Current Affairs 2015

A monthly round up of Current Affairs for the year 2015. You can get the Current Affairs 2015 in Pdf format if you register for our monthly emagazines.
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Current Affairs - January 2015



• Bund- the district of Shanghai in China where many people died in the stampede during the New Year celebrations.


• Rs.2- the amount of excise duty which has been levied on petrol and diesel recently to raise an annual revenue of Rs.10,000 crore to fund the ambitious plan of government to built an additional 15,000km of National highways over the next three years.


• Niti Aayog- stands for National Institution for Transforming India Aayog which will now replace the 65 year old Planning Commission and will be headed by Prime Minister.


• Arvind Panagariya- the US based economist who has been chosen as the vice-chairman of Niti Aayog.


• Richard Verma- the new US envoy to India who took the charge recently.


• Dilma Rousseff- she recently started her second term as the President of Brazil.


• Mumbai – this city recently hosted the 102nd Indian Science Congress.


• Pune- the city which recently hosted 'Gyan Sangam' – the two day conclave of all heads of banks.


• 27.6%- the percentage of people or 104 million people out of 377 million living in the urban India has been identified as poor, according to preliminary figures of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC). This is the first time the urban poor have been identified.


• Azim Premji- the tech tycoon who led the list of biggest philanthropers of India in 2014 having donated Rs.12,316 crore to his Azim Premji Foundation, according to the annual Hurun India Philanthropy List 2014.He was followed by Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources with Rs.1796 crore and Shiv Nadar of HCL with Rs.1136 crore.


• Alok Joshi- the retired chief of RAW who was recently appointed as the new chairman of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).


• Kepler 438B- one of the eight new planets found in distant solar system by Nasa's Kepler space telescope, could be termed as Earth's twin, is 12%larger than Earth and get 40%more light.


• Charlie Hebdo- the French satirical magazine which recently faced a terrorist attack at it's headquarter in Paris killing 12 persons.


• 9th January- on this day in 1915 Mahatma Gandhi set foot on Indian soil and stepped on to the path of being the Mahatma.


• Virat Kohli-he recently became the first batsman to score four hundred in four test series against Australia in Australia.


• Maithripala Sirisena- he was sworn in as the sixth President of Sri Lanka after the defeat of long authoritarian rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena took the oath along with his new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.


• NN Vohra- the governor of Jammu & Kashmir under whom the governor's rule was imposed in the state under Section 92(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir constitution recently after the failure of any political parties to form government.


• Rod Taylor- the Australian born actor who starred in the "The Birds", "The Time Machine" and most recently in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" died recently.


• Australia- they won the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2-0 defeating India in the recently played Test series.


• Gandhinagar- the venue of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in presence of US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary General Bank Ki-Moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.


• Stan Wawarinka- the Swiss player who won the tennis singles crown in the Chennai Open.


• Cristiano Ronaldo- the Portugal player who won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for 2014 at a ceremony in Zurich recently, second time in a rowand third overall.


• Eddie Redmayne- he won the best actor award for the drama 'The Theory of Everything' while Julianne Moore won the best actress award for 'Still Alice' at the 72nd Golden Globes, Hollywood biggest award shows before the Oscars.


• Joseph Vaz- he was canonised as Sri Lanka's first saint by Pope Francis during a public mass in Colombo recently.


• Repo rate- this rate was cut from 8% to 7.75% by Raghuram Rajan, RBI Governor recently.


• Surender Mohan Pathak- the veteran Hindi crime fiction writer whose book Colaba Conspiracy was voted as the most popular book in a reader poll on Amazon India.
  
  
• Bio diesel- the cabinet recently allowed private manufacturers of this alternative fuel to sell it directly to consumers like Indian Railways.


• Tejas- the first indigenously built light combat aircraft was handed over to the IAF recently, 32 years after the project was sanctioned.


• Agni V-the nuclear capable missile having a strike range of 5,000km which was successfully test fired for the third time but from the first time from a canister mounted on a truck rather than a concrete launch pad from Wheeler island of Odisha coast recently.


• Serena Williams- she beat Maria Sharapova to win her sixth Australian Open women's tennis title and her 19th Grand Slam title.


• AB de Villiers- the South African cricketer who struck the fastest century in one day internationals when he made 100 in 31 balls with 16 sixes and 9 fours against West Indies at the Wanderers, Johannesburg recently.


• Tesfaye Abera- the Kenyan who clinched the men's title at the Mumbai Marathon recently.


• Dinknesh Mekash-the Ethiopian who clinched the women's title at the Mumbai Marathon recently.


• Faten Hamama- the Arab film icon, who recently died in Cairo at the age of 83.


• Pahlaj Nihalani- the famous filmmaker who was recently appointed as the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification for a period of 3 years.


• Rajni Kothari- the doyen of Indian political science and founder of research institute Centre for the Study of the Developing Societies passed away recently.


• 2226- the number of tigers in India in 2014 as reported in The 2014 Status of Tigers in India which is 30% more than that of 1706 in 2010.


• Twitter- the micro blogging site which made its first acquisition in India by buying Bangalore based mobile marketing platform Zip Dial for an undisclosed amount.


• Sunil Sood- he has been appointed as first Indian CEO for its India operations to replace Marten Pieters who has been chief executive since 2009.


• N Srinivasan- the BCCI chief-in-exile, who has been barred from contesting the board's top post by Supreme Court in its landmark verdict recently.


• King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz-the king of Saudi Arab who died recently. King Salman was named the new king.


• London- Ambedkar's house where he lived in 1921 as student is located here in UK and the Maharashtra government has decided to buy this house for Rs.35 crore.


• Vasundhara Choudhary- the 21 year old convent educated English speaking girl who was recently elected as the new sarpanch of Lilawali village in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan.


• K Durga Prasad- the previously sacked director of the Special Protection Group who was recently appointed as the special director general of the Central Reserve Police Force.(CRPF).


• Padma Vibhushan- the country's second's highest civilian honour was conferred to 9 people for this year-Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachan, LK Advani, Prakash Singh Badal, Dr.Veerendra Heggade, Mr. Srinivasan, KK Venogopal, Aga Khan and Swami Rambhadracharya. The Padma Bhusan was conferred to 20 people and Padma Shri on 75 people.


• Barack Obama- the US President who arrived in India recently in his Air Force One plane was the chief guest of this year Republic day parade.


• Wg Cdr Pooja Thakur- she became the first female commanding officer to head the inter services Guard of honour inspected by US President Barack Obama at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan.


• RK Laxman- the legendary cartoonist ,best known for his iconic cartoons on the experiences of the silent and Common Man who died recently.


• Mann Ki Baat- the monthly radio talk where US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared similar back stories of humble beginnings and hard work.


• Siri Fort Auditorium- the famous auditorium in New Delhi where US President Barack Obama reached to the youths with many Hindi phrases.


• Lieutenant Hoabam Bella Devi- the 24 year lady from Manipur who unfurled the tricolour for President Pranab Mukherjee at the Republic day function, an honour traditionally reserved for male colleagues.


• Major Mukund Varadarajan- he along with Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh were posthumously awarded the country's highest peace time gallantry award, the Ashok Chakra by President Pranab Mukherjee.


• S.Jaishankar- India's ambassador to US, who replaced Sujatha Singh as the new Foreign Secretary.


• Colonel MN Rai- he lost his life fighting terrorists in J&K's Pulwana district, a day after being awarded the Yudh Seva medal on Republic Day.


• Tokyo- this city recently topped the list of safest cities in the world in the safe cities index 2015 listed by The Economist.


• Super Over- ICC has decided to use this in the event of tie in the upcoming cricket World Cup final.


• Bangladesh- this country will host the U-19 ICC cricket World cup in February 2016.


• India- this country will host the ICC World Twenty 20 tournament in March-April 2016.


• England- this country will host the ICC Women's World cup in August 2017.


• Coal India Limited- in the biggest ever disinvestment exercise, the government mopped up Rs.22557 crore from 10% stake sale in this company.


• Years Eight Months and Twenty Eight Nights- the new novel of British author Salman Rushdie to be published after seven years, is based on collection of folk tales known as the Arabian Nights.

Current Affairs - February 2015

International Current Affairs

• Boyhood- the movie directed by Richard Linkater which won top honours at the68th BAFTA awards in London winning Best film and Best director award.


• George Lucas- the director and producer of the Star Wars has emerged as the wealthiest Hollywood tycoon with a fortune of $5.4 billion according to Wealth X, a global wealth intelligence and prospecting company.


• 14 teams- the number of teams which are playing in the 2015 World Cup which will have 49 games was declared open at inaugural ceremony held at Melbourne in Australia and Christchurch in New Zealand.


• Cyclone Sandwich- the dubbed name of the two powerful cyclones pounded Australia recently – Cyclone Lam hit the Northern Territory while Cyclone Marcia hit the east coast of Queensland.


• Caracol- the annual festival in Makati, south of Manali , Phillipines which aims to promote awareness on environmental issues.


• Birdman- the film directed by Alejandro Gonzalez which won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best director at the 87th Academy Awards.


• Indian-American Professor Gets Top US Chemistry AwardPurnendu Dasgupta, a Jenkins Garrett professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded the 2015 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award for Excellence in Education.
  The national award recognises a scientist, who has enhanced the professional development of analytical chemistry students, developed and published innovative experiments, designed and improved equipment or teaching labs and published influential textbooks or significant articles on teaching analytical chemistry.


• Best Picture Oscar Awarded To 'Birdman'
  The Oscar award for the Best Picture was clinched by the team of "Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)" at the 87th Academy Awards here on Feb 22, 2015.
  The movie tells the tale of Riggan Thomson, best known to the public as Birdman — the superhero he once played in a series of films. He hopes to re-establish himself as a serious actor by mounting his own dramatic production on Broadway.


• Israel To Explore Making Defence Products In India
  Israel is ready to explore making some defence products in India, its Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon said , responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' call to global aerospace firms to manufacture defence equipment in the country.
  "We welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy of 'Make in India.' We will examine with the Indian government the concept of Make in India to produce some products in India," Ya'alon told reporters after inaugurating his country's pavilion at the Aero India trade expo at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on the city's outskirts.


• Ashton Carter Sworn In As Obama's New Defence Secretary
  Ashton Carter was sworn in as the 25th US defense secretary -the fourth in US President Barack Obama's six years in office.
  After taking the helm, he will have to tackle mounting issues, such as the fight against the extremist group Islamic State (IS) and a decision on whether to arm the Ukrainian forces with lethal weapons.


• NASA Launches Deep Space Solar Monitoring Satellite
  The US space agency has launched a new mission called the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) to monitor solar activity in deep space.
  Launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, DSCOVR will provide space weather forecasters from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) more reliable measurements of solar wind conditions, improving their ability to monitor potentially harmful solar activity.


• Two Indians Win Honours At Grammy Awards
  Two Indians — Ricky Kej and Neela Vaswani — took home a Grammy Award each at the 57th edition of the musical extravaganza held here Sunday night. The latter's narration of the audio of the book "I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World" won her the trophy.
  Vaswani, who stays in New York, bagged a Grammy in the Best Children's Album category for recreating Pakistan's Nobel laureate Yousufzai's book in audio form. It reaches out to tell a tale of a brave teenaged girl who risked her life for the right to go to school.


• World's oldest man celebrates 112th birthday
  A Japanese man who was certified as the oldest living man by the Guinness World Records in August 2014, turned 112.
  Sakari Momoi, a resident of Saitama city, is still in good health, Xinhua news agency reported.

National Current Affairs

• SLR- stands for Statutory Liquidity Ratio is the proportion of deposits that banks have to maintain as liquid. This was cut by 50 basis points to 21.5% which will release Rs.45000 crore into the system.


• LRS- stands for Liberalised Remittance Scheme which allows individuals to acquire shares, debt instruments and other assets outside India without RBI's prior approval. This has been recently raised to $250,000 a year.


• Nehru & Bose: Parallel lives- the new book written by Rudrangshu Mukherjee.


• Sholay- the iconic movie of Bollywood which is to be released in Pakistan after 40 years.


• Adani Enterprise Ltd.- they recently signed a pact with the Rajasthan government to develop India's largest solar park in the state with 10,000MW capacity over the next 10 years, at an estimated investment of about Rs.40,000 crore.


• AAP- stands for Aam Aadmi Party which won 67 of the 70 seats of Delhi in the recently concluded Assembly elections.


• Mann ki Baat- the monthly radio programme of Primeminister Narendra Modi in which this month he advised students to take up examinations with ' a smile on their face' being 'warriors and not worriers' and advised parents not to compare their children to others as it mounts pressure on their wards.
• Kejriwal Sworn In As Delhi's Chief Minister
  AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as Delhi's chief minister by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung at the Ramlila Maidan here along with six ministers on Feb 14, 2015.
  Tens of thousands of Aam Aadmi Party supporters who had gathered at the sprawling ground in the heart of the capital since morning cheered loudly and waved AAP flags as Kejriwal took the oath of office and secrecy.


• Railways Launches India's First Customer Complaint Mobile App
  Indian Railways on Feb 2, 2015, became the first company in the country to provide customer complaint services on a mobile app besides providing the facility online by launching a complaint management system (Coms).
  The Coms comprises the mobile app, an online portal backed by a centralised grievance redressal monitoring system and a mobile network messaging facility.


