Current affairs dec 2015-june 2016

[24/09 9:58 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS JUNE 2016
1. Switzerland has recently inaugurated the longest and deepest
railway tunnel in the world. What is the name of that tunnel?
Gotthard Base Tunnel.
Gotthard Base Tunnel is a railway base tunnel through the Alps in
Switzerland. It opened on 1 June 2016 with full service to begin in
December 2016. With a route length of 57.09 km (35.5 mi) and a total
of 151.84 km (94.3 mi) of tunnels, shafts and passages, it is the
world's longest and deepest traffic tunnel and the first flat, low-level
route through the Alps.
2. Bollywood actor who is popularly known for his role of
Manikchand in Shah Rukh Khan starrer Baadshah, passed away on
June 1, 2016?
Razzak Khan.
The comic actor made his debut in Bollywood with Roop Ki Rani
Choron Ka Raja in1993 and was seen in more than 90 movies in his
entire career span. He had also appeared on Kapil Sharma’s show
‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ in 2014.
3. Name the Seven-year-old Japanese boy who was found by
authorities in the woods nearly a week after his parents abandoned
him for disciplinary reasons?
Yamato Tanooka.
Yamato Tanooka went missing in bear-inhabited forests in northern
Japan after his parents apparently abandoned him as punishment, has
been found alive.
4. American Olympic and professional boxer and activist, who is
widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports
figures of the 20th century, passed away on June 3, 2016?
Muhammad Ali.
Cassius Clay was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began
training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At 18, he won
a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer
Olympics in Rome, and converted to Islam shortly afterwards. At age
22 in 1964, he won the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles from Sonny
Liston in an upset. Clay then changed his legal name from Cassius
Clay, which he called his "slave name", to Muhammad Ali, and gave a
message of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white
domination during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Ali has suffered
from Parkinson’s for three decades, most famously trembling badly
while lighting the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta.
5. The revenue minister in the BJP-led government in Maharashtra
who has submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
after allegations of impropriety surfaced against him in a land deal in
Pune?
Eknath Khadse.
6. Name the 96year old Japanese man who has entered the
Guinness World Records after becoming the oldest person in the world
to receive a university degree?
Shigemi Hirata.
Shigemi Hirata, who lives in Takamatsu in east Japan, received his
Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Design from Kyoto University in
March at the age of 96 years and 200 days.
7. Complete list of winners of French Open Tennis Title 2016:
French Open Men's Singles Title-2016:
Winner: Novak Djokovic (Serbia). He defeated Andy Murray (UK) in the
final.
French Open Women's Singles Title-2016:
Winner: Garbine Muguruza (Spain).
She defeated Serena Williams (USA) in the final.
French Open men's Doubles Title-2016:
Winners: Feliciano Lopez (Spain) & Marc Lopez (Spain).
They defeated Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA) in the final.
French Open Women's Doubles Title-2016:
Winners: Caroline Garcia (France) & Kristina Mladenovic (France)
They defeated Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) & Elena Vesnina (Russia)
in the final.
French Open Mixed Doubles Title-2016:
Winners: Martina Hingis (Switzerland) & Leander Paes (India).
They defeated Sania Mirza (India) & Ivan Dodig (Croatia) in the final.
8. What is the name of the Afghan-India Friendship Dam which is a
hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in
Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan?
Salma Dam.
The dam was opened on 4 June 2016 by Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The Afghan
cabinet renamed the Salma Dam to the Afghan-India Friendship Dam in
a move to strengthen relations between the two countries. The
hydroelectric plant produces 42 MW of power in addition to providing
irrigation for 75,000 hectares of farmland.
9. The second Indian (after Monotosh Roy in 1951) to win any Mr.
Universe title, passed away on June 5, 2016?
Manohar Aich.
He won the 1952 NABBA Universe Championships. At 4 feet 11 inches
(1.50 m) tall, he was given the name "Pocket Hercules".
10. Which countries signed seven agreements on June 5, 2016
which including one on finance intelligence to check money laundering
and terrorism financing and another to woo foreign investment in the
infrastructure sector?
India and Qatar.
11. Which city became the first city in the country to have its own
city animal after Kamrup metropolitan district administration declared
Gangetic River dolphin as its official mascot?
Guwahati.
Gangetic River Dolphin locally in Guwahati is known as ‘Sihu’ and it is
on the verge of extinction. Less than 2,000 Gangetic river dolphins
remain in the Brahmaputra River along Guwahati. Background
12. Who won the Catalunya Motorcycle Grant Prix 2016?
Valentino Rossi.
13. Who was elected the Speaker of the 14th Assembly of Kerala
State?
P. Sreeramakrishnan (CPM).
14. Who became the first England cricketer to cross the 10,000-run
mark in Test cricket, and the youngest overall, beating Sachin
Tendulkar's record set in 2005 by five months at the age of 31 years,
five months?
Alastair Cook.
15. Adobe South Asia region MD who has been appointed as the
Managing Director of Facebook, India?
Umang Bedi.
Umang Bedi will take over from Kirthiga Reddy who will be returning to
United States to take on a new role at the company’s headquarters at
Menlo Park.
16. The U.S. has recently recognised an Asian country as its ‘major
defence partner,’ a classification that will allow that country to buy
more advanced and sensitive technologies from the U.S. Which is that
country?
India.
17. Russian Tennis star who has been banned for two years by the
International Tennis Federation for using a prohibited drug?
Maria Sharapova.
The ban has been backdated to January 26 - the day the Russian
failed her drugs test in Melbourne - meaning it will end on January 25,
2018. The heart disease drug, which 29-year-old Sharapova says she
has been taking since 2006 for health issues, became a banned
substance on 1 January 2016.
18. A Maldives court has convicted the country’s former vice
president of masterminding a plot to kill the president by exploding a
bomb on his speedboat last year and sentenced him to 15 years in
prison. What is the name of that former vice president of Maldives?\
Ahmed Adeeb.
Adeeb is the fourth high profile politician to be jailed on terrorism
charges since Yameen Abdul Gayoom was elected president in 2013.
19. Who became the first Indian batsman to hit a century on One-
Day International debut?
Lokesh Rahul.
Rahul hit century in his ODI debut in first of the three ODIs against
Zimbabwe at Harare Sports
Club.
20. American singer, songwriter and YouTuber known for her
participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice and for her
covers of hit songs by contemporary pop musicians, died on June 10,
2016, of gunshot wounds inflicted in a targeted attack that followed
her concert performance in Orlando, Florida?
Christina Grimmie.
A gunman opened fire at a Florida concert venue as singer Christina
Grimmie signed autographs for fans after a show, killing the onetime
star of The Voice before shooting and killing himself.
21. First forensic surgeon of Kerala who was director and professor
of forensic medicine at Kozhikode Medical College, passed away on
June 12, 2016?
Dr. P.V. Guharaj.
His finding that P. Rajan, a student of the erstwhile Regional
Engineering College, Kozhikode, died as a result of custodial torture
had irked several policemen and politicians during the Emergency
period. He has authored a book titled Forensic Medicine which is an
authentic reference text in India.
22. World athletics governing body IAAF has provisionally suspended
its deputy director over charges that he contrived to conceal news of
positive Russian drugs tests in 2013. Who is that deputy director?
Nick Davies.
23. Veteran Emirati journalist who was one of the first journalists in
the UAE, passed away on June 11, 2016?
Musabeh Obaid Al Daheri.
He founded a local newspaper called “Al Nakhi” in 1934.
24. Who won the Australian Open Badminton Women’s title-2016
after defeating China’s Sun Yu in the final?
Saina Nehwal.
25. Who won the Canadian Grand Prix-2016?
Lewis Hamilton.
The Canadian Grand Prix is an annual auto race held in Canada since
1961.
26. Microsoft has recently decided to buy the largest business-
oriented social networking site for $26.2 billion in the largest
acquisition in its history. Which is that social networking site?
LinkedIn.
The acquisition, by far the largest in Microsoft’s history, unites two
companies in different businesses: one a big maker of software tools,
the other the largest business-oriented social networking site, with
more than 400 million members globally.
27. Who won the Man of the series award in the three ODI cricket
series between India and Zimbabwe held in Zimbabwe in June 2016?
K.Lokesh Rahul (India).
Series - India won the 3-match series 3-0.
28. The Bombay High Court on June 13, 2016 directed the Central
Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue an ‘A’ certificate to the
Indian crime-drama film with the deletion of one scene and a modified
disclaimer. Which is that film?
Udta Punjab.
It is based on drug abuse in the Indian state of Punjab and is directed
by Abhishek Chaubey.
On 4 June 2016, the Central Board of Film Certification sought a stay
on the film's release citing that the themes dealt with in the film were
too vulgar for the general audience.
29. President of which country has been accorded the highest
honour of Cote D’Ivoirie by its President Alassane Ouattara?
Pranab Mukherjee.
President Pranab Mukherjee was bestowed with Cote d’Ivoire’s highest
national honour, the Grande Croix Commandeur in National Merit Order,
from the President of Cote d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara.
30. Who becomes world's fastest batsman to score 23 ODI
hundreds?
Hashim Amla.
Amla broke the record held by Virat Kohli. Amla took only 132 innings
to score his 23 ODI hundreds while Kohli reached there in his 157th
innings.
31. Brazil football legend who was presented with an Olympic order
-- the highest honour given by the International Olympics Committee
(IOC) ?
Pele.
32. Australian Film Director who is widely regarded as the father of
Australian arthouse cinema, passed away on June 18, 2016?
Paul Cox.
The Dutch-born director is known for his films Man of Flowers, A
Woman's Tale and Innocence.
33. Who won European Grand Prix -2016?
Nico Rosberg.
34. American film and television actor, known for portraying Pavel
Chekov in the Star Trek reboot series, who died of injuries in less than
a minute after he was pinned between SUV and against a brick mailbox
pillar and a fence?
Anton Yelchin.
35. Who has been elected as Rome’s first female mayor?
Virginia Raggi.
Raggi represents the anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S).
36. Who has taken charge as the Officiating Chairman-cum-
Managing Director of United India Insurance Company Ltd with effect
from June 8, 2016?
Ariful Hoda.
He has been appointed in place of Milind Kharat who has retired as the
Chairman-cum-Managing Director on May 31, 2016.
37. Which country won the Champions Trophy Hockey title-2016
defeating India in the penalty shootout?
Australia.
This was Australia's 14th Champions Trophy triumph.
38. Who has been appointed as chief of the country's premier
fashion technology institute NIFT?
Chetan Chauhan.
39. The chief executive of Bharti Group who has been elected
chairman of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC)?
Sunil Bharti Mittal.
40. Name the newborn fully-formed exoplanet (planets that orbit
stars beyond our Sun) discovered by NASA in 2016?
K2-33b.
K2-33b is a bit larger than Neptune and whips tightly around its star
every five days. It is only five to 10 million years old, making it one of
a very few newborn planets found to date.
41. The government of India on June 20, 2016 banned use of a
permissible food additive following a CSE study that found its
presence in bread as causing cancer. Which is that food additive?
Potassium bromate.
42. What is the name of the autobiography of Sourav Ganguly,
former cricket captain of India?
'A Century Is Not Enough'.
Ganguly has collaborated with senior journalist Gautam Bhattacharya
for his first book 'A Century Is Not Enough'.
43. Name the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which successfully
launched the 727.5 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 19 co-
passenger satellites on June 22, 2016?
PSLV –C34.
PSLV-C34 (also known as Cartosat-2 series satellite) was the 36th
mission of the PSLV program and 14th mission of PSLV in XL
configuration. The PSLV-C34 successfully carried and deployed 20
satellites in the Sun-synchronous orbit. With a launch mass of 320,000
kilograms and payload mass of 1,288 kilograms, the C34 set a new
record of deploying the maximum number of satellites by Indian Space
Research Organisation in a single mission.
44. One of Pakistan's best known Sufi musicians who has been shot
dead in the southern port city of Karachi on June 22, 2016?
Amjad Sabri.
Sabri was a Pakistani singer and a proponent of the Sufi Muslim
tradition. Son of Ghulam Farid Sabri of the Sabri Brothers, he emerged
as one of South Asia's most prominent qawwali singers, often reciting
poems written by his father and uncle. He was shot dead in Karachi in
a targeted killing claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban.
45. The President & Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Corp who
resigned from the post on June 22, 2016?
Nikesh Arora.
Ken Miyauchi, head of the Soft Bank group’s Japanese
telecommunications operations, would become president and chief
operating officer to replace Nikesh Arora.
46. Who becomes all-time top goal scorer for Argentina when he
scored in the Copa America semi-final against the United States to
take his international tally to 55 goals?
Lionel Messi.
The goal in his 112th international lifts him above Gabriel Batistuta,
who scored 54 goals in 78 games for the two-time world champions.
47. Who was named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) as Team India's head coach for a year?
Anil Kumble.
Kumble has been appointed as the coach of Indian Cricket team for
one year.
48. Who has unexpectedly resigned as chairman of state-owned Life
Insurance Corporation of India, two years before his term ends?
S.K.Roy.
49. Who has been appointed as the new Managing Director and
Country Manager for Paypal (India), US-based payment platform?
Anupam Pahuja.
50. Which countries joined Chinese and Russian led security
organisation whilst maintaining close relations with the West?
India and Pakistan.
51. Prime Minister of Britain who has resigned, after the British
public took the momentous decision to reject his entreaties and turn
their back on the European Union?
David Cameron.
52. Who has been re-appointed India's batting coach for their four-
Test tour of West Indies?
Sanjay Bangar.
53. Acclaimed dramatist, theatre director and poet who has given to
Malayalam literature and theatre fine works such as “Avanavan
Kadamba”,” Daivathar”, “Kaikkuttappad” and “Ottayaan”, passed away
on June 26, 2016?
Kavalam Narayana Panicker.
He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical
Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Madhyamavyayogam (1979),
Kalidasa's Vikramorvasiyam (1981, 1996), Shakuntalam (1982),
Karnabharam (1984, 2001), Bhasa's Uru Bhangam (1988),
Swapnavasavadattam, and Dootavakyam (1996)
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Direction in
1983 by Sangeet Natak Akademi, and its highest award for lifetime
achievement, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 2002. In 2007,
he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in the field of Arts, by the
Government of India.
54. Legendary artist, credited with being one of the pioneers of
Indian modern art, passed away on June 29, 2016?
K G Subramanyan.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012.
55. Former India batsman who was named head coach of the
Afghanistan national cricket team in June 2016?
Lalchand Rajput.
He replaced ex-Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq who resigned from
the post in April.
56. The world´s first electric road is opened in which country?
Sweden.
The world´s first electric road is being inaugurated near the city of
Gavle in central Sweden.
57. Which country has joined an exclusive club of countries
controlling exports in missile technology?
India.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR), aimed at preventing unchecked proliferation of
missiles. India's entry into the regime [MTCR] as its 35th member.
58. Which country won Copa America defeating Argentina in the
final?
Chile.
59. Who became the first Indian female athlete to qualify for the
100m dash in Olympics in 36 years as she booked a Rio Games berth
at the 26th G Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan?
Dutee Chand.
60. Argentina footballer who has retired from international football
after missing in a penalty shootout as Argentina lost a fourth major
final in nine years?
Lionel Messi.
[24/09 9:59 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MAY 2016
1. Former Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) president who led the BJS to
its biggest ever win in 1967 when it won 35 seats in the Lok Sabha,
passed away on May 2, 2016?
Balraj Madhok.
2. Independent MP and liquor baron who is facing a case of loan
default of over Rs. 9,400 crore, resigned from Rajya Sabha on May 2,
2016?
Vijay Mallya.
3. Leicester City striker who has won the Football Writers'
Association Player of the Year-2016 award?
Jamie Vardy.
4. Who holds the Guinness World Record for “The Fastest time to
travel the Indian Golden Quadrilateral on foot (female)”?
Michelle Kakade.
She covered a distance of 5970 km along the Golden Quadrilateral
that connects the 4 major metros of our country namely Mumbai in
the west, Delhi in the north, Kolkata in the East and Chennai in the
south.
5. Who has taken over as the next Chief of the Naval Staff on May 3,
2016 replacing Admiral RK Dhowan, who superannuates from service?
Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba.
Lamba was Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) Western
Naval Command before taking over as Navy Chief.
6. Prime Minister of Turkey who has resigned on May 5, 2016,
paving the way for his replacement by a trusted ally of President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan?
Ahmet Davutoglu.
7. Who has become the first Indian author to win the Commonwealth
short story prize, beating almost 4,000 entries for the 5,000 pound
award with the first short story he has ever written?
Parashar Kulkarni .
Parashar Kulkarni was declared the winner of the Commonwealth Short
Story Prize, 2016.
His story, 'Cow and Company' is a narrative set in India in the 1990s
about four men who go in search of a cow to feature in an
advertisement for chewing gum.
8. Who has been elected as the firs Muslim Mayor of London?
Sadiq Khan.
He is the first ethnic minority mayor, and the first Muslim to become
mayor of a major Western capital.
9. Former South African cricketer who has been appointed as
Pakistan cricket team's head coach on May 6, 2016?
Mickey Arthur.
He fills the role vacated by Waqar Younis' resignation in April, following
Pakistan's early exit from the World T20. This is Arthur's third
assignment with an international side; he coached South Africa from
2005 to 2010, and Australia from 2011 to 2013.
10. Who won the Madrid Open Womens tennis title 2016 defeating
Dominika Cibulkova in the final?
Simona Halep.
11. Who has been named chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea at
a rare party congress held in Pyongyang?
Kim Jong-un.
The first congress of the Workers' Party in 36 years, which opened on
May 6, 2016, was scheduled to promote Kim to the "top post" of the
party.
12. Who has been appointed country manager for Indian operations
of Apple Inc?
Sanjay Kaul.
Kaul is taking over the position from Manish Dhir who had resigned as
India Head in January this year.
13. A sculpture of a kneeling Hitler by an Italian artist has sold for a
record £12 million in the auction held in the recent New York auction.
Who is that artist?
Maurizio Cattelan.
14. Which club won the English Premier League title for the first
time?
Leicester City.
15. Which pair won the $100,000 Busan Open Challenger doubles
title-2016 defeating Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana of
Taiwan in the final?
Leander Paes (India) and Sam Groth (Australia).
16. Which club won the German Bundesliga title-2016?
Bayern Munich.
17. Senior Congress leader who has been renominated as Chairman
of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for a third term of one year?
Prof. K.V. Thomas.
18. Name the personalities who are selected as the Good will
Ambassador of Indian contingent for Rio Olympics?
A.R.Rahman, Sachin Tendulkar, Abhinav Bindra and Salman Khan.
19. Who has been appointed as the acting chief justice of the Kerala
High Court on 05th May, 2016?
Mohan Shantanagoudar.
20. Name the Islamist leader who has been hanged in Bangladesh on
May 11, 2016 for crimes during the war of independence from Pakistan
in 1971?
Motiur Rahman Nizami.
He is former leader of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. He also served
as the Bangladeshi Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Industry. On
29 October 2014, he was convicted and sentenced to death for war
crimes in 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh by the International
Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh. It has been considered that he was the
supreme commander of the militia group Al-Badr during the
Bangladesh Liberation War.
21. Leicester manager who has won the Enzo Bearzot award for best
Italian coach of the season?
Claudio Ranieri.
22. Name the world's largest cargo aircraft, made its first landing in
India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad?
The Antonov An-225 Mriya.
23. Who has been elected unanimously and unopposed as the
Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC?)
Shashank Manohar.
24. The parliament of which country on May 11, 2016 gave final
approval to a law recognizing civil unions of same-sex couples?
Italy.
25. Name the book written by former Indian women football team
skipper Sona Chaudhary, which has made several shocking revelations,
including several cases of sexual and mental harassment by the
officials against the women footballers?
“Game in Game”.
26. Name the largest passenger ship in the world, which first set sail
on 15 May 2016 from the STX France docks in Saint-Nazaire?
MS Harmony of the Seas.
Harmony of the Seas is an Oasis-class cruise ship built by STX France
at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France for
Royal Caribbean International. With a gross tonnage of 226,963 GT,
she is the largest passenger ship in the world, surpassing her older
sisters Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.
27. Leicester striker who won the Premier League player of the
season 2015-2016?
Jamie Vardy.
28. Which club won the Spanish league title-2016(La Liga 2016)?
Barcelona.
29. Who has been elected as the International Federation of
Association Football’s (FIFA) first female general secretary?
Senegalese Fatma Samoura.
she is also the first African and non-European to become the female
general secretary of FIFA.
30. Name the first Muslim woman who has been elected as the
speaker of a state parliament in Germany?
Muhterem Aras.
31. American supercentenarian who was, at the age of 116 years,
311 days , becomes the world's oldest living person passed away on
May 12, 2016?
Susannah Mushatt Jones.
32. Former India captain who was re-appointed ICC Cricket
Committee chairman for a second term of three years?
Anil Kumble.
His one-time team-mate and batting great Rahul Dravid was named
member of the top panel.
33. The West Indian cricket writer, commentator and journalist, who
passed away on May 11, 2016?
Tony Cozier.
34. Name the train provided by Indian Railway with 50 wagons
carrying nearly 25 lakh litre water to the scarcity-hit city “Latur”?
The Jaldoot Express.
35. Which pair won the Rome Masters Women’s doubles title -2016
defeating Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova in the final?
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.
36. Former Indian Test Cricketer who was the second Indian
batsman, after Lala Amarnath, to score a hundred on Test debut,
passed away on May 16, 2016?
Deepak Shodhan.
37. Tottenham Hotspur striker who won the Premier League Golden
Boot for the first time after finishing the season with 25 goals?
Harry Kane.
38. Who won the Rom Masters Men’s title -2016 defeating Novak
Djokovic in final?
Andy Murray.
Murray becomes the first British player since 1931 to win the
tournament in Italy.
39. South Korean author who has won the Man Booker International
Prize-2016 for her novel “The Vegetarian”?
Han Kang.
The novel was translated by Deborah Smith and is published by
Portobello Books.
40. Which cricketer holds the record of most runs by a batsman in
an IPL season with this 973 runs in year 2016?
Virat Kohli.
Kohli beat Chris Gayle & Michael Hussey's record who both had made
733 runs exactly.
41. Azhar is a 2016 Indian sports drama film which is inspired from
the life of Indian cricketer and former national team captain
Mohammad Azharuddin. Who is the director of the film?
Tony D'Souza.
The film is produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor for Sony
Pictures Networks, and features Emraan Hashmi in the titular role.
Nargis Fakhri, Prachi Desai and Lara Dutta play crucial supporting
roles.
42. Senior goalkeeper who has been appointed as the captain of the
national Hockey team for the Rio Olympics?
Sreejesh P.R.
India's long-time captain Sardar Singh was replaced by goalkeeper PR
Sreejesh as the skipper of the Indian men's hockey squad for Rio
Olympics.
43. How many planets have been discovered by the NASA's Kepler
mission?
1284.
NASA's Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets – the single
largest finding of planets to date. These planets beyond our solar
system — exoplanets — were discovered with the help of NASA's
Kepler Space Telescope, which launched in 2009.
44. Russian world weightlifting champion who has been banned by
the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) for four years after he
failed a doping test?
Alexei Lovchev.
45. Which city is ranked the most polluted city according to the data
released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 12, 2016?
Zabol. (Iran).
Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh take the
second and third spot, respectively.
46. Who is the 12th Chief Minister of Kerala?
Pinarai Vijayan.
47. Who is sworn in as the first female president of Taiwan?
Tsai Ing-wen.
48. Which club won the Europa League title-2016 defeating Liverpool
in the final?
Sevilla.
Sevilla achieved a remarkable hat-trick as it became the first club to
win three successive Europa League titles.
49. Which club won the 14th Federation Cup Football title defeating
Aizawl in the final?
Mohun Bagan.
50. Name the non-governmental organisation (NGO) set up in
Mumbai to work with street- children which was named Charity of the
Year at the first-ever charity awards in the UK?
