SIR JOHN-School For Competitive Exams Join Fresh Batch for SSC - 2015 @ Sir John - School For Competitive Exams. Phase - 3B2, Mohali. FRESH BATCH FOR SBI CLERK & IBPS Specialist Officer Coaching by experts for Professional Knowledge in IBPS Call for enquiry: 85 -58 -85 -76- 76 CURRENT AFFAIRS 26th November’14 – 27th November’14 CURRENT AFFAIRS 26th November’14 1) Which private-sector bank on 25 November 2014 received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enter the general insurance business? – Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) Explanation: Kotak Mahindra Bank was given the approval to form a 100% subsidiary to enter the general insurance industry. KMB has also floated the new venture with an initial capital of Rs. 100 crore and Executive Vice-President Mahesh Bala subramanium was named the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the new venture. Initially, the bank will focus on motor and health insurance and aims to grab about 0.5% of the market share in five years. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% to grow to Rs.1.80 lakh crore by 2020 (from Rs. 77,000 crore). 2) A new international bus service was inaugurated by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on 25 November 2014 from Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium bus terminal. This daily bus service is between Delhi and – Kathmandu, the Nepali capital Explanation: The Delhi-Kathmandu Bus service became operational after the Union Cabinet on 24 November 2014 had approved the signing of Bilateral Agreement for the regulation of passenger traffic between India and Nepal on the sidelines of the forthcoming SAARC Summit in Kathmandu on 26 November. The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is operating a luxury Volvo bus on the Delhi-Kathmandu bus route and the tentative one-way fare is likely to be around Rs. 2,300. The bus will reach its destination via Lucknow-Gorakhpur-Sunauli-Bhairahawa and will cover the distance of 1250 km between two cities in about 30 hours. The inauguration took place simultaneously with the Prime Ministers of the two countries (Narendra Modi and Sushil Koirala) flagging off Kathmandu-Delhi-Kathmandu bus service from Swaymbhu Terminal in Kathmandu. At present, DTC has been running Delhi-Lahore bus, which was launched by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in March 1999. 3) Which Australian international cricketer went in a critical condition after being struck by a ball while batting on 25 November 2014? – Phil Hughes Explanation: Phil Hughes is an international cricketer who has played for the country in 26 Tests and 25 ODIs. He got the injury while playing in a Sheffield Game at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 25 November. Wearing a helmet, he attempted to hook a rising fast delivery from Sean Abbott but was hit on the side of his head instead. He stood on the pitch for a few moments before collapsing face first on the ground. He was treated on the field immediately and was then taken to the boundary for further aid. He was then transferred to the St. Vincent’s Hospital nearby where he remained critical and went into coma. With the Test series against India coming up, Hughes was expecting a Test call to replace an injured Michael Clarke. 4) Who was chosen as the next chairperson of the Press Council of India (PCI) on 24 November 2014 to replace Justice Markandey Katju? – Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad (CK Prasad) Explanation: Justice CK Prasad, is a former judge of the Supreme Court. He was selected by a selection committee headed by Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Justice Markandey Katju had demitted his office on 3 October 2014 after occupying the post for 3 years. Press Council of India (PCI) is a statutory body that governs the conduct of the print media and was set up on 4 July 1966 by the Indian Parliament. 5) Renowned dancer Sitara Devi, who passed away at the age of 94 in Mumbai on 25 November 2014, was an exponent of which classical dance form? – Kathak Explanation: Sitara Devi was a legend of Kathak and was a pioneering force in bringing the genre to Bollywood. She was born in 1920 in Kolkata as Dhannolakshmi. Her father, a Vaishnavite Brahmin scholar and Kathak exponent, sent her to a local school where she impressed her teachers and the local media with her performance in a dance drama, “Savitri Satyavan“. At a tender age of 11 she impressed Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore with a three-our solo recital. Kathak, which literally means ‘katha’, is a narrative drama which evolved out of the Krishna temples of hinterland to scale the pinnacle of glory in the Muslim courts. She was honored with prestigious awards like Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Padma Shri and Kalidas Samman. She had also impressed Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore with a three-hour solo recital after her family moved to Mumbai. 