Current Affairs

A publication ofNirdeshak.com

September 2013

Current Affairsfrom September 1, 2013toSeptember 30, 2013

1) Which franchisee team became the winner of the 1stedition of Indian Badminton League (IBL), final of which wasplayed on 31 August, 2013? – HyderabadHotshots (Hotshots defeated Awadhe warriors 3-1 to lift thecrown. In the first match K Srikanth gave the Warriors anunexpected 1-0 lead by stunning top-20 rival S Tanongsak ofThailand in straight games, 21-12, 21-20. But in the highlightmatch of the finals, Saina Nehwal defeated her young

challenger P V Sindhu in straight games 21-15, 21-7 to bring back parity at 1-1. ThenHyderabad Hotshots’ Malaysian men’s doubles team of Goh V Shem and Wah Lim Khimdefeated Awadhe Warriors’ Danish-Indonesian pair of Mathias Boe and Markis Kido in threegames 21-14, 13-21, 11-4 to take 2-1 lead. Later Ajay Jayaram defeated R M V Gurusaidutt by10-21, 21-17, 11-7 to give the title to Hyderabad Hotshots. Hotshots won the top prize of Rs.3.5 crore while Warriors took home Rs 1.75 crore)2) In the first conviction in the infamous Delhi gang-rape case of 16 December, 2012, whatsentence was pronounced on the juvenile accused by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on 31August, 2013? – Detention of 3 years at a correction home (The 8 months already spent bythe juvenile in custody so far will be considered as term already served. This judgment wasvehemently opposed by the 23-year old paramedic victim girl’s family members who said thatthey were let down by the system and are now planning appeal against this JJB order)3) Which media group on 1 September, 2013 launched the first Indian television channel, whichhas been made available on mobile and internet platforms simultaneously? – Zee EntertainmentEnterprises – ZEE (ZEE launched a new free-to-air channel called “Zee Anmol” which willshowcase hand-picked content including popular shows from Zee TV’s repository, as well ascurrent popular fiction and non-fiction properties of Zee TV and movies and kids’ content. Apartfrom satellite TV viewers, Viewers even with 2G connections and non-smartphones, will be ableto keep up with this new channel through its WAP site)4) From 1 September, 2013 a new radiation norm put in place by Telecom Ministry came intoeffect for companies manufacturing or importing mobile phones for sale in India. According tothis norm what is the maximum prescribed SAR (specific absorption rate) for mobile phones inIndia? – 1.6 watt over a gram of human tissue, if a consumer uses it for six minutes (Withthe new SAR norm, India would become one of few countries that are following the moststringent norm of 1.6 watt a kg average over six minutes period on 1 gram of human tissue. Oldstock of handsets available in Indian market can be sold but no fresh stock of non-compliantmobile phones will be allowed to be sold from 1 September)5) How much loan amount was written-off by the public sector banks of India during the January-March quarter of 2012-13 as announced by the Union Govt. in Parliament on 30 August, 2013? –Rs. 14,549 crore (The public sector banks made recovery of bad assets to the tune of Rs16,464 crore during this period. Banks resort to write off bad loans only after exhausting allother possible avenues for recovery or when the asset coverage is not enough)6) What was the growth rate of GDP (gross domestic product) for Indian economy for the firstquarter of the final year (April-June 2013)? – 4.4% (This growth rate of GDP was slowest sincethe 2008 global financial crisis. It is lower than the 5.4% growth logged in April-June last yearand 4.8% in January-March this year. Main reason for slow growth rate has been attributed topoor performance registered by country’s manufacturing and mining sector. While manufacturingoutput fell 1.2 per cent, mining declined 2.8 per cent during this period)7) Who was appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on 30 August, 2013? –Justice N. Venkata Ramana (Ramana, a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court took over

1 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

from Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, who was functioning as the acting Chief Justice of the DelhiHigh court since June 2013)8) What name is given to the electronic version of conventional passbook that was launched byFederal Bank on 30 August, 2013? – FedBook (FedBook is an android-enabled app that can bedownloaded and carried easily on the tablet computers or the smartphones. It enables thecustomers to easily view the transactions in various bank accounts online or offline for 24 hoursa day. The bank plans to launch FedBook on other operating systems also)

1) Indian Air Force (IAF) on 2 September, 2013 inducts theC-17 transport aircraft into its fold, which is the biggesttransport aircraft in the IAF till date. American C-17 aircraftreplaces which Russian made aircraft as the biggest aircraftin the IAF inventory till now? – IL-76 (IL-76 has the capabilityto carry loads up-to around 40 tonnes whereas C-17 has acapability to carry around 80 tonnes of load and around 150fully geared troops)

2) According to the recently released data of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE),which public sector bank had the highest gross NPAs (non-performing assets) as a percentageof advances among BSE-Bankex constituents during the first quarter (Apr-June 2013) of thecurrent financial year? – State Bank of India – SBI (SBI’s gross NPAs stood at 5.56% duringthe end of the first quarter. SBI’s gross NPAs rose highest since the quarter ending March,2011. Central Bank of India’s gross NPAs stood at a whopping 6.03% during the same quarter)

3) Who won the 9th Asia Cup Hockey Tournament, final of which was played on 1 September,2013? – South Korea (Defending champions South Korea defeated India by 4-3 in the finals towin this tournament. With this South Korea made it to the Hockey World Cup to be played in2014. On the other hand, India has to wait till the qualifiers to qualify for this tournament. 4-timeWorld Champions Pakistan, who will miss the World Cup for the first time, got third place in thetournament when they defeated hosts Malaysia by 3-1 in the bronze medal match)4) Who was re-elected as the Chairman of separatist party Tereek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) for thefourth consecutive term on 1 September, 2013? – Syed Ali Shah Geelani (TeH was formed byGeelani on 7 August, 2004 after differences with his parent organisation Jamat-e-Islami)5) Union Govt. on 1 September, 2013 raised the dearness allowance (DA) by 10%, which willbenefit about 50 lakh central govt. employees and 30 lakh pensioners. With this raise, theaggregate DA emoluments of employees reaches – 90% of Basic Salary (DA was at 80% leveltill now and with this 10% raise it reaches 90%. This hike will be effective from 1 July, 2013)

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) With the current account deficit in India widening, Indiaplans to increase crude oil imports from a country whichaccepts Indian Rupee as mode of payment. Which country isthis? – Iran (Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry sent itsproposal to Prime Minister to increase imports from Iran.Yielding to sanctions imposed on Tehran by the U.S. and theEuropean Union so as to force it to roll back its nuclearprogramme, India slashed crude imports from Iran by 26.5

per cent during 2012-13, buying just 13.1 million tonnes, against 18.1 million tonnes the previousyear. Iran was India’s second biggest supplier after Saudi Arabia in 2010-11. However, during2012-13, it supplied only 13.1 million tonnes, lagging behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Venezuela,Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates)2) Following the success of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) cash subsidy payment scheme in20 districts of the country, the Government has decided to go for a massive roll out of thescheme in how many more districts of the country from 1 January, 2014 to cover LPGconsumers? – 269 (Under the scheme, Rs. 435 is credited to the accounts of LPG consumersthe moment they book a cooking gas refill or cylinder. The consumer is then supposed to usethis to buy a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder at market price, which is almost two times the subsidy. Themoment the refill is bought, another Rs. 435 is credited to Aadhaar-linked bank account of LPGconsumer. The scheme is aimed at checking subsidised LPG cylinders meant for household usefinding way to the black market or being used in commercial establishments)3) The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) recently announced its plans to create more borderposts in a phased manner to bolster security on Sino-India frontier. This frontier has seen aspate of incursions from the Chinese recently. How many new border posts of ITBP will beadded to its present strength of over 150 posts? – Thirty Five – 35 (At present, India has over150 border posts along this icy frontier and the paramilitary personnel guard 3,488 kms of theLine of Actual Control (LAC))4) Which bank became the first bank to translate financial literacy curriculum into Gujaratilanguage as part of its initiative to impart financial literacy to rural populace in Gujarat? – HDFCBank (The bank on 2 September, 2013 launched its rural financial literacy initiative in Koteshwarvillage under the aegis of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), becoming the first bank to translatecurriculum into Gujarati language. Under the initiative, it will conduct literacy camps at 68branches across 136 villages, reaching out to both adults and school children in the state. Itcomplements HDFC Bank’s efforts to support inclusive growth and take formal banking servicesto the remote corners of India)5) The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) broke all records as it was increased steeply by 6.9%on 2 September, 2013. With this price of ATF reached Rs. 75,031 per kilolitre, which is an alltime record. When ATF price in India had earlier reached highest levels before the present high?– August, 20086) David Frost, who passed away on 31 August, 2013, was associated with which field? –Journalism and Broadcasting (A British journalist and broadcaster, Frost, was known fortaking some of the best-known interviews of broadcasting history, which included interviews ofUS President Richard M Nixon, diplomat Henry Kissinger and John Lennon. His series ofinterviews of Nixon in shadow of the Watergate scandal are considered among his best works)7) India born Western classical musician Zubin Mehta is set to perform in Srinagar on 7September, 2013. His concert will become a milestone in public sector broadcaster PrasarBharati’s history as this concert to be broadcast live by Prasar Bharati (PB), will be the firstoutdoor event in India to be transmitted live in high definition (HD) to 104 countries. What is the

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

name given to this upcoming concert of Zubin Mehta? – Ehsaas-e-Kashmir (On 2 September,2013 PB, German Embassy and Eurovision Consortium signed an agreement to broadcast thisevent. This event also came to news following the protest call by Jammu & Kashmir state’sseparatist organisation Hurriyat Conference, who has called for a general strike on the day ofthe concert)

1) Leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia Corporation ofFinland on 3 September, 2013 announced signing anagreement to sell substantially all of its Devices & Servicesbusiness and license its patents in an all-cash deal of € 5.44billion. The company expects to gain € 3.2 billion from thisdeal. To which company is Nokia selling its business? –Microsoft Corporation (The transaction is expected toclose in the first quarter of 2014, subject to approval byNokia shareholders, regulatory approvals and othercustomary closing conditions. After the deal closure NokiaChief Executive Stephen Elop, will move to Microsoft Corp.)

