendered their subsidy as part of the Give It Up programme.

(iii) New users who get LPG connections under this scheme will not have to pay security deposit, while the government will bear the Rs.1,600 administrative costs, cost of pressure regulator booklet and safety hose.

(iv) Note: Presently, India has 16.64 crore active LPG consumers with a requirement of about 21 million tonnes per annum. Further, as per government reports, demand for LPG is likely to witness a double-digit increase over time.

4. International Labour Day observed

(i) International Labour Day or International Workers' Day was celebrated on March 1 in order to recognise the hard work of labourers all over.

(ii) The theme this year was ' Celebrating the International Labour Movement'. This theme assumes importance with economic relations experiencing changing reapidly in today's emerging global economic order.

(iii) This day is a declared national holiday in around 80 countries, while it is celebrated as an unofficial event many.

5. India, New Zealand ink pact for direct flights between the two countries

(i) In a bid to boost tourism and trade, India and New Zealand have signed a deal that paves way for direct flights between the two countries.

(ii) Air New Zealand, Air India and Singapore Airlines are some of the airlines that have the potential to run direct services.

(iii) New Zealand airlines now also have the opportunity to code-share to seven Indian cities, namely Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

(iv) Further, as per the agreement, for code-sharing, India will have any point in New Zealand. As intermediate points, India can have Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok and any two points in Australia.

6. Dilip Tuli appointed as Housing.com senior vice-president

(i) Dilip Tuli has been appointed as Housing.com senior vice president for strategy and new business initiatives like transaction facilitation and fulfilment services.

(ii) Tuli was earlier a director with the deal advisory division at KPMG consultancy. He brings with him business strategy and model development abilities, managerial skills, and wide domain knowledge.

7. India win one silver, two bronze in Archery World Cup

(i) The Indian women's team won silver after losing to Chinese Taipei in the final, while men's trio and mixed pair bagged their respective bronze playoffs in the first stage of Archery World Cup.

(ii) The women's team comprised Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi Laishram and Laxmirani Majhi. They lost 2-6 to Chinese Taipei.

(iii) The third seeded Indian men's recurve team comprising Atanu Das, Jayanta Talukdar and Mangal Singh Champia deafeated ninth seed British team 6-0 to win the bronze medal.

(iv) Further, the mixed pair of mixed pair of Deepika and Atanu overcame the Koreans 5-4 in a shoot-off to bag another bronze.

8. Indian shooters win 3 gold, 1 bronze at ISSF Junior World Cup

(i) Indian shooters bagged three gold medals and a bronze medal on the first day of the ISSF Junior World Cup.

(ii) Indians won a gold each in the team events of men's 25m standard pistol and women's 50m rifle prone competitions. Indian player Rituraj Singh also won an individual gold medal in the men's 25m standard pistol competition.

(iii) The Indian team of Rituraj Singh (569), Shivam Shukla (550) and Arjun Das (542) won the gold medal in the team event, shooting a total of 1661.

(iv) Gaayathri Nithyanadam bagged a bronze in the women's 50m rifle prone competition.

(v) While France won the silver medal with 1659 points, Australia settled with the bronze medal with 1648 points.

9. Nico Rosberg wins Russian Grand Prix

(i) German driver for Mercedes Nico Rosberg has won the Russian Grand Prix, his fourth win in a row this season. British driver Lewis Hamilton finished second in the event.

(ii) Rosberg's victory has extended his championship lead to 43 points.

(iii) Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel crashed on the first lap after being hit twice by Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat.

To get fresh updates on your Facebook & Twitter timelines, subscribe to our pages created specifically for them. We will be posting only those exam specific links on these pages:Bank PO:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pagalguybankpo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYBankPO
SSC & Other Exams:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-SSC-CGL-Others/879667042056262
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pagalguyssc
UPSC:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pag

newsbytesapp · May 3, 2016, 12:55pm

AgustaWestland: Congress's 10-point strategy to counter govt's attack

The Congress is ready to launch a massive attack on the government's disinformation campaign against the party and the Gandhi family in connection with the AgustaWestland chopper scandal.

Uttarakhand crisis: Supreme Court wants government to consider trust vote

The court said that even on an earlier occasion it had asked about resolving the political imbroglio in the hill state through a floor test.

India goes after Dawood's assets: Letters Rogatory sent to UK, UAE, Australia

The ED has sent a full list of Dawood's foreign assets UK, UAE, Australia and Turkey and asked these countries to freeze the wanted underworld don's properties.

VVIP chopper scam: Happy to be targeted, says Rahul Gandhi on BJP's charge

"I am always being targeted, happy to be targeted," the Congress vice-president said as he entered Parliament, which has seen a bitter war of words between the government and the opposition over the VVIP chopper deal.

mahalakshmi.s · May 4, 2016, 10:50am

Daily Current Affairs - May 3 and 4, Tuesday and Wednesday

1. Kishore Biyani appointed as MD of Bharti Retail

(i) Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani has been appointed as the MD of Bharti Retail, which is to be renamed as Future Retail Ltd.

(ii) In May 2015, Future Group decided to merge its retail business with rival Bharti Retail to create one of the biggest supermarket chains with Rs.15,000 crore turnover. As part of the merger, Bharti Retail will also be listed on the NSE and BSE.

(iii) Two companies will branch out from the deal-Future Retail Ltd (to be renamed as Future Enterprises) will manage the back end retail infrastructure to operate the retail network and investments across Future Group companies. Secondly, Bharti Retail will become Future Retail and will manage for the front-end retail operations of the group.

(iv) Rakesh Biyani has taken the post of JMD of Bharti Retail, while C P Toshniwal will assume the role of the CFO.

2. Sachin to be India's goodwill ambassador for Rio Olympics

(i) Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has accepted the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) proposal to be India's goodwill ambassador for Rio Olympics.

(ii) Shooter Abhinav Bindra and Bollywood actor Salman Khan are other ambassadors roped in by IOA.

(iii) Their job as goodwill ambassadors is to spread word about the mega sporting event across nook cranny of India.

3. Sameer Chadha to be CEO & partner of KPMG Global Services

(i) KPMG's offshore arm in India has appointed Sameer Chadha as partner and CEO. Prior to this appointment, Chadha was the CEO of Barclays Shared Services.

(ii) Chadha has over 25 years of experience across financial services and consumer goods sectors and has held strategic leadership roles in companies like Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, etc.

4. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti takes charge of US European Command

(i) Army Gen. Curtis M Scaparrotti has taken charge of the US European Command (Eucom) at a time when Europe faces multiple challenges, of terrorism, refugees and an aggressive Russia.

(ii) Scaparrotti, who was in charge of US Forces Korea, will replace Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who commanded Eucom for three years.

5. Scientists discover 3 Earth-like planets

(i) An international team of scientists has discovered three planets that have close resemblance to the Earth and are potentially habitable.

(ii) The three planets orbit a dwarf star, which is 39 light-years away, and are relatively similar to Earth and Venus in size and temperature.

(iii) The scientists set up a 60-cm telescope called TRAPPIST in Chile in order to track several dwarf stars that were neither big nor hot enough to be visible with optical telescopes.

(iv) One of the most promising dwarf stars, which has been named TRAPPIST-1 is about 1/8th the of the Sun and much cooler. The exoplanets-planets revolving around stars outside our solar system- have varying revolution cycles.

6. Online dashboard launched for data on foreign trade

(i) The Ministry of Commerce and Trade has launched an online dashboard called EXIM Analytics in order to provide access to import-export data.

(ii) Developed by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, the dashboard, through infographics, will reveal patterns, trends and correlations and analysis by time period, destinations or countries of origin, and ports.

(iii) Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the government has launched two more dashboards- to check progress in the Make in India campaign and an Ease of Doing Business Dashboard to rank states on this parameter.

7. RS passes Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, 2016

(i) The Rajya Sabha has approved the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which will ease mergers and acquisitions of steel and cement companies that took a hit due to collapse in global commodity prices.

(ii) The Bill will also help assuage NPA-crisis as many banks have high loan exposure to steel and cement firms.

(iii) Among other stipulations, the Bill provides a new category of mining license i.e. the prospecting license-cum-mining lease, a two-stage concession to commence prospecting operations (exploring mineral deposits) followed by mining operations.

(iv) It changes the lease period for all minerals except coal, lignite and atomic minerals. As per the Bill, mining leases for minerals shall be granted for a period of 50 years. On expiry, the leases shall be put up for auction, instead of being renewed.

(v) It states that the holder of a mining lease or prospecting license-cum-mining lease may transfer the lease to any eligible person, with the state government's approval. Only mineral concessions granted through auction will be allowed for transfer.

8. Mark Selby wins World Snooker Championship

(i) English snooker player Mark Selby, who holds the World No. 1 rank, defeated China's Ding Junhui 18-14 to bag his second World Championship title.

(ii) Selby won his first World Championship in 2014 by beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-14. In 2015, he also won the German Masters and China Open. He also won the Masters, an invitation event, in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

9. SC forms panel under RM Lodha to reform Medical Council of India

(i) Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha, who was given the task of suggesting ways to reform the BCCI, has now been given the duty of upgrading the Medical Council of India.

(ii) The three-member panel which also comprises former CAG Vinod Rai and Dr SK Sareen, has to monitor the functioning of the medical regulator besides issuing remedial directions.

(iii) The panel has been constituted because MCI is frequently accused of corrupt practices and failure of carrying out assigned functions. As a result, wrongdoings and lack of competence in medical graduates has been on the rise.

10. Leicester CIty wins English Premier League for first time in 132-year history

(i) Leicester City F.C. has won the 24th season of the Premier League for the first time in its 132-year history with a seven-point lead over Tottenham with two games remaining.

(ii) This is a momentous event in the history of English soccer, because for the last 20 years the Premier League trophy has not made it out of London or Manchester, with Arsenal, Chelsea, United and City sharing the trophy between them.

11. Indian-American Sikh lawyer elected to key Republican position

(i) Indian-American Sikh lawyer Harmeet Kaur Dhillon from California has been elected as a national committee member of the Republican National Committee by a 1000+ votes.

(ii) She was earlier the vice-president of the California Republican Party and the first woman to hold the post.

(iii) Born in Chandigarh, the 47-year-old has also served in the American Civil Liberties Union. Her practice in New York, London, San Francisco Bay Area centred on federal and state commercial litigation and arbitration, with a special focus on unfair competition/trade secret misappropriation, intellectual property, complex contractual disputes, and First Amendment litigation.

12. World Press Freedom Day observed on May 3

(i) World Press Freedom Day was observed on May 3 to rejoice the fundamental principles of press freedom and protect the media from attacks on their independence.

(ii) This year's theme is "Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms: This is your right"! It focusses on freedom of information as a fundamental and human right. Other aims are to protect press freedom from uncontrolled censorship and having systems in place to safeguard journalists of both online and offline realms.

(iii) This year's Press Freedom Day also coincided with the 250th anniversary of the world's first freedom of information law, the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration of press freedom principles.

13. Bhupendra Kainthola appointed as FTII Director

(i) Indian Information Service (IIS) officer Bhupendra Kainthola has taken charge as the new Director of Pune-based Film & Television Institute of India (FTII). He will have a three-year tenure.

(ii) Last year, scores of students protested against the appointment of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII Chairman.

(iii) A 1989-batch IIS officer, Kainthola has replaced Prashant Pathrabe, who served as interim Director during the 139-day long strike.

