Current Affairs
November 15, 2013
1. Sachin Tendulkar is Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Moment’. Accolades continued to pour in for the Sachin Tendulkar with the ‘Time’ magazine naming the legendary Indian batsman its “Person of the Moment” while as he plays his last Test in Mumbai. Tendulkar’s stellar 24-year cricketing career boasts of innumerable records and milestones which would be hard to surpass.
2. The long-delayed and much awaited USD 2.3 billion aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be inducted into the Indian Navy here tomorrow, enhancing India’s maritime capabilities. Defence Minister A.K Antony, who travelled to Russia today, will be inducting the aircraft carrier into the force in the presence of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Senior Government and naval officials of the two countries. The aircraft carrier will be inducted in the Indian Navy at the Sevmash Shipyard, Russia’s nuclear submarine building centre.
The 44,500 tonne warship with a length of 284 metres will have MiG-29K naval combat aircraft along with Kamov 31 and Kamov 28 anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance helicopters.
3. India’s 1st ever mountain biking race will be held on Nov 17. Cycling enthusiasts of the country will get to witness their own version of ‘Tour the Himalayas’ with India’s first-ever mountain biking race. Being organised jointly by the Mountain Track Biking Association (MTBA) of Uttarakhand, Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and Artsmith Concepts and Visions with support from the state government and the Indian Army, the event will have races in three categories for the elite riders (20kms), the amateurs (15kms) and the teens (10kms).
Over 100 top riders of the country have agreed to participate in the event to be held on a scenic track in the Himalayan foothills. The tournament offers a total prize purse of Rs 2.5 lakh (in the professional category) with the top 10 cyclists getting a share of the prize money.
4. Gold demand in India was dropped by 32% to 148.2 tonnes in July-September period of 2013 due to supply constraints, Government steps to increase import duty and high inflation, as per global body WGC. Demand in the fourth quarter of this year is expected to be lower than 262 tonnes in the same period of the last year. At the same time China with an estimated demand of 1,000 tonnes may topple India as the world’s top gold consumer.
5. India’s largest bank State Bank of India plans to raise tier-II capital in the range of about Rs 5,000 crore before March. It should be in the range of about Rs 5,000 crore. There is no time frame but definitely before March,” said SBI chief, Arundhati Bhattacharya. Also, the Government has also promised to infuse Rs 2,000 crore through a preferential allotment of shares.
6. Shiraz Naval Minwalla, Professor of Physics in TIFR, Mumbai selected for the 2014 New Horizons in Physics Prize earlier this month. He was awarded “for his pioneering contributions to the study of string theory and quantum field theory; and in particular his work on the connection between the equations of fluid dynamics and Albert Einstein’s equations of general relativity”. The New Horizons for Physics Prize awarded to promising junior researchers by Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation. The award carries prize money of 100000 US Dollars.
7. Professor Mushirul Hasan, the former Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia was conferred with the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund yesterday. The title of the Hasan’s fellowship project is Roads to Freedom – Prison, Prisoners and the Raj.
8. Siddhartha Birla, founder and Chairman of Xpro India Ltd, and Chairman Digjam Ltd, will be the next President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Birla will head the chamber in 2014 and he will take charge from Naina Lal Kidwai, the present President.
9. Max Bupa Health Insurance has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Deutsche Bank. With this alliance, Max Bupa will offer its comprehensive health insurance plans to Deutsche Bank customers. This tie-up follows the insurance regulator IRDA’s guidelines allowing banks to act as corporate agents of one standalone health insurance company in addition to their existing one life and one non-life insurance companies.
10. Veteran journalist R.K. Mukker passed away on 13 November after prolonged illness. He was 88. He started off with The National Herald in Lucknow and also worked with the Indian Express and The Statesman.
