Notes for Current News for Upcoming
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This GK Capsule has been prepared by ssbmadeeasy.com This document consists of all important news
and events of last few months which can come in SBI PO Exam.
Current
RBI Policy & Reserve Rates:
Repo Rate
|
8% (unchanged)
|
Reverse Repo
|
7% (unchanged)
|
CRR
|
4% (unchanged)
|
SLR
|
23% (Unchanged)
|
MSF
|
9% (Unchnaged)
|
Bank rate
|
9% (unchanged)
|
Note: As on 1 April 2014, RBI (Reserve Bank of India) in its first
bimonthly monetary policy statement kept the key policy rate (repo)
unchanged.
News related to RBI:
1. RBI, has decided that Indian companies will not be permitted to
raise External Commercial Borrowings from
overseas branches or
subsidiaries of Indian banks for refinance or
repayment of the
Rupee loans raised from domestic banking system.
2. Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
announced that plastic currency notes will be
launched in 2015
after field trials.
3. RBI panel headed by ex‐Chairman of Axis Bank,
P. J. Nayak
recommend for diluting govt stake in public sector banks to below
50 %. The government should cut its holding in
public sector
banks to under 50 per cent, a Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) panel
report on Tuesday said, criticising the way in
which the lenders
are now being governed.
4. Reserve Bank of India granted banking licences to infrastructure
financing firm IDFC and microfinance
institution Bandhan
from among 25 applicants that included corporate
heavyweights
ADAG Group, Aditya Birla Group and Bajaj Group.
Note: The in‐principle approval
granted (to the two entities) will
be valid for a period of 18 months during which
the applicants
have to comply with the requirements under the
guidelines and
fulfil the other conditions as may be stipulated
by the RBI.
Chandra Shekhar Ghosh: CMD of Bandhan financial services
Dr. Rajiv B. Lall: Chairman of IDFC – Infrastructure Finance
Company.
5. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the guidelines to allow the
minors of age above 10 years to independently
open and operate
savings bank accounts and use other facilities
like ATM and
cheque books.
6. RBI extended the timeline for full implementation of Basel III
norms 31 March 2019 instead of 31 March 2018.
7. RBI in consultation with Union Government on 1 April 2014
capped the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limits
for the first half of the new financial year 2014‐15 (April 2014‐Sep 2014) at
35000 crore rupees.
Note: The interest rate on WMA/overdraft will be
based on: a) WMA: Repo
Rate. b) Overdraft: Two percent above the Repo
Rate
8. RBI extends date of exchanging pre‐2005 notes to Jan 1, 2015
Note: The Reserve Bank has further clarified that the public can
continue to freely use these notes for any transaction. RBI has
said that people can unhesitatingly receive
these notes in payment, as all such notes continue to remain legal tender.
9. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the trade related remittance
limit from 2 lakh rupees to 5 lakh rupees per transaction with
immediate effect. It also increased the number
of transaction handled by exchange houses.
10. KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, has quit
three months ahead of completion of his term.
11. RBI pegged 2014‐15
GDP growth at a central estimate of 5.5 percent.
12. Economic growth for 2014‐15 expected at 5.5 pc.
13. CAD expected to come down to 2 pc of GDP in 2014‐15.
14. Retail inflation expected to be under 6 pc in 2014.
15. RBI panel headed by RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha has
recommended bringing a benchmark floating interest rate,
especially for home loans. Panel also suggested Indian
Banks Base Rate (IBBR).
16. The deadline for switching to new format bank cheques under the
Cheque Truncation System (CTS) ended on 30 April 2014.
17. RBI scraps 26% cap on interest rate for MFIs: (RBI) removed
26 per cent cap on the interest rate that can be charged by a
microfinance company to its borrowers. MFI is
allowed to charge interest rate equal to 2.75 times the average of the base
rates of
the top five commercial banks.
18. RBI permits 4 non‐bank entities to set up white label ATMs: The Reserve Bank has issued
‘certificate of authorisation’ to four
non‐bank entities:
(1) Tata Communications Payment Solutions
(2) Muthoot Finance,
(3) Prizm Payment Services and
(4) Vakrangee Ltd. , to set up White Label ATMs (WLAs) in the
country.
Note: Most of the ATMs belong to banks, but the cash dispensing
machines which are owned and operated by non‐banking
companies are called White Label ATMs.
19. RBI permits Srei to roll out white label ATMs: Srei
Infrastructure Finance is planning to start roll‐out of its while label ATMs
(WLAs) between July and September starting with
a pilot of 200 Tier‐III towns in Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar.
20. The expert committee headed by Urjit R. Patel, Deputy
Governor of the Reserve Bank of India examine the current monetary
policy framework of the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has suggested that the apex bank should adopt the new CPI (consumer price
index) as the measure of the nominal anchor for
policy communication. The nominal anchor or the target for inflation should be
set at 4 per cent with a band of +/‐ 2 per cent around it.
21. Ex-Chairman of Axis Bank, P. J. Nayak is the head of the expert panel to review bank boards’ governance.
The panel will
review the RBI's regulatory guidelines on
ownership of banks and representation in their boards, among other things.
22. The Reserve Bank of India has raised the Foreign Institutional
Investors, FIIs investment limit in the Power Grid Corporation to
30 per cent of its paid up capital, under the Portfolio Investment
Scheme.
23. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has doubled the sub‐limit for foreign
investment in government securities, to USD 10
billion by long‐term
investors. RBI's move is aimed to attract more
foreign funds. Investors
like sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), multilateral
agencies, insurance
funds, pension funds and foreign central banks
are considered as long
term investors.
24. RBI relaxes gold loan norms: The Reserve Bank of India has allowed Non‐Banking Financial Companies, NBFCs to lend up to
75 per cent of the value of gold. It was 60 per cent earlier.
25. RBI panel (headed by banker Nachiket Mor) has suggested
setting up of specialised banks to cater to low income households
to ensure that all citizens have bank accounts
by 2016.
26. The RBI‐appointed committee on financial inclusion has recommended that the
central bank should set up specialised
banks called Payments Bank to provide payment
services and deposit products to small businesses and low‐income households.
The committee, headed by Nachiket Mor, said that since the new bank will be dealing with
poor customers, such a bank must
be allowed to accept a maximum deposit of not
more than Rs 50,000.
27. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had set up a panel under executive
director Deepak Mohanty to review the current system of
data collection, dissemination and data
management processes in the central
bank and improve the existing mechanism.
28. RBI tightens norms for credit card holders: RBI advised banks to treat a credit card account
as a non‐performing asset if the
customer fails to pay the minimum due amount
within a stipulated 90‐day period.
Highlights of Interim
Budget 2014: Finance minister P
Chidambaram presented his interim budget for 2014.
§ Fiscal deficit for current fiscal to be 4.6%
§ Revenue deficit estimated at 3% for current
fiscal
§ Excise duty on SUVs cut from 30 to 24%, in large
and midsegment cars from 27‐24%
to 24‐20%
§ No changes in tax laws in interim budget
§ Excise duty cut from 12 to 10 per cent in
capital goods sector to stimulate growth
§ Excise duty on mobile handset to be 6% on CENVAT
credit to encourage domestic production
§ Rs 500crore estimated requirement for
implementing one‐rank‐one‐pay scheme for armed forces in 2014‐15
§ Rs 6000crore to rural housing fund, Rs 2000
crore for urban housing fund
§ Rs 3711 crore for minority affairs; housing and
urban poverty alleviation gets Rs 6000 crore
§ Fiscal deficit target of 3% to be achieved by
2017
§ CAD will be $45 billion in 2013-14
§ Foreign exchange reserves up by $15 billion
§ Foodgrain production estimated at 263 million
tons in 2013‐14
§ 3 more industrial corridors — Chennai Bangalore,
BangaloreMumbai, Amritsar Kolkata — under various stages of
§ implementation
§ GDP growth rate in Q3
and Q4 of 2013‐14 will be at least 5.2%
FDI Limits
Sr. No.
|
List of Limits in
various sectors (in %)
|
|
1
|
Defence
|
26
|
2.
|
Pension
|
49
|
3.
|
Insurance
|
49
|
4.
|
Print media
|
26
|
5.
|
Civil aviation
|
49
|
6.
|
Public sec. banks
|
20
|
7.
|
Private sec. banks
|
74
|
8.
|
Multi brand
|
51
|
9.
|
Single brand
|
100
|
10.
|
Tourism
|
100
|
India GDP Forecast:
Ø RBI pegged 2014‐15 GDP growth at a central estimate of 5.5 %
Ø World Bank lowers
India’s GDP growth forecast for 2014‐15 at 5.7 %
Ø ADB pegs India GDP growth rate for 2014‐15 at 5.5 %
Ø IMF projected GDP
growth for India in 2014‐15 at ‐ 5.4 %
India ranking in different Indexes for 2013 ‐ 14:
1. Global Environment Performance Index 2014 – 155
2. Intellectual property (IP) environment 2014 – 25 (US
ranked on the top followed by UK and France)
3. World Press Freedom Index 2014 ‐ 140 in the list of 180 countriess
4. Nuclear material security index 2014 ‐ 23rd out of 25 countries
5. World's best countries for doing business 2014 ‐ 98th (Ireland topped the list).
6. Social Progress Index 2014: 102 out of 132
7. Global Hunger Index 2013 ‐ 63
8. World Prosperity Index 2013 – 106. Norway tops the list.
9. Global Gender Gap Report 2013 ‐ 101. Iceland tops the list.
10. Global Peace Index 2013 – 141
11. Human Development Report 2013 – 136
12. Global Corruption Index 2013 – 94
13. Global Competitiveness Index 2013 ‐60 for 2013 (Switzerland top in this report)
14. Gender Inequality Index 2013 ‐ 132nd (UN Human Development (Index) Report)
Some Important
Economic Terms:
1. Bond: A certificate of debt (usually interest‐bearing or discounted) that is issued by a
government or corporation in order to
raise money; the bond issuer is required to pay
a fixed sum annually until maturity and then a fixed sum to repay the
principal.
2. Balance sheet: Record of the financial situation of an
institution on a particular date by listing its assets and the claims against
those assets.
3. Balance of trade ‐ The part of a nation's balance of payments that deals with
merchandise (or visible) imports or exports.
4. Closed economy: A closed economy is one in which there are no
foreign trade transactions or any other form of economic
contacts with the rest of the world.
5. Deflation: Deflation is the continuous decrease in prices of goods and
services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate becomes
negative (below zero) and stays there for a
longer period.
6. Debenture: Debenture is a loan issued by a firm, involving g a fixed
repayment schedule, in terms of both time and interest.
7. Debit: Money paid out from an account either from a withdrawal or a
transaction that result in decreasing the cash balance.
8. Equity: Equity is a one financial instrument by which company invite the
public to invest their money in the company and
investor can become a partner of the company.
Generally, when the company have insufficient money to expand its business it
comes with equity shares.
9. Economic growth ‐ An increase in the total output of a nation over time. Economic
growth is usually measured as the annual
rate of increase in a nation's real GDP
10. Excise Tax ‐ Taxes imposed on specific goods and services, such as cigarettes
and gasoline.
11. Exports ‐ Goods or services produced in one nation but sold to buyers in
another nation.
12. Fiscal policy: Fiscal policy defines the use of government
spending and revenue collection to influence the economy.
13. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): Investment of foreign assets directly into a
domestic company's structures, equipment, and
organizations. It does not include foreign
investment into the stock markets
14. Foreign Exchange (FOREX): Foreign Exchange (FOREX) is the arena where a
nation's currency is exchanged for that of
another.
15. GDP: GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. It is a method of measuring
the size of economy of a country. We can define as the
total market value of all the goods and services
produced in a given period of time in a country.
16. GNP: The total value in money of all finished good and services
produced in an economy in one full year, and all net property
income from abroad. The GNP growth rate is an
important economic indicator for country’s economic development.
