current affairs-august(16-31)_english - copy - copy

8/12/2019 Current Affairs-August(16-31)_English - Copy - Copy

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National 01

International 10

Economic 13

Appointments 18

Obituary 21

Awards 23

Sports 26

Miscellaneous 28

PageCO

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Current Affairs Vol I | Issue II | 16 to 31 August, 20131

Kourou spaceport in French Guiana,giving a major push to the countrysmaritime security. Indian Navy wouldbe the user o the multi-band home-built communication spacecraf. Afer

a ight o almost 34 minutes, the Rs185-crore satellite was injected into ageosynchronous transer orbit (GO) o249 km perigee (nearest point to earth),35,929 km apogee (arthest point to earth)and an inclination o 3.5 degree withrespect to the equator. Te requencybands o GSA-7 will help space-based marine communications. It has

coverage over Indian landmass as well assurrounding seas.

GDP growth slips to 4.4%

In a clear reection o the ongoingeconomic downturn, Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) growth decelerated

urther to 4.4 per cent, the slowest pace oexpansion since the 2008 meltdown in therst quarter (April-June) o the currentscal. Te pull-down, as has been the case inrecent years, was mainly due to the dismalperormance o mining and manuacturingsectors. Although the expectation in bothoffi cial quarters and market participantswas or a attish growth during the rstquarter o 2013-14, the actual perormance

turned out to be lower than anticipated,especially as seven out o the eight sectorseither posted contraction in growth or alower rate o expansion.

NAIONAL

Lok Sabha passes Food SecurityBill

he Lok

Sabhahaspassed theambitiousNationalFood SecurityBill, 2013 that seeks to provide highlysubsidised ood grains to nearly 70 percent o the population o the country.Tis will legally entitle 67 per cent o the

population (including 75 per cent ruraland 50 per cent urban) to get subsidisedgrains under the argeted PublicDistribution System (PDS). A beneciarywill be entitled to 5 kg o rice, wheat orcoarse cereals at Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Re. 1 perkg a month, respectively. Te beneciarieswill be identied by the States basedon parameters prescribed by the Uniongovernment. Te cost o the scheme isapprox. 1.3 lakh crores.

Indias rst deence satelliteGSA-7 launched successully

I

ndias rst exclusive deence satellite,GSA-7 was

successullylaunched byEuropeanspaceconsortiumArianespaces Ariane 5 rocket rom


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Lok Sabha passes LandAcquisition bill

he

path-

breaking

Land

Acquisition

Bill, which

seeks to

provide just and air compensation to

armers while ensuring that no land can

be aquired orcibly, was passed by the

Lok Sabha with overwhelming majority.

Te Right to Fair Compensation and

ransparency in Land Acquisition,

Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012

stipulates mandatory consent o at least

70 per cent or acquiring land or Public

Private Partnership (PPP) projects and

80 per cent or acquiring land or privatecompanies.

Te bill, which will replace over a

century-old law, proposes compensation

that is up to our times the market value in

rural areas and two times the market value

in urban areas.Te bill was passed with

216 votes in avour and 19 against. Tis

legislation will provide lawul right o thearmers over their land and no right o

orceul acquisition to government, Rural

Development Minister Jairam Rameshsaid.

Manmohan Singh rst PMoutside Nehru-Gandhi clan to

hoist ag or 10th time

Manmohan Singh became therst Prime Minister outside theGandhi-Nehru amily to unurl

the national tricolour rom the rampartso the Red Fort or the 10th time. OnlyJawaharlal Nehru and his daughter IndiraGandhi have hoisted the ag more than 10times at the Red Fort. Nehru had hoistedthe national ag 17 consecutive times whileIndira Gandhi got the honour 16 times.

PM sets up Committee to assessstatus o tribals

On the pattern o Sachar Committee orMuslims, Prime Minister ManmohanSingh has set up a panel to assess

the status o Scheduled ribes (Ss) with an

aim to ensure their uplifment, particularlyin socio-economic, health and educationelds. Te seven-member committee, tobe headed by National Advisory Council(NAC) member Virginius Xaxa, has beenasked to submit its report in nine months.Te Prime Ministers decision came afer thegovernment ound that the Ss, who orm7.5 per cent o the countrys population, arenot getting enough dues despite the special

status in the Constitution. Te Committeewill prepare a report on the overall socio-economic, health and educational status othe tribal communities o the country andsuggest policy initiatives.


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Only one Indian institute in thetop 500 world universities

he Indian Institute o Science (IISc),

Bangalore is the only institution romIndia to secure a place among the top500 universities globally in the recently releasedAcademic Ranking o World Universities(ARWU), 2013, commonly known as theShanghai Ranking. Te institute has been rankedin the 301-400 category. Harvard University hastopped the global ranking, ollowed by Stanordand University o Caliornia, Berkeley. O the

500 universities ranked, American universitiescaptured a total o 182 slots including 17 o themin top 20, while European universities occupied200 positions.

Panel to study Pentavalentvaccines saety

In the wake o 21 inants dying afer

receiving Pentavalent vaccine inthe country, the government will

conduct a study to ascertain its saety. Tenational-level Adverse Events FollowingImmunisation (AEFI) Committee o theMinistry o Health and Family Welare isin the process o holding a study on saetyo the vaccine, which was introduced inIndia in 2011, as well as to ascertain the

background under which the deaths werereported within 72 hours o vaccination.90 lakh doses o Pentavalent have beenadministered to children in eight States. Tevaccine protects children against ve deadly

childhood diseases DP (Diphtheria,Pertussis and etanus), Hepatitis B andHaemophilus inuenza type B (HiB).WhileKerala has reported the maximum o 15such deaths, amil Nadu has reported a

ew, while one death each has been reportedrom Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir andChandigarh.

