2 February 2015 Daily Current Affairs

1) Second Phase of JNNURM to be named after Vajpayee:

--> Narendra Modi government is all set to name its scheme to rejuvenate 500 cities and towns after the first BJP Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

--> This new avatar of JNNURM, named after first PM Jawaharlal Nehru will now be known as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

--> It will be a 10-year programme with total investment of about Rs 2 lakh crore.

--> The extended tenure of JNNURM-I ended last year and soon after coming to power the urban development minister M Vnekaiah Naidu had announced to launch the new scheme. 

2) IRCTC brings CoD for Online Railway Ticket Bookings:

--> You can now book a rail ticket online and get it delivered at home where the payment can be made.

--> Initiating this "cash on delivery" (CoD) system rail ticketing, IRCTC is targeting those customers who are reluctant to use their credit or debit cards as well as those who don't have net-banking facility.

--> One has to just book the ticket online and payments will be made at the time of delivery of tickets.

--> This scheme has been launched on pilot basis and the service will be available in more than 200 cities initially. Customers can book a ticket 5 days prior to commencement of journey.

--> Anduril Technologies will use its website and its app called BookMyTrain.com for providing this scheme.

3) Dr.Nandita Chatterjee took over as new Secretary(Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation):

--> Dr.Nandita Chatterjee on 2 February 2015 took over as the new Secretary in the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA).

--> Her last assignment was as Member-Secretary, National Commission for Women.

4) MNREGA Day celebrated:

--> MNREGA Day was celebrated across the country on 2 February 2015.

--> Madhya Pradesh has been awarded the 10th national award for excellent work in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

5) World Wetlands Day observed:

--> World wetland day (WWD) was observed every year on 2 February.

--> The theme for the world wetland day 2015 is Wetlands for our future.

--> The day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands also called as Ramsar Convention on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar.

6) Nicol David sets world number one record:

--> World squash champion Nicol David (Malaysia) has set a new record for topping the world rankings when she secured top spot for the 106th month.

--> The 31-year-old Malaysian, who first headed the Women’s Squash Association (WSA) list in January 2006, overtook the 105-month record set in February 1993 by Susan Devoy, the four-time world champion from New Zealand.

7) Reliance Industries Limited teamed up with SBI for payments bank licence:

--> Reliance Industries has teamed up with state-run behemoth SBI to apply for a payments bank licence.

--> RIL and SBI put in a joint application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a payment bank that can offer services such as remittances and deposits but not loans.

--> SBI, which being a commercial bank could not apply for a payment bank license, will hold 30 per cent in the joint venture. RIL will be the promoter and hold the balance 70 per cent.

8) Deadline for applying for the payments banks ended:

--> RBI's deadline ended on 2 February 2015 for those seeking licences to set up so-called small banks and payments banks.

--> India's biggest companies including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Group, Future Group and Bharti Airtel along with lesser-known aspirants such as Fino Paytech and Oxigen in partnership with RBL Bank — all seeking to set up payments banks.

9) Angelina Jolie named most admired woman in the world:

--> Actress-director Angelina Jolie has been named the most admired woman in the world, leaving behind Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II and even India's Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

--> This was as per a poll over 23 countries conducted by YouGov!

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Daily GK Updates: 3 February 2015

1) Bor Wildlife Sanctuary is located in which state? - Maharashtra

2) International Tiger Day is observed on? - 29 July

3) Which film produced by Irani is considered to be the first indigenous Indian colour film? - 'Kisan Kanya' (1937)

4) What is the chief official language of Israel? - Hebrew

5) Who were the founders of Whatsapp? - Jan Koum and Brian Acton

6) Which online encyclopedia was launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001? - Wikipedia

7) World Water Day was celebrated on? - March 22

8) Gas evolved in Bhopal Gas tragedy was? - Methyl Isocyanate

9) Which is the longest railway platform in India? - Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh

10) Yakshagana is an art form of which state? - Karnataka

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Clarification on Maharashtra Circle - Result of PA/SA Exam 2014