6) Violence erupted in Ferguson, a small town in Missouri State of the US, on 24 November 2014 after the grand jury found there was no probable cause to charge the white officer for shooting an 18-year old black youth. This incident of August 2014 had shocked the country for having partial white-dominated power structure. What is the name of the white officer involved in this incident? – Darren Wilson Explanation: The grand jury, which was hearing this case among others, in its order given on 24 November 2014, said that it found there was no probable cause to charge Officer Darren Wilson with any crime for the shooting of 18-year-old youth Michael Brown. This meant Wilson would not be indicted in the case that had rocked the country. This shooting incident had taken place on 9 August 2014, when a black unarmed teenager Michael Brown was allegedly killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Ferguson is a small suburb in St. Louis County in the state of Missouri and has been witness to longstanding racial tensions in the predominantly black city. This is because the power structure of the town has been dominated by the whites. 7) Which model of car from the stable of Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) became company’s third brand to cross sale of 15 lakh in the domestic market as announced by the company on 25 November 2014? – WagonR Explanation: WagonR was launched by the company in 2000 and its total sales have crossed 15 lakh in the domestic market. It thus became the third car model of MSI to cross this figure after Maruti 800 and Alto. Earlier, this year company’s compact car Alto had become the second model from the company’s portfolio to cross the 25 lakh unit sales mark in the domestic market. Alto had entered the 25 lakh club, where the only other car is the Maruti 800. In January 2014, MSI stopped production of the Maruti 800, the small car that was the carrier for millions of Indian middle-class families. 8) Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Nepal today to attend SAARC meet where he is expected to meet Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif as well. Today he and Nepal PM Sushil Koirala have jointly flagged off Nepal-India friendship passenger bus service which will run on daily basis between Kathmandu and New Delhi. The Prime Minister also presented a Dhruv helicopter to Nepal at Kathmandu. 9) The government has launched the “Swachh Bharat Kosh” today with the aim to achieve cleanliness across the country. The fund will be utilized to build toilets in schools of rural and urban areas. The fund will be set up by the Ministry of Finance and will be managed by a Governing Council headed by Expenditure Secretary, as per Government guidelines. Its functioning will be monitored on quarterly basis by the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister from time-to-time. The Prime Minister himself will acknowledge contributions of over Rs 1 crore made by individuals and of over Rs 20 crore by corporates. 10) Om Pizza & Eats Pvt Ltd, the Indian franchisee of Papa John’s International, acquired local rival pizza chain Pizza Corner for an undisclosed sum. Pizza Corner has 70 outlets in Southern India while Papa John’s has 15 restaurants across India. Post this deal, Pizza Corner brand will be removed from all of its stores and all of them will be re-branded as Papa John’s. She was honored with prestigious awards like Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Padma Shri and Kalidas Samman. She had also impressed Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore with a three-hour solo recital after her family moved to Mumbai. 11) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its report that the global economy will gradually improve over the next two years while Japanese economy will grow at a lower rate and Euro zone will struggle with stagnant growth and deflation. Deflation pose a significant risk for Euro zone economy. As per OECD report, The United States and Britain will grow more strongly compared to the Euro Zone countries and Japan. Among emerging economies, India, Indonesia and South Africa are set to recover steadily while Russia’s economy will stagnant and Chinese economic growth will slow down. It has projected world economic growth rate at 3.3% in 2014, 3.7% in 2015 and 3.9% in 2016. 12) International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed today (25th November) across the world to raise awareness about violence against women and discuss solutions for betterment of women community. The campaign called Orange Your Neighbourhood to raise awareness against Gender-Based Violence will be held from 25th November to 10th December 2014. The campaign is part of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s campaign UNiTE to End violence against Women. 