Current Affairs

A publication ofNirdeshak.com

August 2013

Current Affairs from August 1, 2013toAugust 31, 2013

1) Who was chosen as the 12th President of Pakistan,elections for which were held on 30 July 2013? – MamnoonHussain (PML-N supported Hussain received 432 electoralvotes while his rival Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed of PakistaniTahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received 77 electoral votes. MamnoonHussain is a former Governor of Sindh. Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) boycotted this election. Hussain will replace AsifAli Zardari, who had earlier decided not to seek a secondterm in office)

2) Who was chosen for the 21st Rajiv Gandhi NationalSadabhavna Award for year 2013, which is given for contribution towards promotion ofcommunal harmony and peace? – Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the Sarod maestro (The award willbe presented on 20 August 2013, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.This award has been given since 1992 by the Indian National Congress (INC) in memory of latePrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi)3) What is the name given to a newly announced scheme under which a free mobile handset willbe provided to one member of every rural household who has completed 100 days of workunder MGNREGA? – Bharat Mobile Scheme (Under this scheme the handset will be providedpreferably to a woman member of family. A brief of this proposed scheme was made by theunion govt. on 30 July 2013. The provided handset will be non-transferable as it will later also beused in customized transfer of benefits under the direct transfer scheme of the central govt.)4) US Senate on 29 July 2013 approved the choice of James Comey as the next Director of FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigation). Comey will take whose place, who has been at this post since2001? – Robert Mueller (President Barack Obama had nominated Comey for this post in June2013. Comey will have a tenure of 10 years)5) Which private bank became first commercial bank to announce a hike in deposit rates in viewof RBI’s move to tighten liquidity in the market? – YES Bank (YES Bank on 31 July 2013 hikeddeposit rates by 0.25% to 0.50%. The bank also hiked the base rate by 0.25% to 10.75%. Thishike came into effect on 1 August 2013)6) Commissioner of Delhi Police Neeraj Kumar retired on 31 July 2013. Who will take chargefrom him as the new Commissioner on 1 August 2013? – B.S. Bassi7) The 2014 Formula One Indian Grand Prix was dropped and the motorsport extravaganza willnow come back to country in March 2015. This follows the decision taken by Formula Onesupremo Bernie Ecclestone, which was conveyed on 29 July 2013. What was the reason givenfor this skipping of Indian Grand Prix, which came as a huge dampner for Formula Oneenthusiasts in India? – For undertaking a change in racing calendar (Formula One is in theprocess of undertaking a few changes in the annual Formula One calendar. A few new GrandPrix like Austrian Grand Prix are planned to be included in 2014)

1 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) King of which Middle-East princely state recently issued new decrees,giving authorities more powers to strip citizenship and block suspectedfunding channels in attempts to quell escalating anti-governmentviolence? – Bahrain (Bahrain News Agency on 1 August 2013 reportedissuance of decrees by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. These stepstaken by the King seek to battle a nearly 30-month uprising by majorityShiites demanding a greater political voice in the strategic Sunni-rulednation)2) On 31 July 2013 the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL)announced suspension of trading and merger of settlement cycles of allone-day forward contracts, except the e-series contracts. Thisannouncement led to huge decline in shares of Financial Technologies(India) Ltd (FTIL) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) on

1 August 2013 as FTIL is promoter of NSEL and MCX is also a part of FTIL. In association withwhich major agriculture cooperative company, FTIL had promoted NSEL? – NationalAgricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) (On 16 July 2013NSEL was asked by the central government not to launch contracts of new commodities until thegovernment finalizes a new regulatory framework)3) Who took over as the new Foreign Secretary of India on 1 August 2013? – Sujatha Singh(She replaced Ranjan Mathai who retired on 31 July 2013. Sujatha Singh is the third womanForeign Secretary after Chokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao. She is daughter of former IB Directorand UP Governor TV Rajeshwar)4) The largest right-wing party of Bangladesh was on 1 August 2013 banned from contestingfuture polls by a Dhaka court. The registration of this party was cancelled in a landmark ruling,leaving the once-most powerful fundamentalist party with an uncertain future. What is the nameof this party? – Jamaat-e-Islami (This ruling came while the court heard a writ petition filed by25 people who alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami was a religion-based political party and it did notbelieve in independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh. This party has been blamed for aplethora for crimes committed during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan)5) What is the name of a free group insurance scheme launched in Delhi on 31 July 2013covering nearly 3 lakh drivers of public transport vehicles run on CNG in Delhi and three NCRtowns against death and permanent disability? – IGL Suraksha Yojana (This scheme will beadministered by Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) and will cover all drivers against death orpermanent disability arising out of accidents caused while driving bus, taxis, auto rickshaws andRTVs that run on compressed natural gas (CNG). A sum of Rs 1.5 lakh will be paid to thenominee of the driver in case of death. Three NCR towns covered under this scheme are Noida,Greater Noida and Ghaziabad apart from Delhi)6) The Union Govt. on 1 August 2013 cancelled Kailash Manasarovar yatra in view of disruptionof roads, bridges and tracks along the route due to the floods that had hit Uttarakhand. Howmany batches of pilgrims were scheduled to take this annual yatra? – Eighteen (The govt. hadearlier cancelled the visit of batches 2 to 10 due to inclement weather and large scaledisruptions. Only batches 1, 11, 12, 13, and 14 were able to take the yatra, which covers aglimpse of holy Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva and a visit to the sacred Manasarovarlake in Tibet, China)

2 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

7) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), on 1 August 2013, approved theproposal for sale of 10% government stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). This stake sale islikely to fetch around Rs. 3,840 crore to the exchequer at the current market price. What isUnion Govt.’s disinvestment target through the stake sale of public sector undertakings in the‘�urrent financial year (2013-14)? – Rs. 40,000 crore

1) Union Govt. relaxed the norms for Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail on 1 August 2013with a view to attract more investments and transparency inthe sector. What are the major norms which were relaxed? –Multi-brand retailers like Walmart are now required tosource 30% of their products from the small andmedium enterprises of India only at the time of startingthe business

Now state governments will have the right to grant permission to open a multi-brandretail store in cities of their states (Earlier 53 urban centers with a minimum population of1 million were made eligible for opening-up of multi-brand retail stores)Now the norm of 50% investment in the back-end infrastructure for the retailers will beapplicable, only during the first tranche of investments (within three years) of up to 100million dollars2) Union Health Ministry on 1 August 2013 revoked its earlier suspension on a drug namedPioglitazone used to treat diabetes. What was the main reason for revoking this suspensionwithin a month? – Doctors said that this drug was best suited for Indian patients (Thesuspension had caught doctors, patients and drug companies by surprise, following which therewere hi-decibel protests and submissions to the Ministry. Pioglitazone was banned asresearches have confirmed that its usage could lead to cancer of the urinary bladder. But theban has been revoked with several riders – including a box warning in bold red letters to cautionpatients)3) What is the name of a breast cancer drug of the British drug major GlaxoSmithKline Pharma,patent for which was revoked by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) of India? –Tykerb (However, the Board upheld the patent for Lapatinib compound, which is the activeingredient in Tykerb, citing innovative merit. Tykerb is the salt form of Lapatinib compound that issold in India. This ruling was delivered on 27 July 2013 by Justice Prabha Sridevan, Chairpersonof the Chennai Bench of the patent appeals agency which functions under the CommerceMinistry)4) Which date was announced on 2 August 2013 for resumption of regular prayers at Kedarnathshrine, which have been suspended since the June calamity in Uttarakhand? – 11 September2013 (This date was finalized at a meeting held by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahugunawith the Rawal (head priest) of the Himalayan shrine, representatives of Shankaracharya SwamiSwaroopanand Saraswati, officials engaged in the clean-up exercise at Kedarnath and seniorministers)5) United States expressed its disappointment over Russia’s decision to give temporary asylumto Edward Snowden, the ex-CIA contractor who had leaked National Security Agency’s secrettelephone and Internet surveillance programme. What is the duration of the temporary asylumoffered to Snowden by Russia? – 1 year6) Who will be the new US ambassador to the United Nations (UN), after the appointment wasconfirmed by the United States Senate on 1 August 2013? – Samantha Power (The Senateconfirmed her nomination by 87-10 votes. Power replaces Susan Rice who is now the NationalSecurity Adviser)7) What is the name of the former world champion shot putter from Belarus who was stripped ofhis 4 World Championship medals by International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) fordoping? – Andrei Mikhnevich (Mikhnevich, who was world champion in 2003, was banned forlife by the Belarus Athletics Federation in June after testing positive in retests of his doping

3 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

sample from the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, where he finished sixth. IAAF removedMikhnevich’s silver medals from the 2006 and 2010 world indoor championships as well as hisbronze medals from the 2007 and 2011 outdoor World Championships)

1) Union Govt. on 2 August 2013 gave its approval for settingup of a fund to help six PSUs, to make them compliant withthe 10% minimum public holding norm of market regulatorSEBI. What is the name assigned of this fund? – SpecialNational Investment Fund (SNIF). Six sick PSUs which willbe covered under this proposed fund are – HMT, ITI,Scooters India Limited, Andrew Yule, Fertilizer and Chemical

Limited (Travancore) and Hindustan Photo Films Limited2) Union Govt. on 2 August 2013 unveiled the long awaited Unified License norms for thetelecom sector. What are the main features of this new norm?The new norm provides for delinking of spectrum from operational permits and allowscompanies to offer services using any technology. Telecom companies would be allowedto offer mobile and fixed-line services using any technology. They can also provideInternet TV services.It allows companies to offer intra and inter-circle roaming, but bars operations fromacquiring subscribers in areas where they don’t own a licenseThe licenses acquired under this new norm will be valid for 20 years, and will berenewable for another ten yearsTelecom companies will have to pay a license fee of eight per cent of annual revenuesfrom telecom services.All telecom companies will have to migrate to the new licensing regime upon expiry oftheir current permits3) Who was awarded 22nd Saraswati Samman of K.K. Birla Foundation on 2 August 2013? –Sugathakumari, the Malayalam poetess (She was given this prestigious award for hercollection of poems in Malayalam entitled Manalezhuthu (which means the writings on the sand)published in 2006. Saraswati Samman was instituted in 1991 and carries a cash prize of Rs. 10lakh, citation and a statue of Goddess Saraswati)

4) Which union territory of the country celebrated its 60th Liberation Day on 2 August 2013? –Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Dadra and Nagar Haveli were liberated from the clutches of thePortuguese during August 1954. Later it was merged into the Indian union in 1961. Portugueseinvaders kept their control over this colony from 1779 to 1954. This union territory is surroundedby Maharashtra and Gujarat)5) Who was appointed as the first woman Managing Director (MD) of State Bank of India (SBI)on 3 August 2013? – Arundhati Bhattacharya (Prior to this she was the managing director ofSBI Capital, the merchant banking arm of the bank)6) Who took over as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Central Bank of Indiarecently? – Rajeev Rishi (Rishi was Executive Director of Indian Bank till now and his tenure willbe for 5 years)

4 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) Indian girls created history by winning country’s first everbronze medal in the junior women hockey World Cup in theseventh edition of the cup held in Germany. India defeatedwhich team on 4 August 2013 to win the bronze medal? –England (India defeated England by 3-2 in the penalties,riding on striker Rani’s dazzling show. 18-year-old Raniscored India’s only goal in the regulation time and then foundthe net twice in the penalty shoot-out to script India’smemorable victory. This World Cup was won by the

