Current Affairs Current Affairs - 26 December 2014 - Vikalp Education

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Current Affairs - 26 December 2014

Highlights of Events in Department of Atomic Energy in 2014
  • Following is the chronology of events held in Deptt. of Atomic Energy during 2014: 
    Foundation Stone of 2800 MW Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (Nuclear Power Project) laid
    Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister  laid  Foundation Stone of 2800 MW Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (Nuclear Power Project) on 13th January, 2014 .On this occasion he said this Nuclear Power Plant will Usher in Opening of New Vista’s of Development. 
    Gorakhpur Anu Vidyut Pariyajana (GHAVP-1 to 4) is an ambitious initiative of The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, A Govt. of India Enterprise. Being built at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,594 Crore, this will be the 1st Nuclear Power Plant of Haryana and will be 21st in the country. For it the Haryana State Government has provided 1319 Acre ( 534 Hectare) land for the project and neqrly 186 acre (75 Hectare) for the housing colonies of plant personnel and CISF personnel. 
    The proposed 700 MWe PHWR rectors are indigenous and similar o the ones currently under construction in Gujrat State (KAPP-3 &$) and Rajasthan state (RAPP-7 & 8). Also, the reactor size and the design features of 700 MWe are similar to that of 540 MWe of TAPP 3 &4 Units, except that partial boiling of the coolant upto about 3% (nominal ) at the coolant channel exit has been allowed. 
    Agreement for Establishing Nuclear Power Stations 
    A General Framework Agreement (GFA) was signed between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the Joint Stock Company atomstroy export of the Russian Federation in April 2014 for establishing Kudankulam nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) units 3&4. An Early Works Agreement has also been concluded by NPCIL with M/s Westinghouse Electric Company for obtaining technical information about AP-1000 reactors. 
    The NPCIL is engaged in techno-commercial discussions with M/s Areva, France, General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy International (GEH) and Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) of the USA to arrive at project proposals for construction of Nuclear Power Plants. Conclusion of agreements with these companies will be subject to the techno-commercial proposals being satisfactory and viable. 

'Sushaasan Express' flagged off
  • GWALIOR: Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar today flagged off 'Sushaasan Express' from the birthplace of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 
    The Sushaasan (good governance) Express would run between Gwalior and Gonda via Hazrat Nizamuddin and Lucknow. 
    The train was flagged-off by the Union minister for steel and mines, who is also the local MP, on the occasion of Vajpayee's birthday. 
    Addressing a function on the occasion, Tomar said railway minister Suresh Prabhu has sanctioned Rs 29 crore for the development of railways in Gwalior. 
    Tomar said he and BJP MP Bhagirath Prasad had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him to implement the good governance scheme in the entire country on the occasion of Vajpayee's birthday, which resulted in 'Good Governance Day' being observed all over the country on December 25. 
    The minister also said that the Union tourism minister has approved a plan worth Rs 24.93 crore proposed by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation to develop Gwalior as a mega tourist centre. 
    Divisional railway manager of Jhansi Navin Chopra and others were present on the occasion.

New cell marking technique sheds light on how brain works
  • Scientists have colour marked individual brain cells to help improve their understanding of how the brain works.
    Our brain has billions of cells and to be able to distinguish them at the single-cell level, and to modify their activity, is crucial to understand such a complex organ, said researchers from the University of Southampton.
    The new marking technique, known as multicolour RGB tracking, allows single cells to be encoded with a heritable colour mark generated by a random combination of the three basic colours (red, green and blue).
    Brains are injected with a solution containing three viral vectors, each producing one fluorescent protein in each of the three colours.
    Each individual cell will take on a combination of the three colours to acquire a characteristic watermark.
    Once the cell has been marked, the mark integrates into the DNA and will be expressed forever in that cell, as well as in any daughter cells.
    “With this technique, we have proved the effective spatial and temporal tracking of neural cells, as well as the analysis of cell progeny,” said Dr Diego Gomez-Nicola at the University of Southampton, who led the multicolour RGB tracking research.
    “This innovative approach is primarily focused to improve neuroscience research, from allowing analysis of clonality to the completion of effective live imaging at the single-cell level.
    “We predict that the use of multicolour RGB tracking will have an impact on how neuroscientists around the world design their experiments.
    “It will allow them to answer questions they were unable to tackle before and contribute to the progress of understanding how our brain works,” Gomez-Nicola said.
    For the researchers, the next step is to change the physiology or identity of certain cells by driving multiple genetic modification of genes of interest with the RGB vectors.
    In the same way they made cells express fluorescent proteins, researchers hope they can change the cell expression of target genes, which would underpin gene therapy-based therapeutic approaches.