Rajasthan offers ree tests atprimary health centres

Afer successul implementation o a

scheme or ree supply o medicinesin hospitals, the Rajasthan

Government started the ree diagnostictest acility at all primary health centres(PHCs) situated across the State to markthe Independence Day. Te scheme orree tests or all patients was introduced atall medical colleges, district hospitals andsatellite hospitals on the World Health Day

on April 7, 2013. Te schemes extensionto PHCs would benet the patients in therural areas who nd it diffi cult to travel totowns or diagnostic tests. Te tests o 15types would be available ree o cost to everypatient visiting these medical institutions.

Karnataka Chie Minister toimplement employment scheme

Siddaramaiah said his governmentwould soon implement the RajivChaityanya scheme in the state to

ensure employment to over two lakh rural

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unemployed youth and planned to augmentpower generation by adding 4,000 MW.He said the scheme would cover 40 to 50youths in each Gram Panchayat. Over 2,300MW power in public sector and 1,700 MW

power in private sector would be generatedin the next three years under the BelakinaBhagya scheme.

Only West Bengal,ripura stayout o NPS

West Bengal and ripura are the

only States to remain out o theNational Pension Scheme (NPS),

Pension Fund Regulatory DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA) Chairman YogeshAgarwal said. Te NPS is a denedcontribution based pension system whichwas launched by Government o India witheffect rom January 1, 2004 or its newrecruits (except the Armed Forces). Te

scheme is intended to help government toreduce its pension liabilities. Unlike theearlier pension und that offered assuredbenets, NPS has dened contribution andindividuals can decide where to invest theirmoney.

Kanya Chhaya Sabki Bhagidarischeme launched in Himachal

Pradesh

Aunique initiative, Kanya ChhayaSabki Bhagidari, aimed at increasingthe sex ratio o girl child while taking

care o the green cover was launched inNalagarh town o Solan district o HimachalPradesh. On the occasion, the society ormedor the purpose honoured 27 girls born thisyear and also planted trees in their names at a

local park, called Kanya Chhaya Park.

Street named afer Gandhiji inCanada

he street leading to the CanadianMuseum or Human Rights inCanadas Winnipeg city will now

be known as Honorary Mahatma GandhiWay. Mayor o Winnipeg Sam Katz said itwas appropriate the roadway be associatedwith an individual synonymous with thestruggle or human rights.

Alleged Le ideologue undanabbed

Alleged Lashkar-e-aiba ideologueAbdul Karim

unda, whose name guresin Indias list o top-20most wanted criminalshanded over to Pakistanand who has been on the run or thepast two decades has nally been caught.

unda, who allegedly has links with topLe operatives, was attempting to sneakinto Indian territory when the Delhi PoliceSpecial Cell arrested him on the India-Nepal border. Seventy-year-old unda, is


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suspected to have masterminded over 40blasts in and outside the National Capitalpost Babri Masjid demolition in 1993.

Wall o 16th century Bahu Qillacollapses

Awallothe

historicBahu Qilla,one othe oldestorts inJammu built in the 16th century, collapseddue to incessant rains. Nobody wasinjured. Afer the incident, the Bahu FortDevelopment Committee protested againstthe Archaeology Department and JammuDevelopment Authority, alleging thatthe wall collapsed due to lack o propermaintenance and renovation.

U.S. to help India ace newsecurity challenges

hree months afer the U.S.-IndiaHomeland Security Dialogue inWashington, India is all set to send its

offi cers to various agencies across Americanederal organisations to sharpen their skills

and acquire new ones to ght terrorism.Indian offi cials and security offi cers wouldsoon be visiting the U.S. or training inan array o coursesrom cyber security,megacity policing and orensics, to criticalinrastructure protection, nancial terrorism

and anti-terrorism intelligence. Te U.S.government has agreed to give Indian offi cersaccess to its specialised agencies underthe Department o Homeland Security,particularly the Georgia-headquartered

Federal Law Enorcement raining Centres(FLEC), to help them deal with the changingace o international terrorism.

Shortest woman releases biggestbook

he worlds shortest woman, JyotiAmge, whose height is a little below25 inches, released the biggest

book measuring 30x24 eet, at a unctionin Jaipur. Te religious book written byJain Muni Shri arun Sagar titled KadvePravachan weighs 2,000 kg. About 1,500 kgiron and 100 litres o colour were used by10 workers, who came rom Ahmedabadand Nasik to make the book. It took themour days to complete the work.

Central Zoo Authorityintroduces grading system or

zoos

he Central Zoo Authority o India(CZA) has introduced a gradingsystem to assess the perormance o

zoos. A ve-member CZA team, comprising

a wildlie expert, a veterinary specialist andother experts will examine the parameters.Grading will be based on the evaluationand assessment o acilities at the zoo andits overall perormance as a conservationand education centre.

