11th March 2015 Important Current Affairs Updates

1) Kumar Sangakkara created record by scoring four consecutive ODI centuries:

--> Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara on 11 March 2015 became the first player to score four successive one-day international centuries, setting a new record in a World Cup match against Scotland in Hobart.

--> Sangakkara had made 105 not out against Bangladesh, an unbeaten 117 in the game with England followed by 104 against Australia.

--> The left-hander surpassed six players who had scored three ODI centuries in a row. They were Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar of Pakistan, the South African trio of Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock, and Ross Taylor of New Zealand.

2) Bihar CM Nitish Kumar won trust vote in assembly:

-->  Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on 11 MArch 2015 won trust vote on the floor of assembly by 140-0 votes, after the main opposition BJP staged a walkout minutes.

--> A total of 140 MLAs including supporters of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi voted in favour of trust motion moved by Nitish Kumar, while no one voted against the motion as the lone opposition party BJP preferred to walkout from the house.

--> Nitish actually needed only 117 votes to win the trust motion in the assembly having effective strength of 233.

3) Coal scam: Manmohan Singh accused of criminal conspiracy

--> Former PM Manmohan Singh, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and former union coal secretary PC Parakh have been accused of criminal conspiracy and breach of trust in the allocation of a coal mine in 2005 and asked to appear before a Delhi court on April 8.

--> The court also summoned D Bhattacharya, the MD of Hindalco, the Aditya Birla Group company which was allocated the mine, and Group Executive President Shubhendu Amitabh.

--> The order was passed by Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.

4) David Hale nominated as next US ambassador to Pakistan:

--> United States President Barack Obama has nominated veteran diplomat David Hale as the next ambassador to Pakistan.

--> Hale is currently serving as the US Ambassador to Lebanon, a position he has held since 2013.

5) India and Seychelles signed four agreements to boost security cooperation:

--> India on 11 March 2015 signed four agreements with the Indian Ocean island nation Seychelles to boost security and maritime partnership.

--> The agreements were signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Seychelles.

--> Modi also launched the Coastal Surveillance Radar Project in Seychelles, describing it as another symbol of the cooperation between the two countries.

6) Indian Railways inked MoU with LIC for Rs 1.5 lakh crore investments in rail infrastructure:

--> Life Insurance Corporation, the country's biggest insurer, on 11 March 2015 committed to invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore in Indian railways over the next five years.

--> According to the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed by the two organisations, the railways will use the funds to augment its capacity.

--> The MoU was signed by Financial Commissioner (Railways) Rajalakshmi Ravikumar and LIC Chairman SK Roy in presence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu.

7) Union Government appointed Nine Executive Directors in Public Sector Banks:

--> The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointments of following nine Executive Directors(EDs) in Public Sector Banks(PSBs).

--> Following 9 Executive Directors (ED) of PSBs were appointed

* K. Sahoo- ED of Allahabad Bank.

* Pawan Kumar Bajaj- ED of Indian Overseas Bank.

* Ravi Shankar Pandey- ED of Syndicate Bank.

* Kishore Piraji Kharat- ED of Union Bank of India.

* C.Lodha- ED of Central Bank of India.

* Charan Singh- ED of UCO Bank

* Venkata Rama Moorthy- ED of Bank of Baroda.

* P. Marathe- ED of Bank of India.

* Harideesh Kumar B- ED of Canara Bank.

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Current Affairs Quiz Questions: 11 March 2015

1) Saina Nehwal lost the women's singles final of the $500,000 All England Open Badminton Championships to Carolina Marin on 5 March 2015. Carolina Marin is from which country?

(A) Egypt

(B) Switzerland

(C) Spain

(D) Belarus

2) What is the Official UN theme for the 2015 International Women’s Day?

(A) Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!

