Sanu On Monday, December 20, 2010

International Current Affairs 2010

  • Pakistan’s Initiative against Terrorism
    Pakistan has been the victim of international terrorism in the past few months. As a result of this, a top US official recently said that Islamabad should begin to crack down on terrorists and terrorist groups operational within the country immediately. Barrack Obama, President of the United States of America has also agreed to this statement and feels that Pakistan has been one of the major victims of international terrorism lately. President Obama also said that Pakistan needs to take strong and immediate steps against all terrorist groups operating on Pakistani soil. Furthermore, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said that a number of terrorist groups are operating in a syndicate and working together against American interests, not just in the US but in other nations such as Afghanistan and India as well. Mr. Blake also stated that the US has welcomed every step take by Pakistan so far and that it is in full support of Pakistan as always.
  • UN’s terrorism sanctions list
    In a recent and sudden move, a US committee took down several names of al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists off its terrorism sanction lists. The committee said that the reason for such an action was that several of the names on the sanctions list were probably dead. The committee Chairman Thomas Mayr Harting said that following this step, the committee had started investigations into how many terrorists put on the list were actually dead. This committee was set up in 1999.
  • New Government in Iraq
    Prolonged warring and quarrels between rival political factions in Iraq had caused over an eight month deadlock over the issue of forming the next government. Recently, the Iraqi Prime Minister appealed to these political factions to work together and unite following his acceptance of the President’s request to form the next government. Senior officials admitted that a Herculean task now lay before them, that of forming a government comprising of members of all possible political factions. The task has been made harder by the month long deadline to form the government which will preside over the country’s affair as US troops move out and power is handed back to the Iraqi people. The new government is expected to have members from all the political factions such as the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. Prime Minister Designate al-Maliki called upon al Iraqi citizens and politicians to help him in this difficult task.
  • Friendly neighbor China
    Rising concerns over China’s assertive and aggressive attitude in the Asian continent has prompted China’s President Hu Jintao to assure all nations that China is committed to being a friendly and helpful neighbor. China has been in the news recently over its spats with neighboring nations over international borders and territories. The reason for this has been said to be China’s interests in a group of potentially resource rich islands in the Asian Pacific. Speaking to leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Japan, President Hu said that China was committed to the regional policy of building good neighborliness and friendship.
  • Rolls Royce sued by Qantas
    Australian flight safety officials have recently warned that manufacturing defects have been found in the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines. Officials further urged airlines using these engines to carry extensive checks before using them because defects present in them could lead to catastrophic failures. In the meanwhile, Qantas began court proceedings against Rolls Royce and was granted an injunction by the federal court of Australia which ensured that the airline could pursue legal action against the engine manufacturing giants.
  • Myanmar polls called fake
    The first democratic polls in Myanmar after several years of military rule were held among complaints of threats, intimidation and accusations of the polls being a charade. In most constituencies, the poll was a competition between the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUS). Several accusations were made by opposition parties against the USDP, claiming that they illegally collected advanced ballots. USA and UK officials also voiced their concerns about the transparency and fairness of these polls.
  • China’s slowest growth
    China had its slowest rate of economic growth in a year during the September quarter. In addition to this, a World Bank report hinted at a further decrease in its economic growth. One of the reasons for this has been the long term inflation that China has faced for almost two years. China’s industrial growth has also fallen considerably in recent times. This slow growth in China’s economy has gotten many people to believe that India might be the next economic superpower to rise because of its high levels of industrial and economic growth in recent times. Though not immediately, but experts predicted India’s rate of growth to exceed that of China’s by a considerable margin in the next five years.