• Largest And Tallest Indian Flag To Be Unfurled
  The largest and tallest Indian flag will be unfurled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah at Faridabad on Mar 3, 2015, said a member of the event's organising committee Monday.
  "The world's largest Indian flag will unfurled tomorrow by BJP president Amit Shah. The flag will be hoisted at 250 feet making it the tallest Indian flag," a member of the organising committee told IANS.


• Delhi Police Launch Himmat WhatsApp, Hike For Women's Safety
  Enthused by the popularity of its 'Himmat' mobile app for women's safety, the Delhi Police launched the facility on WhatsApp and the Hike messenger group on feb 25, 2015.
  Women in Delhi can now send photos of autorickshaws and taxis they board to the Himmat WhatsApp group number 8800001091. The same number is for hike messenger group users.


• Modi Flags Off Arunachal-Delhi Train
  In a historic development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first express train from Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh to New Delhi on Feb 20, 2015.
  Modi, who arrived in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar to participate in the state's 29th foundation day, flagged off the Naharlagun-New Delhi Express by pressing a button at a function held in Indira Gandhi Park in Itanagar.


• On Sirisena visit, India, Sri Lanka ink civil nuclear agreement
  India and close neighbour Sri Lanka Monday sought to begin a new chapter in their ties as the island nation's newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena, on his maiden visit abroad since taking over last month, held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and the two sides inked four agreements, including one on civil nuclear cooperation.
  Sirisena, who defeated long-time president Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Jan 8 election, signalled the new closeness in bilateral ties, saying Modi is expected to visit his country in March and that they are "eagerly awaiting the glorious event", which would be "an honour and a blessing" to their country.

Sports

• Chris Gayle set Highest Score in World Cup Knock
  Explosive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle scored the highest cricket World Cup score by smashing 215 runs in a Pool B encounter against Zimbabwe at the Manuka Oval here on Feb 24, 2015.
  West Indies made 372 for the loss of two wickets.
  His 147-ball knock included 10 boundaries and 16 sixes. The previous best World Cup score was 188 which was scored by South Africa's Gary Kirsten against the United Arab Emirates way back in 1996.


• Golfer Lahiri wins Indian Open
  Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri won his second title in three weeks after defeating countryman S.S.P. Chawrasia on the first play-off hole at the $1.5 million Indian Open here on Feb 22, 2015.
  The 27-year-old, who was seven shots off the pace at the start of the day, fired a two-under-par 69 as overnight leader Chawrasia struggled in the blustery conditions to return with a disappointing 76 at the challenging Delhi Golf Club (DGC).


• Novak Djokovic- he defeated Britain's Andy Murray to win his fifth Australian Open title and his eight Grand Slam. He became the first player to win the Australian Open five times in the Open era.


• Leander Paes- he combined with Martina Hingis of Switzerland to win the mixed double title of Australian Open.


• Australia- they defeated England to win the cricket tri-series final at Perth.


• Ivory Coast- they defeated Ghana to win the African Nations Cup in football.


• Thiruvananthapuram- the venue of the 35th National Games.


• Dipa Karmakar- the gymnast who excelled with a haul of five gold medals for Tripura in the 35th National Games at Thiruvananthapuram.


• Mohit Sharma- the medium pacer who replaced fast bowler Ishant Sharma in the Indian squad of cricket World Cup.


• Anirban Lahiri- he recently captured his maiden European Tour golf title and became only the fourth Indian golfer to do so.


• Mumbai- they defeated Punjab to win the under 19 Cooch Behar Trophy in cricket.


• Virat Kohli- he scored his 22nd ODI century to help India beat Pakistan in their opening match of the World Cup 2015 at Adelaide.
• Yuvraj Singh- he fetched the highest price of Rs.16 crore at the auction for the 8th edition of Indian Premier League(IPL) and was bought by Delhi Daredevils.


• Shikhar Dhawan- he scored his highest ODI score of 137 which was also the highest score by any batsman against South Africa in a World Cup match to steer India to victory against them.


• Ranchi Rays- they defeated Punjab Warriors to win the third Hockey India League title.

Business and Economy

• India' Central Bank Cuts Keys Rates, Stock Indices Hit Historic Highs
  In a surprise development that sent stock markets soaring, India's central bank cut its key lending rates by 25 basis points, expecting inflation to soften in the coming fiscal even as it expressed concern over the postponement of fiscal consolidation by a year.
  Getting some positive cues from the national budget tabled last week, and sensing an economic recovery, the repurchase (repo) rate has been cut to 7.5 percent from 7.75 percent, while the reverse repo rate has been adjusted to 6.5 percent from 6.75 percent.


• Union Budget 2015 Highlights
  Presenting the national budget for the next fiscal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "I am presenting the union budget in an economic environment which is far more positive than in the recent past. While major economies of the world face difficulties, India is poised for higher growth trajectory," Jaitley said as he started his budget speech in the Lok Sabha.


• Highlights of the Economic Survey for 2014-15
  Highlights of the Economic Survey for 2014-15 tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Feb 27, 2015:
  Growth rate of over eight percent expected in 2015-16
  Double-digit economic growth trajectory now a possibility


• Railway Budget Highlights 2015The following are the highlights of the Railway Budget for 2015-16 presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the Lok Sabha on Feb 26, 2015:
  No hike in passenger fares
  Speed of trains running at 110-130 kmph to be increased to 160-200 kmph
  Over 17,00 toilets on trains already replaced, another 17,000 to be replaced
  Toilets at stations need improvement; 650 additional toilets to be created in addition to 120 last year
  New department to keep stations clean
  Railways to Work on 'Swachh Rail – Swachh Bharat'
  Defence travel system developed to eliminate system warrants
  


• 182- the dedicated toll free number for receiving security related complaints was announced in the Railway Budget 2015 by Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhu.
• 123.1 million- the number of bank accounts opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana as of January 28,2015 with a deposit mobilization of Rs.9188 crore as per Economic Survey 2014-15.
• 8.1-8.5%- India's projected GDP growth during 2015-16, an increase of 0.7 to 1.1 percentage points over the 7.4 % GDP growth rate estimated for 2014-15 as per Economic Survey 2014-15.
• 2%- the percentage of India's workforce that is formally skilled, compared to 96% and 80% in South Korea and Japan respectively as per Economic Survey 2014-15.
• 4 D model- stands for deregulation, differentiation, diversification and disinterring which has been suggested for PSU banks in the Economic Survey 2014-15.
• Corporate Tax- this will be reduced from 30% to 25% over the next 4 years as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• GAAR- stands for General Anti Avoidance Act whose applicability was deferred to two years to investments made on or after 1st April 2017 as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• Post Bank of India- the new bank which will be set up with vast postal netwok with nearly 1,54,000 points of presence spread across the villages of the country as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• RK Shanmukham Chetty- the first Finance Minister to present a Budget in Independent India when he presented the Union Budget on November 26,1947.
• FMC- stands for Forward Market's Commission- India's commodity market regulator set up in 1953 which has now been merged with the Securities Exchange Board of India(SEBI) as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. 2%-the percentage of surcharge imposed on service tax to fund the flagship Swachh Bharat Mission as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• MUDRA- stands for Micro Units Development Refinance Bank set up with a corpus of Rs.2000 crore that will give priority to lending to enterprises set up by people belonging to Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• Rs.14,200cr- the amount allotted to housing for all by 2012 as announced the Union Budget 2015 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Current Affairs - March 2015

International Affairs

• Fifty Shades of Grey- the erotic drama produced by Universal Pictures of US whose release in India was banned by censor board of India, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
• Ola- this company recently bought rival TaxiForSure in a cash and equity deal worth $200 million.
• 8th March- this day was recently celebrated as International's Women's Day.


• Solar Impulse 2- the world's only solar power plane, which recently set off from Abu Dhabi in a bid to make the first round the world. It will have stop over in India at Ahmedabad and Varanasi. It is expected to cover 35,000km with 25 day travel 12 stop over 5 months. The aircraft founders and pilots are Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg.


• Britannia- the 141,000 tonne liner which can accommodate up to 3647 passengers was recently inaugurated by British Queen Elizabeth II.


• Amazon.com- the e commerce giant which recently received the approval of US Federal Aviation Administration to test a delivery drone outdoors over private and rural land in Washington state.
• Dalny Vostok- the Russian fishing trawler which sank recently killing many persons.

National Affairs

• Repo rate- the rate at which banks borrow from Reserve Bank of India was cut by 0.25 percentage points on 4th March 2015.
• Re.1- the note of this denomination was released in the country after over 20 years bearing the signature of finance secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi.


• LIC- they recently committed Rs.1.5 lakh crore for development of rail projects over the next five years which is the highest ever funding for the Indian Railways.


• Insurance- the sector in which the cap of foreign investment has been raised from present 26 % to 49 % after the passage of Insurance Laws(Amendment)Bill 2015 by Parliament.


• April 14,2015- the Baisakhi or the harvest festival day from which the government is planning to start a new channel Kisan TV which will be a help tillers after nearly 30 years of successful Krishi darshan.


• Lupin- the major drug company which recently inked a pact to acquire an additional 40% stake in South Africa's Pharma Dynamics which will take its holding to 100% making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
• The Undisclosed foreign Income and Assets( Imposition of Tax) Bill- the new bill that makes concealing foreign assets and income from tax authorities a crime punishable with a 10 year jail term and 300% fine on tax evaded was cleared by Union cabinet recently.
• 1km- the limit of eco zones around forests in Goa which was recently approved by green ministry beyond which mining can be done.
• Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill- this bill was passed by Parliament recently. This bill allows for auction of mines with a 50-year lease against current 30 years period, mines will to be re-auctioned after expiry. There is also provision for tough deterrents in the form of Rs.5,00,000 fine for illegal mining per hectare(currently Rs.25,000) and jail term of 5 years.
• Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2015- this bill was passed by Parliament recently. This bill allows auction of mines, following a 2014 Supreme Court order cancelling allocation of over 2014 blocks after it termed process illegal.
• DMH-11- the genetically modified crop of mustard which is in the final stage of trial and shown to be 28-30% higher yielding than the best mustard varieties. This is being developed by Delhi University's Centre for genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants and is funded by the department of biotech and the National Dairy Development Board.
• 66A- the section of the Information Technology (IT) Act which was recently scrapped the Supreme Court. This law gave police sweeping powers to arrest anyone for posting annoying or offensive comments online.
• NISH- stands for the National Institute of Speech and Hearing located at Thiruvananthapuram which has been elevated as the country's first university for disability studies and rehabilitation sciences.
• GCTOCB- stands for Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill of 2015 which was recently passed by Gujarat government. This is an amended version of the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill which was earlier rejected by Presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil.
• Fabindia- the company which came in limelight recently over a CCTV camera controversy, which happened in one of its outlet in Goa.
• 1031- the anti corruption helpline, which was recently relaunched by Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

62nd National Film Awards 2015-

• Best Feature Film- Chaitanya Tamhane's movie-Court
• Best Actor- Vijay for Kannada film Nanu Avanalla Avalu
• Best Actress- Kangana Ranauat for film Queen
• Best Hindi feature film- Vikas Bahl's movie Queen
• Best popular film- Mary Kom
• Best Director- Srijit Mukerji for his film Chotushkone

Sports

• Rafael Nadal- he won his first title in nearly nine months beating Juan Monaco to win the Argentina Open.
• Chelsa- they defeated Wembley blues to claim FA Cup football title at London recently.
• Jagmohan Dalmiya- he was recently elected unopposed as the President of Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI).
• Virat Kohli- the Indian batsman, who abused the Hindustan Times journalist, Jasvinder Sidhu at Perth, Australia recently.
• Mohammed Shami- India's fast bowler who was declared Man of the Match in the India's World cup match against West Indies which India won by 4 wickets.
• Glen Maxwell- the Australian batsman who hammered the second fastest hundred in cricket World Cup off 51 balls when he scored 102 against Sri Lanka at Sydney. The fastest record is 50 ball ton made in 2011 by Kevin O' Brien of Ireland.


• Bangladesh- they defeated England by 15 runs to storm into the World Cup knock out stage for the first time where they will face India.


• Mahmudullah- he scored in the first World Cup ton by a Bangladesh batsman when he scored 103 against England.


• 4- the number of Asian countries which entered the quarter finals of the world Cup 2015-India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

Kumar Sangakara- he became the first player to hit four consecutive One Day internationals hundreds. He also became the first player to score four hundreds in a World Cup.

• Saina Nehwal- she lost to reigning world champion from Spain Carolina Marin in the All England badminton singles final at Birmingham recently.


• Ireland – the country which was defeated by 8 wickets by India at the World Cup in which Shikhar Dhawan scored his century.


• MS Dhoni- he became the most successful captain of India at the World Cup when he led India to 12 matches which is one more than of 11 matches won under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.


• Karun Nair- the Karnataka batsman who became the first batsman since Independence to score triple century in a Ranji Trophy final.


• Karnataka- they defeated Tamilnadu to win and retain the Ranji trophy cricket title and also become the second most successful team in Ranji Trophy after Mumbai.