2) What instruction pertaining to home loans was issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on3 September, 2013 to banks? – The RBI asked banks to link the disbursal of home loans tostages of construction (This instruction was issued with an objective to protect the interests ofbuyers and contain the fallout of some innovative housing financing schemes. RBI in itsinstruction mentioned that upfront disbursal should not be made in cases of incomplete/under-construction/green field housing projects. The notification follows the introduction by some banksof innovative housing loan schemes in association with developers/builders, where upfrontdisbursal of housing loans is made to builders without being linked to the various stages ofconstruction)3) Who was recently appointed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his new SpecialEnvoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation? – Rakesh Sood (Sood has been India’s formerAmbassador to Nepal, Afghanistan and France and the country’s first Ambassador in charge ofDisarmament in Geneva. Ambassador Sood who retired from the Indian Foreign Service inMarch this year is a recognised expert in his field and is expected to make valuable contributionto the country’s foreign policy on security, non-proliferation and disarmament issues)4) Who was conferred with the Moortidevi Award for 2012 on 3 September, 2013? – Oriyawriter Haraprasad Das (He was awarded this prestigious award instituted by the BhartiyaJnanpith for ‘Vamsa’, a poetic recreation of Mahabharata in idioms)5) Five-time US Open Champion and winner of 17 Grand Slam singles titles Roger Federer on 2September, 2013 was ousted from the fourth round of the US Open. This is the first seasonsince 2002 that Federer did not reach at least one final at any of the four Grand Slamtournaments. Who defeated Federer in this fourth round match? – Tommy Robredo of Spain(19th-seeded Robredo defeated Federer by 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4, which was the first fourth roundloss for Federer in a decade at the US Open)6) What is the name of the premium version of Hyundai’s popular hatchback i10 that waslaunched by the company on 3 September, 2013? – Grand i10 (i10, which launched in the Indianmarket in 2007, is one of the most popular hatchbacks of the country. The company has nowadded a completely new and feature-loaded model to its i10 stable. Grand i10 priced betweenRs 4.29 lakh and Rs 6.41 lakh (ex showroom Delhi) and has been made available in both petroland diesel versions)7) Which player made football history recently by becoming the most expensive football playerever at a price of £85.3 million or 100 million Euros (Rs. 881 crore)? – Gareth Bale (He wasacquired by Spanish club Real Madrid for this huge amount. Gareth Bale is a Welsh player whowas associated with English club Tottenham for last 6 years. The deal for Bale done by RealMadrid eclipses the £80 million, which British club Manchester United had paid for acquiringCristiano Ronaldo of Portugal in 2009)

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) The Lok Sabha on 4 September, 2013 gave its approvalto the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development AuthorityBill (PFRDA), 2011. The bill seeks to establish, develop andregulate pension funds to protect the interests of subscribersto schemes of pension funds and assures minimum returnsto subscribers. This bill seeks to grant statutory status towhich entity to empower it to regulate National PensionScheme (NPS)? – Pension Fund Regulatory and

Development Authority – PFRDA (The bill would also provide subscribers a wide choice toinvest their funds for assured returns, like opting for government bonds as well as in other fundsdepending on their capacity to take risk)2) Raghuram Govind Rajan took over as the 23th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)on 4 September, 2013. On this day itself he came out with a slew of measures, including moretrade settlement in rupees to rescue the battered financial markets and hinted at a shift in focusfrom inflation control, pursued by his predecessor D. Subbarao, to boosting growth. Heannounced setting up of an outside panel of experts to screen applications for new banklicenses. Who was appointed as the head of this expert panel? – Bimal Jalan, Former Governorof the RBI3) What is the name given to Google’s next version of Android-based operating system (Android4.4) for smartphones and tabs? – KitKat (Android 4.4 KitKat was announced as the name forcompany’s upcoming new Android-based operating system for mobile devices. This name is inkeeping with Google’s penchant for giving tasty names to its software for powering mobiledevices. The list of Android software names over the years includes Cupcake, Donut, Froyo,Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. KitKat is a chocolate-covered wafer createdby British-based Rowntree’s, now produced worldwide by Nestle. Google claims that Androidsoftware powers more than a billion smartphones or tablets worldwide)4) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 September, 2013 came up with clarifications pertaining tosome restrictions imposed by it during last month. What are the important announcements madeunder this clarification?A company will be allowed to invest up to 400% of its net worth provided it has raised thefunds through external commercial borrowings (ECBs)Resident individuals are permitted to make remittances for acquiring immovable propertywithin the annual limit of USD 75,000 for already contracted cases before 14 August,2013The curbs on capital outflows imposed on August 14 will not apply with retrospectiveeffect(Last month, RBI had reduced the overseas direct investment limit to 100% of a company’s networth from 400% for all companies and had imposed a restriction of USD 75,000 for purchasingimmovable property abroad)5) U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 3 September, 2013 came out with a resolutionon proposed war against Syria. What are the two important points in this resolution drafted bythe members of the committee, which has not been released officially?It permits up to 60 days of military action against the Bashar al-Assad regimeThe resolution does not permit any boots on the ground, i.e., no American soldier wouldstep in on Syrian land6) Researchers of Dartmouth College have recently came up with a comprehensive study thatclaims that a cataclysmic meteor impact about 12,900 years ago may have been the trigger for

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

the dawn of civilisation on Earth. According to this study this meteor impact took place in whichcountry? – In Canada (Researchers claimed that the event took place about 12,900 years agoand marked an abrupt global change to a colder, dryer climate, with far-reaching effects on bothanimals and humans. Signs of this meteor impact were found in Canada’s Quebec)

1) The two-day 8th Summit Meeting of the G-20 Heads ofGovernment started on 5 September, 2013 at – SaintPetersburg, Russia (G-20 is the group of 19 largesteconomies of the world plus the European Union. Theselargest economies include largest developed countries of theworld as well as the largest developing countries of theworld. The 19 countries in G-20 are – Argentina, Australia,

Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, SaudiArabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. IndianPrime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh represented India at this summit)2) Who became India’s first woman Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on 5 September,2013? – Deepak Sandhu (She was Information Commissioner for the last 4 years. A formerIndian Information Service officer of 1971 batch she took oath administered by President PranabMukherjee. She succeeded Satyananda Mishra, who retired on 4 September, 2013)3) BRICS nations on 5 September, 2013 gave further impetus to the proposed formation of a$100-billion Currency Reserve Fund (CRF) by announcing individual contributions to the fund.What is the agreed individual contribution of the 5 BRICS countries to this fund? – China $41billion, Brazil, India and Russia – $18 billion each and South Africa – $5 billion (The fundwould eventually allow the five nations to access the fund to deal with short-term volatility in theircapital flows, which might negatively impact their currencies. The idea of such a fund foundtraction in the last BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, earlier this year)4) In a major setback to the sports fraternity of India, International Olympic Committee (IOC)maintained its tough stand barring charge-sheeted Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officialsfrom participating in administration and contesting elections. The IOC on 5 September, 2013held its stance and asked IOA to accept all demands, including the charge-sheet clause, in fullbefore the Indian body can hold elections. This decision was taken at IOC’s 125th Session,which is being held in which city? – Buenos Aires, Argentina5) Veteran Indian tennis player Leander Paes on 5 September, 2013 reached the men’s doublesfinals of the US Open. Who is partnering him in this Grand Slam event? – Radek Stepanek ofCzech Republic (The duo stunned the legendary Bryan brothers of the US by 3-6, 6-3, 6-4)

6) Which Internet major on 4 September, 2013 released its refreshed new logo? – Yahoo Inc.(This new logo is part of a makeover that the company has been undergoing since it hiredGoogle executive Marissa Mayer to become Yahoo’s CEO 14 months ago. Yahoo Inc. hasrefreshed its logo after 18 years)

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) World acclaimed orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta wasconferred the prestigious Tagore Award for Cultural Harmonyon 6 September, 2013 by President Pranab Mukherjee inNew Delhi. He is the second recipient after Sitar maestrolate Pandit Ravi Shankar. Zubin Mehta is presentlyconducting music for which German orchestra? – TheBavarian State Orchestra (Under this award Mehta waspresented a golden plaque, a citation, shawl and Rs. onecrore)2) Retirement fund manager Employees’ Provident FundOrganisation (EPFO) on 6 September, 2013 launched facility

to view Provident Fund (PF) accounts online. What main benefit will the over 5 crore EPFOsubscribers get with this facility? – They will not have to wait for their annual PF slips to getinformation about their PF account (As per the practice, EPFO is supposed to provide annualPF account slips for its subscribers by September 30. For instance for 2012-13, it is required toprovide account slips by September 30, 2013. However, the deadline is often being missed. Thefacility for viewing PF accounts online was launched in New Delhi by Labour Minister Sis RamOla)3) North Korea and South Korea on 6 September, 2013 re-opened a cross-border militaryhotline paving the way for the re-opening of their shared Kaesong industrial complex. A call wasmade between the two Koreas after the two sides agreed on 5 September to restore thetelephone and fax lines used for cross-border communications. When the hotline between thetwo neighbours was shut down? – On 27 March, 2013 (The two Koreas agreed in August towork towards re-opening the Kaesong industrial complex, which hosted 123 South Koreanfactories and employed more than 53,000 North Korean labourers before North Korea closed itin April, 2013)4) Complying with the Supreme Court directive, the Union Home Ministry on 6 September, 2013asked all states to ban across-the-counter sale of acid in the wake of rising incidents of attackson women using the chemical. The Ministry also asked the states to impose a fine of Rs. 50,000on acid sellers who do not maintain a register on personal information about buyers. TheSupreme Court had on 18 July, 2013 directed that the crime be made a non-bailable offence andenhanced to Rs. 3 lakh the compensation amount for the victims. On whose public interestlitigation (PIL), the Supreme Court had given this order? – Laxmi, a Delhi-based victim of acidattack5) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 6 September, 2013 increased the amount of Indiancurrency that individuals travelling abroad can carry with them to Rs. 10,000 per person. Whatwas this amount till now? – Rs. 7,5006) Newly appointed RBI Governor on 4 September, 2013 announced constitution of a panel tostrengthen monetary policy framework. This panel is to submit its report in three months. Who isheading this panel? – Urijit Patel, Deputy Governor of the RBI

7) Newly appointed RBI Governor on 4 September, 2013 announced constitution of a committeeto assess the approach to financial inclusion. Who was appointed as the Chairman of thiscommittee? – Nachiket Mor8) Newly appointed RBI Governor on 4 September, 2013 announced constitution of a committeeto take a close look at rising NPAs and suggest steps to improve the recovery of bad debts.Who has been appointed as the head of this committee? – K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governorof the RBI

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

9) Indian woman author Sushmita Banerjee was killed by unidentified gunmen in Afghanistan’seastern Paktika province on 4 September, 2013. Her memoir titled ‘Kabuliwaler Bangali Bou’was a bestseller and was based on her experiences in Afghanistan and her escape from theTaliban captivity in the 1980s. Which Hindi film was based on the theme of this memoir? –‘Escape from Taliban’, which was released in 2003 (Sushmita Banerjee is also known by thename of Sayed Kamala, a name she kept after she converted to Islam after marrying Afghanbusinessman Jaanbaz Khan. She was working as a health worker in Afghanistan)10) What is the name of the special purpose vehicle created by the Department of Electronicsand Information Technology, Government of India, on a public private partnership model, whichhas recently been allowed by insurance regulator IRDA to market some categories of life andnon-life insurance products of companies? – CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd. (CSC isexpected to facilitate the insurers to reach out to rural India utilising its network)

1) Which city would host the Summer Olympics for year2020 as announced after a secret voting on 7 September,2013 at International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s)125thSession in Buenos Aires in Argentina? – Tokyo (Apart fromTokyo, Spanish city Madrid and Turkish city Istanbul werethe other two finalist cities. In the final round of voting Tokyogot 60 votes while Istanbul got 36 votes. Istanbul had earliereliminated Madrid in a first round tie-breaker. Tokyo

previously hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics. It was also selected to host the Olympics in1940, but those games were suspended due to World War II)2) Who will be the new Australian Prime Minister after the coalition led by Liberal National Party(LNP) scored a landslide victory in the country’s Parliamentary elections held on 7 September,2013? – Tony Abbott (Abbott is the leader of the Liberal National Party. The coalition led byLNP scored a huge victory over the ruling Labor Party led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Ruddconceded defeat of his party and resigned from the post of Prime Minister on the same day)3) The two-day G-20 Summit concluded on 6 September, 2013 at St. Petersburg in Russia. In adeclaration adopted at the end of the summit, the G-20 decided to further extend its standstillcommitment to make further progress in removing barriers and impediments to global trade andinvestment. This commitment against protectionism has been extended up to which year? – Untilthe end of 2016 (G-20 leaders took this decision after recognising the risk of economicslowdown and weakening trade posed by protectionism)4) The “Save Andhra Pradesh” meeting was held on 7 September, 2013 at Hyderabad’s LalBahadur Stadium organised by an association which is highlighting the woes of Seemandhraresulting from the decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. What is the name ofthis association? – Andhra Pradesh NGOs Association (Over 50,000 Government employeesfrom Seemandhra region attended the meeting under the watchful eye of police who madeelaborate security arrangements)5) World Famous Western music conductor Zubin Mehta on 7 September, 2013 performedsoulful strains of some of the most popular and best known western classical musiccompositions at a concert held in Sringar. This concert named ‘Ehsaas-e-Kashmir’ (Feel ofKashmir) was organized at which famous landmark of the city? – Shalimar Gardens (Mehtaand his Bavarian State Orchestra played its full cast of works of Ludwig Van Beethoven, FranzJoseph Haydn and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in front of an invited audience of 1,500 guests)6) What is the name a new robotic explorer that was launched by NASA on 6 September, 2013through the Minotaur-5 rocket from the Virginia coast? – LADEE – Lunar Atmosphere andDust Environment Explorer (LADEE has been designed to look for dust rising from the lunarsurface, a phenomenon reported by the Apollo astronauts decades ago. Its 30-day missionstarted as the Minotaur-5 rocket blasted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’sWallops Island Flight Facility)7) What is the name of a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Videocon Industries whichrecently withdrew its application for a banking licence submitted with the Reserve Bank of India(RBI)? – Value Industries Limited, Aurangabad

8) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 6 September, 2013 announced that it has included thename of a Chandigarh based firm in the list of applicants for new bank licences in the privatesector. This firm had submitted its application to the RBI on 1 July, 2013, which wasinadvertently not included in the list of applicants at that time. What is the name of this firm? –KC Land & Finance Limited

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

9) Egyptian political organisation ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ was on 6 September, 2013 dissolved bycountry’s acting government after a lawsuit that argued that the organisation has no legal status.What is the name of the political wing of ‘Muslim Brotherhood’, which under leadership of oustedPresident Mohamed Morsi had won the Egyptian General election in 2011? – Freedom andJustice Party (‘Muslim Brotherhood’ was established as a religious, political, transnationalIslamic political organization in 1928 in Egypt by Islamic scholar Hassan al-Banna)

1) Indian tennis star Leander Paes on 8 September, 2013won the men’s doubles title of the US Open. Partnering withhis Czech partner Radek Stepanek, he defeated AlexanderPeya and Bruno Soares in the title clash by 6-1, 6-3. Paeshas now won how many tennis Grand Slam titles? – 14 (Ofthese 14, 8 titles account for men’s doubles titles while other6 are mixed doubles titles. It was third US Open title for 40-year-old Paes and the previous two had also come withCzech partners. In 2006, he won with Martin Damm and in2009 with Lukas Dlouhy)

2) On 8 September, 2013 wrestling was reinstated into the Olympic programme for the 2020and 2024 Games. Wrestling obtained a majority of 49 votes in a secret ballot among 95members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Wrestling was pitted against which twosports in this bid? – Baseball/softball and Squash (Baseball/softball are not on the OlympicGames programme list since 2008 and received 24 votes. Squash, bidding to become a newOlympic sport, had to settle for 22. Wrestling was dropped by the IOC executive board inFebruary 2013, but got into a shortlist with the other two in order to get back into the Gamesthrough widespread reform and lobbying from many countries including an unlikely Russia-Iran-U.S. alliance. India also got respite by this IOC decision as it has won 4 Olympic medals inwrestling)3) Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on 8 September, 2013 relinquished his post paving the wayfor Mamnoon Hussain to take over. What was the significance attached to this move of his? –Zardari became the first elected President to complete his constitutional tenure and to bereplaced by an elected individual in Pakistan’s history4) Who got highest percentage of votes in the Presidential Elections held in the island-nation ofMaldives on 7 September, 2013? – Mohamed Nasheed (Nasheed secured 45.45% of the totalpolled votes according to the provisional results announced on 8 September. Nasheed’s mainrival Abdulla Yameen secured 25.35% while Gasim Ibrahim secured 24.07%. But this resultdoes not turned into a decisive victory for Nasheed as he missed a required majority of 50%. Hewill now face Yameen in a run-off election to be held on 28 September, 2013. Nasheed wascountry’s first democratically elected president but he was forced from office in February 2012,in what his supporters call a coup)5) Which city of Uttar Pradesh was hit by communal violence on 7 and 8 September, 2013 inwhich over 25 people died? – Muzaffarnagar (As the condition worsened the army was calledto stage flag marches and thousands of anti-riot police personnel were deployed to restore lawand order in the district)6) Which private sector bank recently launched ‘Branch on Wheels’, an initiative to offer basicbanking services in remote areas which have so far been devoid of banking facilities? – ICICIBank (‘Branch on Wheels’ is a mobile branch of the bank, which will offer basic bankingproducts and services such as savings accounts, loans, cash deposit/withdrawal, accountbalance enquiries, statement printing and funds transfer/DD/PO collection, among others. It willalso have an ATM. Bank’s first Branch on Wheels was launched in Kolhapur, Maharashtra and itwill cover four unbanked villages)7) Who won the women’s singles title of US Open 2013? – Serena Williams of the US (Topseeded Williams defeated the No. 2 Victoria Azarenka of Russia by 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1 in the finalplayed on 8 September, 2013. This was her 5th US Open women’s singles title)8) Who won the Italian Formula One Grand Prix 2013? – Sebastian Vettel (Germany) of RedBull team (Fernando Alonso (Spain) of Ferrari finished second while Vettel’s Red Bull team mate

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

Mark Webber (Australia) finished third. This was his sixth win this year and now it looksincreasingly likely that Vettel will clinch a fourth straight Formula One title unless he has analarming drop in form)

1) The Forward Markets Commission (FMC), chief regulatorof forwards and futures commodity markets in India, will,henceforth, be overseen by the Ministry of Finance. FMCwas under which ministry/department till now? –Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry ofFood (This decision was taken at the highest level, andnotified in the wake of alleged scam in National Spot

Exchange Limited (NSEL). The decision has been approved by President Pranab Mukherjee)2) Telecom regulator (TRAI – Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) on 9 September, 2013recommended lowering of the floor price for mobile spectrum auction. What pan-India reserveprice of spectrum was recommended by TRAI? – Rs.1,496 crore per MHz (The reserve pricesfor 1,800 MHz spectrum for Delhi was recommended to be Rs.175 crore per megahertz (MHz),for Mumbai Rs.165 crore per MHz, and for Kolkata Rs.59 crore per MHz. In the last twoauctions held November 2012 and March 2013, service providers stayed away, citing high floorprice)3) India-born Mamnoon Hussain, who was sworn in as the President of Pakistan on 9September, 2013, is the ……… President of the country? – 12th (Chief Justice of PakistanSupreme Court Iftikhar Chaudhry administered the oath. His investiture marked the culminationof the first democratic transition in country’s 66-year history)4) A massive two-day international agriculture summit took-off at Gandhinagar from 9September, 2013. What is the name of this summit? – Vibrant Gujarat Global AgricultureSummit (The summit attracted agricultural experts and diplomats from several countriesincluding Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa, the Maldives, Ireland, Australia, Seychelles,Gambia, Malawi, Madagascar and Bolivia)5) How many entities from the capital market were barred from accessing the securities marketby SEBI on 8 September, 2013? – 34 (13 entities were barred for a period of five years as theywere the active players of manipulation activities and were directly connected to Mehta. Theremaining 21 entities were restricted from accessing the securities market for a period of threeyears. Sunil Mehta, who played key role in fraudulent deals by these companies, was barredfrom accessing the securities market for a period of seven years)6) Russia recently announced lifting the eight-month old ban imposed on the import of Indian riceand peanuts. The ban was lifted with effect from 1 September, 2013 and Indian exporters canresume export of these products effective from this date. Why this ban was imposed by Russia?– Due to the presence of khapra beetles pest in rice and aflatoxin contamination ofpeanuts (Russia decided to remove restrictions after its officials visited processing units in Indiain June. The delegation was convinced about the safety measures that were put in place herewhile processing these food items. India, the world’s second-biggest producer of rice, hadshipped 61,000 tonnes of rice and 3,700 tonnes of peanuts in the last financial year, earning $31million from the export of the two food items)7) Who won the men’s singles title of US Open 2013? – Rafael Nadal of Spain (World No.2Nadal defeated the No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia by 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final played on 9September, 2013 (This was Nadal’s 13th Grand Slam title and he now ranks third in the historyof men’s tennis, behind only Roger Federer’s 17 and Pete Sampras’ 14)

10 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) BSE’s Sensex on 10 September, 2013 recorded thebiggest single-day gain in four years and shot up by 727points to close at 19,997.10 points. It also breached the20,000 point mark once during the trade. The NSE alsodisplayed similar buoyancy by gaining 216.35 points. Whatwere the major reasons for this dramatic recovery for themarkets, which were severely battered a few days back?Receding fears of an imminent US military strike, which

would have put severe pressure on crude pricesGood impact of recent RBI measures to control current account deficit (CAD) on IndianRupee (which rose by 140 paise on the day)Positive trade data, which show that exports rose by 13% during August, 2013Passenger car market grew by 15.37% during August, 2013, ending nine-months ofcontinuous fallData from China suggesting that China’s economic slowdown may have bottomed out2) Which state overtook Kerala to become the most-literate state of India, as claimed by thestate govt. on 9 September, 2013? – Tripura (Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar disclosedthat the state has a literacy rate of 94.65% as compared to Kerala’s 93.91%. He said that thisfact was based on a survey that had been conducted by experts of the Indian Statistical Institute(ISI) during August, 2013. It is worth noting that Tripura’s literacy rate stood at 87.75% duringCensus 2011 and it stood at third place while Kerala was at the first position with literacy rate of91.58%)3) All four men tried for gang-rape and murder of a 23-year old paramedical student in Delhi on16 December, 2012 were found guilty on 10 September, 2013 by a special fast track court. Thecourt ruled that they had intentionally caused the death of the woman. What are the names ofthese four accused, who will be delivered their sentence on 11 September, 2013? – MukeshSingh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur (Another accused Ram Singhallegedly committed suicide in the jail during the trial while the only juvenile accused has alreadybeen sentenced to three years in a correction centre)4) A country, which was ranked as the sixth-largest investor in 2011, was recently ranked as thethird-largest investor in the world based on figures of 2012. Which country is this? – China(China’s outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) reached a record high of $87.8 billion,according to the 2012 Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment (ODI) bythe Ministry of Commerce. It thus recorded 17.6% growth year-on-year in 2012 as compared to2011. China was the world’s sixth-largest investor in 2011, with an ODI flow of $74.65 billion.Now United States and Japan are the only countries which are bigger investing nations thanChina)5) Which party came to power in Norway after defeating Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’sLabour Party in the recently held national elections? - Conservative Party (Conservative Partyled by Erna Solberg ended Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s eight years in office at the helm ofa red-green coalition. The conservatives last led a government in 1990)6) Which ace shooter and Olympic medalist on 10 September, 2013 joined the BJP after takingvoluntary retirement from Army? – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Rathore had won a silvermedal in double trap shooting in 2004 Athens Olympics)

11 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) State Bank of India (SBI) recently tightened its eligibilityconditions for its four-wheeler loan scheme with a view tominimising possible defaults. From now on persons with anannual income of Rs. 6 lakh or more will get SBI’s car loans.What was SBI’s eligibility condition for availing car loan tillnow? – An annual income of Rs. 2.5 lakh or more (ForSBI account holders, the limit has been raised to Rs 4.5 lakhper annum. The rationale for increase in the eligibility criteriais to revise the gross income limit upwards in view ofmoderation in the economy)

