Current Affairs - January 07, 2014

Current AffairsJanuary 07, 2014

Business and Economy

1. Banks may have just two years to achieve the ambitious target of providing a universal electronic bank account to every Indian resident above the age of 18. This recommendation, among several others, was made by the central bank-appointed Nachiket Mor Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households.

2. RBI panel on financial inclusion recommends raising priority sector lending cap for banks to 50% from the current 40%.

3. In order to safeguard the interest of the investors, Sebi has put in place a new framework to strengthen the supervisory and monitoring role of depositories and their participants for issuance and processing of Delivery Instruction Slips.

Appointments

4. US Senate confirms JanetYellen as head of Federal Reserve making her first woman to lead world's most powerful central bank.

5. Former Additional Judge Sudip Ranjan Sen was sworn in as judge of the Meghalaya High Court at shillong today.

Awards and Honors

6. Writer-director Jane Campion will succeed Steven Spielberg as the jury president of the next Festival de Cannes, slated to take place from May 14 to 24 this year.

International Affairs

7. The US has called for fresh polls in Bangladesh that reflect the will of the people, even as it expressed strong concern over the just concluded general election which it alleged was neither credible nor fair.

8. Arson destroyed the Venezuelan Embassy and damaged offices used by the Organization of American States in St. Kitts and Nevis in what the prime minister of the small Caribbean nation said Monday was a politically motivated attack.

9. Malaysia's fast-food restaurants will no longer be allowed to hire foreign workers; the Home ministry said today, a decision that will affect thousands of Indians who come seeking work as waiters and cooks.

National Affairs

10. Sikhs Celebrate Gurpurab, birth of Guru Gobind Singh Ji today

11. 12th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas began in NewDelhi today; Malaysian Environment Minister G Palanivel is the chief guest.

12. Ghualm Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare launched the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) at delhi today. He also inaugurated the three-day National Adolescent Health Consultation.

13. Maharashtra government’s ambitious health programme – ‘Jeevan Amrut Yojana’ or ‘Blood-on-Call’ launched across the state today.

14. Jharkhand High Court has directed the state government to post at least one policewoman in every police station to deal with the problem of eveteasing.

15. The ambitious North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) was officially launched for the districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding in Arunachal Pradesh today.

16. Govt launches 'Maulana Azad Taleem-e-Baligan' scheme to educate Muslim adults.

17. Delhi Government has decided to disband the existing hospital management society functioning in government hospitals here after a large number of complaints of corruption against them.

18. Dhanu Yatra of Bargarh, considered to be world's biggest open-air theatre, all set for 11-day festival in Odisha .

Science and Technology

19. India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed Prithvi-II missile, which is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads and has a strike range of 350 km, from a test range at Chandipur near Balasore (Odisha).

20. Jammu and Kashmir government is promoting vertical housing colonies in Srinagar in an effort to stop the trend of conversion of agricultural land for residential and commercial purposes.

Sports

21. The 61st Kohima Village Sports Association meet, one of the biggest sporting events in the northeast begins at Kohima (Nagaland) today.

22. 75th National table tennis championship begins today in Patna.

23. Hockey India on Tuesday announced complimentary tickets to hockey Olympians and international players for the forthcoming Hockey World League Final from January 10-18, in New Delhi.

Current Affairs Questions:

1) On 5 January 2014 for the first time the night landing of as big an aircraft as C-17 military cargo aircraft (Boeing C-17 Globemaster III) was successfully done. It was also the first time that this huge aircraft landed in an airbase in South India. At which Indian Air Force (IAF) base of South India was this historic landing done?

– At Thanjavur Air Base (This C-17 landing was done as a capability demonstration exercise of C-17 as well as the IAF)

2) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is all set to form the new government in the country after winning an absolute majority in the 5 January 2014 parliamentary elections boycotted by the Opposition. What is the name of the political party of Sheikh Hasina?

