gk power capsule sbi asso assistant 2015

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GK POWERCAPSULE FOR SBI ASSOCIATE ASSISTANT EXAM 2015

Current RBI Policy & Reserve Rates:

Repo Rate 8% (Unchanged) Reverse Repo 7% (Unchanged) CRR 4% (Unchanged) SLR 22% (Unchanged) MSF 9% (Unchanged) Bank Rate 9% (Unchanged)

Note: As on 30, Sept, 2014, RBI (Reserve Bank of India) in its fourth bimonthly monetary policy statement kept the key policy rate unchanged.

News related to RBI

1. RBI issued guidelines for setting up a trading platform for trade receivables and bills of exchanges of Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises - MSME. The Trade Receivables Discounting System - TReDS should have a minimum paid up equity capital of 25 crore rupees and non-promoters would not hold over 10 per cent of the equity capital of TReDS.

2. RBI relaxed norms for Pre-paid Payment Instruments (PPIs) and doubled the limit to one lakh rupees from 50000 rupees. Highlights of RBI norms on PPI i. The maximum validity of gift cards has been enhanced from one year to three years. Other provisions of PPI guidelines with respect to gift cards will continue. ii. RBI also allowed issue of multiple PPIs by banks from fully-KYC compliant bank accounts for dependent or family members. Only one card can be issued to one beneficiary. The central bank also permitted banks to issue rupee denominated PPIs for visiting foreign nationals and NRIs.

3. RBI keeps interest rate unchanged i. RBI in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy statement kept the policy rates unchanged. ii. The headline inflation has been receding steadily, and current readings are below the January 2015 target of 8 per cent as well as the January 2016 target of 6 per cent,'' the RBI said.

4. RBI eased gold imports and scrapped 20:80 schemes. The decision to withdraw the 20:80 schemes will cut smuggling of gold and raise legal shipments into India.

5. Government needs to infuse as much as Rs 2.4 lakh crore ($38.78 billion) into state-owned banks by end-March 2019 to meet different kinds of capital requirements including Basel III, provisioning for asset quality, and additional risks, said a central bank Deputy Governor SS Mundra.

6. RBI tightens norms for NBFCs: Tightening norms for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the Reserve Bank of India raised the capital adequacy requirement and the net owned fund limit, among others, with an objective to mitigate risks in the sector. Note: i. At present, the net owned fund (NOF) requirement is at Rs.25 lakh. In a phased manner, the NBFCs would be required to raise it to Rs.1 crore by March, 2016, and to further double it to Rs.2 crore by 2017. iii. Also, NBFCs primarily engaged in lending against gold jewellery, will have to maintain a minimum Tier I capital (or equity capital) of 12 per cent with effective from April 1 as against existing requirement of 10 per cent.

This GK Capsule has been prepared by Career Power Institute Delhi (Formerly Known as Bank Power). This

document consists of all important news and events of last few months which can come in SBI Associate

Assistant Exam.

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iv. For deposit and non-deposit taking NBFCs, Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio or CRAR, which includes Tier I capital of 7.5 per cent, which have to be raise the Tier I capital to 8.5 per cent by end of March 2016 and 10 per cent by March, 31, 2017.

7. The Reserve Bank has signed a pact with Central Bank of Kenya for exchange of information and supervisory cooperation.

8. RBI Draft Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector – Key points: i. Minimum capital requirement will be Rs 500 crore. ii. Aggregate foreign shareholding in the new bank should not exceed 49 per cent for the first five years. iii. The new bank should open at least 25 per cent of its branches in unbanked rural centres.

9. Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC): A Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 are financial institutions that provide banking services without meeting the legal definition of a bank, i.e. one that does not hold abanking license. Difference between banks & NBFCs: i. NBFC cannot accept demand deposits; ii. NBFCs do not form part of the payment and settlement system and cannot issue cheques drawn on itself; iii. deposit insurance facility of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is not available to depositors of NBFCs, unlike in case of banks. Key Points i. Minimum capital requirement will be Rs 500 crore. ii. Aggregate foreign shareholding in the new bank should not exceed 49 per cent for the first five years. iii. The NBFCs are allowed to accept/renew public deposits for a minimum period of 12 months and maximum period of 60 months. They cannot accept deposits repayable on demand. iv. NBFCs cannot offer interest rates higher than the ceiling rate prescribed by RBI from time to time. The present ceiling is 12.5 per cent per annum. v. The deposits with NBFCs are not insured.

10. RBI Draft Guidelines for Licensing of Foreign Banks - Foreign banks that want to set up operations in India will have to do so through an independent subsidiary. This means they cannot operate as a branch of the parent bank. Key Points: i. The initial minimum capital for a WoS will be Rs. 500 crore. ii. RBI said that the WoS (wholly-owned subsidiary) will be required to meet Basel-III requirements (9 per cent Tier-I capital) right from Day One. For the first three years, the WoS will have to maintain Tier-I capital at 10 per cent. iii. The Priority Sector Lending (PSL) requirement will be 40 per cent for WoSs, such as domestic scheduled commercial banks iv. The new bank should open at least 25 per cent of its branches in unbanked rural centres.

11. Reserve Bank of India reduced free usage of other bank automated teller machines (ATMs) to 3 per month from 5: Frequent withdrawal of money from ATMs will become expensive from November, with the RBI imposing a limit of 3 transactions per month from ATMs of other banks and 5 from the same bank in six metropolitan cities. Note: A customer will be required to pay a fee of up to Rs 20 for using Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) beyond the permitted numbers of transactions in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

12. RBI issued two new categories of banks—Small and Payments which can improve financial inclusion. Important Points: i. The idea of small and payments banks was first proposed by the Nachiket Mor committee on financial inclusion. ii. The minimum paid-up capital requirement of both small banks and payments banks is Rs. 100 crore. iii. The payments bank will have to invest in government securities with a maturity of up to one year. iv. Small banks will offer both deposits as well as loan products. ii. Payments banks will be used only for transaction and deposits purposes. Unlike small banks, payments banks can’t lend money to people.

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iii. Payments Banks cannot set up subsidiaries to undertake NBFC business. iv. Hence, payments banks will offer only a limited range of products such as acceptance of demand deposits and remittance of funds. v. Those eligible to set up a small bank include resident individuals with 10 years of experience in banking and finance, companies and societies, NBFCs, microfinance institutions and local area banks. v. Of the minimum capital, the guidelines said, the promoters' initial minimum contribution will be at least 40 per cent, to be locked in for a period of 5 years. vi. The Reserve Bank of India has issued final norms for payment banks and small finance banks that would allow mobile firms and supermarket chains, to enter the banking arena to cater to individuals and small businesses. vii. The move aims at deepening financial inclusion and boost saving habits. Shriram Capital, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Magma Fincorp and Muthoot Finance, among others, are expected to throw their hats into the ring to set up small banks. viii. The Department of Posts, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Tata Teleservices, Western Union and online digital payment players such as Paytm, Oxigen and MobiKwik have expressed interest in floating payment banks. Companies will have to apply by January 16, 2015, for licences in both categories.

Key activities i. The small bank will primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to un-served and under-served sections, including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities. ii. Small banks will be required to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent of the loans on a continuous basis. iii. In the draft guidelines, the RBI had suggested that small banks would have a restricted area of operations (possibly contiguous districts in a homogenous States). However, in the final guidelines, these restrictions have been removed. The small bank will be required to extend 75 per cent of its credit to the priority sector Payment Banks: i. Payments banks can accept deposits — current and savings bank — from individuals, small businesses and other entities but cannot provide loans. However, they cannot accept non-resident Indian deposits. ii. The payment bank will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs1 lakh per individual customer. iii. While the bank can issue ATM/debit cards, it cannot issue credit cards.It can contract outside liabilities (deposits) but not exceeding 33.33 times (against 20 times in the draft guidelines) its net worth.

13. RBI issues guidelines for NBFCs on lending against shares. Note: According to the guidelines applicable to NBFCs with asset size of Rs. 100 crore and above, the NBFCs have to maintain a loan-to-value (of shares pledged) of 50 per cent and accept only Group 1 securities as collateral for loans of a value more than Rs. 5 lakh.

14. RBI notified the increase in deposit money under Public Provident Fund, PPF to 1.5 lakh rupees from 1 lakh rupees. 15. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued draft guidelines for implementation of Bharat Bill Payment System (BPPS),

an 'anytime anywhere' bill payment system: Note: i. Bharat Bill Payment System is intended for the implementation of a unified bill payment system across the country. This integrated bill payment system will comprise of two entities: i. Entity operating at Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) will be setting up the standards related to payments, clearance and settlement process ii. Second entity would be Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units (BBPOUs). It will be carrying out the operations in adherence to the standards fixed by BBPS. iii. Authorised entities such as agents, banks, service providers, payment gateways would be the participants at the Bharat Bill Payment System.

16. Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that plastic currency notes will be launched in 2015 after field trials.

17. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the guidelines to allow the minors of age above 10 years to independently open and operate savings bank accounts and use other facilities like ATM and cheque books.

SBI in news - SBI to raise Rs.4,000 cr for BPCL's petrochemical plan

i. State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is planning to raise Rs.4,000crore for the expansion of its Kochi refinery and to fund its petrochemicals venture, said three banking sources aware of the development.

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Ii. BPCL is planning to diversify into downstream petrochemicals with an investment of Rs.4,588crore by using propylene. State Bank of India to launch Islamic equity fund

i. State-owned bank will launch an Islamic equity fund next month aimed primarily at the country's 170 million Muslims.SEBI recently allowed the government-owned State Bank of India BSE 0.41 % and three mutual funds to launch Sharia funds. Note:India is only the second country outside the Islamic world where a state-owned bank is offering a Sharia-compliant fund. The U.K. issued sovereign Islamic bonds in June.

SBI launches first homegrown economic indicator the SBI Monthly Composite Index and the SBI Yearly Composite Index that will primarily track manufacturing activity and offer a forward-looking economic trends.

SBI Online were among the three most searched words on the internet search engine in 2014. SBI signed 500 million dollar Line of Credit with Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank). SBI, celebrated 150 years of its operations in Sri Lanka on 13/Sept/2014. SBI launches mPassBook facility on its smartphone application anywhere' mobile application, for its retail banking users. SBI lend $ 1 billion to Adani Group to build Australian coal mine which it aims to build by end-2017. Founder of Adani

Group – Gautam Adani. SBI Cards ties up with Future Group company Fashion at Big Bazaar (FBB) to offer a co-branded CREDIT CARD,

‘Styleup’.

Modern Banking Facts:

ICICI Bank was the first Indian Bank to provide internet banking facility.

ICICI Bank was the first Bank to provide Mobile ATM. Bank of Baroda has the maximum number of overseas branches. SBI (State Bank of India) has the total number of maximum branches

and holds 2nd position in the world. India's first "talking" Automated Teller Machine (ATM) launched by Union Bank of India (UBI) for visually impaired

was launched in Ahmedabad (Gujarat). RBI to issue Rs 10 plastic currency notes in 5 cities: Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubhaneswar and Shimla.

Note: First plastic notes issued by Australia in 1988. RuPay is an Indian domestic card scheme conceived and launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

RuPay facilitates electronic payment at all Indian banks and financial institutions, and competes with MasterCard and Visa in India.

India's first non-bank owned ATM (White Label ATMs) opens in Maharashtra: Tata Communications Payments Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Ltd, opened first White Label ATM at Chandrapada in Thane district, in Maharashtra.

Banking topics in news –

NPA’s (Non Performing Assets): i. A mortgage in default would be considered non-performing, after a prolonged period of non-payment(90 days). ii. The lender will force the borrower to liquidate any assets that were pledged as part of the debt agreement. If no assets were pledged, the lenders might write-off the asset as a bad debt and then sell it at a discount to a collections agency. Debt recovery tribunal (DRT- A court for such cases) – A person whose account is declared as NPA SARFAESI ACT - In 2002, Govt. gave bank’s a lifeline called as SARFAESI Act (Securitization and Reconstruction of

Financial Assets and Enforcement of security interest Act) i. With this Act bank has the power to take possession of the owner’s mortgaged property or can transfer this to some other ownership.

What bank will do with the acquired property? i. Bank can use this for their own purpose like , opening a new branch on it, installing of ATM’s etc. ii. Bank can advertise in newspapers for the auction of the property acquired and could auction them on any pre decided day. iii.Bank can sell the property to ARC (Asset Reconstruction Company), these are registered companies under RBI, they buy such assets from banks and sell them at higher prices to gain profits.

Goods and Services Tax - i. It is an indirect tax that will lead to the abolition of all other taxes such as, central sales tax, state-level sales tax, excise duty, service tax, and value-added tax (VAT). Both the state and the central governments will impose GST on almost all goods and services produced in India or imported into the country. ii. Exports will not be subject to GST. Direct taxes, such as income tax, corporate tax and capital gains tax will not be affected.



It will simplify India's tax structure, broaden the tax base, and create a common market across states. This will lead to increased compliance and increase India's tax-to-gross domestic product ratio. iii. The highest rate of taxation under GST will be around 15 per cent in the first year, and eventually come down to 12 per cent in the second year. By comparison, the current rate of the various indirect taxes levied in India amounts to roughly 20 per cent. Goods deemed necessary or of basic importance will be taxed at a lower rate. iv. The GST can be implemented only through a Constitutional Amendment Bill, which means it needs to be approved by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting in each House of Parliament. The GST must also be ratified by the legislatures of at least one-half of the states. v. States will get one-year time to implement the provisions of Goods and Services Tax (GST) after introduction of the new indirect tax regime from 1st April 2016.

Types of Bank Accounts in India (Deposit Accounts) Traditionally banks in India have four types of deposit accounts, namely Saving Banking Accounts, Current Accounts, Recurring Deposits and, Fixed Deposits. 1. Saving Account - Saving accounts are opened to encourage the people to save money and collect their savings. The saving account holder is allowed to withdraw money from the account as and when required. The interest on Saving Bank Accounts was fixed by RBI and it was fixed at 4.00% on daily balance basis. RBI has deregulated Saving Fund account interest rates and now banks are free to decide the same within certain conditions imposed by RBI. Features of Saving Accounts – 1. There is no restriction on the number and amount of deposits. However, in India, mandatory PAN (Permanent Account

Number) details are required to be furnished for doing cash transactions exceeding र50,000.

2. Withdrawals are allowed subject to certain restrictions. 3. A minimum amount has to be kept on saving account to keep it functioning. 2. Current Account - Current Accounts are basically meant for businessmen and are never used for the purpose of investment or savings. Features of Current Accounts – (1) The main objective of Current Account holders in opening these account is to enable them (mostly businessmen) to conduct their business transactions smoothly. (2) There are no restrictions on the number of times deposit in cash / cheque can be made or the amount of such deposits; (3) Usually banks do not pay any interest on such current accounts. (4) The current accounts do not have any fixed maturity as these are on continuous basis accounts. (5) Cheque book facility is provided and the account holder can deposit all types of the cheques and drafts in their name or endorsed in their favour by third parties. 3. Recurring Desposit Account: Recurring Deposit is a special kind of Term Deposit offered by banks in India popularly known as RD accounts which help people with regular incomes to deposit a fixed amount every month into their Recurring Deposit account and earn interest at the rate applicable to Fixed Deposits. Features of RD Accounts – 1. Recurring Deposit accounts are normally allowed for maturities ranging from 6 months to 120 months 2. These accounts can be opened in single or joint names. Nomination facility is also available. 3. Rate of Interest offered is similar to that in Fixed Deposits. 4. Interest is compounded on quarterly basis in recurring deposits. 4. Fixed Deposit Account (FD) - The account which is opened for a particular fixed period (time) by depositing particular amount (money) is known as Fixed (Term) Deposit Account. The term 'fixed deposit' means that the deposit is fixed and is repayable only after a specific period is over. Under fixed deposit account, money is deposited for a fixed period say six months, one year, five years or even ten years. The money deposited in this account can not be withdrawn before the expiry of period. Features of FD Accounts – 1. The main purpose of fixed deposit account is to enable the individuals to earn a higher rate of interest on their surplus funds (extra money). 2. The amount can be deposited only once. For further such deposits, separate accounts need to be opened. 3. Fixed Deposit Account may be opened for a minimum period of 7 days and maximum period of 10 years. 4. The minimum amount required to open a Fixed Deposit is Rs.1000. 5. Withdrawals are not allowed. However, in case of emergency, banks allow to close the fixed account prior to maturity date. In such cases, the bank deducts 1% (deduction percentage many vary) from the interest payable as on that date.


About (BASIC SAVING BANK DEPOSIT ACCOUNT): Under the guidelines issued on August 10, 2012 by RBI: Any individual, including poor or those from weaker section of the society, can open zero balance account in any bank. BSBDA guidelines are applicable to "all scheduled commercial banks in India, including foreign banks having branches in India". ii. The aim of introducing 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account' is very much part of the efforts of RBI for furthering Financial Inclusion objectives.

Main Points of BSBDA-Small Accounts:

i. In BSBDA, banks are required to provide free of charge minimum 4 withdrawals, through ATMs ii. Total credits in such accounts should not exceed 1 lakh rupees in a year. iii. Maximum balance in the account should not exceed 50,000 Rs at any time iv. The total of debits by way of cash withdrawals and transfers will not exceed 10,000 rupees in a month v. Foreign remittances cannot be credited to Small Accounts without completing normal KYC formalities v. Small accounts are valid for a period of 12 months initially which may be extended by another 12 months if the person provides proof of having applied for an Officially Valid Document.

ATMs: (Automated Teller Machine): The ATM debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards (that permit cash withdrawal)

issued by banks can be used at ATMs for various transactions. Use of ATMs of Other Banks:

i. 5 free transactions are permitted per month (inclusive of financial and/or non-financial) at other bank ATMs for Savings Bank Account holders. ii. For transaction beyond this minimum number of transactions, banks charge maximum of Rs 20/ - per transaction. iii. Reserve Bank of India reduced free usage of other bank automated teller machines (ATMs) to 3 per month from 5 from November, in six metropolitan cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

WHITE Label ATMs: ATMs which are owned and operated by non-banking companies are called White Label ATMs.

Note: RBI authorised four entities to operate as WLAs namely Tata Communications Payment Solutions, Prizm Payment Services Pvt. Ltd, Muthoot Finance Limited and Vakrangee Ltd.

Personal Identification Number (PIN) : A Personal Identification Number is a secret numeric password shared between

user and a system that can be use to authenticate the user to the system. IFSC (Indian Financial System Code):

Indian Financial System Code is an alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies a bank-branch participating in the NEFT system. ii. This is an 11 digit code with the first 4 alpha characters representing the bank, The 5th character is 0 (zero).and the last 6 characters representing the bank branch. iii. IFSC is used by the NEFT system to identify the originating / destination banks / branches and also to route the messages appropriately to the concerned banks / branches. For ex: SBIN0015986 : i. First 4 character SBIN – refers to State Bank of India. ii. 0 is a control number. iii. last six characters (015986) represents the SBI branch Jail Road, Hari Nagar New Delhi.

MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition): MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. MICR Code is a 9 numeric digit code which uniquely identifies a bank branch participating in the ECS Credit scheme. MICR code consists of 9 digits e.g 400229128 i. First 3 digits represent the city (400) ii. Next 3 digits represent the bank (229) iii. Last 3 digits represent the branch (128) Note: The MICR Code allotted to a bank branch is printed on the MICR band of cheque leaves issued by bank branches.

Cheque Truncation: i. Truncation is the process of stopping the flow of the physical cheque issued by a drawer at some point with the presenting bank en-route to



the drawee bank branch. ii. In its place an electronic image of the cheque is transmitted to the drawee branch by the clearing house, along with relevant information like data on the MICR band, date of presentation, presenting bank, etc. iii. Cheque Truncation speeds up the process of collection of cheques resulting in better service to customers, reduces the scope for clearing-related frauds or loss of instruments in transit, lowers the cost of collection of cheques, and removes reconciliation-related and logistics-related problems, thus benefitting the system as a whole.

Bancassurance: The sale of insurance and other similar products through a bank. This can help the consumer in some situations; for example, when a bank requires life insurance for those receiving a mortgage loan the consumer could purchase the insurance directly from the bank.

Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006: i. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme enables an expeditious and inexpensive forum to bank customers for resolution of complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks. ii. The Banking Ombudsman is a senior official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India to redress customer complaints against deficiency in certain banking services. iii. All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme. Other Important Points:

The Banking Ombudsman does not charge any fee for filing and resolving customers’ complaints. The amount, if any, to be paid by the bank to the complainant by way of compensation for any loss suffered by the

complainant is limited to the amount arising directly out of the act or omission of the bank or Rs 10 lakhs, whichever is lower.

The Banking Ombudsman may award compensation not exceeding Rs 1 lakh to the complainant only in the case of complaints relating to credit card operations for mental agony and harassment.

If a complaint is not settled by an agreement within a period of one month, the Banking Ombudsman proceeds further to pass an award. Before passing an award, the Banking Ombudsman provides reasonable opportunity to the complainant and the bank, to present their case.

If one is not satisfied with the decision passed by the Banking Ombudsman, one can approach the appellate authority against the Banking Ombudsmen’s decision. Appellate Authority is vested with a Deputy Governor of the RBI.

If one is aggrieved by the decision, one may, within 30 days of the date of receipt of the award, appeal against the award before the appellate authority.

Deposit insurance and credit guarantee corporation (DICGC)

All commercial banks including branches of foreign banks functioning in India, local area banks and regional rural banks are insured by the DICGC. Note: Primary cooperative societies are not insured by the DICGC.

Maximum deposit amount insured by the DICGC - Each depositor in a bank is insured upto a maximum of Rs.1,00,000 (Rupees One Lakh).

Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited: is India’s first Credit Information Company (CIC) founded in August 2000. CIBIL collects and maintains records of an individual’s payments pertaining to loans and credit cards. Headquarter – Mumbai

Coins in India

Coins: The Government of India has the sole right to mint coins. Denominations: Coins in India are presently being issued in denominations of one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees.

Currency in India Currency: Banknotes in India are currently being issued in the denomination of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs500, and Rs1000. These notes are called banknotes as they are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (Reserve Bank).

Bank Notes in India

Contemporary Currency notes have 15 languages on the panel which appear on the reverse of the note. Soiled Notes: Soiled notes are those which have become dirty

and slightly cut. Mutilated Notes: Notes which are in pieces and/or of which



the essential portions are missing can also be exchanged. Imperfect banknotes: Imperfect banknote means any banknote, which is wholly or partially, obliterated, shrunk, washed,

altered or indecipherable but does not include a mutilated banknote. The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, has been

extended by another six months till June, 30, 2015. i. The Reserve Bank of India has stated that the public can do so till June 30, 2015. Earlier in March 2014, it had set the last date for public to exchange these notes was January 1, 2015. ii. Post-2005 notes have added security features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

Security Features of Indian Banknotes Watermark Security Thread Latent Image Microlettering Intaglio Identification Mark Fluorescence Optically Variable Ink See through Register Legal provisions against counterfeiting

Important Banking Terminology:

1. Basis points: It is the increase in interest rates in percentage terms. For instance, if the interest rate increases by 50 basis

points (bsp), then it means that interest rate has been increase by 0.50%. One percentage point is broken down into 100 basis points. Therefore, an increase from 2% to 3% is an increase of one percentage point or 100 basis points.

2. Bank Rate: Bank Rate is the rate at which central bank of the country (in India it is RBI) allows finance to commercial banks. Bank Rate is a tool, which central bank uses for short-term purposes. Any upward revision in Bank Rate by central bank is an indication that banks should also increase deposit rates as well as Base Rate / Benchmark Prime Lending Rate. Thus any revision in the Bank rate indicates that it is likely that interest rates on your deposits are likely to either go up or go down, and it can also indicate an increase or decrease in your EMI.

3. Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) is a monetary policy tool which allows banks to borrow money through repurchase agreements. LAF is used to aid banks in adjusting the day to day mismatches in liquidity. LAF consists of repo and reverse repo operations.

4. Repo Rate: Whenever the banks have any shortage of funds they can borrow it form RBI. Repo rate is the rate at which commercial banks borrows rupees from RBI. A reduction in the repo rate will help banks to get money at cheaper rate. When the repo rate increases borrowing form RBI becomes more expensive.

