Daily Current Affairs Updates: 11 April 2015

1) National Safe Motherhood Day observed:

--> National Safe Motherhood day was observed across India on 11 April 2015 to create awareness on proper healthcare and maternity facilities to pregnant and lactating women. 

2) Asteroid 316201 named after Malala Yousafzai:

--> Asteroid 316201 was named as ‘316201 Malala’ after the youngest Nobel laureate and girls’ education campaigner Malala Yousafzai.

--> The asteroid was named after her by Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, United States under the International Astronomical Union rules.

--> In 2010, Mr. Mainzer had discovered the asteroid which was known as 316201. As a discoverer of the asteroid he had owned the rights to name it.

--> Asteroid 316201 Malala is located in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

--> It orbits around the Sun every 5.5 years and is more-than 2 mile wide.

3) Yuki won Karshi ITF Futures trophy:

--> Yuki Bhambri clinched the ITF Futures tournament on 11 April 2015 with a straight-set win over Dzmitry Zhyrmont and ensured his berth in the French Open qualifying event.

--> The 22-year-old player, seeded second, overcame his Belarusian third seed rival 6-2 6-4 in the final and pocketed 27 ranking points which will take him to a rank between 215 and 220.

--> French Open, the Clay Court Grand Slam will begin May 19.

4) Apurvi Chandela won Bronze in ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup:

--> Commonwealth Games gold medallist Apurvi Chandela secured her place in Rio Olympics 2016 by shooting her way to a bronze medal in the 10 metres air rifle event at the World Cup in Changwon (South Korea) on 11 April 2015.

--> Chandela became the second Indian to qualify for Olympics 2016 after pistol shooter Jitu Rai.

5) India's first IFSC becomes operational at GIFT City:

--> India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at GIFT City in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat became operational on 11 April 2015 and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled rules and regulations for this global financial hub.

--> IFSC rules allow companies incorporated outside India to raise money in foreign currencies by issuance and listing of their equity shares on stock exchanges within the IFSC, where individual and institutional investors from India and abroad, including NRIs, would be allowed to trade.

6) U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shook hands:

--> In a landmark development, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro held a meeting on 11 April 2015, which market the first summit between the two countries since the height of the Cold War.

--> The Obama-Castro summit meeting took place at Panama City on 11 April during the ongoing Summit of the Americas.

--> The relations between the two countries have been in the range from bad to worse since the embassies in Washington and Havana were closed in 1961.

7) Naxals killed 7 of elite force in Sukma:

--> Seven personnel of Chhattisgarh’s elite Special Task Force were killed and 10 injured in a Maoist attack on 11 April 2015 in Sukma in south Bastar, in the biggest attack on security forces this year in the state.

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Social Welfare Schemes(Yojana) for Secretariat Assistant Exam 2015 - Part 1

1) Antyodaya Anna Yojana

When launched? - December 25, 2000 by NDA government

Aim? - It contemplated providing 25 kg. of foodgrains per month at highly subsidized rates of Rs. 2 per kg. for wheat and Rs. 3 per kg. for rice to each Antodaya family. The total number of families to be covered under this scheme was placed at one crore. It contemplated providing 25 kg. of foodgrains per month at highly subsidized rates of Rs. 2 per kg. for wheat and Rs. 3 per kg. for rice to each Antodaya family. The total number of families to be covered under this scheme was placed at one crore.

2) Balika Samriddhi Yojana

When launched? - August 15, 1997

Aim? - To change negative family and community attitudes towards the girl child at birth and towards her mother, To improve enrolment and retention of girl children in schools, To raise the age at marriage of girls, To assist the girl to undertake income generating activities.

Note: During 1999-2000, Govt. of India recast the scheme and the benefits and means of delivery have been redesigned to ensure that financial benefits accrue to the girl child. Balika Samridhi Yojna is being implemented in both rural and urban areas.

3) Bharat Nirman

When launched? - May 16, 2005 by the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh as part of successful completion of one year of the UPA government.