• Suresh Raina- he hit century in the India's last league match against Zimbabwe to help India win all its six league matches.
• South Africa- they beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets to enter the semifinal of the ICC cricket World Cup 2015. Imran Tahir was adjudged man of the match while JP Duminy took a hat-trick.
• Mahela Jayawardene- the batsman from Sri Lanka who announced his retirement from One day international after playing in 448 ODIs and scoring 12,650 runs which included 19 centuries.
• Kumar Sangakkara- the batsman from Sri Lanka who announced his retirement from One day international after playing in 408 ODIs and scoring 14,234 runs which included 25 centuries.
• Qatar- the country which will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in November-December 2022 with finals on December 18,2022.
• Australia- they defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets to enter the semifinal of the ICC cricket World Cup 2015. The man of the match award was given to Josh Hazlewood for taking 4 wickets for just 35 runs.
• Shahid Afridi- the Pakistani all rounder who announced his retirement from One Day International (ODI) recently. He has played 398 matches scored 8064 runs with 6 centuries and has also taken 395 wickets.
• Misbah-ul-Haq- the Pakistani batsman who announced his retirement from One Day International (ODI) recently. He has played 162 matches scored 5122 runs.
• New Zealand- led by Martin Guptill's 237 not out, the highest individual score in the history of the tournament, they crushed West Indies by 143 runs to enter the semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2015.
• India- they defeated Bangladesh by 109 runs to enter the semifinal of the ICC cricket World Cup 2015.
• Rohit Sharma- he was adjudged man of the match for his 137 runs off 126 balls in the quarter final match against Bangladesh.
• Karnataka- they defeated rest of India to retain the Irani Trophy in cricket. It became the second team after Mumbai to defend the Irani Cup. They completed a domestic treble for the second time in a row after having won the Vijay Hazare and Ranji Trophy.
• Sania Mirza- she partnered with Swiss legend Martina Hingis to win the double title at the ATP India Wells Master tennis tournament.
• Novak Djokovic- he defeated Roger Federer to successfully defend his Indian Wells crown in tennis and to claim his 50th career ATP title.
• Grant Elliot- the New Zealand batsman who was awarded the Man of the match for his gutsy 84 which helped his country to defeat South Africa in the semifinal of World Cup 2015 played at Auckland.
• Steve Smith- the Australian batsman who scored 105 off 93 balls to propel his side to victory over India at the semifinal of World Cup 2015 at Sydney.
• Australia- they defeated co-hosts New Zealand by seven wickets at Melbourne to win the fifth cricket World Cup title.
• Martin Guptill- the New Zealand opener who scored 547 runs in the World Cup 2015, the most in the tournament.
• Mitchell Starc- the Australian bowler who along with Trent Boult of New Zealand were ranked the highest wicket takers in the World Cup 2015 with 22 wickets each. He was also declared man of the Tournament.
• 417- the highest score in cricket World cup which was scored by Australia in 2015 against Afghanistan.
• Kumar Dharmasena- he became the first person to both play and umpire in a World Cup final. The Sri Lankan player played in the 1996 final and umpired the 2015 final.
• Michael Clarke- the Australian winning captain of World Cup 2015 who announced his retirement from one day internationals on a high note.
• Saina Nehwal- she won the women's single title at the Indian Open super series badminton tournament in New Delhi recently. She also became the first Indian woman to be ranked world No.1 in badminton singles ranking.
• Kidambi Srikanth- he won the men's single title at the Indian Open super series badminton tournament in New Delhi recently.
• Mustafa Kamal- he recently resigned from the post of International Cricket Council (ICC) president.
• Brendon McCullum- the skipper of New Zealand who was recently named as the captain of ICC World Cup XI.
• Daniel Vettori- the New Zealand left arm spinner announced his retirement from international cricket recently. He is the ninth player to take more than 300 wickets in both Tests and ODIs.
• Gursimran Bhullar- the Indian origin basketball player of Canada who became the first player of Indian descent to get in NBA squad.
• Serena Williams- the world number one tennis player who recently claimed her eighth Miami WTA title.

Current Affairs - April 2015

International Affairs

• April 2- this day was recently celebrated as World Autism Awareness Day. Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affects the way the brain processes information and often prevents individuals from understanding what they see, hear and otherwise sense, resulting in difficulties in social relationships, communications and behavior.
• Dalny Vostok- the Russian fishing trawler which sank recently killing many persons.
• Godzilla- he was recently appointed as resident and tourism ambassador for Tokyo's Shinjuku ward in an effort to lure tourists.
• Songkran- the most celebrated festival of the year which marks the start of Thailand's traditional New Year was celebrated recently.
• Asteroid 316201- the asteroid between Mars and Jupiter which orbits the Sun every 5.5 years has been renamed Malala 316201 or 2010ML48 after Malala Yousafzai,the youngest Nobel Prize winner. This asteroid was discovered in 2010 by Amy Mainzer , astronomer at NASA'a Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
• Airbus- the French major aeroplanes manufacturer which has recently agreed to set up plant in India to manufacture helicopters, satellites and military transport planes.
• Songkran- the most celebrated festival of the year which marks the start of Thailand's traditional New Year was celebrated recently.
• New Zealand- they defeated Australia to win the 24th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament played at Ipoh, Malaysia.
• Jitu Rai- he clinched the men's 10m air pistol bronze at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon,Korea.
• April 14th- this day was recently celebrated as World Matrimony Day.

National Current News

• GCTOCB- stands for Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill of 2015 which was recently passed by Gujarat government. This is an amended version of the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill which was earlier rejected by Presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil.
• Fabindia- the company which came in limelight recently over a CCTV camera controversy, which happened in one of its outlet in Goa.
• 1031- the anti corruption helpline, which was recently relaunched by Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
• AQI- stands for Air Quality Index which is colour coded index which was launched recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 10 cities of India-Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. This will monitor the quality of air in major urban centres on a real time basis. The index will provide the current status of the level of pollution in a given city, with colour codes indicating air quality, ranging from dark green as 'good' to maroon as 'severe'.
• 7th April- this was celebrated as World Health Day. The Central Government began a massive immunization campaign to cover by 2020 all children who are either unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated against seven preventable diseases. RERA- stands for Real Estate Regulatory Authority whose setting up was recently cleared by the Union cabinet. This will cover both residential and commercial real estate and will make it mandatory for builders developing a project exceeding 1,000 square metres to register with RERA before launching or even advertising a housing scheme.
• 112- the toll free number whose implementation has been recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as a single point of contact for assistance in major emergency. The new helpline would be an integration of the existing emergency numbers in India such as 100,101,102 and 108 which can be retained as secondary numbers. This is the Indian equivalent to the American 911-all emergency number.
• CEPI- stands for Comprehensive Environmental Assessment of Industrial Clusters ranking system which has been revamped by the government recently setting aside the annual approval clause. The government has now decided that the approval to operate will be valid for five years in case of most polluting red category units, 10 years for slightly less polluting orange category and the cleaner green category will require one time approval.
• MUDRA Bank- stands for Micro Units Development Refinance Agency, a separate bank to support small business and microfinance was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.
• FAA- the Federal Aviation Administration of US which recently restored India's aviation safety ranking to the Category I status which means that domestic airlines can increase flights to that country and have new code shares with American carriers.
• Moody- the credit rating agency which upwardly revised the outlook on India's economy to 'positive' from 'stable'. A 'positive' outlook implies that Moody's is more bullish about the Indian economy prospects than earlier and India is likely to grow faster than its peers over the medium term.
• Greenpeace India- the centre barred this organization from receiving foreign funds over allegation of working against India's economic progress and public interest.
• Rafale jets- India recently decided to buy 36 of these jets for Indian Air Force from France as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to France. He along with French President Francois Hollande discussed bilateral issues during a boat ride along the Seine River in Paris.
• Areva- the French nuclear major recently signed an agreement with L&T of India to bring down the cost of the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power project which has the capacity of generating 9,900 MW power.
• GIFT city- stands for Gujarat international Finance Tech City which is located on the bank of river Sabarmati between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The country's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is coming up here which will open doors for domestic and foreign banks to set up backend offices in the GIFT city.
• Airbus- the French major aero planes manufacturer which has recently agreed to set up plant in India to manufacture helicopters, satellites and military transport planes.
• NJAC- it stands for National Judicial Appointments Commission which has been set up for the appointment of judges. Apart from two senior most Supreme Court judges the NJAC will also have the law minister and two eminent jurists as members. The new law replaces the 22 year old collegiums system that kept the government out of the selection process for Supreme Court and high court judges.
• Net Neutrality- the system in which Internet service providers treat all traffic on their networks equally- the system in which users are able to access all websites at the same speed and cost without any preferential treatment to any website.
• Sholay- the Bollywood classic starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, which hit the theatres in Pakistan recently for the first time, 40years after its India release.
• Mary Kom- the film starring Priyanka Chopra based on the life of Olympic medal winning Indian boxer Mary Kom recently won the Bronze Horse Award, the highest honour at the Stockholm International Film Festival Junior in Sweden.

Sports Updates

• Mustafa Kamal- he recently resigned from the post of International Cricket Council (ICC) president.
• Brendon McCullum- the skipper of New Zealand who was recently named as the captain of ICC World Cup XI.
• Daniel Vettori- the New Zealand left arm spinner announced his retirement from international cricket recently. He is the ninth player to take more than 300 wickets in both Tests and ODIs.
• Gursimran Bhullar- the Indian origin basketball player of Canada who became the first player of Indian descent to get in NBA squad.
• Serena Williams- the world number one tennis player who recently claimed her eighth Miami WTA title.
• Novak Djokovic- the world no.1 Serbian tennis player who defeated Andy Murray to win his fifth Miami Masters Open.
• Kolkata- the first match of IPL 8 was played here between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
• Sania Mirza- she captured her 25th WTA doubles titles when she won the Miami Open trophy in partnership with Martina Hingis.
• India- they defeated South Korea to clinch bronze medal in the 24th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament played at Ipoh, Malaysia.
• Jitu Rai- he clinched the men's 10m air pistol bronze at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea.
• Jordan Spieth- the 21 year old American golfer who won the 79th Masters Golf Tournament recently.
• Novak Djokovic- the Serbian tennis player who was awarded with Sportsman of the Year award at the 2015 Laureus World Sports Awards in Shanghai recently. These awards are recognized as Oscars of Sports.
• Genzebe Dibaba- the Ethiopian middle and long distance runner who was awarded with Sportswoman of the Year award at the 2015 Laureus World Sports Awards in Shanghai recently. These awards are recognized as Oscars of Sports.
• Germany National Football Team- they were awarded with Team of the Year award at the 2015 Laureus World Sports Awards in Shanghai recently. These awards are recognized as Oscars of Sports.
• Bangladesh- they secured their first series win in the one day international against Pakistan.
• Sania Mirza- she recently became the first Indian female tennis player to be ranked first and the third to be ranked world number one in doubles ranking of tennis. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were the first two Indians to achieve this feat.

Current Affairs - May 2015

International Affairs

• Pashupatinath- the famous temple of Shiva which was able to survive the major earthquake in Nepal.
• MESSENGER- the NASA's spacecraft crashed into Mercury ending its historic 11 year mission that provided valuable data and thousands of images of the planet. Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSSENGER) was launched on August 3, 2004 and it began orbiting Mercury on March 18, 2011 and completed its primary science objectives by March 2012.
• Conservatives- the party led by British Prime Minister David Cameron which came back to power with 331 seats crossing the 326 in the 650 member House of Commons.
• May 8- this day is celebrated as Victory in Europe Day be most European countries marking the end of the World War II on the continent.
• The Woman of Algiers (version O) - The painting masterpiece created by Picasso became the most expensive artworks to be sold at an auction when it was sold for Rs.151 crore ($179.36 million) at Christie's in New York recently. It is a vibrant, cubist depiction of nude courtesans and is part of a 15 work series Picasso created in 1954-55 designated with the letters A to O. The previous highest record was $ 142.4 million for Francis Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian Freud in New York in 2013.
• Ponting Man- The sculpture by Alberto Giacometti became the most expensive sculpture to be sold at an auction when it was sold for Rs.907crore ($141.3 million) recently. It is a bronze figure depicting a skinny 5 foot high person with extended arms. The previous highest record was held by Giacometti whose Walking Man was sold for $104.3 million in London in 2010.

National Affairs

• Prabhadevi- the famous temple of Mumbai which recently completed 300 years. It was built in 1715 by Shyam Nayak- wealthy member of Pathare Prabhu community.
• PDMA- stands for Public Debt Management Agency whose proposal was rolled back allowing the Reserve Bank of India to retain its status as the sole regulator of government bonds.
• Weibo- the Chinese social media platform which is a cross between Twitter and Face book was in news recently after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut in it.
• Future Retail- the Kishore Biyani controlled group which recently decided to merge its retail business with Sunil Mittal led Bharti Retail. While Bharti retail runs 212 Easy day stores across India, Future Retail has 203 Big Bazaar stores.
• GST- stands for Goods and Services Tax which is a single national tax levied across the country on all goods and services. GST will subsume multiple taxes such as VAT, CST, excise that states levy and will create a common market.
• October 1,2015- the deadline from which the government has decided to make speed governors-a speed limiting device mandatory for all new transport vehicle. The governors will restrict the speed of commercial vehicles which have yellow number plates to less than 80kmph and to 60kmph for vehicles such as dumpers, tankers and school buses. Emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire tenders and police vehicles have been exempted from the rule.
• 119th Amendment Bill- this was recently passed unanimously by Parliament which will allow in operationalising the 41-year old India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). This historic agreement was signed between Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974.
• Namami Gange- The name of the flagship programme of the government, to integrate the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga in a comprehensive manner. The programme has a budget outlay of Rs.20, 000 crore for the next five years, which is a significant four-fold increase over the expenditure in the past 30 years.
• USTTAD- It is the name of the initiative to augment and preserve rich heritage of traditional arts/crafts and build capacity of traditional artisans/craftsmen. This programme was recently launched to accomplish the government's commitment to minorities.
• Hyundai Heavy Industries- the South Korean company which recently agreed to join hands with Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vishakhapatnam for building warships in India. This agreement was signed during recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to South Korea.
• Chhattisgarh Zinc Rice-1- the first zinc bio fortified rice developed by scientists which is expected to play a crucial role in fighting malnutrition in tribal dominated Chhattisgarh.
• Gujjar- the community of Rajasthan for which the state government of Rajasthan agreed to introduce a bill ensuring 5%reservation outside the legal limit of 50%.