National Current Affairs 2010

  • Sensex drops 458 points
    The Bombay Stock Exchange recently fell by a total of 458 points. The reasons for the underperformance of the Indian Equity market have been said to be the series of scams that were unearthed from mid November. Just last month, CBI officials discovered a bribe for loan scandal that involved several officials from financial firms and a few state run banks. The 10.8% rise in industrial growth since last month could not help and several indices ended with huge losses. Major loses were mainly suffered by PSUs, realty, consumer durables and healthcare.
  • Satyam Trial Case
    The examination of the first witness in the infamous multi crore Satyam Computer accounting scam would begin from the first of November Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. CBI officials submitted a list of six witnesses to the courts who were officials of a number of different banks. All ten accused including company founder B Ramalinga Raju were present in court during the hearing of the case. The DIG of police who operates under the department of CBI said that the agency requested permission to set up LCD projectors and screens in the court so that both parties could observe and take notes on all the documents that would be brought up in court. Since cases in the Supreme Court need to be resolved at the earliest, CBI officials submitted close to a thousand documents to the court to speed up the prosecution. The bail of the owner of company and the other 5 individuals associated has been rejected.
  • Baba Ramdev Temple under threat
    An anonymous letter was received at the Ramdev Baba temple in Jaisalmer that contained threats to blow up the temple on November 9th. District Collector G S Kushwaha received this letter by normal post. Following this letter security around the temple and the surrounding complex was tightened by posting additional number of policeman around the temple complex. Around 5 million devotees are said to visit the temple every year.
  • Ashok Chavan’s fate
    Disgraced Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chauhan’s would be decided after the Diwali holiday season, i.e. after November 8th said the Congress party. Recently Chief Minister Ashok Chauhan’s name had come in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. Following this allegation, Mr. Ashok Chauhan immediately offered to resign from his post. No mention of either the Adarsh Housing Society scam or the commonwealth Games fiasco was made by the Congress in its AICC session. Also present at the meeting were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, Common Wealth Games Organizing Committee Chaiperson Suresh Kalmadi, Heavy Industries Minister and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Maharashtra PCC President Manikrao Thakre.
  • Adjournment of Ajmer Dargah blast case
    The hearing of the Ajmer Gargah blast case was recently adjourned to November 8 by a sessions court due to leave taken by the presiding judge. Over an 800 page charge sheet was produced before the court of the Additional Chief Judge Magistrate on the 22nd of October by the Rajasthan ATS. The five accused in the case have alleged links with the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat. Only one accused was brought to the court while the other two are being questioned about the Hyderabad Mecca blast case. The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code like conspiracy to murder, attempt to murder and murder. Over one hundred and thirty witnesses have been cited by the prosecution of the case.
  • Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s concern
    The finance minister of the country Pranab Mukherjee recently raised his fears over the rising of inflation in the country. Minister Mukherjee said that the Reserve Bank of India would take steps at its next monetary policy review to check rising prices because of increased inflation. He further added that rising food prices were solely the reason for this sudden inflation. Inflation for the month of September was estimated to be close to 8.6% much above the acceptable rate of 5%. As said by Finance Minister Mukherjee, food prices had the highest amount of inflation which in Mid October was estimated to be over 13%. Recently, Minister Pranab Mukherjee was in talks with the Reserve Bank of India Governor over the the possible rate hike action by the Central Bank. The global financial crisis, which was worsened by the total collapse of financial firm Lehman Brothers, is being said to be the reason behind the RBI’s recent reversal of its soft monetary policy that it started back in September 2008. Adding to these has been the sudden drop in industrial growth from 15.2% to 5.6%. To combat the aforementioned rise in inflation, the Reserve Bank of India has hiked its key short term lending and borrowing times several times this year.
  • Protest during Obama visit by Bhopal Gas tragedy victims
    Victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy are said to be planning to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar on the 8th of November, during the time of US President Barrack Obama’s visit to the capital. Several tonnes of the poisonous gas methyl iso-cyanide, leaked from the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal in 1984, killing over 3000 people the same night and causing the deaths of over 25000 people over the subsequent years. Five different voluntary organizations working for the gas tragedy victims recently held a press conference where they stated that they would be requesting to President Obama to use his Presidential powers to bring the Union Carbide Corporation to Indian Courts and be answerable to them. The verdict of this case many years back had found seven top officials of this corporation to be guilty but as these guilty persons were bailed out within minutes of the verdict, many people till date question the justice imparted in the case. The voluntary organizations further added that hundreds of people regularly fall sick and die every month due to the long term poisonous effects of the leaked gas on the soil and water. They further plan to ask President Obama for his help as the US government has been largely unhelpful these last few years. The sit in protest organized by the voluntary organizations is said to be comprised of over 5000 gas tragedy victims.

