1 Nov 2015

1) A Russian airliner carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members crashed on 31 October 2015 resulting in death of all persons on-board. A militant group affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for downing of this plane. This crash took place in which country? – Egypt

Explanation: A Russian aircraft carrying 224 persons (including seven crew members) crashed on 31 October 2015 in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. The aircraft (Flight 7K9268) had taken-off for Russia from Egypt’s famous Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh and it went off radar 23 minutes after taking off.

The flight was an international chartered passenger flight operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia (branded as Metrojet). It was en-route to Saint Petersburg. Most of the passengers were Russians while four

were Ukrainian and one was Belarusian.

The wreckage was found roughly 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the North Sinai town of El-Arish. All 224 persons on-board this flight were killed in the crash.

Shortly after the crash, Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the incident. IS claimed this was in revenge for Russian air strikes against militants in Syria, where IS controls territories, along with contiguous Iraqi territories.

2) The 2015 Rugby World Cup (Men) was won by which country on 31 October 2015? –New Zealand

Explanation: Final of the 2015 Rugby World Cup was played at London’s Twickenham Stadium on 31 October 2015. New Zealand defeated arch rivals and neighbors Australia by 34 -17 to win the title. With this New Zealand has won the Rugby World Cup thrice and has become the most successful team as far as Rugby World Cup is concerned.

New Zealand was the defending champions, having won the 2011 World Cup, and thus also became the first-ever team to successfully defend their Rugby World title.

Earlier on 30 October 2015 South Africa defeated Argentina by 24-13 to win third place in the world cup.

2015 Rugby World Cup was held in England from 18 September to 31 October 2015. It was the 8^th edition of the World Cup and saw participation from 20 countries.

3) What is the name of the top-of-the-line annual exercise of the Indian Air Force (IAF) that commenced from 31 October 2015? – Livewire

Explanation: Livewire is the name of the annual exercise of the IAF which seeks to evaluate the operational capability of the force in case of full-fledged hostility. This exercise also provides the IAF to check its latest operational concepts in practical environment.

Along with operational requirements, maintenance as well as administrative requirements are also being tested in as close to the likely real-time scenario as possible. Apart from this, joint operations with the Indian Army and the Indian Navy are also part of the 2015 edition of Livewire.

4) Who was elected as the new President of Tanzania in the recently held election in the country? – John Magufuli

Explanation: John Magufuli is a leader of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party which won the Presidential elections. He secured 58% votes in these elections.

The Presidential elections in Tanzania were held on 25 October 2015. In the presidential race, the ruling party’s candidate, John Magufuli, was pitted against former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, who defected to the opposition earlier this year after being rejected as the ruling party’s candidate.

Lowassa (62), was Prime Minister in President Jakaya Kikwete’s government from 2005 to 2008, but was forced to resign by a corruption scandal.

55-year old John Magufuli is widely seen as a corruption-free, effective public servant who could improve the ruling party’s image in the eyes of ordinary people fed up with state graft. He is a trained chemist from country’s north-western Chato district.

5) Which high ranking government official was nominated in the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by the Union Government on 30 October 2015? –Shaktikanta Das

Explanation: Shaktikanta Das is the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre officer. His nomination into RBI’s Central Board came to effect from 30 October.

RBI’s Central Board is the highest body of the RBI which takes decisions with regard to general direction of RBI policies. It is headed by the RBI Governor and has 21 members altogether. Four Deputy Governors of the RBI and two representatives of the Ministry of Finance are also part of this elite body.

2 Nov 2015

1) Indian Railway on 1 November 2015 launched a new pilot scheme under which waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train if they opt for the option while booking their tickets online. What is the name given to this unique pilot scheme? –‘Vikalp’

Explanation: ‘Vikalp’ is the name of the new alternative train accommodation scheme, which was launched on 1 November 2015 by Indian Railways. It has initially been launched on a pilot basis on two sectors – Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Jammu.

Initially, Vikalp scheme will be available only for the tickets booked through internet for six months and option will be limited to mail and express trains on the two selected sectors. As per the scheme, waitlisted passengers of a train would be given option of getting confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route.

Passenger, if opts for the Vikalp scheme while booking tickets online, will get SMS alert on their mobile phone about getting confirmed accommodation in alternative train. Railway aims to achieve the twin objectives of providing confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation by this scheme.

2) The 2-day talks to seek a diplomatic solution to end the Syrian civil war were held on 29-30 October 2015 at which place? – Vienna (Austria)

Explanation: 11 countries met at Vienna on 29-30 October 2015 with the primary objective to seek a diplomatic solution to end the Syrian civil war. These 11 countries were – the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Lebanon, France, Britain and Germany. Representatives of the European Union also took part in the talks.

However, the absence of representatives of the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition was conspicuous during the talks.

It was the first time that Iran was invited in talks pertaining to Syria.

The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, has left 250,000 dead and displaced more than half of Syria’s population of 22 million, according to the United Nations. The war has greatly contributed to European migrant crisis. It also created a power vacuum that allowed Islamic State militants to seize large swaths of eastern Syria and western Iraq.

