current affairs power capsule

8/10/2019 Current Affairs Power Capsule

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Current Affairs Power CapsuleNovember 2014 (The Hindu Review)

1. 9th G-20 Summit of major economies was held in Brisbane, Australia. The summit focused on

promoting economic growth and set the target of boosting global growth by 2 percent in five years. The

next summit will be hosted by Turkey in Antalya on 10 November 2015.

2. 18th SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

3. 12th ASEAN-India Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The summit was held on the sidelines

of 25th ASEAN Summit. The Next ASEAN-India Summit will be held in Cambodia in 2015.

4. 9th East Asia Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The summit was held on the sidelines of the25th ASEAN Summit.

5. 83rd Interpol General Assembly was held at Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

6. 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Myanmar

chaired the ASEAN summit for the first time.

7. The International Buddhist Conference 2014 was held in Lumbini, Nepal.

8. 7th Summit on the Global Agenda was held in UAE. The Summit on the Global Agenda for the year

2014 was organized by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Government of the United

Arab Emirates and Government of Dubai.

9. 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit was held in Beijing, China. The summit was held

under the theme of Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership. The next APEC Summit will be

held in Philippines in 2015.


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10. The World Economic Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry hosted the

India Economic Summit in New Delhi.

11. 6th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) was held in New Delhi.

12. India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and

Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) was held in New Delhi. The next session of the IRIGC-TEC will be held in

Moscow in 2015.

13. International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai.

14. New Ministers

1 Manohar Parrikar Defence Ministry

2 Suresh Prabhu Railways Ministry

3 Jagat Prakash Nadda Health Ministry

4 Ch. Birender Singh Rural Development

5 Bandaru Dattatreya Labour

6 Rajiv Pratap Rudy Skill Development

7 Dr. Mahesh Sharma Tourism

15. Prasar Bharti announced to re-launch DD National with new tagline Doordarshan NationalDesh Ka

Apna Channel.

16. Mithra Shakthi exercise: three week mock war drill between Special Forces of Indian and Sri Lankan

Army.

17. A Torpedo Recovery Vessel, TRV-72 of Indian Navy sank off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval

exercise.


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18. Sachin Tendulkars autobiography Playing It My Way was released.

19. Sutirtha Bhattacharya will be the new Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Limited.

20. Actor Farhan Akhtar was appointed as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia.

21. Former Indian Police Service Officer K C Reddy was appointed as the member of United Nations

probe panel on Gaza.

22. Government appointed GS Sandhu as Chairman of National Chemical Weapon Convention.

23. Anita Kapur (IRS) was appointed as the new chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

24. The Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti was appointed as first woman chief of CERN particle physics

research centre.

25. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary under the Union Ministry of Finance.

26. Former Indian cricket captain Dilip Vengsarkar received the prestigious BCCI-instituted Colonel C K

Nayudu Lifetime achievement award.

27. Tamil superstar Rajinikanth was honoured with the centenary award for Indian Film Personality ofthe year 2014 at the 45th International Film Festival of India.

28. Chintan, a non-government organisation was conferred the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award, 2014.


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29. Steel Authority of India Chairman CS Verma was conferred with the IIM- JRD Tata Award for

Excellence in Corporate leadership in Metallurgical Industries for the year 2014.

30. Veteran classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj was conferred with the Sumitra Charat Ram Award 2014 for

Lifetime Achievement.

31. Neha Gupta was awarded with the prestigious International ChildrensPeace Prize 2014.

32. Radio Kashmir Jammu won prestigious Gandhian Philosophy and Public Service Broadcasting award

2014 for its programme Jeevan Rekha.

33. President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 49th Jnanpith Award on eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath

Singh.

34. The Darjeeling Zoo or the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park was selected for the prestigious

International Award the Earth Heroes Award 2014.

35. The Hockey India chief Narinder Batra was awarded the prestigious President's Award by the

International Hockey Federation at Morocco.

36. Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh received the Japans top national award The Grand

Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers 2014.

37. The US President Barack Obama will be the Chief Guest at 66th Indias Republic Day celebrations

2015. He will be the first US President to attend the Republic Day Parade of India.

38. Neel Mukherjee was in news because his book Lives of Others was shortlisted for Costa Book

Awards.


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39. Union Government nominated Dr. Hasmukh Adhia as a Director on the Central Board of Directors of

the Reserve Bank of India.

40. US Navy SEAL commando Robert ONeill who shot Osama bin Laden at his Pakistan hideout in

Abbottabad on 2 May 2011 revealed his identity.

41. Indian-American Nikki Haley won second term as South Carolina Governor.

42. Mallikarjun Kharge, a leader of Congress in Lok Sabha was inducted into the three-member Chief

Information Commissioner Selection committee.

43. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited to Fiji. He is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Pacific

countries after Indira Gandhi who visited in 1981.

44. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia as part of G-20 summit and bilateral summit with

Australia. He became the first Indian Prime Minister to address the Australian Parliament.

45. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Israel to discuss bilateral issues including strengthening

security ties and fight against terror.

46. President Pranab Mukherjee visited Bhutan. During his visit, the two countries signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Nalanda University.

47. Oscar award winner Mike Nichols died.

48. Legendary Kathak danseuse Sitara Devi died.

49. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Murli Deora died after a prolonged illness.


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50. Mathematician Alexander Grothendieck died in France.

51. Baiji in Iraq was in news because Iraqi authorities claimed that Government forces have recaptured

the strategic northern town of Baiji from Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

52. Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted Jayapur village in Varanasi under Saansad Adarsh Gram

Yojana (SAGY).

53. Anbar in Iraq was in news because of massacre of 322 people of Iraqi Al-Bu Nimr tribe by ISIS

militant group.

54. Child Rights and You (CRY) launched Project Unlearn with an aim to end child labour and encourage

children to go to school on 14 November 2014 on eve of Childrens Day.

55. Mumbai recorded 16.4 million internet users surpassing Delhi and Kolkata. Delhi recorded 12.15

million internet users and Kolkata recorded 6.27 million internet users.

56. Akash surface-to-air missile was test fired by the Indian Air Force from Integrated Test Range at

Chandipur near Balasore, Odisha. The missile is a medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft defence

system with a strike range of 25 km.

57. 4th India-China Joint Training Exercise Hand-in- Hand 2014 began at Aundh Military Station in Pune,

Maharashtra.

58. Surface-to-surface nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile was test-fired from a naval ship off the

Odisha coast with strike range of 350 kilometer.


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59. Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile was test fired at Chandipur, Odisha. Prithvi-II was developed

indigenously which is nuclear capable and has a strike range of 350 km.

60. India test fired nuclear-capable Agni-II strategic ballistic missile with a range of 2000 Km. It was

conducted from Wheeler Island, Odisha.

61. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated India International Trade Fair 2014 at Pragati Maidan in

New Delhi. Partner country of the trade fair is South Africa. Focus Country of the fair is Thailand while

the focus state is Delhi.

62. Deepak Gupta was appointed as chairman of Union Public Service Commission.

63. Securities Exchange Board of India on announced to de-recognise Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) on the

allegations of serious irregularities in its functioning.

64. Railways, one of the biggest consumers of energy, is moving towards harnessing green power with a

26 MW windmill proposed to be built in Rajasthan.

65. Klaus Iohannis won Romanian Presidential elections.

66. Kerala and Goa have become first states in the country with every household having at least one

bank account. In addition, Goa, Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep and three districts of Gujarat-

Porbandar, Mehasana, Gandhi Nagar, have also covered all households under PMJDY with at least one

bank account.

67. Ratan Tata has been appointed to the board of Interpol Foundation.

68. Union Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh has adopted Beti village in the district under

the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna.


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69. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the decks for the Indian armys proposal for 814

155mm/52 caliber mounted guns systems (MGS), at a cost of R15,750 crore ($2.55 billion).

70. Additional Director R K Dutta will now head the CBI probe in the 2G spectrum scam after the

Supreme Court directed the agency Chief Ranjit Sinha to recuse from the investigation.

71. The work on the much-talked about TurkmenistanAfghanistanPakistanIndia pipeline (TAPI)

would start in 2015. The steering committee meeting for the cross country pipeline was held at

Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.

72. Switzerland agreed to join the global framework that allows automatic exchange of tax information.

73. Government re-launched Kisan Vikas Patra. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the KVP would help

poor, gullible investors to channelize their savings towards a trusted government scheme instead of

some Ponzi schemes. KVP would be a bearer instrument without name of the holder. KVP will be

available in the denomination of R1,000, R5,000, R10,000 and R50,000. It has no upper ceiling for

investment and can be encashed after a lock-in period of 30 months. Amount invested in KVP would be

doubled in 100 months. The KVP certificates will be sold through post offices initially, but they will later

on be made available to the investing public through designated branches of nationalised banks.