14. Sania Mirza's autobiography Ace Against Odds to be out soon

(i) Ace tennis player Sania Mirza has penned her autobiography with her father Imran Mirza and the book is set to hit stands by July 2016.

(i) The book delves into Mirza's journey to the top as a player and to become the World No. 1 in the women's doubles rankings.

(ii) The 29-year-old sportswoman first gained prominence at age 16 after winning the Wimbledon's Championships Girls' Doubles title.

(iii) Between August 2015 and March 2016, Mirza along with her doubles partner Martina Hingis, won 41 titles.

To get fresh updates on your Facebook & Twitter timelines, subscribe to our pages created specifically for them. We will be posting only those exam specific links on these pages:Bank PO:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pagalguybankpo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYBankPO
SSC & Other Exams:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-SSC-CGL-Others/879667042056262
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pagalguyssc
UPSC:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pag

newsbytesapp · May 4, 2016, 1:08pm

Top News of the Day 5th March 2016

#NewsBytesofTheDay

BPOs in Delhi, NCR will leave India: Centre's argument against ban on diesel cars

The restriction on the plying of diesel taxis in Delhi and the National Capital Region will adversely impact the flourishing BPO industry, government tells Supreme Court.

The dancing 'jihadi' and the deadly bombing plan

Mohammed Sajid arrested for allegedly being part of a syndicate that was planning attacks on the Delhi,once participated in a TV reality show with dreams of making it big.

Kejriwal writes to DU VC on Modi degree

This is Kejriwal's second such step with regard to the controversy around PM Modi's educational qualifications

Even as Agusta fire rages, government puts UPA's Rafale deal under scanner

Sources in the Defence Ministry told India Today that a probe has been ordered into the previous acquisition of Pilatus Aircraft and MMRCA deal (Rafale jet deal) finalised during the Congress-led UPA-2 regime.

omidichwalkar · May 6, 2016, 11:30am

Daily Current Affairs 6th May, 2016, Friday

1. Harita - Priya project of Andhra Pradesh bags WSIS 2016 Prize

a) The World Summit Information (WSIS) Prize 2016 in e-agriculture category was conferred on Harita Priya project of Andhra Pradesh.

b) Harita-Priya stands for Harmonized Information of Agriculture, Revenue and Irrigation for a Transformation Agenda - Precision Technology for Agriculture.

c) It uses wireless sensor networks to collect climate related data from farms and notifies farmers with personalised information through SMS. The data helps to create advisories and alerts on irrigation schedules, pests and plant diseases.

d) The project was developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

2. Railways institutes directorate to ramp up non-tariff revenue

a) The Ministry of Railway has set up a new cross functional directorate within the Railway Board to enhance revenue from non tariff sources by 10-20%.

b) Advertisements at stations, commercial exploitation of vacant land and space rights over station buildings, including station redevelopment, advertisements on coaches and locos, sponsorship of uniforms for railway personnel, hoardings on land alongside tracks, commercial farming along tracks, monetisation of soft assets, including revenue from advertisements on websites and parking of vehicles on railway land will be carried out by the Non-Fare box Revenue (NFR) directorate to raise revenue.

c) NFR will also sponsor railway personnel uniforms, monetisation of soft assets and parking vehicles on railway land.

3. CAIPEEX : a technique to understand rain formation in clouds developed

a) Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) is a newly developed technique used by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) to understand rain formation in the clouds and the impact of randomised cloud seeding.

b) Airborne observations made during randomized cloud seeding and its impact will be recorded. This experiment needs a combination of radar, other ground-based instruments and airborne platforms along with high resolution numerical modeling.

c) Certain operations will be conducted before and after the seeding such as detailed measurements of aerosols, cloud droplets, raindrops and ice particles, registering the growth of clouds.

d) The data obtained from these observations will help to formulate a scheme for ice nucleation which will eventually help in forecasting.

4. Reliance Power to set up a 750MW gas project in Bangladesh

a) Reliance Power's gas-based power project in Bangladesh has been approved by the Bangladesh government.

b) Under the first phase, a 750MW LNG-based power plant will be set up in Meghnaghat along with the Floating Storage & Regasification Unit (FSRU). It will supply Re-gasified LNG for the power project and additional RLNG to PetroBangla.

c) The project will provide clean power to Bangladesh and help the country achieve its energy security target.

d) With a potential investment of $1.3 billion, it is the largest FDI in Bangladesh.

5. Centre launches portal for Contract Labour Management System

a) Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal has launched a portal of Coal India called Contract Labour Management System.

b) This portal has been launched to oversee compliance of labour payment and other benefits to contract workers under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act. 1970. It will manage database of all contract workers in CIL & all its subsidiaries.

c) Workers will be provided with a Worker's Identification Number (WIN) to view their personal details and payment status. The portal also allows workers to submit their grievances.

d) This portal will validate minimum wages paid, generate wage slips and employment card etc. of contract workers as required under the Act.

e) The portal will be maintained by Central Mine Planning & Development Institute (CMPDI), a subsidiary of CIL.

6. Asia's first Rice Technology Park to come up in Gangavati

a) Asia's first-ever Rice Technology Park will soon be established at Gangavati, while the Maize Technology Park will come up at Ranebennur in Karnataka.

b) These parks will be established under public private partnership (PPP) and will help paddy and maize cultivators to add value to their yield and enhance quality of their grains.

c) These parts will also carry out research in the various grain products such as rice flour, rice rava, rice bran oil, noodles, rice-based alcohol, animal and poultry feed and paddy husk used for power generation and brick-making.

7. Gravitational waves discovery soon to receive Breakthrough Prize

a) The LIGO team will soon receive the Breakthrough Prize for its groundbreaking discovery of gravitational waves.

b) The $3 million award will be shared between two groups of laureates:three founders of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), who will each equally share $1 million (Rs. 6.65 crore); and 1012 contributors to the experiment, who will each equally share $2 million (Rs. 13.31 crore).

c) Yuri Milner founded the Breakthrough Prize to recognise pioneering work in three categories namely life Sciences, Fundamental Physics & Mathematics.

8. Kamban Vizha festival begins

a) Kamban Vizha festival has started today to commemorate the legendary Tamil poet from Chola period. This festival is organised by Kamban Kazhagam.

b) Poet Kamban composed the Kamba Ramayanam, which is the Tamil representation of the Ramayana. It was first recited at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam.

c)Kamban, who was from Tanjavur, was hailed as 'Kavi Chakravarthi' (emperor of poets). He was patron poet of Vallal Sadaiyappar Mudaliar, a wealthy 12th-century velir (chief) who had his residence at both Puduvai (Puducherry) and Thiruvenainallur in India.

9. Turkish PM Davutoglu to step down

a) Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Prime minister has recently announced his abdication as a ruling party chief premier.

b) The resignation will help Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to strengthen his position in the party as well as in the government.

c) Davutoglu was the country's PM since Erdogan was elected as the President of Turkey in 2014.

10. Nasscom & Facebook join hands to build a 'Product Design Initiative'.

a) National Association of Software & Services Companies (Nasscom) has recently joined hands with social networking site Facebook to build a 'Product Design Initiative' in India.

b) The core objective is to offer programmes to build awareness on product design, provide training on design tools, design lab, awards, design sprints and mentorship.

c) Under this flagship programme of Nasscom product council, over 5,000 product designers will be trained in a span of 2 years.

d) This initiative will provide its support to around 500 product start ups on product design.

11. Kumar Rajesh Chandra becomes Chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.

a) Kumar Rajesh Chandra has been appointed as the new Chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Society (BCAS).

b) The post was vacant since the previous Chief IPS officer G S Malhi resigned in November 2012.

c) Prior to his appointment, he was serving as Additional Director General (Modernization), Bihar Police.

12. Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba appointed as Chief of Naval Staff

a) Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba has given the charge of the office of Chief of Naval Staff. He will assume charge from May 31st, 2016 and is the 23rd Chief of Indian Navy.

b) Presently working as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Lanba will succeed present chief Robin K. Dhowan.

c) Lanba is a recipient of Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service. Previously, he had commanded the minesweeper INS Kakinada, frigate INS Himgiri and Executive Officer of INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier.

maniza.siddique · May 6, 2016, 12:04pm

63rd National Film Awards

Introduction: The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film festivals since 1973.

The 63rd National Film Awards ceremony honoured the best films of 2015 in the Indian cinema. The awards were announced on 28 March 2016 and the ceremony was held on 3 May 2016.

Golden Lotus Award

Official name: Swarna Kamal

All the winners are awarded with a Golden Lotus award, a certificate and a cash prize.

Silver Lotus Awards

Official name: Rajat Kamal

All the winners are awarded with a Silver Lotus award, a certificate and a cash prize.

DadaSaheb Phalke Award

Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was conferred upon Actor Manoj Kumar for his achievements as an actor and a filmmaker throughout his life.

Facts about the National Film awards

Including this year, Amitabh Bachchan has bagged the Best Actor award four times.
Mithun Chakraborty is the only actor to have won the Best Actor award for his debut film (Mrigayaa, 1976).
Shabana Azmi has won the most number (five) of Best Actress awards.
Ilayaraja and A R Rahman have won the most Best Music Direction awards, with four each.

omidichwalkar · May 9, 2016, 12:33pm

1. Japanese JCSAT-14 Satellite launched by SpaceX

a) Japanese Communication satellite JCSAT - 14 was successfully launched by SpaceX of their Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

b) The JCSAT-14 was designed from last 15 years and needed to be placed into geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of 22,000 miles.

c) It was created by SKY Perfect JSAT Group which is the largest satellite operator in Asia. This satellite was specifically designed for communication purpose which will provide television and communication services.

d) With this launch, SpaceX has successfully launched its 4th satellite in 2016.

2. MoU signed between New Development Bank of BRICS & ICICI

a) A memorandum of understanding was signed between ICICI Bank & the New Development Bank of the BRICS group. This MoU is to establish a strategic partnership and cooperation in the areas like bond issuances, co-financing, treasury management & human resources.

b) With this MoU, NDB will be able to leverage the deep market access and insight of ICICI bank in India's financial markets.

c) It will also benefit NDB at tapping the rupee denominated bonds in all the markets. Both the banks can collaborate in the fund development project in India.

3. Pakistan Grabbed Asian Kabaddi Championship Cup 2016

a) 2016 Asian Kabaddi Championship (circle style) won by the defending champion Pakistan at Wah Cantonment in Pakistan.

b) Pakistani team defeated Indian team by 19 points in the final. In the finals Pakistan achieved 50 points against Indian's 31 points in total.

c) With this win, Pakistan has grabbed their 2nd title successively after winning the 2012 finals.

d) Teams of India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka & Pakistan participated in the third edition of this tournament organised by Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF).

4. Mickey Arthur appointed as Pakistan's head coach

a) Mickey Arthur will succeed previous Pakistani Cricket Team coach Waqar Younis from May 2016. Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed South African Cricket player Mickey Arthur as a new head coach for Pakistan Cricket team. He was recommended by a PCB panel comprising of Wasim Akram, Faisal Mirza & Ramiz Raja.

b) Mickey has served as a coach for South Africa from 2005 to 2010 & Australia from 2011 to 2013.

c) He played in South African domestic cricket for almost 15 years before starting his career as a coach. Under his command, South African team grabbed the first test series against English team in over 40 years in 2008.

d) He has also coached various cricket franchises like Jamaica Tallawahs, Dhaka Dynamites and Karachi Kings.

