CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS

1.  The Indian national who was appointed as the as chief economist and Senior vice president of World bank?

Ans- Kaushik Basu

2. Who said “My father brought computers, we brought FDI”?

Ans- Rahul Gandhi.

3. Who won the inaugural Asian Cricket Council’s Twenty20 Asia Cup 2012?

Ans-The Indian women’s cricket team.

4. Who will take over as DGP of Haryana from Ranjeev Singh Dalal?

Ans-S N Vashisht.

5. Which company was downgraded on the lines of earnings outlook to underperform from neutral recently by Credit Suisse?

Ans- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

6. Which stock exchange was shut for 2 days because of Hurricane Sandy?

Ans- New York Stock Exchange

FDI in Various Sectors

As per extant FDI policy, FDI, up to 26% is permitted, in the defence sector, with prior Government approval. Government has, further, interalia announced the following decisions:-

(i) Amendment of certain conditions relating to FDI, up to 100%, in single brand retail trading, vide Press Note No. 4(2012 Series) dated 20.9.2012

(ii) Permitting FDI, up to 51%, in multi-brand retail trading, subject to specified conditions, vide Press Note No. 5 (2012 Series) dated 20.9.2012

(iii) Permitting foreign airlines to invest, in the capital of Indian companies, operating scheduled and nonscheduled air transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital, vide Press Note No.6 (2012 Series) dated 20.9.2012

(iv) Permitting FDI, up to 49%, in power exchanges, vide Press Note No. 8 (2012 Series) dated 20.9.2012

The above mentioned decisions have been incorporated in the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 vide Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2012 notified in the Gazette of India: Extraordinary vide G.S.R.795(E) dated 19.10.2012.

It is the Government’s assessment that implementation of the policy is likely to facilitate greater FDI inflows into front and back-end infrastructure; technologies and efficiencies to unlock the potential of the agricultural value chain; additional and quality employment; and global best practices. This, in turn, is expected to benefit consumers and farmers in the long run, in terms of quality and price. The 30% mandatory sourcing condition has been incorporated to encourage local value addition and manufacturing. The increased level of activity, in the front-end, as well as in the back-end, resulting from greater FDI inflows, is expected to create additional employment opportunities for rural and urban youth. It is, further, expected to encourage existing traders and retail outlets to upgrade and become more efficient, thereby providing better services to consumers and better remuneration to the producers from whom they source their products.

The consultations with key stakeholders regarding FDI in multi-brand retail trading brought out views both for and against FDI in multi brand retail trading. On balance, however, the discussions generally indicated support for the policy, subject to the introduction of adequate safeguards. The necessary safeguards have, accordingly, been incorporated in the policy and are expected to protect the interests of various stakeholders. Government has also decided to constitute a high-level group to make recommendations on internal trade reforms, with a view to ensuring distributional efficiencies and also that the benefits from trade are available to all sections of society.

Two proposals have been received for FDI up to 100% in single brand retail trading (from M/s Ingka Holding Overseas B.V, Netherlands and M/s Fossil India Private Limited). Further, seven proposals have been received, for single brand product retail trading, with foreign equity participation up to 51% (from M/s Fapa Company Ltd., Samoa; M/s Promod S.A.S, France; M/s Tommy Hillfiger B.V, The Netherlands; M/s NA Pali Europe SARL; M/s The Semex Alliance, Canada; M/s Le Cruset SAS France and M/s Sketchers South Asia Private Limited). No proposal has been received for FDI in multi-brand retail trading. 

CURRENT AFFAIRS KEY POINTS

1. Punjab Government has announced to launch biggest ever door-to-door campaign for early detection of Cancer.
2. Canara Bank has been recently awarded gold trophy of Niryat Bandhu Award followed by Bank of India (silver) and Punjab National Bank (bronze). The award was presented by the President of India.
3. Sanofi Indi pharmaceutical company has launched its first indigenously manufactured re-usable insulin pen ‘AllStar’ .
4. Mohamed Nasheed, Maldivia country’s first democratically elected President has been issued an arrest warrant by the Maldiavian court beacuse he has challenged the legality of a criminal trial against him.
5. Varsha Bhosle, daughter of the veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle, commited suicide at their peddar road residence on 8 october. She was suffering from depression and had attempted suicide on two previous occasions.
6. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit has stepped down making way for Michael Corbat. Pandit’s recent rifts and disaggrements with the board especially chairman Michael O’Neill has been termed as the reason for his sudden and abrupt departure.
7. Satirist Jaspal Bhatti died in a road accident on 25 October 2012 near Punjab’s Nakodar town 40 km from Jalandhar. He was on his way to Jalandhar from Bathinda for Promotion of his upcoming Film Power Cut.
8. The City of Hyderabad was named as World Third best city to visit in 2013 by Travel guide book Lonely Planet published on 22 October 2012. Hyderabad the capital city of Andhra Pradesh was described as “elegant and blossoming” by the Lonely Planet.
9. London Olympic Shooter and silver medalist Vijay Kumar was honoured with the Services Best Sportsman award for 2012 at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi. He was also awarded with Arjuna Award in 2007 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2011-12 by the Government of India.
10. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched much awaited Aadhar-enabled service system. The launch, marking the second anniversary of Aadhaar project, is aimed at checking corruption and pilferage in schemes and to bring transparency in implementation.
11. Recently World Food Day has been celebrated across the globe in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It is celebrated every year on October 16.
12. The Union Cabinet recently gave its nod for setting up of the National Automotive Board (NAB). The body will be responsible for promoting the research and development activities of the industry and act as a facilitator in between the industry and the government. NAB would also be responsible as a specialized body to promote sustainable development of the Nation’s Auto Sector along with skill development for the automobile sector.
13. The Folded Earth written by Anuradha Roy and A Free Man by Aman Sethi won the 11th Economist Crossword Book Award. The Folded Earth was successful in securing its position in the English Indian Fiction Category, whereas, A Free Man by Aman Sethi was successful in the category of Indian Non-Fiction books
14. Recently, Newsweek magazines has announced that it would shut down its print operations completely and go all-digital.
15. Recently, Tata Starbucks, a joint venture between Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) and Starbucks Coffee Company, opened its first store in India at Mumbai.
16. The Chief Minister of Kerela, Oommen Chandy declared that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would execute the Kochi Metro Rail Project in association with E. Sreedharan in next three years.
17. Indian Railways launched RailRadar to find out the location of 6500 trains on real-time basis on Google Map.
18. Smt Tessy Thomas has been conferred the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award 2012.

19) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed its 100th Mission:ISRO launched its 100th satellite named PSLV-C21 on Septmeber 7, 2012 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, 80 kms north of Chennai.

20) Kaushik Basu has been appointed as the chief economist and senior vice president of The World Bank whose term begin on October 1,2012. He succeeded Mr Justin Lin of China.

21) Raghuram Ranjan former IMF chief economist, took charge as the chief economic advisor (CEA) in Finance Ministry in New Delhi. He succeeded Kaushik Basu. Mr Ranjan will be a key official of finance minister P. Chidambaram’s team.

22) Sachin Pilot who is Minister of state for Communications and Information technology and also a young politician has recently been commissioned as Lieutenant in the territorial army.

23) New York became the first city in US to ban the sale of large sodas and sugary beverages in restaurants. This step is taken to curb Obesity.

24) End of IPL road for Deccan Charges- A Hyderabad based franchise: The BCCI terminated the IPL contract of debt-ridden Deccan Chargers stating that the  only reason to take this decision is  due to the absolute inability of the franchise to effectively run the team.

