CURRENT AFFAIRS JANUARY 2015 -- JUNE 2015

UPLOADED TO FACEBOOK GROUP

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BANKPOANDCLERK

FEEDBACK- swagatranjandash@gmail.com Saswata.siet@gmail.com

JUNE 2015 CURRENT AFFAIRS Book Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji has been written by former President

APJ Abdul Kalam and Arun Tiwari. Boston Consulting Group released Global Wealth 2015 Report about status of private wealth in 2014-

1. Global private financial wealth grew by nearly 12 % in 2014 to total 164 trillion USD. 2. Over next five years, total private wealth globally will rise by 6 % annually to 222 trillion USD in 2019. 3. North America with 51 trillion USD remained world‘s wealthiest region in 2014 with USA having 28 % of

the global total. China and Japan were second and third respectively 4. Asia-Pacific remained fastest-growing region with private wealth expanding by 29 %. Economic

expansion in India and China contributed to this performance. At this rate, Asia Pacific will overtake North America as world‘s richest region in 2016.

5. Japan‘s private wealth was comparatively low at about 2 % in 2014 to reach 14 trillion USD. 6. In Latin America, growth in 2014 was more than 10 % to nearly 4 trillion USD. 7. In Middle East and Africa (MEA) region the growth was more than 9 % to reach nearly 6 trillion USD. 8. USA remained the country with the largest number of UHNW households (Above 100 Million USD Worth)

with 5201, followed by China (1037) and UK (1019). 9. Highest density of millionaires was in Switzerland (135 out of 1000 households were millionaires). 10. India - Private wealth in India showed solid gain as India‘s equity market rose by 23 % in 2014. India had

fourth largest UHNW households (928) after USA, China and the UK while there were only 284 UHNW households in India in 2013.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee Visited Belarus (Eastern Europe). 1. Belarus State University conferred the Professor Honoris Causa on President Pranab Mukherjee.

1. Various Agreements between India-Belarus - 1. Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion. 2. Cooperation in Standardization and Information Support between Bureau of Indian

Standards (BIS) of India and State Committee for Standardization, Belarus. 3. Cooperation in Broadcasting between Prasar Bharati (PB) and National State Television

and Radio Company, Belarus 4. MoU on Cooperation between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and

Ministry of Finance, Belarus. 5. MoU for Manufacturing and Marketing of Light Industry Goods.

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Government of Tamilnadu have set up a Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Chennai (Tamilnadu) to provide information and guidancethe to overseas Indian workers on all aspects of overseas employment.

Ministry of Civil Aviation approved to set up second international airport of National Capital Region at Jewar (Uttar Pradesh).

02 June - Republic Day of Italy (Since 1946). 02 June - Statehood Day of Telangana (India's 29th State). Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Telangana

and Andhra Pradesh on June 2, 2014. 104th International Labour Conference held in Geneva (Switzerland). Bandaru Dattatraya, Minister for Labour

& Employment represented India in this conference. 10th Navlekhan Award of Bharatiya Jnanpith were awarded to Hindi writers Babusha Kohli and Upasana for

Prem Gilhari Dil Akhrot (poem) and Ek Zindagi Ek Ek Script Bhar (novel ) respectively. 14 June - World Blood Donors Day. Theme for 2015 is Thank you for saving my life. Union Government

launched mobile app to locate nearest blood bank on this occasion. 16th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards 2015 (In Malaysia) -

1. Best Film – Queen 2. Best Director –Rajkumar Hirani (PK) 3. Best Actor-Shahid Kapoor (Haider) 4. Best Actress-Kangana Ranaut (Queen)

18 June - National day of Seychelles. It marks adoption of multi-party democratic constitution on June 18, 1993.

2-day long annual Hemis festival dedicated to Guru Padmasambhava held in Ladakh Hemis Gompa (monastery) of Jammu and Kashmir.

20 June - World Refugee Day. Theme for 2015 is With courage let us all combine. 21 June, 2015 - First Ever International Yoga Day Celebrated across the world. PM Narendra Modi Attended

International Conference on Yoga for Holistic Health in Delhi. A Mass yoga event organized at Rajpath Delhi.

India's Ministry of AYUSH has been awarded with two Guinness World Records -on first International Day of Yoga -

1. Category 1 is for largest number of participants in a Yoga Lesson at single venue. 35,985 participants performed Yoga at Rajpath and broke the earlier reord of 29,973.

2. Category 2 is for most number of nationalists in a Yoga Lesson. participants from 84 countries performed Yoga at Rajpath and broke previous record of participants from 49 countries.

3. On This Occasion - 1. Chinese Version of Bhagvad Gita launched by Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K. Kanth. 2. Operation Doga was enacted to ensure complete security of the celebrations. 3. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attened International Yoga Day event being organised

by Indian Mission at the United Nations in New York (USA). 4. Indian Government released stamps and coins of denomination of Rs.10 and Rs.100.

25 June - Independence day of Mozambique. It marks Independence from Portugal in 1975. 26 African countries signed a Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement in Egypt to create Africa‘s largest

free-trade zone. It will cover southernmost tip of Africa i.e. Cape Town (South Africa) to Cairo (Egypt) in north. It will ease up movement of goods across 26 member countries.

26 June - International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Theme for 2015 is Let’s Develop our Lives, our Communities, our identities without Drugs.

39th session of Conference of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations held in Rome (Italy). Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh attended on India's Behalf.

4 -day long Ambubachi Mela at Kamakhaya Devi temple held at Guwahati, Assam. 41st G7 Summit 2015 held in Bavaria (Germany) with theme Think Ahead. Act Together. 50 founding nations signed agreement of China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (headquarters -

Beijing). 1. Australia was first country to sign the agreement. 2. Indian Ambassador Ashok Kantha signed on behalf of India. 3. India is second largest shareholder with stake of 8.52% and voting share of 7.5%. 4. China‘s shareholding is 30.34% and it has 26.06% of voting rights.

6th OPEC International Seminar held in Vienna (Austria) from June 2 – 4, 2015 by Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Dharmendra Pradhan (India's Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Petroleum and Natural Gas) attended on India's Behalf.

8 June - World Ocean Day. Theme is Healthy oceans, Healthy planet. Ajeya Warrior, Joint Army Exercise of India and UK started in UK. It will last till 28 Jun, 2015. Benazir Bhutto: A Multidimensional Portrait is written by Anna Suvorova (Russia). Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi's Assassination has been written by Teesta Setalvad. Sourav Ganguly: Cricket, Captaincy and Controversy has been written by Saptarshi Sarkar. The Vatican signed first accord with Palestine, two years after officially recognizing the Palestinian Authority

(PA) as a state. The move has been widely criticized by Israel. Vladimir Shkolnik, Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Visited India for 12th Meeting of India-Kazakhstan Inter-

Governmental Commission. A high level delegation led by Chairman of Railway Board, A.K. Mital Visited China. A national level museum of Sikh heritage will be setup in Lakhnaur Sahib village in Punjab. Lakhnaur Sahib is

a historical village as mother of tenth Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh, Mata Gujari belonged to the place. A team led by Indian-American Debashis Chanda from University of Central Florida (UCF) has developed

world‘s first full-colour, flexible thin-film reflective display. It can help you change your dress colour in the blink of an eye.

AB De Villiers has been conferred with South Africa (SA) Cricketer of the Year Award for 2015. Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) launched its consumer complaint mobile application named

SCIonlineA to provide consumer complaint services along with existing Website Facility for reporting misleading advertisements.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched free SMS service Nowcast to provide alerts on extreme

weather conditions such as hailstorm every three hours to registered farmers on their mobile phones. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has been appointed as First woman President of Mauritius (Indian Ocean island

nation). Ameising Luikham is appointed as Secretary in Department of Public Enterprises. Amit Jain is appointed as President of Uber Technologies' India Operations. Amitabh Kant (Secretary in Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Visited Poland. India and Poland

set a trade target of 5 billion USD by 2018. Amitav Ghosh released his new novel Flood of fire. With the novel, he has concluded the Ibis trilogy, his

fictional recreation of the events leading up to the first opium war of 1839-42.

Andhra Pradesh government launched Mee Bhoomi, a digital depository of land records. Web URL is -

http://meebhoomi.ap.gov.in. It will make all land details available to the people. Andrew Robb, Australia's Minister for Trade and Investment Visited India. Anti-nuclear activist and Journalist Praful Bidwai Passed Away. Apex body of small traders, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) will launch its ecommerce portal Named

'e-Lala' to compete with Online Retailers. It will provide an interface between sellers and consumers without any third agency.

Archana Ramasundaram is appointed as Director of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Arunachal Pradesh Government launch State Soil Health Mission to make a hundred % organic state. As per a survey by Beijing Times, around 30 % of the Great Wall of China has disappeared overtime with

about 1185 km of the fortification in poor condition. Ashton Carter, US Secretary of Defence Visited India.

1. India and US signed 2015 Framework for the India-US Defence Relationship. Asian Atheletic Championships 2015 (Qatar) -

1. India finished third in 21st Asian Athletics Championships with 4 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze Medals. This is India's best finish after 2007 in Jordan where India was placed second.

2. China was First (15 Gold, 13 Silver, 13 Bronze) and Qatar (7 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze) was second. Australia announced to join China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member with

investment of 718.5 million USD as paid-in capital. Australia will be sixth largest shareholder of AIIB. 1. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will be headquartered in Beijing with paid-in capital of 20

billion USD and total authorised capital of 100 billion USD. 2. India will be second-largest shareholder of AIIB which will be operational by December 2015.

BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) Transport Minister‘s meeting will be held in Thimpu (Bhutan) on June 15, 2015. A Motor Vehicle Agreement for Regulation of Vehicular Traffic amongst BBIN will be signed on this occasion. Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari will visit on India's Behalf.

BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has launched free roaming across nation to allow its customers to receive incoming calls for free.

Bajaj Allianz launched a weather-based crop insurance scheme for orange crops in Nagpur, Hingoli and Washim districts of Maharashtra.

Barcelona FC won 2015 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League trophy for fifth time defeating Juventus FC.

Barcelona Football Club won Spanish King‘s Cup (Copa del Rey) for 27th Time defeating Athletic Bilbao. Baseline profitability index (BPI) 2015 (ranking of nations for attractiveness to foreign investors) -

1. India is ranked as most attractive investment destination in world among 110 countries, rising from 6th Position in 2014.

2. China was placed at the 65th position and US was placed at the 50th. 3. India was able to top in this edition of BPI because of high growth forecasts and investor friendly polices

of Government led by PM Narendra Modi. Beno Zephine from Chennai became first 100 % visually-challenged person to be inducted into the Indian

Foreign Service. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned first 250-MW unit of Bongaigaon thermal power

project of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Assam. It is part of NTPC‘s project for setting up 3 units of 250 MW (750 MW in total) each as coal-based project which to be completed by 2016.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched campaign Badh Chala Bihar to collect ideas from the public to

produce Bihar@2025 as a vision document for state‘s development between 2015 - 2025. Birender Singh Dhanoa has been appointed as Vice-Chief of Indian Air Force. Book Bikhare Khyalat, Urdu Translation of Mohammed Iqbal‘s Stray Reflections has been released. Book on titled Modi –Incredible emergence of a star written in Chinese language by Tarun Vijay has been

released. Book titled Yoga and Islam written by Imran Chaudhary and Abhijeet Singh has been released. The book

indicates that Yoga has nothing to do with religion and is universally accepted. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved setting up of over 2000 MW of Grid-Connected

Solar PV Power Projects under Batch-III of Phase-II of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) at a cost of 12000 crore rupees.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved two road projects worth 4721 crore rupees in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana under National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

Canada Open Badminton 2015 - 1. Men's Singles - Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) 2. Women's Singles - Michelle Li (Canada)

Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan has been selected ‗Sangita Kalanidhi award‘ 2015 of the Music Academy.

China has opened 2nd land border crossing in Tibet via Nathu La, Sikkim to allow Indian pilgrims for Kailash-Mansarovar yatra. Eerlier Lipulekh Pass route in Uttarakhand was damaged in Uttarakhand floods in 2013.

China launched a freight train service between its northeastern city of Harbin and Europe of Length 10000 KMs.

China unveiled world's first facial recognition ATM. It will allow withdrawal of cash only after matching face. The ATM machine is created by Tsinghua University and Tzekwan Company.

China won 2015 Nongfu Spring Snooker‘s World Cup defeating Scotland in Shanghai (China). Chinese Shenyang Aerospace University and Liaoning general aviation academy have created world's first

electric aircraft named BX1E . It has 14.5-meter wingspan and maximum payload of 230 kgs. It can fly at height of 3,000 meters. It charges in two hours allowing flight of 45 - 60 minutes at maximum speed of 160 km/hour.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has set up a Micro Air Vehicle Aerodynamics Research Tunnel (MART) at National Aerospace Laboratories in Bengaluru under National Programme on Micro Air Vehicles (NP-MICAV). It will be used to test fixed-wing, flapping-wing and rotary-wing MAVs.

Defence Minister of Sweden, Peter Hultqvist visited India. Delhi Government Presented Budget 2015-16. It has been termed as first Swaraj Budget with total size of

41129 crore rupees . 19000 crore rupees is Plan Budget and 22129 crore rupees is as Non-Plan Budget. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) data about FDI Inflows Into India in FY 2014-15 -

1. FDI inflows in services sector grew by over 46% to $3.25 billion in 2014-15 as compared to $2.22 billion in 2013-14. Services sector includes banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D, courier and technology testing.

2. Overall foreign inflows also rose by 27% to $30.93 in 2014-15 as compared to $24.29 billion in 2013-14. E-commerce Portal Snapdeal acquired mobility solutions company Letsgomo Labs. Election Commission of India suspended recognition of P A Sangma's National People's Party (Meghalaya) for

failing to file its election expenditure statement. Eminent Chemistry scientist and recipient of Bharat Ratna, CNR Rao is conferred by Japan‘s highest civilian

award the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by Japanese Ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi for his contributions to science and Indo-Japanese science cooperation.

Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) made Universal Account Number (UAN) mandatory for employers under its purview and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

1. UAN facility was launched by PM Narendra Modi in October 2014. It is portable throughout the lifetime of an employee and removes the need for employees to apply for PF transfer claims while changing jobs.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Visited Nepal for Participating in International Conference on Nepal‘s Reconstruction after two recent devastating earthquakes.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Visited Thailand. A double taxation avoidance treaty was signed and ratified a treaty signed in 2013 to provide framework for extradition of fugitive offenders.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Inaugurated New Bank Note Paper Line at Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh).

Finance Ministry constituted a Task on Financial Redress Agency (FRA) under Dhirendra Swarup (Former chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority) to begin work for FRA as recommended by Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission to act as a unified financial redressal agency.

Financial Benchmarks India Private Limited (FBIL) will adopt FBIL overnight Mumbai Inter-Bank Offer Rate (MIBOR) from 22 July 2015 as a new method to set overnight interest rate benchmark based on traded levels instead of contributions from market participants.

Financial Stability Report (FSR) June 2015 - 1. Financial Institutions

1. Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) - 1. Public sector banks (PSBs) continued to have lowest capital to risk-weighted assets ratio

(CRAR) among the bank-groups. 2. PSBs have highest level of stressed assets at 13.5 % of total advances as of March 2015,

compared to 4.6 per cent for Private Banks. 3. Non-performing advances (NNPAs) of PSBs increased from 3.1 per cent to 3.2 per cent

and from 0.8 per cent to 0.9 per cent for Private Banks. 2. Urban Co-operative Banks and Non-Bank Financial Companies:

1. Asset quality of urban co-operative banks (UCBs) improved while that of non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) weakened further.

2. Financial Regulation 1. Financial sector reforms in India are driven by domestic priorities. As risk is essential in financial

markets, scurrent Indian regulatory stance is balanced, predictable and technology neutral regulatory regime for the entire financial system.

2. Banking - Policy initiatives for improving governance at PSBs will help improve their poor performance as they are look to clean balance sheets in wake of regulatory impetus.

3. Securities market - Concerns from rise in algorithm trading in recent years highlights need for

caution for India‘s securities markets. Significant steps have been taken to curb illegal money-raising activities, insider trading and strengthening the risk management systems.

4. Insurance - Agricultural insurance needs urgent focus due to frequent weather calamities and

their impact on farmers. 5. Pension - Atal Pension Yojana has been started by Government to meet challenges of old age

income security arising due to Expected shifts in demography in coming decades . 3. Financial Risks

1. Global - Global economic recovery still is far from being self-sustaining. Development in Greek debt crisis front and uncertainty over timing of rate increases by the US Federal Reserve are immediate possible triggers for global financial market volatility.

2. Domestic - There is improvement in the Indian economic environment and expected to be better in near future speacially due to strong foreign portfolio flows to India during past year.

First phase (10-km stretch) of Chennai Metro inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has set up an Expert Group under D Prabhakaran to

examine impact of Foods with High in Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) (also called Junk Food) on the health of consumers.

Forbes Asia's 'Best Under A Billion' list 2015 (200 Asian Companies with annual Revenue 5 Million - 1 Billion USD) -

1. 11 Indian companies Avanti Feeds and Borosil Glass Works were placed in this list 2. list was dominated by China (84) and Taiwan (36). South Koread (17) was third While India 4th with 11

Companies. Forbes' List of World's Richest Athletes -

1. Cricketer Mahdenra Singh Dhoni is only Indian among world's richest athletes. He has been ranked 23rd in the List with USD 31 Million Annual Earnings.

2. Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. (USA) is richest Athlete in the world with $105 million Annual Earnings. Former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid is named as coach of India ‗A‘ and Under-19 cricket teams. Former Prime Minister Of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be honored by Bangladesh for his outstanding support

for the country‘s independence from Pakistan in 1971 when he was a Lok Sabha member. Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo has been appointed as new Chancellor of Nalanda

University(Bihar) Former South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni has been appointed as non-executive director to

the board the Brics New Development Bank (NDB). South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said that the BRICS Bank will be operational by End of December 2015.

Former West Indies fast bowler Wes Hall was inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. France announced ban on wearing earphones while driving a vehicle and riding a cycle to reduce accidents. French Open Tennis 2015 -

1. Male - Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) won his first French Open Men‘s single title defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

2. Female - Serena Williams (USA) defeated Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova. It's 20th grand slam win for Serena.

G. Gurucharan has been appointed as Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards. He is also Additional Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution.

German Tennis star Steffi Graf has been appointed as Ayurveda brand ambassador of Kerala state. Global Doping Report 2013 by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) -

1. India is ranked third in Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report for year 2013. 2. As per report, 91 Indian athletes were tested positive for banned substances in 2013. 3. Russia (212) and Turkey (155) are ahead of India in this list.

Global Peace Index Report 2015 by Australia's global think-tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) - 1. It ranked 162 countries on the basis of safety and security in society, domestic and international conflicts

and militarization Index. 2. Iceland is most peaceful country in the world while Syria is least peaceful. 3. India has been ranked 143 while Pakistan is ranked 154. 4. In 2014, 69 countries reported deaths from terrorism, up from 60 in 2013, marking increase of terror

tactics. Goverment Approved including Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in National Dairy Plan Phase - I and

extended the project period by two years to 2018-19. Govbernment approved Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to apply to Registrar of Companies for

converting it into a Section 3 company under the Companies Act, 2013 (No, 18 of Companies act 1956) AND renaming it as Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI). With This,

Government announced to set up Skill Development Centers in all the 40 parliamentary constituencies of

Bihar. Government approved 643 crore rupees drinking water and sewerage project for Shimla (Himachal Pradesh)

for World Bank funding. World Bank will provide loan of 514 crore rupees for this Project of three years duration. Government approved Housing for All by 2022 Mission aimed at providing housing facilities to all eligible

people in urban areas by 2022. Government approved Enhancing India‘s solar power capacity target under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar

Mission (JNNSM) by five times to 1,00,000 MW by 2022 (From 20000 MW Earlier). It will comprise of 40000 MW

Rooftop and 60000 MW through Grid Connected Solar Power Projects. Total cost will be around Rs. 6,00,000 crores.

Government approved Memorandum of Cooperation with Japan's Japan Patent Office (JPO) for cooperation in field of Industrial Property (IP).

Government approved continuation of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) with Rs.3900 crore cost during XII Five Year Plan. 642 esisting KVKs will be continued and 109 new KVKs will be established as per the scheme.

Government approved introducing Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 to provide new provisions in existing

Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986. Main Provisions are - 1. Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) to be established as National Standards Body of India 2. It wil include goods, services and systems, besides articles and processes under the standardization

regime. 3. It will promote ease of doing business by allowing multiple simplified conformity assessment schemes

including Self Declaration Of Conformity (SDOC) against any standard. It will give multiple simplified options to manufacturers to adhere to standards and get a certificate of conformity.

Government approved proposal to promulgate Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 in parliament to amend Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 that is related to jurisdiction related issues for filing cases for offence committed under section 138 of NI Act. Key Features are -

1. Cases of bouncing of cheques can be filed only in a court in whose jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee (person who receives the cheque) lies.

2. All cases filed against a person will be transferred to the court with the appropriate jurisdiction. Government approved setting up of six new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Vishakhapatnam

(Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab). These six new IIMs will commence academic sessions from 2015-16 with each having intake of 140 students in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) courses.

Government has set up a task force headed by former chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) D Swarup. Task of the committee is to lay a roadmap for setting up Financial Redressal Agency (FRA) as recommended by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) to create a unified grievance resolution mechanism for the entire financial sector.

Government increased national floor-level minimum wage (NFLMW) to 160 rupees from 137 rupees per day. Now states will have to revise their minimum wages as per the new NFLMW such that none of the scheduled employments, the minimum wage is less than NFLMW.

Government increased number of workdays under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) from 100 days to 150 days in drought-affected areas.

Government launched Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP) of 1,500 crore rupees as per mandatory provision under Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLND), 2010.

1. It will be 27th such pool globally. It will give operator the Right to Recourse and allow it to sue the suppliers in case of any accident.

2. General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) is the fund operator of this Rs. 1,500 crore Indian insurance pool along with 11 other non-life insurers as associates of the pool.

Government reconstituted the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune Society for three years. Gajendra

Chauhan has been nominated as the President of the FTII Society and Chairman of its Governing Council. Government signed agreement with Spain for abolishing visa requirements for diplomatic passports holders. It

will enable visa-free travel for diplomatic passport holders across India and Spain and staying up to 90 days. Government will Give Rs 6,000 Crore Interest-Free Loans to Sugar Mills to help the mills in clearing 30 % of Rs

21,000 crores debt on Sugar mills to be given to cane farmers. Government will infuse additional USD 1.8 billion (about Rs 11,500 crore) in public sector banks in 2015-16 apat

from USD 1.2 billion (Rs 7,940 crore ) stated in the Budget. Public sector banks will need additional capital of Rs 2.40 lakh crore by 2018 to meet the Basel III capital adequacy norms.

Greece will hold a referendum to decide upon extension of six months to bailout programme to pay Total 320 Billion Euros of debt to International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission (EC) and European Central Bank.

1. If Bailout is accepted, a new government may be formed to finalise talks with lenders and implement reforms agreed upon.

2. If Bailout is not accepted by Grek People, Greece will face exit from Eurozone and possibly European Union.

HAL has delivered ‗Orbiter Craft Module Structure‘ of Chandrayaan-2 to ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC). 1. Chandrayaan-2 mission will be launched by a Geo-Stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-MKII) and

will place an Orbiter around the moon. It will also send a Lander and Rover to the surface of the moon. 2. Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled for launch in 2017.

HDFC Bank launched 10-second paperless instant loan Scheme for its existing customers as part of HDFC Bank‘s digital banking platform GoDigital. Under this scheme, bank will now disburse personal loans to its

customers in just 10 seconds and a pre-approved loan amount will be available to them at any time. HDFC Bank launched PayZapp as a digital payment and purchase solution. This mobile app will allow

customers to manage credit or debit card details, recharge and pay bills and Other activities. Haryana Government launched a Village Mentoring Project (VMP) to improve healthcare and education of the

villagers with a special emphasis on girl child. Himachal Pradesh High Court asked state government to establish separate homes for differently-abled, shelter

less and mentality challenged people within a year. Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani Attended 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education

Ministers (38 Countries) at Nassau (Bahamas) with theme Quality Education for Equitable Development: Performance, Paths, Productivity.

ISRO announced to provide navigational support to Indian Railways through its GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system.

1. GAGAN was developed by ISRO and Airports Authority of India in 2011 to assist aircrafts in accurate landing.

2. The GAGAN signal is being broadcast through two Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites - GSAT 8 and GSAT 10.

3. With this, India joined elite nations like US, Europe and Japan with same level of space-based augmentation for navigational purposes.

Increased rate of service tax from 12.36 to 14 % became operational on 1 June 2015. India Brand Equity Foundation (Department of Commerce in Ministry of Commerce and Industry) released a

report on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) filing in India during 2013-14. 1. Maharashtra topped the list of states and Union Territories (UTs) with Bengaluru being top city in IPR

filing. 2. Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru), Siddaganga Institute of Technology (Tumakuru) and Indian

Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were top 3 bodies with 32, 24 and 12 filings. India Signed US$ 400 million Loan agreement with World bank for Tamil Nadu Sustainable Urban Development

Project. India and United States (US) signed agreements on health sector to enhance cooperation in cancer research,

infrastructure development, training, capacity building, better assessment and new diagnostic technologies. India pledged assistance of one billion USD to the earthquake-hit Nepal during International Donors‘ Conference

in Kathmandu, Nepal. Nepal to get 3 Billion USD as assistance from global sources for its reconstruction activities.

India signed Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Paris along with Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia and New Zealand. Mohan Kumar, Ambassador of India to France signed on India's Behalf.

India will attend Russia's major Industrial Fair INNOPROM 2016 in Yekaterinburg as a Partner Country.

India won total eight medals (2 Gold, 1 Silver and 5 Bronze) in first leg of Asian Athletics Grand Prix in Bangkok, Thailand. Inderjit Singh (Shot Put) and Jinson Johnson won gold in 800 meter event.

India's Anantjeet Singh Naruka won gold in 7th International junior shotgun cup in Orimattila (Finland) by beating Lari Pesonen of Finland.

India's ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) won the Space Pioneer award 2015 by US‘ National Space Society for low-cost Mangalyaan Mars orbiter mission. The Award was presented during 34th Annual

International Space Development Conference held at Toronto (Canada). India's Inderjeet Singh won gold medal in men's shot put event in 21st Asian Athletics Championships in China. India's Suresh Kalmadi is conferred with Asian Athletics Association President‘s award for introducing top events

like Asian Grand Prix series, Indoor Championships and All Star Meet etc. during his tenure as president of AAA from 2000 - 2013.

India's current account deficit (CAD) has narrowed to USD 1.3 billion(or 0.2 % of GDP) in fourth quarter of financial year 2014-2015. CAD shrank to 1.3 % of GDP for full financial year 2014-15.

India, Sweden signed 6 agreements during visit of Pranab Mukherjee to Sweden - 1. Memorandum of understanding signed in fields of Sustainable Urban Development, Micro, Small and

Medium Enterprises, Visa Exemption for diplomatic passports, Polar and Ocean Research, ageing

research and health and Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) of India and the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA).

India-born Nikesh Arora has been appointed President of Japan‘s telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp. Indian Basketball Players Association (IBPA) launched in Delhi. It is incorporated as a society under Societies

Registration Act, 1860. Orgznization Structure is 1. President - Sajjan Singh Cheema (Arjuna Awardee) 2. General Secretary - Jayasankar Menon (Former Asian All Star Basketball player) 3. Treasurer - Ashok Sharma (National player and FIBA Commissioner) 4. Chairman - Abbas Moontaisar 5. Vice-Chairmen - Manmohan Singh and Suman Sharma.

Indian Historian-author Ramachandra Guha has been selected for Japan‘s Fukuoka Prize 2015 in Academic category. Apart from him, Thant Myint-U (Grand Prize) and Minh Hanh (Arts and Culture ) were also chosen for this edition of award.

