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MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZIN

FEBRUARY 2015



Table of ContentsUnion Budget 2015-16

Railway Budget 2015-16

Economic Survey of India 2014-15

News Related to RBI/Finance/Economy

Business News/MoUs/Deals

News Related to India

New around the World

Appointments

Awards & Honors

Oscar Awards 2015

Sports News

National Games Kerala

Important Days in February

Books and Authors

Obituaries in February

Reports/Indexes

Current Affairs Quiz - Finance

Current Affairs Quiz - India

Current Affairs Quiz - World/Sports

Rail Budget 2015-16 Quiz

Banking Awareness Quiz

Answers



Taxation

1 Abolition of Wealth Tax.

2 Additional 2% surcharge for the super rich with

income of over ` 1 crore.

3 Rate of corporate tax to be reduced to 25% over

next four years.

4 Total exemption of up to ` 4,44,200 can be

achieved.

5 100% exemption for contribution to Swachch

Bharat, apart from CSR.

6 Service tax increased to14 per cent.

Infrastructure

1 70,000 crores to Infrastructure sector.

2 Tax-free bonds for projects in rail road and irrigation

3 PPP model for infrastructure development to be

revitalised and govt. to bear majority of the risk.

4 Atal Innovation Mission to be established to draw

on expertise of entrepreneurs, and researchers to

foster scientific innovations; allocation of ` 150

crore.

5 Govt. proposes to set up 5 ultra mega power

projects, each of 4000MW.

Education

1 AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nad

Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Assam.

2 IIT in Karnataka; Indian Institute of Mines inDhanbad to be upgraded to IIT.

3 PG institute of Horticulture in Armtisar.

4 Kerala to have University of Disability Studies

5 Centre of film production, animation and gaming

come up in Arunachal Pradesh.

6 IIM for Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh.

Agriculture

25,000 c

Rural Infrastructure Development

Bank

5,300 cr

Micro Irrigation Programme

8.5 lakh cr

Targeted for farmer credit

UNION BUDGET 2015-16 HIGHLIGHTS



Welfare schemes

1 GST and JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar

and Mobile) to improve quality of life and to pass

benefits to common man.

2 Six crore toilets across the country under the

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

3 MUDRA bank will refinance micro finance orgs. to

encourage first generation SC/ST entrepreneurs.

4 Housing for all by 2020.

5 Upgradation 80,000 secondary schools.

6 DBT will be further be expanded from 1 crore to

10.3 crore.

7 For the Atal Pension Yojna, govt. will contribute

50% of the premium limited to ` 1000 a year.

8 New scheme for physical aids and assisted living

devices for people aged over 80 .

9 Govt to use ` 9000 crore unclaimed funds in

PPF/EPF for Senior Citizens Fund.

10 ` 5,000 crore additional allocation for MGNREGA.

11 Govt. to create universal so

Defence

2,46,726 cr

allocated for defence

(an increase of 9.87 per cent over

last year)

Focus on Make in India for quickmanufacturing of Defence

equipment.

Renewable energy

75 cr

electric cars production

2022: 100K MW

Solar power

60K MW

Wind power

10K MW

Bio Mass

5K MWSmall Hydro

Tourism

Develpoment schemes for churches and

convents in old Goa; Hampi, Elephanta

caves, Forests of Rajasthan, Leh palace,

Varanasi , Jallianwala Bagh, Qutb Shahi

tombs at Hyderabad to be under the newtoursim scheme.

Visa on Arrival for 150 countries



Railway Budget 2015-16: Quality of Life in Journeys

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 26 February 2015 presented his maiden Rail Budget 2015-16 in the

Lok Sabha. This was also the second rail budget of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

PROPOSED INVESTMENT PLAN (2015-2019)

Item Amount (Rs in crore)

Network Decongestion (including

DFC, Electrification, Doubling

including electrification and traffic

facilities)

199320

Network Expansion (including

electrification)

193000

National Projects (North Eastern &

Kashmir connectivity projects)

39000

Safety (Track renewal, bridge works,

ROB, RUB and Signalling & Telecom)

127000

Information Technology / Research 5000

Rolling Stock (Locomotives, coaches,

wagons – production &

maintenance)

102000

Passenger Amenities 12500

High Speed Rail & Elevated corridor 65000

Station redevelopment and logistic

parks

100000

Others 13200

TOTAL 8,56,020



Four goals for Indian Railways to transform over next five years

• To deliver a sustained and measurable improvement in customer experience.

• To make Rail a safer means of travel.

• To expand Bhartiya Rail’s capacity substantially and modernise infrastructure: for this purpose daily

passenger carrying capacity will be increased from 21 million to 30 million. Track length will also be

increased by 20 percent from 114000 km to 138000 km. Annual freight carrying capacity will be grownfrom 1 billion to 1.5 billion tonnes.

• To make Bhartiya Rail financially self -sustainable.

Key Highlights of the Railway Budget 2015-16

• No increase in passenger fares

• Passengers can book tickets 120 days in advance instead of 60 days which was available till date

• Outlay for passenger amenities increased by 67 percent

• New train sets that can save 20 percent journey time will be introduced in future. These trains will be

similar to bullet trains in design but can run on the existing tracks

• The speed passenger trains across nine corridors will be increased to 160-200 km from 110 km

• SMS alert will be introduced for train timings and under this passengers will be informed in advance

the updated arrival or departure time of the trains at starting or destination stations

• Air-conditioned coaches for suburban trains will be introduced

• Wi-fi will be available at 400 railway stations

• Railways Intends to set up an Innovation Council called Kayakalp for Purpose of Business Re-

Engineering

• Railways Proposes to set up Malaviya Chair for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi • Bidding system will be used for redevelopment of stations

• 10 satellite railway stations will be developed in 2015-16

• 800 km of gauge conversion will be commissioned

• E-catering introduced in 108 trains can be accessed by ordering on IRCTC website

• Water vending machines will be expanded on more stations

• On–board entertainment facility will be extended on Shatabdi trains

• General class coaches will see introduction of mobile charging stations

• For benefit of the common man, more general class coaches will be added to select trains

• Pension funds, multi-lateral banks have evinced interest in Railways

• Proposed the best operating ratio in nine years, of 88.5 per cent for 2015-16

• Track capacity will be increased by 10 percent to 1.38 lakh kilometers

• Feasibility report of high speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is expected by mid-2015

• To ease private investment, wagon-making scheme will be reviewed

• All India 24x7 grievances helpline 138 will be started

• Bio-toilets will replace more than 7000 toilets, while 650 stations will get new toilets

• Passenger travelling unreserved can produce a ticket within 5 minutes and for this purpose Operation

Five Minutes will be introduced



• To address complaints of people Mobile application is being developed

• Integrated tickets will be introduced

• Hand-held devices will be introduced for ticket checkers; it is move towards paperless ticketing

• In next 2 years, centrally managed railway display network will be introduced in over 2000 stations

• Rail-cum-road ticket to be extended in many stations

• Rail connectivity will be enhanced in North Eastern states• To aid expanding freight handling capacity and provide end-to-end logistic solutions, Transport Logistic

Corporation of India will be set up

• PPP model will be used to augment resources and generate more employment

• 6608 kilometer of track will be electrified

• 96182 crrore rupees will be spent to expand capacity of 9420 km rail lines

• For women safety, CCTVs will be introduced in selected trains and suburban trains

• Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System will be installed on select

routes at the earliest

• Projects for rail connectivity to many ports and mines

• Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation Scheme will be launched in order to achieve the higher quality

service

• Programme to improve design, quality and cleanliness of bed linen will be launched within the next six

months

In the budget, Prabhu gave 11 thrust areas to improve quality of life in train journeys which also includes

Swachh Rail - Swachh Bharat drive. The 11 thrust areas include

Cleanliness

Swachh Rail - Swachh Bharat campaign

New department for cleanliness

Integrated cleaning by engaging professional agencies and training our staff

Waste to energy conversion plants

New toilets covering 650 additional stations compared to 120 stations in 2014

Bio-toilets to be fitted in the coaches

Bed linen

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi to design bed linen

The facility of online booking of disposable bedrolls at select stations will be extended to allpassengers through the IRCTC portal on payment basis



Help-line

Start a 24X7 helpline number 138 and a toll-free number 182 for security related complaints

Ticketing

Operation Five Minutes to ensure Speedy Purchase of Tickets for Unreserved Class Passengers.

Provision of modified hot-buttons, coin vending machines and single destination teller windows

will be launched to reduce the transaction time.

For the differently-abled travellers, a special initiative will be launched whereby they can

purchase concessional e-tickets after one-time registration.

Proposal to work towards developing a multi-lingual e-ticketing portal

Some other facilities include introduction of integrated ticketing system on the lines of rail-cum-

road tickets on Jammu – Srinagar route will be expanded.

Catering

Integrate Best Food Chains for E-Catering

Railway passengers to order their food through IRCTC website at the time of booking tickets

Leveraging technology

Introduce hand-held terminals to Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) for verification of

passengers and downloading charts.

Extending facility of SMS on mobiles as a valid proof of travel for PRS tickets

SMS Alert service to inform passengers in advance of the updated arrival/departure time of

trains at starting or destination stations

Surveillance

Surveillance cameras will be provided on a pilot basis in selected mainline coaches and ladies’

compartments of suburban coaches without intruding into privacy

Entertainment

Project for introducing on-board entertainment on select Shatabdi trains on license fee basis

Mobile phone charging facilities will be provided in general class coaches & its numbers will be

increased in sleeper class coaches

Station facilities

200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme

Wi-Fi will be provided at B category station

Facility of self-operated lockers to be made available at stations



Provision of concierge services will be introduced through IRCTC at major stations

Online booking of wheel chair on payment basis for senior citizens, patients and the differently-

abled passengers will be available through IRCTC on select stations

Train capacity

Capacity in identified trains will be augmented to run with 26 coaches

More General class coaches will be added in identified trains

Comfortable travel

NID to design user friendly ladders for climbing to the upper berths

Quota of lower berths for senior citizens will be increased

Middle bay of coaches will be reserved for women and senior citizens

NID will develop ergonomically designed seats

Provision of 120 crore rupees for Lifts and escalator has been made The newly manufactured coaches will be Braille enabled

Entrances will be widened to ease of differently-abled passengers

Corporate houses & MPs requested to invest in improving passenger amenities at Railway

stations through CSR & MPLAD funds

In this regard, Railway Budget 2015 – 16 unveiled certain initiatives ranging from cleanliness drive to

development of infrastructure to improving the overall quality of life in train journeys.

The major initiatives undertaken in the Railway Budget 2015-16

Station Redevelopment

Zonal and Divisional offices to be empowered for quicker decision making

Development of 10 Satellite Railway terminals in major cities with twin purpose of decongesting

the city and providing service to suburban passengers

Network expansion

Fast-track sanctioned works on 7000 kms of double/third/fourth lines

Commission of 1200 km of network in 2015-16 at an investment of 8686 crore rupees

Expansion of freight handling capacity

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.

Policy for Private Freight Terminals (PFT) to be revised.



Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme for traffic to be expanded

Long haul freight operations to be used extensively and construction of long loop lines to be

expedited.

Improving train speed

Speed of 9 railway corridors to be increased from existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200

kmph respectively.

Average speed of freight trains in empty and loaded conditions will be enhanced to 100 kmph

for empty freight trains and 75 kmph for loaded trains.

Bullet train

Feasibility study for High Speed Rail between Mumbai-Ahmadabad is in advanced stage.

Upgrading manufacturing capability

Creation of job opportunities by upgrading the manufacturing capability and review offunctioning of Indian Railways Production Units.

Workshops for technological upgradation and enhancing productivity be undertaken to make

them self-sustaining.

Safety

RDSO to develop a suitable device with reliable power supply system based on theft-proof

panels/batteries in consultation with Indian Space Research Organization using geo-spatial

technology.

Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System to be installed on

selected routes at the earliest.

Better welding techniques being promoted and digital type machines to replace analogue type

machines.

Technology upgradation

Constitution of an innovation council called Kayakalp for business re-engineering.

Technology portal being constituted to invite innovative technological solutions.

Research Centers to be set up in selected universities for fundamental research.

Partnerships for development

PPP cell to be revamped to make it result oriented. Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation scheme

to be launched.

Joint ventures to be set up with States for focused project development, resource mobilization,

land acquisition and monitoring of critical rail projects.



Improvements to Management Processes and Systems

Systems audit to be conducted for review of all processes and procedures.

Constitution of a working group to modify present system of accounting, to ensure tracking of•

expenditure to desired outcomes and Train operations to be audited.

Paperless working in material management system to be expanded and Vendors to be

integrated through Vendor Interface Management System.

Resource Mobilisation

Support from the Central Government for 41.6 percent of the Plan and Internal generation of

17.8 percent for setting up of a Financing Cell in the Railway Board.

Setting up an infrastructure fund, a holding company and a Joint Venture with an existing NBFC

of a PSU with IRFC for raising long term debt from domestic as well as overseas sources.

Digitized mapping of land records and responsibility fixing for encroachments.

New strategy to tap latent advertising potential including offering stations and trains for

corporate branding.

Railways in partnership with ports will deliver rail connectivity to Nargol, Chharra, Dighi, Rewas

and Tuna. Scrap disposal policy to be reviewed for speedier scrap disposal.