5. Beef possession in Maharashtra decriminalised by Bombay High Court

a) Bombay High Court has recently decriminalized the possession of beef in Maharashtra. The Bombay High Court also struck down the section 5D & 9B of the Animal Preservation Act.

b) Justice A S Oka & Justice S C Gupte also upheld the validity of the Section 5(c) which prohibits the beef possession in Maharashtra. The court considered that criminalization of possession of beef contradicts the right to privacy of the citizens.

c) The court referred these amendments as unconstitutional and further noted that only conscious possession of the meat of the animals slaughtered in the state will be held as offence. So, now it's the state's duty to prove the violation of the law but not the individual's.

d) The bench further remarked that the state is not allowed to intrude in any citizen's home and prevent him from possessing and eating food of his own choice.

6. Enda Kenny becomes Prime Minister of Ireland for the 2nd time.

a) The current Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) Enda Kenny has been re-elected as the Prime Minister of Ireland for his 2nd term.

b) He is the member of the Fine Gael Party in Ireland who received 59 votes in his favour and 4 votes against him. Though his party won, but fell short for the votes required to become a majority. Enda Kenny will lead the minority Fine Gael government during his 2nd term.

c) He is the first Fine Gael prime minister who was re-elected as an Irish Prime Minister.

d) Ireland's 2nd largest party Fianna Fail has backed the three budget cycles programme of Fine Gael government. Fine Gael party will form a government with the support of Fianna Fail party and independent members.

7. Joint water patrols formed by Indonesia, Malaysia & Philippines

a) Indonesia, Malaysia & the Philippines have agreed to conduct joint water sea patrols and to establish a hotline to combat piracy and kidnappings in the waters common to these countries.

b) This agreement was signed between the officials of these three countries in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. These agreement was signed due to the recent kidnappings of 10 Indonesian sailors in the southwestern Philippines by a militant group called Abu Sayyaf.

c) Along the Sulu & Celebes seas, the maritime borders of this three nations meet, through which 55 million tonnes of goods and around 18 million people pass each year.

d) Abu Sayyaf, a militant group based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands was founded by Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani.

e) This group was previously in the news during the Philippines worst terrorist attack in 2004 where the Superferry 14 of Philippines was bombed that killed 116 people.

8. Canada Govt declares emergency due to Alberta Wildfire

a) Canadian government has declared the state of emergency in the city of Fort McMurray of Alberta province due to the massive wildfire that destroyed the area.

b) Fort McMurray is the main centre of the Alberta province's main oil sand region. Due to the wildfire, the province has seen the biggest evacuation of people (around 80,000) in it's history.

c) The fire which broke out on 1st of May has destroyed around 1,600 houses till date. Around 250 firefighters assisted by helicopters and air tankers are still fighting the wildfire.

9. Parashar Kulkarni won the 2016 commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia Region

a) The Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2016 for the Asia region was bagged by Yale University Assistant Professor Parashar Kulkarni. He was awarded for his political short fiction named as 'Cow & Company'.

b) His story talks about four men in search a cow. It also narrates the contemporary cultural and commercial interests in indian society.

c) The other four winners of this prize are,

. Faraaz Mahomed - 'The Pigeon' with its playful tone and unreliable narrator

. Stephanie Seddon - Eel, a simply told and moving story of childhood

. Lance Dowrich - comedic 'Ethelbert and the Free Cheese'

. Tina Makereti - 'Black Milk', which impressed with a lyricism that takes the reader into another world while keeping them always on earth

d) Also, some previously shortlisted indian authors for this price are,

. Kritika Pandey for Dirty White Strings

. Sumit Ray for Girdhars Mansion

. Vinayak Varma for Instant Karma

10. ICGS Shaurya, an Offshore patrol vessel launched

a) An Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Shaurya was recently launched by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) at Vasco.

b) Shourya is the 5th in the series of six offshore patrol vessels (OPVs). Governor of Goa, Mridula Sinha launched this 105 metre new generation OPV. It will be commissioned into the service of indian Coast Guard from 2017.

c) Powered by twin diesel engine, Shorya is capable of 23 knots speed and has a range of 6,000 nautical miles. It has the integrated machinery control system and integrated bridge system.

d) The ship will be useful for search and rescue operations, pollution control and external firefighting.

11. Recommendations submitted by H R Nagendra Committee on Yoga education in universities

a) The H R Nagendra Committee on Yoga education in universities has recommended 7 new programmes for implementation in universities.

b) This committee was formed by the Union government in January 2017 which was headed by H R Nagendra (chancellor of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bengaluru).

c) The committee recommended to identify new programmes in Yogic arts & sciences offered at Certificate, Diploma, Degree, Postgraduate Degree/Postgraduate Diploma and Research levels. The Syllabus for NET in Yogic Arts & Sciences should be prescribed.

d) Student's eligibility qualifications to join these courses should be determined. Upgradation of Yoga departments in Universities should be done and these departments should be developed as the departments of Yogic Arts & Sciences.

e) The seven recommended courses by this committee are, Certificate Course in Yoga (CCY) of 6 to 12 months duration, Bachelors of Science (Yoga)-BSc.(Yoga) of 3 to 6 years, Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga (PGDY) of 1 to 2 years, Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga Therapy(PGDYT) of 1 to 2 years, Masters of Science (MSc.)- Yoga of 2 years to 4 years, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)-Yoga of 3 to 5 years, Doctor of Philosophy (Integrated)- Yoga of 4 to 6 years.

12. Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu awards conferred

a) The 15th edition of Federation of Export Organization (FIEO) Niryat Shree & Niryat Bandhu awards were conferred in new Delhi.

b) The awards were conferred by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of Golden Jubilee celebrations of Federation of Indian Export Organization.

c) The Reliance Industries were considered as the top foreign exchange earners and leading exporters in last 50 years.

d) The Gold award in IT services was bagged by TCS. SBI received the gold award whereas Canara Bank & Punjab National bank received the Silver & Bronze awards respectively.

omidichwalkar · May 9, 2016, 12:43pm

1. Jain community in Gujarat received minority status

a) As per the recent Gujarat government resolution (GR) the Jain community in Gujarat has been given the minority status. This decision was taken by Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel.

b) This newly grant minority status has no connection with reservation. It will rather benefit the poor among Jain community where they will be benefitted with various government welfare schemes and scholarships.

c) Jain institution will also receive special status as the institutions of other minority communities in the state. Other minority communities in the state are Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs & Buddhists.

d) At present around 50 lakh people are part of Jain Community in India. This community is considered prosperous as most of the population is associated with business.

2. A multi partner trust fund launched by UN for Zika response

a) UN Zika response Multi-Partner Trust Fund(MPTF) was recently launched by United Nations to finance critical unfunded priorities in response to Zika outbreak.

b) This fund was launched to provide coordinated response from UN & its partners. This fund will directly benefit WHO's Zika strategic response framework.

c) Under the programme, the donors will contribute to a central point and an Advisory Committee will direct funds to the highest-priority activities in the affected countries.

3. Novak Djokovic emerged victorious in Mutua Madrid Open

a) By defeating Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic bagged the Mutua Madrid 2016 Open title in Madrid, Spain.

b) With this win, Djokovic has a total of five wins out of 6 ATP 1000 competitions. He also reached a record of 29 Masters 1000 titles.

c) Serbian player Novak Djokovic, is currently at the top position in men's singles tennis. Till this date, he has won total 11 Grand Slam titles.

4. Shashi Kapoor's Biography released

a) Biography of veteran bollywood actor, Shashi Kapoor, authored by film Journalist Aseem Chhabra was recently released. The book titled as Shashi Kapoor - the householder, the star talks about life events and journey of Shashi Kapoor in bollywood as an actor.

b) Born as a member of veteran Kapoor family in Bollywood, Shashi Kapoor appeared in many bollywood films as an actor. He also played part of assistant director and director of few movies.

c) He has also acted in few English language films, mostly from the Merchant-Ivory productions.

d) He was awarded with Padma Bhushan in 2011 & in 2015 he was awarded with Dadasaheb Phalke award.

5. Nagaland's vehicle monitoring system awarded

a) National award for smart policing in the category of Road safety & Traffic Management was bagged by Nagaland's SMS based vehicle monitoring system. This award was instituted by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

b) Union Minister of state for Home Affairs, Haribhai Chaudhari presented this award to Nagaland Police.

c) This monitoring system was executed by Ben Imchen, a postgraduate from IIT Delhi and proprietor of Elysium Enterprises. It was started in April, 2015 and resulted in great reduction in the 4 wheelers theft across the state. It provides a common platform for police and the citizens to report theft and alert various field formations just by sending a SMS.

6. Bundi, Rajasthan to get digital mapping

a) Bundi in Rajasthan will be the first in India to get digital mapping with comprehensive database of its demographical and geographical information, including small lanes, streets, trees, drains, electric poles and houses, besides monuments with detailed information.

b) The digital mapping will keep the illegal constructions in the check. The database created under this project can be accessed by anyone where dimension of the house or any other construction can be easily checked.

7. Atomic oxygen detected in Mars

a) Atomic oxygen was found in the upper Martian atmosphere called mesosphere. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars for the first time since the last observation 40 years ago.

b) Atomic oxygen affects how other gases escape Mars and therefore has a significant impact on the planet's atmosphere. Scientists detected only about half the amount of oxygen expected, which may be due to variations in the Martian atmosphere.

c) SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center.

8. India ranked at ninth position in Crony Capitalism index.

a) India is ranked at 9th position in the Crony Capitalism index released by Economist in the first week of May 2016.

b) Crony sector wealth accounts for 3.4% country's GDP while Non crony sector wealth in India accounts for 8.3% of the GDP.

c) Russia is at the top position, followed by Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Russia's 18% of the GDP accounts for crony sector wealth.

d) Considering the whole world's statistics, among the 22 great economies in the world, the crony wealth has fallen by 116 Billion US dollars since 2014. The worth of billionaires in crony industries Worldwide is soared by 385% between 2004 and 2014 to 2 US dollars trillion.

e) This index was made by Ruchir Sharma of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Aditi Gandhi and Michael Walton of Centre for Policy Research of New Delhi in 2014. The index indicates the livelihood of the people from certain country or city with capitalist economy is easily affected by crony capitalism.

9. From 1 Jan, 2017 Dial 112 for any emergency anywhere in the India

a) From 1st January, 2017 '112' can be dialed to get help of immediate services like police, ambulance & fire department. It will be similar to the all-in-one emergency number 911 in US.

b) This number can be easily accessed even through SIMs & landlines whose outgoing call facility is stopped or temporarily suspended.

c) All-in-one emergency service number was approved by Union telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

10. Chan's Megastick bug of China declared as world's longest insect

a) Chinese stick insect Chan's Megastick has created a record of being the world's longest insect. The length of this insect is around 62.4 cm.

b) The bug is also known as Phobaeticus chani. It was discovered two years ago in southern province of Guangxi China.

c) The bug was named after Malaysian naturalist Datuk, Chan Chew Lun. This bug was among the top 10 new species described in 2008 by the International Institute of species Exploration in Arizona.

d) This bug broke the record of 56.7 cm long Malaysian stick insect discovered in 2008.

omidichwalkar · May 10, 2016, 12:19pm

Daily Current Affairs - 10th May, 2016, Tuesday

1. UN released a report on AIDS

a) A new report on AIDS named as 'On the fast-track to end the AIDS epidemic' is recently released by United Nations.

b) According to this report, if the urgent actions are not taken within next five years, the AIDS epidemic in the world will be prolonged indefinitely. The report also states that the extraordinary progress made over last 15 years could be lost.

c) Since 2004, there is 42% decline in AIDS related deaths due to rapid treatment scale up. Also, the life expectancy of victims in the HIV affected countries have risen in the past years.

d) The report notifies the less implementation of Political declaration on HIV & AIDS distressing, 2011. The HIV infections are continuously on rise in the areas like central Asia & Eastern Europe. From 2000 to 2014, HIV infections in this region are increased by 30% in total.

e) To reach these goals include reaching 90-90-90 treatment target for 2020.It calls for 90 per cent of people living with HIV to know their status, 90 per cent of people who know their HIV-positive status to access treatment, and 90 per cent of people on treatment to have suppressed viral loads.

