CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEC-MAY2014 POINTS TO REMEMBER

• The Hollywood film based on the life of Julian Assange – The Fifth State • ’s rank in terms of competitiveness in the ‘Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14’ released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently – 60th • The country hit by the powerful typhoon Usagi recently – • The Indian city that ranked as the world’s second most honest city in a recent survey carried out in 16 cities across four continents - • The Seventh Pay Commission approved by the Prime Minister recently is likely to be implemented from – Jan 1, 2016 • The team to whom Indian women hockey team lost in the semifinals of the eighth Asia Cup hockey tournament in recently – South

• The country in which China is in process to lease 3m hectare of arable farmland -

• World Tourism Day is observed on – 27 Sep

• General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) provisions will come into effect from – 1 Apr, 2016

• The anti-chemical weapons activists who have won the Swedish Right Livelihood Award – Paul Walker, Hans Herren and Denis Mukwege

• The person awarded with the fifth Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013 – Raghuram Rajan

• The least developed state as per the report submitted by the Raghuram Rajan committee – Odisha

• The Internet giant who celebrated its 15th birthday recently - Google

• The most developed states as per the Raghuram Rajan panel report – Kerala and Goa

• The winner of the 2013 women’s Table Tennis World Cup – Liu Siwen

• World Rabies Day is observed on – Sep 28

• The country to which India started exporting electricity recently -

• The country which will host the 2014 NATO summit for the first time in more than 20 years -

• World Heart Day is observed on – 29 Sep

• Miss World 2013 – Megan Young

• The present president of the BCCI – N Srinivasan

• The dedicated pin code issued by the postal department for the Supreme Court of India recently - 110201

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• The country that unveiled its most powerful super computer Raijin recently -

• The country that won the 3rd Sultan of Johor Cup under-21 hockey tournament recently - India

• The satellite on which the US space agency NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene – Titan (Saturn’s moon)

• The country where the Supreme Court has barred murder convicts from contesting in the upcoming polls -

• International Day of Older Persons is observed on – 1 Oct

• The new Chairperson of the International Coffee Council – Jawaid Akhtar

• The country that signed the CTBT accord recently – Iraq

• The name of the campaign launched by the Ministry of Tourism to promote tourism in Himalayas – 777 days of incredible Indian Himalayas

• The technology giant that has set up a new company called Calico to make improvements in human health and well-being - Google

• The places at which India is building first-of-its-kind strategic oil storages – Padur, Mangalore and

• The country with which India is set to sign a historic ‘Motor Vehicles Agreement’ - Bangladesh

• The university ranked on the top among the Indian institutions of higher education in the recent Times Higher Education World University Rankings – Panjab University

• The country that announced to leave the 54-member Commonwealth group recently - Gambia

• The current global infant mortality rate (IMR) as per the recent report of the UNICEF - 37

• The challenge round in which Miss India Navneet Kaur won at the recent Miss World competition held in Bali - Multimedia

• The indigenously developed nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile successfully test-fired by India – Prithvi-II

• The team that created history by becoming the first team to win the Champions League T20 cricket tournament twice – Mumbai Indians

• The first Tamil Chief Minister of a Sri Lankan province sworn in recently – CV Wigneswaran

• The Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) elected for the second four-year term – Irina Bokova

• Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and Indian Railways will jointly set up a forged wheel plant at – Rae Bareli • The first-ever woman chairperson of India’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI) – Arundhati Bhattacharya

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• The new Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently – 9 per cent

• The famed military commander of who died recently and who had masterminded the defeats of and the in his country – General Vo Ngugen Giap

• The country in which the two-day summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) took place recently -

• The winner of the Korean Grand Prix Formula One championship – Sebastian Vettel

• The person nominated by the US President Barack Obama to head Federal Reserve – Janet Yellen

• The retail chain run by Bharti group in India – Easy Day

• The population of world which will be online by the end of 2013 according to a recent report published by the United Nations – 40 per cent

• The winner of the men’s singles title of the tennis tournament –

• The country which is on the top among the recipients of foreign remittance in 2013, according to a recent estimate released by the World Bank - India

• The country where M23 rebels are active – Democratic Republic of Congo

• The new president of – Mulatu Teshome

• The country to which the US govt suspended of large-scale military systems and cash assistance recently - Egypt

• The state that topped in terms of infant mortality rate (IMR) as per a recent report released by the Registrar General of India - Kerala

• The winner of the women’s doubles title of the China Open tennis tournament – and

• World Mental Health Day – 10 Oct

• The present Prime Minister of Libya who was held hostage by the rebel militiamen recently – Ali Zeidan

• International Day of the Girl Child – 11 Oct

• The campaign launched by the govt to remove the stigma attached to leprosy - HEAL

• The person who has been given the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award 2012 – MS Swaminathan

• The person who has been awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize – Malala Yousafzai

• The Indian shuttler who approached the high court challenging the decision of BAI to recommend a life ban on her for alleged indiscipline in the IBL – Jwala Gutta

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• The country where the ASEAN-India Summit took place recently - Indonesia

• International Day for Disaster Reduction – 13 Oct

• The Indian state whose archers were issued stapled visas by China for Youth World Archery Championship in central China’s Wuxi city – Arunachal Pradesh

• The cyclone that hit the eastern coast of India recently and forced to evacuate lakhs of people and devastated property worth crores of rupees - Phailin

• The winner of the Japanese Grand Prix Formula One championship – Sebastian Vettel

• The winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize – Eleanor Catton

• The organisation which won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize – Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

• Justice MB Shah Commission is associated with – Illegal mining across the country

• The state-of-the-art Geo-scientific research vessel that has been dedicated to the nation at Kandla Port of recently – RV Samudra Ratnakar

• The company that has become the first private company of the country to earn over Rs.1 lakh crore in a quarter – Reliance Industries (RIL)

• The country that overtook Saudi Arabia to become world’s biggest oil producer recently - US

• The country that was lashed by typhoon Wipha recently –

• India’s ranking in the Global Hunger Index 2013 released by the IFPRI - 63

• The county in the P5+1 group along with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -

• India’s GDP growth rate estimated by IMF for the current financial year – 8.5 per cent

• The state which has registered maximum number of human rights violations till 30 Sep 2013 as per the data released by the NHRC – Uttar Pradesh

• The country which overtook US to become the world’s largest net oil importer - China

• The country where the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place –

• The first country in the world to implement a new financial transaction tax called ‘Tobin Tax’ - Italy

• The first Indian to reach final stage of a world ranking Snooker event – Aditya Mehta

• The debt ceiling approved by the US Congress after the govt remained shut down for many days - $17 trillion • India’s GDP expansion in 2013-14 as pegged by the World Bank – 4.7 per cent

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• World Osteoporosis Day – 20 Oct

• The place where the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) started digging the earth for the prophesied 1,000 tonnes of gold - Unnao

• The newly elected non-permanent member of the UN Security Council that rejected the seat recently – Saudi Arabia

• The panel that has recommended prohibition on development activities in 60,000 sq km vast ecologically sensitive area of Western Ghats – K Kasturirangan Panel