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Daily Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha

I

n a resh attempt to minimise disruptions,Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansariaccepted a suggestion to have a Zero Hour

everyday to allow members to raise importantissues. Zero Hour had come into existence inthe Indian Parliament in the 1960s to allowMPs to raise issues o public importance withthe permission o the chair when they havegiven a prior notice and in some cases, evenwithout notice. Its duration is one hour. illnow, it was allowed on all working days in theLok Sabha during the session but in the RajyaSabha, it was kept only on alternate days.

Over 8000 Indians sign up orone-way trip to mars

O

ver8,000

Indians havesigned up orthe one-waytrip to Marsand settle down on the red planet. Teone-way trip to Mars, under the MarsOne project plans to establish a colonythere in the next 10 years. August 31 wasthe last date or registration. It has already

received interest rom more than 1,65,000people across the globe hoping to be therst humans on Mars. India stands ourthamong other countries o the world with8,107 applicants. Te top ew countries toenroll are the US, China and Brazil.

Air Force lands heavy-lifaircraf near LAC

he Indian

Air Forcelandedits C-130JSuper Herculestransport planeat the worldshighest and recently-activated airstripat Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) in Ladakh,close to the Line o Actual Control (LAC)

where Indian and Chinese troops hadwitnessed a three-week long stand-off inApril. A C-130J Super Hercules landed atDBO is the highest airstrip in the world.With this enhanced airlif capability, theIAF will now be in a better position tomeet the requirements o our land orceswho are heavily dependent on the airbridge or sustenance in these higher andinhospitable areas, the IAF said.

Allowance or orphan, wards oHIV parents

he Bihar Cabinet approved a schemeaimed at providing allowance toorphaned children and wards o

HIV positive and leprosy parents. As per the

programme o Social Welare department,orphaned children up to six years o ageand those whose parents are suffering romleprosy and HIV-AIDS would be given amonthly allowance o Rs. 900 each.


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Anti-superstition ordinancepromulgated in Maharashtra

he anti black magic and superstition

ordinance has been promulgatedin Maharashtra afer the murder orationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayananhas given his assent to the anti black magicand superstition ordinance. Te angry protestssparked by Dabholkars killing promptedthe Maharashtra government to clear anordinance to enorce the anti-superstition billhe had championed or years. Te Bill had

proposed that those indulging in black magicor preying on peoples superstitions be jailed orup to seven years. Te bill also sought to ban arange o practices including black magic, animalsacrice and magical remedies to cure ailments.

Govt extends CGHS acilities

he Government has extended the Central

Government Health Scheme (CGHS)acilities to permanently disabled (with

40% disability) dependent but unmarriedbrother o a CGHS beneciary without any agelimit. Te disability includes blindness, low-vision, leprosy cured, hearing impairment, loco-motor, mental retardation and mental illness.

Retired judge to probe Kishtwarriots

he ormer judge o the Jammuand Kashmir High Court, JusticeR.C. Gandhi, will hold a time-

bound judicial inquiry into the communal

riots that rocked the Kishtwar district in

Jammu province on August 9. Te State

government announced the appointment

o Justice Gandhi while issuing a special

notication under the Jammu and Kashmir

Commission o Inquiry Act, 1962. He has

to submit a report within one month.

5 new IIIs start unctioning

Five new Indian Institutes o

Inormation echnology have started

unctioning rom this academic

session. Te institutes at Chittoor in Andhra

Pradesh, Kota in Rajasthan, iruchirapalli

in amil Nadu, Guwahati in Assam and

Vadodara in Gujarat have been set up under

the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) mode.

India is now worlds third largestInternet user afer U.S., China

India has bypassed Japan to become the

worlds third largest Internet user afer

China and the United States, and its

users are signicantly younger than those

o other emerging economies, global digital

measurement and analytics rm comScore

has said in a report. India now has nearly

74 million Internet users, a 31 per cent

increase over March 2012.

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West Bengal to launchKanyashri project

West Bengal Chie Minister

Mamata Banerjees dreamproject Kanyashri would belaunched on October 1. Ms. Banerjeesaid the project would empower womenthrough improved health services andeducation o girls. Te project will target18.5 lakh beneciaries.

Aap ki Rasoi scheme to be

expanded

he Aap ki Rasoi scheme throughwhich one ull meal is being providedto about 6,000 destitute people across

Delhi would soon be expanded to reach outto more people in need, Chie Minister SheilaDikshit said. Te Government has beenimplementing various social sector schemes

with a view to ensure proper ood or all.

ONGC adopts aj Mahal underourism Ministrys Clean India

campaign

With an aim o attracting moretourists in the country by

improving cleanliness and hygieneconditions at tourist destinations, ourismMinister K. Chiranjeevi has launched theClean India Campaign at world heritagesite, aj Mahal. Te 17th Century marble

mausoleum, which has been adopted byState public sector undertaking ONGC, is thesecond site to be covered under this project.Te rst Qutub Minar in New Delhi wasadopted by the India ourism Development

Corporation in June 2012.

My Stamp launched

India Post has now made it possible to printpersonal photographs on postage stamps.Te Philatelic Bureau in Madurai will now

offer the My Stamp acility where pictures opeople, historical places, wildlie and amoustourist places can be printed as commemorativepostage stamps. Te My Stamp acility was rstshowcased in the World Philatelic Exhibition2011 in New Delhi where there was a hugedemand or it. Afer repeated requests, thePostal Department decided to introduce it andmake it available to the public.