However, there wont be any tax benefit for investment in KVP.

74. The G20 leaders committed to put in place a mechanism for automatic exchange of tax information

between member countries by 2017.

75. Indian Railways has identified toilets as one of the 17 special areas where 100 per cent FDI can bring

about major investments. Earlier, the government had relaxed the FDI norms permitting 100 per centinvestment in rail projects, such as high-speed trains, suburban service, dedicated freight corridors,

freight and passenger terminals.

76. Government fixed the subsidy for domestic LPG at Rs 40 per kg (or Rs 568 per cylinder of 14.2 kg) to

be shared between government and public sector oil companies.


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77. Asia Pacific countries agreed to cooperate on the extradition of corrupt officials, enhance asset

recovery efforts and establish an anti-corruption transparency network to share intelligence on graft.

The network, called the APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies

(ACT-NET), is the first such network that members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group hadworked to set up.

78. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is planning to bring down its stake in public sector

banks to 52 per cent so as to meet Rs 3 lakh crore capital requirement.

79. Arundhati Bhattacharya, the Chairperson of countrys largest bank State Bank of India (SBI), has been

named as the most-powerful woman in business in India by Fortune Magazine. ICICI Banks Chanda

Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank follow Bhattacharya at the second and the third place

respectively.

80. Prime Minister Narendra Modi re-constituted a high-level climate panel and dropped well known

environmentalist Sunita Narain and top industry leader Ratan Tata from the council. TERI chairperson R

K Pachauri, economist Nitin Desai and retired diplomat Chandrasekhar Das gupta were retained by Modi

as nongovernment members.

81. Japanese company Soft Bank, kick-starting its plans to put in about $10 billion in India announced

investments in home-grown market place Snapdeal and popular mobile app for cab bookings Ola.

82. Modi announced the operationalisation of the $100 million line of credit for Vietnams defence

purchases.

83. Union Tribal Welfare Minister Jual Oram launched the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY), aimed atimproving the infrastructure and human development indices of the tribal population.

84. BSE is planning to make a foray into commodity exchange business, now dominated by Multi

Commodity Exchange (MCX) and NCDEX.


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85. The governments of India and Russia have agreed that BrahMos missile will be exported to a list of

mutually agreeable countries for defensive purposes.

86. Union government submitted, in a sealed cover, a list of 627 Indians holding black money abroad in

Supreme Court.

87. Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding with

Mozambique for cooperation in the field of oil and gas.

88. The Reserve Bank of India has raised the limit for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) to sanction loanagainst gold collateral to Rs.2 lakh from Rs.1 lakh at present.

89. Education Ministers and officials of eight SAARC countries have resolved to collaborate on increased

use of information technology and improving the quality of education.

90. Under pressure from India over the safety of United Nations Peacekeeping forces, U.N. Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon has set up a 14-member panel, including an Indian to review peacekeeping

operations worldwide. The panel is headed by Jose Ramos-Horta.

91. Vijay Laxman Kelkar has been appointed as Chairperson of the Finance Ministrys think tank National

Institute of Public Finance & Policy (NIPFP). He replaces the former Reserve Bank Governor C.

Rangarajan.

92. For the first time India and Russia have agreed on negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

between India & the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan & Russia.

93. India will extend Visa on arrival facility to Russian businessmen at 18 airports in the country.


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94. The two-day conference on Asian elephants concluded in Guwahati with a resolve to establish a

regional think tank with nodal officers from Indian, Bhutan and Myanmar.

95. BJP legislator, Laxmikant Parsekar, was sworn in as the eleventh Chief Minister of Goa.

96. Chinese President Xi Jinping on announced $40- billion fund to build mega Silk Road projects criss-

crossing Asia.

97. Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar has taken over as the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

98. Gujarat has become the first State to make voting compulsory in local bodies.

99. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new Aadhaar-based digital life certificate for pensioners

Jeevan Pramaan that will allow self-certification and benefit over a crore pensioners in the country.

100. The members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members have agreed to initiate the

formation of a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific a vision steered by China, which competes with the

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) initiative of the United States.

101. Indias second mission to Mars could be launched between2018 and 2020.

102. E. Sreedharan has been appointed as one man committee by the Ministry of Railways to suggest a

proper system and procedure to ensure proper accountability and transparency at the level of General

Manager and other functionaries for taking all commercial decisions.

103. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared the long-pending proposal of HDFC Bank to

hike foreign holding in the bank to 74 per cent.


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104. Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan was shortlisted for candidates for BRICS New

Development Bank president.

105. Mr. Modi said the PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) and OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) status would be

merged ahead of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas to be held from January 7 in Ahmedabad.

106. Japans economyunexpectedly slid into recession as housing and business investment declined

following a sales tax hike, further clouding the outlook for the global economy.

107. Twelve years after it was constituted, the Nanavati Commission of Enquiry probing the 2002 post-

Godhra riots submitted its final report to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.

108. Forty years of pioneering work culminating in the successful launch of Indias first Mars orbiter this

September has won the Indian Space Research Organisation the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,

Disarmament and Development for 2014.

109. Indias Pacific Ocean outreach gained traction with the announcement of a slew of lines of credit

and development assistance totaling $ 80 million for Fiji and a visa-on-arrival for all the 14 island

countries in the region during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit.

110. SEBI revamped the Prohibition of Insider Trading regulations with more stringent measures,

aligning its norms with international practices.

111. INS Vikrant the countys first aircraft carrier has finally faded away into history. The Centre

said it was difficult to maintain the vessel. In March, the Indian Navy sold Vikrant to a Mumbai-based

ship breaking company for Rs. 63 crore.

112. The former Supreme Court judge Chandramauli Kumar Prasad has been selected to be the next

Chairman of the Press Council of India.


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113. ING Vysya Bank decided to merge with Kotak Mahindra Bank, creating the fourth largest private

sector bank in the country.

114. Indias Mars mission Mangalyaan, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has

been listed among the 25 best innovations of 2014 by the Time magazine. Nobody gets Mars right on

the first try. The U.S. didnt, Russia didnt, the Europeans didnt. But on September 24, India did, the

magazine said.

Current Affairs Power Capsule October 2014 (The Hindu Review)

1.First-time legislator from BJP Manohar Lal Khattar, 61, is the 21st ChiefMinister of Haryana.

2.Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavissworn-in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He is the first BJP candidateto become CM of Maharashtra.

3. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary. He succeededArvind Mayaram.

4. Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar was elected Vice-President of AsiaPacific Broadcasting Union in Macau.

5.Surya Prakash was appointed as the Chairman of Prasar Bharti Board fora term of 3 years.

6.The former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh was designated as the head ofFuture Earth Engagement Committee, a global research platform panel onsustainable development.

7.Union Government appointed US-based economist Arvind Subramanian asChief Economic Advisor (CEA) in the Union Finance Ministry for three years.

8.Vice President of Zambia Guy Scott was appointed as acting President bythe Zambia government.

9.Khaled Bahah was appointed as Prime Minister of Yemen.

10.Aamir Khan was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF inSouth Asia. Aamir Khan will focus on supporting child nutrition to endstunting across the region.


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11.Justice H L Dattu was sworn-in as the 42nd Chief Justice of India.

12. Kalpana Morparia was appointed as first woman director of HindustanUnilever Limited.

13.Union Ministry of Civil Aviation approved the appointment of Cramer Ballas Chief Executive Officer of Jet Airways.

14.President Pranab Mukherjee authorised Vigilance Commissioner Rajiv toact as chief of Central Vigilance Commission until the appointment of theCentral Vigilance Commissioner.

15. Continuing the effort to fight persisting inflation and inflationarypressures, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajanmaintained the policy rates at the current levels in 4th Monetary Policy. The

RBI also retained the growth projection for the current fiscal at 5.5 per cent.Repo Rate 8% (Unchanged)Rev. Repo 7% (Unchanged)CRR 4% (Unchanged)SLR 22% (Unchanged)MSF 9% (Unchanged)Bank Rate 9% (Unchanged)

16. Nobel Price 2014 Winners - The Nobel Prize for is granted by theSwedish Academy.

(i) Chemistry - Eric Betzig, Stefan W Hell and William E. Moerner wasawarded for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.(ii) Physics - Three Japanese-born researchers Isamu Akasaki, HiroshiAmano and Shuji Nakamura was awarded for inventing efficient blue Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) lamps that worked as a bright and energy-savingwhite light source.(iii) Physiology or Medicine John OKeefe, May-Britt Moser and EdvardI. Moser was awarded for their discoveries of cells that constitute a GPS inthe brain.(iv) Economics -French economist Jean Tirole was awarded for his analysisof market power and regulation.