Netherlands who defeated Argentina in a penalty shoot-out by 4-2 in the finals)2) Hasan Rouhani took oath as the new President of Iran on 4 August 2013. He replacedMahmoud Ahmadinejad. What was special about his swearing-in ceremony? – It was the firsttime since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that foreign dignitaries attended the swearing-inceremony of an Iranian president (This underscores Rouhani’s stated commitment toimproving the country’s foreign ties. He had scored a landslide victory held in the presidentialelections held on 14 June 2013)3) Russia and China flagged off their regular anti-terrorist war games in Russia’s Urals regionfrom 3 August 2013. This joint military drill was seen by many defence experts as preparationsfor a local military conflict in Central Asia. What was the name given to this drill? – “PeaceMission 2013” (This joint military drill was held in the Chebarkul military training area 1,700 kmeast of Moscow and included 1,500 troops and more than 250 units of military hardware,including 20 aircraft and helicopters)4) China is establishing a 4,411-metre-high airport in the Tibetan area of its southwesternSichuan province, which will become the world’s highest civilian airport when put into operationlater this year. What is the name of this airport? – Daocheng Yading airport (The airport, whichofficials said is aimed at boosting tourism in Garze, home to the famous monastery town ofKangding, will surpass the 4,334-metre Bangda airport. This airport is being built at a cost of 1.5billion Yuan ($ 245 million))5) Leading military analyst Air Commodore (Retd.) Jasjit Singh passed away on 4 August 2013.He mentored many mentored several generations of writers and military commentators andpenned scores of books considered essential reading by defence think tanks. What is the nameof an institute founded by Jasjit Singh primarily associated with analysing air power studies ofcountries? – Centre for Air Power Studies – CAPS (CAPS was founded by him in 2001. JasjitSingh was also the longest continuously serving director of the Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses (IDSA))6) What is the name of a breast cancer drug of Roche Holding AG, patent for which was partlyrevoked in India recently? – Herceptin (Roche officials recently disclosed that the KolkataPatent Office had lifted divisional patents for Herceptin on 17 July 2013 on the grounds that theyhad not been properly submitted. This decision is the latest in the a series of rulings onintellectual property and pricing in India that have frustrated attempts by Western drug-makersto sell their medicines in India’s fast growing drugs market)

5 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) Households belonging to which community are the largestspenders on average as disclosed in the data from theNational Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO’s) 8th quinquennialsurvey on employment during the 12 months up to June2010? – Sikh (The monthly per capita household consumerexpenditure (MPCE) of Sikh households was Rs. 1,659. Itwas lowest for Muslim households and the MPCE for thiscommunity stood at Rs. 980. Spending by Christianhouseholds was marginally lower than Sikh households

whereas that by Hindu households was about 27% less than that by Christian households. The‘Others’ category, which includes Jain and Zoroastrian households, was third from the top,recording spending that was marginally lower than that by Christian households but sharplyhigher than Muslim and Hindu households. The survey conducted in the 66th round of the nationalsample survey, was spread over 7,402 villages and 5,252 urban blocks covering 1,00,957households and 4.59 lakh persons)2) The union govt. on 5 August 2013 reduced the customs duty on imports of rice bran and ricebran oil cake to nil with effect from 1 October 2013. What was the import duty on thiscommodity till now? – 15% (Rice bran oil is extracted from rice bran through the solventextraction method. Rice bran, the brown layer on rice grain, has 10-25 per cent oil content. Afterextracting the oil, the meal or the rice bran oil cake is used as cattle feed. So far, there havebeen no imports of rice bran into the country as it was unviable due to higher customs duty of15%. The demand for rice bran oil is on the rise as it is considered healthy and an affordablecooking medium)3) Union Govt. on 5 August 2013 shelved the plans for disinvestment of its stake in BHEL due toBHEL’s low share price, decreased capital expenditure and less demand for power-sectorequipment. What was the proposed target of selling govt. stake in BHEL? – 5% (The BHEL scriphit a one-year low on the BSE on 5 August 2013, declining 19.64 per cent to Rs 120.05, afterthe company’s June quarter net profit almost halved to Rs 465.43 crore on account of lowersales)4) The first arrest for default in paying which tax was made recently after union Finance MinisterP. Chidambaram made applicable provisions of CrPC (criminal procedure code) to arrest suchoffenders? – Service Tax (A courier company owner was arrested for allegedly evading servicetax of about Rs. 70 lakh in the first such case)5) How many embassies and consulates of the United States were closed till 10 August 2013due to threat of a major al-Qaida attack? – 19 (These embassies are mainly situated in theMideast and Africa and include Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha,Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum,Kigali, and Port Louis)6) Who became the first Indian bowler since Anil Kumble to top the ICC ODI Bowlers Rankings,which were released by the ICC on 4 August 2013? – Ravindra Jadeja (Jadeja’s career-bestrating of 733 has him tied for the pinnacle spot with West Indies spinner Sunil Narine. Kumblehad claimed the No.1 position back in 1996 in these rankings)7) Govt. of Pakistan has decided to submit an entry for the foreign language film category of theOscars awards after many decades. What was the last time that Pakistan had sent an entry forthis category? – 1963 (Pakistan has sent only two films to the Academy Awards since theforeign language category was created in 1956 – ‘Jago Hua Savera’ in 1959 and ‘Ghunghat’ in1963. There is no stated govt. policy against Oscar participation in Pakistan but the issue seemsto have been a low priority one mainly because of political turmoil)

6 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) Who will be the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India(RBI), as announced by the Finance Ministry on 6 August 2013?– Raghuram Rajan, who is at present the Chief EconomicAdvisor to the Govt. of India (Rajan will succeed the current RBIGovernor Duvvuri Subbarao whose 5-year term ends on 4September 2013. He has formerly worked as the chief economistat the International Monetary Fund. Rajan has been a goldmedalist at IIT-Delhi and IIM-Ahmedabad and he will be the 23rdGovernor of India’s central bank)2) Five Indian soldiers posted at an Indian post along the Line ofControl in Jammu and Kashmir were killed in an attack byPakistani troops early on 6 August 2013. This incident took placein which sector? – Poonch Sector (The incident took place when

the 21 Bihar Regiment was in the process of handing over charge of its area of Sarla post at theChakkan Da Bagh area to 14 Maratha Light Infantry and came hours after a BSF jawan wasinjured in firing from across Indo-Pak border in Samba district of J&K. 4 jawans killed in thisambush (Naik Prem Nath Singh, Lance Naik Sambhu Singh, Sepoy Vijay Kumar Roy and SepoyRaghunandan Prasad) belonged to the Bihar Regiment while one (Sepoy Pundlik Mane)belonged to 14 Maratha Light Infantry)3) Union Govt. on 6 August 2013 disclosed that six Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs)have been closed in the country in the last 5 years. Which six CPSEs are these? – Bihar Drugs& Organic Chemicals Ltd. (in Bihar), Indian Oil Technologies Ltd. (in Delhi), BrushwareLtd. (in UP), Pyrites Phosphastes& Chemicals Ltd. (in Bihar), National Instruments Ltd.(in Bihar) and Bharat Yantra Nigam Ltd. (in UP))4) What is the name of the Gujarat village which came into limelight after discovery of prominentartifacts including gold-beads dating to the Harappan era? – Khirsara (Pots containing gold-beads were discovered from the trenches of this village during January 2011. Later carbondating at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow, for the botanical remains collectedfrom Khirsara’s trenches indicated that these remains falls in the range of 2565 to 2235 BC.Khirsara is a town 85-km from Bhuj and the excavations done here have now revealed that itwas a major industrial hub of the Harappan era)5) Who has recently agreed to purchase ‘The Washington Post’ and other newspapers for$250 million? – Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com (The deal was announced on 5 August2013. Bezos is buying the paper as an individual and his company Amazon.com Inc. is notinvolved in this deal)6) Telecommunication major Vodafone has recently launched a unique money transfer andpayment service “M-Pesa” in Bihar and Jharkhand where banking network and financialpenetration is inadequate, particularly in rural areas. Which bank is the banking partner ofVodafone in this service? – ICICI Bank (“M-Pesa” service was launched last year and provides afast, simple and secure way to transfer money and make payments)7) Which university on 5 August 2013 came-out with the first lab-grown beef burger of the world,in which those meat strands were used which were grown from the stem cells extracted from aliving cow? – Maastricht University, of the Netherlands

7 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) Union Govt. on 7 August 2013 introduced the much-anticipated National Food Security Bill, 2013, whichproposes to give the country’s three-fourth population theright to highly-subsidised food. Who moved this bill in the LokSabha? – Union Food Minister K.V. Thomas (Thomasintroduced the fresh Bill after withdrawing an earlier onealong with the ordinance which was promulgated on 5 July2013. This bill promises to give right to the country’s 80crore people to get 5 kg of food grains every month at Rs.

1-3 per kg)2) Which body is the regulator of commodity derivatives markets in India, which would be givenmore teeth to ensure that National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) settles the Rs 5,600-crore duesto investors, as announced by the Union Govt. on 7 August 2013? – Forward MarketsCommission – FMC (NSEL is facing the problem of settlement after it suspended trade in one-day forward contracts on 31 July 2013 following the government direction. On 6 August 2013,NSEL stopped trading in e-series contracts in gold in anticipation of the notification to this effect)3) Retired High Court Judge R.A. Mehta, who was appointed as Gujarat Lokayukta in 2011, hasrecently refused to assume office, citing state government’s long and expensive legal battleagainst his appointment as one of the reasons. Gujarat has been without a Lokayukta since –2003 (Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal had appointed Mehta as state’s Lokayukta on 25 August2011 after by-passing the Modi government. This was followed by a legal battle which lastedalmost two years as state government sought to overturn his appointment and contested it till itwas rejected in the Supreme Court)4) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 7 August 2013 disclosed that it had imposed a penalty ofRs. 5,62,555 on the State Bank of India (SBI) on 12 July 2013 for violation of currency chestnorms. Which currency chest of SBI was found deficient in following these norms? –Secunderabad Branch of SBI in Andhra Pradesh (The penalty was levied in connection withdeficiencies and lapses in the operation and maintenance of the currency chest at theSecunderabad branch of SBI)5) It was reported in some recent media reports that UK-based financial services major AvivaPlc. is planning to exit from the Indian insurance sector. Reports indicated that Aviva is in theprocess of exiting it’s over 10-year old Indian life insurance joint venture with diversified FMCGplayer Dabur to become the third global insurance major to quit India. Which are the two otherinsurance majors, who have already made their exit from Indian life insurance sector? –Netherlands-based ING and US-based insurer New York Life (ING sold its 25% stake in INGVysya Life Insurance Company to Exide Industries while New York Life sold its similar stake inMax New York Life to Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company)6) A modern and sophisticated breast milk bank, which is touted as the first such bank in thepublic sector was opened on 7 August 2013. This newly established breast milk bank is situatedin which city? – Kolkata (This bank was opened at Kolkata’s premier state-run SSKM hospitalby Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The milk collected at this bank will be given free of chargeto newborn babies whose mothers were either ill or not lactating. This bank was funded by theNational Health Renewal Mission – NHRM)7) In a rare diplomatic snub, US President Barack Obama cancelled his meeting with RussianPresident Vladimir Putin, which was proposed to be held in September 2013. Where was thismeeting proposed? – Moscow (The move is retribution for Russia’s decision to grant temporaryasylum to Edward Snowden, who is accused of leaking highly secretive details about NationalSecurity Agency surveillance programmes)

