General Knowledge June 2014 Part 1

General Knowledge June 2014 Part 1

1. Reserve Bank of India, in its second bi‐monthly monetary policy statement reduced the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 50 basis points to 22.5 per cent with effect from the fortnight beginning June 14. This measure is likely to infuse around Rs.40,000 crore into the banking system.
   

   New Rates are:

   • Repo Rate – 8 % (Unchanged)
   • Reverse Repo Rate – 7 % (Unchanged)
   • Cash Reserve Ratio – 4 % (Unchanged)
   • Statutory Liquidity Ratio – 22.5 % (Decreased 0.5%)
   • Bank Rate – 9 % (Unchanged)
   • Marginal Standing Rate – 9 % (Unchanged)
2. Additional secretary A.K. Dubey was appointed as Chairman of Coal India Limited with immediate effect.
3. Rajeev Topno was appointed as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
4. United Nations General Assembly approved the name of Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al‐Hussein to head the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of the UN.
5. Shaktikanta Das was appointed as the new Revenue Secretary.
6. Lt Gen Amit Sharma was appointed as the Commander‐in‐Chief of Strategic Forces Command.
7. Indian scientist Rasik Ravindra was elected as a member of the UN Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf (UNCLCS).
8. Vishal Sikka was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Infosys.
9. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar was appointed as the Solicitor General of India.
10. PK Mishra was appointed as the additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
11. State government of Madhya Pradesh appointed Madhuri Dixit as the brand ambassador of maternal and child health campaign, Mamta Abhiyan.
12. Sanchez Ceren was sworn‐in as the President of El Salvador.
13. Chandrashekhar Rao was sworn‐in as the first Chief Minister of Telengana, which became the 29th state of Indian Union.
14. Former Intelligence Bureau Chief Ajit Doval was appointed as the National Security Adviser.
15. Japanese national, Hiroshi Naka was appointed as the Vice President and Auditor General of World Bank.
16. Mukul Rohatgi was appointed as the 14th Attorney‐General of India. He will succeed Gulam Vahanvati.
17. Nripendra Misra, former Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.]
18. Shekhar Dutt, the Governor of Chhattisgarh tendered his resignation to Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India.
19. BL Joshi, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh resigned from his post. The President gave the additional charge of UP to Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi.
20. Indian‐origin judge V K Rajah was appointed as 8th Attorney‐General of Singapore.
21. Chung Hung Won was retained as Prime Minster of South Korea.
22. Former TATA Group Chairman Ratan Tata received an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University in Toronto, Canada.
23. Gro Harlem Brundtland was awarded with the first Tang Prize in sustainable development. The Tang Prize was given to her by the Tang Prize Foundation on 18 June 2014.
24. India‐born Pratishtha Khanna was honoured with Champions of Change by the White House. She is one of 10 local Champions of Change honoured for their exemplary leadership in their communities.
25. India‐born Mexican plant scientist, Sanjaya Rajaram will be honoured with the World Food Prize for the year 2014.
26. Kathleen Stephens took charge as US interim Ambassador to India.
27. Union Transport Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari was given additional charge of the Ministries of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation.
28. Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha of Indian Army was appointed as member of a UN Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN peacekeeping.
29. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi made his first foreign tour to Bhutan.
30. Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of China was on a two‐day long visit to India from 8 June to 9 June 2014.
31. Ramanarayanan, Tamil film director and producer died.
32. Gary Gilmour, a former all‐round cricketer of Australia died in Sydney.
33. Former Brazilian striker, Fernando Lucio da Costa died in a helicopter crash in central Brazil at the age of 36.
34. Union Rural Development Minister, Gopinath Munde of BJP died in a road accident in Delhi. Munde was sworn‐in as the Cabinet Minister for Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation and Rural Development.
35. Okavango Delta in Botswana became the 1000th site to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. The 38th session of the World Heritage Site Committee at Doha, Qatar endorsed the Okavango site as the Natural World Heritage site.
36. Ancient Pyu Cities became the first site from Myanmar to be inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site List. The Ancient Pyu Cities include three cities Halin, Beikthano and Sri Ksetra.
37. 40 Indian workers were reported to be missing from Mosul, Iraq. Former ambassador to Iraq Suresh Reddy was sent to Mosul to ensure the safety of Indian placed in Iraq.