5. Reverse Repo Rate: Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which RBI borrows money from commercial banks. Banks are always happy to lend money to RBI since their money is in the safe hands with a good interest. An increase in reverse repo rate can cause the banks to transfer more funds to RBI due to this attractive interest rates. One factor which encourages an organisation to enter into reverse repo is that it earns some extra income on its otherwise idle cash.

6. CRR (Cash Reverse Ratio): CRR is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with RBI. If RBI increases CRR, the available amount with the banks comes down. RBI is using this method (increase of CRR), to drain out the excessive money from the banks.

7. SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio): SLR is the amount a commercial banks needs to maintain in the form of cash, or gold, or govt. approved securities (Bonds) before providing credit to its customers. SLR rate is determined and maintained by RBI in order to control the expansion of the bank credit. Need of SLR: With the SLR, the RBI can ensure the solvency of a commercial banks. It is also helpful to control the expansion of the Bank credits. By changing SLR rates, RBI can increase or decrease bank credit expansion. Also through SLR, RBI compels the commercial banks to invest in the government securities like govt. bonds. Main use of SLR: SLR is used to control inflation and propel growth. Through SLR rate the money supply in the system can be controlled effectively.

8. Marginal Standing Facility (MSF): MSF rate is the rate at which banks borrow funds overnight from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against approved government securities.

9. NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer): NEFT enables funds transfer from one bank to another but works a bit differently than RTGS. NEFT is slower than RTGS. The transfer is not direct and RBI acts as the service provider to transfer the money from one account to another. You can transfer any amount through NEFT, even a rupee.



Note: Rs 50,000 is a limit in a NEFT to NEPAL in a single day. 10. RTGS (Real time gross settlement ): RTGS system is funds transfer systems where transfer of money or securities takes

place from one bank to another on a "real time" and on "gross" basis. Settlement in "real time" means payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period. The transactions are settled as soon as they are processed. Minimum & Maximum Limit of RTGS: 2 lakh and no upper limit.

11. Fiscal Deficit: A deficit in the government budget of a country and represents the excess of expenditure over income. So this is the amount of borrowed funds require by the government to meet its expenditures completely.

12. Direct Tax: A direct tax is that which is paid directly by someone to taxing authority. Income tax and property tax are an examples of direct tax. They are not shifted to somebody else.

13. Indirect Tax: This type of tax is not paid by someone to the authorities and it is actually passed on to the other in the form of increased cost. They are levied on goods and services produced or purchased. Excise Tax, Sales Tax, Vat, Entertainment tax are indirect taxes.

14. Foreign Exchange Market : Foreign exchange market is the place where the financial institutions of different countries come and exchange the currencies in a defined manner and set rates. In forex market the deals of currencies are done and in turn it defines the value of one currency in comparison to the other. A foreign investor (FII or FDI) is a major source of foreign currency in India.

15. NOSTRO Account: A Nostro account is maintained by an Indian Bank in the foreign countries. 16. VOSTRO Account: A Vostro account is maintained by a foreign bank in India with their corresponding bank. 17. SDR (Special Drawing Rights): SDR are new form of International reserve assets, created by the International Monetary

Fund in 1967. The value of SDR is based on the portfolio of widely used countries and they are maintained as accounting entries and not as hard currency or physical assets like Gold.

18. BOND: Publicly traded ling term debt securities issued by corporations and governments, whereby the issuer agrees to pay a fixed amount of interest over a specified period of time and to repay a fixed amount of principal maturity.

19. CRAR(Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio): Capital to risk weighted assets ratio is arrived at by dividing the capital of the bank with aggregated risk weighted assets for credit risk, market risk and operational risk.

20. Non Performing Assets (NPA): An asset (loan), including a leased asset, becomes non performing when it stops generatig income for the bank. Note: Once the borrower has failed to make interest or principle payments for 90 days the loan is considered to be a non-performing asset.

21. Inflation: inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy.

22. GDP - An estimated value of the total worth of a country’s production and services, within its boundary, by its nationals and foreigners, calculated over the course on one year. Note: GDP = consumption + investment + (government spending) + (exports − imports). Total value of products & Services produced within the territorial boundary of a country.

23. GNP - An estimated value of the total worth of production and services, by citizens of a country, on its land or on foreign land, calculated over the course on one year. Note: GNP = GDP + NR (Net income inflow from assets abroad or Net Income Receipts) - NP (Net payment outflow to foreign assets). Total value of Goods and Services produced by all nationals of a country (whether within or outside the country).

Credit Rating Agency in India & World

Indian credit rating industry mainly comprises of CRISIL, ICRA, CARE, ONICRA, FITCH (India Ratings & Research) & SMERA. CRISIL - Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited, Headquarter – Mumbai ICRA - Investment information and credit rating agency Headquarter - Gurgaon, India CARE - Credit Analysis and Research Headquarters – Mumbai ONICRA - Headquarter - Gurgaon, India SMERA - Headquarters – Mumbai Fitch (India Ratings & Research) - Headquarters – Mumbai Note: CRISIL is the largest credit rating agency in India, with a market share of greater than 60%.

Leading Credit Rating Agency in World –

1. Standard & Poor's (S&P) – Headquarter – New York, US 2. Moody's – Headquarter - New York, US 3. Fitch - Headquarter - New York, US



Regulators in India:

Regulator Sectors Chairman Headquarter

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Financial system and monetary policy, Money Market Raghuram Rajan

Mumbai

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

Security & Capital Market, stock broking & Merchant Banking, Nidhis, Chit Fund Companies

U.K. Sinha Mumbai

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA)

Insurance industry T. S. Vijayan Hyderabad

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Telecommunication Industry Rahul Khullar New Delhi

Forward Markets Commission Commodity Market Ramesh Abhishek

Mumbai

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

Pension sector Hemant Contractor

New Delhi

Money Market in India

Money Market: Money Market is the part of financial market where instruments with high liquidity and very short-term maturities are traded. It's the place where large financial institutions, dealers and government participate and meet out their short-term cash needs. Due to highly liquid nature of securities and their short-term maturities, money market is treated as safe place. Role of Reserve Bank of India:The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plays a key role of regulator and controller of money

market. The intervention of RBI is varied – curbing crisis situations by reducing key policy rates or curbing inflationary situations by rising key policy rates such as Repo, Reverse Repo, CRR etc.

Short Term Deposit: In deposit terminology, the term Short Term Deposit refers to an amount of money placed in a bank

or financial institution for a term no longer than one year. A Short Term Deposit will usually earn a fixed rate of interest. Note: Short Term Deposits are also known as time or term deposits, with perhaps the most popular name being short term certificates of deposit or CDs.

Call Money: Call Money’ is the borrowing or lending of funds for 1day. Notice Money: Money borrowed or lend for period between 2 days and 14

days it is known as ‘Notice Money’ Term Money: Term Money refers to borrowing/lending of funds for

period exceeding 14 days

Money Market Instruments: Money Market Instruments provide the tools by which one can operate in the money market. Money market instrument meets short term requirements of the borrowers and provides liquidity to the lenders. The most common money market instruments are Treasury Bills, Certificate of Deposits, Commercial Papers, Repurchase Agreements and Banker's Acceptance.

1. Treasury Bills (T-Bills): Treasury Bills are one of the safest money market instruments as they are issued by Central Government. At present, the Government of India issues three types of treasury bills through auctions, namely, 91-day, 182-day and 364-day. There are no treasury bills issued by State Governments. Amount: Treasury bills are available for a minimum amount of Rs.25,000 and in multiples of Rs. 25,000. Treasury bills are issued at a discount and are redeemed at par



2. Commercial Paper (CP) - Commercial Paper (CP) is an unsecured money market instrument issued in the form of a promissory note. Who can issue CP - Corporates, primary dealers (PDs) and the All-India Financial Institutions (FIs) are eligible to issue CP. Minimum and maximum period of maturity for CP: CP can be issued for maturities between a minimum of 7 days and a maximum of up to one year from the date of issue. However, the maturity date of the CP should not go beyond the date up to which the credit rating of the issuer is valid. In what denominations a CP that can be issued: CP can be issued in denominations of Rs.5 lakh or multiples thereof. Who can invest in CP: Individuals, banking companies, other corporate bodies (registered or incorporated in India) and unincorporated bodies, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) etc. can invest in CPs.

3. Certificate of Deposit (CD) is a negotiable money market instrument and issued in dematerialised form or as a Usance Promissory Note against funds deposited at a bank or other eligible financial institution for a specified time period. Who can issue CD: CDs can be issued by (i) scheduled commercial banks {excluding Regional Rural Banks and Local Area Banks}; and (ii) select All-India Financial Institutions (FIs) that have been permitted by RBI to raise short-term resources within the umbrella limit fixed by RBI. Minimum and maximum period of maturity for CD: The maturity period of CDs issued by banks should not be less than 7 days and not more than one year, from the date of issue. Note: The FIs (Financial Institutions) can issue CDs for a period not less than 1 year and not exceeding 3 years from the date of issue. Minimum Size of Issue and Denominations: Minimum amount of a CD should be Rs.1 lakh, i.e., the minimum deposit that could be accepted from a single subscriber should not be less than Rs.1 lakh, and in multiples of Rs. 1 lakh thereafter.

4. Repurchase Agreements (Repo): Repurchase Agreements which are also called as Repo or Reverse Repo are short term loans that buyers and sellers agree upon for selling and repurchasing. Repo or Reverse Repo transactions can be done only between the parties approved by RBI and allowed only between RBI-approved securities such as state and central government securities, T-Bills, PSU bonds and corporate bonds. They are usually used for overnight borrowing.

5. Banker's Acceptance: Banker's Acceptance is like a short term investment plan created by non-financial firm, backed by a guarantee from the bank. It's like a bill of exchange stating a buyer's promise to pay to the seller a certain specified amount at a certain date. And, the bank guarantees that the buyer will pay the seller at a future date. Firm with strong credit rating can draw such bill. These securities come with the maturities between 30 and 180 days and the most common term for these instruments is 90 days.

Capital Market in India: Capital market deals with medium term and long term funds. It refers to all facilities and the institutional arrangements for borrowing and lending term funds (medium term and long term). The demand for long term funds comes from private business corporations, public corporations and the government. The supply of funds comes largely from individual and institutional investors, banks and special industrial financial institutions and Government. Capital market is classified in two ways: 1. Gilt – Edged Market refers to the market for government and semi-government securities, which carry fixed rates of interest. RBI plays an important role in this market. 2. Industrial Securities Market: It deals with equities and debentures in which shares and debentures of existing companies are traded and shares and debentures of new companies are bought and sold. 3. Development Financial Institutions (DFIs): Development financial institutions were set up to meet the medium and long-term requirements of industry, trade and agriculture. These are IFCI, ICICI, IDBI, SIDBI, IRBI, UTI, LIC, GIC etc. All These institutions have been called Public Sector Financial Institutions. 4. Financial intermediaries: Financial Intermediaries include merchant banks, Mutual Fund, Leasing companies etc. they help in mobilizing savings and supplying funds to capital market. The Second way in which capital market is classified is as follows :- 1. Primary market: Primary market is the new issue market of shares, preference shares and debentures of non-government public limited companies and issue of public sector bonds. 2. Secondary market: This refers to old or already issued securities. It is composed of industrial security market or stock exchange market and gilt-edged market. Banks and Their Tag Lines -

1. SBI - With you all the way, Pure Banking Nothing Else, The Nation’s banks on us



2. State Bank of Hyderabad – You can always bank on us. 3. State Bank of Mysore - Working for a better tomorrow 4. State Bank of Patiala – Blending Modernity with Tradition 5. State Bank of Travancore - A long Tradition of Trust 6. Allahabad Bank - A Tradition of Trust 7. Andhra Bank – Where India Banks 8. Bank of Baroda - India’s International Bank 9. Bank of India - Relationship beyond banking 10. Bhartiya Mahila Bank – Empowering Women 11. Bank of Maharashtra - One family one bank 12. Canara Bank – Together We Can 13. Central Bank of India – Central To you Since 1911 14. Corporation Bank – A Premier Public Sector Bank 15. Dena Bank - Trusted Family Bank 16. ECGC Bank – You focus on exports. We cover the risks 17. IDBI Bank – Banking For All, “Aao Sochein Bada” 18. Indian Bank – Your Tech- Friendly Bank 19. Indian Overseas Bank – Good people to grow with 20. Punjab National Bank - The name you can bank upon 21. Punjab & Sind Bank – Where service is a way of life 22. Oriental Bank of Commerce – Where every individual is committed 23. UCO Bank – Honours Your Trust 24. Union Bank of India – Good People to Bank with 25. United Bank of India – The Bank that begins with “U” 26. Vijaya Bank - A friend you can bank on 27. Axis Bank – Badhti Ka naam Zindagi 28. ICICI Bank – Hum Hai Na, Khyal Apka 29. HDFC Bank - We understand your world indeed 30. Yes Bank – Experience our Expertise 31. HSBC - The world’s local bank

Headquarters of Nationalised & Public Sectors Bank in India – 1. SBI Mumbai 2. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur Jaipur 3. State Bank of Travancore Thiruvananthapuram 4. State Bank of Mysore Bangalore 5. State Bank of Patiala Patiala 6. State Bank of Hyderabad Hyderabad 7. Union Bank of India Mumbai 8. Bank of India Mumbai 9. Central Bank of India Mumbai 10. Dena Bank Mumbai 11. IDBI Bank Mumbai 12. Allahabad Bank Kolkata 13. UCO Bank Kolkata 14. United Bank of India Kolkata 15. Punjab National Bank New Delhi 16. Oriental Bank of Commerce New Delhi 17. Punjab and Sind Bank New Delhi 18. Bhartiya Mahila Bank New Delhi 19. Canara Bank Bangalore 20. Vijaya Bank Bangalore 21. Indian Bank Chennai 22. Indian Overseas Bank Chennai 23. Bank of Baroda Vadodara 24. Syndicate Bank Manipal(Karnataka) 25. Corporation Bank Mangalore 26. Andhra Bank Hyderabad 27. Bank of Maharashtra Pune



Note: There are a total of 27 PSBs in India [21 Nationalised banks + 6 State bank group (SBI + 5 associates) ] ii. At present there are 23 Private Banks functioning in India iii. At present there are 56 RRBs (Regional Rural Banks ) functioning in India. iv. At present there are 41 Foreign Banks functioning in India

FDI Limits List of Limits in Various Sectors (In %)

1. Defence 49 2. Pension 49 3. Insurance 49 4. Print Media 26 5. Civil Aviation 49 6. Public Sec. Banks 20 7. Private Sec. Banks 74 8. Multi Brand 51 9. Single Brand 100 10. Tourism 100

India’s GDP Forecast: India's economic growth has declined to 5.3 per cent during July to September, from the previous quarter's 5.7 per cent. Fitch expects real GDP growth to pick up to 5.6 per cent in FY15 and 6.5 per cent in FY16 Domestic ratings agency India Ratings revised down its economic growth estimate for 2014-15 fiscal to 5.6 per cent. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD has projected 5.4 percent growth for the Indian

economy for 2014 -15 year. RBI pegged 2014-15 GDP growth at a central estimate of 5.5 % will improve to 6.3 per cent in 2015-16. World Bank estimates 5.6% growth for current fiscal i.e. 2014-15 and 6.4 per cent in 2015-16 and 7 per cent in 2016-17. IMF projected GDP growth for India in 2014-15 at - 5.6 % & 6.4 % in 2015 ADB pegs India GDP growth rate for 2014-15 at 5.5 % & 6.3 % in 2015 JP Morgan cut India 2014-15 growth forecast to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific,(ESCAP) - Indian economy to grow at 5.5 percent in current

fiscal Moody (Credit Rating Agency) projected India growth rate expected to accelerate to 5.2 % in 2014 and 6.5 % by end of

2015. FICCI’s Economic Outlook Survey estimated India’s GDP growth rate at

5.6 percent in 2014-15 According to a UN report Indian economy expected to grow by 5.5% in

current fiscal. According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD) Indian economy will grow at a rate of 5.6 per cent in 2014 India ranking in different Indexes: 1. Transparency International India (TII) – Corruption Index – India ranked

85th among 175(Denmark topped) 2. World Bank - Ease of Doing Business" report - India ranked 142 among

the 189 countries (Singapore top) 3. Political empowerment sub index – 15 (Iceland top the list, US ranked

20) 4. World Economic 5. Forum's 2014 Gender gap index – 114 (Iceland top the list followed by

Finland & Norway) 6. Global Hunger Index Report 2014: 55 (Mauritius top followed by

Thailand and Albania) 7. Human Development Index 2014 – 135 (Norway top followed by

Australia). 8. Global Environment Performance Index 2014 – 155 (Switzerland

followed by Luxembourg, Australia) 9. Intellectual property (IP) environment 2014 – 25 (US ranked on the top



followed by UK and France) 10. World Press Freedom Index 2014 - 140 in the list of 180 countries 11. World's best countries for doing business 2014 – 134 12. Global Peace Index 2014 – 143 (Iceland top the list while Syria the most violent place) 13. Global Innovation Index 2014 - 76 14. Global Competitiveness Index 2014 -71 (Switzerland is the most competitive economy, followed by Singapore).

Index/Reports Issued by different organizations in World:

1. World Economic Outlook is published by: International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2. Global Hunger Index is issued by: International Food Policy Research Institute 3. Global Peace Index is issued by: Institute for Economics and Peace 4. Global Corruption Index is issued by: Transparency International 5. Global Competitiveness Index is issued by: World Economic Forum 6. Human Development Report is issued by: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 7. Gender Inequality Index is issued by: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

News Related to Banking & Finance

1. Anil Ambani led Reliance Group has sold its multiplex business to South India-based Carnival Group in the largest ever

deal in this space. 2. Wholesale inflation hits zero, lowest in over 5 years.The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation was at 1.77 per

cent in October and 7.52 per cent in November 2013. 3. India’s Forex reserves down $1.64 billion.The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) was lower by $21.6 million at

$4.20 billion.Gold reserves for the week under review were down by $753.2 million at $18.98 billion. 4. ONGC declares interim dividend, notifies 3 discoveries in Krishan Godavari Basin and Mumbai offshore and it will pay

its shareholders an interim dividend of 100 per cent. 5. Delhi HC banned Xiaomi to sell phones in India over patent issue with Ericcson. 6. Tata Power acquired 540 MW thermal power plant for 3000 crore rupees in Maharashtra.With this deal, Tata Power

aimed to increase its total capacity to 8885 MW. 7. India forex reserves up $ 1.432 billion to $ 316.311 billion 8. i. India's forex reserves surged by 1.432 billion US dollar to 316.311 billion dollar in the week ended 28th November.The

country's gold reserves remained unchanged at 19.738 billion dollar. The Special Drawing Rights increased by 6.4 million dollar to 4.229 billion dollar, while the country's reserve position with the IMF also rose by 2.5 million dollar to 1.521 billion dollar during the week.

9. Mandatory for PSUs from 1st April, 2015 to procure 20 percent of products manufactured by MSME: Govt. 10. Kotak Mahindra Bank launches savings bank account for customers of 55 years and above. According to the release,

customers will earn 6 per cent pa on savings balance of over Rs 1 lakh and 5 per cent on balances up to Rs 1 lakh.To earn higher return on their balances, they can sign up for the Kotak ActivMoney facility, which converts savings account balance above a certain amount into term deposits.

11. ICICI Bank ties up with price comparison app Zopper for offline and online. 12. ICICI Bank sells Russian subsidiary - ICICI Bank Eurasia to Sovcombank. 13. PSU bank ATMs will be able to print in Hindi soon. 14. Central Bank to raise Rs. 626.23 cr from preferential issue to LIC.The capital raising committee of the board approved

raising of additional equity capital by issuance of up to 8.28 crore shares at Rs. 75.55 a equity, Central Bank of India said in a statement.

15. Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday said it will continue giving free transactions to all saving bank account cardholders using PNB ATMs, irrespective of the number of transactions.

16. Canara Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with Micro Energy Credits Corporation to finance bank customers buying energy efficient ‘green’ products such as cook stoves, solar home systems, biogas digestors and water purifiers.The partnership has identified Chitradurga district in Karnataka to promote such green products on a pilot basis.

17. Kotak Mahindra Bank is the first bank to fully own an insurance business i. Kotak Mahindra Bank BSE 0.07 % on Tuesday became the first bank to get the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) permission to set up a wholly-owned non-life insurance company. ii. The bank is already the promoter of a life insurance company in partnership with Old Mutual of South Africa. Note: i. RBI guidelines allow a bank to hold max 50 per cent in insurance joint venture. However, RBI allowed some exceptions, like SBI and ICICI Bank. In both these partnerships, the banks hold 74 per cent.ii. Kotak General Insurance will be the 29th non-life company in the country. The last non-life insurer to get permission from the regulator was Cigna TTK — a health insurance company.ii. The last company to set up a full-fledged general insurance business was Liberty Videocon General Insurance.


18. China beats India in November FII inflows: HSBC i. According to the global financial services major, after two consecutive months of sell-offs, FIIs have warmed up to Asian equities and all markets have received positive flows in November as the region recorded net inflows of $5.3 billion, out of which India attracted $1.4 billion. ii. Among Asian economies, China regained the top position as the ‘most loved’ market, pushing India down to second position in the region, while Thailand was placed at the third spot.

19. GMR Infrastructure has received the Securities and Exchange Board of India approval to raise up to Rs. 1,500 crore through rights issue. Note - In a rights issue, shares are issued to existing investors as per their holding at a pre-determined price and ratio.

20. E-retailing firm Snapdeal.com launched the online Agri store offering agricultural products to the farmers. The store was launched on the occasion of National Farmer's Day (24th December). i. The Agri Store aims to offer wide variety of farm items from seeds to fertilisers, farming tools and irrigation tools. This online store is also accessible through mobile phones, making it convenient for farmers to shop.A Hindi version of the store will also be launched soon to aid farmers in making an informed decision.

21. Government approved promulgation of an Ordinance to hike Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent. i. The Insurance Bill, which has been pending since 2008 in the Rajya Sabha, seeks to increase the composite foreign investment limit in insurance companies to 49 per cent from current level of 26 per cent. ii. The proposed hike in foreign investment limit to 49 per cent in the insurance sector has potential to attract up to USD 7-8 billion (about Rs 50,000 crore) from overseas investors, giving a major boost to the segment. iii. The 49 per cent cap would include both FDI and foreign portfolio investments.

22. Rajya Sabha refers two bills to Select Committees. The Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014 were passed by Lok Sabha in the Winter session of Parliament. i.The Select Committee for Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014 consists of 13 members. ii. The other bill sent to the Select Committee is the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014, which seeks to repeal 90 Amendment Acts which have become redundant.

23. Private sector lender Yes Bank has raised $200 million in an unsecured loan from Asian Development Bank for onlending to small farm households and rural womens’ self help groups (SHG).

24. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board(FIPB) clears HDFC Bank's proposal to raise Rs 10,000 crore . 25. SEBI bars 260 entities for suspected tax evasion and laundering of black money through stock trading platforms, the

Securities and Exchange Board of India barred 260 entities, including individuals and companies, from the securities markets.While 152 entities have been barred in one case relating to an entity, named First Financial Services Ltd, another 108 entities have faced the action in a case related to Radford Global Limited.

26. Flipkart files application with Singapore based companies’ regulator ACRA to become a public company after raising USD 700 million for long term strategic investments in India following which its number of investors exceeded 50.

27. Instagram worth $35 bn, surpasses Twitter. This beats Twitter’s market cap of $23 billion by a wide margin, wired.com reported.

28. Adani Group's Australian subsidiary has signed an MOU with a South Korean steel giant POSCO for the construction of a new strategic terminal at Abbot Point coal port to export high-quality coal globally at competitive rates.

29. Kotak Mahindra acquired ING Vysya Bank deal at around Rs 15,000 crore. i. Kotak Mahindra Bank announced it was acquiring Bengalaru-headquartered ING Vysya Bank in an all-stock deal. ING shareholders will get 725 Kotak Bank shares for every 1,000 shares they hold. Note: ING Vysya’s CEO-designate Uday Sareen will be inducted into the top management of Kotak; that is, operating management committee, reporting directly to Kotak Mahindra Bank Executive Vice-Chairman & Managing Director Uday Kotak. All ING branches and employees would become Kotak branches and employees. ii. After the merger, the ING group, with a 6.4 per cent stake, will become the second-largest shareholder in the bank. According to regulations, RBI’s approval is required for an entity other than the promoter to have more than five per cent stake in a bank.