Friends.. As you know Maharashtra Postal Circle has published the result of its PA/SA Exam 2014 on 8 January 2015 in its official website (http://www.maharashtrapost.gov.in/). But to the surprise of all, the result disappeared from the website the very next day putting the candidates in utter dismay. But now the authorities have come out with clarification on the reason for withdrawing the result from the website. The note uploaded in the official website read as follows:

"The Postal Directorate, New Delhi vide letter dated 9th January 2015 and 14th January 2015 have informed that the Result of PA/SA Direct Recruitment Examination 2013-14 of Maharashtra Circle submitted by the Outsourced Agency was having some discrepancies because of malfunctioning of computer at tabulation stage of Paper-II. The entire result of Maharashtra Circle is being revaluated/recast by the Outsourced Agency. Hence, the result has been withdrawn from the website for time being and held in abeyance."

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Current Affairs Quiz Questions: 02 February 2015

1) Novak Djokovic won his fifth Australian Open title on 1 February 2015 defeating whom?

(A) Stan Wawrinka

(B) Tomas Berdych

(C) Andy Murray

(D) Rafael Nadal

2) Nation observed the death anniversary of the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, on 30 January 2015 as?

(A) Non Violence Day

(B) Martyrs' Day

(C) Anti-Leprosy Day

(D) Ant-Terrorism Day

3) Which Department was recently awarded GOLD in National Award on e-governance 2014-15?

(A) Department of Posts

(B) Department of Food Processing

(C) Department of Space

(D) Income Tax Department

4) Krishna Chaudhary was on 30 January 2015 appointed as the Director General (DG) of?

(A) Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)

(B) Border Security Force (BSF)

(C) Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)

(D) Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

5) Name the Union Minister of Communications & IT who on 30 January 2015 released a set of Commemorative Postage stamps on Swachh Bharat?

(A) Sadananda Gowda

(B) Arun Jaitley

(C) J P Nanda

(D) Ravi Shankar Prasad

6) Union Govt. recently sold its 10% stake in which company, becoming the biggest ever share sale by any private or public sector company in India?

(A) Bharat Earth Movers (BEML)

(B) Indian Oil Corporation

(C) National Insurance Company

(D) Coal India Limited (CIL) 

7) Jayanthi Natarajan who quitted Congress Party on 30 January 2015 was the Union Minister of _____ in previous UPA government?

(A) Information & Broadcasting

(B) Environment and Forest

(C) Water Resources

(D) Chemical & Fertilizers

8) Anti-Leprosy Day was observed recently on?

(A) 28 January

(B) 29 January

(C) 30 January

(D) 31 January

9) Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, recently flagged off four Express trains from Bengaluru remotely through which service of RailTel, a PSU of Railways?

(A) Telepresence

(B) Multiflagger

(C) Symbolgic

(D) Train Connect

10) Reserve Bank on 30 January 2015 constituted a high-powered panel to re-examine and recommend appropriate set of businesses, size, conversion and licensing terms for the urban cooperative banking sector. Who is the chairman of the committee?

(A) V K Saraswat

(B) R Gandhi

(C) Bimal Jalan

(D) Shyamala Gopinath

Answers

1) Ans. (C) Andy Murray

2) Ans. (B) Martyrs' Day

3) Ans. (D) Income Tax Department [Awarded for for TDS Reconciliation Analysis & Correction Enabling System (TRACES)]

4) Ans. (A) Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)

5) Ans. (D) Ravi Shankar Prasad

6) Ans. (D) Coal India Limited (CIL)

7) Ans. (B) Environment and Forest

8) Ans. (C) 30 January

9) Ans. (A) Telepresence

10) Ans. (B) R Gandhi [He is the RBI deputy Governor]

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NIACL Assistant Exam Results 2015 Out

Friends.. New India Assurance Company Ltd has published the results of its Assistant Exam held during 17th, 18th & 24th of January 2015. State-wise Result of can be checked from the following link. Interview Call letter for the shortlisted candidates will be released soon. Congratulations to all selected candidates!!

Check State-wise Result: Click Here

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Employment News: 31 January - 06 February 2015

1. NHPC LTD. FARIDABAD, HARYANA

Name of Post –Trainee Engineer (Civil), Mechanical), (E&C), Trainee Officer, etc.