8 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) Indian Parliament on 8 August 2013 passed theCompanies Bill, 2012, which replaced the 57 year oldlegislation with radical changes. What is the name of the oldbill which was replaced by this legislation? – CompaniesAct, 1956 (The new Companies Bill was passed after a waitof almost two decades and it seeks more transparency incorporate functioning in India. The bill is also a lot less bulkythan the existing 1956 Act, with 470 sections as against thecurrent 658 sections)2) Union Cabinet on 8 August 2013 gave approval toBharatiya Mahila Bank, which will be India’s first women’s

bank. With an initial capital of Rs. 1,000 crore, this bank would provide dedicated financialservices to women in general and women self-help groups (SHGs). Which was world’s firstwomen’s bank? – Pakistan’s First Women Bank (FWB), which was established in 1989

3) Union Govt. on 7 August 2013 allowed import of steel for major industrial projects withoutquality certification. The objective behind this exemption is to give a push to the infrastructuresector of the country. The exemption will be available for projects in the field of infrastructure,petroleum, manufacturing products involving high end technologies, nuclear reactors, defence,chemical and petro-chemicals and fertiliser sectors. What is the prescribed investment limit forthe projects to get this exemption? – Not less than Rs. 1,000 crore (This announcement wasmade in a notification made by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The easing importnorms came amidst domestic steel manufacturers demanding government to hike duty onimports to prevent steel dumping in the country)4) A leading enterprise solutions provider on 7 August 2013 announced launch of Rakshak 2.0,TracOHealth and The ‘Milk Co-operative’ Experience, three new applications targeted at helpingthe government agencies to deliver citizen services in a more effective and faster manner. Whichsolution provider is this? – SAP (These three new applications have been conceived, designedand developed by SAP Labs India. While SAP Rakshak 2.0 offers real-time information for crimeincidents happening across states to all the law enforcement agencies, both state and central,TracOHealth aims to help maintain health-related information for a lifetime of every child acrossIndia. The Milk Co-operative Experience app offers dairy cooperatives gain real-time visibility onthe procurement to plan its production and distribution)5) Union Power Ministry is believed to have shelved the plan to set up the Rs 20,000-crore ultramega power project (UMPP) in Chhattisgarh as the coal blocks for the proposed project fallunder dense forest area and could rake-up the environment issue. This UMPP was proposed tobe established at which place of Chhattisgarh? – Sarguja (The proposed UMPP had aproduction capacity of 4,000 MW. Power Finance Corp, the nodal agency for the UMPPs in thecountry, has so far allotted four such projects. The three have been bagged by Reliance Power— Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand). TataPower has already commissioned country’s first imported coal-based ultra mega power projectwon through international competitive bidding)6) What is the name of the spacecraft which will undertake NASA’s next mission to Mars inNovember 2013? – MAVEN – Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN is aLockheed Martin built C-17 cargo plane, which reached Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora,Colorado recently)7) What is the name of a bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2013 by UnionEnvironment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, which proposes stricter enforcement of laws to protectwildlife? – Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2013 (This bill seeks to further amend the

9 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972)

1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently transferredits surplus profit to the government for the year ended June2013, which is the highest amount to be transferred by theRBI to the government, except year 2007. How muchamount was transferred as surplus profit to the govt.? – Rs.33,010 crore (This is more than a 100% jump over Rs16,010 crore that the RBI transferred in the previous year. In2007, gave Rs 45,719 crore as surplus profit. However, outof this, Rs 34,308 crore was accounted by the moneygenerated by its stake sale in State Bank of India. The RBItransferred Rs 15,009 crore in 2010-11, Rs 18,759 crore in

2009-10 and Rs 25,009 crore in 2008-09)2) An inter-ministerial committee constituted to suggest steps to contain the rising currentaccount deficit (CAD) has suggested higher taxes for non-essential imports with a view tocurbing inward shipments and containing the current account deficit CAD. These suggestionsform part of the recommendations made by the committee set up by Finance Minister PChidambaram. Who is the Chairman of this committee? – Rajat Bhargava, Joint Secretary(Budget Division) – This committee has suggested higher taxes on those non-essential itemswhich do not add to inflationary pressures. The Committee has also suggested a list of non-essential items the import of which could be compressed, with a view to bridge the trade gap.Trade gap in the first quarter of the current financial year stood at over $ 50 billion)3) On 9 August 2013 who became the first Indian badminton player since Prakash Padukone toreach singles semi-finals of World Championships? – P.V. Sindhu (She defeated 8th seed WangShixian of China by 21-18, 21-17 in straight sets to ensure at least a bronze medal for her at theongoing Badminton World Championships at Guangzhou, China. In 1983, Prakash Padukone hadwon an individual bronze for India in the World Championships held in Copenhagen, Denmark)4) The Union Cabinet on 8 August 2013 approved the proposal for establishing a new mediawing that will address the communication and dissemination requirements of the government onsocial media. What is the proposed name of this new wing which will be established at a cost ofRs. 22.5 crore? – Bureau of New and Concurrent Media (The proposal for establishment ofthis new wing was drawn on the basis of the experience of its pilot program on the social mediaplatforms such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter)5) The proposal for export of how much additional amount of wheat was approved by theCabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 8 August 2013? – 2 million tonnes (Thisdecision was taken in view of huge amount of accumulating stock of wheat in country’swarehouses, which is approximately 40 million tonnes. The overflowing stocks in FoodCorporation of India (FCI) godowns have also put pressure on storage availability. The additionalwheat would be traded through public sector trading firms)

10 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) India on 10 August 2013 achieved a major milestone innuclear capability by activating the atomic reactor on-boardan indigenous nuclear submarine and achieving nuclearcriticality, thus paving the way for its operational deploymentby the Indian Navy. Which indigenous nuclear submarine isthis? – INS Arihant (This development is seen as a majorstep towards India completing its nuclear triad. Nuclear triadis the ability to fire nuclear-tipped missiles from land, air andsea. INS Arihant has been undergoing trials at Indian Navy’s

key submarine base in Vishakhapatnam and would be launched for sea trials soon since thenuclear reactor has gone critical. The nuclear submarine will help India achieve the capability ofgoing into high seas without the need to surface the vessel for long durations. The submarine willwill eventually be fitted with K-15 underwater fired missiles, which can hit targets 700 km away)2) Which five countries presently possess nuclear-powered submarines? – The U.S., Russia,the U.K., France and China (Apart from India, Brazil is also working on naval nuclearpropulsion)3) With effect from 15 August 2013, eight cities in India will have visa-on-arrival facility fortourists visiting India. Which are the four cities which have been extended this facility recently bythe Union Govt.? – Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram (The visa-on-arrival facility was earlier available only for the four metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata andChennai). At present visitors from 11 countries (Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg,New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia) are eligibleto get this facility. The visa-on-arrival scheme has contributed to an increase in the number oftourists from these countries and the government was in the final stages of consultations onallowing the facility to citizens of another 10 countries, including Germany, France and Russia)4) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 8 August 2013 announced its decision to sell govt. bonds on aweek day with an objective of controlling the volatility in the foreign exchange market. Which dayof the week was chosen for proposed weekly sale of govt. bonds? – Monday (It was notifiedthat government bonds worth Rs. 22,000 crore is available for sale)5) Which former US President was one among the 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal ofFreedom for the year 2013, which were announced on 8 August 2013? – Bill Clinton (Otherprominent winners of this prestigious award for the year included talk show host Oprah Winfrey,baseball player Ernie Banks and former Senator Richard Lugar. The Presidential Medal ofFreedom is an award instituted by former President John F Kennedy and is the highest civilianaward in the United States)6) On 10 August 2013 South Korea and the United States announced holding of a joint-militaryexercise later this month. The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) will conductthis joint military exercise from 19 August to 30 August 2013. What is the name given to this jointexercise? – ‘Ulchi Freedom Guardian’ (This exercise will largely be a computer-simulatedexercise, with troops remaining in their normal bases. But this exercise has drawn sharpcriticism from North Korea, which has described it as an all-out war rehearsal)7) India’s largest IT exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on 10 August, 2013 announcedsetting up of a software development centre in Madhya Pradesh, for which the Madhya PradeshGovt. has allotted an SEZ (Special Economic Zone) to TCS. In which city will this developmentcentre come up? – Indore

11 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) For the first time, US researchers have developed avaccine that provides 100% protection from Malaria, asclaimed by them on 8 August, 2013. The new vaccine,dubbed PfSPZ, attacks the first stage of malaria called “pre-erythrocytic”, and may stem the disease before symptomsshow. Which US biotech firm has been developing thisvaccine? – Sanaria Inc. (The vaccine being tested wasproduced by Maryland-based company Sanaria Inc. andtested by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Naval Medical Research Center.The first results of this vaccine marks the first time that any vaccine trial has shown 100%success in protecting subjects from the mosquito-borne tropical disease, which sickens morethan 200 million a year and killed about 660,000 in 2010. Though the results were verypromising, more extensive field testing will be required to establish the facts claimed byresearchers)2) During August 2013 Maharashtra became the first state of the country to disburse employees’salary through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Employees of which department of MaharashtraGovt. were disbursed their salaries through Aadhaar mode? – Information Technology (IT)Department (Employees of state’s IT Department were disbursed the salary for the month ofJuly 2013 through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. The state govt. will soon issue salary of all itsdepartments through this mode as it helps in speedy processing and transfer to correct person)3) Which famous hotel owned by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and operated by theIndian Hotels Company Ltd. for the last 35 years will be auctioned soon? – Hotel Taj Mansingh(This swank hotel situated on Mansingh Road, constructed by NDMC, was given to Indian HotelsCompany Ltd on lease for 33 years. When the lease came to an end in 2011 and NDMC wasabout to renew the lease, the Urban Development Ministry intervened and asked it to auction theproperty. The property will now be auctioned after a temporary lease-extension was given to itafter 2011)4) 61st edition of the famous Nehru Boat Race was held on 9 August 2013 in Kerala. This annualevent is held at which lake of the state? – Punnamada Lake, in Alleppey (Alappuzha) – Thisboat race has been held annually since 1952. The race was first held in honour of India’s firstPrime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who visited the state at that part of time5) Who was conferred the Gujar Mal Modi Award for Science and Technology for year 2013 on9 August, 2013? – Vinod Prakash Sharma (He was given this award for his contribution in thefield of basic and applied research of Malaria and Vector Biology. Gujar Mal Modi Award forScience and Technology was instituted in 1988 by the Gujar Mal Modi Foundation in memory ofindustrialist Gujar Mal Modi, the founder of the Modi Group)6) Who won the men’s singles title at the World Badminton Championships held at Guangzhou?– Lin Dan of China (He defeated his arch rival Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia by 16-21, 21-13,20-17 in the final held on 11 August, 2013. Wei could not complete the match and wasstretchered off the court in the third game. This was fifth World Championship title for Lin Dan,who has a superstar image in the badminton world at present)7) Who won the men’s singles title at the World Badminton Championships held at Guangzhou?– Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand (She defeated World No. 1 and Olympic champion Li Xueruiof China by 22-20, 18-21, 21-14 in the final held on 11 August, 2013. Intanon became the firstThai to win the world championship and first non-Chinese woman since Denmark’s CamillaMartin of Denmark who lifted the title in 1999. Ratchanok Intanon had defeated India’s P.V.Sindhu in the semi-finals by 21-10, 21-13 to move to the finals)