30. Tech Mahindra Ltd., India’s fifth largest software services exporter, acquired US-based Lightbridge Communications Corporation (LCC) for $240 million.

31. Mozilla Firefox replaces default Google search engine with Yahoo. Yahoo replace Google’s search engine on Firefox’s Web browser in the U.S.

32. Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) relaunched; money to double in 100 months: The KVP, relaunched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will be available in the denomination of Rs 1,000; 5,000; 10,000 and 50,000. There will be no upper ceiling on investment. Earlier, it was launched by the Government on April 1, 1988. Key Points of KVP:



i. No PAN requirement for investment in Kisan Vikas Patra ii. There will also not be any upper limit on investment. iii. It will be available to the investors in the denomination of Rs. 1000, Rs. 5,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 50,000, with no upper ceiling on investment. iv. The certificates can be issued in single or joint names and can be transferred from one person to any other person / persons, multiple times. v. The facility of transfer from one post office to another anywhere in India and of nomination will be available. vi. With a maturity period of 8 years 4 months (100 months), the collections under the scheme will be available with the Government for a fairly long period to be utilized in financing developmental plans of the Centre and State Governments and will also help in enhancing domestic household financial savings.

33. ADB (Asian Development Bank) approves $350 mn for upgradation of roads in Madhya Pradesh. 34. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, IREDA and US-Exim Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding,

MoU on cooperation on clean energy investment. Note: US Exim Bank will provide USD one billion for medium and long-term loans to finance US technologies, products and services utilized during commercial development activities within the clean energy sector by IREDA.

35. India to replace “Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA)” with a new pact to protect investments: The government plans to replace bilateral investment protection treaties with a new pact Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that seeks to plug loopholes and enhance legal protection of foreign investors in India as well as Indian investments abroad.

36. United Bank of India (UBI) decided to continue with five free ATM transactions per month (including non financial ones) at other bank ATMs for all savings account holders in both metros and non-metros. Note: As per the new guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks in six metros – New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore – are free to charge other bank customers beyond 3 ATM transactions per month. Banks have also been allowed to restrict free transactions to 5 for customers at its own ATM network.

37. Financial inclusion: Kerala became the first state in the country to have bank accounts for all families under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY). Note: In addition, Goa, Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep and three districts of Gujarat- Porbandar, Mehasana, Gandhi Nagar, have also covered all households under PMJDY with at least one bank account.

38. Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank, has launched a smart self-service terminal that enables customers to deposit as well as withdraw cash from the same machine.

39. Andhra Bank launches saving schemes for children, teenagers 'AB Little Stars' 40. HDFC became the first listed Indian company among the 30 SENSEX firms to have more than 75 percent shareholding by

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). 41. Private sector lender Axis Bank has signed a pact with NongHyup Bank (NH Bank) to enhance cooperation in treasury,

trade and other business between India and South Korea. 42. China UnionPay (CUP), the payments company which was created to rival Visa and MasterCard in the Middle Kingdom, is

setting up shop in India. Note: i. CUP cards are accepted in over 140 countries across the world and the payments giant is keen on enabling acceptance in India. ii. Through the Discover network, RuPay cards can be used in China and CUP cards can be used in India.

43. Trade deficit narrows to $13 bn in Oct: Due to decline in oil import, India's trade deficit for the month October has narrowed to 13 billion dollars as compare to the previous month of 14.25 billion dollars

44. Black money: I-T probe to be completed by March 2015 i. With the Centre submitting a list of 627 account holders in foreign banks to Supreme Court in the black money case, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that the deadline for investigation under the Income Tax Act into these accounts is 31st March 2015.

45. The World Bank offer financial help to create new infrastructure for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ( MSMEs) and improve the condition of existing ones in Uttar Pradesh.

46. Collateral management firm Origo Commodities has tied up with NABARD to provide 'warehouse receipt financing' to farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

47. India set to become USD 2 trillion economy this year: IMF Note: India is on the edge to become a USD two trillion economy this year, while its GDP size would cross another milestone of USD three trillion after five years in 2019, according to IMF's latest world economic outlook. ii. The United States would remain the world's largest economy in 2019 with a size of USD 22.15 trillion, followed by China (USD 15.52 trillion) and Japan (USD 5.43 trillion).

48. Foreign direct investment in the services sector dipped by 9 per cent to USD 1.08 billion during the April-August period of the ongoing fiscal. Note: The services sector contributes over 60 per cent to India’s GDP.

49. Karur Vysya Bank has bagged the Best Bank Award for Business Intelligence Initiatives among small banks.


50. Kerala-based Federal Bank was adjudged as the ‘best bank’ for use of Technology for Financial Inclusion, Social Media and Mobile Banking, Business Intelligence Initiatives and for Best IT Team, becoming the bank to have won the maximum number of awards for 2013-14.

51. Corporation Bank launches ‘e-Mandate’ service: To provide robust platform for large volume of repetitive payments, Corporation Bank has launched the ‘e-Mandate’ (digital mandate) service. The ‘e-Mandate’ service will be beneficial to the utility companies for monthly subscriptions/bill payments; insurance companies for premium payment by policy holders;

52. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform KayPay Note: KayPay is a bank agnostic payment product for Facebook users to send money to each other. iii. KayPay is built on top of the mobile based Immediate Payment System (IMPS) that was launched by the National Payment Corporation of India. Users have to register their bank accounts once to start using the service.

53. Asia Index launches new indices – announced the launch of two more indices for investors in Indian market. S&P BSE Sensex Futures Index and the S&P BSE CPSE Index

54. Retail inflation drops to 6.46 % in Sept this year 55. The Union Finance Ministry has allocated 520 crore rupees to NABARD to create warehousing infrastructure for

agricultural commodities in West Bengal. 56. Railways revenue earnings have gone up by over 12 per cent during first six months of this fiscal. 57. The upcoming Bandhan Bank has appointed FIS International, one of the largest banking and payments technology

solutions provider globally, to develop its core banking software solutions. 58. Govt. launch Jan Dhan scheme to promote financial inclusion: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 'Pradhan

Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana' to help the poor open bank accounts. The slogan for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan mission is “Mera Khata – Bhagya Vidhaata”. Benefits : i. Every individual who opens a bank account will become eligible to receive an accident insurance cover of up-to Rs. 1 Lakh. ii. HDFC Ergo General Insurance will provide the accident cover under the scheme. iii. An additional Rs. 30,000 life insurance cover will be provided for those opening bank accounts before January 26, 2015. iv. LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) will provide the life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 under the scheme v. Rs 5,000 overdraft facility for Aadhar-linked accounts, Ru Pay Debit Card with and minimum monthly remuneration of Rs 5,000 to business correspondents who will provide the last link between the account holders and the bank.

59. ICICI Bank offers Card less Cash Withdrawal at ATMs. Now, withdraw without a debit card at an ICICI Bank ATM, as the bank facilitates cardless cash withdrawal service with the help of a mobile number.

60. IndusInd Bank launched a new customer service called Video Branch to enable customers to do a video conference with the bank staff at convenience.

61. Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) retains interest rate on provident fund at 8.75 percent for the current fiscal.

62. Government notified minimum monthly pension of 1,000 rupees and a higher wage upper limit improvement to15,000 from 6,500 rupees for social security schemes run by retirement fund manager Employees Provident Fund Organisation.

63. Govt. to implement GST (Goods & Services Tax) new indirect tax regime from 1st April 2016. GST will replace VAT. 64. IndiGo has signed a $2.6 billion deal with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) for the lender to finance

more than 30 new aircraft 65. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided $63.3-million loan for improving urban services and strengthening

municipal and project management capacity in North Karnataka towns. 66. Supreme Court quashed allocation of 214 out of 218 coal blocks which were allotted to various companies since 1993

and in which it was claimed that around Rs 2 lakh crores were invested. Note: A bench, headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha, saved only four blocks--one belonging to NTPC and SAIL each and two allocated to Ultra Mega Power Projects--from being cancelled.

67. India to contribute USD 12 million to UN to tackle Ebola 68. Bangladesh to join BRICS Bank: Bangladesh has decided to join the newly formed BRICS Bank, an initiative of the world's

five emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Important Committees in News:

1. Union Finance Ministry constituted High Level Committee to interact with trade and industry to give recommendations to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for issuance of appropriate clarifications by way of circulars, on tax-related issues on a regular basis. The high level committee will be headed by former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Ashok Lahiri.

2. TSR Subramaniam Committee: to review the processes, laws and Acts of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change


3. Pratyush Sinha committee: to assess compensation for coal blocks. 4. The former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh designated as the head of Future Earth Engagement Committee, a global

research platform panel on sustainable development. 5. T.K. Vishwanathan committee: to provide Bankruptcy code for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Note: The committee will prepare a report on corporate bankruptcy framework for SMEs by February 2015. 6. Justice Prabha Sridevan committee: to function as a think-tank to help draft a new National Intellectual Property Rights

Policy (National IPR Policy) 7. K.V. Kamath panel: to examine the financial architecture for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. 8. Gopalakrishna Committee: on Capacity Building in Banks and non-Banks 9. G N Bajpai Committee: to review the investment guidelines for national pension system (NPS) schemes in private sector. 10. Scientist Raghunath Anant Mashelkar panel: to recommend best technologies for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Swachh

Bharat" national sanitation campaign. Note: The terms of reference include achieving Prime Minister Modi's "Swachh Bharat" goals by 2019,

11. T S R Subramanian Committee: to review five key green laws concerning protection and conservation of environment, forest, wildlife, water and air among others.

12. H R Khan Committee: to examine the un-claimed amount in PPF, Post Office and Savings Schemes. 13. H Devaraj Committee: reported that most of the deemed universities are not fit for being a university. 14. Sivaramakrishnan Committee: to suggest the place to build the capital city of Andhra Pradesh 15. Former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan to head the Expenditure Management Commission. The purpose of setting up the

commission is to cut-off the spending and review government expenditure to get maximum output. 16. Justice CS Dharmadhikari Committee: recommended complete ban on dance bars in hotels and restaurants . 17. R. Ramanujam Committee - to review, identify and recommend amendment in obsolete laws to further smoothen and

simplify the governance. 18. R.K. Singh Committee: to review parliament security 19. Hari Gautam Committee: to review present status of University Grant Commission 20. G. Padmanabhan Committee: implementation of Bharat Bill Payment System (BPPS) 21. Nachiket Mor committee: for small and payments bank 22. Nachiket Mor Committee: to permits NBFCs to work as Business Correspondents of banks. 23. Deepak Mohanty Committee: on Data and Information Management in the Reserve Bank of India 24. PJ Nayak: to review Governance of Boards of Banks in India. 25. Nachiket Mor - committee on comprehensive financial services for small businesses and low-income households. 26. Parthasarathi Shome. – for Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) 27. Arvind Mayaram Panel: report on the alleged irregularities at the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) 28. Arvind Mayaram Committee –for giving clear definitions to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional

Investment (FII)

Important News (India & World):

1. US President Barack Obama to be the Chief Guest of India’s Republic Day 2015. Note: He will be the first US President to attend the Republic Day Parade of India. ii. Obama will be the first US President to travel to India twice. Earlier, he had visited India at the invitation of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2010.

2. Rahman and Jal for Oscars:rehman his third Oscar nomination in the best original score category after making it to the list of 114 probables.while Hindi film Jal also features in the long list of best picture Oscar hopefuls.Jal features in the best picture list as an independent submission, while India will officially be represented at the Academy awards in the best foreign feature category by Liar’s Dice.

3. Central Sydney under Siege:Terrified hostages cowered inside a cafe in central Sydney with an Islamic flag displayed against a window at the Lindt chocolate café.

4. Lima talks: New draft text introduced without consultation.190 countries gathered at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru to work on drafts for a global climate deal that is supposed to be adopted next year in Paris.Developing countries have been opposing the mitigation centric approach of the developed countries which are not ready to commit to financial targets or technology transfer.

5. Russian President Vladimir Putin, offered the Ruias-promoted Essar Group a $1-billion credit line and an $8-billion crude supply contract.The steel-to-oil Indian conglomerate signed two separate agreements with St Petersburg-based Vneshtorgbank (VTB) and Moscow-based Rosneft.

6. Bhutan became 181st member of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). A, agency of World Bank.MIGA is



the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group. Benefits of becoming a member

i. The move will allow the private sector and corporations of a country to explore external commercial borrowing (ECB).Once a member of MIGA, the private sector and corporations in the country will have the option of directly applying to MIGA for issuance of guarantee to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

7. Russia agrees with India to construct 12 nuclear reactors India over 20 years, under an agreement aimed at boosting nuclear energy cooperation signed by the two countries.

8. A US-based intelligence think tank has placed Pakistan eighth in the list of the most dangerous countries in the world which is led by Iraq.Afghanistan, the only other South Asian country in the list, is placed fourth in the Country Threat Index.

9. BHEL commissioned 28 MW Nyaborongo Hydro Electric Project in Rwanda on turnkey basis. 10. Ministry of Railways inaugurated Wi-Fi broadband services at New Delhi railway station 11. India’s second most “up and coming” destination for expats after China : HSBC 12. Human Rights Day observed globally on 10 December- theme for the 2014 Human Rights Day is Human Rights 365. 13. US based Uber taxis banned in Delhi, company blacklisted. 14. Air India, NBCC National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited sign MoU for development of land parcels of Air

India at various locations on joint venture basis. 15. Private entity cannot hold more than 26% stake in public-private joint ventures for coal block allocations. However, if it

is more than one private sector entity, the structure should be such that its stake does not exceed 49 per cent.A total of 92 blocks are being offered under the first round.

16. India, Japan to cooperate in the fields of Cyber security and Green Information and Communication Technology, ICT. 17. India celebrates 43rd Navy Day; President, PM salute devotion of Navy personnel. 18. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's birthday on 25th December observed as national 'Good Governance Day'. 19. Egypt court declared Islamic State of Iraq and Syria a terrorist group. 20. The new natural gas price of USD 5.61, which is already among the lowest in Asia Pacific, is likely to drop to around USD 5

per unit in three years due to the variables included in the formula, Goldman Sachs has said. 21. Mumbai, Kolkata most vulnerable to loss of life, properties due to coastal flood: un 22. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 23. Country's biggest oil company Indian Oil Corporation is looking at setting up a greenfield refinery on the West coast as

part of its expansion plans.Indian Oil Corporation Chairman B Ashok said there is a need for green field refinery by 2021-22. After setting up of Paradip Refinery in East coast, focus is now on setting up of a refinery in West coast region.

24. Dubai to invest $32-billion to build world’s largest airport.The Dubai International Airport is the world’s second busiest airport after the London Heathrow.

25. Former Union Minister GK Vasan, who split from the Congress, has revived the Tamil Maanila Congress. 26. India and Nepal launched the first ever bus service between the two countries.To begin with daily buses will ply between

Delhi and Kathmandu. Later, there will be similar buses which will ply on two other routes - Delhi-Pokhara and Varanasi- Kathmandu.

27. Beijing banned smoking in all indoor public spaces like workplaces and public transport vehicles and it will be effective from 1 June 2015.

28. European Union lawmakers overwhelmingly backed a motion urging anti-trust regulators to break up Google. 29. India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Mozambique for cooperation in the field of oil and gas.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi.

30. Sanskrit to be 3rd language in Classes 6-8 in KV: Centre to SC 31. SAARC countries today signed a framework agreement on cooperation in power sector but failed to finalize the much-

awaited motor vehicle and railway pacts for greater people-to-people contact and movement of goods due to opposition from Pakistan. A time period of three months have been set for approval to the Motor Vehicle and Railway pacts.

32. Modi proposes SAARC business traveller card i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday proposed a Saarc business traveller card 3-5 years for making it easier for traders and merchants in the region to travel and access one another’s markets.

33. International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women observed across the world on 25 November 2014.i. The campaign called Orange Your Neighbourhood to raise awareness against Gender-Based Violence will be held from 25 November to 10 December 2014. ii. The campaign is part of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's campaign UNiTE to End violence against Women.

34. Three global organizations, the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and the Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end open defecation in India. The agreement is for three years. They share the common goal of making sanitation accessible and affordable to all citizens.


35. An Indian Railways team is in China to chalk out plans for conducting feasibility study to build the 1,754 km-long Delhi-Chennai high-speed train corridor, world's second largest bullet train line.i.The proposed corridor could be the second largest in the world after China's 2,298 km-long Beijing-Guangzhou line which was launched last year. Running at a speed of 300 km per hour, it covers the distance in about eight hours. Note: India is currently considering two corridors for high speed trains. While Japan is conducting feasibility study for the Bullet train project in Mumbai-Ahemdabad corridor, China will do the same for the Delhi-Chennai route which expected to begin by early next year.

36. Nepal has given an Indian company permission to build a 900 megawatt hydropower plant. i. The two countries will sign an agreement for the $1.04 billion project, which provides Nepal with free electricity and India energy for its power-hungry economy. ii. The project, which will be built by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited, was originally cleared in 2008 but never implemented after Kathmandu lobbied for greater benefits.

37. Adani Group-owned Dhamra Port Company Limited (DCPL) would invest around Rs 7000 crore for expansion of cargo handling facility. i.Gujarat-based Adani group bought out L&T and Tata Steel's shares in the company in March 2014 at an enterprise value of Rs 5500 crore. ii . Following the acquisition, the second phase of development was to be initiated within 90 days and completion targeted in 30 months. iii. This continued expansion will allow Dhamra port to exceed 100 million tonnes of cargo capacity by the year 2020. Note: The port, situated between Haldia in West Bengal and Paradip in Odisha, was mostly handling cargo like coal and limestone.

38. The Cabinet on Wednesday approved re-promulgation of an Ordinance to facilitate e-auction of coal blocks for private companies for captive use and allot mines directly to state and central PSUs. i. The re-promulgation of the Ordinance will enable the Coal Ministry to go ahead with its decision to give a total 101 mines, including 65 through auction, in the first phase. ii. As many as 36 blocks will be directly allotted to state-owned companies. The government had increased the number of coal mines to be auctioned or allotted in the first tranche to 101, from 92. ii. Of the 101 blocks to be allotted and auctioned in the first lot, 63 mines would be given to the power sector, while the rest would be for sectors like steel and cement.

39. Pakistan, Russia sign $1.7 billion energy deal to lay a gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore, a move that may lead to further improvement in their ties. the pipeline would be used to transport imported LNG from Karachi to Punjab province.The energy agreement was signed during the day-long visit of Sergei Shoigu last month, the first visit by a Russian Defence Minister to Pakistan in 45 years.

40. India observed National Mathematics Day to commemorate birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan on 22 December 2014.

41. US retail major Walmart to open new store in India after 2-year gap in Agra as it returns focus on India.The company, which opened its last store in Bhopal towards the end of 2012.

42. US released three Cuban spies of Wasp Network. These spies were released as part of announcement restoring diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba after more than 50 years of enmity.The Wasp Network is a spy ring of Cuba that included five members of a 14 member espionage team called La Red Avipsa.

43. Carbon-dioxide emissions at all-time high of 35.3 billion tonnes in 2013. Brazil (6.2 per cent), India (4.4 per cent), China (4.2 per cent) and Indonesia (2.3 per cent) reported a sharp rise in emissions of the greenhouse gas that year.China, the United States and the European Union remain the top three emitters of carbon dioxide, accounting for 29 per cent, 15 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively, of the world’s total.

44. SC directed Union government to complete fencing along Indo-Bangladesh border in 3 months.

45. LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was granted bail on Thursday by the Anti-Terrorism Court.

46. Taliban militants detonated a suicide bomb and stormed a bank in southern Afghanistan .killing at least six people.

47. IRCTC tops 2014 Google search in India. E-commerce website Flipkart, PSU lender SBI Online, e-tailer Snapdeal and PNR status were other most searched words.

48. India third on black money list. An international think-tank has ranked the



country third globally with an estimated USD 94.76 billion (nearly Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth outflows in 2012. 49. On 16 December 2014,seven members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army

Public School in the Pakistani city of Peshawar They entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children, killing 145 people, including 132 schoolchildren.

50. HRD ministry is planning to come up with a 'Think in India' drive to encourage students and researchers to come up with innovations and new ideas and to keep the talent back home from leaving abroad.

51. Japan slips into recession: Japan's economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter, marking a technical recession in the world's third largest economy.

52. IBM launches new e-mail service ‘Verse’: Tech giant IBM has launched a new e-mail application ‘Verse’ for enterprises that integrates social media, file sharing and analytics to help increase productivity.

53. The Oxford English Dictionary named "vape" the word used for the act of drawing on an electronic cigarette instead of a burning stick of tobacco as its 2014 word of the year.

54. Mumbai top investment destinations among UAE based Indians: India's commercial capital Mumbai has once again emerged as the most popular and attractive property investment hotspot among the UAE-based Indian expats. Note: Bangalore grabbed the 2nd spot with 24.13 per cent votes going for it as the most favorite city for NRI property investments.

55. Amul to set up Rs 200 crore unit in West Bengal. 56. PM Narendra Modi adopts Jayapur village (Varanasi), in his Lok Sabha constituency under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. 57. Sachin Tendulkar adopted a village Puttamrajuvari Kandrika, a village in Gudur mandal of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh under

Prime Minister Modi’s Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. 58. Union Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh has adopted Beti village in the district under the Pradhan Mantri

Adarsh Gram Yojna. 59. DD National to be re-launched with tagline Desh Ka Apna Channel 60. US President Barack Obama announces $3 billion contribution to Green Climate Fund to help poor countries cope with

the effects of climate change. 61. CRY launches project to end child labour : With an aim to end child labour and encourage children to go to school, Child

Rights and You has launched 'Project Unlearn' on the eve of Children's Day. 62. India has world’s largest youth population: UN report

Note: i. With 356 million 10-24-year-olds, India has the world’s largest youth population ii. China is second with 269 million young people, followed by Indonesia (67 million), the US (65 million) and Pakistan (59 million), Nigeria with 57 million, Brazil with 51 million, and Bangladesh with 48 million, the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of the World’s Population report said.

63. Myntra.com named Kangana Ranaut as its brand ambassador 64. Assam Zoo set to become the first zoo in world to have the critically endangered pig Pygmy Hog (Porcula salvania).

Pygmy Hog is the rarest and smallest wild pig in the world. 65. International students in US at record high, China tops list, India on 2nd : The number of international students

studying in the United States is at a record high with nearly one-third of them coming from China, followed by India that sent over over lakh students to the country in 2013-14.

66. European aerospace giant Airbus is poised to sign a deal to deliver 50 long-haul carriers to US Delta Airlines in a contract worth $14 billion at catalogue prices.

67. Scientists for the first time developed antibiotic-free drug named Staphefekt as an alternative to antibiotics. Note: This new drug will aid in the fight against the antibiotics-resistant superbugs such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). ii. Staphefekt is based on a naturally occurring enzyme called endolysins produced by viruses and attacks infections differently to antibiotics. Unlike antibiotics, it does not destroy the harmless bacteria that live in the body.

68. Suzlon Energy installed world’s tallest hybrid wind generator turbine in Kutch, Gujarat 69. Forbes list of World's Most Powerful People 2014.

Note: i. Russian President Vladimir Putin is on the top followed by Barack Obama and XI Jinping. ii. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranked 15th on the Forbes list. The next Indian on the list is Mukesh Ambani at 36th rank. Top 5 on the list – 1. Vladimir Putin 2. Barack Obama 3. Xi Jinping 4. Pope Francis 5. Angela Markel

70. Burger King partnered with eBay to launch its burgers online. 71. Mumbai recorded the largest number of Internet users (16.4 million internet users) in India in 2014, a study conducted

by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Note: Delhi was second with a user base of 12.1 million followed by Kolkata recorded 6.27 million internet users.

72. India is working on the inclusion of Mauritius in the group of countries to be listed in its Visa on Arrival scheme. 73. United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon launched a global campaign in Kenya to end the deadly practice of female genital

mutilation.


Note: i. More than 125 million girls and women have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. If current trends continue, 86 million young girls are likely to undergo same form of the practice by 2030.

74. India re-elected to UN Economic and Social Council Note: The 193-member UN General Assembly elected 18 members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to serve a three-year term beginning January 1, 2015. ii. The other 17 members to be elected to ECOSOC apart from India were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

75. 11 cities across Karnataka renamed - Now Bangalore will be called Bengaluru, Mangalore (Mangaluru), Mysore (Mysuru), Bellary (Ballari), Belgaum (Belagavi), Hubli (Hubballi), Tumkur (Tumakuru), Bijapur (Vijayapura), Chikmagalur (Chikkamagaluru), Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), Hospet (Hosapete) and Shimoga (Shivamogga).