Indian Medical Association‘s (IMA) first-ever Jan Aushadhi Generic Drug (JAGD) Store inaugurated in IP New Delhi. It will offer over 118 commonly used medicines at 10 - 20 % lesser price.

Indian Railways has named Haridwar Mail (Train No 19031/19032 Ahmedabad-Haridwar-Ahmedabad ) as Yoga Express.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) has been awarded the Miniratna (Cateogry -1) status by Department of Public Enterprises.

Indian Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been conferred with Columbia‘s highest civilian award - Orden de la Democracia Simon Bolivar en el grado de cruz Caballero by Colombia.

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has been voted as Best Test Player of 21st century in an online poll conducted by Cricket Australia. Sachin received 23 % votes while Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka was second with 14 % votes.

Indian umpire Sundaram Ravi has been inducted into Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires for 2015-16. He is second Indian Umpire after S Venkataraghavan to be incucted into ICC Elite Umpires' Panel.

Indian-origin USA's Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been presented with Pride of Community Award by Hindu American Foundation on its 12th Annual Day.

India‘s first diesel electric multiple unit (DEMU) train service with an air-conditioned coach launched in Kochi (Kerala).

India‘s foreign trade Data by Ministry of Commerce & Industry - 1. In May 2015 - Trade deficit declined to 10.4 billion USD as compared to from 11.2 billion USD in May

2014. 2. Exports -

1. During May 2015 were valued at 22.34 billion USD as compared to 27.99 billion USD in May 2014.

2. Cumulative exports for April and May 2015 was 44.40 billion USD as compared to 53.63 billion USD in Apr-May 2014.

3. Decline in exports continuously for sixth month is mainly due to slowdown in China and fall in global crude oil prices that caused the exports of petroleum products to fall by 59.10 % to 2.42 billion USD.

3. Imports

1. During May 2015 Imports were 32.75 billion USD as comparted to 39.23 billion USD in May 2014. 2. Cumulative value of imports for April-May 2015 was 65.80 billion USD as compared to 74.95

billion USD in Apr-May 2014. India‘s shipping trade union, National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) has been honoured by Best Welfare

Organisation of the Year 2015‘ award by Koji Sekimizu, Secretary General of International Maritime

Organisation. The award is promoted by UK based International Seafarers‘ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN).

India‘s tennis player Leander Paes became First indian and 47th global player to play with 100 different partners on ATP Circuit.

Indonesia Open Badminton tournament 2015 - 1. Male - Japan's Kento Momota defeated Denmark's Jan O. Jorgensen. 2. Female - Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon defeated Japan's Yui Hashimoto.

International Boxing Association (AIBA) constituted a five-member committee under Kishan Narsi to manage the process of finding a group to organise and run boxing in India.

International Cricket Council (ICC) amended playing conditions rules for One Day Internationals (ODIs) and T20S -

1. No batting powerplays will be allowed in 15 - 40th over in ODIs. 2. Five fielders will be allowed outside 30-yard circle in 41-50th over rather than four currently. 3. All no-balls, not just foot faults, will lead to a free hit on next ball.

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) 's 9th Council meeting held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Renewable Energy Target Setting report 2015 was released by IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin.

1. Report States that in past one decade renewable energy targets have quadrupled globally. 2. 164 countries have adopted at least one type of renewable energy target compared to 43 countries in

2005. 3. 150 countries have focused committed renewable energy targets on the electricity sector. 47 countries

have focused on heating and cooling sector. 4. Renewable transport targets have also has doubled to 59 countries from 27 countries in 2005.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) defined speed of 5G (Fifth Generation) standard for mobile networking as 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps) at ITU conference in California (USA).

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in collaboration with IMRB International released Social Media in India 2014 report -

1. There are 14.3 crore social media users in India as on April 2015. 2.5 crore users are in Rural areas while 11.8 crore users in Urban India.

2. College going students are largest users (34%) and young men second (26%). 3. Facebook is leading social media platform with 96 % of users in urban areas accessing it, followed by

Google Plus (61 %), Twitter (43 %) and LinkedIn (24 %). 4. Top Activities are Maintaining a social networking profile followed by updating status and Commenting on

blog sites. Inward Investment Report 2014-15 of UK Trade and Industry (UKTI). -

1. With 122 projects in 2014-15, India is now third largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) source for United Kingdom (UK) after USA (564 projects) and France (124 projects).

Israel approved a bill to allow force-feeding of prisoners that are on hunger strike in case their lives are in danger.

Jagmohan Yadav is appointed as Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh. Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania Visited India. Six MoUs signed during this visit of President of Tanzania

to India. Japan's telecommunications and Internet Giant SoftBank Corp, India's Bharti Enterprises and Taiwanese

Foxconn Technology formed a Joint Venture (JV) named SBG Cleantech aimed at promoting adoption of clean and safe energy in India.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghuvar Das imposed ban on sale of thermocol plates in the state to promote leaf plates and generate employment for the poor and tribal people engaged in making leaf plates.

Jharkhand approved Special Courts Ordinance, 2015 to establish special courts for speedy trail of corruption cases and prosecution of individuals hoarding black money and illegally acquired property.

Jordan Spieth (USA) won US Open Golf Tournament and became second man after Tiger woods to win the Masters and the US Open in the same year.

Journalist and writer Aakar Patel has been appointed as Executive Director of Amnesty International India. 1. Amnesty International is an International organisation focused on human rights.

June 05 - World Environment Day. Theme for 2015 is Seven Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care. June 12 - World Day Against Child Labour. Theme for 2015 is NO to child labour - YES to quality education.

June 29, 2015- Ninth Indian Statistics Day. It commemorates birth anniversary of Shri Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. Theme for 2015 is Social Development.

June 30 - National day of Congo. It marks Independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960. Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa is appointed as th Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. K Sivan is appointed as Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of ISRO. K.V. Chowdary is appointed as new Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Vijai Sharma is appointed as

new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of India . 1. Alongwith, Sudhir Bhargava is appointed as an Information Commissioner and T.M. Bhasin is appointed

as a Vigilance Commissioner. Kapil Mishra is appointed as Chairman of Delhi Jal Board. Kerala Government declared June 22 as ‗Snake Bird Day to protect the endangered species which is also

known as Indian darter. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner Shah Rukh Khan acquired Carribean Premier League (CPL) T20 team

Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) . Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan won their first I-League title in 13 years after managing a 1-1 draw against

defending champions Bengaluru FC. Lars Loekke Rasmussen will be Denmark's next Prime Minister (Second Time after 2009) as his party Blue

Opposition Bloc won parliamentary elections of Denmark. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) of Mercedes won Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Maharashtra Government amended the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act, 1981 to

include criminal activities related to sand mafia and black marketing under its bracket.

Maharashtra approved Renewable Energy Policy worth 4156.43 crore rupees to increase capacity of Renewable power generation from 6700 to 14400 MW by 2020.

Maharashtra declared Blue Mormon as State butterfly as a state symbol.

Mahendra Kumar Sharma has been appointed as non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank. Mahesh Sharma (Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation) visited

Singapore and inaugurated a Buddhist Art Exhibition of priceless artefacts. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development launched first modernised Anganwadi centre of

India at Hasanpur village of Sonepat in Haryana under Nand-Ghar Yojana of Government aimed at transforming the anganwadi centres.

Meena Hemchandra appointed as the Executive Director (ED) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). She will look after Department of Banking Supervision, Co-operative Banking Supervision and Non-Banking Supervision.

Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra launched a digital Employment Exchange for Industries (EEX) portal at eex.dcmsme.gov.in. It will connect employers and job seekers and will help in linking Make in India initiative with Skilled India one.

Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers (Ananth Kumar) launched Cluster Development Programme for Pharma Sector (CDP-PS) intended to enhance productivity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the pharmacy sector.

Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Ananth Kumar launched Pharma Price Data Bank of NPPA (National

Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) as integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management System. It will help everyone as Manufacturers can fill their mandatory forms online that can be accessed by Government, NPPA and consumers.

1. Pharma Price Data bank will have online data submission facaility for medicine manufacturers as prescribed under the Drugs Price Control Order, 2013.

2. NPPA is already operating another portal ―Pharma Jan Samadhan‖ that registers complaints about shortage or overcharging for medicines.

Minister of Investment and Development of Kazakhastan, Asset Issekeshev Visited India. Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari inaugurated India‘s first Tier-I Oil Spill

Response Centre (OSRC) for Mumbai Port Trust (MBT), Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and ONGC‘s

facilities at Nhava and Uran. Objective is to develop an appropriate system for detection and reporting of oil spillage.

Minister of State (IC) for Development of North-Eastern Region Jitendra Singh launched an Augmented Reality (AR) application ‘Sakaar’ to highlight achievements of Department of Space during one year in office of the

present Government. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh inaugurated first India-China Yoga College at Yunnan Minzu

University in Kunming, China. Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejunivetion Uma Bharti launched nationwide Jal

Kranti Abhiyan from Jaipur (Rajasthan) to consolidate water conservation and management.

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has exempted builders from obtaining prior green nod for construction of Universities, Schools and Colleges.

Ministry of Railways decided to run Suvidha trains with dynamic fares from July 2015 to address the rush during peak travel seasons. These trains will have dynamic fare system with no Waiting List.

NCR (National Capital Region) got bigger with Inclusion of Haryana's Jind, Karnal & UP's Muzaffarnagar Districts in NCR.

NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) started inviting bids for preparing Detailed Project Reports (DRPs) of over 3500km of roads along the border and coast lines as part of Bharat Mala project.

Nadia district (West Bengal) has won United Nations Public Service Award 2015 in the category of improving delivery of public services for or eliminating open defecation.

Narendra Kumar Yadav appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 71st Round of survey on Social Consumption: Education- 1. Adult literacy (age 15 years and above) rate in India was around 70.5 % in 2014 2. In age group 7 years and above, male literacy rate was 83.2 % and female was 67.1 %. Meghalaya,

Mizoram, Nagaland, Kerala, Goa, Delhi, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep had more than 90 % Literacy in this age group.

3. Literacy in age 5 and above group in rural areas is 71.4 % as compared to 86.1 % in urban areas. National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched online Overnight Liquid Transaction facility on its Mutual Fund Service

System (MFSS) platform. It will allow purchase and redemption of orders simultaneously in liquid schemes. Earlier in May 2015, a similar product was introduced by Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) which now has daily transactions of worth 400-500 crore rupees.

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister for Foreign Trade Lilianne Ploumen and Minister for Agriculture Sharon Dijksma Visited India. A Memorandum of Understanding signed between India and Netherlands for development of vaccines.

New International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) inaugerated at Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh) by Piyush Goyal (Minister of State, (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy).

Nilesh Sathe is appointed as member-life of insurance regulator IRDAI. Noted Indian Architect, Charles Correa Passed Away. Odisha State Co-operative Bank has launched ‗Bank on Wheels‘ to help farmers get loans on their doorstep

through 20 vans with ATM facility moving around 20 remote and tribal areas. Odisha Elephant Census Report 2015 stated that elephant population in Odisha increased to 1954 from 1930

recorded in 2012 Census. highest number of elephants (487) are in Similipal Tiger Reserve followed by Satkosia Tiger Reserve (234 elephants).

P Kunhikrishnan has been appointed as Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR replacing MYS Prasad.

PM Narendra Modi launched Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) at Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). IPDS is flagship programme of Power Ministry to ensure 24x7 power for all by strengthening transmission networks, Metering, IT application, Customer Care, Solar Panels and completion of ongoing works of Restructured Accelerated Power Development and completion of the Reforms Programme (RAPDRP). Government will

provide budgetary support of Rs. 45,800 crore for implementation of IPDS. PM Narendra Modi launched three major urban development initiatives - AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation

and Urban Transformation), Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All (Urban). Investment of about 3 Lakh Crores is to be made in these Missions over next 5 Years.

1. AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) 2. 100 Smart Cities Mission - It seeks to enhance quality of life in 100 selected cities with 24 hour water and

power supply, better transportation, education and Other facilities. 3. Housing for All by 2022 - Shortage of About 2 Crore Houses in Urban areas to be filled by 2022.

PM Narendra launched book Education of Muslims: An Islamic Perspective of Knowledge and Education – Indian Context edited by JS Rajput.

Parliament of Japan (Diet) passed a bill to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 Years. Last time, Japan lowered the age of voting from 25 to 20 and gave voting rights to women in 1945 after the World War II.

Petteri Taalas (Finland) has been appointed as Secretary-General of World Meteorological Organization (Based in Switzerland) for four years.

Philipose G Pynumootil is appointed as Assistant Chief of Naval staff (Air). Pratap Pawar has been presented the Punyabhushan award by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited Bangladesh (South Asia). 1. PM Narendra Modi presented Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a hand-woven tapestry from

Venkatagiri, Andhra Pradesh. 2. Bangladesh conferred their Highest Liberation War Honor to Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee. It was received by PM Narendra Modi. 3. PM Modi Visited Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka. 4. 40 Years old Land Deal Signed Between India and Bangladesh for swapping border territories. It is

related to 100th Amendment to the Constitution of India for LBA (Land Boundary Agreement) between India and Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation for Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Jharkhand at Barhi in Hazaribagh District.

Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal has been conferred with 14th Sant Namdev National Award for promoting peace and communal harmony by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on behalf of Sarhad Foundation.

RBI (Reserve Bank of India) issued Second bi-monthly monetary policy statement 2015-16. 1. Repo rate has been cut by 0.25 %. New Repo rate is 7.25% (7.5 % Earlier). As a result, reverse repo

rate became (the rate at which RBI borrows from commercial banks) 6.25 % while marginal standing facility (MSF) and Bank Rate became 8.25 %. Cash reserve ratio (CRR) is unchanged at 4 % and SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) is unchanged at 21.50 %.

RBI announced Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) Scheme to allow banks and other lending institutions to convert their loans into equity stake in the Borrower Company. It is being done to encounter rise in Non Performing Assets (NPAs) as Gross NPAs of Banks will rise to 5.9 % of total advances during 2015-16 against 4.4 % during 2014-15.

RC Tayal has been appointed as new chief of National Security Guard (NSG). Rajasthan topped list of states in commissioning grid connected solar power projects with installed capacity of

1147 megawatt as per data by ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Gujarat came second with installed capacity of 1000MW.

Ravinder Kumar Dhir has been appointed as Chief of South Western Air Command. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended date to exchange pre-2005 bank notes till December 31, 2015 fr0m June

30, 2015 (for third time). Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued final guidelines for 6-year and 13-year cash settled Interest Rate Futures

(IRF) under the Interest Rate Futures (Reserve Bank) (Amendment) Directions, 2015. 1. 6-year cash settled IRF contracts will be a coupon bearing government security of face value of 100

rupees and residual maturity between 4 - 8 years on expiry of futures contract. 2. 13-year cash settled IRF contracts will be a coupon bearing government security of face value of 100

rupees and residual maturity between 11 - 15 years on expiry of futures contract. 3. RBI also expanded residual maturity for existing 10-year cash settled IRF from 9-11 years to 8-11 years

to provide market participants greater choice and flexibility to hedge interest rate risk across different tenors.

Russia won European team athletics championships by winning 10 of the 40 events held in Cheboksary (Russia). It is the fourth time that Russia has won the title since the inception of games in 2009.

S Somanath is appointed as Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of ISRO. SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India ) simplifed IPO Norms to help investors and companies by

reducing the the listing time from 12 to 6 days from the date of the public offer. Currently, companies are required to list their shares on the stock exchanges within 12 days of the last date of the IPO (Initial Public Offer) process, thus funds are kept locked for a longer period of time.

Sahitya Akademi announced to give Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2015 to 24 Novelists and Bhasha Samman 2015 to 4 scholars for their contribution to classical and medieval literature in various languages. Recepients of Bhasha Samman 2015 are -

1. K Meenakshi Sundaram (Tamil) 2. Acharya Munishwar Jha (Sanskrit and Maithili) 3. Charu Chandra Pande - Kumauni 4. Mathuradutt Mathpal - Kumauni

Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) 2014 -

1. Sangeet Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) 2014 - It carries cash prize of 3 lakh rupees and is most prestigious honour. Presently there are only 40 Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

1. R. Janakiraman (Musicologist) 2. S. Sathyu (film-maker) 3. Vijay Kichlu (Classical singer) 4. Tulsidas Borkar (Musician)

2. Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) 2014 - It carries prize of 1 Lakh Rs. along with

Tamrapatra and Angavastram. Sanghmitra Bandyopadhayay is appointed as Director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) replacing Bimal K Roy

who was removed on charges of indiscipline. Serbia won Fifa Under-20 Football World Cup by beating Brazil in Auckland (New Zealand). Shashi Shekhar is Appointed as New Secretary Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga

Rejuvenation. State Bank of India (SBI) appointed Anshula Kant as chief financial officer (CFO) and Deputy managing director. State Bank of India (SBI) launched SBI eforex as an online platform to enable customers to book their foreign

exchange transactions online. Subhro Kamal Mukherjee is Appointed as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. Sunil Chhetri became first Indian footballer to score 50 international goals. He scored His 50th Goal during 2018

World Cup qualifying match against Guam. Swiss National Bank (SNB) Data for Foreigners' Money in Swiss Banks -

1. India is placed at 61st position in terms of foreigners‘ money in Swiss banks. Indians Hold 0.123 % of the total global wealth of 1.6 trillion USD in Switzerland's banking system.

2. United Kingdom (UK) is Country with Highest Share of Foreigners' Money in Swiss Banks (22%), Followed by United States (US), West Indies, Guernsey, Germany, Bahamas, Luxembourg, France, Jersey and Hong Kong

3. Pakistan is placed at 73rd position with their share almost doubling to 472 million Swiss francs. 4. UBS and Credit Suisse are two big banks with nearly two-third of the total money kept by foreigners in

Swiss banks. Syed Asif Ibrahim is appointed as Prime Minister‘s Special Envoy on Countering Terrorism and Extremism. Tamil Nadu Government signed a Power Purchase Agreement with Adani Power (PPA) to set up a 200 MW

solar power plant in Ramanathapuram district.

Tennis and volleyball teams of Indian Railways won Gold Medals in 20th Union Sportive Internationale des Cheminots (USIC) World Railways Championships. Indian Railway tennis team defeated France 3-1 in Nuremberg (Germany) while volleyball team beat Russia in Gomel(Belarus).

Three Indians Ashwini Angadi, Akshay Jadhao and Devika Malik have won an award set up by Queen Elizabeth II to recognise exceptional youths making a difference in their communities from across the Commonwealth nations.

Tropical Cyclone Ashobaa hit Oman (Country on southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula). ASHOBAA is first tropical storm of pre-monsoon season in the Indian seas which developed into a cyclone.

UK's Author Ali Smith won 2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction for her novel How to be Both. UK's philanthropist Benni Joseph Mavelil has been selected for VK Krishna Menon Award for his achievements

and contributions to the community and wider multicultural society. UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)'s World Investment Report 2015 -

1. China became largest recipient of FDI ($ 129 billion) wth US second ($ 92 billion). 2. India leads inflow of FDI in South Asia with $34 billion investment during 2014 (22% high from 2013).

India is Now 9th Most FDI Receiving country as comparted to 15th rank in 2013. 3. Global FDI inflows fell by 16 % to $ 1.23 trillion in 2014.

US-based World Justice Project (WJP) released 5th Rule of Law Index 2015. It provides data on how the rule of law is experienced in 102 countries around the globe.

1. Report is topped by Denmark, followed by Norway, Sweden and Finland at second, third and fourth place respectively each with score above 0.85.

2. Venezuela is worst (102nd) with Zimbabwe, Afghanistan at 100, 101 place respectively. 3. India has score of 0.51 and has been ranked 59th. 4. India is 3rd in six South Asian countries and 3rd in BRICS countries. South Africa (36th) is at top in

BRICS Countries and Nepal (48) is at top in Six south asian countries. USA removed Cuba from terror blacklist to strengthen ties with Cuba. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh laid foundation stone of Gangatiri Cows’ Conservation and

Development Center in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti launched Bhuvan Ganga Mobile Application and Web Portal to

help mission to Clean Ganga. It will facilitate public to upload pictures of pollution sources of the Ganga River for further action by the authorities concerned.

United Nations General Assembly elected Denmark's Mogens Lykketoft as President for its upcoming 70th

session in September 2015. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report Global Trends: World at War (Worldwide

trends in forced displacement in 2014) - 1. Number of forcibly displaced people in 2014 had risen to 5.9 Crore as compared to 5.1 Crore million in

2013 and 3.7 crore in 2005. 2. Syria is world's biggest producer of internally displaced people (7.6 million) and refugees (3.88 million).

Afghanistan (2.59 million) and Somalia (1.1 million) are next biggest refugee source countries. United Nations will Release $ 25 million Fund for life saving projects to help war trapped civilians in Yemen. United States (US) Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. Uttar Pradesh government renamed Zoological Garden (Lucknow) after Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and Nawabganj

Bird Sanctuary (Unnao) after freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) won Norway Chess tournament 2015 by leaving behind India's Viswanathan Anand

into a quick draw. Vice President Hamid Ansari released a book K.G. Saiyidain – A Life in Education edited by Zakia Saiyidain

Zaheer and Syeda Saiyidain Hameed. Vishwanath Tripathi will receive 28th Moorti Devi Award 2014 for his book Vyomkesh Darvesh : lifetime story of

Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

Wealth-X report of top 25 richest self-made billionaires - 1. List was topped by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with a personal worth nearly 86 billion USD. 2. American entrepreneurs dominated list with 14 of the 25 spots and combined wealth of the 14 Americans

on the Wealth-X list is 514.2 billion USD.

3. List of Top 10 is -

Rank Name Nationality Estimated Net Worth (billion

USD)

1 William Gates III United States 85.7

2 Warren Buffett United States 70.1

3 Amancio Ortega Spain 65.0

4 Lawrence Ellison United States 51.5

5 Ingvar Kamprad Sweden 48.1

6 Jeffrey Bezos United States 39.8

World Cellular Information Service (WCIS) Data - 1. China Mobile is top mobile operator in the world with 62.6 Crores subscribers. Vodafone Group of UK is

second with 40. 3 Crore users. Bharti Airtel of India is 3rd largest with 30.3 Crore Users. World Economic Forum (WEF) about World's Biggest Employers -

1. US department of Defense is world‘s biggest employer with over 3.2 million employees. 2. People‘s Liberation Army of China is 2nd biggest employer with 2.3 million employees. 3. Indian Railways is at 8th position with 1.4 million staff, while Indian Army is at 9th position with 1.3 million

employees. Zaheer Abbas (Pakistan) will be next (13th) president of International Cricket Council (ICC) for one year. He will

succeeds Mustafa Kamal of Bangladesh.

Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of Standing Committee of National People‘s Congress of China Visited Ind ia.

MAY 2015 CURRENT AFFAIRS ISRO Will commission Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) in June 2015. Key Features Include -

1. Capable of tracking 10 different objects at a time including 50 * 50 cm object at range of 1000 KM and 30 * 30 cm at range of 800 kilometer.

2. Unlike the disc radars that keep spinning, this 35-tonne radar is a stationary, 12-metre-long, 8-metre-tall with 4068 individual radiating elements.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched strategic framework for its newly-established Space Agency. Mohammed Nasser Al-Ahbabi is appointed as Director-General of UAE Space Agency. Framework aimsd to launch satellite missions and first Arab unmanned probe to Mars called Hope Probe by 2021. 03 May - World Press Freedom Day. Theme for 2015 is Let Journalism Thrive. 05 May 2015 - World Asthma Day. Theme of 2015 is You Can Control Your Asthma and sub-theme - Time to Control Asthma.

07 May, 2015 - 55th Foundation day of India's Border Roads Organization (Founded on May 7, 1960). 07 May, 2015 -154th Birth Anniversary of Rabindra Nath Tagore (Born on May 7, 1861) 14-year-old Indian-American student Karan Menon won 2015 National Geographic Bee championship. 15 May - International Day of Families. Theme for 2015 was Men in Charge.

19th CEAT Cricket Awards (2015) - 1. International Cricketer - Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 2. Indian Cricketer - Ajinkya Rahane 3. International Lifetime Achievement - Kapil Dev edition of the awards. 4. International Batsman - Hashim Amla 5. International Bowler - Rangana Herath 6. T20 Player - Dwayne Bravo 7. Popular Choice - Kieron Pollard 8. Special Performance - Rohit Sharma 9. Domestic Cricketer - R Vinay Kumar 10. Young Player - Deepak Hooda

20th Law Commission of India (Headed by Ajit Prakash Shah) submitted Report No. 257 on Reforms in Guardianship and Custody Laws in India and suggested amendments to laws to emphasize the welfare of the child in

custody and guardianship matters. 21 May - Anti Terrorism Day in India (Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary). 22 May - International Day for Biological Diversity. Theme is Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.

31 May - World No Tobacco Day. Uttarakhand‘s Medical, Health and Family Welfare Minister Surendra Singh Negi has been conferred with World No Tobacco Day Award 2015 by World Health Organsiation (WHO). 4th North East Youth Festival started in Majuli (Assam). It will be held 29th to 31st May, 2015. The Festival is being organized by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. 62nd National Film Awards presented. Shashi Kapoor honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year.

68th session of Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of International Maritime Organization (IMO) held in London, UK and adopted provisions of the Polar Code related to environmental norms. Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power & Private Enterprise: A Practitioner's Diary has been written by

Pradeep Baijal (Former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman). Union Cabinet approved New Urea Policy 2015 for next four years aimed at maximizing production and minimize dependence on imports -

1. Policy aims to maximize urea production in country to reduce the subsidy burden on Government. 2. Savings in energy will reduce carbon-footprint and be more environment friendly. 3. Policy will ensure timely supply of urea to farmers at same Maximum Retail Price (MRP) with less burden on the

exchequer. 4. Policy will directly save subsidy of Rs. 2618 crore and indirect saving of Rs. 2211 crore (total Rs.4829 crore)

with revised specific energy consumption norms and import substitutions. During the next four years, It will help in making additional 20 lakh/MT urea annually.

A 2000 year old ancient Water supply system discovered in Jerusalem city of Israel. Achal Kumar Joti has been appointed as Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India.

1. Election commission of India consists of a chief election commissioner and two election commissioners. Currently, chief election commissioner is Nasim Zaidi and two election commissioners are Achal Kumar Joti and one seat is vaacant.

Agriculture Ministers of G20 Countries met in Istanbul on 7-8 May 2015 to address rising challenges of food security as worl's population will rise to 9 Billion in 2050. Radha Mohan Singh, Agriculture Minister of India attended on India's Behalf and met Mr Phil Hogan, Agriculture Commissioner of European Union. American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Manny Pacquiao from Philippines to win the unified World Welterweight title. The match was termed as Fight of the Century and was held at MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA). Andaman and Nicobar Police announced to reserve 33 % of seats of constable and sub-inspectors for women. Earlier in June 2014, Gujarat Government announced 33 % quota for women in police force. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana started 5 lakh rupees Accident Insurance for transport drivers also including education of two children of the beneficiary. Apple Inc acquired Coherent Navigation to improve its Mapping capabilities. Army Inducted indigenously developed supersonic surface-to-air missile Akash with strike range of 25 KM. Arun Pudur, owner of software firm Celframe, named as 10th in Wealth-X List of wealthiest entrepreneur under the age of 40 with an estimated net worth of 4 billion USD.

Arun Shrivastava Apponted as MD & CEO of Syndicate Bank. Arvind Saxena is appointed as a Member in the Union Public Service Commission. Ashok Kumar Gupta is appointed as New Secretary of Defence Production.