Aim? - Ambitious scheme of Rs 175 crore for rural infrastructure development. There were namely six areas under Bharat Nirman viz. - irrigation, road development, water supply, housing, rural electrification and rural telecom connectivity.Villages with a population of 1,000 (500 in tribal areas) would be connected with a road.. Construction of 60 lakh additional houses for the homeless rural poor.. An additional 1 crore hectare area in the rural areas would be brought under irrigation,. An additional 74,000 habitations would be provided with drinking water.

5) Indira Awaas Yojana

When launched? - 1985

Aim? - Provides financial assistance to rural poor for constructing their houses themselves. Under the scheme, financial assistance worth Rs.70,000/- in plain areas and Rs.75,000/- in difficult areas (high land area) is provided for construction of houses. The houses are allotted in the name of the woman or jointly between husband and wife.

Note: Started in 1985 as part of the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was subsumed in Jawahar rojgar Yojana (JRY) in 1989 and has been operating as an independent scheme since 1996.

6) Integrated Child Development Scheme

When launched? - 1975

Aim? -  Provides food, preschool education, and primary healthcare to children under 6 years of age and their mothers. These services are provided from Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers. 

7) Jawahar Rozgar Yojana

When launched? - April, 1, 1989

Note: By merging the two erstwhile wage employment programme – National Rural Employment programme (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP). 80:20 cost sharing basis between the centre and the States.

Aim? - The main objective of the yojana was additional gainful employment for the unemployed and under-employed persons in rural areas.

Important: Since April 1, 1999 this Yojna was replaced by Jawahar Gram samridhi Yojna. Later from September 25, 2001, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojna was merged with Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojna.

8) Kudumbasree

When launched? - May 17, 1998 by the then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee in Malappuram.

Note: Kudumbashree, a female-oriented, community-based, poverty reduction project of Government of Kerala.

Aim? - Empowerment of women, through forming self-help groups and encouraging their entrepreneurial or other wide range of activities. The purpose of the mission is to ensure that the women should no longer remain as passive recipients of public assistance, but active leaders in women-involved development initiatives.

9) Mahila Samriddhi Yojana

When launched? - 2nd October, 1993

Aim? - Empowering rural women through development of thrift habit and building confidence and self-reliance. Under the scheme any adult rural woman could open the MSY account in the post office with a minimum deposit of Rs 4/- or in multiples of Rs.4/- subject to a maximum of Rs.300/-.

10) National Food for Work Programme

When launched? - 14 November 2004

Aim? - Launched in 150 of the most backward districts of India with the objective of generating supplementary wage employment. The programme is open to all rural poor who are prepared to do manual, unskilled labour. It is implemented as a centrally-sponsored scheme.

Important: This program was merged with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in February 2006.

Please note: This article has been prepared based on the online materials about schemes available in various websites. In case you find any error please bring it to our notice. We will correct it.

Remaining schemes will be shared in our next post... Keep visiting.

Read recently launched schemes: Click Here

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Apply Online for SBI PO 2015

Friends..as you know State Bank of India has published the Advertisement No.CRPD/PO/2015-16/02 for recruitment of probationary officers in SBI 2015 a few days back. The link to apply online has been activated on 13.04.2015. Now you can apply online from the below link from 13.04.2015 to 02.05.2015. Candidates are advised in their own interest to apply online much before the closing date and not to wait till the last date to avoid the possibility of disconnection / inability / failure to log on to the website on account of heavy load on internet or website jam.

Important Dates:

Starting Date for Online Application: 13.04.2015

Last Date for Submission of Online Application: 02.05.2015

Payment of Fees (Online Only): 13.04.2015 to 02.05.2015

Date of Preliminary Examination: Tentatively in June 2015

Specifications for Photograph and Signature to apply online are as follows:

PHOTOGRAPH IMAGE:

* Photograph must be a recent passport size colour picture.

* The picture should be in colour, against a light-coloured, preferably white, background.

* Look straight at the camera with a relaxed face.

* If the picture is taken on a sunny day, have the sun behind you, or place yourself in the shade, so that you are not squinting and there are no harsh shadows.

* If you have to use flash, ensure there's no “red-eye”.

* If you wear glasses make sure that there are no reflections and your eyes can be clearly seen.