Sports

• Eden Hazard- the football player of Chelsea who recently won the England's Professional Footballer's Association (PFA) Player of the Year award.
• Mayweather- he defeated Manny Pacquiao in the famous bout to become the undisputed king of boxing.
• Chelsea- they won their first Premier League title since 2010.
• Romeo Fernandes- he became the first Indian footballer to play professionally in Brazil after making his debut for top-flight club Atletico Paranaense.
• Andy Murray-the British tennis player who recently won his first clay title after he defeated Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber to win the Munich's ATP tournament.
• Jonathan Trott- the England batsman who recently announced his retirement from international cricket.
• Rohan Bopanna- he partnered with Florin Mergea to win the Madrid Open tennis title recently.
• Korea- they defeated India in the Sudirman Cup of badminton played at Dongguan in China.
• Zimbabwe- the first Test playing nation which recently visited Pakistan for international matches since an attack on Sri Lanka's team bus six years ago.
• Harbhajan Singh- he was recently recalled for India's test playing team after two years period for playing against Bangladesh.
• Mumbai Indians- they defeated Chennai Super Kings to win the IPL 2015.
• Sepp Blatter- he was reelected President of Federation Internationale de Football Association(FIFA) for a fifth term after Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein conceded defeated at the annual Congress of world's society governing body at Zurich.
• Serena Williams- she defeated Lucie Safarova to win her third French Open title. The top seed with 20 Grand Slam titles is now third on the list of women Grand Slam titles winners, two behind Steffi Graf and four behind Margaret Court.
• Barcelona- they defeated Juventus to win its fourth Champions League title in 10 years and became the only club to twice win three titles in a season-domestic league and cup and the top spot in Europe.
• Stanislas Wawrinka- he defeated Novak Djokovic to win his first French Open men's singles title.
• Sundaram Ravi- he became the first Indian umpire to be included in the International Cricket Council's Elite panel after 11 years. S. Venkataraghavan was the last umpire from the country to feature in it.
• Rahul Dravid- the legend cricketer who was recently named as coach of India's junior cricket team.

Current Affairs - June 2015

International Affairs

• MERS- stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the virus based disease whose fear of spread created panic in South Korea recently, the largest outbreak fear since the one which happened in Saudi Arabia.
• The House of Hidden Mothers- the novel focused on late parenthood and surrogacy in the British Asian community written by British Indian writer and actor Meera Syal which was launched in London recently.
• Apple Music- the new services announced by Apple which will stream music with a new subscription services that will allow users to stream songs, listen to playlists and connect with perfomers.
• Jurassic World- the new movie by Steven Spielberg which opened with a bang in its week on its way to the biggest box office opening ever worldwide.
• Laudato Si- stands for Praise Be, the 191 page encyclical in which Pope Francis takes a humanistic position on climate change and calls for cultural revolution to change the world's �structurally perverse' economic system.
• BX1E- the world's first electric passenger aircraft which has been designed by the Shenyang Aerospace University and Liaoning General Aviation Academy in China. It can fly at an altitude of 3,000 metres for 45 minutes to an hour at a stretch.
• Free hit- the hit given after no ball will be discontinued after the International Cricket Council's (ICC) ratification of the new One day International rules from July 5, 2015. The other key changes would be removal of batting power play and close catchers not being allowed in the first five overs.
• Space X Falcon 9- the unmanned Space Exploration Technologies rocket which exploded two minutes after take -off from Cape Canaveral, Florida recently.

National Affairs

• June 5- this day was celebrated as World Environment Day.
• Maggi- the noodles which faced ban across India after the samples of the product showed dangerously high levels of lead and the chemical flavour enhancer, Monosodium Glutamate(MSG).
• Victorias- the famous horse drawn carriages used in Mumbai for joy rides which were recently declared completely illegal and declared to be withdrawn within a year by Bombay High Court.
• Vermin- this stands for nuisance animal. The environment ministry recently announced based on the recommendations of the state government the ministry would notify a particular animal as vermin and once notified the states would be free to hunt these animals for a limited period of time. There is a provision to declare wild animals listed in various Schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972 as vermin.
• Ken and Betwa- the two rivers which flow through Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are going to be linked in the first phase of the ambitious river linking project.
• Housing for All- the NDA government's flagship project under which there is a plan to build two crore houses by 2022.
• Bandhan Bank- the proposed bank of microfinance major Bandhan which recently received the final approval from the Reserve Bank of India to begin a full-fledged banking services and will debut on August 23, 2015.
• 21st June- the first International Yoga day was celebrated all across the world.
• June 25, 2015- this day marked the 40th anniversary of the imposing of Emergency in India.
• Lifelines- the famous movie made on the life of Uttarakhand's Makar Singh, his economic hardships and his efforts to uplift his community has won several awards and become a teaching tool in universities across UK, US, Canada and Australia. The movie has been produced by Jane Dyson. It was awarded the Outstanding International Impact Award by Britain's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) this week.

Sports

• MS Dhoni- India's most successful cricket captain who became the only Indian to be featured on the Forbes magazine 100 highest paid athletes in the world list, which is topped by American boxer Floyd Mayweather.
• Shikhar Dhawan- he along with Murali Vijay scored centuries in the only Test match played against Bangladesh recently at Fatullah which ended in a draw.
• Serbia- they defeated Brazil to win the U-20 football World Cup at Auckland recently.
• Sunil Chhetri- the prolific football striker who became the first Indian footballer to score 50 international goals.
• Guam- this country defeated India 2-1 in the football World Cup qualifiers.
• Mustafizur Rahman- the debutant fast bowler of Bangladesh who took five wickets which helped his country defeat India in the first one day international at Mirpur. He also took six wickets in the second one day international in which India were defeated again. He became the first bowler to take 11 wickets in his first two ODIs' bettering Zimbabwe left arm seamer Brian Vittori's record-five wickets in first two ODI's.
• Mustafizur Rahman- he took 13 wickets in the India Bangladesh one day series and was awarded the Man-of-the-Series. His 13 wickets is the most by a bowler in the first three ODI's of career.
• Suresh Raina- he was awarded the Man- of- the- Match in the third one day international in which India defeated Bangladesh.
• Veselin Topalov- the Bulgarian player who defeated India's Vishwanathan Anand to win the Norway Chess title.
• Satnam Singh Bhamara- the 19 year became the first Indian to play in NBA when he was picked for the Mavericks.

Current Affairs - July 2015

International Affairs

• AIIB- stands for Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which recently came into being at Beijing recently with an authorized capital of $100 billion and articles of agreement between 57 member nations. China, India and Russia are the three largest share holders taking a 30.34%, 8.52 % and 6.66% stakes respectively. The bank is expected to finance infrastructure projects across Asia and will likely become operational by the end of the year.
• Let's Move- the campaign launched in United States to fight childhood obesity.
• Mainau Declaration 2015- the declaration signed by Nobel laureates which call for action on climate change-the urgent need do limit global emissions and protect the climate which was signed at meet held at Lindau in Germany.
• TAPI- stands for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline project which has been envisaged to take gas from Turkmenistan, which holds the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves to India and Pakistan through Afghanistan.
• Go Set a Watchman- the second novel of Harper Lee was released recently simultaneously in 70 countries by its publisher Harper Collins which published 2 million copies in the first print, the most preordered book in company's history. His earlier Pulitzer winning novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird" was published 50 years ago.
• Pluto- the planet on which icy mountains have been found recently by NASA's spacecraft New Horizons. NASA has named these peaks as the Norgay Montes after Tenzing Norgay who was the Sherpa guide for Sir Edmund Hillary when they conquered Mount Everest in 1953.
• Renmibi- the unit in which the first loan will be issued by the BRIC's New Development Bank (NDB) in April next year. One US dollar is worth 6.25 renmibi, one unit of which is worth Rs.10.33. The NDB opened in Shanghai on July 21, 2015 to finance infrastructure projects mainly in BRICS countries-the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Windows 10- the much awaited new operating system which was launched by Microsoft together in 190 countries. For the first time in Microsoft's history, Windows 10 is a free upgrade to users on Windows 7 and Windows 8- a sign of Microsoft bucking to the modern trend, started by both Apple and Google, of giving operating systems away for free.
• Tethys- the moon of the planet Saturn on whose surface NASA's spacecraft Cassini has spotted unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks.
• Aurora- it is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude regions. Astronomers recently discovered the first of this outside our solar system, around a brown dwarf star around 18 light years away from Earth, which is up to 10,000 times more powerful than any previously seen.

National Affairs

• Airtel- the company led by Sunil Mittal which recently became the third largest mobile operator in the world with 303 million subscribers according to the data released by World Cellular information Service. It now stands behind china Mobile and Vodafone that have 626.27 and 403.08 million subscribers.
• Dholpur Palace- the spectacular 19th century palace of Rajasthan which recently is news due to its ownership disputes.
• PMKSY- stands for Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. The Rs.50, 000 crore scheme was launched recently to boost the country's irrigation network over the next five years.
• 31.2%- the percentage of population, nearly one of three people in India's villages are poor with an income hardly enough to buy even the bare essentials as per the new government study-Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, released recently. This is the first comprehensive exercise to estimate India's rural poverty levels. It concluded that the primary breadwinner in three of four households in rural India earns less than Rs.5000 a month. It defined rural households that spent Rs.26 or less a day as poor. As per SECC 2011, 243.9million is the total number of households in India out of which 64.8 million are urban and 179.1 million are rural households. It also found that in rural area 68.35% own a mobile phone and 20.69% own a vehicle-2/3/4 wheeler or fishing boat.
• $200 billion- the cost which India will have to bear per anum due to the climate change if it fails to ensure adequate measures and fail to reduce their carbon emissions as per the study-Climate Change: A Risk Assessment- conducted by climate advisors to the government in United States, United Kingdom and China, the world's biggest carbon emitters.
• NMSD- stands for National Mission for Skilled Development which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th July 2015. The programme is part one of the PM's pet projects, national Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, which aims to equip India's youth with employability and entrepreneurial skills. The project aims to equip 500 million Indians with skills by 2022 that would enable them to find jobs.
• Give It Up- the name of the scheme launched to motivate capable people to give up their LPG subsidy.
• IDFC � the infrastructure finance firm which recently received the banking licence from Reserve Bank of India to do banking business in India under Section 22(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Microfinance company Bandhan Financial Services is one of the other two companies which were granted preliminary bank permits last year. These two will become the new banks to be set up in India after more than a decade as Yes Bank was the last bank to b set up in 2004.
• 6.2%- it is India's real interest rate now highest since 2005. REAL INTEREST RATES are interest rates adjusted for inflation while NOMINAL is the rate quoted in loan and deposit agreements. India's average real interest rate for the past five years is 4.22 while according to Reserve Bank of India India's desired real interest rate given the current conditions and priorities should be between 1.5-2%.
• 1033- the toll free number recently launched for reporting accidents and seeking assistance after which the cashless treatment will be given to accident victim for the first 50 hours. The project will be launched in Gurgaon, Jaipur and Vadodra and then to Ranchi, Rungaon and Maurya national highways.
• UPTU- stands for Uttar Pradesh technical University which was recently renamed as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University after late President.
• Komen- the cyclone which created a depression over parts of Bangladesh and killed many people in the eastern states of India.