(v) Literature - French author Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize forliterature.(vi) Peace -Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Indianchild rights activist Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel peace Prize foryear 2014.


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44. ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced that the Indian spaceagency will launch GSLV Mark- III within next 45 days.

45. India became the worlds fourth largest steel producer by delivering

62.41 Million Tonnes(MT) output from January 2014 to September 2014. India was preceded byChina, Japan and the United States.

46.4th International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai. Themeof the Conference was Securing State Recovery: Sustaining Momentum atSea, Confronting Instability Land.

47.President Pranab Mukherjee released a commemorative postage stampon Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Anagarika Dharmapala.

48. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa flagged off Yal Devi Expressfrom Palai after 25 years. The train will be extended to Jaffna. The IndiaRailway Construction International has now completed the restoration of therailway lines from Palai to Jaffna.

49.Tropical Storm Trudy struck Mexico.

50. Hudhud is a cyclone which struck Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.Hudhud name derives from the Hoopoe bird, a colorful bird found acrossAfro-Eurasia suggested by Oman.

51. The Antares, an unmanned cargo rocket carrying supplies to theInternational Space Station exploded just seconds after the launch.

52.The novel Half Girlfriend authored by Chetan Bhagat was released.

53.Biography of Allama Muhammad Iqbal titled Iqbal: The Life of a Poet,Philosopher and Politician was released. The biography is written by ZafarAnjum, the editor of book.

54.The book on Rajesh Khanna Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh

Khanna was released. The book was written by Gautam Chintamani.

55. A book titled Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar authored by writer-journalist Dilip DSouza was released on 15 October 2014. The book has

been published by Random House India and books forward has been writtenby Harsha Bhogle.


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56. The Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari released a book entitledUntold Story of the Indian Public Sector authored by Dr UD Choubey, theDirector General of SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises).

57.A book titled A Man and A Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power

written by Bette Dam was launched.

58.Actor Naseeruddin Shah released his autobiography And then One Day:A Memoir.

59. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas was observed to commemorate the 139th birthanniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The decision to observe 31 Octoberas Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Integration Day was taken by the UnionGovernment.

60. Union Government constituted Vishwanathan committee to provide

Bankruptcy code for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

61.NR Madhava Menon committee submitted its report. The committee wasappointed by Supreme Court to frame guidelines to regulate expenditure andcontents of advertisements paid out of tax payers' money.

62. Finance minister Arun Jaitley blamed high income tax refunds for thehigh fiscal deficit of the Centre that touched 83 per cent of the full yeartarget in just six months.

63.K V Chowdary was appointed by the Government as an Advisor to theSpecial Investigation Team that is probing black money cases. The SIT isheaded by retired Supreme Court Judge M B Shah with Vice-ChairmanJustice (retd) Arijit Pasayat.

64.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said economic growth this fiscal could be inthe range of 5.5% to 5.9%.

65. Indian government has issued a set of austerity measures, includingbans on first class air travel and hosting conferences in five star hotels, anda bar on reviving posts that have been vacant for more than a year, with the

stated objective of cutting down non-plan spend by up to 10 per cent.

66. Indian government relaxed rules for FDI in the construction sector byreducing minimum built-up area as well as capital requirement and easingthe exit norms. Cabinet decided to reduce the minimum floor area to 20,000sq mt from the earlier 50,000 sq mt. It also brought down the minimumcapital requirement to USD 5 million from USD 10 million.


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67.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs raised the minimum supportprice (MSP) of wheat, the most important winter crop, by just 3.6%, or Rs.50, to Rs.1450 per quintal.

68. India ranked a dismal 142 among the 189 countries surveyed for the

latest (2015) World Banks Ease of Doing Business report, down two placesfrom its position last year. Singapore retained the top slot for the ninth yearin a row.

69. High leverage in the Indian corporate sector could prevent anymeaningful recovery in asset quality at lenders over the next 12-18 months,Moody's Investors Service said, maintaining its "negative" outlook on thecountry's banking sector.

70.The Centre placed list of around 627 names of Indians having accountsin foreign banks before Supreme Court in the black money case. The courtleft it on the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to carry out necessaryinvestigation. A bench led by Chief Justice H L Dattu asked the SIT to verifythe list given by the government and submit a status report by end ofNovember.

71. A US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) team would arrive nextmonth to carry out a fresh audit of India's aviation safety mechanism, whichwas downgraded almost a year ago.

72. India has performed poorly in removing gender based disparities,

ranking 114 out of 142 countries in World Economic Forum's 2014 gendergap index.

73.Telecom giant Softbank has pledged an investment of $10 billion (overRs 60,000 crore) in India's IT and communications space.

74.Narendra Modi led government named three Pradip Burman, formerlyof Dabur group, Goa based mining firm Timblo Pvt Ltd and its five directorsand Rajkot-based bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya against whomprosecution has been launched.

75. A significant oil discovery has been made near Ahmedabad in theCambay basin that may be the biggest on land find this year.

76.In a complete U-turn from its earlier stand, the Home Ministry has comeout in full support of the Aadhaar scheme saying it will facilitate "anytime,anywhere, anyhow" authentication to its beneficiaries.


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77.Clocking the slowest compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about6.9% in terms of gross state domestic product (GSDP), Uttar Pradesh is thelowest among the traditional BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and UP) in this regard during the past nine years, that is, during2004-05 and 2012-13, according to an Assocham study. Bihar has ranked

on top among the BIMARU states registering highest growth rate of 9.3% inGSDP during the aforesaid nine year period followed by Madhya Pradesh(8.8%) and Rajasthan (8.2%) even as Indias overall gross domestic product(GDP) grew at 8% during 2004-05 and 2012-13, said a study titledAnalysis of BIMARU states, conducted by Assocham.

78.India has opted to buy Israel's Spike anti-tank guided missile. India willbuy at least 8,000 Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers in a dealworth 32 billion rupees ($525 million).

79.The Narendra Modi led government is aiming to improve India's rankingin ease of doing business index to 50th position in the next two years fromthe current 134th.

80. Unfazed by China's objections to development of border areas,Government announced setting up of 54 new border outposts and Rs 175crore package for beefing up the infrastructure along the border in ArunachalPradesh.

81.The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to develop Allahabad as anintegrated industrial township, on the lines of Noida and Greater Noida.

82.Indian government has decided to create a fund starting with Rs 930 Crto help Indian industry acquire cutting-edge technology in the capital goodssector and finance new production units of capital-intensive heavyequipment.

83.The number of hungry people has declined in India with its score on theGlobal Hunger Index improving to 55th position in 2014 due to progressmade in addressing underweight in children, says a report.

84. Prime Minister unveiled half a dozen schemes including a unified web

portal where employers can submit a single compliance report for 16 labourlaws, a new labour inspection scheme, Unique Account Number facility forEPFO members, a new skill development and apprenticeship scheme and arevamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana


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85.Airports at Delhi and Mumbai would be developed as 'seamless hubs' bythe 27-member airline grouping Star Alliance and work on it may start nextyear itself.

86.State-owned Air India will get around Rs 3,000 crore more in the later

part of this fiscal from the Government towards capital infusion.

87.Government proposes to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST)from April 1, 2016.

88.India is poised to become a USD two trillion economy this year, while itsGDP size would cross another milestone of USD three trillion after five yearsin 2019, according to IMF's latest world economic outlook. India's rankingwould also improve to seventh largest economy in the world, whilemeasured on "current prices" basis in US dollar, in 2019 from its tenthposition currently.

89.The government deferred the country-wide rollout of the National FoodSecurity Act, 2013, by another six months, to the first week of April 2015,because of states inability to create requisite infrastructure and identifybeneficiaries. Eleven states and Union Territories Punjab, Haryana,Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Chandigarh have so far implementedthe Act, some fully and others partially.

90.The government is expediting the work to replace Wholesale Price Index

(WPI), used for capturing price movements to decide on policy measures,with a more effective and comprehensive Producers Price Index (PPI) by thenext fiscal.

91. IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned that the global economy could besinking into a prolonged period of "mediocre" growth which could endangerefforts to bring down unemployment worldwide.

92. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Unique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI) to ensure universal coverage under Aadhaar byJune 2015. The current Aadhaar enrolment is about 68 crore.

93. Facebook plans to start testing its Internet carrying solar-powereddrones in 2015, with the ultimate aim of getting two-thirds of the globalpopulation online.

94. Canada has decided to sign a contract with Antrix, the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation


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(ISRO)s commercial arm, for the launch of its satellite. Canada announced

that Antrix would be given the contract for the July 2015 launch of its M3M(Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-Satellite) communicationssatellite.