2. RBI released Draft Guidelines for on tap Licensing of Universal Banks in the Private Sector

a) Eligible promoters :

Non Banking financial companies (NBFCs) who have a successful track record of 10 years which are controlled by residents.
Residents, individuals and professionals with at least 10 years of experience in finance and banking
Groups or entities owned by residents in the private sector with a successful track record of 10 years.

b) Structure of the corporate : For stand alone promoting, converting entities and individual promoters will not mandatorily require Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC). The NOFHC shall be owned by the promoter/promoter group to the extent of not less than 51 per cent of the total paid-up equity capital of the NOFHC.

c) Minimum capital requirement : A bank should have an initial minimum paid-up voting equity capital shall be of 5 billion rupees. So, a bank should a minimum net worth of 5 billion rupees (at all times).

d) The existing FDI policy that aggregate foreign investment limit is 74%

e) Provision of Banking regulation Act 1949 & existing guidelines on prudential norms, should be followed by the banks. The bank cannot have any kind of exposure to its promoters, major shareholders who have shareholding to the extent of 10 per cent or more of paid-up equity shares in the bank.

f) Banks should submit a proper business plan to RBI which will show the bank's potential to achieve financial inclusion.

g) Within the first six years after commencement of business by the bank, the bank should get its shares listed on the stock exchange.

3. Union Government released commemorative coins on Maharana Pratap

a) On the occasion of 475th birth anniversary of legendary Rajput king Maharana Pratap, Union government has released a commemorative coin of 100 Rs. & circulation coin of 10 Rs.

b) These coins were released by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture and Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma in New Delhi.

c) Maharana Pratap was the ruler of Mewar, a region in north-western India in the present day state of Rajasthan. He was born on 9th May, 1540.

d) Union Ministry of Culture has been celebrating the 475th Birth Anniversary of Maharana Pratap during 2015-16 in association with the State Government of Rajasthan.

4. A web based app on Integrated Waste Management System

a) A web based application on Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS) was launched by Union Ministry of Environment & Forests. The web address of this system is www.iwms.nic.in

b) The aim of this application is to track the movement of hazardous waste. This application will bring transparency in the working of the ministry of Environment and other centre/state level regulatory bodies.

c) This app will provide online permission to individuals for the import and export of certain categories of waste. Such waste will be used for recycling or recovery or co-processing purposes.

d) The application will facilitate the web-based processing, generation and grant of various types of permissions and grant other types of certificates to entrepreneurs and industries.

e) The application will also generate database on waste generating/processing industrial units under construction, or operation. Different categories of waste like hazardous, biomedical, municipal, electronic , etc can be categorized with the use of this app.

5. National Bison Legacy Act signed by Obama

a) United States President Barack Obama has recently signed 'The National Bison Legacy Act'. With this act, Bison has become US's first national mammal.

b) Now, Bison has officially joined the 'Bald Eagle' as the official symbol of United States.

c) Bisons are the largest mammal in North America. Male bison (called bulls) weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand 6 feet tall, while females (called cows) weigh up to 1,000 pounds and reach a height of 4-5 feet.

d) Bisons are big in size but they're also fast & extremely agile. They can run up to 35 miles per hour. Bison can spin around quickly, jump high fences and are strong swimmers.

e) Bison primarily eat grasses, weeds and leafy plants -- typically foraging for 9-11 hours a day. Bisons are also called red dogs because of their orangish red colour at their birth.

6. Indian Boxers triumphed at 7th Asian Youth Championship

a) Indian boxers have successfully clinched 4 medals in the 7th Asian Youth Championship. This tournament was held in Palodar in Kazakhstan where more than 150 boxer boxers from 23 countries took part.

b) With three silver medals and one bronze medal, India stood at the 3rd position in overall standings.

c) Ankush Dahiya (60kg), Ashish Kulharia (64kg) and Reyal Puri (81kg) won silver medal for India and Manjeet Singh (+91kg) won the solitary bronze.

d) With 6 gold, 1 silver & 3 bronze medals, Kazakhstan stood at the top position in this championship. Uzbekistan finished at the 2nd rank in overall standing with 3 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals.

7. Singapore's NRF granted SGD 3 million grant to an Indian scientist

a) Singapore's National Research Foundation granted Dr. Manavendra K Singh a grant of SGD 3 million (14.7 crore Rs.).

b) He was awarded with this fellowship for research in the field of congenital and adult cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Manvendra Singh works at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore as an assistant professor in the cardiovascular and metabolic disorders programme.

b) Singapore's NRF fellowship was also awarded to six other young scientists from other parts of the world. The National Research Foundation was set up in 1st January, 2006 with an objective to transform Singapore into a vibrant R&D hub.

8. Rural Sanitation Initiatives for Ganga Rejuvenation launched

a) Total 9 different projects were launched for rural sanitation initiatives for conservation of river Ganga in Sahibganj, Jharkhand. Union Minister for water resources, River development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Uma Bharti, launched these projects.

b) There are around 45,000 households located in the Ganga river basin Jharkhand. These projects aim at enhancing the health and quality of life of this population through improved sanitation practices. The quality of wastewater and stormwater runoff flowing through this region will also be improved under these projects.

c) These projects will focus on reducing the practice of open defecation along the river in this 83 km long stretch and increase the hygiene practices in the region.

d) Effective management of solid and liquid waste, strengthening local institutions, infrastructure for collection-storage and composting of waste degradation, adoption of biogas plants, creating common bathing ghats and community toilets will also be carried out under these projects.

e) United Nations Development programme will provide technical and implementation support.

9. Veteran American actor William Schallert passed away

a) Veteran American actor William Schallert has recently passed away in California, US.

b) William Schallert was famous for his role in popular TV series The Patty Duke Show as Martin Lane. This series aired on TV from 1963 to 1966.

c) He was among the founders of the Circle theatre with Sydney Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's son) and other students in 1946. He acted in Philbert, Perry Mason, he Smurfs, Jefferson Drum etc.

d) His portrayal of Martin Lane in The Patty Duke Show was ranked at 39th position in TV Guide's list of 50 greatest tv dads.

10. Free Public Wi-Fi Service launched at 5 railway stations by Google

a) Railway stations of Ujjain, Jaipur, Patna, Guwahati & Allahabad will soon get a free public Wi-Fi service. Google has recently provided this service under Railwire. Railwire is an extensive fibre network of Indian railways Railtel which provides internet service in rail.

b) Google is now currently working on covering some important suburban Mumbai stations in collaboration with Railtel.

c) Mumbai Central, Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda, Ernakulam Junction, Vishakhapatnam are already enjoying the the Railtel-Google free high speed Wi-Fi service.

11. World Migratory Bird Day observed across the globe

a) 10th of May, 2016 was observed the World Migratory Bird Day. This year's theme for the day was '' Stop the illegal killing, taking & Trade of Migratory birds.

b) This day is observed with an objective to increase awareness and action for the protection of migratory birds and their habitats.

c) Bird festivals, education programmes, exhibitions and bird-watching excursions are organised each year by environmentalists across the world during the 2nd week of May each year.

d) United Nations made an independent international treaty on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA). This day was initiated by UN in 2006 as the effort taken under this treaty.

12. Atma Ram Nadkarni appointed as Additional Solicitor General

a) Atma Ram Nadkarni, a senior Bombay High Court was recently appointed as Additional Solicitor General (ASG).

b) He is appointed as ASG in Supreme Court for next 3 years by The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

c) An Additional Solicitor General acts as law officer to advise the Central government on various legal matters. Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor Generals assist the government's top legal adviser Attorney General.

13. Lok Sabha passed the Anti-Hijacking Bill, 2014

a) Anti-Hijacking Bill, 2014 was recently passed by Lok Sabha. This bill seeks to repeal the Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982.

b) The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft , 1970 and its protocol supplementary signed in 2010 will be under the use due of this bill.

c) As per the bill, even if the ground handling staff & airport personnel are killed during hijacking, the hijackers will be given death penalty. Previously, hijackers could be tried for death penalty only if hostages, such as flight crew, passengers and security personnel would get killed.

d) The jurisdiction provided to the Indian judicial system as per this bill includes Indian territory, Against an aircraft registered in India, On board an aircraft which lands in India with the accused still on board, By or against an Indian citizen, By a person who is present in India and is not extradited by the central government, and others.

e)Hijacking and the related offences shall be extraditable. Extraditable offences are those offences for which one country may transfer the accused to another country's legal jurisdiction.

f) Both the houses of the parliament have passed this bill and it is now sent to the president for his assent.

omidichwalkar · May 11, 2016, 11:49am

1. Dusty Journal on Napoleonic Wars found

a) An old journal containing the battle plans from the Napoleonic wars was recently found in a book shop in Sydney, Australia.

b) It's a diary that belongs to British Lieutenant-Colonel John Squire, who served with the Duke of Wellington. This leather journal is dated 1811 which appears to detail a period from May to June that year of a war that pitted the French against an array of European powers, focusing on The Siege of Badajoz in Spain.

2. FitKids acquired Thinklabs

a) A science & technology education provider ThinkLabs has been recently acquired by Education start-up company FitKids for an undisclosed amount.

b) Bengaluru based FitKids, is a provider of sports, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for children from Kindergarten to grade 12. This acquisition will help FitKids to add about new 100 schools to its portfolio of 160 schools across India.

c) FitKids provides STEM education under the brand DiscoverEd. They will now be able to offer a programme called Eureka which was originally developed by ThinkLabs. Eureka is programme made to provide training to the teachers to deliver the curriculum.

3. Capital gains on FDI from Mauritius will be taxed

a) Union Government has decided to tax the Capital gains on FDI from Mauritius 2017 onwards. Since 2000, Mauritius has provided India with 1/3rd of its total FDI.

b) India & Mauritius have recently signed a protocol at Port Louis in Mauritius, which amends the convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains.

c) As per this agreement, Mauritius will now be able to cease to the preferred route for FDI and portfolio investments into India.

d) This protocol will help both the countries to prevent India Mauritius 1983 Double Taxation Avoidance treaty abuse and round-tripping of funds, curb revenue loss, prevent double non-taxation, streamline the flow of investment and stimulate the flow of exchange of information between India and Mauritius.

e) In a two-year transition phase, from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2019, the capital gains will be taxed at a concessional tax rate of 50 per cent of the domestic rate. Capital gains on investments made before April 1, 2017, will not be taxed in India.

4. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte become president of Philippines

a) Rodrigo 'Digong' Duterte, mayor of Davao has emerged victorious in the presidential election of the Philippines held on 9th May 2016.

b) He received a landslide victory with 15.36 million votes in his favour. The 2nd position was acquired by Mar Roxas with 9.27 million votes in his favour. Grace Poe received the third position with around 8.6 million votes.

c) Around 39% voting population of Philippines favoured Duarte over other candidates.

d) Duterte had become vice mayor of Davao in 1986 & Mayor of Davao in 1988. He is always compared to the US presidential candidate Donald Trump and called as Dirty Harry.

5. Shashank Manohar resigned as President of BCCI

a) Shashank Manohar has resigned from the post of president of board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI).

b) He also resigned from the posts of BCCI representative in the international Cricket council (ICC) & Asian Cricket council (ACC).

c) During this term, he was serving BCCI for the 2nd time. Previously, he was the president of BCCI from 25th September 2008 to 19th September, 2011.

d) He is still the president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA).

6.Certificate registration of four NBFCs was cancelled by RBI

a) Certificate of registration of four Non-Banking financial Companies was recently cancelled by Reserve Bank of India. It was done by exercising the power granted to RBI under Section 45-IA (6) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

b) Registration of M/s Neelanjali Engineering Private Limited, M/s Novoflex Tradecom Private Limited, M/s Guide Investments and Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd, M/s Enol Ventures Private Limited was cancelled by RBI.

c) Total 7 Maharashtra NBFCs also surrendered their certification to RBI. These firms are, M/s V.H Doshi & Sons Investment Pvt. Ltd., M/s Vinodchandra Doshi Investment Co Private Limited, M/s Samarth Doshi Investment Co. Private Limited, M/s Echjay Overseas Trades Private Limited, M/s Hari Mahavin Investment Private Limited, M/s Baroda Industries Private Limited, M/s Eureka Finvest Private Ltd.

7. Husain Haqqani releases book on India Pakistan relations

a) Former Pakistani Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani released a book on India-Pakistan relations called 'India Vs Pakistan: Why can't we just be friends?'.

b) The book is considered controversial as it exposed Pakistan's role in the 26/11 terror attacks in India.

c) The ex-ISI chief General Pasha's visit to Washington 24th & 25th December, 2008 was accounted in this where he admitted Pakistan's involvement in these terror attacks candidly.

d) Husain Haqqani has written two books on Pakistan. These books are Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military, and Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding.

8. National Technology Day is celebrated in the Country

a) Indians celebrate the National Technology Day every year on 11th May to commemorate India's technological advancements & expertise.

b) This day was instituted in the year 1999 when on this day India achieved a great mark in its advancement of technology by testing first indigenous aircraft 'Hansa-3'.

c) After Hansa-3, India has successfully test fired its Trishul missile and executed executed three successful nuclear tests, carried out at Pokhran, in Rajasthan. India tested it's 5 nuclear bombs in Pokhran, Rajasthan on 11th May, 1998.

d) This year's theme of National Technology Day is 'Technology enablers of Startup India'.

9. Exercise Chakravyuh II concluded in Rajasthan.

a) As a follow up to 'Exercise Shatrujeet', a long training exercise of Indian Army called Chakravyuh II was concluded in Suratgarh in Rajasthan.

b) This exercise involves rapid mobilisation and execution of plans in sync with the Air Force in the desert terrain.

c) This exercise is aimed at validation of battle readiness and operational effectiveness of the RAPID division along with its affiliated components.

10. RBI to issue rs. 1000 banknotes with inset letter 'R'

a) As per the official announcement from RBI, new 1000 Rs. banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi series - 2005 with an inset letter 'R' in both the number panels will be released.

b) These banknotes will have the year of 2016 printed on the reverse. The numerals in both the numbering panels will be in ascending size from left to right.

c) For the visually impaired people, these 1000 Rs. banknotes will have bleed lines on them in the four sets of 1-2-2-1 lines on the obverse in both, the upper left and right hand edge of the banknotes.

d) The Diamond shaped identification mark near the left edge of the banknote will be enlarged.

11. Knowlarity acquires customer engagement platform Smartwards

a) Asia's leading cloud telephony company, Knowlarity Communications, officially announced the acquisition of Delhi-based Smartwards.

b) Smartwards is a customer engagement platform that simplifies loyalty for local businesses and their customers

c) As a part of the agreement, the two founders of Smartwards - Shantanu Mathur and Dhanraj Singh Bisht - will lead the India operations for Knowlarity.

d) The deal will enable Knowlarity to integrate the Smartwards product and technology into its own product ecosystem to provide enterprise software solutions to small and medium businesses, Knowlarity said in a statement.

12. BAFTA 2016 announced

a) British Academy of Film & Television has presented this year's BAFTA awards. The winners of these awards are as follows.

Special Award - Lenny Henry

Leading Actor - Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall)

Leading Actress - Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster)

Entertainment Performance - Leigh Francis (Celebrity Juice)

Scripted Comedy - Peter Kay's Car Share (Peter Kay, Gill Isles, Sian Gibson, Paul Coleman)

Soap & Continuing Drama - EastEnders

Specialist Factual - Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme - Have I Got News for You

Supporting Actress - Chanel Cresswell(This is England '90)

Supporting Actor - Tom Courtenay(Unforgotten)

Single Drama - Don't Take My Baby

Male Performance in a Comedy Programme - Peter Kay (Peter Kay's Car Share)

Female Performance in a Comedy Programme - Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum)

Factual Series - The Murder Detectives

Mini-Series - This Is England '90

13. Mrugank Paranjape took charge as MD and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange

a) Recently Deutsche Bank executive Mrugank Paranjape on Monday took over as managing director and chief Executive officer of the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).

b) He has been appointed for a term of three years.

c)Previously the matters of exchange were handled by joint managing director P.K. Singhal (redesignated on 1st of April as president and whole time director of exchange)

14. Sanjay Kaul is the new Country Head for Apple India

a) Sanjay Kaul, who served the tech giant Apple as a Sales Director in India is recently promoted to being the Country Head for Apple India.

b) Prior to joining Apple, he worked for Canadian handset manufacturer BlackBerry where he lead the firm's channel sales division.

c) Kaul has replaced Maneesh Dhir who resigned in January this year to pursue other opportunities.

15. 100% FDI through Automatic Route permitted in Asset Reconstruction Companies

a) Union government has shown a green signal to the 100% FDI in the asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) under the authentic route.

b) Previously, the FDI allowed in this area was only 49%. The total shareholding of individual foreign institutional investors/ foreign portfolio investors must be below 10 per cent of the total paid-up capital.

c) FII/FPIs can invest up to 100% of each tranche in security receipts issued by ARCs, subject to RBI directions/guidelines.The Investment limit in the sponsor in the shareholding of an ARC will be governed by the provision of the Sarfaesi law.

16. Madhya Pradesh Tourism Awarded with Best Indian Destination with Wildlife award

a) This year's best Indian destination with wildlife award by Lonely Planet group was won by Madhya Pradesh tourism.

b) This award was presented to Madhya Pradesh Tourism by actress Amy Jackson at a function held in Mumbai.

c) As per the statistics presented by Forest Survey of India of the State of forest report 2003, Madhya Pradesh has the 24.79% of the total land area of the state.

d) Madhya Pradesh has around 25 wildlife sanctuaries and 9 national parks. The state has provided special efforts for the tiger Indian bustard & Son Chiriya conservation.

e) Due to the conservative programmes carried out by the state tourism, Kanha & Pench National Parks in MP are considered as the most beautiful national parks in the Asia.

17. Harish Rawat won the Uttarakhand floor test

a) The Harish Rawat led government proved its majority in the Uttarakhand floor test in the state assembly with 33 votes in their favour.

b) The floor test was held as per the order of Supreme Court. In this test, Harish Rawat received 33 votes against 28 votes out of 61 qualified members for voting in the assembly.

c) After 9 congress legislators rebelled against the Harish Rawat's government in Uttarakhand, the state was facing a political crisis. On the recommendations of Union cabinet, President pranab Mukherjee had imposed President's rule in the state on 27th March, 2016.

d) On 21st April, Uttarakhand High court quashed the president's rule and ordered to conduct a 'Composite floor test' on 5th May 2016.

omidichwalkar · May 12, 2016, 1:07pm

Daily Current Affairs - 12th May, 2016, Thursday

1. Indian Patent Office approves patent for hepatitis C drug Sovaldi

a) Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark approved the patent of an American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences for the blockbuster Hepatitis C drug Sofosbuvir (brand name Sovaldi) in India.

b) Priced at $1000 a pill in the US, the drug was rejected by the patent authority stating that the formulation has only a minor change compared to the previous version of the drug.

c) Gilead, in a statement, welcomed the move, but said it will have no impact on availability of the compound, which is already licensed to 11 generic manufacturers in India for distribution in 101 developing countries.

d) Patents assure the recovery of investments in research (by the drug manufacturer) during the patent term and the profits can be used for development of new medicines.

2. Argentina adopts Europe's Social Fridge scheme

a) Argentina recently adopted Europe's Social Fridge Scheme, which came in light during the economic crisis in Europe.

b) It refers to the practice of leaving food in outdoor "social fridges" for those who need it. The fridges are placed on the sidewalk outside restaurants.

c) Argentina is currently facing a huge inflation of about 40%. Due to this, about 1.4 million citizens of the country have already fallen below the poverty line in the last few months.

d) Around 1,40,000 people have lost their jobs due to a recent uplift in foreign trade and currency restrictions, rise in utility prices, etc. Presently, around 57 social fridges operate throughout the country to feed the needy and poor people.

3. Malaria vaccine PfSPZ can provide protection for over a year

a) An new experimental vaccine known as the PfSPZ Vaccine, which was developed and produced by Sanaria Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, induced an immune response that could last between five months to one year.

b) Clinical evaluation of the vaccine was carried out at the University of Maryland where volunteers during Phase I trial were exposed to a malaria causing parasite - Plasmodium falciparum.

c) The PfSPZ Vaccine is composed of live, but weakened P falciparum sporozoites - the early developmental form of the parasite.

d) The vaccine was well tolerated among the participants with 55% people having protection against malaria for more than a year.

4. Indian Navy decommissions fighter planes Sea Harriers

a) Indian navy has decommissioned its fleet of Sea Harriers. These planes will be replaced by new generation MIG-29 K fighters.

b) Sea Harriers are naval Short-Vertical Take-Off and Landing Jet Fighters that are used for both reconnaissance and strike.They were inducted in Indian Navy in 1983 and have played a vital role in various naval operations since then.

c) Sea Harriers were designed and manufactured by British Aerospace. While in the service of Indian Navy, Sea Harriers operated from both INS Vikrant and INS Viraat aircraft carriers and participated in operations including Vijay and Parakram, among others.

5. World's first holographic flexible smartphone HoloFlex unveiled

a) HoloFlex, world's first holographic flexible smartphone, was recently launched by a group of researchers of Human Media lab at Queen's University.

b) HoloFlex can render 3D images with motion parallax and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head tracking or glasses.

c) A 1920x1080 full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode touchscreen display is made available in this device. It produces 160 x 104 resolution image that allows users to inspect a 3D object from any angle simply by rotating the phone.

d) The phone has bend sensors which allows users to bend the phone as a means of moving objects along the z-axis of the display.

e) Images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular blocks rendering the full view of the 3D object from a particular viewpoint.