76. SunEdison signed MoU with Rajasthan Government to set up 5000MW solar projects. 77. Sweden became the first European Union (EU) country to officially recognise the State of Palestine. 78. India is home to the second largest proportion of high-earning expatriates in the world after China and ahead of countries

such as Switzerland, Russia and Hong Kong - according to the seventh Expat Explorer survey by HSBC Expat. 79. Japanese telecom giant SoftBank will invest USD 627 million (about Rs 3,762 crore) in the online marketplace company

Snapdeal. 80. European Union leaders struck a deal on a new target to cut carbon emissions out to 2030.

Note: In the meeting held in Brussels EU leaders agreed for the 28-nation bloc to cut its emissions of carbon in 2030 by at least 40 percent from levels in the benchmark year of 1990. An existing goal of a 20-percent cut by 2020 has already been nearly met.

81. The European Union has nearly doubled its assistance to combat the raging Ebola virus in West Africa to 1 billion euros. 82. According to World Steel Association (WSA) data, India is world’s 4th largest steel maker. With 62.41 million tonnes

output, India remains the world’s fourth largest steel producer in the first nine (Jan- Sept) months of the current year, preceded by China, Japan and the US.

83. Switzerland is the world’s favourite destination among expats, followed by Singapore and China, a poll on quality of life by HSBC Bank. Other top-ranked countries were Germany, seen as stable and safe, followed by Bahrain, New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, India and Hong Kong.

84. India wins UNHRC re-election. India was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) from 2015-17, receiving the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group. Note: India is currently a member of the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and its first term is due to end on December 31, 2014.

85. Stamp on Sri lankan Buddhist monk Anagarika Dharmapala released 86. To ensure speedy recovery of dues for investors and others hit by 5,600-crore rupees fraud at the National Spot Exchange

Ltd, Govt orders merger of National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) with its holding company Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL)

87. A five-year-old Indian boy, Harshit Saumitra, is the youngest to reach Everest Base Camp 88. WHO declares Nigeria free of Ebola. 89. According to WHO - Pakistan, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, are the only three countries in the world where polio

remains endemic. 90. Union Cabinet approved inter-governmental MoU to upgrade Chabahar port of Iran. Chabahar port is located in the

Sistan-Baluchistan Province on south-eastern coast of Iran, which lies outside the Persian Gulf and it is easily accessed from western coast of India. Note: Two Indian companies– Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Kandla Port Trust (KPT) will comprise this venture.

91. Venezuela, Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain were elected as non-permanent members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2015. Note: The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. ii. Along with Lithuania, the non-permanent members that will remain on the Council until the end of 2015 are Chad, Chile, Jordan, and Nigeria.

92. Powerful typhoon Vongfong struck Japan. 93. Hurricane Gonzalo struck Bermuda 94. The United Nations owes India USD 110 million, the second highest outstanding payment to any country, for costs

relating to peacekeeping operations and troops. Note: Apart from India, Ethiopia was owed the largest amount at USD 137 million, Pakistan at USD 109 million and Bangladesh at USD 108 million.

95. India among five nations to build world's largest telescope (Thirty meter Telescope – TMT).


Note: India along with Japan, the US, China and Canada will start work on the world’s biggest telescope on Mauna Kea Hawaii Island ii. The 30-meter telescope will be established near the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano with a cost of $1.4 billion. iii. Japan is expected to cover about a quarter of the construction costs.

96. India ranks 18th on list of most desirable places to work. Note: The US has been ranked on the top, followed by the UK, Canada, Germany and Switzerland, making them the five most desirable countries to work on the list compiled by the Boston Consulting Group, total jobs.com, and The Network.

97. Nokia to shut down its Chennai factory from Nov. 1, 2014. 98. Sebi bars DLF and its chief KP Singh from securities market for 3 years after finding the company guilty of "active and

deliberate suppression" of material information at the time of its public offer. 99. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos visited India. Amazon said it will invest USD 2 billion (over Rs 12,000 crore) in India to

expand business, a day after its largest Indian rival Flipkart announced USD 1 billion in funding 100. Union Government declared 25 September as Antyodya Diwas. Antyodya diwas was observed to mark the 98th birth

anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. 101. China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba gets approval to set up private bank in China 102. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's initial public offering (IPO) now ranks as the world's biggest in history at $25 billion, after

the e-commerce giant and some of its shareholders sold additional shares. Jack Ma is the founder of Alibaba Note: The IPO surpassed the previous global record set by Agricultural Bank of China Ltd in 2010 when the bank raised $22.1 billion.

103. Bamiyan has been selected to be the SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April 2015. Dhaka will be the SAARC cultural capital in 2016-17. The year 2016-17 will also be declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.

104. Forbes India released The 100 Richest Indian List 2014: According to the Forbes India List, the Top 10 Richest people of India:1. Mukesh Ambani; 2. Dilip Shanghvi; 3. Azim Premji; 4. Pallonji Mistry; 5. Lakshmi Mittal; 6. Hinduja brothers; 7. Shiv Nadar; 8. Godrej family; 9. Kumar Birla; 10. Sunil Mittal

Note: Mukesh Ambani topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with a net worth of 23.6 billion US dollars. 105. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be conferred with honorary doctorate degree by the Dr Nelson Mandela School of

Public Policy of the university. 106. NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft enters Mars orbit to study how the Red Planet’s climate changed over time from warm and

wet to cold and dry. 107. India may become fifth largest exporter by 2030: HSBC report

Note: The report says, UAE is likely to remain top export destination for India till 2030, and China is forecast to emerge as the second largest export market, displacing the US by 2030.

108. Supreme Court ruled 3 percent quota for disabled persons in all government jobs 109. The Asian Development Bank has agreed to give $150-million loan to the Government of India to help build

transmission lines for renewable energy in Rajasthan. 110. Tata Nano to be revamped and launched as a 'Smart City Car' next year. 111. United Bank of India declared Kingfisher Airlines and its owner Vijay Mallya

as willful defaulter Note: Wilful Default: A wilful default occurs when either a borrower has not

repaid when he can do so, or when sanctioned funds have been used for other purposes or when the borrower disposes off the assets assured for availing of the loan without the bank’s knowledge.

112. Asia's first Ballistic Research Centre to open in Gujarat: India will have Asia's first Ballistic Research Centre which will help it in achieving self-reliance in testing of armored vehicles.

113. 2015-16 to be observed as Water Conservation Year.

Important News - States

1. The United States (US) became the partner country for Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2015. Note: US will be the eighth country to partner the event. Other partner countries include UK, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa and Japan.

2. Gujarat to host 13th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.2015 happens to be the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa. To reflect this, the event will showcase his work and achievements.Theme Bharat ko jano and Bharat ko mano.

3. BJP emerged as single largest party in Jharkhand for the 81-member



assembly. Out of 81 seats BJP won 37 While JMM won 19 seats.CONG-6,JVM-8. 4. PDP emerged as the largest party in the assmbly elections in Jammu and Kashmir won 28 seats. Out of 87 seats BJP won

25 seats.NC-15 CONG-12 5. 22 states, UTs support bill to prevent 'honour killings'. 6. Andhra Pradesh Government signed MoU with Singapore for development of its new capital that is set to come up

near Vijawayada region. 7. World Bank, ADB to assist AP in Hudhud cyclone relief works.The World Bank Country Director is Omno Rahl and

Country Director of Asian Development Bank (ADB) is Theresakho. 8. Focusing on improving connectivity to the Northeast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Centre would provide Rs

28,000 crore for laying new railway lines in the region and develop the untapped tourism potential of the area.Prime Minister said that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 5000 crore to provide 2G mobile coverage in this area for comprehensive telecom development plan of the northeast region.The Prime Minister said his government has decided to set up a National Sports University in Manipur and the people of the region will be great beneficiaries.

9. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dedicated to the nation the second unit of the 726 MW gas-based power plant at Palatana in Tripura. A host of dignitaries from India and Bangladesh, which facilitated transportation of heavy machineries to the plant, were present on the occasion.

10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first train from Mendipathar in Meghalaya to Guwahati. 11. Namsai officially became the 18th district of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki

made the declaration. 12. Haryana government reversed the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 58 years. It also reversed the

retirement age of Class IV, visually impaired and handicapped employees from 62 to 60 years. 13. The Lok Sabha passed the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014. The

bill was presented in Lok Sabha by the Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu. 14. Gujarat announces Rs. 1,100-crore relief package for farmers.The package includes Rs. 600 crore worth of subsidy on

interest for agriculture loans and Rs. 500 crore on power bills. 15. Go green: Railways to set up 26 MW windmill to be built in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) at a cost of Rs 150 crore 16. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs.745 crore relief for rebuilding damaged homes and hospitals in flood-

ravaged Jammu and Kashmir. Rs.570 crore for rebuilding of damaged homes and Rs.175 crore for similarly affected hospitals in the state.

17. Madhya Pradesh will celebrate 2015 as Tourism Year 18. BJP emerged as the largest party in the 2014 Assembly Elections of Maharashtra by winning 122 seats. The elections

were held for 288 seats 19. Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won the state assembly elections of Haryana. BJP by securing 47 seats emerged as the largest

party, with clear majority. The elections were held for total 90 seats 20. Gujarat government set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to promote Vadodara as the state's cultural capital and

encourage tourism in the city. 21. First-ever Offshore Wind Power Project (100 MW capacity) in India will be set up at - Gujarat coast 22. Cyclonic Storm Hudhud was the strongest tropical cyclone of 2014 hit in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh 23. Cyclone Nilofar bring heavy rainfall in Kutch region 24. West Bengal government constituted task force to probe into Burdwan blast. Task force will be headed the Director

General of Police GM P Reddy 25. Bihar is the fastest growing State while Tamil Nadu is the worst performer, the latest data released by the Central

Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed. Note: i. Bihar’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) grew 10.73 per cent during 2012-13. The second-best performing State is Madhya Pradesh, which grew at 9.89 per cent. Delhi is third with a growth rate of 9.33 per cent. ii. All major industrial States lag behind Bihar. Growing at 7.96 per cent, Gujarat is ranked sixth and Maharashtra ninth with 6.18 per cent.

26. Rajasthan becomes first state to start olive refinery. The refinery will be set up with a cost of Rs. 3.75 crore in Lunkaransar area in the district of Bikaner.

27. Delhi Metro has been ranked second among 18 international Metro systems in terms of overall customer satisfaction in an online customer survey. Note: London DLR, Delhi Metro and Bangkok respectively were the best three performers in the Net Promoters Score (NPS) category.

28. India’s first Skill development centre has come up in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The centre has been set up under the Livelihood Skill Project.

29. Chhattisgarh will set up a ‘Marine Fossil Park’ in Koriya district where fossils of Permian geological period were found. The marine fossils of sea shells were discovered on



rocks on the bank of Hasdeo river near Manendragarh in Koriya district a couple of years back. 30. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated India Food Park in Tumkur in Karnataka.

Note: i. The food park is an initiative of Future Group chief Kishore Biyani. ii. Moreover, Food Processing Ministry will approve 17 such food parks across the country over the next few months

31. Tamil Nadu government announced Price Stabilization fund for green tea leaf with a corpus of 12 crore rupees 32. Andhra Pradesh Govt. signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement with Google India for Digital AP

project. Google India will work with the AP government to get women and small and medium businesses online and help them gain from the internet economy.

33. Alliance Air, the wholly owned subsidiary of Air India, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the North East Council for flight operations in the North East.

34. Punjab, tops in CPSE investments: Punjab, Maharashtra, Bihar and Odisha are the only four states amid top 20 major states in India that have seen a surge in employment generated by the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) while rest of the states have recorded a fall ranging between 3-22 per cent Note: Gujarat has rank 12th recorded a decline of over 14 per cent in employment generated by the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) between 2008-09 and 2012-13

35. The Uttar Pradesh government decided to open Nirbhaya Centers in all districts of the state. 36. MP to host Global Investors Summit at Indore to attract foreign investment 37. Goa became a permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). 38. DMRC observed World Green Building Week from 22 September 2014 to 27 September 2014. The Delhi Metro has decided

to design all its phase-III stations as green buildings. 39. Delhi Police to launch its first e-police station to deal with vehicle thefts 40. West Bengal cabinet cleared farmer-friendly project Sech-Bandhu Prakalpa to boost irrigation 41. Bihar government recognised transgender as third gender 42. Uttarakhand Government declared 9 September as Himalaya Diwas 43. Union Cabinet approved Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region. The proposal entails an estimated cost

of over Rs 5,336 crore. 44. Andhra gets new capital, to be located in Vijayawada region.

Note: Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated to create a new state of Telangana earlier this year in June. Hyderabad will serve as the shared capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for another 10 years until 2024. After that, Hyderabad will belong to the new state of Telangana.

45. The country's first First kisan mandi outside is to set up at Alipur in north Delhi. Note: This first such mandi, termed a 'kisan mandi', is being set up by the Small Farmers' Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), a body under the Union ministry of agriculture.

46. Karnataka became first state in India to launch Health Adalat. Note: It was launched to address health issues at the grassroots level and ensure that all health facilities extended by the government reached all sections of society.

47. Ancient Nalanda University, was formally inaugurated in its modern ‘avatar’ by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Rajgir. Note: Nalanda University Vice-Chancellor - Gopa Sabharwal Chairman of the Governing Body of the university - Economist Amartya Sen iii. Centre allocates over Rs. 2700 cr for Nalanda University

Council Ministers and their Constituency 1. Narendra Modi - Varanasi 2. Rajnath Singh - Lucknow 3. Sushma Swaraj - Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh) 4. Arun Jaitley - Rajya Sabha (Gujarat) 5. M. Venkaiah Naidu - Rajya Sabha (Karnataka) 6. Nitin Jairam Gadkari - Nagpur (Maharashtra) 7. Manohar Parrikar – Rajya Sabha (U.P.) 8. Suresh Prabhu - Rajya Sabha (Haryana) 9. D.V. Sadananda Gowda - Bangalore North (Karnataka) 10. Uma Bharati - Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) 11. Dr. Najma A. Heptulla - Rajya Sabha (Madhya Pradesh) 12. Ramvilas Paswan - Hajipur (Bihar) 13. Kalraj Mishra - Deoria (Uttar Pradesh) 14. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi - Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh) 15. Ananth Kumar - Bangalore (South) 16. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati - Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh)



17. Anant Geete - Raigad (Maharashtra) 18. Harsimrat Kaur Badal - Bathinda (Punjab) 19. Narendra Singh Tomar - Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) 20. Jual Oram - Sundargarh (Odisha) 21. Radha Mohan Singh - Purvi Champaran (Bihar) 22. Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Rajya Sabha (Madhya Pradesh) 23. Smriti Zubin Irani - Rajya Sabha (Gujarat) 24. Dr. Harsh Vardhan - Chandni Chowk (Delhi) 25. Ch. Birender Singh – Rajya Sabha (Haryana) 26. J.P. Nadda – Rajya Sabha (Himachal Pradesh)

New Appointment in IndiaNew Minister Appointed:

1. Manohar Parrikar – Defence Minister 2. Suresh Prabhu - Railway Minister 3. D V Sadananda Gowda - Law and Justice Minister 4. Ravi Shankar Prasad: Communications and Information Technology 5. Jagat Prakash Nadda: Health & Family Welfare 6. Birender Singh - Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation 7. Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Science and Technology, Earth Sciences 8. Dr. Mahesh Sharma – New Tourism Minister Others Appoinment –

1. Aziz Qureshi appointed as New Governor of Mizoram. 2. KK Paul is given the additional charge as the Governor of Uttarakhand. 3. Rajinder Khanna to be New Chief of RAW for a period of two years from December 31 after incumbent Alok Joshi

retires. 4. Jyotsna Suri elected as the President of the (FICCI) the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry

(FICCI).She succeeded Sidharth Birla. 5. Prakash Mishra takes over as DG of country's largest paramilitary and lead anti-Naxal operations force CRPF.Mishra

was an ex-Odisha police DGP and 1977-batch IPS officerv 6. Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the next chief of Intelligence Bureau(IB). he will succeed Syed Asif

Ibrahim whose tenure ends on December 31. 7. Randhir Singh appointed as honorary member of International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Monaco. 8. Anurag Jain appointed as joint Secretary in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of India. 9. Govt appoints Dinesh Kumar as CEO of Polavaram Project. 10. Arun Duggal appointed as non-executive Chairman of Credit rating agency ICRA. He will replace Pranab Kumar

Choudhury who will resign from ICRA Limited and all other affiliated entities on 29 January 2015. 11. Anil Sinha takes over as new CBI Chief. Mr. Sinha is the third consecutive chief of the agency from Bihar following Ranjit

Sinha and A.P. Singh 12. Former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Anoop Mishra was appointed as new Secretary General of the Lok Sabha. He was

appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. 13. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was appointed as Governor of Bihar. 14. Former Supreme Court judge CK Prasad is set to be appointed as the next Chairperson of the Press Council of India.

Prasad will succeed Justice Markenday Katju as the Chairman of the PCI 15. Deepak Gupta: appointed new Chairman of UPSC. He replaced Rajni Razdan. 16. Hasmukh Adhia: appointed Director of Central Board of Directors of the RBI. 17. Laxmikant Parsekar new Goa CM 18. Jawed Usmani appointed as State Chief Information Commissioner in UP 19. Mannan Kumar Mishra appointed Chairman of Bar Council of India 20. Hasmukh Adhia appointed Financial Services Secretary. He replaces GS Sandhu 21. Mallikarjun Kharge inducted into the three-member Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) selection committee

Note: The other two members of the committee are Prime Minister Narendra Modi (as head) and Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitely. ii. The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 says that CIC selection can be done by a three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister.

22. Anita Kapur appointed new Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairperson. He replace K V Chowdary



23. Tribal leader Ganpat Vasava new Gujarat Speaker 24. Surya Prakash appointed as Chairman of Prasar Bharti Board. He succeeded Mrinal Pande 25. Devendra Fadnavis : New Chief Minister of Maharashtra 26. Manohar Lal Khattar: New Chief Minister of Haryana

Note: Khattar won the Assembly polls from Karnal seat. 27. Arvind Subramanian appointed new Chief Economic Advisor. 28. Rajiv Mehrishi appointed new finance secretary. He replace Arvind Mayaram 29. Atul Kumar Jain: New Chief of staff for Southern Naval Command 30. Narinder Batra elected President of the Hockey India. 31. Murali Lanka: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WalMart India 32. Kaushal Srivastava: Chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Custom (CBEC) 33. Syed Muazzem Ali new Bangladesh Envoy to India. He replace Tariq A. Karim 34. Rajiv – appointed acting Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). He replace Pradeep Kumar 35. Hemant Contractor – New Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory Fund and Development Authority (PFRDA). 36. O. Panneerselvam: new chief minister of Tamil Nadu. He replace J. Jayalalithaa

Note: He is 28th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. 37. Justice HL Dattu: new Chief Justice of India. He replace CJI RM Lodha 38. Le Yucheng appointed China's New Ambassador to India. He replace replaced Wei Wei 39. P Sathasivam appointed new Governor of Kerala. He replace Sheila Dikshit 40. Lalitha Kumaramangalam appointed new chief of the National Commission for Women (NCW). She replaces Mamta

Sharma. 41. BJP veteran L.K. Advani appointed as the chairman of the prestigious Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. 42. Shah Rukh Khan appointed Ambassador of Interpol’s initiative ‘Turn Back Crime’ campaign, aimed at promoting greater

awareness on how to prevent crime. 43. Adil Zainulbhai appointed as the Chairman of Quality Council of India (QCI). 44. Amit Mathew elected as chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations 45. Suresh Prabhu appointed as PM Narendra Modi’s Sherpa for the Group of 20 annual Summit 2014.

Note: The G-20 annual summit will be held in Brisbane from 15 November to 16 November 2014. ii. Suresh Prabhu will attend the G20 Sherpa’s meeting that is going to be held in Canberra, Australia from 30 September to 1 October 2014. iii. Sherpa is a senior official responsible for preparing the agenda for leaders to consider during the summit.

46. India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma appointed as the president of News Broadcasting Association 47. Former Union Home Secretary GK Pillai appointed Vice Chairman of Tata Steel 48. Hardeep Singh Puri appointed as Secretary General of Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM) 49. RN Ravi appointed as new chief of Joint Intelligence Committee.

Note: Intelligence Committee is a body tasked to assess intelligence gathered by various intelligence agencies including IB and RAW.

50. T M Bhasin: New Chairman of Indian Banks Association. He replaces KR Kamath. 51. K V Thomas: new Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. 52. K.V. Chowdary appointed as new Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). He succeed R K Tewari 53. Arvind Gupta appointed Deputy National Security Advisor 54. Aditya Vardhan Agarwal, new Vice-President of Indian Chamber of Commerce 55. Justice Dr. Chellur sworn in as Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court 56. Former India cricket captain Kapil Dev will head the Arjuna Awards selection committee for choosing this year's

outstanding sportspersons of the country 57. Former Hockey Captain Ajitpal Singh to head Dronacharya Award Selection Committee 58. Ravi Shankar joined infrastructure finance company IDFC as the head of Bharat Banking.

Note: IDFC, which recently bagged a commercial banking licence, plans to start bank operations by October next year. The list of Cabinet Ministers: 59. Rajnath Singh: Home Minster 60. Sushma Swaraj: External Affairs & Overseas Indian Affairs 61. Arun Jaitley: Finance Corporate Affairs 62. M. Venkaiah Naidu: Urban Development Housing and Urban

Poverty Alleviation & Parliamentary Affairs 63. Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways

Shipping. 64. Uma Bharati: Water Resources, River Development and Ganga

Rejuvenation 65. Dr. Najma A. Heptulla: Minority Affairs



66. Ramvilas Paswan: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution 67. Kalraj Mishra: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 68. Maneka Gandhi: Women and Child Development 69. Ananthkumar: Chemicals and Fertilizers 70. Ashok Gajapathi Raju: Civil Aviation 71. Anant Geete: Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises 72. Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Food Processing Industries 73. Narendra Singh Tomar: Mines & Steel Labour and Employment 74. Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs 75. Radha Mohan Singh: Agriculture 76. Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Social Justice and Empowerment 77. Smriti Zubin Irani: Human Resource Development

New Appointment in World 1. Tabare Ramon Vazquez Rosas won Uruguay Presidential Election 2014.Vazquez belongs to the leftist Broad Front

coalition party of Uruguay.replaed Jose Mujica who was barred by law from running for a second consecutive term. 2. Anerood Jugnauth appointed as Mauritius Prime Minister by the President Purryag by replacing Prime Minister

Navinchandra Ramgoolam. 3. Richard Rahul Verma -US Ambassador to India replaced Kathleen Stephens. 4. Ashton Carter new US defense secretary to replace Chuck Hagel as US Defence Secretary. 5. National Rifle Association of India ,NRAI, chief Raninder becomes first elected Indian in ISSF International Shooting

Sport Federation committee. 6. India's S Ravi in ICC panel of umpires for World Cup. 7. Richard Rahul Verma sworn in as US Ambassador to India by Secretary of State John Kerry.He will replace Nancy Powell,

who resigned in March after a damaging row over the treatment of diplomat Devyani Khobragade over visa fraud charges. 8. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo re-elected for another four year term 9. US senate confirms Vivek Murthy as 19th Surgeon General of America.He is youngest person and first person of Indian-

origin to hold the post. 10. Michel Kafando: New interim president of Burkina Faso 11. Klaus Werner Iohannis elected new President of Romania. He replace Traian Basescu. 12. Farhan Akhtar appointed as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. 13. Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata has been appointed to the board of Interpol Foundation to contribute to its two new

global initiatives aimed at combating organised crime and terrorist activities by the international police organisation. 14. Dilma Rousseff re-elected as Brazilian President for 2nd term 15. Joko Widodo: New President of Indonesia 16. Khaled Bahah: new Prime Minister of Yemen 17. Leah Kalanguka crowned as Miss Uganda 2014 18. Ron Klain : President Barack Obama appointed a former chief of staff Ron

Klain as Ebola "czar." 19. Pratima Dharm - Georgetown University appoints Pratima Dharm as first

Hindu priest 20. John Key re-elected as the Prime Minister of New Zealand for a third term 21. Ashraf Ghani sworn in as Afghanistan President. He replaced Hamid Karzai 22. Voreqe Bainimarama new Prime Minister of Fiji 23. Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar appointed Inter-Services Intelligence

(ISI) chief 24. Leonardo DiCaprio appointed as UN Messenger of Peace 25. Kaushik Basu: International Economic Association appointed as President-

Elect Note: Amartya Sen became the first Indian to join IEA.