Sports

• Floyd Mayweather- the boxer who with a pay of $300 million recently topped the Forbes Celebrity 100 list of highest paid celebrities in the world. His fierce opponent Manny Pacquiao was ranked second and musician Katy Perry was ranked third.
• Nelson Piquet Jr- the Brazilian who recently became the first Formula E champion recently at London as the new electric series wrapped up its debut season with a race that had the crowd making more noise than the cars.
• Ryan Harris- the veteran Australia fast bowler who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket recently after suffering a recurrence of the knee trouble that has plagued his career.
• Chile- they defeated Argentina to win the Copa America football tournament for the first time in the tournament's 99-year history.
• Ajinkya Rahane- he was named as the captain of Indian cricket team to tour Zimbabwe.
• Vijender Singh- the Indian boxer who announced his decision to turn professional and signed landmark 4 year promotional agreement with British promoter Queensbury Promotions, thus excluding himself from representing India at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
• Jwala Gutta- she paired with Ashwini Ponnappa to win the $50,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament recently defeating the Dutch pair Eefje Muskens and Selena Piekof in the finals at Calagary.
• Great Britain- they defeated India to win the bronze medal at the hockey World League at Antwerp recently.
• Lewis Hamilton- he recently claimed his third British Grand Prix at Silverstone making him the British Grand Prix's most modern home-made hero.
• United States- they defeated Japan to win the women football World Cup at Vancouver recently. Carli Llyod became the first woman to score a hat trick in the world Cup final. US also became the first team to win the World Cup three times-1991, 1999 and 2015.
• Bavalan Pathmanathan- the 24-year old batsman who died while playing in the British Tamil League recently.
• Pakistan- they defeated Sri Lanka in the third Test at Pallekele to win their first series in Sri Lanka since 2006.
• Kagiso Rabada- the South African bowler who became only the second man in history to claim a hat-trick on debut in the first one day international against Bangladesh at Dhaka which south Africa won by eight wickets.
• Serena Williams- she defeated Garbine Muguruza to win her sixth Wimbledon women tennis title played at All England Club which was her fourth consecutive Grand Slam title and the 21st of her career.
• Novak Djokovic- the Serbian who defeated seven times champion Roger Federer to retain the Wimbledon men's singles titles which was his third Wimbledon title and ninth Grand slam title.
• Ambati Rayadu- the Indian batsman who hit a century in the first one day matches against Zimbabwe at Harare which India won by four runs.
• Sania Mirza- she became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam trophy when she clinched the Wimbledon title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis.
• Sumit Nagpal- he partnered with Vietnam's Nam Hoang Ly to win the boy's double Wimbledon tennis title .
• Bangladesh- they defeated South Africa in the third and final one day international to win the one day series which help them to have successive series wins over India and Pakistan earlier this year.
• Jules Bianchi- the French Formula One driver who died after nine months in coma from the head injuries he suffered in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix. He is the first Formula One driver to die from a racing accident since triple world champion Ayrton Senna lost his life in San Marino in 1994.
• Genzebe Dibaba- the Ethiopian women athlete who made a world record in the 1500m by winning the race in 3min50.07sec at the Herculis Diamond League at Monaco recently. The previous best belonged to Yunxia Qu of China.
• Leander Paes- he partnered with Martina Hingis to win the mix double's Wimbledon tennis title which was his 16th Grand slam title.
• RM Lodha- the former Chief Justice of India who headed the Supreme Court appointed panel on match fixing in IPL. The panel recently suspended IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for two years after their officials were found guilty of illegally betting on games. The three member committee also slapped a life ban on former CSK official Gurunath Meiyappan and RR's co-owner Raj Kundra from any cricket activities.
• Kedar Jadhav- he hit a century in the third and last one day match of the one day series against Zimbabwe which India won 3-0.
• India- they defeated New Zealand in the Davis Cup title at Christchurch to qualify for the World Group playoffs in September 2015. The Indian team comprising of Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, and Rohan Bopanna was led by Captain Anand Amritraj.
• Zimbabwe- they defeated India in the second T-20 match at Harare to square the T-20 match series 1-1.
• Mick Fanning- the 34-year old three time world surfing champion who was recently survived a terrifying encounter with a shark while competing in the final heat of a world tour event in Jeffrey's bay in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
• Zach Johnson- the American golf player who won recently won the British Open title.
• Pakistan- they recently defeated Sri Lanka in the one day cricket series.
• Eden Gardens- the famous cricketing venue which has been chosen to host 2016 World Twenty 20 finals.
• Virat Kohli-he will lead India against Sri Lanka fir the 3-Test series which will be his first full series as captain after he led in two of the four Tests in Australia and the one-off match in Bangladesh.
• Shubham Jaglan- the young golfer from India who recently etched his name into history book by winning his second successive title when he won the International Junior Golf Academy World Stars of Junior Golf event at Las Vegas. Recently he also bagged the Junior World Golf Championship title in California.
• Paul van Ass- the Dutch hockey expert who was recently removed from the post of national hockey coach of India.
• S Sreesanth- the former Indian cricketer who along with 35 others which included Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan was recently exonerated by a Delhi court after the police failed to make out case against them.
• Rafael Nadal- the Spaniard tennis player who defeated Italian Fabio Fognini to win the Hamburg Open tennis title which was his 67th career title.
• Rajat Chauhan- he became the first Indian to win an individual medal at the World Shooting Championship when he bagged the silver medal in the men's compound round.
• Shah Rukh Khan- the actor from whom the Mumbai Crocket Association (MCA) recently revoked its ban of entering the Wankhede stadium.
• Deepaki Kumari- she led Indian women's recurve archery team to a silver medal at the World Championships held recently at Copenhagen.

Current Affairs - August 2015

International Affairs

• Windows 10- the much awaited new operating system which was launched by Microsoft together in 190 countries. For the first time in Microsoft's history, Windows 10 is a free upgrade to users on Windows 7 and Windows 8- a sign of Microsoft bucking to the modern trend, started by both Apple and Google, of giving operating systems away for free.
• Tethys- the moon of the planet Saturn on whose surface NASA's spacecraft Cassini has spotted unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks.
• Aurora- it is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude regions. Astronomers recently discovered the first of this outside our solar system, around a brown dwarf star around 18 light years away from Earth, which is up to 10,000 times more powerful than any previously seen.
• Rocky Fire- the name of the wildfire which recently raged through the northern California destroying many homes and displacing many residents.
• SDG- stands for Sustainable Development Goals of UN that entail 17 goals and 169 targets applicable from January 1, 2016 which will replace the Millennium Development Goals 2015. These goals are to be met by 2030 by 192 countries and $2.5 trillion is needed to implement SDG.
• 6th August-this day marked the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. It was 1945 on this day American b-29 bomber dropped a bomb, dubbed �Little Boy' on Hiroshima which instantly killed more than 80,000 people.
• Pyongyang time- the new time zone announced by North Korea which will be 30 minutes behind those of South Korea and Japan. The change is to go into effect on August 15, 2015, the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II, which liberated a then-unified Korea from decades of Japanese colonial rule.
• 9th August- this day marked the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb, �Fat Man' on Japan's Nagasaki which killed more than 74,000 people.
• 51 Eridani- the name of the new planet found recently by researchers. It is a methane shrouded planet 100 light years away that resembles a young Jupiter and holds water. It is only 20 million years old-a mere infant by astronomy standards. It is the first planet detected by the Gemini Planet Imager, which was designed to discover and analyse faint young planets orbiting bright, nearby stars.
• Erawan shrine- the Hindu shrine dedicated to Hindu God Brahma located in central Bangkok which was recently rocked by blasts which killed many people.
• Reboot the Suit- the name of online crowdfunding campaign to restore the spacesuit that astronaut Neil Armstrong wore when he became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969. This is the first time the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex has turned to crowdfunding to help cover the cost of preserving its most valuable artefacts from the ravages of time.
• 24th August 2015- the date on which Facebook passed an important milestone-for the first time ever one billion people used Facebook in a single day,the highest ever on a single day according to its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• Grumpy Cat- she will become the first feline to be honored with an animatronic wax statute at the Madame Tussauds museum in San Francisco.3, 00,000 is the number of followers she has on Twitter.

National Affairs

• UPTU- stands for Uttar Pradesh technical University which was recently renamed as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University after late President.
• Komen- the cyclone which created a depression over parts of Bangladesh and killed many people in the eastern states of India.
• 7.25%- the Repo rate which was kept unchanged by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan in the recent announced monetary policy review. It is the rate at which banks borrow from RBI.
• 4%- the CRR rate which was kept unchanged by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan in the recent announced monetary policy review. It stands for Cash Reserve
• Ratio- proportion of the amount of deposits banks park with RBI.
• BrahMos- the new series of this missile has been renamed BrahMos-II(K)-the K in its stands as tribute to former President APJ Abdul Kalam who fired India's missile and nuclear programme. The hypersonic missile which will travel at a speed of 8,575 kmph is being developed by the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace.
• Biswa Bangla- the name of the state-of-the-art outlet of West Bengal which houses products made by thousands of weavers and artisans depicting culture of the state.
• Indradhanush- the name of the seven point agenda announced recently to improve the PSU banks. They are- Appointments, Bank Board Bureau, Capitalisation, De-Stressing, Empowerment, Performance and Reforms.
• Taj Mahal- the first historical monument to start an official handle on the micro-blogging site. The launch was done on 15th August 2015.
• Buddy- the name of the mobile valet of State bank of India which was recently launched by Union Finance Minister, ArunJaitley in Mumbai.
• SMILE- stands for Sidbi Make in India Loan for Enterprises which was recently launched by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley in Mumbai. The Rs.10,000 crore SMILE is intended to take forward the government's �Make In India' campaign and help MSEs to meet the required debt-equity ratio as well as pursuing opportunities for growth of SMEs.
• Rs 1,00,000 � the maximum deposit that a payments bank can accept from an individual as per the new norms announced by Reserve Bank of India for payment banks. The central bank recently gave 11 entities licences to start payments banks. These banks will primarily provide remittance services. Though they can accept deposits from an individual, they cannot offer loans.
• Ai-Ki-Do- the name of recently announced three enhanced service offerings in design thinking, platforms and knowledge based IT. The idea has been taken from the Japanese martial arts- Aikido.
• Aurangzeb Road- the road located in Lutyen's Delhi which is going to be renamed as the APJ Kalam Road in honour of the former President who passed away last month.

Sports

• Rafael Nadal- the Spaniard tennis player who defeated Italian Fabio Fognini to win the Hamburg Open tennis title which was his 67th career title.
• Rajat Chauhan- he became the first Indian to win an individual medal at the World Shooting Championship when he bagged the silver medal in the men's compound round.
• Shah Rukh Khan- the actor from whom the Mumbai Crocket Association (MCA) recently revoked its ban of entering the Wankhede stadium.
• Deepaki Kumari- she led Indian women's recurve archery team to a silver medal at the World Championships held recently at Copenhagen.
• Katie Ledecky- the US swimmer who recently broke her own 1,500 freestyle records in the world swimming championship at Kazan, Russia.
• 60- the shortest first innings score in Test history which was scored by Australia recently in the fourth Test match against England at Nottingham.
• Stuart Broad- the England fast bowler who recently achieved the fastest ever five wicket haul in just 19 balls when he took 8 wickets in the first innings against Australia during the fourth Test match at Nottingham.
• England- they won their fourth consecutive Ashes series at home, the longest such sequence for them since 1896-97, as they crushed Australia by an innings and 78 runs in the fourth Test.
• Gabala- the place in Azerbaijan which recently hosted the shooting World Cup 2015.
• R.Ashwin- the Indian spinner who with bowling figures of 6/46 against Sri Lankan the 1st Test match at Galle became the best Indian spinner while bowling in first innings of an away test, surpassing the 6/94 by Chandrashekhar against NZ at Auckland in 1976.
• SainaNehwal- the India's shuttler who won the silver at the World Badminton Championship at Jakarta, Indonesia. She was defeated in the finals by Spanish top seed Carolina Marin. She also became the first Indian to reach the final of World Championship.
• Galle- the venue of the first Test match where Sri Lanka defeated India by 63 runs to go 1-0 up in the three-Test series.
• Andy Murray- he defeated Novak Djokovic to clinch the Montreal Masters tennis title recently.
• Sebastian Coe- he defeated Sergey Bukka by 115 votes to 92 to be elected as President of IAAF-the world apex body of athletics.
• Usain Bolt- he retained the 100m World Championship title besting his closest rival Justin Gatlin by one-hundredth of a second at Beijing recently.
• Anirban Lahiri- the Indian golfer who recently notched India's best ever result in golf at a major championship by finishing fifth at the PGA championship at Wisconsin. He overshadowed the previous best-ever finish by an Indian-Jeev Milkha Singh who had taken joint ninth spot at the PGA Championship in 2008.
• Aditi Chauhan- she recently became the first player from the national women's football team to play competitive football when she played her first game for West Ham Ladies in a FA Women's Premier League in England.
• Ajinkya Rahane- the Indian cricketer who created a world record of taking catches in a Test match when he took eight catches in the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Galle.
• Lokesh Rahul- India's test cricket opener, who scored his second century in the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Colombo recently.
• India -they beat Sri Lanka by 278 runs to win the second Test and level the three- match series between the countries in Colombo recently. The victory was first under ViratKohli which came after five Tests.
• U Mumba- they won the Pro Kabaddi League Championships 2015 defeating Bengaluru Bulls in the finals.
• SaniaMirza- the ace tennis player of India who was recently honoured with country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna from President Pranab Mukherjee. She became only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be awarded the country's highest sporting honour.
• CheteshwarPujara- the Indian batsman who scored century in the third Test match against Sri Lanka at Colombo. He also became only the fourth Indian batsman to carry his bat through a completed Test innings when he scored 145 not out in that match.
• Hockey-the game in which women's team qualified for the next year's Olympic at Rio de Janerio- entry to Olympic after 36 year long wait.
• Kumar Sangakkara - the Sri Lankan cricketer who announced his retirement recently. He has to his credit 12,400 Test runs and 14,234 ODI runs.
• AB de Villers- the South African batsman who recently achieved the distinction of reaching 8000 run mark in ODI in the fastest time. He achieved this feat in 190 matches. The previous record was held by India's Saurav Ganguly who has achieved this in 208 matches.