Magic Bus.
Magic Bus, which supports over 360,000 children and 8,500 young
people across 22 states in India and recently launched a pilot
programme in the UK, was honoured for its innovative use of a
mentoring model and sport-based curriculum to engage children at the
Asian Voice Charity Awards 2016.
51. Who became the first African to scoop PFA Player of the Year
award (2016) in Premier League history?
Riyad Mahrez.
He is a professional footballer who plays for English club Leicester City
and the Algerian national team as a winger.
52. Who was elected the president of the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) on May 22, 2016?
Anurag Thakur.
Ajay Shirke elected as BCCI secretary.
53. Which club won the 2015–16 Coppa Italia
Juventus
Juventus successfully defended their title after beating Milan 1–0.
They secured a record eleventh title in the competition.
54. BJP leader and former IPS officer who was appointed Lieutenant
Governor of Puducherry on May 22, 2016?
Kiran Bedi.
55. Which club won the FA cup 2015-2016?
Manchester United.
56. Which club won the French Cup-2016?
PSG (Paris St Germain).
57. Which country successfully launched the first technology
demonstrator of indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV),
capable of launching satellites into orbit around earth and reentering
the atmosphere?
India.
Reusable Launch Vehicle—Technology Demonstration Programme is a
series of technology demonstration missions that has been conceived
by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as a first step
towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) re-usable launch
vehicle.
58. Which film has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival held
in May 2016?
Daniel Blake.
British director Ken Loach is the director of the film “Daniel Blake”.
59. Which club won Kings Cup -2016?
Barcelona.
Barcelona defeated Sevilla in the final.
60. Which countries signed a total of 12 of agreements on economy,
trade, transportation, port development, culture, science and academic
cooperation, on May 23, 2016?
India and Iran.
61. Which country fully lifted a decades-long ban on May 23, 2016,
on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam?
U.S.A.
62. The 42nd G7 summit was held in?
Japan.
The 42nd G7 summit was held on May 26–27, 2016 at the Shima
Kanko Hotel in Kashiko Island, Shima, Mie Prefecture, Japan.
63. An Indian woman has given birth to the world's biggest baby girl
on May 30, 2016. What is the weight of the baby girl?
15lbs.
The girl was born in hospital to a 20-year-old called Nandini in the
south west Karnataka region.
64. The former India and Railways all-rounder who has been
appointed India's head coach for the team's tour to Zimbabwe?
Sanjay Bangar.
65. Who was named Chief Minister of Puducherry in May 2016?
V.Narayanasamy
He is the 10th Chief Minister of Puducherry.
66. Former Argentine junta leader who has been sentenced to 20
years in prison for crimes committed under Operation Condor - a
conspiracy between South America's dictators in the 1970s?
Reynaldo Bignone.
67. Who has been elected as the 14th Chief Minister of Assam?
Sarbananda Sonowal.
Previously he served as Union Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs and
Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development in the
Narendra Modi Government.
68. Which club won the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League?
Manchester United.
The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of
Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the
24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs'
Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
69. Which team clinched the 2016 IPL title by beating Royal
Challengers Bangalore in the final?
Sun Risers Hyderabad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers by eight runs to be
crowned champions of VIVO IPL 2016.
Man of the Match in the final of IPL-2016: Ben cutting (Sun Risers
Hyderabad) for his 39* off 15 ball & 35/2.
70. Which state emerged as champions of the 13th National Youth
Athletics Championship?
Kerala.
71. Which players shared the Players of the series in the three test
cricket matches between England and Sri Lanka held in England in May
2016?
Jonny Bairstow (England) and Kaushal Silva (Sri Lanka).
Series - England won the 3-match series 2-0
[24/09 10:02 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS APRIL 2016
1. Which country has officially blocked Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
and South Korean websites in April 2016 in a bid to further control
access to outside information?
North Korea.
2. New Zealand all-rounder who has retired from ODIs, two days
after his side was knocked out of the World T20 at the semi-final stage
by England?
Grant Elliott.
Elliot finished his ODI career with 1976 runs in 83 matches, including
two centuries and 11 half-centuries, at an average of 34.06 and 39
wickets to his name.
3. Which city has been declared first kerosene free city of India in
April 2016?
Chandigarh.
Chandigarh has been declared kerosene free with sale of subsidised
cooking and lighting fuel being stopped in Chandigarh from April 1,
2016 completely.
4. The Upper House of Myanmar's parliament approved a Bill on April
1, 2016 to give state counselor role for the leader of National League
for Democracy (NLD). Who is that leader?
Aung San Suu Kyi.
5. Which country won the T20 World Cup 2016 defeating England in
the final?
West Indies.
West Indies' Carlos Brathwaite smashed England's Ben Stokes for four
successive sixes to snatch a sensational four-wicket win in World
Twenty20 final as the Caribbean side became the first team to win the
title twice.
6. Which country claimed their first Women's World Twenty20 with a
pulsating eight-wicket win over Australia in Kolkata?
West Indies.
7. Which film was declared the worst film at the 8th Golden Kela
Awards, which annually recognises the worst in Hindi cinema like
Razzies?
Dilwale.
Created by Random Magazine, Golden Kela winners are selected each
year by an online poll and receive an award in the shape of a golden
banana. The other award winners are:
Worst Actor (male) - Arjun Kapoor for Tevar.
Worst Actor (female) - Sonam Kapoor for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
Worst director - Sooraj Barjatya for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
8. Name the fastest train in India which was launched on 5 April
2016 and operates at a speed of 160 km/h (99 mph)?
Gatimaan Express.
Gatimaan Express is a semi high speed train that runs between Delhi
and Agra in India. The train will take a travel time of 100 minutes to
cover 188 kilometres (117 mi) journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin to
Agra Cantonment railway stations.
9. Who Becomes the First Sikh Officer In The US Army To Serve
With A Turban And A Beard?
Simratpal Singh.
A Sikh army captain, Simratpal Singh, who had decided to sue the
United States military for discrimination in March, has won the case.
He can continue wearing a turban and beard while being in duty.
10. Panama papers recently revealed hidden Black money of more
than 500 Indians which include two Bollywood celebrities on the list
along with Kushal Pal Singh. Who are they?
Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
A huge data leak from a law firm “Mossack Fonseca” in Panama
suggesting it hid billions of dollars in assets of global politicians,
sports stars and entertainers threatened to dramatically boost the
country’s reputation as an offshore haven for money laundering. These
are secret documents of firms belongings to global and Indian power-
figures parking money in the tax haven.
11. Who has resigned as Pakistan head coach following his side's
group-stage exit at the World Twenty20?
Waqar Younis.
12. Who was sworn in as the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu
and Kashmir on April 4, 2016?
Mehbooba Mufti.
PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the 13th chief minister of
Jammu and Kashmir.
13. Who became Chelsea's head coach on a three-year deal after
Euro 2016?
Antonio Conte.
He is currently manager of the Italian national team and has signed a
three-year contract to take charge of English club Chelsea after UEFA
Euro 2016.
14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5 inaugurated a scheme
which is aimed at creating jobs and promoting entrepreneurs among
SC, ST and women by extending loans at cheaper rates. Which is that
scheme?
‘Stand Up India’.
The ‘Stand Up India’ scheme was launched by Narendra Modi at a
function held at Noida. Under the scheme, which will be implemented
through 1.25 lakh bank branches, banks will give loans at the "least
applicable rate" of interest. Also every bank branch, including private
sector, will give loans between Rs 10 lakh and 1 crore to at least one
SC/ST and one woman entrepreneur under the scheme.
15. Which state of India has declared a total ban on the sale of all
forms of alcohol with immediate effect from April 2016?
Bihar.
16. Who has been appointed as the new Director General of the
Indian Institute of Mass Communication for a period of three years?
K.G.Suresh.
17. South Africa's first non-white woman judge who has been
conferred upon the highest French civilian honour?
Navanetham Pillay.
Navanetham Pillay was the first non-white woman judge of the high
court of South Africa and has also served as president of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which tried leaders of a
genocide that left nearly a million people dead.
18. Prime Minister of which country was conferred Saudi Arabia's
highest civilian honour- the King Abdulaziz Sash in April 2016?
India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred Saudi Arabia's highest
civilian honour, the King Abdulaziz Sash, on April 3, 2016. Among
other notable recipients of this honour are US President Barack Obama,
British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir
Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indonesian President
Joko Widodo.
19. The wicketkeeper-batsman who has been appointed as
Pakistan's T20I captain?
Sarfraz Ahmed.
20. Name the Bangladesh blogger who opposed radical Islam hacked
to death by unidentified assailants in April 2016?
Nazimuddin Samad.
A law student of Jagannath University in Dhaka’s old quarter, Samad
was known as an atheist to his friends. He was involved in a 2013
movement to demand capital punishment for war crimes during
Bangladesh’s war of liberation against Pakistan in 1971.
21. Who has been named the most powerful businesswoman in Asia
by Forbes in April 2016, leading a list of 50 women leaders from the
region that includes eight from India?
Nita Ambani.
She is the Chairperson of Reliance Foundation. SBI Chairman and
Managing Director Arundhati Bhattacharya has been ranked second on
the 2016 Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen list that features trailblazing
women from China, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong
Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and New Zealand.
22. Which country recently has made it illegal to pay for sex, in a
move designed to curb prostitution?
France.
Under the new law of France, anyone caught purchasing an act from a
sex worker will be fined and required to attend classes on the harms of
prostitution.
23. Name the member of Fifa’s independent ethics committee who
has resigned from his post following allegations related to the Panama
Papers leak?
Juan Pedro Damiani.
Damiani tendered his resignation on April 4, 2016 after the
investigatory chamber had launched a probe into alleged links between
him and his compatriot Eugenio Figueredo, the former Fifa vice-
president who was arrested last year on corruption charges by the
United States Department of Justice.
24. Which train became country's first train to have CCTV cameras
installed in all coaches, as part of Railways' efforts to strengthen
security of passengers particularly women travellers?
Shan-e-Punjab Express.
As many as 122 CCTV cameras have been installed in 21 coaches of
the train, which runs between Amritsar and New Delhi.
25. Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica’s former chief
who has been sentenced by the Milan appeals court to four-and-a-half
years in jail for false accounting and corruption in the sale of 12 VVIP
choppers to India for over Rs 3,600 crore?
Giuseppe Orsi.
26. An explosion and blaze sparked by fireworks have killed at least
100 people at a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Kerala on April 10,
2016. Which is that temple?
Puttingal Devi Temple.
The fireworks exploded as thousands of people had gathered to
celebrate a local New Year festival. About 15,000 pilgrims were visiting
the temple to mark local Hindu celebrations during the last day of a
seven-day festival of the goddess Bhadrakali.
27. Renowned commentator who has been removed from the IPL-9
commentary team following a controversy during India's WorldT20?
Harsha Bhogle.
Harsha Bhogle, who has been associated with Indian cricket since the
mid-80s and who has been a part of the IPL commentary team since
the first season in 2008, has been removed from the panel by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). According to reports,
Bhogle was excluded from the IPL commentary team after some senior
Indian cricketers complained to a board official following a recent ICC
World Twenty20, 2016 game.
28. Name the indigenously developed surface-to-air missile of India
which was successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR)
at Chandipur on April 11, 2016?
Akash.
29. Who became the first bowler to take 300 wickets in T20 matches
when he dismissed David Miller of Kings XI Punjab in the IPL match
held in Mohali?
Dwayne Bravo.
30. Name the Indian cricketer who has joined the recently-
announced Premier Futsal football league as its brand ambassador?
Virat Kohli.
31. England cricketer who has been forced to retire from the sport
with immediate effect after being diagnosed with a serious heart
condition?
James Taylor.
Taylor had been diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular
Cardiomyopathy [ARVC], a similar diagnosis to that of Fabrice Muamba
after the footballer collapsed while playing for Bolton Wanderers in
2012.
32. Famed Indian woman biker who was named “Lady of Harley”,
died in a road accident in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district?
Veenu Paliwal.
Veenu Paliwal (1970-2016) was a well-recognized Indian motor biker
from Jaipur, Rajasthan. For her enthusiasm about bikes, she was
named the "Lady of Harley" (Dunes Harley-Davidson) and "HOG Rani".
Paliwal had recently been named the Lady of the Harley 2016.
33. Tata Steel, largest steel producer of India has signed an
agreement to sell the loss-making 4.5-million tonne long-product
Scunthorpe steel plant in Britain to UK-based investment firm for a
nominal sum. What is the name of that British-based investment firm?
Greybull Capital.
34. Name the Spanish made high-speed train which is capable of
running at a maximum speed of 200 kmph, reached Mumbai ahead of
their crucial test run by the Railways?
Talgo train.
Besides reducing travel time, Talgo’s lighter trains consume 30 per
cent less energy which will help railways reduce their power bill.
35. Name the world champion professional boxer who has retired
from boxing after sealing a comprehensive victory over Timothy
Bradley in Las Vegas?
Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao is generally considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all
time as he is the first and only eight-division world champion, in which
he has won ten world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal
championship in five different weight classes. He is also the third
fighter in boxing history to win three "Glamour Division" titles
(flyweight, featherweight, and welterweight). According to Forbes, he
was the second highest paid athlete in the world as of 2015. He was
named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s (decade) by the Boxing
Writers Association of America (BWAA), World Boxing Council (WBC)
and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
36. Which country ranked first in the latest global football rankings,
released by world football's administrative body FIFA on April 7, 2016?
Argentina.
Argentina took over from Belgium at the top of the rankings. World
champions Germany slipped to fifth and Copa America winners Chile
move up to third -- their highest position. India have dropped two
places to be ranked 162nd in the latest global football rankings.
37. Which IIM has topped the list of best management institutes in
the ‘India Ranking 2016’ – the first-ever national ranking of universities
by the Government of India?
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
IIT Madras has been ranked first in the Engineering category followed
by IIT Bombay at number 2 and IIT Kharagpur at number 3 in the
rankings for various private and government institutions released by
Human Resource Development Ministry. The National Institutional
Ranking Framework (NIRF) was launched by the HRD Ministry on
September 29, 2015. It evaluates higher educational institutions in
Engineering, Management, Universities & Pharmacy categories.
38. Who became the first woman from Kerala to win the senior
national badminton championship?
P.C.Thulasi.
She won Gold medal in the 34th National Games 2015 in badminton
singles against Telangana. In April 2016, she won the Yonex Sunrise
80th National Badminton Championship single's title.
39. What is the codename the nuclear-capable undersea ballistic
missile which is secretly test fired by India recently?
K4. K4 is capable of hitting targets upto 3,500 kilometres away.
40. Head coach of AC Milan who has been sacked from the post
recently?
Sinisa Mihajlovic.
AC Milan has sacked head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic with youth-team
boss Christian Brocchi replacing him until the end of the season. AC
Milan is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy,
that plays in Serie A.
41. The New Developed Bank (NDB), formed by BRICS countries
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, on April 16, 2016
sanctioned its first set of loans of $811 million (about Rs. 5,405 crore)
. Of the sum of money handed out, an Indian Bank will receive $250
million (about Rs. 1,666 crore) for energy projects. Which is that
Bank?
Canara Bank.
India was among the first four countries to get a loan from the newly
established BRICS New Development Bank which gave a USD 250
million funding to Canara Bank for a renewable energy project.
42. Sri Lanka's veteran spinner who announced his retirement from
50-over and Twenty20 internationals (on April 17,2016) in order to
carry on playing Test matches, with a view to extend his Test career?
Rangana Herath.
Herath is a specialist left-arm bowler, widely known as best spinner
ever played for Sri Lanka after the retirement of legendary spinner
Muttiah Muralitharan. He holds the record of best bowling figures in
Tests by a left-arm spinner. He took 74 wickets in 71 one-day
internationals and another 18 in 17 T20 matches for Sri Lanka.
43. Who won the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters crown-2016 defeating
Gael Monfils (France) in the final?
Rafael Nadal.
This is his ninth Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title.
44. Who won the Chinese Grand Prix -2016, Formula One motor
race?
Nico Rosberg.
45. Who became the first female acting Chief Justice of Nepal's
Supreme Court?
Sushila Karki.
46. Who has become the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for
the Olympic Games?
Dipa Karmakar.
Karmakar, also a medalist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games,
qualified for the Rio Olympics in artistic gymnastics. Since the
independence of the country, 11 Indian male gymnast have taken part
in the Olympics (two in 1952, three in 1956 and six in 1964) but this
will be the first for an Indian woman at the Olympics.
47. Which team won the 2015/16 edition of the I-League after a
convincing 2-0 win over Salgaocar FC?
Bengaluru FC.
48. Which country won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey
tournament-2016 defeating India (4-0) in the final?
Australia.
The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is an annual international men's field
hockey tournament held in Malaysia. It began in 1983 as a biennial
contest. The tournament became an annual event after 1998, following
its growth and popularity. The tournament is named after the ninth
Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia, Sultan Azlan Shah, an avid
fan of field hockey.
49. Haryana Government has recently decided to rename Gurgaon
and Mewat district. What is their new name?
Gurgaon as Gurugram.
Mewat as Nuh.
50. Who has been appointed as the first ever CEO of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on the recommendation of the
Justice Lodha Committee?
Rahul Johri.
51. Name the computer engineering student from Kerala who won a
cash prize of Rs. 7 lakh from social media giant Facebook for his
discovery of a bug, which has the magnitude to bring down the
Facebook into shambles?
Arun S Kumar.
52. Anti-slavery activist who will be the first woman to appear on a
US banknote for more than a century?
Harriet Tubman.
Tubman, who was born a slave around 1820 and helped hundreds of
others escape, will feature on the new $20 bill. The United States
twenty-dollar bill ($20) is a denomination of U.S. currency. The
seventh U.S. President (1829–37), Andrew Jackson has been featured
on the front side of the bill since 1928, while the White House is
featured on the reverse side. On April 20, 2016, it was announced that
a new design, expected to be unveiled in 2020 (the 100th anniversary
of the 19th Amendment), will have a portrait of Harriet Tubman on the
front.
53. Parliament of which country has recently banned all Russian
films released after January 1, 2014, saying the move is aimed at
improving “national security.”?
Ukraine.
The ban is an amendment to the Law on Cinematography that was
adopted by the Ukrainian parliament in 2015.
54. Which court has quashed the order of the Central government
that had put the State under President’s Rule on March 27?
The Uttarakhand High Court.
55. Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter who has been conferred with
one of France’s top honour 'The Order of Arts and Letters' for her
contribution in promoting peace, solidarity, culture, education, and
development?
Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee.
56. Who becomes the first Malayalam actor who has sworn in as a
Member of Parliament (MP) to the Rajya Sabha by the President of
India in the category of eminent citizens as per the provisions of
Article 80 of the Indian Constitution?
Suresh Gopi.
Five others, including boxer MC Mary Kom, former cricketer Navjot
Singh Sidhu, JP leader Subramanian Swamy, former NAC member
Narendra Jadhav and journalist Swapan Dasgupta from the field of
literature, science, sports, art and social service were also nominated
as MP to the Rajya Sabha by the president.
57. Name the Spanish Jesuit priest who has become an Indian
citizen at the age of 90, after a wait of almost four decades?
Father Federico Gussi Sopena.
58. How many countries signed the Paris Agreement, the historic
agreement on climate change on April 22, 2016?
175.
During the 2016 Opening for Signature of the Paris Agreement, held at
United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 April, 175 Parties (174
countries and the European Union) signed the Agreement. The Paris
Agreement is an agreement within the framework of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with
greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance
starting in the year 2020.
59. A provincial Pakistani minister for minority affairs who was shot
dead in his car on April 22, 2016?
Sardar Soran Singh.
Sardar Soran Singh, who was a Sikh, had held one of several seats
reserved for religious minorities in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial
assembly.
60. Which Bollywood superstar has been chosen as the goodwill
ambassador for the Indian contingent for the Rio 2016 Olympic
Games?
Salman Khan.
61. Which sport person becomes the most talked-about and most
trending sportsman in India across social media, including Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram?
Virat Kohli.
Kohli averaged a record of close to 12 lakh conversations in March
2016, compared with 7 lakh for Dhoni, according to social media
tracker Autumn Worldwide.
62. Name the Bangladesh English professor who was hacked to
death by ISIS militants near his home in April 2016?
AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months
specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and
foreigners.
63. Which country has banned the Apple mobile entertainment
services in April 2016?
China.
64. What is the name of the experimental plane flying around the
world without a single drop of fuel landed in California after a two-and-
a-half day flight across the Pacific?
Solar Impulse 2.
65. The Union finance ministry of India on 29-04-2016 agreed to
increase interest rate on provident fund deposits to ………… per cent for
2015-16?
8.8%
66. The Indian American who has been appointed as the U.S. envoy
to the central African nation of Chad in April 2016?
Geeta Pasi.
67. Who beat defending champion Kei Nishikori to win the Barcelona
Open -2016?
Rafael Nadal .
68. Who won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award
(2016)?
Novak Djokovic (Tennis).
The list of winners at the 2016 Laureus World Sports Awards:
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Serena Williams
(Tennis)
Laureus World Team of the Year Award: All Blacks, New Zealand
(Rugby)
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Jordan Spieth (Golf)
Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award: Dan Carter (Rugby)
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Daniel Dias
(Swimming)
Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Jan Frodeno (Ironman
Triathlon)
69. What is the name given to the entrance examination in India, for
students who wish to study any graduate medical course (MBBS),
dental course (BDS) or postgraduate course (MD / MS) in government
or private medical colleges in India?
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET-UG.
NEET-UG (Undergraduate), for MBBS and BDS courses, will be
conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). NEET-
UG replaced the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) and all individual
MBBS exams conducted by states or colleges themselves. However,
many colleges and institutes have taken a stay order and conducted
private examinations for admission to their MBBS and BDS courses.
70. What is the name of India’s first small area finance bank (SFB)
which started its operations on April 13, 2016?
Capital Local Area Bank (CLAB).
CLAB is the first among the 10 applicants to get final license from the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The lender is currently active as local area
bank. Punjab-headquartered Capital Local Area Bank commenced
operations with 10 branches.
71. Which cricketer has officially been confirmed as New Zealand's
captain in all three formats of the game?
Kane Williamson.
He is set to become the 29th man to lead New Zealand in Test cricket.
72. Popular cartoonist and the creator of the legendary cartoon
characters “Boban and Molly”, passed away on April 27, 2016?
Toms.
V T Thomas, popularly known as Toms, has been a household name in
Kerala for the past half century and more for his cartoon siblings
Boban and Molly. The famous characters he created, Boban and Molly
were the children of his neighbour. Initially these two characters
appeared in a cartoon column Sathyadeepam weekly in 1950. Later on,
these characters became part of the Malayala Manorama weekly in
1957.
73. Name the seventh and final of the Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS) series of satellites which was placed in
geosynchronous orbit successfully on April 28, 2016?
IRNSS-1G.
The satellite was launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish
Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on board PSLV-C33.
74. Which footballer becomes first Indian to play in the Europa
League?
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was named in Norwegian
club Stabaek FC's squad for their Europa League qualifying match
against Welsh Premier League side Connah's Quay Nomads FC, making
him the first ever player from India to play in the competition.