26. Subhash Chandra Garg appointed as Executive Director (ED) in World Bank.

27. Sergio Marchionne new Ferrari chairman. He replace Luca Cordero di Montezemolo

28. TCS re-appoints N Chandrasekaran as CEO 29. Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey's new president 30. Haider al-Abadi : New Iraqi Prime Minister 31. Chief Prayuth Chan-ocha elected new PM of Thailand



SUMMIT

1. Lima Climate Change Conference - December 2014

i. Officials from over 190 nations, including India converged in Lima at the UN climate summit to negotiate on a new ambitious and binding deal to cut global carbon emissions. ii. During the 12-day summit in the Peruvian capital, countries will put forward what they plan to contribute to the 2015 pact in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) by the first quarter of 2015, well in advance of the Paris conference in December. iii. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar leads India's 17- member delegation to negotiate terms for the final agreement to be signed in Paris, which will take effect in 2020.

2. SAARC Summit: 18th SAARC 2014- Kathmandu (Nepal) South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Headquarter - Kathmandu (Nepal) Members – 8 – India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (MBA IN BSP) Note: i. This is the third time Nepal will host the SAARC Summit after 1997 and 2002.

ii. The 17th SAARC summit was held in November 10, 2011 in the South Province of Maldives Theme of 18th SAARC Summit - ‘Deeper Integration for

Peace, Progress and Prosperity’ 3. G 20 Summit:

G20 Leaders Summit (2014) held in Brisbane, Queensland (Australia).

G-20 meeting (2014) of Finance ministers and central bank governors held in Cairns (Australia).

G-20 Labour and Employment Ministerial meet held in Melbourne (Australia) 15th G-20 Summit 2015 – Turkey 16th G-20 Summit 2016 – China

About G-20- i. The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation and decision-making, with members from 19 countries plus the European Union. iii. G20 members account for 85 percent of the world economy, 80 percent of global trade and two-thirds of the world's population. iv. The G20 represents all geographic regions of the world, but remains small enough to be an effective decision-making body. v. The members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

4. NATO Summit 2014- Wales (Britain)

Note: This is the first NATO summit since Chicago in 2012, ii. Britain last hosted the summit in 1990, when Margret Thatcher was Prime Minister About NATO – (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) - NATO’s essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. Chief – Jens Stoltenberg Members – 28 countries members. Headquarter – Brussels, Belgium

5. Nuclear security summit i. 3rd Summit 2014 : Hague, Netherland ii. 4th Summit 2016: United States

6. BRICS summit – 6th BRICS Summit 2014: Fortaleza, Brazil – Theme "Inclusive Growth: Sustainable Solutions”.

Next 7th BRICS Summit to be held in Ufa, Russia Note: Ufa is the capital city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, and the industrial, economic, scientific and cultural centre of the republic.



The New Development Bank (NDB), is operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as an alternative to the existing World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The New Development Bank headquarter will be in Shanghai, China. The Bank will have a rotating chair and its first President will come from India for the first six years. 7. IBSA Summit: India will host the next summit of IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) in New Delhi in 2015. 8. G 8 Summit:

G-8 Countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and the US 40th G-7 summit 2014 held at Brussels.

Note: It was the first time that the EU hosted a G7 summit. The summit is jointly represented by the European Council President Herman van Rompuy and the European Commission President.

OTHERS SUMMIT 1. International Buddhist Conference 2014 held in Nepal 2. 9th East Asia Summit held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar 3. 45th International Film Festival of India begins in Goa. 4. The International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA hold its eighth Council meeting in Abu Dhabi. 5. The World Economic Forum summit held in New Delhi 6. India-Arab League officials meeting held in New Delhi 9. Sixth World Ayurveda Congress held in New Delhi.

Note: Theme of the sixth WAC was "Health Challenges and Ayurveda 10. The 10th edition of World Islamic Economic Forum, WIEF held in Dubai. 11. G-4 foreign minister meeting held in New York to discuss Security Council reform

Note: G -4 countries include- India, Brazil, Germany and Japan 12. UN Climate Change Summit 2014 held in New York 13. 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held for the first time in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

India deal with China

India signs pact with China to better trade ties of $20bn: India signed a 5-year trade and economic cooperation agreement with China with a view to improve the trade balance. Important Points – 1. India, China sign 3 MoUs including setting up Industrial Park in Gujarat The agreements include i. Sister city pact between Guangzhou in China and Ahmedabad ii. Setting up of an industrial park in Vadodara district (Gujarat) iii. The third is between the governments of Gujarat and a Chinese province. 2. New road to Kailash Mansarovar via Nathu La 3. Mumbai and Shanghai will be twin cities. 4. China will set up two industrial parks in India, one each in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

India deal with Japan

Important Points – 1. Japan promise to give USD 35 to India thorugh public & private funding over the next five years for developmental projects, including building of smart cities and next generation infrastructure as also cleaning of the Ganges. 2. Both sides signed 5 pacts covering – defence exchanges, cooperation in clean energy, roads & hishways, healthcare and women. 3. India, Japan sign MoU to develop Varanasi into ‘smart city’: by using the experience of Kyoto, the ’smart city’ of Japan, under a pact signed b/w India & Japan. 4. Japan to work with India in finding sickle cell anemia remedy. Modi met Shinya Yamanaka, Japan's stem cell pioneer and 2012 Nobel Prize winner for medicine, at Kyoto University and discussed treatment of the disease.

MOUs-Deal between India & Other Countries 1. India extends $80-mn line of credit to Fiji: India announced

a $75-million line of credit for Fiji for a co-generation power



plant and upgrading the sugar industry and also a $5-million fund to develop its villages even as the two countries agreed to expand their defence and security cooperation. Note : PM of Fiji - Frank Bainimarama, Capital of Fiji – Suva, Currency - Dollar

2. China and Australia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral Antarctic cooperation. 3. India and Australia signed five pacts on social security, transfer of sentenced prisoners, combating narcotics trade,

tourism, and Arts and Culture. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Indian Counterpart Narendra Modi agreed to have a Free Trade deal by 2015 end.

4. The government has allocated Rs 5,000 crore rupees under AYUSH Mission for promoting traditional methods of treatment in the country.

5. India and Bhutan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop Nalanda University in Bihar as an international centre of excellence.

6. India and Republic of Korea signed an a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate technical cooperation in Railway sector between the two countries.

7. Nepal, India agree to form task force to install petro pipeline. 8. Government is planning to cover the entire country under Indira Gandhi Maatritva Sahyog Yojana by 2016.

ii. The scheme envisages providing cash directly to pregnant and lactating mothers during pregnancy and lactation to improve health and nutrition.

9. India, Vietnam decide to step up security, defence ties. India offers USD 300mn credit line to Vietnam for trade 10. India signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury with Japan.

Note: The Minamata Convention gives five years time to India to control and reduce emissions from new power plants and 10 years time for the already existing power plants.

11. India and Nepal have inked the Power Trade Agreement (PTA), allowing exchange of electricity and opening up new vistas of cooperation in the hydro-power sector.

12. India and United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Culture Cooperation over next five years.

13. India's low-cost carrier IndiGo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to buy 250 A320neo Family aircraft worth 25.5 billion US dollars from Airbus Group. This agreement is Airbus single largest order by number of aircraft.

14. India and Norway signed 13 agreements to promote bilateral relations. These include agreement between Defence sector of two countries and an agreement on exemption of visa requirement for holders of diplomatic and official passports.

15. ONGC Videsh Ltd, signed an agreement with Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) for cooperation in the Latin American nation. Note: Mexico is the largest crude oil producing country in Latin America.

16. Nepal seeks technical cooperation from India for extending Provident Fund (PF) 17. India and Vietnam inked seven pacts, including one to enhance cooperation in the strategic oil sector, as they called for

“freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea, 18. Hero MotoCorp Limited has entered into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Government for setting up a Greenfield

two-wheeler manufacturing plant in Chittoor district 19. Latin American nation Peru has plans to sign a free trade agreement with India.

Note: Peru is the sixth largest gold producer, mining 5 million ounces every year. Peru is also the second largest producer of silver and the third biggest producer of copper, tin, zinc and lead.

20. Bangladesh and India have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for enhanced cooperation in the fields of traditional medicine like Ayurveda and Unani,

21. United Arab Emirates has signed three agreements with the United Nations World Food Program, WFP, offering 31 million US dollars worth of humanitarian aid for the Syrian refugees.

22. Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) signed MoU to setup India’s first Coral Garden in Gujarat. This Coral Garden will be set up at Mithapur coastal region of Devbhoomi-Swarka district of Gujarat.

23. India and Germany agreed to prepare a roadmap for cooperation in skill development, solid waste management and cleaning of rivers.

24. India signed loan agreement with World Bank for Mizoram State Roads Project (MSRP II). As per the agreement, soft loan window of World Bank, International Development Agency (IDA) will provide assistance of 107 million US dollars for the Project.

25. India and Czech Republic signed MoU on technical cooperation in Railway. 26. India to give grant of $1 million for construction of cricket stadium in Afghanistan. The stadium is set to come up in

Aino Mina, a northern suburb of Kandahar city on land donated to the Afghanistan Cricket Board in 2012.

Villages adopted by MPs in Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, SAGY

1. Narendra Modi has adopted Jayapur village from his constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh 2. Union Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh has adopted Beti village in the Lucknow District 3. Sonia Gandhi adopted Udwa village in her constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.


4. Rahul Gandhi adopted Deeh village in his constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh 5. Sachin Tendulkar adopts Andhra village of Puttamrajuvari Kandrika 6. Union Minister V K Singh adopted Mirpur Hindu in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 7. Assam's first time Congress MP and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son, Gaurav Gogoi adopts Gondhokoroi village in

Golaghat 8. BJP MP from Pauri BC Khanduri adopts Devli Bhanigram village in Uttarakhand 9. Hema Malini adopts Raval village in Uttar Pradesh 10. Arunachal MP Ninong Ering adopts Takilalung village in East Siang district 11. BJP MP from Haridwar Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank to develop Govardhanpur under MP Model village scheme 12. Chiranjeevi adopts a village named Perupalam in West Godavari district 13. LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adopts Patlod in Indore District in Madhya Pradesh 14. Kirron Kher, member of Parliament (MP), Chandigarh, has adopted Sarangpur village in Chandigarh

Scheme & Plan Launched by Union & State Government:

1. Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Mission Indradhanush Under Mission Indradhanush, four special vaccination campaigns will be conducted between January and June 2015 with

intensive planning and monitoring of these campaigns. 201 districts will be covered in the first phase of the mission, 297 districts will be targeted for the second phase in the year

2015. Out of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and nearly 25

percent of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts of 4 states. The Ministry will be technically supported by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor partners. Mass media, interpersonal communication, and sturdy mechanisms of monitoring and evaluating the scheme are crucial

components of Mission. 2. Govt launches Digital India initiatives on Good Governance Day To mark the Good Governance Day, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced 21 schemes including one-month

rental free MTNL broadband and landline combo plans on new bookings. Key projects include time stamping of digital signature, Integrated Indian Languages Virtual Keyboard for Android, PARAM

Shavak (Super computer in box solution), .bharat domain in Gujarati and Bangla, e-launch of Support International Patent Protection in Electronics & IT scheme (SIP-EIT).

Another launch was that of C-DOT's solution MAX-NG, a cost effective and smooth migration path to Internet Protocol Multimedia Systems (IMS).

Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) also launched Gyansetu, which is an Internet based real time ICT system to provide eServices to the rural population and e-Governance Competency Framework (e-GCF). DeitY has also taken various initiatives like MyGov, Aadhaar-enabled Biometric attendance system, Jeevan Pramaan, eGreetings, eSampark, National Digital Literacy Mission, eGovernance Competency Framework to promote good governance.

More about Gyan Setu Project – I. Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Centre for

Development of Telematics (C-DOT) . II. GYAN SETU helps the rural masses with low literacy level and has exposure only to local language, in getting connected

to the internet through a power optimized rugged platform for highly visual based e-services. 3. Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching i . Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching on 25 December 2014. ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the mission at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. iii. The mission was launched the mission with an outlay of 900 crores rupees during 12th five year plan. iv. It envisages to addressing comprehensively all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation, professional development, Curriculum Design, Designing and Developing Assessment & Evaluation methodology, Research in Pedagogy and developing effective Pedagogy. Udaan programme for girls i. Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani launched Udaan programme for girls. ii. The Udaan programme for girls is designed to provide a comprehensive platform to girl students to pursue higher education in engineering and assist them in preparing for the IIT-JEE while studying in Classes XI and XII. iii. There is no financial burden as the entire programme is free for the beneficiaries. 4. Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana

I. Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) for welfare of Tribal people and particularly to lift human development indices of tribal people.


II. It was launched on pilot basis in one block each of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Highlights of the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) i. Under the scheme, Union Government will provide 10 crore rupees for each block for the development of various facilities for the Tribal people. ii. These blocks have been selected on the recommendations of the concerned States and have very low literacy rate. Initially the blocks having at least 33 percent of tribal population in comparison to total population of the block will be targeted under the scheme.

5. Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana: Government approved Rs 43,033-crore rural electrification scheme Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. Note: The scheme will replace the existing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). ii. The scheme is likely to work towards improvement in hours of power supply in rural areas, reduction in peak load, improvement in billed energy based on metered consumption and providing access to electricity to rural households.

6. Union Government launched the nationwide Bal Swachhta Mission: About Bal Swachhta Mission i. The Bal Swachhta Mission is a part of the nationwide sanitation initiative of Swachh Bharat Mission that was launched by the Prime Minister on 2 October 2014. The nationwide Bal Swachhta Mission will have the following six themes: 1. Clean Anganwadis 2. Clean Surroundings like Playgrounds 3. Clean Self (Personal Hygiene/Child Health) 4. Clean Food 5. Clean Drinking Water 6. Clean Toilets

7. PM launches Jeevan Pramaan - Digital Life Certificate for Pensioners an "Aadhar-based Digital Life Certificate" for pensioners,

8. PM launches Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate programme to ensure labour reforms and also to ensure transparency in the labour sector. Under the scheme, the following new initiatives are provided: • Labours will be provided Unique Labour Identification number, Local Interconnect Network, to facilitate their online registration. • Unified Labour Portal (Shram Suvidha) and a Transparent & Accountable Labour Inspection Scheme to facilitate ease of compliance http://efilelaboutreturn.gov.in to facilitate ease of compliance especially for four Central Government Organizations i.e. ESIC, EPFO, DGMS and CLC. • Demand Responsive Vocational Training • Apprentice Protsahan Yojana • Portability through Universal Account Number for Employees’ Provident Fund Account Holders • Implementation of Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) for the workers in the unorganized sector Note: Launching another initiative called Labour Inspection Scheme to abolish inspector raj, the Prime Minister said, a computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly for labour inspectors. It will be mandatory for them to upload inspection reports within 72 hours.

9. Prime Minister launches Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana an ambitious village development project under which each MP will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019. Note: Under this yojana around 2,500 villages to be developed as Adarsh Gram

10. Union Government launched Jammu Kashmir Arogya Gram Yojna in J&K i. The scheme aims to encourage farmers in J&K to cultivate scientifically tested and commercially beneficial aromatic and medicinal plants in the state. ii. The scheme is a part of the grand plan of the Government to convert the hilly areas of the country as exclusive zones of high-value organic farm products. iii. The Union Government will initially spend over 25 crore rupees on this scheme. About the Scheme i. Under the scheme, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), will help the farmers with expert guidance and provide them saplings of as many as nine varieties of medicinal and aromatic plants. CSIR is the Research and Development body of the government. ii. The plant varieties, selected for J&K, include five different varieties of lemon grass (Cymbopogon), Rose (Rosa), Mint (Mentha), Ashwagandha (Withaniasomnifera) and Phalsa fruit plant. iii. Initially, 1000 villages of Kathua, Jammu and Udhampur in the state will be covered under the scheme. Similar schemes will be launched in other states, keeping in mind soil condition, suitable plant varieties and size and type of land holdings.

11. Swachh Bharat Mission (Ek Kadam Swachhata Ki Aur)



launched on Oct 2: The concept of Swachh Bharat is to pave access for every person to sanitation facilities including toilets, solid and liquid waste disposal systems, village cleanliness and safe and adequate drinking water supply. Important Points: 1. The Mission aims at fulfilling the dream of clean India of Mahatma Gandhi by his 150th birth anniversary in 2019. 2. Logo – created by Shri Anant Khasbardar of Kolhapur, Maharashtra has won the Logo design contest 3. The Tagline “Ek Kadam Swachhata Ki Aur” was given by Ms.Bhagyasri Sheth of Rajkot, Gujarat emerged successful in the contest for Tagline for the Logo. 4. PM Narendra Modi appointed bollywood actor Aamri Khan as the Brand Ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission 5. Prime Minister roped 9 celebrities including cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, industrialist Anil Ambani, Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Kamal Haasan, Goa governor Mridula Sinha, yoga guru Ramdev and the team of TV serial "Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma".

12. Prime Minister launches 'Make in India' global initiative with an aim to boost India`s manufacturing sector. 13. Union Government launched Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana for urban and rural poor

Note: i. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana has two components one for urban India and other for rural India. ii. The Urban component will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation iii. Rural component named as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Rural Development. Main Highlights of the Urban Scheme i. Imparting skills with an expenditure of 15000 rupees to 18000 rupees on each urban poor ii. Enabling urban poor form Self-Help Groups for meeting financial and social needs with a support of 10000 rupees per each group who would in turn would be helped with bank linkages. Main Poins of the Rural Scheme i. The Yojana aims at training 10 lakh (1 million) rural youths for jobs in three years, that is, by 2017. ii. The minimum age for entry under the Yojana is 15 years compared to 18 years under the Aajeevika Skills Programme. iii. The skills imparted under the Yojana will now be benchmarked against international standards and will complement the Prime Minister’s Make In India campaign.

14. Union Ministry of Science & Technology announces “KIRAN”( Knowledge, Involvement, Research, Advancement through Nurturing) scheme for Women Scientists Objectives:- i. To increase the number of women researchers in India. ii. Provide Research grants particularly to those female researchers and technologists who had to take a break in career owing to household reasons. iii. Bring about, as far as achievable, gender parity in the field of science and technology.

15. Government will soon launch Universal Health Assurance Mission to provide affordable health services to people. Under the mission about 50 essential drugs with a diagnostic package and 30 AYUSH drugs will be made available to all citizens at government hospitals and health centers across the country.

16. Bhamashah Financial Empowerment Scheme – Government of Rajasthan The Government of Rajasthan has embarked upon Bhamashah Financial Empowerment Scheme, (BFES) whereby the Government will deposit Rs.1500/- into the savings accounts of 50 lakh rural families belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL)

17. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: RSBY started rolling from 1st April 2008. Note: i. RSBY has been launched by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. ii. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization. iii. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization.

18. National Pension System -: Government of India established Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)- External website that opens in a new window on 10th October, 2003 to develop and regulate pension sector in the country. The National Pension System (NPS) was launched on 1st January, 2004 with the objective of providing retirement income to all the citizens. Note: i. Under Swavalamban Scheme- External website that opens in a new window, the government will contribute a sum of Rs.1,000 to each



eligible NPS subscriber who contributes a minimum of Rs.1,000 and maximum Rs.12,000 per annum. This scheme is presently applicable upto F.Y.2016-17. ii. The subscriber will be allotted a unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN). This unique account number will remain the same for the rest of subscriber's life. This unique PRAN can be used from any location in India.

19. Aajeevika - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in June 2011. The basic idea behind this programme is to organize the poor into SHG (Self Help Groups) groups and make them capable for self-employment.

20. Indira Awas Yojan: It is one of the major flagship programs of the Rural Development Ministry to construct houses for BPL population in the villages Note: i. The financial assistance provided for new construction in the form of full grant is Rs.70,000/- per unit for plain areas & Rs.75,000/- for hilly/difficult areas. ii. Further, an IAY beneficiary can avail top-up loan upto Rs 20,000/- under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI Scheme) from any Nationalized Bank at an interest rate of 4% per annum.

21. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Seenchayi Yojana: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Seenchayi Yojana was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The Yojna has been announced to meet the irrigation needs of all farmers across the country. Sum of 1000 crore rupees has been allocated for implementation of the scheme.

22. Karnataka, Kerala sign MoU for rural livelihood mission: As per the MoU, Kerala Governement’s Kudumbashree and Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Mission are to help train and hand-hold rural Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Karnataka.

23. Govt re-launches Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana: The government has re-launched the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana, for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above. Note: It will provide monthly pension ranging from 500 to 5,000 rupees per month to senior citizens of the country. ii. The Scheme will be administrated by the Life Insurance Corporation, LIC.

24. National rural scheme on PPP model launched: Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari launched the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee National Rural Mission on PPP model with an allocation of 100 crore rupees. Note: The scheme will be initially available in three districts of the country on pilot basis. The districts are Warangal in Andhra Pradesh and two districts in Maharashtra. ii. The scheme is intended to stop migration from rural areas to cities. The government wants to create infrastructure in villages so that people can get employment there and do not migrate to cities.

25. Padho Pardesh scheme for minority community: Government has launched a scheme titled, Padho Pardesh, for providing interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies for students belonging to the notified minority communities like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis.

"Niti Ayog"

India's Planning Commission will be renamed "Niti Ayog" (National Institution for Transforming India) as part of a plan to restructure the institution that the government believes has run its course. The name, replacing "Yojana (planning)" with "Niti (policy)" will be announced in an amended resolution for the new plan body. The Planning Commission had suggested to a group chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that its replacement body should be structured to meet the need of changing economic paradigm and comprise sectoral experts and states' representative. The restructured plan panel could be a combination of three or four divisions. The NITI Aayog will comprise the following: Prime Minister of India as the Chairperson Governing Council comprising the Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories Regional Councils will be formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or a region.

These will be formed for a specified tenure. The Regional Councils will be convened by the Prime Minister and will comprise of the Chief Ministers of States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories in the region. These will be chaired by the Chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.

Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the Prime Minister The full-time organizational framework will comprise of, in addition to the Prime Minister as the Chairperson: i. Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by the Prime Minister ii. Members: Full-time iii. Part-time members: Maximum of 2 from leading universities research organizations and other relevant institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Part time members will be on a rotational basis.



iv. Ex Officio members: Maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister. v. Chief Executive Officer : To be appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. vi. Secretariat as deemed necessary.

Awards & Honours 1. The President's Office announced the Bharat Ratna award to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and former

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the eve of Mr. Vajpayee's 90th birthday and the 153rd birth anniversary of Pandit Malviya.In 2013, the award was conferred to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and scientist C.N.R Rao.

2. Miss World 2014: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan felicitated by the Miss World Organisation at the 64th edition of the international beauty pageant for her commitment to “beauty with a purpose” since winning the crown two decades ago.

3. Miss South Africa Rolene Strauss crowned Miss World 2014 at the final of the beauty pageant held in London, UK. Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was the runner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came third in the 64th annual competition, contested by women from 121 countries.

4. Asha Bhosle awarded DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award 2014 at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) held in Dubai.Along with her, another Egyptian actor Nour El-Sherif was also received the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on over 100 films.