Bangalore International Airport signed seven-year contract with IT aviation firm SITA for implementing Common Use Self Service kiosk (CUSS) platform to allow passengers to Check-In Themselves that Includes print their boarding passes and baggage tags from June 2015. Bangladesh Minister of Public Administration, Begum Ismat Ara Sadique visited India. Benjamin Netanyahu re-elected as Prime Minister of Israel (Country in Western Asia). Book Ahmedabad: A City in the World has been wrirtten by Amrita Shah. Book China – Confucius in the Shadows is written by Poonam Surie. Book Super Economies has been written by Raghav Bahl. Book ―Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad‘ has been written by Bhim Singh. British sports business magazine SportsPro released Worlds 50 Most Marketable 2015 report-

1.

Rank Athlete Sport Nationality

1 Eugenie Bouchard Tennis Canada

2 Neymar Soccer Brazil

3 Jordan Spieth Golf USA

4 Missy Franklin Swimming USA

5 Lewis Hamilton Auto Racing Great Britain

6 Virat Kohli Cricket India

British-Indian Priti Patel is appointed as employment minister of Britain in Prime Minister David Cameron's new cabinet. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved two major policies to improve equity in the market and help delayed projectws due to various reasons -

1. First Reform is - a comprehensive Exit Policy framework to permit builders to divest 100 % of their equity two

years after completion of construction. It will unlock equity from completed projects and will make it available for investment into new projects. This decision will help release equity worth Rs. 4500 crores.

2. Second Reform is - To allow National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to intervene in delaying projects.

From ongoing 240 PPP (Public private partnership) Projects, some are delaying due to land acquisition issues, grant of clearances and shortage of construction materials etc. NHAI may now provide funds to such projects on a loan basis which will be recovered with interest from toll receipts immediately after completion of construction.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) increased investment limit by Government agencies in Mega Food Parks to 100 % of their equity holding from 26 % currently in the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). New regulation will bring more investment in food processing for smooth implementation of the Mega Food Parks Scheme (MFPS). Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs extended date of completion of National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) by three years (from 31st December 2014 to 31st December 2017). Cabinet approved financial restructuring of BVFCL (Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited) and setting up an Ammonia-Urea Complex of 8.64 Lakh Metric Tonnes annual capacity with cost of Rs. 4500 crore at Namrup (Assam) on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis. Canadian Parliament (House of Commons) approved Bill C-51, Anti-Terror Act, 2015 to empowers countrys spy agencies and give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) the ability to operate overseas and make preventative arrests. Cannes Film Festival 2015 -

1. French thriller Dheepan honoured with Palme d'Or top prize

2. Indian Movie Masaan won International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award and Promizing Future Prize Ex-aequo.

Central Statistics Office (CSO) released provisional estimates (PE) of national income for 2014-15 at constant (2011-12) and current prices -

1. At 125.4 lakh crore rupees, India is now the 10th Largest economy after crossing the 2 trillion USD Mark. However, 10.3 trillion USD China's economy is way ahead from India. USA is still at the top with 17.4 trillion USD Economy.

2. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices in 2014-15 will grow at 7.3 % while at current prices it will grow at 10.5 %

3. In fourth quarter (Jan - Mar) 2014-15, GDP will grow at 7.5 % and at current prices it will grow at 7.7 %. 4. Gross national income will rise by 7.3 % in 2014-15 as compared to 6.8 % in 2013-14. 5. Per capita income (Constant Prices) in 2014-15 is 74104 rupees as against 69959 rupees in FY 2013-14. 6. Per capita income (current prices) in 2014-15 is 87748 rupees as compared to 80388 rupees in 2013-14. 7. Consumer price index has rises of 6.4 % during 2014-15. 8. Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) at current and constant prices during 2014-15 are 28.7 and 30.0 % ,

respectively as compared to 29.7 and 30.7 % in 2013-14. 9. Sector-wise

1. Over 7.0 % Growth in trade, hotels, transport, communication and broadcasting and related fields. 2. Agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining and quarrying, construction grew at 0.2 %, 2.4 % and 4.8 % 3. Third advance estimates of crop production show decline of 2.3 % in food grain production to 251.12

million tonnes (MT) as cmpared to second advance estimates. Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released new action plan One Belt, One Road meant to establish new routes linking Asia, Europe and Africa.

1. It has two parts, a new Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) linking China to Europe that cuts through mountainous regions in Central Asia and the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) to link China's port facilities with the African coast and push through Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea.

Chithirai Thiruvizha Festival is celebrated in Madurai (Tamilnadu) during Tamil month of Chitirai in April. It is one of the longest celebrations of the world that lasts for one month. First 15 days of the festival is celebrated for Meenakshi, and next 15 days are celebrated for Alagar. Committee headed by Vijay Kelkar for Revisiting & Revitalizing the PPP Model of Infrastructure Development submitted its Report. Cyriac Joseph appointed as interim chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) replacing K.G. Balakrishnan (sixth and longest serving chairman of NHRC). David Cameron has been re-elected as prime minister of Britain. His Conservative Party won 331 out of total 650

Seats. David Granger appointed as eighth President of Guyana (Country in Caribbean coast of South America). He is Former Army Brigadier of Guyana. Defence Minister of Vietnam, Phung Quang Thanh Visited India. Delhi Government made Global Positioning System (GPS) mandatory in all public transport vehicles keeping in view security and safety of commuters, especially women. Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale is appointed as Chief Justice of Hyderabad High court (Andhra Pradesh and Telengana) upon retirement of Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta. Draupadi Murmu appointed as First Woman Governor of Jharkhand.

E-commerce firm Snapdeal acquired Hyderabad-based mobile technology startup MartMobi to strengthen its mobility platform. Eminent journalist Shri Amitabha Chowdhury Passed Away. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched website of 10th World Hindi Conference (vishwahindisammelan.gov.in) to be held from Sep 10 - 12, 2015 in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). Theme of Conference will be Hindi Jagat: Vistar avm sambhavnai. Previous conference was 9th World Hindi Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2012. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe has been re-elected as President of Togo (West African). He has been presidet of Togo Since 2005. Finance Ministry appointed committee under chairmanship of Justice Ajit Prakash Shah (head of 20th Law Commission of India) to look into issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.

1. As per Finance Act 2015, 20 % MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the financial year 2015-16.

2. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (for 602 crores rupees) by International Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department.

Finance Ministry made Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for private firms seeking Central Excise Registration. Finance minister Arun Jaitleylaunched DD News mobile app as an agenda of Prasar Bharati, Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) to have more coverage and give facts. Financial Indicators of 2014-15 (Based on Provisional Accounts for year ended on 31st March, 2015 )

1. Fiscal Deficit for 2014-15 is 4.0 % as against Target of 4.1 % of GDP (Rs. 5,01,880 crore ) 2. Revenue Deficit for 2014-15 is 2.8% as Against Target of 2.9% of GDP (Rs.3,58,306 crore) 3. Gross Tax Collections During 2014-15 are Rs. 12,45,037 Crore (Growth of 9% as Compared to last year)

1. Tax Collestions are 9.8% of GDP. 2. Devolution of tax collections

1. States - Rs.3,37,808 crores(higher than Rs.19,578 crore over previous year) 2. Non Tax Revenue - Rs.1,96,959 crore 3. Non Debt Capital Receipts including disinvestment - Rs.43,439 crore

4. Expenditure - Plan Expenditure is Rs.4,35,621 crore and Non-Plan Expenditure is Rs.11,91,140 crore First Business Session of 48TH Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held in Baku(Capital of Azerbaijan). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attended on India's Behalf. Football Club Chelsea won Barclays Premier League 2014-15 defeating Crystal Palace. Forbes list of World‘s 100 Most Powerful Women of 2015 -

1. Top 10 powerful women -

Rank Name

1 Angela Merkel (Germany)

2 Hillary Clinton (USA)

3 Melinda Gates (USA)

2. Indian Women in the List - Arundhati Bhattacharya (30th - Chairperson of State Bank of India), Chanda Kochhar (35th - MD and CEO of ICICI Bank), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (85th - CMD of Biocon Limited), Shobhana Bhartia( 93rd - Editorial Director of Hindustan Times).

Forbes released Global 2000 Companies list of the world‘s powerful companies as measured by revenues, profits and market value.

1. These 2000 companies are from 61 countries with combined revenues of 39 trillion USD, profits of 3 trillion USD, assets worth 162 trillion USD and market value of 48 trillion US dollar.

2. At the top is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for third consecutive year. Bank of China jumped 5 spots to the 4th Place. For the first time, China‘s four biggest banks own the top four spots.

3. Berkshire Hathaway is at 5th place, making Warren Buffet‘s company largest in USA. 4. China and USA occupy top 10 spots for a second year in a row. 5. USA has most (579) companies in the top 2000 List. China second (232 ), Japan third (218) and UK fourth (95)

companies 6. Among Continents, Asia at top with 691 Copanies, North America has 645 companies Europe 486 companies. 7. Two countries debut on the list this year: Argentina and Cyprus. 8. India added two companies this year. 9. At top of Indian Companies is Reliance Industries (142th) with market value of 42.9 billion USD. Followed by

State Bank of India (152th) with 33 billion USD Market Value. 10. The other Indian companies on the list are Oil and Natural Gas (183), Tata Motors (263), ICICI Bank (283),

Indian Oil (349), HDFC Bank (376), NTPC (431), Tata Consultancy Services (485), Bharti Airtel (506), Axis Bank (558), Infosys (672), Bharat Petroleum (757), Wipro (811), Tata Steel (903) and Adani Enterprises (944).

Forum for Human Rights and Justice (FHRJ) organised a Marathon named Ajanmi Beti Ke liye Daud (Protecting the

Unborn Girl) in Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) in view of declining sex ratio in the state (906 females per 1000 males). Four Indians will be conferred with the Spring Imperial Decorations of Japan among the 85 foreign recipients to be conferred by Emperor of Japan Akihito.

1. Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star - Thottuvelil Krishna Pillai Aiyappankutty Nair, Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao

2. Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays - Nikunj Parekh 3. Orders of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Rays - Topgay Bhutia

Fourth Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvette of Project-28 christened Kavaratti launched at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata. France agreed to provide 25% discount on deal for purchase of 36 Rafale MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) aircrafts by India. India will gain a lot in this deal as Qatar will pay about 290 Million USD for purchasing 24 of same aircrafts from France while India would pay about 200 Million USD per aircraft. French Defence Minister Le Drian visited India. French magazine Charlie Hebdo has been presented with Freedom of Expression Courage Award 2015 by PEN American Centre at the American Museum of Natural History. G Mohan Kumar is appointed as new Defence Secretary of India replacing Radha Krishna Mathur. G Satheesh Reddy is appointed as Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister. Germany's Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen Visited India. Government approved Namami Gange Program to clean Ganga river in a comprehensive manner with a budget

outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore for the next 5 years. 1. Government of India has incurred over Rs. 4000 crore on this cleaning ganga since 1985.

Government approved Gujarat State's Climate Change Action Plan 2015-2020 with proposal to invest over 21000 crores for creating environment-friendly water resource management, public health and agriculture improvement projects by 2020. Government approved Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Continuation Programme consisting of fifteen operational flights PSLV-C36 to PSLV-C50 during 2017-2020 with cost of 3090 crore rupees. Government approved amending Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 to fight the black money inside the country by Seizing benami properties and putting fine with imprisonmet. Government approved name change of Bangalore city railway station as ‗Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna‘ railway station. Government approved revival of closed urea unit of Fertilizer Corporation India Limited (FCIL) at Sindri (Jharkhand) with an investment of Rs 6000 crore. This unit was not in operations since 2002. Government approved signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bangladesh for prevention of human trafficking. An agreement for Coastal Shipping was also signed to carry out coastal movement of goods. Government approved signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sweden for cooperation in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Government approved signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Renewable Energy Cooperation between India and Seychelles in March, 2015 during visit of PM Narendra Modi to Seychelles. Government launched USTAAD scheme in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) for growth of lakhs of traditional artisans of the

city. Government launched website of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog at URL - http://www.Niti.Gov.In. Website was launched by Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. Government on allocated 5000 crore rupees for growth of Department of AYUSH (comprising Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy). Gurpreet Singh qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics along with Abhinav Bindra , Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela. H. E. Mr. Raymond Tshibanda N'Tungamulongo, Foreign Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo visited India. Han Changfu, China's Agriculture Minister Visited India. Haryana Government included Deaflympics in its Sports Policy to enable Deaflympian medalists to get cash rewards, jobs and other benefits. Deaflympics were previously known as World Games for the Deaf and International Games for the Deaf. Himachal Pradesh will host Paragliding World Cup 2015 under the aegis of Para-gliding World Cup Association, France. Home Ministry will implement NERS (Nationwide Emergency Response System) to save women in distress. India has reached sixth position in terms of scientific publications, up from tenth position previously. India signed $31 million loan agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) to boost water availability in Karnataka through implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). India's Exports during April, 2015 were US $ 22054.72 million and Imports in April 2015 were US $ 33047.02 (Trade Deficit of US $ 10992.30 million).

India's GMR Infrastructure tied up with Chinese Guizhou International Investment Corporation (GIIC) for developing Kakinada Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) in Andhra Pradesh. India's Industry body ASSOCHAM proposed BRICS Under-17 Football Cup to be held in India in 2016. India-Singapore joint naval exercise SIMBEX started. Indian Army team emerged champions in 19th Federation Cup National Senior Athletic Championships in Mangaluru (Karnataka) with 123.5 points. Tamil Nadu team came at second position by securing 114 point. Indian Chemistry Scientist C.N.R. Rao has been given Highest Civilian Award of Japan, Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star for his 'contribution to promoting understanding in science and technology between Japan and

India. Indian Meteorological Department under Ministry of Earth Sciences signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) for optimum use of weather information in power sector. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) teamed up with ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) for e-ticket facility for entry to Taj Mahal and Humayun‘s Tomb. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced to launch ASTROSAT in October 2015 by the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) C-34 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh).

1. ASTROSAT is first Indian space observatory mission aimed at studying distant celestial objects. ASTROSAT carries four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced complete operationalisation of GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN). India became fourth nation after US, Europe and Japan to have inter-operable Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS). GAGAN is first SBAS system in world to serve the equatorial region. Indian archer Deepika Kumari won bronze in women's individual recurve event in Archery World Cup in Turkey. Indian author Neel Mukherjee won 2014 Encore Award worth 10000 pounds for his novel The Lives of Others. Indian boxers won 3 Gold and 2 silver medals at World Junior Women's boxing Championship in Taiwan. Savita, Mandeep Sandhu and Sakshi won Gold while Soniya and Niharika Gonella won silver medals. Indian boxers won 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 bronze at Doha (Qatar) International Boxing Tournament. L Devendro Singh, Shiva Thapa, Manish Kaushik, and Manoj Kumar won gold, Gaurav Bidhuri won Silver, Mandeep Jangra and Vikas Krishan won bronze. Indian-American Sivanadane Mandjiny won University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors 2015 Award for Excellence in Teaching. Indian-American policeman Harkeert Singh Saini won prestigious Top Civilian Supervisor of the Year award for his services to Houston Police department in Texas state of United States of America. Indian-born Nikesh Arora appointed as President of Japan‘s multinational telecommunications and internet company SoftBank Corp. Indirect Tax Collections increase 46.2%from Rs.32,661 Crore in April, 2014 to Rs. 47,747 Crore during April 2015.

1. Central Excise collections increased from 8,655 crore in April, 2014 to 18,373 crore during April 2015. 2. Customs collections increased from 11,555 crore in April, 2014 to 14,286 crore in April, 2015. 3. Service Tax collections increased from 12,451 crore in April, 2014 to 15,088 crore in April, 2015.

Infosys became first Indian Company to Join RE100 Renewable Energy Campaign which is global platform for major companies committed to 100% renewable power. Infosys also announced to become carbon neutral by 2018 with investment of 400 crore rupees. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority 's Committee headed by M Ramaprasad in its report suggested changing wordings of disclaimer in advertisements of insurance companies from Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation to Before buying, know the conditions and exclusions, to make a well-informed decision. International Buddh Purnima Diwas 2015 To be hosted by India on 04 May, 2015 with support of International Buddhist Confederation. Japan will provide Loan of Rs. 1165 crore approx to India for Transmission System Improvement in Odisha. Joe Root and Charlotte Edwards have been named England mens and womens cricketers of the year for 2014-15. Joseph Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as President of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) for fifth term. K Satish Reddy has been appointed as Chairman of the National Safety Council (NSC). He is also Chairman of Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd. KV Kamath will be appointed as first chief of New Development Bank of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India,

China and South Africa) for Five years. He has served as chairman of Infosys and Non-Executive Chairman of ICICI Bank. Laszlo Krasznahorkai from Hungary won sixth prestigious Man Booker International Prize 2015 in London. Lion census report 2015 (14th lion census )-

1. Number of Asiatic lions in Gir sanctuary of Gujarat increased to 523 Lok Sabha 2015 passed Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2014.

1. According to data from National Crime Records Bureau, crimes by juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years have increased, especially in certain categories of heinous crimes.

2. Bill will now allow children in 16-18 age group to be tried as adults if they commit heinous crimes and it will be examined by a Juvenile Justice Board to assess if the crime was committed as a child or as an adult.

3. The bill proposed to streamline adoption procedures for orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children by making mandatory registration of all institutions engaged in providing child care.

Lok Sabha passed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, 2014 (Also called Constitution (122nd Amendment)) 1. The bill is aimed at transforming India into a common market, unifying into a national goods and services tax

expected to boost manufacturing and reduce corruption. Main Highlights are - 2. It will insert Article 279A in the Constitution. 3. It proposes an additional tax on supply of goods, under 1 % and will be collected by central government for a

period of two years and apportioned to the States in inter-State trade. 4. It provides for the compensation to the States for loss of revenue arising on account of implementation of GST

for a period of five years. 5. It combines all Central indirect taxes and State Value Added Taxes. 6. It covers all goods and services except alcoholic liquor for human consumption for the levy of GST. 7. Now, after passing in Rajya Sabha and approval by more than a half of India's 29 states, it will give equal tax

goods and services powers to central and state governments. M.J. Joseph has been appointed as India's Controller General of Accounts (CGA) replacing Sh. Jawahar Thakur. Madhya Pradesh Government will build a 750 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (SPV) plant in Rewa district. It will be developed in three phases of 250 MW each. On completion, it will become world‘s largest solar power plant and will leave beghind Topaz Solar Farm (550 MW) in California (USA).

Maharashtra Government banned digging of borewells over 200 feet to control decline of groundwater-level. Manoj Mishra appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Fertilizers Limited (NFL). May 1 - Gujarat day and Maharashtra Day. States of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed by Bombay

Reorganisation Act enacted on 25 April 1960 and came into effect on 1 May 1960. May 1 - Labour Day or International Workers' Day or May Day. In United states of America, It is celebrated as

Labor Day on 1st monday of September. May 11 - National Technology Day. It is Celebrated since 1999. On this day, there have been several

technological milestones achieved by India. May 17 - World Hypertension Day. May 20, 2015 - 50th Anniversary of First Successful indian Mount Everest Expedition on May 20, 1965 led by

Manmohan Singh Kohli. May 28 - Freedom Frighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's Birth Anniversary. Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed between Jharkhand Government and National Thermal Power

Corporation (NTPC) for Patratu Thermal Power Station (PTPS) to be set up through a Joint Venture between NTPC and Jharkhand Bidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. (JBVNL) with 74:26 equity participation.

Mhairi Black from Scotland became youngest lawmaker of Britain at the age of 20. The freshly elected lawmaker is . She belonged to Paisley and Renfrewshire South, a constituency outside Glasgow. She defeated Douglas Alexander, Labour's election chief and a former Cabinet minister with 17864 votes.

Micro, small and medium enterprises ministry (MSME) tied up with Samsung to open a Digital Academy for offering young students a skill development course based on Tizen operating system (OS) platform.

Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan visited Nigeria. Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment launched Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled

Castes. The scheme is implemented by Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd with a sum of 200 crore rupees for young and start-up entrepreneurs of Scheduled Castes (SC) to avail financial assistance.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries approved setting up 30 new cold storage chains under the Integrated Cold Chain project with cost of 274.9 crore rupees. So far, 138 cold storage chains have been sanctioned out of which 108 are under implementation.

Ministry of Railways will set up Malaviya Chair for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU) to develop new materials to

be used in all assets of Railways with funds Rs 5 crore. R.K. Verma will be head of Chair Core Committee. Ministry of Railways will set up Technology Mission for Indian Railways for taking up identified railway projects

for applied research and use on Indian Railways. N.S.Vyas will be head of Mission Implementation and coordination committee.

Indias GDP growth will be 7.5 % in 2015-16, highest in G20 economies. Make-in-India campaign will give a boost to domestic manufacturing and other reforms measures would bring in higher investment and boost growth. inflation will remain moderate due to inflation targeting policy of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI intends to lower retail inflation to 6 % by January 2016 and 4 % (+/- 2%) thereafter.

Mumbai Indians won eighth Indian Premier League (IPL) Tournament defeating Chennai Super Kings by 41-runs in Eden Gardeans (Kolkata). It is second title for Mumbai Indians after their first win in 2013.

Nadia district of West Bengal declared as first open defecation-free (ODF) district in India due to collaborative efforts with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Bank for construction of toilets across the district.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ended operations of MESSENGER Mission to study planet Mercury s atmosphere. Journey of the spacecraft came to an end with Expected Impact (EI) on Mercurys surface at a speed of 14000 kmph and creating a crater about 52 feet wide.

Nepal Rastra Bank announced to provide interest-free loans for rebuilding houses up to 25 lakh nepali rupees in the Kathmandu Valley and 15 lakh nepali rupees for those outside the capital.

Nepal Rastra Bank is the regulatory authority of the Nepalese economy. Nepal Rastra Bank also said the commercial banks and financial institutions could take a maximum interest of 2

% under home loan for such purposes. Nirbhay Sharma is appointed as 17th Governor of Mizoram. North and South America became first regions to eradicate rubella (German measles). due to no new cases

reported in past five years. Nuclear Reactors of India - An Overview -

There are 21 nuclear power reactors in the country with a total installed capacity of 5780 MW. One Of these, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit 1 (100 MW) at Rawatbhata is under shutdown for techno-economic assessment. Kudankulam Unit – 2 is presently under commissioning. Five reactors are presently under various stages of construction with a total capacity of 3300 MW - :

Oriental Insurance Company has been designated as insurance partner of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under its Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated first branch of ICICI Bank in China at Shanghai during his official visit to china. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated upgraded IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) in Burnpur (West Bengal). Cost for

upgradation is 16000 crore rupees and plant's production capacity has increased from 0.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 2.9 mtpa.

PM Narendra Modi joined Chinese social media platform Weibo.

PM Narendra Modi launched Two Insurance and One Pension sector welfare Schemes - Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) - It provides annual life insurance of 2 lakh rupees and

covers death due to any reason. A premium of 330 rupees per annum is paid by the subscribers to enroll in the scheme. People in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank account are eligible to join.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) - It provides for risk coverage of 2 lakh rupees for accidental death and full disability and 1 lakh rupees for partial disability due to an accident. It is available to people in the age group of 18 to 70 years having a savings bank account. A premium of 12 rupees per annum is paid by the subscriber.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - will address old age income security need of All citizens in unorganised sector. Age of joining is 18 - 40 years. All existing subscribers of Swavalamban would be automatically migrated to

APY. Subscribers would receive fixed pension between 1000 - 5000 rupees per month at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, that will vary on the age of joining the scheme. Those joining at earlier age will get more pension on reaching 60 years of age.

PM Narendra Modi launched new television channel for farmers - DD Kisan. It will provide information about

best agricultural practices to promote growth of farmers. PM Narendra Modi left for Official Visit to China, Mongolia and South Korea. China

o 24 Agreements Signed To Enhance Bilateral Co-operation. Some Notable are - Establishment of State/Provincial Leaders‘ Forum to enhance relations among the provinces

(China) and states (India).

Project Location Capacity (MW)

Anticipated Completion Dates

Kakrapar Atomic Power Project Units 3&4 (KAPP 3&4)

Kakrapar, Gujarat 1400 2017-18

Rajasthan Atomic Power Project Units 7&8 (RAPP 7&8)

Rawatbhata, Rajasthan 1400 2018-19

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)

Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu 500 2015-16

Additional Consulate General to be established in each other‘s country to promote greater cultural, tourism, economic and people-to-people engagement. India will open a Consulate General in Chengdu, while China shall open a new Consulate General in Chennai.

India-China will exchange visits of naval ships and hold PASSEX and SAR exercises for defence exercises.

International Yoga Day will be organised jointly on 21 June 2015 in collaboration between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Yunnan National University of China.

India-China will annually exchange 200 youths in the second half for Cultural Exchange Initiatives.

Agreements for provincial partnership between Karnataka and Sichuan and sister-city relationships between Aurangabad – Dunhuang, Chennai – Chongqing and Hyderabad – Qingdao were signed.

Co-operation in Establishment of Mahatma Gandhi National Institute for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship at Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Cooperation in development of smart cities with GIFT City (Gujarat) in India and Shenzhen (China) as pilot smart cities.

Agreement between Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and China National Space Administration for cooperation in Satellite Remote Sensing, Space-Based meteorology, Space Science, Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, Satellite Navigation, Space Components, Piggy-back Launching Services, and Education and Training.

China allowed Indian pilgrims to use Nathu La Pass (Sikkim) route for Kailash Manasarover Yatra in 2015.

A bilateral consultative mechanism on WTO (World Trade Organisation) related issues launched for coordination in context of global trade talks.

India announced electronic tourist visa (e-Visa) facility for Chinese Tourists. 21 business agreements worth 22 billion USD signed in Indian and Chinese companies.

Mongolia

o PM Narendra Modi Visited Mongoia and presented to Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj a special reproduction of a rare 13th century manuscript on the history of Mongols from the Rampur Raza Library, Rampur (Called Jamiut Tawarikh).

o 13 Agreements signed with Mongolia including Air Services, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Animal Health and Dairy, Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy, Joint Friendship School in Mongolia, Cyber Security Training Centre in the Ministry of Defence of Mongolia, National Security Councils, renewable energy technologies, border guarding forces and MoU between Tata Memorial Centre of India and National Cancer Center of Mongolia for Gifting Bhabhatron-II Tele-therapy Unit along with a Radiotherapy Simulator.

South Korea

o PM Narendra Modi presented South Korean President Park Geun-Hye two finely woven pashmina stoles with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore written on it.

o 7 Agreemernts signed with Korea including Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion , Audio-Visual Co-Productio, National Security, Electric Power Development and New Energy Industries, Youth Matters, Road Transport and Highways and Maritime Transport and Logistics.

Pandit Haridutt Sharma Award for Journalism, Writing and Social Services presented to Anurradha Prasad(, Editor-in-Chief of News-24 Channel).

Pawan Goenka has been appointed as Honorary Ambassador of Foreign Investment Promotion for Korea. Philippine and Japanese coast guards held an anti-piracy drills in Manila Bay. This is the first drill between

Japan and the Philippines since signing a strategic partnership pact in 2012. Porbandar Naval base in Gujarat has been commissioned as INS Sardar Patel by Gujarat Chief Minister

Anandiben Patel. Pradeep Kumar Joshi is appointed as a Member of Union Public Service Commission. Pradeep Kumar Sinha is appointed as Cabinet Secretary. He succeeded Shri Ajit Seth. Prannoy Roy (Executive Co-chairman of NDTV) Redink Lifetime Achievement Award 2015 in Mumbai, awards

presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. Other Awardees are - Journalist of the Year - Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV Impact Editor of the Year - Arnab Goswami (Editor-in-Chief of Times Now) News Start-Up of the Year - News website Scroll.in President Pranab Mukherjee Visited Russia to witness Victory Day parade on 9 May 2015 to mark 70th

anniversary of Allied forces victory in the Second World War. During this visit, Mukherjee was conferred with honorary Doctorate by the Russian Diplomatic Academy. 11 Memorandum of Intent (MoI) were signed between India and Russia to establish Network of Institutions of

Higher Education.