12 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) India on 12 August, 2013 launched its first indigenousaircraft carrier, thus making an entry into a select club ofcountries capable of designing and building a carrier of thissize and capability. What is the name of this aircraft carrier?– INS Vikrant (Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s wife Elizabethlaunched the 37,500 tonne carrier at Kochi shipyard aboutfour-and-a-half years after its keel was laid by the minister.This aircraft carrier has been named after India’s first aircraft

carrier which has been de-commissioned from the service in 1997. Other countries capable ofdesigning and building an equivalent size ship are the US, the UK, Russia and France. Mig29K,Light Combat Aircraft and Kamov 31 could fly from the carrier. The launch of INS Vikrant marksthe end of the first phase of its construction and it will then be re-docked for outfitting andconstruction of superstructure)2) Zafar Futehally, who passed away on 11 August, 2013, was a distinguished authority onwhich field? – Ornithology (study of birds) and Conservationist (Futehally spearheaded theearly years of the conservation movement in India, serving as a link between conservationistsand corporates. ‘The Newsletter for Birdwatchers’, which he founded, was a vital publication andserved to document observations at a time when there was no digital documentation and therewere few scientific studies on wildlife in the country. He was 93)3) India on 12 August, 2013 successfully test-fired nuclear weapons capable surface-to-surfaceballistic missile, Prithvi-II for its full range from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur,Odisha. The indigenously-developed missile was picked up randomly from the production lot andlaunched by the personnel of the Strategic Force Command (SFC) from ITR’s Launch Complex-III as part of routine user training. What is the full range of this missile? – 350 km4) Olympics 100 m champion Usain Bolt on 11 August, 2013 reclaimed his sprint gold medal atthe World Athletics Championships when he won the gold medal at the ongoing IAAF WorldAthletics Championships at Moscow. What was the time clocked by him? – 9.77 seconds(Silver medal was claimed by Justin Gatlin of the US who clocked 9.85 sec while Jamaica’sNesta Carter (9.95) claimed bronze. He lost the world champion title at World AthleticsChampionships held on South Korea in 2011, when he was ousted due to false starts)5) State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) net profits for the quarter ended 30 June, 2013 stood at Rs.3,241 crore against Rs. 3,752 crore in the last year for the same quarter, thus recording a 14%dip. What was the main reason for this fall in profits as disclosed by the bank? – Huge increasein bad loans (SBI’s bad loans increased by Rs 9,702 crore to Rs 60,891 crore as of 30 June,2013)6) The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) on 10 August, 2013 commissioned the largest blastfurnace in India named ‘Durga’. This huge furnace has a volume of 4,060 cu. Meters and itcosted SAIL almost Rs. 1,600 crore. At which unit of SAIL is this furnace installed? – RourkelaSteel Plant (RSP), Odisha (With commissioning of this blast furnace the hot metal capacity ofSAIL has reached 4.5 million tonnes per annum with this furnace adding 2.5 million tonnes to itscapacity)7) What is the name of the Jammu & Kashmir Minister of State for Home Sajad, who on 12August, 2013 submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah pending judicial inquiryinto Kishtwar communal violence? – Sajad Kitchloo (His resignation was demanded by politicalparties so as an impartial inquiry can be carried out on his alleged role in the riots in Kishtwar)8) A bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 12 August, 2013 to keep political parties out of theambit of the RTI Act and negate a Central Information Commission (CIC) order to this effectunder the RTI Act. This bill seeks to insert an explanation in which Section of the RTI Act? –

13 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

Section 2 (h) – Govt. seeks to insert the explanation that that any association or body ofindividuals registered or recognised as political party under the Representation of the PeopleAct, 1951 will not be considered a public authority. The Central Information Commission (CIC) inits decision dated 3 June, 2013, had held that the political parties, namely, AICC/INC, BJP,CPI(M), CPI, NCP, and BSP are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Whiledeciding that the said political parties are public authorities, the CIC had relied mainly on thegrounds that there is substantial (indirect) financing of political parties by the CentralGovernment and they perform public duty)

1) On 13 August, 2013 Shooter Ronjan Sodhi was chosen forthe Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest honour for asportsperson in India. Sodhi is associated with which disciplineof shooting? – Double Trap Shooting (He won two silvermedals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a gold medalat the 2010 Asian Games. In 2011, he became the first Indianshooter to successfully defend a World Cup title. He is the 7thshooter to receive this prestigious award. Other six shootersto have conferred with this award are – Abhinav Bindra (2001-02), Anjali Bhagwat (2002-03), Lt Col Rajyavardhan SinghRahore (2004-05), Manavjit Sandhu (2006-07), Gagan Narang(2010-11) and Vijay Kumar (2011-12))2) Union Govt. on 12 August, 2013 tabled the Securities Laws

(Amendment) Bill, 2013 in the Lok Sabha to provide more powers to capital market regulator theSecurities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and to replace a related ordinance. This billseeks to amend which three acts? – The Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992,the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and the Depositories Act, 1996 (AnOrdinance had been promulgated in July this year amending the securities law that wouldprovide more powers to the SEBI. Once passed in Parliament, the amendments will give morepowers to SEBI to crack down on ponzi schemes, seek phone call records to check insidertrading and carry out search and seizure operations)3) Which Indian steel company was recently given an order to manufacture 60,000 tonnes ofhigh-quality rails for a new high-speed line linking the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina inSaudi Arabia? – Tata Steel (The new railway line will allow millions of pilgrims to cross the444 kilometers between the two cities at speeds of 320 kmh. The line will cross the Arabiandesert, withstanding temperatures ranging from freezing to 50 degrees Celsius as well as sandstorms, flash flooding and shifting dunes)4) India’s first Cyber Forensic Laboratory (CFL) was inaugurated on 11 August, 2013. ThisCFL has been established at which High Court of India? – Tripura High Court at Agartala(This CFL would send an automatic SMS alert to both lawyers and the litigant about the fate ofthe court case. An SMS alert would be sent through this CFL to all concerned parties if anylawyer or the petitioner remains absent on the day of trial. The establishment of CFL is seen asa major step towards decentralization of legal services in India)5) A day after the launch of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, China’sCommunist Party-run tabloid the Global Times on 13 August, 2013 said in its editorial thatChina should now speed up construction of its domestic aircraft carriers. What is the name ofChina’s first indigenous carrier, which was put into sea-trials last year? – Liaoning (It is arefurbished and upgraded version of the Soviet carrier the Varyag)

14 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) In a huge setback to the Indian Navy, INS Sindhurakshak,a conventional submarine exploded after a fire on board andsank early on 14 August, 2013 in which 18 personnel,including three officers, may have been killed. INSSindhurakshak was India’s mainstay kilo-class submarineand was the most modern submarine of the Indian Navy. Thisaccident took place at which place? – Naval Dockyard atColaba in Mumbai (The submarine had returned after amajor upgrade programme in Russia 3-4 months ago and

was capable of carrying a potent weapons package including the anti-ship ‘Club’ missiles. INSSindhurakshak was not on active duty at the time of the accident. The incident has come at atime when the Navy is faced with a depleting submarine fleet)2) In its report tabled in Parliament on 13 August, 2013, the Comptroller and Auditor-General(CAG) slammed the Defence Ministry and Indian Air Force for several instances of deviationfrom rules in the procurement of VVIP choppers in the Rs. 3,727 crore AgustaWestland deal.The CAG also noted that the benchmark cost of Rs. 4,871.5 crore for the 12 VVIP chopperswas “unreasonably high” as compared to the Rs. 3,966 crore quoted by AgustaWestland.AgustaWestland is collaboration between which two companies to manufacture helicopters? –UK and Italy (Westland Helicopters of the UK and Augusta of Italy merged in 2000 to formAugustaWestland)3) The Supreme Court of India on 13 August, 2013 directed the Union Government of India andthe Government of Uttarakhand to not grant any environmental clearances to the hydro-electricprojects in Uttarakhand. This judgement was passed by a Supreme Court bench in relation towhich hydro project situated in Uttarakhand? – Alaknanda Hydro Power Project (In itsjudgement a bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and DipakMisra ordered the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for establishing the expert bodyin order to study the environmental degradation taking place by the power projects in the state)4) What minimum export price of onion was announced on 14 August, 2013 by the union govt.with an objective of increasing the availability of onion in the domestic market? – Rs. 39/kg. (Inaddition to this govt. also announced measures to make import of onion easier. NAFED will alsotry to import onion at cheap rates in an effort to reduce prices in the domestic market)5) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 14 August, 2013 cut down the amount of foreignexchange an Indian may use to invest or spend abroad from the current annual limit of $2,00,000to – $75,000 (This means Indian citizens would not be able to take out more than $75,000 in ayear by way of travel or investment. In addition to this RBI imposed a restriction on Indians frommaking an investment in a property abroad. These measures were announced in a bid to checkthe drain on foreign exchange reserves in the country)6) Egypt’s interim Deputy President Mohamed Elbaradei on 14 August, 2013 resigned from hispost opposing a move taken by country’s interim government. Which move of the govt. was heopposing? – Imposition of Emergency in the country (Egypt’s interim govt. imposed a stateof emergency from 14 August, 2013 due to increasing violence between supporters of oustedIslamist president Mohamed Morsi and his opponents. Govt. claimed that 278 persons died inthis violence. Imposition of emergency in Egypt was also opposed by the United States. TheU.N. Security Council held an emergency briefing on 15 August, 2013 on the latest developmentsin Egypt following the government’s deadly crackdown on supporters of Morsi)7) The Finance Ministry on 14 August, 2013 announced that public sector insurance companyLIC can increase its investments in companies up to 25% under special circumstances. What isthe present investment limit of LIC in companies? – 20% (LIC’s investment norm at present is

15-16 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

settled at 20% but in special circumstances it can now go up to 25%. LIC for long has beenperceived as the last resort for the govt. to meet its disinvestment target, though the Centredenies it)8) Recently which company became the most valuable company of the Aditya Birla group byovertaking cement company UltraTech? – Idea Cellular (During July 2013 Idea’s marketcapitalisation increased to Rs. 52916 crore while UltraTech’s was calculated at Rs. 50820 crore.Idea Cellular, which was known earlier as Birla AT&T, has made rapid progress. It started as analliance with the Tata group, before the Tatas deciding to use CDMA technology. After initialhustle, the Birlas paid a hefty ransom of 4400 crore to buy out the Tata stake)9) The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently given its approval to students topursue two degree programmes simultaneously. This approval was given based onrecommendations of an expert panel constituted on this issue. Who headed this panel? – Dr.Furqan Qamar, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Hyderabad

10) In the recently released Academic Ranking of 500 World Universities (ARWU) for 2013 onlyone Indian institute features in the list. Which institute is this? – Indian Institute of Science(IIS), Bangalore (Harvard University has been described as the world’s best university with ascore of 100; followed by Stanford University with a score of 72.6. University of California,Berkeley; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and University of Cambridge have scoredaround 71 points. American universities captured 17 positions of the top 20 slots, with two goingto the British universities and one being occupied by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology atZurich. Of the 500 universities ranked, American universities captured a total of 182 slots;European universities occupied 200 slots — but only three made the top 20. As many as 17Chinese universities were included as well)