• The winner of the 2013 Macau Open Squash women’s single title – Dipika Pallikal

• The country where India has launched its ambitious pension scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana, for the Indians working there - UAE

• has announced to award its 2013 International Prize for Equality and Non-Discrimination to – Malala Yousafzai

• The 22nd Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court appointed recently – Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar

• The country which has emerged as the most attractive investment destination in the world – India

• The international bloc which has pledged to contribute substantially for the socio-economic growth of India’s NE region at a two-day North East Business Summit - ASEAN

• The winner of the Formula One season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel

• The country to which India donated 2,500 metric tonnes of wheat recently – Yemen

• World Toilet Day – 19 Nov

• The country where the 4th edition of the biennial BRICS International Competition Conference would be held –

• The Indian batsman who became the fastest batsman to reach the 5000-run mark in ODI cricket recently –

• National Education Day – 11 Nov

• The new penalty fixed by the DoT for companies whose mobile towers will be found violating radiation emission levels – Rs.10 lakh

• The cyclone which hit the coastline of Andhra Pradesh recently – Helen

• The grandmaster who dethroned Viswanathan Anand as the World Champion recently – Magnus Carlsen

• The country where the two-day biennial BRICS International Competition Conference was organised recently – India • The Tehelka editor who is facing rape charge – Tarun Tejpal

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• The new chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India – Ajit Prakash Shah

• The country that offered six oil and gas blocks to India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd without bidding in South China Sea - Vietnam

• The country ranked on the top spot in the financial secrecy index (FSI) – Switzerland

• The actress conferred with the ‘Centenary Awards for Indian Film Personality of the Year’ at the International Film Festival of India 2013 recently – Waheeda Rehman

• The percentage of Indian population that defecates in open according to a recent report by the World Bank – 53 per cent

• The company that emerged as India’s top-notch brand in banking and financial services industry (BFSI) category – LIC of India

• The country with which India signed an accord for mutual recognition of educational qualifications recently – Mauritius

• The country that passed a bill called the HOPE Act that allows scientists to carry out research into organ donations from one person with HIV to another – US

• The 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will be held in 2015 in – Malta

• The rate at which the Reserve Bank of India has directed PSBs to provide credit to women SHGs – 7% pa

• The first CMD of the recently launched Bharatiya Mahila Bank – Usha Ananthasubramanian

• The rate at which -based OECD has pegged Indian economy to grow in the current financial year on market prices – 3.4 per cent

• The person who has been conferred with the European Union’s (EU) prestigious Sakharov Prize 2013 – Malala Yousafzai

• The Nobel laureate British scientist, known as ‘the father of genomics’, who died recently – Frederick Sanger

• The countries between whom the Ashes cricket tournament is played – England and Australia

• The person slated to be the next President of the FICCI in 2014 – Siddhartha Birla

• The article of the Indian Constitution belonging to Andhra Pradesh that needs to be amended to make way for the bifurcation of the state – Article 371(D)

• The country with which India is in process to develop fourth generation of anti-tank missile Javelins – US

• The awardee of the coveted Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2013 – Angela Merkel

• The present president of Haiti – Michel Martelly

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• Male World Athlete of the year 2013 – Usain Bolt

• Female World Athlete of the year 2013 – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

• The completely refurbished 44,500-tonne carrier Admiral Gorshkov commissioned into the Indian Navy recently – INS Vikramaditya

• The National Integration Day is observed every year on the birth anniversary of the first woman prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, on – 19 Nov

• The Indian-American nominated by the US President Barack Obama for the post of Surgeon General – Vivek Murthy

• The person conferred with the ‘International Indian of the Decade’ award recently – Lord Paul • World Diabetes Day – 14 Nov

• The new President of Maldives – Yameen Abdul Gayoom

• The award announced for cricket legend and acclaimed scientist CNR Rao by the govt recently – Bharat Ratna

• The Nobel Prize–winning author who died recently – Doris Lessing

• The country that unveiled its latest drone plane ‘Fotros’ –

• The country where two volcanoes, Mount Sinabung and Merapi, erupted recently – Indonesia

• The operating system to which Microsoft Corporation has announced to discontinue its support soon – Windows XP

• The winner of the ATP World Tour Finals – Novak Djokovic

• The disease from which India announced itself free as there has been no incidence of the disease in the last three months – Bird Flu

• International Day for Tolerance – 16 Nov

• The fraction of those given employment under MGNREGA who should be women – One-third

• The winner of the 50th edition of the Indian Open golf tournament – Mohammad Siddikur

• The person whose autobiography ‘Smarte Trekk’ was unveiled recently – Magnus Carlsen

• The income exempt from income-tax as per the prevailing rules in India – agricultural income

• The winner of the gold medal in air pistol category in the ISSF World Cup Final – Henna Sidhu

• The investigation agency of India that completed fifty years in operation recently – Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

• The name of India’s first inter-planetary mission to Mars – Mangalayaan • The cricketer ranked numero uno in the Reliance ICC Player Ranking for Test all-rounders released recently – Ravichandran Ashwin

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• The assistance announced by the Prime Minister for the Phailin-affected states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha – Rs.1,000 cr each

• The high court which ruled that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is unconstitutional – Gauhati High Court

• The reverse mortgage scheme floated by banks is related to – senior citizens

• The place where a year-long celebration to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the Assamese literature pioneer Lakshminath Bezbruah kickstarted recently – New Delhi

• The cricketer who became the first victim of the third umpire system adopted by the ICC in 1992 – Sachin Tendulkar • The team to which women’s hockey team of India lost in the final of the Asian Championships in New Delhi recently - Japan

• The country hit by the super typhoon ‘Haiyan’, which killed at least 10,000 people – The

• The country which topped the recently launched 2013 World Prosperity Index – Norway

• The state with the lowest overall teledensity in the country (just 34.33) – Uttar Pradesh

• The country that released dengue-blocking mosquito recently – Vietnam

• The amount with which the govt has approved the launch of a new IPDS scheme for textile sector in the 12th Plan – Rs.500 cr

• India’s rank in the 2013 World Prosperity Index – 106

• World Standards Days – 14 Oct

• The European country with which India suspended a two-decade-old tax benefits pact recently – Cyprus

• The winner of the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel

• International Day of Rural Women – 15 Oct

• The naval exercise conducted between the navies of India and the US recently – Malabar exercise

• The amount the UN owes to India for costs relating to peacekeeping operations – USD 80 mn

• The person known as the father of IBM personal computer who died recently – William C Lowe

• The first country in South Asia to approve the cultivation of genetically modified food crops with the approval of commercial cultivation of transgenic Bt brinjal – Bangladesh

• The Indian mobile operator which has started offering Apple’s iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c phones at monthly instalments with free unlimited calls and data usages – Reliance Communications

• The first female managing director of the LIC of India appointed recently – Usha Sangwan

• The chairman of the four-member advisory committee set up by the RBI to vet the new bank licence applications – Bimal Jalan