President also inaugerated Namaste Russia festival in Russian capital Moscow. Private sector's Largest ICICI Bank Launched Voice Password Facility for customers in which they can make

transactions by just using their voice without other means of authentication like a password. Punjab issued Soil Health Cards to farmers to monitor the soil health of every farm in the state. Railways won 5th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2015 defeating Jharkhand. Rajasthan Government signed an agreement with National Health Mission (NHM), UNICEF and GAIN (Global

Alliance for Improved Nutrition) to tackle problem of malnourishment in the state. Rajya Sabha passed 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Land Boundary Bill (LBA) to operationalise Land

Boundary Agreement with India and Bangladesh, and exchange of certain enclaves of land between the two countries. Bill will now be introduced in Lok Sabha and will then be sent for President's signatures. As it is the Constitutional Amendment Bill, It would require ratification of at least 50 % of the state legislatures before it comes into effect.

Rate of Service Tax will be increased from 12% to 14 from June 01, 2015 as proposed In Union Budget, 2015. Researchers from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of USA discovered worlds first fully

warm-blooded fish species named Opah.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed Tap And Pay without PIN for transactions up to 2000 rupees. For higher than that, customer must provide pin for authentication.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released report State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2014-15. with theme Fiscal Consolidation: Assessment and Medium Term Prospects. The report is an annual publication that provides data, analysis and an assessment of the finances of state governments. Highlights are -

Reserve Bank of India proposed to introduce Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS). It will Promote electronic payments for moving towards to a less-cash society. Such PPIs will be reloadable instruments subjected to an outstanding limit of 2000 rupees at a time.

Reserve Bank of India released Guidelines for Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) under Basel III Framework on Liquidity Standards for banks.

RBI proposed to make NSFR applicable to all banks from 1 January 2018 to ensure that banks maintain a stable funding profile in relation to their assets and off-balance sheet activities to avoid disruptions and failure.

NSFR - Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) is defined as the amount of available stable funding relative to the

amount of required stable funding. S Christopher is appointed as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. SS Ahluwalia appointed as chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Right to Fair Compensation

and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Save the Children‘s 16th annual State of the World‘s Mothers (SOWM) report titled The Urban Disadvantage, released by Union Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla -

The report's focus is on struggle of poorest mothers and children in rapidly urbanizing world. It presents the Mothers‘ Index for 179 countries and show where mothers and children fare best and where they face the greatest hardships.

India is ranked at 140th position in the Mother‘s Index on the basis of Risk of maternal death, Under-five

mortality rate, Educational status, Economic achievement and Political status. Scientists at Tokohu University in Japan discovered a new state of matter called the ‗Jahn-Teller-metal that

resembles an insulator, superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one. Shooter Gagan Narang won bronze in 50m Rifle Event in ISSF World Cup in USA and became third Indian

shooter to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics after Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela. Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal received Golden Medal for Merit in Work as top civilian honours of Spain for

outstanding performance in any profession. State Bank of India (SBI) launched an Online Customer Acquisition Solution (OCAS) that enables customers to

apply online for Home Loans, Car Loans, Education Loans and Personal Loans. Customers can check their eligibility and get a personalized quote. If eligible, Bank officials will contact the customer and complete all the loan formalities.

State Bank of India launched Federal Bank-SBI co-branded credit cards with an aim to issue 1.5 lakh credit cards to its customers in first year.

State Bank of India launched contact-less credit and debit cards called sbiINTOUCH. These cards are based on

near-field technology (NFC) that enables transaction by just waving the card against the reader. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and ArcelorMittal (Luxembourg Based) signed a Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) to set up an steel manufacturing facility in India. Surender Singh took over as Director General of CISF (Central Industrial Security Force). Swiss player Roger Federer won First Istanbul Open Men's singles title by defeating Pablo Cueves of Uruguay. Syed Ahmed appointed as 16th Governor of Manipur. TP Senkumar appointed as Director General of Police of Kerala. Tathagata Roy is appointed as 16th Governor of Tripura.

Tawfiq Fawzan Al Rabiah, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Saudi Arabia Visited India for 11th India- Saudi Arabia Joint Commission Meeting.

Taxes Collections data in FY 2014-15 Direct Taxes Collections (Income Tax, Corporate tax, Wealth tax)

Financial year Revised Estimates

Direct Taxes collections

2012-13 5,65,835 5,58,658

2013-14 6,36,318 6,38,543

2014-15 7,05,628 6,95,988

Contribution of direct and Indirect taxes to the total Central Taxes is -

Financial year Direct Taxes Indirect Taxes Total CT Direct Taxes as %

2012-13 5,58,658 4,74,482 10,33,140 54.07%

2013-14 6,38,543 4,97,061 11,35,604 56.22%

2014-15 6,95,988 5,44,157 12,40,145 56.12%

To improve education in backward Vidarbha region, Government will set up first IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology) of Maharashtra state in Nagpur along with an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

Trevor Bayliss (Australia) is appointed as coach of England cricket team. Two Indians Nand Ram and Raju Joseph posthumously given United Nations (UN) Dag Hammarskjold Medal.

Nand Ram served UN Organization Stabilization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Raju Joseph served in a civilian capacity with UN Mission in South Sudan.

UN report State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 released by Food and Agriculture Organization of United

Nations (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) -

Sub-Saharan Africa is region with highest prevalence of undernourishment with 23.2 %. In India - 194.6 million people are still undernourished that makes India second highest in terms of

undernourished people. Union Cabinet approved 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between

India and Bangladesh to operationalize Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh. Union Cabinet approved Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 meant to amend the

Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) (CLPR) Act, 1986 and allows children below age of 14 years to work in select non-hazardous family enterprises.

Children below 14 years are prohibited to be Employed in all occupations and processes. However, a child helping his family or family enterprise, which is other than hazardous occupation or process after his school hours. A child working as artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry is also not prohibited( except the circus) without affecting the school education.

Punishment for employers for violation of the CLPR Act - o First offence of employing any child in violation of the Act will be imprisonment for 6 - 24 months, or fine

between 20000 - 50000 rupees. o Second offence of employing any child in violation of the Act will be imprisonment of 1 - 3 years.

Union Cabinet approved introduction of Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Bill, 2015 in the Parliament to provide for institutional mechanism at Centre and State levels to ensure expeditious utilization of amounts realised in lieu of forest land diverted for non-forest purpose. Key Provisions are -

Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan Visited USA. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Jitendra Singh ordered probe into misuse of funds of over Rs.900

crores in Arunachal Pradesh through various Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Union Science & Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that Government will set up Eastern India‘s first

observational astronomy institute in Ayodhya Hills of Purulia district of West Bengal. Union Tourism Ministry released Draft National Tourism Policy 2015 aimed at boosting tourism sector in the

country and increase India‘s share in world tourist arrivals from 0.68% to 1% by 2020 and 2% by 2025. Key United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) 2015 survey Making

Growth More Inclusive for Sustainable Development. Survey analyzes economic growth performance of the

region. Highlights of the Survey - -Economic growth in Asia and the Pacific will be good but will increase only slightly to 5.9% in 2015 from 5.8% in 2014. -North and Central Asia are comparatively slow in economic growth and high at inflation. -Due to lower global oil prices and geopolitical tensions, economy of Russian Federation will slow down in 2015 and 2016. -Economic growth in South and South-West Asia gained in 2014, mainly due to stronger macroeconomic performance in India. India’s Economic Growth -

o Indian Economy will grow at 8.1 % in the 2015 and 8.2 %v in 2016. o Investment will rise unevenly due to low capacity-utilisation rate at about 70 %. o Volatile capital flows that may follow monetary policy normalisation in US remain the risky take.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report Global Investment Trends Monitor. It stated that developing Asia now invests more abroad than any other region.

--Hong Kong (China) and China were the second and the third largest investors in the world, after the United States which is largest source of outward foreign direct investment (FDI). --Among the 20 largest investors, nine were from developing or transition economies. --Developing Asia has become, for the first time, the world's largest investor region with 440 billion USD, followed by America and Europe.

UNCTAD estimates that TNC (Transnational Companies) investment will increase due to better economic prospects, proactive monetary policy in the Eurozone and the large cash holdings of companies. TNCs share in global foreign direct investment (FDI) reached a record of 36%, up from 12% in 2007.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) presented 2015 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Syrian journalist and rights activist Mazen Darwish on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day for his work in Syria for more than a decade as a human rights defender and a journalist.

United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted resolution 2222 (2015) for protection of journalists in conflict

zones. Uttar Pradesh Government amended State Film Policy to promote tourism. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav

inaugurated UP Film Bandhus‘s Website, signed an agreement to set up a film city and announced a subsidy of 2 crore rupees for film making in Uttar Pradesh.

V. Shanmuganathan is appointed as 15th Governor of Meghalaya. VA Prasanth is appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Indian Bank. Index ranks 70 countries by evaluating whether Governments are enacting laws to promote transparency and

citizen engagement in environmental decision making. --Index is topped by Lithuania, Latvia at second and Russia at 3rd position. India is ranked at 24th position.

World Bank approved 250 million USD Loan for special Program for Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in Bihar by improving effectiveness of elementary school teachers.

World Health Organisation (WHO) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released report Economic cost of the health impact of air pollution in Europe: Clean air, health and wealth to

assess economic burden of deaths and diseases resulting from air pollution in 53 countries in European Region. Report estimates that WHO European region in 2010 lost 1.6 US trillion dollars due to premature deaths and

diseases caused by air pollution due to more than 600000 premature deaths.

APRIL 2015 CURRENT AFFAIRS 01 Apr - Odisha Day, also known as Utkala Dibasa in memory of formation of state on 1 April 1936. 02 Apr - Mahavir Jayanti. 05 Apr - Indian National Maritime Day. On this day in 1919, navigation history was created when SS Loyalty,

the first ship of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, journeyed to the United Kingdom. The National Maritime Day was first celebrated on 5th April, 1964.

07 Apr - World Health Day Celebrated with Theme - "From farm to plate, make food safe."

11 April - India's National Safe Motherhood Day 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Doha(Qatar). Indian delegaation was led

by Minister of Law and Justice D V Sadanad Gowda. 17 April - World Hemophilia day. Started in 1989 to honor Frank Schnabel the founder of WFH (World

Federation of Hemophilia). 18 April - World Heritage Day. 2015 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) released with theme ‗Education for All 2000-

2015 Achievements and Challenges. 1. Report highlighted achievements made by India in reducing the Out of School Children and achieving the

gender parity at the elementary level thereby contributing to the global progress in the EFA goals. 22 Apr - Earth Day.It was first celebrated in 1970. Theme for 2015 is Its Our Turn to Lead. 24th Yudhvir Foundation Memorial Award will be given to Prajwala founder Sunitha Krishnan for her work in

rescue, restoration and rehabilitation of victims in trafficking and her support for HIV patients. 25 Apr - World Malaria Day. Theme for 2015 is Invest in the future: Defeat malaria.

27 April - National Day of Togo (West African Country). 29 April - World Dance Day

45-day long annual fishing ban in territorial waters of Eastern Coastal Zone of India (including Andaman & Nicobar Islands) started to safeguard fish in their breeding season.

5th meeting of the SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) Health Ministers held in New Delhi.

Adiel Yosef, a 22-year-old Indian-origin soldier in Israeli army received Presidential Medal of Excellence by

Israel Government. A four-day International Conference on ‗Low Temperature Science and Biotechnological Advances held in

Delhi as an attempt to assess the present status and to formulate future plans on low temperature science and biotechnology in various Asia and other continents. Conference was organised by ICAR-NBPGR, National Academy Agricultural Sciences, India in collaboration with Society for Low Temperature Biology (SLTB), UK and Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew, UK.

Actor Anil Kapoor conferred with Deenanath Mangeshkar Award 2015 along with Marathi actor Dilip Prabhavalkar. Rishi Kapoor and Zakir Husain were conferred with this award in 2014.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation Award 2015 for movie Happy New Year.

Andhra Pradesh Cabinet approved Amaravathi as new capital city of the state. 1. Andhra pradesh was Bifurcated in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and Erstwhile Capital Hyderabad

went with Telengana. Andhra Pradesh government signed MoU with IISL Company for replacing streetlights in 13 municipalities with

LED lights and maintain for seven years. Apr 21 - Civil Services Day (Ninth). Apr 23, 2015 - World Book and Copyright Day. For the year 2015, UNESCO designated Incheon, South Korea

as the World Book Capital 2015 for its programme to promote reading among people and underprivileged sections of the population. It was first celebrated in 1995.

Apr 24 - National Panchayati Raj Diwas. As per a report by Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),

There are thirty one countries in the world which generate electricity from nuclear source. India is ranked 13th in terms of generation and at 7th position in terms of number of reactors in operation.

Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 - 1. Core Banking (Mid-Sized Bank) : ING Vysya and FIS 2. Core Banking (Emerging Bank) : Kanbawza (KBZ) Bank and Oracle Financial Services Software Limited 3. Corporate Payment : Axis Bank and Arteria Technologies 4. HR System : Axis Bank, Cognizant Technology Services, Mobitrail and Tejora Technologies 5. Outsourcing (New Bank): Bharatiya Mahila Bank and FIS 6. Technology Leadership Achievement : Amit Sethi, Chief Information Officer, Axis Bank 7. ATM and Kiosks: Cathay United Bank & NCR System, Taiwan

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop Visited India. BJP leader Yashwant Sinha conferred with Officer of the Legion of Honour for valuable contribution to thought

on international issues, it is the highest French civilian honor. Bank of Baroda (BoB) tied-up with UAE Exchange to offer instant money transfer facility to its Non-resident

Indian (NRI) customers that will allow customers to send money to their desired bank accounts in BoB in India in Minutes.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned fourth 600 MW thermal unit of OP Jindal Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) Extension in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh.

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan honoured by Outstanding Contribution to Cinema award at 5th Asian Book My Little Epiphanies has been written by Ms. Aisha Chaudhary and released by Vice president Hamid Ansari.

Book Suleiman Charitra written by Kalyana Malla launched.

Brijbhushan Sharan Singh re-elected as president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for four years. Calbuco volcano of Chile erupted after 42 years. Central Board Of Excise and Customs Awarded the Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Public

Administration for 2012-13. Chhurim Sherpa of Nepal became first woman to climb the Mount Everest summit twice in a week. China and Pakistan signed an agreement on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan worth 46 billion

USD. As part of the agreement, China will provide up to 37 billion USD in investment for energy projects to generate 16400 MW of power and Concessional loans will cover nearly 10 billion USD infrastructure projects.

China quashed bid of Taiwan to become a full member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for lack of appropriate name.

China's Minister of Religious Affairs Mr. Wang Zuoan Visited India.

Colin Barnett, Premier of Western Australia Visited India. Committee headed by Dr. Hari Gautam for recommending restructuring and strengthening of UGC (University

Grants Commission) submitted report to Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to deepen partnership between Indian companies and the bank in those countries where the bank has operations.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced to start Africa T20 Cup to promote the game and nurture young talent in the continent featuring Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, hosts South Africa and 12 CSA affiliates.

1. The tournament will be a World Cup-style competition, consisting of four pools of four teams each with the winners of each pool advancing to the semi-finals and eventually to the final.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Visited Korea. Earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on Richter scale struck Nepal. Reporting of Loss of lives of more than 5000

People. Tremors also felt across India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Ernst & Young (EY) released report Global IPO Trends 2015 with focus on global trends in Initial Public

Offerings (IPO) in the Quarter 1 Q1 of 2015 1. Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) reached top in Initial Public Offerings (IPO) by raising 5.4 billion USD.

Followed by Madrid SE (5.3 billion USD), New York SE (3.5 billion USD), London SE (3.4 billion USD), Bursa Malaysia SE (3 billion USD) and Swiss SE (2.5 billion USD).

FM Global Resilience Index 2015 - 1. Out of the 130 countries and regions assessed Norway topped the list in terms of business resilience

with Switzerland and Netherland Following. 2. Venezuela is at 130th (Last Place). 3. India is at 119th position in the 2015 Index compared to 112th rank in 2014 Index.

Finland‘s opposition Centre Party led by Juha Sipila won General Elections. Juha Sipila will be 44th Prime Minister of Finland.

Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 announced by Minister of Commerce & Industry Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman - 1. The new five year Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 provides a framework for increasing exports of goods

and services as well as generation of employment and increasing value addition in the country, in keeping with the ―Make in India‖.

2. Introduces two new schemes, namely ―Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)‖ for export of specified goods to specified markets and ―Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS)‖ for increasing exports of notified services.

3. For grant of rewards under MEIS, the countries have been categorized into 3 Groups, whereas the rates of rewards under MEIS range from 2% to 5%. Under SEIS the selected Services would be rewarded at the rates of 3% and 5%.

Fourteenth (14th) edition of Indo-French naval exercise VARUNA started in Goa. Fourth Lighthouse Museum of India to be opened at Kannur (Kerala).

1. Other three lighthouses museums - Alappuzha (Kerala), Chennai and Mahabalipuram (TamilNadu). General Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) party won Presidential Elections of Nigeria. Georgia won Womens World Team Chess Championship by defeating China in China. Global Rating Agency Moody's forecasted Indian economy will grow at 7.5 percent in 2015. This growth rate is

marginally higher compared with 7.2 percent in 2014. 1. The growth projections come after Moody‘s revised India‘s sovereign ratings outlook to positive

(Baa3) from stable. Another ratings agency, Fitch, had reaffirmed its stable outlook on India.

Global community pledged financial support of 3.8 billion USD for crisis hit Syria at the third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria held in Kuwait city (Kuwait).

Google India won Randstad Award 2015 for Most Attractive Employer in India with Sony India as runner-up. Other Awards were

Governmenrt approved Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for entering into an agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for extending $1.1 billion as a special Currency swap outside the Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries.

1. India has a Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries since 2012. The facility is available to all SAARC member countries with a floor of $100 million and ceiling of $ 400 million within an overall limit of $ 2 billion and is valid till November 14, 2015.

Government allowed Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to invest 5 % of its corpus in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to bring around five thousand crore rupees into the stock markets during fiscal 2015-16.

Government announced to start toll-free helpline for tuberculosis patients to enable them to reach out to medical care by government with ease.

Government approved NCAOR (National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research) 's acquisition of A Polar Research Vehicle with cost 1050 Crore Rupees for Research in Antartica, Artic and Southern Ocean Region.

Government approved signing of a shipping agreement between India and Jordan for strengthening cooperation and to provide sustained mutual assistance and advice on merchant shipping and other related maritime matters.

Government approved spending of about one lakh crore on urban development under two new urban missions over the next five years namely Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation of 500 cities (AMRUT) with outlays of Rs.48,000 crore and Rs.50,000 crores respectively.

Government decided to link interest rates of State PFs (General Provident Fund and other similar funds), Superannuation and Gratuity Funds for the FY 2015-16 to Public Provident Fund (PPF) rates and fix the rates 8.7% per annum applicable to the following.

Government extended Tourist Visa scheme to 31 more countries, bringing the total number of countries under the scheme up to 76.

Government has set up committee headed by Ajay Shankar to examine the possibility of replacing multiple prior permissions with pre-existing regulatory mechanism.

Government launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) India Scheme to boost sales of eco-friendly vehicles in the country as part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility.

Government launched online system for submission of the Long Term Visa (LTV) applications by Pakistani nationals to address difficulty of the minority communities in Pakistan who come to India for permanent settlement. The applications can be submitted online through indianfrro.gov.in/frro.

Government plans to push for Green Bonds to meet its target to install 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power and 60000MW of wind power by 2022 for which it needs 200 billion USD.

1. Green Bonds (Climate Bonds) are fixed-income financial instruments linked to climate change solutions. These bonds are dollar / rupee denominated and are a new asset class. Like normal bonds, these can be issued by governments, multi-national banks or corporations.

Government transferred training and apprentice divisions of Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGET) from Labour Ministry to Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

1. DGET comprises 12000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the country. Government will set up national institute on medicinal plants for which allocation of Rs.100 crore has been made

during the 12th five year plan. Guided missile destroyer Visakhapatnam, the first ship of Project 15B launched at at Mazagon Dock Limited

(MDL) Gujarat cricket team won 2014-15 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy defeating Punjab. Gujarat has led in implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission during 2014-15.

1. Out of 2,70,069 household toilets constructed during the last financial year, Gujarat alone accounted for 60% of them having built 1,65,376 household toilets. Madhya Pradesh second and Karnataka third.

Gulshan Rai, Director General of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) appointed as Indias first cyber security chief as Special Secretary for cyber security for Prime Ministers Office (PMO).

Haryana government started work on Rs 50-crore Saraswati river excavation and Revival project. INS Tarangini, the Sail Training Ship of Indian Navy left for Lokayan 2015 with theme Taking for a Broader

Reach. As part of Lokayan-15, Tarangini will be on an eight month voyage through Europe and will participate in the annual Tall Ship Races under the aegis of Sail Training International and will travel 17 thousand miles.

India & France Signed an Mou (Memorandum of Understanding) to Establish a Marine Biology Institute during the visit of PM Narendra Modi to France.

India elected to four United Nations (UN) agencies - United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) and the Governing Council of UN-Habitat.

1. India was elected to these bodies at the Coordination and Management Meeting (CMM) of UNECOSOC (the United Nations Economic and Social Council) at UN headquarters in New York

(USA). India is designated as Chair to Ninth Meeting of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Council to be

held on 10th & 11th June, 2015 in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). India'a Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) signed agreement to

export petroleum products to Bangladesh. India's Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Russian INTMA signed a memorandum of understanding

(MoU) to set up a gas-based power project in Kazakhstan. India-born Raja Rajeswari sworn-in as criminal court judge of the New York City and became first India-born

woman judge of New York City. Indian Air Force launched Operation Raahat to evacuate 4000 Indian nationals from Yemen.

Indian American Vivek Murthy appointed as 19th US Surgeon General. He became youngest-ever to hold this post.

Indian Army launched Operation Maitri for relief efforts in Easrthquake hit Nepal. Indian Film Margarita With starring Kalki Koechlin won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film honour at

Washington, DC International Film festival. Indian Navy will decommission INS Viraat in Feb 2016. It is the aircraft carrier that had a service life of 56 years

- first as HMS Hermes in the Royal British Navy and in its present avatar since 1987.

Indian Navy‘s First Scorpene class stealth submarine Kalvari undocked at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Indian Origin Person Gopinath Pillai awarded with outstanding service award in Singapore by National

University of Singapore(NUS). He is serving as Ambassador-at-Large of Singapore and special envoy to Andhra Pradesh.

Indian PM Narendra Modi Visited France, Germany and Canada - 1. France

1. Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and AREVA of France signed an Agreement for proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project for setting up two EPR (Evolutional Pressurised Reactor) rectors of 1650 MWe each.

2. PM Narendra Modi gifted painting Tree of Life to French President Francois Hollande during his

visit to France. It has been made by Odisha artist Bhaskar Mahapatra. 3. India & France Signed an Mou (Memorandum of Understanding) to Establish a Marine Biology

Institute during the visit of PM Narendra Modi to France. 4. India asked France to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets in ‗fly-away‘ condition. 5. MoU between ISRO and French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) on Indo-French

Megha Tropiques satellite which was launched on board Indian launch vehicle PSLV on October 12, 2011.

2. Germany 1. Prime Minister Narendra modi gifted reproductions of some manuscripts and papers by Sir V C

Raman to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his visit to Germany. Sir C V Raman received Nobel Prize in physics in 1930 for his work on scattering of light.

3. Canada 1. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented ancient Indian sculpture Parrot Lady to PM

Narendra Modi. 2. India and Canada issued Joint Statement title New Vigour, New Steps ( , नए

कदम ) to elevate their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. 3. Narendra Modi gifted Miniature Painting titled Guru Nanak Dev to Stephen Harper. 4. India and Canada signed a nuclear agreement on supply of uranium to India. As per the 350

million USD agreement, Canadian Cameco Corporation will supply 7.1 million pounds of uranium to India till 2020.

5. MOU between Grand Challenges Canada and Department of Biotechnology of Indian Government for investment of CAD $2.5 million in health innovations in India.

Indian Railway won 5th Hockey India Senior Men National Hockey Championship held at Pune by beating Uttar Pradesh in final.

Indian Railways reported 12.16 % Increase in earnings in FY 2014-15 with Rs. 157880.50 crores as compared to Rs. 140761.27 crore in 2013-14.

Indian Space Research Organisation successfully test-fired indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20 for 645 seconds. This achievement will push India into bigger league of nations capable of launching satellites weighing up to five tonnes. It will enable GSLV to put Mark-III into geostationary orbit by the end of 2016.

Indian Tennis Player Yuki Bhambri won TF Uzbekistan F1 Futures Singles defeating Dzmitry Zyrmont of Serbia. Indian novelist Siddhartha Gigoo won 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia region for his work

Umbrella Man, a tale of surreal meditation on mental health and the environment. He will now compete with other four regional winners later in 2015.

Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela won Bronze at 10-meter Air rifle (women) in International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle/Pistol World Cup held in Changwon (South Korea).

Indian shooter Jitu Rai won Bronze at 10-meter Air Pistol Men in International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle/Pistol World Cup held in Changwon (South Korea).

Indias ace mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu died. India‘s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) became operational at GIFT City in Gujarat. Indirect Taxes collections for Financial Year (FY) 2014-15 has exceeded Revised Estimates target of FY 2014-

15 by Rs. 4,000 crore. The total collections as on 31-03-2015 is Rs.5,46,479 crore based on the provisional report as against the Revised Estimates target of Rs. 5,42,325 crore for the FY 2014-15.

Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank launched Tap-n-Pay, a near-field communications-enabled payment service in collaboration with Tech Mahindra.

1. This payment service is based on the near-field communications (NFC) technology which will enable its customers to make over-the-counter payments without using cash.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) released World Economic Outlook (WEO) April 2015 Report Update titled Uneven Growth: Short-term and Long-term Factors.

1. Global growth is forecasted at 3.5 % in 2015 and 3.8 % in 2016. 2. Growth in advance economies will rebound supported by the decline in oil prices.

3. Growth in USA is projected to exceed 3 % in 2015–16. 4. Growth for emerging and developing economies (except India) will get slightly slow from 4.6 % in 2014 to

4.3 % in 2015 . 5. India‘s growth is projected to strengthen from 7.2% in 2014 to 7.5 % in 2015 and 2016.

K VijayRaghavan, Secretary in Department of Biotechnology has been elected a Foreign Associate of US National Academy of Sciences. He was also recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) for his achievements in original research.

Keeping in view the cane arrears mounting to Rs 21,000 crores, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decided to raise import duty on sugar from 25 to 40 % and remove excise duty on ethanol to help mills clear dues to farmers.

Kerala government launched Subodham project to end liquor abuse as part of Punarjani 2030 Project to

completely eradicate the menace of substance abuse in Kerala. Laureus World Sports Awards for 2015 (China) -

1. Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar elected as member of Laureus Sports Academy. 2. Sportsman of the Year: Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis star 3. Sportswoman of the Year: Genzebe Dibaba, the Ethiopian sprinter 4. Team of the Year: Germany Men‘s Football Team 5. Comeback of the Year: Schalk Burger of South Africa, who fought through life-threatening meningitis to

win back his place in the Springboks rugby team 6. Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Tatyana McFadden, the wheelchair racer 7. Action Sportsperson of the Year: Alan Eustace, he holds the world record for the highest-altitude free fall

jump Lin Dan (China) won men's title at Badminton Asia Championships 2015 in China by defeating Tian Houwei

(China). Loretta Lynch appointed as first black female Attorney General of United States of America. Maharashtra Government constituted a taskforce on agriculture development and poverty alleviation to address

the issues. Maharashtra Government decided to discontinue colonial-era practice of police guard of honour given to

ministers and top officials. Maharashtra government decided to use non-conventional resources to generate 14,400 MW electricity by 2019

and to cut down cost and reduce carbon footprint. Major Indian Steel Companies, signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Ministry of Steel for setting up of Steel

Research & Technology Mission of India (SRTMI) to promote new beginning in the R&D in steel sector. Malaysia Open Badminton 2015 -

1. Male - Chinas Chen Long won be beating China's Lin Dan. 2. Female - Spains Carolina Marin won by beating China's Li Xuerui.