* Caps, hats and dark glasses are not acceptable. Religious headwear is allowed but it must not cover your face.

* Dimensions 200 x 230 pixels (preferred).

* Size of file should be between 20kb–50kb.

* Ensure that the size of the scanned image is not more than 50KB. If the size of the file is more than 50KB, then adjust the settings of the scanner such as the DPI resolution, no. of colours etc.,during the process of scanning.

(ii) SIGNATURE IMAGE:

* The applicant has to sign on white paper with Black Ink pen.

* The signature must be signed only by the applicant and not by any other person.

* If the Applicant's signature on the answer script, at the time of the examination, does not match the signature on the Attendance Sheet, the applicant will be disqualified.

* Dimensions 140 x 60 pixels (preferred).

* Size of file should be between 10kb – 20kb.

* Ensure that the size of the scanned image is not more than 20KB.

Procedure for Uploading the Photograph and Signature

(i) There will be two separate links for uploading Photograph and Signature.

(ii) Click on the respective link “Upload Photograph / Signature”.

(iii) Browse & Select the location where the Scanned Photo / Signature file has been saved.

(iv) Select the file by clicking on it.

(v) Click the 'Upload' button.

Read SBI PO 2015 Notification: Click Here

For Study Materials watch this space: Click Here

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Question Papers of SSC CGL 2014 Tier-2 Exam - 12 April 2015

Friends.. Here are the Question Paper of the SSC CGL 2014 Tier-2 Exam held on 12.04.2015 of Quantitative Ability. The code of these Question Papers are 789 TH 7, 987 QK 4. The question papers of the remaining sets and the answer key of all sets will be updated soon.

Download Question Paper 789TH7: Click Here or Link 2
Download Question Paper 987 QK 4: Click Here

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Today's (12 April 2015) NICL Assistant Exam GK Questions

Friends..Here are a few GK Questions asked in today's (12 April 2015) NICL Assistant Exam, Evening Shift. These questions were shared by Ganeswar Naik and Siddharth Nath. These questions will be useful for those having exam in coming days. 

1) Currency of Czech Republic? - Czech koruna

2) Berlin is the capital of which country? - Germany

3) Who was recently selected as brand ambassador to lead India's fight against hepatitis B? - Amitabh Bachchan

4) Capital of Assam? - Dispur

5) Name the NITI Aayog CEO? - Sindhushree Khullar

6) Chris Gayle is the cricketer from which country? - West Indies

7) 'Wings of Fire' is the autobiography of? - APJ Abdul Kalam

8) Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary is in which state? - Telangana

9) Headquarters of LIC? - Mumbai

10) Which state has highest urban population according to census 2011? - Maharashtra

11) Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways? - Nitin Gadkari

12) Karnataka defeated which team to win Ranji Trophy 2015? - Tamil Nadu

13) Headquarters of International Court of Justice? - The Hague, Netherlands

14) Greg Chappell is associated with which game? - Cricket

15) SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture life insurance company between State Bank of India and? - BNP Paribas Assurance

16) Regulatory body of insurance in India? - IRDA

17) Name India's Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile successfully test fired from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft recently? - Astra

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April 2015 Current Affairs Questions PDF (Second Week)

Do u want this as PDF J : Click Here

1) Who was on 9 April 2015 appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)? - Dr. Nasim Zaidi

Note: He will assume the charge of office of the CEC with effect from 19 April 2015 when the incumbent Harishankar Brahma retires. He will have tenure up to July 2017 when he attains the age of 65.

2) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 April 2015 launched the MUDRA Bank to fund the small entrepreneurs. MUDRA stands for? - Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd.

3) Name the former Australian cricket captain and legendary commentator who died in Sydney on 10 April 2015? - Richie Benaud

4) Which Indian city was named as the National Earth Hour Capital 2015 on 9 April 2015? - Thane in Mumbai, Maharashtra

5) Surface-to-Surface nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile was successfully test-fired on 9 April 2015 from a naval ship at? - Odisha coast

Note: Dhanush ballistic missile is a naval variant of India’s indigenously-developed Prithvi missile.

