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February 1, 2016

1) Which tiny Pacific Ocean country

will bring a lawsuit against 9

countries including India forallegedly failing to halt the nuclear

arms race? –Marshall Islands

Explanation: The tiny Marshall

Islands in March 2016 will seek to

persuade International Court of

Justice (ICJ) to take up a lawsuit

against nine countries that includesIndia, which it accuses of failing to

halt the nuclear arms race.

The International Court of

Justice on 30 January 2016

announced dates for separate

hearings for the three cases

between 7 and 16 March 2016. In 2014, the Marshall Islands

accused nine countries of not

fulfilling their obligations with

respect to the cessation of the

nuclear arms race at an early

date and to nuclear

disarmament.

The 9 countries involved in this

matter are China, Britain,

France, India, Israel, North

Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and

the United States.

The Marshall Islands had

decided to sue the world’s

nuclear heavyweights as it has

a particular awareness of the

dire consequences of nuclear

weapons. Between 1946 and

1958 the United States

conducted repeated nuclear

tests in the Marshall Islands.

In the cases brought against

India and Pakistan, the court

will examine whether the

tribunal based in The Hague is

competent to hear the lawsuits.

2) Novak Djokovic won the men’s

singles title of 2016 Australian Openon 31 January 2016 to win his sixth

title of the career. Whom he

defeated in the final? – Andy

Murray (Britain)

Explanation: Novak Djokovic of

Serbia defeated Andy Murray in

straights sets by 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 to



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earn his sixth Australian Open title

of his magnificent career.

This was Djokovic’s 11th

GrandSlam title overall. His 11th grand

slam title also means he has

drawn level with Bjorn Borg

and Rod Laver.

On the other hand, Murray has

now lost all five Australian

Open finals he has played, four

of them against Djokovic. Hethus also became only the

second man (behind his former

coach Ivan Lendl at the US

Open) to lose five finals at the

same Grand Slam since the

open era began in 1968.

3) Who defeated six-time champion

Serena Williams (US) in the

women’s singles final of the

Australian Open on 30 January to

win her maiden Grand Slam tennis

title? – Angelique Kerber

(Germany)

Explanation: Seventh seeded

German player Angelique Kerber

ended six-time champion and top

seeded Serena Williams’ unbeaten

streak in finals on 30 January 2016

and won a major title for the first

time.

Williams was an overwhelming

favourite to win the final where

she had won all six previous

times she’d reached the final.

But Kerber displayed great guts

to stun Williams by 6-4, 3-6, 6-

4.

It is worth mentioning that

Williams won the Australian

Open, French Open and

Wimbledon titles last year

before losing to Roberta Vinci

in the US Open semifinals.

4) Which state became the first

non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)state to sign agreement for the

central government power reforms

plan – Ujwal Discoms Assurance

Yojana (UDAY)? – Uttar Pradesh

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Explanation: Uttar Pradesh on 30

January 2016 became the first non-

BJP ruled state to sign the MoU for

Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana(UDAY). It became the fourth state

(overall) to sign MoU after

Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and

Jharkhand. The total states that

have given in-principle approval of

joining the UDAY reforms are now

15.

For the states that sign up for

UDAY, one of the first steps is

to take over 75% of discom

debt as on 30 September 2015

over two years – 50% in 2015-

16 and 25% in 2016-17.

UP, with its five distribution

companies (discoms), has atotal debt exposure of Rs

53,200 crore, outstanding as

on November 2015, will now be

restructured under UDAY.

5) Who took over as the FlagOfficer Commanding-in-Chief of the

Southern Naval Command on 30

January 2016? – Vice Admiral

Girish Luthra

Explanation: Vice Admiral Girish

Luthra took over charge as the Flag

Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the

Southern Naval Commandfrom Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba on

30 January at a function held at the

Naval base in Kochi.

On the other hand Vice Admiral

Sunil Lanba assumed the

charge of the Flag Officer

Commanding in Chief, WesternNaval Command at a function

held at Mumbai on 31 January

2016. He took reins from Vice

Admiral SPS Cheema, who

retired on the same day.

6) Former Army Chief General KV

Krishna Rao, who passed away on

30 January 2016, was known to

have played a key role in which

war? – 1971 Bangladesh

Liberation War

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Explanation: General Rao was the

14th Chief of the Army Staff of

Indian Army and had an illustrious

career spanning over four decadesin the force. He headed Indian

Army from 1 June 1981 to July

1983.

His Division participated in the

1971 India-Pakistan War in

Eastern Theatre and was

instrumental in the capture of

Sylhet area and liberation of

North-East Bangladesh.

After his retirement he was

appointed Governors of fourstates (Nagaland, Manipur,

Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir)

for different tenures. He was

made Governor of Jammu &

Kashmir in 1989, a time when

militancy was at its peak in the

state.

February 2, 2016

1) Chinese Army on 1 February

2016 implemented which major

step as part of the comprehensive

plan to carry out reforms in

country’s military structure? – It

established military’s five new

battle zones

Explanation: Chinese Army on 1

February 2016 reclassified seven

military regions into five new battle

zones – the East, West, South,

North and Middle battle zones.

These new zones will now shoulderthe responsibility of responding to

their respective security threats,

upholding peace and constraining

conflict.

It is worth mentioning that

China is pushing major reforms

in its military establishment forsome time now.

The reforms include

establishing a joint operational

command structure by year

2020 and rejigging existing



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military regions, as well as

cutting troop numbers by

300,000.

It has already inaugurated a

general command unit for the

People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

in 2015. Later PLA’s four

military headquarters were split

into 15 new units – covering

everything from logistics to

equipment development,

political work and fightingcorruption.

2) Which community of Andhra

Pradesh came to news for being

engaged in a stir seeking

reservation under OBC category,

which turned violent on 31 January

2016 after a train was sent ablaze?

–Kapu Community

Explanation: Andhra Pradesh’s

Kapu community has been

demanding job reservations under

Other Backward Caste (OBC)

category for quite some time. Chief

Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had

promised OBC status to the

community during Assembly

elections in 2014.

The protest, which was going

on for some days, turned

violent on 31 January 2016 as

the agitators went on rampage,

setting four coaches of

Ratnachal Express on fire at

Tuni station near Vijayawadaand blocked the national

highway-16 in East Godavari

district. However, no casualty

took place as all passengers

had vacated the bogies.

Seven trains were cancelled,

four others partially cancelled

and six diverted on the Vijayawada-Rajahmundry-

Visakhapatnam section due to

the protest.

Later on 1 February 2016 the

leaders of Kapu community

called off its agitation after

assurances from Chief Minister

Chandrababu Naidu.

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3) Which two-wheeler company on

1 February 2016 launched ‘V’, a

new bike, which contains the metal

from India’s first aircraft carrier INS

Vikrant? – Bajaj Auto

Explanation: Bajaj Auto, the

Pune-based two and three-wheeler

maker, rolled-out the 150-cc bike,

christened ‘V’. The main attraction

of ‘V’ is that it has been built from

metal used in the country’s most

celebrated aircraft carrier – the INS

Vikrant. The bike sports a special

logo to commemorate the aircraft

carrier.

INS Vikrant was commissioned

as the first aircraft carrier of

Indian Navy in 1961. After

years of distinguished service,

she was decommissioned in

January 1997 and served as a

museum till 2012. In late 2014,

Vikrant was dismantled and

sold as scrap metal.

Bajaj Auto purchased the

Vikrant metal and processed it

to be a part of its new brand.

The company feels that thenew bike will therefore

preserve a significant piece of

Indian military history. (Photo

Courtesy : The Hindu)

4) Which Indian player won the

men’s singles title of the Syed Modi

Badminton Grand Prix Gold that

concluded on 31 January 2016 at

Lucknow? – K Srikanth

Explanation: Top-seeded and

world no. 9 Kidambi Srikanth of

India defeated Huang Yuxiang of

China in the men’s singles finals of

the Syed Modi Badminton Grand

Prix Gold Cup on 31 January. He

defeated Huang by 21-13, 14-21,

21-14 in three games to claim the

title.

Srikanth had reached the

summit clash in the last editionas well. This was his fifth major

title, having won the 2013

Thailand Grand Prix Gold, 2014

China Super Series premier and

Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold

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and India Super Series during

2015.

In the women’s singles final,

South Korean Sung Ji Hyunedged out Japan’ s Sayaka Sato

12-21, 21-18, 21-18 to win the

title.

However, Indian men’ s

doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry

Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar

wasted two match points in the

second game to go down 14-21, 24-22, 21-8 against

Malaysian pair of V. Shem Goh

and Wee Kiong Tan in their

first-ever Grand Prix Gold

summit clash.

5) T.N. Gopakumar, who passed

away during January 2016, was a

noted electronic media personality

of which state? – Kerala

Explanation: T.N. Gopakumar was

the editor-in-chief of Asianet, a

Malayalam TV channel. He was also

the popular anchor of the show ‘Kannadi’.

His show was noted for sharp

commentary and revealing

portraits of Kerala that was far

away from the development

tapestry as it was hailed to be.

Gopakumar started his

journalistic career with ‘The

Indian Express’ and later

worked

with ‘Mathrubhumi’, ‘News

Time’,

‘Statesman’, ‘Independent’, ‘Ind

ia Today’ and ‘BBC Radio’. He

returned to Kerala whenentrepreneur and journalist K.

Sashikumar launched the

Asianet channel in 1991.

He was suffering from cancer

and passed away on 30

January 2016 at the age of 58.

February 3, 2016

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1) What is the name of the woman

IPS officer who on 2 February 2016

became the first woman to head a

paramilitary force in India? –

Archana Ramasundaram

Explanation: Archana

Ramasundaram, a 1980 batch

officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre,

created history when she was

appointed the new Director General(DG) of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

She thus became the first woman

to head a paramilitary force in the

country.

Archana is currently Special

Director, National Crime

Records Bureau. She has beenappointed to the post till the

date of her superannuation, 30

September 2017.

The SSB is entrusted with

guarding the country’s frontiers

with Nepal and Bhutan. The

other four paramilitary forces

are the Central Reserve Police

Force (CRPF), Border SecurityForce (BSF), Central Industrial

Security Force (CISF) and Indo

Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

2) State Bank of India (SBI) on 1

February 2016 launched the

‘FlexiPay Home Loan’ scheme,

which gives borrowers an option to

pay only interest during a three-five

year moratorium period. This

product has been targeted towards

which home loan segment? –

Young working professionals

Explanation: Under the ‘FlexiPay

Home Loan’ scheme, which has

been launched primarily for young

professionals, the borrowers can

pay only interest during a three-

five-year moratorium. Thereafter

they will pay moderated equated

monthly installments (EMIs).

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The EMIs will be stepped up

during the subsequent years,

capturing payment of the

principal component. Thisarrangement is expected to

lower the impact of such

additional loan amount on

monthly repayments in the

form of EMIs.

This scheme is expected to

enable young working

professionals/executives to gethigher loan amounts compared

to their loan eligibility under

normal home loan schemes.

3) Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Governor Raghuram G. Rajan

presented the sixth bi-monthly

monetary policy review on 2

February 2016. All the key rateswere kept unchanged in the policy

review which meant that the most

important Repo Rate will remain

unchanged at 6.75%. What the

projected growth rate is for fiscal

2016-17 as stated in the review? –

7.6%

Explanation: Keeping the key

rates unchanged, the RBI indicated

that rates would continue to soften.

The RBI Governor, however,

cautioned that the

recommendations of the

Seventh Pay Commission had

not been factored into its

growth projections.

After the latest review, the

repo rate, or the rate at which

the central bank infuses

liquidity into the system,

remained at 6.75%. The cash

reserve ratio (CRR), or the

portion of a bank’s money

maintained with the central

bank in cash, remained at 4%.

The RBI expected growth 7.6%

for the financial year 2016-17

(ending March 2017).

4) The World Health Organization(WHO) on 1 February 2016 made

which important announcement

pertaining to explosively spreading

Zika virus? – It declared it as an

international emergency

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Explanation: The WHO convened

an emergency meeting of

independent experts on 1 February

2016 to assess the outbreak afternoting a suspicious link between

Zika’s arrival in Brazil last year and

a surge in the number of babies

born with abnormally small heads.

Later it was declared an

international emergency,

despite the fact that there wasno definitive proof that the Zika

virus, spread by mosquitoes, is

responsible for the birth

defects. Such emergency

declarations are meant as an

international SOS signal.

WHO estimates there could be

up to 4 million cases of Zika inthe Americas in the next year.

The last such public health

emergency was declared for

the devastating 2014 Ebola

outbreak in West Africa, which

killed more than 11,000 people.

5) Which company replaced Apple

Inc. as the world’s most valuable

company, as reflected in the US

markets on 1 February 2016? – Alphabet (Google’s parent

company)

Explanation: Apple Inc., which

has long been on the top of the

world’s most valuable companies

list, slipped to second place as

Google’s parent company Alphabet

Inc. on 1 February overtook it to

become no.1. This happened after

Alphabet released a fourth-quarter

earnings report that highlighted the

robust growth of the digital ad

market. Apple Inc.’s iPhone,

meanwhile, is suffering its first

downturn since it debuted eightyears ago.

Based on that after-hours

bump, Alphabet’s market value

stood at $555 billion while

Apple’s was at $533 billion,

based on the most recent

regulatory filings showing thecompany’s outstanding shares.

Apple’s stock has been sliding

amid concerns over slowing

iPhone sales

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However, this ranking can change very quickly.

February 4, 2016

1) What is the name of theindigenously built new basic trainer

aircraft being developed by

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL),

the first prototype of which was

rolled-out on 2 February 2016? –

Hindustan Turbo Trainer – 40

(HTT-40)

Explanation: Hindustan Turbo

Trainer- 40 (or HTT-40) is the name

of the indigenous replacement for

the Indian Air Force’s retired HPT-

32 ‘Deepak’ that is being developed

to be used as a basic trainer

aircraft.

The HTT-40 will be an all-metal

tandem seat aircraft powered

by a 950 HP (708 kW) turbo-

prop engine.

But the project to develop HTT-

40 has been marred by doubts

and controversy. The Indian Air

Force (IAF) repeatedly told the

Defence Ministry the HTT-40

would be over-weight, over-

priced and under-performing.

But HAL doggedly continueddevelopment, committing more

than Rs. 350 crore of company

funds.

In its place, the IAF wanted to

import over a hundred new

trainers from Swiss company,

Pilatus, to supplement the 75

Pilatus PC-7 Mark II trainers it

had already bought.

The IAF, is now convinced

about the HTT-40’s viability,

and wants to take charge of

the project.