Marathi Litterateur Bhalchandra Nemade conferred with 50th Jnanapith Award. The award includes 11 lakh rupees and a citation. His novel, Kosala, written in 1963 was considered as a path breaking in Marathi literature.

Mayilsamy Annadurai appointed as Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru. Meenakshi Madan Rai sworn in as first lady judge of Sikkim High Court. Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu launched ‗E-Samiksha‘ for monitoring implementation of Railway budget

2015-16, announcements/commitments. Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Santosh Kumar Gangwar, laid foundation stone for an Apparel & Garment

Making Centre in Arunachal Pradesh. Ministry for Development of North East Region (DoNER) headed by its Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, received

Web Ratna Award 2014 by Ministry of Information Technology (IT) for exemplary efforts by DoNER Ministry for promoting e-governance initiatives.

Ministry of Minority Affairs has started implementation of ―Nai Roshni‖ scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women from 2012-13 to empower minority women by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with Government systems, Banks and other institutions.

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation constituted a 'Task Force' chaired by BN Navalawala on Interlinking of Rivers to look into the issues relating to Interlinking of Rivers ( ILR) in the country.

Mohan Kumar appointed India's Ambassador to France. Mukesh Khanna is appointed as Chairperson of Children's Film Society of India

1. Children's Film Society India (CFSI) was founded by Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1955 under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Mustafa Kamal (Bangladesh) resigned from the post of President of International Cricket Council Nasim Zaidi is appointed as new (20th) chief election commissioner of India replacing Hari Shankar Brahma.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of USA named Asteroid 316201 after Malala Yousafzai, the winner of 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. The asteroid is situated in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC), under chairmanship of Rakesh Mohan . Nepalese Minister of Youth and Sports, Shri Purushottam visited India To seek support from India for

development of Cricket. New Zealand won 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men‘s hockey tournament defeating Australia in Malaysia. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar constituted committee headed by Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh to

consider demand of hike in pay for fixed pay teachers. Normandy Four (group comprising of foreign ministers of four nations - Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France)

formed four working groups for ceasefire on Ukraine conflict. Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and AREVA of France signed an Agreement for proposed Jaitapur

Nuclear Power Project for setting up two EPR (Evolutional Pressurised Reactor) rectors of 1650 MWe each. Odisha Government launched a cheap meal scheme Aahar for providing subsidised food to urban poor. Omar al-Bashir re-elected as President of Sudan. He is holding this post since 1989. Online Retailer Flipkart acquired Delhi-based mobile marketing automation company Appiterate to focus more

on the mobile segment. PM Narendra Modi Left for his tri nation Visit to France, Germany and Canada. PM Narendra Modi congratulated Islamic scholar and activist Maulana Wahiduddin Khan for his winning

Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Ibn Ali Peace Award in Dubai. PM Narendra Modi gifted painting Tree of Life to French President Francois Hollande during his visit to France.

Pakistan Government conferred its top civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his outstanding contribution in promotion of relationship between the two countries.

Pakistan and Russia agreed to hold first-ever joint military exercise. Paris- based Syrian-Lebanese Arab poet Adonis has been chosen for 2015 Kumaran Asan World Prize for

poetry, instituted by the Kumaran Asan Memorial Association. Parliament of Sri Lanka adopted 19th Constitution Amendment to reduce Powers of Executive President and

make a Constitutional Council for making key government appointments. Per capita water availability in India is reducing progressively due to increase in population. Average annual per

capita availability of water was 1816 cubic meters in 2001 and has come down to 1545 cubic meters in 2011. Piplantri Village of southern Rajasthan's Rajsamand district is in news for honouring the birth of a girl child by

planting 111 trees. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a cultural festival of the North East organized by Government of

Meghalaya in New Delhi with theme "Songs and dances of North East".

President Pranab Mukherjee presented Gallantry Awards and Distinguished Service Decorations. 2 Keerti Chakra (Ajay Vardhan, Kosh Bahadur Gurung) and 11 Shaurya Chakras Presented.

President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani Visited India. President of International Olympic Committee, Mr. Thomas Bach visited India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book Pre-Modern Kutchi Navigation Techniques and Voyages

transcribed and edited by Ashok B. Rajeshirke. Prime Minister launched Pradhan Mantri MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Yojana in

New Delhi for helping small entrepreneurs in the country with theme .

Professional Services Comppany KPMG elected Lynne Doughtie as first women CEO and Chairman. RBI (Reserve Bank of India) notified hike in FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) limit in Insurance Sector to 49 %

from the present 26 %. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu launched UTSONMOBILE app for speedy booking of unreserved train tickets

on Mobile under Operation Five Minutes meant for booking unreserved tickets in 5 Minutes. Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand declared as India's 48th Tiger Reserve and Uttarakhand's Second after Jim

Corbett National Park. Rajasthan Government opened women milk bank Jeevan Dhara in Jaipur to curb high infant mortality rate of

Rajasthan. Rajeev Shukla appointed as chairman of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) Governing Council by the Board of

Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Rajiv Ranjan Verma has been appointed as Director General of Railway Protection Force. Rajya Sabha passed Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha on 18-12-2014

1. The Bill amends the RRB Act, 1976 which provides for incorporation, regulation and winding up of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).

2. It removes the five year limit cap that was put on the sponsor banks to assist the upcoming RRBs. 3. Amount of authorized capital raised to to 2000 crore rupees and minimum 1 crore rupees as the previous

limit of maximum five crore rupees and minimum 25 lakh rupees. Capital of 2000 Rupees is divided into Rs 200 crore of fully paid share of Rs 10 each.

4. The bill allows RRBs to raise their capital from sources other than the central and state governments, and sponsor banks as was mandated under the RRB Act. As per the Act, 50% of capital issued was held by Union government, 15% by concerned state government and 35% by the sponsor banks.

5. Raise the tenure of a director (excluding the Chairman) to three years and max six years. 6. Change the date of closure and balancing of books to 31 March from 31 December earlier.

Reserve Bank of India approved amalgamation of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank with effect from 1 April 2015.

Ri Su Yong, the Foreign Minister of North Korea, visited India. Royal Dutch Shell Limited (Netherlands) acquired BG Group (Britain) for about 70 billion USD to gain edge in

the race to build market share for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Russia lifted ban on delivery of S-300 Missile System to Iran in the back drop of an agreement reached on 2

April 2015 between P5+1, the EU and Iran to prepare the final draft of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by 30 June 2015.

1. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to stop developing nuclear weapons in return for lifting economic sanctions imposed on it by the international community.

Sangeeta Bhatia, Indian-origin scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in USA won prestigious 2015 Heinz Award in Technology, Economy, and Employment category in 20th Heinz Awards for her work in tissue engineering and disease detection and developing artificial human microlivers for drug testing. Other Winners Are -

Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz appointed his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef as Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister.

Seoul (capital of South Korea) awarded the title of Global Earth hour Capital 2015 on winning Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) of World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Seychelles (East African Island Nation) became 161st Member of WTO (World Trade Organization). South American Country Venezuela announced to cut working day for public sector workers to 5.5 hours to

conserve energy, down from 8 - 9 hours as part of nationwide electricity rationing plan. Sports Ministry Signed MoU with IIFCL (India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited) for supporting

Badminton sport. Subadhra Devi Rai, Indian-origin Singaporean nurse named for International Achievement Award 2015 by the

Florence Nightingale International Foundation (FNIF) of the International Council of Nurses for her work in healthcare sector of women and refugees.

Sumit Mazumder elected as President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2015-16 replacing Ajay Shriram.

Sunil Kumar Sinha Appointed as Chief Justice Of Sikkim High Court. Supreme Court (SC) asked Union Government to re-examine the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of

Children) Act, 2000 and make it more stringent at least in cases pertaining to heinous crimes like rape and murder.

Supreme Court appointed Vivek Priyadarshi to lead the probe on IPL scandal. Susanta Lahiri (India) and Kattesh V. Katti (USA) received Hevesy Medal Award 2015 for their contributions in

fields of radio and nuclear chemistry at the Tenth International Conference on Methods and Applications of Radio-analytical Chemistry held in USA.

Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs and Shripad Naik, (Minister in AYUSH Ministry) launched the logo for International Day of Yoga to be held each year on June 21.

TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) signed agreement with two global research institutes, Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) and INTASAVE-CARIBSAVE Group for cooperation on issues related to climate change.

Thane (Mumbai) named as National Earth Hour Capital 2015 as it emerged as winner in the Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) 2015 conducted by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Thomas Bach, president of International Olympic Committee (IOC) named as ambassador of HeForShe

campaign by UN Women for gender equality (established by United Nations (UN) Women). Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica erupted leading to rise of a column of gas and ash in the sky. Twelve cities - Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Gaya(Bihar), Dwaraka(Gujarat), Amritsar(Punjab),

Ajmer(Rajasthan), Kanchipuram(Tamil Nadu), Vellankani(Tamil Nadu), Puri(Odisha), Varanasi(Uttar Prasesh), Mathura(Uttar Pradesh), Kedarnath (Uttarakhand) and Kamakhya (Assam) have been identified for development under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) under Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme.

Two Indians Ananda Kumar and Pramod Patil won Whitley Awards worth 35000 pounds (also known as Green Oscar) for their contribution to wildlife conservation at a ceremony in Royal Geographical Society, London.

US President Barack Obama will honor Microsoft‘s Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella with the ‗Champions of Change‘ award for bringing about change within his company to support working families.

USA's Oklahoma state Government passed a bill that allows use of nitrogen gas (nitrogen-induced hypoxia) as a

method of execution. Oklahoma will become the first state in the United States that will allow use of nitrogen for execution.

Union Cabinet approved introduction of Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts and Commercial Courts Bill, 2015 in the current session of Parliament.

1. The bill aims to set up commercial divisions in courts for speedy disposal of high value commercial disputes.

2. The bill is based upon recommendations in 253rd Report of Law Commission about establishment of Commercial Courts, Commercial Divisions and Commercial Appellate Divisions in the High Courts.

Union Cabinet approved signing and ratifying Inter-Governmental Agreement on Dry Ports of International Importance as a follow up of Resolution of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) about development of dry ports within member countries of UNESCAP including India.

Union Home Affairs Ministry suspended registration of Greenpeace India Society (GIS) for 180 days for acting against public and economic interests of the country.

1. Greenpeace India Society is an Indian chapter of Greenpeace International, a non-profit environmental organization working on various issues related to the environment in India since 2001.

Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan laid foundation stone for ocean research facility of ESSO- NIOT in Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh at a cost of over Rs. 250 crores will allow testing of various equipment and operations to be undertaken in actual sea conditions.

Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) received the ISO 9001:2008 certification from the British Standards Institute (BSI) in respect of various licences issued by ministry for the broadcasts, print media and films.

1. ISO 9001:2008 Certification - The ISO 9001:2008 certification is a standard for the Quality Management

System and basically focus what the organization do to fulfill Customer's Quality Requirements, Applicable Legal & Regulatory requirements, Develop Customer Satisfaction and Attain Continual Improvement of its performances.

Union Sports Ministry suspended recognition of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) for poor management and conduct of 15th National Para-Athletics Championships in Ghaziabad in March 2015.

Union cabinet approved amendment to the Juvenile Justice Bill to provide that if a heinous crime is committed by a person in the 16-18 age group, it will be examined by the Juvenile Justice Board to assess if the crime was committed as a ‗child‘ or as an ‗adult‘ and punishment will be adjudged accordingly.

United Nations (UN) released a report titled Global E-Waste Monitor 2014compiled by United Nations University

- as insights into the location and composition of the world‘s fast-growing e-waste problem. 1. As per the report, in the year 2014 volume of e-waste is estimated around 41.8 million metric tonnes and

expected to rise by 21 % to 50 million Mt in 2018. 2. US and China produced the most e-waste overall in 2014 at 32 %. India came in fifth, behind the US,

China, Japan and Germany. Uttar Pradesh Government conferred Sahitya Shiromani Samman and Rashtra Ratn-Sitara-e Hind award on

Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj and Hindi litterateur Uday Pratap Singh. CM Akhilesh Yadav also unveiled the poetry book of Gopal Das Neeraj named Geetsri.

Vladimir V. Makei, Foreign Minister of Belarus visited India. Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine) won world heavyweight boxing for 18th time in a row beating Bryant Jennings

(USA). World Bank established Pollution Management and Environmental Health (PHEM) program on 2015 Earth Day

in Washington, D.C with capital of 45 million USD. PMEH will initially run from 2015 to 2020 and will focus on air quality management in countries facing rapid urbanization. Five major urban areas in India, China, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa will be preferred in particular

World Bank released Migration and Development Report 2015 - 1. Top five remittance recipient countries are - India (70 Billion USD), China, Philippines, Mexico and

Nigeria. 2. The top five migrant destination countries - United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia and the

United Arab Emirates (UAE). 3. Global remittances, including high income countries to grow by 0.4 %to 586 billion USD.

World Bank released South Asia Economic Focus report - 1. Economic growth of South Asia region will increase from 7 % in 2015 to 7.6 % by 2017 primarily due to

decline in oil prices and increasing investment. 1. India's GDP growth rate will reach 7.5 % in 2015-16 and 8 % by 2017. 2. India has taken encouraging steps to decouple international oil prices from fiscal deficits and to

introduce carbon taxation to address the negative externalities from the use of fossil fuels. World Happiness Report 2015 examined for 158 countries - by UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

1. Topped by Switzerland and followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

2. Togo is least Happy (158th) ahead just of Burundi (157) and Syria (156). 3. India is at 117th Place in the report. 4. The study is based on data from Gallup World Poll and considers variables such as real GDP per capita,

healthy life expectancy, corruption levels and social freedoms. 5. World Happiness Report 2015 reveals trends in data surveyed by Gallup over the period 2012-15, reveal

an average score of 5.1 (out of 10). ‗Kharga Corps‘ Unit of the Indian Army are under a major exercise in Rajasthan To hone their combat skills and

validate strike capabilities with more than 20,000 troops participating in the exercie Code named ‗BRAHMASHIRA‘.

MARCH 2015 CURRENT AFFAIRS Retirement fund body EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisatio) raised age limit for vesting (Means to

Avail Benefits) of pension by to 60 from 58 Years.

10 Mar, 2015- 46th Foundation day of Central Industrial Security Force. 12 March - World Kidney Day (Second Thursday of March). 14th Finance Commission Report -

1. Main Suggestions Include - 1. Rising share of states in central taxes from 32% to 42% to allow greater fiscal policy space to

states, even at the cost of leaving less revenue for centr's schemes and programmes. 2. Tax Devolution to be based on Area, Populcation, Demography, Income Distance & Forest Cover

1. 50 % weight is to be given to distance from highest per capita income district, followed by population (1971 census) at 17.5 %, demography (2011 census) at 10 %, area at 15 % and forest cover at 7.5 %

3. Fiscal deficit should come down to 3.6 % of GDP in 2015-16 from projected 4.1 % in 2014-15 and then 3 % in following year and kept at that for three more years.

4. Centre's debt To come down from 45.4 % of GDP in FY15 to 43.6 % in FY16 and 36.3 % by FY20.

5. States should empower local bodies to impose Advertisement tax to augment their revenues 6. States be taken away from operation of NSSF with effect from next financial year.

15 March - World Consumer Day. Theme for the WCRD 2015 is Helping consumers choose healthy diets.

1998 Asian Games gold-medallist Dingko Singh included in National Boxing Selection panel. Arjuna awardee Gopal N Devang will be head of the 10-member selection panel that will remain in office till 2016.

1st Counter-Terrorism Conference held in Jaipur (Rajasthan), organised by India Foundation and Sardar Patel University of Police Security and Criminal Justice. Conference's Central theme was Integrated Approach to Counter-Terrorism and CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) Terrorism was one of the sub-themes.

20 March - Iran celebrated start of new year‘s festival of Iran Caleld Nowruz, a holiday having its roots in pre-

Islamic traditions. 20 March - World Oral Health Day. 21 March - International Day of Forests. 2015 theme is Forests and Climate Change. 21 March - World Forestry Day. 2015 theme is Forests and Climate Change. 21 March - World Poetry Day. It and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization) in 1999. 22 March - World Water Day. 24 March - World TB (Tuberculosis) Day. 3 March - World Wildlife Day. 3rd United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction summit held in Japan From March 14-18,

2015. Home Minister Rajnath Singh to attend on India's Behalf. 44 Armoured Regiment of Indian Army honoured by President‘s Standards for meritorious and distinguished

service for over 30 years. 46th Dada Saheb Phalke Award given to Actor Shashi Kapoor. 62nd National Film Awards -

1. Best Feature Film:Court (Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati & English) 2. Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director: Asha for Jaoar Majhe 3. Best Direction: Srijit Mukherji for Chotushkone (Bengali) 4. Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut for Queen 5. Best Actor: Vijay for Nanu Avanalla Avalu (Kannada) 6. Best Supporting Actor: Bobby Simhaa for Jigarthanda (Tamil) 7. Best Supporting Actress: Baljinder Kaur for Pagdi The Honour (Haryanavi)

8. Best Child Actor: Kaakkaa Muttai(Tamil) 9. Best Female Playback Singer: Uttara Unnikrishanan for Azhagu, Saivam (Tamil) 10. Best Dialogues: Vishal Bhardwaj for Haider 11. Best Lyrics: NA. Muthukumar for Azhagu, Saivam (Tamil) 12. Best Music Direction Songs:Haider 13. Best Choreography: Sudesh Bismil, Haider

8 March - International Women's Day. Theme - Make it Happen.

Actor Amitabh Bachchan is appointed as brand ambassador by Government for campaign against Hepatitis B. Actress Rani Mukerji has been honored by National Award for the Best Representation of the Cause of Safety,

Security and Protection of Women and Girl Child by National Institute of Gender Justice (NIGJ). Aditi Arya of Delhi won fbb Femina Miss India 2015 title. First runner-up was Aafreen Rachel Vaz of Karnataka

and second runner-up was Vartika Singh of Uttar Pradesh. Admiral Sir George Zambellas, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Royal Navy of United Kingdom visited

India. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh attended BRICS farm meet in Brazil from Mar 11-13, 2015. Agriculture Ministry approved setting up of price stabilisation fund (PSF) with corpus of Rs. 500 crore to be

used to support market interventions for managing prices of perishable agri-horticultural commodities. 1. Initially, fund will be used for onion and potato only. Losses will be shared between the Centre and

States 2. PSF will be used to advance interest-free loans to State governments and Central agencies to support

their working capital and other expenses on procurement and distribution for such commodities. 3. Commodities will be procured directly from farmers and will be made available at reasonable prices to

consumers. Arun K Singh has been appointed as India's Ambassador to USA. As per Data by World Steel Association (WSA), India has overtaken USA as third-largest steel producer in the

world after China and Japan with production of 14.56 million tonnes (MT) in first two months of 2015. Ashok Kumar Angurana appointed as Secretary in Department of Animal Husbandry in Ministry of Agriculture. Ashu Suyash is appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD&CEO) of Credit rating

agency Crisil Asian Development Bank (ADB) released Asian Development Outlook (ADO) report titled Financing Asia‘s

Future Growth. 1. India's forecasted growth rate

1. 7.4 % - FY 2014 2. 7.8 % in FY 2015 3. 8.2 % in 2016

2. Developing Asia will grow at a steady 6.3% in 2015 and 2016—the same pace as 2014. Atal Pension Yojna (APY), announced in the Budget, will be launched on 01-06-2015 and will focus on all

citizens in unorganised sector entitling them to pension of up to Rs 5,000 per month after 60 years of age. Australia won ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 defeating New Zealand at Melbourne Cricket Ground (Australia).

1. Australian Captain Michael Clarke retired from ODI cricket Australian National University Scientists found world‘s largest asteroid impact zone in Warburton Basin of

centrals Australia. Baldev Sharma has been appointed as chairman of National Book Trust. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar presented Bihar State budget for financial year 2015-16 with overall size

120685.32 crore rupees. It has plan expenditure of 57437 crores and non-plan expenditure of Rs. 63259 crore. Book "Aatank Ke Saaye Men" has been authored by Documentary filmmaker Garima Sanjay. Book Faces and Places is written by Deepak Nayyar. Book Food for All is written by Uma Lele Book God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican authored by Gerald Posner. Book Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy- Speaker’s Perspective has been written by former lok sabha speaker

Meira Kumar. British Irish Visa Scheme came into force in India that allows Indians to travel to United Kingdom (UK) and

Ireland on a single-visit visa from either country. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved launching Rs. 4,500-crore National

Supercomputing Mission (NSM) with aim of bringing India into league of world class computing power nations. China launched massive Silk Road Infrastructure project worth 79.8 billion USD in northwest province of

Gansu as part of China‘s ambitious Silk Route plan that will add more than 60000 kilometres of road network including 4070 km expressways over next six-years..

Christine Lagarde, chief of International Monetary Fund visited India. Committee on Railway traffic optimization led by Mohd. Jamshed submitted its report to Ministry of Railways.

1. Committee Suggested Measures to Increase Passenger Traffic and use of Satellite Suggested for Operation and Safety Needs.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National University of Singapore (NUS) to improve India‘s rating on ease of doing business and bring it amongst the top 50 countries in the index.

1. India is currently at 142nd spot in index of Ease of doing business. Cuba's Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel Visited India. Cyclone Pam Hit Vanuatu, an Oceanian island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved buying 38 Pilatus trainer aircrafts from Switzerland at a cost of

1500 crore for training Indian Air Force fighter pilots. Delhi High Court (HC) became first court to set up dedicated commercial to ensure speedy disposal of cases

and designated four benches to act as commercial courts. Election Commission of India launched National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication

Programme (NERPAP) to bring an error free and authenticated electoral roll by Linking of Aadhar data with

Electoral Database. Famous Indian Boxer Mary Kom announced to retire from boxing after 2016 Brazil Olympics. Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan won Bishwaratna Bhupen Hazarika International Solidarity Award by Assam

government. Finance Ministry sanctioned 250 crore rupees to Andhra Pradesh to set up Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for

the implementation of the Polavaram Multi Purpose Irrigation Project and 1500 Crore rupees for setting up new capital in Andhra Pradesh.

Forbes annual Global Billionaire‘s 2015 list - 1. Bill Gates - co-founder of Microsoft topped the list for the 16th time with worth of 79.2 billion USD dollars. 2. United States topped list with 536 Billionaires, followed by China (213), Germany (103) rich people and

India (90). 3. Carlos Slim Helu from Mexico telecommunications mogul ranked second with worth 77.1 billion USD and

Warren Buffet, chief of Berkshire Hathaway Inc was ranked third with 72.7 billion USD. 4. Mukesh Ambani is ranked Richest Indian with 21 Billion USD Worth and overall rank 39.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar completed his SAARC Yatra and visited Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed Sentenced To 13 year Imprisonment by country‘s criminal court under the anti-terrorism laws.

Former Union minister M Veerappa Moily has been selected for prestigious Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his famous Kannada poem ‗Ramayana Mahanveshanam‘.

Fortune Magazine released list of 2015 roster of World‘s 50 Greatest Leaders - 1. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at 5th rank and Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi at 28th rank. 2. List topped by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Followed by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at

second and Chinese President Xi Jingping at third Rank. Fourteenth Multi-Parametric Geophysical Observatory (MPGO) inaugurated in Port Blair (Andaman and

Nicobar Island) and Port Blair Magnetic Observatory inaugurated to monitor seismic activities. Government appointed Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani as chairman of Empowered Committee of State

Finance Ministers as a key person for the Centre to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST) on targeted date of April 1, 2016.

Government appointed New chairman for Various DRAT (Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal) - 1. VK Mathur as Chairman of Allahabad bench of DRAT. 2. Girija Shankar as Chairman of Chennai bench of DRAT.

Government approved 33 % reservation for women in police forces of all Union territories (UTs) including delhi.

Government decided to hike Wages of Government owned Banks' Employees by 15% and decided to keep holiday on alternate saturday with other saturdays being fully working days unlike currently policy of half days work on each saturday in the month.

Government decided to move the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana from Labour and employment ministry to the Ministry of Health and family welfare.

Government gave in-principle approval for concept and institutional framework of Sagarmala Project aimed at development of ports and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports efficiently.

Government inaugerated work on an Apparel & Garment Making Centre and a Weavers‘ Service Centre in Nagaland as part of NERTPS (North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme) with total outlay of Rs. 1038 crores in 12th Five Year Plan.

Government is setting up an Indian Culinary Institute (ICI) at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh with a Northern Region Centre at Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Government set up task forces for development of Ajmer (Rajasthan), Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Vishakhapattanam (Andhra Pradesh) as Smart Cities.

Government signed Memorandum of Understanding with Mauritius on Cooperation in Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy to enhance bilateral cooperation in traditional medicines including medicinal plants.

Government will set up an Integrated National Waterways Transport Grid (INWTG) that covers five National Waterways.

Government‘s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save Girl-child, Educate Girl-child) programme has been formally launched in Northeast and the Saiha District in Mizoram has been selected for this unique initiative.

Growth of eight core sector industries (coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity) in India slowed to 1.8 % in January 2015 as compared to 3.7 % in 2014.

HRD ministry has launched a web-based digital gender atlas as a tool to map the progress on girl education throughout the country In order to monitor how various education programmes are working.

Haryana Government decided to introduce Special Identification Tags with unique identification numbers for Haryana cows, an indigenous breed found in the state.

Haryana Government launched a scheme for girl child - 'Aapki Beti Humari Beti' with an aim to combat the declining child sex ratio in Haryana.

Himachal Pradesh became first state assembly in India to launch e-Vidhan Mobile app that could be accessed by all members 45 minutes before the question hours having information about the day business. It will save about 8 Crore rupees spent in an year on paper work.

Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj won Rashtriya Kavi Pradeep Samman for the year 2012-13 given by Department of Culture of Madhya Pradesh government.

Hockey India conferred Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award on legendary Balbir Singh Senior. Hockey India gave first Hockey India Annual Awards -

1. Dhruv Batra Award for Player of the Year - Birendra Lakra (Male) and Vandana Katariya (Female). 2. Jaman Lal Sharma Award for Invaluable Contribution - Harendra Singh 3. Outstanding Achievement - One Thousand Hockey Legs for exceptional contribution towards the sport.

ISRO successfully launched IRNSS-1D, the fourth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C27 as 28th consecutively successful mission of PSLV.

India Artist Bharti Kher conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, highest cultural award of France.

India Signed Loan Agreement of $300 Million with Asian Ddvelopment Bank for Improving Regional Road Connectivity along North Bengal-North Eastern Region (NER).

1. ADB is based in Manila (Philippines). India and Kyrgyzstan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the textiles sector on the

occasion of Kyrgyzstans minister of energy and industry Kubanychbek Turdubaev visiting India. India signed $43 million loan agreement with World Bank for Partial Risk Sharing Facility for Energy Efficiency

(PRSF) project to help enterprises and Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) mobilize commercial finance for investments in energy efficiency initiatives.

India signed US$ 500 million loan agreement with World Bank for Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for MSME Growth Innovation and Inclusive Finance Project.

India to host 7th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in 2016. 1. It was declared by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on his visit to japan for third United Nations World

Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction organised in Sendai, Japan. India to set up textile cluster in africa starting from Ethiopia (A country in Horn of Africa). India voted in favour of a Russia-drafted resolution along with 42 Other Countries that proposed removing

benefits for same-sex partners of UN staff. The resolution did not pass as 80 nations opposed it. 1. Fifth Committee of the General Assembly, dealing with administrative and budgetary issues, voted

against the Russian proposal aimed to stop marital benefits given to UN employees with same-sex spouses.

India's space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been selected for Gandhi Peace Prize 2014 for social, economic transformation through non-violence means.

