General Knowledge & Current Affairs

Current Affairs & General
Knowledge
by Nilesh Chavan 7775082412

How to Prepare for Current Affairs?
• Watch National News Channels
• Daily Read Newspapers like The Hindu, TOI &
ET
• Use social Networking websites like Facebook,
Gmail
• Refer Magazines
• Discuss in group
•

Areas in GK
National
International
Banking & Finance
Awards
Summit
Books & Authors
Scheme & Plans launched
Leaders Visited India
Sports
Important days

Methodology
• Who
• Where
• What
• When

Example
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank
set World record for Blood collection in a single day. The
blood donation camp organised by HDFC Bank on
6 December 2013 was recorded in the Guinness Book of
Records.
Who - HDFC
Where- India
What – Blood Collection
When- 6 Dec 13

Example
• April 8: Heena Sindhu, the Indian shooter clinched
the World‘s Number One spot in 10 meters air
pistol event. By achieving this fete, she became the
first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked at the top
position in the list.
• Who- Heena Sindhu
• Where-
• What- No. 1 in 10 metre pistol
• When- 8th April 2010

Example
• May 15 Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that
plastic currency notes will be launched in
2015 after field trials.

How to remember Important days?
• March ‐
• March 4 ‐ World Day of the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation
• March 8 ‐ International Women’s Day
• March 13 ‐ World Kidney Day
• March 15 ‐ World Disabled Day
• March 15 ‐ World Consumer Rights Day
• March 21 ‐ World Forestry Day
• March 21 ‐ International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination
• March 22 ‐ World Water Day
• March 23 ‐ World Meteorological Day
• March 24 ‐ World TB Day

Make abbreviations to remember..
• March 4 ‐ World Day of the Fight Against
Sexual Exploitation-4 FASE
• March 8 ‐ International Women’s Day- 8W
• March 13 ‐ World Kidney Day- 13K
• March 15 ‐ World Disabled Day- 15D
• March 15 ‐ World Consumer Rights Day- 15CR

• March 21 ‐ World Forestry Day- 21F
• March 21 ‐ International Day for the- 21 ERD
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
• March 22 ‐ World Water Day- 22WA
• March 23 ‐ World Meteorological Day- 23M
• March 24 ‐ World TB Day- 24T

Link all the shortcuts with each other
• By making sentence
• By making poem
• By relating it with yourself

Lets try
• March
• 4 FASE 8W 13K 15D 15CR 21F 21 ERD 22WA
23M 24T

• April ‐
• 5th April ‐ National Maritime Day
• 7th April ‐ World Health Day
• 10th April ‐ World Homoeopathy Day (Birth day of Samuel
Hanimen)
• 14th April ‐ World Aeronautics and Cosmology Day
• 14th April ‐ Ambedkar’s Birth Anniversary
• 17th April ‐ World Hemophilia Day
• 18th April ‐ World Heritage Day
• 21st April ‐ Indian Civil Service Day
• 22nd April ‐ Earth Day
• 23rd April ‐ World Books and Copyright Day
• 24th April ‐ Panchayat Divas

• MAY
• May 1: International Labour Day/ Maharashtra Day
• May 3: World Press Freedom Day/ International Energy
• May 8: World Red Cross Day/ World Thalessemia Day
• May 9: Victory day
• May 11: World Technology Day
• May 12: International Nurses Day
• May 13: National Solidarity Day
• May 14: World Migratory Day
• May 17: World Telecommunication Day/
• May 21: Anti – Terrorism Day
• May 24: Common Wealth Day
• May 29: Mount Everest Day
• May 31: Anti – Tobacco Day

Banking & Finance
May 25 In 2014, Foreign Exchange
Reserves increased by 15.5 billion US
dollar - RBI
May 22 RBI extends loan tenure for
exporters to 10 years. The Reserve Bank
of India allowed banks to provide loans to
exporters with tenures of up to 10 years.