The prototype of HTT-40 was

rolled-out from a hanger on 2

February 2016 with all its lights

flashing and its cockpit

powered on. (Photo

Courtesy: HAL)



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2) The Mahatma Gandhi National

Rural Employment Guarantee Act

(MGNREGA), which is the largest

programme of its nature for

providing employment in rural areas

anywhere in the world, completed

how many years on 2 February

2016? – 10 years

Explanation: MGNREGA, which

was earlier known as NREGA, came

into effect on 2 February 2006. It

was implemented by the then

United Progressive Alliance (UPA)government. Then it covered only

the 200 poorest districts of the

country and was expanded to cover

all rural areas of the country from

April 2008.

In the short span of 10 years

that the Act has been inexistence, it has generated

19.86 billion person-days of

employment benefitting 276

million workers, with more than

half the jobs going to women

workers and almost a third to

members of scheduled castes

and scheduled tribes.

MGNREGA has played a much

larger role in revitalizing the

labour market in rural areas.

Not only has it led to the

creation of a class of workers

who are using the MGNREGA

as a safety net, but these

workers are also able to use it

as a bargaining tool forextraction of higher wages.

3) A unique MAGIC (Modular, Agile,

Intensified & Continuous) Process

Lab of the Council of Scientific and

Industrial Research (CSIR) wasinaugurated at which CSIR lab on 2

February 2016? – CSIR-National

Chemical Laboratory (Pune)

Explanation: The MAGIC Process

Lab at CSIR-NCL (Pune) is expected

to bring about a paradigm shift in

the way in which India’s fine and

specialty chemicals industry will

operate in the future.

The MAGIC processes

developed in this lab can

radically change currently

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practiced process technologies

into modern processes that are

cleaner, greener, safer,

compact, scalable andeconomical.

4) What is the name of the ex-

Indian Army official who was

appointed as the Head of Mission

and Force Commander of the

United Nations Disengagement

Observer Force (UNDOF) by the UN

on 2 February 2016? – Major

General Jai Shanker Menon

Explanation: Major General Jai

Shanker Menon was Additional

Director General Equipment

Management in the Indian Army.

From 2012 to 2013, he was General

Officer, Commanding an Infantry

Division of the Indian Army.

He was appointed the head of

UNDOF by UN Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon on 2

February. He replaced Lt.General Purna Chandra Thapa

of Nepal, who will complete his

assignment on 7 February

2016.

The UNDOF was established on

31 May 1974 by UN Security

Council (UNSC) following the

agreed disengagement of theIsraeli and Syrian forces in the

Golan.

Since then, UNDOF has

remained in the area to

maintain the ceasefire between

the Israeli and Syrian forces

and to supervise the

implementation of thedisengagement agreement.

5) Veteran Congress leader and

former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram

Jakhar passed away on 3 February

2016. He was a towering

personality during his prime and

was a 4-time MP. He was best

known for his tenure as Lok Sabha

Speaker. When he served this post?

– From 1980 to 1989

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Explanation: In 1980, Balram

Jakhar became Lok Sabha Speaker

and served till 1989 for two terms

during which he was instrumental inautomation and computerisation of

the House works. He also

contributed to the establishment of

Parliament Museum.

Jakhar also served as

Agriculture Minister in the

Cabinet of former Prime

Minister Narasimha Rao. He

also served as Governor of

Madhya Pradesh from 30 June

2004 to 30 May 2009. He was a four-time MP in Lok

Sabha starting from his election

in the seventh Lok Sabha in

1980. He was again elected in

1984, 1991 and 1998. He was

92 and passed away in New

Delhi on 3 February 2016 after

battling a brief period of illness.

February 5, 2016

1) The second-ever

International Fleet Review (IFR) in

India, comprising of navies from 54

countries, commenced at which

place from 4 February 2016? – Vishakhapatnam

Explanation: The International

Fleet Review 2016 is being held at

Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)

from 4 to 8 February 2016.

The theme (motto) for IFR

2016 is ‘United throughOceans ’. However, the overall

theme of this event is ‘Make in

India’.

This is the second IFR to be

held in India and the first on

the East Coast. The last IFR

was held in Mumbai in 2001

and was reviewed by the thenPresident KR Narayanan.

The objective behind this

International Review, is to

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power that sets the agenda in

the northern Indian Ocean.

Among the 54 navies taking

part, there is a tacit acceptanceof this regional primacy, and a

shared belief that this is in the

common interest. Participating

this year is practically every

major navy in the world,

including the People’s

Liberation Army (Navy) of

China. Other importantcountries participating in IFR

include USA, UK, Japan and

Australia.

54 navies are participating in

IFR 2016, compared to 29 in

2001, and 24 foreign warships

are at Vishakhapatnam, exactly

the same number as in 2001 in

Mumbai. During the review, 24

foreign naval chiefs are

expected to visit

Visakhapatnam, while some

4,000 foreign sailors will also

be part of this event. Apart

from this, 75 Indian warships

will participate in IFR 2016.

2) Union Government is set to

infuse how much more funds into

the state-run banks in the current

financial year 2015-16, as was

announced by Financial Services

Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal on 3

February 2016? – Rs. 5,000 crore

Explanation: The Government is

has earmarked fund worth Rs.

25,000 crore for 2015-16 primarily

to strengthen PSU banks’ balance

sheets. Of this about Rs 20,088

crore has already been pumped into

13 public sector banks.

Hence the govt. would infuse

another Rs. 5,000 crore of

capital in the current financial

year.

Last year, the government had

announced a plan, called

‘Indradhanush’, to infuse Rs.70,000 crore in state-owned

banks over four years, while

these would have to raise a

further Rs 1.1 lakh crore from

the markets to meet their

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capital requirements in line

with global risk norms Basel-

III.

Apart from Rs. 25,000 crore

this year, the PSU banks, Rs

10,000 crore each would be

infused in 2017-18 and 2018-

19.

3) What is the name of India’s first

anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug, which

was launched by the Council for

Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR) on 3 February 2016? – BGR-34

Explanation: BGR-34 is the name

of the country’s first anti-diabetic

ayurvedic drug (for type II

Diabetes). It has been developed

jointly by National Botanical

Research Institute (NBRI) and

Central Institute for Medicinal and

Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), the

Lucknow-based research units of

CSIR.

While the modern diabetes

drugs are known for side-

effects and toxicity, BGR-34

works by controlling bloodsugar and limiting the harmful

effects of other drugs. The

product has passed several

battery tests and showed

hypoglycemic activity in

experimental subjects.

AIMIL Pharmaceuticals (I)

Limited has been roped in forcommercial production and

extended distribution of BGR-

34.

4) Which Indian drug manufacturer

came to news on 3 February 2016after it claimed to have filed for

global patents of two vaccines for

Zika virus, with which it could

become world’s first company to

develop a vaccine for Zika? –

Bharat Biotech (Hyderabad)

Explanation: Hyderabad-based

Bharat Biotech on 3 February

claimed to have filed for global

patent of two vaccine candidates –

a recombinant vaccine and an

inactivated vaccine – for Zika virus.

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It also announced that it could

make available the inactivated

vaccine in two years if the Indian

Government fast-tracked theregulatory approvals once the pre-

clinical trials proved to be

successful.

With this Bharat Biotech could

become the world’s first

company to develop a vaccine

to fight Zika virus. Bharat Biotech claimed that

work on Zika vaccine project

was started in 2014 and the

patent was filed in July 2015.

Zika is now present in 23

countries. Brazil, the hardest-

hit country, has reported

around 3,500 cases of thedevastating birth defect called

microcephaly.

5) The 2-day ‘India Investment

Summit’ was inaugurated by Union

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in NewDelhi on 4 February 2016. This

summit seeks to attract long term

investors including Sovereign

Wealth Funds and Pension Funds

across the globe. Which entity is

partnering with the Department of

Economic Affairs (Ministry of

Finance) in organizing this summit? – SBI Caps

Explanation: The Summit is to

showcase and discuss the huge

long term infrastructure investment

opportunities in India.

The Government of India has

already established National

Investment and Infrastructure

Fund (NIIF) as a Category II

Alternate Investment Fund

(AIF) under the Securities and

Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

Regulations.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

also unveiled the logo of the Rs

40,000-crore NIIF on the

inaugural day. The objective of

NIIF is to maximise economic

impact mainly through

infrastructure development in

commercially viable projects,

both greenfield and brownfield,including stalled projects and

other nationally important

projects.



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February 6, 2016

1) The 12th edition of South Asian

Games (SAG) was inaugurated by

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5

February 2016. This biggest multi-

sporting event of the SAARC region

is being held in which two cities of

India? – Guwahati and Shillong

Explanation: Explanation: The

inaugural ceremony of 12th South

Asian Games (12th SAG) was held at

the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium

in Guwahati on 5 February 2016.

India is hosting the 12th South

Asian Games, 2016 in Guwahati

and Shillong from 5 February to

16 February 2016.

The motto of SAG 2016 is “Play

for Peace, Progress and

Prosperity “. ‘Tikhor’ the baby

rhino is the mascot of these

games.

The South Asian Games (SAG)

is a biennial multinational multi-

sport event held amongst the

athletes from South Asia and

being organized in the similar

format of Olympics, Asian

Games, and CommonwealthGames (CWG).

In the 12th edition of the South

Asian Games this year, more

than 2600 athletes from eight

member countries namely,

Afghanistan, Bangladesh,

Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka areparticipating.

2) As per the announcement made

by the Indian Foreign Ministry on 4

February 2016, India has ratified an

international convention on nuclear

energy accident liability. This step

was the final piece in its efforts to

address a major concern of foreign

nuclear suppliers. What will be the

main benefit of this ratification? –



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This makes India part of a

global legal regime that has

established a standard for

compensation of victims in theevent of a nuclear accident

Explanation: A statement from

the Indian foreign ministry on 4

February 2016 said India has

submitted the Instrument of

Ratification of the Convention on

Supplementary Compensation

(CSC) for Nuclear Damage to the

International Atomic Energy Agency

(IAEA).

International nuclear reactor

makers such as General Electric

have been reluctant to set up

plants in India because of a

2010 domestic liability law that

makes equipment suppliers

accountable for accidents and

not the plant operators, as is

the global norm.

Therefore no US company had

been willing to invest in India’s

nuclear power market for fearof the liability clause in its

domestic law.

Last year, India launched an

insurance pool with a liability

cap of Rs.1,500 crore ($225

million) to cover the suppliers’

risk of potential liability.

3) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on

5 February 2016 inaugurated a gas

cracker project, which became thefirst petrochemical project to be set

up in the North-East. This project

costing Rs. 10,000 crore has been

setup at which place in Assam? –

Lepetkata

Explanation: Rs.10,000 crore

Assam Gas Cracker Project hasbeen established at Lepetkata in

Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district.

Executed by the Brahmaputra

Crackers and Polymers Ltd., the

project missed several deadlines

and overshot the budget.

It was envisaged by the thenprime minister Indira Gandhi in

1984 and given shape by Rajiv

Gandhi as prime minister in

1985 at the end of the six-year-

long anti-foreigners agitation.

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The then prime minister

Manmohan Singh laid the

foundation stone of the project

in 2007. Gas Authority of India Ltd

(GAIL) has 70% stake in BCPL

while Oil India Limited,

Numaligarh Refinery Ltd and

Assam government have 10%

each.

The project will use naphtha

and natural gas from Assam’soilfields to produce ethylene,

the feedstock for

manufacturing polymers that

are basic building blocks of

plastics.

4) A.G. Krishnamurthy, a doyen of

the Indian advertising industry,

passed away in Hyderabad on 5

February 2016. He was the founder

of which iconic advertising agency?

–Mudra Communications

Explanation: Krishnamurthy had

founded Mudra Communications in

1980 after he worked as an

advertising manager for RelianceIndustries’ in-house fabric brand

Vimal.

Mudra Communications was

owned by Reliance and it went

on to become India’s third

largest advertising agency in

1989, and played a hand inbuilding brands such as Vimal

Fabrics and Rasna, a soft drink

concentrate brand, into

industry leaders.

In March 1991, Krishnamurthy

set up Mudra Institute of

Communications, Ahmedabad

(MICA) that nurtured India’s growing adverting industry with

trained talent.

He retired from Mudra in 2003,

and set up his own consultancy

AGK Brand Consulting.

5) The Trans Pacific Partnership

(TPP), one of the biggest

multinational trade deals ever, was

signed at which place by 12

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countries on 4 February 2016? –

Auckland (New Zealand)

Explanation: 12 countries

involved in TPP are the US, Japan,

Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore,

Brunei, Australia, New Zealand,

Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru.

These 12 countries have a

collective population of about

800 million – almost double

that of the European Union’s

single market. The 12-nation

would-be bloc is already

responsible for 40% of world

trade.

TPP pact aims to deepen

economic ties between these

nations, slashing tariffs and

fostering trade to boostgrowth. Member countries are

also hoping to foster a closer

relationship on economic

policies and regulation.

The first steps towards TPP

started 10 years when the P4

Trade Agreement was put into

effect. This agreement involved4 countries – Brunei, Chile,

New Zealand and Singapore.

February 7-8, 2016

1) The geographical indication (GI)

tag for basmati rice for how many

states was ordered by the

Intellectual Property Appellate

Board (IPAB) on 5 February 2016? – Seven

Explanation: The GI tag for the

basmati rice cultivation will be in

Punjab, Haryana, Himachal

Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand,

Western UP and the two districts of

Jammu and Kathua.

– In this regard, the Intellectual

Property Appellate Board (IPAB)

directed the Chennai-based

assistant registrar of the



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Geographical Indications Registry to

proceed with registration of a

geographical indication (GI) tag for

Basmati rice according to thegeographical demarcation

conducted by the Agricultural and

Processed Food Products Export

Development Authority (APEDA).

– This meant that seven north

Indian Basmati rice-producing

states like Punjab, Haryana,

Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand

and parts of Uttar Pradesh and

Jammu & Kashmir will get the GI

tag.

– APEDA, as a statutory authority

related to exports of agricultural

products, applied for the GI tag for

Basmati, a special long grain

aromatic rice grown in a particular

geographical region of the Indian

sub-continent.

– The appellate authority also

asked the registrar to reconsider

the matter of inclusion of

uncovered areas, including MadhyaPradesh, in the area covered under

the GI for Basmati.

– The authority also dismissed two

petitions from the Basmati Growers’

Association of Lahore, Pakistan,

related to the matter.

– A GI tag can be issued for

agricultural, natural or

manufactured goods that have a

given quality, reputation or other

characteristics attributable to its

geographical origin.

– A GI registration gives the

registered proprietor and authorised

users the legal right to the exclusiveuse of the GI, and no unauthorised

person can use the tag. Some of

the examples of GI are Mysore Silk,

Mysore Agarbathi, Kancheepuram

Silk, Orissa Ikat, Channapatna Toys

& Dolls, and Coimbatore Wet

Grinder.