5. Ruhi Singh won Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014. at Beirut, Lebanon among the 145 other countries. 6. Ebola fighters named Time's 2014 'Person of the Year' 7. Azim Premji awarded Swiss Ambassador's Award in Mumbai for inspirational and socially responsible leadership. 8. Warren buffet became second richest person of World He replaced Carlos Slim, business magnate of Mexico. Bill

Gates is the world richest person. 9. Gwladys Nocera of France won Hero Women's Indian Golf Open 2014 at the Delhi Golf Club. She received the prize

money of 300000 US dollars. 10. Satyarthi, Malala received Nobel awards.

i. Child rights activists India’s Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, along with 11 others will receive this year’s Nobel Prizes.The Nobel Laureates take centrestage in Sweden’s capital Stockholm and Norwegian Oslo, where they will receive the Nobel medals, Nobel diplomas and documents confirming the Nobel Prize amount. iii. Satyarthi, 60, and Yousafzai, 17, will share the $1.1-million Peace Prize at Oslo, while all the other awards will be presented in Stockholms

11. Modi wins TIME readers’ poll for ‘Person of the Year’. 12. Modi, Mukesh Ambani most searched personalities in 2014: Yahoo. 13. India sets new world record for largest human flag formed by over 50,000 volunteers, beating the previous record held

by Pakistan. 14. Narndra Modi named 'Asian of the Year' by Singapore's Straits Time. 15. Canara Bank has been conferred with the Niryat Bandhu Silver Trophy in the in the banks category for its support

services rendered for promotion of exports. 16. Film artist of Ireland Duncan Campbell Turner Prize 2014 for a video called It For Others. The video reflects on African art

and includes a dance sequence inspired by Karl Marx. He received the prize of 25000 pounds at Tate Britain in London. 17. Former Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia has been conferred with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Hall of

Fame Award.He received the award in Manila, Philippines on the occasion of afc's 60th anniversary. FIFA President Sepp Blatter presented the award to Baichung, the only Indian in the AFC's Hall of Fame.All India Football Federation President Praful Patel was present on the occasion.

18. Entrepreneur of the Year - Dhiraj Rajaram and Chandra Shekhar Ghosh The award was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. Since 2012, Standard Chartered Bank has been the presenting sponsor of The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence.

19. The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence announced The awards were announced in the following category: Business Leader of the Year – Dilip Shanghvi Company of the Year – Tata Consultancy Services Emerging Company of the Year – Adani Ports & SEZ Global Indian of the Year – Satya Nadella Startup of the Year – Zomato Business Reformer of the Year – UK Sinha Corporate Citizen of the Year – Tata Steel Lifetime Achievement – Yusuf Hamied

20. Russian film “Leviathan” by Andrey Zvyagintsev won the best film award comprising Golden Peacock and Rs.40 lakh at the

45th International film Festival of India.



ii. Mr. Alexey Serebryakov from the “Leviathan” also shared the best male actor award in the Cimena of the World competition.

21. Trilochan Sastry, Professor in Quantitative Methods and Information Systems, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), has been awarded the 11th ‘Bharat Asmita’, an honour instituted by the Pune-based MIT group of institutions.

22. Boxer Manoj Kumar today received the prestigious Arjuna Award from Sports Minister 23. Sarbananda Sonowal.the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medalist, was bestowed with the honour in a function

organised in the National capital. 24. United Nations (UN) Women announced the appointment of Indian tennis superstar and youth icon, Sania Mirza, as its

Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. The organisation is dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment.She became the first South Asian woman to be appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador.The other Goodwill Ambassadors include British actor Emma Watson, Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman, HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand, and Indian actor-filmmaker-singer Farhan Akhtar.

25. Aaranyak, an Assam-based NGO working for the conservation of nature and a Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) won United Nations Lighthouse Activities award for the year 2014.They won the award under the focus area of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions.They won the award for its community-based flood early warning system that has benefited 40 villages in flood-prone Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts. Since 2010-11, the system has directly or indirectly benefitted more than 20000 people living in the catchment areas of two rivers, Jiadhal in Dhemaji and Singora in Lakhimpur districts.

26. Lahore-based author Bilal Tanweer on 24 November 2014 won the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his novel The Scatter Here Is Too Great (Random House India).

27. TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan conferred honorary citizenship of Busan, Korea for his efforts to enhance friendship and cooperation between India and Republic of Korea.

28. Veteran Pakistan-born poetess Imtiaz Dharker awarded with the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014 for her latest poetry collection Over the Moon.

29. ‘The Lunchbox’ honoured by Toronto film critics at 18th annual Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) awards in Toronto.

30. Tata Steel chosen among 100 most valuable brands in 2014 by World Consulting & Research Corporation (WCRC). 31. PETA India names ex-SC judge KS Radhakrishnan ‘Man of the Year’. And Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez named as

‘Woman of the Year’. Justice Radhakrishnan headed a bench that passed a landmark judgement in favour of PETA India and the Animal Welfare Board of India, clarifying that bulls must not be used in jallikattu, bull races.

32. Xu Youyu ,Pro-democracy activist, of China won Olof Palme Human Rights Prize for the year 2014 for his strong-principled work for democracy, social justice, human rights and freedom of speech which has universal meaning.The award given annually by the Stockholm-based Olof Palme Memorial Fund of Sweden. Nobel Prize 2014 -

33. Nobel prize in Literature – Patrick Modiano (France) - "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation".

34. Nobel prize in Economics - Jean Tirole (France) – “for research on market power and regulation.” 35. Nobel prize in Peace - Kailash Satyarthi (India) and Malala Yousufzai (Pakistan) - "for their struggle against the

suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education" Note: Kailash Satyarthi is Second Indian to win Nobel Peace Prize. The winner before him was Mother Teresa, who lived out most of her life in India but was born in Albania. ii. Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai (17), is the youngest recipient of the prize. iii. Child rights activist Satyarthi, runs NGO Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (Save Childhood Movement).

36. Nobel prize in Medicine – for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain" [Brain GPS] 1. John O'Keefe (British-American researcher) 2. Edvard Moser (Norway) 3. May-Britt Moser (Norway)

37. Nobel prize in Physics – for Invention of blue LEDs 1. Isamu Akasaki (Akasaki is a Japanese citizen and works at Meijo University and Nagoya University) 2. Hiroshi Amano (Amano is a Japanese citizen and works at Nagoya University) 3. Shuji Nakamura (Nakamura is a US citizen and works at University of California, Santa Barbara)

38. Nobel Prize in Chemistry – "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy". 1. Eric Betzig (American) 2. William E Moerner (American) 3. Stefan W Hell (German, Heidelberg University) Others Awards



39. Indira Gandhi prize for peace, disarmament for 2014: Indian space agency ISRO conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014 in recognition of its contribution in strengthening international cooperation in peaceful use of outer space.

40. Polly Umrigar Award 2013-14: Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is selected for Polly Umrigar Award for the 2013-14 season.

41. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award2014 - Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar conferred with the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

42. Pope Francis conferred sainthood on two Indians -Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia. Pope Francis pronounced them as saint at a special mass St Peter's Square at Vatican. Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara is popularly known as Chavara Achen and Sister Euphrasia is popularly known as Evuprasiamma both were from Kerala.

43. Deutsche Bank won ‘Channel Islands Custodian of the Year 2014’ . 44. Hanumappa Sudarshan of Karuna Trust won 10th India Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 Award 45. Rubber Board wins Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Award: The Department of Official Language under Ministry of Home

Affairs has selected Rubber Board for the Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Award (First Prize) for excellence in the implementation of the official language policy for the year 2013-14.

46. Indian-American Neha Gupta won International Children’s Peace Prize 2014 Note: Neha, an 18-year-old Indian American from Philadelphia was awarded for her work to help orphans in India and other vulnerable children. Neha became the first ever American to be awarded with the prize.

47. Veteran classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj conferred with the Sumitra Charat Ram Award 2014 for Lifetime Achievement. Sumitra Charat Ram Award: The award was instituted in 2011 to honour stalwarts in art and was named after Sumitra Charat Ram who founded the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in 1952.

48. Manmohan Singh chosen for Japan national award: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been chosen for one of Japan’s top national awards for his contribution to India-Japan ties, becoming the first Indian to receive the rare honour.

49. Saiyid Hamid conferred with Sir Ross Masood Lifetime Achievement Award 2014 50. Malala Yousafzai won 2014 World’s Children prize 51. Radio Kashmir Jammu won Gandhian Philosophy and Public Service Broadcasting award 2014

Note: Jeevan Rekha is a programme based on the live broadcasts done in the wake of flood situation in Jammu and Kashmir by Radio Kashmir Jammu.

52. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Chairman CS Verma received IIM- JRD Tata Award for Excellence in Corporate leadership 53. Assam government presented 1st state bravery award to Gunjan Sarma 54. Indian-origin British politician Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz known as Keith Vaz named as the Labour MP of the year

2014. 55. The Centre has named actor Rajinikanth as winner of the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year. 56. 2014 Man Booker Prize - Australian author Richard Flanagan won 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel “The Narrow

Road to the Deep North” 57. Malala Yousafzai conferred 2014 Liberty Medal 58. Veteran actress Maggie Smith was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, one of Britian’s highest

honours by Queen Elizabeth. 59. Indian-American student Sahil Doshi won ‘America’s Top Young Scientist’ award for his innovative design of an eco-

friendly device that seeks to reduce carbon footprint, while offering power for household usage. 60. Tamil poet Iqbal named for Singapore's highest cultural award, Cultural Medallion 61. Raghuram Rajan conferred Euromoney's Central Bank Governor of Year Award 62. Ashwika Kapur became the first Indian woman to win prestigious Wildscreen Panda Award.

Note: She won the coveted wildlife photography award in best newcomer category for her film, Sirocco - how a dud became a stud. ii. Panda award also known as Green Oscar of the natural history and wildlife film industry was announced at the annual Wildscreen Film Festival held at Bristol, UK.

63. Indian cop Shakti Devi of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, currently deployed in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has been awarded the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014.

64. Anoop Jain wins prestigious global citizen award for his work to build community sanitation facilities Note: Anoop Jain was recipient of the 2014 Waislitz Global Citizen Award for his "exemplified values of a Global Citizen" through his work in founding Humanure Power (HP) in Bihar in 2011 that builds community sanitation facilities in rural India.

65. Lyricist Sameer honoured with Kishore Kumar Award for 2012-13 66. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by

the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, chemistry,environmental science, engineering, mathematics, medicine and Physics.


10 scientists get Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize : The selected awardees in different fields are Biological Sciences: Dr. Roop Mallik of Tata Institute of

Fundamental Research, Mumbai Chemical Sciences: Dr. Kavirayani Ramakrishna Prasad of Indian

Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Dr. Souvik Maiti of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi

Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences: Dr. Sachchida Nand Tripathi of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Engineering Sciences: Dr. S Venkata Mohan of Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad and Dr. Soumen Chakrabarti of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Mathematical Sciences: Dr. Kaushal Kumar Verma of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Medical Sciences: Dr. Anurag Agrawal of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi

Physical Sciences: Dr. Pratap Raychaudhuri, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research of Mumbai and Dr. Sadiqali Abbas Rangwala of Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

67. Hindi film 'Liar's Dice has been selected as India's official entry to the best foreign film category at the Oscar 2015 awards. Note: Director - Geethu Mohandas

68. Noted writer and filmmaker MT Vasudevan Nair was selected for the JC Daniel Award for lifetime achievement for the year 2013. Note: The award given by the Kerala govt. recognizes the overall contribution of Nair to the Malayalam film industry.

69. Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian on won Right Livelihood Award. Note: The Right Livelihood Award is also known as Alternative Nobel prize of Sweden.

70. Leading NRI businessmen G P Hinduja and S P Hinduja have been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Business at a ceremony in the House of Lords.

71. Kolkata-born British author Neel Mukherjee’s latest novel The Lives of Others has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize 2014.

72. Indian scientist Kamal Bawa has won the 2014 Midori Prize in Biodiversity for his research, including in climate change in the Himalayas. Note: Kamal Bawa, is the founder president of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore. ii. The Midori Prize is regarded a major element "at the service of the objectives of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020".

73. Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna to receive Davis Cup Commitment Award 74. Indira Gandhi Rajbhasa award: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) CMD Madhusudan honoured with the prestigious

Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Shield for the Best Hindi Implementation in the organisation.

Person in News

1. The Prime Minister of Taiwan Jiang Yi-huah on 29 November 2014 resigned after election loss. He lost his first election since protests erupted over a controversial TRADE deal with mainland China.

2. Pakistani actress Veena Malik sentenced to 26 years in jail for blasphemy.

3. Sachin Tendulkar named ambassador for 2015 ICC World Cup.

4. AIBA (International Boxing Association)bans Sarita Devi from October 1, 2014 to October 1, 2015 for refusing to accept her bronze medal at the Asian Games.

5. Former Olympic wrestling champion Steeve Guenot suspended for one year by the French anti-doping agency for missing doping tests.

6. By scaling Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest mountain at 4,892 metres, Tashi Malik and Nungshi Malik from Dehradun have become the world’s first twins and siblings to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents.Both accomplished their “Mission 2 for 7”.

7. Priyanka Chopra inks deal with American ABC TV network.

8. Rampal Singh Jatin arrested by Haryana Police from his ashram in Hisar. He is famous as Sant Rampal and is a self-styled Godman

http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/prime-minister-of-taiwan-jiang-yihuah-resigned-after-election-loss-1417514265-1



9. Congress leader G.K. Vasan quits Congress 10. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Motiur Rahman

Nizami to death penalty for crimes against humanity during 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

11. Oscar Pistorius: Oscar Pistorius sentenced to five years in prison for killing her girl friend Reeva Steenkamp. Oscar Pistorius is a South African sprint runner.

Resign/Retired

1. Isro chairperson K Radhakrishnan retires -Spearheading Indian Space Research Organisation triumphantly through several milestones.

2. Former Arsenal and French star Thierry Henry retires, ending a 20-year career.

3. Indian Hockey coach Terry Walsh quits 4. Leela Samson resigned as Sangeet Natak Akademi

chairperson 5. B Muthuraman, Vice-Chairman of Tata Steel retired

from the Board of the company 6. Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has

resigned 7. Pankaj Advani announced to retire from professional

snooker

8. Li Na: 2-time Grand Slam winner China player Li Na retires from tour Note: she won the 2011 French Open, and Australian Open title

9. Vinod Kumar Duggal: Vinod Kumar Duggal resigned as Manipur Governor

10. Sheila Dikshit: Kerala governor resigned 11. K Sankaranarayanan: Maharashtra governor

resigned 12. Kamla Beniwal: Mizoram Governor removed 13. Dipa Karmakar became first Indian woman gymnast

to win medal in Commonwealth Games 14. Nehchal Sandhu: Deputy National Security Adviser

resigned

Books & Their Authors

1. PM Narendra Modi launched Born Again on the Mountain by Arunima Sinha

2. Prince of Gujarat: The Extraordinary Story of Prince Gopaldas Desai released authored by Rajmohan Gandhi.

3. Rajdeep Sardesai penned the book titled 2014: The Election That Changed.

4. Book titled Letters for a Nation written by Jawaharlal Nehru & Madhav Khosla was published by Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin Books .

5. Next China-India War- World's First Water War – authored by General S. Padmanabhan released.

6. The book titled Black Tornado: The Three Sieges of Mumbai 26/11 authored by Sandeep Unnithan.

7. President of India Pranab Mukherjee penned a book titled The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years.published by Rupa.

8. Biography My Name is Abu Salem released written by S Hussain Zaidi and published by Penguin.

9. 'Playing it My Way': Author - Sachin Tendulkar & Boria Majumdar Note: Playing It My Way is the autobiography of former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

10. Book “Truth Always Prevails” written by Sadruddin Hashwani

11. “Hlaf Girlfriend” - written by Chetan Bhagat 12. “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” authored by

Richard Flanagan 13. “Untold Story of Indian Public Sector” - authored by

Dr UD Choubey, 14. “Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar” authored by Dilip

D’Souza

15. “A Man and a Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power”: written by Bette Dam

16. “Not Just an Accountant” authored by former CAG Vinod Rai

17. Book “The Vijay Mallya Story” written by K Giriprakash 18. And Then One Day: Naseeruddin Shah's

autobiography 19. God of Antarctica written by Yashwardhan Shukla: 20. “One Life is Not Enough” : written by Kunwar Natwar

Singh Note: The book is an autobiography of the former External Affairs Minister and senior Congress Party leader Natwar Singh.

21. A book “Munger through the Ages” authored by late Devendra Prasad Yadav

22. The Lives of Others” a novel written by: Neel Mukherjee Note: Novel is short listed for the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2014.

23. The Substance and the Shadow: written by Uday Tara Nayar, a former journalist. Note: The Substance and the Shadow, the biography of 91-year-old actor Dilip Kumar.

24. Warrior State written by T V Paul 25. Blood Feud written by Edward Klein 26. A Bad Character: authored by Deepti Kapoor. 27. The Good, the Bad and the Ridiculous - Khuswant

Singh



28. Train To Pakistan - Khuswant Singh 29. An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions - Jean

Dreze and Amartya Sen. 30. A Brush with Life- Satish Gujral 31. A Bend in the river- V.S. Naipaul 32. God of Small things- Arundhati Rai 33. Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai. 34. Joseph Anton- Sulman Rushdie (Autobiography) 35. “Khushwantnama-The Lessons of My Life “ –

Khushwant singh

36. Lajja- Taslima Nasrim. 37. My Unforgettable Memories-Mamata Banerjee 38. My Years with Rajiv and Sonia written by R.D.Pradhan 39. ModiNomics: Inclusive Economics, Inclusive

Governance: authored by Sameer Kochhar. 40. Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths

authored by PC Parakh 41. The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and

Unmaking of Manmohan Singh authored by Dr. Sanjaya Baru

Leader’s visited India/World

1. Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid arrives in Kolkata on a six-day official visit during which he held talks with the Indian leadership with an aim to further strengthen the already close bilateral relations between the two countries.

2. Nguyen Tan Dung: Vietnam Prime Minister visited India

3. Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook founder visited India 4. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos visited India. 5. Frank Walter: Foreign Minister of Germany visited

India 6. Australian PM Tony Abbott to visited India 7. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India 8. President of India Pranab Mukherjee visited Vietnam

9. Sushma Swaraj visited Bahrain 10. Sushma Swaraj visited Nepal 11. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Nepal 12. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi made his first

foreign tour to Bhutan 13. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Japan 14. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited US 15. Chuck Hagel: US Defence Secretary visited India 16. Jim Yong Kim: World Bank President visited India. 17. Bill Clinton: Former US President visited in Lucknow 18. William Hague: UK Foreign Minister visited India 19. Laurent Fabius: French Foreign Minister to visited

India. 20. G L Peiris: Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka visited India 21. Wang Yi: Chinese Foreign Minister visited India

OBITUARY

1. Pioneer of home video game console Ralph Henry

Baer died 2. Veteran Journalist Piratla Venkateswarlu passed

away 3. Hockey Olympian Grihanandan Singh died 4. Carnatic vocalist Nedanuri Krishnamurthy died 5. Justice Krishna Iyer passes away. 6. Bollywood actor Deven Varma passes away. He shot

to fame with his performance in 1975 film Chori Mera Kaam, which bagged him his first Filmfare Award for Best Comedian.

7. Veteran music critic SV Krishnamurthy passed away.

8. Senior Congress leader, former Maharashtra Chief Minister, A R Antulay passed.

9. Former Arunachal Pradesh CM Jarbom Gamlin passes away.

10. Israeli cricket umpire Hillel Oscar dies after being struck by ball.

11. Theatre personality Veenapani Chawla passes away.

12. Crime novelist PD James died at the age of 94.

13. Historian Tapan Raychaudhuri died. 14. Kathak queen Sitara Devi died. She was 94. She was

honoured with the Legends of India Lifetime Achievement Award 2011 for her contribution to the classical dance genre for over six decades.

15. Filmmaker Kailasam Balachander passed away. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1987and is a recipient of the ANR National Award and Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema in 2010.

16. Legendary Kathak danseuse Sitara Devi died 17. Bollywood actor-comedian Deven Verma died at 78

18. Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes passed away

19. Murli Deora - Former Union Minister, senior Congress leader passed away.

20. Ravi Chopra, director of famous TV show Mahabharata, passed away.

21. Warren Anderson, wanted in Bhopal gas tragedy, dies 22. Sadashiv Amrapurkar: Veteran Bollywood actor died 23. Michael Sata - Zambian President dies in London 24. Senzo Meyiwa: South African footballer (National

Team Captain) died 25. M V Kamath - Veteran journalist passes away. He is

the former chairman of Prasar Bharti and recipient of Padma Bhushan.

26. SS Rajendran: veteran Tamil actor, passes away 27. Jagdish Sharan Pande: Noted freedom fighter died 28. Oscar de la Renta: Fashion designer died



29. Lynda Bellingham: British actress and presenter died 30. Turaga Janaki Rani: Telugu writer died 31. Elizabeth Pena: American actress died 32. Uppalapu Srinivas: Renowned Mandolin exponent

passed away Note: Srinivas (45), popularly known as 'Mandolin Srinivas', is a renowned mandolin player of South Indian Carnatic music.

33. Maya Rao: Renowned Kathak dancer died. 34. Bipin Chandra: Noted historian passes away 35. Norman Gordon: South African fast bowler oldest

surviving Test cricketer at 103 years old, passed away

36. Sattiraju Lakshminarayana, , the artist, filmmaker, humourist popularly known as Bapu, passed away in Chennai,

37. Richard Attenborough: Gandhi' filmmaker dies at 90 38. UR Anantha Murthy: Eminent Kannada writer passes

away. Anantha Murthy, a writer and critic, was considered one of the pioneers of the Navya movement in Kannada literature.

39. BKS Iyengar: World-renowned yoga guru and founder of the Iyengar School of Yoga BKS Iyengar passed away

Sports News

Prolific Indian Sports stars -

1. ARCHERY Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar Abhishek Verma Abhishek Verma Trisha Deb Purvasha Shende Jyothi Vennam, Trisha Deb

2. ATHLETICS

Priyanka Pawar (Running) Tintu Luka(Running) Mandeep Kaur (Running) Poovamma Machettira (Running) Seema Punia (Women's Discus Throw) Khushbir Kaur (Women's 20km Race Walk) Vikas Gowda (Men's Discus Throw) Tintu Luka Women's 800m Manju Bala (Women's Hammer Throw) Rajiv Arokia (Men's 400m ) Poovamma Maachettira ( Women's 400m) Lalita Babar ( Women's 3000m Steeplechase) OP Jaisha (Women's 1500m) Naveen Kumar (Men's 3000m Steeplechase) Inderjeet Singh (Men's Shot Put) Annu Rani (Women's Javelin Throw)

3. BADMINTON Ashwini Ponnappa PC Thulasi Tanvi Uday Pradnya Gadre, Saina Nehwal PV Sindhu Sikki Reddy

4. BOXING MC Mary Kom - Women's Fly (48-51kg) Vikas Krishan - Men's Middle (75kg) Satish Kumar - Men's Super Heavy (+91kg) L Sarita Devi - Women's Light (57-60kg) Pooja Rani - Women's Middle (69-75kg)

7. ROWING Swarn Singh -Men's Single Sculls Dushyaht Dushiant -Lightweight Men's Single Sculls

8. SAILING Varsha Gautham and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan -

Women's Two Person Dinghy

9. SHOOTING Jitu Rai - Men's 50m Pistol Pemba Tamang-(Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol ) Gurpreet Singh -(Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol ) Vijay Kumar -(Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol ) Shweta Chaudhry in Women's 10m Air Pistol Rahi Sarnobat– (Women's 25m Pistol Team) Anisa Sayyed – (Women's 25m Pistol Team) Heena Sidhu – (Women's 25m Pistol Team) Shagun Chowdhary –(Women's Double Trap Team) Shreyasi Singh –(Women's Double Trap Team) Vasha Varman –(Women's Double Trap Team) Abhinav Bindra - Men's 10m Air Rifle Chain Singh - Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Ravi Kumar ( Men's 10m Air Rifle Team) Sanjeev Rajput – ( Men's 10m Air Rifle Team) Samaresh Jung – ( Men's 10m Air Pistol ) Prakash Nanjappa – ( Men's 10m Air Pistol )

10. SQUASH Saurav Ghosal Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu Mahesh Mangaonkar Kush Kumar Dipika Pallikal

Joshana Chinappa, Anaka Alankamony Aparajitha Balamurukan

12. TENNIS Sania Mirza Saketh Myneni Sanam Singh Yuki Bhambri Divij Sharan


Ankita Raina Rohan Bopanna

13. WRESTLING Sushil Kumar – Men’s 66 kg freestyle Yogeshwar Dutt - Men's Freestyle 65kg Bajrang - Men's Freestyle 61kg

Vinesh - Women's Freestyle 48kg Geetika Jakhar - Women's Freestyle 63kg Narsingh Yadav in Men's Freestyle 74kg

14. WUSHU Narender Grewal - Men's Sanda -60kg Santhoi Devi - Women's Sanda -52kg

Indian Soccer League – 1. Atlético de Kolkata players were felicitated by West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee and other officials from

the state government and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, at a ceremony held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. 2. Atletico de Kolkata defeated FC Kerala by 1-0 in the finals . 3. Mohammed Rafique nodded home the most important goal in the Indian Super League final to make Kolkata the first

champion of the inaugural ISL season. www.bankersadda.com 4. Chennaiyin FC’s Elano Blumer -- Golden Boot (eight goals in 11 matches) 5. FC Goa’s goalkeeper Jan Seda (FC Goa) -- Golden Glove awards. Elano scored.