3) What is the name of the new minister inducted in the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on 31 October 2015, who came into news as he was inducted in the Cabinet despite him neither being a member of the ruling Samajawadi Party (SP) and nor him being a member of either of the Houses in UP? – Balwant Singh Ramoowalia

Explanation: Balwant Singh Ramoowalia is a former union minister and a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). He was Union minister for Labour Welfare in 1996 as Rajya Sabha member and was two- time Lok Sabha member for SAD.

But on 31 October he was surprisingly included in the newly reconstituted Cabinet of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Yadav had expanded his Cabinet a day after sacking 8 ministers of his Cabinet.

Ramoowalia’s induction was surprising because he had not joined the Samajwadi Party till the day of his induction. Apart from this he is not associated with UP politics in any way and is not a member of either Houses of UP Assembly.

4) Which political party of the country is planning to launch a call-taxi service on the lines of cab aggregators like Uber, Ola and Meru with the objective of providing job opportunities to taxi drivers? – CPI (M)

Explanation: CPI (M) leader and former Rajya Sabha MP P. Rajeeve recently announced that the party is planning to launch a call-taxi service on lines of leading cab aggregators like Uber, Ola and Meru who have weaned away customers from conventional taxis. This has resulted in huge job threat to taxi drivers who are not associated with any of the cab aggregators.

CPI (M) is planning the trial-run of the call-taxi service from November 2015 and this will be done in association with taxi unions. It is worth mentioning that the drivers affiliated to unions like CPI (M)’s CITU are now faced with loss of work due to aggressive policies of cab aggregators.

Party feels that due to low fares and better, technology-based service of the aggregators, conventional drivers are losing customers to them and this is resulting in conflicts between conventional taxi drivers and those of the aggregators.

5) Who won the Mexican F1 Grand Prix on 1 November 2015, the event which made its comeback to F1 circuit after 23 years? – Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Explanation: Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg won the Mexican F1 Grand Prix title to score his first victory for more than four months as he beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton (Britain) on 1 November 2015.

This was just the fourth win of the season for Rosberg and this win moved him back into second in the championship behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (Germany). Williams’ Valtteri Bottas claimed the third spot.

Mexican Grand Prix made its return to the F1 season after 23 years with this race. Last Mexican GP was held in 1992 and then the event was taken-off the F1 circuit from 1993 to 2014. The event was first held as a non-championship event in 1962 before being held as a F1 championship event from 1963-1970 and 1986-1992.

3 NOV 2015

1) China made an aviation history on 2 November 2015 as it unveiled country’s first big homegrown passenger jet off the assembly line in Shanghai on this day. With this China joined an elite group of countries capable of making large passenger aircrafts. What is the name of this first Chinese passenger jet? – C919

Explanation: China unveiled its first large passenger jet C919 at a hangar near Shanghai’s Pudong international airport on 2 November 2015. This 158-seater passenger jet aims to rival Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

C919 has been developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac). Work on this aircraft began in 2008 and the first test flight of the aircraft is expected to take place in 2016. However, many of the plane’s systems have been provided by foreign companies, including Honeywell and Rockwell Collins.

Development of passenger jet by the country is being seen as a major achievement by the country. It also has a huge symbolic value for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

2) Which Indian automobile car company has roped in Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi as the new global brand ambassador for its passenger cars, as disclosed on 2 November 2015? – Tata Motors

Explanation: A senior officials of Tata Motors confirmed that Messi has been roped in to promote companies passenger cars. Messi himself drives a Range Rover whose manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, is owned by Tata Motors.

The company will now kick off a campaign ‘#madeofgreat’ on 3 November 2015 seeking to showcase the confluence of two global brands, Tata Motors and Lionel Messi.

3) Leading industrialist Brijmohan Lall Munjal, who passed away on 1 November 2015, was the founder of which Indian automobile behemoth? –Hero MotoCorp

Explanation: Brijmohan Lall Munjal is widely regarded as the father of the Indian two-wheeler industry. He was the founder of Hero Motocorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer.

Born in 1923 in Punjab’s Kamalia, now in Pakistan, Brijmohan Munjal and his brothers shifted base to Amritsar in 1943 and then to Ludhiana, where they gave shape to their bicycle component business. The business graduated to cycle manufacturing and in 1975, Hero Cycles became the largest cycle producer in India.

Later Munjal inked an agreement with Honda in the 1980s to manufacture motorcycles in India. Hero Honda was born as a result of the 1984 agreement and the entity ruled the motorcycle market in India. In 2011, Hero parted ways with Honda to create Hero MotoCorp. Both Honda and Hero have grown since then although Hero remains the largest player with revenues of Rs 27,500 crore in FY15.

He was conferred with the ‘Padma Bhushan, India’s third civilian honour in 2005. He passed away at the age of 92 at a Delhi hospital. His last rites were performed on 2 November 2015.

4) MTS India, the wireless, broadband and mobile communication service provider, merged with which telecommunications entity as announced on 2 November 2015? – Reliance Communications (RCom)

Explanation: MTS India is the joint-venture between India’s Sistema Shyam TeleServices and Russian telecommunication company Mobile TeleSystems (MTS). The entity provides a variety of wireless, broadband and mobile communication services under the brand name MTS.