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• The US telecom major which is preparing to take over Europe’s largest mobile carrier Vodafone in 2014 – AT&T

• The organisation which has launched a nation wide campaign named ‘ Take the Poo to Loo’ in India to raise awareness against open defecation – UNICEF

• India-born legendary Pakistani singer who passed away recently – Reshma

• The goods that are used in producing other goods, rather than being bought by consumers – Capital goods

• The country which scrapped the visa bond imposed on visitors from some Asian the African countries, including India, recently - UK

• The country with which Indian soldiers participated in a 10-day anti-terror exercise code-named ‘Hand-in-Hand 2013’ recently – China

• The country where 152 soldiers have been sentenced to death for 2009 mutiny – Bangladesh

• The veteran Indian diplomat who bid farewell to her diplomatic career recently – Nirupama Rao

• The noted Kannada film director and screenplay writer who died recently – D Rajendra Babu

• The present US ambassador to India – Nancy Powell

• The public broadcasters which completed 10 successful years in service recently – DD news

• The Indian batsmen, only the third in the world, to score a double century in the ODIs till date –

• The head of the Pakistani Taliban killed in the drone attack by the US recently – Hakimullah Mehsud

• The winner of the 2013 Grand Prix Formula One championship – Sebastian Vettel

• The growth rate of core sector in India in the month of Sep, the highest in last 11 months – 8 per cent

• The countries where the Vice-President Hamid Ansari went on an eight-day official visit recently – Cuba, and the UK

• The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh – Nabam Tuki

• The country with which India has signed a treaty for transfer of sentenced prisoners – Vietnam

• The regulator to which SC upheld the appointment of UK Sinha as the chairman recently – SEBI

• The girl crowned Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 – Srishti Rana

• India’s CAG elected to the UN Board of Auditors recently – Shashi Kant Sharma

• The district of Kerala which has become the first zero-landless district in the country – Kannur

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• The chairman of the panel which suggested that diesel prices should be hiked by Rs.5 per litre – Kirit s Parikh

• The city which has got the world’s first publicly accessible ATM machine which can exchange digital currency, bitcoins, for any official currency -

• The player who has been named the International Tennis Federation’s women’s world champion for 2013 – Serena Williams

• One of the most ambitious space missions launched by Europe in history which is going to map the precise positions and distances to more than a billion stars – The Gaia satellite

• The state-owned miner allowed to produce coal-bed methane (CBM) along with coal – Coal India Ltd (CIL)

• The winner of the ET Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 – Azim Premji

• The winner of the ATS 69th National team badminton titles, for the 15th year in succession – Petroleum Sports Promotion Board

• Goa celebrated the 52nd liberation anniversary when the state was freed on 19 Dec 1961 from the colonial power of - Portuguese

• The shortest day of the year and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere – 21 December

• The person appointed the Chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) – Harsh Kumar Bhanwala

• The player who has been named the International Tennis Federation’s men’s world champion for 2013 – Novak Djokovic

• The player who has been conferred BCCI’s Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award for the year 2013 – Kapil Dev

• The auto major which has announced to shift its entire export operations for the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia to India – Suzuki Motor Corporation

• The first Indian squash player to win the IMET Open – Mahesh Mangaonkar

• The airline with which India’s second largest low-cost carrier SpiceJet has signed an interline agreement - Tigerair

• The country that inked a deal enabling EU to send back illegal migrants who entered the 28-nation bloc via it -

• The amount sought by the United Nations for humanitarian aid to Syria’s conflict-affected population – USD 6.5bn

• The country which has been granted Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) status by the European Parliament - Pakistan

• The Qatar-based bank which has been granted license to commence banking operations in India recently – Doha Bank CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-10

• The person who has been named Time Person of the Year 2013 – Pope Francis

• The person who has been named Guardian’s Person of the year 2013 – Edward Snowden • The amount to be provided by the Centre under its flagship programme MNREGA for constructing toilets – Rs.10,000

• The team which has lifted Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup for a record sixth time - Germany

• The CCEA has approved the continuation of the ongoing Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) in the Twelfth Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17) with an outlay of – Rs.63,246 cr

• The team India defeated to emerge as champions of the fourth Kabaddi World Cup - Pakistan

• The state to which Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced to lend $350 mn for improving power transmission and distribution system – Madhya Pradesh

• The Indian firm which has topped the wealth creation table, according to the Motilal Oswal annual wealth creation study for the five-year period 2008-13 – Tata Consultancy Services

• The country which has become the first country to allow euthanasia for incurably ill children -

• The richest person of India at present as per US-based business magazine Forbes’ annual list – Mukesh Ambani

• The winner of the prestigious Mother Terasa Memorial International Award for Social Justice – Sushmita Sen

• The act which the Supreme Court has held an offence punishable with up to life imprisonment recently – gay sex

• The top Indian diplomat who was held for visa fraud in the US recently – Devyani Khobragade

• The new prime minister of Somalia – Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed

• The winner of the ‘Emerging Cricketer of the Year’ trophy at the 2013 ICC Annual Awards – Cheteshwar Pujara

• The team which won women’s Kabaddi World Cup championship for the third time in a row – India

• The international airport which has been renamed after Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda – Bengaluru International Airport

• The state whose legislative assembly has passed the Anti-Superstition Bill recently - Maharashtra

• The new Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank – CVR Rajendran

• The new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of India unit of Walmart – Krish Iyer

• The winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year Awards 2013 – Michael Clarke

• The team to which visiting India lost a three-match ODI series recently – South Africa CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-11

• The temperature, coldest ever recorded on Earth, hit by Antarctica recently - -136° F (- 93.2° C)

• The WISH-2013 meet was organized recently in - Doha

• The person awarded with the highest civilian award of France, ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur’ recently – Anjali Gopalan

• The first state to introduce Centre’s National Vocational Qualitative Framework (NVQF) Scheme - Haryana

• The country where the senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah was executed for war crimes recently - Bangladesh

• The country which has been elected to 193-member UN General Assembly replacing Saudi Arabia - Jordan

• The first mega food park of the country is to come up at – Amethi, UP

• The bank fined by the US USD 100 mn for violating sanctions against Iran, Sudan, Burma and Cuba – Royal Bank of

• The state which launched a scheme name Manodhariya Yojana aimed at compensating victims of various crimes, especially rape, child sex abuse and acid attacks - Maharashtra

• The year by which the leading nations of the world have committed to developing a cure or treatment for dementia - 2025

• The firm that has bagged three-year sponsorship rights for the Indian cricket team for all BCCI, ACC and ICC events – Star India

• The new director General of the OPCW – Ahmet Uzumcu

• The country that hosted the 27th South East Asian Games, the biggest sporting event in South East Asia -

• The indigenously designed and developed fighter aircraft which is all set to its induction in the Indian Air Force – LCA Tejas

• The body accorded statutory status under the provisions of the recently enacted Companies Act, 2013 – Serious Fraud Investigation Office

• The largest airborne survey of Earth’s polar ice to yield a three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets – Ice Bridge

