Current Affairs – August
4th Week, 2013
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Q1. Food Security Scheme was launched by
UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi at Delhi on 20 August
2013 on the occasion of former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi's 69th birth Anniversary. Name the states in which it
came into force from 20 Aug 2013?
Ans. Delhi,
Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand
Note: The food
security scheme aims at ensuring the poor to get essential food commodities
such as wheat and rice at affordable prices (Rice at 3 Rs/kg, Wheat at 2 Rs/kg,
Coarse grain 1 Rs/kg).
Q2. Who has been awarded with Rajiv
Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2013?
Ans. Ronjon Sodhi
Note: Click Here to read more
Q3. Global digital measurement and
analytics comScore stated in its report that India is the world’s third largest
Internet user after which countries?
Ans. China and USA
Q4. Name the country which India
surpassed to become world’s third largest Internet user?
Ans. Japan
Q5. Social networking giant Facebook on
21 August 2013 joined forces with six other technology giants namely Ericsson,
MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung to launch Internet.org. What is
the aim of it?
Ans. To make
Internet access affordable for people across the globe.
Q6. Who has been appointed by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a
Cabinet Minister on 22 August 2013?
Ans. Ashwani Kumar
Note: Ashwani Kumar
resigned as Union Law Minister on 10 May 2013 for allegedly interfering in a
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in coal blocks allocation.
Q7. Who has, on 22 August 2013, became
the first woman to be selected as the head of the Navratna public sector unit
(PSU), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL)?
Ans. Nishi Vasudeva
Note:
At present, she is the Director, Marketing, HPCL and will take over as the
chairman and managing director of the company.
Q8. Government on 23 August 2013
announced to release a national e-mail policy. What is the aim of the policy?
Ans. To protect privacy of email users in India
Q9. Who has sworn in for his seventh
term as the President of Zimbabwe on 21 August 2013?
Ans. Robert Mugabe
Q10. Online RTI portal launched by V
Narayanasamy, Minister of state for personnel Public Grievances and Pensions in
New Delhi on 21 August 2013. Name the URL of the portal?
Ans.
www.rtionline.gov.in
Note: Portal is a
step towards ushering in greater transparency in governance through the Right
to Information Act which mandates timely response to citizens requests for
government information. It will enable tech savvy people to file applications
at the click of a button.
Q11. Who equaled the world record of
highest golds after winning the 4x100m relay at the World Athletics
Championships on 18 August 2013 at Moscow, Russia?
Ans. Usain Bolt
Note: Usain Bolt
has joined the club of highest (8) gold medal winners list along with American
women's 200m specialist Allyson Felix, and retired US track stars Carl Lewis
and Michael Johnson including relays.
Q12. Name the latest book of former
president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam launched in the month of August 2013 by the Rupa
Publication?
Ans. My Journey:
Transforming Dreams into Actions
Q13. Who was on 17 August 2013 appointed
as the Director General of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) by the Union
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India?
Ans. Dilip Trivedi
Q14. Name the Microsoft CEO who on 24
August 2013 announced that he will retire within 12 month from post?
Ans. Steve Ballmer
Q15. ISRO called off GSLV-D5 launch with
just an hour to go before the launch as a "leak" had been detected in
fuel tank on 19 August 2013. GSLV-D5 was supposed to carry which satellite?
Ans. GSAT-14
Q16. Bollywood actor and UNICEF (United
Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) Goodwill Ambassador Amitabh
Bachchan on 23 August 2013 joined the UN and its humanitarian partners to
promote The World Needs More global campaign. What is the aim of the campaign?
Ans. Campaign seeks to turn words into real assistance
for communities affected by humanitarian crises.
Note: It was launched on 19 August 2013.
Q17. Where was the second Asian Youth
Games held recently from August 16 to
24, 2013?
Ans. Nanjing, China
Note: India's
finished 10th with an overall tally of 14 medals (3 gold, 4 silver and 7
bronze)
Q18. Union Cabinet of India on 22 August
2013 cleared a proposal to scrap the collegium system of appointing judges to
the Supreme Court and High Courts. It will be replaced by ..............?
Ans. Judicial
Appointments Commission (JAC)
Note: According to
the proposal, the government will set up a panel headed by the Chief Justice of
India (CJI) to appoint and transfer senior judges. The other members of the
proposed Commission will comprise the Law Minister, two judges of the Supreme
Court, two eminent persons as members and Secretary (Justice) in the Law
Ministry as Member Secretary.
Q19. State Government of Rajasthan on 21
August 2013 laid the foundation stone for world's biggest solar park at which
place?
Ans. Bhadla of
Jodhpur District of Rajasthan.
Q20. Name the India's second largest
tyre maker who on 21 August 2013 announced a tie-up with Manchester United to
become its official tyre partner in UK and India?
Ans. Apollo Tyres
Q21. Which State Government adopted an
Anti-Black Magic and Superstition Ordinance on 21 August 2013?
Ans. Maharashtra
Note: The ordinance
was adopted by the state cabinet after the death of anti-superstition activist
Narendra Dabholkar.
Q22. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 20
August 2013 further relaxed the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) to provide more
funds to banks for lending. What is SLR?
Ans. SLR stands for Statutory Liquidity Ratio.
This term is used by bankers and indicates the minimum percentage of deposits
that the bank has to maintain in form of gold, cash or other approved
securities. In other words, it is ratio of cash and some other approved
securities to liabilities (deposits). It regulates the credit growth in India.