[24/09 10:05 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MARCH 2016
1. Complete list of winners of Kerala State Film Awards-2015:
Best Film: Ozhivu Divasathe Kali (Sanalkumar Sashidharan)
Best Second Story: Ameoba
Best Director: Martin Prakkat (Charlie)
Best Actor: Dulquer Salmaan (Charlie)
Best Actress: Parvathy (Ennu Ninte Moideen)
Best Character Actor: Prem Prakash (Nirnayakam)
Best Character Actress: Anjali PV (Ben)
Best Child Artiste (male): Gaurav G Menon (Ben)
Best Child Artiste (female): Janaki Menon (Malgudi Days)
Best Cinematographer: Jomon T John (Charlie, Ennu Ninte Moideen,
Nee-Na)
Best Scriptwriter: Unni R, Martin Prakkat (Charlie)
Best Script Adaptation: Velutha Rathrikal
Best Lyrics – Rafeeq Ahamed (Ennu Ninte Moideen)
Best Music Director: Ramesh Narayanan (Edavapathy, Ennu Ninte
Moideen)
Best Background Score: BijiBal (Pathemari, Nee-Na)
Best Singer (Male): Jayachandran (Jilebi, Ennum Epozum, Ennu Ninte
Moideen)
Best Singer (female): Madhusri Narayanan (Edavapathy)
Best Editor: Manoj (Ivide)
Best Art Director: Jayashree (Charlie)
Best Live Sound: Sundeep, Jijimon (Ozhivu Divasathe Kali)
Best Makeup Man: Rajesh Nermara (Nirnayakam)
Best Dubbing Artiste: Sarath (Edavapathy)
Best Dubbing Artiste (female): Angel Shijoy (Haram)
Best Debut Director: Sreebala K Menon (Love 24×7)
Best Children’s Movie: Malayattom (Homas Devasia)
Special Jury Award: Jayasurya, (Lukka Chuppi, Su Su Sudhi
Vathmeekam).
2. Pakistan bowler equalled the record for the most dot balls in a
Twenty20 international match during Pakistan’s nervy win over the
United Arab Emirates?
Mohammed Amir.
He bowled a remarkable 21 dot balls on his way to figures of 2-6.
Hong Kong’s Aizaz Khan is the only player to have conceded less runs
off four overs in a T20 international. Aizaz took 2-4 against Nepal in
2014.
3. Former Indian Cricketer who has been roped in by Cricbuzz as its
in-house expert analyst for the ICC World T20, which will kick off on
March 8, 2016?
Virender Sehwag.
4. Name the president of the students’ union, Jawaharlal Nehru
University who was arrested on sedition charges, granted 6 months
bail on March 2, 2016?
Kanhaiya Kumar.
5. Mumbai-based writer who is among the nine recipients of the Yale
University's Windham-Campbell Prize 2016, awarded to English-
language writers "for their literary achievements or their potential"?
Jerry Pinto.
THE WEEK columnist and author Jerry Pinto is among the nine
recipients of this year's $1,50,000 Windham-Campbell Prizes
announced on March,2016.
6. Name the two astronauts who landed in a desert in Kazakhstan on
March 2, 2016 after living at the International Space Station (ISS) for
340 days?
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko.
The Year Long Mission on the International Space Station is a
scientific research project that studies the health effects of long term
spaceflight. Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko spent 342 days in
space, with scientists performing medical experiments. Kelly and
Kornienko departed in March 2015 on Soyuz TMA-16M along with
Gennady Padalka. The pair safely landed in Kazakhstan on March 2,
2016, returning aboard Soyuz TMA-18M with Sergey Volkov.
7. The former New Zealand Cricket captain, writer, broadcaster and
mentor, has died in Auckland on March 3, 2016?
Martin Crow.
He played for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1982
and 1995, and is regarded as the country's greatest batsman. He was
named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1985 and was appointed New
Zealand's captain in 1990.At the 1992 World Cup, which New Zealand
co-hosted with Australia; Crowe was named the player of the
tournament.
8. Indian film archivist, film scholar and the founder director of the
National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in 1964, passed away on March
4, 2016?
P.K.Nair.
Paramesh Krishnan Nair, who had dedicated his life to preservation of
films and building the collection of films at the NFAI, was instrumental
in archiving several landmark Indian films like Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja
Harishchandra and Kaliya Mardan, Bombay Talkies films such as
Jeevan Naiya, Bandhan, Kangan, Achhut Kanya and Kismet, S.S.
Vasan's Chandralekha and Uday Shankar's Kalpana. His life and work
has been immortalised in the documentary Celluloid Man, made by
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
9. Indian politician who served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from
1996 to 1998, passed away on March 4, 2016?
P.A.Sangma.
He was also the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly from 1990 to 1991. On 5
January 2013, Sangma launched National People's Party on national
level.
10. Veteran Bollywood star best known for his patriotic films Purab
Aur Paschim, Upkar and Kranti, who was chosen for the prestigious
Dadasaheb Phalke award-2015?
Manoj Kumar.
Known for his image as the patriotic hero, Kumar debuted as an
actor with 1957 Hindi film Fashion. The actor and director of patriotic
theme based movies, Kumar is fondly called as "Bharat Kumar".
11. Which club set a Spanish record of 35 matches unbeaten in all
competitions in La Liga as Lionel Messi scored his 35th hat-trick?
Barcelona.
Barca’s victory beat the undefeated record Real Madrid had held since
the 1988-89 season.
12. Who has been appointed as the interim general secretary of
UEFA on March 4, 2016?
Theodore Theodoridis.
UEFA's Executive Committee appointed Theodore Theodoridis as UEFA
General Secretary ad interim, replacing Gianni Infantino who was
elected FIFA President on 26 February.
13. Which team won the 2016 Pro Kabaddi League season?
Patna Pirates.
Patna Pirates beat U Mumba in the final. Patna Pirates is a Kabaddi
team based in Patna, Bihar that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The
team is currently led by Manpreet Singh and coached by Sanjiv Kumar
Baliyan. The 2016 Pro Kabaddi League season was the third season of
Pro Kabaddi League, a professional Kabaddi league played in India
since 2014.
14. Popular Malayalam actor and folk singer who has starred in over
200 films, including Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu films, passed away
on March 6, 2016?
Kalabhavan Mani.
He received the National Film Award – Special Jury Award and Kerala
State Film Award for his performance as Ramu in Vasanthiyum
Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum (1999).He started his career as a mimicry
artist in Kalabhavan, Kochi. He started his acting career in the
Malayalam film Aksharam as an auto driver.His first music album was
(Thushima Guntharo) Kannimanga Prayathil. He has since established
a parallel industry of folk songs (nadan pattu) selling a record number
of releases. He then turned out to be playing hero characters in
movies like Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njanum, Karumadikuttan,
Ben Johnson, Ayirathil Oruvan, Valkannadi, Lokanathan IAS, Kerala
Police, Red Salute etc. He also made an excellent villain, in films such
as Gemini (Tamil).
15. Former first lady who was known for her influence and devotion
to President Ronald Reagan during his eight years in the White House
and his decades outside it, passed away on March 6, 2016?
Nancy Reagan. Nancy Regan was an American actress and the wife of
the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. She was the
First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989.
16. Which country won the 2016 Asia Cup T20 Cricket Title defeating
Bangladesh in the final?
India.
The 2016 Asia Cup was held in Bangladesh from 24 February to 6
March 2016. It was the 13th edition of the Asia Cup, the fifth to be
held in Bangladesh, and the first to be played using the T20I format.
Along with Bangladesh (the host) and Sri Lanka (the defending
champions from the 2014 event), the tournament included India,
Pakistan, and ICC associate member the United Arab Emirates. India
beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets in the final to win their sixth Asia Cup
title. India beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets in the final to win their sixth
Asia Cup title.
17. American computer programmer who widely credited as the
creator of email, passed away on March 5, 2016?
Raymond Tomlinson.
Tomlinson implemented the first email program on the ARPANET
system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971.It was the first system
able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to
ARPANET. Previously, mail could be sent only to others who used the
same computer. To achieve this, he used the @ sign to separate the
user name from the name of their machine, a scheme which has been
used in email addresses ever since.
The first email Tomlinson sent was a test. It was not preserved and
Tomlinson describes it as insignificant, something like "QWERTYUIOP".
This is commonly misquoted as "The first e-mail was QWERTYUIOP".
Tomlinson later commented that these "test messages were entirely
forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them."
18. Name the company in UK which has introduced a “period policy”
in an effort to give women more flexibility and “create a happier and
healthier working environment”?
Coexist.
Coexist, a community interest firm in Bristol, hopes to tackle the taboo
of menstruation by becoming the first company in the UK to introduce
a policy to allow women leave if they are suffering.
19. Russian professional tennis player who has been provisionally
suspended from playing tennis by the International Tennis Federation
after she had failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open?
Maria Sharapova.
In March 2016, Sharapova revealed she had failed a drug test at the
2016 Australian Open, admitting to testing positive for meldonium, a
substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the
start of 2016
20. Name the American sportscaster and television personality who
was awarded $55 million on March 7, 2016 in her lawsuit against a
stalker who bought a hotel room next to her and secretly recorded a
nude video, finding that the hotel companies and the stalker shared in
the blame?
Erin Andrews.
She currently hosts FOX College Football for Fox Sports, as well as
Dancing with the Stars for ABC.
21. The English record producer who was referred to as the "Fifth
Beatle", produced much of the Beatles' classic catalog, passed away
on March 8, 2016?
George Martin.
He was referred to as the "Fifth Beatle", including by Paul McCartney,
in reference to his extensive involvement on each of the Beatles'
original albums. Martin had 30 number-one hit singles in the United
Kingdom and 23 number-one hits in the United States. In 1979, Martin
published a memoir, All You Need is Ears (co-written with Jeremy
Hornsby), that described his work with the Beatles and other artists
(including Peter Sellers, Sophia Loren, Shirley Bassey, Flanders and
Swann, Matt Monro, and Dudley Moore.
The fifth Beatle is an informal title that various commentators in the
press and entertainment industry have applied to persons who were at
one point a member of the Beatles, or who had a strong association
with the "Fab Four" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison,
and Ringo Starr) during the group's existence.
22. Which country has been plunged into darkness for just a few
minutes in the second week of March 2016, as people prayed and
cheered during a total solar eclipse?
Indonesia.
23. Name the sixth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS) which was successfully test fired on March
10, 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota?
IRNSS-1F.
In its thirty fourth flight (PSLV-C32), ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1F. IRNSS is an
independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide
position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the
Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely,
Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users - and
Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users.
24. Who won the Player of the Series award in the three T20 cricket
matches played between South Africa and Australia held in South
Africa in March 2016?
David Warner. (Australia).
Australia won the 3-match series 2-1.
25. Former Supreme Court judge who has been appointed as the
Chairman of the 21st Law Commission?
Balbir Singh Chauhan.
Currently he is Chairman of the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal.
He was judge of the SC from May 2009 to July 2014. He also had
served as Chief Justice of Orissa high court from July 2008 to May
2009. Justice Ravi R Tripathi, a former judge of the Gujarat High Court,
has been appointed as member of the law panel. The Commission is
reconstituted every three years and is usually headed by a retired
Supreme Court judge or former Chief Justice of a high court.
The 20th Law Commission was headed by Justice A P Shah, Former
Chief Justice (CJ) of Delhi High Court and its tenure ended on 31
August, 2015.
26. Hackers managed to steal $80m (£56m) from a central bank of
an Asian country because it skimped on network hardware and
security software. Which is that country?
Bangladesh.
In February 2016, instructions to steal US$951 Million from
Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh, were issued via the
SWIFT network. Five transactions issued by hackers worth $101
million from a Bangladesh Bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York succeeded, with $20M traced to Sri Lanka (since
recovered) and $81M to the Philippines. The Federal Reserve Bank of
NY blocked the remaining 30 transaction accounting for $850 million
in 30 transactions at the request of Bangladesh Bank.
The bank had no firewall and used second-hand routers that cost $10
to connect to global financial networks. The hackers introduced
malicious code, known as malware into the Bangladesh bank’s server,
which allowed them to process and authorize the transactions.
27. Name the bill which aims to ensure targeted services to intended
beneficiaries by assigning them unique identity numbers, passed by
Lok Sabha on March 11, 2016?
Aadhaar Bill.
The Lok Sabha passed The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and
Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 by rejecting the
amendments introduced in Rajya Sabha.
28. Founder and keyboardist of the progressive-rock band Emerson,
Lake and Palmer who passed away on March 10, 2016?
Keith Emerson.
Emerson died on 10 March 2016 in Santa Monica, California, of suicide
by a gunshot wound to the head. He wrote music for Dario Argento’s
1980 film Inferno, 1981’s Nighthawks, Michele Soavi’s 1989 horror film
The Church, and 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars. He also served as the
lead composer for Marvel’s 1994 Iron Man cartoon show.
29. Name the indigenously built, nuclear-capable ballistic missile
which is successfully test fried by India from a test range off Odisha’s
coast as part of a user trial by the army?
Agni-I.
The surface-to-surface, single-stage Agni missile is powered by solid
propellants and can hit targets 700km away.
30. Noted Indian scholar and plant physiologist who has been
appointed the next Vice Chancellor of the prestigious University of
Canberra?
H. Deep Saini.
31. Which team won the Irani cup-2015-2016 defeating Mumbai in
the final?
Rest of India.
The Irani Cup is played annually between the incumbent Ranji Trophy
winners and the Rest of India Team.
32. Name the joint mission of European Space Agency (ESA) and
Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) designed to understand if
life ever existed on Mars?
ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars).
Exomars is an astrobiology project to investigate the past habitability
environment of Mars and to demonstrate new technologies paving the
way for a future Mars sample return mission in the 2020s. The mission
will search for biosignatures of Martian life, past or present, employing
several spacecraft elements to be sent to Mars on two launches. The
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and a test stationary lander called
Schiaparelli were launched on 14 March 2016.
33. The industrialist and the liquor baron who left India on March 2,
2016, i.e. the same day the banks, to which he owed over Rs. 9,000
crore, moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT)?
Vijay Mallya.
Mallya is facing legal proceedings for defaulting on loans of more than
Rs 9,000 crores from several banks.
34. Which team won the Santosh Trophy 2016 defeating
Maharashtra (1-2) in the final?
Services.
The Services football team is an Indian football team representing the
Indian defence services in the Santosh Trophy.
35. Who has been elected as the first civilian President of Myanmar
in more than 50 years?
Htin Kyaw.
36. Who has been elected as the first female president of Taiwan?
Tsai Ing-wen.
37. British novelist and art historian who was awarded the 1984 Man
Booker Prize for her novel Hotel du Lac, passed away on March 10,
2016?
Anita Brookner.
Anita became the first woman to hold the Slade Professorship of Fine
Art at Cambridge University.
38. Who becomes the first player (male/female) to take 100
T20International Wickets?
Anisa Mohammed.
Anisa currently plays for the Trinidad and Tobago women's team in
first class cricket and the West Indies women's cricket team.
39. Which country is the happiest place in the world, according to
World Happiness Report 2016, prepared by the Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at
Columbia University?
Denmark.
India ranked 118 followed by Myanmar, Egypt and Armenia. The top 10
this year (2016) were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland,
Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden.
40. The British mathematician who was awarded the Abel Prize-2016,
the most prestigious among mathematician, for solving a problem that
at one point was considered the world’s hardest?
Andrew Wiles.
He became famous in 1994 for developing a general proof of Fermat’s
Last Theorem, a deceptively simple problem that had remained
unsolved since it was discovered in a book penned by Pierre de
Fermat, a French lawyer, in 1667. The problem states that, given an +
bn = cn, then a, b and c can’t be positive integers if n > 2. As
numerous mathematicians, even of formidable prowess, over the years
discovered, the equation’s elegance belied the stupendous reasoning
skills required to prove it. Abel Prize is a Norwegian prize awarded
annually by the Government of Norway to one or more outstanding
mathematicians.
41. Name the former German intelligence employee who has been
sentenced to eight years in jail for spying for the US and Russia?
Markus Reichel.
Reichel admitted handing over more than 200 documents over four
years to the CIA in exchange for at least €80,000 (£63,000, $90,000).
42. Which country has banned smartphones in government buildings
because confidential documents keep being leaked through
WhatsApp?
Kazakhstan.
43. Bangladesh bowlers who have been suspended from bowling in
international cricket with immediate effect after an independent
assessment found their bowling actions to be illegal?
Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed.
44. Who becomes the first woman to command a major U.S.
combatant command?
Lori Robinson.
On March 18, 2016, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced
that Robinson will be named by President Obama as Commander of
the United States Northern Command and NORAD, subject to approval
by the U.S. Senate. This will make her the first woman to command a
major Unified Combatant Command.
45. Ace Indian shuttler who has won the prestigious 2016 Swiss
Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in the men’s single
category?
H.S. Prannoy.
In the final played at Basel, Switzerland, he defeated Marc Zwiebler of
Germany. It was his second Grand Prix Gold title after the Indonesia
Open Grand Prix Gold won in 2014.
46. Who has won the prestigious 2016 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold
badminton tournament in the women’s single category?
Bingjiao.
Bingjiao (China) won the title by defeating Wang Yihan (China).
47. Who has won the Indian Wells Men’s title-2016 defeating Milos
Raonic (Canada) in the final?
Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic also won in Indian Wells in 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
48. Barack Obama became the first US president in 88 years (March
20, 2016) to visit a country in North America. (March 20, 2016) Which
is that country?
Cuba.
Obama was not only the first sitting American president to visit Cuba
since Fidel Castro’s guerrillas overthrew the US-backed government of
Fulgencio Batista in 1959. The last U.S. president to visit Cuba was
Calvin Coolidge who visited on a warship in 1928.
49. Name the unique and highly divers ecosystem in the Western
Ghats which has been recognised by the UNESCO as a World
Biosphere Reserve.?
Agasthyamala.
The Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR) was established in 2001
and is spread across the two states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
50. A US navy tug missing since 1921 has been discovered sunk off
San Francisco, solving a longstanding maritime mystery. What is the
name of that tugboat?
USS Conestoga.
It was peacetime when the USS Conestoga departed from California's
Golden Gate strait on March 25, 1921, but in one of the biggest
maritime mysteries the vessel disappeared without a trace. The wreck
of the USS Conestoga was found near one of the Farallon Islands
about 30 miles west of San Francisco.
51. Dutch professional football player who won the Ballon d'Or three
times, (in 1971, 1973 and 1974) passed away on March 24, 2016?
Johan Cruyff.
Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and
received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament. At club level,
Cruyff started his career at Ajax where he won eight Eredivisie titles,
three European Cups and one Intercontinental Cup. In 1973 he moved
to FC Barcelona for a world record transfer fee, winning La Liga in his
first season and was named European Footballer of the Year. After
retiring from playing in 1984, Cruyff became highly successful as
manager of Ajax and later FC Barcelona. In 1999, Cruyff was voted
European Player of the Century in an election held by the International
Federation of Football History & Statistics, and came second behind
Pele in their World Player of the Century poll.
The Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball"), often referred to as the European
Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award
presented by France Football between 1956 and 2009.
52. Australian professional cricketer who has announced his
retirement from International Cricket in March 2016?
Shane Watson.
He debuted in 2002 in One Day International against South
Africa. He retires from the game with 5757 ODI runs and 1440 T20I
runs under his belt. He also has 33 fifties and 9 centuries in ODIs to
his name as well as a T20I hundred and 10 fifties. He’s taken 168
wickets in ODIs and 46 in T20Is. He also holds the Australian record
for the highest ODI score – his 185* against Bangladesh in 2011. He
scored 3731 runs and took 75 wickets in Test Cricket.
He was awarded the Allan Border Medal in 2010 and 2011,
becoming the second player (after Ricky Ponting) to win back-to back
Allan Border Medals. He won 6 awards in the Tests, ODI & T20I player
of the year awards category, which is the most by any player. Also the
only player to be Australian "Player of the Year" in all formats. He was
declared man of the series in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 for scoring
a total of 249 runs. He is the only player to win four consecutive
Player of the Match Awards in ICC event history.
53. One of Kerala's most popular Kadhaprasangam (story telling)
artists and film comedian who passed away on March 24, 2016?
V.D.Rajappan.
He started his career in the 1980s mainly portraying comedian roles
and has acted in more than 50 films in Malayalam. He is considered as
the godfather of parody songs in Malayalam. Considered to be one of
the greatest proponents of Kathaprasangam (Story-telling) in Kerala,
Rajappan gifted his devoted fans many memorable performances such
as “Priye Ninte Kura”, “Amittu”, “Kumari Eruma”, “Mak Mak”,
“Ennennum Kurangettandeh” and many such others.
54. Who has become the first captain to complete 1000 runs in T20
internationals?
Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Dhoni has become the first captain in the IPL history to complete 2000
runs.
55. Which players won the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year Award
(2015) for Men and Women respectively at the Hockey India (HI)
Annual Awards?
P.R. Sreejesh and Deepika.
Both Sreejesh and Deepika bagged Rs. 25 lakh and a trophy each for
their achievement. Sreejesh plays as a goalkeeper in the Indian
national team.
56. Who won the coveted Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement
award (2015) with a cash prize of Rs 30 lakh and a trophy?
Shankar Laxman.
57. Complete list of winners of National Film Awards-2015:
The 63rd National Film Awards were announced on March 28, 2016, for
Indian films released in 2015. The 2015 mega blockbuster Baahubali
was adjudged the overall Best Film, , while Amitabh Bachchan and
Kangana Ranaut bagged Best Actors trophy for "Piku" and "Tanu Weds
Manu Returns," respectively. Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been honoured
with Best Director award for directing magnum opus "Bajirao Mastani."
Best Film: Baahubali – The Beginning
Best Special Effects: Baahubali – The Beginning
Best Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali for "Bajirao Mastani"
Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut "Tanu Weds Manu Returns"
Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan for "Piku"
Best Supporting Actress: Tanvi Azmi for Bajirao Mastani
Best Supporting Actor: Samuthirakani for Visaranai
Best Child Artist: Gaurav Menon from the film "Ben"
Best Children's Film: Duronto
Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment: Bajrangi
Bhaijaan
Best Film on Social Issues - Nirnayakam
Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation: Valiya
Chirakulla Pakshikal
Best Editing Award: Lt. TE Kishore for Visaranai
Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director: Neeraj
Ghaywan for Masaan
Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration -
Nanak Shah Fakir
Best Music Direction:M. Jayachandran for Song Kaathirunnu
Kaathirunnu for the film "Ennu Ninte Moideen"
Best Music Direction: Background Score Ilaiyaraaja for the Film
Thaarai Thappattai
Best Female Playback Singer: Monali Thakur for Moh Moh Ke
Dhaage from "Dum Laga Ke Haisha"
Best Male Singer: Mahesh Kale for the film "Katyar Kaljat Ghusili"
Best Makeup: Nanak Shah Fakir Team
Best Jury Award: Kalki Koechlin for "Margarita, with a Straw"
Best Lyricists: Varun Grover for Moh Moh Ke Dhaage from "Dum
Laga Ke Haisha"
Best Choreography: Remo D'Souza for Deewani Mastani song from
"Bajirao Mastani"
Best Cinematography -Sudeep Chaterjee for "Bajirao Mastani"
Best Screenplay Writer (Original): Juhi Chaturvedi for "Piku" and
Himanshu Sharm for "Tanu Weds Manu Returns"
Best Screenplay Dialogues: Juhi Chaturvedi for "Piku" and Himanshu
Sharma for "Tanu Weds Manu Returns"
Special Mention - Ritika Singh for "Irudhi Suttru" (Saala Khadoos)
Special Mention - Jayasurya for Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam & Lukka
Chuppi
Special Mention - Rinku Rajguru for the film "Sairat"
Best Film Friendly State Award: Gujarat
Best Film Friendly State Award: Special mention to Uttar Pradesh
and Kerala
Best Assamese Film - Kothanodi
Best Bengali Film - Shankhachil
Best Hindi Film: Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Best Kannada Film - Thithi
Best Konkani Film: Enemy
Best Malayalam Film - Pathemari
Best Marathi Film - Ringan
Best Odiya Film: Pahada Ra Luha
Best Tamil Film: Visaaranai
Best Mizo Film - Kima's Lode beyond the Class
Best Sanskrit Film –Priyamanasam
Best Maithili Film -Mithila Makhaan
Best Telugu Film -Kanche
Best Manipuri Film -Eibusu Yaohanbiyu
Best Wancho Film: The Head Hunter
Best Bodo Film: Dau Huduni Methai
Best Haryanvi Film: Satrangi
Best Khasi Film: Onaatah
Best Non Feature Film: Gujarati film "Amdavad Ma Famous"
Best Art Cultural Film: A Far Afternoon - A Painted Saga
Best Biographical: Life in a Metaphor
Best Short Fiction Film: Marathi film "Aushad"
Best Animation Award: 'Fisherwoman and Tuktuk'
Best Social Film Award: Autodriver
Best Music: 'A Far Afternoon' (Non feature).