2) Who was elected as the 9th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in placeof Jacques Rogge on 10 September, 2013? – Thomas Bach of Germany (Bach was electedafter two rounds of votes at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His term is foreight years and he is the first Olympic champion to head this 119-year old institution. Bach isformer Olympic and World Champion in fencing (foil). He replaced Belgium’s Jacques Roggewho had been heading IOC since 2001. Five other contestants for this post were Sergey Bubka(Ukraine), Richard Carrion (Puerto Rico), Ser Miang Ng (Singapore), Denis Oswald(Switzerland) and Ching-kuo Wu (Chinese Taipei))3) The GDP growth estimate by ratings and research firm Crisil was reduced to a decade-low of4.8% in 2013-14, as announced in its report released on 11 September, 2013. What was Crisil’sgrowth estimate of April, 2013, which has now been downgraded in this report? – 6% (Crisilused data on 2,481 companies across more than 70 sectors to come out with this growthestimate of India)4) Which team defeated India in the final of the SAFF Football Championship on 11 September,2013 to win their maiden SAFF title? – Afghanistan (Afghanistan defeated defending championsIndia by 2-0 in the final to win their first international football title. SAFF Football Championship2013 was held in Kathmandu, Nepal)5) Which company will buy 51% stake in Jaypee Cement Corporation’s 4.8 mtpa (metric tonneper annum) Gujarat unit as announced on 11 September, 2013? – UltraTech, which is a cementfirm of the Aditya Birla Group (The value of deal is estimated around Rs. 4,000 crore. AdityaBirla Group, the country’s largest cement maker with around 54 mtpa capacity, runs cementbusiness through UltraTech Cement and plans to increase its capacity by another 10 mtpa by2015. The two companies were engaged in negotiations for a little over a year now)6) What is the name of a giant volcano that has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean recentlyand which is almost equal to the size of the UK? – Tamu Massif (This huge volcano is situated1,000 miles east of Japan, along the Shatsky Rise plate. It was discovered by a team led byWilliam Sager, a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at theUniversity of Houston. Sager began studying the volcano 20 years ago. The volcano has beenburied deep beneath the Pacific Ocean and is extinct)7) A research team has recently found that the third largest object near Earth, which wasbelieved to be an asteroid for about last 30 years, is actually a comet. What is the name of thisobject? – 3552 Don Quizote (An international team from the University of Tennessee, found thatDon Quizote is an active comet, thus likely containing water ice and not just rocks. Using theNASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the team led by Michael Mommert of Northern ArizonaUniversity re-examined images of Don Quizote from 2009 when it was in the part of its orbitclosest to the Sun, and found it had a coma and a faint tail)

12 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) Who was conferredwith the Indira GandhiPrize for Peace,Disarmament andDevelopment for 2012on 12 September,2013 by the PresidentPranab Mukherjee? –Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,President of theRepublic of Liberia(She was given thisaward for serving asan example and aninspiration for ensuringthe return of peace,democracy,development, securityand order in Liberia.Sirleaf is the first

woman elected to lead an African nation. This was the 27th edition of this prestigious prize whichhas been awarded annually since 1986. It carries Rs. 25 lakh in cash and a citation)2) Ashok Vemuri, who resigned from Indian software major Infosys as board member and headof its Americas business and Global Head of Manufacturing and Engineering services, took overas President and CEO of which software services company on 12 September, 2013? – iGateCorporation (iGate is a company based in Fremont, California. Gerhard Watzinger wascompany’s Interim president and CEO from May, 2013 after the dramatic exit of PhaneeshMurthy on charges of sexual molestation)3) Which company came to news for raising a bond issue of $49 billion on 11 September, 2013,which is the largest corporate bond deal in the world till date? – Verizon (Verizon is an Americantelecommunications and broadband company. The sale dwarfs the previous record, Apple’s saleof $17 billion in bonds in April. Proceeds from the sale will help Verizon buy the rest of its U.S.wireless business from partner Vodafone. On September 2, 2013, it was announced thatVerizon would buy the remaining stake that Vodafone owns in their join venture VerizonWireless for $130 billion. This deal is the third largest in corporate history)4) Indian capital market regulator SEBI on 11 September, 2013 disclosed a condition for MCX-SX and its clearing corporation MCX-SX CCL for renewal of recognition for one year startingSeptember 16, 2013. What is this condition? – MCX-SX and MCX-SX CCL will have to appointa five-member committee to strengthen their corporate governance for receiving SEBI’s 1-yearrenewal of recognition (The directions are significant due to the fact that Financial Technologies,one of the promoters of MCX-SX, is embroiled in a payment crisis related to its subsidiaryNational Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). In this scenario SEBI’s conditional grant of recognition isseen as a measure to prevent recurrence of the crisis in MCX-SX)5) According to the World Ultra Wealth Report 2013 by Wealth-X, among the five BRICScountries, which country recorded the largest increase in its Ultra-High NetworthIndividual (HNIW) club during the last one year? – India (The report stated that India is home toas many as 7,850 high networth individuals whose collective net worth is $935 billion. The studyfocuses solely on persons with a net worth of $30 million and above)6) A BCCI probe on the IPL spot-fixing scandal has found cricketers Ajit Chandila, Ankit Chavan,

13 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

S. Sreesanth and Amit Singh guilt on multiple counts. All these players belong to RajasthanRoyals and face bans ranging from 10 years to life. Who conducted this probe for BCCI? – RaviSawani, Head of BCCI’s anti-corruption unit (Sawani investigated allegations that Chandila,Chavan and Sreesanth had conceded a pre-determined number of runs per over in exchange forbribes during the IPL this year)

1) On 13 September, 2013 Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modiwas announced as Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Prime Ministerialcandidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. This ended months ofsuspense over his elevation amid stiff opposition by party patriarchL.K. Advani. The announcement of Modi as party’s Prime Ministerialcandidate was done at which forum of the party? – Party’sParliamentary Board (The meeting of the 12-member Board wasattended by other leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi,Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari but LK Advani didn’t attended themeeting)2) All four convicts in the infamous Delhi gang-rape case of 16December, 2012 were awarded death penalty on 13, September,2013 by a Delhi court. While delivering its sentence, the court

observed that the gravity of the offence cannot be tolerated. This sentence was delivered by –Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna (The four were convicted by the court on 10September for the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student)3) What were the main highlights of the Economic Outlook 2013-14 released by Prime Minister’sEconomic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan on 13 September, 2013?GDP growth for 2013-14 lowered to 5.3%, from 6.4% in April, 2013Current Account Deficit (CAD) highlighted as main concern, estimated to come down to$70 billion or 3.8% of GDPAgriculture growth pegged at 4.8%Industrial growth pegged at 2.7%Services growth to decelerate to 6.6%, from 7.1 % in 2012-13Trade deficit projected at $185 billionGold imports seen at $38 billionNet capital inflows to come down to $61.4 billion from $89.4 billion4) Which two cricketers were slapped life ban by the BCCI on 13 September, 2013 for beinginvolved in the IPL spot-fixing scam? – S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan (Amit Singh, a formerRajasthan Royals player, was handed a five-year ban while another RR cricketer SiddharthTrivedi got away with a lighter one-year suspension. This ban was slapped after the BCCIdisciplinary committee met to discuss anti-corruption chief Ravi Sawani’s report on the scam)5) What is the name of Pakistan’s domestic T-20 champion team, which has been issued visasby the Indian Govt. to tour India to participate in the qualifying round of the Champions LeagueTwenty-20 (CLT-20) to begin later this month? – Faisalabad Wolves (The Faisalabad team, ledby Misbah-ul-Haq, will play in the qualifying round of the CLT-20 to be held across different citiesof India from 17 September to 6 October, 2013)6) Who is set to be the first woman Regional Director of WHO’s South-East Asia region? –Poonam Khetrapal Singh (She has been nominated to the post of Regional Director for fiveyears, by the 11 member states of the region. The 32-member Executive Board of WHO willofficially appoint Khetrapal Singh as Regional Director in January 2014 at Geneva. KhetrapalSingh is a senior civil servant, having held the post of Secretary and Joint Secretary, Health andFamily Welfare)7) Which 500-year old government department of the United Kingdom (UK) is on its way to beprivatised after UK’s coalition govt. confirmed plans to privatise it? – Royal Mail (UK’s BusinessSecretary Vince Cable confirmed on 12 September, 2013 that an initial public offering (IPO) of amajority stake in the postal service was scheduled for the coming weeks. The privatisation spells

14 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

a major change for the long-established mail service)8) The founder of the iconic Dolby Laboratories passed away on 12 September, 2013 at the ageof 80. What was the name of this American acoustic engineer who was a pioneer of noisereduction in audio recordings? – Ray Dolby (Ray Dolby gave cinema viewing a completely newexperience with invention of some of the most pioneering works in high-end sound reproductionand noise reduction. He held more than 50 US patents, and has written papers on videotaperecording, long-wavelength X-ray analysis, and noise reduction)

1) An official statement released on 14 September, 2013stated that some designated branches of authorised bankshave been asked to function on September 14 and 15, 2013(Saturday and Sunday). What facility will be provided bythese branches on these two days? – They will acceptadvance corporate-tax paid by corporate entities forfirst quarter of present financial year (Corporates havebeen allowed to pay their first quarter advance tax on 14, 15and 16 September, 2013 at the designated bank branches.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has designated branches of State Bank of India, public sectorbank branches, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank tocollect advance tax payments)2) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 14 September, 2013 announced to offer two-day fundsto banks through the marginal standing facility (MSF). The MSF window will be open on 14September (Saturday) between 5 p.m. and 5.30 p.m and the funds will be repayable on 16September (Monday). Why this emergency funding window for banks has been provided? – Tomake the banks comfortable with their liquidity requirements in view of the currentmarket conditions (Banks had been forced to borrow funds at a higher rate in the inter-bankmarket earlier in the day due to outflows to corporate advance taxes, payable by Sunday)3) Which spacecraft has became the first human-made object to venture into interstellar spaceas disclosed by NASA on 13 September, 2013? – Voyager 1 (Voyager 1 was launched in 1977and it has covered a distance of about 19 billion kilometres from the Sun. Voyager 1 is presentlytravelling in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble, where some effects fromour sun are still evident)4) Which party took control of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) by winning 3 out of fourseats, results of which were declared on 14 September, 2013? – Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad – ABVP (BJP students’ wing ABVP’s candidate Aman Awana and Utkarsh Chaudharywere elected as president and vice-president respectively. Raju Rawat, also of ABVP, waselected as the joint secretary. Karishma Thakur of National Students Union of India (NSUI) waselected as the Secretary. The drubbing for Congress students’ wing NSUI came just a year afterit had swept the students union polls, by winning all three top posts)Anil Kaushal Committee5) Fourteen Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Odisha on 14September, 2013. This incident took place in which district of the state? – Malkangiri district(This encounter between police personnel and Maoists took place inside Salaikota forest underPadia police station limits)Anil Kaushal Committee6) Indian capital market regulator SEBI on 12 September, 2013 issued new guidelines whichmake the KYC (know your customer) norm easier for foreign investors. SEBI has classifiedforeign investors into how many categories in this new guideline? – Three Categories –Category I, Category II and Category III (The issued guidelines relate to registration anddisclosure norms for low risk foreign investors. Category I includes Government andGovernment related foreign investors such as Foreign Central Banks, Governmental Agencies,Sovereign Wealth Funds, International, Multilateral Organizations and Agencies. Category IIbroad-based regulated funds such as mutual funds, investment\reinvestment companies andinvestment trusts. Category III includes foreign investors such as charitable trusts/societies,Endowments, trusts, corporate bodies, families, etc which do not invest in India through the PISroute)7) The Sri Lankan Govt. on 14 September, 2013 resumed railway services between the capitalColombo and Kilinochchi, a town devastated by the civil war. This link was broken how many