6. Revathi Balakrishnan named 2016 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year

a) Indian American elementary teacher Revathi Balakrishnan has been honoured as the 2016 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year by US President Barack Obama.

b) She was acclaimed for her remarkable work in the field of education at Patsy Sommer Elementary School in Texas.

c) She is originally from Chennai and attributes her success to her love of teaching.

d) With this honour, she will represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

7. SC strikes down TRAI's call drop rule; telecos rejoice

a) The regulations imposed on telecom companies by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) were recently quashed by the Supreme Court. These regulations made it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops from January 2016.

b) TRAI had agreed reconsidering this regulation on telecom companies if they agreed to compensate call drops with equal number of free calls to consumers without pre-conditions. But, SC struck down this regulation calling it as arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent.

8. Bicycle highway between Taj & Lion safari approved

a) To encourage eco-tourism, the Uttar Pradesh government has approved the development of a 197-km long bicycle highway from Agra to the lion safari in Etawah.

b) The highway will avoid the Agra-Etawah main road, but will cover various historical and tourism centres like Raja Bhoj ki Haveli, Bateshwar Nath Temple, Mela Kothi Jarar, Naugava ka Quila and other rural areas to reach the lion safari.

c) Additionally, the state Cabinet has also approved construction of an international cricket stadium in Saifai and implementation of the Prime Minister Crop Insurance scheme from the 2016 Kharif season.

9. World's oldest ground edge stone axe found in Australia

a) Australian scientists have recently discovered a piece of the world's oldest stone axe in the remote Kimberley region of western Australia.

b) This fragment is of a size of a thumbnail and dates back to Stone age period of 45,000 to 49,000 years ago.

c) This handle attached axe might have been useful in making spears and chopping down or taking bark of the trees. The axe had been shaped from basalt and then polished by grinding it on another rock to make it smooth.

10. England women's cricket captain Charlotte Edwards retires

a) The only player to captain England in 200 internationals, Charlotte Edwards announced her retirement after a 20-year career.

b) She debuted in 1995 at the age of 16 and played as a top order batswoman.

c) She became the first female cricketer to score 2000 runs in T20 Internationals and first player (male or female) to have a record of 2500 runs in T20 Internationals. She also won the World T20, the World Cup and the Ashes five times for England.

d) Edwards will continue to play at the domestic level, including the upcoming Women's Super League.

11. Underwater vigil system launched at Visakhapatnam

a) The Indian Navy has has launched an underwater vigil system at the Naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam. This system is known as integrated underwater harbour defence and surveillance system (IUHDSS) and mine warfare data centre.

b) Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, AVSM flag Officer Commanding-in Chief, Eastern Naval Command inaugurated this system.

c) This multi-sensor system will help the Navy to detect, identify, track and generating warnings for all types of surface and underwater threats to Visakhapatnam harbour.

d) The mine warfare data centre will help in collecting, analysing and classifying data collected by mine hunting ships of Indian Navy. The harbour defence system will function under the control of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Andhra Pradesh), Commodore Sanjiv Issar.

12. Sanjay Mitra committee instituted to prepare policy for taxi operators

a) Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has formed a three-member committee headed by Union Road Transport Secretary Sanjay Mitra to frame policy regarding diesel cabs. Supreme Court has banned diesel-operated taxis in New Delhi.

b) As Supreme Court refused to increase the deadline (30 April) for conversion of diesel taxis into CNG ones, a large number of diesel taxi drivers lost their wage.

13. India to develop regional connectivity projects worth $5 billion in South Asia

a) India is looking to develop a regional connectivity project worth $5 billion in South Asia.

b) Cooperating with Bangladesh,Nepal and Bhutan India is planning to establish integrated Customs Ports (ICPs) and improved Land Customs Stations (LCS) at key border points with these three countries. This move will facilitate the movement of goods and people within the sub region.

c) India's Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das made these announcements at the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) 2025 workshop.

d) India is also working on development of two priority road corridor projects. The first corridor among these will connect India with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan through the "chicken neck" area of North Bengal, the second road corridor will establish India-Myanmar connectivity in Manipur.

14. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami hanged for war crimes

a) Bangladesh government hanged Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for the crimes he committed during the nation's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

b) He was hanged for orchestrating the abduction and killings of Bengali intellectuals, who were fighting for freedom. He had also assisted Pakistani soldiers in mass killings, murders, rapes, and other heinous crimes in Santhia.

c) Other leaders of his party, namely Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdur Quader Molla have already been hanged by the Bangladesh government for their war crimes.

15. Madrid Masters Tennis Championship ends

a) Madrid Masters Tennis Championship was played on outdoor courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain. Following is the list of players who bagged medals this year:

b) Men Singles: Novak Djokovic

c) Men's Doubles: Jean Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau

d) Women Singles: Simona Halep

e) Women's Doubles: Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic

16. Amazon launches online video service

a) A new service which allows users to upload videos and earn royalties has been started by online retailer giant Amazon.

b) The service is called 'Amazon Video Direct' using which individuals can rent or sell their videos, view free with ads or package them together and offer as an add-on subscription.

c) This move is to compete against Youtube's 'Youtube Red', which is a free, ad-supported service. Users of Amazon's Video Direct can make their videos available in United States, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and Japan.

17. NPPA fixes ceiling price of 54 drug formulations

a) Ceiling price of 54 drugs was fixed by drug pricing regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). These drugs are used for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, bacterial infections & hypertension.

b) Prices of these drugs have been slashed upto 55% in order to make them affordable. These 54 drugs were part of the revised National List of Essential Medicines, 2015.

c) In urban regions, 75% of out-of-pocket expenditure is on medicines, whereas in rural India it is 80%. Thus, the move has been welcomed by many across India. Government has also started AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment) programme to provide cancer drugs to patients at a heavily discounted price. Similarly, the Department of Pharmaceuticals started Jan Aushadhi stores to sell these medicines at a cheaper prices.

18. Renowned cricket commentator Tony Cozier passes away

a) Tony Cozier, known as the Voice of West Indies, has passed away aged 75.

b) The West Indian cricket writer, commentator and journalist began writing on cricket as a teenager in 1958.

c) He was a member of the BBC's Test Match Special commentary team and covered every Wisden Trophy series except one.

omidichwalkar · May 13, 2016, 12:23pm

1. Delhi no longer most polluted - Iran's Zabol the most polluted in the world says WHO

a) Released on 12th of May, a survey based on urban air quality database from WHO says that Delhi is no longer the most polluted city in the world. However, India is still a home to four of the five worst cities.

b) Zabol, which frequently suffers from dust storms, has the dirtiest air in terms of PM 2.5 (fine particulate pollution).The next four cities were all Indian: Gwalior, Allahabad, Patna and Raipur.

c) Delhi now stands at number 11 amongst the 3000 cities from the survey of 103 countries.

d) The report also states that despite the improvements in some areas, the overall global urban air pollution levels have hiked by 8%.

2. President Pranab Mukherjee confers Florence Nightingale Awards

a) On account of commendable work and commitment, President Mukherjee conferred the Florence Nightingale Awards to 35 nurses at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

b) The awards were presented on the occasion of International Nurses day which is given by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the appreciable services rendered by the nursing professionals across the country.

c) Recognizing nurses as the greatest workforce in the healthcare industry, President also said that a budget of Rs 2,150 crore has been allocated to the programmes and schemes for the improvement of nursing services in India under the 12th Five Year Plan.

d) The Florence Nightingale Awards carries Rs 50,000/- in cash, a certificate, a citation certificate and a medal.

3. US president Obama appoints an Indian - American to the key administrative post

a) Manjit Singh, an Indian American engineer is the co-founder of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He has been appointed as the member of President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

b) He is the President of Agilious, a technology consulting firm founded by him in the year 2013.

c) He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and also as a Member-at-Large of The Board of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan in Washington.

d) Singh achieved his B.E from University of Bombay, India and an M.Sc from the State University of New York at Albany.

4. Drought declared in 29,000 villages in Maharashtra

a) Maharashtra government declared drought in 29,000 villages most of which are located in the parched Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.

b) Maharashtra has around 78% of drought affected districts and has been alloted with the largest sum of relief fund amounting to Rs. 3,049 crores. The state government also stated that all help prescribed in the Drought Manual, 2009, would be provided to the drought stricken areas.

5. Uday Kotak, the only Indian in Forbes 40 Most Powerful in the world of Finance

a) Uday Kotak, the CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank is the only Indian who made it to the Forbes list of 40 most powerful people in the financial world.

b) The 57 year old stood 33rd in the list called 'Money Masters: The Most Powerful People In The Financial World.

c) Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group topped the list with a net worth of $10.2 billion and oversees assets worth $344 billion.

d) Kotak has a net worth of about $7.1 billion.

6. Automatic sharing of country by country reporting enabled between India & China

a) A multilateral Competent Authority agreement was recently signed between six countries namely India, China, Israel, New Zealand, Canada & Iceland.

b) This agreement is aimed at exchanging country-by country reports (CbC MCAA) with each other automatically.

c) This agreement will also help to provide a proper understanding of method of MNEs various operations while ensuring that the confidentiality of such information is safeguarded.

d) Country-by-country reporting norms were proposed under the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) norms pioneered by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as part of the minimum standards that governments are expected to adopt by 2017.

d) MNEs have to provide information regarding their business, global allocation of income and taxes paid, etc. It will also cover information about which entities do business in a particular jurisdiction and the business activities each entity engages in.

e) With inclusion of these six countries, the total number of signatories summed up to 39.

7. Rwanda will host 26th World Economic Forum on Africa

a) 26th World Economic Forum on Africa will be held in Rwandan capital in Kigali. More than 1,500 delegates from global and regional corporations are expected to attend this summit.

b) The goal of the World Economic Forum is to promote public-private partnership. The theme of this year's summit is: Connecting Africa's Resources Through Digital Transformation.

c) The forum comes amid a stark economic slowdown in Africa. The global drop in price of oil and other commodities have hit some countries, like Nigeria, hard.

8. PM headed authority on Ganga Rejuvenation recommended

a) In its report on Ganga Rejuvenation, the estimates committee of parliament has recommended to form a fully empowered authority headed by Indian Prime minister.The committee also recommended to curb the red tapism in various ministries of state governments which are responsible for securing the nirmalta (purity) and aviralta (flow) of the Ganga by July 2018.

b) This committee was chaired by well known BJP party member Murli Manohar joshi.

9. Ritu Rani & VR Raghunath recommended for Arjuna award by Hockey India

a) VR Raghunath, Dharamvir Singh and Ritu Rani have been recommended for the Arjuna Award while Sylvanus Dung Dung has been recommended for the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award while veteran Coach CR Kumar is recommended for the Dronacharya Award.

b) Debuted in 2005, VR Raghunath was a part of the Indian team that won the bronze in the 2007 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, silver in 2008, gold in the 2007 Asia Cup and silver in 2013.

c) Likewise, Dharamvir was also a part of the Asian Games gold medal winning team. He was also in the team which won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the bronze medal at 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

d) Ritu Rani led the team from the front and helped it achieve the 2016 Rio Olympic berth.

e) Coach CR Kumar served as the head coach for the junior men's hockey in 2011 and helped it achieve Junior world cup in Hobart.

10. Congress member of Rajya Sabha Praveen Rashtrapal passes away

a) Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Praveen Rashtrapal (76) passed away on 12th of may after suffering a cardiac arrest.

b) He was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004). He was a member from the Upper House from April 2006 to April 2012 and was re-elected in April 2012.

c) Praveen Rashtrapal was associated with the trade union movement of Income Tax employees. He served as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax before he begun his journey in politics.

d) He published books like The Betrayal, 2003 (in Gujarati), Worshipping False God (A Review) 2003, Socialism, Bin Sampraday and Samanta, 2003, Sadak Thi Sansad, 2004 and NISBAT-collection of articles.