Human Resources

Human Resource Audit to be undertaken; Separate accounting head for HRD; ERP based HumanResource Management System.

Setting up a full-fledged University during 2015-16 and Improved delivery of health services to

employees

Energy and sustainability

Environment Directorate to be constituted in Railway Board to give increased focus on

environment management.

Initiative likely to save at least 3000 crore rupees in next few years will be taken up. 1000 MW

solar plants will be set up by the developers on Railway/private land.

Water conservation mission will include water audit and expansion of water harvesting systems.

100 DEMUs to be enabled for dual fuel- CNG and diesel.

Noise levels of locos to be at par with international norms and concerns related to wildlife will

be addressed.



Transparency and Governance initiatives

System of on-line applications introduced for two categories of recruitment as a pilot project.

All possible solutions be explored to address menace of corruption. E-procurement value chain

to be expanded.

Social initiatives

Infrastructure like stations and training centers to be made available for skill development.

Promotion of products made by Self Help Groups, consisting mainly of women and youth on the

model of Konkan Railway.

Tourism

Incredible Rail for Incredible India to be launched and Promotion of training of auto-rickshaw

and taxi-operators as tourist-guides on the model of Konkan Railway.

Coaches in selected trains connecting major tourist destinations to travel agencies may be

offered on a revenue sharing model.

IRCTC to work on promoting the Gandhi circuit to attract tourists to mark the occasion of 100

years of the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa.

IRCTC will work on Kisan Yatra, a special travel scheme for farmers for farming & marketing

technique centres.



Economic Survey of India 2014-15

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on 27 February 2015 presented Economic Survey of India 2014-15 in

the Parliament.

The Economic Survey reviews the developments in the Indian economy over the previous 12 months,

summarises the performance on major development programmes and highlights the policy initiatives of

the government and the prospects of the economy in the short to medium term.

Three pronged strategy suggested in Economic Survey 2014-15

To improve the investment climate and reduce the backlog of stalled projects, Economic Survey

2014-15 suggested a three-pronged strategy, namely

Revival of public investment in short term, to act as an engine of growth in infrastructure sector.

It argues that public investment cannot be a substitute for private investment; but is required as

a complement and to crowd it in.

Need of creative solutions to strengthen institutions relating to bankruptcy. This will ensure that

exit options are available. This will also ameliorate over-indebtedness that lowers the capacity

to generate new investments. Towards this end, it contemplates setting up of a high-powered

Independent Renegotiation Committee.

Economic Survey highlights the need for reorientation and restructuring of the PPP model. This

is expected to make them more viable in future.



Main Highlights of the Economic Survey 2014-15

General Highlights

Using the new estimate for 2014-15 as the base, GDP growth at constant market prices is

expected to accelerate to between 8.1 and 8.5 percent in 2015-16.

Inflation declined by over 6 percentage points since late 2013 which is likely to remain in the 5-

5.5 percent range in 2015-16, creating space for easing of monetary conditions.

The current account deficit declined from a peak of 6.7 percent of GDP in Quarter 3 of 2012-13

to an estimated 1.0 percent in the fiscal year 2015-16.

After a nearly 12-quarter phase of deceleration, real GDP has been growing at 7.2 percent on

average since 2013-14, based on the new growth estimates of the Central Statistics Office.

Foodgrains production for 2014-15 is estimated at 257.07 million tonnes, which will exceed

average food grain production of last five years by 8.5 million tones

Foreign portfolio flows have stabilized the rupee, exerting downward pressure on long-term

interest rates which is reflected in yields on 10-year government securities and surge in equity

prices.

From a cross-country perspective, a Rational Investor Ratings Index (RIRI) which combinesindicators of macro-stability with growth illustrates that India ranks amongst the most attractive

investment destinations.

It ranks well above the mean for its investment grade category (BBB), and also above the mean

for the investment category above it (on the basis of the new growth estimates).

In the short run, growth will receive a boost from the cumulative impact of reforms, lower oil

prices, likely monetary policy easing facilitated by lower inflation and improved inflationary

expectations, and forecasts of a normal monsoon in 2015-16.

Growth in medium-term prospects will be conditioned the “balance sheet syndrome with Indian

characteristics” that has the potential to hold back rapid increases in private sector investment.

In the long-run, private investments will be the engine of growth. However, there is a case for

reviving targeted public investment as an engine of growth in the short run to complement and

crowd-in private investment.

Expenditure control and expenditure switching from consumption to investment will be the key

to growth in the short-run



It calls for complementing Make in India initiative with Skill India initiative to enable a larger

section of the population to benefit from the structural transformation that such sectors will

facilitate.

The Survey emphasizes on creation of a National Market for Agricultural Commodities in place

of thousands of agricultural markets

The Model APMC Act, 2003 should be amended along the lines of the Karnataka Model that has

successfully introduced an integrated single licensing system.

Fiscal Framework

The Survey calls for adhering to the medium-term fiscal deficit target of 3 percent of GDP. This

will provide the fiscal space to insure against future shocks and also to move closer to the fiscal

performance of its emerging market peers.

It also calls for moving toward the golden rule of eliminating revenue deficits and ensuring that,

over the cycle, borrowing is only for capital formation.

Expenditure control combined with recovering growth and the introduction of the GST will

ensure that medium term targets are comfortably met.

In the short run, the need for accelerated fiscal consolidation will be conditioned by the

recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC).

The quality of expenditure needs to be shifted from consumption, by reducing subsidies,

towards investment.

Subsidies and the JAM Number Trinity Solution

Food Subsidy Bill stands at 107823.75 crore rupees during 2014-15 (up to January 2015) which

means an increase of 20 percent over previous year

The direct fiscal cost of select subsidies is roughly 378,000 crore rupees or 4.2 percent of GDP in

2011-12.

41 percent of subsidy given for the PDS kerosene is lost as leakage and only 46 percent of the

remaining 59 percent is consumed by households that are poor.

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 with minimal

distorting effects.



Indian Railways and Public Investment

The Indian Railways over the years has been plagued by host of issues. Some of them include

underinvestment resulting in lack of capacity addition and network congestion; neglect of

commercial objectives; poor service provision; and consequent financial weakness. These have

cumulated to below-potential contribution to economic growth.

As a result, the competitiveness of Indian industry has been undermined. Calculations reveal

that China carries thrice as much coal freight per hour compared to India. Coal is transported in

India at more than the cost vis-à-vis China, and it takes 1.3 times longer to do so.

The railways public investment multiplier (the effect of a 1 rupee increase in public investment

in the railways on overall output) is around 5.

In the long run, the railways must be commercially viable and public support must be linked to

railway reforms. These include adoption of commercial practices, tariff rationalization, and

technology overhaul.



News Related to RBI, Finance, Economy in February 2015

RBI 6th Bi-Monthly Policy

Keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 7.75 per

cent;

Keep the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks unchanged at 4.0 per cent of net demand

and time liabilities (NDTL);

Reduce the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of scheduled commercial banks by 50 basis points from

22.0 per cent to 21.5 per cent of their NDTL with effect from the fortnight beginning February 7,

2015;

Replace the export credit refinance (ECR) facility with the provision of system level liquidity with

effect from February 7, 2015;

Continue to provide liquidity under overnight repos of 0.25 per cent of bank-wise NDTL at the

LAF repo rate and liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75 per cent of NDTL ofthe banking system through auctions; and

Continue with daily variable rate term repo and reverse repo auctions to smooth liquidity.

Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF will remain unchanged at 6.75 per cent, and

the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 8.75 per cent.

Union Government on 7 February 2015 decided to infuse 6990 crore rupees in nine Public Sector Banks

to enhance their capital and meet global risk norms. The capital infusion was decided on the basis of

performance of each bank. This is the first tranche of capital infusion for which the government had

allocated 11200 crore rupees in the Union Budget 2014-15.

The criteria includes

Weighted average of Return on Assets (ROA) for all PSBs for last three years put together

Return on Equity (ROE) for these banks for the last financial year.

The Banks are:

1.

State Bank of India (SBI) - 2970

2.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) - 1260

3. Punjab National Bank (PNB) - 870

4. Canara Bank - 570

5.

Syndicate Bank - 460

6. Allahabad Bank - 320

7. Indian Bank - 280

8. Dena Bank - 140

9. Andhra Bank – 120

Total – 6990



Union Government on 4 February 2015 approved a development package and ad hoc support of 850

crore rupees for Andhra Pradesh.

ICICI Bank on 10 February 2015 launched India’s first digital Bank on mobile phone, Pockets. This digital

e-wallet can be downloaded from Google Playstore. Pockets, the digital e-wallet uses a virtual VISA cardthat enables the users to transact on any website or mobile application in India.

Users can fund it from any bank account across India and start transacting immediately. It requires no

documentation or branch visit. Users can also choose to add a zero balance Savings Account to the

wallet, which will allow them to earn interest on their idle money.

Mahindra Finance in talks with IFC for JV for Payment Bank. IFC is a World Bank Group. Most of the big

telecom players who possess huge distribution networks have entered the fray. Reliance Industries tied

up with SBI; Airtel with Kotak Bank.

Standard Chartered revised FY16 GDP growth forecast to 7.7% from 6.3%.

Union Government on 10 February 2015 approved a proposal to increase the authorised Share Capital

of the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) to 3000 crore rupees from

1500 crore rupees. NMDFC works for welfare of minorities.

ICICI Bank has tied up with UAE Exchange to offer an instant bank transfer service to the Indians residingin the Gulf nation. ’FLASHremit’ service started by the bank enables customers to conveniently send

money instantly to their beneficiaries in India in Indian Rupees.

RBI issued guidelines on CCCB

Reserve Bank of India had issued guidelines on when it would require Indian banks to maintain a

CCCB, an additional layer of loss-absorbing capital on top of banks’ increased minimum capital

requirements under Basel III.

According to the RBI’s guidelines, the key trigger for activating the CCCB will be when the

credit/GDP ratio has risen relative to its long-term trend. The RBI said it would require banks to hold the full 2.5 per cent buffer when the gap between

the credit/GDP ratio and the long-term trend exceeds 15 percentage points.



West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee on 11 February 2015 launched the Micro Business

Credit Card in association with the State Bank of India to boost the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises

(MSME) sector in the state. The Micro Business Credit Card is the first of its kind in India. These

Business credit cards will even help the farmers to start businesses.

The Supreme Court of India on 13 February 2015 directed CBI to probe the role of Reserve Bank of

India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the multi-crore chit-fund scam. It has

directed the CBI to investigate their role for effecting a mechanism.

The Reserve Bank of India on 13 February 2015 announced that soon the currency notes of one rupees

denomination will be in circulation. The notes will be printed by the Government of India. RBI in its

release informed that these currency notes are legal tender as provided in The Coinage Act 2011. It said

that the existing currency notes in this denomination in circulation will also continue to be legal tender.

Hidden Word Bharat (भारत ) vertically arranged on right hand side will be present.

To get customers to use alternate banking channels such as ATMs, Internet and mobile banking, State

Bank of India has started technology learning centres at 385 regional business offices across the country.

India’s largest bank is conducting free interactive learning sessions for customers on the third Friday of

every month at these offices.

Government exempted oilseeds, raw cotton, 36 other products from commodity transaction tax.

The Reserve Bank lifted the ban on imports of gold coins and medallions by banks and trading houses.

The RBI in a notification also said banks are permitted to import gold on consignment basis. Domestic

sales will be, however, permitted against upfront payment only.

Foreign shareholding in Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd has reached the prescribed limit and foreign

investors would not be allowed to purchase further shares in the company, the RBI said. The foreign

shareholding through GDRs/ADRs/FDI/NRI/PIO/ FIIs/RFPIs in Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd has reached

the prescribed threshold limit, RBI said in a notification.

Digital wallet provider Paytm is looking to set up 30,000 to 50,000 retail outlets where its 2.4 crore

customers can load cash on their digital wallet.



The government said up to 26 per cent FDI in insurance companies will be allowed through automatic

route, as it notified rules to increase foreign direct investment ceiling in the sector to 49 per cent.

Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in the first week of February 2015 finalised new oil subsidy

sharing formula between the public sector oil refining companies and oil marketing companies. As perproposal, No contribution towards subsidy for crude oil price less than and equal to 60 dollars per

barrel.

Assam’s Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on 19 February 2015 advocated for Naturonomics for Assam and

other North Eastern (NE) states to usher in a robust economy in the region.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 19 February 2015 approved the continuation of

the incentive scheme for marketing and promotion services of raw sugar production during the currentsugar season (October-September) of 2014- 15.

State Bank of India (SBI) will provide finance totaling ` 100 crore benefiting 3,000 small tea growers in

the North East soon.

Reserve Bank of India said it will shortly issue ` 10 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi

Series-2005. "It will incorporate rupee symbol on the obverse and the reverse, with inset letter 'N' in

both the numbering panels, bearing the signature of Raghuram G Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of

India and the year of printing '2014' printed on the reverse of the Banknote," an RBI release said.

PSU banks employee unions and bank management, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), agreed on 15 per

cent wage hike and entered into an agreement for it. The bank employees will now also get holidays on

two Saturdays in a month. The second and 4th Saturday will be the holiday and other two will have full

working days.