95.Ashraf Ghanis government will sign a long delayed deal to allow someU.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan into next year.

96.In his maiden visit to India, after taking over as the CEO of Microsoft,Satya Nadella, announced that the company would offer commercial cloudservices Azure and Office 365 in the country from local data centers.

97. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed Rs.2.83 crorepenalty on Super Cassettes Industries, known as T-Series, for unfairbusiness practices with regard to licensing of Bollywood music to private FMradio stations.

98. The country will have state-of-the-art virology diagnostic laboratoriesoperational in 120 districts by 2015.

99. The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has upheld the Securities andExchange Board of Indias order against Angel Broking in case related toviolations of stock broker norms and fraudulent dealings in shares of SterlingGreen Woods.

100. Kerala would become the first State to have high-speed Internet

connecting all the panchayats in the State by March next year.

101.Queen Elizabeth II has honoured campaigning actress Angelina Jolie ina Buckingham Palace ceremony.

102.The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), launched by China,with an authorized capital of $100 billion, is expected to be formallyestablished by the end of 2015. Beijing headquartered has 21 nationmembers - Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan,Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan,Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

103. Lawmakers in France, the worlds most nuclear-dependent country,voted to cut reliance on the energy source from more than 75 per cent to 50per cent within a decade.

104. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a blueprint for the SaansadAdarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) on Jayaprakash Narayans birth anniversary.


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The scheme encourages Members of Parliament from both Houses to identifyand develop one village from their constituency as a model village by 2016,and two more by 2019, covering over 2,500 villages of the 6 lakh villagescountry-wide. Under SAGY, Lok Sabha MPs can select any village with apopulation of 3,000- 5,000 in plains and 1,000-3,000 in hilly areas in their

constituencies besides their own village. MPs are expected to facilitate avillage development plan, motivate villagers to take up activities and use theRs.5-crore MPLAD fund.

105.The Department of Telecom has set a target date of March 31, 2015,to implement the full mobile number portability.

106.India bans the import of animal-tested cosmetics.

107. A Supreme Court-appointed committee led by Chief Justice of India(retired) R.M. Lodha on the catastrophic floods in Jammu and Kashmir

details the failures of the State government.

108.SEBI imposed a ban on realty major DLF and its top executives fromaccessing the capital markets for three years, for suppressing information inits initial public offering (IPO) prospectus and for sham transactions.

109. An inspector Shakti Devi with the Jammu and Kashmir Police hasbagged the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014 institutedby the U.N. for her exceptional achievements while serving with the U.N.

mission in Afghanistan.

110.The BBCs website was blocked in China, hours after a video of HongKong police beating and kicking a pro-democracy protester began circulatingonline.

111. PSLV-C26 lobbed the 1,425 kg Indian Regional Navigation SatelliteSystem (IRNSS-1C) satellite into its precise orbit. Mission was ISROs 27thconsecutively successful PSLV flight.

112.India first long-range sub-sonic cruise missile, Nirbhay (fearless), wastest-fired for a range of over 1,000 km from the Integrated Test Range

wheeler Island, Orissa.

113.The Reserve Bank of India has signed a pact with the Central Bank ofKenya for exchange of information and supervisory cooperation.

114. India received the most number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group ofthe U.N. Human Rights Council, winning a second consecutive two-year term


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at the world body. 162 of 190 countries voted for India. Three othercountries including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Qatar were elected.

115. The Central Government ordered merger of the scam-hit firm NSELwith its holding company Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL).

116.U.K. engineering group Penspen has been awarded a contract to carryout a technical feasibility study for the proposed 1,820-km pipelineTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline.

117.GSAT-16, the next national communications satellite, reached FrenchGuiana this week and is on its way to the space port near Kourou ahead ofan early December flight, European launch Service Company Arianespacehas said. The 3,150-kg satellite is scheduled to be flown on an Ariane-5launcher numbered Flight VA221.

118.Vishal Bhardwajs Haider a modern-day adaptation of Hamlet wonthe Peoples Choice Award in the Mondo Genre (world genre) at the ninth

edition of the Rome Film Festival.

119. P. Sainath (for his reporting in The Hindu), Al Jazeera English, USAToday and Global Post were among the winners of the World Media Summit(WMS) Global Awards for Excellence, 2014.

GK Power CapsuleSeptember 2014 Current Affairs (The Hindu Review)

1. Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was sworn-in as the 42nd ChiefJustice of India on 28 September 2014. He succeeded Chief Justice RM Lodha.

2.AIADMK Treasurer O Panneerselvam was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.He replaced the former AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa.

3.Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was sworn in as president of Afghanistan.

4.Lalitha Kumaramangalam was appointed as chairperson of National Commission forWomen.

5.Union Government declared 25 September as Antyodya Diwas. Antyodya diwas wasobserved to mark the 98th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay.

To Read More Sept Current Affairs : If above button is not working than click below on

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6.National Hindi Divas (Hindi Day) was observed on 14 September 2014.


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7. The India-US Combined Military Training Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2014 concluded atRanikhet in Uttarakhand.

8. Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan left all key rates unchanged citing increased

risks to inflation and difficult external situation especially on the geopolitical front. TheRBI also retained the growth projection for the current fiscal at 5.5 per cent. The apexbank sees FY16 growth at 6.3 per cent.

1. Bank Rate9 % (Unchanged)2. Cash Reserve Ratio4 % (Unchanged)3. SLR22 % (Unchanged)4. Repo Rate8 % (Unchanged)5. Reverse Repo Rate7 % (Unchanged)6. Marginal Standing Rate9 % (Unchanged)

9.President Pranab Mukherjee authorized Vigilance Commissioner Rajiv to act as chief of

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) until the appointment of the Central VigilanceCommissioner.

10. The Bangladesh govt appointed Syed Muazzem Ali as the new Bangladesh HighCommissioner to India.

11.Suresh Prabhu was appointed as Prime Minister Narendra Modis Sherpa for the Groupof 20 annual Summit 2014. The G-20 annual summit will be held in Brisbane from 15November to 16 November 2014. Sherpa is a senior official responsible for preparingthe agenda for leaders to consider during the summit.

12. India TV chairman and Editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma was appointed as the newpresident of the News Broadcasting Association (NBA) for the year 2014-2015.

13.Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar was appointed as the new head of the Pakistansspy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

14.US President Barack Obama nominated Indian American Richard Rahul Verma as thenext US Ambassador to India.

15.Meghalaya Governor, Dr. Krishan Kant Paul was swornin as the Governor of Manipur..16. Chinese President Xi Jinping appointed Le Yucheng as China's new Ambassador to

India.

17.Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was appointed as United Nations Messenger of Peace with aspecial focus on climate change.


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18.The International Economic Association appointed Kaushik Basu as president-elect ofthe association beginning September 2014. However, he will continue to serve asSenior Vice President and Chief Economist of World Bank.

19. Senior IAS officer Subhash Chandra Garg was appointed as the Executive Director

(ED) of World Bank.

20. Former Chief Justice of India, Palaniswamy Sathasivam was appointed as the newGovernor of Kerala.

21. Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and Alan Rusbridger, editor ofThe Guardian won Right Livelihood Award.

22.Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh of Australia were selected as BradmanHonouree 2014.

23.Hindi-language feature film Liar's Dice was selected for Indias official entry in the 2015Oscars Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film is directed byGeethu Mohandas. The 87th Oscar Awards event will take place in the US on 22February 2015.

24.Govind Mishra, the renowned Hindi author was given the Saraswati Samman in NewDelhi. He was given the Samman for his novel Dhool Paudhon Par that was publishedin 2008.

25.The World Health Organisation honoured Bangladesh and Timor-Leste with South EastAsia Regional Award for Excellence in Public Health.

26.Court, an Indian movie written and directed by Indian writer Chaitanya Tamhane wonthe Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurenti is award for a Debut Feature at the 71stVenice Film Festival.

27.South Africa denied visa to Dalai Lama for Nobel Summit. He was scheduled to attendthe 14th world summit of Nobel peace laureates in Cape Town in October 2014.

28.The President Pranab Mukherjee was on a visit to Vietnam from 14 to 17 September2014.

29.Legendary US comedian and talk-show host Joan Rivers died.

30. Former Attorney General of India Goolam Essaji Vahanvati died of a heart attack inMumbai.

31.The Forbes India magazine released The 100 Richest Indian List 2014. As per the list,the top 100 richest tycoons in India are all billionaires for the first time. According to theForbes India List, the Top 10 Richest people of India: 1.Mukesh Ambani; 2. Dilip


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Shanghvi; 3. Azim Premji; 4. Pallonji Mistry; 5. Lakshmi Mittal; 6. Hinduja brothers; 7.Shiv Nadar; 8. Godrej family; 9. Kumar Birla; 10. Sunil Mittal.