15 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

years ago? – Six years ago (During the Sri Lankan civil war, the railway line between Colomboand the town of Jaffna, including Kilinochchi, was completely damaged. Following the truce withTamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, the railway track between Colombo and Omanthai, also in thenorth, was reconstructed with Indian assistance and now it has been extended to Kilinochchi)8) Union govt. recently approved setting up of two semiconductor wafer fabrication (FAB)manufacturing facilities in the country. These FAB facilities are expected to provide big boost tothe electronics system design and manufacturing of semiconductors and processors forcomputers domestically. The two FAB facilities are to be established in which cities? – GreaterNoida (Uttar Pradesh) and Prantij, near Gandhinagar, Gujarat (The Semiconductor WaferFABs when set up will stimulate the flow of capital and technology, create employmentopportunities, help higher value addition in the electronic products manufactured in the country,reduce dependence on imports and lead to innovation)9) The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on 12 September, 2013 constituted a nine-member committee to examine the recommendations made by the Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India (TRAI) on pricing of spectrum in 800, 900 and 1,800 MHz bands. Who has beenappointed as the Chairman of this committee? – Anil Kaushal (Member, Technology, DoT)

1) What is the name of India’s most formidable andadvanced nuclear capable strategic missile that was testedfor its full range of 5,000 km on 15 September, 2013? –Agni-V (The test was conducted from DRDO’s missiletesting facility on Wheeler Island, Odisha. The launch ofAgni-V once again demonstrated India’s capability in firing anInter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). India staked theclaim to join an elite club of nations to possess thetechnology for developing ICBMs after the remarkable

success of Agni-V’s maiden flight-test in April last year. This missile is now expected to be partof Indian defence forces by 2015)2) An agreement on Syrian chemical weapons was reached between U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on14 September, 2013. What are theimportant points agreed upon in this agreement?Syria will destroy or remove all its chemical weapons, material and equipment by mid-2014A UN Security Council resolution would be sought that could authorize sanctions shortof military action if President Bashar Assad’s government fails to complyInternational inspectors will be on the ground in Syria by November, 2013 to completetheir initial work by the end of that that month(The United Nations later formally accepted Syria’s application to join the chemical weaponsconvention)3) How much advance tax for second quarter of present financial year was paid by country’slargest commercial bank State Bank of India (SBI), as announced by it on 15 September, 2013?– Rs. 1,120 crore (This was about 40% less than that paid during the corresponding period lastyear when it paid Rs. 1,820 crore. The advance tax pay-out decline from SBI comes amid aperiod of gloom on the economic front, with the quarterly GDP growth falling to a four-year lowof 4.4 per cent for the April-June period)4) Japan on 15 September, 2013 started switching off its last operating nuclear reactor for aninspection, with no date scheduled for a restart amid strong public hostility towards atomicpower. Which nuclear power plant is this? – Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi nuclear powerplant’s No. 4 reactor in Ohi, Fukui Prefecture

5) What is the name of the woman from West Bengal who was declared world’s tallest womanby the Guinness Book of World Records? – Siddiqa Parveen (Siddiqa Parveen, a resident ofSouth Dinajpur in West Bengal received her title from the authorities of Guinness Book. Herheight is at least 7 ft 8 inch. Because of ill health and Parveen’s inability to stand upright, it isimpossible to ascertain her exact stature. The record for the shortest living woman alreadybelongs to an Indian Jyoti Amge, who is just 62.8 cm tall)

16 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s(IRDA’s) insurance repository system was launched by UnionFinance Minister P. Chidambaram on 16 September, 2013.This repository system, which is claimed by IRDA as thefirst-of-its-kind in the world is situated in – Hyderabad (Theobjective of creating an insurance repository is to providepolicyholders the facility to keep insurance policies inelectronic form (like shares are kept in Demat account). Five

companies have been given the status of insurance repositories and have been provided with alicence that will be valid till 31 July, 2014. Insurers can enter into agreements with one or morerepositories)2) SEBI on 16 September, 2013 notified new norms for angel investors, who provide funding tocompanies at their initial stages. This has been done with an objective of giving encouragementto entrepreneurship in the country by financing small start-ups. What are the important pointsunder this notification?Angel investors have been allowed to be registered as Alternative Investment Funds(AIFs), which is a newly created class of pooled-in investment vehicles for real estate,private equity and hedge fundsInvestments under angel investing restricted between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 5 croreAngel funds can make investments only in those companies which are incorporated inIndiaAngel funds needs to be invested in a firm for at least three yearsAngel funds can be availed for companies not older than 3 yearsAngel funds are required to have a corpus of at least Rs 10 crore and minimuminvestment by an investor should be Rs 25 lakh3) Which students’ union association won all the four top posts in the Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudent Union (JNUSU) elections held on 13 September, result for which were declared on 16September, 2013? – All India Students Association – AISA (AISA is an ultra-leftist students’association. AISA’s candidate Akbar Chaudhary won the prestigious post of JNUSU President.AISA candidates Anubhuti Agnes Bara, Sandeep Saurav and Sarfaraz Hamid were elected vicepresident, general secretary and joint secretary respectively)4) According to the recently released 2013 World Population Data Sheet released by the US’sPopulation Reference Bureau, which Indian city has been ranked as the second most populouscity in the world after Tokyo? – Delhi (This data sheet estimated Delhi’s population to be 22.7million as of 2011. This includes population of Delhi and its extended suburbs. Mumbai and itssuburbs houses around 19.7 million persons and ranks seventh in the world. Kolkata is the otherIndian mega-city in the league of the world’s top 30 populated cities, ranked 10th in this datasheet)5) An industrial park which was jointly operated by North and South Korea was reopened on 16September, 2013. This industrial park was closed when tension between the two Koreasreached its pinnacle earlier this year. Which industrial park is this? – Kaesong Industrial Park(The countries agreed to open this industrial park on 10 September. A distinguishing feature ofthis park established in 2002 is that companies and workers from both Koreas work heretogether. In April, 2013 first North Korea pulled its workers out of the park followed by a similaraction by South Korea. Each side had blamed each other for raising tension)6) A tropical storm devastated Mexico’s Pacific coast on 15 September, 2013 killing over 24people and rendering thousands homeless. What was the name given to this storm? – Manuel

17 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) Air India tied up with which public-sector bank to launch aco-branded credit card that provides numerous privileges tothe holder? – SBI (This newly launched credit card has beennamed Air India SBI Credit Card and it allows a customerspending Rs 5 lakh in a year to earn up to three Delhi-Mumbai return tickets on Air India. The launch of this creditcard marks the beginning of a new collaboration between thetwo major public sector entities (Air India and SBI). StateBank of India is also the leader of a consortium of banks that

have helped Air India in its financial restructuring exercise. SBI Cards is a joint venture betweenSBI and GE Capital)2) Union Govt. on 17 September, 2013 hiked the import duty on gold jewellery to 15% to providea level playing field to domestic jewellery manufacturers. What was the import duty on goldjewellery till now? – 10% (Import duty on gold jewellery has been successively increased sinceJanuary, 2012 when it was just 2%. After numerous increases it was brought to the level of 10%on 13 August, 2013. This hike is also a part of measures to contain the current account deficit(CAD))3) What is the name of the top leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami party who wassentenced to death by the Bangladesh Supreme Court on 17 September, 2013? – AbdulQuader Mollah (Mollah was delivered this sentence for his active role in 1971 war crimes.Earlier a special tribunal had sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court revisedthis sentence to death penalty. Mollah is the fourth-highest leader of Jamaat-e-Islami)4) 13 people died in a mass shooting by a gunman at the US Navy Yard in Washington on 16September, 2013. What was the name of the gunman involved in this shooting spree, in which hetoo died? – Aaron Alexis (US military records show Alexis was an active Navy Reserve memberfrom 2007-11 and was discharged after reaching the rank of aviation electrician’s mate)5) The report of U.N. chemical investigators investigating the Syrian chemical attack episode hasin its report confirmed that a chemical was used in the deadly attack of 21 August, 2013 outsideSyrian capital Damascus. This report, which was released on 16 September, 2013, namedwhich chemical to have been used in that attack? – Sarin Nerve Agent (The US had claimedthat around 1400 people including 400 children died in that attack)6) Who recently became the first Indian-origin contestant to win the Miss America pageant? –Nina Davuluri (Nina won the Miss America pageant which was held on 15 September, 2013 atAtlantic City. She took part in the pageant by virtue of being Miss New York 2013 and won theMiss America 2014 title. Nina was born to the Telugu parents and hails from Vijayawada, AndhraPradesh, India)7) Which corporate company on 16 September, 2013 launched ‘Skinn’, a new range of perfumefor both men and women? – Titan Company Limited (Titan is famous watch company of Indiawhich also entered into the eye-care category sometime back. The company also makesavailable range of accessories under its ‘Fastrack’ brand)

18 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) The new annual session of the United Nations GeneralAssembly opened on 17 September, 2013 at the UNheadquarters at New York. On this occasion the incomingPresident of UN General Assembly John Ashe of Antigua andBarbuda laid out his plan to set the stage for the post-2015development agenda. This year marks which session of theUN General Assembly? – 68th (As the new President ofGeneral Assembly Ashe addressed the representatives of all193 member nations for the first time)

2) The 16th century Humayun’s Tomb’s six-year long conservation and restoration was officiallydeclared complete on 18 September, 2013. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited this majesticmonument at Delhi on his occasion. Which two organisations co-funded the restoration of thismonument? – Dorabji Tata Trust and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture3) The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently opened its tour programme in India at Delhiunder the aegis of the Department of Electronics & Information Technology on 17 September,2013 to promote the features of a new standard for application developers. Which new standardis this which is expected to meet the goal of Open Web Platform? – HTML 5 (HTML 5 is thenext evolution of web development standards by which application developers create end-userexperience. One of the most important benefits of HTML 5 is that it is capable of making theWeb useful on mobile and wireless devices, which will be next paradigm shift for internet growthin India. HTML 5 is intended to subsume not only HTML 4, but also XHTML 1 and DOM Level 2HTML. W3W will also hold its tours programmes to promote HTML 5 at Bangalore, Hyderabad,Kolkota and Pune)4) Tony Abbott, who was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Australia on 17 September,2013, became Australia’s ……th Prime Minister? – 28th (Abbott was administered oath of officeat Government House in Canberra in presence of Quentin Bryce, the Governor General. Hesucceeded Kevin Rudd whose party lost to a coalition led by Abbott’s Liberal Party)5) India during the second weekend of September, 2013 received 20 containers of Afghan dryfruit which were sent directly to India by Afghanistan without taking the old traditional route ofsending them through Pakistan. These dry fruit were sent through which port of Iran? –Chabahar Port, which is very near to the Afghan border (This dry fruit consignment was sent toMumbai port through the Chabahar port in Iran. With this, Afghanistan has for the first timedirectly sent products to India. The Indian embassies in Kabul and Tehran had been workingclosely with the Afghanistan and Iran governments for the past few months to ensure theshipment goes through the Iranian port, which is an alternative to the Karachi port in Pakistanwhere export activities are constantly interrupted by political restrictions and high storage cost)6) Which two Indian wrestlers won medals at the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest,Hungary? – Amit Kumar and Bajrang Kumar (Amit Kumar won a silver medal in the 55 Kgfreestyle category, after losing to Iranian Hassan Farman Rahimi in the finals. Bajrang Kumarwon a bronze medal in 60 kilogram freestyle category after defeating Mongolia’s Nyam-OchirEnkhsaikhan in the bronze medal match. This was the first time India has won two medals in theMen’s events at the World Championship level)7) It was recently reported that Germany has committed financial and technical assistance toIndia for the Green Energy Corridors for which it has planned to provide financial aid worth €250million. Green Energy Corridors is associated with which project? – To integrate renewableenergy into the National grid (It comprises of both inter-state and intra-state schemes forevacuation of power from wind and solar projects and integrating it with the national grid)