13) Lahore-based author Bilal Tanweer was awarded with the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his novel “The Scatter Here Is Too Great” (Random House India). His book depicts the crucial importance of literature in our larger cultural landscape. The award comprised of the price money of 2 lakhs rupees and a trophy. Earlier, he was selected as a Granta New Voice in 2011 and was also one of the eleven recipients of the 2010 PEN Translation Fund Grant. CURRENT AFFAIRS 27th November’14 1) 18th SAARC Summit started on 26 November 2014 at Kathmandu, Nepal. The summit of 8-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held after an interval of 3 years. What is the motto of this summit? – ‘Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity’ Explanation: SAARC is an economic organisation of 8 countries of South Asia – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The summit was represented by heads of all 8 countries – Ashraf Ghani (Afghanistan), Sheikh Hasina (Bangladesh), Tshering Tobgay (Bhutan), Narendra Modi (India), Abdulla Yameen (Maldives), Sushil Koirala (Nepal), Nawaz Sharif (Pakistan) and Mahinda Rajapaksha (Sri Lanka). 2) Which country was the only one to object to three major agreements proposed on the first day of the 18th SAARC Summit at Kathmandu? – Pakistan Explanation: The three proposed agreements are associated with energy cooperation, motor vehicle agreement and railway linkages in the region. Pakistan blocked these three key proposals which were backed by India and other countries. These three agreements are primarily proposed to promote cross-border trade, which remains minimal between SAARC countries. If these agreements are not carried forward, to would mean a failure of this summit in achieving major agreements. 3) The Ministry of External Affairs on 26 November 2014 informed Lok Sabha that the Ebola scare in West Africa has claimed only one Indian life. This Indian citizen was killed in which African country? – Liberia Explanation: The name of the Indian citizen who died of Ebola in Liberia was Mohammed Amir and he was employed there in a pharmacy. He died of Ebola virus infection on 7 September 2014 and as per World Health Organisation (WHO) norms his body was buried in Liberia. In is worth mentioning that one Ebola-affected person was identified in India during November 2014 and he too was a Liberian citizen who had come to Delhi from Liberia. The three worst Ebola-affected countries of West Africa are Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea with over 5,000 deaths. 4) India ordered culling of over 2 lakh birds in which state on 25 November 2014 after two bird flu outbreaks in the state? – Kerala Explanation: The two bird flu outbreaks were reported from Kottayam and Alappuzha and were the first cases of the disease in the country since February 2014. The virus itself killed about 15,000 infected ducks in Kottayam and another 500 in nearby Alappuzha. Over 200,000 birds are being culled (killed) in the villages where the outbreaks were found and an intensive surveillance campaign had been launched in a 10 km radius around the area to ensure that the virus did not spread further. Since 2006 India has culled 6.4 million birds due to bird flu. 5) A bill to amend a law on appointment of CBI chief was passed in the Lok Sabha on 26 November 2014. What is the name of the bill, which was resisted by Congress as it alleged that the bill was aimed at keeping the largest opposition party out of the selection process? – Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014 Explanation: The said bill provides for inclusion of leader of the single largest opposition party in the three-member committee that selects the CBI Director since there is no recognised Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The Committee has Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India as other members. The amendment bill also provides that “No appointment of a Director shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy or absence of a member in the committee.” 6) Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the owner of Pakistan’s biggest media group along with actor Veena Malik and her husband was sentenced to 26 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court on 26 November 2014 for allegedly airing a blasphemous programme. What is the name of the media group owned by Shakil-ur-Rahman? – Geo TV Explanation: Shakil-ur-Rahman is the owner of Geo TV and ‘Jang’, two of the most respectable media groups of Pakistan. He was accused of allowing the airing of a blasphemous programme by Geo television in May, which played a religious song while staging a mock marriage of Malik with Bashir. TV host Shaista Wahidi was also given similar sentence. Both Wahidi and the Geo group had tendered apology after the allegations were levelled but the extremists in the country refused to accept it. 7) India remembered the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on its sixth anniversary today with different functions organized in the city to pay tribute to the martyrs who lost their lives fighting the terrorists. Some Ministers and Police officers including Ministers Vinod Tawde, Prakash Mehta and Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and DGP Sanjeev Dayal paid homage at the 26/11 police memorial site at the Mumbai Police Gymkhana in south Mumbai. Family members of the policemen, who lost their lives during the attacks, were also present during the ceremony. 