38. Tikrit in Iraq was in news because it was captured by the Militants belonging to Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) group. Tikrit is the home town of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
39. Jinnah International Airport of Karchi was in news when Terrorist belonging to Tehreek‐e‐Taliban on 8 June 2014 attacked it.
40. 24 engineering students of Vigyan Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology of Hyderabad were drowned in Beas River in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
41. Three‐day Uttarakhand Assembly session held at Gairsain in Chamoli from 9 June to 11 June 2014. The assembly session of Uttarakhand was held for the first time outside the capital city, Dehradun, since its formation in 2000.
42. Heart Province in Afghanistan was in news because an Indian aid worker and Catholic priest Alexis Prem Kumar was abducted on 2 June 2014.
43. Union Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharti launched a nationwide tree plantation drive and public awareness programme to save rivers.
44. Institute for Economics and Peace released Global Peace Index (GPI) 2014 in London. The GPI 2014 measured peace for 162 countries on the basis of 22 indicators. Among these 162 countries, India has been ranked 143rd.
45. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual nuclear forces data. There are nine states namely the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea around the globe which possessed nuclear arsenals.
46. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel topped the Forbes annual list of Most Powerful Women 2014 in the world. Five Indian women have also featured in Forbes 100 most powerful women List. Chief of Pepsico, Indian born Indra Nooyi was ranked 13th and Chief Technology and Strategy Officer of Cisco Padmasree Warrior is ranked 71st in the list. Other Indians who made in to the list are State Bank of India Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya (36th) ICICI Bank Managing Director Chanda Kochhar (43rd) and Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar‐Shaw (92nd).
47. SAARC Monsoon Initiative Programme National Working Group meet was organised in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
48. Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict was launched at ExCel London. The four‐day Summit was launched by Hollywood actress and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.
49. 6th International Nuclear Energy Forum ATOMEXPO‐2014 was held from 9 to 11 June 2014 in Moscow.
50. 40th G‐7 summit 2014 was held in Brussels, Belgium.
51. UK firm East India Company issued an exclusive legal tender gold coins in honour of Sachin Tendulkar.
52. 15 people were killed and 20 injured in a blast in Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) pipeline at Nagaram Village in Andhra Pradesh.
53. Delhi‐Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express derailed near Chhapra in Bihar in which four people were killed and eight were injured.
54. Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik won the People's Choice prize at the World Cup of Sand Sculpting‐2014 held in the Atlantic City of the US. He won prize for his work Save Tree, Save the Future.
55. France announced to honour Shahrukh Khan with Officer of the Legion of Honour for his contribution to Cinema.
56. Noted Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh was chosen for the 49th Jnanpith award for 2013. He is known for his work Abhi bilkul abhi and Yahan se dekho.
57. Salman Rushdie, the India‐born Booker Prize winning author was named as the winner of 2014
    Pen Pinter Prize.
58. Indian origin physicist Tejinder Virdee was honoured knighthood Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II. He was awarded for his work on the Higgs Boson theory.
59. Lord Swraj Paul, the leading NRI industrial was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by a UK‐based business association.
60. C Radhakrishnan, the eminent Malayalam scientist‐turned‐writer was selected for the prestigious Moortidevi Award for 2013. He has been selected for his novel Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram.
61. Kolkata Airport won the Airport Service Quality Award by Airport Council International in the category of the best improved airport in Asia Pacific Region.
62. Somasundaram of Airports Authority of India was conferred with the prestigious Bharat Ratna JRD Tata Award for 2013.
63. Kamal Nath a leader of Congress party was sworn‐in as the pro tem Speaker of 16th Lok Sabha.
64. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand G Mahindra became the first Indian to receive the prestigious Harvard Medal.
65. Indian Army test‐fired surface‐to‐air Akash missile from an Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore, Odisha.
66. Narendra Modi dedicated INS Vikramaditya to the nation.
67. India successfully test fired the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from indigenous INS Kolkata off the coast of Karwar in Karnataka. It has a range of 290‐km.
68. The Indian Navy Submarine, INS Sindhurakshak that sank in the Mumbai Harbour due to an accident killing 18 sailors was raised from the waters by a salvage firm.