• The first nation of the world which has granted non-human personhood status to dolphins to recognize their unique intelligence – India • The fighter jet which was flown into history by the Indian Air Force recently – Mig-21 FL

• The party that emerged as the single largest party in the newly elected Constituent Assembly in Nepal – Nepali Congress

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its crucial ministerial conference in - Bali

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• The first country of the world which legalized marijuana recently - Uruguay • The person conferred 2013 Impact Person of the Year Award – Vineet Jain • The name of the new ball unveiled for the 2014 FIFA World Cup - Brazuca • The new Chief Information Commissioner of India – Sushma Singh • The country that will host under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 – India • The farthest object sent by India into the space so far - Mangalyaan • The winner of the 2013 LG People’s Choice Award of ICC – MS Dhoni • India is all set to raise a 10-metre high embankment running along the 197-km strech of the International Border along - Pakistan • The telecom firm on which DoT slapped Rs.600-cr penalty for its alleged violation of licence conditions in its merger deal with Spice Communications – Idea Cellular • The process that has been made compulsory by the RBI for all debit card transactions from 1 December, 2013 – Punching PIN • The firm which has agreed to pay USD 2.5 bn as compensation to around 8000 US citizens for its faulty hip implants – Johnson & Johnson • The UNICEF’s first brand ambassador for South Asia – Sachin Tendulkar • The three-member committee formed in the aftermath of the brutal gang rape in Delhi, to deal with sexual assault cases, is headed by the former chief justice – JS Verma • The CEO of India’s second largest private bank HDFC Bank – Aditya Puri • A global electronic payments firm which rolled out Saral money - Visa international • As per Indian laws, a resident Indian can invest in a fiscal in foreign currency assets up to - $200,000 • The Bench of Justices that has given decision on Lokayukta appointment in Gujarat – BS Chauhan and Ibhrahim Kalifulla • The state which is planning to make its capital ‘Solar City’ by making the use of solar energy mandatory for the owners of the building - Tripura • The five-day centenary session of the Indian Science Congress was held in the month of January 2013 at - • The world’s largest private security services company which was found guilty of not paying full provident fund dues to over 10,000 employees in Delhi alone – G4S • The country whose central bank has come under considerable political pressure to adopt a higher inflation target - Japan • The state which celebrated 125 years of the historic journey of its legislature recently - UP • The girl who was chosen for ’s Prestigious Tripperary International Peace Prize for 2012 – Malala Yousafzai • The statement “We must create at least 2-3 world sized banks; even China has done it has been given by – Finance Minister P Chidambaram • The UT which has prescribed separate buses for schoolboys and schoolgirls, overcoats for girls and restricted interaction of girls with boys - Puducherry • The country which has declared activities such as surfing social media or engaging in personal matters during office hours as an act of corruption -

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• The town Dhule, where a quarrel between a Hindu vendor and two Muslim youths, escalated into riots is in - Maharashtra

• The committee which in its reports has suggested raising diesel and kerosene rates – Vijay Kelkar Committee

• A two-day meeting of health secretaries and senior advisors of BRICS was held in the month of January in – New Delhi

• The Argentine star who won the FIFA Ballon d’ Or award for the fourth time – Lionel Messi

• The Delhi-based teenaged actor who has been nominated for rising star in the BAFTA Award – Suraj Sharma

• The state which recently launched helicopter service for remote tribal areas – Himachal Pradesh

• NSE signed an LoI for launching Nifty futures, a representative stock price index of India, with – Japan Exchange Group

• The Salma Dam Project, for which India has approved an additional Rs.600 crore recently, is in - Afghanistan

• The fifth Annual Defence Dialogue between India and China was held in the month of January in - Beijing

• The provisional of Chapter 10 A of income Tax Act dealing with the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) will come into force from – April 1, 2016

• The National Security Adviser of India – Shiv Shankar Menon

• Ho Chi Minh, a historical city which was recently visited by the Vice-President of India, is situated in - Vietnam

• India will set up languages labs to fulfil a commitment made in 2011 for setting up of a three-tier Training System in – Sri Lanka

• The country which has given to women a 20 per cent quota in its Consultative Assembly for the first time – Saudi Arabia

• The country which recently boosted its defence budget for the first time in ten years - Japan

• The ‘Southern Weekend’ a newspaper that has a reputation for independent journalism, was censored by its country - China • A two-day congress Chintan Shivir was organized in - Jaipur • The first-ever North East International Tourism Mart was held in the month of January in - Guwahati

• Lance Armstrong, who recently confessed to using performance-enchancing drugs, is related with - Cycling

• The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has slated its first launch of the year, the ocean study spacecraft SARAL, with the help of - France

• The statement ‘Multiple roles of RBI create conflict’ was given by - IMF

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• United Nations has estimated the Indian economy to grow in 2013 by – 6.1%

• ‘World economic situation and prospects 2013 (WESP)’ report was released in the month of January 2013 by – United Nations

• The world Future Energy Summit (WFES) was held in the month of January in – Abu Dhabi

• The winner of the 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix formula one championships – Lewis Hamilton • The winner of the Candidates Chess tournament – Viswanathan Anand • The Indian state which is the top recipient of foreign remittances into the country – Kerala • The country which topped the Amnesty International’s Global Death Penalty Report 2013 – China • The private sector lender which has introduced “Kisan Card” through which a farmer can withdraw up to Rs.1 lakh per day from ATMs – Axis Bank • The winner of the women’s singles of the 2014 Miami Masters tennis championships – Serena Williams • The new president of the 28-nation military alliance NATO who will take charge in October – Jens Stoltenberg • The host country of the 18th SAARC Summit – Nepal • The newly acquired US-made multi-role special operations aircraft of the IAF that crashed near Gwalior – C-130J • The chairman of BCCI during IPL7 – • The first missile developed by DRDO under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Program which was again test-fired recently – Prithvi II • The date by which the Reserve Bank of India has extended the timeline for full implementation of the Base III capital regulations – 31 March 2019 • The winner of the 2014 Deodhar Trophy - West Zone • The country with which China has allowed direct domestic trading of its currency Yuan – New Zealand • India’s projected per capita income in 2013-14 based on current prices – Rs.74,920 • The winner of the men’s title of the 64th National Basketball Championships - Tamil Nadu • The Indian writer who won the Yale University’s Windham Campbell Literature Prize in non-fiction – Pankaj Mishra • The winner of the 4th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship - Railways • The first state in the country to declare all election booths in the Lok Sabha polls as not smoking zones – Jammu & Kashmir • The country from which a large number of people are feeling their homelands to seek asylum – Syria • The automaker in the US which will pay a record $ 1.2 bn to resolve a criminal probe into safety issues – Toyota Motors • World Tuberculosis Day – 24 March • The new Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) – Amitabh Kant • The two-month long campaign against dengue launched in six major cities in the country – U & Me Against Dengue CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-15