32.KPMG-FICCI study has ranked India among top three medical tourism destinations inAsia. The other two countries within Asia that receive maximum medical tourists are

Thailand and Singapore.

33. The World Bank Group approved 105 million US dollars grant for Ebola EmergencyResponse project to fight Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

34.SRPF (Special Rhino Protection Force) is to be setup to protect Rhinos from poachingin Assam. It will be created in Assam with the help of Central funds.

35.UN Climate Change Summit 2014 was held at UN headquarters in New York on 23September 2014 to put the planet on course towards reversing global warming. Thepurpose of the 2014 Climate Summit was to raise political momentum for a meaningful

universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015.

36.The G-20 Labour and Employment Ministerial meet was held at Melbourne, Australia.

37. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott returned two stolen antique statues of Hindudeities to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One of the idols is a Nataraja, thedancing Shiva that belongs to the Chola dynasty of 11th-12th century. The othersculpture is of Ardhanariswara which represents Shiva in halffemale form. It belonged tothe 10th century.

38.The revived Nalanda University started its first session with 15 students in its makeshiftcampus at the Buddhist pilgrim town of Rajgir, about 100 km from Patna.

39.Operation Megh Rahata rescue operation undertaken by Indian Army during Jammuand Kashmir floods Indian Army on 19 September 2014 completed rescue OperationMegh Rahat in Jammu and Kashmir.

40.Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah released his autobiography And then One Day: AMemoir.

41. 50 years of man in space was authoured by Garik Israelien, Brian May and David JEicher.

42.H Devaraj Committee reported that most of thedeemed universities are not fit for beingauniversity. It said that out of 41 C category deemed universities only 10 universitiesare found to be fit for being a university.

43.Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley constituted H R Khan Panel to assess the amountof unclaimed deposits in the PPF accounts and Post Office saving schemes.


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44.Bombay High Court set up V V Daga Committee to conduct forensic audit of NSEL andliquidate the assets of its defaulting borrowers in the over 5500 crore rupees paymentsscam.

45. Sivaramakrishnan committee constituted by the Union Government to suggest the

place to build the capital city of Andhra Pradesh submitted its report.

46. Indian Air Force gifted a vintage Dakota aircraft from its museum to Bangladesh AirForce.

47. Strategic Force Command of India successfully test-fired nuclear weapons capableballistic missile Agni-I with a range of 700 Km. The missile was launched from theIntegrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, Balasore off the Odisha Coast.

48.India's largest naval offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra was commissioned into IndianNavy.

49. Indo-Nepal joint military exercise Surya KiranVII concluded on 31 August 2014 atPithoragarh.

50.The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced the organisation of thefirst Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo (RE-INVEST). The meet isscheduled to be held on 15 February 2015 in New Delhi.

51. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the country's biggest-ever cleanliness drivethat is expected to cost over Rs 62,000 crore, asserting that the "Swachh Bharat"mission is "beyond politics" and inspired by patriotism. The Cabinet had last monthdecided to merge the 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan', a campaign for rural sanitation withSwachh Bharat Mission.

52.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) to ensure universal coverage under Aadhaar by June 2015. The current

Aadhaar enrolment is about 68 crore, which means over 50 crore people will have to bebrought under its ambit within the next eight months. Last month, the union cabinet seta target of 100 crore enrolment under Aadhaar by the end of next year.

53.Targeting a five-fold jump in Indo-US trade to USD 500 billion, Prime Minister NarendraModi and US President Barack Obama pledged to deepen economic cooperation andwill set up a joint program to boost business investment.

54. US government welcomes India's offer for US industry to be the lead partner indeveloping smart cities in Ajmer (Rajasthan), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and

Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh).


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65. Mumbai has emerged as the least expensive city in the world to live and work in,according to a latest real estate analysis. British capital London has overtaken HongKong as the most expensive city to rent living and working space.

66. The Union government said the proposed Goods and Services Tax could become areality from April 1, 2016. The finance ministry is set to introduce the Constitution (115th

Amendment) Bill in the winter session.

67.India and China inked 12 pacts in a range of areas including railways and outer spaceas Beijing pledged investments of USD 20 billion over five years in a bid to boosteconomic ties and address India's concerns over trade deficit.

68. The Indian Railways will get assistance from its counterpart in China for semi-highspeed corridors, which allow trains to run at a speed of up to 200 km per hour.

69.PSU oil marketers not only wiped out their under-recovery on diesel in the fortnightended September 15 but also reported a marginal over-recovery of 35 paise a litre on

its sales. The development, mainly due to monthly price hikes since January 2013 andalso helped hugely by a relatively low global crude oil price.

70. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has set up a panel of experts,headed by former Sebi chief GN Bajpai, to review investment norms for NationalPension System (NPS) schemes for the private sector.

71. Industrial and infrastructure project proposals will get security clearance within 12weeks as the Home Ministry has streamlined the process by issuing a detailed guidelinein this regard.

72.To sort out the liability issue plaguing Indian nuclear reactors, the Centre has askedGeneral Insurance Company (GIC) to work on a model that could be applied to insuresuch facilities in the country.

73.A new index Creative Productivity Index (CPI) ranks Japan as the most efficient amongAsian countries while Myanmar, Pakistan and Cambodia are least efficient. India is at14th rank. The Asian Development Bank said it developed the index with the EconomistIntelligence Unit to give policymakers a tool to assess how best to foster innovation andcreativity in Asian economies.

75.With the target of providing houses for all by 2022, a new integrated National HousingMission will be launched soon by merging some of UPA's flagship schemes likeJNNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana.

76.Boeing has delivered the fifth maritime patrol aircraft P-8I to India as part of a deal foreight aircraft to support the Indian Navy's maritime patrol requirements.

77. Finance minister Arun Jaitley is not going to attend the G-20 finance ministers andcentral bank chiefs meeting in Cairns, Australia, on September 20 and 21, as he is


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recovering from a diabetes management surgery. Minister of state (finance andcommerce) Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the meeting instead.

78. The Expenditure Management Commission headed by Bimal Jalan will submit itsinterim report by January, in time for its recommendations to be incorporated in the

FY16 Budget.

79.Rating agency Moody's said prospects have brightened with growth rate expected toaccelerate to 5.2 per cent in 2014 and 6.5 percent by end of 2015.

80.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has cleared sale of government's 11.36per cent in NHPC. The government also gave a go- ahead to the much-awaited 10 percent stake sale in Coal India Ltd, which could fetch over Rs 23,000 crore to theexchequer. Government also cleared 5 per cent disinvestment in oil major ONGC,which may fetch the exchequer about Rs 18,000 crore.

81. Seven years after the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard decided to selluranium to India. India and Australia signed the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

82. RBI said guarantors, group firms and management can also be classified as willfuldefaulters by lenders. If the guarantor refuses to comply with the demand made by thebanker despite having sufficient means to make payment of the dues, such guarantorwould also be treated as a wilful defaulter.

83. Indian government has decided to start negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA)with Peru.

84.India has signed the free trade agreement (FTA) in services and investments with the10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

85.Declaring the Jammu and Kashmir floods as "national level disaster", Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced Rs 1,000 crore as special assistance for rehabilitation.

86.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced that the new capitalof the state would be located "around Vijayawada".

87.India will get $35 billion from Japan over the next five years for development projects,including building of smart cities and next generation infrastructure.

88. Japan offered to provide financial, technical and operational support to India forintroduction of bullet trains. The two Prime Ministers look forward to the completion ofthe Joint Feasibility Study on High Speed Railway system on

AhmedabadMumbai route.

89. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) withJapanese PM Shinzo Abe to turn Varanasi into a smart city with help from Kyoto.


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90.The much-awaited minimum monthly pension of Rs.1,000 and a higher wage ceiling ofRs.15,000 for social security schemes run by retirement fund manager EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will be implemented from September 1.

91.Ms. Mridula Sinha will be administered oath of office as the Governor of Goa.

92.Ch. Vidyasagar Rao was sworn in as Maharashtra Governor.

93. A four-member high-level committee has been set up under the former CabinetSecretary T.S.R. Subramanian to examine five laws administered by the Union Ministryof Environment, Forests & Climate Change.

94.Iran unveiled a new surface-to-air Talash-3 (Effort-3, in Persian) missile and two radarsystems Arash-2 and Kayhan.

95.The Department of Personnel and Training has notified amendments giving autonomyto the Lokpal search committee to shortlist and recommend names independently forselection of Chairman and members of the anti-corruption body.