(B) Equality for Women is Progress for All

(C) Investing in Women and Girls

(D) Women in Decision-making

3) Six illustrious women have been recently awarded the 'Stree Shakti Puraskar' on the occasion of International Women's Day (March 8,2015) by whom?

(A) Prime Minister of India

(B) Loksabha Speaker

(C) Vice President of India

(D) President of India 

4) Renowned journalist Vinod Mehta, who passed away on 8 March 2015, was founder of which famous weekly magazine?

(A) The Pioneer

(B) Outlook

(C) The Sunday Observer

(D) The Independent

5) Best-selling book ‘Lucknow Boy’ which was published in 2011 is the autobiography of which journalist?

(A) Barkha Dutt

(B) Rajdeep Sardesai

(C) Vikram Chandra

(D) Vinod Mehta

6) Name the 14-day-long 8th India-Nepal Combined Exercise which concluded on 8 March 2015 at Salijhandi in Nepal?

(A) Surya Kiran VIII

(B) Mithra Shakthi- VIII

(C) Hand-in-Hand

(D) Garuda Shakti-VIII

7) Scheme for girl child - 'Aapki Beti Humari Beti' was recently launched by which state?

(A) Maharashtra

(B) Haryana

(C) Bihar

(D) Madhya Pradesh

8) Arun Singh was recently appointed as India’s ambassador to which country?

(A) France

(B) Pakistan

(C) USA

(D) Russia

9) Which state's popular global multimedia campaign to promote the backwaters has recently won the Golden Gate award at the Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) - 2015?

(A) Jammu and Kashmir

(B) Kerala

(C) Arunachal Pradesh

(D) Gujarat

10) Who recently won the Men’s singles title in the All England Badminton Championship?

(A) Lin Dan

(B) Lee Chong Wei

(C) P Kashyap

(D) Chen Long

Answers

1) Ans. (C) Spain

2) Ans. (A) Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!

3) Ans. (D) President of India

4) Ans. (B) Outlook

5) Ans. (D) Vinod Mehta

6) Ans. (A) Surya Kiran VIII

7) Ans. (B) Haryana

8) Ans. (C) USA

9) Ans. (B) Kerala

10) Ans. (D) Chen Long

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Daily Current Affairs Updates: 10 March 2015

1) PM Narendra Modi left for three-nation tour:

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Seychelles on 10 March 2015 on the first leg of his five-day visit to three key Indian Ocean countries that include Mauritius and Sri Lanka, asserting that strong relations with them was “vital” for India’s security and progress.

--> Modi, who will be the first Indian Prime Minister to travel to Seychelles in 33 years and to Sri Lanka in 28 years, is expected to tap into the “substantive” goodwill and historical linkages between India and the three Indian Ocean economies which offer new possibilities of cooperation in defense and economic spheres.

2) 46th Raising Day of the CISF celebrated:

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 10 March 2015 saluted the "bravery" and "sense of duty" of CISF personnel on force's 46th Raising Day.

--> The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) came into existence in 1969 to provide integrated security cover to public sector undertakings and at present has a strength of around 1.4 lakh personnel.

--> The force is responsible for securing critical infrastructure installations like nuclear installations, space establishments, airports as well as the Delhi Metro.

3) Lok Sabha passed Land Acquisition Bill:

--> The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, popularly known as the land bill, was adopted by the Lok Sabha after debating it for two days.

--> Congress and Biju Janata Dal walked out ahead of the voting, to protest the removal of a clause that makes it mandatory to get farmers' consent prior to the acquisition of land by the government.

--> Government made nine amendments to bill, all of them were adopted.

4) RIL is India's largest company with Rs 3.68 lakh cr worth assets:

--> Reliance Industries Ltd is the country's largest corporate with assets worth Rs 3.68 lakh crore, followed by state-owned Indian Oil Corp and mortgage lender HDFC.

--> In the list of top 10 corporates in terms of assets, RIL and HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corp) were the only two firms from the private sector, data compiled by the Corporate Affairs Ministry showed.

