1) What
is the significance of 18 October 2015 in association with the nuclear
agreement between Iran and six world powers (P5+1) that was finalized during
July 2015? – That agreement came into force from this date
Explanation: The historic nuclear deal was signed between
Iran and 6 world powers during July 2015. Later Iranian Parliament had given
its approval to the deal on 13 October 2015. 18 October 2015 was set as the
date for the deal to be adopted. Hence this day has been called ‘Adoption day’
when Iran is expected to begin executing one of the largest and most complex
projects of nuclear dismantlement in history. The 6 world powers involved in
the
deal are – the US, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany, also known as
P5+1.
The
historic deal was reached after 20 months of negotiations.
Under
the deal, Iranian nuclear engineers have to mothball 12,000 nuclear
centrifuges, ship more than 12 tons of low-enriched fuel, which is 98% of
Iran’s stockpile, out of the country and destroy the core of a giant plutonium
reactor.
On
the other hand, the European Union (EU) is also expected to adopt similar
measures for lifting sanctions against Iran.
2) The
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 17 October 2015 announced
new norms on the issue of call drops. Under this, mobile users will get a compensation
of Re 1 for every dropped call, subject to a maximum of three dropped calls a
day. These norms were, however, vehemently opposed by the telecom operators.
The norms are to come into effect from which date? -1 January 2016
Explanation: The menace of dropped calls has created huge
uproar with the mobile users as well as the Union Govt. seeking severe penalty
from the telecom operators.
The
TRAI announced the compensation mechanism for dropped calls on 17 October.
Under this mechanism the mobile operators will need to pay consumers Re 1 for
every dropped call, subject to a maximum of three such calls in a day, with
effect from 1 January 2016.
The
compensation would need to be paid to the calling customer who initiates such a
voice call.
Under
new rules, the operator will have to send a message to the customer within four
hours of a dropped call with details of the amount credited to his or her
account.
For
post-paid customers, the details of the credit would need to be provided in the
next bill.
The
‘call drop’ has been defined as “a voice call, which after being successfully
established, is interrupted prior to its normal completion (and) the cause of
early termination is within the network of the service provider”.
However,
the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said it felt disappointed
with the new norms as these are expected to result in a huge monetary outgo for
telecom operators.
3) Which
state became the second in the country to declare a drought in the state during
2015? – Maharashtra
Explanation: The Maharashtra state government on 17 October
2015 identified 14,708 out of 40,053 villages, where the monsoon was deficient
by over 50%, as drought-hit.
The
drought-hit villages are spread across 20 of the 35 districts in the state, including
all eight districts of the Marathwada region.
The
districts are Gadchiroli, Nagpur, Akola, Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Parbhani, Latur,
Nanded, Beed, Jalna, Osmanabad, Hingoli, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Nashik, Dhule,
Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar.
Land
revenue due from farmers will be waived along with 33% of the electricity
charges towards agricultural purposes.
Maharashtra
thus became the second state after Karnataka to declare drought in the state.
In August 2015, Karnataka govt. had declared drought in 27 of 30 districts and
sought central assistance of Rs. 3,050 crore.
4) Which
leading industrial group launched abof.com, a new online fashion portal, on 17
October 2015? – Aditya Birla Group
Explanation: Abof.com has been launched by Kumar Mangalam
Birla-led Aditya Birla Group as an online one-stop fashion portal for apparel,
footwear and accessories for men and women. The group thus joined the growing
trend of so-called brick-and-mortar companies seeking to tap a boom in
e-commerce.
Abof
stands for all about fashion. It will now compete with the likes of Myntra, a
Flipkart unit, and Rocket Internet-backed Jabong. Abof will offer shoppers
brands from both the Aditya Birla Group and other companies. It will be
privately held by Kumar Mangalam Birla in his personal capacity.
Some
analysts, such as financial services firm UBS, has said that e-commerce sales
can touch $60 billion by 2020 from less than $6 billion last year, driven by
the manifold growth in smartphone users to more than 500 million.
5) India
finished runners-up in Johor Cup men’s junior hockey tournament, the final of
which was played on 18 October 2015. Which team defeated India to win the
tournament? – Great Britain
Explanation: The Indian junior men’s hockey team ended
runner-up in the Sultan of Johor Cup hockey tournament after losing nail-biting
penalty shoot-out 3-4 to Great Britain. The teams were level 2-2 after full
time in the title encounter.
India
had earlier finished at the top of the table in the league encounter just
losing one match ironically to Great Britain.
6) India’s
P.V. Sindhu finished runner-up in the women’s singles badminton title of
Denmark Open. Whom she lost in the finals played on 18 October 2015? – Li
Xuerui
Explanation: Olympic badminton champion Li Xuerui of China won
the women’s singles title as she ended P.V. Sindhu’s dream run at the
tournament by defeating her easily in the final on 19 October by 21-19, 21-12.