– Products sold with the GI tag get

premium pricing also.

…………………………………………

………………………………….

2) Sudhir Tailang, who passed

away on 6 February 2016 at a

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private hospital in Delhi, was an

eminent personality associated with

which field? – Political

cartooning

Explanation: Sudhir Tailang came

out with his first cartoon in 1970.

He started his career with the

‘Illustrated Weekly of India’ in

Mumbai, in 1982.

– A year later, he joined

the ‘Navbharat Times’ in New Delhi.He had worked with all major

English newspapers including

the Hindustan Times, the Times of

India and the Indian Express.

– His last assignment was with

the ‘Asian Age’.

– He was awarded the Padma Shriin 2004 for his contribution to the

art of cartooning.

– He was suffering from brain

tumour and had undergone two

surgeries and chemotherapy during

the course of his treatment over

two years. He was 55.

…………………………………………

………………………………….

3) US astronaut Edgar Mitchell,

who was the sixth man to walk on

the Moon, passed away on 5

February 2016 at the age of 85. He

was associated with which path-

breaking NASA mission to the

Moon? – Apollo 14

Explanation: Edgar Mitchell was

part of NASA’s Apollo 14 mission of

year 1971. As a member of the

mission, he spent more than nine

hours on the Moon conducting

experiments.

– His mission to the Moon was the

fourth in the US Apollo series, and

the first to follow the ill-fated Apollo

13 which aborted its attempt to

land after an oxygen tank

explosion.

– Overall 12 persons have the

unique distinction of walking on theMoon and Edgar Mitchell was the

sixth person in this list.

…………………………………………

………………………………….

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4) India’s biggest commercial

vehicles manufacturer Tata Motors

declared a lockout at which of its

bus manufacturing plants on 6

February 2016? – Dharwad

(Karnataka)

Explanation: Tata Motors on 6

February declared a lockout at its

bus manufacturing plant in

Karnataka’s Dharwad, following a

continued strike by workers. The

plant makes buses under the Tata

Marcopolo brand.

– Dissatisfied with the revision in

wages and subsequent suspensionof a dozen staff members, a section

of workers at the plant are alleged

to have incited others to disrupt

work. The company decided to shut

down operations on 6 February.

– Dharwad is one of the youngest

plants of the Mumbai-based

company which began operations in

2009. The plant makes fully-built

buses for intra-city and inter-city

transportation that include 16 to

54-seater standard and 18 to 45-

seater luxury and low-floor city

buses.

– The plant produces 60 buses a

day for both the local market and

markets such as Sri Lanka and

Bangladesh.

…………………………………………

………………………………….

5) Australian all-rounder Shane

Watson emerged as the costliest

player of the IPL player auction that

was held on 6 February 2016. He

was acquired for Rs. 9.5 crore by

Royal Challengers Bangalore. Which

player emerged as the costliest

Indian player in the auction? –

Pawan Negi Explanation: Indian all-rounder

Pawan Negi was bought for Rs 8.5

crore by Delhi Daredevils and he

thus emerged as the costliest

Indian player in this auction.

– Yuvraj Singh was picked by

Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 7crore. Chris Morris was also bought

by Mumbai Indians for Rs. 7 crore

while Mohit Sharma cost Rs. 6.5

crore to Kings XI Punjab.

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February 9, 2016

1) In a historic development, India

on 8 February 2016 firmly chose ‘Net Neutrality’ and immediately

banned differential pricing for

Internet services (data services).

This meant that Facebook’s free

internet scheme, fronted by founder

Mark Zuckerberg, will not be

allowed in the country. How much

fine has been announced on

violators of net neutrality policy? – Rs. 50,000 per day –

Explanation: The Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) on 8 February 2016 issued

the ‘Prohibition of Discriminatory

Tariffs for Data Services

Regulations, 2016’. It barred

service providers from offering orcharging discriminatory tariffs for

data services on the basis of

content.

– The regulation clearly mentioned

“No service provider can offer or

charge discriminatory tariffs for

data services on the basis of

content.” However, reduced tariff

for accessing or providing

emergency services, or at times of

public emergency has been

permitted.

– TRAI will also levy a penalty of

Rs. 50,000 a day for discriminatory

tariffs charged by service providers.These regulations came amid an

ongoing debate over net neutrality

in the country.

– The issue of net neutrality came

to focus after TRAI’s consultation

paper on differential data pricing

was issued in 2015. It had raised

concern over zero-rating tariff

models – a practice wherein service

providers offer free data to users

for select applications and websites.

…………………………………………

…………..

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2) State-owned oil refining entity

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on 7

February 2016 overtook Reliance

Industries Limited (RIL) to become

country’s top refiner. This became

possible after IOC’s mammoth Rs.

34,555 crore refinery was

commissioned on this day. This new

refinery has been established at –

Paradip (Odisha)

Explanation: IOC’s Paradip

refinery was dedicated to the

country by Prime Minister NarendraModi at a programme held on 7

February. With commissioning of

this refinery, IOC overtook RIL as

India’s largest oil refiner.

– Located 140 km from

Bhubaneswar, Paradip refinery is

one of the most modern refineries

in the world which can process

cheaper high sulphur heavy crude

oils.

– It will produce 5.6 million tons

per annum of diesel, 3.79 million

tons of petrol and 1.96 million tons

of kerosene/ATF. Besides, 790,000

tons of LPG and 1.21 million tons of

petcoke would also be produced

here.

– Paradip refinery thus has capacity

to refine 15 million tons of crude

oil. Prior to Paradip, IOC’s eight

refineries had a cumulative capacity

of 54.2 million tons of crude oil.

Paradip helped IOC overtake

Reliance Industries, which has twin

refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat

with a capacity of 62 million tons.

– IOC also has a subsidiary Chennai

Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL) which

operates refineries with total

capacity of 11.50 million tons.

– Paradip refinery took almost 16

years to complete. Its foundation

stone was laid by the then Prime

Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 24

May 2000.

…………………………………………

…………..

3) Which Indian woman was

invited to serve as a panelist on

United Nations (UN) panel on

women’s economic empowerment,

as announced by the UN Secretary

General Ban Ki-Moon on 6 February

2016? – Renana Jhabvala

Explanation: Renana Jhabvala isan Ahmedabad-based social worker,

who came to news as she was

invited to serve as a panelist on

United Nations (UN) panel on

women’s economic empowerment.

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– She is the daughter of Booker-

prize winning novelist and screen-

writer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and

well-known architect Cyrus S H

Jhabvala. Renana has also been

active for decades in organising

women into organisations and trade

unions in India and is extensively

involved in policy issues relating to

poor women and the informal

economy.

– She is the Nation Coordinator of

the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), trade

union for poor, self-employed

women workers in India founded by

noted Gandhian and civil rights

leader Ela Bhatt. Renana has won

the Padma Shri for her efforts.

– The United Nations has

established the panel to provide

recommendations on improving

economic outcomes for women and

promoting women’s leadership in

driving sustainable, inclusive and

environmentally-sensitive economic

growth. The role of the panel is

important in view of the 2030

Agenda for Sustainable

Development.

…………………………………………

…………..

4) Nida Fazli, who passed away on

8 February 2016, was a renowned

personality associated with which

field? – Urdu and Hindi poetry

Explanation: Noted Urdu and

Hindi poet Muqtida Hasan Nida

Fazli, popularly known as Nida Fazli,

passed away on 8 February 2016 in

Mumbai. He was 77.

– Fazli was one of the most popular

writers of present time with some

iconic compositions like ‘Tu Is Tarah

Se Meri Zindagi Mein Shaamil Hai ’,

‘Hosh Waalon Ko Khabar Kya ’, ‘ Aa

bhi jaa, aa bhi jaa ’ and ‘Muh ki baatsune har koi ’.

– He teamed up with Jagjit Singh in

1994 to bring an album named

‘Insight’, which got appreciation for

its soulful poetry and music. He

became known among readers and

ghazal singers for his elegant

presentation and exclusive use of

colloquial language for ghazals,

dohaas and nazms, while avoiding

complex Persian imagery.

…………………………………………

…………..

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5) Two infrastructure entities have

sought the approval of capital

market regulator SEBI to launch

India’s first infrastructure

investment trust (InvIT)? – IRB

Infrastructure Developers Ltd

and GMR Infrastructure Ltd

Explanation: Both IRB

Infrastructure Developers Ltd (IRB)

and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. (GMR),

in the application to the Securities

and Exchange Board of India

(SEBI), have identified assets theywant to list under infrastructure

investment trust (InvIT).

– InvITs are trusts which manage

income generating infrastructure

assets, typically offering investors

regular yields and a liquid method

of investing in infrastructure

projects.

– They are expected to encourage

higher foreign investment in the

Indian infrastructure sector, reduce

the burden on the banking system,

and allow developers to unlock tied-

up capital.

– It is worth mentioning that IRB

was the first company to announce

plans for an InvIT.

……………………………………………………..

6) The 9th edition of the India-

Nepal combined battalion-level

military training exercise named

‘Surya Kiran’ commenced on 8

February 2016. This 14-day

exercise comprising of counter-

terrorism operations and ‘jungle

warfare’ is being held at whichplace? – Pithoragarh

(Uttarakhand)

Explanation: ‘Surya Kiran’ is the

name given to the series of bi-

annual military exercise which is

conducted alternatively in Nepal

and India.

– This edition of exercise is beingheld under the aegis of Panchshul

brigade of central command.

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1) In a landmark development, the

environmental panel of International

Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on 8

February 2016 reached agreement onlong-sought greenhouse gas emissions

standards for airliners and cargo

planes. What is the basic deadline for

aircrafts to meet norms as agreed to

by the said panel? – New aircrafts

should meet the emission standards

beginning 2020

Explanation: The agreement reached

by ICAO’s environmental panel

requires that new aircraft designs

meet the standards beginning in 2020,

and that designs already in production

comply by 2023.

– There is also a cut-off date of 2028

for the manufacture of planes that

don’t comply with the standards.

– The standards would be the first ever

to impose binding energy efficiency

and carbon dioxide reduction targets

for the aviation sector.

– When fully implemented, the

standards are expected to reduce

carbon emissions by more than 650

million tons between 2020 and 2040,

equivalent to removing over 140

million cars from the road for a year.

– While the ICAO agreement was

welcomed by the White House, it drew

criticism from environmentalists whosaid they would be too weak to

actually slow global warming.

……………………………………………………….

2) Which public-sector bank’s net

profit plunged by over 90% during the

third quarter (Q3) ended December

2015, as reported in the results on 9February 2016? – Punjab National

Bank (PNB)

Explanation: PNB’s net profit for the

3rd quarter (Sep-Dec 2015) was just

Rs. 51 crore. It was way lower than the

average Rs. 700 crore estimated by

analysts.

– The bank’s profitability was hit by

sharp rise in provision for bad loans. Its

gross non-performing assets (bad

loans) surged to 8.47% of advances in

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bank to double provisions to Rs. 3,776

crore in Q3 from Rs.1,882 crore in Q2.

– PNB thus joined a string of other

banks that have reported higher bad

loans following RBI’s order asking

banks to treat some stressed

borrowers as non-performing even if

they have not defaulted yet.

……………………………………………………….

3) On 8 February 2016, the Export-

Import (EXIM) Bank of India

announced plans to raise $300 million

through ‘Panda Bonds’ to finance

demand for credit. What are ‘Panda

Bonds’? – Panda bonds are renminbi-

denominated (Chinese currency)

instruments from a non-Chinese

issuer, sold in China

Explanation: EXIM Bank is seeking to

raise Panda Bonds because the

currency swap rates to raise money

from the Chinese market are looking

attractive at present. However, the

timing for bond offering would depend

on favourable swap rates.

– EXIM was looking at a big issue to

finance some of the major

infrastructure projects that were now

coming up. So far this financial year,

EXIM Bank has raised $500 million

through green bonds and another

$500 million through a dollar-

denominated bond.

……………………………………………………….

4) Sushil Koirala, the 37th

PrimeMinister of Nepal, passed away in the

morning of 9 February 2016. He was

instrumental in promulgating the new

constitution of the country during

September 2015. He was the Prime

Minister of the country during which

trying period? – 2014-15

Explanation: Sushil Koirala was Prime

Minister of Nepal from 11 February

2014 to 10 October 2015. He was also

the President of the Nepali Congress,

presently the most important political

entity in the country, from 2010.

– Koirala was member of the politically

prominent Koirala family. He was thecousin of former prime ministers Girija

Prasad Koirala, Matrika Prasad Koirala

and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala.

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– He was diagnosed with lung cancer in

June 2014. He passed away on 9

February during his sleep at the age of

78.

……………………………………………………….

5) The first-ever joint-tactical exercise

of Indian and Chinese troops was held

on 6 February 2016 at which place in

India? – Chushul-Moldo area in J&K’s

Ladakh region

Explanation: This first of its-kind

exercise was held in Chushul-Moldo

area of Eastern Ladakh sector ofJammu & Kashmir on 6 February. The

exercise focused on humanitarian aid

and disaster relief.

– The exercise was code-named “Sino-

India Cooperation 2016’’. The joint

exercise was based on a situation of

national disaster occurring on the

border and subsequent coordination of

rescue mission by joint teams of both

the countries.

– Led by Colonel Ritesh Chandra Singh,

thirty Indian personnel participated in

the joint exercise. The Chinese

delegation was led by Colonel Qu Yi.

……………………………………………………….

6) The 4th World Government Summit

(WGS), an event to bring together

more than 150 governments and

organisations on the global platform to

share knowledge and experiences in

the efforts to improve governmentwork, commenced on 8 February 2016.

This event is hosted by which country

annually? – United Arab Emirates

(UAE)

Explanation: The 4th edition of

World Government Summit (WGS) was

opened on 8 February 2016 at Dubai

(UAE). The theme of this summit is

‘Shaping Future Governments’.

– Since 2013, the UAE government has

hosted the ‘World Government

Summit’ that brings together

government officials, thinkers, policy

makers and private sector executives

to discuss the best ways to develop the

future of government.

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February 11-12, 2016

1) Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, the

brave-heart soldier of the Indian Army,

passed away on 11 February 2016 after

battling for his life at an army hospital

in New Delhi. He was rescued alive on

the night of 8 February after being

buried under 35 feet of snow for 5

days in Siachen. To which regiment of

the Indian Army did he belong? – 19

Madras Regiment

Explanation: Hanamanthappa

belonged to a farming family in

Betadur village, Kundagol taluk,

Dharwad district, Karnataka.