India-born Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has been elected as president of Britain's prestigious Royal Society.

Indian IT Company TCS has been recognized as top employer in Europe for the third consecutive year by Top Employers Institute.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president N. Ramachandran has been appointed as vice-chair of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) international relations commission.

Indian Open Badminton 2015 - 1. Men's Singles - Kidambi Srikkanth (India) won by defeating Viktor Axelsen (Denmark). 2. Women's Singles - Saina Nehwal (India) won by defeating Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand).

Indian Panorama Film Festival 3rd Edition started in Shillong, Meghalaya. Indian Player Kidambi Srikanth won men's singles title in Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament

after beating Viktor Alexson of Denmark. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Launched Ru-Pay debit card service in collaboration

with Union Bank of India and the National Payment Corporation of India to enable Railway passengers to book tickets, do shopping and pay service bills using RuPay pre-paid cards.

1. RuPay is India‘s own card payment gateway network like Visa and Master Card that provides alternative system for banks to provide a debit card service.

Indian Railways signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to augment its resources for better execution of projects. LIC will make 1.5 Lakh C rore Rupees Financial Assistance to Indian Railways for implementing Railway projects over the next five years from Financial Year 2015-16.

Indian Saina Nehwal became first Indian woman Badminton Player to be ranked as world No. 1 Player. Indian author Amitav Ghosh shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize among the 10 finalists for

the prize. Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil and US Scientist Dr. Jane Lubchenco were named winners of Tyler Prize for

Environmental Achievement 2015 for their engagement in development of conservation and sustainability policies

1. Tyler prize was started in 1973 and is awarded by International Tyler Prize Executive Committee with the administrative support of the University of Southern California in honor of exceptional work for environmental sciences and policy qualities for the cause.

Indian environmental activist Rajendra Singh, has been conferred the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize this year for his innovative water restoration efforts and courage to empower communities in Indian villages.

1. It is known as Nobel Prize for water has been given to Rajendra Singh for his efforts for bringing water

water to 1,000 villages. Indian-American Vijay Kumar has been appointed as Dean of USA's Pennsylvania State University. Indian-American author Akhil Sharma won Folio Prize 2015 for his novel Family Life.

1. The Folio Prize was instituted in 2014 and recognises best English-language fiction from around the world, published in United Kingdom (UK) during the year.

Indian-American biologist Murty S Kambhampati won US presidential award for excellence in science, mathematics and engineering mentoring.

Indian-American physician Rahul Jindal has been selected for prestigious Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Chair to India. The Ahmedabad-based HL Trivedi Institute of Transplantation Sciences will host Dr. Rahul Jindal for the duration of the chair. This Institute performs about 400 kidney transplants in a year and has developed innovative transplant tolerance models.

Indian-origin South African educator Ganasen Reddy has been awarded with KwaZulu-Natal 2015 National Teachers Award (Lifetime Achievement Award for teaching in South Africa) at the annual National Teaching Awards in South Africa.

1. Other Indian Origin Awardess are Silas Pillay, Anneline Govender and Caryn Reddy. Indian-origin lawyer Kannan Ramesh has been appointed as a Judicial Commissioner to Singapore‘s Supreme

Court bench for two years. India‘s first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe) started research in North Antarctica. It has been built by

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) under Union Ministry of Earth Sciences. Injeti Srinivas has been appointed as chief of Sports Authority of India. Insurance Australia Group Ltd (IAG) announced to raise its stake in SBI General Insurance from 26 to 49 %. International Energy Agency (IEA) released data for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2014 and stated that

emissions of CO2 from energy sector remained same in 2014 as they were in 2013. 1. Global emissions of CO2 were 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, which is same as that in 2013. 2. Causes for halt in CO2 emissions incude changing patterns of energy consumption in China and

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as these have been focusing on greater generation of energy from renewable sources, such as hydropower, solar and wind, and less burning of coal..

Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated the start of the new year‘s festival of Iran Caleld Nowruz, a holiday that has its roots in ancient, pre-Islamic traditions.

Jagmohan Dalmiya has been elected as President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Japan and France signed a deal on military equipment and technology transfers for cooperation and joint

development in defence sector. Japan organised world's first Otaku Expo as a part of a special comic book fair held every five years.

1. Otaku is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly animation. Jugal Kishore Mohapatra is appointed as rural development secretary. Karnataka won their eighth Ranji Trophy title of cricket defeating Tamilnadu.

Kathmandu-Varanasi-Kathmandu bus service flagged off jointly by India and Nepal. Kavinder Gupta of Bharatiya Janata Party has been elected as speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. Kerala Tourism won silver Golden Gate award for its global multimedia campaign for promoting the backwaters

of Kerala at Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2015, Germany. Keshari Nath Tripathi, (Governor of West Bengal) is appointed as Governor of Mizoram after removing Aziz

Qureshi as the Governor of Mizoram. Lee Kuan Yew, Former Prime Minister of Singapore Passed Away. Lok Sabha Passed Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2015 that provides for auction and allocation of coal

mines through a bidding process. Lok Sabha passed Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that will replace Insurance Laws (Amendment)

Ordinance, 2014. Proposed amendments in the bill aim to bring improvements in existing laws relating to insurance business in India.

1. The Bill hikes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the insurance sector to 49 % from 26 %. Lok Sabha passed Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote.

1. The bill amends the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013.

2. Before being passed, Government made amendments in the Bill that was promulgated on 29 December 2014. Nine amended provisions which were accepted includes-

1. Removed exemptions for Social Infrastructure Projects in public-private-partnership mode 2. Land that will be acquired for industrial corridors will be limited to one kilometre on either side of

highways and railway lines 3. Compulsory employment will be provided to one member of a farming family that is selling its land 4. hassle-free grievance redressal mechanism of land losers will be put in place 5. Farmers will get right to complain over land acquisition redressal of grievances at district level 6. Ceiling on land for acquisition in industrial corridors 7. Panchayat's nod may be mandatory for acquiring tribal land 8. Government may acquire land for government bodies, corporations 9. Land acquisition rehabilitation and resettlement Authority can now hold hearings where the

acquisition can take place. 10. Term private entity was replaced with private enterprise

Lok Sabha passed Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that seeks to amend Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to bring e-rickshaws and e-carts into the ambit of the Act.

Lok Sabha passed Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that will set the Centre free of responsibility of being a financial guarantor to Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC).

Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote. The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 which regulates the acquisition and determination of citizenship and details registration of Overseas Citizens of India and their rights.

Maharashtra Government announced to include sale of gutka under Section 328 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make it a non-bailable offence.

Maharashtra Government launched Bhagyashree scheme for girl child replacing Sukanya scheme. 1. State government will deposit 21200 rupees in bank for girl child born in a Below the Poverty Line family. 2. Bhagyashree scheme aims at providing one lakh rupee on maturity after the girl completes 18 years of

age. 3. The scheme will be joined with Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme of government.

Maharashtra Government scrapped 5 % reservations to Muslims in government jobs in Maharashtra that was announced by the erstwhile Congress-NCP government just before 2014 Assembly polls.

Maharashtra government started helpline 18002332688 for social, physical and psychological issues faced by adolescents.

March 23 - World Meteorological Day observed with theme Climate Knowledge for Climate Action. 1. World Meteorological Day is celebrated every year on 23 March to commemorate the entry into force in

1950 of the convention that created the World Meteorological Organization. Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere.

March 30 - Rajasthan Diwas (marking the unification of the erstwhile princely states in the region into the State of Rajasthan).

Mass nesting of endangered species Olive Ridley sea turtles started in river Rushikulya in Ganjam district of Odisha.

Mercer‘s Quality of Living Report 2015 - 1. Vienna, Austria‘s capital is the city with the best quality of living in the world. 2. Singapore is highest-ranking Asian city 3. Dubai ranks first across Middle East and Africa 4. In South Asia - Colombo (132) ranks highest followed by Indian cities Hyderabad (138) and Pune (145).

Ministry Science & Technology and Earth Sciences launched BIRAC Ace Fund aimed at accelerating growth of

entrepreneurs in Biotechnology. It will be operated by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) a Public Sector Undertaking under Ministry of Science & Technology.

Ministry of AYUSH started weekly programe on Doordarshan named - ‗Ayushman Bharat‘ aimed at popularising traditional Indian medicines through interaction with experts of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs released data of top ten Corporate of 2014 comprising eight public sector undertakings and two private companies.

1. In term of assets, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is the largest corporate with assets worth 3.68 lakh crores 2. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is second with assets worth 2.52 lakh crores, Housing Development

Finance Corp (HDFC) is third with assets worth 2.25 lakh crore rupees. 3. Other entities in the top ten are Power Finance Corporation, National Thermal Power Corporation

(NTPC), Rural Electrification Corporation, Power Grid Corporation, LIC Housing Finance (music), Steel Authority of India Limited and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) appointed Olympic Bronze medallist boxer MC Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of the North-East region.

Ministry of Health and Welfare launched Media Campaign for Mission Indradhanush including song composed by lyricist Javed Akhtar. The campaign was launched for creating awareness regarding the importance to fully immunize every child against all vaccine preventable diseases in the country.

1. Mission Indradhanush aims to cover all under vaccinated children by 2020 against seven vaccine preventable diseases that include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas organised Urja Sangam 2015: Shaping India’s Energy Security, an

international energy summit in New Delhi. Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways launched website Shipping Samvad to invite innovative ideas

and suggestions from public and experts of Indian maritime sector for improvements in shipping, ports and inland waterways.

Minoti Apte, Indian pancreatic cancer researcher in Australia has been named New South Wales (NSW) Woman of the year 2015 for her contributions to medical research, tertiary education and the Indian community.

Mufti Mohammed Sayeed of People's Democratic Party has been appointed as 12th Chief Minister of J&K. Mumbai High Court directed Maharashtra government to set up a redressal mechanism for complaints filed by

citizens against noise pollution levels. N Shakthan elected as speaker of the Kerala Assembly replacing G Karthikeyan who died recently. NASA's Dawn spacecraft completed Orbit around Dwarf Planet Ceres and became first spacecraft to orbit

around a dwarf planet. Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba won the world‘s most valuable individual award, the Mo Ibrahim

prize for African leadership. Award is worth $5m (£3.2m) award and given each year to a leader who governed

well, raised living standards and then left office. New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori retired from all forms of International Cricket. New zealand's Martin Guptill scored highest-ever score of 237 in Cricket World Cup history, Playing against

West Indies. New Executive Directors appointed for Governmenr Owned Banks -

o Charan Singh - UCO Bank o Venkat Ram Murti - Bank of Baroda o R P Marathe - Bank of India o Harideesh Kumar - Canara Bank o N K Sahoo - Allahabad Bank o Pawan Kumar Bajaj - Indian Overseas Bank o Ravi Shankar Pandey - Syndicate Bank o Kishore Piraji Kharat - Union Bank of India o R C Lodha - Central Bank of India

PC Vaish has been appointed as chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of National Textile Corporation (NTC). PM Narendra Modi Visited Indian Ocean island nation Seychelles and signed four agreements with the to boost security and maritime partnership.

0. Cooperation in hydrography, renewable energy, Infrastructure development and Sale of navigation charts and electronic navigational charts.

1. PM also launched the Coastal Surveillance Radar Project in Seychelles. PM Narendra Modi announced setting up of Shaheed Bhagat Singh PG Institute for Horticulture Research and Education at Amritsar, Punjab on 84th Martyrdom Day at National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala in Punjab.

PM Narendra Modi began his official Visit to Three island countries in Indian Ocean - Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated 2 units of 600 Mega Watt (MW) each of Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

PM Narendra Modi launched first indigenously developed Rotavirus vaccine named Rotavac to boost India‘s efforts

to combat infant mortality due to diarrhea. o vaccine will be available at a price of 1 US dollar per dose making it the cheapest vaccine available for

rotavirus globally. PM Narendra Modi launched multi-purpose and multi-modal platform, PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and

Timely Implementation), aimed at addressing common man‘s grievances and monitoring important projects. Pakistan successfully test fired first indigenously developed armed drone Burraq along with its laser guided missile

Barq. Pakistan successfully tested Shaheen-III surface-to-surface nuclear carrying ballistic missile with range 2,750 km. Pedro Morenes, Defence Minister of Spain Visited India and signed an agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified

Information to provide framework for cooperation in defence research and development. Pradip Kumar Mohanty is appointed as chief justice of Odisha High Court. President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the highest Indian Civilian Honor - Bharat Ratna to former Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Madan Mohan Malaviya was also posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna. President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill 1995 (as per

provisions in Article 201 of Constitution of India) that aims to ban slaughter of bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra. President Pranab Mukherjee presented Stree Shakti puraskars and Nari Shakti Puruskars 2014 on the occasion of

International Women‘s Day. o Stree Shakti puraskars are conferred on six women in the area of women‘s endeavor and exceptional

contribution each year. Award carries a cash prize of 3 lakh rupees and a citation. o Awardees of Stree Shakti Prize 2014 -

RBI accepted to focus on inflation targeting as a tool for Monetary Policy Framework as per an agreement between Government and Reserve Bank of India.

o In Inflation targeting, central bank decides for a medium-term target inflation rate. o RBI will have to maintain Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation targets below 6 % by January 2016

and 4 % from 2016-17 with 2 % plus/minus range. o New framework will make RBI more accountable as it will explain to government if it fails to meet inflation

targets. o This transition from monetary targeting suggested by Chakravarty Committee (1988) to Inflation targeting

suggested by Urijit Patel Committee is similar to the practice adopted by central banks in developed countries.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has set up two committees in line with the promises made in his maiden rail budget last month, including Innovation Council 'Kaya Kalp' headed by former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata to suggest ways to turn around the ailing organisation. The other committee, under former DIPP secretary Ajay Shankar, has been set up to revamp ministry's PPP (public private partnership) cell to get private investment.

Rajya Sabha passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that was passed by Lok Sabha on 2 March 2015. o Bill seeks to merge the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes

and provide 30-day break to person who applies for Indian citizenship if they leave Indian for some time. Rajya Sabha passed Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that seeks to increase foreign investment limit to 49

% from 26 %. The Bill was earlier passed in Lok Sabha on 4 March 2015. Ranglal Jamuda appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Food Processing Industries Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed a 400 million USD currency swap agreement with Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Roger Federer (Switzerland) won Dubai Open for seventh time by defeating Novak Djokovic (Serbia). Rupeee 1 note released after a gap of over 20 years with signature of Finance Secretary on it. The note was

released at Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan by Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. S M Vijayanand is appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Board approved SEBI (International Financial Services Centres)

Guidelines, 2015 aimed to provide an enabling environment for setting up of capital market infrastructure like stock exchanges, clearing houses, depository services, etc., in such centres.

Services won 69th Santosh Trophy Football Tournament beating Punjab in Punjab. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar visited India. Shipping Ministry signed an agreement with Toyota for export of automobile units through Kamarajar Port Limited

(KPL). Singer Lata Mangeshkar was presented with Laadli Voice of the Century award at the sixth edition of the National

Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity held in Mumbai. o Laadli Voice of the Century award – Lata Mangeshkar

o Best movie award – Queen o Laadli Grand Prix award – advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather for its advertisement on Titan Raga o Laadli extraordinaire award – Charu Khurana for a landmark judgment in Supreme Court regarding

Bollywood‘s bias against women make-up artists. Siraj Hussain appointed as Secretary in Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. Sohail Aman is Appointed as new Chief of Pakistan Air Force. Spanish Carolina Marin won All England Badminton Championship beating India's Saina Nehwal. Sri Lanka government conferred country's highest military rank of field marshal to former army chief Sarath

Fonseka. Sri Lanka suspended work on construction of a controversial USD 1.5 billion Chinese port city project in Colombo. Sunil Sabharwal, an Indian-American investor has been re-nominated as an Alternate Executive Director at the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the United States (US). Supreme Court (SC) of India declared Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 as unconstitutional

and struck it down. o The section empowers law enforcement agencies to arrest those who post objectionable content online and

provides for a three-year jail term. o It declared Section 66A as unconstitutional because - It violates citizens fundamental right to freedom of

speech and expression provided in the Article 19 (1)(a), not saved by Article 19(2), of Constitution of India. Sweden Based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released Trends in International Arms

Transfers 2014 report and stated that India is world's largest importer of weapons and military equipment with 15 % of global imports, with Russia being its majority supplier. USA Is largest Exporter, followed by Russia and China.

Three South Asian women - Niloofar Rahmani (Afghanistan), Nadia Sharmeen (Bangladesh) and Tabassum Adnan (Pakistan) were selected for International Women of Courage Award for year 2015 given by US Secretary of State.

Three Support Vessels T-38, T-39 and T-40 commissioned into the Indian Navy. Tripura Government launched Northeast India‘s first Kisan Call Centre in Agartala to give immediate solutions and

advisory to farmers regarding seed procurement, agro-metric, fertilizer, soil health, pesticides usage and marketing of the produces.

US mathematicians John F Nash Jr and Louis Nirenberg have been named as joint winners of Abel Prize for 2015 for their contributions to mathematical sciences. The award is given by Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

UST Global launched Women‘s Safety App iSafe for Thiruvananthapuram City Police. Union Cabinet approved a Bill for putting harsh penalties for those having unaccounted money abroad.

o The bill will give powers to tax authorities to track and deal with illegal wealth accounted abroad. o Offenders will not be permitted to approach the Settlement Commission. o Penalty will ne 300 % of taxes to be levied on the concealed amount, and 10 years imprisonment.

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani has been named as Young Global Leader from India by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Shri Ananth Kumar launched ‗Pharma Jan Samadhan‘ scheme as a web enabled system for redressal of consumers‘ grievances relating to pricing and availability of medicines.

Union Ministry of Environment launched National Air Quality Index in April 2015 as a measure to understand air quality by monitoring the eight major pollutants that impact health.

Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change revoked 3 year old ban on mining in Goa. o Iron ore extraction in 72 mines out of total 89 mines in the state will be resumed now, Remaining 17 mining

areas are located within the one-kilometre radius of wildlife sanctuaries. United Arab Emirates will host 17th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in 2019. Vikas Swarup has been appointed as an official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. West Bengal Announces Indias First Transgender Development Board. Wildlife Management of Palwancha announced eco-restoration project for Kinnerasani Sanctuary in Telangana. Women's Advancement Index by MasterCard -

o India has lowest score of 44.2 of the 16 Asia-Pacific countries though it has improved from the 38.1 score in 2007.

o New Zealand has highest score of 77, followed by Australia (76), and the Philippines (72.6). World Justice Project (WJP) released Open Government Index 2015. -

o Out of 102 countries, Sweden topped the list in terms of openness in the government, followed by New Zealand and Norway at second and third places .

o Cambodia, Iran, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe are at last in the Index. o India has been placed at the 37th position in the 2015 Index.

Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Visited India.

FEBRUARY 2015 CURRET AFFAIRS

02 Feb - World Wetlands Day. 10 Feb - National Deworming Day. 140 Million Deworming tablets distributed to school children across nation

to combat worms that make numerous children sick every year. 10th Aero India show inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengaluru (Karnataka).

1. Aero India show comprises of aircrafts, aviation products, aero technology and air shows and is organized every two years by Defence Exhibition Organisation arm of Ministry of Defence and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

12 Year Old Saloni Dalal from Karnataka became youngest medal winner in 35th National Games in Kerala .She won a Bronze medal in the 200 meter breast stroke swimming event.

13 Feb- World Radio Day. 13th meet of Foreign Ministers of India, Russia and China was held in Beijing (China). Participants were

Sushma Swaraj (India), Wang Yi (China) and Sergey Lavrov (Russia). 2 Feb - MGNREGA Day. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was started on 2

February 2006 with 200 Districts. 20 Feb - Statehood Day of Arunachal Pradesh. It was given statehood on Feb 20, 1987. 21 Feb - International Mother Language Day. 21 Feb is Mother Language Day. 2015 Theme is Inclusive Education through and with Language -

Language Matter.

24 Feb - Central Excise Day. 28 Feb - Eighth International Rare Disease Day. (Held annually on last day of February). 28 Feb - National Science Day. Prof. C V Raman was honored by Nobel Award for discovery of Raman effect

on Feb 28, 1930. 3rd Tortoise Festival organised at Hajong Lake in Assam to create awareness among people on the

endangered tortoise species by Environment and Forest Department of Dima Hasao (ASSAM). 4 Feb - World Cancer Day. 45th Meet of World Economic Forum hel in Davos (Switzerland). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley participated on

India's Behalf. 57th Annual Grammy Awards -

1. These are recording industry‘s most prestigious award presented annually by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States.

2. 83 Grammy Awards were presented this year. 3. Main Grammy Awards wnners 2015 -

1.

Category Album Artist

Best album Morning Phase Beck Hansen

Best record Stay With Me Sam Smith

Best song Stay With Me James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith

Best new artist

- Sam Smith

Children’s Album

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai)

Neela Vaswani (India)

60th Filmfare Awards announced - 1. Best Actor (male) : Shahid Kapoor for film Haider directed by Vishal Bhardwaj 2. Best Actor (female) : Kangana Ranaut for film Queen directed by Vikas Bahl 3. Best Film: Queen directed by Vikas Bahl 4. Best Director: Vikas Bahl for film Queen 5. Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award: Kamini Kaushal

68th British Academy Films Awards (BAFTA) (London) 1. Best Film : Boyhood 2. Leading Actress : Julianne Moore for Still Alice 3. Leading Actor : Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

4. Best Director : Richard Linklater for Boyhood 2 Years 8 Months and 28 Nights has been written by Salman Rushdie. Cricket World cup : The Indian Challenge has been written by Aashish Re. Editor Unplugged: Media, Magnates, Netas and Me has been written by Vinod Mehta. Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks has been written by SK Rath. Spirit of Kumbh has been written by Santosh k mishra (chief of chattisgarh Tourism board).

Vedic Astrology: A Journey Through History, Principles And Mathematica has been written by G Srinivasan.

Union Budget 2015 - 2016 - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Union Budget 2015-16 in Lok Sabha. It was first full year Budget of the NDA government and second budget of Arun Jaitley. Main Points are -

o Expenditures (Total 1777477 Crores)

Planned Expenditure - 465277 Crores Non-Planned Expenditure - 1312200 Crores.

o Revenue Receipts (Total 1671223 Crores)

Tax Revenue - 1449490 Crore Rupees Non Tax Revenue - 221733 Crore Rupees

o Estimates of various Deficits - Fiscal Defict (Rajkoshiya Ghata) to be 3.9 % of GDP

Further Estimations - 3.5 % of GDP in 2016-17 and 3 % oof GDP in 2017-18 Revenue Deficit to be 2.8 % of GDP

o Taxation -

Abolition of wealth tax and Additional 2% surcharge for the super rich with income of over Rs. 1 crore.

Corporate tax to come down from 30% to 25% over the next 3 year period. No change in individual income tax rates and slabs, overall deduction benefits to individual

taxpayers hiked to Rs 4.44 lakh a year. 2 % Swachh Bharat cess on Service Tax and 100 % deduction on investment in Swachh Bharat

Kosh. Excise duty is up to 12.5 % and and service tax Increased to 14 % (From 12.36 %). Pension fund exemption increase from Rs.1,00,000 to Rs.1,5,0000 Mediclaim policy limit increased from Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000 (Rs.30,000 for Senior Citizen) Goods and Services Tax to be implemented by April 2016.

o Agriculture - Rs. 25,000 crore for Rural Infrastructure Development Bank. Rs. 5,300 crore to support Micro Irrigation Programme. Farmers credit - target of 8.5 lakh crore.

o Infrastructure - Rs. 70,000 crores to Infrastructure sector. Atal Innovation Mission to be established to draw on expertise of entrepreneurs, and researchers

to foster scientific innovations; allocation of Rs. 150 crore. Setting up of 5 ultra mega power projects, each of 4000 MW. National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) will be made with annual flow of Rs.20,000

crores to help infrastructure finance companies leverage extra equity from the funds and use it to erect infrastructure.

Self- Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU), a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme will be created to support all aspects of start up businesses particularly in technology-driven areas. An amount of Rs.1000 crore is being set up initially in NITI (National Institute of Transforming India) Aayog for SETU.

o Education -

New AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Assam. New IIT in Karnataka; Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad to be upgraded to IIT. University of Disability Studies to be formed in Kerala. Centre of film production, animation and gaming to come up in Arunachal Pradesh. New IIMs in Jammu - Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh.

o Defence Expenditure - 2,46,726 Crores (9.87 % ) o Welfare Schemes -

DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) will be further be expanded from 1 crore to 10.3 crore. For the Atal Pension Yojna, govt. will contribute 50% of the premium limited to Rs. 1000 a year. Rs. 5,000 crore additional allocation for MGNREGA this year taking the allotement to 34699

Crores all time high. Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank will be made with funds Rs. 20,000

crore and credit guarantee fund of 3,000 crore to refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

Visa on Arrival Facility for 150 Countries. 1000 crore rupees more allocated to Nirbhaya fund For students belonging to minorities, a new scheme named Nayi Manzil will be started Transport allowance increased to 1600 rupees per month

Pradhan Mantra Suraksha Bima Yojana to cover accidental death risk of Rs. 2 lakh for just Rs. 12 per year.

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana to cover both natural and accidental death risk Unclaimed deposits of about Rs. 9,000 crores in the PPF and EPF funds will be used to revitalize

Senior Citizen Welfare funds. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana will be launched to enhance the employability of

Rural Youth with capital of 1500 Crores. National Skills Mission will be launched with capital of Rs. 1,500 crores apart for Deen Dayal

Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana. A fully IT based Student Financial Aid Authority will be set up to manage Scholarships and

Educational Loan Schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram. Scheduled Castes Development Sub-Schemes to get 30851 Crores and Scheduled Tribes to get

19980 Crores, women welfare schemes get 79258 Crores. Rural -

Rs. 15,000 crore for Long Term Rural Credit Fund Rs. 45,000 crore for Short Term Cooperative Rural Credit Refinance Fund Rs. 15,000 crore for Short Term RRB Refinance Fund

o Renewable Energy -

Rs. 75 crore for electric cars production. Total 175 K MW Renewable energy target for 2022: 100 K MW in solar; 60 K MW in wind; 10 K

MW in biomass and 5 K MW in small hydro. o Gold -

New scheme for depositors of gold to earn interest and jewellers to obtain loans on their metal accounts.

An Indian gold coin with Ashok Chakra on its face will be made to reduce the demand for foreign coins and recycle the gold available in the country.

o Financial -

Forward Markets Commission to be merged with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. NBFCs with asset size above 500 crores to be considered as ‗financial institution‘ under Sarfaesi

Act, 2002, enabling them to fund SME and mid-corporate businesses. Implementation of GAAR (General Anti Avoidance Rule) has been deferred by 2 Years. People will have to quote their PAN for all purchases above 1 lakh rupees GDP growth seen between 8% and 8.5% this year Disinvestment target set at Rs 69,500 crore for 2015-16. Tough Law to black money to be introduced including imprisonment up to 10 years and 300%

penalty on tax for concealing income and assets. Total transfer to the states will be 62 % Electrification of remaining 20000 villages by 2020

o Subsidies - 227000 Crores ( of 10.2 % from 2014 - 15). Food Subsidy Increased to 122000 Crores. Fertilizer Subsidy - 72968 Crores Petroleum Subsidy - 60270 Crores

o Others -

Year 2022 will be the Amrut Mahotsav, the 75th year, of India‘s independence. Housing for all and employment for at least one person in every family is to envisioned to achieved by 2022.

o Schemes and Expenditure -

Rural Development - 79526 Crores ( of 10 %)

Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) - 34699 Crores ( of 2.1 %)

Health Sector - 33152 Crores Education Sector - 68968 Crores (Including Mid Day Meal) Housing and Urban Development - 22407 Crores Women and Child Welfare - 10351 Crores Water Resources and Namami Gange - 4173 Crores

Economic Survey 2014 - 2015 Highlights - 0. Finance Minister of India (Arun Jaitley Currently) presents the Economic Survey in the parliament every

year, just before the Union Budget. It is the ministry‘s view on the annual economic development of the country.