58. Well-known Malayalam writer and journalist who won Kerala
Sahitya Akademi award in 2006 for his novel titled “Kalaapangalkkoru
Gruhapaadam”, passed away on March 30, 2016?
Babu Bharadwaj.
His other noted works include 'Pravasiyude Kurippukal',
'Shavaghoshayathra' (novelettes), 'Puppet Theatre' (short story
collection), 'Pravasiyude Vazhiyambalangal' and 'Adrushya Nagarangal'.
59. In which state , central Government imposed President's Rule on
March 27,2016 on grounds of 'breakdown of governance' with the
decision coming in the wake of a political crisis triggered by a rebellion
in the ruling Congress?
Uttarakhand.
60. Hungarian author, Holocaust concentration camp survivor, and
recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, passed away on March
31, 2016?
Imre Kertesz.
He was the first Hungarian to win the Nobel in Literature. The
Holocaust remained a central theme in several of his best-known
works, including his first novel "Fatelessness".
[24/09 10:08 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FEBRUARY 2016
1. Who became the first woman police officer to have been
appointed as the chief of a paramilitary force that guards the country’s
borders?
Archana Ramasundram.
Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer Archana Ramasundram will take over as
Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The SSB is entrusted
with guarding the country's frontiers with Nepal and Bhutan.
2. The Indian underworld don who has been featured in an updated
list of financial sanctions by the British government, which records
four Pakistani addresses used by him in the past?
Dawood Ibrahim.
Dawood Ibrahim is the only “Indian national” on a newly updated list of
financial sanctions by the United Kingdom that also includes Sikh
terror groups. Dawood, India’s most wanted terrorist against whom an
international arrest warrant has been issued, appears on the U.K.
Treasury department’s ‘Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions
Targets in the U.K.’ updated on January 27 with four recorded
addresses in Pakistan -all in Karachi.
3. Which state has won the 61st National School Athletics
championship which concluded in Kozhikode (Kerala)?
Kerala.
With this, Kerala (host) become champions in the event for the
19th consecutive time. In this edition of National School Athletics
championship, Kerala got 306 points winning 39 gold, 29 silver and 17
bronze medals. Tamil Nadu came second and got 116 points winning
11 gold, 8 silver and 13 bronze medals. Maharashtra gained the third
position with 101 points.
4. Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker who
passed away on February 3, 2016?
Balram Jakhar.
In 1980, he became Lok Sabha Speaker and served till 1989 for two
terms during which he was instrumental in automation and
computerisation of the House works. Jakhar was the life president of
Bharat Krishak Samaj and president of Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Trust
Management Committee. He has written a book, People, Parliament
and Administration. The president of India awarded him 'Udyan Pandit'
in 1975 for his contribution to Horticulture.
5. The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian
Games, were held in?
Guwahati and Shillong (India).
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2016 South Asian
Games in Guwahati on 5 February 2016. The anthem of the games was
chosen to be a famous Assamese song, "Ei Prithibi Ek Krirangan" (The
world is a playground) by Bhupen Hazarika, an Indian lyricist,
musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam.
6. What is the official mascot for the 2016 South Asian Games?
Tikhor (the baby Rhino).
According to the organising committee, Tikhor carries the message of
Peace, Progress, and Prosperity in the South Asian region. This is in
line with the official motto, "Play for Peace, Progress and Prosperity.
7. Which country won the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy(ODI series)-2016
held in February 2016?
New Zealand.
New Zealand won the 3-match series against Australia 2-1.
8. Which football club set a new French league record of 33
consecutive games unbeaten on February 3, 2016?
Paris Saint-Germain.
9. Pakistani author, widely recognised as one of the greatest Urdu
writers in history, passed away on February 2, 2016?
Intizar Hussain.
The Seventh Door, Leaves and Basti are among his books that have
been translated into English. His other writings include Hindustan Se
Aakhri Khat, Aagay Sumandar Hai, Shehr-e-Afsos, Jataka Tales, Janam
Kahanian and Wo Jo Kho Gaye. He was shortlisted for the Man Booker
International Prize in 2013 after Frances Pritchett translated his Basti
into English.
10. Who has been conferred with the first world Sanskrit Award?
Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
11. Name the earth observation satellite launched by North Korea on
7 February 2016?
Kwangmyongsong-4.
12. Who has become the first Indian singer-musician to have more
than one crore or 10 million followers on popular social networking site
Twitter?
A.R.Rahman.
13. New Zealand captain who formally retired from all forms of
international cricket on 24 February 2016?
Brendon McCullum.
McCullum is the leading career scorer in Twenty20 International cricket
and is the first and so far only player to have scored two Twenty20
International centuries and 2000 runs in T20 Internationals. He became
the first New Zealander to score a triple hundred in a Test, 302 runs
against India on 18 February 2014. In 2014, he also became the first
New Zealander to score 1000 test runs in a calendar year (1164).
On 20 February 2016, he posted the fastest ever Test century against
Australia, in 54 balls, beating the record jointly held by his hero, Vivian
Richards and Misbah-ul-Haq, scoring a total of 145 off 79 balls.
McCullum became the first New Zealand captain to lead his team to
the World Cup finals, by putting the six semi-final losses in the past.
He won the New Zealand Sportsman of the Year award in 2014, and
then the Sport New Zealand Leadership Award in 2016.
14. The Prime Minister of Nepal from 11 February 2014 to 10
October 2015, who passed away on February 9, 2016?
Sushil Koirala
He was also President of the Nepali Congress party from 2010 until his
death. Koirala was elected as Prime Minister of Nepal by the parliament
on 9 February 2014.
15. Parliamentary panel of which country has unanimously approved
the Hindu Marriage Bill in February 2016, paving the way for
regulations on registration of marriage and divorce for the Hindu
community?
Pakistan.
16. Who took over as the General Officer Commanding -in Chief
(GOC-in C) of the Jaipur based South Western Command of the Indian
Army on February 1, 2016?
Lieutenant General Sarath Chand.
17. Who won the Player of the Series award in the five ODI cricket
matches played between England and South Africa held in South Africa
in February 2015?
Alex Hales (England).
Series - South Africa won the 5-match series 3-2.
18. Army chief of staff of North Korea who has been executed for
corruption and factional conspiracy?
Ri Yong Gil.
Ri was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's
Army in August 2013 as well as promoted to general around the same
time.
19. Indian soldier who survived being trapped under 25 feet (8
metres) of snow for six days after being caught in 2016 Siachen
Glacier avalanche, passed away on February 11, 2016?
Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad.
On 3 February 2016, an avalanche hit an Indian military base in
northern Siachen Glacier region, trapping 10 soldiers under deep snow.
Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad hails from a farming family of
Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district. . The youngest in
the family, Lance Naik Koppad always wanted to join the Army. He
came up the hard way, attending high school at Aralikatti village by
walking 6 km every day. And, despite being rejected thrice in the Army
recruitment rallies at Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag, he kept on trying
and finally managed to get into the 19 Madras Regiment 14 years ago.
20. Which countries signed 9 agreements on February 11, 2016
covering cooperation in the fields of currency swap, culture,
investments in the infrastructure sector, renewable energy, space
research, insurance supervision, cyber security, skill development and
commercial information sharing?
India and U.A.E.
21. Name the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon who passed away
on February 4, 2016?
Edgar Mitchell.
As the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14, he spent nine hours working
on the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro Highlands region, making him
the sixth person to walk on the Moon.
22. Which cricketer emerges as the costliest player at the IPL 2016
auctions?
Shane Watson.
Shane Watson sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs.9.5 crores.
Yuvraj Singh is the highest paid Indian, sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad
for Rs. 7 crores.
23. Renowned Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala who won the
Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007,
passed away on February 13, 2016?
O.N.V.Kurup.
He received the awards Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in
2011, the fourth and second highest civilian honours from the
Government of India. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate
by University of Kerala, Trivandrum. He has penned about 900 songs
in about 232 films and numerous songs for plays and albums. "Kalam
Marunnu" (1956) was his first film which was also the first film by
famous Malayalam composer G Devarajan. As a lyricist, ONV won the
National Award for Best Lyricist in 1989 and had won the Kerala State
Film award 13 times.
24. Former Pakistani Test umpire who has been banned by BCCI for
five years after being found guilty of corruption charges?
Asad Rauf.
The Pakistani was sanctioned by the Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) after allegations of spot-fixing in the 2013 Indian Premier
League.
25. Who became the first cricketer to score 500 runs without being
dismissed?
Adam Voges.(Australia). The new record now currently stands at 551
runs.
Voges broke the 12-year-old world record set by legendary Indian
batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who had scored 497 consecutive runs
between January and April in 2004.
26. Which country won the Under 19 World cup Cricket -2016
defeating India in the final?
West Indies.
The West Indies won the Under-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh for
the first time in their history after beating India by five wickets – with
only three balls to spare .
27. Renowned cinematographer who worked in hit Malayalam films
like 'His Highness Abdullah' and 'Manichitrathazhu', passed away on
February 14, 2016?
Anandakuttan.
He cinematographer worked in more than 150 films including
Malayalam super hits 'Bharatham', 'Akasadooth' and 'Kamaladalam.'
28. Former Prime Minister of Israel who has been sentenced to 19-
month imprisonment for bribery and obstruction of justice and became
the first Israeli premier to be placed behind bars?
Ehud Olmert.
In March 2014 he was found guilty of accepting, while he was Mayor
of Jerusalem, a 500,000-shekel ($129,000; £89,000) bribe from
developers of one real estate project and a 60,000-shekel bribe in
connection with another.
29. Noted music director who had rendered music for about 150
films that includes movies from Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada
and composed the background score for blockbusters including
Narasimham (2000) and Aaraam Thampuran (1997), passed away
recently?
Rajamani.
30. The former UN secretary general whose term was marked by war
in the former Yugoslavia, massacres in Rwanda and repeated battles
with the US, passed away on February 16, 2016?
Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Boutros-Ghali was the first UN chief from the African continent. He
stepped into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes,
with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the
beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States. Four years
of frictions with the Clinton administration, the United States blocked
his renewal in the post in 1996, making him the only UN secretary-
general to serve a single term. He was replaced by Ghanaian Kofi
Annan.
31. Who delivered the longest budget speech in the history of Kerala
Assembly onFebruary 12, 2016?
Oommen Chandy. (Chief Minister of Kerala.)
The speech last for 2 hours and 54 minutes. KM Mani had delivered a
speech which lasted for 2 hours and 50 minutes in 2013.
32. A cricket team in England was bowled out for zero in just 20
balls in a county six-a-side indoor championships match. Which is that
cricket team?
Bapchild Cricket Club.
The rare result came during the Kent regional finals of the England and
Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) national six-a-side championship when the
Bapchild Cricket Club failed to trouble the scorers in an indoor game
against Christ Church University in Canterbury. The team lost the game
by 120 runs.
33. The 58th Annual Grammy Awards Winners/Grammy
Awards-2016 winners:
To know the complete list of winners of 58th Annual Grammy Awards
Winners/Grammy Awards-2016 , please click the below link:
http://questionforall.blogspot.in/2016/03/complete-list-of-winners-
of-58th-annual.html
34. Which Brazilian footballer has been charged by Brazilian
authorities on February 25, 2016 with tax evasion and falsifying
documents over a seven-year period?
Neymar.
35. Noted Malayalam novelist, short story writer and two-time winner
of the prestigious Kerala Sahitiya Akademi award, passed away on
February 17, 2016?
Akbar Kakkattil.
His 'Paadham 30' is the first teacher service story in Malayalam. His
work, 'Sarga Sameeksha', a creative and critical interface of a young
writer with the iconic writers of the old generation is perhaps the first
of its kind among Indian languages.
36. Name the jointly developed space observation satellite which is
successfully launched by Japan on February 17, 2016 tasked with
studying mysterious black holes?
The ASTRO-H satellite.
ASTRO-H satellite has been developed by the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) in cooperation with National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) and others. ASTRO-H satellite is set
to orbit at an altitude of about 580 kilometres (360 miles) and observe
X-rays emanating mainly from black holes and galaxy clusters. The
satellite was carried out by the country's mainstay H-IIA rocket. The
satellite is cylindrically shaped and is 14 meters long and weighs 2.7
tonnes.
37. Which footballer became the first player to score 300 goals in
Spain's La Liga?
Lionel Messi.
38. Which country has declared an energy emergency in February
2016 targeting an end to the ongoing power crisis within the next two
years?
Nepal.
Nepal is currently facing load-shedding of 13 hours a day.
39. American novelist whose first novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,”
which won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize, died on February 19, 2016?
Harper Lee.
Harper Lee, whose first novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” about racial
injustice in a small Alabama town, sold more than 40 million copies
and became one of the most beloved and most taught works of fiction
ever written by an American. In 2007 she was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature.
40. The celebrated Italian intellectual who shot to fame with his 1980
novel “The Name of the Rose”, passed away on February 19, 2016?
Umberto Eco.
His novel “The Name of the Rose” is an intellectual mystery combining
semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary
theory. He later wrote other novels, including Foucault's Pendulum and
The Island of the Day Before. His novel The Prague Cemetery, released
in 2010, was a best-seller.
41. Which countries signed seven agreements for cooperation in
various fields on February 20, 2016?
India and Nepal. The agreements are listed below:
MoU on Post-earthquake reconstruction assistance:
MoU on strengthening of road infrastructure in Nepal:
Letters of Exchange on Transit Routes:
MoU in the field of performing arts:
Letters of Exchange on Rail Transport:
Inauguration of Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar transmission line
Establishment of Eminent Persons Group (EPG):
42. Which country gets a special status in the European Union
recently?
Britain.
43. Which club won the 2016 Sait Nagjee Trophy beating Atletico
Paranaense Reserves in the final?
FC Dnipro Reserves.
The Sait Nagjee All India Football tournament is one of the most
prestigious Tournaments held in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. The
tournament was very popular from the beginning & attracted large
crowd since 1952. The tournament played until 1995 regularly though
with stoppages a couple of times. In 1995, the tournament was won
by JCT. Since 1995, there was a gap of 21 years during which the
tournament was not held. The tournament was revived again in 2016
with clubs from different parts of the world and Brazilian footballer
Ronaldinho is the brand ambassador for the tournament.
44. Which pair won the men’s doubles title in Delhi Open-2016?
Mahesh Bhupathi and Yuki Bhambri.
They defeated Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh in the Tennis final.
45. The current President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students'
Union who was arrested and charged with sedition by the Delhi police
for allegedly raising anti-India slogans in a student rally in February
2016?
Kanhaiya Kumar.
The rally was called to protest the 2013 hanging of Mohammed Afzal
Guru, a Kashmiri separatist convicted for the 2001 Indian Parliament
attack.
46. Zee News journalist who has resigned from the TV channel
because of its “biased coverage” of the JNU protests?
Vishwa Deepak.
Deepak alleged that Zee News aired footage of students chanting
‘Pakistan Zindabad’ repeatedly, but it did not have any such slogans in
it. “
47. Which cricketer hammered a stunning 306 runs off just 134 balls
in a 50-over game in Maharashtra Cricket Association’s senior
invitation league, which is the highest score by an individual in a 50-
over match?
Pritam Patel.
48. Which Indian city will host the 22nd Asian Athletics
Championships in 2017?
Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand.
49. The 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was held in ?
Doha, Qatar.
The 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the seventh
edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian
nations. It took place at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, between 19
and 21 February.
50. Who won the Player of the Series award in the two T20 cricket
matches played between England and South Africa held in South Africa
in February 2015?
Imran Tahir (South Africa).
Series - South Africa won the 2-match series 2-0.
51. Who hit the fastest ever Test century on 20 February 2016 which
came from just 54 balls?
Brendon McCullum.
His effort was two balls faster than the previous record 56-ball
century scored by Vivian Richards against England in Antigua in
1985-86, which was equalled by Misbah-ul-Haq against Australia in
Abu Dhabi in 2014-15.
52. The senior most General Manager in the government-run non-life
insurance sector who has been appointed as Chairman-cum-Managing
Director of the Kolkata-headquartered National Insurance Company?
K Sanath Kumar.
He will hold this post till 30 April 2018.
53. Former Chief Justice of India who took charge as the
Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on
February 29, 2016?
H.L. Dattu.
He is the seventh Chairperson of the Commission. Justice K.G.
Balakrishnan completed his tenure on May 11, last year following
which member of the Commission Justice Cyriac Joseph held charge
as the acting Chairperson.
54. Who became the 9th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on
February 19, 2016?
Kalikho Pul.
55. Which country is crowned overall champions of the 2016 South
Asian Games?
India.
The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is
a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16
February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati
on 5 February 2016. The sporting giant of the region, India continued
its dominance in the game's medal tally with a staggering 308 medals
including 188 gold medals.
56. Parliament of which country has become the world's first solar
powered legislative body?
Pakistan.
The Pakistani parliament now produces 80MW of electricity, of which
62MW will be consumed by the building, while the remaining 18MW
will be diverted to the national grid.
57. Which city has been named the best city in the world to live
according to the 18th Mercer Quality of Life survey?
Vienna.(Capital of Austria).
Zurich, Switzerland and Auckland, New Zealand come in second and
third
58. Real Madrid superstar who has become the first athlete to
surpass 200 million followers on social media?
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has 109.7 million followers on Facebook, 49.6 million on
Instagram and 40.7 million on Twitter. The Portugal international
crossed the 200 million threshold on February 23, 2016.
59. Which team won the 2016 Pakistan Super League?
Islamabad United.
The 2016 Pakistan Super League or HBL PSL 2016 was the debut
season of the Pakistan Super League which was established by the
Pakistan Cricket Board. The tournament featured five teams and was
held from 4 February 2016 to 23 February 2016 in the United Arab
Emirates. The opening ceremony and first match of the tournament
were held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 4 February
2016. The final was held in Dubai on 23 February and Islamabad United
defeating Quetta Gladiators by 6 wickets to win the first title. Dwayne
Smith of Islamabad United was awarded the man of the match award
for his innings of 73 runs from 51 balls. Ravi Bopara of the Karachi
Kings was named player of the tournament.
60. Who has been elected as the ninth president of FIFA?
Gianni Infantino.
Infantino was elected president of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA
Extraordinary Congress on 26 February 2016. He holds dual nationality,
Swiss and Italian. He has been the general secretary of UEFA since
2009.
61. Which team won the 2015–16 Ranji Trophy defeating Saurashtra
in the final?
Mumbai.
The 2015–16 Ranji Trophy was the 82nd season of the Ranji Trophy,
the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It was contested by
27 teams divided into three groups of nine teams each. The final was
contested by Saurashtra and Mumbai, a repeat of the 2012–13 final.
Mumbai won the match by an innings and 21 runs to claim their 41st
title.
62. Former Comptroller & Auditor General of India who has been
named the first chairman of Banks Board Bureau, which will help the
government appoint heads of public sector banks and advice on
banking reforms?
Vinod Rai.
63. Well-known Hindi scholar and writer who has been selected for
the prestigious Vyas Samman 2015?
Sunita Jain.
Sunita Jain's poetry collection "Kshama" has been selected for the
prestigious Vyas Samman 2015. Instituted by the K K Birla Foundation,
the award carries an amount of Rs 2.50 lakh and is given to
outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen.
64. Oscar-winning sound designer who has won the prestigious
American Motion Picture Sound Editors’ (MPSE) Golden Reel Award?
Resul Pookutty.
He won the best sound for documentary “India’s Daughter” directed by
Leslee Udwin. It is based on the Delhi gang rape incident of December
2012. Government has banned public screening airing of the
documentary. He becomes the first Asian to win the award for best
sound for documentary “India’s Daughter” at the coveted Motion
Picture Sound Editors’ 63rd annual Golden Reel Awards.
65. Who took charge as the Director-General of the Indian Coast
Guard on February 27, 2016?
Rajendra Singh.
He becomes the first non-Navy officer to be elevated to the top post.
66. Malayalam film director who is credited with setting a new trend
in Malayalam cinema with his thriller, Traffic (2011), passed away on
February 27, 2016?
Rajesh Pillai.
Rajesh Pillai made his directional debut with Hridayathil Sookshikkan
(2005) which turned out to be a commercial and critical failure. His
second film Traffic, written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay was released
in 2011. The film has its narrative in a hyperlink format is inspired from
an actual event that happened in Chennai. The film was a notable
success and is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the
Malayalam New Wave.
67. Which company won India’s first-ever auction of a gold mine in
Chhattisgarh as the nation opens up the sector to private companies to
curb overseas purchases of the metal?
Vedanta Ltd.
Vedanta, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc has quoted
the highest bid of 12.55 per cent of the Indian Bureau of Mines price
of Rs74,712 a troy ounce (1 troy ounce = 31.10 gram) to win the gold
mine. The gold mine is located at Baghmara in the Baloda Bazar
district of Chhattisgarh. The mine is spread over 607 hectares, with
estimated reserves of 2,700 kg of the precious metal.
68. Who won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship -2016(Dubai
Open -2016) defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the final?
Stan Wawrinka.
69. COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS OF OSCAR AWARDS -2016/ 88th
annual Academy Awards.
Best Picture: “Spotlight”
Direction: “The Revenant,” Alejandro G. Inarritu
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”
Actress: Brie Larson, “Room”
Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies”
Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”
Adapted Screenplay: “The Big Short,” Charles Randolph and Adam
McKay
Original Screenplay: “Spotlight,” Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Cinematography: “The Revenant,” Emmanuel Lubezki
Production Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Colin Gibson and Lisa
Thompson (set decoration)
Film Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Margaret Sixel
Visual Effects: “Ex Machina,” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark
Ardington and Sara Bennett
Costume Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Jenny Beavan
Makeup: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and
Damian Martin
Sound Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Mark Mangini and David White
Sound Mixing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff
and Ben Osmo
Score: “The Hateful Eight,” Ennio Morricone
Song: “Writing’s on the Wall,” from “Spectre,” Jimmy Napes and Sam
Smith
Foreign Language Film: “Son of Saul” (Hungary)
Animated Feature: “Inside Out”
Documentary Feature: “Amy”
Animated Short: “Bear Story”
Documentary Short: “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”
Live Action Short: “Stutterer”
70. Highlights of Union Budget 2016-17:
Infrastructure and agriculture cess to be levied.
1 per cent service charge on purchase of luxury cars over Rs. 10 lakh
and in-cash purchase of goods and services over Rs. 2 lakh.
SUVs, Luxury cars to be more expensive. 4% high capacity tax for
SUVs.
Excise duty raised from 10 to 15 per cent on tobacco products other
than beedis
Companies with revenue less than Rs 5 crore to be taxed at 29% plus
surcharge.
Excise 1 per cent imposed on articles of jewellery, excluding silver.
Govt. will pay EPF contribution of 8.33% for all new employees for
first three years.
Deduction for rent paid will be raised from Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 to
benefit those living in rented houses.
Additional exemption of Rs. 50,000 for housing loans up to Rs. 35
lakh, provided cost of house is not above Rs. 50 lakh.
Service tax exempted for housing construction of houses less than 60
sq. m
15 per cent surcharge on income above Rs. 1 crore
A new health protection scheme for health cover upto 1 lakh per
family.
Rs. 1,700 crore for 1500 multi-skill development centres.
62 new navodaya vidyalayas to provide quality education
Digital literacy scheme to be launched to cover 6 crore additional rural
households
Total allocation for agriculture and farmer welfare at Rs 35984 crores
Nominal premium and highest ever compensation in case of crop loss
under the PM Fasal Bima Yojna.