Insurance sector regulator IRDA has given in-principle approval for setting up of ̀ 1,500 crore nuclear

liability pool for providing risk cover to nuclear reactors.

The Asian Development Bank has inked two loan agreements worth $400 million with India to upgrade

district roads in Madhya Pradesh and to support improvements to power transmission and distribution

systems in Assam.



The Indian Army and State Bank of India (SBI) on 23 February 2015 signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) on the Defence Salary Package.

The oil ministry has suspended ONGC director (technical) Shashi Shankar over allegations of

irregularities.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has crossed the ` 1-trillion mark in Assets Under Management (AUM).

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential PLC, a leading

international financial services group headquartered in the United Kingdom.

Union Government accepted 14th Finance Commission recommendations

Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission

Tax devolution should be the primary route for transfer of resources to the states

The increased devolution of the divisible pool of taxes is a compositional shift in transfers – from

grants to tax devolution

The panel recommended horizontal distribution by using broad parameters like population

(1971) and changes in population since then, income distance, forest cover and area among

others

Distribution of grants to States and local body was recommended by using 2011 population data

with weight of 90 percent and area with weight of 10 percent

Grants to States should be divided into two and they are

a) Grant to duly constituted Gram Panchayats

b) Grant to duly constituted municipal bodies

Grants should be divided into two parts and they include, basic grants – depending upon the

performance of the gram panchayats and municipal bodies. The ration of basic to performance

grant is 90:10 for Panchayats and 80:20 for municipalities

It recommended a total grant of 287436 core rupees for a five-year period. Of this fund, 200292

crore rupees will go for panchayats while the remainder will go to the municipalities.

SEBI Cancelled Sahara AMC's Registration As Portfolio Manager.

In order to improve governance of public sector banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed setting

up an autonomous banks’ board bureau to help lenders raise capital for meeting expansion needs.



The government has decided to delink 8 Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), including National

eGovernance Plan, Backward Regions Grant Funds, Modernization of Police Forces and Rajiv Gandhi

Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyaan (RGPSA), from its support.

In a significant move, the Government said commodities market watchdog FMC will be merged with the

capital market regulator SEBI. After the emergence of a major crisis at National Spot Exchange Ltd, the

Forward Markets Commission (FMC) was last year brought under the Finance Ministry.

RBI Announces External Advisory Committee For Evaluating Applications Of Small Finance Banks And

Payments Banks. Usha Thorat, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will chair the

External Advisory Committee (EAC) to evaluate applications received for small finance banks, while Dr.

Nachiket Mor, Director, Central Board of the Reserve Bank will chair the EAC for payment banks. Morethan 100 entities have applied for small finance and payment banks.

In its bi-monthly monetary policy review, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said that 72 applications for

Small Finance Banks and 41 applications for Payments Banks were received up to the deadline for

submission. This number excludes applications that might have been received at other venues.

IRDAI released India Insurance Vision 2025. The study, India Insurance Vision 2025, done by McKinsey

for CII, was formally released by TS Vijayan, Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and DevelopmentAuthority of India (IRDAI). The industry has a potential to reach $250 billion mark by 2025, it said.

To give financial confidence to the budding entrepreneur, especially those in the socially excluded

category, the government has proposed creation of a special bank – MUDRA – to fund small enterprises.

MUDRA, or the Micro Units Development Refinance Agency Bank, will have a corpus of Rs. 20,000

crore and credit guarantee corpus of Rs. 3,000 crore.



Business News, MoUs and Deals in February, 2015

The Expert Appraisal Committee on Infrastructure Development on 31 January 2015 approved the

development of no-frill airports at Kishangarh, Ajmer in Rajasthan and Belgaum in Karnataka. Thecommittee was constituted by Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

E-commerce firm Alibaba on 4 February 2015 signed an agreement to acquire 25 percent stake in

One97 Communications. One97 Communications is the parent of mobile commerce firm Paytm.

Homegrown handset maker, Micromax took over Korean electronics giant Samsung and became India’s

biggest smartphone vendor and third largest in the world. This was revealed by a report released by

research firm Canalys on 4 February 2015.

China on 9 February 2015 launched its first cruise liner to sail via its ambitious transcontinental initiative

Maritime Silk Road (MSR). The sail was launched from the Beihai port located in southwest China’s

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Gujarat State Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation (GSHHDC) on 4 February 2015

signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global e-commerce giant eBay.

CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) on 5 February 2015 signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL). The MoU is

aimed at fostering collaboration on research and exchange of technical expertise in areas of material

sciences and testing capabilities for bank notes, security documents and coins.

The Rajasthan Government and Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) on 9 February 2015 signed a Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU) to jointly set up India’s largest solar park with capacity of 10000 MW of

electricity in Rajasthan.

Reliance Communications and Facebook announced a tie-up to provide free access to 33 Web sites —

an initiative that aims to encourage more people to use the Internet. These Web sites are across eight

categories — social media, news, career, education and knowledge, sports, health and social welfare

and search engine Bing. The free Web sites include Facebook, ecommerce portal OLX, Cleartrip,

TimesJobs, Babajob and sports Web site ESPN Cricinfo.



Star India Pvt. Ltd on 11 February 2015 acquired the Telugu television channel network Maa Television

Network Ltd (MTNL) including its brand, assets and four channels for an undisclosed amount.

Microsoft on 11 February 2015 acquired Sunrise for 100 million US dollars. Sunrise is the maker of one

of the top calendar apps for iOS and Android.

Union Government constituted Anil Baijal Panel to suggest a framework to assess CSR activities.

The India Cements Limited on 11 February 2015 transferred the Indian Premier League (IPL) team

Chennai Super Kings Cricket (CSK) franchise to its new subsidiary Chennai Super Kings Cricket (CSKC)

Limited.

The Board of Directors of Grasim Industries Limited on 11 February 2015 approved the proposed merger

of Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Limited (ABCIL) with Grasim.

FMCG major ITC has entered into an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to acquire its brands, ’Savlon’

and ‘Shower To Shower’, in India.

Kerala-based business conglomerate Muthoot Group on 14 February 2015 tied-up with World WideFund (WWF) for Nature-India for its Friends for Life project.

To create ‘India’s first online luxury mall’, online marketplace Snapdeal.com announced the acquisition

of Exclusively.com (formerly Exclusively.in), the definitive online destination for premium and luxury

fashion.

Mashable, the leading media company for the Connected Generation, and India.com Web Portal

Limited, India's fastest-growing and leading publisher of original content, on Wednesday announcedtheir partnership to launch Mashable India.

Europe-based RUAG Aerostructures and Tata Group firm TAL Manufacturing Solutions on 17 February

2015 signed a multi-year contract worth over 150 million US dollar to supply components for Airbus 320.



Samsung Electronics Co has bought U.S. mobile wallet startup LoopPay, signaling its intention to launch

a smartphone payments service to compete with a recent offering from rival Apple Inc.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 26 February

2015 with the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) to establish an international exchange in

Gujarat. The MoU was signed in the presence of Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabh Patel.

Tech giant International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) on 23 February 2015 tied-up with IT

services major Tech Mahindra Limited to build a platform for the development of cloud-based apps for

its clients to increase hybrid services adoption.

Self-drive car rental service Zoomcar on 25 February 2015 tied-up with automaker Tata Motors Limited

to add 50 more new Nano cars to its fleet. These new cars will be split between Pune and Bengaluru.

Andhra Pradesh (AP) Government on 23 February 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

with Wipro for building and implementing the AP State Enterprise Architecture (APSEA).

Tata Power has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Siberian Coal Energy Company

(SUEK) to develop opportunities in the energy sector.

The 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting was held in Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar on 17

February 2015.

The first Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo, also called RE-Invest 2015, was held in New

Delhi from 15 February 2015 to 17 February 2015. The meet was organised by the Union Ministry of

New and Renewable Energy as a follow-up to the Make in India initiative of the Prime Minister.

Google on 24 February 2015 acquired Facebook mobile marketing startup Toro. Toro Company is best

known for its Facebook ad campaigns. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.



News Related to India in February, 2015

10th Aero India show concluded in Bengaluru

10th Aero India show concluded on 22 February 2015 at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru,

Karnataka. The five-day long show had started on 18 February 2015 and was inaugurated by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi.

During the 10th Aero India show, audience witnessed the performance of Sarang aerobatic team from

the Indian Air Force (IAF) flying the Dhruv helicopters. Squadron Leader Deepika Misra and Flight

Lieutenant Sandeep Singh became the first women to be a part of SARANG Team.

Audiences also witnessed the aerobatic performances of the aerobatic teams from Sweden, England,

Czech Republic and Open Sky Jump team from US.

Highlights 10th Aero India show

The 10th edition of Aero Show was focused on Make in India campaign of the Union

Government. It is aimed at encouraging small and medium industries to invest in defence

manufacturing base.

Delegates from 109 countries participated in the event and over 700 companies from India and

abroad took part in the exhibition.

In the exhibition, India showcased its indigenously made Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas,

Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, radars, missiles, satellites, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

and Airborne early warning and control system (AWACS) .

Moreover, the foreign military aircraft also were displayed that included F-15C Eagle, Lockheed

F-16C, Boeing KC-135, Boeing C-17, Rafale and Embraer EMB-145I etc.

The United States with 64 companies had the biggest presence at the event.

Aero India Show is a biennial air show and aviation exhibition which is held in Bangaluru at the

Yelahanka Air Force Station.

On 10 February 2015, Delhi Elections 2015 counting was held. AAP won 67 seats and BJP just 3.

Bharatiya Janata Party's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi lost to Aam Aadmi Party candidate SK

Bagga in the Krishna Nagar constituency by 2277 votes. Congress party candidates lost deposits in 63 of

the 70 seats, including senior leaders Ajay Maken, Yoganand Shastri, Kiran Walia and Sharmistha

Mukherjee. Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the CM of Delhi on 14 February 2015.



Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on 5 February 2015 bagged a Defence contract of 1090 crore

rupees for supplying 14 Do-228 aircrafts to Indian Air Force (IAF) along with six reserve engines, one

flight simulator and associated equipment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 February 2015 announced constitution of three sub-groups of Chief

Ministers within the NITI Aayog. The decision was made after the first meeting of the Governing Council

of NITI Aayog.

Uttarakhand Government on 7 February 2015 launched Himalaya Darshan programme at Dehradun.

The programme was launched as part of ongoing efforts to boost tourism by the State Government.

Mobile application-based taxi aggregator Uber on 11 February 2015 had introduced two new India specific safety features. The features include panic buttons and in-app tracking tools.

The Navy is learnt to have taken the call to retire the decrepit warhorse INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier in

2016 that has had a service life of 56 years as on date — first as HMS Hermes in the Royal British Navy

and in its present avatar since 1987.

Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 12 February 2015 constituted a three-member Special Investigation

Team (SIT) for re-investigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. The three-member SIT will be headed byPramod Asthana, an IPS officer of 1986 batch.

India on 14 February 2015 successfully test-fired a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from Indian

Navy's latest destroyer INS Kolkata.

Vanaj 2015 is a weeklong National Tribal Festival for the first time. It was in news as it was inaugurated

by the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram on 13 February 2015 at the the Indira Gandhi National

Center for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.

The third National Lok Adalat on 14 February 2015 disposed of 56000 cases in a single day. It also

disbursed of 265 crore rupees as claims towards final settlement in bank recovery and cheques bounce

cases.



Construction of toilets under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan,

has gained momentum with 7.1 lakh individual household toilets being built in January, the highest for

any month since the project was launched in October, government data showed.

Dosmoche festival was celebrated with religious and traditional fervor in the Ladakh region of Jammuand Kashmir in the third week of February 2015. The festival was celebrated with a week-long period of

prayers and ritual at Liker monastery.

India and Sri Lanka on 16 February 2015 signed bilateral agreements on civil nuclear cooperation,

cultural cooperation and cooperation in the field of Agriculture. Besides, an agreement was also signed

for Sri Lanka's participation in the Nalanda University Project.

Union Government on 18 February 2015 approved Project-17A worth 8 billion US dollar. The project isaimed at building country's most advanced warships. Under the Project-17A seven frigates will be built

indigenously with stealth features to avoid easy detection.

India on 19 February 2015 successfully test-fired nuclear weapons capable, surface-to-surface Prithvi-II

missile from Chandipur-on-sea in Balasore district, Odisha as part of a user trial by the army. The missile

was tested for a shortened range of 250 km as against its full range of 350 km.

India’s first air quality checking Mobile App, SAFAR-Air was launched on 17 February 2015 at the Indian

Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, Maharashtra.

State Government of Bihar on 18 February 2015 decided to give 35 percent reservation to women in

non-gazetted government jobs.

Justice KS Radhakrishnan panel on road safety submitted its report to the Supreme Court.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2015 launched the nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme in Suratgarh town of Sriganganagar district, Rajasthan. The nationwide scheme will help farmers to

scientifically analyse the soil of farms in the country. The scheme aims at helping farmers in improving

productivity by appropriate use of nutrients or fertilisers.



Himachal Pradesh is set to become the country's first state to present a 'paperless' budget on March

11.