– Despite being rejected thrice in the

Army recruitment rallies at Belagavi,

Dharwad and Gadag, Hanamanthappakept on trying and finally managed to

get into the 19 Madras Regiment of

the Indian Army 14 years ago.

– He was buried in a huge avalanche at

an army border outpost in the Siachen

sector (J&K) on 3 February but

amazingly survived for 5 days and was

later rescued on 8 February 2016.

– He was admitted at the Research &

Referral Hospital of the Indian Army on

9 February and was on ventilator since.

His condition steadily deteriorated due

to multiple organ failure.

……………………………………………….

2) Setting the stage for the phased

elimination of malaria across the

country, the Union Govt. launched the

National Framework for Malaria

Elimination (NFME) on 11 February

2016. What is the main objective of

this framework? – To eliminate

malaria by year 2027 from the

country, ahead of the WHO’s target of

2030

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Explanation: The Union Govt. launched

the ambitious National Framework for

Malaria Elimination (NFME) on 11

February 2016 which seeks tocompletely eliminate malaria in the

country by year 2027.

– NFME is part of the 12th plan

document and will be implemented for

the next five years. After five years, it

will be halted briefly for a review and

re-started with the feedback received

from the agencies concerned.

– Under NFME, people with fever will

be diagnosed with rapid tests and

prompt treatment for those tested

positive with malaria will be provided.

In the first phase of the project, states

like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal

Pradesh and Punjab will be covered.

– It will also focus on 11 endemic

states in the north-east and the tribal

belts in east and central India.

……………………………………………….

3) Around one lakh jewellery shops all

over the country remained closed on10 February 2016 to protest against

which central government rule that

came into effect from 1 January 2016?

– To mandatorily quote PAN for any

transactions of Rs. 2 lakh and above

Explanation: Around one lakh

jewellery shops registered with over

300 different jewellery associations

across the country observed one-daystrike on 10 February 2016 to protest

against norms that make it mandatory

to quote PAN for any transactions of Rs

2 lakh and above. This new rule was

put into effect from 1 January 2016.

– According to leading jewellery

associations, this rule has put a

pressure on the sale of jewellery,

particularly in the semi-urban and rural

regions. With only 22.3 crore PAN

cards being issued, people residing in

these areas jewelers finding it

extremely difficult to purchase

jewellery as a result of which there had

been a 30% dip in sales volumes since1 January 2016.

– Nearly 50% of gold jewellers’

business generally originates from the

small towns and thousands and PAN

card availability in these areas is very

low. This has struck the jewelers hard.

……………………………………………….



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4) The girl child welfare programme

‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ was

extended to how many new districts

by the Union Govt. on 10 February

2016? – 61 districts

Explanation: ‘Beti Bachao Beti

Padhao’, which is the flagship

programme of the Women and Child

Development Ministry, was launched

in additional 61 districts (covering 11

states) on 10 February 2016. The

scheme was initially launched in 100

districts.

– The 11 states are: Uttar Pradesh,

Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal

Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab,

Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

– The programme, launched by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi in Haryana

last year, seeks to improve the

declining trend of child sex ratio in

selected districts.

– It is worth mentioning that malaria

has shown significant drop recently

with just around 273 people last year

(2015) as compared to 562 deaths in2014.

……………………………………………….

5) Which state became the first state

in the country to record failure of

winter crop, as announced by it on 10

February 2016? – Karnataka

Explanation: On 10 February

Karnataka became the first state in the

country to witness a disastrous winter

harvest this year after it requested

central assistance of Rs.1,417 crore

after rabi crop worth Rs.7,209 crore

was damaged. The state government

claimed that it has lost rabi crop in

more than 70% of the sown area.

– This development came at a time

when an unusually dry and warm

winter has not only affected planting

across India, but also raised fears of

another failed crop, especially in

parched states such as Maharashtra

and Uttar Pradesh. A failed rabi crop

will mean the fourth consecutive crop

failure for Indian farmers, coming on

the back of two failed kharif crops (in

2014 and 2015), interspersed with a

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spate of unseasonal rains that

damaged last year’s winter harvest in

15 states.

……………………………………………….

6) What is the name of the ad-free

premium version of the video

streaming site YouTube that was

launched by the company on 10

February 2016? – ‘YouTube Red

Originals’

Explanation: ‘YouTube Red Originals’ is

an ad-free premium version of the

Google-owned video streaming site

YouTube that also lets users save

videos offline and play videos in

background. It officially went live with

its original movies from 10 February.

– This series is part of Google parent

Alphabet’s efforts to attract users to its

paid service. The move will pit

YouTube against video streamingpioneer Netflix.

– Although this premium service is

presently not available in India, Google

has left a back door for viewers to

watch the content.

– YouTube Originals, which is a list of

original series and movies from someof YouTube’s popular creators, in India

can be viewed either via the Google

Play Store or via YouTube.

February 13, 2016

1) In a path-breaking development in

the field of Physics, a group of

scientists on 11 February 2016

announced the detection of

Gravitational Waves. This

announcement threw open a new

window to the cosmos and to human

understanding of space and time.

Which scientist had predicted the

existence of gravitational waves some

100 years ago? – Albert Einstein



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Explanation: The scientists of US-

based Laser Interferometer

Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)

on 11 February 2016 claimed to havedetected the sound of gravitational

waves from the merger of two black

holes.

– This collision of two black holes had

been predicted but never observed.

– The discovery came after decades of

instrument research and development,and the collaborative efforts of around

1,000 scientists, 90 institutions and 15

countries, including India.

– This was the first time a Binary Black

Hole system has been directly

observed. The discovery, possibly the

biggest scientific breakthrough of the

century so far, radically expands the

ways in which the cosmos can now be

observed and understood.

– The study of gravitational waves will

offer scientists greater insights into the

origin of the universe and how planets

are created.

– LIGO is a system of two identical

detectors located in Livingstone,

Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington,

which were constructed to detect tiny

vibrations from passing gravitational

waves.

……………………………………………..

2) History was created on 12 February

2016 when Pope Francis, the head of

the Roman Catholic churches, andPatriarch Kirill, the supreme of the

Russian Orthodox churches, met at

Havana’s José Martí International

Airport in Cuba. This was the first

meeting of the heads of the two

Christian groups in around 1,000 years

since the Great Schism shattered

Christendom. The Great Schism tookplace in which year? – 1054 AD

Explanation: The Great Schism (also

called the East –West Schism) was the

event that broke the chord between

the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman

Catholic churches in 1054. The primary

reasons for this split between the twochurches were – the source of the Holy

Spirit, whether leavened or

unleavened bread should be used in

the Eucharist and the Pope’s claim to

universal jurisdiction.

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– Despite famine, religious wars,

worldwide conflict and the spread of

civilization, the heads of the Roman

Catholic and the Russian Orthodoxchurches haven’t spoken since the

Great Schism of 1054.

– But on 12 February Pope Francis and

the Primate of the Russian Orthodox

Church, Patriarch Kirill, met in Havana,

Cuba and took historic steps for

restoring ties between the two

churches.

– Francis and Kirill also called for

political leaders to act on the single

most important issue of shared

concern between the Catholic and

Orthodox churches today: the plight of

Christians in Iraq and Syria who are

being killed and driven from their

homes by the Islamic State group.

– It is worth mentioning that the split

between the two churches nearly

1,000 years ago has festered over

issues such as the primacy of the pope

and accusations by the Russian

Orthodox Church that the CatholicChurch tries to poach converts in

Russia.

……………………………………………..

3) The ministry of corporate affairs

(MCA) ordered a merger between two

entities on 12 February 2016 which

was the first time that the governmentforced a merger between two private

entities, using a provision of the

Companies Act that allows it do so in

public interest? – Financial

Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) and

National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL)

Explanation: The MCA on 12 February

2016 ordered a merger between

Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL)

and its unit National Spot Exchange Ltd

(NSEL), making FTIL responsible for the

liabilities of the fraud-hit commodities

bourse.

– It’s Thus also became the first – ever

instance of the Union Govt. forcing a

merger between two private entities,

using a provision of the Companies Act

that allows it do so in public interest.

– FTIL, controlled by entrepreneur

Jignesh Shah, immediately said it will

challenge the order in the Bombay

High Court. FTIL owns 99.99% of NSEL,on which trading was suspended after

a Rs. 5,574.35 crore fraud at the latter

came to light in July 2013.

……………………………………………..



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4) Which important 4-day event

associated with the birds in the

country started from 12 February

2016? – Great Backyard Bird Count

Explanation: The 4th edition of the

Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)

India commenced from 12 September

2016. The main objective of GBBC is to

create an annual snapshot of the

distribution and abundance of birds in

the country. It is the part of a global

event associated with bird-watching

and bird-related activities.

– Over 1,000 birdwatchers from across

India are expected to take part in this

global event. More than 150

educational and other institutions are

documenting their birds through the

Campus Bird Watch.

– The data gathered from GBBC canprovide the first sign that individual

species may be increasing or declining

from year to year.

……………………………………………..

5) Delhi Government on 11 February

2016 announced bringing back the

odd-even road rationing scheme once

again for a period of 15 days. This

scheme will put into effect from which

date? – 15 April 2016

Explanation: Delhi Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal announced bringing

back the odd-even road rationing

scheme from 15 April 2016 for a periodof 15 days. The state govt. also

announced that the government is also

seriously thinking implementing the

15-day odd-even scheme every month.

– Two-wheelers and women motorists

would continue to be exempted from

this scheme.

– The scheme aimed at curbing

pollution by halving the number of cars

plying in the city was first implemented

from 1 January to 15 January 2016.

– The govt. claimed that the first phase

of odd-even scheme did not really shift

people to Metro but was successful inencouraging car-pooling.

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1) Which public-sector bank on 12

February 2016 announced net loss of

Rs. 3,342 crore for quarter ended

December 2015, which is the largest

quarterly loss by a bank in the history

of Indian banking industry? – Bank of

Baroda (BOB)

Explanation: Bank of Baroda (BOB)

posted a quarterly net loss of Rs. 3,342crore for the third quarter of 2015-16

(Sep-Dec), as compared to a profit of

Rs. 333 crore in the same period of last

year.

– This was the largest loss by a bank inthe Indian banking history. The loss

was primarily driven by a 463%

increase in provisions towards bad

loans which rose from Rs. 1,149 crore

in the previous quarter to Rs. 6,474

crore.

– It is worth mentioning that the RBI

had asked PSU banks to treat some

troubled accounts as official bad loans

and make adequate provisions.

– Among the worst performers, IDBI

Bank made a loss of Rs. 2,184 crore,

IOB Rs. 1,425 crore and Bank of India

Rs. 1,505 crore.

………………………………………….

2) Which team won the ICC Under-19

World Cup 2016 by defeating India in

the finals on 14 February 2016? – West

Indies



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Explanation: West Indies shocked

favourites India in the finals of 2016

ICC Under-19 World Cup that was

played between the two countries on14 February 2016 at Dhaka

(Bangladesh).

– Batting first, the Indian team was

bowled-out for a paltry 145 runs off

45.1 overs. West Indies successfully

chased the winning target in 49.3 overs

for the loss of 5 wickets. It is worth

mentioning that India was the only

undefeated team in the tournament.

– This was the maiden ICC U-19 World

Cup title for West Indies.

– The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup

is an international cricket tournament

contested by national under-19 teams.

First contested in 1988, as the Youth

World Cup, it was not staged again

until 1998. Since then, the World Cup

has been held as a biennial event,

organised by the International Cricket

Council (ICC). India and Australia have

been the most successful teams in this

tournament, having won thetournament thrice each. Pakistan has

won the tournament twice, while

South Africa, England and now the

West Indies have won it once.

………………………………………….

3) ONV Kurup, who passed away on 13

February 2016, was a celebrated poet

and lyricist associated with which

language? –Malayalam

Explanation: Ottaplakkal NeelakandanVelu Kurup (ONV Kurup) was one of

the most celebrated and respected

poet of Malayalam language. His

influential presence existed for nearly

seven decades in Kerala’s cultural

landscape.

– As a poet and public figure, he was

associated with the political and

cultural Left all through his life. He also

contested unsuccessfully as the Left

Front candidate from the

Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in

1989.

– He received numerous awards for his

poetry, including the Sahitya Akademi

prize (1975) and the Jnanpith Award

(2007), and a dozen Kerala state film

awards for lyrics. He also received the

Padma Shri (1998) and Padma

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Vibhushan (2011), the fourth and

second highest civilian honours from

the Government of India.

– He passed away on 13 February in

Thiruvananthapuram at the age of 84.

………………………………………….

4) What is the name of the President

of the Jawaharlal Nehru University

Student’s Union (JNUSU) who was

arrested on charges of sedition on 12

February 2016 resulting in a huge

showdown between the Union Govt.

and the Opposition? – Kanhaiya

Kumar

Explanation: Kanhaiya Kumar, thepresident of Jawaharlal Nehru

University Student’s Union (JNUSU)

was arrested by the police on 12

February 2016. He was arrested on

charges of sedition one day after a

controversial event organized on the

campus against the hanging of Afzal

Guru.

– The arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar upped

the Opposition ante over the BJP-led

National Democratic Alliance (NDA)

with a huge opposition show-down

held on 13 February.

– The Opposition claimed that the

government was suppressing the

voices of the people. This showdown

was attended by senior opposition

leaders including Congress vice

president Rahul Gandhi.

………………………………………….

5) An Associate Justice of the US

Supreme Court died on 13 February

2016. What was the name of this judge

who served in the US Supreme Court

for almost 30 years and whose deathset up a major political showdown

between President Barack Obama and

the Republican-controlled Senate? –

Justice Antonin Scalia

Explanation: 78-year old Justice

Antonin Scalia passed away at the

Cibolo Creek Ranch resort in West

Texas on 13 February 2016. He served

on the nation’s highest court for nearly

30 years. He was appointed to the

Court by President Ronald Reagan in

1986.

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– Scalia had a “larger-than-life

presence” in the US judiciary and was

known for his strident conservative

views and theatrical flair in thecourtroom. But his death setup a big

showdown between President Obama

and the Republican-controlled Senate,

over who will replace him just months

before a presidential election.

– Justice Scalia was the longest-serving

judge in the Court. It is worth

mentioning that once appointed, the

judges in the US Supreme Court have

life tenure unless they resign, retire,

take senior status, or are removed

after impeachment (though no justice

has ever been removed).

– Scalia was one of the eight associate

justices in the US Supreme Court apart

from Chief Justice John Roberts.

………………………………………….

6) Internet search giant Google on 12

February 2016 announced that with

the objective of fully focusing on

‘Google Photos’ service it will shut

down its photo editing service that has

been in service for over a decade.