25) Andy Roddick’s Announced his retirement from Tennis: Andy Roddick’s US tennis star and former No. 1-ranked player has announced to leave the game he loves following the U.S. Open. He announced his planned retirement during a news conferences during his 30th birthday.

26) Salman Rushdie released his new book named “Joseph Anton” : Salman Rushdie’s new book reveals his life, at the time when he was issued an Iranian fatwa that ordered his death for the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. In the book, Salman Rushdie has characterized himself as Joseph Anton and the name is the combination of the first names of his favourite writers Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov.

27) Bank of Baroda one of the nationalised bank has recently opened its first branch in South Africa.

28) Aditya-1′ is India’s first Solar Satellite. It may help satellites dodge solar radiation.

29)  Vijay Kumar is World No. 2: London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar (with 2871 points) has added another feather to his cap as he achieved the World No. 2 ranking in the latest list issued by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).

30) Girisha bags first Paralympic medal for India: Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games after bagging a silver in the Men’s High Jump F42 event. Iliesa Delana of Fiji won the gold, while Lukasz Mamczarz of Poland settled for bronze.

31) Air India gets its first Dreamliner aircraft named Boeing 787. The 787 aircraft will allow Air India to open new routes in a dynamic marketplace and provide the best in-flight experience for the passengers.

32) Milk man of India is no more: Verghese Kurien, father of “White Revolution” and founder of the cooperative dairy movement in the country, died, aged 90.From one milk project to a larger one, the “Milkman of India” saw India emerge from a milk-deficient country into the largest milk producer in the world, overtaking even the once milk-abundant Netherlands. It is because of Dr. Kurien that India today contributes about 17 per cent of the total milk production in the world.

33)  India falls 3 places to 59th in WEF’s global competitiveness index: India’s ranking declined by three places to 59th position in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013, due mainly to ”disappointing performance” in the basic factors underpinning competitiveness.Switzerland, for the fourth consecutive year, tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released today by the World Economic Forum. Singapore remains in second position and Finland in third position.

34) Andy Murray first Britisher to win Grand Slam men’s singles title in 76 years: Andy Murray has overpowered Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in five gruelling sets in a classic US Open final to become the first Britisher to win a Grand Slam men’s singles title in 76 years.

35) Deveshwar appointed on RBI board: The government has appointed ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar as a director on the central board of directors of the Reserve Bank of India.

36) Aditi Mukherjee, a Delhi based scientist, won the prestigious Norman Borlaug Award in Field Research and Application. Mukherjee was picked for the award for her work in transforming access to water for thousands of farmers in West Bengal. The award carries 10000 dollar cash prize. The Borlaug Award is restricted to scientists under 40.

37) The Xenon pickup cab has been launched by Tata Motors.

38) 16th NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) summit was held at TEHRAN.The theme of the summit was Lasting Peace  through Joint Global Governance. Venezuela was selected the host for the 17th NAM Summit in 2015.

39) Vice president of India M. Hamid Ansari released a book “Muslim in Indian cities”. The book speaks about Muslim life in India. Numbering more than 150 million, Muslims constitute the largest minority in India, yet they suffer the most politically and socioeconomically.

40)  Panchayat Sanchar Sewa Kendras (PSSKs) under the ‘Panchayat Sanchar Sewa Yojana’ scheme are opened at the Gram Panchayat Headquarters which is without Post Offices to provide basic postal facilities at Gram Panchayat Headquarters.

41) PM congratulates Vijay Kumar, Mary Kom and Saina NehwalPrime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has congratulated Mary Kom on her winning the bronze medal in women’s boxing at London Olympics-2012. Following is the text of PM’s message: ‘I join the nation in congratulating boxer Mary Kom for winning the Olympic bronze medal in the 51 kg women`s boxing event.

42) India’s Ranking in Most Attractive Destination for Retail Investment According to US-based global management consulting firm, A.T. Keamey’s Report on 2012 Global Retail Development Index, India has been ranked the fifth most attractive destination for retail investment among 30 developing countries.

43) DR. Zaidi took Over as New Election Commissioner -- Dr. Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi has assumed the charge as Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. He fills the vacancy in the Election Commission caused by the assumption of charge by Sh. V.S. Sampath as the 18th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) succeeding Dr. S.Y. Quraishi.

44) India is the Second-Largest Mobile Phone user in World 

45) Second term for Hamid Ansari History repeated after five decades when United Progressive Alliance nominee Hamid Ansari was re-elected as Vice President to get a second consecutive term after s. Radhakrishnan.who enjoyed two terms from 1952 to 1962. Mr. Ansari Won with a thumping majority against Jaswant Singh.

46) India and Belgium Sign MOU for Modernization of Railway A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the visiting Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs of Belgium, Mr. Didier Reynders and the Union Minister of Railways of India Shri Mukul Roy on bilateral co-operation for the effective development and modernization of railway sector of both the countries.

47) The 31st edition of Summer Olympics will be held in Reo de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. 

48) India Signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement with MonacoGovernment of India and Government of Principality of Monaco have signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA).

49) Union Cabinet Approved Three New Extension Lines in Delhi Metro
11) China signed Economic Agreements with North Korea which includes the Development of SEZs.

50) The Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs Didier Reynders visited India from 1-5 August and 8-12 August 2012.

51) Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh, the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences died of multiple organ failure at the Global Health City Hospital in Chennai on 14 August 2012.

52) India’s exports for the month of July 2012 stood at 22.4 billion dollar registering a decline of – 14.8 percent as compared to 26.3 billion dollar during the same month of 2011.

53) London Olympics 2012 concluded as US topped the Medal Tally

• US topped the medal tally with a total of 104 medals (46 Gold+29 Silver+ 29 Silver) followed by China, which bagged a total of 88 medals (38 Gold+27 Silver+23 Bronze).
• Great Britain with 65 medals (29 Gold+17 Silver+19 Bronze),
• Russia with 82 medals (24 Gold+26 Silver+32 Bronze) and
• South Korea with 27 medals (13 Gold+8 Silver+6 Bronze) finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
• India with a total of 6 medals (2 Silver+4Bronze) finished 55th on the medal tally.

54) Major Medal winning Performances at London Olympics 2012

• Michael Phelps bagged 6 medals (4 Gold+2 Silver) in swimming, becoming the most decorated Olympian ever with 22 medals.
• Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt clinched three gold in three separate events (100 meter race, 200 meter race and 4X100 meter relay team race). He won the 100 metres gold medal with a time of 9.63 seconds, setting a new Olympic record for that distance. He took 19.32 seconds to clinch 200 meters gold. With a storming victory in both 100 and 200 meters race he became the only sprinter in the history to defend both Olympic titles.
• Germany beat Netherlands 2-1 to win men’s hockey gold.
• Mexico beat Brazil 2-1 to win Soccer gold
• United States defeated Spain to win men’s Basketball gold
• Andy Murray of Great Britain beat Roger Federer of Switzerland to win tennis men’s singles gold
• Russia defeated Brazil to win men’s volleyball gold
• Dan Lin of China beat Malaysian Chong Wei Lee to clinch Badminton men’s singles gold

55) Mascots have been a part of Olympic Games since Munich 1972, when Waldi, a dachshund, was the symbol of the Munich games. The mascots of London Games were Wenlock and Mandeville.

56) Olympic Torch is the symbol of Olympic Games which is lit in Olympia (modern day Greece).

57) There were 4700 medals (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) up for grab at the London Olympics 2012. On every medal there is the image of Nike, the Greek Goddess of victory.

58) Rory Mcllroy won the US PGA Golf Championship at Kaiwah island on 12 August 2012, claiming his second major title with a record-setting eight-shot victory.