The 29th Surajkund International Crafts Mela was celebrated from 1 February 2015 to 15 February

2015 at Surajkund, Faridabad. Chhattisgarh was selected as the Theme State while Lebanon wasPartner Nation for the Surajkund Mela.

IRCTC Tied Up With Jubilant Foodworks to Deliver Pizza at Train Seats . Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd is an

Indian company based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh which holds the master franchise for Domino's Pizza in

India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and also for Dunkin' Donuts in India.

The Eighth India-Nepal Battalion level Combined Military Training named Exercise Surya Kiran-VIII,

commenced on 23 February 2015 at Integrated Army Training Centre, Saljhandi, Nepal. The exercise willend on 8 March 2015.

The Delhi Government on 24 February 2015 launched a mobile application mLiquorSaleCheck for the

benefit of the customers and to put a cap on sale of illicit liquor. The App will provide detailed

information about the liquor being sold in the city.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been made a member of the Governing Council of newly

formed NITI Aayog, which has Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairman. Kejriwal has come in

place of national capital territory's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.

Madhya Pradesh governor Ram Naresh Yadav on 25th February, 2015 sent his resignation after the

Union home ministry asked Yadav to step down after he was named in an exam scam in the state.

World Bank in January 2014 released a strategy report titled Building Resilience for Sustainable

Development of the Sundarbans. The report states that the environmental damage in the climate

change-hit islands of Sundarbans is costing India a sum of 1290 crore rupees annually.

Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers on 25 February 2015 declared the year 2015 as the Year of

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). It was declared by the Union Minister of Chemicals &

Fertilizers Ananth Kumar.



Dreaded terror group ISIS and all its affiliate organizations, responsible for series of savage attacks and

killings in Iraq and Syria, have been banned in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Earlier Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament on December 16, 2014 that the West Asian

group had already been declared banned in India under a United Nations Schedule.

Government will roll out a pilot project to give a digital boost to the flagship rural job scheme MNREGA

in gram panchayats to ensure its better implementation through mobile monitoring system. Under the

scheme expected to be functional from April this year, a total of 35,000 gram panchayats will be covered

which would be given a mobile/tablet, Minister of State for Rural Development Sudarshan Bhagat said in

a written reply in Lok Sabha. An amount of Rs 35 crore have been sanctioned as each mobile/tablet

would be costing Rs 10,000.

The Union Cabinet on 25 February 2015 approved the implementation of the scheme for setting up of

15000 Mega Watt (MW) Grid-connected Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) Power projects under the National

Solar Mission (NSM).

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 25 February 2015 issued 6th Amendment to the

Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulation, 2009. This amendment will facilitate full

MNP (Pan-India Portability) across India with effect from 3 May 2015.

Indian Air Force, Army and Navy have placed orders worth Rs 83,858 crore from 2011 to the last fiscal

while domestic defence industries have earned Rs 69 crore by export of military hardware. Replying to

questions in the Lok Sabha, Parrikar also said that Foreign Direct Investment amounting to Rs 24.36

crore has been received after government opened the defence industry for private sector.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Gujarat Forest Department on 26 February 2015 signed

a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for conservation of Asiatic lion and its habitat.

Andhra Pradesh has become the first state to opt for executing the National Optical Fibre Network

(NOFN) on its own and the telecom department will reimburse the cost for the same.

Indian Navy on 27 February 2015 concluded its Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise

(TROPEX)-2015. The event encompassed all dimensions of maritime warfare.



Union Government on 12 February 2015 approved revised Guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak

Yojana (PMGSY). The guidelines were revised to accord priority in the selection of roads for new

connectivity as well as upgradation, leading to the eligible habitations in the Gram Panchayats identified

by the Members of Parliament (MP) under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).

Union Government blocked private email network like Yahoo and Gmail for official work. The aim of the

move is to monitor staff's online activities.

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed led Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party

formed J&K Government jointly. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will take oath as CM on 1 st March, 2015.

News around the World in February, 2015

Japan on 1 February 2015 successfully launched the Information Gathering Satellite, a spy satellite. The

Satellite was launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre in the Kagoshima Prefecture in the south of

Japan.

India and China on 2 February 2015 jointly launched the Visit India Year in China in Beijing during the

visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to China.

Pakistan on 2 February 2015 successfully test-fired indigenously developed Air Launched Cruise Missile(ALCM) Ra’ad. The missile, also called Thunder in Arabic, has been developed by Pakistan's Air Weapons

Complex and NESCOM.

NASA on 31 January 2015 successfully launched its first Earth satellite Soil Moisture Active Passive

(SMAP). The satellite is designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture.

The Nagasaki-based Henn-na Hotel (meaning Strange Hotel) of Japan in the first week of February

2015 announced to open the first Robot-staffed Hotel of the World. The hotel will be opened on 17 July2015 and it will significantly reduce the operating costs.

The First World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC) was held in Kochi, Kerala from 5 February 2015 to 8

February 2015.



Yemen has been in crisis for months, with Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and then taking

control. As a result along with USA and UK many countries closed their embassy in Yemen.

Ukraine ceasefire deal agreed at Minsk talks by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Experimental aerospace firm SpaceX on 12 February 2015 successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket

from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on its third attempt. The rocket carried an unmanned

Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite.

France on 16 February 2015 signed a 5.2-billion-euro (5.9 billion US dollar) agreement with Egypt for

the first foreign sale of its Rafale fighter plane. As per the deal, France will supply 24 Rafale fighters to

Egypt.

Three Indian, two women and one man were among the shortlisted 100 applicants who were chosen

for one-way trip to Mars under Mars One mission in the third week of February 2015. These Indians are

Ritika Singh, Shradha Prasad and Taranjeet Singh Bhatia.

Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited on 18 February 2015 tied-up with United Nations Children’s

Fund (UNICEF) to provide health, education and youth-focused content to its customers in 17 African

countries.

India and the US on 19 February 2015 held their first-ever bilateral dialogue on the United Nations

(UN) and other multilateral issues in Washington.

Two tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam hit Australia on 20 February 2015. This is the first time that two

cyclones have hit Australia at one time.

Parliament of Thailand (National Legislative Assembly) on 19 February 2015 passed a law banning

commercial surrogacy, putting a halt on foreign couples seeking to have children through Thai surrogate mothers.

Former President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed was arrested on 22 February 2015 in Male. He was

arrested under anti-terrorism laws after a court said that he might flee the country to avoid hearings on

terrorism charges.



WHO approved ReEBOV Antigen rapid test kit to identify Ebola-infected patients.

Former Jatiya Party lawmaker Abdul Jabbar was sentenced to life imprisonment on 24 February 2015 by

the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in Bangladesh.

The United States (US) on 24 February 2015 announced that it would allow work permits to spouses of

H-1B visa holders from 26 May 2015. The move will benefit thousands of talented and professional

Indian spouses who come to America but are unable to work.

Australian researchers unveiled the world's first 3D-printed jet engine, a manufacturing breakthroughthat could lead to cheaper, lighter and more fuel-efficient jets.

One of the largest public school system in the US is planning to introduce Texas's first Hindi dual

language school, a move that could benefit the country's significant Indian-American population.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States (US) on 26 February 2015 voted to

implement the Net Neutrality Rules. Net Neutrality Rules define same rate by all Internet Service

Providers. It is very important for India and a lot of petitions has been filed for Net Neutrality Rules in

India.

FBI announced 3 million US dollar award for information on Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev. Bogachev,

currently is one of the FBI’s most wanted criminal. He created a virus named GameOver Zeus. According

to a report by Symantec, Gameover Zeus has largely been used for banking fraud and distribution of the

CryptoLocker ransomware.

Parliament of Jamaica on 25 February 2015 passed a law to decriminalise the possession of small

amount of marijuana up to 57 grams for personal use.

US blogger and creator of Mukta-Mona, Avijit Roy was hacked to death in Bangladesh.



Appointments in February, 2015

India

1. Ashok K Agarwal appointed as General Manager of Southern Railway.

2. Nandita Chatterjee was appointed as the Secretary in the Union Ministry of Housing & Urban

Poverty Alleviation (HUPA).

3. LC Goyal appointed as Union Home Secretary. At the time of his appointment was serving as

Union Rural Development Secretary.

4. MO Garg appointed as Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research.

5. M Ravindran appointed as Chairman of Indraprastha Gas Limited.

6. Krishna Chaudhary took charge as DG of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

7.

Arvind Kejriwal sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi.

8.

Balasubramaniam Venkataramani appointed as MD & CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange

(MCX).

9.

Jawed Usmani sworn-in as Chief Information Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh.

10. Tapan Misra appointed as ISRO's Space Applications Centre Director.

11. Ram Niwas Goel Elected Speaker of Delhi Assembly.

12. Nitish Kumar took oath as Chief Minister of Bihar. He succeeded Jitan Ram Manjhi, who

resigned from his office on 20 February 2015 before the trust vote.

13. Justice Amitava Roy sworn in as Supreme Court judge. Prior to this, he served as the Chief

Justice of Odisha High Court.

14.

Kshatrapati Shivaji appointed as new CMD of SIDBI.

World

1.

Sergio Mattarella sworn-in as the President of Italy.

2.

Ajaypal Singh Banga appointed as member of US Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and

Negotiations.

3. Ashton Carter appointed as the new Defence Secretary of the US.

4. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic sworn-in as First Female President of Croatia.

5. Indian-American Rashad Hussain appointed US Special Envoy and Coordinator.

6.

Ravi Chaudhary appointed as Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at FAA of

the US.

7. Gopinath Pillai appointed as Special Envoy to Andhra Pradesh by Singapore government.

8. Indian-origin Kannan Ramesh appointed as Judicial Commissioner in Singapore Supreme Court.



Awards & Honors in February, 2015

National

1. Mithileshwar awarded with Shrilal Shukla Sahitya IFFCO Award 2014.

2. Madhya Pradesh won the 10th National Award for excellent work in MGNREGA.

3. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s name was included in the LIMCA book of records in the

first week of February 2015. Her name was included for being the only woman of the country to

represent the same Indore Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket for eight times in a

row.

4. Marathi writer Bhalchandra Nemade on 6 February 2015 was chosen for the Jnanpith Award

2014 by the Jnanpith Selection Board.

5.

Vinod Mehta awarded with Yash Bharti Samman 2015 by UP Government. 6. Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Awards conferred by Thaawar Chand Gehlot.

7. National men’s team captain Sunil Chhetri was presented with All India Football Federation’s

2014 Player of the Year award.

8. National women’s team striker Bala Devi was presented with 2014 AIFF Women’s Footballer of

the Year.

9. Dr. Tessy Thomas, Geeta Varadan jointly named for Nayudamma Award 2014.

10. Chhattisgarh Government awarded for Renewable Power Development in the State.

11. Marathi Writer DM Mirasdar Selected for The Vinda Karandikar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar.

12. Irom Sharmila or Iron Lady of Manipur won Sthree Shakti award.

International

1. Zakir Naik won King Faisal International Prize for the year 2015.

2. Amartya Sen won inaugural Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015.

3. Indian-origin scientist Professor Srikanth Jagabathula received CAREER Award.

4. Nagesh Kukunoor’s film Dhanak won two awards at 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

5. Saurav Ganguly awarded Honorary Life Membership of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

6. Indian-American Purnendu Dasgupta won 2015 American Chemical Society Division of

Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award.

7. Kristen Stewart first American actress to win the Best Supporting Actress Award at France's

Cesar Awards.

8. Clemson University honoured Ratan Tata with Doctorate of Automotive Engineering.



87 th Academy Awards or OSCAR 2015

Awards -

Best Picture - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro González Iñárritu

Best Actor - Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking

Best Actress - Julianne Moore – Still Alice as Dr. Alice Howland

Best Directing - Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Best Supporting Actor - J. K. Simmons – Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro

González Iñárritu

Best Animated Feature Film - Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli

Best Foreign Language Film - Ida (Poland) in Polish – Paweł Pawlikowski

Academy Honorary Awards

Jean-Claude Carrière

Hayao Miyazaki

Maureen O'Hara

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Harry Belafonte

Most Nominations & Awards - Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – 9

BAFTA Awards 2015

Best Film - Boyhood

Best Director - Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking

Best Actress in a Leading Role - Julianne Moore - Still Alice as Dr Alice Howland

Outstanding British Film - The Theory of Everything

Best Film Not in the English Language - Ida - Polish Language Film of Poland, Lunchbox was

India’s entry but did not win.

Best Animated Film - The Lego Movie



FIlmfare Awards 2015

Best Film – Queen

Best Director – Vikas Bahl for Queen

Best Actor (Female) – Kangana Ranaut for Queen

Best Actor (Male) – Shahid Kapoor for Haider

Lifetime Achievement - Kamini Kaushal

Best Supporting Actor (Female) – Tabu for Haider

Best Supporting Actor (Male) – Kay Kay Menon for Haider

Best Actress Critics – Alia Bhatt for Highway

Best actor critics – Sanjay Mishra for Ankhon Dekhi

Best film critics – Ankhon Dekhi

Most awards - Queen with total 6 Awards

News related to Sports in February, 2015

Australian Open 2015 came to an end on 1 February 2015 at Melbourne, Australia. Novak Djokovic ofSerbia and Serena Williams of the US won the men’s and women’s single title, respectively. Indo-Swiss

pair Leander Paes (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) won Mixed Doubles Titles.