This
was the first-ever Super Series final for P.V. Sindhu, the two-time bronze
medallist at the World Championship. Earlier Sindhu had stunned reigning World
champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-finals by defeating her by 21-15,
18-21, 21-17 on 17 October.
20
october 2015
1) The
Union Health Ministry on 19 October 2015 announced which major reform in the
field of blood banks? –It allowed transfer of blood from one blood bank
to another
Explanation: The Union Health Ministry prescribed detailed
guidelines for proper and efficient transport of blood between banks on 19
October. Under it two major initiatives have been announced towards better
utilisation of blood and blood components.
The
first initiative is permission for transfer of blood from one blood bank to
another. The transfer of blood from one bank to the other was not allowed
earlier and is expected to help in transfer of blood to places of scarcity.
The
second initiative pertains to fixing of an exchange value for surplus plasma
available at some blood banks in the country. In the absence of this enabling
provision, surplus plasma was traded or sold by the blood banks without any
regulation earlier. Now an exchange value of Rs. 1600 per litre of plasma has
been fixed and the blood banks with surplus plasma can exchange it for
consumables, equipments or plasma derived products as per their need.
This
step is expected to increase the availability of essential lifesaving medicines
like human albumin, immunoglobulins, clotting factors, etc. which are all
derived from plasma. This step would also reduce the country’s dependence on
import of these products.
Both
the initiatives have been taken as per the recommendation of the National Blood
Transfusion Council (NBTC).
2) What
is the name of the ambitious trade agreement proposed between the United States
and the European Union (EU) for which the 11th round of negotiations
started from 19 October 2015? – Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP)
Explanation: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP) is a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the
United States, with the aim of promoting multilateral economic growth. It is
likely to set standards that would become a base point for the rest of the
world that would want to serve these markets.
The
first round of negotiations under TTIP took place from 7 to12 July 2013 in
Washington DC. Till now 10 such negotiations have been held.
One
important feature of the negotiations taking place under TTIP is that the
negotiations are being carried mostly in secrecy. Almost all information on
negotiations comes from leaked documents and Freedom of Information requests.
The
United States and European Union together represent 60% of global GDP, 33% of
world trade in goods and 42% of world trade in services. There are a number of
trade conflicts between the two powers, but both depend on the other’s economic
market and disputes only affect 2% of total trade. A free trade area between
the two would represent potentially the largest regional free-trade agreement
in history.
3) Which
entity replaced PepsiCo as the title sponsor of the high-profile Indian Premier
League (IPL), as announced by the BCCI on 18 October 2015? – Vivo
Mobiles
Explanation: The change in IPL sponsorship was necessitated
by beverage giant PepsiCo’s sudden pullout from a five-year deal that was to
end in 2017. Vivo Mobile was chosen as the IPL sponsor by BCCI’s all-powerful
working committee meeting held on 18 October 2015.
Vivo
Mobile is a smartphone maker of China.
PepsiCo
became title sponsors of the IPL in 2013 after they bid a whopping Rs. 396.8
crore for five seasons. Before Pepsi, DLF had paid Rs. 200 crore to become
title sponsors of the tournament from 2008 till 2012.
PepsiCo’s
decision to end its deal with IPL was reportedly caused by the spot-fixing
scandal which shook the game in 2013.
4) Union
Govt. on 18 October 2015 announced what measures to tackle the problem of
spiralling of prices of all the pulses over the past weeks? – It
imposed stock limits on four categories of stocks
Explanation: The Union Govt. has now withdrawn exemptions
to four categories of stocks of pulses – stocks sourced from imports, held by
exporters, by licensed food processors and large departmental retailers. The
step has been taken to prevent hoarding, follows the spiralling of prices of
all the pulses over the past two weeks on short supplies.
In
its earlier order extending the imposition of stock limits on pulses, edible
oils and edible oilseeds for one year up to 30 September 2016, the government
had granted exemption to these four stock categories.
The
Centre had earlier announced a ban on pulses exports, extension of zero import
duty, and a further purchase of 5,000 tonnes from overseas markets under the
price stabilisation fund. It also aims to create a 40,000-tonne buffer-stock
from the new arhar (tur) and urad crops, which will hit the market between
November and early-January.
5) What
was the growth rate of China during the third quarter (July- September) 2015,
which was announced on 19 October 2015 and was the weakest since 2009? – 6.9%
Explanation: As per the official data released by the
Chinese Govt. on 19 October 2015, China posted its weakest quarterly economic
growth since the global financial crisis. The growth rate during July-September
2015 stood at 6.9%. The GDP growth rate is thus lower than 7% growth achieved
during the first half of 2015. This is the weakest reading since the first
quarter of 2009, when growth tumbled to 6.2%.