What is the name of this famous photo

editing service? – Picasa

Explanation: Picasa is an image

organizer and image viewer application

primarily for organizing and editing

digital photos.

– It was originally created by a

company called ‘Lifescape’ in 2002 but

was acquired by Google in July 2004.

Google started offering Picasa as a

freeware and it went on to become the

most famous photo editing organizer

application in the world.

– But Google introduced its own photo

service named ‘Google Photos’ on 28

May 2015 and now wishes to focus

entirely on it.

– So on 12 February Google announced

that it was discontinuing Picasa,

effective 15 March 2016, and focusing

on Google Photos as its successor.

Picasa Web Albums, a companion

service will be closed on 1 May 2016.

– It is worth mentioning that while

Picasa was more suited for desktop

applications, ‘Google Photos’ provides

more functionality and works across

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February 16, 2016

1) India’s newest and most modern

aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, along

with its support ships INS Mysore and

INS Deepak, reached Maldives’ capital

Male on 15 February 2016 on a 4-day

visit. What is the objective of this visit

of Indian Navy’s ships? – To thwart the

Chinese Navy from making anystrategic in-roads into the Indian

Ocean Region

Explanation: This visit is part of the

overall policy to shape a favourable

maritime environment in the Indian

Ocean Region (IOR) with both presence

and engagement.

– India has been looking to counter the

Chinese aggression in the IOR as the

China is now viewing the ocean region

as its own backyard. An emboldened

Chinese Navy had previously anchored

its warships and submarines in the

Pakistani port of Gwadar and the Sri

Lankan port of Hambantota and

Colombo, causing ripples in the Indian

administration.

– Maldives is a strategically important

country for India in the IOR. Indiareiterated its commitment to train the

archipelago’s military and help it in

maritime surveillance. India is also

likely to help Maldives in setting up 10

coastal surveillance radar system

(CSRS) stations.

– INS Vikramaditya, one of the two

aircraft carriers of the Navy, is capable

of operating a versatile range of high-

performance aircraft, such as the MiG-

29K fighters, KM 31 AEW helicopters,

multi-role Sea-Kings and utility

Chetaks.

…………………………………………………

2) The Urban Development Ministry on

15 February 2016 unveiled the list of

India’s cleanest cities that were

surveyed for sanitation and hygiene

conditions as per ‘Swachh Survekshan-



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2016’. Which city topped this list? –

Mysuru

Explanation: Mysuru in Karnataka

remained the cleanest city in the

country as disclosed in the list of 73

major cities surveyed for sanitation

scenario last month. Results of

‘Swachh Survekshan-2016’ were

released by the Minister of Urban

Development M.Venkaiah Naidu on 15

February 2016.

– It is worth mentioning that last year

Mysuru was ranked as the cleanest city

in the country among 476 cities with

population of at least one lakh.

– The top 10 cities in terms of

sanitation and hygiene in order of rank

are: Mysuru, Chandigarh, Tiruchirapalli

(Tamil Nadu), New Delhi Municipal

Council, Visakhapatnam (Andhra

Pradesh), Surat, Rajkot, both in

Gujarat, Gangtok (Sikkim), Pimpri

Chindwad and Greater Mumbai, both

from Maharashtra.

– Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh),

Surat and Rajkot, both form Gujarat

and Gangtok (Sikkim) improved their

ranks to break into top 10 clean cities

in this year’s survey.

– The bottom 10 cities are: Kalyan

Dombivili (Maharshtra-ranked 64),

Varanasi (UP), Jamshedpur

(Jharkhand), Ghaziabad (UP), Raipur(Chhattisgarh), Meerut (UP), Patna

(Bihar), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh),

Asansol (West Bengal) and Dhanbad,

ranked 73.

– The rankings reflect progress made in

the strategy for open defecation-free

towns and integrated solid waste

management, among others.

…………………………………………………

3) What is the name of given to the

biggest military exercise of its kind

being held from 15 February 2016 for

which 20 armed forces from Arab,

Islamic and friendly countries

assembled in Saudi Arabia? – “North

Thunder”

Explanation: “North Thunder” is the

name given to the biggest military

exercise of its kind in terms of the

number of participating countries and

military equipment that commenced at

the King Khaled Military City (KKMC) in

Saudi Arabia from 15 February 2016.

– This exercise features 20 countries

from Arab, Islamic and countries

friendly to Saudi Arabia. These



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countries are – Saudi Arabia, UAE,

Jordan, Bahrain, Senegal, Sudan,

Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan,

Chad, Tunisia, Comoro Islands,Djibouti, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia,

Egypt, Mauritania, and Mauritius.

– “North Thunder” involves fighter jets

of different models, a wide range of

artillery, tanks, infantry, air defense

systems, and naval forces in a

simulation to reflect the highest level

of preparedness of the 20 participating

countries.

– The exercise aims to send a clear

message that Saudi Arabia, its sister,

brotherly and friendly countries joining

the maneuver are standing together in

the face of all challenges to preserve

peace and stability in the region and

the world at large.

– Saudi Arabia is currently leading a

military campaign against Iran-backed

rebels in Yemen. In December, it also

announced formation of a 35-member

alliance against terrorism.

…………………………………………………

4) Indian Railway Catering and Tourism

Corporation (IRCTC) tied up with which

wallet subsidiary of Tata Teleservices

to provide an additional payment

gateway as announced on 15 February

2016? – mRUPEE

Explanation: mRUPEE, a subsidiary of

Tata Teleservices, on 15 February

announced a tie-up with Indian

Railway Catering and Tourism

Corporation (IRCTC), India’s largest e-

commerce company, to provide an

additional payment gateway.

– This tie-up will allow users one-tap

payments for rail ticket bookings viamRUPEE wallet for a significant

number of travellers.

– mRupee expects that the tie-up with

IRCTC will not only give railway

customers the ease of quick and

convenient booking, but also give a

thrust to the government’s mandate of

enhancing wider adoption of digital

money in India.

…………………………………………………

5) What is the name of the 7th joint

military training exercise between the

Indian Army and the Seychelles

People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) thatstarted at Seychelles Defence Academy

(SDA) from 15 February 2016? –

Lamitye 2016

Explanation: Lamitye is the name given

to the joint military training exercise



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that takes place between the armies of

India and Seychelles. Both the

countries have been conducting joint

exercises since 2001 under the‘Lamitye’ series. ‘Lamitye’ means

friendship in Creole (local dialect of

Seychelles).

– The exercise is conducted biennially

with the aim of enhancing military

cooperation and interoperability

between the two countries.

– ‘Lamitye 2016’ is being conducted at

Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA),

Victoria, Seychelles from 15 February

to 28 February 2016. The SeychellesPeople’s Defence Forces (SPDF) is

being represented by 20 personnel

from Tazar (Special Forces Unit) and 32

from Seychelles Infantry. The Indian

contingent comprises of an Infantry

platoon and representatives from the

Special Forces.

February 17, 2016

1) In a bid to kick-start manufacturing

in the electronics sector in the country,

the Union Govt. on 15 February

launched a Rs. 10,000 crore

development fund specifically targeted

at the semiconductor industry. What is

the name of this fund? – Electronic

Development Fund (EDF)

Explanation: The Electronic

Development Fund (EDF) will provide

risk capital to companies developing

new technologies in electronics, nano-

electronics and information

technology. The fund will also be used

to acquire foreign companies and

technologies that are required for

building hi-tech capabilities within

India

– The Department of Electronics andInformation Technology will be the

anchor investor. Canbank Venture

Capital Fund, a subsidiary of state-run

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appointed the implementation agency

for EDF.

– The Centre will contribute Rs. 2,200

crore, while the balance will be

brought in by private entities. The

Centre has already provided Rs. 169

crore to the four companies, while the

VC firms are investing close to Rs.

1,000 crore.

…………………………………………………

2) The 2016 South Asian Games (SAG)

concluded on 16 February 2016 with a

grand closing ceremony held at

Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic

Stadium. India grabbed an

unprecedented 188 gold medals and

stamped its superiority as an unrivalled

region sporting power. Which country

came second in the medals tally? – SriLanka

Explanation: India, hosting the Games

for the third time after Calcutta (1987)

and Madras (1995), overwhelmingly

dominated the 12thSAF Games by

winning 308 medals (188 gold, 90

silver, 30 bronze).

– Sri Lanka were a distant second with

25 gold, 63 silver and 98 bronze while

Pakistan ended at third with 12 gold,

37 silver and 57 bronze. India, in fact,

bagged more than three-fourth of the

total 239 gold medals on offer in 23

disciplines.

Final Medals Tally

Rank Country Gold S

1 India 188 9

2 Sri Lanka 25 6

3 Pakistan 12 3

4 Afghanistan 7 9

5 Bangladesh 4 1

6 Nepal 3 2

7 Maldives 0 2

8 Bhutan 0 1

Total 239 240 3

…………………………………………………

3) SEBI Chairman UK Sinha’s tenure

was extended by the Union Govt. for

how much time as disclosed on 15February 2016? – One year

Explanation: The government on 15

February 2016 extended U.K. Sinha’s

tenure as the chairman of the

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Securities and Exchange Board of India

(SEBI) for a year. With this, the govt.

opted for continuity at a time of

domestic and global market volatility.

– The appointments committee of the

cabinet approved extension for Sinha

from 18 February 2016 to 1 March

2017 or until further orders, whichever

is earlier.

– Sinha, a 1976 batch Indian

Administrative Service (IAS) officer ofthe Bihar cadre, assumed office as

chairman of the capital market

regulator on 18 February 2011. Initially

appointed for a three-year term, he

was later given a two-year extension.

– With the extension, Sinha has

become the second longest serving

SEBI chief after D.R. Mehta, who was

at the helm for seven years ending in

2002.

…………………………………………………

4) Who was appointed as the new

Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University

(DU) on 15 February 2016 after hisname was selected by President

Pranab Mukherjee from among four

persons? – Yogesh Kumar Tyagi

Explanation: Yogesh Kumar Tyagi is the

Dean of the Law Faculty at South Asian

University. His name was selected by

President Pranab Mukherjee from

among four persons. Last week, the

Human Resource Development (HRD)ministry had forwarded the four names

to the President who, as Visitor of

Central Universities, makes the final

selection.

– The other names on the panel were

JNU professor Rameshwar Nath Kaul

Bamezai, former IIT professor and

UPSC member Hemchand Gupta and

Bidyut Chakraborty, a professor in the

DU Political Science department.

…………………………………………………

5) Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman, Bisleri

International, came to news as he

announced his re-entry into the

carbonated drinks category, nearly 22

years after selling his brands to Coca

Cola. What is the name of the new

carbonated drink he is launching very

soon? – Bisleri Pop

Explanation: Ramesh Chauhan’s

company Bisleri International is

introducing Bisleri Pop in four variants:

Bisleri Limonata, Bisleri Fonzo, Bisleri

Pina Colada and Bisleri Spyci, from this

month, in all the major cities.



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– Bisleri Pop took eight months to

develop and Chauhan is expected to

put all his experience to ensure it clicks

in the marketplace. Once known asIndia’s cola king, he had sold his

carbonated drink portfolio comprising

of iconic brands such as Thums Up,

Gold Spot and Citra, to the Coca Cola

Company in 1993.

– The launch of Bisleri Pop portfolio

will be accompanied by an outdoors

campaign, subsequently moving to

media such as television and digital to

attract youngsters.

– The Rs. 13,000-14,000 crore soft

drinks market in India is dominated by

Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo. They

straddle the beverage pyramid with

carbonated and non-carbonated

drinks. Ironically, Thums Up, launched

by Chauhan when Coca-Cola first

exited India in 1977, remains the

largest cola brand in Coca-Cola’s

portfolio.

February 18, 2016

1) What is the interest rate on

provident fund savings for 2015-16 as

announced by the Employees’

Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) on

16 February 2016? – 8.8%

Explanation: The new rate is a

marginal increase from the 8.75%

interest rate paid in 2014-15. In fact,

the 8.8% interest rate on EPF is the

highest since 2010-11 when the EPF

savings earned a 9.5% rate of return.

– The financial audit and investment

committee (FAIC) of EPFO in January2016 said its earnings in 2015-16 has

the potential to offer a rate of 8.95%.

– It is worth mentioning that EPFO

distributes interest rate as per the

income generated from its investments

every year and does not take money

from the government.…………………………………………………..

2) The Union Govt. came out with

which major policy announcement

regarding interest rates of all small



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saving schemes on 16 February 2016?

– It announced recalibrating the

interest rates of all small saving

schemes on a quarterly basis from 1April

Explanation: The Union Govt. decided

to do away with the higher interest

income earned through Kisan Vikas

Patras (KVPs) and other small saving

schemes below five years of maturity.

With this move it expects to help bring

down bank lending rates. However, it

retained the interest rates of social

security schemes for girls and senior

citizens.

– From now on the interest rates of all

small saving schemes will be

recalibrated on a quarterly basis from

1 April and will be notified on 15

March for the April-June quarter.

…………………………………………………..

3) Boutros Boutros-Ghali – the former

Secretary General of the United

Nations (UN), who passed away on 16

February 2016, was a citizen of which

country? – Egypt

Explanation: Boutros Boutros-Ghali

was the 6th Secretary General of the

United Nations and served this coveted

post from 1 January 1992 to 31

December 1996.

– He was not only the first Arab to

serve as UN Secretary General, but

also the first to serve only one term in

the post. Ghali led the UN during oneof its most difficult times, with crises in

Somalia, Rwanda, the Middle East and

the former Yugoslavia.

– His five years were dogged by

controversy. During the Rwandan

genocide in 1994, he was criticised for

the UN’s failure to prevent the

massacre.

– His opposition to NATO’s bombing

campaign in Bosnia had also angered

the United States (US), and

contributed to his ousting. The US

wielded its veto when Boutros-Ghali

sought a second term, which he

regarded as a personal betrayal.

– Serving as Egypt’s foreign minister

under President Anwar el-Sadat, he

played a key role in negotiating the

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Camp David agreement brokered by

the US president Jimmy Carter.

– He died at a Cairo hospital on 16

February at the age of 93.

…………………………………………………..

4) Union Govt. unveiled the first-ever

policy for the country’s capital goods

sector on 15 February 2016. What are

the three most important objectives of

this policy?

Three primary objectives of the

Capital Goods Policy:

– To create an ecosystem for a globally

competitive capital goods sector to

achieve total production in excess of

Rs 7.5 lakh crore by 2025 from the

current Rs 2.3 lakh crore

– Increase the share of capital goods in

total manufacturing activity from 12%

at present to 20% by 2025

– To create 21 million additional jobs

by 2025

Explanation: The National Policy on

Capital Goods is envisaged to unlockthe potential of this promising sector

and establish India as a global

manufacturing powerhouse.