96.Mumbais Esplanade House, once the residence of Jamsetji Tata, founder of the TataEmpire, and the Shri Sakhargad Nivasini Devi Temple Complex in Satara are amongthe 14 projects from 10 countries that bagged the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage

Awards that were announced in Bangkok.

97. India and Bangladesh have reached a decision on ratification of the Land BoundaryAgreement (LBA) and ensure zero border killings.

98.China will set up two industrial parks in India, one each in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

99. Tata Consultancy Services has reappointed N Chandrasekaran as Chief ExecutiveOfficer and Managing Director for a five year term.

100.Bihar is the fastest growing State while Tamil Nadu is the worst performer, the latestdata released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed. Bihars Gross StateDomestic Product (GSDP) grew 10.73 per cent during 2012-13. The second-bestperforming State is Madhya Pradesh, which grew at 9.89 per cent. Delhi is third with agrowth rate of 9.33 per cent.

101. Kolkata-born British author Neel Mukherjees latest novel The Lives of Others hasbeen shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize 2014.

102. ICICI Bank launched Instant Money Transfer. In which customer can now transfermoney from their account to anyone in India with a mobile number.


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103.Meghalaya Governor Krishan Kant Paul has been given additional charge of Manipurand Mizoram.

104.The European Union (EU) decided to slap new economic sanctions on Russia over itsactions in Ukraine.

105. PayPal will start accepting bitcoin payments through its subsidiary, Braintree, thecompany has announced.

106.Haryana and Maharashtra will hold elections on October 15, with counting of votes onOctober 19, as per the schedule announced by the Election Commission.

107.China will be the focus country for the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)2014, scheduled to be held in Goa between November 20 and 30.

108.India and Vietnam signed seven agreements, including one for enhanced cooperation

in the oil sector. ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Vietnam Oil signed a Letter of Intent(LoI) for jointly exploring two more blocks.

109.India has warmed to the idea of the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) corridorthat could prove to be a game-changer in regional linkages among the four countries.The BCIM corridor, long promoted by China, is intended to link Kunming to Kolkata,Mandalay (Myanmar), Dhaka and Chittagong.

110.Chinese President Xi Jinping made a special announcement on opening a new routefor pilgrims to Kailash-Mansarovar in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

111. The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) and the China DevelopmentBank Corporation (CDB) signed various agreements with SBI, ICICI Bank and AxisBank.

112.Public sector banks (PSBs) in India will need to raise up to $37 billion over the next 4-5 years to meet Basel III compliance norms, credit rating agency Moodys said.

113. The government has set up a high-level committee headed by Bibek Debroy toreconfigure the Railway Board as well as to suggest steps for resource mobilisation formajor projects.

114.Bamiyan has been selected to be the SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April2015. Dhaka will be the SAARC cultural capital in 2016-17. The year 2016-17 will alsobe declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.

115. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned from his post; a day after the NationalistCongress Party (NCP) withdrew support to his government and reduced it to a minority.


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GK Power Capsule(The Hindu Review) August 2014

1. RBI has held policy rates at current levels. However RBIs move to cut SLR by 50 bpsto 22%could provide banks an additional liquidity of R44,000 crore. Current fiscal yearis expected to go up to 5.5 per cent from 4.7 per cent in last financial year.

i. Bank Rate9 % (Unchanged)ii. Cash Reserve Ratio4 % (Unchanged)iii. Statutory Liquidity Ratio 22 % (Decreased 0.5%)iv. Repo Rate8 % (Unchanged)v. Reverse Repo Rate7 % (Unchanged)vi. Marginal Standing Rate9 % (Unchanged)

2. Union Government appointed chairman of JointIntelligence Committee (JIC) RN Ravias Naga interlocutor. He was also appointment as Chief of the Joint IntelligenceCommittee.

3. Turkey's ruling party named Finance Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as New PrimeMinister of Turkey.

4. Thailand coup leader, Army Chief Prayuth Chanocha was elected as The PrimeMinister of Thailand.

5. Prof. V. K. Thomas was appointed as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee.

6. Rajni Razdan became the new Chairperson of the UPSC. She replaced Prof. D PAgrawal.

7. K V Chowdary appointed as new Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

8.Arvind Gupta was appointed as Deputy National Security Adviser.

9. US actor and singer Harry Belafonte was named for honorary Jean HersholtHumanitarian Oscar Award.

10. Renowned agriculture Scientist M.S. Swaminathan was conferred with an honorarydegree of the Doctor of Science by the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

11. Muzaffar Ali, renowned filmmaker and poet, was presented the 22nd Rajiv Gandhi

National Sadbhavana award.

12. Delhi University professor Dr. Sunil Kumar received Global South Award given byInternational Political Science Association (IPSA).

13. Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd bagged the Core Banking System Initiative Award for theyear 2014 at the Asian Banking and Finance - Retail Banking Awards 2014.


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14. Shah Rukh Khan became the Ambassador of Turn Back Crime campaign ofInterpol.

15. Russia granted a three-year residence permit to Edward Snowden, the Former USintelligence contractor turned whistleblower.

16. President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards. i. BJP leader Arun Jaitley received the award for the year 2010ii. Congress Veteran Karan Singh received the award for the year 2011iii. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav received the award for the year for 2012

17. Nuri al-Maliki resigned as the Prime Minister of Iraq and accepted the candidacy ofDr. Haider alAbadi, who was nominatedbythe President of Iraq Fouad Masoum to formthe new government.

18. Syrian Golan Heights was in news in the fifth week of August 2014 after forty-three

UN Peacekeepers from Fiji were held as hostage by an armed group of rebels.

19. Indian Army discovered a tunnel in the Pallanwalla sector along the Line of Controlin Jammu & Kashmir.

20. Bipan Chandra, famous historian, died.

21. Oscar-winning British filmmaker and actor Richard Attenborough died. RichardAttenborough was renowned for his critically-acclaimed biopic on Mahatma Gandhi.

22.UR Ananthamurthy, an eminent Kannada writer died.

23. World-renowned yoga guru B. K.S Iyengar died.

24. Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams was found dead at his home.

25. Pran Kumar Sharma, the eminent cartoonist who created the comic book characterlike Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu died.

26. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched a Plan Scheme of MainstreamingCivil Defence in Disaster Risk Reduction at a function at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

27. Survey of India the official mapping agency of the country alleged that Googlecontinued to pollute the internet with the map results of Indias classified areas evenafter being warned against it.

28. The WHO called for a range of tough regulations that restricts the use of e-cigarettes.


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29. The WHO has declared Ebola as Global Health Emergency. The decision was takenafter a two day emergency session held in Geneva.

30. President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koromadeclared a public health emergency inSierra Leoneto curb the deadly Ebola outbreak.

31. Former Comptroller and Auditor General VinodRai authored a book titled Not Justan Accountant.

32. A book titled Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: An Inside Job? authored by FarazAhmad wasreleased.

33.A book titled Gujarats success story in Water Management was released. This bookwas written by BJPs National Convener of Water Management Cell, Sriram Vedire.

34. A book Strictly Personal, Manmohan and Gursharan written by Daman Singh was

published. The book is the untold story of Manmohan Singh, Indias thirteenth PrimeMinister, and his wife.

35. Sivaramakrishnan committee constituted by the Union Government to suggest theplace to build the capital city of Andhra Pradesh submitted its report.

36. Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up a Ramanujam committee to identify obsoletelaws.

37. The Union Government decided to appoint former RBI governor Bimal Jalan as thehead of the Expenditure Management Commission. He would be tasked to suggestways for managing public finances by reducing food, fertiliser and oil subsidies toinclude fiscal deficit.

38. Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan appointed a committee under thechairmanship of former home secretary RK Singh to review Parliament security.

39. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development set up a four membercommittee to review the present status of Universities Grants Commission. Thecommittee will be headed by former UGC chairman Hari Gautam.

40. Indian Air Force and Russian Federation Air Force started Indo-Russian Air ForceExercise, Avia Indra-2014 at Astrakhan region, near the Caspian Sea in Russia.

41. Indias first indigenously-built stealth AntiSubmarine Warfare INS Kamorta wascommissioned in Indian Navy by Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.

42. SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs.13 crore on Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) for non-disclosure of a keyearnings ratio.


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43. SBI reported a 3.3 per cent rise in its net profit atRs.3,349 crore for the first quarterof 2014-15.

44. The Union Home Ministry has recommended the name of hockey wizard MajorDhyan Chand for the highest civilian honour of Bharat Ratna.

45. Salman Rushdie has received the Hans ChristianAndersen Literature Award.

46. BCCI has appointed former Test all-rounder Ravi Shastri Director of Cricket in theIndian teamfor the five-match ODI series against England.