On 2 November MTS India announced its merger with Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom). The main feature of this merger is that it has resulted in RCom having overtaken Mukesh Ambani-led  Reliance Jio as the holder of the biggest amount of 800 MHz 4G spectrum in India.

800 MHz 4G spectrum is considered most appropriate because it can go inside houses and buildings, unlike other bands which are not very good for in-building use.

5) What is India’s position in the recently released annual report on world’s most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance? – Seventh

Explanation: With a total brand value of $2.1 billion India recorded a 32% increase in its ‘national brand value’ as complied by Brand Finance for 2015. Thus India moved up one position to become the world’s seventh most valued ‘nation brand’.

India is the second most valued among these emerging economies after China, followed by Brazil, Russia and South Africa. It is only country among the BRICS countries to have witnessed an increase in its brand value.

The US remains on the top with a valuation of $19.7 billion, followed by China ($6.3 billion) and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively. The UK is ranked 4^th, Japan is at fifth position and France is sixth on the list.

The national brand valuation is based on five year forecasts of sales of all brands in each nation and follows a complex process.

4 NOV 2015

1) Union Govt. held a meeting of Chief Ministers of seven Naxal-affected States on 3 November 2015 in view of continuous incidents of Maoist violence. This important meeting was held to chalk out a strategy to fight the Naxal menace and was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Which 7 Naxal-affected states were invited to this meeting? – 1) Chhattisgarh, 2) Jharkhand, 3) Bihar, 4) Andhra Pradesh, 5) Maharashtra, 6) Odisha and 7) Telangana

Explanation: The meeting discussed overall Left-wing extremism (LWE) scenario in 35 worst-affected states in the said 7 sates. Altogether 105 districts in 10 states are affected by Naxal violence, of which 35 districts in seven states are considered to be worst-hit.

The main agenda of the meeting was – Action against mass front organisations of the CPI (Maoist), preparation of specific anti-LWE operations plans and checking of flow of funds to the LWE cadres.

The meeting formulated plans on how to maximise the use of around 1,10,000 paramilitary personnel currently deployed in Naxal-hit states, monitoring of pilferage of explosives and IEDs (improvised explosive device), rehabilitation of family members of persons killed in LWE violence and investigation of important cases against the naxalites with the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and state police forces.

2) Which railway station became the first visually-challenged-friendly station in India on 3 November 2015? – Mysuru (Karnataka)

Explanation: Mysuru became country’s first visually challenged friendly station on 3 November after many important info-objects such as tactile maps of the railway station and train schedules in Braille were unveiled at the Mysuru Railway station on this day.

Along with tactile maps of station describing the location and distance of entrance, platforms, counters, washrooms etc., schedule of trains, showing their arrival and departure time, the authorities have also put up 400 metal signages in Braille along the railings of the staircases leading various platforms. The menu cards at the canteen and food plaza at the station are also being made available in Braille.

Anuprayaas, an NGO assisted the railways in make Mysuru railway station blind-friendly.

3) Internet giant Google is poised to partner BSNL on a pilot project for providing Internet connectivity by using large balloons. What is the name of this project which uses big balloons floating at a height of 20 kilometres above earth surface for transmission of Internet services? –‘Project Loon’

Explanation: Google has recently approached Indian government to seek permission to set up the ‘Project Loon’ and Drone-based Internet transmission. The govt. has approved testing of the project as of now. A committee under chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), has been formed to work on it.

Google is now poised to partner with BSNL for testing this technology by using broadband spectrum in 2.6 Ghz band.

Google, under its ‘Project Loon’, is using big balloons floating at a height of 20 kilometres above earth surface for transmission of Internet services. It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California (the U.S.) and Brazil.

As per Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE or 4G. One major advantage of this project will be that it will not require mobile towers for Internet transmission.

4) What is the latest outlook of global Global rating agency Moody’s with regards to the Indian banking system as disclosed by the agency on 1 November 2015? – It will remain stable over the next 12-18 months

Explanation: Thus Moody’s has upgraded its outlook for the Indian banking system to stable from negative. This has been done on account of gradual improvement in operating environment.

It is worth mentioning that Moody’s has maintained a ‘negative’ outlook for the Indian banking system since November 2011. Negative outlook was kept primarily due to deteriorating asset quality of Indian banks.

Moody’s in its report, “Banking System Outlook – India: Gradual Improvement in Operating Environment Drives Stable Outlook,” said the stable outlook is based on its assessment of five drivers including improvement in operating environment and stable asset risk and capital scenario.

5) What is the name of the controversial Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Indian Premier League (IPL) who resigned from his post on 3 November 2015? –Sundar Raman

Explanation: Raman was a controversial figure in BCCI-promoted IPL and he had faced a lot of flak following the outbreak of 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal involving former Board President N. Srinivasan’s son-in-law G. Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals’ then co-owner Raj Kundra. Despite all the controversies, Raman managed to sail through for two years.

In an effort to clean up the system, the BCCI promptly accepted Raman’s resignation.

According to some media reports he had been asked by BCCI President Shashank Manohar to put in his papers by 31 October 2015.

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