59) Moody’s Analytics cut India’s growth forecast to 5.5 percent for the fiscal year 2012-13

60) Sushil Kumar, the star Indian grappler, won India its sixth medal on the very last day in London Olympics 2012. The wrestler bagged the silver after his Japanese opponent Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu overpowered him 3-1 in the gold medal bout in the 66-kg freestyle category on 12 August 2012.

61) Raghuram Rajan, former chief economist of International Monetary Fund (IMF) was appointed as the Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry.

62) The Union government allocated 150 crore rupees as interim relief for the flood affected people of Uttarakhand CM “Vijay Bahuguna”.

63) Keshub Mahindra stepped down as the Chairman of 15.4 billion dollar business conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra on 8 August 2012.

64) Mary Kom bagged Bronze in Women Flyweight Boxing at London Olympics 2012

65) India successfully test-fired Medium Range Ballistic Missile Agni – II

66) Pakistan’s Supreme Court on 8 August 2012 ordered the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to appear before judges for he failed to write Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against the president Asif Ali Zardari.

67) Jet Airways Tied Up with HDFC Bank and Launched Credit Cards

68) Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi, a 1976 batch IAS officer of UP cadre, was appointed as an Election Commissioner on 7 August 2012. His appointment was approved by President Pranab Mukherjee. Zaidi had retired as Civil Aviation Secretary on 31 July 2012.

69) Fitch Ratings revised the Indian Retail Sector Outlook for the second half 2012-13 to Negative

70) RBI permitted Banks to lend to Telecom Companies for the Upcoming Auction for Spectrum

71) The US space agency NASA landed Curiosity, a huge new robot rover on Mars on 5 August 2012.

72) Saina Nehwal clinched Bronze in Women’s Singles Badminton Event at London Olympics 2012

73) RBI directed NBFCs to maintain Net-owned Funds (NOF) at Rs 3 crore by 31 March 2013

74) Vijay Kumar bagged Silver in Olympics 25 Metre Rapid Fire Pistol Event

75) Hero MotoCorp invested 20 million dollar in US based Erik Buell for R&D

76) Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 2 August 2012 stepped down as the UN special envoy to Syria.

77) Kaushik Basu Ended Tenure as the Chief Economic Advisor in New Delhi

78) Government of Japan decided to honour Vandana Shiva with Fukuoka Prize 2012 on 23 July 2012. She will be honoured by this award in the ceremony which will be held by the Government of Japan in Fukuoka city in September 2012.

79) The Supreme Court of India on 23 July 2012 allowed Tamil Nadu government to carry out repair and maintenance works on the Mullaperiyar dam.

80) Bradley Wiggins of Britain became the first cyclist of the country, to win the coveted Tour de France Cycling race on 22 July 2012.

81) Pranab Mukherjee was elected as the 13th President (in person) of India on 22 July 2012. Pranab Mukherjee defeated his rival PA Sangma with a huge margin as he secured nearly 69 percent of total valid votes.

82)The ousted Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed is charged with illegally ordering the arrest of criminal court Chief Justice, Abdulla Mohamed. The charge was made on 15 July 2012.

83) Marissa Mayer appointed as the New President and CEO of Yahoo

84) EGoM recommended CDMA Airwaves in the 800 MHz band at 1.3 times the Base Price for GSM Airwaves.

85) Sally Ride, First US Woman to travel into Space, passed away.

86) SEBI permitted MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) to operate as a Full-fledged Stock Exchange.

87) Spain beat Italy 4-0 to win UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Euro 2012.

88) The World Bank in its report named Global Economic Prospects released on 12 June 2012, projected Indian economy to grow by 6.9% in the financial year 2012-13.

89) The Beijing summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) concluded on 7 June 2012.

90)The Andhra Pradesh High Court on 28 May 2012 invalidated the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities carved out of the 27 per cent.

91) Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda was sworn in on 15 June 2012 as the International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor.

92) Raja Parvez Ashraf, the senior Pakistan People’s Party leader, was appointed the 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan on 22 June 2012.

93) Mohammed Mursi, leader of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on 24 June 2012 was declared victorious in Egypt’s historical presidential election.

94) Swiss Tennis maestro Roger Federer beat British player Andy Murray to win the Wimbledon Open Championship Gentlemen’s Singles Final 2012.

95) International donors meeting were held in Tokyo, on 8 July 2012.

96) Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma was signed as the Brand Ambassador of Unicharm’s Sofy.

97) Maruti Suzuki India Limited announced to close down its Factory at Manesar.

CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR OCTOBER 2012

National News

1. India’s National Security Advisor Sh. Shivshankar Menon recently released a report on the “Recommendations of Joint Working Group on Engagement with Private Sector on Cyber Security”.
2. The Supreme Court recently made it mandatory for all the States, Union territories and the regulatory bodies to put in place a legal mechanism to implement the ‘guidelines in Vishaka case’.
3. Union Home Ministry has begun discussing the broad contours of an agreement to solve the Naga problem with all regional stakeholders. 
4. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently presented the 2011 Carbon Footprint Report for the Indian Aviation Industry, in line with India’s initiatives to address the climate change challenge.
5. The Union Cabinet recently approved the introduction of Amendments to the “Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986″ in Parliament
6. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a high-level committee to spearhead efforts to ensure accessible financial services and to increase the speed of financial inclusion in the country. The committee will be called Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC). It will be headed by RBI Deputy Governor K. C. Chakrabarty and has been asked to ensure that financial inclusion and financial stability move in tandem.
7. A committee headed by Dr C Rangarajan has recommended allowing millers to freely sell sugar in the open market and share 75% of the sugar’s value with sugarcane farmers. Dr C Rangarajan is Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC)
8. The Parthasarthi Shome committee that was looking at controversial tax proposals in the 2012 Budget has recommended that an amendment to the Income Tax Act seeking to tax indirect transfers of Indian assets should apply prospectively and only on those who make capital gains. The committee has also suggested that retrospective change in the law should be applied in rare cases. It has said that retrospective changes to the laws should be should be clarificatory, done through stakeholder consultations, and not implemented with the objective of enlarging the tax base
9. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom has recommended that telecom service providers would have to pay a fee for their existing second-generation airwaves that will match the upcoming auction-determined price.
10. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the first phase of the end-to-end computerization of Targeted Public Distribution System. The project will cost the Centre and states about Rs 884 crore and the Centre will bear half the cost.
11. The Union Cabinet recently cleared the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012. Subsequently, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha on September 3, 2012. The Bill is aimed at prohibiting manual scavenging and employment of manual scavengers as sanitary workers.
12. The Union Cabinet recently approved the constitution of 20th Law Commission for a period for three years from 01.09.2012 to 31.08.2015
13. The Government is considering implementation of a number of steps that would quicken the shift towards a system of cash transfers that would put money directly in the hands of the targeted beneficiaries of Government welfare programmes.
14. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to introduce electronic IPOs from January 1, 2013.The facility would allow retail investors to submit bids for IPOs electronically
15. Recently a report released by the National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), which is part of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), shows that India will not meet the target of reducing infant mortality rate to 28 per 1,000 live births by March 2012 (end of the 11th five year Plan)
16. A high-level panel on infrastructure financing, headed by HDFC Bank Chairman Deepak Parekh, has submitted its interim report to the Prime Minister. The report lays down detailed plans for every infrastructure sector, with special attention to the railways.
17. The latest by the Registrar General of India Life  Expectancy (LE) of a rural Indian increased by 2.2 years between 2002 and 2008. The LE of an urban Indian was up by just 1.2 years over the same period.
18. Ministry of Women and Child Development proposed the formulation of a bill through which a certain percentage of a husband’s salary would be compulsorily transferred to his wife’s bank account to compensate her for all the domestic work she performs for the family. 