– Awami League (The Awami League won 104 of the 139 seats for which results were declared. Having already won 127 seats uncontested, the ruling party has 231 seats under its belt, giving it a clear three-fourths majority in the new Parliament. The Jatiya Party, which won 33 seats, is likely to be the main Opposition. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) did not participated in this election)

3) Former Supreme Court judge, Justice A.K. Ganguly, who has been accused of sexual assault by a law intern, on 6 January 2014 resigned from which post after continuous pressure on him to resign from this post?

– Chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) – The intern’s allegations created a media furore, with female lawyers, politicians and activists calling for the Supreme Court to investigate the incident and for the accused judge to be named publicly. Pressure on him to resign increased after the three-judge Supreme Court committee probing the complaint filed by the law intern against Justice Ganguly said that there was prima facie evidence against him.

4) The Coal Ministry recently constituted a coordination panel comprising officials from the Centre and State governments to speed up clearances and ensure timely completion of coal mining projects. Who is heading this panel?

– Coal Secretary S.K. Srivastava (The move comes close on the heels of the State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) airing concerns on clearances and stating that nearly 241 projects were awaiting environmental or forest clearances at various levels)

5) Seeking to curb the practice of small aircraft and helicopters operating in the country without cockpit voice recorders, aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on 6 January 2014 made it mandatory for all their operators to fit their machines with black boxes. What is the deadline given for this fitment guideline?

– 31 December 2014 (During recent safety audits, DGCA had discovered that a large number of turbine-powered planes and helicopters, including turboprops (turbine-powered propeller aircraft), were not fitted with CVRs)

6) According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the average number of policies sold by an agent of LIC was almost 10 times that of his private sector counterpart. LIC’s agents managed their outperformance last year too, when the life insurance business was on a slide. What was the average policy sale figure for an LIC agent as disclosed by the IRDA?

– 29 Policies (LIC has an agency force of 11.72 lakh while private companies have 9.49 lakh agents working for them)

7) Eusebio, who passed away on 5 January 2014, was a great footballer of which country?

– Portugal (Eusebio was a top scorer at the 1966 Football World Cup. He earned 64 caps and scored 41 goals for Portugal, records that stood for almost two decades. The Portuguese government announced three days of national mourning as homage to this great footballer)

8) State-run BHEL recently completed building a transmission sub-station in Karnataka, a link that has connected the southern and national electricity grids. Where in Karnataka is this sub-station situated?

– Raichur (It is the southern end of the Raichur-Solapur transmission link of PowerGrid. With the commissioning of the Raichur-Solapur transmission line the southern grid has been linked with the national grid. The project will allow electricity to be carried to the southern region from other parts of the country during peak demand as well as transfer surplus power from the south during off-peak hours)

QUIZ:

1. Which insurance company launched an all women branch in Pune on 4 January 2014 and become the first insurer to give an opportunity to women with an aim to tap the vast talent pool of women professionals?

[A] Max Newyork Life Insurance

[B] Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

[C] ICICI Lombard General Insurance

[D] Life Insurance Corporation

2. Which Indian player on 6 January 2014 won the Open du Gard squash title, the PSA Challenger 5 event?

[A] Geet Sethi

[B] Mahesh Mangaokar

[C] Ammar Alamimi

[D] Rajat Sahni

3. Japanese Defence Minister on Monday, 6th Jan 2014, met his Indian counterpart A K Antony at the South Block here when the two sides decided to ramp up their military ties through a naval exercise along Japan’s coast later this year and holding their Secretary-level talks. Can you name Japanese Defence Minister?

A] Shinzo Abe

[B] Yokoshima Itusi

[C] Tenny Yoklahoma

[D] Itsunori Onodera

4. Which movies smashes World Record, Becomes First Bollywood Film To Amass Rs 500 Crore?

[A] Chennai Express

[B] Jai Ho

[C] Dhoom: 3

[D] Sholay 3D

5. Which woman made history on Monday, 6th Jan 2014, as the US Senate confirmed her to be the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve in its 100-year history?

[A] Janet Yellen

[B] Minda Gower

[C] Lisa Murkowski

[D] Susan Zones

Answers:

1. B    2. B    3. D   4. C   5. A