Current Affairs - 11 December 2014

Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi seek to revive jaded Russia-India relationship

• 
  New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India on Thursday in an attempt to revive a historic friendship that has faded over the years, seeking to improve cooperation in energy, defence and nuclear power.
  He flies to New Delhi for his first summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a time when Russia is at odds with the West over Ukraine, and its economy is stalling as oil prices tumble to their lowest point in five years.
  The Indian leader, elected by a landslide six months ago, will host Putin for a one-day summit. In January, he will give U.S. President Barack Obama what is expected to be a far more lavish reception for India's Republic Day celebration.

  Times have changed, our friendship has not. Now, we want to take this relation to the next level & this visit is a step in that direction:PM

Technology to help get exams results early

• 
  Chennai: Availing of hall tickets and verifying marksheets will now be easy for students as the state government has upgraded its pilot project in cloud computing to obtain details of the students appearing for public examinations. Since the last academic year, details of students appearing for the school government examinations have been entered online from schools through a client-server mechanism, a less cumbersome process for schools and government to make note of the student details for their hall ticket.
  Although schools were enabled this system last year, there were some glitches due to overloading of server. This year, the system has been improvised with a cloud computing mechanism that prevents hanging of the server with auto verification of marksheets and acquiring carbon copy of marksheet (CCM) in just a few hours.
  “Now examination results will come out quicker than before with the new upgraded software. Obtaining CCM will also take only hours and make it easy for migrants to secure seats in colleges outside the state once the results are out,” said an official from the education department.
  “From manual collection of hard copies of data to CD-roms, a lot of makeovers have happened in the data collection process in the exam department. The new system is a big leap from the earlier practices and would benefit many students,” he added.

Traffic arrangement for CM K Chandrasekhar Rao's meet today

• 
  Hyderabad: The traffic police has made arrangements in view of the foundation stone laying of Banjara Bhavan and public meeting on road number 10, Banjara Hills by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao at 11 am on Thursday. Officials requested commuters to take alternative routes between 9 am and 1:30 pm.
  The following parking places are earmarked for those attending the above programmes. MLAs, MLCs and MPs must park their vehicles in the Khollani Restaurant lane, Espanranga school lane, towards Income Tax quarters, and towards IAS, IPS officers quarters on road number 10. 
  Police officers should park their vehicles at the IPS officers’ quarters. Govern-ment officials should park their vehicles in the bylanes near the Income tax quarters.

Legal panel welcomes removal of section 309

• 
  Hyderabad: Most legal experts and civil rights activists in the city support the Union Government’s decision to remove Section 309 and to decriminalise suicide attempts. They welcome the decision stating that laws and punishments can never stop suicides, since the problem lies in socio, economic, political, and personal factors.
  Meanwhile, a few experts disagree with them and say that the move might encourage suicides. Prominent advocate Raghunath from the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) said that prosecuting people who failed in their attempt to end life is not at all a solution.
  “A person tries to commit suicide when he is in extreme distress and is victimised. And when his attempt fails, the law should not victimise him again and give more trouble,” he said, adding that removing Section 309 is a humanitarian decision by the government.
  Experts say that people commit suicide due to different reasons. Criminal law can’t stop them ending their lives since they truly believe they can't live anymore in this world. 
  “People end life due to socio, economic and  personal reasons and this can't be stopped with laws. Instead of this law, the authorities should look into real issues and act upon 
  it,” said Mr Raghunath.

Police deny role in body swap

• Hyderabad: Police denied any foul play in the swapping of dead bodies at the Osmania General Hospital mortuary. “When Mohammed Saleem’s family approached us with the identification documents and photographs, the mortuary staff handed over the body after verification. Their claim appeared to be valid, and we had to give it away,” said Afzalgunj police inspector C. Anjaiah. 
  Saleem was a 70-year-old man. Later on December 9, the family of Rafiq, a 55-year-old RTC driver, while checking photographs of unknown dead bodies in the database of an NGO, realised that the body was that of Rafiq's. “We went to the mortuary and they said that the body had already been given away,” said Rafiq’s son-in-law, advocate Arshad Pasha.
  Mr Pasha then approached the Afzalgunj police, which has decided to exhume the body to settle the dispute.
  “Now the only way to solve this issue is to conduct a DNA test and confirm the identity. We have called both parties and taken a consensus. We will start the procedures on Thursday,” said Afzalgunj police inspector C. Anjaiah. 