11. Stephen Curry becomes NBA's most valuable player again

a) Recently, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry became the NBA's Most Valuable Player for the second straight year.

b) In 61 year old history of these awards he is the first player to be chosen unanimously. He has become the 11th person to win back to back MVP awards after veteran players like James, Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

c) He received total 1310 points to top the list of basketball players. The Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook (stood at fourth place with 486 points) and Kevin Durant (stood at fifth place with 147 points).

12. Shashank Manohar elected as independent ICC chairman

a) Shashank Manohar has been elected by the Board unanimously and unopposed as the Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) following the ICC Full Council's approval of constitutional amendments proposed by the Board following its April meeting.

b) He is the first elected independent chairman and will serve for a term of two years.

c) Manohar is a Nagpur based lawyer who served his first stint as the BCCI President from 2008-2011. He was re-elected as the president of BCCI following the passing of Jagmohan Dalmiya.

13. Suspension on Sri Lankan wicket player Kusal Perera lifted

a) International Cricket council (ICC) has lifted provisional suspension imposed on Sri Lankan Wicket Keeper Kusal Perera.

b) While on New Zealand tour in 2015, Perera was tested positive by a banned substance and was recalled from the tour.

c) But, the WADA accredited laboratory in Qatar withdrew its original Adverse Analytical Finding following further investigations. So, now Perera can resume his domestic and international cricket career.

14. ICICI launched country's first contactless business credit card

a) India's first ever contactless business credit card was recently launched by ICICI bank in association with Jet Airways for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their employees.

b) The card is branded as 'Jet Airways ICICI Bank Business Advantage card'. It will help customers to save their business expenses.

c) This card is powered by the 'VISA payWave' contactless technology that enables the cardholder to make payments by simply tapping the card at contactless enabled terminals in more than 48 countries, including India.

15. World's biggest refugee camp in Dadaab soon to be closed

a) The Kenyan government has decided to close down world's biggest refugee camp in Dadaab. This camp is home to around 3,30,000 Somali refugees.

b) This decision came because this camp is known to have become safe haven for terrorist organizations in the region like 'al-Shabaab' which are becoming threat to Kenya's national security.

c) The camp was established in 1991 to help the Somali citizens who were fleeing from the civil war in their country.

16. MoU between SEBI & FSRA Abu Dhabi approved by union government

a) Union Cabinet recently gave a green signal to a MoU signed between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) & with Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), Abu Dhabi.

b) This MoU will facilitate mutual co-operation & technical assistance between these two financial organizations.

c) This MoU will also work towards strengthening the information sharing framework, development of securities markets, etc.

mahalakshmi.s · May 14, 2016, 11:32am

Daily Current Affairs - May 14, Saturday

1. Ashok Chawla takes charge as NSE Chairman

(i) The Securities and Exchange Board of India has approved the appointment of Ashok Chawla, former head of fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI), as the Chairman of the National Stock Exchange.

(ii) He will hold the post till March 27, 2019. A seasoned civil servant, Chawla retired as CCI Chairman in January 2016 after heading the body for nearly five years. He has also served as Finance Secretary and Civil Aviation Secretary, among other posts.

2. World's biggest aircraft Antonov An-225 Mriya lands in Hyderabad

(i) The world's biggest cargo aircraft Antonov An-225 Mriya recently made its first landing in India at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport en route to Perth, Australia.

(ii) Antonov An-225 has double the wing area of a Boeing 747. Generally, only the nose gear of an aircraft is steerable. On the An-225 there are 20 steerable wheels, four in the nose gear and 16 at the rear of the 28-wheel main gear. This feature renders it highly manoeuvrable. It is 43.32 m long and 6.4 m wide.

(iii) Note: Antonov, Ukraine-based leading transport aircraft designer and manufacturer, has signed a strategic pact with Reliance Defence Ltd. for assembly and manufacture of aircrafts based on Antonov platforms in India for commercial and military markets.

3. Space scientist UR Rao to be conferred IAF Hall of Fame Award

(i) The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) will honour renowned space scientist Prof U R Rao with the 2016 'IAF Hall of Fame Award" for his remarkable contribution to the progress of astronautics.

(ii) Rao is the first Indian to be chosen for this honour which recognises individuals for their contributions to the progress of astronautics and the Federation.

(iii) A former chairman of ISRO, under Rao's leadership, starting with the first Indian satellite 'Aryabhata' in 1975, more than 18 satellites including Bhaskara, APPLE, Rohini, INSAT-1 and INSAT-2, among others were designed and launched.

(iv) In 2013, he became the first Indian inductee to the Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington. In 2005, he also received the Theodore Von Karman Award, which is the highest Award of the International Academy of Astronautics.

4. Fatma Samoura is first woman Secretary General of FIFA

(i) In a historic move, FIFA has appointed Fatma Samoura, a FIFA named a Senegalese UN diplomat as its first-ever female secretary general.

(ii) Samoura, who has worked on humanitarian crises with the UN for 21 years, is presently based in Nigeria for the UN Development Program.

(iii) Former secretary general Jerome Valcke of France, was sacked in January and banned from football for 12 years due to misconduct in television deals and World Cup ticket sales.

(iv) FIFA President Gianni Infantino also announced the appointment of Canadian soccer federation chief Victor Montagliani as the new president of the North and Central American and Caribbean football confederation (CONCACAF).

5. ICC Cricket Committee reconstituted; Anil Kumble is chief

(i) While, former Indian captain Anil Kumble has been re-appointed as the chairman of ICC's cricket committee while former wicket keeper has been taken aboard as a member along with Sri Lanka's former skipper Mahela Jayawardene.

(ii) The new members have been included in the panel in order to add more cricket experience.

(iii) Current Test captains have elected Dravid and Tim May (former Australia off-spinner) as current player representatives. Former Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, who held the post, has completed his three-year term.

(iv) Three-time ICC Umpire of the Year title winner, Richard Kettleborough, has been elected as umpires' representative in the committee, replacing Steve Davis, who retired last year. Commentator Ravi Shastri has been appointed as the media representative of the panel.

6. Vijendra Singh wins 6th pro fight

(i) Indian boxer Vijender Singh has bagged his sixth consecutive win in the professional arena by outpunching Poland's Andrzej Soldra.

(ii) The Olympic bronze medallist had won all his previous pro bouts via Technical Knockouts as well. His last fight, against French boxer Matiouze Royer, was the longest of his fledgling pro career as it lasted five rounds.

7. Cabinet approves National Intellectual Property Rights Policy

(i) Laying the roadmap for intellectual property rights in India, the Union Cabinet has approved the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy.

(ii) The Policy recognises the abundance of creative talent in India, and the need to tap into and channelise such talents toward a better future.

(iii) Some of the salient objectives of the Policy are:

a. To create public awareness about the economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs across sections of society.

b. To have strong and effective IPR laws, which balance the interests of rights owners with larger public interest.

c. To strengthen service-oriented IPR administration.

d. To strengthen the enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms for combating IPR infringements.

e. To strengthen and expand human resources, institutions and capacities for teaching, training, research and skill building in IPRs.

8. World's oldest person dies in New York aged 116

(i) Susannah Mushatt Jones, the world's oldest person, has died in New York at age 116.

(ii) Jones became Guinness World Records' official oldest person when 117-year-old Misao Okawa died in Tokyo in 2015.

To get fresh updates on your Facebook & Twitter timelines, subscribe to our pages created specifically for them. We will be posting only those exam specific links on these pages:Bank PO:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pagalguybankpo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaGaLGuYBankPO
SSC & Other Exams:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pagalguy-SSC-CGL-Others/879667042056262
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pagalguyssc
UPSC:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pag

maniza.siddique · May 16, 2016, 1:17pm

1. Singaporean, Hong Kong terms added to Oxford dictionary

a) Nineteen Singaporean and 13 Hong kong terms for English formation have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

b) Words like wah, shiok and yum cha, are now officially recognised as acceptable English. "Wah" is an expression of delight or surprise while "shiok" means cool, and "yum cha" is a type of Chinese brunch. Additions also include "blur", which means confused or ignorant, and "sabo", which means to harm or play a prank on.

c) OED adds words based on several independent examples of its use and if there is evidence that it has been in use for a reasonable amount of time.

d) Few more added words (from both Singaporean and Hong Kong origin) are:

Wet market: It is a market selling fresh meat and produce.

Blur: It means confused or ignorant.

Sabo: It means to harm or play a prank on.

Sandwich class: It is an informal term used to refer to the middle class

Milk tea: It is a drink made from black tea and milk, usually evaporated or condensed.

Shroff: It is a cashier, especially at a car park.

2. Italian Parliament approves same-sex civil unions

a) Italian Parliament has approved a law that recognises civil unions of same-sex couples. Italy has now become the last western European country to take this decision.

b) With 372 voting in favour, 51 against and 99 abstaining, the new law grants same-sex couples many of the same rights granted to a married heterosexual couple. Eg. same-sex couples can apply for public housing and inherit partner's pensions like a heterosexual couple.

c) This was also a victory for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who supported the bill.

3. Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016 notified

a) The State Assembly has passed the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016 which stipulates reservation for Jats along with four other communities in government jobs and education.

b) This Act will provide 10% reservation in service for Class III and IV posts and six per cent reservation in Class I and II posts to the Jat, Jat Sikhs, Ror, Bishnoi, Tyagi, Mulla Jat or Muslim Jat in Schedule III. It will also ensure 10% reservation for admissions to educational institutions to people that belong to these castes.

c) In total, 71 castes constitute the OBC - A category list in schedule I, while 6 castes make up the OBC - B category list of Schedule II.

d) The judgement stipulates that reservations should not exceed 50% in a grade, cadre or service in any particular year. However, if exceeded for extraordinary reasons, it should be justified.

4. Nirankari spiritual leader Baba Hardev Singh dies in Canada accident

a) Baba Hardev Singh (62), spiritual head of the Sant Nirankari Mission, passed away in a car accident in Montreal, Canada.

5. Cabinet approves inter-governmental agreement between India, Mauritius

a) The Union Cabinet has approved the inter-governmental agreement between India and Mauritius for collaboration in cooperatives and related fields.

b) This agreement is for a duration of five years and will automatically be extended for another five years.

c) The Mauritius government is interested in developing institutional mechanism between Cooperative Development Fund (CDF) along with National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI).

d) A joint action plan will soon be formulated comprising exchange of legislation governing cooperatives, exchange of information and technicalities pertaining to the cooperative sector, the establishment of institutional linkages and deputation of experts under ITEC programme.

6. Modi, Maithripala Sirisena release 'Simhastha Declaration'

a. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena have released the 'Simhastha Declaration' at Niroga village in Ujjain during the 3rd day of international Vichar Mahakumbh.

b) The declaration includes 51 points for the advancement of mankind. It emphasises on the present relevance of the duty-centered system that had been the origin of Indian philosophy of life.

7. SC upholds validity of Criminal Defamation Law

a) The Supreme Court has upheld the validity of Criminal Defamation provisions in the Indian Penal Code. SC has also directed politicians like Rahul Gandhi, Subramanian Swamy, Arvind Kejriwal and others to face trial for alleged statements harming others' reputation.

b) As per the observations of the two-judge bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant, 'Right to Reputation' is also a part of Right to Life (Article 21). They argued that criminal defamation travels beyond the Constitution's article 19(2) that imposes reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression.

c) The bench considered that the criminal defamation law is a reasonable restriction on the fundamental right of free speech and expression. Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC make defamation a criminal offence. They are necessary to protect the individual dignity of life and reputation.