International News

1. In the Georgian parliamentary elections of 2012  the opposition Georgian Dream coalition won a majority of seats. The coalition is headed by billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili.
2. The United Nations (U.N.) recently declared that the recent ethnic unrest in Myanmar has displaced an estimated further 26,500, in addition to some 75,000 people are already having taken refuge in the camps. These numbers include 4,000 who fled in boats to Rakhine State’s capital Sittwe — from mainly Muslim communities.
3. The 5th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) was organised by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) in collaboration with the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) from 22 to 25 October at Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
4. Russia agreed on sharing precision signal from the multi-satellite based Russian global navigation system – GLONASS with the Indian military set-up. These signals will allow Indian missiles, including those fired from nuclear submarine Chakra, to strike with great precision – within half a metre of distant targets
5. The latest version of State of Food Insecurity in the World report has revised the number of people in hunger globally downwards from 1 billion to 870 million as of 2010-12
6. Indian Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Mr. Timothy Geithner, met in New Delhi for the third annual meeting of the India-U.S. Economic and Financial Partnership.
7. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony was on a three-day visit to Indonesia, beginning Monday (15 Oct 2012), to take part in the first Ministerial Level Biennial Defence Dialogue between the two countries.
8. Hugo Chavez won the election of president in Venenzula. Mr. Chavez won 55% of the vote against 45% for MrCapriles, with 98% of the vote counted. Mr. Chavez’s new term will be beginning in February 2013.
9. Global agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has warned that India’s rating could be downgraded to junk status if the Government failed to ensure implementation of key economic reforms, contain the fiscal deficit and improve the investment climate.
10. The Union Cabinet recently approved the ratification of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing by India.
11. The Nagoya Protocol is an addition to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It was formulated during the 10th Biodiversity Summit (also called COP-10 of CBD), which was held in Nagoya (Japan) in 2010.

Sikkim to be 1st state to provide pucca houses to all citizens

Sikkim will soon be the first state in the country to provide 'pucca' houses to all its residents as it has launched a mega social housing mission of quality housing to families living in hutments.
 

Under the Rs 211.20 crore ambitious project, 6,000 poor household dwellers living in 'kutcha' houses will be given a single storey earthquake-resistant new 'pucca' house free of cost by the end of 2013.

The five-year project will solve the issue of homelessness among the poor in Sikkim permanently, project director of Chief Minister's Rural Housing Mission C C Wangdi said in a release.

Each spacious house will have a RCC structure with two bedrooms, a kitchen-cum-dinning room, a toilet and a verandah in front portion measuring a plinth area of 605 sq ft each.

The each owner-driven conversion of hutments to 'pucca' house would cost of Rs 3.50 lakh which will be constructed by the beneficiary through financial assistance to be received from the government in four instalments.

There will be no middle men or contractors and construction of each house is closely monitored by Block Rural House Construction Committees comprising both elected as well as official representatives, the release said.

All these 6,000 'katcha' house dwellers were identified through a rigorous baseline survey conducted by gram sabhas using transparent criteria followed by multiple level of supervision and cross checks by the Rural Management and Development Department.

The houses will be earthquake resistant and will be designed in such a way that the interiors get maximum sunlight and have air circulation.

As earth quake safety feature, foundation reinforcement, column size, plinth size of each house has been increased and additionally the GCI roof has been replaced by RCC slab roof with a three-feet parapet wall on all four sides.

The tiny northeastern state was hit by a major earthquake on 18^th September 2011 in which more than 100 people lost their lives.

The Sikkim government is providing 0.25 acre land to each landless person living below the poverty line (BPL) to construct the house.

The administration has completed the construction work on 1,137 houses so far while construction work on 3,029 houses will be completed by December next.

The construction work on remaining 1834 houses is under various stages of completion which will be completed during next financial year, Wangdi said.

CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS

1.    The year by which India is expected to achieve total sanitation coverage, as per the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India is - 2017

2.    Which film actress has been selected as the brand ambassador of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
      Vidya Balan

3.    The joint exercise carried out by the Army and the Indian Air Force in the desert of Rajasthan is named -   Exercise Shoorveer 

4.    For which region of the country the Union Government has cleared a 8,500 crore project under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)?
      Naxalite-affected districts

5.    As per data released by Indian statistical organisation in May 2012, India's Industrial production declined by 3.5 per cent in March 2012, the chief factor behind this decline is -
      Contraction in manufacturing and mining output

6.    Recently Wikipedia city Monmouth has been built. In which city is it located
      USA

7.    United States has decided to ease the stiff economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed on which country and appointed envoy to her after 22 years
      Myanmar

8.    The Government has launched a scheme called for encourages and enables Overseas Indian Workers to save for their return and resettlement and to save for their old age by providing a co-contribution from the Government, is
      Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana

9.    Who was the father of Operation Flood
      Dr Verghese Kurien

10.    Who is the winner of US Open Tennis 2012 in women section
      Serena Williams    
     
11.    Who is the winner of US Open Tennis 2012 men section
      Andy Murray

12.    Vedanta Alumina is a company operating in the area of
      Mining

13.    Which of  is used as a fuel in Nuclear power stations in India
      Thorium

14.    In which  State was the first UID card issued
      Maharashtra

15.    Expand the term MGNREGA.
      Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

16.    Which States has passed a legislation to confiscate the property of corrupt officials and to open schools in these properties
      Bihar

17.    In which  States, Jaitapur Nuclear Power plant is proposed to be set up
      Maharashtra

18.    The Eleventh 'Five-Year Plan' of India is for the Five years ranging from
      2007-2012

19.    The Government of India provides direct financial support to which scheme
      Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana

20.    Which  is the objective of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)issued by the Government?
      To ensure that Companies take steps for rehabilitation of project-affected people

21    Endosulfon, which has been in news these days, is
      a pesticide

21.    The disease which has been declared by the Union Government to be a mandatorily notifiable in order to provide better diagnosis and treatment and reduce its transmission is -
      Tuberculosis

22.    The first Credit Information Company in India was -
      CIBIL

23.    To review the determination of poverty line by Suresh Tendulkar Committee, Planning Commission has constituted a committee under the chairmanship -
      C. Rangrajan

24.    All services excluding services in negative list have been brought under the umbrella of service tax w.e.f. July 1, 2012. How many services have been included in the negative list?
      17

25.    For 2011-12, the external debt as percentage of GDP stands at -
      20%

26.    With reference to The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report
      Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 50 per cent globally since 1970

27.    With a view to strengthening regional financial and economic cooperation the Reserve Bank of India has announced Swap Arrangement of how much amount of US$ billion both in foreign currency and Indian rupee for SAARC member countries?
      USD 2 billion

28.    In the 12th Five Year Plan the Government of India has proposed to invest for development of various projects in port sector the amount of
      76,793.95 crore

29.    India has signed a key tax information exchange agreement and another pact on information technology to accelerate economic and joint investment with-
      Bahrain

30.    Which country took over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in June 2012?
      China

31.    Which country has increased its defence budget by nearly 10 per cent to 545 billion rupees ($ 5.8 billion) for the 2012-13?
      Pakistan

32.    Who authored the book Mind Positive, Life Positive ?
      S. Joginder Singh

33.    Who had been made the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)?
      Mr. Suma Chakrabarti

34.    The World Environment Day was observed across the globe on June 5,2012. Theme for the World Environment Day 2012 was -
      Green Economy : Does it include you

35.    IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd.) an independent Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) was established in
      1987

36.    SSS-NIRE (Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy) working in bio-energy, bio-fuel, synthetic fuel etc is located at
      Wadala Kalan, Kapurthala (Punjab)