Atletico de Kolkata is co - owned by Saurav Ganguly while Sachin Tendulkar is the co - owner of Kerala F.C. IPTL - International Premiere Tennis League – is a tennis championship league that is set to launch in November

2014, and will be held across four cities: Manila, Dubai, Delhi and Singapore. The tournament was the idea of Mahesh Bhupathi and is styled on the Indian Premier League. Number of Teams: 4 team from 4 countries

Teams are – 1. Manila Mavericks 2. UAE Royals 3. Indian Aces 4. Singapore Slammers Note: Rafael Nadal withdrew from the league due to health problems. He is replaced by Roger Federer in the Indian team National Sports Awards: Arjuna award: Abhishek Verma (archery), Tintu Luka (athletics), H.N. Girisha (para-athletics), V. Diju (badminton),

Geethu Anna Jose (basketball), Jai Bhagwan (boxing), R. Ashwin (cricket), Anirban Lahiri (golf), Mamta Pujari (kabaddi), Saji Thomas (rowing), Heena Sidhu (shooting), Anaka Alankamony (squash), Tom Joseph (volleyball), Renubala Chanu (weightlifting), Sunil Kumar Rana (wrestling). www.bankersadda.com

Dronacharya award: Mahabir Prasad (wrestling); Lifetime achievement: N. Lingappa (athletics), G. Manoharan (boxing), Gurcharan Singh Gogi (judo), Jose Jacob (rowing).

Dhyan Chand award: Gurmail Singh (hockey), K.P. Thakkar (swimming-diving), Zeeshan Ali (tennis). Tenzing Norgay Awards: Land adventure: Subedar Jagat Singh, Passang Tenzing Sherpa; Air adventure: MWO

Surender Singh; Lifetime achievement: Wg. Cdr. (retd) Amit Chowdhury. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy: Punjabi University, Patiala. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Jindal Steel Works Guru Hanuman Akhara, Note: i. No sportsperson was selected for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award this year.

Chess -

Magnus Carlsen beats Viswanathan Anand in Game 11, retains World Chess Championship title. Tennis: Davis Cup 2014 - Switzerland defeated France to win 1st-ever Davis Cup of Tennis

Note: Switzerland is the fourteenth nation to win the Davis Cup.

Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Women’s single - Serena Williams defeated Simona Halep of Romania WTA Finals doubles title: Sania Mirza and Zimbabwean partner Cara Black won the title by defeating Su-Wei Hseih of

Chinese Taipei and Shuai Peng of China

Shanghai Masters - Roger Federer defeated Gilles Simon

China Open 2014 – Women’s Single - Russian Maria Sharapova beat Czech Petra

Kvitova to win the title. Men’s Single - Novak Djokovic beats Tomas Berdych to win

fifth China Open title



US Open 2014: 1. Men’s Single - Croatia's Marin Cilic defeated Kei Nishikori of Japan in straight sets to clinch the title Note: World No.14 Cilic claimed his first Grand Slam title with the win in his first appearance in a Grand Slam final. 2.Women’s Single - Serena Williams defeated Caroline Wozniazki of Denmark to won 3rd consecutive US Open Title Note: With this win Williams joined the Tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on 18 Grand Slam titles. 3. Men's doubles title - Mike and Bob Bryan won fifth U.S. Tennis Open men's doubles title 4. Mixed Doubles - Sania Mirza - Bruno Soares win mixed doubles title by defeated American-Mexican team of Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez

Hockey World Cup 2014: 1. Men’s Title: Australia defeated Netherland in the final. Note: Australia won the title for the second time, 2. Women’s Title: Netherland defeated Australia in the final. Note: Netherland won the title for the seventh time, Note: Indian men's hockey team rank 9th in latest word hockey rankings.

Hockey World Cup 2018 Venue:

1. Men’s Hockey World Cup – India 2. Women’s Hockey World Cup - England

ICC World Cup Cricket Venue:

ODI: (One day International): 1. Australia & New Zealand: 2015. 2. England - 2019 3. India - 2023

T20: 1. Bangladesh -2014. – Sri Lanka defeat India to win the maiden title. 2. India -2016. 3. Australia - 2020.

Test: 1. England– 2017 (for first time). 2. India - 2021.

FIFA (Football) World Cup venue: - RQ 1. 2018 : Russia 2. 2022: Qatar

Commonwealth Games venues:

1. 2014 – Glasgow (Scotland). 2. 2018 – Gold Coast (Australia).

Olympics Games venues:

1. 2014 winter: Sochi (Russia) – Russia tops in the medal tally in 2014 winter Olympic games. 2. 2016 Summer: Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 3. 2018 winter: Pyeongchang (South Korea) 4. 2020 summer: Tokyo (Japan)

OTHERS SPORTS NEWS: 1. India won the Men and Women title of 5th Kabaddi World Cup 2014.In Men, India defeated Pakistan while in women, India

defeated New Zealand to win the title for the fourth consecutive time at Guru Gobind Singh Multipurpose Stadium in Jalandhar, Punjab, India.

2. Germany beat Pakistan 2-0 to win Champions Trophy.it was Germany's 10th Champions Trophy title. 3. World Hockey Body Suspends Two Pakistani Players Following Obscene Gestures..Muhammad Tousiq and reserve

goalkeeper Ali Amjad were handed a one-match ban that sidelined them from the final. 4. Kumar Sangakkara became fourth batsman to complete 13000 ODI runs 5. Amos Meindi of Kenya won 29th Pune International full Marathon. 6. Indian Blind Cricket Team lifts World Cup after defeating Pakistan in Cape Town, South Africa .



7. Dev Shah becomes world champion in Under-7 category in World Schools Chess Championships at Juiz de Fora in Brazil.

8. East Zone lifts Deodhar Trophy cricket tournament, beating West Zone by 24 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai . 9. Mascot for the 2016 European football championship named Super Victor.The name for the cartoon character boy

dressed as a footballer in blue and white with a red cape and number 16 jersey was preferred to Driblou and Goalix. Euro 2016 will take place in France from 10 June 2016 to 10 July 2016.

10. UAE captain Khurram Khan became the oldest player to score a century in ODI against Afghanistan in Dubai.

11. ICC names SAP SE as analytics and cloud partner for 2015 World Cup. 12. PV Sindhu today bagged the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton title for the second consecutive time defeated Korean

Kim Hyo Min . 13. Ms Deborah, a tribal girl from Andaman and Nicobar Islands has created history in National Level by winning four Gold

Medals in the Track Asia Cup Cycling Championship 2014 which concluded at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi. 14. Michael Phelps was crowned Male Athlete of the Year at the 2014 USA Swimming Golden Goggle Awards. He was crowned

with the title for a fifth time.Earlier, he won the title in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2012. He was awarded with the title despite being suspended from competition for six months after a drunken driving arrest in September 2014.

15. International Olympic Committee (IOA) President Thomas Bach has welcomed the U.S. decision to bid for the 2024 Games. 16. Five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anand won London Classic title after defeating British Grandmaster Michael

Adams in the fifth and final round. 17. Cricket World Cup 2015 Ambassadors: Virat Kohli, Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson, Brendon McCullum and Kumar

Sangakkara have been appointed ambassadors for 2015 World Cup. 18. Polly Umrigar Award 2013-14: Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is selected for Polly Umrigar Award for the 2013-14 season. 19. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar will receive the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014. 20. Lewis Hamilton has won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as well as the Formula 1 racing championship title of the year 21. World Tour Golf Championship held in Dubai. 22. China open singles titles: Ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal defeated Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to win the title 23. China open singles titles: K Srikanth defeated Lin Dan of China to win the title 24. India cricket team won the 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka by 5-0 25. Johnson named ICC Cricketer of the Year: Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson declared ICC Cricketer of the Year as

well as the ICC Test cricketer of the Year award. 26. Rohit Sharma creates history, slams record 264 runs to become highest ODI scorer against Sri Lanka.

Note: i. Rohit Sharma become the first man ever to smash two double centuries in ODIs. ii. His first (209) came against Australia in Bangalore on November 3, 2013

27. World Chess Championship 2014 held in Russia. Note: The championship is being held under the auspices of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

28. Indian cricketer Virat Kohli became the quickest cricketer to reach 6,000 runs in ODIs, bettering legendary West Indian Vivian Richards’ record during his 53-run knock in India’s third ODI against Sri Lanka.

29. Novak Djokovic defeated Milos Raonic to retain Paris Masters title 30. MS Dhoni named as captain of ICC ODI Team of the Year 2014. He has been selected in the ICC ODI team of the year for the

eight time (seventh year in a row), while fifth year as a captain of the team. 31. Angelo Mathews named as captain of the ICC Test Team of the Year 2014, which includes two more Sri Lankans palyer

Kumar Sangakkara and Rangana Herath in the test team. 32. Novak Djokovic wins ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Finals 33. Former England international player Mark Ramprakash hired as England batting coach 34. Cristiano Ronaldo received 2013-14 European Golden Boot award 35. Nico Rosberg wins Brazilian Grand Prix 36. Lewis Hamilton wins United States Grand Prix www.bankersadda.com 37. Pankaj Advani defeated Robert Hall of UK to won IBSF World Billiards Championship 38. Duleep Trophy 2014. : Central Zone defeated South Zone to won the title 39. India( juniors) defeated Great Britain to retain Sultan of Johor Cup title (Hockey). Final was held in Malaysia. 40. Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri won Venetian Macau Golf Open 41. Pankaj Advani won World Billiards Point Format Championship defeated Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist 42. India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sahara Adventure Sports Limited are co—owners of new Ranchi—

franchise ( Ranchi Rhinos) of Hockey Indian League (HIL) 43. ICC awarded global broadcast rights from 2015 to 2023 to Star India and Star Middle East

Note: i. Star India is one of India’s largest media and entertainment companies and is a fully owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, INC. ii. About Star Middle East: Star Middle East is a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, INC. in the Middle East.

44. India to host first leg of Asia Cup Archery Tournament in Delhi in January 2015


45. Mary Kom voted as India's Most Valuable Player in Asian Games 2014 46. Ajay Jayaram won Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament 47. Oliver Wilson defeated world number one Rory McIlroy to win first European golf title.

News Related To Defence & Technology

1. India’s communication satellite GSAT-16 launched from Kourou in French Guiana functioning normally. GSAT 16 has

highest number of 48 transponders that will be used for television, telephone and internet applications. 2. Orion spacecraft marks dawn of new chapter in space exploration: US 3. NASA’s unmanned spacecraft completed its first test flight.Orion is expected to take up its first crew in 2021. 4. Russia launched new generation GLONASS-K navigation satellite from the Plesetsk space centre in Russia’s

northwestern Arkhangelsk region.This is the fifth launch of a Global Navigation Satellite System satellite (GLONASS) from the Plesetsk space centre. www.bankersadda.com

5. India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable strategicballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of about 4,000 km, from a test range off the Odisha coast.This was the fourth trial of Agni-IV missile. The last trial was carried out successfully on January 20 this year from the same test range off Odisha coastaid.

6. NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first mission to Mars, Mariner 4 mission on 28 November 2014. Mariner 4 mission launched on 28 November 1964 was the NASA’s first successful journey to Mars.

7. Imaging and information technology solutions provider Ricoh India on Tuesday said that it has got a deal worth Rs. 1,370 crore from Department of Posts to modernise post offices through automation. i. Under the project, Ricoh India will supply, install and maintain services of hardware, peripheral devices and operating system. ii.The primary goal of the Rural ICT project is to improve the quality of service, provide more value added services and achieve ‘financial inclusion’ of un-banked rural population. Note: “India Post is an iconic organisation in India, the largest such network in the world and playing a crucial role in the socio economic development of rural India, touching the lives of common man.

8. NASA’s Kepler mission discovers ‘super-Earth’ located 180 light-years from Earth.This led to the discovery of a planet, HIP 116454b, which is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our Sun, making the planet too hot for life as we know it.

9. ISRO successfully launches GSLV Mark-III. ISRO successfully carries out human crew module experiment; module safely splashes down into Bay of Bengal off Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Also known as LVM3/CARE, this suborbital experimental mission was intended to test the vehicle performance during the critical atmospheric phase of its flight and this carried passive (non functional) cryogenic upper stage.

India's Mars mission successful on 1st attempt: India's first Mars orbiter successfully began a 400 million-km long journey to Mars, making it the first Asian country and the fourth in the world to undertake a mission to the red planet. Important Points. Dr. K. Radhakrishnan – ISRO Chairman

Mylswamy Annadurai is the Director of Mar’s Mission. India's MOM is the cheapest inter-planetary mission, costing of Rs 450 Crore ($671 million) entered the Martian orbit on

24 September 2014. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, is India’s first interplanetary mission to the planet Mars. India becomes the first country in the world to insert a spacecraft into the Martian orbit in its very first attempt. Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, India's first interplanetary probe, was launched by PSLV-C25 on November 5, 2013 from Satish

Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) becomes the fourth space agency to reach Mars after Roscosmos (Russia),

NASA (USA) and ESA (European). The first Chinese mission to Mars, called Yinghuo-1, failed in 2011. The project was approved by the government of India on 3 August 2012 and costs Rs. 450 crores. MOM is the cheapest and lowest-cost inter-planetary mission ever to be undertaken in the world. It cost us all a mere Rs 4

per person www.bankersadda.com The mission successfully completed its 100 days in space on February 12, 2014. The satellite has carried a compact science experiment instruments, totaling a mass of 15kg to study the Martian surface,

atmosphere and mineralogy.

Missiles in use of Indian Army: Prithvi I - 150km - Surface to – Surface short range ballistic missile. Prithvi II - 350km Prithvi III - 350km - 600km


Agni I - 700km -1250km Surface to – Surface short range ballistic missile. Agni II - 2000km -3500km Agni III - 3500km -5000km Agni IV - 3000km -4000km Agni V - 5500km -5800km Agni VI - 8000km -3500km Akash- 30 km

1. India's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, now

decommissioned but which saw action during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, is finally being broken up. 2. India, China joint military exercise “Hand-in-Hand” held in Pune 3. Indo-Israel joint project LR-SAM tested successfully in Israel. Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile LR-SAM is a joint project

of Israeli Aerospace Industry, Indian Navy and DRDO. 4. India-Sri Lanka started joint military exercise, Mithra Shakti 5. Pak test-fires nuclear capable ballistic missile intermediate-range missile Shaheen—II, also called Hatf VI. 6. India's indigenously developed nuclear capable sub-sonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay', which can strike targets more than 700

kms away, test-fired from a test range at Chandipur near in Balasore (Odisha). 7. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 16 October 2014 successfully launched third navigation satellite Indian

Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) 1C. Note: i. IRNSS 1C is the third member of the seven satellite constellation of the IRNSS. The first two satellites in the series were IRNSS 1A and IRNSS 1B. ii. The fourth navigational satellite of the IRNSS segment will be launched in December 2014 and the project will be fully operational in 2015.

8. NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited and Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited are set to enter into separate agreements with Andhra Pradesh for setting up of large solar power generation parks of about 1000 MW each.

9. NTPC enter into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh State for its long pending 4000 MW thermal power project proposed at Pudimadaka, located close to Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh.

10. Rays Power Experts announced to set up 50 mw Solar Power Generation Park in Andhra Pradesh. Note: Rays Power Experts is a third largest company in solar power executed in India. India successfully test-fires nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-I missile. The ballistic missile has a striking range of 700 to 1250 km www.bankersadda.com

11. Iran unveiled a new surface-to-air Talash-3 (Effort-3, in Persian) missile and two radar systems Arash-2 and Kayhan 12. Avia Indra-2014 exercie: Indo-Russia maiden aerial exercise held in Caspian Sea in Russia. 13. Indo-US joint military Yudh Abhyas exercise underway in Uttarakhand 14. Indo-Nepal joint military exercise Surya Kiran-VII concluded at Pithoragarh 15. Pakistan test fired short range nuclear capable missile Hatf IX short range surface-to-surface missile. It is a nuclear capable

ballistic missile with a maximum range of 60 kilometer

Headquarter of International Organisation

International Organizations Headquarters UNO (United Nations Org) New York UNICEF New York UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade & Development)

Geneva

WHO (World Health Org) Geneva ILO (International Labour Org) Geneva WMO (World Meteorological Org) Geneva World Intellectual Property Org Geneva International Standards Org. Geneva IMF (International Monetary Fund) Washington DC World Bank Washington DC UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Org)

Paris

OECD (Org. for Economic Cooperation and Dev.)

Paris

UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Vienna

Dev. Org) IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)

Vienna

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

Vienna

Amnesty International London Commonwealth of Nations London IMO (International Maritime Organization)

London

ICJ (International Court of Justice) The Hague FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization)

Rome

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Brussels

Transparency International Berlin SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Coop.)

Kathmandu

ASEAN (Association of South East Jakarta



Asian Nations) APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Forum) Singapore

Organization of Islamic Cooperation Jeddah

Thermal Power plants (TPS) in India:

Mundra TPS, Kutch, Gujarat Vindhyachal TPS, Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh Talcher Super TPS, Angul, Odisha Sipat TPS, Bilaspur , Chhattisgarh Korba Super TPS, Chattisgarh Rihand TPS, Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh Jharsuguda TPS, Odisha Tiroda TPS, Maharashtra

Anpara TPS – Uttar Pradesh Barauni TPP – Bihar Bellary TPP – Karnataka Durgapur TPP – West Bengal Sikka TPS – Gujarat Satpura TPS – Madhya Pradesh Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station – UP Wanakbori TPS - Gujarat

Nuclear power plants in India: Narora atomic power plant - Narora, UP Rajasthan atomic power plant: Rawatbhatta, Rajasthan

(India & Candada) Tarapur atomic power plant – Maharashtra (India & US) Kakarpar atomic power plant - Gujarat Madras atomic power plant - Tamilnadu

Kaiga atomic power plant - Karnataka Kundankullam : in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu (India

& Russia) Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant - Ratnagiri district in

Maharashtra (India & France)

Largest Dams in India: Tehri Dam: on Bhagirathi River, Uttarakhand Lakhwar Dam on Yamuna river, Uttrakhand Iduuki Arch Dam – on Periyar river, Kerala Koyna Dam – on Koyana river, Maharshtra Bhakra nangal Dam: on Sutlej River, Punjab and Himachal

Pradesh. Sardar Sarovar Dam: on Narmada River, Gujarat Srisailam dam: on Krishna River, Andhra Pradesh Ranjit Sagar Dam: on Rav river, Punjab Baglihar Dam: on Chenab river , J& K

Cheruthoni (Eb) Dam: on Cheruthoni, Kerala Hirakud Dam: on Mahanadi River, Orissa Nagarjuna sagar Dam: on Krishna River, Andhra Pradesh Indira SagarDam: on Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh Ukai Dam: on Tapi river, Gujarat Maithon Dam: on Barakar river, Jharkhand Krishnarajsagar Dam: on kaveri river, Karnataka Mettur Dam: on Kaveri River, Salem district in Tamil

Nadu TungaBhadra Dam – on Tungabhadra rive, Karnataka

Folk dances in India

Changu: Odissa and Andhra Pradesh Gair: Rajasthan. Garba, Dandiya Rass: Gujarat Ghoomar: Rajasthan. Karagam: Tamil Nadu. Dumhal: Kashmir.

Lavani: Maharashtra Odissi: Orissa Rauf – Jammu & Kashmir Nautanki, Thora, Chappeli, Raslila, Kajri - UP

Classical dances in India Kathak: Uttar Pradesh. Bihu: Assam Bharat Natyam: Tamil Nadu Kuchipudi: Andhra Pradesh.

Kathakali: Kerala. Chhau: Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal Bhangra: Punjab.

Khantumm – Mizora www.bankersadda.com

Important Wildlife Sanctuary in India:

Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary - Assam Manas Wildlife Sanctuary - Assam Gir National Park & Wildlife Sanctuary- Gujarat Sundarbans National Park - West Bengal Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary – Kerala Kanha National Park - Madhya Pradesh Bandhavgarh National Park - Madhya Pradesh

Ranthambore National Park & Wildlife Sanctuary - Rajasthan

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary - Rajasthan Tal Chappar Wildlife Sanctuary - Rajasthan Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary - Rajasthan Chilka Lake Bird Sanctuary – Odissa Nandankanan Zoo – Odissa Corbett National Park - Uttrakhand


List of Chief Ministers of States in India

State & Union Territory : [Capital] Chief Minister Note

Andhra Pradesh : [Hyderanbad] N. Chandrababu Naidu New Capital – Vijaywada propsed

Arunachal Pradesh : [Itanagar] NabamTuki

Assam : [Dispur] Tarun Gogoi

Bihar : [Patna] Jitan Ram Manjhi

Chhattisgarh : [Raipur] Raman Singh

Delhi : [New Delhi] Presidential Rule

Goa : [Panaji] Laxmikant Parsekar Replaced ManoharParrikar

Gujarat : [Gandhinagar] Anandiben Patel First Female CM in Gujrat

Haryana : [Chandigarh] Manohar Lal Khattar

Himachal Pradesh : [Shimla] Virbhadra Singh

Jammu and Kashmir : [Srinagar (S)/Jammu (W)]

Jharkhand : [Ranchi] Raghuvar Das

Karnataka : [Bengaluru] Siddaramaiah

Kerala : [Thiruvananthpuram] OommenChandy

Madhya Pradesh : [Bhopal] Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Maharashtra : [Mumbai] DevendraFadnavis

Manipur : [Imphal] OkramIbobi Singh

Meghalaya : [Shillong] MukulSangma

Mizoram : [Aizawl] Lal Thanhawla New Governor – Aziz Qureshi

Nagaland : [Kohima] T. R. Zeliang

Odisha : [Bhubaneshwar] Naveen Patnaik

Puducherry : [Puducherry] N. Rangaswamy

Punjab : [Chandigarh] Parkash Singh Badal

Rajasthan : [Jaipur] VasundhraRaje

Sikkim : [Gangtok] Pawan Kumar Chamling

Tamil Nadu : [Chennai] O. Panneerselvam

Telangana : [Hyderabad] K. Chandrashekar Rao

Tripura : Agartala] Manik Sarkar

Uttar Pradesh : [Lucknow] Akhilesh Yadav

Uttarakhand : [Dehradun] Harish Rawat New Governor – KK Paul

West Bengal : [Kolkata] Mamata Banerjee

List of Vitamin Deficiency – Vitamins Deficiency Vitamin A Night-blindness, Hyperkeratosis, and

Keratoma Vitamin B1 Beriberi, Wernicke-Korsakoff

syndrome Vitamin B2 Ariboflavinosis, Glossitis, Angular

stomatitis Vitamin B3 Pellagra Vitamin B5 Paresthesia

Vitamin B6 Anemia peripheral neuropathy. Vitamin B7 Dermatitis, enteritis Vitamin B9 Megaloblastic anemia and Deficiency

during pregnancy is associated with birth defects, such as neural tube defects

Vitamin B12 Megaloblastic anemia Vitamin C Scurvy

Vitamin D Rickets and Osteomalacia


Vitamin E Deficiency is very rare; sterility in males and abortions in females, mild hemolytic anemia in newborn infants.

Vitamin K Bleeding diathesis

Lines b/w Different Countries in the World

1. Durand Line: Pakistan and Afghanistan 2. Mc. Mohan Line: India(Arunachal Pradesh Region) and

China 3. Radcliff Line: India and Pakistan 4. Line of Control :It divides Kashmir between India and

Pakistan. 5. Hidden berg Line: Germany and Poland 6. Maginot Line: France and Germany 7. Older Neisse Line: Germany and Poland

8. Mannerheim Line :Russia and Finland border. 9. Siegfried Line : Germany and France. 10. 17th Parallel: North Vietnam and South Vietnam 11. 24th Parallel : India and Pakistan. 12. 26th Parallel : Australia & South Africa 13. 38th Parallel: North Korea and South Korea 14. 49th Parallel: Canada and USA

www.bankersadda.com

Stock Exchanges and their Index:

1. BSE ( Bombay Stock Exchange) - SENSEX ( Sensitive Index) - BSE is oldest stock exchange in Asia located at Dalai Street in Mumbai - Sensex Consists of 30 companies

2. NSE (National Stock Exchange) - Nifty-50 -NSE is the largest stock exchange in India -Nifty consists of 50 companies

3. NYSE ( Newyork Stock Exchange) - DJ ( Dow Jones) - NYSE world's first and largest stock market

4. NASDAQ ( National association of securities dealers Automated Quotation System)- NASD-100 - NASDAQ is the first electronic stock market in the world located in New York.