No. of Vacancies - 144

Last Date - 23Feb 2015

2. ICAR- CENTRAL ISLAND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Name of Post –Jr. Library Assistant, Jr. Librarian, Computer Assistant, etc.

No. of Vacancies –12

Last Date – Within 30 days from the date of Publication in Employment News

3. NATIONAL JUDICIAL ACADEMY, M.P.

Post – Deputy Librarian, Research Fellow, Computer System Administrator, Asst. Maintenance Engineer and Maintenance Supervisor

No. of Vacancies - 12

Last Date - 20 Feb 2015

4. MIRANDA HOUSE UNIVERSITY OF DELHI   

Name of Post – Assistant Professor in various Departments.

No. of Vacancies - 37

Last Date – 23 Feb 2015

5. FOOD CRAFT INSTITUTE (KARNATAKA) SOCIETY

Name of Post – Principal, Asst. Lectures, Accountant, U.D.C AND L.D.C

No. of Vacancies – 8

Last Date – 31 days from the date of Publication

6. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

Name of Post – Admission Announcement for Various Courses.

Admissions open from 6 Feb. to 25 Feb. 

Source: http://employmentnews.gov.in/

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Daily Current Affairs Updates: 1 February 2015

1) Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray to win Australian Open 2015:

--> Serbia's world number one Novak Djokovic won a fifth Australian Open title on 1 February 2015, beating Britain's Andy Murray in four sets in the final.

--> Djokovic won 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0 in 3hr 39min for his eighth Grand Slam title to stretch his formidable record on the Melbourne hardcourts to winning five from five finals in eight years.

--> Only Australian Roy Emerson has won more Australian Opens with six in the 1960s.

--> The victory means Djokovic stays at world number one on the next ATP rankings when they are released.

2) Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won Australian Open mixed doubles:

--> Five times grand slam singles winner Martina Hingis from Switzerland won her second Australian Open mixed doubles title on 1 February 2015 as she teamed with India’s Leander Paes to beat  last year’s winners France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Canada’s Daniel Nestor 6-4 6-3.

--> While the 41-year-old Paes clinched his seventh mixed doubles crown, Hingis, who came out of retirement for the second time a couple of years back, collected her tenth doubles Slam apart from her five singles titles.

3) Carl Djerassi, father of birth control pill passed away:

--> Carl Djerassi, 91, the chemist widely considered the father of the birth control pill, died on 31 January 2015.

--> Djerassi, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Stanford, was most famous for leading a research team in Mexico City that in 1951 developed norethindrone, a synthetic molecule that became a key component of the first birth control pill.

--> “The pill,” as it came to be known, radically transformed sexual practices.

4) Sri Lankan President appointed K Sripavan as Chief Justice:

--> Sri Lanka on 1 February 2015 appointed Justice K Sripavan, an ethnic-Tamil, its new Chief Justice.

--> Justice Sripavan, 63, took oath as the 44th Chief Justice before President Maithripala Sirisena, the President’s office said in a statement.

--> Mr. Sripavan replaced Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, who resigned on 29 Jan 2015, only a day after she was reinstated to the position by Sirisena government.

--> He is second Tamil to hold be Chief Justice. The last Tamil chief justice was Herbert Thambiah, who left the position in 1991.

5) Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Asia’s biggest theatre festival, began:

--> War play 'Ghazab Teri Adaa', the latest creation by National School of Drama (NSD), opened the 17th edition of Bharat Rang Mahotsav at New Delhi.

--> The theatre festival was inaugurated by Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Tourism and Culture and Civil Aviation and National Award-winning actor and an NSD alumnus Om Puri.

6) Country's first fenced elephant park to come up near Bengaluru:

--> The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) -an international animal rights and conservation group -and the Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka, have joined hands to create India's first `fenced' elephant sanctuary in a forested space that will allow elephants to move around freely within the secure area.

--> This 49.5-hectare sanctuary within the biological park -which is an extension of the Bannerghatta National Park -near Bengaluru will allow the herd to roam and bathe in ponds freely without being restricted by chains or any human interference.

7) Australia won tri-series title:

--> An all-round show by Glenn Maxwell and a devastating pace-bowling spell by Mitchell Johnson helped Australia crush England by 112 runs in a lopsided summit clash to clinch the cricket tri-series title.