--> This information was given by Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

5) U.S. declared Venezuela a national security threat:

--> The United States on 9 March 2015 declared Venezuela a national security threat and ordered sanctions against seven officials from the oil-rich country in the worst bilateral diplomatic dispute since socialist President Nicolas Maduro took office in 2013.

--> U.S. President Barack Obama issued and signed the executive order, which senior administration officials said did not target Venezuela's energy sector or broader economy.

6) Attorney General's office is public authority under RTI Act: Delhi High Court

--> Delhi High Court in its ruling has held that Attorney General of India comes under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

--> This ruling reversed the previous decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which had held that Attorney General does not come under RTI Act.

--> Court ruled that Attorney General is a public authority and comes under the ambit of section 2(h) of the RTI Act.

--> In 2012, CIC bench had ruled that the Attorney General of India is only a person and cannot be considered an authority under the RTI Act.

7) Five sick PSUs, including 3 HMT units, to be closed down:

--> Five public sector undertakings (PSUs) will be closed down by the government, which has included some of the best known state-run enterprises like Air India, MTNL and Hindustan Shipyard, in the list of 65 sick PSUs.

--> Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete said this during Question Hour in Lok Sabha on 10 March 2015.

--> Air India and MTNL, once market leaders in aviation and mobile telephony sectors respectively, were declared sick according to the criteria for a PSU to be declared as such, after they incurred losses worth 50 per cent or more of their average net worth during four preceding years. 

8) MS Dhoni registered most wins as Indian captain in World Cup:

--> Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 10 March 2015 registered most wins by an Indian captain in the history of the cricket World Cup.

--> The Indian skipper surpassed former cricket legend Kapil Dev with 12 wins following his team's emphatic triumph over Ireland.

--> Dhoni leads the list of most World Cup wins by an Indian captain which includes Kapil Dev(11) at second spot, Mohammad Azharuddin(10) at the third place, Sourav Ganguly(9) at fourth.

--> Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting leads the list with 24 wins during 2003-2011.

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PA/SA Exam 2014: Re-Exam for Delhi Circle announced

Friends.. As you know the Postal/Sorting Assistant Examination 2014 held in Delhi Postal Circle on April 27, 2014 was already cancelled. For these many days, many have been awaiting the re-exam date and now the wait is over. The re-exam date for Delhi Circle has been announced and the re-exam will be held on March 22, 2015 in two shifts. The admit card can be downloaded from the below link. The official notification appeared in website read as follows:

Schedule of Re Examination (Paper I) for the following Postal Circles is as follows:

Postal Circles: Delhi (15)             

Exam Date: March 22, 2015 (Admit Card available)          

Exam Time: Shift I - 10:00AM to 12:00NOON.

Shift II - 02:00PM to 04:00PM

Please Note: Exam city for some candidates have been changed from that of last time. Candidates, who appeared in the last Examination (Paper I) held on April 27, 2014, will only be called for the Re-examination. And Candidature of the candidates, who were reported involved in any malpractice, has been cancelled.

Download Admit Card: Click Here

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Current Affairs Quiz: 10 March 2015

1) National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which is the nodal agency for all retail payment systems under the Jan Dhan scheme recently announced that it has linked ____ crore bank accounts with Aadhaar number?

(A) 15 crore

(B) 20 crore

(C) 10 crore

(D) 12 crore

2)  'iSafe'  mobile app for women's safety was recently launched for Thiruvananthapuram City Police by?

(A) TCS

(B) Infosys

(C) Accenture

(D) UST Global

3) Which E-Commerce company on 6 March 2015 acquired mobile ad network AdiQuity?

(A) Amazon

(B) Snapdeal

(C) Flipkart

(D) eBay

4) Which city emerged as the best city to live in India according to consultancy firm Mercer's Quality of Living Report-2015?