Current Affairs - August 2015

International Affairs

• Windows 10- the much awaited new operating system which was launched by Microsoft together in 190 countries. For the first time in Microsoft's history, Windows 10 is a free upgrade to users on Windows 7 and Windows 8- a sign of Microsoft bucking to the modern trend, started by both Apple and Google, of giving operating systems away for free.
• Tethys- the moon of the planet Saturn on whose surface NASA's spacecraft Cassini has spotted unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks.
• Aurora- it is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude regions. Astronomers recently discovered the first of this outside our solar system, around a brown dwarf star around 18 light years away from Earth, which is up to 10,000 times more powerful than any previously seen.
• Rocky Fire- the name of the wildfire which recently raged through the northern California destroying many homes and displacing many residents.
• SDG- stands for Sustainable Development Goals of UN that entail 17 goals and 169 targets applicable from January 1, 2016 which will replace the Millennium Development Goals 2015. These goals are to be met by 2030 by 192 countries and $2.5 trillion is needed to implement SDG.
• 6th August-this day marked the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. It was 1945 on this day American b-29 bomber dropped a bomb, dubbed �Little Boy' on Hiroshima which instantly killed more than 80,000 people.
• Pyongyang time- the new time zone announced by North Korea which will be 30 minutes behind those of South Korea and Japan. The change is to go into effect on August 15, 2015, the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II, which liberated a then-unified Korea from decades of Japanese colonial rule.
• 9th August- this day marked the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb, �Fat Man' on Japan's Nagasaki which killed more than 74,000 people.
• 51 Eridani- the name of the new planet found recently by researchers. It is a methane shrouded planet 100 light years away that resembles a young Jupiter and holds water. It is only 20 million years old-a mere infant by astronomy standards. It is the first planet detected by the Gemini Planet Imager, which was designed to discover and analyse faint young planets orbiting bright, nearby stars.
• Erawan shrine- the Hindu shrine dedicated to Hindu God Brahma located in central Bangkok which was recently rocked by blasts which killed many people.
• Reboot the Suit- the name of online crowdfunding campaign to restore the spacesuit that astronaut Neil Armstrong wore when he became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969. This is the first time the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex has turned to crowdfunding to help cover the cost of preserving its most valuable artefacts from the ravages of time.
• 24th August 2015- the date on which Facebook passed an important milestone-for the first time ever one billion people used Facebook in a single day,the highest ever on a single day according to its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• Grumpy Cat- she will become the first feline to be honored with an animatronic wax statute at the Madame Tussauds museum in San Francisco.3, 00,000 is the number of followers she has on Twitter.

National Affairs

• UPTU- stands for Uttar Pradesh technical University which was recently renamed as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University after late President.
• Komen- the cyclone which created a depression over parts of Bangladesh and killed many people in the eastern states of India.
• 7.25%- the Repo rate which was kept unchanged by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan in the recent announced monetary policy review. It is the rate at which banks borrow from RBI.
• 4%- the CRR rate which was kept unchanged by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan in the recent announced monetary policy review. It stands for Cash Reserve
• Ratio- proportion of the amount of deposits banks park with RBI.
• BrahMos- the new series of this missile has been renamed BrahMos-II(K)-the K in its stands as tribute to former President APJ Abdul Kalam who fired India's missile and nuclear programme. The hypersonic missile which will travel at a speed of 8,575 kmph is being developed by the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace.
• Biswa Bangla- the name of the state-of-the-art outlet of West Bengal which houses products made by thousands of weavers and artisans depicting culture of the state.
• Indradhanush- the name of the seven point agenda announced recently to improve the PSU banks. They are- Appointments, Bank Board Bureau, Capitalisation, De-Stressing, Empowerment, Performance and Reforms.
• Taj Mahal- the first historical monument to start an official handle on the micro-blogging site. The launch was done on 15th August 2015.
• Buddy- the name of the mobile valet of State bank of India which was recently launched by Union Finance Minister, ArunJaitley in Mumbai.
• SMILE- stands for Sidbi Make in India Loan for Enterprises which was recently launched by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley in Mumbai. The Rs.10,000 crore SMILE is intended to take forward the government's �Make In India' campaign and help MSEs to meet the required debt-equity ratio as well as pursuing opportunities for growth of SMEs.
• Rs 1,00,000 � the maximum deposit that a payments bank can accept from an individual as per the new norms announced by Reserve Bank of India for payment banks. The central bank recently gave 11 entities licences to start payments banks. These banks will primarily provide remittance services. Though they can accept deposits from an individual, they cannot offer loans.
• Ai-Ki-Do- the name of recently announced three enhanced service offerings in design thinking, platforms and knowledge based IT. The idea has been taken from the Japanese martial arts- Aikido.
• Aurangzeb Road- the road located in Lutyen's Delhi which is going to be renamed as the APJ Kalam Road in honour of the former President who passed away last month.

Sports

• Rafael Nadal- the Spaniard tennis player who defeated Italian Fabio Fognini to win the Hamburg Open tennis title which was his 67th career title.
• Rajat Chauhan- he became the first Indian to win an individual medal at the World Shooting Championship when he bagged the silver medal in the men's compound round.
• Shah Rukh Khan- the actor from whom the Mumbai Crocket Association (MCA) recently revoked its ban of entering the Wankhede stadium.
• Deepaki Kumari- she led Indian women's recurve archery team to a silver medal at the World Championships held recently at Copenhagen.
• Katie Ledecky- the US swimmer who recently broke her own 1,500 freestyle records in the world swimming championship at Kazan, Russia.
• 60- the shortest first innings score in Test history which was scored by Australia recently in the fourth Test match against England at Nottingham.
• Stuart Broad- the England fast bowler who recently achieved the fastest ever five wicket haul in just 19 balls when he took 8 wickets in the first innings against Australia during the fourth Test match at Nottingham.
• England- they won their fourth consecutive Ashes series at home, the longest such sequence for them since 1896-97, as they crushed Australia by an innings and 78 runs in the fourth Test.
• Gabala- the place in Azerbaijan which recently hosted the shooting World Cup 2015.
• R.Ashwin- the Indian spinner who with bowling figures of 6/46 against Sri Lankan the 1st Test match at Galle became the best Indian spinner while bowling in first innings of an away test, surpassing the 6/94 by Chandrashekhar against NZ at Auckland in 1976.
• SainaNehwal- the India's shuttler who won the silver at the World Badminton Championship at Jakarta, Indonesia. She was defeated in the finals by Spanish top seed Carolina Marin. She also became the first Indian to reach the final of World Championship.
• Galle- the venue of the first Test match where Sri Lanka defeated India by 63 runs to go 1-0 up in the three-Test series.
• Andy Murray- he defeated Novak Djokovic to clinch the Montreal Masters tennis title recently.
• Sebastian Coe- he defeated Sergey Bukka by 115 votes to 92 to be elected as President of IAAF-the world apex body of athletics.
• Usain Bolt- he retained the 100m World Championship title besting his closest rival Justin Gatlin by one-hundredth of a second at Beijing recently.
• Anirban Lahiri- the Indian golfer who recently notched India's best ever result in golf at a major championship by finishing fifth at the PGA championship at Wisconsin. He overshadowed the previous best-ever finish by an Indian-Jeev Milkha Singh who had taken joint ninth spot at the PGA Championship in 2008.
• Aditi Chauhan- she recently became the first player from the national women's football team to play competitive football when she played her first game for West Ham Ladies in a FA Women's Premier League in England.
• Ajinkya Rahane- the Indian cricketer who created a world record of taking catches in a Test match when he took eight catches in the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Galle.
• Lokesh Rahul- India's test cricket opener, who scored his second century in the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Colombo recently.
• India -they beat Sri Lanka by 278 runs to win the second Test and level the three- match series between the countries in Colombo recently. The victory was first under ViratKohli which came after five Tests.
• U Mumba- they won the Pro Kabaddi League Championships 2015 defeating Bengaluru Bulls in the finals.
• SaniaMirza- the ace tennis player of India who was recently honoured with country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna from President Pranab Mukherjee. She became only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be awarded the country's highest sporting honour.
• CheteshwarPujara- the Indian batsman who scored century in the third Test match against Sri Lanka at Colombo. He also became only the fourth Indian batsman to carry his bat through a completed Test innings when he scored 145 not out in that match.
• Hockey-the game in which women's team qualified for the next year's Olympic at Rio de Janerio- entry to Olympic after 36 year long wait.
• Kumar Sangakkara - the Sri Lankan cricketer who announced his retirement recently. He has to his credit 12,400 Test runs and 14,234 ODI runs.
• AB de Villers- the South African batsman who recently achieved the distinction of reaching 8000 run mark in ODI in the fastest time. He achieved this feat in 190 matches. The previous record was held by India's Saurav Ganguly who has achieved this in 208 matches.

Current Affairs - September 2015

International Affairs

• MARS- the planet from where first proof of flowing waters have been found recently. Scientists analyzing data from a NASA spacecraft have found the first evidence that briny water flowed on the surface of Mars as recently as last summer.
• Dujuan- the super typhoon which battered Taiwan recently leaving many injured as torrential rain and fierce winds hits many parts of the island's northeastern tip.
• October 3,2015- this day marked the 25 years of joyful reunification of Germany and is celebrated as Germany's national day. The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is recognized as the symbol of German unity.
• Game of Thrones- the fantasy TV series which was the biggest winner with 12 Emmy awards at the 67th Emmy Awards ceremony recently.
• G4- stands for the group of 4 nations which include India, Germany, Japan and Brazil. The G4 summit was held recently in New York which was attended by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
• SDG- stands for Sustainable Development Goals which were adopted by the United Nations at the summit meeting in New York recently. These are vision for improving lives across the world over the next 15 years i.e. by 2030.
• ArxPax- the Californian based company with which NASA has joined hands recently to develop a Star trek style tractor beam, a magnetic tethering device, to manipulate objects in space. As the first target the team aims to use the tractor beam to capture CubeSats- lightweight micro-satellite measuring up to 10 sqcm.
• Etau- the typhoon which hits parts of Japan recently followed by heavy rains which severely effected Osaki, north east of Tokyo.
• People's Action Party- the party which returned to power with a thumping majority in Singapore. This party has won every election since Independence in 1965.

National Current News

• ASTROSAT- India's first space research observatory, which was launched recently from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It will help in detailed understanding of the universe and also help in a detailed understanding of the universe and also put into orbit six foreign satellites, including the first from the US. So far only the US, Japan, Russia and Europe have launched the space observatory. It will observe universe in the optical, ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, while most other satellites are capable of observing a narrow range of wavelength band.
• Face book- the famous social media whose office was recently visited by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent US visit where he interacted with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• REPO Rate- the key lending rate which was reduced by 0.50 percentage points to 6.75% recently by Reserve Bank of India's Governor Raghuram Rajan in the monetary policy announced recently. This will lead to cheaper loans for households and companies. Repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow from RBI. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the proportion of deposits banks have to park with RBI remains unchanged at 4% and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) which stands for the proportion of deposits banks are required to park in govt. bonds also remains unchanged at 21.5%.
• INS Kochi- the India's latest warship, a stealth guided-missile destroyer which was commissioned in Mumbai recently. It is packed with an array of state-of-the-art weapons. It has four AK-630 rapid fire guns, indigenously developed twin-tube torpedo launchers and anti-submarine rocket launchers, Indo-Israeli developed LR-SAM (Long Range surface-to-air missiles) along with supersonic cruise missiles.
• 35%- the percentage cut in intensity of carbon emissions from 2005 levels over the next 15 years formed part of the India's ambitious climate change plan which was announced by India's environment minister at Berlin recently. India also plans to generate 40%of its power from non-fossils fuels by 2030.The submission-called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)-requires a whopping $2.5trillion and targets were contingent on availability of international funds and affordable technology.
• 90days- the number of minimum days for which the people were to keep the message of instant messaging as indicated in the draft policy on internet security which was subsequently withdrawn.
• PACL � the company on which SEBI recently imposed a record penalty of Rs.7269crore for illegal and fraudulent mobilization of funds from the public.
• Pattiseema Lift Irrigation scheme- the famous scheme through which the water of the two great rivers of the south, the Godavari and the Krishna were formally connected recently. The Godavari waters reached the Krishna covering a distance of 175 km.
• 10- the number of small banks which received in-principle approval from Reserve Bank of India which will be valid for 18 months. RBI would grant licenses only after applicants comply with requirements-15% of capital would be total permitted lending, 50%of loan portfolio to be Rs.25lakh or less mainly disbursed to micro enterprises and 25% of branches would be in unbanked rural areas for first 3 years. The 10 applicants who received the approval are-Ujjivan Financial Services(Bengaluru), Equitas Holdings(Chennai), Au Financers(Jaipur), Capital Local Area Bank(Jalandhar), Disha Microfin(Ahmedabad), ESAF Microfin(Chennai), Janalakshmi Financial (Bengaluru), RGVN(NE)Microfin ( Guwahati), Suryoday MicroFin(Navi Mumbai) and Utkarsh Micro Fin(Varanasi).
• GMS- stands for Gold Monetisation Scheme which was announced by government recently. Under this scheme physical gold minimum of 30 grams can be deposited in gold accounts similar to savings account and then the gold will be tested for purity, melted and stored in designated warehouses. The investor will receive interest income, denominated in grams of gold. When the account matures the investor will have the option of taking gold or cash in return.
• SGB- stands for Sovereign Gold Bonds which was announced by government recently. The purpose of this scheme is to give the investor an option to buy a paper instrument linked to gold prices rather than buy physical gold. The bonds of 5, 10, 50 or 100 gram denominations will be issued and tenure will range from 5-7 years. It will have an annual cap of 500gms per person.

