CURRENT AFFAIRS 01st December’14 – 2nd December’14 IMPORTANT: RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 8% during its monetary policy review today; GDP growth target kept unchanged at 5.5% RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan has kept key policy rates unchanged during its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting today. Repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends money to banks for the short term, was kept unchanged at 8% while the Reverse Repo Rate, the rate at which RBI borrows money from banks, was kept unchanged at 7%. The cash reserve ratio for banks has been kept unchanged at 4%. The RBI said that it will continue to provide liquidity under overnight repos at 0.25% of bank-wise NDTL at the LAF repo rate, and liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75% of NDTL of the banking system through auctions. The reverse repo rate under the LAF will remain unchanged at 7% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate have been kept unchanged at 9%. The RBI has also kept the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of scheduled commercial banks unchanged at 22% of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL). Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) refers amount that the commercial banks require to maintain with the RBI in the form of gold or government approved securities (G-Secs or bonds) before lending. Reserve Bank Governor projected inflation target at 4%, plus or minus 2% and maintained that the GDP growth in the current fiscal year at 5.5%. CURRENT AFFAIRS 01st December’14 1) Due to continued decreased in international oil prices the price of petrol in India was slashed by 91 paise per litre on 30 November 2014 while that of diesel was reduced by 84 paise. The revised prices came into effect from the midnight of 30 November and 1 December 2014. What significant international price level was broken for crude oil recently? – The price of Brent crude oil went down below $70 per barrel on 28 November, which is its lowest level since 2010 Explanation: The price of international crude oil, called Brent crude, went below $70 per barrel level mark following decision made by the 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on 27 November 2014 to keep daily oil output at 30 million barrels. The step was taken despite a major oversupply that has caused oil prices to fall more than 30%. This also meant that the cost of January futures fell by 4.47%, to $66.07 per barrel. 2) On 30 November 2014 who became the first Indian footballer to be inducted into Asian Football Confederation (AFC’s) Hall of Fame? – Baichung Bhutia Explanation: The Asian Football Confederation inducted 10 continental superstars in its Hall of Fame in Manila on 30 November 2014. The awards were awarded by FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter. Bhutia joined Iran’s legendary Ali Daei and Saudi Arabia’s Sami Al Jaber in the Hall of Fame. Other prominent players to be inducted in AFC’s Hall of Fame included Harry Kewell, regarded as one of Australia’s finest football exports to Europe, thanks to a successful career with England’s Leeds United and Liverpool. 3) How much cable is proposed to be laid over next three and a half years to provide broadband in every village of the country, as revealed by the Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on 29 November 2014? – 7,50,000 KM Explanation: Under Union Government’s ‘Digital India’ project 7,50,000 KM of fiber optical cable is proposed to be laid over next three and a half years to ensure digital empowerment of people. ‘Digital India’ project envisages bringing all the existing initiatives such as the Ebiz project, E-kranti, virtual classroom, e-visas and the National Optical Fibre Network project under a single umbrella. Other programmes include implementation of e-office to make Government departments paperless, encouraging domestic manufacturing of electronic products and kick starting Research & Development and entrepreneurship development fund. The project was unveiled in the Budget 2014-15 and is being directly monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 4) Indian woman badminton player P.V. Sindhu won which Grand Prix tournament on 30 November 2014, which was her first title of the season? – Macau Grand Prix Gold Trophy Explanation: World No. 11 Sindhu was the defending champion of this trophy and she prevailed over 91st-ranked Kim Hyo Min of Korea, defeated her 21-12, 21-17 in the final. This was the first title for her in 2014 season. She had lost the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold final to fellow Indian Saina Nehwal in January this year. 5) Thailand’s crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn on 28 November 2014 revoked the royally-assigned family name of his wife Princess Srirasmi. Her royal-appointed surname Akharaphongpreecha was revoked due to which reason? – Due to the arrest of several of her relatives in a high-profile corruption case Explanation: Three people with the Akharaphongpreecha name were among 19 arrested in a crackdown on alleged police corruption this month in raids that netted tens of millions of dollars in assets. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is the first in line for the Thai throne. His father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is widely revered by Thais, is 86. The Thai monarchy can bestow honorary names to families in return for service under a 1915 law. 6) The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence was announced yesterday during a ceremony help in Mumbai. Dilip Shanghvi was chosen for the Business Leader of the Year while UK Sinha won the Business Reformer of the Year award. India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services received the Company of the Year award while Adani Ports & SEZ received the Emerging Company of the Year award. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was awarded with the Global Indian of the Year award, Yusuf Hamied received the Lifetime Achievement award and Dhiraj Rajaram and Chandra Shekhar Ghosh won the Entrepreneur of the Year award. Online Restaurant portal Zomato received the Startup of the Year award and Tata Steel received the Corporate Citizen of the Year. 7) India’s factory output improved in November as the HSBC compiled Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) for manufacturing sector jumped to 21-month high. The PMI index, an important parameter to judge the performance of the sector, jumped to 53.3 in November compared to 51.6 in previous month of October. Any reading higher than 50 indicates growth. This 21-month high PMI index confirms strong growth for Indian manufacturing sector. 8) India’s eight core sector grew by 6.3% in the month of October due to higher production growth of coal, refinery products and electricity sectors. This is the higher core sector growth in last 4 months. The eight core industries had contracted by 0.1% in October last year, and grew by 1.9% in the previous month. 9) World Aids Day is observed today (1st December) to raise awareness about the disease and the pandemic caused by the spread of the HIV infection. As of now, there are an estimated 35.3 million people living with HIV and between 1981 and 2012, Aids has killed 36 million people worldwide. Theme for 2014 is “Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free generation” to highlight the need to for governments and health officials, NGOs and individuals to address Aids prevention and treatment. 10) Leftist cancer specialist Tabare Vasquez was elected as the President of Uruguay after winning the run-off presidential election easily. He defeated his centre-right opponent, Luis Lacalle Pou in the election. He led the country during 2006-10 period earlier. He had secured 52.8% votes while his centre-right opponent Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party received only 40.5% votes. He will succeed President Jose Mujica who was barred by law from running for a second consecutive term. 11) Mascot for the 2016 European football championship was named as Super Victor yesterday. The name for the cartoon character boy dressed in blue and white as a footballer with a red cape and number 16 jersey was preferred to Driblou and Goalix. Euro 2016 is scheduled to be held in France in June-July 2016. CURRENT AFFAIRS 2nd December’14 1) The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP20) started on 1 December 2014 at which city? – Lima (Peru) Explanation: COP20 the 20th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP10) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. COP20 is being organised to negotiate on a new ambitious and binding deal to cut global carbon emissions, in the last chance to reach on a historic deal to be signed next year in Paris. Officials from 190 nations, including India, are participating in this 12-day summit. During the summit countries will put forward what they plan to contribute to the 2015 pact in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) by the first quarter of 2015, well in advance of the Paris conference in December. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar leads India’s 17-member delegation to negotiate terms for the final agreement to be signed in Paris, which will take effect in 2020. 2) At least 13 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel were killed and many were injured in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh on 1 December 2014. This incident took place in which Maoist-infested district of south Chhattisgarh? – Sukma Explanation: The ambush took place near Kasalpara village of Sukma district. Kasalpara village is the same place where the CRPF had claimed to have killed 15 alleged Maoists on 21 November 2014 in an encounter. 