1) Union Govt. has recently set up a high-level seven-membercommittee to investigate the socio-economic status of tribals,which has been asked to submit its report within nine months.Who has been appointed as the Chairman of this committee? –Virginius Xaxa (Xaxa is the newest member of the NationalAdvisory Council (NAC) and is the Deputy Director of TataInstitute of Social Sciences, Guwahati. The terms and conditionsof this committee are almost identical to those of the SacharCommittee, which examined the socio-economic status of

Muslims)2) 16 August, 2013 marked a new low for the present Indian economic scenario with the rupeedropping to a lifetime low of Rs. 62.03 per dollar, BSE’s Sensex plunging by over 4% in a singleday and gold prices surging to a two-year high. These events were seen as investors’ responseto fears of a return to a capital-control regime and latest data coming from the US. What wasthis latest data from the US, which also impacted this historic downfall? – Economic data fromthe US released on 15 August, 2013 displayed the fact that employment in the US hasrecovered more than what was earlier expected. Markets in Asia, including India,interpreted this as a signal that days of cheap dollar were coming to an end soon andthis it thus had its impact on the downfall3) What is the name assigned to a dazzling multi-media series for displaying achievementsduring last nine years of the UPA government, second phase of which was unveiled duringAugust 2013 by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting? – “Glimpses of the India Story”(With an eye on the general elections scheduled to be held next year, the UPA government hasunveiled a series of audio-visual clips as a part of its multimedia campaign to highlight itsachievements and showcase the impact of its policies in the last nine years. Under this importantachievements of the UPA govt. like Aadhaar, Direct Benefits Transfer, Right to Information (RTI)and upcoming Food Security legislation have been highlighted)4) Subrata Kumar was nominated for the Prime Minister’s Shram Ratna Award for year 2012 asannounced by the union govt. on 14 August, 2013 on the eve of the Independence Day. He isassociated with which company? – Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur (Shram Ratna is thehighest honour in India given to workers employed in any private or public enterprise ordepartmental undertaking employing 500 or more workers. A cash award of Rs. 2 lakh and acitation is given under Shram Ratna. In addition to this 8 employees of different departmentswere conferred with the Shram Bhushan Award, 20 with Shram Veer or Shram Veerangana and41 with the Shram Shri or Shram Devi awards. Shram Bhushan carries a cash prize of Rs. 1lakh while Shram Veer or Shram Veerangana and Shram Shri or Shram Devi carry a cash prizeof Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 40,000 respectively)5) Which public sector bank recently sought Rs 1,800-crore capital infusion from the Centrethrough allotment of preferential shares? – Bank of Baroda (BoB) – Union govt. currently, has astake of 55.4% in BOB)6) The Rashtriya Uchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has proposed to put a ceiling on the numberof colleges to be affiliated to any university. What is this proposed ceiling? – 200 (This has beendone following several state universities having a large number of colleges affiliated to a singleuniversity. For example Osmania University has 901 colleges affiliated to it while 811 collegesare attached to Pune University. The average number of affiliated colleges per university is 300.This has negatively affected the academic quality of the university. The one lakh crore-worthRashtriya Uchattar Shiksha Abhiyan, when implemented, will lead to setting up and upgradationof new colleges and universities. The scheme will also facilitate increased number of studentsfrom secondary to higher education)

17 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

7) Indian telecom subscriber base crossed 90-crore mark in May this year after almost twoyears. It registered a marginal growth and the base grew by 0.34% to reach 90.005 crore,according to latest TRAI data. When the telecom subscriber base had first crossed the 90-croremark? – In September, 2011 (It had later touched 96.55 crore mark in June, 2012. Since thenthe base has been shrinking steadily)8) A Dronacharya Award winner and the coach of former Indian cricket captain Kapil Devpassed away on 16 August, 2013 at Mohali. Apart from Kapil Dev, he helped shaping thecareers of cricketers such as Yograj Singh, Ashok Malhotra, Chetan Sharma and HarbhajanSingh. What was the name of this famous cricket coach? – Desh Prem Azad

1) The Indian stock market moved out of the trillion-dollarleague on 16 August, 2013 as stock prices crashed, pullingdown the total valuation of all listed companies to $ 985billion. Now how many stock markets of the world remain inthe trillion-dollar league? – 13 (US, UK, Japan, China,Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Switzerland,Australia, South Korea, Nordic region (Finland, Denmark,Norway, Sweden, Iceland, etc.) and Brazil. Marketcapitalisation of all the listed companies in Indian stock

market stood at Rs 60,73,881.22 crore as stocks witnessed huge decline in their values. Indiahad first entered the trillion-dollar club in June 2007, but moved out in September 2008, amid theglobal slowdown. It again got back into the elite league in May 2009 and had largely remainedthere since then, except for some brief periods including once in 2012. Markets like Russia,Spain and South Africa have also moved out of this club after enjoying a trillion-dollar status inthe past, while at least three others – Brazil, South Korea and Nordic region markets – aremaintaining this level with small margins)2) State Bank of India (SBI) on 17 August, 2013 achieved another milestone by opening its…………….branch. – 15,000th (The 15,000th Branch of the SBI was inaugurated by UnionFinance Minister P. Chidambaram at Tamil Nadu’s Sooranam, a Christian dominated area, andthe 15,001st branch of the bank at Kalayarkovil, a Hindu dominated area nearby)3) An avian flu emergency was declared in the capital of which neighbouring country of India on17 August, 2013 after fresh cases emerged from different areas of the capital? – Nepal (Avianflu emergency was declared in Kathmandu valley after numerous cases of the H5N1 strain werereported since last one month. Imposition of emergency meant that trading of birds wascompletely banned and culling ordered in the areas declared emergency zones. The first case ofthe avian flu in Nepal was reported in January 2009. No human deaths due to the virus havebeen reported in the country so far)4) For the first time a pilot-project for use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with VoterVerifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be undertaken during an upcoming assembly by-electionto be held in an Indian state. Which state is this? – Nagaland (Election Commission of Indiadecided to use VVPAT enabled EVMs in the 4 September, 2013 poll at Noksen Assemblyconstituency in Nagaland. The VVPT will enable electors to see a printout of their ballot -displaying the name, election symbol and serial number of the chosen candidate. However thevoter cannot take the printout home. In case there is a dispute about the voting and a petition isfiled, the votes can be tallied electronically and physically with the ballot slips that fall into thecompartment)5) What is the name of a proposed commission that will look into removing ambiguity andestablishing a stable and non-adversarial tax administration in the country and establishment ofwhich was approved by the union govt. recently? – Tax Administration Reform Commission –TARC (Union Govt. has approved setting up of TARC on 13 August, 2013. TARC will be a sevenmember commission including a Chairman. The main objective of TARC will be to review theapplication of tax policies and tax laws in India in the context of best global practices andrecommend measures to strengthen the capacity of the tax system in India)6) “Faster: 100 ways to improve your digital life” is the name of 15th book written by aStanford educated 28-year old ethical hacker, which was released recently. What is the name ofthis author? – Ankit Fadia (Fadia’s last 14 books are centered around cyber security)

18 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) According to the latest data released by the PlanningCommission on 17 August, 2013 more than40 crore 29 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been issued till 31st July,2013 in the country. Which state is leading in issuing Aadhaarnumbers, as stated in this data? – Andhra Pradesh (With65,941,390 Aadhaar numbers issued till 31st July Andhra Pradeshis the leading state as far as issue of Aadhaar numbers isconcerned. It is followed by Maharashtra with 62,697,942 andMadhya Pradesh with 27,773,394 Aadhaar numbers. Only 1,848Aadhaar numbers were issued in Arunachal Pradesh by 31st July.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has reiterated that the target of 60 croreAadhaar enrolments will be achieved by 2014)2) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 19 August, 2013 aborted the launch ofits Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), the GSLV-D5 mission that was to place inorbit an advanced communication satellite from Sriharikota. This was done following thedetection of a fuel leakage barely an hour from lift-off. Which satellite was being attempted to beplaced by this aborted launch vehicle? – GSAT-14 (This was the third straight time that ISROwas caught up in a cryogenic launch mess-up. ISRO’s previous two GSLV missions in April andDecember 2010 had also ended in failure)3) Union Govt. on 19 August, 2013 banned duty-free import of flat screen television(LCD/LED/Plasma) by air travellers in a bid to prop up rupee. On this day rupee went below theRs. 63 mark and closed at an all-time low of Rs. 63.13 per dollar. This ban on duty-free importof flat screen televisions comes to effect from – 26 August, 2013 (This would mean airtravellers bringing in TV as part of their baggage from 26 August would have to pay customsduty. Till now Air travellers were allowed to bring a flat screen television for personal use withoutpaying any duty)4) 37 people were crushed to death at Dhamara Ghat railway station in Bihar’s Khagaria districtby a superfast express train on 19 August, 2013. Which train was involved in this accident? –Saharsa – Patna Rajya Rani Express (Most of the killed were devotees coming from or goingto the Katyayani Temple nearby and were standing on the track when this superfast train passedthrough the station at high speed. Dhamara Ghat railway station had no over-bridge forpassengers to cross the tracks)5) Recently the Union Cabinet gave its approval for establishment of the International Centre forDrinking Water Quality (ICDWQ). ICDWQ will be set up to undertake research on problemspertaining to water quality including arsenic and fluoride contamination. This proposed centre willbe established at – Kolkata (The centre will be established on 8.72 acres of land at Joka,Diamond Harbour Road, Kolkata. ICDWQ will be established at a total cost of Rs. 176.64 croreand the expenditure will be met from funds provided to the ministry of drinking water andsanitation under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme)6) What is the name of the proposed nodal agency for offshore wind projects in the country thatwill soon be constituted under the aegis of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy? – NationalOffshore Wind Energy Authority – NOWA (NOWA will carry out resource assessment andsurveys in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the country and simultaneously enter intocontract with project developers for development of offshore wind energy project in the territorialwater, which comprise 12 nautical miles from Indian coast. It will be the single window agencyand will coordinate with concerned Ministries/Departments for necessary clearances)7) Who recently took over as the new Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India tothe UN Conference on Disarmament at Geneva? – D. Bala Venkatesh Varma (Varma is a

20 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1988-batch officer of the India Foreign Service (IFS))8) Scientists at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington on 15 August, 2013 announced thediscovery of a new species of mammal, which is the first mammalian carnivore species to benewly identified in the Americas in 35 years. What name has been given to this newly discoveredmammal? – Olinguito, pronounced oh-lin-GHEE-toe (The discovery of Olinguito is seen as arare one. It was found in the dense forests of Ecuador and Colombia in the Northern Andes andit belongs to the raccoon family)9) Who was appointed as the new Chairperson of the National School of Drama (NSD) Societyon 19 August, 2013? – Ratan Thiyam (Thiyam is a well-known theatre personality from Manipurand his appointment has been done for a period of 4 years. He takes over from theatre director,Amal Allana, who demitted office as NSD Chairperson in June this year after serving twoconsecutive terms)