37.    RGAUD (Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas) i.e. Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Day, Sadbhavana Day is celebrate each year on the birth day of ex. PM Rajiv Gandhi. His birth day is
      20th August

38.    The Solar Evapo-Cooking System (SECS) for controlling excretion of CO2 in atmosphere and to save LPG amount during food cooking for 20000 people daily in Shri Sai Baba Institute Nyas, Shirdi (Maharashtra)was established in
      June 2010

39.    The estimates of National Income are prepared by-
      Central Statistical Organization

40.    The State who launched "Atal Khadyanna Yojna" is -
      Uttarakhand

41.    The first Lokpal Bill was presented in the Parliament in -
      1968

42.    Which is the latest country to reach an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with India?
      Australia

43.    Montreal Protocol is related with the protection of -
      Ozone layer

44.    Which is the most fragile eco-system that will be first affected by global warming?
      Arctic and Greenland Ice sheet

45.    Who is the author of the book "To A Hunger Free World"?
      M.S. Swaminathan

46.    The Government of India has launched an Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) to monitor certain disease. Which is not covered under the project?
      Plague

47.   "Swayamsidha" is a scheme launched by the Government of India to help.
                Women only

Current Affairs of October 2012

The venue of the first-ever senior National Sambo championship, a form of Russian martial arts, for both men and women to be held from 26 October 2012	Jammu
The joint exercise carried out by the navies of India and the US in the Arabian Sea, to save sailors stuck in submarines during mid-sea mishaps is codenamed	INDIAEX 2012
The National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers set up to coordinate action for the introduction of direct cash transfers to individuals under the various government schemes and programmes is headed by	The Prime Minister
The veteran Indian cricketer who has been chosen for the BCCI's Col C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award	Sunil Gavaskar
The Indian shuttler who has won the Denmark Super Series badminton championship defeating Juliane Schenk of Germany in the finals at Odense, Denmark	Saina Nehwal
The village in Rajasthan from where Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh launched Aadhaar Enabled Service Delivery enabling the usage of the Aadhaar identity platform to identify and authenticate residents for delivery of benefits/services by various government or private agencies like opening bank accounts or availing LPG subsidy	Dudu
The book by Ravi Subramanian which has bagged the Best Popular Book award for 2011, instituted by the Economist-Crossword Book Award	The Incredible Banker
The tiger reserve which has been given the India Biodiversity Award, jointly sponsored by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in recognition of its efforts towards managing the protected zone	Periyar Tiger Reserve
The British writer who has won the prestigious Booker literary prize for a second time (becoming the first British author and the first woman to achieve a Booker double) for her book Bring Up the Bodies	Hillary Mantel
The last Nizam of Hyderabad who has been named all-time richest Indian in a new inflation-adjusted list of the world's richest people of all time by Celebrity Net Worth website	Osman Ali Khan
The new CEO of Citigroup, replacing Mr. Vikram Pandit who resigned on 16 Oct 2012	Michael Corbat
The venue of 4th OECD World Forum being held from 16 to 19 October 2012	New Delhi
The India-born music conductor who been honoured with the Israeli Presidential Award of Distinction for his contribution to the society through the language of music.	Zubin Mehta
The Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy who has been conferred the Great Cross of Civil merit, the highest possible honour accorded by the Spanish Government to somebody who is not Head of State or Government	Dr. Farooq Abdullah
The models of cars recalled by car manufacturer Toyota, to inspect faulty power window master switches (PWMS) which could be a potential fire hazard.	Camry and Corolla
The web application developed by CRIS and RailYatri team (Stelling Technologies) which allows users to access location of a train on Map and track movements of trains on a real-time basis is named	RailRadar
The Chinese writer, author of books - Red Sorghum, The Republic of Wine etc., who has been chosen for 2012 Nobel Prize for literature	Mo Yan (real name Guan Moye)
The Indian origin scientist who has led the Cambridge team which has discovered a cluster of enormous, rapidly growing super-massive black holes ever seen in the early Universe	Dr. Manda Banerji
The IAF vintage aircraft which was resurrected by the Indian Air Force for a fly past on 80th Air Force Day celebrations in New Delhi on 08 Oct 2012	Tiger Moth
The present President of Venezuela who has won a third consecutive six-year term defeating his nearest rival Henrique Capriles	Hugo Chavez
The common bird which has been declared Delhi's state bird by Chief Minister Sheila Dixit	House Sparrow
The public sector bank which has been awarded the Niryat Bandhu (Gold Medal) in the banks category by Federation of Indian Export Organisation’s (FIEO)	Canara Bank
The screen writer who has been chosen for the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government's prestigious National Kishore Kumar Award 2011-12	Salim Khan
The badminton player who has won the women's singles title defeating P.V. Sindhu at 77th Senior National Badminton Championships held at the Sher-E-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar	Sayali Gokhale
The badminton player who has won the men's singles title defeating Ajay Jayram at 77th Senior National Badminton Championships held at the Sher-E-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar	P Kashyap
The country which has witnessed public protests as its currency Rial has lost about a third of its value against the dollar in the past 10 days	Iran
The lyricist, poet and filmmaker who has been chosen for the 27th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 2011	Gulzar

Current Affairs of September 2012

The place in French Guiana, from where India's heaviest satellite GSAT-10, weighing 3.4 tonnes, was launched aboard European Ariane 5 rocket	Kourou
The Indian theatre personality who has been conferred France's highest cultural award - Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres)	Ebrahim Alkazi
The new Chief Justice of India who takes over the charge on 29 Sep 2012	Justice Altamas Kabir
The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways who has been given the additional charge of Railways following the resignation of Shri Mukul Roy	Shri C.P. Joshi
The venue of Second International Buddhist Conclave to be held from 29 Sep 2012	Varanasi
The Hindi daily which has been selected for a ‘Special Award’ by the Election Commission of India for its remarkable contribution towards voter education and awareness in the Assembly elections (January-March) 2012	Amar Ujala
The TV Channel which has been selected by the Election Commission of India for the National Media Award on Voter Education for its outstanding campaign towards creating voters’ awareness in the Assembly elections (January-March) 2012, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand	Zee News
China's first aircraft carrier, (originally purchased from Ukraine) which was unveiled by China on 25 Sep 2012 is named	Liaoning
The Indian Air Force base in Western Air Command where Sukhoi 30MKI have been recently inducted	Halwara
Kantilal Girdharilal Vora, better known as K Lal, who died on 23 Sep 2012 was a renowned	Magician
The Indian film written and directed by Anurag Basu which has been chosen to be India's official entry to the Oscar Awards in Febrary 2013	Barfi
The first-of-its kind Catamaran hydrographic survey vessel built by Alcock Ashdown Gujarat Ltd which was commissioned by the Indian Navy in Sep 2012 is named	INS Makar
The search engine launched by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) to help people in searching tourism-related queries across websites in five Indian languages namely Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu is named	Sandhan
The Tamil author who has been awarded the Saraswati Samman for 2012 instituted by KK Birla Foundation	AA Manavalan
The place at which the Second All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) commenced its maiden session on 17 Sep 2012	Jodhpur
The state which has instituted Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award, Kalpana Chawla Shaurya Award and Bahin Shano Devi Panchayati Raj Award in order to felicitate women who have done outstanding work in different fields	Harayana
The Indian Cricketer who has been awarded the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year Award for 2012	Virat Kohli
The Sri Lankan Cricketer who has been awarded the prestigious ICC Cricketer of the Year Award, the ICC Test Cricketer Award and also the People's Choice Award for 2012	Kumar Sangakara
The team which has lifted the overall team championship at the 52nd National Open Athletic Chamionship held at Chennai in Sep 2012	Railways
The British Tennis star who has won the 2012 US Open Men's Singles title defeating Novak Djokovic in the finals	Andy Murray
The US Tennis star who won the 2012 US Open Women's Singles title defeating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the finals	Serena Williams
The sail training ship of Indian Navy which set sail from Kochi on an historical mission to ASEAN countries	INS Sudarshini
The man known as the Father of White Revolution in India who died on 09 Sep 2012	Verghese Kurien
The latest aircraft being acquired by Air India which was launched by the Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Ajit Singh on 08.09.2012	B787 Dreamliner
The Governor of Rajasthan who has been awarded the Mercy Ravi Woman of Substance Award	Mrs. Margaret Alva
The place in Fatehabad district of Harayana where a nuclear power plant is proposed to come, work on which has recently commenced	Gorakhpur
The country which leads the Global Competitiveness Report 2011-12 for the fourth year in a row	Switzerland
The rank of India as per Global Competitiveness Report 2011-12 released by World Economic Forum recently	59
The football team which India defeated to win the third successive Nehru Cup in the finals at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi	Cameroon