Banks get a big boost: Rs 25,000 crore towards recapitalisation of
public sector banks. .
Target of disbursement under MUDRA increased to 1,80,000 crore
General Insurance companies will be listed in the stock exchange.
71. Which club won the English League Cup defeating Liverpool ?
Manchester City
Manchester City won the match, defeating Liverpool 3–1 in a penalty
shoot-out after the match had finished 1–1 after extra time.
[24/09 10:13 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON EVENTS OF 2015/ 2015
AT A GLANCE/ EXPECTED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS OF MAJOR
EVENTS OF 2015
1. Which country officially became the 123rd member of the
International Criminal Court (ICC)?
Palestine.
2. Which dam has broken the world record for annual hydroelectric
power production, more than a decade after it became the world's
largest power plant?
Three Gorges dam (China).
3. Which cricketer became the fastest player to reach 12,000 Test
runs?
Kumar Sangakkara.
4. USA has imposed new sanctions on which country in response to
a cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment?
North Korea.
5. What is the name given to the policy think-tank of Government of
India that replaces Planning Commission and aims to involve the
states in economic policy-making in India?
NITI Aayog. (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog).
6. Columbia University professor and eminent economist who has
been appointed as the first Vice Chairman of the newly formed NITI
Aayog?
Arvind Panagariya.
7. Who has become the first Test captain in cricket history to score
three centuries in first three innings?
Virat Kohli.
8. Who has sworn in as the new president of Sri Lanka on January 9,
2015?
Maithripala Sirisena.
Ranil Wickremesinghe has sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri
Lanka on January 9, 2015.
9. Who was appointed Chief Justice of Bangladesh to become the
first Hindu to hold the highest judicial post in the Muslim-majority
country?
Justice S. K. Sinha.
10. Distinguished scientist who has been appointed as the Chairman
of Indian Space Research Organisation and Space Commission in
January 2015?
A.S. Kiran Kumar.
11. Former Planning Commission Secretary who has been appointed
as the first CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI)
Aayog?
Sindhushree Khullar.
12. Real Madrid forward who has won the Ballon d'Or world
footballer of the year-2015?
Cristiano Ronaldo.
13. Who is the first saint to have been canonised in Sri Lanka?
Joseph Vaz.
14. Who has been appointed as the 19th Chief Election
Commissioner of India?
Hari Shankar Brahma.
15. What is the name of the unauthorized biography of Congress
President Sonia Gandhi which is being released by Roli Books in India?
Red Saree.
16. Which batsman has broken the World record for the fastest 50
and 100 in ODI history, after slamming a half-century in 16 balls and
getting to his century in just 31 balls in the 2nd ODI against West
Indies?
AB de Villiers. (South Africa).
17. Activist who has staged a 14-year hunger strike in protest at
human rights abuses in Manipur, released from the jail on January 22
as per the order of Manipur court?
Irom Sharmila.
18. Name the two Army jawans who have been selected
posthumously for the highest peacetime gallantry award Ashoka
Chakra-2015?
Major Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Kumar.
19. Who has been appointed as the first woman bishop by Church of
England?
Libby Lane.
20. Indian diplomat who has been appointed as the foreign secretary
of India for a tenure of two years on 28 January, 2015?
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
21. The Zimbabwean president who has been sworn in as chairman
of the African Union?
Robert Mugabe.
22. Who is sworn in as the 12th President of Italy?
Sergio Mattarella.
23. Which country won its first ever Asian Cup Football title
defeating South Korea in the final?
Australia.
24. The Indian American writer has been announced as the winner of
the widely acclaimed DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 for her
book “The Lowland”?
Jhumpa Lahiri.
25. Who won the Australian Open Men’s title -2015?
Novak Djokovic.
He defeated Andy Murray in the final.This is his eighth Grand slam
title.Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won the Australian Open mixed
doubles title-2014.
26. Which state hosted the 2015 National Games of India (35th
National Games of India)?
Kerala.
Ammu is the Great Indian Hornbill, the State bird of Kerala.
27. Who is sworn in as the 186th Prime Minister of Greece?
Alexis Tsipras.
28. Eminent Marathi litterateur who has been selected for 2014
Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour in India?
Bhalchandra Nemade.
29. Name the spacecraft launched by NASA which recently released
the first images from Pluto?
New Horizon.
30. Iconic Bollywood movie which has been finally released in the
theatres in Pakistan after 40 years when the film was first released in
India?
Sholay.
31. Name the hotel in Japan which is the first in the world, almost
completely staffed by human-looking robots?
"Henn-na Hotel".
32. Who won the Malaysian Open golf tournament-2015?
Anirban Lahiri.
33. Which country won the Africa cup of Nations-2015 defeating
Ghana in the penalty shootout (9-8)?
Ivory Coast.
34. Who has been appointed as the new Director General of the
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)?
M.O. Garg.
35. Which cricketer set up a new record by scoring first century for
India against Pakistan in a World Cup Match?
Virat Kohli.
36. Which countries on signed bilateral agreements on civil nuclear
cooperation, cultural cooperation and cooperation in the field of
Agriculture on 16 February 2015?
India and Sri Lanka.
37. Former Indian captain who has been awarded the honorary life
membership of the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Sourav Ganguly.
38. Who became the first England bowler to take a World Cup hat-
trick?
Steven Finn.
39. OSCAR AWADS-2015:
Best Picture: Birdman -Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lesher and James
W. Skotchdopole.
Best Director: Alejandro González Inarritu -Birdman
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne -The Theory of Everything
Best Actress: Julianne Moore - Still Alice.
40. Who became the first batsman to score a double century in a
World Cup match?
Chris Gayle. Chris Gayle hit 215 off just 147 balls against Zimbabwe.
41. KEY POINTS/ HIGHLIGHTS OF UNION BUDGET-2015:
1. Abolition of Wealth Tax: wealth tax is replaced with additional 2%
surcharge on super rich with annual income of over 1 crore rupees.
2. Direct transfer of subsidy to LPG consumers.
3. Corporate tax reduced from 30% to 25% over next four years.
4. Quoting PAN made mandatory for any sale exceeding Rs 1 lakh.
5. Benami Property Transaction Bill to tackle Black money transaction
in Real Estate.
6. PM Suraksha Bima Yojana for accidental/ death insurance. Premium
Rs 12 per year, Rs 2 lakh cover. MUDRA bank with corpus of
20000 cr. PM MUDRA Yojana’ – to prioritize SC, ST and OBC. Atal
Pension Yojana will provide a defined pension to the people, which will
start at the age of 60. ‘Nayi Manzil’ scheme for the youth minorities.
42. Who is unanimously elected as the President of Board of Control
of Cricket in India (BCCI) on 2 March 2015?
Jagmohan Dalmiya.
43. India and Nepal are recently launched second direct bus service
between Nepal and India after the Kathmandu-Delhi bus service
launched last year. The bus service will connect the cities?
Varanasi and Kathmandu.
44. Which country holds the record for the highest score by any
team in a World Cup?
Australia.
Australia’s 417 against Afghanistan is the highest score by any team
in a World Cup. Australia past India's World Cup record score of 413/5
against Bermuda during that match.
45. Name the controversial documentary film directed by Leslee
Udwin which is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a 23-
year-old woman who was a physiotherapy student?
“India's Daughter”.
46. Name the UNESCO World Heritage Site and 2,000-year-old city in
northern Iraq which was destroyed by IS militants?
Hatra.
47. Which cricketer becomes the first man in ODI history to score
centuries in four consecutive matches?
Kumar Sangakkara. (Sri Lanka).
48. Which team won the Ranji Trophy-2015 defeating Tamilnadu in
the final by an innings and 217 runs?
Karnataka.
49. What is the name of the book written by the British author Lance
Price which depicts the personal and political life of Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of India?
"The Modi Effect: Inside Narendra Modi's Campaign to Transform
India".
50. Which team won the 69th Santosh Trophy Football title by
defeating Punjab 5-4 tie-breaker in a nail-biting match at Guru Nanak
Stadium, Ludhina, Punjab?
Services.
51. Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader who has been
selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his
Kannada poem ‘Ramayana Mahanveshanam’?
M. Veerappa Moily.
52. England’s slain king who has been reburied with honour in March
2015, 530 years after his brutal death on the battlefield?
Richard III.
53. Who became the first New Zealand player to hit a double century
in ODI?
Martin Guptil.
54. Veteran Bollywood actor who was honoured with Dadasaheb
Phalke Award-2014?
Shashi Kapoor.
55. WINNERS OF NATIONAL FILM AWARDS -2014/62ND NATIONAL
FILM AWARDS:
Best Actor: Vijay for Nanu Avanalla Avalu (Kannada).
Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut for Queen.
Best Direction: Srijit Mukherji for Chotushkone (Bengali)
Best Feature Film: Court (Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati & English)
Best Music Direction- Vishal Bhardwaj (Haider).
56. The Supreme Court on March 24, 2015 struck down a section of
the IT Act which allowed arrests for posting offensive content on
social media sites. Which is that section?
Section 66A.
57. Name the multi-purpose and multi-modal platform launched by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is aimed at addressing common
man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing
important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well
as projects flagged by State Governments?
PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation).
58. Which organisation has been selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize
for 2014 for its contribution to the country’s development through
space technology and satellite-based services?
ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation).
59. Which country won the ICC cricket World Cup 2015?
Australia.
This is Australia’s fifth World Cup title. In the final of ICC World Cup
2015, Australia crushed New Zealand by 7 wickets. James Faulkner
(Australia) won the Man of the Match award in the final of ICC Cricket
World Cup 2015?
60. Who won the Man of the Series award of ICC Cricket World Cup
2015?
Mitchell Starc. (Australia).
61. On April 1, 2015, which country became the 123rd member of
the International Criminal Court (ICC)?
Palestine.
62. Which name is given to the planned capital city area of Andhra
Pradesh?
Amaravathi.
63. Name the first indigenously-built Scorpene submarine which is
launched by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at the Mazagaon
Dockyard Ltd in Mumbai on April 6, 2015?
INS Kalvari.
64. Which country won the 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey title
defeating Australia in the final (1-3)?
New Zealand.
65. Name the Bank inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
April 8, 2015 under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana?
Mudra (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Bank.
66. The Indian Navy's most powerful and lethal destroyer ship which
was launched into water for the first time at Mazgaon Dock in Mumbai
on 20 April 2015?
INS Visakhapatnam.
67. For the first time in 45 years and in a rare legislative action, a
private member's Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on 24th April 2015.
Which is that bill?
The "Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014".
68. Which country is the happiest country in the world, closely
followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada, according to a
global ranking of happiness unveiled in New York?
Switzerland.
69. The historic tower and a landmark in Nepal's capital of
Kathmandu, collapsed during a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25,
2015?
Dharahara.
70. Which bank has won The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015
for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing
Project (New Bank)?
Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd. (BMB)
71. Which cricketer becomes the first man to hit 500 sixes in T20?
Chris Gayle.
72. The Fight of the Century or the Battle for Greatness is a
professional boxing match between two world champions in Boxing
held on May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas,
Nevada. Who are they and who won the match?
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao.
73. On 4 May2015, a novel celebrated its 62 years of winning the
Pulitzer Prize. Which is that novel and who is the author?
The Old Man and the Sea.
The book is written by Ernest Hemingway. The novel won Pulitzer
Prize on 4 May 1953.
74. Which club won the English Premier League Title 2014-2015?
Chelsea.
Manchester City was the champions of the English 2013–14 season.
75. Who has been appointed as the new Crown Prince of Saudi
Arabia?
Mohammed bin Nayef.
76. Name the new web browser developed by Microsoft which
replaced Internet Explorer as the default browser on Windows 10?
Microsoft Edge.
77. Senior IPS officer who took over as the new chief of central
paramilitary force CISF on May1, 2015?
Surender Singh.
78. On May 6, 2015 the Lok Sabha has passed the much awaited
Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014. The bill is related with:
Goods and Services Tax (GST).
79. Name the bill passed on 7 May 2015 by the Lok Sabha which
paves the way for children in the 16-18 age group to be tried as adults
if they commit heinous crimes?
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015.
It aims to replace existing the Indian delinquency law, Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, so that juveniles
in conflict with Law in the age group of 16–18, involved in Heinous
Offences, can be tried as adults.
80. Which amendment of the Indian Constitution allows the
operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary
agreement?
119th Amendment.
This is the 100th Constitutional amendment passed by Parliament. As
per the agreement, India will get 510 acres while Bangladesh will get
10,000 acres.
81. International Yoga Day, or Yoga Day is celebrated on?
June 21.
82. Who has been appointed as the first president of USD 100 billion
BRICS bank?
K V Kamath.
83. Who has been appointed as the Election Commissioner of India
on May 7, 2015?
Achal Kumar Jyoti.
84. Name the Indian nurse who was at the centre of attention in a
court case on euthanasia after spending 42 years in a vegetative state
as a result of sexual assault, passed away on May 18, 2015?
Aruna Shanbaug.
85. Who has been appointed as acting Chairman of National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC)?
Justice Cyriac Joseph.
86. New Governors of Jharkhand, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur:
Jharkhand-Droupadi Murmu.
He was the former minister of Odisha.
Tripura- Tathagata Roy.
He was the former president of the BJP’s West Bengal unit from 2002
to 2006 and member of the party’s national executive
Arunachal Pradesh- J.P. Rajkhowa.
Meghalaya: V. Shanmuganathan.
Mizoram: Lieutenant General (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma.
Manipur: Syed Ahmed.
87. Who is the winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize?
Laszlo Krasznahorkai.
88. Who has been appointed the new defence secretary of India with
fixed two-year tenure?
G. Mohan Kumar.
89. Which franchise won the Indian Premiere League-2015(IPL 2015)
defeating Chennai Super Kings in the final held in Eden Gardens?
Mumbai Indians. (MI).
90. Which club won the 2015 UEFA Europa League?
Sevilla.
91. Who has been appointed as the 31st Cabinet Secretary of the
Republic of India?
Pradeep Kumar Sinha.
92. Who became the first England bowler to reach 400 Test wickets?
James Anderson.
He achieved this feat on day one of the second Test against New
Zealand at Headingly.
93. Who has been nominated as the first female vice-chancellor of
Oxford University?
Professor Louise Richardson.
94. Former Foreign Minister of Singapore who has been appointed as
the new Chancellor of the Nalanda University?
George Yeo.
95. Which club won the 2015 FA Cup defeating Aston Villa in the
final?
Arsenal.
96. A documentary based on music maestro’s life was screened at
the White House on May 29, 2015. Who is that music director?
A.R.Rahman.
The documentary named “Jaiho”, directed by Umesh Aggarwal, traces
the journey of the Oscar and Grammy-winning music composer's
professional and personal life.
97. Who became India's first transgender college principal?
Manabi Bandopadhyay.
98. Eminent scientist who has been appointed as Director General of
the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for a
two-year term?
Dr.S. Christopher.
99. On 5 June 2015, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) ordered a recall of all nine approved variants of an
international brand of seasonings, instant soups and noodles from
India, suggesting them unsafe and hazardous for human consumption.
Which is that brand?
Maggi.
100. WINNERS OF FRENCH OPEN TENNIS -2015:
French Open Men’s Singles Title-2015: Winner- Stanislas Wawrinka
(Switzerland).
He defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final.
French Open Women’s Singles Title-2015: Winner- Serena Williams
(USA).
She defeated Lucie Safarova of Czechoslovakia in the final. This was
her third French Open title (earlier she had won in 2002, 2013) and
overall 20th Grand Slam title.
French Open Men’s Doubles Title-2015: Winners- van Dodig (Croatia)
and Marcelo Melo (Brazil).
They defeated Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (USA).
French Open Women’s Doubles Title-2015: Winners- Bethanie Mattek-
Sands (US) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)
They defeated Casey Dellacqua (Australia) and Yaroslava Shvedova
(Kazakhstan).
French Open Mixed Doubles Title-2015: Winners- Bethanie Mattek-
Sands and Mike Bryan. (USA)
They defeated Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) and Marcin Matkowski
(Poland) pair in the final.
101. Former prime minister of India who was conferred Award of
Bangladesh Liberation War Honour for his "active role" in the country's
freedom struggle?
Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
102. The 41st G7 summit was held in?
Germany.
103. Former Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes who has
been appointed as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner of India?
K.V. Chowdary.
104. Which becomes first state of India for putting records of all
13,040 village Panchayats online?
Punjab.
105. The dollar of which country is due to be demonetised (no longer
legal tender) by the end of 2015?
Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe dollar was introduced in 1980 to directly replace the
Rhodesian dollar at par (1:1) and at a similar value to the US dollar.
Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe reduced it to one of the lowest valued
currency units in the world. It was redenominated three times (in 2006,
2008 and 2009), with denominations up to a $100 trillion banknote.
106. Who has been appointed as the new chief of the elite counter-
terror force National Security Guard (NSG)?
R.C .Tayal.
107. Which country has lowered the voting age in the country from
20 to 18 years in June 2015?
Japan.
Japan last lowered the voting age from 25 to 20 years in 1945.
108. Which country won the FIFA Under-20 World Cup-2015
defeating Brazil in the final?
Serbia.
109. Who has been appointed as Director, National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB), New Delhi?
Archana Ramasundaram.
110. Who became the first basketball player from India to be drafted
by an NBA team?
Satnam Singh.
111. According to a research published by the World Economic
Forum, which is the largest employer in the world?
The US department of defense.
The US department of defense is the world's biggest employer which
claims over 3.2 million employees on its roster. Second is People's
Liberation Army (the Chinese military) with 2.3 million, and in third is
the US supermarket giant Walmart with 2.1 million workers. Indian
Railways is ranked at the eighth place in the list of world's biggest
employers.
112. Veteran Writer who was selected for the 28th Moorti Devi
Award for the year 2014 for his book “Vyomkesh Darvesh”?
Vishwanath Tripathi.
113. The father of short message service (SMS) who passed away
on June 26, 2015?
Matti Makkonen.
He was a Finnish engineer in the field of mobile communications. In
2008, Makkonen was awarded The Economist Innovation Award in the
computing and telecommunications category for his work on text
messaging (SMS).
114. Which country won the Copa America-2015 defeating Argentina
(41) in the Penalty Shootout?
Chile
Chile won the Copa America for the first time in the country's history.
115. Which country won the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup?
U.S.A.
116. Which country will host the first day-night Test match under
lights in November-2015?
Australia.
Australia will host the first day-night test match under lights in
November when they meet neighbours New Zealand at the Adelaide
Oval. The "historic" Test, starting on November 27, will be the final
game of a three-Test series against New Zealand and will employ the
pink Kookaburra ball.
117. ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which is successfully
launched three identical DMC3 commercial Earth Observation Satellites,
along with two smaller satellites from United Kingdom on July 10,
2015?
PSLV-C28.
118. The 7th BRICS summit was held in?
Russia.
119. The Supreme Court on 09-07-2015 decided to transfer the
investigations into the multi-crore Vyapam scam to manipulate the
results of entrance examinations for government jobs and medical
colleges and deaths of various persons linked with it to the Central
Bureau of Investigation. Explain the Vyapam Scam?
The Vyapam scam is an admission and recruitment scam involving
politicians, senior officials and businessmen in the Indian state of
Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board
(MPPEB), popularly known by its Hindi acronym
"Vyapam" (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal), is a self-financed and
autonomous body incorporated by the State government responsible
for conducting several entrance tests in the state. These entrance
exams are held for recruitment in government jobs and admissions in
educational institutes of the state. The scam involved a collusion of
undeserving candidates, who bribed politicians and MPPEB officials
through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests.
120. COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS OF THE 2015 WIMBLEDON
CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Wimbledon Men’s Singles -2015:
Winner: Novak Djokovic (Serbia). He defeated Roger Federer
(Switzerland) in the final.
Wimbledon Women’s Singles -2015:
Winner: Serena Williams (USA). She defeated Garbine Muguruza
(Spain) in the final.
Wimbledon Men’s Doubles -2015:
Winners: Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) & Horia Tecau (Romania).
They defeated Jamie Murray (UK) & John Peers (Australia) in the final.
Wimbledon Women’s Doubles -2015:
Winners: Martina Hingis (Switzerland) & Sania Mirza (India).
They defeated Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina (Russia) in the
final.
Wimbledon Mixed Doubles -2015:
Winners: Leander Paes (India) & Martina Hingis (Switzerland).
They defeated Alexander Peya (Austria) & Tímea Babos (Hungary) in
the final.
121. A panel appointed by India's Supreme Court has suspended two
top Indian Premier League teams for two years over a corruption
scandal. Which are these teams?
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
122. Name the interplanetary space probe launched by NASA which
flew 12,500 km (7,800 mi) above the surface of Pluto on July 14,
2015?
New Horizons.
123. Name the satellite-based navigation system launched by ISRO,
India on July 13, 2015?
GAGAN (The GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation.).
India launched its satellite-based air navigation services, thereby
joining a select league comprising the US, Europe Union (EU) and
Japan which have similar systems.
Gagan works by augmenting and relaying data from GPS satellites with
the help of two augmentation satellites and 15 earth-based reference
stations. Gagan provides autonomous, high precision geo-spatial
location information of the user in terms of latitude, longitude and
height along with velocity and time. GAGAN is jointly developed by the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Airports Authority
of India (AAI), at an investment of Rs 774 crore.
124. Name the portal inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on July 20, 2015 with the view of modernising all government-run
employment exchanges?
National Career Counselling Portal.
125. Who broke the world record in the women’s 1500 meters,
running (3:50.07) in Monaco?
Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia).
126. Japanese sprinter who broke Usain Bolt's world youth
championships record by winning the 200m final in 20.34 seconds?
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown.
127. Name the two Indians selected for the Ramon Magsaysay
Award-2015?
Sanjiv Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi is an Indian forest officer, who was removed from
the post of Chief Vigilance officer at AIIMS in New Delhi. He had
alleged that he was transferred because he had detected irregularities
at the institute. Chaturvedi is currently the Deputy Secretary of All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Anshu Gupta, who left his corporate job to start Goonj in 1999.
Three others who have been selected for the award include Kommaly
Chanthavong from Laos, Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa from Philippines
and Kyaw Thu from Myanmar. This year's Magsaysay Award winners
will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the
late President, and a cash prize.
128. Scientific tests prove that a Quran manuscript in a University in
Britain is one of the oldest known and may have been written close to
the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Which is that university?
The University of Birmingham.
129. Which city will host the 2022 Winter Olympics?
Beijing.
It will be the third consecutive Olympic Games held in Asia, after
Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020. Having hosted the 2008 Summer
Olympics, Beijing will be the first city ever to host both the summer
and Winter Olympics.
130. The Ashes 2015 is won by?
England.
England won the 5-match Test series (Ashes) against Australia 3-2.
131. American swimmer who broke her own world record in the
womens' 1500-meter freestyle at the world swimming championships
in Kazan, Russia?
Katie Ledecky.
132. Who was named CEO of Google on August 10, 2015?
Pichai Sundararajan.
India-born Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google by the company's
founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin in course of a re-organization that
created a mother company called Alphabet.
The new mother company “Alphabet” will include, besides Google,
units such as Calico (which focuses on Longevity), X lab (which
incubates new efforts like Wing, Google's drone delivery effort) and
units dealing with life sciences (such as the one working on smart
contact lens that detects blood sugar level). Google's investment
arms, Ventures and Capital, will also be part of Alphabet.
133. Former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer who has been
appointed as the new Election Commissioner of India on August 13,
2015?
Om Prakash Rawat.
134. Who became the first non-wicket-keeper to take eight catches
in a single Test match?
Ajinkya Rahane.
Rahane had picked up three catches in the first innings and followed it
up with five more in the second innings, including a one-handed
stunner to get rid of the dangerous Kumar Sangakkara. Rahane breaks
world record for most catches (8) by a fielder in a Test match.
135. Former India volleyball captain who has been selected for the
prestigious Dhyan Chand Award-2015?