6) Who was elected as the President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2015-16 on 7 April 2015? - Sumit Mazumder

Note: He is the Chairman and Managing Director of the TIL Limited, India’s largest manufacturer of material handling equipment.

7) Who was appointed as Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru on 1 April 2015? - Mayilsamy Annadurai

8) World Health Day (WHD) 2015 was observed globally on 7 April 2015. What was the theme for the day in 2015? - From farm to plate, make food safe.

9) Who was re-appointed as the chairman of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) Governing Council by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 6 April 2015? - Rajeev Shukla

10) Name the winners of 2015 Miami Open Men’s and women’s singles titles respectively? - Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams

11) Who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on 10 April 2015? - Arun Kumar Jha

12) Which city was awarded the title of Global Earth hour Capital 2015, after it won the Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on 9 April 2015? - Seoul, South Korea

13) Under which Yojana MUDRA Bank was set up? - Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

Note: Read More about Mudra Bank from here--> http://goo.gl/qWcqc8

14) Dena Bank on 6 April 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with which Insurance company to provide insurance cover to all Aadhaar-linked savings account holders of the bank in the age group of 18 to 50 years? - Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)

15) Who was sworn-in as the 16th Governor of Mizoram on 4 April 2015? - Keshari Nath Tripathi

16) Union Cabinet on 7 April 2015 gave its approval to release an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners at the rate of ____ percent? - six percent

Note: With this DA or DR will be 113 percent of the basic pay with effect from 1 January 2015.

17) Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the retirement fund body, on 9 April 2015 suspended the ___rupees minimum monthly pension scheme from April 2015? - 1000 rupees

Note: This was suspended as there was no direction from the Union Government to continue this scheme beyond 31 March 2015.

18) Which Union Ministry on 9 April 2015 suspended the registration of Greenpeace India Society (GIS) for 180 days for acting against public and economic interests of the country? - Union Ministry of Home Affairs

 Prepared by: www.currentaffairs4examz.com

19) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 7 April 2015 recommended the establishment of Integrated Emergency Communication and Response System (IECRS). It has recommended which number as a single emergency number? -112 

20) Reserve Bank of India recently notified hike in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in Insurance Sector to ___ percent from the existing 26 percent? – 49

21) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 April 2015 launched a ____ to tackle the menace of air pollution? - National Air Quality Index (NAQI)

Note: The index will be extended to 22 State capitals and 44 other cities with a population exceeding one million.

22) Sania Mirza along with whom on 5 March 2015 won the Miami Open Tennis women's doubles title? - Martina Hingis of Switzerland

23) Name the former Air Chief Marshal of Indian Air Force (IAF) who died on 9 April 2015? - Hrushikesh Moolgavkar

24) India was elected to four important United Nations agencies on 8 April 2015 at the Coordination and Management Meeting (CMM) of UNECOSOC. Expand UNECOSOC? - United Nations Economic and Social Council

25) Name the Jnanapith award winning Tamil novelist who died in Chennai on 8 April 2015? – Jayakanthan

26) Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 8 April 2015 formed an expert committee under the chairmanship of whom to suggest simplified compliance for establishing new industries? - Ajay Shankar

27) Which Airport on 5 April 2015 won the prestigious Golden Peacock National Quality Award for the year 2015? - Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL)

28) Which e-commerce company on 8 April 2015 acquired mobile recharge service FreeCharge in a cash and stock deal? - Snapdeal

Note: With this acquisition, Snapdeal became the largest mobile commerce company in India.