47. T. M. Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank, has been elected asthe Chairman of Indian Banks Association.

48. President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Kalyan Singh, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Ch.Vidyasagar Rao and Mridula Sinha Governors of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra

and Goa, respectively.

49.The Jan Dhan Yojana provides for a free zero balance bank account with a debitcard, Rs 1 lakh accidental insurance policy and Rs 30,000 free medical insurance coverfor those who enroll before January 26 2015. Depending on the performance of theaccounts in the first six months, banks will later extend a Rs 5,000 overdraft facility,thereby turning the debit card into a kind of credit card. The debit card is being issuedby RuPay of the National Payments Corporation of India. Accounts will opened with anyone document including electricity/telephone bill, marriage/birth certificate for addressproof and NREGA job card/ identity card of accredited institutions for identity proof.Having an Aadhaar card/number is not mandatory. These accounts can be linked toaadhaar numbers later.

50. Government plans to hike its stake in IFCI Ltd to 51per cent by infusing Rs 60 crorein the country'soldest financial institution. At present the stake is nearly 48 per cent.

51. GDP grew by 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of thefiscal, marking the fastest growthsince March2012, according to data released by the CSO. The economy grew at 4.6per cent in the fourth quarter of last fiscal.

52. Wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation dipped to a five-month low of 5.19 percent in July.

53. State-owned banks are likely to hit the capital markets in November in a bid to meetBasel III capital adequacy norms, for which the requirement has been estimated atRs.2.40 lakh crore over a five-year period.

54. Syndicate Bank Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) S.K. Jain was arrested bythe CBI, along with his brother-in-law and four others, for allegedly receiving a bribe ofRs. 50 lakh.


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55. A Bill to further empower SEBI to check fraudulent investment schemes wasintroduced in the LokSabha.

56. RBI issued draft guidelines for the implementation of Bharat Bill Payment System.

The RBI has invited comments from stakeholders by September 5. The objective of theBBPS is to implement an integrated bill payment system across the country and offerinteroperable and accessible bill payment service to customers through a network ofagents, enabling multiple payment modes and providing instant confirmation ofpayment.

57. Chaired by Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram G. Rajan the Sub-Committee of theFinancial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) reviewed the domestic macroeconomy and potential risks facing the financial system.

58. SEBI approved the SEBI (Real Estate Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014, and

SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014. The SEBI move will providea framework for registration and regulation for setting up and listing of Real EstateInvestment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) inIndia. Once registered, the REIT will raise funds through an initial offer. Subsequentraising of funds would be through follow-on offer, rights issue and qualified institutionalplacement. The minimum subscription size for units of REIT will be Rs. 2 lakh.

59. On a Supreme Court directive, SEBI has issued a public notice asking those holdingbonds issued by two Sahara Group companies to apply for refund by September 30.

60. RBI asked the State governments to be vigilant against unauthorised depositmobilization activities in different parts of the country.

61. The Union Rural Development Ministry has suggested doubling the amount offinancial assistance offered to villagers to build homes saying the current allocation ofRs 70,000 was "insufficient". A paper on National Gramin Awaas Mission (arechristened version of Indira Awas Yojana) prepared by the ministry on housing saidthe amount should be Rs 1.5 lakh.

62. India has decided to acquire US Boeing's Chinook and Apache helicopters, anIndian defence ministryofficial said, in a deal valued at $2.5 billion. The deal topped theagenda during a visit by U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel in August.

63. The much-awaited minimum monthly pension ofRs 1,000 and a higher wage ceilingof Rs 15,000 for social security schemes run by retirement fund manager EPFO will beimplemented from September 1.

64. Govt lifted the restriction of supply of only one subsidised cooking gas LPG cylinderto a household in a month, saying consumers can avail their quota of 12 bottles atanytime of the year.


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65. India has banned Finmeccanica group of companies from bidding in contracts, adefence ministry source said. In January, India cancelled a 560-million-euro ($751million) order with Finmeccanicas unit Agusta Westland for 12 topend helicopters afterItalian prosecutors alleged the defence group had paid bribes to Indian officials to win

the contract.

66.Asian Development Bank said it will provide up to7-9 billion loan to the country overthe next threeyears.

67. The government notified the hike in foreign investment limit in defence production to49% from 26% approved by the cabinet recently. It said even beyond the new limit of49%, foreign investment would be considered on case to case basis by the CabinetCommittee on Security.

68. The government will spend Rs 20,000 crore to provide mobile connectivity in 55,000

villages, which are still untouched by wireless telephony, in the next five years.

69. Gujarat has grabbed a lion's share, 45 percent, of the country's total exports thatwere made from Special Economic Zones or SEZs during the year 2013-14.

70. Government has started the process for setting up four new ultra mega powerprojects in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, which will together add 16,000 MW capacity tothe country's power generation. UMPP is a thermal power project of at least 4,000 MWcapacity, with an approximate investment of Rs 25,000 crore. So far, four UMPPs havebeen awarded. Of this, Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) have been bagged by Reliance Power. Tata Power is operatingthe Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

71. Government hiked the import duty on both rawand refined sugar to 25 per cent fromthe existing 15 per cent.

72. Delhi has been ranked a dismal 111th out of 140 world cities in a latest global liveability study, pointing to the lack of urban planning across India's polluted and chaoticcities.

73. Gujarat followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka are the leading states attractingsignificantinvestment in Indias hotels and tourism industry.

74. India ranked fifth amongst top ten wind power producers in the world by adding1,700 MW capacity in 2013, a report said. "China was the leading wind power producerby adding 16,100 MW capacity in 2013, followed by USA, Germany and Spain,"Renewable 2014 Global Status Report said.

75. The Defence Ministry has decided against blacklisting British aircraft enginemanufacturer Rolls-Royce and allowed the armed forces to do business related to


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essential requirements with the firm, which is facing a CBI investigation for allegedlypaying commissions and employing middlemen in contracts with HAL.

75. Tata-SIA Airlines Limited announced that the much-anticipated brand name of itsnew airline will be Vistara or limitless in Sanskrit with aubergine and gold its colours.

76. Prime Minister Narendra Modi waived off Jammu and Kashmirs Rs. 60-crore liabilitytowards the Food Corporation of India and announced Central assistance of Rs. 8,000crore for four major road projects.

77. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the setting up of a new institution toreplace the Planning Commission.

78. India and Singapore decided to scale up ties in keyareas of investment and tradewhich has witnesseda huge surge from USD 4.2 billion to about USD 19.4 billion in thelast one decade. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Singapore.

79. China inaugurated its second railway line in Tibet,built at a cost of USD 2.16 billion,close to Indian border in Sikkim, enhancing mobility of its military in the remote andstrategic Himalayan region.

80. NASAs Mars rover, Opportunity, which landed on the Red Planet in 2004, is nowthe record holder of the off-Earth roving distance after accruing 40 kilometres of driving,the American space agency said.

81. After the World Trade Organisation (WTO) failed to agree on a Trade FacilitationAgreement (TFA) or global customs rules following Indian opposition India has refusedto agree on a TFA because it wants the WTO to decide simultaneously on a higher limiton stockpiling of agriculture produce to feed the poor.

82.Doordarshan programmes will soon be available across Asia, Europe, North Africaand Australia, courtesy a memorandum of understanding signed by Prasar Bharati withGerman public service broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

83. The two-day 18th BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) MinisterialMeeting held in New Delhi.

84. Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot, mathematicians of Indian origin, are amongeight winners of the International Mathematical Union awards, announced in Seoul.

GK Power CapsuleJuly 2014 (The Hindu Review)

1. New Governors Appointments (i) Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki - Governor of Haryana.(ii) Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi - Governor of West Bengal.


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(iii) Shri Ram Naik - Governor of Uttar Pradesh(iv) Shri Balramji Dass Tandon - Governor of Chhattisgarh(v) Shri Om Prakash Kohli - Governor of Gujarat(vi) Shri Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya - Governor of Nagaland.

2. Lt. General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief of Army Staff. Hesucceeded General Bikram Singh to become the 28th Army Chief.

3. Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha took over as the Chairmanof the Chief of Staff Committee.

4. Amitabh Bachchan was appointed as the horticulture ambassador ofMaharashtra.

5. Subhash Sheoratan Mundra took charge as the fourth Deputy Governor ofthe Reserve Bank of India for three years. He was appointed to fill the

vacancy created by the KC Chakrabarty. Before being appointed as DeputyGovernor of RBI, S S Mundra was the Chairman and Managing Director ofBank of Baroda.

6. The Comptroller & Auditor General of India, Shashi Kant Sharma assumedoffice as Member of the United Nations Board of Auditors for a term of sixyear.