--> Australia will now go into the upcoming World Cup at home with more confidence as they wrapped up their preparations on a high by winning the three-team tournament which also featured India.

--> Mitchell Starc was named Man of the Series.

8) Marans transfer ownership of SpiceJet to Ajay Singh:

--> SpiceJet has finally changed hands with the airline’s promoters deciding to sell and transfer their entire holding of 58.46 per cent in the airline to co-founder Ajay Singh.

--> The share sale and purchase agreement between the promoters Kalanithi Maran, Chairman of the Sun group, his company Kal Airways and Mr. Singh was signed on 29 January 2015.

--> The Ministry of Civil Aviation had recently cleared the proposal of the Marans for change in ownership and management control.

9) Kangana Ranaut, Shahid Kapoor bagged the best actor awards at 60th Filmfare Awards:

--> The 60th Filmfare Awards ceremony was held on January 31, 2015, at the Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai.

--> Shahid Kapoor won the Filmfare award for Best Actor (Male) for his performance in the film “Haider”, while Kangna Ranaut received the Best Actor (Female) award for “Queen”.

--> Best Film (Queen), Best Director (Vikas Bahl - Queen)

--> The Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry.

--> The awards were first introduced in 1954, the same year as the National Film Awards.

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31st January 2015 Current Affairs Updates

1) Canister-based nuclear capable Agni-V missile test fired successfully:

--> India on 31 January 2015 successfully carried out the maiden canister-based trial of its most potent missile Agni-V.

--> It has a strike range of over 5000 kms and can carry a nuclear warhead of over one tonne.

--> The missile was launched from a canister mounted on a road-mobile launcher at Wheeler's Island off Odisha coast.

2) T Suvarna Raju took charge as Chairman of HAL:

--> T Suvarna Raju on 31 January 2015 took charge as chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), replacing R K Tyagi.

--> Raju, 56, is credited with securing the first patent for HAL, in January 2002.

--> He will be 17th chairman of HAL.

3) Serena won Australian Open women's singles title 2015:

--> Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the women's singles final to win her sixth Australian Open title at Melbourne on January 31, 2015.

--> The No.1-seeded Williams recorded a 6-3, 7-6(5) over the No.2-seeded Russian for the 19th Grand Slam title of her illustrious career, separating herself from Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for second-most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era.

--> She is now just three titles away from Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles.

4) Sergio Mattarella elected as new Italian president:

--> Sergio Mattarella, a constitutional court judge from Sicily who is seen as a symbol of Italy's battle against organised crime, was elected Italy's new president on 31 January 2015.

--> He will Italy’s 12th president and succeed Giorgio Napolitano who had resigned earlier in January 2015 citing reason of poor health before his 2020 expiry term.

--> He has tenure of 7 years. 

5) 35th National Games began in Kerala:

--> 35th National Games got underway at Thiruvananthapuram, Capital of Kerala on January 31, 2015 at the brand new state-of-the-art Greenfield Stadium with more than 40,000 spectators cheering every moment.

--> The biggest cheers as always were reserved for cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar who was the goodwill ambassador for the Games and one of the chief guests at the opening ceremony of the 35th National Games.

--> Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the 35th National Games.

--> It is the second time that Kerala is hosting the national games (earlier it hosted the 27th National Games in the year 1987).

--> The mascot of the National Games 2015 is'''Ammu'' (Great Indian Hornbill, the State bird of Kerala).

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Current Affairs PDF Download - January 2015 (Third Week)

Download as PDF- Click Here

1) Who won the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the best footballer of the year in the world on 12 January 2015? - Cristiano Ronaldo

2) Who was on 12 January 2015 appointed as Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)? - Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar

3) Who has received the Governor of the Year Award for 2015 in the Central Banking Awards announced on 12 January 2015? - Raghuram Rajan, RBI Governor

4) Who took charge as Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog on 13 January 2015? - Arvind Panagariya

5) Which district in Kerala became first District of India to have Complete Rural Broadband Coverage, as Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology on 12 January 2015 linked this district to the National Optic Fiber Network (NOFN)? – Idukki

6) Which club on 11 January 2015 lifted their maiden football Federation Cup defeating Goa's Dempo Sports Club 2-1? - Bengaluru FC

7) Name the Indian open water swimmer who on 14 January 2015 set a world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean? - Bhakti Sharma

8) Who was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by President Pranab Mukherjee on 15 January 2016? - Hari Shankar Bramha

Note: He succeeds V.S. Sampath who has retired from service.