10 Pakistani terrorists landed in Mumbai city by sea route on 26th November 2008 and opened fire at people killing 166 and injuring several other people. Then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai’s Additional Police Commissioner Ashok Kamte and Senior Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar were among those killed in the attack. 8) India’s biggest dairy brand Amul has celebrated National Milk Day today (26th November) across India to mark the 92nd birth anniversary of late Milk Man Verghese Kurian. He (1921-2012) was the father of the India’s White Revolution also known as the Milkman of India as he dedicated his life to bringing together milk-producing farmers in cooperatives country-wide. He also transformed India from a milk-deficit country into the world’s largest milk producing country in three decades and empowered hundreds of thousands of poor milk producers across the country. 9) The Lok Sabha passed the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014 by voice vote during its winter session which started from yesterday. As per new bill, CBI director will be chosen by a panel comprising ofPrime Minister, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the Single largest party in the House and Chief Justice of India or any Supreme Court Judge. The Bill also makes a provision that no appointment will be invalid merely because of vacancy or absence of a member of the panel. 10) An Assam-based NGO named as “Aaranyak” which is currently working for the conservation of nature and a Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) won United Nations Lighthouse Activities award for the year 2014.These two entities were awarded under the focus area of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions. 11) Global Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has kept India’s sovereign rating outlook stable at “Baa3″, but the future outlook will depend on the reform measures taken by the Government. The credit rating for 2015 will depending on high fiscal expenditures, recurrent food price inflation, and wide infrastructure deficit, as per Moody’s latest report. With this, all the major three credit rating agencies, S&P, Moody’s and Fitch have given “BBB” rating for India with Stable Outlook. This current rating is just below investment grade rating. 12) Indian tennis player Sania Mirza has been appointed the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the South Asian region by UN Women at an event which was organized to mark the International Day to End Violence against Women yesterday. With this, she became the first South Asian woman to be appointed the goodwill ambassador in the organisation’s history. In her capacity as the goodwill ambassador, she is expected to educate women about gender equality. The other Goodwill Ambassadors include British actor Emma Watson, Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman, HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand, and Indian actor-filmmaker-singer Farhan Akhtar. 13) Karnataka defended Vijay Hazare Trophy after defeating Punjab by 156 runs in the final match held on 25th November. While batting first, Karnataka scored 359 runs for seven wickets in 50 overs. Punjab was all out for 203 rins in just 38.2 overs. 14) The US economy growth was revised upward for the third quarter (July-September) of the current year. US economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.9% in the same quarter compared to earlier estimation of 3.5%. US economy grew at 4.6% in the second quarter. With this, US economy has seen its strongest growth for two consecutive quarters in last one decade. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of US economic activity, grew by 2.2% in the third quarter. This confirms increased optimism about the world’s largest economy and improved job market. 15) China has been ranked at No1 position in terms of FII investment among Asian economies in November till 24th November, as per a report published by HSBC. Asian economies has seen total USD 5.3 billion FII investment in equity market in which China has attracted YSD 2.3 billion to secure No1 place. Indian secured second place with USD 1.4 billion FII investment in equity market followed by Thailand at third spot. 16) US swimming star and winner of most number of Olympic medals (total 22), Michael Phelps has been named as the Male Athlete of the Year at the 2014 USA Swimming Golden Goggle Awards held on 24th November. He was awarded with the same award for the fifth time, earlier he won the same award in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2012. 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: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 13:05:48 +0000
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