Yuvraaj Singh was the costliest player in Indian Premiere League 8 auctions. He was sold for Rs 16 Crore.

Usain Bolt to retire after 2017 World Championships in London.

Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble and Australian legend Betty Wilson and New Zealand legend Martin

Crowe was inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Anirban Lahiri won Hero Indian Open title of Golf.



Somdev Devvarman retained the Delhi Open title of Tennis.

Ranchi Rays crowned Champions of Hero Hockey India League 2015. Indian Skipper MS Dhoni co-owns

the Ranchi Rays team.

Rohit Sharma Joins PETA Call to Get Cats and Dogs Sterilised.

India Set to Host Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Awards for the First Time.

11th ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

The opening ceremony was held in Melbourne, Australia and Christchurch, New Zealand.

Yahoo signed Jonty Rhodes as analyst for World Cup cricket.

Virat Kohli became first Indian cricketer to score century against Pakistan in World Cup. India defeated

Pakistan 6th time in the World Cups.

India defeated South Africa in their 4th World Cup meet. Earlier South Africa had a record of defeating

India 3 times in the World Cups.

Chris Gayle became first cricketer to score Double Century in Cricket World Cup. He scored against

Zimbabwe. He also became the first cricketer outside India to score a double century. There are total 5

double centuries, first double century was scored by Sachin Tendulkar, 2nd was by Virender Sehwag, 3rd

and 4th was by Rohit Sharma and also he score the Highest Individual Score(264 runs) in ODIs.

AB De Villiers hits fastest ODI 150 in South Africa World Cup win. He also holds the record of fastest

century. South Africa's 257-run victory was the joint-biggest by runs in World Cups, equaling India's win

over Bermuda in 2007.



NATIONAL GAMES 2015

A Brief History

The very first National Games was held in 1924 in Lahore. During the year India got independence, in

1947, there was no National Games. However, the first National Games after Independence was held in

1948 in Lucknow.

The motto of National Games is Get Set Play.

35th National Games 2015 (31st Jan – 14th Feb)

The 35th National Games was held in Kerala. It is the second time that Kerala is hosting the national

games after it hosted the 27th National Games in 1987.

The mascot of the 35th National Games is ''Ammu'', The Great Hornbill, or the Great Indian Hornbill, the

State bird of Kerala.

National Games mascot Ammu, the Great Hornbill, has immortalised itself by finding a mention in the

Limca Book of Records.

The mascot found a place in the record books owing to a play, Kalikkunna Kuttikalkkayi Bharatham

Kathirikkunnu (India Awaits Children Who Play) in which Ammu is featured.

According to the Limca Book’s 2015 Special Literature Edition, it is a play about a mascot which had

been staged in most number of schools.

Legendary Javed Akhtar penned Hariharan composed National Games Anthem for National Games 2015

Kerala.

The games torch,a cauldron shaped in the form of a traditional Kerala lamp, was lit by P.T. Usha and

Anju Bobby George, which was passed to them by Sachin Tendulkar.

The oath was taken on the behalf of the participants by the Kerala captain, Preeja Sreedharan.

Sachin Tendulkar was the goodwill ambassador for national games.

Maharashtra Netball player Mayuresh Pawar passed away during the 35th National Games.



Medal Tally

The Services Sports Control Board has been the all-time leader in Medal Tally of National Games.

Individual –

Sajan Prakash of Kerala won the most medals in National Games 2015. He won 6 Golds, 2 Silvers. He

won the medals in Swimming. He was ranked 1st in Individual Medal Tally.

Rajina Kiro of Andaman Nicobar and Inaocha Devi Mayanglambam of Madhya Pradesh 5 Golds 1 Silvers

each. They both won medals in Canoe & Kayak but individually. They ranked 2nd jointly in Medal Tally.

Aakanksha Vora of Maharashtra won 5 Gold Medals and 1 Silver Medal. She was ranked 3rd.

Saloni Dalal, a school girl of Karnataka became the youngest medal winner in the ongoing 35th NationalGames in Kerala on 3 February 2015. The 12-year-old, Saloni won a Bronze medal in the 200 meter

breast stroke swimming event.

State Wise Medal Tally –

Ranks States Gold Silver Bronze Total

1 Services SCB 91 33 35 159

2 Kerala 54 48 60 162

3 Haryana 40 40 27 107

4 Maharashtra 30 43 50 123

5 Punjab 27 34 32 93

6 Madhya Pradesh 22 24 38 84

7 Manipur 18 18 24 60

8 Tamil Nadu 16 16 20 52

9 Telangana 16 11 11 38

10 Gujarat 10 4 6 20

The 2016 National Games is likely to be held in Goa.



Important Days in February, 2015

World Cancer Day (WCD) 2015 was observed across the world on 4 February 2015. The tagline for the

WCD 2015 was Not beyond Us.Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda declared 10 February as the National

Deworming Day.

World Radio Day was observed globally on 13 February 2015 with the theme Youth and Radio.

National Women's Day of India observed on 13 February on the date of birth of India’s first women

governor Sarojini Naidu.

15th International Mother Language Day was celebrated across the world on 21 February 2015. The

theme for the year 2015 is Inclusive Education through and with Language - Language Matters.

International Rare Disease Day observed on 28 February. The slogan for 2015 was Day-by-day, hand-in-hand.

National Science Day celebrated on 28 February to commemorate the invention of Raman Effect by

Prof. CV Raman. The theme of 2015 National Science Day was Science for Nation Building.

Important Books in February, 2015

Fragile Frontiers — The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks - Saroj Kumar Rath

Editor Unplugged — Media, Magnates, Netas and Me - Vinod Mehta

Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh - PR Mohana Rao

India’s Growth Resurgence: Sectorial Issues and Governance Risks - Yerram Raju, M Sitarama Murthy

and Singala Subbaiah.

The Indian Parliament – A Critical Appraisal - Prof. Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar

Madhorubhagan (One Part Woman) - Perumal Murugan (under controversies for description of Hindu’s

half-female god, Ardhanareeswara)

The Red Sari (Unofficial and Controversial Autobiography of Sonia Gandhi) - Javier Moro

Neither a Hawk nor a Dove - Pakistan's Ex-Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri



Obituaries in the Month of February, 2015

Maharashtra Netball player Mayuresh Pawar passed away during the 35th National Games.

Acclaimed Indian sculptor and artist Mrinalini Mukherjee passed away.

Veteran Marathi theatre artist Atmaram Govind Bhende died.

Veteran journalist Diptosh Majumdar died.

Former Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil passed away.

Veteran Cartoonist Rajinder Puri passed away.

Bollywood Actor Ashraful Haque passed away. Ashraful Haque was famously known for his roles in the

movies Delhi Belly and Fukrey.

Noted film producer and Dada Saheb Phalke award winner Daggubati Ramanaidu passed away on 18February 2015.

Legendary Urdu Poet and the Chairman of the Urdu Advisory Committee, Government of Bihar Dr.

Kalim Ahmed Ajiz passed away.

Rana Bhagwandas, the first Hindu Chief Justice of Pakistan passed away.

Pioneer of mobile theatre in Assam Adya Sharma passed away.

Maria Golovnina, Reuter’s bureau chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan, found dead.

Veteran Tamil director and mentor of actor Kamal Hassan, RC Sakthi passed away.

Cinematographer-Director Aloysius Vincent passed away.

Former Haryana Chief Minister Hukam Singh passed away.

Acclaimed US actor Leonard Nimoy aka Mr Spock of Star Trek passed away.

Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov shot dead in Moscow.



Reports, Indexes in February, 2015

Hurun Report Inc released the Hurun Global Rich List 2015.

Top 5 Billionaires in Hurun Global Rich List 2015

1. Bill Gates - USA

2. Carlos Slim Helu & family - Mexico

3. Warren Buffet - USA

4. Amancio Ortega - Spain

5. Larry Ellison – USA

As per the list, India has overtaken Russia and United Kingdom in terms of the number of billionaires in

the country. India has 97 billionaires, four more than Russia's 93. Mukesh Ambani is the richest Indian

with a fortune of 20 billion US dollars (Rank 41). The other Indians to figure in the top 100 are Dilip

Sanghvi of Sun Pharma who is ranked 53, Pallonji Mistry & family who own Tata Sons are ranked at 60and Wipro's Azim Premzi is ranked at 74.

Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 7 February 2015 released a report on

subscriber base. India telecom subscriber base reaches all-time high at 970 million at the end of

December 2014. The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 964.20 million at the end

of November 2014 to 970.97 million at the end of December 2014. Bharti Airtel has maintained its

leadership with 217.2 million mobile customers.

The Reporters Without Borders (RWB) on 12 February 2015 released the World Press Freedom Index

(WPFI) 2015. In the WPFI 2015, India was placed at 136th position out of 180 nations that were

surveyed worldwide in terms of press freedom. In the top of the list were three Scandinavian countries:

Finland on the 1st position followed by Norway and Denmark.

Forbes on 26 February 2015 released Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen 2015 list . The list features six

Indian women CEO and Managing Director (MD). The Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen list showcases a

year of accomplishments by the region's female entrepreneurs and executives.

The list includes following Women from India

Arundhati Bhattacharya, CMD, State Bank of India

Chanda Kochchar, CEO, ICICI Bank,

Akhila Srinivasan, MD/Non-Executive Director, Shriram Life Insurance/Shriram Capital

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Founder, Chairman and MD, Biocon

Shikha Sharma, CEO and MD, Axis Bank

Usha Sangwan, MD, Life Insurance Corp. of India



SET 1

1. What is the full form of NDTL?

a)

Net Debtors and Total Liabilities

b)

Net Demand and Total Liabilitiesc) Net Demand with Total Liquidities

d) Net Demand and Time Liabilities

e) New Debtors and Total Liabilities

2. Union Government decided to infuse 6990

crore rupees in nine Public Sector Banks.

Which Bank will get the largest share from

Government?

a)

United Bank of Indiab) Syndicate Bank

c) Union Bank of India

d) State Bank of India

e) Bank of Baroda

3. Union Government approved development

of no-frill airports at Ajmer and ______.

a) Belgaum

b) Chitrapur

c) Vimanapura

d)

Mulbagal

e) Arikunte

4. Which E-tailer giant signed an agreement to

acquire 25% stake in One97 Communications

or PayTM?

a) Walmart

b) Amazon

c) Flipkart

d)

EBaye) Alibaba

5. Gujarat Handloom Corporation signed a

MoU with which E-Commerce company?

a) Alibaba

b) Ebay

c) Flipkart

d) Amazon

e) None of these

6. Facebook signed an agreement with which

Indian company to provide Free Access to 33

Websites in India?

a) Idea Cellular

b) Vodafone India

c) Reliance Communications

d) Tata Communications

e) Bharti Airtel

7. Which country recently launched its first

Maritime Silk Road cruise liner?

a)

Japan

b) South Korea

c) India

d) Malaysia

e) None of these

8. Which of the following statement is WRONG

about Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF)?

a) It is it a Monetary Policy.

b)

It was introduced to ensure smooth

transition and keeping pace with

technological upgradation.

c)

The funds under LAF are used by thebanks for their day-to-day mismatches

in liquidity.

d) All commercial banks are eligible except

RRBs.

e) None of them

9. ICICI Bank launched POCKETS, India’s First

Digital Bank, Which of the following features is

WRONG about Pockets?

a)

Users can also choose to add a zerobalance Savings Account to it.

b) The e-wallet of Pockets is India’s most

comprehensive wallet which can be

used to pay on all websites and mobile

apps in the country.

c) This e-wallet allows users to instantly

send/request money to/from any e-

Current Affairs Quiz February - Finance



mail id, mobile number, friends on

Facebook and bank account.

d) The ICICI bank account holders will be

the primary users.

e) The digital e-wallet uses a virtual VISA

card that enables the users to transacton any website

10. Which TV Network(s) was recently

acquired by Star India Pvt Ltd?

a) MAA TV Network

b) Sun TV Network

c) ETV Network

d) TV9

e) Both (a) and (d)

11. FLASHremit – it is an Instant Money

Transfer Service between UAE Exchange and

_______.

a) HDFC Bank

b) IndusInd Bank

c) Kotak Mahindra

d) Axis Bank

e) ICICI Bank

12. RBI recently issued guidelines for CCCB.

What does B stands for in CCCB?

a) Builder

b) Buffer

c) Bidder

d) Borrower

e) None of these

13. IRDAI recently imposed `10 Lakh fine on

which Insurance Company?

a) Bajaj Allianz

b) New India Assurance

c) National Insurance

d) ICICI Prudential

e) Life Insurance Corporation

14. RBI in its 6th Bi-Monthly Policy has decided

to replace ECR Facility. What does ECR stands

for?

a) Export Credit Ratio

b) Export Capital Refinance

c)

Export-Credit Rate

d) Export Credit Refinance

e) Export Credit Reserve

15. As per Hurun Global Rich List 2015, who is

the wealthiest person in the world?

a) Mark Zuckerberg

b) Bill Gates

c) Jack Ma

d) Warren Buffet

e)

Carlos Sim

SET 2

1. Recently, RBI decided to bring back one

rupee notes. There will be a Hidden Word

vertically arranged on the right hand side.