19 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) On 19 September, 2013 it was announced that Tata Sonshas tied up with Singapore Airlines to set up a full-servicecarrier in India. Subject to the approval of ForeignInvestment Promotion Board (FIPB) and other regulatoryapprovals, the airline will be based in New Delhi and willoperate under the full-service model. Tata Sons will own51% and Singapore Airlines 49%. Who will be the Chairmanof this proposed joint venture? – Prasad Menon (Menon has

been nominated by Tata Sons. This would be the second venture of the Tata Group after its tie-up with Malaysia-based low cost carrier Air Asia in which Tata Group is a minority partner)2) What is the name of a proposed company to be established by the union govt. on the lines ofa sovereign wealth fund to lend financial muscle for securing access to overseas naturalresources? – India Overseas Investment Corporation – INOIC (INOIC would be patternedlike the government’s holding arm and registered with RBI as a non-banking financial institutionwith a paid-up capital of Rs 10 crore. The company will raise funds through rupee bonds of 15-20 years with sovereign guarantee. State-run entities, banks and financial institutions willsubscribe to these papers using their surplus funds)3) On 19 September, 2013 who became the first judge of the Uttarakhand High Court to beappointed as the Chief Justice of a High Court of the country after he took over as the new ChiefJustice of the Meghalaya High Court? – Prafulla Chandra Pant (Pant succeeded JusticeT.Nandakumar Singh, who was the Acting Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High court since March2013)4) Which famous psephologist was removed from the post of member of the University GrantsCommission (UGC) on 18 September, 2013 for joining a political party? – Yogendra Yadav(Yadav has been associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He was served a show-causenotice on September 4 by the Human Resource Development Ministry and he had sent in hisexplanation)5) Which bank on 19 September, 2013 became the first major state-run bank to hike lendingrates after short-term rates rose as a result of the Reserve Bank of India’s liquidity tighteningmoves announced during July, 2013? – State Bank of India (SBI on 19 September increased itsbase rate, or the minimum rate of lending, to 9.80%. It revised the base rate by 0.10 per centfrom 9.70 per cent per annum to 9.80. SBI also increased the spreads on auto and home loansby as much as 0.20 per cent, which will affect new borrowers. This move was announced just aday ahead of the RBI’s policy review)6) An advanced universal banking solution named Finacle 11E was launched on 18 September,2013 by a leading IT company of India. This banking solution has been developed to enablebanks of all sizes to rapidly modernize their operations. Which company launched this solution? –Infosys (Finacle is a range of CBS banking solutions developed by Infosys for Indian banks)

7) Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who took the oath as the President of his country on 4 September,2013, was inaugurated publicly on 19 September in a huge function. French President FrancoisHollande was the chief Guest of this function. Keita is the president of which African country? –Mali (The French President Hollande is held in high regard by Mali after France sent 4,100troops in January to help its poverty-stricken former colony fight an Islamist insurgency)8) Who was appointed as the new Managing Director and CEO of the beleaguered NationalSpot Exchange Limited (NSEL) recently? – Saji Cherian (Cherian was earlier with MCX-SX.NSEL is a commodity exchange of India which recently went into a payment mess and had tosuspend commodity trading and forward trading)9) United States’ central bank the Federal Reserve on 19 September further reduced the growth

20 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

estimates for the US economy for year 2013 and estimated it to remain between 2 to 2.3%.What was Fed’s previous forecast for the year announced during June, 2013? – Between 2.3 to2.6% (However, the Federal Reserve raised the growth estimate for 2014 to 3%. Fed’spolicymakers expect the unemployment rate to fall to 7.1 percent from 7.3 percent, by the endof 2013, slightly below its June forecast of 7.2 percent to 7.3 percent. It predicts thatunemployment will fall as low as 6.4 percent next year, down from 6.5 percent in its Juneforecast)10) Which team won the Durand Cup Football tournament 2013 after defeating ONGC in thefinals played on 19 September, 2013? – Mohammedan Sporting (Mohammedan Sporting ofKolkota won this prestigious tournament after a huge gap of 73 years. It last won thistournament in 1940. Mohammedan Sporting had last entered the final of Durand Cup in 1992)

1) In what seemed like an unexpected move Reserve Bankof India’s (RBI’s) newly appointed Governor Raghuram Rajanin his maiden Monetary Policy Review on 20 September,2013 raised the repo rate under the liquidity adjustmentfacility (LAF). He thus kept RBI’s focus on controllinginflation, which it felt would be above the expected levels inthe current fiscal. What is the new Repo Rate? – 7.5%(Repo Rate was increased by 25 basis points from its earlierlevel of 7.25%)

2) What were the main highlights of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s first monetary policyreview presented on 20 September, 2013 since taking office on 4 September?Following are the main highlights of Raghuram Rajan’s first monetary policy review –Repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) increased by 25 basis points from7.25% to 7.5% with immediate effect (This move clearly reiterated the fact that RBI is stillkeeping its focus on bringing down the inflation. Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rateunder the LAF stands adjusted to 6.5%, and the bank rate stands reduced to 9.5% withimmediate effect)Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate reduced by 75 basis points from 10.25% to 9.5%with immediate effectThe minimum daily maintenance of the cash reserve ratio (CRR) reduced from 99% of therequirement to 95% effective from the fortnight beginning 21 September, 2013 (Thismove was aimed at inducing liquidity into the system)Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) kept unchanged at 4.0% (CRR is the portion of deposits thatbanks are required to maintain with the RBI in cash)(With these changes, the MSF rate and the bank rate are re-calibrated to 200 basis pointsabove the repo rate)3) Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 19 September, 2013 dedicated the 2,980 MW state-run NTPC’s Rajiv Gandhi Sipat Super Thermal Power Station in Chhattisgarh to the nation. Thispower station cost around Rs. 13,000 crore to build and will not only cater to the demands ofChhattisgarh but also adjoining states like Madhya Pradesh and as far as Jammu and Kashmir.What is the special fact associated with this power plant? – For the first time the NTPC hasused the super critical technology in any power plant in India (The Advanced Ultra SuperCritical Technology (AUSCT) has been developed in the country. This milestone has beenachieved by joint-research done by NTPC, BHEL and Indira Gandhi Centre for NuclearResearch)

4) India on 19 September, 2013 became the 17th country globally to be recognised as theAuthorizing Nation under the International Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) totest and certify Electronics and IT products with respect to cyber security. What benefit Indiagets with this recognition? – India would be able to test IT and electronics products andissue globally-acceptable certificates (The recognition would also remove the bottleneckwhich as of now had prevented international companies from submitting their products for testingand certification in India)5) Which two new models of Apple Inc.’s iconic iPhone went on sale worldwide from 20September, 2013? – iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C (Australia and Japan became the first countriesto offer these two latest mobile phones from Apple’s stable)6) The Union Government on 20 September, 2013 approved a proposal to hike dearnessallowance (DA) to 90% from the existing 80%. This hike, which will be effective from 1 July, 201,

21 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

will benefit 50 lakh present employee and 30 lakh pensioners. When was the last time when a10% hike in DA was announced by the Union Govt.? – September, 2010 (The increase in DA to90% would result in additional annual expenditure of Rs 10,879 crore)7) What name was sought by the Tata Group for its new proposed aviation venture withSingapore Airlines, as disclosed in form ‘1A’ filed with the Registrar of Companies by the group?– ‘Tata SIA Airlines Limited’ (The brand name of the proposed airline, however, is yet to beannounced)

1) The first local elections in 25 years in which province ofSri Lanka were held on 21 September, 2013 to elect a localcouncil to govern this former war zone? – NorthernProvince (Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaithivu andVavuniya districts form the Northern Provincial council’sjurisdiction. These districts for decades held sway as theLTTE heartland. When last council elections were held in thisprovince in 1988, only one political party participated due tothe LTTE’s armed campaign to set up a separate Tamil

homeland. This election was held to elect a 36-member Northern Provincial Council for a five-year term. Over 70% polling was recorded in this historic poll)2) An eight-member Pakistani judicial commission to cross-examine key witnesses in the Mumbaiattacks case crossed into India on 21 September, 2013. This is commission’s second visit toIndia. Who is heading this commission? – Chaudhury Mohammed Azhar, the Special PublicProsecutor (The visit to India to cross-examine witnesses is being undertaken to take forwardthe prosecution of seven suspects, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who havebeen charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks that killed 166 people inNovember 2008. A report submitted by the panel after its first visit in March 2012 was rejectedby a Pakistani anti-terrorism court as the commission’s members were not allowed to cross-examine witnesses)3) The Union Govt. on 20 September, 2013 released the second set of draft rules for theimplementation of landmark Companies Act, 2013, that will replace the nearly six-decade oldlegislation governing corporates in the country. With the second set, draft rules have beenreleased for as many as 24 chapters of the new legislation. The Companies Act, 2013 will havehow many chapters overall? – 29 (The Companies Act, 2013, has 470 sections spread across29 chapters. The second set of draft rules contains 8 more chapters. The second tranche ofdraft rules would be open for public comments till 19 October, 2013. On 9 September, theMinistry had come out with the first set of draft norms that covered 16 chapters of the newlegislation)4) Which film was on 21 September, 2013 announced as India’s official entry at 2014 OscarAwards in the Best Foreign Film category? – ‘The Good Road’ by Gyan Correa (‘The GoodRoad’ is Correa’s debut Gujarati film which won the National Award for Best Gujarati Film)

5) Indian Govt. on 20 September, 2013 gave its approval to set up a 4,000 MW solar powerproject in the country, which would become the largest solar power project in the world whencommissioned fully. Where this project would be established? – Near Sambhar Lake inRajasthan (The project would be spread across 23,000 acres area of Sambhar Salts Ltd, asubsidiary of central enterprise Hindustan Salts Ltd. The first phase of the project, having 1,000MW capacity, is likely to be commissioned by the end of 2016. India, which is a power deficitcountry, is working on ways to increase contribution from renewable energy sources, especiallysolar, to its total energy mix. The ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission aims tohave about 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022)6) It was recently reported that the Bank of China launched China’s first direct bank on 18September, 2013. What is the meaning of a direct bank? – Direct bank stands for a bankwhich provides direct banking services without having conventional bank branches(Direct banks mainly provide banking through online and telephone modes. These banksgenerally provide ATM services through alliances of interbank networks)

22 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) Two suicide bombers on 22 September, 2013 struck thehistoric All Saints Church at Kohati Gate area of Peshawarkilling over 78 people and injuring over 120 other. This attackwas the deadliest attack on the minority community inPakistan’s history. Which group claimed responsibility for thisattack? – The Jandullah group, which is a faction of theTehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (This group said that the attackwas carried out to avenge US drone attacks)