– It sets the objective of increasing

exports to 40% of total production

(from Rs. 61,000 crore to Rs. 3,00,000

crore) by 2025, enabling India’s shareof global exports in capital goods to

increase to 2.5% and making the

country a net exporter of capital

goods.

…………………………………………………..

5) Which Indian defence production

firm was selected by BAE Systems Plc.as its business partner for the

proposed in-country assembly,

integration and test (AIT) facility for

the M777 Ultra Lightweight Howitzer,

as announced on 16 February 2016? –

Mahindra Defence

Explanation: Mahindra Defence, the

defence production firm of the

Mahindra Group, was chosen as the

Indian partner for BAE Systems Plc.’s

nearly $700 million deal for the supply

of 145 M777 Howitzers, which are

ultra-light weight artillery guns having

a strike range of 25 km.

– Last year, BAE developed and

submitted a US government-supported

proposal offering a higher degree of

indigenisation on the M777 weapon

system. The highlight of this proposal



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was the commitment to establish

Assembly, Integration & Test (AIT)

capabilities in India in partnership with

a domestic Indian company.

– BAE Systems Plc. is a British

multinational defence, security and

aerospace company headquartered in

London.

February 19, 2016

1) The Union Cabinet gave its approval

to the World Trade Organization’s

(WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement(TFA) on 17 February 2016. TPA seeks

to ease customs procedures to boost

commerce. India has thus become

…………country to approve TPA – 71st

Explanation: India on 17 February

2016 became the 71st country to give

its approval to the World Trade

Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation

Agreement (TFA). To implement this

ambitious agreement, two-thirds of

the total members, or 107 countries,

have to approve it.

– TPA aims to expedite the movement,

release and clearance of goods,

including goods in transit, forinternational trade. For this purpose, it

sets out measures for effective

cooperation between customs and

other appropriate authorities on trade

facilitation and customs compliance

issues.

– According to the WTO, full

implementation of TFA could increase

global merchandise exports by up to

$1 trillion annually. The overall boost

to world export growth has been

estimated at 2.7% per annum.

…………………………………………………….

2) The Securities and Exchange Board

of India (SEBI) on 17 February 2016

constituted a committee for disposing

of the land purchased by PACL Ltd in

order to refund people who have

invested in the company’s various



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funds for purchase of land. Who was

appointed the head of this committee?

– Justice R.M. Lodha (Ex-Chief Justice

of India)

Explanation: The committee was

formed after the Supreme Court

ordered SEBI to do so to carry out the

refund process to PACL’s investors.

While Justice R.M. Lodha is heading

the committee, S. Raman, a whole-

time member of SEBI, and Amit

Pradhan, the chief general manager

and regional director of SEBI’s North

Regional Office, will be the two

members working for the committee.

– On 2 February, SEBI had penalized

PACL and nine of its directors a total

of Rs.23.32 crore for allegedly violating

SEBI norms on collective investment

schemes (CIS) and illegally

mobilizing Rs.49,100 crore from

investors between 1996 and 2014.

– SEBI had said in an order that the

company and its directors had been

mobilizing funds from general public

through CIS since 1996 without alegitimate licence from it.

…………………………………………………….

3) Google’s e-mail service G-mail on 17

February 2016 launched an option

under which e-mail users of other

services such as Yahoo! Mail orHotmail/Outlook.com will be able to

use features of Gmail despite not

having an email account on Gmail.

What is the name of this new service

option? – ‘Gmailify’

Explanation: The ‘Gmailify’ option links

the existing non-Gmail account to

Gmail so that those accounts will

function like native Gmail accounts.

The process of the so-called

‘Gmailifying’ actually started last

March when the company began

allowing its users to link their Gmail

accounts with their Yahoo! and

Outlook accounts so that all of theiremails could be accessed from a single

screen. This feature has now been

expanded.

– With this launch, Google has made

sure that all non-Gmail accounts look

and act more like Gmail – aside from

the domain name.

– Gmailify will be currently available on

the Gmail app on Android and will be

made available to iOS users later.

…………………………………………………….

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4) Japanese two-wheeler giant Honda

Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI)

started its fourth plant in India on 17

February 2016. This plant is the world’s

largest scooter manufacturing site with

production capacity of 1.2 million two-

wheelers per annum. Where is this

plant situated? – Vithalapur (Gujarat)

Explanation: HMSI’s fourth plant is

situated at Vithalapur (near Mehsana)

in Gujarat. This huge plant is just 15 km

from Suzuki Motor Corporation’s

upcoming plant in the state.

– Spread over 250 acres, the

Vithalapur facility has come up in just

13 months with an investment of

nearly Rs 1,100 crore. Initially, the

plant would produce around 600,000

scooters per annum which would be

scaled up to 1.2 million scooters per

annum by mid-2016.

– HMSI claimed that its fourth plant inIndia has created job opportunities for

3,000 people (directly and indirectly).

…………………………………………………….

5) Who was appointed as the new

Chairman and Managing Director

(CMD) of Hindustan Petroleum

Corporation Ltd (HPCL), the nation’sthird-largest oil marketing company on

17 February 2016? – M.K. Surana

Explanation: The Appointments

Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on 17

February approved the proposal of the

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

for the appointment of M.K. Surana as

the Chairman and Managing Director

(CMD) of HPCL.

– Surana is currently the chief

executive officer of Prize Petroleum

Co, the upstream oil exploration arm

of HPCL. He will replace Nishi Vasudeva

on her retirement at the end of March

2016.

…………………………………………………….

6) Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, who

passed away in Kolkata on 18 February

2016, was an eminent – Hindustani

classical vocalist

Explanation: Ustad Abdul Rashid Khanwas an eminent vocalist of Hindustani

music. Apart from khayal, he

performed dhrupad, dhamar and

thumri. He was associated with the

traditional Gwalior gharana and had

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imbibed the Gwalior Gayaki from his

elders.

– A recipient of Padma Bhushan in

2013 and Sangeet Natak Akademi

award, he was a resident guru at the

ITC Sangeet Research Academy in

Kolkata for the past 20 years.

– He was 107. He was the oldest

person ever to be conferred a Padma

award when he received the award

from President Pranab Mukherjee in2013 at the age of 105.

February 20, 2016

1) On 19 February 2016 who was

appointed the Chairman of the

Empowered Committee of state

finance ministers that represents all

states and will play a crucial role in

implementing the goods and services

tax (GST)? – Amit Mitra (West Bengal

Finance Minister)

Explanation: The Union Govt.

appointed West Bengal Finance

Minister Amit Mitra as chairman of the

Empowered Committee of state

finance ministers. This was announced

on 19 February 2016 by Minister of

State for Finance Jayant Sinha.

– Mitra, belonging to the Trinamool

Congress (TMC), has been the financeminister of West Bengal since 2011,

when his party came to power in the

state. Prior to taking over as the state’s

finance minister, Mitra had held the

post of Secretary General at industry

lobby, the Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerce and Industry

(FICCI).

– The Empowered Panel will play a role

in putting together the final contours

of GST’s design, spearheading its

implementation and achieving



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consensus on some of the differences

between states as well as between the

Centre and the states.

– The post fell vacant in November

2015 after the previous incumbent,

K.M. Mani, stepped down as Kerala

finance minister following corruption

allegations.

– The government will miss the 1 April

2016 deadline for rolling out GST but is

hopeful of doing so sometime later inthe next fiscal year.

………………………………………………………….

.

2) What is the name of the rebel MLA

of Arunachal Pradesh belonging to

Congress, who was appointed the new

Chief Minister of state on 19 February

2016? – Kalikho Pul

Explanation: Congress rebel Kalikho

Pul became 8th Chief Minister of

Arunachal Pradesh after he was sworn

in by Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa

on 19 February 2016 a few hours after

President’s Rule was revoked in the

state.

– Prior to this, both factions of the

Congress, one headed by Pul and the

other by former Chief Minister Nabam

Tuki, had staked their claim to form a

new government in the State.

– At present, the dissenting Congress

faction consists of 21 leaders. Since

they have the support of 11 BJP MLAs,

they have the numerical majority inthe 50-member Assembly.

– The total strength of the Arunachal

Pradesh Assembly is 50 seats.

– Tuki, whose authority was challenged

by the party rebels, however,

questioned the formation of a

government without his approval. Heclaimed that with the revocation of

President’s Rule, power would have to

be restored to him and the former

government should be reinstalled.

………………………………………………………….

.

3) In a bid to acquire the capability to

launch heavier satellites into orbit, the

Indian Space Research Organisation’s

(ISRO) received a big boost on 19

February 2016 as it successfully

conducted the hotbed test of the

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cryogenic engine. This long duration

test was conducted at the ISRO

Propulsion Research Centre that is

situated in –Mahendragiri (TamilNadu)

Explanation: ISRO conducted the

successful hotbed test of the cryogenic

engine for the upper stage of the GSLV

Mark 3 rocket at ISRO Propulsion

Research Centre at Mahendragiri

(Tamil Nadu) on 19 February 2016. This

test lasted 640 seconds and was

termed as a phenomenal achievement

in the shortest time by ISRO chairman

A.S. Kiran Kumar.

– The high-thrust cryogenic engine

(CE20) used in the test was developed

at the Liquid Propulsion System centre

(LPSC) in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).

The engine had already undergone two

short-duration tests for engine ignition

and steady state performance.

– The biggest rocket made in India, the

Mk3 will be capable of launching four-

tonne satellites into geosynchronous

orbit.

………………………………………………………….

.

4) What is the name of the former RBI

executive who was named as the chief

executive officer (CEO) of Paytm’s

payments bank on 19 February 2016?

– Shinjini Kumar

Explanation: Shinjini Kumar, who is

currently a director at research and

consultancy firm

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), will

join Alibaba-backed mobile wallet

Paytm’s payments bank as chief

executive officer (CEO).

– Shinjini Kumar served as deputy

general manager at the RBI for 15

years from 1992 to 2007 before she

moved to Bank of America (BOI) as its

country compliance head. She joined

PwC in October 2010.

– Mobile wallet and e-commerce

company Paytm (One97

Communications Ltd) received in-

principle nod from RBI to set up apayments bank last year. While Paytm

was expected to launch the bank by

April 2016, the plan was delayed and it

is now looking at a launch timeline of

the second half of this year.

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………………………………………………………….

.

5) Nelle Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize

winning American novelist passed

away on 19 February 2016. What was

the title of her iconic novel of 1960

that made her famous all over the

world? – ‘To Kill a Mockingbird ’

Explanation: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird ’

was published on 11 July 2060. It was

an immediate bestseller and won greatcritical acclaim, including the Pulitzer

Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a

bestseller, with more than 30 million

copies in print. In 1999, it was voted

“Best Novel of the Century” in a poll bythe Library Journal.

– Though Harper Lee had only

published this single book, in 2007 she

was awarded the Presidential Medal of

Freedom for her contribution to

literature.


1) What is the proposed date for

holding the historic referendum in the

United Kingdom to decide whether the

country remains in the European

Union (EU), as announced by PrimeMinister David Cameron on 20

February 2016? – 23 June 2016

Explanation: The UK will hold the

important referendum on 23 June

2016 to decide on the issue of

country’s choice – whether it will

remain part of the European Union

(EU) or exit from it. British Prime

Minister David Cameron made this

announcement on 20 February 2016 in

Downing Street after briefing the

Cabinet.

– PM Cameron said he would be

campaigning to remain in a reformedEU and described the vote as one of

the biggest decisions in UK’s lifetime.

– The referendum date announcement

came after renegotiations on the UK’s



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relationship with Europe were finalised

on 19 February 2016 after intense

wrangling at a two-day summit in

Brussels.

– A British exit from the EU would rock

the Union. The organisation has

already been shaken by differences

over migration and the future of the

euro zone, by ripping away its second-

largest economy, one of its top two

military powers and by far its richest

financial centre.

– UK has been the part of the EU since

1973.

……………………………………………………

2) In an important initiative about 25

Indian and 100 Israeli firms came

together for a unique business seminaron defence and security in Israel. The

5-day seminar started on 21 February

2016 and will mainly focus on

increasing collaborations and JVs

between the MSME ministries on both

sides. Which Indian trade entity is

associated with this event? – FICCI

Explanation: The Indo-Israel defence

seminar is organised jointly by SIBAT,

the Israeli defence ministry, the

International Defence Cooperation

Directorate and FICCI. This is the fourth

edition of SIBAT-FICCI event on

defence and security.

– The seminar will highlight the huge

potential to cooperate under PM

Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’

initiative and will deal with the new

Defence Procurement Procedure for

2016, with a special focus on JVs

between industries in Israel and India.

– More than 500 business-to-business

meetings are taking place during theseminar. Both countries’ defence

establishments and industries have

been partnering for many years in

various areas. This will be the fourth

joint seminar for SIBAT and FICCI in

recent years.

– Another seminar, dedicated to

armoured vehicles, is expected to take

place in Chennai later this year.

……………………………………………………

3) What important and interesting

trend in India’s petroleum imports was

witnessed recently as reported in the

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data released by Thomson Reuters Oil

Research & Forecasts during February

2016? – India’s oil imports from Saudi

Arabia and Iraq hit the highest inmore than a decade during January

2016

Explanation: During January 2016

country import of oil from Saudi Arabia

and Iraq hit the highest in more than a

decade as OPEC’s top producers

gained at the expense of Latin

American crude exporting countries.

– Saudi Arabia was the top supplier to

India in January, with volumes jumping

29% from the same month a year ago

to nearly 940,000 barrels per day

(bpd).

– Just behind was Iraq at 930,000 bpd,

up 52% from January levels last year.

The daily rates from both were at their

highest since at least 2001.

– In contrast, total imports from Latin

America fell by a quarter in January

from a year ago to 706,000 bpd.

– India is the world’s third-largestcrude oil importer. Competitive prices

and shorter shipping distances are

giving the Middle East members of the

Organization of the Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) the upper

hand in India.

……………………………………………………

4) Who struck the fastest ever century

in Test cricket on 20 February 2016 to

overtake the joint record of West

Indies’ Viv Richards and Pakistan’s

Misbah-ul-Haq? – Brendon McCullum

(New Zealand)

Explanation: Brendon McCullum struck

the fastest ever test century on 20

February 2016 against Australia as he

reached the three-digit mark in just 54

balls on the first day of the second and

final Test Match against Australia at

Hagley Oval Christchurch.

– This knock beat the mark of 56 balls

set by West Indies great Sir VivRichards against England in 1986, and

equalled by Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq

in 2014.

– What was important about this

knock was this was the farewell Test

for McCullum. This was the 101st Test

for him and the century was the 12th

ofhis career.