What is the word?

a) RBI

b) India

c)

Bharatd) Rupee

e) ONE

2. Which Indian bank recently started tech

learning centers across the country to help

customers?

a) Axis Bank

b) ICICI Bank

c)

United Bank of Indiad) State Bank of India

e) Canara Bank



3. Union Government added 38 more products

to the list of products exempt from CTT. What

does “C” stands for in CTT?

a) Commodity

b) Consumer

c)

Capital

d) Consignment

e) Commercial

4. To create ‘India’s first online luxury mall’,

Exclusively was acquired by ________.

a)

Amazon.in

b)

Ebay.in

c) Flipkart.com

d) Alibaba.com

e) None of them

5. India.com recently inked a deal to partner

with which US Media Company?

a) Buzzfeed

b) TechCrunch

c)

Huffington Post

d)

TMZ

e) Mashable

6. The First Renewable Energy Global Investors

Meet & Expo, also known as RE-Invest 2015

was held in which city?

a) Mumbai

b) Shanghai

c) Beijing

d)

New Delhi

e)

Dubai

7. Which of the following is not a tech channel

of a retail bank in India –

a) Cash Deposit Machines

b) Mobile Banking apps

c) Net Banking

d) Green Remit Cards

e) None of them

8. Which North East Indian state chief minister

advocated Naturonomics for NE states to usher

in a strong economy?

a) Arunachal Pradesh

b) Assam

c)

Meghalaya

d) Tripura

e) Manipur

9. State Bank of India announced to finance

small tea growers of North East India totaling

______.

a) ` 100 Cr.

b) ` 200 Cr.

c) ` 300 Cr.

d)

` 150 Cr.e)

` 110 Cr.

10. As per the newly proposed Oil Subsidy

Sharing Formula between Union Government

and Public Sector Oil Companies, what is the

minimum price/barrel with No Subsidy

Contribution?

a) $45

b)

$50c) $60

d) $75

e) $100

11. RBI restricted foreigners from buying

shares through GDRs and other foreign

investment schemes. What does GDR stands

for?

a) Gross Domestic Ratio

b)

Global Depositary Receiptc) Gross Depositary Receipt

d) Global Depositary Ratio

e) None of the above



12. BCCI, IPL got 425 cr show cause notice for

alleged forex violations by _____.

a) Reserve Bank of India

b) Securities and Exchange Board of India

c) Export Import Bank of India

d)

Enforcement Directorate

e) Central Bureau of Investigation

13. Which company recently announced to roll

out 50000 outlets for cash loading purpose in

digital wallet?

a) KayPay

b) Pockets

c) OxyCash

d) Uber

e)

PayTM

14. Union Government approved continuation

of incentive scheme for marketing of _____.

a) Raw Jute Production

b) Tea Production

c) Rice Production

d) Raw Sugar Production

e) Raw Cotton Production

15. Who has been appointed as MD & CEO of

Multi Commodity Exchange?

a) Punit Renjen

b) Balasubramaniam Venkataramani

c) Mr. Satyananda Mishra

d) Mr. Ravi Kamal Bhargava

e) Parveen Kumar Singhal

Set 3

1. Who has prepared the Economic Survey

2014-15?

a) Arvind Panagariya

b) Arun Jaitley

c) Arvind Subramanian

d) Raghuram Rajan

e) Both (a) and (d)

2. What is the expected GDP growth for the

year 2015-16?

a)

Between 8.1 to 8.5

b)

Between 6.8 to 8.3c) More than 9.6

d) Between 7.1 to 8.1


3. RBI to Issue Rs. 10 Denomination Bank

Notes in MG Series-2005 with which inset

letter?

a)

M

b)

G

c) N

d) L

e) No inset letter

4. PSU banks employee unions and bank

management agreed with IBA on wage hike of

employees. What is the percentage accepted

in the agreement?

a)

14.6%

b)

15%

c) 15.6%

d)

17.5%e) None of them

5. India Insurance Vision 2025 was released by

_____.

a) LIC of India

b) Central Insurance Repository Limited

(CIRL)

c)

IRDAI

d) Finance Commission

e)

SEBI



6. Indian Army signed a MoU with which bank

for Defence Salary Package?

a) Canara Bank

b) Punjab National Bank

c) Dena Bank

d)

ICICI Bank

e) None of them

7. Zoomcar recently tied up with Tata Motors.

What service does Zoomcar provide?

a) Cab Services

b) Self-Drive Rentals

c) Corporate Rentals

d) Test Drive of Cars

e) Expert Reviews of Cars

8. Which insurance company recently crossed

Rs 1 trillion AUM?

a) LIC of India

b) New India Assurance Co. Ltd

c) HDFC Life Insurance

d) Bajaj Allianz

e) ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

9. Which Indian company signed a MoU with

Russia's SEUK?

a) Reliance Power

b) JSW Energy

c) Essar Energy

d) Tata Power

e) Adani Power

10. Union Government recently accepted the

___ Finance Commission recommendations.

a) 7th

b) 15th

c)

18th

d) 16th

e) 14th

11. To implement AP State Enterprise

Architecture (APSEA), Andhra Pradesh signed a

MoU with which company?

a) Wipro

b) Infosys

c) IBM

d) Tata Consultancy Services

e) Tech-Mahindra

12. Union Government declared to set up

Micro Units Development Refinance Agency

Bank for which of the following purpose?

a) To provide financial support to SC/ST

b) To attract investor in Make In India

c) To boost the microfinance sector

d) To boost the micro industries

e) Both (c) and (d)

13. Kshatrapati Shivaji was recently appointed

as the CMD of _______.

a) IDBI

b) IRDAI

c) SEBI

d) SIDBI

e) Bandhan Bank

14. Forbes Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen

2015 list featured Usha Sangwan. Who is she?

a) CMD of ICICI Bank

b) MD of LIC of India

c) Non-Executive Director of Shriram

Capital

d) CEO of Axis Bank

e) Executive Director of SBI

15. Recently a MoU on Golbal Hybrid Cloud

adoption was signed between International

Business Machines Corporation and ________.

a) Tata Consultancy Services

b) Wipro

c) Tech-Mahindra

d) Infosys

e) None of them



Set 1

1. Which Indian state/union territory recently

announced to give free education to SC/ST/Girl

Students till Post Graduation?

a) Goa

b) Mizoram

c) Haryana

d) Jharkhand

e) Bihar

2. Which Indian state launched Himalaya

Darshan programme to boost tourism?

a)

Uttarakhandb) Himachal Pradesh

c) Sikkim

d) Arunachal Pradesh

e) Both (a) and (b)

3. Ashok K Agarwal was recently appointed as

–

a) General Manager, Eastern Railways

b)

General Manager, Air India Limitedc) General Manager, ITDC

d) General Manager, Southern Railways

e) None of these

4. LC Goyal is the newly appointed Union

Home Secretary. Who was the previous Union

Home Secretary?

a) Nandita Chatterjee

b)

Damyant Singhc) Anil Goswami

d) Ajaypal Singh

e) Naveen Chopra

5. Mrinalini Mukherjee, who passed away

recently, was a well-known _________.

a) Dancer

b) Singer

c) Theatre Artist

d)

Sculptor

e) Film Actress

6. Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Awards 2015

was conferred by ________.

a)

Smriti Irani, Union HRD Minister

b)

Hamid Ansari, Vice President

c)

Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister for

Women & Child Development

d) Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister

e) TC Gehlot, Union Minister for Social

Justice & Empowerment

7. Krishna Chaudhary is the newly appointed

Director General (DG) of _________.

a) National Security Guards

b) Central Industrial Security Force

c)

Indo-Tibetan Border Policed) Narcotics Control Bureau

e) Railway Protection Force

8. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan named

in LIMCA Book of Records for representing

same party from same constituency for eight

years in Lok Sabha Elections. Which

constituency did she represent?

a)

Gwalior Constituencyb) Vidisha Constituency

c) Ujjain Constituency

d) Indore Constituency

e) Bhopal Constituency

Current Affairs Quiz February - India



9. Who received Jnanpith Award 2014?

a) Kedarnath Singh

b) Laxman Joshi

c) Vijay Kuwalekar

d) Bhalchandra Nemade

e)

Vinda Karandikar

10. Who won the innaguaral Charleston-EFG

John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015?

a) Raghuram Rajan

b)

Amartya Sen

c)

Kausik Basu

d)

Manmohan Singh

e) Jagdish Bhagwati

11. National Deworming Day is celebrated on

_____.

a)

11th February

b) 12th February

c) 18th January

d) 10th March

e) None of these

12. What is the ranking of India in World Press

Freedom Index 2015?

a)

186th

b)

136th

c)

163rd

d) 126th

e) 96th

13. As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of

India (TRAI)’s report on Subscriber Base in

2014, which company has the largest mobilecustomer base?

a) Vodafone

b) Airtel

c) Idea

d) BSNL

e) Reliance

14. In the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly

Elections, who was the chief minister

candidate for Indian National Congress?

a)

Ajay Makenb) Rakhi Bidlan

c) Sheila Dixit

d) Nupur Sharma

e) None of them

15. Diptosh Majumdar, who passed away in

the month of February, 2015 was a veteran

_______.

a)

Hockey Playerb) Football Player

c) Journalist

d) Theatre Artist

e) Novelist

SET 2

1. What is the name of the project approved

by Union Government which is aimed atbuilding country's most advanced warships?

a) Project 18B

b) Project 16A

c) Project 7A

d) Project 17A

e) Project 21A

2. Arvind Kejriwal sworn-in as the ____ Chief

Minister of Delhi.

a) 6th

b) 8th

c) 7th

d) 9th

e) 12th



3. VANAJ 2015, India’s first National Tribal

Festival was held in _______.

a)

Hyderabad

b)

Mumbaic) Raipur

d) Ranchi

e) New Delhi

4. Rajinder Puri , who recently passed away

was an eminent _______.

a) Journalist

b) Cartoonist

c)

Actord) Director

e) Businessman

5. BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was

recently test fired from ______.

a) INS Kolkata

b) INS Delhi

c) INS Kamorta

d)

INS Vikramaditya

e) INS Viraat

6. Dr. Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014

was conferred to –

a) Dr. Tessy Thomas

b) Geeta Varadan

c)

Srikanth Jagabathula

d)

Both (a) and (b)

e)

Both (b) and (c)

7. Tony Tan Keng Yam, who recently visited

India is the president of which country?

a)

China

b)

Malaysia

c) Thailand

d) Vietnam


8. Who is the Union Minister of State forDevelopment of North Eastern Region?

a) Piyush Goyal

b) Rajiv Pratap Rudy

c) Jitendra Singh

d) Nirmala Sitharaman

e) Dharmendra Pradhan

9. India’s nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile was

test-fired from Chandipur in Odisha. What isthe operational range of Prithvi-II? (In KMs)

a) 250-350

b) 300-450

c) 650-750

d) 200-300

e) 150-250

10. Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Union

Government built _____ toilets in January.

a)

8.1 lakhs

b)

9.3 lakhs

c)

7.1 lakhs

d)

6.5 lakhs


11. Dosmoche is celebrated in which Indian

state?

a) Arunachal Pradesh

b) Uttarakhand

c) Pondicherry

d) Jammu & Kashmir

e) Goa



12. Rafale fighters were in news during AERO,

2015. Rafale is originated in which country?

a) Israel

b) Russia

c) France

d)

Germany

e) USA

13. Jawed Usmani sworn-in as Chief

Information Commissioner of _______.

a)

Delhi

b)

Uttar Pradesh

c)

Assam

d) Kerala

e) Orissa

14. Ashraf-ul-Haque who recently passed

away, was related to which profession?

a) Cricketer

b) Actor

c) Journalist

d) Economist

e)

None of the above

15. Justice KS Radhakrishnan panel recently

submitted its report to the Supreme Court. On

what purpose the panel was appointed?

a) Tax Issue

b) Black Money

c) Coal Scam

d) Road Safety

e)

Censorship of Movies

16. Who is the newly appointed ISRO's Space

Applications Centre director?

a) Nripendra Misra

b) Ajit Kumar Seth

c) Tapan Misra

d) Vijay Anand

e) Goverdhan Mehta

17. For the first time two women joined thedisplay team of IAF Sarang. Which aircrafts do

they showcase in their performance?

a) Fighter Jets

b) UAVs

c) Multi-role Transport Aircrafts

d) Supersonic Fighter Jets

e) Helicopters

18. Indian film Dhanak won two awards at65th Berlin International Film Festival. Who

directed the movie?

a) Anurag Kashyap

b) Sujit Sircar

c) Dibakar Banerjee

d) Mira Nair

e)

Nagesh Kukunoor

19. Which state was awarded by Narendra

Modi for Renewable Power Development in

the State?

a)

Madhya Pradesh

b)

Gujarat

c) West Bengal

d) Chhattisgarh

e) Kerala

20. D. Ramanaidu, who passed away recently

was an eminent ______.

a) Cartoonist

b) Actor

c) Director

d) Producer

e) Singer



SET 3

1. Zoological Society of London signed a

Memorandum of Understanding with whichstate forest department to protect Asiatic

Lions?

a) Kerala

b) Madhya Pradesh

c) Gujarat

d) Karnataka

e) Uttar Pradesh

2. Which Indian State/UT presented India'sfirst paperless budget?

a) Haryana

b) Telengana

c) Arunachal Pradesh

d) Gujarat

e)