May 21 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made
easy the gold import norms under the 20: 80
Scheme.
May 15 Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that
plastic currency notes will be launched in
2015 after field trials.

 May 6 The Reserve Bank of India allowed minors
above the age of 10 to open and operate savings
bank accounts independently
 May 1 The deadline for switching to new format
bank cheques under the cheque truncation system
(CTS) ended on 30th April 2014.Transactions with
cheques that have magnetic ink character
recognition (MICR) and not CTS technology will
from 1 may 2014 be delayed, with banks likely to
take four days or more from the date of deposit to
credit the amount.

April 26: State Bank of India (SBI) has signed an
MoU with Enable India, a non-profit
organisation, to train persons with disabilities
towards economic independence.
April 25: Now, RBI to solely decide which loan is
an NPA:Gujarat High court
April 16: The country‘s largest lender State Bank
of India (SBI) has launched a financing scheme
for women fashion boutique owners. ‗Boutique
Financing‘, the scheme is designed to offer
working capital expenses as well as term loan
for boutique owners.

 April 15: State Bank of India launched Tablet
(Tab) Banking service for opening Savings
Bank accounts and giving in-principle housing
loan approval at the customer‘s doorstep.
 April 14: HDFC Bank sets Guinness record in
blood collection

April 11: SBI has launched its twitter account.
 April 3: IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services
Private Ltd have got ‗in-principle‘ nod by the
Reserve Bank of India to set up banks, from a
field of 25 aspirants.

 April 2 : RBI adopts new CPI as key measure
of inflation.
March 28: Canara Bank has opened its
6000th ATM at Vikasa Soudha (Secretariat
Building), Bangalore.
 March 26: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched its
online social account integrated with
Facebook and Twitter.

March 25: Bank of India (BoI) launched Instant Money
Transfer (IMT) scheme in Mumbai.
March 22: The Government of India divested its 9
percent stake in Axis Bank on 21 March 2014. The
divestment resulted into generation of 5500 crore
rupees.
March 22: The RBI has decided to utilise unclaimed
bank deposits, which are estimated at 3,650 crore
rupees for education and awareness of depositors.
The apex bank has announced the Depositor
Education and Awareness Fund Scheme for the
purpose.

March 2: Indian Bank has bagged national
award for excellence in lending to micro
enterprises for 2012-2013, for the
consecutive second year.
March 2: Corporation Bank has bagged the
awards for lending to MSE (micro and small
enterprises) and to micro enterprises from
the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSME) for 2012-13.

Feb 28: Union Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram inaugurated the country‘s first
post office savings bank ATM at the Head
Post Office in Thyagaraya Nagar, Chennai.
Feb 22: Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the
first all-women bank, tied with New India
Assurance to launch health insurance
products for women account holders of the
bank.

Feb 8: For greater adoption of mobile
banking in the country, a Reserve Bank of
India panel has recommended that all mobile
network operators (MNOs) load single
mobile banking application on all new SIMs
(subscriber identification modules), which
use encrypted SMS (short messaging service)
for transaction processing.

Feb 7: The Reserve Bank has issued ‗certificate
of authorisation‘ to four non-bank entities,
including Tata Communications Payment
Solutions and Muthoot Finance, to set up White
Label ATMs (WLAs) in the country.
Jan 30: The Reserve Bank of India has doubled
the sub-limit for foreign investment in
government securities, to USD 10 billion by long-
term investors.

Jan 28: The Reserve Bank said the growth is
expected to fall below 5 per cent in 2013-14
in absence of pick-up in manufacturing
sector, but likely to recover to 5.5 per cent in
the next financial year.
Jan 24: Vakrangee Ltd has received the
Reserve Bank of India‘s final authorisation of
the White Label ATM licence.