Nuclear energy sector saw some steady progress in 2014
  • New Delhi: From ratifying the additional protocols of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to signing of the nuke deal with Australia and agreements for building units 3 and 4 for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) with Russia, the nuclear energy sector saw steady progress in 2014.
    However, unlike last year which saw commencing of commercial operation of the KKNPP unit 1, there wasn’t much in terms of actual energy generation from the new plants. India ratified the Additional Protocol of the IAEA, a mandatory action under the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement, which enabled the international nuclear energy watchdog to have better access of India’s civilian nuclear facilities. The move will also make India’s bid for securing membership of the Nuclear Supplier’s Group stronger.
    According to experts, the Indian uranium reserves are not only of low quality but are unable to quench the thirst of power reactors, thus impacting the nuclear energy production. This year, India and Australia signed a nuclear cooperation agreement. The deal will also help in procuring uranium for power reactors, which have been running with low capacity due to the lack of fuel.
    Similarly, India and Russia sign the agreement to construct unit 3 and 4 for the KKNPP in Tamil Nadu, sorting out the contentious issue of liability. However, there were lows in the atomic energy sector as India could not clinch the nuke deal during Prime Minister

Environment scene in 2014
  • NEW DELHI: 2014 saw India playing a crucial role in protecting the interests of developing nations at the UN climate talks in Lima where negotiators prepared a way for a new ambitious and binding deal to be signed in Paris next year to combat global warming. 
    During the year, the environment ministry, headed by Prakash Javadekar, also sought to exorcise the image of "roadblock" it had gained during the days of the previous UPA government and bringing down timelines for environmental and forest clearances processes. 
    The year also saw a study released by WHO describing Delhi as the most polluted city in the world while a controversy erupted over an Intelligence Bureau report alleging that Greenpeace and other NGOs were using anti-nuclear, anti-genetic modified food and anti-coal agitations to negatively impact GDP growth in the country. 
    Soon after coming to power, the Narendra Modi government changed the nomenclature of the environment ministry by adding "climate change" to it apparently to send across a message that India was serious on the issue of global warming. 
    "In Lima, we fought battle not for us. We fought battle for all least developed countries, for all island countries, for all developing world," Javadekar said about the steps taken by India at the UN Climate Conference to protect the developing nations' interest while reaching the deal — dubbed the Lima Call for Climate Action. 
    According to the deal, developed world will have to take responsibility for action in technology and capacity building and to that end they will have to provide resources to developing and developed world. 

Govt launches cyclone warning system
  • NEW DELHI: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday launched a SMS-based alert system for general public for disseminating of weather and disaster-related information. 
    Under round-the-clock web-based operational system, the IMD would send SMS to individuals who register themselves at the weather forecaster's official website - www.imd.gov.in. 
    The system was launched on Thursday as an observance to the good governance day to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. 
    Launching the system, the Union minister of earth science Harshvardhan said, "The SMS-based weather alert system is a component of the 'Digital India Programme' which is a flagship programme of the government with a vision to transform our country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy". 
    LS Rathore, director general of the IMD, said, "The meteorological department has taken the leverage of Digital India Programme to utilize 'Mobile Seva' of department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) for SMS based cyclone alerts/warnings for wide range of Users', including disaster managers, targeted users and general public". 
    This is part of the IMD's initiatives, taken in recent years, for improvement in weather forecast and warning services based on latest tools and technologies including information and communication technology. 
    "The improvement in cyclone warning systems has resulted in significant reduction in loss of life and property. To mention a few are very severe cyclonic storms, Phailin and Hudhud which crossed Odisha coast near Gopalpur and Andhra Pradesh coast near Visakhapatnam on October 12, 2013 and 2014 respectively wherein loss of life and resources was minimized", said Shailesh Nayak, secretary, ministry of earth sciences, while speaking about the success story of the recent initiatives. 
    He said, "One of the important initiatives towards the above outcome has been dissemination of cyclone alerts/warnings through SMS to disaster managers, fishermen and farmers in the affected areas".