……………………………………………………



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5) Who was re-appointed as IMF’s

Managing Director for a second five-

year term on 19 February 2016? –

Christine Lagarde

Explanation: The Executive Board of

the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

on 19 February selected 60-year-old

Christine Lagarde to serve as IMF

Managing Director for a second five-

year term starting on 5 July 2016.

– Lagarde, who has been a former

French f inance minister, took the IMF’s

top spot in mid-2011 after its former

managing director Dominique Strauss-

Kahn was arrested in New York under

rape allegations. She is the first-ever

woman to reach this post since the

institution’s inception in 1944.

– She is known to have steered the IMFthrough some troubled times including

the European financial crisis.

February 23, 2016

1) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on

21 February 2016 launched the

‘National Rurban Mission’, anambitious scheme that seeks to

transform rural areas to economically,

socially and physically sustainable

spaces. The mission was launched from

which village of Chhattisgarh? –

Kurubhat

Explanation: The ‘National Rurban

Mission’ was launched by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi at Kurubhat, a

town in Rajnandgaon district of

Chhattisgarh.

– The term ‘Rurban’ used in the name

of the mission is the culmination of

rural and urban. The mission is

expected to reduce pressure on the

cities and provide a new avenue to the

village people. It aims at curbing

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migration of youth from villages to

cities.

– Under the ‘National Rurban Mission’

300 rural centers, catering to at least

four adjoining villages each, will be

developed as urban clusters with

modern facilities. 100 such centres are

targeted to be developed this year

itself. The mission was approved by

the govt. during September 2015.

(Photo Courtesy: MapsofIndia)

…………………………………………….

2) Yielding to pressure from agitating

Jats, the Union Govt. on 21 February

2016 set up a five-member committee

to examine the quota demand for the

community in government jobs. Who

was made head of this committee? –

M.Venkaiah Naidu

Explanation: The agitation started a

few days ago by Jat community seeking

Other Backward Caste (OBC) status for

the community turned violent with

death of at least 10 persons in

Haryana. Seeing the continuous spread

and ferocity of the movement the

Union Govt. on 21 February stated that

a bill will be brought in the comingsession of the Haryana assembly to

give Other Backward Caste (OBC)

status to Jats in the state.

– Apart from this, a 5-member

committee under Parliamentary Affairs

minister M.Venkaiah Naidu was

formed by the Union Govt. to examine

the quota demand for the community

in government jobs.

– Other members of this committee

are – Union ministers Mahesh Sharma

and Sanjeev Balyan and BJP vice-

presidents Satpal Malik and Avinash

Rai Khanna.

…………………………………………….

3) What is the name of the mobile

application (app) launched on 22

February 2016 by Union Minister of

State for Tourism & Culture Mahesh

Sharma that facilitates visitors to post

photos of unclean tourist areas near 25

monuments? – “Swachh Parayatan”

Explanation: “Swachh Parayatan” is

the name of the mobile app that was

launched on 22 February 2016 under

the ‘Clean India – Clean Monuments’

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F A I R S

initiative of the Tourism Ministry.

Visitors can use the app to post photos

of unclean tourist areas near 25

monuments.

– 25 ‘Adarsh Smarak’ monuments

protected by the Archaeological Survey

of India (ASI) have been identified for

inclusion in the app. The application

would be scaled up to include more

monuments as the campaign expands.

– This mobile app enables a citizen totake photograph of garbage at the

monument and upload the same along

with his/her remarks. The application

then sends an SMS to the ASI Nodal

Officer concerned with the monument

upon receipt of which the Nodal

Officer gets the garbage

cleared/removed.

…………………………………………….

4) The once-in-12-yearsMahamaham festival, witnessed by

over 12 lakh devotees, was held on 22

February 2016. This event, popularly

known as the ‘Kumbh Mela of South

India’ is held at which place? –

Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu

Explanation: Mahamaham is a Hindu

festival celebrated every 12 years in

the Mahamaham tank located in

Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. Hindus

consider taking a holy dip at the

Mahamaham tank on the day of

Mahamaham as sacred.

– To take part in this auspicious festival

lakhs of devotees from all over thecountry had camped in Kumbakonam.

– Last Mahamaham was held on 6

March 2004 while next event will be

held in 2028.

…………………………………………….

5) Which franchisee won the Hockey

India League (HIL) title for 2016 by

winning the final on 21 February 2016?

– Jaypee Punjab Warriors

Explanation: Chandigarh-based Jaypee

Punjab Warriors (JPW) defeated

Kalinga Lancers by 6-1 in the finals

played at the Birsa Munda Hockey

Stadium (Ranchi) on 21 February to

win the 2016 Hockey India League (HIL)

title.

– Armaan Qureshi, Matt Gohdes and

Satbir Singh scored a field goal each for

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the Warriors while skipper Moritz

Fuerste scored the Lancers’ lone goal

of the match. The unique feature of

the tournament was that each fieldgoal counted for two.

– It is worth mentioning that JPW had

lost the final in the last two seasons.

Kalinga Lancers had qualified for the

knockouts for the first time in the HIL.

– Hockey India League (HIL) is the top-

most professional hockey league in

India featuring top hockey players all

over the world. It was first staged in2013. This was the fourth edition of

Hockey India League (HIL).

February 24, 2016

1) What is the name of India’s first

nuclear armed submarine

(indigenously-built) that has recently

successfully completed several deep

sea diving drills as well as weapons

launch tests conducted over the past

five months and is ready to be

inducted in the Indian Navy? – INS

Arihant

Explanation: India’s first nuclear

armed submarine INS Arihant’s

induction into the Indian Navy is now

just a political call away as the

submarine has successfully passed all

sea-worthiness tests necessary for its

formal induction.

– The 6,000 tonne INS Arihant was

built under the Advanced Technology

Vessel (ATV) project at the Ship

Building Centre (SBC) in

Visakhapatnam (AP). The sea-tests for

the submarine were also conducted at

Visakhapatnam. It is the first of five

nuclear missile submarines or SSBNs

planned for induction.

– The submarine will be powered by an83 megawatts (111,305 hp)

pressurised light-water reactor with

enriched uranium fuel.



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– At present, work is already in

progress on two more Arihant class

submarines at the SBC,

Vishakhapatnam which will be largerand more advanced than the first boat.

………………………………………………………

2) Union Government started 5%

disinvestment of its stake in which PSU

entity on 23 February 2016? – NTPC

Explanation: 5% stake sale of Union

Government in NTPC through the

offer-for-sale (OFS) route was started

from 23 February 2016. The sale is

expected to garner Rs. 5,029 crore at a

floor price of Rs.122 per share.

– The institutional bidders purchased

shares on 23 February while retail

investors will get opportunity to buy

NTPC stocks on 24 February. The retail

investors have 20% of the sharesreserved for them. The quota for

institutional bidders was subscribed

fully on the first day.

– The government has been struggling

to meet the disinvestment target of Rs.

69,500 crore for the financial year

2015-16. With about 40 days left in thefinancial year, the government has

managed to realise only Rs.13,330

crore through divestment which is less

than 20% of the budgeted target.

– Prior to this, the government

divested its holdings in five other PSUs

– Rural Electrification Corporation

(Rs.1,608 crore), Power Finance

Corporation (Rs.1,671 crore), Dredging

Corporation of India Ltd (Rs.53.33

crore), Indian Oil Corporation (Rs.9,369

crore) and Engineers India (Rs.640

crore).

………………………………………………………

3) Leading Indian automobile company

Tata Motors renamed its new

hatchback ‘Zica’ following itsresemblance to the Zika virus, as

announced by the company on 22

February 2016. What is this new

name? –‘Tiago’

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Explanation: The new name for Zica

was selected following a

crowdsourcing hunt for a new name.

The company had decided to renamethe car, which was showcased at the

Auto Expo 2016 in New Delhi in

February, following its similarity to the

Zika virus

– Tiago became the chosen name from

the final three entries – Tiago, Civet

and Adore – that were opened up for

audience voting as part of the

campaign to rename Zica. Libi Thomas

was announced the winner of this

campaign.

– Tata Motors has decided to rename

Zica on 2 February and had launched

the contest (campaign) on 5 February

2016. The decision to re-brand the car

was taken due to its resemblance with

the ‘Zika’ virus that spread across

many countries. The virus was put in

the same category of concern as Ebola

by the World Health Organisation

(WHO).

………………………………………………………

4) According to recent media reports,

World’s largest securities settlement

system Belgium-based Euroclear has

agreed to a model suggested by the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to settle

Indian government debt papers in

overseas market. What will be the

main benefit of employing this modelof settling Indian debt overseas? – It

will ensure that clearing of the debt

happens in India using Indian brokers

and custodians

Explanation: Finance minister Arun

Jaitley in the Union Budget 2014-15

had proposed allowing international

settlement of Indian debt securities.

Euroclear is in final negotiations with

the finance ministry and the RBI to

make Indian government debt

securities Euroclearable in 2016-17.

– Foreign institutional investors (FIIs)

using Euroclear platform to trade in

Indian debt securities will not have to

register in India for clearing and

settlement of their investments.

– International trading and settlement

will enable foreign investors to

transact in Indian securities but settle

in dollars or other international

currencies, thereby increasing accessand flexibility in order to widen the

investor base.

………………………………………………………



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5) Leading international bank Standard

Chartered (Stan Chart) reported an

annual loss in many years on 23

February 2016 as hefty restructuring

costs and weak commodity prices took

their toll on the bank. When was the

last time Stan Chart reported an

annual loss? – 1989

Explanation: Stan Chart, a bank nowfocusing on lending in the emerging

markets, slumped to a headline pretax

loss of $1.5 billion during 2015. This

was the first-ever annual loss for the

bank since 1989.

– Loss emerged after accounting for

costs from redundancies andimpairments on bad loans.

– Stan Chart’s problems began to

emerge in 2012, when after a decade

of rising profits the bank was hit by

U.S. regulatory fines and the start of aprolonged downturn in emerging

markets and commodity prices on

which much of its fortunes depend.

– The deteriorating environment in

emerging markets caused the bank’s

gross level of non-performing loans to

jump from $7.5 billion at the end of

2014 to $12.8 billion by end-2015.

– Unable to reverse the trend, previous

CEO Peter Sands was ousted in

February last year and was replaced by

former JPMorgan investment banker

Bill Winters.

February 25, 2016

1) Which initiative pertaining to

electoral reforms would be

implemented in the 2019 General

Elections, as announced by Chief

Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim

Zaidi on 23 February 2016? – Paper

trail-based EVMs

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Explanation: Polling for 2019 General

Elections will be conducted through

paper trail-based electronic voting

machines to enhance transparency.This announcement was made by CEC

Nasim Zaidi on 23 February 2016.

– The paper audit trail machine or

Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail

(VVPAT) was first introduced by the

Commission in 2013 in order to

enhance transparency in the polls

process and increase electorate’s

confidence that their vote goes

without error to their desired

candidate.

– Once the vote is polled, the VVPAT

linked EVM immediately takes a

printout and it is preserved for later

use to tally in case there is a dispute in

the final result.

……………………………………………………

2) Who was chosen as the nextchairperson of the National Human

Rights Commission (NHRC) on 23

February 2016 by a committee headed

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi? – H

L Dattu (former Chief Justice of India)

Explanation: A panel headed by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi on 23

February 2016 selected former Chief

Justice of India (CJI) H.L. Dattu for thepost of the Chairperson of the National

Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The meeting was also attended by Lok

Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan,

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, leader of

Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam

Nabi Azad and Deputy Chairman of

Rajya Sabha P J Kurien.

– Dattu had retired as the CJI on 2

December 2015.

– The post of NHRC chairperson had

been lying vacant since May 2015 after

Justice K G Balakrishnan completed his

nearly five-year-long tenure.

– Under the Protection of Human

Rights Act, 1993, the President

appoints the chairperson and

members of the NHRC on the

recommendation of a committee

comprising the Prime Minister, Lok

Sabha Speaker, Union Home Minister,

leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha andRajya Sabha, and Deputy Chairman of

Rajya Sabha.

……………………………………………………

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3) Which country’s Parliament became

the World’s first to run fully on solar

power on 23 February 2016? –

Pakistan

Explanation: Pakistan Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif on 23 February 2016

inaugurated the 80 MW solar power

system, which provides 62MW to

country’s Parliament in Islamabad and

a surplus 18MW to the national grid.

With this Pakistan became the first

country to have fully solar-power

backed Parliament building.

– The project was completed in seven

months at a cost of Rs. 280.61 million.

First announced in 2014, the venture

was funded by China as an act of

friendship. It was officially launched

during President Xi Jinping’s visit last

year.

– The project is the first project of its

kind in a public building in Pakistan.

……………………………………………………

4) Who took over as the new Director

of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

(BARC) on 23 February 2016? – K. N.

Vyas

Explanation: K. N. Vyas is a

Distinguished Scientist and Associate

Director, Reactor Projects Group of the

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

(BARC). On 23 February he took over

as BARC’s new Director by replacing

Dr. Sekhar Basu.

– Basu is the Chairman, Atomic Energy

Commission (AEC) and Secretary to the

Government of India, Department of

Atomic Energy.

– The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

(BARC) is India’s premier nuclear

research facility based in Trombay,

Mumbai (Maharashtra). The primary

importance of BARC is as a research

centre.

……………………………………………………

5) With 139th global rank in the

18th Annual Quality of Living Survey,

which city for the second consecutivetime emerged as the best city to live in

India in the list released by global

consulting major Mercer on 23

February 2016? – Hyderabad

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Explanation: Mercer’s 18th Annual

Quality of Living Survey (2016) placed

Hyderabad at top in the Indian cities to

emerge as the best city to live in India.However, none of the Indian city

managed to find a place among the

top-100.

– Hyderabad is ranked 139th (one place

down from last year) globally, while

national capital Delhi moved down six

places to 161st rank, lowest among the

seven Indian cities on the list of 230

places.

– Pune is at 144th place, followed by

Bangalore at 145th, Chennai at 150th,

Mumbai at 152nd and Kolkata at

160th among the Indian cities, as per

the list compiled by Mercer. Pune has

moved up one place since last year,

while Mumbai has retained its

position.

……………………………………………………

6) Which cities emerged as the world’s

best and worst cities to live in global

consulting major Mercer’s 18th Annual

Quality of Living Survey that was

released on 23 February 2016? –

Vienna and Baghdad

Explanation: Austrian capital Vienna

retained its place as the world’s best

city to live while Baghdad (Iraq)

emerged as the worst city to live in in

the list of global 230 cities compiled by

Mercer.

– In the top-five positions globally,Vienna (Austria) is followed by Zurich

(Switzerland), Auckland (New Zealand),

Munich (Germany) and Vancouver

(Canada).