Jan 24: State Bank of India strengthened its
social media presence with the launch of its
channel on popular video sharing website
Youtube.
Jan 17: Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and SBI
Cards have joined hands for roll-out of credit
cards to customers of India‘s first women-
focused commercial bank

Jan 14: Corporation Bank will launch ‗Corp
Micro Plus‘, a special campaign for micro
enterprises from January 17 to March 31.
Jan 8: Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the first all-
women bank, signed an agreement with
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
(ICAI) for financing students pursuing
chartered accountancy.

Jan 3: Targeting young individuals, public sector
Indian Overseas Bank today launched ‗Connect
Card‘, a new ATM cum Debit card in association
with VISA that can be used for e-commerce
across five lakh merchant outlets.
Jan 2: Canara Bank, as part of its corporate social
responsibility (CSR), has launched ‗Udaan‘ in
Jammu and Kashmir in co-ordination with NSDC
(National Skill Development Corporation) and
the Government of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

Economics
May 30 Union Government of India on 30 May
2014 signed a credit agreement of 165 million
US dollar with World Bank for Maharashtra
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme
(MRWSSP).
May 30 The Union Government of India on 30
May 2014 signed a credit agreement of 121.20
million US dollar from the World Bank for the
Uttarakhand Decentralized Watershed
Development Project (UDWDP).

May 27 Special Investigation Team is set up
to unearth black money chaired by Justice
MB Shah.
May 27 India's CAD to rise to 2.6% of GDP in
FY15: Goldman
May 13 India will overtake Japan to become
the world’s third largest oil consumer behind
the US and China by 2025, the US Energy
Information Administration (EIA) said.

May 8 RuPay, India’s indigenous card payment
network launched by President Pranab
Mukherjee is developed by the National
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
April 29: The 28-member European Union (EU)
imposed a temporary ban on import of
Alphonso mangoes and four vegetables from
India. The ban will come into effect from 1 May
2014.

April 2: The Reserve Bank of India adopted the
Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the key measure
of Inflation. It was adopted in the first bi-
monthly monetary policy statement for 2014-15.
March 19: Gujarat has been ranked number one
in a list of India's 20 largest states in terms of
―economic freedom‖.
The index on ―economic freedom‖ takes into
account governance, growth, citizens‘ rights, and
labour and business regulations.

March 7: North Delhi Municipal Corporation
(NDMC) launched a new health scheme Stri
Swasthya Suraksha Yojna for women.
March 5: The government has decided to
hike interest rates on fixed deposit schemes
offered by post offices by up to 0.2 per cent-
from 8.2 percent to 8.4 percent.

March 5: Assam became the first state in
India to observe State Child Protection Day.
Feb 27: The largest 130-MW Solar Power
Plant of India Welspun Solar MP Project was
launched at Bhagwanpur in Neemuch,
Madhya Pradesh. It is also the Asia's Largest
Solar Power Plant.

Feb 20: The government decided to convert
7,200 kilometres of state roads into national
highways.
Feb 19: Minister for Minority Affairs K
Rehman Khan inaugurated country‘s first
Minority Cyber Village in Chandoli in Alwar
district of Rajasthan.

Feb 7: After the direct benefit transfer project,
the Government is now planning to usher in a
Direct-To-Home (DTH) scheme to plug leakages
and handover pensions, work wages and other
entitlements directly to beneficiaries across the
country.
Feb 1: India has joined the elite group of nations
when the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) was
commissioned into the Indian Navy at INS Hansa
in Panaji. This is the third such facility in the
world, after the United States and Ukraine.

Jan 19: Global Retail giant Wal-Mart
registered a new entity called Wal-Mart India
Private Ltd in India to enter the lucrative
multi-brand market in India. Wal-Mart India
Private Ltd was registered as a new entity
with Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Jan 13: Retirement fund body EPFO decided
to increase the rate of interest on Provident
Fund deposits to 8.75 percent for 2013-14.

Jan 9: The government has decided to retain
the policy of allowing 100 per cent FDI in the
existing pharma firms.