Sports Updates

• Shashank Manohar-he was recently elected as President of BCCI to replace Jagmohan Dalmiya who died in September 2015.
• Rohit Sharma- he scored a century in the first T20 international which India lost to South Africa at Dharamsala.
• Wuhan Open- the seventh tennis title of 2015 which was won by doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.
• Novak Djokovic- the World No.1 tennis player who won his third Grand Slam tournament of 2015 by beating Roger Federer in the US Open Final.
• Hangzhou- the Chinese city which was recently awarded the rights to host the 2022 Asian Games.
• Czech Republic- they defeated India in the Davis Cup playoffs due to which India was relegated to Asia Oceania Group 1 round.
• Ajay Jayaram- the Indian shuttler who won silver in the Korean Open Super series at Seoul recently. After producing a giant killing run to earn a maiden Super series final appearance he was defeated by defending champion and world no.1 Chen Long of China in the finals.
• Leander Paes- he along with Martina Hingis became the first pair since 1969 to win the three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in the same season after their win at the US Open. They have already won Australian Open and Wimbledon title this year.
• Sania Mirza- she partnered with Martina Hingis to win the US Open women's double title. This was her second doubles Grand Slam title this year after the Wimbledon title
• Roberta Vinci- the Italian player who knocked out Serena Williams in the US Open semifinal recently.
• Flavia Pennetta- she defeated Roberta Vinci to win the US Open tennis title. This was her first Grand Slam singles title after which she announced her retirement at the prize giving ceremony.

Current Affairs - October 2015

International Affairs

• Robo Bee- the insect like robot which has been designed by engineers at Harvard University’s John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It is smaller than a paper clip that can both fly and swim-paving the way for aerial and aquatic robotic vehicles.
• SPECTRE- stands for Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion (SPECTRE) which is the title of the forthcoming movie of James Bond.
• Blue- the colour in which the UN headquarters was lit up for the 70th anniversary of the United Nations in New York on 24th October 2015.
• Kimbetopsalis simmonsae- the plant eating beaver like mammal whose fossil remains were discovered recently. It is believed that they lived just after the mass extinction of life on Earth, 66 million years ago.

Nobel Prizes-2015

• Arthur McDonald- the scientist of Canada who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics for 2015 with Takaaki Kajita of Japan. They discovered that Neutrinos have mass, a key piece of the puzzle in understanding the cosmos. The prevailing theory was that neutrinos were massless. Neutrinos are electrically subatomic particles that are created as the result of nuclear reactions such as the process of Sun shine.
• Tu Youyou- the scientist from China who shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for 2015 with William Campbell from US and Santoshi Omura from Japan. Tu Youyou is cited for discovering Artemisinin, a drug that’s now the primary treatment against malaria. Omura and Campbell discovered another drug, Avermectin, whose derivatives have helped fight river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.
• Tomas Lindahl- the scientist from Sweden who along with Paul Modrich from the US and Aziz Sancar of Turkey won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2015. They showed how cells repair damaged DNA- work that has inspired the development of new cancer treatments.
• Svetlana Alexievich- the Belarusian writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature for 2015 for her work chronicling the horrors of war and life under the repressive Soviet regime. Alexievich’s work includes a series of books called the “Voices of Utopia” about individuals in the former Soviet Union as well as works on the consequences of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl and the Russian war in Afghanistan.
• Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet- they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for 2015 for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in the North African country of Tunisia following its 2011 revolution. The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of four key organization in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers which is the country’s bar association.
• MARS- the planet from where first proof of flowing waters have been found recently. Scientists analyzing data from a NASA spacecraft have found the first evidence that briny water flowed on the surface of Mars as recently as last summer.
• Dujuan- the super typhoon which battered Taiwan recently leaving many injured as torrential rain and fierce winds hits many parts of the island’s northeastern tip.
• October 3,2015- this day marked the 25 years of joyful reunification of Germany and is celebrated as Germany’s national day. The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is recognized as the symbol of German unity.

National Current News

• Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon- the Mumbai-origin person who migrated to Britain with little funds and went on to found several Indian food companies that made him known as Britain's first ‘Curry King’ died recently.
• FTII- stands for Film and Television Institute of India located at Pune which was in the news recently after the students called off their 139-day-long strike. However they said they will continue to protest until the government revokes what they termed the ‘political appointments’ of Gajendra Chauhan and five others.
• 7.5%- the percentage GDP growth of India forecasted by World Bank for India for current fiscal year 2015-16 in its bi annual report-India Development Update.
• NRIs- stand for Non Resident Indians who were recently allowed to invest in National Payment System (NPS) by Reserve Bank of India.
• October 31st- this day was celebrated as national unity day in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel- the Iron Man and the architect of Modern India.
• Vikalp- the new scheme launched by Indian railways under which the waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train if they opt for the option while bookings their tickets online.
• IDFC- the new bank which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.
• Reliance Capital- the Anil Ambani led company which recently announced the acquisition of Indian mutual fund business of Goldman Sachs for Rs.243 crore in an all-cash deal.
• Ind AS- the new accounting norms which banks and NBFCs have to adopt from April 1, 2018. These are part of the global IFRS accounting standards. The norms ask for anticipation of bad loans based on company’s track record and industry performances, among others. It also stipulates providing for bad loans for performing company on the presumption that a marginal percentage of the loan might turn bad. Companies have to migrate to the new norms from April1,2016.
• June 2017- the month from when the country’s first women fighter will join the Indian Air Force making a watershed development in the air force’s 83 year old history. These pilots are presently receiving training at the Air Force Academy near Hyderabad.
• January1,2016- the date from which the practice of holding interviews for selection to junior government posts in the non-gazette posts are proposed to be removed by the government as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat programme.
• Article 44- the Article of the Constitution which says that the State shall endeavor to secure for citizens a Uniform Civil code throughout the country. This was in news after the Supreme Court asked the government to decide on Uniform Civil Code soon.
• January 23, 2016- the date of birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose which has been set as date to start declassification of secret files related to him which will unravel the mystery surrounding the freedom fighter’s death. This was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after meeting the family members of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
• Knesset- the Parliament of Israel which was addressed by President Pranab Mukherjee on his recent to Jerusalem, Israel.
• Rs.1- the amount of penalty mobile operator will have to pay for call drop from January 1, 2016 as directed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
• German- the language which will come back as an additional language at Kendriya Vidyalayas a year after it was controversially replaced by Sanskrit at these schools after India and Germany signed an agreement in this regard recently.
• IMF- stands for International Monetary Fund which downgraded India's GDP growth to 7.3% from 7.5% for 2015 in its World’s Economic Outlook update which was released recently. In 2016 India is forecast to grow at 7.5% against China's 6.3%.
• ASTROSAT- India's first space research observatory, which was launched recently from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It will help in detailed understanding of the universe and also help in a detailed understanding of the universe and also put into orbit six foreign satellites, including the first from the US. So far only the US, Japan, Russia and Europe have launched the space observatory. It will observe universe in the optical, ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, while most other satellites are capable of observing a narrow range of wavelength band.
• Face book- the famous social media whose office was recently visited by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent US visit where he interacted with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• REPO Rate- the key lending rate which was reduced by 0.50 percentage points to 6.75% recently by Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Raghuram Rajan in the monetary policy announced recently. This will lead to cheaper loans for households and companies. Repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow from RBI. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the proportion of deposits banks have to park with RBI remains unchanged at 4% and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) which stands for the proportion of deposits banks are required to park in govt. bonds also remains unchanged at 21.5%.
• INS Kochi- the India’s latest warship, a stealth guided-missile destroyer which was commissioned in Mumbai recently. It is packed with an array of state-of-the-art weapons. It has four AK-630 rapid fire guns, indigenously developed twin-tube torpedo launchers and anti-submarine rocket launchers, Indo-Israeli developed LR-SAM (Long Range surface-to-air missiles) along with supersonic cruise missiles.
• 35%- the percentage cut in intensity of carbon emissions from 2005 levels over the next 15 years formed part of the India’s ambitious climate change plan which was announced by India’s environment minister at Berlin recently. India also plans to generate 40%of its power from non-fossils fuels by 2030.The submission-called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)-requires a whopping $2.5trillion and targets were contingent on availability of international funds and affordable technology.

Sports Updates

• Lewis Hamilton- he won the US Grand Prix tournament recently and joined an elite group of triple Formula One World Champions. Hamilton is only the second Briton since Jackie Stewart in 1973 to win three titles.
• Deepika Kumari- India's archer who bagged her fourth silver medal in five years at the archery World Cup final after going down to reigning world No.1 and top seed Korea's Choi Misun at Mexico City recently.
• Sania Mirza- she partnered with Martina Hingis to win her 9th doubles title of the year at the WTA at Singapore and also clinched the year end No.1 doubles ranking.
• Virender Sehwag- one of the most explosive batsman of India who announced his retirement from international cricket recently. He is the only triple centurion for India in Tests. He scored a career best 319 against South Africa in 2008 and 309 against Pakistan in 2004.
• Virat Kohli- he slammed his 23rd ODI century to help India beat South Africa by 35 runs in the 4th ODI at Chennai and level the five match series 2-2.He is now fifth on the list of players with most ODI centuries. Sachin Tendulkar (49), Ricky Ponting (30), Sanath Jayasuriya (28) and Kumar Sangakara (25) are the top four.
• South Africa- they clinched the one day cricket series 3-2, after India slumped to a humiliating 214-run defeat in a lopsided series decider at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai recently.
• Cristiano Ronaldo- the Portuguese player who received his record fourth Golden Shoe award after leading all scorers in Europe domestic leagues last season.
• Mahendra Singh Dhoni- he was adjudged Man of the Match in the second one day international match against South Africa at Indore recently which India won by 22 runs.
• Zaheer Khan- the Indian fast bowler, master of seam and 2011 world cup hero who announced his retirement from international cricket recently.
• PV Sindhu- the Indian shuttler who lost the finals of the Denmark Open badminton championship to Olympic Champion Li Xuerui of China.
• South Africa- they defeated India at the second T-20 match at Cuttack to win the T20 series.
• Vijender Singh- the Indian boxer who got his professional career off to a flying start in Manchester by defeating Britain’s Sonny Whiting.
• Sania Mirza- she partnered with Martina Hingis to win their eighth trophy of the season when they lifted the WTA China Open at Beijing recently.
• Ajay Jayaram- the Indian shuttler who defeated Estonia’s Raul Must to win the men’s singles title at the Dutch Open Grand Prix at Almere in Netherlands.
• Shashank Manohar-he was recently elected as President of BCCI to replace Jagmohan Dalmiya who died in September 2015.
• Rohit Sharma- he scored a century in the first T20 international which India lost to South Africa at Dharamsala.
• Wuhan Open- the seventh tennis title of 2015 which was won by doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.

Current Affairs - November 2015

International Affairs

• James Webb- the most powerful space telescope being built by NASA team that will replace the Hubble telescope which will start decaying by 2020. It can detect light from the first galaxies and study every phase of our universeas history.
• AKP- stands for Justice and Development Party which is the ruling party of Turkey. This party under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured a stunning victory in the snap parliamentary elections held recently.
• Robo Bee- the insect like robot which has been designed by engineers at Harvard University’s John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It is smaller than a paper clip that can both fly and swim-paving the way for aerial and aquatic robotic vehicles.
• SPECTRE- stands for Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion (SPECTRE) which is the title of the forthcoming movie of James Bond.

National Current News

• Vaishno Devi- the famous shrine located at a height of 5,300 feet on the Trikuta Hills in Jammu which was in the news recently after a chopper carrying pilgrims crashed after a suspected bird hit.
• e-Lala- the portal recently launched by brick and mortar trading companies to take on the challenge of e-tailers. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the pan-India association of traditional traders launched this e-commerce platform in Nagpur recently.
• HSBC India- one of the foreign bank which recently announced that it is shutting down its private banking business in the country following a world-wide strategic review, making it the third foreign financial services major to get out of this business after Royal bank of Scotland and Morgan Stanley.
• Chandrabhaga Beach- the beach in Konark of Odisha which recently hosted the International Sand Art Festival.
• CGWB- stands for Central Ground Water Board which recently issued new guidelines for ground water extraction. Under the new rules ground water extraction only for those homes not having public water supply, only one extraction permission per househould which will cease to exist once supply is provided, motors up to one horsepower will be allowed. India’s average groundwater level fell from 28.7 meters in 1950 to 61.2 metres in 2009. These guidelines will be applicable for residential houses in 6607 notified areas in one-fourth of the districts of the country.
• Indian Highway Management Company Limited- the new company which has been set up to implement radio tag-enabled electronic toll collection(ETC) systems across all highways by March 2016 and has decided to make ETC lanes as a mandatory clause in the new highway building contracts.
• HAM- stands for Hybrid Annuity Model launched by centre to fund road projects to aid revival by creating jobs and pushing income growth. Under this the government will pay 40% of the project cost to developer during construction and developer will pay the balance. The NHAI will collect the toll and refund 60% of the developer’s cost over a 10-year period. The government has set a target to build 30km of new national highways every day.
• GE- this company along with Alstom were recently awarded contracts for setting up of Rs.40,000crore worth diesel and electric locomotive factories in Marhaura and Madhepura respectively in Bihar, marking the first major FDI in rail projects.
• Air service- the sector in which the government recently announced 49% FDI in regional air transport service under automatic route. The government also allowed 49% FDI in Defence under the automatic route against the current prerequisite of government approval. The government also allowed 100% automatic FDI in completed projects for operation and management of townships, malls/shopping complexes and business centres; no restrictions on minimum floor area or minimum capitalization.
• Project Loon- the hovering balloons project which is proposed to be launched by Google to provide internet connectivity to millions, mainly in rural India. Google has asked Indian government for permission to launch this scheme. The 15x12 m sized balloon made of polyethylene plastic are lighter than air and can beam internet connection to a ground area of 40km in diameter.
• Gold Monetisation Scheme- the new scheme launched my Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under this scheme one can earn on the depositing the idle gold and the country will benefit by importing less gold. All residents can invest and the minimum deposit will be 30grams of raw gold and these deposits will be available for short, medium & long term. Short term deposits will be redeemable in gold or in rupees at prevailing prices while medium and long term will only be redeemable in prevailing price. Gold will be collected and assayed before being accepted as deposit.
• Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme- the new scheme launched my Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under this scheme bonds will be issued by Government of India in denominations in one gram gold and its multiples-minimum investment-2gm and maximum investment-500gm. The tenure of the bond will be 8 years with an exit option from 5th year on interest bearing dates. Bond is interest bearing, available in DEMAT & paper form, tradable on stock exchange and can be used as collateral for loans.
• Indian Gold Coin- the new scheme launched my Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under this scheme 24 carat purity, 999 fineness gold coins minted in India, hallmarked by BIS will be available for sale. These will have anti counterfeit features with tamper proof packaging and will be available in 5gm & 10gm coin and 20gm bullion at MMTC centres across India.
• 0.5%- the amount of Swachh Bharat cess which has been imposed on all services liable for service tax from November 15, 2015 taking the service tax to 14.5%.
• Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon- the Mumbai-origin person who migrated to Britain with little funds and went on to found several Indian food companies that made him known as Britain's first ‘Curry King’ died recently.
• FTII- stands for Film and Television Institute of India located at Pune which was in the news recently after the students called off their 139-day-long strike. However they said they will continue to protest until the government revokes what they termed the ‘political appointments’ of Gajendra Chauhan and five others.
• 7.5%- the percentage GDP growth of India forecasted by World Bank for India for current fiscal year 2015-16 in its bi annual report-India Development Update.
• NRIs- stand for Non Resident Indians who were recently allowed to invest in National Payment System (NPS) by Reserve Bank of India.
• October 31st- this day was celebrated as national unity day in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel- the Iron Man and the architect of Modern India.
• Vikalp- the new scheme launched by Indian railways under which the waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train if they opt for the option while bookings their tickets online.