Sports Current Affairs 2010

  • Chelsea lose third match out of fourth
    Birmingham City defeated Chelsea by a score of 1-0 at Birmingham City making this the third defeat to be suffered by Chelsea in the four matches that it has played so far. This win helped Manchester United to move up in the English Premier League rankings. Birmingham gained three points in the rankings thanks to the one and only winning goal scored by its player Lee Bowyer. Newcastle lost 5-1 to Bolton while West Ham lost 3-0 to Liverpool alongside Blackpool and Stoke who claimed their respective victories. In their game against Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea let slip past their initial lead of 2-0, to finally lose the game at a score of 3-2. The game was at a score of 2-0 till half time with Chelsea winning but a combination of lack of concentration in players and simple bad luck cost Chelsea the match.
  • Cricket in 2014 Asian Games
    Rumors recently originated that cricket had been removed from the list of proposed sports and events of the 2014 Asian games. The reason for these rumors has been said to be the decision of the Olympic Committee of Asia to limit the number of sporting events in the Asian games to a maximum of 35. However, these fears proved out to be false as the OCA recently confirmed the inclusion of cricket in the list of sporting events for the Asian games 2014. For the time being cricket and karate have been confirmed as two out of the seven non Olympic events in these games while the other five are still to be decided. However, South Korean organizers are said to not be in support of this decision.
  • Nadal and Clijsters
    Rafael Nadal continues to hold the top spot in the ATP rankings with his score being close to 11900 points while Roger Federer holds the spot of number two. On the other hand Kim Clijsters fell to the third position in the WTA rankings released recently followed by Serena Williams on the fourth position.
  • Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
    Following his win in the Korean Grand Prix, third position in Brazil and third position in the qualifiers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari looked like the possible winner. However the title slipped out of his hands, much to his surprise and landed into the hands of Vettel making him the youngest Formula One champion in the history of F1 racing aged just 23 years.

Persons in News November 2010

  • Leslie Nielson passes away
    Beloved actor Leslie Nielson best remember as bumbling police detective Lt. Frank Drebin of the Naked Gun series of movies, passed away recently aged 84 from complications arising as a result of Pneumonia. He was surrounded on his death bed y his loving wife, friends and long time agent. Leslie Nielson had over a 60 year long career in motion pictures which started back in the 1950s. He was initially cast as a leading man in serious movies such as The Forbidden Planet and Poseidon Adventure. The former flopped while the latter was a big success in its time. However, Nielson soon found his forte in comedy movies when he first acted in the 1980 comedy motion picture, Airplane. The movie was a huge hit and Nielson’s popularity as a comedy actor soared. He then appeared in a number of comedy movies, the most famous of them being the Naked Gun series, all of which were big hits. Some of these were repossessed, Dracula- dead and loving it and Spy hard. Leslie was married thrice in his lifetime and has two daughters with his second wife.
  • I-phone versus Google Android
    Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc. recently praised the operating system on Google’s smart phones. The operating system called Android was further praised by Mr. Wozniak who said that these phones had more features to offer as compared to the I-phone. He however, further added that while Google’s smart phones offer people more number of choices, Apple I-phones on the other hand were much better in terms of quality,

Note :
·        India has become Israel's second largest export destination after the United States, as the Jewish state focusses on tapping potential in the Asian markets.
·        Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan has been named the next Maharashtra Chief Minister. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, nephew of party chief Sharad Pawar and a minister named Maharashtra's next deputy chief minister after Chhagan Bhujbal.
·        Iconic Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who is set to become only the second player(After Javed Miandad)  in the history of cricket to play six ODI World Cups, named the official ambassador of the event to be held in the sub-continent next year.
·        Rajkumar Hirani's "3 Idiots" continued with its award-winning spree bagging top honours at the Global Indian Music Awards (GIMA) which was held in Mumbai. The movie took home the best film album.
·        As part of its administrative reforms process, Punjab aims to become the first state in the country to achieve complete computerisation of land records by March 31, 2011.
·        India owns over 18,000 tonnes of above ground gold stocks worth approximately $ 800 billion and representing at least 11 per cent of global stock, according to estimates of World Gold Council. In 2009, total Indian gold demand reached $ 19 billion, or Rs 974 billion, which accounts for 15 per cent of the global gold market, according to WGC.
·        Noted Telugu film producer D V S Raju passed away.
·        India is set to become the fastest growing major economy in the world by 2012 and will be third largest by GDP-size in the next two decades, behind China and the USA, a global study by British banking giant Standard Chartered said.
·        China has overtaken US in the global supercomputing race as it has been confirmed as the creator of the world's fastest supercomputer, according to a latest survey. The Tianhe-1A, which means meaning Milky Way is capable of 2.67 quadrillions of computing operations per second, earning it the number one spot in the Top 500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers.
·        Free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Canada will help push bilateral trade to USD 15 billion in 5 years. Bilateral trade was close to USD 4.2 billion last year.