Iran stages massive military exercises
  • Tehran: The Iranian army is staging a massive military manoeuvres called “Mohammad Rasoulallah” to display its military prowess, Press TV reported.
    The first stage of the six-day drill began Thursday. The exercises will cover an area of 2.2 million sq km stretching from the east of the Strait of Hormuz all the way to the 10th Parallel in the north of the Indian Ocean.
    During the first stage, the largest of its kind in the region, different ground units, fighter jets and air defense systems have been stationed in the southeastern part of the country. Various surface and under-surface vessels have been deployed in the Sea of Oman.
    The Second-in-Command of the Iranian Army, Brig. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, said boosting the defence capabilities of the country was one of the objectives of the manoeuvres.
    The Iranian commander said the country’s army wanted to convey a message of peace and friendship to neighbouring states through this military drill.
    The exercises will be carried out by the army’s ground, naval and air forces and with the support of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defence Base.
    The Islamic republic has frequently announced that its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that its defence doctrine is based on deterrence.

Fadnavis lays foundation stone of Nagpur Metro Project’s Administrative Building
  • “Nagpur Metro Railway Project is significant project in resolving traffic problems of city. In view of the importance the Metro Railway Corporation Limited has been established and the work of the project will start soon,” declared Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He was speaking after laying foundation stone (Bhoomipujan ceremony) of Administrative Building of Nagpur Metro Project here on Thursday. The programme was held at Mauja Lendra in front of Deekshabhoomi. Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari presided over the function.
    “The cost of Nagpur Metro Rail Project is expected to be around Rs 8,000-10,000 crore. The project report along with SPV has been prepared. The tender process will commence as soon as the report of project advisors is received. The project advisors are being appointed. The Central Government’s fund, the State share and the local share of fund will soon be made available for the project,” stated Fadnavis and added that the projected is expected to be activated by 2018.
    The seven-storied Administrative Building of Nagpur Metro Project is being built at Nagpur Improvement Trust land. The construction will be completed within 15 months and the cost is expected to be around Rs 23 crore. The Administrative Building will have a Conference Hall, Auditorium and office of Metro Railway Corporation Limited.
    At the outset, the NIT Chairman Dr Harshdeep Kamble welcomed the guests. Others who were present on the occasion include Mayor Pravin Datke, MLAs Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbhare, Sudhakar Kohale, NIT Trusties Pravin Bhoyar, Sandeep Joshi, Municipal Commissioner Shyam Wardhane, Superintending Engineer Sunil Gujjelwar, Sudhir Construction’s Sharad Khandare, Shishir Khandare and others.