Current Affairs of August 2012

The state in which the Department of Posts has launched 'Night post office services' (NPOS)	Jammu and Kashmir
The Chairman of the Expert Committee on General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) which submitted its its draft report after analysis of the GAAR provisions and noting the concerns expressed by various shareholders on 30 Aug 2012.	Mr. Parthasarathi Shome
The new Chief of Naval Staff who took over the command of Indian Navy from Admiral Nirmal Verma	Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi
The former Indian cricket captain who has been conferred the Castrol Cricket Lifetime Achievement Award	Ajit Wadekar
The Hindi writer who has been chosen for the 2nd Sita Smriti Award for her book "Kitne Shahron Mein Kitni Baar" instituted in the memory of Late Dr. Sita Srivastava, a renowned educationist and scholar of Political Science	Smt. Mamta Kalia
The venue of Nehru Cup Football tournament being held from 22 Aug 2012	New Delhi
The JNU Professor who has been awarded the V.V. Giri Memorial Award 2011, (instituted by the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute) in recognition of her outstanding contributions to labour studies	Prof. Utsa Patnaik
The place in Rajasthan where uranium deposits have been discovered by the Atomic Energy Commission	Rohil, Sikar dist.
The international footballer and a member of gold medal winning team at 2011 SAFF Games who has been awarded the Dilip Sardesai Sports Award 2011-12 by the Goa Government	Sameer S Naik
The South African cricketer who has become the fastest to complete 3000 runs in 57 one day internationals (surpassing Vivian Richards record of 69 matches)	Hashim Amla
The pollution control vessel of the Coast Guard which has been stationed permanently at Visakhapatnam is named	Samudra Pehredar
Amuay refinery, at which a blast resulted in ferocious killing several people on 25 Aug 2012 is located in	Venezuela
The venue of XVI Non Aligned Summit being held from 26 Aug 2012	Tehran, Iran
The state which has been awarded as the 'Best State for Pilgrimage Tourism' by Safari India, a prestigious regional tourism magazine	Odisha
Northern Railway's first AC Double Decker train which was flagged off on 24 August 2012 will run between Sarai Rohilla and	Jaipur
The company which has updated its logo for the first time in 25 years	Microsoft
The international cycling icon who has been stripped of seven Tour de France titles slapped with a lifetime ban from competition.	Lance Armstrong
Meles Zenawi, who died on 20 August 2012, after serving as the Prime Minister of his country fro 17 years was the Prime Minister of	Ethiopia
The new Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha elected unanimously by the members	PJ Kurien
The Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs who has taken over the new Minister for Science and Technology, previously held by Late Vilasrao Deshmukh	Vayalar Ravi
The Chinese contestant who has won the Miss World 2012 title at the Miss World pageant at Ordos, China	Yu Wenxia
The Indian contestant who won the "Beauty with a Purpose" title and the 1st ever "Multimedia Award" at the Miss World 2012 pageant at Ordos, China	Vanya Mishra
The Pakistan air base which has been attacked by militants raising concerns about safety of nuclear arsenal in the country	PAF Minhas
The bird which has been declared State Bird of Delhi by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as part of a new campaign to save the species	House Sparrow
The former World Boxing Association boxing champion (nicknamed Dynamite) who died of liver cancer in Aug 2012	Michael Dokes
The Serbian tennis player who has won the Rogers Cup for the second time in a row	Novak Djokovic
The state which has become the first in the country to issue bio-metric identity cards to its fishermen	Kerala
The fourth Indo-Russia joint military exercise to be held from Aug 07 in Siberian republic of Buryatia is named	Indra 2012
The eighth Indo-Mangolian joint military exercise being held in Belgaum district of Karnataka is named	Nomadic Elephant 2012
The new web mail service launched by Microsoft providing virtually unlimited storage and integrating Skype is named	Outlook
The three-day operation launched by security forces against Maoist camps located on the Jharkhand-Chhatisgarh border is named	Rainstorm
The country with which India has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement on 01 Aug 2012	Monaco
The country whose citizen's or incorporated entities have been recently permitted to invest in India through Government route	Pakistan

Current Affairs of August 2012

The state in which the Department of Posts has launched 'Night post office services' (NPOS)	Jammu and Kashmir
The Chairman of the Expert Committee on General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) which submitted its its draft report after analysis of the GAAR provisions and noting the concerns expressed by various shareholders on 30 Aug 2012.	Mr. Parthasarathi Shome
The new Chief of Naval Staff who took over the command of Indian Navy from Admiral Nirmal Verma	Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi
The former Indian cricket captain who has been conferred the Castrol Cricket Lifetime Achievement Award	Ajit Wadekar
The Hindi writer who has been chosen for the 2nd Sita Smriti Award for her book "Kitne Shahron Mein Kitni Baar" instituted in the memory of Late Dr. Sita Srivastava, a renowned educationist and scholar of Political Science	Smt. Mamta Kalia
The venue of Nehru Cup Football tournament being held from 22 Aug 2012	New Delhi
The JNU Professor who has been awarded the V.V. Giri Memorial Award 2011, (instituted by the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute) in recognition of her outstanding contributions to labour studies	Prof. Utsa Patnaik
The place in Rajasthan where uranium deposits have been discovered by the Atomic Energy Commission	Rohil, Sikar dist.
The international footballer and a member of gold medal winning team at 2011 SAFF Games who has been awarded the Dilip Sardesai Sports Award 2011-12 by the Goa Government	Sameer S Naik
The South African cricketer who has become the fastest to complete 3000 runs in 57 one day internationals (surpassing Vivian Richards record of 69 matches)	Hashim Amla
The pollution control vessel of the Coast Guard which has been stationed permanently at Visakhapatnam is named	Samudra Pehredar
Amuay refinery, at which a blast resulted in ferocious killing several people on 25 Aug 2012 is located in	Venezuela
The venue of XVI Non Aligned Summit being held from 26 Aug 2012	Tehran, Iran
The state which has been awarded as the 'Best State for Pilgrimage Tourism' by Safari India, a prestigious regional tourism magazine	Odisha
Northern Railway's first AC Double Decker train which was flagged off on 24 August 2012 will run between Sarai Rohilla and	Jaipur
The company which has updated its logo for the first time in 25 years	Microsoft
The international cycling icon who has been stripped of seven Tour de France titles slapped with a lifetime ban from competition.	Lance Armstrong
Meles Zenawi, who died on 20 August 2012, after serving as the Prime Minister of his country fro 17 years was the Prime Minister of	Ethiopia
The new Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha elected unanimously by the members	PJ Kurien
The Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs who has taken over the new Minister for Science and Technology, previously held by Late Vilasrao Deshmukh	Vayalar Ravi
The Chinese contestant who has won the Miss World 2012 title at the Miss World pageant at Ordos, China	Yu Wenxia
The Indian contestant who won the "Beauty with a Purpose" title and the 1st ever "Multimedia Award" at the Miss World 2012 pageant at Ordos, China	Vanya Mishra
The Pakistan air base which has been attacked by militants raising concerns about safety of nuclear arsenal in the country	PAF Minhas
The bird which has been declared State Bird of Delhi by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as part of a new campaign to save the species	House Sparrow
The former World Boxing Association boxing champion (nicknamed Dynamite) who died of liver cancer in Aug 2012	Michael Dokes
The Serbian tennis player who has won the Rogers Cup for the second time in a row	Novak Djokovic
The state which has become the first in the country to issue bio-metric identity cards to its fishermen	Kerala
The fourth Indo-Russia joint military exercise to be held from Aug 07 in Siberian republic of Buryatia is named	Indra 2012
The eighth Indo-Mangolian joint military exercise being held in Belgaum district of Karnataka is named	Nomadic Elephant 2012
The new web mail service launched by Microsoft providing virtually unlimited storage and integrating Skype is named	Outlook
The three-day operation launched by security forces against Maoist camps located on the Jharkhand-Chhatisgarh border is named	Rainstorm
The country with which India has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement on 01 Aug 2012	Monaco
The country whose citizen's or incorporated entities have been recently permitted to invest in India through Government route	Pakistan