Goa bans plaster o ParisGanesha idols

he Goa government has prohibitedthe sale, manuacture, transportationand use o Ganesh idols made out

o Plaster o Paris (PoP) including theirentry in the State o Goa. Te PoP idols aremade rom semihydrated calcium sulphate

manuactured by calcination process andwhen immersed in water, do not dissolveor disintegrate easily, thereby causingirreversible environmental effects on theriverine/coastal ecology.


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Q 1. Which among the ollowing is the rst deence

satellite o India?

a. GSA 4 b. GSA 9

c. GSA 7 d. GSA 11 Ans. c

2. Which among the ollowing states offers ree testsat primary health centres?

a Madhya Pradesh b. Rajasthan c. Haryana d. Chattisgarh

Ans. b

3. Which state has started an employment generation scheme named Rajiv Chaitanya

Scheme? a. Andhra Pradesh b. amil Nadu

c. Gujarat d. Karnataka

Ans. d

4. Who among the ollowing heads the recently appointed committee to assess statuso tribals?

a. Nandini Sundar b. Samant Bhattacharya

c. Virginius Xaxa c. Patricia Uberoi

Ans. c

5. Which state has launched a scheme named Kanyashree or women empowerment?

a. West Bengal b. Punjab

c. Kerala d. amil Nadu

Ans. a

6. Which public sector company has adopted aj Mahal under Clean India Campaign ?

a. SAIL b. ONGC

c. BHEL d. NPC

Ans. b 7. Zero hour , the one hour discussion is scheduled in Rajya Sabha on -

a. Alternate days b. Monday and Friday

c. Monday d. All working days

Ans. d

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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INERNAIONAL

El Baradei resigns

E

gyptian Vice-PresidentMohammed El

Baradei resigned saying hisconscience was troubledby loss o lives whensecurity orces crackeddown on supporters o ousted PresidentMohammed Morsi. His resignation cameafer nearly 149 people were killed whensecurity orces stormed two camps.

Obama cancels militaryexercises, condemns violence in

Egypt

President Barack Obama announcedthat the United States is cancellingjoint military exercises with Egypt

saying normal U.S. cooperation cannot

continue in light of the armed forcesbloody crackdown. The United Statesstrongly condemns the steps that have beentaken by Egypts interim government andsecurity forces, Obama said.

Washington provides $1.3 billion inmilitary aid and about $250 million ineconomic aid toEgypt every year, which ithas been reluctant to cut off for fear of losing

leverage there and in the broader region.Stopping military exercises in Egypt was oneclear way the White House could show itsdispleasure. It was the first significant U.S.move to penalize Egypts military rulers.

Chinese military tests heavypontoon bridge on Brahmaputra

Chinese army has tested a new-type oheavy-duty pontoon bridge on theBrahmaputra river in ibet during

a military exercise. Te bridge was testedat a wartime river-crossing support drillorganised by an engineer regiment o theChinese Peoples Liberation Army this monthon the Yarlung sangpo River (Brahmaputra).Te new-type heavy bridge equipment adoptsmodular conguration and its structure canbe changed at any time.

Rebel leader sworn in as CARPresident

Former rebel leader, Michel Djotodia,was sworn in as president o theCentral Arican Republic, ve

monthsafer seizing

power in theviolence-wrackedcountry.Djotodiaswore the oath o offi ce on the ransitionCharter, which has substituted theconstitution since the ouster o FrancoisBozize, who himsel came to power on

the back o a military coup in 2003. Teormer French colonys sixth presidentis tasked with restoring security in theimpoverished state and steering the nationthrough a transition period leading toresh polls within 18 months.


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Nepal to open ve new peaks tomountaineers

Nepal will open ve peaks o over

8,000 metres in height to expeditionswhen the autumn climbing seasonbegins, taking the total number o suchmountains to 13. Te new peaks LhotseMiddle, Lhotse Shar, Kanchenjunga South,Kanchenjunga Central and KanchenjungaWest all measure over 8,400 metres (27,559eet). Te move is yet to be approved by theInternational Mountaineering and Climbing

Federation, offi cials said. Nepal currentlyallows expeditions to scale eight mountains oover 8,000 metres, including Mount Everest.

Bradley Manning sentenced to35 years in prison

Bradley Manning,the U.S. soldier

convicted o thebiggest breach o classieddata in the nations historyby providing les toWikiLeaks, was sentencedto 35 years in prison. He was ound guiltyo 20 charges including espionage andthef. In 2010, Manning turned over morethan 700,000 classied les, battleeld

videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks,the pro transparency website, in a case thathas commanded international attention.

US sanctions Pak madrassa oraiding Le

he US has imposed sanctions on aPakistani madrassa being used ortraining bomb makers and suicide

attackers or the Le and Al Qaeda. It is orthe rst time that such an action has beentaken against a seminary. Ganj Madrassa inthe northwestern city o Peshawar, offi ciallyknown as Jamia aleem-Ul-Quran-Wal-Hadith Madrassa, is the rst seminary to bedesignated a terrorist organisation by theUS. Te sanctions orbid Americans romhaving any business interaction with it.

Indians now third largestimmigrant group in the US

Indians have emerged as the third largestimmigrant group in the United Statesafer Mexicans and Chinese, with their

numbers touching 1.9 million as o 2011.

Te Indian-born population in America hasgrown by over 150 times in size since 1960.

Germanys ex-president to acetrial over avours scandal

G

ermanys ormer President ChristianWulff, who resigned amid a scandalin 2012, will ace court on charges

o accepting a avour while in offi ce. Wulff,54, who was Germanys youngest presidentand served less than two years in the largelyceremonial job, will become the countrysrst ormer head o state to answer chargesin court.