5. Tokyo Stock Exhange ( Japan) - Nikkei-225 6. Korea Stock Exchange( Seoul, South korea) – Kospi 7. Shenghai Stock Exchange( China)- Composite Index 8. Shenzen Stock Exchange( China)- Composite Index 9. German Stock Exchange- DAX( Deutscher Aktein

Index) 10. Hong Kong Stock Exchange- Hang Seng 11. . SGX(Singapore Exchange)- STI( Straits Times Index) 12. LSE( London Stock exchange) or UK stock exchange-

Footsie or FTSE-100 ( Financial Times and London Stock Exchange)

13. France Stock Exchange - CAC-40 ( Cotation Assistee en Continuo)

LIST OF WORLD COUNTRIES , THEIR CAPITAL and CURRENCIES

Country Capital Currency

Afghanistan Kabul Afgani Azerbaijan Baku Manat Bahrain Al-Manamah Bahraini Dinar Bangladesh Dhaka Taka Bhutan Thimphu Ngultrum Brunei Bandar Seri

Begawan Brunei Dollar

China Beijing Yuan Cyprus Nicosia Cypriot Pound Cambodia Phnom Penh Riel India New Delhi Indian Rupee Indonesia Jakarta Rupiah Iran Tehran Rial Iraq Baghdad Iraqi Dinar Israel Tele Aviv Shekel Japan Tokyo Yen Jordan Amman Jordanian Dinar

Kazakhstan Akmola Tenge Korea (North)

Pyongyang Won

Korea (South)

Seoul Won

Kuwait Kuwait City Kuwaiti Dinar Kyrgyzstan Bishkek Kyrgyzstani

Som Lebanon Beirut Lebanese

Pound Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Malaysian

Ringgit Maldives Male Rufiyaa Mongolia Ulan-Bator Tugrik Myanmar Yangon Kyat Nepal Kathmandu Nepalese Rupee Country Capital Currency Pakistan Islamabad Pakistani Rupee


Philippines Manila Peso

Qatar Doha Qatari Riyal Saudi Arabia Riyadh Riyal Singapore Singapore Singapore

Dollar Sri Lanka Colombo Sri Lankan

Rupee Syria Damascus Syrian Pound Taiwan Taipei New Taiwan

Dollar Tajikistan Dushanbe Tajik Rouble Thailand Bangkok Baht Turkmenistan

Ashgabat Turkmenistani Manat

United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi UAE Dirham

Uzbekistan Tashkent Uzbekistani Som

Vietnam Hanoi Dong Yemen Sana Riyal Austria Vienna Schilling, now

Euro Azerbaijan Baku Manat Belarus Minsk Rouble Belgium Brussels Belgian Franc,

now Euro Bosnia & Herzegovina

Sarajevo Dinar

Bulgaria Sofia Lev Croatia Zagreb Kuna and

Croatian Dinar Cyprus Nicosia Cyprus Pound

Czech Republic

Prague Czech Koruna

Denmark Copenhagen Danish Krone Finland Helsinki Markka, now

Euro France Paris French Franc,

now Euro Germany Berlin Deutsche Mark,

now Euro Greece Athens Drachma, now

Euro Hungary Budapest Forint Iceland Reykjavik Icelandic Krona Italy Rome Lire, now Euro Latvia Riga Lat

www.bankersadda.com

Liechtenstein

Vaduz Swiss Franc

Lithuania Vilnius Litas Luxemburg Luxemburg Luxemburg

Franc, now Euro

Monaco Monaco French Franc, now Euro

Netherlands Amsterdam, The Hague (political Capital)

Dutch Guilder, now Euro

Norway Oslo Norwegian Krone

Northern Ireland

Belfast Pounds

Poland Warsaw New Zloty Portugal Lisbon Escudo, now

Euro Romania Bucharest Romanian Leu Russia Moscow Russian

Federation Rouble

Scotland Edinburgh Pound Sterling Spain Madrid Peseta, now

Euro Sweden Stockholm Swedish Kroner Switzerland Berne Swiss Franc Tajikistan Dushanbe Tajik Rouble Ukraine Kiev Hryvna United Kingdom

London Pound Sterling

Uzbekistan Toshkent/Tashkent

Uzbekistani Som

Vatican City Vatican City Italian Lire Yugoslavia Belgrade New Dinar Whales Cardiff Pound Sterling Algeria Algiers Algerian Dinar Burkina Faso Ouagadougou Burkina Faso

Franc Burundi Bujumbura Burundi Franc Cameroon Yaoundé Franc Congo Brazzaville Franc Côte d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Franc Egypt Cairo Egyptian Pound Ethiopia Addis Ababa Birr Ghana Accra Cedi Guinea Conakry Guinea Franc Kenya Nairobi Kenyan Shilling Lesotho Maseru Loti Liberia Monrovia Liberian Dollar Libya Tripoli Libyan Dinar Madagascar Antananarivo Malagasy Franc Malawi Lilongwe Malawian

Kwacha Mali Bamako Malian Franc Mauritania Nouakchott Ouguiya

Mauritius Port Louis Mauritius Rupee

Mayotte Dzaoudzi and Mamoudzou

French Franc

Morocco Rabat Moroccan Dirham

Nigeria Abuja Naira

Senegal Dakar West African Franc


Sierre Leone Freetown Leone Somalia Mogadishu Somali Shilling South Africa Cape Town Rand

Zambia Lusaka Zambian Kwacha

Zimbabwe Harare Zimbabwe Dollar

Bahamas Nassau Bahamian Dollar

Barbados Bridgetown Barbados Dollar Belize Belmopan Belize Dollar Canada Ottawa Canadian Dollar Costa Rica San José Colón Cuba Havana Peso Dominica Roseau East Caribbean

Dollar Dominican Republic

St. Domingo Peso

El Salvador San Salvador El Salvadorian Colón

Grenada St. George's East Caribbean Dollar

Guatemala Guatemala Quetzal

Haiti Port-au-Prince Gourde www.bankersadda.com

Honduras Tegucigalpa Lempira Jamaica Kingston Jamaican Dollar Mexico Mexico City Mexican New

Peso Nicaragua Managua Córdoba Panama Panamá Balboa

St. Kitts and Nevis

Basseterre East Caribbean Dollar

St. Lucia Castries East Caribbean Dollar

Trinidad and Tobago

Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago Dollar

United States of America

Washington D.C.

US Dollar

Argentina Buenos Aires Austral, Neuvo Peso

Bolivia La Paz Boliviano Brazil Brasilia Real Chile Santiago Chilean Peso Colombia Bogota Colombian Peso Paraguay Asuncion Guarani Peru Lima New Sol

Suriname Paramaribo Suriname Guilder

Uruguay Montevideo Uruguayan New Peso

Venezuela Caracas Bolivar Australia Canberra Australian

Dollar Fiji Suva Fiji Dollar New Zealand Wellington New Zealand

Dollar Papua New Guinea

Port Moresby Kina

Tuvalu Funafuti Australian Dollar

Note: i. The euro is the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union and is the official currency of the eurozone, which consists of 18 of the 28 member states of the European Union: ii. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. iii. The 10 Countries which are the members of the European Union but do not use EURO as a Currency are - 1. United Kingdom 2. Bulgaria 3. Croatia 4. Czech Republic 5. Denmark 6. Hungary 7. Lithuania 8. Poland 9. Romania 10. Sweden iv. Lithuania is adopting the euro as its official currency in place of the lithuanian litas on 1 January 2015 v. 4 countries who are not the members of EU but they use Euro currency and made formal agreements with the EU and changed their currency to the euro. 1. Andora 2. Monaco 3. San Marino 4. Vatican City

Important Days

Sr. no.

DATE DAY

1. 12th January National Youth day (Birthday of Vivekananda).

2. 15th January Army day. 3. 24th Jan National Girl Child Day. 4. 25th January National tourism day/ Voters

day 5. 30th January National Martyrs day & World

anti Leprosy Day 6. 4th Feb World Cancer Day. 7. 28th Feb National science day 8. 8th March International women day 9. 9th March World Kidney day 10. 15th March World Consumer rights day , 11. 20th March World Sparrow Day &

International Happiness Day. 12. 21st March World Forestry day


13. 22nd March World water day 14. 23rd March World Meteorological day 15. 24th March World T.B. day 16. 2 April World Autism Awareness Day 17. 7th April World Health day 18. 21st April Civil service day 19. 22nd April World Earth day 20. 24th April Panchayat Divas 21. 1st May International Labour day 22. 3rd May World Press Freedom Day 23. 11th May National Technology day 24. 21st May Anti Terrorism day (Death day

of Rajiv Gandhi) 25. 31st May Anti Tobacco day (No smoking

day) 26. 5th June World Environment day 27. 1st July Doctors day 28. 11th July World population day 30 6th August Hiroshima day 31. 9th August Nagasaki day 32. 12th August International youth day 33. 29th August National Sports day (Birthday

of Dhyan Chand) 34. 5th Sept Teachers day 35. 8th Sept World Literacy day 36. 14th Sept Hindi Divas 37. 15th Sept Engineers day 38. 16th Sept Ozone day 39. 2nd Oct International Non-violence day 40. 8th Oct Air force day 41. 9th Oct World post day 42. 24th Oct United nation day 43. 17th Nov Students day 44. 18th Nov Adults day 45. 19th Nov Citizens day 46. 27th Nov National law day 47. 1st Dec AIDS day 48. 4thDec Navy day 49. 10thDec Human Rights day 50. 14th Dec National Energy Conservation

Day. 51 24 Dec National Consumers Rights

Day

ABBREVIATION IN NEWS 1. OLTAS - On-line Tax Accounting System (OLTAS)

for Direct Taxes 2. TIN - Tax Information Network (TIN) 3. IMPS - Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS). 4. CDR- Corporate Debt Restructuring 5. CAD- Capital Account Deficit 6. REITs: Real Estate Investment Trusts 7. InvITs: Infrastructure Investment Trusts 8. ALM- Asset Liability Management 9. AML – Anti Money Laundering 10. KYC – know Your Customer 11. ASBA: Application Supported by Blocked Amount 12. BSBDA - Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account 13. IFSC – Indian Financial System Code 14. CBS: Core Banking Solution 15. RTGS - Real Time Gross Settlement 16. SLR-Statutory Liquidity Ratio 17. CAR – Cash Adequacy Ratio 18. MSF-Marginal Standing Facility 19. NBFC-Non Banking Finance Companies 20. PIN: Personal Identification Number 21. CCEA – Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs 22. CECA - Comprehensive Economic Cooperation

Agreement 23. CEPA – Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Agreement www.bankersadda.com

24. DTAA – Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement 25. ECBs - External Commercial Borrowings 26. EEFC - Exchange Earner's Foreign Currency 27. EFSF – European Financial Stability Facility

28. FEMA- Foreign Exchange Management Act 29. FII – Foreign Institutional Investor. 30. FINO- Financial Inclusion Network Operation 31. FIPB – Foreign Investment Promotion board 32. FSLRC – Financial Sector Legislative Reforms

Commission 33. CRAR: Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio 34. SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial

Telecommunication 35. DEAF: Depositor Education and Awareness Fund 36. NEFT - National Electronic Funds Transfer 37. DICGC : Deposit insurance and credit guarantee

corporation. 38. FCNR(B) - Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank 39. LCR: Liquidity Coverage Ratio 40. IMPS: Interbank Mobile Payment Service 41. TARC - Tax Administration Reform Commission 42. LRMT: Liquidity risk monitoring tools 43. ECB - External Commercial Borrowings 44. MIBOR: Mumbai Inter-Bank Offer Rate 45. LIBOR: London Inter-Bank Offer Rate 46. LAF – Liquidity Adjustment Facility 47. GIRO - Government Internal Revenue Order 48. FRBMA: Fiscal Responsibility and Budget



Management Act 49. AMFI- Association of Mutual Fund in India. 50. TIEA – Tax Information exchange Agreement 51. FTA- Free trade agreement 52. GAAR - General anti avoidance rule 53. GSLV - Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicle 54. NCTC - National Counter-Terrorism Centre 55. NSG – Nuclear Suppliers Group

56. PPP – Public Private Partnership & Purchasing Power parity

57. PSLV – Polar Satellite Launch vehicle 58. TAPI - Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India. 59. QFI -Qualified Foreign Investors 60. REER: Real Effective Exchange Rate

General Awareness & Computer Questions of IBPS Clerk IV

1. Kissan credit card validity – 5 years 2. G-20 Summit 2016 will be held in – China 3. With the 765 days of continuous safe reactor

operations - Rawatbhata Rajasthan Atomic Power Station's

4. Cheque is defined under which act – Negotiable Instruments act,1881

5. Ajay Jayaram associated with which game – Badminton 6. Hindu kush is between which countries – Afghanistan

and Pakistan 7. Age limit for minors to operate saving account – 10

years 8. Committee to Identify 'Obsolete' Laws - R. Ramanujam 9. World Pneumonia day – 12th November 10. Unity Day celebrated on birth anniversary of – Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel 11. KYC norms implemented under - Banking Regulation

Act, 1949 12. Information and broadcasting minister – Arun Jaitley 13. Capital of Cambodia – Phnom Penh 14. Currency of Greece - EURO 15. Monetary policy regulated by – RBI 16. Full form of NBFC – Non Banking Finance Company 17. Full form of NPPA - National Pharmaceutical Pricing

Authority 18. Full form of LTV – Loan To Value 19. Full form of IPO – Initial Public Offering 20. Full form of TDS - Tax Deducted at Source 21. Full form of FEMA – Foreign Exchange Management

Act 22. Full form of NAV – Net Asset Value 23. Kissan Vikas Patra money doubles in – 100 months 24. Sumitra Charat Ram Award – Pandit Jasraj 25. Banking ombudsman appointed by - RBI 26. “Hand –in-Hand” is – Military exercise b/w India &

China 27. Chairman of national women commission – Lalitha

Kumarmangalm 28. Full form of DOS – Disk Operating System 29. Full form of VIRUS - Vital Information Resources

Under Siege

30. In MOM first M stands for - MARS 31. Who is the author of the book 'Playing it my way' -

Sachin Tendulkar 32. Where is the capital of Sweden? - Stockholm 33. World chess champion event of 2014 held in ? - Sochi 34. Where is the headquarter of UNESCO ? - Paris 35. KLO is active in which state ? Assam and West Bengal 36. What is the full form of NPA ? - Non Performing Assets 37. Who is the lender of last resort for banks in india ? -

RBI 38. What is the full form of URL? - Uniform Resource

Locator 39. What is the full form of KYC? - Know Your Customer 40. What is the full form of BC? -Business Correspondent 41. Next Commonwealth summit will be held in ? - Malta 42. Where was the venue of APEC summit in 2014 ? –

Beijing

43. What is Amortization ? - The paying off of debt with a fixed repayment schedule in regular installments over a period of time.

44. What is the Duration of PPF account ? - 15 years 45. LRSAM missile is developed by India with the help of

which country ? - Israel 46. Which one of the following is non volatile memory ? 47. Which one of the following is not secondary storage ? 48. In ms word the footer will be displayed ? - Bottom of

the page 49. Which state has highest rural population ? - Uttar

Pradesh 50. Who is named as the test cricketer of the year? -

Mitchell Johnson 51. Rauf dance is from which state ? - Jammu and Kashmir 52. What is the currency of italy ? - Euro 53. What is the limit of free ATM transaction under PMJDY

? – 4 www.bankersadda.com

54. What is the Base year for new consumer price index? - 2010

55. Who is the current health minister ? - J.P.Nadda 56. Where is the headquarter of SIDBI ? - Lucknow


57. Manmohan singh to be awarded by which country ? - Japan

58. Study of fungi is called as ? - Mycology 59. Which state declared 2015 as the tourism year ? -

Madhya Pradesh 60. CBS full form - Core Banking Solution 61. ULIP Stands for - Unit-linked insurance plan 62. AQB Full form - Average Quaterly Balance. 63. In EBT, E means - Electronic. 64. Headquarter of WHO are situated at - Geneva 65. Capital of Australia - Canberra. 66. President of Brazil - Dilma Rouseff. 67. Sushama swraj's constituency- Vidhisha 68. commercial paper is issued by - Corporates, primary

dealers (PDs) and All-India Financial Institutions (FIs) 69. Rbi allowed which age of minors to open account - 10

years 70. Currency of Argentina - Argentine peso. 71. How many digits in Ifsc code - 11 72. BCCI life time achievement award 2014 - Dilip

Vengasarkar. 73. validity of Kisan vikas patra - 100 months 74. Sarjubala devi related to which sport - Boxing 75. Tapan raychaudhri who died recently was - Historian 76. Author of lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri. 77. Shanti swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Physical Sciences

2014 -Dr.Pratap Raychaudhuri 78. Mars orbitor mission which celebrated it's 50th

anniversary- Mariner 4 mission 79. Lucknow city is on the bank of ____ river - Gomti 80. in whose memory of whom, Antyoday Divas is

celebrated - Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya 81. Next G20 Summit will be held at - Turkey 82. Economics nobel prize is conferred on - Jean Tirole 83. Revised Target of opening of accounts in PM Jan Dhan

Yojna is - 10 Crore 84. Payment bank working capital - 100 Crore 85. Shortcut key to find text in MS word - Ctrl + F. 86. WHO headquarters – Geneva 87. Capital of Australia – Canberra 88. Currency of Argentina – Argentine peso 89. Nandivada and Nandi hills are in which state –

Karnataka 90. The Prize in Economic Sciences 2014 – Jean Tirole 91. What does ‘E’ stand for in EBT – Electronic 92. “The Lowland” Written by – Jhumpa Lahiri 93. Sarjubala Devi related to which sport – Boxing 94. NASA mission name – Mariner 4 95. What dose ULIP Stand for – Unit Linked Insurance Plan 96. Minimum age required to open minor ac – 10 Years 97. President of Brazil – Dilma Rousseff 98. Lucknow city is banked on which river – Gomti

99. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Physical Sciences – Dr Pratap Raychaudhuri

100. What dose AQB stand for - Average Quarterly Balance

101. Payment bank working capital - 100 Crore 102. Headquarters of Asian Development Bank - Manila 103. Currency of New Zealand - New Zealand Dollar 104. Capital of Fiji - Suva 105. NEFT Full Form - National Electronic Funds Transfer 106. Shortcut to find ‘TEXT’ in MS Word – Ctrl + F 107. Tapan Raychaudhri who died recently was a –

Historian 108. Antyoday Divas is celebrated in whose memory –

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. 109. Kisan Vikas Patra validity – 100 months 110. Venue of next G20 Summit – Turkey 111. Currency of Bhutan - Ngultrum 112. Capital of Afghanistan- Kabul 113. Book name authored by Yashwardhan Shukla - ‘Gods

of Antarctica’ 114. What dose URL stand for - Uniform Resource Locator 115. America developing which cities in to Smart cities –

Allahabad,Ajmer and Vishakhapatnam 116. What dose RTGS stand for - Real Time Gross

Settlement 117. What dose ISDN stand for - Integrated Services

Digital Network 118. Personal accident cover in Jan Dhan Yojana – 1 lakh 119. Shortcut key to make characters italics – Ctrl + I 120. Shortcut key to undo last step in word – Ctrl + Z 121. What dose EMV stand for – EuroPay, MasterCard,

Visa 122. In MICR middle 3 digits represent - Bank 123. What dose MMID stand for – Mobile Money Identifier 124. International Day of Persons with Disabilities – 3rd

December 125. Which is the largest public sector insurance company

– LIC 126. PDA Full form- Personal Digital Assistant. 127. GST full form - Goods and service Tax 128. IFSC Full form - Indian Financial System code. 129. C in MICR stands for - Character 130. Shortcut key of Find- Ctrl+F 131. Currency of Saudi Arabia - Saudi riyal. 132. Capital of Iraq - Baghdad



133. Which Day is celebrated on 19 november- World Toilet Day

134. First 3 digit in MICR represents - city 135. World AIDS Day is observed on - 1 December 136. Commercial paper is issued by - Corporates, primary

dealers (PDs) and the All-India Financial Institutions (FIs)

137. SEZ stands for - Special Economic Zone 138. %age Share of state government in RRB - 15% 139. UEFA Eurocup 2016 will be hosted by - France. 140. Headquarters of UNEP - Nairobi(Kenya) 141. What is the Exchange date for pre 2005 Notes - 1st

Jan 2015 142. Rupay card is developed by - NPCI 143. What is Jandhan yojna's objective - Financial

Inclusion 144. Dronacharya award is related to - Sports 145. National Science centre is established in which state

– Delhi 146. UN Goodwill ambassador for South east Asia –. 147. United nations day- - 24th October 148. International Non violence day is observed on - 2nd

October 149. Vishwanathan Anand is related to- - Chess. 150. Ryder Cup is related to - - Golf 151. Capital of Austria - Vienna 152. Budget of Mars mission of India - - 450 Crore 153. author of Dramatic decade - Pranab Mukherjee. 154. In which field, Nobel prize was given to May Britt

Moser and Edward Moser - Medicine 155. New name of MCX - - Metropolitan Stock Exchange of

India Ltd’, abbreviated as ‘mSXI' 156. Biggest nuclear plant in the world- - Kashiwazaki-

Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant 157. Next Hockey world cup will be held - India. 158. Insurance regulatory in india- - IRDA. 159. Next saarc summit will be held at - Islamabad 160. Currency of srilanka - Sri Lankan Rupee. 161. Dongfeng missile is developed - China 162. Darjeeling Makaibiri is - Tea estate 163. Which is not a Operating System among Windows

XP,NT,2000,2007 & suffix - Suffix 164. Find the output device among Printer

scanner,keyboard,webcam- - Printer. 165. What is a bit- - Smallest Unit of information 166. ISP stand for - Internet Service Provider

167. RTGS stand for – Real Time Gross Settlement 168. WWW full form – World Wide Web 169. http stands for - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol 170. MICR Full form – Magnetic Ink Character Recognition 171. Currency of Oman - Omani rial 172. Capital of Kuwait – Kuwait City 173. Commenwealth games 2016 will be held in - Gold

Coast city, Queensland, Australia 174. Target under PMJDY is - Opening of 10 Crore bank

accounts up to 26 Jan. 2015 175. Headquarters of UNICEF are situated at - New York

City 176. International Day for the Elimination of Violence

against Women – 25 November 177. State Minister Of Skill Development &

Entrepreneurship – Rajiv Pratap Rudy 178. 18th SAARC Summit was held at - Kathmandu Nepal 179. Sardar Patel Birthday is celebrated as - National

Unity day 180. Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was started on the

birthday of - Jayaprakash Narayan. 181. Anirban lahiri related to which sport – Golf. 182. Indira Gandhi Awas Yojna will provide house to - 10

Crore accounts under JanDhan Yojna. 183. Bank borrow money from RBI on which rate - Repo

Rate. 184. Which of the following not a storage - Printer 185. Oracle is a – Computer language 186. UNIDO headquarter - Vienna 187. NCR full form - National Capital Region 188. IFSC - Indian Financial System Code. 189. ECGL full form - Executive Centre of Global

Leadership 190. Capital of Bangkok - Thailand 191. Currency of China – Renminbi 192. Baiching Bhutia is related to which sport - Football. 193. Overdraft facility in PMJDY - Rs. 2500 (further

increase to 5000) 194. Sarita devi related to which Sport – Boxing 195. National Human Rights day - 10 December 196. Author of Half a Girl Friend - Chetan Bhagat 197. Nalanda University situated in which state - Bihar 198. Where ISRO situated - Bangaluru 199. Ghoomer Dance which state- Haryana 200. Full form of LSI – Large Scale integration Computer

ALL THE BEST FOR SBI ASSOCIATE ASSISTANT EXAM 2015

gk power capsule sbi asso assistant 2015

Documents

unchanged bank rate

rbi reserve bank of

rbi relaxed norms

highlights of rbi norms

unchanged note

policy rates unchanged

unchanged crr

unchanged msf