Nation
May 28 PM Mr. Narendra Modi created a
new Ministry of Skill development and
Entrepreneurship. It was created recognizing
the importance of skill development in India.
May 26 Narendra Modi took oath as 15th
Prime Minister of India, with 24 Cabinet and
21 Ministers of State
May 24 Malavath Poorna of Andhra became
youngest woman to climb Mount Everest.

May 14 The Odisha government has signed an
agreement with the TiE Silicon Valley as part of its
efforts to develop the state as an IT hub and attract
US investment.
April 30: According to World Bank Report released on
29th April 2014, India has displaced Japan to become
the world's third biggest economy in terms of
purchasing power parity (PPP). US is on top with
17.1%, China is on second number with 14.9% then
India is on third number with 6.4%. India has replaced
Japan to be on number 3

April 27: On 27th April 2014, India
successfully test-fired an anti-ballistic missile
named as Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV). It
was tested at Wheeler Island in Balasore
district of Odisha.
April 11: "The Accidental Prime Minister: the
making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh",
a memoir authored by Sanjaya Baru was
released on 11th April 2014.

April 10: A new online security threat which can
impact online safety of internet users has been
identified and is named as "Heartbleed". This
threat can result into compromising of
confidential information.
April 7 : 7th April 2014 was a great day for the
capital of Arunachal Pradesh - Itanagar, which
got its first passenger train. Train was having
total 10 passengers and two goods
compartments with a diesel engine.

April 3: Election Commission has selected
Amir Khan as its national icon for the Lok
Sabha elections 2014.
April 1: Mr P Naik (The Chief Electoral
Officer) launched SMS based service named
"Polling at your Fingertips" in Shillong,
Meghalaya.

March 15: An arrest warrant was issued against
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade on visa
fraud charges after her fresh indictment by US
prosecutors who accused her of ―illegally‖
underpaying and ―exploiting‖ her domestic
maid.
March 11: India has committed 8.5 billion
rupees to Bhutan for Small Development Project
for the country‘s the 11th Five Year Plan.

March 6: India, Sri Lanka and Maldives held
National Security Advisor-level meeting on
maritime security cooperation in New Delhi
March 6: In Nepal, a joint military excise
between India and Nepal is on at Saljhandi in
Rupandehi district.
March 1: Hamid Ansari, the Vice President of
India released a book entitled Akbar, The
Aesthete in New Delhi.

Feb 28: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport
Corporation (BMTC) introduced the country‘s
first electric zero-emission bus in the city.
Feb 26: The Supreme Court issued non bailable
arrest warrant against Sahara Chief Subrata Roy
for his failure to appear before it in connection
with the case in which his two companies have
been directed to refund Rs 20,000 crore to
investors.

Jan 23: Nation celebrates the 117th birth
anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Jan 19: India test-fired nuclear-capable surface-
to-surface Agni-IV missile with a range of 4000
kilometers from Wheeler Island in Dhamra of
Odisha Coast
Jan 7: Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan
has said the Jain community will be added to
the list of national minority communities.

Jan 5: INS Vikramaditya enters Indian Navy's
area of operation. INS Vikramaditya (R33) is a
Project which entered into service with the
Indian Navy in 2013. The ship has been
renamed in honour of Vikramaditya, a
legendary 1st century BC emperor of Ujjain,
India.

SPORTS
May 4 Indian Cricket Player Virat Kohli has
reclaimed the No. 1 position in the latest ICC
Player Rankings for ODI batsmen.
May 3 India's Sania Mirza and her
Zimbabwean partner Cara Black clinched
their first WTA title of the season beating Eva
Hrdinova and Valeria Solovyeva in the
women doubles final of the Portugal Open
tennis.

May 1- 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games
are to be held from 16th to 28th August 2014
in Nanjing, China
April 26: Grand Master Adhiban won silver
medal at the Asian Continental Chess
Championship held in Sharjah. With this
silver he got an entry in the World Chess Cup
2015 that will be held at Baku, Azerbaijan

April 22: Chitra Magimairaj of India won the
World Women‘s Senior Snooker Championship
at Leeds, Britain. She played the final match
against Alena Asmolava of Belarus.
April 15: The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) established a Sport Integrity Unit to
investigate the cases related to fraud in sports.
Betting and Match fixing are the most common
cases of sports fraud.