17. Imports: commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country.
18. Inflation: Inflation is as an increase in the price of
bunch of Goods and services that projects the Indian economy. An increase in
inflation figures occurs when there is more
demand and less supply of the goods.
19. Mutual Fund: There are accumulation and collection of many
different types of shares. It is when investors together want to buy
securities as a group, this fund can be called a
mutual fund. Each and every investor of this group has a proportional stake in
the
shares based on the amount he has contributed.
20. Monetary policy: It is the process by which the central bank, or
monetary authority of a country controls (i) the supply of
money, (ii) availability of money, and (iii)
cost of money or rate of interest.
21. National income ‐ The amount of aggregate income earned by
suppliers of resources employed to produce GNP; net national
product plus government subsidies minus indirect
business taxes.
22. Per Capita Income: The total national income divided by the number
of people in the nation, It means the share of each
individual when the income from the productive
activities is divided equally among the citizens.
23. Sales tax ‐ Taxes paid on the goods and services people buy.
24. Stock ‐ A certificate reflecting ownership of a corporation.
25. Tax: A fee charged by a government on a product, income, or activity.
If tax is levied directly on personal or corporate income,
then it is a direct tax. If tax is levied on the
price of a good or service, then it is called an indirect tax.
26. VAT: VAT is the indirect tax on the consumption of the goods, paid by
its original producers upon the change in goods or upon
the transfer of the goods to its ultimate
consumers. It is based on the value of the goods, added by the transferor. It
is the tax in
relation to the difference of the value added by
the transferor and not just a profit. All over the world, VAT is payable on the
goods and services as they form a part of
national GDP.
27. Wholesale Price Index (WPI): The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) takes into
account the wholesale prices of identified
commodities for calculating rate of inflation.
Important Committees in
News:
1. PJ Nayak: to review Governance of Boards of Banks in India. The
committee was constituted under the chairmanship of P. J.
Nayak. He is a former Chairman and CEO of Axis
Bank.
2. M P Bezbaruah: to suggest suitable remedial measures to
address concerns regarding security of people from North East.
3. B. Sambamurthy: panel favours single mobile banking app on all
SIMs. Panel recommended that customers should not be
required to visit the bank branch for mobile
number registration.
4. BCCI suggests three‐man committee to SC to probe IPL scandal. Ravi
Shastri, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice J N
Patel and ex‐CBI Director R K
Raghavan as members of the probe committee.
5. Vijay Kelkar Committee was appointed by the Petroleum and
Natural Gas Ministry to prepare a road map to make India selfsufficient
in oil and natural gas by 2030.
6. Vishnu Sahay committee: look probe into the Muzaffarnagar communal
violence.
7. Urjit Patel Committee ‐ to examine the current monetary policy
framework
8. Mukul Mudgal member panel to probe IPL spot‐fixing
9. Nachiket Mor ‐ committee on comprehensive financial services
for small businesses and low‐income
households.
10. Justice A.P. Shah committee : to head panel on road safety
11. Anil Kaushal committee: to examine the recommendations made by the
TRAI on pricing of Spectrum.
12. Bimal Jalan panel : to scrutinize applications for new bank
licenses.
13. Parthasarathi Shome. – for Tax Administration Reform Commission
(TARC), Suggest a system to enforce better tax compliance
14. Kirit Parikh panel : on fuel pricing has suggested that the diesel
prices should be increased by Rs 1‐1.50 a litre every month as
against the 45‐50 paise monthly hike followed currently.
15. K U.B. Rao : the idea of setting up Bullion Bank or Bullion
Corporation of India
16. C Rangarajan Panel ‐ recommended the pricing of natural gas by a
complex methodology of arriving at an average of
International gas
hub prices.
17. Arvind Mayaram Panel: report on the alleged irregularities at the
National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL)
18. Arvind Mayaram Committee –for giving clear definitions to Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign
Institutional Investment
(FII)
19. Suma Verma Committee ‐ to update, and revise the Banking
Ombudsman Scheme, 2006
20. Damodran Committee: on improvement of customer services in
banks
21. Shri M. Narasimham Committee: on Banking Sector Reforms
22. Shri Raghuram Rajan Committee: on Financial Sector Reforms,
23. Shri B. Mahapatra Committee: to review the existing prudential
guidelines on restructuring of advances by
banks/financial
institutions
24. Shri Aditya Puri Committee: Dissemination of Credit Information
25. Shri K.U.B. Rao Committee: recommended aligning gold import
regulations
26. K M Chandrasekhar committee : for rationalization of foreign
investment norms
27. Shri Pulak Kumar Sinha Committee: to study the feasibility of
Aadhaar as an additional factor for
authentication of card present
transactions
28. Mukul Mudgal Committee: looking into US giant Walmart's lobbying
activities to enter India
29. MBN Rao Committee: to prepare the blueprint of India’s first
women’s bank
30. JS Mathur committee : to revise Newspaper Advertisement Rates.
31. K. Ratna Prabha : Committee on indecent depiction of women in
media
News Related to
Banking & Finance
1. India recently launched its own payment gateway 'RuPay', equivalent
of Visa and Mastercard, which will work on ATMs and
merchant outlets and help in reducing cash
transactions.
Note: i. RuPay, which works on three channels ‐‐ ATMs, Point of Sales (POS) and online sales,
is the seventh such payment
gateway in the world.
ii. The RuPay platform ‐‐ developed by National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI)‐‐ is being used by
certain banks like ICICI,
State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, among
others, for clearing and settlement.
2. India became third‐largest economy in 2011 from 10th in 2005: World Bank.
3. Note: India emerged as the world’s third‐largest economy in 2011 from being the 10th
largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan,
while the US remained the largest economy
closely followed by China, latest figures have revealed.
4. Govt accepts Sahoo panel report on review of depository receipts scheme. The key
recommendations of the committee include
allowing issuance of depository receipts against
any underlying securities — equity or debt, by any issuer ‐ listed or unlisted.
Note: Depository receipts are receipts
denominated in foreign currency created by a depository in the country of listing.
There
are two popular types of
depository receipts — global depository receipts and American depository
receipts.
5. ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Ltd has become Exide Life Insurance
Company. The insurance company will continue to
honour its commitments and obligations under the
insurance policies issued to customers in the name of ING Vysya Insurance
Company Ltd.
6. Switzerland and Norway are the world's most expensive economies,
followed by Bermuda, Australia and Denmark, according to
a new ranking by the World Bank
7. SBI launches 3 Digital banking facilities for
its customers”
i. Tab Banking for Saving A/C ‐ Opening Savings a/c at Customer’s door step
using tablet PC provided to the Bank’s Sales Staff (who visit the Customer’s
home).
ii. TAB Banking for Home Loan ‐ In‐principle approval for the home loan at
customer’s door step using tablet PC provided to the Bank’s Home Loan Sales
Team which will capture on the tablet KYC
details and details.
iii. e‐KYC ‐ Generates e‐KYC (Know Your Customer) identity document.
8. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launched an Institutional
Trading Platform (ITP) to help Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs) and start‐up companies to list on
the bourses without an Initial Public Offer (IPO).
9. Basel Committee issued Final standards to curb exposures of banks
to customers. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision
on 15 April 2014 issued Final standards for
measuring and controlling large exposures of banks to customers. These
standards
will take effect from 1 January 2019
10. Bank of India (BOI) has become the first Indian bank to extend a
bridge loan of $200 million to Air India to finance the
purchase of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
11. India leads global remittances with USD 70 bn in 2013. India's
neighbour China follows second with USD 60 billion, said the
World Bank report
12. World Trade Organisation (WTO) projected that the world trade will
grow by 4.7 percent in 2014.
13. The World Bank give loan Pakistan 12 billion dollars over the next
five
years to help lift its economy,
14. Qatar based Doha Bank announced it’s First branch in Mumbai. The
branch in Mumbai will be opened as a full‐fledged bank in May 2014.
Note: Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, Abu Dhabi Bank are the two other
banks from Arab countries to have operations in
India before Doha
bank.
15. Bank of India (BOI) launched Instant Money Transfer (IMT)
scheme
in Mumbai.
Note: IMT scheme allows customers to withdraw cash without using either
debt card or credit card at BoI's IMT‐enabled ATMs.
This is the first‐of‐its‐kind initiative launched by a public sector
bank.
16. Kotak Mahindra launches accounts integrated with Facebook,
Twitter.
17. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has bagged Morningstar India’s best fund house
award in the debt, equity and multi‐asset
category.
18. ADB pegs India GDP growth rate for 2014‐15 at 5.5 pc
19. Inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reached a 3‐month high of 5.7% in March 2014.
20. Wholesale Inflation falls to 9‐month low of 4.68 per cent in Feb
21. Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the launch of Jifi, a first‐of‐its‐kind fully integrated social bank account that
transcends normal
digital banking by seamlessly incorporating
social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook with mainstream banking.
22. Export‐Import Bank of India
extended a Line of Credit of $89.90 million to the Government of Republic of
Congo, for
development of transportation system in the
Republic of Congo.
23. Central Bank of India has sold its entire stake in credit
information provider CIBIL to Transunion International Inc. Central Bank
had a 5 per cent stake in CIBIL while Transunion
is the majority shareholder in CIBIL at 27.5 per cent.
24. Canara Bank names cricketer Shikhar Dhawan as its brand
ambassador.
25. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank set World
record for Blood collection in a single day. The blood
donation camp organised by HDFC Bank on 6
December 2013 was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.
26. The World Bank has said it would provide up to $3 billion in aid
for Ukraine in 2014 to help the country deliver much‐needed
economic reforms.
27. Max Life Insurance has tied up with Toyota Financial Services
India Ltd to provide insurance cover to car loan customers.
28. Bihar emerges as fastest growing state (15.05 per cent) in 2012‐13: CSO Report.
Note: According to the CSO data, Gujarat ranked 6th with growth
rate at 7.96 per cent, behind Bihar and Madhya Pradesh with
9.89 per cent, Goa 8.47
per cent, Kerala 8.24 per cent and Odisha 8.09 per cent. The all‐India growth rate in 2012‐13 was 4.47
29. Indian Bank has bagged national award for excellence in lending to
micro enterprises for 2012‐2013,
for the consecutive second
year.
30. Corporation Bank has bagged the awards for lending to MSE (micro
and small enterprises) and to micro enterprises from the
Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME) for 2012‐13.
31. The Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, BBK, plans to expand its
operations in India by opening its fourth branch in the country in New
Delhi.
32. Interest rate on Post Office FDs increased by up to 0.2
per cent from 8.2 percent to 8.4
percent.
33. India’s 1st post office savings bank ATM inaugurated in Thyagaraya
Nagar, Chennai.
34. SEBI approved the new Corporate Governance
norms. The new corporate
governance norms would become applicable for all
listed companies with effect from 1 October
2014.
35. Wholesale inflation eased to a seven‐month low of 5.05 per cent in January, on
decline in the rate of price rise in food articles,
mainly vegetables.
36. Retirement fund body EPFO decided to increase the rate of interest
on Provident Fund deposits to 8.75 percent from 8.5
percent.
37. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has
sanctioned Rs 348.63 crore to Karnataka under Rural
Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).
38. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided $400 million first
tranche line of credit to India Infrastructure Finance Company
Ltd (IIFCL) to help accelerate infrastructure
growth through increased private sector investment.
39. Asian Development Bank will provide USD 275 million loan
for improving rural road connectivity in five states including
Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and
West Bengal in the country.
40. Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and SBI Cards have joined hands for
roll‐out of credit cards to
customers of India’s first womenfocused
commercial bank
41. Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the first all‐women bank, tied with New India Assurance to
launch health insurance products for
women account holders of the bank.
42. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) and RBI concluded an agreement that
expands the maximum amount of the bilateral swap arrangement
(BSA) between the two countries to USD 50
billion.
Note: BOJ Governor is Haruhiko Kuroda and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan
43. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has
reduced refinance rate for banks and other
lending agencies by 0.20 per cent to promote rural
credit and rural infrastructure.