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Q 1. Who has been elected as the new president o

Central Arican Republic?

a. Michel Djotodia

b. Uhuru Kenyatta c. Yahya Jammeh

d. Dawda Jawara

Ans. a

2. Te Pakistani madrassa upon which Americaimposed sanction is-

a. Haji madrassa

b. Ganj madrassa

c. Abu madrassa

d. Harem madrassa

Ans. b

3. Which community orms the largest immigrantgroup o US?

a. Chineseb. Indian

c. Canadian

d. Mexican

Ans. d

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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ECONOMIC

RBI eases Statutory LiquidityRatio

he Reserve Bank o India (RBI)

has urther relaxed the StatutoryLiquidity Ratio (SLR), to providemore unds to banks or lending. It is theamount which a bank has to maintain in theorm o cash, gold or approved securities.Te move was in view o the losses sufferedby banks in their investment portolio. RBIhas decided to retain the SLR at 24.5 percent, to help banks reduce MM (Market

to Market) losses resulting rom abnormalmarket condition.

First ever penalty against oreignGovernment entity by CCI

C

ompetition Commission oIndia (CCI) has ned Singaporegovernment investment arm,

emasek Rs 50 lakh in the air traderegulators rst ever penalty against aoreign government entity or late ling oapplication seeking anti-trust approval oran M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) deal.Te ne has been imposed on emasekHoldings and its two units or delay insubmitting a mandatory notice to CCI withregard to proposed acquisition o shares

rom banking major DBS Group.

FMC nod or NSEL settlementplan

Commodity markets regulator

Forward Markets Commission(FMC) has asked crisis-riddenNational Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL) to goahead or the time being with its plan tosettle Rs.5,600 crore o dues to investors andquestioned the credibility o the accountsand inormation provided by the exchange.NSEL had submitted the plan to FMC toclear dues o 13,000 investors over a period

o seven months. Te FMC came downheavily on NSEL or not taking guaranteesor the nancial settlement and providingdifferent sets o inormation at differenttimes.

RBI to open orex swap windowor OMCs

he Reserve Bank o India (RBI) hasdecided to open a orex (oreignexchange) swap window to meet the

entire daily dollar requirements o threepublic sector oil marketing companies:IOC, HPCL and BPCL. Te RBI said thatthis decision had been taken on the basis oassessment o current market conditions.Under the swap acility, RBI will undertake

selling/buying o U.S. dollar-Indian rupeeorex swaps or xed tenor with the oilmarketing companies through a designatedbank.


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Germany recognises bitcoin ascurrency

Bitcoin, a

popularonlinecurrency, hasbeen recognizedor legal andtax purposesin Germany, making it the rst countryto take an offi cial stance on the statuso using the online currency as money.

Berlin has acknowledged the virtualtender as a currency unitand privatemoney,according to German newspaperDie Welt. Bitcoin has been a popular ormo payment around the globe since it wasrst introduced in 2009, as people becamedissatised with the conventional bankingsystem. Meanwhile, the currencys viabilityhas been questioned because Bitcoins arebacked by neither a government nor acentral bank. Currently, 1 bitcoin is valued atabout $110.

Ban on Duty-ree import o atVs

he government banned duty-reeimport o high-end at screen plasma

television, which will now attract alevy o 36.05 per cent. Earlier, air travellerscould bring a at screen television orpersonal use without paying any duty. TeRevenue Department issued a notication

that amended rules to disallow import oat panel [LCD/LED/Plasma] television aspart o ree baggage allowance. In an earliermove to contain the Current Account Decit(CAD) and arrest declining value o rupee,

the government has raised duty on gold,platinum and silver to 10 per cent.

CRISIL predicts rupee to settleat 60 by March

In a sharp departure rom currentspeculation, rating agency CRISIL said

that it expects the rupee to recover romits current level and end at 60 against thedollar by March 2014. Te two actors thatwill lead to this result, according to a reportput out by the agency, are a lower CurrentAccount Decit (CAD) and a pick-up inoreign capital inows in the second-halo the current nancial year. Te orecast o60 per dollar, however, is still a signicant

downward revision rom the agencysearlier orecast o 56 a dollar.

Portolio investment scheme orNRIs relaxed

he Reserve Bank o India simpliedrules governing portolio investmentssuch as, equity and debt by non-

resident Indians (NRIs) to attract inowo oreign currency. Under the PortolioInvestment scheme (PIS) or NRIs, bankswere given a unique code or each branch,making it cumbersome or them to administerthe scheme. Te RBI has now dispensed


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RIL, BP make new gas discoveryin Cauvery basin

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its

partner BP (British Petroleum) hasannounced a new gas condensatediscovery off the east coast in the Cauverybasin. Te discovery, in the deepwater block,is situated 62 kilometers rom the coast inthe Cauvery Basin and is the second gasdiscovery in the block. RIL is the operatoro the block with 70 per cent interest andBP has a 30 per cent share.

Penalty on 6 banks or violatingKYC norms

he Reserve Bank o India hasimposed a ne o Rs.6.50 crore onsix public sector banks, including

IDBI Bank, Dena Bank and Indian Bank,or violating customer identication orKYC (Know Your Customer) norms andanti-money laundering guidelines. Te

other three banks ned or violations are:Allahabad Bank, Bank o Maharashtra andCorporation Bank.