3) A referendum held in Switzerland on 30 November 2014 rejected the proposed curbs on immigrations in the country. What was the specific issue that was addressed by holding this referendum? – To cut net immigration to no more than 0.2% of the population Explanation: The referendum was conducted to know the opinion of country’s 26 cantons about the proposal to cut net immigration into the country to not more than 0.2% of the population. About 74% of the people rejected the proposal. Supporters of the measure argued that it would have reduced pressure on the country’s resources. Opponents said it would have been bad for the economy. It is worth mentioning that around a quarter of Switzerland’s eight million people are foreigners. The issue addressed in this referendum would have required the government to reduce immigration from about 80,000 to 16,000 people a year. 4) Who won the Presidential elections held in Uruguay on 30 November 2014? – Tabare Vazquez Explanation: Tabare Vazquez is a former President of the country who led the country from 2005 to 2010. He won comfortably with 52.8% support while his center-right challenger, Luis Lacalle Pou, trailed with 40.5% votes. Returning to power, he will succeed President Jose Mujica, an ally and former guerrilla whose straight-talking style won him widespread affection in the country. Vazquez is a respected oncologist who helped heal rifts inside the Broad Front in the late 1990s and led it to power in 2005, ending two decades of conservative rule that followed a military dictatorship. 5) Which application software company was chosen by the ICC as its exclusive Analytics and Cloud Partner for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 as announced on 1 December 2014?- SAP SE Explanation: SAP SE is a worldwide leader in enterprise application software services. The partnership, which starts immediately and runs through to the end of the tournament, will see SAP utilise its HANA platform to power numerous live match experiences across the ICC’s network of Web sites, to enhance the experience for fans and media with real-time data, statistics and performance analysis that will help them get closer to the action and tell more insightful and informed stories. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. 6) Which film won the coveted Golden Peacock award for Best Film at the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded on 30 November 2014? – ‘Leviathan‘ (Russian film) Explanation: ‘Leviathan‘ is a survival drama directed by Russian director Andrey Zvyaginstev. ‘Ek Hazaarchi Note‘, set against the backdrop of farmers’ suicide in Vidharba region of Maharashtra, created history at IFFI by winning the centenary and special jury award (for debutante director Shrihari Sathe). ‘Leviathan‘ star Alexel Serebriakov shared the best actor award with Dulal Sarkar of ‘Chotoder Chobi‘. Cuban actress Arina Rodriguez won the Best Actress award for her role in the Cuban-Spanish movie ‘Behaviour‘ while Israeli actress Sarit Larry shared the trophy with Rodriguez for her role in ‘The Kindergarten Teacher‘. The award for best director went to Nadaf Lapid for ‘The Kindgarten Teacher‘. 7) Who was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 45th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI)? – Wong Kar-Wai (Hong Kong) Explanation: Wong Kar-Wai is one of Hong Kong’s most celebrated filmmakers. Some of his world-acclaimed films include ‘Days of Being Wild’ (1990), ‘Ashes of Time’ (1994), ‘Chungking Express’ (1994), ‘Fallen Angels’ (1995), ‘Happy Together’ (1997), ‘2046’ (2004) and ‘The Grandmaster’ (2013). ‘My Blue berry Nights’ is Wong Kar-Wai’s only English language Film and ‘In the Mood for Love’ is by far his most universally loved film. 8) Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on 25th December will be observed as national ‘Good Governance Day’, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing party MPs at the meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party today. The Prime Minister also asked all party MPs to highlight all BJP-run Governments and bodies across the country as models of good governance on the day. 9) India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable strategic ballistic missile Agni-IV with a strike range of nearly 4,000 km, from a test range off the Odisha coast today. This was also the fourth trial of Agni-IV missile. The test was successfully conducted by the specially formed Strategic Force Command (SFC). Agni-IV missile is equipped with state of the art Avionics, 5th generation On Board Computer and distributed architecture. It has the latest features to correct and guide itself for in-flight disturbances. 10) Senior Congress leader A R Antulay passed away at the Breach Candy hospital today after a prolonged illness. He was 85. He was a former Maharashtra Chief Minister and a Minister in the UPA-I government. 11) Bollywood actor and comedian Deven Verma passed away due to cardiac arrest in Mumbai today. He was 77. He was best known for his comic performance in Khatta Meetha, Gol Maal, Angoor and Andaz Apna Apna movies. UPDATED BY: TEAM - SIR JOHN BEST INSTITUTE FOR COACHING IN SSC EXAM MOHALI BEST INSTITUTE FOR COACHING IN PSPCL EXAM MOHALI BEST INSTITUTE FOR INTELLIGENCE BUREAU EXAM COACHING IN MOHALI BEST INSTITUTE FOR HOTEL MANAGEMENT EXAM MOHALI BEST INSTITUTE FOR CTET & PTET EXAM MOHALI BEST INSTITUTE FOR JBT TEACHERS EXAM CHANDIGARH
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 09:24:07 +0000
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