69. The Indian Air Force and French Air Force commenced the bilateral exercise Garuda V at Jodhpur Air Base.
70. Supersonic Akash air defence missiles successfully intercepted the target Lakshya (pilotless target aircraft). The three Akash missiles were launched from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Balasore, off the coast of Odisha.
71. Chandrababu Naidu took oath as the first chief minister of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.
72. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held discussions with United States Secretary of State John Kerry on the two countries’ shared commitment to boost trade and economic ties to $500 billion.
73. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) will take control of popular television news channels CNN‐IBN, IBN7, CNBC‐TV18, Lokmat, and an entire clutch of ETV channels with a massive infusion of Rs 4000 crore into Network 18 Media and TV18 Broadcast Ltd.
74. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar will be the next Solicitor General and succeed Mohan Parasaran.
75. Prime Minister Narendra Modi resigned from the Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat after choosing to retain the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, decided to retain Azamgarh and quit from his traditional stronghold of Mainpuri.
76. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan vowed total war against terrorism following last month’s mass abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram Islamists.
77. Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have agreed to set up a full‐fledged economic bloc that should act as a bridge between Europe and Asia and a counterweight to Western integration unions. When the Eurasian Economic Union comes into force on January 1, 2015, it will create a market of 170 million people, with a combined annual GDP of $2.7 trillion and a quarter of the world energy resources.
78. In a step to help public sector banks to recover bad loans, the Finance Ministry has asked the Income Tax Department to share details of defaulters’ wealth tax returns with public sector banks if they ask for such information. The top 30 non‐performing assets (NPAs) of state‐owned banks account for 40.2 per cent of their gross bad loans.
79. United Bank of India (UBI) has served ‘wilful defaulter’ notices to Vijay Mallya and other directors of the Kingfisher Airlines (KFA).
80. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that Pradhan Mantri Gram Sinchai Yojana would be introduced so that more agricultural land is irrigated.
81. After pushing vultures to the verge of extinction in the country, the veterinary painkiller and anti‐ inflammatory drug, Diclofenac, is turning out to be a serious threat to eagles as well.
82. Smart farm sector growth spurred India’s economy to grow 4.7 per cent in 2013‐14, according to the gross domestic product (GDP) provisional estimates released. The GDP growth rate in the previous year was a decade‐low of 4.5 per cent.]
83. Low cost carrier AirAsia has chosen to launch its maiden flight under Indian operations on Bangalore‐Goa route on June 12 with an introductory all‐inclusive fare of Rs.990 per ticket.
84. Signalling a break from the past, the Narendra Modi government announced the “abolition” of all Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) “for greater accountability and empowerment.”
85. With President’s rule ending by the midnight of June 1 and Telangana State coming into existence on June 2 under the State Reorganisation Act.
86. Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti will chair an apex council to supervise the water projects on the Krishna and the Godavari. The panel will have the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as its members.
87. South Korean pop phenomenon Psy galloped into the record books as his “Gangnam Style” mega hit smashed through the two‐billion mark on YouTube.
88. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are donating $120 million to public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.
89. K. Chandrasekhar Rao, was sworn in first Chief Minister of Telangana.
90. The Supreme Court stayed the execution of the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, “mastermind” of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
91. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded special category status for his State but remained evasive on his party allying with the National Democratic Alliance.
92. The Special Investigating Team on black money held its first meeting under the chairmanship of Justice M.B. Shah, a former judge of the Supreme Court.
93. Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said that rape crisis centres would soon be set up to offer protection and care for victims.
94. The fifth Indo‐French bilateral air exercise — Garuda‐V — began at the Jodhpur Air Base.
95. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the release of 29 Indian fishermen.
96. The aviation industry is marking 100 years since the first scheduled commercial flight took off, making a 23‐minute journey across Florida’s Tampa Bay.
97. The two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, formed unity government.
98. Russia has lifted its embargo on arms supplies to Pakistan and is holding talks on supplying Islamabad with combat helicopters.
99. he United States proposed ordering cuts of up to 30 per cent in carbon emissions from power plants in President Barack Obama’s most ambitious action yet on climate change.
100. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been appointed on the Board of Governors of the Philippines‐based Asian Development Bank.