• The two sites nominated by India as candidates for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site – GHNP and Rani-ki-Vav • Martyrdom Day – March 23 • The US-made robotic mini-submarine deployed to locate debris of the missing Malaysian aircraft – Bluefin-21 • The export subsidy that the govt will provide on raw-sugar shipments for the Apr-May period to help the cash-starved industry to pay arrears to sugarcane farmers – Rs.3,300 per tonnes • The winner of the inaugural 10,000 US Dollar Richmond Open squash championship title – Joshana Chinappa • The two-week-long joint military exercise held between China and Pakistan – Peace Angel 2014 • The amount pumped by the investors in various mutual fund schemes during 2013-14 – Rs.54,000 crore • Cash turnover on the nation’s three full-fledged stock exchanges NSE, BSE and MCX-SX in 2013-14 – Rs.33.41 lakh crore • Winner of the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix 2014 – Lewis Hamilton • The ten-day joint Air exercise scheduled to take place between India and France in June – Garuda-5 • The Nobel laureate novelist who died recently – Gabriel Garcia Marquez • World Heritage Day – 18 April • The two Election Commissioners who make full election commission along with Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath – Nasim Zaidi and HS Brahma • The new President of Algeria who won for the fourth time in a row recently – Abdelaziz Bouteflika • NASA’s robotic lunar explorer which was annihilated as planned recently – LADEE • Best Hindi Film at the 61st National Awards – Jolly LLB • The infrastructure budget unveiled by the Brazilian authorities for the Rio Olympics 2016 – USD 10.76 bn (approx) • The tax rate at the which individuals earning more than Rs.10 crore a year will be taxed under the revised Direct Tax code – 35 per cent • The software bug that is in news across the world – Heartbleed • The new chief of the Indian Navy – Rabinder Kumar Dhowan • The country which has announced to withhold funding to the Commonwealth Secretariat, pointing to the Secretariat’s silence on alleged war crimes and rights abuse in Sri Lanka – • Best Feature Film at the 61st National Film Awards – Ship of Theseus • The new Finance Secretary of India – Arvind Mayaram • The state with the highest number of factories as per the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2010-11 – Tamil Nadu • The number of products an insurer can file for approval as per new Irda product planner rule – Five • The field in which the highest number of factories has been observed in the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2010-11 – Food products • The country which decided to shut infamous Abu Ghraib prison over security fears recently – Iraq • The India-born poet who won the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category – Vijay Seshadri

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• The per cent of branches new banks need to open in unbanked rural areas as per the RBI norms – 25 per cent • The new Prime Minister of France – Manuel Valls • The new Chief Justice of India – Justice RM Lodha • The author of the book titled Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths – PC Parakh • The PSB which has sold Rs.3,500 crore of its NPAs to ARCs recently – State Bank of India • The book for which Donna Tartt has won fiction Pulitzer 2014 – Goldfinch • The first woman Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court appointed recently – Justice G Rohini • The person who has been conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2013 – Gulzar • The country which leads global remittances in the year 2013 with a whopping Rs.70 bn in its kitty – India • The ‘most powerful nation’ in world market according to the ‘world market power’ index – China • The author of the recently published book titled The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh – Sanjaya Baru • Dr BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary declared a public holiday – 14 April • The new president of the industry body CII – Ajay Shriram • The state capital in the northeast region to be put on Rail Map recently – Itanagar • The Miss India 2014 – Koyal Rana • The country that launched a new observation satellite “Ofek 10” into orbit recently – • The economic growth rate of India in 2014-15 projected by the World Bank – 5.7 per cent • The world’s fastest growing vector-borne disease with a 30-fold increase in disease incidence over the last 50 years – Dengue • The tribals who cast their vote for the first time in the country’s history in the recent election – Shompens • Winner of the women’s singles title of the India Super Series 2014 badminton – Shixian Wang • The international insurer with which SBI runs SBI Life Insurance joint venture – BNP Paribas Cardif • The winner of the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix formula one championships – Lewis Hamilton • The cinematographer awarded with Dada Saheb Phalke award, who passed away recently – VK Murthy • Winner of the men’s singles title of the India Super Series Badminton – Lee Chong Wei • The Indian shooter who has clinched the World No. One spot in 10 metres air pistol event – Heena Sidhu • The drug maker which has announced to acquire Ranbaxy for $3.2 bn – Sun Pharmaceuticals • World Health Day – 7 April • The theme of the World Health Day for 2014 – Vector-borne diseases: small bite, big threat • The team which has won the men’s 2014 ICC World T20 – Sri Lanka • The country where the multilateral, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) exercise, dubbed Komodo 2014, was held recently – Indonesia

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• The new Prime Minister of – Viktor Orban • The new President of Malta – Marie Louise Coleiro Preca • The threatened species for whose protection IRV 2020 programme has been launched by WHO- India – One-horned rhinoceros • The firm authorized by the RBI to set up, own and operate 9,000 white-label ATMs in the next three years in rural India – Srei Infrastructure Finance • India’s second regional navigation satellite launched recently – IRNSS 1-B • The Chairman of Samsung who has been directed to appear before a Ghaziabad court – Lee Kun- hee • The Rajya Sabha MP who has been indicted by a US jury – KVP Ramachandra Rao • The state which emerged as the number one investment destination in the country – Maharashtra • The RBI has capped the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limit for the central govt in the first half of the new financial year 2015 at – Rs.35,000 crore • The headquarters of the 64-member Asian Development Bank (ADB) – Manila • The India-born doctor who has worked out a 21-chemical solution named SOMAH that could

preserve a donated organ for up to a week before a transplant – Hemant Thatte • The present Foreign Minister of Iran who was in New Delhi on a two day official visit recently – Javad Zarif • The Indian Navy Chief who resigned recently, taking responsibility of a slew of mishaps in Navy’s submarines – DK Joshi • The country which topped the list of 10 countries in their use of “digital govt” in a new study by Accenture – Singapore – India’s rank – Eighth • The player who was given the Lifetime Achievement award at the National Sports Award presented by the FICCI recently – • India’s most powerful rocket to date, scheduled for an experimental flight in April – GSLV Mk-III • The present Governor General of Canada who visited India recently – David Johnston • The cricketer who has been appointed the brand ambassador of Gujarat state Election Commission recently – Cheteshwar Pujara • The city in India where world’s longest (20 km) free Wi-Fi zone was inaugurated recently – Patna • The first Indian to be elected as the president of Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for three years recently – Lakshmi Swaminathan • The oldest Member of Parliament (MP) till date who retired after seven decades in politics recently – Rishang Keishing • The most expensive ($ 51-bn investment) Olympics event till date – Sochi Olympics • The winner of the 2014 ONGC-GAIL Delhi Open tennis tournament – Somdev Devvarman • The winner of the 2014 tennis tournament – Rafael Nadal • The language classified by the govt as the sixth Indian classical language – Odia • India’s position in the ICC U-19 World Cup – Fifth • The crown prince of Saudi Arabia who was on a three-day official visit to India recently – Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud • International Women’s Day – 8 March CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-18