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS
  • 1. On 27 November 2014, RBI announced the guidelines for setting up of ......
    1) Private banks and Small industrial development banks
    2) Local Area banks having MFI back ground
    3) Regional and Local Area banks for Common Man
    4) Foreign banks with the FDI of 100 %
    5) Payment banks and small Finance banks
  • 2. RBI has asked interested parties to apply for Small banks and Payment banks by ........
    1) Jan 1, 2015
    2) Apr 1, 2015
    3) Jan 16, 2015
    4) Mar 16, 2015
    5) None
  • 3. The aim of RBI to permit the Payment banks is .......
    1) To boost Financial inclusion
    2) To allow the payments/remittance services to migrant labour workforce
    3) To help the low households
    4) To help the small entities to do banking business
    5) All of above
  • 4. The license of Payment banks can be given to .......
    1) Existing non-bank Pre-paid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers
    2) Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs)
    3) Corporate Business Correspondents (BCs)
    4) Super-market chains
    5) All of above
  • 5. The equity capital of Payment banks is .......
    1) Rs.10 crores
    2) Rs.700 crores
    3) Rs.1000 crores
    4) Rs.500 crores
    5) Rs.100 crores
  • 6. Payment banks not allowed to .......
    1) Issue credit card
    2) Issue debit card
    3) Issue cheque book
    4) provide remittance services
    5) provide accounts to women
  • 7. In the payment banks, the promoter should retain a ....... stake for the first 5 years.
    1) 25%
    2) 15%
    3) 75%
    4) 40%
    5) 100%
  • 8. Payments banks can give savings accounts to customers. But in the single customer account, the maximum balance allowed not more than .......
    1) Rs. 1 Lakh
    2) Rs.75,000
    3) Rs.2 Lakh
    4) Rs. 5 Lakh
    5) Customer of bank can maintain any balance
  • 9. The foreign shareholding in the payments bank allowed up to .......
    1) 10%
    2) 35%
    3) 49%
    4) 74%
    5) As per the FDI policy for private sector banks as amended from time to time
  • 10. The aim to provide licenses to small banks is .......
    1) supply of credit to small business units
    2) to help the small and marginal farmers
    3) to help micro and small industries
    4) to help the unorganized sector
    5) All of above
  • 11. There will not be any restriction in the area of operations of small finance banks. Minimum paid-up equity capital for small finance banks shall be .......
    1) Rs.1000 crore
    2) Rs.5000 crore
    3) Rs.500 crore
    4) Rs.10 crore
    5) Rs.100 crore
  • 12. Listing is compulsory, once the net worth of the small banks crossed Rs .......
    1) 100 crores
    2) 500 crores
    3) 10 crores
    4) 1000 crores
    5) None
  • 13. Promoter's minimum initial contribution to the paid-up equity capital of such small finance bank shall at least be 40% and gradually brought down to 26% within .......
    1) 12 years
    2) 6 years
    3) 10 years
    4) 20 years
    5) None
  • 14. The foreign shareholding in the small banks allowed up to .......
    1) 30%
    2) 20%
    3) 51%
    4) 64%
    5) As per the FDI policy for private sector banks as amended from time to time
  • 15. As per the RBI guidelines, the small banks should see at least 50 per cent of its loan portfolio should constitute loans and advances of up to .......
    1) Rs. 25 lakh
    2) Rs.50 lakh
    3) Rs. 75 lakh
    4) Rs. 5 lakh
    5) None
  • 16. 'Nishchint' is the home loan product of .......
    1) ICICI
    2) SBI
    3) HDFC bank
    4) Axis bank
    5) SBH
  • 17. On 4 December 2014, RBI asked banks to make registration process for m-banking services easy. m-banking stands for .......
    1) Money banking
    2) More banking
    3) Morning banking
    4) Mortar banking
    5) Mobile banking
  • 18. What does the letter 'V' denote in the abbreviated name 'IVRS'?
    1) Valet
    2) Variable
    3) Voice
    4) Vendee
    5) Vendor
  • 19. On 5 December 2014, RBI said it has plan to allow banks to use the 5/25 norms for infra loans for existing projects. Presently 5/25 norms applicable to .......
    1) Old projects
    2) Projects having land more than 100 acres only
    3) Foreign projects alone
    4) PPP models only
    5) Fresh projects
  • 20. Which of the following statements is wrong?
    1) RBI recently passed the new directions in foreign currency accounts
    2) It directed to convert credit balances in any inoperative foreign currency (FC) denominated deposit into Indian rupees
    3) This rule not applicable to Private Bank savings Accounts
    4) Such conversion from FC accounts to rupee accounts made, if the foreign currency (FC) accounts deposit not in use for three years from the date of maturity of deposit
    5) None of above
  • 21. Tony Abbot who was in news recently is the .......
    1) President of Russia
    2) Prime minister of Haiti
    3) Prime minister of Nepal
    4) Chancellor of Germany
    5) Prime minister of Australia
  • 22. Who amongst the following has taken over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after recent assembly elections there?
