Current Affairs July 2010(Short Answers)

·        Head of the Committee instituted by RBI to look into the interest rates and bank fees, charges & services – M Damodaran.

·        Which committee recommended 15-20% variable component in the salary package for PSB employees, instituted by Finance minister – A K Khandelwal.

·        RBI has revised the norms for __________ for giving loans to the housing and real estate segment – Urban Cooperative Banks(UCBs).

·        SEBI has announced that MF distributors and agents will now need a NISM certificate to sell policies. What is the full form of NISM - National Institute of Securities Market.

·        RBI has advised all banks to print IFSC on cheque leaves issued to customers. IFSC stands for- Indian Financial System Code.

·        India has emerged as the ___ most preferred destination for retailers in the world - 39^th.

·        India’s first Anti-submarine warfare Corvette – INS Kamorta.

·        _____ banks are recently allowed by the RBI to open ATM’s at places other than their branches without prior approval – Urban Cooperative banks.

·        National Florence Nightingale Award 2010 was given to – A P Subhadra.

·        Government has fixed FRP of Sugarcane for the year 2010-11 at Rs. 139.12 per quintal. FRP stands for - Fair and Remunerative Price.

·        India’s trade deficit during 2009-10 - $102.1 billions.

·        Asian Banker Achievement award given to – SBI.

·        Who is the head of the committee for comprehensive review of National  Small Savings Fund(NSSF) structure , interest rates, tenor and other administrative matters – Shyamala Gopinath.

·        ____ company offered  to provide cloud computing solutions t Rural Banks – Polaris.

·        Chairman of RBI working group on BPLR on the basis of which Base Rate System is slated to switch over by the banks – Deepak Mohanty.

Current Events in July 2010

Symbol of Indian Rupee:

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the design, which includes both the Devnagiri 'Ra' and the Roman capital 'R' and has two parallel lines running at the top. The parallel lines symbolize the equal to sign. With this India will join an elite group of countries (like the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen) which have a distinct currency symbol. The symbol selected has been designed by an Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay postgraduate D Udaya Kumar

 and was selected from among five short listed symbols. Kumar, who will join the Department of Design at IIT Guwahati on Friday, explained that the design is based on the Indian Tricolour. His entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh. All new notes will now bear the symbol.

Events in the month of July 2010

1.      First Country in Latin America to legalize same sex marriage – Argentina.

2.      With which country India held the first ever “2+2 dialogue” to intensify counter terrorism and anti-piracy cooperation – Japan.

3.      Which country has agreed to supply Hawk pilot-trainer aircraft to India valued a about 700 million pounds($1.1 billion) – Britain.

4.      The most popular Asian Destination – Taj Mahal.

5.      According to the new International Multi Dimensional poverty Index (MPI), about _______ of India’s population are poor – 645 million people.

6.      Which state has banned the use of plastic carry bags all over the state – Rajasthan.

7.      Who is the only cricketer to take 800 wickets in the history Test matches – Muttiah Muralitharan.

8.      The fourth Pakistani to be inducted formally into the ICC Cricket hall of fame – Imran Khan.

9.      Which team has regained the 63^rd Rangaswamy Cup Senior National Men’s Hockey Championship – Mumbai.

10. In the Q1 Review of Monetary Policy 2010-11, RBI has revised the GDP growth for 2010-11 from 8% to ____ - 8.5%.

11. With which Organization India signed the loan and credit agreement worth of $268.15 million – World Bank.

12. The Best Public Sector Bank Award – Punjab National Bank.

13. To Whom the Lokmanya Tilak Award 2010  has been given for the contribution of Politics – Sheila Dikshit.

14. Who is the new President of Poland – Bronislaw Komorowski.

15. Who has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Slovakia - Iveta Radicova.

16. Roza Otunbayeva has became the first ever woman head of which country in Central Asia – Kyrgyzstan.

17. Who has been sworn in as Germany’s youngest and the tenth President – Christian Wulff.

18. Who is the the New Chief Election Commissioner – Qureshi S Y.

19. Which country has became the World Number One in Latest FIFA Rankings – Spain.

20. Who is the new President of International Cricket Council – Sharad Pawar.

Current Affairs June 2010 - III

·        Delhi is set to get the country's first commercial waste-to-power plant of 16 MW capacity that will convert one third of Capital's garbage into much-needed electricity for six lakh homes.