7. The Supreme Court appointed R S Cheema as Special Public Prosecutorfor trial in coal blocks allocation scam.

8. Yellapragada Sudharshan Rao was appointed as Chairman of IndianCouncil of Historical Research (ICHR).

9. B Ashok took charge as Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), theIndias largest oil firm.

10. Emma Watson, the British Actress was appointed as the GoodwillAmbassador for UN Women.

11. Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Rohington FNariman were appointed as Supreme Court judges.

12. M S Mehta was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RelianceInfrastructure.


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13. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Nepal. She cochairedthe meeting of the IndoNepal Joint Commission. India and Nepal agreed toreview and adjust the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 to reflect thecurrent realities.

14. The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim arrived in New Delhi, India onhis threeday visit.

15. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Brazil to attend the 6thBRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil form 15 July to 16 July 2014. BRICSgroup includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. One of the mostimportant decision taken was the creation of 100 billion dollar NewDevelopment Bank with equal contribution from all the BRICS countries.Besides, the Summit also saw the creation of 100 billion dollar ContingencyReserve Arrangement (CRA) fund for the BRICS nation. The 7th Summit willbe held in 2015 in Russian city of Ufa.

16. Deputy National Security Adviser Nehchal Sandhu resigned.

17. The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigned from his postfrom Verkhovna Rada (The Parliament of Ukraine) after his governingcoalition collapsed.

18. Madhukar Singh, an eminent Hindi litterateur died.

19. Sushilarani Patel, the renowned classical singer of India died.

20. Nadine Gordimer, the South African Nobel Prize winner author, died.

21. Eduard Shevardnadze, the former President of Georgia died.

22. Alfredo Di Stefano, the legend of Real Madrid Football Club, died.

23. Granville Austin, the eminent scholar of the Indian Constitution died.

24. Former Haitian president Leslie Francois Manigat died.

25. Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France was charged withcorruption and influence peddling.

26. Sujit Choudhry became the first IndianAmerican dean of the BerkeleyLaw School, University of California.

27. The United States named a mountain in Antarctica as Mt. Sinha tohonour an eminent IndianAmerican scientist, Akhouri Sinha.


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28. Business 20 (B20) Australia Summit was held in Sydney, Australia. Atthe Summit, the business leaders of G20 countries issued a blueprint forG20 leaders to boost economic and job growth and make global economymore resilient to deal with future shocks.

29. 7th IndiaBrazilSouth Africa (IBSA) summit will be held in New Delhi,India in 2015. Apart from this, it was also agreed to hold India Africa Forummeet in New Delhi in December 2014.

30. President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma declared a public healthemergency in Sierra Leone to curb the deadly Ebola outbreak. The outbreakis now the largest recorded in world history, and has infected three Africancapitals of Monrovia (Liberia), Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Conakry(Guinea) with international airports.

31. The United Nation launched the 2014 revision of the World UrbanisationProspects report. The report said that at present, 54 percent of the world'spopulation lives in urban areas, which will have an additional 2.5 billionpeople in urban areas by 2050. Tokyo was ranked at first position aspopulous cities in 2014 with 38 million inhabitants. Delhi with 25 millionpopulation was ranked at 2nd position. Shanghai with 23 million was placedat 3rd position. Mexico City, Mumbai and Sao Paulo, each with around 21million inhabitants in 2014 were ranked at 4th position.

32. India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 was released. The report said

that total forest and tree cover of the country is 87.92 million hectare, whichturns up to be 24.01 percent of the geographical area of India. States withmaximum increase in forest cover are West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala. Stateswith Largest forest cover are Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh. Mizoramin terms of percentage 90.38 percent had highest forest cover.

33. Heavy downpour caused landslide in Malin Village of Ambegaon Taluka,70 Kms from Pune killing 41 peoples.

34. The World on 29 July 2014 observed the International Tiger Day.

35. World Hepatitis Day was observed across the world on 28 July 2014.

36. World Population Day was observed across the world on 11 July 2014.The theme of World Population Day 2014 was investing in Young People.


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36. India on 1 July 2014 observed the National Doctors Day. The day is

observed to honour legendary physician, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy whose birthand death anniversary falls on the same day.

37. Indian Air Force received its sixth C17 Globemaster III aircraft.

38. India's first indigenous antisubmarine warship (ASW) Indian Naval Ship(INS) Kamorta was handed over to the Indian Navy.

39. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kuthar Warship was damaged in a mishap.

40. India successfully testfired an advanced version of the 290km rangeBrahMos supersonic cruise missile from ChandipuronSea off Odisha coast.

41. Union government decided to appoint Suresh Prabhu Committee toreview the gas pricing formula. The Union Cabinet on 25 June 2014 had

deferred the implementation of the C Rangarajan Committee's pricingformula till 30 September 2014 for conducting a comprehensive review ofthe whole issue.

42. The Union Civil Aviation Ministry on 7 July 2014 constituted anInterMinisterial Group (IMG) to examine the maximum potential of GPSAided Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system. IMG will be headed by AshokLavasa.

43. One Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography written by Kunwar Natwar

Singh was published on 1 August 2014.

44. The Lives of Others authored by Neel Mukherjee was shortlisted for ManBooker Prize 2014. Neel Mukherjee is a Kolkataborn British Indian writer.

45. The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash was published byPenguin Books Limited in 2014.

46. A coffeetable book titled First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in RashtrapatiBhavan was released on 2 July 2014 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan,New Delhi. The books first copy was received by Pranab Mukherjee.

47. Muzaffar Ali, a noted filmmaker of India was selected for Rajiv GandhiNational Sadbhavana Award.

48. The Indian Contingent won five medals in 45th International PhysicsOlympiad held in Astana, Kazakhstan. India won 2 gold medals and 3 silvermedals in the Olympiad.


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49. Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt was awarded with the prestigiousGandhi Peace prize for 2013.

50. Shah Rukh Khan was conferred with top French civilian award Knight ofthe Legion of Honor. Shahrukh Khan is the second Bollywood actor after

Amitabh Bachchan to be honoured with Knight of the Legion of Honour.

51. Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani education advocate won the 2014Liberty Medal given by the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia inPennsylvania.

52. The classical music reality show of Doordarshan Naad BhedThe Mysteryof Sound will be featured in Limca Book of Records. The reality show will befeatured under Television Chapter in Limca Book of Records for being thefirst ever National level reality show on Classical Music.

53. The third edition of Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) was held inLeh, Jammu and Kashmir.

54. The annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival) began on 29June 2014 at Puri of Odisha.

55. Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi launched a web platform MyGov.nic.in. The platform has been created to facilitate CitizenEngagement in Good Governance.

56. The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development launched a LogoDesign Competition for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Campaign.

57. First Aid Post was launched at Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi. The postwas launched to expand the network of health care to its beneficiaries.

58. China has invited India to participate in the Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank.

59. Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C23 successfully put five foreignsatellites into orbit in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the

Indian Space Research Organisation, Sriharikota. ISRO launched the 714kg

French earth observation satellite SPOT7, the 14kg German AISAT, the two15kg Canadian NLS7.1 (CANX4) and NLS7.2 (CANX5) and the 7kgSingapore VELOX1. PM asked Indias space community to take up thechallenge of developing a Saarc satellite which can be dedicated to ourneighbourhood, as a gift from India.


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60. China has for the first time formally agreed to allow Indian hydrologicalexperts to conduct study tours in Tibet to monitor the flows on the upperreaches of the Brahmaputra, according to a new agreement signed duringthe visit of VicePresident Hamid Ansari. The MoU on the Brahmaputra wasamong three agreements signed as VicePresident Hamid Ansari held talks

with his counterpart Li Yuanchao. Both countries have also formalised aframework for setting up Chinadedicated infrastructure parks in India andfor the firstever training exchange programme for officials of both countries,between the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration(LBSNAA), Mussoorie, and the China Executive Leadership Academy (CELAP)in Shanghai.

61. Kaafiron ki Namaaz , a movie by debutant director Ram Ramesh Sharmaand producer Bhargav Saikai won four awards, including one for the bestfeature film at the third Ladakh International Film Festival.

62. The Rajasthan government declared the camel as the State animal.

63. NDA government has appointed the former Cabinet Minister, SureshPrabhu, as the head of a highlevel panel on power revamp AdvisoryGroup for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy.

64. The European Court of Human Rights upheld Frances controversialburqa ban.

65. WalMart India launched its online platform for members of Best Price

Modern Wholesale stores in Hyderabad and Lucknow.

66. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved theinclusion of onion and potato under the purview of stock holding limits underthe Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

67. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the third most followed world leader onTwitter, next only to U.S. President Barack Obama and the Pope. Mr. Modi,who overtook

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