11. The Rapid Metro in Gurgaon, which will connect Delhi Metro commuters to six key places within the city, was inaugurated on 14 November, 2013. This project is a public-private partnership (PPP) project between which two entities? – HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) and IL&FS Rail Ltd. (Rapid Metro timings will be in sync with Delhi Metro, so that commuters won’t have to wait for the local loop train. While there are a total of six stations in the network, the one at Shankar Chowk will become operational later as work is still not complete)
12. The white-water river rafting team “IAF Aqua Scullers” of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 13 November, 2013 created history by completing the longest rafting expedition in India. This team successfully completed its mission of rafting over 3,000 km on River Ganges. This expedition was between which two points situated on the Ganges? – From Gangotri (Uttarakhand) to Ganga Sagar (West Bengal) – Some of the salient features of this mission included the shortest duration ever (16 days) taken to raft down the entire length of Ganga and being the first among the Indian Armed forces to have accomplished such a feat in river rafting. This expedition was led by Wg Cdr Paramvir Singh)
13. Which Indian Naval base was chosen as the base for stationing of India’s second aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, which would be commissioned into the Indian Navy on 16 November, 2013 at Russia? – Karwar Naval Base, Karnataka
14. Indian cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar created yet another record of becoming the first-ever player to feature in 200 international test matches as he came to play the last test match of his amazing career at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium against the West Indies in the second and final match of the test series on 14 November, 2013. Playing 200 test matches is perceived as an unbelievable feat as till now only one Indian player has played over 150 test matches. Who is this player? – Rahul Dravid, who has featured for Indian team in 164 test matches (Top 7 test playing players, who have played in 150 or more test matches are – Sachin Tendulkar (200), Ricky Ponting (168), Steve Waugh (168), Jacques Kallis (164), Rahul Dravid (164), Allan Border (156) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (150))
15. Who on 14 November, 2013 became the first West Indian cricketer to play 150 tests for the team? – Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Chanderpaul became the seventh player to reach this landmark while featuring in the second test match of the two-match test series against India at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Chanderpaul has made most appearances in Tests for West Indies. He is followed by Brian Lara and Courtney Walsh among his countrymen. He scored 25 runs in the first innings of this test match as West Indies collapsed for just 182 runs)
16. Maldives President Mohamed Waheed stepped down as President as the country prepared to hold the second round of the Presidential election today. The second round of the Presidential election will take place on Saturday with the Maldives Democratic Party candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed being the key candidates.
17. The US trade deficit widened more than expected in September as imports jumped to their highest level in almost a year. The trade gap increased 8% to USD 41.8 billion, the largest since May. Also the job market is showing continuous improvement with jobless benefits dropped in the last week.
18. Inflation across the euro zone dropped to 0.7% in October which is the lowest inflation level in last four years, as per the data published by the European Union. The 12-month rate of consumer price increases was dropped from 1.1% in previous month of September.
Usha Ananthasubramanian becomes the first Chief of Bharatiya Mahila Bank – India’s first all women Bank
The Union Government appointed Usha Ananthasubramanian as the Chairperson and Managing Director (CMD) of public sector Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the first women bank of India.
Prior to her appointment in BMB, she was an Executive Director with Punjab National Bank (PNB).
About Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB)
§ Objective: Focus on the banking needs of the women and promote economic empowerment. It will also address the gender related issues and will be helpful in financial inclusion.
§ India’s first all-women public sector bank; expected to be formally launched on November 19, 2013.
§ First 6 branches at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Indore and Guwahati.
§ Government approved Rs 1,000-crore seed capital for the bank in Budget 2013-14
§ Headquarter of Bharatiya Mahila Bank: Delhi.
§ CMD: Usha Ananthasubramanian
Union Cabinet gives nod to B.Sc. Community Health course
The Union Cabinet approved a 3-year Bachelor of Science (Community Health) course in State Universities. The course will start from the academic year 2014-15.
What is the purpose of introducing B.Sc. Community Health in State Universities?