1) On 20 August, 2013 a C130J-30 Super Hercules aircraftbelonging to the Indian Air Force (IAF) landed at the highestairstrip in the world situated in India. This aircraft took offfrom Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad and made a perfectlanding at this airport. Which airport is this? – Daulat BegOldie (DBO), an airstrip located at 16614 feet (5065meters) in the Aksai Chin area (This base was built duringthe Indo-China conflict in 1962 and came into prominencewhen Packet aircraft of the IAF operated from DBO

between 1962 and 1965. Considering the very limited load carrying capability of AN 32 andhelicopters, a decision was taken by the IAF to land the C130J-30 aircraft which is capable oflifting upto 20 tonnes of load. This landing at DBO qualifies for the world record for the highestlanding by an aircraft of this class)2) Who will be the new Chief Justices of the Delhi and Madras High Courts respectively, asrecommended by the Supreme Court collegiums recently? – Justice N.V. Ramana and JusticeRajesh Kumar Agrawal (The Supreme Court collegium on 19 August, 2013 recommendedJustice N.V. Ramana, acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, to be appointed as thenew Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court while the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High CourtRajesh Kumar Agrawal be made its Chief Justice. The senior-most judge of the High Court,Justice R. Banumathi, has been recommended to be appointed as the Chief Justice of theJharkhand High Court)3) For the first time an Uttarakhand High Court judge has been made the Chief Justice of a HighCourt of the country. Who is this judge? – Justice P.C. Pant (Pant is the senior-most judge ofthe Uttarakhand High Court and is being elevated as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya HighCourt as announced by the Supreme Court collegiums)4) An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on 20 August, 2013 indicted former military ruler PervezMusharraf on charges of conspiracy to murder former Prime Minister and late opposition leaderBenazir Bhutto. It was the first time that any of the four generals who have ruled Pakistan havebeen indicted. In which year was Bhutto assassinated? – In 2007 (She was assassinated in agun and bomb attack during December, 2007. Musharraf’s formal trial could begin any time. Ifconvicted, he could face a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment)5) The US for the first time invited the Chinese Navy to join its largest multilateral naval exercise,which is a biennial exercise held in June and July and is the largest international maritimewarfare exercise. What is the name of this exercise? – RIMPAC – Rim of the Pacific Exercise(Allied military forces of the Pacific Rim are invited by the US in this exercise, which is organizedby it every two years. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chinese Defence Minister ChangWanquan met at Washington on 19 August, 2013 and agreed to expand military exchanges andexercises as part of efforts to build more stable bilateral ties)6) Cheraman Financial Services Limited (CFSL), which became the first Islamic financialservices company to be launched in India, started its operations in which Indian state recently? –Kerala (The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had given its approval to CFSL to launch bankingoperations based on the concept of Islamic banking in Kerala. CFSL, a Sharia-compliant non-banking financial company (NBFC), has been formed by a group of Gulf-based NRI businessmenled by P Muhamed Ali and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has a11% stake in it)7) “My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions”, which was published recently by Rupa,is a new book written by – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former President (This book is filled withstories of innumerable challenges in Kalam’s years as the scientific adviser when India

21 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

conducted its second nuclear test, his retirement and dedication to teaching thereafter and hisyears as President)8) The new Petronet LNG terminal near Kochi in Kerala received its first cargo vessel carryingliquified gas on 20 August, 2013. This new LNG terminal, which has been built at a cost of Rs4,200 crore, is situated at – Puthuvype (With this first shipment, this LNG terminal, with anannual capacity of five million tonnes, is all set to commence operations soon. Besides the Kochiplant, Petronet operates a 10 million tonnes per annum terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, which itplans to expand to 15 million by 2016. It is also constructing a facility in Andhra Pradesh)

1) Which state on 20 August, 2013 became the first tolaunch the food security scheme for its citizens? – Delhi(UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched the scheme inDelhi by giving away food security ration cards tobeneficiaries along with a 5-kg packet of rice. Delhi was thefirst State to clear the scheme)2) The Food Security Scheme was launched in which othertwo states apart from capital Delhi on 20 August, 2013? –Haryana and Uttarakhand (UPA’s ambitious Food SecurityScheme was launched in these three Congress-ruled states,

even as the consideration of the Bill was scuttled in Parliament by the Opposition, whichcornered the government on the issue of missing files related to the coal block allocation)3) The Reserve Bank of India had directed two Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), tostop allowing the use of its premises / branches to accept deposits from public by theirassociate unincorporated bodies. Which two NBFCs are these? – Muthoot Fincorp Ltd.(MFCL) and Manappuram Finance Ltd. (MAFIL) – (Muthoot Estate Investment (MEI), wascollecting public deposits through the branches of MFCL located in Kerala, which is a violation ofthe provisions of section 45-S of the RBI Act, 1934. The Manappuram Agro Farms (MAGRO), asole proprietary concern of Shri V.P. Nandakumar (Executive Chairman of MAFIL) was acceptingfresh deposits from the public. MAFIL, which was earlier a deposit taking (Category ‘A’)company, became a non-deposit taking NBFC in March, 2011. However, its maturing depositswere being renewed with MAGRO. Both these actions were in violations of section 45-S of RBIAct, 1934)4) Leading anti-superstition activist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was shot down on 20 August, 2013in Pune. He was founder of which organisation which was engaged in spreading the movementagainst anti-superstition in Maharashtra? – Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti(For the last decade, Dabholkar had been fighting for the passage of a legislation that wouldmake certain exploitative and superstitious practices illegal)5) What is the name of a bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 20 August, 2013 toreplace the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with a new regulator for India’s aviationsector? – The Civil Aviation Authority of India Bill, 2013 (This bill was introduced in the LokSabha by Minister of State for Civil Aviation K.C. Venugopal. This bill seeks to provide fulloperational and financial autonomy to regulate all issues concerning civil aviation to the CivilAviation Authority of India, which is the proposed new regulator for the sector)6) What was the name of the MD and CEO of crisis-ridden National Spot Exchange Limited(NSEL), who was sacked on 20 August, 2013 by NSEL Board? – Anjani Sinha (He was sackedalong-with six other top executives. The NSEL had to shut down its operation early this monthfollowing the government direction in the wake of violation of certain rules)

22 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

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1) On 21 August, 2013 the social-networking giant Facebookannounced joining hands with six other technology companies(Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Opera, MediaTek andQualcomm) to launch a new global initiative to make Internetaccess affordable for people across the globe. What is thename given to this initiative? – “Internet.org” (The initiativeof these seven technology giants will seek to collaborate ondeveloping lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones anddeploying Internet access in underserved communities whohas no access to Internet. The move comes a few weeksafter Internet search giant Google announced its ‘Project

Loon’, a balloon-mounted Internet access service that is expected to help provide Internetaccess to rural and remote areas. The founding members of Internet.org will develop jointprojects, share knowledge, and mobilise industry and governments to bring the world online)2) Nishi Vasudeva’s name came to news when she was selected by the Public EnterprisesSelection Board (PESB) to head a Navratna category PSU and thus is on the way to becomethe first-ever woman to head a Navratna PSU. She is expected to take over as the Chairmanand Managing Director of which PSU in March, 2014? – Hindustan Petroleum CorporationLtd – HPCL (PESB selected her name after interviewing seven other candidates for top post atHPCL. The PESB’s recommendation will now go to the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry, whichafter getting the mandatory clearances, including those from Central Vigilance Commission andCBI will send it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for necessary clearance andapproval) 3) Which private sector bank claimed to have opened its 500th branch during August, 2013? –Yes Bank (Yes Bank, which is the fourth largest private sector bank of India, also claimed that ithas achieved its presence in all 28 states and 7 union territories of the country)4) On 21 August, 2013 Maruti Suzuki India launched a new car, which is based on the platformof company’s highly popular Wagon-R model. What is the name of this newly launched car? –Stingray (Stingray is powered by a 998 cc petrol engine and is available in the price rangebetween Rs. 4.10 lakh and Rs. 4.67 lakh, ex-Delhi)5) On 21 August, 2013 insurance regulator IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and DevelopmentAuthority) imposed a hefty fine of Rs. 3.1 crore on which private sector life insurance company?– Bajaj Allianz (This fine was imposed for various violations including for rejecting certain early-death claims as un-concluded contract and entering into referral arrangements with entities thatwere not licensed to act as corporate agents or insurance intermediaries)6) A full-fledged hospital ship belonging to China’s Navy reached Chittagong, Bangladesh on 19August, 2013 with an objective to provide free medical services to its people and conductacademic exchanges with the country’s military hospitals. What is the name of this medical ship,which is on its second visit to Bangladesh? – Peace Ark (With this visit, Bangladesh became theonly country among the eight Asian countries under its “Mission Harmony”, which was visited bythe hospital ship twice)

23 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

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7) 89-year old Robert Mugabe was sworn in as the President of Zimbabwe on 22 August, 2013.Mugabe won a landslide victory in the 31 July elections with 61% of the presidential votes. Whatis the name of his political party? – Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front(ZANU-PF) – He was sworn in as President despite doubts regarding the legitimacy of hiselection win, which is opposed by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), country’s mainopposition party. Mugabe has been in power since 1980 since he led Zimbabwe to itsindependence. This will be Mugabe’s fifth term as president since 1987. He will have a term of 5years.

1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 23 August, 2013announced imposition of a total of Rs. 6.50 crore monetarypenalty on six public sector banks for violation of rulesrelating to know your customer and anti-money laundering.Which 6 public sector banks are these? – Allahabad Bank(Rs. 50 lakh), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs. 50.1 lakh),Corporation Bank (Rs. 1.50 crore), Dena Bank (Rs. 2crore), IDBI Bank (Rs. 1 crore) and Indian Bank (Rs. 1crore) – This penalty was imposed after the RBI carried out

a scrutiny of books of accounts, internal controls, compliance systems and processes at thesebanks2) Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on 23 August, 2013 informed that 5 new IndianInstitute of Information Technology (IIITs) in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode havebeen started from this academic session. Which are these 5 IIITs? – Chittoor in Andhra, Kotain Rajasthan, Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, Guwahati in Assam and Vadodara in Gujarat(With this now there are a total of 9 IIITs in India. Other four IIITs are functioning at Allahabad,Jabalpur, Kota and Kancheepuram)3) Who was appointed as the new Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Vijaya Bank, asannounced on 23 August, 2013? – V Kannan (Kannan, who is currently an executive director atOriental Bank of Commerce, is expected to assume charge of his new role from 1 January,2014)4) How many entities were declared as defaulters by beleaguered National Spot ExchnageLimited (NSEL) on 23 August, 2013 following the directions of the Forward Markets Commission(FMC)? – Nine (Nine entities declared as defaulters by NSEL are ARK Imports, Loil OverseasFoods, Lotus Refineries, N.K. Proteins, NCS Sugars, Spin Cot Textiles, Tavishi Enterprises,Vimladevi Agrotech and Yathuri Associates. As per the FMC order, NSEL should auction stocksof these defaulters and also sell their realisable assets to recover dues. NSEL has to ensurethat it settles Rs 5,574.31 crore to its investors who had taken positions in commodity contracts,spread over 30-weekly settlement cycles)5) How many government hospital beds per person were available in India as on 1 January,2013, according to the estimates disclosed by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on 23August, 2013 in the Lok Sabha? – 879 (Best government hospital bed availability was recordedin Manipur, which was as high as 2 persons per government hospital bed whereas the worstwas recorded in Bihar, which was as high as 7,846 persons per government bed)6) Reliance Industries and its partner BP Plc. on 23 August, 2013 announced the discovery of amajor deep-water gas condensate off the east coast. This discovery was made at which riverbasin – Cauvery Basin (The discovery was made at the Block titled CY-DWN-201/2, which lies62 kilometers from the east coast. Its oil flow has been estimated at about 1 million standardcubic meters per day)7) Who will take over as the new Director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on 2 September, 2013? – Prof. Ashish Nanda