T.P .Padmanabhan Nair.
136. What is the name given to the new version of Android operating
system (Android 6.0)?
Android 6.0 "Marshmallow".
137. Which state has recorded highest number of suicides (16,307)
in India in 2014, according to the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB) Survey?
Maharashtra.
138. Who has been appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Industrial Development Bank of India
(IDBI) on August 18, 2015?
Kishor Piraji Kharat.
139. Who has been selected as the director general (DG) of the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a premier research
and development organisation?
Girish Sahni.
140. India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) which
was launched from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space
Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota on August 27, 2015?
GSLV-D6.
GSLV-D6 launched 2117 kg GSAT-6, an advanced communication
satellite, into a GTO. GSAT-6 will provide S-band communication
services in the country.
141. On 5 September 2015 the NDA Government, following 83 days
of public protest, announced, unilaterally, the implementation of a
scheme for the Armed Forces. Which is that scheme?
One Rank One Pension.
One Rank One Pension (OROP), or "same pension, for same rank, for
same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement" was
decided as the basis for determining the pension and benefits of
Indian Armed Forces in 1973, when it was terminated by the Indian
Ministry of Defence (MOD), in an "ex-parte" decision, during the tenure
of the Indian National Congress (INC) led by Indira Gandhi. The
termination of OROP, and drastic decrease in Armed Forces soldiers'
pension from 70 percent to 50 percent of last pay drawn, two years
after 1971 Bangladesh war, caused disquiet in the Indian Armed Forces
and, since 2008, has been cause of public appeals and protests, 2 and
hunger strikes by armed forces veterans, the overwhelming majority of
whom retire before they are forty years old.
The scheme will be effective from July 1, 2014 with arrears that
will be paid in four half yearly installments. Widows and war widows
will get arrears in a single installment.
142. Name the three-year-old Syrian boy of Kurdish ethnic
background whose image made global headlines after he drowned in
the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the Syrian refugee crisis?
Alan Kurdi.
Photographs of his body were taken by Turkish journalist Nilufer Demir
and quickly spread around the world, prompting international
responses.
143. Indian-American Pulitzer Prize winner who has been selected
for the prestigious 2014 National Humanities Medal?
Jhumpa Lahiri.
Her debut short story collection 'Interpreter of Maladies' won the 2000
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and her book 'The Lowland' was a nominee
for the Man Booker Prize.
144. Who has been named DRDO's first woman Director General?
J. Manjula.
Ms. Manjula has been conferred the DRDO award for performance
excellence, the Scientist of the Year award for 2011 and the India
Today Woman Summit award for 2014.
145. U.S.OPEN WINNERS-2015:
U.S Open Men’s Singles-2015:
Winner: Novak Djokovic of Serbia. He defeated Roger Federer of
Switzerland in the
final.
U.S Open Women’s Singles-2015:
Winner: Flavia Pennetta (Italy). She defeated Roberta Vinci (Italy) in
the final
U.S Open Men’s Doubles-2015:
Winners: Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut (France). They
defeated Jamie Murray (United Kingdom) and John Peers (Australia)
in the final.
U.S Open Women’s Doubles-2015:
Winners: Sania Mirza (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
In the final match, they defeated, Casey Dellacqua (Australia) and
Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan).
U.S Open Mixed Doubles-2015:
Winners: Leander Paes (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland).
In the final match, they defeated, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam
Querrey (USA)
146. Which Naga rebel group has been banned for five years by the
central government on September 16, 2015?
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang).
147. Scientists recently decently discovered a global ocean beneath
the icy crust of a moon of Saturn. Name that moon of Saturn?
Enceladus.
148. Which Chinese city has been confirmed as the host of the 2022
Asian Games after standing as the only candidate?
Hangzhou.
Hangzhou will be the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games, after
Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010.
149. Volkswagen CEO who resigned on September 23, 2015, taking
responsibility for the German carmaker’s rigging of U.S. emissions
tests in the biggest scandal in its 78-year history?
Martin Winterkorn.
The world's biggest carmaker admitted last week that it deceived US
regulators in exhaust emissions tests by installing a device to give
more positive results.
150. Who has been chosen for the prestigious 2015 SASTRA-
Ramanujan Prize for his contribution in the field of Mathematics?
Jacob Tsimerman.
151. Who has been formally elected as the president of BCCI in
October 2015?
Shashank Manohar.
152. THE NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS-2015
Here is the complete list of winners of Nobel Prize-2015:
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015: Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B.
McDonald.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 was awarded jointly to Takaaki
Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald "for the discovery of neutrino
oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass".
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015: Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and
Aziz Sancar.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 was awarded jointly to Tomas
Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of
DNA repair".
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015: William C. Campbell
and Satoshi Omura, Youyou Tu
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 was divided, one
half jointly to William C.Campbell and Satoshi Omura "for their
discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by
roundworm parasites" and the other half to Youyou Tu "for her
discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria".
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015: Svetlana Alexievich.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 was awarded to Svetlana
Alexievich "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and
courage in our time".
The Nobel Peace Prize 2015: National Dialogue Quartet.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2015 was awarded to National Dialogue
Quartet "for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic
democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of
2011".
The National Dialogue Quartet was formed in 2013 and comprises
four organizations in Tunisian civil society:
The Tunisian General Labour Union, The Tunisian Confederation of
Industry, Trade and Handicrafts , The Tunisian Human Rights
League and The Tunisian Order of Lawyers .
The Nobel Prize in Economic Science 2015: Angus Deaton.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of
Alfred Nobel 2015 was awarded to Angus Deaton "for his analysis
of consumption, poverty, and welfare".
153. Fifa president and Uefa boss who have been suspended for
eight years from all football-related activities following an ethics
investigation?
Sepp Blatter (FIFA President) and Michel Platini (UEFA).
154. Who has won the FIDE chess World Cup-2015, beating Peter
Svidler in the final?
Sergey Karjakin. (Russia).
155. Who became the first Pakistani batsman to reach 9,000 Test
cricket runs?
Younis Khan.
156. Who has won the Man Booker Prize-2015 for Fiction for his
novel “A Brief History of Seven Killings”?
Marlon James.
Marlon James has become the first Jamaican writer to win the Man
Booker prize, taking the award for an epic, uncompromising novel. A
Brief History of Seven Killings, a fictional history of the attempted
murder of Bob Marley in 1976.
157. The 29th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the
year 2013 & 2014 has been awarded to?
Shri Rajagopal PV.
He is the "Founder of Ekta Parishad" and the award is given for his
services in promoting and preserving National Integration in the
country. This Award consists of a Citation and cash of Rs. 10.00 lakh.
158. The Supreme Court on October 16, 2015 struck down a
Constitutional amendment for first time in 35 years. Which is that
amendment?
An amendment to validate the National Judicial Appointments
Commission (NJAC).The National Judicial Appointments Commission
(NJAC) Act which was unanimously passed by both Houses of
parliament, had contemplated a significant role for the executive in
appointing judges in the higher judiciary. The 20-year-old collegium
system prescribes appointment of judges by a panel comprising five
senior most judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, with the
power to confirm appointments despite resistance, if any, from the
government.
159. India’s first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express that would to
run between?
Mumbai and Goa.
The train will cover distance between two states in around 12 hours
and has total eight compartments with a seating capacity of 120 in
each compartment.
160. Who has been appointed as the first male member of the
National Commission for Women (NCW), filling the fourth seat in the
five-member body?
Alok Rawat.
161. As per the ninth amendment of Criminal Law, which country
made copying in examinations a crime punishable upto seven years?
China.
162. Name the first-ever passenger jet built and designed by China
which is unveiled in November 2015?
C919.
163. The world's first robot 'actress': Talking android fitted with a
human face is given star role in Japanese nuclear disaster film. What is
the name of that film?
'Sayonara'.
Android called 'Geminoid F' is the co-star in the Japanese film
'Sayonara'. The android, called Geminoid F, was designed to look and
act like a human with rubber 'skin' and a woman's face - but it is
unable to walk and is wheeled around in the film.
164. Who has been appointed as the 43rd Chief Justice of India?
Justice T.S. Thakur.
165. The Reserve Bank has imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on old
private sector bank in Kerala for violation of Know Your Customer
(KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) norms. Which is that Bank?
Dhanlaxmi Bank.
166. What is the name of the Christian rock album by Pope Francis
which is released on 27 November 2015 on Believe Digital?
Wake Up!.
167. Who becomes India's first transgender Sub Inspector of Police?
K .Prithika Yashini.
168. Who became the first player to reach the 10,000 run-mark in
Ranji Trophy cricket?
Wasim Jaffer.
169. Name the coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) of India
which was commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 10
November, 2015 at Vasco in Goa?
‘Samarth’.
170. Name the indigenously made communications satellite of India
which was successfully launched on November 10, 2015 from French
Guyana in South America?
GSAT-15.
171. Who has been appointed as the first woman ambassador of
Iran?
Marzieh Afkham.
Iran has appointed its first woman ambassador since the 1979 Islamic
revolution, naming foreign ministry spokeswoman to head its embassy
in Malaysia.
172. Which terrorist organisation captured the infamous title of the
world’s deadliest terrorist group according to The Global Terrorism
Index prepared by Institute for Economics and Peace?
Boko Haram.
Boko Haram, the militant group that has tortured Nigeria and its
neighbours for years, was responsible for 6,664 deaths last year, more
than any other terrorist group in the world, including the Islamic State,
which killed 6,073 people in 2014, according to that report.
173. The first day and night Test cricket match was played between?
Australia and New Zealand.
The first day & night test cricket match was played at Adelaide Oval
with a pink Kookaburra ball in the third match of the series between
Australia and New Zealand, between November 27 and December 1.
The coincidence is that the first Official D/N ODI happened on 27 Nov
1979 and the first D/N Test match started on 27 Nov 2015. Australia
won the first day & night cricket test match.
174. Indian-Israeli surface-to-air missile (SAM) which was
successfully test fired from an Israeli Navy ship on November 26,
2015?
Barak 8.
175. The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or
CMP 11 was held in?
Paris.
176. Which country won the Davis Cup, the tennis version of the
Wold Cup after 79 years?
Britain.
177. Name the India's first locally developed nuclear submarine
which b has completed test firing of an unarmed medium-range missile
B-05, developed by Defence Research Development and Organisation
(DRDO)?
INS Arihant.
Arihant is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines being
built for the Indian Navy. The lead vessel of the class, INS Arihant, was
first launched in 2009 and began sea trials in December 2014.
178. Dominica-born British lawyer, who was appointed as the
Commonwealth's new Secretary General, becoming the first woman to
occupy the post in the 53-member block's history?
Patricia Scotland.
179. In which country, YouTube opens first video production studio?
India.
YouTube, in collaboration with Subhash Ghai-owned film school
Whistling Woods International, has opened its 8th (one of a kind)
YouTube Space in Mumbai's Film City. It is the first video production
studio in the country.
180. Name the world’s first washable mobile phone which is all set
to be released in Japan by tech company Kyocera Telecom?
Digno Rafre.
181. Name the two new franchises in the Indian Premier League
(IPL), replacing the suspended teams of Chennai Super Kings and
Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years?
Pune and Rajkot.
The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based business tycoon
Sanjiv Goenka's company New Rising, while the Rajkot bid was won
by Intex Mobiles.
182. Which country has placed 3rd position globally with an
estimated $94.76 billion black money outflow in 2012 according to the
latest report on black money outflow by Global Financial Integrity?
India.
Russia is on the top with USD 122.86 billion, followed by China at the
second position (USD 249.57 billion) in terms of the quantum of black
money moving out of a country for 2012.
183. Name the surface-to-surface ballistic missile successfully test
fired by Pakistan on December 11, 2015 which can carry nuclear
warheads within a range of 2,750?
Shaheen-III
184. How many countries signed the historic first universal Climate
agreement on December 12, 2015 held in Paris?
196.
The agreement binds together pledges by individual nations to cut or
limit emissions from fossil-fuel burning, within a framework of rules
that provide for monitoring and verification as well as financial and
technical assistance for developing countries.
185. Who becomes the first Saudi woman to win a seat of Makkah’s
municipal council in historic polls?
Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi.
186. Kazakhstan's former Prime Minister Who has been sentenced to
10 years in prison on corruption charges?
Serik Akhmetov.
187. Senior revenue service officer who was appointed Chairman of
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of
Income Tax department?
A K Jain.
188. Which country on December 16, 2015successfully put six
Singapore satellites into orbit after a perfect launch its landmark 50th
space mission?
India.
189. The UN declared 2016 as the International Year of?
Pulses.
Pulses are edible grain legumes – think pinto, kidney, garbanzo, lentils,
and peas. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) want the
public to recognize tasty and nutritious pulses “as a primary source of
protein, fiber, and other essential nutrients.
190. A Delhi court on December 19, 2015 granted unconditional bail
to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Vice-president Rahul Gandhi
in the National Herald case of cheating and misappropriation. What is
the National Herald case?
The National Herald scam is an ongoing case in a Delhi court filed by
Indian economist and politician Subramanian Swamy against
politicians Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, their companies and
associated persons. As per the complaint filed in the court of the
Metropolitan Magistrate, Indian National Congress granted an interest-
free loan of 90.25 crore (US$13 million) to Associated Journals Limited
(AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper which was established
by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938. It was alleged that the loan was either
not repaid or repaid in cash, which is in violation of Section 269T of
the Income Tax Act, 1961. A closely held company, Young Indian, was
incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of 5 lakh (US$7,500)
and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties
(alleged to be worth 5000 crore (US$750 million)). Swamy alleged
criminal misappropriation by both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The
courts have determined that a prima facie case has been established
in the matter. While rejecting the plea by Congress President Sonia
Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others against summons in the National
Herald case, the Delhi High Court has made some scathing remarks
saying that the conduct of Congress office-bearers “smacks of
criminality”.
191. For the first time in more than 40 years, Iraq has crowned a
Miss Iraq beauty pageant winner. Who is that Miss Iraq?
Shaima Qassim.
192. Filipina-German actress, model and beauty queen who was
crowned Miss Universe 2015?
Pia Wurtzbach.
193. Which team won the International Premier Tennis League-2015
(ITPL-2) defeating Indian aces in the final?
Singapore Slammers.
194. Parliament has passed a bill which has provision that allows
trying of juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 years as adults for
heinous offences. What is the name of that bill?
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015.
It aims to replace the existing Indian juvenile delinquency law,
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, so that
juveniles in conflict with Law in the age group of 16–18, involved in
Heinous Offences, can be tried as adults. The Act came into force from
15 January 2016. It was passed on 7 May 2015 by the Lok Sabha
amid intense protest by several Members of Parliament. It was passed
on 22 December 2015 by the Rajya Sabha.
195. Who is named Miss World 2015?
Mireia Lalaguna Royo.
Royo is a Spanish actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned
Miss World Spain 2015 and in December the same year won Miss
World 2015 in Sanya. She is the first Miss World from Spain. Miss
World 2015, the 65th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on
19 December 2015 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China.
196. Which club won the FIFA Club World Cup -2015 after a 3-0 win
over River Plate?
Barcelona.
197. Former Defence Secretary who has been appointed as Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC)?
R.K. Mathur.
198. Australian cricketer who has been named cricketer of the year
(2015) by the International Cricket Council, winning the Sir Garfield
Sobers Trophy?
Steven Smith.
Awards list:
Test Cricketer of the Year - Steven Smith
ODI Cricketer of the Year - AB de Villiers
Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year - Meg Lanning
Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year - Stafanie Taylor
T20I Performance of the Year - Faf du Plessis
Emerging Cricketer of the Year - Josh Hazlewood
Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year - Khurram Khan
Spirit of Cricket Award - Brendon McCullum
Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy) - Richard Kettleborough.
199. Former India wicketkeeper-batsman who has been chosen for
the CK Nayudu lifetime achievement award for 2015?
Syed Kirmani.
Virat Kohli was declared the winner of the Polly Umrigar Award for Best
Cricketer for 2014-15 by the BCCI?
200. Eminent Gujarati novelist, poet and critic who has been chosen
for the prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2015?
Raghuveer Chaudhary.
A novelist, poet and critic, Chaudhary is a recipient of Sahitya Academi
Award for his novel, "Trilogy Uparvaas" in 1977. His popular novels
include "Amrita", "Venu Vatsala", "Purvarang", "Laagni Samjyaa Vinaa
Chuuta Padvanu" and others. While his most-known novel
"Amrita" (1965) explores the concept of existentialism, other works like
"Rudramahalaya" (1978) and "Somtirth" (1996) are historical fiction.
201. Name the Indo-Israeli jointly built Long Range Surface to Air
Missile which was test fired Dec. 30 crossing a significant milestone in
enhancing its anti-air warfare capability.
Barak-8.
[24/09 10:23 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS JANUARY 2016
1. Uruguay international midfielder who has been named the 2015
Rey de America, awarded to the best player in South American
football?
Carlos Sanchez.
2. The former general secretary of the Communist Party of India
(CPI), passed away on January 2, 2016?
A.B. Bardhan.
Bardhan held the post of general secretary for over a record number of
years from 1996 to 2012. He became the General Secretary of the All
India Trade Union Congress in 1994 and became the Deputy General
Secretary of the Communist Party of India in 1995. When Indrajit Gupta
joined the United Front government as the Minister of Home Affairs
(India), Bardhan succeeded him as the General Secretary of the
Communist Party of India following Gupta's resignation from the post
of party's General Secretary.
3. The government of India on January 1, 2016constituted a
committee headed by eminent filmmaker to look into the revamp of the
Censor Board, functioning of which has been mired in controversies in
recent past. Who is that film maker?
Shyam Benegal.
The other members of the committee include Rakeysh Omprakash
Mehra, Piyush Pandey, Bhawana Somaaya, Nina Lath Gupta and Joint
Secretary (Films) as Member Convener. The committee has been
requested to submit their recommendations within two months.
4. On 2 January 2016, a heavily armed group attacked an Air Force
Station, part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force. The
Air force station is situated at?
Pathankot. (Punjab).
Pathankot Air Force Station is a military airport located 3 km from
Pathankot. On 2 January 2016, six heavily armed terrorists suspected
to belong to Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked the
Air Force Station. The terrorists were wearing Indian Army fatigues
and rode a stolen car of a superintendent of the Punjab Police. All six
terrorists and seven security forces personnel were killed in the gun
battle on 4th January.
5. The 103rd edition of Indian Science Congress was held in?
Mysore.
Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is a premier scientific
organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The
association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in
the first week of January every year.
6. Who won the Player of the series award in the three test cricket
matches between West Indies and Australia(The Frank Worrell Trophy)
held in Australia from December 2015-Jan 2016?
Adam Voges (Australia).
Series - Australia won the 3-match series 2-0.
7. Who won the Player of the series award in the four test cricket
matches between England and South Africa (The Basil D'Oliveira
Trophy) held in South Africa from December 2015-Jan 2016?
Ben Stokes (England).
Series - England won the 4-match series 2-1.
8. England all-rounder who hit the second fastest double century in
Test history in a blistering assault on the South African bowlers on the
second day of the second Test at Newlands (on 02-01-2016)?
Ben Stokes.
Stokes reached 150 off 135 balls and made his double century off 163
deliveries, with 26 fours and seven sixes. Only Nathan Astle, who
reached the mark off 153 balls for New Zealand against England in
Christchurch in 2001/02, has been faster.
9. Which country won the South Asian Football Federation Cup for
the seventh time defeating Afghanistan (2-1) in the final?
India.
Match went into the extra time as both teams ended the tie at 1-1
after 90 minutes. Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd minute) and Sunil Chhetri
(101th) scored for India. India had lost to Afghanistan 0-2 in the final
of 2013 edition in Kathmandu.
10. Masterly innings of which cricketer has been rated as the
greatest Test performance of the last 50 years according to a poll
published in the January issue of ESPN’s digital magazine the Cricket
Monthly.?
V. V. S. Laxman’s masterly innings of 281 against Australia at the
Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Laxman, promoted to no. 3 after his first innings’ 59 out of a team
score of 171, came up with his magical innings and also added 376
runs for the fifth wicket with Rahul Dravid (180).
11. Who has been appointed as executive vice chairman of Wipro
Limited?
T.K.Kurien.
IT consulting and system integration services multinational Wipro
Limited on Monday announced the appointment of TK Kurien as the
executive vice chairman and Abid Ali Neemuchwala as the chief
executive officer and member of the board of the company effective
February 1, 2016.
12. Mumbai school cricketer who has become the first cricketer in
history to score 1,000 runs in a single innings?
Pranav Dhanawade.
Batting for Smt KC Gandhi School, Kalyan Pranav scored unbeaten
1009 (from 323 balls) which include 59 sixes and 129 fours at a strike-
rate of 312.38.He achieved this feat against Arya Gurukul School in
the HT Bhandari Cup inter-school tournament organised by the
Mumbai Cricket Association. Dhanawade's innings enabled his side to
declare on the mind-boggling 1465/3, also a world record, with Pranav
unbeaten on 1,009.The 15-year-old’s father Prashant is an auto
rickshaw driver.
13. Who has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Niti
Aayog?
Amitabh Kant.
Mr Kant has been appointed in place of former IAS officer Sindhushree
Khullar, who was appointed as the first CEO of the National Institution
for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog, a body that has replaced Planning
Commission, for a fixed one-year term beginning January 1, last year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is Chairman of Niti Aayog.
14. Who has been named as the new coach of Real Madrid after
Rafa Benitez is sacked from the post?
Zinedine Zidane.
15. Who has been appointed as chairman and managing director of
the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL)?
Madhu S Nair.
He succeeds Commodore K Subramaniyam, who will be retiring from
service on December 31 after heading the PSU for five years.
16. Which country conducted a powerful hydrogen bomb test on
January 6, 2016?
North Korea.
A hydrogen bomb can be up to 1000 times more powerful than the
early atomic weapons that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945.
17. Four-time Ballon d'Or winner who has been named the Playmaker
of the Year by the International Federation of Football History &
Statistics (IFFHS)?
Lionel Messi.
The IFFHS named Nicola Rizzoli as the top official for a second
consecutive year.
18. Name the French test pilot who was the first person to fly the
Concorde, passed away on January 4, 2016?
Andre Turcat.
He became Concorde's chief test pilot and Sud Aviation's director of
flight testing. On 2 March 1969, Turcat had the honor of flying the first
prototype of Concorde for its maiden flight. Later that year (1 October),
he was also at the controls for Concorde's first supersonic flight.
19. Indian shooter who broke the world record on way to winning
gold in the women's 10 meter air rifle event at the Swedish Cup Grand
Prix?
Apurvi Chandela.
20. United Nations has recently awarded medals for peacekeepers of
which country for their courage and service in maintenance of peace
and security in the West African country, Liberia?
India.
21. Senior diplomat who has been appointed India's ambassador to
Israel on January 7, 2016, where he will succeed Jaideep Sarkar?
Pavan Kapoor.
22. Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir who passed away on
January 7, 2016?
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
He served twice as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, from
November 2002 to November 2005 and again from March 2015 to
January 2016. He was also Home Minister of India from December
1989 to November 1990. He founded the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples
Democratic Party in July 1999. He joined the Rajiv Gandhi government
in 1986 as Minister of Tourism. In 1987, he quit the Congress party to
join V. P. Singh's Jan Morcha, which led to his becoming the first
Muslim Minister for Home Affairs in the Union Cabinet of India for one
year, from 1989 to 1990.
23. Who becomes the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and
Kashmir?
Mehbooba Mufti.
Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed is the president of the Jammu and Kashmir
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the daughter of Late Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed who served as former Chief Minister of Jammu
and Kashmir and died while in office.
24. Gabon striker who was named African Footballer of the Year
2015?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
He becomes the first Gabonese player to win the African Footballer of
the Year.
25. The central government announced on January 8, 2016 its
decision to allow the traditional bull taming sport during Pongal
festival. What is the name of that bull taming sport?