Current Affairs of July 2012

The Indian cricketer who has topped the list of the world's highest earning cricketers compiled by Forbes magazine (The list has six Indians in the top-10)	MS Dhoni
India’s southernmost naval air station which was formally opened by the Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma at Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is named	INS Baaz
The African country in which outbreak of the deadly viral disease Ebola has been confirmed	Uganda
The new operating system launched by Apple for its Mac range of personal computers, which is fully integrated into social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, is named	X Mountain Lion
The founder of Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) in Krishnagiri (Tamilnadu) who has been chosen for the 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Award	Kulandei Francis
The veteran environmental philosopher and activist who has been chosen for this year's Fukuoka Grand Prize by Fukuoka City Yokatopia Foundation	Vandana Shiva
The world's 9th largest economy whose President has signed the country’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after approval by its parliament earlier in July 2012	Russia
Mukta Vidya Vani, a modern interactive, participatory and cost effective programme, on the World Wide Web, launched by the Union HRD Minister Shri Kapil Sibal is an initiative of the	National Institute of Open Schooling
Suresh Saraiya, who died on 19 July 2012 was a renowned	Cricket commentator
The city in Punjab where a metro project has been approved by the Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal in July 2012	Ludhiana
The Indian sportsperson (a bronze medallist in wrestling at the Beijing Games) who has been chosen to be the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent at the upcoming London Olympics	Sushil Kumar
The airline company which has won the prestigious SKYTRAX World Airline Awards of best low-cost airline in India and Central Asia for the third time in a row	Indigo
The new Chief Minister of Karnataka who took over the office from Shri DV Sadananda Gowda	Shri Jagadish Shettar
The city in which ISRO is hosting the event, the 39th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) with the theme 'Space - for the benefit of Mankind' (COSPAR 2012) a congregation of over 2500 scientists from 75 countries.	Mysore
The Australian city which has been selected to hold G-20 Summit in 2014	Brisbane
The state which has banned production, sale, distribution and storage of gutka and paan masala in the state	Maharashtra
The place where India and UNESCO have agreed to establish the Mahatma Gandhi Institute Of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development	Paris
The place in Andhra Pradesh where India's first Mega Food Park was inaugurated by the Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar	Chittoor
The software developed by Navanath Saharia and Kishori Mohan Konwar for using the Assamese language in an Unicode compatible format is named	Luitpad
The venue of Summit on Family Planning hosted by the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with UNFPA on 11 July 2012	London
The Asian country which has been designated by the United States as its major non-NATO ally	Afghanistan
The Tennis player from Switzerland who has won the Wimbledon Men's Singles title by defeating Andy Murray of U.K. (This is his 7th Wimbledon and 17th Grand Slam title)	Roger Federer
The Indian badminton player who has become the first Indian to win the girls' singles title in the Asian Youth Under-19 Championships held at Gimcheon, Korea.	P.V. Sindhu
The Tennis player from United States who has won the Wimbledon Women's Singles title by defeating Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland. (This is her 5th Wimbledon title)	Serena Williams
The organisation which has been awarded the Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation Award for promoting environment conservation practices	Airport Authority of India
The Indian Chess player who has become the 28th Indian to attain the Grandmaster title	M.R. Venkatesh
Sahitya Akademi Award winning poet Hiren Bhattacharya who died on 04 Jul 2012 was poet of	Assamese language
The city in Kerala which will be its first city to have a metro rail after the Cabinet cleared the project on 03 July	Kochi
The hill range in India which has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list for its exceptionally high level of biological diversity	Western Ghats
The team which has won the Euro Cup 2012 by defeating Italy in the finals at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine	Spain
The new President of World Bank who took over office from outgoing President Mr. Robert Zoellick of the US	Jim Yong Kim

Current Affairs of June 2012

Apna Khata, a land record computerisation project which was awarded the public choice award at the E-World Forum 2012 organised in New Delhi is a programme launched by	Rajasthan
The venue of the 2nd Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ICNP-2) to be held from 2-6 July, 2012.	New Delhi
The Indian industrialist who has been awarded lifetime achievement award for innovation in philanthropy by the New York based Rockefeller Foundation	Ratan Tata
The state which has topped the meet scores at the GREENKO 52nd National Inter-State Sr Athletics Championship-2012	Kerala
The new President-elect of Egypt belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood organisation	Mohammed Morsi
Hare Krushna Behera who died in New Delhi on 24 Jun 2012 was an exponent of	Odissi
The venue of National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships-2012 being held from 23 Jun 2012	Hyderabad
The new Prime Minister of Pakistan succeeding Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by the Pakistan Supreme Court from holding office	Raja Pervez Ashraf
The Indian contestant who has won the Miss Asia Pacific title at the beauty pageant held at Busan, South Korea	Himangini Singh Yadu
The Indian archer who has been ranked as No. 1 in the world	Deepika Kumari
The Israeli scientist who has been awarded the World Food Prize (established in 1987 by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Green Revolution champion Norman Borlaug) for pioneering a radically innovative way of bringing water to crops in arid and dry-land regions.	Daniel Hillel
The line of tablet PCs launched by Microsoft to run Windows RT and Windows 8 operating system is named	Surface
The venue of 3rd Asian Beach Games being held from June 16	Haiyang, China
The venue of G-20 Summit 2012, being held From Jun 18 to 19, India being represented by Dr. Manmohan Singh	Los Cabos, Mexico
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal who won the Indonesia Open 2012 (winning the title the third time) defeating Xuerui Li who belongs to	China
The rank of India in terms of funds belonging to overseas clients in Swiss banks as disclosed by Swiss National Bank (SNB), Switzerland’s central bank	55th
The Indian table-tennis player who has won the Under-21 men's final of Brazil Open TT tournament in Santos, becoming the first Indian to achieve such a feat	Harmeet Desai
The new Chief Election Commissioner of India who took charge on 11 June 2012, in the place of Mr. S.Y. Quraishi	Mr. V.S. Sampath
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal who won the Thailand Open Grand Prix badminton gold title defeating Ratchanok Inthanon in the final of the event on 10.06.12. Ratchanok Inthanon belongs to	Thailand
The Spanish tennis player who has won the French Open Men's Singles title, thus winning a record seven French Open titles	Rafael Nadal
The Russian tennis player who has won the French Open Women's Singles title, thus becoming the 10th woman to win all four Grand Slam titles	Maria Sharapova
The tennis duo which has won the French Open Mixed Doubles title defeating Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland in the final	Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza
The first ever bilateral maritime exercise between India and Japan beginning 09 Jun 2012 off Tokyo is named	Jimex 12
The place at which the Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) in order to facilitate access to various technologies to the north eastern region	Shillong, Meghalaya
The Indian chess player who has won the Asian Junior Championship in Girls category	Ivana Furtado
The Indian chess player who has won the Asian Junior Championship held in Tashkent	N. Srinath
The environment-friendly vans launched by Mother Dairy on the ocassion of World Environment Day to sell milk in loose form are named	Kamdhenu vans
The theme for World Environment Day 2012	Green Economy: Does it include you?
The station at which the Science Express - Biodiversity Special (SEBS) flagged off on June 5 (World Environment Day) will culminate on 22 December	Gandhinagar
The team which has won the 21st Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament by defeating Argentina in the finals	New Zealand
The sand artist from Odisha, who has won the Copenhagen sand art Championship- 2012	Sudarshan Pattnaik