April 8: Heena Sindhu, the Indian shooter
clinched the World‘s Number One spot in 10
meters air pistol event. By achieving this fete,
she became the first Indian pistol shooter to be
ranked at the top position in the list.
March 29: World number two air pistol shooter
Heena Sidhu continued her impressive form as
she clinched a silver medal at the ISSF World
Cup in Fort Benning, USA, the feat taking her
closer to the numero uno spot in her event.

March 27: Olympian and former India captain
Jude Felix was appointed coach of the
National men‘s hockey team.
March 11: Pooja Ghatkar asserted the Indian
supremacy against tough Chinese
competition by clinching the gold in women‘s
air rifle in the seventh Asian air gun
championship in Kuwait City.

March 5: Graeme Smith, the South African
cricket team Captain announced that he will
retire from international cricket at the end of
the test match against Australia at Newlands.
Smith is the longest serving captain for South
Africa in international cricket.
March 2: South Africa lift the ICC Under-19
Cricket World Cup 2014.

International
May 10 India-born Hinduja brothers, Srichand
and Gopichand Hinduja, have emerged as the
richest men in Britain with a net wealth of 11.9
billion pounds (about $20 billion). Their current
fortune is up by 1.3 billion pounds during last
year to make them on first spot.
April 17: Astronomers announced that they have
discovered an Earth-size planet which was
named Kepler-186f.

May 22 The 2014 edition of the "SIMBEX 14"
series of annual bilateral naval exercises
between the Indian Navy (IN) and the Republic
of Singapore Navy (RSN), is being conducted in
the Andaman Sea from 22 May to 28 May 14.
April 6: US President Barack Obama has
nominated Indian-American Sunil Sabharwal to
a key administration post as US Alternate
Executive Director at IMF.

April 1: Japan announced a Rs 15,000-crore
official development assistance ( ODA) loan
for five projects in India, including expansion
of Delhi Metro and works related to wind and
solar energy. Japan and India signed the ODA
loan agreement for five projects totalling
more than Rs 15,000 crore.

April 1: On 1st April 2014, President of World
Bank Mr Jim Yong Kim announced at the
Council on Foreign Relations in Washington
that the bank would nearly double its lending
capacity to boost support for middle
countries like India, Brazil, China, Mexico and
Indonesia. It is part of efforts of World Bank
to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.

March 21: World Forestry Day or
International Day of Forests is celebrated
worldwide every year on 21st of March at the
international level in order to increase the
public awareness among communities about
the values, significance and contributions of
the forests to balance the life cycle on the
earth.

March 15: Rajeev Suri, the head of Nokia's telecoms
network equipment division, is likely to become the
Finnish group's next chief executive following the sale
of its handset business to Microsoft.
March 9: The success of Aam Aadmi Party in India
seems to have crossed boundaries and inspired
people in Pakistan, where a party has been launched
with the same name. A group led by Arslan-ul-Mulk, a
rights activist from Gujranwala, has registered Aam
Admi Party (AAP) with the Election Commission of
Pakistan.

Feb 15: G-4 Director Generals for UN Affairs met
in New Delhi. During the meet, the four G-4
nations namely Brazil, Germany, India and Japan
also conducted an Outreach Seminar on UNSC
Reform on 12 February 2014.
Feb 11: Indian-origin Mathew Martoma,
convicted for his role in the most lucrative
insider trading scheme in US history involving
$275 million, will be sentenced in June and
could face about 20 years in prison.

June
• Nelson Mandela International day
• 06.06.2014: UN General
Assembly declared July 18th as Nelson
Mandela International day. Mandela was the
first South Africa’s president. He died on
5th December at the age of 95.

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