Himachal Pradesh

3. The year 2015 has been declared

____________________ by Ministry ofChemicals and Fertilizers.

a) Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

b) Non-toxic Pesticides

c) Generic Pharmaceuticals Products

d) Biofertilizers


4. Which country was the partner nation in

29th Surajkund International Crafts Mela?

a) Sri Lanka

b) South Africa

c) USA

d) Lebanon

e) China

5. Justice Amitava Roy who sworn in as

Supreme Court judge prior to this was a chief

justice of which high court?

a)

Odisha High Courtb) Calcutta High Court

c) Chhattisgarh High Court

d) Gauhati High Court

e) Tripura High Court

6. Which Indian state government launched a

mobile application to put cap on sale of illicit

liquor?

a)

Gujaratb) Kerala

c) Karnataka

d) Goa

e) None of them

7. Which Indian business tycoon was recently

honored with a doctorate by Clemson

University?

a)

Azim Premji

b) Ratan Tata

c) Vishal Sikka

d) Mukesh Ambani

e) Venu Srinivasan

8. Surya Kiran VIII is a military exercise began

in the late February, 2015 between India and

________.

a)

Israel

b)

Vietnam

c) Sri Lanka

d) Nepal

e) Thailand



9. Aloysius Vincent, who recently passed away

was an eminent _________.

a)

Director

b)

Cinematographerc) Musician

d) Both (a) and (b)

e) All (a), (b) and (c)

10. TROPEX Exercise 2015 was conducted by

____________.

a) Indian Air Force

b) Indian Navy

c)

Indian Armed Forces and Indian Navyd) Indian Navy and Sri Lankan Navy

e) Indian Air Force and French Air Force

11. What was the theme of National Science

Day 2015?

a)

Genetically Modified Crops and Food

Securityb)

Fostering Scientific Temper

c)

Science for Nation Building

d)

Information Technology in Governance

e)

Space Missions and Exploration

12. Building Resilience for Sustainable

Development of the Sundarbans was released

by Government of West Bengal and ________.

a)

World Bankb) International Monetary Fund

c) World Wide Fund for Nature

d) World Meteorological Organization


13. Who was replaced by Arvind Kejriwal in

NITI Aayog Governing Council?

a) Najeeb Jung

b) Bibek Debroy

c) Nabam Tuki

d)

Tarun Gogoi

e) Ram Naresh Yadav

14. Irom Chanu Sharmila who has been

conferred Sthree Shakti award is popularly

known as Iron Lady of ______.

a)

India

b)

Assam

c) Manipur

d) Mizoram

e) North East

15. Which Indian Governor resigned after

being named in exam scam?

a) E. S. L. Narasimhan

b) Ram Naresh Yadav

c) Ram Naik

d)

Ashish Kundrae) Padmanabha Acharya



1. India launched Visit India Year in which

country?

a)

Russia

b)

United States of Americac) Singapore

d) Japan

e) China

2. Ra’ad is an Air Launched Cruise Missile

recently launched by which country?

a) Israel

b) Iran

c)

Pakistand) Turkey


3. Ukraine ceasefire deal agreed at Minsk talks

in the first week of February. Minsk is located

in which country?

a) Ukraine

b) Russia

c)

Poland

d) Belarus

e) Serbia

4. Recently, USA & UK were the major

countries to shut down its embassy in which

country?

a)

Israel

b)

Ukraine

c)

Iraq

d)

South Sudan

e) Yemen

5. National Games mascot Ammu is a

________.

a) A great Indian Sumatran Rhinoceros

b) A Girl Child

c) A School going boy

d) A great hornbill

e) A Parrot

6. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Opening

Ceremony was held in –

a) Sydney

b) Melbourne

c) Christchurch

d) Both (a) and (c)

e) Both (b) and (c)

7. Yahoo recently signed a retired Cricketer as

their World Cup 2015 analyst. Who is the

cricketer?

a) Jonty Rhodes

b) Rahul Dravid

c)

Sourav Ganguly

d)

Gary Kirsten

e) Glenn McGrath

8. Bala Devi is related to which sport?

a)

Cricket

b)

Boxing

c) Football

d) Tennis

e) Badminton

9. Who is the newly appointed Defence

Secretary of US?

a) Ashton Kutcher

b) Joe Biden

c) Chuck Hagel

d) Leon Panetta

e) None of them

Current Affairs Quiz February - World/Sports

SET 1



10. World Radio Day is celebrated on which

day?

a) 10th February

b) 21st January

c) 13th February

d) 1st February

e) 11th January

11. Which country was ranked One in World

Press Freedom Index 2015?

a)

Norwayb) Finland

c) Denmark

d) Switzerland

e) Italy

12. First Robot-staffed Hotel of the World to

open in ________.

a)

China

b)

USAc)

Japan

d)

Malaysia

e)

UAE

13. In a recent announcement that shook all

countries, Yemen was taken over by _______.

a)

Houthis

b) Islamic State

c)

Basijd) Hezbollah

e) Ba'ath Brigades

14. Who is the newly appointed president of

Italy?

a) Gianfranco Fini

b) Sergio Mattarella

c) Giorgio Napolitano

d) Matteo Renzi

e) Massimo D'Alema

15. Zakir A. Naik received King Faisal

International Prize for the year 2015. Which

country does he belong?

a) Pakistan

b) Afghanistan

c) Malaysia

d) Saudi Arabia

e) None of these

16. Serena Williams defeated whom to win the

2015 Australian Open?

a) Maria Sharapova

b) Caroline Wozniacki

c) Petra Kvitova

d)

Ana Ivanovic

e)

Martina Hingis

17. Leander Paes won Australian Open 2015

Mixed Doubles title teaming up with Martina

Hingis. Which country does Martina Hingis

represent?

a) Australia

b) Russia

c) United States of America

d) Serbia

e) Switzerland

18. Saloni Dalal became youngest medal

winner in National Games 2015. Which sport

does she belong?

a) Table Tennis

b) Swimming



c) Archery

d) Badminton

e) Boxing

19. What was the 2015 World Cancer Daytagline?

a) Not beyond Us

b) Debunk the myths

c) Achieving treatment for all

d) Cancer - Did you know?

e) Prevention, Detection, and Treatment

20. IMF, World Bank agreed for $19.5-bn

financial aid to _________.

a) Syria

b) Iraq

c) Israel

d) Ukraine

e) Turkey

SET 2

1. Which IPL franchise bought Yuvraj Singh for

16 Crore?

a) Royal Challengers Bangalore

b) Delhi Daredevils

c) Mumbai Indians

d) Kings XI Punjab

e) Kolkata Knight Riders

2. Recently, with which country India signed

agreements on Civil Nuclear Cooperation &

Cultural Cooperation?

a) Australia

b)

USA

c)

China

d) Bangladesh

e) Sri Lanka

3. Which Indian Cricketer was recently

awarded Honorary Life Membership ofMarylebone Cricket Club?

a) Anil Kumble

b) Rahul Dravid

c) Mahendra Singh Dhoni

d) Sunil Gavaskar

e) Sourav Ganguly

4. Which English cricket ground is owned by

the famous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)?

a) The Oval

b) Trent Bridge

c) Old Trafford

d) Lord’s

e) Headingly

5. India recently, with which country held first-

ever bilateral dialogue on United Nations?

a)

USA

b)

Russia

c)

China

d)

Bangladesh

e)

Pakistan

6. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has sworn in as the

first female president of Croatia. What is the

capital of Croatia?

a) Osijek

b) Rijeka

c) Zagreb

d) Split

e) Dubrovnik



7. Which international company recently

acquired LoopPay?

a) Apple Inc.

b) Xiaomi

c) Samsung

d)

Micromax

e) Lenovo

8. Which Indian Company tied-up with UNICEF

to provide education to African Countries?

a)

Aditya Birla Group

b)

Tata Sons

c)

Infosys

d) Reliance Industries


9. Alberto Contador is related to which sport?

a)

Sprints

b) Cycling

c) Swimming

d) Tennis

e) Chess

10. Who is the newly appointed head of US

Pentagon?

a) Ashton Carter

b) Robert O. Work

c) Rashad Hussain

d) Joe Biden

e) None of them

11. Who is the newly appointed U.S. Special

Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic

Cooperation?

a) Rashad Hussain

b) Kumar Barve

c) Saqib Ali

d) Faz Husain

e) Rashad Haughton

12. Which country recently passed a law to ban

commercial surrogacy for foreigners?

a)

Japan

b)

Chinac) South Korea

d) Malaysia

e) None of them

13. What was the Slogan of International

Mother Language Day 2015?

a) Inclusion in and through education:

Language counts

b)

Languages and Cyberspacec) Mother tongue instruction and inclusive

education

d) In the galaxy of languages, every word

is a star


14. World Wildlife Day is celebrated on

_______.

a)

6th March

b) 3rd March

c) 11th March

d) 10th March

e) 12th March

15. 2015-2024 has been announced by UN as

the Decade of __________.

a)

Saving the children

b)

Women Empowerment

c)

People of Various Tribes across the

world

d) Sustainable Energy for All

e) People of African Descent



16. Purnendu Dasgupta won a prestigious J.

Calvin Giddings Award for Excellence in which

field?

a)

Physicsb) Chemistry

c) Medicine

d) Economics

e) Bio-technology

17. Who won the Faculty Early Career

Development Award (CAREER)

a) Arun M Kumar

b)

Dalip Singh Saundc) Srikanth Jagabathula

d) Shrikant Jichkar

e) E. Premkumar Reddy

18. With the century Virat Kohli became the

highest scoring Indian against Pakistan in the

World Cups. Who held the previous highest

score record?

a)

Sourav Ganguly

b) Rahul Dravid

c) Sachin Tendulkar

d) Kapil Dev

e) None of them

19. First day of March is celebrated as

_______.

a)

International Women's Day

b)

International Day of Wildlife

c)

World Diabetes Day

d) Zero Tolerance Day


20. Usain Bolt annouced to retire after 2017

World Championships. The 2017 World

Championship will be held in?

a) London

b) Sydney

c)

Beijing

d) Seoul

e) New York

SET 3

1. Europa is the moon of which planet?

a) Jupiter

b)

Saturnc) Mercury

d) Mars

e) None of them

2. Which Indian cricketer was recently

inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame?

a) Sourav Ganguly

b) Sachin Tendulkar

c)

Javagal Srinathd) Anil Kumble

e) Sanjay Manjrekar

3. The world's first 3D-printed jet engine was

unveiled in which country?

a) France

b) USA

c) Australia

d)

Japane) China

4. Which of the following films was awarded as

the best foreign language film in Academy

Awards 2015?



a) Lunchbox

b) Ida

c) Leviathan

d) Tangerines

e) Amour

5. What is the name of the Russian politician

who was shot dead in Moscow recently?

a) Boris Nemtsov

b)

Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev

c)

Vasiliy Averin

d)

Grigory Kaminsky

e) Viktor Nogin

6. Which country recently announced to allow

work permits to spouses of H-1B Visa holders?

a)

Finland

b) UK

c) Russia

d) China

e) USA

7. Gopinath Pillai was appointed by Singapore

as special envoy to which Indian state?

a) Gujarat

b) Tamil Nadu

c) Andhra Pradesh

d)

Telengana

e)

Kerala

8. The Indian owned company Prime Focus

received best visual effects for which film in

Academy Awards 2015?

a)

Birdman

b)

Avengers

c) Interstellar

d) Transformers 4

e) Gravity

9. Against which country did AB De Villiersscore the fastest 150 runs in ODI?

a) West Indies

b) Zimbabwe

c) Pakistan

d) New Zealand

e) India

10. Which film received the best picture award

in Academy Awards 2015?

a) Theory of Everything

b) The Imitation Game

c) Foxcatcher

d) Birdman

e) Interstellar

11. Who won the Hero Indian Open title of

Golf 2015?

a) Jeev Milkha Singh

b)

Gaurav Ghei

c) Anirban Lahiri

d) Shiv Chowrasia

e) Bernd Wiesberger

12. Chris Gayle scored the first 200 runs in

World Cup and ____ in ODIs.

a)

4th

b)

3rd

c)

6th

d)

2nd

e) 5th



13. What is the name of the founder of Mukto-

Mona blog who was hacked to death recently?

a) Avishek Roy

b) Avijit Roy

c) Abir Roy

d)

Ashim Roy

e) None of them

14. What is the name of the first American

actress to win Best Supporting Actress Award

at France's Cesar Awards?

a)

Julianne Moore

b)

Julia Migenes

c) Julia Roberts

d) Sandra Bullock

e) Kristen Stewart

15. Which nation appointed Ravi Chaudhary as

Executive Director at Federal Aviation

Administration?

a) Russia

b)

France

c)

Australia

d) Malaysia

e)

None of them



SET 1

1. As per Railway Budget 2015-16, Daily

passenger carrying capacity is expected toincrease from 21 million to ____ million over

the five years.

a) 26

b) 30

c) 31

d) 25

e) None of them

2. For Information Technology and Research

Purpose, How much amount is proposed for

investment? (In Crores)

a) ` 5000

b) ` 2500

c) ` 10800

d) ` 7500

e) ` 8000

3. In rail-budget 2015-16, Suresh Prabhu

coined a term “KayaKalp”. What is KayaKalp?

a) Council for Business Re-Engineering

b)

Council for Innovation in Indian

Railways

c) Council for Technological Improvisation

in Services

d) Both (a) and (b)

e) Both (a) and (c)

4. As per the announcement in Railway Budget

2015-16, Passengers can book tickets 120 days

before. Earlier it was how many days limit?

a)

90 daysb) 75 days

c) 45 days

d) 60 days

e) None of them

5. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu proposed

the lowest operating ratio in nine years. What

is the proposed operating ratio for 2015-16?