1. Highlights on Economic Survey 2014-15 are 0. Prepared by Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and his team in Finance Ministry.

1. To improve investment climate and reduce backlog of stalled projects, a three-pronged strategy is suggested

1. Revival of public investment in short term, to act as an engine of growth in infrastructure sector. 2. Creative solutions needed to strengthen institutions relating to bankruptcy to ensurte that exit options are available. 3. Restructuring the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model is required to make it more viable.

2. Inflation

0. Inflation declined by over 6 % since late 2013 and likely to remain 5-5.5 in 2015-16. 3. Fiscal Deficit

0. Government will stick to fiscal deficit target of 4.1% of GDP in 2014-15 1. Country needs to meet its medium-term fiscal deficit target of 3% of GDP and expected to attain the same over next 3 years period.

4. Current account deficit

0. Current account deficit will decline from a 6.7 % of GDP in Quarter 3 of 2012-13 to 1.0 % in 2015-16. 5. GDP Growth

0. GDP Growth Rate to stay 7.4 % in 2014 - 2015 and Expected GDP Growth rate for India in 2015-16 lies between 8.1 - 8.5 % as expectations are high due to large scale economic reforms. 1. After huge phase of deceleration, GDP has been growing at 7.2 % on average since 2013-14, based on the new growth estimates of the Central Statistics Office.

6. Foodgrains production

0. Foodgrains production for 2014-15 is estimated at 257.07 million tonnes, it exceeds average food grain production of last five years by 8.5 million tones.

7. Subsidies and the JAM Number Trinity Solution

Food Subsidy Bill stands at 107823.75 crore rupees during 2014-15, increase of 20 % over previous year

The JAM Number Trinity – Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, Mobile – can enable the State to transfer financial resources to the poor in a progressive manner without leakages and minimal distorting.

8. Other Facts 0. Rational Investor Ratings Index (RIRI) that combines indicators of macro-stability with

growth illustrates that India ranks amongst the most attractive investment destinations. 1. Growth will receive boost from cumulative impact of reforms, lower oil prices, likely

monetary policy easing due to lower inflation and normal monsoon expected in 2015-16. In the long-run, private investments will be the engine of growth.

2. Complement Make in India initiative with Skill India initiative to enable larger number of people to benefit from structural transformation that such sectors will facilitate.

3. National Market for Agricultural Commodities should be created in place of thousands of agricultural markets

4. The Model APMC Act, 2003 should be amended along the lines of the Karnataka Model that has successfully introduced an integrated single licensing system.

5. Fiscal Framework

Expenditure control combined with recovering growth and GST will ensure that medium term targets are comfortably met.

In the short run, need for accelerated fiscal consolidation will be conditioned by recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC).

Oscar Awards 2015 (87th Academy Awards, Ceremony held in Los Angles (USA))) o Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 24 categories. o Notable awards

Best Picture: Birdman Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons for Whiplash Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood Best Animated Movie: Big Hero Six 6 Best Original Song: John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for Glory Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Aerospace firm SpaceX successfully launched a Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite through the Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on its third attempt.

o The satellite will be used by United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for monitoring Sun activities.

o It will collect information on solar storms and will monitor changes in solar wind and will provide warnings to the forecasters on hazardous outbursts from earth to help them predict changes that affect satellites, power grids and communication systems.

Agriculture Department issued second estimates for foodgrains production in 2014-15. 4. In 2014-15, total foodgrains production is expected to stay around 257.07 Million tonnes, which is 3.3 %

less than previous year (2013-14)'s record production of 265.57 Million tonnes. Ajay Shukla has been appointed as new Member (Traffic) in Railway Board. All India Football Federations (AIFF) Player of the Year Awards 2014 -

o Men - Sunil Chhetri o Women - Bala Devi

Amitava Roy is appointed as as a judge in Supreme Court. Prior to this, he served as the Chief Justice of Odisha High Court.

7. With This, strength of judges in Supreme Court has become 29 with maximum sanctioned strength of 31 judges.

Andhra Pradesh Government signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IT Firm Wipro for building and implementing the AP State Enterprise Architecture (APSEA).

Arvind Kumar Jain has been appointed as Director General (DG) of Police of Uttar Pradesh (UP). As per data by Controller General (CGA) of Accounts, India's fiscal deficit crossed budget estimate of Rs 5.31 lakh

crore by December-end. Target is to keep it under 4.1 % of GDP in 2014-15. Ashok K Agarwal has been appointed as General Manager of Southern Railway. Ashton Carter has been appointed as Defence Secretary by US Senate. Australian Open 2015 -

o Male - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Andy Murray (England). It was fifth Australian Open title for Novak Djokovic.

o Female - Serena Williams (USA) Defeated Maria Sharapova (Russia). This was 19th Grand Slam and sixth Australian Open win for Serena Williams.

o Men's Doubles - Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini from Italy. o Women's Doubles - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (United States ) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) o Mixed Doubles - Martina Hingis (Switzerland ) and Leander Paes (India).

Balasubramaniam Venkataramani will be new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).

Bhanu Pratap Sharma has been appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Bhopal based Indian Institute of soil science (Sponsered by Indian Council of Agricultural Research) created

‗Mridaparikshak - a MINILAB that can determine soil health. Bihar Government anounced to allot 35% reservation for women in Non-Gazetted jobs Bihar Government decided to provide free education to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and

girl students till Post Graduation (PG) level in the State. Bihar government approved inclusion of Dusadh (Dhari and Dhadi) caste in the Mahadalit category. There are no

more any Dalits in Bihar as all Dalits are now categorised as Mahadalits in the State. Book Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh is written by PR Mohana Rao.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved four highway Projects in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved mandatory packaging of 90 % of foodgrains produced in India as well as 20 per cent of sugar in jute bags for the 2014-15 crop season to help the jute sector.

o Almost all the foodgrains procured by Food Corporation of India is packaged in jute bags. o West Bengal produces 80 % of Indias total annual jute production of 11-12 million bales (one bale is 180 kg).

Centre for Science and Environment released report Heat on Power and claimed that Indian coal-based thermal

power plants are among most inefficient in world. Report was released by MS Swaminathan, father of India‘s Green Revolution.

o Inefficient resources use and technological backwardness leads to high levels of pollution. o Plants are operating at 60-70 % capacity, if capacity utilisation is improved, additional power requirement

can be without making new plants. o Delhi- based NTPC‘s Badarpur plant one of the most polluting in the country. o 55 % of the units were violating air pollution standards which are already extremely lax.

Chhattisgarh has been awarded for being one of the best-performing states in Renewable Energy Sector in India. Chief Minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi resigned. Chrishantha de Silva has been appointed as 21st chief of Sri Lanka Army. Classical vocalist Prabha Atre has been honored by Bhimsen Joshi Lifetime Achievement Award-2014. DK Pandey has been appointed as Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand

Delhi Assembly Elections 2015 Results -

0. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won by winning 67 seats out of 70 seats. 3 Seats won by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

1. Arvind Kejriwal will be seventh Chief Minister of Delhi. 33 Dosmoche festival celebrated in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. 34 Dunya Maumoon, Foreign Minister of Maldives Visited India. 35 Ecuador open tennis tournament has been won by Victor estrella burgos from Czech republic after beating Feliciano

lopez from spain. 36 Edgar Lungu has been appointed as President of african country Zambia. 37 Eighth India-Nepal Combined Military Exercise Surya Kiran-VIII started in Saljhandi (Nepal). 38 Election Commission of India will launch Electoral Roll Authentication Mission (ERAM) from March 1 to authenticate

and purify electoral rolls by using database of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to link Aadhaar number of voters.

39 Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has set up online help desk for tracing inoperative accounts and seek final settlement. There are about 8.15 crore inoperative EPFO accounts with 27000 crore rupees in them.

40 Famous Urdu poet Kalim Ahmed Ajiz passws away. 41 Federal Bureau of Investigation of USA announced a reward of 3 million USD for information on Evgeniy Mikhailovich

Bogachev, one of the world‘s most prolific cyber criminal from Russia. 42 First Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo, called RE-Invest 2015 held in New Delhi to attract large scale

investments for the renewable energy sector in India. 43 First World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC) held in Kochi (Kerala) with theme Protect Oceans for Posterity and

Blue Economy and aim is to find sustainable means to utilize the resources carefully without causing any damage to

the oceans and its marine life. 44 Forbes released Asia‘s 50 Power Businesswomen 2015 list with six Indian women featured in it -

1. Arundhati Bhattacharya, CMD, State Bank of India 2. Chanda Kochchar, CEO, ICICI Bank, 3. Akhila Srinivasan, MD/Non-Executive Director, Shriram Life Insurance/Shriram Capital 4. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Founder, Chairman and MD, Biocon 5. Shikha Sharma, CEO and MD, Axis Bank 6. Usha Sangwan, MD, Life Insurance Corp. of India

45 Former New Zealand cricketer Martin David Crowe inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. 46 Four new fish species discovered in Kerala with names - Puntius nelsoni, Puntius nigronotus, Systomus chryseusand

and Systomus rufus. 47 France signed a 5.9 billion USD deal with Egypt for supplying 24 Rafale fighter planes to Egypt. 48 German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks visited India for Indo-German Environment Forum and Pledged to

co-operate with India in cleaning of Ganga river and financial assistance of 3 Million euros. 49 German scientists combined sunlight from a Solar Vacuum Tower Telescope in Canary Islands with light of Laser

Frequency Comb (LFC) to make possible searching Earth-like planets with ease and precision. 50 Government approved 2486 Crore Rupees for development of Dholera (Gujarat) as India's first smart city. 51 Government approved Project-17A worth 8 billion USD for building 7 advanced warships with stealth and other

advanced features for avoiding detection. These frigates be built at government shipyards in Mumbai and Kolkata. 1. Aim is to boost Make in India campaign for building domestic defence industrial base and reduce

dependencies on expensive foreign suppliers. 52 Government approved a development package of 850 crore rupees for Andhra Pradesh for development of backward

areas of Rayalaseema and North Coastal region of the State 53 Government approved enhancing authorised capital of NMDFC (National Minorities Development & Finance

Corporation) to 3000 crore rupees from 1500 crore rupees 54 Government approved providing overdraft facility of drawing upto rs. 5000 from accounts opened under PMJDY

(Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhayn Yojana). The amount is to be paid in 3 years with maximum 2% applicable interest. 55 Government approved setting up of 15000 Mega Watt (MW) Grid-connected Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) Power

projects under National Solar Mission (NSM) due to high hopes in Solar Power in recent years. It will be implemented through National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (VVNL) in three tranches.

56 Government approved the 4000 crore renuka dam project in Himachal Pradesh. It will provide 275 million gallons of water to Delhi every day and will produce 40 MW Power for Himchal Pradesh.

57 Government constituted a committee under former Union Home Secretary Anil Baijal to suggest a framework to

assess Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities undertaken by companies. 58 Government created three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Pramod Asthana for re-investigation

of 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. 59 Government launched nation-wide ‗Soil Health Card‘ (SHC) scheme in Rajasthan.

1. The Soil Health Card under this scheme will be issued to 14 crore holdings and will carry crop-wise recommendations of fertilizers required for farms of different soil types. It will help farmers in identifying health of the soil therefore improving productivity through proper use of fertilizers and water.

60 Government launched online grievances monitoring system called MADAD with tagline Because You Are Us for

redressing consular grievances to help Indians living abroad to file grievances online about services by Indian Missions and Embassy.

61 Government revised National Sports Awards Schemes - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Dronacharya Awards based on recommendations made by Kapil dev led panel that decided on Arjuna awards 2014. Selection Committee for Arjuna Award will now be headed by the Retired Judge of Supreme Court/High Court.

62 Government updated the base year for calcutaion of GDP Growth Rate from 2004-05 to 2011-12. As per the new stats, GDP Growth rates and projections are updated -

1. GDP Growth rate in FY 2013-14 is updated to 6.9 % (from 4.7 % earlier). 2. GDP Growth rate in FY 2012-13 is updated to 5.1 % (from 4.5 % earlier). 3. GDP Growth rate in FY 2014-15 is expected to be 7.4% and will rise to 8-8.5 % in FY 2015-16.

63 Government's scheme PEHAL has been named as world's largest Cash subsidy transfer scheme under which the cooking gas subsidy gets transferred directly to the bank accounts of 10 crore LPG Users. Note that more than 12 crore bank accounts were opened in Jan Dhan Yojana making a world record of its kind.

64 Gujarat Forest Department tied up with Zoological Society of London for conservation of Asiatic lion and its habitat. 65 Gujarat State Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation (GSHHDC) will launch its own e-commerce portal

under the ‗Garvi-Gurjari‘ brand to reach to a bigger customer base and boost sales in overseas markets. 1. GSHHDC, a Gujarat government undertaking which owns ‗Garvi-Gurjari‘ stores across the country, has

signed an MoU with global e-commerce giant eBay. 66 H C Bisht has been appointed as Director General of Indian Coast Guard. 67 HDFC Bank Launched Mobile App - Chillar App to enable easy transfers of upto 25000 / Month and max 5000 at a

time through Mobile App. 68 Hanumanthu Purushotham appointed as as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Research

Development Corporation (NRDC). 69 Haryana Government Launched Online Registration Of Land Deals. 70 Haryana government raised cash reward under inter-caste marriage scheme from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh to promote

inter-caste marriages and remove caste discrimination in the state. 71 Himachal Pradesh became India's first state to present a 'paperless' budget.

1. Himachal Pradesh already has country's first green assembly, all documents related to budget would be online and only 10 budget copies would be printed for record.

72 Himachal Pradesh government launched Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) project in the

state for connecting police stations and other related bodies with state crime records bureau. 73 Hindi novelist Mithileshwar won the Shrilal Shukla Sahitya IFFCO Literary Award 2014. 74 ICICI Bank patnered with global payment solutions company UAE Exchange to offer an instant bank transfer service

named FLASHremit. o Using FLASHremit, customers of the bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may send money instantly

to any ICICI Bank account in India in rupees in a secure manner. ICICI Bank started Funds transfer Through Social network Twitter with ease and speed. India signed agreement of 8 million USD loan with World Bank for funding of its Sustainable Livelihoods and

Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC) Project. India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from INS Kolkata off the Goa coast.

o BrahMos has range of 300 kilometers and may carry warhead up to 300 KG with top speed about 3000 KM/Hour.

India successfully tested nuclear capable surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile from Chandipur (Odisha) with Range 350 km

India test-fired canister-based missile Agni-V with strike range of over 5000 kilometers. India's First Postal Bank ATM Opened in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). India's Muthoot Group signed co-operation agreement with World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature - India for its

Project -Friends for Life. India-made Dhruv choppers restricted from flying in Ecuador after one crashing. Indian Army and State Bank of India (SBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Defence Salary

Package. Indian Economist Amartya Sen has been given the Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015. Indian Former Cricketer Anil Kumble and Former Australian women cricketer Betty Wilson will be inducted in ICC

(International Cricket Council) Hall of fame.

Indian Navy concluded its Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX)-2015 aimed at validating Indian Navy‘s Concept of Operations and the area of operations spanned across the Arabian Sea and Northern Indian Ocean.

Indian Railways concluded its first bilateral power procurement agreement between Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and North Central Railway.

2. Under the agreement, Railways will buy 50 MW of power from DVC at Auraiya Grid Sub-station facilitated by Railways Energy Management Company Limited, a Joint Venture (JV) of Indian railway and RITES, a PSU of Ministry of Railways.

3. Indian Railways is the largest consumer of electricity with consumption of 18 Billion Units per year. Indian foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Oman. Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri won Malaysian Open by defeating Austria‘s Bernd Wiesberger. Indian telecom Provider Bharti Airtel partnered with United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF) for providing health,

education and youth-focused content to its customers in 17 African countries. Indian writer Hindol Sengupta‘s book Recasting India: How Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World's Largest

Democracy, has been shortlisted for U.S.‘ prestigious Hayek Prize 2015.

Indian-American Purnendu Dasgupta has been awarded with J. Calvin Giddings Award 2015 for Excellence in Education by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Indian-American Ravi Chaudhary has been appointed as Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States of America.

Indian-origin scientist Gurpreet Singh has been given the presented with the prestigious National Science FoundationCareer award wit cash prize money of 500000 USD for his research on Scalable liquid exfoliation

processing of ultrathin two-dimensional metal dichalcogenides nanosheets for energy storage devices. Indian-origin scientist Srikanth Jagabathula has been honored by Career Development Award (CAREER) by

National Science Foundation of the United States for developing data-driven modelling and learning techniques to improve the accuracy of operational decision making.

Iranian nuclear power plant Bushehr and India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant projects are named as projects of the year 2014 by US Power Engineering magazine in the Nuclear energy category.

Jamaica Government allowed to decriminalise possession of small amount of marijuana for personal use. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt announced that he will retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships in

London. Janatal Dal (United) leader NItish Kumar sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for fourth time after Jeetan manjhi

resigned. He is 34th CM Of Bihar. Japan successfully launched Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) reconnaissance satellite by H-2A rocket. It is

meant to support constellation of four IGS satellites, comprising two optical and two radar satellites. Jaspal Singh Kandhari has been appointed as president of Gymnastics Federation of India. Javed Usmani Sworn In As New Chief Information Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh Journalist Vinod Mehta has been conferred with Uttar Pradesh's highest civilian award Yash Bharti.

o Yash Bharti Samman is conferred by the Uttar Pradesh Government for excellence in literature, fine arts, folk and classical music and sports.

KS Radhakrishnan Committee on Road Safety submitted its report to supreme court and recommended ban of sale of alcohol on National and State highways to minimize road accidents along with other recommendations.

Karnataka became first in country to provide universal health coverage with launch of two schemes, the Rajiv Arogya Bhagya for APL households and the Jyothi Sanjeevini for government employees.

Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Monitoring Cell for Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) for enhancing business and project skills of beneficiaries under Prime Minister‘s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) which is being implemented by KVIC.

Kotak Mahindra Bank started social bank accounts with JIFI Saver technology that enables funds transfers to contacts on social networks such as facebook.

Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 Given by PM Narendra Modi o Individual crops

Rice - Chhattisgarh Wheat - Madhya Pradesh Pulses - Assam and Tamil Nadu Coarse Cereals - West Bengal Oil Seeds - Gujarat

o Total Food Grains Production Category-I (foodgrains production > 10 million tonnes) - Punjab Category-II (foodgrains production 1 - 10 million tonens) - Odisha Category-III (foodgrains production < 1 million tonnes) - Meghalaya

o Each award winning state received a trophy, a citation and a cash award of 2 crore rupees

Kshatrapati Shivaji is appointed as new CMD (Chairman and Managing Director) of SIDBI. LC Goyal has been appointed as Union Home Secretary of India. Leaders from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine met in Minsk (Belarus) to sign an agreement to end the Nine

month long violent conflict in eastern ukraine. The agreement is named as MINSK II.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was included in the LIMCA book of records for being first Indian woman to represent the same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a row.

M O Garg has been appointed as Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). Madhusudhan Prasad is appointed as Secretary in the Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). Madhya Pradesh won 10th National Award for excellent work in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) during MGNREGA summit in New Delhi. Madras High Court on directed Tamil Nadu government to ban beauty contests in colleges and educational

institutions. Marathi Writer Bhalchandra Nemade has been given then the Jnanpith (Gyanpeeth) Award 2014 for his novel

Kosala. Micromax took over Samsung and became India‘s biggest and world's third largest smartphone vendor in the world.

According to the report, in October-December 2014 (Quarter 4), Micromax handled 22 % market share in smartphones shipments in India compared to 20 % market share of Samsung.

Minis0try of Railways constituted an eight member Committee under Mohd. Jamshed to identify factors and issues affecting growth of traffic (Freight & Passenger) and suggest a plan of action for Traffic Optimization.

Mumbai University signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Railways to set up a Rail Innovation and Technology Centre to train students for attaining expertise in Railway Engineering.

Myanmar Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham visited India. NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) to collect global

observations of the vital soil moisture. Nagesh Kukunoor's Film Dhanak won two awards at 65th Berlin International Film Festival. Nandita Chatterjee is appointed as new Secretary in Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of GEF (Global Environment Facility) Visited India. National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ) launched web based tool named Atrocity Tracking and Monitoring

(ATM) System to monitor atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis & to deliver speedy justice. National Tribal Festival Vanaj 2015 inaugurated by Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram at the Indira Gandhi

National Center for Arts (IGNCA) in New Delhi. Noted Film Producer Daggubati Ramanaidu passed away. He was a recepient of Dada Saheb Phalke award and

Padmabhushan award. Novelist Chitra Mudgal has been honored by Nirala Smriti Samman 2015. Odisha Government has appointed Justice Madan Mohan Das as Chairman of committee for Inquiring of multi-crore

chit fund scam in Odisha. Patroling Vessel ICGS (Indian Coast Guard Ship) Amogh is inducted into the Indian Coast Guard.

President Pranab Mukherjee presented Visitor‘s Awards for Central Universities in the categories of Best University, Innovation and Research for 2015-

o Best University : University of Hyderabad. o Innovation Award: Prof. Vijay K. Chaudhary and Dr. Amita Gupta of University of Delhi for their invention of

TB Confirm, a rapid diagnostic test for Tuberculosis. o Research Award: Cosmology and Astrophysics Research Group, Centre for Theoretical Physics, Jamia

Millia Islamia for path breaking research carried out in the field of Astrophysics and Cosmology. RBI Allowed Gold loan Non Banking Financial Company Muthoot Finance to act as business correspondent for Yes

Bank. It is the first time a bank has appointed any NBFC as their Business Correspondent. RBI removed ban on importing gold coins and medallions by banks and allowed import of gold on consignment

basis. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented the Railway Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha -

o In his first Railway Budget, Suresh Prabhu outlined a plan to invest over 8 lakh crore rupees over 5 years. o The size of the Plan Budget has gone up by 52 % from 65789 crore rupees in 2014-15 to 100011 crore

rupees in 2015-16. o Freight rate for cement, coal, others hiked by up to 10% o Rail tickets can now be booked 120 days in advance. o Speed on nine railway corridors to go up to 200 km per hour. o Wi-Fi in 400 stations, mobile phone charging facilities in all train compartments. o All india 24/7 helpline - 138 from March 2015 and Toll free No.182 for security. o No hike in passenger fares o No new trains announced o 'Operation 5 mins', wherein passengers travellling unreserved can purchase a ticket in 5 minutes. o Four Railway Research Centres to start in four universities.

o Transport Logistics Corporation of India (TRANSLOC), to be set up for developing common user facilities to provide end-to-end logistics solution at select Railway terminals through Public Private Partnerships.

o Operating ratio to improve to 88.5% in 2015-16 The operating ratio, a key measure of efficiency, was at 91.8 per cent in 2014-15 after touching a

high of 93.6 per cent in the previous financial year. The lower the operating ratio, the better is the profitability of an entity.

o Fast-track sanctioned works on 7,000 kms of double/third/fourth lines o Commissioning 1200 km in 2015-16 at an investment of Rs. 8,686 crore, 84% higher Y-O-Y. o Commissioning 800 km of gauge conversion targeted in current fiscal. o 77 projects covering 9,400 km of doubling/tripling/quadrupling works along with electrification, covering

almost all States, at a cost of Rs. 96,182 crore, which is over 2700% higher in terms of amount sanctioned o Traffic facility work is a top priority with an outlay of Rs. 2374 crore . o Preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey (PETS) for four other DFCs in progress. o Acceleration of pace of Railway electrification: 6,608 route kilometers sanctioned for 2015-16, an increase of

1330% over the previous year. Rajasthan Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) for setting

up India‘s largest solar park with 10000 MW capacity. Rajya Sabha passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders Amendment Bill, 2014 to modify list of Scheduled

Castes in three states- Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha and one Dadra and Nagar Haveli Union Territory. o It amends the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and the Constitution (Dadra and Nagar Haveli)

Scheduled Castes Order, 1962. o It adds following communities to list of Scheduled Castes -

Haryana: Kabirpanthi Julaha Karnataka: Od, Odde, Vaddar, Waddar, Voddar, Woddar, Bovi (Non Besta), Kalluvaddar, and

Mannuvaddar Odisha: Rajak, Rajaka, Adhuria Dom, Adhuria Domb, Khatia, Sapua Kela, Nalua Kela, Sabakhia

Kela, Matia Kela, Gaudia Kela, Khadal, Khodal and Betra Dadra and Nagar Haveli: Rohit

Rana Bhagwandas, The first Hindu Chief Justice of Pakistan, Died. Ranchi Rays won Hero Hockey India League 2015 (HHIL) by defeating Punjab Warriors. Ratan Tata has been honoured with an honorary Doctorate of Automotive Engineering by the Clemson University at

the South Carolina Automotive Summit in USA for his contributions to the global automotive industry. Reserve Bank of India changed external commercial borrowings (ECB) norms under which authorised money

changing banks have been allowed to create a charge on securities. o AD Category-I banks may now allow creation of charge on assets, financial securities in favour of overseas

lender to secure the ECB to be raised. Reserve Bank of India increased annual overseas investment limit by Indians to $250,000 per person due to foreign

exchange reserves touching record levels. Russia signed an agreement with Cyprus to give Russian navy ships access to Cyprus ports in Mediterranean Sea

mostly to be used for anti-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts. SAFAR-Air , India‘s first Mobile App for checking air quality in Real Time, has been launched at Indian Institute of

Tropical Meteorology in Pune (Maharashtra). o SAFAR stands for System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research.

Scientists Tessy Thomas and Geeta Varadan have been selected for Dr.Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014. Sergio Mattarella is appointed as President of Italy. Singapore government appointed Gopinath Pillai as its special envoy to Andhra Pradesh to speed up construction of

new capital in the state. Somdev Devvarman won Delhi Open title of tennis. Sri Lanka's New President Maithripala Sirisena Visited India and Signed 4 Agreements in Civil Nuclear Co-

operation. Supreme Court directed CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to investigate role of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the multi-crore chit-fund scam. Supreme Court sought responses from Union Ministry of Human Resources Development and Central Board of

Secondary Examination (CBSE) on a plea for making make Moral Science compulsory subject in curriculam of Classes I - XII.

Supreme court ordered Online advertisement companies like Google, Yahoo to not to accept publication of sex determination content over their networks.

Tapan Misra has been appointed as Chief of ISRO‘s Space Applications Centre (SAC). Telangana Government announced organizing Godavari Pushkaralu Event on lines of Kumbh Mela. Telugu novelist Kesava Reddy passed away. Tenth Joint Exercise of India - Mongolia armies began in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

The 20th meet of TAPI (Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline or Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India Pipeline) Gas Pipeline Project held in Pakistan. Dharmendra Pradhan, (Minister of state for Petroleum and Natural Gas) attended on India's Behalf.

Three sub-groups of Chief Ministers constituted within the NITI Aayog - o First Sub-group - Study 66 centrally-sponsored schemes and recommend which schemes should continue,

which to discontinue, and which are to be transferred to states. o Second Sub-group - Look after creation of skilled manpower and skill development within states. o Third Sub-group- Taking decisions about institutional mechanisms to be evolved for Swachh Bharat

Abhiyaan to make cleanliness a part of life. Tintu Luka won gold in 800m in 35th National Games in Kerala. Tony Tan Keng Yam, President of Singapore Visited India. Tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam hit Australia. It is first time that two cyclones have hit Australia at one time Two former scientists of ISRO, B. Anantharaman K.S. Vishwanathan presented the book "Atmatirtham", which

describes Adi Sankara's life and teachings written by Nochur Venkataraman to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. USA closed its Embassy in Yemen due to the ongoing political instability and uncertain security situations in Yemen. United Arab Emirates closed its Embassy in Yemen due to the ongoing political instability and security situations. Uttarakhand Government launched Himalaya Darshan Campaign to boost tourism in the state of Uttarakhand.