Note: The revised rate of interest on refinance
for a period of five years for commercial, state cooperative, regional rural
and
primary urban cooperative banks will be 9.70
per cent, down from 9.90 per cent.
44. SEBI grants new status to three clearing
corporations to National Securities
Clearing Corporation, Indian Clearing
Corporation and MCX‐SX Clearing Corporation.
45. IMF projected 5.4 percent economic growth for India in 2014‐15
46. WB (World Bank) projected economic growth rate of 5.7% for
India in 2014‐15 fiscal
47. World Bank will provide $250 million loan to construct
disaster resilient houses and roads in disaster‐hit Uttarakhand.
48. World Bank will provide $500 million loan for water supply
and sanitation projects in the rural areas of Assam, Bihar,
Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
49. World Bank will provide 50 million dollar assistance to Afghanistan
to support the government's efforts to improve access to
credit for micro, small and medium enterprises.
50. LIC has re‐launched its “Jeevan
Anand” plan, a participating non‐linked plan which offers an attractive
combination of
protection and savings.
51. Govt launches inflation indexed saving bonds which offer
protection to retail investors from price rise. The minimum limit for
investment is Rs 5,000 and the maximum is Rs 5
lakh per applicant per annum. Interest rate would be linked to Consumer Price
Index (CPI).
52. The world’s first Bitcoin storage service that insures deposits of
the digital currency against hackers and accidental loss
has opened in London.
53. Economic growth in India projected at 5.35% in 2014, says UN
report
54. UN projected the global economy to grow at a pace of 3 per cent in
2014 and 3.3 per cent in 2015.
55. Indian Overseas Bank launched ‘Connect Card’, a new ATM cum
Debit card in association with VISA that can be used for ecommerce
across five lakh merchant outlets.
56. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved American retail
giant Walmart Stores Inc's proposal to acquire Bharti
Group's nearly 50 per
cent stake in their Indian wholesale stores joint venture.
57. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
projected a credit potential of Rs 12726.83 crore in the
state focus paper (SFP) for the year 2014‐15 in Uttarakhand under the priority sector.
Important News (India
& World):
1. Bharatiya Janata Party wins 282 seats as the NDA bags 334 in General
Elections 2014. The BJP led NDA is set to form the new
Government at the Centre with a massive win in
the Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party has secured an absolute majority on
its own by winning 282 seats.
2. BJP wins 71 seats in UP. In Uttar Pradesh results of all 80
constituencies have been declared. Bharatiya Janata Party has 71
seats. Ruling Samajwadi Party has won 5 seats
and two‐seats each has been won
by the Congress and the BJP ally Apana Dal.
3. India will become the world’s third largest oil consumer by
2025 according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA)
released its annual Energy Outlook on 7 May 2014. At present, India is the
fourth largest oil consumer in the world behind the US, China
and Japan.
4. Actor‐filmmaker Kamal Haasan
led the Indian delegation at the 67th Cannes International Film Festival
inaugurated in Cannes,
France on 14 May 2014.
5. The United Nations and the International Olympic Committee
has signed a historic agreement to use the power of sports to
promote peace and economic development.
Note: IOC President: Thomas Bach
6. European Union bans Indian Alphonso mangoes, veggies from May
1. The 28‐member European Union
has temporarily
banned the import of Alphonso mangoes, the king
of fruits, and four vegetables from India from May 1, sparking protests from
the Indian community, lawmakers and traders.
Note: The recent decision by the grouping's Standing Committee on
Plant Health came after 207 consignments of
fruits and vegetables from
India imported into the EU in 2013 were found to
be contaminated by
pests such as fruit flies and other quarantine
pests.
7. Microsoft acquires Nokia's mobile phone
business for $7.5bn. The
Finnish company will now focus on networks,
mapping services and
technology development and licences.
Note: Former Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop has become executive
vice president of the Microsoft devices group
8. The Supreme Court of India appointed former judge of the High
Court of Australia, Michael Hudson McHugh as the third
arbitrator to resolve the dispute between the
Central government and Mukesh Ambani‐led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on KG
basin.
9. SC recognizes transgender as third category
of sex. In a landmark judgement,
the Supreme Court on Monday recognised
transgenders or eunuchs as third category of
gender and directed Centre and states to grant them all facilities including
voters
ID, passport and driving licence.
10. WHO certifies India as a polio‐free nation.
11. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) panel announced that
Cherrapunji in India regained the world record for highest
rainfall in 48 hours with 2493 millimeters.
12. Russia suspended from G‐8 group: The G7 group of top
economic powers have kicked out Russia from the powerful G8 over its annexation
of Crimea and
threatened
to impose far-reaching sanctions if Moscow continued its incursion into
Ukraine.
ii.
The US and six other economic powers also scrapped the G8 summit
to be hosted by Russia in Sochi in June to build pressure on Russian President
Vladimir Putin
against
his military action in Ukraine.
About Crimea
i. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous parliamentary
republic within Ukraine and is governed by the
Constitution of Crimea in accordance with the
laws of Ukraine.
ii. The capital is the city of Simferopol, located in the
center of the peninsula. Crimea's area is 26,200 square kilometers.
iii. The Crimean peninsula, the main flashpoint in Ukraine's crisis, is
a pro-Russia part of Ukraine, separated from the
rest of the country geographically, historically
and politically. It also hosts Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine has
accused Russia of invading it.
13. IFFCO gets approval to set up $ 1.6 bn urea plant in Canada.
14. Global pharma major Novartis acquire
GlaxoSmithKline plc's (GSK).
15. Andhra Pradesh has recorded highest growth in terms of milk
production at over 41 per cent and per‐capita milk availability
about 36 per cent, during the period 2006‐10.
16. A US jury ordered Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to pay $119.6
million to Apple Inc, a big loss for the iPhone maker in the latest
round of their globe‐spanning mobile patent litigation.
17. Cadbury India Limited announced to change its name to Mondelez
India Foods Limited. Cadbury India Limited is a subsidiary of
Mondelez International Inc.
18. Vietnam (Hanoi) decided not to host the 2019 Asian Games for
financial reasons, and was exploring procedures to withdraw
from staging the region's largest sporting
event.
19. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (SPL) announced that it will acquire
100 per cent of Ranbaxy Laboratories in a $ 4 billion allshare
transaction.
20. Deadly ‘Heartbleed’ virus arrives in Indian cyberspace.
21. Jammu and Kashmir became the first state in the country to declare
all election booths in the coming Lok Sabha polls as no
smoking zones.
22. IRV 2020 programme has been launched by WHO‐India, with an aim to
protect and increase the population of the one‐horned rhinoceros
(Rhinoceros unicornis).
23. Workdays for tribals under MNREGA raised from 100 to 150.
Those tribals who have received land rights
under the Forest Rights
Act, 2006 will be eligible for additional 50
days of wage employment
under the rural job scheme.
24. India nominated Rani‐ki‐Vav located in Patan, Gujarat and the
Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Himachal
Pradesh for
UNESCO’s World Heritage Site Status for 2014.
25. Vandana Foundation launched AQUATM in Mumbai: The
AQUATM is a water vending machine from which
water can be
purchased. This water wending machine will
release 1 liter water at
a price of 1 rupee.
26. Air India is all set to join the world's largest airline grouping,
Star
Alliance, this July, making it the first airline
from India to be part of a
global chain of carriers.
27. Gujarat state has been ranked number one in a list of India's 20
largest states in terms of “economic freedom”.
28. Google partners with Ray‐ban for Google Glass.
29. India is Dubai’s largest non oil trading partner in 2013‐14
30. In the biggest‐ever
deal signed at the India Aviation Show, SpiceJet
has inked an agreement with Boeing for purchase
of 42 737 MAX 8
aircraft costing Rs. 26,000 crore ($ 4.4
billion).
31. Kellogg’s ropes in Deepika Padukone as brand ambassador for
Special K
32. Mauritius President Rajkeswar Puryaag is the chief guest at Global
Ayurveda Fest in Kerala
33. National Waqf Development Corp. Limited is a new Central Public Sector Enterprise in New
Delhi.
Note: It will be remain under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. National
Waqf Development Corporation (NAWADCO) has been
established with an authorized share capital of Rs.500
Crore.
ii. The corporation has been establishment as a follow‐up of the recommendation of Sachar Committee.
34. Social media giant Facebook will acquire mobile messaging company
WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars in a cash and stock deal,
the largest acquisition by the Mark Zuckerberg‐led firm. Under the agreement, WhatsApp co‐founder and CEO Jan Koum will
join Facebook Board of Directors.
Note: WhatsApp, headquarters is in California's Mountain View.
35. Odia declared as classical language. So far, Sanskrit,
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have been declared as classical
languages.
36. Google and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) jointly launched 360‐degree panoramic imagery of 30 out of 100 "nationallyimportant
monuments" including Taj Mahal, Red Fort,
Humayun's Tomb, Jantar Mantar and Qutub Minar among others,
viewable to one‐third of the world's population.
37. Cheteshwar Pujara, the middle order batsman of Indian cricket team
appointed as the brand ambassador of the Gujarat State
Election Commission.
38. Country’s first Minority Cyber Village opened in Chandoli in Alwar
district of Rajasthan.
39. Sikkim achieves over 100 percent sanitation. Sikkim has become the
only state in the country to achieve more than 100 percent
sanitation in rural and urban households,
schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres.
40. India’s first monorail service launched in Mumbai. The
first phase covers 8.9 km long Wadala‐Chembur section.
41. Belgium became second country to allow Mercy Killing for Children.
Parliament of Belgium on 14 February 2014 legalised death
to terminally ill children of any age.
Note: Other European countries that allows
active euthanasia are: 1. Luxembourg, which permits active euthanasia for
over 18 years in age. 2. Switzerland lets
doctors to help adult patients to commit suicide
42. India is the world’s largest arms importer: SIPRI. The new data
has ranked China and Pakistan second and third respectively as
the largest arms importer. The report published
by as Swedish Think Tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI) has claimed that India continues to be
the largest buyer of arms in the world.
43. India became third largest crude oil importer in the World.
World’s Top Five Oil‐Importing Countries are: 1.China, 2.U.S.A:,
3. India 4. Japan 5.Germany
44. Facebook — with more than 1.2 billion users worldwide — is
celebrating its 10th birthday on 3rd Feb 2014.
45. Six Public Sector Units (PSUs) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to set up the World’s largest 4000 MW ultra
solar power project in Rajasthan. The project
will be the largest single location solar plant spread across 19000 acres at
Sambhar
in Rajasthan.
46. The Ministry of Railways and the Government of Karnataka signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the setting up of
a rail coach factory at Kolar in Karnataka.
47. Cabinet approves quota hike of subsidised LPG cylinders from 9 to
12.
48. Kerala wins UN award: Kerala Tourism has been conferred the United Nations Award for
creating innovative initiatives for
sustainable tourism, the first time India has
ever won the recognition.
49. Odisha's Chilika lagoon, hotspot for biodiversity, has been named
'destination flyways' by United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) following its inclusion in
a list of eight such sites worldwide.
Note: Chilika is the only site to be selected from Asia by the UNWTO.
50. Japanese PM (Shinzo Abe) is the Chief Guest at India’s 65th
Republic Day celebrations on 26th January 2014.
51. The Jain community was accorded minority status by the central
government, which will enable them to avail of benefits in
government schemes and programmes. The Jains
became the sixth community to have minority status after Muslims,
Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.
52. Amul launches India’s first ‘milk ATM’ in Gujarat.
53. Sourav Ganguly conferred Doctor of Letters degree by the
prestigious Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU),
Shibpur, for his great contribution to Indian
cricket.
54. Delhi became first state to withdraw FDI in Multibrand Retail.
55. India has been ranked 98th in the Forbes list of world's best countries
for doing business that has cited poverty, corruption and
discrimination against girls among the
challenges facing the country. Ireland topped the list.
56. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has ranked India as No 3
among the list of top 10 countries for LEED outside of the
United States.
57. Prince Harry has become the first British royal to reach the South
Pole after a three‐week charity trek with
injured military
veterans from Britain, the U.S., Canada and
Australia.
58. Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has been named the regional brand ambassador by
the UNICEF to promote its Total Sanitation
Campaign in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh and Nepal.
59. The Petroleum Conservation Research Association under the Ministry
of Petroleum and Natural Gas has selected Andhra
Pradesh for the award of best performing State amongst the big states for
the oil and gas conservation programmes.
60. Gorakhpur railway station entered Limca Book of Records as world’s
longest platform
Note: Before the platform number one of Gorakhpur, the platform of Kharagpur
railway station of West Bengal had the
distinction of being world’s largest platform
with length of 1072.5 meters.
61. India ranks 140 in the list of 180 countries in the World Press
Freedom Index 2014, whereas China and Pakistan were placed at
175th and 158th position respectively.
62. India was ranked 94th out of 177 countries on Global Corruption
Perception Index 2013, which was released by Transparency
International. Denmark and New Zealand tied for
first place.
63. India has been ranked 23rd out of 25 countries in nuclear
material security index. China has been ranked at 20th spot, while
Pakistan stands at 22nd
place.
64. India ranked 155th in Global Environment Performance
Index
65. India ranks at the bottom of the list of 25 countries in
terms of its intellectual property (IP) environment. US ranked on the
top
followed by UK and France.
66. Cumbria University of UK became the first public university to
accept fees in digital currency, Bitcoin. A system for processing
the payments is already operational.
67. Dhoom 3’ has become Bollywood’s highest revenue grosser of all times in
just a fortnight after its pan‐India
release.
68. Chile took its seat at the United Nations Security Council(UNSC)
as a non‐permanent member of the
international body till Dec
31, 2015.
69. Nepal and India have agreed in principle to allow circulation of
Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denomination Indian bank notes within
Nepalese territory, ending a ban in place for
over a decade.
Note: The decision to scrap the 2010 deal was taken nearly a year after
reports surfaced that two top officials of the company
had allegedly paid bribes to bag the contract.
Former IAF chief S P Tyagi is one of the accused in the case, which is being
probed
by CBI.
70. India cancels 3,600 crore rupee VVIP choppers deal with Anglo‐Italian firm Agusta WestLand.
71. Europe launched Gaia satellite, one of the most ambitious
space missions in history.
72. Alstom bagged 125 million euro contract from BHEL for Neyveli New
Thermal Power Project. The contract is to supply
components and services for the 1000 MW Neyveli
New Thermal Power Project (NNTPP) of Neyveli Lignite Corporation located
in Tamil Nadu.
Note: Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power
transmission and rail infrastructure. It has set
a benchmark for
innovative and environmentally friendly
technologies.
ii. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated
metro in the world.
73. China built a new research station in Antarctica called Taishan.
It was
China’s fourth research station in the southern
pole.
Note: Antarctica is the fifth‐largest continent in area after Asia, Africa,
North America, and South America.
74. China's first lunar rover named Jade Rabbit landed on Moon.
The lunar rover has been named Jade Rabbit (called Yutu in
Chinese).
Note: In past three decades, China is the first country to do so.
Earlier, Luna 24 Probe of Soviet Union was the last space mission
to land on moon in August 1976
75. Chile is the world’s top copper exporter, and its fast‐growing economy, low unemployment and stable
democracy are the envy of
Latin America.
New Appointment in
India
1. R.M.Lodha: New Chief Justice of India. He is the 41st Chief Justice of
India. He succeeds Justice P. Sathasivam.
2. Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag: appointed new Army Chief. He succeed Gen Bikram Singh.
3. R Gandhi appointed Deputy Governor of RBI. He replace Anand Sinha
4. Robin K Dhowan: appointed New Navy Chief.
5. Arup Raha new Air Chief Marshal. He succeeded NAK Browne.
6. Arvind Mayaram: appointed new Finance Secretary. He replace
Sumit Bose
7. Saurabh Chandra: new Oil Secretary.
8. Rajiv Takru: appointed Revenue Secretary
9. Sudhir Gupta: appointed new TRAI Secretary
10. Rajeev Kher: appointed new Commerce Secretary. He replace S
R Rao
11. Ashok Lavasa: appointed Civil Aviation Secretary. He replace K
N Srivastava.
12. Justice G. Rohini: become the first woman Chief Justice of the
Delhi High Court.
13. Ila Patnaik: appointed as Principal Economic Advisor
14. Retired Air Chief N A K. Browne appointed new Indian envoy to Norway.
15. Rahul Kulshreshth appointed new Indian envoy to Turkey
16. Sunil Gavaskar: interim President of BCCI
17. G. Gopalakrishna: joined as director of Centre for Advanced
Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL).
18. Suresh Kumar Reddy appointed as the First ambassador to ASEAN
19. Ms. Lakshmi Swaminathan became the first Indian to become president of
Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development
Bank (ADB)
20. Lalit Modi elected president of Rajasthan Cricket
Association.
21. Arundhati Bhattacharya: SBI's first woman Chairman
22. Akhilesh Gupta: elected as President of the Indian
Meteorological Society
23. Tom Albanese: New CEO of Mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources:
24. Soma Mondal appointed first Women director of National
Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO).
25. Amitabh Kant, CEO and Managing Director of the Delhi Mumbai
Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, take charge as
Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion.
26. Thomas Mathew: New Chairman of MCX Stock Exchange
27. D K Pathak: new Director General of the Border Security
Force (BSF).
28. Sheila Dikshit: New Governor of Kerala.
29. Dinesh Sarraf: appointed as Chairman and Managing Director
(CMD) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). He
replaced Sudhir Vasudeva.
30. Gautam Bambawale: new Indian ambassador to Bhutan
31. Jude Felix: appointed coach of the National men’s hockey team.
32. Yaduvendra Mathur : appointed as Chairman and Managing
Director of Export‐Import Bank of India
(Exim Bank)
33. Rakesh Maria: appointed as a new Police Commissioner of
Mumbai. He replace Satyapal Singh.
34. A L Banerjee. New DGP of UP (Uttar Pradesh): He
succeeds Rizwan Ahmad.
35. Aditi Khanna became first women President of Indian
Journalist's Association
36. Mukul Mudgal: appointed as the new chairperson of
Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC)
37. R.K.Tiwari: appointed as the new chairman of Central Board
of Direct Taxes (CBDT). He succeed Chairperson Sudha Sharma.
38. N. Srinivasan to be new Chairman of ICC from July 2014 onwards
39. Poonam Khetrapal Singh: appointed as Regional Director of World Health
Organisation (WHO) South‐East Asia Region
Note: i. SEARO is one of the six regions of World Health and its headquarters
is in New Delhi.
ii. SERO has 11 countries namely India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Timor
Leste and DPR Korea.
40. Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur: appointed Chairman of the 7th Pay Commission
41. T. Nanda Kumar: new Chairman of the National Dairy Development
Board (NDDB), replace Amrita Patel
42. Akhilesh Das Gupta re‐elected president of the Badminton Association
of India (BAI)
43. P. Madhusudan: appointed Chairman and Managing Director (CMD)
of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL)
44. N Ramachandran: New President of Indian Olympic Association
(IOA)
45. Ratan Tata appointed member of China‐backed Board of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA)
46. Arvind Ranjan :appointed new Chief of Central Industrial
Security Force (CISF)
47. J N Choudhury : appointed new Chief of National Security Guard
(NSG).
48. Vinod Kumar Duggal: appointed as the Governor of Manipur. He replace
Ashwani Kumar.
49. Siddarth Birla: New President of FICCI (Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry). He succeeded Naina Lal
Kidwai.
50. Usha Sangwan appointed first woman managing director of Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
51. Sushma Singh New CIC (Chief Information Commissoner). She
is the second woman to become CIC after Deepak Sandhu.
52. Harsh Bhanwala: New Nabard Chairman. Bhanwala succeeded Prakash
Bakshi.
53. Krish Iyer named CEO of Walmart India. He replace Ramnik Narsey.
54. P.H. Parekh elected as the President of Supreme Court Bar
Association.
55. Devendra Kumar Pathak: appointed as the Special DG, Border Security
Force (BSF)
56. Justice B.S. Chauhan, a Judge of the Supreme Court appointed as the
Chairman of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. He
succeed Justice NP Singh.
57. Harish Rawat: New Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
New Appointment in
World
1. Maj. Gen. Kristin Lund appointed first woman to lead UN force.
She replace Chinese Maj. Gen. Chao Liu.
2. New interim PM of Thailand: Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan.
Note: Ms. Yingluck shinawatra and nine Cabinet
members were
forced to step down by the Constitutional Court,
which found her
guilty of abuse of power.
3. New PM of Libya: Ahmed Maiteeg
4. New President of Panama: Juan Carlos
5. New Nokia CEO & President: Rajeev Suri
6. New President of Algeria: Abdelaziz Bouteflika
7. New re‐elected PM of Hungary: Viktor
Orban
8. New Prime Minister Of France: Manuel Valls
9. New President of Malta: Marie‐Lousie Coleiro Preca
10. PM of Malta: Joseph Muscat
11. New Prime Minister of Egypt: Ibrahim Mahlab:. Ibrahim
Mahlab
replace Hazem el‐Beblawi .
12. New President of Chile: Michelle Bachelet
13. New CEO of Ford: Mark Fields . He succeed Alan Mulally
14. New Italy's youngest PM: Matteo Renzi. He is the 39‐year‐old leader
of the Centre‐Left Democratic Party,
15. New Prime minister of Ukraine: Arseniy Yatsenyuk
16. Interim President of Ukraine: Oleksandr Turchynov
17. New PM of Nepal: Sushil Koirala. He replaced Khil‐Raj‐ Regmi.
18. New Chairman of Microsoft: John Thompson. He succeeded Bill
Gates
19. New CEO of Microsoft: Satya Nadella. He replaced Steve
Ballmer
and he takes over as the third CEO of the
Microsoft firm.
20. Marco Lambertini appointed as director‐general of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) International
21. New Secretary General of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO): Jens
Stoltenberg. He replace the incumbent Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
22. New PM of Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina She belongs to Awami League
party.
23. New chairman of the Federal Reserve: Janet Yellen. She
succeeds Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Janet Yellen, the first woman to chair the
Federal Reserve in its 100‐year
history. Federal Reserve is the name of the Central
Bank of US.
24. New Pakistani envoy to India: Abdul Basit. He replace
Salman Bashir.
25. New Foreign Secretary of Pakistan: Aizaz Chaudhry
26. New Pakistani Ambassador to US: Jalil Abbas Jilani
27. First Secretary General of BIMSTEC: Sumith Nakandala
28. Shahnaz Shaikh: appointed Pakistan Coach of National Hockey
team.
29. Teresa Kho is ADB's new Country Director for India. She
replaces Hun Kim
30. Angela Merkel: begins third innings as German chancellor.
31. Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed: New Prime Minister of Somalia. (Mogadishu is
the Capital Somalia).
32. Ashraf Jehan: First female judge in Pak’s National Sharia
Court
Summits
G 20 Summit:
G‐20 meeting (2014) of Finance ministers and central bank
governors held in Sydney (Australia).
G20 Leaders Summit (2014) will be held in Brisbane, Queensland
(Australia, in November 2014.
NATO Summit‐
NATO Summit 2014 will be held in Britain.
(Britain last hosted the summit in 1990, when Margret Thatcher was Prime
Minister).
G 8 Summit:
39th Summit 2013: United Kingdom. (Northern Ireland)
Note:
The 40th G8 summit was due to be held in
Russia in 2014. The meeting was planned for 4–5 June 2014 at the Black Sea
resort
of Sochi. However, the other seven countries
decided on 24 March that a summit would be held without Russia,
in Brussels, Belgium.
G7 countries refuse to attend planned G8 summit in Russia.