Banks offer higher rates on NRIdeposits

Non-resident Indians are being wooedwith higher rates o interest by

several banks afer the Reserve Banko India allowed lenders to offer NRIs a betterreturn than local depositors and relaxedreserve requirements on these deposits. Manyprivate and public sector banks, includingAxis Bank, Federal Bank and IDBI Bank,

have raised their NRI deposit rates ollowingthe recent liberalisation o the same by theReserve Bank.

Government sets up ARCunder Shome

he Governmenthas set up ahigh level panel

under chairmanship oParthasarathi Shome(Director, Indian Council orResearch on International

Economic Relations) to review tax lawsand suggest ways or a stable and non-adversarial tax administration. Te sevenmember ax Administration ReormCommission (ARC) will have 18 monthstenure to suggest various measures includingappropriate organisational structure or taxgovernance, an offi cial statement said.

Small investors to be paid

he National Spot Exchange Limited(NSEL) said that it would be clearingpay-out o Rs. 177.23 crore to small

investors, while the total payout would beabout Rs. 190 crore. It has availed a bridgeloan rom Financial echnologies India Ltd.(FIL), the promoter company, to make

these payment. NSEL is a Commoditiesexchange in India and is a joint venture oFIL and National Agricultural CooperativeMarketing Federation o India(NAFED).


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Q 1. Which o the ollowing oreign government

entities have been penalized by CompetitionCommission o India?

a. Samsung

b. emasek Holdings

c. Nokia

d. Sony Erricson

Ans. b

2. Te name o currency recently recognised byGermany or legal and tax purposes is

a. Bitcoin

b. Kira

c. Streek

d. Betacoin

Ans. a

3. Who, among the ollowing, heads the recently

setup ax Administration Reorm Commission? a. Abhijit Sen

b. Pulok Chatterjee

c. Parthasarathi Shome

d. C.Rangarajan

Ans. c

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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APPOINMENS

Tree new ASGs appointed

hree senior advocates: L. NageswaraRao, Santosh Kumar Bagariaand K.V. Viswanathan have been

appointed as Additional Solicitors Generalin the Supreme Court or a period othree years. Tey will be in addition to theexisting ASGs and handle various casesassigned to them and would also assistthe Attorney General G.E., Vahanvati andSolicitor General, Mohan Parasaran.

Salehi appointed as the head oatomic body

he Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani hasreportedly made the

outgoing Foreign MinisterAli Akbar Salehi as thehead o the Atomic Energy

Organisation, replacinga hardliner with a pragmatist to takecharge o ehrans nuclear programme.Rouhanis appointment o Salehi indicatesthe presidents intention to pursue amore exible approach to Irans nucleardispute with the West than his predecessorMahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Pak general appointed as UNmilitary adviser

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a Pakistaniarmy general as the Military

Adviser or United Nations PeacekeepingOperations. Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmed,who replaces Senegals Lt Gen BabacarGaye, recently completed his duties as aCorps Commander in the Pakistan Army,

an appointment that he had held sinceFebruary 2013. Ahmed has held a numbero senior appointments including servingas an Inantry Commander. His militaryappointments comprised a combinationo command and staff appointments andinclude a United Nations peacekeepingtour o duty in the Democratic Republic othe Congo in 2005-2006.

Deepak Sandhu named ChieInormation commissioner

Former Media advisorto the Prime Ministerand Inormation

Commissioner, Deepak

Sandhu has been appointedas the Chie InormationCommissioner. She willsucceed Satyananda Mishra. Sandhu isan Inormation offi cer (1971 batch) whohas been Principal Director General inthe Press Inormation Bureau and hasbeen media advisor to the PM. She joinedthe Chie Inormation Commission in

September 2009.


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Agrawal, Ramana to be ChieJustices o Madras, Delhi HCs

he Supreme Court collegium has

recommended that the actingChie Justice o the Madras HighCourt, Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, be madeits Chie Justice. Justice Agrawal assumedoffi ce as acting Chie Justice on February7 this year. Te seniormost judge o theHigh Court, Justice R. Banumathi hasbeen recommended to be appointed as theChie Justice o the Jharkhand High Court.

Justice N.V. Ramana, acting Chie Justiceo Andhra Pradesh High Court, will be thenew Chie Justice o the Delhi High Court.

Dilip rivedi is new CRPFDirector-General

Dilip rivedi, a 1978 batch IPS offi cero the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has

taken over as the new chie o theCentral Reserve Police Force. Mr. rivediwas till now serving as Special Director-

General o the Border Security Force.

Narayana Murthy quits aschairman o NPCI

NR Narayana Murthy has steppeddown as chairman o the NationalPayments Corporation o India

(NPCI) afer taking charge as Executivechairman o Inosys. NPCI has beenpromoted under the aegis o Reserve Banko India by various banks as a not-or-protorganization. It is known or providing

the I backbone that connects AMs oall banks. NPCI is also the promoter oRupay, the Indian alternative to Visa andMasterCard.

Indian-origin Proessor to headS Arican varsity

An Indian-originproessor has beenappointed as Vice-

Chancellor o one o SouthAricas internationally-renowned academicinstitutions. Pro AdamHabib is named as Vice-Chancellor o theUniversity o the Witwatersrand.