West Bengal Government launched a Micro Business Credit Card to give boost to MSME sector in the state. Through This facility, entrepreneurs in the state will be able to avail cash credit up to 5 lakh rupees for their business activities.

West Bengal‘s capital city Kolkata has become India‘s first fully WiFi-enabled metro city. West Indies Cricketer Chris Gayle became first to make double century in any Cricket World Cup. He scored it

against Zimbabwe in 2015 World cup. World Health Organisation approved ReEBOV Antigen rapid test kit developed by Corgenix in the United States for

Ebola disease that can give result in 15 minutes. World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) 2015 released by Reports Without Borders (RWB) -

o India was placed at 136th position out of 180 nations, It improved from 140th rank last year. o Finland is at the top in terms of freedom for press with Norway and Denmark following. o Eritrea is the worst in terms of freedom for press as per the report, North Korea is second worst.

Zakir A. Naik, president of Islamic Research Foundation of India, won the 2015 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for Service to Islam.

JANUARY 2015 CURRENT AFFAIRS 2014 has been ranked as Earth‘s hottest year since 1880 as per analyses done by National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Global average temperature for 2014 was 1.24°F (or 0.69°C) warmer than the 20th-century average.

Government launched two schemes to support the Scheduled Castes (SC). Named Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes and Green Business scheme.

o Venture Capital Fund - Financial assistance of 15 Crore rupees for 6 years will be provided to 30 SC

entrepreneurs in a year. Initial capital is 200 crore rupees o Green Business - loan for up to 1 lakh rupees at concessional interest rate will be provided to Scheduled

Castes for activities such as e-rickshaw, Solar Pump and Solar energy powered implements, poly house etc.

India - China trade deficit increased to 37.8 billion USD in 2014. Although the bilateral trade was increased to 70.59 USD (Hike of 7.9 %).

1. India China Trade was USD 73.9 billion in 2011, 66.57 billion in 2012, 65.57 billion in 2013 and 65.49 billion USD in 2013. 2. China‘s export to India in 2014 was 54.2 billion USD and India‘s exports to China was 16.4 billion USD. The trade target of India China was 100 billion USD for 2014.

Indian Government's Jan Dhan Yojana has been included in Guinness Book of World Records for Opening of

About 11.5 Crore Bank Accounts in short span of About five months. It makes way for government's ambitious plan to transfer annual subsidy directly to bank accounts of more than 15 crore beneficiaries to remove system leakages.

PM Narendra Modi launched Sukanya Samridhi Yojana small deposit scheme for girl child under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. It will ensure equitable share to a girl child in resources and savings of a family and will enable

parents to open bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of age with an interest rate of 9.1 %. 12 January - National youth day (birthday of Swami Vivekanand). 15 January - Army Day (India). 18th National Conference on e-Governance held in Gujarat with Theme Conference was Digital Governance -

New Frontiers.

19 Jan - National Investigation Agency Foundation day. 20th Law Commission of India headed by A P Shah submitted 253rd report Commercial Division and Commercial

Appellate Division of High Courts and Commercial Courts Bill, 2015.

21st screen awards - o Actor - Shahid Kapoor (Haider) o Actress - Priyanka Chopra (Mary Kom) o Film - Queen o Director - Vikas Bahl (Queen) o Lifetime Achievement Award - Hema Malini

24 January - National Girl Child Day. 26 Jan - Indian Republic Day. 30 Jan - World Laprosy Day. 4 Jan - Louis Braille Day, he was the inventor of braille, a system of reading and writing used by people who are

blind or visually impaired. 72nd Golden Globe Award

o Drama Picture - Boyhood Actor - Eddie Redmayne Actress - Julianne Moore

76th Senior Table Tennis Championship 2015 - Soumyajit Ghosh won in Male and Mouma Das won in Female Category.

9 Jan - Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Mahatama Gandhi Returned to India from south africa on this day). A few Good men and the angry sea has been written by Nitin Sathe on the tenth anniversary of Tsunami Tragedy. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Srajan aur Mulyankan has been written by Pritam Singh. Defence Research and Development Organisation got approval for building a missile launch testing facility at a

site near to Krishna Delta Complex in Andhra Pradesh. The is a nesting site of Olive Ridley turtles which is an endangered species.

Neither a Hawk nor a Dove is written by Pakistan's Ex-Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri. Rajesh Khanna : Kuch to Log Khenge has been written by Yasir Usman. Relbanks issued list of 66 largest banks in the world by market Capitalization.

8. India's HDFC was ranked 45th with 41.58 USD Market Capitalization. SBI was ranked 51st with 36.40 USD and ICICI was 55th with 33.42 USD Market Cap.

9. Wells Fargo & Co. of US is first with market cap of 284.39 Billion USD and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) of China is second with market cap of 269.70 Billion USD.

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is named as new King of Saudi Arabia after King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz

passed away. Tipu Sultan : A Crussader for Change has been written by B Sheikh Ali. Vande Mataram has been written by Prabodh Kumar Mishra.

A.K. Mittal has been appointed as Chairman of Railway Board replacing Arunendra Kumar. Actor Amitabh Bachchan has been presented with Social Media Person of Year 2015 award by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Alexis Tsipras is appointed as Prime Minister of Greece after his party SYRIZA won the Greek General Elections. Amitabh Bachchan has been conferred with the second Yash Chopra Memorial Award. Andhra Pradesh Government decided to file a defamation case against State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) as SBH Freezed Accounts of Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) amounting to 25 crore rupees.

o The accounts of APSCHE were frozen after Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) sent a letter to various banks asking them to freeze the accounts of APSCHE as it accused APSCHE of illegally capturing off money that was to be shared between the two states.

Andhra Pradesh government constituted Fourth State Finance Commission under the Chairmanship of M L Kantha Rao. Andhra Pradesh government launched 17 Skill Development Centres (SDC) for training and honing skills of youth and help them select the course at the time of entering college and provide source of information for employment. Andhra Pradesh government signed a pact with International Crop Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to provide assistance in making agriculture sustainable and profitable. Andy Murray (Scotland) won ATP World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi after Serbian Novak Djokovic withdrew from finals due to illness. Anupam Shrivastava is appointed as Chief Managing Director of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited). Arvind Panagariya has been appointed as Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog that replaced Planning Commission. Sindhushree Khullar has been appointed as CEO of NITI Aayog. As per IMF (International Monetary Fund) Report -

0. India's GDP Growth Rate in 2016 will be 6.5 %, It will surpass China's Expected growth rate of 6.3 % in 2016.

1. India VS China GDP Growth Rates -

Year India China

2013 5 7.8

2014 5.8 7.4

2015 6.3 6.8

2016 (Expected) 6.5 6.3

1. As per recent Reports, Number of Tigers in India has risen by 30% up to 2226 from 1706 in 2010. Nearly 70% of world's Tigers are in India. Karnataka has most number of tigers (406) followed by Uttarakhand (340) and Madhya Pradesh (308).

As per a recent report by Assam's Tocklai Tea Research Institute (TTRI), Assam has the potential to produce Purple Tea which is believed to be health rich and is currently grown in Kenya Only. As per a recent report by ICC, India will Host the Twenty-20 cricket world cup in 2016 and England will host the ODI world cup in 2019. Australia's Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb Visited India. Australias national airline Qantas has been named as the worlds safest airline by AirlineRatings.com. Avijit Ghosh appointed as CMD of Heavy Engineering Corporation. Baba Ramdev is named as state brand ambassador for Haryana Government. Beji Caid Essebsi has been appointed as President of Tunisia. Bhagabatpur Crocodile Project in Sunderbans (West Bengal) has been given as fresh start with help of renowned experts in herpetology and best global practices in crocodile conservation to increase the number of saltwater crocodiles.

0. In past few years, project did not see a significant increase in the number of salt-water crocodiles. The eggs to hatching ratio also declined to 40 per 100 eggs collected.

Bibek Debroy is appointed as a Member of NITI Aayog. Book The Indian Parliament – A Critical Appraisal has been written by Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar. British government honored Indian Fauja Singh by prestigious British Empire medal for being world's oldest marathon runner Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved proposal of HDFC Bank to raise the foreign holding limit to 74 % (From 73.2 Currently). It will enable inflow of around 10000 crore rupees into the country from overseas investors.CCEA also approved proposal of Drug Maker Lupin's proposal of raising foreign holding up to 49%. Central Banking Awards 2015 announced by the Central Banking Publications-

0. Governor of the Year Award: Raghuram Rajan, RBI Governor 1. Central Bank of the Year award: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) 2. Lifetime Achievement Award: Jacques de Larosiere former Governor of the Banque de France (1987–

1993) 3. Economics in Central Banking (inaugural award): Claudio Borio, head of the monetary and economic

department at the Bank for International Settlements China Successfully tested ICBM DF-41 (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) with Over 12000 KM Range. China's submersible Jiaolong started exploration for active hydrothermal vent for first time in southwestern Indian Ocean. Chinese nuclear physicist Yu Min was was given the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award 2014 by Chinese President Xi Jinping for his research in nuclear weapons since 1960s. Committee headed by Shanta Kumar submitted report on restructuring of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and suggested to focus procurement on eastern belt and hand over procurement of wheat and rice to six States - Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and China's e-commerce firm Alibaba signed an agreement to provide global platform to Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Deep Kumar Upadhyay is appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned four Indian Coast Guard (ICG) patrolling and interception vessels in Goa. These are two fast patrol vessels - ICG Amogh and ICG Amey and two interceptor boats Charlie 413 and Charlie 414. Dinesh Oraon of Bharatiya Janata Party has been elected as Speaker of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) imposed penalty of 100 crore rupees on Riddhi Siddhi Bullion Limited (RSBL) for violation of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms. Divya Prakash Sinha appointed as Security Secretary in the Union Cabinet Secretariat. Ease of Business Report by Forbes -

0. India has been ranked at 93rd place in 143 Countries.

1. Denmark at top, followed by Hongkong. Eminent Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Frank Islam, has been honored by prestigious Martin Luther King Jr Award for his efforts in international service and civil engagement. European Union decided to lift a seven-month-long ban on the import of mangoes from India on account of health concerns. Evans Paul Assumed Office as 18th Prime Minister of Haiti (Caribbean country). Famous Cartoonist R K Laxman Passed Away. Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani has been appointed as Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Vsited Davos (Switzerland). Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India declined by over 6 % in November 2014 to USD 1.53 billion as compared to USD 1.63 billion FDI In November 2013. However, for the April-November period of the ongoing fiscal, FDI grew by 22 per cent to USD 18.88 billion as against USD 15.45 billion in the same period a fiscal before, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion data. Former Dutch Hockey team coach Paul van Ass is appointed as head Coach of Indian men's hockey team. French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdos Paris office was attacked by Terrorists reportedly due to the aggressive history of Charlie Hebdo and Publishing of Cartoons of Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Global Talent Competitiveness Index By INSEAD Business School and Human Capital Leadership Institiute of Singapore -

0. Switzerland Topped The List, Followed by Singapore and Luxembourrg. 1. India Got 78th Place in the List with Yemen at Last.

Government Scrapped Planning Commission (Formed in 1950) and created National Institute of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. Government accepted recommendations of M P Bezbaruah committee to look into concerns of people of the the North East states living in other parts of the country. Government allowed fertiliser firms to produce 100 % Neem-Coated Urea to boost income of farmers and reducing subsidy bill by up to 6500 crore rupees.

0. Neem coated urea

0. Neem coated urea works as insecticide. It costs 5 % more than the cost of normal urea which is about 260 rupees per tonne. 1. It will reduce ground and soil pollution, increase crop yields and will lower cost for the farmers. 2. It reduces nitrogen loss by more than 10 % thereby gaining a net savings of 13.5 rupees per bag for farmers. Government announced to re-issue One Rupee Note after two decades of outage. Government appointed M Sathiyavathy as First Women Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Government approved mandatory packaging of sugar and foodgrains in jute material to minimum extent of up to 90 per cent of production as a major boost to jute sector. Government approved to set up India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Tamil Nadu Government divested 10 % Stake in Maharatna Coal India Limited (CIL). With this, government‘s share in CIL came down to 79.65 %. Government divested 63.16 crores shares (10 %) of CIL through offer for sale (OFS) at a floor price of 358 rupees per share and got an amount of 22557.63 crore rupees through the disinvestment. Government launched women safety mobile app called Himmat.

Government reconstituted Empowered Committee for setting up of Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication (FAB) manufacturing facilities in the country under NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat. Government reconstituted Pollution Control Board Working Group to simplify procedures to get consent certificates and categorisation of industries. The Working Group comprising of 11 members will be headed by Ayi Vaman N Acharya. Government released commemorative coin to mark 175th birth anniversary of Jamsetji Tata. Gujarat Government launched Taluka (Tehsil) Planning Atlas (TPA) to enable local administration for taking decisions about the regional development through precise information about current status of various facilities and schemes. Gujarat Technological University (GTU) launched e-Raksha Research Centre to fight cybercrime to curb cybercrimes. Centre will encourage research and enhance capability to provide solution for issues related to cyber security. Hanumanthu Purushotham is appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Research Development Corporation (NRDC). Harishankar Brahma is appointed as 19th Chief Election Commissioner of India. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman R.K. Tyagi has been conferred with JGBS-Top Rankers' Excellence Award for CEO of 2014. ICICI Bank launched Digital Village Project in Akodara Village of Gujarat to provide various services from cashless banking to digitised school teaching with themes - cashless, comprehensive and connected. ICICI Bank launched Indias first contactless debit and credit cards using Near Field Technology enabling payments by just waving the card near merchant terminals instead of swiping them

Idukki district of Kerala became first district in India to have complete rural broadband coverage after it was linked to the National Optic Fiber Network. In the sixth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2014-15, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced cut in REPO rate of .25%.Now the REPO rate has come down to 7.75%. Accordingly, Reverse Repo rate has come down to 6.75%, Bank rate to 8.75% and Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate to 8.75%. Note that CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) is unchanged at 4% and SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) is unchanged at 23%. India provided 7 Crore rupees Assistance to Nepal for Nepal's Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Programme (IDDCP) for goitre control across the country.

0. Goitre is swelling of neck or larynx due to enlargement of thyroid gland (thyromegaly) due to its functioning properly.

India will provide 60 million USD Line of Credit (LoC) to Guyana for its road infrastructure projects. India's First CNG Train Started Between Rewarti and Rohtak in Haryana. India's First international institute dedicated to music is to be opened in Kerala. India's National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Black Business Council of South Africa for developing youth enterprises and empower the marginalized group in South Africa through NSIC's Rapid Incubation Programme. India's State Bank of India (SBI) signed a 100 million Euro loan agreement with European Investment Bank (EIB). India's Trade deficit (Imports - Exports) declined to ten month low of 9.43 billion USd in December 2014 mainly due to fall down of global oil prices and fall of demand for gold. Imports declined by 4.8 % to 34.8 billion USD in December 2014 as compared to 36.6 billion USD dollars in December 2013. Exports fell by 3.8 % to 25.4 billion USD.

Indian Nihal Singh Agar has been honored by Order of Australia for his service to the Hindu community in Australia and fostering cross-cultural co-operation with a focus on medical education. Indian Origin writer Sumona Sinha has been awarded French academy award for her contribution to French language and literature. Indian Person Atul Khare has been appointed as United Nations Under-Secretary General. Indian open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma set a world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean. 24-year old Bhakti is the first Asian girl and youngest in the world to do this. India‘s Mars Orbiter programme team has won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category from the US based National Space Society (NSS). Indo-Russian Musical Festival ZimaFest 2015 has been hosted by Goa. International Hindi Conference will be held in New Jersey (USA) in April 2015 with theme Expanding World of Hindi: Possibilities and Challenges. International Hockey Federation (FIH) Player of the Year 2014 -

0. Men - Mark Knowles (Australia) 1. Women - Ellen Hoog (Netherland)

International Labour Organisation (ILO) released a report titled World Employment and Social Outlook - Trends 2015 -

0. The report stated that unemployment will rise in the coming years to more than 212 million in 2019 as compared to 201 million currently.

Jammu and Kashmir has been selected for National Award for e-Governance for the best district-level initiative in Citizen-Centric Service Delivery through ICT. Jan 10 - World Hindi Day. Japan announced to provide an Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) loan of 2620 crore rupees to India. Japan approved largest budget ever for 2015 of total 814 Billion USD. The defence budget was also enhanced to an all time high of 43 Billion USD. Justice Narayanan Nadar Paul Vasanthakumar is appointed as new Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. K Durga Prasad is appointed as the Special Director General of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force). Kalyan Singh has been appointed as 20th Governor of Rajasthan. Kalyan Singh has been appointed as Governor of Himachal Pradesh. He is also the governor of Rajasthan. Kanagasabapathy J Sripavan is appointed as 44th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. Kaptan Singh Solanki has been appointed as New Governor of Punjab. He is also the governor of Haryana. Kiran Bhai Vadodaria has been elected as President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) for 2014-2015. Kiran Kumar Alur Seelin has been appointed as new chief of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization). Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic on won 2015 Presidential elections of Croatia and she will be croatia's First Female President. Krishna Chaudhary is appointed as Director General (DG) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Libby Lane has been named as Church of Englands first female bishop. Lithunia Joined as 19th Member of The Eurozone. M K Goel has been appointed as Chairman of PFC (Power Finance Corporation).

M Satyawati has been appointed as First Female Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). M.Y.S.Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, has been awarded the Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award for 2014-2015 by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA). Maharashtra government announced to observe September 17 as ‗Industries Day. Maharashtra government launched online Facility for filling Right to Information (RTI) application. Major Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Singh Posthumously Awarded Ashok Chakra during the 66th Republic day celebrations. Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment launched national toll free helpline (1800-11-0031) to assist the alcoholic and drug dependent persons. Ministry of Defence Awards of the 2015 Republic Day Parade -

o Services - Brigade of Guards Regiment and Sikh Regiment jointly judged as best marching contingents. o Para-Military Forces - Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) contingent o Tableaux Category- First position won by Maharashtra, which depicted the pilgrimage to Pandharpur.

Jharkhand tableau on Maluti Temples was second best and Karnataka Tableau was third (based on Channapatna Toys).

o Competitive category of school children items- Daang Dance of Gujarat by West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur (Rajasthan).

Mithripala Sirisena won 2015 Presidential Elections of Sri Lanka. He will be 7th President of Sri Lanka. Modibo Keita has been named as New Prime Minister of Mali by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. Music composer Shekhar sen is appointed as Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) replacing Leela Samson. Noted Hindi Writer Kamal Kishore Goenka has been honored by the Vyas Samman 2014 for his Research Work 'Premchand Ki Kahaniyon ka Kaalkramanusar Adhdhyan'. P Krishnamurthy is appointed as Private Secretary of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. PM Narendra Modi Inaugerated 102nd session of Indian Science Congress (ISC) at University of Mumbai. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Dandi Kutir museum in Gandhinagar, Gujarat during the 13th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD). to mark the 100th anniversary of MK Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. A Commemorative Postal stamp was also released on this occasion. PM Narendra Modi presented National Bravery Awards 2014 to 24 awardees. Padam Awards 2015 - Total 104 Padma Awards have been conferred this year (9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri)

o Padma Vibhushan

o

S. No.

Name of the Awardee Discipline State/Domicile

1. Shri L. K. Advani Public Affairs Gujarat

2. Shri Amitabh Bachchan Art Maharashtra

3. Shri Prakash Singh Badal Public Affairs Punjab

4. Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade Social Work Karnataka

5. Shri Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar

Art Maharashtra

6. Shri Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya

Others Uttar Pradesh

7. Prof. Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan Science and Engineering Tamil Nadu

8. Shri Kottayan K. Venugopal Public Affairs Delhi

9. Shri Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)

Trade and Industry France/UK

Pankaj Advani won his seventh National Billiards Championship in Kolkata after defeateding Dhruv Sitwala. Paulina Vega of Colombia has been named as winner of Miss Universe 2015 beauty pageant held in Miami (USA). People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced to create India's first fenced elephant sanctuary within Bannerghatta Biological Park in Karnataka to allow elephants to move around freely within the secure area. Periyar Tiger Reserve, spread over 925 sq.km. in Kerala, has won the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award for encouraging local public participation in managing the reserve. Poet Arundhathi Subramaniam has been given the first Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for her work When God is a Traveller at Jaipur Literature Festival. Poland Won the Hopman Cup of Tennis after beating USA in Australia.

Portugese Footballer who plays for Real Madrid Club, Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2014 FIFA Ballon dOr award for the best footballer of the year in the world. Prabhu Nath Dwivedi has been named as winner of Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit, 2014 for his short stories collection - Kanakalochanaha. President signed bill for creating new system of appointment of judges to Supreme and High Courts by forming National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) to replace collegium system of appointing judges to higher judiciary by six-member panel comprising Chief Justice of India, two Supreme Court judges, Law Minister and 2 eminent persons. President rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir (J &K) on the recommendation of the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir N N Vohra due to deadlock over the formation of the new government. Note that Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election were held in five phases in December 2014. In the Assembly election, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25 and National Congress (NC) won 15 seats. Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay visited India with his spouse Aum Tashi Doma, Foreign Minister Rinzin Dorji and Economic Affairs Minister Norbu Wangchuk. RBI Relaxed Know Your Customers (KYC) rules for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) due to difficulties being faced by NBFCs in getting KYC documents at frequent intervals. Now, the KYC exercise will be required to be done -

0. High-risk individuals and entities - Every 2 years 1. Medium risk individuals and entities - Every 8 years 2. Low risk individuals and entities - Every 10 years

RBI allowed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) to buy up to 49 % of paid-up capital of Bajaj Corp Ltd under Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS). Renowned Indian RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal has been given the Giraffe Hero award 2015 by a US-based NGO The Giraffe Heroes Project for his bravery in utilising Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 for public good despite challenges. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a Committee under RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi, to re-examine appropriate set of businesses and licensing terms for Urban Cooperative Banks (UCB).

0. The eight-member committee will be chaired by R Gandhi, the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information with Brazils Central Bank, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB). Reserve Bank of India lifted ban on carrying bank notes of Indian Rs 1000 and 500 to Nepal and Bhutan. Ruhakana Rugunda is appointed as New (10th) Prime Minister of Uganda. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved foreign soldiers to serve in Russian Military for at least five years. S Jaishankar has been appointed as new Foreign Secretary of India replacing Sujata Singh. Sikkim government signed Memorandum of Understanding with Netherlands and Thailand for development of floriculture. Sindhushree Khullar has been appointed as First CEO of NITI Aayog and Arvind Panagariya has been appointed as Vice Chairman. Social Media Site Twitter Buys ZipDial, Its First Acquisition of an Indian Company in a 35 Million USD Deal. South Africas cricketer AB de Villiers hit fastest century in One-Day International (ODI) cricket in Just 31 Balls against West Indies. South American Country Venezuela entered recession with shrinking economic growth and Recession Jumping upto 63%. Spanish writer Javier Moro's Book 'The Red Sari' - biography of Congress President Sonia Gandhi released in India. Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara became fastest cricketer to score 12000 Test runs. Stephen Constantine has been appointed as head coach of Indian mens football team. Steve Easterbrook has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Famous Fast Food Chain McDonalds Corporation. Surendra Kumar Sinha has been appointed as First Hindu Chief Justice of Bangladesh. Sutirtha Bhattacharya took charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Limited. Switzerland Tennis Player Roger Federer claimed his 1000th ATP career win at the Brisbane International by defeating Canadian Milos Raonic. It was 1000th win and 83rd title of his career. The Fifth General Assembly of IRENA (International Renewable Energy Association) held in Abu Dhabi (UAE). Thomas Kurian Is appointed as New President of Oracle Corporation. Trends in Global Carbon Di-Oxide Emission Report 2014 USA President Barack Obama Arrived in India for attending Celebrations and Parade of India's 66th Republic day.

USA based Apple Inc recorded profit of 18 billion USD dollar in 2014 which is Highest ever profit earned by any company in the corporate world.

0. Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in quarter ending December 2014. 1. Revenue of the Apple Inc rose to 74.6 billion USD in 2014 from 57.6 billion USD in 2013. 2. Apple now has a cash pile up of 178 billion USD which is enough to buy IBM or the equivalent to pay 556

USD to every American. 3. The success of Apple may be attributed to -

0. Apple's partnership in China with China Mobile Limited 1. Larger screen size of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. 2. Doubling of sales of iPhone in Singapore and Brazil and Significant rise in India as well. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released Global Investment Trend Monitor Report to provide global investments trend in 2014 and prospects of global investments in 2015.

o Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows declined by 8 % in 2014 to 1.26 trillion USD due to fragility of global economy, geopolitical risks and Political Uncertainities.

o Report in context of India

FDI flow in India in 2014 increased to 35 billion USD (26 % Up) with maximum growth in the services sector.

Maximum growth in FDI in India was in services sector especially in electricity, gas, water, waste management and information and communication

This is one of the highest in recent years, though in 2008 FDI peaked in India with 47 billion dollars followed by 35.6 billion dollar in 2009

o Top five FDI recipients’ countries in 2014 China is largest recipient of FDI with 3 % Increase. China replaced US that attracted largest FDI

since 1980. Rankings of Highest FDI Attracting Countries -

China with 128 billion USD Hong Kong with 111 billion USD The United States with 86 billion USD Singapore with 81 billion USD Brazil with 62 billion USD

United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospectus Report 2015 - 0. India 's GDP growth will rise to 5.9 % in 2014-2015 and 6.3 % in 2016, recovery is credited to key

reforms by the new Government led by PM Narendra Modi. 1. Economic growth in South Asia will pick up from 4.9 % in 2014 to 5.4 % in 2015 and 5.7 % in 2016. 2. Global economy is expected to grow at 3.1 % in 2015 and 3.3 % in 2016, compared with growth of 2.6 %

in 2014. 3. The WESP report is produced at the beginning of each year by the UN Department of Economic and

Social Affairs, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the five UN regional commissions and the World Tourism Organisation ( UNWTO).

Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 was inaugurated in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to be held from 11th to 13th January 2015. Vistara airline, a joint venture of Tata-SIA, started its flight operation in India with first flight from Delhi to Mumbai. Weightlifter Jimjang Deru of Arunachal Pradesh created national record in weightlifting by lifting 238 kilograms in 56 kilograms category during 10th Youth National Weightlifting Championships in Haryana. Wing Commander Puja Thakur became first lady officer to lead Inter-Service Guard of Honour with theme - "Nari Shakti".

World Bank Group released bi-annual Global Economic Prospects (GEP) Report, 2015. - 0. Economic growth of India estimated at 5.6 % in 2014, will improve to 6.4 % in 2015 and 7 % in 2016. 1. Global economy grew by 2.6 % in 2014 and is expected to grow by 3 % in 2015, 3.3 % in 2016 and 3.2

% in 2017. 2. USA has growth above 2.4 % in 2014, expected to grow at 3.2 % in 2015 and 3 % in 2016. 3. China‘s growth is expected to come down to 7.1 % in 2015, 7 % in 2016 and 6.9 % in 2017.

World bank released a report named Heights: Social Inclusion and Sustainable Development in Himachal Pradesh to mark significant growth over the past decades for Himachal Pradesh. highlights of the Report are -

o Per capita income in Himachal Pradesh is second highest in India despite 90 % of its residents live in rural areas. Education and share of women in the workforce is also appreciable.

o Himachal Pradesh is first in India to have banned use of plastic bags and has set heights in becoming free of defecation in open.

o Poverty is one-third the national average. Rural poverty decline four times to 85. % in 2011 from 36.8 % in 1993–94.

Yash Pal Singhal has been appointed as new Director General of Police (DGP) of Haryana. Yes bank signed a $200 Million Loan Agreement with th Asian Development Bank for promoting financial inclusion in rural areas an advancing loans to women self help groups..

THANK YOU

ALL THE BEST