'Jallikattu'.
However the Animal Welfare Board has moved the apex court against
Centre's move to lift ban on the controversial bull-taming sport in Tamil
Nadu. The Supreme Court on January 12, 2016 stayed the Centre's
notification on Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu.
26. Former Gujarat cadre IAS officer who has been appointed as the
Chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI)?
Devender Kumar Sikri.
Competition Commission of India is a body of the Government of India
responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002 throughout India
and to prevent activities that have an adverse effect on competition in
India. It was established on 14 October 2003. It became fully
functional in May 2009 with Dhanendra Kumar as its first Chair
27. Borussia Dortmund and Gabon forward who has been crowned
African Footballer of the Year for 2015?
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.
Aubameyang, who scored 43 goals for club and country during 2015,
becomes the first player from Gabon to win the award.
28. Which pair won the women’s doubles title of the $1 million
Brisbane International -2016?
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.
They defeated Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic in the final.This
is the Indo-Swiss pair’s 26th win in a row and the first title of 2016.
29. Notorious drug lord who has been recaptured by Mexican
authorities in Mexico on 22 February 2014, six months after he
escaped a maximum security prison?
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
30. Scientists at the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes
(CIRB) in Hisar, Haryana have successfully produced a cloned buffalo
offspring. What is the name of that buffalo?
‘Cirb Gaurav’.
With this achievement, CIRB becomes world’s third and India’s second
institute to produce cloned buffalo. National Dairy Research Institute in
Karnal was the first to produce a cloned calf in India.
31. Which team won the 64th National Senior Volleyball
Championship in both men and women categories?
Railways.
In both men and women categories, Railways beat Kerala in the final.
32. Who hit the second fastest Twenty20 half-century which was
also the fastest 50 by a New Zealander?
Colin Munro.
Munro hit unbeaten 50 from 14 balls, the second fastest Twenty20
half-century behind a 12-ball spree by India's Yuvraj Singh against
England in 2007. It was also the fastest 50 by a New Zealander,
eclipsing the 20-minute-old record set by Guptill who took 19 balls to
achieve 50 in the same match.
33. Who has created the world record for the longest flute marathon
when he played flute for 28 hours non-stop?
Murali Narayanan.
Murali broke the current world record for longest flute marathon set by
Katherine Brookes of United Kingdom in February, 2012 for 25 hours
and 48 minutes. Murali aged 40, who hails from Thalikkulam played
flute for 27 hours 20 minutes and 50 seconds.
34. Who won the Qatar Open -2016 defeating Rafael Nadal in the
final?
Novak Djokovic.
35. Pakistani Ghazal maestro who was presented with the first
Swaralaya Global Legendary Award?
Ghulam Ali.
36. Who won the Player of the Series Award in the 5 ODI Cricket
series played between Australia and India held in Australia in January
2015?
Rohit Sharma (India).
Series - Australia won the 5-match series 4-1.
37. LIST OF WINNERS OF GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2016:
Best Picture, Drama: The Revenant
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio, The
Revenant
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama: Brie Larson, Room
Best Picture, Comedy: The Martian
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy: Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Best Actress in a Drama Series: Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Best Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
Best Drama Series: Mr. Robot
Best Original Song: "Writing's on the Wall" - Sam Smith, Spectre
Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie: Lady Gaga, American
Horror Story: Hotel
Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul (Hungary)
Best Actor in a Comedy Series: Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the
Jungle
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Best Animated Film: Inside Out
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy: Matt Damon, The Martian
Best Actor in a Drama Series: Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Best Original Score in a Motion Picture: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful
Eight
Best Supporting Actor in TV Series, Limited Series or TV Movie:
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie: Oscar Isaac, Show Me a
Hero
Best Limited Series or TV Movie: Wolf Hall
Best Comedy Series: Mozart in the Jungle
Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Rachel Bloom, The Crazy Ex-
Girlfriend
Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Limited Series or TV Movie:
Maura Tierney, The Affair
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Cecil B. DeMille Award: Denzel Washington.
38. The iconic rock star whose career spanned more than half a
century who created hits like “Let's Dance” and “Changes”, passed
away on January 10, 2016?
David Bowie.
The artist's other hits include Space Oddity, Starman, Modern Love,
Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel Rebel and Life on Mars. He was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
39. Which footballer has won the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’ Or Award?
Lionel Messi.
It was Messi’s record breaking 5th Ballon d’Or Award. He has won four
back to back Ballon d’Or titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and
2015.
40. The Chief of Staff of the Eastern Command which played a
pivotal role in defining the Indian Army's strategy during the 1971 war
which resulted in creation of Bangladesh, passed away on January
13, 2016?
J.F.R.Jacob.
Jacob was an Indian Army Lieutenant General. He was best known for
the role he played in India's victory in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971
and the Liberation of Bangladesh. Jacob, then a Major General, served
as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the
war. During his 36-year career in the army, he also fought in World War
II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. He later served as the Governor
of the Indian states of Goa and Punjab.
41. FIFA’s Secretary General who has been suspended by the World
Governing Committee after he allegedly was involved in the black
market selling of tickets to the FIFA World Cup 2014 matches?
Jerome Valcke.
Jerome Valcke is a French football administrator, best known as the
former Secretary General of FIFA (the international governing body of
the sport). He was sacked on 13 January 2016 as a result of
allegations arising from the ongoing 2015 FIFA corruption case.
42. Footballer who was named as the first global ambassador for
Dubai's World Expo 2020 event?
Lionel Messi.
43. The British Actor known for films including Harry Potter, Die Hard
and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, passed away on January 14, 2016?
Alan Rickman.
He became one of Britain's best-loved acting stars thanks to roles
including Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films and Hans Gruber in
Die Hard. His final film role is as the voice of Absolem in Alice Through
the Looking Glass, which will be released in May 2016.
44. Which pair equalled the World Record for the longest women’s
doubles winning streak by advancing to the WTA Sydney International
semifinals with a straight set triumph in Sydney?
Sania Mirza(India) and Martina Hingis(Switzerland).
Mirza and Hingis won their 28th consecutive match to equal the record
set by Puerto Rican Gigi Fernandez and Belarus’ Natasha Zvereva in
1994.
45. Who has been named Germany national team player of the year
for 2015?
Mesut Ozil.
46. In the Test match against England, all the 11 batsmen of the
opposite team made double-digit scores, without scoring fifty runs.
Which is that team?
South Africa.
The highest score was 46 by Dean Elgar, at No. 1, while the lowest
was 12 by Morne Morkel, at No. 11. All 11 South Africa batsmen
scored between 10 and 49 runs in the third Test between South Africa
and England at Wanderers.
47. Which cricketer became the first black South African man to
have scored a Test century?
Temba Bavuma.
48. Name the NASA’s spacecraft bound in July which has set a
record as the most distant solar-powered space probe ever flown?
Juno.
Juno broke the record previously held by the European Space
Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft Jan. 13 as it flew about 493 million miles
(793 million kilometers) from the sun. When it enters orbit around
Jupiter on July 4, the Juno spacecraft will become the first solar-
powered mission to reach the gas giant. Juno carries three large solar
panels, each one 9 feet wide and 29 feet long, to generate electricity.
Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August
5, 2011 and will arrive on July 4, 2016.
49. Who has been elected Taiwan's first female president?
Tsai Ing-wen.
50. Which country declares a 60-day nationwide economic
emergency on January 15, 2016 over economic crisis?
Venezuela.
51. In January 2016, NASA announced that a flower which had
blossomed on the International Space Station which was the first
flower ever grown outside the Earth's biosphere. What is the name of
that flower?
Zinnia.
52. Former Rajasthan Royals off spinner who has been banned for
life from all official cricketing activities for his role in the IPL 2013
spot-fixing case?
Ajit Chandila.
53. The world’s oldest man, Japanese who passed away on January
b19, 2016 at the age of 112 after suffering chronic heart problems?
Yasutaro Koide.
54. Former Australian off Spinner who has announced his retirement
from International Cricket in January 2016?
Nathan Hauritz.
Nathan Hauritz had played 17 Tests, 58 ODIs and three T20s.
55. The former Barcelona and AC Milan player who was announced
as the Brand Ambassador of the Nagjee International Club Football
Tournament?
Ronaldinho.
56. Name the fifth navigation satellite of India which was
successfully test fired on January 20, 2016?
IRNSS-1E.
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) consists of a
constellation of seven satellites of which five – IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B,
IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D and IRNSS-1E-have been put into orbit till date.
57. Name the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq which has been
destroyed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS)?
St Elijah.
St Elijah's stood on a hill near the northern city of Mosul for 1,400
years. St Elijah's Monastery, or Deir Mar Elia, was believed to have
been constructed by Assyrian monks in the late 6th Century. It was
later claimed by a Chaldean Catholic order.
58. Which state won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-2016?
Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh beat Baroda by 38 runs in the final and Uttar Pradesh
remained unbeaten throughout the series. The Syed Mushtaq Ali
Trophy is a Twenty20 cricket domestic championship in India,
organized by Board of Control for Cricket in India, among the teams
from Ranji Trophy.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a Twenty20 cricket domestic
championship in India, organized by Board of Control for Cricket in
India, among the teams from Ranji Trophy. The 2008-09 season was
the inaugural season for this trophy. It is named after a famous Indian
cricketer, Syed Mushtaq Ali.
59. Australian former world no. 1 professional tennis player who bid
farewell to his professional tennis career at the 2016 Australian Open?
Lleyton Hewitt.
Hewitt is the youngest male ever to be ranked no. 1 in the world in
singles, at the age of 20. His most notable career achievements
include winning the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon men's singles
titles, the 2000 US Open men's doubles title, winning back-to-back
Tennis Masters Cup (now called the ATP World Tour Finals) titles in
2001 and 2002, and winning the Davis Cup with Australia in 1999 and
2003.
60. Noted Indian classical dancer and Padma Bhushan recipient who
passed away on January 16, 2016?
Mrinalini Sarabhai.
She was the founder of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an
institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in
the city of Ahmedabad. Mrinalini Sarabhai has been awarded by the
Indian government with the national civilian awards Padma Bhushan in
1992 and the Padma Shri in 1965. She was honoured with the Degree
of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (LittD) by the University of East
Anglia, Norwich, UK in 1997. She was also the first Indian to receive
the medal and Diploma of the French Archives Internationales de la
Danse. She was nominated to the Executive Committee of the
International Dance Council, Paris in 1990 and awarded the Sangeet
Natak Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1994. She was presented with
a gold medal by the Mexican Government for her choreography for the
Ballet Folklorico of Mexico. She was the first recipient of the
Nishagandhi Puraskaram, an annual award of the Government of
Kerala. The award was presented in 2013.
61. Which year was the hottest year in a global record that began, in
their data, in 1880?
2015.
Two American government agencies — NASA, the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, and NOAA, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration — compile separate analyses of the global
temperature, based upon thousands of measurements from weather
stations, ships and ocean buoys scattered around the world. The
American agencies released figures on January 20, 2016 showing that
2015 was the warmest year in a global record that began, in their data,
in 1880.
62. On 20 January 2016, researchers Konstantin Batygin and Michael
E. Brown at Caltech announced calculation-based evidence of a
massive ninth planet in the Solar System. What is the name of that
hypothetical large planet in the far outer Solar System?
Planet 9.
The predicted planet would be a super-Earth, with an estimated mass
of about 10 times that of Earth (approximately 5,000 times the mass
of Pluto), a diameter two to four times that of Earth, and a highly
elliptical orbit that is so far away that it could take around 15,000
years to orbit the Sun.
63. Who becomes first tennis player with 300 career wins at Grand
Slams?
Roger Federer.
He became the first man to win 300 Grand Slam matches after beating
Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the Australian Open. Federer, 7-
time grand slam champion is just six major victories away from
equalling Martina Navratilova’s record as the most victorious player of
all time.
64. Argentinian footballer, who plays for Barcelona, has been given a
suspended one-year jail sentence and fined €815,000 (£623,000) for
tax evasion?
Javier Mascherano.
65. Which country has been crowned the best country in the world,
according to the ranking unveiled at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland, on January 20, 2016?
Germany.
Canada (2nd), Britain (3rd), USA (4th) and Sweden (5th).
66. The West Indies batsman who has announced his retirement
from international cricket on 23 January 2016?
Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Chanderpaul is a former captain of the West Indies cricket team. He is
the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests for the West Indies, and
captained them in 14 Tests and 16 One Day Internationals. He has
scored 20,000 runs in international cricket, and in 2008 he was named
as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers'
Almanack, and as the Player of the Year by the International Cricket
Council. He made his debut against England in 1994.
He made 164 Test appearances and is seventh in the all-time Test run-
scorers list with 11,867, one place below his countryman Brian Lara.
He scored 30 Test centuries at an average of 51.37 and also picked up
nine wickets. He also hit 11 one-day international hundreds in 268
matches.
67. Who was re-elected unopposed as the president of Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) for a second term on January 24, 2016?
Amit Shah.
68. Who has been appointed as the chairman and managing director
of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re)?
Alice Vaidyan.
She is the first woman to be appointed in such post not only in the
GIC Re, but the first in the Indian insurance sector. She would hold the
office till July 31, 2019.The GIC Re is the 14th largest reinsurer globally
and is the only reinsurance company in India.
69. Who won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton
tournament-2016 held in Penang?
P.V.Sindhu.
She beat unseeded Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the final. She had
also won the Malaysia Masters in 2013.
70. Which country won the first blind T20 Asia Cup Cricket held in
India defeating Pakistan in the final?
India.
India defeated arch-rival Pakistan by 44 runs to win blind T20 Asia Cup
held in Kochi, Kerala.
71. A person of Indian descent who has been named political advisor
in the Swedish Prime Minister's Office?
Nila Vikhe Patil.
72. Noted Malayalam Actress who had won the national award the
best actor in a supporting role in the film “Njaan Thanichalla” (2012),
passed away in Hyderabad on January 25, 2016?
Kalpana.
She was in Hyderabad for the shooting of a Telugu and a Tamil film
and to attend the IIFA award function. She made her debut in G.
Aravindan's film Pokkuveyil 1981 and has acted in around 300 films.
Sister of film actresses Urvashi and Kalaranjini, Kalpana was known as
a comic actress in the industry. Among her other Malayalam hits are
“Ennum Eppuzhum”, “Karnavar”, “Dolfins”, “Bangalore Days” and
“Spirit”. “Kakki Sattai”, “Idhaya Thiruda”, “Sathi Leelavathi” and “Chinna
Veedu” are among her Tamil films.
73. Which countries signed an agreement on 23-01-2016 to
exchange their citizens lodged in the prisons of each other's country?
India and Bahrain.
The agreement was signed following a bilateral dialogue between
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Bahraini counterpart
Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa.
74. Which countries have signed 16 agreements on January 24,
2016 including an agreement between Airbus Group and Mahindra for
the manufacture of helicopters?
India and France.
India and France signed 16 agreements including three MoUs under
the theme of Smart City. The agreements were signed at India-France
Business Summit 2016 in presence of Prime Minister of India Narendra
Modi and President of France Francois Hollande in Chandigarh on
January 24, 2016. These agreements were signed in relation to
different sectors such as urban development, urban transport, water
and waste treatment and solar energy.
75. Who has been awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest
peacetime gallantry award, posthumously for his role in saving two
colleagues during an encounter with militants in Kashmir last year?
Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami from the Army’s elite Para Special
Forces.
Another of his colleague, Subedar Mahendra Singh was awarded Kirti
Chakra for his valiant actions in the same operation.
76. The legendary actor famous for playing Sal Tessio in The
Godfather and The Godfather Part II, passed away on January 26,
2016?
Abe Vigoda.
He made his debut in the cinema through Marcel Carne’s 1965 effort
Three Rooms in Manhattan, but he got his fame when he was cast in
The Godfather in 1972. He also showed off his comedic chops on the
hit TV show, Barney Miller which ran from 1975 to 1982. He then took
his character from the show and made his own series, Fish. Abe later
starred in movies like Look Who’s Talking, Cannonball Run II, Joe
Versus the Volcano and North.
77. COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS OF PADMA AWARDS -2016.
Please click the below link to know the complete list of winners of
Padma Awards-2016.
http://questionforall.blogspot.in/2016/03/complete-list-of-winners-of-
padma.html
78. Name the three Indian-origin persons who have been awarded
Australia’s highest civilian honour, Order of Australia medal for the year
2016, for their contribution in the fields of physics, engineering and
medicine?
Chennupati Jagadish, Jay Chandra and Sajeev Koshy.
Chennupati Jagadish is an eminent professor at Australian National
University (ANU) in Canberra. Jay Chandra is an eye doctor in New
South Wales and Sajeev Koshy is a dentist in Melbourne.
79. Well-known journalist and the Managing Editor of The Times of
India who passed away on January 28, 2016?
Arindam Sengupta.
Sen Gupta had a long and distinguished association with the TOI
group, which he rejoined in 1991 after a previous stint from 1988 to
1990. He joined The Economic Times as coordinating editor and later
became editor of its Delhi edition before moving to TOI in March 2004.
80. Former judge of the Allahabad High Court who has been
appointed as the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh by the Supreme Court of
India?
Justice Sanjay Mishra.
Heeding the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court’s objections, the
Supreme Court on January 28, 2016 recalled its order appointing
Justice (retired) Virendra Singh as Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta.
81. Which pair won the Australian Open Women’s doubles title
-2016?
Sania Mirza (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland).
They defeated the Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie
Hradecka in the final.
82. Which countries signed trade agreements worth €15 billion on
January b28, 2016?
Iran and France.
83. Who won the Player of the series award in the 3 T20 matches
between India and Australia held in Australia in January 2016?
Virat Kohli (India).
Series - India won the 3-match series 3-0.
84. Senior journalist and Editor-in-chief of Asianet News who passed
away on January 30, 2016?
T. N. Gopakumar.
Gopakumar was also the producer and anchorperson of the popular
weekly program Kannadi on Asianet, an Indian general entertainment
channel broadcasting in Malayalam language. He was a recipient of the
Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for his book ‘Suchindrum Rekhakal’.
85. Name the Maoist cult leader who has been jailed for 23 years for
keeping his daughter as a slave in a commune for 30 years and raped
his brainwashed followers?
Aravindan Balakrishnan.
86. Who won the Australian Open Women’s title -2016, defeating
Serena Williams (USA) in the final?
Angelique Kerber. (Germany).
87. India's ace shuttler who won the Syed Modi Grand Prix
Gold-2016 with a convincing win over China's Huang Yuxiang in the
men's singles final?
Kidambi Srikanth.
[24/09 10:26 pm] Basayya M Jamalur: CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS- DECEMBER 2015
1. Who was sworn in as the new president of Burkina Faso?
Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
He is the second civilian to become president since the West African
country won independence in 1960.
2. Who has been crowned the Spanish La Liga's best player for
2014-15 at the gala LFP Awards ceremony in Barcelona?
Lionel Messi.
LA LIGA 2014-15 AWARDS
Best Player: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Best Coach: Luis Enrique (Barcelona)
Best Goalkeeper: Claudio Bravo (Barcelona)
Best Defender: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Best midfielder: James Rodríguez (Real Madrid)
Best Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Best American Player: Neymar (Barcelona)
Best African Player: Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia)
Jugador Cinco Estrellas de la Aficion: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real
Madrid)
3. Senior Janata Dal (United) leader who was unanimously elected
as new Speaker of the Bihar Assembly on December 2, 2015?
Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.
4. In which country, YouTube opens first video production studio?
India.
YouTube, in collaboration with Subhash Ghai-owned film school
Whistling Woods International, has opened its 8th (one of a kind)
YouTube Space in Mumbai's Film City. It is the first video production
studio in the country.
5. Noted scriptwriter and director of Malayalam Film industry who
passed away on December 2, 2015?
Alleppey Sheriff.
The films for which he had written screenplays include Eetta , Utsavam
, Oonjaal , Thuramukham , Sbhodanam , Veedu , Paalam , Ezham
Kadalinnakkare , Itha Ithuvare . Many of the films directed by I.V.Sasi
had their scripts written by Alleppey Sheriff.
6. Name the Yemeni prisoner who has spent 13 years in the US
prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who appears to have been the
victim of mistaken identity, suspected of being a significant member of
al Qaeda and not just a low-level Islamic fighter, released from jail on
December 1, 2015?
Mustafa al-Aziz al-Shamiri.
7. Name the world’s first washable mobile phone which is all set to
be released in Japan by tech company Kyocera Telecom?
Digno Rafre.
Digno Rafre has the Snapdragon 410 processor and it is a 5-inch
android phone. There’s no risk of water entering the device because
it’s entirely sealed to keep water and bubbles from getting in. It
doesn’t even have a speaker, relying instead on a Smart Sonic receiver
that transmits sound through vibrations on the phone’s screen. The
built-in 13MP camera is also waterproof.
8. Which country recently started a Military base in Qatar?
Turkey.
9. Who won the Player of the Series award in the 4 test cricket
matches (Freedom Trophy) between South Africa and India held in
India in Nov-Dec 2015?
Ravichandra Ashwin (India).
Series - India won the 4-match series 3-0.
10. Name the Norwegian newspaper which has apologised to its
readers after publishing a death notice for "Father Christmas"?
Aftenposten.
11. Jeddah-based NRI businessman and Managing Director of Shifa
Al Jazeera Medical Group who has been named the 2015 Person of the
Year by the London-based Asian Lite newspaper?
Dr. K.T. Mohammed Rabeeh Rabeeullah.
12. The governor of Yemen's city Aden, who has been killed in a car
bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
group?
Major General Jaafar Mohammed Saad.
13. Name the 11-year-old Indian-origin girl who has entered the
ranks of Mensa, the largest high IQ society in the world, after scoring
the highest possible score in an IQ test?
Anushka Binoy.
Anushka scored 162 to gain membership of the society that comprises
Britain’s brainiest people.
14. Noted poet, scholar and teacher who has been selected for the
Ezhuthachan Puraskaram for 2015?
Puthussery Ramachandran.
The Ezhuthachan Puraskaram was instituted by the State government
of Kerala in 1993 to honour eminent scholars in recognition to their
contributions to Malayalam language and literature. The award
comprises a cash prize of Rs.1.5 lakh, a citation and plaque.
Puthussery Ramachandran was the general secretary of the First
World Conference on Malayalam Language and Kerala Culture
organised by the university in 1977. His most important scholarly
work is Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Rekhakal (The basic
documents of the history of Kerala). He is credited with publishing
the complete text of Kannassa Ramayanam, the first complete
Ramayana in Malayalam.
15. Kerala’s most famous Koodiyattom and Nangiarkoothu artiste
who passed away on December 1, 2015?
Margi Sathi.
Margi Sathi was an exponent of Nangiar Kuthu which is a form of
performing art derived from Koodiyattam and which is traditionally
performed by the female members of the Chakkyar community of
Kerala. She was also an accomplished expert in enacting the female
characters in Koodiyattam Sathi had written the attaprakaram
(performance manuals) for several Nangiǎr Kūthu performance
16. An Indian-American, considered an authority on head and neck
imaging who has been named chair of the prestigious Radiological
Society of North America or RSNA Board of Directors?
Vijay. M. Rao.
17. Which country won the Hero Hockey World League 2015
defeating Belgium (2-1) in the final held in Raipur, India?
Australia.
18. Name the two new franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL),
replacing the suspended teams of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan
Royals for a period of two years?
Pune and Rajkot.
The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based business tycoon
Sanjiv Goenka's company New Rising, while the Rajkot bid was won
by Intex Mobiles.
19. Karnataka Lokayukta who has resigned from his post of
Lokayukta on December 8, 2015?
Y. Bhaskar Rao.
Former Karnataka Chief Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao's elevation to the
post of anti- corruption ombudsman came amidst allegations of
corruption against him. Mr. Bhaskar Rao was on leave from July 27
and is holed up in Hyderabad after his son Y. Ashwin was arrested
for running an extortion ring in the Lokayukta, threatening officers
with raids if they failed to pay up.