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23/35


OBIUARY

Olympian passes away

F

ormer athlete HenryRebello, who hadrepresented India

in the 1948 OlympicGames in London, diedin Gurgaon afer a longillness. He was 84. An avidsports lover till the very end, Rebello was atriple jumper o the highest quality.

Gujarat DGP dies in Tailand

Gujarats Director-General o Police,Amitabh Pathak,

died on August 23, 2013 inPhuket, Tailand. Pathak,58, who was appointedto the top police post inFebruary 2013, was swimming when he

suffered a massive cardiac arrest. Te 1977batch IPS offi cial was in Tailand with hisamily on a vacation.

Neelkanth Kalyani passes away

I

ndustrialist and agriculturist NeelkanthA. Kalyani, the ounder and chairmano the over $2.5 billion Kalyani Group,

passed away in Pune. Te pioneer o theIndian orging industry, Mr. Kalyani , was87. He was honoured with the Padmashriin 1991 or his outstanding contribution tothe industry and agricultural sectors.

Vocalist Raghunath Panigrahipasses away

Eminent classical

singer and musicdirector, PadmashriRaghunath Panigrahi,passed away afer illness ora ew months. He was 82.Recipient o many awards,the maestro, was awarded Padmashri in2010 or his outstanding contribution toIndian art and culture.

First woman member o theNYSE

he rst woman to become a membero the New York Stock Exchange,Muriel Mickie Siebert, has died

at age 80. Siebert became the rst womanmember o the New York Stock Exchange

in 1967.

Maldives Foreign Ministerpassed away

M

aldives Foreign Minister, AbdulSamad Abdulla, who was undertreatment or heart disease, has

passed away in Singapore. He was namedthe Foreign Minister in March 2012.


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Q1. Who was the rst woman member o New York

Stock Exchange?

a. Helena Schidmt

b. Rosa Parkers c. Muriel Siebert

d. Vanessa Alcott

Ans. c

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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AWARDS

Childrens Peace Prize orMalala

Pakistani teenager

Malala Yousazai(16), an outspokenproponent o girlseducation who surviveda aliban assassinationattempt in 2012, has beenawarded a top Dutch childrens honour orher activism. Yemeni Nobel Peace Prizelaureate awakkol Karman will do the

honours. It carries a cash value o 100,000($133,000) that is invested in projectsrelating to the winners cause.

Rajiv aranath gets BasavarajRajguru award

Eminent Sarodplayer Rajiv

aranath oMysore has beenselected or this yearsPandit BasavarajRajguru NationalAward, instituted by the Pandit BasavarajRajguru National Memorial rust.

SP Yadav bags Rajiv GandhiWildlie Award

he Rajiv Gandhi WildlieConservation Award has been givento SP Yadav, DIG, National iger

Conservation Authority, by EnvironmentMinistry while the Amrita Devi BishnoiWildlie Protection Award-2010 inindividual category was conerred uponSaurabh Gupta and Gaurav Gupta or their

contribution in protection o Wildlie.

RINL gets award or costmanagement

R

INL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd)has bagged second position in the10th National Award or Excellence

in Cost Management 2012 conducted bythe Institute o Cost Accountants o India(ICAI). For the rst time ICAI has includedexternal proessionals or the evolutiono the perormance o organisations orpresenting these prestigious awards.

Patna proessor bags FulbrightFellowship

Shailendra Kumar Mandal, AssistantProessor in the Department oArchitecture at National Institute

o echnology Patna, has bagged theprestigious Fulbright-Nehru Fellowshipsponsored by the United StatesIndiaEducation Foundation (USIEF). TeFulbright Program is the agshipinternational educational exchangeprogramme sponsored by the USGovernment.


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Award or lm-maker

S

ohan Roy, director o DAM 999,was awarded the 69th Rajiv GandhiShiromani Award or his outstanding

contribution to the industry by ripuraGovernor Devanand Konwar in New Delhirecently. Te award is in memory o the LateRajiv Gandhi and instituted by the CitizensIntegration Peace Society.

Guru Kelucharan awards

he 19

th

annual Guru KelucharanMohapatra Award unction willbe held at Rabindra Bhavan in

Bhubaneswar rom September 5 to 9. GuruShankar Behera will be presented the awardor his contribution to Odissi dance andGuru Ghanasyam Panda will be given theaward or his contribution to Odissi music.

Saahard Samman

Recognising Paaranandi Nirmala orher literary contributions, UttarPradesh Hindi Sansthan is awarding

her with Saahard Samman (elugu) or theyear 2012 with a cash prize o Rs.2.02 lakhon September 14 at Lucknow. She has so artranslated some 103 books rom Hindi toelugu and rom elugu to Hindi and alsorom English to Hindi.


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Q1. Who has been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi

Wildlie Award recently?

a. N.K Malhotra

b. S.P Singh c. K. Chandrashekhran

d. S.P Yadav

Ans. d

2. National Award or Excellence in CostManagement was awarded recently to -

a. Inosys

b. CS

c. RINL

d. LIC

Ans. c

3. Guru Kelucharan award is related to the eld o-

a. Science and echnology

b. Sports c. Dance

d. Fine Arts

Ans. c

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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SPORS

PV Sindhu enters top 10 inworld rankings

Backed by her bronze medal-

winning perormance at the WorldChampionships, PV Sindhu enteredthe top-10 o the womens singles rankingsor the rst time in her career. In the latestBadminton World Federation (BWF)rankings released, the 18-year-old jumpedtwo places to No.10 while Saina Nehwalretained her No.4 position.