Current Affairs of May 2012

The new Chief of Army Staff who succeeded General VK Singh on 31 May 2012	General Bikram Singh
As the revised estimates released by Central Statistical Organisation the per capita national income of India at 2004-05 prices is	Rs. 37,851/-
The frightening virus which has infected the PCs in Iran and other middle east countries (discovered by Kaspersky) is named	Flame
The Israeli chess player whom Viswanathan Anand defeated to win the FIDE World Chess Championship 2012	Boris Gelfand
The team which has bagged the Santosh Trophy 2012, the final of which was held at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack	Services
The French film directed by Michael Haneke which has been awarded the Palme D'Or (Golden Palm) Award at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012	Love (Amour)
The former Indian defence minister who has been awarded the International Jurists Award 2012 alongwith Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry	Mulayam Singh Yadav
The winner of 2012 edition of Indian Premier League cricket championship	Kolkata Knight Riders
The aircraft which is being acquired by the Indian Air Force to replace its HPT-32 trainer aircraft	PC-7 MkII from Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Switzerland
The Expert Technical Group set up by the Govt of India to revisit the Tendulkar methodology for estimation of the poverty and identification of the poor is headed by	Dr. C. Rangarajan
The place in Maharashtra at which High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory was inaugurated by the Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh on 24 May	Mahabaleshwar
The first rocket launched by a private company Space X carrying cargo capsule Dragon to the International Space Station is named	Falcon 9
The place at which Pakistan is developing its 4th nuclear reactor	Khushab
The Hindi movie directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, which has figured in the TIME magazine's 10 greatest movies of the millenium	Devdas
The venue of 38th G-8 summit held on 18-19 May 2012	Camp David, Maryland (USA)
The 73-year old Japanese woman who has become the oldest woman in the world to conquer Mt. Everest on 19 May 12	Tamae Watanabe
The year by which India is expected to achieve total sanitation coverage, as per the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt of India	2017
The disease which has been declared by the Union Government to be a mandatorily notifiable disease in order to provide better diagnosis and treatment and reduce its transmission	Tuberculosis
The new Chairman of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors elected at the 45th Annual meeting of the ADB at Manila	Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
The sitar maestro who has been nominated for the first Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony, instituted by the government to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, for promoting values of universal brotherhood.	Pt. Ravishankar
The film actress who has been selected as the brand ambassador of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a programme of the rural development ministry to spread awareness about sanitation and cleanliness in the country	Vidya Balan
The new President of France who defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy	Francois Hollande
The new Chairman of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Personnel Public Grievances, Law and Justice	Shantaram Naik.
The noted Tamil writer who has been chosen for the 6th NTR National Literary Award by the NTR Vignan Trust	Ashokamitran
The new chairman of Atomic Energy Commission	Ratan Kumar Sinha
The joint exercise carried out by the Army and the Indian Air Force in the desert of Rajasthan is named	Exercise Shoorveer
The newsletter released by Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge on the occasion of May Day to provide extensive awareness regarding a number of good labour practices and initiatives taken by the Central as well as state governments to all concerned stakeholders on a regular basis is named	Shram Sansar

Current Affairs of April 2012

The full-scale naval base commissioned by the Indian Navy at Kavaratti in Lakshadweep on 30 Apr 2012 is named	INS Dweeprakshak
The new Governor of Goa	B.V. Wanchoo
The new governor of Uttarakhand	Aziz Qureshi
The place at which Guru Gobind Singh Refinery has been dedicated to the nation by the PM Dr. Manmohan Singh	Bhatinda, Punjab
The Radar Imaging Satellite - 1 (RISAT-1) was launched from Sriharikota on 26 April 2012 aboard	PSLVC19
The Indian nominee who has been elected to the post of a judge in the International Court of Justice	Justice Dalvir Bhandari
The Talwar-class stealth frigate which has been commissioned into the Indian Navy on 27 April 2012	INS Teg
The place at which the Government has launched a National Crop Forecast Centre to prepare in-season forecasts for major crops such as rice, wheat, sugarcane and maize	New Delhi
To commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, a one-time honour called Tagore Samman has been instituted by	Sangeet Natak Akademi
The latest version of Agni missile which was launched from Wheeler Island on 19 Apr 2012	Agni V
The strength of judges in the Supreme Court with swearing in of Justice Ranjan Gogoi on 22 April has gone up to	27
The venue of the 5th World IT Forum (WITFOR) being held from 17 Apr to 18 Apr 2012	New Delhi
The new name of Hindi Star News channel is	ABP News
The two-day Coastal Security Exercise, conducted along the Lakshadweep coast from 17 April to 18 April by the Southern Naval Command along with Coastguard unit at Kavaratti is named	Nepture-05
The noted author and journalist who has been awarded the prestigious International Indu Sharma Katha Samman-2012 for his novel Teesri Tali	Pradeep Saurabh
The Indian wrestler who has become the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics	Geeta Phogat
The Sri Lanka cricketer who has been named Wisden Leading Cricketer of the Year 2011	Kumar Sangakkara
The Committee constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for framing a National Corporate Governance Policy is headed by	Shri Adi Godrej
The bi-annual coastal security exercise conducted jointly by civil administration and armed forces to safeguard the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Island to be held from April 11 to Apr 13 is named	Tat Suraksha
The veteran actress who has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 12th Telecine Awards 2012 for her contribution to Indian cinema	Mousumi Chatterjee
The Indian billiards player who has won the 11th ONGC Asian Billiards Championship title after defeating Thawat Sujaritthurakarn of Thailand in the final in Panaji, Goa	Pankaj Advani
The language of Meghalaya which has been withdrawn from UNESCO's Atlas of World's Languages in Danger after being considered safe	Khasi
The health magazine programme launched by the Union Health & Family Welfare Ministry, to be telecast/ broadcast through 30 regional kendras of Doordarshan and 29 stations of All India Radio covering 27 states is named	Swasth Bharat
The 10-day annual naval exercise Malabar 2012, scheduled to be held between 07 and 09 April 2012 in the Bay of Bengal is joint effort by the navies of India and	United States
The place in Rajasthan where a spice park has been inaugurated by Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Anand Sharma	Rampura Bhatia
The former Indian Hockey captain who has become the first sportsperson to be named India's Chef-de-Mission for the London Olympic Games	Ajit Pal Singh
The Myanmerese leader who has been chosen for the first International Bhagwan Mahavir World Peace award instituted by Pune based organisation, Sarhad	Aung San Suu Kyi