Current Events - November 2010 Update 2

1.      The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the country's largest trading partner in term of total trade exchange in the first half of 2010.
2.      The Government has launched a special scheme for the health and well-being of adolescent girls as a pilot project in 200 most backward districts of the country. 'Sabla' or the 'Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adolescent Girls' would be launched in 22 districts of Uttar Pradesh, 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh, 12 of Bihar, 12 of Sikkim, 11 districts of Maharashtra and 10 districts of Rajasthan.
3.      Former Test captain Anil Kumble elected as the President of the Karnataka State Cricket Association while former pace duo of Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad were elected as Secretary and Vice President respectively.
4.      Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan honoured with Teacher's People Achiever Award.
5.      India and Norway joined hands to set up a centre in Chennai to protect the bio-diversity to help tackle threats of climate change.
6.      India has pledged to provide a grant assistance of Rs 16.19 million to Nepal for construction of 350 tube-wells in the southern region of the country.
7.      State-run Coal India has become the third most powerful Indian company with a total market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 2,09,671.57 crore and is only lagging behind RIL and ONGC.
8.      Punjab Government has brought Sain Samaj under Shagun scheme to provide financial assistance of Rs 15000 to the daughters of Sain Samaj at the time of their marriage.
9.      Noted Malayalam film and stage actress Shanta Devi died.
10. Malaysia has emerged as one of the the most favourite destinations in the Asia Pacific for Indian travellers, according to a new survey.

Sanu On

1.      Who is the head of the committee constituted by Prime Minister to probe corruption in 2010 Commonwealth Games?
a)Sam Pitroda     b)Shantanu Consul    c)Pargat Singh    d)V K Shunglu  e)none
2.      2010 United Nations Climate Conference was held in ______?
a)Washington     b)Geneva     c)Cancun     d)New York    e)none
3.      Which Country has launched the World’s first Synthetic jet fuel?
a)US    b)France    c)South Africa     d)Japan   e)India
4.      Who won the 2010 ATP World Tour Title?
a)Rafael Nadal      b)Andy Murray    c)Andy Roddick    d)Roger Federer   e)none
5.      Tertiary sector contributes maximum to Indian GDP. Tertiary sector is also known as _________ sector?
a)Banking Sector     b)Primary Sector    c)Secondary Sector    d)Agriculture Sector    e)Service Sector
6.      Armando Emilio Guebuza recently visited India. He is the _______?
a)Prime Minister of Mozambique  
b)President of Madagascar
c)President of Mozambique
d)Prime Minister of Madagascar
e)none
7.      Who won the 2010 Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award?
a)John Brumby    b)Aund San Suu Kyi     c)Sheikh Hasina    d)Barack Obama   e)none
8.      Who is the author of the book ‘The Masque of Africa’?
a)V S Naipaul     b)Salman Rushdie     c)K R Narayanan     d)Nelson Mandela    e)none
9.      Which two countries have agreed to resume direct flights between their capitals for the first time in three decades?
a)India and Iran    b)Egypt and Iran     c)Cuba and US     d)US and Iran    e)none
10. Recently Shimla has been declared the fourth ‘smoking free’ city in India after Chandigarh, Kottayam and Sikkim?

Sanu On

1.      Who has been elected as the President of Indian Newspaper Society for the year 2010-11?
a)K.N Tilak Ram     b)Rakesh Sharma     c)Kundan R.Vyas     d)V.Shankaran      e)none
2.      Recently who among the following conferred with ‘Taj Enlighten Tareef Award’?
a)Leela Naidu     b)Shabana Azmi      c)Javed Akthar    d)Both a& b    e)none
3.      Base Rate of banks is fixed by ______?
a)RBI     b)Finance Minister     c)Both a & b     d)Banks    e)none
4.      India is the ___ Largest Producer of Vehicles in the World?
a)third       b)fifth     c)seventh     d)second     e)none of these
5.      ______ is a Insurance Regulator in India?
a) TRAI    b)SEBI     c)BSE      d)RBI     e)IRDA
6.      Micro Credit in India comes under ________?
a)Private Banking      b)NBFC    c)Rural Banking     d)Cooperative Banking    e)none
7.      What is the present limit for money transfer in RTGS?
a)`1,00,000     b)`1,50,000      c)`2,00,000    d)`2,50,000    e)`5,00,000
8.      Which is the only Asian country represented in the G-8 group?
a)India      b)South Korea     c)China    d)Japan   e)none
9.      Bad Loans can be described as NPA (Non Performing Assets) in banking terminology?
10. A/c to the recent report of ADB, what is India’s urbanization rank in Asia(% of population living in urban areas)? 34th.