(In percentage)

a) 88.5

b) 80.5

c) 78.5

d) 86.5

e) None of them

6. As per the Railway Budget 2015-16, how

many kms of gauge conversion will be

commissioned?

a) 880

b) 750

c) 800

d) 900

e) 650

7. What is the goal percentage for track length

expansion over next five years?

a) 35%

b)

40%c) 20%

d) 25%

e) 15%

8. What is the proposed investment amount

for Passenger Amenities? (In Crores)

a) ` 10200

b) ` 12500

c)

` 8500d) ` 7500


Rail Budget 2015-16 Quiz



9. How many satellite railway stations are

announced to be developed in 2015-16?

a) 25

b) 15

c) 8

d)

10

e) More than 25

10. Indian Railways signed a memorandum of

understanding with which university(s) to set

up Railway Innovation and Technology Centre

for Railway Engineering training purpose?

a) Delhi University

b) Jadavpur University

c) Pune University

d)

Mumbai Universitye)

Both (c) and (d)

11. What is the total amount for Proposed

Investment Plan in the period 2015-2019?

a) ` 7,56,020

b)

` 10,56,020

c)

` 12,56,020

d) ` 9,56,020

e)

` 8,56,020

12. Suresh Prabhu gave numerous thrust areas

in railway budget to improve ________.

a) quality of life in train journeys

b) security of women in train journeys

c) internet connectivity and food

d) speed of trains across the country

e) e-services in railway

13. How many thrust areas were given by

Suresh Prabhu in railway budget 2015-16?

a) 12

b) 15

c) 11

d)

14

e) 13

14. Which railway network was chosen as a

model for promotion of tourism in Railway

Budget 2015-16?

a)

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

b)

Konkan Railway

c) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

d) Kalka-Shimla Railway

e) Both (a) and (c)

15. Railway Minister announced 200 more

stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme.

Who launched the Adarsh Station Scheme?

a) Nitish Kumar

b)

Mamata Banerjee

c) Ram Naik

d) Dinesh Trivedi

e) Ram Vilas Paswan



SET 2


for railway safety in coming five years?(In

Crores)

a)

` 127000

b) ` 125000

c) ` 135000

d) ` 116000

e) None of them

2. As per rail budget 2015-16, which institute

will be designing bed-linen for rail coaches?

a) Symbiosis Institute of Design

b) National Institute of Fashion

Technology

c)

National Institute of Designd) International Institute of Fashion Design

e) None of them

3. The combined rail-cum-road ticket proposal

was cleared in the Rail Budget 2015-16. It was

started by Multi-Mode Transit System of

Which city's?

a) Mumbai

b) Delhi

c) Bangalore

d)

Hyderabade)

Chennai

4. Track capacity is proposed to be increased

by 10% to ____ kms.

a) 1.38 lakh

b) 1.10 lakh

c) 1.28 lakh

d) 1.41 lakh

e) None of these

5. As per Rail Budget 2015-16, how many

kilometers of track will be electrified?

a) 9608

b) 6608

c) 7608

d)

8608

e)

8068

6. Which of the following statements is

WRONG about Rail Budget 2015-16?

a) Rail-cum-road ticket to be extended in

many stations

b) Hand-held devices will be introduced

for ticket checkersc)

Projects for rail connectivity to many

ports and mines

d)

Facility of self-operated lockers to be

made available at stations

e) None of these

7. As per Rail Budget 2015, capacity in

identified trains will be augmented to run with

how many coaches?

a)

28

b) 20

c) 18

d) 26

e) None of these

8. How many passengers are estimated to

travel in the next fiscal as said in Rail Budget?

a)

460 Crore

b)

680 Crorec) 800 Crore

d) 860 Crore

e) None of them

9. What is the estimated rise in % of passenger

revenue in FY16?

a) 17%

b) 12%

c) 38%

d)

26%

e) 28%



10. Which of the following fare has been

increased in Railway Budget 2015-16?

a) Sub-urban Railways

b) Luxury Railways (Maharaja Express)

c) Passenger Railways

d)

Freight Railwayse)

None of them

11. Speed of 9 railway corridors to be

increased from existing 110-130 kmph to

______ kmph.

a) 160-200

b) 180-220

c) 150-200

d) 140-180

e)

None of them

12. As per Rail Budget 2015, how many DEMUs

to be enabled for dual fuel- CNG and diesel?

a)

1000

b) 200

c) 100

d) 160

e)

None of them

13. The proposed helpline 138 will be started

for which purpose?

a) Women Security

b) Time Enquiry

c) Grievance

d) Usages of New Technologies

e) Both (a) and (b)

14. What was the goal(s) of Rail Budget 2015-

16?

a) To deliver a sustained and measurable

improvement in customer experience.

b) To make Rail a safer means of travel.

c)

To expand Bhartiya Rail’s capacitysubstantially and modernise

infrastructure

d)

To make Bhartiya Rail financially self-

sustainable.

e) All of the above


for station redevelopment and logistic parks?

a) ` 128000

b)

` 100000

c) ` 160000

d) ` 120000




1. Banks generally insist account holders to

nominate persons to whom the money lying in

their accounts should go in the event of

(a)

Death of account holder

(b)

Illness of account holder

(c)

Account holder migrates

(d)

Account holder turns bankrupt

(e)

None of them

2. Credit Risk refers to the risk that

(a)

A borrower will default on any type of

debt

(b)

Wrong strategy is adopted

(c)

Borrower may opt to get necessary

permit/licenses

(d)

Loan processing may be faulty

(e)

Interest rate in the markets may

increase

3. Which of the following is a source of

collecting money from the public for a

company for the first time?

(a)

Bonus shares

(b)

Initial public offer

(c)

Rights issue

(d)

Follow on offering

(e)

Secondary offering

4. Which of the following concepts of banking

involves booking of web-enabled touch point

for basic banking services?

(a)

Extension Counters

(b)

Retail Banking

(c)

Satellite Banking

(d)

Kiosk Banking

(e)

Mobile Banking

5. Face value of a Government security is the

amount that is to be paid to an investor at the

maturity date of the security. The face value is

not the same as the

(a)

Market Price

(b)

Repayment amount

(c)

Par value

(d)

Redemption value

(e)

Principal value

6. The facility to help insurance policy holders

buy and keep policies in electronic form rather

than as a paper document is called -

(a)

Insurance Warehousing

(b)

Insurance Repository

(c)

Insurance Stockpile

(d)

Insurance Depository

(e)

Insurance Cache

7. Based on the recovery of the dues, banks are

required to classify non-performing assets

NPAs in the books of the bank under the

categories

(a)

Substandard, Doubtful and Bad Debts

(b)

Standard, Doubtful and Written-Off

Assets

(c)

Standard. Substandard and Doubtful

Assets

(d)

Standard, Doubtful and Loss Assets

(e)

Substandard, Doubtful and Loss Assets

BANKING AWARENESS QUIZ



8. With introduction of ATMs, telebanking and

internet banking, banking hours is not a

constraint for transacting banking business,

which is known as

(a)

Universal Banking

(b)

Anywhere Banking

(c)

Worldwide Banking

(d)

Global Banking

(e)

None of them

9. A mutual fund scheme in which the investors

commit their money for a particular period is

known as

(a)

Long-End Scheme

(b)

Long-Term Fund

(c)

Closed-End Scheme

(d)

Back-End Scheme

(e)

Open-End Scheme

10. The process that has to be undertaken by

banks and other financial institutions to

prevent them from being used by criminal

elements for money laundering is

(a)

Credit Monitoring Process

(b)

Credit Rating Process

(c)

KYC Process

(d)

Due diligence Process

(e)

Credit Appraisal Process

11. CVV is an anti-fraud security feature that

helps verify that the customer is in possession

of her card. The Abbreviation of CVV stands for

(a) Card Virtual Valuation

(b) Confidential Virtual Verification

(c) Card Verification Value

(d) Core Virtual Value

(e) Coded Vulnerability Value

12. CP is an unsecured money market

instrument issued in the form of a promissory

note. In the abbreviation CP, letter ‘P’ stands

for

(a)

Paper

(b)

Portfolio

(c)

Payment

(d)

Promissory

(e)

Position

13. Which of the following institutions is a

Credit Information Company?

(a)

CRISIL

(b)

CARE

(c)

ICRA

(d)

ARCIL

(e)

CIBIL

14. The slogan ‘Rest Assured with Us’, is

associated with

(a)

SBI General Insurance

(b)

LIC of India

(c)

National Insurance Company

(d)

United India Insurance

(e)

Oriental Insurance

15. The Reserve Bank of India has recently

issued draft policy guidelines for differentiated

banks’ license which are

(a)

Exclusively for foreign banks

(b)

Aimed at the cooperative sector (c)

Aimed at Non-Banking Financial

Companies

(d)

Aimed at furthering financial inclusion

(e)

Both (a) and (d)



16. The Fair Practice Code for Credit Card

Operations is the banking industry has been

evolved by

(a)

National Institute of Bank Management

(NIBM)

(b)

Indian Banks’ Association (IBA)

(c)

Banking Codes and Standards Board of

India (BCSBI)

(d)

Banking Ombudsman (BO)

(e)

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

17. ATM is an electronic tele-communication

device that helps bank customers perform

financial transactions. The letter T in the

abbreviation ATM stands for -

(a)

Transaction

(b)

Time

(c)

Telling

(d)

Teller

(e)

Traveling

18. When an account does not have sufficient

balance to honour the cheque issued by the

account holder, the cheque is returned by the

bank, which is known as

(a)

Cheque discounting

(b)

Cheque truncation

(c)

Cheque kiting

(d)

Bouncing of cheque

(e)

Cheque validation

19. The alphabet ‘P’ in the abbreviationEFTPOS stands

(a)

Point

(b)

Public

(c)

Primary

(a)

(b) Private

(d)

Permanent

20. Which of the following complaints is invalid

in Banking Ombudsman Scheme:

(a) Non-acceptance, without sufficient cause, of

coins tendered and for charging of commission

for this service

(b) Non-payment or delay in payment of inward

remittances

(c) Closure of account without customer concern

(d) Refusal to close or delay in closing the

accounts

(e) None of them



Banking Awareness Quiz

1.

A

2.

A

3.

B

4.

D

5.

A

6.

B

7.

E

8.

B

9.

C

10.

C

11.

C

12. A

13.

E

14.

D

15.

D16.

C

17.

D

18.

D

19.

A

20.

E

Current Affairs Quiz

Finance

–

Set 1

1.

D

2.

D

3.

A

4.

E

5.

B

6.

C

7.

E

8.

A

9.

D

10.

A

11.

E

12.

B

13.

E

14.

D

15.

B

–

Set 2

1.

C

2.

D

3.

A

4.

E

-

Snapdeal

5.

E

6.

D

7.

E

8.

B

9.

A

10.

C

11.

B

12.

D

13.

E

14.

D

15.

B

–

Set 3

1.

C

2.

A

3.

C

4.

B

5.

C

6.

E

7.

B

8.

E

9.

D

10.

E

11.

A

12.

A

13.

D

14.

B

15.

C


INDIA

–

Set 1

1.

E

2.

A

3.

D

4.

C

5.

D

6.

E

7.

C

8.

D

9.

D

10.

B

11.

E

12.

B

13.

B

14.

A

15.

C

–

Set 2

1.

D

2.

C

3.

E

4.

B

5.

A

6.

D

7.

E –

Singapore

8.

C

9.

A

10.

C

11.

D

12.

C

13.

E

14.

B

15.

D

16.

C

17.

E

18.

E

19.

D

20.

D

–

Se

14. B

15. E

16. B

17. C

18. C

19. D

20. A

– Set 2

1. B

2. E

3. E

4. D

5. A

6. C

7. C

8. E – Bharti Airtel

9. B

10. A

11. A

12. E

13. A

E15.

E14.

A13.

E12.

C11.

D10.

A9.

C8.

C7.

E6.

A5.

B4.

C3.

D2.

A1.

3Set –

D20.

A19.

C18.

E17.

A16.

E15.

B14.

A13.

C12.

B11.

A10.

E9.

C8.

A7.

E6.

D5.

E4.

D3.

C2.

E1.

1Set –

WORLD/SPORTS


– Set 2

1. A2. B

3. D

4. A

5. B

6. E

7. D

8. D

9. A

10. D

11. A

12. C

13. C

14. E

15. CB15.

B14.

C13.

A12.

E11.

D10.

D9.

B8.

C7.

C6.

A5.

D4.

D3.

A2.B1.

1Set –

Quiz2015Rail Budget

ANSWERS



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current affairs magazine - february, 2015 - exampundit_final

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