G‐8 Countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and the
US
SAARC Summit:
3rd SAARC ministerial meet on poverty alleviation 2013 – Kathmandu
(Nepal)
18th SAARC Summit 2013‐
Kathmandu (proposed)
Nuclear security summit
2nd Summit 2012 – Seoul (South Korea),
3rd Summit 2014(Next) : Netherland
4th Summit 2016: United States
BIMSTEC Summit
3rd BIMSTEC summit 2014: Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar)
4th BIMSTEC summit will be held in Nepal.
Note: BIMSTEC (Bay of Bangal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical
and Economic Cooperation)
BIMSTEC includes 7 countries: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal and aims to create
cooperation in multiple sectors including
trade, investment and energy.
NAM Summit:
16th Summit 2013: Tehran, Iran
17th Summit2015 ‐ Caracas (Venezuela)
Note: Two nations, namely Azerbaijan Republic and Fiji, were accepted as
the new members of the organization.
New Member
1. United Nation – South Sudan new member country . Total– 193
members
2. WTO –Tajikistan new member country. Total – 159 members.
3. World Bank & IMF – South Sudan new member country. Total– 188
members
4. European Union – Croatia new member country. Total– 28
1. World Economic Forum 2014: held in Abuja (Nigeria). Bharti Enterprises founder and Chairman
Sunil Bharti Mittal co – chair this
year’s edition of the World Economic Forum on
Africa.
2. India, Sri Lanka and Maldives held National Security Advisor‐level meeting on maritime security cooperation
in New Delhi.
3. World Telecommunications Development Conference held in Dubai.
4. The Green Economy Summit held in Dubai.
5. Arab Summit 2014: Kuwait host the Arab summit for the first time
6. International Petroleum Conference 2014 (PETROTECH‐2014) held in New Delhi from 12th – 15th January
2014.
7. The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference was concluded on 6 December
2013 at Bali, Indonesia.
8. 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2014 held in New Delhi. This year's theme is
"Engaging Diaspora: Connecting Across Generations"
Datuk Seri G Palanival
is the Chief Guest of
12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
9. The 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit (AGPS) was held at New Delhi,
India. The 8th AGPS was organized by GAIL (India) Limited
and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (FICCI).
Points To Remember:
MOUs‐Deal between India & Other Countries
1. India has committed 8.5 billion rupees to Bhutan for Small
Development Project for the country’s the 11th Five Year Plan.
2. Iran and Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for
bilateral cooperation on environmental issues in Tokyo.
3. India, Azerbaijan: to explore opportunities in energy sector
4. India and Canada have signed three MoUs for cooperation in health
sector, audio‐visual co‐production and skill development.
5. India, Poland agree to form Joint Working Group for
cooperation in films sector.
6. India and Fiji have signed a Double Taxation Avoidance
Agreement, DTAA for the avoidance of double taxation and for the
prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to
taxes on income.
7. India and Saudi Arabia have decided to enhance their bilateral trade
and economic co‐operation over next 5
years.
8. India and Bhutan have signed an agreement on development of hydropower
projects.
9. India and Germany could sign an agreement for €1 billion for Greenfield
projects
10. India and Pakistan signed MoU on electricity trade: India has expressed its intent to export
electricity to the tune of 500 MW
to Pakistan immediately if infrastructure for
transmission of power is made available.
11. India and Maldives ink several pacts and have agreed to
jointly patrol and conduct surveillance to
strengthen maritime
security in the Indian Ocean Region.
12. India has signed a Rs 4,000‐crore deal with the US for
procuring six more C‐130J Super Hercules Special Operations
aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
13. Election Commission signs MoU with Yemen. India has offered its expertise to Yemen in
election management and electoral
roll preparations.
14. India and Macedonia have signed a new double taxation avoidance
agreement (DTAA) that provides for among other things
exchange of banking information for tax
administration purposes.
As per the new agreement, dividend, interest and
royalty will be taxed in the source country and the rate of taxation will not
exceed 10 percent.
Scheme & Plan
Launched by Union & State Government:
1. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY) was launched in the
UAE. A leading Indian financial and health care service
player has tied up with the UAE Exchange to
offer Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana Scheme in the Gulf country.
About Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana
(MGPSY)
i. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY) Scheme is a pension
and life insurance scheme and is recognised by the
Indian government.
ii. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY) is a special
social security scheme for overseas Indian workers on
temporary work permit in 17 Emigration Check
Required (ECR) countries.
2. Govt. launch Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme' scheme for minority
students. Under this scheme, students in the age group of 5‐14
years will be provided with a health card which
will entitle them to free check‐ups
twice a year at the place where they are
studying.
3. North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) launched a new health
scheme Stri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna for women on 6 March
2014.
4. Uttar Pradesh government launched Samajwadi pension scheme on
28 January 2014. The scheme will benefit over 40 lakh
families. Under the scheme pension from 500
rupees to 700 rupees will be given to beneficiaries.
5. Tamil Nadu launches free CFL bulb scheme: Under the scheme state Govt will provide free
compact fluorescent light bulbs to
over 14 lakh hut‐dwellers in the State, an energy saving measure
aimed at saving 40 MW of power.
6. Centre launches e‐inclusion project to spread e‐literacy. The project is an initiative to make at least one individual in
every
household e‐literate, under the project, economically weaker
sections of the society including rural SC, ST and women will
receive IT training.
7. Project Uddan: The project, an initiative of the Prime
Minister, the National Skills Development Corporation and the Ministry of
Home Affairs and industry, was started with the
aim of providing skills to 40,000 youth over a period of five years.
8. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved
implementation of various schemes related to agriculture,
including continuation of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas
Yojana (RKVY), in the 12th Plan with a combined outlay of over Rs 80,000 crore.
Note: The RKVY is a State plan scheme that
provides 'considerable flexibility' and autonomy to states in planning and
executing
programmes for incentivising investment in
agriculture and allied sectors.
9. Rani Laxmi Bai Pension Scheme: 'special pension' to Muzaffarnagar riot victims
by U.P. Govt. The pension, which would be
anywhere between Rs 400 and Rs 500, would
be given under this scheme.
10. Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Beema Yojna (BPSSBY) Health care
scheme for BPL families launched in Punjab
11. 'Roshini' Scheme: Centre launched skill development and job
placement scheme 'Roshini' for rural youth and women in maoist
affected 24 districts in 9 states.
12. Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana (health insurance
scheme) was launched in Maharashtra.
13. The Vikram Udyogpuri (Delhi‐Mumbai Industrial Corridor) project launched in Madhya
Pradesh.
14. Golden Girl (Bangaru Talli) Scheme: A unique scheme, launched in
Andhra Pradesh, to protect girl child and ensure her
education.
15. Anna Bhagya’ programme launched in Karnataka. The
programme entitles distribution of 30 kg rice at one rupee per Kg to
over 98 lakh BPL and Antyodaya card holders in
the state.
Awards & Honours
1. Goldman Prize for environmental activist Ramesh Agrawal. He
received the prize for helping villagers fight coal mining in
Chhattisgarh.
2. Caparo Group founded by leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj
Paul has won the International Business of the Year award 2014
3. Golden Peacock Awards 2014: Technopark Technology Business Incubator (T‐TBI) was chosen for the Special Commendation
at the Golden Peacock National Training Awards
2014.
4. Bharat Ratna Award: Sachin Tendulkar and CN Rao conferred Bharat
Ratna Award 2013.
Note: Tendulkar is the first sportsman and the youngest recipient of the
the Bharat Ratna
ii. Prof Rao is a well recognized international authority on solid
state and materials chemistry is the third scientist to received
award after CV Raman and former President A.P.J
Abdul Kalam.
iii. The Bharat Ratna was announced after a gap of four years with
Hindustani music doyen Bhimsen Joshi being the last
recipient in 2009.
5. Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2013: Veteran poet and film lyricist Gulzar has
been chosen for the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke
Award for 2013. He is the 45th winner of
the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
6. Pulitzer Prize 2014: India‐born poet Vijay Seshadri has won the
prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for his
work '3 Sections'.
7. Donna Tartt wins fiction Pulitzer Prize 2014 for
novel 'Goldfinch'
8. Miss India 2014: Koyal Rana new Miss India.
9. Gandhi Peace Prize for 2013: Eminent Gandhian and environmentalist Chandi
Prasad Bhat selected for the award.
Note: A pioneer of the Chipko Movement for which he was also awarded the
Magsaysay Award in 1982, Mr. Bhatt was given the
Padma Bhushan by UPA‐I in 2005.
10. Saraswati Samman 2013: Govind Mishra selected for for his book
Dhool Paudho Par.
11. Pritzker Prize 2014: Japanese architect Shigeru Ban won the
Pritzker Architecture Prize 2014. He won the award for his
creative and inexpensive designs for disaster
relief shelters.
12. Abel Prize 2014: Russian mathematician Yakov Grigorevich
Sinai won the award.
13. Laxmi, an acid attack
victim gets International Women of Courage Award (US honour).
14. Vyas Samman 2013: Vishwanath Tripathi been selected
for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2013.
Note: Tripathi has been chosen for the coveted annual literary award
instituted in 1991 by the K K Birla Foundation for his
memoir 'Vyomkesh Darvesh', a biolgraphy
of noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.
15. G D Birla Award 2013: Rajesh Gopakumar was selected for the 23rd G D
Birla Award for scientific research for the year 2013.
16. M S Subbulakshmi
Award 2014: Mathangi Sathyamurthy,
Karnataka musician was selected for the award.
17. Britain's highest awards: Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group
honoured by Queen Elizabeth with a GBE (Knight
Grand Cross), which is one of the highest
civilian honours in Britain.
18. Narayana Murthy awarded with ‘Global Indian Award’ in Canada.
19. Luis Suarez named as Professional Footballers' Association
Player of the Year.
20. Jeev Milkha Singh nominated for Asian Tour’s ‘Player of the
Decade’
award
21. MS Dhoni won United Kingdom’s 2014 Asian award for
outstanding
achievement in Sports.
22. Shikhar Dhawan named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year
award.
23. Sachin Tendulkar won Cricketer of generation award
24. Tomas Halik, the Czech priest won the Templeton Prize for 2014.
25. India and Singapore won the 2014 edition of the UN‐Water “Water for
Life” Best Practices Award for their sustainable
practices of water
resources.
26. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) received the Most Efficient
Navratna Award for the year 2013.
27. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was conferred India's Global Icon of the
Year award
28. Indian‐origin Gopal Rao won UK
Twitter Prize.
29. Turkish investigative journalist Ahmet Sik won 2014 UNESCO
Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
30. Anand Kumar, the founder of Super30 got 2014 Ramanujan
Mathematics award
31. Indian Writer Pankaj Mishra won Windham Campbell Literature
Prize
2014
32. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Park Geun‐hye of South
Korea and Mexican billionnaire Carlos Slim won
the World
Telecommunication and Information Society (WTIS)
Award 2014.
33. President Pranab Mukherjee got the Rotary's highest award for
his
leadership in the country's victory over polio.
34. Arogya Swami Joseph Paulraj has been awarded the prestigious 2014
Marconi Society Prize. Paulraj is the only India‐born scientist to receive both the Marconi Prize
and the Bell Medal, two top
global IT technology awards.
35. Madan Babu, an Indian‐born scientist, won the Protein Science Young
Investigator Award for 2014
36. Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson won the coveted Allan
Border medal.
37. Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka won Miss South India Pageant
Title
38. Cyrus Mistry wins DSC Prize 2014 for South Asian literature for his book
“Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer”.
39. Taiwanese poet Yushi was awarded the Thiruvalluvar award by
the Tamil Nadu government in Chennai. Yushi is the first foreign
scholar to receive Thiruvalluvar award.
40. Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer has been named the best
women's football player in the world for 2013.
41. FIFA named Portuguese attacker Cristiano Ronaldo world's
best soccer player for the 2012/2013 season.
42. Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award of 2012 and 2013: two eminent Bengali poets,
namely Nirendranath Chakraborty
and Sankha Ghosh, respectively.
43. 12 Years a Slave' wins Golden Globe for best dramatic film. 12 Years a Slave,'
directed by British filmmaker Steve McQuee
44. 'American Hustle' won the Golden Globe award for the best comedy
or musical film. 'American Hustle,' directed by David O
Russell and starring Christian Bale
45. Leonardo DiCaprio has won the Golden Globe for best actor in a
comedy or musical for 'The Wolf of Wall Street.
46. Irrfan Khan won the best actor award for his brilliant
performance in his film The Lunchbox at the 10th edition of Dubai
International Film Festival (DIFF).
47. C.K. Nayudu award: Former India captain Kapil Dev received
the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013.
48. The Union Ministry of Power has selected the Poovar Island Resort
for the National Energy Conservation Award 2013
49. Sahitya Akademi
Awards 2013 :Javed Akhtar has been
chosen for "Lava", his compilation of 55 Urdu poems.
50. Eminent historian Bipan Chandra: was awarded Itihas Ratna from Asiatic
Society Bihar. Bipan Chandra is the fourth historian
to be honoured with the Itihas Ratna by the
society.
Note: i. The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism, is one of his known
and one of the earliest book.
ii. He has been a Chairperson of the centre for historical studies
at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
51. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport of Hyderabad received Sword of Honour
award.
Note: i. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Ltd is operated by GMR
Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) and it is first
airport in India to receive this award.
ii. The Sword of Honour is considered to be Oscar of the Safety
World
52. Lingaiah Nagarapu, Principal Scientist at the CSIR‐Indian Institute of Chemical Technology has been
honoured with the best
scientist award of Science‐Tech Foundation (STF)
Padma Awards 2014:
Padma Vibhushan
1. Dr Raghunath A Mashelkar: Science and Engineering, Maharashtra
2. B K S Iyengar: Yoga, Maharashtra
Padma Bhushan
Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Art‐Painting, Gujarat
Begum Parveen Sultana, Art‐Classical Singing, Maharashtra
T.H. Vinayakram, Art‐Ghatam Artist, Tamil Nadu
Kamal Haasan, Art‐Cinema, Tamil Nadu
Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Public Affairs, Delhi
Ruskin Bond, Literature and Education, Uttarakhand
Pullela Gopichand, Sports‐Badminton, Andhra Pradesh
Leander Paes, Sports‐Tennis, Maharashtra
Prof Lloyd I Rudolph, Literature and Education,
USA
Padma Shri
Mohammad Ali Baig, Art‐Theatre, Andhra Pradesh
Nayana Apte Joshi, Art, Maharashtra
Vidya Balan, Art‐Cinema, Maharashtra
Anjum Chopra, Sports‐Cricket, Delhi
Sunil Dabas, Sports‐Kabbadi, Haryana
Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, Sports‐Mountaineering, Delhi
Dipika Rebecca Pallikal, Sports‐Squash, Tamil Nadu
H Boniface Prabhu, Sports‐Wheelchair Tennis, Karnataka
Yuvraj Singh, Sports‐Cricket, Haryana
Mamta Sodha Sports‐Mountaineering, Haryana
Oscar Award 2014:
Best Film ‐ 12 Years a Slave – Directed by Steve McQueen
Best Actor ‐ Matthew McConaughey for: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress ‐ Cate Blanchett for: Blue Jasmine
Best Director ‐ Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
Best Actor in a Supporting Role ‐ Jared Leto for: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress in a Supporting Role ‐ Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave
Best Foreign Language Film ‐ The Great Beauty (Italy)
Note:
"Gravity" pulled in 7 Oscars, including best director, at the 86th
Academy Awards on March 2, 2014.
61st National Film Awards:
Best Film: 'Ship of Theseus' – Director – Anand Gandhi
Best Actor: Rajkumar Rao for 'Shahid' and Suraj Venjaramudu and
Venajaramoodu for Malayalam movie 'Perariyathavar'
Best Actress: Geetanjali Thapa for Liars Dice
Best Director Award: Pranjal Dua for 'Chidiya Ud' (Hindi)
Best Popular Film providing Wholesome
Entertainment: 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'
Best Film on Social Issues: 'Tojia Dharm Kauncha'
Best Non Feature Film: 'Rangbhoomi'
Best Supporting Actor: Saurabh Shukla, 'Jolly LLB'
Note: 'Cinema Ka Cinema' got the Best Book on Cinema, while the Best
Film Critic award went to Alka Sahania
Director of Film 'Shahid' – Hansal Mehta
Director of Film 'Jolly LLB'– Subhash
Kapoor
Director of Film Liars Dice – Geetu
Mohandas
The IIFA 2014 Awards
Winners’ List
Best Actor (Male): Farhan Akhtar for Bhaag
Milka Bhaag
Best Actress (Female): Deepika Padukone for Chennai
Express
Lifetime Achievement Award 2014: Shatrughan
Sinha
Best Entertainer of the Year: Deepika Padukone
Best Film: Bhaag Milka Bhaag
Best Director: Rakeysh Om Mehra for Bhaag
Milkha Bhaag.
Best Debutant Award map: Dhanush for Raanjhanaa
Best Story Award: Prashoon Joshi for Bhaag
Milkha Bhaag
Best Lyric Writer: Mithoon for Tum Hi Ho from Aashiqui
2
Best Male Playback Singer Award: Arijit Singh
for ‘Tum Hi Ho’
from Aashiqui 2
Best Female Playback Singer Award: Shreya Goshal
for ‘ Sun Raha Hai Na
Tu’ from Aashiqui 2
John Travolta honoured the Most Popular All Time International Star in
India at IIFA awards
59th Filmfare Awards 2014:
1. Best Actress: Deepika Padukone ‐ Goliyon Ki Rasleela RamLeela
2. Best Actor: Farhan Akhtar ‐ Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
3. Best Film : Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
4. Best Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra – Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
5. Best Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi – Zinda (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
6. Best Debut (Director): Ritesh Batra ‐ The Lunchbox
7. Best Debut (Male): Dhanush – Raanjhanaa
8. Best Debut (Female): Vaani Kapoor ‐ Shuddh Desi Romance
9. Best Story: Subhash Kapoor ‐ Jolly LLB
10. Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Nawazuddin Siddiqui ‐ The Lunchbox
11. Best Actress in a Suporting Role: Supriya Pathak ‐ Ram‐Leela
12. Lifetime Achievement Award: Tanuja
Person in News:
1. Dr. Manmohan Singh resigns. as Prime Minister of India.
2. Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM
3. Lakhdar Brahimi: UN Envoy on Syria resigned
4. Alenka Bratusek Slovenia’s Prime Minister resigned.
5. Dilip Shanghvi named among Asia’s richest self‐made billionaires.
6. Manoj Vaish, Managing Director & CEO of Multi Commodity
Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), resigned.
7. P Elango interim CEO & Whole time Director, quit from Cairn India.
8. Aamir Khan – Election Commission’s National Icon for Lok Sabha Elections 2014
9. Arjun Kapoor Named National Ambassador for Earth Hour 2014
10. Vivek Gundotra, chief of Google’s social networking venture
Google+ resigned.
11. Nancy Powell resigned as the US Ambassador to India
12. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov has resigned
13. South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong‐Won give resign over the sinking of a passenger ferry that left more
than 300 people
dead or missing.
14. Justice KT Thomas quits as head of Lokpal search committee
15. Hazem El‐Beblawi : Egyptian PM resigns.
16. Archana Bhargava: Chairman and Managing Director of the United
Bank of India, has resigned.
17. Zaka Ashraf : Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sacked Zaka
Ashraf as the Chairman of the PCB
18. Sub‐Inspector K Prasad
Babu was honoured posthumous Ashok Chakra for an anti‐Naxal operation .
19. Jamila Bayaz, first women to be appointed police chief of
Kabul province. She is the first woman in Afghanistan to be appointed
as police chief of an entire district.
20. Enrico Letta : Italy Prime Minister resigned.
21. Arvind Kejriwal: resign from the post of Chief Minister of Delhi.
22. Pope Francis was named as the Person of the Year 2013 by Time
Magazine.
23. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji won the Economic Times Lifetime Achievement
Award 2013 for his role in creating India's third
largest software exporter.
24. Ali Larayedh: Prime Minister of Tunisia resigned
25. Indian‐origin academician Rakesh
Khurana has been appointed dean of the prestigious Harvard College. He
succeeds Evelynn
Hammonds.
26. Parveen Amanullah: Bihar First Woman Muslim Minister Resigns
27. Teesta Setalvad, accused for misusing foreign funds meant for
helping the victims of the 2002 Gulbarg society massacre.
28. Michael Ferreira: Billiards champion was accused in 425‐crore rupees scam in multi‐ level marketing firm QNet.
29. Justice A.K. Ganguly: West Bengal Human Rights Commission chairman Justice A.K.
Ganguly resigned from the post of honorary
professor of the National University of
Juridical Sciences
30. V Balakrishnan: Former Infosys CFO joins AAP
31. Hardeep Singh Puri: who retired as India’s Permanent
Representative to the United Nations, today joined BJP.
32. Chandra Kant Birla Chairman of Hindustan Motors Limited resigned from the board.
33. Michael Schumacher, is in a coma and remains in a "critical" condition
after striking his head in a ski accident
34. Devyani Khobragade: Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was
accused by Manhattan's Indian American
US Attorney Preet Bharara of visa fraud and
exploiting her babysitter and housekeeper.
35. Shashi Tharoor PETA's 'person of the year' by animal rights
campaigner PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for
initiating steps for animal protection.
36. Shoma Chaudhury, managing editor of Tehelka, announced her
resignation from the Tehelka, an investigative magazine.
37. Tarun Tejpal: Tehelka editor‐in‐chief was arrested on charges of sexually
assaulting a young colleague.
38. Mathew Martoma: Indian‐origin hedge fund portfolio manager Mathew
Martoma convicted for his role in the $275 million
insider trading scheme,
the most lucrative in U.S. history.
Books & Their Authors
1. Book ‐ My Years with Rajiv
and Sonia written by R.D.Pradhan
2. Book ‐ ModiNomics:
Inclusive Economics, Inclusive Governance: authored by Sameer Kochhar.
Some other books of Sameer Kochhar:
1. Growth & Finance
2. Speeding Financial Inclusion.
3. Policymaking for Indian Planning
4. Building from the Bottom: Infrastructure and Poverty Alleviation
3. Book: Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths
authored by PC Parakh
4. Book: The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and
Unmaking of Manmohan Singh authored by Dr. Sanjaya Baru
5. Book: Lal Bahadur Shastri: Lessons in Leadership written by Pavan
Choudary .
6. Book: Rationalised Roman for Kashmiri written by Dr. R L Bhat
7. Book: Narendra Modi: A Political Biography written by Andy
Marino.
8. Book: Public Issues Before Parliament written by Vijay Darda
9. Book: The Political Economy of Energy and Growth authored by Sh.
Najeeb Jung
10. Book: India at Risk: authored by Jaswant Singh.
11. Book ‐ ModiNomics: Inclusive
Economics, Inclusive Governance: authored by Sameer Kochhar.
12. Book: Water, Peace and War ‐ Confronting the Global Water Crisis written by
Brahma Chellaney.
13. Hard Choices authored by Hillary Rodham Clinton
14. Book: Greater than Bradman: celebrating Sachin, the greatest
batsman in Test history authored by : Rudolph Lambert
Fernandez, a Chennai‐based author.
15. Book: “Unbreakable” ‐ An Autobiography by Mary Kom
16. The Luminaries by: Eleanor Catton. She won the Man Booker Prize
2013.
17. Walking With Giants: authored by former Finance Secretary G.
Ramachandran.
18. "I am Malal : authored by Christina Lamb.
19. Momentous Times on the 175 years of Times of India. The book is an
effort of the Times of India Group.