• The current President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – Thomas Bach • The telecommunication company which became the first company to cross 200 million mobile subscribers mark in India – Bharti Airtel • The country which topped the medal chart at the recently concluded Sochi Winter Olympics – • The country where ICC T20 World Cup 2014 was organised – Bangladesh • The mobile handset maker whose bid to transfer its Indian assets to Microsoft was denied by the Supreme Court recently – Nokia • The chairman of the Committee constituted by the govt to assess implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations – Amitabh Kundu • The chairman of the MCX-SX who resigned recently – GK Pillai • The new chairman of the MCX-SX stock exchange – Thomas Mathew T • The Indian acid attack victim who has won the prestigious International Women of Courage Award – Laxmi • The Committee on whose recommendation the govt has decided to hike interest rates on fixed- deposit schemes offered by post offices by up to 0.2% - Shyamala Gopinath Committee • World’s richest person in the Forbes 2014 billionaire list – Bill Gates • The cricketer who has been appointed by Canara Bank as its brand ambassador – • The new President of – Michelee Bachelet • The present per capita steel consumption in India is around – 60 kg • The Goods and Services Tax will replace – Excise duty, Service tax and Value – added tax (VAT) • The present length of the National Highways in the country – 80, 000 km • The size of SDR allocation to India from International Monetary Fund (IMF) – 3.29 bn • The country where the funeral ceremony of its First Vice President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim was held at the presidential place recently – Afghanistan • The country where the initial phase of the IPL 7 will be staged – United Arab Emirates • The joint disaster relief operations carried out between the armies of India and Nepal in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand recently – Surya Kiran • The team which won the Santosh Trophy 2014 football tournament – Mizoram • The country where Muslim Brotherhood, which Saudi Arabia has formally designated as a terrorist organisation recently is active – Egypt • The Indian envoy to Saudi Arabia who regularised, the status of 14 lakh Saudi Indians and has been conferred the SK Singh Award for excellence in Indian Foreign Service – Siby George • The team which won the ICC Asia Cup cricket tournament recently – Sri Lanka • The duration of President’s rule in a state in the first instance – Six months • The state which is India’s fastest growing state a per the data of CSO with its GSDP growing at 15.05 per cent during 2012-13 – Bihar • The country where the permanent secretariat of the BIMSTEC group is proposed to be set up – Bangladesh • The Indian city where the BIMSTEC Energy Centre is planned to be established – Beengalore

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• Jupiter’s moon to which the US space agency NASA is planning to send a robotic mission by 2025 – Europa • The Indian city which topped the list of word’s ten least expensive cities as per the Worldwide Cost of Living 2014 index – Mumbai • The present Secretary General of SAARC – Arjun Bahadur Thapa • Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2013 has been awarded to – Chandi Prasad Bhatt • The first universal bank of India – ICICI Bank • The sports federation in India which has been accorded the status of National Sports Federation – Hockey India • Chief Election Commissioner of India – VS Sampath • The newly appointed governor of Kerala – Sheila Dikshit • In a ground-breaking discovery, researchers have found that nearly 4,200 years ago the Indus Valley civilisation was doomed by – A monster drought • The number of phases for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections – Nine • The movie which has won the best picture Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards – 12 Years a Slave

• World Wildlife Day – 3 March • The International governing body for the game of boxing – AIBA • The first private bank of India which has commenced its operations in China recently – Axis Bank • The country where the BIMSTEC Summit was held on 4 March – Myanmar • The country which is planning to reduce its army to its lowest manning levels since 1940 –US • The pair which won the doubles title of the 2014 Dubai Duty Free tennis championships – Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi • The country where Matteo Renzi was sworn in as the youngest-ever Prime Minster recently – Italy • The country to which the World Bank has postponed a $ 90-mn loan for the health system after an anti-gay bill was signed into law there – • The winner of the men’s singles title of the 2014 Dubai Duty Free tennis championships – • The team which won the ICC U-19 World Cup – South Africa • The Indian-origin scientist in the UK who has discovered an ultra-thin layer hidden deep in the eye that may help cure blindness, caused by glaucoma recently – Harminder Dua • The bank which had the highest share of NPA’s among the listed banks in 2013 – State Bank of India • The country which has overtaken India as the world’s largest gold consumer – China • The amount the finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 (G20) have vowed to add to world economy to lift growth – USD 2 tn • World Water Day – 22 March • The bank from which the govt sold 9 per cent stake held through SUUTI to garner over Rs.5,500 crore – Axis Bank • The state where the foundation of a 70-storey temple ‘Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir’, billed to be the tallest shrine in the world, was laid down recently – Uttar Pradesh

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• The public sector lenders which has announced, for the first time in its history, to offload around Rs.5,000 crore of its Rs.67,799 crore dud assets to ARCs – State Bank of India • The winner of the women’s singles title of the BNP Paribas Open 2014 – • The country to which the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has extended a Line of Credit of $89.90 mn for developing transportation system – Republic of Congo • The first woman Chairman and Managing Director of HPCL appointed recently – Nishi Vasudeva • The insurer which has come under the scanner of IRDA for alleged irregularities in implementation of govt-sponsored insurance schemes meant for the poor – ICICI Lombard • The Reserve Bank of India deputy governor who resigned recently – Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty • The new ceiling on poll expenditure for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly candidates respectively – Rs.70 lakh, Rs.28 lakh • The present chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) – Swatanter Kumar • The team which won the Vijay Hazare Trophy – Karnataka • The mobile operator which has announced to buy Spanish cable operator Ono for 7.2 bn euros – Vodafone • The Bru or Reang refugees living in relief camps in Tripura originally belong to – Mizoram • The bank which has launched its Namma Metro Transit cum Debit Card which is valid to travel in Metro as travel tokens – Federal Bank • The regions declared independent from Ukraine in a recent referendum conducted there – Crimea • Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) was instituted in – NABARD • TRIPS agreement is associated with – Intellectual property rights • The investment envisaged in the annual plan in the Interim Rail Budget for 2014-15 – Rs.64,305 crore • The place in Andhra Pradesh chosen for one of two new govt-controlled ports in the country – Dugarajapatnam • The first rail system in the world to be awarded the Gold Standard foundation for energy efficiency – Delhi Metro • The youngest athlete (15 years old) to win Gold at Sochi Winter Olympics – Yulia Lipnitskaya • The chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed committee which submitted its report on betting and fixing in the sixth edition of the (IPL) – Mukul Mudgal • India’s indigenous intermediate jet trainer (IJT) aircraft whose development is in advanced stages of certification – Sitara • The South Korean city which will host the 2018 Winter Olympics – Pyeongchang • The first state in the country to achieve 100 per cent sanitation in rural and urban households, schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres – Sikkim • The newly elected Prime Minister of Nepal – Sushil Koirala • The country which was in news, recently, regarding its alleged role in operation Blue Star – UK • The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth pegged by CSO in its estimates for 2013-14 – 4.9 per cent