Sanu On

1.      RBI has approved the merger of ‘Bank of Rajasthan' with ICICI bank.
2.      Who got the 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the book ‘Solo' - Rana Dasgupta.
3.      Which day has been observed as the International Day of Older Persons(IDOP) - Oct 1st.
4.      What is the India’s rank in the new Global Hunger Index by the International Food Policy Research Institute - 67.
5.       ‘Gourde’ is the currency of which country?
a)Bhutan     b)Haiti     c)Norway    d)Chile     e)none
6.      India has won 101 medals in 2010 Commonwealth Games. In which sport India has won maximum no. of gold medals?
a)Wrestling      b)Boxing     c)Shooting     d)Badminton    e)Weightlifting
7.      Which of the following country is not elected to UNSC as a non-permanent member for a two year term on the council starting from Jan 1st 2011?
a)India     b)Kazakhstan    c)South Africa    d)Germany    e)Portugal
8.      Which of the following ministry has re-launched the PURA(Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) Scheme?
a)Ministry of Urban Development 
b)Ministry of Rural Development
c)Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
d)Ministry of Finance
e)Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
9.      Who among the following has been chosen for ICC Cricketer of the Year 2010?
a)Sachin Tendulkar     b)A B de Villiers     c)Virender Sehwag      d)M S Dhoni    e)none of these
10. Who won the 2010 Champions League Twenty20?
a)Mumbai Indians     b)Royal Challengers Bangalore     c)Warriors    d)Chennai Super Kings   e)none

Sanu On

1.      Based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), the annual rate of inflation stood at ___ percent for the month of September 2010?

a)8.51     b)5.44    c)8.6      d)11.6    e)none

2.      Who is the winner of 64th edition of Santhosh Trophy?

a)Goa     b)Punjab     c)Tamil Nadu     d)Goa    e)West Bengal

3.      Who is the present Chief Minister of Jharkhand?

a)Shibu Soren     b)Madhu Koda     c)Arjun Munda     d)Sudesh Mahto    e)none of these
4.      Which of the following is the first team to play 900 Test matches in cricket history?

a)Australia     b)England     c)India    d)West Indies    e)none

5.      Who is the most powerful women in the world in 2010, compiled by Forbes?

a)Angela Merkel   b)Indra Nooyi    c)Sonia Gandhi    d)Michelle Obama   e)Irene Rosenfeld

6.      What is the present Repo rate?

a)5.75     b)6.00   c)6.25    d)5.25    e)none

7.      Howard Jacobson won the 2010 Man Booker Prize for his novel _____?

a)The Finkler Question     b)The Act of Love    c)Wolf Hall    d)Kalooki Nights   e)none

8.      Recently Pranab Mukherjee has won which of the following award?

a)World’s Best Finance Minister of the year 2010

b)Asia’s Best Finance Minister of the year 2010 

c)India’s Best Finance Minister of the year 2010

d)Both b & c

e)none

9.      Who among the following is the world’s highest paid female athlete by Forbes magazine?

a)Maria Sharapova     b)Serena Williams    c)Danika Patrick     d)Kim Yu-Na    e)none

10. Who has become the first Indian to qualify for 2012 London Olympics?

a)Abhinav Bhindra     b)Saina Nehwal    c)Mary Kom     d)Pankaj Advani    e)Gagan Narang

11. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has released a commemorative stamp on _________?

a) J S Mohammed Ali Shihab Thangal   b)Maulana Mohammad Ali    c)S Ubaidur Rahman    d)Syed Ahmad Khan    e)none

12. Which country has won the 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup?

a)Netherlands     b)England    c)Germany    d)Argentina     e)Australia   

13. What is present interest rate on Savings bank account?

a)3%    b)3.25%     c)3.5%    d)3.75%    e)4.0%

14. Who has been bagged the prestigious Akshaya Samman award for the year 2010?

a)Manna De      b)Ilaiyaraja     c)A R Rehman     d)Hari Prasad Chaurasia   e)none

15. Which of the following films has been nominated for 2011 Oscar awards in Best fim in Foreign Category?

a)Paa     b)Rajneeti     c)Kites    d)Peepli Live   e)none of these

16. Who among the following has been awarded with ‘The World Statesman Award’?

a)Manmohan Singh     b)Sonia Gandhi    c)Pratibha Patil     d)A P J Abdul Kalam    e)none

17. Who has been awarded 'Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize' 2010?

a)Nafisa Ali     b)Irom Chanu Sharmila     c)Jyotirmoyee Devi     d)Anasuyaben Sarabhai    e)none

18. Who among the following has chosen for Jnanpith Award for the year 2008?

a)O.N.V.Kurup      b)Satya Vrat Shastri     c)Ravindra Kelekar      d)Akhlaq Khan Shahryar    e)none of these

19. Who among the following has chosen for 2009 Indira Gandhi National Integration Award?

a)A R Rehman       b)Balraj Puri      c)Ramakrishna Mission Ashram     d)Javed Akhtar     e)Both a & c

20. Recently Puttaraj Gawai has been passed away. He was a famous ______?

a)Social Activist      b)Hindustani Classical musician     c)Journalist    d)Politician   e)none