Note: RBI has now allowed banks to retain those holdings at
24.5 percent.
Q23. Thirty-Seven pilgrims which
included women as well as children were killed when the Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani
Express ploughed on them at the speed of 80 kmph on 19 August 2013. Where the accident had took place?
Ans. Bihar's
Khagaria district.
Q24. Mahendra Singh Dhoni Beat Nadal and
Bolt in Recent Forbes List of Highest-Paid Athletes. Now he is at which place
in the list?
Ans. 16th
Note: Tiger Woods is at first with the annual
income of 78.1 million US dollar followed by the tennis player Roger Federer
with the earnings of 71.5 million US dollar and at third was basketball player
Kobe Bryant with the earning of 61.9 million US dollar.
Q25. India's first National Media Centre
was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 24 Aug 2013. Where was
it situated?
Ans. New Delhi
Q26. Men's Asia Cup hockey tournament
kicked off on 24 Aug 2013. Where it was being held?
Ans. Ipoh in Malaysia
Q27. Which Indian player was placed in
6th position in the latest ICC T20 Rankings?
Ans. Virat Kohli
Q28. Who received Rajiv Gandhi National
Sadhbhavna Award on 20 August 2013 on the occasion of former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi's 69th birth Anniversary?
Ans. Sarod Maestro
Amjad Ali Khan
Q29. World Bank assisted National AIDS
Control Support Project was launched by which department under Union Ministry
of Health & Family Welfare in New Delhi on 24 August 2013?
Ans. Department of
AIDS Control
Q30. Name the two Lumia series
smartphomes launched by Nokia in India 22 August 2013?
Ans. Lumia 925 and
625
Note: Lumia 625 is
priced at 19999 rupees, while Lumia 925 is available in the market for 33499
rupees. Lumia 625 is a smart and affordable device which has the advance Lumia
features and a large screen where users can have entertainment.
Q31. Telugu writer, novelist and
columnist and Winner of Sahitya Akademi who passed away on 21 August 2013?
Ans. Malathi
Chandur
Q32. Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 was
introduced in the Rajya Sabha in the third week of August 2013. What is the important clause of the bill?
Ans. Bill seeks to decriminalise suicide, while
at the same time, making affordable mental health care a right for everyone.
Q33. The 19th Delhi Book Fair started
off on 23 August 2013 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. What is the theme of the
19th Delhi Book Fair?
Ans. Libraries and Readership.
Q34. Which company was adjudged the Best
Performing Integrated Steel Plant in the country for the year 2011-12, on 22
August 2013, based on the recommendations made by a Panel of Judges that
selected companies for the Prime Minister`s Trophy awards for the year 2011-12?
Ans. Tata Steel
Q35. Who was appointed as the
Chairperson of the National School of Drama Society on 19 August 2013 by the
President of India?
Ans. Ratan Thiyam
Note: He is the renowned theatre personality from Manipur.
Q36. Who won gold in Men’s Singles
Squash at the second Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China on 19 August 2013 for
India?
Ans. Kush Kumar
Q37. Who was selected on 12 August 2013
to receive the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal?
Ans. Harshwanti
Bisht
Note: He is a Professor of economics, conservationist and
mountaineer
Q38. World Photography Day was
celebrated on ........th August 2013?
Ans. 19 August
Q39. Who was appointed Head of Atomic
Energy Organisation in Iran on 16 August 2013?
Ans. Ali Akbar Salehi
Q40. Who was named a recipient of the
2013 Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society of Civil Engineers
Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ASCE-EWRI) on 16 August 2013?
Ans. Vijay Singh
Note: He is a
professor and a distinguished chair in the Department of Biological and
Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University.
Q41. Who will took over as Nepal’s new
Indian ambassador?
Ans. Ranjit Rae
Q42. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar
on 19 August 2013 unveiled the statue of which Nobel Laureate at New Delhi?
Ans. Norman Borlaug
Q43. Who won a bronze medal for India in
the 96-kg freestyle category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in
Sofia, Bulgaria on 17 August 2013?
Ans. Satywart
Kadian
Q44. Name the former Pakistani military
ruler was indicted by an anti-terrorism court on 20 August 2013 in the 2007
assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto?
Ans. Pervez
Musharraf
Q45. Government of India on 19 August
2013 decided to include Hysterectomies as a component in the fourth round of
the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), which will begin in January 2014.
What is Hysterectomy?
Ans. Hysterectomy is the complete or partial
removal of the uterus, and sometimes ovaries, cervix and fallopian tubes.
Q46. Where was the 5th India-China
Strategic Dialogue on held 20 August 2013?
Ans. New Delhi
Q47. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon
on 22 August 2013 called for a thorough and prompt investigation into the
allegations of the use of Chemical Weapons in which country recently?
Ans. Syria
Q48. Union Government on 21 August 2013
decided to set up a committee to analyse the reasons behind the huge backlog in
vacancies under reserved categories. Who will head the committee?
Ans. Secretary,
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Q49. Earth Overshoot Day for the year
2013 was observed on ............th August 2013?
Ans. 20 August
Note: Day is an
approximate calendar date on which humanity exhausted nature's budget for the year.
Q50. Name the Typhoon which recently
affected 3.61 lakh people in central Hunan Province of China?
Ans. Typhoon Trami
Q51. Name the Iran’s representative to
the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who announced his resignation
on 22 August 2013?
Ans. Ali Asghar
Soltanieh