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• The denomination in which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is gearing up to introduce about one billion plastic notes on a trial basis – Rs.10 • The aggregate foreign investment (FDI, FII and NRI) limit for public sector banks (PSBs) – 20 per cent • The new president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) – N Ramachandran • The telecom major whose proposal to increase its stake in the Indian entity to 100% was cleared by the CCEA recently – Vodafone • The model recalled recently by India’s largest passenger carmaker Maruti Suzuki – Maruti 800 • The state where the highest number of poor people (5.98 crore) live below the poverty line in 2011- 12 as per the Planning Commission – Uttar Pradesh • The increased fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane approved by the govt for 2014-15 – Rs.220 • The cloud computing project launched by the Union govt – Meghraj • The limit to which FDI is allowed in private sector banks in India under the govt route – 74 per cent • The number of people living below poverty line in 2011-12 as per the estimates of Planning Commission – 27 crore • The cricket cup played between the winner of the and a team representing Rest of India – Irani Cup • The new CEO of the software giant Microsoft – Satya Nadella • The chairman of the 7th Central Pay Commission – Ashok Kumar Mathur • The social networking site which completed 10 years in operation on 4 February 2014 – Facebook • The president of Germany who visited India recently – Joachim Guack • MGNREGA Divas – 2 Feb • The position of India among crude oil importers in 2013 – Third • The winner of Ranji Trophy 2013-14 – Karnataka • The new chief minister of Uttarakhand – Harish Rawat • The state govt which has decided to revoke foreign direct investment (FDI) in multibrand retail recently – Rajasthan • The state which has been ranked on top in the RBI’s report titled “State Finances – A study of Budgets of 2013 – 14” based on different fiscal parameters – Chhattisgarh • The first woman to be inducted in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) umpires’ panel – Kathy Cross • India’s ranking in the 2014 Environment Performance Index (EPI) – 155th • The team which remained on the top with 92 medals at the end of the Lusofonia Games in Goa – Goa (India) • The city where country’s first monorail service commenced its operations recently – Mumbai • The country with which India entered into a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) for the first time recently – Fiji • The bank which raised Rs.8,032 crore by selling shares through QIP, making it the biggest ever equity sale via this route recently – State Bank of India (SBI)

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• The country whose central bank approved domestic trading in the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, Australian dollar as well as Indian rupee to be legal tender recently – Zimbabwe • The economic condition which causes a sustained increase in general price level over a particular period of time and reduces the purchasing power of money – Inflation • The top ULFA leader who has been sentence to death by a court in Bangladesh for being involved in the country’s biggest weapons haul seized in 2004 – Paresh Barua • The state where world’s largest 4,000-MW ultra mega solar power project will be set up – Rajasthan • The Sub-Inspector in the anti-naxal force Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh who was posthumously conferred the Ashok Chakra – K Prasad Babu • The Social Justice and Empowerment minister who resigned from the Union Cabinet recently – Kumari Selja • The country from which India is considering buying 15 ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious patrol aircrafts – Japan • The winner of the women’s singles title of the 2014 Australia Open Tennis tournament – • The winner of the men’s singles title of the 2014 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament – Xue Song

• The financial institution which has announced recently to instal 3000 ATMs and 1.35 lakh micro- ATMs by September 2015 – India Post • The community notified by the govt as national minority recently – Jain • The team which won the Federation Cup football tournament recently – Churchill Brothers • The winner of the men’s single title of the 2014 Australia Open – Stanislas Wawrinka • The country where Laimdota Straujuma became the first woman Prime Minister – • The India-born engineer-scientist who has been awarded the 2014 Marconi Prize – AJ Paulraj • The new chief of the -based National Police Academy – Aruna Bahuguna • The Managing Director of who died in recently – Karl Slym • The National Girl Child Day – 24 January • The Indian-origin academician who has been appointed dean of the prestigious Harvard College recently – Rakesh Khurana • The RBI has decided to withdraw from circulation all currency notes issued prior to – 2005 • The new Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) – T. Nanda Kumar • The National Voter’s Day – 25 January • The state whose tourism department has been awarded ‘Ulysses Award’ by UNWTO – Kerala • The country which has introduced new restrictions on online shopping as part of efforts to stop foreign currency reserves from falling further – • The city where annual meeting of World Economic Forum (WEF) was held recently – Davos • The biodiversity hotspots in India named ‘destination flyways’ by UNWTO recently – Chilika lagoon • The state which has been given Krishi Karman award for overall foodgrain production (more than 10 million tonnes category) for 2012-13- Madhya Pradesh • The National Women’s Day is celebrated in India on 13 February every year in the memory of – Sarojini Naidu CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-23

• The city where G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and central bank governors was held – • The growth rate of India country in 2014-15 (at factor cost) projected by IMF – 5.4 per cent • India’s surface-to-air missile successfully test-fired recently – Akash • The CMD of Union Bank of India who resigned recently in the wake of a surge in bad loans at the bank – Archana Bhargava • The state which became the first state in the country to launch the NUHM – Uttar Pradesh • The social media giant who acquired mobile messaging company WhatsApp – Facebook • The new chairman of prestigious Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) – Kiran Mazumdar Shaw • The two states to be brought within the railway network this fiscal – Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. • The amount of fund proposed for the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in the Interim Union Budget for 2014-15 – Rs.1000 crore • The country which ordered the immediate recall of its Ambassador in India, Daniele Mancini – Italy • Bahrain’s crown king who visited India recently on a three-day official visit – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa • The shot putter who gave the lone gold to India in the 6th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships event held at Hangzhou (China) recently – Om Prakash Singh Karhana • The cellular operator which has acquired Mumbai based Loop Mobile for about Rs.700 crore recently – Bharti Airtel • The first country in the world to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children recently – Belgium • India’s first dedicated military satellite – GSAT-7 • The Prime Minister of Italy who resigned recently – Enrico Letta • The country which ranked at the bottom in the Global Gender Gap Report 2013 – Yemen • The total amount of bids received by the govt after auction of the spectrum recently – Rs.61,000 crore • The chairman of the six-member committee set up by the Govt to suggest remedial measures to address concerns of people from the Northeast – MP Bezbaruah • The author of the controversial book titled The Hindus: An Alternative History, which Penguin announced to withdraw recently – Wendy Doniger • India’s ranking in the 2014 World Press Freedom Index – 140th • The term which won the Irani Trophy 2013-14 – Karnataka • The country where the military has imposed martial law amid a political crisis – • The state where the SC banned ‘jallikattu’ (bull fighting) and bullock cart racing, recently – Tamil Nadu • The scientists who first theorised the technique to turn light into matter in 1934 – Gregory Breit and John Wheeler • The present Secretary General of the ASEAN group – Le Luong Minh • The country where paleontologists have discovered fossils of the largest dinosaur ever to roam the earth - Argentina • The country with which Russia signed a major gas deal recently - China CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-24