2) What is the name of the shopping mall that was targeted by the Shabaab group on 21September, 2013 in Kenyan capital Nairobi, in which over 59 people died? – Westgate Mall(This mall was targeted by the Islamist militia belonging to the Somali Islamist Shabaab groupwhen they occupied the mall by carrying out a volley of gunfire. They then held hostage theoccupants of the mall late till 22 September. Shabaab group has been opposing Kenya’participation in a peace-keeping mission in neighbouring Somalia. The Israeli-owned Westgatemall is frequented by expatriates and Kenyans. This assault was the biggest single-attack inKenya since al-Qaeda’s East Africa cell bombed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killingmore than 200 people)3) What sentence was pronounced upon China’s former Politburo member Bo Xilai on 22September, 2013 by a court at northeastern China? – Life Sentence (The court said Bo Xilaihad been found guilty of accepting bribes in excess of 20 million Yuan (around Rs. 20 crore). Itrejected all arguments put forward by Bo’s defence and charged this once powerful politician tohave been involved in bribery, graft and abuse of power. The last Politburo member to be sent toprison was the former Shanghai Party Chief Chen Liangyu, who was jailed for 18 years in 2008.Chen was subsequently thought to have been released on medical parole)4) Which party scored a landslide victory in the historic provincial council polls held after a gap of25 years in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province? – Tamil National Alliance – TNA (TNA grabbed 30of the total 38 seats and trounced the ruling UPFA coalition of President Mahinda Rajapaksa,which got just 7 seats. The Sri Lankan Muslim Congress got the remaining 1 seat. The electionis expected to give minority Tamils a chance at self-rule after decades of ethnic conflict that leftover 100,000 dead)5) According to the latest data compiled by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), whichcurrency emerged the worst performer among its global peers during the month of August,2013? – Indian Rupee (It recorded a fall of 8.7% during the month, which was the steepestamong all global currencies. In terms of decline during August, rupee was followed byIndonesian Rupiah (6.3 per cent), Turkish Lira (4.9), Brazilian Real (4.1) and Mexican Peso (4).The other top 10 countries in terms of maximum depreciation in currency values were Norway’sKrone (6th rank), South Africa’s Rand (7th), Argentina Peso (8th), Thailand’s Baht (9th) and thePhilippine’s Peso (10th))6) Who won the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix held on 22 September, 2013 at Singapore’sMarina Bay street circuit? – Sebastian Vettel (Germany) of Red Bull team (Second positionwas claimed by Fernando Alonso (Spain) of Ferrari team while Kimi Raikonnen (Finland) ofLotus team claimed third spot. With this win Vettel now has 60 point lead over his nearest rivaland is looking almost sure to claim his fourth straight Formula One title)7) Which financial institution on 20 September, 2013 became the third non-banking entity to belisted to the “too-big-to-fail” institutions’ list by US regulator Financial Stability Oversight Council(FSOC)? – Prudential Financial (The list of “too-big-to-fail” institutions was conceived to createa tighter regulatory regime to reduce risks to the financial system. The two other entities on thislist are American International Group and General Electric Capital Corp. Prudential Financial has

23 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

more than $1 trillion in global assets and operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and LatinAmerica)

1) Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union(CDU) won in a tough fight in Germany’s National Electionsheld on 22 September, 2013. CDU won 49.3% of the seatsbut its liberal partners like Free Democrats (FDP) suffered inthese elections. Angela Merkel has won which term ofChancellorship? – Third (Merkel became GermanChancellor for the first time in 2005. She was re-elected in2009 and with this win she will become Chancellor for thethird time)2) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 23 September, 2013

announced a 13-member committee to frame a clear and detailed vision for financialinclusion/deepening across the country. This committee named ‘The ‘Committee onComprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households’ is beingheaded by – Nachiket Mor, member on the RBI’s Central Board of Directors (The committeemembers are: Bindu Ananth (President, IFMR Trust); Prakash Bakshi (Chairman, NABARD);Bharat Doshi (Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services); A. P. Hota (ManagingDirector and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India); Sunil Kaushal (CEO, StandardChartered Bank India); Roopa Kudva (MD and CEO, Crisil); Zia Mody (Managing Partner, AZB& Partners); S. S. Mundra (CMD, Bank of Baroda); Vikram Pandit (former CEO, Citigroup);Ramesh Ramanathan (Chairman, Janalakshmi Financial Services) and Shikha Sharma (MD &CEO, Axis Bank))3) Foundation stone for a new MEMU coach factory in Rajasthan was laid by UPA ChairpersonSonia Gandhi on 22 September, 2013. This new factory is being established at which place? –Bhilwara (At present MEMU (Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit) coaches are being manufacturedonly at Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala (Punjab), which is manufacturing around 112MEMU coaches annually. The Bhilwara plant will be a joint effort of Indian Railways,Government of Rajasthan and BHEL. Entire cost of this factory will be incurred by BHEL)4) The Third Lusofonia Games slated to be held at Panaji, Goa in November 2013, have beenpostponed to January due to the slow progress of infrastructure construction. The Games wouldbe held from January 18 to 29 next year. Which countries participate in the Lusofonia Games? –The Portuguese-speaking countries or Lusophone countries (The decision was takenfollowing a general body meeting of the Association of Portuguese Speaking OlympicCommittees at Macau on 22 September, 2013. India (Goa), Portugal, Macau, Brazil, Angola,Mozambique, Cape Verde, East Timor, Sao Tome, Sri Lanka, Guinea Bisssau, Principe andEquatorial Gini are the 12 countries that will participate in the Games)5) What is the name given to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) sponsored religious march thatbegan on 23 September, 2013 from the temple town of Ayodhya? – ‘Panch Kosi Parikrama’(Unlike the ’84-kosi Parikrama’ in August, 2013 when the Uttar Pradesh state governmentbanned the ritual and arrested hundreds of saints and VHP activists, this time no preventivearrests were made during the Parikrama)6) What name was given to the powerful typhoon that slammed into Taiwan, the Philippines andSouthern China between 21 September to 23 September, 2013 and which claimed at least 33lives? – Typhoon Usagi (Usagi was this season’s strongest storm at its peak and it forcedhundreds of flight cancellations and shut down shipping and train lines before weakening to atropical depression over the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on 23 September)7) Which para-military force on 22 September, 2013 appointed cricketer Virat Kohli as its brandambassador? – Border Security Force – BSF (Kohli was appointed Brand Ambassador for hisappeal as a young and successful cricketer is expected to play a key role in enhancing the public

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Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

image of BSF, which is the second largest para-military force of the country)

1) On 24 September, 2013 Hun Sen took the oath as PrimeMinister of Cambodia for yet another term in front of KingNorodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace in capital PhnomPenh. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) hadscored a very weak win in the General Elections held in July,2013. Hun Sen is one of the longest serving head of acountry and ranks with dictators like Rubert Mugabe ofZimbabwe, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and

President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria. In which year Hun Sen took the reins of Cambodia? – 1985(Earlier in the day ruling party lawmakers in Cambodia officially extended Hun Sen’s rule foranother five years on 24 September)2) Which consortium founded by an India-born businessman has signed a letter of intentagreement to purchase smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry Limited for $4.7 billion? – FairfaxFinancial Holdings Limited (Fairfax Financial Holdings is a Toronto, Canada based consortiumfounded by Hyderabad-born Prem Watsa, who is the Chairman and CEO of this consortium. Theagreement done by Fairfax with Blackberry is on a non-exclusive basis. The letter of intentcontemplates a transaction in which BlackBerry shareholders would receive $9 in cash for eachshare of BlackBerry they hold, in a transaction valued at approximately $4.7 billion)3) A high-level panel on 23 September, 2013 submitted to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram itsreport on the alleged irregularities at the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). The panel in itsreport recommended two sets of measures to deal with the NSEL issue and also the problem ofregulatory gaps in oversight of spot exchanges. Enforcement action has been recommendedagainst NSEL and the persons behind the company. Who headed this panel on NSEL? – ArvindMayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary

4) What are the main estimates according to the first advance estimate for kharif (summer)season of 2013-14 released by the Agriculture Ministry on 24 September, 2013?Country’s rice production is projected to drop to 92.32 million tonnes in the kharifseason this year due to deficient rains in some states (The rice production stood at92.76 million tonnes in the kharif season of 2012-13)However, the overall foodgrain output is estimated to rise marginally to 129.32 milliontonnes in the same period (The overall foodgrain output stood at 128.20 million tonnes inthe kharif season of 2012-13)Maize production is projected to increase to 17.78 million tonnes in the kharif season ofthis year, against 16.04 million tonnes in the year-ago periodPulses production is also estimated to rise to 6.01 million tonnes from 5.91 million tonnesin the review period5) Who became the first ever Indian wrestler to win a medal in Greco Roman category at theWorld Wrestling Championships? – Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (Yadav won India’s first ever medal inGreco Roman category at the World Wrestling Championships on 22 September, 2013 when hewon the bronze medal by beating Serbian Makismovic Aleksandar at the concluding day ofWorld Wrestling Championships at Budapest, Hungary. Sandeep Tulsi Yadav. Indian wrestlershave been traditionally strong in freestyle category but they have not been very successful inGreco-Roman category of wrestling)

25 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 25 September 2013announced imposition of ban on a very popular scheme forconsumers to purchase consumer goods. Which scheme isthis? – Scheme of 0% interest on EMIs (RBI imposed banas banks were reluctant to disclose the hidden chargescharged by them on purchases done through these schemes.RBI maintained that the very concept of zero per centinterest is non-existent and fair practice demands that theprocessing charge and interest charged should be kept

uniform product or segment wise, irrespective of the sourcing channel, as such schemes onlyserve the purpose of exploiting vulnerable customers. RBI also issued guidelines that noadditional charges can be levied on payment through debit cards. In the zero per cent EMIschemes offered on credit cards, the interest element is often camouflaged and passed on tocustomers in the form of processing fee)2) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently gave his approval for setting up of a new CentralPay Commission which is expected to give its recommendations in about two years. This will be…………Central Pay Commission – 7th (The recommendations of the 7th Central PayCommission are likely to be implemented with effect from 1 January, 2016. Therecommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission were implemented from 1 January,2006. The recommendations of this Pay Commission will benefit about 50 lakh centralgovernment employees, including those in defence and railways, and about 30 lakh pensioners)3) Which former Indian Premier league (IPL) Commissioner was slapped with a life ban by theBoard for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) on 25 September, 2013? – Lalit Modi (Life ban wasannounced at a Special General Meeting (SGM) of the BCCI after its disciplinary committeefound him guilty on eight charges of “indiscipline and misconduct”. Modi was the brain behindthe highly successful IPL. Modi’s decline started after the 2010 IPL bidding which saw thecreation of two new teams. Modi was suspended under Rule 32(iv) of BCCI’s constitution on 25April, 2010, seconds after the IPL final held in Mumbai)4) India’s first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) index is proposed to be established byIndian Institution of Corporate Affairs (IICA) in association with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)Ltd. An MOU in this regard was signed between IICA and BSE on 23 September, 2013.According to the New Companies Act, 2013 it has been mandatory for the eligible companies tospend ……..of their profits on activities pertaining to corporate social responsibility – 2% (Theproposed IICA-BSE CSR Index shall assess impact and performance of companies listed atBSE in CSR activities. The CSR index would seek to promote investor participation, consumerinterest and socio economic benefits to the disadvantaged communities by generatingawareness and accountability in CSR spending)5) The Indian Navy on 23 September, 2013 received the first of 17 Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers(AJTs), becoming the third naval operator of the Hawk aircraft. Which are the other countrieswhich use Hawk AJT for their Navy? – The United States and the UK (The 17 Hawk aircraftordered by the Indian Navy form part of a contract for 57 aircraft signed in 2010 of which 40 arefor the Indian Air Force)6) A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern region of Pakistan on 24September, 2013 that killed over 350 people. What was the epicenter of this earthquake whichwas also felt in India including capital Delhi? – Awaran district of Balochistan province7) Who, on 19 September, 2013 assumed charge as the new Chairperson of NationalCommission for Backward Classes? – Justice Vangala Eswaraiah, former Acting Chief Justiceof Andhra Pradesh High Court (The Commission’s last Chairperson was Justice M. N. Rao, a

26 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

retired Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court)8) Who was recently appointed as the interim Chairman of Multi Commodity Exchange of IndiaLtd (MCX)? – R.M. Premkumar, a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer(Premkumar is Forward Markets Commission (FMC)-appointed independent director on theboard of MCX. He will hold this post till the reconstitution of the board in accordance with FMCguidelines on board composition)9) A new James Bond novel titled ‘Solo’ was released on 25 September 2013 in London. Thisnovel has been written by which award-winning author? – William Boyd (In this latest adventure,James Bond is taken to war-torn Africa back in the 1960s)