Sports Updates

• Adelaide- the venue of the first day-night cricket Test match in the history of cricket which was played between Australia and New Zealand with the pink ball.Australia defeated New Zealand to win the first-ever day-night Test match.
• Britain- they defeated Belgium to win the Davis Cup tennis title for the first time in 79 years.
• Tyson Fury- he defeated Wladimir Klitschko to snatch the champion’s four titles-WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO and become the first Briton to hold a world heavyweight crown since 2011.
• Nagpur- the venue where India defeated South Africa in the third Test match to win the series for the first time in 11 years after the spinners took all 20 wickets to set up a 124-run win. South Africa lost a Test series away from home after 9 years.
• PV Sindhu- the Indian badminton player who completed a hat-trick to win the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold.
• India- they defeated Bangladesh to win the cricket U-19 tri-nation series.
• Ross Taylor- the New Zealand batsman who hit 290 against Australia at Perth in the second Test to surpass the previous top score of 287 runs set by visiting England batsman Reg Foster in 1903.
• Novak Djokovic- he defeated Roger Federer to win the ATP World tour Finals recently and also became the first player in the tournament’s 46-year old history to win the title four years in a row.
• India- they defeated Pakistan 6-2 to clinch the eighth Junior Men’s Asia Cup at Kuntan in Malaysia recently.
• Lion Messi- the great international footballer who was recently appointed as the Global Brand Ambassador of Tata Motors.
• Sundar Raman- the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of IPL who recently resigned before his deposition before the Supreme Court appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee looking after the spot fixing and betting scandal that emerged in 2013 edition of the League.
• Mohali- the venue of the first Test cricket match in which South Africa was defeated by India within three days.
• Wasim Jaffer- he became the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Ranji Trophy. He made his debut for Mumbai against Gujarat on October 27, 1996 and took 19 years and 13 days to reach this landmark in 126 matches. Presently he plays for Vidarbha.
• Lewis Hamilton- he won the US Grand Prix tournament recently and joined an elite group of triple Formula One World Champions. Hamilton is only the second Briton since Jackie Stewart in 1973 to win three titles.
• Deepika Kumari- India's archer who bagged her fourth silver medal in five years at the archery World Cup final after going down to reigning world No.1 and top seed Korea's Choi Misun at Mexico City recently.
• Sania Mirza- she partnered with Martina Hingis to win her 9th doubles title of the year at the WTA at Singapore and also clinched the year end No.1 doubles ranking.

Current Affairs - December 2015

International Affairs

• Hubble Telescope- for the first time ever this telescope captured merging of two galaxies nearly 230 million light-years away from the earth, in the Hercules constellation. NGC 6052 which was originally classified as a single abnormal galaxy collided with another drawn together by gravity.
• Falcon 9- the rocket of Elon Musk which made an upright landing in a giant leap towards making rockets reusable like airplanes, after launching 11 satellites. The rocket reached a height of 200km before heading back to Earth and touching down at a former US Air Force rocket and missile testing range. Musk's Space X is a privately funded space transport firm.
• 0.25%- The percentage by which the US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark short term interest rates, after keeping it around zero since the start of the 2008 financial crisis. The hike was announced by Fed chairperson Janet Yellen after the meeting of the Fed's top policy making body, the Federal Open Market Committee.
• Renminbi- also known as Yuan, the currency of China,which was recently included by IMF Board as the fifth currency in its special drawing rights. There are only four other currencies-the dollar, euro, pound and yen, that have the IMF Designation.
• James Webb- the most powerful space telescope being built by NASA team that will replace the Hubble telescope which will start decaying by 2020. It can detect light from the first galaxies and study every phase of our universe's history.

National Current News

• Barack 8 missile-the Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR SAM) manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited and jointly developed by India and Israel which was successfully test fired on Western Seaboard by INS Kolkata in the Arabian Sea.
• 1, 00,000MW- the amount of electricity government plans to generate from solar panels by 2022, with a 40,000MW contribution from grid-connected rooftop systems.
• Raptor MOU- stands for the MOU on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia with the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS). India recently gave its approval for its readiness in signing this MOU which will help India gain knowledge in effectively managing the habitats of these raptors.
• Beech Super King B-200- the aircraft of BSF which crashed just after take-off in New Delhi killing all 10 personnel on board.
• Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Bill), 2015- this bill was passed by Parliament recently which allow trial of offenders aged 16-18 as adults for heinous crimes such as rapes and murders.
• India- this country rose by five rungs to 130 among 188 countries on the UN Human Development Index (HDI) but continues to trail poorer nations such as Iraq, Bangladesh and even Pakistan in women's progress, children's status and basic healthcare.HDI is a measure for assessing long term progress in 3 dimensions, a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. The top five nations are Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Denmark and Netherlands.
• January 1, 2016- the date from which individuals will have to disclose their permanent account number (PAN) for cash transactions above Rs.2 lakhs and hotel bills that exceed Rs.50, 000.
• RBI- the Supreme Court in a landmark order brought Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the purview of the overarching RTI Act and hence made it bound to divulge business details of all banks including the financial regulator's audit reports and list of defaulters.
• 2000cc- the capacity and above of diesel engine luxury cars and SUV whose registration was banned until March 31, 2016 in the national capital region by the Supreme Court.
• Marginal cost- the cost on which the banks will be required to fix their base rates from April 1, 2016 as per the new directives from the Reserve Bank of India. This is different from the present system where average cost is used to finalise the base rates.
• Reliance Entertainment- the Anil Ambani led company which recently tied up with acclaimed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's Dream Works for formation of Amblin Partners-a film, television and digital content creation company.
• Cochin Shipyard- they became the first Indian company to be licensed by GTT, France to make membrane type technologies for LNG carrier ship in India.
• 7th December 2015- this day was recently celebrated as Armed Forces Flag Day.
• TAPI- stands for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline which will stretch 1,800km and is expected to cost more than $10 billion. The work on this project is expected to start soon. Pakistan's Interstate Gas Systems, Turkmenistan's Turkmen gas, the Afghan Gas Enterprise and India's Gail Limited has equal shareholding in the Tapi Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL). India and Pakistan will get more than 1.3 billion cubic feet a day of gas from Tapi, while Afghanistan will get 0.5 billion cubic feet.
• Sanofi- the French drug maker who has applied for regulatory approval of the world's first dengue vaccine in India. The vaccine branded as Dengvaxia was recently approved for use in Mexico.
• Vaishno Devi- the famous shrine located at a height of 5,300 feet on the Trikuta Hills in Jammu which was in the news recently after a chopper carrying pilgrims crashed after a suspected bird hit.
• e-Lala- the portal recently launched by brick and mortar trading companies to take on the challenge of e-tailers. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the pan-India association of traditional traders launched this e-commerce platform in Nagpur recently.
• HSBC India- one of the foreign bank which recently announced that it is shutting down its private banking business in the country following a world-wide strategic review, making it the third foreign financial services major to get out of this business after Royal bank of Scotland and Morgan Stanley. Chandrabhaga Beach- the beach in Konark of Odisha which recently hosted the International Sand Art Festival.
• Vaishno Devi- the famous shrine located at a height of 5,300 feet on the Trikuta Hills in Jammu which was in the news recently after a chopper carrying pilgrims crashed after a suspected bird hit.
• e-Lala- the portal recently launched by brick and mortar trading companies to take on the challenge of e-tailers. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the pan-India association of traditional traders launched this e-commerce platform in Nagpur recently.
• HSBC India- one of the foreign bank which recently announced that it is shutting down its private banking business in the country following a world-wide strategic review, making it the third foreign financial services major to get out of this business after Royal bank of Scotland and Morgan Stanley.
• Chandrabhaga Beach- the beach in Konark of Odisha which recently hosted the International Sand Art Festival.

Sports Updates

• R Ashwin- the Indian off spinner who has been ranked as ICC's top Test bowler for 2015, 42 years after Bishan Singh Bedi became the first Indian to achieve the feat. He was also named as the No.1 Test all-rounder.
• Virat Kohli- India's Test captain who was named as the winner of the Polly Umrigar award for BCCI's International cricketer of the year.
• India- the defeated Afghanistan 2-1 to win the seventh SAAF Cup played at Thiruvananthapuram.
• Ben Stokes- he English cricketer who smashed his way to the second fastest double century in Test history on the second day of the second Test against South Africa at cape Town. He scored double century in 163 balls while the record for the fastest double century is held by New Zealand's Nathan Astle who made it off 153 balls against England in 2002.
• Sania Mirza- she was recently named as captain of the Indian team for the next year Fed Cup to be held at Hua Hin, Thailand in February 2016.
• Sepp Blatter- the president of FIFA along with Vice-president Michel Platini were recently banned for 8 years from all football activities recently by FIFA's Ethics Committee.
• Serena Williams- she was named as women player of the year by the International Tennis Federation. She won three of the four Grand Slams in 2015.
• Novak Djokovic- he was named as men player of the year by the International Tennis Federation. He won three of the four Grand Slams in 2015.
• Steve Smith- Australian captain who was recently named as ICC Cricketer of the year by International Cricket Council recently. He was also adjudged Test cricketer of the year.
• Barcelona- they defeated Argentina's River Plate to capture a record third Club World Cup football title.
• M.S.Dhoni- India's limited over captain who was recently picked up by Pune franchise for IPL 2016 after his original team Chennai Super kings was banned for two years.
• Chennaiyin FC- they defeated Goa FC to win the Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament of 2015.
• Yuvraj Singh- the veteran batsman who was recalled to the Indian cricket side after his selection in the T-20 squad for the tour of Australia in January 2016.
• Vijender Singh- the Indian professional boxer who continued his remarkably dominant run in the professional circuit, notching up a third successive knockout triumph by thrashing Bulgaria's Samet Hyuseinov at Manchester recently.
• Ajinkya Rahane- he was awarded man of the match in the fourth and final Test in which India defeated South Africa.
• R. Ashwin - he was awarded man of the series in the Test match series in which India defeated South Africa 3-0.
• Pune- this team along with that of Rajkot were declared as the two new Indian Premier League franchises that will replace the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years. The 2016 edition of the IPL will be from April 9 to May 29, 2016.
• Australia- they defeated Belgium to emerge champions in the Hockey World League played at Raipur.
• Nagpur- the venue where India defeated South Africa in the third Test match to win the series for the first time in 11 years after the spinners took all 20 wickets to set up a 124-run win. South Africa lost a Test series away from home after 9 years.
• PV Sindhu- the Indian badminton player who completed a hat-trick to win the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold.
• India- they defeated Bangladesh to win the cricket U-19 tri-nation series.
• Adelaide- the venue of the first day-night cricket Test match in the history of cricket which was played between Australia and New Zealand with the pink ball.Australia defeated New Zealand to win the first-ever day-night Test match.
• Britain- they defeated Belgium to win the Davis Cup tennis title for the first time in 79 years.
• Tyson Fury- he defeated Wladimir Klitschko to snatch the champion's four titles-WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO and become the first Briton to hold a world heavyweight crown since 2011.
• Nagpur- the venue where India defeated South Africa in the third Test match to win the series for the first time in 11 years after the spinners took all 20 wickets to set up a 124-run win. South Africa lost a Test series away from home after 9 years.
• PV Sindhu- the Indian badminton player who completed a hat-trick to win the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold.
• India- they defeated Bangladesh to win the cricket U-19 tri-nation series.