29) Name the campaign to promote Kerala tourism launched on 8 April 2015 by Union Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma? - Visit Kerala 2015

30) Which team on 7 April 2015 won the 2014-15 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy played at the KIIT Cricket Stadium, Bhubaneshwar? – Gujarat

31) India was designated on 10 April 2015 to chair the ninth meeting of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) council to be held for two days starting from 10 June 2015 at? - Abu Dhabi

32) Name the 15-year-old Indian-origin schoolboy in the United Kingdom, who was on 12 March 2015 awarded with the 500 pounds Institute of Physics (IOP) Prize? - Pratap Singh

33) Which Indian Grandmaster on 6 April 2015 won Bronze medal in the World Women’s chess championships held at Sochi, Russia? - Dronavalli Harika

34) Name one of the top mountaineers of India, who died on 4 April 2015? - Malli Mastan Babu

35) Spiders belonging to the Thomisidae family was recently named after which Indian state? – Telangana

36) Who was appointed as the seventh Prime Minister of Peru on 2 April 2015? - Pedro Cateriano Bellido

37) Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj and veteran Hindi litterateur Uday Pratap Singh were conferred Sahitya Shiromani Samman on 8 April 2015. This award is given by which state? - Uttar Pradesh

38) Which state in USA on 9 April 2015 passed a bill that allows use of nitrogen gas (nitrogen-induced hypoxia) as a method of execution? - Oklahoma

Note: Oklahoma will also become the first state in the United States that will allow use of nitrogen for execution. 

Check first Week PDF: Click Here

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NICL AO Exam GK Questions- 12 April 2015

Friends..Here are the questions asked in today's (12 April 2015) NICL AO Exam. Questions shared by: Archana, Vivek & Kumar. 

1) What is the interest rate of Sukanya Samridhi Account for FY 2015-16? - 9.2%

2) Headquarters of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)? - Vienna, Austria

3) PM recently inaugurated the first of the eight Coastal Surveillance Radar Systems (CSRS) being set up by India in which country? - Seychelles

4) Capital of China? - Beijing

5) Which team won the Santhosh Trophy football tournament 2015? - Services

6) National Deworming Day was recently observed on? - February 10

7) MUDRA bank startup capital? - 20000 crores

8) Rongali Bihu is related to which state? - Assam

9) Currency of Mauritius? - Mauritian Rupee

10) Which is the largest general insurance company of India on the basis of gross premium collection? - New India Assurance
11) HDFC Life is a joint venture between and? - Standard Life 
12) Mesabi Iron Range is situated at? - United States
13) Which country is world's largest arms importer according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)? - India

14) According to Budget 2015, Forward Markets Commission will be merged with? - SEBI

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Quiz on Current Affairs - 12 April 2015

1) Which state has launched the subsidised Aahar scheme on the occasion of the State’s Foundation Day on 1 April 2015?

(A) Odisha

(B) Bihar

(C) Madhya Pradesh

(D) Jharkhand

2) Misao Okawa, the World’s oldest person who died on 1 April 2015 was from which country?

(A) China

(B) Indonesia

(C) Bhutan

(D) Japan

3) Who recently won Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for being the New Zealand Cricketer of the Year?

(A) Kane Williamson

(B) Trent Boult

(C) Brendon McCullum

(D) Daniel Vettori

4) Justice Sunil Kumar Sinha was recently appointed as the Chief Justice of which High Court?

(A) Meghalaya

(B) Sikkim

(C) Kerala

(D) Delhi

5) Which international organization on 1 April 2015 launched a group against terrorism named 'Group of Friends against terrorism' with 30 members including India?

(A) Red Cross

(B) European Union

(C) SAARC

(D) United Nations

6) Kyle Mills who recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket is from which country?

(A) Australia

(B) South Africa

(C) New Zealand

(D) England

7) Which country recently became the 123rd state party to the International Criminal Court?

(A) Israel

(B) Venezuela

(C) Cuba

(D) Palestine

8) World Autism Awareness Day was observed on?

(A) April 1

(B) April 2

(C) April 3

(D) April 4

9) What was India's rank among 130 countries in the global business resilience index released recently?

(A) 129

(B) 106

(C) 78

(D) 119 

10) International Children’s Book Day was celebrated on?

(A) April 2

(B) May 31

(C) March 12

(D) April 7

Answers

1) Ans. (A) Odisha

2) Ans. (D) Japan

3) Ans. (C) Brendon McCullum

4) Ans. (B) Sikkim

5) Ans. (D) United Nations

6) Ans. (C) New Zealand

7) Ans. (D) Palestine

8) Ans. (B) April 2

9) Ans. (D) 119

10) Ans. (A) April 2

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