The government plans to set up a specialized cadre of Community Health Officers who will be posted at sub-centres in rural areas, functioning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, where they can provide basic health care. As proposed, persons belonging to rural areas will study a three-year course on basic anatomy, and diagnosis and treatment of basic ailments. The focus of training will be on conducting normal deliveries, pre-and anti-natal care, handling diarrhea, pneumonia, vaccination, providing tuberculosis treatment and treatment of fevers and skin infections. The Health Ministry believes that these professionals will eventually be absorbed by the State Health Departments and will subsequently be posted to higher levels of health care facilities.
India against forcing developing countries to review their voluntary emission cuts: Warsaw Climate talks
Taking a stance in direct confrontation with the developed countries, India, China and other nations in the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group took the position formally that the new climate pact must not force developing countries to review their volunteered emission reduction targets. Furthermore, the LMDC made it clear that it was not in favour of eliminating the existing differentiation between developing and developed countries when it came to taking responsibility for climate action.
The ongoing climate talks at Warsaw are expected to bring out elements of the new climate agreement which is to be signed by 2015.
What is the issue of volunteering emission targets?
There is a general agreement that the new agreement would allow each country to volunteer their emission reduction targets. However, as per the EU suggestions which is also supported by other allied groups, there should be a process of reviewing targets of all countries and seeing if they collectively add up to the level that keeps global temperature rise below 2 degree Celsius. It further opines that any gap in meeting the target emission cuts should be distributed between all countries, rich or poor, based on several parameters which are often called the Equity Reference Framework. The U.S. is in favor of similar consultations but only ‘peer pressure’ and not compulsion to convince countries to do more in case the global target is not met.
Loopholes: Developing countries are skeptical that if review of volunteered emission targets is allowed then the developed countries may deliberately to offer lower targets initially and then get the responsibility of filling the ‘emission gap’ distributed evenly between all nations which, according to developing countries, goes against the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities based on historical responsibility.
Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) stance:
The LMDC is not in support of the Equity Reference Framework in its current form as the group finds that it redistributes the burden of fighting climate change more on the shoulders of the developing countries. The group noted that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under which the new agreement is to be signed requires developed countries to take the lead in fighting climate change and not the developing countries.
India wins significant support on the issue of emission cuts affecting farmers: Warsaw Climate talks
In a development favorable to the developing countries, India has managed to turn the focus of the ongoing climate negotiations inWarsaw (Poland’s capital) on adapting agricultural practices to climate change and not on costly emission reduction measures that would impact farmers directly.
Surprisingly, India’s stance was backed by the United States too. It also found wide-ranging support from other countries, including the entire G77+China bloc.
Why the decision of US is a surprise?
The European Union and other developed countries have been sticking to ensure that climate negotiations focus on reducing emissions in the agricultural sector. On the other hands, developing nations like India, China and a large number of African countries point that emission reduction efforts in the agricultural sector would negatively impact farmers whose population is very large, and they are often the poorest in these developing countries. They also counter that the effort to reduce emissions should be focus on fossil-fuel-based activities that emit carbon dioxide — the biggest contributor to global warming. As paddy fields and livestock are some of the greatest causes of emissions, emission cut in the sector has major implications for India and China.
India and many other countries ensured that the talks remained centered on adaptation instead of mitigation (general term used for emission reduction) and only a report on this specific matter is produced for the countries to discuss in future.