Nadal clinches CincinnatiMasters title

Raael Nadalwon the APCincinnati

Masters or the rsttime , his ninth titleo 2013 lifing him to

No. 2 in the world andstamping him as a U.S. Open avourite.Te ourth-seeded Spaniard, proved againthat the eight-time French Open championis back in peak orm afer his shockingrst round exit at Wimbledon.

Sania-Zheng pair lifs title

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza notchedup her third title o the season and17th overall as she lifed the womens

doubles trophy at the WA New HavenOpen along with new partner Jie Zhengin New Haven. Playing just their ourthevent together, third seeded Sania and Jiedeeated the second seeded pair o Anabel

Medina Garrigues and Katarina Srebotnikin the summit clash.

Ganguly to head CAB coachingcommittee

Former Indiacaptain Sourav

Ganguly wasnamed the chairmano the coaching sub-committee o theCricket Associationo Bengal. Ganguly led the cricketdevelopment committee o CAB or thepast ew years but was moved into a moreimportant role as the state body sought to

utilise its most-prized cricketer in a biggerway.

Australia joins ASEAN FootballFederation

A

ustralia became a ull member osouth-east Asias ASEAN FootballFederation (AFF) with the backing o

all members o the regional organisation.


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Q 1. Who has won AP Cincinnati Masters title o

2013?

a. Roger Federer

b. Andy Murray c. Raael Nadal

d. Serena Williams

Ans. c

2. Which country has recently joined ASEANFootball Federation?

a. Phillipines b. Australia

c. Malaysia

d. New Zealand

Ans. b

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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MISCELLANEOUS

Indian-origin woman to helpbuild worlds astest car

29-year-old Indian-

origin woman romSouth Arica is set to

join the team o specialistengineers building theworlds astest car in the UKBeverly Singh, a mechanicalengineer rom PortElizabeth, will help design the Bloodhoundsupersonic car, currently being built by a

team o about 30 engineers in a high-techcentre near Bristol, South Arica.

Madonna tops Forbes richcelebrities list

P

op singer Madonnahas topped Forbesmagazines highest

earning celebrities list or2013. Her MDNA tourboosted her estimatedearnings to $125 millionbetween June 2012 and June 2013.Ranking second at $100 million is director,Steven Spielberg.

Worlds smallest autopilotaircraf developed

he Micro Aerial Vehicle Laboratoryat Delf University o echnology,Netherlands, has designed and

built the worldssmallest unmannedaircraf. Te MicroAerial Vehicle(MAV), called Lisa/S,

weighs only 1.9 gramsand measures 2 cmby 2 cm. It was designed to t into narrowspaces or carry a camera, making it ttingor potential rescue missions in the uture.

Juno at halway milestone inJupiter journey

NASAs Junospacecrafhas reached

halway to Jupiter,touching a milestonein its ve-year voyageto our solar systemslargest planet. Te $1.1 billion Juno

mission, which was launched on August5, 2011, reached halway to Jupiter. Tespacecraf will arrive at Jupiter on July 4,2016. Once in orbit around Jupiter, thespacecraf will circle the planet 33 times,rom pole to pole, and use its collectiono eight science instruments to probebeneath the gas giants obscuring cloudcover. Junos science team will learn about

Jupiters origins, structure, atmosphere andmagnetosphere and look or a potentialsolid planetary core.


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New mammal speciesolinguito discovered

Researchers

announceda rarediscovery o anew species omammal calledthe Olinguito. Te raccoon-sized creatureleaps through the trees o mountainousorests o Ecuador and Colombia at night,according to researchers. One o them

lived in a National Zoo in Washington ora year in a case o mistaken identity.

New super-heavy elementdiscovered

S

cientists have conrmed the discoveryo a new super-heavy element withatomic number 115 and it may soon

join the periodic table. An internationalteam o researchers conducted an

experiment at the GSI research acilityin Germany to conrm earlier works byresearch groups in Russia. Te new super-heavy element is yet to be named.

NASA detects water on moonsurace

Based onvaluable datacollected by

Indias Chandrayanmission, a National

Aeronautics andSpace Administration(NASA) unded lunar research has yieldedevidence o water locked in mineralgrains on the surace o the moon roman unknown source deep beneath thesurace. Te ndings represent the rstremote detection o this orm o water thatoriginates rom deep within the Moons

interior, NASA researchers said.


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Current Affairs Vol 3 Issue 7 July 16-31, 201330

Q1. Juno mission is related which o the ollowing

planets?

a. Mercury

b. Mars c. Saturn

d. Jupiter

Ans. d

2. Which, among the ollowing countries, has builtworlds smallest autopilot spacecraf?

a. Netherlands

b. United States o America c. China

d. Japan

Ans. a

3. New mammal species discovered recently is

a. Solenodon

b. Mustela Nigripes

c. Equus Burchellii

d. Olinguito

Ans. d

KNOWLEDGE CHECK


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3131

Common Recruitment ProcessFor

Recruitment in Clerical cadrein

Participating Organisations (CWE Clerks-III)

Events Tentative Dates

Online Registration August, 19-September, 07, 2013

Payment o Application Fees - Online August, 19-September, 07, 2013

Payment o Application Fees - Offl ine August, 21-September, 21, 2013

Online Examination(entative dates)-some/all/additionaldays as the need arises

November, 30-December, 01, 2013December, 07-08, 2013December, 14-15, 2013


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