·        Finland has emerged as the most prosperous country in the world after an extensive survey conducted by the Legatum Prosperity Index, which claims to be the world's only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing. Switzerland, one of the world's most popular tourist spots, grabbed the second slot in the index. Among 104 countries, India is ranked at no. 45.

·        Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging form as she completed a spectacular hat-trick of titles by clinching the Indonesia Open Super Series with a straight-game triumph over Japan's Sayaka Sato in Jakarta. This was Saina's third successive title, having won the Indian Open Grand Prix at home and the Singapore Open Super Series Tournament.

·        Russia launched the second of three stealth frigates for the Indian Navy under USD 1.6 billion deal inked in July 2006. The first of three Project 11356 (modified Krivak III) frigates, named the Teg (Sword), was launched in last November. The third frigate, Trikand (Bow) is due to be delivered in 2011-12. The new frigates, also known as Talwar class, will be armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. They will be also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defence gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopter. Earlier, Russia's Baltiisky Zavod shipyard had built three stealth frigates of the same class - INS Talwar, INS Trishul and INS Tabar.

·        India extended the ban on import of milk and milk products from China for another six months, according to the foreign trade office.

·        The government restructured the existing 10-year-old village self-employment scheme on the recommendations of various committees to rectify shortcomings pointed out by studies. Under the new plan for the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), the scheme has been renamed as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and it would aim at reducing poverty through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.

·        An innovative programme of Gujarat government aimed at easy governance has won a prestigious award instituted by the United Nations. The statewide Attention on Grievances with Application of Technology (SWAGAT) programme has won the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA).

·        A 15-year-old title drought came to an end as India won the Asia Cup cricket tournament after crushing defending champions Sri Lanka.

·        American John Isner outlasted Frenchman Mahut to win 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68 in the longest match in history, taking 11 hours and five minutes over three days.

·        The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has added island nation Tuvalu located in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia as its 187th member.

·        India's leading industrialist Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, has been conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Law for his role in producing the world's cheapest car Nano.

·        Sachin Tendulkar will be conferred Indian Air Force's honorary rank of Group Captain and the star cricketer said he is proud to be associated with the "dynamic" IAF.

·        New Zealand has acquired the distinction of being the world's most peaceful nation for the second year running, according to the Global Peace Index.

·        The G8 summit has agreed to provide a further $5bn (£3.3bn) over five years towards improving the health of mothers and young children in the developing world.

·        The World Bank said its total lending to India will touch $9.3 billion for the fiscal ending June this year. The total expected lending this year includes $2.6 billion in interest-free credit and $6.7 billion in the form of a long-term, low interest loan.

·        Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily has announced National Litigation Policy to reduce pendency and delay in cases which Central Government is a party. The policy aims at reducing government litigation in courts so that the valuable court time is spent on resolving other pending cases so as to achieve the goal in national legal mission to reduce average pendency time from 15 years to 3 years.

·        Myanmar’s dissident political leader Aung San Suu Kyi has become the first recipient of the new Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Award for democracy instituted by the Pakistan People’s Party in the memory of the slain former premier.

·        The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has assured banks it will keep agriculture loans outside the base rate ambit. The base rate guidelines, issued in April, had barred lending below base rate, except for three categories: loans to banks’ own employees, loans against deposits and small-ticket borrowers under the differential interest rate (DRI) scheme. The addition of the fourth category means agriculture loans can also be priced below the base rate.

·        Freedom fighter and socialist leader Kanduri Charan Mallick died.3

·        India on Friday expressed confidence to achieve trade target of 30 billion dollars with Republic of Korea (ROK) by 2014.