24 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

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1) As per information furnished by Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority (IRDA), what was the life insurance penetrationrate in India in the year 2012? – 3.17% (The penetration of life insurancesector in India has increased from 2.15% in 2001 to 3.17% in 2012which is above that of Brazil, Russia, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, SriLanka, Australia, Germany but below France, Switzerland, UnitedKingdom, United States of America, Japan, Singapore, South Korea,Taiwan and Hong Kong. Insurance coverage in a country is generallymeasured by insurance penetration, which is the ratio of premium

underwritten in a given year to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP))2) Which state became the only state of India to have increased its forest cover in the past twodecades, as announced recently by the state govt.? – Sikkim (Sikkim Govt. announced thatforest cover in the state has been increased to 47.34% in 2013 from 43.95% in 1993 and thusbecoming the only state to do so. Sikkim is also the greenest state in the country. The forestcover based on interpretation of satellite data is 3,359 sq km which is 47.3% of stategeographical area as compared to 21% of the national average)3) Which bank of Andhra Pradesh came into news for having opened about 1.5 lakh no-frillsaccounts in eight districts on a single day as part of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme of theUnion Govt.? – Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank – APGVB (The 638 branches of thebank together opened 72,122 accounts while the bank’s financial inclusion machinery underbranch-less banking business correspondents model opened 75,320 no-frills accounts at 64villages in Warangal district. These accounts, opened with zero balance and seeded with AadharCards, will be uploaded on NPCI Mapper along with other banks to join Aadhar Payment Bridgeto facilitate electronic fund transfer like subsidies, scholarships etc., from the governmentdepartments concerned)4) How many Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) were recorded for the first seven months (Jan-July)of year 2013, as disclosed by Union Tourism Ministry in Lok Sabha on 23 August, 2013? –38,31,715 (There was an increase of 3.3% as compared with the corresponding months of lastyear. The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism during this period stood atRs.50,448 crores. These all, however, are provisional figures)5) It was announced on 23 August, 2013 that the Chief Executive of software giant MicrosoftInc. will leave his post within 12 months, which drove-up the share price of Microsoft on thesame day. Who is the Chief Executive of Microsoft, who featured in this announcement? – SteveBallmer (Ballmer took over the helm at the company when founder Bill Gates stepped down in2000. He has drawn criticism from analysts in the last few years for failing to gain a toehold inthe booming market for tablet computers and smartphones, which is now dominated by rivalsApple and Google)6) Which IIM of the country recently launched a first-of-its-kind management developmentprogramme on Islamic Banking and Finance? – IIM, Kashipur (This two-day managementdevelopment programme is the first of such executive course to offer Islamic Banking andFinance and was for senior bureaucrats, officials of financial institutions, lawyers, academiciansand bankers. Under the Islamic banking norms, depositors do not get interest on deposits, norcan the banks charge interest to its borrowers. Banks can invest the money, but keep off tabooareas of Islam like liquor, tobacco and gambling or speculation)

25 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) On 25 August, 2013 England lifted the Ashes Trophy for2013 by defeating Australia by 3-0 in the five test matchannual series. With this loss Australian captain Michael Clarkbecame the first Australian skipper to – Not being able towin a single match in the series (This was the first timethat Australia could not win a single match in the series. IanBell (England) and Ryan Harris (Australia) were jointlyawarded the ‘Man of the Series’ Award)

2) The Uttar Pradesh Govt. on 25 August, 2013 foiled Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP’s) plans tostart its ‘84 Kosi Parikrama’ from Ayodhya by launching a massive crackdown and arrestedhundreds of VHP leaders and saints including VHP head Ashok Singhal (the VHP head), PraveenTogadia and Ram Vilas Vedanti. What was the proposed total distance to be covered under thisparikrama yatra of the VHP? – 252 Km, which was to be covered in 20 days (The parikramayatra was to pass through seven district of Uttar Pradesh Faizabad, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar,Gonda, Balrampur, Bahraich and Shrawasti)3) On 24 August, 2013 the Union Govt. approved the initiative for free supply of essentialmedicines to the patients availing treatments. How much budget outlay has been made availableunder this initiative, which comes under the 12th Five Year Plan? – Rs. 16,000 crore (Govt.seeks to reduce the use of inessential drugs and ensure use of rational and necessary drugsunder this initiative. This initiative is based on the model employed in Tamil Nadu, where freemedicines are procured in bulk directly from the manufacturers and are supplied through an ITenabled management system to the public)4) Which private sector steel manufacturer was recently adjudged as the best PerformingIntegrated Steel Plant in the country for the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the year 2011-12? –Tata Steel (This award was based on the recommendations made by a panel of judges thatselected companies for the Prime Minister’s Trophy awards for the year 2011-12. With this, TataSteel has scored maximum marks in overall performance for the fourth consecutive year)5) On 23 August 2013 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the auction of two 48-daysGovernment of India Cash Management Bills (CMBs). What is the primary benefit of issuingICMBs? – CMBs allow the RBI to meet the temporary cash flow mismatches of theGovernment of India (CMBs are flexible instruments for the RBI as they are issued at times ofrequirement. They allow the RBI to have lower cash balances and issue fewer long-term notes)6) Who won the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix on 25 August, 2013? – Sebastian Vettel ofRed Bull (This was the fifth win for Germany’s Vettel. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (Spain) wassecond whereas Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain), who started the race from the poleposition, claimed the third spot)7) India won Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC’s) Emerging Team under-23 title in the final held on 25August, 2013 at Singapore. India defeated which team in the finals? – Pakistan (India defeatedarch-rivals Pakistan by nine wickets with 98 balls to spare to win this title)

26 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) The Lok Sabha on 26 August, 2013 passed the ambitiousNational Food Security Bill, 2013 that seeks to provide highlysubsidised food grains to the poor. This bill proposes tolegally entitle 67% of the population (including 75 per centrural and 50 per cent urban) to get subsidised grains underwhich category of food distribution system? – TargetedPublic Distribution System – TPDS (TDPS was launchedin 1997 by the Govt. of India with focus on the poor. Under

the TPDS, States are required to formulate and implement foolproof arrangements foridentification of the poor for delivery of food grains and for its distribution in a transparent andaccountable manner. TPDS is operated under the joint responsibility of Central Government andState/Union Territory (UT) Governments. The Central Government is responsible forprocurement, allocation and transportation of foodgrains upto the designated depots of the FoodCorporation of India. The operational responsibilities for lifting and distributing the allocatedfoodgrains within the States/UTs, identification of eligible Below Poverty Line (BPL) families,issuance of ration cards to them and supervision over distribution of allocated foodgrains toeligible card holders through the fair price shops are that of the State/UT Governments)2) Union Govt. on 26 August, 2013 extended the Monsoon Session of the Parliament upto whichdate in order to get more time to pass crucial bills like the Food Security Bill, Economic ReformsBill and Land Acquisition Bill? – 6 September, 20133) How many Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) were appointed in the Supreme Court on 26August, 2013? – Three (These three newly appointed ASGs are – L. Nageswara Rao, SantoshKumar Bagaria and K.V. Viswanathan and their tenure will be for three years. These three ASGswill be in addition to the existing ASGs and handle various cases assigned to them and wouldalso assist the Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati and Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran)4) A committee constituted by the Corporate Affairs Ministry to look into ways to improve thecountry’s overall business climate is ready to submit its report to the Union Govt. Who is headingthis 25-member committee? – M. Damodaran, Former SEBI Chairman

5) What is the name of the first vehicle rolled-out by luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India fromits Chakan plant near Pune in Maharashtra, which is the world’s first of this type to bemanufactured out of the USA? – GL-Class (The GL-Class luxury SUV was rolled out byEberhard Kern, MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India. The Chakan plant is the only facilityapart from Mercedes-Benz’s SUV plant in Tuscaloosa, USA, to manufacture this SUV)6) Following its 3-0 win in the recently concluded Ashes series, England claimed the no. 2 spot inthe latest ICC Test Team Ranking chart. Which team was pushed to third spot by England? –India (South Africa remained in the first position. Losing the Ashes 0-3, Australia moved down tofifth place, its lowest since August 2011. Pakistan was at fourth spot in this list)

27 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) How many loss incurring Central Public SectorEnterprises (CPSEs) were in operation as on 31 March,2012 as disclosed by the Govt. during August, 2013? – Sixtythree (As on 31 March, 2012 a total of 225 CPSEs were inoperation. Out of these161 CPSEs made profit, 63 incurredlosses and one CPSE made no profit/ loss)2) Union Govt. has decided to a Task Force on CurrencySwap Arrangements/Agreements on view of the risingtrade deficit and consequent current account deficit. Who will

head this Task Force? - Additional Secretary, Trade Policy Division, Department ofCommerce (The main objective of this task force will be to examine various types of currencyswap agreements/arrangements and their implication for India’s trade and financial system. Itwill also study the pros and cons of Currency Swap Agreement/Arrangement for India’s trade)3) On 26 August, 2013 the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) set rigid datelines to clearthe bottlenecks hampering private projects in the country. The Prime Minister led CCIcleared stalled projects worth how much investment on this day? – Rs. 85,141 crore (The CCIreviewed 36 infrastructure projects with a total investment of Rs 1.83 lakh crore and setdeadlines for projects with an envisaged investment of Rs 85,141 crore. This includes projectslike Sasan Power (Madhya Pradesh), L&T Metro Rail, Hindalco Industries (Odisha), JaiprakashPower Ventures (Madhya Pradesh), GMR Kishangarg Expressway, JAS Infra and Power(Jharkhand), Utkal Alumina (Odisha), Athena Chhattisgarh Power(Chhattisgarh), and EssarPower’s Tori-I power plant (Jharkhand))4) Who is heading the seven-member Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), whichwas constituted by the Union Govt. on 26 August, 2013 to have a comprehensive review ofexisting tax laws and suggest a stable tax administration? – Parthasarathy Shome (Apart fromShome, the commission will have Y G Parande and Sunita Kaila as full-time members while M KZutshi, S S N Moorthy, M R Diwakar and S Mahalingam will be part-time members. TARC’stenure will be of 18-months. Setting-up of this commission was announced by Union FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram in the Union Budget 2013-14 with an objective of reviewing theapplication of tax policies and tax laws)5) The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010 was passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice voteon 26 August, 2013. This new bill provides a provision to restrict the grant of decree of divorceon the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage if the court is satisfied that adequateprovision for the maintenance of children born out of the marriage has not been madeconsistently with the financial capacities of the parents. Which two laws associated withmarriage are sought to be amended by this bill? – The Special Marriages Act, 1954 and theHindu Marriage Act, 19556) World’s first zinc-enriched rice variety, which is reportedly capable of fighting diarrhoeaand pneumonia-induced childhood deaths and stunted growth, was released on 25 August,2013. This rice variety was developed in which country? – Bangladesh (Bangladesh RiceResearch Institute (BRRI) developed this rice variety, which is country’s first biologically fortifiedrice variety and which will be made available to farmers for cultivation from next year. BRRI’s Dr.Alamgir Hossain led the research team for this rice variety)7) What is the name of a new typhoid vaccine launched by Bharat Biotech InternationalLtd on 26 August 2013, which provides longer immunity and efficacy against typhoid? - TypbarTCV