National Child Award 2013 for exceptional achievement
Gold
Harshal Shahi, Delhi in the field of chess
21 Silver Medal winners
1. S.Harshitha Reddy, Andhra Pradesh in the field of mathematics
2. Dhanraj Sahariah, Assam in the various fields like martial arts, dance, music, swimming and theatre
3. M.Shraddha, Chandigarh in the field of Hindustani classical music
4. Anjali Yadav, Chattisgarh in the various fields like yoga, taekwondo, painting and dancing
5. Hardik Jay Prakash Nayar, Daman & Diu in the field of academics
6. A.A.Aravinda Lochanan, Delhi in various fields like musical instrument (Violin), recitation, quiz
7. Vaishnav Chinmay Surilbhai, Gujarat in the field of academics and sports
8. Harman Singh, Haryana in the field of dance and culture
9. Kushagra Rastogi, Himachal Pradesh in the field of academics
10. Kariha Javaid, Jammu and Kashmir in the field of martial arts and academics
11. Simpi Kumari, Jammu and Kashmir in the field of archery
12. Pooja G.Prabhu, Karnataka in the field of music
13. Akshay V.A, Kerala in the field of painting
14. Usman Hanif Patel, Maharashtra in the field of Technical Innovation
15. Khagembam Binta Devi, Manipur in the field of boxing
16. Harsha Pattnaik, Odisha in the field of literature
17. Chirag Gupta, Punjab in the field of sports
18. Megha Gupta, Rajasthan in various fields such as academics, sports, dance, skating, drawing, football and arts
19. R.Ajeetha, Tamil Nadu in the field of yoga
20. Pranay Fartyal, Uttar Pradesh in the field of academics
21. Mitrabha Guha, West Bengal in the field of chess
QUIZ:
1. The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday, 14th Nov 2013, gave six-month extension to the probe panel which is probing Muzaffarnagar riots. It is now likely that the commission's report will come only after the Lok Sabha elections slated for early next year. Which commission is probing this?
[A] Tayal Commission
[B] Shrivastava Commission
[C] Sahai Commission
[D] Ghai Commission
2. The Group of Ministers (GoM) has rescheduled its meeting with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to November 18 after a plea by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tiwari. For what purpose this meeting was supposed to be happened?
[A] Defence Budget for AP
[B] Recent calmity in AP
[C] Bifurcation of AP
[D] It was a routine annual meeting
3. US President Obama on Thursday, 14th Nov 2013, nominated Indian-American physician, who is only 36, to be surgeon general of the United States. Can you name him?
[A] Vivek Murthy
[B] Sanjeev Murthy
[C] Vivek Bisht
[D] Vivek Mathur
4. To highlight World Diabetes Day which takes place each year on Nov. 14, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) released its sixth edition of the Diabetes Atlas. As per a new report published in this atlas suggests that one in how many people globally will have diabetes by 2035?
[A] 5
[B] 10
[C] 20
[D] 30
5. The Haryana Government seems to have served another transfer order on IAS officer Ashok Khemka, the 45th since he joined service in 1980. On 13th Nov 2013, the Congress government in Haryana announced that another bureaucrat will replace Khemka as the Director General of the Archives Department, a post that the latter was assigned to in April this year. Khemka has been an Indian Administrative Service officer for 23 years, and has alleged that he is being persecuted for challenging land deals involving which person?
[A] Ajit Jogi
[B] Bhupinder Singh Hooda
[C] Manish Tewari
[D] Robert Vadra
Answers for above questions:
1. [C] Sahai Commission
2. [C] Bifurcation of AP
3. [A] Vivek Murthy
4. [B] 10
5. [D] Robert Vadra
Answer the following questions
1) The words Satyameva Jayate in the State Emblem of India have been adopted from which one of the following?
A) Mundak Upanishad
B) Brahma Upanishad
C) Mudgala Upanishad
D) Maitreyi Upnishad
2) In India who is the chairman of Planning Commission?
A) President
B) Prime Minister
C) Speaker
D) None of these
3) Who among the following was the founder of the Paris Indian Society?
A) S R Rana
B) Bhikaji Kama
C) Taraknath
D) Lala Hardayal
4) Which article ensures the special status to Jammu & Kashmir?
A) Article 370
B) Article 372
C) Article 369
D) Article 368
5) Who is the author of the book “My Unforgettable Memories”?
A) Sharad Pawar
B) Mamata Banerjee
C) Narendra Modi
D) Naveen Patnaik