20. "Victory India ‐ A Key to Quality Military Leadership"
authored by Colonel Vinay B Dalvi (Retd)
21. The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown
Some books authored by RBI Governor: Raghuram
Rajan
Ø Aid and Growth
Ø Fault Lines
Ø India's Pattern of Development
Ø The Real Effect of Banking Crises
Ø Controlled Capital Account Liberalization
Ø Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists
LEADER”S VISITED INIDIA
1. Oman’s Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah visited
India.
2. King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa visited India on February
18‐20, 2014.
3. President of Zanzibar, Dr. Ali Mohamed Shein visited India from 1
to 9 February 2014. Zanzibar is a semi‐autonomous part of
Tanzania, in East Africa.
4. German President Joachim Guack visited India on 4th Feb 2014
5. French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler visited Inida on 25th Jan
2014.
6. King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun
Pema Wangchuck visited India
7. South Korean President Park Geun‐hye visited India.
OBITUARY
1. Russy Mody: Management
guru Russy Mody who was known for his man management while he headed Tata Steel
and was awarded
Padma Bushan died
2. Capt. C. P. Krishnan Nair, Founder Chairman of The Leela Palaces, Hotels
and Resorts, passed away
3. N Janardhan Reddy: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister died.
4. Elena Baltacha: Ex‐tennis player dies of cancer
5. Khaled Chowdhury: Noted theatre personality died
6. Bob Hoskins: British actor dies
7. Tito Vilanova, Former Barcelona coach Vilanova dies.
8. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anja Niedringhaus shot dead in
Afghanistan.
9. Khushwant Singh: Famous writer and journalist passed away
10. Former President of Guinea Kumba Yala died
11. Nanda: Veteran Bollywood actress passes away.
12. DK Jain : Luxor Group Chairman passes away
13. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel laureate whose intoxicating novels and
short stories exposed millions outside Latin America
passes away.
14. Former Sierra Leone President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah died
15. British socialist stalwart Tony Benn dies
16. Noted economist and academician G.K. Chadha passed away
17. P Ramdas : Malayalam director passes away
18. K. Suryanarayana Raja, former international basketball
player passed away.
19. Joe McGinniss, author of Fatal Vision died
20. William Clay Ford passes away
21. Jagat Singh Mehta : Former Foreign Secretary died
22. J.S. Sarma: Former TRAI Chairman passes away
23. Hanumath Shastry, the eminent Telugu litterateur died
24. Bangaru Laxman : Former BJP president dies.
25. Legendary Guitarist: Paco de Lucia passed away
26. Prokash Karmakar: Eminent painter died
27. Balu Mahendra : Veteran filmmaker passed away.
28. Karl Slym: MD of Tata Motors died after falling from hotel
building in Bangkok
29. Sudhir Mahato: the former Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand
died
30. Akkineni Nageswara Rao: Padma Vibhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee
passed away. ANR is fondly called the Tragedy
King of Telugu cinema.
31. Suchitra Sen: Legendary Bengali actor passed away
32. Namdeo Dhasal Renowned Marathi poet and activist passed away
33. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddi: The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community passed away
34. Silverine Swer, Meghalaya's first Padma Shri Awardee died
35. Adhip Chaudhuri, an international economist who taught at
Georgetown University, died in Vienna,
36. Ariel Sharon: Former Israeli Prime Minister
Dies
37. IIa Pathak social activist died
38. Vishwanath Bondre: Former Mumbai Ranji Trophy cricketer died
39. Farooq Sheikh: veteran Hindi actor died
40. Mikhail Kalashnikov: the designer of fabled AK‐47 automatic rifle, died in Russia. AK‐47's name stands for "Kalashnikov's
Automatic" and the year it was designed,
1947.
41. Ishrat Ali Siddiqui: Freedom fighter, veteran Journalist and Padm
Shree awardee died
42. Anjali Devi: Veteran South Indian film actress died
43. Michiaki Takahashi: developed Chickenpox vaccine died in Japan.
44. Pran Chopra : Veteran journalist died
45. G.S. Shivarudrappa: Distinguished Kannada poet, writer and
researcher G.S. Shivarudrappa (87) passed away. The writer, was
awarded with the title of Rashtrakavi by
the Government of Karnataka in 2006.
46. Sis Ram Ola dead Union Labour and Employment Minister Sis
Ram Ola died at a Gurgaon hospital after a prolonged illness.
47. Joan Fontaine: Oscar‐winning actor has died at the age of 96
48. Babul Phukan: Former footballer died in Guwahati
49. Nelson Mandela, the anti‐apartheid revolutionary of South Africa died
50. Sandeep Acharya: Indian Idol winner passes away.
51. Ronnie Biggs: known for his role in the 1963 Great Train
Robbery, died.
52. Narayan Sahu: Former Odisha MLA and freedom fighter passes
away
53. Philip Seymour: Oscar‐winning actor Hoffman died.
Sports News
Australian Open 2014:
1. Men’s Single: Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka claimed
his first Grand Slam title by defeating Rafael Nadal
2. Women’s Single: Li Na (China) defeat Dominika Cibulkova.
Li Na becomes first Chinese woman to clinch title.
3. Women’s Doubles: Errani and Roberta Vinci beat Russia's Ekaterina
Makarova and Elena Vesnina
Madrid Title 2014: Rafael Nadal defeat Kei Nishikori in the final to win the title.
Monte Carlo Masters Tennis 2014: Stanislas Wawrinka beat Roger Federer.
Miami (Sony)Open 2014:
1. Men’s Single: Novak Djokovic dominates Rafael Nadal to win
fourth Miami title.
2. Women’s Single: Serena Williams beat Li Na to win seventh Miami
Title
Note: Manila will host the first leg of the newly launched International
Premier Tennis League
List of Top 5 Countries
Medal Standings of Sochi (Russia) 2014 Winter Olympics:
Bank
|
Country
|
Gold
|
Silver
|
Bronze
|
Total
|
1
|
Russian fed.
|
13
|
11
|
9
|
33
|
2.
|
Norway
|
11
|
5
|
10
|
26
|
3.
|
Canada
|
10
|
10
|
5
|
25
|
4.
|
United state
|
9
|
7
|
12
|
28
|
5
|
Netherlands
|
8
|
7
|
9
|
24
|
Note: Fifteen‐year‐old Russian skater Yulia Lipnitskaya has become the
youngest athlete in the world to win a Gold medal at
the Winter Olympics
ICC World Cup Cricket Venue:
ODI: (One day International):
1. Australia
& New Zealand: 2015 Cricket World Cup.
2. England will
host 2019 Cricket World Cup.
3. India will
host 2023World Cup for the fourth time.
T20:
1. Bangladesh
host the: World T20 Cup ‐2014. (For Men
& women)
2. India will
host the: World T20 Cup ‐2016. (For Men
& women)
3. Australia to host World T20 in 2020.
(For Men & women)
4. West Indies to
host Women's World T20 in 2018 and Under‐19
Cricket World Cup in 2022.
Note: ICC Women’s
World Cup 2013 ‐ Australia defeated West Indies at Brabourne Stadium in
Mumbai.
The 2013 World Twenty20 Qualifier are scheduled to be played
in November 2013 in the United Arab Emirates.
Test:
1. England to
host Cricket World Test Champions in – 2017 (for first time).
2. India will
host World Test Championship in ‐ 2021.
Note: ICC U‐19 World Cup 2014 held in UAE. South Africa won the title.
FIFA (Football) World CUP hosts:
1. 2014: Brazil (Mascot: Smiling Armadillo to be the official
Mascot
of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil).
2. 2018 : Russia
3. 2022: Qatar
FIFA ranking: 2014
1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Portugal
4. Brazil
India drop two places to 147 in Fifa ranking.
Olympics Games host cities:
1. 2014 winter: Sochi (Russia)
2. 2016 Summer: Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
3. 2018 winter: Pyeongchang (South Korea)
4. 2020 summer: Tokyo (Japan)
Asian Games host cities:
1. 2014: Incheon (South Korea) (Note: 2010 Asain Games held in
Guangzhou, China).
Note: Vietnam (Hanoi) decided not to host the 2019 Asian Games
for financial reasons, and was exploring
procedures to withdraw
from staging the
region's largest sporting event.
ICC Rankings For Tests, ODIs and
Twenty20
Test
|
ODI
|
Twenty 20
|
Australia
|
Australia
|
India
|
South Africa
|
India
|
Sri lanka
|
England
|
Sri lanka
|
Pakistan
|
Pakistan
|
England
|
South Africa
|
India
|
South Africa
|
Australia
|
1. Men’s T20 World Cup 2014: Sri Lanka defeat India to win the maiden title.
2. Women’s World T20 2014: Australia defeat England in the final to win the title for the third
time in a row.
3. Asia Cup Title 2014: Sri Lanka defeat Pakistan to win the title.
Note: It is their
fifth Asia Cup success, equaling the record of India.
4. ICC U‐19
World Cup 2014: South Africa beats Pakistan to lift
the title.
5. Ranji Trophy 2014. Karnataka beat Maharashtra to lift the title. Karnataka have won the
trophy for seventh time.
6. Irani Trophy 2014:
Karnataka won by defeating Rest of India.
7. India claim U‐19 Asia Cup title by defeating Pakistan in final
8. Vijay Hazare Trophy 2014: Karnataka won the title by defeating Railways
9. Grant Flower named as Pakistan batting coach.
10. 68th Santosh Trophy : Mizoram defeat Railways to win the title.
Note: This is the maiden Santosh Trophy for Mizoram also this was the
first appearance for them in the final match.
11. Pankaj Advani won CCI Biliards title. He defeated two‐time world runner‐up Dhruv Sitwala
12. National Women's Football champions 2014: Manipur defeated Orissa in the final.
13. Deodhar Trophy 2014: West Zone lifted the trophy after defeating North Zone
in the final
14. Malaysian Grand Prix 2014: Britain's Lewis Hamilton won the title.
15. Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy: Baroda beat Uttar Pradesh to win the trophy.
16. World Snooker title 2014: Mark Selby of England won maiden title.
17. Virat Kohli is number 1 ODI batsman in latest ICC rankings
18. Saeed Ajmal top bowlers in ODI ranking. He is
followed by Dale Steyn and Sunil Narin while Ravindra Jadeja is at fourth.
19. Waqar Younis appointed as new Pakistan coach.
20. Martin Kilzan won the Munich ATP tournament to claim second
title of his career. In the final match, he defeated Fabio Fognini
21. Chitra Magimairaj Wins World Women's Senior snooker title
22. The Indo‐Zimbabwean tennis pair
of Sania Mirza and Cara Black has won the WTA Portugal Open women's doubles
title.
23. Kamal Chawla has settled for a bronze medal in the Asian
Snooker Championship being held in the United Arab Emirates.
24. Punjab won Junior National Hockey Title 2014 by defeating Odisha
in the final.
25. Novak Djokovic won Indian Wells final by defeating Roger Federer.
26. India's Heena Sidhu clinched World's No. 1 spot in 10 mts air
pistol
event.
27. George Bailey lead Kings XI Punjab in the seventh edition of
the Indian Premier League
28. Australian all‐rounder
Shane Watson will captain Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
29. Sunil Gavaskar appoints (HDFC chairman) Deepak Parekh as his
special advisor for 7th edition of IPL
30. US sprint star Tyson Gay has received a one‐year doping ban from the US Anti‐Doping Association.
31. Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, who has been stopped from
receiving Arjuna Award under controversial circumstances on
charges of dope violation last year, has again
been recommended by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the coveted
honour this year.
32. Darren Sammy retires from test cricket but remains T20 captain.
33. Ronnie O’Sullivan
named as Snooker’s
Player of the Year.
34. Lasith Malinga, new captain of Sri Lanka T20 team
35. New Zealand's Kiwi Kathy Cross became the first woman to be
inducted in an ICC umpires' panel
36. Dipika Pallikal ranked No 10 in Women’s Squash Association (WSA)
rankings
37. Saina Nehwal won Syed Modi International India Grand Prix
Gold badminton crown by defeating PV Sindhu in Lucknow.