– London is ranked lower at 39th, Paris

is at 37th, while New York is at

44th place. In Asia-Pacific, Dhaka (214)

is ranked at the lowest place.



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February 26, 2016

1) Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhupresented the Rail Budget for 2016-17

on 25 February 2016. The main feature

of the budget was that there was no

increase in passenger as well as freight

charges. The Rail Minister conceded

that the impact of the 7th Pay

Commission award will affect the

Railways severely. What the proposed

Operating Ratio is for 2016-17 as

announced in the Budget? – 92%

Explanation: Operating ratio is a

measure of efficiency that denotes the

amount spent for earning every Rs.100

of revenue. The lower the ratio, the

better it is. It is a key figure tounderstand the operational efficiency

of an organisation.

The operating Ratio for 2015-16 was

90%. Thus it has deteriorated from

90% to 92%. It means that the Railways

will spend Rs. 92 to earn Rs. 100 in

financial year 2016-17.

…………………………………………………………

………..

2) Two new Dedicated Freight

Corridors (DFCs) were announced in

the Rail Budget 2016-17. These new

DFCs – North-South, East-West and

East Coast, will connect which places

respectively?

Explanation:

a) North-South will join Delhi to

Chennai

b) East-West will join Kharagpur to

Mumbai

c) East Coast will join Kharagpur to

Vijayawada

– The Rail Budget proposed to put

these three projects on high priority to

ensure structuring, award and

implementation in a time-bound

manner.

For all other important questions on

Rail Budget: Click Here

http://currentaffairs.nirdeshak.com/top-questions-rail-budget-2016/






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…………………………………………………………

………..

3) Internet search giant Google

launched the much awaited

customized search engine for children

on 24 February 2016. What is the

name of this search engine that will

include features like safe search, kid-

oriented results, big thumbnails, large

fonts, and modified privacy settings? –

‘Kiddle’

Explanation: Entering the search site,

one finds ‘Kiddle’ written in the

characteristic colourful Google style.

There is also a red droid alien waiting

to answer all queries.

– Safe sites and pages written

specifically for kids, which will be

handpicked and checked by Kiddle

editors, would usually be featured in

the first three results.

– The next rung would include safe,

trusted sites that are not written

specifically for kids, but have content

written in a simple way, easy for kids

to understand.

– If the child the types something

‘unsuitable’ for kids, one of Kiddle’s

aliend droids would come hob-nobbing

with the message “Oops, looks likeyour query contained some bad words.

Please try again!”

…………………………………………………………

………..

4) Union Govt. appointed which three

officers as Information Commissioners

at the Central Information Commission(CIC) on 24 February 2016? – Amitava

Bhattacharyya, Bimal Julka and Divya

Prakash Sinha

Explanation: Amitava Bhattacharyya,

1980 batch IAS officer; Bimal Julka,

1979 batch IAS officer and Divya

Prakash Sinha, 1979 batch IPS officer

were appointed Information

Commissioners at the Central

Information Commission (CIC) by the

Union Govt. on 24 February 2016.

– Amitava Bhattacharyya was the Staff

Selection Commission (SSC) Chairman.

– Bimal Julka retired as Secretary,Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

He also worked as a Financial Adviser

and Special Secretary in the External

Affairs Ministry.

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– D.P. Sinha, who retired from the post

of Secretary (Security) in the Cabinet

Secretariat, was earlier a Special

Director with the Intelligence Bureau.He has served the Intelligence Bureau

in various capacities, in North-East

States and Delhi.

…………………………………………………………

………..

5) The Chinese capital Beijing has

become the home to the mostbillionaires in the world as disclosed in

a report released on 24 February 2016

by Hurun, a Shanghai firm that releases

yearly rankings. According to this

report Beijing overtook which city to

achieve this status for the first time? –

New York

Explanation: According to Hurun’s

latest report on number of billionaires

worldwide, with as many as 100 Beijing

billionaires, Beijing now has overtaken

New York as the ‘World Billionaire

Capital’. During the same period New

York had 93 billionaires.

– Beijing took the title from New York

after minting 32 new billionaires last

year, while New York gained four.

Moscow came in third place, with 66

billionaires, while Hong Kong and

Shanghai came in fourth and fifth with

64 and 50, respectively.

– Mumbai had the highest number of

billionaires in India while Mukesh

Ambani, Chairman of Reliance

Industries (RIL), once again emerged as

the richest Indian with a personal

wealth of $26 billion.

– The study, which comes months after

reports suggested China now has more

billionaires than the United States,highlights how China’s elite are

continuing to accrue vast wealth

despite a wobbling stock market and

tepid economy.

…………………………………………………………

………..

6) Hindi film actor Sanjay Dutt was

released from Pune’s high-security

Yerwada Central Jail on the morning of

25 February 2016. He came out

approximately how many months

before his actual five-year term for his

role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts?

– 8 months

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Explanation: In 2013, Dutt was

sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment.

He had already served 18 months

behind the bars after being jailed in1996, and so was ordered to serve the

remaining 42 months. But he spent 8

months less than his stipulated term

on grounds of ‘good behaviour’.

– 56 year old Sanjay Dutt has often

been accused of being given

preferential treatment during his

prison term. His jail term was also

mired in controversy in which he spent

more than three months on furloughs

and paroles.

– The actor was arrested in April 1993

and later convicted for illegal

possession of an automatic assault

rifle, a part of cache of arms and

ammunition that landed ahead of the

1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which

257 people were killed.

February 27, 2016

1) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

tabled the Economic Survey for 2015-

16 in the Parliament on 26 February

2016. The Survey primarily called for

fiscal prudence and stable inflation,while acknowledging the risks to

growth. Economic Survey, which is

often known as the flagship document

pertaining to the direction of country’s

economy, is prepared by which

official? – Chief Economic Adviser

Explanation: The Economic Survey for

2015-16, prepared by Chief Economic

Adviser Arvind Subramanian termed

India as a “haven of stability” and an

“outpost of opportunity” amidst

gloomy international economic

landscape.

Main conclusions of Economic Survey

2015-16:

– The Survey expects India’s GDP to

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– The Govt. is expected to achieve

fiscal deficit target of 3.9% of GDP

during 2015-16

– The Survey argued for adhering to

3.5% fiscal deficit target during 2016-

17

– Consumer price or retail inflation is

seen around 4.5 to 5% in 2016-17 as

against 4.9% between April to January

2016

– India’s current account deficit is seen

around 1-1.5% of GDP during 2016-17

………………………………………………

2) The SEBI on 25 February 2016

relaxed mutual fund norms to allow

asset management companies (AMCs)

to invest unclaimed redemption and

dividend amounts in separate liquid

and money market schemes. What was

the pertaining norm till now? – It was

allowed to be parked only in call

money market or money market

instruments

Explanation: At present, the money

from unclaimed redemptions and

dividends is allowed to be parked only

in call money market or money market

instruments. The Securities and

Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on

relaxed this rule and allowed the AMCs

to invest unclaimed redemption and

dividend amounts in separate liquid

and money market schemes.

– For the same AMCs would have to

start such schemes specifically for

deploying amounts unclaimed by

investors. AMCs will, however, not be

permitted to charge any exit load in

such MF plans that are specifically

launched to allow deployment of

unclaimed amounts.

– In order to ensure AMCs play a pro-

active role in tracing owners of the

unclaimed amounts, the fund

managers will be required to provide

on their AMC websites a list of names

and addresses of investors in whose

folios there are unclaimed amounts.

………………………………………………

3) The Union Cabinet on 24 February

2016 took which important decision

pertaining to payments made through

debit and credit cards, or over

internet, for public services? – It

decided to do away with levying

surcharge on such payments

Explanation: The move to abolish

surcharge on payments made through

debit and credit cards, or over

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reducing cash transactions. This will

help in increasing cashless transactions

for public services.

– Decision to promote debit/credit

cards and digital payments will help

check the menace of black money.

Cashless transactions have been on the

rise in India, but remain modest in

comparison to cash payments.

– Levy of surcharges on card payments

is seen as one important reason forslow growth for card payments.

………………………………………………

4) Rajendra Singh was appointed as

the new Director General (DG) of the

Indian Coast Guard on 25 February

2016. What is an important fact

associated with his appointment for

this post? – He becomes the first non-

navy officer to head the Indian Coast

Guard

Explanation: Rajendra Singh, the

present additional DG of the force, will

take over as the new DG of Indian

Coast Guard on 29 February 2016. He

will thus become the first officer who

is not from the Indian Navy to have

been elevated to the position.

– Till now it has been the tradition that

the commissioned officers of the

Indian Navy held the top post of Indian

Coast Guards. Rajendra Singh will

succeed Vice Admiral HCS Bisht who

has been promoted as the Flag Officer

Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern

Naval Command.

– Indian Coast Guard was established

in 1978 with the objective of

protecting India’s maritime interests

and enforces maritime law, with

jurisdiction over the territorial waters

of India.

………………………………………………

5) Bhavarlal Hiralal Jain, who passed

away on 25 February 2016, was a

renowned pioneer and entrepreneur

associated with which field? – Drip

irrigation and farming

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Explanation: 79-year old Bhavarlal Jain

was the founder-chairman of Jalgaon-

based Jain Irrigation.

– He built his business on the

foundation of inclusiveness and

sustainability over the past five

decades. He established his billion

dollar company (Jain Irrigation)

engaged in drip irrigation and was a

champion of the small farmer.

– His efforts helped bring millions of

acres of barren and fallow land under

cultivation. His success was recognised

by the Harvard Business School whichhad a case study on the company.

– He was awarded the Padma Shri in

2008.


1) In an important development for

India, state-run power goods

manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals

Ltd (BHEL) on 28 February 2016 sealed

a contract to build a huge power plant

in a neighboring country, beating out a

Chinese competitor. This $1.6 billioncontract was won for which country by

BHEL? –Bangladesh

Explanation: After years of

negotiations, BHEL finalized the

contract to build the 1,320-megawatt

(MW) thermal power station in Khulna

in southern Bangladesh on 28 February

2016. This contract is worth $1.6

billion.

– It would be the biggest foreign

project by an Indian power firm,

eclipsing a plant already built in

Rwanda and a planned one in Sri

Lanka.

– China’s Harbin Electric International

Company Ltd, which has power

projects in Iran, Turkey and Indonesiaamong others, lost the bid on technical

grounds.

– The Indian government’s external

lending arm, the EXIM Bank, has



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backed up BHEL’s offer with nearly

70% funding of the project’s costs at a

soft interest rate of around 1% above

Libor, the leading global benchmark forpricing transactions.

– India and China have stepped up bids

for infrastructure projects in the region

in recent years, with Prime Minister

Narendra Modi pushing for a greater

engagement with smaller neighbours

after years of neglect.

…………………………………………………….

2) Which state was declared country’s

digital state by President Pranab

Mukherjee on 27 February 2016? –

Kerala

Explanation: Kerala became India’s

first fully digital state after it wasformally declared a digital state by the

President Pranab Mukherjee on 27

February.

– Kerala has a mobile tele-density of

95% and Internet covered over 60% of

the population. With broadband

connectivity in every Gram Panchayat,Kerala has emerged as a truly digital

State. The state now had over 600 e-

governance applications covering

almost all departments, and delivering

e-services.

– The state has successfully linked all

villages in the state with broadband

connectivity under the National Optical

Fibre Network (NOFN) project. It is firststate in country to do so.

…………………………………………………….

3) Which mine became India’s first

gold mine to be auctioned after it was

auctioned to Vedanta Resources Inc.

on 26 February 2016? – Baghmara

(Chhattisgarh)

Explanation: The Baghmara mine is

spread across an area of 608 hectaresin a densely forested pocket of the

Balodabazar-Bhatapara district, about

130 km northeast of Raipur. Based on

the exploration and available reports,

the mine has an estimate reserve of

2,700 kg of gold metal.

– The mine, also known as Sonakhan,

was put up for auction by the

Chhattisgarh state government.

London-listed Vedanta Resources Inc.

bagged the rights for the mine after it

quoted the highest price to get it.

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– The company quoted the highest bid

of 12.55% of the IBM price at Rs

74,712 per troy ounce (1 troy ounce =

31.10 gram) to win the gold mine. Theauction would fetch Rs 80 crore to the

state exchequer in addition to existing

royalty.

…………………………………………………….

4) Who was chosen as the new

President of football’s global governing

body FIFA on 26 February 2016? –

Gianni Infantino (Switzerland)

Explanation: Gianni Infantino, the

President of UEFA, succeeded fellowSwiss Sepp Blatter as President of

world football’s governing body FIFA

after he won the election held for the

post on 26 February 2016.

– Infantino polled 115 votes, 27 more

than closest rival Sheikh Salman bin

Ebrahim al-Khalifa. Prince Ali bin al-

Hussein (four votes) and Jerome

Champagne (0) were third and fourth

respectively. Second round of election

was held as the first round of voting

failed to determine an outright winner.

– Infantino had entered the

presidential race when it became clear

that Michel Platini, boss of European

football’s governing body UEFA, couldnot stand.

…………………………………………………….

5) India’s first gender equality

convergence centre (called

‘Gender Park’) was inaugurated by

President Pranab Mukherjee in which

city on 27 February 2016? –Kozhikode(Kerala)

Explanation: Spread over 24-acres,

complex has been christened as the

“Thantedam Gender Park”. The

foundation stone of the park was laid

on 8 March 2013.

– ‘Gender Park’, an initiative of Kerala’s

Social Justice Department, was

inaugurated on 27 February. It seeks to

bring together the state, academia and

civil society on a common platform to

address gender issues.

– A dedicated gender Institute at the

park would focus on research andcapacity development in ensuring an

inclusive society. The institute would

cover issues pertaining to all three

genders as per the 2015 gender and

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transgender policies of the state

government.

…………………………………………………….

6) Mumbai defeated Saurashtra to win

the prestigious Ranji Trophy title for

2015-16 on 26 February 2016. With

this title win, Mumbai has now won

how many Ranji Trophy titles? – 41

Explanation: This was the 41st Ranji

title won for Mumbai, which has been

the most successful team in

tournament’s history.

Karnataka/Mysore is the second most

successful team with 8 titles under its

belt.

– The Ranji Trophy final was played

from 24 to 26 February 2016 at Pune.

Having allowed Mumbai to score 371

from 268 for 9, Saurashtra suffered atop-order brain freeze to lose the final.

Saurashtra were bowled out for 115 in

48.2 overs.

– The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-

class cricket championship played in

India between teams representing

regional cricket associations. The

competition currently consists of 27

teams, with 21 of the 29 states in India

and Delhi.

Documents

Nirdeshak February 2016.pdf