8. Parkash Singh Panel submits report on Jat quota agitation

a) A three-membered panel headed by Parkash Singh recently submitted its two-volumed report on Jat quota agitation in Haryana.

b) The panel was constituted to inquire into the omission and commission on the part of all officials of police and civil administration during the Jat quota agitation.

c) The report has found 90 police officers guilty. These officers have either been delinquent while performing their duty or shown a soft corner for agitators. The report also mentions names of those officers who acted responsibly during these agitations.

d) This panel was headed by former DGP of UP & Assam & Director General of Border Security force Parkash Singh. IPS officer KP Singh & IAS Officer Vijai Vardhan were also part of this panel.

9. India inks pact with WHO to promote traditional medicine

a) Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) has been signed between the Ministry of AYUSH and the World Health Organisation in order to promote the quality, safety, and effectiveness of services provided in traditional medicine.

b) The PCA for the first time aims to deliver the WHO benchmark document for training in Yoga, Ayurveda, Unani, and Panchakarma.

c) Valid from 2016 till 2020, the agreement aims to support WHO in its global programme called 'The WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023', which was developed and launched in response to the World Health Assembly resolution on traditional medicine. The strategy aims to support WHO's member states in developing proactive policies and action plans.

10. 2016 Red Flag Aerial combat exercise concludes in US

a) The Indian Air Force along with its US counterpart recently concluded the 2016 Red Flag Aerial exercise at Eielson Air force base, Alaska, US. After 2008, this was the 2nd time when IAF participated in this exercise.

b) The Red Flag exercise is a successor to the Cope Thunder exercise series. In this, IAF flew 10 aircraft: four Su-30MKIs, four Jaguars and two IL-78 aerial refuelling tankers.

c) IAF also flew as a part of the Red Force (simulated as the Defensive force component fighting to protect own airspace and assets) alongside the first-of-its-kind Aggressors.

d) During this exercise, IAF's Jaguars DARIN II undertook integrated strike missions dropping practice bombs over the world-renowned JPARC Air to Ground Range.

11. Justice Naveen Sinha sworn-in as Chief Justice of Rajasthan HC

a) Justice Naveen Sinha has taken oath as the 31st Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court by Governor Kalyan Singh.

b) Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court. Former Tripura High Court Chief Justice Deepak Gupta has taken up his post as new Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court.

12. World conference on tourism-for-development to be held in Beijing

a) From 18th-21st May 2016, the first world conference on tourism for development will be held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.

b) The theme of this conference is 'Tourism for Peace & Development'.

c) The conference aims to advance contributions of tourism to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

d) This event will be jointly organised by China's Government and the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). China will also host the 7th T20 Ministers' Meeting under the theme "Sustainable Tourism - An Effective Tool for Inclusive Development".

13. India's first solar-powered train set for trial in Jodhpur

a) To maximise usage of solar energy, Indian railways will soon conduct its first trial run of a solar panel-powered train in Jodhpur.

b) While solar energy will be used for internal electrical gadgets, the itself will be pulled by conventional diesel run engines.

c) The work on one rake of Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU), which has six coaches, has already been completed by Noida-based firm Jakson Engineers Limited (JEL).

14. Indian artist wins award at UN poster contest on N-disarmament

a) A 22-year-old Indian artist Anjali Chandrashekar has won the 3rd prize in UN's poster competition which aimed to raise awareness on nuclear disarmament.

b) Chandrashekar, a New York-based designer, made a poster titling Titled 'Cutting Barriers through Peace', the poster features a peace dove slicing through a nuclear weapon.

c) Peruvian artist Ivan Ciro Palomino has won the first prize for his poster 'Spinning Peace', which features a nuclear weapon being unraveled into a string which is then used to fly kites and balloons, and to jump rope.

d) The second prize was bagged by 15-year-old Michelle Li, who named her poster 'Peace in our Hands', which features a shadow puppet of a peace dove above a broken nuclear weapon.

omidichwalkar · May 16, 2016, 1:22pm

1. Indigenous AAD interceptor missile Ashwin successfully test fired

a) Indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile named Ashwin has been successfully test fired from the integrated test range on Abdul Kalam Island (formerly Wheeler Island) of Odisha coast.

b) Ashwin is an advanced version of a low altitude supersonic ballistic interceptor missile, which was test fired against another ballistic missile, a modified version of Prithvi.

c) This AAD interceptor is a single stage missile which is powered by solid propellants. It is 7.5 m tall & 1.2 tonnes in weight with one-metre diameter.

d) The first phase destroys an incoming enemy missile in an exo-atmospheric region (outside the atmosphere) and the 2nd phase seeks to intercept enemy missiles more than 2,000km range in an endo-atmospheric (inside the atmosphere) region.

e) Developed by DRDO, this high altitude & low altitude anti-ballistic missile ensure a two layered ballistic missile defence shield to protect important cities and installments in India.

2. Sania, Martina win 2016 Italian Open

a) Indo-Swiss pair Sania Mirza & Martina Hingis has retained the world number one position by clinching the women's doubles title at the 2016 Italian Open.

b) The pair defeated Elena Vesnina & Ekaterina Makarova in the finals. This is their 14th women's doubles title.

c) Serena Williams won the women's singles title after defeating Madison Keys. Further, Andy Murray won his first-ever Italian Open men's singles title after defeating top-seeded Novak Djokovic. Besides Murray, the only British man to win this tournament was George Patrick Hughes in 1931.

d) Bob & Mike Bryan won the men's doubles title after defeating Vasek Pospisil & Jack Sock. This is their fourth doubles title after their previous victories in 2008, 2010 & 2013.

3. Indian short film 'Beti' to be screened at Seattle International Film Festival

a) The 42nd Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) has invited a 4 minute documentary film called 'Beti' to be screened during the festival in Washington DC.

b) The film is based on girl child's education in India. It is directed by Shivani Arora. It narrates the real life story of three girls from a government school and their dream for the future.

c) This is the only short film from India amongst 421 films representing 85 countries across the world.

4. Mukul Mudgal appointed as Deputy Chairman of FIFA's governing community

a) FIFA has appointed Justice (retd.) Mukul Mudgal as the Deputy Chairman of the governance committee of FIFA.

b) Advocate General of the European Court of Justice Luis Miguel Maduro has been appointed as the chairman of the governance committee. Justice Mudgal and Justice Maduro have both been appointed to FIFA's first independent review committee.

c) Justice Mudgal has previously served as the former Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana HC. He was also the head of the IPL spot-fixing probe panel.

6. Niti Aayog to prepare 15-year vision documents

a) National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog will make long-term perspective plans from the financial year 2017-18.

b) The previous five-year plans will be replaced by new 15-year vision documents.

c) The previous 12 five-year plans from 1951 to 2017 dealt with India's social and economic infrastructure only. However, these new vision documents will also include topics like defence & internal security to get rid of the plan and non-plan expenditure from 2017-18.

d) The initial vision document will be co-terminus with the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda (2016-2030) to which India is a signatory.

e) NITI Aayog will also prepare a 7-year strategy as a part of National Developmental Agenda.

f) To align the National Developmental Agenda with the 14th Finance Commission's award period (2015-2020), NITI Aayog will also prepare a 3-year action plan for 2017-18 to 2019-2020.

7. The Indian Institute of Packaging unveils Vision 2024

a) An autonomous body under Ministry of commerce & Industry, Indian Institution of Packaging (IIP) has unveiled its Vision 2024 document.

b) IIP's Vision 2014 document focuses on export promotion, upgradation of packaging education by introducing BTech & MTech, and enhanced focus on packaging research.

c) The IIP is the second institution in the world, besides one in the US to start a two-year post-graduate diploma in packaging.

8. A rare spider species found in Karnataka

a) A rare species of spider called the Scorpion-tailed spider (Arachnura angura) has been found on the campus of Karnataka University.

b) Arachnura is orb-weaving spiders of Australasia, with one found in Africa and Madagascar.

c) They always stay in the middle of their web. When they are disturbed, they curl up their tail which is harmless.

9. Singer-songwriter Jamala wins 2016 Eurovision song contest

a) Susana Jamaladynova aka Jamala was recently crowned the winner of the 2016 Eurovision song contest in Stockholm, Sweden.

b) She presented the ballad 1944, which evoked the deportation of Crimean Tatars by Josef Stalin. This song is interpreted as a criticism of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

c) Ukraine's win in this tournament with it's politically charged lyrics has irked Russia

d) Guest nation Australia, represented by Dami Im's Sound of Silence, came second, with favourites Russia in third, Bulgaria in fourth and Sweden fifth.

10. Max Verstappen wins Spanish Grand Prix

a) Red Bull's Max Verstappen has become the youngest F1 winner with Spanish Grand Prix title. The 18-year-old emerged victorious in Spanish GP after Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg crashed into each other during the tournament.

b) Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was second and teammate Sebastian Vettel stood third. Verstappen's teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, finished fourth.

c) Verstappen is the first-ever Dutch driver to win a race ever. He debuted at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix for Torro Rosso when he was just 17 years old.

11. Indian women's team bags silver at 18th Asian team Squash Championship 2016

a) Indian women's squash team of Sachika Ingle and Joshna Chinappa bagged the silver medal at the 18th Asian team Squash Championship 2016 at Taipei.

b) The Malaysian team of Sivasangari Subramaniam and Delia Arnold won the gold medal.

c) Pakistan's men's team won the title by defeating Hong Kong's squash team. Indian men's team lost their chances to win the title after their defeat in the semi-finals.

12. Heena Sidhu wins silver at International Shooting Competition

a) India's Heena Sidhu has won the silver medal in 10m air pistol category at the International Shooting Competition of Hannover, Germany. Germany's Sandra Hornung wo the gold medal.

b) Former world and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra missed the silver medal by 0.1 point in the men's 10m air rifle. Switzerland's Jan Lochbihler won the gold medal and German player Nicolas Schallenberger took home the silver.

14. Dr. Neeraj Sympathy elected AICF chief

a) Dr. Neeraj Sympathy, General Secretary of Andhra Carrom Association, has been unanimously elected as the president of the All India Carrom Federation (AICF).

b) Vijaya Kumar of Chhattisgarh Carrom Association has taken the position of the General Secretary, while S Madanraj is the new Treasurer.

15. India ranks 3rd in the 2016 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index

a) Global professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) has released its Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness index 2016 based on the attractiveness of renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities.

b) European markets have slipped from their previous positions in EY's renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) rankings, whereas markets across Latin America, Africa, and Asia have continued to rise.

c) US has topped the index, while China takes the second position. India has been ranked 3rd.

d) Chile is at 4th position, Brazil (6th) and Mexico (7th). Argentina is the top-scoring country in this index at 18th position.

16. India's oldest Test cricketer Deepak Shodhan passes away

a) India's oldest Test cricketer Deepak Shodhan recently passed away aged 87.

b) Shodhan had a long domestic career, playing for Gujarat and Baroda in the Ranji Trophy and was a title-winner in 1957-58.

c) Shodhan played three Test matches, scored 181 runs, ave. 60.33 and 43 first-class matches and scored 1802 runs (HS 261, 4x100) and took 73 wickets bowling left-arm spin.