1) 10 persons including four army personnel and sixpolicemen were killed in two daredevil fidayeen attacks inJammu region of Jammu & Kashmir state on 26 September,2013. These two attacks were carried out in which twodistricts of J&K adjoining Pakistan? – Kathua and Samba(The fidayeen attackers first attacked a police station atHiranagar in Kathua district of Jammu and later struck aArmy formation of 16 Cavalry on the highway at Samba.Both Hiranagar and Samba towns are situated just 5 to 10

kilometers from the International Border between India and Pakistan. Three militants wereinvolved in this attack and all three were killed. The attack, first of its kind in Jammu province inthe last 11 years, occurred ahead of the scheduled meeting between the Indian and thePakistani Prime Ministers, Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif, as also a UN General Assemblysession in New York)2) Which little-known militant outfit claimed responsibility for twin-Fidayeen attacks Samba andKathua? – Shohada Brigade (However, security forces believe the Lashkar-e-Toiba was behindit)3) The report of Dr. Raghuram Rajan Committee for Evolving a Composite Development Indexfor Indian states was submitted to the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 26September, 2013. What are the important recommendations/suggestions/ findings of thiscommittee?The committee proposed a general method for allocating funds from the Centre to theStates based on both a state’s development needs as well as its developmentperformanceThe Committee recommended that each State may get a fixed basic allocation of 0.3percent of overall funds, to which will be added its share stemming from need andperformance to get its overall shareThe Committee come-up with a Multi Dimensional Index (MDI) of backwardness based onper capita consumption as measured by the NSSO, the poverty ratio, and a number ofother measures which correspond to the multi dimensional approach to defining povertyoutlined in the Twelfth PlanThe Committee recommended that States that score 0.6 and above on the Index may beclassified as “Least Developed”; States that score below 0.6 and above 0.4 may beclassified as “Less Developed”; and States that score below 0.4 may be classifiedas “Relatively Developed”The Committee observed that the demand for funds and special attention of differentStates will be more than adequately met by the twin recommendations of the basicallocation of 0.3 percent of overall funds to each State and the categorisation of Statesthat score 0.6 and above as “Least Developed” StatesThe Committee recommended doing away with ‘Special Category’ status for states.According to the Committee, the twin recommendations of basic allocation andcategorization under “Least Developed”, along with the allocation methodology, willeffectively subsume what is now “Special CategoryBased on the MDI scores, the 10 “Least Developed” states are Odisha, Bihar, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradeshand RajasthanBased on the MDI scores, the 11 “Lesser Developed” states are – Manipur, West Bengal,Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, Gujarat, Tripura, Karnataka,Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh

27 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

Based on the 7 “Relatively Developed” states are Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab,Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Haryana(The Committee had been asked to suggest methods for identifying backwardness of Statesusing a variety of criteria and also to recommend how the criteria may be reflected in futureplanning and devolution of funds from the Central Government to the States)4) Armies of India and Nepal started a joint-military exercise named “Surya Kiran” 24 fromSeptember, 2013. This joint-military exercise focuses on counter-insurgency operations andinfantry battalions from both countries are participating in this exercise which will continue till 6October, 2013. Where is this joint exercise held? – At Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, India

5) The Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology allotted a‘Customized Pin Code’ to the Supreme Court of India on 27 September, 2013. What is thisdedicated customized pin code for the Supreme Court? – 110 2016) Who is the author of a book titled “Gandhi Before India” which deals with early years ofMahatma Gandhi? – Ramchandra Guha (This book will be released on 1 Oct, 2013 and dealswith the life of Mahatma Gandhi from his birth on 2 October 1869 at Porbandar, Gujarat to till hisreturn to India from South Africa in 1915)

1) The Supreme Court of India on 27 September, 2013 in itslandmark verdict held that citizens have right to cast negativevote rejecting all candidates contesting polls, a decisionwhich would encourage people not satisfied with contestantsto turn up for voting. A bench headed by Chief Justice PSathasivam directed the Election Commission to provide‘none of the above’ (NOTA) option at the end of the list ofcandidates in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballotpapers to allow voters to reject those contesting polls. Theconcept of negative voting is prevalent in how many

countries, as noted by the Supreme Court in its decision? – 132) The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) during September, 2013 released a report onthe statistics pertaining to global Infant Mortality rate (IMR). What was India’s IMR for year2012 as revealed in this report? – 42 deaths for every 1,000 live births (IMR has thereforedeclined by two points as compared to 2011. In 2011 India’s IMR stood at 44 deaths for every1000 live births)3) Which state had the least Infant Mortality rate (IMR) in India during 2012 as revealed in thereport on IMR released by UNICEF? – Kerala (Kerala’s IMR stood at 12 deaths for every 1000live births)4) Which state had the worst Infant Mortality rate (IMR) in India during 2012 as revealed in thereport on IMR released by UNICEF? – Assam (Assam’s IMR stood at 55 deaths for every 1000live births)5) According to claims made by authorities of Indian Railways, platform of which station situatedin India will become world’s longest platform? – Gorakhpur Junction (The station-yard ofGorakhpur Junction station will be 1,300 meter long when the new re-modelled platform will beopened for traffic on 6 October, 2013. It would overtake the length of platform at Kharagpur(West Bengal) which is 1074 meters long and is at present the longest platform in the world)6) Who was awarded the 5th Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013 on 26September, 2013? – Dr. Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the RBI (The academic prize issponsored by the Deutsche Bank Donation Fund and carries an endowment of euro 50,000. TheCentre for Financial Studies (CFS) awards the prize bi-annually in partnership with GoetheUniversity Frankfurt. Dr. Rajan had in 2005 warned about the dangers of building up“unsustainable imbalances in the financial system,” three years ahead of global financial crisis.Dr. Rajan was picked up for the prize from more than 260 nominations from top universities,central banks and research centres in 37 countries. More than half of the nominations camefrom the U.S.)7) Which Indian-American judge on 26 September, 2013 was sworn-in as judge of the secondmost powerful court of the United States – the bench of the U.S. Courts of Appeal for theDistrict of Columbia Circuit? – Sri Srinivasan (Srinivasan is the first South Asian American toserve as a circuit court judge in American history. Chandigarh-born Srinivasan, whose parentsmigrated to the United States in 1970s, was sworn in the oath of office in the court room of USCourts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. It was inMay this year that Mr. Srinivasan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a huge 97-0 vote)8) Who was recently appointed as the new Chairman of Association of Mutual Funds in India(AMFI)? – Sundeep Sikka (Sikka is the President and CEO of Reliance Mutual Fund)

28 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) Which public-sector bank has installed 2,000 Cash DepositMachines (CDMs) at marketplaces across the country in the lastone year to give facility of depositing money round the clock toits customers? – State Bank of India (In order to tap currencyin the hands of the public, India’s largest bank SBI has beeninstalling CDMs at marketplaces across the country. Traders,shopkeepers and vegetable vendors can deposit cash into theseCDMs anytime of the day (24×7) and 365 days of the year justby swiping their SBI ATM-cum-debit card. The money getsinstantly credited to their account and they get a receipt for theirtransaction. The average cash collection per machine a day isRs 4 lakh. SBI plans to install 1,000 more machines this year)2) Which public-sector bank during August, 2013 launched a

unique ‘Own Your NPA’ (non-performing asset) campaign to focus its managers’ energies onmaking recoveries from the top 20 bad loan accounts at the zonal, regional and branch levels? –IDBI Bank (As part of the ‘Own Your NPA’ campaign, each zonal, regional and branch managerwill personally go and meet the customers. IDBI Bank has identified a total number of 1,522cases under the campaign involving an aggregate principal outstanding of Rs 5,805 crore. Thecampaign ends on 31 December, 2013)3) The first AC Double Decker train service in the state of Madhya Pradesh was flagged-off on27 September, 2013. This service is between which two stations of the state? – BetweenHabibganj (Bhopal) and Indore (This is the 5th AC Double Decker train service to be launchedin India. Four other trains are already running between Jaipur-Delhi, Mumbai- Ahmedabad,Chennai-Banglore and Howrah-Dhanbad. Coaches of these LHB AC Double Decker trains arehaving better passenger amenities such as reclining chairs, snack tables bottle holders,automatic AC compartment entrance doors etc.)4) Recently the Union Govt. gave its green signal for enlisting Narikuravas in the ScheduledTribes list. Narikuravas is a nomadic community of which state? – Tamil Nadu5) US President Barack Obama made a historic telephone call to his Iranian counterpart HasanRouhani on 27 September, 2013. Thus Obama and Rouhani became the first leaders of theircountries to speak since the Tehran hostage crisis more than three decades ago. Which werethe Presidents of the US and Iran who spoke last time? – Jimmy Carter and Shah MohammedReza in 1979 (With this call by Obama, the long-fractured relationship between the UnitedStates and Iran took a significant turn. In 1979 President Carter spoke by telephone with IranianPresident Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi shortly before the Shah left the country. The IslamicRevolution that toppled Shah’s government led to the seizure of the American Embassy and a444-day hostage crisis that left the two countries at odds with each other)6) Which team won the 8th Women’s Asia Cup 2013, which concluded in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia on 27 September 2013? – Japan (Japan defeated defending champions South Koreaby 3-2 to secure a place in next year’s World Cup to be held at The Hague, Holland. Indiafinished third in the tournament after it defeated China 3-2 via penalty shootout in the 3rd/4thplace play-off match. Indian team was led by Ritu Rani)

29 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013

1) The traditional Olympic torch was lit on 29 September,2013 at the site of ancient Olympia in Greece for the 2014Winter Olympics. These Winter Olympics are to be held at –Sochi in Japan (Greek Actress Ino Menegaki lit the Olympictorch with the help of the Sun’s rays reflected in a parabolicmirror, which has been the traditional custom of lighting thetorch)2) N. Srinivasan was elected President of the Board forControl of Cricket in India (BCCI) unopposed on 29

September, 2013 at BCCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Chennai. He was selectedfor one more year. This would be N. Srinivasan’s ……..tenure as BCCI President? – 3rd(However, he would not be able to take official charge of BCCI till further orders of the SupremeCourt. He can resume his duties only after the apex court gives its final verdict on the case filedagainst his candidature by the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma)3) Who was appointed as the new Commissioner of Indian Premier league (IPL) on 29September, 2013? – Ranjib Biswal (Biswal is the President of the Orissa Cricket Association(OCA) and has served as the manager of Indian cricket team in numerous tournaments includingthe 2011 ICC World Cup, which India won. He replaced Rajeev Shukla who had resigned at theend of his tenure)4) On 27 September, 2013 search engine behemoth Google celebrated its ………….birthday –15th (Google was founded in 1998 at a garage in Menlo Park, California by Larry Page andSergey Bin. Google came out with a swinging piñata doodle on this occasion)5) Who won the 2013 Miss World pageant held at the Indonesian island of Bali on 28September, 2013? – Megan Young of the Philippines (Miss France, Marine Lorphelin, camesecond in the contest and Miss Ghana, Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter, took third place)6) India won the 3rd Sultan of Johor Under-21 Hockey Cup on 29 September, 2013 by winningthe finals. India defeated which team in the finals? – Malaysia, the hosts (India defeated hostsMalaysia by 3-0 to win their maiden Sultan of Johor Cup. This tournament was played in JohorBahru in Malaysia)7) Which team won the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, final of which was held on 29 September,2013 at Holkar Stadium in Indore? – India Blue (India Blue defeated Vijay Hazare championsDelhi by 50 runs in the finals. India Blue was led by Yuvraj Singh. Fast bowler BhavaneshwarKumar was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ of the final for his 4-wicket haul)8) Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl and education rights campaigner presented with the2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on 27 September. She was presented this award forher contribution in promoting the education among girls. Which American University sponsors thisaward? – Harvard University (Malala Yousafzai came to limelight after she was shot in thehead by a Taliban militant in October 2012 after she campaigned for girls’ right to education inPakistan)

30 September 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Current Affairs Issue - September 2013