20. Which country has placed 3rd position globally with an estimated
$94.76 billion black money outflow in 2012 according to the latest
report on black money outflow by Global Financial Integrity?
India.
Russia is on the top with USD 122.86 billion, followed by China at the
second position (USD 249.57 billion) in terms of the quantum of black
money moving out of a country for 2012.
21. Who has been named this year’s highest-earning female
musician by Forbes magazine, more than tripling her earnings from
last year?
Katy Perry.
According to the Forbes, Perry made £87m ($135m) between June
2014 and June 2015.
22. A dengue fever vaccine developed by the French pharmaceutical
giant Sanofi has been approved for use by a North American country,
the first approval in the world for any vaccine for the disease. Which is
that country?
Mexico.
Dengue afflicts tens of millions of people around the world and is
becoming an increasing threat. An estimated 50 million to 100 million
people a year are sickened by the disease.
23. India signed an agreement with which country on December 12,
2015 for introduction of a bullet train between Ahmedabad and
Mumbai?
Japan.
The proposed 500-kilometer railway will link Mumbai in western India
and Ahmadabad to the north. The journey would take about two hours.
Construction, which is estimated to cost 980 billion rupees ($14.68
billion), will begin in 2017, with the aim of starting railway operations in
2023.
24. Which pair put together the highest fourth wicket partnership in
test cricket with a combined 449 runs on the second day of the first
test against West Indies in Hobart?
Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh. (Australia).
Voges had made 269 not out when Australia captain Steve Smith
declared on 583-4 during the lunch break and Marsh was dismissed for
182. The partnership, the sixth highest for any wicket in any test,
bettered the 437 that Sri Lankans Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan
Samaraweera combined to score for the fourth wicket against Pakistan
in Karachi in 2009. It was the second highest partnership for any
Australian pair, falling just two runs short of the record set by Bill
Ponsford and the great Donald Bradman for the second wicket against
England at The Oval in 1934.
25. Which film won the Golden Crow Pheasant for the Best Film in
the 20th International Film Festival of Kerala?
Ottal (The Trap).
Malayalam film Ottal (The Trap), directed by R. Jayaraj, also won
the Silver Crow Pheasant for the Best Film chosen by an audience poll.
Ottal, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s short story Vanka, tells the
story of a young boy and his relationship with his grandfather, his only
living relative in the world.
Filipino film Shadow behind the Moon, directed by Jun Robles
Lana, won the Silver Crow Pheasant for the Best Director. Bangladeshi
film Jalal’s Story, directed by Abu Shahed Emon, won the Silver Crow
Pheasant award for the Best Debut Director.
Ozhivudivasathe Kali (An off-day game), directed by Sanal Kumar
Sasidharan, won the FIPRESCI award for the Best Malayalam Film.
Israeli film Yona , directed by Nir Bergman, won the NETPAC award
for the Best Asian Film.
26. Name the surface-to-surface ballistic missile successfully test
fired by Pakistan on December 11, 2015 which can carry nuclear
warheads within a range of 2,750?
Shaheen-III.
27. Which actor has been named the richest Indian celebrity by the
Forbes magazine in December 2015?
Shah Rukh Khan.
Forbes ranked him as India’s No. 1 celebrity making the most amount
of money, a staggering Rs 257 crore while Salman Khan and Amitabh
Bachchan were placed at number two and three positions respectively.
28. Which countries signed a $15 billion high-speed rail agreement
and a raft of other accords to strengthen ties on December 12, 2015?
India and Japan.
29. Economist, agriculturist, prolific journalist and stalwart farmer
leader who founded the Shetkari Sanghatana, passed away on
December 12, 2015?
Sharad Joshi.
30. Which footballer has been awarded BBC African Footballer of the
year 2015?
Yaya Toure.
Toure, England midfielder is now the third player, after Nigerian living
legends, Nwankwo Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha, to receive the honour
twice.
31. How many countries signed the historic first universal Climate
agreement on December 12, 2015 held in Paris?
196.
The agreement binds together pledges by individual nations to cut or
limit emissions from fossil-fuel burning, within a framework of rules
that provide for monitoring and verification as well as financial and
technical assistance for developing countries.
32. Indian-origin who has been declared the winner of prestigious
South East Asia Write Award-2015?
Jamaludeen Mohamed Sali.
Better known as J.M. Sali, the author has written 57 books, 80 plays
and more than 400 short stories including Vellai Kodugal (White Lines)
Alaigal Pesuginrana (The Sound of the Waves) that are now studied by
Tamil literature students in Singapore and Indian universities.
33. Olympic champion who defeated former kick-boxer Dillian Whyte
to take the British heavyweight title-2015?
Anthony Joshua.
34. Which country has banned a wide variety of tobacco products
including gutka, khaini and zarda in December 2015?
Singapore.
35. Who becomes the first Saudi woman to win a seat of Makkah’s
municipal council in historic polls?
Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi.
Following the historic local bodies polls in Saudi Arabia where women
not only voted but also contested for the first time, Salma bint Hizab
al-Oteibi has appeared as a winning candidate on a seat of Makkah’s
municipal council.
36. Veteran Indian-origin politician who has been appointed South
Africa's new Finance Minister by President Jacob Zuma?
Pravin Gordhan.
37. Kazakhstan's former Prime Minister Who has been sentenced to
10 years in prison on corruption charges?
Serik Akhmetov.
The Qaraghandy Regional Court sentenced Akhmetov on December 11
after finding him guilty of embezzlement and misusing the state
budget in significant amounts.
38. Japanese shuttlers who emerged champions in the men's and
women's singles categories, respectively, in the BWF Superseries
Finals-2015?
Kento Momota and Nozomi Okuhara.
Momota beat Denmark's Viktor Axelsen in the final and Okuhara
overcame world No. 3 Yihan Wang. The BWF Super Series Finals is an
annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the
players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of
the BWF Super Series compete for total prize money of at least US$
500,000.
39. Which team won the 2015 Extreme Sailing Series championship
title?
The Wave, Muscat.
The Extreme Sailing Series (formerly the iShares Cup) is an annual
global racing series, raced in Extreme 40 catamarans and organised
by OC Sport.
40. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired India's annual conference
of top military commanders which was held onboard aircraft carrier on
December 15, 2015. Which is that aircraft carrier?
INS Vikramaditya.
The annual apex meeting of military leaders from the three armed
forces has traditionally been held in South Block (Delhi) but for the
first time is scheduled to take place in the naval town of Kochi (Kerala)
— a move initiated with PM Narendra Modi's personal intervention.
India's annual conference of top military commanders, where national
defence policy, doctrine and operational challenges are discussed, was
held for the first time outside New Delhi.
41. The north-eastern state of India which leads in tobacco
consumption with 67.2 percent of its population consuming/smoking
various tobacco products?
Mizoram.
42. Senior revenue service officer who was appointed Chairman of
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of
Income Tax department?
A K Jain.
43. Who succeeded Doug Baillie as the global CHRO of Unilever on
15 December 2015?
Leena Nair.
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company co-
headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and London, United
Kingdom. Its products include food, beverages, cleaning agents and
personal care products. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods
company measured by 2012 revenue, after Procter & Gamble and
Nestle.
44. Who won the seventh London Chess Classic (2015)?
Magnus Carlsen.
He won the London Chess Classic defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
45. Mumbai Police Commissioner who has been appointed
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, which has a 2.8 million-strong Indian
community?
Ahmed Javed.
46. Which country has declared the formation of a global “Islamic
Alliance” of 34 countries to combat terrorism, following months of
pressure for Gulf States to do more to tackle militancy within the
Middle East?
Saudi Arabia.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, the coalition will include Jordan, the United
Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Turkey, Chad,
Togo, Tunisia, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon,
Guinea, the Palestinians, Comoros, Qatar, Cote d'Ivoire, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania,
Niger, Nigeria and Yemen.
47. Which country on December 16, 2015 made public names of over
2,600 individuals having unclaimed bank accounts including at least
six from India?
Switzerland.
The total holding in these accounts is estimated at about 44 million
Swiss franc (about Rs 300 crore), but the specific figure for the
accounts of people from India was not disclosed.
48. Name the nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 900
kilometres which is successfully test-fired by Pakistan on December
15, 2015?
Shaheen-1A.
Shaheen-1A is tested days after testing a similar missile capable of
hitting targets as far as 2,750 kilometres away,, bringing many Indian
cities under its range.
49. Which country on December 16, 2015successfully put six
Singapore satellites into orbit after a perfect launch its landmark 50th
space mission?
India.
The Singaporean satellites that would help the city-state gather
information on disaster monitoring and urban planning were launched
by ISRO's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV-C29)
coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic
relations between Singapore and India this year.
50. Former India all-rounder who has been named Afghanistan's
bowling coach until the end of the World T20 in India next year?
Manoj Prabhakar.
51. Who is the most searched sports person on Google in India in
2015, ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?
Virat Kohli.
Sachin Tendulkar was ranked third while MS Dhoni was fourth in
India's most searched sports personalities on Google in 2015. Messi is
in fact second after Kohli while Ronaldo ranks fifth.
52. Who was awarded the high honor of becoming Sports
Illustrated's 2015 Sportsperson of the Year?
Serena Williams.
53. Which country recently has cleared the purchase of Russian
advance S-400 Trium Air Defence Missile Systems at an estimated
cost of 40,000 crore rupees?
India.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting chaired by Union Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi has cleared the purchase of
Russian advance S-400 Trium Air Defence Missile Systems.
54. Who has been named captain of Shane Warne's greatest Indian
Test XI?
Sourav Ganguly.
Warne's Greatest India Test XI: Virender Sehwag, Navjot Singh Sidhu,
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad
Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and
Javagal Srinath (VVS Laxman 12th).
55. The UN declared 2016 as the International Year of?
Pulses.
Pulses are edible grain legumes – think pinto, kidney, garbanzo, lentils,
and peas. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) want the
public to recognize tasty and nutritious pulses “as a primary source of
protein, fiber, and other essential nutrients.
56. Russia’s Rostech State Corporation has signed one billion US
dollar deal with an Indian state-owned aerospace and Defence
Company to manufacture 200 Kamov 226T light helicopters. Which is
that company?
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
57. YSR Congress legislator and actress who was suspended from
the Andhra Pradesh assembly for one year for her unparliamentarily
behaviour in the house?
Roja.
58. A Delhi court on December 19, 2015 granted unconditional bail to
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Vice-president Rahul Gandhi in
the National Herald case of cheating and misappropriation. What is the
National Herald case?
The National Herald scam is an ongoing case in a Delhi court filed by
Indian economist and politician Subramanian Swamy against
politicians Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, their companies and
associated persons. As per the complaint filed in the court of the
Metropolitan Magistrate, Indian National Congress granted an interest-
free loan of 90.25 crore (US$13 million) to Associated Journals Limited
(AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper which was established
by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938. It was alleged that the loan was either
not repaid or repaid in cash, which is in violation of Section 269T of
the Income Tax Act, 1961. A closely held company, Young Indian, was
incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of 5 lakh (US$7,500)
and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties
(alleged to be worth 5000 crore (US$750 million)). Swamy alleged
criminal misappropriation by both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The
courts have determined that a prima facie case has been established
in the matter. While rejecting the plea by Congress President Sonia
Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others against summons in the National
Herald case, the Delhi High Court has made some scathing remarks
saying that the conduct of Congress office-bearers “smacks of
criminality”.
59. Which country lifted a 40-year-old ban on export of oil on
December 19, 2015, thus paving the way for energy deficient countries
like India?
U.S.A.
The ban was lifted as President Barack Obama signed into law the USD
1.8 trillion spending package and tax bill for the current fiscal ending
on September 30, 2016.
60. Which state in India banned the use of polythene bags across
the state from December 2015?
Uthar Pradesh
61. Who became the first ever batsman in the history of T20 cricket
to accomplish the double distinction of hitting 600 or more fours and
600 or more sixes?
Chris Gayle.
62. Former Indian spinner who has been appointed as the Oman's
spin-bowling coach ahead of the middle-eastern country's maiden
World Twenty20 campaign in India next year?
Sunil Joshi.
63. Who won the All India Football Federation (AIFF) men's Player of
the Year-2015?
Eugeneson Lyngdoh.
64. Who won the All India Football Federation (AIFF) women's Player
of the Year-2015?
Bala Devi.
Pritam Kotal was declared the '2015 AIFF Emerging Player of the Year.'
Pyari Xaxa was declared the '2015 AIFF emerging Woman Footballer of
the Year'.
65. For the first time in more than 40 years, Iraq has crowned a Miss
Iraq beauty pageant winner. Who is that Miss Iraq?
Shaima Qassim.
66. Soccer’s world governing body, FIFA issued eight-year bans for
alleged ethical violations to two of the most powerful men in the game:
FIFA President and his former heir-apparent. Who are they?
Sepp Blatter (FIFA President) and Michel Platini. (Uefa president.)
67. Who won the Player of the series award in the two test cricket
matches between New Zealand and Sri Lanka held in New Zealand in
December 2015?
Kane Williamson (New Zealand).
Series - New Zealand won the 2-match series 2-0.
68. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister who has resigned from his post on
December 21, 2015 over accusations from several women that he
sexually molested them?
Silvan Shalom.
69. Filipina-German actress, model and beauty queen who was
crowned Miss Universe 2015?
Pia Wurtzbach.
Wurtzbach represented the Philippines in the Miss Universe 2015 held
on December 20, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. At the end
of the show, host Steve Harvey announced Miss Colombia Ariadna
Gutierrez as the winner. However, after Gutierrez’s crowning, Harvey
stated that he had misread the results and that Wurtzbach was the
actual Miss Universe 2015. Miss Universe 2014 Paulina Vega then
removed the crown from Gutierrez’s head and placed it on Wurtzbach's
head.
70. Which team won the International Premier Tennis League-2015
(ITPL-2) defeating Indian aces in the final?
Singapore Slammers.
The Slammers, coached by India’s double specialist Purav Raja,
claimed a prize pursed of USD one million while Indian Aces got USD
500,000.
71. Name the rocket which successfully landed upright on solid
ground at Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 21, 2015, after
travelling into space and back?
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
On December 21, 2015, SpaceX successfully returned a first stage
booster back to the
ground at Cape Canaveral, the first such accomplishment by an orbit-
capable rocket. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services
company with its headquarters in Hawthorne, California, USA. It was
founded in 2002 by former PayPal entrepreneur and Tesla Motors CEO
Elon Musk with the goal of creating the technologies to reduce space
transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars. It has
developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, both of which
were designed from conception to eventually become reusable, and the
Dragon spacecraft which is flown into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch
vehicle to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with cargo.
72. Parliament has passed a bill which has provision that allows
trying of juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 years as adults for
heinous offences. What is the name of that bill?
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015.
It aims to replace the existing Indian juvenile delinquency law,
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, so that
juveniles in conflict with Law in the age group of 16–18, involved in
Heinous Offences, can be tried as adults. The Act came into force from
15 January 2016. It was passed on 7 May 2015 by the Lok Sabha
amid intense protest by several Members of Parliament. It was passed
on 22 December 2015 by the Rajya Sabha.
73. Name the Indian pair who won the Mexican open Badminton title
2015?
Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy.
They won their maiden Grand Prix title by beating Bodin and Nipitphon
in the final.
74. Who were named as women’s doubles World champions by the
International Tennis Federation (ITF) in recognition of their stupendous
success in season 2015?
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.
Serena Williams of the United States and Novak Djokovic of Serbia are
the 2015 ITF World Champions. Williams is named Women’s World
Champion for the sixth time, while this is the fifth occasion that
Djokovic has received the honour.
75. Who is named Miss World 2015?
Mireia Lalaguna Royo.
Royo is a Spanish actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned
Miss World Spain 2015 and in December the same year won Miss
World 2015 in Sanya. She is the first Miss World from Spain. Miss
World 2015, the 65th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on
19 December 2015 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China.
76. Which club won the FIFA Club World Cup -2015 after a 3-0 win
over River Plate?
Barcelona.
The FIFA Club World Cup, formerly known as the FIFA Club World
Championship, is an international men's association football
competition organised by the FIFA. The current champions are Spain's
Barcelona, who defeated Argentina's River Plate 3–0 in the final of the
2015 edition, to win a record third title in the competition.
77. Which team won the second edition of the India Super League
(ISL)?
Chennaiyin FC.
Chennaiyin FC defeated FC Goa (3-2) in the final. The Chennaiyin FC
franchise is owned by Vita Dani, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan
and Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
78. Former Defence Secretary who has been appointed as Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC)?
R.K. Mathur.
Mathur who will hold the key position for three years from December
18, 2015. According to the RTI Act, a person can hold the office of CIC
for not more than five years or till the age of 65.
79. Australian cricketer who has been named cricketer of the year
(2015) by the International Cricket Council, winning the Sir Garfield
Sobers Trophy?
Steven Smith.
Australia captain Steven Smith has won the top ICC awards for
2014-15, being named Cricketer of the Year as well as Test Cricketer of
the Year. Smith became the seventh player after Rahul Dravid (2004),
Jacques Kallis (2005), Ricky Ponting (2006), Kumar Sangakkara (2012)
, Michael Clarke (2013) and Mitchell Johnson (2014) to bag both
awards in the same year. South Africa's ODI captain AB de Villiers was
named ODI Cricketer of the Year for the second successive year, while
his compatriot Faf du Plessis won the T20 Performance of the Year
award for his 56-ball 119 against West Indies in January.
Awards list
Test Cricketer of the Year - Steven Smith
ODI Cricketer of the Year - AB de Villiers
Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year - Meg Lanning
Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year - Stafanie Taylor
T20I Performance of the Year - Faf du Plessis
Emerging Cricketer of the Year - Josh Hazlewood
Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year - Khurram Khan
Spirit of Cricket Award - Brendon McCullum
Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy) - Richard
Kettleborough.
80. The governments of three countries have banned Christmas
celebrations this year (2015), with punishments ranging up to a five-
year jail term. Name the three countries?
Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei.
Somalia issued a ban on Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in the
Muslim country on Wednesday, saying the festivities “have nothing to
do with Islam”. The oil-rich sultanate of Brunei has also banned
Christmas celebrations, under a shift towards hard line Islamic law.
81. Who has been appointed as the Batting coach of Indian Cricket
Team?
W.V.Raman.
Former Test cricketers W V Raman, Narendra Hirwani and T. A. Sekar
have been appointed on the coaching panel of the National Cricket
Academy (NCA). TA Sekar is the fast bowling coach and Hirwani is the
spin bowling coach.
82. The Russian government is providing a major boost to the Indian
government’s ‘Make in India’ programme by choosing Reliance
Defence & Aerospace (RDA) for a joint venture enterprise to build 197
units of Russian utility helicopters in India. What is the name of that
helicopter?
The Kamov 226T.
83. Indian-American doctor who has been named the first Poet
Laureate by the U.S state of Ohio for showcasing a variety of styles in
his poetry?
Amit Majmudar.
Majmudar, a diagnostic nuclear radiologist, was named to the two-year
honorary position by Governor John Kasich who created the honour.
84. Former India wicketkeeper-batsman who has been chosen for
the CK Nayudu lifetime achievement award for 2015?
Syed Kirmani.
One of India's finest keepers, Kirmani effected 198 dismissals in 88
Tests. Kirmani played 49 ODIs for India, making 373 runs, the highlight
being the 126-run rearguard partnership he shared with Kapil Dev in
the World Cup game against Zimbabwe in Turnbridge Wells.
85. The Pakistan leg-spinner who has been provisionally suspended
by the International Cricket Council after testing positive for a banned
diuretic during the one-day series with England in the United Arab
Emirates last month?
Yasir Shah.
86. Which country has recently passed controversial new anti-
terrorism laws, saying they are needed to combat growing threats?
China.
The new laws, passed on December27, 2015 by China's legislature,
create a new anti-terror agency and security forces with significant
powers.
87. Bollywood actress who was one of the top actresses in the
1960s and the early-1970s, a period regarded as Bollywood's "golden
era", passed away on December 25, 2015?
Sadhana Shivdasani.
Shivdasani appeared in a Sindhi language film Abaana and entered
Hindi film industry through 1960's romantic film Love in Simla. Her
fringe haircut became popular during the 1960s and came to be known
as "Sadhana cut". She also became famous as Mystery Girl with her
three suspense thriller films namely Woh Kaun Thi? (1964), Mera
Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967), all directed by Raj Khosla. Shivdasani
was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for films Woh
Kaun Thi? and Waqt in 1965 and 1966 respectively.
88. Which country has decided to end its decades-long one-child
policy?
China.
China on December 27, 2015 officially passed historic legislation that
allows all couples to have two children. The country will allow two
children for every couple starting Jan. 1
89. Star football player who won the best player of the seventh
edition of the Globe Soccer Awards?
Lionel Messi.
Barcelona won the award for best club. Belgian coach Marc Wilmots
was named best coach while Italy's Andrea Pirlo and England's Frank
Lampard were honoured with player career award.
90. Name the former El Salvador national football team player who
has been shot and killed by gunmen at a petrol station?
Alfredo Pacheco.
Alfredo Pacheco, a football player who played for the Salvadoran
national side before being banned from the sport for life for his
involvement in match fixing, was murdered on December 27, 2015.
91. International UWW Referee from India who has been qualified for
officiating in the 2016 RIO Olympic Games scheduled to be held at Rio-
de-Janeiro Brazil from 5th to 21st August 2016?
Mr. Ashok Kumar.
It is first time in the Indian wrestling history that an Indian Referee will
be officiating in the Olympic Games. Mr. Ashok Kumar has participated
in more than 50 International tournaments as Referee.
92. Name the world’s fattest man who once weighed 450 kilos,
passed away in Mexico City due to heart attack?
Andres Moreno.
Andres Moreno, 38, died of a heart attack and peritonitis.
93. Eminent Gujarati novelist, poet and critic who has been chosen
for the prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2015?
Raghuveer Chaudhary.
A novelist, poet and critic, Chaudhary is a recipient of Sahitya Academi
Award for his novel, "Trilogy Uparvaas" in 1977. His popular novels
include "Amrita", "Venu Vatsala", "Purvarang", "Laagni Samjyaa Vinaa
Chuuta Padvanu" and others. While his most-known novel
"Amrita" (1965) explores the concept of existentialism, other works like
"Rudramahalaya" (1978) and "Somtirth" (1996) are historical fiction.
94. Who inaugurated the newly-built Afghan parliament building in
Kabul?
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.
Prime Minister Narendra on December 25, 2015 inaugurated the
parliament building in Kabul, which was built by India.
95. Name Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's favourite dog who became
a national celebrity, died at the age of 17?
Tongdaeng.
The king adopted Tongdaeng in 1998 as a puppy and wrote a book
praising her loyalty and obedience. Last month, a man was charged
with insulting Tongdaeng on social media and could face up to 37
years in jail under Thailand's lese-majeste laws.
96. Which cricketer was declared the winner of the Polly Umrigar
Award for Best Cricketer for 2014-15 by the BCCI?
Virat Kohli.
97. Name the Indo-Israeli jointly built Long Range Surface to Air
Missile which was test fired Dec. 30 crossing a significant milestone in
enhancing its anti-air warfare capability.
Barak-8.
Barak-8 designed to defend against any type of airborne threat
including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs as well as
cruise missiles and combat jets out to a maximum range of 70 km.
98. The founder of the Debian Linux operating system and the
creator of apt-get who passed away on 28 December 2015?
Ian Murdock
Ian Murdock was a German-born American software engineer, known
for being the founder of the Debian project and Progeny Linux
Systems, a commercial Linux company.
99. Pakistani singer who will be granted Indian citizenship from
January 1, 2016?
Adnan Sami.
He has spent more than a decade living in Mumbai. Sami, who has
been living in India since 2001, will be given Indian citizenship under
Section 6 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.