• The institution which is co-terminus with the Union Govt – Planning Commission • Chief Minister of Bihar – Jitan Ram Manjhi • The city where the fourth meet of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held recently – • The three-time Formula One champion who passed away recently – Sir Jack Brabham • Chief Minister of Odisha – Naveen Patnaik • The winner of the women’s singles title at the Rome Masters tennis tournament – Serena Williams • Chief Minister of Sikkim – Pawan Chamling • The chairman of the RBI’s committee constituted to review the governance of boards of banks in India – P J Nayak • The best-paid player in the world playing with Barcelona team – Lionel Messi • The persons who have topped the recent list of UK billionaires – Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja • The Steel Man of India and former chief of Tisco (now ) who passed away recently – Russi Mody • The country where citizens rejected adopting world’s highest minimum wage (25 dollars an hour) in a referendum recently – Switzerland • Thomas Cup is associated with – Men’s badminton • Uber Cup is associated with – Women’s badminton • Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh – Nabam Tuki • The candidates who won the election with a margin of 5.7 lakh votes recently – Narendra Modi, Vadodara • The automaker in the US which will pay a record $35 mn fine over faulty ignition switches – General Motors • The project associated with submarine programme of the Indian Navy – Project-75India • The stock exchange which ceased to exist from May 30 – Madras Stock Exchange • The island which became the first island in the world fully energy self-sufficient through combined water and wind power – EI Hierro • The RBI has announced to launch much-awaited plastic currency notes of Rs.10 from – 2015 • The state whose co-operative bank became the first co-operative bank of the country to launch its own ‘Ru Pay’ ATM-cum-debit card recently – Himachal Pradesh • The militant group on which the Union Home Ministry extended the ban for five years – LTTE • The game Shiv Chowrasia is associated with – Golf • The car model which has became only the second in India to cross 25 lakh unit sales mark in domestic market – Alto • The country where at least 300 people were killed in a coal mine explosion and fire recently – Turkey • The country where the world’s highest tunnel for high-speed trains became operational at an altitude of 3,607.4 metres recently – China

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• The group with which India is negotiating the Broad–based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) – EU • The country which announced to abolish its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers – Qatar • The first woman to command a UN peacekeeping force – Kristin Lund • International Nurses Day (IND) – 12 May • The economies of the world declared world’s most expensive economies in a recent ranking by the World Bank – Switzerland and Norway • The company which topped the Forbes‘ list of the world’s 2000 largest and most powerful public companies – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China • The next Army Chief appointed recently – Dalbir Singh Suhag • The team which clinched the 20th Senior National Women’s Football Championships – Manipur • The winner of the Spanish Grand Prix 2014 – Lewis Hamilton • The country where the world’s biggest bio-bank imaging study is being conducted – UK • The state which was adjudged to have the best land acquisition model in the report prepared by consultancy firm Accenture on behalf of DIPP – Gujarat • India’s ranking in the State of World’s Mothers’ Index 2014 – 137th • The space agency from which Afghanistan has leased its first-ever satellite AFGHANSAT 1 – Eutelsat, EU • The city declared the most polluted city in the 2014 version of the Ambient Air Pollution (AAP) by the WHO – Delhi • Number of Parliamentary and Assembly seats respectively in the new state of Telangana – 17 and 119 • The country where Boko Haram militants abducted more than 200 schoolgirls recently – Nigeria • The newly elected President of South Africa – Jacob Zuma • The province of Afghanistan where a devastating landslide buried a village recently – Badakhshan • The state where the High Court cancelled the appointment of 10,323 teachers recently - Tripura • India’s own payment gateway launched recently – RuPay • The firm which leads the list of 54 Indian Firms in the recently released Forbes ‘Global 2000’ list – Reliance Industries • The embattled premier of Thailand dismissed form the office by a court recently – Yingluck Shinawatra • The new airline granted the flying licence by aviation regulator DGCA recently – Air Asia India • The flying test bed (FTB) aircraft developed by HAL and handed over to DRDO recently – Nabhratna • The chairman of the RBI panel on credit information which submitted its report recently – Aditya Puri • The newly elected President of Rajasthan Cricket Association – Lalit Modi • The new name of the ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Limited – Exide Life Insurance • The new President of – Juan Carlos Varela

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• The annual exercise conducted between the US and the Philippines – Balikatan • World Press Freedom Day – 3 May • The winners of the WTA Open 2014 women’s doubles title – Sania Mirza and Cara Black • India’s first indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range missile – Astra • The state where a major field exercise by the Army, codenamed ‘Sarvada Vijay’, was conducted recently – Rajasthan • The film which won the Best Picture Award at the IIFA Award 2014 – Bhaag Milkha Bhaag • The surface-to-air missile successfully test-fired by India recently – Akash • The country where a recent massive landslide claimed hundreds of lives – Afghanistan • The country to which the former Chief of the Air Staff NAK Browne has been appointed India’s Ambassador – UK • The internet browser whose vulnerability is referred by ‘Operation Clandestine Fox’ – Internet Explorer (IE) • International Jazz Day – 30 Apr • The new CEO of Ford Motors – Mark Fields • The chairman of the SIT appointed by the SC to probe black money – MB Shah • The new Deputy Chief of the Air Staff – SBP Sinha • The winner of the prestigious Goldman Environment Prize called the Green Nobel for 2014 – Ramesh Agrawal • The world’s third-largest economy by PPP as per a World Bank report – India • The Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year for 2013-14 – Luis Suarez • The International Commonwealth Championships 2014 was held recently in – Perth • The headquarters of the IMF – Washington • The person who replaced Anand Sinha as the new RBI deputy governor – R Gandhi • World’s largest steel producer – China • A new purple mineral with a unique makeup discovered from a remote part of Australia recently – Putnisite • The winner of the 2014 Indonesian Masters golf tournament – Anirban Lahiri • The country which has set up a Special Police Force to handle religious disputes – Sri Lanka • The new President and CEO of Nokia - Rajeev Suri • The country that successfully test-fired a short-range ballistic missile Hatf-III (Ghaznavi) recently – Pakistan • The Outstanding Asian Men’s Player of the Year 2013 adjudged by the Asian Squash Federation – Saurav Ghosal • Winner of the World Women’s Senior Snooker Championship 2014 – Chitra Magimairaj • The country which signed a 10-year pact with the US to allow a bigger US military presence in its territory – Philippines • The Prime Minister of who tendered his resignation over ferry accident – Chung Hong-won CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 CA/PTR/Page-27

• The state which topped in creation of new jobs during the six years between 2004 and 2011 as per the latest NSSO data – West Bengal • World Intellectual Property Day – 26 April • The country from which India’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, was sourced in 1957 - UK • The chairman of the RBI panel which released Draft Report on ‘Pricing of Credit’ recently – Anand Sinha • The world’s biggest military spender – US • The issue of fresh securities by an unlisted company for the first time – Initial Public Offering • The Indian satellite that retired after remaining 10 years in orbit – INSAT-3E • The two states which together account for about half of the total mango production in India – Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh • The largest milk–producing state in India as of now – Uttar Pradesh • The 2014 World Car of the Year – Audi A3 • The top export destination for India’s mangoes – UAE • Insurance Day is celebrated in India on – Apr 19 • The Earth-sized discovered by the US space agency NASA which may sustain life – Kepler-186f • The winner of the inaugural I-League football championships – Bengaluru FC • Earth Day – 22 Apr • The country which has become Africa’s biggest economy – Nigeria

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