28 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) The Indian Rupee fell sharply on 28 August, 2013 to hit a recordlow of 68.80 to the dollar. This was its biggest single-daypercentage fall since how many years? – 18 years (This was thelargest single-day percentage fall of the Indian Rupee sinceOctober 1995. The partially convertible rupee closed at 68.80 perdollar, compared to its close of 66.24 on 27 August. The unit alsoposted its biggest fall in absolute terms ever, dropping 256 basispoints on the day)2) Infosys’ highest-paid Indian executive recently resigned from his

post to continue a series of high-level resignations at the company. What is the name of thisexecutive who was the head of the company’s operations in the Americas and also the globalhead of manufacturing and engineering services? – Ashok Vemuri (Vemuri was widelyconsidered to be a strong contender for the position of CEO after current head S.D Shibulalsteps down in 2015. Vemuri’s resignation came days after Infosys Senior Vice President SudhirChaturvedi put in his papers, and a month after Global Sales Head Basab Pradhan quit thecompany)3) Indian Railways recently announced that in its commitment to provide hygienic environment topassengers, it is presently running 1400 coaches with 3800 bio-toilets in various trains. Thisenvironment friendly, low cost and robust technology has been developed jointly by IndianRailways and Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) for railway passengercoaches and is the first of its kind in railway systems in the world. Which was the first train tohave bio-toilet installed in it during January, 2011? – Gwalior-Varanasi Bundelkhand Express(These bio-toilets are fitted below the coach floor underneath the lavatories and the humanwaste discharged into them is acted upon by a colony of anaerobic bacteria that convert humanwaste mainly into water and small amount of gases (methane and CO2))4) The first ever sedan-size hybrid car to be manufactured in India was launched on 28 August,2013. This hybrid car was launched by which company? – Toyota (Toyota Kirloskar Motor(TKM), which is Toyota’s Indian joint venture with the Kirloskar group, launched the all newCamry Hybrid. With this launch, globally India became the 9th country to manufacture Toyotahybrid vehicles. Toyota’s first sedan-sized hybrid car in India was Prius but it was a completelyimported car)5) Name of which pro-Syrian govt. group came to highlight for allegedly hacking the website ofThe New York Times on 27 August, 2013? – Syrian Electronic Army (Website of The NewYork Times crashed for second time in a month on 27 August. A Twitter account for the SyrianElectronic Army claimed it was responsible and said it was the source of a similar attackon Huffington Post UK and Twitter. The Syrian Electronic Army has accused Western media offalse reporting about the civil war in Syria. Typically when the hackers take control of a website,they use the opportunity to disseminate messages supporting the regime of Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad)

29 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

1) What is the name of India’s first defence satellite whichwas launched on 30 August, 2013 (IST) from Kourouspaceport in French Guiana? – GSAT-7 (This satellite wassuccessfully launched by European space consortiumArianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket. Indian Navy would be theuser of this multi-band home-built communication satellite,expected to be operational by September end)2) In view of continuous decline in the value of Indian Rupee,what step was taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for

helping three state-owned oil marketing companies (IOC, HPCL and BPCL) who require a largeamount of foreign exchange for meeting their import bills? – A special window was opened formeeting their daily foreign exchange requirement (This special window will provide forexswap facility to these 3 companies which require $8-8.5 billion every month for the import of anaverage 7.5 million tonnes of crude oil. The RBI decision is aimed at curbing volatility in the forexmarket. Under the swap facility the RBI will sell/buy USD-INR forex swaps for fixed tenor withthe oil marketing companies through a designated bank)3) In a major achievement for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the alleged co-founder ofIndian Mujahideen (IM) was arrested on 28 August, 2013 by the NIA and Bihar Police team fromBihar-Nepal border. What is name of this terrorist who is the key accused in several terrorattacks, including Pune German Bakery blast, Hyderabad and Mumbai blasts? – Yasin Bhatkal(His name first cropped up in 2008, after the arrest of IM operatives from Pune and Mangalore)4) In an effort to boost forex inflows, the Finance Ministry has worked out a strategy for asmany as 10 public sector entities to tap Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) to raise at least Rs15,000 crore in foreign currency. This will be part of a tax-free bond issue. Which 10 publicsector entities are these? – NHB, IIFCL, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, HUDCO, RuralElectrification Corporation, Power Finance Corporation, National Highway Authority ofIndia, NTPC, NHPC and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (This is the firsttime that such funds have been allowed to be part of a tax-free bond issue. SWFs are normallystate-owned, with funds collected from budget and trade surpluses. The money is normallyinvested in real and financial assets at home and abroad. Oil-rich West Asian nations own manyof the world’s largest SWFs. A tax-free bond is an instrument where investors do not have topay tax on interest. Such an instrument is normally a long-term one, and the money raised isdeployed in long-term infrastructure projects)5) On 27 August, 2013 who was awarded the first Mahathir Award for Global Peace namedafter the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohamad? – Nelsen Mandela, theformer President of South Africa (Award on his behalf was collected by South African PresidentJacob Zuma as Mandela is in a critical condition in a hospital in Pretoria. The Mahathir Award forGlobal Peace will be given annually to recognise those who have made considerable efforts inpromoting peace)6) Which mutual fund company recently launched an auto premium payment system incollaboration with Life Insurance Corporation to enable its mutual fund investors to pay theirinsurance premium? – LIC Nomura Mutual Fund (Under the scheme, mutual fund investors willhave a facility of paying their premium on time without any hassles. Through the facility, thepremium amount of the investor on due date will be remitted to LIC by LIC Nomura Mutual Fund,out of the investors fund. No additional charge will be levied for availing this facility)7) Union Minister for HRD Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju on 29 August, 2013 launched the Anthem forRight to Education (RTE). Main objective of the RTE Anthem is to generate constructiveawareness among the community and stakeholders for the implementation of RTE. Who is the

30 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

writer of this anthem? – Javed Akhtar (It has been sung by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan.National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) supported the HRD Ministry in creating theAnthem, which depicts child-centered principles and entitlements and its video version has beenshot in government schools. The anthem begins with opening lines – “tan, tan, tan, sunoghantibaji school ki, chalo school tumko pukare …”)8) Which two new members were appointed to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the2G scam on 29 August, 2013 by the Union Govt., a move which was opposed by the BJP? – P.Bhattacharya and Ashok S. Ganguly (Bhattacharya is a member of the Congress whereasGanguly is a nominated member of the Upper House. BJP opposed this move as this wouldaffect the balance in the panel. Two vacancies in this JPC were created after the retirement ofTiruchi Siva (DMK) and the resignation of E. M. S. Natchiappan (Congress) after becoming aMinister. There are 10 members from the Rajya Sabha in the 30-member joint panel)9) Union Govt. is very soon going to sell 100% of its stake in 6 airports of the country to privateparties. Which 6 airports are these? – Chennai, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Guwahati, Ahmedabadand Kolkata (The Civil Aviation Ministry will issue a Request For Qualification (RFQ) documentin a few days for Chennai and Lucknow airports. The RFQ for the other four – Jodhpur,Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Kolkata – would be issued in the next few weeks)

1) The long-pending Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation andResettlement Bill, 2012 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 29August, 2013. This bill proposes to replace a century-old landacquisition law which was enacted in the British era in whichyear? – 18942) What are the important features of the Land Acquisition,Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012 that was passed bythe Lok Sabha on 29 August, 2013?

The bill proposes that land cannot be acquired for any private projects unless they fall inthe following categories: infrastructure projects, industrial corridors, mining, investmentand manufacturing zones, sports, healthcare, transport projects, and space programmeThe bill proposes that farmers and landowners be paid up to four times the market valuefor land acquired in rural areas, and two times the market value in urban areasThe consent of 80% of land owners is needed for acquiring land for private projects andof 70% landowners for public-private projectsThe Bill only sets a bottom line for fair compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement inthe case of land acquisition and State governments are free to further improve upon it3) The Chinese and Pakistani air forces will hold a joint-drill in China’s Xinjiang UygurAutonomous Region bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) during September, 2013. Whatis the code name assigned to this joint drill? – Shaheen -II (The drill between the two closeallies is being held ahead of an India-China military exercise planned for November 2013.Theexercise, codenamed ‘Hand-in-Hand’, is scheduled to be held in China’s Chengdu MilitaryCommand area from November 4 to 14 2013)4) It was recently reported in some sections of media that a 1,750 MW nuclear power plant isbeing established, which will be the largest nuclear power plant in the world till date. This plant isreportedly being established in which country? – China (Taishan Nuclear Power Plant inGuangdong Province of China is reportedly being sent a 1,750 MW generator by the State-runSichuan Province-based Dongfang Electrical Machinery Company Ltd. The Taishan nuclearpower plant is a joint venture of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Company Ltd andElectricite de France)5) During 2011-12, which state replaced Maharashtra to become the state with the largestnumber of HIV patients in India? – Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh had 5 lakh of the 24 lakhHIV positive patients in the country during 2011-12. Andhra Pradesh is followed by Maharashtra(4.19 lakh), Karnataka (2.45 lakh), West Bengal (1.67 lakh), Tamil Nadu (1.54 lakh), Gujarat(1.36 lakh) and Uttar Pradesh (1.09 lakh) while the remaining states together account for 6.66lakh HIV patients in the country. Earlier in 2010-11 Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Naduwere in the first three places but AP leapt to the top spot in 2011-12)6) The finals of the first edition of Indian Badminton League (IBL) will be played between whichtwo franchisee teams of IBL? – Hyderabad Hotshots and Awadhe Warriors (HyderabadHotshots led by Saina Nehwal defeated Pune Pistons 3-0 in the first semifinal at Hyderabad on28 August, 2013 while P.V Sindhu-led Awadhe Warriors defeated Mumbai Masters on 29 Augustat Bangalore. The finals will be played at NSCI’s newly built air-conditioned indoor stadium inMumbai on 31 August, 2013)7) The population of which BRICS nation crossed 200 million mark recently? – Brazil (Accordingto a population estimate released on 29 August, 2013 the population of Brazil for the first timecrossed the threshold of 200 million. The population of the country was 201,032,714 in July, theBrazilian Institute of State Geography (IBGE) declared in a news release)

31 August 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs

8) Raghunath Panigrahi, who passed away during August, 2013, was associated with whichfield? – Classical Singing (79-year old Panigrahi was a doyen of Indian classical singing andwas one of the very few singers who sang classical songs in languages as diverse as Oriya,Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Raghunath Panigrahi was best known for his own style ofinterpreting the Sanskrit epic poem “Gita Govinda”, composed by the 12th-century poetJayadeva. Sanyukta Panigrahi, the renowned Odissi dancer who passed away in 1997, was hiswife)9) Who was selected as the next Chairman & Managing Director of PSU major ONGC by PublicEnterprises Selection Board (PESB) as announced on 30 August, 2013? – D.K. Sarraf (Sarrafis presently the Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd. Sarraf’s name was recommended byPESB after conducting interviews of four candidates for the post. Sudhir Vasudeva, the currentChairman and Managing Director of ONGC, is due to retire on 28 February, 2014. PESB’srecommendation is due to be cleared by Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas and otherconcerned authorities. ONGC is the largest oil and gas producer in the country)