(A) Mumbai

(B) Hyderabad

(C) Kochi

(D) Delhi

5) G Karthikeyan who passed away on 7 March 2015 was the Assembly Speaker of which state?

(A) Kerala

(B) Karnataka

(C) Tamil Nadu

(D) Goa

6) Snooker recently shortlisted for 2020 Olympics. Olympics 2020 will be held at?

(A) Incheon

(B) Durban

(C) Rio de Janeiro

(D) Tokyo

7) Saina Nehwal recently became the first Indian in 14 years to reach the final of which Badminton Championship?

(A) BWF World Championships

(B) Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold

(C) All England Open Badminton Championships

(D) Spanish International Badminton Tournament?

8) International Women’s Day was celebrated every year on?

(A) March 7

(B) March 8

(C) March 9

(D) March 4

9) Which bowler recently joined cricket’s exclusive 300 ODI wickets club by claiming his 300th victim during the ongoing World Cup?

(A) Shahid Afridi

(B) Ravichandran Ashwin

(C) Shane Watson

(D) Daniel Vettori 

10) Which Sri Lanka cricketer on 8 March 2015 announced that he will retire from Test cricket by the end of August this year?

(A) Kumar Sangakkara

(B) Angelo Mathews

(C) Mahela Jayawardene

(D) Tillakaratne Dilshan

Answers

1) Ans. (A) 15 crore

2) Ans. (D) UST Global

3) Ans. (C) Flipkart

4) Ans. (B) Hyderabad

5) Ans. (A) Kerala

6) Ans. (D) Tokyo

7) Ans. (C) All England Open Badminton Championships

8) Ans. (B) March 8

9) Ans. (D) Daniel Vettori

10) Ans. (A) Kumar Sangakkara

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Daily Current Affairs: 9 March 2015

1) Rupee 1 note back in circulation after 20 Years:

--> After a gap of over 20 years, Re 1 note has been released in the country and it bears the signature of Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.

--> Incidentally, the note was released at Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, on March 6 by Mehrishi.

--> The re-launched one rupee notes will be made up of 100 per cent cotton rag content. It will weigh 90 grams per square metre and have thickness of 110 microns.

--> The colour of one Rupee Currency Note is predominantly pink green on obverse and reverse in combination with others.

--> In November 1994, printing of Re 1 note was stopped mainly due to higher cost and for freeing capacity to print currency notes of higher denomination.

2) New schemes PRASAD and SWADESH DARSHAN launched by the government:

--> New schemes PRASAD and SWADESH DARSHAN launched by the government to promote tourism in the country.

--> Prasad stands for 'Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive'.

--> Under PRASAD, initially, twelve cities namely Amritsar, Ajmer, Amaravati, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Kedarnath, Kamakhya, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi and Vellankani have been identified for development. 

3) Veerappa Moily selected for Saraswati Samman 2014:

--> Former Union minister and senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily has been selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his famous Kannada poem 'Ramayana Mahanveshanam'.

--> Divided into five volumes, 'Ramayana Mahanveshanam' was first published in 2007 in Kannada.

--> The poem has been translated into English, Hindi, Telegu and Tamil.

--> Instituted by the K K Birla Foundation in 1991, Saraswati Samman is given annually for an outstanding literary work in any Indian language mentioned in the Schedule VIII of the Constitution.

--> The award carries a cash purse of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a plaque.

--> The selection for the award was made by a 13-member panel of scholars and writers headed by former Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti.

--> The award would make Mr. M. Veerappa Moily the second Kannada author to receive the honour after S. L. Bhyrappa (2010).

4) Prime Minister launched India's first indigenously developed rotavirus vaccine Rotavac:

--> The oral rotavirus vaccine Rotavac, which has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and the department of biotechnology to combat diarrhoea, will be available for sale from next week in India.

--> Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the vaccine in New Delhi on 9 March 2015.

--> Half of the world’s rotavirus diarrhoeal deaths are reported from India; the three-dose indigenously developed vaccine is expected to bring down the number.