These
figures further raised the pressure on policymakers to cut interest rates
further and roll out other support measures to avert a sharper slowdown.
Chinese economy now has huge impact on global economy as it has emerged as the
second largest economy after the United States.
Some
market watchers believe current growth is much weaker than government readings,
though officials deny allegations that the numbers are inflated.
21 october 2015
1) Who
was elected as the new Prime Minister of Canada after Liberal Party scored a
convincing victory in the 42ndGeneral Elections of Canada that were held on 19
October 2015? –Justin Trudeau
Explanation: Justin Trudeau led his Liberal party to a
dramatic win in the Parliamentary elections that ended the reign of the
Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.
Trudeau’s
Liberal Party leaped from third place in opinion polls to a decisive victory in
these elections, taking 184 of the parliament’s 338 seats, and roughly 40% of
the popular vote. Harper’s Conservatives were dealt a resounding defeat,
falling from 166 seats to about 100.
43-year
old Justin Trudeau is the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
2) Konkan
Railway would establish first-of-kind tunnel technology institute at Goa’s
Margao town, as announced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 19 October 2015.
This proposed institute will be named after which former Railway Minister?
– George Fernandes
Explanation: The proposed tunnel technology institute will
be named as ‘George Fernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology’, after former
Railway Minister George Fernandes. Fernandes is said to be the driving force
behind the Konkan Railway.
The
institute will be established to enable training for the technology hitherto
unavailable in the country. This will be the first such institute in India. The
objectives of the institute would be a depository of knowledge, experience and
data for tunnels and underground structures, to provide training of tunnel
technology and consultancy services for tunnels and underground construction.
The
training imparted at the institute would be specially adapted to suit the
geology of Indian subcontinent.
3) North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 19 October 2015 started its biggest and
most ambitious military exercise in more than a decade. What is the name of
this exercise through which NATO apparently seeks to send a clear signal to
Russia? – ‘Trident Juncture’
Explanation: Trident Juncture 2015, the huge military
exercise comprising of around 36,000 troops from more than 30 NATO countries,
commenced from 19 October 2015. It is being hosted by Italy, Spain and Portugal
at 16 different locations.
The
opening ceremony of Trident Juncture 2015 took place at the Italian air base of
Trapani in Sicily, where NATO showed its air strike power with Typhoon,
F-18, F-16, Tornado and AMX aircraft.
Trident
Juncture 2015 will test the new rapid-reaction force of NATO whose spearhead
force will be led by Spain in 2016.
4) Union
Govt. is poised to issue long-term government securities (G-secs), which will
be the longest tenure securities to be brought out by the government. What will
be tenure of these G-secs, as announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on
19 October 2015? – 40 years
Explanation: The proposal to bring G-secs with 40-year
maturity will give it a longer time horizon to fund growth at lower costs. Till
date, gilts with the longest tenure were of 30 years.
One
important factor associated with 40-year G-secs would be that these are being
brought at a time when the rate of interest is heading south. The move by the
government to issue 40-year G-secs is timed with the RBI’s
decision to increase debt limit for foreign investors in government
securities. This is expected to attract long-term foreign fund managers like
pension funds, sovereign funds and insurance companies to buy these papers,
market players said.
A
large chunk of investments by these institutions are usually parked in very
long-term instruments with maturities of 20, 30, 40 years and more.
According
to RBI data, at present the G-secs with the longest maturity is of 30 years,
which is scheduled to be redeemed in June 2045 and has an outstanding maturity
amount of Rs. 30,000 crore.
5) Swashbuckling
batsman Virender Sehwag on 20 October 2015 announced his retirement from
international cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL). This thus brought an
end to an illustrious career spanning just around a decade. What is his most
famous record for India? – He is the only Indian to have scored
triple century in Test cricket
Explanation: Virendra Sehwag is the only triple centurion
in Tests for India having scored career-best knock of 319 against Pakistan at
Multan, which also is an Indian record. He is also one of those rare batsmen to
have scored two triple ton with his next one (309) coming against South Africa.
In
a glorious international career spanning over 12 years, Sehwag played 104 Tests
scoring 8586 runs at an impressive average of 49.34, hitting 23 centuries and
32 half-centuries. In 251 ODIs, he accumulated 8273 runs at an average of 35.05
and scored 15 hundreds apart from hitting 38 fifties. In 19 T-20
internationals, he managed 394 runs with two half-centuries.
His
last ODI was against Pakistan at Kolkata in January 2013. He last played a Test
match in March 2013 against Australia at Hyderabad. He remained out of Indian
squad due to poor reflexes and bad luck as also emergence of numerous more
consistent batsmen.
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