9) Baba Ramdev was on 15 January 2015 appointed as state brand ambassador of? – Haryana

10) Who was appointed as the head coach of Indian men’s football team on 16 January 2015? - Stephen Constantine

11) Who won the Chennai Open Tennis title on 11 January 2015? - Stanislas Wawrinka

12) Which Pakistan cricket player recently announced his retirement from One Day International (ODI) and T20 after the Cricket World Cup 2015? - Misbah-ul-Haq

13) Who won the Brisbane International Tennis title on 11 January 2015? - Roger Federer

14) Who was on 10 January 2015 selected for the Vikram Sarabhai memorial award 2015? - MYS Prasad

Note: He is the director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota Range (SHAR).

15) 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) 2015 concluded on 9 January 2015 in Gujarat. What was the theme of 2015 PBD? - Bharat ko jano and Bharat ko mano

16) Which mission of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was on 12 January 2015 won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category? - Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)

17) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 January 2015 announced sixth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement. RBI has cut its main lending rate (Repo Rate) by ___ per cent? - 0.25 (Present Repo Rate - 7.75)

18) Who was on 13 January 2015 presented with the Social Media Person of the Year Award 2015 by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)? - Amitabh Bachchan

19) Which Australian cricketer on 14 January 2015 announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20-year career? - Brett Lee

20) Reserve Bank of India on 15 January 2015 issued final guidelines for banks to act as? - Insurance Brokers

 Prepared by: www.currentaffairs4examz.com

21) The Red Sari, an unauthorized biography of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, was released by Roli Books in India on 16 January 2015. Book was written by? - Javier Moro

22) Who was on 16 January 2015 appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India? - Deep Kumar Upadhyay

23) National Youth Day was observed across India on 12 January every year to mark the birth anniversary of? - Swami Vivekananda

24) Who was on 12 January 2015 appointed as the 21st chief justice of Bangladesh, becoming the first non-Muslim to take charge of the office of Chief Justice of Bangladesh? - Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha

25) Name the Union Minister for Railways who on 13 January 2015 inaugurated India’s first compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered train on the Rewari – Rohtak link of Northern Zone? - Suresh Prabhu

26) Which search engine on 13 January 2015 launched its Flight Search Tool in India? – Google

27) Seventh Vibrant Gujarat Summit was held from 11 January to 13 January 2015 at? - Gandhinagar, Gujarat

28) Who was appointed as CMD (Chairman and Managing Director) of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on 14 January 2015? - Anupam Shrivastava

29) Who was named as the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit on 14 January 2015? - Prabhu Nath Dwivedi

30) Who has resigned as Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification, (CBFC) on 16 January 2015? - Leela Samson

31) Who has resigned as member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on 14 January 2015? - A P Singh

32) Who was on 16 January 2015 conferred with the JGBS-Top Rankers' Excellence Award for CEO of the year 2014? - R.K. Tyagi, HAL Chairman

33) Which state was on 16 January 2015 selected for the National Award for e-Governance for the best district-level initiative in Citizen-Centric Service Delivery through ICT? - Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)

34) Sania Mirza and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands of which country on 16 January 2015 won the women’s doubles title of the Sydney International Tennis Tournament? – USA

35) India on 15 January 2015 observed the ___th Army Day? – 67

36) Pope Francis on 14 January 2015 cannonised Joseph Vaz as the first saint of which country? - Sri Lanka

37) Union Government on 13 January 2015 removed whom as the Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)? - Avinash Chander

38) Australia on 10 January 2015 won the 4-match Border-Gavaskar Test series played against India by 2-0. Who was named Player of the series? - Steven Smith

39) Which Indian professional golfer was on 12 January 2015 voted as the 2014 Players’ Player of the year in Asian Tour? - Anirban Lahiri

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