5) Saudi Arabia becomes world's biggest arms importer:

--> Saudi Arabia overtook India in 2014 as the world’s biggest importer of defence equipment, fuelled by tensions in the Middle East, according to a study published.

6) Solar Impulse – 2 started its historic 35,000-km round-the-world journey:

--> Solar Impulse – 2, the solar-powered plane started its historic 35,000-km round-the-world journey from Abu Dhabi on 9 March 2015.

--> The Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Andre Borschberg of Switzerland, took off at 7:12 am (0412 GMT) from Al-Bateen airport and headed to Muscat, the capital of Oman, in its first leg of the journey.

--> Solar Impulse 2 is not the first solar airplane, but the first to fly across oceans and continents.

--> In India the flight will stop in Ahmedabad and Varanasi.

7) Maharashtra launched 'Bhagyashree' scheme for girl child:

--> Maharashtra Government on 8 March 2015 launched 'Bhagyashree' scheme in place of the Sukanya scheme which caters to girls from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

--> Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Bollywood actress Bhagyashree, the brand ambassador of the scheme, were present.

8) TCS ranked as top employer in Europe for third year:

-->  Tata Consultancy Services has been named as the top employer in Europe for the third consecutive year by a top employers certification agency, citing the Indian IT major as an "exceptional performer" in nine core human resources areas.

--> TCS, the leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation, has been certified as top employer in eight European countries - the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway by Top Employers Institute.

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Latest Current Affairs Questions: 9 March 2015

1) Union Minister Raosaheb Dadarao Danve, who was made Maharasthra BJP president a few months back, recently resigned from the Council of Ministers. He held the portfolio of Minister of State for?

(A) Home Affairs

(B) Civil Aviation

(C) Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

(D) Communication and Information Technology 

2) World Wildlife Day is celebrated annually on?

(A) March 3

(B) March 4

(C) March 5

(D) March 6

3) Which state government recently scraped the five percent reservation to Muslims in education in the state?

(A) Kerala

(B) Haryana

(D) Jammu and Kashmir

(D) Maharashtra

4) Which Indian cricket player was on 5 March 2015 reprimanded by the BCCI for his abusive behaviour towards a journalist during the ongoing World Cup in Australia?

(A) Ravindra Jadega

(B) Suresh Raina

(C) Virat Kohli

(D) MS Dhoni

5) World Day of the Fight against Sexual Exploitation was observed every year on?

(A) March 1

(B) March 4

(C) March 6

(D) March 8

6) Documentary film "India's Daughter" which recently sparked controversy in India and is part of the BBC's ongoing Storyville series was directed by?

(A) Leslee Udwin

(B) Tony Hall

(C) Twinkle Khanna

(D) Steven Paulman

7) Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on 4 March 2015 concluded his four-day SAARC Yatra after visiting how many countries?

(A) Five

(B) Two

(C) Seven

(D) Four

8) Paul Allen who recently announced the discovery of the famous World War II Japanese battleship, the Musashi, more than 70 years after it was sunk by US forces, is the co-founder of?

(A) Twitter

(B) Facebook

(C) Microsoft

(D) Google

9) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been recently named among the 30 most influential people on the internet by which magazine?

(A) People Magazine

(B) Time Magazine

(C) Forbes Magazine

(D) India Today Magazine

10) Ram Sundar Das who passed away recently was the former Chief Minister of which state?

(A) Karnataka

(B) Himachal Pradesh

(C) Odisha

(D) Bihar

Answers

1) Ans. (C) Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

2) Ans. (A) March 3

3) Ans. (D) Maharashtra

4) Ans. (C) Virat Kohli

5) Ans. (B) March 4

6) Ans. (A) Leslee Udwin. The film is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape.

7) Ans. (D) Four

8) Ans. (C) Microsoft

9) Ans. (B) Time Magazine

10) Ans. (D) Bihar

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