    1) Laxmikant Parsekar
    2) O.Panner Selvam
    3) Devendra Fadnavis
    4) Manohar Lal Khattar
    5) Prithviraj Chavan
  • 23. Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the .......
    1) New Chief of BSF
    2) New Chief of CRPF
    3) New Chief of CBI
    4) Next Chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB)
    5) New Deputy Governor of RBI
  • 24. 'Miss World 2014' Rolene Strauss is from which of the following countries?
    1) Australia
    2) India
    3) South Africa
    4) Hungary
    5) USA
  • 25. Confucius Peace Prize 2014 conferred on Fidel Castro Ruz for his important contributions in
    eliminating nuclear war after his retirement. He ruled .......
    1) Venezulla
    2) Russia
    3) Cuba
    4) Vietnam
    5) Fiji
  • 26. Who was named as the Asian of the Year 2014 by Singapore's leading newspaper The Straits Times?
    1) Kailash Satyardhi
    2) Malala
    3) Narendra Modi
    4) Dalia lama
    5) Lee Hsien Loong
  • 27. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojna (DDU-GKY) aims at providing quality skill training and placement opportunities to rural poor youth in the age group of .......
    1) 25-35 years
    2) 18-25 years
    3) 20-35 years
    4) 15-35 years
    5) None
  • 28. By 2020, developed countries are predicted to face a shortfall of over 57 million semiskilled manpower while India is expected to have a surplus of .......
    1) 17 million
    2) 47 million
    3) 27 million
    4) 7 million
    5) 67 million
  • 29. For DDU-GKY scheme, the government will spend Rs. 2000 crores to train nearly ....... annually and help of corporate sector will be sought to achieve the goal.
    1) Two lakh rural youth
    2) Three lakh rural youth
    3) Four lakh rural youth
    4) Five lakh rural youth
    5) Twenty lakh rural youth
  • 30. Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) introduced on the birth anniversary .......
    1) Nehru
    2) Gandhi
    3) Ambedkar
    4) Jayaprakash Narayan
    5) Lal Bahadur Shastri
  • 31. Under SAGY, the member of Parliament will identify and develop ....... from their constituencies as a model village by 2016.
    1) one village
    2) two villages
    3) three villages
    4) four villages
    5) five villages
  • 32. Under SAGY, the member of Parliament will identify and develop from their constituencies a model village by 2016 and two more by .......
    1) 2019
    2) 2025
    3) 2050
    4) 2045
    5) 2030
  • 33. On 15 December 2014, Union Government told the proposed TAPI pipeline will have a length of 1814 kms. TAPI stands for .......
    1) Turkey - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India
    2) Turkmenistan - Azerbaijan - Pakistan - India
    3) Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Persian Gulf -India
    4) Turkmenistan - Armenia - Pakistan - India
    5) Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India
  • 34. Vijay Diwas celebrates on 16th December because .......
    1) India's military victory over Pakistan in 1965
    2) India's military victory over Pakistan in 1971
    3) India's military victory over Pakistan in 1996
    4) India's military victory over Pakistan in 2000
    5) None of above
  • 35. National Energy Conservation Day observed on .......
    1) 31 October
    2) 1 December
    3) 4 December
    4) 14 December
    5) None
  • 36. International Day of Yoga is on .......
    1) 6 April
    2) 14 November
    3) 11 November
    4) 21 June
    5) None
  • 37. 'The Dramatic Decade: The Years of Indira Gandhi' written by .......
    1) Rahul Gandhi
    2) Pratibha Patil
    3) Manmohan Singh
    4) M.S. Swami Nathan
    5) Pranab Mukherjee
  • 38. London Classic title won by .......
    1) Magnus Carlsen
    2) Viswanathan Anand
    3) Fabiano Caruana
    4) Alexander Grischuk
    5) None
  • 39. 2014 Champions Trophy of Hockey won by .......
    1) Pakistan
    2) Germany
    3) India
    4) Australia
    5) None
  • 40. Pick the wrong combination?
    1) David Warner - Cricket - New Zealand
    2) Amos Meindi - Marathon - Kenya
    3) Sarita Devi - Boxer - India
    4) Lewis Hamilton - Formula One Race Driver - Britain
    5) Stanislas Wawrinka - Tennis - Switzerland
  • 41. Pakistan has been ranked third in Global Terrorism Index released by London based Institute for Economics and Peace. Which nation tops in this list?
    1) Iraq
    2) Syria
    3) Afghanistan
    4) Nigeria
    5) Iran
  • 42. Which of the following auto majors is in process to phase out its popular hatchback Santro?
    1) Maruti Suzuki
    2) Tata Motors
    3) Hyundai Motors
    4) General Motors
    5) None
  • 43. Oxford English Dictionary has named which of the following words as 2014 word of year?
    1) wanna
    2) SMH
    3) Humblebrag
    4) Neckbeard
    5) Vape
  • ANSWERS:
    1-5, 2-3, 3-5, 4-5, 5-5, 6-1, 7-4, 8-1, 9-5, 10-5
    11-5, 12-2, 13-1, 14-5, 15-1, 16-4, 17-5, 18-3, 19-5, 20-3
    21-5, 22-3, 23-4, 24-3, 25-3, 26-3, 27-4, 28-2, 29-1, 30-4
    31-1, 32-1, 33-5, 34-2, 35-4, 36-4, 37-5, 38-2, 39-2, 40-1, 41-1, 42-3, 43-5






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