Vigilance drive at rail stations results in 1,500 cases in a week

• 
  Chennai: Stepping up vigilance at railway stations, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff has booked more than 1,500 passengers for various violations on the stretch between Tambaram and Guindy and fined them. Following orders from the headquarters, the RPF started to fine commuters who were travelling on the footboard, littering, smoking and sticking notices on station premises.
  Starting December 1, the RPF booked 5,126 cases, collecting Rs3 lakhs in fines from offenders who were made to appear at the Tambaram judicial court.The officials said that on an average, they booked about 200-300 cases a month, but the drive had resulted in booking 1,500 cases in a week. Vendors who illegally sold food items inside the station formed a major section of the offenders. “More than 400 vendors were booked. They were fined Rs1,000,” said an RPF official. The maximum fine levied on them for sticking posters and notices was Rs1,250.
  
   The fine amount started from Rs100 for smoking and littering. “Many school students were caught for footboard travelling while college students were booked for crossing
  railway tracks while listening to music,” the official said.

Mahinda Rajapaksa worships at Tirumala amid protests

• 
  Tirumala: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala early hours Wednesday amid high tension as 69 MDMK activists tried to obstruct his convoy and were taken into custody. Reporter Gunasekaran of Sun TV was roughed up and taken to the police station along with the MDMK cadres. They were released later in the day.
  
  President Rajapaksa had arrived by special aircraft at Renigunta on Tuesday and took a helicopter to the Venkateswara university ground from where he was driven amid tight security to Padmavathy guesthouse atop Tirumala. His astrologer had reportedly advised the Buddhist Sinhala leader that worshipping Venkateswara would ensure victory in the January 8 Presidential poll.
  Accordingly, President Rajapaksa arrived at Lord’s abode at about 3 a.m. to participate in the Suprabatham seva. Senior TTD officials led by Tirumala JEO K.S. Sreenivasa Raju and the temple priests accorded the Lankan President a traditional welcome and conducted him to the sanctum sactorum. After spending almost an hour there, the President boarded the car for the short drive to the guesthouse and begin the journey back home.

Important current affairs questions and answers 2014

• Who is the 13th loksabha speaker ?
  Answer : Sumitra Mahajan
  
  French open Men's 2014 winner ?
  Answer: Rafel nadal (spain)
  
  French open Women's 2014 winner ?
  Answer: Maria sharapova (Russia)
  
  29th state of India ?
  Answer: Telangana
  
  First chief minister of  Telangana?
  Answer: K Chandrasekhar Rao
  
  What is the fullform for EPE that was recently in news?
  Answer: eastern peripheral expressway 
  
  Newly elected Israeli president  ?
  Answer: Reuven Rivlin
  
  2014 Australian open Men's title winner ?
  Answer : Stanislas Wawrinka
  
  2014 Australian open Men's title winner ?
  Answer: Li Na 
  
  What is the nationality of Stanislas Wawrinka ?
  Answer : switzerland
  
  What is the nationality of Li Na ?
  Answer: China
  
  
  who received last telegram in india ?
  Answer : Rahul Gandhi
  
  
  Present railway minister of india?
  Answer: sadananda gowda
  
  
  From which country India acquired INS Vikramaditya ?
  Answer: Russia
  
  
  Who is the winner of  " Australian Open in badminton women's title" ?
  Answer: Saina Nehwal
  
  What is the name for mascot of FIFA 2014?
  Answer : Fuleco 
  
  who has won liberty medal for 2014?
  Answer: Malala Yousafzai 
  
  who won templeton prize 2014 ?
  Answer: Tomáš Halík
  
  What is the nationality of  Tomáš Halík?
  Answer:  Czech
  
  2014 Wimbledon Men's title winner ?
  Answer : N. Djokovic
  
  2014 Wimbledon Women's title winner ?
  Answer: Petra Kvitova
  
  *Newly elected Afghanistan  president ?
  Answer: Ashraf Ghani
  
  * 6th brics summit(2014) was held at ?
  Answer: Brazil
  
  *Venue for 7th brics summit (2015)?
  Answer: Russia
  
  *femina miss india  2014 : koyal rana
  
  *leader of opposition in rajyasabha  :  Gulamnabi azad
  
  *7th pay commission chairman -  ashok kumar mathur
  
  *newly started news channel for north east  -Arun Prabha