38. BCCI recommends Ravichandran Ashwin ( Off‐spinner) for Arjuna Award.
39. Anirban Lahiri won Indonesian Masters golf title.
40. Grand Master Adhiban won silver medal at the Asian Continental
Chess Championship
41. Delhi Waveriders beat Jaypee Punjab Warriors to lifts 2nd edition
of Hockey India League cup.
42. Rafael Nadal remains top of the men’s ATP tennis rankings.
43. Serena Williams (USA) remains top of the WTA tennis rankings
44. Chennai to host World Bridge Championships next year .
45. Shaik Abdul Hameed of India won the 2014 Thailand Tour title of
Asian Bowling Federation (ABF).
46. Chain Singh and Heena Sidhu claimed gold medals in the seventh
Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait
47. Swimmer Supriya Mondal has qualified for the 2014 Youth Olympics by
winning a gold medal in the 200m butterfly event at
the Dubai International Aquatic Championships in
Hamdan.
48. Manavjit Singh Sandhu, the Indian veteran trap shooter jumped to
the third spot in the world rankings.
49. Pooja Ghatkar clinches gold in women’s air rifle in the seventh
Asian air gun championship
50. Former Australia test batsman Marcus North retires.
51. Spain's Real Madrid retained the title of the world's richest soccer
club
52. Netherlands beat New Zealand to win maiden Hero Hockey
World League title
53. Jimmy Walker of the US won the Sony Open golf tournament held in
Hawaii
54. Veteran Indian shuttler Arvind Bhat lifts German
Open title
55. Aditya Joshi is world No.1 junior shuttler.
56. Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka to win Brisbane
International Title.
57. ATP Open Tennis tournament held in Chennai.
58. Jacques Kallis overtakes Rahul Dravid to become 3rd highest Test
run‐getter
59. Dubai tennis championship: Roger Federer defeat defeating Tomas Berdych .
60. Graeme Smith, the South African cricket team Captain announced
retirement from international cricket.
61. South Africa's legendary all‐rounder Jacques Kallis announced retirement from
Test cricket.
62. Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene has become the sixth‐highest run‐scorer in the history of Test cricket
63. Kumar Sangakkara, the cricketer of Sri Lankan national team
became the second person in the history of Cricket to score a
triple century and a century in the same test
match, he joined Graham Gooch, the former skipper of England team.
64. Veteran Indian player Joshna Chinappa lifted her maiden WSA
World Tour title with the Winnipeg Winter Club Open trophy
after beating Egypt's Heba El Torky .
65. Vernon Philander of South Africa topped Test bowler ranking of ICC
66. England's spinner Graeme Swann announced retirement from
International Cricket.
67. Zaheer khan became the fourth Indian bowler to claim 300 wickets
in Test cricket. Jacques Kallis was his 300th wicket in
international test cricket. Bowlers of India,
who has taken 300 wickets namely Kapil Dev (434 wickets), Anil Kumble (619
wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (413 wickets).
68. India defeat Pakistan to lift Kabaddi World Cup 2013 title.
Defending champion India retained the title fourth consecutive term
69. India win Women's Kabaddi World Cup 2013 for the third time
in a row, defeating debutant New Zealand 49‐21 in the summit
clash played at Guru Gobind Singh sports complex
in Jalandhar (Pinjab).
70. Junior Hockey World Cup 2013: Germany beat France, register record sixth world
title.
71. Rising Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has bagged the 'Emerging
Cricketer of the Year' 2013 trophy .
72. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended West Indies
offspinner Shane Shillingford from bowling in international
matches because of illegal action.
73. Andy Murray crowned BBC 'Sports Personality of the year'2013.
74. Ethiopian Runner Atsedu Tsegay won Delhi Half Marathon 2013.
75. Australia beat England to seal 5‐0 Ashes title
76. Hockey World League Final kicked off in New Delhi
77. 75th Senior National Table Tennis C’ship held in Patna
78. The first high altitude cricket stadium in South India,
inaugurated at Krishnagiri in Wynad district of Kerala.
79. World and European champions Spain top the final FIFA world
rankings of the year for the sixth time in a row.
80. Mahesh Mangaonkar became the first Indian squash player to
win the IMET Open by defeating Greg
Lobban, in the Slovakian
capital of Bratislava.
81. John Isner beat Lu Yen‐hsun of Taiwan to win Auckland title
News Related To Defence
& Technology
1. Bolivia launched country’s first telecommunications Satellite Tupak
Katari
Note: Capital of Bolivia : Sucre, President: Evo Morales
2. IRNSS—1A , IRNSS‐1B ‐ India's navigation satellite.
3. Pakistan successfully test fires Haft‐III (Ghaznavi) Short Range Surface to Surface Ballistic Missile
. Range 290km
4. Indo‐Nepal joint military
exercise Ex‐Surya Kiran Drills VI
held at Saljhandi in Rupandehi
district.
5. The largest 130‐MW
Solar Power Plant of India Welspun Solar MP Project was launched at Bhagwanpur
in Neemuch, Madhya
Pradesh
6. NTPC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bihar State
Power Generation Company Limited (BSPGCL) and
Lakhisarai Bijlee Company Private Limited
(LBCPL) to develop a 1320 MW (2 X 660 MW) Thermal Power Project at Kajra in
Lakhisarai district of Bihar.
7. Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station awarded a gold shield on 4 February 2014
for its meritorious performance in 2013‐
14.Nathpa Hydro power Station consecutively
third time received the award.
Note: The Nathpa Jhakri Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Satluj River in Himachal Pradesh.
8. INS Vikramaditya enters
Indian Navy's area of operation. INS Vikramaditya (R33) is a Project
which entered into service with
the Indian Navy in 2013. The ship has been renamed in honour
of Vikramaditya, a legendary 1st century BC emperor of Ujjain,
India.
9. Fast Patrol
Vessel Abhinav, the Indian Coast Guard Ship commissioned in Kochi
10. GSLV‐D5 launch places India in elite league of the U.S., Russia,
France, Japan and China The GSLV is designed to inject its
passenger spacecraft into the intended Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbit with a combination of solid, earth‐storable
liquid and
cryogenic propellants in its first, second and third stages,
respectively.
11. Indian mission to Mars blasts off successfully. The Mars Orbiter
Mission, known as "Mangalyaan" .
Note: i. Only
the United States, Russia and the European Space
Agency have been successful in this mission.
ii. The United States is the only nation that has successfully sent
robotic explorers to land on Mars, the most recent being
Curiosity
which touched down in August 2012.
iii. Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K.
Radhakrishnan.
iv. The satellite is scheduled to reach the Mars orbit in
September
2014 and is
designed to circle the Red Planet in an elliptical orbit of
366 km X 80000 km.
v. Primary objectives of the Mars mission are to demonstrate
India’s
technological capability to send a satellite to orbit around
Mars and
conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of
life, take
pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment.
12. IRNSS‐1A, India's first ever dedicated Navigation satellite
launched
blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in
Sriharikota.
13. INS Vikramaditya set to join Indian Navy . INS
Vikramaditya is a
Kiev class aircraft carrier which was commissioned by Russian
Navy
in 1987 under the
name Baku.
14. Missiles:
1. Nuclear‐capable 'Agni‐V'
tested for second time. 'Agni‐V' long‐range
ballistic missile. strike range of more than 5000 km
Note: In the Agni (Surface to Surface missile) series, India
at present
has Agni‐1 with 700 km range, Agni‐2 with 2000 km range, Agni‐3
and
Agni‐4 with 2500 km to more than 3500 range. Agni – V more than
5000 km
Prithvi:
1.
Prithvi I ‐ 150km 2. Prithvi II ‐
350km 3. Prithvi III ‐ 350km ‐ 600km
Headquarter of International
Organisation
Ø UNO ‐ New
York
Ø UNICEF ‐ New York
Ø UNESCO – Paris
Ø UNIDO – Vienna
Ø WHO – Geneva
Ø UNFPA ‐ New
York
Ø SAARC – Kathmandu
Ø ILO – Geneva
Ø World Bank ‐ Washington D.C
Ø IMF ‐ Washington
DC
Ø WTO – Geneva
Ø International Court Of Justice ‐ The Hague
Ø International Atomic Energy Agency –
Vienna
Ø International Committee of the Red
Cross – Geneva
Ø International Maritime Organisation
– London
Ø Food and Agricultural Organisation –
Rome
Ø World Meteorological Organisation ‐ Geneva
Ø Amnesty International – London
Ø Transparency International – Berlin
Ø World Intellectual Property
Organization – Geneva
Ø International Renewable Energy
Agency ‐ Abu Dhabi
(UAE)
Ø Commonwealth of Nations – London
Ø International Standards Organisation – Geneva
Important Days of March/April & May‐
March ‐
ü March 4 ‐ World Day of the Fight Against
Sexual Exploitation
ü March 8 ‐ International Women’s Day
ü March 13 ‐ World Kidney Day
ü March 15 ‐ World Disabled Day
ü March 15 ‐ World Consumer Rights Day
ü March 21 ‐ World Forestry Day
ü March 21 ‐ International Day for the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
ü March 22 ‐ World Water Day
ü March 23 ‐ World Meteorological Day
ü March 24 ‐ World TB Day
April ‐
Ø 5th April ‐ National Maritime Day
Ø 7th April ‐ World Health Day
Ø 10th April ‐ World Homoeopathy Day (Birth day of
Samuel Hanimen)
Ø 14th April ‐ World Aeronautics and Cosmology Day
Ø 14th April ‐ Ambedkar’s Birth Anniversary
Ø 17th April ‐ World Hemophilia Day
Ø 18th April ‐ World Heritage Day
Ø 21st April ‐ Indian Civil Service Day
Ø 22nd April ‐ Earth Day
Ø 23rd April ‐ World Books and Copyright Day
Ø 24th April ‐ Panchayat Divas
MAY
· May 1: International Labour Day/
Maharashtra Day
· May 3: World Press Freedom Day/
International Energy
· May 8: World Red Cross Day/ World
Thalessemia Day
· May 9: Victory day
· May 11: World Technology Day
· May 12: International Nurses Day
· May 13: National Solidarity Day
· May 14: World Migratory Day
· May 17: World Telecommunication Day/
· May 21: Anti – Terrorism Day
· May 24: Common Wealth Day
· May 29: Mount Everest Day
· May 31: Anti – Tobacco Day
Highlights of General
Elections 2014
World’s biggest democratic exercise‐ India’s 16th Lok Sabha (Lower House) elections
which ran from April, 7 to May 12, 2014 are
over and its verdict is out. Of the total 543
seats for which elections were contested, BJP led NDA achieved a thumping
victory on 336
seats, whereas, Congress led UPA has faced
thorough defeat in 6 key states winning just 59 seats, and the Congress, 44
seats.
TheAam Aadmi Party (AAP) which contested on 424
seats has faced debacle as it could win just 4 seats. AAP leader and former
Chief
Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejrival, who
contested against the Narendra Modi from Varanasi, defeated by a huge margin of
more than 3 lakh votes.
With this NDA victory, BJP’s Prime Ministerial
candidate Narendra Modi is all set to be the head of the newly elected
Indian
Government.
BJP registered its biggest win in Uttar Pradesh winning 71
seats despite a big coalition partner, the best performance by a single
party in the state since 1984 when the Congress won 83 of 85
seats.
Results Lok Sabha Polls 2014:
ALLIANCE TALLY
NDA (BJP + Allies) 335
UPA (Congress +Allies) 59
AAP 4
SP 5
BSP 0
AITC 34
JD(U) 2
LEFT 11
ADMK 37
OTHERS 56
TOTAL 543/543
Vote Share:
Alliance Vote Share (%)
NDA 35
UPA 23
LEFT
4
AITC 4
Others 34
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